Mutants & Masterminds: Lake City Universe - M&M 3E - LCU: Alliance OS1 (IC)

[Heritage]

OXYGEN RING OF ORBITAL STATION ONE. October 7th, 2011. 2300 UTC

Dr. Genesis Li yawned as she walked into the dimly-lit embarkation chamber, and lazily ran her fingers through her purple Mohawk as she drained the last of her vending machine coffee. The young Asian physicist wore a special armored suit with several attachment points at the shoulders and hips; something of a rebel, she'd had it custom airbrushed with a repeating motif of purple lightening bolts going up and down her limbs. Sleepily rolling her shoulders, she stared out the observation port into the vastness of space, the bright blue Earth hanging there like a beach ball out of some dim memory of childhood.

"Space will always be lonely", she muttered to herself.

"Hmm? Is that you, Gen?" The speaker was Assistant Director Ditra Fifty-Five, the highest ranking Nameless agent on OS1; she was standing in the gloom at the far end of the chamber, apparently staring off into empty space. The shell she'd been using while on base was quite lovely, tall and graceful with pale green skin and short green hair, and the dusk gray Alliance uniform fit her like a glove.

"Yeah, it's me, Ditra." She paused, then cocked an eyebrow. "Are you...are you playing AO on your uplink again?"

The AD nodded, her bright green robotic eyes still unfocused. "Yeah; my team has been trying to finish this mission for over an hour, but our stupid Powerhouse can't keep the aggro off my Zapper's back." She shook her head in frustration. "Sorry, it wasn't supposed to take this long."

Gen grimaced and waved a dismissive hand. "Nah, don't worry; I'll just take over the ops teams while you and the rest of the bugs on base play massive multiplayer games on our server."

Ditra sighed, and her eyes actually focused on the physicist for a few seconds. "Don't be like that, Gen; we're a hive species, and sometimes it's hard to stay connected on OS1. Alliance Online is a fun way for us to maintain a sense of community, and it promotes teamwork between the Allied races." She grinned as she returned to her quest. "Plus that Golden Age expansion drops next month, and it looks like it's gonna be *sick*; new 'kicks, new powers and a whole new cityscape. I cannot *wait!*"

Gen couldn't help but laugh at her boss's enthusiasm as a tech began to attach bunjie cords to the attachment points on her suit, while another gently pressed an electrode cap onto her shaved scalp; she winced as the cold saline gel touched her skin. "Ooh! So how many pick-ups do we have tonight? And why so damn late?" With practiced ease, she sank her crumpled coffee cup into the wastebasket by the control console. "Yes!"

"Nice shot. We're hitting a lot of different time zones, and the Director chose this time because it was equally inconvenient for everyone, Here's the list and coordinates." She held out a print-out, which the junior tech took and passed on to the curious scientist. "Think you can handle it?"

The Caltech grad and mathematical genius snorted derisively as she quickly scanned and memorized the details of the list. "Please! With the psi-net this base is packing, a few hundred million miles is the same as crossing the street."

The AD nodded. "Good to hear. Oh God damn it!" The others in the chamber looked alarmed, but Ditra merely waved her hand in annoyance as she dropped out of her uplink. "Sorry, we blew the mission again. The guy has two brains and can't seem to use either one; Zappers need protection, people!"

The young physicist gave her boss a look. "You know, you actually *are* a member of the Alliance; you don't have to *pretend* to be one online."

The Nameless blinked. "Yeah, but I can't fly in real life."

"Um...okay, good point; I guess no matter how cool you are, you always wish you were cooler." She gave the junior tech a nod and he popped in the mouthguard, which made her look like a tiny Mohawked boxer.

"You ready for a little inspirational music, Doctor?"

Gen nodded and gave a thumbs up as the puppet harness lifted her up and off the floor; like most portal weavers, she tended to kick and thrash a lot during her sessions.

Ditra turned to the senior tech and gave him a nod. "Hit it, maestro; lay down some beats!"

The man behind the console have her a quick nod as he activated the internal MP3 player and Guadalcanal Diary's 'Lips of Steel' started pumping through hidden speakers in the chamber's walls. Li loved her obscure psychedelic rock; as the drums and bass line hit her nervous system, she felt the presence of the fifty Nameless agents on-call in the Methane Ring come online, and they welcomed her into their hive-mind with open chitinous arms.

*Hiya, fellas; ready to rock and roll?*

*YES MA'AM!*

*Then let's DO this freaky thang!*

*FUCK YEAH, MUTHAFUCKA!*

Like a rocket, the group consciousness launched itself out of the base, with Li's mind at the point of the spear; this rush, as their merged senses zoomed toward the distant Earth while the music thumped and pounded and her mind-mates writhed with glee, was better than any drug or any sexual experience she'd ever had; she hoped to God she never had to give it up, because the withdrawal was going to be a *bitch*.

Back in the embarkation chamber, Ditra and the session crew bobbed their heads to the music as purple lightening poured out of Li's twitching body and ripped through the air, as she danced and wove a series of portals for the new arrivals...

[SalmonMax]

Sigil stood on the soft loam of the Salisbury plain, the slate-grey tilted mass of the Sun-stone rising up beside her right shoulder. Before her stood the henges, cracked and weathered with age, many of them fallen apart or nearly so. The burial mounds largely untended, without so much as a flower to mark them, or a candle to shine on them when the night fell.

Looking at the Great Wheel made her feel old for the first time in all her long years. The last time she'd stood here, in this exact spot, she'd been little more than a girl, breathless and excited. The Wheel was fresh built and looking through its pillars felt like looking into a maze.

