After dropping off some of the crew at Balisair, it was time for the crew to set course for Lirath. The situation greeting them wasn't the most promising.

The cracked surface of the moon called Lirath was one of its most unmistakeable features. One of the three moons of the planet Kehoe, it had been terraformed and served as a settlement for a hundreds of different species, some humanoid, some not. Despite occasional class struggles, environmental issues, and speciesism blocking their way, the darker parts of Lirath's past were largely left behind, and an era of peace and tolerance had reigned for quite some time. The only problems they'd had recently were with a terrorist group whose cause for their actions had been a mystery, but they weren't tied to any particular species or social group and had been likened to a cult and had largely gone quiet in recent years.

Now the peace on the moon of Lirath had been shattered by the invasion of the Ohm.

The capital city had been destroyed. Now, all that was left of the peoples of Lirath was evacuating from one of its smaller cities, one known as Smyteval. A desert city, existing in a valley in between a rocky range of canyons and mountains, even though it was in the low ground, the natural channels of rock served as bottlenecks for any Ohm attacking from the ground.

GIA squadrons patrolled in space, locked in explosive warfare, protecting the Bleed-gate that had been activated to see the evacuated ships to the refugee world, and a shield created by massively-powerful shield generators extended around the city and up into the atmosphere, creating a shielded tunnel so ships could escape.

Word had come that there was a vital weapon to be deployed on Lirath, one that needed to be destroyed, hence why the Transmigration 9 had been called in. Given the diverse crew, and the ships that were in its hangar, there was at least someone or something on board that could blow the weapon up if it did show.

There was no sign of it yet. Right now, there was just chaos, streams of evacuees boarding ships, armies of Ohm engaged with GIA soldiers outside the shields, and forcefields that everyone hoped would hold out just a little bit longer.

The crew would be following Leon's orders but finding themselves fighting side-by-side with GIA platoons, full of various species that were currently all getting their asses kicked severely.

[ooc: STAGE 1 is now open! Please do not tage STAGE 2 until it's announced as open as well.]

[ooc: STAGE 2 is now open!]

Paranoia was a perfectly reasonable reaction to waking up in a strange place covered in slime, having a fight with tentacles that put some kind of throbbing...thing on him, and then being forced to run through mazes that shot fire, a cruel voice passive-aggressively taunting him the entire time.

Tarzan didn't know where he was, didn't know what was going on, and didn't know what happened to the people--and gorillas---he cared about most. His entire world had been turned upside down. He'd found himself in a strange place completely full of people, more people than he'd even imagined existed. It was full of lots of strange people, and some of them walked on two legs but didn't look human; others were clearly animals but they conversed with humans with apparently no difficulty.

They all were strange to him. Frightening, even to one that had faced Sabor. It was all so confusing. Even terrifying, all the more so because he couldn't find Jane or his mother anywhere, even when he searched during the times other slept.

So he'd hidden in Hydroponics, and taken to the trees, wary of every living being on the ship.

Anyone that entered Hydroponics and stayed there for long might find themselves having the unmistakable feeling that they were being watched.

But he was just as curious as he was frightened and cautious. As much as he was holding back from the people on the ship, he had a burning desire to speak to them, to figure out what they were all about.

Normally, Kaya would have spent the whole day at the hotel, preparing for the meeting: cleaning, making sure the pool was at the right temperature, making sure all the food was ready. However, there were a few people missing, notable Overlord Zetta, Lash, Hit Girl and a few others, so she wanted to have this less formal one on the bus, particularly since they had the classrooms at their disposal.

This didn't mean, of course, that Kaya was going to NOT prepare things as usual. There was a tray of several different snacks available for those who attended, as well as a projector set up in Tarnee's room set up by Beastboy since Kaya still hadn't quite gotten the hang of the modern technology possible to make movies.

In the meantime she still had the common area spruced up and sparkling, and was greeting people at the door.

