Big day, big problems, who's in?

Sam walked up to the podium in the ampitheatere style room intended to be able to actually accommodate far more then what the human race currently had. He already had the announcement prepared and frankly, it was not very good news for the humans considering this was their last safe haven from the rest of the galaxy who apparently still had a few grudges left over from the Evoknight war. In the upper balcony, there was a Guardian team guarding an observer from SIUNE that was sent to observe how the humans would handle it. There was also a counter-sniper hidden somewhere but that was simply for his safety, he didn't honestly fear anything, the humans weren't expecting anything bad yet.

Etrius sat next to his fellow SIUNE graduate. Being a human, he couldn't help feeling a little angst towards SIUNE for threatening to withdraw their support, after all, that was the only reason why ONA was obligated to support the station. The entire station was costing O'Neil Armories well over several million, the number had reached a whopping 321.4 million sampi so far and it was ever growing and all the while, they weren't getting any research from the station, so the number was piling up. Sam looked fidgety, as if he wanted to get the announcement over with and done. Taking away his species last home must be difficult so he had managed to convince SIUNE if they could get research data out of this investment or if the species was showing signs of regrowing.

Jeez, subject them to tests, force them to contribute DNA so as to make new kids or take away the station. Well, the announcement was already made over the intercom by Joy that there was a meeting and it was non-negotiable. The reaction to Lenina's disapearing had gone well, most had been indifferent due to not having known her very well, even during the short time he had worked under her, even Sam had not known her well. Actually, her personal add ons had racked up about 20 million of the total debt. Sam cleared his throat talked into the microphone, the intercom projecting his own voice to the emphisize the earlier announcement. "All humans report to the ampitheatere. Repeat, all humans report to the ampitheatere. An important announcement will be made that concerns all inhabitants of the station. Attendance is non negotiable."

Jairus walked himself into the amphitheater in a careful pace, just like he always had. It was nice that Lenina had vanished. It sounded bad to say, especially with the numbers of the human race, but the feeling was undeniable. No more constant marching, and now he had a lot more influence on his paycheck.

He assumed his position on the podium, behind and to the right of Sam O'Neil, just standing in the background with arms folded behind his back and hat tilted slightly to the left. Jairus thought about what Sam was going to do, because there hadn't been any discussions about anything for the past few days. He had always thought the human was a little different from the others. He wasn't more special; he was just more strange. He waited patiently for the humans to assemble, which sometimes took a ridiculously long time.

Non negotiable, eh? This sounded important. Dori rushed to the amphitheater with a lackadaisical expression. Her bland uniform-like outfit clashed with her piercingly bright eyes and hair. It was dissonance and she loved it.

It looked like she was the first person here, besides Mr. Serious and this other guy she hadn't seen before. Dori didn't actually know/care enough to remember Mr. Serious' real name, but she had seen him around since she first boarded the station a few months ago. He always looked like her made-up name described him. Serious. Dori positioned herself directly front and center of the podium and stared up at Sam and Jairus with unnaturally bright eyes.

How interesting isn't it, as he would be writing things down. There seemed to be a problem, and it seemed like it was important. He noticed the people who were there were part of the SIUNE faction. His info on the group was important, and they were working with the ONA on a project. Then again he didn't know about what, so he would use his mind powers to investigate the matter.

He would start texting his group, as they seem to be doing fine. His leave for the time being was not effecting his revnue flow. Of course the HTU was still trying to takeover his markets. Which has led to a small war, but nothing too major so far. He wondered if he could offer his services but first he would have to approach them later on.

Urget and manditory meetings always have to deal with bad news. Bittersweetly, though, bad news brightens up those streches of boring days. Cheryl scratched the back of her neck as she strolled into the overly large and hardly occupied room. Talk about a killjoy atmosphere. Must be about the not-so-secret financial issues. Seriously, they may have survived so much crap but they're still gossipy teenagers. Bored and stir crazy--in some cases just plain crazy--teenagers.

A meeting. Ugh. Cezar entered unenthused. Whatever Sam or Nathan or whatever his name was was saying, Mr. Jones wasn't listening. He didn't even know this place was called an ampithearter! And attendence non-negotiable? By who? What were they going to do? Drag him out here? Please. They were lucky he even entertained the thought of being here. Cezar figured he would find out the dire consequences soon enough. Out of everyone there, he knew for a fact that Xeda was not in attendance and neither was the Ronny kid. They had the right idea. Why was he even here?

