The Jest

Tri-Mon Crossover (Shin Megami Tensei, Digimon, and Pokemon in a Shared Universe).

@Ryik Approval two. Daena's accepted. ^^

Katekyou HItman REBORN! RP Interest Check

WHY AM I ONLY NOW NOTICING THIS!? >.<

Honestly, I've been very rusty lately, so something like this might be just what the doctor ordered.

You got my interest. ^^

Also, @DarkHasayoVA (Long time no see), I'm willing to take up that Co-GM position if you still need it filled. ^^

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

Mission Start

Xuanzang - Docking bay

Joey gave a smirk as soon as Avelyn made her request for information, extending her arm to her. He knew by now what her powers were all about, it'd make things much easier on them both if he just allowed them to scan his head for the information she seeked. That smirk continued when Nero...'forgave' him, for lack of a better word.

But he said nothing else on the matter, and once everyone was ready to go, he was quick to head to the docking bay.

Within the Docking bay, The only ship outside of the single-pilot fighters here and there was the ship was riding on. As he said, despite being able to fit within the Xuanxang, the dimensions of the ship did prove rather spacious. It seemed designed as some sort of small carrier ship, likely a small black market smuggle ship. Interestingly, however, the Jeep he rode in with Avelyn didn't seem to be anywhere, despite this being the place it was last left.

Joey began going from wall to wall, slightly knocking on every part he could, as if he was looking for something.

"So, a little backstory for you guys. Back when me and the Captain were still Ascendancy, we picked up this ship together with the rest of the gang. She was interested in the technical specs of this beauty as any ship Captain should be. But me, ...I was more interested in some of the ship's...finer details. ...For example, the fact that this ship was designed for smuggling some rather big cargo, and so has some equally large spaces to tuck them under. We were more looking for a ship that could stand toe-to-toe with any Ascendancy ship that comes our way, but the Cap'n had some 'privateer' experience already, so this was something of a bonus for us." He said as he continued searching the walls.

He finally found what he was looking for when one of the knocks had a different, more hollowed noise. Removing the wall panel, he found a hidden lever and a touchpad. He seemed to select things on the pad, then immediately pulled the lever, opening up parts of the floor, revealing elevators reeling up other ships about the same size as his own.

"Counting my own, these three are pretty much the best catches we've had before Moonstrike...they're also the only catches we have of that size, so try to get them back here in one piece." Joey said, at first with pride, but then saying the second part more hesitantly and scratching at his cheek, an awkward smile on his face.

Team 1's ship (The Xuanxang itself)

Team 2's ship ("AMS-Slinger")

Team 3's ship ("AMS-Blowfish")

Team 4's ship (Joey's ship: "The Magnum")

"So, if everyone's ready, then all aboard, and best of luck."

With that, once everyone was aboard, the ships blasted off and scattered.

Each to their respective mission.

Team 1 (Maria, Laurey, Allaine, Natasha)

Xuanzang - Bridge

After everyone went on their merry way, Maria was quick to get to business. To control a ship of this size would be difficult for just the three of them on their own. Hopefully backup would arrive soon to make the work load significantly less. Until then though, they'll have to manage.

"Laurey, is there any chance you can re-route power to an auto-pilot function?" Maria asked. Auto-pilot was a convenient little thing for situations like this and makes for one less thing to worry about on their part, useful for just this situation where there's very little crew members on board to pilot the damn thing. Though the downside is, they'd likely lose the luxury of precise maneuvering, and they'll have to pray they can get FTL working and coordinates exactly spot-on so the ship doesn't crash itself onto a planet.

Meanwhile, an message popped up on Natasha's Omni-tool. The sender's name being a mess of symbols, letters, and numbers. Most likely either encrypted or purposely pushed buttons at random for a one-time use of the name in question. The Subject Matter was simply labeled "New Moon's Secrecy". Before opening, another peculiarity was that it was locked. An attempt to open it resulted in a pop-up of a speaker phone symbol and a straight line.

Awaiting password...Password hint: "New Moon's secrecy..."

Once Natasha says the right password, the line changes to match her tone, authenticating her voice, and eventually the image changes to a green lock becoming unlocked, the words "Voice Recognition Found" shown on the screen before it then opens the small message the lock was hiding...

Planet Zanza.
Reserve 47.
53.393816,-98.258990

- "Edo"

This was all it said.

A message locked and capable of an ID check of an Omni-tool suggests either a really good hacker, or someone with the authority to breach privacy guidelines. This is likely the Tipper...but it raises the question of just who this guy or girl was...

---

On the Planet in question, a bountiful nature-filled planet of forests as far as the eye could see, laid a little cave off the cliffside of a plateau, within which was a man in the shadows of this cave, staring at the doorway at the beautiful world outside. A message popped onto his own Omni-tool which diverted his gaze from mother nature...

"Message Delivered."

"...Won't be long now." The man said, seemingly to himself.

@Letter Bee @Senhara @jdh97

Team 2 (Joey, Queen Anne, Shineyd, Nirrti)

Moonstrike HQ

If you were a very successful rebellion against an interplanetary government, where would you hide? Another planet is always considered a viable option, and most cells to this day still use outer rim planets outside their enemy's jurisdiction as locations for their bases. But in an age where fleets of ships can sail across the galaxy as easily as a boat across a sea, if you mess with a corrupt intergalactic government enough to consider you worth hunting, they'll do whatever it takes to find and destroy you. On a planet outside their jurisdiction? No problem, they'll just hire some..."professionals" to take you out in their stead, or they'll just gather a fleet and attack you outright if you really managed to piss them off; they'd find a way to justify the attack.

That in mind, The smarter rebellion cells take the nomadic approach to their base of operations, need it be simply not having one and moving from one spot to another, or having some kind of moving base such as a space station serve as headquarters. More maneuverable and elusive, but unless you change it up in some way, all they'd need is ID'ing that the station in question is in fact the rebel base, and they'd hunt you to the edge of the universe and beyond.

But Moonstrike has considered all of these and took a more tactical approach for their headquarters: A giant asteroid the size of a country that they hollowed out, made a base within, and added thrusters for good measure. A drifting asteroid amidst other asteroids, and capable of slight maneuvering to keep the enemy guessing. Took a lot of time, manpower, and money both given by other rebels and stolen from the Ascendancy's coffers, but it was worth it to make a base hidden in camouflage.

At least, it was. But they never would have asked for the other rebel cells to help with this if they knew something like this was going to happen...

Outside the Asteroid Field the base was hiding out in, the Rebel Civil War was full swing. On one side Moonstrike units and ships defending their base from attack...With varied levels of success unfortunately, as a few lucky shots got passed and hit the field in question. Even if the shots didn't hit the asteroid base of Moonstrike directly, (and unfortunately, some of them did) they hit other asteroids with enough force to knock another actual asteroid into them. The whole area was like a billiards table with every missile and laser acting as the cue ball.

On the other side were the ones doing the firing. To call it a group of ships were an understatement. It was more akin to a collective Armada formed from multiple rebel factions combining their forces against Moonstrike's own. On their own, none of them would stand a chance against Moonstrike's fleet; they're one of the largest and most successful rebel factions in the galaxy for a reason. But together, they were really giving them a challenge.

Inside the base, Many members of Moonstrike were frantically moving about, trying to gather more men to send, trying to command their fleet from where they were. The elusive "Moonstrike One" was at the center of it all, taking command of the fleet outside and trying to take control of this chaotic situation.

---

On board the Slinger, Joey watched the battle from a distance, giving out a whistle as he did.

"More people pissed at Moonstrike than I thought. That's a lot of ships, pretty big ones at that, not all of them I recognize which is...particularly interesting. Hmm... Welp, looks like there's no time for formality. Let's get these guys pacified before anything else. Time to go save the day." He said. Cocking his own guns, he went to the cockpit and drove the ship towards the crossfire.

"Hang on ladies, this is gonna get a little bumpy." He said, as they headed for the enemies head on, guns a blazing as the ship dashes headfirst towards the enemies.

