Zero Hour - Ignorance is Bliss
By
FloatingFatMan,
Posted on: 2007-07-24 13:03 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
Oooh nice! I was wondering what Jess was up to whilst her wife was fighting for her life! 
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Sipping tea, of course... What she gets for marrying an English!
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
Reality check
Rikti Invasion, Day 1, Early evening
(( Yes, I know it's a bit late, so sue me 
))
Jessica Stoneberg stepped through the portal leading to her home on Rolando Island. She smiled as she walked down the stairs of her mage tower and poured herself a nice glass of Jess Kades patented (well, not really) multi-fruit juice.
As she sat down on the sofa, she turned the TV on to watch
something or an other.
Her glass froze half way to her mouth as images of the second Rikti invasion crossed the screen.
Time froze in that instance as she thought back to the first invasion. The sights and impressions from her modest apartment in Kings Row. She got to her feet and drained her glass, setting it on the table before walking up to her bedroom.
Images of her time working with MAGI to research and examine Rikti versus Magic passed her minds eye. She was an apprentice then, she had only taken a few steps in to the world of magic.
________
Not that far from there, deep underground in the workshop lab of the Unity Vigil base stood a very different woman. Jessica van Steenbergen put away her tools as she had finished repairing her VorTel suit. She was thinking back on the first invasion as well. It happened at the same time but in a different dimension.
Jessica van Steenbergen recalled sights and impressions from her modest apartment in Kings Row. She thought back on her time with DATA and SERAPH working on deciphering the Rikti teleporters. The first war had disrupted her education at MIT, the brightest were asked to assist in the war effort by researching.
________
Jessica Stoneberg took out her suit, she had worn it but a few days ago, it had been a month before that. She did not expect to wear it again for a week at least. She put on the tight costume of bright pink colours.
Zipping up she looked at herself in the mirror: she looked determined and ready. This time, I will do more then research.
She took up her fateful hat and put it on as with a ripple of blue light her suit turned to metallic armour. She was no longer an apprentice. She is the Grav Mistress.
________
Jessica van Steenbergen put on the modules of her battle, this was routine for her. She suited up almost every day. The suit was the only thing she had from back home, from her Earth. Taking up the helmet, she caught her reflection in it and looked at herself.
She looked determined, but noticed a hint of fear in her own eyes. This time, I will do more then research.
She put her helmet on and locked away her fear from the outside world and powered up the suits systems. She was no longer a student. She is VorTel. She would make her world proud of her actions in this world.
________
The Grav Mistress arrived in Paragon, trough a magical portal behind a warehouse in Kings Row. She looked at the sky and took to it, looking for her loved ones. Looking to protect and serve.
________
VorTel arrived in Paragon, through the technological portal that linked the Unity Vigil Base with the Unity Tower. She went in search of Zortel or Xortel, or anyone else in charge. Looking to serve and protect.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
Zero Hour - Ignorance is bliss
Jessica sat in her easy chair by a cosy fire. She stirred her tea absentmindedly as she looked over her latest schematic. As the parts for the life-support crystal would take a while yet to be finished, she might as well try and improve her initial design.
After a little longer she stretched and got up out of the chair. Sitting in it for too long could make one a bit stiff and 4 hours was definitely too long. She got up and walked around a little, pondering this crystal some more, what to do with the Bleeding Rock that she received from Zorielle. She passed various experiments, checking their progress, adjusting one: no one wants actual silk in their chocolate
As always, she paused on a balcony, leaning on the banister and looking out on nothing.
The edges of rock that her library seemed build on had healing nicely, there were no scars left of what had transpired almost 6 months ago except an absence of book shelves on one edge.
She looked out on the emptiness of the dimension outside her library, where she had done an experiment. Probably one of the most dangerous ones she had done to date, but then, she hadnt experimented with time yet.
She had set herself a challenge, to see if her title of Grav Mistress was earned or not. She had created a black hole. Not a small singularity like the one she often summoned in battle, no. This was a full blown wormhole.
She recalled as she created it, for a brief moment, it slipped from her control. In that brief moment, that small part of her library she had prepared and separated was destroyed, ripped apart. In that brief moment, she had known a fear she remembered mostly from her early apprentice days. She also remembered how she beat that fear down and did what needed to be done, and how she regained control over the black hole and struggled it back out of existence.
She looked at the memory of the black hole and shivered lightly. After that moment, she understood her wifes decision to retire better then ever. The amount of power Ellie commanded was scary, especially to herself. Jess own powers, some similar, others vastly different could be considered equal maybe even superior. As she stood there outwardly emotionless, she feared the extent of her powers almost as much as that day she almost lost everything to something she had created.
Men lijdt het meest onder her lijden dat hij vreest Jessica said to herself, reminding herself that fear of a thing is usually worse then the thing itself.
Jessica smiled as she turned away from the balcony and walked back the half mile to her easy chair. She thought of her wife, their friends. The happy times and the sad times. As her good friend and namesake Jessica Kade always said: The bad is just seasoning that makes the good taste all the better
Back at her reading chair, she set aside the crystal diagrams and books and took up one with blood magic and rituals. Distasteful reading usually, but a purpose for that ever bleeding rock would be nice.
As Jessica The Grav Mistress Stoneberg sat safely in her dimensional library she barely noticed the sounds of battle outside. Outside an invasion was taking place. Yet an other legion of demon spawn were assaulting her librarys defences. The fairy Lizzie was dealing with them as she had done for millennia.
As Jessica sat safely in her library researching, she was equally unaware of the invasion that took place on her home world. Unaware of the battles that would soon demand her attention. Blissfully ignorant that the extent of her powers might soon be tested.
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.