Look Out, They've Got A PLAN!

It seems our lives just keep getting more and more complicated. I'm not completely sure just what all this Quest business with the newly-arrived elves is going to entail, but it looks like there'll be no rest for the weary once we're finally done sorting out the current mess here. Ah, well, such is the life of a Champion, I suppose!

Well, one thing at a time... We make our way back to the console room, where a strategy planning session appears to already be underway. Somehow, this makes me mildly nervous... I know how the Farscape characters' plans tend to go, and I know how our Torg characters' plans have tended to go, and based on those track records, I'm not completely sure I want to be part of any plans involving both of them! On the other hand, though, we Champions have mostly seemed to do pretty well in that regard, depsite the tendency of unforeseen complications to pop up on a semi-regular basis, so maybe I should just relax.

At any rate, the new arrivals appear to have gotten past the point of marvelling at the fact that the TARDIS is bigger inside than outside and of expressing their suspicion and disbelief at how we know so much about them and about what's going on, and seem to be listening attentively as Inquirer outlines the plan. (Well, all except my alter ego, Professor Bernard, who is clearly much more interested in examining the TARDIS console than in paying attention to Inquirer. The Doctor stands hovering at his elbow and several times has to prevent him from touching things.)

"OK, then," Inquirer is saying. "The way I see it, there are three things we need to accomplish. First of all, we have to take care of the Pharoh."

"That's not going to be easy," says Ragan. "Without his Darkness Device, he's vulnerable, yeah, but he's still incredibly smart and very powerful."

"That's OK," Inquirer responds with a grin. "So are we! I'm planning on leading that group, myself. Next, the second thing is that we have to stop this sun device from launching."

"More than that," the Professor interrupts. "We must destroy it! A mechanism that evil should not be allowed to continue to exist."

"Agreed," says Inquirer. "I figured that'd be your job. Yours and the Doctor's."

"There's a lot of explosive power in that thing," I add, remembering how things went in the original gaming session. "If you launch it first and then blow it up from, say, a hundred feet up, it should take out most of the compound... Which would be a really good thing, actually, considering the stuff that goes on here."

"Ooh, are you gonna make explosives?" asks Ace, her eyes shining with anticipation. "Can I help?"

Inquirer looks at the Doctor, who shrugs and says, "I don't see why not."

"All right, then," says Inquirer. "Now, that brings me to the third thing we need to accomplish. The Pharoh has a lot of slave labor working here, and when that device explodes, it's not going to distinguish between bad guys and slaves. Somebody's going to have to liberate these people from the slave pens, the dungeon, and the harem chamber."

Stark's the one who brightens at that (well, no, not literally!), and while he doesn't exactly wave his hand in the air shouting "Ooh, pick me! Pick me!", that's pretty much the general effect. Not too surprising, really: as an escaped slave himself, Stark has a strong interest in helping to liberate others not so fortunate.

Inquirer smiles at him, "OK, calm down. You're in. Now--"

"Uh, not to be critical of your great plan or anything, babe," pipes up Nebbs, the disheveled-looking psionic from the PC group, "but have you actually given any thought to, oh, how we're going to get out in one piece when this sun pops off and reduces the whole place to rubble?"

"Glad you asked, Major. And the answer is--" She swings her arm around to point at Caleb, the PC party's mage, who up 'til now has simply been standing there quietly sipping a glass of something unidentified.

"Me?!" he squeaks.

"You're going to dig a tunnel. You're an earth-mage, right? Digging's your specialty?" He nods. She pulls a piece of paper out of her pocket, scribbles something on it, and gives it to him. "These are the coordinates where we'll meet up, a safe distance out in the desert."

She looks over at the Professor, who is peering over Caleb's shoulder. "Does that look like it's far enough out?" she asks. He mutters some equations under his breath for a moment and nods.

"Great," she says. "So, here's how it's all going to come together. The Doctor and the Prof build the explosive device, materialize the TARDIS inside the sun to plant it, launch the sun, set it to go off, and dematerialize to meet us at those coordinates."

"Just be sure and give the rest of us time to get what we need to done and get out!" growls D'Argo.

"Of course," says the Doc. The Professor simply looks insulted and makes a "harrumph" noise.

"Meanwhile," she continues, "while one group grabs the Pharoh and another frees the slaves, a third will be working on creating a distraction. Nothing too fancy, just cause as much mayhem and confusion as you possibly can!"

"No problem," mutters Talok, the PC's lizard-man, "That's what we're best at."

"And then we'll all escape through this tunnel he's going to dig," says Chiana, sounding dubious.

"Yep," says Inquirer cheerfully. "That's the plan!"

"Right," says Ace, equally cheerfully. "What could go wrong!"

Almost everyone in the room groans at her, and it's on that note that we break up the meeting and start working on putting words into action.

1. The group that goes off to free the slaves...
2. The group that goes off to bag Mobius...

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree