Futuristic Unknown Crisis IC (full)

[CelticSol]

( theunderwolf )

With a tarp thrown over her head, she doesn't really hear Cathal's voice calling after her, nor does she hear Mako's quick pursuit until Mako's voice rises right beside her, having seemingly appeared from absolutely nothing.

Eppie screams as she almost jumps out of her skin, but definitely loses her stride in the flat sprint she'd been maintained and stumbles. She tries, vainly, to keep her footing, but surrenders to her fate of taking a dive, disappearing under her tarp in a bundle. There's a bunch of rustling as Eppie tries to dig herself out of the tangle of fabric, before she manages to flip the piece of fabric from over her head with a dramatic flourish.

Her face is red from running and trying to get the damn tarp off of her head, her teal hair an absolute disaster. As she finds it was Mako that scared the shit out of her, she groans, even though she's grinning brightly, "Mako! Holy hell, kitten, you scared the shit out of me! How the hell did you catch up so fast?"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay​

Somehow, Mako breezed past Cathal's helter-skelter run. "HOW?" Cathal shouted after her, but found he didn't care as she got Eppie to stop. "Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph, you're gonna give me a heart attack!" he scolded, joining the two girls. "Runnin' out into a hostile environment in a tarp!" He hauled her to her feet and pushed the extra suit in her hands. "You put this on right now, or I am dragging you back to the airlock and strapping you into one of Donny's cots, so help me God." He jabbed a finger at Eppie for emphasis, and then looked at Mako and sighed.

"Alright. Do we have a plan, or are we just trying to get ourselves killed by bees?"

 

[theunderwolf]

"K-k-kitten!?" Mako stuttered, she wasn't even out of breath, but the nickname caught her off guard. Had she figured it out? She couldn't have! Mako hadn't shifted anywhere near her right? She hadn't shifted in the pas month! (Speaking of, she really needed to stretch when next she could) No Mako needed to keep her cool, Eppie couldn't know. "I didn't mean to scare you I'm just really..." She started when Cathal finally caught up, "...Really fast." She answered them both and patted Cathal on the back. "As for the plan..." She continued, automatically rearranging Eppie's hair. It was an automatic thing, a quick grooming was the equivalent of a friendly hug and Mako's muscle memory told her to make sure her friends looked alright. "I can smell honey coming from that direction," She pointed to the hives, "Though I think our initial approach is going to be the most important. Knowing insects, if we're seen, we're seen. We need to go in decidedly but quietly so first priority, we should probably grab Holly before she messes with that beehive. And please put the suit on Eppie, bee stings look like they hurt and we shouldn't risk any more. "

 

[CelticSol]

( theunderwolf , wickedlittlecritta )

There's already a teasing joke on her lips as Mako grows flustered at the nickname when Cathal bursts onto the scene, mothering the hell out of her and yanking her to her feet. She holds up a finger, the bundle of suit inhibit any other form of non-verbal gesturing, "To be fair... The tarp is tear-resistant. I was not entirely without defence."

She unfolds the suit, pulling it on over her pants and oversized sweater as Mako explains a plan and arranges Eppie's hair into something presentable. As she zips up the suit, she finds her sweater in the way, and starts to haul it over her head, "Heading to hive is all well and good, but I distinctly remember -" She cuts off as she pulls her sweater over her head to the undershirt she wears underneath, effectively messing up her her hair again as she tosses her sweater to the ground, before continuing, "- Robo-Kev ripping out of the airlock like a bat out of hell over a civilian that got left behind. I know the hive needs to be dealt with, but if there's a civilian somewhere out there..."

She zips up the suit the rest of the way, before picking up her sweater from the ground, "Well, both of you saw Donny pumping antihistamines into someone that looked more like a marshmellow than a human. They're alone, and if they haven't been stung or killed, then they're probably scared out of their minds. So I'll be going after Kevin or trying to track down the run-away. Preferably both."

