Session 1: The Mirror Universe
PAX City - Earth Prime 4.3.10-636A notification finally comes down that Yuki and Airym are ready to discuss their theories of what is causing the reality storms; friends and colleagues gathering in masse for the first time since the storms began, to include a few unfamiliar faces. The topic is discussed openly; the options for what are occurring: that when Centerpoint was destroyed and the shards were sucked in by a black hole there are two possible outcomes. The first being that the shards were still powerful enough to create new alternate realities. The second being that the shards had been pulled not to an alternate, but an inverse reality through tears in some boundary and each successive storm was creating new tears.
Regardless of which theory is true, the significance of the storms and their effects are not lost on the attendees; a team needs to be dispatched to search for the shards and recover them, while another group needs to figure out how to combat the storms and repair whatever damage has been done so far. To that end Yuki has suggested sending digital versions of a team into the other reality, and wants to test a group for compatibility with the digital system.
5.25.10-636
Younger individuals gather at a simulation area to test whether they’re capable of even attempting the digital cross-over by first seeing whether they’re compatible with the interface system. Yuki, Kitty, Gor, Cookie among several others make the attempt; Yuki being the first to be brought out of the sim due to nausea and vertigo affecting her harshly inside the sim and disrupting the connection for the others.
As the simulation concludes it is decided that Kitty, Gor and Cookie have done exceedingly well; but there is a concern since the memories of those going in seem to be missing, Airym suggesting she build in a memory backup to herself and go with the team. Yuki argues against not being on the team since she’s the leader of the Strikers, Cookie offering to help stabilize her. It’s agreed that Yuki can reattempt the test but only after she has been checked over by Ethan.
5.28.10-636
Yuki has done surprisingly well with the assistance of Cookie and goodbyes are being given out between the family members as Kitty, Cookie, Gor, Yuki and Airym are getting ready to head up to Striker Station and attempt their digital connection to the other reality. Suzu crying openly and trying to change her mind at Gor leaving, Taiga trying to replace Yuki with a robotic version of her named ‘Hentai’, and Miyuki carrying / brandishing her kitties around between her breasts.
PAX City - Earth Prime 6.1.10-636
A bank explodes a couple blocks away from the PAX Museum and Transportation Center (and temporary EarthGov Headquarters) with no immediate cause or alarms being triggered. Initial suspicions are that there was a robbery. Members of the ‘old guard’ arrive, curious and standing by to assist; Cheryl, Miyuki, Si, Shu, Ben, Darien and even Rea look on from various locations. As Shu starts to use her vines to move rubble to look for survivors there is some tense emotions with the local police since it’s their responsibility. However suspicions are raised when the first bodies are found its arms and legs still bound by heavy duty restraints.
Darien leads Cheryl, Miyuki, Si and Shu to his home to review the security camera recordings he has access to since he owned the bank; not accepting Shu’s offer to raise one of the bodies and question it. Upon viewing the recording they see ten armed and armored figures quickly take over the bank and subdue the employees and innocents, moving quickly into the back of the bank and setting up what appears to be a powerful drill; it’s at that point that the video feed is lost. When Darien tries to access the PAX Info Net his systems are immediately assaulted by a computer virus; and he is forced to sever the connection while a call is put out to Ash to clear out the virus.
Cheryl meanwhile decides to get a new ‘special unit’ created and starts by contacting Lorelei to coordinate; the call going out to all of the old allies that are able to respond in short order. It’s several hours before a large group has gathered; Cheryl, Darien, Miyuki, Lorelei, Taiga, Fiona, Lumi, Ash, Mal, Shu, Jason, Peter, Michelle, Tabetha, Angela, Si, Cheria, Chery-Lemonade, Cassandra, Erevis, Rea, Elwyn, Myria (in disquise), Isa and Necia in attendance. The meeting quickly gets to the point, addressing the bank explosion and suggesting that it was a ruse to gain access to the PAX Transporters via underground service routes. Suspicions arise that this may be an attempt to attack the Suisen Empire Planets by sending explosives through the transporters.