Since they'd arrived on the station two years ago, they had been in peace. True, there may have been some glitches here or there, but for the most part they were perfectly fine. No alarm calls, no evacuations, no nothing and without the urgency Sam's voice this seemed like it would turn out to be something unexciting like a change in lunch menu.

Cezar leaned on the back wall, left leg crossed over his right and both hands in both pockets. He had no problem seeing from the back and probably never would. His height helped him stop the block from heads before and since before he'd grown about two inches. The change was miniscule from the rest of his appearence of shorter hair and facial stubble. The thing that definitely hadn't changed was his style of dress which was still as high standard as it had always been.

Lazy green eyes went around the room and landed on person after person, noting the changes that had been apparent for what seemed like forever. Suzie stood toward the front, the very front almost, eager as usual for more information. She had grown a little taller and a little fuller with age. Her blonde hair had lengthened from her shoulders and was now extending towards her middle. With more hair came more experiments. She had spared them all this month from the colors she would add into the strands every now and again--today the fabulously pure blonde was tied into a french braid. Adolecense had blessed her with a pretty face and glowing skin--so far--and if she were any appreciative, she'd keep it that way.

Thomas stood behind her, his side to her back, eyes glued to a handheld game he'd acquired a month or two ago. His fingers moved swiftly over the buttons and his eyes darted at whatever was going by the screen. He stood slouched and iinto the game instead of up straight, making him look as tall as his sister. Thomas's hair had become darker, turning into a dirtier blonde. It still grew in curl, but now it extended farther into his face, resting over his eyebrows and shading his eyes from the game's artificial light. Unlike Suzie, his cheeks were speckled red from acne. Thomas didn't seem to mind or notice the problem, taking it with a shrug and figuring it'd go away eventually. The only plight it brought was from his sister constantly trying to apply makeup to his cheeks, despite all protest. She'd left him alone, however, today. Briefly the teen lifted his head from his game and if he'd heard something and scanned the room with his eyes. He turned his head this way and that and with a sideways expression and a shrug, he bent his head back down into the game. It was possible that he was looking quickly and in a non-thorough way for Dostaria; one of the few people whom he'd hang around without the game in hand.

Cezar sighed boredly and let his eyes look straight ahead. This meeting already felt like it was taking too long to start and end.

Sam waited till everyone stopped filing into the place then cleared his throat. "Well, hello everyone, I have some news that you all might find very . . . entertaining, I should say." He looked at the sheet in front of him. It wasn't actually a speech prepared there, just a page of facts, facts that spelled doom for the station if the kids were unwilling to cooperate. "As you know, this station was built on money laundered from the now defunct UWUC and is now run, funded, and maintained by O'Neil Armories. Unfortunately, this station is a massive power crisis just waiting to happen." A holomatter projection erupted from the podium, forming into a model of a freighter docking at the station.

"We have tried to cut costs in order to keep the station running and save fuel for quite some time. Some of the facilities that you don't use have been turned off, weapons are pretty much sitting there and if you did not notice, the shield is down. That's because we are slowly loosing the support of SIUNE, the Scientific Institute of the University of New Exford." The hologram zoomed in until the freighter and station were a blur, then reformed into an atom, two protons, a neutron and two electrons were shown zipping around it. "This is the element Helium three, it is what powers the station which we need to supply with fourty thousand tons per year. Right now, we can provide this at the cost of fourteen million Sampi per load in the current situation." The hologram changed to a picture of that same freighter landing on an undesignated platform and canisters of He-3 being loaded onto it.

"Unfortunately, that's bargain prices brought about by the fact that SIUNE is supporting the station but it's support is slowly wavering. It will drop out completely if the university does not gain any research from doing so and that will be bad." The holomatter projection shifted to a changing bar chart. Two prices fluctuated but one was always significantly higher then the other.

"To let you understand what that would mean: The station's current debt is 321.4 million Sampi, without SIUNE support, the price of Helium-3 would rise to about three hundred million per kiloton. If my attempts are successful, you guys would be able to stay on the station with the bare necessities: Lunches that taste like cardboard, recycled water, and no entertainment facilities other then the ones you are willing to run yourselves. The fuel would trickle in by just enough to keep the station from falling apart. Unfortunately, if I fail, the station will be sold to the highest bidder and you guys will be moved to different housing. It would be sort of like Cooperio island except about 0.3% nicer and without the evoknights to bust open the jail."

