World Tree MUSH

    The CEFS Archemedes plays host to in-flight briefing enroute to this star system. Every joining is guided to the main conference room located on deck two. It's a large room, with portholes that look out into the swirling miasma of the Leyline as the ships travel through it. To starboard, the bulbous shape of the Sanctuary can be seen several kilometers distant.

    The captain of the Archemedes, the stocky dwarf, sits at the head of the long table surrounded by holographic displays, while a hologram of a white-haired half-elf perches on a nearby seat, just slightly offset and 'phased' through the furnishing just a little bit. There are a few other crewmen around also, namely the Archemedes' science officer, and a small mechanical feline Doll curled up atop the table, looking to be 'asleep'.

    Morrigan is here-- staring out the porthole with Mary Contrary on her shoulder.
    "Ooooh..." They say in unison watching as the ship cuts through space via leyline travel.
    "Aaaah..."
    Sufficiently impressed, the Warlock turns away from the porthole.
    "Captain! Justina~. ... Just where are we going now?"
    She's genuinely curious, because most of the time she just kind of comes along for the ride and goes wherever Justina does because it usually leads somewhere interesting, fun, or dangerous. Or interestingly fun and dangerous.
    Mary flits off Morrigan's shoulder and lands by the feline Doll to start poking it curiously.

    "Lady Shuzenji, I... forgive me, but I still do not quite grasp why we are here."

    The young priestess from Arashi-no-Moto has been to space a couple of times by now, but it's still a very strange, foreign environment to her. And the older attendant standing behind her, currently bent down to murmur in her ear, is experiencing space travel for the first time. Even if there's magic involved, it's still a very new experience. And the statement puts a small frown on the younger girl's face. She's not quite clear on it either.

    So, with not the faintest shred of decorum, she lifts a hand to draw the attention of the captain and half-elf. "Excuse me. Matsu of the Shuzenji Clan, and attendant Furi. What exactly are we going out to do? I don't understand." Morrigan already has the 'where' covered, she may as well ask the 'what'.

    Filling in for the part of crewmember with mind powers is Talia Kyras. She remains stoic. Space travel is fairly normal to the Jedi Knight after all, instead she remains quiet. Seems everyone's beaten her to the obvious question: "What exactly did you call us here for?" She can't help but echo the others.

>> SUMMARY[Talia Kyras] >> Totally not Deana Troi, shush.

    There was such a thing as needing to get away, and Circe definitely needed some time away from home. Of course, it's a little awkward that one of the people she'd been constantly lying to and tricking was here as well, so she's going to deal with it the way any normal person would, and she wasn't totally unprepared for that.

    She has contacts in, turning her normally red eyes brown, and she's wearing a hat to hide her hair, namely. She'll also fold her eyes and watch quietly, very curious about just what is going on, but not wanting her voice to betray her. She probably hasn't thought through that her pig earrings will do that, but it doesn't really matter - she mostly just wants a sight of off-worlder tech and a break from her own problems.

    The Dwarf dismisses his holopanels, and leans forward on the table. "This star system was recently discovered by one of our non-organic scout ships... the Stukov wasn't equipped to do a full survey of the system, so instead dropped a nav-bouy and informed LineFleet when it hit a comm-bouy. We're out here to do a survey on the system." he replies, covering both Where and What, hopefully. "As for what Survey means, to those uninitiated, we are going to enter orbit of a planet, scan it from orbit, then send down an Ur-doll team to investigate any anomalous sensor readings."

    Talia's question earns a quirked brow from both the dwarf and half-elf. It's the latter who speaks, standing from her seat, and clipping through the table. "We asked you here, because we could use your skills and our teams would benefit from your expertise and experience." she remarks.

    The mecha-cat stirs when poked, lifting its head to bump against Mary curiously, before it stands and trots over to sit beside the Dwarf. Its 'eyes' are glowing purple optics, and its 'mouth' is an LED-like grill that begins to light in time to its words as it begins to speak. <I shall introduce myself begin proceeding. I am Merlin, the AI Persona in charge of operations. My protege,> it gestures to the science officer, a human who jolts at being included in the conversation. <Is Patrick McCormick, we shall be your contact point once initial scans have been completed. Preliminary findings from the nav-bouy sensors indicates that this star system is a very odd and unique arrangement. Imaging from LineBase 12's high definition telescope show a cross-section that looks like what one might find under an electron microscope... that is to say, atoms.> a holoscreen pops up, showing the star system in question, then overlaying a fairly typical elementary school physics text book image of an Oxygen atom... the resemblence is rather uncanny.