Erevis quickly decides to act upon her Former Empress Authority to temporarily shut down the transporters; Cheryl, Miyuki, Ash, Robb, Michelle, Taiga and a few others deciding to go with her as escort and guards. The others get the privilege (or disgust?) to head down into the sewers and attempt to catch the assault party; which after a failed attempt to take out Darien, thanks to Rea, they arrive at a room with five of the attackers. Trip-wires are triggered as well as explosives before the five are subdued; their armor seeming to absorb or deflect most attacks, the only weakness being in the eye holes. Several of the members of the party start to display their unique capabilities, some relying more on developed skills. As Shu attempts to scrye for the remaining attackers, the others turn their attention to the bodies; revealed are humanoids bearing artificial grafts and bone extrusions, a race that nobody has encountered before. Lumi chewing on one of the attackers guns like a nyla-bone.
At the same time, after Erevis has disabled the transporters, another ‘Darien’ approaches and attempts to get them to turn the transporters back on; offering up a box containing equipment belonging to the attackers, they fail to accept his word as truth though and set about trying to contact the sewer group for confirmation. Ash and Cassandra being the most ready to skewer or blast Darien it seems; ready to spring when he goes to pull out a cigarette but being warned by Miyuki to not do that because of the presence of the bosom-bound kitties. Miyuki starts trying to get ahold of the Sewer Group using a communicator.
The sewer group meanwhile has caught up with the remaining attackers who are locked in a room and drilling up towards the PAX Transporters; using Isa’s foxhole the group bypasses any traps set on the door and immediately set about subduing the armored attackers, and afterwards realizing that they’re missing one from the known total of 10. Fiona tries to scan for the last member but discovers something troubling; the members of this particular race seem resistant to psionic scans.
It isn’t long before Lorelai is able to establish contact with the Transporter Group, notifying them of the situation; she’s asked however whether Darien had left them earlier, to which Darien speaks over the comm and confirms the suspicion of Cassandra and Ash as ‘Darien’ starts slowly retreating down the hallway and dropping his pack of cigarettes into a trash receptacle. Ash leaps into action and tries to tackle the fleeing attacker, and a fast and furious brawl erupts before the last member of the assault team lies dead on the ground. The trash receptacle from earlier spewing forth a corrosive gas that most individuals have already given a respectful space to.
As the day ends Cheryl reviews the after-action reports and files on the new faces; deciding to bring them all together as a series of teams under the moniker of “Special Unit”. Shu being pressed to wear actual clothing of some sort.
>Spec. Ops HQ 6.10.10-636
With the new Special Operations Team slowly coming together, and having enough volunteers to create several rotating teams, Darien is left to consider who may be viable leaders for the respective units. The most difficult decision will be who among the youngest group to choose. While considering this and checking on the progress in Megumi’s Lab, a message comes in from the current Empress Lenneth; inquiring whether they’ve seen Erevis. When Darien responds that nobody’s seen her, Lenneth’s response is "find my mother old man". Unfortunately most of the volunteers seem to have taken the day off, even though Darien had planned for the time to be used by the older members to catch each other up on their respective lives; so they’re left with gathering anybody who’s on hand and willing to assist.
Darien gets the shuttle ready to go while Angela, Angelos, Megumi, Jennifer, Orihime, Mi’na, Kaori and Rea board and get ready for a ‘find the Erevis’ mission. There are jokes and comments galore at the two late arrivals, Kaori and Rea, that if they get into trouble it’s their responsibility to save the day. It’s also mention that in the past it was Ako and Iko who would miraculously show up...after hiding on shuttles for hours at a time. To start off, they decide to head to Erevis and Megumi’s former home near Tokyo.
When they arrive, they find the house intact and with lights on inside; somebody is home it seems, and Darien knocks on the door. It is indeed Erevis who opens the door, naked except for an apron, and instead of greeting Darien she sends him flying backwards and into a garden using her psionics. Grunting in pain, dirtied, and wishing he had worn his armor Darien lets Angela attempt a greeting; holding Megumi before her like a shield, Erevis promptly absconding with Megumi before closing the door once again.
Jennifer and Orihime attempt a third entry, hoping that other family members will evoke a similar friendly greeting; however it seems that Erevis doesn’t remember them, instead claiming it’s one of Xanatos Durran’s jokes. This brings the group as a whole to a simple conclusion once Angela is greeted as "Serena Cran"; Erevis has regressed in her memories to a point in time almost thirty years earlier. They finally gain entry and are treated to dinner, although Angelos tries to keep his face hidden as much as he can since he resembles Alexander Cran. Throughout dinner there is a great deal of talk regarding Erevis’ condition, which she blissfully doesn’t pay attention to, and Megumi makes a brilliant maneuver; after dinner they will play a new game, one that requires them to go elsewhere...but only if Erevis is unafraid of losing.