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr​

"You've gotta be kidding me... Okay, I obviously can't come back to stop you guys from doing anything stupid, but don't get yourselves killed! These bees almost took down Beta just by overheating it, and you're nowhere near that tough! I really, REALLY hope you guys brought some smokes, at least."
Said Kevin, searching around where he last saw the girl called Kimberley. His sensors weren't getting much, because the bees were already all over him, trying to burn Delta out. He had his coolant running on high, but even with that spare tank, he knew he didn't have long. So, the external speakers flipped on.
"KIMBERLEY! KIMBERLEY! I HAVE MORE SMOKE GRENADES, I CAN GET YOU OUT OF HERE! PLEASE, I WON'T FAIL YOU THIS TIME! PLEASE!... Please... Please still be alive..."
He shouted, starting to fall apart... Time was his enemy, every second was more coolant, every second was more time Kimberley was in danger, every second was a little bit of his chance to turn this around, gone forever. He thought he could see a heat signature, about the size of a person. Was it her? He couldn't see very well...
"Kimberley?"

Billy, on the other hand, was just flabbergasted. Did-did Eppie just nick a bunch of smoke grenades and run out there? She did. And then Cathal followed her. And then Holly, and Mako.
"... Oi sis, I fink I'll grab a suit and follow up-"
"No. Suits gone."
"... Fiiiine. We've got work here, anyhow."
Went their brief exchange before both of them got to work. Tina didn't have a lot to do now, so she began trawling through the Beyonce dome systems, looking for anything interesting, or out of place... Maybe she could bust into employee emails to look for some info?

 

[TrashRabbit]

Kimberly had submerged herself like a blue opalescent Ophelia in a shallow koi pond, encircled by a ring of alien water plants. Tiny plesiosaurs no bigger than her hand nibbled at her curiously- despite being called a Koi pond no Koi lived in it. The bees themselves were flying in distinct hexagonal and half hexagonal formations, two or three bees to a clump above the pond and the surrounding area.

So far, near the airlock there were one or two bees but they were leaving those on foot alone. If anything they were keeping a distant and perimeter that was unnerving if you noticed it- as it was hexagonal in nature.

The Beyonce dome system was large and they had many low security clearance employees; their emails were full of awkward rps, pictures of the Mr. Mark & Mark animals, job applications and concerned moms. A search for the key word bees would bring up a manageable return- Senior director Jim Hof had been negotiating the exchange of the infant Queens for several months now, the final sum of which was a small fortune. There was also Joan's bee blog. Wich was filled with information, photos, and poetry. one of the recents posts was about the ancient belief of telling the bees- which he claimed to still perform. Another was a query; do radio waves bother bees? We switched frequencies and about half the hives have been acting more aggressive- this post was older, but about a month.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay​

"Oh, tear resistant, aye. You're ready to bust into New Fort Knox with that, then," Cathal said, with a sort of sour sarcasm that was fairly unusual for him. While Eppie put the suit on he turned his radio on. "<Finn? What's your twenty?>"

"<With Donny, in the airlock>," Finn's voice came back.

"<Cris? Twenty?>"

"<In the dome with Holly,>" Cris said. She paused, and then asked, "<Is it just me, or are the bees flying...weird?>"

"<Weird?> Cathal repeated, and looked up. The bees were flying with a sort of regularity Cathal normally associated with military fighters, only much more hexagonal.

"Fuck," Cathal said. "Holly has Cris with her," he informed the others. "So if we wanna clear out the civilians, she'll be set." And then he pointed at the closest battalion of bees and added, "And I'm no bee expert, but that shit ain't normal."

 

[theunderwolf]

