NationStates Jolt Archive

*Celestial begins to pull herself up, but the rope suddenly comes crashing down, cleanly cut at one end as if with a very sharp knife.*

Celestial: "What gives?!"

Janice slowly lowers her pistol as the thing disappears and curses more as the rope comes down. "Smeg. Well, it looks like it AND the rope are gone... Celestial, keep the Cap'n covered as I make sure the coast is clear. Do not let me out of eyesight." Stupid stupid stupid... stay with the group. She inches forward, Weaver grip on her phaser, as she looks around where the creature disappeared.

(OOC: Not the brightest thing to do, and certainly not the course I'd take no matter what some think [yes, a young male who believes in unit cohesion] but I have a plan.)

*As Beth stands near the edge, tricoder held over the edge, a shadowy figure seems to just materialize in the mist near her.*

Celestial: "Cap'n! Watch out!"

*Celestial yelled warning to Beth. The shadowy figure again just seems to vanish.*

OOC: I do - but I'm no longer a young male, at least IMO. I also play paintball. Unit cohesion and communication is good.

((OOC: This shadowy thing is playing with the charas, and there is more then one of them too. It's dark and the layer mist covers the area up to Celestial's waist. It's unknown at the moment wheather they are hostile or not. :P))

Janice inches further away from the group. I wish I was in armor. Snoopers, IR and EM spectrum, active radar... real armor... Spinning around at Celestial's warning, she doesn't see the shadow that appears behind her. A muffled whump, the clatter of a phaser on the ground, and she's gone.

(OOC: Hope that's okay. Krowemoh, we're going to have to compare notes. *evil cackle* Check TGs.)

"Janice?" 'Damn it.' Beth went for life signs. There was one moving swiftly away, and she followed it. "Celestial - this way!" As she ran she pulled the MP-5SD off her shoulder. One eye on the 'corders life and range finders and one on the mist ahead she moving carefully forward as fast as she dared.

Janice's suit radio (transmitting mostly what sounds like hefty thumping and clenched-teeth cursing in a combination of Arabic, Japanese, and Thai) and lifesigns fade in and out, moving erratically--whatever's carrying her has apparently reached a tunnel network just ahead that dips into the mist, and its organic curves are soaking up signal strength. Suddenly, the signals turn a corner and disappear.

((OOC: Works good for me. check your TGs. ^_^))

*Celestial looks fearful. She dashes ahead to catch up with Beth.*

Celestial: "Don't leave me!"

"No intention of it." 'I hope Dekker and Attila are ok up there...' She thought as she rounded the corner. Nothing there. "What's that?" she exclaimed as something appeared and disappeared in the shadows ahead. Nothing was showing up on the life scan, and she shook her head again and moved forward.

*Celestial kept pace right behind Masters, her Glock craddled carefully in her hands.*

Elsewhere...

Janice stops beating her fists against the mottled black-green sinewy arms of her captor, some odd-looking radially-symmetrical streamlined beast with four long but well-built legs, hooking into the niches on the walls and running (climbing?) along them at incredible speed and three arms that end in four mutually opposable fingers. One of these arms was rapped around her waist, hand gripping her shoulder, her legs dangling as the creature ran on with singular purpose (or at least she considered it singluar, as the thing's manta-ray head hadn't veered from watching where it was going once).

Damn, I know how a rugby ball feels now. She cranes her neck to try and get a better look at the thing. "Okay, I'm sorry I called you all that stuff. Now will you please put me down?"

No response.

"Well, hell. At least I'm not dead, I suppose." Yet.

OOC: Ok, that's really cool. Someone who can draw should make up a picture of that -whatever it is-. Meanwhile, I am going to bed.

((OOC: Awww... Mmkay. ee ya laterz Sunset!))

OOC: Ok, that's really cool. Someone who can draw should make up a picture of that -whatever it is-. Meanwhile, I am going to bed.
(OOC: I can draw... maybe I should do that. Tomorrow, when I'm less tired. G'night, all, and shine on.)

Looking for a moment down the dark, bottomless pit, Attila turned around and spat something grey at the floor... The Utility Fog version of spidersilk. Hanging on a thread only about half a milimeter thick, it began to descend.

"Janice?" Beth shouted over her extenal speakers. "Janice!" Beth flipped on her IR HUD and raced through the tunnels, following the heat trail left by the passage of her suit. The trail was faint, and sometimes she thought she has lost it only to see it brighten ahead.

The 'corder was recording her surroundings, giving her a map to get back by, but would anyone be able to find her if something happened to her?

OOC: Since it's powered, it gives off some heat. This is kinda dangerous though, as it's pretty faint.

(OOC: I've outsourced the drawing to a friend who could use the inspiration. Krowemoh came up with the alien idea first, and so is in charge of that angle for now...)

(OOC: I've outsourced the drawing to a friend who could use the inspiration. Krowemoh came up with the alien idea first, and so is in charge of that angle for now...)

The look is a lot more interesting than my origional thought - I was thinking those things from 'Tremors'.

*Celestial followed closely behind Beth.*

Celestial: "Janice hang on! We're coming!"

*Neither her nor Beth were aware of the figure tailing them from behind, keeping pace with them while not getting too close. The foggy mist from the large room was spread out to here, but was thinner and not so high, only up to Celestial's knnecap.*


((OOC: Mew? What do you mean I'm in chrage of that angle? And please, call me Corinna. ^.^))

Looking for a moment down the dark, bottomless pit, Attila turned around and spat something grey at the floor... The Utility Fog version of spidersilk. Hanging on a thread only about half a milimeter thick, it began to descend.

*As Attila descended deeper into the hole, the mist got thicker. It appeared that whatever was causing the mist orginated from down here.*

(OOC: Okay, Corinna--Scolo or Timofeyev will do on this end--reason why I say you're in charge is because my access times are going to get pretty short, and you'll be best suited to do shadows-in-the-dark sort of stuff.)

Elsewhere, a surprisingly long distance away, the creature carrying Janice ducks into the wall. She raises her arms instinctively to protect herself, then blinks as the wall simply flows past them, revealing an ellipsoid room off of one of the smaller tunnels. The creature puts her down carefully, and she immediately skitters to the opposite end of the room. Standing up, she crouches slightly in an active stance as she looks the thing over. Damn. Bigger and definitely stronger than I am, so I probably can't take it without augments... and this suit isn't powered. Dropped the pistol... still, I got this satchel...

She gives her satchel a few practice whirls. She always comes prepared, so it's decently heavy; she switches it from hand to hand as she cautiously approaches the creature. Damn... so there was a reason they trained us to use chains. This thing's got reach, so if I duck under and try to... Lunging forward, she tries to slam the satchel into the thing's torso. The thing looks at her oddly and, leaning to the side, grabs the satchel with one hand. Caught by surprise, Janice gets lifted by the satchel strap wrapped around her hand, legs swinging up off the ground as inertia pushes her center of gravity forward. Again, by instinct, she lets go of the strap and goes airborne.

Needless to say, the look of utter surprise is priceless.

She lands hard on her back and stays there for a moment, slightly stunned. Gasping, she suddenly realizes her situation, rolls over, and scrambles over to the opposite side again. Turning around, she notes the creature resting on its haunches, rummaging through the satchel and thoroughly examining the random devices stored within--opening, closing, folding, unfolding, pressing buttons and seemingly testing range of motion without breaking anything.

It seemingly never even noticed her landing.

Janice mutters something harsh about the creature and its relations to its family members in Afrikaans as she hunches up against the opposite curved wall, arms folded. Getting her breath under control, she hears a soft hiss. Checking her helmet ring with gloved hands, she feels a kink in the seal at the back of her neck. Great. Just bloody fantastic great. When things can't get any worse... suddenly, they do.

Beth continued running. Whatever it was, it was a lot more manuverable than her. Several times she had been forced to drop down tunnels that slid left and right, hoping that 10 meter safety margin was enough to stop a slide. She was starting to get tired though, and she had been sucking water down like a sponge.

She couldn't stop though - every minute made the trail a little fainter. 'Risky, but I have to find her.' Stopping for a moment she punched up the controls on her hardsuit, changing the atmosphere mix to a much higher oxygen level. Then she started to run again.

OOC: I'm back folks, what has happened?

Dekker scanned the tunnel through the foggy mask of his borrowed hardsuit. His trusty .45 was in his right hand, and his borrowed phaser rifle in his left. This wasn't the worst situation he'd been in before. He keyed on his comlink "Dekker to any body who can hear me, where the hell are you guys?"

OOC: I'm back folks, what has happened?

((OOC: celestial fell down the hole, Janice and Beth go to rescue Celestial, rope gets cut, Janice ish kidnapped, Beth and Celestial are now looking to rescue Janice. Dekker is still on the same level he was, he didn't go down with Janice and Beth. Um... I think that sums it up. ^_^
Can I call you Tim, Timofeyev? Is that a Russian name, by the way? ^^;; ))


*Janice feels a shudder run down her spine, and can barely see that there are other creatures simiular to the one that brought her here in the room with her. About two or three of them, maybe more, just loafing about. The humidity in the room was smoldering, like the insides of someone, but the creatures don't seem to mind at all.

*Meanwhile, Celestial trails Beth, praying that Janice is alright. Then an idea forms in her head. She speaks quickly while sprinting to keep pace with Beth.*

Celestial: "Maybe we should let ourselves get caught, that way they take us to where Janice is? Think it'll work? All we gotta do is hide our weapons, and when we get to Janice, you can toss her a spare Phaser and we let loose with everything we got... Besides, I'm starting to get tired. It's this heat, it's affecting me..."

Chasing the trail eventually leads to... a blank wall? It curves sharply, and then it stops. There's scrambled readings on the other side, which means it mustbe hollow... but how thick is anyone's guess.

Janice checks her pockets for a suit patch or something. Leaks don't often happen against joints... but I landed wrong... and all my patches are in that blasted satchel.

Sighing--If it didn't notice me once, it may not notice me twice--she stands up and walks with artificial calm to the creature, eyes locked on the satchel. As she nears just close enough, about to grab and run, it sniffs the air for a moment. Janice freezes as it takes a hold of one shoulder and sniffs near the leak. It's okay, nice weird alien thingie, don't make me have to belt you...

It leans back, cants its head to the side, not seeming to look at anything in particular, and continues rifling through the satchel. Staying still for a moment, Janice raises an eyebrow as the oxygen levels in the room begin to rise, with the more lethal compounds being filtered out.

Well I'll be...

*As Attila descended deeper into the hole, the mist got thicker. It appeared that whatever was causing the mist orginated from down here.*

As Attila descended, it found bits and peices sticking out of the wall at odd angles, as if broken. Not too much further, a bit of what might have been a ladder was placed around a hole in the wall, broken off above, but continuing further down. A couple more such constructions could be seen around the circumference of the hole. Down further, near the bottom now, the mist got white-out thick, and then started to clear. When Attila finally reached bottom, it found that three horizontal passageways converged there. In between them, the ladders reached the floor. A platform was affixed to one of the ladders, now revealed to more probably be rails. Seeing no sign of platforms affixed to the other two rails, the conclusion was that the other two must have broken down somehow, causing the damage further up. Obviously, wreckage had been cleared out by now. The mist poured from several gashes in the wall, just above the roofs of the horizontal passages. If the aliens (natives?) hadn't gotten around to fixing that yet, the damage must have been fairly recent.

"Dammit, where's a scanner when you need one?" Dekker said to himself as he carefully made his way down the tunnel. He nearly stumbles into a large hole. He let out a low whistle "Damn that's a big hole.... Hello?" He spun sharply, pointing his weapons towards the source of the noise. Dekker smirked behind the faceplate of his helmet. Finally things were getting interesting.