[[Having this set up so people can drop by: the bulk of the meeting and introduction will be out up later this evening!]]

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall man in green armor and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

It was just another beautiful day in Jump City. The summer had come and the kids were out of school running about having fun the way kids should.

And Beastboy was seated comfortably with some prime seats at baseball game watching an odd mish mash of lower tier criminals challenging the Titans to a baseball game. It had been one of their more silly adventures. But everyone in the stands had been suckered into wearing mind controlling hats and so the Titans had to win or the villains would bring the fans out of the stands to attack the Titans, and mind control or not there was no way the Titans would fight honest hardworking citizens.

So Beastboy kicked back and sucked another one of his alien sodas.

Originally the day had started very differently for Beastboy. He had found himself mildly depressed that his memories of Jump City were apparently no longer sufficiently detailed and that certain locations felt oddly off. Like Stacy had used his memories as a jumping off point and just created the rest as best she could.

But then a brilliant idea had struck him. Back on "The Planet of the swap meet" as Beastboy had called it they had made copies of his memories to sell, and he himself had a set of the copies. Using these he had spent the day reliving some of his favorites. So far he'd watched himself calm and befriend the brothers Thunder and Lightning, Meeting Terra and the subsequent adventures to follow, and now he was picking at random.

He'd yet to have been disappointing by his performance in these memories.

"Maybe after the game I'll rewatch the Japan adventure." He thought out loud as the game began.

Paco hopped up on a box to survey the work already done.

It was getting toward “evening” in the City. They’d hung a sheet up on the Great Wall, and a couple people were currently adjusting the movie projector that had been constructed in Engineering so that the picture would fall exactly on the sheet. He’d collected the recordings from the Media Library himself, everything on there was appropriate for pretty much everyone who might show up.

At the other end of the space he’d picked for the party, a few people were testing the sound system (also constructed in Engineering) and arguing with each other, probably about the music. Well, he’d done his best, anyone who didn’t like it could throw their own dance party somewhere else.

In the middle, up against the outer wall of a building they’d hung lights from, Kang and his helpers were putting the finishing touches on the drinks area. And there was plenty of space for people to mingle or play tag or whatever if the shows and music weren’t to their taste.

Paco grinned and cupped his hands around his mouth to form a megaphone.

“OKAY EVERYONE,” he shouted. “TRY NOT TO DO ANYTHING THAT WILL LOSE US OUR PARTY PRIVILEGES AND LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!”

[[OOC: Post-Melting Clock! Mix! Mingle! Make fun of the music, thread with people you haven’t threaded with before! It’s like a Pod Pop for oldbies!]]

Billy hadn't the slightest idea how much time had passed since his rushed deal with Metronome for the Clock's destruction. He'd typed out a hurried plea for help on the omnicom network, sped off to download and review the play's script, and conjured an auditorium-like Sensorium for rehearsal. All that remained was the arrival of the cast and crew, and this probable disaster would begin.

Just what have I committed myself to? If my judgment is questionable for attempting to stage this production in just a few days, the cast...I don't foresee this ending well.

Once everything was prepared, he sent a quick message to the volunteers. They should be arriving any minute

((This is going to be subthreaded out in stages. Mingling, a place for comments from the peanut gallery, auditions/arguments, and brief rehearsal scenes. Thread out whatever you think is funniest! Final casting decisions will be happening here. I'll be on chat/AIM/Plurk during this post if you want me.

Now open for posting! Don't feel obligated to participate, we're not obsessively logging everything. This is just for comedy opportunities. Most of what I want to know is who's playing who. And it's okay to jump in even if you didn't sign up on the comm post. Everyone's welcome to audition!))

Time was still moving forward. Yet looking at Lash you could never guess that, as each day did not increase her age by one, but continued to slowly recede into the past, the body around the massive hair growing smaller each day. And with a younger age came a much greater degree of immaturity and a certain disregard for the rules, even if compared to some of the other children on board, she still had her wits and mind. Perhaps a little too smart for her age, it might be argued.

