Title: [F]Control
Description: Story Thread; Open To Authority
Oracle - December 22, 2010 04:08 PM (GMT)
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FALL TO ORDER
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<div style="width:400px; font-size:11px; text-align:justify; line-height:100%;">There was something deeply infuriating about being an entity that verged on omniscience and still eluded by something that should have been within your grasp. Omniscience
was one of the talents within the Godhead goody bag that was a little more tricky to develop a real grip on even if you
knew something you didn't necessarily
know it, and the Wrath of the Lord was only omniscient for as long as Yahweh willed it to be so but
this he should have known. It should have been within his abilities to divine to coin an irony to the situation why it was that he could feel the traces of nonexistence upon his essence. Not a death not a true death, at any rate but rather, simply a failure to
be. He could feel the guilt of the culpable radiating from around him, but he couldn't determine the
how or the
why of it
and it was incensing. But regardless of anything else, he knew who the guilty were. The rest of it mattered only to his soul; not to his duties. The guilty would be punished. That had always been the way of it.<br><br>
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For an organisation that was as accustomed to tempestuousness and tumult as The Authority was, the
gentler embrace of a calmer day was something of a rarity; so much so that some of them weren't really sure what to do with themselves when one of those days rolled around and some of the others who had seen enough to be jaded even through their optimistic moments found themselves holding their breath without even realising it, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And yet the day seemed to be stricken with a constant stillness and relentless calm, no matter how much it seemed to unsettle the latter brand of people. In the end, however, the feeling of unease grew too strong and River called the core members to the control room.</div><p>
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Skyfire Caoilfhionn - December 22, 2010 04:16 PM (GMT)
Skyfire hadn't been all that surprised to be summoned to the control room. Normally, a calm day would be a welcome relief from the normal business that she had grown accustomed to, but she had seemed to learn to grow leery of too much calm. She slipped into the control room and offered River a slight nod as she leaned against the wall, waiting to hear what the man had called them for.
Tatyana Snow - December 22, 2010 05:42 PM (GMT)
Tatyana learned long ago not to look a gift horse too hard in the mouth, but when your head seemed to be caught between its teeth...that was another story.
She had spent her day reading, loosing herself in a book, and at first had succeeded. As time past, however, she found herself looking up, on edge, muscles tight and ready to spring and needing to calm herself down. She felt as though she was going insane and was relieved when River called them to the control room, snapping her book shut and leaving it on the table before coming over.
River Jurgensen - December 22, 2010 09:19 PM (GMT)
River brushed his thumb along the line of his jaw, giving a little shake of his head before folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the wall that stood firm behind him. He remained silent for a moment before glancing to those present. "There's somethin' wrong about this," he muttered flatly.
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - December 23, 2010 10:18 PM (GMT)
Skyfire glanced at both River and Tatyana, absently tucking her hair behind her ear. When River spoke she sighed softly, giving a faint nod. "I have to agree," she murmured softly before looking out the window at the Earth.
Tatyana Snow - December 24, 2010 01:10 AM (GMT)
"Any idea what? I agree it's unusual, but is there anything to be done about it? Looks to me it's something we can only wait for. Prepare for the worst, I suppose," Tatyana said, answering her own question. "Grenades?"
River Jurgensen - December 24, 2010 01:13 AM (GMT)
"No idea what, no. But I can feel it in my gut, somethin's rotten," he murmured, pressing his fingers lightly to the ridge of his brow as he refrained from letting out another sigh. "Brace ourselves, I s'pose," he said before nodding in assent to Tatyana.
[["Jayne, we're robbin' the place, we're not occupying it."]]
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - December 24, 2010 01:22 AM (GMT)
Skyfire watched the Earth for a moment before turning from the window to look toward River and Tatyana again. "Brace ourselves and make sure we are armed and ready to go when whatever. I fear this is a calm before a storm" she said with a soft sigh.
Tatyana Snow - December 24, 2010 02:37 AM (GMT)
Tatyana nodded, leaving the control room for a few minutes. She came back wearing an impressive array of weapons (including, of course, grenades) and a book. Perhaps even more impressively, she moved as though she wore nothing. She sat down and opened it, attempting to read--her focus was nowhere near its usual level, but she preferred to do that than look out into the vastness of space.
Oracle - December 24, 2010 02:52 AM (GMT)
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FALL TO ORDER
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<div style="width:400px; font-size:11px; text-align:justify; line-height:100%;">In the next moment, all of the light seemed to abruptly drain from the room.</div><p>
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Tatyana Snow - December 24, 2010 03:05 AM (GMT)
Tatyana shut her book, placing it on her chair as she stood. She had been trained to work in the dark, but it was nonetheless unnerving. She didn't speak, listening carefully for anything else out of the ordinary.
