Chapter Seven: Full House

[Sherwood]

Mario pauses for a moment, then says, "Is it possible to recruit more members to the UEEF team that we are building here? And now that we are now UEEF members, what is the exact mission that we are preparing for, besides the obvious?"

 

[Purr]

Mario pauses for a moment, then says, "Is it possible to recruit more members to the UEEF team that we are building here?

Many eyes turn toward Captain Piper who looks to Mario. "That depends. Who did you have in mind?"

And now that we are now UEEF members, what is the exact mission that we are preparing for, besides the obvious?"

"Like I said earlier, only Sam knows and he wants to show us. Maybe we should ask him once you guys are finished talking technopathy?" Her armband gives off a nice chiming sound.

"Oh, good news. Sam says he's found spaghetti sauce, meatballs, and... what the heck is... 'angel hair'?"

 

[Sherwood]

Many eyes turn toward Captain Piper who looks to Mario. "That depends. Who did you have in mind?"

Mario says, "Well, my dad is a destroid pilot instructor up at Monument City, teaching the next generation of soldiers how to use their mecha. He was a Tomahawk pilot on Macross Island when the Zentraedi first arrived, and he served with distinction on the SDF-1 during the war. I would think that he would be a good person to approach with the possibility of serving the greater good of Earth."

"Oh, good news. Sam says he's found spaghetti sauce, meatballs, and... what the heck is... 'angel hair'?"

With a smile, he says, "Captain, it will be a real treat for your taste buds once we are done here and I can make my way to the mess hall to work my magic on that food. The secret to the perfect spaghetti is in the sauce, but having good pasta is also a must. If I had more time, I would make my own meatballs, too. A good mx of hot and mild sausage gives them just the right kiss of flavor. I only hope that I can properly adapt my recipe for all of us. I've never had to cook for this many people before."

 

[Psychie]

Toph smiles as Mario describes the food with such passion. "It sounds like you are just the man we need for a genuine Italian dinner there, Mario. If it is half as good as you make it sound, it should be delicious!"

 

[Purr]

Piper fidgets. "Uhh, you think you can make enough for about, say, fifty? Ask the Sams or your squad to help? And answer my question. What the heck is angel hair?"

 

[Sherwood]

Mario chuckles. "Yes, ma'am. Angel hair is a type of pasta that is very thin, thinner than regular spaghetti pasta. It cooks faster, since the water has less pasta to soak into."

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus

"Oh.... O.K.!" Piper seems pleased with Mario's thorough answer.

"Lieutenant Mario!" Reggie points upward. "If you need an extra hand I'll help! And I bet Mister Hercules will help too!"

Captain Piper follows Reggie's gaze. "Did I say 50? Make that 55."

 

[Purr]

"Well," Professor Stein says, "you don't want me in the kitchen. My cooking is utterly detestable! What other questions have you for me?" Kaerri

 

[Silanon]

"I've mostly cooked up things that don't belong in a human's stomach, but I'll help where I can. Mostly one for precise dissecting, myself, so it'll probably take a bit longer..."

"Next question would be how terribly wrong things can go while traversing."

Piper frowns and pets Trouble who has now wandered near her. "We don't even know what the mission really is yet. I mean, beyond preparing for the coming of the Invid. As for protecting the Broadsword, that's easy - just don't tell anybody we exist for now!"

"You know, I wasn't sure if it's that easy to keep the Broadsword safe - and it's not really concern about the outside threats. See, if a well-trained traverser can control a ship's main gun, then an untrained one might be able to do something similar, but in the wrong way. If we practise aboard of the Broadsword, that's where all of our mistakes will happen, too. Maybe being under supervision will do the trick, then that's good. If not, we might eventually need to find a place where mistakes don't matter as much."

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus Tag!

(Heya Gang! Hope you guys are in the mood for a little technopathy knowledge and a bit of Broadsword's history. As the newest members to her crew, you might benefit from knowing this. =)

Mario says, "Well, my dad is a destroid pilot instructor up at Monument City, teaching the next generation of soldiers how to use their mecha. He was a Tomahawk pilot on Macross Island when the Zentraedi first arrived, and he served with distinction on the SDF-1 during the war. I would think that he would be a good person to approach with the possibility of serving the greater good of Earth."

* * *​

"Next question would be how terribly wrong things can go while traversing."

Professor Stein aims his index finger straight at Ylva and nods eagerly. "Yes. Now you are onto something good and dangerous. Lt. Sveadotter, the ultimate answer to how wrong things can go while using technopathy is summed up simply - you can lose your life." Professor Stein puts a hand through his long white beard. With eyes filled with seriousness, he gently grins to each person he names. "Mack... Mario... Lt. Rolland. Each one of you know first-hand the terrors and pain technopathy can bring. "Mack? You start. How did you wind up in sickbay?"

Mack sighs recalling the recent memory and puts a hand on her forehead, her fingers intertwined with her curly black hair. "By jumping into the Blue World and into a group of Cores."

"Yes, but what kind of Cores, my dear?"

"Cores hostile to the Wild Cards. Lesson learned? Never go into the Blue World alone. At least not until we're better trained."

