[ Ziolek, Reaper, JFSOCC and sjaak, you're in this thread. ]

"Yeehaaa!" shouts the pilot of the little drop-ship as she speeds off from the launch pad. Unlike the other four, who are in a slow, steady ship, you four have the pleasure of riding in what seems to be the equivalent of a Corvette to take you to your destination. Your pilot showed up over an hour after the arranged pickup time, but considering how fast she's flying, you'll probably beat the other crew to the landing site anyway.

Your pilot looks like she lives for her ship. Her hair is shaved short to keep it out of the way, and it'd be no surprise if she didn't own any clothes other than grease-stained pants and t-shirts. Her hands are stained black from constantly working on and tweaking her ship, but apparently it's time not wasted - several gold medals and trophies adorn the walls. Secured tightly, of course.

She puts on some music. "Face down in the gutter, won't admit defeat, though his clothes are soiled and black..." [that's for you, sjaak :P]

She then looks over her shoulder at you, and says "Yeah, we'll catch up to those slowpokes in no time. We've got a few hours till we get there, though, so why don't we get to know each other a bit? I'm Julie, and my ship here is Frank. How about you? What's your names? And why are you going to the Crystal Wastelands anyway? I know you like, wouldn't be going by choice, but what'd you guys do to end up getting sent there?"

She's obviously driven this route before; she avoids buildings without even glancing forward as she waits for a response.

Ziolek knew that sooner or later somebody will ask this question. Why they always asking for this? He didn't want to make new friends. They always may be the next contract. But he didn't want to look suspicous.

"I'm Guybrush Clacks and I'm a combat reporter. I was sent to Crystal Wastelands to find out if it's true what people are saying about those strange creatures. Nice to meet you Julie."

"Combat reporter eh? Sounds exciting. Not for me, though, unless you get to go really fast!" She flashes a grin, and then with exaggerated stuffy politeness, says "how do you do, Guybrush?" before breaking into a smile again.

"Errrr... I'm fine. And how are you?"

He felt strange. But he must first finish his mission. After it he will be finally free. And then maybe.......

He didn't get the chance to finish his thoughts, for Sabre spoke:

"I'm here to illuminate a treath to mankind, nobody knows my real name, but you can call me "Sabre"...."

Nobody spoke, so he continued...

"I'd prefer that next time we will leave on time, time is of the essence here, wasting it makes the treath bigger and stronger. Keep that in mind, miss...."

Julie doesn't stop smiling for an instant. "Oh c'mon Sabre, we're still going to be there way ahead of schedule." Her smile turns mischevious. "But if you're in that much of a hurry... well... hold on!"

She finally starts watching where she's going, and then throws the throttle wide open. There's a strong push as the ship picks up quite a bit of speed. It's pretty obvious that Julie's having a lot of fun.

"Hmpf, these wreckety machines bring nothing but darkness to the world" Sabre mumbles. He closes his eyes and seems to be absent-minded.

Suddenly, because of the fast movement of the spaceship, a wrench comes flying towards Sabre... the others gasp, but Sabre grabs the wrench from the air without even opening his eyes...

"Interesting" Ziolek says to himself. He puts his headspeakers on, and quickly feels asleep.

For a slight instant, Julie stops smiling and looks puzzled, then annoyed. "Where'd that come from? I don't leave tools out... hey, that's not even my wrench! Those bums at the station must have left it lying around. I'm going to have a word with them next time I'm back there!" Then her usual smile returns.

"Anyway, sorry about that. Nice catch, Sabre! You a baseball player or something?"

[understood, won't happen again]

"Hmpf, baseball... you can take out enemy's with baseball, I only pratice martial arts" He sighes, "how long till we get there?"...

Heard from Ziolek's Headspeakers.

"Oh oh oh oh oh
I ain't happy,
I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I'm useless but
Not for long
The future is coming on"

Sabre sat in the corner, not minding anyone, just hoping that he would see solid ground again. Somehow he seemed to be enjoying the music coming from Ziolek headphones, but forced himself to focus on the upcoming mission. Something about this felt different, more familiar... He didn't speak of this... not to these people, they are not to be trusted... yet...

