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!]

[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... )

It was one exhausted, tired, alien puke-covered, acid blood-burnt group of people that trundled out of the hangar and into the ship proper. Their mission? Had sucked. Their intel had been wrong. Their lives had nearly been forfeit.

But they had survived, mainly by watching each other's backs and shooting or slashed or flamethrowing at every damn thing that moved.

Now it was off to Medbay to tend to their injuries, but after that, maybe they'd finally catch a break.

They had no idea of what had just conspired, other than what they'd learned from Stacy's messages--there had been a traitor, and that traitor had been taken care of.

There were 8 bombs spread around the ship. The teams were assigned. They had their orders, now they had to carry them out. And pray to whatever they held dear that they could disarm them in time.

Tick tock.

Shiva spoke through the comms (not the omnicomms) directly into the minds of the crew.

«I am Shiva. I am the destroyer of all that you know and the creator of a grand new empire. For months you thought of me as my host, Charles Kawalsky, but now you shall see me in all my glory. I have positioned bombs throughout this vessel, including the pod caverns. I need but press the trigger and they will explode. I also have one hostage of my own, Sheryl. You will not be able to stop me. I am fully equipped with a power dampener, and a forcefield. I am untouchable. You have one hour to surrender yourselves to me and begin your new lives as my slaves.»

His eyes flashed gold and he held his hostage firmly. He did not wish to wait, but if he tired of this he would amend his demands. For now he stayed in one of the areas in the City hidden from Stacy’s view, in the middle of a pile of rubble, with not a landmark in sight.

Still, he knew they would come.

The Sensoriums are looking rather like a quarry again, which is likely Jamie's fault. He's felt out of sorts for the past few days, and isn't even sure why he's been this way. Not really sure what else to do about it, he's decided to see if he can't work out some of his frustrations. To that end, he's recreated an island on the planet of Dulkis. Like many places Jamie has been, it's got rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.

There is a small, rather ridiculous looking robot that is rather awkwardly trying to walk along a path of sorts, a pair of arms rapidly folding in and out of its body while it does so. A pair of claws can be seen underneath, attached to a secondary, retractable set of arms. The rectangular-shaped body is topped with a spherical head that has four spikes spaced around the circumference and a fifth spike sticking straight up out of the top.

Jamie watches the robot - a Quark - from a crouched position behind a rather large boulder, waiting for it to get closer to where he's hiding. He has a laser pistol with him, currently. Once he thinks it's close enough, he pops up and throws a rock at it to get its attention.

"Come on, ye wee tin kettle," he yells, then takes off running, moving across the uneven ground fairly easily. The Quark extends the top pair of arms out, chittering in a high-pitched voice as it builds power. It fires, striking the rock next to Jamie and shattering it into bits. He dives for cover, but is up again a moment later to aim and fire the pistol. There's a satisfying explosion, and the robot - now with only half a head - falls over and is still.

Shrill squeaks and beeps in the distance indicate that there's more Quarks out there, and Jamie takes off running again before they can reach him. Anyone wandering into the Sensoriums right now might want to keep an eye out, just in case.

It has been an odd week for the blonde in the Mess, and though she always looks a bit peculiar, her dottiness is rather more present than usual today.

Seated at her table (which happens to be rather awkwardly close to the very center of the room), she seems to be spending more time twirling her wand in her hand than eating, and her feet are bare under the table, which she doesn't seem to mind too much. Years of having her shoes and the like stolen by classmates has rendered her impervious to most states of barefootedness, though it has nothing to do with her shoes being stolen this time.

Don't mind her if she stares at you as you walk in--she probably isn't paying attention.

Well, no, that's not true at all--she is probably paying a great deal of attention.

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.]

Any other day, maybe, the Doctor might be wandering the ship, looking for something interesting to pull apart or poke his nose into. He still hasn't had a chance to inspect the brain of the ship, after all, and there's that great big city he'd like to explore as well...

But right now, he'd rather not. He's tired and annoyed, and any place he could wander, it wouldn't be far enough. So instead, the Doctor has sprawled on his back, halfway upside down, on one of the couches on the Obs Deck. It seemed as good a place as any to sit still for a while - maybe not the place to go if he wanted to be alone, but he'll take company over quiet just now.

He doesn't actually seem to be paying attention to anyone who might be in the room, though. Instead, he's playing with an unidentifiable bit of patched-together technology - it's got buttons and flashy lights and a little dish and there is absolutely no outward indication of what it actually does. It's... entirely possible it's not meant to do anything, at least at the moment; he just wanted something to do with his hands, though someone to talk to (or talk at) would undoubtedly be a better distraction.

Is Special Weapons a classroom today?

No, but the young man in glasses with a slight limp scribbling furiously on a new whiteboard definitely makes it look like one. The scattered tools suggest an 'absent minded professor' vibe. Someone hasn't bothered to sort everything yet.

On the board are drawings of various Ohm in varying quality with an ever growing list of their strengths and weaknesses. Suggestions for small arms and techniques to deal with each Ohm type most effectively are being listed to the side.

On another wall, blueprints of the small arms scribbled on the whiteboard are slowly accumulating on the row of datapads propped against the wall. Someone had been working overtime while confined to his bed. Blueprints for shielding devices and armor are starting to crop up as well. They can't focus solely on offense.

