"I may not be captain anymore, but I like to know people, and wherever I get shoved with this election, I'm gonna keep making it my business to keep knowing people," said Cybil, leaning back against one of the desks. She'd caught Leon in the Precinct and now it was time for the rundown.

"And you also make it your business to know people, Kennedy. So spill--who are our Persons of Interest as of late? Any interesting new faces?"

Somewhere near the hub, GLaDoS is returning crew members to the main portion of the ship.

“For your participation, cake and therapy may be obtained in the lobby.”

Mulan springs to her feet. “What lobby?”

Zuko, who looks the most singed of the group, picks himself up and brushes off the front of his plantsuit. “I never want to hear a word about cake again as long as I live.”

“Really?” Biff is adjusting his kilt, which, unfortunately for the rest of the group, has had more than a few wardrobe slips during their runs through the mazes. “Because I’m going to the Sensoriums right now to find out what it is.”

No one shows any signs of accompanying him. Allen, frantically checking his Omnicom, has gone paler than usual. “Motherfuck. I need to talk to Chief, like right now.”

“Why, what day is it?” Will starts to ask, but he has already taken off. She calls after him, brow knitted with confusion. “How long were we in there?”

“Too long.” Goliath leans against the wall, looking more irritated than usual. This may have something to do with the fact that he appears to have been functioning as the group’s meat-shield, judging by the amount of injuries he’s sustained, all hastily bandaged with the remnants of Mulan’s oversized men’s shirt. “I think –”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before he turns to stone.

Will looks relieved. The remaining two just look confused. “Good. He said sleep would make him feel better.” She yawns . “Speaking of sleep, it would probably make us all feel better.”

“Uh –“ Mulan is still staring at the stone gargoyle. “Maybe we should move him first?”
“He should be all right.” Will tucks her hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to accidently break him or anything.”

“Then I’m going to find out what’s been going on. And how long we were gone.” Zuko stalks away from the girls, swords still drawn.

Will looks at Mulan again. “So . . . that’s probably a good idea. Do you want to go to the cafeteria first? I’m hungry, even for slop.”

“That does sound good.” She looks down at her exposed plantsuit – “maybe I can find someone who’ll let me have another shirt on the way.”

In the city, there is the police precinct. In the precinct, there is a meeting room. In the meeting room is one bristling former captain of the ship, turned commander, turned lieutenant, turned--oh who the hell knows her rank now. Whatever her rank is, she wants updates, explanations, and to find out how the crew has fared in her absence. Hence why she told a few people to come see her, post-haste.

"So. What the A#%& have I missed?"

A pause.

"And forewarning, if any one of you even mentions cake, I'm shooting you in the @#%&ing face. Just putting that out there."

[ooc: one thread, new subthreads for new topics and such]

After taking some much needed time to rest, collect their thoughts, gather information, plan, and work out the logistics of said plans, the Command Staff finally convened down in the city in the Basilica of St. Peter. The Vatican had served well as their meeting place before, so it made perfect sense to use it again. It was obviously large enough to house them all, and it was also quiet, since it seemed that the changes that had been made to the structure by a certain crew mate had led many crew members to avoid it.

There was much to be discussed. The fall-out from the battle over the Yeerk, what to do with the prisoners being held in the precinct, and--most importantly--the up-coming effort to breach Stacy's barriers, open up more of the ship, and deal with what lay in wait there.

After having his shoulder and Achilles tendon cared for in the medbay, Sam--under armed guard--had been brought back to the precinct and placed back into detention. Laying back on his cot, with his hand tucked under his head, he was lost in thought. Questions flooded his mind. Second guesses. Things he should have done differently at different moments. Wondering why he didn't see the decoy for what it was, a ploy to flush him and the rest of the conspirators out into the open. He'd missed it. He'd missed it all.

Now, not only was the Yeerk still alive--meaning that Sam and others had failed--but people had gotten hurt. He hadn't been able to see any faces, not until they'd taken him up to the medbay to treat him. But, when he got their he saw three people, two he recognized. Chaucer, the innocent author from way back in Earth's history. Stature, the girl who had stood between him and the person Schmuz was infesting when he reappeared. The last woman he didn't recognize. But, given the way Leon was hovering over her, she was clearly important to him.

At least three people were seriously wounded, not counting Jo who Sam had shot mid-range with a round of rock-salt, and not only did Sam have nothing--no dead Yeerk--to show for it, but they were all his fault.

Sokka poked distastefully at the mush in the edible plate that sat in front of him. This sucked. A lot. He'd been willing to deal with it for a few days but now this was just ridiculous. There was literally nothing to eat here besides the mush. And Sokka of the Water Tribe did not eat mush. He ate meat. Lots of it. This diet just would not do. He sulkily lifted a bit of the 'food' (it was only food by the loosest of his definitions) to his mouth and began chewing, complaining around the stuff.

