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| Episode 2: The Nine - Introduction | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 13 2012, 02:56 PM (1,933 Views) | |
| Nancy Nox | Jan 13 2012, 02:56 PM Post #1 |
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6/11/09 Nine Demons from another verse, To rebuild the bridge, the father's curse; Unleash the hordes by the master's instruction, Nine Demons now lead to the resurrection; The new Morning Star is their endeavor, Bobosnikan, the low lord to be, forever. Alcubier, Deloria, Taquia, Deuteriun, Minkowzki, Lorenztia. From the book of Mary Galenus, From increased clarity in the mind of Roland de Bordeaux, From the ancient manuscripts of Bartolomeo Columbo. An ancient curse, a promise, a threat. An Arch Demon Bobosnikan that rivaled even Lucifer in the dark underworld of Earth-that-Was. Unsettling milleniums of Holy Prophecy, changing the fabric of humanity; Yet as the dark shadow covered the solar system of Earth, Humanity fled. Escaped. Angels, Demons. A battle from the beginning of time, always the pawns are the chosen race: the mortal race. Humanity are the pieces, and the prize. ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Bartolomeo convinced Janet not to pursue the destruction of the Second Generation of Therian-Thropes. For which Curley was most grateful, and has promised complete cooperation. Nancy Nox hovered near Carter City. The Sword of Seamus indicated that a demon was inside the large floating Medical Research Center. Getting in seemed impossible, until Bartolomeow made a few comms. They could get in, with him as a consulting researcher. He and three other 'assistants'. Weapons would be restricted. ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Majordomo approached Roland. "Sir? Ownership would like to speak with you." When ready, Majordomo will escort him. Janet and Bartolomeo seemed surprised by this. "Been here friggin years it seems like and the prick ain't never asked to see me." Janet seems particulary disgusted of late, since losing out on hunting down the rest of the Therianthropes. She eyes Mary Galenus from time to time, hovering near her. But never quite approaches. |
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| Bartolomeo Columbo | Jan 13 2012, 02:58 PM Post #2 |
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6/17/09 <mary and mag please continue in the other thread, a half dozen hours before events here.> Bartolomeo has made inquiries into getting into the build that Melody has indicated. He sword had told her one is there. Janet circled Nancy Nox, Melody did something akin to a triangulation. No doubt. The Demon was in the Carter City Medical Compound. "I've got a pass, with associates. Should have pretty free movement once inside, once past the initial security. At least we can scope it out, yes?" Barto looked around to see if anyone had any better idea. The Compound was a research center, taking samples of the local fauna and soil, wildlife and ocean water, even fungi and ore. Greenleaf was something special in its diversity. And it seemed to offer huge untapped raw resources. "Just waitin' to be raped'n scraped up. Ha, that ought be the motto of some corp." Janet said. Majordomo had escorted Roland to the cargo deck and the middle tier catwalk. A metal planking extended from the aft wall, a door was well concealed there, halfway up the wall. It became visible, and slightly open. |
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| Roland de Bordeaux | Jan 13 2012, 02:59 PM Post #3 |
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6/18/09 Roland was not in the mood to be disturbed and took the intrusion into his personal space as a bit of an annoyance. He was lost in thought at what The Overseer had told him. Death, finality, peace. He chuckled at the thought of death being something frightening. Once it was to him, as well, but it was not a matter of the end of existence that perturbed him so much as the thought of all he wanted to do suddenly ending. There were enemies to slay, people to be made examples of. It was, after all, his holy duty to burn heretics without mercy. Now, he welcomed the thought of an end. He had grown weary of lifetimes of servitude and now wanted nothing more than eternal rest. Roland pushed open the door. He was intrigued at the mention of the Ownership and wondered if it was part of what the Overseer had told him. |
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| Ownership | Jan 13 2012, 03:00 PM Post #4 |
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Belinda Batterly
