Futuristic Unknown Crisis IC (full)

[TrashRabbit]

Unknown Crisis

update 4/28/18
Please pm trashrabbit with writing samples if you are interested in playing with us. Our team is curently full, however the gm is open to excellent character concepts and stellar rpers.​

This rp takes place in a future where NASA, independent from interplanetary government, task elite teams of specialists to investigate and mitigate unknown crises that develop at the edge of human technology and exploration. We’ll be playing members of Unknown Crisis Team Nine as they act as first responders to some of the galaxy’s weirdest emergencies--everything from rescuing first contact teams from hostile planets, to curing space plagues, to sorting out exactly how you live on a planet where it rains neon.

Our aim is to take our concept and our mission seriously but create characters that are fun, eccentric, and lovable. We’re looking for characters that are ultimately competent and unquestionably good at their job, but is maybe a weirdo.

Character Creation Thread
OOC
Intermissions


Team Nine
Briefing, Characters and openings

• Missions
• Security
• Science
• Tech
• First Contact
• First Response
• Mission control

• 
  missions are ranked approximately by complexity for players- it is not an in world ranking system. * star is a straight forward mission, ** stars will either have more murder-danger or a harder source of crisis, *** stars is for when you get the mission brief and swear under your breath. These are also the more based on horror/survival scenarios.
  
  1.The Hives of Mars * [complete]Briefing : Debriefing
  Intermission 1: Philip
  2. The mines of Ferav9V * [complete] Briefing : Debriefing
  Intermission 2: Apples and battles
  3. The Cyber brains of New Io **[complete] Briefing : Debriefing
  Intermission: 3
  Intromission: spooky babes
  intromission: I can't believe it's NASA
  Intermission: Goody's shore leave
  Intromission: What's that sound!?
  4. The ZooKeepers of Tlao [Current]
  
  Mission prompts in no particular order:
  The abductions of Xaeria *
  The invisible children of Friejt *
  The disappearance of Avalon **
  The Quakes of Halcyon5 **
  The waters of Ji-09 ***
  The rescue of first contact team four ***
  The Mechanists of Gilgamesh ***
  The Silica Sickness of Neo Troy ***
  The dopplegangers of Station nine****
  The Jian war crimes of The Novus Fringe****
  The distress call of Zed Cluster Black Hole****
  
  
  
• 
  Team lead: [Wickedlittlecritta] Cathal Mckay
  
  Security:[Diamao] Miloj Valadomiskotivicht
  
  Auxilary security agents: Fin and Cris [wickedlittlecritta] Elias [celticsol] Zephyr [starmanblue]
  
  
• 
  hardlight specialist: [nimbus] Ji-Eun Moon
  
  Field Planetologist: [starmanblue] Miranda Menendez
  
  
  
  
• 
  Remote Pilot: [graystone713] Kevin Star
  
  Structural & industrial engineer: [Trashrabbit] Goodwin Jackson
  
  Hacker Prodigy: [Faelinara] Nikki (sheet deleted by idiot gm. To be re-posted soon)
  
• 
  ExenoAnthropologist: [CelticSol]Euphemia Cross
  
• 
  Team lead/Medic: [TrashRabbit] Aleksi Donovan
  
  Survival expert: [Theunderwolf] Ann Mako
  
  
• 
  Gm played Npcs [TrashRabbit]
  
  Donny: Basically a PC, see character thread.
  Dr. Finch; Medical doctor
  Amelie; Nurse and counselor
  Goody; Industrial safety engineer, auxiliary field agent, Chaya's assistant.
  Chaya Hekekiah; Flight Commander
  
  

World Building

• Overview
• Tech
• history
• Exeno Fauna
• Known Societies
• NASA

• 
  
  This world is a midrange scifi, somewhere between the original Star Wars, Firefly and Enterprise. We like to keep our scifi a little gritty but not grimdark--the future is used and imperfect, but still trying. We are also a fan of cyber punk and solarpunk. We are imagining an intergalactic world where humans are highly diverse and spread throughout the stars. We plan for our human culture to be as interesting as our alien ones and encourage players to be creative when making their characters. First contacts have occurred in this setting, however we humans have not yet bloomed on the inter-species playing field. There are very few space faring species so far, and pre-space travel cultures are deemed inappropriate for contact by NASA. This is an age of exploration and wacky hijinks and large alien creatures chasing down scientists.
  
  We also enjoy the idea of humans as terrifying space orcs to other space faring species.
  
  Technology wise we want to go for an analog aesthetic for Nasa. Analogue technology is much more reliable and is used today by nasa and militaries all over the world. This means that NASA is very hard to hack. This does not mean they don’t also have HUDS and halo screens and complex software--it just means that NASA could survive without it. This may be an annoyance to personnel who are not from the ranks of NASA originally.
  
  Robots, cyborgs/robotic prosthetics, Advanced AI ect are all green lit. There are enough Human cultures among the stars to justify many types and models. Things we would like to shy away from at the start is nano machines and sentient AI. These things may come into play later but we would like them to not be a technological norm.
  
  Our starships will be using a generic hyperdrive, shields and laser weaponry.
  
  Our CR exo suits are armored space suits and are highly advanced tech designed by NASA. Feel free to find very cool reference for your space suit.
• 
  
  UC9 STANDARD TECH
  
  CR exo suits- (crisis rescue exoskeleton suits) come in varying models, from skin tight units you can wear under your clothes to full blown armored units. Each offers a collapsible helmet for the wearers convenience. All models are vacuum ready and rely on both re-breathing technology and o2 tanks, which are relatively small and stored on the back. What separates this NASA tech from others' is that CR suits are fully collapsible- meaning that in storage the suits aparea to be small solid boxes that when compressed to the chest expand to fit the user quickly. This is great for suiting up in a hurry. The tech is a joint effort between DSR and Avalon and it mimics Jiian tech in a way many probably are not aware.
  
  Hard light- This technology is the back bone of the federation. Use on everything from space ships to advertizing, what can't hard light do? Any time a semi permeant barrier is required you can count on hard light. Any time you need some sort of flexible mesh to keep things in place, like pears in a box or docked space ships, you can count on a hardlight mesh any day!
  
