Aberrant: Trans-Dimensional Explorations - Trans-Dimensional Explorations

[BlueNinja]

"It will most likely be a very small portion of the population. On our world I don't think it's even a half a percent. People seem to be awakening to their abilities a bit faster here than on our world, so you may wind up with more novas, but I doubt it will be more than one in a hundred."

"The aliens have a very large fleet of ships that travel from world to world, stripping them of resources before moving on. One earth we visited was a bit more advanced in space exploration than we were, and apparently the aliens noticed them and sent four ships ahead to deal with them."

This seems to satisfy the old man, as he leans back and sips on his glass of water.

Jonathan's face steadily grows colder and harder as he continues, "Even though we were able to warn them ahead of time, and even though they had an army of novas ready to fight when the ships arrived, at least one ship survived and nearly every major city on earth had been destroyed by the time we were forced to retreat. We've got as much technical information about the ships as we could gather, and we've even picked up a handful of pieces of alien technology as we've gone from world to world. We can share what we know about the fleet, and hopefully at some point when we've had more time to research it, but I want you to understand how dangerous the situation you're in is, and how difficult it will be to put together defenses capable of holding back the alien fleet without their noticing. It's going to take the cooperation of the entire world."

Paul snorts and replies,

"Conquer? We should be so lucky they want to ‘conquer’ us. What? Maybe they want our women? One of the hardest things to accept is the scale these things operate on. Your mental image of them is probably 6 main characters on a spaceship with a few hundred extras. You’re probably wondering how something like that could deal with a planet.”

“The reality is these are world ships. This is a race's migration, not an army. Smart money says they out number us by a lot. We know they go from system to system, strip mining planets for what they need. The Earth has water, oxygen, iron, all sorts of things they need to expand their population.”

“Their actions on the other Earths have a certain brutal logic. If they ignored us, then in a thousand years we’d have a multi-system empire of our own set up, and we’d be fighting them for resources. So, they’re going to act first. Better still, if they exterminate us they still get to take the Earth’s water, etc.”

Everyone across the table looks more solemn as Jonathan and Paul expound on the danger of the aliens. Brother Reese clears his throat and matches stares with Jonathan. "If, as you make it sound, the destruction of our world is nearly inevitable, why then do you travel from world to world to provide warning?"

Cleophus shakes his head, and studies Paul. "You said the last world you visited took out some of these ships. How'd they do it? Did they have their own space navy ready for the aliens?"

Zhenglai performed his traditional bow to each of the Quorum members in turn as he was introduced to them, exchanging any pleasantries as necessary, and then joined everyone at the table. During the following discussions he remained silent as his companions were doing a more than adequate job of answering all the questions, but he carefully watched each of the participants and listened to everything that was said. He could see that there were a number of theopolitical issues simmering under the surface here and he wanted to get a sense of which direction this Quorum was leaning in.

((Zhenglai will use the passive side of Emo Manip to try and gauge the feelings of those gathered, and a Rapport roll (bolstered and aided by his Autonomy) to discern motivations.))

Racine seems frightened; Reese seems wary and curious; Cleophus is clearly distrusting of everyone, particularly Zhenglai; Jenkins is curious, scared, and somewhat paternal with the wink towards Theo; Alexander is bored and disbelieving of everything to do with the aliens.

[AnonCastillo]

Everyone across the table looks more solemn as Jonathan and Paul expound on the danger of the aliens. Brother Reese clears his throat and matches stares with Jonathan. "If, as you make it sound, the destruction of our world is nearly inevitable, why then do you travel from world to world to provide warning?"

"Well, that's not our only reason for coming here. As we mentioned, we've managed to pick up some more advanced technology in the process of jumping from world to world. Our hope is to find something capable of giving us a decent chance against the fleet. As long as warning you won't significantly slow down our mission to save our own world, we might as well help where we can. Since we accidentally caused a bunch of novas to erupt here, we figured we at least owed your world an explanation of what was going on, and we might as well warn you about the aliens while helping you deal with the nova eruptions."

[Alex Green]

"Well, that's not our only reason for coming here. As we mentioned, we've managed to pick up some more advanced technology in the process of jumping from world to world. Our hope is to find something capable of giving us a decent chance against the fleet. As long as warning you won't significantly slow down our mission to save our own world, we might as well help where we can. Since we accidentally caused a bunch of novas to erupt here, we figured we at least owed your world an explanation of what was going on, and we might as well warn you about the aliens while helping you deal with the nova eruptions."