"Very good!" Sherwood "Mario? I understand you had your share of Brain-burn? Enough to give you some troubles?" D. Rex "And Lt. Rolland? You are not sitting in that fancy chair because you like to, I take it? Both of you are welcome to share your experiences with us all if you of a mind to."

* * *​

"You know, I wasn't sure if it's that easy to keep the Broadsword safe - and it's not really concern about the outside threats. See, if a well-trained traverser can control a ship's main gun, then an untrained one might be able to do something similar, but in the wrong way. If we practise aboard of the Broadsword, that's where all of our mistakes will happen, too. Maybe being under supervision will do the trick, then that's good. If not, we might eventually need to find a place where mistakes don't matter as much."

Cera puts her fork down and stares at Professor Stein. "Supervision should be mandatory. One does not throw an untrained soldier into a fully-armed Power Armor and send them off into combat. The result is more than wasteful - it is... potentially self-destructive and destructive to one's own."

Stein thinks a moment. "Perhaps, but humans are not clones to be ordered about like machines, Cera. With humans, I believe a combination of discipline and self-expression is often the best road to gaining experience, not just for the individual, but for all involved. To use your example, Lt. Sveadotter, I cannot help but wonder if Captain Drake was a Traverser on my level or beyond it? To traverse with the SDF-3 Pioneer, the UEEF's mightiest vessel? A vessel of that size... would be a Blue World unto itself. Captain Piper?"

"Yeah, Prof?"

"In your time, how many other Traversers did you know about beside Captain Drake?"

Piper stares down into her plate and slowly stirs her pancakes with her fork. "None. Zero. Zilch."

"Then how did he attain such technopathic heights?"

"My guess? A lifetime of trial and error. Drake was an uncontrollable bookworm too. He was always linking his brain up with something. Our Garfish was by far the smoothest-running in the whole fleet. Mind you, we didn't... exactly... advertise that fact to the rest of the Fleet. You know."

"And the Broadsword? Are there more ships like her in your time? With Sam units and all?"

Piper looks outside of the hangar bay to the gorgeous Gulf of Mexico. A small smile curls her thin lips. "No way, Prof! The Broadsword? The Sams and Samanthas? Even the miniature Robotech Factory? She's one of a kind! All Captain Drake's doing."

Piper had Professor Stein's fullest attention. "What? How?"

"Been wanting to tell you all. Now that we're all UEEF, I finally can! Want to hear the short version?"

Murphy, Sharp, and Stein all shared a look and nodded. "Please do!"

"The Broadsword misjumped when the fleet first arrived on the other side. Even then, the Broadsword was a special ship, but without Drake, she'd physically be just another Garfish-class destroyer. See, separated from the Fleet, we ran into trouble early with the Invid. We knew we were outmatched before they got close, so we rabbited the nearest planet. Turns out that planet, Terrestria, was not only habitable, but inhabited! We ran into the Broo there. One meeting with ol' Drake and we had allies. Man, he was magic!

"They hid us. I mean... like the entire ship! Buried us under the ground where we waited out the Invid. Unable to find us, but unwilling to leave, the Invid hung out for months. We didn't even dare try and get a message out to the Fleet. The Invid tried and tried, but they couldn't find the Broo, much less us. So, the Broadsword crew and the incredible Broo people got to know each other and they offered to join us against the Invid. But we weren't the only thing that had come from beyond.

"Way before we arrived, some ancient Zentraedi science guy had crash-landed on Testria. The Broo approached him. Dying, he left them messages they couldn't figure out, but the meaning was clear - don't let the Invid find this. He was referring to some kind of experiment that he had created. It had survived the crash. Drake had it checked out and once O.K.'ed, it was brought aboard. Then, within a day, the darned thing goes and joins with the rest of the ship! It's basically a miniature Robotech Factory, that once supplied with schematics and resources, seems to make whatever we can fit into the hangar bays!

"Eventually, the Invid left, we got all dusted off, and left Terrestria, and eventually linked up with the rest of the Fleet. Then Captain Drake goes and probably changes human history when we run into the Sentinels, a group of aliens minus the Broo, that the UEEF had liberated from the Invid."

Captain Sharp interrupted. "Pardon me. Do you mean to say the SDF-3's mission to meet with the Robotech Masters ended in failure?"

"Sure did, sir. At least where I'm from. Eventually one group among the Sentinels, the shadowy Hadyonites, figured out some kind of special stealth technology and super-Reflex cannons that would help us turn the tide against the Invid. Except... the Broadsword was Captain Drake's ship. The UEEF agreed to their installation, but the moment authorities turned their backs, Captain Drake goes and does his whole technopathy thing directly with the new tech! And guess what?"

"What?" Mack asks. Not far from her, Cera keeps eating. She seems only vaguely interested in this and more interested in her new food. Trouble too seems to only pay so much attention. His gold eyes shining, the mechanized kitten approaches Ylva and looks up at her quietly but expectantly.

