Percival Phoenix and the Strangers from Afar

[cityship]

From the surface of a small planet, uninhabited by any sentient life and given only a cursory name by a single deep space exploration team before they moved on to chart bigger, more study-worthy phenomena, a signal pulsed forth at intervals. Like the heart of a hibernating animal, it was faint, slow, and unheard. For many years, it waited.

Until one day, by chance, a large ship, itself possessed with a kind of strange, alien life, found itself within range of that heartbeat.

Saturnus IV was a planet that supported life, though none of the sentient variety; animals roamed its forests, plants grew lush and green. But the area that the signal had emanated from was in the middle of one of its largest strips of barren land -- a place where little grew but scrubby alien brush, and little moved but small, unimposing invertebrates.

It was this vast expanse of rock and sandy soil that the away team would be sent to investigate.

[If the current thread consists of more than 3 or 4 people, don't sweat the order too much and just post as it makes sense. Feel free to make up details about the holosimulation setting, like... idk, lizards or alien skeletons.]

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FIRST AWAY TEAM (Anwei, Lash, Sakura, Zouichi)

[cityship]

[Just exploring the planet and tracking down the signal. As they near the source, the brainwashing will slowly come into play and the landscape will shift around them until it becomes a holographic landscape.]

RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[cityship]

The great expanse of barren soil that had greeted the first away team was now nowhere to be found -- rather, as the rescue team came in for their landing, they'd find themselves approaching a great patch of strange, alien moonscape, completely different from the landscape of the rest of the planet.

Great rock formations loomed up toward the violet sky; three moons circled the sky overhead. And in the distance, ominous grey stormclouds gathered around a massive mountain, striking the earth with brilliant flashes of lightning.

[Feel free to snark and react to the weird surroundings. Anwei, Sakura, and Zouichi will appear at the tail end.]

LASH, MISTRESS OF EVIL (Everyone, but especially Lash)

[cityship]

[Lash makes her entrance, and Sakura is kidnapped!]

Re: FIRST AWAY TEAM (Anwei, Lash, Sakura, Zouichi)

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Well, at least the ship had let him bring his gun this time. Whether that boded for good or ill remained to be seen, but he'd rather be with it than without it when and if the deux ex machina dinosaurs appeared. And Anwei had proven herself to be a reliable pilot during the last mission. So there was nothing to worry about, right? Right.

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Upon seeing the surroundings, Howard's even more agitated and baffled as to why Stacy dragged him onto this mission. His set of mission-worthy skills is already limited, but most of them deal with some sort of civilization, not a desolate crater-filled wasteland that looks a little bit like Death Valley but purple-themed. At least Chase is a combatant and That Kid in the Blue looks like he knows his way around that big creepy bug suit of his.

Besides, he's just a tiny bit worried about Zouichi. Even if Zou's totally capable of taking care of himself, that doesn't mean Stacy wouldn't leave without him. Anwei and Sakura, too, and whomever that other chick is that he doesn't know. It hasn't helped his mood.

"Is it storming? Of course it's storming," he mutters, not stepping out of the shuttle until Chase and Jaime go first. "This looks like a great spot to get eaten by subterranean worms or find an evil Mars Rover, guys."

Re: FIRST AWAY TEAM (Anwei, Lash, Sakura, Zouichi)

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Anwei carefully maneuvered the shuttle away from Stacy, trying not to let the tension in her neck and jaw translate into sloppy handling of the controls. At least this time there wasn't going to be any negotiating, because there was no one to negotiate with. Just find whatever was outputting the signal, identify it, decide if it should be turned off or brought back, and then leave.

Stacy was a great black-green blot against the stars behind them; ahead of them was the planet, swirled with cloud and with no lights showing on the dark half. They should land with plenty of sunlight, plenty of time to explore. No rush. Really. Everything would be fine. Sure.

Her knuckles were white until she consciously relaxed her grip.

"Everyone tied down?" she asked the cabin at large. "Re-entry can be bumpy; depends on the weather patterns over where we're landing."

[thewunderkind]

"I'm ready, let's go, let's go!" After being turned back into her normal form, Lash had had a lot of things to think about and people she made out with. Being called to a mission would let her concentrate on other things, which she could completely appreciate. The wunderkind had brought weapons with her, a sniper rifle tucked close to her looking almost as large as the girl herself.

The excitement at the fact this looked to be an operation with only three people including herself had made her more looking forward to it. She was that special! This was the greatest thing ever! Sure it was only going to find something, but should monster aliens pop out, she was armed and ready to kick some ass. It had been a while.

So while the ship descended, Lash began to hum a song.