  Holo screens- Much of the civilized worlds tech uses holographic displays based on hardlight technology. These screen can be more physical, similar to today tablet in that the projection is displayed between two hardlight receptors, when collapsed it looks like two tubes connected side by side. Another popular set up for devices is a wrist mounted and projected over the hand, where one archaically would hold a device. Most heads up displays on helmets do not use hard light, though lay folk may refer to the projection there as a holo screen.
  
  Personal Device- Many personal machines are worn, rings, necklaces, bracelets, even earrings. This has a lot to do with hard light making more physical devices obsolete and fear of integrated computer inserts being used against its user during the Jiian wars. So while having a computer insert is certainly possible it fell out of vogue years ago, it is however the norm on several 2nd alliance worlds. Some cultures still archaically refer to personal devices as Phones, Pcs, laptops, or widgets. However Computer is universally understood. Many computers use hand and eye motion as command, this bio data is collected remotely and does not require an insert.
  
  Sensors and scanners- NASA sensor and scanner tech is the best on the field. As the organization does not research weapons, it has numerous time and resources to afix to scanner. Scanners are usually hand held and fairly small, thought more complex and long range units may be mounted. A scanner can be synced with any personal device and is wireless.
  
  Chemical printers- This is separate from other forms of printing in this world and was perfect mostly by the federation. This is the technology used in Donny's med pack allowing him to print what ever compounds he needs, including adhesives- his med pack is not programmed to print other things, but the technology is certainly capable of producing industrial compounds as well. The printer has limitations and the results are not always perfect especially when dealing with complex organic chemicals. The printer must also be loaded with base elements. It cannot fabricate raw elements nor transmute.
  
  3D printing- At this point there's really nothing that can't be printed, however some assembly may still be acquired. A blue print may call for the use of several kinds of printers and for the parts to be assembled. Types of printers include; plastic, metal, knitting, ceramic and complex compound molding.
  
  Warp drive- Ships use a warp drive. Gonna go with the engines use hydrogen and gold. Jumps requir an astronomical amount of computation and many ships have ships computers larger than the engine to facilitate this. Warp drives are relatively small and long and produce an enormous amount of heat- the vaccum of space itself is used for cooling.
  
  Lasers- Laser weapons are more common on ships than handheld, but handheld blasters were once the trade mark of the frontiersmen and some still hold to it.
  
  Artificial gravity- Definitely works. Yep. Also tractor beams use this tech, which is useful for docking.
  
  
  Other Tech
  
  Gene editing- At this point is considered more of an art than a science. Whenever humans think they understand genes, something brings them back to the drawing board. So while there are designer creatures and mutant bio-weapons- scientists are still working on gene therapies to help everyday people with serious ailments- altering already mature subjects tends to be more risky and for which finding volunteers for can be difficult. Micro machines that replicate viruses are used to alter mature specimen. This technology is outlawed in the earth conglomerate and in the federation due to its disastrous weaponize during a war between the two almost a hundred years before. The best Gene editors are the Jiian and no one likes to talk about that.
  
  Remote Piloting: A robotic tool operated remotely by syncing a human mind allowing for long distance first person operation of the machine. The robotic tool or mech is often referred to as a Remote Body. This is an experiment technology that involves invasive inserts into the human body to function. The side effects of this technology is poorly recorded though phantom sensations and hacking have been reported by NASA.
  
  AI: Advance sentient AI exist. Though most keep themselves, either living in virtual communes together or operating human passing bodies. This technology was phased out, after the uprising during the Great Wars. New, fully functioning AI persons are extremely rare and usually created by other Ai. Regular AI exist as well, though anthropomorphizing them is in poor taste in many cultures.
  
  Cryfi: Featured briefly on New-Io this tech allows a human brain to be copied without memory onto an silicon based solid crystal. The crystals can also be used to generator a field which can be used as a radio/wifi alternative; this is not a natural property of the material and must be induced. The crystal structures are produced as a natural waste product of silica beetles which are native to New Io. New Ionian technology is actually related to Jiian technology as their generation ship hailed from the jiian home planet and not earth as the originally believed.
• 
  
  Jiian Expansion- the most recent war, where the Jiian empire expanded into frontier colonies formerly known as the alliance(1st Alliance) and then into what is now 2nd Alliance space.
  
  The Great Wars- These took place long before the galactic political landscape that exists today had a twinkling in its eye. The progenitors of the Jiian empire- Ajian republic however were the losers of this war and fled known space. This war also included the uprising of then Earth Aligned AI uprising dramatically.
  
• 
  
  Apis Aries-Beyonce- A sentient species of Honey Bee bioengineered by the Mr Mark & Mark Co-op on Mars.
  
  Xeno Cannis Inanis- Recently encountered creature who lives in the vacuum of space. It's body is vanta black and its teeth glowing blue.
  
  Poema- An amphibious creature encountered on the Tlao Zoo
  
  
• 
  
  Earth and Earth Settlements: Good old earth is still a divided mixing pot of nonsense, but at least they function like a single united nations of earth. So there's that. There are of course countries whose governing bodies migrated to space and settled new worlds.
  
  Sol Conglomerate: the extended planets and settlements of out native Sol system. Many of these ID as "earthlings" and Earth is technically a part of the sol conglomerate but its very much a network of independent bodying systems and a dysfunctional committee of representatives.
  
  Io: Fully automated socialist utopia.Located on Io orbiting Jupiter, this settlement is a member of the sol conglomerate. Everything here is sleek and clean. However it often pushes science farther than other cultures or especially earth think is moral. Much of the known galaxy is descended from ionians as it was one of the first and largest independent off Earth power.
  
  The Federation: an intergalactic oligarchy where citizenship is restricted only to those who are employed to the Federation.
  
  Frontiersmen: Usually of Federation or Ionian descent they are the lay people at the fringe of the known space, especially in federation controlled space who are not, or who are not always citizens of the Federation. They are fierce and matriarchal and prone to wearing punk jackets.
  
  Xaeria: A frontiersman planet with a distinct irish-mexican history.
  