Piper continues. "Turns out the whole damned cannon is set up for sabotage! There is some kinda transmitter on the thing that, once the Haydonites send out a special signal, anyone who uses those cannons blows themselves up killing everyone on board! So what does Drake do? He asks ever so politely, 'could we remove those transmitters and explosives, please?' And the cannon says, 'Yes sir!'

Captain Piper pats the table. "And so now we have stealth tech and a perfectly-functioning Synchro Cannon onboard and installed on the Broadsword. Oh, and she works. We've had to use her in battle. Drake went on to get a private meeting with Admiral Hunter and Vice Admiral Hunter where I think he told 'em just about everything. And that's the last I heard. Being a 19-year-old Flight Commander, I'm not exactly privy to the secrets of the higher-ups, y'know? That was true until I came here. So... just goes to show you all what a lone highly-motivated and gifted Traverser can do. If it weren't for Captain Drake, we'd be dead ten times over."

Piper returns to her pancakes leaving many of your crewmates to sit back and digest this history, each in their own ways.

Professor Stein eventually speaks up again, his expression ever-curious. "Dare I ask if there are other questions? This is turning out to be quite the conversation!"

 

[Sherwood]

Mario looks over at the Captain, and asks, "Ma'am? Just what is a Synchro Cannon? The way you talk about it makes it sound special. What does it do?"

 

[Purr]

"Huh?" Captain Piper gives Mario a look as if he had suddenly transformed into a micronized Zentraedi. "How do you not know? Waaait..." Piper shakes her red hair creating a momentary cascade of fierce fiery colors in the morning sunlight. "Sorry! Everybody I know knows what a Synchro Cannon is. But how could you when it hasn't been invented yet?" Cera nods along with this assessment.

"Put simply? A Synchro Cannon is the Broadsword's main gun. It fires pure energy and it has completely destroyed every target we have ever fired it on! Because of its power draw and the safety concerns that go along with using it, we can't fire it very often, so we make every shot count! Think of it kinda like a teeny version of the Super Dimensional Fortress's main gun."

Sam steps forward. "Uh, like Captain? Could I offer a little correction ma'am?"

"Sure, Sam. What is it?"

"Earlier when you said the explosives on the Synchro Cannons, like, had to be, y'know, vacated? Those weren't explosives. Those units were all transmitters."

"Then... how were the Synchro Cannons supposed to explode?"

"Easy, ma'am!" Sam widens his hands. "When you shoot it, the power goes totally nowhere! That turns into a big overload and KABOOOOSH! No more ship! Maximum bummer, ma'am!"

Piper turns to Mack. "Do your people really talk like this?"

"For sure!" Mack replies after a drink of coffee.

 

[Psychie]

Toph leans forwards and asks, "Captain, besides the mecha on board and this Synchro Cannon thing, what kind of defenses does the Broadsword have? I understand that we need to keep her safe, but if it really hits the fan and there is a firefight going on outside, how well can the ship defend itself if the Wild Cards are tied up somewhere else?"

 

[Purr]

Psychie

Piper gazes at Toph for long moment. Then with a rare big smile, she says. "God, you sound just like your mom right now! O.K. After our first encounter with the Invid at Terrestria, Drake figured out quickly that the Broadsword was no match against what they had. We didn't even launch Flight Nine - we just boogied outta there to safety. Upon reuniting with the Fleet, we found out that many a Garfish had been trashed and that Drake had totally made the right call. So, the UEEF went on to upgrade the Garfish destroyers with an Anti-Invid suite of point defense lasers. And let me tell you; that system cleans house! If we'd had it at Terrestria, we might not have ever landed. In hindsight, I'm glad we didn't have the system at the time or we would have missed out on quite a lot.

"The Broadsword can defend itself against a flight of Invid or a squadron of, say, those AUL drones you all fought with her energy shields, the laser point defense systems, and what missiles we've got remaining. If we're up against non-living bandits like your drones, Sam can and will launch in whatever mecha are left here including the Mad Dog. However, Sam's been designed to respect all life. We've never seen Sam take a life even in defense of the UEEF. So there it is."

"What up next?" Piper looks to everyone, Toph included, for more questions.

 

[Silanon]

"Those Invid - heard the name a couple of times, now. The big, looming threat at the very end, unless I'm mistaken. If you met them before - that'd mean you know quite a bit about them, right? How they fight, what they are like. What they want. Mind sharing a bit of that, Captain? You know, if we're supposed to defend Earth against them, it wouldn't hurt to know how to go about it. Other than spreading laser defenses all across the country." Ylva looks around for the other squad members.

"Unless that's old news for all of you; might be better for me to read it up another time, then. Speaking of which - did any of you check out the computers in the rooms, yet? I haven't, thus far, and I was wondering what we have access to, from there. I've seen that the Broadsword receives the world's news, apparently; anything more futuristic on there that we should be careful with?"

 

[Purr]

Captain Piper pauses. There is a mouthful of pancakes hanging on her fork, but her gaze is going right past it. For one long moment, she frowns and begins to fidget. Her fork hits the plate and she turns away from her food and watches the scintillating Gulf of Mexico. "Invid." She says the word as if it has very deep meaning to her. "It's about as fair of a question as you can ask, but the one you oughta be asking is Beamer. She's one of our ship navigators. Logs say she made it too." But Piper's grin fades. "The Invid are more numerous, more terrifying, more unusual, and more alien than anything I've ever known. They're after Protoculture. Ours. The Robotech Masters's. The Zentraedi's. Everybody's. And they're willing to kill or enslave you and yours to get it.

