IC-Ep 1-The Dawn Patrol(Juliette only)

[Lynx]

Listening to the pulse throbbing in her ears, Juliette took a split second desicion. And she walked carefully into the tunnel. "Curiosity killed the cat", her mother used to say. Well, luckily she was no cat. Feeling more alive than ever Juliette moved as carefully as possible, high on the trill of the possibility that something dangerous may happen.

Juliette,She is of course high on amphetamin, making bad calls her middlename

[Mr. Handy]

Hyped up and filled with excitement, Juliette ventured down the dark, forbidding tunnel. It went down a long, long way, with no features to break up the monotony. Even so, the prospect of what might await at the end of the passage kept her eager.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Listen.

[Lynx]

OOC,[url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3196413/[/url] (I can hear the waves on the shore... snigger snigger)

Juliette felt good, she was on top of things, walking through the complete silence of outer space she could only hear her own breath, and the occasional static on the radio.

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette continued her descent into darkness, trepidation mixing with anticipation. Finally the tunnel bottomed out, opening up into a long, wide chamber with a flat, smooth surface. It was there that she saw the impossible.

Parked smack in the middle of this hidden underground cavern was a sight that Juliette had never expected to see: a familiar-looking spacecraft, nose pointing at the tunnel. It was the same width as the Demeter, though it was longer, capable of supporting a crew of three unlike her one-seater. With the ship in the way, she couldn't see the back of the chamber. It took her a moment to recognize the ship. It was the Persephone, the first ship to land on Pluto, believed lost months ago!

[Lynx]

"Sacrebleu", Juliette whispered to herself. "The daughter of Demeter, I wonder if she has tasted the seeds of pomegranate yet!" She moved carefully closer to the ship. This was eery, and she sincerely hoped she was not going to meet Hades down here. She suddenly realised that she had unbuckled her blaster pistol and held it in her hand. "So much for a cool and relaxed composure", she mumbled to herself. She was highly alert as she searched the ship for any signs of damage, or any explanation to why it was down here.

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette circled around the starboard side of Persephone, where she knew she would find the airlock. Before she could board the ship, she caught sight of what lay beyond. At the far end of the chamber was a round sphincter-like opening that was currently closed. It was sealed by a series of wavy black plates that looked like they were supposed to iris open. Colored lights flashed on the wall next to it. But more alarming were the two alien creatures standing on either side of the exit. The one on the left was roughly man-sized, while the one on the right was no larger than a small child. They had huge, membraneous wings, antennae on their bulbous heads, and slimy webs covering their chests. From their bodies emerged several long, spindly limbs ending in pincers, and each of the creatures gripped a small, black metallic object. The smaller one began to look in her direction.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Sanity on 1d100. Sanity loss is 0/1d6, so you lose no Sanity if you succeed at your roll but 1d6 if you fail. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, you must then roll Idea. If you fail the Idea roll, you are still in control of your faculties, but if you succeed at the Idea roll then you will go temporarily insane and will no longer be in control of your actions. If you do not go insane, roll Hide.

[Lynx]

OOC roll,sanity [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3196973/[/url]

OOC roll,Hide [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3196978/[/url]

[Mr. Handy]

As Juliette was reaching for the airlock, the smaller creature pointed at her. "Zzztop!" it commanded, its voice buzzing and monotonous. While there was no sound in a vacuum, Pluto had a thin atmosphere composed primarily of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide. She couldn't breathe it, but it did allow sound to propagate. "Do not move!"

[Lynx]

Never one to follow orders Juliette had to try for the airlock. She prayed to all the gods that she did not believe in that she might get in and find the ship capable of flying out of here. No way she was going to just surrender to aliens. And with all those tentaclethingys they looked grose.

[Mr. Handy]

The creatures surged forward, but Juliette was faster. She threw open the airlock, bolted inside, and slammed the door in their faces - if they had faces. Hurriedly, she cycled the airlock, repressurizing it. The readings showed that the inside of the ship actually did have a breathable atmosphere. When the pressure was equalized, she threw open the inner door and raced for the cockpit. She fired the engines into life and prepared for a cold start.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Pilot Space Transport.

