Wedge had set up the headquarters for yet another meet and greet operation. The headquarters, of course, was simply an abandoned building with appropriate facilities he had commandeered in the city. A low building of bright red brick, it had at some point been an office complex. Now it was the headquarters of the best fighter squadron anywhere (or so the reputation went). A crude sign and been painted over the front of the building reading 'Rogue Squadron Headquarters,' replacing the precious owners which had advertised for insurance of some type. The front offices had been set up for use by Wedge and his small staff (now including Tycho, Ben and Nura) to run the squadron. Another side room had been set up as a 'pilot lounge,' though at the moment it only had some spare office furniture. Couches and other things were hard to come by on Stacy. Finally, the largest room had been converted into a briefing room of sorts, with a projector and several rows of seating, as well as tables that could be stowed or set up as needed.

At the moment there were simply chairs scattered around the edge of the room. Wedge waited, occasionally checking his chronometer. Hopefully everyone would arrive and mingle, and then he could get down to the business of letting them know exactly what they were in for.

<sub>[[OOC: Feel free to tag each other, please!

The briefing has started!]]</sub>

Kenobi!

Vader's eyes snapped open as he jerked to consciousness, his last memory of Kenobi's smirk burnt into his memory. The treacherous Jedi had thwarted him again. Why he was not dead was beyond him, but the second time Kenobi had left him for dead without having the stomach to actually finish the deed would be the last.

His mouth curled disdainfully as he surveyed his surroundings. It may have been foreign, but he recognized a medcenter when he saw one-- and liked it as little as he liked any other. The ventilator tubes had been reinserted into his nose, and he began to examine the large machine he was bound to. He could, in theory, take it apart and convert it into something more manageable. He had no idea if his kidnappers ever intended to return his suit and lightsaber. If he wanted his revenge on Kenobi and reclaim his son (his son-- no, he had to put that out of his mind), he would have to act quickly, before the...ship...realized his intentions.

As usual Tycho had arrived at the designated meeting place at the debriefing room in Rogue Squadron's headquarters a little ahead of time. There was nothing for him to prepare really, but he'd called the meeting, so it was still good for him to be there first.

The room contained a semi-circle of chairs which faced a projector screen, and Tycho sat himself in one of them, looking something over on his datapad as he waited for the others to arrive. Someone who knew him well would see that his jaw muscles were tight, the only outward sign he was showing of how seriously he took this. Deciding what they were going to do about Darth Vader was a Big Deal.

Stacy's voice speaks over the whole of the ship. What she has to say has become very familiar over the the podlings have spent here.

||Pod Release Protocols Initiating,|| she says. ||Please proceed to the Observation Deck to meet your new crew mates.||

Those crew members that don't head to the Obs Deck on their own are hurried there via gentle but insistent tentacles. A few people stop by Engineering to help bring and pass out omnicoms and comm rings to the new crew members as well.

[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.]

The chairs and cushy meatseats in Obs Deck have been arranged in a wide circle. Between those and the floor, there should be plenty of places for the crew to sit and attend the meeting.

Aang has asked Stacy for several things from the archives that he has access to. There isn't much she'll let him see, but there are one or two things he can share with the crew.

There he sits in the center of the circle, legs folded in a lotus position, waiting for everyone to gather around him. Cargn stands near him--although it would be more accurate to say he looms over the bald monk.

"Hi everybody! When everyone's here, I'll get started."

[ooc: Comment under the Intro subthread to establish characters being there and have them talk, and then Aang and Cargn will talk in the Answers thread. After that information is up, have characters ask new questions or start new discussions by starting a new subthread for each discussion/question.]

Sometime during the regular comings and goings aboard the meatship, an announcement rings out across all portions of the ship.

||Attention crew,|| Stacy's voice says, ||As significant interest has been shown for it, and enough time has passed since the Nightmare King incident to prevent unnecessary mental issues, the procedure to unlock the memories of the destruction of your homeworlds is now available to all crew members. If you are interested, please proceed to any empty sensorium and I will begin the process.||

A slight pause, then...

||If you have a history of mental issues, please use extra consideration when deciding on whether or not to take the procedure. That is all.||

Should anyone decide to take her up on her offer and head to the sensoriums, they'd find a clean, clinical-looking white room with a dentist-style chair (sans scary drills, of course) in the middle.

||Please, take a seat.||

[OOC:Instructions.]

Hydroponics is an interesting place. Surprisingly, the name that brings forth the image of a sterile plant-growing lab actually belongs to a massive green space unrivaled by any of the grassy stretches of the city. There are trees here. Flowers. Weeds, even. Some from Earth, some clearly not due to shape, color, or some other strangeness.

It's not entirely overgrown, though. That might be because of the abundant animal life keeping the plants in check. They don't seem hostile, however, and it's oddly serene in here. Like an open, alien zoo. And the landscape is lovely.