*A tall, slender humanoid figures enters the room with Janice. It's eyeless head was oddly shaped, like a banana of some sort. The alien's skin was jet black, and looked rough to the touch. It was about a meter or so tall, with a tail that swayed mindlessly from side to side as it walked upright on two legs too skinny to possibly support it's weight. According to human logic, this creature would not be able to walk upright, yet it did! All in all, it looked like something straight out of an insane man's nightmare, a fear inducing impossibilty that denied all human logic.
The others aliens seemed to snap to attention at this one's presense, stopping whatever they were doing and sitting on their hunches very still. It gazes at Janice, or at least it appears to. It had no eyes, it was impossible to figure out where it was looking. Opening it's mouth, sound came pouring out over it's many needle-like teeth, the "words" it spoke being meaningless and seemingly random garble with no discerning pattern to anyone who didn't undertand it's language.*

"Dammit, where's a scanner when you need one?" Dekker said to himself as he carefully made his way down the tunnel. He nearly stumbles into a large hole. He let out a low whistle "Damn that's a big hole.... Hello?" He spun sharply, pointing his weapons towards the source of the noise. Dekker smirked behind the faceplate of his helmet. Finally things were getting interesting.

*Dekker finds himself in a large room, a thick layer of mist that covered the floor all the way up to his waist. It was dark and humid in the chamber. The sound of movement could be heard echoing all around. A shadowy figure would sometimes form out of the corner of Dekker's eye only to simply vanish when he looked at it.*

You like to post while I'm typing it seems.

((OOC: lol Sar-wee... ^^;; )

Dekker spun towards the figure in the mist, only for it to vanish for the upteenth time. "Show yourself ya crafty bastard...." He muttered into his foggy faceplate. He crouched low, presenting a smaller target profile in the event of an ambush, that was soldiering 101. The mist swirled around him, and the figure appeared again, just out of the corner of his left eye, begging him to turn so it would vanish again. Dekker moved his arm holding the phaser rifle under the blanket of mist, taking aim....

*As Dekker aimed his Phazer to the left, another shadowy figure appeared to his right, and another almost directly in front of him. There was at least three of them, probably more in the room with him. Or was it merely his mind playing tricks on him?*

"Oh goody, more of 'em." Dekker muttered sarcastically as he spun, aiming his .45 at the one on the right and his phaser at the one on the left. "What the hell are you?" He shouted through the speaker in his helmet.

OOC: I'm done for the night, leave me something to respond to tomorrow, but don't get him killed.

OOC: Nice - Seems I miss all the fun.

IC:
"S***!" Beth pounded on the wall. In desperation she unslung her rifle and took a shot - nothing. The energy seems to just absorb into the wall. More shots followed, and she didn't seem to notice the shapes appearing out of the mist around her.

*Whump!* Blackness...

(OOC: If you'd like, Corinna. And ya, it's a Russian form.)

The others aliens seemed to snap to attention at this one's presense, stopping whatever they were doing and sitting on their hunches very still. It gazes at Janice, or at least it appears to. It had no eyes, it was impossible to figure out where it was looking. Opening it's mouth, sound came pouring out over it's many needle-like teeth, the "words" it spoke being meaningless and seemingly random garble with no discerning pattern to anyone who didn't undertand it's language.
Well... at least it's trying to talk to me. Janice remains hunched down against the wall, thinking and watching the atmosphere become breathable. Well, if these things were going to kill me they probably would've done it anyway. Besides, the atmosphere's breathable now, with the stifling heat, last thing I need is heat stroke from keeping this helmet on. Twisting open the neck-ring seal, Janice cuts her air feed and removes her helmet.

The air is stale and tastes slightly acidic--high levels of ozone?--definitely uncomfortable but breathable. I can only hope that thing is as uncomfortable as I am. How to address it? Staring at it's face... scratch that, it's head... might be seen as a threat. Looking at the thing's shoulder, Janice smirks as she holds her arms to her sides, palms out. Heh, it's even shorter than I am. No wonder it keeps around the meatshielding. Her eyes involuntarily flick to watch the larger creatures.

"Um, hi. I'm Janice Depaulto, biologist from Scolopendra." She rubs the back of her neck. "Honestly, I didn't think I'd be too useful... but I guess you classify as biology and all. Heh heh. Anyway... um... I guess we came in peace but you guys kind of freaked us out by jumping out of the shadows." She rambles on, trying to let any translation algorithm that the creepy aliens are using pick up on English syntax.

A thumping comes from the wall, and the creatures react appropriately. Janice, to her credit, doesn't flinch too badly. "Er... my friends are out there and they are probably very worried about me... so if you'd be kind enough to let them in..."

On cue, the wall flowed around another creature carrying the captain, who gets set down nearby. Great. She's unconscious. "Well, she's one of them." Moving carefully to the creature with her satchel, she picks up a package of medical derms from the floor, removes a stimulant, and applies it to Beth after removing her helmet. "Um, hi Cap'n. I've made first contact"--Janice allows herself to beam with pride for an instant--"but I'm not all too sure how it's working out. No one's dead yet, are they?"

According to human logic, this creature would not be able to walk upright, yet it did!

Ah, the wonders of low-g.

Attila decided that following one of the other passages was not worth the risk, and so stepped onto the intact platform. A few moments after it put its weight down, the platform started to rise, pausing momentarily everytime it passed a hole in the wall, and finally stopping at the top of the rail. Attila climbed the rest of the way up.

*Celestial was carried in nearly seconds after Beth, followed moments later by Dekker. ((I'll put how he got captured in a bit. ^_^)) The humanoid alien turned it's head to face the four Earthlings, raising a taloned seven finger hand to point at Janice, speaking it's alien language, and one of the larger aliens scrambled over to her. It appeared like it was going to grab her...*

Celestial: "What's going on?!"

///\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\
A Few Moments Ago...
\\\///\\\///\\\///\\\///

*Dekker aims to either side of him with his two weapons, the shadows unmoving. Another figure forms silently behind him, rising up out of the mist like a wraith, grabbing the man with it's powerful arms and lifting him clear off the ground. The shadows to either side of him remain, but the aliens seem to rise out of the ground almost on top of him, disarming him of his weapons. The one holding him then takes off for the 'holding chambers,' the two with his weapons begin to exaimine them carefully.*

"My head feels like it..." Beth felt the back of her head. A large bump was rising, but no blood. 'Hopefully no concussion.' she thought. She sat looking at the beings for a minute. "Do you think they are two different races or sub-species?"

She was tempted to flip open the tri-corder that was laying nearby, but that didn't seem like a wise idea. Instead she confined herself to watching the creatures range of motion while Janice woke the others. "Give me a couple minutes before I try any Captaining..."

Celestial: "What's going on?!"
"We're trying to talk, methinks. Keep still and don't move suddenly." Please please please don't blow it... then again, if my little self-defense moves didn't tick anything off...

"My head feels like it..." Beth felt the back of her head. A large bump was rising, but no blood. 'Hopefully no concussion.' she thought. She sat looking at the beings for a minute. "Do you think they are two different races or sub-species?"

She was tempted to flip open the tri-corder that was laying nearby, but that didn't seem like a wise idea. Instead she confined herself to watching the creatures range of motion while Janice woke the others. "Give me a couple minutes before I try any Captaining..."
"I dunno... there does seem to be a family resemblence, and I think the little one's in charge. You keep down for a few 'till your head clears."

Standing back up, Janice makes sure her palms are in plain sight. "Okay, everyone, keep your hands in view. If our palms are empty, we obviously aren't packing weapons." She speaks carefully, gasping slightly in the painful air. "The air's not too hot, but breathable. I suggest cracking the lids and conserving our suit air."

Dekker hauled himself up off of the rocky floor. "Man, I'm gonna enjoy gutting one of those..." He looks about the room. "THERE ya'll are! I was beginning to think I'd been left behind." He jerks his thumb backwards over his shoulder in the direction of the aliens. "What in the hell are those? They're bones are stronger than ours, that's for damn sure. I musta cracked him upside the head a dozen times....." Dekker punctuates his statement with a crack of his knuckles.

*Dekker aims to either side of him with his two weapons, the shadows unmoving. Another figure forms silently behind him, rising up out of the mist like a wraith, grabbing the man with it's powerful arms and lifting him clear off the ground. The shadows to either side of him remain, but the aliens seem to rise out of the ground almost on top of him, disarming him of his weapons. The one holding him then takes off for the 'holding chambers,' the two with his weapons begin to exaimine them carefully.*

As Attila reached the top again, it saw Dekker, or rather Dekker's infrared signature, being carried off, and followed it to the 'holding chambers'.

Dekker hauled himself up off of the rocky floor. "Man, I'm gonna enjoy gutting one of those..." He looks about the room. "THERE ya'll are! I was beginning to think I'd been left behind." He jerks his thumb backwards over his shoulder in the direction of the aliens. "What in the hell are those? They're bones are stronger than ours, that's for damn sure. I musta cracked him upside the head a dozen times....." Dekker punctuates his statement with a crack of his knuckles.
"Yes, yes, I know," Janice sighs, "but gutting them isn't on the agenda. Right now, let's keep ourselves alive by..." she shudders "...talking. Dammit, I'm an M.I., not a diplomat.

"Anyone got a translator thing of any sort? My portcomp's got the processing power for a basic algorithm I think but not the softs."

She watches Attila wander in. "You, robot man. Got any skills in translating alien languages?"

Dekker stretches, then pops the neck seal on his helmet. "I know what ya mean. I'm a soldier, not a prissy ambassador." Dekker sits back down on the floor. "I've got my survival knife with me, being the idiot that I am I left it on my belt when I put this damn hardsuit on. It'll b useful if your negotiations go south, if I can figure out how to get it out."

OOC: Sudden mental image of the 'Walk Off' from Zoolander, with Dekker pulling a big knife out of his pants instead of boxers...

IC:
After a few minutes Beth recovered sufficiently to pop her headpiece. "Well - they obviously don't want to kill us yet." She triggered the recovery cycle on her hardsuit, replenishing the oxygen supply from the surrounding air. "Best to keep your helmet by you though."

"I'm wondering, given their shape, speed, and strength, if they arn't somehow roughtly like sharks - cartilage instead of bone. For their method of mobility a flexible skeletom might be more useful. Before we get in a discussion we should introduce ourselves, so if they kill us and someone else makes friendly contact they at least know we are dead."

Beth stands up, somewhat whoozily, and takes a slight bow. "Captain Elizabeth Masters, Republic of Sunset."

She watches Attila wander in. "You, robot man. Got any skills in translating alien languages?"

"I am capable of learning new languages via statistical analysis, time period required varying with relative complexity. I will require a sample of a known language, and the equivalent in the target language to begin."

*As Beth stands and bows, introducing herself, the meter tall alien motioned to her with it's taloned seven finger hand, speaking something that sounded to Beth like a mix between a gurgle and senseless, seemingly meaningless noise that she didn't know how to describe. One of the larger aliens strides up to her and grabs her around the waist with one of it's three arms, lifting her up off the ground.*

Celestial: "Beth... Um... I hope he doesn't think you want to date him... Her... Uh... It... Want me to shoot it? I still have my Glock..."


((OOC: Ah, the wonders of low-g.

No, actually these aliens are based on my theory that Human Logic isn't Universal Logic. I believe that when we start real deep space exploring, we're gonna run into a lot of stuff that acording to our logic, could no way exist, and therefore can't be real. Then said unreal, impossible thing that can't possibly exist will rip us a new one. ;)))

"Keep talking baby - I don't know what you are saying, but if you keep saying it hopefully someone will figure it out." Beth said. "Meanwhile, would you mind putting me down? I don't really like it up here, and I don't think I said pick me up."

While outwardly calm, Beth is thinking rather quickly 'Oh S***, Oh S***, Oh S***. Hope they don't want to eat us.'

OOC: So Beth should cluck like a chicken while doing the robot?