Now she was back, a little older in body, but in a world almost unrecognizable from her own. If not for the basic geography, and clues like the Broken Wheel (as she now thought of it), she'd have believed herself on a different planet entirely. And there was a conceit from this new world. That the stars had worlds, and some of those had people. It didn't shock Sigil like some of the other surprises, but it did take a certain realigning of ideas.

Perversely though, the thought that 'mere' mortals had come so far, so fast, was thrilling. It confirmed something she'd long suspected. The faerie had not so much left the world as grown apart from it. They were fundamentally static in nature...changing from day to day, season to season, but always the same changes, always the same cycles. The mortal world moved in spirals, not circles...each cycle was a little different. A little more complex. As the years piled up, the two worlds grew ever more apart. How long had it been since some unwary traveler had picked the wrong direction at the crossroad and found himself beneath the sunless sky? How long since the bogarts had haunted castles made of mortal hands?

If not for her blood tie, even she would not have been able to cross. And, yes, she'd been forced to leave Octavia behind, to leave her in power...but without the Wand, she'd be unable to take full control. Yes, Sigil had lost much of her power, but she still had the wand. In that way at least, she was still Queen.

Gathered around, outside the raised earth that encircled the liths, photgraphers snapped shots of her as reporters shouted questions and inane blandishments at her while their cameras churned behind them. There were bright lights shining into the English night all around, and the flashes were like lightning from a still-distant oncoming storm. Sigil had become something of a celebrity since her reappearance and decision to become a "super-hero." The islands of Britain didn't have many such beings, it seemed, and to have one who was so intimately tied to local folklore created a strong sense of collective 'ownership.' Without uttering a word of support, she'd revitalized the 'neo-pagan' movement in the Isles. The attention was, however, nothing new to her...it was in fact somewhat familiar and even comforting, even if that attention came in the form of strange men and women in funny costumes chanting and invoking her...or photographers constantly tracking her down, or crowds gathering where she went, instead of clouds of sprites buzzing around while a press of satyrs was kept at bay by her loyal unicorn entourage.

And if she tired of it, well it was a simple matter to become invisible. Or assume a different seeming.

Her decision to work with others like her had come recently, when she realized that she was suffering the loneliness of a queen without actually BEING one anymore. She had peers now. She could seek out others like herself. Her efforts in that line led her to the Alliance, and to their 'super-team.'

And that led her here. Salisbury plain, at an hour to midnight. The sky was dark, with charcoal clouds obscuring the stars and moon that the henge stones were meant to mark. There'd be rain later according to the 'telly.' Not where Sigil was going though. This was the place, and time, she'd given the Alliance to create their magic doorway. It would take her to their artificial world in space, and there she would join them, for a time at least.

How long exactly? Who could say? But it was instructive to point out that when she had gone to Faerie through the Wheel, it had only been 'for a time' as well.

Then, ahead of her, a bubble of violet lightning roared to life. It writhed and buzzed and crackled; reaching to nearby plinths with arms of energy that crawled around the ancient monuments as if caressing them. At the heart of the cataclysm was a lavender oval...the doorway. Such was its unnatural fury that even the clouds above turned faintly purple, and the halogen bulbs in the large lamps on the press vans burst as they burned out.

Sigil tightened her grip on her satchel and walked into the storm. When it vanished, she was gone.

[Shosuro Toshi]

"I owe you for this, you know." Shinji commented, spooning out a portion of spicy bean dip up with a chip. Officer Freddy Matthews had been very grateful for his life being saved- and a bachelor anyway- to the point of putting up for the homeless cyborg until the Alliance picked him up for official duty. The older man drank down a Budweiser and shook his head. "How many times have we been over this? You don't. Besides, you've been a great guest, Shinji, and I'll miss you. In any case, if it's your last night here, nothing like pizza, chips and dip, and football on the TV in the afternoon."

A loud enthusiastic chewing and grin signaled utter agreement.

The Packers scored a touchdown, and with commercial breaks on, Freddy chose to broach something he hadn't really dared ask yet. "So, what's it like? Not knowing your past and all?" Shinji looked back at him, pensive before deciding to answer. "Well, I doubt it's a legal defense for any pre-amnesia crimes. Really... it's like I'm not a complete person. Something's missing. Hopefully the Alliance can find out."

The great burst of the purple portal appeared in the hallway between the living room and the front hallway, drawing Shinji and Freddy's attention. "Speak of the bureacratic devil. Guess that's my time to say goodbye." They got up and slapped backs. "Goodbye, Shinji."

Shinji- now Gakusha, raised a hand in farewell and went through the portal. Well, maybe the Nameless and Orthi had some good satellite connections up there.

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Almost four years of military life. It had been rough, but so had her whole life, and rough didn't mean it had been bad to her. Besides, she wasn't leaving or getting kicked out.... It just felt like she was, in the strangest way one could possibly imagine.

Traditionally, the UPDF discharged in the morning, but usually 'morning' mean something closer to dawn. Lusungu found herself awake at three in the morning on October 8th, standing on a grand stand at Kitibulu Air Force base while the UPDF marching band played behind her, saluting and parting from her entire chaing of command—Master Sergeant Mugombe all the way up to president Musaveni. They had just placed her on who had just essentially placed her on an exchange that amounted to extended leave. Without any brass in sight.

On the one hand, she was nervous, leaving the military life she had lived with for over the past four years. On the other, she had found the circus of the last six months to be completely ridiculous. The band had just started up two minutes before, and her entire command chain from the bottom up had shook her hand and congratulated her on her accomplishments. That even meant something from those who had known what her accomplishments had been before those two weeks.

She tried not to let the thought show on her face, but she couldn't help but shudder.