Mako's hands hung in the air for a moment as Eppie's hair went back to being mussed; She lowered them in surrender, to be frank her grooming instinct was basically just to make sure there weren't any bugs in her fur, or well hair now since she was pretty sure that Eppie wasn't an alien. (well alien as in not human, Mako had to remind herself more and more that humans were aliens too). "Tear resistant is still tear-able, and tearing and stinging are two very different things." She chastised gently, "Though you should definitely hang onto that resourcefulness." She was distracted from Eppie's colorful hair by the formation of bees. <"Command you seeing this?"> She asked in her general channel, sending a quick image from the camera on her suit.
<"Doesn't match any recognized military formation," Pansy graveled, "Or any civillion flight patterns I can recognise. Maybe some kind of...bird flock formation?">
"Insects don't flock," Mako said as the closest thing to an animal behaviorist they had, "They swarm but not in any kind of...formation."
"Image recognition software over the galaxyweb has no valid matches for bee formations, other then the song Formation by 21st century artist Beyonce, would you like me to play it?" Odina added, "Also I note that the formation is hexagonal, similar to honeycombs, and my neural network indicates that this may be a sign of advanced learning based on already existing structures within beehives."
"You never cease to surprise me Odina," Pansy said dryly, "Aren't you just supposed to help with culture reference?"
"it's not l-l-l-like I want to be more helpful or anything b-b-baka!!" Odina! responded, "Mako-senpai just unshackled some of my core programming!"
"...Right." Pansy concluded.>
"Hrmm its possible the bees have achieved some level of intelligence," Mako said to the two physical people next to her, "Do we know what genetic mods could have caused it? Also yes we should probably regroup but that's on mission lead, who's supposed to be making these plans again?"

 

[Daimao]

Miloj​

Miloj had almost no idea what was going on. Everything had happened so fast. A couple of minutes ago, he was asked if he was allergic to bees and, upon answering in the negative, was given a quick briefing and shoved into a shuttle and was on his way to the Beyonce Garden Dome. He was supposed to assist UCC team 9 with....killer bees? That just didn't sound right. Bees were just little funny looking bugs that spread pollen and make honey, right? As the airlock of the shuttle sealed into place with that of the garden dome, Miloj sighed, he'd be finding out soon enough. As the airlock to the dome hissed open, Miloj stepped through, giving a sort of half-assed, two finger salute.

"Miloj Valadomiskotivicht," he introduced himself as the airlock hissed closed behind him. "I am here to assist you with your...bee problem?"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay​

"Listen, I have a GED, I don't know what you're expecting from me," Cathal told Mako. The how of it seemed far less important than the practicalities of dealing with it, but he kept that to himself. "Since Donny's busy keeping a man from turning into a balloon, I guess that puts me in charge. Eppie and I are going with Kevin to try and clear out survivors. Mako, you go help Holly and Cris take a look at the hives. I think Donny wanted samples? See if somebody with more letters after their name than I've got can figure out what's going on here." Cathal paused, looking between Eppie and Mako. "And don't get stung, yeah? Let's move."

Finn Dolan​

With everyone but Donny and handful of the support crew gone, it was quiet in the airlock. Finn sat by the radio, playing communications officer since there wasn't much else for him to do right now. He got up when the ship docked, and was there ready to meet Miloj when he disembarked.
"Hey," he said. "Finn Dolan. I'd introduce you to everybody else, but most of them are busy with the bees. Let me fill you in." And then, as he lead Miloj back to the medbay and the radio, Finn asked what he thought was probably the most important question for anybody who was going to be on the security team.
"Do you speak Spanish?"

 

[rubycats]

• Holly Jones​

Holly watched in awe at the scene before her, bees definitely weren't supposed to do that, but something about this felt oddly familiar. She tried to think of it and suddenly remembered Harvey teaching her about two different old studies. One had to do with the hive mind, there had been a change in power and everything went belly up. The other had to do with white noise and pheromones in order to coerce a creature into going subservient. Neither were nice, but the results sounded oddly familiar.

"Guys this is Holly, hi!, but anyway I need someone to see if they can like hack into their server or something. Look out for something along the lines of new queen or pheromone changes or something about sound. Thank you!"

Turning back to Cris she smiled, "thank you for coming with me, well I know you were told to but it's still nice. Now how about we start gooping up some honey and catching some bees?"

​

 

[TrashRabbit]

Deep in the servers along with the emails, was the project associated with the larval Queen sale; Project Paladin. This bee has been highly engineered from the traditional martian bee- the end goal being a Queen that can manage hives up to two hundred times the size of a standard one. This involved a bee that could create pheromones more potent and in greater quantities. The project is ongoing.
Also there is project poly-apis, a multi queen hive project. The queens have been engineered to share hives. Their goal is the same as the paladin project, create bigger single hives that are easier to maintain.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cris Scordato​

"If I wanted to collect honey, I could have stayed home," Cris complained mildly, following Holly. The hives didn't look much different than the one her brother had back home, though there were more of them, and painted in less obnoxiously bright colors. The bees above it were flying in very forceful, geometric patterns that didn't match up at all with the lazy movements of Armand's hive either.