Paul raises an eyebrow and translates,

"What he means is we didn't come here to help you. We came here to help ourselves. Our probe of this world claimed you should have lots of novas, so we figured you'd be better at this than us. But you don't and you aren't."

Cleophus shakes his head, and studies Paul. "You said the last world you visited took out some of these ships. How'd they do it? Did they have their own space navy ready for the aliens?"

Paul shakes his head and says,

"Their space navy was flying novas and they got shot to pieces. They used the warp - nuke trick. You teleport onto a ship with a nuke on a timer, then you teleport away without it. Boom. End of ship. A nuke is a bomb designed on the same principals that make the sun burn. It's a very strong card to play in something like this, but you need to hold back the aliens while you're up there, and they're cyborgs built with alien tech." ::ohmy

"On the other hand they only had a few hours warning that this was coming down on them. I have to think that there were more novas who were strong warpers that didn't have access to nuclear weapons. Considering one nuke takes out a city, the powers that be like to keep them rare and hard to get." ::ohmy

[BlueNinja]

Paul shakes his head and says,

"Their space navy was flying novas and they got shot to pieces. They used the warp - nuke trick. You teleport onto a ship with a nuke on a timer, then you teleport away without it. Boom. End of ship. A nuke is a bomb designed on the same principals that make the sun burn. It's a very strong card to play in something like this, but you need to hold back the aliens while you're up there, and they're cyborgs built with alien tech." ::ohmy

"On the other hand they only had a few hours warning that this was coming down on them. I have to think that there were more novas who were strong warpers that didn't have access to nuclear weapons. Considering one nuke takes out a city, the powers that be like to keep them rare and hard to get." ::ohmy

Brother Reese attempts to stand, and fails, gaping at Paul. "They detonated fission bombs in orbit? Were they so collosally stupid as to help the aliens along with the destruction of their world?" The others all look at him with various expressions of shock and confusion.

"What is a fission bomb?" Racine asks him.

Reese slumps back into his chair. "They are ... perhaps as close to an abomination as I have seen. Certain metals give off the same kind of energy we use in bone imaging machines for medicine. The heaviest of them, when compressed the right way with explosives, create a detonation massive enough to destroy entire square miles, and it leaves the ground, water, and air polluted." He cuts off Cleophus as the younger man tries to interrupt. "They are too dangerous a weapon to use. Truly, they are close to hellfire as anything in this mortal world. If other countries found out that we could build such weapons, or if they knew the places we tested them, they would turn on us." He picks up his glass in both shaking hands and carefully takes a sip. The other members of the Quorum sit, staring at him, their expressions raging from horror (Jenkins) to fury (Cleophus).

[Alex Green]

Paul says in a false cheerful voice,

"Well, good. You know what nukes are, and you respect their strength. To answer your question Brother Reese, 'that crazy', no. Not crazy. Desperate. They figured losing tens of thousands of people from the nukes was much better than losing Billions. Death toll was in the hundreds of millions when we bugged out, it might have been total."

"I were you I'd try to fight them away from the Earth."

[Shade Sentinel]

The mask listens to the deliberations with his fists at his sides as normal.

"This has occured to the mask before, but what if these aliens were exposed to some form of virus or the other pathagen? It has been riddled with science fiction nonsense in the past, but perhaps the idea has merrit. A Nova based viral infection perhaps. These life forms must have some sort of genetic weaknesses."

Looking around the room, it just occured to him that he blurted out an entirely different line of thinking...

"Then of course, in this word, Explosives may work just as well."

[SkyLion]

The mask listens to the deliberations with his fists at his sides as normal.

"This has occured to the mask before, but what if these aliens were exposed to some form of virus or the other pathagen? It has been riddled with science fiction nonsense in the past, but perhaps the idea has merrit. A Nova based viral infection perhaps. These life forms must have some sort of genetic weaknesses."

Looking around the room, it just occured to him that he blurted out an entirely different line of thinking...

"Then of course, in this word, Explosives may work just as well."

*Not a bad idea Mask! But remember we are talking about cybernetic organisms. A computer virus might be more effective than a biological one...*

,,

Esteban looks up kitten-eyed at Kristin to make sure she is still doing okay.

[Shade Sentinel]

The mask considers Esteban's idea for a moment. Then adds to the link.