    Morrigan... Has absolutely no clue who Circe is.
    "Oh, cute earrings." The Warlock says idly before turning to listen to the dwarf captain and...
    The wakening cat-AI-Doll makes Mary squeak when bumped, but otherwise the Warlock and her Familiar listen intently.
    "Patrick McCormick, got it! --Huh atoms- I actually read a little bit about those. But I'm more of a magic specialist than a sciency--... type... Person."
    Morrigan waves a hand dismissively a though it's not going to stop her.
    "Hopefully I won't die horribly in front of everyone this time as we check things out."
    Haha what a joker. What a kidder. Hah hah hah.

    "Ah. Well, no arguments with that." Talia nods slowly. "In any case, I'm eager to help if need be."

    She does bite her tongue as she notices Circe. She'll do her best not to make things awkward, if possible. Talia will be watching Circe like a hawkbat, though.

    Talia makes a face at Morrigan and sighs. "Don't make a habit of that."

    In any case, she eyes the holographic screen and the Jedi narrows her eyes. "Looks like something I saw in astrophysics class at the temple."

    Furi looks... mostly enlightened. She does still lean down again to murmur to Matsu. "Lady Shuzenji, what is 'orbit', in this context...?" The white-haired shrine maiden turns her head slightly and replies in a soft voice, "It means that we'll be circling the planet, from very high up. Apparently, it's a very efficient way to stay close to a planet in space." Apparently grasping it at a basic level, the attendant straightens back up.

    Thoughtful, Matsu regards Merlin and McCormick, opting not to mention that she has absolutely no clue what an 'atom' is. Instead, she remarks, "While the presence of magic here makes me less... ill-equipped, than some other spacefaring realms, my talents lie in healing, purification, sealing and exorcism. Are there likely to be evil spirits, curses or corruption out on other worlds...?"

    "Alice Santiago." Circe introduces herself, giving Morrigan a smile. "Thank you; I made them myself. I'm a little bit of tech and a little bit of magic, so my first assumption when I see this kind of thing is that someone with a sense of humor made it happen somehow." She'll suggest, waving vaguely in the direction of the screen.

    "I do think that I may be able to help out with getting something off the readings, if nothing else? I'm not sure of the exact type of assistance you might require. My knowledge is mostly of biological components and nanotech, I admit." Circe will add, mostly truthfully for once.

    Patrick speaks up this time, his voice quavery and uncertain. He's not really used to talking to people it seems. "W-well... you know what they say... y-you can never discount the presense of evil spirits." he chuckles awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck before falling silent.

    Anyone paying attention to Justina might see her cover her mouth to stifle a giggle of her own, though no noise comes through her connection.

    The captain speaks up next, gesturing to Circe, then Morrigan. "While this may be 'scienc-y' as ye call it, We do expect te find plenty of magic stuff t'sink proverbial teeth inte." 

    A shipwide announcement rings out. "Emergance point reached, breaching to Real Space." The swirling maelstrom outside shifts, and then seems to 'peel' along the hull of both ships before the dark of Space replaces it and the distant shape of the Sanctuary can be seen folding in its Radials followed by the telltale flare of sublight engines driving it forwards now its back under newtonian law. The Archemedes is clearly doing similar operations, though there's no sense of acceleration.

    <"We will be arriving at the system in the next four hours. Are there any further questions? If not I suggest you get a bit of rest before we reach orbit. I will send for you once we require you.">

    Morrigan claps her hands once.
    "Oh good. I'm way more specialized in magic, so I won't feel useless!" A pause.
    "Man wouldn't it be a kicker if the planet was inhabited by evil spirits."
    That would actually be some kind of nightmare, but just in case it's a good thing Matsu is coming along.
    Then the ship is once again in realspace.
    "No questions!"

    "It's good you tend to put your eggs in more than one basket, as it were." Talia notes to the captain, shooting Patrick a quizzical look. She's not sure if Jedi count as actual wizards, compared to what she's heard of the Nightsisters and folks such as Matsu and Morrigan, but she at least can count on sensory stuff. If that's any good, anyways.

    "I've no further questions." She'll spend those four hours meditating.

