Major Tom 2009

What dependence? Major Tom 2009

Bubba, you were close; the original (non-cartoon) title was Combined Miniature Deterrent Forces, and was used in the Fantastic Voyage movie, not the cartoon series. I've never actually seen the cartoon myself; still, I think that it's fair to say that you got some partial geekcred with your answer. Major Tom 2009

OK, the true sci-fi geeks of these forums should not only be able to identify the organization represented by the image below, but also the original source material that it comes from: Major Tom 2009

Here's my first new post to this thread in some time: Major Tom 2009

Actually, WWI isn't such a great destination for Time Travel either, due to a little something called Spanish Flu which was going on around the same time. Any Time Travelers that wind up in this part of the timestream could potentially wind up being infected with the bug without realizing it, and take the seeds for a new global pandemic with them -- one which would spread even faster than the original did, due to the existence of jet travel in the modern day; all it takes is for one infected person to expose someone about to take an overseas airline flight -- and for that person to infect the other passengers on that flight -- and you've got an epidemiologist's worst nightmare. Major Tom 2009

What's going on with Fabrica right now? I just tried to use it a few minutes ago, and all it would do was give me a light-grey area where the character creation screen normally is. Major Tom 2009

This is what I'd come up with as a costume for a character called Dhamphir (an entirely male character) a couple of years ago: Major Tom 2009

A book being stolen doesn't just have to have consequences of some sort for the future to be dangerous; the here and now could also be in danger, especially if the book in question is something like al-azif -- A.K.A the Necronomicon -- in which case it's time to call in Miskatonic U's A -Team and the appropiate units of the military. Jet Justice: surely even in the quantum reality you hail from, there must be at least some books in existence, even if they're only carefully-preserved museum exhibits or otherwise kept in climate-controlled protective storage vaults against the remote possibility of technological collapse (there are several QRs out there in the Multiverse where that's happened,one of which was due to magic reasserting itself as the dominant force in that reality; the others were due to wars or catastrophic natural disast- ers). Paradox Timely: I refer you to the episode of the mid- to late-20th Century television series Star Trek called "A Piece of the Action", in which the Enterprise encountered an alien society which had patterned itself after 1920s gangland Chicago, following a visit from an Earth vessel a century before -- during which several books on various subjects were left behind as gifts to the planet's inhabitants (NOTE: IIRC, it was mentioned that the Earth ship's visit happened before the Prime Directive was made part of Starfleet's policy regarding contact with alien cultures), one of which was a history of the gang wars and personages of the 1920s. That gift resulted in a society in which everyone walked around with a weapon, and where drive- by shootings were a daily occurrence. Major Tom 2009

Another villain that has a similar obsession with turning humanity into cyborg beings like himself is Doc Terror, the megalomaniacal cyborg supervillain of the '80s' cartoon Centurions. Major Tom 2009

