Every End is a New Beginning [PO/Invite]

[Ares Stone]

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PLANET: UNKNOWN​

LOCATION: FAR ORBIT​

OBJECTIVE: LOCATE AND SECURE​

WITH: [member="Penny deWinter"] | [member="Adora Belle"]​

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Alarms were going off all over the hangar bay as drop ships and pilots were preparing themselves to descend onto the planet below. The coordinates had been sent ahead for a meeting that was not officially happening. Many of those on the crew were seasoned members that knew the drill. No one talked about anything. Speculation was kept in the mind, and when someone needed to know something, they would.

Ares was new. This was something close to his first official mission, and somehow he found himself organizing this whole thing from the observation deck on the bridge of [member="Penny deWinter"]’s ship. Had he known saving her team was going to translate into whatever it was she was neck deep in, well Ares had no idea what he would have done. All he knew was that just like then, things were already going haywire now.

Commands started getting tossed around among the crew as the navigational equipment seemed to tell them that the planet that was right in front of their noses was not there. He rolled his eyes as he looked over to the slicer at the station to his left, and then over to Penny at the display in front of him.

“Right, so everything this weird with you?”

The question had no trace of sarcasm, but was offered with genuine curiosity. Penny had explained the job was going to come with plenty of the beyond normal, exactly what Ares wanted to keep out Sith hands. This base, or ship, or whatever it was they were looking for was on the planet their sensors could not read. Ares did not like the eerie feeling that sank like a brick into the bottom of his stomach. He found her green eyes and gave a look that warned her something was off about all of this. It was a feeling he knew he needed to get used to.

“We are going to need a visual on the target. You trust your source on this Ma’am?”

Formality was something Ares was used to when in the CSF, and it was how he would be when acting on official capacity for Penny. No one would see a hint of insubordination in him, because he wouldn’t tolerate it from any of those assigned to him. It was simple really, this organization had a chain of command, and it was only going work if people followed that command. That was why they were here as well.

The orders had been clear when the coordinates were sent. They were supposed to find the ship, not just any ship, but the ship which would serve as the main headquarters. Once it was found the signal beacon would be sent on a secure channel. The call would go out across the galaxy for those who had it. Project Overmind was coming together, organizing, and it was going to change the galaxy, Ares was certain of it.

A message came across his work station, the chime pulling his attention to it. His eyes quickly scanned the message and looked back up to Penny and Adora.

“The shuttle is ready, and the dropships are loaded. What are the orders Ma’am?”

Spoiler

[member="Adora Belle"]
[member="Aphrodite"]
@Ares Stone
[member="Auspex"]
[member="Ay Ge"]
[member="Blask"]
[member="Penny deWinter"]
@Sennu

 

[Nimue]

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Planet: CLASSIFIED​

Location: CLASSIFIED​

Objective: CLASSIFIED​

With: [member=Adora Belle] | [member=Ares Stone]​

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Numerous screeching alarm bells sounded out, forcing a heavy sigh from the bottom of Penny's lugs. Lasting a good twenty seconds, her eyes closed midway through as if that would would block out the noise. She could never see the point in them, if someone wasn't aware of what was happening already it was for a reason. There was no need to work up the rest of the crew that had to remain behind to take care of the "Vergesso". After all they were Penny's personal crew, Alpha level clearance. They knew where they were going by not why. Even then the extent of "where" was shrouded in mystery to those who didn't need to know, the most detail she'd given them about their destination was the coordinates.

Standing behind the circular console on the main deck of the "Vergesso", one hand tucked around a clipboard with an impossibly thick booklet placed safety in its clutches, Penny deWinter looked exactly as you would expect a scientist to look. A white lab coat covered the majority of the green dress she wore, and while the color wasn't as vibrant as her eyes they certainly matched each other well. A thick pair of spectacles rested on her head, nestled in her dark brown hair that had been tied up in a messy bun. Throughout the whole journey she had been steadily making her way through the list on the paperwork in front of her, though you couldn't exactly tell it was a list.

