Fancy Meeting You Here (Gideon Crew)

[Anonymous]

45 Hours of travel, over 1.2 light years of space traversed, and the silent symphony a spot-ridden view. Those spots, actually, being whole galaxies, or even several galaxies merged. Some, even from so far off, they no longer exist in space-time; their light just now reaching his retinas. These, and other such thoughts contained him as he peer over the railing, and straight ahead, out of the Hybron omni glass 'windows'. These passenger carriers were built more like vast museums that took you places. Far too extravagant, he thought walking up the ramp. But, now...

This rare and much needed moment of self-reflection and selflessness was promptly disturbed by a Quaz sphere bouncing off the back of his head. The condensed-energy ion 'ball' would Bzzt harmlessly as it came into contact with Halo's own bio-electric field, and bounced away. But, not before departing a portion of its kinetic energy into his noodle. Halo blinked once as the donged him in the head. "....Aah, that girl..." Soon, the sound of laughing innocence grew as its source approached him. "...Hee hee! So-oorry, Halo..."

Though apologies were given, they lacked a certain...sincerity . He eyed Anna, unconvinced. Her, and the motley crew she managed to rustle up. Two more boys, and an even younger girl. "....Who're these guys? I'm not feeding them..." Halo quickly announced his intentions. He had none. "Halo, no! They're just teaching me to play Quazzer!" One of the boys managed to regain a handle on the passive ball of energy. "Fine. But, what does my head have to do with it...?" Anna and her allies giggled, before running off to create childish nonsense. "Three points!!"

"Anna...!" Scratch all that from before. This trip stunk. When they hell were they getting out of this damn tin can?

[Anonymous]

With a long, icy blue finger, the enigmatic alien pressed against a window. The temperature of his skin alone was enough to leave frigid imprints against the thick omni-glass. He made little interconnecting lines on the glass which eventually were made to resemble a human-like form. His large black eyes stared at the picture as the stars behind the glass filled up the empty space inside of the drawn person, giving it a spacial-themed skin. It was as if he was made up of the various lifeforms that inhabited the stars the man was made up of.

That was a children's story that was common on the planet that Zison was born on. A story that described the Ibaxesian people, and their unique ability to take on the form of any and every living life-form in the universe. But Zison didn't want to remember his past. So he used his finger to erase the picture he had just drawn on the window.

He was feeling tired, having been on the passenger ship for all this time. He positioned his long black scarf to hide his face, along with his gear so as to not upset any of the other passengers. He remained against a shaded wall so as to not draw to much attention to himself, but after so many hours of travel, it was beginning to grow very uncomfortable, staying in one place like that.

A gang of children ran past, playing with what seemed to him like an ion energy-filled orb. He smiled underneath his scarf. Children at play were always a spirit-lifting sight to him.

[Anonymous]

"Tika spy with her most pretty-ful eyes something that look like.....a Duncan!"

A heavy sigh.

"I wonder what it could possibly be."

"Yes, you does the brain wonderings. Tika veeeeeeeery good at this game. You never will be guessing the answer. Starts with the guessing."

Duncan's long fingers reached underneath his dark lensed glasses to rub his eyes. Hell. That's what this was. He had to have been in Hell. Shoved into a ship with absolutly nothing to do....except entertain Tika.

There was no escape except suicide, which he was seriously starting to contemplate. However, the rhythmic pounding of Tika's tail against the back of his head made it impossible to contemplate much of anything, really.

The little pixie let out a sigh and sat cross-legged on Duncan's head, resting her knobby elbows on her also knobby knees, a look of boredom on her face. She tapped her clawed fingers on her long face in impatience.

"Tika did not mean to make this so hard. She just forgets sometimes that Duncan does not have the power brains."

The blind man cracked his knuckles in frustration. If Taros and Inali didn't get here soon, he was going to break under the pressure and jump out of the airlock. The sound of the children caught his attention, white eyes showing a thermal reading of their bodies as well as everything else in the room. It was the only way he could see when he had to wear these damned glasses, and he hated it.

"You got me, Tika. I'm no match for you. Now leave me alone. Go....bite one of those kids or something."

Large yellow eyes spotted the children and suddenly Tika was hovering in the air. The ion-ball caught her attention more than the children.

"OOOOOOH! They has a shiny, Duncan!"

With that she flew over to the children and Duncan let out a sigh of relief. Finally, some peace. If he was lucky, the kids would decide to use Tika as a replacement ball.

Tika arrived at the children in seconds, and fluttered in front of the little boy that held the ball.

"Tika wanna play with the shiny, tooooo!"

[Anonymous]

Diana had been wandering around like a pale ghost in white shirt with a set of baggy jeans to make her seem decent enough amongst the civilians on board of the ship, already having slept and rested enough for two she was foaming with unrest. Then there were those children, she had never been the same around children after entering that private research facility on mars, with a demo charge and just a gun paving the way towards a mad scientist and his unstable reactor core. Ghosts like that were hard to erase from your mind.
Shaking her head while taking a deep breath and then pushing uncomfortable memories out as she exhaled. Before they took her along for a ride down memory lane. Instead observing the empty tray she had taken with her to a table, ancient habit to eat food. Now everything turned to ash in her mouth. Even water tasted foul and made her puke.

As if suddenly feeling repulsed by the very idea she rose up and put it back with determination in her eyes. Before striding out of there faster than originally intended. Once out of the canteen her unrest eventually settling down to the sound of children playing. Grasping for her pistol that wasn’t there as her hazy mind started imagining things, recent things like carving children to bits to save precious ammo.

