SLATE [IC]

[Chedastan]

Gorszigburg

General Kilimanjaro Africanus was having an already bad day that was just seemingly getting worse by the hour, he had 20 wounded from the rioting alone by the time it was noon, and his comm operator just took a slug to the neck from a overzealous rooftop store owner not a moment sooner. Trying to help the poor bastard from bleeding to death all over his own uniform and comm equipment from his ruptured jugular, the General gritted his teeth through the gargled screams and the sight of the man's increasingly pale skin while he held onto his open wound with all the life he could give back to the man. The asphalt he lay on being soaked with a fresh crimson pool of blood as the man's life merely poured away despite Africanus' best efforts, Major Juan could only look at his General with white glossy eyes fixated and agaze as his life finally parted this infinite world and he, in a grim irony, relaxed his muscles finally and rest peacefully as his heart finally stopped beating. With every slowing beat, the large General still holding onto him like a damned child, Major Juan had finally expired in Africanus' arms. "Fuckin hell..." Was all the General could mutter somberly.

Standing up and parting with the recently deceased, the General took a long gander around himself. Seeing the dire ongoing struggle his men were currently in, with an onslaught of rioters on one side, and a seemingly large group of armed insurgents encroaching on the opposite side of the plaza they have vowed to defend seemingly whatever the cost. It has become clear however to anyone sensible that the city of Gorszigburg was lost and that an immediate evac of Imperial forces was what was currently needed, cursing at himself nonetheless, the General reached for the comm from its now dead operator and radioed in to command.

"This is Praetorian One, we are in need for immediate evac do you copy, over?" And explosion then rocked a nearby building as a stray rocket propelled grenade destroyed about a story worth of an apartment, but the General held his cool, his goal only now was to get his men out and safe.

A response then crackled through despite the hellish conditions around them. "We... Read you... Zulu Niner enroute for evac... Over!" More gunfire and explosions rocked their position nonstop, but the General sensed something more was gonna happen to impede their escape. "Stop! Stop!" One of his men then shouted as a man ran through and into their lines, carrying a bag of sorts. Oh no...

The General charged at the man, plasma blade extended out in order to not allow the shaped charge to explode before the man can possibly deadman switched it. As time seemingly slowed down though and Africanus got closer and closer as he was about to slice the man's head clean off in a decisive cut, the bomb then exploded, sending a ripple through even his powered armor. He was sure the shockwave alone will splatter him in his own armor, but to his surprise the explosion seemingly stopped expanding. Paused in place. He struggled to move his eyes from the bright light of the detonation, but he remained unable to, seemingly like someone or something had stopped him too. Then after what felt like an eternity his vision flashed once again.

---

The Agency

He was in a car of sorts, he wasn't sure how he got there, or who exactly it was that he was talking to and explaining some kind of organization of sorts to him. Was he dead? He didn't quite feel dead, surely he would know. It was obvious he wasn't quite feeling 100% despite everything. Apparently there was demon ghost child or something? He had some questions but those were probably better explained when he got on the ground with the people he's working with. Working with... He was still trying to wrap his head around that. Maybe he could help them out? He then immediately shuddered during the ride as he vividly remembered his men getting torn apart seemingly moments ago, in all its gory detailed. He had then quickly motioned to the man driving him as they pulled in. "Bring me to them now, if they're in need of help they're gonna need all the hands they can get." He said to the young man.

[Monfrox]

Brit led the team out when everyone had been released. The standard affair of "take two of these and call me in the morning" was more "take two of these if you have them and call us if you're dying". She inwardly bemoaned the paperwork she'd have to handle for all their hospital visits, along with the bills. Already they were racking up favors and debts and it was only the first week. She'd let it make her head hurt later, but for now they were heading out when Seamus came back. Luckily, leprechauns were tricksters and hadn't needed much help.

"Alright, let's head back, debrief, and grab something to eat."

Back at the HQ, the woman with Galen minutely adjusted her glasses again, a habit of telling for annoyance. But, she did open the floor for questions and forgot a few crucial things.

"Mister Foster, everything you need will be in your room. Well, everything within reason, that is. It's still your room and you can't fit everything in there, but whatever you need. You room will look just how you want it to as well. Perhaps you miss familiarity, so it may look like your old room as much as you wish it to. As for your duration, no one was told how long they were being here. You are here until you are no longer needed, and then we will decide whether to move you to another assignment or send you back. Now, I do believe your team is right outside. Go introduce yourself. As I said before, all their info for their roles are in the dossier you were given."

With that, the woman promptly turned around and went through one of the other numerous doors in the hallway, disappearing on the other side to wherever she had come from.

[Highfort]

Gesellschaft Headquarters, Central Conference Room

Nearly dying on their first day was a bit too action-packed for Gordon Felton's taste.

He let out a thick, white cloud of pineapple-scented nicotine as he poured over the figures on his dataslate. He'd spent most of the hospital visit chatting up the COO, Ellen Lefabre, but found her frustratingly short on strings he could pull to get Doctor Turnbull his nuclear core - or any medical equipment, for that matter. Now that the team was back at base, he needed to get them debriefed before anything else came up on the radar.

The bureaucrat's slate buzzed with alerts that Jim, Max, and Angus all had matters they wanted to follow up with him on. A quick text back that he had to finish debriefing everyone and take a shower before he could meet them seemed to placate the three men for now. Gordon sighed; this was not the way to start a good working relationship.

Jim had done him a solid of putting Gesellschaft and its employees under the SCM municipal contract for the time being, so the Agency had time to do its job and start procuring revenue streams before hospital and supply bills would start coming due. It wasn't much time, however, and regardless it still left them in the unenviable position of needing to do their job without supplies to spare.

As dirty, tired-looking individuals began to pile into the sleek conference room, Gordon greeted them with a cheery smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He gestured at the provided leather seats, each facing a provided spread on the table including bottled water, assorted small pastries, and bagels. He inwardly cringed at the lack of real food, though the last-minute texting to the base's kitchen staff had predictably yielded lackluster results. He quickly responded to a text asking about a lunch spread and insisted that hot meals should be prepared as quickly as possible, to avoid irritating already-low morale. Before he could specify further, he noticed fresh faces joining the ranks of the disheveled.