    Matsu gives Patrick an arched eyebrow. She's not sure if that's actually a saying here, or if he's just trying (and failing) to be reassuring. "I see." It's about the most tactful response she can manage. But they're finally arriving near their destination; that much, she's interested enough to watch. And, for a very brief while, she legitimately looks her age, a quiet and curious girl watching something interesting.

    Only once it's over does the stoic mask of a young noblewoman steal back onto her face. "I have no questions either. We'll retire to our quarters for now." As she moves to stand, she regards Circe curiously. That's a new face, after all.

    Circe tilts her head back as she listens to the announcements, the slight glow of an implant visible even through the contacts in her eyes. She'll hum to herself and nod, saying. "I'm mostly tech these days, anyways. Is there any sort of documentation on the process I can read up on while we approach? I'm not really much for just resting idly when there's something I could be doing." That counts as her question, and is seems like 'Alice' is trying to take in the view more than anything as they shift back into normal space.

    "...A digital library I could get access to would obviously work best." She'll add, not thinking it likely that a ton of physical books are on board but preferring to avoid finding out by being handed them.

    <"I will have our archives opened for access in your quarters. Make use of the terminal on the table."> replies Merlin to 'Alice'. The rest of the locals make to leave themselves, Justina's form simply 'winking' away like the other holoscreens when she disconnects.

    Four hours can seem like both an eternity and only moments at once depending on what you do with the time. Either way the pair of ships enter orbit, and begin scanning the surface. Everyone is called to the bridge, where a large simulation pit dominates the center, with a holographic construction of the planet below building within the central dias as sensor data fills in. There are several points glowing on the partial map already. <Curiouser and Curiouser we were not expecting magical signatures, let alone ones this powerful."> says Justina over comms, her 'physical' presence not required.

    "Indeed. I have marked landing zones for Alpha, Charlie and Kappa sites. They seem to have the highest concentrations of magical energy. I am tasking DSG Omicron-12 (Star Spectres) to site Alpha... I would suggest you pick another site so we can get some crossreference of two sites at once."> replies Merlin.

    The previous post was a lie. Talia does not meditate the whole time. She does try, to give her credit, but all she can see is just that dammed misty town, the Death Knight with a cursed sword skewering Morrigan, seeing her friends having been slaughtered, seeing Serissa again...

    It's enough that she decides to Hell with that idea, and Talia instead just goes on a wikiwalk, to say the least, after a strong pot of tea to calm her nerves.

    After they reach the planet's orbit, Talia's already up to speed more or less.

    "I sense it. I'm going to investigate site Charlie." She says tersely, just wanting this weird misadventure over with.

    Circe will nod in response to that, moving to the terminal in question and.. Well, the terminal will have something start interfacing with it, specifically the various implants in Circe's brain which will begin trying to pull the data off of it and through her as quickly as possible, leaving her at least seemingly non-responsive for most of those four hours as she tries to get as much reading in as she can. She's not even thinking to hide this with how common these sorts of implants are at home, and the circuitry behind her eyes becomes much, much more visible, glowing red lines obvious even through the brown contact lenses.

    Exactly four hours later, she'll blink and pull back from that terminal, making her way to the meeting, brain at least a little fuzzy from such an extended session. She was never wise about taking rest. "Aah. Well. I'm happy to come along with whichever site we decide on." Strength in numbers, and all.

    "I will join Kyras," Matsu offers simply, as both she and her attendant arrive. Furi raises a hand, adding, "I shall remain here. Lady Shuzenji has made me aware of Lady Kyras' formidable battle prowess, so I may entrust my lady's safety to her, and my own presence would merely be a hindrance, I believe."

    "Oh hey Talia, how you doing?"
    Morrigan? Who the hell knows how she spends four hours. All that matters is that she's THERE when Talia is getting her tea, sipping on a mug of coffee, while Mary stands on her shoulder drinking coffee-flavored jelly.
    "This stuff is great, you know that right? It's like getting a short little rest in the span of a few minutes just from drinking something hot."
    Coffee and Warlocks should not be mixed.
    But after the four hours are up, Morrigan returns.
    ... Holding an entire carafe of coffee.
    She's a little jittery as she sips.
    From the carafe.
    Directly from the carafe.
    'Isn't that hot?' one might ask.
    'Extremely!' Morrigan would answer chipperly.
    But that is neither here nor there as she sets the carafe down.
    "Oh, I can chill with Alice, then."

