Outside> You enter the Orbit of Earth.
Outside> Orbit of Earth
Outside> Punk [Punk] [RM]
Space Capsule 3 [RM] [#5942 e]
Enker [Enker] [RM]
Space Capsule 2 [RM] [#5966 e]
Space Capsule 1 [RM] [#5955 e]
Moon

Outside> Obvious exits:
Outside> <T>emp Exit leads to Eurasia - Stardock.
Outside> Eastern Hemisphere <EH> leads to Sky Above Eastern Hemisphere.
Outside> Western Hemisphere <WH> leads to Sky Above Western Hemisphere.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Captain Phoebus transmits, "um..be careful."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Aerial Division Commander Ten transmits, "Thanks. You too, Phoebus."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Captain Phoebus transmits, "You're welcome. And thank you."

Outside> Space Capsule 1 has actually been cruising around in space for a while now, with a rather far-off destination. It's a long way to the top..

Outside> Space Capsule 3 is following Capsule 1 and Capsule 2.

Ten is flying the Comet into outer space with desperate determination. She isn't saying much, toehr than to make announcements over the loud speaker. "We have left Earth's atmosphere. DO NOT open any method of exit!"

Outside> Within the first capsule, the Prince of the Robot Masters, Enker, rests easily. Helmet revealed to show his massive black hair, he bides his time.. wait.. no, he's got short hair.

Outside> And inside the third capsule, Punk bides his time. In order to fit inside, he's retracted all of his spiky protrusions, save for his sawblade head. He doesn't seem particularly happy, but when is he ever?

Outside> Space Capsule 3 cares not. You're still gay as all hell.

Flare Feline stands next to Ten in the cockpit, looking out the viewscreen "So what do you think we're looking for out here? Hmm, we were wrong last time..." He sighs "This whole business seems too fast paced for me, everyone's scrambling to get these pendant thingies. They sound like nothing but trouble..."

Outside> Repliforce Space Shuttle <Comet> comes blasting into the area. From the speed it is flying at, the pilot must be desperate.

Ten nods briefly to Flare. "That's why we have to try so hard to get them. We need to keep them out of the hands of our enemies. We must not let our enemies get the power!"

Flare Feline watches the vastness of space "I dunno if we'll find anything in here. But let's keep looking..."

Ten nods again. "Yes. If it is here, we will find it."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "I have a feeling something is about to happen. Remember, everyone, contain the pendant if possible. Oh, and the best of luck to you."

Outside> WARNING! WARNING! SENSOR KLAXONS FLARE AS SOME... THING Appears on everyone's long range systems.

Flare Feline quickly notices the warnings "Whoa, what's going on? What're the sensors detecting? Go check it out."

Outside> The Elite Commander, within the first of the Robot Master Space Capsules, becomes aware as.. something begins intruding on his sensors. Frowning, Enker calls up the other shuttles. "<Brothers, are you picking this up?>"

Flare Feline stands over Ten as the alarms go off "Whoa, what on earth? ...well not on earth, but still, what's going on? Go check it out."

"Yeah," Punk transmits over the com. "It better not be some f**king derelict space-station, 'cuz if I've gotta deal with somethin' uglier than f**kin' Sonic Banshee.." The Elite mutters foul words under his breath.

Celestial Blackbird is just hovering through space, not concerned with riddles or rhymes she's just being her usual angsty self, floating through space in routine patrol orders when she notices something appearing on her own long range sensors. Fanning out her massive black metallic space flight wings the glowing blue things in her legs light up even more so as she activates her space engine and begins to head in the direction it appears to be coming from. She doesn't bother sending any word to Maverick HQ, going to check it out herself first.

The object appears to be outside of Earth Orbit... there seems to be a way out there, since all of you are space capable. Radios still work, too, at least out here...

Enker smiles briefly at Punk's chosen vocabulary within the first Robot Master pod. "<Yes, I quite concur.. But this doesn't appear to be normal. As lovely as time on Mars may be, I think this may well be worth checking out.>" That said, he flips open the controls on the interior of his craft, preparing to fire maneuvering thrusters.

Flare Feline whistles as something appears "Whatever that is, let's go check it out. Should we tell Repliforce before we head in?"

Ten practically jumps out of the pilot's seat of the Comet as the warning is detected. Good thing she's strapped in so well! The phoenix quickly regains her composure, and nods to Flare. "I'll check it out right away!" She begins to guide the Comet toward the object, all the while being very careful. All the while, she calls orders to the shuttle crew to try to learn more about it via sensors and such. As Ten changes course, she seems pretty energetic, almost as though she were enjoying what is happening. "Gosh, this sure is exciting! I wonder what will happen next?! Oh, and yes. please do radio in."

"Good thing we left hours before in preperation," Punk transmits back to Enker. "Those slackwitted, toe-headed dumbf**ks won't catch up to us for a looooooong while." Punk idly taps a few keys, setting up his capsule's navcom to follow Enker's capsule.

Celestial Blackbird has no one to talk to on her radio, so does not bother to use it, and flies onwards towards the object, black metallic space-wings spread wide. Her entirely black body against the darkness of space means that she is next to impossible to see visually, too.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Lieutenant Flare Feline transmits, "This is Flare Feline with Commander Ten in the Comet, something has appeared on long range sensors in earths orbit, we're moving in to check it out."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "What is it? -Where- is it?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Lieutenant Flare Feline transmits, "We're not sure of the specifics yet, we'll let you know when we find out more."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "There's like fire and stuff over here in the Museum. I really should have asked Blaze to lend me some of her CO2 canisters..."

Enker indulges in a brief bit of laughter. "Well, we'll see how this pans out, shall we?" Offer made, he keys in the change. On the sides of the fast-moving pod, gas is expelled in short, managing bursts, and the direction of the first Robot Master capsule is changed. From a straight line to Mars further into the vastness of space.

Sol System

The Sol system makes up a portion of the sprawling Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn makes up a portion of the vastness of the great beyond. Named after the the star in its core, Sol, or to the denizens of the only planet to house living lifeforms in the system -- The Sun. 9 planets sit in Sol, orbitting the Sun at varying speeds. Each is unique, like every planet in space.

Ten [Main] [RF]
Enker [Enker] [RM]
Space Capsule 1 [RM]
Space Capsule 3 [RM]
Repliforce Space Shuttle <Comet> [RF]
Celestial Blackbird [Space_armour] [M]
Equilibrium

Obvious exits:
Earth Orbit <EO> leads to Orbit of Earth.

Equilibrium
This is the point in space where the gravitational pulls of Sol, Terra, and Luna cancel out, towing anyone and anything here peacefully along for the ride. Very pretty stars. Terra and Luna seem so small from here, so distant... Sol is a brighter star by sheer proximity, but from here it can be seen as a star, instead of a sun. It seems so... alone out here.
Yep. This is the perfect place for Tempest Dolphin to sulk.

TCS Providence drifts silently in the void of interplanetary space, lifeless and cold, barely registering on the sensors except for the gravitic displacement within. A ship that couldn't exist, that never existed, it sits among the stars, a total enigma.

From within Capsule 3, Punk mutters. "I hate space travel."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Captain Iris transmits, "*quietly* The rocket seems to be a transport."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "What Rocket?"

Flare Feline blinks from inside the cockpit of the Comet "What the... well I think we've stumbled across something indeed. Can you get any closer or take any readings?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Fashionable Feline transmits, "The Magic Rocket?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Captain Iris transmits, "The one the Masters are talking about. I presume it's something at the scene."

Penetrating space as only a Robot Masters craft can, the Space Capsule 1 is kept on its new course. Within its interior, the Elite Commander scans the console in front of him, hands working the controls in front of him. Not the directional, but rather the long- and short-range sensors. Enker speaks into the trans-ship communications unit. "It is not what we were constructed for, brother, but we shall persevere. Hmm. Run your pods sensor scanners. There's definitely something here."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "I see..."

Celestial Blackbird flies onward, her left leg lies over her right, the silver claws on the black taloned feet glinting slightly in the sun, her arms are pressed against the side of her body and her head looking forwards, making her body appear extremely streamlined. The blades on her arms are retracted for the moment and she doesn't appear to be looking for a fight, or preparing for one. Her violet eyes remain fixed forward as she follows her sensors towards the target. Being the only one here that can actually move around well in space without the aid of a ship Celestial heads towards the thing that quickly becomes larger in her sight. Some kind of ship. She flares a burst of gravity to slow herself down, her taloned hands opening as she pauses in mid space. She then notices as her sensors pick up some other vessels approaching the same location, though only faintly and she can't work out whom they are.

Ten is awestruck by the scene before ehr for a brief moment. However, Flare's voice snaps her out of it. "Huh? Oh, yeah! Definately! I'll try to fly closer. Gosh, this showed be the most amazing thing that has ever happened to us!" Ten sets a course for the enigma that the sensors detected, all the while talking to the scanner crew on the radio.

"Just some f**king gravitic distortion," Punk replies without a tone of care in his voice. The sound of keys being tapped can be heard across the shared frequency, as can a few more muttered cuss words. "Probably what we're lookin' for, if you catch my drift."

[Radio: (E) RF-Chatter] Off-duty Ring Redwing transmits, "You know, it's a good thing My wings are like resistant to flames and explosions."

Celestial Blackbird puts her guard down.

The gravitic distortions around the ship start affecting you nearly immediately. Radios start to flicker and sputter as you near the TCS Providence, the name of the ship emblazoned on the hull in plain and normal English. As you go closer, you realize that once you enter, your radios will be unusuable.

Flare Feline chuckles "Yeah, we've been through a lot, but this is pretty incredible. I wonder what that thing is? ..." He glances at another console "Hmm, I think some other ships may be approaching, but I'm not sure yet.... we should be careful." He looks back at the enigma in space, wondering what it's origin is...

