Play@YSDC

Docking Bay - Styx Base, Pluto
0710 GMT - Tuesday, August 9, 2112

Captain Juliette Desjardins, flying the Demeter, and Lt. Hu Xiang, piloting the Persephone, hovered over the docking bay at Styx Base. The dome had been retracted, and they had already been given permission to land. Lt. Edward Barrett stood in the bay below in a vacuum suit. He moved out of the way so that the ships could set down safely.

Private Sofia Torres arrived at the airlock outside the docking bay at about the same time as Private Robert MacCrimmon. They could see on the monitor that the spacecraft were preparing to land, and that the bay was depressurized. There were more spacesuits in lockers near the airlock.

"Good morning," said Robert to Sofia.

Shortly afterwards, Colonel Indira Patel entered from the airlock to the tunnel leading back to the central module.

OOC,[b]Juliette[/b], please roll Pilot Space Fighter at double your effective skill. [b]Xiang[/b], please roll Pilot Space Transport at double your effective skill.

"Hi Robert," Sofia muttered with an eye on the monitor. "Colonel, is everyone ok?" she blurts out.

With smooth efficiency Juliette put the Demeter in position for the landing. She waited for 1.lt Hu to put the Persephone down first as she was the larger spacecraft. Then she was going to make an impressive landing, feeling like she was in control of the spacecraft. And she could see an audience down there, she allways performed best with an audience... And she would need them to move the ickythingy in the airlock before she could leave the ship.

Hu lowers the ship into the hangar, taking alittle extra time and effort to leave room for Juliette and the Demeter.

As soon as the Persephone is landed, Juliette lands the Demeter with ease, making sure the airlock is facing the people in the dock. She then switches on the intercom to talk to those outside. "Nice to see such an excellent crowd. Is there anyone who wants to clear the way out for me? There's a dead weight filling up my airlock, and I cant squeese through." She then releases the airlock and waits to see what happens.

"I'll take care of it for you, ma'am," said Lt. Barrett via his suit's built-in radio. He opened up the Demeter's airlock and gaped in shock at the small creature within, but he remained calm and collected. He picked up the alien in his arms and resealed the airlock. "Got it, Captain."

"Everyone except Lt. Colonel Bruce," said the colonel. "How did we manage to lose our security chief? The general never should have allowed him to go out there."

Robert saluted the colonel. "If you need someone to help get the chief back, I'll volunteer," he said.

"Thank you, Private. I'll keep that in mind." She returned the salute. "As you were."

"Hey, Sofia. Looks like they're going to bring the alien out soon."

Juliette climbed into the airlock, she brought with her the weaponthing in the sample box. As she came out she walked over to colonel Patel and saluted her. "Reporting back from mission to collect the Demeter. One man missing and one drone down, Mam. Do you want more information immideately or should we wait for 1. lt Hu and take it all inside?" Juliette hoped for the last, but it was not allways easy to secondguess the Colonel.

Sofia stayed back away from the creature. She stared at Juliette with a bit of a smile. "I can take the weapon from you Julie.. I mean Captain." She said.

Juliette glanced at Sofia and then at the box with a black knoblike object. She then gave Sofia one of her dazzling smiles. "Of course you can, if it is OK with the Colonel. It shoots out a bluish sparkle, and that is what took out the drone. They have these pinchers, and I really don't know how they shoot with it. " Juliette tilted her head and winked at Sofia. "But I'll bet you can find out how, N'est pas Private Torres?"

Sofia giggled and blushed, and then cursed to herself as she looked away. Then she looked back and smiled, "Yea, the lieutenant and I are supposed to analyze it." then after a second pause, "So how did you take him out? Are you ok?" As she took the box from Juliette.

Juliette looked at Sofia, one eyebrow raised and with a bemused smile on her lips. " I shot it until it was dead- Which took some doing as the creatures are reluctant to take damage, luckily I am a very good shot." She gave Sofia another wink and turned back at Colonel Patel. Awaiting further instructions.

"I'll take this to the lab sir," as Sofia turns and walks away smacking her hand into her face. Then mumbles to herself, "Sofia you are such an idiot."

Lt. Edward Barrett had come through the airlock with Captain Juliette Desjardins, carrying the alien creature. It was the size of a small child, with thin, membraneous wings and a bulbous head. It looked vaguely insectoid, but different somehow - and quite disturbing. It had multiple spindly limbs that ended in the pinchers that Juliette had described.

Colonel Patel recoiled when she saw it, but composed herself almost instantly. She saluted back. "Excellent work, Captain. Yes, let's wait for Lt. Hu. We can all head to the labs together, and I can debrief you on the way."

OOC,[b]Sofia[/b] and [b]Robert[/b], please roll Sanity for seeing the alien. Sanity loss is 0/1d6, so you lose no Sanity if you succeed but 1d6 if you fail. If you lose 5 or more Sanity, you most roll idea. Failing this roll is good, as success means you go temporarily insane.

Pvt. Torres shuddered at the site of the creature but was looking at Captain Desjardins and thankfully never got a good look before walking away.

Psych,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3291489/]Sanity check, target = 70 (1d100=40)[/url]

OOC,Sorry, it's been a while since I have been able to be on to post.

Hu exited the Persephone and rejoined Sophia, glancing through the activity trying to see this beast that Juliette had managed to kill.

Lt. Hu crossed through the docking bay as the dome resealed and the bay was repressurized. He went through the airlock to the curving hall outside, where the others waited, and he got quite a good look at the alien - and promptly wished that he hadn't.

"Ah, good, there you are," said Colonel Patel. "Let us be off to the laboratory module. On the way you and Captain Desjardins can tell me all about what happened." She opened up the airlock to the tunnel leading to the central module and ushered everyone inside.

OOC,[b]Xiang[/b], you must now roll Sanity too. Sanity loss is 0/1d6. I'll roll for [b]Robert[/b]. Also, everyone may roll Spot Hidden to see what you notice about the alien.

Juliette loosende and shook back her long hair, Helmet under her left arm and took agood look at the little but tough creature. "I can't help but wonder if these buggers are telepathic or something. They give you this strange feeling up close, apart from the fact that they are butt ugly."

Sofia laughed out loud at Juliette's joke and then realized she was a bit too loud. she made her way through the airlock still giggling.

She was wondering if she should speak up about what she noticed on the weird creature. Uh it gave her the willies. Well someone else probably noticed it. I guess if no one says anything I'll speak up Sofia thinks to herself.

Spot Hidden,Crit Success: [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3292941/]Spot Hidden roll target = 60% (1d100=6)[/url]

"Oh, aye," said Robert, not too discomforted at the sight of the creature. "Sure is an ugly...whatever it is."

Captain Juliette Desjardins,As [b]Juliette[/b] examined the creature, she noticed that its wings were fluttering a little, though it hardly moved otherwise.

Private Sofia Torres,[b]Sofia[/b] noticed that the creature's wings were fluttering a little, and there were other very subtle movements from its body. At first she thought the motion was due to [b]Edward[/b] moving while carrying it, but it was still happening even when they stopped in the airlock. She didn't know much about alien anatomy, but it seemed as though it were still alive.

Juliettes eyes widened in astonishment. She drew her blaster aiming it at Edward. "Llt Barret, put the creature down and move away. Quickly, but carefully. Le chose maudite n'est pas mort... I mean, it is not dead!" Juliette could not help it, it was in her blood, she struck a pose that could have been taken from one of Alexander Kaisers many propagndashoots with her, the dashing brave spacepilot.

Sofia stepped back as well. But strangely instead of looking at the creature, her eyes were admiring Juliettes cool pose. "Sweet" she said under her breath. Then back to the creature. "Yea, its got muscle movement all over and, that's not postmortem muscle contractions either. I'd get it in a specimen cage as quick as possible. I thought you knew that."

Hu was barely shaken by the sight of the beast, but jumped back from it when Juliette yelled, having not seen anything that indicated it would still be alive. He drew his blaster and made ready to blast the damn thing some more if it surged to life.

OOC,I presume you mean that you're pointing your blaster at the alien, [b]Juliette[/b]. [b]Robert[/b] is a human security officer, and he wouldn't like it if you targeted him. Nor would the colonel. ;)

Edward put the alien down on the floor of the airlock and backed away from it with trepidation and disgust.

"Don't kill it unless it attacks," said Colonel Patel. "We want it alive. The intel we can get from it could prove invaluable, and it may be useful as a hostage. They have one of our people - now we have one of theirs." She tapped the intercom on the airlock's control panel and spoke into it. "Medical lab, this is Colonel Patel. The creature we are bringing in is still alive!"

The creature began buzzing in a dull monotone, though it was definitely speaking English. "We come in peazzze..." it said, weakness evident in its voice.

"Hu'che," Hu spits at the being. "If it came in peace, why did they take Lt. Colonel Bruce? And what happened to the crew of the Persephone?"

As Edward put the creature down, Juliettes aim moved with the creature. Edward no longer in the line of fire Juliette turned up the power on her blaster. "Well Ma'am, no disprespect, but the moment it uses its fuzzy mind thing I am blasting it to smithereens. They have this power, it is really eery. It gets into your head, tries to bend your thoughts..." Juliettes voice trailed off, there was an unusual timbre to it. A mix between hatred and fear. The look in her eyes though were icecold. And her arm steady, her aim locked at the head of the creature. " And besides, the only thing it knows in human speech is the sentence "We come in peace", maybe it learned that from the crew on the Persephone, at they're initial meeting? The only thing they got to say?"

Mr handy,Her aim were at the creature in Edwards arms, but it could very well be seen upon as she pointed at the Lt. himself. You decide. Had to put some recklessness in to fit the character, she is just to a little to heroic..

Sofia steps behind Juliette. She tries to look over her shoulder, but she's a bit too short. So the private looks under her arm at the creature.

Juliette Desjardins,Oh, I see. I was confused because you said [b]Robert[/b] earlier, who had nothing to do with it.

"We'll soon find out," said Indira Patel. She drew her own sidearm, a 9mm automatic. Robert MacCrimmon drew a similar weapon, and Lt. Edward Barrett pulled his .45 automatic. All of them aimed their guns at the creature as well. "Stand up, slowly. Try anything and we'll destroy you. You're coming with us."

The alien obeyed, dragging itself upright with difficulty. "I will come with you," it buzzed.

The colonel, with her free hand, cycled the airlock. The other end opened onto the tunnel leading back to the central module. "All right, let's move out."

"Well that's not something you see every day," Sofia pipes in. "Oh and it said something different. It seems to have a good grasp of our language, probably the psych thing."

Juliette snorted. "Well, it will not use it's weird psychic thing on me again...!" She kept her aim at the aliens head and continued:" The sooner this thing is contained the better." Juliette's mind raced as she thought about her encounters with the creatures. Soon she needed her mind crystal clear and it was not so at present. But she new how to remedy that. "I really look forward to get out of this suit and freshen up."

Colonel Patel led the group through the tunnel, across the central module, and along the tunnel to the laboratory module. Once there, they split up and went their separate ways, with Lt. Hu and Sofia heading for the astrophysics lab while the others went to the medical lab.

OOC,[b]Edward[/b], [b]Robert[/b], and [b]Juliette[/b] are moving to the thread linked below.

The Visitor

OOC,[b]Xiang[/b] and [b]Sofia[/b] are moving to the thread linked below.

Reverse Engineering