Prologue - "24 Hours Ago" for Lt. Eadric Braidwood

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Lt. Eadric Braidwood

Character Sheet
Action Points: 9/9
Bonus Action Points: 0

"Tabarnouche," Eadric breathes reverently. "They're all BOOP, Mikey." He stares up at the full-sized veritech, and then down at the assembled smaller ones, with awe and wonder so great that he doesn't notice his fellow human is no longer awake. Indeed, it takes the extra-terrestrial affairs liaison some time (rather longer than he'll like to think about later) to recover from the vision of the unknown space program, the landing on Europa, and particularly the awesome sight of Jupiter close-up. "Where are you from, my friend?" he asks the larger mecha. "Jupiter aside, that is." Then, turning to see Big Mikey's reaction, Eadric finally realizes the other man has fainted. "Ack! Sorry! Here, now, that won't do." Gently he helps the mini-BOOPs get Mikey into a comfortable sort of sitting position, then checks his pulse to make sure he's otherwise all right.

Spoiler: OOC

Eadric wants to roll First Aid just to be sure Mikey isn't injured or anything.

Spoiler: Québécois translation

"Tabarnouche" is the less-vulgar version of "tabarnak"; the literal translation of both is "tabernacle" but in a very Québec way has come to be an expletive instead, with little or no connection to its literal meaning. In this case, the figurative meaning I was going for is something like "Holy shit" in English -- swearing, to be sure, but more awe-struck than angry (actually, Eadric's not angry at all).

 

[Purr]

While Big Mikey is completely unconscious, his breathing is stable and his pulse is steady. He also has this extremely goofy grin across his wide grill that implies he's having very pleasant dreams.

"Alooohaaa..." He moans.

The mini-BOOPs look to Eadric and back to Mikey in silent curiosity but it is the huge shadow that falls over the Canadian that commands the most presence in the room. Before Eadric knows it, he is underneath the shadow of a tremendously large veritech. With the gentleness of a parental feline, it bends down and gently touches Eadric's head with its fighter-plane nose.

"Boop!"

 

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Lt. Eadric Braidwood

Character Sheet
Action Points: 9/9
Bonus Action Points: 0

"He's all right," Eadric reassures the mini-Boops, then turns to look up at their... source? Main body? No, he remembers from the vision -- this is BOOP himself; the smaller ones each have their own names, Discovery and so forth. "Hello, BOOP," he says with a warm smile. "I'm Lieutenant Eadric Braidwood, and this is Big Mikey, the pilot who transported me to Antarctica. I don't quite understand why or how I know some of what I presume is your past. I wonder, did you see any of mine as well?" He shakes his head; perhaps best to drop that line of thought before Mikey woke up and started asking questions Eadric didn't know how to answer. "In any case, I'm guessing you're the 'haunted ship' the Zentraedi spoke of. Not truly haunted, I should think, but automated somehow? Or --" his smile broadens hopefully "-- are you a true AI? I've never met one, but you seem rather far outside my experience."

 

[Purr]

In what appears to be a response, BOOP the Veritech lowers its nose close to the floor and places its arm in a convenient spot before Eadric. There is a pleasant hiss as its large wide cockpit glass opens in clear invitation.

Invitation to board.

Meanwhile....

"...Alooohaaa ladieees!" moans Mikey from the floor.

What does Eadric do?

 

[Kaerri]

Eadric can't help but laugh delightedly at the Veritech's invitation. "As you wish!" he replies with a slight bow. "But first, and hoping the invitation extends to Mikey as well..." He squats down and tries to help Mikey to his feet. "Come along, mon ami*. We've been offered a ride, but you'll need to help me get you aboard." He spares a glance at the door, on the other side of which their borrowed motorcycles are parked. "I don't suppose we can take them with," he says, mostly to himself.

Spoiler: French

Mon ami = my (male) friend

 

[Purr]

Lost in unconsciousness, Big Mikey does not stir in the slightest. Instead, Big Mikey proves to be a big sack of potatoes and a lead-lined one at that. At best, Eadric can hope to drag the 260-pound-plus pilot-shaped-like-a-Canadian-hockey-player and not far between rests. However, Eadric is far, far from alone here. The mini-BOOPs who caught Big Mikey when he fainted begin to take action when they see what Eadric is attempting to do. In moments, all six of them have teamed up and with the help of dozens of little rocket thrusters, they begin to push, pull, maneuver, get under, and finally move Big Mikey toward BOOP's cockpit. By this time, there really isn't much room for Eadric to both help out and get himself aboard. So when the aptly-named Endeavor puts its nose near Eadric as if to take his place, Eadric is left to an easy route to get to BOOP's cockpit.