"General Africanus, Mr. Foster," he nodded at the heavily-armored officer and unsettlingly-masked conman, struggling to recall much about them as he hadn't paid the dossiers emailed that morning much mind when he'd seen they'd be showing up after training was over, "I'm sure I'm not the first to be welcoming you to Slate; if you'll please take your seats, we just got back from a training operation outside the habitats and have some things to discuss."

The large plasma-screen behind him lit up with a series of charts and photographs - mostly of locals everyone had met, although these were clearly professional shots done for PR or database purposes - and the bureaucrat adjusted his glasses before beginning the usual info-dump. They had a lot to discuss: what that plant-boy-thing could possibly be, how they were going to repay their debts, what next steps were for protecting the town, and of course getting everyone caught up on who the big players were so the agents could start poking around and doing what they did best.

But, he figured, first things first. It was time to come back to their senses.

"Well then, before we begin I find it's good to center the room, get a gauge on how everybody's feeling," he twirled his slate's stylus as he waited for everyone to get comfortable, "So please, if anyone wants to say anything about what happened or how they feel, please feel free. We'll take the first five minutes for this. I want to remind everyone that this is a closed-doors meeting, so everything discussed here is confidential and belongs to the team. Speak your mind, and please enjoy some water and snacks courtesy of the base staff."

"I know everyone's having a long day; I'm figuring out a lunch plan with them, and we'll have you all eating and free to go about the rest of your day as soon as this meeting is over," he gazed around hopefully, waiting for someone to pipe up.

[Talchyon]

Gesellschaft Headquarters, Central Conference Room
Dr. Jesse Turnbull (aka 'Doc Sawbones')

Taking notice of the new troops the Agency sent, Jesse made a mental note to himself to make sure he scanned them with his robot eye eventually. Wouldn't hurt having their medical read handy. After the morning's disaster, Jesse was sure he was going to need it. General Africanus was obviously the armored soldier. Mr. Foster apparently was the strangely masked man. He'd have to review their information in their files. No doubt it had updated since he last looked at it.

Jesse stood up and gave a report as to the medical situation. "Overall, with what happened this morning, it could have been a lot worse. No fatalities. A few remain in critical condition. The doctors and nurses at the hospital told me they had everything taken care of and that those few critical are going to need time more than anything." (At least, that's what he said. What he was thinking was, "Time and luck.")

"Many things we got this morning were easily treated. Broken bones, lacerations, burns. Those things we see all the time." Jesse took a drink of water next to him as he looked out at the weary, shocked militia members. This was going to take tact, a skill Jesse was not the best suited for. "But the main thing that every single person needs," he paused for effect, "...the main thing is mental health. I highly advise you take some time and talk things over with the psych program on your devices. It's there for a reason, and this is as good a time as any. You all know that this program was designed to help treat PTSD, and we're all feeling it. But it won't help you and it won't help the colony if you just shrug it off and try to tough it out. Use your psych programs. And try to get your minds off it. Do something constructive. Build something if it helps. But don't let this just lie unaddressed."

After a few other remarks, Jesse sat down, not caring about the stares he was getting. They needed to know. Screw them if they thought otherwise.

---

Seamus

The little leprechaun had managed to find his way out of the hospital, somehow. Of course, no side trip was complete without a souvenir to show for it. And it just so happened that Seamus had found something that caught his eye as he was leaving. Something shiny. Something uniquely shaped. He managed to smuggle the device out of there, somehow. Leave it to a leprechaun to hide things up his sleeves or in pockets. Somehow, no one had seen him do it.

But now, while the meeting was going on, Seamus pulled out the device, and started fidgeting with it. It was like a pair of bent scissors. Opening and shutting it, and then opening it again and pretending to clamp down on some invisible foe, Seamus was captivated more by the device than by the maps on the screen and the grumpy doctor's lecture.

He leaned over to one of the new members of their team, a heavily armored soldier of some kind. He spoke up to the man Gordon had called "General Africanus". And Seamus said, "How's she cuttin'? Name's Seamus! An' this is mah new souv'neeyer."

[Chedastan]

Gesellschaft Headquarters, Central Conference Room

As the mind of the General started to clear up from the initial shock on being transported through interdimensional means steadily, he had begun to realized he had to be somewhere rather foreign and different than somewhere from the Wilhelm Imperium. At least surely he thought? He wasn't quite so certain on what exactly was going on still, for all he knew he was dying of rapid blood loss in that bombed out plaza and this was possibly a dying dream from that. But he may as well tried to remain optimistic that that wasn't the actual case, it would seem rather depressing if it were.

Finding himself now walking with a rather interesting looking man in an equally interesting looking mask accompanying him throughout this HQ of a building that suspiciously lacked any Imperial iconography he could discern. He wanted to say something first to Foster to get a better read on him and maybe some answers, but Africanus and the masked man were then greeted by a man who looked like every single white collar working, tie wearing, tax avoiding bureaucrat the General has ever seen rolled into a single, possibly unholy amalgamation. Which Gordon could've been for all he knew!

"Slate, huh? So that's what this place is called? Doesn't seem like an Imperial frontier name, did this place just break away recently in a revolt?" He then asked, still rather confused on the nature of this strange new place. Was it a colony, one from another empire perhaps? These thoughts raced through his head, though the fact he was treated with hospitality at least meant he was likely in good hands. Feeling more reassured with an offer of... admittedly a pretty small seat for his 8ft. tall size. The General took it and sat down, looking like a grown man in a kindergartener's chair.

When the screens lit up behind Gordon however, Africanus' other worst fears were seemingly being met when he saw the photos of people who all conveniently looked like they were advertising real estate. This was all just an elaborate ploy to sell him timeshares, they even had snacks and water!

Wait... That couldn't make sense, or could it? No surely not. The General tried to wrap his around it some more, possibly considering taking up the bureaucrat's offer for water if he was potentially entering into a state of delirium. Taking some water to help himself though, practically finishing the whole bottle without realizing it, the General set the empty container of plastic down on the table and realized that it was covered in blood. Quickly getting startled at the surprising sight, Africanus quickly realized whose blood it was, Major Juan's. He had paused silently, realizing that the events at the plaza did actually happened just recently, and that he was very much somewhere else entirely? But where? Where was this Slate?

