trans_9 | Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

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Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

There is a resounding mental alarum that sounds through the ship. Nearly "deafening." Lights flash from places for extra emphasis, making it impossible to ignore.

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel...||

It's entirely likely that she won't stop repeating the announcement until, well, everyone reports to Obs Deck. Outside the windows, a very Earth-like planet is visible, hanging in space. The mouth in the huge statue opens, revealing a screen. On it, the dossier for the mission flickers into display, understandable to every person there. Smaller copies of the dossier appear in holographic form in front of everyone.

The planet's stats, right next to a rotating holographic picture of it, marbled blue and green, are as follows:

Planet Designation: Earth-78734XM45
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens. [Various translations of "human" appear here so everyone understands it]
Water: 69.5% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Earth-like, in the throes of a mild nuclear winter [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Varied.
Air: Normoxic concentration. Slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue. Often overcast.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.

Warnings: Wildlife and plant-life can be hazardous. Humans can be hazardous. A human cultural and legal database is available. [click here]

Mission: Revive the spiritual entity at the North Pole.

--

Following that, there are various maps and things visible. The version of Earth this world is may be very recognizable to some, but vast cities dot its surface.

||Attention, podmates. Attention.||

Apparently Stacy wants their attention.

||It is critical that you pay attention at this time.||

A few people will be able to avoid the call by being in the right place at the right time, but most will be gathered up on Obs Deck.

[ooc: Organization Post | You can post into the gathering thread. I'll add more subthreads with explanations of aspects of the mission as we go. Note: If you don't have time to post to this mission briefing but still want to have your character in the plot, that's fine. You can just pretend they were there the whole time. If you DON'T want your characters to be in this plot altogether, however, don't have them in the briefing--Stacy could have missed snagging them.]

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"H-hey!" Okay, so maybe it wasn't as safe of a hiding place as he'd thought. At least he'd gotten the snowball-making done in the few undisturbed seconds he'd had.

Billy poked his head out for a moment, saw a flash of something that might have been the culprit, and retaliated with a snowball or three. You'll get yours soon, Marco, even if it's not from Billy or right now.

But one of those snowballs or three happened to head astray and... well..

The Chozo probably never thought Samus would need a windshield wiper for her visor. Brushing the snow off as best as she can is go.

With a snigger, Marco quickly scuttled back to avoid Billy's retaliation. But he then noticed the familiar suit of his Team Leader...(well, he hadn't actually seen Samus wear her suit yet. But he'd played enough Metroid games to be able to recognise it.)

He was so going to get pelted for this. But it would be worth it, so Marco didn't care. So he bent down to make a new snowball and hurled it at Samus.

Samus was far too busy to engage in childish activities such as snowball fights and did not throw any back.

...

She did, however, make full use out of her artillery. She switched to the ice beam and fired away. It was aimed at his feet, though, so while Marco himself wasn't frozen, there was now a nice large patch of the slippery stuff underneath him, which probably made it difficult to stand on.

Marco, meet snow. Snow, meet Marco. Because thanks to Samus, Marco was slipping on all that ice and going face-first to the ground.

There's an abrupt mini-snowstorm in Jamie's immediate area, as he's decided that the fastest way to be able to see again is to shake the snow loose. Now that's accomplished, he ducks behind a snowdrift and takes a moment to pack a proper snowball, then pops up to see who he can actually hit for a change.

He's just in time to see Marco fall, and winces a bit in spite of himself. Ouch.

But - it is Marco. Jamie can't resist, and hurls the snowball in that general direction. He will be nice, though, and wait until Marco is actually up and mobile before making the attempt.

Hi, Jamie! Have a tiny blonde person hiding behind the snowdrift with you, because she doesn't want any part of this giant snowball fight.

Rob has joined Wyn and Jamie behind the snowdrift, but he's grinning like a madman despite the fact that he's shivering.

"We're on a planet. A real planet. With real snow. And real cold. Oh my God this is amazing." He picks up a handful of snow and just lets it crunch and compress between his fingers.

Hello, people behind a snowdrift! Meet Aeneas. He is oh so happy to meet you.

"I know, is it not wonderful?" trilled the alien, head poking out from the mound, "Perhaps it would be better enjoyed if we teamed up?"

Back over with the boys, Dick squirmed and ducked his head down to try to keep the snow out of his jacket. It didn't work very well.

"That's it!" he shouts, grabbing some snow and trying to do the same to Jaime. And well aware that Tim's more likely to double team him than the Beetle. It was a sibling thing.

As long as she's not getting focus fired, Nanoha's aerial mobility makes it fairly easy to swerve around the occasional snowball thrown her way (even if she is shivering a bit from Aeneas' assault). In lieu of massive barrages, though, she's settled for single precision strikes - every so often, people down on the ground might find snow forming itself into a little plank and flinging itself at them. But it's from far enough away to give them plenty of time to dodge... usually, anyway.

Hey Nanoha, are you forgetting you're not the only one capable of flight around here?

"Sonic Move."

In a flash, Fate appeared behind the other girl, flinging a quickly-prepared snowball at her back. She was one who normally stood aside and watched things such as this, but the excitement was contagious!