  Jiian Empire: A sprawling Authoritarian government with expansive military goals.
  
  Second Alliance: A coalition of planets along the edge of the Jiian Empire who successfully fought off annexation. They were not as lucky as the First Alliance. They are slowly hoping to convince other settlements and worlds to join them or form their own Alliance against the Jiian Empire and/or the Federation.
  
  New Io- A key members of the second alliance. They are a hyper advanced group of people living on the fringe of 2nd alliance space. They claimed to be the descendants of a very early generation ship- just like most frontiers men and second alliance cultures. However it was recently proven beyond doubt that they were in fact founded by early pre-Jiian empire settlers. They are best known for their cyber brains which the creation of is a guarded secret connected closely with the silica beetles that live on the surface of the small moon they inhabit.
  
  Avalon- A city formed by refugees of transhumanitarian war crimes and mad science. It is a major Allie to NASA and a member of the second alliance.
  
  The followers: A cult known for its dissection of living alien life forms in a twisted attempt to prove intergalactic unity.
  
  see character sheets for more home planets!
  
• 
  NASA is an open source Co-operative and function both as a humanitarian entity well respected in the intergalactic community and as a culture founded by diverse scientists and adventurers. Some people are born into NASA and some people ask to join later in life, and some people are approached by NASA first.
  
  Branches:
  Known Crisis Control or KCC
  This agency is in charge of intergalactic crisis response. From natural disasters to space wrecks to violent insurgence and large scale refugee relocation.
  
  Unknown Crisis Control or UCC
  Deals with, you guessed it, unknown crisis. They are the X-files division, the responder to face melting space parasites and sentient silicon clouds. They are also just as likely to spend four weeks eating granola bars while sitting on boxes of medical equipment while they deal with a quarantine on a newly terraformed planet.
  
  First Contact control or FCC
  The agency in charge of first contact with alien races and cultures. Agents of this branch are well trained in multiple alien cultures, politics, and languages, as well as first contact protocol.FCC is the first ont eh ground of any inhabitable planet or planet with life. The UCC often has to rescue the FCC.
  
  Deep Space Research or DSR
  There are lots of divisions here but for the most part this is the bulk of NASA. The majority of its resources are still in fact devoted to research.

Mechanics

• Narrative Dice
• GM disclaimer

• 
  Since mission two we have added narrative dice to help with our previously unfun combat. The dice mechanics are not intended to be a solid table top by any means and are hacked from apocalypse world. We added dice after all of the current character had been well established and instead of creating classes or playbooks we simply custom made each character, trusting that our ability to forum rp and self moderate would insure balanced play. Feel free to ask many questions. The stats have been added to the bottom of the character skeletons.
  Unknown Crisis Engine
  
• 
  As the GM my first job is to make sure everyone is having a good time. If your not having fun, please say so sooner rather than later. Often times the solutions are so simple, easy to accommodate and a relief to everyone in the group once they've been implemented. Our group dynamic is very supportive, queer friendly and tongue and cheek. We are also predominantly in their late twenties with a smattering of older and younger members. please keep this in mind if you intend to join us.
  
  The dice system has been implemented to enrich our narrative and anytime it gets in the way of that I will proudly throw it out the window. This is still a forum based rp and each player is there own mini DM whom I trust to make and commit to their narrative decisions. I don't want to stop anyone from doing something fun, creative or whacky just cause there are a couple dice on the table! I want to get through five missions Okay! we can do it!
  

[/tab]

 

[TrashRabbit]

The Hives of Marsmission one briefing​

• Mars
• The Hives
• Crisis Status
• Facts
• NPCs
• Xtra

• 
  Beyonce Garden Dome, Mars, Sol:
  
  The Biodomes of Mars are known for three things; Hemp, Honey and miniature pets. Some of These massive domes are antique having been self sustainable eco systems since colonization. Others like the Beyonce are newer and own by lab co-ops to house and store their Arks. An Ark is the Co-op's zoological collection and living genetic library. The Beyonce Bio dome is owned by the Mr. Mark & Mark Co-op, best known for their work with miniature giraffes. The biome is connected to the pit city of New Seattle, which is predominately under ground but features an impressive dome and boasts one the largest atmospheres on mars.
  
  
  Mars at large consists of hundred of independent city states and settlements common referred to as domes. Mars has never been terraformed, partly because terraforming an inhabited world is incredibly dangerous even when things go right, and partly because terraforming always has the rare chance to crack the planet open like watermelon. Another reason is because mars actually harbors subterranean microlife and terraforming a world with life is frowned upon.
  
  
  
  Martian bio-engineering is well known through out history, from the mini giraffes that swept collectors recently to the first generation of velicoraptors, mars can do it all. The black markets are full of strange, unusual, and often unstable creatures. The health, treatment and production of said creatures has often come under fire but the martian tradition has persisted. Martian Genetically Modified (or MGM) goods are banned in the Jiian Empire and on many planets.
• 
  
  The Beyonce Biodome is home to the Mr. Mark & Mark Hives. Martian Bees have been genetically altered and selectively bred to be their own distinct species and no one co-op or person owns rights to them and many argue they came into their own species hood long before the modern era. Martian bees are the gold standard of intergalactic pollinators and it is not uncommon to see them on any settlement from Earth to the Fringe.
  
  The hives occupy a humble single acre of field in between a vineyard and nature preserve. There are at least fifteen hives and aprox 500,000 bees.
  
  Martian bees have the unique adaption featured in some extinct earth bees that allow multiple Queens to share a single hive. This causes a more robust flow of worker bees, increased efficiency in the total hive and greater honey outputs. Martian bees also live significantly longer, have fewer issues with spotted laying and other sex-linked genetic misfortunes. The dance of the martian bee is a common source of research as it has proven to be 200-300% more complicated than the European Honey bee of old earth.
  