@Smike @Senhara @Villamvihar

Team 3 (Alan, Flame, Nero, Ki'Tlex & Kottle)

Vault of Mother

On the Korta's home planet of "Mother", the Pirates seemed to be at it again, being right in the middle of a major heist. Not necessarily of money, oh no, This was a different kind of vault, for the Korta were a race all about technology, it only makes sense they'd make a storage vault for some of the finest inventions, materials, and machine parts they have ever made with their gifted pachyderm minds.

Just like the stock heist back at the Bazaar, they were being methodical in how they steal from a highly-secured place as this.

For the most part, they were keeping a low-profile, but they were about ready to make their move, as a few of the pirates became distractions keeping the officials eyes away from the disguised, but very real threats coming in.

"...Rgh, You sure this is the only way, Bones? This shirt's so itchy and these pants are uncomfortable as hell." The Captain said, pulling on his dress shirt and pants and struggling to keep the big round glasses affixed between his eyes.

"It's the way of least resistance. Just hang in there for a little while." The old man said, now back in a white lab coat. It seems they were disguised as a Scientist and his Assistant, heading in to study the technology within the vault, even came with passes (Forged, of course.) to verify their identity and permission to enter the establishment.

Arms, meanwhile, was camouflaged and keeping away from any thermal imaging technology the vault may have had. (Not that it'd matter much, being cold-blooded has its perks...) Sneaking his way through the area, he planted charges about the entrance and in particular spots of building stability. Should things go south, it always help to have some backups, especially in case the "other" plan the Captain is so interested in doesn't go as well as hoped.

---

Aboard the Blowfish

As they traveled on the ship towards the planet Mother, Alan took a look around what little space this ship had. Honestly, it was fitting for a small unit like theirs, but it still felt too cramped for his liking.

He stared out into the darkness of space, and spotted the planet they were heading too.

The area around Mother was loaded with ships going in and out, or with space stations just floating about in its orbit. The Korta were after all the top engineers of the galaxy and this was their home, so naturally there'd be a showing of their skills and customers from far and wide wishing for their services.

"So...Anyone wanna guess which ship has our pirate pals in them?" He asked.

@Letter Bee @FalloutJack @Smike @Senhara

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

(The following is the GM Post and Time-skip. Let's get this kick-started back up. ^^)

Joey's Log

Capta-Err

...First-ma-

...Vice-Cap-

...Fuck it, Joey's Log. Star-date: 0612

It's been about almost a week since Moonstrike the Second gave us our briefing on the situation with the pirates and our mission to stop them. ...We would have been rather quick to proceed with that mission, but things started happening at rapid-fire pretty much right out the gate that prevented us from doing so. In other words: This week really fucked us up.

Where do I even begin with this...? I suppose it started with the wonder-twins, Sam and Iris. I wasn't on the ship in a while, so I had no idea what was going on, but from what I gathered, Iris fell in love with a female Zvezd by the name of Amy, who got attacked by pirates on a mental level, some kind of mind magic or something. She's been locked in a comatose state ever since we left the bazaar, so we've had her in a life-support capsule to keep her safe until she wakes up - if she wakes up. Understandably, that left Iris pretty down in the dumps as of late, not that I'd know how she was beforehand. It's probably because of that, because of Amy, even more specifically because there was nothing our Doc could really do for her at the time, that Iris and Sam gave Natty the 2-week notice and decided to take Amy with them on the way out. Well, I say 2 weeks, but it was more like 2 days. Still, it was a pretty graceful send-off, all things considered. There was no way of knowing how they'll get Amy out of that coma, but I'm confident they'll be doing whatever it takes to wake her up. That said, I don't really know where they went. Natty told me how they were talking about starting up a farm, so maybe they went to an Agricultural planet to get started on that.

Next was my two friends, Abby and Doc. Abby was on a mission by the time I got here and was supposed to come back by now, but I guess they sent him on another mission immediately after the fact. No idea when he'll get back, but of all the people on this ship, Abby's the one I least worry about. That guy can handle himself fine. Doc, on the other hand, went off with Doruva and Gabe on a mission. Seems something happened near the Kanarusian home planet, some kind of unknown plague spreading itself about - real nasty one by the sound of it. Doc's been sent to contain and neutralize the disease, and since it's so close to the Kanarusian home planet - and it's possible it was a terrorist attack by a certain alien-hating government - Doruva and his pal followed right behind. Until either Abby or Doc comes back, it looks like I'm the last executive officer besides Natty on the ship. ...Which also means if I decide to leave again as usual, I'd be leaving Natty all alone. So, I guess I'll be stuck here for a while.

After that, Tarak of the Star Marines was the next to go. Don't really know why he left. Happened upon him and Maria staring each other down in the hallway; seemed like a private mental chat thanks to Maria's telepathy. Next thing I know, he comes walking to Natty's room to tell her he had to go on a mission and wasn't sure when - or if - he'd come back to the ship. He said his goodbyes to everyone - even me - and went off on his own. I asked Maria about it, and all she told me was that allies contacted him and asked for his help. ..."Allies", heh, Interesting word to use.

In any case, lastly, there was an incident that happened on Titan that recently came to our attention. Sounds like it got hit with a bad case of civil war over the minerals and what to do with it. It could have been sparked by a third party; Finny's family is on that planet and I doubt that's a coincidence. Since she was the one who brought it to our attention, I talked with Ave to see what she thinks on the matter and we seem to be in agreement: Someone was definitely attacking the kids' families, and indirectly so at that. In the line of work these Star Marines are in, one can probably tell what kind of person they're dealing with by how they do their attacks on someone or something. Manipulating a planet into civil war and then using it as a cover or the smoking gun outright to kill a certain group - a family in this case - reeks of a Black Op. Most likely the Ascendancy, but given how these pirates have behaved so far we can't dismiss the possibility they're involved in this.

Either way, Finn, understandably didn't take it well. Guy made for a ship immediately and just took off to Titan to save them. We of course told MS2 about this, and we agreed our lil Ms. Negotiator, Melinae Vandris, should follow suit. She could help quell the situation on the planet and cool off the war, and if there's anyone who might attack, Finn would be there to help her out.

Personally, I actually proposed that Narvia should come along with her to help Finn out. It's pretty obvious those two hit it off, and despite her...'personality', she seemed perfectly capable of handling herself in a fight. Plus, I can only imagine how she's taking not being around him. But Natty and MS2 seemed in agreement to keep Narvia here. With everything that's happened, we're now short-staffed, and we haven't even started on trying to fight these pirates that we've been on duty to fight. We need all the help we can get...

Sooo... On that note, with quite a few members now gone, that led to our divide and conquer plan getting a bit borked. We have to re-organize the groups of who's doing what when it comes to the tasks at hand. I've already taken the liberty of starting off our efforts by dealing with the Search for that problematic Star Marine we were told about. Most of that team jumped ship, and the only one that was left was Nirrti. While I don't know how good Nirrti's battle capabilities are - maybe she was designed to also fight Star Marines like this one - but I wasn't taking a chance on sending her to fight someone that we felt needed to have a whole team of magic-users to fight against.

In fact, at that point, I wasn't taking any chances, period. So I personally took a ship and rode to the coordinates to deal with this Star Marine. ...Yeah, I know, hypocritical right? But at least if I die, no one on that ship'll miss me that much, and it's not like I didn't have a plan in case that happened. I went down there and met with this Star Marine, 'Shineyd'. Didn't take me long to see what MS2 was talking about with her. I don't know what kind of experiments they were doing with these kids, but I can't even imagine what kind of extra-horrific crap they did to make someone with the kind of magic she's got. We had an encounter and to make a long story short: I... 'persuaded' her to join us on our ship. Due to personal reason and in the event someone - coughnerocough - Ugh, sorry, something got caught in my throat - in the event someone comes along and hears this without my knowing, I can't say how I pulled it off. What I can say is it involved guns...and eventually big guns. Point is, she's now on our side, and I'm heading back with her as I speak, so that's one objective scratched off the board.

Even better news, I just received a message from MS2 not that long ago, it seems they're sending a group to help accommodate for the crewmen we've lost.

