Dive dive dive!

The ship rocked back and forth as it cut through the clouds, turbulence disturbed the massive aircraft. It was merely some annoyance to the ship and it continued to shoot through the sky, heading with great speed to its destination. Rocket had sat down in the many sits that the ship offered, he was strapped down to his seat quite tightly but he didn't complain a single bit about it. It didn't bother him honestly and was a familiar feeling that he actually welcomed, something about being strapped down and held into place made him feel a lot more comfortable than not. Perhaps because he knew he would be a lot more safer in his current situation, or because he knew whatever waited ahead for him in the core is a lot more dangerous than everything else he had encountered as of recently. He wouldn't be wrong to feel that way, it was still uncharted territory for skire. The core held many new challenges and dangers that no one else had experienced, the whole thing was a new discovery for every scientist and alike. Most dismissed the whole thing, concluding that it was far more dangerous to look into, that it didn't really offer anything new other than horror beyond their comprehension and it wasn't worth to explain further in their opinion. While others, that they considered to be either insane or completely stupid had decided that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they weren't going to miss it because it offered a few dangers, no new scientific discoveries came with no risks or consequences. Whoever dares to say that it is untrue is lying straight to your face and Rocket knew that very well, he was on the other end of the discovery. Him being the new thing that scientist's wanted to dig into and figure out how he functioned and moved.

Before Rocket could be dragged back to his hellish past once again, the ship rocked him out of his thought process. Recognizing that they were about to land very soon. It was basically a six sense for him at that point due to the many missions he had gone through when he was in the military, the familiarity of this whole ordeal was honestly going to make him sick. He was starting to genuinely dislike being reminded of the many horrible missions and drills that he had done through, it wasn't time to be thinking about things like this anyway, he needed to snap out of it. This radio cracked with static that got his full attention, without hesitation he placed two of his fingers onto the ear piece that he had placed in his ear earlier when he was preparing for the mission. The pilot of the ship had informed him that they were going to prepare to land right now and Rocket simply responded with a " Copy that. " as he awaited for them to descend into the pre planned spot. It was an area that was cleared out for such a massive air craft to land into, the chaotic and unforgiving nature of the core required preparation like these so anyone could even step foot into it without getting injured or killed the minute that they stepped foot into the core. The land was unstable at best, brittle and fragile at worst. The simplest movement could make it crumble with no second thought or regard to whoever might be treading it carefully, it didn't care, the core simply didn't care about your life nor intentions. If it wanted to swallow you whole, it would.

The air craft landed with what most would consider a shaky landing but they were in one piece still so there were no complaints. Rocket had disarmed his seat belt and strap as soon as he had gotten the green light from the pilot, he quickly grabbed and put on his gear, holding his rifle with both hands before he stood at the front of the loading bay. Without even the faintest hint of hesitation, Rocket spoke with such confidence and assertiveness " Shape up everyone and listen carefully to what I'm about to say. I'm commender Rocket, I will be the one guiding you today onto this exploration and research expedition. As you already know we are on the core of the planet, an unforgiving and gnarly place so I don't have to explain to you why you need to be at your best performance today in case anything happens. We stick to groups of three at the lowest, do not wonder away from the team no matter what. If you see something and want to take a closer look, you call it out and go in only when you have a team. My job is to make sure that this expedition goes as smoothly as possible but I can't guarantee anyone's safety or return, act stupid out there and you will become a fossil trapped in ichor forever. Do I make myself completely clear? " he finished off, the confidence and years of experience oozing out of him. It was very clear that he knew what he was talking about.

Rocket led his team into the core, dead vegetation and shattered ground was mostly what they were seeing. Ichor infested lands and oceans opened up to them the further they went. He could see what the ichor has been doing to whatever life had survived down here, though it didn't seem like it would take the ichor very long to snuff out whatever is left of it. Rocket had signaled for a team to come over to where he was so they could sample some of the weird vegetation that he was observing and what seemed to be the remains of a freshly infected small animal that was unfortunate enough to be touched by the ichor. The whole point of the expedition was to find and rather as many ichor samples as possible so it could be studied, they wanted to limit the number of trips taken here as well due to many skires losing their lives to the ichor so they had to grab as much as they possibly could before leaving. Long term exposure even with protective gear wasn't recommended at all and Rocket was very strict when it came to these things, it is why he came completely prepared for this mission. The best protective gear he had was worn for this reason. He had promised his lover that he would come back unharmed, not a single scratch or he was going to kill him. The thought of his lover lighten his mood slightly but he was still on full alert, he couldn't afford to get distracted. Not at a time like this, he held onto his rifle tighter as he scanned the area again while his team were still working in the background to collect more samples. He could hear them chatter and discuss things with each other, he was giving them 10 more minutes before he has to make the decision to continue further or return with the current samples that they have gathered. The situation seemed to be stable and no threats seemed to be surrounding them except the unwelcoming atmosphere.