The New Vanguard! Frostbite and Lionheart team up #1

WHAT WENT BEFORE...

The superhero group known as the Vanguard, including occasional 'help out hero' Lionheart, was plunged into a new universe when they were shrunk into a subatomic universe on the trail of aliens who planned to invade the Earth! Their efforts saw them escape, and take with them a fleet of half a dozen spaceships and... an entire planet! Now back at their 'normal' size but stranded in space somewhere, the team of Frostbite, Lionheart, Wandafar, Reflex, Terra Firma, Firebrand, Gravitas, Impulse, Traveller, Rebuff and Probability are back together, and recovering from their ordeal. In addition a defected alien pilot, Jarna, and a 'Lion Man' Chief known as Rarghan have come with them, along with thousands of alien crew members. Some are cloned, viewed as beings without rights or freedoms until they were freed by Frostbite.

In addition to those, Timmy Jones, former superhero now disembodied spirit until he inhabits a non living form, is still around. And he's not happy...

=========


Jarna looked up from a console with a flashing light on it. The crew at their stations had been remarkable, simply 'getting on with it' whilst their officers had been panicking, going crazy and generally unhelpful.

Once they'd been removed and confined to quarters, the rest of the crew, clones for the most part, simply got on with things. Now one of them turned, nodded at Jarna, then addressed Frostbite, Lionheart and Wandafar.

"Sir. Sirs... we are being hailed. It's from the flagship. It's... uhm, Timmy Jones." said the crewman.

With a glance at each other the trio indicated to put it on the screen. A 'War Cyborg' appeared on it, but it was clear it was no ordinary Cyborg soldier.

"Well now look what you've gone and done! We have no control of our ship, we are... where, exactly? Deep space? On top of that, the Cyborgs are deactivated, most of the clone crewman have mutinied and I am locked on the bridge with the officers. You know I'll find a way out of this, right?" snarled the Cyborg.

"Ach yes, just like you found a vay to defeat Blowtorch Bob?" quipped Wandafar.

The Cyborg, without expression, still looked indignant as he replied "I was a boy! And Bob had a blowtorch! My army were melted as they got close!" he screeched.

Wandafar rolled his eyes. "Your fantastical toy robot army. Made of plastic. You hed to be rescued und Bob vas let go on a technicality. That being you'd entered his home on a shaky lead and he was defending himself from your toy robots."

"It was a really hot flame. He was building an armoured suit. Or something. Maybe a weapon." muttered the Cyborg. Wandafar shook his head, cut the feed and turned to the others. "ve need to take zis buffoon viz us. If we leave him viz a civilisation zet listens to his nonsense he can get into trouble again. And cause trouble for us. Plus... vell, he's a ghost now. No body. Maybe I can help him. His mind though? Ach!"

Rarghan came onto the bridge. The huge elder Lion Man looked troubled. "I have assured my people that while the skies are different, it is still their home."

Jarna spoke up "The problem is, we can't find out which skies they are. We don't have charts that match any of the stars we can see..."

Wandafar butted in "Ve can start mapping zem viz ze ships until ve come across stuff I recognise. Zet is ze good thing. Ze bed thing is... All of ze ships are tied, molecularly, to ze planet. As are everyone not native to zis universe."

Jarna's face dropped "What...? But..."

Wandafar continued "Ve are natives of zis universe, you are not. If we try to leave part of it behind - like ze planet - viz a spaceship or even a shuttle, ze bonds zet make everything big vill break down, und everything goes back to ze small universe. Not good for us trying to find a vay home to suddenly be floating in space."

Jarna... "So you are stuck here?"

Wandafar looked to Frostbite and Lionheart "Wherever here is, unless ve can find some other vay to find Earth zen get beck to it."

He let that sink in...

OOC There'll be a time jump so to speak, as the story continues. Feel free to comment/add...

Frostbite looked around as he took in the full weight of what they had to say. "Friends today is not the day we imagined it to be this side of victory. But it is a victory, now as with any battle comes the mop up. Although I don't imagine, as does any victor, that what we have is what we imagined victory to look like. But it is an opportunity and one we should be grateful for. After all, we've stopped a diabolical empire, saved countless lives and a doomed planet to have a new start. We've got technology and we've got brains, and that might be the possibilities that kick starts us into something. I suggest for the time being we start making plans, such as we can, pooling talent, resources, guard duty and rosts."

As he spoke Frostbite felt surer of what they could do, and purpose always put resolve back into people. If they felt something was being done and that would lead to a better place than where they found themselves, people would work with a will.

"Jarna, we are going to need you to help the clones, get organised, those who show talent promote over a squad of 10, the best of those over a squad of a hundred and so on. Wandafar lets see if there are any scientist clones onboard we can use to help us and what equipment we can use to get data to work out what we can. Lionheart I'll need you to help take down Timmy, your Psi abilities would be best to trap him. Perhaps work with Wandafar and see if we can disable that body of his and keep His mind locked in. What about those control collars he used on our team. Something like that might stop him getting out of that body?

Ok, folks, let's get to it, the sooner we get on with finding out where we are, what we can do and how we can do it, the better we'll all sleep this side of a new universe."

Sj

Jarna took in Frostbites words, then grinned, stood to attention and saluted!

"Aye aye sir! That sounds like a plan!" she turned with a big beaming smile and started barking orders to Clone crewmen to start the process of rounding people up.

Wandafar chuckled. "Vell, I'll get to it straight avay. Zer must be a vay out of zis pickle."

Lionheart, Rahrghan, Steph/Reflex and several of the other barely recovered team members (although they were shaky on their feet) made to make a start on it. It would involve...

"Uhm, sir?" said a crewman. "Sorry to interrupt. It's from the other ship. The mother ship. It's Timmy Jones. He says he surrenders."

Wandafar looked up. "Heh. Vell, zet scumbeg probably has something up his sleeve but ze vorst he ken do is take over vun of zem cyborgs and you two vill clobber him in no time. Maybe he has somesing to say zet vill be vorth listening to."

The crewman looked to Frostbite. "How should I respond sir?"

Admin wrote:The crewman looked to Frostbite. "How should I respond sir?"

Frostbite looked between his teammates, looking for any clue from Lionheart. He knew his heightened senses seemed to rise to some sort of premonition level. However this was clearly dangerous, so against the backdrop of the threat, would anything in particular 'ring out'? Probably not until they got him aboard the ship.

"Jones is tricky, he might have rigged the body to blow up, or infect the computer with some kind of code..." He said knowing only too well how often he had let Frostbot loose to do much the same thing. "Jones is desperate, but he has shown an uncanny knack for leadership - albeit twisted and evil. We can't afford to take chances, especially as we are at such a critical juncture. Wandafar, what do you think? Can we put him on ice or something? I want to neutralise him, and though I find it galling to say this, without treating him inhumanly! I just can't accept he would do this without some spiteful scheme to try and gain the upper hand."

Lionheart listened quietly, unsure what to say as it was clear Frostbite had already got some measure of the man, mad, desperate and totally deep-sixed as he was in whatever form of insanity now pushed aside the once decent hero he might have been. Sad, and a warning to them all.