Zarlock All that is known of this strange, super-science villain -- other than his membership in the Society Sinister, that is -- is that he was a Soviet scientist who had discovered an armed and armored chair-like mechanism, which was of clearly non-human design and construction, and which could only be occupied by someone without arms and legs. As he was suffering from a disease which would eventually take his ability to use his arms or legs, the scientist underwent surgery to have them amputated so that he would be able to be installed in the chair. While the surgery and the installation process was successful, the scientist (now calling himself Zarlock; no one connected with the surgery or the chair's discovery knew where the name had come from) eventually began to suffer from severe psychological complications resulting from it, the most notable of which was his belief that it was his "destiny" to "uplift" the human race, and to turn its members into cybernetic beings like himself. Knowing that the State would try to stop him, Zarlock took measures to preempt their efforts, starting with the destruction of the tank platoon and motorized rifle company that was providing security for the project. After taking the next step in his plan -- the slaughter of the other scientists involved with the project, one of whom managed to escape unnoticed by the deranged cyborg -- Zarlock then leveled the secret facility, leaving nothing behind which would lead his enemies to him, wherever he might go to in the outside world. Or so he thought; the sole surviving member of the project's science staff -- Dr. Irina Rostova, a psychologist whose job was to monitor and evaluate the mental health of the scientist-turned-guinea pig, had managed to not only survive the massacre, but also to gather films and other records of the project that hadn't been destroyed. She then fled the ruins of the secret facility, and eventually made it back to civilization, where she made the decision to defect in order to warn others of the threat that Zarlock posed. As for Zarlock himself, he eventually managed to escape Soviet territory, and slowly but surely began to assemble the group of villains that would come to be known as the Society Sinister. In the course of his activities, Zarlock discovered that his destruction of the project had been less than total, and that there had been a survivor. For the most part, Zarlock regarded this news as being of no consequence whatsoever; after all, what could one solitary human female do to stop him? Still, the fact that there had indeed been a survivor represented a loose end in his planning -- and loose ends were so annoyingly untidy... NOTES: the battle chair of which Zarlock is part is a creation of an extraterrestial race, one which has yet to make itself known to Mankind at present. The fact that the chair is not only armed, but armored as well, speaks of a race that is less than peaceful -- and quite possibly inimical to humanity as a whole. The weapons known to be possessed by the chair at present are as follows: Two ball turret-mounted, independently-targetable Gatling-type laser cannons (mounted on the 'backrest' of the chair) Two variable-intensity plasma-bolt launchers (one on each 'arm' of the chair) Paralyzing gas projectors (shoulder-mounted) Disintegrator beam projector (mounted in the chair's front) As for its known defenses, the unidentified alloy of which the chair is made is known to be as strong as tank armor; in addition to its physical 'armor', the chair also has a built-in force field generator as well. Dr. Rostova described an in- cident during Zarlock's attack, in which one of the tanks which were providing security for the facility fired point-blank at Zarlock, only to see its shot have no effect whatsoever. Unfortunately for the tank and its crew, it couldn't say the same once Zarlock turned the power of his disintegration beam upon it, wiping it from existence. While the chair is capable of flight due to its internal antigravity flight system, Zarlock only uses it in combat or for escape; at all other times, the chair is attached to a platform which makes use of tank-like treads for movement. Major Tom 2009

You've been watching that weird-*** anime featuring the guy with the really funky hair, haven't you? Major Tom 2009

If you're talking about the craft that Chuck Yeager flew when he broke the sound barrier, it wasn't all that big; it'd almost have to be built on the same scale as the X-Men's Blackbird in order to accommodate more than two crew- members. Major Tom 2009

Except for a revised pic of Nightingale, and a necessary recreation of Ms. Mercury's pic, I've emailed all the rest of Team Alpha SA's pics to you. Major Tom 2009

One Red Hammer coming up: Red Hammer Major Tom 2009

Doctor M sounds an awful lot like a Witchman, only a couple of centuries early. Major Tom 2009

Here's what I came up with as a possible look for Venusia: Major Tom 2009

Lucas "Chaingang" Kincaid, slavecatcher of the Wells' Revenge A recent recruit to the crew of the Wells' Revenge, Lucas "Chaingang" Kincaid is something of an oddity, in that he comes from Earth's mid-20th Century. Major Tom 2009

You've just given me an idea for a new member of the crew... Major Tom 2009

Rhrakh'narr, Chief Engineer of the Wells' Revenge This huge arachnotaurian (spider-centaur) being is another of those whose world and species are unknown to the Federation. Aboard the Wells' Revenge, his job is that of Chief Engineer, ensuring that the ship runs with- out any problems whatsoever; those that do come up now and again are easily corrected due to his immense skill at engineering and knowledge of starship drive technologies. Repairs that would otherwise be impossible for a humanoid being to carry out are child's play for someone who can cling to walls or ceilings. Considering Rhrakh'narr's size compared to most humanoid beings, one would think that he'd be a formidable combatant; however, the reverse is true, as, while the hides of those belonging to his species are thicker and more durable than humanoid skin, they are not impervious to harm. A well-placed shot from an energy weapon -- or even a primitive kinetic-energy weapon, such as the firearms of the 21st Century -- would be enough to pen- etrate the hide and severely damage the internal organs, possibly resulting in death. While Rhrakh'narr dosen't actively seek combat, he is more than capable of defending himself. In addition to his eight legs, he has a pair of humanoid arms, which end in five-fingered hands which have razor-sharp claws instead of fingernails. Like Terran spiders, he is also capable of biting his opponent and injecting venom into him or her (or it); he can alter the composition of his venom, depending upon what he wants to do with his victim. If he is only capturing his opponent to take prisioner, the venom will only paralyze him while leaving him alive; if, however, his objective is to feed, then the venom will also slowly liquefy the victim's bodily tissues in preparation for digestion. That the victim is still alive while his body is being liquefied is, without a doubt, the most horrifying part of all. As an alternative to using his venom, Rhrakh'narr is also capable of spinning and projecting a strong webbing which is more than strong enough to bind a humanoid being without breaking. Major Tom 2009