He paused a bit to let that sink in and took the time to hand a fact sheet to Jarius. The sheet showed the anual station debt and how much they were currently spending. The shortened version of the report read "You owe a crapload of money!"

"Now, What SIUNE really wants is to experiment on you, find out how you got your powers and what causes them. They are unable to do so on live sentient subjects without subject consent. They will not accept anything other then your complete cooperation, I am testing their patience already so I don't know how much time I can buy you guys."

He silently cursed Lenina for being so stupid with everything. Integrated generators that only ran on Helium-3? The only feisable solution to the problem would be fission generators but a bunch of environmentalists had found out about the Uranium trading and Exford had clamped down on that. Hydrogen generators could be installed, maybe, but that would take at least a year, something they did not have, not counting the work slowdown that lack of support would cause.

"On the other hand, if you guys wish to cooperate, the research would bring in money and bring down the station's debt, allowing us to reopen some facilities like say . . . the swimming pool. So, do any of you have questions? The reason why I said attendance was non-negotiable is because those who are not here don't have any say in what happens to you guys from this point."

Jairus took the report in one hand but only looked at it for a few seconds before he grabbed Sam by the shoulder with the other hand and pulled him back far enough for the mic to not pick up his sharp tone. "What the hell, Samuel? I refuse to allow the humans to be tested on. I'm their guardian you fool, and there is an infinite number of things that can go wrong in a laboratory like that!" Jesus! Samuel best not become another Lenina, who basically strived to destroy the last of her race.

"I don't care if SIUNE stops sponsoring us! If they do, squander some money out of RAVEN and other corporations. I've heard you have good relations with them. Hell, squander some money out of the Fandors. I don't care how you get the money. But there is absolutely no way I can allow these children to be experimented on." He looked at the audience. The horribly small audience that could easily diminish into nothing with one tiny mistake... although it was clear many of the humans weren't here. The group looked tinier than it really was because many of the humans neglected showing up at all. There wasn't snickering, so Kenji wasn't there, and there wasn't any smoke, so Fenn wasn't there, and there wasn't a black guy, so Lucas wasn't there, and there weren't any Legos, so he assumed Thomas wasn't there. He looked at Dori, and how she was staring up at them all creepily, and quickly averted his eyes back at Sam. Buncha weirdos.

Dori continued staring, noticing how he quickly Jairus looked away from her. She blinked. Since the time skip has totally happened in this thread and Kiwi didn't know it in her first post, she will (throughout the post you are currently reading) point out some of the changes that have occurred in her characters!

Dori processed what was being said. The station needed money, eh? Hm. It would be easy to make money off of her fellow humans' powers. Dostaria could make nearly limitless energy, so Dori assumed. An ability like that was definitely nothing to scoff at. Kenji could harness energy and use it for whatever he could possibly want to, and Cezar was like some sort of mini-Jesus with his power to make nothing out of thin air. Continuing on that train of thought, she wondered why he couldn't just poof them up some money. Dori folded her arms across her chest. Two years hadn't really done much to her. She was taller, sure; she was also fuller figured too. Her hair remained the same, toxic green and bobbed short like it had been since she was a little girl.

Dostaria rushed in quetly and sublty as she could, her waist length blue hair swirling behind her. Taking her place by Thomas, she muttered an apology to no one in particular. She whispered a quick greeting to him and glanced down at the game in his hands. She just heard the last part of Jairus' speech and was able to infer that the Station was having financial difficulties. It was good that Jairus wasn't going to let them be tested on, there's no way in Hell she would ever consent. In fact, she would fight to prevent being tested on. It had already happened once, and didn't need to again. Besides the probable cruelty they'd face at the hands of whatever slimy hands they were thrown into, Dostaria didn't want to chum around with aliens, even if they were kind. She looked over Thomas' shoulder as he played, still paying attention to Jairus and Samuel in case they had anything more to day. Her eyes had grown darker and her shape more womanly. She had grown past wearing frilly dresses everywhere she went, instead she wore the standard Station Two uniform.

ooc: Blarrrrk didn'tfeellikedoingeveryoneelse

A lanky figure rose from the chair, coming to tower threateningly over the other audience members. In two long, yet short in some otherworldly sense, years she had grown to a great womanly size.