Lionheart chipped in, "I'm happy to go over, bring him back, perhaps tether him to a rope and tow him of the port bow if he gives me the slightest provocation to do so? Or perhaps we could just leave him on the planet, I am sure Rahrghan's people could keep him entertained and with no plastic bodies to occupy he might have time to reconsider, or at least be harmless."

Frostbite grinned rather impishly, knowing his friend was enjoying ways to torment Timmy, with threats that might quale his ambitious desperation to cause trouble.

Frostbite turned to Wandafar, "What do you estimate old friend?"

OOC:Clearly we need to do something with Jones, however, Frostbite would be loath to bring him aboard, if we can put him on ice, or confine him in such a way that he could not overcome our failsafe, after all, who knows what devious little countermeasures he might have put in place.

Sj

"Vell, maybe he hez figured out that he's stuck here." said Wandafar.

"His plen has failed. His 'alien overlords' who gave him his own private army to conquer another universe must by now realise zet despite his special abilities, there are others..." and he looked at Frostbite, Lionheart and those of Frostbites team who were present "Thet ken und vill stop him. Losing Saladins body vas ze final straw I sink. In fect, I predict zet ze crew over zer hez ..."

"Uhm Sirs? Sorry to interrupt..." said a crewman at a bridge console. "But we're being hailed again. By the other ship again, but this person says they have taken command of the ship and blockaded Timmy Jones in a holding area. They are willing to discuss terms..."

Jarna looked over. "How did you...?"

Wandafar shrugged, checking his nails and sniffing. "Meh. Ven you hef a super brain it is easy to follow ze logical course of some sing to its conclusion. Can't vin ze blummin lottery zo."

He turned to Frostbite and Lionheart. "So I say he is surrendering. Can you trust him?" he pursed his lips, bobbing his head from side to side as he considered. "Vell, he used to be a hero. He was ok at zet, though no vun took him seriously. I sink ze Timmy Jones bathrobe und smelling salts ver a step too far on ze licensed products list to be honest. He tried being a bed guy... who knows?"

He looked at Frostbite. "If you send ze muscle over..." he nodded at Lionheart "He may feel cowed und not be cooperative. However, if you go...?"

"You are a leader. I hef known many leaders, some good, some bad, und you are a good von. Go. Talk to him. In ze meantime... I need to figure out a vay to get us home without being dregged back to ze microverse. If we use ANYTHING zet is a native of ze little place, it will go a certain distance from ze other bits zen be dragged back into ze little zone."

"So I'm stuck either here, or in my universe?" asked Jarna. "I want to come with you!"

Wandafar narrowed his eyes, holding his chin. "I'll sink on zet."

Reflex (Steph) spoke up "Getting home sounds like a great plan..." and she turned to look at the viewscreen and the billions of pinpoints of light out there. "Just ... erm... where is it?"

The question hung in the air...

Admin wrote:[b]He looked at Frostbite. "If you send ze muscle over..." he nodded at Lionheart "He may feel cowed und not be cooperative. However, if you go...?"

"You are a leader. I hef known many leaders, some good, some bad, und you are a good von. Go. Talk to him. In ze meantime... I need to figure out a vay to get us home without being dregged back to ze microverse. If we use ANYTHING zet is a native of ze little place, it will go a certain distance from ze other bits zen be dragged back into ze little zone."


The question hung in the air...

Frostbite didn't allow himself the opportunity to sigh, he like the others felt the collective wind drop from their sails, and new that morale was beginning to cool as adrenalin gave way to shock, grief and disappointment. "Friends we have not come this far to let a little thing like being lost, stop us finding our way home..." As he said the last part he looked around knowing for something of them this was to become their home if they could just figure out a way to cut their ties to the microverse and then traverse the distance back to that little blue ball they called home.

"You've all done amazingly well, given the duress and challenges we've faced. I can't promise that more won't be expected of you, that is the nature of what we do. We are not only at the edge of what we know but often it's because of our abilities, our connections, our lives spinning out of the ordinary that we find ourselves on the very edge of what everyone knows. Doing what we do, to defend home, humanity and one another. Wandafar needs your help, as do I, but so do we all - we're stronger together, and we will get through this, but we'll get through this together, pooling our resources, sharing our strengths and covering our weaknesses. Its what the Vanguard does, and continues to do, which is why even against the odds seem to pull through. Friends the last chapter hasn't been written yet, so don't close the book 'till we're done. Meanwhile, I believe we've got work to do, and unless you're scheduled for a break, we'd best jump to it and that's an order."

Frostbite nodded to Lionheart and Wandafar knowing that he had to now leave them to go handle the transfer of Jones, to their ship. He added "I still don't trust this situation, keep an eye out for anything unusual, still could be a trap!"

And with that, Frostbite left the bridge to make his way to a shuttle bay to cross to the other ship.

Sj

Jarna personally piloted a shuttle over to the larger ship.

She turned to Frostbite as they closed in on in. "Any sign of trouble you holler!" she said as she passed a com-link over.

The docking bay was lined with jump suited workers. Clones, in other words. Some held weapons, others held wrenches, even pieces of metal to use as clubs, but all stood to their best impression of being at attention.

Their leader, another clone, looking like the others but with an extra stripe on his arm, stood waiting for the shuttle hatch to open and saluted Frostbite as he walked down it. "Sir." Frostbot translated inside Frostbites head "The ship is yours. We have captured vital systems and sealed off the areas where resistance amongst the officers still holds out. With the War Cyborgs out of commission it was relatively easy to seize control even though we are talking thousands of officers. There are more than three times as many of us, and we don't feel like taking their orders any more!"

The gathered workers, around fifty of them as an honour guard, cheered and whooped but snapped back to attention with a look from the leader. "I... took the liberty of giving myself a name based on the engineering section I headed up. I am Razek 259, or Razek if that will do. I've been voted to represent the workers, but this is all new to me. We stand ready to do your bidding, supreme commander... erm... blue man."

Frostbot spoke up 'I have managed to intreface with the systems of the ship. There are dozens of areas locked off and officers are holed up in them with weapons and supplies. They are not likely to hand the ship over without a fight. So long as the War Cyborgs are not reactivated they are outnumbered by the clone crew.'

"There is the other matter of the one War Cyborg which has not been reactivated. It is different to the others, and has not been hostile. It also talks different, and says it wants to speak to the leader of the 'heroes' to surrender, which I guess is you. It's under armed guard - though we're not sure if the sidearms actually hurt it - and waiting for you in the next docking bay. It can be flushed into space at your command sir."

=========

Back on the Vanguards other (smaller) ship...

"Lionheart, ve hef ze big problems as you know. ANYTHING ve use from zis fleet or ze planet below is no good to us beyond a certain range. It, und everything else, vill be snepped beck to ze little verse if even ze smallest part goes too far from another. I hef verked all zis out in my head und this means ve need to treck down all ze debris. Just ze slightest part of ze little stuff now big drifting too far avay vill eventually cause ze whole lot to shrink down again... leaving us floating in space viz nothing around us. Zis vud be a bed thing, even for you, eventually. You can however, survive in space for a long period of time as far as I can tell. So I suggest you go on garbage detail." Wandafar said, matter of fact. "Even at your great speed, it vill take hours, days even, to track down all ze bits of ship out there. If you miss just von..."