Once we reach the ship again - which is probably soon since I can see it right now - we'll be re-arranging our teams up and then getting on with the task at hand. We're down, but we're not out yet.

-Joey Out-

"Operation: Kraken" Briefing

The Xuanxang - Conference Room

A meeting was called by the Captain, though in actuality, it was called by Joey using Natasha as his proxy. The whole lot of them probably wouldn't have come to hear shit if that was outright said, so he needed a way around that if he had any hope of getting everyone re-organized after the insanity that's been happening of late. Of course, there was a possibility at least one of them was gonna avoid going into a meeting regardless. In the event of that, Maria is to open up a mental link so that any who are indeed disobeying a direct Captain's order would at least know what's going on.

Now with the new girl in tow, once people started entering in, Joey made a few claps of his hands before beginning to speak.

"Alright ladies and gents, gather round. Now, it's been a bit of a rough week for us, I know. So in light of that, let me start this off by saying that if Natty hasn't already done so herself, effective immediately, consider your punishment lifted. Of course, I know a few of you already been doing so behind my back - lookin at you, Little Caesar - but consider this an official notice that the menu's back in full swing. ...To be honest, I've never been a disciplinary type of guy. Usually if somebody gets in trouble on this ship, we leave it to Abby to deal with it. Still, people did fuck up and Abby wasn't around to deal with it, and so I tried to get a handle instead. And as I've noticed this past week even before the people started dropping off, it backfired hard. ...Guess beginner's luck doesn't always work. So, I admit: I fucked up, and I am sorry for that. ...But the fact is, we're now understaffed, we're still clearly being targeted by pirates, and we can't rely on Moonstrike to give us any more aid than they already have on account of their asses being put on a frying pan just as big if not bigger than ours by the same chef. All the while, if the Ascendancy hasn't noticed by now that all the rebel factions' crosshairs are on each other right now and not them, there's no doubt Kherol has, and believe me, that alone is a thought of nightmare proportions." Joey paused for a moment to take a deep breath, taking a quick look at Natasha before once again turning his attention to everyone present.

"The point is, we're in a bad place right now, so if you have any sort of bitterness, or hatred, or vindictive thoughts towards anyone on this ship - and I do mean anyone on this ship - then consider this an order. Not from me, but from Natasha over here. From your Captain to all of you: Get, the fuck, over it...Quick. We're not telling you to like everyone here. You want to despise somebody on this ship for whatever reason, that's your right. But being hostile and making an enemy out of anyone here is a luxury we know longer have. We can't afford anyone making any mistakes from here on out because everyone still on this ship may be the only thing we got left at this point." He paused again, and turned to what everybody probably noticed the whole time, the new face that appeared with him on the ship.

"Well, ...Maybe not all we have. First off, Let me introduce you guys to our newest member of this team, the Star Marine that Moonstrike wanted us to bring in to help us out. This is Shineyd. Since we were understaffed, and most of the team we sent to..."ask" for her aid left, I took it upon myself to go and convince her to join us. She'll be accompanying us on this ship for some time, so do try to get along with her. The one that our Tipper is going to be giving us decided that she's not coming to us. Instead, it seems she's gonna be with said Tipper and join us from there on her own terms. But even better news, it seems MS2 did manage to squeeze one last free unit to us. Counted about 24 of them, four of which are apparently exceptional. But they've stressed that this is the last they can do for us. Every other unit, fleet, and ship are focused on defending themselves from an angry mob of rebels. ...Which brings me nicely to the main reason we're here: A briefing." Joey paused a third time, switching on the holographic projector in the middle of the room, screens popping up out of nowhere, including a few news channels detailing stories relevant to their mission.

"You guys already heard most of our situation from our chat with MS2. Maria, give Shineyd a mental run-down while I do this. For the rest of us, I'll cut to the chase. We have three main objectives in this operation: Our First-Priority is finding out what these pirates are up to, and ultimately stopping them. This objective will be split into two teams. The Captain, Maria, and Laurey will be meeting up with Mr. Anonymous Tipper. To be clear though, you're not just going there to listen to him spill some beans. He and his ally is also requesting your services to help him take these pirates down. Guy insists on a stealthy team, so you guys be prepared to do some sneaking around. Might even need to do some hacking which is where Laurey comes in." The holographic screen showed a map with three dots heading for a humanoid silhouette with a question mark on the face. Maria nodded when Joey gave his order, telepathically giving a summary of the situation everyone was currently in to Shineyd.

"On flipside of this objective is the team that will follow after the pirates themselves. I believe that team was Ki'Tlex, Alan, Flame, and the Little Caesar himself, Nero. The Pirates are currently moving about in the Outer Rim. Specifically, it looks like they're on their way to the Korta's home turf. Now, You guys already heard it from MS2, but it bears Repeating: you guys are in a difficult and volatile position, and basically, you're walking willingly into a trap. These pirates will be expecting you, and likely knows we want them dead. Good chance we're dealing with a dead man's switch for this trap, so we can't take any chances. As such, your mission is to follow after them and put a wrench in whatever they plans they may have at the time, and try to figure out what this trap is on your end, but do not kill them yet. ...I reiterate we have no idea what this trap is, but Moonstrike seems to have a guess, and sees it as a major threat. Falling for this trap and having it sprung on us, accidently or not, is not an option. That said, We'll get nowhere tip-toeing around without knowing anything. So, in the event our Tipper can't explain what this trap could be, you have permission to fight and get them near the point of pulling the proverbial trigger. Basically, poke at them to try to get them to show their hand without actually making them play that hand. Bottom-line: this one's gonna be tricky. So be careful." Joey explained, the hologram showing four dots heading for a typical jolly roger image.

"The next objective is to assist Moonstrike in this Civil War against the rebels that turned on us. This team will consist of Nirrti, Queen Anne, myself... and our new girl, Shineyd. Ideally, it'd be best for all of us if we could sit everyone down, talk it out, and get the facts straight. But these guys have made their decision regarding Moonstrike and as we speak, are on the attack; they're in no mood to talk, so we can't be either. We'll be jumping right into a warzone, lot of them are gonna be firing at us and we're gonna need to fire right back. We are to serve as Moonstrike's Cavalry and stop this fighting by any means necessary. A relatively simple mission, but don't think for a second it'll be easy. These guys are rebels just like us, so whatever we got for our arsenal, they probably got it too. Underestimate them at your peril." Three more dots headed into an explosion symbol overlaid by the symbols of Moonstrike and other Rebel cells.

"Which brings us to the most personal objective of the bunch: Search and Rescue for any and all family relatives to the Star Marines. Let me reiterate that this is a mission not given to us by Moonstrike, but a personal request by the Star Marines themselves. As such, it's only fair that Star Marines Avelyn, Narvia, and Ashton will be the ones responsible for taking care of this. What happened at the Bazaar has put you kids in a spotlight. If the Ascendancy didn't already know you lot were still alive, they do now, and the possibility of your families being targeted is no longer just a possibility. You all already know why Finnbar and Ms. Negotiator left us; Titan was attacked and thrusted into Civil War, and there's evidence to suggest someone outside Titan had a hand in it. We still don't know who's responsible for that, but it basically proves someone's on the move against your families. They clearly know a thing or two about black ops, which means there's a good chance whoever you're up against has read from the same books you guys did back in your Ascendancy days, so be careful." Three dots began going off the course of the others towards what appeared to be a gif of stick figures grabbing other stick figures from a platform seemingly surrounded by lava...Out of all of them, this was probably the most unprofessional looking of the bunch, clearly made last-minute.

"That's everyone's missions. If you have any questions, you should say them now. Otherwise, we begin the operation immediately. Each team's jumping on a ship to go their separate ways. Avelyn, My own ship has a bit of space to it. You can use that to rescue you guys' parents. The other two ships should work for our team and the Pirate hunters, Leaving the Captain and her team, with the Xuanxang itself." He puts a bow on his briefing and waits for someone to ask him a question, and if no question were asked, or if there were questions but no more after the ones answered, then the briefing is dismissed...

"Alrighty then guys and girls, We're commencing "Operation: Kraken". ...Let's sink these bastards." Joey then said, loading up one of his smaller guns between the two sentences, and walking out.