Shaking her head again. No need for memory feedbacks now, kids were nice. Exposure would make her forget the bad and welcome more of the good. A doctor would probably have called the too early card but she knew that was merely bullshit to leech more money. This was the primary reason she had nabbed the first public flight out of there and scooted off towards infinity and beyond. Figuring she would get a few days of solitude before heading back to get more work done.
There was this combination of recent events, memories and feeling of being exposed. Not wearing her suit because she might accidentally kill someone if she wore it. Weapon’s and public transport never went well with the security guards. For such things to be near civilians. Rather unheard of, especially if you couldn’t even pass a civilian grade psyche evaluation. There was a licence and registration thing to this and she had gotten that revoked.

Seeing the kids smile from a distance, playing with a weird. Thing. It was not the fairy that triggered the third flashback. Smiling kids, she somehow saw within them. As they danced, bathed in green light and white, cold steel walls. They had clutched her waist tenderly, with eager shouts for mommy while grinning, their razor sharp teeth hungering for flesh.

She let the memories play around with her head, while her body leaned back into the shadows like a stalking wraith, the ever so silent observer. Recalling the stillness of Mars and other planets as she had waited hours upon hours, switching between her helmet’s heat signature vision and infrared. The feeling of her fingers squeezing the trigger lightly, the pause as her body relaxed and controlled breathing to steady herself further.
Then the controlled pull, stopping a millimeter before the actual shot sequence within the gun would  take place. The last milliseconds before everything set in motion. A bullet delivering fate to a single life. Made it a lot more personal than the hail of assault rifles or giant auto fire turrets. This was probably how old hags felt when they grew too old to think about the present or the future. The closest thing she had gotten to a lover, sniper targets. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so pitiful.
 
 Diana had felt it before, a lot of times. What had he said, “Do not let the past consume you as life goes on. A lot of us fall to the curse of immortality but if you embrace it as a gift. Move on, like life always does. You will adapt and realize. You are not human anymore.”

Funny how kids and cantinas brought out all of this. A reminder that she was not made of ice. Good stuff. Still leaning into the shadows, observing children from a distance yet well aware her presence would be easily noticed if you looked for her.

Somehow the process of cleansing her conscience did not seem so distant.

[Anonymous]

"Taros really who would have thought you didn't like crowds." Inali whispered back to him as they were going through a line to pick out food. He simple rolled his eyes at her, which appeared human at this time, just go avoid being looked at too closely. He was pointing at a green apple like thing in front of one of the servers who was far too busy trying to offer him other special plates.

"Just give me the God Damn apple." He growled to the server who quickly handed over a couple of the fruits to him. Inali glanced back giving him an angry look.

"They are just doing their jobs Taros."

"Well they should pick jobs their better at. This place is far too fancy if you ask me." She grinned at his response unable to help herself as she took a plate of food already wrapped for herself and Duncan. It was the special some sort of rare space meat thing she'd never heard of. Her guess was that it was actually something more like a mixture of meat...maybe not even meat.

She put a hand on Taros and pulled him with her through the crowd, well as much as she could pull him. He was much bigger than she was and appeared much stronger. That depended on your definition of strong though. She felt the bombarding of the minds in the cantina. The ship was so large and so crowded it felt like even when she was alone there were too many people. One of the curses of being psychic.

They went out onto the deck and she felt Taros stop and pull her back slightly. She followed his gaze to look up at through the windows. It was so filled with stars.

"The view just might be worth it all though." His voice was gravelly as he spoke, darker. It still had an awe to it though that she could literally feel in her mind. She looked up as well. It was so packed full of worlds. Maybe someday all of them could see some of them. She had plenty of time. They might not though. She sighed bringing herself back to the ship as she let go of Taros's arm and carried the two tray over to Duncan when she spotted him on the deck.

"Duncan I brought you some food, it's payment for baby sitting..." She trailed off as she sat down next to him rather closely and put the tray in his lap. "Which I see you handed off to...children. Well, at least Tika is still alive." She chuckled pulling back the wrapper on his tray first. A large plume of steam rose out of it and plastic utensils were in the tray as well. Taros sat down next to her a small distance away leaning back against the wall and lighting a cigarette. He seemed to be miles away. Then there again as he took out a rather lethal looking knife and started to peel the apple.

Inali unwrapped her own food and started to cut it up. It really was a fancy ship...she was used to a less high maintenance lifestyle. She could get used to this though. She really could.

[Anonymous]

No one would deny Anna was a special child. An Intelligence Quotient of 165; able to take apart and assemble the most complex devices Halo had seen; fearless enough to climb heights most children away from; steadiness of mind to assist the wolf on his local missions. But, that wasn't really what it was. She, like all children, became something when she played. She became innocence personified.

Halo fumed futilely as the mild throb in his head melted to nothing and vanished. Arms folded as he lean his weight against the rail, and crossed ankles. The view behind him forsaken for the one in front of him. "....Dopey kid..." He huffed, before pushing himself off the rail...

"No! Hee hee...!" Once her hands had lost a hold of the sphere, Anna sqeualed and rushed through and around groups of travelers, making sure to pursue the boy. It was when she was in the clear, and her little legs broke into a full sprint after him, that the voice of the boy with the ion ball made her and the other children eyes go wide. At their speed, they could hardly slow down in time, and smashed, one after another, into the one before them, like a accordian made of small children.