"Not much longer until..."
The radio suddenly crackles to life "This is MP dropship 43..."
Julie puts on a headset and punches a button. "Go ahead. Distress call? Ok, I'm on it. Yep."

"Looks like we've got another stop on the way. Hold on, everyone!"

Julie whips the ship about 45 degrees to the left without even slowing down. In a few minutes, a small object becomes visible. Upon approaching, it seems to be an escape pod.

"Good.. standard docking port. Pretty flashy escape pod, though!"

The pod is spinning end over end, but with expert precision Julie matches its spin, drops in right next to it and establishes a lock between the pod and her docking port. The door opens.

Sabre opens his eyes, curious to see who or what was in the escape pod. He did sense it wasn't anything truly evil, but then again, he couldn't really sense it well at all. He couldn't feel what the others were like on this ship, it was like his senses had gone numb. He blaimed the ship, but deep inside he knew there was more to it than that, he would have to stay more distant to the others, so he could get a better read on them.

In the meanwhile, he waited in anticipation for Julie to retrieve the escape pod....

Ziolek heart some noises. He turned out MP3 and checked discretly if the knife mechanism is working.

"What's going on?"

"We're picking up a pilot... well, ex-pilot... in distress. It'll just be a minute. Takes them a while to get un-strapped from all the harnesses and such in there, and then once he's safely in here we'll disengage the pod and be on our way."

i unlock the docking mechanism of my escape pod, and hear a loud hiss, as the pressure equalises.
a little woosy i enter the hold.
"Goodday gentlemen, I apologize for the major inconvienience i´ve caused you, and will makes sure you are compensated for the time lost. I also offer my profuse thanks to the Pilot of this vessel for picking me up."
looks at the pilot "th-th-thankl you mylady, if there is any-anything you want i´m yours!"
blushes, then goes wild-eyed
"i didn´t mean it like that!, i hope i haven´t offend you miss?"
sees a blank stare of many a passenger "well, is there an area in which i can clean myself up? i just lost my spaceship you know? like poppa always said: 'a mans worth is equal to that of the life he leaves behind!' "
...
"excuse me"

He didn't look dangerous for Ziolek. But he couldn't sleep anymore. He took a book from his backpack and started reading. The book was called Rencewind Journey.

Sabre looks up the stranger, "Too bad, you missed introductions", he said. "And I don't think there is anywhere to freshen up, the ship is dirtier than you are". Sabre sat down again, a little annoyed by the lost time. He decided to keep an eye on the stranger for a while, just in case.

[ nice entrance ;) ]

"Welcome aboard!" Julie says, smiling and extending her hand to shake the new passenger's. "I'm Julie. What's your name?"

She gets a solemn look. "Sorry to hear about your ship. Were you close? I know I'd be very upset if I lost Frank here." Back to smiling.

"Oh, where are my manners. This is Sabre, that over there is Guybrush, and... well, our other passenger's asleep, so we don't know his name. Frank's my ship! If you want somewhere to clean up, you're welcome to use the facilities over there." With her free hand, she points to a rather cluttered-looking room at the back, which might have a mirror and sink under all the junk. "Oh, and don't worry about compensation. I've got all I want here in my ship!"

sees where julie points him, and grimaces
"thank you very much miss, but... perhaps i´m more tired than dirty, i´d like to rest a bit,"
eyes the rest of the passengers warily
"i don´t suppose any of you have some room left?"
mutters to himself inaudibly "frank has got some hygiene issues"
(anyone giving me quarters would be welcome)

[okay, that´s the last of me for today, i have other engagements ;) i already love this!, and thanks for the compliment Jagori!]

"I don't think we would be sitting and sleeping here if there were any good quarters left", Sabre said laughing. "But you can always ask, I guess" he said, "but before you lock yourself in a room, could we at least get your name?".

