Tea and Grackle

The mission objective was to look for surprises, or surprise each
other, or be surprised. We did all three. Some of us expect to
remain surprised for the duration.

MRC came down hot and heavy in Fort Tyler style, notably Skunk got his
tip wet with Ti as Mjollnir was returned to service. No surprises
there!

Our first shock came when a new stargate opened near to our fortspace,
and SCUL emerged blinking and bewildered into what seemed a new-made
universe.

Laden with maggots and babymaggots, we launched in a bizarre
circuitous fashion which raised brief hopes that we'd be home in forty
seconds and all get 200 points for not having mechanicals. YT's
unaccustomed erratic navigation continued to raise eyebrows throughout
the mission, contributing to both our successful status and a high
technical rating.

Our next shock came when Stogie appeared curbside, attached to a large
organic symbiote and blaring our theme song. Wha? Senses reeling, we
headed for Harvard Constellation, then unsavory snax, where the
indigenous folk dances of the natives shocked us all afresh.

Kpafun and Retard sported feature-enhanced helms, which surprised no
one as they do some fool thing every mission.  But when we got to
MIT Const. our minds were assaulted afresh, with Stogie warping in
from nowhere on Wadlow, incoming-high-fiving Moose on LokiDucker, and
YT producing both ice cream cake and A WHOLE ENTIRE
DOOR apparently FROM HER SPACE BEHIND.

Next we sailed the most obscure wormhole in Somerville, a dark path
leading nowhere...except to Grackle. There Skunk unfurled a
tea party from Cloudbuster, and pilots enjoyed genteel camaraderie
with light, healthful infusions and rusks. Babymaggot Paddington's
nerves gave way under these unwonted conditions, and he ran amok with
his spacesuit in disarray, then gone entirely. (This revealed the
exact tattoo that everyone had expected, so we were all bored for
like, a minute, then we forgot about it.)

With our maggot tranquilized and re-diapered, the solar winds took us
to Davis Constellation and home. There Cloudbuster surprised all by
ejecting the Death Star mast. From my HARV I saw the heartwarming
sight of a dozen pilots running straight into the path of that massive
vessel, as Skunk piloted calmly into the scrum and the mast dropped
safely into waiting hands. It was totally like Iwo Jima backwards.

Then we didn't knight any maggots, which is silly as most of them are
too big to fit in the pouch now. Lastly back to the fort...except
Bendy. For his sins, spacewalking bereft of ship, he bore the
detached Death Star slowly home. Very slowly. To the sound of
giggling.