Log:Tranquility Assault, Scene 1

ACRO Control 2008/02/07 	 Captain Smith Citadel Random Factor Turbo Variable Yolanda 1

This is a standard Starguard troop transport. It's relatively spacious, but quite spartan. The large bay area is drab grey, with an airlock door in the rear as well as the left side. There are approximately 20 seats, all with haresses to secure the passengers. The pilot and copilot are barely visible through a small hallway to the cockpit.

Citadel steps on in, and finds a seat on the shuttle. He straps himself in. He looks around and ponders o O (Hmmm, another thing to request in the appropriations bill next year.)

Just half an hour ago, you left a Starguard briefing room. There has been little success in the initial attempts to weaken the hold the prisoners have on the Tranquility prison. On the bright side, it appears based upon some intelligence gathered by Starguard, the villains are doing a bit of your work for you. Those villains who haven't been willing to 'get with the program' appear to be back under lock and key. At least that's what the report said.

The briefing was just that...brief. The request was made by Starguard that a group of metas be asked to aid in putting down the remaining prisoners, and free the remaining guards. There had been some talk of 'nuking the prison from orbit', but it was clear that no one was willing to go to that extreme just yet.

Yolanda steps aboard the shuttle and pauses in the hatchway to look about the interior of the craft. o O ( Lord, what have I gotten myself into... )

One of the crewmen waves people on board, "Come on...we have a timetable to keep. Everyone on."

Variable looks both nervous and excited as she boards. Also tall: going on 6'. She's decided to bring bit of spare mass with her.

Turbo hides a grin. . o O(Cunning Interpol. If I do good I'm their contribution to the rescue effort. If I mess up somehow I'm an inexperienced meta who they can disown responsibility for.)

Turbo looks around. "Hi. I'm Me.. Uh.. Turbo."

Variable says, "Hello - I'm Variable."

The Starguard officer who walks you to the shuttle, Captain Smith, nods to you all as he steps on. "Dr. Simmons there will brief you on the remaining prisoners as we understand them. We also believe that we have been able to break the code-changes on the docking bay. So, you should be able to get in and out without problems. We'll have a couple of armed units standing by. If you get into trouble, get in contact with us through the communicators we've assigned you."

"Sorry I'm..." Yolanda pauses to cough. Her throat's gone dry a moment. "Sorry, I'm late," she repeats as she finds her seat. "I've been trying to pull together the psyche profiles on the prisoners at Tranquility. It took a while to get access to some of the data."

Citadel looks over at Dr. Simmons and nods.

Variable nods.

Captain Smith says, "Any further questions for me, before I head back to the control center?"

Turbo shakes her head impatient to get on with the mission.

Yolanda pulls out her PDA and begins accessing her notes. She glances up to Captain Smith and shakes her head. "There are nine main villains on the loose at Tranquility. The details on some of them are spotty..."

Variable listens.

Yolanda says, "1) Enemy Ace: He's a mastermind type. A cyborg, left without a real body at the time of the report."

Captain Smith nods, and backs out of the shuttle. He bangs on the side of the shuttle, apparently to indicate to the pilot that things are set, and as the door starts to close, you hear the engines starting to start to fire up. The shuttle shudders slightly.

Turbo thinks. o O (I'm going to the moon!)

Yolanda says, "2) Mortua: A cold assassin with death-related powers. Based on her profile, she'd be likely to defer to The Ace, but with some kind of reciprocation to the agreement..."

Yolanda says, "3) Auntie Rotter -- I'm afraid there's not much to her file."

Yolanda says, "4) Quickstop. He's a fanatical vampire slayer. Chances are he's not going to working with the other prisoners."

Yolanda says, "5) The Alchemist. She's more of a soldier than a leader. Likely to fall in line with whoever is running things up there now."

Yolanda says, "6) The Count. I'm afraid his file is next to empty as well."

Yolanda says, "7) Legion: A duplicator from Italy. He's made as many as 150 copies of himself."

The door to the shuttle opens again briefly as Kyle is let on board. Everyone else is seated and strapped in.

Kyle says, "Made it!" as he slides into a seat and straps in. "Whatt've we got?""

Yolanda says, "8) Sprout -- a minor villain from Wales. A plant controller. His powers don't seem to rate his being locked up on Tranquility. We think he may be using his powers to grow a food supply for the others."

Yolanda says, "9) Domina. A powerful mentalist from Austria. She's likely to work with Enemy Ace, at least briefly."

Variable says, "Any idea why Sprout is there, then?"

"Hello, Random," Yolanda says. She sighs in response to Variable. She's all nerves right now, and not particularly successful at hiding it. "We're not certain... Variable, is it? Our best guess? Deus Ex arranged his transfer to Tranquility in preparation for the riot."

