memes IN SPACE

[skywalker]

The SPACE OPERA Meme

 

► Your character finds him or herself in the pilot’s seat of a giant robot, the bridge of a starship, etc., etc., anything resembling the controls and/or comm center of a spaceworthy vessel. Displays show that the vessel is in an asteroid field, and far in the distance are a pair of binary suns! There is also a spherical space station nearby (please don’t appear in it, but navigate to it to explore it if you’d like). And all comms have been reset to an unfamiliar frequency. Everyone in the meme is on this frequency, though you can change them if you’d like

► If you’re welcome to players you don’t know dropping characters in your vessel with you, please put HITCHHIKERS WELCOME in the subject line. If you’re in a small vessel that can really only hold a few people, put a max number.

► Post with your CHARACTER NAME, FANDOM, VESSEL, and PASSENGERS WELCOME (if applicable) in the subject line, ie “Quattro Bajeena | Zeta Gundam | Hyaku Shiki | Hitchhikers Welcome (Max 2)” or “William Adama | Battlestar Galactica | Galactica | Hitchhikers Welcome.” If you’re dropping in as a passenger, just use CHARACTER NAME, FANDOM, ie “Leia Organa | Star Wars.”

► Please set up where your character is and his/her immediate reaction in your top-level comment!

► If you want to explore the space station, go ahead, make up whatever you want to find in it. It has Earth-y atmosphere.

► We’ll fudge “spaceworthy vessel.” Earthbound giant robots like Knightmare Frames are magically spaceworthy for this meme. Also they can move in space. Somehow.

► Transformers you guys can come too!!!1!

► If your character can breathe in space yeah whatevs have them floating around in space.

► There may be multiples of one vessel, of course (two Millenium Falcons, two Wing Gundams, two Tardises etc.).

► Characters who have no canon affiliation to a particular vessel (read: civvies and people who aren’t actually from space operas) are welcome to find themselves in any vessel, from a canon or one you thought up right now. Go ahead, put Buffy in Nu Gundam, a generic X-Wing, on the bridge of the Enterprise, or in something else entirely.

► Don’t godmod if your character decides to go on a killing spree. Don’t godmod if your character is trying to stop a killing spree. Restrain the urge to fanwank over whether X could beat Y and work together to play mutually fulfilling fights, should they start.

 

Comments

leonard mccoy | st:xi | enterprise | hitchhikers welcome (don't forget your towel)

[divorce]

[ maybe it's because he just worked a drop shift and has been on his feet for ten hours; maybe it's the lack of sleep in general lately, what with mopping up after the last mission and then the flu going around the ship. but as the turbolift door opens onto the bridge, he realizes he doesn't remember making the decision to leave medical and travel up here. he doesn't remember walking down the hallway, either, or getting in the lift.

but, he reasons as he steps out and the door wooshes shut behind him, this is space. if this is the strangest thing to happen to him today, bones'll count himself lucky.

'like hell i'm that lucky,' he thinks as he looks at the main viewscreen. 'there's your crazy right there, mccoy.' because where he should see the rigel system, there's nothing but emptiness and a huge station he doesn't recognize. not remembering walking to the bridge could be written off as memory loss due to exhaustion. but he'd remember jim announcing a changed course. with a deep frown he walks further onto the bridge, looking around to see who's on duty. ]

[phasered]

Over here. [Angela nods for him to come closer, and as a afterthought adds] Sir. [something weird is going on, and the unsettling feeling means she's fallen back on protocol. It's a weird comfort.]

We dropped out of warp - not manually, it happened on it's own. We've been unable to re-engage the warp drive. [Angela lowers her voice.] Shields are up and holding, but weapons are offline. Can't get those up, either.

[divorce]

[ with most everyone down for the count with the flu and this being the graveyard shift, angela's in charge of the bridge. not surprising after years of seeing her climb rank and prove herself a damn fine officer. he walks over and peers down. bones appreciates falling back on routine as much as angela; the predictability is a welcome stability in the midst of growing chaos. ]

That's a whole lot of bad news all at once, Lieutenant. Do we have any readings on that station?

