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.]

Wyn let out a deep breath and propped her feet up on the conference table, holding a mug of coffee in one hand. She had already sent out a message on the omnicoms and typed up a brief outline of the meeting for herself.

Now all she had to do was wait for her minions coworkers to arrive...

Julian glared at the paperclip. Or, rather, the charred shard of metal that used to be a paperclip, which was sitting on the floor of an otherwise empty sensorium.

He had tried to pick it up and move it, something that should be a simple task for a telekinetic like him, but his precision control was still shot to hell. He ended up using too much energy in too small a space, which resulted in an explosion.

For the fifth time in a row.

It was getting annoying. He used to have perfect control. Hell, he was on the verge of learning how to disassemble molecules. Now, thanks to Emma unleashing him into overdrive, he can move a mountain through sheer force of will, but can't pick up anything smaller than an SUV without exploding it.

He was getting better at it with practice, but it was slow and frustrating. But damn it all to hell if he was going to ask for help. He could do this on his own. He'd just have to try again.

Which he did, having the sensoriums make another paperclip for him. All he had to do was concentrate, focus, grab hold of it, lift it and then.... then shield his eyes from shrapnel as that one exploded too.

"Dammit..."

By this point, the Ohm had spread all across the planet.

Destruction spread throughout the cities of Zokez II. There were evacuees that still needed to escape. People that needed saving.

It was time for the crew to do what they did best.

[ooc: Sub-plots! Check here before tagging.]

[Closed to the mechanics and engineers who are going to be involved in the Great Rogue Upgrade project. see this com post.]

The sensoriums had been set to look like an empty hangar in which a couple X-Wings sat. Tycho had no idea what else the engineers would need for their initial planing phase, but he figured whatever it was, they could tell the sensorium to create it themselves.

He conjured himself up a crate to sit on, and scrolled through some squadron numbers on his datapad as he waited for everyone to arrive.

Wedge had set up the headquarters for yet another meet and greet operation. The headquarters, of course, was simply an abandoned building with appropriate facilities he had commandeered in the city. A low building of bright red brick, it had at some point been an office complex. Now it was the headquarters of the best fighter squadron anywhere (or so the reputation went). A crude sign and been painted over the front of the building reading 'Rogue Squadron Headquarters,' replacing the precious owners which had advertised for insurance of some type. The front offices had been set up for use by Wedge and his small staff (now including Tycho, Ben and Nura) to run the squadron. Another side room had been set up as a 'pilot lounge,' though at the moment it only had some spare office furniture. Couches and other things were hard to come by on Stacy. Finally, the largest room had been converted into a briefing room of sorts, with a projector and several rows of seating, as well as tables that could be stowed or set up as needed.

At the moment there were simply chairs scattered around the edge of the room. Wedge waited, occasionally checking his chronometer. Hopefully everyone would arrive and mingle, and then he could get down to the business of letting them know exactly what they were in for.

<sub>[[OOC: Feel free to tag each other, please!

The briefing has started!]]</sub>

"Right, let's try this one more time." Wyn mutters to herself, resetting the automatic tennis ball launcher. The tennis ball launcher and several translucent displays were the only things in the otherwise featureless white room, and (rather unusually) Wyn was still wearing her plantsuit. She was determined not to skew the results of her testing by using the Sensorium unnecessarily, even though she suspected that she couldn't actually do much to change the outcome so far.

Wyn walks back to the duct-taped line on the floor, locking the large silver bracelets on her wrists in place as she walks. "And… take 37." she says with an irritated grimace. hitting two buttons on the display closest to her. The tennis ball launcher fires, sending a tennis ball flying at Wyn's head-- and by extension, the door to the outside behind her. Now would be a very good time to not distract her, unless you'd like to be whacked in the head by a flying tennis ball.

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.]

So, you know those times when you get really, really restless? Like, to the point where you seriously can't sit still anymore, and you just have to pace around somewhere, or suffer the consequences?

Yeah, Caden's feeling that right now, which is why, at this very moment, he can be found wandering the Hangar, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

Oh. my. God. Why is there nothing to do? There's nothing to do.

Except stare at spaceships, apparently.

Some people are bothered by having found themselves on an alien spaceship, their worlds destroyed, their friends and loved ones sealed away if they're living at all, and that's all quite understandable.

Allen does not now, and has not previously, appeared to be one of these people. At the very least, missing home has never gotten in the way of his focus at work.

