3473/And So You're Back From Outer Space

And So You're Back From Outer Space
Date of Scene:	02 December 2015
Location:	Void - Deep Void (South)
Synopsis:	...So where HAS Sinon been for four months, anyway?
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Tomoe, Staren, 437, Karian Icefang, 649, 867

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Sinon (649) has posed:
    It's certainly colourful, if nothing else.

    The Lagoon Nebula is an assortment of tiny planets in a nebula crisscrossed by boats that fly on massive solar sails. The only warpgate is found on a star-shaped spaceport several light years away, which may explain part of the message- the only way of getting here is via a ship.

    Planet Benbow itself is a strange world of gigantic mangrove-like trees, with little solid ground other than bark and branch beneath the salty, muddy seas.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSmC78sx8eU
    

    On one such tree, and the community built on and around it, is the signal that was being broadcast out into space. A lighthouse sheds hundreds of balls of energy like a firey flare at the furthest edge of the town- and the furthest edge of the branch, as well. Long wood-and-rope bridges connect the town to floating dock islands.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Following the beacon, a thunderhawk was on route towards the absolutely strange, at least by imperium standards, world. "What in...?" Karian asks aloud. He totally felt out of his depth here, but hoped others would be coming to assist. "Should...we remain here?" asked on of his wolfguard, to which Karian nodded. "I'll handle this. but keep the thunderhawk close."

Kirito has posed:
    SPACESHIPS! Kirito is pretty happy to be aboard an actual spaceship that can retrieve Sinon. he's in his avatar of course, the Spriggan's face pressed up against a window. Just in time to get a load of the very pretty environment out there.

    "How did Sinon get stuck all the way out here? No... what brought her out here to begin with?" He wasn't expecting that much gumption from her. This is quite something!

    The Black-clad fairy folds his arms, waiting for a chance to disembark and go hunting for Sinon!

Staren has posed:
    Staren gives people a rendezvous point at some convenient site like an airship dock or something. The SSC Stranger than Fiction looks like someone turned a large-house-sized miniature medieval castle into a spaceship. At a glance looks like some sort of robotic sea serpent is coiled around part of the front of the ship, but it doesn't move, and as one gets closer one can see it is attached, apparently a decoration or something. Through the airlock, visitors enter...

    ...a sort of hub/storage area. Stairs and doorways lead to other parts of the ship -- there's some kind of workshop or manufacturing area to the aft, but Staren leads them through some sort of science lab/computer room that's a strange juxtoposition of medieval aesthetic with futuristic tech, and takes his seat at the bridge in front of the ship.

    When they fly out of the warpgate, Staren gasps at the sight outside the windows. "Wow..." But he can't stare at the nebula for long. "Alright SAIL, begin FTL navigation." "Acknowledgement: Proceeding with FTL navigation." the ...that avatar is definately a robot wizard, hat and beard and all... AI replies, as the ship adjusts orientation and electroncis can be heard powering up. And then... Everything outside flashes white, then fades into stretched blurs zipping past as the ship travels for a minute or so (Staren uses this time to go get suited up), at last dropping out of hyperspace in orbit above Benbow.

    "Alright... just give me a few seconds to pinpoint that distress signal..." and then he stands up from his chair and strides back towards the teleporter pad, which is in the same room they entered in. "Okay! Ready. Um, by the way, apparently this world is just giant trees growing out of the ocean, so, watch your step! Fall off a branch and it'll be nasty."

    As people step onto the pad, they're turned into beams of red energy, reforming back on the surface... or what passes for the surface on Benbow, anyway, Staren looking for the source of the distress call...

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen has caught a ride with Staren and she had to admit he had a pretty sweet spaceship but tht wasn't the thing right now. She's glad in her normal body suit and is branishing a shotgun across her back she beams down with Staren a moment later and just takes a moment to get a feel for the place.

"This is certainly new..."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Annie- or in this case, Silverbloom the Puca- is also along for the ride. She marvels at both the ship and the nebula they've headed for. A spaceship castle? That's just the kind of place she'd be right at home in. But she doesn't have much time to fantasize about what she'd do with her own spaceship castle before they arrive. She's not here to sightsee, she's here to help a friend of Kirito. But... the sights are pretty amazing themselves. A town built in the treetops!