Anna found herself on the groud, afterwards. Unhurt, but dazed and confused. "...D-oh... nice pit stop, Planck..." Yes, that Planck. She was a prodigy; her humor was...unsusal for a child. Rubbing her head, she looked up to the boy, who'd been stopped by... "W-wha.... manner of thingy are you??" Where as the boy dropped the ball and scooted back, Anna crawled over to the Faerie, opting to lean in after rising to her feet. "....It's not a machine, either... Could it be...alive??" To one her I.Q., it was fascinating. So much so she... Whipped out her Containment Cube, a device fashioned in the same spirit as a net for catching butterflies.

"Come... here...." An novice, but better than laymen Iconocist, Anna lunges for the Pixie, most likely strapping her in a box able to hold all manner of creepy crawly, and minor supernatural beings. Namely, those small enough to fit into the small box of circuittry. A moment or so Halo neared them, spying the debacle. None of the kids hurt, but...somehow, their dopey-ness was amusing too him. ".....Anna... you took yer meds today, right?"

He was being sarcastic.

[Anonymous]

The enigmatic alien had long forgotten about the children and everyone else aboard the vessel as his large, multi-layered eyes were drawn once more towards the window he found himself next to. His thoughts were many, but, for the past 45 hours, his words were next to none. But anyways, it's not like there was much on the ship for old Zison to do.

Purely out of curiousty, Zison could not help but draw his attention to the small creature that had zipped past him. He recognized it immediatly as a faerie. Nothing to be to worried about. He'd seen his share of faeries many times. But his attention was once again upon the children, who seemed to be so fascinated with the small being. This brought a slight smirk to his face. Humans. They were a funny bunch. Things that Zison grew up knowing about were all objects of fascination to humans, both young and old. Like newborn babes discovering the sky.

Zison wanted to go over and stop the girl from capturing it, but ultimatly decided that it would be best for him not to draw to much attention to himself. And this little event was likely to draw quite a lot of attention.

[Anonymous]

"DUUUUUUUUUUUCAAAAAA AAAAAAN HEEEEEEEEELP TIIIIIIIIKAAAAAAAAA AAAAA!!!!"

The shriek came from the tiny pixie-rat in the box and Duncan, who was trying his best to get a bite of food into his mouth, dropped his fork and covered his ears. His head whipped around to spy the little girl with a Tika In The Box and Duncan sighed. One meal, couldn't he have one meal where he didn't have to deal with the annoying little creature?

He looked at Inali and could just barely make out an angry expression on her face. He slowly reached out his hand, making sure he had Inali's before he put his tray of food in her hand and stood.

"Fine, fine. I'll go get her," He pointed a finger at Taros. "Don't eat my food, Tin Man."

Meanwhile, in the box, Tika was hissing at the girl. Tiny fists were trying their best to find a way out from the inside, but to no avil.

"Tika is a Tika and she very much alive and ANGRY!!" Yellow eyes glared at the ion ball that had gotten her into this mess. "Stupid shiny, get Tika in trouble."

As Duncan moved away from Inali and his food, his six foot tall lean body obviously agitated, Tika began to laugh.
"Oooooh! Smelly girl is in trouble now! Duncan gonna eat her brainpan!"

By this time Duncan had approched the gaggle of children, his skin almost crawling. He was not a fan of kids. They were usually scared of him and he was always scared of them.

He didn't seem to notice the other imposing figure that had come up to the children as he held out his hand to the little girl. Out of habit he didn't look directly at the child as he spoke, tilting his head down slightly and off to the side of her.

"I'm not going to eat your brainpan, kid. Unless you don't hand over the rat so I can get back to my real food."

[Anonymous]

Squatting upside down with her feet firmly placed at the base of the corridor roof. Her braided. The rather child like brunches swaying and still pulled downwards whith the T Shirt simply moving along the side's against ventilation shaft wind.  Everything floating as if she had been walking upon the deck "floor" making it quite obvious to anyone looking upwards that she was rather unaffected by gravity.

Plucking the Ion ball from the air and then absorbing it into an ion powered civilian grade battery core Diana had opted for a curious approach to what would seem like an escalating situation.

These people were obviously not capable of filling in the parent role yet both seemed to have a personal interest in the situation. This guy apparently interested in requiring the Fae creature. The other smelled, her red eyes widened somewhat, exposed as she was without the armor.

The recent memory lapse and exposure to kid's now a few feet away from her face had made her forget that smell, not only that but this male by the looks of it. Was older than herself.

Not that she cared much for the relationships between lycans and vampire's, her lineage one of warriors and protector's rather than counts and nobles.

She had been bitten long after those conflict's and was not about to rekindle that sort of flame on board a civilian vessel without her power armor but he might feel inclined to do so.

Her hand stretched down and plucked on the man trying to get his fairy back.
"Excuse me but what is a brainpan?"

[Anonymous]

Inali smiled when Duncan took her hands squeezing it for a moment before he left with the food on her lap to go rescue Tika. She grinned watching him. She saw Taros leaning over out of the corner of her eye and looked back to him as he grabbed a piece of the meat from the tray. Inali arched her brow giving him a look of 'Just why?'.

"Cause he told me not to." Taros leaned further back in his seat after that with an "Ahhh." And chewed on the food. Inali shook her head at him and then looked back to Duncan. Oh he was so good with children. Heavy sarcasm noted. Then...someone was walking on the ceiling. What the...she punched Taros in the leg who shot forward and cursed at her.

"What Inali...son of a bitch, you know you don't punch like regular girl..." She pointed up and he stopped talking for a moment. "What the fuck is that?" He scooted forward on his seat more and watched with Inali as the person absorbed the ion ball.

"No one is very good with kids around here are they?" Inali asked Taros.