Serena Mendez, assistant medtech of the Wells' Revenge When "Sawbones" Tyrell joined the crew of the Wells' Revenge, he wasn't alone -- his assistant medtech, a Human woman named Serena Mendez, was hired along with him. While some considered her to be little more than a glorified nurse, the fact of the matter was that she was nearly as skilled as a fully-trained physician when it came to treating a patient. The only person who treated her with respect was Dr. Tyrell, who greatly valued her skills as a medtech, and who wanted her to join him in his new job. It didn't take long for Serena to make her decision, and so when Dr. Tyrell left to join the crew of the Wells' Revenge, she went with him as his assistant. Her responsibilities, like those of Dr. Tyrell, are twofold: first, to keep the the crew healthy and fit for duty, and second, to see to it that their slave "cargo" -- when they have one aboard -- stays healthy until it can be sold. Major Tom 2009

Dr. Gideon "Sawbones" Tyrell, Medical Officer of the Wells' Revenge A once-respected doctor and surgeon within Federation space, Gideon "Sawbones" Tyrell lost his license to practice following the death of a patient when he used a new -- and wholly unauthorized -- surgical procedure in an attempt to save his life. The resultant scandal -- the patient was not only an influential member of the government, he was also the oldest son of one of the Federation's wealthiest citizens -- was enough to see Tyrell driven from his profession in disgrace, forced to support himself by working in illegal clinics on various worlds throughout the Federation. It was on one such world where he was found by "Dirty Tom" Rackham. Rackham -- who had been looking for a doctor who wouldn't have any compunctions about serving on a pirate vessel -- had heard about Tyrell and his situation from contacts which he still had from his Academy days, and figured that it was a tailor-made opportunity to get a skilled physician for the Wells' Revenge without much difficulty. Arranging to meet with Dr. Tyrell, Rackham told him that he'd been looking for a ship's doctor, and wanted to hire him for the position. He also told the doctor that he'd be well-paid for the job; he then asked the doctor if he'd have a problem with serving aboard a pirate ship. Tyrell -- who harbored a great deal of resentment for those who had hounded and driven him from his profession -- didn't take long to make his decision, and so when Rackham left the planet, Tyrell came with him. Not only does Tyrell oversee the medical treatment of the ship's crew, he also takes care of those poor unfortunate women -- and the occasional male captives -- who are destined for the galactic slave markets, ensuring that they are in perfect health. Fortunately, he doesn't have to do the job alone, as he has an able assistant to help shoulder the load... Major Tom 2009

Lyta, Second Mate of the Wells' Revenge and genetic "super-soldier" This (apparently) Human woman is third in line of the chain of command aboard the Wells' Revenge; while her responsibilities aboard ship consist of overseeing the weapons systems during slave raids or ship-to-ship combat, she occasionally takes on the duty of enforcing discipline among the rest of the crew, especially when it comes to those members that come from races which are physically stronger than Humans. Her ability to do so lies in the fact that she herself is physically stronger and faster than a baseline Human, due to the fact that she was genetically engineered. Where she was genengineered -- or by who, for that matter -- remains a mystery, even to the best intelligence agents of the Federation. What has been seen of her so far, as reported by those agents who have been able to make recordings of her, indicate that she is strong enough to bend steel in her bare hands, and to lift a ton and a half without breaking a sweat. She has also been seen to run at speeds of up to 30 m.p.h. for up to an hour; those Federation scientists who are knowledgeable on such subjects believe that her nonphysical abilities -- hearing, sight, taste, and touch -- are also superior to those of baseline Humans. They also believe that her immunological system is likewise superior, able to resist and eventually overcome any disease organism that she is exposed to in a matter of hours, or slightly longer for more virulent organisms. There are more than a few doctors and scientists within the Federation who would love to be able to study her in order to discover the secrets behind her creation; at this time, however, there is only one physician who is able to keep an eye on her health... Major Tom 2009