"ah yes, my apologies good sir, Miller is the name, David Miller. Like poppa always says: 'theres´more in a name than in a spaceship' "
looks apologetically at Julie "off course, if that spaceship has a name..."
looks at the other roleplayers
"Guybrush"
David inclines his head in whats supposed to be a nod, then looks at julie, composing himself.
"No threat'" mutters David, unlcear whether he means himself or the others.
"I believe you were going the same way as I? there are not many ships going elsewhere in this part of space."
[sorry couldn´t resist coming back!! i just love this!]

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Mr. Miller. We're headed towards Zephyria. Crystal Wastelands, to be precise. Is that seriously where you were going? Bleh, I can't imagine why. Well, if you want to get off somewhere else, lemme know. If it's too far out of the way, I'll have to take you there on the way back... we're on a bit of a deadline." Julie shoots a fake angry glare at Sabre.

"Till then, just make yourself comfy. Those chairs are nicer than they look," she says, motioning toward an empty passenger seat near a window.

Once everyone's sitting and buckled in, Julie puts the ship back on course and sits with her eyes closed for just a second before starting off toward the rendezvous point, no slower than before.

Sabre ignored the glare and was just happy to get moving again, happy to get closer to their goal. He saw no purpose in conversating with the others anymore, he closed his eyes and visualed his home, the tranquility of that place was something he won't see for a long time now.

Suddenly, the ship started to shake terribly. All passengers - besides the sleeping one - almost fall from their seats. The sleeping one did not wake.

"YEEEE-HAAAW!!!! FRIGGIN TURBULENCES RULE!!!", a mechanical voice wityelled, full of joy.

"PLEASED TO MEET YA'LL, DUDES!!! HI, JULIE!!! FRANK HERE!!! SORRY FOR THOSE SHAKIN'N'BOUNCING - THERE ARE SOME FRIGGIN TURBULENCES, SO FASTEN YOUR FRIGGIN SEATBELTS!!!"

[Hello to all players - Second in Command here, hopefully you'll survive those turbulences ;)]

"Ladies and.. well, no, just gentlemen, I give you Frank!" Julie says, grinning as usual. "He's the ship's AI." She drops her voice to a stage whisper: "I think he was programmed by a surfer from Texas or something. You should have heard how he talked before I made some changes!"

Out the window, you can see several planet-like objects. Julie points to a larger one, and says "OK guys, there's Zephyria. We're almost there! I'm gonna have to make a quick stop at the harbor to get airspace clearance, and then we'll head to pretty much the exact opposite side of the planet, where you guys are s'posed to meet the rest of your buddies. Strap yourselves in - re-entry on a planet this big can be a little rough!"

Julie pulls a set of dark goggles over her eyes, and throws four or five switches. Metal shutters close over all the passenger windows, and another one closes behind the cockpit, closing Julie off from the passenger compartment.

A voice crackles over the speakers. "Ladies and.. haha, geez, I did it again. Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Everyone buckled in back there? We'll be beginning entry in about five minutes, and then touchdown will be about half an hour after that. I've gotta concentrate on this now, so I'll talk to you all after. Ciao!"

You feel the ship slow down (finally), turn a bit, and then come to a stop. All the shutters open, and Julie walks over to the door and opens it. "Don't go anywhere, Frank. I'll be back shortly."

Julie steps outside. You can hear her yell to you, "Awww, the lineup's really long." She pokes her head back in. "You guys wanna wander around? Go get some chips or something? This is gonna take at least half an hour, so just be back here then and we'll head out. If you wanna stay here, that's cool too. Up to you!"

With that, she heads off, and you can hear her footsteps getting farther away as she jogs somewhere.

David reaches for his pocket, and then his other pocket, then pads himself down, obviously looking for something missing.
he unstraps himself form the rather unconfortable seat.

"well excuse me, i seem to have misplaced my PDA, really i´m useless without it., besides, didn´t julie say we were free to wonder?"