Fortunately, right on queue, her door—she assumed it was her door--opened, to a flash of purple light and crackling. She felt an odd ripple behind her, even as everything in front of her seemed to reflect a strange purple light. And was that American “Rock and Roll” music she thought she heard between the enthusiastic straining of the band? She gave her parting salute, holding it until dismissed by the President, then picked up her duffel and her rifle bag, and turned around, to see what exactly she had sensed.

It looked like a circle of purple-hued lightning, but to her other-sense, it felt off-skew—not wrong, but not any way she had felt something be before. She took a deep breath, then stepped through the plane she felt, wondering what that feeling was, and felt herself twist and crumple in ways that she had never considered before, but that felt, somehow related to the way she did when she teleported herself.

A short epoch later, she untwisted/stepped into a room that felt just strange. It wasn't just the music, or the person thrashing from the harness up above, or even the strange purple light that pulsed and sparked from the multiple portals in the room, making it look something like a monochromatic version of a disco she had gone to a few times in the early leaves of her enlistment.

For a few seconds, she stood, disoriented, like someone who had just stepped off a merry-go-round, while looking at the people around her. Once again, she took a breath, and tried to bring her pulse under control. Oh well, so be it. She would deal with this as she had with every other challenge in her life: up front and full on.

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance took another sip of his beer as he looked across the table at the gorgeous pink woman sitting across from him. Okay sure, inside that hot body was a big centipede that could read his mind, but who was he to judge; she looked hot and was a fun time, and that's all that mattered, right? Take 5 was packed; people always loved dueling piano night and it wasn't like there were a lot of places to choose from up here. He looked up from his companion and smiled as a cute blonde dressed in a micro-miniskirt and tight tank-top walked up to the table holding a wine cooler, "Hey Alicia," the pink nameless said as the girl sat down.

Chance leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he squeezed her arm affectionately, "Hey, how's life in the Command Center?" Alicia sighed dramatically and was about respond when Dave, one of the regular piano players, began his rendition of Piano Man. Chance simply rolled his eyes as Alicia swooned over the man she was entirely afraid of talking to.

Looking at his watch, he leaned over to his Nameless guest, "Hey, where the hell is Gen anyway?" The pink beauty closed her eyes, which wasn't strictly necessary but she'd learned that it made others feel a bit more comfortable, and then opened them back up, "She's on duty; portal weaving for some new team." Chance looked back down at his watch, this time looking at the date, "Was that tonight? Hmm, I wonder if I was supposed to be there?"

[SalmonMax]

Sigil was no stranger to teleportation...or what the people of this time called teleportation anyway...but using the purple portal was very different than riding the Green. That was an expansion of consciousness...a merging, and an explosion of self, and a focusing and rebirth. This was...different. Space churned. She experienced impossible speed without moving. Time blinked, and missed her; turning a trip of hours into a Planck instant.

She stepped out into the receiving pad, in a vast metal room. She looked around, noting the woman gyrating and seizuring above, caught in some kind of harness. Then she spied neighboring platforms, each with portals forming...and a few that had already deposited their travelers. And, of course, the welcoming party up ahead, where the walkways from the various pads converged.

With a deep breath, Sigil lifted her chin slightly and squared her shoulders. In truth, she was nervous. This place was so alien, almost incomprehensible, and she couldn't help feeling she was in over her head; that she'd made a terrible mistake in coming here. But she was Sigil...Queen of Sun and Flower, the Lady of Garlands, Heart of the White Spire and Defender of the Seelie. She'd not show her weakness on her face. That much at least she could still do.

She was tall, at least compared to most women she'd met. Nearly six feet, in fact, with the slender, flawless build that had magazines constantly pestering her for "shoots" and "covers." Her features were elegant and regal, with high cheekbones and arched brows...and yet her eyes had a soft roundness to the, and her lips a fullness, that made her seem at the same time young and innocent. Words like 'dewey' and 'ingenue' were sometimes thrown in her direction, and she accepted them although it took time for her to fully understand them. Sigil had acclimated to mortal clothes fairly easily, simply because of the dizzying array of designs and colors meant that there was something to appeal to everyone. She loved sundresses and flowing skirts and fancy gowns...but was aware that such things were not always appropriate. For this important event, she was garbed more imperiously; a forest-green garment with gold highlights that followed her body tightly and opened into a skirt that ended at her knees and an olive overcoat that was longer, down to her ankles, and that she wore open. She liked the coat because it had an inside pocket that was precisely at her hand level, was hard to see, and was big enough to hold the Wand without it being obvious that it was there. The green and gold color motif of the clothes worked very well with her red-gold hair, which fell across her shoulders in rich waves and hung just shy of the small of her back. What she thought of as her 'satchel,' which was more like a small duffel bag, dangled from the long, delicate-looking fingers of her left hand just short of the floor.

Finally, when the portal vanished behind her, and she was satisfied protocol had been observed, Sigil started briskly down the metal walkway towards where there was a small group of people waiting for her. For them.

[Heritage]

In Take 5, Alicia finally managed to tear her eyes off of Dave as he worked his magic over the ivories; she frowned vaguely at Chance's question, then her eyes lit up a bit. "Oh crap, that's right; I was supposed to give this to you." The young CC tech was part of the 10% of the human population who developed serious headaches when living in the presence of a large psi-net, and one of the unfortunate side effects of her psi-blocker medication was occasional memory lapses; she must have forgotten to set the chime on her com-phone to remind her. She handed Chance a slip of printout, a flush of pink in her cheeks. "I heard Dave playing and it was driven right out of my mind."

The message was from AD Fifty-Five, and it was quite succinct: WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!

At that very moment in the embarkation chamber, Ditra stepped forward to greet the new arrivals; with her exotic looks and greenish coloration, there was almost a touch of the fey about her shell, though most would be able to spot a Nameless operating openly on sight. She approached each of the new team members in turn.