The entire 150 paged booklet was covered in Penny's neat, nondescript handwriting. Every blank space, every line between each sentence, every margin was filled to the brim with a million small scribbles. The red pen she used to make the notes was practically dry and as a result, partly because of nerves and partly in an attempt to make it work, she consistently tapped it against the clipboard. They hadn't even landed yet and it felt like a million things were going wrong, all at the same time. If only those alarms would be quiet... Penny turned her head slowly toward Areas at his words, flashing him an unamused scowl.

'If this is weird for you I'm not sure you're cut out for the job.'

It wasn't the right day to be messing with Penny, she wasn't usually so snappy but stress had been building steadily since they'd set off. The whole day was incredibly important, even more so that everything went off without a hitch. The entire culmination of her work was about to come to fruition on the pseudo planet that took over the majority of the view-port. When Ares glanced at her she practically glared back, whatever strange feeling he had could wait. The proximity alarm joined in with the others, sending her mind into overdrive and completely snapping her will to live. Penny went stomping her way across the deck, high heels clicking quickly against the shining metal floor. In a matter of minutes she had made her way over to the other side of the console and slammed her hand firmly on the flickering screen. The blaring alarms died down to a complete stop and Penny let a relieved sigh escape her lips.

'Alarms, seriously? Don't make me come over here and do your job for you next time. Everyone knows what's going on. Use your head.' Penny averted her gaze from the clearly untrained crew member to look at Ares once again. 'We don't need a visual till we're close enough. I trust my sources, you should trust me.''

Penny made her way round the console again, leaning over it and pressing a few key buttons with the tip of her finger. Every so often she would stop and attempt to find a place on the red covered paper to write something else. All the while her chest rose and fell steadily. Five second breath in, exhale for seven. A calming wave washed over Penny as she addressed the crew, her eyes mainly set on Ares and Adora. There was no time to waste though, she was already halfway down the steps and heading toward the hangar when she finally spoke.

'The orders are... Let's go. We don't want to keep the Overseer waiting.'

 

[Adora Belle]

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[member="Penny deWinter"] | [member="Ares Stone"]​

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Adora winced at the sound of the alarms, her hands already reaching for her bag, where she knew she would find her earplugs. If she wanted to be on the top of her performances and prove to the others who were here that she was worthy of being more than a bank security type of a slicer, she wasn’t allowed to let this annoyance get to her. Plugs in the ears, Adora sighed with relief. She hated alarm sounds. At the bank, that had always meant that someone was about to get fired. She’d spent her entire first year there fearing that it would be her who was going to be sent home packing next, and had to work hard to make herself inexpendable.

She glanced at the other two – Ares Stone and Penny deWinter – and couldn’t miss the expressions on their face. If they were here and trying to be stealthy, the alarms were doing exactly the opposite. If they were here and trying to alert anyone about anything, then congratulations, everyone was alerted, and either annoyed or afraid. With a sigh, the Eriadu-born woman decided to take matters into her own hands. Her fingers moved quickly, efficiently hitting all the right keys. She had graduated college at the top of her class not only in programming language, but in typing speed as well, and had never met anyone who could type quicker than her on any keyboard, be it made of this or other metal or plastic, or holographic. Well, except for droids, but there weren’t any here now to do what she was doing.

It was a few more seconds before the alarms at last died out. Adora removed the plugs from her ears and turned around to face the other two, but they were already on the move.

With a groan, Adora grabbed her backpack, wincing as the new weight was suddenly on her back. Her mind was already coming up with various ideas for gadgets she could put together to make sure she had better long distance ad didn’t have to actually carry heavy equipment with her. It was one thing to be in a room filled with several tons of machinery that she could operate with a keyboard and a screen, it was quite another when she had to carry all of it on herself.

She moved as fast as she could, her body not really in top shape or anything like that. Part of her hoped that another crew member would be stupid enough to set the alarms on again so she’d have an excuse to pause and take care of it while she caught her breath.

 

[Ay Ge]

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The repeated varying pitches and frequencies from a nearby console sounded throughout the sleeping areas of the ship, the sound waves easily making it to the quarters of Ay as she lay on the provided bed. "An alarm,noun, a device to ruse an anxious awareness of danger in an individual... we must have arrived at our location". Sitting up from her bed akin to a robot the youthful looking woman went about the basic protocol set in place for their arrival at site 'classified'.