[Lynx]

OOCroll,pilot spaceship [url]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3197017/[/url]

Juliette braced herself for the probably very rough start and tried simultaniously to arm the weapons and open the com channel, all as quickly and urgently as possible.

[Mr. Handy]

As soon as she was able to do so, Juliette expertly lifted off and sped up the tunnel, She charged up the Persephone's blaster cannon mounted in the nose and activated the comm system, though she could not get a signal until she emerged from the underground passage and into Pluto's skies. Below her, she could see where she had left the Demeter. Her comm panel lit up, indicating that she could open a channel to Styx Base.

[Lynx]

"Mission Control, can you hear me? This is Captains Desjardin. Would you please patch me over to Colonel Patel. This is extremely urgent, I repeat, extremely urgent."
Adrenalin rushing, hearth pumping, Juliette checked fuelcells and ran a systemtest on the vessel. She had found the Persephone, now her time underground was over.

[Mr. Handy]

"Captain Desjardins?" replied Lt. Colleen Rose. "Patching you through now."

"This is Colonel Patel," said the stern voice of Indira Patel on the other end of the call a moment later. "Go ahead, Captain."

[Lynx]

"I am pleased to report, that I have recovered the Persephone, Mam. I found her in a cave. I am flying her as we are speaking. I am not so pleased that I have found a cave with aliens in it, the Persephone parked outside the entrance. They're not like anything I have ever seen before, Wings and antennas and a strange bodily structure. I am sorry to say that I did not stop to chat with them, as they wanted me to. I felt it imperative that I report these findings imideately, Mam, as I was not entirely convinced that the aliens wanted me to leave the cave. Should I return to make a flyby to check if they are emerging from their underground cave? AND, by the way. They are as far as I could see climatized to the atmosphere on Pluto. Awaiting orders Colonel?"

Juliette felt like this beeing the best moment since she came to Pluto, at the same time she was reluctant to admit that she did not like the fact that they could breathe in the atmosphere, and she could not. This gave the aliens an advantage in an eventual combatsituation. Not once did it cross her soldiers brain, that aliens could be friendly. They had in her mind exterminated the crew of the Persephone, or hadn't they? Maybe Sophina could get something out of the ships computer? All this and more raced through her mind.

[Mr. Handy]

There was no reply for several seconds. Perhaps the colonel was stunned by the news. Then there was a voice on the other end of the channel, but it wasn't Colonel Patel. "This is General Pryce," replied the base commander. "Well done, Captain. Bring the Persephone back to the docking bay. Let's not take any unnecessary risks. We'll worry about retrieving the Demeter later. I'll give you back to Colonel Patel now. I need to go send a message to Earth."

[Lynx]

"Yes sir,I will return Imideately sir." Juliette plotted the course towards the base and gave full throttle. She hoped she was to get to celebrate this. Not only go straight into red alert or something. She needed to get the exitement out of her body.

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette made a beeline for Styx Base and soon arrived at the docking module. Ground Control would need to retract the protective dome to allow her to land.

[Lynx]

Ground control, this is captain Desjardins, aboard the Persephone, I request landing permission. You need to retract the protective dome." Juliette waited and turned the ship towards whence she came from, and scanned the area for movement, or invisible ships or little flying monsters. They had wings, the could probably fly too. Quickly she came to think about something and scanned all around her ship. They might just cling on to the ship, it wasn't as if there was any atmospheric resistance to speak of, she wouldn't notice the extra resistance. She ran the scans, and while they ran she said: "Ground control, this is Captain Desjardins, please run a scan of the outside of my ship before you lower the dome. I do not want to bring home bugs."

[Mr. Handy]

Juliette could see nothing unusual on the Persephone's scanners. Neither could Lt. Colleen Rose, apparently, for the dome above the docking bay retracted so that she could land.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Pilot Space Transport, at double your effective skill. This means you will only fail on a 100.