Piper runs a hand through her hair while Wwarlock nuzzles her other hand and looks out to the gulf with her. For a moment, they seem of one expression, one mind. "They're freakin' monsters! People-killing monsters! And... they don't ever stop! In our timeline, they came to Earth here and they laid waste! Damn near everybody died! It was worse than the Rain of Death! The RDF, ASC, EBSIS... you name them, the Invid killed or enslaved 'em! Men, women, children. Didn't matter!

Piper shudders and looks Ylva in the eye. "In our timeline... the Invid won! We were on our last and best try with the SDF-3 Pioneer with the Hunters aboard and in charge when we reached the Black Binary, a cosmic place where folding spacetime was said to happen instantaneously and not take years! Time travel was thought to be possible. And it is! But the UEEF, after years and years of fighting, were trying out some... new super-missiles of some kind. Something rumored to be so powerful, it would end the Invid forever.

"But something went wrong. We alone were sent here and..." Piper pushes her plate away. "... now here we are." Piper lets out a ragged sigh and looks around. "Time appears to be on our side so we can talk more about the Invid later. I don't want to ruin my first days on Earth with this. I have what's left of the crew to revive and a hundred other things to do. Can we... talk about something else? Anything else?"

Casting a sympathetic eye to the 19-year-old, Captain Sharp is quick to speak up. "Sure we can, ma'am. Next question!"

 

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Elinor Hall

Elinor's character sheet
Action Points: 8/8
Bonus action point: 1

Trouble sniffs Elinor's finger, which holds his attention for a mere moment before his curiosity pulls at him. Then he is padding across the table in an attempt to investigate - nose-first - whatever is on Elinor's plate. "Roo?"

Elinor gently shoos him away from her plate, then grabs a spare small plate and puts a couple slices of ham on it. She shoos Trouble away from her own plate again and turns him around so his nose is pointing at the smaller plate. "That's for you," she tells him before letting go.

Next line of questions, my dear?"

Elinor has a list, actually, but she waits politely while the others take their turns. She's just as interested in what they're asking as what she has in mind -- it's all stuff they'll need to know.

"I would like to create a classroom with all manner of technological objects with the purpose of seeing where everyone is and what roles do they play at a Traversers. But where?"

Hitomi chimes in with a lovely smile. "I think Lt. Sveadotter just offered the best option - sickbay is open and large enough. Plus, it's the best place to be if something goes wrong."

"Sounds good to me," Elinor chimes in. "I'd love a safe place to mess around with things."

"You know, I wasn't sure if it's that easy to keep the Broadsword safe - and it's not really concern about the outside threats. See, if a well-trained traverser can control a ship's main gun, then an untrained one might be able to do something similar, but in the wrong way. If we practise aboard of the Broadsword, that's where all of our mistakes will happen, too. Maybe being under supervision will do the trick, then that's good. If not, we might eventually need to find a place where mistakes don't matter as much."

"It seems like the mistakes most dangerous to ourselves have to do with hostile Cores, or getting lost," Elinor points out. "Broadsword is pretty friendly to Traversers, so we don't have to worry about that. I do think we should go into the Blue World in pairs at least, until we know we're not going to get lost here anyway, and that should help with the second problem. Honestly from the way the Sams have been treating us, I think Broadsword may well be the safest place to practice moving about."

Turns out that planet, Terrestria, was not only habitable, but inhabited! We ran into the Broo there. One meeting with ol' Drake and we had allies.

"What are the Broo like?" Elinor wants to know.

Casting a sympathetic eye to the 19-year-old, Captain Sharp is quick to speak up. "Sure we can, ma'am. Next question!"

Elinor turns back to Stein. "When we were goin' off to rescue Colonel -- I mean, Captain Sharp, we sorta introduced ourselves to the Mjolnirs and learned how to operate them via Technopathy. Then when a couple of us went and did the same with the prototype mecha we found there, we lost the Mjolnir knowledge. Now, I've kinda got a feeling I could keep them both now, but what I'd like to know is, how long can we keep that knowledge if we don't, well, overwrite it? And what circumstances would cause us to lose it early other than overwritin' it? And, like I said, I think I could keep 'em both now, but not more 'n that. If we can hold two or more, and learn a third, do we get to pick which one gets over-writ?"

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus Kaerri Tag!

Elinor gently shoos him away from her plate, then grabs a spare small plate and puts a couple slices of ham on it. She shoos Trouble away from her own plate again and turns him around so his nose is pointing at the smaller plate. "That's for you," she tells him before letting go.

Intercepting Trouble a second time turns out to be a wise decision as he curiously goes for Elinor's plate the moment she reaches for the second plate. Thankfully, she can lift the little feline bandit with one hand if necessary. Once set on a course for a plate that belongs to him (and that has something nice on it, like the ham she left), Trouble rubs his head up against Elinor's hand in a moment of gratitude. Furthermore, it looks like ham is something that will keep him occupied, for it is wide and flat and Trouble lacks a knife to cut it with. So, Trouble contents himself by chewing away at it while his ears turn in every direction there is conversation.

