||Attention, Attention. The following personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. The following personnel please report to the Observation Deck.

Howard Bassen
Allenby Beardsley
Jake Berenson
John Crichton
Kanoe Zouichi
Lash
Jamie McCrimmon
M'gann M'orzz
Erhart Ritter||

On the Obs Deck, the following mission information was displayed, for any who cared to see:

Planet Designation: Nereus IV
Status: Terrestrial, H-class
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna
Semi-sentient life: Yes
Sentient life: Yes
Water: 79.3% of planet's surface
Climate: Earth-like
Landscape: Variable. Much of the planet's landmasses are partially submerged.
Air: Normoxic concentration: 31% oxygen, 60% nitrogen, 2% xenon, 4% trace gases, such as hydrogen, krypton, and argon.
Air Pressure: 93.8 kPa (kilopascals) = 13.6 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue.
Sun: Class G yellow star
Warnings: Occasional hostile or poisonous sea life.
Mission: Assist the crew of the Saratoga in investigating the communications loss with the deep oceanic station, Deepstar 7.

Additional setting information for the station, including a list of available areas, is here.

[open for tagging now]

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the battle with SHODAN the place looks a little worst for wear, but the crew and even Stacy are trying to be in good spirits. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, and the little stunt in trying to kill off the people in the pods, many 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. They are also told they must read information about their current situation and a survival guide with their new omnicom. New crew-mates might see a tall dragonish guy with wings (but don't call him that), a large afro attached to a smaller girl, and talking ponies 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. But thankfully this time, there's a system that was set up to aid the new crew members with a few more experienced ones.

[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. Big brother/sister, there will be a thread for you as well!]

Gods could be too arrogant. Such was the case of SHODAN, who had turned the Pods into a nightmarish zone where she could freely amuse herself and torture those that had come here.

But arrogance breeds pride which breeds mistakes. Instead of killing everyone off, she had decided to do this more slowly – watch them suffer in a slow agony, and, therefore had not expected them to fight back.

It had been a lucky shot, really, one in a million, But one of the people present that day had accidentally shot a tiny, insignificant object. A tiny little drone, that, once it had been the source of the power damper, had fallen. The tables were turned, and the goddess had been forced to retreat from the pods.

Now she was on a panicked mode, not only because some of the other people on the ship had managed to work their way into her system files, using another AI to send pointless images and sounds to her, distracting her from her task, but they knew how they could defeat her and gain their powers back.

It didn't take long for the message to be sent out, as the word quickly spread. Find the tiny little creatures, and shoot them down. SHODAN couldn't work their shields properly and once they were found, it was only a short matter of time before the powers returned to an area.

It would take time, but, finally, the tide of the battle was turning on the side of the crewmen and women. In vain, she was throwing her all; even more strange robot creatures, attacking in packs, but with hope on their side, they could win this...

[OOC - OKay go for it! NPC players, feel free to NPC as many robots as you like. Players, once your powers return, feel free to make as much scrap metal as you like, no need to have people NPC for you if you just want to write tags of them kicking ass.]

Planet Designation: Kalimba Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Unknown
Sentient Life: Ruins and step pyramids suggest the presence of intelligent life at some point. Currently: Unknown.
Water: 70.2% of the planet's surface. Heavy rainfall/monsoons.
Climate: Earth-like.
Landscape: Primarily jungle and swamp, some plains, severe arctic conditions in northern and southern poles.
Air: Type I (breathable)
Sky: Blue-green.
Warnings: Medium to high levels of megafauna. Watch your step. Conditions in the atmosphere make several forms of orbital scans and equipment unreliable.
Mission: Archaeological investigation of step pyramids and ruins, investigate for signs of source of abnormal energy signature in target area.

( Read more... )

It had literally been a day after being released from GLaDOS (oh, she was going to give that bit of AI a piece of her mind, no doubt ... ) when it started. The message from Shodan, the ship shutdowns, the robots ... one AI for another, great. Just her luck, right? But there was a problem with this situation: the medbay was under her control. Martha could sit back and allow other places to be taken (albeit with much anger and gnashing of teeth) but the medbay was not one.

So she set out with one stupid goal in mind: get into the Medbay. Yeah, thinking it out only went so far, and as smart as Martha knew she was she was also tenacious as hell. At least she could grab some supplies, maybe smaller equipment, something to help the people in need. She walked around the entire Earth in a death-zone, how hard could a trip to the Medbay be?

Currently hiding behind a convenient outcropping of the ship, listening for the disappearing metal footfalls of some robotic creature, and trying to keep her heart rate and breathing down, it would likely be much harder than she thought. Maybe she could use some help.