Yolanda says, "I'll go ahead and forward the entirety of my findings to your PDAs..."

The shuttle starts to hover...giving some warning that launch is imminent. Then it blasts out of the hangar, and sharply pitches upward as the shuttle starts to climb into the atmophere.

Variable hangs on.

Variable. o O (I'm going into space!)

The shuttle's acceleration drops off after about 3 minutes as you start to clear the atmosphere. A voice comes over the speakers in the seating area. "ETA 10 minutes. We'll know quickly enough if our code-breakers did their jobs."

Yolanda has a deathgrip on the armrests of her chair. o O ( Jesus, I'm in space! )

Variable thinks. o O (Space! I'm in space again!)

Turbo glances at the file as it blurs at speed scrolling up her screen. "This doesn't make sense, Ms Yolanda. There should be much more information on there. Even if formal pysch evaluations at the prison are unaccessible there should be court records detailing their demonstrated abilities."

Kyle calmly tabs thhrough thhe information on the pda, nodding quietly.

Yolanda nods stiffly. "Yes. I can only assume that Deus Ex has tampered with the prison's records."

Variable says, "So... could the records be wrong?"

Citadel looks over and says, "So this Deus Ex is behind this prison riot, overwhelming the computer systems?"

Turbo says, "Deus Ex? I didn't see him, her, or it, listed in the file."

Yolanda says, "He's not a prisoner. Deus Ex is an artificial intelligence who either leads ACRO or is high up in their structure. It's the one responsible for the riots, to throw us off of his other agenda."

Another file hits each of your PDAs. Apparently sent by Captain Smith. It's a map of the layout of the prison. It's in a ring, underground. There is a single docking bay, which leads to a security area. That leads to the main ring of the prison. The first level has the generator, food prep and growing areas, as well at the warden's office and barracks. The lower 2 levels have a series of solitary cells.

The voice comes over the speakers again. "ETA 2 minutes."

Variable says, "Have they taken over the whole place?"

Yolanda says, "Y-yes... as far as we know... And they have hostages."

Variable says, "Who?"

Citadel looks through the information, and tries to discover the control center on the map.

Yolanda says, "S-staff... The prison staff."

The shuttle starts to slow...and there's a brief moment of tension as the codes for the docking bay are input. And then, barely visible down the hall, and out the cockpit window, you can see the docking bay doors opening. The shuttle slides into the docking bay, and comes to a stop, landing lightly using the hover systems. The pilot says over the speaker, "Pressurizing the bay. Wait 2 minutes, and you should be good to go."

The control center looks to be on the top floor. Concidentally, that's the floor you landed on.

Turbo grimaces, "Two minutes? I should have brought a couple of books with me."

Yolanda says, "Enemy Ace is most likely to be in the Control Center... either there or the Warden's quarters."

Variable shifts to a form with a sort of club tail. Thinking the use of claws might be frowned on.

The speaker announces, "The bay's pressurized. You're good to go." The rear door to the shuttle starts to open.

Citadel rises and walks out, taking in the area.

Turbo darts out into the bay as soon as the door is open wide enough for her to slip through.

Variable follows cautiously.

Citadel looks over at Turbo, "You know, you could run around, and set off their sensors. Confuse them."

Turbo says, "Ok."

This is a large spacious docking bay. There is little in the way of sound. The shuttle gives off a puff of gasses that it releases every so often, but otherwise, there is no noise. The hangar is painted a stark grey, like most Starguard related installations. The security room is clearly visible along the long wall in front of you, but the windows are tinted. There is a double door that leads into the installation, toward the security checkpoint. Behind the shuttle is the main bay doors leading out to space.

Random Factor stays close by, keeping alert.

Turbo starts off towards the control room.

Yolanda casts a curious glance at Turbo, not believing that she's go eager to go inside. Then she watches Variable shift her form. She steps out of her seat follows closely. "Random...?"

Random Factor says, "Yes?"

Yolanda says, "Do we have a plan... I mean, this isn't my usual sort of thing..."

Citadel looks over and says, "The priority is the control room, I would suggest getting it empty by distracting or pulling away all villains from the room."

Yolanda steps close to Variable. "If you stay close I should be able to protect you from any mental attacks... it will absorb a lot of my attention though. I'll need you to help watch out for me..."

Yolanda says, "It might be some sort of illusory effect ahead. Be careful."

Variable nods and stays close.

Random Factor makes his skin diamond hard and begins to float a few inches off the ground, so as not to trip any alarms and slips into invisbility.

Variable feels little outclassed. Random's gone invisible and such. She... has a club tail.

Turbo bursts through the double doors, which clearly leads to a security check point. There appear to be a security room off to the left. But...there's a person here. One who is unconscious, apparently. He's on the far side of the security barrier, pinned to the wall with vines, of all things.