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Aerial Division Commander Ten transmits, "I think we found something up here. Yet, I can't see what it is. I'm flying in for a closer look."

Smiling, Enker sits back within his pod, after having tweaked the directional console for its new location. A rendezvous with this new anomoly, with this new ship. "We'll see.." He intones softly, words lost as the joint-frequency fades to nothingness. This was predicted. This is most definitely 'it'.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "Be careful, ma'am. Keep us updated if you find anything."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "*sound of large explosions and general panic and screaming* It's like a disaster in here, exhibits are all falling over due to the explosions. I think some folks are trapped underneath them. I'm still okay though."

Celestial Blackbird notices her radio go to crap, but then, she never really has any intention of using it now did she. She flicks it off completely, so the static will no longer cloud her thoughts and with a thought uses her gravity engines to gently maneuver herself towards the hell of the waiting the ship, reading the words on it with a curious eyes. She does not yet touch it however, but visually searches for an entrance point of some kind, getting ready to use the blades on her forearms to make one of needed.

"F**king humans," Punk mutters over the shared frequency. "Leave it to them to trash space with useless crap." He taps in a few more commands to his capsule's navcom, setting up a computer-assisted guidance to bring the capsule into the Providence. "There better be one of those f**king pendants in here," he mutters to himself. "'Cuz I'm gonna steal it, and power up to take down Megaman.."

Ten nods to Flare. "Hmmm, I have a gut feeling that... er wait a minute." A few quick radio transmissions to the crew, and something appears on one of the nearby screens. "Wow! Check that thing out! We need to head inside it and see what it is! I'll radio the crew to get us some space suits immediately!" Ten does so. The crew has some trouble understanding her, because she is so excited that she is talking very fast.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "Oh my! The launchpad just disappeared in a gout of fire... wait some things are coming out of it... I can't quite make out what they are but they've got drill-thingies on the en of their arms."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Aerial Division Commander Ten transmits, "Oh... my... GOSH! It's a massive space ship! It's... as as big as several football fields! It looks like it mgiht have been built by whoever built the stardroids, it's just that awesome!"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Stormbringer Selkie transmits, "WHAT?!"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "WHAT?!?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Fashionable Feline transmits, "WHO?!"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "Dear me..."

The Providence is silent, and makes no moves against anyone if they approach.
TCS Providence

A massive Space Cruiser that sits idle in the midst of space between Earth and Mars, just before the ever-present Mars Asteroid Belt. It seems odd to see a ship of this magnitude, it certainly looks nothing like anything that a human could have made in this day and age of robotics. Yet, towards the fore of the ship, are the words, in English, TCS Providence. Nearly the length of several football fields, the ship is contoured and refined, with a distinct point at its fore, and series of several inactive engines in the aft. Several portholes dot the side of the ship, glaring distinctly into space.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "Ma'am, it's not the Stardroid space station, is it? And can you tell what direction it's headed?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Lieutenant Flare Feline transmits, "It looks more like a ship, not a station, and it doesn't appear to be moving at all... just drifting"

Space Capsule 3 continues following Capsule 1 closer to the Providence.
Enker's pod slows as it approaches, left to the devices of its occupant. The Elite Commander frowns. He'd try and send out a 'Hail and Identify' to the ship, were it not for the radios being rather... dead. Shaking his head, he puts in the command to proceed with an attempt at docking.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "*gulp* Do you think that then these things coming out of the earth are part of a Stardroid invasion force? But then why would they be coming out of the ground?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "Distraction, to try and keep the defenders of earth busy..."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "Maybe that's what this whole mad race to find these pendants is.."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Fashionable Feline transmits, "Maybe it's the Night of the Living Dead Stardroids?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "We have been thrown a red herring, I fear."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Aerial Division Commander Ten transmits, "We are going to check out the ship. It's energy field is starting to jam the radioes, so we won't be able to communicate anymore. If a person or two would like to get up here and he... *Static.*"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "Sergeant, I sincerely hope you are wrong. But I know that you are probably right."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "Good luck, Commander!"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Sergeant Blaze Dalmatian transmits, "Do we have any other ships which can get into orbit, sir?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "I would help, if only I were space-capable. *sigh*"

Flare Feline whistles again as they near it "That thing IS impressive "What do you think this is? And what should we do?" Flare is a bit stumped, he never saw anything like this before... "Should we look for a docking port? Or keep taking sensor sweeps?"

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "Oh my, the things coming out of the ground are catching on fire. I'll transmit what they sound like: *"PREN! PREN! PREEEEEEEEEN!"*"

Enker has left.

Ten carefully guides the Comet to the starship, while the crew scans for a way to dock. Success! Meanwhile, the crew shows up with the space suits. Ten smiles at FLare and says, "I'm one step ahead of you. Let's get suited up, and get inside!" Ten moves to do so while some gumbies finish docking.

Flare Feline nods and follows "Alrighty. Let's win one for Repliforce and make em proud!" Flare suits up, and looks pretty silly, but he's a Cat with a mission, or something.

TCS Providence

A massive Space Cruiser that sits idle in the midst of space between Earth and Mars, just before the ever-present Mars Asteroid Belt. It seems odd to see a ship of this magnitude, it certainly looks nothing like anything that a human could have made in this day and age of robotics. Yet, towards the fore of the ship, are the words, in English, TCS Providence. Nearly the length of several football fields, the ship is contoured and refined, with a distinct point at its fore, and series of several inactive engines in the aft. Several portholes dot the side of the ship, glaring distinctly into space.

Landing Bay

The cavernous flight deck of the Providence extends nearly the entire length of the vessel, from the point furthest forward to the trailing edge of the superstructure. The deck is a fully enclosed design, with hangar facilities spaced out along the length of the deck on both sides. A shimmering blue haze visible at the far end of the deck marks the boundary between atmosphere and vacuum, the field keeping both the atmosphere in and foreign objects out. The flight deck is almost always full of activity as fighters are repaired and maintainted, the CAP flights taxi in and out of the hangars, and the plane captains work on making their pilot's aircraft the best it can be. At the very end of the deck sits the reinforced hatch marking the entrance to the briefing room.

Obvious exits:
Aft <A> leads to Turbolift.
Out <O> leads to Sol System.

Space Capsule 1 has arrived.
Space Capsule 3 has arrived.

Repliforce Space Shuttle <Comet> has arrived.
Ten has arrived.
Celestial Blackbird has arrived.
Enker has arrived.

Flare Feline is in a flight suit. And no matter how it looked OOCly, he leaves the Comet in HERE, seriously. He glances around, and tries to see what he can see, taking readings and the like.

As you each enter, you see the buzz of activity, where none was outside. Ships move in and out, though noone can be seen operating them.

Space Capsule 1 enters slowly, working on little more than what was left of its inertia to move itself into docking. It eventually stops with a brief counter burst, and the Elite Commander inside.. stares through the viewing window at the interior of the ship -- what little he can see through it. "By Wily's Brows.."

Ten nearly falls down from surprise as she sees the activity inside the spaceship. "Gosh! All these ships, yet no people! What is going on? Do you suppose these could be... sentient ships?" Ten begins to look about. Oh, and she is in a spacesuit, too.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Ricochet transmits, "Ricochet here. I think there may be something going on. Me and Orbit are in Moscow. We'll keep you posted."

Celestial Blackbird doesn't need to get suited up, and spying the entrance flares her gravity engines, moving directly into the hanger bay, once she is inside an atmosphere again her body ripples and her black space armour fades into subspace, her white atmospheric armour once against covering her body and her far more synthetic looking wings beat steadily, keeping her hovering in the atmosphere. She doesn't say anything as she looks around, her claws closing into fists, just in case.

Flare Feline hmms, and looks like he's thinking hard, which isn't difficult for him "Gee... I don't know. I'm trying to gather as many readings as possible, but they all prove to be inconclusive. I've never seen anything like this." He walks around a bit, with all the ships moving he has yet to notice Enker or Blackbird in this large docking bay. "Do you have any ideas Ten?" He says looking back at her.

As each of you enter, once the first of you have stepped into the bay, the ships are gone. No flash, no fade, nothing at all. The ships here are simply gone.

Enker is a very, very cautious man, even for a robot. The blue haze he sees up ahead is quite clearly something to keep things out, yet.. Chances must be taken. Bringing himself back to task, the Elite Commander keys in the final approach, seeing whether or not his pod counts as a foreign object in this case.

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "Everyone's jumping into the tunnels left behind by those things, so here goes! Wish me luck! Geronimoo!"

Space Capsule 3 has left.
Space Capsule 1 has left.
Repliforce Space Shuttle <Comet> has left.

Flapping her wings, Celestial DOES however, see Ten enter, and with a push of her engine moves away, trying to stay concealed. And she looks about, no longer seeing any ships at ALL she frowns. "I have got to get a new travel agent." She mutters, keeping an eye on the Aerial commander and her boyfriend she moves further into the bay, trying to stay out of sight.

Space Capsule 1 dissolves into nothingness, along with every other ship in the room.

Ten is so awestruck by everything that is happening, what FLare says doesn't even register in ehr mind until several seconds after he says it. "Huh? Oh. Um, I guess all we can do it explore. So, let's explore!" Ten begisn to move deeper into the docking bay, her optics constantly searching for anything and everything. As the ships suddenly vanish, Ten stops short, and just looks about. "Ah... uh... um..."

Enker's pod disappears around him, causing the Commander to blink for a brief moment. Regaining himself, he floats the rest of the way to the blue hazey barrier, still under the craft's inertia until he hits the field. He's almost coming to expect these sort of games, although the illusion of the craft being occupied.. This is going to be interesting. "And this.. is most definitely /it/." The last is a hushed murmur for his own ear.

Flare Feline quickly turns around and looks from right to left, up and down and all around. Woo, dizzy. "Wh-wh-what just happened?" He keeps his cool, as he examines the now empty docking bay "Are we stuck now? I suppose we don't have a choice but to continue exploring..." He glances over at the turbolift "Shall we see if that thing works?"

