trans_9 | Puzzle Box [closed]

Clef stood in the center of the area, clad in a white plantsuit, with his hands clasped behind his back. As he waited, he calmly wondered what he would do if no one showed up.

That question became irrelevant mere moments later as the wizard, in dragonform, swooped neatly through the overhead framework to land nearby. Folding his wings behind him, he looked around with his usual curiosity.

River was there as well, strangely enough, having wandered in while walking about Stacy. It wasn't one of her usual haunts, that's for sure.

Kaya, on the other hand, did not look as if she just strolled into Neuropathy on a whim. Rather, her hair was a mess, there was a bruise on her face, and her clothing were a bit torn and rumpled. As it was, she was not happy she had to leave the others facing down Kessek and Splicer, but she couldn't be captured just yet. She knew she at least needed to cause a little more damage.

And Clef's mention over the comms sounded exactly like what they needed to do. Here, she could at least be helpful in one more way.

"Here," she said, reaching the others, breathless. "How can we help?"

Ian hadn't been to Neuropathy before, but then he'd never had a reason to. Now he was interested in Clef's plan. "I'm here to help," he said, when he arrived.

Kerrigan didn't say anything when she entered. Before her transformation and abduction being around other psychics was less than pleasant. It was too easy to read each others' minds. Now was different. She didn't have to hear people's thoughts anymore. But there was no way of knowing how much of her mind remained open to them, despite all of the training she'd received from Jono.

Kerrigan folded her arms over her chest. She had never been in Neuropathy before but she was more interested in everyone else.

And following on Kerrigan's heels was said trainer. Jono had never been to Neuropathy before, generally preferring to avoid places where Stacy's brain was too powerful. He could block her out these days, but she still gave him headaches sometimes.

This, though, was too important to worry about that. He nodded to Kerrigan and the others, leaning back against one of the walls and looking up around to get a better understanding of just where they were.

When it looked as though everyone who was going to be here had arrived, Clef nodded.

"Thank you all for coming," he said. He recognized only a few faces out of the group, but he assumed that they all had busy lives and it was better to skip any needless introductions. "As many of you know, the purpose of this informal mission is to unlock some of Stacy's psychic powers and hopefully grant her a little bit more freedom as a sentient being."

He paused there for a split-second in order to give anyone who hadn't meant to be here a chance to gracefully exit. It would be easy enough to mistake this for just any secret mission being proposed by someone who had no authority to be sending people on missions. Clef wasn't aware of any other such missions, but he did not envy the poor soul who found herself signed up for the wrong one.

"In order to accomplish that, we will need to split into two groups. Some of us will venture into Stacy's brain in order to physically alter her neural pathways, while others of us will need to stay here and make psychic contact with her."

His face broke into a tight smile and he added, "I think that most of you are far more qualified for one or the other than I am, but I don't know how many here have performed brain surgery before. If this is your first time, please don't worry - the changes we will be making will be relatively minor, and each group will be taking direction from the other."

What had River wondered into anyway? She had some slight psychic abilities, nothing on the shape or scope of the Doctor, but similar enough.

She didn't leave though. Maybe she could be of some use here. It sure seemed to beat just walking back to the TARDIS.

"I have some psychic abilities." She spoke up, hoping others of a similar nature would also speak up.

Kaya listened intently. It was a good idea that she had stumbled into this: if most of the naysayers had heard this, they would have objected. People never knew where they stood when it came to Stacy, and some of the podded (or dead) would have strongly disagreed with the idea of giving the ship more power.

As for the task at hand? Psychically, she didn't have as much training, but she figured that wouldn't be her task anyway. Which just begged the next question.

"So what exactly is involved when you say physically alter her pathways?"

Granted, as she looked now? She was ready for anything.

"Although there seems to be a substantial amount of transparency between the 'psychic' powers exhibited by the ship and its creators and my own magic," Aibghalien said, "I suspect the midst of this mission will not be the ideal time to test it. Do we intend to begin immediately or will we have time to prepare?"

"I've poked around in Stacy's insides a few times, so I know it won't be easy." It wasn't going to stop him, though. "As long as someone can tell me what to do, I'll do it."

Kerrigan said nothing. There was no need for her to brag or introduce herself in her home universe and she saw no reason to do so now.

There's bragging and there's letting people know what you do.

Which is why Jono raises his hand, then makes a motion between himself and Kerrigan. Telepaths. Because it might actually be necessary information.

Fuu had been there from the beginning, although she had remained quiet. Although she was now in the Programming department, she couldn't claim to know very much about psychic powers or the particulars of Stacy, although it seemed that Stacy herself might not have all the answers either.

It seemed like a big risk, to try and open her mind more. But Fuu would rather be optimistic about Stacy's wishes. She had intervened in the attempted Punishment, even if it had taken a long time.

"I don't have psychic powers, but I do know quite a bit about computers," she said. "So I can help with the, er, surgery."

Clef addressed Aibghalien's question first. "I intended to start immediately, but if you require time to prepare there is no specific time constraint."

He turned to Kaya and paused for a second in consternation.

"Someone else would probably be better suited to explaining both the technicalities and the dangers involved."

