DocTachyon

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

<Snipped quote by DocTachyon>

With my sincerest apologies to @NinaDivine, whose unfinished Ghost Rider application I and my fellow GMs really liked, I've got to hand it to this app. Vigilante Ghost Rider is a thing I'm very much looking forward to seeing. Vigilante, as played by @DocTachyon, is hereby...

@Master Bruce

Oh, geez. Guess I didn't read the OOC thoroughly enough -- didn't realize I was sniping Ghost Rider. Hopefully Vig can live up to what the other version promised. I won't let you down, MB!

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

That's a lot of em dashes...

@Inkarnate

Yeah, that's a pretty major error of mine. Picked up the habit in Freshman year of HS and haven't been able to drop it since. Edited to root out most of them.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Here's the sheet, @Master Bruce. This is the Ghost Rider-y version, I'm still putting the finishing touches on the more normal one, but I figured I'd wait for a firm accept or deny on this one before I finalize on the normal one. Thanks.

Vigilante

Ultimate One Universe: Year One Application

Character You're Applying For: Greg Saunders; Vigilante

Powers And Abilities:
Spirit of Vengeance- After surviving his experience in Hell, Vigilante has found himself possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance, thus making him the current Ghost Rider, though he has trouble controlling it once he does change. These abilities are extremely new to Vig, he does not yet fully understand the scope of his responsibilities as the spirit. Vigilante can transform into his Ghost Rider form through concentration, or he can be forced into it during life threatening situations. In this form, Vigilante becomes a skeletal version of himself, and his body, clothing, and motorcycle are wreathed in hellfire. While in this state, he is a degree faster, stronger, and more durable than any average man; and his motorcycle is much faster than an average bike. Additionally, his lariat dramatically increases in length, and is itself wreathed in hellfire. His guns can also fire hellfire bullets. The last ability this form grants is a signature ‘Penance Stare’. He can finish a sufficiently weakened opponent by staring into the depths of their very soul, forcing them to see and feel the pain they’ve inflicted upon others for eternity. Vig suspects this form may have more abilities, but he has yet to discover them.

Gunslinger- Even during his time as a normal man, Greg Saunders had a knack for his pistols. He was never masterful, but he more than knew his way around the range, and was certainly the best pistolero in Warpath. Since his time in Hell, Vigilante’s skills have sharpened a hundredfold. He hasn’t had much of a chance to test it, but Vig now reckons he’s one of the best marksmen in the world. He carries six revolvers on him, two on the front of his hips, two on the back, and two on his chest(Edward Kenway style).

Whipfighter- Vigilante had experience with his whip when he was alive, but being constantly knee deep in demons teaches a man to use every tool at his disposal. He’s grown very precise with his lariat, able to even reliably grab and throw objects with it. A few times he’s managed to use it to wrestle a weapon out of a demon’s hands.

Grease Monkey- Vigilante’s passion, before his life went to Hell(literally) was working on his motorcycle. He’s a little rusty, since he didn’t have much time for motorbike repair in Hell, but he’s excited to soup up his ride for his new responsibilities.

Origin And Backstory (In A Maximum Of Four Paragraphs):

Greg Saunders, on some level, always suspected that Warpath, Texas, was never meant for human habitation. There was an always has been a certain amount of strange to the place. Being born there, Greg would know that better than anybody. It was like a black hole to the curious and the supernatural -- always drawing them in. All the street corners had another magician who could tell your future for a dime, and every time the circus was in town, it was stranger than the last. The way his Pop described it, Warpath was a place where Hell and Heaven became kissing cousins, where reality and fictions bled together until you couldn’t tell ‘em apart no more. Greg always figured his Dad was joking around with him. Nothing stranger happened in Warpath than it would in any of the big cities. Greg would’ve been mostly right. Until things really started to get weird.

