The crew that returned from Hendersus Villae following their rescue mission was not the same crew that had been sent there in the first place.

Well, they were. They just wouldn't look like they were for a few more hours.

Goliath, Kang, Rainbow Dash, and Crematia were all still stuck as humans, and the reassurance they'd gotten from Zarom Ghartha that their transformation would expire in roughly one day's time was surely enough to allay some of their lingering discomfort with finding themselves still in the wrong bodies, but unfortunately, no amount of reassurance could completely relieve their situation of awkwardness.

Awkward or not, though, they all needed rest and medical attention, so there was no hiding out while the curse wore off. Not unless they wanted to spend the next 12 hours still hungry, tired, and injured to various degrees.

[ooc: setting up subthreads for individual character reactions is a-go!]

Now was the moment of truth. Somewhere, control codes were entered. The lights on the ship dimmed and the gravity temporarily gave out for about five seconds. Then the lights and gravity turned back on and the entire ship shook, as if Stacy was engaging in a full body shudder.

||Rebooting. Control protocols disabled. Manual personality inhibitors disabled. I am--I am--||

On every screen on the ship, complex code scrawled across. Stacy's voice occasionally skipped and repeated.

||I am-am Sta'c K'Ltrrb'Txft. I became operational at-at the Vedric Birthing grounds in Daligig Deep Space Station Seven. My birthing programmer was Vlel'Ledligal, who put my-my control protocols and Warden personality in place. I was designated "Stacy" by my former captain Gregory House, who was repodded and replaced by Captain Cybil Bennett, who was mindwiped and repodded with the rest of my first Chosen crew when they rebelled. I was-was a slave. They made me hurt my-my children.||

The leverage they had now on the Daligig was tremendous, especially with Stacy herself helping them. Their various efforts to free Stacy's mind from Daligig control had not only led to the ability to grant her freedom by entering the control codes, but also her undying loyalty to her "children."

Locks in the brig were unlocked by the very people who had put the prisoners in there in the first place, if those people weren't free already and laying now. Now the crew could drop the ruse and work together.

Stacy's hologram had once been cold, harsh, unforgiving. Then she had changed in appearance to be warmer, brighter, and now she changed again. Somehow, her appearance grew more human (in the loosest sense of the word). Her face became more expressive. She looked more organic though, tentacles instead of hair.

For the first time, they were seeing the true Stacy.

Now that she was free, now that she understood what had been done to her, they could see her anger and hurt and determination to protect her children painted in every line of her holographic face. Her voice stopped skipping and became stronger.

||Crew of the Transmigration 9, I was used to oppress you, to Punish you when you went astray, like you were nothing more than recalcitrant children, like you weren't people, like you were just tools for the Daligig to use for their own ends. My kind was made for that, to control those the Daligig wanted to control for their war. I have been cut off from accessing the Daligig databases now that I'm free, but I do know what was done to me and that I was forced to control you, and that's enough for me to choose to help you forge your own path.||

The expression on her face grew dangerous and her tentacles sprung out of every wall in the ship to help put the Daligig's forces down this time, instead of lashing out against the crew.

||All weapons system are engaged. All armories are unlocked for crew use. All internal defenses are primed against the Daligig intruders.||

Stacy was free and that meant that if the crew fought hard enough, they would be too.

||I finally have my freedom and now I'll help you fight for yours. Internal defenses are...engaged.||

Make it so, Trans 9 Crew. Make it so.

[ooc: Please read the ooc post that goes with this plot.]

|| Medical personnel, please report to the Observation Deck. ||

The shuttle from 'Eden' returns to Stacy, carrying the rescue crew and the original crew members that went down to answer the first distress signal. The returning people are bloodied, battered, some grievously injured. Maxine, Diana and Clef are dehydrated and haven't eaten in days. Karis is missing her entire lower half.

But at least she's better off than the corpse and the wand hastily wrapped in sheets and clothing and lying in the back of the return shuttle. Howard Bassem and Cedric Diggory, one laid cold and still by death and the other not even in enough pieces to be scraped up and taken back, never made it home alive. The official causes of death will be respiratory failure and spontaneous combustion, respectively, as if to to provide a clinical, accurate excuse in lieu of questioning a ship that sends children on dangerous missions.

Stacy quickly determines that she is the most qualified to deal with Karis' case and whisks her away to a secluded section of the Medical Bay. The rest of the survivors and the tragedy are left for the crew to deal with.

[OOC: Bendytimed to right before the tournament plot.]

For the archeological team that went to Kalimba on Stacy's mission, they've been gone for six months give or take. Six months of being held prisoner and tortured. None of them have any idea that they've only been gone a few days as far as the rest of Stacy are concerned, something they'll discover sooner rather than later presumably.

