(posted here to keep discussion out of the Registry thread)
Um. Dude, while the SS Katamari idea has some merit, grabbing the ISS - which we've established in-story as still being there - plus a brace of LA-class subs is reaching somewhere beyond the Line. It's too much, man.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

"Thank you for coming," Gilbert Dullindal said, as his visitors entered the large office. The Chairman of the ZAFT Supreme Council was a tall man and handsome with dark hair spilling down over his shoulders and a thin face that usually revealed only detached confidence in his policies. He was feeling unusually tense now, however, for the complexity of his duties had risen markedly over the last month.
None of the visitors knew this however, though he had a passing acquaintence with most of them. Indeed, two of them likely knew this office almost as well as he did, for they were the only children of his predecessors. Athrun Zala looked much recovered from the strain he had been under two years ago, at the end of the Bloody Valentine War, standing behind the blonde 'Princess of Orb'. He wondered if the young man knew how much his occasional glances at Cagalli Yuna Athha revealed.
The other young couple, were thinner. Lacus Clyne was as sweet as ever... and perhaps even more beautiful. Her young man, the almost legendary Kira Yamato, looked thin and pale however. The strain of the climatic battle at Jachin Due had almost broken his will to live, and he was evidently not yet fully recovered. That was not good.
Last into the room were a man Dullindal knew well and a woman he did not. These two were not a couple, however, instead the survivors of two romances that had been broken by the war. Andrew Waltfield had been ZAFT's best ground forces commander until he was defeated and his lover killed by the then inexperienced Kira Yamato. Murrue Ramius, for her part, had risen from obscurity to inherit the command of the Earth Alliance's famous Archangel... and lost her own lover when conscience drove them to battle against the Archangel's sistership the Dominion that had fallen under the command of a genocidal madman.
"Why have you invited us here?" Cagalli broke the silence once they were all seated on the white couches that dominated one wing of the dimly lit office. "You must know that you made nothing clear except that you wanted a face to face meeting. Several of us endangered our lives by coming here."
Dullindal smiled. "To the point as ever, Princess," he noted, and smiled secretly to himself as her face reddened at the title she despised. "My apologies for the mysterious nature of the invitation, but what I am to tell you is the most guarded of secrets - one that I have shared only with only a few of the Supreme Council and the leaders of a few Earth nations."
"What could be that vital a secret?" Waltfield snorted. "Have you discovered a living space-whale or something?"
"Or something," Dullindal said quietly. "Something... to be more precise someone, that has given me cause to be perhaps a little paranoid about my electronic security." He lifted an old-fashioned plastic file from a side-table and retrieved a printed picture, passing it to Athrun. "What do you make of this, Mr. Zala?"
Athrun examined it and then shrugged. "Some sort of shuttle? I've not seen it before, but there are any number of designs..."
"It's a electronic warfare platform," Dullindal told him. "No, not something we've come up with, Ms. Athha. Nor is this an Earth design. A Junk Guild ship happened upon it adrift on the far side of the Moon. They were able to retrieve the crew before their life support gave out, and when the Guild heard their story they brought them to the PLANTs."
"So, if they aren't ZAFT... and aren't from Earth, then were do they come from?" Kira asked, showing the first sign of interest since he'd entered the room.
"They're from another star system," said Dullindal and waited for the room to explode with protests. He was pleased to discover that for the first time, an audience did not react with instant disbelief, although Ramius and Cagalli both looked as if they were waiting for the punchline to a particularly tasteless joke.
Lacus shook her head. "I don't understand," she said candidly. "You mean to say that this," she tapped the picture that Athrun had placed on the coffee table between the couches. "Is a starship? It's so small! And her crew are from another star system?"
"Somehow I don't think you're talking about bug-eyed monsters," Waltfield said drily. He picked up the picture to look at for himself. "The fittings look like they're designed for humans."