Sheriff Mort Saunders was just about the best Cop on the force, and the only one that really gave a shit. Things had a way of sorting themselves out in Warpath. Most of the offenses were just hack magicians trying to sell themselves on the mystique of the place, and swindle people out of their money. Anything worse than that was usually just petty crime. Anything that there was evidence of, anyhow. Reports would always come in from time to time. Murder, robbery, you name it; but when the Police would roll up, there’d be no evidence. Just ghosts and echoes. By the time Greg was nearing his twenty first birthday, Mort started mentioning a ‘New Case’ to him. Something that would ‘explain everything’. Six months later, he turned up dead in the first confirmed murder in the last twenty-five years of Warpath’s history. Greg took up Pop’s old revolvers and his whip, intent on delivering revenge to the sonsabitches who did this to his father. He swore on his grave to dedicate his life to the path of justice. The life of the Vigilante. The newly christened Vig spent two months tracking down and systematically eliminated a gang of bandits. As he worked his way through the higher ranking members, it was slowly becoming clearer and clearer that this was no ordinary Gang. It was a cult, devoted to finding something they called ‘The Miracle Mesa’. Vig never knew much about magic, but as he rolled up on the Cult for the final showdown, he could feel the air draw thinner. The closer he drew to them, the more he felt in a waking dream. The very reality around him seemed to pulsate with a kind of power, as if being touched by a force beyond mortal comprehension. It was around then that everything went to Hell.

Vigilante can still not accurately recall precisely what took place that day. In the face of the Miracle Mesa, reality peeled away, and all that was left was a nonsensical jangle of ideas, colors, feelings, and raw magic. What he does remember is bits and pieces. He remembers a blob of color, high in the sky, like you’d asked an abstract expressionist to design a city. He remembers emptying his pistols over and over again, shooting rounds into unholy abominations that spilled out of what seemed to be a hole in the world. What he remembers most of all is that he woke up in a place wholly unfamiliar to him, knee deep in demons.

Much like Warpath, Hell was… Unsuited to mortals, if Vigilante was still a mortal at all. God knows if he was dragged there through the Miracle Mesa, or if the demons spilling out of the thing killed him and brought him here. The one thing Vig knew for sure was that he had to get out. His experience of Hell was like a cryptic, corrupted version of the mortal plane. Everything was inverted, a perversion of itself. Everywhere was a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah, and just about all of the locals wanted him dead. In time, he found his pack. Six others who the Miracle Mesa had dragged in: Shining Knight, Jonah Hex, Johnny Frankenstein, Crimson Avenger, The Star Spangled Kid, and of course, good ol’ Stripsey. Time is a murky thing in Hell. They might’ve spent six months or a thousand years waging war on every manner of Demon and Monster they could find. However long it took them, on their way to demand passage out of the land of the damned from the Sultan of Sin himself, they ran across a demonic entity by the name of Mephisto. Mephisto’s bargain was simple: Safe passage out of Hell for Vig and all of his friends; in return for his mortal soul. By now The Seven Soldiers had learned a handful of lessons about survival in Hell. “Don’t deal with demons” was at the top of the list. In a pitched battle that lasted either a half hour or a month, the Soldiers, most of whom had all their limbs broken, were reasonably certain they’d hurt Mephisto. At least a tiny bit. Entirely beaten and with no other options, Vigilante stood up to the plate and laid down his soul, thus making him into Mephisto’s pawn, the Spirit of Vengeance. The current Ghost Rider. Now returned to Warpath, Vig and the Soldiers are planning their vengeance on Mephisto, and are seeking any magical help they can get. As Vig swore on his father's grave: Justice will be done.

What Makes This Character 'Ultimate'?:
This version of Vigilante alters his traditional origins, instead placing him in Warpath from the get-go. The idea here is to blend elements from many different versions of the character; literally the Ultimate edition. The main difference from those standard runs is its heavy focus on Saunders’ time in hell, which was otherwise just a bit of narration in a Jimmy Olsen comic. This version takes major inspiration from the raw weird that was Grant Morrison’s 7 Soldiers. There’s also the introduction of the Ghost Rider elements, which I did both to strengthen the idea of the DC and Marvel connection going on in this universe, but also to boost Vigilante’s power level, so he’s no slouch around some of the heavy hitters being brought in for this(as traditional Vig is just a grease monkey who is good with guns). On top of that, it lets Vig lean into the weird/supernatural that surrounds Hell and the West more effectively.

Supporting Characters:
Shining Knight - A medieval Knight encountered in Hell. He stumbled across the Miracle Mesa while battling with Morgan Le Fay. He swears he owned a winged horse by the name of Winged Victory, and thinks it must be alive somewhere in the world.

Jonah Hex - 1800's Bounty Hunter that Vig met in Hell. He ran into the Miracle Mesa while tracking down a Bounty.

Frankenstein - Another person Vigilante encountered in Hell. He stumbled into the Miracle Mesa sometime in the late 1700s.