Quickstop: This is indeed the famous vampire-hunter. But he looks...gaunt. His body has been held to the wall by some vines growing from a crack in the floor. He looks alive, but barely.

Citadel looks at the figure and pauses, "It seems that one didn't make many friends."

Turbo gives the imprisoned person a reassuring smile. "There are heroes coming to rescue you. I've got to go do my part and set off lots of alarms. See you later." and races onwards.

Citadel looks over to other heroes, "I suggest we free this one, he may be a useful ally for now."

Citadel looks over to Random Factor, "Would you like to do the honors and tend to the overgrown vines?"

Turbo zips through the security area without incident, heading into the main ring of the prison. She turns left, heading toward the control room. No immediate alarms are sounding...but that doesn't mean they dont' exist.

Citadel looks around the security room, "I wonder if there is a computer or some access point."

Quickstop's head seems to turn slightly unnaturally to the left, floating in the air for a brief moment.

Yolanda points out to a section of the security office. "There's something concealed over there..." She narrows her eyes and tries to focus.

Citadel pauses and then looks over to the bay doors that open to space, then looks over to the doors that lead into the station. He nods a bit.

Turbo thinks, "Hey, this is kind of boring. "Hey, Ubermench, I'm here!" She calls out and for a bit of a change starts running along the ceiling.

Random Factor says, "Sure thing.""

Citadel looks and says, "Concealed?" then moves closer to the area.

Simultaneously, two copies of Legion step out from the 'hidden' area of the security control room...as well as two more copies stepping out into the hallway in front of Turbo, attemping to block her from getting to the main prison control center.

Citadel looks over and says, "This one would be Legion."

Turbo cheerfully dodges trying to get past, "The others are coming. They'll be here eventually!" She laughs, "I've got a job to do so I can't stop."

Turbo moves past the two copies, "Hey, you're going bald. Just thought you might want to know." She says one passing overhead, dodging any attempt by him to get close to her.

The Legion that Turbo blows by shouts something in Italian to her. Something..angry sounding.

Variable just rushes in and takes a swing at the nearest instantiation of Legion with her club tail. She assumes fighting is the idea here.

Legion gets tagged by the club-like tail, and reels backward stunned from the attack. But as he's hit, there's a flash of light, and there's another copy of the man standing there...also stunned.

Citadel looks on and thinks, "Oh no, not one of these."//Hold

Variable thinks. o O (Whoops!)

Citadel looks on and thinks, "Oh no, not one of these."

Random Factor scowls, but nobody can tell.

Yolanda gasps at the sudden appearance of Legion. The reflex to flee strikes her, but she tries to hold her ground.

Yolanda finds the courage to stand fast. She decides to forgo her mental screen, instead focusing her attention on the Legion in the security area. She tries to reach out to his mind and overload the sensory center of his brain.

That particular copy of Legion cries out in pain, and collapses to the floor. No additional copy appears. In addition, that copy of him disappears in a flash of light, leaving only the two stunned copies next to the main group of heroes.

The two Legions near the main group both start to get their bearings, both shaking their heads in eerie unison fashion. Over by Turbo, the two near her draw what appear to be pistols of some variety, and fire at the speeding woman.

Both bursts of plasma are easily deflected, and more shouting in Italian commences. Apparently they're shouting into a lapel communicator.

Turbo slows time down around her to a veritable crawl and steps aside as the incoming fire approaches slowly, to her perception.

Turbo continues on towards the control room leaving the two copies of Legion behind.

Citadel looks over and says, "Someone cut down the poor vampire hunter, I'm sure he'll be delighted to get even with some of them." and then heads onwards, "Time to move onwards."

Citadel pulls out his PDA and starts studying the plans, thinking up some way to get to control room, an unexpected route.

Citadel gets through the door into the main part of the prison, and can hear the plasma weapons fire down the hall, perhaps 20 meters away, around the corner. The control center is on the north side of the ring. You've entered the ring from the west. North, South, East, and West are relatively arbitrary on the map.

Random Factor seemingly unconscious right?

Quickstop is indeed unconscious. Barely alive. On closer inspection, it's almost like his life force is nearly gone, with the way he's so gaunt.

Random Factor Mutters under his breath and moves to tend to Quickstop.

The vines were clearly pretty sturdy at one point. They're a bit brittle now, though, so RF manages to free Quickstop from them without too many problems. (It takes a full action, though)

Random Factor Fades back into visibility as he looks for someplace safe to put the unconscious villain.

The only obvious safe place would be the shuttle itself. Or the security guard room once the last two Legions there are defeated.

Citadel looks around and waits for the others to catch up.