*"There is real promise there. It would make sense that if you cripple one part of a dual organism you cripple the entire thing. Are any of you capable of either electronic or biological viruses?"*

[Alex Green]

The mask considers Esteban's idea for a moment. Then adds to the link. *"There is real promise there. It would make sense that if you cripple one part of a dual organism you cripple the entire thing. Are any of you capable of either electronic or biological viruses?"*

Paul sends,

*Not yet. Maybe someday I'll be able to get that small but not so far. I think it's a grand idea, but we're missing some important tools for building either of those.*

*...and that is kind of what we're looking for. Something that really hits them below the belt. That's what we were hoping for from these guys. If we find a crew of novas who have already beat them, then hopefully they'll give us their doomsday virus.*

[BlueNinja]

Paul says in a false cheerful voice,

"Well, good. You know what nukes are, and you respect their strength. To answer your question Brother Reese, 'that crazy', no. Not crazy. Desperate. They figured losing tens of thousands of people from the nukes was much better than losing Billions. Death toll was in the hundreds of millions when we bugged out, it might have been total."

"I were you I'd try to fight them away from the Earth."

Alexander leans forward, nudging the younger Cleophus back into his seat and ignoring his protests. "That is easy for you to say, sir, but it's harder to do in practice. How are we to identify which of our new 'novas' can sail through the vacuum and radiation of outer space? Or construct vessels capable of stopping these aliens?"

Cleophus leans forward again, looking at Jonathan and Paul unhappily. "Is there anything, other than this rather vague warning, that you can offer us?"

The mask listens to the deliberations with his fists at his sides as normal.

"This has occured to the mask before, but what if these aliens were exposed to some form of virus or the other pathagen? It has been riddled with science fiction nonsense in the past, but perhaps the idea has merrit. A Nova based viral infection perhaps. These life forms must have some sort of genetic weaknesses."

Jenkins seems to consider this. "Well, if you have a genetic sample of the aliens, I think we could eventually come up with something capable of disarming them." He pulls out a device that looks something like a Nintendo DS, and starts drawing on it with a stylus, muttering to himself with the occasional understandable word like "Ebola" and "hantavirus."

Esteban looks up kitten-eyed at Kristin to make sure she is still doing okay.

All of the 'locals' have been sitting silently at the table, either too awed or too confused to take part in the conversation. Kristin has faded back into translucency.

[Centimane]

Alexander leans forward, nudging the younger Cleophus back into his seat and ignoring his protests. "That is easy for you to say, sir, but it's harder to do in practice. How are we to identify which of our new 'novas' can sail through the vacuum and radiation of outer space? Or construct vessels capable of stopping these aliens?"

Zhenglai leaned forward himself and, gesturing with his old knobbly hand to emphasize, said, 'You shouldn't have to. Most newly erupted novas will have an almost instinctive knowledge of what they're capable of, at least in general. For instance, no one told me that I could open doorways into space or that I could venture there unharmed. I simply felt that I could and, when I tried it, found it to be true.'

As Zhenglai spoke to those gathered, a large section of the table they sat at suddenly turned into a hole with warmly glowing edges as one of his warpdoors opened in its surface. The view it showed looked down upon the Earth's surface from a distance of several thousand kilometers, at the least. The planet was clearly visible, but looked to be no more than a few feet across as it floated in the large swath of space visible within the warpdoor. Being the size of a large "normal" doorway, and sitting exactly on top of the table's surface, the view it provided was both awe-inspiring and vertigo-inducing. As he finished making his point, the door just as suddenly slid closed, and the tabletop reappeared, as though nothing had happened to it.

Cleophus leans forward again, looking at Jonathan and Paul unhappily. "Is there anything, other than this rather vague warning, that you can offer us?"

'Yes', said Zhenglai, 'there is, though I am not sure that you will put it to any good use.'

Zhenglai's eyes met those of each of the Quorum members before returning to those of Cleophus. 'This is a story', he said, 'that has been told in my country since ancient times.'

'In the east of China there was a man named Yüan Ching Mu, who set off on a journey but was overcome by hunger on the way.

A certain robber from Hu-fu, of the name of Ch'iu, saw him lying there, and fetched a bowl of rice-gruel in order to feed him. After swallowing three mouthfuls, Yüan Ching Mu opened his eyes and murmured, 'Who are you?'

'I am a native of Hu-fu, and my name is Ch'iu.'

'Oh misery!' cried Yüan Ching Mu, 'are not you the robber Ch'iu? What are you feeding me for? I am an honest man and cannot eat your food.'

So saying, he clutched the ground with both hands, and began retching and coughing in order to bring it up again. Not succeeding, however, he fell flat on his face and died.'

