[D3, EE] Ride Along

[Cuyler Gray]

She wanted to see the process. Fly out on a carryall, pick up a harvester and deliver it to the refinery. Cuyler made the request and soon boarded the next flight.

[Kannon]

"I'm Lt. Aneirin, my lady, and this is an emergency pickup flight." He paused to listen to his helm just as his fingers swarmed on the controls. There was tension on his face. "The designated carryall has gone awol, we don't know the situation on the ground. I can't deny you a place but I can't guarantee your safety either."

He still pointed up, to the skies. Two Harkonnen spotters had picked up from the refinery landing yard and were now circling, awaiting the carryall.

[Cuyler Gray]

She boarded quickly. "I appreciate the warning. I'll stay out of your way."

[Kannon]

"Appreciated." He commented, then pulled out the mic from his helmet. "Control, this is rescue flight 1011DX. Emergency pickup of Sigma Tlaloc Niner. Last known coordinates: 61/13/12N, 85/42/03E. Target status: unknown. CHOAM auditor boarded. Ready for liftoff. Copy."

A pause for the powerful engines to roar out beneath the caryall before a sudden amplification of gravitational pull pushed Cuyler deep into her chair.

"Liftoff. Stay on the line. We'll see what we can do for the Red Shaitan. Copy."

The Splintered Rock soon shrank and the caryall made a flat turn before darting toward southeast, toward the open desert. Two spotters, small thopters with Harkonnen griffins on their sides, with lasgun turrets toward the front, tailed them. The grand desert in all its overwhelming majesty was fast approaching, no end of it in sight. The sun was low in the west, behind their backs, illuminating the endless dunes in irregular stripes of orange and ochre.

"So, what do you expect to see?"

[Cuyler Gray]

"I expect to see normal operations performed with competency." she replied. "So far I see no issues there. I also hope to gain a better understanding of the process and the challenges I'm certain you face. I guess I picked the right flight for that."

[Kannon]

"I'm not new to all this, if that's what you're saying, my lady. We like simple words here though."

At this point, the Shield Wall beneath them had shrunk to just a line on the western horizon, another rocky feature emerged to the east. Aneirin pointed there.

"That's False Wall West and Wind Pass. Some of mining operations are there, but mostly storage and manufacturing. Still well within the wormline. We call them false walls because only the Shield Wall prevents the worm from entering the inner ergs. All other places are vulnerable to them except for the strict Sink. Worms seem to be hating moisture."

[Cuyler Gray]

"I only meant that you seem to have things well in hand and that I'm eager to learn." She looked out at the landscape, fascinated by the steps necessary to survive on Arrakis. That, of course, included the still suit she was wearing.

[Kannon]

"In the open desert, you can't navigate by the features. Dunes move all the time. Every storm remakes the surface, nothing is the same. Rocks show up where they weren't, whole basins disappear. I sometimes prefer to fly at night, at least there are stars. During the day, without geonav it would be like needle in a haystack, or worse. Magnetic fields here are anomalous, the orbit is eccentric, and it's always guesswork if your cabin devices are calibrated well enough. But the Guild charges exorbitant prices for even that basic service, and it increases as the latitude gets lower. Point is, it is very easy to lose something here, yourself included."

Curiously, they had only one spotter now. Where was the other? Aneirin must have noticed, but didn't comment.

"We'll be homing on the spot soon."

[Cuyler Gray]

"You're a brave man, Lieutenant." she said, as she looked around for the other spotter..

[Kannon]

"It's routine, my lady." He said, then tapped the helm.

"Approaching the coordinates, preparing for a sweep. No dust pillar in sight, the factory must be off. Copy."

"Copy."

"Copy."

Cuyler could hear the faint static buzz.

"Unfortunately, we seem to be on our own." He tapped close-range comm. "Spotter 2, do you have contact with control? Copy."

"Negative. Search and rescue procedure. Copy."

"Over."

"We have to lower the altitude lest we miss it. If there's anything left." He said with resigned foreboding.

[Discipline 3 to spot something on the sand.]

[Cuyler Gray]

Wanting to be of assistance, she searched the desert but sand seemed to be all she could see.