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6/21/09 Ownership ![]() The catwalk led to a now open door. As Roland de Bordeaux stepped through the doorway, it began to close behind him. Air cycled in the short hallway which was obviously an air lock as well. In less than a minute the opposite door opened into a dimly lit room. A large spherical tank of turquoise blue water almost filled the room, surrounding it was much electronic equipment. A feminine metallic voice spoke softly. "Hello Melina." Roland moved around the equipment and sphere, finally finding a small seat in front of a vid terminal. The voice's words were on the screen in text. A light from above illuminated the blue water. Inside was a feminine form, scared, blackened, burned. The nose, mouth and eyes seemed larger, altered ever so subtly, but it was someone he knew. She knew. It was Belinda Batterly. "It took me a while, but I did figure it out. Conscious reincarnation yes? Astounding, and rare; if not nearly unique." The woman from his past moved closer to the thick glass, small wires from the temples slithered in the liquid to connections in the bottom of the tank. "We have so much to talk about. You must have questions, I know I do. But first, the real scoop Melina. Which is better, to be a man, or a woman?" |
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| Janet Jameson | Jan 13 2012, 03:01 PM Post #5 |
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6/22/09 The New Engineer Clare had pulled up a listing of available engineers. Janet wanted someone full time, "considerin' we'd be about to start pulsating all over the verse, at least accordin' to the holy blade here." she meant Melody. "As near as I can figure these demons, if Mel's lil demon compass is workin' are spreading out all over." A Mister Beauchamp is selected as the engineer. He is local, and was employed by Columbo some time ago, though mostly as a fancy Hover mechanic. That was back in the days when Bartolomeo Columbo was not a hunter, but merely a full time Gnostic Magician Playboy Recluse. |
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| Roland de Bordeaux | Jan 13 2012, 03:02 PM Post #6 |
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6/22/09 Roland's hand went instinctively to the hilt of his blade as the door hissed behind him. He disliked confinement of the physical variety. Enslaved as he was through eternity, he still held a glimmer of the wanderlust that had characterized the core of the person he was long ago. Confinement was not something he relished or enjoyed. As he examined the person on the screen, his blood ran cold. He had assumed that Belinda Batterly was simply a fool's errand, a red herring designed to get him on this ship and into some new form of servitude. He had little idea that the person he sought was indeed alive. "Melina? You speak strangely. I do not know that name, though if you speak a name I once held I will acknowledge it. I have gone by many names in my time, but the one that has remained constant is my first...Roland. I do not enjoy it for it reminds me of the monster I once was, but I carry it with me to remind myself that that being is still within me, and to be mindful." "A man and a woman are merely facets of the same gem," he said noncommittally. "Both have drawbacks and advantages. If you are asking me to commit on a preference, I'm afraid I will not be forthcoming with an answer until you tell me how a woman who died stands before me speaking now. My curse explains my presence, but unless there is another who shares my destiny I fear you have much to explain." |
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| Ownership | Jan 13 2012, 03:03 PM Post #7 |
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Belinda Batterly
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6/22/09 "You always were much to serious." The figure in the tank moved to try and get a look at him through the glass. "We are similar in some ways, lived beyond our natural life. Though for me it is Alliance Technology that resurrected me. The wanted my psionic talents. As to your endless rebirth, it seems a different method yes? Souls are reborn, but to remember them. Yes, I feel the lives coursing through your veins and nervous system. It is clouded to me, you natural abilities prevent me from reading you, even in here, so close." "And yes, the Alliance made me this way. Sent me out into the verse. They know the demons are coming, and whatever you may think of the political arm; there are those that have no desire to see mankind under on the rack of the underlings of Lucifer." The screen changes to scenes of Earth-that-was. Flashes of huge scened of torture, of the camps that formed on the dying planet as resources were used to the point at which they would be exhausted for all but the very uppermost of the pyramid of the power structure. |
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| Roland de Bordeaux | Jan 13 2012, 03:04 PM Post #8 |
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6/22/09 "I remember you," he said. "I saw you die. We died together long ago. I know...I know little else, I'm afraid. Who we were, why we were there. Only names, faces, but yours especially, as if we were somehow linked in a way that transcended death. I don't, I don't know, but I feel that the memories of you led me here to this ship." He considered her explanation. "There would be little of your physical body left from how I remember you dying. Are you saying the Alliance kept DNA samples in their biolabs? Did they intend to clone an army of psykers from your gene seed?"
