[OOC][PLOT] Planning for Arc 2 - Crisis on Infinite Earths

[robkelk]

These are the voyages of ... which USS Enterprise, again?

As long as I was at it, I put some Arc 4 material in there. ("Space, the final frontier, quotes Misaka-captain. These are the voyages of the Voyager, Misaka-captain says being dekkai redundant. Its ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds as they appear in the Metacontinuity, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and to go boldly where no clone has gone before, Misaka-captain says refusing to split the infinitive." Hey, Rob, Mii, and Ami can't crew a ship all on their own... )

(And we might want to move posts 43 through this one to the "planning for arc 1" thread.)

[Black Aeronaut]

Moved here because this is Mid-Season 2 material at the very least!

[robkelk]

Thanks, BA. And part of what's on that wiki page is season 4.

[robkelk]

Further thought tells me that Starfleet isn't about to give up the Voyager, at least not until they reverse-engineer the slipstream drive and all that Borg tech that's aboard. So, no "voyages of the Voyager" line in Rei Misaka's opening narration. I've updated the wiki page with a more modest proposal for my self-insert after Arc 4.

---

Back to Arc 2. For your consideration:

"Report!"

"Systems are coming back online now, sir." The emergency klaxons stopped sounding as the lights came back on.

"Life support is functioning normally."

"No pressure losses being reported anywhere, Commander."

"Exterior cameras are functional. Commander... you need to see this."

The main screen lit up, showing a view of Earth.

"We're home... We're home!"

"Commander, incoming transmission."

"Route it to my desk. This is Commander John Koenig, commanding Moonbase Alpha, receiving your signal."

"Hello Commander. This is Ami Mizuno of the Crystal Millennium. Welcome to the Metacontinuity. You may find that you're not on the Moon that you were on a few minutes ago. We would be happy to explain further in person; may we send a diplomatic delegation to you, or would you prefer to send a delegation to us?"

Sandra motioned to Commander Koenig, who muted the channel. "I'm not receiving any telemetry from the hazardous waste depots, Commander."

"That would support Miss Mizuno's claim, Commander," Carter offered.

"Unless she's responsible for blocking those communications, Alan. Do you feel up to a trip?"

"Eagle 1 should already be on the pad," he replied as he headed for the door out of Main Mission.

Koenig unmuted the communications channel. "We'll come to you. Where are you?"

"We're currently in Lunar orbit, investigating a magnetic anomaly in the Tycho Basin. We'll guide your Eagle in."

[Black Aeronaut]

<Picard>"Make it so, Number One."</Picard>

[Labster]

If you're still looking for crew for Enterprises, you could consider The Orville.  Or heck, just bring the Orville in as a Federation ship, as it's so similar in tone and design to Trek stuff that they probably would barely notice the difference.  I mean, look at the list of episode directors, lots of familiar names there.

[robkelk]

That snippet, plus some more text and a very rough story outline, is now on the wiki for writers and Bob to poke holes in.

[Labster]

There's a minor note there about maybe throwing Kaorin in there into a spaceship, which is based on a comment I made to Rob last night.  Kaorin was in the astronomy club during high school -- in fact, she was the only one of the Azumanga cast not in the "Go Home" club.  (@other fanfic writers: this is evidence they all have stable home lives and families, as is their relative level of happyness)  If Osaka's head was in the clouds, Kaorin's was in the stars, gazing at what she could not touch.

I'm not sure in canon how much they actually studied stars or (extrapolation:) just sat around and had tea.   On vacation, Tomo asked Kaorin to point out Aquarius.  She couldn't do it and looked confused, even though it was August so Aquarius would definitely be in the sky.  From this, it's easy to infer that Tomo has a January/February birthday, though I don't know anyone else's.  It's possible that Tomo was trying to troll Kaorin for being gay via inference to Ganymede, but probably not -- she probably would have only thought of it if she actually understood what Akio Ohtori was saying back when she watched Utena.

Anyway, I think Kaorin would make an excellent navigator and spaceship officer once she actually learns to believe in herself.  Which is where I'm going, I just need to plot a course to get there.  At the current part of Arc 1, she's the only person in my house who is angsty.  If I end up adding Ai yori Aoshi, then that's a whole 'nother matter.

[Rajvik]

Ask her if she wants to go to Florida, we have a space ship crew that will take her up and teach her to EVA

[robkelk]

I see what you did there...