Oracle - December 29, 2010 06:19 PM (GMT)
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FALL TO ORDER
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<div style="width:400px; font-size:11px; text-align:justify; line-height:100%;">A bolt struck through the control panel into River, hurtling him into the wall as the impact knocked Skyfire and Tatyana aside.</div><p>
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Skyfire Caoilfhionn - December 29, 2010 06:36 PM (GMT)
Skyfire had gone perfectly still when the light faded, not wanting to run into anything and not quiet ready to use flames to see by just yet. She gasped as she was knocked aside, groaning as she rolled to the side when she hit the floor.
Uriel Savage - December 30, 2010 02:47 PM (GMT)
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FALL TO ORDER
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The chalice of which his blood was drawn," a voice rumbled from the centre of the room as electricity sparked through the room, riddling it and lashing out at them again, "
and you claimed it as if it was a trinket."</div><p>
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Skyfire Caoilfhionn - December 30, 2010 04:41 PM (GMT)
Skyfire looked around the room for the source of the voice as she pushed slowly to her feet. She gasped and cried out as she was struck with a lash of the electricity, falling to her knees.
Tatyana Snow - December 30, 2010 05:10 PM (GMT)
Tatyana rolled to her feet at the lightning's backlash, attempting to pinpoint a location to attack but finding none. Just energy, electricity she couldn't hope to predict, only instinctively avoid.
At Uriel's voice all Tatyana could think was, Oh, Jesus, a holy-roller.
Her religion was that of convenience, who offered the best deal at the moment. At the moment, getting shot at by electricity didn't put Uriel and his god very high on her list.
"Yeah, shun the nonbelievers, right?" Tatyana muttered, rolling to the side as electricity coursed through her side.
River Jurgensen - January 6, 2011 04:28 PM (GMT)
River grimaced as he pushed himself to his feet, looking around for the source of the assault. "This station is under my protection. These people are my people," he scowled. "An' I don't take kindly to my people bein' attacked."
Oracle - January 6, 2011 04:29 PM (GMT)
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FALL TO ORDER
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Immortal mortals. A pathetic construct. This world's designs to protect itself..." a rumble of a voice responded as the lightning struck River, sending him clean
through one of the walls. "
The Earth's new pantheon, setting yourself within your new Olympus in the heavens, looking down over the small people to live beneath you." The floor gave a single violent, abrupt lurch beneath them. "
The heavens are reserved for God."</div><p>
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Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 6, 2011 08:21 PM (GMT)
Skyfire slid across the floor as it lurched, slamming into one of the consoles with a yelp. She was still disoriented from being struck by the electricity, her nerves firing painfully because of it. She shook her head and held a hand to her side, groaning at the feel of at least cracked ribs, again. She struggled to her feet and looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from and where the others were. Her eyes flickered red as a faint flicker of flame appeared around her free hand to give herself some light to see by.
Tatyana Snow - January 8, 2011 02:20 AM (GMT)
Tatyana's face remained blank at Uriel's worlds, regardless of how much she disagreed with them. She was no more than human, being up here with these beings always reminded her of that. She was nothing, powerless, but the more things they faced the more she knew they weren't as powerful as she initially thought.
She darted towards the voice, dropping low to the ground at the sudden lurch. She skidded, hands brushing the ground to keep herself as balanced as she could, recovering quickly and figuring out the direction of Uriel's voice. If the man was turning off the lights and throwing lightning, let alone River through walls, normal combat wouldn't suffice. She pulled a pin from a grenade and threw it at Uriel.
Oracle - January 10, 2011 01:04 PM (GMT)
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FALL TO ORDER
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<div style="width:400px; font-size:11px; text-align:justify; line-height:100%;">The ethereal form that Uriel had, until that point, taken, would have easily weathered the force of the grenade without even feeling it. The grenade would have simply passed through him, let alone the force that it would emanate after going off. That was, however, if he had chosen to
remain ethereal. When she hurled the grenade toward them, his gaze that could not be seen through his less than structured silhouette was cast down upon the grenade for a moment. One very
brief moment before he took physical form, sheathing himself within the body of the man that Vandal had sired long, long ago. He reached down and curled his fingers around the grenade that he might pick it up and wholly grasp it within his closed hand; meeting Tatyana's gaze with dead, hollow eyes. In the next instant the grenade went off; the only evidence that it even did as much the fact that his fingers were pushed ever so slightly outwards by the force. He opened his hand again, dropping the shrapnel of the grenade to the floor before fading into the wispy, ethereal form that he had born before; fading away
entirely in the next moment, nothing of him lingering but his parting comment, "
crumble beneath the weight of your own hubris."<br><Br>
In the next moment, every piece of equipment in the room began to blare in warning; the satellite watchtower had fallen out of geosynchronous orbit and was in the midst of a very fatal descent plummet, really toward the Earth.</div><p>
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Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 10, 2011 05:12 PM (GMT)
Skyfire gasped painfully and grabbed onto the closet console and looked at the screen as she tried to find a command to make the plummet halt. She glanced toward Tatyana and frowned. "To borrow a human phrase, I think we're screwed," she muttered to the woman.