"You would have to excuse me for that," He gestured at the blood stained bottle apologetically while finding a napkin to whip his hand with. "I was just recently fighting against an open revolt in major city in the Imperium, hard fighting. I was just tending to a man who got shot, he um didn't make it as you can tell... Where are we exactly? Are my men gone?" He then somberly asked Gordon, suddenly feeling very alone.

Despite this however, he had then turned to his head to look at the jolly looking small fellow next to him playing around with a pair of medical forceps and the General couldn't help but chuckle at bit at the eccentric halfling. "My name is General Kilimanjaro Africanus, Mr. Seamus. Good to meet you." He nodded at the Leprechaun, wondering if he had a more wide collection of random things he's just found and decided to keep, he's almost like a crow, the General then thought.

[Monfrox]

Brit yawned as she walked in. The adrenaline high was coming down fully after the hospital visit, and the crash was mixing with her sleep deprivation. Not good. She stopped by her shop in the armory to pack everything away and set out the few rifles that were now due for cleaning. All-in-all, it wasn't the worst she'd as far as marksmanship, but there was still room for improvement. It was a hard for her to not plop down on the cot and take a nap right there, but that would be later. She entered the conference room and, while others were talking, snatched a bagel and went to town on it with some cream cheese.

But Doc Jesse was talking about PTSD and treatment, and she stopped as he spoke. What he said was true, and he was part of the team, but that was always one thing Brit did not go for. Her issues were just that: her issues. And she didn't trust anyone with those except for a choice few people, none of whom were currently in the room. She kept her head down and ate her bagel as she took a spot on the wall to gauge the others to get rid of her thousand yard stare as old wounds kept creeping up. The large man looked very familiar, and she remembered someone of some sort of Imperium back in her old days. Old days? She wasn't even out of her twenties yet.
He talked on and she looked at Gordon, wondering if he should tell him or someone else.

[Lancearc]

In just a few short minutes Galen Foster felt he'd somehow become one of the less out-of-place people on the foreign rock they all found themselves. The cast of agents he was met with upon the team's return aligned precisely with those he'd read about in the dossier he was provided, though he never actually expected that a leprechaun was among them, at least not in the literal sense; but here the...man, he supposed, was. Compounding his disbelief was a mountain of a man in impressive armor. The first team member to greet him almost seemed too mundane to be true, and funnily enough it was this man who took the lead on debriefing the team.

"The training kicked your asses this hard?" Galen asked -- it had originally been meant to come out with a mocking and venomous edge, but he found that it became a legitimate question to no one in particular.

Afterwards Galen took his seat without much more than a nod to the man he recognized as Gordon Felton. As their debrief kicked off Galen half-listened, prodding longingly at one of the pastries in front of him while Gordon spoke. He hadn't eaten anything in some time, not since the mask dug into his skin. In fact, he'd not been hungry since then, but he missed the taste of a fried spam sandwich, a cold IPA, anything at all really. Photos of people he didn't recognize were displayed, the only one catching his attention the shot of a boy who could only be described as some kind of plant...thing. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to say this plant-thing looked remarkably like a boy.

His furious eyes peered out from behind the mask, scanning the room as their conference carried on. A doctor mentioned some psych health program, which seemed to visibly irk one of the other team members, another shockingly mundane woman with unkempt brown hair.

For the first time in a long while, Galen thought it best to say nothing and evaluate. Then he'd start poking around to see about some of the other unfortunate bastards he found himself among.

[Giovenith]

Darlene was not doing so well, to put it mildly. She found it somewhat pointless of Gordon to ask, how could anyone be alright given everything that had happened? The 19 year old picked at the punk patches on her jacket and periodically flipped a pocket knife open and closed anxiously, trying to process everything.

New people had arrived. One was a man with a box locked on his head, something that Dar didn't even have a frame of reference to understand. She once again thought back to her mother's old comics and wondered if he could be part of some science experiment. But who really got her attention was the giant man, one "General Kilimanjaro Africanus," quite simply because he horrified her. Not just made her nervous, actively horrified. What kind of person was this? He seemed made to kill, the word was even in his name.

Not wanting to beat around the bush, Dar stood up and spoke directly.

"I think we should do what we can to hide everyone from that thing we saw in the field," she declared, pulling at the ends of her green and purple highlights nervously. "It could come back any time. Can't everyone just go hide in their basements until help comes?" It was a simplistic plan, stupidly so, but she didn't know better. "I don't know if we can fight against it, it seems too risky."

[Lancearc]

Darlene was not doing so well, to put it mildly. She found it somewhat pointless of Gordon to ask, how could anyone be alright given everything that had happened? The 19 year old picked at the punk patches on her jacket and periodically flipped a pocket knife open and closed anxiously, trying to process everything.

New people had arrived. One was a man with a box locked on his head, something that Dar didn't even have a frame of reference to understand. She once again thought back to her mother's old comics and wondered if he could be part of some science experiment. But who really got her attention was the giant man, one "General Kilimanjaro Africanus," quite simply because he horrified her. Not just made her nervous, actively horrified. What kind of person was this? He seemed made to kill, the word was even in his name.

Not wanting to beat around the bush, Dar stood up and spoke directly.

"I think we should do what we can to hide everyone from that thing we saw in the field," she declared, pulling at the ends of her green and purple highlights nervously. "It could come back any time. Can't everyone just go hide in their basements until help comes?" It was a simplistic plan, stupidly so, but she didn't know better. "I don't know if we can fight against it, it seems too risky."

Galen frowned harshly beneath his mask. Though this reaction was imperceptible beneath the metallic surface, an intense pang of annoyance and anger were apparent in his crazed, blood-shot eyes. He couldn't help but speak up then, unfamiliar as he was with the specifics of the team's last incursion.

