River had caused quite a stir with her failed attempt to kill the Doctor. The backlash from the Master had been substantial, but it had only kept her in line for a day or so before she was at it again. She was constantly going off to do her own thing, shaking off the Master's controlling attitude towards her. She was feeling particularly rebellious when she'd snuck into the TARDIS this afternoon. Hoping to catch one of the Doctors off guard and toy with them like a cat would a mouse. Even if the Doctors had successfully managed to exile her from the TARDIS, they would be hard pressed to keep out a woman who had the entire TARDIS database downloaded in her head. She would always be able to find a way in.

A little known fact was that River was in a downward spiral. All those long  years of training, of nursery rhymes about killing the Doctor, even her instinct to kill - all of that was waging war against the emotions the Master had buried when he'd messed with her head. Her mind and body told her to kill, but every time she worked out the courage, her heart lead a full on rebellion. It was confusing and it was slowly driving her insane. That, along with a lot of other complicated things, all stemming from what the Master had done to her head, meant she was highly unstable right now. Even more so then usual.

She sat comfortably in the jumpseat, one leg crossed over the other, hands folded behind her mane of long blonde curls. Her eyes glued to the door, watching and waiting.

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

( Downtime  )

If you ignore something it goes away, right? At least, that's what should happen, and would be happening if the world were any semblance of fair, which it isn't.

Not that that stops Howard from trying; he has, in fact, been going to a lot of effort to avoid certain people in the Med Bay. He's rescheduled his shifts. He's taken the back way around in to the department. He's mostly been sticking to areas in the city where he's least likely to run into a certain Rory Williams - and that's to say nothing of the 'I hope you die' telepathic vibes he's trying to give off.

Honestly, it's probably a good thing for everyone that Howard doesn't have superpowers.

And yet, the problem with working with only so many coworkers as can be counted on his fingers is that eventually, Howard can't keep scheduling shifts away from one of them. Someone will call him on it, and then he'll have to explain the whole ugly affair, which mostly consists of Howard being a baby and taking things personally and just not wanting to do anything but splash blame all over the place like a loosed firehose full of hatred.

Deep down, he knows that. But that kernel of deep-down knowledge is buried beneath stacks and stacks of rationalizations and defense mechanisms that make it very, very easy to hate Rory and everything associated with him, a list which includes: Romans, the British, that weird dirty blond hair color, people with pointy noses, babies, nurses, and using the word 'biscuit' when you obviously mean 'cookie'.

And that's why he's glaring down at his paperwork in the Med Bay when Rory approaches, thinking that now would be an awfully nice time to develop the psychic ability to smite.

"I never thought I'd be glad to see one of these." The words were wry, one hand tugging a bit on the plant suit as he got used to it against his skin. "Last time, it was easier to focus on being naked."

This time had been a mass of chaos and trusting that Sakura knew who he should be shooting at. He kept the gun in reach, not quiet able to trust that things were safe just yet. Wars weren't something that ended cleanly, and any of those little robots could be hiding around here.

"Are you alright?" He kept his back to her, arranging the plant suit and figuring out how to holster the weapon.

Unlike some on the ship, he didn't have any powers, but he was a good shot. Better to not let go of something that could save his life.

He made sure his daughter was properly settled, smoothing the dark hair around the fine points of her ears before bothering to fuss with his kit.

He was on shift in an hour, and Molly needed her check up and next round of shots before that. He'd timed it, he should have plenty of time to get everything done and get her to her baby sitter before he went on the clock.

It had only been a few months since they'd brought her home and into their lives, three at most, he thought, though it was hard to keep track with battles and attacks and funerals to distract everyone invovled. Two months and this precious baby girl was already the focus of so many of his plans. Even the little ones, the day to day ones that didn't impact much in the grand scheme of things. Even on a space ship in the middle of space fighting against an evil alien threat, they could have a life. Not a normal one, he thought Amy might get bored with a properly normal life, but a good one. A good life with friends and children and the woman he was going to marry just as soon as they could find the moment to make it official.

