Celestial One

**Celestial One** was a role-play that took place from June-July 2018. It was a spin-off of the Mars role-plays (Mars Operation and Mars War), which had taken place a year earlier. However, unlike the previous Mars role-plays, Celestial One was written and directed by GrandpaGames. It revolved around the growing threat of the Milky Way Agency of Terrorism to Groupy McGroupface and the Underwood Administration.

The main characters of Celestial One included President Frank Underwood, Doug Stamper, Rhys, Neil Armstrong, Yuri Cosmos, Howard Wolowitz, Matt Kowalski and Mark Watney.

## Storyline

14 months after the conclusion of the Mars Operation, Daymond Matthew is scheduled to give his first ever televised interview. The interview was conducted by conspiracy theorist and alt-right television personality Brett O'Keefe. Since the Mars Operation, Matthew has seemingly lost all sanity and appears mentally disturbed. He spends the entirety of the interview publicising a series of Frank Underwood-based conspiracy theories, all of which are clearly factually incorrect.

Meanwhile, President Frank Underwood assembles his advisors to speak of a new crisis facing the administration. It is said that several people have mysteriously vanished from the state of D'ehbbu D'ahbad'hee-Dahbad'hee, and the CIA suspect Mars as being responsible, due to the strange circumstances of these abductions. Frank Underwood wishes to investigate, and therefore suggests sending a crew out to space in order to investigate the matter.

CIA Director Gust Avrakotos creates a short-list of potential candidates to lead the mission. After interviewing several candidates, Neil Armstrong is chosen to lead the operation. Rhys, Mars Operation survivor, is also selected. Additionally, Yuri Cosmos is called upon to build the ships for the mission. Mark Watney, Buzz Aldrin, Matt Kowalski and Howard Wolowitz became the designated astronauts.

Having recently recruited Daymond Matthew to assist him, Brett O'Keefe takes the decision to formally launch a new alliance known as the Nova Truth Seekers, with the intention to take down the Underwood Administration. They are joined by like-minded conspiracy theorist Roy Neary, who also loathes the President. They later decide to enlist liberal politicians Lisa Simpson, former Penguin Club Presidential Candidate, and Bernie Sanders, former Secretary of Education, for their assistance. Whilst initially wanting nothing to do with the Truth Seekers, Simpson and Sanders are enticed to join by Matthew, who argues that no matter what their policy disagreements are, they can all agree that President Underwood's treatment of Mars has been appalling. For the greater good, the two liberal-minded politicians agree to join the alliance.

Within a number of says, Yuri Cosmos creates the ships and they are launched into space. Whilst the ships successfully take off, the amount of force causes a major earthquake throughout the group chat. The Nova Truth Seekers find this earthquake to be somewhat suspicious, and attempt to investigate.

The spaceship makes its way into space, with the astronauts frequently contacting Armstrong and Rhys to inform them of their current condition. However, whilst in the middle of a conversation, all communication fades. The ship is plunged in to darkness. Suddenly, something can be heard lurking in the shadows. As the astronauts quickly try to find one another, they come across a gigantic insect-like alien who has hijacked the ship. Buzz Aldrin attempts to fight off the Alien, but this severely backfires and Aldrin is eaten. The three astronauts run in to the next room and try to take shelter. The panic causes Howard Wolowitz to faint, leaving Mark Watney and Matt Kowalski alone to find a solution. They are able to once again gain contact with Earth and they inform Armstrong and Rhys as to what is currently happening. Armstrong decides that the only way in which the astronauts have a chance of surviving this is if they crash-land the spaceship on Mars. This plan of action is then carried out, and luckily all three remaining astronauts survive. The Alien has seemingly disappeared.

Neil Armstrong and Rhys contact the Secretary of State, Catherine Durant to give her the information that the three astronauts have been forced to crash land on Mars. Secretary Durant immediately contacts the President, and the pair of them decide to reach out to Martian President Parlay Nu. They are successful in their attempt to call Parlay Nu, despite the fact that Nu expresses little interest in talking to Underwood. Nu does, however, wish to deal with this situation quickly and states he will send a group of Martians to hunt down the three astronauts and send them back to Groupy McGroupface.

Watney and Kowalski, as well as Wolowitz who has now awoken, are walking to try and find fellow life when they are greeted by a car containing three Martians. The Martians inform the astronauts that they will take them to President Nu, in order to send them back to Groupy McGroupface. The three men comply and enter the car, however once the doors are locked they are informed that they are in fact under arrest for crimes against the people of Mars. Wolowitz, Watney and Kowalski soon find themselves imprisoned.

Once in jail, they are given the news that for their impending court trial they will be awarded with a lawyer. The lawyer enters the room and it is none other than Groupy McGroupfaceian Saul Goodman, the man who had previously been the defence lawyer for Aaron Burr in the infamous case of *"The State Vs. Aaron Burr".* Goodman tells the astronauts that, whilst staying at his residency in D'ehbbu D'ahbad'hee-Dahbad'hee, he was abducted by a spaceship amongst others by the Milky Way Agency of Terrorism (MWAOT). After ensuring that their conversation is not being listened in on, Wolowitz successfully contacts Neil Armstrong and Rhys to alert them as to what has happened. The two men at mission control tell them to remain calm and go through with the court trial, and in the meantime their release would be negotiated with the Martian government.