The Master Chief is around somewhere, though he may not be readily apparent. You might find him drifting around the lab facilities near the door. He's hesitant to touch anything, but he's curious.

You are now free to move about the park.

[OOC: Just to be clear, you don't need to address the Chief. You don't even have to acknowledge he's there. This is an open post for free mingle-y goodness. Characters may eat/mess with the plants but animals may not be killed and eaten, Stacy will tell you and stop you by force if necessary. Otherwise, you may interact freely with them.]

Arha was standing in a blank Sensorium, frowning slightly into the white expanse of it.  She'd walked in, paused, and had been stuck there, waffling hard between scenarios for a full fifteen minutes.  On one hand, she wanted to pit her skills against something deadly, on the other hand, she wanted to practice her stealth, and on the hand she didn't have, she would have liked to try her hand at, perhaps, riding a Drexl.  She had seen them in the holos that were available on the worlds within the Jed-Eye home universe.  They were quite fierce.

And thinking of holos simply made her wish to spend time wandering Luke's Jed-Eye Temple.

The indecision was annoying.

As such, the space around her remained blank and Arha was stuck contemplating the swing of her white cloak and the way it settled against her equally white leather clad legs.  She ought ti know what she wanted, but now?  Now she was at a loss.

"This is no way to begin," she muttered to herself and sighed as she used the Force to play around with her lightsaber. 

Even with the availability of the actual Temple Kyle had decided to do his training today in the sensoriums. The last couple of weeks had been a lot to take in, and he needed somewhere he was more easily able to focus himself. So when he stepped into the sensorium he knew exactly where he wanted it to emulate. He had to admit it hadn't done a bad job either. Every last detail was as he remembered it. The statues, the flowing water, and even the sense of peace that clung to the place. It didn't have the presence in the Force of course. But then there was no way the sensoriums could replicate that part of the Valley of the Jedi.

Walking to his favorite rock he sat down and began to meditate. Soon he let the memories of the lessons he'd learned here flow over him. Standing up but keeping his eyes closed he reached through the Force to his lightsaber. Bringing it to his hands he ignited it and then began a slow set of katas. Finally he raised it to mid chest level held outward, and leaped into the air using the Force to push him as high as he could go. Coming down he slashed into a target he had had the sensorium place cutting it cleanly in half and making a loud thump as he landed.

Satisfied with his attack he began to work through more sets of kata faster, and faster. Just his lightsaber, and him nothing else in his universe right now. Together they moved as one from defense to offense, and back again. Becoming more in tune with the Force as he progressed he felt it flow through him. Speeding up his reflexes and strengthening him. Whirling through the Valley he let himself enjoy the exhilaration, the joy of the Force. As his katas finished he found himself in front of one statue in particular. Looking up he smiled, and spoke very softly. "Hi Dad."

||Artificial gravity deactivated.||

Stacy's automated voice rings out pleasantly through the halls of the ship. And suddenly, you are weightless.

Someone, somewhere, has done something.

[Bendytimed to the morning after this post]

Tycho had slept for a very long time indeed- obviously he'd need a lot of recuperation from Arha's healing. After he finally awoke, he got on the com network and sent messages to those people he knew, letting them know that he was okay.

Now, he had been ordered to stay in bed until the doctor came to check up on him again, so he sat, with the head of his bed raised, data pad in hand, looking over the numbers from the latest Rogue Squadron training exercise.

He's honestly not paying that much attention to what he's doing. Won't you come in and bother him?

Kyle had decided to actually try to food for what it was this time rather than have the Sensoriums disguise it as something else. It wasn't as bad as he expected, just extremely bland. That put it one step above some military rations he'd had. He could live with bad food. It was the lack of caf that was annoying. He'd thought somebody would have picked some up when they'd stopped off at a planet. No such luck however. So he had to put up with working on training exercises for the Rogue's commando component without any delicious beverage.

Tapping on his Omnicom he started to organize his notes. Demolitions training, marksmanship, and of course stealth all being laid out in a schedule. Preliminary of course. It would still need Wedge's approval. Considering that some of team were civilians he had to alter the normal framework of the training. Overall he felt they should be able to get everyone trained, and ready to go fairly quickly. The Sensoriums did simplify the logistics of training a great deal. Not to mention saved him a lot of prep work. Not to mention all the benefits of live fire training without the danger.

Deciding it was time for a break he set the Omnicom down and lay his head down on the table. Closing his eyes he focused on listening to the sounds of the ship. Slowly he reached out with the Force getting a sense for what the norm was. This massive ship, and it was alive. It certainly was a unique feeling. At first it was almost impossible to sense anything else. Soon he was able to separate it from others in the Force. The ship becoming a comfortable background noise.

The food was bad, the situation was even worse, but for the moment Kyle felt at peace.