Tatyana Snow - January 10, 2011 09:57 PM (GMT)
Tatyana froze when he crushed her grenade. She might've tried throwing a couple more, then again he might not be so kind as to catch them this time. The blaring of the machines disoriented her, threw her out of her night-mode, and by the time she oriented herself again Uriel was gone and River was still absent from the room.
"Go get River," Tatyana ordered, the sharpness in her voice betraying her nerves, rather than the complete absence of feeling. She was able to keep her cool in most situations. Crashing into Earth was pushing it. She was no engineer or scientist, working the Watchtower was way beyond her, but she at least try to figure out until Skyfire brought River over.
River Jurgensen - January 12, 2011 11:20 AM (GMT)
"No need," River grunted in pain, pulling himself through the hole that he had been blasted through. "One of the talents I have we talk less about is the ability to induce disasters on varying scales. Result o'that is I can size disasters up, too. Seems weird for someone whose purpose is t'preserve, but the powers that be," he stated, obviously refusing to bring god into the equation which was fairly ironic considering what they had just encountered, "move in mysterious ways." He gave a faint shake of his head and glanced to Skyfire and Tatyana. "The Watchtower has enough shieldin' that it won't burn up in re-entry, an' with the kind of force an' speed we're gonna hit the Earth with, we're lookin' at an extinction level event." River nodded to Tatyana. "Get to the controls an' co-opt our navigation and orbital path. We're gonna need you to steer us back into geosynchronous orbit." he rubbed his ribs with a grimace before glancing to Skyfire. "Grab a rebreather an' join me on the surface of the satellite. There's enough of a pull to the satellite's mass we'll be able to survive out there without needin' space suits," he said before grabbing a rebreather and opening a hatch. "This ain't happenin' on our watch," he murmured, pulling the rebreather on and stepping through the hatch; and through that into the exit so that he could tether himself to the surface of the satellite before stepping out onto it; a thin film of the satellite's pull protecting him from the harsh extremity of space.
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 12, 2011 06:53 PM (GMT)
Skyfire had just started to moved toward the hole that River had been blasted through when the man pulled himself through and began talking. She was glad he hadn't asked her to try to steer them back into orbit because she doubted she would be able to. She grabbed a rebreather an nodded to Tatyana before following River through the hatch and then out onto the surface of the satellite, tethering herself. What he wanted her to help him do, she didn't know, but she agreed with him, they were not going to let something like this happen on their watch.
Tatyana Snow - January 13, 2011 02:40 AM (GMT)
Of all Tatyana's training, flight school...was included. Space flight was another issue, and if she had ever imagined she'd be in space, she would've taken NASA up on a couple of their offers. All she could do now, though, was hope that reading the Watchtower schematics in her spare time, regardless of how little of it she understood, was worth it. She was a quick study, but she had gotten farther underestimating herself than overestimating herself.
Serious as the grave, Tatyana gave River and Skyfire a nod, not knowing what they were doing out there and probably better off that way. She had enough to figure out without adding on how she could help them from where she was. She sprinted to the controls, steeling her jaw and hoping everything was right with the world in one way--that way being River was a better ally than lady luck herself.
River Jurgensen - January 13, 2011 10:33 AM (GMT)
River nodded to Skyfire before shifting his gaze onto one of the two metallic ports; two vertical poles that stood opposite each other, generating part of the electromagnetic field that helped to power the Watchtower. He moved over to one of the metallic ports, standing between them and reaching out so that his fingertips was touching either one of them before motioning for Skyfire to move to the other one. "Touch them both and generate as much heat as you can. We're going to do the impossible," he grunted.
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 13, 2011 07:08 PM (GMT)
Skyfire nodded and moved to do as he indicated, having to stretch a good bit further then him due to height differences, but she managed to touch her fingertips to the two metal ports. She closed her eyes and concentrated on generating as much heat as possible. She knew that it was dangerous to do so, but she allowed the flame in her mind a bit of control, trusting River to bring her out of it once they were safe, but if she was to generate the heat needed she had to unleash it.