[robkelk]

Changed the snippet slightly, after noticing on Memory Alpha that there's a canon Starfleet science ship that has a crew of 5 and can hold 80 people. So, yeah - fewer background characters and more room for spotlight characters whether they're Federation or not. (And does it still qualify as a snippet?)

[Labster]

I'm reminded of a comment SI Gryphon made about how Starfleet designed ugly ships.  I wonder why why starships even need that much staff, anyway?  I guess they need people to keep all the Jeffries tubes clean?

[Rajvik]

Alright, little reality kicked in here. Military ships are hideously overstaffed for a specific reason, they might end up in combat where the bodies are needed for damage control and to repel boarders. Remember that even the exploratory ships of the Star Trek universe are still in essence military ships and can expect to end up in combat at any given time, thus the same rules apply

[Black Aeronaut]

Ask her if she wants to go to Florida, we have a space ship crew that will take her up and teach her to EVA

I see what you did there...

Took me a moment to figure out what was going on there, and then I snorted. 

Changed the snippet slightly, after noticing on Memory Alpha that there's a canon Starfleet science ship that has a crew of 5 and can hold 80 people. So, yeah - fewer background characters and more room for spotlight characters whether they're Federation or not. (And does it still qualify as a snippet?)

Crew of five to reliably fly her. The other 75 people are scientists and maintenance techs.

I'm reminded of a comment SI Gryphon made about how Starfleet designed ugly ships.  I wonder why why starships even need that much staff, anyway?  I guess they need people to keep all the Jeffries tubes clean?

In regards to the Galaxy-class's bulbous looks, this had to do with the shape of the hull helping to more efficiently form the ship's warp field.  Ever noticed those displays that look like a magnetic field with the Enterprise in the middle?  That's a warp field diagram.  Notice how the saucer section fits so nicely into the forward half of the field?  Yep.  There you go.

As for the large crew... more than half the people in a Galaxy-class starship are science personel, with about another third of them being engineers and technicians to keep that big girl ship-shape.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Galaxy-class is designed for five-year long cruises in completely uncharted territory.  What Voyager went through?  That was something more for what they had in mind with a Galaxy-class.  And for what they are?  Galaxy-class starships are a bit on the overpowered side.  In their heyday they were among the fastest ships in Starfleet.

Also note that during the Dominion War, most Galaxy-class starships you see are actually mostly empty hulls.  They were bumrushing them through production, and, in the process, cutting out a lot of the science labs and living accommodations normally found on their regular production sister-ships.  These were straight up warships they were churning out because the Galaxy-class, as I mentioned, was overpowered by regular Starfleet standards.  As a result, these warship-Galaxies had far fewer crew, as the massive living accomodations were mainly for the science personnel.  Engineering crew were also cut down to what was barely needed to get by, and a lot of them were barely more than just damage controlmen.

Alright, little reality kicked in here. Military ships are hideously overstaffed for a specific reason, they might end up in combat where the bodies are needed for damage control and to repel boarders. Remember that even the exploratory ships of the Star Trek universe are still in essence military ships and can expect to end up in combat at any given time, thus the same rules apply

Er, not really?  My experience in the Navy is that you have a man on board for every station that needs to be manned when the ship goes to General Quarters.  This includes the Repair Lockers (stations on the ship that act as hubs for damage control, with DC Central actually being what you may think of as 'Main Engineering' in Star Trek).

You have stations that are manned in the CIC (Combat Information Center, which is the analogue to Enterprise's Battle Bridge), Pilot House (Bridge), CIWS (Close In Weapon System - the 'goalie' if you will...), five inch gun (loader crew in the magazine, gun captain, gun operator, and at least two additional repair techs in case of a weapon system casualty), Harpoon Missile Control...  and so one and so forth.  Seriously, everyone's got a place when the ship goes to GQ.

In Star Trek this is a little different.  At least after Kirk's time, anyhow.

During Kirk's time they had recently concluded a war with the Klingons that climaxed at the battle of Axanar.  And the big game changer was the Constitution-class Heavy Cruisers.  Yes.  That's right.  The Connies are thoroughbred warships, and once they hit the scene just after the Battle of Axanar (which was where they were being developed and why the Klingons wanted to hit that system) the Klingon's knew they were beat.  The Connie and her sisters were there to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and the Federation was all out of bubblegum.  And all this before the Klingons could get their new Heavy Cruiser onto the field - the D7 - which would need another few weeks or so.  Which was time they no longer had - with the Connies out in the field, the Federation had the power to turn the tide of the war and were able to force the Klingons into negotiations.

