Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 8

Episode 8- Johnny Bluejeans is missing!

1.       Popcorn Sutton redesigned his Aries Mecha from the ground up, and now pilots a humanoid-looking giant robot with a battering ram for a right hand. Sara Sirus went the other direction, wanting more armor and protection than she previously had. As a result, her new Cancer Mecha looks like a giant robot crab, though one of her claws is still a guitar. Sophie quietly doodles her dream Mecha, hoping that when she finally gets her own flying robot it will leave bubbles and rainbow exhaust. In the meantime, she will ride as a passenger inside Avinaaq’s robot.

2.       Naota Ikaruga is still grounded and under house arrest for his role in the destruction of Earth. Spaceman Jack, (oooooh yeah baby, HAVE MERCY!) the popular radio disc jockey on W.O.D.C.-Odyssey Radio interrupts his countdown of the top 500 Johnny Bluejeans recordings at #217 “Ripped Underwear” with a news update. The Earth media have begun calling Ikaruga (ARUUUUUUUGA! ARUUUUUUUGA! ARUUUUUUUGA! ) and his friends the “Genocide Gang,” though they prefer to claim that the G.G. Initials actually mean “The Good Guys.” A meeting of the surviving leaders of Earth and the Super Starship Odyssey has been scheduled where it will be decided what to do with the child prodigy. The Global Defense League refuses to give him up, seeing his brain as a military asset. General Hawk Bradley of Texas says that they should retaliate and strike against Earth before they have a chance to make war on them. Most of the council sees this as crazy talk, but there will be some supporters. Naota’s over-protective mother is deeply panicked about this situation, but he does his best to calm her. He’s the universe’s leading expert in this mysterious alien technology. He’s humanity’s only hope for salvation.

3.       Outside the SSS Odyssey is a floating swarm of space jump, much of it Military Hardware hastily jettisoned to make room for the refugees of Newtown or of alien design. Rumor has it that black marketers have been scrounging from the “Sargasso” and selling to people aboard the SSS. All Celestial Knights have been instructed to stop the black marketers, recover anything of value, and bring them into custody to face trial. Naota is remotely piloting his Mecha from his bedroom since he is grounded. Technically he’s disobeying his mother to even do this, but he knows that the team needs him.

4.       The Genocide Gang (or Good Guys, depending on whom you ask) relieve Team Megalodon from their patrol, but tensions are high. Popcorn asks if they detected anything out of the ordinary, and learns that there is a dead spot where they couldn’t detect anything. The veteran military man remembered when the People’s Army used a similar tactic during the Battle of Singapore, using jammers to hide from sensors. He believes that the dead zone hides the location of black marketers.

5.       Gonzo forgets to turn down his boom box when he radios the other team with the debriefing, causing painfully loud feedback on the audio channel. Flynn Mann mistakenly thinks that it was Bodhi, and that the laid-back surfer had caused the noise intentionally. Misreading the situation, and lashing out territorially, Flynn Mann threatened to shoot Bodhi in the face and went in for the attack. Sara and Naota try to defuse the situation as best as they can. Naota locks a Fujiwara arm-bar on Flynn Man’s Mecha and Sara calms down the fight before it can escalate with diplomacy. Bodhi regains his calm by centering his chi into his ivory spiritual tower.

6.       Popcorn Sutton, Avinaaq, & his unauthorized companion Sophie are focused on their actual mission, and pilot their ships into the Sargasso. Sophie’s keen vision notices something weird.

There is a small black Earth ship docked against a derelict alien squid craft. The Squid craft’s bioluminescence flickers dimly, showing that there is some life still aboard. As they fly closer to investigate, they are ambushed by another black marketer ship.

a.       The Genocide Gang survive the initial salvos, and begin to retaliate. Avinaaq performs his area of effect attack, shooting off all of the blades in his sword-mane to strike indiscriminately. Even firing blind, he managed to impale the black marketer ship multiple times. Sophie looked though the single eye view-screen and zeroed in on the enemy location.

b.      Sophie pushed buttons in Avinaaq’s cockpit almost at random. The little girl managed to scan the docked ship and found it to be devoid of life forms. A dozen life forms were revealed to be aboard the ambushing vessel, and an undetermined amount aboard the alien ship. Popcorn Sutton used the unbelievable strength of his Aries Mecha to rip the black marketer ship off of the side of the squid craft. Doing so broke the enviro-seal, and began venting atmosphere into the darkness of space. Popcorn hurled the empty ship like a javelin at the attacking enemy.

