Enter ALTAR

OOC-In response to Alex's question, the ALTAR storyline can have Artemis and Plisken rescue the others if they should so desire. Feel free to contact me if you want this, the ALTAR storyline won't conclude for a little bit longer. I can have individual characters or small groups rescued and others ignore so they can continue their own stories. Okay kids, now to our feature presentation....

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“Sound’s good, your Artemis told me about your sightings of the sand worms. They sound like extraordinary creatures,” said Artemis happily.
“Well that’s all well and good but I can’t go waltzing in saying I’m a god. I’m going to need a whole army to get me in the palace,” Plisken-1 said as he studied the map through the spectacles.
“No, that’s true,” said Plisken-2, “And we’ll need to get some guard armour as well. And we’ll have to change it- we can’t use the armour of the enemy or we’ll end up killing our own guys. We could modify the armour to resemble another god, say Osiris. We could recruit the Dwarfers from my reality as the army.”
“This might take longer than the time that we have,” said Plisken, thinking the plan through, “Artemis, what do you think?”
“Yes, I think this might go rather well.”

***
“This is agent Omicron 57. Ma’am, subject 15, his parallel and dimension 66-8A’s Artemis have made a plan to rescue their allies in the local despot’s temple. Requesting orders.”

<Snip/>

"We are making our move. Perseus will lead a team to capture the targets. Once Artemis-1 and Subject 15 are captured we will move to eliminate Artemis-2 and Thomas-2. Stand by for Perseus and the capture team" "Yes ma'm"

Meanwhile

Artemis and Plisken were traversing the desert to reach the temple and attempt their plan alone, having given up searching for the alternate Dwarfers. Little did they know that they had discovered their prime-reality others and were unable to assist them. The absentees were either dead or lost in the desert. The lack of help didn't stop the two men. They could still summon the sand worms with the thumper and wreak havoc on the temple, and they had obtained a disguise from a caravan.

The temple loomed in the distance. It seemed a daunting task to assault a god's temple, but Artemis had the feeling that everything would turn out just fine. Then again, he had the same feeling with the cold fusion laser that froze him for three million years. However, the deep freeze did protect him from the Cadimum leak. But now he's....SHUT THE HELL UP! Artemis silenced his brilliant, wandering mind. Even if this smegged up he was sure that between the two of them, Artemis and Plisken could find a way out of whatever scenario they were stuck in. Artemis dismounted his sand Dragon and descended to the bottom of a dune with the thumper, while Plisken, clad in his disguise, ascended to the top with a jury-rigged voice-projector (a really really powerful megaphone that could project an audible sound for up to 50 miles). The plan was to gain the attention of Ra using the projector and demand the release of the other Dwarfers, and if he refused, call in the worms. Artemis planned for every contingency EXCEPT how they would get back home once they were all together. Artemis-2 could probably help, Artemis thought.

Artemis broke his trance of deep thought (he was becoming worried that they would become more frequent). He hadn't heard from Plisken in a while. Maybe he was waiting, or maybe something was wrong. Artemis drew his rifle and ascended to the top of the dune, Plisken was gone. Out if the corner of his eye Artenis saw a red glare, a dart landed in his neck. Artemis fell limp and collapsed into the sand....

Agent Omicron 57 had finally gotten some action. Thankfully the others were busy with Subject 15 or he never would have gotten the opportunity to bag such a valuable target. He could tell that a promotion was within reach. He approached Artemis and kneeled beside him. "You're going to be just fine if you cooperate. I can't guarantee that you'll be spared once you're no longer useful" the smug agent said. With his last bit of strength, Artemis spit in the agent's exposed eye. "Go f*ck yourself" Artemis muttered before passing out. His fellow agents appeared, along with Perseus, a high ranking member of the JMCSDF-ALTAR group. He hoped that he impressed Perseus enough to get the promotion he desired, and a set of sleek black body armor like Perseus had. "Get them in the crawler" Perseus said flatly before walking away. The agent didn't know what to think.

Agent Omicron 57 scanned the two men while his fellow two agents set up the return portal, Perseus stood over him. "They're all good sir" 57 said. "Good" Perseus said. The last thing 57's brain recorded was a loud pop, and he fe into darkness.