River Jurgensen - January 13, 2011 07:30 PM (GMT)
River clenched his eyes shut and pressed his palms flat against either one of the metallic poles, remaining perfectly still for a moment. As Skyfire's heat began to radiate through the poles that she was in contact with, electricity crackled between River's fingers and lashed almost violently at the poles before a sheen of thin haze coalesced above them. In the next moment a bolt of lightning lashed down from it, striking the pole; quickly followed by a second and then a third before the haze slowly faded. The both of them had just done the impossible; conducted heat and created a storm outside of an atmosphere. He opened his eyes after a couple of seconds and a pure blue light shone through them as the pulse of electricity his hands were radiating grew further and further before he slipped forward from between the poles. "We're... almost done," he murmured after a moment, the words crackling through their communication units. "We just gave the Watchtower poles. With an opposite charge to the Earth's. Don't stop. Here comes the hard part," he muttered through a grimace before pushing himself to his feet and pressing his hands to the poles again, draining the power from the electromagnetic field that helped power the Watchtower to sustain and increase the strength of the Watchtower's poles to force the Earth's poles into repelling the Watchtower more vehemently as he channelled the power electrically through the metallic powers; buffered and amplified by the ion field Skyfire's heat was producing. "Gnn... steer, Tatyana."
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 13, 2011 07:46 PM (GMT)
Skyfire forced herself not to pay attention to the sound of the lightning and everything else around he. She opened her eyes when River spoke, her eyes completely flickering red as she continued to produce as much heat as possible into the two poles that she was touch. The strain of it was making it difficult to keep what of the flame in her mind leashed that she hadn't let free. She closed her eyes tightly and kept her fingers pressed against the poles as most of the flame slipped free. Again, she was trusting the River would bring her back to herself when they were safe.
Tatyana Snow - January 13, 2011 10:40 PM (GMT)
Manually steering the Watchtower was just as difficult as Tatyana thought it would be, something that surprised her since more often than not she was overly cautious. Eventually, though, through sheer intuition, a dash of knowledge and what appeared to be gallons of luck, her hands gripped the machine and was doing her best to steer.
River Jurgensen - January 14, 2011 01:52 PM (GMT)
Once Tatyana had managed to steer the Watchtower back into place, River channeled the energy that had flowed into the magnetic field they had generated to produce the poles back into the electromagnetic field that generated the power for the Watchtower. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment before stepping out between the two metal poles and glancing to Skyfire. "Well... we didn't crash into the Earth."
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 14, 2011 09:03 PM (GMT)
Skyfire sank to her knees, trembling as she rested her hands on the floor in front of her when she heard River speak. She closed her eyes tightly as she struggled in her own mind, trying to shove the flames back. She was thankful that they had managed to keep the Watchtower from crashing into Earth.
River Jurgensen - January 15, 2011 10:38 AM (GMT)
River gave a faint shake of his head as he pulled away from the metallic port, staggering over to Skyfire. He closed his eyes very briefly before opening his eyes again and training his gaze on Skyfire. He rested his hand on her shoulder, drawing off the heat that she was exuding, allowing washes of cold to flow over her.
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 15, 2011 07:44 PM (GMT)
Skyfire shivered as the heat was drawn away and the cold washed over her. She shook her head and looked up at River, her eyes back to normal green. "Thanks. I apologize for that," she murmured, mostly embarrassed that she hadn't been able to push the flame back by herself. She stood slowly, shaking slightly.
River Jurgensen - January 15, 2011 09:52 PM (GMT)
"Apologise for what, darlin'?" he smiled wearily, staggering toward the hatch; the words crackling through the communication units. "We just did the impossible to do the impossible," he managed a grin before leading her back inside.
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 16, 2011 08:03 PM (GMT)
Skyfire smiled softly as she followed River to the hatch and back inside. "For almost losing control," she murmured with a light laugh. "And I thought accomplishing the impossible was in the job description," she teased with a shake of her head.
Tatyana Snow - January 17, 2011 12:51 AM (GMT)
Tatyana still had her hands glued to the wheel, regardless of the fact it seemed they were alright. Who the hell knew--maybe the controls were lying, maybe they were off slightly. She looked over at Skyfire and River entering, noticing the smiles on their faces, and finally pulled her fingers away. She smiled at them, relief clear on her face, glad everything was alright and especially that they were alright.
River Jurgensen - January 17, 2011 04:53 AM (GMT)
"The impossible, sure," he laughed as he pulled the rebreather off and tossed it to the side, gasping to greedily draw in the slightly purer air from within the Watchtower. "The impossible to accomplish the impossible? Now that's somethin' to write home about," he murmured, dropping back into a seat. "Well, the problem was our Watchtower plummeting down into the Earth, but still, I like to think of that as a job well done. Congratulations, ladies. We just saved the world from an extinction level event."
Skyfire Caoilfhionn - January 17, 2011 07:26 PM (GMT)
Skyfire pulled her rebreather off and took a deep breath as she set it aside. She smiled back to Tatyana as she sank into a seat, leaning back into it tiredly. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without your fast thinking River, and Tatyana's excellent work at the controls," she said softly, smiling as she closed her eyes.