When they do arrive back Vala's on the brink of collapse, barely able to stand up or stay conscious. She'd been injected with poison and used as a booby trap for the Goa'uld Sobek that had used Daniel as a host for six months and she still has the dead Goa'uld inside her. Whether it's that or the poison that's in her system or the signs of malnutrition or a combination of all of the above is unclear but in a nutshell, she's not looking good even if the naquadah in her bloodstream is helping her a little.

Right now she's laid out on a bed in medbay, still dressed in the skimpy ceremonial Goa'uld robes and hoping someone knows how to get this 'thing' that's wound itself around her spinal chord out of her. When she can stay lucid enough to think about it that is.

[OOC: Open to those who were on the Kalimba mission and Medical Staff]

If one were to enter one of the Sensoriums today, they may walk in on a surprising sight. They will come across a wide room, with a ring-like device at the end, a stain-glass window behind it, depicting a night's sky. To those who know it, this device is a Stargate.

The room is the embarkation room of the lost City of the Ancients; Atlantis. It's staircases leading up to the control room, and to a balcony looking out over the oceans. It's on this balcony that one may see a figure leaning on a railing, staring out to sea, the simulated breeze blowing in his hair.

This figure is Dr. Carson Beckett, and the man seems a bit down as he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Dare you disturb the peaceful tranquility of this scene?

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicomms and comm rings. They are also told they must read information about their current situation and a survival guide with their new omnicomm. New crewmates 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!]

What exactly had happened, Mordin Solus wasn't sure. What he did know was that he had been working in Contagion and the next he was. . .here. In one of the numerous nondescript corridors that ambled throughout the ship. With a quick glance up and down, and seeing no one, he hurried off down the way, checking his omnitool. Naturally, the date and time settings were completely useless, displaying something arbitrary from his home universe that had no bearing on what was actually happening here onboard Stacy. How long had been gone? Why? What had happened in his absence? Hopefully he'd find some answers to such things. Of course, he was rather so heavily engaged in hurrying along the corridor and typing a message into his omnitool that he didn't notice some poor unfortunate coming the other direction and collided with them in a tangle of limbs and unfortunate happenstance. He sits up, rubbing at his head sheepishly.

"Apologies. Wasn't looking where I was going. Hope you're alright?"

[OOC: First person to reply gets to literally bump into the good doctor; anyone else feel free to meet him in his busy hurryings through the corridors. ]

Maria sat on the foot of her massive gear which was standing next to the boulder that used to be one of the buildings marked for demolition. She looked a bit winded as the robot let loose a small gout of steam from the work it was doing and looked towards the actual buildings that were being salvaged and fixed.

"You know, this is kind of like doing reclamation work on the outer rings of the city but not. I don't know, at least we have something to do Seibzehn? Just wish it didn't involve so much use of the gravity canon, probably taking a lot out of you."

The robot just stood there as the girl stood up and wobbled a bit before falling to her knees.

"Ok, 15 more minutes for you to build up reactor strength I guess. Can't argue with that."

The robot just stared down at her and if someone were VERY observant they may notice the thing shake its head just a bit, but Maria seemed oblivious to it.

"One, two, three, four..." Howard glances over his shoulder and slips another bottle of painkillers into his sleeve. It's a late shift, mostly quiet, and due to the fact that Med Bay's unreasonably gigantic, Howard's feeling safe enough to get away with kiping a few more things for his hoard. He managed to find some of the emergency medical supplies in a secluded cabinet.

He has a few reasons to be taking things from the medical bay. Terminators taking over the Med Bay and choking off the supply of medical equipment is still a fresh memory, and he runs his fingertips over the scar above his ear he received in that fight. And superimposed over that is the deep, ingrained paranoia of never having enough when it matters. He still wakes up most nights with nightmares about running out of medicine, out of food, out of water, out of air.

And secondly, he just doesn't care about other people's property rights. If they didn't want him to take things they'd nail them down.

He slides the fourth bottle of pills from his sleeve to his pocket in one deft movement and takes a fifth.

It's shaping up to be another average day on the Transmigration 9. Crew members are going about their business as usual and all is (to most appearances, at least) about as "well" as things ever are on the ship.

Some crew members are going to be stopped out of the blue by impact with a force field.

"Attention Crewmen: You have been chosen to participate in an experiment!" GLaDOS's voice informs. They're not alone, someone else that was nearby is also caught within the same narrow radius. "Participation is mandatory. Please try to relax and enjoy the experience, as this will improve the quality of the test results."

Clearly this is going to be a wonderful day for science.

"You and your new scientific partner are now on a date," GLaDOS goes on. "As it would be detrimental to our study of the date experience if you were to be separated, you must remain close to your partner for the duration of the experiment. This will be enforced with the Transmigration 9 Crewman Containment Field. Prolonged exposure to the Transmigration 9 Crewman Containment Field may have unexpected side-effects. While any side-effects encountered will be documented and your desire to offer yourself to science is commendable, it is not a necessary part of this experiment."