"We'll go meet up with Sakura, and take care of your check up, and then we'll go see mummy before daddy has to go to work." The words were soft, a cadence he rarely used for anyone but her or Conner. His children, his family.

He kept his daughter pressed against his shoulder, smiling down at the sleeping baby as he headed for the lift.

No, it wasn't such a bad life at all.

After the battle, the warriors' task was over. Their job, for now, was to rest and recover for the time being.

The healers' job, on the other hand, was far from over. Some exhausted from the battle, others rotating in, they took to their bay and continued the process of treating the wounded. Some patients were free to leave in a few minutes, while others would have some time (or quite some time) on the cots. Their mission: relax. Stay as still as possible.

Unfortunately, the temptation of so many familiar faces alive and about would ultimately prove to be too great. Keeping track of this group was going to be a third task all its own.

[this is a free for all for all your injured! Have them socialize, be thorns in the medics' side, try to escape, or bring the medics together for some action. Just note in your post if you'd like a medic to visit your character---if not, it's time for a chat!]

[Takes place right after clone plot and arriving back on Stacy. After there]

“First sharks and now explosions!” The Doctor held up his ruined sonic screwdriver and turned it in the light. “I’ll have to proof against both, I suppose.”

He crossed the Hanger in long strides, expecting Otter Soother Daniel Jackson to keep up. Daniel had held himself rather well during the whole clone thing and what was more, he even saved his sonic for him! The Doctor found himself feeling rather fond of the human right this moment. Good man! Resourceful! But also being annoyingly close-mouthed about what he might have picked up from that encounter with the Other Doctor, which was surprising because he thought he knew humans and if there was anything he learned from all his time amongst them, it was they loved talking almost as much as he did! Questions in particular were their favorite, no matter how obvious or rhetorical or downright silly. Big big fan of the obvious questions. Basically they were a chatty species.

Part of the reason why he’d asked Daniel to come with him to the TARDIS.

If he was lucky, Daniel would tell him what he’d seen from that clone on his own, given enough time and company.

The Doctor was tucking the sonic back into his pocket when they came into sight of the TARDIS. He only paused for the briefest of beats as he took in the fact the old girl’s doors were wide open, positively gaping open! This wasn’t looking very looked out after and he wondered if maybe Jamie’s memory retention was failing thanks to him being an ex-dead man. Clearly the human needed a talking to! He approached cautiously, poking his head inside.

Everything in the console room looked in order, if you ignored the suspicious trail of foam cups leading away from the door and a few minute scratches on the glass which he knew for a fact hadn’t been there since he last checked. The Doctor’s lips pursed as he peered about, head weaving as he checked under the control console and then straightened. Where was Jamie? In fact, where were the rest of his friends?

“Better have a look around,” the Doctor lied, perhaps too cheerfully. “Long time away from home and I’m afraid River’s gone and organized things. I’m very specific on my organization system, I’ll have you know.”

He made a vague shooing motion at Daniel.

((So basically this is thread two, with the Doctor/Daniel/Rory jumping into a TARDIS taken over by the Master. Since the Master can switch up rooms (up to the players in the threads for what's wrong with the rooms) and trap people/shift people around, I guess assume timey-wimey things to allow different characters to stumble into each other? But yeah, I guess do subthreads for characters stumbling and we can subthread different people running into them.

I think we're looking at people in the TARDIS as: Victoria, Martha, The Master, River, Jamie, Doctor, Daniel, Rory, Amy, Eva. If I missed anyone, poke me!))

Rory Williams.

His name was on the list of the wounded from the clone mission and River couldn't bring herself to sit still or think straight until she made her way to the Med Bay. She knew of Rory's reputation for brushes with death, but the Doctor had been right by his side, so she had thought he would be safe enough. It wouldn't do to create a fuss. She was virtually a stranger to this man and it would seem strange to him if she fussed over him like she did the Doctor. So, she promised herself she would only pop in for a quick visit and then be on her way again.

It took a bit of maneuvering to find him, but find him she did. River Song walked into that room with her head held high and a tight lipped smile on her face. Never knowing, never even guessing that their relationship would be forever changed from this moment on. Her relationship with her father was quite estranged, even before she had arrived.