Artemis and Plisken were aware enough to witness "Perseus" murder his three teammates. "Okay, that was a dick move" Plisken commented. "Just be lucky I got to you when I did" Perseus said. "Are you okay?" He asked Artemis. "Other than the lack of feeling in my arms, and the supressed memory of my mechrosexual sister getting plowed by a mechanoid returning, I'm fine" "I'll be okay, thanks for asking" Plisken said. "Look, there's a reason I rescued you two. I need your help" Perseus removed his helmet, revealing a man that resembled a younger, and more handsome Artemis. "Whuh?" Artemis muttered. " Major Thaddeus A. Pritchard II of the Jupiter Mining Company Self Defense Fir e, son of Dr. Artemis K. Pritchard VI of the Artemis Labs Trans-dimensional Alternate Realities project, better know as ALTAR" Artemis was speechless. "I'm guessing you're from a reality different than our own, since there is no such thing as the JMCSDF or ALTAR in our reality" Plisken said, helping Artemis to his feet. "Yes Mr Plisken. The Artemis Pritchard of my reality is the one you refer to as Artemis-3, he's the reason I'm here" "The one who caught me leaving the Roo outpost? What's wrong? And also, what the hell is ALTAR?" Artemis asked. "My father was extremely successful in his career. He was able to discover trans-dimensional travel hundreds of years before humanity in your timeline does. He founded ALTAR to study alternate timelines. For years ALTAR operated with altering any timelines and causing any damage. However, the JMC bought ALTAR and transformed it into a tool of greed. They mine alternate realities and sabotage opponents through space and time using agents and soldiers like me" "If you don't mind my asking, how could the JMC afford the purchase? They posted severe losses just before the attack on Blue Dwarf" Plisken asked. "Like in Artemis-2's universe, the JMC is the sold mining corporation. They have their own planets, their own army, and trillions of credits. Their biggest investment is ALTAR, which they'll do anything to protect, which is why they imprisoned my father. He was trying to use you and the Dwarfers of your reality to help him overthrow the JMC, but he was never able to locate the others before the JMC found out. I need your help to rescue him and take out the ALTAR labs" "Why in the hell would you want to destroy a lab with the ability to travel through space and time? I was okay with the Roo outpost but I actually founded this one!" "Because humanity is too irresponsible for such an ability, we're not ready for it yet. As a scientist, what do you think the most probable outcome is if the facility is spared?" "The continued destruction of alternate timelines...." "Which means the only logical solution is to destroy the labs. Please help me, I need your combined skills to pull this off" Artemis rubbed his forehead and pondered. This was the right thing to do, even if he would be destroying something that his alternate sf spent his entire life building. "Okay, let's do this" Thaddeus activated the return portal and lead the men through.

ALTAR Facility, Tycho Crater, Luna (Earth's Moon)

Nobody was attending the portal when the trio arrived. The computer had been bugged to forget their arrival and to feed command with false reports on Perseus' whereabouts. This gave the trio enough time to end the JMC's reign on the multiverse, free Artemis-3, and hopefully find a way to regroup with the others and go home. "So what's the plan?" Artemis asked as he cleared the portal. "I'm going to locate my father while you two plant explosives on the power plant, backup generator, and the focusing array for the station's tractor beam network" Thaddeus said. "How will that destroy the facility?" "It won't, but it will start a chain reaction that will destroy the station in a way that will prevent the JMC from being able to salvage the remains. The station uses an immense diamond mass to focus the portal beams. That mass is a colossal diamond filled asteroid that is suspended above the base by a tractor beam. By destroying the reactor and backup generator, the tractor beam will fail, as the batteries aren't powerful enough to power it. The focusing array's destruction will cause the asteroid to fall to the planet instead of being pushed into space, which the tractor beam is programmed to do in a power failure. The resulting impact will crush and cover the facility, leaving it irrecoverable" "Okay, but how do we escape?" Plisken asked. "We have been modifying our only remaining research ship to act as a mobile lab so we can continue our research. We'll use it to escape, and using the portal aboard, send you back to the desert to rescue your friends, or go back to Blue Dwarf" Artemis and Plisken looked at each other. They were both thinking the same thing. "What good is a ship if you don't have friends with you to share it with?" Artemis said. "Okay, we'll send you to the desert. But be careful, it's a one way trip, we might not be able to rescue you. However, there's a handheld prototype porta-portal in lab twelve. There was only enough Pritchardium in stock for one power cell, so you can only use it once" "Seriously? You people have more resources than the entire Space Corps of my timeline and you can't build more than one battery or even make a two-way portal?" Artemis raved. "Look, not a lot of money goes to research anymore, okay? Now are you ready or not?" Thaddeus retorted. "Where do we go?" Plisken asked. "Since you're better in a fight, I'll send you to the more densely guarded upper levels to plant the bomb on the focusing array, Mr Plisken. Dad....er....Artemis, you'll go down to the lower levels to handle the reactor and generator. We'll meet on the lower star dock to escape. One last thing, there's tons of JMCSDF soldiers here. Try to maintain stealth, but in some areas it might not be possible. Be careful and stay in contact" The trio scampered off in various directions.

An asteroid hovered over the Tycho crater. Ships circled around the asteroid, anything from Starbugs to slow moving Star Ox freighters. The Absolute, the capital ship of the JMC's private army, slowly prowled through the crowd of ships. The eight mile long Dreadnaught's ominous presence sent the tiny ships scurrying away. Onboard, Admiral LaToure checked in on her capture team. "Computer, what do you mean?" "All agents have been killed, Perseus is missing" "What caused this? Where are the subjects?" "Unknown, the only plausible solution is that the Blue Dwarf crew of the desert planet's universe and the marooned members of the crew from the alternate timeline (OOC-the prime universe, our universe) rescued them" "Dispatch a cleanup team to remove all evidence of our presence and send a platoon of troops to comb the desert for the others. Having the other crewmembers would greatly aid the project"

OOC-Okay, the back door is open if anyone wants in on the ALTAR story. Have your character get captured and put into the brig at the facility. For those that join the story, please DO NOT alter the backstory in any way.

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