To Lusungu, she offered a crisp nod. "Sergeant Chanda." To Gakusha, she offered a warm smile and a firm handshake. "Hello, I'm so glad you came." And finally to Sigil, she bowed her head and managed an impressive curtsey. "Your majesty." At last she smiled benevolently at all of them. "Welcome to Alliance Orbital Station Station One; I am Assistant Director Ditra Fifty-Five, and I will be your liaison and primary contact during your stay here."

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance took the printout, looked at it and just laughed. "it's all good Alicia." He drained the rest of his beer and smiled at his two companions, "Sorry to drink and run, but it looks like I'm late...again."

Standing outside the embarkation chamber, Chance stopped and took a few deep breaths to slow his breathing after running at a near sprint from Take 5. Once his breathing was under control, he nonchalantly walked into the chamber, raising his eyebrow as he watched the new arrivals being greeted by Ditra.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha smiled, though slightly disoriented as he shook Ditra's hand. "Well, thank you. Either I'm meeting a Nameless for the first time- always a pleasure- or else your psychedelic ride messed me up more than I thought." His amused mock grin turned to the black soldier, to the arriving and dressed Chance, and the imperious, fantasy looking looking Sigil, called a royal of all things, and then he laughed. "Definitely, the latter."

I'm gonna like it here. I know it.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil gave Ditra a curious look, scrutinizing her features. Could she be another refugee of the Twilight Lands? But no...strange as her appearance might be, Sigil had never seen a true fey who had her features. She smiled though at the attempted courtesy, even if it stung her heart a little to hear her old title.

"Thank you for the warm welcome, but please...I am no more a majesty than anyone else here is now. My titles are memories now, held for vanity's sake and for the hope of renewal one day."

She glanced around at Chance and Gakusha and Alicia and the others. "Hello. Are you seeking to join this cause as well?"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu dropped her duffel bag on the deck beside her, and, after a clear moments hesitation, nodded to Ditra fifty-five, then to each of the other individuals who had come through the portals. They were all so different, she thought to herself. Casual. Unconcerned. She shuddered for a moment, then glanced up as a door opened and another man arrived, assessing him for threats, and the others for threat reactions. She found none, and dropped her eyelids, not quite closing her eyes, as she practiced calming excercises to slow her heartbeat.

So one was nameless as she'd been briefed. This other woman.... Strange, but not like the nameless one.

Glancing at the man who had come through the portal, No threat, at the m she thought to herself. At least he looked at the others.

As the new man walked in she started to level her rifle, then checked herself almost instantly, and just examined him. Has he been drinking? He didn't look drunk, exactly, but there seemed to be an exaggerated quality to his gait. Maybe it's just the way people walk up here.

She turned back to scanning for other threats in the room, glancing at the woman suspended in the harness up above, and then at the rest of the room.

In response to her question, Lusungu glanced back at 'Her Majesty', paused a moment, then asked, her English understandable, but heavily accented "Cause? You mean transportation to this station?" She frowned, and her eyes abruptly lost focus, as if looking right through the woman for a few seconds, and her left pinky started twitching in thought. A second later, just as quickly, she answered her own question. "No. You mean did we come because of what we were asked to come here for? Yes, that was why I was sent." She tilter her head slightly to the left, and her eyes slightly lost focus, as she passively scanned everyone in her field of vision while awaiting the woman's response.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil smiled and offered a hand, as was customary here...though it was hard to miss she offered it palm down, as if to invite someone to kiss it rather than shake it. Her ears came to points too...a detail easy to miss on the first glance because of her hair.

"Good! Then we will be working together. You may call me Sigil. It has been a great long time since I've been back to this world, so I apologize in advance if I do or say something wrong. Please correct me with no hesitation when that happens." Her emerald green eyes fell to Lusungu's rifle and her perfect brow creased slightly. "But you have a weapon ready. Is there reason to believe we are in danger?"

Her voice was unusual. She spoke with a hint of lilt, and an unconscious rhythm that create the subtle impression she was singing even when she wasn't. Her voice was a warm, rich soprano, that had a touch of youth to it, like a sixteen year old trying to sound like a twenty-five year old. But then, the same could be said for her face, if not for her height.

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu looked at Sigil for a moment, then smiled, and quickly put her hand palm down on top of Sigil's, team cheer style. "Very good! You may call me Lusungu, although many English speakers call me Lucy, instead. I also apologize if I say or do something wrong. It has been quite some time since I have dealt with Civilians." Although she spoke clearly and fluidly, Lusungu enunciated each syllable of each word with the exacting precision of one who was not a native speaker, and cared greatly about clearly communicating.

"As for my weapon, I have just been granted something that is either an extended leave or a--what is the word? When you leave the military?" For a moment she spoke a little more quietly, as if to herself, saying something in a foreign language. She continued in her normal voice "A discharge." She shrugged, not moving to take her hand off Sigil's, and added. "As to danger, well, there is the potential for danger in some form everywhere, is that not so?" Although Lusungu's smile remained, the pained expression on Lusungu's weathered features and in her deep dark eyes suggested she had seen pain and suffering in her time, and accepted them as part of life. "You understand, I would expect, if you have been--" Lusungu paused again, her lips moving, before finishing questioningly "usurped?" Lusungu's apologetic face didn't indicate whether she questioned the word chioce or that the event had happened to Sigil.

Can you understand Bantu?

Lusungu natively speaks a dialect of Bantu, and she still uses that when she speaks to herself.

The first time she spoke to herself, Lusungu said "Oh yes, it's the same as when a bullet leaves a gun."