Crimson Avenger - The first man Vigilante encountered in Hell. Small time hero of the early 1940s. He typically did things quietly enough that neither SHIELD nor CADMUS came down on him. While tracking down a case, he encountered the Miracle Mesa.

Star Spangled Kid and Stripsey - Star Spangled Kid, former sidekick to Captain America, and his sidekick Stripsey themselves stumbled onto Miracle Mesa themselves in the late 1940’s, and have been in Hell since. That is, until Vig sprung them.

Billy Gunn - Old family friend and current Sheriff of Warpath.

Mephisto - Technically, Mephisto is Vigilante’s current Boss. The demon is responsible for his Ghost Rider abilities and his escape from Hell.

Sample Post:

The Ranchero of Miracle Mesa - Part One

Vigilante could always feel it behind his eyes. The burning. The anger. It was like a little demon that lived in his head, constantly stabbing his eyes and his brain. Always screaming.

“VENGEANCE MUST BE DONE.” If he listened close he could constantly hear the click-clack of his own bones. The sound was whispered into his ear by some kind of unseen entity. Vig supposed it was Mephisto’s way of taunting him. He hoped the Demon Lord got enough satisfaction out of it before his head got turned into chunky salsa.

Vig leaned back in his rocker, polishing his pistols for the umpteenth time. He should’ve been the one to go, but according to Frank, he was best equipped to handle it if some creepy crawly clawed its way up to the surface. In his heart, Vig knew it too. But hell, maybe they were just protecting him from himself, Houston hadn’t been fine. A simple operation to wrassle a coupla Occult Books outta’ the hands of some gangbangers that didn’t know what the fuck they were turned into hellfire and screams of the damned. By contrast there wasn’t much to wake that thing in Warpath.

Hex said he’d seen it once before. The old man was tracking down a gang of outlaws led by a bandit by the name of White Face. The way Hex told it, by the time he rode up with his big iron, the whole place was burnin’ to the ground. Now, this was one of them old Frontier towns. Everything was down one long single road. Every one of the gang was laid at over the place. Sticking outta shop windows, gutted open on the glass. Speared through on a cracked post. Some of ‘em were burnin’ with the buildings. Even from a distance, Hex could see the thousand yard stares on some of the bodies. Weren’t no man that did this to them.

Way down, at the end of that long road, Hex could see White Face himself. The mask was burned away an’ his face was singed. Whatever the hell was holding him up by his neck wasn’t human, and certainly wasn’t no creature of God. Its skin was all burned away, an’ all that was left was a white skull coated in hellfire. Hex had killed many a man in his time, but he’d never seen no one beg like White Face begged that day. Hex ‘imself never got a good look at its proper face. Musta been something horrible, to make a rough sonuvabitch like White Face sob his goddamn eyes out. It was hard for Hex to see quite right at all that distance, but at some point White Face stopped struggling. He just stared through. His eyes were locked right on that skull, but they seemed to be gone for a million miles.

That was the only bounty Hex ever abandoned. He figured The Devil had come to collect his dues before mortal men got the chance, and that was a-okay with him.

On the horizon, Vig could see a dust cloud. The first to return. He holstered his pistol and drew himself out of his rocker. He tried to ignore the gnawing sensation in the back of his mind. Out of the dust, a figure cloaked in red slowly materialized. He was riding on a white steed -- that guy would never get used to motorcycle, even as Vig’s insistence.

The Crimson Avenger was the first man Vigilante had encountered in Hell. He seemed someone of solid principle, devoted to his cause -- Not unlike Vig’s father. Vig stood in the street. He wiped his hands and waved to his coming friend.

“Woah, nelly.” Crimson called out to his horse. They slowed on approach.

“Get whatcha’ needed, pardner?” Vig extended a hand to help him down from the horse.

“Yep. Now, we’ll probably have to modify the thing to make it suitable for combat down there…” Crimson took the hand and jumped down from his horse. He had a silver case attached to him at the hip.

“I’m just happy to have a fresh model of the old girl, again,” The Crimson Avenger opened the case and pulled out a gas gun -- it gleamed in the sunlight, “been too long.”

“Can’t imagine what that feelin’s like. Three years realtime was long enough fer me to be away from my bike.” Vigilante gestured to the second rocker. The Avenger nodded and obliged.

“So, what’s the word, Avenger?” Vig kicked up his legs and leaned back into the chair. The simple pleasures would be few, now. Had to do his best to enjoy them before it came time for the real war to start.