He let the statement hang.

"In ze meantime, I am going to transmit a distress beacon viz all ze ships, coordinating to strengthen and enhance ze signal. My plen is to attract a space going vessel from our own universe to come und pick us up, und give us a lift. yes, it's a creppy plen, but unless someone hez a better vun, ve are pretty much snookered. Ze downsides to zet are zet ve may attract ze wrong kind of company. Ve just aren't lucky enough to attract ze attention of some nice guys."

He looked at the depths of space on the large viewscreen/wall. "Assuming there is ANYBODY out here et all..."

Admin wrote:Jarna personally piloted a shuttle over to the larger ship.

She turned to Frostbite as they closed in on in. "Any sign of trouble you holler!" she said as she passed a com-link over."

Frostbite nodded, he need not worry on that front, he felt the team had his back if needed. What concerned him more was why Jones felt so able to surrender. But he wouldn't find out till he met him halfway. Confronting his nemesis who seemed drunk with power.

Admin wrote:"There is the other matter of the one War Cyborg which has not been reactivated. It is different to the others, and has not been hostile. It also talks different, and says it wants to speak to the leader of the 'heroes' to surrender, which I guess is you. It's under armed guard - though we're not sure if the sidearms actually hurt it - and waiting for you in the next docking bay. It can be flushed into space at your command sir.""

Frostbite nodded appreciatively to Razek and then the other members of his informal cohort, adding,"Friends we thank you for your assistance and what we can only hope might yet be a better future than what you would off otherwise had as foot soldiers in a destructive war machine. I am grateful to you all, but though we've won a decisive battle, whilst we face opposition and a united front still alludes us, we must remain vigilant and wary of the enemies. They are not officers for no reason. Please be mindful to report anything you find to Razek and if need be to me or Jarna here." Frostbite nodded to his companion.

With a smart look to them all, he indicated for Razek to lead on. Mentally he warned Frostbot to be alert, since this could yet be a trap.

=========

Back on the Vanguards other (smaller) ship...

He looked at the depths of space on the large viewscreen/wall. "Assuming there is ANYBODY out here et all..."[/quote]

Lionheart didn't look best pleased with the notion of being a one-man superpowered rubbish cleaning team. Still the desperate situation they still faced, a situation partly brought about buy him recombination with Saladin did owe itself to himself. Sucking up whatever choice retort he was about to offer, he sped off to the nearest airlock making sure that he gathered a coms system and whatever poor dupe had been tasked with helping him track floating debris.

Wandafar's words echoed in his mind, so far when it came to deep space travel if the microverse was anything to go by, space was black, sinister and darn unfriendly. After making sure he was ready, Lionheart got to it with a will, mentally taking note not to allow Saladin to harangue him whilst accompanied by the deafening silence of space.

Sj

The Cyborg looked up.

It was indeed human like, both in mannerisms and expression.

"I wondered who they'd send." it said as it stood and watched the door hiss behind Frostbite.

"I underestimated you. All of you. Story of my life." it said as it dropped to its backside on the floor again. "No good as a hero, rubbish as a villain." A strange hiss escaped the cyborg and Frostbite realised it was a sigh.

Frostbot spoke up inside Frostbites' head 'With a touch I can shut down his weapon systems.'

"It wasn't always this way. I was Timmy Jones! The darling of the media! Superhero in training, sidekick, the one who would unexpectedly save the day, thanks to my 'fantastical miniature robot army'. I had a tv show on kids primetime telly! Licensing deals! My picture on magazines, heck even my own comic strip! All before I was 12 years old! I stopped crime, people cheered for me..." he moaned.

"It all went wrong."

"Puberty happened. All of a sudden I was awkward, spotty, my hair was bad... I wasn't cool any more. That affected my confidence massively. They were going to make a movie about me... The actor they chose was older than me... but prettier. They were going to make me a 'special consultant'... Even that was taken away when they decided to CGI my toy army rather than having me control them for the big screen. It didn't even look like my army. And the story was... They changed my origin... The actress who played the girlfriend was nice... but she wouldn't talk to me on set. She didn't even know who I was!"

"They canned it halfway through production."

"My time had passed, who cared about toy soldiers who moved when people flew through the sky and punched holes in walls?"

"I went back to what I knew. Battled bad guys, fought crime. It wasn't the same though. People with guns were no bother at first, but my confidence was shot. A minor league bad guy... Bare Knuckle Bob I think his name was, more or less mashed my toy army to bits and gave me a pounding. I had to be saved by bystanders. When I recovered, I was taken hostage after some thugs got hold of heat guns and melted my army after I went after them. 'Don't worry kid' they said at superhero get togethers. 'Everyone has a bad day. Get back in the saddle.' Yeah. Before the bruises had faded I got both arms broken by some C grade bad guys I'd never heard of. I was in hospital for months after that beating."

"I tried. I really did, but the world had moved on. It was less innocent, harsher, more punishing. I was an embarrassment to the new superheroes on the scene. 'Timmy Jones the teenage hostage with the plastic toys' I heard one laugh. He didn't even know who I was and I was stood near him!"

"So I retired. After a while I started doing kids parties, anything to pay the bills. I was naive and my manager swiped most of my earnings after I discovered I'd signed up to deals as a kid that handed over all the profits after his fees. As an orphan I never had anyone to watch for me. I was a kid. I loved what I did, being a hero, helping people, being on the telly."

"That was in the past."

"Then someone killed me."

"I don't even know why. I was a broken down middle aged nobody with a house full of toys. If someone wanted to make a name they'd have to Google me to see who I was."

"But I didn't die. I lived on. Then I was approached by agents from the empire, and I gave up what I knew. The location of superhero bases, secret identities, anything really. I was going to pay them back. In spades. I'd show them for laughing at me!"

"Then I found these things, and all of a sudden I was in charge! Jumping from Cyborg to Cyborg, controlling armies of them...Suddenly they had to listen to ME! So I came up with a plan. I would rule, and then NO ONE would laugh!"

"I failed, again. I ran into people smarter, faster, stronger, more powerful. These War Cyborgs are nothing to you lot. I failed as a hero. I failed as a bad guy."

"So where does that leave me? An immortal spirit of a dead failed once superhero who can bring non living stuff to life. I'm going to watch the universe get old around me and know that I'm going to be an annoyance, a bit part player. I can't even have a normal life. I tried that. I was murdered. People wouldn't even let me live in peace after they'd watched my fall from grace. I had my day inn the sun. It was brief, it was fun. Then it turned dark, painful and inevitable. And here I am."

He stood, offering thick robotic wrists in front of him. It was strange, seeing a seven and a half foot tall cyborg with shoulders slumped, head bowed, arms offered in surrender. As if any manacles would get round those wrists!

"Do what you will. I'm done." he grumbled.

Lionheart found the large pieces easily.