A very, very dangerous combination, then, when she realized how bored a single wunderkind was, and how many other people on the ship were not. Surely, she thought, they could be made to do things for her own amusement! Lash was the six year old wunderkind prodigy, she demanded to be entertained! Her backpack filled with many little trinkets she had gathered (perhaps stolen from where they should have been found) and she carefully inched around the ship in relative silence, waiting to spot a poor soul or two. Maybe even children her age! Tee hee, imagine how fun it would be to spray them with a water gun, or to glue their hands, or even tie their shoelaces together! At least she wasn't thinking about ways of blowing them up. They should be thankful for that.

Tiptoeing to the next person, she peered from her hiding spot...

[OOC - You want your character to get pranked? Simply reply here with where they were currently and how much pranking you're fine with. Lash is moving all around the ship and this can happen over the course of several days. Levels are gentle, medium, and cruel. There might be other characters involved in the pranking. Don't worry, Lash isn't never going to destroy anything important to your characters, just causing trouble and doing jokes a six year old would likely do. Levels are just for how much leeway we have. Feel free to just talk to her/scold her too!]

Down in the City, there was a very determined yellow snake climbing the outside of the bathhouse.

Princess Jeka knew that there was a warm place on top of the bathhouse. She vaguely remembered helping design it, or at least making suggestions about how it could be designed. She could technically go inside the bathhouse and get her heat there, but that’s a wet heat and she only liked wet heat when she was shedding.

As she stopped to catch her breath, wrapped around one of the supports, she wondered how she used to get up here so easily. Something about…flying or something. Well, she sprocking (hee hee! How daring!) well wished she could remember how to fly if she’d learned it!

Lash was a changed person.

In her own world just a year ago, she had been part of Black Hole's best and brightest - a Commanding Officer that followed orders and worked towards the world-conquering goal with evil glee. She was feared, respected and loathed by her enemies. That had changed when she had escaped with Hawke due to treason for finding out Von Bolt's real plan - draining the world's resources so he could achieve immortality. In the end, they had teamed up with Orange Star and both became heroes for it. It gave her a taste of many things. Caring about others, even if she never outright said it, teaming up, even learning about how to eat properly. They had emerged victorious.

The year or so since she had awoken in Stacy had enforced that little growing spark which had been carefully fed the last few weeks in her homeworld. While at first hesitant to find people she liked, Lash slowly began to call those around her her friends, even if it was hard to do admit them as such. You couldn't just become nice or care overnight. But they had worked really well at it, bringing her out of her shell and accepting Lash for who she was. Heck, she even seemed worthy enough to be part of a Ranger group and defending the universe. Who would have thought all of that from someone who had such a dark history?

Then it all came crashing down. After the battle last week, the morpher started to malfunction and she could barely transform for her training. No one else seemed to have this problem, so Lash assumed it simply was a result of what had happened - she had overworked herself that day and it simply might have used up more juice than the others or had badly reacted to the CO powers. Nothing seemed wrong with it, so obviously the problem was herself. Just give it a few more days and it would be fine!

Maybe if she had told her friends her history in more detail, they might have noticed was wrong. The effects of the clock were a little more subdued on her at first, and instead of years, just days at a time. And she didn't question the fact that she didn't remember their victory over Von Bolt, only the tension at the final battle. Memories slowly started to leave, but she didn't remember them, only a small nagging feeling that something was wrong. The morpher, on the other hand, worked when someone was good and pure and as the clock receded, Lash was becoming less and less so. The memories inside Stacy stayed in her head, which caused her to become confused at some of the things she had said. Maybe she had become nicer because she had been here? Just what was going on?