"Yeah, I bet they'd love to sit down with their shit and piss for the rest of their lives," the masked man refrained, his already harsh voice compounded by the sound of grating, rusted metal. He focused on the girl that had spoken up, his gaze communicating an intensity and disdain far beyond any ill-will he actually held for the teenager. "Fuck that, kid. All this crazy nonsense," he waved his arms vageuly about the room, "and you're telling me you don't have any ideas on how to fight this...whatever-the-fuck you saw?"

He leaned back in his chair with a huff, closing his eyes until the faint, ominous shriek that lurked on the outer edges of his awareness seemed to fade. Alien outlines of strange, unidentifiable shapes and inhuman figures staggered across the blackness on the back of his eyelids. An unfathomable darkness seemed to overtake him during his attempted retreat, the faint light of the room's screens that was still able to pierce his shut eyes disappearing into a void so thick it was palpable. His heart lurched.

He snapped his eyes open seconds after shutting them. "There's gotta be a better way to help these guys out than that."

[Monfrox]

"No," Brit spoke in a firm tone, "we don't. Then again, you have even less of an idea than we do. So if everyone is alright, we can move on to debriefing."

Brit paced the room, wishing to get this done sooner rather than later. Gordon, however, was for better and for worse ever the bureaucrat. Feedback was fine, but this wasn't time for it. She tore another bite of her bagel off as she took a stance beside the man.

"Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to, I don't think what we saw will simply go away if we all hide." Rarely was it that simple, Brit lamented inwardly. "But we do know that this...possessed plant entity or whatever, does not like fire. Makes sense. But we're at square one, and the first step is gathering intelligence on what's going on. I'll gather up a few groups to go beat the pavement as soon as I can. Oh, and Doc, we got a line on your equipment so I'll need your help taking care of that when the time comes. If anyone else has any other bright ideas, now's the time."

[Chedastan]

Africanus then soon turned his attention on the other three humanoids who then spoked up next that he was seated with. He wasn't able to fully confirm how entirely human some of them were, but then again he himself didn't fit into that mold either for obvious reasons. He had come to known many kinds of human offshoots and humanoids from his experience and lifelong service in a once extremely vast empire, so he gave the people he was seated with the benefit of a doubt.

He first noticed the young woman that was seated with them, the one that looked like she came straight from a punk rock show. She appeared dainty and had a look of horror on her face even, either from anxiety contributing from this Thing in the field, or perhaps from something else? He took a glance around the room, not seeing the elephant. Surely he wasn't an unusual sight to these folk, haven't they heard of Wilhelm's Enhanced Men before?

Pondering once again of the nature of the place he was in for just the briefest moment, he then refocused his attention again on the discussion taking place in front of him, noticing the rather... Colorful language the masked man was using in his supposed attempt to comprehend the situation revolving around this Thing. The General despite his seasoned experience in the field, knew far better than this man than to blindly assume he can handle something directly that he hardly had any knowledge on, hell it seems they both arrived at the same time on top of that, so he knows as little as the General himself! At least the punk girl could be forgiven for wanting to play it overly safe, but the vapid brashness coming from Galen turned off Africanus to a degree that he wanted to shut the man down himself. But before he could get a strongly chosen set of words in, a more military looking woman intervened much to his relief and to the relaxation of his annoyed brow.

"So what is this Thing exactly from what has been gathered already?" He then asked, seeing how there's a clear need for more intel to be gathered on this seemingly hostile creature or being.

"I see it's a plant of sorts, and it assumed the appearance of a boy and then it attacked some people from what I can tell. Was there something that could've provoked it, like its nesting being disturbed or maybe its property was being trespassed? We could be dealing with an aggressive and hyper evolved kudzu infestation here, meaning there could be potentially more if left unchecked." Africanus then suggested, recalling several bad extermination jobs of local flora from his past gone horribly wrong, he could still vividly recall the screams from the homeowner when they arrived...

[Highfort]

"Doctor Turnbull makes an excellent point - we have psychiatry and psychotherapy resources, you'd all do well to use them. Nothing wrong with a little therapy, and we all need to be in tip-top shape for the work to come," Gordon replied. The bureaucrat frowned at General Africanus' confusion, realizing that he must not have been as thoroughly briefed on his extraction as everyone else was.

"General, if you'll grant me a few moments of your time after the meeting, I think I can fill you in on what's happened," he sighed, "God damn it, HR was supposed to take care of this. Suffice to say for now, sir, that you are no longer in the Imperium; you aren't in your home dimension, actually. I'm sorry to hear you were plucked in the midst of combat, but I myself was pulled in during an ambush. It's the Agency's way of doing things, in a manner of speaking. Again, I'll be able to explain further after we get through some business."

Seeing that folks wanted to move the meeting along, Gordon obliged them and moved to the side of the room to give everyone a clear view of the screens as he began his slide deck. A series of maps showing Morsicant and the surrounding environs - the agri-domes, Bradypus mining, the docks, and some of the explored, fringe territories - came into view.

"Hiding is not an option, unfortunately, though I do see the value in not wasting resources we don't have to on combat," he offered a sympathetic smile at Dar, "We've been dispatched with the intent of securing the colony and its resources for the good of its offworld benefactors - Bradypus Mining, Spearfish Agribusiness, and Solarium Energy - so we need to actually resolve this... infestation."

The slide deck transitioned to some grainy photos of the beast taken from militia volunteers' phones during the earlier incident.

"Unfortunately, General, we have almost no knowledge of our attacker - what it is, what it consumes, whether it's even a plant or just looks like one; these are all mysteries to us," he rubbed his temples in frustration, "Lieutenant Brit is correct, we need more information before we can commit to a strategy concerning the hostile plant life. Since we know it doesn't like fire, I'm going to work on requisitioning flamethrowers and incendiary ammunition for our arms. Captain Jim has, thankfully, offered to attach us to SCM - Slate Colonial Militia, for those not present this morning - for the purposes of requisition forms and picking up tabs for our medical treatment and any purchases we make in town."

The slides transitioned to photos of Jim and some of the SCM troopers, milling about in town or at the last muster. A photo of Angus' Garage, with SCM troopers smiling outside, also came into view, as did a photo of a neatly-dressed administrator shaking Jim's hand outside of the hospital where everyone had gotten bandaged up only a few hours earlier.