They had also gotten much closer.

Cris hesitated as they approached the first hives. "I," she said, "Have a bad feeling about this."

 

[CelticSol]

( wickedlittlecritta , theunderwolf )
Upon taking in Cathal's rather sour tone, Eppie's smile slips off her face, but she busies herself with tying her sweater around her waist before it shows too much, "I just wanted to help, Cathal," She says quietly, tone too even to not be intentional, and her use of his actual name, rather than a term of endearment, almost unheard of from her. She looks over when she hears a very distant sound of Kevin calling out to someone through the loud speakers of his drone, and is about to follow when Mako points out a small group of the bees.

As it's pointed out, she lifts her eyes to the formations of bees, eyebrows raising in curiosity. She hears a couple of calls back and forth through the comms, but Eppie finds herself oddly captivated by the movements. She barely catches Cathal's words, but looks away from them upon hearing her name among his plan. She inclines her head in the general direction she heard Kevin's speakers go off, her expression still much more measured than usual, "I'm almost positive I heard Kevin calling out for someone down that way. He ought to be that way. We can regroup and help him search," Looking over at Mako, she cracks a smile, leaning forward to smooth out stray hairs thrown into disarray from Mako's high speed sprint, much like Mako had groomed Eppie, "Good luck, kitten. Be careful."

With that, she spins on her heel, gesturing for Cathal to follow, "C'mon, Captain Jack. We got work to do," Before she takes off after the distant sound of Kevin's voice.

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr​

​

At first, Kevin wasn't sure about the signature. It seemed too cold... But as he approached, he saw the ripple of water. It was a pond! Filled with... Tiny Plesiosaurs. Okay. Kevin finally let loose with a pair of smoke grenades, and the bees began to slowly disperse and fall. Then, he gently pulled Kimberley's hand out of the water.
"I... I'm sorry, Kimberley. I'm sorry. I'm back. I'm going to take you to safety. Real safety. C'mon, Let's go."
He said, trying to get her out of the pond before anything else crazy happened. His coolant levels were low. He'd have to use smokes the whole way back to the airlock, or risk falling prey to the bees.
"Billy, can you load Gamma with smoke grenades and coolant? I think I need to make one more run after I get back."
"No! Eppie stole the damn smokes, and we only had the one backup tank! It's not a thing that comes up that often outside of volcanoes!"
"... Fuuuck... I guess I'll have to-... Hold on..."
As Kevin moved, pulling Kimberley along, he saw figures. More survivors?... Wait. No, that looked like the team.
"Guys?... You... You guys need to take her, AND YOURSELVES, home! I'll give you some of my smoke grenades... But I know someone has a few already. Eppie."
He said, disappointed... But if they just got this poor girl back, he could do something. He could run, full tilt, to the beehives. Then he could shut this down, whatever it took. He almost wished these mechs had a self-destruct, but... Well, that wouldn't be practical. Besides, if it was still in one piece (It should be, if the bees really did shut him down) they could come back for it later.

Meanwhile, Tina had been digging deep. Emails, secret plans... She had it all. And Holly was asking.
"Already done, transferring."
She said, reading over the email Joan had sent, as well as the plans for project Paladin, and Project Poly-Apis. Interesting stuff... She then copied it all, transferred it over to the team's datapads. Hm... Project Paladin was probably the problem... 200 times the hive and pheromones probably meant 200 times the territory. However, there was something more pressing in mind, too.
"Recommend minimal radio."
She said, wondering if the team's radios were making things worse...

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones​

Holly smiled as the data filled her screen, "thank you so much! You rock!" She let out a small hum as she read through the emails and at reading about project Paladin blinked, "hey guys I think this is whats wrong! Also good news is we only need to fight one bee, or at the very least separate her from the others so she can't 'talk' with them anymore." She turned to Cris with a smile, "so that'll be like, way easier because if it's just one queen causing the aggression then we just need to find her and they'll go back to normal. Or, well, they won't have a queen but they'll be less killey, all we need to do is grab the queen and run away before they sting us."

