Thaddos hadn't accepted his predicament yet, refusing to believe that all he held sacred and dear was gone. So, to lessen the, for a lack of better word, ache in his bionic heart, he had done something foolish, something organic.

He had made his way to the sensoriums, and called up something that reminded him of home. A titan of the Legio Victorum. An Imperator Titan, foe slayer, a god amongst mere men.

He stroked the dented metal of the titan reverently, his mechadendrites being for once still.

( To hell with Batman! )


((ooc: One thread would be nice so that Dustin doesn't have to explain and/or experience the same things more than once.))

Nanoha and Fate hadn't returned yet. This really worried Vivio - did something happen to them? She didn't want to go down that route, not yet. Not now.

What worried her even more was what that hooded man had told her - that there was something on this ship and that Nanoha wanted to help deal with it.

Nanoha-mama's still weak after helping rescue me. She'll drain herself if dives head first into this! Vivio thought. She still had no idea about the condition Nanoha was in; she was just going by what she remembered before being taken on board, and that was all she needed to know.

Finding the sensorium, Vivio curiously peeked in, then stepped inside, looking around the bland and empty room. She had heard about what these rooms could do and figured this would be a good place as any to do what she needed to do: train.

"Uh... excuse me, Stacy? Do you think you could bring something up so I could train, please?" Vivio called out. As if on cue, Vivio watched as the room transformed into something else - the throne room inside Saint's Cradle. The little girl blinked as she saw someone else appear - herself, or more specifically, herself as the Saint Kaiser. "This... wasn't what I had in mind." Before she could reconsider, Sacred Heart patted her shoulder and nodded in confidence. It knew whatever happened, Vivio could overcome it. "...you think I can, Kris?" With a big smile forming, she reached over and took her Device into her hands. "Alright, let's see what we can do! Sacred Heart, set up!"

In a matter of moments, a white light enveloped the girl as magic completely altered her. As the light died down, the child was gone, replace by a near-mirror image of her opponent, with the exception of the Barrier Jacket - instead of black, it was the same white and blue that Nanoha's was.

"Alright. It's time for me to spread my wings. For everyone on this ship!" Vivio said, the two women charging forward as they began their fight.

Bobby had been looking for the medlab for the better part of an hour. He was tired, irritated, and well he didn't like this ship anymore. He leaned against the wall, stopping for a moment to try to get his bad mood under control. Jean was on board the ship, and he hadn't seen her in what, a year? Two? He shook his head and took a deep breath. Pushing off the wall he started moving again.

When he found the medlab he smiled brightly and burst into the room. Looking around frantically, he wanted to see the bright red hair, the bright smile, those emerald green eyes. He felt his heart pounding in his chest even as his voice called out.

"Jean? Jeanie? Anyone seen a red head psychic around here?" He laughed a bit and continued to smile and search the medlab.

Wedge had been shocked, to say the least, to find out that one, his universe was probably gone, and two, that he had been conscripted into the war against those responsible. He had taken some time to think it over, and now that he'd managed to accept what was going on and fight down the rage and despair that Wes, Tycho, Iella...all his friends might be gone, he'd moved onto the next very important issue. Finding his ship and his astromech. R5-G8 (or Gate as Wedge called him) had been pretty easy to find, stored with several other droids in the clutter of the possessions bay. Then it was time for the fighter. He had made his way to the vehicle bay and been a little surprised by the low gravity. He left Gate out in the corridor, then pushed off into the bay himself. He drifted amongst the amazing variety of starfighters, shuttles, and even spotted what looked like a small frigate. It had been quite the relief when he'd found his X-wing, along with what seemed to be twenty-three matching craft in the shadow of a larger ship. He ran his hands across the hull, amazed. It was his fighter, alright. Right down to the kill markers and the Rogue Squadron markings. He had to smile, despite himself.

"At least there's something familiar here..." He sighed.

Today had been ... unusual. Picard's normal speakeasy was now quite obviously serving coffees and teas of various sorts instead of alcohol, but that certainly wasn't the oddity to which he was referring. It was in fact expected, given his desire for a cup of tea and a moment or three to relax in. What surprised him was the company. It was, to say the least, not company he expected to ever have again.

He occasionally turned a glance over Shinzon, wondering just what to say to him. After all, they'd hardly had time to simply enjoy a friendly chat between the whole issue of Shinzon trying to kill him, and Picard trying to not die. It made for a somewhat awkward reunion, despite the captain's stance on second chances aboard the ship. Thankfully, he got even more of a distraction.

"Oh, good, our drinks have arrived," he said glibly, smiling at the waitress and thanking her as she brought the pot and glasses for them. He poured the glasses for himself and Shinzon both, passing one of the cups to the young man after he was done.

"I imagine you have other questions you don't feel like asking among a crowd," he said, taking his first sip.

They’ve done it. They’ve succeeded. They’ve, quite literally, saved the whole holiday season. All of the good will and cheer, the joy – it’s spreading. It’s taken hold on this world and it’s spreading. All over the planet, people are stopping in their daily lives, turning away from some small task to help others who are in need or simply to provide that helping hand that is so often needed. It’s something that hasn’t been seen on this planet in a long, long time.

What’s more, people are logging off of the net. They’re stepping away from their consoles and spending time with their families, friends they haven’t actually seen face-to-face in months or weeks. It’s a wonderful holiday season for this Earth this year.

All of this outpouring of joy and charity has its effect. As it spreads over the world, it focuses something on that portal. It pulls something into the world. There is a flash of colored lights, a sensation of something breezing past the crew and the rolling, deep sound of a pleasant, excited laugh. Those astute enough might catch the glimpse of something that vaguely resembles an old man shooting off into the sky. Then again, it might just be a trick of the light.

And then it is gone, dispersing across this planet called Earth.

((Bendytimed - after the holiday plot))

It had taken Rhiow several hours to find the City Nanoha had told her about. There were maps, certainly, but the entire place seemed to be biased toward creatures that were at least five feet tall. They were certainly too high up for Rhiow to read, so she had worked by guessing and asking directions as she went.

She was almost getting tired of the reactions she got from the crew - reactions that had been almost uniformly shocked at the talking cat. Rhiow hadn't quite had the heart to explain the Speech yet - she was too busy enjoying the expressions she evoked.

Nanoha had told her she would help Rhiow with the air walking spell, which seemed to be the the easiest thing to start with, but Rhiow didn't see her yet, so she decided to try to sidle once again.

She made her way to a relatively clear space - the City was almost comforting, in that it reminded her of New York, but it was chilling at the same time, since New York had never been this empty. When she found a suitable spot, she sat down to examine the structure of the hyperstrings about Stacy.

They moved, that was the unsettling part. Rhiow wasn't sure if it was because the ship moved through space, or because she was outside her home universe and the laws were fundamentally different here, but the strings never stayed still for longer than a few moments. They bent and twisted around each other, swirled through the air like so many fireflies. Rhiow spared a brief moment to think how awfully difficult it would be to maintain a worldgate here and then reached out a paw to 'grab' one of the strings.

The familiar tingle of energy shot up her leg and Rhiow pulled a short breath of relief to see that they still behaved the same way there before she attempted to slide her body between them. Her paw disappeared up to the elbow, and then the strings moved and she was forced to yank it back again, her whiskers flattening in disgust. This is going to be harder than I thought.