DeviousMe

((Acid and Kefetasura are off on a road trip through New Mu.

Vern is waiting for Phillis, Expeiment, Tam, your twins, Keegan, and whoever else got taken up to the ship, to stop arguing and come with him. He is presently in the doorway of the cockpit, taking Ess for a ride.

As for anyone else, I haven't got a clue. ))

((Wee, it is done. This took me quite a hile to write.))

The Rikti were on the march.

As in the first invasion, they seemed to prefer infantry over vehicles, and with their powered armor this seemed a wise tactic.

Drones buzzed overhead in lieu of piloted aerial support. These compact packages of weaponry and sensors could deliver just as much, if not more.

[Artillery into position!]

The plasma artillery emplacement carriers were probably the notable exception.

[Adjust for variables.]

The massive glimmering reflector barrels were truly majestic, and the scientists ducking in at Portal Corp. would have been astounded if they weren't the major threat.

[Standby to fire.]

A few hover vehicles moved into position to cover the artillery from retaliatory attacks.

[Demolition teams report charges set and ready.]

The Rikti attack force seemed to lower a bit a the tall invaders crouched down a little one after another, blades and rifles at the ready.

[Drones prepared to launch.]

[All forces are accounted for.]

Now things were truly going.

[Field barriers ready to deploy.]

[Atrillery locked in current position. Autofire is enabled.]

Kul'Bere would have grinned had she been human. She raised her hand.

[Today they fall! Take no prisoners!]

Her arm dropped.

[FOR THE TRUE RACE!]

---------------------

A section of war wall suddenly tore apart in a thunderous detonation, scattering fire and debris everywhere. The energy barrier did not fall, though there was now a sizeable hole in the foundation.

Another sound of thunder echoed as a second section blew apart. Metal and concrete rained down along with a shower of sparks.

A third explosion rocked the wall in another location, an the defenders of Portal Court knew the hour had struck. The tide was coming, and it was coming for them. Soldiers and heroes alike bunkered down. In this dire hour, they were equals.

The fourth detonation didn't even shake anyone anymore, even as another dust cloud erupted from the wall. Gritting their teeth, several soldiers checked their rifles again.

Then the first of the invasion force came through. Greeted by a hail of gunfire, the intitial attackers carried heavy shield projectors. Preceded and flanked by drones, their purpose was to take the first strike of the humans.

It wasn't foolproof, especially as the tanks and heroes opened up as well, Blasters working hand-in-hand with their nonpowered rifleman counterparts. This wasn't a fight over might anymore, this was a fight to survive - and they all knew it.

Then the counterattack came, and energy blasts began to pour from the holes in the wall, striking at ground, structure, vehicle, soldier and anything else it could reach. A fuel depot explploded spectacularly, and flames licked up and bathed the scene in an eerie orange light.

--------------------

[FIRE!]

A plasma artillery cannon roared.

Then another.

And another.

In salvo tact sequence, the atrillery stuck the wall with unbridled fury, unleashed energies crashing to it again and again.

Impact after impact the barrier took, but finally it was simply too much. In a shower of sparks and blinding light, the southwest section of war wall collapsed, freeing the way for the Rikti attackers.

There were many. Very many. And now they bounded towards the defenders, bent on taking the area by storm. The punished ground crunched underneath metal feet as Rikti after Rikti crashed down only to push off again and hop on. It would almost have been amusing if it hadn't been so horrifying.

Fire of so many types clattered against them, from bullets to icicles to fireballs, but initial losses were simply overrun.

Then came the drones. Swooping down from the skies, they plastered he area with ridiculous amounts of firepower, cratering the ground. Detonations and explosions could be heard everywhere as human and Rikti alike fell victim to the battle.

Anti-aircraft positions went up in smoke as the defenders retaliated, and not without scoring some payback.

Aerial heroes struck into the fray, facing the drones head-on in their element, some taking them on by the skin of their teeth.

It was truly a horrific scene.

---------------------

"We ain't done yet!" Pete yelled as loudly as he could, belt-feeding his cobbled-together monstrosity of a rifle, pumping the oncoming Rikti with every shell he had as fast as he could.

"We make our stand here!" Hammond joined in, the General himself taking to the ground and firing at whatever moved in the enemy lines...