"Speaking of SCM, they have special arrangements with some of the services in-town. We'll all need to get our bearings so if folks are willing to poke around and figure out what kind of support we can expect from the local garage - maybe they have some spare mechs they could loan us - and from the hospital - I've spoken to the hospital's admin and coordinator, Mrs. Lefabre, and she seems amicable to getting our medbay operations off of the ground - then we can position ourselves better for the next encounter," he continued.

"Jim himself informed me about a possible lead concerning the plant creature, so I was going to stop by his home after lunch to discuss the matter further. If anyone's interested, you're welcome to come along," Gordon concluded, slightly out of breath, "Now then, my apologies for taking up all the space here. Does anyone have any further suggestions on what we're to do?"

[Holy Lykos]

"While I ain't seen somethin' like this plant critter before myself." Jormungand spoke up with the new prompting. He'd been quiet so far, having snatched a few of the foodstuffs and been munching on it in his chair. "I do think we gotta scope out this critter. Figure out where it lives, see if its like an ant and got a core brain somewhere, something we can destroy so it stops bothering us settlers, y'know?"

Jormungand the night stalker was quite a sight for the newbies. The most visibly inhuman person among the Agency so far, Jor had the look of a black-furred-and-scaled bipedal rattlesnake-coyote hybrid wearing an outfit fit for a cowboy or a mechanic, denim and vests stained with oil and grease. A toolbelt sat on his waist, above a long and heavy tail tipped by a rattle, along with a holster for his revolver. His hat sat on his lap currently, leaving his coyote ears flicking around as they focused on different sounds and speakers. His voice was deep and often carried a hiss in its timbre, accent telling of being from the American Southwest or a highly rural area, his sharp teeth visible each time his mouth opened to form words.

The snakeyote's eyes focused on Gordon as he spoke, his demeanor surprisingly relaxed given everything they'd gone through recently, though the visible signs of his injuries were still there in bandages. "I'll join you visitn' Jim, Gordon. Sounds like you'll want a second head to brainstorm with the man. Meanwhile, I ain't much of a fighter beyond the necessary. I'll work on gettin' our jeeps and any other vehicles y'all want fixed up and workin'; they'll help us in exploring and keeping away from this critter. I'd say we wanna get some weapons to mount on em, and supplies as well for longer trips. The trucks were in bad shape, but I'm pullin' em back together, near done with one."

The hybrid turned to the rest of the group, clearing his throat, "If'n anyone's got any requests for their rooms or repairs for gear outside of guns, I'm our resident mechanic and repairman. I'll take any payment in kind or barter, though I'm happy to fix things up- viital gear that is- without recompense. Workshop's in the basement, past the utility closets."

[Talchyon]

The briefing
Dr. Jesse Turnbull and Seamus

It didn't bother Seamus that others in the party were put off by the hulking, bloody figure next to him. To the little leprechaun, this General Africanus was all right. He grinned when the general spoke to him, and shook his hand heartily. "Aye, lad, yahr gonna do jus' fine here."

The main topic of the briefing was the recent assault and what they could do about it. And the voices piped in.

"Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to, I don't think what we saw will simply go away if we all hide." Rarely was it that simple, Brit lamented inwardly. "But we do know that this...possessed plant entity or whatever, does not like fire. Makes sense. But we're at square one, and the first step is gathering intelligence on what's going on. I'll gather up a few groups to go beat the pavement as soon as I can. Oh, and Doc, we got a line on your equipment so I'll need your help taking care of that when the time comes. If anyone else has any other bright ideas, now's the time."

The vapid brashness coming from Galen turned off Africanus to a degree that he wanted to shut the man down himself. But before he could get a strongly chosen set of words in, a more military looking woman intervened much to his relief and to the relaxation of his annoyed brow.

"So what is this Thing exactly from what has been gathered already?" He then asked, seeing how there's a clear need for more intel to be gathered on this seemingly hostile creature or being.

"I see it's a plant of sorts, and it assumed the appearance of a boy and then it attacked some people from what I can tell. Was there something that could've provoked it, like its nesting being disturbed or maybe its property was being trespassed? We could be dealing with an aggressive and hyper evolved kudzu infestation here, meaning there could be potentially more if left unchecked." Africanus then suggested, recalling several bad extermination jobs of local flora from his past gone horribly wrong, he could still vividly recall the screams from the homeowner when they arrived...

Seeing that folks wanted to move the meeting along, Gordon obliged them and moved to the side of the room to give everyone a clear view of the screens as he began his slide deck. A series of maps showing Morsicant and the surrounding environs - the agri-domes, Bradypus mining, the docks, and some of the explored, fringe territories - came into view.

"Hiding is not an option, unfortunately, though I do see the value in not wasting resources we don't have to on combat," he offered a sympathetic smile at Dar, "We've been dispatched with the intent of securing the colony and its resources for the good of its offworld benefactors - Bradypus Mining, Spearfish Agribusiness, and Solarium Energy - so we need to actually resolve this... infestation."

The slide deck transitioned to some grainy photos of the beast taken from militia volunteers' phones during the earlier incident.

"Unfortunately, General, we have almost no knowledge of our attacker - what it is, what it consumes, whether it's even a plant or just looks like one; these are all mysteries to us," he rubbed his temples in frustration, "Lieutenant Brit is correct, we need more information before we can commit to a strategy concerning the hostile plant life. Since we know it doesn't like fire, I'm going to work on requisitioning flamethrowers and incendiary ammunition for our arms. Captain Jim has, thankfully, offered to attach us to SCM - Slate Colonial Militia, for those not present this morning - for the purposes of requisition forms and picking up tabs for our medical treatment and any purchases we make in town."

The slides transitioned to photos of Jim and some of the SCM troopers, milling about in town or at the last muster. A photo of Angus' Garage, with SCM troopers smiling outside, also came into view, as did a photo of a neatly-dressed administrator shaking Jim's hand outside of the hospital where everyone had gotten bandaged up only a few hours earlier.