"You don't expect Duncan and I to be why expect random people you don't know to be?" She sighed in exasperation at him. She held Duncan's food closer deciding whether or not she needed to go over there. The big man next to the kids made her worry slightly. Duncan could hold his own, without those sunglasses. They obscured everything. She honestly didn't see why he wore them in front of people. She didn't think his eyes were that scary even though Taros always made it a point to say differently.

[Anonymous]

Anna was holding the containment unit in her eight year old sized hand, almost ignoring Halo's comment, when she turned and held it up to him to see, obviously proud of her latest scientific acquisition. Halo, on the other hand, upon seeing it, bore a moderate amount of surprise. "Look'it, Halo...!" Gazing at the captured specimen, at first thinking it might be a insect, he quickly realized what it was. "...Oh, Anna.... Ya didn't..." Yep. She did...

Now, Anna was Eight. Halo...was rounding a thousand or so. Such beings were not as unknown to him as they were the young girl. Anna had managed to corral herself a real-live 'fictional' being. "Anna... Do you have any idea what that thing is in there?" She retracted her extended arm, the proud grin she had replaced by a puzzled one. "Nope! S'why I'm gonna study and document it for the annals of history..." Halo sighed. "I think Merlin beat ya too it. Babe, that's a Faerie; and not a happy one judging by its fussin' inside that cage ya got it in. Hurry, and let it out before..."

Too late. The man named 'Duncan' had come on the scene, responding to the call of the captured Tika. The whine and calls had started just after Halo opted to inform Anna what was up. Too late, it seemed, too satisfy the trio by the table. As the man reached Anna, and stated his terms, Halo's brow furrowed; what a way to speak to a kid. Hell, no one spoke to Anna like that...'cept him. And, yes, he was no shining example of a parental unit. But, he hadn't saved her from starving to death for nothing.

Anna, stunned, yet, mostly perturbed with the man's address to her, promptly positioned both hands on her hips, lips curled defiantly at him, as she replied. "Hmph! Finders-Keepers, Mr. Jeepers!" Which was followed by a jutting of her tongue at him. Halo smirked at this, even though he moved to position himself between Anna and Duncan, knowing such a remark from her would provoke a not-so-nice response.

And, once he was between the two... "Hey, Brah; might wanna find a better way to deal with kids. Namely, this one..." He would have looked the man in the eyes, but they were concealed behind shades, and his attention, oddly, seemed to be in something in the middle-distance. Halo noticed this, but wasn't of a mind yet to contribute it to anything. It was enough this man thought he could speak to his Anna that way. And yet... he was not totally in the wrong...

He had heard the Tika-thing calling for a 'Duncan'. And, lo, a man appeared. Fate? Prolly not. And, while he was a tough ass type, he wasn't one to start fights in the wrong. So... "Now, I take it the Pixie is with you? Then... I see no reason why you can't have her back..." Extending a hand to Anna, behind him, he wiggled his fingers. She gasped, realizing she was gonna have to part with a most interesting specimen. "Awwwww, Haaaaaloooooo! Just bop him one, and let's be done with it...!" Kids. "Anna, I oughta bop you... Now, give the guy back his... back his tinkerbell..." Handed over, the container was opened, and the Fae could leave at will. So that solved that.

And, then someone was found hanging from the ceiling... Halo left that one alone; honestly, Anna alone was weird enough most days.

)(----------------Meanwhile, less than a Light Year off the sips Starboard bow--------------)(

It has long been postulated that no matter how advanced a species might be, they, in the whole of it all, in the grand scheme of things, and when weighed against the totality of an ever-expanding universe, truly know absolutely nothing. The species of Mankind, however diluted that term may be in lieu of what inhabits the world of man, is no less bound by this phenomenon.

The passenger vessel, the Artemis waded through the icy nothingness, its engines, crew, and passengers all oblivious to the the rippling of the fabric of Space-Time, the true cause of which was so far off, it would take a photon of light millions of light years to even be half the way to it. Simply put, a star died, somewhere in the Cluster in which Earth dwelled. The heat, and radiation simply too far too trouble Mankind. Yet, this star was several times the mass of Sol [our sun]; shrinking to atomic proportions within a moment, it became the most feared astronomical bodies in the universe. A Black Hole. And, it was common knowledge, whenever a Black Hole was formed, somewhere else in the cosmos, a White Hole was formed as well.

If there was such a rating system, this would be easily reign as the second most feared body in the universe.

Within the captain's nest, Gravimetric sensors come alive, alerting the ship's navigators to the violently increasing distortion forming just a few light years off the starboard bow. Fate was not totally unkind; the vessel was far away enough that it would not be torn apart in the maelstrom. But, not so far away that it escaped it. Zison, with his proximity to the ships 'windows', would notice a bright, unassuming dot that was not there moments before. He'd hardly have time to glance, before the dot increased in illumination to such a degree, it flooded the area with high-energy EMR. Light waves, the entire spectrum, rushed out, overtaking the vessel. And, it was not alone.

Remnants of shattered planetoids ejected with such speed, they were quite close to light speed. A meteor shower; or, perhaps, deluge was a more fitting term. The hull of the vessel pummeled by a million million shards of what was once an astral body, flung out the White Hole with little regard for anything that may find itself in its path. All at once, it became pandemonium; there was no way anyone would be able to remain standing; the gravimetric tremors enough to unhinge even magnetic couplings; were they not most assuredly not on earth, it would be a most violent earth quake.