  However Martian Bee continues to be tampered with. Every Co-op on mars would be the next builder of the bigger better bee. Scientist have yet to create a new Bee that is either not still considered the Martian bee or a Bee that is as effective as the original.
• 
  
  As of two hundred hours ago Mr. Mark & Mark co-op reported a lock down situation, sealing the Beyonce bio dome off from New Seattle. At the time three deaths were reported as result to multiple bee stings. The lock down was precautionary measure standard to Mr. Mark & Mark safety guidelines. However another death occurred during inspection of the events.
  
  The scientist report that the bees had turned hostile and overly territorial.
  
  New Seattle responded and upon entering the dome were not able to pacify to effectively evacuate the facility. New Seattle depends on the Beyonce Biodome for oxygen and Co2 filtration purposes and it cannot by shut off from it for less than 300 hours before the atmosphere will begin to decrease in quality. There is some argument that there is no danger of contagion if the ventilation is reopened but others think best than to chance it.
  
  HQ will be set up in the cargo airlock. A perimeter and decontamination have been ordered by New Seattle and will be maintained by NASA intervening parties. Bio-tampering, bio-terrorism and disease have not been ruled. However if a disease is the culprit, there has been no evidence of transference to humans, however the martian bee is a keystone species for human agriculture and existence and if such a thing as a “Bee rabies” has come t exist it cannot be allowed to spread.
  
  
• 
  
  Bee stings
  
  The allergen in bee venom that causes the main “ouch” is melittin. It’s by far the most abundant ingredient in bee venom – 50% of venom’s dry weight comes from melittin. Melittin causes red blood cells at the sting site to burst and the blood vessels to expand. This blood vessel expansion is why some people have a dangerous drop in blood pressure after bee stings. And, unfortunately, melittin isn’t the only ingredient in bee venom that causes pain. Phospholipase A2 is another protein that works with melittin to destroy cell membranes at the sting site. This ingredient, which makes up 12% of venom, causes pain and inflammation.
  
  But wait – the pain from that one sting isn’t quite over yet. 9% of bee venom consists of histamine. Histamine causes your tiny capillaries to leak fluid. This is why bee stings cause itchy red spots. Histamine also contributes to some of the pain of the sting. Not all the proteins in bee venom cause pain. Finally, some good news, right? Wrong. Some ingredients help to strengthen the toxicity of the venom. Apamin, which makes up 3% of venom, destroys nerve tissue. Hyaluronidase (2% of venom,) helps the reaction to spread to surrounding tissue by breaking down one of the components of cell tissue
  
  XXX
  
  pheromones
  
  Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have one of the most complex pheromonal communication systems found in nature, possessing 15 known glands that produce an array of compounds.[1][2] These chemical messengers secreted by a queen, drone, worker bee or laying worker bee to elicit a response in other bees. The chemical messages are received by the bee's antenna and other body parts. They are produced as a volatile or non-volatile liquid and transmitted by direct contact as a liquid or vapor.
  
  Honey bee pheromones can be grouped into releaser pheromones which temporarily affect the recipient's behavior, and primer pheromones which have a long-term effect on the physiology of the recipient. Releaser pheromones trigger an almost immediate behavioral response from the receiving bee. Under certain conditions a pheromone can act as both a releaser and primer pheromone.
  
  The pheromones may either be single chemicals or a complex mixture of numerous chemicals in different percentages
  
  XXX
  
  Bee Dance
  
  Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share, with other members of the colony, information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen, to water sources, or to new nest-site locations.[1][2] The waggle dance and the round dance are two forms of dance behaviour that are part of a continuous transition. The round dance occurs for resources that are nearby (typically less than 10–20 m from the nest for Apis mellifera ligustica). As the distance to the resource increases, the round dance transforms into the waggle dance. However, even close to the nest, the round dance can contain elements of the waggle dance, such as a waggle portion.[3] It has therefore been suggested that the term "waggle dance" is better for describing both the waggle dance and the round dance.[4] Austrian ethologist and Nobel laureate Karl von Frisch was one of the first who translated the meaning of the waggle dance.[5]
  
  XXX
  
  
• 
  
  Joan Moonchild: A keeper of bees.
  Kimberly Hak: A keeper of sauropods.
  Digery Philips: A sweeper of floors.
  
  
• 
  
  According to all known laws
  of aviation,
  
  there is no way a bee
  should be able to fly.
  
  Its wings are too small to get
  its fat little body off the ground.
  
  The bee, of course, flies anyway
  
  because bees don't care
  what humans think is impossible.
  
  Yellow, black. Yellow, black.
  Yellow, black. Yellow, black.
  
  Ooh, black and yellow!
  Let's shake it up a little.
  
  Barry! Breakfast is ready!
  
  Ooming!
  
  Hang on a second.
  
  Hello?
  
  - Barry?
  - Adam?
  
  - Oan you believe this is happening?
  - I can't. I'll pick you up.
  
  Looking sharp.
  
  
  Use the stairs. Your father
  paid good money for those.
  
  
  Sorry. I'm excited.
  
  
  Here's the graduate.
  We're very proud of you, son.
  …..
  
  

 

[TrashRabbit]

Mission Control was a big octagonal room, filled with six wide holotables and sleek chairs that could be stacked so they disappeared under the tables. It was painted a cheerful off-pink, that most people did not find cheerful and there was a picture of a a beach. Not an earth beach those were pretty easy to ID- this was some foreign shore- a big oil painted a little abstract with the colors in the reflections and shadows but not bad. No one hated it so much as to demand it be taken down and even if you did you'd have to fight Commander Hezekiah about it.

You usually didn't Fight Commander Hezekiah.

She stood at the front of the presentation area, a small chiseled statue of confidence, she rattled off the situation with military precision, because military precision was what she ate for breakfast- behind her was the display of the Beyonce Biodome, the ventilation shaft, the proposed HQ in the cargo airlock. A model of various alarm pheromones twirled on the holoscreen in front of her and up light her in a chilling cyan. Her dark hair was straight- a geometric marvel foiled by her round brown face. She finished the debriefing and her eyes scanned the entirety of mission control critically as if she was both deeply pleased with what she saw and deeply spiritually concerned.
She put down the thick file of information on the holo desk and asked a very important question:

“None of you whackos are allergic to bees right?”