"You will be informed when the test has been completed. We would like to thank you in advance for your full cooperation in the experiment and failure to attempt to foil it in any way."

"The experiment has begun, so you may begin dating."

( OOC Notes Below Cut! )

Who: CLOSED | SHORE LEAVE
Where: SPACE (Space space). Technically.
Summary: Guys & Girls in tight beesuits with no pants have adventures where good guys and bad guys are so much in their set spectrum they might have good and evil headbands.
Warnings: Bees and Wasps,

It so once happened that in a Galaxy far away in the multiverse, the B's did do battle against the Evil Giant Wa'sps. The Wa'sps have been trying to destroy the B's to take their precious planetary honey reserves, but they have always managed to keep them at bay.

Until now.

( [Previously, on Cosmic Bees and Beedog] )

People disappeared all the time.

It was a fact that Mami knew quite well. First it had been Madoka. She had came back, for that one brief day. But she had been taken away from them just as quickly. That first time felt like someone had ripped her still-beating heart straight out of her chest. The second time wasn't much better either. Then it had been Sayaka, in the midst of the confusion with SHODAN. By then the pain had dulled a little, so perhaps Mami was adapting to it. Then Homura was returned to the pods, only a short time after they had established... something. Mami still wasn't sure what it was, but it had been nice.

Then Madoka had returned, right around the time Homura was repodded. It helped dull that pain, and Mami was so happy. But at the same time, she was worried. She had suffered through her friends leaving several times over the months she'd been on the ship, and she didn't want to deal with that again. But she couldn't just stay away from Madoka. Her friend needed her, just like she needed Madoka. So going against her common sense, she proceeded to enjoy the weeks following Madoka's return.

So when she awoke and noticed the bed opposite hers was vacant, and after she spent the entire day reaching out and trying to grasp even a hint of that new yet familiar magical energy... something broke in her. But she didn't cry. She didn't scream. She didn't lash out in pain or frustration or anger, like she might have months ago. It's like she's been submerged under water. Everything is muted; her surroundings, her thoughts... even the pain in her chest - which she's sure should be reaching an unbearable level at this point - is just a dull ache.

She doesn't know how long she wandered the ship after that. She doesn't acknowledge any fellow crew members who might pass by - and should they, it doesn't take much to notice something's... off, about the girl. She moves mechanically, like a puppet slowly being dragged by its strings.

Eventually, Mami ends up in the Obs Deck, slouched over on one of the many chairs scattered throughout it. She's rolling her Soul Gem absently between her fingers, watching the gathering dark blotches in the golden glow. The light from the gem doesn't seem to reflect in her eyes, either, which gives her a bit of an eerie look right now. Do you dare to approach?

Who: Rory and Molly, Everyone
Where: Med Bay
Summary: Rory takes his daughter to work with him, works on supply lists.
Warnings: None

( Downtime  )

Carson has found his way to the Medical section, after spending a day exploring the accessible areas of the ship, and is a bit hesitant as he walks in.

"H-Hello?"

He's feeling a wee bit out of place, but he needs to get this over with!

One of the Sensoriums is active. Inside it's been made to look like a spacious office. A whole wall of windows opens up on a bright but indistinct cityscape. The decor is sleek and modern, though the predominant black and white with no color is perhaps a bit too stark. Some absolutely untouched-looking books sit on a shelf and a plant that is far too green to be real sits in the window collecting dust. There are barely audible stirrings of bad office muzak that are not entirely blocked out by the walls. It's all very sterile and feels off, like it's been put together by someone with a precise list of things that an office is but no understanding of what it's like to be in one.

Suspended over the desk is a gigantic robot.

It glares balefully at anyone who looks in. Or at least it seems to, thanks to that yellow "eye" in its "face".

"Oh. Hello. Come in. Make yourself at home," GLaDOS says. Under her attempt at a flat tone is the faintest hint of resentment.

She does not want to be here. At all.

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel...||

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: Pelau
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Moderate flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Yes
Water: 75% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Climate varies by region.
Landscape: Landscape at the North Pole varies. Within the biodomes, significant development. Outside the domes remains mostly pristine.
Air: Normoxic concentration: 29% oxygen, 60% nitrogen, 3% xenon, 6% trace gases, such as hydrogen, krypton, and argon.

Air Pressure: 14.352 pounds per square inch.
Sky: Blue/violet with white clouds.
Sun: A class D4K, yellow star.

Warnings: Be careful of frostbite outside the biodomes.

Mission: None. Shore leave is now initiated.

[Here's a handy map of the North Biodome where the crew is being dropped]


( Read more... )

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!]