Following that was a literally a Cold War with the Klingons, with both sides waiting for the other to twitch the wrong way.  The Klingons now had their D7's out in the field, so most Connie's maintained much of their firepower, with the science labs added in almost more as an afterthought.  There was space allocated for them, but as mentioned before, they're thoroughbred warships.  And the Federation made damn sure the Klingons knew where they stood by keeping regular patrols of the neutral zone going with the new Constitution-Class as the mainstay for those patrols.  Science and exploration may have been what the Federation was all about, but the wounds from the war were still very fresh.

Fast forward - post Battle of Khitomer era, where in a cowardly Romulan attack on the Klingons, Federation ships came to their aid and, in doing so, ushered in a new era of respect and mutual prosperity between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.  With the Klingons now staunch allies and the Romulan Star Empire having retreated behind their borders and putting up their own 'iron curtain', the Federation felt free to finally relax and turn their attention more towards exploration.

And thus began development of the Galaxy-class - a ship far bigger than anything they'd built yet - even bigger than the venerable workhorse that was the Excelsior-class (part of that is because the spaceframe is so sturdy - it was originally engineered to be the Federation's first Transwarp ship, but since that never worked out... at least they got a good ship class out of it).

The massive crew accommodations are largely due to the ship being able to house a massive number of scientists.  And not only them, but their families as well!  Because of the long-term missions for the Galaxy-class ships, they were among the first Federation vessels built to have families with children on board.  Which means they were also built with an eye towards their population growing a bit along the way.  (Not a whole lot, mind.  But with a crew of over 1,000 and maybe half of them being married and some possibly getting married along the way... yeah, you're gonna have some babies.)

What this means for the Galaxy-class is that when they go to Red Alert, the 'civilian' crew all evacuate to secure shelters - most of them in the saucer section since that's where most of the living quarters are.  This also makes civilian evacuation go a bit faster if they decide for a saucer separation if the risk factor is considered too great and they have the time to prepare.  Which is really a two-way migration.  Most of the command staff and non-science crew move to the stardrive section while the science personnel and civilians move to the saucer section.  Also note that saucer separation is a feature in all Starfleet ships built on the same platform as the Constitution-class, but this was a permanent evacuation and involved a series of exploding bolts to separate the two structures.  It was never an option to make the two sections dockable to each other until the Galaxy-Class.

And so that's why Federation starships carry far more people than they actually need for ship's crew.

[Labster]

I'm just making a note here that I'm going reserve Senki Zesshou Symphogear for a bit of story -- primarily for the villains.  It's not that the heroines are bad in that story or anything (though a couple of them are annoying) -- it's just that my characters have more than enough power to take on this particular world domination plot.

[robkelk]

Folks with wiki access are invited to comment on this page; BlackAeronaut especially so.

[Black Aeronaut]

Commented in the talk section.

[robkelk]

Why not give somebody a possibly-happy ending? But in order to do that, we'll need to give her a beginning.

[Labster]

Kuroko certainly loves Mikoto. But I feel like Kuroko's attraction to her onee-sama comes from three things: Mikoto's self-confident attitude is kakkoii, her desire to have status by associating with a level 5, and lots of hormones. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if she's descended from Ryo Saeba.

[Black Aeronaut]

So, I pitched this to Rob and he thinks it's great, so here it is...

...Thanks to an oddly fun bit of inspiration.

This started off with me working out a bit where the elder Takamachis are watching Fate and Nanoha interacting with Ben (lotsa Awwwww!) and they can pretty much see what's coming.  Momoko is of the mind that if it -does- come to it, and it -does- make Nanoha happy, they will bring Benjamin back with them when things get ostensibly fixed...  Though she checks with Washu-chan about the idea of de-aging Ben to avoid complications.  (Of course, this idea goes down the drain once it comes out that no one is going back.)

And then I realized Ben's got a wish he hasn't used just yet.

It's a bit selfish, but in a ways it's okay, because it removes one of the major hurdles.

He wishes to be made ten years old again so he can 'grow up' alongside the others.

