Ah, an even-numbered board. That means it'll be good!
LAST TIME ON LICC...
Dnar'af sends the team on a shopping expedition, but other 'heroes' have their eyes on the recipe! Obsy does a do-over on something he regrets, and Ojey reappears, and there was much rejoicing.
"Yay."
Still in sickbay, afriad to move, worried that he'll lose control of the powers (he thinks of them as a curse relaly) the Models gave him, Grant Lopez considers wether or not to just flat out resign from the L.I.C.C.
An even-numbered board. Does that mean it's time for KAM to quit again?
Suddenly Grant Lopez feels the pressure of a restraining forcefield on his chest. He calls the Doc but instead of the usual sickbay inhabitant Dr.Frankenfurby appears, accompanied by his assistant Igorby and Miss Blueshirt in a nurse costume.
Hello hello hello, my dear victi^Wpatient. Now, how are you feeling today? Still the old womanizer? Well, let's find out what the models did to you. Maybe we can replicate this useful ability. Mwuahahahaha! Let the examination begin!
Lopez collapses after seeing the "instruments".
(Enesku and Insane are looking over their list, but so far they have had very little success. They're on the verges of the market place by now)
Enesku: "There must be *something* on this list we can get."
Insane: "Mytos Shoe Polish, Untarian hawk-bat wing powder, Lazebnikan Carbolic Soap, an unplucked Acurian chicken... Why did we get all the weird and scary stuff?"
(Just as he says those words, they see a stall set up front of a garish-looking carnival style cart. Various voodooish knicknacks are arranged on the stall.)
Enesku: "Well, if it's weird and scary we want, maybe that's the best place."
Insane: "I think you're right. Let's go in."
Enesku: "What? You didn't think I was being serious, did you?"
Insane: "I dunno, but I know I am. We've searched this place from stem to stern and this must be the only place left."
Enesku: "Now, let's not jump to conclusions."
Insane: (makes chicken noises)
Enesku: "All right, all right!"
(The stall is unoccupied, but a sign encourages them to go into the cart. They do so. Inside it's very dark.)
Enesku: "Are you sure anyone's in?"
Insane (yelling): "ANYONE IN???"
Enesku: "Quiet!"
Insane: "What's up with you?"
Enesku: "You've never met Mary Worth!"
(Suddenly the whole place is ablaze with green light, and both are startled. A scary-looking woman is enthroned in a large soft chair, in front of a steaming vat.)
Woman: "So... you have come to procure the items on your list."
Insane: "How do you know?"
Woman: "I know all. And you have also come to learn what the future holds for yourselves."
Insane: "Now, that wasn't part of the..."
(Enesku shoves him aside.)
Enesku: "Shut up! Yes, tell me! Will I become successful and popular?"
Woman: "Your future is shrouded in mystery... you have the chance to rise above all the League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions... or fall into darkness."
(She then speaks to Insane)
Woman: "Your future is far more interesting. You have powers no-one can understand, if you only know how to use them. Perhaps you know someone who can teach you how."
Insane: "If you mean Observer... he turned from that path long ago."
Woman: "Perhaps you will be the one to return him to his destiny, so you may seek your own. But your destiny will ever be intertwined with that of Enesku. Your successes, your failures... they will also determine those of the other."
Insane: "Yes, well, fascinating as this has been, do you have the items on the list?"
Woman: "I am no simple trader! I deal in fortunes and destinies, not simple knicknacks..."
Insane: "Well, the thing is... these simple knicknacks may well hold the key to our destin..."
(But the cart is ablaze with the woman's anger, and the green light turns to red, then flashes with violent color as the woman seems to grow tall, massive and furious. The light becomes unbearable, and white hot, and nothing can be seen in a sudden explosion...
And they find themselves lying on the ground, a bag next to them, containing all the ingredients.
They return to the others.)
The X-Pendables and the LICC team are gathered together in the market, unsure of what exactly to do now that they have all the ingredients but can't determine if they should use them or not. Milkshake, looking over the list one last time turns the paper over to find the directions to Dnar'af's office.
Back on the ship, Delgado returns to the ready room and sits down in front of the still-closed bag. He takes a moment to steel himself, then opens the bag, staring into its bulging confines with some apprehension. After all, who knows what's in there anymore... but he slowly sticks an arm in and begins to root around for the encyclopedias.