And, then, there was the Radiation. Aside from being bombarded by the entire electromagnetic spectrum, there were several exotic forms of energy wreaking havoc with the ships systems. Depowering most; interfering with the rest. It was not long before a full red alert was called; an automated voice kindly issuing consoling words, instructing all to forgo panicking. The ships crew scrambled about, and into the general population. Escape pods awoke, coming online. Amid the violent shaking, the malady, and the disobediently panicking peoples, they tried to restore order, ensuring passengers proceeded directly to the pods. Each one capable of holding 20 or so full grown adult bodies. Each one, more than likely, to be utilized. The Artemis was rapidly losing power. Which meant, in no uncertain terms, it would lose its ability to protect its inhabitants from the emptiness of space.

Evacuation was not a suggestion. It was survival....

[Anonymous]

Being the first to notice the dot, if even for a split-second, Zison was also the first to come in contact with the light waves that had suddenly flooded the ship. Being one to not enjoy the heat, Zison immediatly backed off, attemting to sheild his eyes with his hands. And what with the tremors, it was hard for the alien to stay on both feet. When his vision came to, he found himself in the center of chaos.

He found it hard to concentrate with everything that as going on, what with the alarms, tremors and panicking people everywhere. He turned around to face the two men, woman, child and pixie as the ship's crew appeared to guide everyone to the pods. "Sorry to interrupt, but I think it would be a good idea if you all move along to the Pods." He may be a passenger just the same, but that didn't mean he had forgotten his lawful duty to protect others. He had no doubt that they were capable of protecting themselves, but he wasn't going to just run off and save himself without making sure everyone else is safe aswell.

He himself was going to wait and make sure that everyone clears out before he himself abandons the ship. And he had the authority to back his decision up, lest any of the ship's crew protests.

[Anonymous]

"W-woa, what the hell?!" A voice hissed in one of the passenger cabins. darkness had consumed the cabin for a few seconds before the emergency power came flickering on.

some kind of powerful cosmic event... A voice echoed within Valmont's head. It was not a voice of insanity, but a calming, yet deep and dark voice, akin to that of a master. It called itself "Legalt", and It was a rather new development in John's power. It was, in a way, a consciousness somehow linked to the power John was gifted with, known as the "Dark Devourer".

"What do you mean, a cosmic event?" John asked aloud of the voice in his mind. John then heard the sound of Legalt sighing within his consciousness.

you know, star exploding, black hole, aka boom, doom and gloom? That kind of cosmic event.

"Is the order involved?"

Not likely. They don't stand anything to gain from this kind of destruction. If anything, I would assume this is a setback for them.

"Should we Shift?"

No. the massive cosmic energies as a result of whatever did this would drastically effect my ability to Shift you. Plus our power is still diminished from our last encounter with the order. You can thank Hazama for that one by returning the favor next time we meet him.

"...So what now?"

lets start by heeding the advice of that primitive computer: get to an escape pod. quickly. Tis best to run and live another day then trying to fight the forces of the universe. Even a being like you, with the help from one such as I, cannot stand against the forces of nature so casually.

Valmont still had trouble with the idea of having his power be so dependent on another being. Even though Legalt had stated numerous times that he was only a spectator, and he would simply help Valmont by allowing him to tap into this tremendous ability, he still somehow felt chained to the fickle whim's of Legalt. Especially since John felt this "being" (whatever he was) had something to hide.

But now was not the time for idle thoughts and chatter. Now was the time for action.

"Alright...Let's move"

((OOC: sorry it took me so long to post. Ill simply follow along once things really get moving, ill get myself involved in the next round of posting.))

[Anonymous]

Find a better way to deal with kids? Oh this big guy had to be joking...

"Look...'Brah'," Duncan began, unsure of why the guy had called him a ladies undergarment. "She's the one that took my friend, I just want her back.."

"Tika is Duncan's friend?" The tiny voice could barely be heard from the box.

"Shut up Tika." By now though, the other male had opened the box and Tika had fluttered out of the top, stopping to get close to Anna's face and blow a raspberry at her before flying over to Duncan and crawling onto his shoulder.

Duncan stepped forward to thank the big guy but as he did the entire ship shook beneath their feet followed by the flash of bright white light.

Pain shot through Duncan's eyes, even with the sunglasses on that was WAAAY to bright for him to handle. He stumbled backwards, knocking the back of his head against the wall of the ship pretty hard.

"What the FUCK was that?!" The alarms where now going off everywhere and Duncan groaned. He couldn't see a damn thing now.

In one quick gesture he ripped the sunglasses off his face and set his vision to heat mode, well at least now he could see better. White eyes looked down at his shoulder, a terrified Tika looking back up at him, her tiny hands over her not so tiny ears.

"Duncan! What happening!? Tika scared!!" He rubbed the back of his head, which had now began to throb, and he was pretty sure it was bleeding some before taking Tika off his shoulder and cradling her to his chest.  

He didn't say anything else as he stood and moved to where he had left Inali and Taros, one hand in front of him trying to make sense of the heated bodies running in front of him. Finally he saw the outline of his crew mates and was in front of them, his free hand grabbing one of Inali's, smearing a little blood on her.

"I think it's time we get out of here ladies and gentleman."

[Anonymous]

Diana felt ignored, a good kind of ignorance. Perhaps the result of her childish approach to the situation and the fact that this werewolf was heck of allot more intimidating than her and seemed like a rather good problem solver.

Her reason to step in removed and on her way back when something happened, First the light shifted color to red and an alarm sounded, seconds later her magical core ruptured and caused her skin to boil and fume. Dropping from the roof, partly in mist form. Her ass fortunately hitting the floor first.

When she stopped trying to channel, the rupture within her core started closing. Then the smell of blood distracted her from lingering too much on the pain of landing or the loud, obnoxious alarm, her head turned to face the bleeding stranger and then using the natural urge to feast in order to get her body moving.