    "W-we don't have enough Ur-Doll frames or Projection Rigs to give you each one on top of our own team, but we did ensure we had vacuum-rated hardsuits... you c-can find them in the ansible on deck five... that's where our away teams gather equipment and power their rigs before we send them down... there is a teleporter array down there so once you're suited up, w-we can get you moving." that's Patrick, his face mostly buried in a tablet computer. When he's not looking at people he can seemingly at least talk in their general direction with some clarity.

    Down in the ansible, barring any further questions, are several body-suits that seem far too small for anyone save a fairy or pixie.

    One of the Doll operators shows how to put the suits on, a twist around the collar loosens the suit to a large, baggy form, and then twisting the wrists causes it to shrink down onto the body, forming a sealed suit that doesn't restrict movement Helmets and various armour and utility attachments are provided too, these magically attach to the suits and link up to the helmet HUD.

    "Captain Thyme will meet you on the surface. Do not take unncessary risks, and if you feel your life is in danger, use the recall button. It is located on your right thigh and requires a two second depression to activate. HUDs light up, and draw the eye down to a 'panel' in the suit material.

    Talia does her best not to be too terribly shocked by Morrigan's sudden greeting. "Better. For what little good that is." She murmurs sourly, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she gets herself some tea.

    Also a sandwich.

    Later on, she borrows a bodysuit when it's offered.

    "Isn't that hot?" one crewmate might ask.

    "Extremely!" is Morrigan's answer, as she holds onto the carafe like a mug.

    Talia raises an eyebrow as she observes this while getting suited. "Indeed."

    When Matsu gets her first look at a hardsuit, her reaction is one of wide eyes and embarrassment. "I... I-I'm to wear this? It's... it's rather... I don't precisely have shinobi training, so something like this is..."

    She'll get into it. Eventually. With enough prodding.

    It's a little difficult to get her ofuda holster strapped onto the hardsuit, but she'll manage. Somehow. When the HUD lights up on her helmet, the little immortal lets out a startled squeak and jumps a bit in place, before finally turning her eyes down to follow its indications. "I-I see."

    Alice, it seems, at least had a very slight amount of attention to spare. She'll get into her own suit, but not without murmuring in Morrigan's direction. "That's actually a relatively weak stimulant, as these things go. Ask me sometime when I might not be about to depend on you not being incredibly twitchy to not die and I'd be happy to introduce you to some of the alternatives.

    Circe doesn't really think through that she's given a false identity again, so she won't really have to fulfill this offer later.

    "...Is the teleporter, ah, safe?" She'll ask, showing at least a mild amount of concern about the technology for the first time. Teleportation isn't something she's worked with before.

    "It's fine! I'm fine! Everything will be fine!" Morrigan says as she clambers into a ballooned out enviromental suit like she's done so before.
    She has.
    Snapping the helmet into place after shrinking the suit to her figure, she's ready to go.
    "Don't worry! My middle name is 'No Unnecessary Risks'. That's 'Morrigan No Unnecessary Risks Lor'osa' for my full name."
    "You don't have a middle name." Mary Contrary points out from her perch on Morrigan's shoulder.
    Morrigan reaches up and plucks the shinki's jellycan from her hands.
    "No more of that stuff for you. It'll make you jittery."
    "H-hey!"

    <"Teleporters use a technological base to stabilize a Teleport spell for long-distance travel. It is as safe as using the spell alone."> says Merlin. Not that the teleport spell is exceptionally 'safe' itself, so there we have it.

    "We've not had a teleporter accident for twelve years. They happen but are very rare. It's much safer than the sci-fi vids would want you to believe." remarks one of the crewmen.

    Once they're equipped, the team is indicated to the teleporter, which then translates them planetside after a warning countdown.

    "This won't fuse any of us with a fly, will it?" Talia's seen that movie. It's made her VERY wary of teleportation technology ever since. It's already one of the few things in her galaxy that's downright a myth. She focuses, trying to keep her composure as she and Matsu are beamed to Charlie.

    "May the Force be with us." is the last thing she says before they're teleported.

    Wait.

    What?

    "Wait. Teleporter accident?" Matsu asks after a blink and a pause. "What exactly is a teleporter accident? What sort of-" Poof.

    When they come out the other side, there will be a decidedly alarmed look on the girl's face that she tries desperately to hide before Talia can get a good look at it. The fact Talia can probably sense her brief moment of intense concern is seemingly lost on her.