Alex: From what I've asked, if we made the potion, it's supposed to break an enchantment. Now, what if we made a slightly different potion?
Jackson: What if we refuse to play his sick little game? I suspect we can find other ways to repair the ship. Either that, or we all attack en mass...
Jackson regards the X-Pendables
Steve, think we could use a few more LICC members?
Commander Adon, the sensors have detected an unknown object on an intercept course with the Spidermobile!
That seems like it would be more along the lines of a merging, Jackson, and it seems a bit premature. Maybe...
Insane and Enesku rejoin the group, Insane immediately handing over a bulging bag. Milkshake digs through it in mounting surprise.
Mytos Shoe Polish, Lazebnikan Carbolic Soap, so that's what Dark Ghost Pigment looks like! Pete, how'd you get all this at once?!
Still fuming,
"The guy calls me an idiot and invades my mind and I'm impolite? What a hypocrite," he mumbles under his breath. He walks over to Protoplasmick to talk with him.
"So, what do you think? You think Kronides may be making us gather this stuff for some not so pure and good purposes?"
You may ask... but I'm not sure myself.
All right. As long as we're here, wherever 'here' is, we're pretty much at Dnar'af's mercy. I doubt this is the last quest he has in mind for us, so let's play along just a while longer. Let's get to Dnar'af's office, and start potioning. If these fellows want to talk more, they can find us there.
Delgado has littered the ready room with all sorts of miscelleaneous junk, including various bricks, sevearal slide rules, clay tablets, a surfboard... There hasn't yet been any sign of the encyclopedias, however, until his hand clasps down on what feels like it certainly could be a book. He drags it out of the bag, and lo and behold! A book! He checks the cover: LICC Culutral Database: Volume 5- Corinth to Dzertaria.
"A ha!" Dnar'af, if he's mentioned, should be inside this volume. Deglado opens the book and rifles through the pages, looking for the entry. At last, he comes upon it, and reads it aloud.
"Dn'araf. See Zorotaxian Mythology and Legends." His face falls, and he chucks the book off to the side.
"Here we go again..."
As the now-assembled team trudges up a rickety wooden staircase to reach Dnar'af's offices, they find Artsy and Keiran waiting for them there, both looking slightly distressed.
"Where've you been?" asks Commander Milkshake.
"Had to take care of something. One of those things." Morgan replies slowly.
As the team busies itself putting together its elaborate chemistry experiment, Artsy takes Enesku aside.
"Enesku, what happened to that Nikaren man when we tried to escape the castle, back on Ryli?"
"The object appears to be coming at us at about Warp 2. ETA is 2 minutes."
It appears to be a gigantic negative space wedgie heading for us...
Estimated time of impact is now 1 minute 30 seconds.
I bid Spades!
Dnar'af watches as the team piles into his office.
"Greetings Commander. I trust you were able to find everything. But, tell me, what exactly was behind the little fracas I saw?"
Just a little competitive shopping with a group of Bonus Buyers, nothing to be concerned about.
Ok, I think we may be ready to make a potion. Commander, shall I do the honors?
Go ahead.
Butrfli begins to chant, and one of the walls of Dnar'af's office fades, only to be replaced with a small kitchen. Butrfli gathers the ingrediants and the sheet and goes into the kitchen. Soon, there are things bubbling and cooking and Butrfli is busy with various things. Finally, Butrfli wanders out with a flask full of fluid and the remains of the stuff the group bought. With a wave of her hand, the kitchen disappears and the wall returns.
Here you go, one potion, fresh from the kitchen.
Jackson:...
Butrfli: Don't say a word. I know your strange sense of humor.
Jackson: Right...
Hmm, no one is doing anything about the object approaching because they're all playing ball on the holodeck.
Yow! Lt. Delgado just hit 4 home runs, very nice.
Oh well, I suppose I'm Captain now. Shields up, helm, bring us about. Scan the object.
Estimated time of impact... 16.9 seconds
15
14
13
...
3
2
1
Wipeout!
The sounds of plates and pans crashing to the floor are heard.
Fascinating. The space wedgie has passed through us.
This seems kinda familiar, doesn't it?