c.       Flynn Mann, Naota, and Sara Sirus have now caught up with the rest of the Genocide Gang (or Good Guys) and join in the fight. The black marketers attempt to flee, but are headed off by the team. Sara talks the criminals into standing down, and then begins questioning them. They confirm that they had been robbing the alien squid ship. They had lost contact with their boarding party right before the Gang arrived on the scene. Flynn Mann hits the enemy ship with an electromagnetic pulse, shutting it down.

d.      Popcorn Sutton began to peel open the alien ship from outside, exposing whatever was aboard to the harsh vacuum of space. After puncturing an interior chamber, they discover the corpses of the black marketers, desiccated and mummified, the glass of their space helmets cracked and broken. All of the dried-out husks share a killing wound to the forehead. Breaking open another chamber, Popcorn found a live figure, and grabbed it inside a powerful robot fist. The black marketer has been taken over by some strange Alien Bio-mechanics. His face is now a writhing mass of worm-like tentacles, and he has spontaneous starfish-like regeneration. Mindless, his only need now is to feed, by sucking out cerebral spinal fluid from his victims. The nametag on his jumpsuit says, “Cody.”

e.      Avinaaq decides that this chaos is above his paygrade, and suggest that they radio back to the Super Starship Odyssey for orders. Sophie takes it upon herself to do so, identifying herself as Space Kitty-Cat to the confused ship’s bridge. She says, “I’m in the Lion Mecha with knives for hair and we found some guys. I’m eight years old, over?” Avinaaq attempted to claim that she was a stowaway, but for once his lies failed him. The former child soldier gets into serious trouble for letting an unauthorized minor aboard his Mecha, but argues that they were never actually trained, so nobody ever told him NOT to let an unauthorized minor aboard his Mecha. The Odyssey bridge commands him to return for disciplinary action, but those orders quickly become moot.

f.        After looking the worm-faced horror over, Popcorn splatters it dead against his Mecha’s forehead like a beer can. The authorities aboard the Super Star Ship Odyssey tell them that they have been exposed to possible alien pathogens and to await a decontamination team. Popcorn claims it’s unnecessary saying, “Look, I may not know science…” and flies his Mecha into the upper atmosphere of Earth to burn off any possible alien germs.

g.       Sophie is super adorable, and manages to talk Avinaaq out of any possible trouble.

7.       Flynn Mann sits in his new PI office with the terrified people he declared to be his “family.” The sign above his door reads, “Privates Investigator.” Afro Mom serves him coffee and Data Son sits on the floor stuffing envelopes, when a beautiful dame walks in smoking a long cigarette and wearing a wide-brimmed hat. Before the femme fatale could introduce herself, Flynn Mann referred to her as “Gams.” He then says, “Nice Gams there lady.” He then narrated out loud, “She had nice gams. It was like she was all gams, with no breasts. Just legs and a face. One dollar please.” The lady was bewildered by the bird-man, and started to walk out of his office until Flynn Mann loudly announced “ALLRIGHT, I’ll take the case! I would like my dollar please.” The mysterious woman confesses to the private investigator that she’s secretly dating Johnny Bluejeans. They have to keep their relationship on the down low so as to not break the heart of his legions of fans, but she’s scared he’s in danger. This outer space unity concert tomorrow has brought out all the crazies. She hands Flynn Mann an envelope. Inside is a note reading “YOU SING, YOU DIE!” pieced together out of magazine clippings. He tells her to leave so he can “CSI this thang” and gets to work on his investigation.

8.       Sara Sirus is ready to catch the attention of Johnny Bluejeans with her guerilla performance in Starlight Park. She and Stanley both sneak away from work at Popcorn Sutton’s Scrapple Shack and don their new costumes. Stanley wears a tuxedo and domino mask, with a rose clutched between his teeth. Sara wears a rose jacket, groovy bellbottoms, and a purple butterfly mask. Once again she calls Naota on her own communicator, and once again the star struck child prodigy fails to notice that he knows her civilian identity. Lady Violet double-checked that he was ready to hack Johnny Bluejeans personal feed, and then takes the gazeebo stage thinking to herself, “They must never know my secret identity.”

