Log:Ghosts of Mars, Scene 1

Ghosts of Mars 2012/08/13 	 Dorian Paragon Pleiades Spirit Star Girl Wasp Anthony Quinn|Q 1

Dorian comes into the briefing room where the heroes have gathered. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just getting flight clearance from the tower." He place a folder on the desk at the front of the room. "You're probably all wondering why your presence was requested." He waits a moment, and then continues, "We have a situation on Mars that needs to be checked out. A month or two ago, scientists discovered what appears to be an ancient alien facility not far from Barsoom City - a domed colony on Mars. Star Girl transferred up there to help out with translations and other archeological work. Barsoom City is reporting that the dig site has gone silent, and the ranger they send to go check on the archaeologists have also gone missing."

Dorian says, "Now...while I have confidence in Star Girl's abilities, I think it needs to be checked out. In force."

Pleiades nods, "Sir, I'm ready to leave at your order. Should we continue this briefing in-flight?"

Dorian says, "I'm afraid I don't really know much more than that. Information about the site is limited. So...the in-flight briefing will be very short, limited to, 'We're going to have to play this by ear'."

Jolt is actually present for once... lately she's been slacking in duties and such "So go to mars, check stuff out... sounds like fun. Who wouldn't want to go for a short trip to Mars. I haven't been in a space suit since that thing on the moon rescuing some crashed shuttle"

Anthony Quinn is here in his capacity as an advisor and also to pilot the Quinnjet to Mars. "Can we get transcripts for the last transmissions coming from the site?" he asks.

Paragon stands and listens with arms folded over an expansive chestplate. The glowing circular orbs recessed within the helm's eyeslots adjust in size as the briefing is given. "I'll be of assistance however I can, Dorian. I owe you and Starguard for your help with the situation with Arion," the armored hero responds in metallic yet enthusiastic tones. Plus visit Mars is another thing on her to-do bucket list of wild adventures. Within her HUD, her to-do App pulls up the list, scrolls, and checks of 'Get your butt to Mars'. The app saves and closes without anyone else being the wiser.

Dorian nods to Quinn, "I'll see if I can have them sent while we're enroute."

Jackie says, "I would say the information has been very limited. This is the first I've heard of any such site and I was on Mars up to a couple of weeks ago doing an internship in Barsoom City hospital. Which is why you asked me to attend this meeting I assume, Dorian?"

Dorian smiles to Jackie, "One of multiple reasons."

Paragon's eyes alight on Jackie. "Ah, Dr. DelQuist," she says warmly while firing off a casual cub scout salute. "Your expertise in the medical field continues to astound me."

Quinn considers for a minute. "Do you mind if we take my jet instead of yours?" he asks. "It will take a little time to mount the Alcubierre-Quinn drive on it but it has an on board armory for me. My Exploration armor would probably be a better choice for the job but it's not particularly well suitted for me to pilot in. It's a bit on the large size."

Dorian says, "I don't have a problem with that."

Jolt hmms and ponders for a moment, she knows why she's there... in case there is trouble... that and she can easily function as a source of electricity if need be.

Jackie smiles, "Paragon. A pleasure to mee you again. Your semtiment is shared by the professor heading my new section, although not with the same meaning. Jackie, he told me, Your expertise in the medical field continues to astound me. How have you beed through eight years of training and internships and learned so little." She grins, "He's a hard taskmaster. Brilliant and it's a privilege to be working under him, but impossible to satisfy."

Paragon grins a little behind her faceplate at Jackie's comments. "Well. That just means you'll learn a lot, then."

Pleiades smiles, "I'm the search and rescue expert then."

Quinn nods and picks up his phone as he makes calls to prep the jet. "Yes," he says into the phone. "I need the Quinnjet prepped for a trip to Mars." He listens to the answer on the other end of the line. "No, the other one. Yes. One 'n'. Yes, the Alcubierre-Quinn drive. No, it's work. We don't need the minibar stocked with anything special. Hang on." He puts his hand over the phone. "Is everyone fine with Chicken Marsala?" he asks.