"Dirty Tom" Rackham's pirate crew, while being from most of the known worlds of the Galactic Federation, does have a few individuals within it that aren't from any world currently known to the astrographers of the Federation. The first of these individuals is shown below: A'z'mos, First Mate of the Wells' Revenge The First Mate of the Wells' Revenge, A'z'mos has an appearance that puts most Humans in mind of the Devil or other demonic figure -- brownish-red skin, pointed ears, and pupilless yellowish-white eyes, not to mention horns atop his head -- and he takes full advantage of it, especially on slave raids on worlds with primitive pop- ulations. When he's not carrying out slave-taking raids, A'z'mos works to maintain discipline and order aboard the Wells' Revenge; his greater skill at hand-to-hand combat -- compared to the majority of the crew -- ensures that the ship runs relatively smoothly. When his methods aren't enough, however, then it's the turn of the next member of the crew to deal with the problem... Major Tom 2009

Captain "Dirty Tom" Rackham, Space Pirate from the future Perhaps the most unusual threat that Project: Sentinel has ever had to face -- and try to deal effectively with -- is a man who calls himself "Dirty Tom" Rackham, who apparently possesses technology that is far more advanced than anything known to exist in either the Atomic Age or even the Silver Age. Whenever he has appeared, it has been to commit some crime that would otherwise be impossible to carry out using contemporary technology -- for example, he once attempted to steal the entire gold reserve which was kept at Fort Knox, using what was apparently some kind of teleportation device; he failed in this attempt only due to the timely intervention of a Kentucky-based super- hero team. More often than not, however, he succeeds in the performance of these crimes, and also manages to escape the grasp of the law -- frustrating both conventional law-enforcement and governmental super-agencies alike. Said agencies are also at a loss to understand why Rackham poses as a space pirate during these incidents; the shared belief is that Rackham is a delusional madman with access to advanced technology Nothing could be further from the truth. "Dirty Tom" Rackham isn't a delusional madman; he is indeed, in fact, an actual space pirate -- one who comes from the early 31st Century, a time represented by both the rise of the Galactic Federation and the rebirth of the Super- heroic Age, following a nearly millennium-long absence of metahuman beings from the face of the Earth, which what surviving (and thus far, unverifiable) historical records say occurred during the early years of the 21st Century. He was once a member of the Federation's space forces, until evidence of criminal activities -- some of which were performed while he was a cadet at the Academy for the Federation's military (mostly selling contraband items to his fellow cadets, including what were allegedly copies of a 21st Century magazine which apparently catered to the criminal element of the time; they still talk about the so-called "Nightmare Issue" behind closed doors at the Academy, usually accompanied by shudders caused by reliving the memory of that time) -- came to the attention of the Federation fleet's CID (Criminal Investigation Department). Before he could be brought in for questioning (and probably arrest), Rackham jumped ship in one of the sleazier parts of Federation space, but not before recovering his ill-gotten gains and leaving several false clues as to his location. Not long after his abrupt departure from the military, Rackham set about acquiring the means to keep himself wealthy, namely, a ship with which he could both engage in piratical activities and the occasional smuggling job. At some point in time during this period, he returned, in disguise, to the heart of Federation space -- Earth -- where he met a young woman who would not only reveal the opportunity of a lifetime, but who would also become the bane of his existence: Paradox Timely. While waiting in a multi-species nightclub for a business associate, Rackham spotted Timely as she and some of her friends from a local university entered. Entranced by what was obviously a very attractive young woman, Rackham decided to engage Timely in simple conversation -- during the course of which she mentioned something which she wasn't supposed to know about, much less discuss with a stranger: the existence of a project which was aimed at developing a ship which could not only travel interstellar distances more quickly than current- generation starships, but which was also capable of traveling from one time period to another. This, needless to say, got Rackham's absolute and undivided attention. After getting a few drinks into her (enough that she needed help to get around), Rackham escorted Timely from the nightclub, and took her to a cheap hotel, where after getting every bit of information about the project and its location from his inebriated "date", he trussed her up in such a way as to make it impossible for her to escape without help, and -- after gathering his crew from various seedy establishments around the city and returning to their ship -- set out for the project's secret base, where he planned to steal the timeship from. Upon his arrival at the base, Rackham sent out a short-range communications signal, one that indicated that not only had his ship suffered major damage to its life-support system, its lifeboat and escape pod launch systems had also been damaged. He also claimed that his navigation system was malfunctioning as well, and that he didn't know where he was (Rackham's ship was of a model which was known to suffer from such difficulties, and so no one aboard the project's orbital R&D station thought to question the story he gave them). Faced with what appeared to be a genuine emergency, the station's security chief decided to allow Rackham's ship to enter