Somebody turn Star Dreck off.
Where's that sensor reading on the object!?
Dnar'af seems to brighten as Butrfli hands over the potion.
"Done so soon? Well, let's see how you fared..." Dnar'af herds the LICC away from the table where the Rune is resting. He sets the flask down and opens the Rune to the very middle of its pages. Carefully, he then pours a little of the potion into his hand, and from there, pours that directly onto the book, where it runs immediately into the crack in the binding. From there, he dips a finger in the potion and starts to spread the potion around the very edges of the pages, down the cut ends all around the book. While doing so, he begins to chant something, very softly, but with increasing emphasis as he works. By the time he has finished applying the potion, his chant is clearly audible:
"H'taeed y'msi laago y'mdna laago y'msi. Kast y'miak ueze foesi lahceht kee esi."
When this is done, he closes the book, and suddenly smashes the flask onto the cover of the book. The book shakes, as if from an internal tremor, and then all traces of the potion vanish as if they had been sucked inside the book's pages.
"I think it worked. Well done," Dnar'af announces. He slowly opens the book, and indeed, the pages are now covered in text. He slams it shut again.
"If I'm not mistaken, Commander, I need to make another visit to your ship. Why don't you and your men enjoy the marketplace for a while?"
And with a ZAP! he is gone.
On the ship, Delgado has recovered five more encyclopedia volumes, but none is the one he is looking for. Suddenly, Dnar'af appears in the corner of the room. Delgado, though startled, speaks first.
"You again?"
"None other. Did that Commander of yours ever show up?"
"Which one? Milkshake? Or Adon?"
"Adon."
"Oh. Well, he was here earlier. Why are you here?"
"I have another gift for your fine ship. A cloaking device. From the looks of it, it seems like you could use one."
"What?"
"You should probably get to the bridge, then." Dnar'af walks out, and Delgado scrambles to follow him.
The LICC group wander back into the marketplace and regather with the X-Pendables.
Jackson: Well, we made and gave him the potion. I suggest we come up with a plan to stop or even sabotage his next quest. Like I said before, I could ask the Cybertec dealer for a little help. I'm sure they would be happy to give us the latest technology.
"I'm afraid vendors in this place tend to be a little transient, Jackson."
Morgan waves to the large lot formerly taken up by the Cybertec dealer. It now lies empty.
"I've been to this place before. One vendor that might just have what we want is Izhak. He's got a black market of sorts going that's stunning in size and variety of items. We'll most likely find something useful at his stalls."
What happened to Nikaren? I'm not sure I remember... I think he was killed by a lightsaber. Then again, I'm pretty sure I remember him just being knocked out. Maybe someone else knows. That Observer or Keith or whatever he calls himself now.
Suddenly, there is a great stir in the marketplace. Vendors become skittish and start closing up their booths. Through the crowd, our heroes can make out large groups of soldiers moving into position at the entrances and exits to the square, sealing it off. And they don't appear to be in any great hurry to let people leave...
"What in the world? Looks like they're surrounding the place." Rikard turns to Milkshake.
"You think it has anything to do with us, sir?"
Well, we did put on quite a show earlier, maybe somebody didn't like it.
Seems like this would have happened earlier, if it was because of us.
A soldier appears on a balcony overlooking the square. He pulls out what appears to be a flare gun and fires it into the air. It makes a noise much like an airhorn and sends up a shower of red sparks, attracting the attention of everyone in the square. The initial hubbub of the soldiers' appearance dies down as the crowd waits for the soldier to speak.
"My name is Colonel Nillepez, and I regret I must inform you all that this marketplace will be closing early, due to the detection of highly illeagal activities inside."
This draws an angry stir from the crowd, but Nillepez is undaunted.
"Activities such as trafficing in illicit goods, the use of class-9 transformative substances, and meddling in temporal affairs have all been discovered, along with a number of other minor infractions, such as fraud, prostitution, and street brawling. Thus the Naleef Magistrate office has seen fit to order my soldiers to search this crowd and arrest all lawbreakers. In order to make this as quick and orderly process as possible, we ask for you to please exit the marketplace, slowly, though the north enterance, where our soldiers will process you. Thank you for your cooperation."
Morgan mutters under his breath. "Illicit goods, transformative substances, that's us. Temporal affairs, that's me."