And with that, "Operation: Kraken" begins...

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

@Villamvihar

After some discussion, we agree that Shineyd's accepted. Congrats! :D

Please place her in the CHAR section. ^^

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

Tough Crowd (Joey)

Xuanxang - Entryway

Of course.

It wasn't surprising when two of the kids he essentially grounded decided to speak up and chide his character to the new people out of the blue. He couldn't even be mad because one of them was so clearly steamed in a temper that she forgot it was three of them that made a mistake - one of them being the Captain herself - and the other one was so smug at the 'burns' he and she were dishing towards him that, well, quite frankly it was cute, he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Good! We've got a fuckwit here that thinks we're still in the service! Why don't you get started with him?"

"Aww, you do care about me! Well, if it's alright with Ms. Vanadris, a lesson or two in diplomacy and etiquette wouldn't hurt." He said to them. Around which he spotted Nirrti coming out of the ship the other two did, and immediately walked towards the Cafeteria. Joey said nothing about the robot, random as it seemed, but mostly because the robot left for the cafeteria before he could get a word in.

Then Gabriel walked up and said, with a cold, serious tone and look on that face of his, his piece regarding how things looked.

"Correct me if I am misunderstanding the language, a member of leadership committed a mistake, and as a result the crew at large is punished?"

Oh yeah, this guy wasn't having any of this shit, Joey could see it in his eyes. It was a look he was all too familiar with.

"One Member of leadership and two of these Star Marines more specifically, working in unison on a financial agenda that backfired. I won't go into detail here, you're welcome to ask me about it in a more open area of the ship, or hear from their side of those involved both directly and indirectly. What I will say is, the lay of blame is not completely on them; a third party exploited an opening their actions unwittingly created to a disasterous degree. Knowing this, accountability and responsibility for this punishment, falls on me." Joey said, his tone lowering to a more professional level, and his smirk dropping into a non-expressioned frown.

It was at that point that Gabriel laid it out.

"A failure in leadership weakens the organization as a whole. To punish the subordinate for the failings of their superior only inspires a lack of trust and loyalty."

He then walked right back to his superior's side, leaving Joey standing there with that serious look frozen on his own face. It wasn't because there was anything wrong with what was said. On the contrary, those two sentences cut like a knife because they were tempered in truth. Joey didn't know much about these second fangs this guy's a part of, but the way he says his piece and just formally walks back to his superior's side without another word screams the kind of professionalism he has not seen since his old military days. More than that, it reminded him of his family back home.

...It didn't last long.

"Hahahahaha! Well said, Gabby; Harsh but fair. House Aoshen taught you well, Know a few folks who could learn a thing or two from second fangs like you. ...Yeah I admit, I've never been cut out for disciplinary work. We got another guy on the ship who's far better at it, but he's out somewhere at the moment, and the only other person with authority here wanted nothing to do with this mess - right call honestly. ...To be clear, I was serious about everything I said. Of feathers or spikes, Only option I got is laying on the bed I made." He said non-chalantly. The whole face just pulled a 180 faster, going from serious to a big grin as he laughed and followed shortly by a smaller more laid-back smile as he continued to speak, scratching the back of his head. It's like he completely switched personalities on the fly to a point of whiplash-inducing. He then turned to Doruva.

""Why, thank you my dear sir. I appreciate the welcome, Joey Albion. And don't worry about your Kanarusian. I would have thought that you were from House Vulcaria if I were not gazing upon you at this very moment."

"Thanks, My dad stressed the importance of the many languages of the universe in doing our religious work, so I got taught quite a bit. ...Anyways, don't worry about our Shenanigans on board. Dysfunctional Crew aside, Caesar over there has a point that these kids are some of the best people on the field when push comes to shove." Joey said to the Kanarusian. It was around that moment that the Captain mentioned about the robot that came through as well and walked towards the Cafeteria.

"Is that Mech sapient or something, or just very well-programmed?"

"Good question... I'm a bit curious about that myself."

"Said Mech also reminded me that we should be making our way to the cafeteria so that we can give Lord Doruva of House Aoshen his 'all you can eat'..."

"Yeah, we probably shouldn't keep them at the entryway for much longer." Joey responded. With that, he followed Natasha to the Cafeteria with everyone else.

---

More introductions (Joey)

Xuanxang - Cafeteria

As soon as he enters the Cafeteria, he noticed the robot he and Natasha saw walking out...and Three more faces that he didn't recognize. Seems like no one else knew about them either, which means they're not new crewmen he just never knew about, which means they somehow got on board a different way from the others.

One was a giant mech, one was a Kelta - a race Joey was all too familiar with both due to his family, and due to his hobby of archaeology - and carrying with him a third member, that being a baby of a different race - a very unusual sight for a Kelta right there. The Kelta and child was one thing, but the fact that the mech/android got into the ship without arousing suspicion is both impressive for it, and alarming for this crew...

He walked over to Ki'Tlex in particular, eyeing him top-to-bottom as if analyzing him.

"Ki'Tlex, huh? ...Yeah, I knew you look familiar. Your penultimate discarded was a good sole. The fact you have that kid there tells me a lot about your current. More than enough reason to welcome you to this ship. ...By the way, Queen Anne's Revenge, right? ...Queen Anne, isn't that...? Nah, I'm probably just overthinking it. Anyways, welcome aboard you lot." He said to him. First it was to the Kelta, and the strange terminology he seemed to use with him, but then it shifted to the android that was with him. For a moment, Joey was lost in thought about it, before then shaking it off and finishing the conversation.

Afterwhich, Joey sat down on a table away from the others on the crew - really it was more for them than for him, and proceeded to eat up some of the Rations himself. While he did deal out this punishment, he was by no means excluding himself from it. Unlike others though, he didn't seem to mind very much in regards to it. Perhaps it was because he had an odd sense of taste, or perhaps he has no taste at all, but while people like Ash was having a difficult time eating up a ration, Joey seemed to be eating the same kind of ration on his plate like it was a snack.

He then saw the particularly strange one - Narvia was it? - rushing in, apparently losing track of time and apologizing to him and Natasha for being late.

"No worries, kid. If anything, you're pretty much right on time. Take a seat and enjoy yourself...well, best as you can." Joey responded to her with a smile and some laidback energy.

It was around then that the discussion went to what to do next. Ashton suggested they go after the pirates who ransacked their money, while Laurey pointed out why that would be...redundant. Ki'Tlex and Queen Anne - apparently former pirates themselves, chimed in essentially in agreement.

"...The Cyber-Ladies and Kelta Gentleman's got a point. It's been a bit since they stole those millions - to also answer the Queen's question: Millions; might sound unlikely that they spent it all by now, but you'd be surprised how fast pirates burn through stolen goods. Moreover, these pirates hacked and subsequently bombed the stock market, and that caused just as much commotion as we did back there. MS1 said that stock market blow hit more than just us, those guys probably kicked a hornet's nest as a result. Might be easier for us to sit back and let karma run its course on them." Joey said, in agreement with Laurey, Ki'Tlex, and Queen Anne, leaning on his chair with his hands on the back of his head relaxed.

"Pardon the interruption..." Maria's calm voice said through the Cafeteria's doorway. She and the now awakened Alan walked into the Cafeteria, looking at everyone without a sound.

As soon as Alan looked at Joey - who waved at him with a smile - he immediately did a 180 spin and attempted to walk out of there as if he saw nothing and was done with his food, but Maria's strong grip took hold of his arm, making him walk still in place. The boy then groaned as he looked at Joey annoyed. Joey was the last person he wanted to see on this ship, after waking up from that whole debacle at the Bazaar. He had enough of him when he was travelling with the blonde-haired bastard and while in the Circle of Hell's cell. He hoped he'd never see him again after he left them on Plenty, and now he was actually on this ship with them.

"Did I piss off some Rau've God back on their planet or something?" He thought. He then looked at the new guys. Two humans, a Kanarusian - that's a rather rare sight to see - two androids, a weird looking alien guy and a...Is that a fucking baby? The hell's a baby doing on this ship?