A few days ago it had completely ceased to function. Maybe it knew something terrible was about to happen and the last thing the crew needed was psycho ranger. Lash obviously didn't know what was going on, except it made her nervous. Like when she...wait. What was she nervous about, again? She couldn't remember that too. She'd been running with Hawke for some reason. Lash had looked at her morpher with an odd curiosity, wondering if her mind had been playing tricks on her. After all, why would she be good? After all she...she..

She'd always worked for Black Hole.

And who knew what fake and false memories Stacy could implant inside her. Maybe..no, that was it! All these memories had to be false. Fake! Tricking her into thinking she had turned good! That she, pffft actually cared about people! What a load of crap. She was Lash, Black Hole Wunderkind Genius. And she wasn't going to let all those stupid, so-called friends try to tricking her that she was nice.

Today, she'd take back her mind. Things were definitely about to get really complicated.

[[OOC - Lash can be found all over the ship in the next couple of days. Just tell me where you character runs into them, and we can work from there. Just remember, she will probably not be very nice anymore. 8D]]

Chase has been running training sessions not-quite-but-almost-daily for weeks now, putting people through their paces. So far, its been mostly conditioning work to get people into shape to handle the rigors of the next bits, and to get people used to training things into reflex. Now the tactics get to start to come in.

As soon as people have done their warm-ups, mostly consisting of crunches, kip-ups and muay-thai push ups, plus a mile run, he has people gather.

"Alright, all of you have stuck out the grunt-work, so now we get to some of the fun stuff. Additionally, anyone who wants to begin martial arts training, come see me outside of class. I'm going to start working on individual styles, rather than trying to teach the whole class one thing. I'll eventually be putting some moves and techniques that can apply across the board into these classes, and I will be making sure everyone gains at least basic firearms competency... but for now, for starting to build your own fighting styles, or build on what you know... send me a message or meet me in here during my own practice and workout times.

Today, as a class, we are going to begin working on the most essential aspects of small-unit tactics. Lots of people know how to fight - and we'll build on that. Today's class, and lessons for a while are going to be how to fight /together/.

In the Jack Dawson school of small unit and guerilla tactics - the one I learned, there are seven possible roles, five of them essential to any successful guerilla-infiltration-extraction-escort-commando work. These are Point, Anchor, Scrub, Sniper, Spotter, Cutter and Squishies. We are going to focus on two of these today - and I've invited some primary non-combatants to come volunteer to play squishy for us if they want when we get to that point. For those who want to know about the other roles, ask me anytime, and we can talk.

First, though, we're going to work on Point and Anchor. Your Pointman is your group leader - they set the agenda, figure out when a mission has gone FUBAR, set the pace, give orders, and reassess when the mission needs changing - and it will. The Point also sets your Clock. A lot of what we're going to be doing centers around your clock... which you will get to know as well as you've gotten to know crunches.

Most of you know how a clock works, 12 numbers, arranged in a circle. You can think about a tactical situation the same way. Whichever way your team's Point is facing, dead-ahead of them is 12. Right up their ass is 6. Directly right is 3, directly left is 9. You will all get used to orienting on a clock. When talking to any member of this class, I never, ever want to hear someone shout 'Look behind you!' - not precise, not tactically useful. Where behind? Their 6? Their 5? Their 7? Get to know your clock... and more importantly, get to know your Point's clock when working as a team. The team's '12', '6', etc. are always going to be the Point's - so someone giving unit instructions, like your sniper, always has a consistent reference point.

In a situation where you're surrounded, your Anchor always has the Point's 6. In classical back-to-back fighting, a Point and an Anchor fight with the Point responsible for anyone coming from 10, 11, 12, 1, 2 and 3, while the Anchor covers 4 through 9. The Anchor of a unit is also often the first in - because they can usually soak up a hit or two, use big weapons that carry extra punch, and often have area-effect weapons that can clear space. More importantly, the squad Anchor is last one out. I do not ever want to hear 'I'm not leaving til you do' bullshit. I have seen three people die unnecessarily because of that martyr crap. Do not do it. Your Anchor, if standing, will always cover the retreat, and get out when everyone else is out. They will hold the door... or whatever is needed, so there is never any question about who covers who. The Anchor also gets very used to the backwards clock - many enemies are 'Ambush Predators' - if you show your back, they will hit it. So the Anchor has to get used to covering that up for a squad once everyone is inserted, and keep track of where the Point is, and where they're facing, without looking at them.

