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[getoffmyearth]

Ok, so, now that we've stopped talking about crime and punishment and whether or not to establish Parliament or Congress or whatever's in vogue on Earth these days and settled in on Earth, I think it's time to bring up the elephant in the room. You know, that there's still a war thing going on, and all.

Now I don't know who's brought this stuff up before, and frankly I haven't heard a whole lot of talk about it since (possibly because everybody was getting worked up over the space base equivalent of teenagers stealing their parents' car, but we're past that, right?) So if I'm repeating something that's been said before, feel free to point it out and point me in the right direction.

Here are our big problems, as I see them:

- we are totally outgunned
- no seriously, we seem to be totally outgunned even with these nifty customizable weapons
- and outnumbered
- we're lacking the resources and infrastructure that could help us catch up
- they're on home turf
- we lack a sizable amount context, familiarity with terrain and history, and the sort of common purpose or experience you get by living on the same planet or in the same universe as someone, simply by being strangers

And I could waste a lot of time going on about how this whole situation we find ourselves in seems like the largest ad hoc plan pulled out of somebody's ass I have ever seen, but it's not going to do us any good right now. You can ask me for my notes on that later.

Now, fixing the past to save the future sounds like a really nice plan. Except I can tell you first hand that that's the sort of meddling that leaves you with giant rips in the fabric of space and time. I don't care if you're the "one who knows"; if we disturb too much and tear open the universe, we're going to have a lot bigger problems than United Earth. You don't want to know what's waiting on the other side. I didn't want to know, but I do, so I'm telling you: you don't want to know. We should keep this at the barest minimum possible. Or, since we're desperate, at least try not to set off cataclysmic events that make everything worse. And, look, trying to fix the past is just setting yourself up for heartbreak. We've got a lot of problems right here in the present.

So, here's what I've got:

- Anybody who's up for it who knows anything about engineering, once all the settling in is done, should get to cannibalizing whatever we can get our hands on and start at least trying to improve the technology we've got on hand. If you don't want to do weapons, at least we should get some kind of fortifications, transportation, defense systems. Try to raid the past as little as possible; everybody's seen Back to the Future, don't steal from terrorists unless you know it's not going to come back to bite you, etc.
- We're outnumbered, so if we're going to do anything, we're talking guerilla warfare. Cut off their supply lines- or, better yet, steal them for ourselves. Somehow we need to find people on the inside if we can. I don't know how to go about doing that, but a lot of you have been here a lot longer than me. Maybe you'll have some ideas.
- We should consider how to get some spies planted if we can't locate anyone already inside to be a mole.
- DEFINITELY SHUT DOWN THE CLONING. Ethical considerations aside, at least shut down their facilities as best as we can't so they can't make any more than they've already made.
- We need to know how far they've expanded. There's a base on the moon, and there's some indication that they've maybe left some watching devices out there. We need to know how far out they've gone and try to set up our own. Nobody needs any nasty surprises coming from space.
- It would be great if anybody with combat or fighting experience could get together and start working out teams, but I'm not going to push my luck here.

Obviously, this is volunteer-only. Forcing anybody who doesn't want to do it and doesn't want to be out there is going to hurt more than it helps. But I can't just sit here doing nothing, and anybody who wants to throw in, I'm more than glad to do whatever I can to help whatever else anybody wants to get off the ground too.

Oh, belated introduction, for those who don't know: I'm Peter Quill, the Star-Lord, leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy.





PRIVATE: Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Adam Warlock

So who's up for a trip to deep space? Or at least, deeper than the moon.

Comments

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[selfequipped]

I'm trying to put together a team that does missions, but we could gear our attention toward something more important, like the UE itself. I'm not a big fan of missing the big glaring "Ice Age" reference outside myself, and I'm wondering what you think about that.

Back home, we've got scientists who could solve that, but turns out they just aren't here.

So what do you think?

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[getoffmyearth]

I told you I had plans.

Anyway, I'm not saying ordinary missions aren't going to be important, because they are. But I think we also need to be thinking a lot bigger than we have been. We're at a disadvantage, but that's never stopped people before. Or thinking about better integrating the small stuff with a larger picture. Everybody's going to have to multi-task anyway. I'll work something out with you, if you want, I know you've got your own ideas.