Once Atom had read the initial comm post, he headed over to the closest place where he thought people would be -- the Vatican, once converted into a fortress against outside attack. It had since been mostly restored to its original state, but some fortifications still remained -- hopefully, some food and supplies, too. He'd heard people had used it as a safe area before, so maybe some of them would head there now. As he touched down within its limits, his rocket boosters kicked off. His footsteps seemed to echo through the tall construction as he walked along the paved stone... but for now, he seemed to be alone, in the midst of dead silence.

Or was he?

"Hello?" he called. "Is anyone there? Does anyone need help?"

[Robutts will be forthcoming 83. I'll bring some Terminators, but if anyone else could NPC some other robots, that'd be great!

P.S. I will be waiting for more people to tag in before I add robots.]

The next few hours when on without much problems for the ship. Life went on, and in fact, seem to be going for the best. Of course, the saying goes, if it's too good to be true....That's probably because it is.

Late at night IT finally made it's presence known and spoke.

( And speak it did... )

[[OOC - Planning post! :3c.]]

Such a strange occurrence needed, finally a conclusion. Thanks for the Time Lord's trinket gift, there was suddenly an old, fearsome creature made of gears, it's old features squeaking (although not as bad as before, since a certain someone had given him a good oil job). Analog,the fearsome creature known by some as a the crankiest Time Dragon, walked in the city to find out o where Eleven was. She could smell him even in here, you see (wow that's creepy). Flanked by her three handmaidens, the women giggling like schoolgirls at everything, memorized at the ship. The city could hold her well, for all her large size.

First step - Find the Doctor, ask him what he wants. Step two - Do that. Step three - Get out of here.

She still was a Time Dragon, after all. Proud....and cranky. These boring old puny humanoids were nothing as the greatness of HERSELF so the sooner they were our of her mind, the better.

[OOC - Done! Go for it.]

The dreamworld. The personal world that touches both the person's inner soul and memories of times gone past. the strange, the bizarre, the cruel, the comedy, it has a range of colors and emotions. Usually, very personal. Even the mind doesn't remember all of them.

But what if that soul is now shared with another? A windowed view into the deepest part of the body that possibly neither of them ever wanted to share, as one whose body they are currently drifts into sleep and gets carried off by nightfall, the other lives to see the dreams, one by one, even the ones the host body doesn't remember by morning.

How will this affect each other? Or will it just be a problem or things they'd rather forget?

[OOC - This is completely optional, and was a fun little idea that I figured if anyone else wanted to join in and have their characters see each others dreams or talk to them inside, are welcome too. Enjoy ruining each other's images. Again, if you don't want to do it, don't worry, it's all good. It's a good way of sharing innermost secrets and old memories. Ahhh, making out characters suffer for fun and profit.]

This Princess Frou Frou Sparklepants Peace Love and Harmony Ne-Whatsherface had messed with the wrong girl.

Obviously this lady had no idea what Chell was capable of--which was fine by her, because it gave her the element of surprise--and as a result, Princess Frou Frou Sparklepants Peace Love and Harmony Ne-Whatsherface was going down in the worst possible way.

Her ace-in-the-hole was simple. What the self-proclaimed body-meddling deity did not know was that the woman she'd invited to her palace was at her most determined, most ruthless, most unstoppable, most lethal under duress. This was duress. It was the same feeling as facing off with GLaDOS, or hunting down the AI that currently resided in her head, driving her slowly insane--she didn't know how she'd do it, but she knew with all certainty that goddess or no goddess, her opponent would be completely and utterly wrecked by the time she was finished. That was just what Chell did.

Despite the nagging feeling that her sanity was slipping as a result of Wheatley's constant babbling, she at least had enough sense to call for assistance and agree to an organizational meeting before she led a crusade on the ridiculousness that plagued them all.

In accordance with her message, she'd staked out with this strange palace in sight, waiting for backup.

[OOC: Feel free to tag in! We'll start with a little IC organizing, but then they are off to confront Nezaitben. After that, WHO KNOWS.]

Following you awakening and talking with a few of the members through the communication systems by way of the three kind people who had awakened her, Nezaitben realized how the crew was stuck in a terrible mess.

So many of them felt sad and depressed. Considering the entire ship, it wasn't too hard to see why. The next day, there had been an unusual amount of magical flowers spreading all over the ship. Nothing that damaged the controls (she might be naive in the way humanoids were, but Nezaitben was no fool either) but they were found in the most unexpected of places. Her own awakening area was now blooming in a flower paradise, the wooden palace standing proudly on top, the smell and pink cherry blossom strong enough to carry through most of the central city area where most people resided.