Ben:  "...Wow, I feel SO much lighter!" *Turns into a dark blur as he starts zooming around the yard*  "WOOOOH-HOOOOO I'MMM BACK BABY!"
Ben: *Starts running in circles around Sailor Saturn - you can practically hear the sound of a big-block V-8 revving.*
Ben: *Suddenly stops and does his best Jim Carrey impression*  "SOMEbody STOP ME!   ...No, really, someone stop me here."
Sailor Saturn: *Cheerfully*  "Okay~!"
Sailor Saturn: *Thonks Ben on the back of his head with the flat of Silence Glaive*
Ben: *rubbing his head*  "Thanks."
Sailor Saturn:  *Gives him a little peck on the cheek*  "You are funny and I love you."
Kyoko:  "Oh... My... God...  He's...  He's..."
Madoka: "A child?~"
Kyoko: "YES!!!" O_o
Mami: "He's adorable!~"
Sayaka: "He's a sparring partner!"
Ruby: "YES!" *High-fives Sayaka.*
Homura: "This is a problem."
Madoka: "This is a solution."  *Leans over and whispers something in Homura's ear*
Homura: *Goes bright red and you can hear a kettle whistling*
Nanoha: "Wow.  He might actually be faster than you, Fate-chan."
Fate: "...I am somehow just fine with this."
Weiss: "Why?"
Fate: "...He is small and cute now.  He will be lean and rakish soon.  And later he will be muscled and magnificent."
Weiss: *Slowly turns red.*  "oh...  Ohhh...  CAMERA!!! SOMEONE GET ME A CAMERA!!!"
Ruby: "Why?"
Weiss: "We must track his development!  And since we already know what the end result is, we can start drawing Punnett Squares!"
Sayaka: "...Isn't it a bit early for that sort of thing?"
Kyoko: "Let alone a bit obsessive, much?"
Weiss: "It's never too early to start family planning!  Especially if we're to avoid the mistakes of our parents!  I won't be caught unprepared!"
Kyoko: "... I guess she has a point.  And now that he's this young..."
Ben: *To Hotaru* "I should run now, yes?"
Hotaru: *With an evil little grin*  "You can try~, but that just means you'll already be tired when it's time for snu-snu."
Ben:  "But don't girls love to chase the boy they like?"
Hotaru: *Bats her eyes oh-so-innocently(yearight)* "Whatever made you think otherwise?"
Ben: "Gotcha."  *KA-PWING!*

Downside: he can't drive his cars, though not like it will matter much in Season 2.  Upshot: he won't have to wait long - I was a lanky critter by the time I was twelve, with legs that were just all out of proportion to the rest of me.

So, whatcha think?  Too crazy?  Too daring?

Sure, why not? (And I wasted my wish on "truesight" glasses... for everybody in the apartment, though. )

Peorth's going to make sure Ben really wants to do this, and will help with the wording so that there aren't any hidden traps. Divine wishes are good that way. And, since it's Peorth (who has a stronger libido than Belldandy), she's going to make sure Ben's physically okay no matter what.

It'll change the group dynamics quite a bit.

Oh boy, will it ever.  But the hell of it is that for those wild, manic swings, there were equally opposite swings.  But from my own experience, those can be guided into intensively introspective thought sessions that border on being meditative exercises.  It just takes some love and an appropriately "OOH SHINY!" idea tossed his way.  With all the girls around him, coming up with something constructive to distract him shouldn't be too much trouble, and the sense of accomplishment from pursuing these ideas until they net results will be helpful to both everyone around Ben, and Ben himself.

Of course, it will also help that he can get 'lovey dovey' with everyone and people not in the know wouldn't bat an eyelash... except that he's a kid in the middle of what is really just a harem.

Another thing is for sure, he will be putting his rejuvenated 10-year-old brain to work, learning the maths and sciences he's always wanted to learn.  The hard part will be keeping the knowledge fresh and useful, as the only thing that will do it is by making sure he puts EVERYTHING he learns to practical use on a regular basis.

Last, but not least, since this is a group that's heavy on the combat oriented types, people are gonna be thrown by the fact that it's being led by this kid.  And they will be playing right into Ben's hands as he does as Sun Tzu teaches: "To defeat your enemy, you must pretend inferiority, and encourage your enemies arrogance."

[Labster]

O dear lawd.

Ben, I think your wish came up a little short.

Last, but not least, since this is a group that's heavy on the combat oriented types, people are gonna be thrown by the fact that it's being led by this kid.

Unless they'd like, read Negima or UQ Holder. The two options for most likely for a preteen in a magical combat zone are ( escort mission || hostage ), or that child is seriously dangerous. Or have you all not played in an RPG where a nine year old miko kept you trapped inside a barrier atop Fuji-san while youkai tried to kill you and damage your spaceship?

The third most likely, of course, is "Don't mind me, I'm just filming this battle for my collection." :3

Yeah, this idea is pretty great. I'm just jealous of those managers who deserve wishes.

[Black Aeronaut]

I thought the wishes were part of the standard compensation package?

