This was it. Endgame. The crux of the battle, the turning point, those crucial moments that would decide if the crew won or lost, that would decide if the Ohm would reign victorious or go running with their chitinous tails between their legs.

Did the crew have enough grit to win? Could they defeat a full Ohm fighting force?

With the flagging confidence of the GIA forces, it'd be up to the crew to turn the tide.

And one of the crew would pay the ultimate price to make sure the others walked away alive.

[ooc: everything is up!]

 After dropping off some of the crew at Balisair, it was time for the crew to set course for Lirath. The situation greeting them wasn't the most promising.

The cracked surface of the moon called Lirath was one of its most unmistakeable features. One of the three moons of the planet Kehoe, it had been terraformed and served as a settlement for a hundreds of different species, some humanoid, some not. Despite occasional class struggles, environmental issues, and speciesism blocking their way, the darker parts of Lirath's past were largely left behind, and an era of peace and tolerance had reigned for quite some time. The only problems they'd had recently were with a terrorist group whose cause for their actions had been a mystery, but they weren't tied to any particular species or social group and had been likened to a cult and had largely gone quiet in recent years.

Now the peace on the moon of Lirath had been shattered by the invasion of the Ohm.

The capital city had been destroyed. Now, all that was left of the peoples of Lirath was evacuating from one of its smaller cities, one known as Smyteval. A desert city, existing in a valley in between a rocky range of canyons and mountains, even though it was in the low ground, the natural channels of rock served as bottlenecks for any Ohm attacking from the ground.

GIA squadrons patrolled in space, locked in explosive warfare, protecting the Bleed-gate that had been activated to see the evacuated ships to the refugee world, and a shield created by massively-powerful shield generators extended around the city and up into the atmosphere, creating a shielded tunnel so ships could escape.

Word had come that there was a vital weapon to be deployed on Lirath, one that needed to be destroyed, hence why the Transmigration 9 had been called in. Given the diverse crew, and the ships that were in its hangar, there was at least someone or something on board that could blow the weapon up if it did show.

There was no sign of it yet. Right now, there was just chaos, streams of evacuees boarding ships, armies of Ohm engaged with GIA soldiers outside the shields, and forcefields that everyone hoped would hold out just a little bit longer.

The crew would be following Leon's orders but finding themselves fighting side-by-side with GIA platoons, full of various species that were currently all getting their asses kicked severely.

[ooc: STAGE 1 is now open! Please do not tage STAGE 2 until it's announced as open as well.]

[ooc: STAGE 2 is now open!]

Ever since Sandry had arrived, Daja's forge had begun to take on a new life. For the past few days, Daja had been focused entirely on doing everything she could to help Sandry settle in; even her work at the forge at been practically abandoned.

Perhaps one day, Tris and Briar would make this place home, and their family could all be together again.

But for now, Daja was content to simply have the company of her sister-saati, as they settled down for an afternoon cup of tea. "I bought this on a planet called XaXing," she explained, as she brought two steaming cups of tea over to the kitchen table where Sandry was sitting. "It's not as good as Trader tea, of course, but it's still lovely."

This could not be happening. It could not be happening. They'd been called into a briefing.

"You want us to what?"

Stacy explained again.

"I heard you the first time! I just meant--are you--you want us to what?"

Stacy explained again.

"Rhetorical! That was rhetorical! And yes, I realize I'm slightly hysterical, but this--Stacy, this is crazy. You can't possibly be sending just us." He just couldn't believe it. He'd been skeptical from the moment she called him and Toothless--and just him and Toothless--in for the briefing.

||After running multiple tactical scenarios, it has been determined that the only crew members necessary to complete this mission are yourself, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, the Third, and the dragon designated Toothless. Sending you both on this mission--alone--guarantees the greatest and perhaps only possibility of success.||

The could not be happening. Not when everything was finally going so well. Not when he'd finally, you know, ahem, with Astrid, and there was the possibility of more of it happening on a regular basis. Not with a ship full of warriors and soldiers and mages and--and people that weren't him, people that could do this mission easily and not get killed horribly.

"So what you're saying--correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is what you're saying--there is this world with dragons and--I'm sorry, does this say elves? And dwarves. And something called moppits. And there is some sort of Lord of all Darkness casting his shadow over everything that is, sending out whole armies that devastate everything in their paths."

||Yes.||

"And in the face of all this, instead of sending out, oh, the small army on the ship with the lasers and guns that go pwew pwew, you're sending the single, admittedly awesome dragon, and the scrawny Viking with the limp. This seems like a good idea to you."

||Yes.||

Hiccup tilted his head a the ceiling, a difficult maneuver, but one of many skeptical gestures he was something of a master of. Then, eyes wide, he blurted out:

"Daa daa daaa--" he beat out the next few beats on a nearby chair, just because it needed percussion this time, then turned to his best friend with a snap of his fingers. "We're dead."

One of the funniest things about Night Furies, for all their elusive nature and their terrifying flame and the fact that they were always renowned as the most dangerous breed of dragons (...on Berk, at least), they loved sunbathing. Having scales the dark, blue-black shade that Toothless did made for a delightful means of sucking heat rays from the sun right on out of the air. So while he was largely a nocturnal creature and flew by night if given the choice, if there was one thing this particular Night Fury loved... It was curling into a comfortable little half-moon shape on a large, flat rock in the sun and dozing there.

Thankfully, the Sensoriums had always been more than happy to provide one of these large, flat rocks and patches of sunlight.

So here Toothless was, curled on his side and possibly snoring slightly with his tail swishing slightly behind him. Sort of like a giant cat, but with scales and wings and only half of a natural tail. Periodically, he'd move in his sleep, as though dreaming.