"Everyone, meet Alan and Maria, two more Star Marines. Alan and Maria, meet Doruva, Gabriel, Melinae, Nirrti, Ki'Tlex, Queen Anne's Revenge, and lil' Kottle, new recruits." Joey said, essentialy fast-forwarding introductions while giving Maria a nod, as if to tell her to continue.

"...New Information has come to light in the medbay. The situation's changed," Maria stated. Joey then sat upright on his chair again, his attention grabbed...

...With a deep breath, Maria began her report to the Captain and her comrades. Maria was never one to use her mouth as much as others would, especially for long reports like this, preferring to use Telepathy to give out information.

Slightly turning the knob of the cybernetic implant on her head, she used telepathy to access everyone's mind, both inside the cafeteria, and outside it. For the new people who just joined them, she essentially gave them a mental 'tap', or sorts to invite her into their heads so that she could speak through it. Through the link she found with Ki'Tlex and Queen Anne, she also request that Queen Anne and Laurey finds a way to relay this information to Nirrti.

Maria's Report (Joey, Maria, and Alan)

"First and foremost: Amy is down. She is currently in a self-inflicted comatose and is resting in a healing capsule until further notice. ...There was an anomaly in her magic that led to something happening in her mind, some aspect of her id she sealed off coming loose. We suspect she put herself to sleep to keep whatever broke free from attacking us in reality. As much as it may pain us, this battle is one she wants to fight alone, interfering with it may be dangerous both for us, and for her. Until she wakes up of her own accord, no one is to disturb her." Maria began explaining to the others. Joey looked to the floor in contemplation as Maria talked, recalling that person covered in a blanket that was being carried towards the Infirmary. He didn't get a look at the face but, that likely had to be this Amy she's talking about.

"Do we have any reason as to why this happened now all of a sudden? I mean, I know basically nothing about this Amy, and I'm pretty sure most of the new guys here are essentially on the same boat. Is this something that's happened before?" He asked her, looking towards the new guys that arrived there, implying a need of context for those just joining with them.

"I myself only knew of her for a short amount of time. However, both Iris and Doctor Millard has confirmed that this is the first time this has had happened since she met them. Iris in particular has been with Amy longer than any of us. This happened during the situation with Alan while both Amy and Iris were asleep, so we don't know what caused this. ...But based on what we know and the testimony of the captain and everyone else, ...We do have a suspect. Alan, if you would please?" Maria said. She then turned her heads towards Alan, who looked at her confused for about 2 seconds before realizing what she wanted him to say and stepped forward.

"Let's see... to make a long story short: Back at the bazaar, I was with Maria, until we found Klein. He ran off and I gave chase wanting to ask him a few ..."questions". While chasing after him, I got shoved by someone from behind, could feel the whole hand on my back but thought he was just some passerby in a hurry. I continued to chase Klein until I cornered him and gave him a chat. That was when I noticed something off. I ignited my flames from my hand to...'encourage' Klein not to ditch us again, and noticed it was still on fire even when I thought I switched it off, worse yet it was spreading. By the time I got back to Maria, my whole body was on fire and I could feel it trying to get out. I did what Maria said, focused my arms upwards to let it all out, and it just bursted out into an inferno. You guys know the rest." He explained. Joey listened to Alan's testimony in contemplation, piecing together what this meant regarding Amy.

"...So basically, whoever made Alan a magical time bomb is the potential culprit behind Amy's situation?" He asked. Maria nodded in response.

"...Captain Zhang said she saw two false moonstrike members painting on the Xuanxang, and left the bridge to confront them outside the ship. It's likely their true aim was to serve as a distraction, keeping Captain Zhang away from the Bridge so that someone - the culprit - would be able to sneak in and attack Amy in a similar way to how they attacked Alan. ...Bear in mind, this is merely a theory, there are things about this case I have no answer for, such as how they got in and out of the ship without anyone else still on board noticing. However... I have reason to believe that whoever did this, is a Star Marine, one of the ones who didn't join us on this ship. Whether they're acting alone, or with Squad 0, I can't say." Maria explained, ending her telepathic report. Joey stared downward in thought, before scratching his head.

"...So someone attacked Alan, attacked Amy, vandalized the ship as a distraction for the latter...probably not a coincidence that this happens at around the same time as the Pirate attack on the Bazaar's wall street. ...Right, I take back what I said before: We should contact Moonstrike." He said, his face now giving off a more serious vibe. They hurt not one, but two members of this crew, and that alone was enough to make him want to hunt them down. Moreover, All these circumstances didn't sit right with Joey.

These weren't ordinary pirates...

@Letter Bee @Th3King0fChaos @The Man Emperor @Landaus Five-One @FalloutJack @Conscripts @dragonpiece @Starlance @jdh97 @Vietmyke @Sylvan @Smike @Senhara

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

Routine checkup/Wait a minute... (Maria)

Xuanzang - Infirmary

As the meeting in the bridge went into full swing, Maria stayed in the infirmary to watch over the unconscious Alan. However, just because she wasn't there did not mean she doesn't know what went on, the drama sparked by one of the newer - or rather one of the returning veterans - of the ship. The stock market undoubtedly suffered a blow, apparently thanks to pirates. One would then think her smart by playing safe and putting her money into a separate account, but if these pirates were capable of damaging the stock market so badly that the crew literally lost their money as a result, then chances are they'd be capable of tracking the money she transferred and take that as well. Following that came the punishment Joey dished out...on everyone on board. Both she and Alan has been with Joey for a little while, and as such, the level of madness was...unsurprising for her. He was an odd one, all his laid-back attitude and his talk of freedom, and yet it's as if military level discipline's hardwired into his instincts. Even so, she hardly minded; compared to the kind of shit the Star Marines were fed back when they were with the Ascendancy, even rations are likely to taste like fine dining. Alan however, is likely to jump out that bed and bolt to Joey's room to crush his face in the instant he wakes up and finds out.

Alas, there was no worry of that for now. As long as Alan was unconscious she could focus on other things...such as the promise she made regarding the mental scans.

Speaking of which...

”I-I am sorry for not arriving here sooner, Maria.”

If ever there was a moment she felt utterly thankful for her state of emotionlessness, it was now. It would have taken considerable mental strength not to roll her eyes the second she saw Narvia, of all the possible crew members, being the first to enter the infirmary for the scan. Her heart is in the right place and bless this girl for being as pure as she is, but she is so honest with her emotions that a scan of her would be absolutely redundant.

"It's fine... We'll begin when you're ready." Maria responded to her. Pointing at a chair, she prompted Navi to sit down and make herself comfortable while Maria levitates her staff to her hand. At around the same time, however, in comes Tarak as another scan volunteer.

"Hey Maria, I came in for the compulsory mind scan, unsure if you'll find anything out of the ordinary though"

Maria simply nods at him and points her staff towards another chair for him to sit in. Much like Narvia, Tarak in her mind was one of the last people she feels would need this scan. As he pointed out himself, she doubts there'll be anything about Tarak she didn't already know. Even so, she can't back out of this after making the offer to help Avelyn sort through the crew's mind scans, as tedious as that would be with just the two of them.

...Wait, just the two of them?

As Maria was about to get ready for the scanning of her two comrades she hesitated and stopped moving for a little bit.

...That's right, Amy could have helped with the mind scan. Her mind magic was particularly powerful, The three psychic girls together could run a full-scan of the entire ship in minutes if she assisted them. But when Avelyn made the suggestion to scan, there was no response from her. Why was that? Why didn't she respond?

She heard Amy was sleeping as a result of a sleepover, but...how long has she been out for now? Granted, she was of an alien race Maria barely heard of, so maybe they have some sort of hibernation state or something but...now that she was thinking on it, as she tries to sense Amy...something's wrong.

"...It seems I'll need to cut this scan short. This won't take long." She said as she then began scanning the two minds in minutes - first Narvia and then Tarak. Honestly, she was essentially skimming through the scan and cutting corners, skipping details in their minds. Normally this was a terrible thing for a Telepath to do, but the two volunteers just so happened to be two of the most trustworthy allies she knows. In the unlikely event she's wrong, she'll be willing to accept responsibility and meet punishment. But two people had already vanished and now one more seems to be inactive... This was a potential emergency.