So what I think about the Ice Age is- we should find a way to use it to our advantage, if we can. Right now I think we're worse off to weather it. But a small group of people can survive a lot better than a giant army out in the wilderness, if we could get them there. And it'll make it more difficult for them to move quickly and transport anything, hopefully. Is that the sort of thing you're looking for? Or should I pitch out other ideas.

prvivate | text

[gevurah]

Looking into some kind of bunker in case of emergencies down here.

Might be able to help with getting into UE.

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[getoffmyearth]

It would be good to get that up and running. Or some kind of base of operations. Or a series of them. I'd say this all has to be conducted anonymously as possible and piecemeal so the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing in case of capture, but I won't hold my breath for pulling that off. I did just paint a big glaring target on my back.

Yeah? Someone with espionage training, or a con artist?

[alittlesweptup]

Okay Starlord, calm down. I know you're new here, but let me tell you right now: rubbish like this? Is why Exsilium was nuked in the first place

Where you're from, messing about in time may do awful things. But we've been doing it for 2+ years now and that butterfly is long since stepped on. Anything we do in the present is going to arouse the suspicion of the UE and bring them down on us. Don't ruin the good thing we've got going now - ANONYMITY - by chucking rocks at a bloody dragon

[unmasking]

Not to point out the obvious, because you generally have some great ideas, even if you're kind of super ... angry ... about putting them out there. But hey, we've all got our styles.

But I think we've stepped in it already, so to speak. Anonymity isn't really going to change that.

Not getting to my point.

My point is, I'd like to hear what you think we should be doing. I'm not working with Big Peter at all, but a lot of his thoughts align with mine (except I'm not a big teamwork guy, it's a flaw, I'm not working on it). Sorry to step in Big Peter, but he's good at pointing out the holes in things. I've seen it before, and ... yeah, that's it!

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[shelkethetransparent]

I fail to see how altering the time line could result in tearing a hole in the universe. It is possible that we could change something that will result in significantly unplanned alterations, but destroying the universe by altering events on a single planet is exceedingly unlikely.

How would it even happen?

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[unmasking]

Hi, I'm Peter Parker. Not to be confused with Peter Quill. He's older, taller, probably has a better speaking voice.

[Get to the point, Peter.]

I personally can't scientifically prove the timeline thing, but I can guarantee that jumping hoops into any point in history, like any dimension, is eventually going to have catastrophic consequences. A scientist—who, while kind of evil it turns out, was well meaning at the time—ended up leaving a tracking device in another universe in order to keep tabs. That's basically the type of thing we're fighting against with the UE, but what got those people ticked off is because it was there. Period.

Even if we aren't tearing holes in the very fabric of reality (which I'm pretty sure we are, if I understand Richards' research—that's the scientist guy above, even if he wasn't dealing with time travel), we are being kind of careless. Considering.

[voice]

[highfrequency]

I don't think anyone here is unaware of this being asymmetric warfare. But, yeah, now that we're getting more settled in we should start working more on defenses and training again.

[voice]

[getoffmyearth]

I like to be thorough, so I can get away with hearing the sound of my own voice.

[He's joking, but he hasn't forgotten that Gamora called him an "arrogant blowhard" at any point.]

It should definitely be number one priority. I've designed security systems before- once- but without the resources already there and having to start from scratch...that's not my strong suit. But I know a guy who might have some ideas, and I'd be frankly glad to hear yours if you've got them.

text.

[unmasking]

I can help with building up stuff. I've decided that I might be better off doing that than not. [The real filler there is "it's better than running around as Spider-Man, as much as I hate it."]

But just as a tip, I don't think being flippant about what happened last month is a great idea. It's a terrible one. Can we avoid that? It's not exactly inspiring. You've got some good ideas here, but those problems have been going on for a while.

Charlie up there—he gave me some links. They're good to look at. Just keep it in mind.

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[getoffmyearth]

Sorry, Peter the teen wonder. Force of habit. All diplomacy from here on out.

It's your call what you want to focus on. There's no point forcing someone to do what they can't or don't feel comfortable doing. But now I really want to know: what the hell all did you do, back where you come from, that you not only know but seem to actually get this kind of thing? And more importantly- what else do you know? More of Sue's husband's stuff? I have no idea what the man got up to, apart from having a portal into the Negative Zone, but how he pulled off that would be a pretty nifty set of knowledge in and of itself to have. I wish Sue hadn't left, we could really use her right about now.

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[gunwings]

I also find this inactivity to contradict what was expected in a war, Peter Quill the Star-Lord, and would be glad to assist you in matters of combat.