9.       Lady Violet & the Starlight Crusaders sing about peace and love, impressing everybody with her heartfelt performance. Popcorn Sutton, Avinaaq, Sophie, and their other friends have no idea who the mysterious lady really is.

10.   Naota has successfully hacked into Johnny Bluejeans personal feed, and dances in his chair to Lady Violet’s performance. Then, out of the corner of his eye he notices on his monitor that Johnny Bluejeans’ quarters are trashed. His room has been torn apart, and a pile of broken records burn in the middle of the floor. Naota instantly sends a call out to the rest of his team. Sara notices her phone ringing, but ignores it. She’s in the middle of the performance of her lifetime, and she wants to make sure that Johnny Bluejeans is getting a great show.

Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 7

Episode 7- Life continues

1.       Flynn Mann grabs ahold of the life pod in his Mecha’s talons and brings them into the safety of the SSS Odyssey, against the express orders of the bridge. They’re a multi-cultural group that Flynn Mann christens Mustache Dad, Afro Mom, and Data son. Sara manages to talk down the Chief Engineer, convincing him to allow the small family of refugees to come aboard. The Johnsons are more than a little scared of Flynn Mann and his matter of fact claims that they’re HIS family now, but they’re happy for the protection.

2.       The team briefly argues over needing a name. Sara is afraid that somebody else will give them a lame one if they don’t pick one ASAP.

3.       Since the team was rushed through their “training,” they never filled out any of the mountains of paperwork the government needs from them. That’s good news for Avinaaq and Flynn Mann, both of whom are off the grid and don’t technically exist. Now they need to become registered for their official ID cards, and they’re not happy. Luckily it will soon become very easy for people to disappear aboard the SSS Odyssey.

4.       Sara reminds Naota that when she joined his team, he promised to jailbreak Stanley and remove his obsolescence chip. Naota promises he’ll fix her robot boyfriend as soon as he gets off suspension.

5.       Naota is grounded for causing the genocide of Earth. He complains to his mother that he needs to get in his “garage” and start repairing his team’s Mecha, but his whining falls upon deaf ears.

6.       Avinaaq karate chops Sophie, knocking her unconscious, and takes her with him to report back to his handler. Located in a private office that isn’t on any official map of the ship, the cigar-chomping eye-patched Mr. Smith debriefs his asset. The former child soldier asks if there has been any sign of Irena. He doesn’t believe that something as minor as the destruction of the Earth could harm her. His handler has no information about her, but will keep an ear to the ground. Mr. Smith gives Avinaaq a black key-card that can access any system aboard the ship without a trace.  Once Sophie awakens, Avinaaq tells her that her training has begun. If she earns it, she’ll be allowed to eat in three days.

7.       Popcorn gathers the rest of the team, with Naota remoting in on his radio, and they have a quick meeting. The grizzled veteran is concerned about their current situation. There are clear factions that have formed in the wake of the Battle of the Moon with the irradiated people of Earth, the refugees trapped in their spaceships, and the military aboard the Super Starship Odyssey. He fears that the different teams of Celestial Knights might be recruited as pawns, and they need to get out in front of any manipulation. Sara and Flynn Mann will go speak to Team Megalodon, Avinaaq will take Sophie to question Team Supernova, and Popcorn volunteers to speak with Team Ironsides. Naota is instructed to plot a course to pursue the alien fleet, and he is able to track them to Zephyr Nebula.

8.       The laidback surfers of Team Megalodon lounge at a swimming pool and eat pizza. They are oblivious to anyone trying to manipulate them. Sara convinces them that they have to work together to save everybody. Bodhi agrees, because we are “all one under mother Gaia.” Meanwhile Flynn Mann proves unable to tell robots apart, thinking that all AI are Stanley, whether they’re androids or just talking toasters. He also realizes that he needs money to provide for his family, so he asks the clearly stoned surfers if they have any cash. Gonzo passes his wallet off to the bird-man, and Flynn Mann pockets $871.00.

9.       Team Supernova is celebrating their victory at the officer’s club. Avinaaq sends Sophie to pump them for information. She picks the nicest and most approachable member, one of the twin Gemini sisters named Astra. Sophie is able to discern that Team Supernova had not been contacted by anybody yet, and convince them to help work towards saving as the refugees.  Sophie tries to escape Avinaaq, begging Astra to save her from the scary man, but the Einstein of Murder was prepared. Picking a creepy-looking patsy from the crowd in the officer’s club, he runs up to Sophie and plays the role of concerned parent. Astra and the rest of her team are sicked on the creepy guy, and they beat him to a bloody pulp.