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay
​

They had had worse headquarters before, objectively, but Cathal decided to ignore that, because he hated the cargo airlock immediately. It was pretty big, as far as airlocks went, but it was still a god damned airlock.

“Do you think we did something, and Commander Hezekiah is trying to get us booted out into space?” Cathal asked no one in particular, gesturing at the airlock doors.

“If Commander Hezekiah wanted to kill us, we’d be dead already,” Finn said, not slowing on his path from the ship to Donny’s temporary medbay. He was carrying a very large box.

“That’s true,” Cathal agreed. “You’re very comforting sometimes, Finn. Did you know?”

“Brand new information, boss,” Finn said.

“You know, I can never tell if you’re being sarcastic or not,” Cathal complained. He picked up another large box and followed Finn. More of his job was moving boxes than Cathal wanted to admit.

“I know,” Finn said, and he definitely sounded delighted.

“You’re an asshole, Dolan,” Cathal said. “An asshole with a great ass.”

“Stop looking at my ass, or I’ll complain about you to HR.”

“I’m only saying,” Cathal said.

Finn snorted and set his box in the pile behind the medbay. “So,” he said. “Bees.”

“Could be worse,” Cathal said. “Could be locusts. I saw them fuckers in New Chicago. They eat steel, did you know?”

“That sounds fake,” Finn said.

Cathal set his box down by Finn’s and crossed himself. “My hand to god. Ate through a blast door.”

“Christ,” Finn said. He eyed the door leading to the closed off biodome. “We’re not going in there, right?”

“Fuck no,” Cathal said emphatically. “What d’you think we have robots for? Also, if we have to, we can send Cris in first. I bet she can eat them first.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” Cris said, coming up behind them. She was a good two inches taller than Finn, making her the tallest security guard, and she dropped her box on top of Cathal’s.

“What I really want to know,” Cathal said, “Is if these are mostly regular honey bees, or like the Japanese kind.”

“What’s the difference?” Finn asked.

“The Japanese ones can kill wasps by covering them up with bees and then vibrating, and they cook the wasp,” Cathal said, balling his fist together and shaking them for emphasis.

“And what does that have to do with anything?” Cris asked.

“What’s stopping ‘em from doing that to people?” Cathal asked. “These are Martian bees. Maybe they’re smart.”

Finn and Cris considered this.

“That’s the worst thing you’ve ever said,” Finn said after a moment. “Fuck.”

“This is why we have robots!” Cathal said again.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan​

If Cathal's job involved more picking up boxes than he wanted to admit then Donovan's was looking at poorly constructed HQ's while while resisting the urge to pull his hands down over his face until his bottom lids turned inside out.

They were in an airlock.

Not the airlock connecting them to the rest of New Seattle. No, the main cargo airlock that went straight in to space. Everyone on the team had their exo-suits but it would not be a good time. Donny's suit was a hyper lightwheight model and contractible, so it sat on him like a rather bulky vest until activated. He had a habit of wearing it like this most of the time- which had some benefits as the armor was very light and did its best work when concentrated over the chest in the contracted mode. On the other hand having his head exposed made him acutely aware that they were in an AIR LOCK.

Donny secretly allocated a minute, only one, at the start of each HQ setup to stare in disbelief. Every Unknown crisis was a nightmare simply by designation as an unknown crisis and every time it just took a minute to sink in. Most people mistook this for getting the lay of the land- it was not.

And then he started setting up his med bay.

It consisted of three hardlight cots, inert and leaning against the wall and a mobile medstation similar in design but larger than his portable pack.

The medpack's name was Penny. It had an Ai interface that answered to the name.

A halo table and a somewhat bulky chem printer- both he med station and his pack had a similar device in it but they were limited. The chem printer, fed the right ingredients could print almost any compound liquid or solid.

He called the chem printer Larry. It did not have an Ai interface.

He looked over at the team, still dropping boxes. Inside them were more medical instruments, sixteen canisters of assorted Bee pheromones, enough c4 to take out an Jiian cruiser, rations and whatever else mission control had deemed a foreseeable necessity.

“Come here,” He said to Cathal, but instead of waiting grabbed his exposed hand- Cathal was also very good at walking around with his suit not full engaged. “I need your blood.” He pricked him with a hand held med-alyzer. He pointedly ignored Cathal as he waited for the machine to beep.

“Congrats, you're not allergic to bees,” He told him over the sound of his complaints. He looked around the rest of the team, “And Holly, you too Mako- the rest of you have had the good sense to get allergy tested before.”

theunderwolf rubycats

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay
​

"Donny," Cathal whined around the pricked finger in his mouth. "You could have asked." He also sent what he hoped was an appropriately displeased glare at Finn and Cris, who were both grinning wickedly at him. "Don't you look at me in that tone of voice," he told them. Then he asked Donny, "Do I at least get a lollypop? I have been wounded in the name of science."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan​

"I did ask. I said give me your blood."

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones

Holly giggled as she watched the two interact, it was always fun being around them. "Yep! Good thing I'm not allergic to bees cause that would make this super dangerous, or I guess I'm not really allergic anything I can think of. Maybe I'm allergic to plums but I guess I would have to eat one to check, or maybe I could just do blood work? Have any of you ever had a plum? Wait can locus really eat through metal? If they can I'd love to see how, do they like, secret acid to melt it or do they just go for it and tear it off with heir teeth. Do locus even have big teeth? Oh got off subject, so bees. I heard that Martian bees dance differently from earth bees, not that I've seen earth bees dance. I wonder if they listen to like, jazzy bee music in their minds while they dance or if they just go with the flow. Hehe get it? I wonder if they'd let me dance with them? Or would that be rude to int-"

A tired sounding Preston cut her off, "Jones."

Holly stopped and looked at him with big eyes, "yes Preston?"

He let out a sigh and tired glare, "shut the hell up."

Immeaditly Holly nodded and looked back at the others, "shutting up now, sorry guys"

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan​

Donny motioned for her hand while giving Preston the neutral look of displeasure. He pricked her with the med-alyzer and when it beeped said; "Well your not allergic to bees but you are allergic to lifeforms from Thrax-9, but that's pretty common."