"They are indeed humans," Dullindal agreed, "Which has placed the biologists into quite a panic, I must say. However, they are adamant that they originate from - well, they call their home the Twelve Colonies and their particular planet is called Caprica. Our linguists have spent almost as much time deciphering their language over the last month as our engineers have in repairing their ship."
"Colonies?"
"Yes, which raises several interesting questions, doesn't it?" the Chairman said with a hint of irony to that particular bit of understatement. "All of which are beside the point for the moment however. You see, these particular individuals are scouts for a convoy of refugees. Their homeworlds have been attacked - the word destroyed has been used, although I'm not sure how to interpret that at this point, by a force they call 'Cylons'. A large number of civilians, almost fifty thousand in fact, are headed this way and the Cylons are close on their heels."
There was a stunned silence. "I can see why you want to keep this a secret... for now," Murrue said at last. "But why tell us? With the exception of Cagalli, none of us are in a position to do anything about this."
"I'd like to change that," Dullindal said, avoiding a direct answer. "But there are a few things I would like to tell you before I come to that. Everything in its place, so to speak." Receiving nods to continue, he did so.
"A week ago, we finally managed to finish repairs to their ship and two of the three crew departed for their mothership. The third remained behind to continue helping us work on understanding their language. We've come a long way on that front and I'd have to say that there have been some interesting technical developments as well. I'd brought the leader of the Oceania Union in on the story by then - with all due respect to Orb, Oceania has been our closest ally on Earth for sometime now - and we have been able to bring the Kingdom of Scandinavia, the African Community and the Equatorial Union in on the secret in the last few days. Three days ago, two vessels of the same kind arrived, carrying a diplomatic party, albeit a rather small one. Their ambassador has requested sanctuary on behalf of their remaining government and population in the convoy and warned us that in all probability the Cylons will target us regardless of our stance."
"Do you believe that?" Cagalli snorted. "Of course they're going to demonise their enemies!"
"I believe that they believe that, Ms. Athha. They could, of course, be quite mistaken. That is why this is being dealt with as a matter of the greatest delicacy. For obvious reasons, our allies have agreed that someone needs to visit this convoy to verify their story as far as we are able. We will also need time to prepare in the event that the Cylons are everything that they are painted as."
"You're talking about rearming," Cagalli snorted.
"It is hardly a secret that all signatories of the Junis Treaty have been upgrading their forces to replace their older equipment," Dullindal said. "The older equipment is usually scrapped, of course. This has allowed ZAFT to be substantially reduced in size without compromising our security. But if we are faced by an attack that can, literally or figuratively, destroy planets then we must consider this a threat on the order of GENESIS."
Athrun flinched. The GENESIS superweapon had been used to destroy entire fleets attacking the PLANTs... and on the orders of Athrun's own father, had with one shot depopulated almost a third of the Moon. Only it's destruction and his own death had prevented Patrick Zala from turning it on the Earth and wiping out inconceivable numbers of the human race.
"But..." Cagalli protested.
"Obviously the next step has to bring in the old Earth Alliance nations," Dullindal said, "And I intend to do so. But someone has to judge the nature of our prospective guests... and it has to be someone neutral that we all know will not play favorites. I believe that the veterans of the Three-Ships-Alliance would be the best choices."
There was another silence and then Murrue shrugged. "What do you have in mind?" she asked.
The Plant's scientists had naturally been interested in the hyperdrive of the colonial vessel and had constructed several duplicates, including a scaled up model that the Colonials had indicated should be powerful enough to move a full-size vessel. With this fitted to a ZAFT vessel, the Earth party would be able to travel to the refugee convoy without being left dependent upon the Colonials for their return.
Dullindal's plan had been to fit the drive to ZAFT's newest battleship, the Minerva, but it was Lacus to nixed that plan.
"If we go aboard a ZAFT vessel, then we shall be considered to be a ZAFT group," she explained. "Instead, let us mount the drive aboard one of our own ships."
"What ship do you have in mind?" the Chairman asked, more curious than offended.