"Speaking of SCM, they have special arrangements with some of the services in-town. We'll all need to get our bearings so if folks are willing to poke around and figure out what kind of support we can expect from the local garage - maybe they have some spare mechs they could loan us - and from the hospital - I've spoken to the hospital's admin and coordinator, Mrs. Lefabre, and she seems amicable to getting our medbay operations off of the ground - then we can position ourselves better for the next encounter," he continued.

"Jim himself informed me about a possible lead concerning the plant creature, so I was going to stop by his home after lunch to discuss the matter further. If anyone's interested, you're welcome to come along," Gordon concluded, slightly out of breath, "Now then, my apologies for taking up all the space here. Does anyone have any further suggestions on what we're to do?"

Jesse rose up again to the front of the room, next to Gordon. There was something he needed to say... or rather, show. Mentally adjusting the controls on his robotic eye so that it would project the images and data it had collected, Jesse said, "People. What we faced today is not a plant, nor is it a biologic. During the episode, I took some scans in. And you all need to look at this." Making sure with Gordon that they could temporarily turn off the slide show and the blank screen was his, Jesse then projected the first image from the encounter onto it, which was a simple picture with good definition.

"Here is a normal picture of this entity. You can tell it appeared as humanoid, average height for a growing child of roughly 10-12, that it could speak and possessed intelligence, and resembled a plant. But, here's what it looked like when I ran a simple medical scan."

Jesse changed the picture, and now the picture area narrowed in size while columns of medical stats filled the sides. The only problem was, the picture was blank except for a few leaves in the wind. "This is what I got from my first medical scan. If you notice, there is no heart rate, no brain waves detected, no emissions of oxygen like you might expect from plants, no radiation, no bone structure, nothing." Leaving the picture up, Jesse continued, "Now, I thought there had to be some malfunction with my robotic eye that was scanning. So I ran diagnostics and cross-checked them twice. No problems. I ran a few other med scans on individuals here and there and came back with what I routinely see. So then, I came back and ran a deeper medical scan on the entity. Here's what I saw."

Moving the image to the next scan he had taken, the screen lit up with a black screen that possessed even more medical stats, in four different columns. All of them registered zeroes.

Jesse said, "Notice. This is the deep scan that was run after my diagnostics checked out. It took into account that this entity might be of a plant life, so I concentrated on chloroform levels, light receptivity, existence of roots, and modulated for plant cellular structure. It came back with nothing. Zeroes in every category." Jesse took a deep breath, and then said, "What we're facing, shouldn't even exist."

At this point, Seamus shook his head at the doctor's words and leapt up from his chair, forceps waving with his hands. "Ya dohn get it. This is a magical being. Ya cahn't just treat a magical being like ya would any other person. Ya proved that'cha cahn't use gahns 'gainst it. Or swords, or daggers, or what have ya. Each magic being has its own way abou' it. Ahn the thing abou' this being, besides the fact that he don't like flames, has somethin' to do with this whole place. Thaht's why he could grow the grass funny. An' it might be why he wants us to go. There's an odd magic here. I felt it. I felt the odd magic when we first came. I'd wager anything that this odd magic in this whole place has a lot to do with that lad we met earlier. Somethin' abou' us bein' here is upsettin' him in a way that's more than him just not likin' crowds. Nah, we're doin' something, and we don't even know what it is."

As the astonished and disbelieving eyes locked onto the leprechaun and people began to murmur to each other, Seamus continued. "But the thing about magic beings, besides each havin' their own way abou' them? The thing is, if ya know what that way is, ya know how you safely go against it. Ya know what to say or not to say, what to do or not do... Ah'm guessing Ah''m not the only one here who's faced magical beings before..."

Hearing this, Jesse just shook his head and scowled. What rubbish! Magic!

[Monfrox]

"Magic...supernatural...only way I can see it. Which means we'll need to see about finding some local people in-tune with that. Sooner the better, but let's just take a quick breather. Everyone, get something to eat, and if you're new here then I suggest getting to know your fellow teammates. If you're ready to go right now, come find me and I'll sort you out."

Brit paused to yawn, her tiredness catching up with her. A rummage through her stash should have something to keep her going.

"If anyone has any questions on what they just saw today, you can also come talk to me. I'm sure I can set a few things straight."

She left off the part about her being the most veteran one here for the Agency. She didn't want to appear like she was big-headed.

"I think that's about it, then. Gordon, good on you to go see Jim. Just be careful, he may be a bit...eh...stressed. I gotta get the rifles cleaned and racked, and then I'll be out here in another ten minutes for lunch."

She headed off down the hall, stuffing the rest of her bagel into her mouth as she made for her shop.

[Giovenith]

Dar curled inwards as she was harshly rebuked, and wondered for a brief moment if someone was going to hit her. That passed quickly though and she felt silly for it, but still discouraged by the rejection of her co-workers.

Why not? she was tempted to ask, but didn't dare. Well, not 'why not?' to piss and shit obviously, but hiding in general. Wasn't that the right thing to do? If someplace wasn't safe, why wasn't the solution to just leave for a safer place? Dar knew not to take it personally though. People were capable of worse than cruel words and she was still fine physically.

At this point, Seamus shook his head at the doctor's words and leapt up from his chair, forceps waving with his hands. "Ya dohn get it. This is a magical being. Ya cahn't just treat a magical being like ya would any other person. Ya proved that'cha cahn't use gahns 'gainst it. Or swords, or daggers, or what have ya. Each magic being has its own way abou' it. Ahn the thing abou' this being, besides the fact that he don't like flames, has somethin' to do with this whole place. Thaht's why he could grow the grass funny. An' it might be why he wants us to go. There's an odd magic here. I felt it. I felt the odd magic when we first came. I'd wager anything that this odd magic in this whole place has a lot to do with that lad we met earlier. Somethin' abou' us bein' here is upsettin' him in a way that's more than him just not likin' crowds. Nah, we're doin' something, and we don't even know what it is."

As the astonished and disbelieving eyes locked onto the leprechaun and people began to murmur to each other, Seamus continued. "But the thing about magic beings, besides each havin' their own way abou' them? The thing is, if ya know what that way is, ya know how you safely go against it. Ya know what to say or not to say, what to do or not do... Ah'm guessing Ah''m not the only one here who's faced magical beings before..."