The second time, she didn't quite say "dethroned? Maybe that only applies to toilets." I guess you'd have to be able to lip read in addition to being able to understand Bantu.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha smiled, and then he realized who the elfin looking woman was. "Ah, yes. Sigil. That's right. The faerie queen, ok, ex-queen returned to Britain. They weren't so loud about it in America." Though with his Asian looks, he seemed much more Japanese in nationality. That much I remember. "Call me Gakusha. Hopefully we'll all be able to work well together. Can't say I have much of a distinguished name or anything. I'm sure you got the full celebration and goodbye party at home once you joined the Alliance, Sergeant Lucy. What about you?" He called over to Chance.

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu frowned for a moment as she withdraw her hand from Sigil's. She'd either misread Sigil's gesture or Gakusha had both of theirs. Still, if they were to be a team, they'd develop their camaraderie sooner or later. She bowed slightly to Gakusha, saying "挨拶、学者". Then , after a brief glance to Ditra fifty-five, turned to openly face the man who had walked in.

Do you understand Japanese?

:-)

If you do, you'll know Lusungu just fluently spoke Japanese, saying "Hello, Scholar."

Heritage: (probably useless) Assessment check

Summary: Lusungu's professionally paranoid, realizes these are wild ass guesses, and still wants to make them. I realize it's a likely a set of secret checks of little value, and am fine with you hand waving this if it's essentially useless.

Lusungu is trying to assessment everyone in the room, starting with the people closest to her. Obviously, we're not in combat, so I the results are likely to be inconclusive; Lusungu is looking for clues about whom to take of most in combat. If we're going to get to "practice" before our first combat situation, feel free to not worry about this for the group.

I also reckon trying to use the assessment advantage on Nameless when you've never seen one's shell before is about as useful as fairy wings on a cement truck.

[Shosuro Toshi]

"あなたに感謝。あなたは自分自身をよく学んだように見える." Gakusha responded with his only slight bow, pleasantly surprised to see she knew his native language fluently too. He too kept his eye on the man yet to be speaking for himself.

Indeed, Just Like You!

Technically, I used a translator. But Gakusha does.

"Thank you. You seem well learned yourself."

[Heritage]

In response to the faerie queen's request, Ditra nodded. "Sigil it is, then." Then she smiled impishly. "Really, I just wanted to get a good curtsey in; it's a skill one rarely gets to practice these days." When Chandra and Gakusha begin to speak their native tongues (though in truth who really knew the amnesiac's case?), she appeared to follow their comments with polite interest. With alarming ease, she spoke to both of them in turn, speaking perfect textbook Bantu and Japanese with no accent.

To Lusungu: "if you're ever struggling with your English, let me know; I'm fluent in over eight thousand forms of communication, including Klingon and Esperanto. Bantu comes to me as easily as any other."

To Gakusha (and Lusungu as well): "There are many Japanese speakers on-base; let me know if you wish to meet them socially."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noted the ever-relaxed figure in the doorway, which prompted a wry smile. "Come and introduce yourself, Chance; these wonderful people will be part of your group, though we hope to be joined by two more in time."

Up in her harness, Gen Li finally came out of her trance; she spat her mouth guard out, leaving it to dangle in front of her by its safety cord. Her face glistening with sweat, she gave the handsome newcomer a casual nod. "Hey."

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance smiled at the unnamed and started walking across the room, "Thanks boss." As he made his way to the platform he offered his hand to all of the new arrivals, "Hey, how's it going, I'm Chance. If I understand things correctly, I'll be your chauffeur."

When the portal weaver greeted him he looked up at her and winked, "Hey beautiful, how's it hangin'?"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Upon hearing how many languages Ditra fify-five knew, Lusungu looked back at the Nameless and literally stepped back as if shocked. After a few seconds, she recovered enough to glance at the woman hanging above, and then down to Chance. When he came to her, she shook his hand.

"Chauffeur?" Her eyes again lost focus for a moment, and then she frowned fiercely. "You have limousines even up here? Isn't that..... Extravagant?"

[Heritage]

Gen Li shook her head as she was lowered down to the floor. "Gee, never heard that one before." Once she reached the ground, one of the techs gently unhooked her while the other mopped her brow and squirted Gatorade into her mouth; weaving took a lot out of you.

Ditra smiled and gave her a nod. "Thank you so much, Dr Li." The weaver tried to raise her hand in salute, but her arm only made it halfway. The two techs half-carried her out of the chamber as the assistant director turned her full focus two the new arrivals. "Well, it looks like we're all here...or at least, everyone who could make it today." Her eyes became distant for a few moments. "We hope to have two more, but there are still a few issues to be cleared up." Once again full present, she gestured towards the door. "If you could follow me, please? I want to get you settled into your quarters."

Outside the dimly lit e-chamber, the hallway seemed to be very brightly lit; the design was sleek and modern, with viewscreens at regular intervals on the walls showing news channels from Earth intermixed with scrolling advertising. The Orthi Corp and Alliance logos are also omnipresent. The group enters the circumferential corridor, some thirty feet across and still filled with dozens of Alliance personnel even at this late hour, mostly human but several Nameless agents in a wide variety of colors are also visible. A large Orthi with thick tribal scars carved into its shell floats into view, its three limbs gently twisting as it moves, as though it were underwater. There is a sense of excitement and urgency in the air.

Ditra politely stopped to give the newcomers a few moments to adjust to the sight, assuming that most of them haven't seen this many aliens in one place; she points to a sort of low tram floating a few steps away in the middle of the corridor. The tram driver, a short Hispanic man wearing bulky high-tech goggles, waved at them and gives her a thumbs up. "Whenever you're ready, that's our ride." Once the group was ready, they hurried across to the tram, which dipped slightly as they climbed into the travelling couches.