The ploy works beautifully, Erevis taking the bait and agreeing to the game; the others collectively sighing in relief that there won’t be any Hyperspace flying around. The good mood continues when Cassandra arrives, bearing presents...a bottle of Sake to share, and the drink is passed around to all; no sooner does Erevis drink hers than Darien recalls something important, Erevis can’t hold her liquor and is usually a bad drunk. Thankfully this is not the case in this instance, the alcohol seems to have a rehabilitating effect on her and brings her back to her current mental state. Everyone piles back into the shuttle and quickly head off to the PAX where Ethan and Caduceus wait and prepare for treating the genetic variances that are causing the Alzheimer’s.
Darien makes the mistake of asking what the ‘youngsters’ have learned in this, and is mortified when he is the brunt of each joke tossed out by Kaori, Angela, Mi’na, Rea and even Cassandra. Kaori hits gold after she offers Erevis a handheld game to keep her occupied, preventing her from realizing anything’s wrong in case she regresses again. When they arrive at the PAX there’s several options to consider in treating Erevis, between cloning her a new body, removing the genetic defect, or using a clone of Sammael’s body since it doesn’t succumb to the detrimental effects of using Hyperspace.
While the doctors are working with Erevis, the others return to the Special Ops HQ where Darien and Angela debate who to promote to lead the younger team; suggestions of a deathbattle being floated while several names are tossed up for consideration. There’s even talk of hot wives, one hundred percent woman, and beefchickenturkeybeef burgers...not to mention a plethora of cupcakes curtesy of Tabetha.
Special Ops Base
10-636.6.15
Erevis is recovering from her surgical procedure while Tabetha and Key are looking for John in order to give him the treatment. Darien, Jennifer, Erevis, Megumi, Katrina, Cassandra, Mem, Hale, Angela, Mi’Na, Angelos, Orihime, Kaori and Rea are considering the next operation when Cheryl arrives to discuss a matter with the team. After everybody is gathered, Cheryl shows them what has her on edge; a picture of a Dark One vessel and an Illium Wing-Ship in close proximity in what appears to be open space. Confusion abounds as these ships seem to be existing in contradiction with the results of their many battles, and it’s agreed that they will look into the matter and bring Kaori, Orihime and Rea along for the chance to see how they work together.
While the youngsters are given shots (as well as Angela) everyone piles into a hyperspace capable vessel and joined by Chii; Cheryl and Angela comparing notes about being called “President Bitch” and Kaori getting a flying lesson from Darien. When they arrive at the coordinates of the vessels, they find them almost completely merged…and a comment about sexual positions running rampant as individuals who have tried the same position pipe up. Darien ignoring most of the commentary as he flies the vessel in through some of the gaping holes in the bulkhead until he comes to a suitable docking area; scanning of the vessels indicates that it’s the work of nano-machines that is merging the vessels.
Stepping off the ramp first is Cheryl who is quickly overcome by nanites who mistake her Alpha physiology for additional spare parts, quickly consuming the armor on her leg before they’re finally burned off by dark-fire wielded by Chii. Erevis and Mem wait on the ship to ensure it doesn’t become spare parts as well while everyone else heads up to investigate; after passing by large dog-sized spider-shaped nano-colonies, and squeezing their way past web-traps, the group finds two survivors, one a red-haired girl, the other a large hulking male; the unidentified guy is over-whelmed by nano-spiders and the girl runs off.
Choosing to secure the girl they follow her to a safe room where they take stock of the developing situation and are informed of the presence of where the Dark One computer core is by the girl. Learning that she is a member of the branch family of the Illium Zhenmei’s the girl admittedly cannot remember her name, stating that she’d been left in cryo-sleep for far longer than planned. After surmising that the girl is a member of the Cridhe family, the group agrees to head up to the Dark One computer; using Miyuki’s foxhole to get there without having to fight the nano-spiders, they arrive to find the computer core literally infested with spiders and home to twenty stasis pods containing a varying age group of Dark Ones.