(OOC: Anyone who remembers where this is from originally gets a cookie.)

The creature holding Beth starts checking her range of motion, gently rotating arms, legs, curling and uncurling fingers, and the like in a completely mechanical way--just as it examined the tools in Janice's satchel.

"Umm... okay, Cap'n, stay calm." Janice grimaces. "Looks like they're just inordinately curious and have no sense of personal space. Celestial, don't start shooting things just yet... but stay off to the side where you can cover us. Umm... you with the knife, cover Celestial if you figure out how to ready said knife. Robot man, give me ideas. How should I talk to this thing?"

Janice steps over carefully to the small 'leader' and begins talking to it again, trying to use her hands to clarify meaning. "We are... ah... visitors from elsewhere. We seek to learn." She taps her head. Aw, I'm not trained for this...

Robot man, give me ideas. How should I talk to this thing?"

"Refrain from overt gestures- they may interpret something as offensive. Attempt to establish a vocabulary base."

"Well ok then... Maybe they are trying the same thing..." Beth relaxed and allowed the sentient to manipulate her. She kept talking though - "I come from the Republic of Sunset. I traveled here aboard the ship 'Columbia'. Its a very nice ship - I hope to go back there some day."

((OOC: I should have got on sooner... ^^;; I had meant for the drone to simply grab her and take her elsewhere, to be "studied" closer...))

*The aliens either don't understand, or don't want to understand. After thealien thoroughly exaimes Beth, it begins to walk with her towards a wall, the alien 'leader' following. Celestial moves away and cat-foots her way towards the alien holding Beth, wanting to follow them.*

"Heh, maybe they are taking me to their leader." Beth joked, but she looked pleading. "Time to let the nice lady down. Please? What if I grabbed you and started pulling your arms around..."

Well, if there's any time to make a scene, it'd be now... or would it? Don't want to blow Celestial's cover and all. Maybe if I... Kneeling down, she slips one of the previously-mentioned white phosphorus flares (until recently an occupant of her satchel) into a suit pocket and promptly keels over, moaning in mock pain.

"Oh, the agony of existence," she moans, "the absolutely one-hundred-percent faked agony! Ahh, the horrendous pain of breathing! Please fall for my simple extemporaneous ruse."

"Look - she is dying. Do you want your new friend to die?" Beth looked for a weak point as Janice moaned unbelievably. Perhaps that patch of whatever near where the head joined the trunk. A nerve cluster? She got ready to kick it.

*The alien says something, most likely 'stop,' as that is what the drone does. It then looks at Janice, and seeing her in pain, speaks again, another drone going up to her and picking her up. Celestial got closer to Beth and the alien. She was glad the alien nevered seemed to turned it's head when it as told to do something...*

Aiming for the soft spot, Beth kicked for it as hard as she could.

OOC: Since I don't know what your ultimate goal is, I don't know if this is going to result in a KO or something else. Beth is pretty strong, don't know how much difference it makes.

(OOC: Hmm... I hope we get to talk to these things instead of kill/be killed by them...)

Janice wraps a hand around the white phosphorus flare, continuing to moan unbelievably. I really don't want to shove this down your maw, but if I have to, so help you I will...

The alien says something, most likely 'stop,' as that is what the drone does.

"Ah, good, the beginings of a vocabulary base." Attila scuttled over close to the alien, and began following it around.

((OOC: Ultimate goal? ^^;; It's your RP... Sar-wees for jacking it... ^^;;; ))


*Beth's feet impact againt the patch in the back of the drone's head, and it loses it' balence, toppling forward and momentarly drops her! Celetial rushes over to them and jumps through the air, jump kicking the drone in it's head! It staggers a bit, then swings an arm at Celestial as she lands, sending the catgirl flying like ragdoll across the room to slam into the far wall, her body sliding limply to the ground... the drone turns it's attention to Beth. The other drones begin to surround Dekker, while a few stand in front of the 'leader,' acting like bodyshields...
The drone holding Janice doesn't react to Beth kicking it's partner and takes her to the ame wall the alien and Beth were going to.*

((OOC: Ultimate goal? ^^;; It's your RP... Sar-wees for jacking it... ^^;;; ))


*Beth's feet impact againt the patch in the back of the drone's head, and it loses it' balence, toppling forward and momentarly drops her! Celetial rushes over to them and jumps through the air, jump kicking the drone in it's head! It staggers a bit, then swings an arm at Celestial as she lands, sending the catgirl flying like ragdoll across the room to slam into the far wall, her body sliding limply to the ground... the drone turns it's attention to Beth. The other drones begin to surround Dekker, while a few stand in front of the 'leader,' acting like bodyshields...*

OOC: It's not jacking - this is co-op RP, so I don't know exactly what you are thinking the results are gonna be, so that makes it more interesting.

IC:
"Celestial!" Beth grabs the phaser rifle off the floor and points it at the 'leader'. She cranks it up to 'Kung-Pow Hole in Chest' and shouts "Stop it, now. Start talking and stop playing."

((OOC: LOL! What does Beth think it's trying to do? I'll give ya a hint, it's trying to develop a medium to communicate with between itself and the Earthlings. :P Heehee...))

*The leader again speaks, and the three drones in front of it rearrange themselves to block Beth's line of fire. The one near Beth grabs the barrel of the Phaer rifle, and lifts it up to point to the ceiling, growling at her in what seemed to be a threatening tone.*

OOC: Sure doesn't seem like it - but alien logic and all that.

IC:
"You just stay back and keep talking. We're not hear to hurt anyone." Beth backed away, keeping the rifle pointed at the ceiling while reaching for Celestial in the other. 'How do you measure the condition of a cat-person?' she thought.

((OOC: Celestial is still wearing her helmet.))


*Beth could see that Celestial had some dark blood oozing out of her mouth, she had hit the wall pretty hard. Those things were strong! The drone walked with Beth, it's hand still on the barrel, making sure it stays pointed at the ceiling. If it wanted to, it could easily tear the weapon from her grip, but the leader didn't appear to want that to happen. The drone carrying Janice diappears through the organic wall, and the leader follows suit, the three drones near it always keeping themselves between it and Beth.
The drone ran/climbed through numerious passageways carrying Janice, the 'leader' not far behind it. This brought back memories of about ten minutes ago for Janice.*

"Damnit." Beth dropped the rifle and grabbed the 'corder. She was no medic, by any means, but she could try. She scanned her trying to figure out what was wrong - she didn't want to move her until she knew.

"Damnit." Beth dropped the rifle and grabbed the 'corder. She was no medic, by any means, but she could try. She scanned her trying to figure out what was wrong - she didn't want to move her until she knew.

*A quick scan revealed that all that had happened was Celestial was knocked out cold and had bite her tongue from the impact. She would live, but would have a b*tch of a headache when she woke up andwon't be able to talk straight for a while.
As soon as Beth releases the rifle, the drone snatches it up and scambers over to one side of the chamber, than begins to examine it like they always do when they lay their hands on anything of alien (To them that is) design.* ((HINT!HINT!))

The drone ran/climbed through numerious passageways carrying Janice, the 'leader' not far behind it. This brought back memories of about ten minutes ago for Janice.*
Oi. Brilliant, Janice, smeg-fragging-tastic. Well, I'm not dead even though a fight broke out, and I do have this flare they don't know about. Continuing to grunt softly in pretend-pain, Janice allows herself to be carried limply.

The drone carrying Janice diappears through the organic wall, and the leader follows suit, the three drones near it always keeping themselves between it and Beth.
The drone ran/climbed through numerious passageways carrying Janice, the 'leader' not far behind it.

And Attila not far behind the leader.

OOC: No need for the hints! If we don't figure it out, we don't. That's the way it works. Win some, lose some.

IC:
Beth closed the 'corder. 'That's better. They still have Janice...' "Ok, let's try the old fashioned way..." She walked over to the drone with the rifle, careful to keep the barrel away from her. Pointing to herself she said "Beth" and then pointed to the drone. 'Let's see what he says. If he can say anything...'

Dekker goes into his MCMAK fighting stance. "I've been waiting for this." He says with a wicked smirk. "Come on. You want some? You're lucky I'm a friggin idiot and left my knife on my belt, otherwise I'd split you from stem to sternum." He stands ready, daring the alien to strike.

*The drone, having finished inspecting the rifle, looks at Beth, almost curiously. It flashes her a rather toothy grin then growls low in it's throat, like an animal defending it's turf.
*The drones just stand around Dekker, two of 'em, on either side. They make no advances towards him.
*With Janice securely in hand, the Drone and the 'leader' arrive at some sort of chamber that had in the center a large... Table? It looked like an operating table of some sort, except it was mostly organic. The drone lays her down on the table, then places one hand over her waist, another on her solar plexus, and the third hand holds her knees together and down. Janice sees laying on a smaller table next to her a wide array of wicked looking tools, many of them appear to be for slicing, a few look like they're meant to hold something open, and there was quite a few she couldn't fantom a use for, except maybe as a twisted Sadistic Sex Toy/torture device. However, the 'leader' doesn't take any of these tools, instead it grabs a semi-transparent box filled with a murky reddish liquid from under the tool table. Reaching into the liquid, it pulls out what looks like a small, fat bloodly worm. It had teeth, and squirmed wildly in the alien's hand it was taken from it's home. The alien moves to place the creature on Janice's chest...*


((OOC: For those of you who've seen Alien, the creature the leader alien just grabbed looks like the Xenomorph in it's larva state. Except it acts more like a Goa-Uld from Stargate SG-1. :P
And MS, remember the drones are incredibly strong. Remember what one did to Celestial?))

"Well ok then." Beth went back to Celestial and checked on her, seeing if she could wake her up. "Come on... Wake up. They took Janice. Probably gonna eat her."

Then she started gathering what she could back up and tucking it into her pack. 'Better be ready to run, when we get a chance.' "Dekker, leave those things along. You could probably take off your suit and grab your knife."

OOC: Let's just hope they don't get Janice's brain - we have ways to rebuild people (RESI's Phoenix Device) but gotta have the brain and preferably the spinal column left.

Oh no. Hell no. [deleted] no. Really fan-smegging-tastic idea you just had. Of course, Janice had put the WP flare in one of the lower-leg pockets of the hardsuit where it would fit, and seeing how all her lift-points were covered and no way to reach it fast.

Some people would break down and cry, some would struggle and curse at the top of their lungs. Janice merely sets her jaws and moves her free left hand over her throat, palm out, steeling herself to react however needed. If I can keep that thing from busting my throat, then I should be able to grab it and throw it away... deal with the big ones later. She then leaves her free right arm extended and, twisting her right knee sideways, bends her right leg up until she can touch her ankle, fingers gently reaching their way around the flare's bulk, thumb finding the trigger of the flare. It'll probably hurt like [deleted], but it'll burn right through the fabric pocket and then I can tear this bitch out and see how mister big and heavy likes my friend Willie Pete.

(OOC: And yes, I did lie on the floor and test this move, not lifting from knees, waist, or solar plexus... sad, neh?)

OOC: No, it's not. I've done worse...

((OOC: Not sad, really. It just shows the move is doable. N00bs would have just have their chara done it without seeing if it was possible first.))


*The leader drops the creature on Janice's chest, and it sits there for a second, almost as if orintating itself. Twenty little insect like legs popped out of it's body and it righted itself, turning until it faced Janice's face.
The 'leader' abruptly grabs Janice' mouth and attempts to force it open by pulling her lower jaw down with it's hand. The creature pauses, apparently waiting until the leader opens Janice's mouth.*

*A few slaps across the face wakes Celestial, who groans and immediately spits out a mouthful of blood.*

Celestial: "Yeuck!"

OOC: Let's just hope they don't get Janice's brain - we have ways to rebuild people (RESI's Phoenix Device) but gotta have the brain and preferably the spinal column left.