10.   Popcorn lied about meeting with Team Ironsides, and instead forces his way into Admiral Newton’s quarters. The two of them have a history, going back to when Newton was a raw recruit during the Battle of Manila. When Newton claims that they are at full capacity for passengers, but Popcorn doesn’t think that’s the case. The refugees have at best three more days of life support before they start dying en masse, and they must be evacuated. With the Earth poisoned, their only hope is aboard the SSS Odyssey. Popcorn browbeats his former subordinate, making oblique references to a horrific event in their shared past and calling into question his devotion to his duty.  Admiral Newton shouts that he DID his duty, to which Popcorn dryly replies, "It sure is easy to DO your duty when there aren't bullets flying at you."  Popcorn wins the battle of wills and makes the Admiral agree to jettison whatever military armaments that they must to make room for survivors. A shanty town quickly grows in Starlight Park, nicknamed Newton Town or New-Town, cramming 1.5 million more people aboard the ship.

11.   French Captain Ezekiel Lang of the Starship Bastille, the leader of the European Fleet, makes it clear that he thinks the survivors aboard the SSS Odyssey need to cut their losses and abandon Earth. His suggestion is to terraform Mars and make a new colony. Many of the refugees agree.

12.   Johnny Bluejeans announces a unity concert in outer space, equal distant from Earth and the SSS Odyssey. Sara decided that this is the perfect gig to debut her new masked superstar, Lady Violet and the Starlight Crusaders. She plans to perform live the day before Johnny Bluejeans, and get his attention. To that end, she dons her butterfly mask and wig and calls Naota to arrange for him to hack Johnny Bluejean’s personal feed and show him her performance. Though she is attempting to maintain her secret identity, it never occurs to Sara not to use her personal com channel. She also slips up when she refers to her drummer as her “robot boyfriend,” but the crater-raised teenager is too overwhelmed by a beautiful rock star calling him on the phone to notice.

13.   Sophie selects her first knife from a murder kit presented by Avinaaq. It’s a rainbow colored butterfly knife, and she shows a fast aptitude for it. Avinaaq tells her that if she spends the next 3 days practicing her knife skills, she’ll be allowed to go to the Johnny Bluejeans concert. Sophie is studious in her training, but does briefly sneak away to steal a fancy French dress from Captain Lang’s crew. Impressed by the fact that she didn’t get caught, but a little disappointed that she didn’t kill anybody, Avinaaq allows his protégé to have dinner.

14.   Popcorn abandons the for-cash business model and reopens his Scrapple stand as a free lunch counter. Sara is working the counter, training to be a manager, and Stanley is the dishwasher. Flynn Mann opens a private investigation business to better provide for his new family.

Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 6

Episode 6- When the moon hits your eye…
1.    The teams turn their attention to deflecting as much of the asteroid barrage as they can. Flynn Mann lasers one massive moon rock in half to save a single family in a life-pod, but the two halves hurtle on to collide with other ships. The birdman is wracked with guilt over inadvertently killing people, but decides to focus on continuing to protect this family. Maybe they can become HIS family now.
2.    Sarah deflects a giant kidney-bean shaped rock that is the size of Texas as it hurtles towards Earth. Suddenly she sees another Mech of a clear alien design. Made of Gold and Red metals, it looks like an Earth Monkey. The Monkey jumps on the back of her Mech and begins to shred it with razor-sharp talons. Panicking, Sarah ejects from her robot, only to land back on the kidney bean. Since Sara is no longer attached to her Mecha, she takes no damage from its destruction.  Alone and unarmed on the giant asteroid, Sara calls for Popcorn to come and save her.
3.    Flynn Mann had a brief dogfight with an alien Mecha in the shape of a robotic Ox. Naota helps him set up a massive EMP to hobble the enemy, setting it up for a coup de grace. 
4.    Popcorn is on his way to help Sara when he is ambushed by an alien Mecha in the shape of a giant robotic rooster. It collides with the back of Popcorn’s rocket, tearing through his tough armor like it was tinfoil. The two machines crash onto the kidney bean-shaped asteroid, leaving a huge crater. Popcorn almost blacks out from the pain of the biofeedback, but mans up and unbuckles himself. He runs to the back of his rocket, where the Rooster Mecha’s head continues to thrash about and do damage. Making a fist, he punches through the machine’s exposed eye. Burying his arm up to the shoulder socket, Popcorn grabs a bunch of important looking wires and circuits and rips them out. The alien Mecha stops moving, and visibly depowers.
5.    Sarah drags Popcorn out of the remains of his Mech. A nearby Flynn Mann swoops in and rescues his teammates just before the nuclear power source of Popcorn’s Mech explodes.
6.    The Super Star Ship Odyssey has taken on as many refugees as they were able, and now lifts off from the Earth’s orbit. It is a majestic gold sphere with laser cannons the size of skyscrapers. The SSS Odyssey powers up its main gun, and with a single shot decimates the alien armada. 
7.    Thanks to the work of all of the teams and the flying saucer pilots, the bulk of the moon rocks were deflected or destroyed before they could impact the Earth. The heroes managed to kill all of the space squids, except for the one that Naota kept for experimentation. The remaining alien ships turned tail and fled out of the solar system, faster than they could be pursued.
8.    Naota talks Avinaaq into turning his murder-rage at the Planet Killer, and they combine forces to perform a lethal combo attack. This bonds them, and they immediately become best friends forever. The two of young pilots ride the corpse of the Planet Killer through the atmosphere, crashing it into the Pacific Ocean. Unbeknownst to them, the alien is venting a massively lethal radiation that contaminates the planet.
9.    In the aftermath of the Battle of the Moon, news reports begin to come in. The strange radiation from the Planet Killer is thought to be from a rare alien element that does not appear on our Periodic Table. If the Earth is to be spared a lingering death from poisoning, that element must be found and studied. In the meantime the Earth, devastated by the storm and the loss of the moon, is under a strict quarantine and blockade. Naota Ikaruga is blamed directly by much of the Earth’s population for their death sentence. The fleet of Earth ships that fled during the battle would not be allowed to return, even if they wanted to. Many of them are demanding to board the SSS Odyssey for safety, while others think that humanity needs to flee Earth and set up a new colony before the Aliens return. The commander of the SSS Odyssey, Admiral Jonas Newton is making plans to pursue the aliens, and end their threat once and for all.  Our heroes are in way over their heads.

Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 5

Episode 5- Is THIS…war?

1.       The Global Defense League have launched hundreds of short-range One-man flying saucers to help, but they are outclassed by the larger alien fleet.

2.       Hundreds of earth ships, large and small, are attempting to flee as the combat begins, many of them being mercilessly cut to ribbons. Sara tried to lead enemy “Space Squids” away from the refugees, flying in an evasive serpentine motion. The glory hogs in team Supernova flew around, dogfighting the alien menace. It was terrible strategy, but they were all such skilled pilots that it actually seemed to help hold back the overwhelming enemy numbers. Popcorn argued over the space radio with team Ironsides, who had taken up a protective circle in orbit above the SSS Odyssey. Team Megalodon was busy protecting as many civilians as possible. At one point, they combined their robots into a single gestalt form that was a giant shark-headed man on a surfboard.

3.       Every time that Naota attempted to do something “cool” in combat, the other members of the team would steal his thunder. He quickly learned that this wasn’t one of his video games, as he saw dozens of Earth ships get blasted to smithereens.

4.       Sara is a pacifist, but she tried to do her best in spite of being overwhelmed by combat. Flynn Mann enjoyed showing off, out maneuvering his opponents, while Avinaaq went kill crazy, announcing that he was “The Einstein of Murder.” At one point Popcorn managed to impale three space squids on his arm like a kabob.

5.       After a called shot to the head by Flynn Mann left one of the space squids brain-dead, Naota claimed its body for research purposes.

6.       A massive worm-like ship slithered through space during the combat, but none of the Earth’s defenders were able to break away from their individual battles to deal with it. The Planet Killer telescoped all of its mass to one giant pseudopod, then quickly flowed in the opposite direction, striking the moon like a pool cue. The moon shattered into millions of pieces, all hurtling towards the Earth in a deadly barrage.

Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 4

Episode 4- Second Skin

1.       The hotshot pilots of Team Supernova are launched into outer space to establish a safe perimeter around earth. The laid back surfers of Team Megalodon are scrambled next, followed by the gruff veterans of Team Ironsides. Popcorn Sutton grumbles when he sees them. They have a history.