     "Mr. Kirito and I will be okay," she points out as they head to the transporter. "If we fall we can fly back. We can probably catch anyone else who falls too."

Terry McGinnis (867) has posed:
    Terry McGinnis heard the message and the response from people and decided to join in on this task. He figured that Batman would be needed, and not Terry McGinnis. As he travels witht he Batmobile, he meets up with Staren and the others from the Union and meets up, leaving the Batmobile, "Thaks for the lift," he says to Staren as he climbs out of the Batmobile and cloaks its and boards the ship, "And this files right?" he asks as he looks at those here or are arriving. "So, who are we meeting and whats the situation?" he asks.

    When the ship goes to FTL, he looks and blinks, "Wow, that is trippy," he states as he sees the planet. "Great," he says at all of the color of the planet and looks at Kirito, "So, who is this ... Sinon?" he asks him as he waits for a response as he heads for the transport pod, "..."

    Seeing Staren enter and siappear, he thinks and follows suit as he looka roudn and sees the planet first hand and kneels down to look at the planet itself.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Sinon gets not one ship, but two!

    As mentioned, relatively speaking the Nebula is smooth sailing - the space-storms that are made up of churning ionized gas are relatively tame right now, which is probably how Sinon's signal got through, leaving them with an easy ingress to the planet.

    Once the two ships make it into the atmosphere of Benbow, they'll switch from the cloudy, gassy outer space to the cool, warm atmosphere of the planet and its beautiful vistas. The skies are golden, and the oceans below are blue and reddish-purple, with huge pods of whalestarfish in the (admittedly about five hundred feet) sea below.

    Things in the town they arrive in, however, aren't exactly as picturesque as the postcards might suggest- it's clear that there's been some fighting going on before they got here. You have, in fact, shown up at the tail end of the adventure. Rowdy alien pirates are being tied up and subdued here and there, fires are being put out, and locals are picking through broken marketplaces.

    The signal is strongest from that lighthouse, as mentioned.

    Everyone will get there just in time to see a four-limbed figure being thrown spectacularly from the top and clawing against the wall as they fall.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito doesn't really bother with the teleporter. He goes through an airlock and just leaps. Because out here, with that sunlight... his Fairy Wings form and vibrate strongly! "That's right. We know what we're doing." He answers Annie with a smile. But Sinon's troubles are his main concern right now. he's not going to wait for the others!

    Out the warp gate he goes. the boy tumbles through the air to get some distance from the spaceship's engines and WHOOOSH!

    His wake is mighty enough that Staren's navigation efforts might actually feel a little jolt. Because off he goes like a bullet for the lighthouse's beacon, soaring through the skies on wings of black light!

Staren has posed:
    "Oh right." Staren comments when Kirito and Annie remind him they can fly. "Okay, that does look cool." he adds as they opt for the skydiving entrance, but he still teleports down himself, this time.

    Staren looks around... and sees attackers already being tied up. At least, he /thinks/ they're attackers. But if they weren't, some of the victors would probably be looting the buildings. Staren waves and starts to approach one of the locals. "Hey, what's--"

    And then one of the attackers(?) is thrown from the top. Staren manifests his energy wings and makes a wing-assisted dash to try and catch them. If he succeeds, he asks the pirate(?): "What's going on here?" If he fails... then he winces at the impact and flies up the side of the lighthouse to see what's going on...

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian narrows his eye as he watches the large creature fall. "Makes sense....perfect view over the area." He says to himself. He then moves to where everyone seemed to start gathering, and gave them all a nod.

Terry McGinnis (867) has posed:
    Terry McGinnis looks around at everyone, "looks like we arrived after the party," he comments as he thinks and looks at thos ebeing tied up, "Looks like they ....." and he sees the creature fall and then Staren try to catch him. "Good catch," he states if Staren is able to and if not, he will jump off and catch the creature as he falls.