My Primal Vanguard could occasionally adopt secondary forms based off local technology to better integrate in their peacekeeping missions.

This came useful in mounting ambushes, should they be necessary.

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[getoffmyearth]

This is the best news I have heard in

You know, I don't know, and I don't really want to think about how long because it's probably depressing. But you are officially my new best friend for the moment. And, uh, it's Peter OR Star-Lord, you don't have to include both.

How versatile are your potential secondary forms? Are you limited by size or by complexity in any way? Or, you know, what can you actually be? Sorry if that's an invasive question but these are desperate times.

[kyoumibukai]

I haven't seen Back to the Future. What happens with the terrorists?

At any rate, apparently this situation came from meddling in time in the first place. We should at least try to put it right. I arrived just in time to see the city seared off the face of the planet by nuclear fire, so we've at least gone some distance towards making that happen.

I think that we should run missions that will restore to us the things you rightly think we need to have in this situation: support infrastructure, weapons, and defenses.

However, I do agree that a guerrilla approach would be best.

[getoffmyearth]

I think it goes, the doctor steals from the terrorists, the terrorists come down to find him when he's about to test the time machine and try to kill him, and that ends up being one of the things they have to fix when the timeline starts changing? I have not seen the movie in a long time. We'll say that's what happens.

As nice as it would be to say that I've got a plan that would involve not going back in time at all, right now, I don't. Maybe I can come up with one; maybe we can dismantle the moonbase, although I'm not sure we should. When I come up with one, I will be shouting it from the rafters. But if we've got to do it- although Hawkeye's not wrong about fixing the winter- we've got to make it count as best as we can with as minimal damage as possible. If you have ideas on where you think it might be best to start, I'm taking suggestions.

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[furryflarkinfiend]

Whatever you need done, I'll do it, mate. Just point me in the right direction.

And as for your little field trip, count me in.

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[getoffmyearth]

Well since you were so kind as to point out all the flaws in my security system back in our insurgency days, I'm thinking it might be good if you had a hand in that kind of thing? I will defer to your superior skills and judgement in that regard.

But first we need to know what's going on in the rest of the universe, or get the best idea we can. I'm worried, Rocky, it's too quiet. It's not right. Especially for one thousand years into Earth's future. I mean, you weren't there, you didn't see all those possibilities we went through trying to get back, but Earth wasn't alone when it still existed.

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[lazyinlove]

it's the whole world. everyone besides the exsiles. you're not gonna be able to cut that off.

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[getoffmyearth]

When you've been in wars that span galaxies, "the whole world" doesn't seem so insurmountable. I've brought down an invading army hell-bent on assimilating every organic being they could get their hands on from the inside with an ad hoc team of five people. Believe me when I say, if it's just one planet, there is definitely a way. We just have to find it.

voice;

[undealt]

There are ways to get people on the inside to cooperate with minimal risk involved. And it takes away the need to send anyone to spy. I'd say it's the safest alternative.

[Gods, he can't believe he's suggesting this, but, hey, desperate times.]

voice;

[getoffmyearth]

[Ah, it's one of his sensible acquaintances. This whole thing is turning out way better than he expected.]

I'm guessing you're not talking about planting bugs on people.

[pride_of_amarcia]

I might be able to help with technological improvements. Gimme a specific tech and I can learn it and tweak it.

[getoffmyearth]

Well, that's cheering to hear. You don't have any kind of preference? Although right now getting ourselves some kind of defense infrastructure and other kind of facilities up and running will be more important than planning any sort of big weaponry right now. Unless you can build something from scraps in a cave.

voice;

[jailbreaks]

Can you explain that novel you wrote in a few sentences or less? 'Fraid my reading skills aren't up to par. [He knows it's important stuff that he wants to be involved in but damn his concentration and fuck if you think he's reading all that.]

voice;

[astion]

Do you need some help, Yuri?

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[gamora]

Where's my list of teleporters? If Cutter's going to complain about how no one's doing 'targeted strikes' I want to give him what he's asking for in a way that makes him look like an idiot. They can bring us back from the dead again - suicide runs just got a lot more practical.



And just let me know when.

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[getoffmyearth]

I suppose just not engaging with him is off the table for you?

Look, I can't make this thing any bigger than it already is, or nobody would read it at all. One step at a time, Gamora. Once I've got a better idea of where everything stands I'll get you what I can get you. I don't even know if there are any. Makes me miss Knowhere even more than usual.

[Having Knowhere would change everything.]