Having finished his story, Zhenglai fell silent again and waited to see what those gathered had to say.

Over the link he sent, *It seems that Brother Reese oversaw experiments which uncovered the secrets of nuclear fission many years ago, but was so frightened by what he found that he, and those who worked with him, hid the results from everyone with such effectiveness that no one has since duplicated their results. He truly believes that use of such weapons will lead to an Armeggedon. I am not sure I blame him, but neither can I say I condone his current attitude.*

((BN, regarding the Warp, I hope that's not abusive. Warp gives a Range, so I thought it'd be cool to have him open it against a particular surface rather than just some arbitrary point in front of him. As for the location, Zhenglai is opening a Warp 20,000km directly above their heads, which he should be able to accomplish almost without even rolling dice, so I thought that'd be a safe distance to try for.))

[SkyLion]

The mask considers Esteban's idea for a moment. Then adds to the link.

*"There is real promise there. It would make sense that if you cripple one part of a dual organism you cripple the entire thing. Are any of you capable of either electronic or biological viruses?"*

,,

*I bet Michal can...*

,,,,

All of the 'locals' have been sitting silently at the table, either too awed or too confused to take part in the conversation. Kristin has faded back into translucency.

,,

{{Awareness roll to make sure Esteban can still see her. I don't know how good she is though I think Esteban has 15 dice if she's not using willpower. That cat should be in the bag...If he does successfully see her he nudges her with his cheek and looks up directly into her eyes, letting her know he can see her.}}

[Alex Green]

Paul says,

"The space worthy ones won't need to eat, drink, or breath. The first clue will be they can live on a normal amount of food. The super smart will be obvious, especially to them. But there's a saying back where we come from, there are no useless novas."

"Your first move should be to figure out who can see into the future and enlist them as a early warning system. After that, we think they're built for space combat. The only winning move we've seen is the warp nuke trick. Teleportation will be obvious, the nukes you'll have to build." ::devil

"We can give you detailed plans on how to build the drugs that really help Novas. Mox to control their powers during eruption. Andies to help train them. We also have the alien fleet's current location and heading, you might want to keep an eye on them."::sly ::ultracool

"And you're right, nuclear weapons are a horror of a weapon. Problem is, there are worse things, and they're headed this way to be used against you. Makes me wonder if the dinosaurs' asteroid had help."

[AnonCastillo]

"I'm not sure how effective a virus we can make without capturing one and running tests on it. Let's put that option aside for the moment, we can come back to it when it's more feasible."

"Anyway, there are things we can offer you. Not right this second, but we've given science books and such to some of the worlds we've visited. If you can give us a good estimate of just where you stand technologically, we'll have a better idea of what types of research manuals and such to send here. We're unfortunately still a ways behind the aliens in technology, but we can at least give you a jump start and give any super-intelligent novas a big boost to any research they do."

After Zhenglai's story, he says, "I think what our old friend here is trying to say is, we've given you advance notice of a major threat, and caused enough novas to erupt here that you might have a decent chance for survival. Unfortunately, some people in this world, in your culture and elsewhere, are going to have trouble accepting the novas who may try to set you back. Some novas, even, will have trouble accepting themselves and may do stupid and destructive things. It's going to take careful diplomacy, even with some people you may not like, to make sure that everyone in the world does their part to save humanity. If you let smaller conflicts get in the way, your world may die."

[BlueNinja]

Racine glances at her fellow Quorum, and nods to Jonathan. "I think we need a little time to think about this and process the information you've told us." She rises, and makes a point of shaking the hand of every nova on the other side of the table. Jenkins and Reese imitate her, while Cleophus moves over to stare out the window on the city and ocean below.

(I am assuming you were planning to return to the Oregon cabin, at least at first?) Brother Max approaches when the party prepares to leave. "I think I will stay here, have a few conversations with certain members of the Quorum. They seem willing to consider what you've said, at least. But," he glances over at Cleophus, "trying for peace with China, not to mention trying to broker cooperation among the feuding European empires, is not going to be an easy or popular task." Having said his peace, he moves to follow Alexander out of the room.

[Alex Green]

Paul sends,

*OK, back to the cabin and check out the aliens? Then back here and download all the info we have on the aliens and nova medicines, including avoiding taint? If we time it right we can bring that up right after they're committed to going with the idea that 'novas are the solution'.