Which in turn creates another surprise. With BOOP's hatch wide-open, Eadric gets a full view of the two-seater veritech only to find... it is lacking controls of any kind! If Mikey were awake, he might say someone had stolen the cockpit! Besides two very comfortable-looking leather chairs complete with harnesses and a number of sealed compartments surrounding each, Eadric discovers more legroom here than he has seen in first-class passenger flights in commercial aircraft. He also can definitely take hope in that all six of the mini-BOOPs are having little trouble moving Mikey to the rear seat. In moments, they have him buckled in and looking comfortable. Mikey even grins, his ugly head lolling to one side as he murmurs something Eadric cannot quite hear.

He shakes his head; perhaps best to drop that line of thought before Mikey woke up and started asking questions Eadric didn't know how to answer. "In any case, I'm guessing you're the 'haunted ship' the Zentraedi spoke of. Not truly haunted, I should think, but automated somehow? Or --" his smile broadens hopefully "-- are you a true AI? I've never met one, but you seem rather far outside my experience."

In reply to this, Eadric can see from the outside of the cockpit a series of monitors built into the smooth sides of this unique aircraft. One by one, they turn on and in doing so, show a piece of what appears to be history. Very recent history.

"War machine!" the first monitor displays the familiar face of Genn the micronized Zentraedi sitting in the pilot's chair with one of his cohorts in the seat where Big Mikey is out cold now. "You shall follow our orders! Now! To the Ship of Death and to gloooory!"

Two more monitors flicker to life and here Eadric can see eight different viewpoints, four on each monitor, from various angles and distances. Eadric can surmise that these are the viewpoints of the watching mini-BOOPs who stayed where they were when this was taking place and did not reveal themselves.

Zark's confused expression fills one of these viewpoints as he jumps onto BOOP's unmoving wing and begins jumping on it. "Come on, you piece of Earth-junk! We have need of your abilities and you were made to serve us! So serve us already!" By this time, all six micronized Zentraedi are all over BOOP commanding, pulling, beating, and otherwise attempting to get the machine to do its will all to no avail. But it appears even machines have their limits in patience.

Without any warning, Eadric sees BOOP's huge veritech arms grab up half the group while the cockpit glass sheathes down sealing two more in while the last runs around shrieking and not without cause.

And that's when Eadric hears this familiar music:

Spoiler: Music

"The Cars - Shake It Up (Official Music Video)"

It is then that Eadric is treated to the sight of BOOP hopping from one foot to the other in some sort of mad dance that jostles and terrifies the suddenly-caught Zentraedi all of whom begin shouting and shrieking and going on about the "Haunted Ship!" Like a giant clothes washer gone insane, BOOP dances around shaking and shaking the helpless Zentraedi until it seems they are about to lose their collective sanities. They do not get the joke. They do not follow the music. They just yell and carry on like five-year-old humans until at last, the cockpit glass comes open and the huge armored hands release. Genn and his Zentraedi run pell-mell away from BOOP, knocking over tables and chairs in their frantic effort to get the heck as far away from BOOP as is possible.

Eadric sees them run outside of the room while the audio records Eadric's and the Zentraedi's brief and near-nonsensical conversation. With that, the monitors pause allowing Eadric to take in whichever angles of the scene please him most. While Eadric is watching this, he notices the mini-BOOPs are in the process of mounting the hoverbikes onto BOOPs wings and they are doing a pretty decent job of it. One of the mini-BOOPs, Challenger if Eadric had to bet on it, points at a distant wall. Then Challenger faces the wall and one of the monitors inside the cockpit zooms in to a security pad mounted on a very secure-looking doorframe. That door appears to be joined to whatever portal was used to get BOOP into this room in the first place.

As the picture zooms in, Eadric notices it is a touch-sensor. The kind that require a human fingerprint or handprint to activate. The words "ACCESS DENIED - PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ADMINISTRATOR" are gently blinking on the pad. Then Eadric notices all of the mini-BOOPS seem to be silently and patiently looking at him... expectantly?