"Broadsword is pretty friendly to Traversers, so we don't have to worry about that.

Professor Stein raises his index finger as if to make a point. "The Broadsword and Sams are friendly to UEEF personnel over Traversers. Keep that in mind, my dear. I doubt Sam is loyal to Traversers; he's just had extremely good relationship with Captain Drake, I gather. As for the Broadsword also being the safest place to learn about Traversing, I could not agree more as long as we do not get in over our heads and try to do too much or go too far. Whatever secrets the Sams are hiding, I think it is for them to provide to us if that is the nature of said secrets."

"What are the Broo like?" Elinor wants to know.

Captain Piper immediately seems to warm to the idea of the changes in subjects, including this one. She leans her elbow against the table, her cheek resting on her palm. "Oh, the Broo? Jeez, where do I begin?" Piper smiles fondly. "We love 'em, our dear Savage People! We're welcome back on Terrestria whenever we please. They're really friendly, kind of naïve. Very trusting of us. If I were going to live somewhere other than Earth, it'd be with them in their jungle villages. 'For sure.'"

This catches Murphy's interest almost immediately. "Tribal people? Can they even fight the Invid?"

"Let me tell you a little story about 'em," Piper grins to anyone who cares to hear it. "When the Broo learned that the Invid were after us, hiding the Broadsword wasn't good enough. Hiding themselves wasn't good enough! No, they had to go out and fuck with 'em! They're hunters and good in the bush, but some of 'em got a mischievous streak. So one day, they came back from the hunt after we taught 'em how to use our video recorders. They hunted an Invid Shock Trooper with their bows and arrows and recorded the whole thing!"

"You gotta be shittin' me?" Murphy gawks.

"Nope! We can tell their hunting party is really, really excited about something. So they all gather around us all family-like, right? And they start showing this video of three Invid Shock Troopers and one of the three, they've kinda lured off by itself. So, their war-chief, that's Faydra, nocks an arrow with a big stone head and lets it go. Then she immediately goes to ground. The stone hits it in the back of the head. Makes this dinging sound. The Shock Trooper turns around to investigate, and here come a whole bunch of other arrows flyin' outta the trees! It looks like the branches are shooting them, because you can't see a single Broo! The Shock Trooper gets an eyeful of arrows - and the arrows blow up! But not into fire, but colors! They hit it right in the eye - and covered it with paint! Sucker couldn't see a damned thing!

Piper's laugh is hearty one. "The damned Shock Trooper is stomping mad and staggering around all confused while the Broo, covered from head to toe in some special kind of mud, all go running outta there. By the time the other two Shock Troopers get there, they kinda look at the blind one and with what looks like a sad resignation. Then they flew off, I guess to go get him cleaned up? The Shock Troopers have claws for hands; don't seem to have the means to clean off paint! When the hunting party got back to us, they couldn't wait to show us! Sure, they can't hurt the Invid, but they were quite satisfied being able to piss 'em off!"

Murphy's laugh follows. "Captain! They sounds like my kinda people. Spirited to th' core!"

"That they are. Anybody messes with our crazy Savage People and they're gonna find themselves looking down the barrels of the Broadsword!"

Elinor turns back to Stein. "When we were goin' off to rescue Colonel -- I mean, Captain Sharp, we sorta introduced ourselves to the Mjolnirs and learned how to operate them via Technopathy. Then when a couple of us went and did the same with the prototype mecha we found there, we lost the Mjolnir knowledge. Now, I've kinda got a feeling I could keep them both now, but what I'd like to know is, how long can we keep that knowledge if we don't, well, overwrite it? And what circumstances would cause us to lose it early other than overwritin' it? And, like I said, I think I could keep 'em both now, but not more 'n that. If we can hold two or more, and learn a third, do we get to pick which one gets over-writ?"

Professor Stein answers proudly. "Indeed you do get to pick, Elinor. And I believe you are talking about the technopathic experience of being linked with a Core. As far as I know, you keep it indefinitely unless you choose to lose it. I will tell you, I can drive a car but that is about it. So one year, I got aboard a helicopter as a backseat passenger. For the complete fun of it, I went into the Blue World. The Core and I got along. Quite friendly, Sikorsky helicopters! I did not give away to anyone that I had done anything at all amiss.

Professor Stein makes walking motions with two fingers on one hand. "But when we left the helicopter, I came back later, alone. By just touching her hull, I was able to turn the lights on! I am absolutely certain I could have flown her if I had wished, but I knew then that it would be a danger to because I had no experience flying as a pilot. No idea about headwinds or what to do in poor weather or how to tell the tower that I wanted to go or any of that, so I did not dare. About a year later, I visited that same helicopter on a flight to Stockholm. And you know? She remembered me? I am quite certain none of my knowledge had left me. I knew as much a year later than I knew the moment she linked with me. It was a sad day when I had to give that experience up, but I still have the memories - and in the end, when all is said and done, memories are purest gold!