Yolanda turns her attention to the next duplicate of Legion. Her eyes narrow as she reaches out for his mind.

The Legion that was hit with the mental attack collapses...and interestingly, the both he and the duplicate that was created when he was hit both disappear in a flash of light.

Turbo carries on along the corridors towards the control room.

Citadel glances over and decides perhaps he should take the other route to the control center.

Quickstop is deposited in the security guard room without problems. He lays on the floor, unmoving. The group heads into the main prison area, and is presented with the decision to move southward around the ring, or northward. Turbo is still closing in on the control room. No further defenders present themselves.

Citadel looks and says, "Should we follow Turbo, or find another path to the control room?"

Citadel looks over and says, "I'd suggest we tell the pilots to leave the station for their safety."

Yolanda says, "If we go the same path, then Turbo's diversion is wasted, right?"

Random Factor says, "She's moving faaster than us and is taking the short route. She's kinda new at this as I understand it..."

There have been no more sounds of gunfire, so..either Turbo was dropped, or she took care of the guards that direction.

Variable nods. "And to stop prisoners stealing the ship and escaping!"

Citadel shakes his head, "No, the villains should focus on her."

Citadel shrugs and says, "She is fast, so save perhaps a mentalist, I doubt anyone could lay a hand on her."

Citadel nods and says, "We could split up?"

Citadel pauses and thinks, then decides to inform the pilots to leave the station for their safety.

Meanwhile...Turbo reaches the control room. The door has no window, and is currently sealed. She's passed the generator room on the way here, and the warden's quarters appear to be a little further around the hallway.

The pilot responds, "Are you sure?"

Citadel looks to Yolanda, "Are you able to detect minds at a distance, like a pre-scan ahead of us."

Random Factor says, "Up to you."

Citadel informs the pilot, "Yes, we don't want you taken hostage too."

Turbo tries the door to the control door, and finding it sealed proceeds on towards the Warden's quarters.

The pilot responds, "Alright, sir. We'll get moving as soon as the bay de-pressurizes."

Yolanda blinks, horrified at the prospect at being even more alone up here. She shakes her head and seems to regain her resolve. "Split up, or not, let's make a decision. And yes, I can look ahead for minds."

Citadel shrugs and says, "Well, I say we stay together then. Might as well go the way Turbo went."

Turbo tries the door to the control door, and finding it will open she does just that, opens the door and steps inside.

Variable looks about nervously for any sign of villains.

Citadel motions to Yolanda, "Shall we then?"

Yolanda nods. "Go ahead. I should be able to see past you."

Citadel floats forwards down the hallway Turbo went.

Yolanda follows.

Variable keeps close to Citadel.

The group of you turn, and head toward the control room. The first room you come to on the ring is the Generator Room. Both Random Factor and Variable can hear some talking over the sound of the generator, coming from within the machinery-filled room, apparently.

Variable whispers "Did you hear that?" and points.

Citadel pauses at the generator room. "Hmmm." he says softly to himself. o O (Power room...)

Random Factor follows along silently, sliding back into invisabilty.

Variable sneaks toward the generator room.

Meanwhile, Turbo enters the control room, and sees...Enemy Ace turn to look at her. His face is a combination of metal and flesh. He says, "Ah...good. I'm glad you finally arrived."

The Generator Room has a sliding double door. The door says, 'Danger: High Voltage: Keep Out'

Citadel looks back and says, "We could always turn off the power."

Random Factor says, "There are hostages. They'll need life support."

Citadel looks at Random Factor, "I doubt they'll run out of air that fast."

Citadel then shrugs, "Besides, if I wanted to suffocate them I'd, uhmm never mind."

Yolanda says, "It's probably for the best... I can't see in the dark."

Citadel shrugs and decides to pop his head in for a look.

Turbo runs around the control room looking for anyone else in there. At the end of her run she cuts past Enemy Ace and lets the fingers of her hand trail past and into where he appears to be located to see if there is any physical reality to what she is seeing.

Variable whispers again, "There's someone in there." Though it doesn't help much with Citadel's ears on the wrong side of the door now.

Enemy Ace just watches Turbo curiously. "It's all automated. How do you think we can run this place with a skeleton crew?" Sure enough, her hand goes through him. "If you don't settle down, I'll have to take measures to settle you down myself. I suggest you either wait for your friends, or you go join them."

Yolanda's gaze drifts towards the ceiling. "Domina just got in touch with me..."

Citadel sees a couple of the Legions talking, in Italian. But..they don't seem to actually be talking to each other. More like they're talking into the air.

Citadel pops his head back and says to the group, "More Legions, though acting very bizarre, talking into the air."

[To Yolanda] Random Factor says, "That can't be good."

Citadel looks to Yolanda, "Sorry, did you say something?"