"You alright there, Rory?"

Howard hasn't gotten a full night of sleep since a little before they landed on Galilee. The events of that particular mission certainly haven't helped. Recently he's taken up to squinting to combat the way his eyes feel as if they're covered in dustbunnies and sand, and his usual skittishness has turned into an unconscious twitch and tremble.

( Read more... )

He sits with his back against one of the trees, resting his head on a loose knot and swallowing pieces of overripe fruit while barely chewing. It's a temporary comfort. Just because people disappear on Stacy doesn't mean she's about to put them in some death trap. Stacy's always been like this, taking people when it makes sense to her. It's just never been someone close to Howard.

Thinking about how he's the only person from the FAYZ still awake here sends a shiver down his back, but the sweet juice in his mouth does well to remind him that he's not back home, not in the FAYZ, not buying time from death, not going to go hungry again.

[OOC: Due to the tone of this post I'd like to keep this limited to a few threads; hit me up in PM or AIM if you want to tag here. I'll be having a less wangsty open post for Howard up in a few days for those interested in getting CR with him under different circumstances.]

Rory didn’t look back as they got on the ship, really, turning around might have caused him fall over. So it wasn’t as though he was being dramatic or anything, just completely exhausted and unwilling to expend the energy to look back when he already knew what he was going to see.

The way his backpack was riding kept rubbing against the raw burn that stretched across his back and the new boots had left him with nearly crippling blisters. Damned things.

He paused long enough to let the medic take Conner and whisk him off to the medbay, swaying slightly on his feet and waving off his coworkers. He wanted to make sure Sakura and the rest of the team managed to make it off the ship safely. He was exhausted, but stable. Blood and soot covered his face, cut on his forehead still oozing. Hadn’t done much more than nap over the past four days, which made it feel much longer than it had.

It hurt a bit to breathe, but he was stable. He’d manage to make it to medbay under his own power. There were a lot of people worse off and it was his job to make sure they all made it off. As much as he wanted to follow the medics with Conner back down. As much as he would give anything to just sleep at the moment.

The first thing he'd insisted on them fixing was the clone brand, but the surgery to fix his arm had come first, to allow all the tissue to heal right. His tendency towards fast healing was taking care of the rest. Then they got rid of the stupid clone brand after.

His hand was gone.

It was still a thought he had to get used to. One second it'd been there and now it was gone. It hadn't even been all the dramatic, like things like that were in the movies. It wasn't some moment over a gaping pit, with a villain chopping off his hand and revealing he was his father. He didn't have to saw it off to escape from some deadly trap, horror movie style.

There'd been a fight, he'd fallen on the teleporter pad, there'd been a bright light in front of his face and that was it. Apparently, it could happen just that easily.

Then again, it wasn't the first time he'd lost a hand--that same hand, in fact--but after healing for a thousand years under the North Pole, all the damage from the fight that had killed him had disappeared, and the thing had apparently regrown. So losing limbs wasn't exactly something he never expected would happen, when it already happened once. This time, he was fairly sure it wasn't going to grow back, though.

Ultimately, he decided that was okay. He was a little freaked out about it, but he'd cope. You rolled with the punches, right?

Sometimes you have to roll with the accidental amputations, too.

It was war. This stuff happened, it was going to keep happening, and at least it hadn't been his head.

It was war, and people got hurt in wars, just like you made decisions you weren't sure were the right ones. Just like his decision to let Moses free all the clones was one that was weighing on his mind. (He was just WAITING to hear from Leon on that one).

Superboy sat upright on his bed in Medbay, arm bandaged and in a sling, and played Tetris on his omnicom one-handed. Hopefully, they'd let him out of Medbay soon, and then...then he'd figure out the rest.

The plan was...well, it wasn't simple, but it sort of was.

While the CLF attacked multiple Clone Processing centers to distract the government, the group with the CLF would target one particular one in the region that'd once been New Jersey. The group with the government would offer their services in putting down their own people.