"Keep the questions coming! This is good stuff!"

Captain Piper says, "You don't quit, do you, Prof? I'm about ready to hit Drake's myself."

 

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Elinor Hall

Elinor's character sheet
Action Points: 8/8
Bonus action point: 1

Elinor listened to Piper's story, intrigued. It sounded like the future had all kinds of interesting aliens to meet, not just the nasty Invid they were hoping to defend Earth against -- somehow. And she was glad the change of subject she'd picked was one Piper especially liked. The acting-captain had enough stress right now, and Elinor was happy to help even in so small a way. "Wish we could meet 'em," she said when Piper was done. "But that would prob'ly screw up all kinds of time-stuff, besides being pretty far out of our way, as far as I know."

She listened with at least equal attention to Professor Stein, grinning at his story of the helicopter. But she did indeed have more, and launched right in when prompted. "Trouble, sir." She tapped the metal feline's little head. "Yes, you. Where did he come from? And when did he come from? We met him with you before we knew about any of this, but Captain Piper knows him too. How's that, if he didn't come with the Broadsword? And, well, what exactly is he?"

 

[Silanon]

"Time appears to be on our side so we can talk more about the Invid later. I don't want to ruin my first days on Earth with this. I have what's left of the crew to revive and a hundred other things to do. Can we... talk about something else? Anything else?"

The response itself begs for a hundred more questions. The crew. The monsters. Time travel, and so much more. The Swede does the uncharacteristic thing and simply leaves it at that, though. "Thanks, captain. Sorry for bringing it up now." The question itself - important, of course. But some responses don't go well with good food and laughter. Answers will be there, one day when it matters. For now, Ylva is perfectly happy to let others take over the conversation. No need to enter the minefield of old memories when others know how to navigate them with ease.

I visited that same helicopter on a flight to Stockholm.

She listened carefully before; but she pricks up her ears as the city's mentioned. Funny how that works - all of this feels surreal, so very distant from her life back at home. And yet, the Professor could've been a room away from her, back then. The world's a small place. Even smaller now, with all the destruction.

Trouble's origins - good question, that. The Swede nods as Elinor brings it up. More comes to mind, hopefully safe territory for the conversation. "One other question, while we're at the when and where - traversing. If the small stuff escapes our grasp, like you said before, and assuming that a certain technological level is needed to notice a damn thing; then it's probably been a recent discovery, right? Do we know if the potential was always there? Or did it come with the Macross, and all that followed?" She eyes the Professor in particular. He was there, he said. He's a traverser, too. Perhaps, he knows the answer.

 

[Sherwood]

Mario is happy to hear that all of the fixings needed for his special dinner is here, but he is still interested in getting some details on the mission, and how just one ship, no matter how tough or advanced, can stop this tidal wave of ass kicking that is coming to Earth.

"Ma'am, I'm pretty well set on all I need to know except on just what we are supposed to be doing now. I am ready to hear the mission briefing from the Sam that knows it all. Then I can start my sauce simmering for dinner tonight." He grins, trying to lighten the mood, but he is very serious about the briefing. And the sauce. Gotta simmer the sauce for a while to get the flavor just right.

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus

Part 1 of 2

"Wish we could meet 'em," she said when Piper was done. "But that would prob'ly screw up all kinds of time-stuff, besides being pretty far out of our way, as far as I know."

Piper sighs and seems to reminisce. "You'd love 'em. I mean, if you are really crazy enough to sign onto a vessel as storied and strange as the Broadsword and be one of us - you'd probably love the Broo because everyone on the ship does too. We just... do!" She acted as if she were using a smartphone and flipping pages. "It's a clause here in your contract, see. 'Everyone on the Broadsword loves the Broo.'"

She listened with at least equal attention to Professor Stein, grinning at his story of the helicopter. But she did indeed have more, and launched right in when prompted. "Trouble, sir." She tapped the metal feline's little head. "Yes, you. Where did he come from? And when did he come from? We met him with you before we knew about any of this, but Captain Piper knows him too. How's that, if he didn't come with the Broadsword? And, well, what exactly is he?"

Trouble's little golden eyes positively glow with excitement as people begin talking about him. At Elinor's tap, he rolls onto his back and begins playfully batting and gnawing at her "offending" finger.

Elinor's question gets good reactions out of a few people. Professor Stein nearly chokes on a bite of strawberry-laden pancake. Piper swears a quiet oath and rolls her eyes and smiles up at the hangar bay's ceiling. Hitomi is the first one able to get a word in. The Polynesian-Japanese lady laughs and points at Trouble. She excitedly remarks, "You know the first time I saw that little bandit, he was inside some of the United Earth Government's toughest security?"

Professor Stein is half-chuckling, half-choking on the table when Hitomi spins and watches him half-seriously to make sure he's not actually choking. He isn't. A huge torrent of laughter bursts out of Professor Stein after he is finally able to swallow. "It is - ack! - true! MechaKitten or Trouble or whatever you want to call him got right past UEGs toughest in-house security by way of pretending to be my hood ornament! He fooled everyone! The entire staff thought he was just another one of my little mechanical creations and treated him as such!