David enters his escape pod, it seems WAY confortable, he utters a hiss

"I feel so foolish, there was plenty of room in here to sit out the journey more comfortably."

he says to no one in particular. David moves to pick up his Palm Pilot from the floor of the pod, dusting it off. then he enters the main hold again.

"gentlemen!, as thanks for the generous way i´ve been treated, i´ll will place a few phonecalls to see if we can bypass that line. it seems like a medical check line to me, does anyone know if there´s a epidemic?"

David moves away to use his PDA for some sort of video communication with what would be likely is his father.

"Yes Poppa.... ...won´t change anything... ...minor lordling... ...I will see that it does... ..Thank you sir, you too"

David turns off his PDA, then changes his mind, and turns it on again, this time it seems someone different he is talking to.
"Goodday sir efficagio... ....-118973 dash alpha... all right, will do... ...(some sort of greeting goodbye, barely audible)"

David moves back to the main Area

"well, it seems that no-one outside knows. there has been an outbreak of some unknown disease on Osiris prime,but if my source is correct that has nothing to do with this. nobody is telling much from what i hear. anyway i´n a few minutes there will be a medical officer to escort us into some sort of temporary settlement."

[ Hah, you caught me. I totally forgot to have Julie disengage the pod, and I was wondering if anyone would notice. ]

(About 10 minutes have gone by since Julie got in line.)

[ perhaps jagori can narrate the medical officer coming to pick everyone up. dinner i served right here. ]

The sound of approaching footsteps can be heard. Anyone who goes to look will see two men in suits approaching the ship. Julie's currently exchanging information to get airspace clearance. She glances over, sees the two men, and hurriedly finishes what she's doing so she can run back to the ship.

"Hey! HEY! What do you want with my ship?"

The taller of the men says, "Good afternoon, ma'am. This is your vessel?"

"Don't call me "ma'am." My name's Julie. And yes, this here is my ship. And you two can tell me why you're here right now or go the hell away!"

The shorter man flashes an ID card and says "No need to worry, miss. We're medical officers here to aid you in minimizing the delay needed to acquire your medical clearance."

"Medical clearance? Since when?"

"There's been a breakout on Osiris Prime. A quarantine was established in that sector, and all off-planet traffic in this system must apply for medical clearance."

"That's BS! I don't care about your medical clearance. I'll just be on my way."

"No, miss. I don't think you will. In fact, you'll find that medical clearance is currently required and enforced. Now, your options are to either stand in line..." he motions to a lineup that's even longer than the airspace clearance line "... or you can allow us to escort you to our establishment, where you can receive preferential treatment."

Julie looks very unimpressed. "Bah! I hate these stupid rules." She turns to her passengers. "Well, looks like there's no way around it, so let's vote. You guys wanna wait in line, or you wanna go with these monkeys?"

"Julie, these gentlemen are here at my behest. one way or another, we will have to go through this clearance, and these gentlemen are here to give us preferential treatment, i h-h-hope that is no p-p-problem"

David eyes Julie expectantly, blushes, then looks at the rest of the passengers, one seemingly comatose.
he then turns to the officers, and reaches out his hand

"I´m Miller, i see sir Efficagio is as effiecient as his reputation tells him to be? but She´s right, there is no need for medical clearance is there? we just need to get in, and i was told that you would be here to help us, not to let us linger for some meaningless tests now?"

sees the blank stare of the two officers

"well, i suppose a few meaningless test now is still better than a few meaningless tests in -"
looks at the line
"-12 hours?"
gives a meaningfull look to everyone, but avoids Julie´s eyes.

Julie's expression becomes unreadable. "Well, I s'pose I should be thanking you, David. A few meaningless tests, now or in 12 hours, is better than getting my ship impounded for crossing quarantined airspace without clearance." She turns to the men. "Excuse me for a moment." They both nod.

She walks over to the passengers, out of earshot of the two men. "What d'you guys think about these monkeys here? I don't like them, but I don't like anybody who's on the government side of things so I wanna hear what you think."