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"Party doesn't start until the subterranean worms show up." Chase replies back with a casual grin. He's been itching to get off the ship and go planetside, preferably for something dangerous, for a while, just to get the blood moving.
That something has happened to Anwei and some others isn't promising - but as usual, he's pretty sure he can handle it.

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[azulescarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Just stick close to us and it'll be fine," Jaime reassured Howard. He had to wonder why Howard had been picked for a rescue mission, considering that he didn't seem to have any particular skills or fighting abilities. Still, it was Stacy's call. Not his.

"That's weird. I'm not picking them up on my DNA scanner. But they have to be near by, right? Maybe something on the planet is messing with it." A pause.

"What is this, Star Trek?"

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Uh huh," Howard says to Jaime, sounding like he's heard that before. "I'll just hide behind Chase if and when the bad guys come at us. He's big enough cover."

He looks around at the landscape again, squinting at the storm cloud. Knowing their luck, that's exactly where they're headed. "Not necessarily. They could have been whisked out of here, teleported or whatever. For all we know it's Sand People or there's a big green pipe that leads to Candy Koopa somewhere in this wasteland."

He checks the communicator Zouichi gave him back on Epicurea. Nothing. It's not communicating with its other half. And that abandoned shuttle does not look like a good sign. Howard wonders if it's a sixth sense or just general paranoia that gives him a sense of the willies looking at it.

"Either of you guys want to poke your head in the shuttle? Would've been nice if they left a note."

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Chase slings Truck Stop off his back, just resting the oversized hammer over a shoulder. "Yeah, I'll take a look." he agrees, heading that way without hesitation. "I'll give you an all clear once I check it out if you guys want to look around." Seeing as, even if they left a message of some sort, he wouldn't be able to read it.

"Guessing we might not want to hang out too long though. That storm'll destroy any tracks... single file or no." he adds, in response to the Sand People bit.

[encourage]

Tied down? Yes. Okay. She thought so. As far as she knew. Sakura probably looked like the least enthusiastic person here, but it was for good reason. She'd never done re-entry in anything other than Sta'c K'ltrrb'txft's deck attachment, and while that was certainly strange enough, this added a level of independent terror she wasn't willing to admit to.

"Yes," was her only reply to Anwei's inquiry.

She was focusing on Lash's humming even as she told herself there was no reason to hold on so securely to her seat. In the end, if they were going to crash and die in a metal-whatever trap from the bowels of the hangar, holding on would do very little to dtave off the inevitable dead part.

She shut the pessimistic thoughts out, and started mentally naming individual nerves in the human nervous system, and the functions they supposedly controlled. Lovely book, that one on nervous systems she'd been reading to go to sleep at 'night.'

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi glanced over at Sakura, noticing her apprehension and reaching over the aisle to touch her shoulder with one hand -- gently, he didn't want to startle her. "We'll be fine," he said. "Trust me. Anwei could pilot one of these things while she was being chased by man-eating dinosaurs."

Joking was good, right? Joking kept your mind off things.

"Besides, at least this way we don't have to worry about the ship sneezing us out into outer space or something."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"That would be the worst allergic reaction ever," Anwei said, turning the shuttle's nose to point away from the sun. She wanted to land with the light behind her.

"Don't worry, Sakura, I've done this hundreds of times." In the simulator, but no need to mention that. "We'll be on the ground in fifteen minutes."

The upper edges of the atmosphere were starting to thrum against the frame of the shuttle, making it vibrate with a near-subliminal buzz. The diamond-hard stars were starting to soften as the air thickened around them, and the wide curve of the planet slowly swelled as she slowed, braking.

[thewunderkind]

The worries of the ship washing away as they went closer and closer to the planet, Lash fidgeted in her seat, unable to stand in place for long periods of time.

"Don't worry, nothing bad can happen," she said with a very self confident look, before grinning a little. "You know, except the fact if we get attacked by the Ohm, the ship explodes, they forget us in the planet and so on..."

Truthfully, Lash didn't think any of those could happen right now. She was just being a terrible person.

"But I bet this mission is going to be quick, painless, and easy and we'll be back in time for more of that tasteless slop in no time."

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[azulescarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Go for it. I'll keep an eye out here." Jaime rises into the air, trying to get a better view of. . .whatever this place is.

[encourage]

Lash's list of potentials did the most to make Sakura stop focusing on what could go wrong, not even because she was listing the impossible, but because she was saying them out loud. Besides, three people trying in various ways to be reassuring was three people more than needed.

She smiled, looking to Zouichi first. "I don't think we'd have to worry about that anyway. If the ship was going to sneeze, with the amount we're talking about it any any given time, we'd have all been spaced a long time ago."