As Ten steps forward, first and foremost, the lights in this area all flash into brilliance, blanketing the room in their sterile whiteness. A laser blast glances out from the darkness, the only darkness left... the turbolift door. The blast heads towards the Repliforce gestalt member, then all is still once more.

Providence Traps misses Ten with his Blaster attack.

Celestial Blackbird flares her engines in front of Flare, suddenly appearing out of no where is lightening fast speed and placing a clawed talon on his chest gives him a slight shove backwards, hoping he will go tumbling through the gravityless room and Ten will have to go save him, buying her some time. "No, but I shall see if it works. You can wait till I'm finished." As the blast flares out Celes vanishes of to a corner, hiding behind a protruding bulkhead. "On second thoughts, please, be my guests."

Ten is drawing on all the concentration she can to stay focused on the task of finding the pendant. It's taking all of it to stay focused! Much of the cheerfullness has left her voice. She now sounds more determined. "Yeah. Let's see if th..." Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!" Ten just barely manages to dive out of the way of the blast, her warrior instincts the only thing that saved her.

Enker finally hits the atmosphere, dropping down to the deck below. Solid clanks, easy to draw attention to, the Elite Commander swinging the Mirror Buster out from -- well, where did he get that from? Let's not discuss that. Frowning, he lowers his visor against the light, running sensor scans even as he begins stepping forward. The hangar bay is huge, that much is true. But he can see others. He is not alone. And conversely.. They're not alone. "You meddle without heed, and you expect no reprecussions? You are all quite lacking for wits."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Corporal Ring Redwing transmits, "Humm, it looks like the things with drills on their arms were merely an experiment gone wrong."

Ten nods to Flare. She sounds somewhat shaken as she speaks. "Yeah. It missed me. Let's... huh?" Ten finally notices Enker and Celestial Blackbird. "Where the heck did they come from?"
The room is silent now, the shadows around the door almost palpable in the darkness. As the furor from the laser dies down, there's an almost static crackle in the air.

"WELCOME, HYPERBOREAN WANDERERS, TO THE TERRAN CONFEDERATION SHIP PROVIDENCE! I AM /SO/ GLAD TO ONCE AGAIN HOST GUESTS! PLEASE, ENTER THE GRAVLIFT AND I SHALL EXPEDITE YOUR FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THIS FINE VESSEL!"

Flare Feline nods at Ten, and also finally notices the Blackbird, hey his attention was occupied. And then Enker's voice rings out of nowhere, he sighs "Well it seems we really aren't alone afterall." He glances around, wondering what they'll do... "Trapped alone on a spaceship with no way off and who knows what other sorts of traps are on board."

Hearing the other voice, Celestial looks out "I was here before you." She says out loud to the Aerial Commander. "Space is Maverick territory, this belongs to us." Before she hears Enker speaking as well and mutters under her breath. "Great, more company." Before she raises her voice "Hey, I didn't meddle, damn it! She did!" Pointing a clawed finger at the Repliforcer. While she doesn't trust the Robot Masters, at least the Mavericks are not at war with them, and spreading her wings flies in the direction Enker's voice is coming from. Two against two is better odds.

Enker begins jogging forward, not precisely wanting to stick around near the big blue field for long, especially if another trap comes online. (Utter fools, every one of them..) Bad thoughts about his unlikely companions aside, the Elite Commander raises his voice to respond to the ship -- yes, the ship. He's got a hunch, after the boat. "I thank you for the warm welcome, madam!" Well, ships are female, aren't they? "Your welcome warms my heart, truly it does." Glancing at the airbourne Celestial Blackbird, his lips tug into a frown. Regardless, he's heading straight for the lift.

Ten shakes her head to clear it, then softly speaks to Celestial Blackbird, though she tries to make sure that Flare can hear. "Look, there's nothing any of us can do for now except go along with what is happening. Hopefully, doing so will allow all of us to survive. It we try to fight in here, I have a gut feeling we will all end up dead. Let's head for the turbolift." .oO(Have to play diplomat for now. To start a fight at a time like this would be disastrous!)Oo. Ten's tone of voice does make it clear that she isn't happy about Celestial Blackbird's attitude. Even so, she begins to walk toward the turbolift.

Flare Feline nods at Ten "Gotcha." He eyes both the Blackbird and Enker and follows Ten to the lift. It almost just killed them a second ago, but it's also the only way out of this hanger bay. He whispers to Ten "We should watch our backs, I don't want to get in a fight in the middle of space either, but we know we can't trust them..."

"TRAPS? WHY, THERE ARE NO TRAPS HERE, MERELY SECURITY MEASURES! NOW, IF YOU WILL ALL STEP ON BOARD..." The lift doors slide quietly open, "WE'LL BE ON OUR WAY." It does not correct Enker on his gender choice... the voice is basically sexless.

You enter the Turbolift.
Turbolift

One of many running through this ship, this particular lift is located directly in the center of the vessel, with access to all decks. Large enough to hold perhaps thirty people, it is probably the most used lift aboard the ship. Ratings wearing the insignia denoting almost every possible specialty can be seen in a short span of time, and every so often one of the ship's officers can be seen here as well. The officers are easy to spot, as the crew makes some effort to keep a little space from them, which can further crowd the lift at times when it is busy.

Providence Traps [Scorpio] [SD]

Obvious exits:
3 <3> leads to Command Deck.
2 <2> leads to Operations Deck.
1 <1> leads to Crew Deck.
A <A> leads to Landing Bay.

Ten arrives from the Landing Bay.
Ten has arrived.

Celestial Blackbird arrives from the Landing Bay.
Celestial Blackbird has arrived.
Enker arrives from the Landing Bay.
Enker has arrived.

Enker steps carefully onto the lift, despite his earlier haste in arriving; as the lagger of the group, he was more likely to be left behind.. Although he doubts the ship would do that. Glancing at those present, he keeps his visor down to hide where his sight moves to. No need to cause any suspicion just yet -- there's already enough as is.

Celestial Blackbird seeing Enker now Celes flaps her wings and hovers just above the ground on her anti-gravity engines, not needing to move her wings at this height she simply matches pace with Enker as they move along, keeping her arms folded over her chest she looks about as the ship speaks. "Err, thanks, I think." She replies to the talking ship. Not one to be too hasty she'll let one of the other three test the offer first and hangs back, just slightly, and enters last. (repose for those who missed)

Ten steps into the turbolift. She nods once to Flare, and begins looking about for more traps. Or, security systems, or whatever. She is fully focused on making it to the end of this little test, for she is sure that a test is exactly what it is.

Flare Feline gazes around the Turbolift "Hoo boy... this is pretty big for a Turbolift..." He idly glances at Enker and Blackbird, still not willing to turn his back on them, and he speaks to Ten "Well... where do you think we should go?"

As the collected mortals shuffle into the turbolift, there's another static whine as the speakers cut out. The doors slide shut quickly, and the voice from above is gone... but there's a whisper from the speakers, impossibly low. Despite how well you can hear, it's but a mutter.
The avian shall betray you.

Celestial Blackbird drapes her wings over her body like a large cloak, so all you can see are her head and taloned feet and lower legs as she regards her 'comrades'. She has no worries about killing each and ever one of them before the day is out, Ten and Flare she can handle, Enker is a little out of her league, but if circumstance were to favour her. She smiles slightly as she finally speaks in her musical voice. "Hmm, a most impressive machine, surely modern technology could not construct such a wonder. Even Maverick technology has no progressed this far." As she hears the voice she looks about. "Anyone else hear that?"

Enker glances at those about him more openly this time, head turning to observe each. Celestial's words are ignored. "Well, well, well.. Two Repliforcers, a Maverick and the Elite Commander. This is certainly a ragtag group if ever I have seen one.." Trailing off, he realizes that he has precisely zero faith in those with him. They will make him fail. Shaking his head, he looks for the button panel to make this thing move.

Ten tries to hear what the speaker is saying. As she hears the two words, she blinks in surprise. Howeevr, she only blinks once, for she is focused, and putting effort into not letting herself be taken by surprise. "Um, yeah. I hear it." Turning to Flare, she says, "I have a feeling it isn't up to us to decide where we go. All we can do is make sure we get there alive. Everybody stay on your guard! And be thinking sharp!" Ten takes her own advice, and stays on her guard.

Flare Feline hmms as he hears a mysterious voice, and shakes his head oO(Don't tell me space dementia is setting in already?) And he almost half smirks at Enker "Yeah, fate's funny like that isn't it?" He eyes Ten for a moment and whispers "We should be very careful." And he speaks up again "Yeah, I think Ten's right... it probably isn't up to us to move this thing. It'll likely move itself."

The elevator's lift panel light's up, and there's a crackle as the voice of the providence cuts in again. "AH, YOU'RE HERE. HOW EXCELLENT! NOW, FIRST A BIT OF FUN, THEN WE GO TRAVELING. THERE ARE FOUR BUTTONS ON MY PANEL, BUT FOR ME TO MOVE, YOU MUST MOVE BACKWARDS IN PRIME! BWAHAHAHAHA..."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Zero transmits, "*static* Town, *static* Magna.. civil -- *static*"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Rigger transmits, "Translation: He's getting his rear kicked."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "Is there a pendant in the area?"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Signas transmits, "I'm more concerned with Zero's well-being at the moment, Major."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Spiral Pegasus transmits, "If anybody's wondering, I'm here at Repliforce HQ with Corporal Elemental Dragon. However, if you need me to come save Zero, I'm more than willing to help."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Rock transmits, "Forget the pendant! Zero?"