Rather than fight the spiders, the group quickly blasts away at the computer despite Chii’s objections; the computers destruction triggering the stasis pods to also explode. Chii and several others quickly work to isolate the pods in order to save the occupants; Angelos being tasked with teleporting several of them back to the ship before Chii and Cheryl transform in order to carry the rest of the pods. Miyuki burning herself out in order to foxhole the rest of the team back to the shuttle. With time running out due to a self-destruct being triggered, Darien is hard pressed to get them out in time, Kaori assisting where she can after her lesson from earlier. Angelos commenting “we quadrupled the population of Dark Ones in the universe” leading to considerable thought on what to do with them, but for now the team is looking forward to a bit of a rest and letting Lorelei’s team address any issues that pop up in the next week or two.
Session 5: The Middle Children
Special Ops Base
10-636.6.23
With Darien and the ‘golden oldies’ team taking an actual break, Lorelei brings together a number of those close to her age group to discuss their team; Ako, Eve, Si’Chii, Tabetha, Orihime, Malechite, Jason, Michelle, Myria, Fiona, Umi, Fi’Thara, Elwyn and Kii’chigo come together and give formal introductions of who each of them are, and an idea of what they’re all capable of. As they finish up, Lorelei decides to have the group head to one of Alexander Cran’s old mountain bases to deal with reports of the bases being raided for spare parts, expecting that the mission will be casual enough to help them all get used to working as a team.
With Kii trying to flirt with Lorelei, everyone heads out and gears up in short order; settling into the shuttle amidst the friendly banter as Lorelei takes the controls, Umi sitting in the back of the shuttle and watching everyone. It doesn’t take long for them to arrive at the top of a mountain, landing near a large hole in the ground; everyone (Except for Eve and Elwyn) heads into the hole, most using abilities or natural traits to make the mile long journey faster.
After Jason uses his tentacles to subdue a guard, Lore’s unit makes their way further into the base only to be forced to hack a hacking device set onto an elevator control pad.
When they finally arrive on the lowest level of the base, they find the hangar area full of people working to clear rubble, a number of mech’s visible as well as what appear to be stasis tubes with people inside them. Knocking out a guard working on an old computer in an office they quickly take cover and appraise the situation as Tabetha finishes the work on the computer and one of the Mech’s in the hanger is freed. Seeing that they need to act swiftly to keep the raiders from getting away with any of the equipment; Mal leading the charge once Lorelei has given the go ahead.
Despite his hyper-speed, or in spite of it, the leader of the raiders creates what can be loosely described as a miniature blackhole next to him trying to suck him into it…forcing Mal to run in place in order to keep from being pulled in. This vortex also keeps the others from targeting the leader who seems immune to its effects, several of the team working to incapacitate or neutralize the guards while the leader starts towards the recently freed mech. As they try to deal with the effects of the vortex Jason uses his tentacles to slow the leader, keeping her from escaping while the others work on saving their own from the blackhole. Orihime bypassing the issue of the vortex launches a fireball through a foxhole to explode in the leaders face and destroying the helmet revealing her identity; a scar running down her face and long green hair tumbling loose.
With the leaders focus disrupted the vortex begins to close, its only victims being members of her own guard; she instead takes control of the Mech, sending it after the team launching salvo’s of micro-missiles. Mal, released from the effects of the vortex and no longer running in place, speeds through and destroys most; Ori’s fires taking care of a couple remaining. Instead of continuing to fight the green-haired leader opts to flee, becoming intangible and slipping through the walls and away from the team; Tabetha announcing “That was a Weapon…”. Discussions about Weapons, Dragoons and projects abound as they gather things up, finding that four of the stasis pods hold surviving enhanced subjects Lorelei decides that Darien and Miyuki will be called to come and oversee the bases decommissioning and dealing with any of the left overs. For Lorelei and her team though…it’s time for cake, ice cream, and talking with X.
Session 6: The Forgotten Generation
Special Ops Base
10-636.6.30
Lorelei’s unit is joined by two new members, Umi and Uki, Umi being designated as the teams’ second in command. With that in place, Lorelei announces their next mission; to escort a group of VIP’s into Cartel space and conduct an investigation into an area of space where vessels have gone missing. The VIP’s turn out to be Iceheart and Freyja, the members of the unit settling in on Icehearts’ ship for the week long mission. Tabetha trying to dominate Myria to settle who runs the lab, others play games or relax until they’re needed; Lorelei seeking reassurance from Umi that she’ll do well in her role as leader.