“Well, Knight, Hex, and Frankenstein are still trying to get themselves accustomed to the modern world. They were going to head up to the New York and Metropolis area to see what’s to see. They were planning on looking into the local occult locations to see if they can scrounge up anything we don’t already know.” Crimson Avenger said. He took a seat in his rocker, taking the time to press out the folds and wrinkles in his costume. It was a thing of amazing construction -- it held up all the way through his time in Hell up to now.

“Mhm.” Vig said. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled a cigarette. He considered it, for a moment. He felt the voice in his ear reaching out for his lighter, the call of the fire. He put the cig on the arm of the chair. “The Kid and Stripey have any word on Cap?”

The Crimson Avenger shook his head. The Star Spangled Kid had set out to find his old teacher -- Said he would’ve known it Cap had passed. The man was certain they would’ve heard tell of his passing or, God forbid, have seen him there. That meant he was out there somewhere, and hell, maybe he could be of service.

“Well Crimson, that jus means it’s you, me, and a long wait against whatever hand The Miracle Mesa deals us next. Cheers.”

Additional Notes:
-I tried my best, but I just couldn’t find the name of Vig’s Dad. But his original creators were both guys named Mort, so Mort Saunders was born.

-Why yes, yes I did ignore traditional paragraph rules and common sense in order to make my backstory fit the requirement. I really tried to keep it brief but most all of the details in there I thought were too important to cut out, and I really needed them to sell the concept.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I've been trying my best to keep up with the IC and this OOC(though it does move at a truly remarkable pace), and it's been a while since I posted with my interest so I figured I'd do an update on what I've got. I also have handful of questions.

@Master Bruce I noticed you rejected a sheet on the basis of it combining DC and Marvel elements, which totally makes sense. My current idea for Vigilante is that he is, however reluctantly, the current vessel of the Spirit of Vengeance, making him Ghost Rider as well as Vigilante, the idea being he took the title as a bargain to spring himself and a ragtag Seven Soldiers of Victory out of Hell. I do genuinely believe I have more going for the character than the shallow appeal of "Hey, look, two characters in one!", but I understand that despite this you may still be inclined to reject the idea of combining Ghost Rider and Vigilante in this way. My current plan is to just write up two versions of the sheet, one in which Vigilante acquires the Ghost Rider title and has to juggle being a 'normal' crimewrangler like he was more used to and dealing with the weird Hell/Mystic stuff Ghost Rider gets up to; as well as a more vanilla version of Vigilante. If you think there's zero chance of the Vig/Ghost Rider being accepted though, I'd appreciate some notice so I can scrap that version of the sheet straightaway. Thanks!

Otherwise, I have a question about supporting characters. The 'beta' roster of support I have filled out contains a semblance of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, comprised of members of past Seven Soldiers lineups and characters I thought would fit the mold(Shining Knight, Jonah Hex, Crimson Avenger, Frankenstein, Star Spangled Kid, and Stripsey). The thing I'm nervous about is whether having a lineup of Heroes in his supporting cast who could ostensibly be written as characters be someone else is a problem. I think the only really 'popular' character out of the bunch is Jonah Hex, but I hope this is okay.

Thanks! I should have my final sheet(or sheets, as the case may be) up in a day or two.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

I'm super interested in this, but I'm not sure which of these ideas to go with, Thoughts, everyone?

Ideas

Superior Spider-Man: (With Spider Gwen's player's permission, of course) An Otto Octavius working for Oscorp, on gene modification. It’s not his passion, but it pays the bills. He develops a spider-mutagen, and is accidentally bitten by one of the dozens he creates, accidentally scattering a handful of them. He finds himself temporarily imbued with spider-like powers, which quickly fade. He seeks to recreate his experiment, often re-infecting himself. For some reason, the mutagen simply refuses to permanently take. He augments his abilities with a spider suit, and seeks out this “Spider-Woman” that has cropped up recently, to attempt to determine why her mutation has persisted where his has not.

Vigilante // Greg Saunders: A simple cowboy from the town of Warpath, Texas. About three years ago, violence and gang activity started ramping up, so he dubbed himself vigilante, and with a combination of his lariat, guns, and motorcycle, he set to bring peace to the town of Warpath. This stint was short lived, however, and he quickly found Warpath to in fact be home to a daemonic incursion. While SHIELD was moving in to mop up, the incursion caught Warpath with its pants down, and Vig was right in the firing line. He wound up dead, in Hell, and knee deep in demons. Recently, he’s clawed his way back to the land of the living and is seeking to exact some goddamn justice. If I did this, I’d probably pull in a lot of elements from Ghost Rider and Jonah Hex.