Ian, for example. Maybe even Fuu. Truth be told, neither task he had put forth was in his area of expertise and he had hoped to gather a group of people who were way better at both of them. In that, he was fairly sure he had succeeded. If he was wrong... well, that would teach him to act on his crazy ideas.

After doing a quick count of those assembled he added, "I will stay with the psychic group. There are fewer of them, and I have some abilities in that direction."

"If I may offer my aid as well," Naoto spoke up, having listened to the conversation silently. "I have been inside Stacy's system before." Not quite the happiest of memories, truthfully, with the talking tigers and the loss of one of their teammates. It only made her more eager to help out here.

"Her system is rather unique in many regards." In many, many, many regards. And yet...the entire prospect was still incredibly interesting to her.

"I wouldn't expect any less of Stacy's components," Kaya said. "After all, I was there during the time the pirates came and we had to throw them off the ship. If there is anything we can do to help get her back to controlling herself, believe me, I'll do what I can."

Unique? That was one word for it.

"What CAN we do?"

"I currently have my usual broad spectrum of spells prepared, which will allow for a response against most troubles we could face," Aibghalien said with a shrug. "That being said, a day to prepare would allow me to prepare a much more specific set of spells to address the challenge more directly. I leave it to your discretion as to which would be best."

"Stacy has defences inside her," Ian said, since Clef had mentioned the dangers. "I don't think she's keen on anyone poking about in her, which is fair. But it's a good idea to be prepared for anything that will chase or throw us out of wherever we are."

kerrigan looked directly at Clef. "How much planning have you put into this?" She asked in a way that made it clear she doubted he had done any.

Probably 'bout as much as normally happens 'round 'ere. It was pretty much 'muttered', but Jono shook his head. On the other 'and, we ain't got a lot to lose at the moment, neither. This is probably our best time t' try this.

"Just tell me what I need to do and I'll get it done." River was usually pretty good at following orders. At least when they made sense. Didn't mean she wouldn't variate slightly.

Clef regarded Kerrigan for a moment, as if to emphasize that he was not going to dignify her question with a direct response. It was pretty obvious from her phrasing that she wanted him on the defensive, and he was a bit too old to fall for that trick.

She had a point, however; this mission (if you could call it that) was not as extensively planned as he would like. The potential consequences for poor planning burned his mind weighed on him heavily, as he had seen them firsthand before. They couldn't afford to lose teammates or risk damage to Stacy, and since this was his first significant project he had a personal stake in not bungling it up.

On the other hand, a little flexibility - especially in the initial stages - could make up for a world of sins in the prior planning department. That in mind, he turned to Aibghalien.

"We can afford to wait a day if you think it would significantly increase our chances, and if the others are willing," he said. That was another thing that could make up for a lot - not making unilateral decisions.

"I called you all here primarily because I was not comfortable discussing details over the omnicomms, filtered or otherwise. It is imperative that we begin soon, but not necessarily immediately."

"In that case, we can talk about it here," Kaya said, "but in all honestly I think it would be a good idea to see what we can manage to do now. It's well and good to be talking about it, but surely we can pool our resources and find a way to make a foray in this now."

That, and really, she had no idea how long she had until security came and brigged her. She HAD played a part in the attack on the Daligig. It was only a matter of time. She wanted to be as useful as she could in the meantime.

Aibghalien nodded. "I'll demand no courtesies, then. It's true enough that even a day's delay might cause this information to leak."

"What if we could distract Stacy somehow?" Fuu said. "If we sent some kind of decoy into a distant area of Stacy, that could keep her defenses occupied there instead of on those of us infiltratating her other pathways." A robot, perhaps, or even a magical illusion? She knew that Clef was capable of a great deal, and Marsai most likely as well.

She wasn't quite so sure about starting immediately. An information leak could happen, but... "If we do this today, we need to be very careful," she said, obvious as it was. "A failed attempt could raise the alarm as easily as a careless word in the mess hall."

Clef nodded in agreement.

"I can create an illusion to act as a decoy," he said. On the other hand, an illusory decoy might not be all that convincing if Stacy's defenses were looking for possible physical threats, and if her psychic abilities allowed her to see past standard illusions.

"Although, on second thought, it might be easier and more effective to project the impression that the away team is somewhere other than where they are."

Kerrigan didn't move as she spoke. Her arms were still folded in front of her and she kept her distance from the group.

"At least you're capable of some forethought. Stacy is a powerful psychic and when defending herself she will work to detect a threat from every angle. Tricking her into believing we are on a mission will be difficult." In other words she hadn't yet thought of how they could do it.

"Most of my illusionary capability of late has been expended on similar diversions, but their primary focus has been against the Daligig and so forth, not the ship proper. It may be impossible to fool Stacy, particularly so long as we are wearing..." He tapped his robe, indicating the plantsuit underneath. "Objectionable as it may seem, we might have to trust that part of her that seems to be on our side."

Jono stirred from where he was standing. I've got a fair amount of experience with hidin' meself an' others psychically. One of the first things me teachers taught me, hidin' in plain sight. Should be able t' keep a small group of us hidden while we're workin' on Stacy.

Puzzle Box [closed]

The Beginning

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Jono substituting in instead of Celena w/ mod and mun permission

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