2 ☆ text

[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.