Variable says, "What did she say?"

Yolanda says, "She says that... Turbo's run into trouble... that she'll make Turbo her plaything!"

Citadel nods and says, "Hmmm." then points, "I'd suggest we secure this room."

Turbo laughs and runs around the control room again flipping switches and pressing buttons and turning dials at random. "Automate that!" She says cheerfully.

Random Factor scowls and turns to Citadel. "Did they seem to be speaking into mikes, maybe?

Yolanda's attention snaps back to the here and now. "We've got to help her!"

Citadel shrugs and says, "Perhaps, or might have some special way of talking to themselves."

Enemy Ace looks...amused. "Well done...let's see. You have turned off the lights downstairs, turned off the water access on this level, and freed a few of the hostages downstairs." He then pauses for effect, "Oh...and turned off the outer door to the docking bay."

Turbo says, "It's a start. You're beginning to lose control of this place. See you later." She heads out of the control room and makes her way towards the Warden's quarters.

Random Factor glances at Citadel expectantly.

Citadel looks around the group, "So, does anyone have any ideas?"

Variable says, "So are we going in here or helping Turbo?"

The pilot's voice comes over Citadel's comlink, "Uh...we seem to have lost access to the docking bay doors, sir. We haven't been able to leave the bay. I think they want us to stay. We can blast our way out, but it'll depressurize the bay for good."

Citadel contacts the pilot, "Oh good lord. I'd just stay there then."

Citadel points and says, "The proper military goal is to capture and move forward."

The pilot responds, "Yes, sir."

Yolanda says, "We need to get to Turbo. And that starts by going through those doors. Don't make the psychiatrist go through the doorway first."

Citadel contacts the pilot, "Did you say you can blast the doors open and depressurize the bay?"

The pilot responds, "Yes, sir. The shuttle is armed. It'll make it tough for you to return to the ship, though."

Citadel contacts the pilot, "Yes, I presume it would." then "Are you not able to contact Turbo and find out her status?"

Meanwhile, while everyone is talking, Turbo leaves the main control room, and heads to the Warden's quarters. The door opens easily...and it looks like a jungle inside. Vines are everywhere.

Variable says, "Let's go save Turbo then!"

The pilot responds, "Afraid not, sir."

Citadel looks to Yolanda, "How bout you? Are you able to talk to her?"

"I don't know her well enough to try a telepathic search... Damn it." Yolanda tries to use her telepathic abilities to vanish from site before she steps into the next room.

Citadel decides to stick his head back through the door, he tries to discern what the Legions are doing.

Turbo remembers seeing the poor villain in the vines hanging limp and unconscious. Closing the door of the Warden's quarters she directs a violet spark at the keypad to fuse the systems so the door cannot be easily opened.

The two Legions are now just talking to each other in Italian quietly.

Variable heads off in a Turbo-saving direction, worried by all this time-wasting.

Citadel looks around and studies the room, looking for important switches or control systems.

Yolanda heads off with Variable, invisibly so.

The Warden's Quarters door keypad sparks, and the lights on it go out, effectively locking anyone inside, who happen to be there.

Citadel turns and heads back out and onwards to the wardens room.

Turbo carries on around the upper ring in the same direction to see what else she can find and merrily setting off more alarms. She tries to call the others to tell them what she is doing and what she has seen so far.

The group continues onward toward the control room, which is the next room you come to. The door to it is currently closed. Unfortunately, no one hears from Turbo as she continues around the ring. The next room she comes to is the indoor gardens.

Variable is the first of the larger group to reach the control room. The Warden's Quarters are visible right next to it, and the access panel to it apparently has been zorched.

Yolanda reappears just behind Variable, not be able to focus on maintaining the veil and following Variable at the same time.

Citadel catches up and looks at the zorched control panel. "Hmmm." then floats onwards and through the door.

Variable says, "Should we go in?"

Turbo reports her findings and moves on. . o O(Well the others will know where more of the villains are by the time I get around the ring).

Citadel floats through the door into the Quarters, and the interior of the room is covered in vines everywhere. Plants dominate the room, despite the lack of windows. The normal books and various accoutrements that would be in here are piled in a corner, well away from the bed.

Yolanda sighs and admits sheepishly. "I don't do this sort of thing. Ever. I'm a psychiatrist... We ought to wait for Citadel, right?"

Variable says, "I don't know - he keeps stalling - Turbo could be in trouble!"

Citadel decides to look around, looking under the bed and closets.

Variable decides not to waste any more time and goes in.

Yolanda nods to Variable. "Let's go. I'll try my best to back you up. On the bright side, I don't sense any minds inside there." She follow Variable.

Variable says, "Where did she go? What happened to her?"

Turbo searches the barracks. Quickly. How else?