Enker lets out a slow and partially angry gust of air, before he moves to observe the lit panel. "Another riddle, most certainly. This is far from amusing; I've had to deal with this for too long." He's talking to /himself/, not to the others. There's no faith in their ability to get this right. Still, he muses aloud. "Backwards in prime. Numbers on the panel. Prime numbers." The Elite Commander glances at those behind him now, sneering disdainfully. They never would've gotten that.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Skunkgrunt Ether Skunk coughs.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Fusion Phoenix transmits, "Do you need some help Hunters?"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Jet Stingray transmits, "Doubt it... And even if there was, it doesn't change the fact that someone needs to go down there and help him out... Magna Bass isn't some one to take lightly."

Celestial Blackbird frowns, not liking this voice very much at all. She takes a step back and decides to let one of the others solve this particular puzzle, having no idea whatsoever, not being the smartest bird on the block. She wises Lunar or Radar were here, they would know what to do. And hey, didn't someone's play mention that to someone else's player on page...

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "Why, Rock, I couldn't agree with you more."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Rigger transmits, "Rock's already a bit injured... And where are they anyway?"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Major Shining Firefly transmits, "OOC: You've made me feel bad. :D"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Signas transmits, "Potentially. Can you triangulate Zero's signal?"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "I'll go. I couldn't pass up a chance to shoot at Bass. Got a location?"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Fusion Phoenix transmits, "I'm ready to provide some field repairs. So where is this party?"

Flare Feline blinkblinks as the riddle is offered. And Flare of course has... no clue. He turns to Ten "Any ideas? I'm stumped." Flare's not one for riddles, the only way he'd solve this is by stumbling across the answer.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Spiral Pegasus transmits, "I'll go."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Rock starts to talk, but ends up coughing instead.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "You will not, Pegasus."

Ten lowers an optic ridge at the strange clue. As Enker speaks, Ten nods, groaning just slightly. "You might be right, Enker. Even so, let's all take a look at the buttons." Turning to Flare, she says, "Let's look at the buttons, then go from there."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Signas transmits, "I appreciate your eagerness to assist, Repliforce."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Blade Raven transmits, "Aww, to hell with it. I'm pissed off. Where's that son of a b*tch? I'll kill 'im"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Skunkgrunt Ether Skunk transmits, "I'm with Phoebus."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "Someone's with me! ooc: And thus Judgement Day began anew."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Spiral Pegasus transmits, "Unless Commander X is willing to go, I don't see anyone else here capable of standing up to Magna Bass, Captain. However, if you wish me to stand aside and let Zero take his beating, I will obey."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Signas transmits, "Group-tactics are most effective, yes, but we must locate Zero first."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Rigger transmits, "No offense Spiral, but you were the one trying to give him his beating the last time."

There are four buttons. Labeled just as they are here.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Skunkgrunt Ether Skunk sighs softly. "What Rigger said."

Enker sighs, shaking his head. They'll take forever. They're idiots. Reaching a hand out, he tentatively pushes his right index finger down onto the 3, to begin with, waiting for a possible reaction.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Fusion Phoenix transmits, "But we can outnumber him."

There's a beep. It seems to be waiting for the others to press.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "Pffh. Zero would've damaged him plenty. And I've faced down Magna Bass plenty of times and normal Bass and Bass's daddy too. But a group will be enough, I agree,"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "And yes, Rigger has a point. *distracted*"

Flare Feline hmms "Maybe it's not prime /numbers/... I think we're missing something else..." He looks as Enker presses a button "Uh... right. Well let's continue then, 2 is a Prime as well right?" He presses the <2> button, to see what happens

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Axle transmits, "In other words, WE DON'T TRUST YOU MR. ED!"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Signas transmits, "Please, Axle. That is not very polite."

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Messenger Marou transmits, "Hey! You leave Spiral alone, all right?"

Celestial Blackbird folds her arms over her chest, well, once button left, lets see the Phoenix go and press it, she sticks close to Enker, however, getting a gut feeling he may actually know what he's doing, and just generally not trusting the good guys one little bit.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Skunkgrunt Ether Skunk transmits, "We're just restating the given, miss Messenger."

Ten has a thought. She voices that thought. "Hmmm, if I remember correctly, one isn't a prime number. I wonder if that has anything to do with it?"

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Captain Phoebus transmits, "I'm sorry, maybe I missed someone finding out Zero's coordinants."

"I'M SORRY! YOU LOSE! ONLY ONE MORE BUTTON, TOO! WELL, GOODBYE!" The elevator lurches, and starts down at high speed.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] RF Lieutenant Spiral Pegasus transmits, "And thus you won't let me try to make it up. *pause* *rather disappointed voice* Point taken, Maverick Hunters. I'm sorry."

Flare Feline nods at Ten "You're right... so is that it? The only other one is 'A'. Will something happen now?" He glances about nervously, he doesn't like it when his fate is in the hands of a psycho ship. Which now seems to be trying to kill them all "Urk.. maybe you should have tried to press it!!!" He says as the elevator falls "Anyone have any ideas????"

Providence Traps misses Ten with its Trap attack.
Providence Traps misses you with its Trap attack.
Providence Traps strikes Celestial Blackbird with its Trap attack.
Providence Traps misses Enker with its Trap attack.

[Radio: (C) RF/Hunter-Com] Rigger transmits, "We're handling it. Thanks anyway, we'll give a holler if we need more help."

Celestial Blackbird activates her engines and lifts slightly off the gound, so she is neither touching the ground or the bottom of the elevator and activates her forcefield. "May i suggest someone press button one!"

And, as soon as it start, the elevator lurches to a stop, and the 3rd door lunges open.

Enker stumbles out of the open door, managing to avoid the trap.. whatever it was. He's not going to get jostled by an inversely moving elevator, that's for certain. "Idiots, one and all.."

Celestial Blackbird, herself is not quite so lucky as anyone else, activating her engines backfires and she slams into the roof above, a sickening crunching sound coming from her right wing as it snaps at an odd angle and she falls back down to the ground when it comes to a halt, whimpering slightly at the pain in her wing.

Flare Feline grunts as the elevator finally stops. Whew, good thing Cat's are agile and always land on their feet, or he'd be in trouble. Still, he wishes he were back on good ol solid ground again, instead of here in this deathtrap. He just shakes his head at Enker "Whatever, I guess we should proceed. The door's open and we won't acomplish anything by sitting on our afts here." He heads out the lift.

Ten manages to successfully roll on impact, neutralizing any damage that might have otherwise resulted. The sheer need to survive and get through this ordeal is allowing Ten to be agile inside the space suit despite not being used to it. (She is still wearing the suit to avoid losign it.) When she sees that the other avian got slammed to the ground, Ten walks over to her, and offers her a hand up. "Here, I'll give you a hand, girl."

You enter the Command Deck.
Command Deck

The command deck sits at the top of the superstructure, just beneath the massive set of sensor arrays that serve as the ship's eyes. The corridors here are spotless, and the area looks like it's meant for business. The dark blue carpeting found in much of the ship is here as well, and the walls are painted a simple white with little adornment. Hatchways lead off in all directions, providing access to the most critical areas of the ship. This section is noticably much less crowded than the rest of the vessel, designed to allow quick movements.

Obvious exits:
Fore <F> leads to Bridge.
Aft <A> leads to Turbolift.

Enker arrives from the Turbolift.
Enker has arrived.
Ten arrives from the Turbolift.
Ten has arrived.
Celestial Blackbird arrives from the Turbolift.
Celestial Blackbird has arrived.

Celestial Blackbird climbs to her feet by herself "I don't need your help, Repliforce." She says through a beak clenched with pain as she walks past the Forcer, raising her forcefield to protect her broken wing while self repair systems go to work on it. She looks about the new level, wondering what it has in store for them.

Celestial Blackbird projects a forcefield around herself.

Flare Feline steps off the Turbolift and looks around the Deck. Yep, once again more there seems to be ghosts or something. "Well, what do you make of this place?" He glances up at the ceiling "Well Providence? Have anything else to say to us?"

Enker strides forward, not precisely waiting for the others; he does move at a slow enough pace, certainly, for the others to keep up if they so desired.. After all, letting someone like Enker off on his own is generally considered a /bad/ idea. "..whatever."

Ten grunts in annoyance as Celestail Blackbird refuses her offer of help. Ten then moves close to Flare, and waits to see what happens next.
Maximillian sits at the far end of this otherwise empty room. A large Reploid of unknown type, this silent red humanoid form hovers silently, his back turned to those here.

As for the Providence, it is silent now, having nothing more to say.

Flare Feline continues to look around the CC, and of course eventually notices the great big red reploid thing. He cocks his head at that, and decides to try to speak up at it "Excuse me? Are you in charge around here?" He's polite sounding, it IS a giant red mystery reploid after all.

Celestial Blackbird doesn't care if the birds feelings were hurt, there is still a war going. Her feet echo as she steps on the metallic ground with her clawed feet, her broken wing held against her back and the blue shield of energy ripples ever so often, keeping its owner safe, for the moment. She spies the reploid and speaks up quickly "What is it you want? Why do you place games with us? Who are you?"

Enker's footsteps slow and eventually stop, the large reploid clear in his sights. Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser.. He allows the others to do the talking for now, scanning the construct with his visor. This should prove equally interesting to the rest. Instead of issuing questions like the others, he inclines his head in respectful greeting.

Ten stands next to Flare, and waits for the robot to reply to his greeting. She makes a mental note to give Flare a hearty pat on the back for his courage later on. For now, it's time to focus on getting throught the puzzles of the ship.

Maximillian turns, a single band of red the only hint of life on its face. It stares at each of you, making no move to attack, speak, or otherwise acknowledge your existence.

Flare Feline errs as the Robot just sorta sits there looking red. "Ok... let's try the basics. Can you understand us at all. Do you know we're here? Do you know what's going on? Can you even communicate?" He might be wasting his time trying to communicate, but once Flare puts his mind to something...

Celestial Blackbird just ignores the worthless machine, turning around she focuses her attention more on the room itself, hmm, if she could capture this vessel for the Mavericks....