Neil Armstrong seeks out Catherine Durant once again and the pair meet with President Underwood at the White House, whilst Rhys was left to look after mission control. Underwood regains contact with President Nu and threatens him, demanding for the release of all hostages on Mars. President Nu declares that there is nothing he can do; the hostages have been taken by the MWAOT and he does not have the power to stop them. He claims that ever since the conclusion of the Mars War he has had no real power, and instead the MWAOT have taken over the entirety of the Martian group chat. Not being able to give any more assistance, Nu hangs up the phone. Underwood then reaches out to Yuri Cosmos, who he requests further help from. Cosmos suggests sending 'SmartShips' to Mars, which would be able to navigate by themselves to Mars. The 'SmartShips' would then collect the hostages and take them back to Groupy McGroupface. This plan is agreed upon and Cosmos begins to create the ships.

In the meantime on Mars, the three astronauts have to go through with the court trial, during which they are found guilty for bogus charges. However, just as the court trial begins to reach its conclusion, the door flies open and the creature that had previously hijacked the ship sprints into the room. He eats the Martian Judge, giving the three astronauts and Saul Goodman to to escape. After leaving the courtroom, they are met with the SmartShips. They quickly locate the other hostages and after doing so they leave the planet of Mars.

Unfortunately, the escape does not go as planned. The ships are stopped in their tracks by a being known as Nuval, who has used a manual override to hijack the ships. Nuval declares that he is the leader of the Milky Way Agency of Terrorism and demands to speak with Presidency Underwood; if this request is not fulfilled then the ships will be crashed. Wolowitz attempts to bide for time, and is able to get in touch with mission control. Eventually, Nuval is placed in direct contact with President Underwood.

Nuval orders Frank Underwood to meet with him at a neutral location in Groupy McGroupface; if this demand is not met then Nuval pledges to crash the SmartShips. Underwood concedes to this demand, offering to meet at the launch base. In return the ships are freed from Nuval's clutches.

President Frank Underwood meets with all of his main advisors, as well as the Secretaries of State, Defence and Homeland Security. They agree that the threat posed by the Milky Way Agency of Terrorism must be ended once and for all and the only way to do so is to assassinate Nuval. They then all create an elaborate plan in order to carry this plan out, whilst also ensuring that President Underwood is kept safe at all costs. After this meeting, Frank Underwood is left alone in the Oval Office and uses this time to address the audience, referring to Nuval as one of the greatest threats that he has ever faced.

Whilst all of this is continuing to take place, the Nova Truth Seekers hatch a plan of their own. Bernie Sanders has been receiving a number of leaks from White House Press Secretary Seth Grayson, detailing the activities of the administration. Grayson tells Sanders the exact location of the launch base, which is where the expected meeting between Underwood and Nuval is planned to take place.

The Smart Ships continue their quest to arrive back on Earth, however there are further problems. Several MWAOT ships begin to pursue the SmartShips, once again putting the astronauts and all of the hostages at risk. Matt Kowalski however takes the selfless decision to crash his SmartShip into the MWAOT ships in order to eliminate this threat. Kowalski dies, but in the process he saves the lives of everyone else that successfully return to Earth.

Several hours later, Nuval arrives on Earth in a spaceship. Frank Underwood exits mission control and goes out to greet Nuval. After several minutes of arguing between the two men, Secretary of Defence George Custer is confident that the time is right; he orders one of his men to fire at Nuval, causing the Martian to fall to the floor in pain. He then however looks up with a smug smile, telling Underwood *"You should have aimed for the head".* Nuval then runs back on to the spaceship and flees Groupy McGroupface.

Following the advice of Bernie Sanders and Lisa Simpson, Brett O'Keefe, alongside Roy Neary and Daymond Matthew, break into the launch site. They are able to evade security and hide in the trees. This gives them a front-row seat to the conversation between Underwood and Nuval, as well as the failed assassination attempt. O'Keefe films the entirety of these events and ultimately published it online. This led to Frank Underwood receiving record-low approval ratings.

That same evening, after launching an investigation in to the administration's leaks, White House Chief of Staff Doug Stamper reaches the conclusion that Seth Grayson is responsible. Stamper invites Grayson to his apartment to inform him that he is aware of what has happened, but is willing to give him a second chance. The conversation between the two men is largely peaceful, until Stamper throws Grayson onto the floor and beings to suffocate him with an empty class. He demands obedience from Grayson, and only once this is agreed upon through blinking does Stamper allow him to breathe again.

## Cast

**Arl**

* Delivery Man

**Buttons99999**

* Doug Stamper
* Tim Kaine
* Neil Armstrong
* Howard Wolowitz
* Claire Underwood
* Catherine Durant
* Bernie Sanders
* Lisa Simpson
* Parlay Nu
* Seth Grayson

**GrandpaGames**

* Frank Underwood
* Matt Kowalski
* Mark Watney
* Buzz Aldrin
* Daymond Matthew
* Gust Avrakotos
* George Custer
* Chris Murphy
* Roy Neary
* Alien
* Saul Goodman
* Nuval

**Red498**

* Rhys
* Yuri Cosmos
* Brett O'Keefe
* Figel Narage
* Martian Judge