"Done. You're both clean as a whistle. Navi's free to run along back to Finn's side; he's in the kitchen, cheating with Nero." She said to the two at first, but then focusing on Narvia. It didn't take her long to realize what she implied, but at this point, there was no time to correct or apologize. That said, Finnbar's probably to be coming to her next...but most likely not for the scan.

She then turned to her other volunteer.

"...Tarak, I'd like for you to stay here. ...Would you please move Alan to another infirmary bed? ...Something might have happened to Amy. If nobody comes in here within the next hour with Amy in tow, I'd like for you to go and bring her here." She asked him. As soon as Alan is on an actual bed, Maria uses her telekinesis to move whatever equipment necessary for diagnosis on someone like Amy to its proper place in preparation.

Sure enough, The Doc and Iris, once again came back to the Infirmary and with Amy in tow.

...This was not going to be good news.

As the Dust Settles...(Joey)

Xuanzang - Hallways

As Joey walked to his room, it didn't take long before he could practically feel the discontent in the air regarding what transpired, what kind of frustration and anger he thrusted upon himself from the other members of the crew. He decided to eavesdrop on as many of them as he could to hear their reactions, why, well some might say it's because he's a bit of a troll like that - and to be fair, that accusation isn't entirely baseless - but he had another and more important reason for it. As a result, some were taking it quite as he predicted they would, some not quite as he expected, and at least one he can't make heads or tails of.

The middle would probably be Tarak based on how well he seemed to take it given his youth, the way he poses himself tells Joey he's likely a leader among the children, combined with his stature and his assumed age compared to the others. Maria wasn't there at the time, still being in the infirmary, but she likely listened to everything from there, based purely on his experience with her and Alan, it's likely she won't have any issues with what's happening. Surprisingly, Iris seemed to take this well too, though by the sound of things with the way she talked to Doc, it seemed like something else was on her mind.

The latter being Narvia who started asking him a legit question complete with an small answer to his own regarding Abby, followed by an acknowledgement and an unnatural addendum about her family...Her eye's on the ball, he guesses, but maybe not the right ball at the moment? Not to mention how...boldly outspoken she is about this "Godfather" of hers and her family situation. It's been...a very long time since he's seen someone so bluntly upfront, and...did she just say Conner Hadley? She's Hadley's daughter? This girl is questions leading to more questions, a very symbol of a mystery, and for her own sake, it's likely someone needs to keep an eye out for her.

The former, well...

“Funny you talk about recklessness. If you need help remembering ten minutes ago, I’ll gladly help jog your memory tomorrow. In the meantime, look up the definition of ‘less-than-lethal’.”

"Never said I wasn't; this pot knows it's black already, sweetheart. At least when I'm endangering lives and welfare, it's usually the people shooting at us, and not allies and fellow crewmen." He said, loud enough for Avelyn to hear.

She and quite a few others - including Doc, of whom he honestly feels the most bad for - seemed to take this punishment thing about as much as he expected them to, overhearing Finnbar and Nero's Conversation in the kitchen - and their intent of defying punishment - before silently walking to his room without a word, a small smile on his face. It's likely Alan would also fall under this one if he was conscious. In fact, it's very likely that when he wakes up, he'll be the one marching out the infirmary to give Joey a piece of his mind.

As a side-note: it's relieving to hear someone is watching out for that Navi girl. This Finnbar kid seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders at the very least.

Nero, on the other hand, is gonna be fun to be around, he could feel it.

Without another word, he returned to his room, to prepare both for the arrival of the newcomers...and possibly someone attempting to shove karma down his throat.

---

A Lukewarm Welcome (Joey)

Xuanzang - Halls

It didn't take long for him to hear the ruckus coming from Amy's room courtesy of Doc and Iris. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear any details and what he could he was basically mumblings beyond the walls as he spots the two walking towards the Infirmary, with a blanketed alien he wasn't familiar with in tow. Sounds like something bad happened and the one in the blanket needed some medical attention stat. By the look on her face as she rushed Amy over, Iris seemed to be taking it particularly rough. She must have been someone she cared about quite a lot.

Honestly, part of him wanted to leave the welcoming committee to everyone else and help with whatever was going on now. However, while he's confident on the battlefield, he's practically powerless in the land of medicine. That aside, Doc has been virtually peerless in making recoveries happen to human and alien life alike for as long as he could remember. Unless it was a terminal-illness or a fatal wound - though that sure wouldn't stop him from trying - Joey's known Doc long enough to know that whatever is going on with the patient, she's in good hands.

With that in mind Joey went out of his room and walked towards the Entrance Hall to meet with the three new crewmen joining them, admittingly two more than he was expecting. He just expected one Kanarusian, but there was also two humans, one of which he was somewhat familiar with.

The one he had no knowledge of seemed to be the Kanarusian's bodyguard of some sort. He did hear rumors of a group of humans who supposedly lived under Kanarusian wings - no pun intended - and being raised as essentially the sword and shield of the houses. But he never seen any real proof of this being the case before now.

However, the one he did know about was the ex-diplomat Melinae Vandris - the "Flower Child" herself. The former representative who decided to live among the Rau've, and who - together with Kherol himself - helped write and sign the Peace Treaty that ended that brutal war. The Coalition likely would have attempted to have a crack at invading and bombarding the Ascendancy planets - or die trying if Kherol had anything to say about it - if it wasn't for Vandris and Kherol.

...And what's the first thing said to her, in front of both the Kanarusian representatives and the other members of the crew?

The Captain subtle passive-aggression towards her, and the Star Marine kid asking if the secret project of the Star Marines were addressed, and not before throwing Doruva's first impression of them out the window by confessing to him about their part in destroying one of their homeworlds.

Joey couldn't help but sigh. Natty's words sounded like a subtle jab at what Melinae had done, but she wasn't necessarily wrong. Flame's question regarding how the treaty addressed his fellow comrades could have been worded better, seeing as the way it is makes it sounds bitter towards her for not mentioning their situation - fair but with decent reason why not. But his confession to Doruva...Ooof. He understands why Flame confessed that, and were this any other circumstance, Joey would say it's the right thing to do. But combine that with what's said to Melinae about her work, and it's likely the three new passengers would be...uncomfortable.

"Well, this just got awkward quick... 'Ello everyone, Welcome aboard Natty's pride-and-joy. I'm Joey Albion, First mate of the ship...one of three, actually, ...Part-time, and since they didn't formally introduce themselves, this is Ashton and Flame - the latter of which, I apologize for if the confession he just dropped caused any discomfort for you in particular, we'll likely be having a little chat later about when and where best to bring up sensitive subjects." Joey said, speaking directly to Doruva and his human partner Gabriel during that last sentence. He then turned his head towards Melinae.

"Ms. Vandris. Read about your work with the Rau've and the treaty; I believe the Captain was trying to say that you have an exceptional resume. Happy to have another person on this ship immune to 'foot-in-mouth' syndrome, better still to have a peace-talker in our midst; some of us tends to use guns too often for our liking." He told her, giving a wink at the end, knowing that he was mostly referring to himself. He then turned back towards Doruva and Gabriel.

"Doruva and...Gabriel was it? Nice name. -Ahem- [It is with great honor that we welcome Doruva of Noble House Ao'shen, and his loyal guardian to this vessel. In honor of this occasion, we offer all of the non-ration food on this ship to you and to Ms. Vandris. We expect great things from you, and have hope that we meet what expectations you may have of us.]" Joey said, at first in English then after clearing his throat, the rest of what he said was in an alien language - Kanarusian's native tongue. In fact, it was so smooth in the tone, he almost sounded like someone completely from the sarcastic loud mouth he's been known for. He then made a cough and looked at Melinae one more time.