((OOC: You all assume I'm trying to kill Janice. Relax, I'm not. Janice will leave the ship alive, well, and Goa-Uld less. I promise... Truuuuusst meeeee...))

"Sorry - had to wake you up fast. They took Janice. Don't know where, but they took her. We need to get ready to get out of here. Next time the door... Wait a minute. Why am I not trying to open the door?"

Beth begins scanning the area of the ship that opened with her 'corder. "Lets try this emission... Nope. This one?" She also starts tracking as many emissions as she can, maybe when the door opens she can catch it.

*The drone, having finished inspecting the rifle, looks at Beth, almost curiously. It flashes her a rather toothy grin then growls low in it's throat, like an animal defending it's turf.
*The drones just stand around Dekker, two of 'em, on either side. They make no advances towards him.
*With Janice securely in hand, the Drone and the 'leader' arrive at some sort of chamber that had in the center a large... Table? blablahblah

Attila, despite being TLNC (Three Laws Non-Compliant) did not like having a friendly human put in such a position. Time to break out the heavy artillery. Leaping at the table like a Wolf Spider (remember, it was following the leader), and began spraying Utility Fog like there was no tommorrow, while using some colorful phrases that it had picked up from the humans in the last few hours, although it didn't really understand their meaning. Besides doing anice job of obscuring everybody's vision all across the EM spectrum, it should've done a pretty good job of immobilizing everything that it flowed over. Except for the leader's hand, which Attila took the trouble to devise special instructions for. Sqeeze and remove. Hard.

OOC: Let's just hope they don't get Janice's brain - we have ways to rebuild people (RESI's Phoenix Device) but gotta have the brain and preferably the spinal column left.

So do we, and much closer. On Attila, in fact. With a bit of fiddling, anyway.

OOC: Let's just hope they don't get Janice's brain - we have ways to rebuild people (RESI's Phoenix Device) but gotta have the brain and preferably the spinal column left.

((OOC: You all assume I'm trying to kill Janice. Relax, I'm not. Janice will leave the ship alive, well, and Goa-Uld less. I promise... Truuuuusst meeeee...))

OOC: Trust? The GM-like person? Never! Well, not after playing Call of Cthulu for 2 weeks now. GM's are Evil! No, not Game Mods...

(OOC: Oh, I'm sure Janice will come out fine... but, hey, she's a short M.I. with Napoleon Syndrome who doesn't take anything from anybody... she's not in control of this situation, and she's gonna do her damndest to get back into control. Even if it isn't conducive to continued survival (i.e. it is legal to kill her off)...)

Janice obviously resists her mouth open as best she can, immediately grabbing the twenty-legged worm and trying to fling it away with her left arm. Thumbing the trigger, she tightens her jaw more and squints as the flare lights and burns through the pocket, making the hard suit underneath quite toasty (if she walks away with just a second degree, she's lucky). Burning through, she rips the compromised pocket with brightly-burning flare away and tries to jab the burning end into the larger creature's neck.

[edit: Oi, things move fast]

She then found herself blinded and getting partially coated with goo. What the--?!

She then found herself blinded and getting partially coated with goo. What the--?!

"Don't worry. It's permeable to air. Utility Fog. Wonderful for both telekinesis and rapid prototyping."

*The creatures seem unaffected by the Ultility Fog, as they don't really have eyes. The worm creature is flung by Janice across the room, landing on the floor. Attila moved to remove the leader's hand, but it swings it tail up and bats the spider-like robot away. The flare is stuck in the Drone's neck, burning brightly, which causes the two aliens to shy away, releasing Janice. However, she has little time to celebrate her freedom as the worm creature springs at her from the floor like a rocket, teeth bared and ready to chomp.*

*Celestial looks wide eyed at Beth, and tries to talk, but her speech is slurred due to her bit tongue.*

Celestial: "Dey twook Banish? Where?"


((OOC: *Sobs!* No one trusts me! I'm so unappreciated... T_T))

(OOC: I trust ye, but Janice wouldn't. Darn you, character! Behave!)

Well, thrown across a room half-blind doesn't do any good. Rolling onto her hands and knees and looking up, she'd probably just have time to see little wormy-thing jump.

Instantaneous reaction is to swat with her right arm out an away at the thing, trying to intercept. Difficult enough when prepared, but she's startled, winded, in pain, partially coated in restricting goo, and her vision's nice and fuzzy.

In short, she misses.

OOC: Trust is far different than enjoyment, and I am enjoying this. Continue, please.

IC:
"Don't know yet - out that wall though. Or it might be a door. Don't know that yet either." 'I wonder if they can logically link things... Like if I put all the phasers on a timer aimed at their heads. None have set anything off yet though.'

"We need to figure out how to get around before we can get to Janice. Attila followed them, but who knows how much it can do?"

((OOC: Thanks Tim, I feel better now. ^_^))


*The worm creature impactts Janice's face, biting her lip and cuasing her to scream, which is just what it wanted. Her mouth open, it crawls into her mouth and jams itself down her throat, using it's legs to propel itself deeper.*

"We need to figure out how to get around before we can get to Janice. Attila followed them, but who knows how much it can do?"

Celestial: "Mebbe it's ownpenned tela... Teller... Tewapadically... Umm... Cwap... I can't tawlk wight..."

Janice obviously gags and starts rolling around on the floor. To her credit, she doesn't try to rip it out with her hands, seeing how that'd probably have horrid consequences for her esophagus.

Of course, she's now in blind fear mode and thinking about getting back to thinking, so maybe she's just lucky that way.

"Telepathically? Could be." Beth breathes in and out for a second, clearing her thoughts. 'Open' she projects at the door. Again, and again. "I don't think it's working. Probably wouldn't like my simple human brain anyway."

Attila moved to remove the leader's hand, but it swings it tail up and bats the spider-like robot away.

No, Attila didn't. Attila instructed the Utility Fog to bind an remove the leaders hand, and nothing's gonna flick that away.

(OOC: Dangit, everything moves too fast! Can we back up a little?)

However, she has little time to celebrate her freedom as the worm creature springs at her from the floor like a rocket, teeth bared and ready to chomp.

Fortunately, she was still partially covered in Utility Fog. Approaching, it got bound by some. Even if it managed to make its way into Janice's throat, most likely she ended up swallowing a dead lump that had been crushed to death by those trusty little Foglets.

*The creature squirms further down her throat and disappears completely. Janice gags some more, then abruptly her head clears, her fear gone, replaced my a strange calm. She hears a voice in her head. The voice is soothing and calm, like that of a grandfather.*

Voice: "Relax, we didn't mean to hurt you, but efforts to establish a means of communications were going nowhere. I am now linked directly to your mind, and will act as a translator. You may, if you wish, share your memories with me, but if you do not desire so I will not force the issue."

*The alien leader strides up to Janice, and speaks to her. Janice heard the sounds it made, but KNEW what was being said.*

Alien: "Do not be afraid... We are not angry that you tried to harm us... Come, there is much to discuss..."

Voice: "Relax, we didn't mean to hurt you, but efforts to establish a means of communications were going nowhere. I am now linked directly to your mind, and will act as a translator. You may, if you wish, share your memories with me, but if you do not desire so I will not force the issue."

Alrighty then... maybe the Foglets got eaten by gastric acid before they could be effective... aw, heck, just make something up.

Well, anyway, it's hand is still immobilized in Fog.

((OOC: Works for me... ^_^))

Janice wonders why she isn't looking around wildly until she realizes the voice is not within her ears. Holy Mother of God. Utterly calm, and yet still surprised. She looks down at her stomach, and then back up at the talking thing she somehow understood.

"Der... um... sorry about that," she croaks, "I'm not much for passivity." She stands up shakily, then hisses as her suit and cooling gear chafes slightly against her burned ankle. Putting more weight on her left foot, she blinks away the pain. "Well, wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done. Lead the way."

*The alien leader notices her pain, and speaks.*

Alien: "We have technology that can ease your pain."

*The alien's hand was crippled, crushed by the Ultility Fog.*

Janice nods with a grunt. "So do we. I'll be fine; you need to have that hand checked."

*The alien waved the hand absently as the two walked.*

Alien: "It is of no concern. I will molt soon again anyways... It is faster if a Muragu carries you. Do you have a name? I was once called T'Kiya, before I was Uoatok. (Pronounced: you-owe-uh-tock, means to be banished in dishonor and stripped of your name.) But now I am The Nameless..."

*Janice instantly knew what Uoatok meant, even though she has never heard that alien word before. As it spoke those last two lines, there was an underlying sense of shame in it's voice. A drone comes up and waits for Janice to confirm she wants to be carried.*

"Ah. Sorry, about that, my fault, but it did look like you didn't exactly have benevolent intentions at the time. Well, I can give you a temporary fix right now, but reconstruction could take a while. Molting, you said? Well, I guess that's no worry, then."

With that, the Foglets on the alien's crippled limb began to rearrange into a pretty good aproximation of the original, although the facsimile wouldn't be very functional.

"Ah. Sorry, about that, my fault, but it did look like you didn't exactly have benevolent intentions at the time. Well, I can give you a temporary fix right now, but reconstruction could take a while. Molting, you said? Well, I guess that's no worry, then."

With that, the Foglets on the alien's crippled limb began to rearrange into a pretty good aproximation of the original, although the facsimile wouldn't be very functional.

((OOC: I guess it some how figured out the aliens language.))

*The Nameless looks at it's hand, then seemed to shrug.*

EDIT: ((OOC: Attila won't know what Uoatok means. Janice will have to translate for it.00

*The alien waved the hand absently as the two walked.*

Alien: "It is of no concern. I will molt soon again anyways... It is faster if a Muragu carries you. Do you have a name? I was once called T'Kiya, before I was Uoatok. (Pronounced: you-owe-uh-tock, means to be banished in dishonor and stripped of your name.) But now I am The Nameless..."

*Janice instantly knew what Uoatok meant, even though she has never heard that alien word before. As it spoke those last two lines, there was an underlying sense of shame in it's voice. A drone comes up and waits for Janice to confirm she wants to be carried.*
"Janice. Janice Kiri Depaulto. Doesn't mean much... just an identifier. I've got loads of questions... but I suppose I should be carried." She winces as she gingerly puts weight on her right foot. "Sorry, it's my nature never to give up when I feel threatened."

*The Nameless nodded.*

The Nameless: "Your name is unusual, you have three of them. Isn't that confusing?"

*The drone gently picks her up, lifting her from the waist. The two aliens, followed by the robot, begin to quickly run/decend through the winding pasage back to Janice's friends.*

((OOC: I guess it some how figured out the aliens language.))

OOC: Just starting to. It'll mostly only know what Janice is saying, but will pick up more and more alien words as the sample size increases.

Janice. Janice Kiri Depaulto. Doesn't mean much... just an identifier.

"Oh, are we giving names, now? I'm called Attila, golem of Jerome Gage."

Once more, Attila followed the alien+Janice to wherever they went.

Janice leans back into the drone's arms, gingerly keeping her leg from jostling too much. "No, not really. The first two are given, chosen by my parents to differentiate me from others in the family." I dunno, but this worm thing is definitely easing my mind. "The last name is adopted from my parents, indicating my line of ancestry after a fashion. It isn't confusing to me because they're just three components of my one name. What about yours?"

The Nameless: "I am simply The Nameless, my title of shame I must always wear. The Nameless is given to anyone who has been Uoatok..."

*It falls silent, then changes the subject.*

The Nameless: "Tell me about your comrades..."

Janice nods and tries to look sympathetic. Sympathy is not one of her strong suits, and she's even less certain it translates between species. "We're all from a star system quite a long ways away and we decided to explore this planet for its potential viability as a colony base.