[AnonCastillo]

* Yeah, let's head back to the cabin. They probably need some time to think and meet with people and discuss things. *

"We need to head back to our world and check in," Jonathan says. He glances at Kristen and the other locals and says, "And we should probably take our new friends home, unless you feel like you need right now. When would be a convenient time for us to come back? We'll put together some research materail, info on nova abilities and ways we've found to help novas keep their abilities under control, that type of thing, for you."

[BlueNinja]

"We need to head back to our world and check in," Jonathan says. He glances at Kristen and the other locals and says, "And we should probably take our new friends home, unless you feel like you need right now. When would be a convenient time for us to come back? We'll put together some research materail, info on nova abilities and ways we've found to help novas keep their abilities under control, that type of thing, for you."

The members of the Quorum turn to look at the locals, who except for Max squirm and look a bit uncomfortable. Cleophus turns back to Jonathan and nods decisively. "How about two days from now?"

Racine looks at the locals with a bit more of a smile. "I think we should talk to all of you - or at least, all the newly become novas. But even that will require some time to reorder your own lives. If you wish to stay and talk with us now, I'll arrange for lodging for you. Otherwise let me get your full names, so that I can arrange for transportation." She turns back to the party. "Are there still others, unknowing of their power? Or will we have to quickly write procedures for local authorities, that they do not panic and use violence against those unfortunates like Bradley whose powers have changed their forms?"

Brother Reese turns to Zhenglai, speaking more quietly. "Do not mistake me; I don't want to touch off a war. But I think I must, for a few days at least, hold off on discussing this with the Confuscianist government. They have surely monitored Brother Max's program, but until they see some of their own people becoming novas, they might think it to be a hoax. I have had some dealings with their top-level bureaucrats, and they seem to be better versed in paranoia than a scholar like myself."

[SkyLion]

*Senor Blue, it might be good of us to advise our newly erupted friends here about their right to privacy. They shouldn't have to reveal their identities if they would not choose to do so. Otherwise we might set a dangerous precedent here...*

[AnonCastillo]

The members of the Quorum turn to look at the locals, who except for Max squirm and look a bit uncomfortable. Cleophus turns back to Jonathan and nods decisively. "How about two days from now?"

"Two days should be more than enough time, thank you."

Racine looks at the locals with a bit more of a smile. "I think we should talk to all of you - or at least, all the newly become novas. But even that will require some time to reorder your own lives. If you wish to stay and talk with us now, I'll arrange for lodging for you. Otherwise let me get your full names, so that I can arrange for transportation." She turns back to the party. "Are there still others, unknowing of their power? Or will we have to quickly write procedures for local authorities, that they do not panic and use violence against those unfortunates like Bradley whose powers have changed their forms?"

"You should probably set up some kind of system for novas to come to you to help control their powers. There are going to be a lot of confused people with powers looking for somewhere to turn. Nothing coercive - you don't want to scare away people who could help you, after all - but somewhere for novas to go when they don't know what to do about their powers."

*Senor Blue, it might be good of us to advise our newly erupted friends here about their right to privacy. They shouldn't have to reveal their identities if they would not choose to do so. Otherwise we might set a dangerous precedent here...*

* I'm not sure how we can do that tactfully, and unfortunately for our friends here, they've already been plastered across people's tv screens, so I'm not sure how much privacy will be left to them. Hopefully my little suggestion will keep them from being too intrusive with other novas, though. *

[Alex Green]

* I'm not sure how we can do that tactfully, and unfortunately for our friends here, they've already been plastered across people's tv screens, so I'm not sure how much privacy will be left to them. Hopefully my little suggestion will keep them from being too intrusive with other novas, though. *

Paul sends,

*Agreed, and also agreed that we shouldn't be outing closet novas.*

Racine looks at the locals with a bit more of a smile. "I think we should talk to all of you - or at least, all the newly become novas. But even that will require some time to reorder your own lives. If you wish to stay and talk with us now, I'll arrange for lodging for you. Otherwise let me get your full names, so that I can arrange for transportation."

Since all the novas involved are adults and are already aware of privacy issues, Paul just raises an eyebrow at that but doesn't comment.

She turns back to the party. "Are there still others, unknowing of their power? Or will we have to quickly write procedures for local authorities, that they do not panic and use violence against those unfortunates like Bradley whose powers have changed their forms?"

Paul says,

"These are just the ones we've tripped over, we already know we missed a few. Some were too far away for us to do anything about, no doubt others didn't have obvious eruptions and didn't realize they've changed."