[phasered]

That's the other weird thing. We hailed it and - [she shakes her head.] There's obviously something going on, it looks like an active station but it doesn't respond to hails and I've got people analyzing any data we can pull but no information yet. We are picking up activity that indicates lifeforms aboard the station but that's all we know.

[there's a silence and she's pretty sure they're thinking the same thing] Maybe we should alert the Captain. [as much as it pains her to suggest that. They both know - every knows - Angela savors the hours when she's got the bridge. Some things are just meant for Jim to handle.]

[beakers]

[ as always, no one who should be on the bridge is, but at least in mira's defense she was called there (by angela, if it wasn't obvious). she lifts her head at the soft whoosh sound, momentarily moving from her post to approach mccoy. there's some relief in the familiarity. it's a welcome distraction to everything that isn't making sense right now. ]

Don't suppose you have any ideas about what's going on. [ of course she assumes he's been in sickbay this whole time, but it'd be nice to get some answers. ] Sensors are are maximum calibrations, but ... we're not picking anything up. Nothing that can help us anyway.

[shiny]

[Kaylee is standing on the bridge listening to the ship itself. She knows she shouldn't be up heck there are some shiny views.]

Doesn't the ship sound shiny?

[She turns around with a smile.]

amuro ray • mobile suit gundam (CCA) • rx-93 nu gundam • passengers welcome

[79]

(ooc. this will be your ride today if you're so inclined! rescues, test runs, or hitchhikers both chilling in the cockpit or using the jumpseat are all fine.)

Strange. [ Amuro's fiddling with the Nu Gundam's comm links, the buttons on the cockpit's seat monitor beeping softly under his fingertips. He's been separated from the rest of the fleet, and triangulating his current position in relation to the stars he knows has proved unusually difficult. One sequence after another fails, until he's certain he's going to exhaust his options before he finds an easy resolution. ] It's not that they're scrambled...

[ Just kind of talking to himself while tapping away, oops. It totally helps. ]

Re: amuro ray • mobile suit gundam (CCA) • rx-93 nu gundam • passengers welcome

[lostdestiny]

[ Some punkass kid is trying to send a video transmission to you! His voice is rude, irritated, and young. In the background of the video are a mess of blinking alert screens flashing all over his Gundam's displays -- he's been trying to get information about where he is, and failed spectacularly to get anything but blinking red nonsense. ]

You, in the white mobile suit!

[ Sorry, dude, you're more familiar looking than the Enterprise, so Shinn's going to try starting a conversation with you first... well, if yelling is really a conversation. ]

[79]

[ Oh, a yelling kid. Well, at least he can more or less deal with that kind of familiarity over this other absurdity. ]

A transmission? Who? [ The video link that kicks up actually stills him in surprise, because the frequency is totally alien to him. But he doesn't sense anything overtly hostile, and if the state of the other pilot's cockpit was anything to go by, they both might still be in trouble. Amuro stops his Gundam's coasting and watches the feed stabilize. ] You're coming in clear! Are you all right?

[lostdestiny]

I'm fine! More importantly -- where the hell is this? Where's the Earth?

[ He pulls the Destiny into a stable position around Nu, then gestures frantically, expansively at the camera with his arms, balling up his fists in confusion and frustration. ]

Is this someone's idea of a joke?

[space_case]

[ As Nu Gundam drifts in space, asteroids and battlefield debris drift around it. Most of it's unremarkable, space rocks or wreckage from battles past. But there, on the battered fragment of an asteroid, limp and unprotected by even so much as a Normal Suit, there's a man. A boy, really, because he can't be a day over eighteen.

And he's barely clinging to life.

Nu Gundam's sensors might pick it up, or Amuro's psychic senses might detect it, but there's a strange power coming from this boy. A weak, faint power that's kept him alive but is slowly fading. He lifts his head, peering with dull, glazed eyes at the giant white machine passing beneath his rock, and murmurs a hoarse plea that surely won't be heard.] ]

... h-help me...