"Really now?" Acid chuckled, deactivating the zero-G field again to not confuse random people who he happened to drive by, "I do believe we can work with that..."

((That'll work. Oh man, that one about the easily seduced mistress just about made me fall out of my chair! ))

Acid scowled. Getting arrested sure wouldn't get him anywhere. Well, he'd tried the polite way.

"Too bad robots don't sleep." Acid nodded to Kefetasura, touching another screen.

Everyone in a fity meter radius suddenly lost the ground under their feet as gravity took a holiday. Any tread of a foor instantly propelled the thing or person it was attached to into the air. Any further movement only worsened the situation.

Acid figured it was a safe bet that Archie's troops weren't trained in zero-g combat. Still, he decided not to wait around and see.

"Hold on." he grinned to the purple demon in the passeenger seat, stepping on the gas.

The car roared and lurched forward, the gate blockng the road screaming apart with the squeal of overstressed metal, parting into a hole slightly bigger than the vehicle's cross-section. if a later analysis wa performed, it would reveal the gate had been force apart by a powerful magnetic field.

As Acid and Kefetasura left the scene, the car took its gravy reversion with it. Andything in the air was rudely recalled to the ground, gravity decideing it was going to work after all...

((So what did the search bring up?))

Acid sighed. Well, there went the easy way.

Or did it?

Within a few moments, he'd entered a few commands into the center console of the car, the interior of which looked more like a glass cockpit anyway.

SENECA's reply was quick and conclusive. It was a probability calculation. Compiled from data throught the World Empire, the probability returned the chances of what would happen if Acid let himself be arrested.

The readout listed them as being...

--------------------

[ QUOTE ]
"At any rate, I really should remain here. It seems foolish for the leader of a Resistance movement to come in person on a simple rescue mission. Besides, I am here through my Disciple, and he is really not that effective in combat. . ."

[/ QUOTE ]
"Rescue mission?" Vern questioned, somewhat befuddled, "Damn, don't tell me Archie already knows where the base is and there's someone there we have to save! Guess I'll have to ready a few bots then."

[ QUOTE ]
"...You know my father, don't you?" she blurted out to Vern, without thinking about it. Scooting down from her seat, she trotted over, and tossed her arms around the dog-sized lizard's neck.

[/ QUOTE ]
"Er..."

Vern was caught at a lack of words as Essex clung to him. That was a new one. Or was it? Well, with Essex being human, anyway, it sure was.

"Well, I'm not sure to be honest. I know my version of Daniel if that's what you mean." he answered her, placing a wing about her. As it didn't look like she was going anywhere, he decided to lifte her on his back. At least she was light...almost too light. Still, an attentive observer would notice that the wing had nothing to grab onto her with. She just seemed kind of attached to it.

"Mr. Ballard," Vern turned once more to Experiment as he trotted out of the bridge, "I would appreciate if you'd stop calling me a lizard..."

Acid smirked. Now he'd see what sort of world Archlich had really created.

with the flick of a switch, the mirror effect on the windows vanished as the one-way opaque material repolarized, becoming transparent to both sides.

Acid just grined toothily as he spoke, the car's speaker system conveying his voice outside flawlessly, "Howdy, boys. Sorry, I'm afraid i don;t have any ID on me. Then again, even if I did, it probably wouldn't be the one you're looking for. I'd like to speak with your bos, the Over..."

He stopped for a moment, turning to Kefetasura, "Okay, seriously, was it magus or magnus now...?"

Vern sighed. This band was even more easily distracted than a bag full of Space Pirates when you threw something sweet in.

"I don't mean to be rude." he commeted, "But do you guys mind putting that on hold for a little and coming with me...?"

--------------------

((I'm going to take the checkpoints are between sectors. It'd make little sense to have them really everywhere. ))

Weaving through the sparse traffic - if a vehicle every now and then could be called that - the black Ferrari soon arrived at a sector checkpoint. The chain-linked bar gate stretched acros the entire road, and there seemed to be no way around it.

Then again, that was of little consequnce. Acid had no intention of doing do. The equally black mirrored windows of the car hid its occupants completely as it rolled to a stop a few meters from the gate...

"Hm, that sounds amusing." Acid smirked, "I like to build stuff. Lead the way, guys."