 

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Lt. Eadric Braidwood

Character Sheet
Action Points: 9/9
Bonus Action Points: 0

He also can definitely take hope in that all six of the mini-BOOPs are having little trouble moving Mikey to the rear seat. In moments, they have him buckled in and looking comfortable. Mikey even grins, his ugly head lolling to one side as he murmurs something Eadric cannot quite hear.

"Thank you, little friends," Eadric says warmly, then pauses. "Are they each their own self?" he asks the bigger mecha. "Or are they merely extensions of you? Or something in between?"

Genn and his Zentraedi run pell-mell away from BOOP, knocking over tables and chairs in their frantic effort to get the heck as far away from BOOP as is possible.

The Zentraedi may not have gotten the joke, but Eadric certainly does. His smile quickly turns into outright laughter at the bouncing, bopping BOOP and the antics of the Zentraedi as they tried to escape. "Oh my," he says, shaking his head. "Oh my."

As the picture zooms in, Eadric notices it is a touch-sensor. The kind that require a human fingerprint or handprint to activate. The words "ACCESS DENIED - PLEASE CONTACT YOUR ADMINISTRATOR" are gently blinking on the pad. Then Eadric notices all of the mini-BOOPS seem to be silently and patiently looking at him... expectantly?

"Ah." Eadric hops down from the cockpit, where he'd been watching BOOP's monitors. "You know," he calls over his shoulder as he approaches the touch-sensor, "I've gotten better sense from you without words than I did from the Zentraedi with. I'll have to deal with them properly somewhere down the line -- that's my job, after all -- but it's much more pleasant to be here with you." He inspects the touch-sensor for a moment, then tugs off his right glove.* "Here goes," he says, then places his hand on it. Please let me be in the system with proper access.

*I'm assuming the megasuit has gloves for convenience?

 

[Purr]

Spoiler: Instrumental Mood Music

"Races High" by the fantastic band, Pepe Deluxé for the Angry Birds Go! game!

"Thank you, little friends," Eadric says warmly, then pauses. "Are they each their own self?" he asks the bigger mecha. "Or are they merely extensions of you? Or something in between?"

In response, each of the mini-BOOPs line up in a wide row before Eadric. As he asks his questions, each of them begins to turn from Eadric and peer at one of their own then back to Eadric. Then another peers, and another, until finally Challenger has enough of this, pushes Enterprise out of the way, begins pointing to itself, raising up its other hand as if to say "I'm number one!" all the while nodding vigorously.

Endeavor comes up behind Challenger and with its arm, sweeps Challenger's leg out from under it, causing Challenger to land upside-down, its legs kicking in the air in futility while Endeavor points at itself with both hands and nods vigorously while Discovery helps Enterprise up. Columbia looks at Endeavor and moves its nose back and forth as if to say "No, no, no" and runs up to tackle Endeavor but Endeavor is ready. Atlantis happens to be between them and innocently gets tangled up into the mess.

The chaos continues until BOOP itself steps forward and looms over them, looking down and shaking its giant nose slowly like a big cat sighing at a pack of its own kittens. Then BOOP scoops up all of them (with the help of its "magic arms" in its right arm) and begins stuffing the wacky bunch into its under-hull. Every one of the mini-BOOPS wriggles, shakes, fighting in protest but to no avail. One by one, they fold up their arms and legs into the proper Guardian-position (jet-like) and into the body of BOOP they go until only BOOP remains.

* * *​

Spoiler: Instrumental Mood Music

"Hot Streak" by the excellent Pepe Deluxé for the Angry Birds Go! game!

The Zentraedi may not have gotten the joke, but Eadric certainly does. His smile quickly turns into outright laughter at the bouncing, bopping BOOP and the antics of the Zentraedi as they tried to escape. "Oh my," he says, shaking his head. "Oh my."

BOOP turns to one side and nods its head in a way that seems to express a similar feeling to its own mini-BOOPS. It tries and tries, but BOOP cannot help them!

BOOP raises its arm-mounted GU-11-like weapon and aims it just above Eadric's head and the touch-sensor he is interacting with. An easy blue-white glow shines from its barrel (indeed, the weapon isn't projectile-based in the least) making Eadric's reading and interacting all the more easier. Pulling off his glove, Eadric quickly realizes that placing his warm, naked palm against this extremely chilly surface might indeed stick to the surface (like many a picture in Eadric's mind of tongues against frost-laden poles). That's about the time he realizes, he's getting warmer!