EDIT: Also, while I was aware of Negima, I wasn't aware of the other two.... Gonna have to check that stuff out.

[robkelk]

Note that my SI blew his wish - in order to make sure one of the displacees in his apartment wouldn't lose her wish. Everything else he's received has been through other channels. (And the one time he could have justified receiving a second wish as payment for saving the universe, he got a geas instead.)

Wishes can be overrated.

[Black Aeronaut]

Depends on the wish.  "Can be" indeed.

For Ben, it's not really a second shot at childhood - for that he needs to have 'parents' be involved, but with him retaining all his prior knowledge, parents are superfluous.  However, it's a solid shot at correcting his physical, mental, and educational development.  He'll be taller than I am because he's definitely going to be eating better.

A word on his nutrition...

Nutrition was always an issue for me because I was never getting enough.  Ironic that when I was little my maternal grandparents were worried I'd become a chubby kid because of how, even at the age of three, I completely cleaned my plate.  EVERY.  DAMN.  TIME.

In case you don't know small children, this is a VERY unusual anomaly.  Kids between the ages of 3 and 5 will typically get most of their nutrition by snacking throughout the day and then have small meals.  I snacked a lot... and devoured meals that a kid twice my age would eat.  My metabolism was that freakish - and perfectly matched to my hyperactivity coupled with a brain that was constantly in overdrive.

And then I got brothers who were just as hungry and a father who was stingy.  It got so bad that kids would make fun of me because I would completely destroy my school lunches before most were even halfway done with theirs.  I was never once able to fully satisfy my appetite until I joined the Navy.  During recruit training, the only limit on food was however much we could eat in the time allotted, and I could already eat ridiculously fast.  I wound up putting on 20lbs in boot camp.  Most people wind up either losing weight, or not changing much at all as they trade fat for muscle.

I was scrawny at just at 120lbs at 5'8", which is a BMI of 18.2.  You're officially underweight at 18.5 or less, and overweight at 25 (my BMI after recruit training was 21.3).

As for parental units...  An interesting quandary.  Well, as Garrick told Boddole Zer, in a human being's second decade, a parent's role in a child's life tends to shift from active care to guidance and support.  

Regarding Parental Relations...

Ben's own parents presents a bit of a quandary in and of itself.  His father won't care much either way.  "It doesn't concern me," he'd say, and go his own way, not paying any mind and concerning himself only with his own affairs.

Ben's mother, on the other hand....  She's going to be pissed for a while.  She has a very low opinion of the idea of a man having more than one woman (she has her reasons for which we'll not go into detail).  Eventually, though, she'll get tag-teamed by Ruby, Fate, and Madoka, and she comes to accept that this somehow works.  While everyone isn't always happy 100% of the time, there's still happiness enough to make getting through the rough parts worth it.

Ben's mother will mentor the more artistically inclined of the girls, be their interests in painting, photography, music, literature, or even gardening (especially gardening).  But once children are on the way... well, she's been known to live up to the phrase "Grandma is the name, and spoiling is my game!"

The only other known parental units are the Takamachis, the Kanames, Taiyang Xiao Long, and Lindy Harlaown.  They would certainly all play active roles, especially after the Takamachis and Taiyang give the Kanames the primer for dealing with combat-ready teens.  Qrow would most certainly help out, but I don't know about Raven.  It would be interesting if Ben or one of the others did something that convinced her otherwise.

The Takamachis will take on a role as the odd family's silent sentinels.  While they will still have their regular business, they will keep a somewhat passive eye out for trouble, and caution Ben and the others where they see it's needed.  Benjamin, knowing how good they are, would take their word seriously - something they appreciate.  In other matters... they'll open the family's sword discipline to those in the group that wish to learn.

The Kaname family will simply be family to the rest of them.  While Madoka's father will mentor others, her mother will particularly like Kyoko as she seems to have the right mindset to become a corporate shark.  (dunn-DUNN-dunn-DUNN-dunn-DUNN...)

Taiyang would definitely be Ben's mentor.  He would love younger-Ben's spunk and ready-willing-able attitude, even though he can be daunted by the scope of some tasks.  He especially loves Ben's willingness to meet his enemies head-on and be willing to teach Ben some of his tricks.

Raven... will be slow to come around on the idea.  She'll think Benjamin is utterly insane for standing up to the likes of the Incubators and Salem... but as the saying goes, it's not bragging if you can back it up.  And being a living M/AM weapon system tends to let a person back up a whole lot of bragging.  But what really catches her attention about Ben, personally, is that he hardly ever stops smiling, much like Taiyang.  And while her daughter isn't one of Ben's ladies (Not with Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong in the picture), she is definitely caught in orbit around him.  The tempting call of 'Family' starts to drag her in until one day she sees Ben get serious.