"If this medical test is required for us to move on, then we must, I don't think they are planning to make this test last for hours... at least I hope" Sabre said. "I suggest we just do it, I don't want to go running into trouble with wrong people... yet" he continued.

[I suggest you either PM sjaak about the whole thing or... just make his character do something]

"So we got 2 votes in favor of this test, but I don't know what Guybrush and the other guy thinks"

The tall man speaks up. "If it's of any assistance in deciding, falling asleep is a way of saying 'yes' in Zephyrian Sign Language."

Julie looks over. "That so?" She glances at the sleeping passenger. "Hm. Who would have guessed he knew ZSL? Well, I guess that's majority. We're going with you."

"Excellent. Right this way, miss." He indicates an open door on a nearby ship.

"Ohhh no. I'll take my own ship, thank you very much."

"If you insist, miss. We will escort you." They return to their ship.

Without a word, Julie goes and sits in the pilot seat. Once everyone who's going with her is buckled in (any of you are free to ride with the escorts), she lifts off, and follows the escort to a dry-looking building. She lands the ship, and opens the door. Attendants are waiting outside the door, one for each passenger, to guide you to clearance stations. She gets up, shudders briefly, and then quickly walks over to one of the attendants, who leads her to a station.

The rest of the attendants continue to wait for you.

"Now let's get this test over with", Sabre said as he walked to the attendant. His pace was so fast that the attendant needed some time to catch up after Sabre past him. To himself he hoped that they wouldn't find any anomoly's in his blood, but since he's steady for so long he didn't worry about it to much.

Sabre: They seat you and begin to perform a few of the usual examinations.

Julie comes back to the ship. "Blah. Glad that's over with. Everyone else done or what?"

One of the attendants says "The rest of your passengers seem to be unable to undo their seatbelts. And one has fallen asleep."

Julie says, "Well, you might as well go on there and scan the sleeping one. Apparently he's already agreeing."

The attendant says, "Yes, I'm familiar with ZSL." He walks over to the sleeping sjaak and performs a few tests. Suddenly, he looks surprised. "Hey, come over here for a minute!" he yells to his partners. They do. "Look at this guy's blood reading! ...if you can even call it that" "Wow... is he still alive?" "Amazingly, he seems to be perfectly healthy!"

Julie runs over. "What? What's wrong with him?"

The attendant replies, "Your passenger has a very high alcohol content in his bloodstream. It might even be more fitting to say that he has some blood in his alcohol-stream."

"Yikes. He's been sleeping since he got here... I just thought he was tired! Is he going to be alright?"

"Amazingly, it seems so. He'll just have one hell of a hangover when he wakes up. Clearance granted."

The attendants return to their position outside the ship.

(If I don't get a post from Ziolek or JFSOCC soon, I'm going to assume they go to get their testing done without causing trouble.)

Ziolek and David have apparently knocked themselves out trying to undo their seatbelts.

The two attendants notice this and, being fluent in ZSL as well, accept the invitation to scan the passengers.

The one examining Ziolek finds Ziolek's knife very interesting, but being a medical professional in a place like this, doesn't ask any questions, and simply does his job. The scan goes well, and he types a few things and finishes up.

David's examiner is much the same. He calls the other examiner over on his way out, though, saying "hey, do you know who this is? It's David Miller." The other examiner comes over. They glance at his PDA, and then one of them goes "nah, we shouldn't touch that. How would you like someone going through your things while you're asleep?" "Yeah, you're right. Anyway, he checks out fine." And with that, they leave. Julie follows them out of the ship.

About a minute later, Ziolek and David both wake up.


Meanwhile, Sabre's examiners are looking rather closely at one of the test results. They hide what they're saying from you, though. They look like they're discussing something, and then they both nod. One of them goes back to performing exams, and the other one walks away. A minute or so later, you see him come out of a door in the distance and start walking towards you, accompanied by four armed men in uniform. They'll reach your current position in about two minutes.

*sjaak wakes*

ey guys how is everything going? Good? allrighty then, so what did I miss?