Morsko shrugged, at least as well as he was able to on all fours. Then he was off again. He had more fun chasing stuff anyway...

((Aw man, Hal, that reminded me SO much of person Man! ))

"Hm, I can't say I'm pleased you came." Acid admitted, "I'd much have preferred it had you gone with Vern for exactly that reason. I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to planets, but I think you would have benefited the most from where he's going."

Acid sighed, then smirked to the demon, "Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you're going to stay no matter what I say anyway. Hm...I wonder how long before there's a roadblock...?"

---------------------

"That's a big wilco." SENECA replied, "I'll grab him at the same time as you guys then. That should avoid confusion as muc as possible..."

"Well excuse me for offending your sense of aestethics." Vern retorted to Phillis with scorn, hopping off the chart table and onto the floor again. This meant he had to look up to make eye contact with the doctor, but that had never really mattered to him.

He decided not to wait for the aftermath his protests usually incited among humans, going straight to, "And yeah, we're going somewhere. Moonscribe, you said you found Hal. I'm assuming you'll have no problem giving SENECA his coordinates...?"

--------------------

Meanwhile, Acid was already in the drop bay again, manipulating the fiktive transmitter with a few commands of a holographic keyboard. A few moments later, the machine transported what he wanted where he wanted, then took him as well, sending him down to the planet again...

--------------------

The Louvre
2043 hours ZULU

In one of the many dark archways, a pair of headlights flared to life, the dull roar of a strange engine accompanying them.

Moments later, what resembled a night-black Ferrari Testarossa left the archway and made its way onto the Quai du Louvre, racing away into the night towards the forbidden city within a city.

Protected by its massive dark walls and searchlights streaking high into the sky, the government complex 'Edge of the World' was downright impossible to miss...

"Oh, I'm sure he has." Acid grinned to Phillis, "But those satellites aren't one of them. Truth be told, I don't think we'd even need shields. There are many other ways this ship can protect itself than weaponry."

"Now then," he stood up again, "since I now know that 'the great and powerful Overmagus'...or was it 'magnus'?...bah, whatever...is Archlich, I think I'll take you up on the suggestion of just ringing the doorbell."

Acid shrugged, "Now I know that's crazy, and it probably won't work, but I know Archie, and...I don't really wanna kill the man. Well, I guess technically I can't since he's dead already...gah, I'm confusing myself again! You get the idea, right?"

He shook his head is if to clear it of the massive contradiction of killing a dead man, then continued, "So I'm just gonna go have a chat with him and see where I get. Meanwhile...meanwhile...dammit, what was I gonna say...?"

"The base?" SENECA reminded him.

"Oh yeah! HAH, I found my train of thought again. Here's the deal - we've got a base sitting under Peregrine...well, sort of under. By all we've gathered, it's unaltered, as it should be. It'd make a good ops center. However, there might be...complicatons if we let you guys in."

Acid started pacing, "You see, the reason it's unaltered could be dangerous to you guys. I'm saying 'could' because I have no idea, we've never actully had the opportunity to test it. Anyway...Vern, do me a favor and take them there. If we find out it is dangerous, don't let 'em in, but I think it' worth a try. Alright, I'm off then. Sorry about the rush, but I'd like to talk with Archie so long as he still thinks his stuff can scare us off."

With that, he was already through the bridge door and off into the ship again...

"Oh, calm down, all of ya." Acid grumbled, "With you guys being so hyper you'd think we were at the end of the world here."

"And it's easy for me to be calm." he grinned broadly, "For starters, there's a planet between us and half of the satellites. That means only two thousand eight hundred and sixty-four can only hit us at one time anyway."

Nobody laughed. Apparently, humor was lost on them right now.

"Sheesh, you guys are a tomb. But seriously now, what's there to be afraid of? Oh yeah, nuclear missiles and lasers!" Acid wave his hands about creepily before dropping them in a dismissive wav, "I'm just waiting for the sharks next. Eeeeverybody who just discovered how to split the atom always think they've got the scariest weapon of all time now. Take my word for it...no."

Acid leaned back in his seat again, "I don't exactly know how to say this without offending tech-enthusiasts here, but when it comes to know-how of space combat, I've got that beat every which way. I mean, seriously...missiles? Missiles are just about the very worst thing to use in space. Oh sure, they're fine and dandy for blowing up asteroids, but they'll never get close to a well-built ship."