Lately, he's been even more focused than usual. Strong work ethic? Possibly. But it's also meant a noticeable drop in his socializing outside the workplace, but hey, there's always a ton of work to do in Engineering anyway, so no reason he shouldn't be at work. Even if it's a bit of an abrupt change. And even if only his co-workers have probably noticed.

In any case, he is anticipating some visitors today, but working steadily away on the department's list of projects before his meetings - and he'll probably still be working while they're taking place.

Indigo stands in the hallways, hands clasped behind her back. She doesn't pace, she doesn't weave or bob around. It's like she's a statue, waiting for someone to pass before her disdainful look. She's outside the Spacewalk's doors.

She doesn't expect that many people. Perhaps three Science personnel. Two or three from Security. Not much trouble. A small part of her wishes that more people were here to observe the opening of both the Spacewalk and Hydroponics, but the more logical part crushes that. If the creatures are dangerous, it would be wiser not to have any other crewmembers around.

So, she waits.

Wedge waited quietly at the front of the squadrons ersatz assembly room, watching and waiting as pilots took their seats. An eclectic and strange group, to be sure, but he was determined to mold them into a fighting force to be reckoned with. They had the potential. They just needed a push in the right direction. He took a breath, waited as the last few pilots took their seats, then began.

"Welcome. I'm glad to see that all of you managed to make it through our latest ordeal in good health, and I hope you've all had a chance to rest up and recover from the experience. First of all, I'd like to introduce you to two new members of our squadron." He gestured to the two people standing behind him and off to one side.

"This is Colonel Tycho Celchu and Lieutenant-Colonel Jaina Solo. They're both experienced pilots and they'll be helping with training and getting the squadron into shape. And to that purpose, I'd like all of you to go around the room and introduce yourselves so that they know who they're working with. Your name and a little something about yourself." He nodded at the first person who came to mind and waited for their introduction.

Several buildings in the City had been completely destroyed during Aang's rampage, but a few had survived relatively unscathed. It had only taken Kang two days to repair the Drunken Dragon; he'd done so by himself, not even waiting for his leg to heal up a bit first.

Usually, he didn't bother lighting any candles or using the fireplace in the tavern unless it was a period when the artificial sun had set. He could see perfectly fine in the dim light. For the celebration, though, he'd thrown the windows open wide, scrounged up every candle he could find, and started up a fire, knowing that human vision wasn't as good as his own. The tables surrounding the stage had been cleaned, as well as the tankards, and the door was propped open. The bozak had even wrestled two of the 60-gallon barrels from the back room into a corner of the main room for easier access, one of cactus juice and one of ale. If more was needed, he was sure he could get someone to help bring out another.

Tess had commandeered the kitchen to make her food, bringing in her own equipment. Kang had been slightly afraid at first that she was going to burn the place down, but nothing had happened yet. She seemed to know what she was doing, even if she'd given him a few scares.

The sunlight glistened on the old sword blade teeth and dinnerplate eyes of the comical-looking wooden dragon grinning above the entrance. Come in, relax, have a drink and a bite to eat!

[OOC note: Both drinks are alcoholic, and the cactus juice has twice the kick of the ale. :D;]

The Nightmare King has been defeated. Those crew members who were touched by his madness have been taken down.

The City is a mess. So is the rest of the ship. As is most of the crew.

But it's all over. Finally.

Nightmare becomes reality....

_{[roster: Leader-Samus, Dustin, Hellcat, Wyn Callahan, Xander Harris, Yoshimi]}

After his confrontation with Sofia, Julian wandered around for a while. He didn't really pay attention to where he was going, and in his travels, he wandered into the area of the city that contained several ruins. He didn't really pay them any mind, at least until he stumbled across one that he recognized.

The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

Even as it was, he'd recognize the place. It was his home, once. But like most everything else in his life that he thought he could count on forever, it was reduced to nothing more than ashes and rubble.

For a moment, he wondered if this was the Nightmare King's doing, but he knew the truth. He knew exactly who he was and where he was. He scoffed at the bitter irony of the situation.

"Who needs nightmares when this is your life?"

The Nightmare King had been, more or less, taking it easy on Leon. Not that he had to do much. All he had to do was let Leon know that he was in his head. Considering that he never really recovered from being possessed by a plaga, just knowing that he wasn't alone in his own head was more than enough to get to him. For Leon, an occasional flash of something dark moving through the veins just under his skin, or glancing at his reflection only to see a pair of red eyes looking back at him, was more effective than any elaborate nightmare. Even the feeling that his clothes were contracting against him despite his having gotten rid of that godforsaken plant suit, or that damned itch on the inside of his chest were starting to get to him.