    Morrigan pauses.
    "Wait. What kind of teleporter accidents?"
    Mary shoves her.
    "I'm serious! What kind of acci--"
    Shove shove.
    "WHAT'S THAT ABOUT A FLY?!!?"

    "...Ah. Well, I can probably fix myself if that happens, as long as you don't mess up my stack." Circe will muse to herself, not seeming terribly worried now that the main concern seems to just be merging with some animal. For some reason, this does not seem to strike 'Alice' as the horrific outcome the other three appear to be worried about.

    She'll take the trip over with relative grace, arms folded as she seems to be thinking over the possibilities of half-human half-insect abominations during the countdown, her concentration immediately broken in favor of exploring this new world and finding out what these magical signatures might be.

    Planetside, the quartet are met by a tall, slender looking but solidly built robot. There being no atmosphere here, the suit radios emit Justina's voice, with a little 'profile picture' to accompany the voice, showing the robot's head. "Alright, the marker is about three hundred meters this way. The other team could drop much closer due to favorable terrain. Lets hope you have your hiking legs on."

    The robot then turns and strides off, leaving the group behind unless they start moving to keep up. Gravity here is about 3/5ths earth, so everyone will be feeling a little lighter, but no 'leap into the sky' with a normal step kind of light.

    The terrain is barren and unremarkable, though it's an odd colour... the 'dust' here is green.

    Circe can easily make the hike, in spite of not really looking all that fit. Maybe the lighter gravity is helping her out a lot. Three hundred meters isn't too bad, at least.

    "Chlorite or heavy concentrations of iron, maybe?" Alice says to herself, holding her arm up to examine some of the dust more closely once it's coating her suit. She'll stop paying attention to where she's going, just following along after the others, a few steps slow due to her examination... And then she'll kneel down to prod at the ground underfoot, trying to see what the soil is like at least an inch or two under that surface. At least she'll keep that brief, even if noone yells at her to keep up.

    "AM I A FLY?! OH GOD ARE MY EYES ALL BUGGY? DO I HAVE A PROBISCUS?!"
    Morrigan's panic is allayed by a gentle patting from Mary.
    "You're fine, boss."
    "... Oh."
    ...
    "Not even a little buggy?"
    "Not even a little."
    "Okay!" Morrigan is... Right as rain right after that.
    She starts following Justina at a lope due to the lesser gravity.

    Matsu turns to follow after the robot - and immediately pushes a little too hard for her current body weight. It puts her right on her face... which doesn't actually hurt much at all. "...what." She manages to get herself up to her feet, then bounces a couple of times. Bounce bounce. "...why am I so light? Or did I just get stronger?" She follows along despite her confusion. Her stamina is still not that great naturally, but with the lowered gravity and her regeneration, it proves to be a much less difficult walk than it might otherwise be.

    There is, however, a side glance at Morrigan. And then Mary.

    "Should we tell her about the antenna?" she asks the shinki.

    Did... did she just...

    The hike is no issue to a Jedi. Talia can manage the hike regardless, but she skips ahead using the lower gravity. There's a reason for this, taking point is probably a job best left to her considering Matsu. "Seems we've no extra appendages." She murmurs, before she chuckles as she watches Matsu. "The gravity is a bit different, it's lighter meaning we're not held down as much.

    What Matsu says next actually gets the Jedi to snort.

    The banter is good, that means people are managing stress. 'Alice's pause gets a yell to keep up, but the trip isn't all that long. Justina stands at the lip of a crater, it seems to be some kind of partially sunken wreck from countless years ago... or a buried building that once stood on this spot. Either way, the group appear on a metallic outcrop, that then leads into a steep downward decline... and some kind of hatch assembly at the center of the crater basin.

    Talia peers down the crater, "Curious. Maybe a research outpost was here, or some kind of secrete hideaway." She muses, before the Jedi promptly leaps in without fear.

    Someone has to, and Talia can ignore fall damage.

    'Alice' will stop playing with the dirt and hurry to catch up, pausing as she takes a look at the ruins, or whatever it is that might be buried under the ground there. "Oh, this looks very interesting.." Circe will say, humming a little to herself, before Talia takes a leap of faith.

    "...Depending on how far down that is, she still might break her legs or even die in this gravity." She will mention, doing the mental math with the approximate gravity and also not sounding terribly worried about it one way or the other. "Do these suits have remote life signal detection so we can tell if she went splat?"