His seat turned to look out a the stars, "Almost everyone from your planet seems to think that space combat works the way shown in Star Wars or that other show...what was it?...nevermind. Fact of the matter is, spaceships don't pass each other slowly, firing broadsides like some sort of Spanish galleons. They also don't 'power weapons', the size of the gun dosn't matter, and you certainly never have time to say 'Captain, they are firing' before they actually do. Real fleet battles are fast, and I mean close to luminal more often than not."

Acid turned back again, "Missiles can't catch squat. Either their acceleration's too low or they don't have the fuel to reach anything in time. And lasers are just about the weakest thing out there. I swear I read in some book once that high-powered lasers were 'most often the first energy weapon invented by a civilization taking the first steps into space'. Can they hit us? Sure. Are they a threat? Hardly."

"Besides," Acid miled fiendishly, putting his arms behind his neck and stretching for a moment, "Archie hasn't fired a shot yet. I'd say he's doing this to try and scare us off. Fat chance. We've got a sizeable bag of tricks before we even have to think about defending ourselves with actual weapons. So yeah, we're good..."

((I guess this was missed: Terra Volta melted down several pages ago already, as Guapo discovered. The Overbrook dam is still online, but it can't supply the power needs of all of Paragon, that's why half the city if in the dark right now. ))

Hotaka swallowed. For some reason, these guys were really making him uncomfortable.

No, it was probably just something brought on by the war above. He'd always been sensitive to such things, and there was probably quite a bit of pain up there. So he resigned the feeling to this.

"If we are to eventually mount a counterattack," he argued, "we'll ned somewhere that's both supplied, easily defended, and difficult to reach. The fortress on the highest peak, if you will."

He stomped a foot on the ground, "I just know I have seen something like it, but I can't remember where."

Walking about, he trailed off, "Where...where..it was floating, yes...but where...?"

---------------------

"Dayumm, yall look messed up." Pete commented to Solid as Volkov waved a few engineers to them. With them and the base entry thingamabob working on the guy, he'd be alright soon.

Then again, for how long? The Rikti fire had died down a bit, but the war wall surrounding Portal Court was still being hammered. If Pete was on the other side right now, he'd be brining in artillery...and most likely, that's what the Rikti were doing now.

Thankfully, Hammond was on the same page, his troops erecting barriers and pillboxes, bunkering down their own artillery that they had cannibalized from Firebase Zulu.

"Alright yalls," Pete sighed, speaking to everyone around him, "I reckon they're gonna break through any minute now. 'S far as I know, Zulu's our best bet right now, so we gotta keep at least one portal goin' here. 'S soon as them varmints get in here, I want yalls to serve 'em hell on a platter, aiight?"

With this, he loaded more ammo into his cumbersome rifle. He preferred his pistols, but against Rikti armor, something with a lot of punch and a high rate of fire was doing quite a bit better.

As Hammon's soldiers moved into position behind their barricates, adjusing barrels of tanks and Howitzers, pete did the same.

Already, cracks were forming in the foundation of the war wall.

It wouldn't last much longer...

((Grar for math! Finally, I can post!))

"Ah yes, the Hour 13 Scenario." Acid shook his head, "Terrible thing. But I don't think it's that far along. After all, I still have..."

"Hey, Sir." one of the bridge crew interrupted him, namely the one monitoring sensor readings, "Ya might wanna have a look at this."

The holodisplay formed the planet again, and a ridiculous number of green dots appeared all over low orbit.

"What am I seeing?" Acid wanted to know.

"Remember that cordon of space junk in low orbit the mass detectors gave us?" SENECA joined in, "Well, they're not space junk. Near as I can tell, they've got energy."

"Oh wow!" Acid grinned. He seemed almost excited, "It's an orbital defense network. Achie's actually got an orbital defense network...does it work?"

"Loos like it." SENECA returted with the voiced qeuivalent of a shrug, "It's got power, that's all I know."

"How much?"

"Not sure. Let me see...okay...okay...uh-huh...alright. Looks like some sort of pulse laser battieries mixed with rocket pods. Lasers are about a dime a dozen, but I can't tell with the missiles. Doesn't look like they're able to fire more than six at a time each, though?"