Soon. We'll go as far out as Adam can get us without stranding or killing ourselves. Hopefully nobody should be able to follow us that way.

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[cradlerobbed]

I can agree with most of this, and I'll help out in any way I can, but I think there might be a major flaw in your plan...

We definitely need to build up our defenses if we can, and using what resources we have isn't a bad idea if we keep to ourselves, but if we start cutting off their supply lines then we'll end up drawing attention to ourselves. I can see the guy that mentioned it to me already brought it up here, but he's right that we should lay low for awhile. Until we know we can properly defend ourselves it's probably not in our best interest to do anything that will give the UE any reason to come after us.

jacking this - voice;

[jailbreaks]

[Yuri's piecing things together from some of the replies because he can't concentrate on reading that huge novel, but this... this is what he can agree with.]

I agree with this, that's the last thing we want. Attacking them and cutting off their supplies now is a suicide mission until we know we can defend ourselves. I think we can say our lives are a priority. Until we can defend ourselves, let's not worry about anything else.

text;

[umadrobin]

Engineering, huh? I have an idea for a new fuel source, if you're up for playing with dangerous toys.

text;

[getoffmyearth]

I'm up for hearing any and all ideas right now, but "dangerous" is going to require some explanation. Do you mind elaborating on that?

[Text]

[angel_of_death]

I wonder whether the Underground is still intact beneath all the ice. It could be useful.

[Text]

[getoffmyearth]

If not, we could think about making it something to get excavated and repaired. Depending on the condition it's in, we could maybe get started right away. You know where it starts?

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[permit]

[ let it be one for the history books -- the day that one tl;dr king was clearly out tl;dr'ed. ]

I will spare you the hassle involved in pointing out the shortcomings of your current plan of action, as it seems you've your hands full with critiques already.

But I digress: a combat team is not a bad idea.

Will you be keeping track of all of them?

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[getoffmyearth]

[He is never going to make anything this big ever again.]

Oh no, by all means, toss your complaints in the ring as well. Let's have them all out before anyone gets started doing anything.

You're going to have to be more specific. Keeping track of putting together a combat team and getting them out there? It's my idea, and I've got some people I can call on right away, so yes. I will guide any of this through every single tentative baby step and watch it like a hawk to get something going.

text;

[mathematician]

I can tell you're trying to help, so I'm going to add some notes to your checklist.

- Anybody who's up for it who knows anything about engineering, once all the settling in is done, should get to cannibalizing whatever we can get our hands on and start at least trying to improve the technology we've got on hand. If you don't want to do weapons, at least we should get some kind of fortifications, transportation, defense systems. Try to raid the past as little as possible; everybody's seen Back to the Future, don't steal from terrorists unless you know it's not going to come back to bite you, etc.

A good idea, and an awful idea. Transportation and defense against the monsters around here is a good idea. But trying to apply those same defense ideas to protect against the UE is not going to work. Our focus should not be on attacking or even confronting the UE while here.

- We're outnumbered, so if we're going to do anything, we're talking guerilla warfare. Cut off their supply lines- or, better yet, steal them for ourselves. Somehow we need to find people on the inside if we can. I don't know how to go about doing that, but a lot of you have been here a lot longer than me. Maybe you'll have some ideas.

No. No.

- We should consider how to get some spies planted if we can't locate anyone already inside to be a mole.

See above. This has been tried before, and if you'd like to know how that worked out, go ask someone about an "Adam Jensen."

- DEFINITELY SHUT DOWN THE CLONING. Ethical considerations aside, at least shut down their facilities as best as we can't so they can't make any more than they've already made.

This is being worked on as we speak.

- We need to know how far they've expanded. There's a base on the moon, and there's some indication that they've maybe left some watching devices out there. We need to know how far out they've gone and try to set up our own. Nobody needs any nasty surprises coming from space.

We've been on the moon base. For about a month. No one came for us, and no watching devices were found. Cue down that paranoia.

- It would be great if anybody with combat or fighting experience could get together and start working out teams, but I'm not going to push my luck here.

The only good idea you've had. Stick with that one.

text;

[getoffmyearth]

[HE ONLY GETS THE COFFEE POT IF HE DOESN'T PROVOKE ANYONE TO VIOLENCE. THINK SO HARD OF THE COFFEE POT.]

Ok there, buddy, try to settle down and remember that this is one, a list of suggestions, and two, a dialogue, so try to keep an open mind and a reasonable attitude here.