That was all she knew, the word classified, the secrecy level was off the charts, even more so then her last owners, hence how she was able to originally escape containment. Not that it bothered Ay, then again nothing really did, even if such withholding such information was to compromise the mission sh'd not be angry, emotions were just nothing something she could comprehend or actually feel.

Such was the curse of the hung internal neural wiring that subject 603 contained, blocking of certain stimulus to the brain to prevent emotional thoughts. Only the cold hard number of calculations, simulations and past track records would affect Ay's judgment in the field... even if she did hypothesis that her own well being you increase if said implants were removed.

It seemed her little mind trail had been longer then expected, herself already donned in the skin tight black suit and exoskeleton she usually wore, the simply black clothes and skirt covering them up... mostly. One could still see the black like armor over her fore arms, the short skirt not covering up all of the cybernetic enhancements. "Preparations complete, regrouping with other agents for field assignment".

Exciting the small cabin the emotionless robotic woman walked towards the main hanger bay, were she;d most likely meet the other members of the research team that would board what ever they were going to board. Once there she'd wait, just wait until a new directive was given.

[member="Adora Belle"] [member="Penny deWinter"] [member="Ares Stone"]

 

[Ares Stone]

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PLANET: UNKNOWN​

LOCATION: FAR ORBIT​

OBJECTIVE: LOCATE AND SECURE​

WITH: [member="Penny deWinter"] | [member="Adora Belle"] | [member="Ay Ge"]​

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Ares really did not understand what the problem was with alarms on the ship. First they were designed to speak to a crew that was trained to respond to them. Second space was a complete vacuum so they didn't have to worry about sound waves being picked up. They were simply annoying, and as much as Ares was used to operating off of them, he was also relieved when Penny turned them off. Of course, he wanted to mention something about her snark. She very well knew what he meant by the question about everything about the job being weird. They had met in a situation where she was almost killed, and where they had to contain a ghost. That project was already sealed, and "The Alchemist" as he was called locked away, too dangerous for use. That was why he was on this ship, and why he was working as Penny deWinter's personal security and captain of her field operatives. Ares believed in what she was doing. That's why he dealt with the snark, because it didn't really matter to him.

"You know what I mean," he shot back once the alarms died down and he could hear himself think. "And for the record, I do trust you. You had it after the way you handled yourself at Ankorat. Wonky scanners... Ares wants a visual. Do you trust me to do my job?"

In other words, he was getting his visual, and he was getting it before she got off the shuttle. He did not care if she trusted her sources right now. In order to do his job the way he was supposed there was part of him that had to be naturally skeptical and cautious. Ares let out a deep sigh as a hand went to his forehead. They were still adjusting to working with each other, both having a personality they seemed to butt heads more than not. Ares liked her though, and definitely considered her the smartest person he knew despite not knowing her for long.

Adora followed them as they walked off toward the hangar bay. This was where the alarms were well regulated. They were off because the teams that ran the dropships were efficient. Ares had started his training there because of the nature of their work. He was about to see if it had all paid off.

"Vergesso One is ready for you, sir," one of the new crew said as Ares walked into the hangar bay with Penny and Adora. Ay Ge joined them soon after. Ares nodded toward the newest member of their landing party before looking to the crew member and motioned for him to lead the way.

"Good tell the pilot there is four us, and prep the remaining three dropships."

The lad ran off to work fast, and Ares smiled at the responsiveness. He was proud at how much work the team had accomplished in such little time. The sweep team they were taking with them, that was going to be a different story. While Ares had been working with them, this was going to be their first real official run. Several dry runs had been beneficial, but rehearsals were always just that.

"Alright everyone, listen up. We are about to make visual contact. Sweep team 1 I want you ready to go the minute we touch down. The overseer is to meet us there, so be on the lookout for his shuttle, or any sign of him. Secure the remaining parts of the vessel and report any anomalies that you find to me, and I will pass them off to Dr. deWinter. Keep the comm chatter quiet."

Ares looked to Penny to see if there was anything she wanted to add, or if Adara had anything to add in regards to the amount of equipment she was carrying. When it seemed it was time to move on, Ares lifted his hand into the air and made a circle motion with it.

"LOAD'EM UP!"