Professor Stein gets his breath back, leans back in his chair, and aims a finger at Trouble. "There I am, picking up Hitomi from our offices at Project Eternity when she stops, looks, points, and asks me, 'What is that on the hood of your car?" I had no idea what she was talking about! Right there, that cat starts talking straight into my mind - which of course Hitomi could not pick up as I had not invented technopathic transceivers yet - and he says, 'Hi! I'm wif de UEEF! Wanna find Traversers together?' After I picked my jaw up off of the floor, I replied 'Yes! Absolutely!' That is how we met. But what about your story, Piper? You met him first. How?"

Piper looks over at the Wild Cards and says, "Trouble's one of two sentient races on Terrestria. Turns out there's a hidden handful of cities belonging to an enlightened race of kittens who don't trust anyone but the Broo. That's how the Broo found us - the Mewwoos told 'em."

"Hay!" Trouble cuts in and everyone with a brain can hear his boyish exuberance. "Calls us by our REAL names!" Trouble inhales deeply and lets out a long meow which translates mentally into, "We iz... Kitteeens Frooom Spaaace!!"

"'Mewwoos's shorter," Piper rebounds. "So you gonna tell everybody just what you are now? We're all UEEF and Broadsword now."

Trouble hops up onto his feet and acts out his every statement, tapping his head and smiling or shrinking down. "Sure! See, we Mewwoos iz super-smart! But we iz also super-small. So we hides from everybody!"

Hitomi asks, "Are all of you cybernetic organisms?"

"Nope! We're aaaall fuzzies! I iz da first cyberfuzzy! See, I askeded all my fewwow Mewwoos, 'Hay! We haz a human spaceship an' da Broo are goin' wif 'em someday! We should haf a Kitteeen frooom Spaaace go wif!" Trouble prances proudly. Dey asks, 'What kinda kitten do we need?' an' I sez, 'Well, we need somebody braaave an' smaaart an' reaaally reaaaly cute to go on their adventures!' They're gonna need Traversers an' we kin find Traversers anywhere!' Den dey sez, 'Yeah! We need somebody like YOU!'" Trouble backpedals. "'Haaay!' I says! I didn't mean meee!' but den dey sez, 'But you iz purrfect! We'll get you all set up for space travels! You record everything you sees an' come back someday an' tell us all about it!' and den I thought about it an' I sez, 'Okaaay! Leave it to me! I'll make us all look purrific! Yeah. Dats a word where I come from!' Ain't it cool?"

Trouble spins around and excitedly asks, "Wanna see a picture of me before I switched bodies? Lookit! Go ahead an' show 'em, Sam! Iz okay!" One of the Sams steps forward and displays a large holographic video of this creature proudly prancing and posing with absolutely nothing in the background - and he moves just like Trouble.

"Look! Is meee! Izn't I cuuute?! C'mon! Tell da trooth!"

Spoiler: Trouble Before

(Dann here - you guys don't how long I've been waiting to post this picture of him. =) ).

(Image credit: Kajenna)

"I can't wait ta show 'em my new medal! Dey'll be so jelly when I tells 'em I'm a Wild Card, dey'll nevar get over it! NEVAAAR!"

Professor Stein asks, "Trouble, so how did you join the Broadsword?"

Piper shakes her head in disbelief and answers for him so he can keep parading around. "Hold onto your hats, people. It was simple. On Terrestria, he just presented himself to the Broo who showed him to Drake and he asked. Drake said 'yes'. The UEEF at large don't even know about him or the Broo for that matter. Part of the pact we made with 'em is that we tell as few people as possible."

Trouble cheers seemingly for the sake of cheering. "MEWWOOO!!"

(Part 2 of 2 incoming) =)

 

[Purr]

Part 2 of 2

Trouble's origins - good question, that. The Swede nods as Elinor brings it up. More comes to mind, hopefully safe territory for the conversation. "One other question, while we're at the when and where - traversing. If the small stuff escapes our grasp, like you said before, and assuming that a certain technological level is needed to notice a damn thing; then it's probably been a recent discovery, right? Do we know if the potential was always there? Or did it come with the Macross, and all that followed?" She eyes the Professor in particular. He was there, he said. He's a traverser, too. Perhaps, he knows the answer.

Professor Stein follows the question then takes it bit by bit. "Firstly, 'small stuff' is different from Traverser to Traverser as far as I can tell. Reggie here has flown a trainer Valkyrie by himself without any assistance whatsoever."

"Uh," Reggie raises his hand. "I did need Eglin's control tower to tell me how to find the landing pad!"

The Prof responds proudly. "I mean in terms of operation, my boy. That was all you and you were brilliant!" Reggie beams at the compliment.

"Traversing is a gift and as best as I can tell, it is a relatively recent discovery. There is a great deal we have yet to prove including when its potential came about. I am of the opinion that it started around the time I was born in the 1960s, for I am the oldest Traverser I know. It had nothing to do with Macross Island or Protoculture or any of that. Again, as far as I know. I cannot explain how any of you came by it, including and possibly especially, Cera being that she is the very first of her kind.