In the center, they'd split up into several groups. One would fight a fake fight, create a massive diversion, and blow up the room where the samples their DNA were being kept in the process. Another group would secure a teleporter pad. That team would teleport out other teams to steal a ship, steal some med tech to teleport to said ship, and steal a medical database. Another team would go to the main command center and hack into the government mainframe to down the sensornet around the planet so they could escape. And Nightwing himself would accompany the clones to upload the harvested memories to the Mother Brains, left unguarded because of the diversionary fighting, and make sure that was all they did.

Meanwhile, there'd be a standing order for all teams to avoid killing other crewmates, and avoid killing guards unless absolutely necessary.

It was a complicated plan. If a single part fouled up, they might find themselves dead, trapped, or worse. But if it worked, it'd work pretty spectacularly and leave them with medtech, a medical database, the clones helped, and possibly a grateful Council depending on how the fight went, because of the ones seemingly aiding the government.

In some worlds, things that were a million-to-one-chance (exactly a million-to-one) by their nature had to work. Let's hope this world is one of them, eh, mission crew?

[ooc: Only comment to threads if it says they are open here. All threads: OPEN. Characters may get injuries up to and including 7 on the Injury Scale (scroll to the bottom). Any higher, and they must ask permission of the plot-runners, just to make sure everyone isn't immobilized without enough people to help move them.]

The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her.

They were all teleported from the main teleport pad of the hotel into the conference room, which was a large enough room to be able to hold a group their size and had plenty of chairs arranged in a circular pattern so they could mostly all face each other or whoever was in the middle of the room.

Everyone had to settle down so they were all able to talk, and the meeting itself would have to be carefully controlled so they wouldn't all talk over each other. But they were up for the task, right?

[ooc: Guardian Setup, General Mingling, Clone Checkup, Newbie Briefing, General Briefing, More Mingling, Back to the Meeting, and The Idea Guy sections are open. Backup characters introduced to the plot can join in the mingling subthreads if they want. The opening of new subthreads will be announced here and the ooc. Please read the linked OOC post for a plot timeline.]

The trip down was uneventful. The view was gorgeous when the viewing window shields were raised again when they were through the atmosphere, especially as they passed down to Megalopolis, the simply-named giant city that was this world's capital. To the Earthlings there, the continents of this world would look vastly familiar, but that didn't mean anything, did it?

Eventually the sparkling city spires of the mega-city, interspersed with flying traffic, rose up to meet them, and Obs Deck, attached by its massive shielded umbilical cord, deposited them at the Council's private spaceport. It retreated back up to Stacy after they'd disembarked.

This world was a gorgeous world, that much they could likely tell while standing there on the landing pad, looking at the rounded curves of the beautifully designed spaceport. Buildings rose up above them in shades of white, paneled with multi-colored glass, in creative architectural designs. The air traffic weaved neatly in endless lines between buildings, and the overcast sky was in shades of orange and pink, with occasional slips of a bright blue peeking through.

The Council of Five was waiting for them in person, clearly glad to see them all, dressed in resplendent clothing.

"Welcome to the Megalopolis, our capital city, and welcome to Galilee. We are the Council of Five, and we're honored by your presence."

[ooc: The first subthread is now open. They have split into groups! All subthreads are now open! Please do not set up new subthreads. The plot-runners will set them up as needed as we go.]

A large group of crew members was gathered. In fact, given the mission briefing provided, it was curious that there'd be such a large number for a diplomatic mission.

Planet Designation: Galilee
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens. [Various translations of "human" appear here so everyone understands it]
Water: 69.5% of the planet's surface.
Climate: Earth-like [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Varied.
Air: Normoxic concentration. Slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide.
Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue. Often overcast.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.
Warnings: Wildlife and plant-life can be hazardous. Humans can be hazardous. A human cultural and legal database is available. [click here]
Mission: Successfully negotiate with the Galileeans in exchange for their advanced medical technology.

It was very little to work with, so the crew gathered there possibly had a lot of questions.

He really only intended to talk, eyes dark with rage and head throbbing in an almost rhythmically.