The order was short and simple. Without any other words or fanfare, Ares led his group onto Vergesso one. The moment the four of them were secured and ready, the pilot moved the ship out of the hangar bay, and their descent to the planet's surface began. Ares kept the helmet to his personal armor on the seat next to him. There was no need for him to put it on now, however when they made landfall he would. This was it, time to see how accurate the coordinates Penny had been given actually were.

Spoiler

[member="Auspex"] [member="Aphrodite"] [member="Blask"] @Sennu

 

[Myra]

The time had come... Auspex sat idly on the bridge of the ship, his ship. His mind swirling with the possibilities that could arise from the foundation of Project: Overmind. He remembered it, back when it was a grand galactic spanning organization. Yet when the core scept was discovered hidden away in Coruscant, the other scepts simply fell into isolationism and were slowly picked off one by one or disbanded. It was a shame really, he truely would have loved to be a part of that. Yet it excited him that it was entirely up to him to refund it.

The massive Star Destroyer just hung loosely in space at a slight angle as if suspended in the abyss by strings and the one holding up the nose had been snapped. No lights beamed out through any of the windows, for it was filled with darkness that Auspex had no trouble navigating. It seems completely unharmed as if abandoned there for no discernable reason. It wasn't hard to figure out why when you landed on the ship. 'Imperial Bioweapons Project I71A' is what the computers across the ship called it when Auspex probed them for information. This ship was a dreadnaught lost in Imperial records after the Emperor was killed in that oh so historic event, it was on it's way towards a particularly rebellious planet to test the Bioweapon but containment was broken before it could get there and the Stormtroopers and Officers quickly abandoned the ship just as the second death star blew into pieces.

Auspex had already alerted the ship that he was here, having slaughtered a dozen or so infected stormtroopers who were shuffling through the ship, and he had now locked himself in the ship's bridge. What little of the ship he had managed to get back into a running order was little, a simple communication device and a few sensors that now alerted him of the incoming ship. Skeptical at first at what to do he would approach the comms device and pause... before typing in a quick message to be relayed to their ship. "Hostiles on bored, infectious, wear breathing gear." and accompanying this text would be a short document detailing Imperial Bioweapons Project I71A and what it did to those infected by it. This message also contained coordinates to dock at a small Officer's Bay at the back of the large head of the Star Destroyer where the Bridge was, that way they wouldn't have to fight through the massive ship for hours just to get to him.

And with that Auspex would simply head to the captain's chair and sit, spinning in it idly. Today was going to be an interesting day...

[member="Adora Belle"] [member="Aphrodite"] [member="Ay Ge"] [member="Blask"] [member="Penny deWinter"]

 

[Nimue]

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Planet: CLASSIFIED​

Location: CLASSIFIED​

Objective: CLASSIFIED​

With: [member=Adora Belle] | [member=Ares Stone] | [member=Ay Ge] | [member=Auspex]​

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Penny shot another dangerous look at Ares. They knew little about each other save for their names and occupations and while she wasn't overly fond of the hired muscle yet she couldn't deny he was good at his job. He'd proved that much when they'd first met each other. His quick thinking and experience in combat were the only reasons Penny had hired him, her personal taste didn't factor into it at all. He had proved his worth up to now but they still butted heads when it came to working together.

'I trust you to do your job, though you seem to have little faith in me to do mine. I told you, you'll get your visual when we get a little closer. You can bark your orders at the crew but please don't forget who you're talking to when you talk to me.'

The three of them strode off toward the hanger bay. Penny hadn't had much of a chance to get to know their new recruit. A pretty young thing who seemed to be a whiz at technology. Someone Penny was ultimately very grateful for, she was more of a paper work woman. She did know how to read the various machines and devices they brought along to missions but that was her limit. Arriving at their destination they were greeted by a perky young officer who informed them they were ready to go. Things had certainly been different since Ares arrived, smoother. Penny was a scientist, a doctor, a chronicler. She didn't have the right kind of authority to take charge of security so until his arrival things had been rather haphazard.

With everything almost ready to go Ares dived into his speech. Part way through Penny's commlink made a shrill beeping sound, alerting her of a new message. Her eyes scanned the blue text quickly and a rather audible groan left her lips.