10-636.7.2
The ship arrives in Cartel space and waits for contact with another vessel, when it appears they are met by Odin who relays a quantity of data to them in exchange for several crates worth of stuffies of the Suisen Royal Family. The data directs them to locations nearby where there have been apparent reality disturbances, the closest being a space station that was hewn in two with half of the station completely disappearing. When they arrive at the station they spend only a few minutes on the hospitable portions to download the computers’ internal logs from when the station split.
When reviewing the data they discover a strange background noise and after some fidgeting figure out that it’s a female Tsivrixsh asking for help, and that the voice may belong to a relative of Shretrav. Hoping to get more data they head for a close by asteroid field where a similar reality disturbance is located, keeping a safe distance they receive a data transmission before the black-hole like disturbance closes.
10-636.7.5
By the time they return to Earth, Iceheart has the data ready to play for the team; it turns out to be a video log. The person in the video is Kretrav and is asking for help, it also explains that time seems to be slowing in the entire quadrant. With a couple of answers, and several new questions, the team departs Icehearts’ ship and returns to base. Tabetha already considering a new project to propose to Darien and Miyuki.
Session 7: The New Generation
Session skipped. Kaori becomes the team leader during the training session and Angel is her co leader.
Session 8: A New Way of Looking at Things
Special Ops Base
10-636.7.12
The team of youngsters has finally come up to their active time, though nobody seems to have an idea of just what to do. Kaori, Angel, Ren, Hess, Vesta, Lumi, Rea, Reese, An’Mi and Ash consider their options amid discussions of mice, slimes and terrorbeetles...and an air horn or two being given to Kaori. Looking at the suggested missions for them that Darien has supplied, they’re all disappointed to see that they’re being getting the ‘kiddy treatment’ with a bunch of "low end jobs". Despite this, they decide to head out on the PR mission. Using the startlingly underwhelming dune-buggy with wings and an AI in it (they name it Bob) they head out for PAX City.
When they arrive they quietly begin setting up to run a bikini / swimwear car-wash, Necia using the local networks to put out several provocative images and advertise the carwash as well as a volleyball game to be held later in the day. It’s not long before there’s a crowd gathering and vehicles waiting to be washed. An’Mi strips down to lacey underwear, Hess wearing a bikini beneath her uniform, and others scrambling to get something from a nearby store. Ash changing to a pair of shorts himself; Lumi is stopped though, having nothing but her birthday suit beneath her clothes. Rea and Reese doing the security-type of activity and making sure none of the girls gets carried off.
As the day goes on several News Crews show up, and Kaori (rocking a sexy nerdy girl appearance) does her part as leader of the team to get the message out that life will return to normal, that the quakes won’t destroy them. Darien and Miyuki watch from afar and muse about the "clever little children". With twilight comes the end of the carwash, members of the other two teams have shown up to assist and play volleyball due to the high number of visitors that showed up. Darien pops up and congratulates the team, stating that their earnings will be funneled towards City Cleanup projects; he also directs them to get their equipment brought back in and follow him for another mission.
After driving for a bit they come to a warehouse area, Darien telling them of suspected terrorists inside and that the team is expected to survey them until a delivery is made, then to take them all down. Several members start moving to positions, but Kaori uses one of the air horns to get the attention of the team; bringing the doors of the warehouse open. Lumi in her celestial dog form quickly presents herself as a distraction for the people inside, saving the rest of the team from being jumped by the well-armed terrorists. Once inside Lumi avails herself of the lack of attention and chews on wires attached to explosives.
It isn’t long before the delivery of equipment is made, and the team starts their take down; Ash and Angel teleporting around to attack while Hess ripples for hers. Reese, Rea and others make their way into the warehouse from the perimeter a bit slower, but none of the perpetrators makes it out; most of them stunned or pummeled into unconsciousness. They find among the equipment recently brought in several of the souvenirs that they had sold earlier at the car wash; the last two of the terrorists being smothered by Hess after comments are made. Upon their return to base Kaori decides to reward everyone with a candy bar.