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Silverbloom's look of wonder fades a bit as the situation gets clearer. Something pretty serious happened before they got here, it seems. But rather than focusing on the locals, it seems like the others are aiming straight for the lighthouse. As Staren and Batman catch the falling being, Silverbloom follows Kirito toward the lighthouse itself.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Kirito will be able to see the full extent of what's been going on as he traces the twists and turns of the long mangrove branch the town is built on- it looks like there's been conflict all over the town in the various patches of buildings, or perhaps some sort of running fight which lasted from one end of it to the other.

    The sight of the huge Karian making his way into one of the larger gatherings of people seems to get quite a positive reaction from the various people who aren't tied up, and naturally less pleased reactions from the ones who are. Several people hail him as an authority figure and the ones with more of a patchwork look to their clothing as a rescuer, but among the various voices it's hard to get a clear explanation of just what's going on here. Some diplomacy may be in order.

    It's Staren and Terry who go alongside Kirito to make the quick path to the lighthouse, and between the two of them they'll intercept the figure falling from - and trying to gain purchase on- the lighthouse.

    They might want to be careful, though! Whoever he is, he's ( ) kind of a sharp and spiky fellow, and surly too. "Blast ya, unhand me! I'm not laid out yet!"

    "I'll think you'll find you were, Spin," counters a tired-sounding voice from the top of the tower, poking her head out of the top floor balcony to shout down. "This is what comes afte- oh."

    Looking up, and bringing her face practically level with Kirito and Silverbloom, is a familiar face. With cyan hair and one square hairclip, but also sporting a bandana, a leather jerkin and a green undershirt, it is none other than Sinon.

    "Hello there, you two."

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian looks over everyone and then towards the others. "What exactly is going on here?" He asks. He looks over everyone, and his initial assumption is that the ones with the more patchworked clothing were perhaps lower class or even refugee's of some kind.

Staren has posed:
    Staren sets 'Spin' down. Dude is metal and spiky, and catching him might have scratched or worse Staren's armor a bit, but... that's what armor's for, after all, so Staren wasn't worried about catching him. Staren points his right arm at the... robot... crab... whatever threateningly, but doesn't fire the weapons there.

    Since there's a voice... and a familiar face... Staren looks up at her. "...We were brought here by a distress call that mentioned your real name. What's going on?"

Terry McGinnis (867) has posed:
    Terry McGinnis looks as he helps catch Mr. Spiky and he looks, "Well, would you have rather fallen to the water below and get hurt, or get saved?" he asks the crab with blades. Helping Staren left the guy up, he looks up,"So, what's going on, and who are you?" he asks as he looks to Staren and sees Silverbloom and Kirito and thinks as he jumps and flies up towards them and lands on the edge and stays quiet.

Tomoe has posed:
@emit Eisen has just beamed in and is just following the others heading for the light house. She bounces about not worrying too much about the terrain as she make to use it as means to get clsoer sooner. All the playing about on Kirito's roof clealry has paid off at this point as she scrambles after the others as she keep up with the rest.

"This isn't quite what I expected but yes we heard a distress call!"

Kirito has posed:
    With Staren and Terry nabbing the falling guy, Kirito makes a rather lopsided grin at him. "Not really in a good bargaining position. The ground's all the way down there." There's some concern in his gaze, for the young man doesn't want to see anyone killed... still...

    Still, he knows that voice. Still floating in the air like a boy from neverland, he swings around to face Sinon. "Gatecrashers Union, reporting for duty, soldier! What's the situation?" The boy exclaims a little goofily, but his expression's quick to shift to PURE SERIOUS. It silently asks, 'are you okay, Sinon?'

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Silverbloom gives a smile to Sinon. "Hi," she says. "We came here mostly to help you, but it looks like you're all right now. Mostly I want to make sure everyone in town is okay. Is there anywhere in particular we should go?"

Sinon (649) has posed:
    "Oh, right," Sinon adds at the end. "Welcome to Nypa."

    At this point, conversations begin to overlap, as each person in their differing places begins to recieve an explanation of the story from its giver's unique perspective.

    To Karian in town, well, his latter assumption is right on the money. He begins to pick out by deduction the people who are refugees- members of a close-knit group who have been, today and perhaps other days, fighting and bleeding to defend the town of Nypa and keep themselves together against the dangers of a life of freedom, in the same sense that anyone around here could freefall off of town and into the ocean below us.