The temperature around Eadric rises easily and comfortably until Eadric realizes - it's the light coming from BOOP's big cannon! In moments, the touch sensor looks much closer to a comfortable temperature for Eadric to place his skin on. And doing so, leads to fast results!

"ACCESS GRANTED - PLEASE FOLLOW ALL BASE PROTOCOLS"

No sooner does this take place than Eadric finds himself putting his glove back on, BOOP's warming/illuminating light fades, and the sound of great grinding of mechanical gears floods the classroom/bay! Bright light from the white Antarctica snows fill the chamber forcing Eadric to shield his eyes momentarily (or turn his back to the light) as Mega-damage doors, huge and wide, raise slowly. Eadric sees the chairs and tables, all decorated with all kinds of basic scientific information (largely astronomy-based so his excellent education tells him) fluttering in a single icy breeze that hastens Eadric to get fully into his Mega-suit. He hears the the suit's climate controls bicker at him, but soon those sounds fade as his eyes adjust to the vast snowy plain that seems to reach out in nearly all directions before him.

But the real fun begins when, without warning, with his back turned to BOOP, Eadric is scooped up by one mecha-sized mechanical and gently dumped into BOOP's cockpit where the glass comes swiftly down and the sounds of Big Mikey's snoring can now clearly be heard. These sounds are soon replaced by BOOP running out into the snows and into the frozen wilds! As the classroom/bay doors close behind it, Eadric hears the valiant rise of great engines beneath his body (coming from BOOP's feet) charge, whine, and roar until Eadric has lift-off!

Big Mikey hardly stirs from his rear seat as you rise into the air with Antarctica underneath you!

Across one of BOOPs many cockpit-monitor comes a blinking readable message each letter scrolling out in an attractive and attention-getting fashion: "NEW ALIEN VESSEL DETECTED! VESSEL IS AIRBORNE AND ENGAGED AGAINST HOSTILE MALCONTENT FORCES OF UNKNOWN VARIETY! MELTRANDI SQUADRON DETECTED! MOVING TO OBSERVE FROM SAFE DISTANCE. INSTRUCTIONS?"

What does Eadric do?

 

[Kaerri]

The chaos continues until BOOP itself steps forward and looms over them, looking down and shaking its giant nose slowly like a big cat sighing at a pack of its own kittens.

Eadric can't help but laugh again, this time at the kitten-pile of mini-BOOPs.

The temperature around Eadric rises easily and comfortably until Eadric realizes - it's the light coming from BOOP's big cannon! In moments, the touch sensor looks much closer to a comfortable temperature for Eadric to place his skin on.

Eadric looks up at the light, then cranes his head further to give BOOP a warm smile. "Very kind of you, friend! I didn't think there was a large chance of my hand sticking to the pad, but you just changed 'not large' to 'none,' and I thank you! Not to mention it's much more comfortable this way," he adds as he turns back to the door. As it opens, he squints against the light, then turns slightly away (ordinarily he'd've just shielded his eyes, but his left hand was busy sealing the glove onto his right hand). The vast landscape before him is beautiful in its own frosty way, but there's little time to appreciate it before he finds himself scooped up (a small yelp escapes him then, quickly stifled when he realizes it's just BOOP being helpful again) and deposited inside the cockpit. As the glass comes down of its own accord, Eadric straps himself into the harness and prepares for...well, he doesn't know what, and in any case, the control-less cockpit leaves him very little to prepare with. But he looks forward to it all the same.

Across one of BOOPs many cockpit-monitor comes a blinking readable message each letter scrolling out in an attractive and attention-getting fashion: "NEW ALIEN VESSEL DETECTED! VESSEL IS AIRBORNE AND ENGAGED AGAINST HOSTILE MALCONTENT FORCES OF UNKNOWN VARIETY! MELTRANDI SQUADRON DETECTED! MOVING TO OBSERVE FROM SAFE DISTANCE. INSTRUCTIONS?"

"An unknown alien vessel, Malcontents, and Meltrandi?" Eadric repeats, just to make sure he's understood properly. Sounds like things are about to get really exciting. "Are you able to display a map showing their locations relative to each other and to us? And the 'Ship of Death' the Zentraedi were headed to, if you know its location?" He instinctively reaches for controls that aren't there, then adds wryly, "Are you able to tap into anyone's communications?"