Obviously you are not a soldier or a warrior, so I get your reticence. However, I have to tell you- we are only going to be able to hide so long. That's not paranoia, that is common sense. This is the way these things work. They may not remember us right now. But one day they will. We either need to be ready for that day and ready to combat what comes after us, or we need to pre-empt it.

Second, it's not paranoia at all if the possibilities exist. This isn't a conspiracy theory. You say we were up there a month and nothing happened? A month is nothing. Do you know how long conflicts can go on? Years. Decades. Hell, I have seen empires be at war for centuries. You cannot say that just because it didn't happen in a month doesn't mean it's going to happen ever. This is preposterous. Even in peacetime, everybody spies on everybody else. It's just standard procedure. And as a matter of fact, there was a rover left behind on the moon. You don't believe me, you can check in with, oh: Gamora, Adam Warlock, Blue Beetle, Kate Kane... If you want more people to talk to, I'll draw up a longer list.

Look, I don't want to bring undue risk down on anybody's head, and I'm not a fan of pushing my luck. But it's ridiculous to think that it isn't going to come to conflict again. It's ridiculous to not take all the preparations we can and be ready to start hitting if we have to. It's ridiculous to wait for them to come to us. If the spies failed before? Then we need to train better spies. I will ask around. I will find out what he screwed up. I guarantee you, I can find a way to improve on it. Do you think I'm just throwing this all out as theory? Every war I've ever been in was like this. And one person placed at the right place at the right time can bring an entire army crumbling down to its knees.

text.

[boughtabookstore]

A question: how long have you been here?

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[gamora]

Don't ruin this for me, Small. He's finally getting off his ass and doing something.

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[cantic]

Tear Grants, Locrian Sergeant in the First Platoon of the Oracle Knights Intelligence Division.

I agree that the human cloning must be stopped, and the rest of your ideas are sound. However, I can't simply take your word at face value regarding the potential dangers of altering the past. Logically your argument makes sense, but "because I said so" is not an acceptable reason.

text.

[getoffmyearth]

Nice to meet you, Sergeant. I hope you don't mind if I ask what kind of intelligence you specialized in, or what they had you doing. I know there's always some kind of classification going on in jobs like that, but a rough description would be great.

If I had proof, I would lay it out for you right here, right now. I know exactly how I could get it, as a matter of fact. Unfortunately, given the somewhat inadequate nature of all equipment and technology, I can't exactly go pull up a couple of readings or get a couple of photographs with all the circles and arrows and paragraphs on the back explaining everything. So let's start at the beginning here. Can you see how it might be a highly unpredictable and flawed method of trying to solve some of our problems?

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[awarlock]

[Scanning over the responses, he kind of gets why Peter had Mantis mess with their heads. But he's not going tell Peter because that'd be too easy. Saving that for later when Peter needs a pick-me up.]

How far do you want to go?

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[getoffmyearth]

[At least they'd only needed a little push, a little glue to keep them together. Even Mantis probably wouldn't agree to the level of tampering needed to get this group to cohere.]

As far out as you can get us. I'm not going to pretend it's not all on you for this. Whatever you think you can safely pull off. But I thought we could at least start on Titan.

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[khajidont]

[This isn't info that necessarily needs to be private, but he'd like to hash this out one-on-one anyway. Call it avoiding huge public debates when he doesn't have as much patience as Peter seems to have for them.

(Or the typing skills, oh my god.)]

I know someone who's done the time travel thing before, and if he ripped a hole in the universe or whatever I haven't heard of it. It might not be the same in all worlds. I'm not saying that time travel's what we really should be using here because there's like five hundred million other problems with it but it might not actually rip a hole in the universe. Which is a plus.

Other people have poked holes into the whole spying on the UE problem already [at great length because again, holy typing skills] but if you're still going through with this, one thing you'll want to think about is the fact that they can detect meta powers. Jesse took people's powers last time so they could go in unnoticed but that's probably not the best option now that he's in jail. Or was in jail. I'm not sure what's going on with him, but at any rate, a lot of people with powers have been screaming for his blood as it is. Doing it remotely might be our best bet, but we've got more than our own necks to be looking out for here.

Re: the cloning stuff, how much they have done in this timeline is something we still need to find out. Not that I know exactly how we'd go about doing that when their HQ = like 98% of Earth's landmass (unless they've taken over Atlantis too which is possible I guess)

[I apologize for this being OBSCENELY LATE, feel free to ignore if you like!]