its landing bay. Once the bay was sealed, and the security personnel were gathered around Rackham's ship, he released an odorless and colorless knockout gas into the bay, rendering the security guards and the few maintenance personnel unconscious. Once everyone in the bay was out cold, Rackham and his crew left their ship and spread out throughout the station, either taking the station personnel prisioner, or killing them if they resisted. Before an hour had passed, every one of the station's inhabitants was either dead or being held prisioner in one of its cargo bays. As for Rackham and his crew, they were in the station's construction bay looking over their new ship, which Rackham -- with a fine sense of irony -- christened the Wells' Revenge. Realizing that they needed someone who was very knowledgeable about the Wells' Revenge and its systems, Rackham had his crew go through the station's computer records to find just such an individual. Within minutes, they'd found who they were looking for: a female Human scientist who'd not only worked upon the ship's time-travel mechanism, but who was also very attractive as well -- which gave Rackham an idea as to how to make some additional profit from his operation. Separating the most attractive female members of the station's personnel from the rest -- Human and alien alike -- and locking them in separate compartments aboard the timeship, Rackham and his crew then plundered the station, taking everything of value that they could. They also removed their possessions, weapons and the treasury from their old ship and transferred them to the Wells' Revenge, before rigging the old ship's reactor to detonate by remote control. Once all of their preparations were complete, Rackham and his crew -- with the unwilling aid of the female scientist, who'd been fitted with a mind-control headband, which forced her to obey any and all commands given to her from Rackham or any of the other pirates -- left the R&D station, and prepared to make the jump to FTL. Before they did so, Rackham sent the detonation signal to his old ship -- triggering an explosion that completely destroyed the station, making it look like some sudden catastrophe had befallen the station, and killing all those aboard it -- at least, that's what Rackham hoped the authorities would assume. Unfortunately for that part of the plan, a recording system that neither Rackham or any of his crew had known about or seen had recorded the raid in its entirety. The system had transmitted the recording to an FTL-capable drone launcher system hidden on a nearby asteroid; once the station's internal sensors had detected the overload and imminent detonation of a starship reactor, the command to launch was sent to the drone, which made its FTL jump at the same time as the Wells' Revenge. Within days of the station's destruction, the drone arrived at Federation HQ in the Terran system, where the extent of Rackham's crime soon became known to select individuals within the highest echelons of the government and military. While the destruction of the station made the interstellar news, the theft of the timeship was kept top-secret; the Federation didn't want it known that a vessel capable of time travel was in the hands of one of the most ruthless pirates ever. As for Rackham, he took his "cargo" of kidnapped women outside of Federation territory to one of the biggest multi- species slave markets in the galaxy, where all of his captives -- with the exception of the enslaved scientist, who he'd decided to keep for "entertainment" purposes -- were sold, earning him a considerable profit indeed. His profit was so great that he decided then and there to engage in the slave trade as a means of funding his operations -- and with the Wells' Revenge, he didn't have to limit himself to the 31st Century to find suitable victims; he could go to any period in the past to do his hunting in -- he'd just have to be careful that he didn't kidnap the future mother of some important historical personage. Other than that relatively minor factor, everyone else was fair game. Rackham's crime had one major consequence that resulted from it: those in the Galactic Federation's upper echelons who were privy to the existence of the timeship and its theft now knew that an entirely new kind of crime had become possible -- temporal crime. In order to combat this new threat, the intelligence and law-enforcement agencies of the Federation decided to create an entirely new agency, one which had two primary mandates: first, to actively pursue and apprehend those who would attempt to use trans-temporal technology to commit crimes, and second, to preserve the integrity of the timeline against attempts to alter the past by means of time travel. This new agency -- which was to become known as the Temporal Enforcement Directorate -- would be entirely secret, with its existence known only to a very select few, including the President of the Federation. As a further layer of secrecy, the agency would operate behind the cover of the newly-established Historical Preservation Society of Terra; the public faces of the Society were Grace and Melody Timely, the wives of renowned scientist Professor Justin Timely. Professor Timely himself is the head of the Technology Section of the agency; knowing that his intellect and technological abilities are best used in the agency's labs, his subordinates work together to keep the administrative duties of his position from getting in the way of his work. As for Paradox Timely, she was the first person to volunteer to join the Directorate; her guilt at having caused so many deaths, however indirectly, and her need to somehow atone for them, provides her with the motivation to be the best agent that she can be -- that, and the desire to one day find and arrest "Dirty Tom" Rackham and bring him to justice for his crimes. Major Tom 2009

Jasmine Chen, Communications Officer of Project: Sentinel Major Tom 2009