Enker quite suddenly moves, sliding to the side along the deck plating. Ceasing his movement behind the Repliforce's Aerial officer, he intones softly. "Time for you to prove your worth, child.." That said, he makes a grab for Ten (baka!) and attempts to hurl her right past the red goliath.

Enker misses Ten with his Grasp attack.

Ten is on her guard, so she is ready when Enker tries to make his move. Ten rolls slightly forward as she hears the Elite Robot Master right behind her. Getting back to her feet quickly, Ten looks at Enker, and sounds truly angry for the first time tonight. "Enker! What are you doing?"

Maximillian turns, the threat of violence seemingly enough to set off this scarlet titan, who hovers right at Enker, arms flipping open to present a pair of vicious spinning claw-drills, bearing down on the Elite Master.

Maximillian misses Enker with its Drill Claws attack.
Enker deflects Drill Claws from Maximillian.

The Providence laughs at you, long and loud and clear. "THE ANSWER TO YOUR ELEVATING TROUBLES LIE PAST MY TITAN, WARRIORS OF ARTHUR'S KEN! BUT CAN YOU FIND A WAY PAST HIM BEFORE HE ENDS YOUR LIVES?"

Bearing down on the Elite Commander? Surely not! Ten's ignored now as Enker fights off the approaching red reploid, the Mirror Buster sending back both arms. Leaping back and away from damage and harm's path, he waits to see if the red goliath continues to press the attack.

Flare Feline glaces at the Goldenboy of Wily "What're you trying to pull?" He checks back to make sure Ten gets to his feet, and hmphs "Jerk..." He turns back to the big red robot as it sends out it's attack "Well it apparently reacts to aggression, so I'd assume that's something we shouldn't show a lot of..." He stares at the ceiling with narrowed eyes as the voice rings through once more "Arthur's Ken? Titan?" He hmms, again not good with riddles.

Celestial Blackbird hangs back slightly, behind Ten and Flare, let then do the fighting, wear themselves down, she feels no need to fight with this machine of the death. Hmm, perhaps she can fly over him, not much room, if she goes to fast, she won't be able to stop in time. She raises off the ground slightly, getting ready to engage her engines.

Ten doesn't like where this is going! "Uh oh! Hmmm, I don't think Enker is going to be willing to drop the aggression!" Ten very quickly takes off the space suit, which by now has sprung a leak anyway, and is useless to her. Thinking back to earlier riddles, Ten begins looking about for other robots. .oO(Join us...)Oo.

Maximillian spins to face Enker as the forcefielded form of Celestial Blackbird passes overhead, the energy field is instantly detected by the sentinel, who lifts another appendage, a flat arm that looks like a remote. There's a soft buzz, and the ceiling is filled with lasers.
Maximillian strikes Celestial Blackbird with its Laser Grid attack.
Celestial Blackbird's forcefield withstands the attack.

Enker dances lightly on his feet, Mirror Buster glowing in front of him as the fabled spear is kept in a directly defensive position. He frowns to himself, puzzling over the words that the red goliath has for him -- for everyone. "What does Pendragon have to do with this..? Pendragon.. A red dragon..?"

Flare Feline glances back at Enker, still staying where he is, claws not even drawn yet "Pen-what? What's a dragon have to do with any of this?" Flare really wishes he had studied mythical legends a bit harder now. He sighs as Blackbird narrowly escapes injury "I don't think we should try to pass it or attack it. We have to find some way to appease it..."

Celestial Blackbird's shield sparks violently as she flies overhead of the massive machine, the lasers bounding of it but it was well built by the humans who tortured her and it sustains the attack, though a quick systems check shows it will not withstand another of that power, with any luck, however, now that she is on the other side of the machine it will be too busy dealing with Enker to worry about her.

Ten is a little disapointed when she doesn't see any other robots, thus forcing her to discard her previous idea. Wondering what Enker is thinking, she asks, her voice containing alot of curiosity. "What do you think might be the answer, Enker?" However, she also glances back toward the turbo lift. .oO(Elevated problems)Oo.

Celestial Blackbird enters the Bridge.
Celestial Blackbird has left.

Maximillian doesn't move. It simply stands there, now that there is no blackbird for it to attack.

Flare Feline grits his teeth, it ignores everyone once they pass it. Well he's not about to let a Maverick get ahead "Ten, follow behind me, and be FAST. We got one shot, let's make a break for it." He dashes to the bridge behind the robot. Hoping to escape the Titan's wrath.
Enker shakes his head. The energy within the Mirror Buster snakes back into the Elite's body, the spear becoming.. lifeless. So to speak. Smiling as the Repliforcers make their move, the Elite does also, moving to the other side of the red goliath. With luck, and the Repliforcers making the first move, he can slip by.

Ten takes Flare's cue, and tries to fly past the robot. She quickly pushes her flight engines into high to try and be the first to get past, hoping that doing so will cause it to attack her rather than Flare. There is a reason for this. Ten quickly allows flames to surround her. As she does so, she becomes one with the flames, and changes into something somewhat resembling her normal shape, but made of fire!
Ten changes into living fire! In her fiery form, she is protected as though by a forcefield.

Maximillian spins, heading towards Flare Feline... but as the fire blazes past, it spins to fire, unleashing electric death from two remote-arms, surging towards the Repliforce phoenix.

Maximillian strikes Ten with its Eviscerate attack.
Ten's forcefield withstands the attack.
You may all pass.

Enker enters the Bridge.
Enker has left.
Ten enters the Bridge.
Ten has left.

You enter the Bridge.
Bridge

The bridge is roughly circular in shape, with a crescent shaped raised platform running along the aft portion. A large screen display occupies the fore section, covering perhaps a quarter of the room's perimeter. Down in the lower section sit a trio of consoles for Sensors, Navigation, and Communications. The navigator's console sits slightly inside the curvature of the screen, providing the impression of sitting directly out in space. The upper section of the bridge contains four comfortable leather chairs. The room has the same blue flooring as most of this vessel, and is lit softly by an ambient lighting system. The bulkheads are noticably thicker in this room and the hatch on the portside, when sealed, may only be opened from the inside.

Ten [Main] [RF]
Enker [Enker] [RM]
Maximillian [Scorpio] [SD]
Celestial Blackbird [Celes] [M]

Obvious exits:
Out <O> leads to Command Deck.

Celestial Blackbird is already here, sitting in the command chair. The ship appears to me moving in space now, Earth a tiny blue dot on the monitors, which flash to life as you all enter.
The blackbird is on the verge of victory!

Flare Feline races into the Bridge, along with Ten. He stops shortly inside to face her "Ten! Man, you didn't have to jump ahead of me you know... are you hurt?" He hmms, and takes a look around

The Providence speaks once more. "SO YOU PASS THE TEST, AND JOURNEY TO THE WEST, CHILDREN OF TECHNOLOGY. LISTEN CAREFULLY TO WHAT YOU HEAR IN YOUR MINDS! ONE IS TRUTH, THE REST LIES. OR IS THE REST TRUTH, AND ONE A LIE? I CAN NEVER REMEMBER!"

Enker rushes past the red goliath and into the bridge, sliding to a halt as his eyes fall that with is within. Celestial Blackbird on the captain's chair, and more besides.. he hears a rumble in his mind, and his flat black stare, behind his slanted visor, falls upon Ten. The grip on the Mirror Buster tightens; they're idiots, he has no faith in them, yet the mere thought that one of this pathetic lot should achieve victory over the Elite Commander? Time for someone to die.

Ten was hit rather hard by that blast, but the flames that were knocked away from her are simply replaced by other flames. As everybody enters the room, The mass of flames that is Ten slowly descends to the ground, and changes back into a solid metal phoenix instead of a mass of flames. She doesn't appear to be hurt at all. She is right about to tell Flare that she is okay, but she doesn't have a chance to. First, she notices the non-team player sitting in the Command chair. Then she hears the voice. She almost repeats that they passed the test, but she thinks better of it, and tries to quickly look about the room.

Flare Feline looks up at the monitors "That's Earth? What's going on?" He moves down towards the Blackbird "What's going on?" Nervous eyes dart around, something doesn't feel right...

Celestial Blackbird sighs and rolls her eyes, great, company, just when she was getting comfortable too. She blinks eyes suddenly and looks at the Feline Repliforcer, narrowing her eyes sharply her beak curls back slightly. "Hmm, one is truth, the rest is lies. Is the ship trying to trick me?" She asks herself. She looks back to her console, hmm, it appears she can control all the ships functions, if only she knew how. She smiles, seeing some buttons that make sense, lets put the odds in her favour. She flicks a switch and turns off the artifical gravity.
As the gravity is switched off, you all float into the air. It's the cinematic way, after all, realism be damned.

Celestial Blackbird doesn't however, using her space engines to remain snug in her chair.

The flames disapate and Ten resolidifies back to normal.

Enker's feet leave the deck, the Elite Commander growing a trifle more annoyed. But who can say what else might occur? This doesn't feel right. He knows the feel of tampering after so many encounters, and he can.. is that what he feels? Shaking his head, he discards the thought of planting the Mirror Buster squarely into Ten's back, even as the fiery bird returns to her normal self, a hand reaching out to grab ahold of a nearby fixture. Using his strength, he gently floats his way over to the Navigation console.

Flare Feline acks as he starts to float, though he quickly grabs out ot something to keep him stationary "I don't know what you're trying to pull here..." oO(Man, THINK Flare, what to do...) He shrugs and tries to maneuver his way to the Communications console, why? Well it's there, and Enker took Navigation already.

Ten isn't designed for Zero-G maneuvering. Even so, she is at least used to not being on the ground. Ten tries to fly toward Celestial Blackbird, hoping to snatch her from that pilot's chair. Undfortunately, she overestimates her ability to maneuver in Zero-G. Ten almost slams right into the wall. She manages to kick off of it, and finds herself floating in the air. Ten quickly realizes that she is going to have a very difficult time!