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones
Holly smiled widely at the test results, "oh that's awesome! I wonder how I'd react? Would my throat swell or just my hands? Is that why I got so itchy when I went to Thrax 8? Wait what if it was hives? That'd be ironic 'cause we-"

She was interrupted by Preston loudly clearing his throat and Holly gave Donny a sheepish smile, "sorry. But thank you."

TrashRabbit

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr​

The Medbay wasn't the only bit of equipment that needed setting up. Only a few feet away, Billy was setting up Mechbay. The Neurolink pod was set up, and Kevin had already set himself up in it, using Alpha to move the other machines and equipment into place. Tina only had to set up a secure router, and her folding top-desk, loaded with processor power and memory. Kevin and Billy had four support scaffolds, three robots, lots of heavy machinery, and a few welders to set up. They might've set up a parts fabricator as well, but that was Pier's department.

"Alright Faceman, that's all I need. Put Alpha away, and I'll kit Beta for ya."
"Ok. We have smokes?"
"Hole-ee shit you smoke? I thought you were borin' as hell!"
"Grenades. Smoke grenades. We... We need them. To shut down the bees."
"Oh. Yeh, of course. Just when I fink you're cool..."

So, Alpha walked into its own docking scaffold and hooked in the support arms meant to keep it stable while it was stored and charged. Then the Neurolink pod opened, and Kevin walked out in his full spacesuit. He knew he wasn't allergic to bees, but... He was mildly allergic to pollen. Which bees carried around. All the time. And this was a dome loaded with bees. And pollen. Good thing he wasn't going in there. Well, not in this body. He looked to everyone else, and found his eyes glued to the science girl. His thoughts drifted... And it took a finger flicking his helm to get his attention.

"Oi, Kev! Whaddaya need on Beta, just the smokes?"
"Huh? Oh... Yeah, lots of smoke grenades. Nothing else, really. Just regular hand-tossed smoke grenades. Is... Is that okay?"
"Yeh. S'not like they give us grenade launchers anyway."
"Okay. Tina, is everything good over there?"

Tina didn't even respond verbally, just gave a split-second thumbs-up a few seconds after Kevin asked. Then he turned his attention back to the others. Staring wasn't appropriate, and Holly probably didn't care much for the boy who always wore a spacesuit. She could be that girl, but he wasn't that boy. Still, he did walk over to them, knowing that Donny should still have his blood samples on file... He didn't speak up yet, just kind of sat and waited while he wished that Preston was kinder to Holly. He was sure someone would start issuing orders here in a minute.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan​

"Well you wouldn't like it but you wouldn't die, and you're all good sugar duck," he said and gave her an easy smile and the kind of double pistol wink that only an estranged dad with fire engine red robot hands could as he retreated to find his next victim. "MaaaAAKO~" He sing sang yelled, " I ~ Need~ Your ~ Blood~"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay​

Cathal interrupted his own complaining about Donny not knowing the difference between asking and telling to say, "Preston, how would you like to lift a box? You're a big strong lad, I'm sure you'd be wonderful at it."

"I don't want him over here," Cris protested.

"You're a big strong lass, you can bend him if he sasses you," Cathal said. "Don't break him though, he's expensive."

Cris eyed Preston like she might a small and snotty child.

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones

Preston stared hard at Cathal and the longer he looked the more apparent his sneer became, finally he pushed past Holly and started to lift boxes. He pointedly ignored Cris as he lifted them and he mumbled choice words about where he thought these boxes could go as he moved them.

Holly couldn't help but laugh at what Donny said and did, she had barely even noticed when Preston had shoved past her but it did make her look around. Her eyes fell on Kevin and she gave him a wide smile as well as a wave.

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin wished he could be more like Cathal in some ways. In most ways, he would rather be Kevin. Still, seeing Preston taken down like that was satisfying. He found himself shamefully sneaking another glance at Holly. She was a true angel. Smiling, and waving... At... Him. Oh god, he hadn't noticed! He waved back, and held back his urge to collapse into a puddle of feels, or do a happy dance. He just stood there, after giving his awkward little wave. She couldn't even see him blushing and smiling under his helm. Was that for the best? or was it not? Did his wave seem insincere? Oh goodness now he didn't know how to feel. But she smiled at him. Part of him was sure she smiled at everyone, but... she smiled at him, specifically. It made him feel... Nice.

Billy was too busy to notice, of course. But Tina smiled just a little. She knew.

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones​

Holly looked back over at Preston and seeing that he was busy bounded over to Kevin, "hey Kev! So this mission is gonna be pretty cool right? Are you excite-that's a lot of grenades. Then again I guess if you use them all it's ok. Or is it better not to use them? Because that would mean that you weren't in trouble?" She pondered for a minute and Preston sighed loudly and Holly winced. "Right, rambling. Bad. Sorry."

 

[Camden]

Pier Santana
​

Pier wasted no time setting up. He and Isaiah carried boxes full of scrap and wiring into the Mechbay, placing them carefully next to the industrial size fabricator. Isaiah wheeled in a medical chair for procedures as Pier gazed upon the fabricator.

"It's wonderful..." He murmured as he gaped in awe. Sure, it wasn't the latest and greatest in tech, like he had access to at R.A.M., but he didn't have to share it with the snobby rich kids who couldn't tell their way around a turboflux superconductor.

"I'm not so sure about this," Isaiah voiced to Pier.

"What? Come on, look at it, it's perfect!"

"No, not that, that's great." He pressed a button on a box and it unfolded into a sophisticated looking medical analyzer. "I'm talking about the mission, how are we supposed to fight bees?"

"We aren't fighting bees. Don't be so dramatic." As he spoke he started connecting cords to the fabricator, and emptying metal into it's reserves. "We're simply checking if there's a viral infection that are causing symptoms within the bees, and containing it. Easy."

"Yeah, easier said than done," he snorted. He wouldn't normally be this provacative, but his nerves we're getting to him. He was scared shitless, all things considered. He doubted he would get any sleep that night.