"How are you, Javier?" The man shrugged and wiggled his hand. "Ah, so-so. Late shifts are kind of a drag, y'know?" He grinned at the newcomers as he touched a finger to his goggles. "Buenas noches! I'm Javier, your captain for this magic carpet ride! Make sure you're strapped in as we go to warp factor three!" The very second the last of his passengers is buckled in, he thrummed the tram up to speed, and soon it was literally flying down the corridor! In reality it was only going about twenty-five miles an hour, but the open tram car allowed quite a bit of wind to blow through everybody's hair. Alien faces, colorful signs and snippets of music and conversation went rushing past as Ditra yelled to be heard.

"Chance is going to be your pilot! He's certified to fly, drive or steer just about anything that moves! You won't always need his piloting skills, but he's still a good man to have around!"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu grabbed her rifle and her duffle bag, and followed Ditra fifty-five out into the corridor, to a scene that was stranger than anything she had seen before. She scanned through the crowd quickly, looking for threats, spending most of her time looking at the aliens that were visible to her line of sight.

As they approached, Lusungu nodded curtly to Javier, and with practiced efficiency threw her duffle under the travelling couch and buckled herself in next to Ditra Fifty-five, cradling her rifle securely to herself. The terrain looked a lot smoother than some of the back country roads she had been driven over in the past, but in her experience, that just made the driver of the vehicle more creatively reckless in their driving.

"Mr. Chance is our pilot? Where else is there to go here? I thought everything that happened happened right here?"

[SalmonMax]

Sigil was silent, simply taking in sights that were amazing and new, yet eerily familiar. The flat gleam of white metal and tile wasn't so far from the marble and crystal walls of the Palace, and the cavernous space filled with strange creatures and near-human faces could have been the Great Hall. Despite the driver, Javier's, assertion that the moving couch was magical she could tell it wasn't. No one could rule long in Faerie without learning to recognize that telltale tingle, or scent, or flash, of magic being worked. The fey tested their rulers constantly; each in their own way. She was vaguely curious about how it DID work without magic, but knew by now that the answer would involve terms and concepts as alien and inscrutable to her as her subjects were to humans.

A little uncomfortable with the seatbelt on, Sigil showed no sign of discomfort at the craft's speed or height. In fact she reveled in both, her face lighting up in childlike glee as her hair streamed comet-like behind her.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha looked perfectly at home with the wind and thrill of the speed, at least the way it went for him. The enhanced senses did have a bit of an impact in this kind of situation. "I think," he half-shouted over the noise of transit, "when we need to go to Earth, he'll be taking us there. And helping out I imagine. By the way, what team are we, now? The Alliance has one for all the continents... are we the Alliance Team Space or something?"

[Heritage]

The curvature of the Oxygen Ring became apparent as the horizon continued to scroll down to them before flashing past and rising back out of sight. Ditra appeared to be enjoying herself as well, leaning into the wind with closed eyes and a smile on her face. Finally she shook herself out of her mini-reverie to address the questions.

"I'm sorry, that was too fun!" The Nameless turned to Javier with a pleading puppy look. "*Please* tell me you have audio dampeners on this thing!"

With an exaggerated sigh, the driver reached over and punched a button on his console; the air crackled and suddenly all outside sound was muffled, though the wind still rushed through everyone's hair, creating the eerie illusion they were perhaps underwater in a swift-flowing stream. The green-skinned beauty looked pleased as she continued in her normal voice.

"Much better! To answer your question, Gakusha, your official designation is the Alliance Auxiliary Team, or 'AAT' for those who prefer acronyms; we see you as a way to plug the holes in our areas of operation." Ditra shrugged as her short hair billowed about her face. "I mean there's just no way our Earth-based teams can be everywhere at once. Even Redline has to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom from time to time; he just does them faster than everybody else." It took a few seconds for the implications of her last statement to hit her, and her cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of green; truly Nameless shells are wonders of engineering! Clearing her throat, she continued.

"As to *your* question, Sergeant, your team's jurisdiction is as wide as the Alliance itself, which means it actually spans several star systems! Not that we expect you to monitor the whole thing; that's *our* job."

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

That's an impressive trick, Lusungu thought to herself, as the audio dampener kicked in. There are so many times I would've liked to be able to do that! And this place is so enormous! What could we have done if we had the capability to do this all ourselves?

"So what you are suggesting is that when problems get too big for the locals, we get called in?" the soldier asked what she was increasingly thinking of as the team's handler. She paused for a moment, then crooked her mouth sourly. One thing after another, not all at once.

[SalmonMax]

"And, excuse the interruption," Sigil added graciously, "How many of these teams are operating in the several star systems?"

She wasn't entirely sure what was meant by 'star system,' but she assumed it was simply a significant measurement of land used in this future. There would be time to get the nuance later.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Damn, but that would be a lot of places to cover. And places to see, Gakusha knew, since all he'd gotten was the experience of drifting across America in a very transient way. Even the place he knew to be his homeland, Japan- was obscured otherwise by the blank curtain of his mind. So the chance to explore was as welcome as anything, even as he leaned back and smiled at the thought.

[Heritage]

"So what you are suggesting is that when problems get too big for the locals, we get called in?"

The Nameless nodded. "Yes." But then she kind of screwed up her face in thought. "Well, sort of: the Alliance has many skilled crewmembers manning our stations and our fleet, but only a small number of XPs operating out in the field. From time to time those teams get spread fairly thin, and there just aren't enough resources to go around; we can send a team of 'normal' humans, or Nameless agents in the appropriate shells, but sometimes that's just not enough."

"And, excuse the interruption," Sigil added graciously, "How many of these teams are operating in the several star systems?"