Celestial Blackbird may not be a computer wizard, but she has learnt a thing or two from Radar about how to use a consol, she quickly, begins to try to access the computer's memory banks, searching for anything about Stardroids and artifacts and locations of such items on the vessel, also, she tries to bring the Ship's interior defences under her control, mainly those that are on the bridge and if she can she will target them at the other three members of the group. "Underestimate me, will they." Zero-G is her playground.

The Providence cackles. "HOW NICE, MAVERICK! A MOST APPROPRIATE CHOICE! HOWEVER, I JUST CAN'T SEEM TO PLAY FAIR. HAVE FUN REACTIVATING MY SYSTEMS ONCE THEY'RE ALL SHOT TO HELL!" And with that, the ship's laser defense systems burst to life, targeting everyone in the chamber, as well as the ship itself.

Scorpio misses Ten with its Laser Grid attack.
Scorpio misses Enker with its Laser Grid attack.
Enker deflects Laser Grid from Scorpio.
Scorpio strikes you with its Laser Grid for 23 units of damage.
Scorpio misses Celestial Blackbird with its Laser Grid attack.

The lasers flare to life, and several bursts are fired at the Elite Commander -- most of which cease to exist as they're literally sucked into the Mirror Buster. It shines nicely. Console now slagged in front of him, he turns to glare at Celestial Blackbird. "Nicely done, you blithering idiot. Did you at /least/ figure out where the ship is headed, or anything of worth, before you stepped blindly into that trap?" Enker is mad. Oh yes, nicely mad.

Flare Feline is the unlucky one who couldn't quite get out of the way. The laser pierces his right shoulder from behind, he grips it with the sudden shock. Gritting his teeth, he shakes off the woozyness and tries to look at the Communications console, there's not really a whole lot he can do there besides mess around with what's in front of him, helpful or not."

Ten is quite angry at this point. Luckily, the lasers happen to simply miss her. Looking to Celestial Blackbird, her optics ridges narrow in anger, and she says, "You IDIOT!" A few flames come off of Ten's body to emphasize her anger. Since she is tumbling a bit from the lack of gravity, she happens to notice Flare get shot. Ten states the obvious. "We have to find a way to stop the lasers!"

Scorpio(Scorp) pages: The last entry you can see on the Comm console talks about the ship having trouble with its quantum singularity drive, and going out of control.

Celestial Blackbird shakes her head growling at Enker, flaring her engines and getting out of the way of the blast before the Command Console is destroyed utterly. "No, I did not." She says as she floats in mid air. "However, I can tell you that this ship launched from Earth in 2121, the first of Earth's great warp-capable starfleet. With robots and humans working together, humanity had charted all of the system, colonizing the Moon, Mars, and Venus. I know, it makes no sense, but that's what the ship told me." Celes is easily dodging the lasers in the Zero-G Enviroment. "I quite like them, but please, go ahead and try." And with that she heads in the direction of the hatch she saw earlier.
"OH DEAR, THESE THINGS /DO/ CAUSE A MESS. I CERTAINLY HOPE YOU MANAGE TO TURN THEM OFF BEFORE YOU FIND OUT WHERE THE PENDANT -FSSSHKKK-" The Providence is cut off as lasers fry the speakers.

Scorpio misses Ten with its Laser Grid attack.
Ten successfully deflects an attack randomly.
Scorpio misses Enker with its Laser Grid attack.
Enker deflects Laser Grid from Scorpio.
Scorpio strikes you with its Laser Grid for 27 units of damage.
You are below your courage-endurance point.
Scorpio misses Celestial Blackbird with its Laser Grid attack.

Flare Feline breathes deeply, still hurting from the laser "Guys, according to this console, the ship was having problems with it's Quantum Singularity drive and going out of control...ack!!" He's hit again, and it tore up pretty bad. He is thrust up from the console and is left floating in mid air, an open target, and left with nothing to do but flail hopelessly trying to grip something.

Enker shakes his head. "Not that way, Maverick. We don't have the time to cut our way through that! Back the way we came! This ship is headed for the Rings of Saturn, my dear fellows, and with our ships gone.." He doesn't bother to finish the rest. The Mirror Buster's glow becomes even more healthy as the lasers are caught. Pushing off the ruined console, he spiral-dives through null-gravity, back towards the command deck. There's still more of the ship left to explore.

Celestial Blackbird laughs evilly and comes to a stop, looking at Enker. "As you wish, my golden boy." And with that switches to her space armour having disabled gravity throughout the ship, she should have no problem beating the idiots to exploring the place. She urns around and with a short pulse of her space engine she moves in the direction of the exit.

Ten can't get out of the way of the laser that is point right at her. However, reacting on instinct, she suddenly draws her naginata from the straps on her back, and places it in the way of the beam. The laser is harmlessly deflected off of the polearm. Just then, she spots Celestial Blackbird heading toward the hatch. She is right about to try to chase her, but she hears Flare's scream. Suddenly, the need to protect her friend begins to override everything else. Remembering her blink system, Ten teleports to directly above Flare, holding her naginata hoping to deflect any more lasers that threaten him. "Flare, get back to the entrance! I'll protect you!"

Ten puts her guard up.

Flare Feline is hurt, BAD. But finally after flailing in no gravity, he manages to grasp some of the railing, and uses it to propel himself right to the door. Staying there is suicide. But Flare will be lucky to keep up with the others now. Still, to the door he heads, horsely calling bact at Ten "Hurry up..."

The Bridge continues to fire, the blasts that ricochet off of Ten's naginata propelling her back with the others. "CLEVER GIRL, CLEVER GIRL. BUT YOU'LL LIKE WHAT I HAVE NEXT. SAYONARA, SWEETIE, AFTERWHILE CROCODILE, DON'T FORGET TO WRITE!"

Scorpio strikes Ten with its Laser Grid attack.
Scorpio strikes Ten with its Laser Grid attack.

You enter the Command Deck.
Command Deck

The command deck sits at the top of the superstructure, just beneath the massive set of sensor arrays that serve as the ship's eyes. The corridors here are spotless, and the area looks like it's meant for business. The dark blue carpeting found in much of the ship is here as well, and the walls are painted a simple white with little adornment. Hatchways lead off in all directions, providing access to the most critical areas of the ship. This section is noticably much less crowded than the rest of the vessel, designed to allow quick movements.

Cancer [SD]

Obvious exits:
Fore <F> leads to Bridge.
Aft <A> leads to Turbolift.

Celestial Blackbird arrives from the Bridge.
Celestial Blackbird has arrived.
Enker arrives from the Bridge.
Enker has arrived.
Scorpio arrives from the Bridge.
Scorpio has arrived.
Ten arrives from the Bridge.
Ten has arrived.

Flare Feline floats helplessly as he watches Ten be pierced by the lasers "Ten!!!" He can do nothing but float. He even continues flying through this room unable to grasp anything, heading straight for the elevator from which they came. He can't do a thing.

Maximillian is gone. The room is in ruins... but the lasers have stopped. The elevator door hangs open, waiting to be used.

Ten simply blinks out of the Bridge once Flare is safe. She can't believe she failed to deflect either laser! Once Ten reappears, her armor is badly scorched, broken, and melted. She looks like she is in bad shape!

Enker's spiral-dive takes him in contact with the wall just outside, mind working out the precise angle to bounce off of to take him down the corridor and back to the lift. "You're right about the ship having a problem alright.." He intones to himself, perhaps only heard by Celestial Blackbird.

Celestial Blackbird flares her engines, probably beating everyone else to the elvator she cares not for helping the wounded Flare, he would only slow her town. Like Ten said, Celestial is not a team player. If she was, she would have invited more Mavericks along for the ride. She enters the elevator and slams her finger down on number 2 right away.

Flare Feline's path takes him right into the elevator from the Bridge. He bounces around a bit upon entering, but he's in there.

Ten pushes all pain aside in order to force herself to fly to the elvator at very high speed, and try to stop the door from closing so Flare and Enker can get on board safely. She knows she is taking a terrible risk by doing so, but she doesn't care. She will make sure Flare gets there on time!

Enker raises the Mirror Buster, the fabled spear aimed ahead of him and straight at the lift -- at the occupant, actually, a clear threat as to what fate will fall upon Celestial Blackbird if the elevator begins moving without the Elite Commander present. Speed of light weaponry is /cool/.

The Providence chimes in as Celes moves. "GREED AND SELF INTEREST, EH? EXCELLENT! I BELIEVE I DISCERN A PROTEGE! BUT THERE IS ONLY ROOM IN INFINITE SPACE FOR ONE BACKSTABBER, AND THAT'S ME!" The elevator doors do NOT close, but pulse as... something happens to them.

Scorpio strikes Celestial Blackbird with its Ex Inferis attack.
Celestial Blackbird's forcefield collapses.

Enker doesn't need to launch the Mirror Buster afterall. Thanks ship!

Flare Feline continues to flail wildly as he bounces around in the elevator. Upon ricocheting off the walls, he accidentaly strikes the <1> key "Somebody stop meeeeee!!" He can't quite stop. Bounce bounce bounce

Scorpio(Scorp) pages: You see a simple ring, a plain golden ring, hovering in midair. If you grasp for it, it shoots away into the gravlift.

Celestial Blackbird falls backwards against the back of the elevator as her forcefield collapses in upon itself and she writhes for a moment, though you can not see why. "IT BURNS!!!" She curses out loud before falling silent. She shakes her head and her violet look up evilly and she presses the second button again, annoyed that the others have made it to the elevator as well. On top of that her forcefield generator is now fried, and she can no longer raise it. On the plus side however, her wing is fully healed. And she idly thinks to herself. oO(So that's what this articfact is........IT SHALL BE MINE.)Oo

Enker enters the Turbolift.
Enker has left.