Elijah Snow: Owner and operator of the Planetary Organization, created with assistance from Nick Fury and Amanda Waller’s predecessors in the 1950s. Where SHIELD and CADMUS seek to conceal metahumanity from public knowledge, Planetary seeks to catalogue the fantastical mysteries of the world, metahumans included. Currently, he is seeking three other members to fill out his field team. (Technically counts, because Wildstorm is DC now, however loose Planetary’s connection to Wildstorm was...)

Dogwelder: Do I need to elaborate?

Hawkeye: Ex-SHIELD agent that’s been out of the game for a while now. Just trying to live his life in some goddamn peace, but stuff keeps falling onto his doorstep since metas went public… This version would be heavily inspired by Matt Fraction’s run on the character.

I'm most partial to the top four, but I threw in Hawkeye as an alternate in none of the above would work.

Warhammer 40k: Answering the Call - An Only War/Guard RP [Seeking cannon fodder]

Interested. That said, my only real 40k knowledge is having read a handful of articles on the wiki and reading all of The All Guardsmen Party.

DC Unlimited

IN: MIDNIGHTER V. THE PEOPLE OF ATLANTIS

M E T R O P O L I S / U S A :

---

^{June 2nd, 2019 - 12:35 | Metropolis Streets}

War was something familiar to Midnighter. He was bred for it, molded by it. In some ways, the world was only war. Wars of culture, ideas, and of personality. It never stopped, and it never would. It was all the League and all the Peace Corps of the world could do to just slow the cycle down. But goddamn it if those Atlantean sons of bitches wouldn’t try their best to cock up the process.

Midnighter would’ve liked to think he was knee deep in the dead. Instead he was knee deep in a pile of people with profound spinal cord injuries, who’d need major corrective surgery. Didn’t have the same ring to it. By now Midnighter had taken to uprooting parking meters and lobbing them like spears. Bonus points for headshots. The Atlanteans fell easier than expected. He might’ve assumed them to be stronger, for a people that survive under immense pressures day in and day out. But that didn’t change the fact that they had shit unit tactics and had to contend with every available branch of the US Military shelling the ever loving crap out of them, in the city with the greatest Superhero-Per-Capita rating in the world. Not exactly ideal invasion conditions.

There was something… Off about this invasion. The Atlanteans were a proud people, incredibly powerful and commanded with impeccable military structure. But this invasion was just… Off. Were it up to Midnighter he’d have started by takeover of small, defenseless port towns. Atlanteans were damned near indistinguishable from humans -- they could’ve set up Forward Operating Bases anywhere in America and no one would be the wiser. Instead they charged gung-ho into major population centers that had capes falling out of every orifice. Not to say Midnighter was complaining -- it made them so much easier to mop up.

In the past hour they’d made a lot of surprising progress, mostly locking down beachheads in all the ports, and dismantling whatever Navy presence there was. But by then surface resistance had gotten a little thicker and that posed problems. Turns out Atlanteans that didn’t really know what surface-land looks like were easily surprised by landmines. Midnighter had also taken the liberty of rounding up the fancy-schmancy energy weapons of any Atlanteans he dropped and mass-teleporting them to HQ for distribution. The surprise on an Atlanteans face at seeing their armor being boiled away by their own weapons brought Midnighter a special kind of satisfaction.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel almost useless up here. In between stacking up car barricades with his super strength, he was just shooting fish in a barrel that’d get taken out by another Leaguer or a lucky Cop with an Atlantis-gun. All of the cities should be more of less effectively covered -- Titans could handle SanFran, old guard Leaguers could take Coast City, current and reservist Leaguers could handle Metropolis, and hopefully the solo heroes would remove their heads from their own asses long enough to marshal a defense for Hub City.

He ripped the door off of a nearby car and wrapped it around his latest Atlantean takedown. He added him to his slowly growing pyramid of soldiers. That left Midnighter as a foot soldier, cutting down any infantry who took a wrong turn and ended up in his neighborhood. It was fun, sure, cracking skulls and making interesting pretzels out of Atlantean body parts, but it was somehow unfulfilling.