Dar perked at Seamus' declaration. For all the little leprechaun's silliness, his explanation stood out as the only one that made sense.

"Seamus is probably right," she agreed. "But if he is, that means we're more lost than ever. How do we research something that goes beyond the normal rules of nature? We can't fight what we don't understand."

[Highfort]

Gordon nodded reluctantly at Seamus' explanation, as it seemed to match the lack of clear data from the Doctor's scan. He shrugged. His new employers had briefed him that magical - or, at the very least, not-scientifically-understood - phenomena would be a part of his day-to-day and he was inclined to keep his options open. The theory seemed about as likely as anything else on this strange rock.

"The fact we don't understand it is why I'm going to swing by Jim's place," Gordon replied, "I'll be glad to have you, Mr. Jormungand, Jim wanted to discuss our vehicular outfit among other things so your presence will be invaluable. Seamus, if you'd like to come along and bounce theories off of the Captain, I'm sure he'd be open to alternatives. He's pretty in-the-dark as well, although he's got a few theories about the eggheads in Bradypus cooking up some Scooby-Doo nonsense to scare settlers off their land, potentially open up new mineral deposits to mining operations without compensation to the locals."

As he watched Brit head off, he formally closed the meeting, just as his dataslate buzzed with alerts from the culinary staff, "Well folks, I think that about wraps it up. Lunch will be set up in the den, soon - we've got minestrone and chowder, and a few choice of breads. Deli meats will be available depending on what we got shipped. My apologies for the lack of variety, but we're not exactly running a first-class operation here. Thank you for your time, everyone."

"General, Mr. Foster," he turned to the newcomers, "If you'll wait a few minutes so I can attend to some other business and grab food, I can get you properly caught up with the situation and give you a more proper tour of the facilities after lunch. My apologies for the lack of a proper introduction."

As everybody split up to mill amongst themselves and get ready for lunch, Gordon pulled Dar and Jesse aside, "Ms. Lefabre asked me to slot in time for her to discuss with both of you options for triage, better use of the colony's limited medical supplies, and a few more sensitive topics related to the combat readiness of the local clinic. I would prefer if you kept this to yourselves, as this is not directly related to Agency business, but I think we should consider alignment with the locals as well as the Agency and Corporations as necessary to ensure our work here goes smoothly. You understand the need for discretion, I'm sure."

[Chedastan]

He... He wasn't in the Imperium no more? No, not even his own dimension even! How was it even possible? He thought, but then he remembered the explosion that supposedly would've taken him out, and suddenly it hit him all at once like freight train going at mach 10 that was in all likelihood the point of which he left his own dimension to enter.. Whatever this one was. General Africanus was rather disoriented, shocked even at first to say the least upon his realization, and feeling woozy on top of it. "I think I need a bigger chair." Was all he could mutter as his mind continued to race with thoughts of what he learned had just transpired.

Trying to only ground himself now to something his mind could cling onto to maintain his lingering sanity from interdimensional shock, and possible despair, his mind drifted towards this concept of an 'Agency,' that seemed rather ambiguous still from what he could tell and what he's been shown so far. Besides being based on some sort of far fringed colony, for all he knew the Agency was just a kidnapping ring that forcibly conscripted people from other dimensions to fill their ranks out, hardly representing on any paragon values surely... Not that the Wilhelm Imperium held such similar values in the first place however.

He supposed it was a fitting, ironic end to his career as a General in the Imperium, perhaps he had deserved this fate all along. At least some sort of karmic justice made at least the bit of sense, but he still wasn't entirely sure of where he stood in this Agency quite yet. Upon listening on to his other team members on their thoughts on the dreaded plant demon child, Africanus really only had one thought on how they should currently deal with it with the limited knowledge they had.

He then turned to Gordon after having taken a moment of silence until now. "To be frank, to hell with introductions, you just brought me into the midst of the problem here, if anything we need to first actively track where the hell that Thing currently is if it could attack this facility and surrounding area again at any moment. Establish an effective warning system for us and the residents. And finally we should be testing out our parameters on it, make it constantly be on its toes to let it be known to it that we are not a force to be messed with. If this Thing wants to play aggressive on us, we'll play proactive on it and be always a step ahead if we can be." He then sternly suggested to the team he was involved with, while trying to at least sound sensible in his methodology to them.

[Giovenith]

Dar was surprised by Gordon stopping her. After everything that had happened today, she figured she'd be the last person anyone trusted with any special task, but she listened dutifully to his suggestions and nodded in confirmation and agreement.

"Protecting everyone should come first," she said, quietly but confidently. "There's no point in fighting this thing if we don't have a place to retreat to or a way to heal ourselves."

Maybe what she had said about hiding had seemed foolish to everyone else, but Dar still believed in it. Even if they didn't agree with it, she could still do her best to ensure that it was a possibility. After all, it was just the nature of the mainstream society to deny the need to prepare for the worst, wasn't it?

"When will we meet her?"

[Talchyon]

The meeting's end
Seamus

Dar perked at Seamus' declaration. For all the little leprechaun's silliness, his explanation stood out as the only one that made sense.

"Seamus is probably right," she agreed. "But if he is, that means we're more lost than ever. How do we research something that goes beyond the normal rules of nature? We can't fight what we don't understand."

Hearing Dar speak up about his observation made the leprechaun beam with pride. She had actually said it. "Seamus is probably right." No truer words had ever been spoken before. He squinted his eyes at her as he continued with the bright smile. "Aye, lass. We can't fight what we dohn' understahnd. But we cahn begin to understahnd. It'll just take a wee bit 'a thinkin' outside the box."

But others in their group were more hesitant in welcoming Seamus' view.

Gordon nodded reluctantly at Seamus' explanation, as it seemed to match the lack of clear data from the Doctor's scan. He shrugged. His new employers had briefed him that magical - or, at the very least, not-scientifically-understood - phenomena would be a part of his day-to-day and he was inclined to keep his options open. The theory seemed about as likely as anything else on this strange rock.