The smaller bits were much trickier. Even at his speed the size of space was vast, and the drift had taken some parts quite a distance away.

That drove the size of the problem home. If just one... a tiny fragment... drifted far enough away from the fleet or the planet then the whole lot would vanish as it shrunk back into the microverse!

That would kill most of his friends instantly, and the rest of them a short time later. He would have hours, then he'd die in the cold vacuum of space too.

Lionheart redoubled his efforts.

Admin wrote:The Cyborg looked up.He stood, offering thick robotic wrists in front of him. It was strange, seeing a seven and a half foot tall cyborg with shoulders slumped, head bowed, arms offered in surrender. As if any manacles would get round those wrists!

"Do what you will. I'm done." he grumbled.

Frostbite appreciated that Frostbot could deactivate his weapons and controls, Jones might have a sad story to tell. But something didn't ring true in all this. Perhaps the suffering had pushed Jones off the deep end, but a defeat wouldn't put him down this quick. A defeat surely couldn't change someone who'd succumbed to the worst they could imagine without any sense of conscience, then at their defeat suddenly wake up to the realisation that they'd been a tiny bit bad. Not so far as Frostbite had ever seen in any case.

He didn't trust Jones any further than he could throw him in his hulking cybernetic form. But standing around considering his options, was not going to get the job done either.

Moving cautiously but with confidence, Frostbite moved to shackle the Cyborg taking the opportunity to let Frostbot do his thing as well.

"I'm truly sorry to hear about how you've suffered so terribly, and I aim to make sure that whatever comes your way is humane, certainly more so than you'd have permitted to the many you've already killed, or would have killed had we not stopped you. Its such a shame, you had such potential, what you needed were people whom you could work with. I've come to see that with our team, our strength comes not by our individual efforts, nor by the domination of a single will, but by co-operation and mutual respect. It's such a shame you learned that the hard way, Jones. You could have been great, now that time may have passed you by."

OOC: assuming all goes to plan

Having proceeded to snap on the restraints Frostbite fiddled with them long enough to 'retrieve' Frostbot, before stepping back and allowing Jones to leave the bay toward the shuttle.

OOC:As regards to Lionheart, not much I can do save keep going, for the time being. Sounds like the most cumbersome of problems with a frustrating necessity to not miss a single debris.

Sj

Frostbot made to deactivate the weapons...

'They are not activated, nor have they been activated since Jones inhabited this form. His however, is a devious and cunning mind. If he is 'stringing you along' and intends to use his weapons, he will be unpleasantly surprised.' said Frostbot inside Frostbites' mind.

With large manacles applied, Jones stood and meekly walked forwards at Frostbites' order towards the exit and the waiting shuttle where Jarna stood at the shuttles loading bay and the lowered ramp door.

She held a large pulse rifle and made no secret of aiming it at the Cyborg.

"I made sure this was powerful enough to punch a hole in the robots, Jones. Don't make me use it!" she declared.

Timmy looked at the purple skinned woman and paused. Then he shrugged. "All you can do is smash this body to smithereens. You can't kill me. No one can. It's made me understand the futility of my existence. If you can't die, what's the point of living at all? I have all the time in the universe, I'll outlive you, all of you. I didn't ask to be this way, but without the pressure of time weighing on you, nothing seems to... well... matter anymore. As soon as I realised that... well, I decided my plans, everything I wanted to achieve, was ultimately futile. If I ever achieved my aim, my existence would be redundant. Then I questioned what I wanted, and why..."

Jarna looked to Frostbite. "What IS he waffling about?" she queried as the slump shouldered cyborg shuffled past her into the shuttle.

Razek stepped up. "What do we do about the officers? One of the crew suggested we pump the areas with Clyorine gas. The problem then would be how to hose what was left from the decks and walls..."

==========

Lionheart continued to fly through space, scooping up fragments, taking aim, then throwing them back towards the distant planet.

There the parts would enter an orbit which would eventually decay but he'd have time to gather them up and ensure they caused no harm when they made planetfall. The little stuff would burn up. the bigger stuff, Lionheart could gather into one pile and throw into the hold of one of the ships.

He looked about. Aside from the sun there was nothing of interest in this solar system.

OOC Lionheart will be busy for days with this. He's wrong about that last thought though...

Admin wrote:Jarna looked to Frostbite. "What IS he waffling about?" she queried as the slump shouldered cyborg shuffled past her into the shuttle.

Razek stepped up. "What do we do about the officers? One of the crew suggested we pump the areas with Clyorine gas. The problem then would be how to hose what was left from the decks and walls..."

Frostbite looked quizzically at Jones for a moment his mind considering what to do before shrugging and turning to the 'cyborg',

"Jones you are wrong you know?" He waited till the Cyborg indicated that he was giving Frostbite his attention. Moving a bit closer so as to gain his full attention Frostbite continued.

"You have sought to exercise power, to have influence, and win approval and found even if you had these things nothing is of lasting value, because you only have to start over again. You also assume that this universe will carry on as its sole purpose is to run down like some great clockwork toy. True from our more time-bound perspective you might say we are grasping at straws, trying to make the meaningless less painful or pointless. But I think you are wrong, life is good because of what happens each day. Each day we call the present, it's a gift.

Lives we change today go on to have lasting repercussion into the future. Changes we make now, good things we do, to strengthen and help society mend its ways and think beyond itself make each day more worthwhile than the last. For instance, you've got a whole raft of cloned army officers, whose sole purpose is to stay loyal to you. But what if you were able to tell them that their primary assignment has now changed? Their prime directive is not to wage war, but to have a war on what destroys rather than what builds. Since there is little we can do to punish you, more inconvenience or annoy you, maybe we can point you in a better direction than the futility you see opening up before you. One step today, it won't change what you've done. Nothing can bring back those whom you've harmed. Only one man can do that, and we'll all face Him one day. And that is a discussion for another time. However, right now, you have the power to make a difference here and to begin to see how life on the other side a side you once craved, can be different. What do you think? I'm not over keen on the messy alternative."

Frostbite waited for Jones to respond, figuring the chance to try and reason with him ought to be worth a shot. He wasn't sure if the man could be reasoned with, even if he was human without the limitations of a body and the idea of a conscience or something. However, he wasn't going to take a chance if he could turn this painlessly around. Besides the more people they had to help the better.

==========

Admin wrote:Lionheart continued to fly through space, scooping up fragments, taking aim, then throwing them back towards the distant planet.

OOC Lionheart will be busy for days with this. He's wrong about that last thought though...[/color]

Lionheart turned over in his mind the options before them. He was no slouch when it came to science but even for him, the situation they'd gone into was way over his head. Wandafar was good, but he wondered what they could do to stabilise the whole field. He knew Frostbite knew something of different dimensions since how else could he phase, partially dematerialise from this world and pass through it ghost-like. He speculated what if something in his ability could be made to 'slip' away from whatever threatened to tear back the microverse population? Something to think about when he felt ready to take a break, grab some air, not that he needed it when he checked in. He was sure Wandafar might have thought of it. The diminutive genius might be annoying, deliberately Lionheart chooses to believe, no one could actually be that annoying for real, to cover some other factor. Maybe he was really quite humble and hated to make others feel stupid so played up the stupid on his own part. Who knew, Lionheart thought of probing his mind and then with an involuntary shudder, went back to the work. There was no way he was going to go inside that head for all the bear in Belgium.