'Breathers required. There are infected on board, IBP I71A...' She quickly added her comment the moment Ares had finished, mumbling the last part of her sentence as she wracked her brain for why the word was so familiar. After a few intense seconds of thought she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, shaking her head lightly. 'That basically means space zombies. Joyful. You know the drill everyone. Suit-up and be prepared to encounter hostiles on arrival.'

Penny was loathed to put on anything over the crisp white coat she currently wore, never mind taking it off entirely to replace it with something she'd never quite been comfortable in. The pitch black armor was entirely too heavy but it did come coupled with the breather that would prevent her from turning into a half-dead half-alive entity with a fondness for flesh. Once suitably dressed Penny clipped herself into a seat on the drop ship. It wouldn't be long now before they were speeding through the empty space between themselves and the pseudo planet. Of course, Penny had entirely neglected to tell everyone that it was really a star destroyer. They didn't exactly need to know... not until they arrived anyway.

 

[Kyrinov]

PLANET: UNKNOWN

LOCATION: ABOARD VERGESSO ONE​

OBJECTIVE: FIGURE OUT... EVERYTHING​

WITH: [member="Penny deWinter"] | [member="Adora Belle"] | [member="Ay Ge"] | [member="Ares Stone"] | [member="Auspex"]​

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This had been quite the odd day, in his eyes.​

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First, there was the task of discerning what this new label of his meant. As the scientist who cataloged him said, in the eyes of this Project: Overmind organization, he was now known as OMO-000. Briefly, while he was still in his own (and extremely cramped) cabin, he wondered what exactly those letter and numbers meant to these people when put in that specific order. It had to mean something, at least for it to be even remotely relevant to any being inside the walls of this agency. ​

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For a moment, he thought it to be a honorific. To his people, he was a demi-god walking around on earth and through shifting sands to grace his kind. He was soon to be the Morning and Evening Star. A God among Men. He knew that this given label, however, was not the same as his usual list of titles. Not if his accommodations were anything to go off of. It seemed to be more of a... brand than anything else. ​

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And Sennu did not like the idea of being chained and bound, in any w-​

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An alarm blared.​

Bounced of the walls of the small room, reverberating back into sensitive ears. It was even more deafening for the Anubian as tinnitus gripped his ears in a dizzy spiral of vertigo. It seemed like years to him, but, finally, the booming and irritating noise ceased its sonic assault on the jackal-esque man.​

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He shook his head as he left the room with his staff in hand. It was an fine weapon as well. The cobra head could be removed to reveal a lightsaber emitter. Though, granted, the staff was not as light as a traditional saber, it did serve multiple purposes. Some fit loft an eyebrow at his usage of a cobra seeing as he wasn't Pharaoh... yet. But, all in good time, he supposed. He made his way to the hangar bay at as slow of a pace that a 9 foot canine possibly could, taking his sweet time. They'd wait, surely. ​

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By the time he'd reach the Vergesso One, the hatch was starting to close and take off procedures had already begun. He took a few longer strides to catch up and allow the mechanisms of the ramp to lift his weight up and lock him securely inside of the ship. He couldn't believe they'd almost left him behind! They didn't even think to look for him! Oh all the blasphemous acts these humans conducted, that was, by far, the worst.​

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Scoffing quietly to himself, he regained his composure, striding with confidence and poise into the room where everyone else seemed to be milling about. Immediately, he noticed two humans of this "Overmind" arguing over job and trust and pay. He mentally rolled his gold eyes. Were these the people which sought he brand and contain him so? How pathetic. If they could not agree or work together effectively, what made them think they could contain him somehow?​

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He quietly tapped his staff down onto the durasteel floor, gaining their attention for the time being. "Humans, your lives are far too short for petty argument. Now, kindly, shut the kriff up before I remove your tongues. I'd hate to take those from you, I believe my own one is enough, personally."​

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Normally, he was quite tactful when it came to words, he had to be. But, underneath the royal personality, he was quite crude in commentary. Whether they liked what he said or not was of no consequence to him, he said that he needed to and that was all. His eyes shifted to the one in the white lab coat as she announced the presence of... zombies? ​

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He raised a slim hairless eyebrow. Well, things were finally speeding up to his liking.​

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How lovely.​

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