She simply smiled and answered sweetly, "I think that the Eternal would appear the least threatening, Mr Dullindal."
Practically everyone in the room choked. The Eternal wasn't all that threatening in appearance, but it had been designed to support the two most powerful mobile suits in the Bloody Valentine War.
"I believe that with two mobile suits aboard, we can be reasonably secure," Lacus continued, blithely. "Without appearing to be unnecessarily cautious."
The question of what those suits would be hung in the air of the office. Given the identity of the two pilots in the room, it was not a question, the Chairman realised, that he really wanted to voice. No small number of battles in the war had been skewed by the intervention of one or both of them. If the Colonials were to try anything hostile then they would be playing with fire.
"Well, I suppose that if I'm asking you to be our emissaries then I can hardly second-guess you before you've so much as left my office," he said finally. "One of the Colonial military officers will be going back with you as a liason."
What with one thing and another it was another week before the Eternal was ready to depart. The ship had been anchored within Artemis, an abandoned Eurasian military outpost that had been abandoned during the Bloody Valentine War. It brought back memories to Murrue and Kira, who had both been aboard the station when ZAFT attacked, having to fight their way out with the Archangel and the old Strike. With prompting from Lacus, Kira told Athrun about and how Athrun's friend Nicol had singlehandedly opened Artemis' supposed invulnerable defenses to the ZAFT forces. In return, Athrun shared his memories of Nicol, whose death over the Pacific had almost caused a permanent risk between he and Kira.
The station itself, dug into an asteroid like most major orbital military bases, didn't make much of an impression on the Colonial officer who would be acting as their liason. The only thing that seemed to surprise him about the arrangement was the colour of the Eternity, although no one was quite sure why. His name was Lee Adama but his exact position in the Colonial Military wasn't something that anyone had worked out yet. Of course, since he was being kept away from most of the military equipment, such as the two mobile suits, he'd had to keep pretty much to himself - everyone else was busy getting that military equipment ready to go.
It was early on the seventh day since he'd come aboard that Andrew Waltfield knocked on the door of the quarters he'd been assigned. Unlike the confined quarters of a warship, Artemis was large enough for large and comfortable rooms and until it was time for Eternal to depart there was no point being uncomfortable. "Good morning," the scarfaced man said in greeting. "Ready to go home?"
Lee looked at him for a moment and then held up his dufflebag to indicate that he was all packed. "Home's been gone for almost three years now," he said somewhat grimly as he followed Andrew out of the room.
Andrew shook his head. "Home is where the heart is," he said sagely. "You always have one somewhere - sometimes it just takes a while to find it."
"Have you ever had your home destroyed?" the Colonial snorted. "There isn't much left to find."
Andrew looked at him and then shook his head. "Are you familiar with what we mean by 'nuclear weapons'?" he asked.
Lee thought about that. "No," he said. "No one's used that one yet."
"Well I don't plan to explain it in a corridor," Andrew said. "But the last time I was aboard the Eternal we were defending my home from being destroyed. We succeeded, but I could not go home. So I made a new home on Earth. Now everything changes, so who knows where I will call home tomorrow?"
"You say destroyed," Lee asked carefully. "How do you mean... destroyed?"
Andrew used the hand that wasn't holding his cane to gesture explosively. "Boom!" he said loudly. "Like that."
"Perhaps I do know what 'nuclear weapons' means," he said at last. "If so, then I... I apologise for my rudeness."
"That's alright, boy," Andrew said as he opened the hatch to the Eternal's airlock. "Just watch it around some of the crew. We didn't save everybody's home."
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

I was cleaning up my screenshots and found some good ones. Thought I'd share.
Everyone has to take the train sometime
My favorite Minuet picture
Minuet and her Shivan Shard
Watch my back -QB Kitsune and Windy Day
I love this one. Vigdis Brightblade, Fae Wree Tail and Sir-Vile.
Fae learns the difference between Light and Dark
This SG base is spectacular. They must have a huge base plot.