Sj

Jones paused, the Cyborg stopping to look at Frostbite.

It looked down at the manacles, flexed great arms and shattered them!

"I could have done that at any time since these were put on. I've 'upped' this Cyborgs power to critical levels. I expected you to fight. I hoped you would. I hoped that it might... I was fooling myself. I know what I've done wrong. You might say I had justification. I feel... I feel rage, remembering my senseless death. It's guided me since and I see that now. Every moment I'm awake, I have to bite down the fury. The anger. Now I see my life has been wasted since I died. I planned to take revenge on the world, to make them pay." he said.

Then he looked at Frostbite again. "Let me address the crew."

He walked over to a panel, pressed several controls and a hand microphone popped out.

Jarna moved closer to Frostbite and whispered "We can't trust him! Can we?"

"Crew! This is Timmy Jones. All crew stand down. That is not an order, it is a request. The fight, the war is over. You are in a different universe. To get you home we need to work together. I have surrendered to Frostbite and his friends. Whatever they require of me, I will do. What has gone before can't be undone, but maybe... just maybe... we can atone. Set the scales right. From bad to good. Maybe when that is done, all of you, and perhaps me, can choose a new life path without guilt. The cloned crew can possibly live a life of freedom, to choose where they live and how. The officers should report to their stations and abandon their weapons. To get home, you work together, or you die in this universe, light years from anywhere."

Jarna rolled her eyes. "Oh come on! They aren't going to..."

One of the crew came over. "Reports coming in that the officers have opened their barricaded areas and surrendered their weapons!"

Timmy turned to Frostbite. "What else would you have me do?"

=========

Lionheart gathered more and more debris together into a ball, crushing it together with staggering superhuman strength.

In the darkness, he had to wait until the bits caught the light of the distant sun. This... he decided... was not going to be a quick job...

OOC There's going to be a sizeable time jump coming up. Once you're in place, I'll let you know what happens...

Admin wrote:Jones paused, the Cyborg stopping to look at Frostbite.

Timmy turned to Frostbite. "What else would you have me do?"

Frostbite nodded toward Jones before saying aloud, "My dad was a Baptist Minister, he used to say, 'forgiveness is given, but trust is earned!' No, we can't trust him, not yet. But maybe things don't always have to end in a fight."
=========

Admin wrote:Lionheart gathered more and more debris together into a ball, crushing it together with staggering superhuman strength.

In the darkness, he had to wait until the bits caught the light of the distant sun. This... he decided... was not going to be a quick job...

OOC There's going to be a sizeable time jump coming up. Once you're in place, I'll let you know what happens...

Lionheart would have given a deep sigh, except that wouldn't be comfortable out here. He waited whilst he got the glimpse he needed, taking the time to admire the staggering beauty of space. So vast, silent and cold...and yet with its emptiness what remained, what shone, glinted, sparkled in the vast edge of night...was something unexpected. Being a clone what did he need for aesthetics, but something out here moved him within. It was just beautiful, and yet all too quickly another glint caught his eye and he was off again, circling around keeping the sun in his field of view so as to catch what he could as he swept in on that which drew his attention.

There were some advantages to being out here alone he conceded...

Sj

Jones the Cyborg shrugged. "You are right of course. I let my rage blind me to who I used to be. To get back there I need to demonstrate by actions not just words."

Jarna shook her head. "I don't trust you as far as I can throw you Jones! Keep moving bucket head, there's a cell with your name on it!"

Frostbite watched as Jarna and a dozen guards escorted the Cyborg away and turned to a waiting crewman.

"Sir, the uh, small person with the strange voice says he needs to speak to you." he offered a headset.

"Vell, colour me pink und call me a poodle. I hef been messing around viz ze sensor arrays on zis fleet und fired off signals in all directions und zere is somesing... strange. Yes, zet is ze vord I vud use. It's in ze neighbouring system to zis.Ve cannot fly zere without a space craft zet is not of zis fleet. However... I hef a plen. At ze outer edges of zis solar system zere are some asteroids. Ve might... I say might... be able to mine zem for metals und stuff to craft into a space ship. Ve can use zese ships tooling and engineering but not materials from zem. Yes, zis is going to be chuffin tricky." he muttered. "Ze strange sing is a very weak signal. Alien, to us, but definitely artificial."

Frostbite considered. Ice that he crafted was not part of the fleet and connected to the physics that would drag them all back into microverse and leave him and the Vanguard floating in space. A space craft made of ice should last if flown away from heat sources. Of course, Frostbite himself couldn't fly it at anything approaching interstellar speeds. But Lionheart might. Or at the very least, at a speed much faster than Frostbites.

Or he could go with Wandafars' plan and send Lionheart out to investigate the asteroids, though that would mean breaking off from the gathering of bits. Was time of the essence, or was the gathering of debris the main priority?

Admin wrote: Frostbite considered. Ice that he crafted was not part of the fleet and connected to the physics that would drag them all back into microverse and leave him and the Vanguard floating in space. A spacecraft made of ice should last if flown away from heat sources. Of course, Frostbite himself couldn't fly it at anything approaching interstellar speeds. But Lionheart might. Or at the very least, at a speed much faster than Frostbites.

Or he could go with Wandafars' plan and send Lionheart out to investigate the asteroids, though that would mean breaking off from the gathering of bits. Was time of the essence, or was the gathering of debris the main priority?

Frostbite outlined his alternative plan, he needed far more than to offer up a suggestion that may well prove to be unworkable. But if a makeshift ship constructed in the freezing cold of space, could survive being punted as much as an asteroid, but with the advantage of speed and readily available materials that had to be good. The one downside apart from anything else was that it would have nothing in the way of 'mod-cons'. Basic it would be nothing more than a speeding hunk of ice, which would probably take a few light years to get to top speed, and then a few more to slow it down, in the frictionless environment of space. But in the time it would take for Lionheart to fly out to an asteroid, get a suitable one, get back, mine and refine enough ore to smelt and build a ship...the ice ship would already be there and back again.

It had to be worth a try, even if they settled on getting an asteroid at the other end...better still if they found a ship or help...

Frostbite cut to the chase and offered up the one line version of his thoughts as his mind grappled with the pro's and cons, in as much as he understood them and waited for Wandafar to laugh him off the com system, or see if his cockamamie plan had merit.

OOC: Crazy daft it might be, but getting an ice bullet ship to where we're going might work - the only problems I can see, apart from no logistics, or coms is that we'd also be navigating by little but the stars. Once we took off...well its a one-shot deal. Space is big. But if Wandafar thinks he can make it work then I think we ought to try the ice ship.

Sj

Wandafar considered. "In theory it might be possible, but even Lionheart runs out of air in a few hours. How long? We don't know. How fast does he fly? We don't know that either. He can see a long vay. How far? Ve don't know. Zet is ze problem viz za plen. Imagine zis..."