<<This is Rogue Three, ready for launch.  Update needed on the current situation,>> Arha said over the radio, making sure her chin strap was securely fastened and her helmet was properly sealed.

<<Rogue Three, you are cleared for launch.  Please be advised--it is messy out there.  We have a frigate down.  They will need evac.  Escort Evac Shuttle 1 and 2 to the given coordinates.  Heavy enemy fire incoming,>> came the clipped voice of the communications officer on duty.  <<Stay sharp, Rogue Three.>>

<<Copy that,>> Arha snapped, <<primed and launching.>>

There was a certain thrill that came with a proper launch and she did it the way she'd been taught--nice and smooth.  The two shuttles were flanked by several other fragments of wings.  It was their job to shoot down any missile fire either ship took.  Arha sidled up to Evac 1, taking its wing as the rest of the formation solidified.  It was an uneventful run until halfway back when missiles started coming in like worms on a shield.  Arha grit her teeth as she shot down another and twisted away to go after an enemy fighter intent upon ramming Evac 1.  She wasn't satisfied with the near miss at all and struggled to maintain formation, shielding the shuttle craft with her X-Wing as well as shooting down anything incoming.  She worked with the pilots, her mind racing to predict and interpret from her Jed-Eye and Bene Gesserit senses.

Arha had no idea how long she'd been at this, but it was getting to the point where she was actually sweating--something she rarely did thanks to her control of her body.  She cursed in Fremen as a swarm of TIE fighters closed in.

New Canton training grounds. It was a decent camp, full of find memories of Independent soldiers going through basic training as the War for Independence kicked off. Gwen had spent a good deal of time stomping and marching over every inch of the camp from the mountains off in the distance to along the river bank to the east of the barracks. The place she had picked for the testing of explosives was where her cavalry unit had tested our their tanks, their skiffs, their mortars, and pretty much everything they had ever used to go boom with. It gave the red head a giddy feeling as she wheeled the red sorrel horse around for another run at the targets she had asked Stacy to supply at the ends. A small sprint for the animal, yes, but the challenge was getting the required number of shots off in the target zone before hitting a certain mark.

Gwen was really going to have to do this more often.

Wheeling the horse back around she urged the mare forward bringing up her g-36 rifle to her shoulder popping off two rounds as she hit the first mark. Three more as the second passed, and a final try as the horse came within distance of the last. Carefully the red head pulled back on the reins while the horse chomped at the bit in her mouth, encouraging her to move over to the target. That was when Gwen scowled- shy on the last shot of hitting inside the zone. The others were sound enough for a kill shot, but that last one? She was going to have to try it again. Giving her chrono a glance she figured there was enough time for one more round before Kyle or Tycho were to show up. With a hoot and a hollar the red head wheeled the horse back around grinning like a fool. Yep- one more round.

It hadn't taken Trudy very long to find out that aircraft and spacecraft were sometimes recovered with their pilots - and when she found that out, she had immediately gone in search of the hangar. She had her rifle and her dog tags - if she had her Samson, she would have everything she needed out of life.

The pod cavern should have prepared her for how huge the ship was, but when Trudy finally came to the hangar, with its assortment of craft in all shapes and sizes, she was thoroughly impressed with the vastness of her new home. The amount of ships here was staggering, and Trudy wandered through them with a grin plastered to her face. Man, I'd love to get inside some of these babies and see how they handle - or how they work...

A flash of blue and orange caught her eye and she turned, seeing her Samson sitting there. The grin on her face faltered a little as she crossed to it. The painted tiger on the door was stitched with bulled holes, and the copter as a whole was scorched almost black with soot. "Hey baby," she said, running her hand lovingly across the nose. "Looks like you came out of this a lot worse than I did. Pobrecita,"

She opened the door and hoisted herself up into the cockpit. The lever that would have popped the hood produced nothing but a tortured squeal. Apparently the mechanism had been damaged in the explosion. Trudy made a face and began digging through the cockpit for her tools.

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 green-skinned alien 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.]

[ooc: Newbie Helpers List | Instructions: Post your character with one post establishing them as being podpopped. Tag each other in groups of 2's, 3's, and 4's, to get some interaction to start with. If a thread doesn't already have 2 or 3 people tagged in, tag it with your character's podpop popping near the other people, rather than making a new subthread. If you would like to play out them talking to the AI, please send an email to the mods making the request--we do this only by request. Then move onto the big Newbie Meeting. Once your character has gotten the rundown from the old crew, you may start posting entrance posts and freely tagging.]


||Pod Release Protocols Initating|| Stacy's familiar voice sounds out to all the podmates through the ship.

In the Pod Caverns, there are the sounds of: Pop. Pop pop pop. Poppuhpoppoppop. KASCHUNKhiiiiiiiissssss.

There is condensation and mist spraying out from cracks in the pods, as the people inside slide out onto the floors, covered in slime.

--

( There was nothing... )