You enter the Turbolift.
Turbolift

One of many running through this ship, this particular lift is located directly in the center of the vessel, with access to all decks. Large enough to hold perhaps thirty people, it is probably the most used lift aboard the ship. Ratings wearing the insignia denoting almost every possible specialty can be seen in a short span of time, and every so often one of the ship's officers can be seen here as well. The officers are easy to spot, as the crew makes some effort to keep a little space from them, which can further crowd the lift at times when it is busy.

Random Item
Scorpio [Scorpio] [SD]
Enker [Enker] [RM]

Obvious exits:
3 <3> leads to Command Deck.
2 <2> leads to Operations Deck.
1 <1> leads to Crew Deck.
A <A> leads to Landing Bay.

Celestial Blackbird arrives from the Command Deck.
Celestial Blackbird has arrived.
Ten arrives from the Command Deck.
Ten has arrived.

Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow. Flare continues to bounce around the turbolift. Finally starting to slow a bit, he spins and twists, utterly helpless since the walls of the lift are smooth there's nothing to grasp to stop himself. After flying around he sees something he's about collide with, he narrows his eyes a second before he collides with the small object "..a ring?"

Falling back against the elevator? That's keen.. but then, Enker's still coming on, straight like an arrow, Mirror Buster held before him. Something flashes across his eyes, behind his visor, and the corners of his mouth tighten. Rage builds. A brief flash of his dashjets take him in the rest of the way into the shaft, straight at Celestial Blackbird's fallen form. The Mirror Buster slams down to one side of the Maverick, his free-fist right on the other. "Your /zeal/ will see you /dead/, /Maverick/.." Pure loathing drips from the Elite Commander's voice.

Ten stops herself from flying right into the wall of the elevator by blinking into part of the elevator. As Flare slows, she tries to swim over and help him out, sheathing her naginata as she does so. "You okay, Flare?" Even as she asks this, she stays ready for something.
Ten puts her guard down.

The Providence cackles as the turbolift springs to life once more. "ASH NAZG DURBATULUK, ASH NAZG GIMBATUL, ASH NAZG THRAKATULUK AGH BURZUM-ISHI KRIMPATUL! ASH NAZG DURBATULUK, ASH NAZG GIMBATUL, ASH NAZG THRAKATULUK AGH BURZUM-ISHI KRIMPATUL! ASH NAZG DURBATULUK, ASH NAZG GIMBATUL, ASH NAZG THRAKATULUK AGH BURZUM-ISHI KRIMPATUL!" It comes to a stop on the second floor, the door sliding open as the voice suddenly stops. Each of you think you see a gold ring floating in the air inside the next room. (Exit 2)

Ten enters the Operations Deck.
Ten has left.

You enter the Operations Deck.
Operations Deck

The Operations deck is the 'business' section of the ship, and houses all that is crucial to the running of the ship's systems. An open area, with a fairly low crowd level, and lots of security personel blocking off the high level areas that are housed within. From classified research, to the Reactor Core, to the Security Detainment area, this level has it all. Cool, silver and blue metallic floors cover the deck, with shallow yellow lights running along the walls.

Ten [Main] [RF]
Scorpio [Scorpio] [SD]
Random Item

Obvious exits:
Port <P> leads to Security Lockup.
Starboard <S> leads to Medical Bay.
Fore <F> leads to Engineering Core.
Aft <A> leads to Turbolift.

Celestial Blackbird arrives from the Turbolift.
Celestial Blackbird has arrived.
Enker arrives from the Turbolift.
Enker has arrived.

Celestial Blackbird smirks, staring back into his eyes, returning the hatred. "Maybe, but not today, Golden Rod. Unless you get your ship back, you have NO way to get back to Earth unless /I/ fly you there. You know this as well as I do. You can kill me then, but right now." She stands up slowly and pushes his right arm away. "You need me." oO(But I don't need you, as soon as this is done, I'll leave you dead in space, you arrogant servant of humankind.)Oo And with that, she walks out.

Flare Feline floats out of the lift, finally getting SOME bearings. But what was that one ring he saw... if it was the artifact, he may not want to obtain it. Grasping something he stops his floating and comes to a pause in mid air, looking right at the ring.

Enker's lips twist into a sneer, pulling the Mirror Buster out from its embedded placement. He turns, and pushes off the wall, out onto the next level. "You would be wise not to overestimate your self-worth, child.. Your transgression will be dealt with.. later. Yes.. Later." Smiling darkly, he scans the new area for sign of threat.

By now, Ten thinks she has figured out how to control herself in this place. By blinking! Yet, Ten isn't sure she still can blink after having done so three times recently, and taking all that damage from the lasers. Even so, as Ten spots the ring, she decides to take a chance, and tries to blink over to it. If her blink system decides to malfunction now, she could be in big trouble!

The ring glitters silently in midair, motionless for as long as Flare stares at it. I doesn't move, motionless in the darkness, even as everyone floats randomly. As Ten blinks, the ring darts away, flaring into the darkness with a flash of light.

Celestial Blackbird flares her engines, moving at faster then sound speeds she heads directly for what she thinks is the golden ring in the air, she should reach it before anyone else does, and her added manuvourability in space should also assist with this effort. oO(Mine...)Oo She redies the blades on her arms to cut Ten down if she tries to take her ring away from her. Her hand outstretched the ring vanishes and Celes uses her engines to bring herself to a halt. "Where did it go?!?"

Flare Feline nervously glances around, not sure what to do. The ring, the fighting, it all happens so fast. But one thing's for sure, Flare is in no condition to fight, so he propels himself away from Celes, not really watching where he's going and hits the wall behind him.

Enker sees it. His eyes narrow. Something about that litany in the lift tickles something in his mind, yet he ignores it for now. Bouncing off the floor, he spiral-dives in Celestial Blackbird's direction yet again, the Mirror Buster held out in front of him. A sneer paints his face. "You shall not have it, Maverick!" It becomes a touch clear that he's not moving for Celestial herself, though, but for something near her.

Ten doesn't dare try to blink again. She decides it's finally time to try to try to move the way everybody else is. Ten tries to get near a wall, and prepares to push off in the direction she thinks the ring went. Just then, she glances over to see what is happening between Celestial Blackbird, and Enker. When she looks back, she realizes she has no idea which direction the ring went in. Ten blinks (with her eyes,) and looks about at the different doors in confusion.

"THERE IT IS!" Celestial exclaims as Ten returns from her blink, with a growl of hatred the Blackbird fires her engines at the Phoenix, ignoring Enker she sails in Ten's direction, she opens her concussion fist and tries to grab the ring off Ten's back, closing her hand around what she thinks is it and as her hand closes as it tries to slam into Ten's back, activating the explosives in the first if it does so.

Celestial Blackbird misses Ten with her Concussion Fist attack.
Ten successfully deflects an attack randomly.

The door to the security bay slides open as Celestial Blackbird makes a move towards Ten. With almost no warning, suction begins to pour from the room... but it only seems to be effecting Celes... and everything in room... but not the other three mechanoids.

Scorpio misses Celestial Blackbird with its Singularity attack.
You paged Scorpio with 'Should I pose entering there?'.

Flare Feline grks as he is bounced around again. Stupid Zero G! He flails, again to no avail, this time his path seems to take him into the Enginerring Core, looking ahead (or behind as the case may be) the ring seems to be following him... Still he can do nothing but let his momentum carry him...

You enter the Engineering Core.
Engineering Core

If the bridge is the brain of this vessel, then Main Engineering is its heart, providing the power that keeps the rest of the ship going. A series of consoles and computer terminals eclipse the round walls of this room, and a hole in the center leads down to the blood and guts of the Reactor. A blue railing resides around the hole, giving a look down into the power source of a mighty capital ship. If on-site repairs are needed, a service elevator doorway is present in the fore portion of the room, leading down to the actual core.

Obvious exits:
Out <O> leads to Operations Deck.

The ring floats after you into the room, and is almost immediately sucked away from you, heading towards the reactor core. The gravity returns in here, and is intense... a quantum singularity drive.

Flare lands on his feet. Even damaged cats still land smoothly. Rubbing his sore head he looks around, and sees the drive. Remembering what he saw before he looks around for a control panel to shut the machine off. If what Enker said was true before they're on a course for Saturn's rings as it is...

Ten arrives from the Operations Deck.
Ten has arrived.
Enker arrives from the Operations Deck.
Enker has arrived.

The ring is in plain sight now, teetering toward the edge of the reactor core.

Flare Feline grunts, looking around. There are no controls for the core. "Flug the ring, we gotta stop this ship!" Flare heads for the reactor, not for the ring, but to see if he can find a manual override for this thing. Ring or no ring, they're doomed if they hit Saturn's Rings.

Ten is really more interested in helping her friend than getting the ring. Unfortunately, she isn't doing much better than Flare at maneuvering about. Now that her blink system is overstrained, she can't do much more than he can. Still, she keeps trying. Once she has some room, she spreads her wings hoping to be able to stabilize herself to some degree. She breathes a sigh of relief as she sees that Flare is okay and has gained control, and keeps trying to make her way toward him. She won't lose sight of him again!

Ten is on her feet again! She breathes a sigh of relief as she sees that Flare is okay, and makes her way toward him. She looks about the room as she does so. However, she isn't about to lose sight of her friend again, no matter what happens next!

Enker's spiral dive in abruptly has him sliding along the floor as his search for the ring brings him in here. The lack of gravity is what puts him down, landing with a heavy thud, his slide ceasing moments later. Back on his feet, he eyes the ring's location warily; that's not a good spot for it to be in. "This just gets.. worse and worse.." He frowns, eyes narrowing as he attempts to concentrate. He's being played with.