"Ze pair of you zoom off in an ice cube und get so far zen need to come beck for air und food und for a poo und stuff." Wandafar explained, matter of fact.

Jarna rolled her eyes and made to speak, but a glance from Wandafar held her tongue. "So I suggest ve vind out. Ve hef ze range of a certain distance. Let me cook something up. It vill measure Lionhearts speed und he can pop beck into ze ship for a gulp of air und... vell, other stuff."

"Ven ve know zet, zen ve need to figure out vot else he can do. Yes, yes, punch holes in battleships, lift a supertanker und stuff. Not so useful in zis current situation."

"So, I suggest zis. Ve measure first how far and fest, ZEN ve figure out a plen. Ok?"

Probability (Jeremy Cotton), one of the members of Frostbites fledgling team, spoke up. "Ummm, I don't know how, but maybe my power could help."

Wandafar raised an eyebrow. "Your power is... hard to quantify. I don't sink ve can rely on it but... It's very nature suggests it might save all our bacons. I'll bear it in mind."

Frostbot spoke in Frostbites mind 'Though you may not like the suggestion, Timmy Jones is essentially an immortal embodied spirit. If we can find some kind of artificial materials for him to inhabit, he could in theory be the ultimate immortal astronaut, requiring neither food, air, or any other human requirements. Unfortunately his mental state suggests he not be left alone for any length of time.'

Frostbite considered the words. It was true they had no idea of Lionhearts limits. He'd changed when he'd fused with Saladin, into an 'ultimate' version of a genetically modified superman from the future. Whilst he was smart, his mental capacity had been expanded to become almost the ultimate evolution of the human mind, with mental powers almost beyond description!

Even so. Space was vast. Could even Lionheart survive out there long enough to get what they needed, or would they be stuck out here for...

Well.

He looked about. Forever?

=========

Using telescopic vision to find the floating bits and pieces in the void, Lionheart considered that it was perhaps time to get back and get a gulp of air.

He had no idea how long his current supply would last. On top of that, he had no idea just how far he'd gone! Scanning the void, he intensified his vision... and found the planet, with the orbiting fleet. How far was it away? He zoomed in his vision more, as far as it would go. The ships were still dots. Thank goodness the planet was bigger!

With a telekinetically trapped mass of debris and metal in tow, he looked about, making sure he'd not left anything, then set off back.

=========

It watched the humanoid leave, with a mass of metal balled up following it with obedience.

Turning away from the shimmering mirror which turned back into water, it spoke to its fellows, all dressed as it was in hooded cloaks hiding their features.

(OOC Translated) "We have found something of interest. A being of power. I can almost taste it. Prepare the elite!"

Admin wrote:Frostbite considered the words. It was true they had no idea of Lionheart's limits. He'd changed when he'd fused with Saladin, into an 'ultimate' version of a genetically modified superman from the future. Whilst he was smart, his mental capacity had been expanded to become almost the ultimate evolution of the human mind, with mental powers almost beyond description!

Even so. Space was vast. Could even Lionheart survive out there long enough to get what they needed, or would they be stuck out here for...

Well.

He looked about. Forever?

Frostbite looked at the slightly crestfallen Probability and nodded in understand holding a hand to suggest that the idea wasn't one to let go of but to hold his piece for now.

Though not ready to abandon any idea, the need to find out more about Lionheart's actual power was of greatest need. Especially within ascertaining it they'd have no idea whether getting an asteroid and bringing it back to mine, refine etc, or take an 'ice ship' would end up being a fruitless exercise.

"Ok you're right about Lionheart, I don't think he even knows how fast, or how far. However, I am sure he'd appreciate the opportunity to find out. Meanwhile, let's make sure we continue to monitor signals, we might be picked up by a ship passing by. It might be a long shot but a plant and sizeable armada just showed up out of nowhere, so someone might take an interest."

OOC:Ok let's go with testing phase and see what we can do, I'm not ruling out Jones, but don't want to use him unless its a last chance for now - too unstable 'me thinks!' Is there anything we can get the rest of the team working on, Frostbite would rather people be busy than have time to dwell and start to let things get on top of them or send them space crazy or something, like checking manufacturing, blueprints, what materials we might need and how we can smelt them into workable parts etc. This is like scrap heap challenge, only without the scrap heap ;-)

Sj

"Ze problem ve hef, right now, is zet anysing ve make can only be used within a certain radius around ze fleet und ze plenit zen... POOF! ve are all tiny und up ze creek again. Ze only sing is... vot heppens to Lionheart again? Does he split vunce more unto ze two people?" pondered Wandafar as the group walked towards the airlock to the docking bay.

Inside, Lionheart stood as it cycled. It had taken a while to get back, but thanks to his abilities he was none the worse for wear after his deep space trip. The docking bay looked smaller thanks to the fact it was full of space trash. Twisted metal and plastic from the spaceships that had crashed into each other.

"Aha." said Wandafar as Lionheart stepped into the corridor. "Here is ze plen moggy heart. Ve are going to rig you up viz some equipment und you are going to do some testing. Mostly boring stuff like flying around in a big circle around ze fleet und ze plenit, until you get dizzy und ve get bored. Zen ve vill check other stuff. Get your limits. You, I feel, are ze key to getting us out of zis pickle."

==========

Jarna held a computer tablet in her hands as she stepped up to Frostbite.

"Ok, we're getting the repairs underway for all of the ships. The big one is... impressive. It has smelting plants and manufacturing facilities und ve can, given time, get all zis stuff working like it should again. Ugh, I've been hanging around Wandafar too long!" she cried, hand on forehead in disbelief!

"Anyway, I'm sorting out the rosters and getting supply estimates. At a guess, we can stay in space for almost a year based on the supplies on the ships alone. We can also venture down to the planet and, dangerous fauna and flora permitting, we can gather more things to eat."

"There's something else. I want to come with you. Wandafar needs to find a way to make this possible!"

Frostbite considered. Jarna was a purple skinned woman in a brand new universe but on Earth she'd draw only passing glances when in the company of some of the more outlandish supers! Earth. Would they ever get back?

Steph (Reflex) gave her report. "We're getting the team members back to full health. Their mental states may take more time. I suggest we take their minds off the situation by getting them training. Training in their powers, as a team... We can set up war cyborgs in a 'danger room' of sorts where they get progressively tougher and more numerous."

That would certainly keep them busy for days, weeks even...

OOC Time jump is coming up. There's no easy or fast fix to this crazy problem, but as usual with these sort of things (Superhero games) something (for better or worse) is coming along...

Admin wrote:"There's something else. I want to come with you. Wandafar needs to find a way to make this possible!"

Frostbite looked in Lionheart's direction, thinking that in a world of superhuman beings, aliens, weird shadow creatures, insects, what is one purple-skinned woman. Besides which, with the finding and rescuing of his 'team' more like waifs and strays, he felt that they'd become more like a family. And on the basis that they needed one another, he could understand Jarna' wanting to come along.

"Well we both know there are a lot of if's, however in principle I don't see why not. We are a pretty odd bunch, so you would fit right in."

He said with half a smile.

