Inquirer's recap (Part 1)

Inquirer

"This is so very typical," I mutter to myself as my husband pulls out his sonic screwdriver to open the door to D'Argo's prison. "Always fun and games out here on the Quest."

Mind you, we're all a bit on edge right now. Frieda is more than a little put off by what path her analog sister, Uhura the centauress, has chosen. With the exception of the handful of centaurs (male and female) that Jarlath's group, it sesm that she alone is the only centaur on Terra Prime who chose Chiron's path (the path less traveled). Lonely, in a way. As it is, Uhura is going to become more and more obnoxious and hide bound as time goes on so the sooner we get done the better, for that and other reasons. The background music from that one video game my brother Elrondir is so fond of is putting everyone's nerves sort of on edge. Swear sometimes about my brother, if he wasn't now fully organic (albeit of an exotic brand) I'd put him up for a full diagnostic! The PK zombies that we know are scuttling about in the darkness, just out of sight (and weaponblast). If we're lax, they'll make life uncomfortable for us! Uncomfortable like they made that one Pilot that Ragan told us about over our Startrek combadge (which work in this environment, unlike the Farscapian equivalent). Oh, while as Champions we wouldn't regenerate as quickly as the Pilot, we won't die from severed limbs. Well, the others would be PK zombie food. Doubt they'd find me digestible (if I was so inclined to allow it).

Creator, if it wasn't for the chance that one of these wastes of flesh, the zombies, was our Quest target, I'd be using my preferred weaponry (Military issue plasma pistol) vice the phasors. While they're good for stunning all but the most stubborn targets, I still do NOT like using an energy weapon that gives off noise!

....

Yeah, noise. Energy weaponry is supposed to be silent except for maybe a slight noise from a capacitor discharging or whatnot, but NOT so with Star Trek phasors! THEY have to make a bloody loud whining sound when fired (at whatever setting)!

That all said, energy weapons making noises pales in comparison to what happened recently!

First, after quiet a romp (re: http: //www.rule179 /PlotSummaries /Episode24358. htm) we end up in a reality that mirrors almost PERFECTLY a roleplaying session (Torg, if you must know) I was DMing! We had to play a game of cat and mouse (had to explain that term to Chiana when I used it) with the Company, a game I knew we had little real chance of winning as I would have liked. Oh, we managed either to get and extract from the High Lords the very things the Company goons were after either before they got their hands on them! That OR spirit the High Lords away before they could extract from them what they wanted. Yeah, looked like we were home free. HAH!

Chiana's right. Things are never easy.

The Company played their aces in the hole, both Chiana's brother as hostage and the entire safety of Core Earth. Either we hand over to the Company what we'd grabbed out from under them or both would be destroyed in retribution.

All that delivered by that damn Agent Smith from the Matrix.....

Creator, don't ask. Just don't ask how that two dimensional baddy got his hands on an Avatar units to deliver the message. Don't ask what HE'D be doing, stomping around in real life.

It's too stupid for me to tolerate enough to retell the tale right now! Well enough to just leave at I used an ability that I and the other Military Golems have (but have never tried using except under dire circumstances). It is a Top Secret (and them some) ability, going UP a downlink from an Avatar unit (as stupid as that sounds....would say it was impossible, but I and my family know differently). Used the very Avatar unit Smith was using as a back door into the Company's ship and . . . sabotaged it! Killing all aboard....

I still feel . . . dirty for having been forced to do that, but they back us into a corner and there wasn't much time to get out before they won (too the detriment of all).

If you have to question me over my decisions, then we'll do it. Later....

And don't expect to have a pleasant time of it!!

....

I did what I did because I had no choice.

....

And then there was the NEXT Quest, right before this one!

The Wolfrider elfin woman who'd been known as "Dewshine" had been free spirited (spirited, period) before being reincarnated a Terra Prime elfin woman named A'eitia. Now, as A'eitia she was quiet . . . uh . . . . Very high spirited, let's put it politely. Fiery.