Yet the ship was still sad.

This would not do.

That night, or what passed as a night for in the ship, Nezaitben took to the 'sky', letting pieces of her own essence fall on top of the sleeping populace, or those that were not sleeping finding themselves feeling the need too. Enveloping the ship into a peaceful slumber, she searched their dreams. The powers granted to her by the pantheon of gods in her homeworld allowed Nezaitben to weave a series of dreamcatchers giving her the ability to see those whose hearts connected true.

These noble souls would do. Lead by example had always been her philosophy. She would give them a great gift - communication with each other in a single body, allowing them to share everything together. Their two soulcatchers were woven together that night into a single, grand ones, hanging in the garden's trees.

A few minutes later, the empty husks of the bodies that weren't being used showed up at her palace. With a smile, she welcomed them like her own children and began to dress them for their task.

That morning, some of the crewmen would wake up to a strange surprise...and that would just be the beginning of a long, strange misunderstanding and young gods trying too much to please everyone.

[OOC - Just a few rules. Keep in mind the listed rules. You can all start your own threads of waking up in the bodies of others. If you feel like leaving a 2nd post for other people to intact with them, start a reply to your own first post with OPEN header. That way everyone else will know where to post and if you don't feel like having an open interaction post right away, you won't have to!

There will also be another post for all the soulless characters to go around spreading joy and love, so look forward to that too!]

Despite having traveled with the Doctor and having been awake on Stacy for however long now, there's still certain aspects of 'modern' life that Jamie often finds himself fascinated by - even if it's something he's experienced before. Watching the moving pictures in the media library is definitely one of those things. There's so many to choose from, he often doesn't know where to begin. Usually, he winds up picking something at random. This time around, it happens to be something called 'Back to the Future II'. During the movie, he can't help but wonder about what he's seeing. For instance, what would the Doctor or any of his other companions think of a time traveling DeLorean? Or a flux cap...capic...that 'y' shaped thing with the glowing lights? But what catches his interest the most is the hoverboard chase. Stacy's a big ship. Something like that would come in very handy, if they could figure out how to build it. The main problem, of course, is how to get started.

However, there's an easy solution for that, at least to Jamie's mind. All he needs to do is go down to the Sensoriums and imagine up one of those boards to test it out. Once he's done that, he can maybe see what would be needed to turn it into something more real. It doesn't really occur to him that a fictional technology might not translate so well - especially since he never really got a good look at the inside of the thing. All he knows is that it won't work over the water, so he's going to avoid that.

A short time after the movie ends, he can be found down in the Sensoriums, ready to try out his idea. Something that resembles a skateboard without wheels appears, floating slightly above the ground. It's pink. Very pink. Jamie quickly switches it to a much nicer red color before hopping up onto the board, fully expecting it to start right up. It wavers a bit but doesn't otherwise move. Frowning, he takes one foot off and pushes it against the air, like he saw in the picture. It continues to sit there, not doing much of everything, and Jamie scowls down at it. "Och, why isn't it working?"

There was something to be said for the Sensoriums. Sure, they weren't real, but they were quiet and empty of the ruins of dead (or soon-to-be) civilizations if you wanted them to be. That was more than could be said of the rest of the ship.

Here Rose could leave the worries of Stacy's mission and her own at the door, however temporarily, and after another extended stay with GLaDOS, she needed the break. Honestly, she thought the perpetual maze-running was more of a danger to her sanity/soul/whatever than the stress of interdimensional travel. Being forced to do anything never sat well with her, even in the name of mental health, so it was a relief to do as she pleased.

Which, at the moment, was nothing.

The location she had chosen positively radiated calm, silent except for the patter of raindrops. It was an old forest, the kind that took centuries to grow and was peppered with trees five metres across. One of the behemoths had been cut down, the inside eaten away by the elements to form a hollow accessible through a breach in the bark. It was here that she stretched out, eyes closed, heedless of the rain.

Settling into a new home after life in the TARDIS was, Amy imagined, fairly hard for anyone who had ever traveled in the little blue box. Already she missed the space that the TARDIS offered, the amenities that always seemed to be right there when needed, the reliable people constantly in and out.

But she and Rory needed space, especially as a couple soon-to-be-wed, and while Amy was quite fond of the influence and diversity the Doctor and other companions brought to Molly’s life, a TARDIS, with all its halls and swimming pools, was not going to be the best of places when Molly began crawling. A smaller space would be better for the small family, at least for a little while.