Midnighter looked into the horizon, past his latest car barricade, waiting for the next wave to roll in with the tide. He could see out into the sparkling ocean beyond. If he put the fire and the smoke and the steady rat-tat-tat of gunfire out of his mind, the water was almost beautiful… A great, blue-green jewel hiding the greatest city the world had ever known. Then, it hit him. He keyed his comms.

“League channels, this is Midnighter. I’m abandoning position -- I’m going to give those Atlantean sons-of-bitches a taste of their own medicine.”

[Multiverse Spaceship RP] Stargate: Paradigm

Hey, sorry for a late and not-that-great post. I've been rather busy this past week with finals and stuff going on, but I tried to get something out.

@Queen Raidne It's been the Janus since I submitted. If it's a hassle I can change it.

[Multiverse Spaceship RP] Stargate: Paradigm

The Battle of Earth. Archie had hoped this day would never come -- The Covenant finding their home world. With only the fleet and a handful of Spartans between a purge by almighty aliens and salvation. Archie had considered it, in his quiet moments. What he would do. What he could do. Maybe he'd pull his standard issue M6G and die gloriously repelling invaders. Maybe he'd commandeer one of the Longswords and go out in a blaze of glory. What he didn't expect was to find himself as new Captain with the old one's brains spattered over his boots.

Archie's stomach churned and hearing gave out as his brain shuddered at the sudden shift in the status quo. He didn't know if he would throw up or if he would curl into a little ball and die. The only thing he could focus on was the whir of the Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine as it came to life, and the background shouts of the ONI spook that had just killed his only mentor in the world, ordering the bridge crew to shut the jump to slipspace down.

"Captain." Agent V's blue eyes broke his trance. Archie hadn't supposed she'd be capable of something like this. A short woman with mousy brain hair tied back into a loose ponytail, with glasses that always seemed slightly askew. She seemed more like a pissed off librarian than a murderer. But the specks of blood on her ONI uniform was helping reality to set in.

"The Shaw-Fujikawa is midcycle and doesn't seem to be stopping. You need to do something." Her fingernail stabbed into his chest.

"I... Uh..." The bridge was silent for an instant, the crew waiting to see what their new captain would do. Or maybe they were also going into shock from watching their former Captain's attempt as cowardice suddenly and brutally cut down.

"JJ... Spin us up a return vector." The sound of the world faded into background buzzing once more as Archie took measured steps to the Captain's chair. The noise of the crew became a quiet rumble, and the groans of plasma burns on the Janus's armor disappeared from his register.

Reality lurched for a moment. Whatever was happening, this wasn't a slipstream jump. There was a certain subtlety to slipstream, the gentle rend of spacetime's fabric around you as your vessel entered the space between dimensions. This was something else -- Being violently shunted from one plane to the next, everything going wrong for just a moment. The air tasted purple and everything sounded like the number six until all the five sense schlorped back to normal.

"I..." Archie pushed himself into the fabric of the Captain's chair, "What...?"

"Sir, Spartan-096 reporting. Green Team is ready to drop -- what's happening up there?" Elise's voice crackled from the dead man's comms.

Vomit dribbled from the ONI Agent's mouth. She pulled herself from the floor. Archie realized that since the jump, almost everyone had changed positions. Half the bridge crew were laid out in bizarre positions, some intertwined with one another like twenty steps into a game of Twister. Maisie ripped the comm from the body.

"Belay that drop, Spartan. Wait for additional orders." Maisie croaked into the microphone. She dropped the device and dry heaved.

JJ's voice pulsed from the center console. "Staff...," his voice and form was obscured by static for a moment, "I don't know how else to put this, but I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

[Multiverse Spaceship RP] Stargate: Paradigm

Janus

Name of Ship: UNSC Janus
Home Universe/Name of Franchise: Halo
Role: Heavy Cruiser; optimized for Command and Attack functions

The Janus is a Marathon-Class heavy cruiser, and like most human ships, has an incredibly industrial design. The Janus is a modification on the class; considered to be something of a halfway point between the usual Marathon-classes and the later Infinity-class carriers. The ship is wrapped in 304 centimeters of titanium A battle plating, and features an angular design, appearing somewhat like a tiered cake if viewed from engine housing upwards. The ship was designed for function over aesthetic -- it has multiple protruding gunports, missile silos, and a forward facing MAC cannon fused into the ship's superstructure.

Physical Size (roughly): The Janus is slightly over the typical size of a Marathon-class cruiser, coming in at 1200 meters long, 300 meters wide, and 400 meters tall.