"It's been a while since I've last spoke Kanarusian, so I'm feel like I'm a bit rusty. Gist of it is: Welcome to the ship, and you three may have whatever you want from our kitchen, All-you-can-eat. ...Any thanks you have should go to the Captain, Ash and Flame over there. They've basically paid the tab for this occasion." He then said to the three of them, giving a slight chuckle as awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

@Letter Bee @Th3King0fChaos @The Man Emperor @Landaus Five-One @FalloutJack @Conscripts @dragonpiece @Starlance @jdh97 @Sylvan @Kafka Komedy @Vietmyke

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

@Th3King0fChaos Looks fine to me as well, mate. ^^

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

Back on the Ship - Infirmary (Maria)

As soon as she entered the portal, the first thing Maria did was follow Tyr to the Med Bay with Alan, using telekinesis to assist in getting Alan properly on the bed. Not an easy feat when crystal stalagmites were forming on his back, likely piercing through the bed and making Alan be forced in an awkward position, held up by those same crystals. After it was done, Maria stayed there to keep watch over him when Iris came by dressed...in a nightgown.

"...I saw nothing." She telepathically said to Iris. Likely it would have been a spoken in an awkward embarrassed tone, but her apathetic nature made the statement feel as neutral as anyone else said, instead using her body language to attempt to show it by holding her hands over her eyes.

She watched as Iris worked her magic to heal up Alan, the crystals successfully retreating back into his body, the wounds they made healing up. He was still unconscious, but thanks to Iris, he was stable, needing only a little rest and he'll be back on his feet. When Iris left, for the Meeting the Captain called everyone for, Maria chose to stay in the Medbay with the unconscious Alan. It's not like she needed to be presently there; her Telepathy makes for a good radio on what the meeting's about.

Speaking of which...

"As Laurey says, if you are intent on a full crew scan, then it is best we have the psychics scanned first. Preferably by telepaths other than themselves. However, for me, it will have to be a quick sweep scan of your mind. I cannot afford to leave the infirmary for the moment. You will have to come here, or send people here if you like for me to go deeper." She explained; she indeed needed to be there when Alan woke up.

...He had a lot of explaining to do about what happened there.

@Starlance @jdh97 @dragonpiece

---

Back on the ship - Bridge/Meeting (Joey)

Joey, on the other hand, did head to the meeting, but not before he saw the walking rob-errrrrrrrm-'Cyborg' greet him/her/itself to the Captain and requesting permission to officially come aboard the ship as a part of its crew...and being completely ignored. Don't know quite how Natty didn't notice around maybe a half-ton of metal - spitball estimate - right behind her. But situation was fairly chaotic as is, and if there's anything she gives a big ol damn about more than anything else, it's how her ship's treated.

Either way, it fell to him to do the task for her, walking to...them, and patting his hand on Jude's back, the slap hard enough to cause a slight reverb the insides may actually feel, like a slight vibration running down what's left of the body.

"Pay her no mind, kid. She gets like this sometimes when there's a risk of this ship getting scratched. She'll probably be like this for a little while. Frankly though, there's no need for the formalities. You're friends with the other magical girls and boys here, and that basically makes you one of us by proxy. Name's Joey Albion, welcome aboard." Joey said to the hulking metal person, his eyes closed as he gave a big optimistic smile to greet them.

---

Arriving at the meeting, Joey is finally looking at the one in charge of this Rebel Shindig, "Moonstrike One", for the first time. Needless to say, he didn't feel that impressed by what he saw. An image with sound only, and a distorted voice at that, seemed to suggest that this was someone who didn't want their identity revealed to whoever they're talking to.

"Now why would that be...?" he wondered. He said nothing though, just listened on the current plights of the crew.

And HOOO, BOY, Was it a plight. Joey instinctually blinked and went wide-eyed in disbelief, trying to fathom and process the mess he was hearing.

So apparently this all started when a part of the crew - kids of course - decided to play "Wall Street Kid" in real life. Particularly, Ashton and Flame - Nice names for nice kids, by the by, can't help but wonder if they chose those names or if their parents were an odd sort - used a Stock Forum, "RealAscendancyStockBets", to fuck with the Ascendancy's Bottom Line financially, and got them all stinking rich... while likely not considering how Tax Evasion works. Then a bunch of pirates - apparently led by the guy He, Maria, and Alan all got jailed for allegedly being associated with - crept into the Bazaar's stock market building, while everyone was occupied by the whole "Towering Inferno" thing - Surely a coincidence - and robbed the whole damn crew blind while simultaneously painting graffiti on the ship, likely to frame them for their actions.

The Heroes of the Galaxy, ladies and gentlemen.

...But that's not the whole story regarding this stock thing. The Doc was right to get angry at Ashton, but then he turned discipline over to Natasha.

"Wake me if you need me, this week I've been working too damn hard and too damn long to play the role as the Disappointed Father."

"What about Disappointed Husband, Doc? ...Ehh, second thought you get some rest. Suppose I should play that role, now that I'm here." Joey asked. Then turning his eyes over to the Projection of Moonstrike One's Logo.

"First off, don't think we met. Name's Joey B. Albion, Part-time First Mate of this ship. Not usually around here a lot so I often let Abby and Millard take over duties till I get back. ...Come to think of it, Where is Abby?" Joey asked as he looked around. It only just occurred to him that he hasn't seen his big ol Kaisoken buddy for a while since being on the ship. He's probably just downstairs in the engine room, but he's down there for quite a while if he is.

He shook off the thought; probably just focused working on stuff. He then turned back to Moonstrike One.

"Anyways, I'm basing this on a hunch and... totally not also the fact that I've...basically jerry-rigged everything on this ship from communications to the internet's browsing history to be relayed to my ship whenever I'm not here. But I'm fairly certain the captain is guilty of this little thieving attempt as well. Jokes and...actual-information-I-totally-didn't-steal aside, I know Natty well enough to know that she wouldn't pass up an opportunity to screw over the Ascendancy royally, consequences be damned. Yeah, fun fact about your captain, kiddos: She can be pretty...vindictive like that, sometimes to the point of pettiness, sometimes even recklessness. Not sure if the Doc or Abby told you this yet, so at the risk of repeating what you already know - being on this ship's a two-way door of responsibility. Natty takes care of all of you, makes sure you guys are safe and fed, disciplines you if you do something bad, ...and in exchange, everyone makes sure she doesn't go off-the-rail and get everyone killed..." Joey said, ending off his monologue by staring directly at Natasha for a few seconds, before then turning towards the others once again.

"I'll be straight with you guys: Since the captain screwed up, I'll be the one dishing out the punishment in her stead. So, at the cost of bombing any chance I have at a good first impression - overrated concept anyways - here's the deal: Effective in oh...Three hours - or however long it takes for our new guest to get here - The menu's gonna be changed for the next few days to Breakfast Rations, Lunch Rations, Dinner Rations, and if the kids on the ship behave themselves, maybe even some rations for dessert. Sure M-1 here can accommodate and give us ration supplies for a little bit if we ever run out. In the meantime, if there's any food on this ship that's not ready-made meals, probably should start scarfing them down now, Cause Kanarusians are known to have pretty big stomachs, so whatever's left likely gonna be going to our new crew member as a welcome gift. Oh, and payment is gonna be docked for about the same amount of time. Be sure to give Captain Natty and the Song of Ash and Fire over there the tab when you're done." He said. He them a brief moment of pause to process what was said, and most likely process their emotions at being punished for the crimes of these three in particular and most likely resulting in anger. Where obvious where they'll redirect whatever frustrations they may have, either on them, or more likely, on him. He then turns around, facing away from M-1's logo and towards the door, taking a few steps before stopping.

"Oh, and if M-1 over here doesn't mind, let me end this meeting with this: The stealing of your money, the punishment I've just throw down, the fact that M-1 here could just take a highly-advanced super AI from the ship without any of you realizing it, they're all the least of your worries right now. There's something else you lot's gotta keep in mind. Based on what I understand from what M-1 here's been saying combined with all the coinky-dinks that's happened back there - and what Maria sent me via 'Mind Mail' regarding what Nero told her, there's some pretty dangerous people who probably know about this ship being a part of Moonstrike, who seem to be targeting Moonstrike specifically, and likely know about you Star Kids being a part of it. For now, best we keep our heads low until we come up with a way to bounce back. On that note, if M-1 doesn't mind, I think we can adjourn this meeting." He said. Throughout the meeting his small laid-back smile was always there. It was only when he tried to state his warning about the current situation and placing a directive did that smile fade out into a stern frown. Without giving anyone a chance to say anything - Moonstrike One included - he walked out into the hallway.