[[OOC: ...wow hi Trans9. I'm not dead! >_>; I do however have the shortest complete lack of attention span in the history of... ever. Point being, there's gonna be a Hiccup in this post and that thread will be closed to just them but Toothless is otherwise open for being bothered by anybody that happens by. And I'm sorry if I'm slow about tagging, I just seriously suck at life lately. Derrp.]]

It was inevitable for all of them. Something would push them, there would be cracks, and then the truth would find its way in.

How it changed for each of them would be different, but the end result would be the same.

The world would change.

Because they would change.

[ooc: I figured out a really good way to organize this with help from chat rather than a big messy communal post or spamming the comm with individual posts. Post each character with a blank tag with just the character's name in the subject. Underneath it, run as many subthreads for events as you need to set up for your specific character's change back. Hiccup's will be up as an example.]

It had been the usual mission briefing, not that any of them remembered it. The crew knew they were gone and had no idea when they'd be back, and likely wouldn't attempt rescue for quite some time, especially with Stacy considering the mission "ongoing."

They had no idea when they'd be back, either, namely because they never remembered being on the ship in the first place.

It was home. It had always been home.

Welcome to Fairplay, Iowa, folks, happiest little town in the Midwest.

[ooc: Read this before tagging.]

The few times that Kang had gone to the Sensoriums and imagined up bits of home, he'd been careful to limit the appearances of anyone he was particularly close to. So far, only Granak and Riel had shown up; the only people he'd expressly banned were his mate and hatchlings. He'd felt that it would be too uncomfortable, too... depressing, seeing them. Nothing could compare to the real thing, after all.

( He was in a strange mood that day, though, feeling more homesick than usual. )

Dean had stepped in to watch. Only for a moment, but it was enough to reach the depths where he had buried it all. And bring it to light. Just for a moment.

A moment enough to make him run outside, and bend over, puking up the remains of the slop from earlier. A unsteady hand briefly rose up to wipe the sick away from his lips as he stood up again. He didn't realize how much he was shaking, or how as he watched, he remembered Alastair's careful instructions. He didn't want to think how the demon would have approved, and felt it was an excellent demonstration.

And he really didn't want to think how he could have *improved* on it.

He stumbled his way along to the hangar, and fumbled with opening the car door to the Impala.

"Honey, I'm home," he gave a shaky half crazed laugh as his hand touched the familiar seats. He curled into the back, his knife and gun ready by him like a child's preferred teddy bear. He stayed like that through the night.

How long has he been on the ship, a couple of weeks? Three? Time's flown by for the dorky little troll, and he's stopped keeping track. It doesn't seem to matter much, anyway. People go about their business, drama rises and falls, and for the most part he stays out of it.

As much as he's gotten to know and like this mostly-human crew, he has to admit it sucks being the only Alternian on the ship. He'd love to see another grey face or be able to talk about his custodian without having to stop and explain what they are. And of course, there's the matter of the evaluations. He has no idea what to expect or what's going to happen if he fails. When he fails, maybe. Conversations with Alex have made it obvious to him how different troll culture is from the basic human one that governs the ship. Are they going to judge him by their standards? Will he be culled if he answers wrong?

But enough of these depressing thoughts. Alex has been spending time with Luna lately, which has left Tavros free to explore the ship by himself. Today he's decided to see what these sensoriums can really do. First comes the easy part, reconstructing his hive and the area around it purely from memory. Barn, cliffs, and far below, the strip of beach and glittering dark ocean beyond. He's done this before. The darkness is just as comforting as it was the first time.

Now for the hard part.

Tavros closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Happy thoughts, that's how it works, think of good things, and...

He doesn't open his eyes until he feels the wheelchair drop away beneath him. He's still amazed to find himself suspended in the air, nearly seven feet off the ground.

He's flying!

He can't help it. Even homesickness and evaluations can't bring him down now. Grinning happily, Tavros takes off, swooping this way and that, only stopping near cloud level to have another look around. The forest, the ocean, the distant glow and thrum of a city just beyond the horizon, and above him...

Tavros smiles. He's spent enough time staring at these stars to replicate some of the constellations without Stacy's help. And let's not forget the moons, the huge baleful green one and the other tiny and pink.

None of this is going to fix any of his problems, but as far as distractions go, rearranging the stars is a pretty good one.

((OOC: Feel free to hop in! I'm never too busy for another thread. And don't worry, your character should be able to float or "walk" on the open air near him, unless you particularly feel like having them drop like a stone, in which case Tavros will do his best to save them. XD))

Most of the recently-awakened people had probably heard of the Drunken Dragon tavern within a few days of getting accustomed to the ship. Some had already visited it, and a few had even become regulars.

As usual, the door was open, and both Kang and Kaylee were there, refilling drinks and being sociable.

The stage was free for anyone that wanted to share a story, sing a song, or play an instrument, and it was more than welcomed, for what's a tavern without some form of entertainment?

[OOC: Everyone check the link! There have been some changes made to the tavern. :D]

After training with Zuko (and a shower), Hiccup had just wanted to relax. That meant a trip to Hydroponics, for fake sunshine on his face. At least until he got under the shade of a tree with bright pink leaves, anyway.

It also meant hanging out with his buddy.

There was outright giggling as Toothless nudged his side, rolling him over so that he could squeeze in under the shade, curled around his boy, and then Hiccup lay there against his dragon's side, one foot gleaming in the light, the toes of his other foot wiggling in the grass.

One hand idly reached up and over and scratched the dragon's neck so that his whole body rumbled as he purred.

The teenage Viking looked half-close to drifting off for a nap, but that wouldn't stop him from saying hello to anyone that passed by.