Arcane Style Base on Champion - WOW
The perfect couple
Maid Obselete
I managed to get this shot just as Min leveled. :-)
Min hits 48
Odd bit of symmetry

Natalie
Bond. James Bond. - Whether as some wierd manipulation of quantum mechanics and probability, sheer dumb luck, or just her karma in life, Natalie seems to have been cast as an Action Hero Superspy. Not that she knows that.
Okay, I know what these are, but how did they get on my chest? - She's one of the seventeen tied claimants for the title of 'first biomod, ever'.
A cool thing is even cooler if it's useful, too. - As a direct consequence of the above, she was also one of the first fen to reach orbit, and the first to think to take NASA instruments and scientists along on the ride.
'All these worlds are yours...' - First person to set foot on Europa.

So, I had Evangelia wandering around Striga trying to get rid of some old backlogged missions that are really for L27-29 toons. I'm figuring, hey, she's L33, she finishes the one that's outstanding, and the contact will go, "duuude, you're like way too high for my stuff. Go talk to $RANDOM_NEW_CONTACT in $RANDOM_ZONE."
No such luck.
Next thing I know, Eva's been charged to take down Burkholter and his Erector set.
So, anyone want to go whack an Archvillain and his toy robot?
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

The scene at the Philadelphia Navy Yard was it's own usual brand of highly-organized chaos. On the dock next to SSN 2161-X, a tall, balding, somewhat sardonic man in the khaki uniform and dolphins of a US Navy sub commander stood next to a shorter man in pristine Navy dress whites and the insignia of an admiral. The crew of the sub was busily engaged in re-painting the hull; strangely, a large logo was being roughed out on both sides of the boat's sail above her hull number and the rest of the hull was being painted bright silver, instead of low-visibility grey. Civilian representatives of the Electric Boat Company and Grumman Aerospace were also visible, installing some kind of equipment in clusters around the bow and stern of the large Seawolf-class nuclear attack boat. Odd protrustions spotted the hull here and there, and what looked like fairings for huge jet engines were mounted low on the hull. There was also a mini-sub similar to the NR-1 nuclear rescue vehicle docked over her aft escape hatch.
They both watched the bustle of activity in companionable silence. The taller man finally spoke to the admiral. "So we're still go for launch on Sunday, sir?"
"Yes. The Navy still hasn't changed its mind, and I don't think they're going to at this late date. We need a presence out there too badly to turn back at this point. The modifications are done, we've culled the right crewmen from all over the sub service. I think we're ready, what's your assessment?"
The tall man looked pensive. The faint strains of some kind of music were briefly heard over a lull in the usual background noise, and the boat seemed to quiver momentarily. "I've been reading my XO's reports almost hourly, sir. I think we'll make launch without problems. I'm more afraid of interference from the rest of the brass when they get wind of this. We may be a black project, but we're not *that* black, if you catch my drift. We could still get out asses kicked."
The admiral snorted. "Let 'em try. Personally, I'm going to fight for this project tooth and nail; it's my last chance to poke a sharp stick in Admiral Graham's eye before I retire. Besides, if we're ever going to get a handle on the situation in the Solar System, we've got to get out there where we can *do* something."
A willowy blonde woman walked down the gangplank and up to the two men, saluted and then held out a clipboard. "Supplies are all loaded, sir," she said to her captain.
"Admiral, I don't know if you've ever met my exec, Lieutenant Emily Lake?"
"A pleasure, Lieutenant." He turned back to the commander. "I've got to fly out to New York tonight, but I'll try to be back for the launch. Good luck and Godspeed to you and the Stingray, Commander Dodge."
He turned and saluted the Admiral; as he did, the ship's patch on his shoulder came into view; a stingray, in a sailor's hat and chomping a cigar, with a skull-and-crossbones flying from its erect tail. "Thank you, Admiral Winslow."
The noise cleared enough to finally recognize the background music being played over large loudspeakers: the Village People's "In the Navy"...