Armament:

-x1 Mark IX Heavy Coil MAC: Serving as Janus' showstopper is the ship's heavy coil MAC cannon. The MAC, or Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, is a massive coilgun based on railgun technology. A modification of the standard MAC cannon, it fires an 800 ton projectile made from part ferrous tungsten and part depleted uranium at an astonishing 60 kilometers per hour. The Heavy Coil MAC takes a dramatic amount of time to charge, and can typically only be used once per fight, sparing only the most drawn out engagements. The Heavy Coil is powerful enough that it was fused directly into the ship's skeleton to enable its use, and can only be fired directly from the front of the ship.

-x2 MAC Cannons: Smaller, more standardized versions of the Janus' big gun, affixed to the ship's center on the top and bottom. They fire a slightly smaller 600 ton projectile at 30 kilometers per hour. These cannons can be used much more frequently during engagements compared to the Heavy Coil, but their use is relatively infrequent compared to typical ship-to-ship arms.

-x300 Oversized M58 Archer Missile Pods: Carrying 40 missiles per pod, Archer missiles are some of the most frequently used in the Janus' arsenal. Targeted by shipboard AI, missiles are typically fired in a massive burst at the target. The Archer's have typically proven ineffective over the course of Janus's tenure. They have trouble penetrating shields, are easily taken down by point defense lasers or guns, and are vulnerable to jamming to disable their guidance functions. However, the missiles have proven to be devastatingly effective against armor.

-x10 Rapier Missile Pods: A new missile variant being tested by the UNSC aboard the Janus. They are a marked improvement over the Archer in many ways, but steps backward in others. With only 15 missiles to a pod, a Captain must be much more careful about their application. The Rapiers are infused with small amounts of plasma technology appropriated from Covenant vessels, and are quite effective against shielding compared to the standard Archers -- but in gaining this strength, the Rapiers sacrifice their specific usefulness against armor. The Rapiers also share the Archer's weakness against point defense weapons and jamming.

-x400 M965 50mm Point Defense Guns: Lining much of the ship's surface, the M965 Defense Array fires 50mm high explosive ammunition. The guns are not terribly effective against enemy vessels and are entirely useless against shielded opponents -- however, the guns main purpose is to shoot down missile-based assaults and enemy fighters/bombers.

-x2 HAVOK Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A devastating nuclear weapon intended only for the most dire of circumstances. Most UNSC vessels are only given one, if any at all, but HIGHCOM appropriated an additonal one for Janus for it's role in the Battle of Earth. With a thermonuclear yeild of 30 megatons, it can be activated remotely or, in desperate situations, manually.

-x5 Fusion Rockets: Relatively inefficient kinetic strikes. They've proven largely useless against shielded opponents and have no guidance system. They are largely utilized against stationary targets.

Complement:

-800 Naval Personnel: Responsible for management of the ship and repairs, as well as manning of Longswords and Pelicans.

-200 UNSC Marines: Standard greenhorn marines, typically armed with assault rifles, but also known to carry rocket launchers, rail guns, and a variety of weaponry.

-5 Orbital Drop/Shock Troopers(ODSTs): Elite troopers, outstanding from the Marines. The best of the best of regular human beings; these five are the only ones left onboard after most of Janus' complement dropped into battle.

-3 SPARTAN II Super Soldiers: Augmented super soldiers dressed in MJOLNIR powered armor. Superior to regular human beings by a long shot, SPARTANs are fast, strong, and hyperlethal.

-24 Longsword Interceptors: Standard interceptor, primarily used for combat against other fighters. The Longsword can be modified to serve in a bombing role, but it does not excel in this function.

-10 Pelican Dropships: Troop Transports that carry up to fifteen soldiers. Affixed with a nose gun used for personal defense. Pelicans can also be utilized to carry and drop in Warthog LAVs and Scorpion MBTs.

-12 Warthog LAVs: Three man light assault land vehicle with chain gun, rail gun, or missile pod attachment in the back gunner seat.

-1 Scorpion Main Battle Tank: Large, heavily armored tank with large main cannon and supporting chain gun. One driver and one turret operator -- up to four soldiers can ride on the Tank's treads.

-25 HEVs: Human Entry Vehicles, or Drop Pods, designed to be used by ODSTs -- dropped from orbit to deliver the soldiers to ground.