"Why are you showing me this? A testament to humans' greed is all. They infested a world, drained its resources and set out to the stars to begin the cycle anew. The story is an old one." |
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| Marcus Beauchamp | Jan 13 2012, 03:17 PM Post #9 |
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"Nobby"
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6/23/09 At the moment, Marcus Beauchamp, "Nobby" to business contacts around Greenleaf, was out of work. So he had fallen back to his usual work. Greenleaf was a pharmaceutical planet after all. In various pockets of his greatcoat, there were small plastic bags of different varieties of vegetation. He didn't really enjoy this type of work. He'd much rather be working on a vehicle of some sort rather than standing in street corners trying not to look too shifty while waiting around for someone else who was trying not to look shifty either. He rubbed the underside of his nose and muttered incoherently whenever anyone respectable looking got close. They immediately crossed the street and feverishly avoided looking in his direction. After twenty minutes of this, he gave up and sidled to a public cortex booth for his messages. There was a message for him. This was a bit of a surprise and it received a mixed welcome. Usually he only got messages for work, what sort was always the trick. The message read as follows: Sir, You have been requested by name. Report for Engineering position, Carter City Medical Complex, Public Docking Bay. Selection based on previous employment: Bartolomeo Columbo. Meet employer there, 1000/local time tomorrow. 20 percent will be deducted from first three months payment for service performed. Outer Limits Employment Service Nobby blinked and squinted as he re-read the message. He tried to put a face to the name. It didn't take long, Mister Columbo had stuck in the mind. He had very nice cars, posh customized things that Nobby would just sit and look at during his breaks. He'd been much kinder than most of Nobby's previous employers in that he didn't leave him to take the fall when the Feds turned up as most of Nobby's employers or business associates were wont to do. Nobby stared at the signature block on the message. This was from an employment agency, this was a legitimate job doing legitimate work. He thought about the baggies in his pockets. They were not legitimate work. He considered just throwing them in the nearest garbage bin. It wasn't as if anyone was really expecting him or them. That was usually how Nobby worked in Greenleaf, he sold drugs the same way some men sell hot dogs. He emptied his pockets and dropped the lot in first garbage bin he passed on his way back to his motel room. Some extremely lucky streetperson would find them soon enough. Nobby planned out his day, he'd wake up at a responsible hour tomorrow, probably 7:30, shower, shave, wear some clean clothes, or at least clothes without obvious stains, buy some breakfast, all in a futile attempt to look respectable for his appointment. With any luck, this wouldn't turn out to be a prank or an error. |
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| Ownership | Jan 13 2012, 03:18 PM Post #10 |
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Belinda Batterly
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6/23/09 With OWNERSHIP "There would be little of your physical body left from how I remember you dying. Are you saying the Alliance kept DNA samples in their biolabs? Did they intend to clone an army of psykers from your gene seed?" "Yes, they intended, but they could not duplicate the Psi Genetic strand with a clone. Science has yet to be able to duplicate the Psi or Supernatural strains.* But they had my remains, and grew it back. Grew me back. To this." The metallic reconstruction is able to convey little emotion, but there is some, "It was painful." "But here I am." "Why are you showing me this? A testament to human's greed is all. They infested a world, drained its resources and set out to the stars to begin the cycle anew. The story is an old one." "No. Not humans. We are as a rule a more humble lot, not one that seeks our own destruction. A few yes, but it is the influence of the demons that seeks, always seeks to lead us to our own slaughter. Our escape from Earth-that-was has been, at best, temporary. But in a sense you are correct. Instead of preparing for the inevitable, we have competed and finally warred among ourselves." "I had hoped we could just talk. We used to talk, so long ago. Very well." The figure in the tank breathes in the azure liquid, almost as in a sigh. The voice continued, this time a course feminine voice, but not from the speaker. Inside his head Belinda Batterly spoke, "These people are here by no accident. The forces that have brought you here, and them; you can stop the demons from gaining a foothold in the verse. Roland. But they need a leader. Someone that can focus them on the task, together. You saw the hell at the end of Earth-that-Was. That's what this is about, preventing that. And in the end, the Nancy Nox seems to offer a salvation as well." The mix of hope and desparation in the voice, a barely remembered voice from the past, faded. "For reasons I cannot see, you have been brought here. Prepared for this. You are able. But are you willing?" * The recent revelations of 'M' suggest this may not be true. |
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| Bartolomeo Columbo | Jan 13 2012, 03:23 PM Post #11 |
