After a bit of a walk (apparently the Marines decided to put their perimeter out as far as they could effectively cover it, given their troop strength) the buildings of the Marine base begin to show themselves through the rain and ground fog. They are a mostly one-storey collection of white and tan painted block or concrete buildings, with brown trimmings, well suited to a southern Californian environment. There is signage in a kind of abbreviated English common to the military.

here are a great number of uniformed men, either hustling to-and-fro on business or standing around under arms and wearing the bulkier clothing and oil-slick cloak that the men at the checkpoint had on. Once he is surrounded by these comerades again, Ray seems to become both more relaxed and more confident.

The carriges pull onto the roadway and then into a flat area of asphalt divided by white lines, apparently specifically designated for such carriges to be left. The men inside loiter there.

"This way."

When they arrive at their destination, Sam slides impatiently off his horse, and not seeing a stable hand available, promptly loops the reins about the nearest suitable object.
"Let's get this over with," he says, following where Ray directs them.

Lenore dumbly claws at the reins wrapped around her until she manages to get a grip on them to hold. Then she stands still like a post.

Ray zeroes in on a nearby PFC who doesn't appear to be otherwise occupied.

"Stand here and guard this zombie, Marine. Make nobody shoots it, and that it doesn't eat anyone's brains!"

"Remember, Lenore, no eating anyone's brains!" Kajin laughs as he follows along. "Stand there and be a good Sweety until I get back!"

A gangly young private bursts through the doors of a nearby administrative building at a near sprint, before skidding to a halt in front of the party, where he pauses a moment to stare in open mouthed surprise at the strangely dressed locals. Almost immediately he blushes a shade of crimson similar to his hair and dark enough to wash out his freckles, before adjusting his glasses and snapping to attention.

"Sir! Brigadier General Drexler sent me to find you, Sir! If you would care to follow me."

And with that, he walks all five steps back to the door of the admin building and holds it open for the party.

"Follow this, follow that," Tom mutters, "I'm starting to wonder if the title of Major means anything."

Ray looks the local up and down.

"Not in whatever outfit you're from, it doesn't. Damn kid, callin' me sir! I work for a living."

Ray continues in this vein as he leads the gomers inside.

Sam merely shakes his head and follows along.

Inside the building, a prim looking woman doesn't even bother to look up from her computer. She simply points with a pencil.

"Left hallway, end door. The general is expecting you, as well as a professor Herbert of something or other from the university."

As the party reach the end door, excited conversation can be heard within. It's source becomes apparent as the door is opened by an exasperated looking MP. Inside general Drexler sits behind his desk with a martyred expression on his face, as an elderly fellow in a white lab coat waves his arms about in the air, an unceasing flow of technobabble flowing from his mouth. You can't understand any of it, but he's quite excited about it. He's also apparently figured out how to go without breathing, since he has yet to inhale.

Sam walks in and looks around carefully, sizing up the General and the academic. He takes a seat in a chair by the door and waits for Kajin to do the talking.

(OOC: Cast Prestidigitation (lvl 0))

Sam creates a 10x10 checkerboard floating in the air in front of him. Two sets of rectangular pieces stand on opposing sides of the board, one colored black, the other red. The pieces begin moving, seemingly of their own accord, with some vanishing as they come into contact with each other.

"AHEM!"

Tom tries to silence the room.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to this new world. Well, new to you anyway. I really must give you a tour sometime, but the fact of the matter is that we're at war. Now, judging by the way you chaps set a perimeter and bark orders left and right, you clearly are some sort of military outfit. Tell me, have you fellas ever dealt with an enemy that is... how you say, less than alive? Or an uber-powerful dark lord for that matter?"

Ray cringes. First, he has been summoned before the holy-of-holies, and now this gomer is acting like he owns the place, and he isn't even (as far as Ray can tell) the head gomer.

Drexler's face shows open relief as Professor Herbert stops talking as he stares at the odd group entering the room. Drexler raises an eyebrow at Sam's checkerboard, but says nothing. Herbert however, immediately strides over, and begins waving an odd looking device over the apparition with a muttered "Would you mind if I had a look at this?"

Drexler is just opening his mouth to speak when Tom beats him to it. Sara facepalms, and Drexler gets an odd look in his eye. He smiles.

"And let me be the first to welcome you to Fort Critchton. It's always nice to get a friendly welcome when you move somewhere new. As for dealing with those who would make themselves our enemies, well son, lemme put it to you this way: we are a part of the most technologically advanced and highly trained military force to ever exist back where we come from. Now, I don't know about the rest of your world, but from what I've seen, that puts us somewhere between five hundred and fifteen hundred years ahead of anything you boys have even dreamed about, technologically. If it can be killed, we can kill it one way or another. But, we appear to have stepped through the looking glass, and we have no idea what to expect from this new world of yours. Frankly, we'd be mighty happy to have a few friends, it looks like we're going to need them, and from what I've heard, you need all the friends you can get as well. Something about a massive invasion and failing defences. We might be able to help you there if you're willing to over look our uninvited presence and help us figure out how we got here and how we might get back."

Drexler leans back in his chair.

"But first I'd need to know that I'm dealing with people possessing enough clout to make it happen."

"Well, I am Major Tom Goldberry, assigned to this job for my exquisite command skills and my... deft hands." Tom gives a cheeky grin at deft hands. "We have Kajin, the royal necromancer. He's slightly above me in power due to the fact he can raise a legion of undead soldiers. And we have... um... Sam! Right, he... does something. Anywho," Tom extends his hand, "Pleasure to meet you."