Kellin and Gypsy exited the Hutch and wandered left the moment they passed the area the pedestal would usually raise from. It was currently still dormant and would remain hidden underground until they approached, as all Life Hutch did. It was an attempt by the Empire to at keeping the location somewhat secret if someone or something not affiliated with them happened upon the disguised entrance.

Their first goal, or Kellin's, was to get a highground position to scout and confirm their location and surroundings. In his experience, getting far enough away from a cliffside like where the Hutch was built into was necessary so that they could eventually head upward and circle back around.

-...just think Captain Finnel should be more cautious...- came the continuous rambling from his AI friend, Gypsy consistently being a nervous wreck since they'd left the safety of the immediate area around the Life Hutch.

Her first goal was clearly getting him to turn around, especially since they were a bit... unused to their current equipment set-up. Once they'd chosen equipment and begun practicing, the function of combining weapons immediately made itself apparent in an... interesting fashion, if Kellin had to put a word to it.

The sword that had been strapped to their suit's back prior had been assimilated into the entire left arm, giving the outside of it a razor sharp edge that broke apart and met at the elbow and allowing them to extend a single, foot and a half long blade out from above the knuckles of their gauntlet. The blade seemed to hum with a blue energy and he could faintly feel a stronger reaction every time he sent [Energy] to that area.

The pistols were different. The moment they [Equipped], he felt the weight from the holsters on his hips disappear. It took him a while to find out what had happened to the guns, eventually realizing that whenever he decided he wanted to pull the [Pistol] out, all he had to do was flick his right wrist or think about the gun and it would build itself from the arm of his suit within less than a second, directly into his right hand. No holster needed.

It looked damn cool to watch it build itself, if Kellin was being honest, and he'd done it nearly five times until Gypsy admonished him for all the noise it was making. Staring at the gun itself was just as perplexing as first seeing it appear out of his Combat Suit, though. It looked identical to the original [Pistol] he'd had before, but clearly was not. The only thing that made him even realize it wasn't the hand cannon .50 cal he'd been playing with just an hour prior was the fact that it too gave off a faint reaction whenever he input some [mana] into it, though like the opposite with the blade, he couldn't input [Energy]. Gypsy had rattled off the [Stats] of both their weapons already, but the gist was that they both had lesser forms of the [Wave] ability and did about the same damage.

The blade itself being rooted into his entire left arm felt restrictive in its use, but being able to have his hands free until he needed or wanted a weapon without having to draw them was a definite boon. It was already making moving around the forest easier he thought, finding climbing over or around logs, rocks, or dense brush not a hassle at all with both his hands unoccupied.

As such, the first few minutes was entirely smooth sailing. The only thing mildly concerning him so far in the scant few hundred feet they'd been trekking east was just how dense the forest was, and how many massive trees he kept having to climb over in the relatively dense forest.

Shaking his head, Kellin finally found a spot on the slope to their left that was at least manageable, a game trail of some kind, as they began to travel upward. The area was filled with birds and other noises, the soft din they created the background music to their foray into the woods. That and Gypsy's occasional comment were the only things he could hear other than their footsteps.

"Hey Gyps, would you like to take over movement?" he asked idly, interrupting another one of her thoughts on why they should take at least two-weeks to further settle into things before doing anything and how people always got hurt back when doing scouting missions on planet surfaces.

In fact, she'd been picking apart the Empire's standard practices for a while now, talking about efficiency and much, much safer ways to do things. Explaining how basing their strategy off his knowledge could be a death sentence... It was the most Kellin had heard the AI talk ever since they'd gotten to Terranis.

-Request Captain Finnel uses silent communication,- came the fast response, causing him to roll his eyes.

-Would you like to handle movement, Gyps? It might help you with control while I'm not in the suit,- he sent after a moment.

It felt strange, communicating like that. Especially with the suit [Equipped]. Like he was speaking to the back of his mind, though more like a place set directly behind where his skull should be in the helmet.

-Negative. AI would prefer Individual adept at handling motor control remains in constant charge of movement in such terrain-

Kellin nodded and rolled his eyes, though he'd expected about that response.