"The fact we don't understand it is why I'm going to swing by Jim's place," Gordon replied, "I'll be glad to have you, Mr. Jormungand, Jim wanted to discuss our vehicular outfit among other things so your presence will be invaluable. Seamus, if you'd like to come along and bounce theories off of the Captain, I'm sure he'd be open to alternatives. He's pretty in-the-dark as well, although he's got a few theories about the eggheads in Bradypus cooking up some Scooby-Doo nonsense to scare settlers off their land, potentially open up new mineral deposits to mining operations without compensation to the locals."

As he watched Brit head off, he formally closed the meeting, just as his dataslate buzzed with alerts from the culinary staff, "Well folks, I think that about wraps it up. Lunch will be set up in the den, soon - we've got minestrone and chowder, and a few choice of breads. Deli meats will be available depending on what we got shipped. My apologies for the lack of variety, but we're not exactly running a first-class operation here. Thank you for your time, everyone."

"General, Mr. Foster," he turned to the newcomers, "If you'll wait a few minutes so I can attend to some other business and grab food, I can get you properly caught up with the situation and give you a more proper tour of the facilities after lunch. My apologies for the lack of a proper introduction."

As everybody split up to mill amongst themselves and get ready for lunch, Gordon pulled Dar and Jesse aside, "Ms. Lefabre asked me to slot in time for her to discuss with both of you options for triage, better use of the colony's limited medical supplies, and a few more sensitive topics related to the combat readiness of the local clinic. I would prefer if you kept this to yourselves, as this is not directly related to Agency business, but I think we should consider alignment with the locals as well as the Agency and Corporations as necessary to ensure our work here goes smoothly. You understand the need for discretion, I'm sure."

Seamus shrugged as Gordon finished. The leprechaun could tell he didn't believe what Seamus had just said. Well, let him think whate'er he wants. Some just prefer learnin' the hard way.

When Gordon asked Seamus to join him, Seamus, "Aye, lad, Ah'll be there. But what in the tarnest of nations is a 'Scooby-Doo'?" It was a question he would probably never get an answer to.

---

Dr. Jesse Turnbull (aka 'Doc Sawbones')

When Jesse heard Gordon's suggestion to team up with Dar and talk with the locals about triage, he was relieved. But first he wanted to meet the new recruits.

"In a second, Gordon, Dar, if you don't mind."

The large, hulking bloody man seemed like he might go off any moment. It would be better to approach him after he had calmed down some. The brooding doctor stepped up to the other newcomer because of it - the guy with a metallic box on his head. Who also had some pretty brash comments earlier, which meant Jesse would get along great with him.

"There's gotta be a better way to help these guys out than that."

Jesse spoke to the newcomer, "Yeah, between you and me, we're operating at a loss here and no one seems to know anything. As if that's a strategy for survival." Jesse stuck out his hand. "Dr. Jesse Turnbull. Some people call me 'Doc Sawbones.' Welcome to this ragtag ensemble."

[Highfort]

Gordon let out an audible sigh of relief at Dar's responses - she and Ellen would get along splendidly. Thankfully, the hospital administrator on this rock appeared to have her head screwed on straight when it came to people and profits.

"I'm glad we're on the same page. She needs all the help she can get, and her clinic's the only one in-town until we get our medbay up and running," he replied, scratching his head, "I apologize if I'm taking up your evenings but she was only free after the clinic closes at five, so I booked y'all a meeting with her at six this Wednesday. If you're busy I can reschedule, just let me know."

He nodded at Jesse as the doctor stalked off to chat with Galen - maybe the good doctor could talk some sense into the hothead.

Grabbing a bowl of chowder for himself, he turned to address the General, who appeared to have snapped to attention at the meeting's conclusion.

"With all due respect, General," Gordon let out a bitter chuckle, "We're protecting a backwater mining colony. Our resources are limited and we haven't gotten the lay of the land quite yet. This is the first we've seen of this... thing... and we haven't the faintest idea of what it is or how to track it. We nearly lost some of the local militiamen out there this morning, we can't afford to 'test' ourselves against it until we have a better idea of what's going on."

Taking a couple of large spoonfuls of the sorry, watery excuse for clam chowder, he added, "I'm all for playing proactive, sir, but blindly running into battle isn't my idea of a strategy. Sounds more like suicide."

[Chedastan]

Grabbing a bowl of chowder for himself, he turned to address the General, who appeared to have snapped to attention at the meeting's conclusion.

"With all due respect, General," Gordon let out a bitter chuckle, "We're protecting a backwater mining colony. Our resources are limited and we haven't gotten the lay of the land quite yet. This is the first we've seen of this... thing... and we haven't the faintest idea of what it is or how to track it. We nearly lost some of the local militiamen out there this morning, we can't afford to 'test' ourselves against it until we have a better idea of what's going on."

Taking a couple of large spoonfuls of the sorry, watery excuse for clam chowder, he added, "I'm all for playing proactive, sir, but blindly running into battle isn't my idea of a strategy. Sounds more like suicide."

General Africanus, taking another pause, took a much greater note of the rather peculiar situation he was thrusted into as Gordon had explained in further detail. Though at least his earlier assessment of this place being a backwater of sorts was still correct, if only for different reasons on his part. He began to calm down a bit more, his rather blunt outburst being more of a result of the sudden realization of being far, far from home than anything tactically sound. If he had to guess this Agency he was now a part of, along with the tied local militia, will be on the back foot against threats for quite awhile until they sorted themselves out first.

"I understand our... Shortcomings, allow me to offer a more dialed down first step plan, Administrator." Africanus realized he wasn't sure how to addressed Gordon officially, wasn't he technically a higher rank than him? Where does a General even stand in this organization, was he technically lowly initiate? Regardless he gave a more tone-down, stomach-able idea.

"We assemble a forward team in an attempt to not only search for the whereabouts to this creature and what paths its taking, but also in doing so gather a stronger idea of the surrounding area and beyond areas it. Reconnaissance essentially, it wouldn't be an engaging force. However I would like a rundown of our available forces both here and in the colony as well, I want a good look personally of what we got so we can make further plans from there." The General then more sensibly proposed to Gordon.