"Anyone needs me, or just wants to try and kill me for the menu-change, I'll be in my room getting things ready for the Kanarusian's arrival." He said in the halls, yelling it so that as many people on the ship could hear him as he could muster, ignoring any potential yelling, questions, and perhaps some not-so-pleasant words that would come out from his 'punishment' as he walked back to his room.

@FalloutJack @The Man Emperor @Th3King0fChaos @Letter Bee @Landaus Five-One @6slyboy6 @Kafka Komedy

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

Burning Marketplace (Maria)

Galactic Bazaar - Burning Marketplace

As they fought against the Goblins they would find them only a little durable, it would take more than one hit to strike them down, but two or three would likely be enough, or particularly magically enfused or outright specifically targeted attacks.

They were a rather persistent race, an arm or a leg cut off or blown off, and they would still come at them in spite of that. The possibility of getting burnt by superheated metal didn't sway against them from trying to attack Trajen, they just endured the pain of that heat until he actually cuts them down with that sword.

Not unlike Klein's nightmare creatures. Both the goblins and whatever Klein created had that same sense of relentlessness. It's unclear if any of these goblins were concieving any other nightmare creatures or if the monsters that were created were within that fright range for them. But if Klein called out their fears as well, he'd likely notice that fear concieving something...difficult to comprehend, a black silhouette of...a swarm? A malformed hive? Some kind of shapeless monstrocity? It was as if the mind was trying to conceive a single fear, but in so many different ways that it was hard to give it a proper form.

Klein would likely hear them mutter "Low-Father..." before then giving a howling scream and running at the monstrocity to continue their attack, the fear in their eyes apparent still.

Eventually, however, enough attacks on them would cause them to keel over. What the goblins had in persistence, they seemed to lack in actual endurance.

Maria, however, did have little trouble dealing with the goblins that seemed to have wings sprout out to fly after her, as she flies around to evade their attacks, deflecting their weapons with her staff. With Telekinesis, she made the staff move on its own to distract the goblins.

'How you holding up? Must be dizzying fighting mid-air like that hu'

"They are spinning me right round for certain, but I'll handle it. ...I might require a bag back on the ship just to be safe." She said back to him, with her dead-pan attempt at making humor. Turning the knob on her head slightly, she brought back her staff at fast speeds and proceeded to throw it at a nearby window, firing arcane shots out of her fingers towards the goblins, looking like little white sparks - feeling like them as well. They kept them distracted enough for her to telekinetically throw a bunch of broken glass from the windows she busted towards them at enough speeds to pierce right through them, the bigger pieces of glass outright slicing through them.

Regardless of how the goblins died, what happened to their corpses - assuming they had corpses - remained the same: they disintegrate into a black dust - the same matter that seemed to create them - and float upwards towards the black cloud overhead.

Interestingly enough, even the goblin Finnbar put in spacetime lockdown - once time was up - disintegrated into a black dust and returned to the cloud once most of the other goblins were defeated.

Once all the goblins died and vanished, the giant cloud started moving at incredibly fast rates, circling around before dispersing and fading away.

Without a word, Maria ensured everyone got through the portal Finnbar made and once they were, she flew right in herself.

@Letter Bee @The Man Emperor @FalloutJack @Kafka Komedy @Landaus Five-One @Th3King0fChaos

Crazy Jeep (Joey)

Galactic Bazaar - NW Shopping Area

"Oi, Don't knock it til you try it, Sweetheart." He simply told her as he seemed uncaring about the fact that his legs were exposed for any of the cops to strike from under the car. Either he was confident in their stupidity, didn't care much about getting hurt, or was simply an idiot himself. Either way, he he gave her a quick salute when she gave her order to get back in the Jeep, grabbing the jeep's door behind him, pulled himself and slid back into the driver's seat, shooting at the infantry as soon as he got back in. Seems he didn't need to take more than a couple of shots, as Avelyn showed off her magic, knocking them on their asses and for the most part making their weapons fly away like a newspaper in a hurricane. Joey gave an impressed whistle in response.

As soon as she was in the passenger seat, she gave him his directions to the ship.

"Right then, Suggest you hang on kid, it's about to get a little crazy." He told her, prssing a button on his radio...

...And immediately switching from one outdated song to another.

As soon as the began playing, he shifted gears, made the jeep swerve towards the direction Avelyn pointed towards from its parallel parked placement, and dashed straight ahead at alarming speeds. If there was one thing that Joey seemed to have, it was good reflexes as he swerved left and right around the obstacles - the security and their vehicles - while getting Avelyn in a good position to shoot at them before they can shoot back. Eventually he took a sharp turn to the third-left as she instructed and made his way towards the ship, parking himself with breaks so hard that it made the rear of the sheep tilt upward at an angle - almost cartoonishly - before landing on all four wheels right at the moment when the song ended.

"...Well that was fun. Thank you for choosing Albion Taxi services. No need for a fare this time." He joked to her as he then got out of the jeep.

@Starlance

Meanwhile at the rubble... (Nuletta, Zebul, Carmichael)

Galactic Bazaar - Stock Trade Center Remains

On his way back to his ship to attempt at continuing the chase against the pirates, he returned to the smoldering remains of the Stock Trade Center. Seems the fire fighters weren't there to deal with the flames coming out the place and threatening to engulf the neighboring buildings around it. Apparently some jackass bought out their emergency extinguishers and hauling ass to get more. The cops that were still alive and not quite as injured as others were overseeing the disaster before them.

However, what really made him stop in his tracks, was the arrival of two individuals, the Paladins, Nuletta and Zebul. The latter looking like he was having a little bit of a rough time of his own, a hand to his head as if he's suffering a headache.

"...They defeated them, the overall performance is about as expected." He said, looking at his the watch on the wrist of his other hand.

"This is their first time bearing witness to them, and they're already in a stressful situation. I think we can cut them some slack for the time being. As for my own thrall...well, it served its purpose. That's all I could ask of it, really." Nuletta said behind him. As they spoke, Carmichael walked towards them.

"This area is restricted. For your own safety, please evacuate the-" Carmichael said to the two as he approached, Nuletta sighed unattentively as he made the general "leave now" babble and both took out what appeared to be a wallet before he finished his statement, opening it up to reveal a badge. Grand Admiral Kherol's mark on full display - that was all they needed to shut him up. It didn't take Carmichael long to connect two and two together.

"Paladins..." As specialists in Black Ops and other such dirty deeds the Ascendancy as a government didn't want to pin their names on, there wasn't a member of Special Forces who haven't at least heard rumors about these 'Paladins' of Kherol. A collection of freakshows that served as a magical ace up the Grand Admiral sleeve should the need arise to turn tables in his favor. Not many seem aware of their existence beyond that, but that badge is all they need to flash to just about anyone who has even some affiliation to the Ascendancy to get them by. Special Forces operatives like himself moreso than others, seeing as they were an Ascendancy organization supervised by Kherol as well.

"Agent Carmichael, I presume? Fancy running into you here of all places... I take it you came here for the pirates as well?"

"As well...? So, they're hunting them too? Yes. I've been in pursuit of them since they escaped the Circle of Hell. I arrived here when they-"

"No need to explain anymore, I got a good idea of what happened next." She interrupted the agent, stretching out her hand in front of him as if to silence him while looking at the flaming remains of the building. This was the stock trade center that the pirates blew up, it didn't take Nuletta long to connect the dots of how and why this happened.

"More to the point, you saved us the trouble of searching for you. We wish to take your testimony regarding the Circle of Hell incident. It seems you were the last visitor to arrive before the crash, and among the first to have left after the fact. Lord Winterborn assigned as essentially investigators of that incident, and so I'd like to hear your side of the story." Nuletta said, a notepad and a pen suddenly in her hands. Not focusing on where exactly she suddenly got a notepad and pen from, Carmichael instead takes a deep breath and proceeds to give her his testimony.