 

[TrashRabbit]

Aleksi Donovan​

["Scan the bee."]
"Give me like- three seconds, Finch, christ.]
["Aleksi. Bring me the bee.]
Donnavan groaned.
[Bee. Now. Scan.]
"I only have two hands," Donny complained putting an IV in the old man. His age was more the real enemy than the actual stings. His heart hadn't taken it well and he had kept Donny busy since everyone bailed out the airlock.
[Your number of hands is way closer to zero. Scan the damn bee, Sasha.] Finch demanded.
Donny slammed down what he had in his hands and scanned one of the dead bees he'd removed from Digery's cloths.
<"Thankyou~>

the rest
​

A few moments after Tina updated the mission brief so did the Doctor. The Bees from Digery's stinging were Apis Aries-poly hive variation. There was nothing particularly notable about them, save that it had trace amounts of royal jelly in it- which normally was reserved for the development of larvae into queens.

The general channel sputtered to life and the flight commander spoke, her voice much higher and smaller over electronics than in real life.
["Finch thinks the paladin project bee is controlling the other ones and we have evidence of high intelligence behavior. Continue as if First Contact. Over."]

As soon as CC Hekekiah finished speaking the bee formations changed. They withdrew from Kevin's mech and continued to patrol around their perimeter.

At the hives; the bees exploded out of the hive- straight up like terrible insectoid volcano.

 

[theunderwolf]

"Not getting stung sounds good," Mako said happily, blushing slightly when Eppie returned the favor. It was intimate for a human and shot a pleasant little shiver through her shortened spine. "I'll see you later, Cathal, Cuddlefish." She said and turned to run so Eppie would not see how embarrassed Mako was at that nickname. . Eppie had seemed a little unsure, but she needed to prove herself to Cathal and herself, Mako didn't want to patronize or prop her up unnecessarily. She had faith in her and prayed to the seas that she would succeed. Mako quickly approached Holly and Cris, quietly stopping and tapping the reading Holly, "SO we getting honey?" she asked quietly," And don't forget, removing one queen won't stop the hive, they'll just replace her with a nigh identical queen if my experience and research are right."

Lacy McKay​

"Well, that's sloppy of him," Lacy said, stepping off the transport, "Standard language on a squad is vital. <though I do think knowing multiple languages might be advantageous> Anyway!" She said, throwing off her long brown coat to dramatcly reveal her police combat uniform, "Investigator Lacy McKay reporting, here to provide legal authority and keep everything on the up and up. Finn, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. You too Miloj, sorry I couldn't introduce myself on the carrier, I had to get some paperwork in order. I've heard nothing but excellent things about you both. Finn, can you patch me into you guys' comms? Mako and my lovely brother specifically. I need to lecture one and greet the other."

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones​

Holly shook her head and turned to Mako, "no this queen is controlling them, with a different queen they should go back to normal-" She was cut off by the bee eruption and blinked at it, "see, pretty sure they wouldn't do that normally. Bees are usually pretty chill, but these guys are totally being like puppeteered by a mad queen." At the command to treat it as first contact she giggled, "I guess this is as close to meeting royalty as you can get."

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay​

"Hello," Cathal said, helping Kimberly. "What a day, huh?" he added, brightly, because people were really just another kind of animals, and sometimes it helped to talk nicely at them when everything was going to hell. He looked up, and saw the swarm in the distance, and added, "Well, things are certainly out of hand," in the same bright tone. He paused to listen to the information over the radio.

"I think, maybe, we ought to help find the queen," he said. "Eppie, love, d'you wanna head over with Kevin, and I'll get our good friend here to HQ?"

Cris Scordato​

"Shit," Cris said, watching the bees rise up in a tornado. "So...time to hunt for a big fat bee."

Finn Dolan​

Finn frowned at Lacy. He'd never met her, but he'd heard about all of Cathal's siblings, enough to be thankful that he was an only child. "Which one are you lecturing?" he asked, because giving Cathal more than one interpersonal relationship to worry over at a time never went well, and Finn was quite sure he was already tied in knots about Eppie. He wasn't sure he wanted to let Cathal know she was here until he got out of the dome even if she did just want to say hi, honestly.