10-636.7.15
Special Ops Headquarters
Darien and his team sit and discuss the information brought to them by Lorelai about the Weapon they fought. X, as Weapon 10, is asked to come in and assist;starting with going over all of the information they have on the Weapons and discussing the possibilities of where this one has come from. Angelos’ concern that Weapon XIII may have the Beta Protocol bringing the conversation to even greater heights of worry. It’s not long before they decide to head out to speak with Caduceus and Drake / Lilith. Hess heading off to look into some things on her own.
When they arrive at Drake and Lilith’s home, Darien is literally thrown for a loop after the door is opened by a young dog girl. Miyuki is treated to a different type of embarrassment when a young boy decides to tug Miyu’s shirt down to expose her chest; Miyuki proclaiming herself to be a sweet innocent milf. The team is welcomed by Drake, after he rangles his grandchildren, and they begin to catch each other up on stuff going on; Darien going straight to the point of their arrival.
Lilith (or Tomoe as she prefers) answers their questions as best as she can, though there isn’t much to relay since their family is relatively small. Finally, with Kaori in tow, they head out and decide to inspect the original Weapon Creation Facility.
X leads them to the underground facility in Paris, her access codes still working to unlock doors; the facility being unused for decades now and layered in dust and old children’s toys littering the floor. As X leads them through the corridors, her expression becomes more haunted as they come to the area where she had lived; inside they are startled at what they find...or what they don’t find. All of the equipment that was used to change the young X into a Weapon is gone. As they continue to look around the room Miyuki alerts the others to the fact that they’re not alone, someone else is in the facility.
X immediately starts off to find the intruder, the others moving to support her. As X ripples into another area she smacks into her grand-daughter Hess, almost attacking her in the near darkness before things are straightened out. Kaori and Hess talking to each other in ‘game slang’ brings a few shrugs and raised eyebrows, but Hess relays that Caduceus has had no children. With little more to be found at the facility, the team heads back to base in order to go over things again.
Amidst talks of aging serums and mercenaries it’s decided that the investigation will continue in several avenues; Josephine will work with a few to infiltrate the mercenary rings to see if Weapon XIII is trying to replace her lost soldiers and track her down, Angelos is going to work on a genetics path to rule out specifically what XIII is and is not, and Darien and Miyuki are left footing the bills once more. Before leaving, X taking Hess aside and telling her to continue working with her abilities in preparation for going against a Weapon who would likely have been stronger than X herself.
While looking through past files, Darien finds an entry from Taiga concerning an incident from almost a year before involving Yuki, Kitty and Kaori.
Session 10: A Mystery Long Ago
Taiga’s incident report relays the occurrences surrounding the night of her 20-year class reunion over a year before. How the night began with preparations between the various couples and friendly banter between them all prior to the party even beginning. As Taiga, Ouka, Kitty, Si’Chii, Suzu, Mitsu and others gather at the school; youngsters like Yuki, Cookie, Ren and Kaori group up outside and start talking as well.
It’s not long before Taiga has everyone playing truth or dare, and the antics of inebriation at a reunion become evident to all. While outside the youngsters talk while strolling in the baseball field, stopping when they see a green-haired girl, whom Cookie tries to scan…only getting extreme anger. As they watch the girl raises her hand and the school behind them begins to sink as if under tremendous weight. Almost instantly the ground itself heaves, a Quake hitting the area and starting to swallow the school itself.
The green haired girl leaves quickly, letting the quake take the blame for the damage to the school it seems; those inside working quickly to save the other reunion goers. As the quake settles, Darien, Cassandra, Miyuki and Josie arrive and start looking into things; Kitty rippling after the green-haired girl when she learns of the attack. It isn’t long before she comes to the ripple point of the attacker, following it in order to confront the girl. With little provocation the green-haired girl unleashes a gravity well inside the building, keeping Kitty from attacking her but it also keeps her from avoiding the building collapsing.
As the dust settles, and others begin to surround the buildings rubble, Kitty is pulled from the debris by Taiga and Ouka, the girl seemingly buried beneath it. Kitty however is able to provide a description of her attacker for the record, and notes that during their fall she suffered a cut across her face. They return home to write up their accounts of things, a few sharing a last drink together and wondering about the next reunion.