Dorian says, "I don't really need to eat."

Pleiades blinks blankly wat Quinn, "Huh?"

Jackie nods, "Travelling in style. That will be fine for me, Mr Quinn.

Quinn shakes his head. "Never mind," he says. He takes his hand off the phone and says, "Just pack six chicken and six vegetarian," before hanging up.

Paragon scratches the back of her helm curiously. "Ah, yes, that sounds more than acceptable," she says in pleasant surprise.

A geological survey droid stumbled across the site while looking for exploitable minerals beneath the surface of the Red Planet. It pinged and hit a deposit of a some metallic alloy that doesn't exist on Earth. Shortly afterwards, engineers came out to the site, to begin to excavate it. They had unearthed a small section of it, but only a small portion of the structure, which they estimated to be the size of a football field. Their progress was stymied for a bit as they tried to find a way inside the shell without damaging it. In their last update, they reported that Star Girl has figured some way to interact with the control system of the structure, and they were going to try entering inside. As the team went into the ship, their radio signal weakened, and eventually all contact was lost.

Dorian listens to the recording. "Well...sounds like there'sa good chance they're okay."

"Except you would expect them to make some kind of contact by now," Quinn says. "They have to know that their transmissions are being blocked."

Jackie says, "If they are okay, as I'm sure everyone hopes, they must be trapped. I probably know some of those people. They're smart and cautious. If they lost radio contact they would have pulled back and restablished it."

Pleiades nods, "Star Girl is smart and capable, so if they're in trouble, I'm sure she has everyone safe and is holding out until relief can arrive."

Dorian says, "It probably makes sense to land at the city and get transport from there."

Jackie nods to Pleiades, then asks, "Mr Quinn, how long will it take to prepare your jet for the flight?"

Quinn arches an eyebrow at Dorian. "You think so?" he asks. "How many people are in the group that we are going to help?"

Dorian says, "A sizeable group. We probably want to have a vehicle big enough to accomodate them, if need be."

"Probably about 30 minutes," Quinn says to Jackie. "It will probably take about that long to calculate out the n-dimensional tensors for the drive." He pauses to think for a moment. "We might want to take the Starguard jet as well with that many people, or yeah, some other vehicle from Barsoom City. I made the Quinnjets small so they could get into tight places."

Jackie says, "There are some sand crawlers that can house a sizable group for a short time located at Barsoom City. One of them has been modified with a grip so I can carry it. If you wish, Dorian, when we get to Mars I can go to Barsoom City and bring it back to the site?"

Dorian nods to Jackie, "That will work nicely. I'm inclined to use a single ship to get to Mars."

Jackie says, "In fact, why don't I go now and get the crawler and meet you at the site.l That will save time.

Dorian nods. "You certainly fly fast enough...go for it."

Jackie nods, "I'll be waiting for you." she says, and heads outside, shrinking as she goes. Then she's airborne, keeping sub-sonic until she has sufficient height to start moving fast. Fast enought she has time to meet a couple of friends briefly before heading to the site carrying the crawler and still be there a little before the rest arrive.

The martian dig site is set int eh middle of a large sand-covered plain, dotted with rocky outcropping jutting up from the ground. There's a pressurized command center set up here, about the size of train car. Not too far from it is a circular excavation that descends down into the earth about a 15 degree grade.

There's an unattended rover here, parked next to the command center.

Jackie puts the crawler down beside the rover and checks inside the command centre.

Pleiades looks outside, "If you can't survive out there, stick close to me. I'll keep my Surivial Guard skill active to protect people within 4 meters of me."

Dorian nods to Pleiades, "Sounds good."

Paragon moves up alongside Pleiades. "I guess that means I'm sticking with you," she says in a friendly synthesized voice.

There's no one at home in the command center, though everything seems orderly inside.

Quinn brings the jet around for a vertical landing near the crawler and command base but far enough to the side that he doesn't cause problems with the vehicle's jetwash. As the engines wind down he moves to the armory which opens and encases him in the oversized suit of his exploration armor.

