World Tree MUSH

    Orbital manufacturing facilities are common enough, and often extremely poorly maintained and dangerous for those working and living there. The station in question at the moment looks like both at the moment; lights dimmed, some sort of liquid venting out into space, and an automated distress signal repeating itself on loop.

    "This is a message indicating that there has been an engineering failure on board Manufacturing Platform JUP-IX-3901B and that no on board engineers have responded within the alloted time. Biological hazards may be present. Assistance required." This is followed with an automated offer of payment for the assistance with a long list of terms and conditions about getting said payment.

    The station has a number of docking ports, most meant for loading and unloading supplies and product. One of those is the source of that liquid, but most seem clear enough. No communication signals are responded to, however.

    It's not long before someone comes along to check out that distress signal. The sleek purple form of a Federation made gunship cuts through space on a course for the facility in question.
    Samus Aran, already in her power armor, pilots the ship one-handed with an incredible level of skill, pulling into a port and lining up perfectly to dock her ship.
    "We're good." She calls to her passengers after a moment, the ship's boarding ramp descends to allow debarkation.
    "No one's responded to any hails, be ready for anything."

    Athena has a fairly large stockpile of weapons and equipment, but that doesn't extend to her own personal starship. Hitching a ride whenever she can, this means she sometimes needs to grab a seat on an offworld vessel. Like... this week.

    It shouldn't be surprising to Samus that Athena can actually fight, or at least claims to. She did bring weapons and armor on board! Suiting up in her own variant of power armor - more akin to the bulky Federation armor than the sleek Chozo suit - Athena arms herself with an energy rifle and a slug-throwing sidearm, as well as her trademark extensible lance for melee.

    "Could just be a typical life support failure," she remarks. "Could be something unnatural. This is my world, and there are alien things or even magic here, though probably not the kind of magic you'd expect in other places. So be prepared for anything." She's moving forward off the ramp carefully, relying on her own supernatural 'spatial awareness' to get an idea of what's here.

    Lian Kamoya has long since learned to follow her hunches. The Force moves in mysterious ways. Sometimes it tells her she needs to hitch a ride with an unknown, tall woman in power armor. The poor Chozo scion was probably a tad baffled by this strange cloaked woman offering to join her without even knowing the destination, but it'll all work out, right? Right. Finding out that it was a distress call pretty much confirmed her choices.

    As Samus' gunship comes in, the Jedi closes her eyes, frowning faintly. "I sense quite a bit of life here. But their emotions are... muted. Strangely so. I'm not sure quite what we're heading into." She opens them again, then turns to head for the ramp, following behind Samus and Athena. She keeps her walking staff with her for the time being; might as well have it on hand.

    There's a thin haze in the air and a sort of slime on the ground; it can make things a little slippery, as those coming to the rescue get onto the station. The distress signal is still repeating over and over, but it's easily ignorable enough. There's not a ton of motion, but there are people around once the airlocks are cleared, unmoving but alive, slumped against walls or on benches. They are breathing, with many of them having open eyes, and completely unresponsive other than occasional blinks that don't appear to be a response to any stimulus.

    In fact, the only moving thing in immediate sight other than those boarding themselves is difficult to spot; a golden snake slithers along to take a peak in on the three coming into the station, before darting into one of the station's vents. It leaves a clear trail behind in the slime on the ground after, but that will only be momentary, enough to point out to one another at least.

    Heavy boots clank down on the floor as Samus steps off her ship's boarding ramp. Needless to say, she had been quite bewildered by Lian's insistance to join her, but when the distress signal cropped up, everything had made a little more sense. As long as the 'Seer' and Athena can take care of themselves- which both seem perfectly capable of doing, Samus does not minf having them along.
    The flicker of motion down low has the Hunter raising her armcannon at the ready, visor swapping to thermal to try and trace the snake-like creature as it vanishes.
    "Did you two see that?" She asks, stone calm as she passes her visor over the slumped people.
    "They're still alive, but..."

    The flicker of movement draws Lian's eye; but the Force doesn't warn her of impending attack, so her right hand never so much as twitches towards the lightsaber at her hip. The other keeps a steady grip on her walking staff. She frowns at the faint trail left behind, and then frowns eve deeper at the people. "...but there's nobody home, as they say," the Jedi finishes. "And yes, I saw it. If I sense any danger, I'll try and warn the two of you, but just in case, assume that we're being watched. By someone, or something."