It didn’t mean Amy was finished with her box just yet, though. Topsy-turvy as it was, she still returned to see just what of their leftover belongings she could find to bring to the new house. Today was one such trip. It wasn’t hard to find a babysitter for Molly, and her day had opened up just enough to allow a quick trip up to the TARDIS to check on things. With a few bags in hand--just in case something good had turned up since her last visit--Amy headed through the halls of Stacy toward the Hangar.

Time for some shopping.


[[ OoC: Feel free to encounter her anywhere between the City and the TARDIS. Just specify the place and maybe the time (catching her headed there or on the way back). ]]

When not working a particular shift at a department, and when taking a 'break' from work in general, Tim was prone to doing some working out and training. If he was going to be out of any one of his departments, for any given time, he might as well spend it keeping himself in shape and his body honed. It was productive and sometimes it could help him think. And it was certainly better than spending any pauses he had by idling. He couldn't afford to do that.

As Red Robin, it was easiest to just work out in Hydroponics, if he were doing straight up working out, practising with his staff and enjoying the more open feeling. He'd set up training runs and he could work with weapons in relative seclusion. In those instances, he would focus more on balance and take a calmer, slower route, using the lesser muscles and doing more work with the finer aspects of martial arts.

But, from time to time, the simpler ways to work out (as opposed to running simulations of gang wars, target practise, weapons training, etc) had a lot of merit themselves. Plus, sometimes it was nice to work out without being weighted down by leather and kevlar, which was a luxury he couldn't always afford on the ship. In those cases, Tim would be brought to the Sensoriums, where he could use the simulations to call up a virtual gym. Plus, the locale had the added bonus of him being able to use the illusory capabilities to hide that he was maybe a little too well muscled for a teenaged social worker, and it could cover up any questionable scars that showed. He could play the role of a normal, active teenager, there, easier than elsewhere.

For the time being, Tim had called up the scene of a gym, sports equipment scattered for him to use as he might. And it was good that, in a moment's notice, he could change it all over again-- to an ice rink for a more literal cool down, or to a field, for instance. A little lonely, playing alone? Tim certainly didn't mind. It was an effective enough workout, if nothing else. Tim stretched whilst he ran over the options in his mind.

((ooc: Feel free to join him as either RR or as Tim. c: And if you want anything in specific, just let me know!))

When he'd first arrived, Cazali had sort of scoffed at the use of something like the sensorium. It was all all a lie, and indulging in a fake reality was pretty disgusting. Of course, he'd indulged once or twice for fun, and...quickly found it wasn't nearly as horrible as he'd thought. Which totally didn't mean he was warming up to it, no way.

But one day, he got an idea. His core medals- he hadn't yet gone to harass security about their return, and part of him didn't know why he was hesitating. Maybe it was hopelessness, or maybe he just needed to remember why his medals were so vital. So, he'd strolled in to the sensorium- bringing Besel with him, setting the confused kitten on the ground -and concentrated. The setting was barely a thought- it was just default blue sky, default grassy field, nothing special.

Cazali was more intent on remembering each of his medals individually, two through nine. With each new medal his body changed, growing stronger and more armored, coloring returning slowly- until he finally absorbed the ninth, and he felt that familiar surge of power. But it was a lie, and he had to remind himself of that as he looked his nearly-completed form over. This was just the illusion working. He hadn't actually gotten his medals back, of course.

The Greeed sighed, letting himself fall backwards to lie on the grass (and missing Besel by a few inches). Was his desire for completion returning...? Not really. He just felt sort of lukewarm about it still. What the hell was wrong?

Thanks to Transmigration 9's crew, Geartopia was fairing much better than a few days ago. The Mayoress having support of her townsmen in near full now thanks to what they had uncovered allowed for most people to go hide into the farms on this day, while everyone else prepared their guns, polished their boots and readied their steam-powered weapons and horses. The air today was dry, with not a cloud in sight. Another typical arid desert afternoon.

Tumbleweed passed by in the city, undaunted by such crazy theatrics that were about to play out.

What they didn't quite expect nor grasp was Snidley's entire plan. They knew of the planned attack. They just didn't know how much he didn't care even for his own men planted there.

First came and earthquake. Or rather, what felt like one. If they looked up at the mountains surrounding the towns, they might notice, slowly, more and more red dots appearing and running down and down towards the city. Shepofalant were, by trade, a very peaceful animals, so much so that most of them had been allowed to stay in gigantic herds of ten of thousands. It made hunting for their meat and clothing that much easier, considering how they could survive practically anywhere.

However, when one allows such things to happen, the consequences can be deadly, if used by the right people with twisted minds.

"Stampede!" Someone yelled out, breaking the silence as they watched.