2.       Naota Ikaruga takes his new team deep inside the SSS Odyssey to the Mecha lab. He gives a very brief synopsis of what the bonding process will consist of, too excited to truly prepare the others. Everyone climbs into what looks like giant torpedo tubes, which close them into pitch darkness. A nozzle pumps their chamber with knockout gasses that will prevent them from being conscious during the horrific trauma that is following. It works on everyone except Avinaaq, who is aware of every horrible, invasive, and painful moment of the Mech-bonding process. Needles inject strange chemicals into the eyes, brainstem, and various internal organs. While screaming in pain, Avinaaq’s tube begins to fill with a mercurial alien metal. He kicks and thrashes helplessly as he drowns in the unearthly alloy. Not only does he gain serious psychological scarring, he also loses an eye.

3.       The molten metal cools quickly, morphing their shapes into forms subconsciously dictated by the astrological signs of the pilots that they are bonded to. Naota is a Scorpio, with a stinger on his arm. His Mech is designed to perform attacks based on complex computer programs instead of copying and enhancing the pilot’s physical abilities. Avinaaq is a Leo, with a humanoid one-eyed lion and a mane made of swords. Popcorn is an Ares, and his Mech is a very simple rocket with a battering ram head. Flynn Mann is a Libra, and his Mech is a physical representation of the balance between his human and bird halves. It’s sleek and super-fast. Sara is a Cancer, and her humanoid Mech has an armored crab shell on her back and she carries a giant axe that can turn into either a gun or a guitar.

4.       There’s no real time for the months of training necessary. Naota warns them that if their Mech is damaged too badly, the bio-feedback loop could kill them, cripple them, or drive them insane. Avinaaq is already furious at the boy scientist, and has to be physically restrained from violence.

5.       Naota’s mother arrives, furious that her son has disobeyed her orders to hide in the bunker, but acknowledges that it’s too late for that now. She tells him that she and his father will be monitoring him from the bridge, now the whole planet is depending on him.

6.       The team hear from over their space radios that the enemies are nearly to Earth, so they blast off to join in the defense.

Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 3

Episode 3- Join the Team

1.       Sarah spots that Flynn Mann is clearly a bird-man, but agrees to keep his secret. Some of Bodhi’s group of stoned surfers nearly notice too, but they’re convinced that they’re just hallucinating.

2.       Avinaaq mercy-kills a family who is trapped in their car by rising waters, thinking to himself that they’re better off dead. He briefly envies the dead.

3.       As the roof is torn off of his walk-in freezer, Popcorn attempts to save as many civilians as possible by making a human chain. They successfully save dozens, but dozens more get swept away in the flood waters. A little girl shocks Avinaaq by successfully sneaking up on him and hugging him thanks for saving her. He’s impressed by her skills, and after a moment’s thought, he decides to NOT kill her.

4.       Naota Ikaruga is ordered to rush the remaining three teams into the field. The young scientist has done the math in his head, and knows that they will be outnumbered. Also, none of the new pilots are as prepared for Mech combat as he is.  Naota desperately wants to join in the upcoming battle. He would need to scramble an entire team to assist him though. Luckily Ikaruga has created a scanner that can locate other Actives capable of psychically interfacing with the alien technology.

5.       As the storm worsens, Avinaaq is thrust into protecting innocents, a role he has never experienced before. The winds are strong enough that people are literally being blown away. Popcorn leads a human chain, but the little girl who had earlier snuck up on Avinaaq loses her grip. Blown away by the storm, the little girl splashes into the flood waters.

6.       Almost on a whim, Avinaaq shoots down a Can Opener billboard, and the child almost manages to reach it before submerging in the storm waters. He pays little attention to the kicking robot’s legs that stick out of one side. Stanley recovers the little girl’s body, but he is unable to perform CPR since he is a robot and doesn’t breathe. Bodhi and his surfer friends are trained lifeguards, so they’re able to revive her. Impressed by her tenacity, Avinaaq decides that she has earned the right to live. He might even take her on as a protégé.

7.       The storm utterly destroys Popcorn’s joint and a large portion of the town of Yorba. Countless displaced citizens are desperate to take shelter, but the only apparently safe location is the military base/inside the SSS Odyssey. The Global Defense League dispatches robots to run search and rescue efforts, bringing in as many survivors as possible. There is massive panic worldwide. Sarah, Stanley, Popcorn, Avinaaq, Flynn Mann, the surfers, and the rest of the surviving civilians are loaded into a flatbed truck and driven to the SSSS Odyssey.