"You're going to have to act fast. You're still in the early days of this, you get to decide how to deal with it. But there will be a lot more and whatever direction you send this train won't be reversible. Decide wisely."

[BlueNinja]

"You should probably set up some kind of system for novas to come to you to help control their powers. There are going to be a lot of confused people with powers looking for somewhere to turn. Nothing coercive - you don't want to scare away people who could help you, after all - but somewhere for novas to go when they don't know what to do about their powers."

Jenkins nods. "I have some ideas on how we can arrange the more major churches for proper training. But I'll wait to implement it until we have those drug formulas your doctor mentioned. It occurs to me," he says, turning to Paul, "can these drugs be given out as a preventative measure, before their powers come into effect?"

Since all the novas involved are adults and are already aware of privacy issues, Paul just raises an eyebrow at that but doesn't comment.

Kristin is a high school student. The rest of them are adults.

Paul says,

"These are just the ones we've tripped over, we already know we missed a few. Some were too far away for us to do anything about, no doubt others didn't have obvious eruptions and didn't realize they've changed."

"You're going to have to act fast. You're still in the early days of this, you get to decide how to deal with it. But there will be a lot more and whatever direction you send this train won't be reversible. Decide wisely."

Jenkins, Reese, and Racine exchange a few glances. "This will likely be the only thing on our minds for the next few days," Brother Reese mutters.

[Alex Green]

Jenkins nods. "I have some ideas on how we can arrange the more major churches for proper training. But I'll wait to implement it until we have those drug formulas your doctor mentioned. It occurs to me," he says, turning to Paul, "can these drugs be given out as a preventative measure, before their powers come into effect?"

Paul shakes his head and says,

"No. Novas drugs are very poisonous on baselines. And unless you want details on neural chemistry I'll stop there."

Jenkins, Reese, and Racine exchange a few glances. "This will likely be the only thing on our minds for the next few days," Brother Reese mutters.

Paul says,

"Let me make that a bit easier on you by taking something off the table. When we first got here we thought we'd try to put the genii back into the bottle. Round up the new novas and talk them into coming back home with us."

"But on this world exposure to Quantum powers isn't measured in dozens of yards. Exposure, and thus eruption potential, is measured in hundreds of miles. We've confirmed this experimentally."

"I think for every nova we found there are a bunch more that we didn't. I think you have hours to get in front of this, not days."

[AnonCastillo]

"It's alright Paul, I think at this point they know what they're dealing with. And dealing with all the new novas probably will be more than enough to keep you busy for days. We'll be back with all the help we can give you in a couple of days. Until then, good luck!"

He turns to Zhenglai and Mask. "Okay, so whose turn is it to warp us out of here?"

[BlueNinja]

As the group prepares to leave, Kristin, Bradley, and Nina join them for transportation back to the west coast. Sticky seems happy to stay around, talking with Brother Reese, and while the Flaming Priest looks ready to leave, his Archbishop is staring him down, obviously wishing more discussion. Brother Max bids the group a cheerful farewell, then immediately turns back to conversation with Racine.

[Shade Sentinel]

The Mask concentrates on the location provided by Jonathan and opens a portal.

[Alex Green]

Paul steps through the portal.

[BlueNinja]

With a quick set of stops, Simon drops off the locals, and the group out to the middle of nowhere in the Sequioas. Prepping the portal and the ETPH, Brandt steps through to bring back the mapping device. Once the setup is completed, the Meklar fleet is indeed in orbit around the same planet - with one crucial difference. This universe's planet is still wreathed in the blue-white of a pure atmosphere, the strip-mining obviously only just begun.

Once the group has returned to the SGE, Michal calls everyone to the briefing room, listening to the report about this religious world, and the accidental nova explosion caused by the group. As they are finishing up, Rieller enters the room, Patricia following behind him. "Michal, I believe the group is ready for the status report on my project." He gestures her to a seat, and steps up to the foot of the table. "After your encounter with the Meklon scout ships on the Sweden-dominated world, I stepped up production of a planetary anti-spaceship weapon. It weighs approximately three thousand kilograms with the power cell, and has a minimum range of three kilometers, maximum of five hundred kilometers. From your description of the scout ships, I believe that it will take two or three shots to disable or destroy each scout ship. Unfortunately, as it is still a prototype, it needs just under one minute to recharge between shots."

He finishes, and Rieller and Michal stare at each other across the table for a moment of silence that lengthens. "Rieller, do you mean you're done already?" Michal finally asks.