Ditra laughed. "You're starting to figure it all out, huh? Yes, there are a lot of them, but don't worry; if this new team is a success, other teams will be created to lighten your load. We have no intention of working you to death." She cocked her head to one side. "As to the exact number of systems, there are five; your solar system, which we call 'Sol', Orthi Prime and the two Orthi colonies, and the homeworld of the Lhan-Gar, but don't worry." She shook her head, sending her hair in all directions. "They forbid any offworlders from getting within a million kilometers of it."

"Okay, we're there," Javier called out as he brought the tram to stop. He turned off the dampeners with the flick of a switch, and all the outside noise flooded back in a rush. They group was in front of a sort of hallway some three meters wide leading off the main corridor in what appeared to be some sort of residential sector; the walls were molded to look like bricks or aluminum siding, there were 'curbs' and 'sidewalks', and quaint old-fashioned streetlamps glowed on the corners. Once all the passengers and their belongings were unloaded, the tram made ready to pull off again. "Thanks, Javier, you're a prince," Ditra said as she waved at the departing vehicle. "Alright, here we are!" A fake brass nameplate marked this particular intersection as 'North Ravello Court', and across the corridor was a similar hallway marked 'South Ravello Court'. "If you can just follow me, please?"

The hallway lead to a small carpeted cul-de-sac in a octagonal pattern; four doorways numbered '1' through '4' ringed the space, and a sort of couch pit was in the center with a sunken table placed in the middle. The green-skinned agent pulled four magnetic cards out of a belt pouch and held them out. "Here are the keys to your quarters; each of your names is molded onto one of the cards. We stocked the kitchens with foods we think you'll like, but let us know if we made any mistakes, and we'll do our best to correct them." She looked at her slender wrist in a calculatedly human gesture, as her only clock was internal. "I'll be by tomorrow at 9am to take you to meet the Director, after which I'll brief you on your first assignment." She smiled sweetly. "If you need anything to help you sleep, you should find something to help in the medicine rack in the bathroom...or in the wet bar. Call me at 211 if you need anything else. Good night!"

And with that, she was gone.

All four of the apartments were fundamentally the same: living room, dining room, small kitchen, bathroom and study, with thick polarized glass skylights revealing a million tiny stars. Pieces of art the Alliance hoped would appeal to each team member were on the walls, and the kitchen shelves and refrigerators indeed well-stocked. A sort of cellphone was placed in a charger on each bedside table, with a paper card announcing their wake-up calls would be at 8am UST.

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

With a practiced casualness that showed she might have done this once or twice before, Lusungu hopped off the lorry, grasping her rifle from the middle with her left hand, while her right hand smoothly came down to pull the handles of her duffle from under her and, with a combination of balletic grace and judo-like leverage, swung the massive bag onto her shoulder. With a sleepy, almost casual scan, she examined the area, looking for any signs of unusual activity, and just generally trying to get a feel for this environment, and setting her internal baseline for the way people--in all their varied forms--behaved here.

When Ditra Fifty-Five asked for the group to follow, Lusungu was the last to do so. The rugged woman wasn't scared, but she wasn't exactly feeling comfortable, either. When the group arrived at their cul-de-sac, Lusungu moved to the right and dropped her duffel about a foot from the couch-pit, watching the others on her... new team.

She took her "key" (the only keys she had ever seen in real life were metal), and waited for someone else to show the way on what they should be doing, or start a discussion, or otherwise provide direction.

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha had been in a motel at least once, and so recognized the key card in use. Sliding the card in the unlock the door, he stepped in and took a look around, but a certain light creaking made him turn around in the doorway. Lusungu was still waiting in the cul-de-sac, causing Gakusha to raise a perplexed eyebrow. "I think they're letting us get settled into our apartments. Myself, I'm not tired yet, but I'm getting some food."

Closing the door back behind him, he went to the dining room, searched through the fridge, and came up to his delight with a few containers of sushi. A little soy sauce over the California rolls, and he was chewing happily. Good stuff. He'd see if the job made the amenities necessary.

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu (who had definitely been in a few hotels, but never ones that were posh enough for magcard keys--some of them hadn't even had locks with normal keys) tried out her key on the unit designated as hers. Miraculously, it worked on the first try. She opened the door, dropped her duffel bag inside, and carefully set her rifle case against the wall on the inside. Then she looked back at Sigil and Chance, waiting to see what they intended to do.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil paced the sunken couch and table, looking around at everything, though there wasn't that much to see. Something about her slow, deliberate movements called to mind a deer or similar, cautiously investigating something new. She went to her door and swiped the card, smiling when the light turned from red to green. She swiped several more times. Just when Lusungu wasn't sure Sigil actually knew what it -meant- when the light changed, she pushed her door open and strolled in.

A moment later the door opened again and Sigil poked her head out. "These are our spaces, yes?" she asked hopefully. "We may do with them as we like, so long as nothing is damaged?"

The uncomfortable looks between one another seemed to be enough for Sigil to take as a 'yes,' because she beamed delightedly and vanished back inside.

Minutes passed and her door opened again.

Through the door, as Sigil strolled back out with a great smile of satisfaction on her face, could be seen an incredible vista of green grass and trees, with a startlingly clear sapphire sky blazing overhead. The sharp eyed might glimpse the river winding through her living room, or the dark shadows of monkeys or birds leaping between branches in the background.

Then the door closed behind her and all was normal again.

"Do you think there is a place nearby where we can get something to eat?" the erstwhile fey queen asked hopefully.

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu watched the strange woman--the other strange woman--on the team, as she came out of her own unit. The glimpse she had of the other woman's unit presented an interesting image. She wondered if she could change the look of her own unit in a similar way, and if they had intentionally given her a more dorm-like arrangement in the hopes Lusungu would find it more comfortable. Amazing what could be done with the right technology.