    "If it's tech, it's nothing in common use," Athena notes, though whether it's to the comatose crew or the glimpse of a creature she saw, that isn't clear. "Then again there's a lot of weird research going on out here, so let's move on the assumption that it's a mundane irregularity." She also checks a pulse or two while talking, then glances at Lian. "Might be why you said they were muted. They aren't really thinking."

    She moves up next to Samus and readies her rifle, being deep enough in the station she isn't worried about rupturing the hull. "I saw something. Probably biological? Some illegal import that broke containment, or a study specimen maybe..."

    There's no further intrusion from the snake for the moment, in any case. There's a heavy, heavy drug on the people - something well beyond the norm for this world, to be able to affect so many with no fatalities, but all those around seem to be in the same condition. As the snake is followed, or the station is moved further into regardless, the full scale of this may be realized - there are thousands of people on board, and none seem to be responsive to comms or anything else.

    Also, as they head in, they may notice a note affixed to a computer terminal, with a cartoon piggy drawn on it and a speech bubble reading "Pieste Afto" - Push This in Greek. There's an arrow drawn pointing at a large button on that terminal. Athena may recognize, and those technologically inclined may be able to reason out, that this is a button to awaken the terminal from sleep mode.

    "Push this. That's what it says." Athena frowns. "And in Greek. My native language. That's not a good sign. This may be the work of one of my siblings." She glances at everyone else and shrugs, "Honestly, we have no reason not to, it's doubtful this is a trap just for us and I don't think it's rigged to explode. My guess is someone is trying to send a message. If you want to press it, go ahead. It's just to wake up the terminal... probably some preprogrammed thing happening if it wakes up."

    Deeper into the facility, then. And Samus frowns behind her visor at the sheer sight of how many people have been rendered into such a catatonic state. Then they reach the terminal.
    Athena translates the words in the speech bubble, but that isn't what bothers Samus.
    It's the piggy.
    A sigh filters through the Hunter's helmet speakers.
    "Circe."
    Looking between Lian and Athena, there's a poignant pause from the Hunter. Before she pushes the button.

    As they continue on, Lian's frown deepens a bit. "Whatever could have done this is... quite something," she murmurs absently. She pauses, however, when Athena and Samus come across a computer - tagged with a note over a button. It's a very clear invitation... and perhaps a trap. "I'm afraid I'm missing some context here," the older woman says. "Siblings? Circe? Is there a short version, by any chance?"

    After pushing the button, the screen will light up, with a loading bar of a pig doing a roll back and forth, before the image is replaced with one of Circe herself lounging in a chair of what looks like it might be a command deck, her hands behind her head, feet propped up on the desk, and what looks to be the commander of the station collapsed insensible beside her.

    "Oh, good, you're all the sorts to listen and follow instructions today. Never can tell what you're going to get with people these days." Are the first words out of her mouth, before she looks at the one she immediately recognizes... namely, Samus. "I could use some help, if you're inclined to listen and do a good deed and make some money and also not force me to do something you'll regret?" She'll say, even as that golden snake climbs up the chair she's in and wraps itself back around her arm.

    "That's Circe." Samus answers as the screen comes to life and... There she is.
    "She's got a chip on her shoulder with a megacorp from this universe, and is very good with nanotechnological toxins."
    That's the short version Samus has for Lian as she turns to the terminal.
    "Does the good deed involve returning all these people to normal?"

    "More like a cousin, then," Athena sighs. "Circe... so she's back, too? Lovely." Athena doesn't say too much more about it though, other than to note, "She was always good with potions, so now the disabling part makes sense."

    Now that Circe is actually on the screen, Athena crosses her arms and gives a measuring look. "What is it you want, then? Sorry, I'm fresh out of hunky married men for you to chase, this time." Looking at Lian, she adds, "In her defense, the megacorporations here do tend to be legitimately awful people. In my defense, she's more like a distant cousin than close family. Our grandparents were siblings."

    Lian listens, nodding quietly at Samus, and replying to Athena with a faint smile. "I'm not inclined to hold anyone's family against them. I'll judge you by your choices, and no one else's, don't worry."

    To Circe, however, her demeanor is a tad more stern; polite, but much less gentle. "I will admit up front, that holding a whole station of people hostage starts you at a bit of a disadvantage in my books. But at the very least, I'm listening."

    Athena speaks up, and it takes Circe at least a second to catch on. The exact moment she catches on is fairly obvious, because she goes from her relaxed demenor to flailing for a second, putting both feet onto the ground and sitting up, leaning forward. That does involve her feet actually kicking the commander in the stomach, but he doesn't seem to relax.