Artsy's hair blossoms a darkened blue. "Then it did happen."
Milkshake looks sharply at Morgan
What have you been up to?
"Wait, what happened? What are you two talking about?"
"There's a seller here that specializes in extremely rare items, most with some type of power over time and space. I had the means to purchase a limited temporal transit, and so I did. Artsy accidentally came with."
Morgan looks at Milkshake and Rikard.
"Think about what happened at the castle, with Nikaren, the owner. Our fight. Your memories are confused, aren't they? In a short while they'll stabilize and you'll only remember what I changed the past to. But now you know that I killed him originally, and managed to avoid that by traveling back."
Steve, according to the dimensional database, we're about a half dozen dimensions away from home. Luckily, we're in the same temporal period. Unfortunatly, we have no way of getting there... my suit doesn't do dimension hopping, and the Lucy in the Sky is not in the best of shape, technologically. If I'd know this thing would happen, I would have picked up a D-hopper or one of those things from one of the Slider universes... Butrfli?
Butrfli: Another dead end. I can do limited dimension hopping with a spell, but it's designed for maybe two people at most. It was designed for this sort of situation, but not this many people in mind.
Rikard gives Keiran a confused look.
"What are you talking about? You didn't kill Nikaren. I-." He stops in midsentence, trying to remember what happened. "Wait a second, you had your lightsaber. But, you turned it off. You didn't kill him. He nearly killed you and so I shot him," he says, still puzzled by the situation.
"So you're saying you killed him, then later traveled back to stop yourself. Why?"
Morgan raises his eyebrows in surprise.
"Why not? I knew I could have stopped him without taking his life, and so I did."
"It was greatly fortunate he did so. To one of you, anyway."
The heavily-furred Quinn is sitting on an intricately carved chair at a carpenter's stall not 2 metres away from the small clot of conversing heroes. Indeed, he may have been there all along...and not noticed. Somehow.
Let me guess.. he was one of Artsy's ancestors, right?
"What?!"
Dnar'af and Delgado enter the bridge from the Ready Room, as Adon enters from the turbolift.
Oh, its you. I hope you haven't come back for any spare parts in our cargo bay.
In keeping with the de-techno theme, the a black ball with a sputtering fuse appears....
Hi! I'm a 30 second bomb!
Hi! I'm a 29 second bomb!
Hi! I'm a 28 second bomb!
...
Woohoo!! It's da bomb!! YEAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rikard is very surprised to see Quinn
"Dude, it's you! The guy from the forest on Ryli!! What are you doing here? Not a native to that planet?"
"What's your name, anyway?"
"Hardly," Dnar'af snarls. Then the appearance of the bomb provides a momentary distraction.
"You know, the least you could do is make that thing go away," Delgado observes.
"You're right," Dnar'af conceeds, and the bomb dissapeares. He returns his attention to Adon.
"Your comrades have successfully completed their second mission, and in keeping with my side of the bargain, I'm here to install a cloaking device for your ship."
The black sphere with a sputtering fuse is now surrounded by pears (and a partridge, for some reason)
Quote:the bomb dissapeares.
"You can call me Quinn, and that one-" he says, pointing to Jackson, "-is more observant than he normally seems."
Who was that guy? I've not seen nothing like him before!
"How irritating. Do you get these often?" The bomb dissapears again, and this time, Dnar'af sends it to the heart of a nearby star.
"Well, don't let me interrupt anything else you were up to."
Dnar'af finds the old cloak controls, which are now a cupboard containing a really, really big black sheet. He places his hands on the sheet and closes his eyes. Seconds later, the sheet starts to writhe, taking on a life of its own. It starts to pull itself out of the cabinet, slowly covering the cupboard's surface. Dnar'af doesn't move while this goes on, nor does he flinch when, having covered the station, the cloak starts to radiate light. The light grows, as before, until it fills the bridge, and then it disspates, leaving in its wake the new cloaking station.
"Now, then, you'll excuse me..." Dnar'af dissapears with a ZAP!
He rematerializes in his office, in time to see another column of soldiers marching up to the marketplace.
"Hmmm... this is odd."
Jackson opens his mouth to answer Dnar'af when he realizes what Quinn said. He looks at him and says
Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence. So how was he related to Artsy?
