"We are ready, then," Magneto sighed as he remained levitated inches above the brilliant white floor of the flying bridge. "These gloves," he noted, "control the observation drones." As he spoke, a pair of spheres, about a foot in diameter arose. Oddly, they had some resemblence to the famous Death Star from the Star Wars franchise, with a dimpled conic section holding the camera eyes. They were painted white, however, with blue trim - matching the general theme of the ship which was done over in the colors of the flag of Israeli.

He spent a few moments describing how to operate the drones and the holographic displays. The controls and operation of the latter were similar to the danger room, albeit the projections had no tangible component and were visual only.

"It will be my responsibility to draw the attention of the two mutants, and of the authorities, towards myself and away from your teams so you are free to operate without interference." As he rose away from the Jonah's Whale, a UH-3H Sea King helicopter appeared. At first he ignored it, but it approached them and descended to hover while a crewman with a large camera device could be seen hanging out the open hatch. With a wave of his hand and a muttered comment about interference, that crewman was pitched back inside as the tail rotar flew off and the helicopter began a lazy spiral into the sea.

As the helicopter settled into the water, a large yellow inflatable raft deployed.

Edited by: Haverberg at: 9/15/05 9:28 pm

~"Just so."~ Scott said. ~"Two by two. Evo and myself. Then Force and Angel. Chamber and Scarlet Witch. Karina and Magma. Mana and Gambit. Storm, we'll be safe from the radar down this low, but please begin gathering a storm in case we need one."

~"Anytime you're ready,"~ Scott said, extending a hand toward Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler nodded to Scott, and began embracing team members, two at a time and porting as they called out their destinations.

//
To keep this moving, please hold to the following: There will be 3 locations on the ship Nightcrawler will port to, and there is also the rescue launch on the Jonah's Whale flying bridge - the structure is designed to allow operations on the surface such as this. The rescue launch is 16 feet long with twin inboard engines allowing speeds of up to 35 knots. It contains emergency supplies and a medical kit, oars, long poles, and anything else needed to pluck survivors out of the water.

Whoever announces first in each team decides on the destination:

The bow: this area is free of smoke and can be a good staging area for rescuing
people on the deck. This will be the easiest location to rescue passengers
and crew from, and there may already be several people waiting for pickup.

The amidships has moderate smoke and indications of damage. It is the most
direct route to the passenger cabins.

The stern is shrouded in smoke but the air is still breathable. There is
extensive damage all over. This area leads to the crew quarters and
engineering.

Remember the two mutants are near this location, and there is a high risk
of danger from both them and from things happening to the ship (such a steam
line rupturing).

The rescue launch can be used to rescue people from the water. As this is the
Adriatic Sea, the water temperature is sufficient to not be dangerous.

To forstall another week of "I'm here, now what?" the first person to appear in each location will create an immediate challenge or danger which they and everyone following at that location will need to deal with. Furthermore, instead of announcing "I'm going to the bow", make this part of your post. Also in your post announce what special gear you are carrying.

For example:

As Alex appeared on the ship's midsection in a cloud of brimstone, his hand still struggling to get into the remote controller he could hear a desparate pounding from a door on the lower level. Finally wedging his hand into the glove and activating, he sent the probe down some nearby stairs to approach the door, his gaze fixed on the holographic projection as he ran after it, following

Special gear:
A player may elect to carry one of two special items: a remote controller glove as just described, or an inertialess grappler, a device that bonds to a surface at the molecular level and then decreases the weight by up to two tons (note, negative weights are not possible).

The two mutants:
To make it possible for everyone to be involved in a rescue effort from the start, I am decreeing that the two mutants will only have a chance of affecting anyone in the stern location.

***REMEMBER: The first person at each location is responsible for defining the first encounter. Do not wait around for me or anyone else to introduce a plot element. They will be added as time goes on but this must be a player-driven adventure as much as it is a plot-driven adventure***

To aid memory, the following are the task assignments that "Scott" made earlier:

"Storm can call up a storm, complete with lightning that will take out the Aegis radar array. If at all possible, we need to avoid the appearance of a mutant attacking the warship. I don't know how common storms are in the area at this time of year, but best if it's made to appear as if it at least could be natural.

"Banshee, if he can, will shield the submersible from sonar detection. Then he can either accompany the team or stay with the submersible to guard it, if we can't or don't want to send it away and recall it.

"Nightcrawler will get the team aboard, and provide evacuation for us and civilians as necessary, assisted by Warren. Off the civilians, any critically injured can be stabilized by Mana, but I suggest we send or move as many as we can up to the deck to be picked up by the Task Group. They should have rescue helos up, that'll keep them busy.

"Evo can act as scout. We can leave the shell aboard the submersible or bring it with us, whichever works better.

"Jonothon, Remy, and I can clear the worst of any wreckage, with Evo switching to a form more suited to heavy lifting if we need to extract someone pinned. Karina can help with that, as well -- I've seen roots and vines crack solid granite.

"Amara can do fire control, backed up by Mana, if necessary.

"China can shield us or civilians in danger.

"Wanda will be our wild card, tipping the odds back in our favor whenever they start to lean the other way."

Edited by: Paid by the Word at: 9/21/05 2:01 pm