    Mr. Spiky, who will henceforth be referred to that just to tick him off instead of his preferred name of 'Spin Adzam', will continue to grouse and grumble under Staren and Batman's watchful eyes (and gun). He will complain about how the Confederacy never said anything about a defence of this magnitude when they supplimented the pirate activity and control in this cluster of small worlds, and that he figured that onc they took control of one of the few warpgates in this part of the Nebula life would have been easier for them.

    "Yeah, that's because I made it," Sinon says, thumbing back to the inside of the tower- and, if anyone wants to take a closer look, to the still rather busted-looking Union-access radio that has been jury-rigged to the terminal at the top of the communications mast that runs through the length of the lighthouse. "Shino Asada, Sinon, Union Ally, Cait Sith sometimes, I suppose you could call me one of those things..."

    And Sinon explains that although she- and the erstwhile allies she's been sticking together with right now- managed to secure this communications port, she's not sure if the pirates who they've been fighting haven't managed to hurt some of the others she's been sticking with and it might be a good idea to get a better idea of what the others in town have been faring.

Once everyone manages to put these three stories together, the explanation of what's been happening here in the short term should become clear.

    Which, we suppose, leaves only the much bigger question....

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian takes a knee and offers a warm smile to the others. "What have you been fighting all this time?" He asks. Meanwhile, he speaks into his vox, telling his men to set down where they can and to move in to help the townspeople.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has just caught up with the group and they also caught up with SInon she's happy to see her friend and is glad to see that SInon's out and about for a while. 5R
"So this is the sort of mess we just got into, SInon? It's good to see you again I admit wyou should try to keep in better contact you know still if you could use some help I'd be happy to lend you a hand with this."

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks between Mr. Spikey and Sinon. "I see. Well, I guess a lot of the questions that raises don't really matter." Staren rubs the back of his helmet. "You guys talk to the townsfolk. I guess I'll play jailer. Come on, 'Spin'." Staren removes any easily-accessible weapons and armor he can find -- the former go in his bag, the latter in his matter manipulator -- and then, after firing one of the beam cannons out into empty air to demonstrate what he's got, "Capisce?" Staren leads their captive back into town at gunpoint.

    "So. You mentioned the confederacy. Are you new members, or mercenaries?" Staren nods calmly upon learning the pirates are getting funding from his enemies. It's not really... a huge deal? Mercs are mercs, and since he doesn't see any corpses on the ground, he's not mad. "Well, now you know what sort of resistance you can expect to face here. Lesson learned. What else do you know? Did they say anything about why they're interested in this area?"

    While Staren talks to the pirates, he sends a request to the others over radio: <<Someone ask the townsfolk what they want to do with these pirates. Not that I'm saying we should just go with whatever, but I'm open to fair suggestions.>>

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     Silverbloom looks out over the town from the window (or whatever). "I guess I'll go look around," she says, before taking flight once more. She'll probably mostly be looking for a school or somewhere else where children might be gathered- she's especially concerned about the possibility that children might have been in trouble.

Kirito has posed:
    "So these mercenaries just decided to raid the town? I take it you got in their way?" Kirito has a rather warm smile for Sinon. The way she's answering things has almost already answered his question. Which is why he can look away and gaze out over town with his sharp vision, picking up a fwe details in the chaos below. "More chaos than anything else from the look of it. Nobody's dead?" His voice trembles a little, as if he can't believe this fact at all.

    Particularly if the Confederacy was involved at all.

Sinon (649) has posed:
"That'd be the pirates, sir," someone explains. "They say they were working at the beckon call of a group called the Confederation, or the Confederacy. I've never heard of 'em, personally, but Capp'n Sinon said it sounded familiar to her..."

    "Gar, why does anyone need to be interested in anything in particular? We wanted to control the shipping lanes and control the trade in this here nebula! It should have been easy, but now you're all going to clap us all in irons, aren't ye?"

    Once everyone manages to sort out what's going on, they'll probably group in the centre of town. Literally, actually- the centre of this particular branch, where refugees, townspeople and Staren have been gathering up the pirates in a central location, and where Silverbloom will be able to direct any people who may have escaped notice in the further parts of town. Thanks to the combined efforts, indeed no one comes to any harm.