"I signed up 'cause it seemed like the thing to do." She smiled weakly. Damn, current events have taken a lot out of me. "We're a multinational..." Does the concept of nation-state make sense? "...group of explorers who initially came in peace... then we got scared... so on and so forth.

"In the group down here there's Attila, the little robot over there. The one with the pointed ears who got thrown around is Celestial"--dang, hope the kid's all right--"and the female with the rifle is Captain Beth. She's technically in charge. The other guy is someone called Dekker. Don't know him."

Wow, I'm just talking and talking and talking... must be tired. Janice stifles a yawn. Tired and yawning in the arms of some alien thing. My oh my how soon we get jaded.

(OOC: Bedtime for Timofeyev...)

((OOC: Mmkay, see ya Tim! sweet dreams! ^_^))

*The Nameless nodded.*

The Nameless: "I was under the impression that your kind were overly violent by nature."

*The four arrives back at where Beth and the others are.*

The Nameless: "You will need to translate for me, as I have only one Gasu."

*Janice knew that Gasu was the worm creature residing in her tummy, a type of benevolent non-intrusive symbinotic lifeform that grants it's host limited telepathy, the ability to understand most spoken languages, and purge from the host body any harmful virus or illness. The Gasu was also feeding information directly to her.*

The Nameless: "Do not fear me, I mean you no harm."

"Yahoo! It didn't eat you!" Beth runs over and gives Janice a big hug. Hastily she steps back though. "Wait a minute..." She pulls out her 'corder and scans Janice. "Human, female, yep. It's Janice..."

'What's this? Some kind of creature...' she thought, seeing the thing for the on the 'corder. Her hand inched to her phaser. "So... What happened to you?" Beth had a hard look on her face. 'Tell me now...' she thought.

"Yahoo! It didn't eat you!" Beth runs over and gives Janice a big hug. Hastily she steps back though. "Wait a minute..." She pulls out her 'corder and scans Janice. "Human, female, yep. It's Janice..."

'What's this? Some kind of creature...' she thought, seeing the thing for the on the 'corder. Her hand inched to her phaser. "So... What happened to you?" Beth had a hard look on her face. 'Tell me now...' she thought.

*Looking directly at Beth, Janice could hear her thoughts. This was due to the Gasu's ability to grant her limited Telepathy.*

((Note: Janice can hear the immediate thoughts of anyone she looks at. She can't communite telepathy, nor can she mind control anyone. She can only hear their thoughts as they think them.))

"I was under the impression that your kind were overly violent by nature."

"Well, that's slightly unfair. I'm more violent than most. Not the greatest envoy to new worlds." She chuckles slightly.

-- and, back at the group --

"Oh, hi Cap'n." Janice tenses slightly as she sees Beth go carefully towards her phaser. "It's some sort of symbiote that allows me to communicate with these folks. Not exactly comfortable but completely benign. And please don't try and shoot me, I'd hate to break out my hand-to-hand training on you. I like you." Her face takes on a very tired no-I-don't-want-to-but-I-will-if-I-have-to cast as she looks up at the captain... one-hundred percent Janice.

"Anyway, might as well get to my new translator role. This," she indicates the 'leader' alien with one hand, "is The Nameless. It says 'Do not fear me, I mean you no harm.'"

It can be assumed that she dutifully relays everything the leader says.

"Good to know. Glad I don't have to blast you." 'Yet' Beth thought. 'Never know with something like that. Looks harmless, then bam! Space amoebia.' She sits down against a wall, 'corder pointed at Janice while she breaks out a meal packet.

"Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence..." Janice says aloud, silently adding yeah, and stop with the space amoebas already in her mind. I wonder... if this thing is shoved in my esophagus, then how the hell does it either get out or do I eat if I have to? I'm pretty sure both suck like hell.

OOC: I'm aware that they're real strong, but Dekker isn't. Think Duke Nukem/Sam Fisher with a bit of John Mullins thrown in, and you'll get an idea of his personality. The knife, for a mental picture, is like the one in The Hunted, filleting blade with a serrated saw edge on the back, balanced for throwing.

IC: Dekker eyes the drones warily, but does not make a move to lower his hands. After a few minutes, he drops out of his stance, and proceeds to take off the hardsuit. Dekker unbuttons the securing flap on the knife, but leaves it in its sheath. Dekker returns to eyeing the drones, one hand hovering near the grip of his knife.

-blank-

-blank-

OOC: So this going to be going anywhere? I would assume the Nameless One has a speach to make.

(OOC: *shrug* I'm just the symbiotic translator.)

(OOC: Translate this:)

"So, would you mind telling us about the shaft filled with aminous mist back there, with the numerous other horizontal passageways connecting to it and broken rails along the inside?"

Janice, of course, does. Consider it to be automatic.

Dekker reguards Janice with an alarmed look "Now how'd she know that?"
His hand instinctivly reaches for the handle of his knife, but the balde remains in the sheath.

"I'm guessing it's some kind of psionic power. We've seen examples before - the Republic doesn't have any that we know of, but it is known amoung some human groups. Likely a by-product of the creature inside."

Beth walks around Janice scanning the creature with her 'corder. "You know, if we could figure out how it works we could make something that would do the same thing without latching onto someone's spleen."

"Fun. So its latched to her spleen? Considering IF and when we do get out of here, would there be any way to remove it?" Dekker suggests, still keeping his right hand near his knife.

OOC: I get the feeling that I'm on a completely different timezone than everyone here. What times are you guys usually on?

OOC: Generally from Noon to 2pm or so, PST.

(OOC: Random times soon to become more random. Funnnnn.)

"Jeebus H Hyskos, people, calm down. I'll be fine. I think."

(OOC: And Janice has nothing to say (minus translating for people) until Sunday night... 'cause I'm MOVING IN! Whooo!)

OOC: No small wonder I always miss stuff. I'm on the East Coast.

OOC: Is this thing dead?

OOC: Waiting on Kermowoh (SP) to get back from whereever she went off to. Consider it on hold.

Great, I was getting worried.

With a slight vibration that rang through the hull the SDF 'Columbia' docked with the Wazzu station in Earth Orbit. She had just gotten out of drydock, again, and Captain Masters cringed slightly. There was likely a ding, and while they were inevitable, she didn't like them. Especially on this ship. It seemed to need every inch of hull plating to survive.

"Captain, docking is complete. The station administrator is ready to recieve you." "Tell him I'm on my way." "Aye sir." the Comms officer replied, though likely she didn't hear the affirmative as she was already half out the door. Five minutes later she was shaking the administrators hand.

"Good morning Captain. What brings you to Earth?" the Administrator began. "Out-system exploration actually. We are hoping to lay in supplies as well as recruit some talent." "Ah, fun for you then?" "I suppose, though last time I was almost eaten by a giant space amoeba. Hopefully this time will be a little bit... calmer?" The Administrator laughs at this as he escorts her into his office.

"Supplies I can help with. Talent is a little harder, but we can put up an advertisement on the station intranet and share it with the local societies. What exactly are you looking for?"

A short time later a 'Want Ad' appeared on the Wazzu intranet and was forwarded around to interested parties. "Wanted: Explorers, Shield-Men, Diggers, Scientists, Researchers, and Adventurers. Opportunity for space travel, exploration of new world. Food and lodging, some equipment provided. 500 Di-Coin Mo / Stipend. Apply SDF 'Columbia', Wazzu Station, Earth.

While the Captain awaited any interested parties she organized the supply crew. It would take a week to get to their destination, and they would likely be the first sentients to touch the surface. Preparations were important.

OOC: Couple quick things - this is going to be a limited character RP. No battle fleets, no thousands of people. Stick to a general limit of 4 people in a party, please.

*Any, as in anyone with access to Earth orbit or modern communications.

Interesting. Is it too late for a second party to venture into the asteroid?

OOC: It's not an asteroid, its a planet - but no, it's not really too late. Honestly they are not going to be with the party on planet, but they might be able to explore something else on the planet. I'll provide transport to the 'Columbia'. Same rules apply - send a bio of the character who wants to take part.

OOC: OK. Here is my character:

Name: Whiptail
Race: Dark Argonian
Gender: Male
Scale Color: Black
Eye Color: Gold, black slit pupil
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 250 lbs
Tail Length: 5'1"
Fighting Style: Fury of Darkness (Personal Style)
Age: 209
Equipment: Twin katanas made from black steel, netch leather armor, chitin paldrons and gauntlets
Bio: Whiptail is a warrior of the Dark Argonian tribes from deep inside the Black Marsh. He is a master of melee weapons and two handed fighting. An expert tracker, he is at home on the land, or in the water. Whiptail has also mastered the Argonian martial art, the Infinite Mystical Claw style.

OOC: More combat characters... No one plays scientists... Still, good enough.

"Application Accepted. Transport has been arranged from Mars to target system. You can arrange transport from your own home planet to Mars, or a SDF vessel can pick you up if you are within Sol system.

As the mission will be occuring on planets with a hostile atmosphere applicants are encouraged to run through hard-suit training on their voyage to the target system."

OOC: More combat characters... No one plays scientists... Still, good enough.

I play scientists... gawain, arthur, finn, gage, etc, etc.

OOC: More combat characters... No one plays scientists... Still, good enough.

I play scientists... gawain, arthur, finn, gage, etc, etc.

A generalization. You are an outstanding break of that generalization, I assure you.

OOC: He's not your typical muscle-bound fighter. Being an expert scout and tracker, he knows a lot about plants and animals. Argonains are somewhat primitive, so they don't like computers and such. Doesn't allow for much high-tech research. Perhaps later I'll start an RP involving the exploration of the Black Marsh, after this one ends.

OOC: He's not a steroid-hyped psyco. Being an expert scout and tracker, he knows a lot about plants and animals. Argonains are somewhat primitive, so they don't like computers and such.

Well, this will be intersting then. First planet is an ice-ball, though we haven't taken a look at the second planet yet. Up to you though.

IC:

A human male, 5'10", 220 lbs, wearing the traditional uniform of the SDF is there to greet you when you arrive on the 'Columbia'. "Welcome to the 'Columbia' Mr. Whiptail. I'm Commander O'neal. I hope you've had a pleasant trip?"

If you don't mind, I would like to enter a character too.

If you don't mind, I would like to enter a character too.

Sure. I'm probably going to have this second expedition land on the second planet - no barren iceball, but likely the same alien oddities. Might want to be on your toes... ;)

OOC: sounds interesting

Dergan Raspho
Species: Therian
Sex: Male
Height: 2.5 meters
Wieght: 280 lbs.
Eye Color:Red with gold flecks
Skin Color: Blue-Green
Age:67
Bio: Dergan is a young, aspiring Lieutenant that calls the Therian Worldship 'Tyrant's Rule' home. His most recent assignment was as the leading scientist aboard the science ship 'Inquisitor', partaking in the examination of samples taken from a space amoeba.
Equipment: Science Pack, Laser Cutters, Portable DatPad, Blaster Pistol
Special: Cybernetic implants that allow him to acces his DatPad by remote; also allows him to see into the infrared spectrum

OOC: Your ride is a little easier to catch, considering your location...

"Welcome to the 'Columbia' Mr. Raspho." O'neal continues. "Given that it is about noon shiptime and, well, I like to eat, would you both join me in the lounge for some lunch or drinks?"

O'neal then leads both of you to the lounge (Ten-Forward Style Resturant) where a variety of crew members are enjoying a meal. Food is served buffet style, with the meat of the day being fowl. O'neal grabs two game hens and a salad and sits down. As before he activates the active display on the table and begins bringing up mission data.

During the walk, Dergan spends his time looking all around. At the buffet, he simply grabs a glass of water in his clawed hands and sits down. He shifts around a little bit, trying to get comfortable in the small chair. The lights on the implant showing above his right eye start flashing as he accesses his DatPad's recording feature. He smiles, "So this is the 'Columbia'. I've always wondered what it would look like without a huge amoeba surrounding it."