Jackie exits the command centre and waits for the Quinn jet to arrive, putting out a couple of flares on a flat area of sand as a landing guide.

A pale blue-white bubble of energy surrounds Pleiades out to 4m as she waits to disembark.

Spirit changes into his energy form before going outside through the airlock with the others.

Pleiades concentrates, a circle of runes appearing beneah her skates as 9 small portals appear in front of her face. "Let... me... see if I can... sense... them."

Olivia enters from Universal TransMat.

Pleiades dismisses her scan and staggers, exhausted, "Star Girl was in the dig tunnel, about 30m deep. I think she spotted us, but then she flew away toward the structure. Something about the material their blocked my scan."

Quinn nods in agreement. "I saw her as well. The metal from the structure is likewise blocking my radar," he says. "The fact that she ran away from us is making me think she's not in control of her actions."

Spirit nods. "I think I spotted her as well. She might be worried about the others down there. Let's go check it out."

Wasp blanches a little. She doesn't say anything but she's now visibly on edge.

Spirit flies in the direction of the tunnel, leaving a trail of light behind him.

Wasp follows Dorian in.

Pleiades hmmms, "She's been controled by her suit before, by Dr. ... Rudder? I think that's name." She skates toward the tunnel, matching Paragon's speed.

Spirit nods. "That's right. Hopefully it's not a situation like that again."

Paragon is able to keep pace with Pleiades' skates with a series of short, low to the ground leaps. "So this is unusual for Star Girl, then?"

Spirit generates light as needed in the tunnel, keeping things nice and bright.

The tunnel is lit by electric torches left at regular intervals. It's about 60m from the surface to the other end which seem to terminate at a metallic wall. A hatch wooshes open as gas escapes into the thin exterior atmosphere, just it time for Star Girl to zip inside.

Quinn takes off into the air, jets roaring as he nods to Paragon. "I would say so. If she was concerned about people inside I would imagine she would at least signal to us before leaving."

Wasp nods unhappily in agreement with Quinn's comment.

Paragon frowns a little behind her faceplate. "And her suit's controlled her before? That's interesting," she keeps her eyes locked ahead as she stays near her skating lifeline.

Pleiades stops outside the hatch. "Wasp, can you open it?"

Wasp takes a look at the hatch. "I can try. But I'm not technical. If there isn't an obvious handle I'm going to be stuck." Advancing she sees if she can open the hatch.

Spirit gets to the hatch as well, looking for a mechanism to open it.

Likewise Quinn looks for a locking mechanism. "If we have to I can probably cut through it, but it will take some time," he says.

Pleiades shakes her head, "We don't want to compromise the integrity of the hatch.

The hatch opens of its own accord, leading into a small chamber. There's no sign of Star inside, but there is another hatch at the far end.

Pleiades enters the airlock.

Spirit nods in agreement with Pleiades, "Unfortunatley, that will make it a less-than-viable airlock." He tilts his head when it opens. "Curious." He steps inside.

Paragon goes where Pleiades goes, looking around once inside the airlock.

Wasp says, "Mr Quinn, if you cut through it we'll need to rig a temporary air-lock in the tunnel. The hatch may be the only thing holding a breathable atmosphere inside this what-ever-it-is."

"But breathable for humans?" Paragon inquires quietly. "I wouldn't think that was normal for Mars. Especially for a recently uncovered old structure. Fascinating..."

Quinn nods to all. "Yes, I realize cutting our way in would be sub-optimal," he says. "I was merely making everyone aware of the tools we have at our disposal."

Spirit nods. "We might need them on the way out."

The external hatch closes and there's a wooshing as the room is pressurized. The interior hatch opens. Beyond the interior door is a large chamber that looks more alien in design. It's roughly 30m by 30m, and 3-4m at the tallest point. The cross section it ovoid, and the room become tell tall by the extreme sides. The ceiling and floor are marked with purple circles, arrayed in a grid, with rings radiating out around them. At the center of the room Star Girl stand by what appears to by some sort of control mechanism, a thin cylinder cropping up from the floor.