PFFT! As if! Cheryl had grown to be a whopping 4'11.5"--and that's on a bad hair day. Her stature was about as intimidating as a flower. And not one of those tall ones like a sunflower, either. The only thing remotely scary was this pissed off look she was giving Sam and even that was like a hissing kitten. The only thing that seemed to have grown on her were her boobies, and even though they still weren't that big she should be a bit top heavy. She suffered from a serious case of noassatall.

"So let me get this straight," she began in a bossy tone, cold eyes narrowing at the latest person who had gotten on her list. "Either we be experimented on like lab rats or we become prisoners for a loan we didn't sign to? I could understand a place for us to live, but it'd practically be just like Cooperio Island. Which I recall was a prison. Everyone's treating us like merchandise they can toss around on a whim. We've hardly had anything to say in our own fate. The few times we can we get to pick between a rock and a hard place."

Okay... Honestly? Wasn't there a planet right under them? It was impossible not to see it. There didn't seem to be a reason why the couldn't just live there. Cezar wasn't sure if Sam was stupid or if the whole planet was filled with land mines. Probably stupid, especially for even thinking anyone would voluntarily let themselves be used by science....

Cezar observed, not being the one to actually talk to people. He didn't like others enough to try and discuss. He just knew if they were going to start using themselves as black market novelty, he was out.

Thomas lifted his head at Dostaria's approach and smiled at her in a very welcoming way. Noticing her attention towards his game he put it on pause and offered her (probably the only one with the luxury) a chance at his handheld entertainment. He had no idea what they were actually talking about. He had no idea what the meeting was even about! He'd only come because Suzie had made him come and (in a very teenaged fashion) purposely made himself not listen. Now with his distraction out of the way momentarily, he was curious. Jairus, the pale military guy had Sam by the arm, saying something that Thomas didn't catch. He tried to remember what had been said, but the only thing that came to his mind was a funny quip by his technology-based friend. He laughed to himself, remembering. His thoughts probably would have expanded if Suzie didn't suddenly speak up with the rest of everyone.

"When you say experiment... You... You mean like f-frogs and stuff?" Suzie had her hand raised like a good little student, looking worried about the whole thought of it. She didn't want to be dissected like one of those nasty amphibians. They deserved it for being so squishy, but she on the other hand... All of them. None of them were squishy! She didn't want to turn into a science experiment. Taken into some birghtly lit room so shadowed people can stab at her. It reminded her of the Evoknights two years gone, and, consequently, Carter.

Neon would just stare at everyone who seemed to with it, or think this was a bad idea. He would simply just can't stand this problems, as this was just like the gertragia issue all over again. He would simply just get off the wall, and quickly looked at Cheryl, as she would stand up for people. Of course the other humans can stand up, or just sit down and take the problem. He would roll his eyes at the SIUNE group, as he would expect them to say something stupidly smart.

So he would just stand up like a normal guy, walk over to where Cheryl was speaking and decided to help her out for now. " You must have some guts to stand up to people like them, I like your style and I'm willing to help " He spoke to her in her mind, as he would pat the girl on the head. He turned his gaze back to the group, that stated that they wanted to pull the plug.

" Honestly this seems like a great idea, if your looking to get killed in the name of science " He spoke out to the large crowd of humans, as he would state in a truthful matter. " Now I'm with this women here, about the current arrangements. That Damned leader or whatever the hell she was had done this to us. Tell me are you making us suffer, and kill off the remaining of our race. Not to be rude, but I think this violates are laws. Maybe we would be better off, creating a colony on a livable planet " He stated in a calm, and judging tone wanting to protect the last of his kind.

He would not stand down easily, even if they decided to massacre them all. It would be a bloody shame, and things would turn to the worst. He only had his personal battleship in the station hanger, but most of his Faction were spread out throughout the galaxy. As he would grab his communication device, he started to text Neilson for some help in the law department. He once said that he studied in that region before becoming a scientist for his faction. Two years with the bastard, and he still considered him one of his best officers and friend.

The message unfortunately, did not go through, it went to the communicator that Neilson had accidentally left in the washer that morning and had been left drying under a sun lamp in his lab. However, the message was automatically carbon copied to the Xti's personal AI that was running some systems scans at the time. The message popped up and after considering it for a while, sent back "Yo boss man, what's up now?"