Admin wrote:
Steph (Reflex) [/b]gave her report. "We're getting the team members back to full health. Their mental states may take more time. I suggest we take their minds off the situation by getting them training. Training in their powers, as a team... We can set up war cyborgs in a 'danger room' of sorts where they get progressively tougher and more numerous."

"Steph, you've done marvellous work, I can't thank you enough" Frostbite still found relating as a civilian hard and sometimes he felt he overcompensated. "Make sure I am included, I want to lead by example not simply with orders. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to check in with people on their downtime. People will have been through a lot of battle fatigue and injury are two powerful drugs that can leave a lot of side effects in a person well being."

Frostbite then turned away, glad for once that they were busy with productive and meaningful work to do that might yet afford them a chance to work out if there was a way to yet turn this around. He was determined and though that alone would not change things, it certainly meant they would exhaust every possible option before they threw in the towel.

OOC:Ok for the time jump, let's go for it otherwise it's going to be a lot of simple back and forth so best make that jump when you're ready...

Sj

Just over two weeks later...

"Vell, ve hef established a number of sings now..." said Wandafar as he scratched at his ever growing beard. He pulled a face as he bit into a fruit obtained from the regular shipments from the surface to the fleet in orbit, and tossed it to a waiting creature about the size of a dog with six legs and a frog like body. Wandafar had named it 'froggy' and so far as Frostbite could figure, all it did was follow Wandafar around and eat whatever he didn't.

"Yuck. too ripe. Doesn't bother Froggy though." muttered the Alien genius. "Right sen. Lionheart can fly at almost half ze speed of light, maybe a tiny bit faster. His range is limited by his ability to hold his breath. Zet comes in at just under 9 hours. Max range zen is about..." he seemed to ponder. "1.5 Billion miles. Zen he dies in space horribly und goes pop like squished ripe tomate. Or zet fruit I gave to Froggy", he said as he looked at the creature lapping up the juicy mess from its chin and the floor.

"Unfortunately, based on my best estimates, zis vill not get him out of zis system. No vun else comes close. Zis ship could easily travel such a distance... but within moments of clearing vot I call ze micro threshold, it and everything else from ze little universe vud shrink und leave us big folk floating in ze void for a moment before ve popped. Or in his case, for 8 1/2 hours or thereabouts. You can manage a couple of hours I sink."

"Viz ze vay ve are all tied together, I hef instructed Jarna to set up round ze clock vigils to ensure no rogue elements are firing anything - even ze trash - into space. Even ze veapons are disabled, as a shot technically might be enough to trigger ze shrinkage und doom us big folk." Irony from the genius dwarf...

"In short, until some vun comes along, ve are screwed. I'm trying to figure out a vay for zet to heppen."

=========

4 months, 3 weeks, 6 days and 11 hours 41 minutes and 18 seconds later...

Froggy belched. It was the size of a pony by now, and still growing. Wandafar, with his knee length beard, frowned and shook his head. He turned back to the monitor.

Frostbite rubbed at his own chin from where he sat in orbit on the bridge of the largest capital ship, practically a floating city. It was, for the most part, powered down now to preserve energy. Most of the inhabitants, both cloned crew and officers, were down on the surface building and expanding on a camp which had turned into a village then a town in a short time. Superhuman speed thanks to Lionheart and Frostbites Vanguardians abilities had made carving wood and natural materials into building materials childs play. As such the town was coming along nicely, and Wandafar spent half his time down there, the rest up here making a tangled mess of the sensors and communications relays to boost range. Frostbot helped with that, but Wandafar would often argue with the sentient program even when in Cyborg form, Frostbot towered over him. For the most part they got along.

The team was getting along nicely too. Far more proficient with their abilities now, their confidence seemed to grow by the week. Jarna coordinated with Rahrghan and his people to hunt for meat and had taken charge of the growing of crops and Steph acted as head of a council of workers. The town would soon either need to grow again or another one created for more and more were moving down onto the planets surface. The native creatures and even many of the plants were incredibly hostile, but there seemed both to be a will and a way to make their settlement succeed.

Frostbite looked to the blackness of space through the viewscreen. Someone out there must surely hear their distress calls. Maybe.

=========

Lionheart looked about. The perimeter looked clear. The buoys Wandafar had constructed to be placed in order to mark the distance from the planet and therefore the 'micro threshold' were safely within the threshold limit and would not drift thanks to Lionhearts daily check and adjustment.

11 months since they'd arrived back in their own universe and the three towns on the planet were thriving, with an imminent need for a fourth soon. Talk was of exploring the possibility of other continent settlement. A number of children had been born thanks to Wandafar genetically 're-activating' the reproductive organs of the thousands of clone workers and there was a need to establish population growth control.

OOC it's not inconceivable that Lionheart, Frostbite and some of the others in Frostys team might establish relationships with others among the team or from the ships. I'll leave that to you. Pair up with whom you like and assume we're past all the small talk/getting to know you/deciding who sleeps on which side of the bed stuff.

So far the buoys had marked out the safe edge of distance Lionheart or Jarna in a shuttle could fly about in but they also had a certain range to detect foreign objects in the solar system they called home.

Unfortunately they'd been silent thus far.

Until today.

Using his telescopic vision Lionheart scanned the darkness beyond the threshold, looking for whatever had tripped the buoy, but it could be another false alarm. When their power ran low they did such things and...

He squinted, straining, and wondered if it would be worth testing the limits of the threshold to fly further out.

There.

An asteroid. Hard to tell at this extreme range. Even to his sight it was but a dot in space. Large, small, it was nonetheless out of reach. For now. He flew back to report to the others.

=========

14 months, 2 weeks, 3 days and 4 hours 17 minutes since re-emergence into the universe...

"Be careful!" shouted Firebrand (Sarah Barrington)

Michael Adwari (Rebuff) chuckled "He knows the score. Just one slip over the threshold..."

"And we're floating in space." added Impulse (Fred Garrick)

The team, along with Frostbite, Jarna, Reflex, Rahrghan and Wandafar waited aboard the bridge of the capital vessel which itself hovered just within the buoy ring.

Three shuttles sat beyond  the line, but within the Shrink threshold. Beyond them, at the very limits of shrinkage (and disaster!) Lionheart nervously waited, as he'd done for hours save flying back to the shuttles for a gulp of air and bite to eat, for the tumbling asteroid to inch closer.

It was huge.

Relatively speaking. In spacial terms it was tiny, and there'd been a collective sigh of disappointment when the scans came back to show it was 'only' about the same mass and weight of a nuclear submarine. Even so, it was the first thing they'd encountered from beyond the threshold and Lionheart was determined to snag it with his telekinesis.

The operation took hours, but he finally managed to flick it, spin it, then grab it and draw it towards the capital ship. Safely ensconced in the giant ships hold, they turned for 'home'.

=========

15 months, 1 week, 2 days and 9 hours 22 minutes since re-emergence into the universe...