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6/23/09 Carter City Alliance Medical Research Facility Dr. Bartolomeo Columbo has arrived to consult the unusual blood culture data that has been collected. There are unusual strains and DNA alteration in many of the animals that have descended from the initial stock on Planet Greenleaf. As a renowed and well published Hematologist and Hematopathologist, his request to visit could not be denied. It was in fact very welcomed. He and his assistance, Susan Richardson, have just returned from a tour of the facilities and rejoined their other associates, or rather assistants. A distraction presents itself. "Excuse me please." Dr. Columbo leaves them in the plush executive lounge and waiting area. Assistant Clare/Susan is left with Mary, Pepper, and Victor. They are prepared to take on and exorcise the demon, as soon as they can close the distance to it. Down a hall and to a less plush room with cheap vending machines he greets an old aquaintance. "Nobby!" He shook the man's hand enthusiastically. "Good to see you. I am sorry, but I've got to shove off for a bit. They're expecting you on the ship, a shuttle will take you there. Very much in a hurry though, do be off. Thanks so much." Beauchamp isn't given a chance to say much, he's ushered off to a shuttle and whisked away. He is dropped off on another floating building, and another shuttle takes him the the Nancy Nox. The older man driving introduced himself, "I'm Majordomo. Sorry for the rudeness, but we'd prefer our ship remain,with discretion, outside the immediate knowledge of the Alliance." Roland remains indisposed in the 'cabin' of Ownership. The bridge holds Janet and Melody. Melody is using the sword to determined the exact location of the demon. Janet has been flying around the Medical Building at a distance, and different elevations while Melody uses the sword to determine exactly where the demon is in the building. Janet passes on the coordinates to her crew-mates in the building. "Upper floor then, North corner, no doubt about it." Clare, Barto, Pepper, Denns and Mary hear the voice in their tiny ear piece. Barto has rejoined them after hurriedly seeing Nobby on his way. |
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| Pepper Anderson | Jan 13 2012, 03:24 PM Post #12 |
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6/23/09 Pepper watched Roland head for some part of the ship unknown to her. Not for the first time, she wondered what whatever was in there knew but wasn't telling. She frowned. Whatever. She had a new lead now. And there was one just waiting for her. "I'm in on the Demon hunt. Probably a good idea since my weapons can't be sussed out by any detectors." Wandering around a bit, wondering who else was going on this hunt, Pepper looked over Clare's shoulder at the list of mechanics. Their last one hadn't lasted very long so she put a little good luck wish behind the name they finally picked out. Poor bastard. By the look of this comparitively mundane version of the usual crew selection, he wouldn't be like the rest of them. He may not even have any idea what he was getting into. Though, if he'd hung out with Barto before, maybe he'd met Clare? But, even then, he still might not have any idea. |
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| Marcus Beauchamp | Jan 14 2012, 12:37 AM Post #13 |
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"Nobby"
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6/23/09 Well one good thing, Nobby considered as he was hurried out of the med facility, was that he didn't have to deal with an actual legitimate job interview. The idea of sitting in an office being asked to describe himself to a total stranger gave Nobby, a man who had spent the whole of his adult life waiting around for some cut-throat or other in a dark empty street, the creeps. But when he was face to face with Majordomo, Nobby would have happily gone to seven job interviews. There was a moment of open mouthed silence as Nobby stared at Majordomo. It wasn't his looks that frightened Nobby, it was the Voice. Majordomo had the sort of voice that Nobby imagined death would to have if death was a person.(*) It took him a moment to hear the words Majordomo had actually said. Nobby closed his mouth. "Oh right, yeah. I understand." It wasn't as if most of the people he'd worked for in the past didn't want the Alliance to remain ignorant of their existence. He cleared his throat as he tried to shift gears back to professionalism again. He tried to think of some intelligent questions to ask. "The message was short of job related details. So I was wondering..." He hesitated. People that want to stay out of the Alliance's way did not like being asked too many questions. "What er... ship model is the ship... I'll be taking care of?" That seemed a safe enough question. Anyway, it was good to know what sort of ship one will be working on. (* brownie points to anyone who gets that joke.) |
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| Roland de Bordeaux | Jan 14 2012, 01:25 AM Post #14 |
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6/24/09
Roland laughed grimly. "What are demons but reflections of the darkness of the human soul? Humans invite them; aye, they seem to relish indulging their own demons."
"If it may bring about the end of the endless cycle of birth and death and grant me eternal peace I will be willing to either serve this crew or slaughter it, it makes little difference to me. You have to see that I have long since stopped caring about humans or the universe they choose to infest. I am a slave, nothing more. I seek an end to my bondage. If this is what you offer, I will do as you say, but I fear you offer me simply another form of slavery." |
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| Nancy Nox | Jan 14 2012, 01:26 AM Post #15 |
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6/24/09 "A Firefly." Majordomo replied. "The zero three model, with some upgrades: the zero four fusion reactor, some additional electrical requirements. Nothing out of the standard performance specifications." Majordomo looked over at Nobby. "Professor Columbo indicated that you'd be amiable to unusual events and be quite capable of maintaining a functioning perspective. Should that prove otherwise, just let one of us know and we'll drop you safely off in a reasonable location." The Shuttle headed over the junglewood below, just missing the tops of the trees. A sudden turn, then after a few minutes it stopped. A Firefly approached from above, the shuttle docked. As soon as the hard-wire comm was working, "Hello Marcus. I'm Janet." She sounded nice and professional. "Get your butt down to engineering pronto, I've got an indicator showing fluid dripping outta the port thruster hydraulics like a trollop on a'lliance battleship. Then get the pulse coolant ready to boost, we'll be needed to pop a couple hard burns.... " but then again, nice and professional isn't everything. |
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3:38 AM Jul 11