 

[rubycats]

Holly Jones
​

Holly stared at the bees before calling out to Cris, "wait if you do that, they'll attack you. Let me try something first." Holly hummed a small tune that her mother used to sing and began swaying, she closed her eyes and swayed with the imaginary beat. The more she danced the more she got into it and soon she felt the way should did when she was younger and dancing with her mother. She paused in her dancing and looked at the bees, checking to see if they cared at all.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Bees​

The hives were still swarming high above but instead of a deafening buzz there was a slow tonal progression. It didn't match the tune but it repeated.

 

[CelticSol]

( wickedlittlecritta , Graystone713 , TrashRabbit )

As Eppie makes it to Kevin, about to express her desire to help Kevin and help with the civilian, she is immediately hit by a disapproving jab by Kevin for bringing him smoke grenades he asked for not even five seconds ago. She grinds her teeth together, trying to keep a hold of herself and just hold composure, if nothing else, to keep from spooking Kevin as she knows a snap will, but her mouth doesn't exactly seem in agreement with her mouth, since she hisses, "Well, excuse the fuck out of me for wanting to help you out by bringing a back-up supply," She drops the bag full of smoke grenades down at Kevin's feet, her expression tight, "You don't have to wait for your smoke grenades. Here they are. Sweet Christ, I can't fucking do anything ..."

She trails off sharply, her last words barely audible and hissed in some foreign language. As Hekekiah comes over the comm, she turns her back on Cathal and Kevin, listening intently to the new orders. She listens carefully to all the information and channeling into the analytic part of her as she mentally but systematically sorts through all the information. The end brings her up short.

-+Continue as First Contact, over. +-

Eppie's first thought, after the words properly registered: Shit. I'm first contact.

Her second thought: I'm trained for this.

Her third thought: How the fuck do I make first contact with bees?

As focuses back on her environment, her eyes focus on the edge of the pond, spotting flowers along the edges.

... That could work.

Eppie drops to her knees, picking some of the plants from there, before heading directly towards the hive, on her walk there, she picks additional flowers that catch her eye, reading a small information packet on Bee-Telling off her phone. She is vaguely familiar with the concept, and it seems simple enough. She can do this. She can do this.

It's a bit of a hike, but she finally reaches the edges near the hive, thankfully without getting too much grief from any bees, since they've mostly gathered into the swarm. Once close enough she thinks the bees will hear her, but not too close that she can't book it if she needs to, and sits on the ground, laying out the flowers she's picked in an arrangement she hopes the bees will find pleasing to the eye in front of her as an obvious offering. She looks up at the swarm one more time, wringing her hands in her lap nervously. She can do this.

Then, Eppie starts to talk, "So, I grew up on a garden planet a really long way from here. My family all lives out there. My brother just graduated highschool last week, too. I couldn't make it, which I felt really bad about, but he told me it was alright, but my parents video-called me during the ceremony so I could see him walk across the stage and get his diploma. He looked like a big dork in his gown, but he was thrilled. He high fived the principal instead of shaking her hand, and dabbed as he came off the stage. My parents groaned, but honestly? I thought it was iconic. I've gotta remember to high-five him when I go home next."

 

[TrashRabbit]

The swarm knotted and unknotted. The tonal progression shifted, grew more complex until it rolled like a modulation; a complex oscillation of frequency and density of swarm. Back at mission control, Goody had the good sense to remotely activate Eppie's body cam. The pattern was not unlike that of an unmodulated radio wave.

Donny watched on the main halo-screane and gathered a small crowd with Joan and some of security watching over his shoulder. Joan was chewing his fingers when he said, "I've been telling the bees for a long time and they've never don that."

 

[Daimao]

Miloj
​

At the question from the man named FInn on whether or not he spoke spanish, Miloj smiled kind of sheepishly as he followed further into the airlock. "Ah, no, I do not speak in Spanish. Not much Spanish where I from. Only English and Russian." Miloj shrugged. "Can learn Spanish if requirement." With that, Miloj pulled out a metal flask from under his trench coat, opening the cap and taking a swig. Closing the flask and putting it back into his coat, Miloj continued. "Can not be too hard, no?"