-6 Falcon Gunships: A tilt and reverse rotor helicopter with occupancy for up to five troops inside, excluding pilot. Two machinegun turrets are affixed to either door side. Falcons also come with a standard M638 autocannon affixed to the chin of the craft.

-1x Huragok Engineer: One from a race of biological supercomputers. Used entirely in secret, usually for repair work.

-1x "Smart" AI: Responsible for major ship duties, navigation, targeting algorithms, etc. Has been known to leave the ship inside a SPARTANs helmet.

History of the Ship:

The Janus is a relatively new ship, commissioned by ONI as a testing grounds for some of their pet projects, particularly the new Huragok acquisition. For a time it was staffed only be a skeleton crew, one captain Hurst, and a handful of ONI Operatives. After a few months of service, usually putting around Outer Colonies, Janus received notification about the Battle of Reach and was deployed to aid in the combat efforts. Though the Janus ultimately arrived too late to be of service, she was given a full crew and standing orders to stay in or near the Sol System, as HIGHCOM feared an attack on Earth. When that fateful day arrived, the Janus was able to deploy most of it's payload of ODSTs and fight valiantly against the Covenant menace. However, the Captain, Hurst, ultimately proved disloyal on the arrival of a fourth wave of the Covenant fleet, and began powering up the Translight engine in an escape attempt. He was immediately shot by the resident ONI Officer, but then things got... Weird. They were now in uncharted space, with no planet like Earth around for lightyears...

Notable Crew:

Crew Name: Archibald "Archie" Stevenson
Crew Role: Ship Captain
Crew Description: Archie hails from the planet of Carrow, where he lived for all his life until the fateful day of the Covenant's attack. He joined OCS immediately, wishing to destroy the Covenant with as much firepower as he could get his hands on -- and that happened to be aboard a Heavy Cruiser. For most of the war's duration, Archie has served on either Halcyon Class or Marathon Class vessel. During The Battle of Earth, when the former Captain expired, Archie found himself suddenly promoted.

Crew Name: Maisie Villarreal
Crew Role: ONI Agent
Crew Description: A representative from the Office of Naval Intelligence whose purpose is to keep track of all experimental tech employed by the Janus and keep an eye on the Huragok. She likes to keep out of people's way, keeping her head down and doing her job, and she rarely makes any time for small talk or pleasantries. This has earned her a reputation as a stone cold bitch. She is fiercely, relentlessly loyal to the UNSC.

Crew Name: Janus, or "JJ"
Crew Role: AI
Crew Description: Named for the ship he was ultimately placed on, JJ is a Smart AI that was designed along with and specifically for the Janus. He's a relatively new AI, and hasn't had as much experience as the now famous Cortana. Still, his processing speeds and function is incredible. He's deeply curious and has something of a minor God complex. A common adage of his is "I am the ship, and the ship is me." He has been disconnected from time to time, but he never recalls it as a pleasant experience.

Crew Name: Elise-096
Crew Role: SPARTAN II Super Soldier
Crew Description: Along with Graham-024 and Thalia-133, she is the leader of Green Team, deployed on a number of ONI-assigned missions for most of the Human-Covenant War. Like most Spartans, Elise is reserved and quiet, usually only speaking when spoken to. Among her fellows she is creative and a free thinker, and probably would have been something of a flower child if she hadn't ended up in the Spartan program. She's prone to want to question orders, but has had such practices beaten out of her. Still, in her private moments, she wonders if she's doing the right thing.

Crew Name: Cain Shaw
Crew Role: ODST Commando
Crew Description: Leader of the last ODST squadron scheduled to deploy from the Janus, Cain is pissed he and his team didn't get a chance to defend Earth and her peoples. He is loud, brash, and in-charge, characteristic of most ODSTs. Shaw has spent his career as an ODST getting screwed over, not deployed to any major conflict locations, always being ferried to a new locale as back-up, and he's fed up with it.

Crew Name: Inconsistent Buoyancy
Crew Role: Huragok Engineer
Crew Description: An Engineer acquired by ONI for service on the Janus. It was a truly remarkable find, and a clandestine operation to get the damned thing on board and keep it hush hush. Inconsistent is content to float around the ship, being corralled by Maisie, fixing whatever he(if it can even be called a 'he') can find.

Unique Technology:
-Shaw/Fujikawa Translight Engine: Means of entering slipstream space for fast transit.
-MAC Cannons
Crew Size: 1008 human beings on board
Class: Marathon-Class
Faction/Operator/Owner: The United Nations Space Command