"Yes, a lot nicer with no tentacles writhing in the hallways. Don't mention space amoeba's to the Captain though. She will either rant at you or say nothing for a week. Speaking of the Captain... Her party passed out of comm-range 6 hours ago. They are likely fine, but we are going to send down a party to make sure. They were exploring a possible alien artifact, so you might be interested. If not I'm going to be sending a party down to the planet we are calling Reason. The name will quickly become obvious..."

O'Neal brings up the data on Rime - survey data, reports on the objects found, etc. The tabletop is responsive, and can access any data (well, almost) on the network.

"I'm sure they can handle themselves down there. I'm more interested in the second planet. Are there any anomalies on the surface? Below the surface? Does it support life?"

"I'm sure they can handle themselves down there. I'm more interested in the second planet. Are there any anomalies on the surface? Below the surface? Does it support life?"

"Probably, possibly, and only if you are a space ameoba." O'Neal ticked off on his fingers. "Long range scans show possible traces of the same materials the alien artifact is made of - though we still are not sure how they interact and form the materials they do. Given the fact that this artifact was below the ice we might expect to see similar objects slightly below ground, though we cannot be sure until we go into orbit. As far as life goes it's a hostile atmosphere for us oxygen breathers, but something that likes neon and argon would probably love it. Primary components are helium, neon, and argon."

"Sounds fun." Dergan grins, showing a row of sharp teeth. " This alien material, do we know what any of its component materials are?" He looks around. " And who else besides me will be going on this mission? "

"Sounds fun." Dergan grins, showing a row of sharp teeth. " This alien material, do we know what any of its component materials are?" He looks around. " And who else besides me will be going on this mission? "

"We know what atoms it's composed of. We are trying to break down one of the samples now, but it's being difficult. As far as a team goes, likely Mr. Whiptail here, a couple science officers, and a couple security officers. Given the possiblity of hostile lifeforms I'm going to bend the rules a bit and let people check out whatever they want from the armory. Just bring it back in one piece."

OOC: Last one for me for the night - I want to give Argonians a chance to catch up.

"Hmmmmm.... do you have a portable personal shield generator? My skin is pretty tough, but its not impregnable. What about some high power, shaped explosives? They could come in handy in a pinch."

OOC: Looks like you guys have been at it for a bit. Catch a few hours of sleep and look what happens (JK)!

IC: Whiptail stares around him, not sure what to think of the spaceship. He notices the man in front of him, and bows in respect. "Greeetings from the Marsh. My 'trip' as you call it was fine. It is not every day in my homeland that one gets to expeirence teleporation."

"Commander O'Neal, Whiptail."

Skipping to the meal...

"So did you go through hardsuit training on the trip over? I notice you didn't bring one aboard. We'll have to get you one made..."

"Since this is a mission of exploration and you two are the explorers you will be responsible for leading the mission in general. Don't hesitate to ask the others for anything though, they are specialists after all. There should be a shielding unit in the armory, and you can take a look at weapons when the team gears up."

"I am not from a very advanced area. The other people who share the Marsh, the Argonians, hate technology. My people are not so fickle, but they outnumber us one hundred to one, so progress of the technological variety is slow. I have never seen a hardsuit, but do have some expeirence with firearms." Whiptail begins to glace about the area, looking for something...

"Hmm, well it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just soft-suits this time anyway. Are you looking for something?" O'Neal observes.

"I was looking for your commanding officer." Whiptail says, reaching into a leather belt pouch with his tail, and drawing out a beautifully crafted silver dagger, inlaid with gold and covered with delicate carvings. "In my homeland, it is customary for one to bring a gift to one's host when staying with them for the first time. I have had this weapon made for you captain, since your race has little use for spears since the invention of the handgun."

"She's down on the surface actually. Haven't heard from her in hours. I expect she is getting herself in trouble though. I could accept it for her, or you could wait until she gets back..."

OOC: Tempted to bring the Captain et all back and leave Kremowoh's bit for later as a 'Dark Secret'... Anyone have a problem with that?

OOC: Fine with me. I'd like to either get Dekker back home for the coming war with Melkor Unchained, or back into another misson.

Whiptail slides the dagger into his belt. "I will wait, but thank you for your most kind offer. I have heard that a friend of mine is also on this spaceship, a man by the name of Dekker Bray."

OOC: I was wondering when MS was going to chime in.

"He was - he's on the surface as well."

OOC: Couple hours, and the team is coming back up.

OOC: Cool. How does that translate into real time?

Sorry - two hours RT. Mostly to give the participants time to make their voices heard.

OOC: MS and I have RP'd together before. This will be fun.

OOC: That works well for me, I'll be gone from seven till eight or nine. It's 6:05 PM here now, for those of you on something other than eastern central time.

(OOC: Maybe bring the alien back with them. I might actually send Gage down to Reason....)

OOC: Was wondering when someone from the original crew was going to come back.

OOC: Lets get this show on the road...

The communications officer chimes in on O'Neals combadge. "Commander O'Neal - Captain Masters is on the horn. She wants you on the bridge." "About time - come on, let's see what she wants."

Two minutes later the three walk onto the bridge. O'Neal takes the center chair and opens a channel to Captain Masters. "Captain, this is O'Neal. Good to hear from you..." "Quite - Commander, I want you to send a message back to fleet HQ. For now this planet is to be deemed uninhabitable, and unsuitable for further exploitation. I'll explain further when I'm aboard, but I want you to put a full sphere of sensor bouys around the planet. It's vital we don't let anyone near it for the time being."

"Understood. When will you be coming aboard?" O'Neal said as he noted down her orders. "Emmidiatly. I want you to meet me in Transporter Room 2, and handle the transport. No technicians. Have security seal the hallway as well, and secure a bearth near the transporter room. Anything will do." "Aye Captain." O'Neals eyebrows went up at these orders, but as the channel closed he began issuing them. "Foxworth - you hear the Captain. Close the corridor and put officers outside the doors. Unfortunately I'm going to have to ask you two to stay here until the Captain says so."

O'Neal heads out the door, issuing more orders through his commbadge as he goes.

Dergan looks at the Argonian. "Whiptail right?"

O'Neal and Captain Masters enter the bridge a short time later, accompanied by a human female, a nekojin, and a human male, plus a robot of some kind. "...at all - we need to think it over more." Captain Masters said as she walked onto the bridge and took the captain's chair.

"So we have two new adventurer's. Introductions first I suppose. I'm Captain Elizabeth Masters. This is Janice Depaulto, Celestial Lightpaw, Paul Dekker, and Attila. Jerome Gage should be joining us shortly. Commander O'Neal told me your name is Whiptail, and you are... Dergan. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your full name."

OOC: Nope, Beth doesn't remember everyone's name. She's just been through a traumatic experience. Cut her some slack.

OOC: I think it was Dekker Bray, not Paul Dekker.

Dekker stretches, glad to be out of the claustraphobic confines of the hardsuit. He spies his old friend Whiptail a few feet away. Dekker waves him over.

Whiptail turns his head to better see Dergan. "You are correct, I am Whiptail." Whiptail looks at Dergan a little closer. "You are not of any race I have ever seen. We shall see if you fight with honor." He sees Dekker waving his arms, and ambles over. They shake hands, clearly glad to see each other. "It has been many years, old friend. I trust your stay on the surface was fun?"

Jerome came onto the bridge with his head nodded down, mumbling to himself as usual, laptop under his arm.

Seeing Attila, he lit up. "Attila! You are okay! I was worried about you, you wandered out of communications range! Do not do that!"

"I am sorry, Jerome. It was not intentional. We gained much new data."

"Very good, very good. You better stop by our room before we go anywhere else, get hooked up with the Constructor, make sure everything's in top shape."

As Attila scuttled out, Jerome changed back into his usual anti-people self, and quietly said "I go on the next mission. Attila not to get away next time."

"Don't make me smack you." Dekker says in a joking tone. "Yeah, just the usual alien attack that comes with exploring an alien planet."

Janice coughs slightly, looking a shade greener than usual and uncharacteristically weak. "Well... it wasn't an attack so much as an attempt to communicate." She grins slightly as Jerome fawns over his little drone, shaking her head. "Well, at least someone's happy."

"TMI Dekker," Beth says through her teeth. 'Why does 'secret' mean the whole ship will know in 5 minutes?' "If we are going to go down to Reason I am going to get some rest. I suggest most of you do the same, or at least something low impact. How does 4 hours sound?"

"Yeah." Janice nods with an unusual lack of coordination, like someone nodding off to sleep. "I could use with some rest--I'm beat. No surprise there, eh?" She chuckles weakly with a wry grin. "G'night, all. See you in four."

She wanders down the corridors, stumbling about slightly, occasionally catching herself on structural ribs and pausing for breath. Shaking her head to clear it--Goddammit, it should be illegal to be this tired--she continues on, shuffles over to her bed, and flings herself sideways on the mattress. Her upper intestine grumbles slightly--"Shut it up, you... I never asked to be your home"--and her mind instantly flicks into sleep.

Dergan bows his head. "Dergan Raspho, at your service mam."

"Mr. Raspho, Commander O'Neal gave me the rundown on you while we were taking care of a little situation. Glad to have you on the team." Beth goes over and orders some food from the replicator. "Meatloaf, Caesar salad on the side, pickle. And some water, 33 degrees."

"Ok - lets run through what's been happening while we were gone. Make it quick though - as soon as I am done with this plate I'm out like a light."

Dekker shrugs. "I'm gonna go get me a drink. Then I'll get some rest." He heads off towards the bar, with thoughts of a few shots of whiskey on his mind.

"I would welcome the challenge." Whiptail says to his friend, referring to the aforementioned threat. "I myself would like to better hone my abilities with ranged weapons. Is there a place where I might do so?"

"Absolutely. Firing range - Deck 2. The range officer will walk you through checkout and they can qualify you on whatever you want as well." Captain Masters says as she finishes off her meatloaf. "O'Neal - how about the survey data? Anything interesting?"

"Nothing interesting here, Reason seems to have some trace of the same elements we are dealing with here though. That might mean more artifacts." "Really. I would assume you've put up sensor bouys?" "Yes - but I'm getting the feeling you probably want a network of them." "Make it so Commander!"

Whiptail heads off in that direction. He selects an M60 from the weapons rack, and starts shooting at a few targets. Each succesive set is drilled dead center. He switches to a pair of Colt M1911's. Again, each progressive set is better and better. Satisfied he still knows how to shoot, he ambles off to find the captain and present her with her hospitality gift.

Whiptail just catches Beth as she's about to leave the bridge. "What can I do for you Mr. Whiptail."

She's acting quite formal, but behind her the nekojin is joking with a large black man, Lt. Foxworth, and the words 'Captn Crunch' come up. There are giggles, and it seems Beth might have a new nickname.

Whiptail pulls the dagger from his belt. It is made from a single piece of silver, inlaid with gold and covered with intricate and delicate engravings. It glows with a pale, inner blue light. The grip is wrapped in black netch leather, making it adhere slightly to the hand of the wielder. "It is customary for my people to deliver a gift to the head person of the establisment they are about to stay in, if it is for long periods of time. Its blade is sharper than that of a razor, and it has an icy bite that will sting your opponents when you strike them. I hope you enjoy it, it is a powerful weapon for its size." He bows low again, then ambles off to the bar, eager to catch up with Dekker.

"Thank you." Beth says. 'Not our custom's, but who am I to argue? I should put that in the databank though...' Beth walks back to her cabin and puts the knife on her end table. 'Needs a stand - but I can have one of the artist types make one later. Sleep first.' She strips down and slips between the covers and into sleep.

Janice seems to rise slightly from her sleep of the dead. Splayed sideways over the sheets, she mutters as a cold sweat breaks out across her brow. Her corneas dart around under her eyelids, rapid-eye-movements indicating the onset of dreams--and they must be quite odd--her lips half-forming words and silent sounds. Far from the sedate darkness of her room, her mind wanders about.