[79]

[ Unheard but not unnoticed. It's more of a spark, something brief and kinetic that flares momentarily in his mind. Amuro eases on the propulsion, rearing his mobile suit into a drift and scanning his surroundings for another such instance. What he gets is amazing even by his standards. ]

It can't be... [ He's already calibrated the Nu's systems to work on the alien frequency, and he almost can't believe his eyes at what comes up. ] A person? Out here like this!

[ It shouldn't have been possible, but there he was, a life unprotected and fragmented in the cold vacuum of space. Amuro eases the Nu towards the asteroid, latching onto it with one of its hands, and gently reaches for the man with the other without hesitation. ]

Can you hear me? [ His voice booms over the Gundam's audio comm. ] Climb on if you can!

[space_case]

[ He senses the machine long before he realizes there's a man in it. There's no concept of shape or dimensions, not unless he opens his eyes, and right now it hurts too much to try that. He can feel its energy output, warm and steady like a star, and for the moment that's enough.

If he were up to it, he would simply reach out and take that energy into himself, but he's not. It's taking everything he has and more just to stay alive, for his heart to keep pumping without nourishment in his body or breath in his lungs. Even he can't sustain conditions like this indefinitely. ]

... what.. are you... [ It's closer now, whatever it is, and he forces his eyes open to look at it. At first he takes it for a Sentinel, some new model in gleaming white, but this humanoid machine is larger than even the largest Sentinel. Twin pinpoints of light stare down at him like eyes, and he half-expects beams to erupt from those eyes, to incinerate him where he lies.

Instead the machine reaches one enormous hand towards him, and then, without warning, a man's voice telling him to grab hold. There's no room in his disordered thoughts for questions, no time to wonder why or how.

He rolls over and reaches for those enormous fingers, clutching onto them with both arms.

shinn asuka | gundam seed destiny | destiny gundam | hitchhikers welcome

[lostdestiny]

What--!

[ Shinn's fingers are racing over the Destiny's ten billion buttons, pulling up one bright screen after another, all of which just confirm what's on the viewing screens, which is to say -- they make no sense! Two suns? Asteroids this big so close to Earth? His heart leaps into his throat, frustration and unease at the new stars almost completely overwhelming him. He slams a fist into the thick glass of the opposite viewport and yells into the communications systems-- ]

What the hell is this!

Re: shinn asuka | gundam seed destiny | destiny gundam | hitchhikers welcome

[soulinherfists]

[No hitchhikers here, just another Gundam on the viewscreen--a rather girly-looking Gundam with long blonde hair and oh just... this. Rushing up and then pulling to a stop, pointing one finger at him.]

Hey you! Where the hell are you from and where the hell are we?!

Mag Sands | Space Mercenary OC | small nameless shuttle | hitchhikers welcome (max 5)

[fire_for_hire]

[Of itself, the jump seat in a shuttle cockpit is not the strangest place Mag's woken up- in seven years with the Knights, she's learned how to snatch catnaps whenever she can. What catapults it to the top of the list is that she went to sleep in her bunk on the Davis, and passive sensors aren't showing the larger ship anywhere in range.

She runs through a hurried check; oxygen levels good, fuel edging toward the low side, all systems functioning normally except the port airlock, which is helpfully labeled "DO NOT USE" in red paint- and the nav computer is reporting she's nowhere near their last post. She's been out a lot longer than she thought. At least she's back in uniform somehow with her sidearm securely in its holster, although her pockets turn up only two grenades and half a liter of methanol out of her usual supply of explosives.

Well. The sensible thing to do would be to lay low and wait, but her entire company is missing and Mag was never really the sensible type to begin with. The comm's on a strange frequency; whoever dumped her here is probably listening. It might be giving them what they want, but it's probably the fastest way to get some answers.]

This is Mag Sands, Lost Knights. I don't know who you are and I don't know what you're after, so unless this is some bizarre practical joke, you've kinda screwed up the 'assigning' part of this assignment.

+1 Hitchhiker

[canandhave]

[This is very much the strangest spot Aveline has ever woken up in, even if she doesn't realize immediately just how strange of a place she's in. The shuttle is small, and the air has a hint of staleness in it that puts Aveline in mind of a cave.