Citadel nods and says, "Hello there little guy, you must be Sprout. I'm Citadel, would you mind telling me what has happned here?"

Yolanda squints at the Enemy Ace. "Variable... I don't think he's really there..."

Variable says, "Oh...."

Enemy Ace smiles, "Where did she go? Well, she sealed the doom of everyone downstairs. You see, she flipped the wrong switch, and turned off life support to the prisoners. In her anger at me, she destroyed the panel enough to make it impossible to turn it back on. I believe she's hurrying down there now."

Sprout looks up at Citadel, "Who are you? You're that Marshal guy, right? I don't want this...I only helped Ace so he wouldn't kill me."

Variable doesn't know whether to do that or not. She tests Yolanda's theory by hitting him with her tail, however.

Citadel nods and says, "Yes. I am. Exactly how did Ace gain control of the Prison?"

"Maybe there's some kind of projector here." Yolanda starts scanning the controls, looking for an image projector or a set of security camera screens.

Turbo looks in the barracks, and finds that the place is filled with more Legions. Another forty. Counting the ones you saw before, that makes about sixty-five in total.

Variable's tail goes through the image, finding nothing but air. Yolanda does find a projector. It's a small coin-sized item on the floor, about half the diameter of a penny. Enemy Ace just smiles. "Excellent. Well done."

Sprout shakes his head, looking scared. "I dont' KNOW how he did it. First thing I know, he's gone from being a head in a jar to a full robot. That armor of his is scary. He managed to take out a couple of the prisoners by looking at them."

Citadel nods and says, "And you are assisting by providing food to the prisoners?"

Turbo reports in the presence of the Legion clones, she thinks, and looks for an emergency supplies cabinet. If the lights are off down below she'll need a torch.

Yolanda tosses the projector to Variable, presuming that she'll have a means to destroy it. She turns her attention to some of the non-damaged computers, trying understand how to work them.

Variable puts the projector down and smashes it with her tail.

The projector is easily smashed. It's concealable, but easily destructible.

Citadel looks to the door, "Follow me then." and says, "Who ruined your door?"

Sprout nods, "Yup...that's what I do. I can make things grow. We'd have died otherwise."

"I can't make heads or tails of these controls," Yolanda says to Variable. "I guess we're just going to have to follow Turbo's trail downstairs."

Citadel nods and says, "Can you heal people?"

Variable nods.

Turbo manages to find a supply closet next to the elevator. Sure enough, there's a torch/flashlight in there.

Yolanda heads towards the elevator down.

Citadel pauses and looks at the door, "Oh, I'll open this door then." then resolidifies, and tries to force the door open.

Sprout shakes his head, "I can't heal people, no."

Citadel shrugs and says, "Shame, that vampire hunter looks really bad off, I take it a vampire got to him first."

Turbo checks the torch to make sure it's working and goes to the elevators and sees if they are working. Then she comes to her senses and looks for the emergency stairs downwards.

Yolanda and Variable start to look for an elevator, just as Citadel rips the Warden's Quarters door open. They see him in the doorway. Behind him, they can see Sprout. Sprout says, "Uh...no, that was no vampire that got him. That was Mortua."

Turbo manages to find the emergency stairs, which are a little further along the hallway.

Citadel looks over, "Mortua, shame..." then steps out, "Follow me."

Citadel looks over and then heads into the control room.

Turbo heads down the stairs, slowing down a little so she doesn't iutpace the light beam from the torch.

Yolanda says, "There was a hologram up Enemy Ace in there. He had a new body. Probably an ACRO design. No sign of Turbo yet."

Yolanda says, "I think... I sense twenty more Legions that way."

Citadel looks around, "Let me see, first release the control of the bay doors." then pauses, "Body, robot

Yolanda points to indicate the direction.

Variable says, "Is that Sprout?"

The Legions are apparently on the east side of the ring, all in a group.

Citadel attempts to bring up sensors and video cameras to get a view of the whole prison.

Sprout timidly enters the hallway, and looks around.

Citadel glances over and says, "Sprout, do stay close, there are lots of those Italian people."

Sprout nods, "Uhh....yeah. Guiseppe."

Variable says to Sprout, "Can you tell us which people we're up against?"

Yolanda says, "Sprout can you tell us how many hostages there are, where they are located, and yes... who we're up against."

The security monitors come back up, and Citadel starts to scan them. There are at least eighty total Legions in the installation. He sees the group of heroes by the control room, including himself. He sees no one walking around downstairs. Anyone staying in a cell, is clearly in a cell at the moment. It's eeriely quiet. Two people are playing cards in the basement. Based on the descriptions, it looks like Auntie Rotter and the Alchemist.

Citadel points and says, "That room needs to be captured."