But he needed to know. An accident, sure. He could handle that. He could be frustrated and push for a policy change, but he could accept it. Accidents happened, they were frustrating, but dwelling on them only made the situation worse and lowered his effectiveness. He knew that. He'd learned that practically on the first day at the hospital. Things happened, and then you moved on and dealt with the next things happening.

But this...if Conner was right, if Tim was right, and he had no reason to believe that either would lie or make this sort of assumption.

An attack. On his family. That could not be tolerated.

'Never start a fight, it's ok to walk away, Rory. Strength is knowing when to walk away.'

'When what you love is threatened, spare no effort in protecting it. Mercy is for peacetime, kindness for your allies. To your enemies, show only the edge of your blade.'

He was fairly certian he was slowly losing his mind. Memories that weren't his pounding against the back of his temples until he just wanted to retreat, meekly, back to Conner and Molly and Amy.

But he couldn't, his legs wouldn't stop, his fists clinched furiously at his sides. Nothing in his face showed any of the mental turmoil, only rage that his family had been threatened.

He felt like something had possessed him, as though he might explode if the right sequence of buttons was pushed.

The door to Neuropathy swung open easily under his hand and it wasn't hard to spot his quarry. "Did you think no one would notice?" The words were cool, controlled, tightly leashed with threat and fury.

It had been a few hours since he had almost cautiously entered the room the young comatose woman had been in to find a quietly wiggling baby, tangled in medical cords that had formally been keeping her alive. She hadn't been crying, tiny hands waving quietly in front of her face, each gesture making her pause in confusion, as though her fingers were an alien thing not connected to her body.

He hadn't been sure if he should sigh in relief or feel more worried. She was moving under her own power, for the first time she was alive and not just existing. She was a baby, it had worked. But she wasn't crying. Which could mean any number of things, most of them not good and only a few of them tolerable. It could never be simple, could it?

She had been small in his arms when he picked her up, smaller than Conner had been a few hours ago, lighter than she should have been, he'd known that much.

It had taken hours to check for and repair any damage done to her. Tirelessly matching Mei-Xing's scans with the scans of the child until everything was as it should be. His head was throbbing; a low, constant ache that made him want to sleep for the next three days.

But she was cooing, soft and quiet in his arms, latching on hungrily to a bottle when it was offered and she seemed to have no problems eating. Everything matched. Just a normal, non-human baby. A beautiful baby girl. "Shhh...."

It had worked. Somehow, despite everything, it had worked.


ooc: Anything happening in this thread is assumed to happen after Amy's, no matter the order people tag in. The baby's name will end up being Molly.

It was a little hectic in Medbay. Though there were only a few patients, they weren't in the best shape. Still, there was the best life support technology that could be built or grown in the Medbay, and the problems were being dealt with.

For the moment.

That moment would soon be over, only to be replaced by sheer chaos.

[ooc: Tag away!]

Conner didn't get out of bed that morning. That was the first sign something was wrong. He didn't run in and jump on Rory's bed to wake him and Amy up, he didn't run around all noisily in the TARDIS, exploring, he didn't do little boy things in loud, little boy ways.

He stayed in bed, quiet as can be.

The second sign that something was wrong was the way he couldn't seem to stop shaking.

Even with the small amount of time Amy had spent on Stacy so far, she'd still had plenty of time to observe the comings and goings of the crew. Seeing so many of them as children, especially when she knew a good portion of them as adults, was a little past the point of peculiar. Travels with the Doctor tended to lean toward the strange side of things, so she guessed she should probably be used to it by now.

The really odd part, though, was not the many children now running around the ship (screaming, almost all of them, wow), but the one small child who seemed to have adopted her fiance, and who wouldn't leave Rory's side for anything. It was alright with her. With the Doctor on his mission, having something to patter around the TARDIS that wasn't Jamie's little feet (yeah, still weird, that) was kind of nice, even if it wasn't necessarily normal. Getting him to go to bed was almost as bad as getting the Doctor to sleep, too, it seemed.

Amy held the door to their bedroom open, the bunkbeds obvious in the room behind her. "Come on, then, the room's all ready for you."