He was her father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
So what does that make them?
Absolutely nothing!!!!!!!!!!
Good, he's gone. Well, since there isn't much else we can do about that ship, activate the cloak.
The cloaking device activates and seems to function normally.
Did you see that book he had? There's something, not quite right about it.
"I didn't notice anything unusual about it, sir. But speaking of books, I've still got an encyclopedia to find..." And with that, Delgado returns to the Ready Room.
The mysterious object, meanwhile, continues on toward intercepting the Spidermobile, apparently unaffected by the cloak...interception in 90 seconds.
Artsy, grey-brown with skepticism, gives Jackson a look. "My ancestor?" Her glance shifts to Keiran, and her color deepens to uneasy blue-green. "I suppose anything is possible. I--I don't even know my mother's name." The artist's hand lightly touches the glistening ring on her finger. "But that might explain why...."
"It would make the ring an heirloom." Keiran smiles at her, but Artsy doesn't smile back.
"They used to say I was a genetic throwback," she mutters. "At the institute. But Nikaren wasn't a color-shifter. I don't think."
"Throwback. Hmm. That word implies regression, or a relic. She is none of those. But now you know a bit of the truth, perhaps enough to one day unravel the knot. But there may not be enough time."
And then, without another word, the coal-haired man stands and turns to depart.
Spotting the odd group standing around conversing while most people are scurrying out of the marketplace, a determined group of soldiers makes its way through the throng, straight for our intrepid heroes.
This time, the bomb goes where Dnar'af sends it, along with even more pears! Unfortunately, after the time runs out...
Quote:The bomb dissapears again, and this time, Dnar'af sends it to the heart of a nearby star.
"Commander, we're detecting a star going supernova 8 light years from our current position. And that unidentified object is continuing toward us at Warp 2. It should be hear in about 45 seconds."
R.I.P. The Husnock, the Borg, the Goa'uld and the Pee-Wee Herman Fan Club.
"Commander, we're detecting a star going supernova 8 light years from our current position. And that unidentified object is continuing toward us at Warp 2. It should be here in about 45 seconds."
The correct spelling is 'heer'.
"So, you're just leaving? Um, okay, have a good day. Good to see you again. I guess." Rikard shrugs and turns back to the group.
"Now, wait a second, if you killed Nikaren before, and he was an ancestor of Artsy, wouldn't that have negated her existance? Wouldn't she have disappeared or something."
He raises an eyebrow.
"And does it look like that group of soldiers is coming right toward us?" he whispers
Is there anything we can do about that object? No? Well then, lets get ready to see who they are and hope they don't want to take hope pieces of our hull as a keepsake.
First, Josh, time can do strange things... even patch itself in times of temporal strangeness.
Maybe the fact that Kieran went back and didn't kill Nikarean did something.
As for the soldiers, they are indeed coming for us. Somebody go talk to them.
Keiran is very, very pensive and fairly alarmed about this recent turn of events.
"Patching the timeline has been my business for...longer than I can remember, but one thing I know about it is that it's adaptive. I must have been meant to travel back--"
The foremost soldier in the team heading towards them, perhaps more grandly attired than the rest, approaches within vocal distance.
"Hold there, all of you!"
Keiran grimaces. "Decision time."
(Speaking low enough that the soldier cannot hear it, Mick says)
Well, maybe Mr. Mind Control (indicating Rikard) & the green dude (indicating Ojanon) should tell those soldiers that we're just innocently waiting for the scurrying crowd to thin out a little because we don't want to be injured by the guilty people rushing to get out?
(The X-Pendables X-Communicators activate. On the readout screen is the information that because of Dnar'af, a star supernovaed and destroyed four civilizations.)
The object intercepts the cloaked Spidermobile, and keeps pace with it for a few seconds. Then, in a shimmer of light, it beams itself directly onto the Spidermobile's bridge, where it hovers at eye-level near the Engineering station. It is a metal spheroid, about the size of a grapefruit, with no particular markings. Alarms begin to blare, but the object shakes once, and they are suddenly cut off. Then, over the bridge intercom speakers, a familiar voice crackles.
I mean no harm. Do not attack.
The nattily dressed gaurd points to the superhero group and addresses two of his fellow soldiers.