"Type?"

"None we're familar with. Nuclear, though, decay gives 'em away. I'm thinking about 500 kilotons each...they look like they're capable of up to four Gs in acceleration...and I'm gonna put each laser battery at about 3000 kilowatt."

"How many?"

"Five thousand seven hundred twenty-eight. Total."

"That was a fast estimate."

"I try."

Acid now stood up, inspecting the picture, and remarked, "Looks like it's still under construction. I see a few blank spots here and there. Pretty small holes, though. For someone who hates tech, Archie sure did well with it."

"I'd say so."

"Interesting." Acid sat back down, turning to his guests like the whole discussion had meant nothing, "Now, where were we? I swear I'm so scatterbrained one day I'll forget my head somewhere..."

Another war already? Haven't there been enough in the last century?!

Hotaka grimaced. This was bad. He wasn;t the kind of guy who could take on huge armies. Well, maybe if they still fought with swords and gunpowder sticks, and he stil had his own...but not in this day and age. The old ears of japan had passed - Waziri, Katashi, and a few trainees were all he had to cal on. They were good, but no army to fight a war with.

"I have to object." Hotaa took the word to Dr. West's suggestion of the Zig, "While it is true the Brickstown prison is a fortress, it could easily be turned into a deathtrap."

He sighed, "I will admit, durning the first Rikti War, I made mistakes. But I learned. These are not the mountains of Japan, but I do not wish to see your ranges of steel fall either. My suggestion is to take the fight to them, to drive them from one of their objectives and hold it..."

--------------------

Pete just swore loudly, pushing past soldiers and equipment preparing for the stand as he fiddled with his teleporter.

The reploids were yanked from their current positions, reappearing next to the ex-Gunslinger, and one of them would probably drop out of the air.

Sadly, they had no way of hearing or seeing Solid Shot beyond the war wall. The fire pounding against it was simply too loud and bright.

Then again, they didn't need to. A new hero with powers of the mind had been here with his mentor when the whole mess started. The mentor had been lost in the fight, but he was still here, willing to help. A quick conversation with a soldier was all it took for the mesage to make its way to Pete.

A few seconds later, a certain mechanoid appeared beside him as well - Solid Shot...

--------------------

Warmaster Kul'bere was furious! How could these pathetic apes erect a meaningful defense?! The plan saw Portal Court already leveled, but here it stood, defiant to the last!

[We are bringing artillery into position.] a Chief Soldier informed her, [It will no be much longer now.]

[It had better.] she growled back mentally, her black-and-white armorsuit crushing junk and debris under its heavy feet as she walked to higher ground to get a better look.

[ QUOTE ]
[Have Prevented: Initial Hero Reinforcements] Chezret sent his mental status update message to the Warmasters.

[Please Provide; Additional Orders]

[/ QUOTE ]
[Chezret, you have spent too much time among these fools!] Kul'Bere sent back, [Your thoughts reek of their influence!]

A pause.

[Pardon.] she added. Even a Warmaster should not disrespect her troops, especially one as loyal as Chezret, [The day has been arduous. Your orders are as follows - we expect the humans to call for more reinforcements now that you have suceeded. We cannot let this happen. proceed to hubs of what they call the "telephone" network and destroy them...]

Acid huffed. Dammit, he'd forgotten that Kefetasura was a mindsnooper and apparenly neglected to fully extend his mono shield, meaning it didn't cover his surface thoughts.

Oh well, apparently the little guy hadn't delved deeply, which was good. But someone had sure messed with him, that much was sure. Why the heck was he making such a big deal about Acid if he already knew? Or didn't he know because he knew and it...okay too much thinking, dropping subject.

"I'd appreciate if you didn't go snooping around in other people's heads." Acid retorted grouchily, "And that goes for any of you. I've already got several people with that bad habit, and I don't need more."

Then he turned solely to Kefetasura, lowering his head to the demon's eye level, "Now to you, then. What's going on with you? Moonscribe's the same as he always it, but you're not. The Malleus shouldn;t be able to affect you directly, so what did they change that's so integral to you...?"

"It was a figure of speech." Acid sighed as he threw his empty cup into the slot below the deliverers, the converter chute. He then ordered something purple and fizzy in a tall, slender glass, handing this to Experiment, "Drink, it'll settle your stomach...unless you're an insect, but I don't think I have to worry about that here."