    Sinon is happy to greet everyone she recognizes (like Eisen and Karian) and even those that she doesn't (like Batman), displaying a dry candor that she hardly showed at all during the Gun Gale Online days and was only really growing into after that.

    Although this wasn't the only incident, Sinon explains that she's been in the various worldlets of the Lagoon Nebula for three and a half months now- shortly after she came here, as part of her effort to explore the fantastic places of the multiverse, she ended up with a damaged radio, and shortly after that the Confederacy took control of some of the major warpgates, and shortly after that her money and connection to the Union ran dry, forcing her to fend for herself.

    "Once I realized that Kirito wasn't going to come and save me, strangely everything got a lot easier," she'll mention.

    Since then her- and a group of people in the same situation as her- had been bouncing back and forth engaging in all manner of adventures and gung-ho high sea derring-do, living on whatever money they could make and trying their best to quest for a place they could manage to get a signal through to the Union to rescue them.

    And that brings us to today, and to you.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian nods softly. "I see. Well, what would you like done with the pirates?" he asks. Though to be fair, he knew what he would be doing with them. But Sinon get's a wide grin and nod. "Been far too long. Nice to see you again."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
     "Well... it's really nice to meet you, Miss Sinon," Silverbloom says. "I'm Silverbloom... a Puca, but you can probably tell that," she says as an introduction. "It looks like everyone's safe, so that's good! Are you going to stay here for a while?" If so, Silverbloom might end up joining her, playing some music to lift people's spirits.

Staren has posed:
    Staren shrugs to the pirate. "Fair enough, but if the feds are supporting you, they must get /some/ benefit out of it. Clap you in irons? ...Look. You didn't kill anybody, so, I'd rather have people like /you/ out there competing with other pirates, than rotting away in jail. Personally, I think maybe you should pay for the damage you've done and a reward to the people who defeated you to save the town, and then maybe we let you go on condition that you stay out of this area, or find some kind of employment for you. But I think the people you attacked should at least have some /say/ in your treatment. But I won't let them kill you, and I'll reccomend against imprisonment."

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen seems to be conent with how things are going she knows it's the local s call relaly on what to dfo with them here. She looks at Sinon for a moment.

"Can't always expect someone to come save you, no. Still it's good to have friends like your self and Kirito."

She looks back to Annie and Karian for a moment.

"I think we should leave them to local law and if not we'll have the Union deal witht hem I think"

Kirito has posed:
    Really?

    That line gets Kirito making a rather weird face. he's not sure if he should be angry at himself for not realizing Sinon was in such trouble, happy that she handled herself so well, or what. his expression is pretty scrunched up and wincey, but simultaneously... almost like some kind of proud father.

    Looking at it, brief though it is, is just... yeah, no.

    Thankfully he wipes it off his face quickly enough, shaking his head. "You could have told us where you were going." He murmurs... but nods a moment later. "You did great, Sinon." He's joined the others in the center of town, wings banished. "Really well!" The praise is genuine. He didn't expect this kind of spirit from her so soon after... THAT MESS.

    It's pleasantly surprising.

    Regarding the captured mercenary... Kirito nods agreeingly with Tomoe. "The local law enforcement can deal with them. Anything else has to follow that."

Sinon (649) has posed:
"It was supposed to just be a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour..." Sinon singsongs a little... then ruffles Kirito's hair. "I'm not going to hold it against you, don't worry." She is happy to accept praise!
    An agreement is forged out after a fashion for reparations, and after a fashion the fact that mercenaries generally do tend to work for people who are paying them more may provide some sort of strange benefit... if Sinon, the royal Navy and the representatives here can convince Mr. Spiky and his crew, to work against the Confederacy for proper incentive. They could use someone who knows how the villains are operating after all.

    Sinon is kind of reluctant to stay- part of her wanted to get back to a familiar location as soon as she could- but she's convinced by the prospect of a victory celebration and cajoled by the friends who've stood by her this far, who want to get to know her old friends too!

    And someone gets out an accordian and the party presumably goes on into the night.