The townsmen moved frantically, trying to get everyone out of the way. They expected men with guns, not this first wall of frantic, bleating creatures who aren't sure where they are going, just away from what scared them off. Everything stands to be run down by their hooves, buildings, crops...people. There is simply too many animals to shoot everything down without causing the entire ecosystem to crash.

"The farms! We have to go to the farms! Most of the children and the elderly have been kept there!"

[OOC - OKay here's how it's going down. During this phase, there will be giant creatures descending in mass, that should, perhaps, remind you a bit of this scene from the Lion King. Feel free to NPC some goons running around during the chaos trying to attack your characters, making NPC helpless people situations for other characters to rescue, and helping out people using the meat_mooks account! Helpless kids nearly about to be run over, people standing on top of buildings, robots turned to scrap metal for your characters to play their big rescuing heroes on, its all good!

People getting kidnapped (Cazali, Jamie, Kalyee, Punchy), please start your own threads and I will NPC some goons taking you away.]

The Sensoriums are decorated like the most well-tended and enthusiastically holiday-oriented suburb Southern California could have created. Jack-O-Lanterns grin out from driveways and porches; smoke machines belch out onto the sidewalk; orange-tinted Christmas lights twinkle from the rooftops. A loop of Halloween-themed music, from the Monster Mash to Thriller, plays over the scene.

Eva knows there aren't many children on Stacy, but that doesn't mean that the ones here shouldn't have the occasional holiday. Just because they lack a calendar doesn't mean they lack a festive spirit. Besides, almost all kids like candy and she was able to purchase plenty at the theme park and in Geartopia.

Each house has some hologram families giving out candies and chocolates, as well as small toys and little origami animals. Every hologram is dressed up in a ridiculous costume of some sort.

She flits from house to house, imagining up little details to add, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit she finds unbearably humorous. After sending out a message on the channels, she waits for guests to arrive.

[OOC: Everybody, go forth and mingle, have fun with the setting, TP some houses, whatever! Please threadjack, start your own threads, and go wild. The Halloweentown mini-plot will be in this post later tonight with those players, but the rest of the post is open for everyone.]

Terry's first priority when he'd found himself on the ship for a second time, now with so much changed, had been to touch base with those he'd known before, and get up to date on what had happened while he was away. He still needed to go through the ship's roster in more detail to pick out any more familiar names, and find out a few more of the details on what all had been going on, but he was feeling a bit more at ease now, and could turn to his second priority: making sure he was ready for the war with those damned bugs when it all finally came to a head.

He'd made a lot of use out of the sensoriums before, but it was mostly recreating his city, to have something to hold on to. About a year had passed outside of his pod, though, and he felt that he had to accept that Gotham, for now at least, was gone. His focus had to be on the current situation, not the past, however much he wanted to go back to things as they were.

Besides, he'd also used the sensoriums for fight practice - like the battle robots Bruce had had made for training back home. But he'd been asleep in a pod for a year, and though he'd only felt like he'd had a very long and restful night's sleep, he had to admit that his muscles atrophied somewhat in the stasis.

So he'd shaped this sensorium session into his own private work-out room. A mix between the Batcave and the gym at juvie. It surprised him, one he'd thought of it, just how much the ship reminded him of the latter.

He started in on a simple, but effective, warm up and then work out. He didn't quite notice anyone come in right away.

||Attention all crewmen, shore leave is now in progress, attention crewmen, shore leave is now in progress...||

Stacy's voiced called the entire crew, until all of them were gathered at the Obs Deck. Then, a dossier appeared on the screens, along with the image of a rotating planet.

Planet Designation: Geartopia
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens, Homo Animalia, Machina Erectus.
Water: 20.6% of the planet's surface.
Climate: Earth-like, Arid desert
Landscape: 70% Desert..
Air: Normoxic concentration.
Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.
Warnings: Wildlife, humanoids and plant-life can be hazardous.
Nomalanga has given us a map with which areas to avoid.
Mission: Shore leave, and preparing for an attack in a few days, planet's time. Nomalanga has promised food, clothing and animals in exchange for your cooperation in aiding her.

( You are then given more information, from what you know... )

[OKAY ALL DONE GO FOR IT. You are also free to create additional places, to post your own private logs involving the town! Contact me if you need extra information about Geartopia either via PM to things_go_boom's account or by AIM, I'll be happy to answer. NPC goons if you want to do a bunch of bar fights, just think typical cowboy stuff. Shore leave will last until the 31st and players can go to and from the ship to the city each day, so you can have your characters stay for a day or two and then come back.

People in the miniplots, the mini plots will start up in a few days! There will also be a general fight for anyone who wants to join in on the 29th. Thank you and enjoy yourselves!]