    "He broke into MY home and threatened to stab me and you know it!" Circe says, in what is a VERY one-sided but not factually wrong version of the encounter, her voice genuinely heated in a way Samus wouldn't have seen before. Lian and Samus may get the distinct sense of listening in on a long running and somewhat petty family squabble. "Or maybe you're addled enough to have forgotten like most of the rest of them? But you should be inclined enough to want to do this, too. This station manufactures material used in the process of making experimental types of clones. I want that to stop. And these people will go back to normal eventually when I leave the station; with this many affected, if I'm not monitoring it carefully I can't be sure they wouldn't die."

    The 'deep-seated family strife' voice is one Lian Kamoya knows all too well. The number of times she and other Jedi have had to mediate such disputes... well, it's old hat for them. But this one is not hers to mediate. So she just remains quiet, one eyebrow just barely lifted upward. Soon enough, the topic comes back around to what Circe actually wants from them, and the seer is all business from there. She trusts that the Force brought her here for a reason; if these people aren't in any real danger, then the reason is most likely the clones.

    Still, she might as well press for info. "What sort of experimental clones are these?" Lian asks, curious.

    Sigh. "Leaving out a few details there, aren't we? But that was literal ages ago so nothing to do with now." She glances around. "I mean, she's not exactly normal and kind of misanthropic, but Circe here isn't actually evil. And doing this is... I reluctantly admit, probably for the greater good of this world."

    Athena seems to support the plan! Then... "BUT!" She looks at Circe again. "If I help with this, I also want any information you have on other Olympians especially. Or even other Reborn you may encounter. Echidna's loose so it'd be good to get an idea of who is available. Deal?"

    Samus looks from the terminal to Athena and back.
    Family issues are not something she particularly understands.
    She was raised by two old space birds and a space bird dictator.
    Okay, certainly Old Bird, Gray Voice, and Raven Beak likely had disagreements, but not in front of little Samus, anyway.
    Regardless, the Hunter purses her lips.
    "I'd also like to know what kind of clones. And what we're supposed to do to deal with this."

    "This isn't some trick to try to get me to working for Olympus' end, is it? I'm even less interested in helping them gain power then I am in leaving the megacorps running things. I don't really care about giving you that kind of information, mostly because I don't have that much. I haven't been in this body long."

    She'll shake her head, visibly pulling herself back as Athena quasi-reassures the others. "Anyway. They're sneaking some tech that is pretty clearly meant to fuck with the stack of anyone who ends up sleeved into one of these into these clones and selling them as standard. I've got the design files and this one" and here she again kicks the man under her feet "owned up to knowing about it, but I have this little problem of being wanted for, well, you know. So I need someone else to 'find the evidence' for me and take it public, or I guess to some of United Process Control's competition. It's on the terminal there. You all interested? Um, they might try to murder you a little bit if you go along with it. I was planning on just knocking you all out too if you said no or didn't hit the button, but I didn't realize my kin would be here." Whether that makes her MORE or LESS inclined to go with the knockout plan is unclear, or maybe she just doesn't think it'll work on Athena.

    There are some terms being thrown around that Lian doesn't know... but enough of the context around them is falling into place that she can guess. People here are accustomed to using clone bodies, swapping in or out of them, and whoever runs this facility is sneaking in some undesirable extra features. Things that infringe on a person's very mind. That, Lian Kamoya decides, is entirely unacceptable.

    "I'm rather used to corrupt officials or executives trying to take my life for doing the right thing, I'm afraid," Lian says, her decision already obvious in her voice. "They'll have a rather difficult time of it." Her posture shifts just slightly, and she gives Samus and Athena both a glance, then nods to Circe on the screen. "I'll have to ask my fellows here for more information at some point. For now..."

    The Jedi glances at the terminal, then turns her back towards it to watch the area. "Best if someone else handles the terminal. I can if I must, but I'm better suited to defense."

    Deep sigh. Athena looks at the others. "Tampering with a stack is bad news, and honestly... well, no, I don't agree with her methods but this wouldn't really be morally compromising to us. If they're really doing that, we find the evidence and that should be that."

    She answers Circe, "No, no Olympus plot. I don't know what my old man is up to, and the only one I'm on good terms with is Ares, right now. Not exactly 'master manipulator' material there, so if dear old dad is up to something, your guess is as good as mine."

    Lian seems sold on it, so she nods and readies her rifle again. "Shouldn't be anything dangerous here, but just in case."

    "Well." Samus muses at the explanation. "It wouldn't be a first for me." She says on the topic of a huge faction coming to get her.
    No one ever really rooted out the shadow faction of the Federation yet, either.
    "I suppose I'm in."

