Planning

[time_dancer]

Val's room is something like a mix between a New York warehouse studio and a high tech lab. Instruments glow and beep along one wall and the windows (or are the flat screen monitors?) show the New York skyline in the early evening of Autumn. Over the center wall is a large portrait of the Fantastic Four family; Reed, Susan, Johnny, Ben, Alicia, Val, Franklin, and Jennifer figure prominately. On an opposite wall another family portrait shows a happy Susan with a seemingly equally happy Victor von Doom (in armor), an older Franklin (teen aged) and Val. Over by the lab area there is a dry erase board with the words "Save Johnny" written very large.

There is a round table in the center of the room with enough chairs for everyone. Food and drink (digital variations are present) are on a side table next to plates and cups. Floating above the table is a 3D holo-map showing a flat asteroid about the size of a couple football stadiums with several smaller asteroids floating about it. There is a red light blinking just off the center of the large rock island.

"So here's the landscape. Aunt Jen, you've had more experience with the Negative Zone. Would you mind explaining its nature for us?" Val asks once everyone is settled. All traces of her usual cheery self are gone, today Val is all business. At the head of the table there are also a few floating screens showing several different species of the insectoids and some stills of the character of N-Zone space.

Comments

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"Of course I will, Val."

Jen beams a maternal, warm smile at Val.

"Okay, ladies and gents and in between, here's what we're facing."

She gestures at one of the screens showing Negative Zone landscape.

"Firstly, getting there. I know Val's got a portal, but getting there for some people is a profoundly disorienting experience. You might hallucinate vividly, see colors and abstract shapes, or get nauseous and dizzy. I suggest a large dose of ginger before we leave as a precautionary preparation. I'll bring ice cubes for people to chew on just in case. You might pass out but don't worry, you'll wake up quickly.

"Next up: the terrain may seem sparsely inhabited, but there are life forms, almost all of them hostile to humans and mutants from various Earths."

She points at one of Val's screens showing an insectoid.

"This is one of the nicer ones, and it'd eat you in a New York second. There are other planets in the Negative Zone, but for our purposes, they're irrelevant. The three most imporant things we need to be aware of: the Tyannans, Blastaar, and Annihilus. The Tyannans are the self-proclaimed rulers of the Negative Zone, but they're mostly benign towards humans. In fact, they may even help us if they bother to notice us. They tend to be self-absorbed.

"Blastaar is an evil bastard who, oddly, has fought on the side of good a few times. He was supposedly dead - he got stomped to presumed death during a universe-spanning war two years ago, but I hear that he got better. The reason I mention him is that he claims rulership of the Negative Zone and doesn't like humans intruding on his fiefdom.

"The more important threat is Annihilus. He's got legions of bug-eyed monsters at his beck and call and if he knows we're in the Negative Zone, he'll set them on us quicker than you can eat a slice of grandma's peach pie. There's more, but let me pause for questions. Any questions?"

And now, the actual planning

[time_dancer]

"Thank you, Aunt Jen," Val says once all questions about the Negative Zone are covered. "Now we should talk about tactics." As she speaks the hologram map expands to detail the blinking red dot.

"This is the portal Johnny is defending. I am assuming he is here, somewhere. Basically we need to get to him and establish defensible perimeter so I can port us out. I'll likely need maybe fifteen seconds to make the gate and keep it up. I'm not that familiar with tactics though so if anyone has any ideas beyond charging in and smashing bugs, I'm open."