Sam looked away from Jarius and at everyone and let them speak before speaking again. He pointed at Suzie in order to address her comment which seemed to alarm everyone. "No! I would not be exempt from this either, and I have the very same problems with being dissected as you do. Just simple medical procedures so they get how the human body works, scans, blood tests, that stuff. Some people of interest though, might be put through stress tests and demonstrate their powers."

"I'm fighting against inter-planetary governments to get some Helium-3 mining stations up on this system's Jovian moon. The shutdown isn't going to be complete and we would still need to go through legal procedures stretching towards the later end of 3 years, and besides," He pointed at the floor to indicate the planet. "You do not want to live on Gert right now, scans are detecting enough landmines, sea mines, bombs, unexploded ordinance, dud ammunition, IEDs, Chemical weapons and radiation to blow the hell out of NORAD, let alone a walking human. Plus, all the wild animals, poisonous bugs, Hunter Union soldiers, pissed off Rebels and what else may lurk in the dark would force ya'll to start doing some . . . chores around the place."

He pried Jarius's hands from his shirt and patted the frustrated leader's head. "Besides, they already plan on studying my implants so any surgery is going to be done on me." He winced at the thought, it would play hell with his doing anything physical till they were done sampling his Genome and cells. This is what came out of beating the SIUNE headmaster at that Star-trooper Wars XII game, Jeez.

"So, none of the tests will put anyone other then me at personal risk. The main reason is to get data about the human race and find out how we work but the second boils down to our supernatural powers. They want to know what is making the powers work so they can put it to use." He returned to the podium. "So, any more question so far?"

Jairus blocked Sam's hand from patting his head. He would never stoop to the level of letting a human pet him like he was a Dormio... Not to mention he was several inches taller than O'Neil was. DISS-REE-SPECT-FULL!

Well, he was screwed. Honestly, he thought he could keep the humans free from danger for much longer than the two years that had flown by in what felt like a matter of minutes. He had a pretty good rep among the humans, or at least he thought so. He was pretty lenient about things that didn't involve leaving Station 2. But he knew enough about politics to know common people would blame him for this crap. It was always the current leader's fault. He'd probably go down in history as a shit leader. "Samuel O'Neil, if the slightest thing goes wrong, it's on you. Any setbacks in the humans' recovery is unacceptable... You screw up and I'll pull the plug." Jairus stepped back and looked at the humans again with a clear frown on his face. There was nothing more he could do.

Eva zipped into the auditorium at accelerated speed and took a seat a couple rows away from the podium. Then she smoothed her blonde hair out and stopped tinkering with time itself and began listening to the important dudes up on the stage. Jesus Christ, she must've missed a lot, 'cause everyone looked like somebody had just dropped a bombshell. She quickly grabbed her phone out of her pocket and texted Dori. 'came in late wtf r they talkng abt? ' She bess' be havin' her phone...

Dostaria smirked, "You know I'd just make you lose," she whispered as she pushed the game back at him. Video games were not her area of specialty. She'd tried a couple times and failed on both occasions. Greatly. Dostaria was content to look over Thomas' shoulder, watching as his fingers swept over the buttons with a kind of understanding that she herself did not possess. She wasn't sure where her technological inexpertise came from, but she had to guess that it was because of her childhood, which was almost totally devoid of technology. She thought back to it for a moment. Exploring the castle, wandering the peaty, mossy grounds. Ah. She missed nature.

Suzie's remark interrupted her from her thoughts. Like... frogs? Dostaria had been a frog before, a very valuable frog indeed back on Weavon. Never again, she thought. Aliens were mostly the same. They may say that they'd be humane with their testing, but what reason would something so very un-human have any reason to be humane? Humans were the only one who had any semblance to the word's definition in their language. She frowned up at Jairus and cleared her throat. "Isn't there any other way to make money? Some of us can produce nearly limitless energy out of thin air, isn't that worth something?

Dori put her hand on her back pocket, where her phone was vibrating. Who would be talking to her at a time like this? One eyebrow raised, she slowly lifted the phone out and poked a button, causing it to change from a translucent white to an ever shifting blackish-purple. Dori poked a few buttons, causing Eva's message to pop up on the screen. "Um," Dori said to herself quietly. The text-talk perplexed her for a few moments before she finally understood the message. She brought up a blank message and deftly tapped in a response on the touch-screen keyboard. 'The station is losing money We might have to be tested on to save it'. Done, sent, message saved in outbox.