Lusungu stepped out of her doorway, and let the door close automatically, then confirmed that her unit--number four--was locked, before she walked back to the central pit, where she sat down on one of the couches. Her gaze lingered on the other woman for a moment, then she did something she hadn't done since she'd come on board: She smiled. It was a small one, but it was definitely there. "Should we wait for our chauffeur, and check to see if our resident"--she paused, and gestured to air quote the next two words--"cool man is interested, or just go grab some... Chow, I think the English term is? Ourselves?"

[SalmonMax]

"Pfeh," Sigil scoffed with a grin. "I do not like to wait. If the 'chauffeur' or the resident coolman wish to eat, let them come now or forage for themselves."

She raised her voice. "Did you hear that, resident coolman? If you wish to eat with us, you must hurry!"

Then she frowned as she looked around and said to Lusungu more privately, "This room is so ugly, don't you think? It was made by people who think metal is pretty. But true beauty comes from life."

Sigil flicked her fingers as if batting something away from her hands. A nearly invisible wave of something rippled out from the gesture. Plants in colorful pots sprang up atop a vibrant tablecloth. Trees sprouted in the corners and climbed to the ceiling. Pleasant, ethereal music started to play quietly in the background.

"Better."

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha heard the call, but snorted at the tone before getting up and continuing to eat his mound of sushi on the go. It was unfortunate that he had enhanced senses, including hearing at the moment, for then he got a full bit on the ignominy of metal... A pause, and he had to chill down, since it cut to the heart of his identity... a cyborg...

Calm down. She wasn't talking about you, doesn't know yet. If she still mocks you, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

He paced into the common spot, chewing more hardly on the sushi and plodding through the grass. "Where'd you get the food?" Lusugnu inquired? Shinji snorted. "No refrigerators in the army, Lusungu? Check the pantries too, our rooms are stuffed."

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu shrugged. "Yes, there are. They are large monstrosities at secure bases. The rest, if we are lucky, are European, South African, or American Ehm-Arr-Ees." She blanched as she emphatically pronounced the last three syllables. As Ms. Ditra Fifty-five mentioned. That does not get us more knowledgeable about our environment, though. And since my sleep... schedule? Is already 'fucked up', I figure we may as well see how the locals live." She shrugged at Gakusha. "Besides, we had best each learn how the others on our squad operate. A night on the town would be more useful for that then sitting in the barracks."

"And I would rather face the prospect of Ehm-Arr-Ees as the only sustenance in my quarters on a full stomach, rather than an empty one."

She glanced at Sigil, then at Chance, and finally at Gakusha again, then stood up. "If you'd rather catch up on your sleep time, I can understand that desire, too. I, however, require food." She waited for a moment for the others to get up, then took up point, for now.

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance stepped out of his room, checking to make sure all of his things had been properly brought over from his other accommodations to here the African woman talk of going out for food, "Hey, if a night on the town is what you desire, you've got the right guy with you."

[SalmonMax]

"I think a 'night on the town' is what we are looking for," Sigil said brightly. "We COULD sit alone in our rooms and eat by ourselves, but we should eat together! Eating together brings people together. It makes a 'group' or even a 'team' feel like family. We should go to a place where each of us can try a food we've never tried before, so that the experience will always have power, and remain close to the surface of our thoughts."

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

"Well then," Lusungu piped up, "let's be on our way!" With that, she headed out to the street. As she walked back to the main street (What do they call it, Ring Road? Circle Street? Loop Lane?) did, she activated her communicator, and connected to Ditra Fifty-Five.

"Yes, Ditra Fifty-Five," she spoke into her communicator, "We have decided we are not yet sleepy, and are going for lunch. That is all!" Then she disconnected and stowed her communicator, plunging into the bustle and flow of the main street, making sure Sigil and the others kept up, scanning for restaurants, and trying to keep close enough to the others that she could hear them over the din of the traffic. Up ahead, she spotted a building with a banner hanging from the ceiling of the street, just above the entrance of the structure: a stylized red fish. I haven't had sashimi yet, Lusungu thought to herself. She looked back to the rest of the group, then gestured to the banner, until she was sure Sigil had noticed both her gesture and the banner, and nodded in reply.

With that, Lusungu ducked through the entrance, through the low curtain just inside, and into a space of relative quiet. She nodded to the asian woman that was approaching her, and spoke in Japanese, asking "Could we have a booth, please?" The woman gave her a confused look for a moment, before Sigil's head broke through the curtain behind her, and the others followed.

[Heritage]

The teleporter could almost hear the Nameless agent blink on the other end of the line. "Uh...okay; I just figured-" But the call was over quickly and the night, such as it was in the depths of space, was still young.

What followed was a night of several firsts for the the various members of the newly-formed team, for all but their rather worldly tour guide Chance; first meal in space, first sashimi, first margharitas, first Jello shots, first karaoke night (the databanks on OS1 have literally millions of tracks available in languages from around the world, and every bar has a connection), first low-G laser tag match, and so much more. It would be a night they'd all remember...if only they could remember more of it. At least they all woke up in their underwear.

Alcohol hits you quite a bit harder in a simulated gravity environment; mornings after on OS1 can be fairly epic, and have inspired regret, restraining orders and at least one smash off-Broadway musical (now in it's eighteenth week!). When Ditra dropped by the cul-de-sac at ten-thirty UST, she called the four teammates in turn, gently roused them with cheerful greetings, and the plunked herself down in the couchpit, idly designing a new Powerhouse for AO as she waited for the biologicals to complete their morning routines.