The monitors then switch to the security room, where Quickstop is laying. Then the Generator Room. Then the barracks where forty Legions are. Then the gardens. Twenty more Legions. Then the docking bay, where there are three people entering the back of the shuttle.

Citadel looks over and tries to open up and allow the shuttle to leave.

Citadel shakes his head, "It seems Mortua wishes to do a breakout." then tries to warn the pilot.

Variable says, "Let's get back there!"

Turbo's picture appears on the monitor, on a cell block level. Apparently level 2.

The pilot responds, "Yes sir? Is there a problem?"

Yolanda nods and starts to double back to the shuttle. "Let's go Sprout. That shuttle is the only way any of us are getting home. Domina might be with them..."

Citadel shakes his head, "Starguard surely are stupid people, leaving the door open is so stupid."

Citadel says to the captain, "Yes, you are criminals about to board. Shoot them."

The pilot responds, "What are you talking about? Some of your team just arrived back. I don't see any criminals." There's a pause, "Oh, I see, it's a mental trick over the radio. Signing off. Leaving as ordered."

Turbo runs from cell to cell opening up the doors where the inmates are guards. "Stormtroopers on the right. Elite rebel forces on the left." She jokes. "Where's the armory? You'll need equipment and weapons to take back the prison." is added on a far more serious note.

Variable runs back toward the shuttle. . o O ( Stupid! How did we leave the shuttle unguarded? )

Citadel attempts to re-establish complete control over this prison and systems. "I grow tired of Starguard ineptitude."

Citadel looks over and attempts to lock down the bay doors.

The guards down below look overjoyed at seeing Turbo. A couple of them give her a hug, "Thank you!" They start to scramble, and look for the armory, which is in a secure area on the second floor.

Citadel glances over and says, "Would you be so kind to please remove those prisoners from the shuttle."

Variable and Yolanda round the corner, and reach the door to the docking bay, and find it closed...and sealed off. Apparently the bay is depressurized. They can see the shuttle pivoting around to face outward toward the bay door, even as the doors stop partway open.

[To Yolanda] Variable says, "Can you do anything about the mind control?"

Citadel looks over and decides to activate the the systems and defense weapons.

Citadel then looks for the communicator to contact Earth.

[To Variable] Yolanda says, "No. Can't see him."

Citadel attempts to contact the pilot, "Pilot, you forgot a passenger, would you be so kind to land and pick up one last passenger?"

Citadel looks over and says, "What, who said that.." then tries to multi-task and assist whoever is going to the armory.

Citadel looks over to Sprout, "I need a checklist, first stop breakout, second, seal up areas where there are legions, third, well you don't want to know #3."

The pilot doesn't respond. But strangely...the bay doors start to open again, like the control room's controls have been overridden. Inexorably, the bay door slides open. Meanwhile, the guards are grabbing rifles from the armory. They start to search the prison, in a military fashion, looking for loose prisoners. On the security cameras, all of the Legions are gone. Auntie Rotter and the Alchemist look to be asleep at their table, and Legion...well, there's one of him, asleep in the barracks. Sprout appears to be fine.

Variable tries to think of anything she can do, but....

Earth responds on the communicator, "... ...come in... ..."

Yolanda says in a surprising calm voice. "Domina. She's been controlling all of them. If not all, then most of them."

Citadel communicates to Earth, "This is Marshal Citadel, Starguard transport ship has been compromised. I repeat Starguard transport from Tranquility has been compromised, request it be neutralized."

The shuttle blasts off, leaving Variable and Yolanda to watch it as it disappears from sight out of the bay...arcing toward Earth.

The Starguard communications person on Earth responds, "...Transport. ..on way..."

Citadel shakes his head, "Yes, I was right Starguard is pathetic."

Citadel looks over and decides to contact UEMS and inform them that a Starguard transport has been stolen and prisoners have escaped.

Citadel looks around for Random Factor, "Where is that twit."

Yolanda closes her eyes. "I'm in contact will my office assistant at Mens Sanus and reporting the situation to her. She'll relay the information with Starguard." She opens her eyes and sighs to Variable. "We've fouled this one up pretty badly."

Turbo romps cheerfully into the control room with a couple of guards. "Well that was fine. There's a couple or three of the prisoners hiding out someplace but the rest are all in the cells again. It went really well didn't it?"

Citadel looks at Turbo, "No it didn't, the shuttle wasn't able to leave as requested, and now has been captured by prisoners."

All of the prisoners are accounted for, with the exception of four: Mortua, Domina, Enemy Ace, and The Count. There's no sign of The Count ever being in the prison, even...despite being on the rolls here.