"Yeah, yeah." Pier flipped a final switch and with a whrrr of the fans, the machine started to life. Robotic arms raised to position, and a blue panel flickered, seemingly annoyed, at the front of the machine. "Donovan, can you test my friend here. He needs one less thing to be worried about, he won't work efficiently otherwise."

Isaiah nodded. He didn't think he was allergic to anything, but it seemed like a good idea to be tested.

 

[theunderwolf]

Mako was excited. An actual mission! Saving people! This is what she had joined NASA for. Well that and observing the human spirit but that was often a little to much to consider day to day. She had slept hard last night, and was raring to go exactly five minutes late. Of course in Pansy's opinion this was a punishable offense. She had opened the door to the massive man glowering at her.
"Five minutes Ann?" He said, voice graveling through the shredded voice box that he had installed years ago,"What is this basic?" Fifty push-ups. "You know I'm your commanding officer now right?" Mako asked politely. Pansy looked down at her. Mako looked up at hum fearlessly. Pansy glowered, Mako looked up at him not fearlessly. Fifty push-ups later they were walking through the corridors, Mako a little ahead of her foster father, scrolling through her glasses' HUD on everything she knew about these strange things called bees. She had grasped the biology of it instantly, but the pop-culture was...odd. She knew it was in human nature to be conflicting, but it was still weird to see a creature so simultaneously loved and feared. On one hand many of the movies she saw had people running from bees, but then in another...stranger...movie one female human romanced one? Mako had filed away the fact that humans might be interested in...activities outside their species. All in all a fascinating animal. After reviewing the jokes she would need to know about bees, she checked her messages and confirmed that her third support would be late. She had been held up catching petty criminals at least 50 times over the course of her long journey, and despite allowing extra time for at least 20, Lacy kept exceeding expectations. Mako was looking forward to seeing her old friend again though and didn't mind the wait. She arrived at the shuttle bay behind most everyone and was immediately assaulted by someone demanding her blood. Which was well...not the worst way she'd ever been greeted?
"That's....That won't be needed!" She said brightly with a touch of steel, handing him a piece of paper with a fabricated blood test on it, "I tested myself right after the briefing and I'm all clear Doc!" She had gone over the chemistry of stings, though she didn't have any practical experience. Getting stung repeatedly would hurt, but not cause an allergic reaction. Plus the fact that she had a lot more mass and well, everything she would have an incredibly high tolerance for venom. All in all, plenty of excuses not to have that needle anywhere near her!

 

[CelticSol]

( wickedlittlecritta )
The crew counsellor on the Erudite had told her, during one of their obligatory sessions following The Accident™, that if she is in any sort of situation which might throw her into a flashback of the incident, she needs to ground herself by focusing on other things in the room. Pointing out a thing she can see, something she can smell, something she can taste, something can touch, something she can hear. Repeat the cycle until her mind is focused and she's in control, where she in a mindspace to focus on things other than the fact their a handful of pressure seals away from being thrown into the unforgiving vacuum of space to suffocate or turn into a mush of human flesh in the void of deep space, gagging on nothing, breathing nothing, reaching back for an umbilical that doesn't exist, hearing nothing but her heaving breaths and the hiss of all her air escaping-

She sucks in a breath through her teeth harshly, hoping no one will notice the cool poker face she wears is tighter than it should be. She can almost pretend she's fine, if she closes her eyes and ignores every sensory feeling attributing that THE VOID CALLS FOR YOU AS A SACRIFICE feeling she gets from being so close to open space. She tries to focus, digging her fingernails into her palms hard, dragging a breath through her nose as subtly as possible, and squares her shoulders. Unlike the others, she has little to unpack - everything she needs fits in the over-the-shoulder duffel bag she carries, so she can't even distract herself with that.

She needs to focus on something else. Anything else. Anything at all. She spots Cathal is hauling around entire crates of shit whatever shit the rest of the crew packed up, and likely needs help with it all. That works.

With a casual countenance, despite her tightly clenched fists, she makes her way over, leaning on one of the boxes not labeled with FLAMMABLE or FRAGILE. She smiles, "Need any help with your boxes, mate?"

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan​

Donovan took the paper and scanned it. This was not the firs time this had happened. There were two options; one Mako was just very prepared. She was not the only one on the team that liked to do things their own way in their own time to their own ineffable standards. She was the kind of girl whose room, as far as he was concerned was a ramshackle if cozy mess with half of a nature preserve stuck to the wall, which was all well and good but sat, frankly, at odds with how often she ran her own diagnostics. Which left option two; Mako had a crippling fear of medical procedures. Her scarce medical record supported this.

The reports were also, always on real paper- so he had a pile of them back in his room because it just felt wasteful to recycle them and it felt rude to origami up her records. So they sat. A neat pile of Mako excuses and denials to her blood.

"You know," He said, knowing that now in a bio dome with bees in the ventilation in an airlock was not the time, "This fear of needles you got going- I'm probably going to have to patch you up eventually, I'm just saying." He put his hands up in mock surrender. There was a big old yellow stegasaurus sticker on his wrist and it smiled dumbly at her.

 

[Camden]

"It's just-" crank "-a needle," crank "-no need to get upset." Pier stuttered out between tightening a loose bolt on the fabricator. He laid face first on the chair Isaiah had wheeled in, and Isaiah plugged him in. A manipulator arm popped out of a box, and grabbed another smaller, sleeker arm from a box, handing it to Isaiah. Isaiah inserted it into the cylindrical socket on Pier's back, and with a grunt it was active.
"All set boss," Isaiah said.
"Thanks, bud.". Pier flexed the arm. "Feels good." He said, giving him three thumbs up. "Anyways Mako, like I said, it's just a prick, there's nothing to be afraid of. And it's better to be safe than sorry." The arm's hand gave a little shake like 'so-so'. "Most of the time," he added, with a slight head tilt.

It reached over and grabbed a datapad lying on the desk while Pier turned. It deposited the tablet into his outstreched hand. "Alright, operating station, check. Fabricator, check. Just need to get my design station up and running and we'll be good to go."