Blinking, Rieller frowns. "Yes, the prototype is completed. The power cells are charging now, and will be finished and ready for test firing in two days. Patricia will be returning with you, to help coordinate your attack with any surviving novas or military forces. However, I will need you to return with the weapon here, so that I can retrieve the information. After that, we will be returning the weapon to them, and I will be constructing ship-based weapons on board the Aethon."

Michal looks over at Jonathan. "You heard him - two days, then you're going back to see how well our first blow against these alien shitheads works. Make sure you get good shots, take down those three ships they had left, and get back here with the weapon so we can design a better one." He then turns to look at Esteban. "Unless someone else has been working out more than I realize, you'll probably going to have to remain shifted to a fairly large form to carry it. Three tons isn't light, and you'll probably have to move it between shots. Those scout ships have weapons just like it, designed for orbital bombardment - I don't want any of you to be put under the hammer blow from one." He stands up, and makes sure to meet the glance of everyone at the table. "Two days, and then you get to kick these Meklar in the nuts."

END EPISODE 8 (finally!)

[SkyLion]

When the Mask opens up a portal to Kristen's home, Esteban allows the others to say their goodbyes. Esteban gives her a final nuzzle and meows, blinking up at her. Just before the warp portal closes, he shifts back to human in a flash of golden light. He winks one of his still cat-slitted eyes, waves farewell and is gone.

*******

After Michal adresses him, Esteban nods.

"Two days, and then you get to kick these Meklar in the nuts."

With a knowing look towards Ash Phoenix Esteban says,

"About time."

[AnonCastillo]

Jonathan nods gravely. "Alright. I think we'll be ready. Will we all have forcefield generators for this one? Having these two to warp us around is nice and all," he gestures to Simon and Zhenglai, "but if their guns can fire faster than ours I'm still worried about them being able to get a hit in somewhere near us."

[Alex Green]

Paul taps a finger on the table and comments quietly,

"One minute per hit with a two hit minimum? We'll need to open a warp and then fire and immediately run through it to avoid the nuke that comes back. Best have out of the way places to warp to, North/South Pole, Mountain tops, that sort of thing. Precognition will help a lot."

"And... if they think like we do we won't get all of them. Blow up one or two and the last guys should run for it, especially after they take a hit."

[Shade Sentinel]

Simon listens and weighs in.

"I will of course provide transport where ever needed, as long as I can manage. I'm sure we can move it before they locate our position. If they track by sight, perhaps we can set p duplicates of it nearby to fool them, though its more likely they will track it by its power signature."

He relaxes back into his chair.

"So Michal, has a virus been tried or hypothesized on these things yet? I was curious if that had been attempted and figured that if its computer or viral...or both, you'd be the man to ask."

Focusing briefly, Simon summons a couple of beers onto the table and takes a drink.

"Its worked in the movies!"

[BlueNinja]

"So Michal, has a virus been tried or hypothesized on these things yet? I was curious if that had been attempted and figured that if its computer or viral...or both, you'd be the man to ask."

Michal shakes his head. "Hypothesized, yes, but the ones you saw on Patricia's world are the closest Meklar I've seen. Maybe, if you're lucky, you can pick up some pieces that survive re-entry - but avoid needless risk." He shrugs. "I'm sure once they show up here at our world, I can do a better job of developing a computer override or something, and Angela has some ideas for biological weapons as well."

[BlueNinja]

Paul taps a finger on the table and comments quietly,

"One minute per hit with a two hit minimum? We'll need to open a warp and then fire and immediately run through it to avoid the nuke that comes back. Best have out of the way places to warp to, North/South Pole, Mountain tops, that sort of thing. Precognition will help a lot."

"And... if they think like we do we won't get all of them. Blow up one or two and the last guys should run for it, especially after they take a hit."

Rieller nods. "They have energy shields of some kind. If you could catch one - probably the first one - without shields raised, destroying it should be simple. When firing, it takes about ten seconds for it to lock on to the target - the computer is programmed to look for vehicles above the atmosphere - then one second to fire. Once the target is locked, it will hold it until the weapon is moved, so that you can lock on to a target and wait for a surprise before actually firing. That should help your escapes as well."

[Alex Green]

Paul nods and says,

"That has potential, maybe lots of potential if they can't keep their shields up forever. We go through the gate, we immediately warp to a desert or some other place that can take a nuke without killing lots of people."

"Or heck, we could warp to a city that's already been nuked. We set up the gun, we take our shot, hopefully catching them with their shield down. Then we warp to the mountains of Canada and hide out for a day or two, and let them get tired of keeping their shields up. Then we repeat the process."