    Circe makes a humming noise, and then seems to decide to push her luck, giving up a little bit of that information first. "Oh, tampering with a stack is great. Take your powerless mortal self, find a stack with the spark of something above and beyond... you might just get the most skilled nanotechnician in the universe, with a little tampering and a lot of bravery, cousin. I suspect some, maybe many? More of our kin are stuck in that state, chips in some drawer somewhere, being examined by those less skilled or daring than my mortal half. That's the main information I can give you on the state of returned, but I'll pass along anything else I learn."

    "...But if any of you would like to take part in something beyond just this, my intent is to eventually have those selfish bastards on top of all the megacorps left drooling, barking, and wetting the carpet for the rest of their days, no threat to crush anyone under their heels anymore, starting with the headquarters of United Process Control. Let me know if you want to help."

    As others work, and Lian stands watch - relying as much on her feel for the Force as her physical senses - the Jedi listens to Circe speak, having little to say on most of it. She does have a response, however, for the final offer. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass on all that. If they're corrupt and guilty of crimes, I'd gladly help to expose them, bring them to justice. But I've a distinct distaste for anything that infringes on someone's sense of self or personality. If that's the punishment you seek for them, I can't condone it." She doesn't add 'I might have to stop it'. It's tempting. But she really would have to get to know this... world? Universe? A bit better.

    "Lofty goals." Samus muses in regards to Circe's desires to reduce those running the megacorp to animals. As long as THAT doesn't involve Samus she might not care so hard, especially on hearing how horrible the megacorporations make everything.
    Nevertheless, the Hunter starts futzing with the terminal.

    Athena rubs the back of her head, then continues talking to Circe while Samus searches, pausing only to give some advice now and then. "I wish you'd stop with that habit, it's earned you a lot of notoriety. But I guess it'd be hypocritical to decry it too much." Thinking idly of Arachne, for example.

    Though Lian might not like Athena's take on it. "Honestly, reducing them to animals might be a mercy. Most of those higher-ups are probably suffering some severe soul rot by now. Hades or Persephone would know better about that, but they're not entirely human any more. I'm not condoning it, but I can't really say I'd stop her either."

    Circe has laid it out quite clearly in the file, with annoitations to explain some of the more complex tech. It's unlikely to be completely understandable to any of those present. "It is a mercy, for them and for all of us. I'm a merciful goddess, what can I say? But I suppose if you aren't interested in helping, I won't give you a heads up when it's coming. I'm hoping for the test run soon. There are things worth risking it all for; as you said, it's not the old days anymore, and I'm not letting myself get sidelined to some island in the middle of nowhere again."

    There's a slight flash visible in her red eyes of an implant providing an alert, and Circe will sigh. "I'm going to have to start letting some of them come out of it soon, and I shouldn't still be here when they do. Too many here to manage the food supply, you know? I trust you all can take it from here." She'll stand up, and humming to herself, give the commander one more kick to the ribs with the camera on.

    This whole situation sounds... complex. Lian decides she really will have to sit down and suss it all out later, when she's not in the middle of a cloning facility helping to expose corruption in the people running it. "Pleasant woman," the Jedi remarks dryly after Circe has wandered off, giving Athena something of a wry smile. More seriously, she adds, "How's the file look?" with a glance over her shoulder at Samus.

    Athena frowns, "Don't get carried away. Mortals have power these days, you can't just shrug them off." Sure, Circe seems to be careful right now with her physical state, but underestimating her foes can be bad. "I'm going to try to figure out what's happened with Echidna, for obvious reasons."

    She shakes her head at Lian. "She's not human. None of us have that perspective. I can't say I'm the nicest person either, I was just usually a lot more benevolent than my fellow Olympians." Usually. Don't ask people like Medusa that. "Let's get this info and get moving, I don't want to fight my way out of here. Maybe the scientists deserve to get shot, but the support staff probably have no clue and are innocent."

    Well there goes Circe.
    "Got it." Samus replies to Lian, however after a little more prodding at the terminal.
    "Let's get going. Preferrably without shooting anyone on the way." She says turning to return to her gunship.

    Samus' ship may detect Circe's departure, aboard a very small craft heading in the general direction of Mars. She doesn't reply to Athena's last bit of advice for now, though she seems at least a little less hostile when cutting the connection; actual concern being shown may have softened her up even if she was still holding a grudge about the whole Odysseus thing.

    It won't take long for there to at least be moans and noises starting to come from the people of the station, but they aren't actually all that quick to recover fully; so long as there's no loitering, it's an easy exit for everyone involved. Biological warfare is helping!