"Take a reading on these folk."
The two gaurds step forward. One holds a small book, the other a construction of sticks that vaguely resembles a tennis racket in overall shape. The gaurd with the sticks chants and starts waving his instrument over the team. In a few moments, he steps back and consults the soldier with the book. They then address their superior.
"One of them had something to do with the timeline flux. Other than that, they're clean."
Rikard nods at Protoplasmick's suggestion.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea."
Turns to the guards.
"Hi there fellas. What seems to be the trouble?"
A man, wearing a maroon uniform and an obvious toupee beams in. He speaks to Rzcrntz & Gldnstrn...
Aren't you dead?
He beams out.
As the mysterious voice speaks, Delgado bursts out of the Ready Room once again.
"Did anyone else hear that?"
In the marketplace, the soldiers address Rikard.
"The trouble is that one of you has been recently attempting to alter the timeline. On this world, that is a capital offense. Unless the changes can be corrected, of course."
Morgan speaks softly from the back of the group.
"On the contrary, the alterations were in fact corrections. Reversing the changes would lead to paradox."
The lead solider is nonplussed by Keiran's response.
"We've certainly heard that before. Best to get you to the magistrate's and let them sort it out. These things always give me a headache."
He adresses the group at large.
"We know there were at least two people involved in the disturbance. It would be very much easier if you identified yourselves now."
And then a very faint voice resonates in Milkshake's mind.
"Let Dnar'af know I've been taken. If all else fails, I can get away myself. I'm very good at it."
Morgan steps forward and speaks to the soldier in charge. "It's just me you want, I was responsible for the changes."
Captain, do you know who we are? We happen to be delegates to the twenty-first Interstellar Convention of Sentients. I hereby claim provisional diplomatic immunity and as such, that we be allowed to vacate this planet immediately so as to perpetuate no more unintentional crimes.
Milkshake puts what authority he can into his performance.
Hmmm, I wonder what's behind this door that says 'Warning! Do Not Enter! Danger!!!'?
(he opens it up and is attacked by a white tiger)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa...!
Well, I never expected this kind of Spanish Inquisition.
(At that moment dozens of Spanish Cardinals holding racks & carrying comfy chairs come out of nowhere from behind the soldiers)
Cardinal Ximenez: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
(With this sudden distraction Asturot teleports the X-Pendables to the building where Dnar'af's office is)
Devil Girl: Good thing they didn't realize we can send text messages on our communicators, but should we have left LICC back there?
I don't know. However I think the only way to figure out what is going on is to confront Dnar'af himself without LICC or those soldiers around.
(Mick alters his appearance to that of Commander Milkshake)
Let's hope he accepts me as the real thing.
(Mick goes into Dnar'af's office.)
Dnar'af is startled at faux-Milkshake's appearance.
"Commander, I didn't expect you back so soon, what with the soldiers cordoning off the square and all. Where's the rest of your fellows?"
Safe. However I want to know what this is all about? What are you after and who are the other people after it?
Carol: There's a white tiger attacking redshirts on Deck 5.
Duella (bored): They better catch it quick before we run out of redshirts.
Carol: You know, I never really understood the deal with redshirts.
Duella: You never studied Redshirt Theory at the Academy?
Carol: No. I was trying to have a life.
Duella (ignoring the insult): Well, basically it was determined that any dangerous mission would have a certain percentage of casualties. Sometimes inexperienced & unimportant people would die & sometimes experienced & important people would die. One evening after a particularly damaging loss of good men, some generals & admirals...
Carol: Who would naturally be safe.
Duella: ...were discussing this over drinks and they decided that the thing to do would be to load up ships and troops with the unlucky, the suicidal, and the incompetant to scew the possibility of dying away from the important people.
Later they added short-lived clones & artificial lifeforms to this group.
Since red was a color that stood out and usually attracted enemy fire in battle they decided that red would be the perfect color for this select group of cannon fodder.
Carol: The tiger got another redshirt.
Duella (bored): I'm fighting to hold back the tears.
Redshirt Union Leader: Hey! That's not very nice! Sure we know it's a short life & some of us don't even have names, but we perform a valuable service! We deflect the law of averages away from the rest of you!