Acid plopped back into his seat, looking to Kefetasura, "So, stress much?"

Acid hoped Baelroc didn't do any damage to him when it erased his memory from the battle planet. After all, he'd never really trusted 'em...except It. But It was a different story.

Acid leaned forward to the dor Kefetasura had indicated, "Paris? That's an odd place for a powermad Overhead to rule from...oh, and Overhead was a guy on Markos V. Did about the same thing as here, except mentally. So now that's our term for overzealous overlords."

Vern nodded, chewing happly on his meal.

"And you know, Dj...I mean Moonscribe, that's not a bad idea." Acid chuckled, "Anyone feel like ringing the doorbell?"

"Oh, my!" SENECA suddenly piped up, "Ace, Archie's the Overhead."

Acid cocked an eyebrow, "Archie? As in Archlich?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Well..." Acid folded his hands in thought, "that complicates the situation..."

"Oh, this is going to get me into more trouble than I even care to know." Hotaka kicked a rock out of the way as he made his way to the portal.

"But Sensei!" Waziri protested, "They will arrest! Or worse - the girl wears skin! You should not!"

"I know I shouldn't." Hotaka grumbled, "But I can't help myself. It's just wha...who I am..."

With that, the three stepped through the portal as well, continuing on to the meeting room. The atmosphere seemed light enough, for the moment at least, and Ryuu made sure both his Jounin and himself were in plain sight as not to breed any tensions right away.

If something like this was actually happening, there was abound to be something big, dangerous, and possibly deadly going on...

--------------------

Terra Volta was an utter mess. The reactor had melted down, and the excess heat had vented throughout the complex, causing steam valves to explode and all amnner of havoc. Contrary to what people normally believed, the reactor couldn't acrually explode per se - but the overpressure caused by the meltdown sure could result in a lot of destruction.

The Rikti, however, were already gone again, and there was no trace of the heroes that had come to stop them...

--------------------

"The second line's been breached!"

"Fall back into the compound!"

"Bravo Fiver, we need fire support NOW!!!"

"Calling down a bead on Charlie-Hotel-Seven-Tango-Niner!"

Portal Court had fallen into complete chaos. The Rikti were advancing, there didn't seem to be anything that could stop them at this point. With no more heroes arriving, Volkov, Pete, and the other defenders trapped here were too little to stem the tide.

"Son, if we don't make it." Pete grumbled as he lined up another shot at a charging armorsuit, "It's been an honor servin' with ya."

Volkov didn't get a chance to reply. Even if he could have, he would have been drowned out by the sound of thunder behind them. Not a second later, a squad of Rikti were blown sky-high by an 120mm shell.

Hammond had made it from the Shadow Shard - and so had his tank division!

"What are you gaffin' at?!" the General shouted to the retreating second line with a megaphone, "Fall back already!"

They didn't have to be told twice. Covered by the reinforcements, the second line fell back to the walls of Portal Corporation. With a knowing grin, Hammon bpulled out a remote and pressed a button.

The ground rubled a little, and then a miniature version of a war wall rose about the compound, the eergy fields shooting high into the sky, blocking the incoming fire.

For now.

The tanks weren't all they were cracked up to be. As soon as the element of surprise had passed, a few were already slag.

Once that wall went down, there'd be hell to pay...

Nah, I'm really no good at GMing. That's why I make threads that take to themselves, where the other players have just as much control as I do. Of course, evey now and than I actually need to do something there, but I don't like the 'it's my world, you just live in it', I'd much rather have the world being developed by everyone in te thread.

Me rite sentenz goot! Vot hyu meen hy con't spel?

((Yes, I where New Mu is, but the in-thread me don't. That wasn't IC knowledge...I think?

And dang, I really expected a least Experiment getting sick from the Earth turning from upside-down to rightside-up. I know I almost upchucked when I saw that the first time we went high-altitude. ))

"The location of the Overhead." Acid answered, ordering a cup of tea after he had crunched down the bone of his ham - probably much to the surprise of several of their guests, though he didn't get it. After all, he had no idea that on Terra you didn't eat the bone.