The monitors spoke again: *Ladies and gentlemen, please do not panic but proceed towards the evacuation pod's in a calm and orderly fashion. Their locations marked with green signs. Our crew will assist you once there. We can assure you that there will be places for everyone.*

Scowling with anger over the possibility of loosing her very valuable suit yet not crazy enough to try to locate it. Instead opting to follow the flow of people streaming forward. Hidden underneath her baggy training pants were a tight fit condom suit saved for later occasions and strapped to her sport bra were her most precious facial mask. That ought to do for survival along with her utility equipment.

 "I think it's time we get out of here ladies and gentleman."

"Couldn't agree more." She responded to such a comment with a chipper tone, not really happy but at least experiencing these sorts of unpredictable situations where good deviations from everyday life.

Pretty soon they were herded within tight escape pods and given a spare two hour protective suits, one size for adults and youth once size for children and babies.

Having been given one it was more of a vampire matter to first undress down and pull her own version of the protective layer on her own body, like a tight swimsuit the fiber meshed well with the rest of her body and nanobots buttoned her up quickly before stiffening in a zipper like manner. Then the heavy layered civilian suit was meshed on top.

Only after all of that did she take the time to have a look to survey her surrounding passengers.

[Anonymous]

Inali was watching Duncan turn to the bigger man with a sort of look on his face and set in his shoulders that she recognized. It wasn't a good one. It meant that Duncan was going to get himself into some sort of trouble with his mouth, which was the kind of trouble he normally found himself in. Taros was chuckling next to her and she let a sort of growl fill her throat.

"Oh let the boy go without the girly training wheels. Getting a good punch once in awhile might fix that attitude problem." He chuckled deep in his throat then outright laughed as she stood up off her seat holding the food tray in her hands still. Then all of a sudden the ship shook and rock. The vibration traveled up her legs fast and hard. She got slammed into the side of the ship the food tray flying out of her hands and into the air.

Her back hit the side of the ship the wind getting knocked out of her as she hit the floor beneath her. She had scrapes on her hands and chin and her back hurt, really, really bad. Taros was at her side only second after she hit the floor. He looked shaken but unhurt. He was like a tank that cyborg. She let him pick her up and she held onto him trying to gain her footing. She gave him a thankful look then combed the area in front of her for Duncan. There were people everywhere this was a horrible environment for him.

There he was though his hand on her with a smear of blood. Her eyes went wide in panic grabbing onto his hand harder.

"Yeah let's get out of here guys." She took a moment to stroke Tika in Duncan's hands. "Don't worry girl you're safe with us, don't be scared." She grabbed Taros's hand with her free one now and they moved towards the escape pods following the crowds of people. This was more than just a trip to the next job now. Luckily she knew that her crew was a surviving one, they could fight and had logic. Well...all put together they had some sort of logic. Individually the three of them might not do so well.

Inali's mind was pounding with the amount of what was going on. So many feelings everywhere. Panic, fear, bravery, pain and sadness. It was all packed into this ship with her. Being an empath didn't seem so hot right now. She moved through the people her hands on both her boys. She needed to get Duncan somewhere so she could check on his head quickly.

They followed the person who had been walking on the ceiling into an escape pod. Taros let go of her hand first going to grab suits for them from the pile. She watch him go for a minute. It was hard for her to breathe her joints hurt from the slam. If she had been human it would have been worse. Her eyes moved around the cabin looking for some sort of First Aid kit. It was across the way. She normally wouldn't have shown her powers off so willingly to a bunch of strangers but now she had to.

The hand not holding Duncan's raised and the First Aid kit zapped across the room into her hand. She maneuvered Duncan over to a spot clear of people. She let go of his hand.

"Now don't wuss out. I need to check this wound." She stood up to the side of him pushing him down into a sitting position and started to check the wound. It was a scrape. A bad one but still, she could clean it up. She opened the kit finding some adhesive and cleaning materials. She started to clean off the wound slowly.

Taros was walking back looking at Inali and the way she looked at Duncan. His hands were full of suits. He growled as someone stepped in his way. They backed off quickly. He wasn't in the mood. He always got the short end of the stick when it came to women. Inali and he had been so close then Duncan...well now wasn't the fucking time. Danger and all that after all.

He made his way back to his team, riiiight team, and sat the suits down next to them and started to maneuver into his. It was a bit to small for him. Though most all sizes fit most things were. He couldn't help he was a big dude.

[Anonymous]

He sighed. Well, that was resolved and within record time. Good. Last thing he needed was a fight on his sole day off in years. Anna talked him into it, what with her jumping about the hideout, and behaving like an eight-year-old should, high I.Q. or not. He kept his eye on the man, momentarily forgetting about the girl before feeling a sharp sensation in his shin. One that rapidly drew his attentions to it. By reflex, he grabbed the area in question, only now realizing it was Anna's doing; she kicked him in the leg. "Ow... Anna..." He knew what it was about, but couldn't go starting fights when he was in the wrong, or at least, not in the right too.

Setting his leg down, he attempts to explain this concept to Anna, who's face had contorted into a peeved scowl. "Aw, Babe, dun be mad; Ya can't go around bullying people; in the end, it only attracts guys like me..." True point. Bullies got theirs sooner or later. " 'Sides, it wasn't a toy or bug this time. Yer young, but trust me, Fae have feelings too..." The moral of the day would have to wait as the alien just across from them noticed the white dot blinking red and blue as the Doppler Effect foretold of its coming end. Yes, it was an Anti-nova, a burst of gravimetric forces that would scatter light years worth of energy and matter all across space, most of which bombarded the hull of the vessel.