10-636.7.16
Special Ops Base
Having gone through the notes and statements in the file, Darien and several others start putting the pieces together; Weapon XIII has been encountered before, a blood sample retrieved from the incident being analyzed yields a bit of good news; the DNA has markers of both X and Tomoe, but nothing that stands out as Dragoon in nature. With that settled, they begin making plans for searching for the Weapon; while others start looking for a way to assist Lorelai and her rescue mission for “Kretrav”.
Session 11: The PAX Station Part One
10-636.7.21
Near Cartel Space
Lorelei and her team are waiting near the location where they found the Reality Tear previously, hoping to rescue those trapped on the other side; however the tearis barely there. Working off the theory that the tear will re-open in time, the team’s scientists split into two groups to work; one on a transceiver assembly andthe other on a shield frequency to protect against the forces from within the tear itself.
Earth – Back Alley Bar
Josephine, Megumi and the youngsters are under cover trying to get a lead on Weapon XIII, hoping that they will be picked up as mercenaries and track her. As they observe various seedy types go in and out, they note the arrival of a scarred mercenary that was at the underground base where Lorelei’s team encountered Weapon XIII. Following up on this, Hess gets in on plans for a bank robbery that Scar-Merc is setting up; declining payment in exchange for information. Josephine and Megumi dragged along while the others take their leave and start observations.
Spec. Ops Base
Darien receives a report of something that occurred two weeks ago and seems to involve Weapon XIII, heading out he’s joined by several others because they’re curious …or just nosey. Arriving in Mega City they enter a large museum and meet up with Chii and Cheryl who are looking at the empty gallery where a cultural significant artifact had been displayed. Several of those present brooding over the fact that a relic of the first PAX Station has been stolen; Angela becoming a bit emotional about her past life and admitting “I love you sis” to Cheryl.
Near Cartel Space
The tear slowly opens, and the transceiver stands ready for use; Myria delighting in pushing the buttons to start communication with the other side. As they wait to see if the communications work there’s jokes and puns galore (as well as Moby Dick references), until a signal comes back in and requests their assistance in escaping their slow-time reality; the mad scientists Myria and Tabetha coming together to work out a plan.
Earth – Random Bank in Pax City
Hess infiltrates a bank after hours in order to get the payment from the Scarred Merc. Kaori and the rest of the team working to keep them largely un-noticed and uninterrupted; while Josephine and Megumi stay with the Merc during the job to ensure her return. It’s not long before diamonds and cash start piling up, and the Merc offers up a memory card with everything that was requested. Unfortunately Josie and Megumi fail to exit the van before Peter shows up with security forces to arrest the thieves who triggered an internal server alarm from Necia hacking into the system.
Spec. Ops Base
The 1st and 3rd Gen teams have all returned from their missions, Darien reviewing the data retrieved by Kaori’s team; while Peter interrogates the Scarred Merc until certain bits of information are revealed, XIII’s plan to bring down the past. Darien seems to connect the dots before anyone else and uses a telescope to help everyone else figure it out; sitting in orbit above Mega City is the original PAX Station. Angela finally understanding the poetic nature of XIII’s objective, to drop the station on Mega City the same way as its existence had been ended previously.
Elsewhere near PAX City
Two figures drop from a temporary rift between realities…one male…one female. The male standing up and regarding the world he had once called home and defended.
Warren Carmichael has come back once again.
Session 12: The PAX Station Part Two
10-636.7.21
Near Cartel Space
The time when the tear will close is quickly approaching, Myria and Tabetha finally have things ready for attempting to drag the refugee’s ships through. Using the shield modulations on the ships from the other side and effectively linking together like that, the Ships cat-shaped paws are fired into the rift to attach on the lead vessel. Tabetha’s “Operation Super Arm Grabby Game” beginning and it takes the work of several aboard to bring the first of 31 vessels through the tear; Lorelei realizing that they need to work faster with the 18 minutes they have left.
PAX City
Warren has made his way with Arhn to Ben’s place, quickly getting clothes before absconding with Ben’s ride. While at the base Darien, Miyuki and the members of both the 1st and 3rd Gen teams are discussing the situation with the old PAX Station. Darien and the teams, along with those who have responded to his summons so far, making their way to the secondary shuttle and loading up; there are a few notable exceptions such as Hess and X. As they take off they observe a rutabaga-esque vehicle crash into Chii, Warren and Arhn climbing out of the wreckage and wondering why nobody recognized Warren’s calling-card.