Professor Stein muses a moment. "Think about human history for a moment. Leonardo Da Vinci. Thomas Edison. Werner Von Braun. People like them changed the course of human history forevermore! Were they Traversers? If they were, did they know? If they knew, could they have communicated it to others of their time without being instantly labelled as some kind of a mental whack job and thrown into a penitentiary for the rest of their God-given lives? Why bother taking the risk? If I could go back in time and ask them, I'd..." Professor Stein trails off, his large eyes growing larger by the moment as he slowly finds himself turning toward Piper.

"Don't even think about it!" Piper snaps and like a misbehaving schoolboy in class, Professor Stein turns himself right around and behaves lest he let the lioness in the room loose on everyone. And then he begins giggling like one too.

"Ma'am, I'm pretty well set on all I need to know except on just what we are supposed to be doing now. I am ready to hear the mission briefing from the Sam that knows it all. Then I can start my sauce simmering for dinner tonight." He grins, trying to lighten the mood, but he is very serious about the briefing. And the sauce. Gotta simmer the sauce for a while to get the flavor just right.

Piper nods. "I'm... I'm dying to hear it too. From Sam. It'll happen." Piper turns to Mario and then stands. "It'll... hey, you know what? C'mon, everybody! Get up outta your chairs and follow me. We've talked about Trouble, now It's time we did this." Cera rises to leave as Trouble prances around eagerly looking for a Wild Card to pick him up and carry him.

Captain Sharp pulls one more bite of pancake lest it go to waste (waist?). "Ma'am? Is this what we talked about before?"

"Sure is, sir." Piper declares. "We're headed to Drake's!"

People begin putting down their utensils and cleaning up. There are shouts of "Aye aye, ma'am!" as the Sams get to putting away the leftovers.

"That's the spirit!" Captain Piper leads everyone to Hangar Bay B's service elevator along with four Sam units. "Anybody got anything they wanna ask along the way?"

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules mostly kept himself apart from the conversation, partly because it seemed a little too heady for his tastes and partly because he was looking out at the vast waters of the gulf. How similar to his beloved Mediterranean Sea but yet so different. He was wondering if he would ever see it again, see his ancestral home, his friends, all so far away. He thought about his family, no doubt already informed about his ‘death’, how were they coping, Mama and Papa?

He sipped fresh coffee disinterestedly and nibbled on a slice of toast, his usual hearty appetite lacking until Captain Piper declared everyone should follow her. He carefully put his half-finished coffee down and pushed the remains of the toast into his mouth then quietly followed along.

 

[Kaerri]

Piper sighs and seems to reminisce. "You'd love 'em. I mean, if you are really crazy enough to sign onto a vessel as storied and strange as the Broadsword and be one of us - you'd probably love the Broo because everyone on the ship does too. We just... do!" She acted as if she were using a smartphone and flipping pages. "It's a clause here in your contract, see. 'Everyone on the Broadsword loves the Broo.'"

"That's that, then," Elinor nods, smiling. "I love 'em already!" But she couldn't help still wishing she could actually meet them, someday. Well, who knew? They were embarked upon a career of strangeness now.

Trouble inhales deeply and lets out a long meow which translates mentally into, "We iz... Kitteeens Frooom Spaaace!!"

"'Mewwoos's shorter," Piper rebounds.

Elinor chortles and forks another slice of ham onto Trouble's plate. "You were adorable, space-kitten," she tells him. "Which isn't to say you're not now. But don't let it go to your head, all right?"

"Don't even think about it!" Piper snaps and like a misbehaving schoolboy in class, Professor Stein turns himself right around and behaves lest he let the lioness in the room loose on everyone. And then he begins giggling like one too.

Elinor laughs right along with him. "Let's save the future before we start investigatin' the past, OK?" she teases.

Piper declares. "We're headed to Drake's!"

"Yes'm-- I mean, aye, aye, ma'am!" Elinor salutes. She scoops up the remnants of her scrambled eggs into one large bite, pops it in her mouth, and considers the last few pieces of bacon on her plate as she stands up and puts her utensils on her plate. Shrugging to herself -- wasn't told not to, anyhow -- she wraps them in a napkin, grabs a second napkin, and follows the others, finishing her breakfast as they walk.

"Anybody got anything they wanna ask along the way?"

"Just a couple more, that I can think of right now," Elinor replies. One, she'd thought of during the promotion ceremony, but it seemed like too much of a downer to bring it up right now, when everyone was upbeat. Instead she asked one that had occurred to her while the professor was answering her earlier one about retaining experiences.

"The Mindbender," she begins, looking at Hitomi as possibly the best one to answer, though really she isn't sure who would know best. "When it adds skills, are those like technopathic experiences, or is it a shortcut to actually learnin' things? What I mean is, if we let the machine teach us something, do we know just what it teaches, and that's it? Or does actual life experience improve our skill just like it does with things we've studied for ourselves? And if we drop one and then pick it up again later, do we start where we left off, or from scratch?" She still isn't sure she's conveyed it just right, but it's hard finding words for things she's never encountered before.