Slowly, the plans are starting to build. But they need all the input they can get. Hopefully others will soon answer the notice he sent out.

((OOC: Hey, feel free to talk to Billy or whoever else you find here about Ohm plans and reorganizing things! I'd just like to ask that we hold off on discussing Lex's plans/the superweapon until I get a chance to coordinate with Will and the mods about what they want to happen and what's allowed.))

Morale was high, and everyone had their share of fun, but now it was time to part ways with Zokez II.

As everyone made their way back to the spaceport to be picked up, they could see the Obs Deck waiting for them with ramp open, and large tendrils eagerly moving vehicles and cargo back aboard.

It's about time to say goodbye to this planet...but fate, it seems, has other ideas.

[OOC: PLOT BEGINS! Here's how it goes: A handful of techies and a couple fighty people (as escort) will be on the reactor end of this part of the plot, while everyone else can help out with the evacuation.]

[OOC pt 2: Also, sorry, it apparently wasn't clear that they hadn't actually gotten back onto the ship yet. Plot is obviously taking place on the planet.]

Arha found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling for  far too long with the rush of her Mothers-Within all but quiet in the dead of night.  As much as she commanded herself to sleep, it would not come, and she rose, slipping from her bed and pulling on the pale blue nightgown and robe she had purchased not five hours prior.  Half way down the steps of the tiny beach hut she had found for sleeping, she paused, weaved and sat down.  In her mind, she saw the face of Sana, the Fremen child she had watched die during the Ohm invasion.  She let out a breath and stood, letting her robe puddle behind her as she strode across the sand.

Her bare feet, long used to sand fell into the Fremen style, slip-sliding, random but sure in the moonlight with the alien sound of water crashing to shore ringing in her ears.  The moon was full-bellied in the sky and cast pale, silvery light that touched seafoam and washed out the world.  She should have been resting, but she walked.  There were no true footprints to follow, but she did not go too far before she found herself flowing into the hybrid fighting style that was Jed-Eye and Bene Gesserit both.  Sana's face welled up in her mind's eye, fiercely Fremen, and in response, her movements jerked.

( the sea of stars still sang )

[OOC: Open, new tags mean new threads.]

It took a lot to contain the Doctor’s excitement, and they hadn’t even started looking inside the Hangar yet.

The first time he and Jamie had passed by here, they hadn’t ventured far enough inside to warrant any definite recognition of proximity towards his ship. Now that he was here again, of course (and he had his suspicions well fueled), the TARDIS was giving off clear, if not somewhat distant, locating signals. Her distinct signature flitted about his brain like a fly around his ear, making him anxious, energized. She was symbiotically connected to him, after all. Finding her even nonfunctional would be like meeting a long-lost twin sibling, albeit one of a different species that could travel through space and time.

For fear of taking this analogy too far—overuse of extended metaphors can be hazardous to one’s health—the Doctor focused again on the many rows upon rows of impressive looking space fighters, mechas, motor scooters, etcetera, waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for the others to receive his message over the comms. Part of him was worried that Jamie might not make use of the established network as readily as some other crewmembers, but frankly he’d been here long enough to understand how it worked. Besides, the Doctor probably drilled the time and location into his brain while he was pacing around the room the night before, muttering the notice and possible formats to himself as he distractedly took apart his omnicom, put it back together, took it apart again, rearranged some components…

No sleep for weary Time Lords, so the saying goes. Or something like that.

[[ooc: Mainly for the designated Who crew DW characters and those that know about the TARDIS (Kaylee, Billy, Renne, anyone else I haven't mentioned), but if you want to pop in, let one of us know and we'll see what we can do. :3 ]]

Jamie's been taking the Doctors on a tour. He's tried to show them the places that he thinks they might find interesting - Engineering, Neuropathy, the City. He's even gone so far as to show them the Art Hall, which he doesn't care much for, and tends to not visit. There's one place he wants to show them more than all the rest, however, so he decides to end the tour there. Not surprisingly, that place is the Sensoriums.

Rather than go there with them immediately, he asks them to meet him there instead, as he wants to set up something that can show off what the Sensoriums can really do. As he enters, he's still trying to make up his mind, so there's a few different places that briefly flicker into being before being discarded for one reason or another.

Finally, the warm humidity of Stacy is replaced by the cool dampness of a Scottish evening. The bright light of a full moon illuminates a well-trodden path through the moors. The smell of heather is carried on a faint breeze, and one can hear small rustling sounds from the occasional nocturnal animal. Without electricity and pollution to hide them, the stars seem to almost entirely cover the night sky.

The path winds for some time, turning into a somewhat steep climb that would be treacherous if the moon wasn't out. Finally it ends on a ledge of sorts, although he's made sure to place some light colored stones on either side to mark the boundaries of the area. Looking out, one can make out the shapes of villages below - although they're mostly dark at the moment. He should probably change that, he thinks. But he'll wait for the Doctor to get here before he does so. Right now he settles down and leans back against an outcropping of rock, watching the stars.

((OOC: Open, but please contact first if you want to jump in on a Doctor/Jamie thread just so people have a heads-up. Separate pester-Jamie threads are fine. :) Also, Doctors, completely up to you if you want one thread or separate ones.))

[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 Initiating|| 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... )

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.]