This is a large spacious docking bay. There is little in the way of sound. The shuttle gives off a puff of gasses that it releases every so often, but otherwise, there is no noise. The hangar is painted a stark grey, like most Starguard related installations. The security room is clearly visible along the long wall in front of you, but the windows are tinted. There is a double door that leads into the installation, toward the security checkpoint. Behind the shuttle is the main bay doors leading out to space.

Citadel shakes his head, "Hmmm, look at the bright side, we'll be soon taking over prison control." mumbling to himself.

Turbo looks at Citadel. "What? Well I did my bit just like you asked, ran around setting off alarms. And I found the hostages and freed them."

Sprout willingly submits himself to the authorities. The other villains are asleep, and wake to find themselves back behind bars.

Citadel looks and says, "Did you touch anything in here?"

Yolanda says, "To be on the safe side, we should make sure that we have manual overrides in place for all of the critical systems and hatches. If Deus EX wanted us dead, then I'm sure it would have happened already, but just in case he has a change of heart, we ought to be ready."

Turbo nods. "Yes. It was totally under the control in that talking head guy. Enemy Ace. Since he would have optimized every setting for their requirements anything I changed was bad for tyhem, so I flipped a few switches."

Citadel shakes his head, "Ace was in this room?"

Variable says, "Just a hologram."

A half hour later, another shuttle arrives to give you transport back to Earth.

Turbo shakes her head. "Not by the time I got here. He was already gone after automating and taking control in here."

Citadel nods and says, "Well it seems Deus Ex planned a great prison release. He got Sprout to come here for no reason, keep them alive. He knew a shuttle was the only way off, and got a shuttle on. The hologram distracted everyone while they made their escape."

Yolanda says, "A hologram of Ace. But Deus Ex has had a run of the facility, so it's moot. Judging by the new armor that Enemy Ace was sporting, I'm thinking that the two have joined teams."

Citadel looks around, "We will have to deactivate all the computers, rebuild them and properly secure them."

Yolanda says, "I have to admit, that I fell for Domina's trick hook, line, and sinker."

Citadel shrugs and says, "I wonder what brought Mortua, Domina, and Ace together, and who is this Count."

Variable says, "We messed up so badly.... I mean, it was *obvious* that a shittle was what they wanted..."

Citadel nods and says, "Yes, unfortunately someone deactivated the bay doors so they couldn't get out safely."

Citadel shrugs and says, "And this Deus Ex and ACRO are supposedly influencing world leaders too."

Turbo looks at Citadel in amazement. "You ARE a UF Marshall?"

Citadel looks at Turbo and says, "What is a UF Marshall?"

Yolanda says, "Citadel, you may be missing the point. The systems had already been compromised by the time we arrived by Deus Ex. Once we arrived, I'm not sure if we had much of a chance, actually."

Variable says, "Yeah, so *obviously* we should have guarded the shuttle after that.... *Darn* I'm so dumb..... I mean, who could make that mistake?"

Turbo nods. "Flipping a switch made about one microsecond's difference. They had these systems under their control."

Citadel nods and says, "I'm surewe will now have to look into a few things."

Yolanda offers Variable a pat on the shoulder, trying to bolster her confidence a little. "I think that we all have lessons to learn from this mission."

Yolanda. o O ( Though I'm glad that I don't have to be the person who writes this report up! )

Citadel looks at the other two, "Well, I'll have to talk to the magistrate on someone, I'm sure he'll be aggreable to a certain request."

The shuttle ride back to Starguard HQ in Colonial Bay is relatively jovial. There were only two reported casualties, and only four escaped. And...the escapees were reported blown up in the air. So, all in all, SG is considering this a success.

Turbo says, "Hey, I did good. In fact I did great!" She beams. "This was good for my first real outing as a costumed hero type."

Yolanda says, "I suppose that this was my first outing too. I think I'll stick to my day job. Still... it wasn't as awful as I thought it might be."

Variable says, "Yeah, you did well. I didn't really do anything...."

A couple of guards put Quickstop on board the shuttle, at Citadel's request. He's kept secured, though...as he's still a prisoner. Perhaps it's to check the villain's health back planet-side?

Yolanda thinks. o O ( I didn't freeze up... that's a real breakthrough for me! )

Citadel sits next to the prisoner. He looks over at him every now and then.

Variable says, "We shouldn't even have taken a shuttle there. Maybe if we approach from outside on foot?"

Citadel looks over and says, "Perhaps we should of just nuked it." then smiles.

Variable looks shocked at the suggestion, even in jest. "What? No!"

Citadel shrugs and says, "I'm amazed though, if ACRO and Deux Ex could control that much technology, why not just control a shuttle up."

Yolanda says, "I'll work on trying to figure out what the escapees next moves will be."

Citadel nods and says, "Yes, one much also look into who issued prisoner transfers."