- - -
[D3, EE] Ride Along, Discipline (8)/Duty (7), Observe: 2#1d20 17 11
“People are the true strength of a Great House.”

1 Success, unless Constantly Watching applies.

[Kannon]

[Not this time, but an Advancement Point!]

As they lowered the altitude, the spotter stayed higher above. Dunes gained sharper lines, distinctions, precision to lines of shadows under their crests. But for the time being there was nothing, until...

"There. There!"

Aneirin turned the wing left. She could now see it. Dark dots on the sand. People?

[Cuyler Gray]

"What happened?" she asked with concern.

[Kannon]

"People, there. Can't say if Fremen or ours. They don't seem to be moving."

The second thopter reappeared on the left horizon. Some order was barked into Aneirin's helm. The man's scowl grew deep momentarily.

"They don't want us to investigate." He said gravely.

[Cuyler Gray]

"Do what you feel necessary, liuetenant." she said, still looking at the bodies.

[Kannon]

[Discipline 2, Constantly Watching applies, auto-pass]

Then Cuyler noticed that the returning thopter wasn't having the Harkonnen emblems, and adjusted flapwings for battle.

And that one figure on the ground actually tore up an started running, waving hands at the carryall.

[Cuyler Gray]

"That's not our escourt!" she shouted. "Watch out!"

She braced herself for what was certain to be a bumpy ride, regardless.

[Kannon]

Aneirin passed the news of hostile aircraft immediately to the remaining Harkonnen spotter, and hesitated for just one second seeing a survivor of some kind down there, but then turned the carryall sharply upward and poleward. Such a big aircraft couldn't keep low amid the dunes anyway. Lasgun shots went their direction from the non-descript thopter, missing. The spotter returned fire, but was equally inaccurate. It seemed nevertheless outmatched, being just a light support craft, not really meant for battle.

[Cuyler Gray]

"Tell me if there's anything I can do." she said, still holding tightly to her seat.

[Kannon]

"Hold fast and survive?" He said as he set the carryall on an upward spiral to avoid being shot. Whatever happened there, it looked the operation was forfeit in entirety. There was no harvester, no original carryall, just some men on the sand, victims, or maybe perpetrators? One spotter disappeared, and now even Lt. Aneirin's aircraft was in peril. "Or look through the port plaz and tell me what's going on!"

[Cuyler Gray]

"Yes sir." She turned her full attention to the task.

- - -
[D3, EE] Ride Along, Discipline (8)/Duty (7), Observe/Attention to Detail, Difficulty: ???: 2#1d20 12 7
3 successes

[Kannon]

The thopters were occupied with each other, both too fast to claim easy victory, though their flight path was more or less parallel to the caryall and the winner of that duel would decide their fate. But there was more. She actually heard it more than saw it. Some distant, background rhythm, then a slight change in composition of air, as if ozone was infused into it - it was almost imperceptible, her olfactory hyper-awareness surprised even her.

And then she saw it: a long dune rising toward the place where those people had been. Something huge, beyond comprehension, was rushing toward that spot just underneath the sand. It could only be one thing.

[Cuyler Gray]

"Moving towards those people, is that a worm?!?" She couldn't look away.

[Kannon]

"Yes." He said without looking through clenched teeth as he couldn't really release the handles as he barrelled. "Worms always come. And when they pass, nothing remains."

And then, she saw the terrible confirmation of those words. People were less than fruit flies to the gaping maw that emerged, armed with rows upon rows of silvery milky teeth that shone ominously in the descending sun before they collapsed on the spot where there had been bodies and the sole survivor. It was hard to tell how big the creature was, as it didn't fully surface, but the maw was in extent of almost 20 metres in diameter. It could swallow storied buildings, and certainly harvesters.

What hit Cuyler's nostril with unsuspected sharpness was the spice odour, raw, primal, unlike anything she'd ever smelled before, nauseating in its intensity, but in a way that led through euphoria. The beast was far from them, and still she felt it! The column of dust it created rose so high in the sky that it must have messed with the fighting thopters' controls, and certainly gave them a screen that helped them in escape.

[Cuyler Gray]

"Spice mélange... so pure..." she whispered.

She recovered from her reverie moments later. "Thank you, Lieutenant, for keeping us safe."