Pleiades keeps her environmental bubble active, just in case, as she heads in. "Hi Star! What's going on?"

Spirit glances around, but steps into hte room toward the occupant. He considers asking Star Girl for a status report, but figures that Pleiades' question is likely good enough.

Paragon glances around curiously, murmurs softly to herself, "...where are the others..?". She remains at Pleiades' side as a safety precaution. Her head pans about the room before settling on Star Girl.

Wasp slips inside and just in case, hovers behind Quinn's solid bukj with only her head showing.

Quinn turns to look between Pleiades and Star Girl as he waits to see what her response is.

Star Girl says nothing for the moment. Her finger hover the flat top of the cylinder and points of light blink to correspond with the gestures. The hatch to the airlock closes and Star Girl finally turns to face the heroes. "Welcome humans," she says. The circles in the floor and ceiling begin to thrum with energy. "Welcome to your end!"

Pleiades's eyes widen, "Oh no! She's been taken over again!"

The floor and ceiling thrum with energy, soon it will fill the room with crackling beams of energy.

Wasp calls out, "Dorian, I'm rusty. Haven't been in a situation like this for years. Suggestions?"

Paragon clenches her hands into fists. "That's unfortunate. I will promise to take it easy on your teammate," she says with a polite, courteous tone to Pleiades. She's not exactly a stranger to being controlled against her will.

Spirit says, "I'm not sure it's her. It's either that she's controlled or someone copying her. Detain or KO her, and we'll try to shut down the room. She has her radio on her, so I think she's being controlled."

Wasp says, "Okay." and darts across from where she is to where Star Girl is so fast she's just a blur of motion. As she passes Star Girl she swings in her flight to go feet first and kicks out, pulling the contact if she hits.

Star Girls form fades, becoming translucent and insubstantial. Wasp's kick simply passes right through her. Her form twists and her color changes as she shifts forms...

Star changes into a roughly human-sized, humanoid alien with red skin and large yellow luminous eyes. It's skin has a plastic sheet to it, and its four limbs don't end in feet or hands, just shifty amorphous malleable putty. It doesn't appear to be wear anything, bit it's skin is marked with some lines and other glowy bits - reminiscent of a collar and a belt.

Pleiades calls out, "Attack after I do!"

Wasp continues on almost to the second door after failing to make any contact, "Can we talk about this?" she asks.

Spirit says, "I think we might want to try to turn off the device first." He sees the alien become insubstantial, and opts to go for the blinding flare route. That might bother it, despite being impossible to injure directly.

Spirit raises his hand and a sizzling burst of light erupts toward the alien.

"I can look into that," Quinn says, "though my guess is that any instructions are going to be labeled in alien gobbletygook which will possibly slow me down."

Spirit laughs, "Well...yes. Use your best judgement."

"We have nothing to discuss," the red-skinned alien says. "What could you possible have to offer in a -- Gah!" The alien cringes and covers up in reaction to Spirit's blinding attack.

"Well, as long as you keep it insubstantial," Quinn says, "he shouldn't be pressing any more buttons, so that will help."

Spirit tilts his head, "Star's radio is gone as well. I think it managed to copy the entire things. That's pretty amazing, really."

Pleiades skates foward, pulling back her gauntleted fist to strike, "Panzerfaust, Phase Breaker!". A runic triangle appears beneath her and a shimmering field of blue-white energy forms around her fist as she strikes!

The red alien becomes completely solid again.

Pleiades says, "Get it Paragon!"

Quinn looks as the red alien is suddenly made solid again. "You couldn't wait until we forced it away from the console so it couldn't push any more buttons?" he asks Pleiades. Oh well. Boot jets roar again as they carry Quinn aloft. He flies directly at the red alien in the hopes of bodyslamming him away from the console.

Pleiades says, "There's more of us than it!"