 

[Purr]

BOOP does just that - on one of BOOPs six monitors is a display of his current side of Antarctica. A map of radar data appears before him along with all kinds of combat data including some huge cloud about 1 km wide and 1km long rising about 500 meters high. A tremendous amount of missile and mecha-type fire is constantly erupting from it. The cloud seems to be chasing something, a smaller white cloud. All of this is taking place alongside a mile-and-a-half-long snow-covered tube-like shape resting on the otherwise barren Antarctic waste. Words type out before Eadric's eyes.

'SNOW-COVERED VESSEL IS OF ZENTRAEDI ORIGIN. THIS VESSEL HAS BEEN DUBBED 'THE SHIP OF DEATH.'"

But something in the air, a huge and beautiful starship, is attempting to defend the little white cloud against the huge red cloud. And that something... looks like this!

Spoiler: This.

(Image credit: bbs.stardestroyer.net)

BOOP's main monitor then reads, "UPDATE: IFF REGISTRY SEARCH COMPLETE. AIRBORNE VESSEL'S REGISTRY IS NOT FOUND. AIRBORNE VESSEL APPEARS TO BE OF HUMAN, POSSIBLY UNITED EARTH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, ORIGIN."

He instinctively reaches for controls that aren't there, then adds wryly, "Are you able to tap into anyone's communications?"

"ATTEMPTING TO LISTEN IN. ALERT - WE ARE BEING HAILED. DO YOU WISH TO MAKE CONTACT?"

There, zipping along at several hundred miles an hour through the air in a cockpit he can't do much more with than hang onto the comfortable arms on the chair, Eadric has a choice to make.

What does Eadric do?

 

[Kaerri]

Spoiler: Lt. Eadric Braidwood

Character Sheet
Action Points: 9/9
Bonus Action Points: 0

Eadric takes a moment to assess the provided information. The "Ship of Death" doesn't seem to be active at present, so he turns his mind to more pressing concerns. He's the sort that tends to root for the underdog, so his sympathies are drawn to the smaller white cloud (probably snow kicked up by feet and weapons), but he sets that sympathy aside too, pending further information. Which isn't terribly long in coming, if in a surprising form.

"Le bon Dieu," he whispers, seeing the starship for the first time. "Surely not Zentraedi or Meltrandi, indeed. Possibly UEEF, you said?" Yesterday he might have wondered why he'd never heard even a whisper of such a ship. But then, yesterday he hadn't heard whispers about BOOP or BOOP's mission to Jupiter, either. He shakes his head wonderingly. "She's got nice lines, at any rate," he says, more to pull himself into the moment than to make conversation. Or at least to make conversation with the Veritech he's currently flying in. "Who is it that's hailing us, d'you suppose? No, no need to answer, we'll find out soon anyway." To speak with the unknown, or not? Hardly a choice for someone of Eadric's temperament and career path. "Put them through, please, BOOP."

Spoiler: Québécois translation

"Le bon Dieu" meaning "Good God."

 

[Purr]

"Who is it that's hailing us, d'you suppose? No, no need to answer, we'll find out soon anyway." To speak with the unknown, or not? Hardly a choice for someone of Eadric's temperament and career path. "Put them through, please, BOOP."

(OOC: If that statement doesn't sum up Eadric, what does? That's so him! =) )

Eadric and BOOP are in a holding pattern about 3 miles (almost 5 km) from the fighting. As you rocket through the air in what has to be the most comfortable seat ever made for a pilot and see for yourself the terrific chaos of battle in the distance, BOOP emits a friendly-sounding chime. "OPENING CHANNEL," reads the text before Eadric's eyes.

Eadric hears a man's voice speaking English in a clear and calm manner. His transmission comes in mid-sentence. "--United Earth Government aircraft on a flight path orbiting this military activity. We are patching you through to our captain who wishes to speak with you."

(OOC: And it is at this stage that Eadric's Prologue comes to a close and he enters the main game! Welcome to Robotech: Broadsword, Eadric! Please respond in the main game. =) Hope you had fun in here, Kaerri-darlin'! =) (O.K.. I know you did; it's just a positive thing to say and I wanted to say something positive. =) )

Woo!