We're about to do an exercise, and I'll be giving you guys some games to help practice. Meanwhile, pair up and choose in each pair who is Point, and who is Anchor. And while you're finding dance partners, any questions?"

As you enter the Sensorium today you find a most peculiar sight.

A large black wall with a 8-bit logo reading "Monsters and Mazes"

And two simple words.

"Start Game."

Upon choosing this a new menu appears showing a series of options:

Fighter
Paladin
Hunter
Rogue
Wizard
Cleric
Bard

What to do what to do?

The Outsider's Hotel was more busy then usual, and Beastboy was pleased. He'd broken out a stash of snacks from the last planet they'd gotten off at as well as some different kinds of drinks. He'd found a berry on the last planet that when blended tasted exactly like Soder Cola, his drink of choice back home.

The "Open" sign on the front entranceway had been altered to read "Always open" In an effort to be more friendly and welcoming to anyone who wanted to come in and socialize or seek assistance.

And the final touch, a discoball. He'd had to put it together himself from bits of mirror he collected but it worked all the same.

Now he just hoped everyone would socialize comfortably.

((OOC: Dive in, someone will tag you promise))

Ronnae made her way to the hotel after the brief chat with Beastboy.  Last time they had met, he seemed a bit off, specially after trying to explain how she was raised differently in regards to relationships and such. It was already a hard subject to deal with back home at times since she had set her mind straight on never meeting anyone for anything other than being toyed with.

Yet life in the ship had found a way to get her to experience a lot of things, this one being one of them.

Walking in quietly not wanting to disturb, (or get noticed), anyone, she called out.

"Beastboy? Are you here?"

The sounds of that creature still rung in her ears, the fury and hate whatever that thing was had for Sasami was intense and it was clear that nothing would get in its way to get to her. Perhaps she was getting in over her head, but she would hate herself even more if she did nothing and Sasami got hurt. After all she was the first person who welcomed her into this accursed ship. She would do anything to help help no matter what.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking around. This looked like the Medical department... She'd only been here once before, but she could still recognize it. She made a motion to move and found that there was something impeding her. Looking down she noticed that she was strapped down;

"W-what's going on?" She asked to no one in particular, her waist and wrists where tied down she was wondering what happened when it all came back to her;



She blushed now that she remember the scene she caused, she just wanted to go home...

Beastboy sighed and his sigh echoed much louder then he'd have liked in the pool area of the Outsider's headquarters.

He'd just found out that Katara wasn't just missing, she'd been re-podded. Needless to say it was a blow that had sent him reeling.

Katara was one of the first people who had spoken to him. She'd always supported him and encouraged him. Her energy and optimism had kept the Outsider's coming back together time and time again to attempt to socialize and train.

And now she was gone and he was the last man standing so to speak. The Outsider's were his responsibility now. Not something he'd been hoping for.

He kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the side of the pool dipping his feet in. He'd go for a swim in a minute but for now he just needed to think about what he was going to do next.

Why does it seem like every girl I really like get's put back to sleep? He mused his ears drooping with annoyance.

It had been a few days since the Outsider's gathering, where Hit Girl had finally been able to utilize her strength and talent to help others. All in all, it went pretty well: choices were made, friendships were had, blah blah and kumbaya. What SHE had wanted to show was that she was the type of girl who got the job done, and if anyone needed to be reminded, she would show that to them. Grabbing the flag had just been the start: now she wanted to make sure that whatever happened next, she would be ready, she would show people the type of person her daddy trained.