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay​

Cathal, sitting on the stack of boxes rapidly growing in the medbay, looked up at Eppie. "You haven't done anything wrong," he said. "The boxes. Are for punishment," he added, casting a glance at Preston.

"What am I being punished for?" Cris asked.

"Trying to steal the goddamned Mona Lisa?" Cathal said.

Cris snorted. "What is Finn being punished for?"

Cathal paused. "You know what? You're right. Finn's never done anything wrong in his life. Finn, go home."

"Thanks, boss," Finn said, and continued carrying his box. Cris snorted again and followed him.

"Anywho. You can help if you want. We're just moving boxes and shit. Poor Donny's gonna have to go through them later, 'cause none of us have a fucking clue what it's about. You let somebody know if you need help carrying these, alright? This shit's heavy, and Donny'd kill me if you got hurt on my watch."

CelticSol

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin and Holly have a chat​

Kevin

Oh no. Holly was coming over. She was smiling, but he wasn't ready. He hadn't trained to talk to cute girls. Thankfully, Holly did most of the talking. "Uh... They're smoke grenades. Smoke makes Bees sort of shut down, so... I thought they'd... Be useful. It's best to be prepared, you know?" He said, adjusting his helmet a little.

Holly

Holly smiled and clasped her hands together, "oh yeah I've heard that before, that's totally cool!" She was going to continue before she caught her reflection in his helmet and she immeaditly ran a hand through her hair. It took a moment to realize what she was doing and she stopped, "whoops. Sorry for using you as a mirror. Guess I need a hair cut. Although." She suddenly leaned in close and peered into the helmet. "I'm curious about what's under there."

Kevin

Kevin could feel the heat in his cheeks. He didn't need any mirror to see that he was blushing. As for Holly... Well, her hair was fine. He imagined that even messy and tousled, it'd still look like spun gold. Whatever spun gold was. Old-earth words. But when she leaned in, he leaned back just a little. Were pretty girls allowed to be this scary?... Probably. "Yeah... It's fine... A lot of people are curious. Almost makes me want to get a helmet where the sun-shield is separate, but... I think I like the mystery? It does get people curious..."

Holly

Holly noticed to late he was leaning away but when she did she leaned back, "sorry. Also it is pretty cool that no one can see your face. It makes you like one of those old superheroes with the pictures and stuff." She gave a small gasp and her smile became wider, she bounced slightly on the balls of her feet, "you should totally paint like an S or a K on the front, then you can swoop in and grab a damsel and like, fly away! Oh, and you should totally start making poses!" She put her hands on her hips to show him the classic hero pose before letting out a giggle, Harvey had taught her about superhero's and she loved them. They always saved the day and knew what to do, and always with a smile.

Kevin

At this point Kevin wondered if his room needed a new lock. He had lots of those old comic books, and he knew just what she meant. He thought of the really old art deco things he'd read through, with their glorious, shiny things of the 'future'... Oh, wait. He needed to say something. He'd think about whether or not she was secretly stalking him later. "I... I wish I was as brave as them. I'm just... Kevin." He said, thinking about it. This was probably the bravest thing he'd done in ages. And even then he wanted to chicken out, a little. He didn't want to run, but... He just felt so nervous. So, so nervous.

Holly

Holly rose an eyebrow, "no one is just Kevin. You're you, unique but similar to others of your kind. There's nothing wrong with being similar, it would be scary if you weren't. Yet, you're still different, heck you're a different you than you were ten minutes ago." She let herself laugh at the tongue twister before smiling again at him, "I think you're brave. If you weren't, why would you be in space?" She realized a beat to late that she was sounding like a recruiter for The Followers and her smile faltered a smidge before it retuned.

Kevin

This was too much. Holly was trying to encourage him, but the words had edges she couldn't see. Talking about how he was unique, but similar... All he could think of was Elexander. His better. And yet, someone he understood to be a horrible person. Why was he in space?... Did he really think he was brave, or heroic for using the robot bodies at the other end of the hangar instead of risking his own life? Did he put anything on the line, or was he just playing at being a hero?... "How much do you actually know about me, Holly?..."

Holly

Holly obviously was taken aback and she looked away, she knew precious little about her teammates. Mostly because she didn't want them looking at her past to much. "I...um. Not a lot. You're right, I over stepped my boundaries. I'm sorry." She had crossed a line she hadn't known was drawn and stared at her feet before mustering up a smile, "sorry to bother you like that! Let's both give it our all out there!" With that she turned away, she did want to know more. Not just about Kevin but about them all, but there would always be risk to that and she felt she was to weak for that bond. She wasn't the hero, she would be the villain they fought against.

 

[CelticSol]

( wickedlittlecritta )
"What can I say? I like to try an help out best I can," She says with a shrug, watching the exchange between Cathal and the rest and feeling some of her tension bleed away enough for her to crack a genuine smile, "I've done enough bad things in my day I probably deserve to haul a box or two. Or three. Or a hundred."

She steps in front of one of the boxes, flashing a broad smile at Cathal, "I've got this."

Rolling up her sleeves and bracing her position, she crouches, taking a crate into her arms. It's a little heavy, but nothing like the sort of loads she'd be hauling around during some of the work she did during her high school days, volunteering on the Jones' farm. In comparison, this isn't too bad, especially when she secures her grip. It's almost enough to bring a sigh of relief to her lips, the weight heavy and sturdy but so grounding. There is a very minor ache in her arms from the weight, but it's enough to keep her feet on the ground from wandering to distant times, and reveles in feeling more like a human piece and less like an old piece of glass ready to shatter at the slightest gust of wind.

Despite Cathal claiming he's got no idea where anything goes, she follows Cris and Finn to where they were setting down their crates.

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones​

Holly was back in her spot and tried to keep the smile up, she knew she had messed up but had no idea how to fix it. So instead she watched as people did their jobs. Preston had been watching the pair from the corner of his eye and when Cathal looked away he went over to her. "I told you it was stupid to try and start conversation." Holly nodded and rubbed the back of her head, "I just wanted to get to know him better, he seems lonely." Preston snorted at the comment, "you're hardly company to keep." With that he went back to his boxes and Holly was left to think about his words and wait for orders.