Plus, it really wasn't fair for the others stuck on the ground. Fate was just trying to even the odds out a bit.

Edited 2009-12-28 23:52 (UTC)

Wyn just glances over at Robert and Aeneas, who she's now convinced are more than a little crazy. "I could do with a touch less of the cold and the snow, thanks." She's not really complaining, though, just because they're on a planet. She never thought she'd miss solid ground until she ended up on a ship where everything was unpleasantly squishy.

The snowball hit the top of her collar and the back of her neck, and even the enchantments on her Barrier Jacket didn't stop little bits of freezing moisture from trickling their way down her back - Nanoha yelped, turning around to face Fate. "H-hey! Whose side are you on?!"

"I'm just helping the disadvantaged team!" Fate said. And though she tried sounding serious, the playful tone in her voice made that a little hard.

"Flying isn't fair, you know."

And then....DEATH FROM ABOVE!

Namely Dani throwing snowballs while invisible in the air.

A special one for Fate for the flying isn't fair comment. Just cause.

"Teaming up might not be a bad idea," Jamie muses. Especially after seeing Aeneas in action - he'd be a good one to have on a team.

And while he privately agrees with Wyn on the cold, he's not about to say so out loud. "Wyn, ye just need to warm up a little and ye won't feel it. Ye can throw snowballs, or..." He scootches a little closer with a mischievous grin on his face, arms outstretched as if to offer a hug.

He's still utterly coated in snow, mind you.

Edited 2009-12-29 02:46 (UTC)

It was a fickle use of magic.

It was one grossly huge snowball.

But Matt, since landfall, had gleefully rolled the biggest damn snowball known to mankind. Straining with the magical force, he he hefted the giant thing high in the air with air magic.

"IT'S DOOFING TIME!" he roared, making a ripping motion with his hands as the snowball exploded into a shower of wet snow, several headed for the flying mage who he gave a grin to.

Nanoha was about to argue back to Fate when she saw Dani's snowballs come out of nowhere, two of which were aimed at her and Fate, respectively. And while she raised a hand to shield her face - the snowball exploded against her forearm - she didn't call out to warn Fate, whose back was turned to the source of the attacks. It'd serve her right!

Of course, she wasn't looking at the giant snowball Matt was rolling, either.

Without a warning, Dani's snowball hit it's target, dead-center in her back. Luckily, the long white cape of Fate's Barrier Jacket guarded her from the cold of the snow, but she still felt the hit, and she whipped around to see where the attack had come from.

... Then, of course, she heard Matt's yell, and saw the rather large snowball heading straight for them. Without warning Nanoha, Fate flew back, well out of range of the cannonball-like projectile.

Serves her right.

Matt was doing his best impression of an Evil Overlord as he watched the giant snowball aiming for Nanoha. She'd probably doof him with a snowball later, but with a spin of magic, he launched himself into the air, a rounded snowball flying free for a random target.

Aeneas still only had his head and neck protruding from his improvised snow fortress, which had served to keep him safe from most of the attacks thus far. Not completely of course, but it was satisfactory.

And he was clearing out the inside with his tail to make room for extra inhabitants.

"I will have to agree with—Jamie McCrimmon, yeah?" Aeneas blinked, vaguely remembering the human male from his experience at the Observation Deck (http://community.livejournal.com/trans_9/208483.html), "If you move around you should stay warm."

And, of course, exchanging body heat was still a viable option.

Then Aeneas said something that he, in living memory, never remembered even muttering in passing:

"Here, I have a plan."

The creature's eyes creased with an enthusiastic smile before he disappeared inside his cleared-out tunnel. Should the others investigate, they would find that the makeshift burrow extended well under the surface ice, branching out in all directions underneath the battlefield.

This was how the alien was getting around. And by this point he was already gone.

...Rest assured, there was very little chance of the tunnels collapsing—and if they did, they weren't that far from the surface that the victim couldn't dig themselves out. In any case, the original hub should be enough of a hiding spot for Aeneas's teammates to camp out and avoid the larger onslaughts.

In the meantime, the blue alien had appeared somewhere behind Matt Olsen and was probably able to stuff a significant amount of snow down his jacket before he flew into the air (and, consequently, managed to hit Aeneas in the chest a few times before he escaped into the tunnels).

Nanoha never had a chance. The snow cannon crashed into her from behind, sending her reeling - and before she could right herself, she crashed to the ground in a snow bank... and after a moment's pause, sat up coughing, and thoroughly covered in white powder from her auburn hair to the shoes of her Barrier Jacket.

Why was she wearing a skirt - even a long one - anyway? This was freezing!

Tim laughs and tries to roll Dick away from Jaime. He hasn't quite come to the point of stuffing snow down people's shirts yet, but if Jaime wants to give it another shot...

Wyn scoots away from Jamie as fast as he can scoot towards her, holding her arms out to forestall any hugging that might happen. "No, no, no, the sharing body heat plan only works when the people sharing aren't covered in snow!"

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bonnypiperlad - 2009-12-30 08:59 (UTC) - Expand

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