Which led to today's excursion in the Sensorium: she was doing tightrope walking, one of her weaker points, in order to maintain balance and poise. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop had demanded both, and while she had mastered that, she had not yet made her foray to really careful jumping in tight spots. To give her some energy, she had this playing in the background, and she jumped from rope to rope, her eyes concentrating, her tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.

Each step took courage, and the slightest imperfection would result in her falling, although of course it wouldn't be that big of a deal when you were in the Sensorium anyway. Despite this, Hit Girl demanded nothing less than imperfection: once she had this mastered, going to Negi and learning the delayed spells would be next, not to mention training Sasami.

[I wanna bendy time this to two days after the announcement, so it won't seem too random.]

She felt guilty that she had taken this long. They had met several weeks ago, and she had made a promise to get to training as soon as she could. Sadly, things came up that had forced her to take some time for herself: she was in a better place now, and it was time to get back to business. uh

When it came down to it, the marriage planet had been good for couples, but her interest was with what happened with the people who hadn't participated. Once again, there was an attack,and when it happened, despite them being strong, capable people, it regressed to arguments and pointless infighting, and this was a problem. Then of course there was the idea of how to compliment one fighting style and another. After thought, the best thing to do seemed to have all the guys come here, show what they could do, and start organizing training that way, get some input, trade different information, relay tactics. It would be unorganized for this meeting alone, but afterward they could start and tailor the training to their strengths, add in situations that played on their weaker points for good measure.

This would be a good way to get other people talking, really start to learn about how they fought and where they came from. The Sensorium would be blank for now: she figured Beastboy should be the one to add a little flair to their surroundings.

She did have to compose herself a little though: she hadn't been happy to hear Tavros was gone. He had been a nice person, and he was Alex's roommate.

Kara Zor-El sat atop the revolving golden globe that crowned the Daily Planet building, wistfully looking out over a view that looked nothing like the Metropolis that the teenage Kryptonian was used to. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them close, resting her head on her knees.

Am I a monster? she asked herself. The truth was, she wasn't sure. During the time that Kara had spent in GLaDOS, she hadn't really thought about what consequences - if any - there would be to the savage aggression she'd showed Sofia during her fight with her over Julian Keller. Even after she'd been released, when she'd told Julian that she was turning over a new leaf, she hadn't really thought about the consequences. But just now, with what Sofia had told her....

Kara closed her eyes. Dad sent me down to Earth to kill my cousin. Before that, he had me kill my classmates. Kill my mother, who begged me to kill her, just to get away from him. She opened her eyes. I'm trying so hard not to turn into that monster, but after the incident with Sofia...what if I am turning into her? Without even realizing it? She shook her head. No. No. I'm not letting that happen. Not to me. That S that's on my chest? Kal and Kon have both given it new meaning, and I'm not going to let myself ruin that.

And what Sofia had said about Julian?

Kara wasn't sure that was something she wanted to think about just then.

After the crew finished up with the Rituals of Judgement and Joining, they were permitted to enter the city proper.

Orongo was even more impressive than it appeared from outside the wall. Despite the primitive seeming architecture, the city was alive with lights and sounds and colors. The numerous stone buildings were covered in bright paints in beautiful swirling designs, each one a unique piece of art. People milled about the city in droves, many of them various examples of random alien species, though there were quite a few Moai and knee-high Rapa Nui moving about.

The priests that directed them into the city indicated to them to the Consummation Huts, where they would be spending the night, regardless of whether they chose to use them to their...eh hem...full potential, or not.

As they entered the city, each of them got the same message from Stacy.

||You will be spending the night in the city as per the Moai's instructions. Arrangements have been made to meet with the Moai Elders in the morning. For now, you are given leave to explore the city as you wish. I have transferred each of you an allowance of credits to purchase supplies or entertainment tonight.||

||Do try to have fun.||

[ooc: And they're off! Feel free to have them explore. You can also start doing open posts on-planet now, if you want. Have fun!]