As the title suggests. Does anyone have a trial code? For Heroes or Villains.
See, I've got a friend who's interested in trying the game. Like, really interested. He was basically going all little cartoon hearts over my shoulder as I did a sales pitch earlier tonight.
Heck, I think he's downloading the game client now, actually...
I thought I still had at least one valid code saved somewhere, but I can't find the thing.
...if you do, send me a private message on the boards, or email me: acyl84 (at) gmail.com
Much appreciated. o_o;
-- Acyl

Some things that've been going through my head for a while, in the background. I figure I'm sufficiently doped on flu medicine to put 'em into words.
The fandom is El-Hazard. The OVA, not the crappy TV series.
Okay, so ...
idea 1) - Makoto spends a lot of his time researching, trying to find a way to control the Eye of God and the Key Staff and get Ifurita back. What if he didn't limit himself to just going through the Royal Library of Florestica? What if he decided to take a page out of Fujisawa's playbook and, after a few weeks of research, packed up some notes for further perusal and went vamoos, searching for possible solutions in a vaguely Indiana Jones sort of manner? Basically, trying to find some alternative to using the Eye's effect, or more direct information on how to use it better rather than old tales from the Library.
He periodically returns to Florestica to pick up more notes and hints to other possible sites of OldTech.
A week or so before Fujisawa's wedding disaster, he finds something. And, in the usual bumbling manner of the male lead in a harem or semi-harem show, gets some more trouble out of the deal.
Ayup, he wakes up Kalia.
idea 2) - okay, so he's finally managed to make it. He's back on Earth, Master of the Power Key Staff, and all that jazz, reunited with his Lost Love. Ahem.
Only things aren't nearly as simple. See, Roshtaria and surrounding countries move forward, and as the Bugrom aren't really much more than an annoyance, and haven't been since The Eye went Berserk at the end of the first OVA series, the inevitable follows. It's merely political unrest, at first, but there is pressure brought on the Royal House to provide stability.
The first step towards that being at least trying to ensure that Roshtaria has some chance at continuing the Royal Line. Unfortunately, with Fatora being how she is, they can't exactly count on her. And Rune is suddenly up to her ears in suitors, while still not wholly recovered from the whole Gallus thing (impressions are misleading).
You see where I'm going with this, no?
So, in an effort to give her some breathing room, Londs concocts a plan and runs it past her. She hesitantly agrees. They then run it past Makoto. Who is very tempted to run screaming.
After all, who better to ensure prosperity to the country and the Alliance (such as it is nowadays) than the Sage of El-Hazard, whose wisdom and skill prevented the whole world's annihilation and tamed a Demon God? Besides, he's about as apolitical as they come, so he's just about the only candidate the other Alliance nations can agree with, other than the ones they put forward themselves.
It certainly doesn't help matters for the poor guy that Rune _is_ beautiful, smart, understanding ...
... and she doesn't seem to mind very much either, before 'not minding' turns into genuine, if subtle, enthusiasm.
Oy.
Does he manage to recover Ifurita before the wedding? If so, what then?
Or does it happen just after? How would that work out?
And yes, I'm angling for a Ifurita/Makoto/Rune polygon here. Hell, if you find a way to throw Nanami and Shayla in there for good measure, I'll sing you praises.
idea 3) the most open-ended one. The backlash from Ifurita using the Eye of God to skip worlds and even time itself wasn't quite as ... contained ... as it would have been otherwise.
The energies lashed out through the only other outlet, other than the Eye and her, available.
Meaning the Power Key Staff.
With ends up with Makoto being forced to go on his _own_ Odyssey ... but where'd he get stuck all of a sudden? And ... err ... okay, _why_ are there two preteen girls with staff weapons flying through the sky over there and slinging energy blasts at one-another ...
... more importantly, why the hell is the Staff suddenly speaking to him and calling him the Goshujin-sama in Ifurita's voice?