She stirs to consciousness deliberately slowly, so she can control her reactions and open her eyes without shifting the rest of her body. There's no one looming over her, which is probably a good sign, but she's been in enough tight situations that she doesn't take that as enough reason to relax. It would probably take Hawke showing up and three hours of exploring this cave before she'd be be ready to relax.

She rises slowly, found herself in something that looks more like a strange sort of closet than a cave. Aveline's hand drops to her sword as she moves towards the door, only for it open for her.

She draws the sword, brandishing it at the woman there.]

Freeze where you are.

[fire_for_hire]

[Mag is half-turned from the comm at the sound of the door opening, but she stops at the unfamiliar voice, trying to get a look at the other woman's reflection in one of the instrument panels. That's not any uniform she recognizes, and is she carrying a sword? She smiles slowly, tensing in her seat.]

Quite the welcoming committee. You have something against the Knights, or me personally?

[canandhave]

[...The Knights?]

I have something against whoever's kidnapped me here.

[Aveline doesn't relax with the sword; this woman is clearly in control here.]

It looks a good deal like that's you.

Captain Fwifffo | Star Control 2 | Voidship StarRunner | crewmembers welcome

[die_anotherday]

Attention! All essential personnel! Our route to Zoq-Fot-Pig space has been... errr-- slightly altered by a sudden, and completely unexpected, opening into the Quasispace dimension. Our present coordinates place us just inside Ur-Quan space. Please feel free to panic appropriately, and then man your stations with renewed vigor and dedication that we might just have a small slim chance of escaping certain death.

Non-essential personnel, please proceed to the decoy-target projections of the ship. I think there is cake there. It will surely calm you as you wait for the inevitable. Thank you.

Vriska Serket | Homestuck | Battletech/Mechwarrior AU | crew/guests/bondsmen welcome

[true8orn]

The Sovetskii Soyuz class warship Serket, currently commandeered by the young and ambitious Clan Goliath Scorpion officer Vriska is a sight to behold. Bristling with weaponry it slips through the void silently (like everything in space as there's no air, duh).

"That is an interesting vessel. It is quite the conundrum whether I should trade with you or take it in a Trial Of Possession...Perhaps you should attempt to sway me in one way or another, quiaff?"

Gaignun Kukai, Jr. | Xenosaga | The Durandal | Hitchhikers Welcome

[sayonara_baby]

Jr.? Was on the bridge of the Durandal, a 4000-meter long battle cruiser equipped with a needle-nosed battering ram for close encounters and enough energy weaponry to take on a fleet of Gnosis. Because in space, everyone can hear you compensating for something.

"All right, let's see what's lurking around this old rustbucket. I'm heading to the dock." He gave the bridge crew a cocky salute as he stepped onto the lift. Mary and Shelley could handle things here; he'd take a small complement of armed personnel with him to explore the station, if anything. Shouldn't even require boarding an A.G.W.S., since the 100-series had detected an oxygen atmosphere!

[Interested in exploring the station, but a space battle is fine, too. Jr. has his own A.G.W.S. mecha at his disposal as well.]

Kaylee Frye | Firefly | Hitchhikers Welcome

[shiny]

Don't worry, everything is shiny.

[Kaylee opens the hatch to step down on to the planet talking to the rest of the crew as she goes. The sirens are going off on the Serenity. It's a weekly happening till she gets her girl some new parts.]

It's only a temporary set back. She'll be back in tip top shape in no time.

[bprd_fishman]

All right. [The fishman in the back of the ship doesn't sound all right, but he's trying to be polite about it.] Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

[He's a psychic, and at a touch can know what's happening in the metal around him. Right now he wishes he couldn't.]

Alice | Revenge of the Fallen | Hitchhickers cool

[fleshydisguise]

[While one would think that robots would not need spaceships, especially the ones that turn into spaceships, the cold vacuum of space provides problems for a species that hasn't yet invented sweaters.

Alice is one with her ship, plugged into the captain's chair by wires at her wrists and the back of her neck. In the midst of the machinery one could almost lose the shape of her body.]

I have the latest in astronavigation systems. Why the fuck do I not know where we are?