"This sucks."

Picard had just finished his log entry for the day, and had decided to relax in one of the sensoriums. Leaning back against his chair, he called out, "Could you play some music?" Almost as soon as he said those words, the most horrendously loud guitar thrashing and guttural screaming burst through, knocking the captain over. He climbed back up and sat down, yelling at the computer.

"No! Not that! Something ... something light. Some mellow jazz, perhaps." He relaxed much more when the music began to play. "Yes, perfect. Computer, dim lighting three degrees." In response, the computer dimmed the lights, adding the additional light support of two candles on the table before him.

"Well, that turned out better than I expected," he said, grinning.

Kirk had done some poking around on his own initiative, after Cybil informed him about the precinct. He'd found it easily enough - it just took some looking around the city. He'd been a bit staggered by all of it. It simply confirmed how huge Stacy was and how little of it they'd really explored. All the more reason to get moving quickly. Cybil had also been quite correct in regards to being able to use it for a meeting place - the actual meeting rooms were something of a relief and quite distinct from the usual huddle on the observation deck.

He'd alerted the command staff of the time and place via a quick, direct use of the comm-rings and left it at that. Now, all he had to do was wait.

Leon had been busy since the mission. He had dozens of questions, so, when he wasn't patrolling the City or doing a few exercises with his team, he was trying to get answers.

There were two main places that he searched. The first was the Media Library, though his diving through the archives didn't yield much. The other place was in the depths of Weapons & Possessions.

Weapons & Possessions was as big and expansive as the City itself, if not larger. It took him days to search and map the place, though he would swear the halls shifted around on him every once in a while. But it was there that he made a huge discovery, one that had the potential to shake up the balance of power on the ship in all kinds of ways.

( His discovery? )

It was still after the fact when he called them, but he did finally call the Master Chief and Cybil and asked them to meet him in the City. He was brief in his message, but he made it clear he had something important to discuss with them.

And outside the building he had dubbed "The Precinct", he was waiting for them.

Picard was sitting, watching television.

To be precise, he was watching episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He remembered the Farpoint mission, remembered Q and his 'trial for humanity'. He only grew more sullen when he switched it ahead many episodes to First Contact with the Borg. He watched as a model of the Enterprise was bombarded with weapons fire, glaring when an actor dressed as him came on screen, pleading with Q to help him.

"It's entertainment to them," he said, his voice flat. "It's just entertainment to them."

[ooc: Read this bit.]

Something happens outside the ship. There's a concussive noise like something docking, and then the doors to Obs open again, to reveal a mostly intact, but somewhat bedraggled away team. One of them is injured, and part of the group works to get her down to MedBay, some of the others look stoic and a touch upset with what they've learned.

Some look pissed off that their various morphers and power suits have been stolen away from them again by Stacy's tentacles or dampened.

Something happens INSIDE the ship. A handful of individuals are released from their pods after quite some time of running imaginary mazes.

For the most part, the groups reconvene without incident. There are some minor injuries and a few are battered, but overall, everyone is fine. At least barring poor Leela, her arm swollen, her breathing still troubled. Fortunately, when she's brought back aboard Obs Deck, Stacy provides something if a medical cot out of the floor, that she can be secured to by her caregivers for the return trip, as well as an oxygen mask.

However, as they all meet up again and climb back on board, there is one group that's a little late...

Cybil, Dr. McNinja, Dark Smoke Puncher, Plays-in-Traffic, One-Leaf-Ear, Geoff, and Dean all set off in one direction through the tall, skinny, blueish trees. Even the way the leaves rustles might have sounded a little different to some.

Occasionally, they came across strange trails in the underbrush, like a very small fire had scooted purposefully across the ground.

It's big meeting time! Word of mouth gets everyone gathered in the Obs Deck--everyone. New, old, the entire crew is there and that makes it clear that there's close to a hundred of them, if not more.

When they've all arrived, a blue bubble pops up around them, courtesy of Blue Beetle, to block them all from Stacy's sensors. Most of the new people were given the basic rundown by Cybil or Chief when they were first released. Some of them have already joined a discussion with a the Commanding Officers and department heads. Some have had a chance to explore a bit. Some were only just recently released.

[ooc: READ THIS BEFORE TAGGING.]

Cybil Bennett had contacted Chief, Lyta, Nathan, Billy, Allen, Doc McCoy, and Superman for the Senior Staff meeting. Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, and Elfangor were invited to be part of it.

There'd be a general meeting after all this to make sure everyone was okay with the regime change, but, well, they had some real captains here now. Might as well take advantage of it.