Well, on the flip side, once he's settled in and dealt with all the inevitable cases of mistaken identities as well as other fallout, the Time Space Administration Bureau turns out to be just the place to get some headway on dimensional travel.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

Morgan and Bella walked into the Legendary base together. Several members wondered privately if Bella was upset, as she was talking rapidly in Spanish. No, that couldnt be it, when Bella was upset things tended to catch fire or explode. Or both. The two had just returned from a trip to Spain together, and from the postcards they had sent to the base, it sounded like theyd had a wonderful time. They had come to the base to drop off souvenirs they had picked up for members of the SG. There were cheers in greeting as the couple entered and Bellas apparent anger subsided as greetings and gifts were exchanged.
So, tell us all about your trip. Space Mage asked as they all sat down in the lounge to hear the tale. Her eyes glowed in excitement and you just knew she was eager to hear all the details.
Morgan cleared his throat and glanced at Bella quickly before starting. She didnt even look at him. It was fantastic. Madrid is a fabulous city. Bella let me play tourist and we went to all the museums and churches. And the food! Morgan rolled his eyes and issued a groan. The food was fabulous.
The retelling of the sights and sounds and tastes of Spain took a good deal of time as more members entered the room and salutations and gifts were exchanged.
Someone asked the inevitable question, Did you see a bullfight?
This was where the room went quiet as Morgan glanced quickly at Bella, Yes. was all he said.
That got all the younger members excited and they began asking questions. Was it gross, did the bull really die, did the bullfighter. As the questions were asked no one seemed to notice Bella try and slip away, except Morgan, who answered the questions and then tried to turn the focus of the conversation. It didnt work, they were too eager.
This was the point were Bella began to laugh quietly to herself. She went briefly to a computer terminal, pulled up a website, printed off a document and went back to join the group. Just let them read about the bullfight for themselves Morgan. She handed the paper to Space Mage.
AP, Madrid. A new style of bullfighting has been shown to the people of Madrid today. American hero Morgan Mac Hine entered the ring to face off . She stopped talking out loud, and her moth hung open as she continued to read in silence. She turned to Morgan. You knocked out the bull with a kick to the head?
The group around Morgan stared at him incredulously. Morgan squirmed in his seat a moment. Well, yeah. See they gave me this estoque, its a sword. And youre supposed to stab the bull. He got up and went through the motions. But see, I never trained in sword forms and when theres a 1200 pound angry animal running towards you, well, instinct took over. He bent down and whispered to the group, Bella was very supportive about the whole thing and offered to burn anyone who disputed the fight.
Bella was laughing. You did well Morgan, I was very proud of you. You earned your traje de luces. The group stared at Morgan, their mouths hanging open. With a put upon sigh he activated his costume crystal. Black leather shoes, tight black pants, a Mac Hine green shirt and the traje de luces, coat of lights.

Morgan COL
Ok, there's a story behind this story. I was watching Strictly Ballroom this morning, and if you haven't seen it, shame on you, it's a fabulous movie. Anyway, the main character, Scott, is loaned a Coat of Lights by the heroine, Fran's, father. For those of you who don't know, a Coat of Lights is worn by bullfighters, it's all sequiny and glowy. So I started wongering...gee, Bella likes Bullfighting, to impress her, Morgan would get in the ring, and then in my head I saw him do that Eagle's Claw move - where he jumps, gets the guy in the head and back flips out - on a bull. I hurt myself trying not to laugh too loud so as not to wake up The Rev. It's too bad COH costumes don't have a lot of texture. Oh well. It'll have to do.....for now :-)

I posted a variation of this elsewhere and this is rather embarrassing to ask but I was wondering if anyone here could give me any advice on how to start the beginning of a story. I've got a number of various ideas floating around in my head that I'd like to write but I can't ever figure out how to actually start the beginning of the story itself and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on how to do so.
Dwarven Vow #16: You can do anything if you try! We're dead anyway if we fail.
-Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)