8.       On the bridge of the SSS Odyssey, Admiral Jonas Newton instructs his men to prepare to lift-off, in spite of the fact that the massive ship hasn’t moved under its own power since it crash landed on Earth 10 years ago. They begin the arduous process of powering up the ship as thousands of refugees from both the planet-wide storm and the alien attacks seek refuge aboard.

9.       The survivors have all gathered in Starlight Park aboard the SSS Odyssey when Bodhi and his friend’s watches begin to beep. The laidback surfers let the others know that they are actually a crack team of Mech Pilots, codenamed Team Megalodon, and they’re being called to action.

10.   While the Mech teams are being scrambled, Naota is aboard a hover platform, following his scanner. By a billion to one odds, there is a nearby gathering of unregistered actives and they’re actually nearby! Talking a mile a minute, Naota tells them all about his giant robots and how they can help save the earth. Everyone seals their new team with a high-five. Stanley stays behind in the park to look after Sophie, the little girl that Avinaaq rescued, but the rest of the group scrambles after the weird child prodigy.

Super Starship Odyssey 5- Episode 1

Episode 1- The Odyssey Begins

Session One was a series of vignettes that introduced the main characters of the game.

1.       Popcorn Sutton is a grizzled old veteran with a giant flat-top, retired from the military after the disastrous Battle of Manilla. He's at the lunch counter of his greasy diner, serving Global Defense pilots from the SSSO that are gossiping about the weird child genius aboard the ship. According to the soldiers, the kid has built some crazy kind of ship that interfaces with its pilot in impossible ways. Apparently less than 1% of 1% of the population are deemed capable of piloting these Mecha. There are currently three teams of five members each in training, and one team already graduated to military service. With this exposition in place, the smug and cocky members of Team Supernova strut into Popcorn’s place and immediately start trouble with regular the pilot customers. Popcorn doesn't want any trouble in his place, .so now he has to physically break up a fight.

2.       Child genius Naota Ikaruga  is in his lab, working on gestalt algorithms when a proximity alarm goes off. The Interstellar Sonar detects a massive blip suddenly appear just outside the gravity well of Jupiter, and it’s on a direct course. Whatever it is, it’s a gravity distortion bigger than that of a planet.

3.       Sara Sirus is doing load-out for her band at a crappy seaside bar. There were only a handful of fans in attendance, and she failed to make her downside guarantee. Not only did she not make any money, she owes the bar owner $60.00 (which she doesn’t have). She has to sneak out with her tail between her legs while her former band is playing a sold-out show down the street. The line to see Can Opener is literally down the block. Can Opener fans dress like Juggalos, and hate robots passionately. The sea is eerily still, and there are no animals to be seen. Her Android boyfriend Stanley is with her as they have to navigate anti-Clanger robot racists in line.

4.      Human-Bird hybrid Flynn Mann crouches in the shadows by a chain-link fence. On the other side is a cluster of concrete and steel government buildings. His impossibly sharp eyes see a pair of silhouetted figures coming. They’re a married couple that he knows well, Angela & Devlin Hart, scientists who worked on the ANIMAN Project and helped him escape from the lab that created him. They have big news to pass on. Their new project leader Dr. Takeshi Tsurudo is intensely jealous of the child prodigy Naota Ikaruga’ s success, and wants to show him up. He hates and fears the alien technology that the Global Defense league is utilizing, and wants to rely exclusively on Terran innovations. He has instructed them to resume the ANIMAN project. Now that he has gained official funding, they are to begin cross-breeding immediately. They pass off a copy of Tsurudo’s files to Flynn Mann. A huge thunderstorm begins.

5.       Troubled former child-soldier Avinaaq hides  in an alley during the rain, keeping a close eye on a man in a military uniform. He has orders to watch this man, suspected of industrial espionage, pass on stolen data from the Global Defense lab. His superiors want to know who he’s selling it to, so it’s vital that he stay alive until the intelligence is extracted. A sniper shot takes out his mark, immediately after the exchange is made. By the time Avinaaq makes it to the body, the data stick is missing and there’s a note that reads “Better luck next time! Eskimos kisses, Irena” His lover/rival has killed his mark and invoked the storm to escape. Avinaaq has a painful flashback that reminds him of his days as a child soldier, when Irena murdered his parents in front of him and took him as her unwilling murder-protégé.