Colony: Superheroes in Spaaaaace!

[LazyJoe]

'Yeah, but as Kris says, anyone amateur enough'll be spooked away by me, whilst anyone halfway powerful will go on regardless. I may as well be visible to act as a distraction whilst you two remain relatively hidden. They'll go for me first, then, if I need it, you'll be there as backup.'

Although a mostly silent individual, once Dehram did start speaking, there was more than a hint of arrogance in his voice.

[TamerBill]

Presently the gang's host returns from his call, followed shortly by a burly man struggling under a large metal box about a metre cubed in size. He sets it down in a corner of the room as the man from before explains.

"We've got a little complication here you may want to factor into your plans. Some secret development project or something, I don't know; we have to protect the contents of this box from harm, no matter what. I tell you, the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing around here sometimes...."

[The_Snark]

"No kidding." Ella looks at the box critically. "What's this box have to do with the dance, anyway? Does 'protect' preclude opening the box in any way?" she asks hopefully, hopping out of her chair to examine it.

"And I guess you could do that," she says over her shoulder to Dehram, "but if we're going for surprise, probably better not to be seen, you know? I guess we could shoot for a middle ground and keep quiet until the party starts, then be really obvious..."

[TamerBill]

"Oh, it won't open. Locked, shielded and made of solid metatitanium, as far as I can see. I don't know why you've got it either, but I guess someone thinks it's our assailant's objective."

[The_Snark]

"Figures." She makes a face, and gives it a gentle kick, just to make sure. "But if this thing wasn't associated with the dance until now, why give it to us? We're going to have to be at the party in case someone barges in, and if we have to guard this thing as well, that means we're either taking it to the party and putting it nearer the danger, or we're splitting up and not covering either as well... bugger."

"Wonder if we could just hide it in an out-of-the-way storage closet or something?"

[Jannex]

"I dunno about that, Ella," Kris interjects. "As long as I've got a live feed, I can do my part of this job remotely. And if this thing here is their target," she gestures at the box with her coffee cup, "is there any particularly compelling reason it has to stay on-station? I mean, we came here in a perfectly good spaceship..."

[The_Snark]

"Hmmm, good point. So long as they don't up and go after you and the ship and leave Dehram and I high and dry. Well, we'd be at a party, but it wouldn't do you any good." Ella turns to their host. "I don't suppose you know who we might go ask what is in the box? Or is it going to be one of those they-don't-think-we-need-to-know situations?"

"And is there more coffee?"

[TamerBill]

"I'm afraid the contents of the box are classified information. All I know is that it's a top-secret military project and musn't fall into enemy hands."

Meanwhile, the droid responds to Ella's request for more coffee in its usual punctual manner.

[LazyJoe]

Dehram snorted when the words 'top-secret military project' came up. Being a top-secret-military-project-gone-wrong himself, he felt a certain empathy for the thing in the box and a simultaneous resentment for authority.

'What else is a gov'nment for 'cept to get in a man's way?'

[TamerBill]

"Public order, military defence and social and economic security? You are a goverment employee yourself, are you not?"

[The_Snark]

"Yeah, but we have to make fun of our bosses sometimes, right?" Ella quips, despite the fact that the man has displayed no trace of a sense of humor thus far. "My own curiousity aside, though, it would have been nice to know a little more about the thing so that we know what to do with it. Will it explode at high temperatures, should we be keeping it away from concentrated radiation and high G-forces, that sort of thing. Megatitanium is all very well, but I'm sure we could come up with something that would be unpleasant for whatever's inside, even by accident. Considering they want us to keep it safe, they haven't given us much in the way of safety precautions, you know?"

"I mean, they haven't even put a This Side Up label on it."

[Jannex]

Kris holds her coffee cup out for a refill as well. "As long as it doesn't make our jobs any more difficult, it can be full of genetically-engineered glow-in-the-dark pineapples, for all it matters. If the thing has any special needs that they didn't see fit to tell us about, then it's hardly our fault if we don't manage to meet those needs." She shrugs. "Of course, if it's gonna explode or something, that is a fact of which I would much rather be apprised in advance. The little details, y'know."

[TamerBill]

"If you could decide on a plan, then, we'll set up anything you need and you can rest up for tomorrow. I don't mean to rish you, but there's a lot of preperation has to go into getting ready for the ball, so if you need anything special now's the time to ask."

[LazyJoe]

'Well, I'm in favour of myself being the big distraction in the middle,' Dehram said in a 'I-ain't-never-come-up-against-somethin'-I-couldn't-handle' type of way.

[The_Snark]

"I'd sort of prefer keeping you unnoticed, but I guess either one would work. I'll mingle, and Kris can sit on the box and watch via camera. Kris? You want to be on-station, or do you want to head off somewhere on the Arrow once you're into the system?"

[Jannex]

Kris takes a sip of her coffee. "Assuming we can get the box aboard the ship without tipping our hand to whoever's after it, I think that's the safest and most sensible means to keep it out of harm's way. If we maintain realtime communication and I stay on the security feeds, it'll be as good as if I were down here with you."