As he raised a finger into the air above the chart table, Vern jumped up onto the table rim, lying down and gnawing on something ambiguous. The hologram of Terra that flashed into existence a second later, however, distracted from the blue thing in his jaws quite a bit.

"We are here." Acid continued, a flashing red dot appearing right at the tip of his finger, in orbit about the holographic planet, "Where to go from here, however, is a very good question."

Acid spread his fingers and retracted his hand, and about a dozen or so blue dots appeared on the 'surface', "These are centers of population concentration as well as large gathering places of magic and/or technology. Our best guess so far is that the Overhead is somewhere in one of these."

Grinning toothily at the brohers and taking abother sip from his cup, he questioned deviously, "My tower on the surface got knocked over, and it's not exactly Press Day down there...if there even is a free press. And my telepaths are off shoving a moon into a planet, so my information channels are sparse. Care to help me out...?"

((Yes. As per earlier:

[ QUOTE ]
((Location of Midas, Essex, Damien, Darea, John, Tam, Keegan, and Acid is about 42,000 km over Paragon right now.))

[/ QUOTE ]
Bronze Way, 4th Street, and 42k clicks straight up, give or take.

But yeah, we'll be coming back down as soon as I can squeeze some info outta everyone and actually find out where New Mu is. ))

"Kef, be careful or he's gonna zap you." Acid sighed to Kefetasura as he walked out the open door.

He quickly stepped to a console in the adjacent room, which wasn't much to look at, as all it contained was the semi-transparent door to the cabin of a freight elevator. The door immediately slid aside, freeing the way into the cabin, and also allowing view to the diagonally upward-oriented shaft on the side of the cabin.

The elevator waited until all had stepped inside, then the door closed without hesitation and the cabin began its way upward. It was not clear what it was riding on, as there weren't any vibrations transmitted through the floor, but whatever carried it did so quickly, and in less than twelve seconds they had reached the top of the shaft. The door once more slid open.

Through a few more doors the journey went, until finally the last door, just as unassuming-looking as the others, slid aside and freed the way into the bridge.

Though a Gunship was huge by human spacecraft standards, it was really just a combat craft. It had no kitchen to speak of, and meals were either taken in the cabins or during downtime at your post. Therefore, the raised, semi-circular navigation area at the start of the bridge qualified.

As Acid stepped aside, he freed the view both into the bridge and beyond, out through the tansparent panes of armor that formed the 'windshield' at the head of the bridge. The entire room had been arranged as part of a circle, an incomplete wedge - right beyond the door sat the strategic section, complete with navigation, a large holodsplay that doubled as a chart table, and several chairs magnetically anchored to the floor, arranged about said display. The chairs looked futuristic, but comfortable, and anyone who sat down would quickly find that they actually were.

The tactical area sat just a little below the strategy zone, containing what people generally termed 'controls'; the pilot in a slightly lowered area in the center and the other four crewmen at their stations, arranged in the same somewhat-circluar pattern.

However, even with most of the instuments being 3-dimensional holograms, the crewmen themselves probably drew the most attention. The first thing most humans thought when they saw one of Allen's crew was 'werewolf', and for good reason - they looked quite a bit like skinny wolf-men, clad in simple black uniforms.

The planet 'hanging above' the ship only further estranged the picture, and for someone with calustrophobia, it was probably very unnerving to have a planet sitting above you, looking like it was going to fall on your head.

But neither Acid, Vern, nor any of the five crewmen seemed to mind the shining blue sphere floating above them at this point, especially the first as he walked to what looked like a series of microwave ovens and started putting a meal together on the holographic menu.

"Please, come on in." he bid his guests in, finshing his order, and a cooked ham was delivered into his hands. He bit in heartily. Food was good, "Nobody's gonna bite."

Walking to his own chair - which sat right behind the pilot, but on the raised secion, and turned so he could either face the chart table or the head of the ship - he asked the pilot, "Pilot, please take us out of negative return."

"Sure thing, Sir." the pilot grinned, and the Gunship flipped over rather quickly, though its passengers felt absolutely no force. It didn't even ocurr to anyone that their guests might get vertigo from this. With the maneuver completed, the planet was once again 'below' the ship now...

"Oh, just the usual judgementalness." Acid returned to Hallucinogen, crossing his arms but not bothering to turn towards him, "I swear, it's like being different is a disease with you people sometimes..."