"SO, MY LITTLE FELLOWSHIP HAS BEEN REDUCED BY TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT. HOW SAD. LET'S SEE... YOU'VE BEATEN MY TRAPS, WHICH MEANS YOU'RE EXCEPTIONALLY SKILLED, AND YOU'VE BEATEN MY GIANT, WHICH MEANS YOU'RE EXCEPTIONALLY... FAST. AND NOW, THIS RING, THIS LEAST OF RINGS, THIS TRIFLE. WHAT SHALL I DO WITH IT? SHALL I GIVE IT TO YOU?"

The voice pauses, a thin and dangerous pause, and a warble of laughter emits from it.

"NO."

A laser blast ricochets around the room, striking the ring, sending it hurtling into the abyss.

Flare Feline growls "Screw the ring, and screw you. I'm sick of this already. The ring means nothing to us if we don't have our lives!" Flare continues down into the reactor for the manuel override. "We're getting out of here in one piece and going home! We have people waiting for us!" He plunges.

Ten pauses in her tracks for a moment when she hears the voice. Then she watches the laser bounce about, and send the ring into the pit. She agrees with Flare at this point, although she doesn't say so.. Ten quickly follows her friend, hoping that her pilot skills can be of use in helping get the ship under control. She glances back briefly to see if Enker follows.

Enker's right hand shoots out, /something/ firing out. It impacts heavily with one of the bulkheads, digging in. An almost transparent line, in fact. Heedless of what the others may do about it, he throws himself head-first down the shaft after the ring. Insane? Just a touch. But that's certainly what the last five days have managed to do to Enker. Loosening his morals, finding loopholes to his systems, putting his mind through the wringer. Right hand held behind him, the line continues to be expelled as the Elite Commander descends under normal gravity, the Mirror Buster disappearing for a time. His free hand is outstretched. The Fellowship be damned. He's after the ring.

You enter the Engineering Abyss.
Engineering Abyss

The Engineering 'Abyss' is the term used for the ship's actually Engineering Core. A fusion matrix of energies and other unknown methods to fuel the entire massive ship, the Abyss is a swirling mass of yellow and red erratic bursts and vortexes, much akin to looking at the surface of a great star. Most definitely nothing enters this pool of energy alive, as the radiation alone would fry almost everything.

Obvious exits:
Up <U> leads to Engineering Core.
Enker arrives from the Engineering Core.
Enker has arrived.
Ten arrives from the Engineering Core.
Ten has arrived.

Ten and Flare descend into the darkness, abandoning the quest for the ring at the last second... as Enker dives.

Enker lands heavily down near the core, heedless of his own health in such close proximity to such a device. His eyes are only on the ring, and the ring alone. Greed runs through him, in an about sense; with this, he could save his family, create the homeland for his Father.. The line carrying him down from above is detached, and let loose to dangle. There is only the ring. Approaching slowly, he reaches out a hand tentatively, golden-backed gauntlet shaking as he attempts to clasp the prize. "I would have you, if you would but let me take you.."

As Enker reaches out, the ring slips easily onto his finger, vanishing in a second. All of a sudden, waves of gravitic pressure wash through the ship, ripping bulkheads and tearing the ship asunder as power pours into the Elite Robot Master, the pendant of the Abyss forming on his chest. "YOU WOULD TAKE THE RING?" The Providence shrieks, "THEN SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!"

Enker has left.

BAMF!!!

Great Plains

Also known as America's Breadbasket, the Great Plains are covered in vast stretches of nothing put completely flat land. Fields of golden wheat, corn, other various crops, as well as grass stretch for miles in all directions, making it very difficult to hide much of anything. Much of this area is comprised of peaceful, slow going people who enjoy living their lives away from the bustle of the Mega-cities, choosing instead to live here, where neighbors are few and far apart.

Enker [Enker] [RM]

Obvious exits:
Northeast <NE> leads to Midwest.
East <E> leads to Appalachian States.
South <S> leads to Texas.
West <W> leads to Rocky Mountains.
Up <U> leads to Sky Above Western United States.

Ten has arrived.

And suddenly, space folds... and you are here. Earth. Home.

For a while, Ten actually found herself hoping that everybody in the group survived and made it back. However, When Celestial Blackbird turned on the group, Ten lost interest in having her as part of the group. As Enker once again acts for his own selfish gain, Ten decides it's past time to forget about him, too. Ten keeps following Flare, hoping to find a way to stop the ship and at least save the two of them. Unfortunately, Ten's thought is cut short as the ship begins to fly apart. Ten is suddenly frightened. Very, very frightened. "Aaaaahhhhh! What's happening?" At first, she doesn't even notice when her, Flare, and Enker are suddenly back on the ground.

The Elite Commander is.. not as he was. The energies pour within his body, enlivening his very being, bringing forth that which should have been. The Elite Commander, in a truly perverted sense of the word, feels.. whole. The ship is gone, most certainly, the surroundings becoming all too familiar. Almost immediately, there is a source of new radiance, that from the chest of the Golden Master. His chest gem, as it were, seems more alight than ever; in truth, it is no longer as it was, but instead something else now. The Pendant of the Abyss. Enker's visor is gone, completely vanished in the torrent of power.. And left to his devices, the Elite Commander's eyes glow with a knowledge.

Raising his hands, he suddenly floats off of the ground within the Great Plains, the air shimmering about him. In the blink of an eye, a ring appears about his body, and he turns his gaze upon those who have joined him. He smiles, a surprisingly crooked smile, and his voice suddenly booms.

"A large stream, winding downward, its nearly as big as its African cousin. And around here, its arms are a dozen. Nearby is a city, beads and beer aplenty!"

Immediately followed, the image smacks like a two-by-four between the eyes. You see an image of a dim, twilight lit pool. A log moves lazily in its waters towards the bank. And then suddenly, that log snaps to life, and chomps down on a leaping toad with a violent moment of fury. And then all is silent yet again.

It's there one moment, gone the next, but you will not forget it. As it shimmers, the Elite Commander's face is right before you, before it too vanishes. Laughter bubbles from the floating Enker.

Flare Feline slowly, very slowly gets to his feet. He is hurt, bad. Torn up from the lasers, beat up by the bouncing around, and over-exerted trying to get to the core to save them all, and here they are, and the Elite has the prize. After breathing hard for a few minutes he just growls at the Master "Well I hope you're VERY proud of your prize Robot Master. After it nearly cost us all our lives." He clutches his shoulder, hurt, bad.

Ten is hurt quite badly, too. Those lasers really did a number on her! She tries to stand up, and stumbles back, falling down again. the sight of Enker empowered by the ring is just too much for her! Looking about for Flare, and seeing him, Ten desperately calls out, "Flare! We have to get out of here!"

"You need not fear, children of the soil, those who are without kindred.. Your injuries will be removed in.. in just a droplet of the void." Enker's words penetrate, for lack of a better term. They cascade from each side, as the Elite Commander raises his hands once more. The bending of reality quite suddenly snaps back into shape, the scenery fully as it should be. Injuries sustained from the celestial ship are gone likewise. He turns his surprisingly deep black stare down on the two Repliforcers. "And the void is vast, so very vast, so very deep, so winding.. It goes on, and on, yet you cannot see your own fate, can you? No more than you can see the end of your own nose, you walk blindly like lambs."

Flare Feline hrms, and stands looking at the reborn master. And just shakes his head "Whatever. You can have that blasted thing, I'm almost glad I didn't get it. You sound like a loony." He turns to Ten to help her up "Let's get out of here, if the past encounters were any indication, I don't think we'll get anywhere by trying to fight or apprehend him."

Ten nods to Flare as he helps her up. "I also seem to recall the place where the first pendant was found blowing up. Yes, getting out of here sounds like a good idea."

[Radio: (A) Repliforce] Lieutenant Flare Feline transmits, "Repliforce, this is Flare Feline. We're back on earth somehow. I'm afraid we failed, Enker got the amulet."

Enker's gaze remains on both Ten and Flare, even as they dismiss him out of hand. Dismiss HIM, HE WHO SEES THE VOID?! Rage flitters, before it is quite suddenly consumed. If one were close enough to see, red would flitter across his vision for a moment, before being sucked into the black expanse of his eyes. "You two.. have been helpful on this day, as helpful as mice upon the wheel of time, the wheel of destiny weaving, yet.. Let me award you something for your assistance, hmm?" A hand slams down onto the ring that encircles the Master, before it is brought over his body and thrown down into the ground. It impacts, and the hole within shimmers to show Repliforce Island. "No harm will come of this. Go."

Flare Feline grunts, he STILL sounds like a loony. Still, after experiencing ALL that in the space of a few hours, a giant hole in the ground doesn't really scare him. Whatever. He looks back and shrugs at Ten. He's still feeling too out of it from all of that, maybe he's not thinking clearly. Who knows. But oddly enough, Flare jumps. Oh great kingdom banzai!!

Strangely, Ten finds herself believing Enker. Actually, she doesn't really think it is Enker anymore. However, she honestly believes that this being is telling the truth about those. So, she follows Flare into the portal.

Repair Bay - RHQ

This room is one of the largest in the Repliforce Headquarters, rivalled only by the Barracks, Briefing Area and Hangar Bay. This is the place where the wounded reploids come to get their parts replaced or for general tune-ups and tests. The latest technology is in evidence all around the room as programmed reploids scuttle back and forth, both on legs and some on wheels. Thre are numerous Repair beds that will enclose a reploid fully, and there are places for the larger reploids to power down until they get fixed. The room stretches out quite far in all directions, the only two exits leading out are either to the Laboratory or the hangar-bay sized doors into the hallway. The Repair Bay is extremely well lit, and has a definite antiseptic feel to it, as it is always emmaculately clean.

Ten [Main] [RF]
Tidal Whale [RF]
Arm Plaque
Repair Chamber

Obvious exits:
<SL> leads to Science Laboratory - RHQ.
<S1H> leads to Sub-Level 1 Hallway.

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