Yeah. Fiery and full of issues (re: http:// rule179.com/ CharacterBios/ Aeitia.htm# elfinlass).

At least her husband and love, Hathar'ruil is a bit more level headed.

Both these new Champions went with us on a Quest to retrieve two proto- Dark Elves (yet another Artizza and Fertal, put a 1 after their names). They, as we find out, were the real reason why we're doing all this insane business with Key Components. Why it's so difficult (even more so than usual). In one way it was yet another way to blacken the Demons' eye, and a bit more. See, as petty as it (the first part) may sound, the second part is not (and IT'S not, considering that these are people's lives we're talking bout....who will control these elves lives, the Demons or themselves), the Rules and Agents were using this business with the Key to pry lose at least one more Artizza and Fertal couple out of the Demon's clutches. If we lose, they'll be faced with a trial that makes the old Christian Bible tale of Job look tame by comparison. OH, they might be able to get through and win free, but....

If we win, they at least get to chose where and what Office to live under. Was more than a bit pleased and flattered that they said they wanted to join OUR outfit....

Well, our Quest, right? What about it?

We find ourselves (TARDIS and all) in the Southern Caverns of a parallel Terra. But we practically trip over the proto-Dark Elves (wandering around in a daze)! Easy enough, eh? Too easy! We had to fight off first some kind of living mummy (sucker was strong as me). And then we found out we were STUCK! That is, the TARDIS was stuck in place due to some kind of magical wards that kept the mummy's master in check down in the confines of this Cavern.

Chiana puts it best:

There's more than one way to de-shell a prakik, as my mother always used to say. We can't take off in the TARDIS? Fine. We'll just have to find another way off this planet. We don't know the way out? Fine. We'll just find somebody who does.

Not like that's exactly difficult. Looks like humans are crawling all over these caves, looking for... Well, looking for something they're not going to find, because we got to it first. Ha!

So, finding somebody? No problem. Getting our hands on them? Well, that's where I come in... Hey, I'm good at getting my hands on people...

I wait in the shadows of a side tunnel, stealthy-quiet, just like playing hide-and-search games with my brother when we were kids. The group of humans passes right by me without even glancing my way. Heh. looks like Crichton's not the only one of his species with deficient vision.

When all but the last man in the group have passed by, I step out, still quiet, with very best meek, sweet, and not-completely-innocent expression. He catches sight of me, looks startled, and begins to open his mouth to call out to the others. I put my finger to my lips... verrrry slowly, and step back into the shadows, beckoning. Of course he follows me. Males are the same the universe over! And, of course, Inquirer at that moment steps out of the shadows herself, grabs the guy in a hold he is not getting out of, and clamps a hand over his mouth until his friends are too far away to hear.

I look into our prisoner's wide, terrified eyes, and give him a flirtatious smile.

....

Well, can't argue with the results. Got from that "guide" all we needed to get to get to the surface. Had to be quick, so that meant we had to fight (and defeat) the mummy master's minions (and itself). We had to be quick, because the means of getting off planet lay on the surface. We'd detected both something in orbit and on the surface that said "starship". We weren't sure how long those ships were going to stay around (this Terra wasn't exactly a high attraction spot for those space farers out there, too low tech. Unless you're talking about a world like that one John Crichton landed Moya on. Black Market types probably found that one Leviathan sedative very profitable by how Chiana (in passing to me) explained it. Even warrented the pirates putting down "wild translator microbes" (oh please) to make passing as a native all the easier).

Oh, so many more questions I have over that, but....

Well, that all said we didn't know exactly why they were there, so the quicker we got up there (and got in) the better. We needed to use the ships to get the proto-Dark Elves to our pickup point.

1. Even after we find a bunch of crossovers not only up on the surface, but run smack into some kind of dimensional hiccup that placed us (group split up amongst them) on other realities!