Halo paused, as he noticed the blink. Then nearly died as the white blanketed his eyes, robbing him of sight briefly. He and Anna both threw up arms to shield themselves, and when the white fades, the extra keen sight he held returned, allowing him to peer into the black background of space too see... "....Shit..." Without another word, he grips Anna, and pulls her into his chest; seconds later, the ship rocks, launching him off the floor and across like many of the other guests. His natural agility allowed him to curl about, so that when he landed atop a table, it was spine first, sparing Anna the impact as his both crashed through the surface.

Prone for a moment, the eyes of Halo open to see a blue....man? standing above him, advising him to head to the escape pods. Instinctively, he rose, holding Anna close, eying the creature strangely. What....was it? "Uh... Yea, sure..." Not bothering to ask what had happened, he starts off towards the pods, mostly with the blue, alien in tow, as the crowd piled into the huge, tank-like escape pods. Each one size enough to hold 60 bodies comfortably. Amid instructions from the ships A.I., he and Anna donned suits, the young girl obviously frightened, though Halo stood besides her as a focus. He even helped her put her helmet on.

Strapped to the walls, in prepared niches, the cube shaped rooms would dislodge from the rest of the ship, and begin to hover away, before thrusters fired on each one, hurtling them further away from the damaged vessel. The meteor rain outside, pounded against the hull, rocking them, making the ride all the more harrowing. They shook and heaved from both gravity and the bombardment going on outside. On board sensors locate a planet nearby able to support the array of life-forms on the pods, and begin rushing towards them. A total of 12 pods, each with 60 or so peoples on it, race for the planets bio-sphere, as Beethoven played amiably inside. There was no need to panic, so promised the computerized male.

The hulls reached a temperature of 1000 degrees as the air caught fire around it. The combination of 12 massive, burning bodies ignited the sky. A deluge of orange-red was descending; due to this, the ships A.I. pre-screened possible landing points that would produce less of a sighting risk. They were set to come down away from major cities and other locales. Fortunately, this world was less compact than Earth; there was a great many places that were as yet unpopulated. Reverse propeller rockets blaze online, and begin wrestling against the momentum and gravitational forces. Inside, the falling sensation suddenly vanishes, replaced by the feeling of an abrupt stop. That continued until they reached ground. Once it'd slammed against the ground, albeit safely, the straps holding everyone unleashed, a single, massive bay door opened, allowing them to leave the vessel. And walk out onto this new planet...

Wherever it was.... Upwards, the sky shone blue-white, the astral car-accident they'd ran from wreaking havoc on the planets climate, clouds blanket the sky, blocking the sun, giving the area a dull gray look, like a rainfall or storm. Halo carried Anna out when the crowd exited. The suits sensors read the breathable atmosphere, and he removed his and her visors. She was clinging to him, nearly trembling. He hugged her close, looking around. "It's gonna be OK, Babe... We'll be ok..." But, in truth, he didn't even know why they'd left. The ships crew had evac'd too, and were now trying to corral everyone and create some sense of order. When the crowd was reasonably gathered, did the captain appear before the crowd, atop a rock, no less, to give a speech to all about what had transpired, and their current situation. Plus, the much needed survival tips and rules they'd follow.

The first set of rules were easy to follow; stay close, etc; but they one about not interfering with the locals...? Halo scoffed, and spoke aloud, suddenly. "Oh yea? Well, what about food? I didn't see any vending machines in these damn-ass tin cans we shot down here on; how do I feed Anna?" A query that begun an uproar. How was such a mass of people going to survive? On a tantrum, he pressed. "I say we send a few out... just a couple of us too have a look around?? Bring back what we can... if we stay here, that' won't do any good..."

The capt. waves the suggestion away, citing how he can't even begin to spare any crew for the undertaking. "....I wasn't talking about crew... And, anyway, I wasn't asking. I'm going..." A few gasps. "Even if I gotta go alone..." He set her down, kneeling to her. "Anna.... I'm gonna go try and find something to eat around here. For you and the rest; you just stay here and wait for me to get back, ok?" There was a silence, before she moved in a hugged him. Then he rose, and spoke once more. "...I'm goin'. Anyone wanna join... you can. Can carry more if I'm not alone..."

However, he didn't wait for replies; who would accept something so unplanned as a trip into a society you knew nothing about? A world as unknown as anything? Hearing those words in his own mind, he started off, peeling that pressure suit off him as he walked.

[s'ok, vally lol, just consult the merc thread abut the posting order....kit will pummel you if you post out of turn lol -looks around- i...swore i heard her...]

[Anonymous]

"Shit...."

it was one thing to be a hero and help others get to the escape pods in time to live another day. It was entirely another to be stranded by the same people who you helped to said escape pods. Valmont found himself stranded in one of the more isolated parts of the ship, which was quickly seeming to become inhospitable around him.

The room was dimly lit, one of the few bastions from the storm around the ship, for now, at least. It was likely the whole ship might become uninhabitable in mere minutes or seconds. Valmont stood in the center of it, A black "aura" surrounding his body, almost as if the vagabond was charging some kind of ability.

"looks like we've run out of options. we'll have to shift." Valmont stated.

It would appear so. I need to remind you, because of our current weakened state, the shift will not likely be anywhere near perfect: we'll likely experience some gravometric disturbances as well. Put simply, we better pray we make it out of this one in one piece. Legalt mused in response to Valmont's statement.

Pausing for a moment, Valmont held up his left hand, palm facing toward his face, and as he did, the black aura that seemed to surround him grew larger and more concentrated. Closing his eyes, the last thing he perceived before his memory failed him was his own words as his latent power awakened.