Paragon stares for a moment as her life support system moves ahead without her. Seeing as how this alien no longer seems to be Star Girl and there's talk of getting it away from the console, Paragon aims to do just that if she can hit it. She crouches a little before springing forward in a lunge, her fist cocked back.

The alien ducks and flattens like a pancake at the sound of Quinn rushing towards it. It springs back up into it's humanoid form just in time for Paragon to swing at it.

WHAM! Paragon's punch connect solidly. The alien flattens as it slams into the far wall and then slumps onto the ground. It's still moving, but that had to hurt it.

Paragon lands near the console after her punch connects. She draws up to her full height and announces, "Stay down and surrender, and no further harm will come to you."

Pleiades is buffetted by the energy waves, but her shield jacket dissipate most of the effect.

BLue-ish energy crackles between the ceiling and floor, emitting from the circular patterns, striking everyone in the room.

Pleiades ums, "Maybe it isn't that hostile? That wasn't a very strong attack."

Wasp is struck by the alien energy and it hurts. While she hopes one of the group can stop the effect contining she's inclided to left the are. So she tries to open the second door and pass through it.

The energy arcs around Paragon's armor, but she seems unphased by the deathtrap. She senses a vague tingling sensation at best. "I imagine that would've been worse for the human expedition team."

Quinn remains where he is by the console, energy dancing over his large armored suit, completely and utterly unaffected.

Spirit winces a bit from the energy, but recovers from it quickly.

Spirit winces again, "Okay...I'm not going to be able to stand up to that for long."

The alien's body jolts and it's zapped too. "My... brethren will finish you..." it says, as it loses consciousness.

Pleiades nods, "Me either!"

Again, Quinn seems absolutely unaffected by the alien device as he looks at the console. As Spirit talks about being unable to stand up to the effects for too long Quinn nods. "Right," he says. "Probably a better idea to take out the emitter."

Spirit starts to build up energy in his hands, "While Quinn works on the emitter and controls...Let's try to blast out of here."

Pleiades plants her skates, the wheels locking in place. She holds out her left hand and a pink orb of energy forms in the palm of her hand as a runic circle forms beneath her. She pulls back her gauntleted fist and the bands at her wrist reve to full speed, "Panzerfaust, load Zaubermunition!" A chamber racks on her gauntlet, ejecting a brass cartridge. "HEAVEN BREAKER EXCELLION..!"

Quinn takes a look at the console and then looks once more at the emitters in the ceiling and floors as the energy crackles around him. "Right," he says, "Guess we will go for the more primitive approach," he says. He points his palm at what he perceives to be a junction for the emitters, the fingertips of his armor glowing brightly as he attempts to overload his cutting laser before letting fly in an attempt to short out the system.

Sparks fly as Q's laser pokes a pinpoint hole through the ceiling. One of the emitters in the ceiling flickers, maybe it'll give with just a little bit of cutting.

Paragon glances to Quinn. "Keep on working on the emitters. I'll assist with the exit," her modulated voice sounds off. The armored figure leaps for the door to lend a hand to Spirit and Pleiades. One must really pity the hatch to have all these heroes ganging up on it at once. Staying to one side to give the others a clean shot, she rotates her torso back as she pulls back her fist, preparing to throw her weight into the punch.

Wasp can't keep taking the energy bolts. Do she has to get the door open. It's going to hurt a little most likely. Darting off at top speed sshe uses Quinn as a hand hold to U-turn and slams straight back at and ideally through the door.

WHAM. The door twists craters under the force, but it holds.

Spirit winces, seeing Wasp slam into the door...

Wasp slats against the door and bounces limply with blood flowing from a compound fracture of her left leg after kicking the door. A moment after hitting the floor she grows to normal size.

As the energy death trap flares again the unconscious Wasp jolts and jerks as she is seared and burned by the energy.

Spirit's blast is just enough to blast to door free of it's moorings. In falls forward into the next room, and it's possible now to see how thick the reinforced metal was. On the other side of the wall are two more red skinned aliens, surprised to see the door burst open.