Crawling in a dark tunnel, a firey infrared version of the odd niched tunnels inside the vessel, a vessel she knew the name and origin of--or was she the one who really knew, or was it the burning in her stomach?--but she couldn't remember. There was something behind her, and she had to escape...

Escape? Hell naw. Struggling to her feet, Janice turned around, feet feeling like concrete blocks molded around lead pipes... Ignoring the weakness and protests of her body and animal instincts, Janice peered down the corridor, trying to make out the shape of the form coming towards her. The thing blends into the darkness, glossy carapace reflecting the dull red sides of the tunnel.

The Unnamed emerges from the darkness, looks its eyeless head up at Janice, and extends a single long finger, arm out, pointing. "Who are you?"

"I am Janice Kiri Depaulto..." Janice looks at the odd alien thoughtfully. "Why do you ask?"

The Unnamed doesn't respond, and lowers its pointing finger, almost brushing against Janice's stomach. "Who are you."

"I already said, I'm Jan--" Her voice cuts off as she begins gagging, and a granular voice that is not her own escapes from her throat. "K'grrthhaa."

The odd burning in Janice's stomach spreads to her entire body, screaming through arteries and exploding on the skin, as if she had been set alight. Gasping for air on all fours, she looks up, hissing through clenched teeth as she fights through the waves of pain. "What's... happening?"

"Do not worry... you are becoming one of us..."

"What?" Janice screams as another sharp shock passes through her stomach, falling onto her side and writhing with the pain. "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"It will be all right... just remain calm."

Another pang spasming her into a fetal position, Janice watches as her burning skin begins to change color, her hips shifting and sprouting a new pair of legs, her torso molding to new shapes and slowly growing into a new arm...

She screams, pitch rising until her voice breaks and she turns silent, staring at her four-fingered hands through slitted eyes set in a manta-ray head, praying to wake up.

Janice makes a soft squeaking noise in the back of her larynx, body tense... and suddenly all muscles go limp. She returns to deep sleep--or perhaps something deeper--clammy skin glistening with a quickly-cooling dew of sweat.

[edit: spelling]

Dekker tosses back his third shot of the night, trying to drive the memories from his mind. Memories of that worm thing they made Janice swallow.... What the hell was it? What did it do? These questions burned in his mind as the whisky burned down his throat. He decides to retire for the night. He makes his way back to his room, strips, and slides his trusty .45 under his pillow. He missed his wife. It had been too long since he had slept beside her. That, and he had found out she was pregnant hours before he left, which didn't do anything to ease his uneasyness. He slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Attila sat happily on the floor, next to the printer-esque box, a cable connecting them. A green light glowed dimly on the top of the box.

Jerome lay on the bed, legs hanging over the side, eyes staring intently into space, despite the fact that they were closed. His computer still sat on his lap, his hands resting idly on the keyboard. The soft glow of the monitor was suddenly replaced by total darkness as it flicked over to a blank screensaver, save only for the eery green light from the box.

Beth woke up 3 and a half hours later when the alarm buzzed at her. She had been having odd dreams as well - dreams of aliens with radial symetry. She got out of bed and went over to the dresser. As she pulled on a uniform she ran through a checklist in her head with the computer. "Ship status?" 'Nominal' "Have Dekker, Depaulto, Whiptail, Celestial, Gage or Raspho left their rooms yet?" 'Dekker, Whiptail, Celestial and Raspho have left their rooms.' 'Gage is no suprise, but Janice should be up by now. I should check on her.'

Beth left her cabin, heading for Janice's berth first. She had a worried look on her face. 'Maybe it's nothing, but having an alien shoved down your throat...'

The door opens, and Janice looks exactly like she would've to an outside observer four hours ago. Splayed across the mattress, sheets slightly rumpled by her impact, still in her simple khaki utility pants and utility vest over black undershirt. Even her combat boots are on and still laced... and it doesn't look like she's shifted position in hours.

She doesn't respond to sound or even a mild shake. Her lips are slightly parted and mouth apparently dry; her pulse is slow and her breathing so soft that it is difficult to measure. That and a very fine layer of cold sweat probably indicate that something is quite wrong with Ms. Depaulto.

Beth had overridden the door lock when Janice hadn't answered after 2 minutes. She rushed over to the bed, observing the mentioned signs. "Captain to Medical - Emergency. I'm heading there with Janice Depaulto." Beth scooped Janice up in her arms and ran out the door. A crewwoman who happened to be walking by saw her and ran to help. Together they carried her into the Medical Bay and placed her on a table.

Doctor Granger was waiting for them. He ran a scanner over Janice as soon as she was on the table. "Pulse is down, breathing's slow... Too slow even for someone in this good of shape. Oxygen first. Nurse - get a tube in her." He grabbed her arm and took a sample of blood. "She had that creature in her... Could be that. Likely that I should say. If we remove it though..."

"It might have been something inside the artifact. I'm going to have all the team come in. You can start with me." Beth said. "Good idea. Nurse - full physical. Get a blood sample too." Beth set about locating and calling the other team members to the medical bay.

The blood sample indicates an abnormally high level of lymphocytes--white blood cells--that appear to be releasing antibodies at random in response to a population of unknown cells which seem to serve the purpose of red blood cells--hemoglobin structures carrying oxygen--but have odd little nodules along their cell membranes that serve an undetermined purpose.

The high lymphocyte count is probably the cause of leukemia-like symptoms; the odd pseudo-red blood cells are probably the cause of the excess of lymphocytes; the cause of those odd cells is as of yet undetermined.

Janice begins breathing somewhat deeper when oxygen is applied. Her lips shudder slightly as her throat cracks with effort. Her mouth forms words in a groaning, croaking voice which is obviously not her own.

"What happened to me? (http://www.weirdozone.0catch.com/projects/nationstates/what_happened.wav)"

OOC: Creepy. I'll give others the chance to respond first.

OOC: question, do we know about this yet?

OOC: Yes - Beth calls everyone and has them come in. If you want you can contact her over the comm-badge once she is done for more information.

(OOC: Bedtime for me...)

"Janice? Are you alright?" Beth asked. She was sitting on another table while a nurse ran through the exam. 'That doesn't sound like Janice.' she thought, hearing the horribly raspy voice. Unobtrusively she ordered two security officers to the Medical bay entrance, just in case.

"Janice?" the odd, raspy voice asks, lips moving slowly, "The one who calls itself 'Janice' is not well." Janice's body takes a deep forced breath then the voice continues. "We do not know what is wrong. We cannot control well; we are confused. What is happening?"

Beth makes a leap of intuition - "What happened before you took control? What happened?"

Doctor Granger begins taking a closer look as they talk. "Neural activity in Ms. Depaulto is slowing, but... well, I guess that's neural activity in the translator is increasing. Those odd blood cells have me worried - it almost seems like the two are joining. I don't want to remove it though - it seems to be sentient and it might kill it. Maybe a blood transfusion to purge the new cells."

"Do you know if you can survive outside a host?" Beth asks.

"Before..." the voice rasps, "the one who calls itself 'Janice' entered a state we do not recognize. We tried to ensure all was well, but it was sick and it was..."--it pauses for a moment, Janice's lips still moving, forming various words until the voice finds one that fits--"...different. Its mind is alien to us, but this was more alien still. Then the one who calls itself 'Janice' lost control of its body. We took control, for we cannot live outside it. Not for long."

"Could be symptoms of rejection. Or something alien in the body. Let's start with the rejection symptoms and check for anything unusual." Doctor Granger said as she began taking x-rays. "Nurse, setup for a sonogram, I want to take a look at the nearby organs."

(OOC: I'll have to think about this... sorry, but Wednesdays are my Sell-My-Life-to-AFROTC days and it's quite busy... so my head is no longer in a state to make up something smart.

Will post tomorrow when I'm in a better state.)

Just then, Dergan walks into the room. "Sorry about the delay. I would have been here earlier but i didn't wake up from my Swesai till 5 minutes ago. I've brought my scanning equipment with me, on the off chance that it could pick up something your equipment couldn't. Have we found anything yet?" He switches his vision back to infrared, checking the body heat eminations for any abnormalties.

The sonogram indicates that the entire gastrointestinal tract is near-motionless--paralyzed, basically--and that the gastric glands are almost completely inactive. The worm-symbiote itself is tightly curled in the stomach cavity, seemingly inactive itself. An odd but sparse tendril system extending from its legs penetrate the stomach wall and snake into Janice's spinal cord. The esophagus is closed tightly shut at the moment but all other involved muscles are limp. The kidneys and liver show signs of wear from the new cells, which are partially blocking the toxin-removing screens of those organs. Physical signs of leukemia are also apparent, with antibodies attacking otherwise healthy cells. Inflamed lymph nodes indicate overproduction.

The more advanced sensing equipment shows that those lymphocytes and antibodies that attack the new cells seem to fail, misreading them as friendly. The "tendril system" appears to be made up of nerve fibers that extends up through the spinal cord, branches through the lower brain, and finally has one tiny extension into the speech planning centers of the left insula and the vocal motor control regions of the upper brain.

Infrared shows standard bloodflow and heat distribution, but Janice's core temperature is hovering around 95 degrees Farenheit. The worm-symbiote shows up as a bright coil at around 99 degrees Farenheit.

"Interesting - her blood is not being cleaned properly. It's possible it had a build up of toxins from the alien atmosphere and that has overtaxed her liver and kidneys. Let's start on that first."

Doctor Granger essentially pulls Janice on dialisis (sp) though more advanced. "This should clean out the blood for her. We'll give her a shot to lower the lymph node production as well - we don't want her draining resources." She adjusts the controls on the dialysis unit - it will add the chemical to control lymph production as well as blood sugar to keep the body running properly.

"Do you think we could take a sample of the nerve clusters you have running through her body? You appear to be able to grow them quite rapidly - I want to see how they interact on a computer model."

OOC: Sorry about the delay, forgot I had this thread going. I'm an Army JROTC, by the way.

IC: Dekker stares at Jaince with an alarmed curiosity. "How the hell does it control her mouth when its in her stomach?" Dekker fingers his .45, wary of any surprises.

(OOC: <requisite interservice needling> Ahh, it all becomes clear now. </needling> Just kidding. Army kicks ass.)

"Do you think we could take a sample of the nerve clusters you have running through her body? You appear to be able to grow them quite rapidly - I want to see how they interact on a computer model."
"We apologize for that." Janice's mouth continues to growl in a dissonant voice. "You seem not to approve. We need to communicate our distress."

Deep, hesitant breath. "Yes. Take samples. We need to survive; the one who calls itself 'Janice' needs to survive."

"I'm somewhat distressed at the methods employed, yes. Captain Masters told me the whole story when you came back. But at least the patient is talking to me - better than a coma."

Dr. Granger pulled an instrument out of a drawer. "This shouldn't hurt, though you will loose some feeling as I am removing some tissue. It's essentially a smaller version of a transporter - useful for extracting tissue without leaving scars or cutting people open."

A quick hum and a little piece of tissue appeared at the other end of the wand-like device. "Nurse - divide this into three samples. Have a tech scan one in, put another in cold storage, and expose the last one to various human tissue samples in a petre dish."

The Janice-that-is-not-Janice hisses as the sample is taken, then mutters something in a sibilant language. "The loss of feeling is pain. We understand the need... What are you finding?"

The nerve bundles are highly sensitive to electrical energy, far more than most nerves; they appear to rely on actual electric energy transfer rather than neurotransmitters to pass along information. There are high concentrations of the noduled cells, but they seem to be benign in the worm-symbiote system. They (the noduled cells) are self-reproducing, not offshoots like red blood cells, which are produced by bone marrow.