Duella (mechanical voice): I'm sorry. Apparently you were trying to reach someone who cared. Please hang up & don't call again.
RUL: All right! That's it! (activates the shipwide communications) Until we get the respect we deserve, I'm calling a strike! All redshirts take off your shirts! (all the redshirts on the ship do so)
Duella: Eeeeeew, you're almost as hairy as a Furby.
RUL: Laugh while you can snooty girl, but now the law of averages is affecting everyone on this ship equally.
(at that moment a yellowshirt slips on a banana peel and falls and breaks his neck. A blueshirt trips over the yellowshirt's body and falls onto a computer console and gets fried by 470000 volts.)
RUL: See! It's started already. (goes over to a replicator) 47 signs that read "LICC is unfair to Redshirts". (he takes the signs and goes to distribute them)
Carol: Well you've done it now, sis.
...and then someone explained how the non-Redshirts managed to use a replicator on a ship which had its technology retro-ed out of existence!
"Safe? Commander, your people are still in the marketplace, which, judging by the altercation I saw earlier, may not be as safe as you'd like. Especially with those soldiers prowling around, although I doubt your team has anything to do with what they're after, since you were so concerned about not breaking the law earlier."
Steve, should I go to Dna'raf's office to see if he can help us in any way?
Oh no, now he's making up organizations.
"Keiran, are you sure about this?"
He then turns to Jackson.
"I don't think they're going to let us go until they leave with Keiran, Jack.
Actually Nitinsky that has already been explained. Dragonette, one of the Legion of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions, cast a spell that has been slowly reversing the obsolesence effect.
Nitinsky: Yes, but those posts were made by KAM and no one pays attention to his ramblings.
Ooops! You're right. Forget I said anything.
I will not be ignored!!!
Yes, you will. You're a KAM character.
Oh, drat.
(meanwhile in the K-NIT Dimension KEM looks at a calendar)
(thinking) Yes! Just two more days and the statute of limitations will expire and the Evil Executive will no longer be able to blackmail me into working for the show. I'll be free! Free!
Ooops! He's coming. Better make it look like I'm working.
(typing)
Pjdsmnfo: Jszd; lmfjoi ijdosflk dsfs siesajkoiux dsa 098 09a, MSA I UIJWQ FD9I fglvgoj
My people are not in the marketplace.
Walks into KEM's office
Good News, Everyone!
Congress has extended the statute of limitations indefinitely! You can be convicted for anything, any time!
Dnar'af smiles wanly.
"This really isn't like you at all Commander. Blustering about how your people are safe when they're still in the marketplace. I thought you would know better... but judging from what I've seen from your team so far, perhaps I was wrong. If you're worried about legal troubles, the only thing I can do is assure you that from this point forward, as long as your team is able to behave itself, there won't be any trouble there.
"As for what I'm after, I can tell you that I'm the only one that wants it, but there are others who would keep it from me."
I'll be fine, Josh.
Anonymous - 0
Mr. Snide - 1
I'm sure he can take care of himself. He's an adult, for goodness sake...
Butrfli addressing the soldiers
Was there any complaint or comment on the activity earlier? The flying women and all?
In the K-NIT Dimension
Congress, realizing that they accidentally left out the provision that exempted members of Congress from prosecution, pushed the Supreme Court to overturn the law as unconstitutional, and they did.
At Dnar'af's office building
A group of demons smashed through the walls weilding magic wands, Devil Girl & Protoplasmick were pulled into another dimention.
On the Spidermobile
Carol: Well you've done it now, sis.
Duella: Like it matters. (At that moment a supply ship from Earth arrived at the Spidermobile with replacement crewmembers & it took those crewmembers who were moving on to other assignments away, as well as those crewmembers who were going on vacation.) I am out of here!
Good News, Everyone!
Congress passed a new statute of limitations removal, exempting themselves!
You can still be arrested, anytime!
"Flying women? That sounds about par for the course for this event." The lead soldier confers with his men one last time. He then addresses Keiran. "Why don't you come with us?"
"Very well."
The soldiers depart, Morgan in tow.
Jackson: Ok.. Now what? Wander to Dnar'af's office to get our next assignment? Try to get back to the ship?
Butrfli, speaking to Devil Girl: Do you happen to have any dimensional travel spells? Maybe we combine spells and get our people away from here...