PAX 1 Station
As the shuttle climbs through the atmosphere there’s good-natured banter until they temporarily stop outside weapons range of the station, Cassandra and Angela offering ideas of how to get in before proceeding further. The stations weapons activate and Darien is hard-pressed to keep them from being blown up, gunning it full throttle all the way in to a sliding stop in the hangar bay and Angela’s annoyance at “Destroying her damn hangar”. Everybody splits apart into three groups; Darien leading a number up to the Command Center, while Miyuki and Delano lead others towards Engineering, Kaori and the youngsters being left to run a patrol and assist the other teams if needed.
Team Legion consisting of Delano, Miyuki, Angela, Ethan, Cheryl, Mi’Na, Josephine and Orihime make their way down to the Engineering Quarters only to find their way stalled by dozens (if not more) of tripwired bombs. Miyuki creating a foxhole and with Angela’s guidance putting the end of it in Engineering for the others to go through. After the dust settles from a good drop out of the foxhole, and landing in crotches, they find that there is absolutely no power core in the station; but Cheryl finds buried within the station where the core should be, enough nuclear devices to leave the planet glowing green for decades if not longer.
Kaori along with Reese, Vesta, Ren and Rea make their way into the Ambassador Section of the station; looking around but not finding much other than old museum pieces of clothes and such. After a bit they come to the Data-Center to find the door trip-wired with a likely bomb on the other side of it; Ren and Vesta pop through the shadows and dismantle the explosive before opening the door, inside is a glowing computer terminal.
Team Star with Darien, Hale, Jennifer, Cassandra and Angelos get to the Command Center while noting that the Station is already on a declining orbit towards impact. Once there they realize that whatever work was done to rebuild the station wasn’t enough to restore all of the functionality; the Command Chair barely put together, buttons glued in place and only a console showing a short bit of a log from weeks prior. As they make their way from the Command Center they run into Kaori and her crew, barely learning of the information garnered from the computer in the data-center before a Foxhole forms above Darien. Women (and a couple of men) rain down on Darien, before all is revealed: the station is simply a super-sized bomb to divert their attention.
PAX City
Spec. Ops Base
Warren, Arhn, Shu, CL, Angel and Chii are sitting playing cards when there’s a radio reports of a huge fight between two women at a local hospital; one with green hair and the other with purple. Breaking into and hotwiring Cheryl’s car, Warren gets them all heading towards the hospital; with the same Chii hood ornament as usual.
Hospital
Hess and Jade are startled when the window to their room explodes in, despite her pregnancy Jade shows her experience and gets the two of them behind cover as X is tossed into the room. XIII is engaged in a heated battle against Hess, Jade, Xander, Angel, Shu and Chii (Warren sits in the car and eats lunch with Ahrn); and with Holy Arrows, Virulence, Gravity Wells, Telekinesis, Rampant Vines, Hyper-Dragoon Energy blasts, Chii bouncing around with swords and eldritch seals, and XIII’s signature ability of Bad Luck the place becomes a warzone. Hess finally gets the upper hand when she unleashes her own signature Weapon Ability, to use any ability that is used against her, against XIII who is sucked into her own gravity well.
As the gravity well dies it spits out a near dead XIII, with one completely demolished arm. Hess ends the fight by slamming her forehead against XIII’s, knocking the both of them unconscious.
Earth Orbit
Everyone piles aboard the shuttle before leaving PAX 1, the weapons systems deactivated. As they settle in Hale fires the shuttles weapons to destroy as much of the station as possible, leaving the engineering section carrying the nukes behind. Dragging that off into open space before detonating it from a safe distance.
Near Cartel Space
With time running out, Tabetha and Myria’s plan is almost complete, but they still have 2 vessels left. Despite contempt over the “Crank Game” name for the mission, they redouble their efforts and get the last vessels through the tear before it closes. When they meet with the crew of the Capital Ship, they find that they were slightly deceived; Shre’trav is aboard, but she is in a cryogenic stasis due to serious injuries.
As everyone recovers there’s a great deal of celebrating by all involved. Commendations and promotions are going around for many; but there’s darkness lurking as well as evident by Vesta finding the dead body of ther grandfather Darien outside his home.