The sample in cold storage folds in on itself and seems to go completely dormant. The noduled cells themselves compress from the water cooling, and rupture because their noduled cell membranes are not pliable enough to adapt.

The sample in the unspecified human tissue spreads enough to support itself... and stops. Other than some tissue with a rudimentary worm-symbiote nerve ganglion on it, there is no useful effect.

"You keep refering to yourself as plural. Are you a hive-mind type lifeform?" Dergan's specialty is bio-creation, or the creation of new species. He had hypothesized about the existence of a simbiotic creature with a hive-mind, but had never had the chance to study or try to create one.

"We... why do you ask now?" Grumbling emotionlessly, Janice takes another halting breath. "Yes... we are a collection of individuals. Even the body of this symbiote is the sum of several minds. We are one with the Unnamed and one with the drones. Thus do we translate. We are not... one with the one that calls itself 'Janice.' It does not want to be one."

"That could perhaps be the answer. If Janice does not want to give herself over to the collective mind she could be fighting it. That brings to mind an answer - a constructed body for the translator - but we need to know more specifics before we can begin. I don't know how much time we have either." Doctor Granger says. "Are you able to voluntarily leave a host?"

"Not without damaging it..." The voice croaks. "And it does not need to be one with us. When it entered the unrecognized state... we tried to contact. Tried to offer to this new..."--her lips search for words--"facet. The body was already sick, but its rejection was so powerful... its mind hid. The body cannot survive without its mind. This is why we took control.

"From inside..." The voice stops for a few moments. "The body is reacting to us... but not us. We are not the cause."

OOC: I fear this thread has died....

(OOC: Naw... forums were just down for two days. We can resurrect it still.)

OOC: Was wonderin' what happened to this thread.

"Some other condition..."

OOC: I'm not a doctor, though I play one occasionally. Unless someone has any suggestions I'm going to have to depend on the good graces of Scolo for the answer.

OOC: Maybe go down to the second planet and look for a curing substance of some kind?

OOC: Maybe go down to the second planet and look for a curing substance of some kind?

OOC: a telepath bringing her mind out of hiding?

OOC: I'm not a doctor, though I play one occasionally. Unless someone has any suggestions I'm going to have to depend on the good graces of Scolo for the answer.
(OOC: "Dammit, Jim, I'm an aerospace engineer, not a doctor!"

Well, you've got this information:
1) The noduled cells seem to be causing most of the symptoms.
2) The noduled cells don't respond well to cryogenic cooling, while the symbiote seems to just go dormant. The effect on a human depends on the system one uses.
3) The "find a cure on Reason" and the "use a telepath" ideas sound cool.

There are multiple ways to solve this problem, just as with most problems. Try some things and see if they work.)

OOC: Okay, I guess will have Kinslayer bring in a telepath, and the rest of us will hit Reason to search for an antidote.

OOC: Sounds good to me. Let's begin somewhere.

"I'm going to try a blood transfusion. I want to see what effect 'clean' blood has on her. The translator seems to be capable of self-support - I don't believe it needs the noduled cells to live."

Beth watched as the nurses began the procedure. "Maybe we should put her in cryo until we figure it out." "I don't think that would be best yet - I want the translators input for now. The rest of you seem fine though." Doctor Granger said as she issued instructions for the transfusion. "Why don't you head down to the surface? Take your mind off Ms. Depaulto," she continued.

"Good idea." 'I can't be drawn into a depression for one person.' She thought, 'No matter how horrible that sounds. The doctor can handle it.'
Beth opened a channel to all the participants. "We are going to head down to Reason. Ms. Depaulto is in capable hands, and we need to continue our mission. Everyone meet in 15 minutes in Transporter Room 2 - bring your gear."

Captain Masters began issueing orders to the crew as she walked out the door, heading for the armory.

Dekker runs to his room, returing with a second AMT Hardballer. He picks up a surpressor from the armory before heading to the transporter room.

Whiptail ambles over to the armory, and selects a pair of surpressed M92 Berrettas, as well as an MP5A2-SD and several ammo clips. "There will be good hunting soon....." He mutters, his bloodlust rising slowly in his veins.

As the transfusion passes new blood into Janice's veins, most of the noduled cells (and the rogue lymphocytes) are washed out... but colonies of the noduled cells survive in the blood rich organs, especially the liver and kidneys, where they remain trapped in the screens. The massive population loss seems to have shocked the alien cells, causing their growth rate to fall to almost half of observed levels. Still, within several minutes they begin to grow in number again.

All throughout, the Janice-that-is-not-Janice hisses sibilantly. It/she doesn't particularly seem to enjoy the process.

***

(OOC: By suggestion of Sunset)

Ensign Rojacamiseta of the SDF gets the call to accompany the away team. Packing all his standard-issue gear, he slings the rucksack over his shoulder before leaving for the armory. There, he takes a standard phaser pistol, holstering it just like he was taught at the Academy, and waits around, watching the others take slugthrowers-galore. If/when Captain Masters walks in, he comes to attention. "Good evening, ma'am."

Jerome jerked awake as the announcement came through the intercomm.

He quickly flipped off the little box, ably disconnected all of Attila's cables from it, and flicked Attila's "on" switch.

"Time to visit the next one," he said, as he nudged the robot towards the door. "Go on, we're supposed to get to the cool room with the transmat."

When the announcement came over the intercomm, Dergan started, as if he wasn't aware of the outside world until that moment. Downloading his thoughts into his DatPad, he turns to the doctor. "Doctor, this symbiote says that Janice's mind has retreated and hid. I'm thinking that a telepath might be able to bring her out of hiding. Assuming that you don't have a telepath on board, and assuming that it is ok with you and your captain, I could put out a call to FleetCom and request that they send a telepath here. I don't know what good it will do, but it might help. I've got to go collect my stuff for the mission to Reason, but I will be able to contact them at anytime if you so desire."

Dergan takes one last look at Janice, the walks out the door, bending over to make it under the door, and walks to his room. He picks up the rest of his gear, and heads off to the transporter room.

Dekker waits in the transporter room, a Hardballer under each shoulder, his knife on his belt, and the borrowed phaser rifle in his hands. "Does anyone know if we're using those damn suits again?"

"No hardsuits this time." Beth is dressed in a soft-suit - It's fully enclosed but nearly skin tight. Hard armor plates wrap around the arms and legs and protect joints where possible. "The atmosphere is hostile, but near earth normal pressure. There is oxygen present in trace amounts, and the suit's filter should extend our stay to a day if need be."

She put on the rest of her gear - pistol, rifle, and a load of extra clips. "Given what we found on Rime I am presuming we might meet something on Reason as well - but the sentience on Rime was thousand of years old. It's possible that the entire species has died or moved on in that time. Better to be prepared though."

Looks around the room and frowns. "I don't see any suits here that could fit me."

"Hmm, must have missed you. No matter - we can make you one. That will give everyone time to finish gathering their supplies." Beth opened her 'corder, scanned him, and hit her comm-badge. "Supplies, I need a soft-suit..." "Already have it Captain. Looks like someone thought it was a tent and left it behind," the supply officer broke in. "I'll bring in down myself. 5 minutes."

"Well there you are," Beth said, clearing the 'corder. "Once everyone is ready we can transport down. We are going to be half a klick from the largest concentration of similar elements found on Rime."

Ensign Rojacamiseta nods. "Ready when you are, ma'am. The security brief was rather sketchy on this one--anything in particular to know before we beam down?"

"Don't crack your suit, and no body shoot the first thing that moves. Two sides to every story you know." She winked at the Ensign and took her place on the pad. "Pick a nice spot, will you Technician?"

Moments later the entire party was surrounded by a caustic mist. If not for their softsuits they would be dissolving into puddles shortly. The transporter tech had chosen a nice spot indeed - a group of low sandlike bars that stretched into the distance.

"Pretty erg. Att, be off."

The little robot began to scurry away over the bars.

"Hmm, better record this" A red light starts blinking above Dergan's right eye as he scans the area. Everything he is seeing is being downloaded and saved into his DatPat. "Not the ugliest place in the universe, but I sure wouldn't want to vacation here anytime soon. What did you say this atmosphere was made of again?"

"Argon, Sulfer Dioxide, Helium, and Ammonia. Trace amounts of Oxygen and Nitrogen.

OOC: It probably doesn't work, but it is lethal ;). I'll correct when I'm back on a constant connection.

Beth knelt and picked up some of the sand. Opening her 'corder she let it fall through her fingers. "Not silicon based - seems to be a crystalized sodium and iron compound. Hard salt, if you will." She jumped from mound to mound, sending crystals spraying ahead of her. "I believe the surface scans showed a solid mass this way."

Rojacamiseta flinches as Captain Masters leaps from mound to mound. "Careful there, ma'am." Following close after, he keeps an eye out for anything odd.

Odd, of course, being subjective.

Dergan lopes after her, easily keeping pace, as he switches to infrared vision. He continues to look around, trying to spot anyting "out of the ordinary". "So, Captain, what happened when you went to Rime? It's been bothering me ever since I've seen what happened to Janice. What exactly did you run into down there?"

"All the secrets of the universe were revealed to us by a powerful alien being..." Beth jumped to another bar, imagining Dergan's face. "Not really. Technically I shouldn't say, but you will probably here rumors from the crew. We encountered an alien sentience. Almost a hive mind. She / It was an outcast from their species. It had commited a dishonor and had been living on the planet for a long time. We're not sure how long yet, but quite a long time. Perhaps tens of thousands of years."

As they moved a rock outcropping became visible through the mist. It loomed high overhead, several cushion shaped rocks stacked on top of each other.

"Oh goody. We get to climb in these damn things..." Dekker says with a sarcastic smile. "Where to now, cap'n?"

"Treasure hunt really - we need to find a piece of metal, or perhaps another ship or structure. Rocks like these might have caught some, or provided attractive places for them to build." Masters said as she clambered over a low rock.

"We should fan out a little - pair up, but try to keep in sight of at least one other pair. Who wants to go with me?"

"Ummm..." Rojacamiseta thinks for a moment. "Maybe it'd be best if I went with someone else, so we can get better SDF oversight." Looking around, he shifts the weight of his pack from one shoulder to the other. "Your call, ma'am."

"Go ahead - though I prefer to call it making new friends Ensign." Beth winks at Rojacamiseta as she follows Dekker, who has pulled ahead through some fancy footwork.

Dergan waits at the periphery of the group, content with whoever he ends up being partnered with.

"Yes, ma'am." Looking around, he notes Dergan has no partner. Assuming he's not a threat himself, he's probably a safe bet. Bouncing over, he looks up and suddenly thinks that maybe that wasn't the greatest estimation he's ever made. "Um... hi. Ensign Rojacamiseta. I guess I'm your partner." Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

(OOC: I hope I'm not supposed to be planning anything... we going freeform with this one, just like the beginning of Rime?)

OOC: That we are. Feel free to find stuffed monkeys in crevaces in the rocks if you wish ;).

Dekker puts his foot down on something soft, drawing it back as it lets out a squeek. "What the hell...?" He drops to one knee and picks it up. "A toy monkey?" He shows it to Beth. "How'd this get here?" Dekker looks around a bit, then his jaw drops in amazement. The rocky field ahead is laced with shallow canyons, each filled to the brim with toy monkeys, the kind that bang the cymbals together when you push a button. "Uhhhh...." Dekker says dumbly as he taps Beth on the shoulder and points in the direction of the monkeys. "Next thing we'll find is all those damn socks I lose in the dryer."

"Hello Ensign. I'm Lieutenant Dergan Raspho. You can call me Dergan." He looks downs at the smaller being, seeming to size him up. He grins, his eyes changing from purple to red. "Well, do you think we should get started. Wouldn't want your 'oversight' to go to waste." He turns and walks off, laughing the whole way.