"What have we got?" asked Steph. Her hair was platted to keep it out of the way and she was still 'pumped up' after having wrestled a drained 'Rhino' or one of this worlds equivalents, albeit with eight legs and two heads, to the ground. She'd drained it then used its own strength against it. The meal would supply dozens of people for weeks. The power had long gone from her but she told the tale well of how she'd intercepted the 'Rhino' which had broken the perimeter and ignored warning shots and taken the charging beast on. Like everything else on the world, it considered anything smaller to be fair game.

Wandafar looked up from where his constant drilling and cutting was taking place. He pulled the goggles back and considered. "It's a rock. From space. Not enough iron ore in it to smelt anything useful unless you vant a new cutlery set."

Frostbite tried not to frown. The hope was they could get enough metal together to form an air tank but it had proven not to be the case. Every day Lionheart checked the buoys, and scanned deep space for more rocks. So far nothing, but hope remained high...

A klaxon went off.

"CONTACT!" yelled a voice over the tannoy. "We have contact at buoy gamma 12, extreme range. Nothing yet on composition but... correction! The contact has changed course!!!"

The team (those in the hanger at least) looked at each other in shock, then scrambled down ladders and ran for the lifts and the bridge. It was 'night' on board, with a skeleton crew and most down on the surface.

"Talk to me!" shouted Frostbite as he ran onto the bridge and looked at the screen. Steph, breathless from the run, arrived beside him. Wandafar came in shortly after, not out of breath but having a smaller gait and not able to cover ground as quick.

One of the bridge crew (these days a mix of clones and former officers) turned. "Sir, we picked it up moments ago. Lionheart has been informed, he's intercepting in... t minus four minutes."

Another piped in. "We thought it was another false alarm. The batteries have been draining in Gamma far faster because of lack of sunlight to charge them. When they get low they set the alarms going as you know... but whatever this was changed course sir! It's headed for the buoy.It's not in range yet to get any other details of size, shape, or composition."

Frostbite looked at the inky blackness of space. Out there, Lionheart would be alone against whatever it was. The lag in communications meant two way conversation would be useless, but he could send one way comms to the buoys which would relay it to the earpiece his friend wore. A message perhaps?

OOC one of the longest posts I've written for the game! Hope it doesn't send you to sleep...

Admin wrote:
OOC it's not inconceivable that Lionheart, Frostbite and some of the others in Frostys team might establish relationships with others among the team or from the ships. I'll leave that to you. Pair up with whom you like and assume we're past all the small talk/getting to know you/deciding who sleeps on which side of the bed stuff.

OOC:
First, this was a great post and I appreciate the trouble you went to, to build the sense of time into it as things progressed in terms of the planet, the settlements and the time frames. I also enjoyed the sense of team that everyone was building.

Second, you know that I am a Christian Minister, I am happy to play my characters different to me, but not so different that it pains me. When it comes to relationships (I'm single) I regard them very highly. I'm happy for both my characters to pursue relationships - which is healthy, normal and understandable. However, I take Frostbite's moral compass to be a lot like Captain America's circa best of moral attitudes in the 1940s. And for Lionheart, on one level being a clone its kind of ambivalence and whether he even has reproductive organs, hormones etc, and that being a soldier if he's got an interest in love its kind of on a shelf somewhere. I say that because I don't mind them having a relationship but because I want to avoid this being a fantasy romance alt lit element, (just the fact mam, just the facts) but I appreciate they'd naturally be getting close to ladies onboard. But I think that Frostbite would not contemplate anything that he felt compromised him as a leader (morally upstanding, sex is for marriage, the mission of getting these folk home etc) and Lionheart would be curious, childlike but still morally quite grounded. So there, if we go down this line it's going to be pretty innocent and light. Which I think its the best way to play it. Steph is clearly close to Frostbite and I imagine things between them along the lines of a Brother/Sister relationship would naturally develop with the hope of something more arising when they got back home and Lionheart might well get on with Jarna (He did once have a thing for a lady long ago in the war tales we did didn't he?) so again I think he'd be open, playful and curious without getting to deep. Since both would probably hold out the hope that once home, everything changes and deep relationships here might cause endless pain back there. When back there, then they could realistically explore these relationships more fully. So something for the future maybe, but begun here and now.

=========

Admin wrote:15 months, 1 week, 2 days and 9 hours 22 minutes since re-emergence into the universe...

"CONTACT!"

Frostbite looked at the inky blackness of space. Out there, Lionheart would be alone against whatever it was. The lag in communications meant two way conversation would be useless, but he could send one way comms to the buoys which would relay it to the earpiece his friend wore. A message perhaps?

[/i][/color]

OOC:Ok not a lot to say, since Lionheart is out there and working with the limitations of space and all. Moreover, Even if Frostbite joined him, it would take an age to catch up. I guess therefore the team would have talked through first contact protocols. Things like what if their message got picked up, what if someone stumbled on them and what is hostile etc. Lionheart will therefore play it cool, finding out what has stumbled on us and if he can observe first encounter protocols or whether he needs to get back to warn folk before engaging? We shall see, depends on what you've got rolled up here.

Sj

OOC That's fine on the character personal relationship front. The game system we run has 'subplots' where you can earn extra HP by roleplaying through various situations. That said, I personally think the 'damsel in distress' thing went the way of the dodo sometime in the early 2000s as far as comics are concerned. I'm not even sure if Superman saves Lois Lane any more...



Lionheart floated in space watching a light come closer...

It changed.. and formed into a vaguely humanoid shape.

It was some distance away - thousands of miles - and therefore out of the micro threshold that would signal disaster for his friends. It simply floated there.

=========

Jarna spoke quietly to Frostbite...

"Should I get a shuttle out there, or a fighter? The range is pretty far... Alternately we can move one of the fleet out there..."

=========

The creature came closer...

It angled away from Lionheart. Towards the distant planet. The speed was steady - hundreds of miles per hour - but anything this deep in space had to be able to fly a lot, lot faster than that...

OOC And so it will in just a moment. Lionhearts actions...?

Admin wrote:Jarna spoke quietly to Frostbite...

"Should I get a shuttle out there, or a fighter? The range is pretty far... Alternately we can move one of the fleet out there..."[/i][/color]

Frostbite considered his options, back up probably wouldn't be a bad idea, although he did wonder if Lionheart needed backup, what on earth he could do to help. Still, he brushed that aside.

"Yes, let's do that and have the ship on standby. We don't want to alarm the planet, but we'd best let someone know what is going on in case."

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Admin wrote:The creature came closer...

It angled away from Lionheart. Towards the distant planet. The speed was steady - hundreds of miles per hour - but anything this deep in space had to be able to fly a lot, lot faster than that...

OOC And so it will in just a moment. Lionheart's actions...?

Knowing that speech in space, was useless Lionheart tried to hold up his hands a broadcast with his mind to see if he could get the 'being' to communicate.

"Greetings, what brings you to our sunny part of the sky?"

OOC: so that we don't get into a tit for tat round of one line conversation, it might be good for me to the suggestion that Lionheart will attempt to bring matters to a negotiable place of peace and goodwill. However if our 'friend' isn't so interested in peace and goodwill, just his will and his good, then we'd best speed things along whereby Lionheart will take him to task over his manners in intergalactic first contact.

Sj