[The_Snark]

"Mmmkay. We'll just have to hope they don't manage to find you, 'cause there's not a lot we'll be able to do then." She sits up straighter. "Nope, I think that's it, Mister... " She trails off, giving him a bit of a pause to introduce himself. Not a long pause, though. "We'll let you know if we need something ludicruously impractical or expensive, but for now, I think all we really need is to check out your security arrangements and look around the area beore tomorrow."

[TamerBill]

"Gorman. John Gorman. I suppose I'll let you get on with it, then. SD-5 will accompany you around the station."

After hearing this the droid ceases serving coffee and stands to attention. His job done for now, Gorman shuts down the view-screen and prepares to leave.

[LazyJoe]

With little effort, mainly because all he had to do was tell gravity to put him upright, Dehram rose to a standing position, ready to embark on the tour around the station.

[The_Snark]

"John Gorman, huh? Nice t' meet you." Ella stands and holds out a hand for him to shake, although she doesn't look perturbed if he doesn't. "I knew a John back home. John Engelsworth. Nice guy. Engine mechanic. Fixed my dad's ship up a few times. Had to have been the most patient guy on the colony, because eeeveryone was pretty paranoid about engine failure, especially the ones who didn't know how it worked."

"Come to think, there was a John living a few domiciles down, too—never really knew him, though. I think he was an ecologist, specializing in altering biospheres without screwing them up. Or maybe he worked as an educator teaching that stuff to kids, I can't remember. Has to be more or less the same thing, though, because you have to know something in order to teach it, you know? And—hey, there was a John who was a neighbor's little brother, too. Although I think he was a Jon, technically. Funny how popular the name is. You ever wonder what it means?" She doesn't seem to be directing the question at anyone in particular, but she does stop for more than a moment between sentences and looks back as she heads for the door, which is probably a sign that she's genuinely inviting conversation.

[Jannex]

Kris gives the man a curt but polite nod, before turning to Ella. "Y'know, I never really thought about it. C'mon, let's go see what passes for surveillance around here." She downs the last of her coffee, sets down her cup, and starts for the door.

[TamerBill]

SD-5 leads the gang through seemingly identical white corridors, walking at a pace that could be generously described as 'annoyingly slow'. The few citizens of Solstice they pass along the way gasp at Dehram's massive frame, though not openly. They are upper-class, after all.

Presently the droid stops outside a simple door marked 'Security', and swipes a small keycard through the electronic lock. Inside, the group is met with the sight of a massive wall of monitors and its attendant crew of security staff. You get the feeling that this will be adequate for the task.

[LazyJoe]

Simply because Dehram couldn't think of anything else to do with it, he lifted the box easily and propped it up underneath his right arm. He took no notice of the inhabitants of Solstice, not because he'd been subjected to those sorts of looks before, but rather from his general lack of empathy towards others.

Managing to squeeze through the door to the Security room, Dehram stared at the wall of monitors, mostly disinterested.

[Jannex]

In sharp contrast to Dehram's disinterest, Kris's eyes widen slightly in satisfied surprise at the reasonably well-outfitted security suite. She squeezes past Dehram and makes her way over to what looks to be one of the main control consoles. Almost belatedly, she remembers the person manning said console. "Hi. I can only assume you were told we'd be arriving to help with security for the event? Mind if I take a look at your setup?" she asks, gesturing at the terminal.

[The_Snark]

Ella maintains the conversation as they walk through the corridors, although for quite a lot of it, "conversation" would be a misleading term. She has to keep herself occupied somehow, after all. Fortunately, she has enough presence of mind to keep herself to topics that wouldn't matter if they were overheard.

"Finally! Hey, nice. Looks like they could cover pretty much the whole place."

[TamerBill]

The security staff are almost too eager to relinquish their places to the massive Titan and his inquisitive entourage. With the massive camera network at their disposal the group can monitor events happening all across the station, even without crazy Paragon witchery. That's just a bonus.

[LazyJoe]

(Special Paragon Power: Thread Rejuvination)


'So... that's a lot of screens.'

[The_Snark]

Ella is busy checking out the screens. Not in a technical sense; she leaves that up to Kris, who can probably do it a lot faster than she can, and would know what the specs meant to boot. Instead, she's looking at what's on the screens, at the various people and places around the station. Occasional comments, like "Hey, wow. Zero-g tennis court!" and "You know, these security guys spend all day in here. You'd think they'd get some couches in here, or at least armchairs," float back to the others.

After a little while, she wanders back to the others. "So what's the verdict, Kris?"

[LazyJoe]

After being mesmerised by the screen-wall for a couple more seconds, Dehram turned to Kris for an answer to Ella's question.

[Jannex]

Kris touches the console with one hand, her eyes closing briefly as her consciousness dips into the computer system. She explores its range, checks for blind spots and weak points, and generally familiarizes herself with its inner workings. After a moment, she steps away again, opening her eyes to glance approvingly at the screens and monitors. "It'll do."