At first, he just resorted to ignoring and pushing past the sensations, going colder to get himself through the day. Slowly, though, the Nightmare King was chipping away at that defense.

But Leon would be damned if he was going to end up helpless against this thing. "Sigmund," the Seer's droid assistant had given him a list of ways to 'bless' and reinforce his weapons to make them more effective against daemons. Leon tried a few, mostly on the weapons he didn't normally carry while back home. It worked, to a minor degree. At the least, it made it so those weapons stood out in his waking dreams. The discontinuity of having them there was usually enough to make him realize that he was dreaming. Well, that, and the fact that he scrawled the words 'WAKE UP' on each of those weapons.

But he was hoping to find a more effective way of taking on the Nightmare King. Which is why, for once, Leon was in the sensoriums.

He usually avoided the sensoriums, only bothering to step in if he had business with someone in there. There was something about a hyper-realistic virtual reality that annoyed him, and he found the way some crew members buried themselves in a false reality to be worrisome. Even more so, considering that not even that was a refuge for them from the Nightmare King. But for right now, the room's ability to conjure up whatever he wanted trumped his discomfort with the place.

His brain was a bit too fried to focus on a list, so he had the room bring interface with the W&P inventory list to bring up the "infinite armory". He stood in the middle of countless rows and racks of weapons and armor, and what could be seen was still only a fraction of what they had on board. He moved them easily and effortlessly, rearranging them with the aid of several holographic screens.

He looked at the specs for several groups of weapons, hoping that somewhere in that haystack, was a needle that he could use to stab the Nightmare King in the eye.

Slowly but surely, the nightmares have been chipping away at the mental defenses of the crew.

Even those who attempt to stay awake to avoid the nightmares find themselves too on-edge to completely concentrate their defenses.

And the Nightmare King has not been idle during all this, no. He has been slowly feeding off the crew, gathering his strength so that he may yet break free from his prison.

And he now uses that new found power, reaching out to affect the minds of the crew even in the waking world. Even those avoiding sleep will find themselves drifting in and out of their nightmares, bringing everyone a taste of despair.

After all, no one can escape the grasp of the King of Nightmares.

No one.

[ooc: OH NOEZ. As you can guess, the Nightmare King is getting stronger. As such, the crew will start experiencing waking dreams. These are much more subtle than the normal nightmares, however, and are more so depressing and surreal than actually brain-breaking. Mostly they would be miserable versions of the character's normal life, or perhaps even their life on the ship.]

Everyone had been so nice to Ryo since he had awoken a day prior. He wanted to show his appreciation to his friends and the crew, and get a chance to meet others. So, he walked back into the sensoriums and imagined a place. As he opened his eyes, there was the Milk Dipper. Wood finish, stars decorating the place, rough hewn wooden tables and the telescope in it's pedestal at the center. Everything was as it should be, except for one thing. Behind the counter, looking very confused, was a green-skinned demon who bore no resemblance to Airi. Ryo registered his shock as the demon spoke.

"This... is NOT my bar..." The green one said, his own shock evident. He looked at Ryo. "And you're not Peter..." Ryo, not knowing what to do, bowed quickly.

"I'm sorry, Oni-san, I just wanted to throw a party for everyone, with karaoke and dancing, and I didn't mean to summon you!" The demon shook his head, waving Ryo off.

"It's Lorne, and you had me at karaoke. Now, this place.... I like it. Kind of a kitsch-meets-class thing going on... It does need to be bigger, though..." Lorne snapped his fingers and the cafe expanded, now as large as an auditorium. The telescope pedestal sat firmly in the center of a well-polished dance floor, underneath a disco ball and lighting set up. To the left of the counter was a stage with a karoake set-up, and behind the counter was now a lot more than just coffee. Otherwise, the decor remained the same.

"Alright, Ryo-kun." Lorne said with a smile. "Give everyone the heads up and get this party started." Ryo nodded, amazed by the demon's abilities, and gave a call on the omnicomms.

[[ OOC: It's karaoke dance party time! Start a sub-thread with your character singing a song, socializing, or just being a wallflower, and let the CR flow! Especially great for newbies to meet folk and influence people!]]

Engineering is, as usual, open, and Allen is putting the very finishing touches on a robotic arm. When he's satisfied the limb is prepped to function on its own, he sits down with a datapad to do some reading. It might not look very exciting to the casual observer, but there's never a dull moment in Engineering if you like reading (and doing) a lot of math.

(ooc: Technically this post is for Paco, but is open to characters investigating Engineering as well.)