-Well, it's the fact that it's complicated terrain that makes it a viable learning opportunity,- he sent back, but when she chose not to respond he shrugged and continued. -I'm not sure why you're so worried. Nothing is going wrong so far. We haven't fallen, seen any creatures other than harmless animals. Nothing bad at all yet. Granted it's only been about fifteen minutes since we set off, but-

-Making note of fact that nothing bad has happened only points out that the statistical chance it will happen soon is increasing with each passing second,- came an interruption.

Another minute later, the uphill flattened out a bit and Kellin turned left to walk along the break in the slope, on the backside of the impromptu rectangle he was creating with their path. There were still quite a few trees as they were relatively low on the base of the mountain, but he managed to find a rock outcropping that was rather devoid of plant-life and made his way over to it. In the mental map he was making, they should be just about right over, if not a bit past the entrance to their Hutch.

The rocks all seemed a bit loose and if it extended all the way down the slope to the tall cliff their Hutch was set in, it would be a nasty fall. Still, many were relatively large and there looked to be plenty of dirt and small weeds here and there, so Kellin took a tentative step onto the closest flat rock. When nothing happened, he hopped up and down lightly, receiving no sign it was even a little off-balanced. With a shrug and two beeps of displeasure from Gypsy, Kellin began making his way across the rocks and looking down from the vantage point.

The valley below them was like nothing he'd ever seen planetside in Sector 5. Hills, valleys, mountains rising in the distance... all so green he thought it was a bit overwhelming. He'd never seen so many large, healthy trees in one spot before, or winged creatures that must rival them in size. He could only estimate as they were what seemed like at least a hundred miles away, but the fact that he could make out details of their... four or so wings meant they must be massive. He was a bit glad for how small and insignificant they must look against the backdrop of the large mountain, beginning to think that maybe staying under the canopy wasn't such a bad idea.

Watching for a few seconds and concluding they hadn't been spotted, Kellin turned his attention back to the terrain. The river they'd crossed was to his right and about a couple of miles or five out, he couldn't really judge the distance accurately from here. Further than that was where they'd met the Savul in combat, able to make out the hill they'd crested over on their mad dash away and to safety. His internal compass told him it was south-west while he was to the north-east, if where he'd crossed the water was the center point.

Turning left a bit, his attention turned further to the east where-

"Woah!" Kellin exclaimed, a rock below their left boot giving way as he stepped down a bit awkwardly onto it while pivoting.

The left knee of the suit contacted the dirt beneath where the rock had been as Kellin steadied things and began to stand, dusting off any brown clinging to their knee.

"Guess I should look where I'm-"

-If Captain Finnel is not planning on being cautious, AI will take over movement so as to not get ourselves killed due to lack of care,- came an irritated voice.

"Yeah, that's my bad. Still, nothing to be worried about, see?" he said, motioning at the rocks he'd kicked down the hillside having stopped rolling a few feet away. "Not even a small landslide. We're fine. Probably wouldn't have tumbled far. Take control whenever you want, though," he finished, steadying his stance and staring back out east.

The landscape was much the same in that direction, able to slightly follow the break in trees where the river went until the forest seemed to begin to thin out. Far in the distance he could see other mountains and a vast, massive, open valley with spurts of treelines popping up here and there, points where that valley disappeared and reappeared what looked like miles on the other side of huge chasms. Incidentally, that's where most of the aerial beasts were concentrated, making the top of his do not approach list for now.

In contrast to the absolute, domineering forestry to his right and forward of their position, it looked like he was staring at two different worlds.

The star far above their heads, usually designated as the sun of the planet, was as standard as could be and he could feel its energy warming them, the heat giving a bit more than just a warm fuzzy feeling all over his body. He contemplated if it was weird that he could still feel the sun on the suit as if it were against his skin, but ultimately opted not to stress on that much.

Taking one last mental picture, Kellin brought his eyes back to their immediate surroundings and turned right. West, to the other side of the rock outcropping until it met with a line of trees signaling the beginning of the forest once again on the mountainside. A short excursion so far, but they needed more information other than what was miles away. He wanted to know what was around their home. What had created that game trail, why there didn't seem to be any animals on the way out in this direction, and why there were so many fallen trees.

Nothing had gone wrong and based on how he felt, nothing would either. After all, they'd done this plenty of times before, as he'd reminded Gypsy of earlier. Sometimes experience really did make a difference.

Taking a step toward the treeline, the right boot of the suit descended onto a relatively flat rock that remained firmly in place as they made their way across the remaining outcropping at a brisk pace.