She quickly has a change of heart and starts the rocky road of getting to know her daughter and the truly absurd 'Family' that's sprung up around her.  Strangely enough, she finds herself getting along well with Ben's mother - who, surprisingly enough, has a mild anarchistic streak in her (Green Anarchy - She likes to live off the grid) and was the black sheep of her own family.  (Just like Ben, further supporting his assertion that he's pretty much a gender-flipped clone of his mother.)

Jacques Schnee will actively detest Benjamin, thinking him nothing more than a jumped-up commoner.  He would pay no heed at all to the fact that Benjamin is a fighter that can legitimately take on the entire Alteasian Air Fleet and is being adopted by the Masaki-clan of Jurai.

However, in the midst of Jacques posturing, he'll lose the support of his butler, Klein Sieben, stating, "For being such a carnal young man, the boy is far more of a gentleman than you could ever be.  He actually treats those young ladies as people."  He will then tender his resignation and then go to work for Benjamin where he will be quite happy under a young fellow who is so earnestly diligent.

Winter will be appalled at first, even as Ben launches an all-out charm offensive at her.  It isn't until she drills him on hypothetical situations that she changes her mind about him.  From there, she simply asks Weiss if she is sure that this is what she wants, and she convinces Winter that it is so.  From that point, Winter assumes a position as their educator in military tactics, stratagem, and history.

Whitby is a different matter.  He'd hold Benjamin and Weiss in contempt, but carefully not let it show.  He thinks his father is a fool for openly disparaging them, as it drives a wedge between the SDC and potential political connections and starts working his schemes to supplant his father as soon as possible.

Lindy would kinda sit there and blink for a moment...  And then suddenly go SQUEEEEEEEE! once she realizes how many grandchildren she's gonna get out of the deal.  (Even if most of them are not going to be through Fate, she won't care.  BABIES dagnabsit!  BABIES!)  Seriously, Lindy feels like she's going to be the most Girlie Girl out of them all and go above-and-beyond to be on good terms with the rest of the parents.  Yes, even Raven, which is going to weird her the fuck out.

I am uncertain as to the existence of the parents of Sayaka Miki and Akemi Homura.  Homura, I strongly suspect, is an orphan, though Sayaka is likely not.  If anyone knows otherwise, please say so.

So, educational setting...

I'm imagining that they set up a special school - something like a crazy mish-mash of Mahora Academy and the huntsman academies of Remnant - a full-blown 'elevator school' that teaches not only academics, but combat as well.  And we don't just mean one-on-one combat.  We're also talking about strategy and tactics whether it's a small squad or entire armies.  This place is for frontline fighters as well as future officers.  And because it's being taught at all levels, this gives it an advantage over military academies in that more leisurely or vocational pursuits can be taught as well.  It would produce warriors, soldiers, and officers that are much more well-rounded and capable.

It can be set in the old base-housing complex of what used to be Kelly Air Force Base.  I actually used to live there when I was a kid, and now...  Yeesh.  Place is like a ghost town.  But it has more than enough nice little townhouse units for it to become a boarding school to rival Mahora.

(I remember this place pretty well as I had a 'pet spider' there - a large orb weaver spider that lived outside my bedroom window where she remained undisturbed as my room was on the second floor.  My mom seemed oddly fond of it, but then, she was the type of girl to go turning over rocks in the winter time to look for hibernating scorpions.)

Think Optimus Prime would like to be the headmaster?  Hell, you can stick all of the Autobots out here - this used to be one of the USAF's biggest bases!

Anyhow, Ben's primary pursuits will be, of course, mathematics and engineering, maybe a little side-trip into chaos theory.  The Punisher could be his big college project - to prove that a combat capable spacecraft can be built and operate entirely on analogue controls.  Conservative technology FTW, yo. 

I'll have to do a bit more research to figure out where everyone else's fields of study are going to be.  I suspect that Homura's might be something like temporal mechanics so she can get a better handle on how her time manipulation abilities work.

[robkelk]

Lindy

I keep forgetting that she's going to be in the setting... Hmmmmm...

I'll have to do a bit more research to figure out where everyone else's fields of study are going to be.  I suspect that Homura's might be something like temporal mechanics so she can get a better handle on how her time manipulation abilities work.

Private tutoring from Setsuna?