The only non-senior staff member here, down where they were having the meeting in the Vatican in the city was Jaime Reyes, who was currently shielding them via a blue bubble from Stacy's sensors. They were weak in the City, but you never knew.

"Don't mind the blue bubble, folks, or the armor. Jaime here is just making extra sure Stacy doesn't listen in."

She folds her hands behind her back. "I think introductions are in order, first. Elfangor, you're the only one I haven't been formerly introduced to. I'm Cybil Bennett, a police officer from Brahm's, West Virginia, and as of right now, acting captain, though I'd like to see that change."

She looks to one of the others to introduce themselves.

Right outside the Hub, as the newbies file into the hallway, Cybil is there with her datapad adding new people to the ship roster, partly compiled by herself and by Wednesday, kicking ass and taking names--oh wait, sorry, that's just taking names.

"My name is Cybil Bennett. So far, If you need an explanation, I can't promise you a great one, but I can give you the best one I've got. After that, you're free to explore--just don't go anywhere alone. Even though we think it's relatively safe now, we've been attacked before. In an hour, we're having a meeting on Obs Deck, where you'll get even more information, and we'll work on introductions and..."

Her eyes dart up to one of Stacy's many watching ones.

"...our plans for dealing with all this."

In the lulls, if current crew has questions, or wants to talk, she's there for that too.

||All crew-mates. Please report to the Obs Deck to meet your new crew-mates.||

It's time for all the newbies to get a chance to have a formal meeting with the crew. Given the confusion of their arrival, that's probably a good thing.

Word gets out among the crew mates, spreading in a game of whisper down the meat-alley, that an informal crew meeting is what's happening, free from Stacy's prying ears, and sure enough, as soon as everyone's in the room, they're gestured to move in close, and a wall of blue energy goes up around them all.

((ooc note))

When they blast down the door to the Medical Wing--and they'll have to, to get in--the group of newly podpopped crew-mates will bear witness to an interesting sight. Several individuals are strapped to med-beds, restrained by insect-looking legs pinning them down. One of those individuals has a cape and domino mask that may be familiar to one of the new crew-members--even if he's older than that crew member last remembers. Medical scans and monitors blip away. There are test tubes and other medical equipment around, including a flask with some sort of nasty gray slug curled at the bottom.

A few individuals are standing around, standing guard, including a girl with a bow and arrows. In the back of the Medical Wing is a woman with a scared-looking little girl.

Sitting on a stool, leaning over a shaggy-haired young man (who appears to have suffered a horrible head wound), is that green-skinned, blonde-haired individual shown by the AIs earlier. Some freaky looking goggles are over his eyes, and a strange and sinister-looking surgical glove, attached to an apparatus on the ceiling and full of rotating micro-lasers and mini-scalpels among other things, is on his hand.

It is, unfortunately, not an image that lends itself to easy interpretation.

Down in the city, behind a holographic wall, an epic battle for the whole of Stacy was taking place.

The Yeerks had dug out a portion of Stacy's 'brain' and built a machine that would let them wipe it clean, let them take her over and control her. It would also probably destroy the coordinates that would let the rest of the crew find their way home, but the Yeerks didn't particularly care about that. They knew their own coordinates, that was all that mattered.

Bumblebee, the Doctor, and the Master had found the machine, following the directions of the very unfortunate Yeerk that had wound up in the Master's hands. They'd brought an unconscious West with them and were shortly confronted by Sub-Visser 7, the leader of this particular batch of Yeerks. Scorpius had apparently attempted to first team up with and then betray the Sub-Visser -- what the result of that was, the Sub-Visser hadn't said.

But between two Time Lords and an Autobot, they should have no problems taking down one baseline human, right?

Well, that was before he'd brought out the Taxxons. Giant, flesh-eating alien centipedes, driven by a mad hunger to devour anything that couldn't run away fast enough. They weren't very sturdy, and they would immediately fall upon any Taxxon unfortunate enough to be injured, but there were hundreds of them. And they just. Kept. Coming.

And over all the fighting, the machine that would wipe Stacy's brain was slowly charging up...

((OOC note.))

There are three major things happening. One of them is that the crew is sweeping through the ship, scanning whoever they find, and shipping the restrained Controllers back to the MedBay with some crew members.

Another is Paco--or his Yeerk, at least--is leading Scorpius, who appears to have betrayed the crew, towards the machine, hidden away in an alcove in the city, attached to one of the fleshy walls near one of Stacy's nerve clusters. It took them quite a while to find it.

The Yeerks do so love collaborators.

The last thing happening is the Doctor, Master, and Bumblebee, with the last one carrying an unconscious West, are hunting for that same machine and closing in.

With all these thing happening at once, the shit is, as they say, about to hit the fan.