[archer]

Brandt shakes his head disbelievingly. Leaning back in his chair, he stares at the ceiling. "I can't believe you people are discussing this so lightly. What you're suggesting is dangerously close to a suicide mission."

He sighs, still studying tiles above him. "We have no idea how sophisticated their sensors are. As Obsidian Mask already mentioned, they could detect the weapon powering up and neutralize us before the ten-second lock is completed. As a matter of fact, it's probably safer for us to assume that the aliens will detect the big-ass gun pointed at them, and plan accordingly. Which leads to the next problem: the idea of using warps to avoid incoming fire."

He drops his chin to look at Paul, then looks seriously at Zhenglai and the Obsidian Mask. "How fast can you open a warp? What kind of distance and accuracy can you guarantee while under fire on a different world? I've seen both of you open warps, and I know there's some concentration involved. How large a warp can you make, under the same conditions I just mentioned? This new weapon of Rieller's sounds like its a bit on the large side, and Michal's already suggested Esteban transform into something bigger than normal to tote it around."

Brandt swings his head around to look at Michal and Rieller, splitting his attention equally between them. His tone is mildly questioning, belying the obvious emotion in his stare. "What else do we know about the alien's weapons? Are the energy-based or do they fire solid projectiles? Do we have any idea what the blast area is, or how quickly they can aqcuire targets and fire? Do we have any of that information?"

[BlueNinja]

He sighs, still studying tiles above him. "We have no idea how sophisticated their sensors are. As Obsidian Mask already mentioned, they could detect the weapon powering up and neutralize us before the ten-second lock is completed. As a matter of fact, it's probably safer for us to assume that the aliens will detect the big-ass gun pointed at them, and plan accordingly. Which leads to the next problem: the idea of using warps to avoid incoming fire."

He drops his chin to look at Paul, then looks seriously at Zhenglai and the Obsidian Mask. "How fast can you open a warp? What kind of distance and accuracy can you guarantee while under fire on a different world? I've seen both of you open warps, and I know there's some concentration involved. How large a warp can you make, under the same conditions I just mentioned? This new weapon of Rieller's sounds like its a bit on the large side, and Michal's already suggested Esteban transform into something bigger than normal to tote it around."

Rieller nods and addresses one point. "The weapon is mostly cylindrical, about seventy centimeters in diameter and one hundred ninety centimeters in height. Claire has referred to it as my 'iron coffin', if that helps you visualize it. I have also done what I could to make the powering-up process as quick and undetectable as possible - I have no wish for any of you to die to test my weapon."

Brandt swings his head around to look at Michal and Rieller, splitting his attention equally between them. His tone is mildly questioning, belying the obvious emotion in his stare. "What else do we know about the alien's weapons? Are the energy-based or do they fire solid projectiles? Do we have any idea what the blast area is, or how quickly they can aqcuire targets and fire? Do we have any of that information?"

Michal answers calmly. "What else we know comes from the information you all brought back with you. I would expect you'd make contact with the locals, like any surviving government or novas still around. They only demonstrated energy-beam weapons, which did dissipate somewhat through the atmosphere. Still enough to kill any baseline, possibly enough to kill novas without protective powers. There are some personal forcefield generators, like the one Jonathan uses, also available, if you feel you need more protection. Their blast area appeared to be about a football field in size, and the little amount of video of the nova battle in orbit suggested a fifteen second window for them to pick a new target and fire. Since you did bug out fairly quickly - which I am glad you all came back - Rieller designed the weapon based off of your reports. If you want to leave it in the gate room while you do a couple-hour recon, I'm fine with that too. But at some point, we will have to test a weapon against their ships, and I'd prefer we do it on someone else's world," he glances over at Patricia, "no offense."

[SkyLion]

Esteban adds a question to Brandt's inquiry,

"Senior Guo, with your knowledge of future happenings, could it be possible to time a warphole to redirect enemy fire back inside their own ships?"

[Shade Sentinel]

Esteban adds a question to Brandt's inquiry,

"Senior Guo, with your knowledge of future happenings, could it be possible to time a warphole to redirect enemy fire back inside their own ships?"

"Or more interesting. Perhaps we get a good image of one these...things and have our changeling go in for a closer look. What do you think Esteban?"

[SkyLion]

Esteban re[lies,

"Highly doubtful Senor Mascara...I would guess they communicate through machine code and would probably be able to instantly pierce any disguise I could create..."