She had no idea what he was talking about when it came to dinosaurs, but given context, they were some kind of predatory species. Belatedly she realized her own response might not make sense. Glancing at Lash, Sakura gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "The slop's not entirely tasteless. Just mostly."

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard follows Chase, rather than be left just standing on the ground like an open target. The shuttle looks fine, at least from the outside. If anything got them, it was after they touched down and probably when they left the shuttle.

What could take down a ninja, a synthetic human, a Living People and whatever Lash was? Either something very fast, or something that didn't attack with physical attacks.

Howard presses an ear to the ground. Nothing. He gets back up. "You see anything in there, Thor?"

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Chase, on the other hand, seems entirely at ease with this situation. Mysterious disappearances? Abandoned shuttles? Something that overcame the four former members of the crew? Howard as his primary backup?

None of it seems to concern him much. He does go a little more into stealth mode - surprisingly good at it for someone that big, as he enters the shuttle - but there's not a lot of looking out to do.

"Well, you might want to check the readouts and stuff." Seeing as he can't. "Just in case they left some sign of what took 'em out... but no one home here."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi... does actually get the sneezing joke. More importantly, Sakura's distracted. Hopefully long enough for them to land.

"Someone had me taste it the other day, despite me not needing to eat. I found it fascinating how a dish made of so many disparate ingredients could be so comparatively bland and featureless. It's a true achievement in culinary engineering."

1/2

[thewunderkind]

Lightning cracked in the sky! Thunder boomed! Some random creature in the back spontaneously combusted! Two or three bombs exploded sending out a cloud of liquid smoke! Stolen but completely fitting theme music filled their ears!

The perfect time for someone to make her entrance. So she did, the cape swishing dramatically as her hair, standing at six feet tall, an arm raised to the sky. Those watching her feet closely might have noticed she was wearing hovering boots.



"Ha ha ha ha! Ahahahahaha! Hah ha ha ha---" Oh woops she nearly tripped there, stupid cape.

"--I meant to do that....AHHa ha ha haaaaHAAA!" There we go. Dressed in reds, black and gold, the wunderkind looked...well there honestly wasn't much of a difference than what she usually acted like, apart from the drastic change in wardrobe and height.

"FOOLS! Your defeat brings sweet music to my ears!" Lighting and thunder boomed again. "I, Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO have personally come to reveal in my most glorious victory! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!" She adjusted her cape and swooshed it on her back again, rising upwards in the air. "Soon, this world will tremble between my minions and my fists! So! Give up now, Percival Phoenix! The battle is already lo--"

2/2

[thewunderkind]

The great doctor looked around at the assembled cast and looked completely confused. The theme music was shut off.

"Wait a minute...you guys aren't Percival! Where the hell is that irritating self-proclaimed hero? Shouldn't he be here? He's always here. He's the one who is supposed to crush my plans! I mean..I'm supposed to crush him! Ha ha ha ha...no really where is he."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

The clouds rolled up over them, which meant that they could no longer see the ground rising up to greet them. The instruments showed flat plain; rock or hard-packed sand, suitable for landing on. The clouds sizzled against the hot skin of the shuttle as Anwei throttled back further on the engines, letting them slow even further, trying to catch that magic moment when their soar became a fall.

Just in time they were under the cloud deck and the sand-drab ground was swelling up around them. She cut the speed again - again - and now the ground was visibly rushing past them, long dashes of shadow against the dust streaming from the rough sickly bushes. She let the engines drop into reverse and felt the long slow moan of deceleration shake them all in their seats.

With a final fillip, she twisted the shuttle ninety degrees, pointing the engines at the nearest hill - giving them a little extra push-off for the departure if necessary. And they were down.

"Touchdown," she said, loosening her grip with an inner wince - the controls' raised-grip texture was marked red across her palms. "Welcome to nowhere."

[thewunderkind]

"That was fun!" Lash commented, undoing her fastenings and nearly jumping on the ship's floor with an excited glee. "Let's go find whatever we're supposed to be finding!" She hadn't really listened much to the mission when Stacy had talked about it, truthfully. Lash was simply too excited to be here.

For dramatic effect, she cocked her gun. You know, just to make sure you knew she was there. Armed and ready.

[encourage]

Oh, good, she could start breathing regularly again. Sakura wasn't too far behind Lash with getting out of what she considered sensible restraints. She straightened her flak vest, checking her thigh wrap and the kunai held there.

One of these days, she was really going to need to learn about various gun-like weaponry. "How far are we from the source of the signal?"