I think one or two of us should stick with Keiran. The rest of us could report back to Dnar'af. Find our next assignment and get it done. What do you think, Commander?
Good call, Number One. Pete, Josh, shadow Keiran. Make sure you don't have any contraband on you or you won't get out of the market. The rest of you, back to Dnar'af's.
Morgan is hustled along in the firm grip of the soldiers, passing without contention through the phalanx blocking the market exit and into the dimming city proper.
And out of the crowd dispersing outside the marketplace, Quinn approaches, falling in step with the small group. The soldiers take no notice of him, and with a vague smile on his face, he speaks to Keiran.
"Why indeed did you go back? You did not know the man was ancestor of she who owns your soul, and you have taken the lives of many."
Morgan looks quickly at the soldiers flanking him and holding tight to his arms. They seem not to notice. Turning back, he answers, anger seeping into his tone.
"Do you even know what it is to kill someone? I'm no longer an Observer, I'm not required to take lives, no matter how they affect things for the better. I am not going to do it any more." He finishes in a icy, slightly shaking voice.
The lead soldier addresses Keiran once they exit the square, heading in the opposite direction from Dnar'af's office.
"I must ask you, what do you know of the legal structure of this city?"
It's a big building with judges, but that's not important.
Morgan is startled when the lead soldier questions him, yet the man still doesn't notice Quinn, nor the conversation they are having.
"Little." he replies. "A suspect must stand before a trio of judges, five for capital crimes, but that's about it."
He looks back towards Quinn.
"Your decision was not entirely your own. If she were lost, you would be lost. It's just the way of things. You understand, don't you?"
Keiran gives Quinn an incomphrehending look. Quinn glances up at the fading light of day on Falkshaja/Naleed.
"She is your matching aspect. She is Creator. You, Preserver. Within you resides the Alterer, who is a danger to you both. But all must fear the one you haven't seen, Destroyer. This is your first warning."
And then Quinn is gone, as if he had never been there. The soldiers hustle Morgan towards the judicial building.
Far out, man...
The soldiers hustle Morgan towards the judicial building.
DO THE HUSTLE!!!
The soldier nods, still oblivious to The Mighty Quinn's dealings.
"The woman we're taking you to see, Spenzen, is the chief magistrate who will be overseeing your case. She won't be on the panel, though. If, as you say, there was a good reason for your making a temporal violation, you'll have to convince her first.
"And by the way, some of your comrades are following us. I hope they're not up to anything foolish."
"This is a strange planet," Rikard says to Insane as he looks through a pair of BushnellTM binoculars, formerly a very small, high tech visual enhancement device.
"I can see Keiran. Looks like they're taking him to some large building. They're probably taking him to the magristrate. Come on." They contiue to follow the small group.
Following Rikard and Insane...
Following Several Unknown People...
Following People with nothing better to do...
Following People Who Are Allied With the Several Unknown People...
Following People who are allied with the people with nothing better to do...
Rikard glances back.
"Hmm, there appears to be quite a crowd behind us. I wonder if they're going to the magistrate's building too."
(turns to all those people)
All right, who are you and where do you come from?
A person with mischief in his eyes sneaks up behind Rikard, tickles him and depants him. The person then runs off into the crowd.
The unknown people respond curtly to Insane's two queries.
Jedi-hunters. Here.
They then raise small cross-bow-like weapons and fire two darts into Insane and Rikard's chests.
Rikard quickly pulls hit lightsaber out and activates it. Unfortunately, he forgets that it is now a flashlight and the dart hits him squarely in the chest.
"Not good."
He draws his phase pistol, aims and fires at one of the assailants as his vision begins to blur.
This is, of course, after he pulls up his pants.
"All right, drag them in here."
scrape scrape
"Quick, quick!"
"Dolo's hit, I think she's alive, but unconcious."
"Too slow this time. Shoot first, talk later."
"All right, you have the tonic?"
"Here."
pop
"Make sure it goes down proper. They should be conscious enough to swallow."
blug blug
"It's going down. Both of them."
"Goodbye, Jedis number seventy-six and seventy-seven. You're going to feel strange without your abilities."
evil chuckle
"All right, cap the midicide, grab Dolo. We're gone."