"Drive 6: Dark Devourer....engage."

-------

It was indeed not Valmonts fate to die, as if the thing such as "fate" did exist, it was indeed not without a sense of irony.

While Valmont had, seemingly, been abandoned by the escape pods for some odd reason, It was apparent that he was destined to remain with the crew of the ship he had been on for now at least. His entrance was as dramatic as it was unusual.

It began with a short, sharp and very loud crackle, akin to that of some kind of static burst. followed up by a fanfare of extremely loud, lightining strike-like booms, only to return to a louder version of the static sounds that had shot through the air moments ago. Sixty or so feet from the survivors, a black orb, roughly two or three times the size of a person, appeared ten or so feet above the ground. Its surface was shiny: almost giving it an appearance of oil. black bolts of energy jumped along the mysterious energy, making it, at first, look like some kind of almost supernatural or even divine force.

The orb slowly had some kind of man appear in the center of it. At first, one would not be able to make out many details of the individual, but after ten seconds of watching the orb shift and meld itself about, one could finally see the details of the individual in question: white hair, red coat, rather unusual dress overall. He looked somewhat like a vigilante.

The man in question simply "dropped" out of the orb, landing back first on the ground with a loud thud. the high-pitched and sharp static noise quickly vanished once the man hit the ground, along with the orb, leaving the individual in question kneeling on the ground, holding his limp and numb left arm to his chest.

"Dammit....that hurt....

((OOC: okay! got myself back in the game in a rather...odd way. sorry if its kind of a cop out.))

[Anonymous]

Duncan waved off Inali and pressed the gauze she hand in her hand to his wound. "Don't worry about me Inali, I saw you.." He motioned to her back, and grinned a little. "I'm sure you're hurt worse than me."

He looked up at her, actually looking her in the face and giving a small smile. "Nothing bleeds worse than I head wound, and it can't do much more damage to me." He grumbled a little under head breath as he patted Tika, who was tucked into his shirt securely. Duncan looked up as Halo spoke, and grudingly agreed with him in his head.

He slipped Tika out of his shirt and sat her down next to him. "Tika stay here, you're safe now.." He patted her on the head and pulled the gauze away from his head, it had already stopped bleeding. Duncan quickly threw a small disinfected bandage on his cut and slipped quickly into a suit.

He looked at his crew mates, shrugging his shoulders. He moved over to Inali, touching her back gently as he lifted up her shirt a little. "You're actually bruised..." Sightless eyes looked up at Taros. "Are you going to be okay? Cause.." He looked over at Halo who was exiting the pod. "If you are I think I'm going with him..."

[Anonymous]

The impact upon landing was softer than a pillow fight in a gravity chamber, it made was easy to reminisce and recall her line of work. As the crew started unbuckling and guiding the usual sheep about she headed towards the captains second man, easily recognized from the rest by the fact that he had a distinguishable suit with blue stripes on the side's.

His visor was down so she lifted hers well aware that her pale face and braided hair made her look less than serious. Unwilling to use magic and waste energy on changing the first impression it was little she could do for the moment. Large suit's like the environ-101 civilian standard survival suit prevented non effort hypnosis by their very nature.

"Excuse me sir, I took the Deep space emergency courses when i passed my  military grade vessel drop certificate and have Securitas clearance for guard and patrol duty. Although this vessel is foreign, i wish to help."

Except this time she was reminded rather scornfully by this simpleton that she was the civilian here and if they ever needed her aid it would be in bed.

Feeling slightly frustrated Diana followed the herd of people leaving the vessel and quickly dismissed her incentive to be helpful. Then the captain appeared on top of a stone non the less, trying his best to explain what had transpired and then as the story ended he started telling people they had to stick together and not interfere with the locals. Sensible rules.

Survival,? the word was like a flame in the back of her dark mind cave and her eyes pretty soon found a spokesman. The werewolf from before. At first she could not believe what she had heard from his mouth, and then seconds later the captain doesn't even answer the question properly.

She had known the vessel was shady but, no, No they wouldn't have, not even low cost shipping freighters where stupid enough to try and save money on this part as buying the food has always been cheaper than bribing the officials.

More in disbelief than anything else she took the time to walk over as the man, yes of course men! men always did stupid things and thought with their balls rather than brains. Arrogantly and cheeky she cocked her head sideways waiting for his intimate children's hug to end.

"Did you hit head during the impact landing or something? A vessel without prepared emergency food in their pod's and enough air to last month's in space can't get their license..."

Then a loud crackle startled anyone even remotely on alert, loud lightning like crackles and high pitched electric static as if they where right next to one of  those TRIM power generator's.

Unable to determine its location, as she hunched down and checked her surrounding's determined to find the source.

"There!" Someone pointed to her right, and true enough. Revealed by black lightning and a growing oval shape. Like a black hole only not so gravity related. Instinctively, Diana gunned for it, past what seemed like the crew trying to establish a secure perimeter, they merely stood still and waved their non lethal Taser pistol's.

Ducking from the lightning and using some kind of rock formation as cover while observing the orb mere feet away from the actual orb, quickly determining it was not a black-light grenade. This was definitely alien. More akin to magic than anything else.

A man dropped out of the top slightly hunched. She had seen him before aboard the ship. A mage perhaps, with teleportation magic? His white hair and signature red coat giving the man away faster than grilled cheese doodles.

His agony only first made apparent as the bubble faded. Rising from cover as she shouted back to nervous crew.

"I recognize him from the ship!"


(ooc: tell me if there is anything you want edited or changed. Jesus x3. )