ic Written in the Stars (IC)

[Fox]

Gaian Knight

 

"Agreed," said the geokinetic hero, still working that rock in one hand. "I haven't had as much personal contact with them, but nothing I've read from our reports throws too many red flags, and they're not openly hostile so far today. If they're here for something peaceful, we don't gain much by leaning on them - and if they're here to be hostile, I'd rather they be hostile here where we're strongest and can call in some space-worthy heavy hitters if it comes to that."

 

"Which I hope it won't, of course," he added, one corner of his mouth pulling up into a small but self-aware smile. He'd been involved in a couple too many crisis situations to not have done the math on how long it'd take to get key parts of the station out through a portal while the rest hit other escape options, and he'd never liked the resulting numbers. "But still. For now we keep an eye on them and step in if a fight breaks out or someone tries some obvious shenanigans."

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

"You're the boss," Casper says, holding up his hands.

 

Velocity obviously knows these Praetorians better than he do, and Gaian Knight backs her up, so that's really all that he need here. 

 

Still, Casper hasn't had much experience with all this space stuff, and he doesn't like that they're essentially flying blind here. 

 

"How long do you think before it gets here, if they don't get tot it?"

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

Waiting.  Heroditus could manage that.  Patience was a virtue, after all. 

 

But he would not spend the time idle.  He checked over his outfit, wanting to make sure it was neat and tidy in case he was to meet with alien diplomats.  (Well, he'd already worked to make sure it was all neat & tidy, to make a good impression on the Lighthouse staff.  But now he'd have to be extra spiffy.)  He fiddled with his bandolier and tunic, smoothing out wrinkles and making sure everything was lined up evenly.

 

"Still no word from the... the lead vessel?," he asked.

 

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

"No, still no communication from the lead vessel." One of the technicians responded to Artificer’s question.

"Well, now we just wait." Stated Velocity, something Gaian knew the speedster at times found difficult to do. The speedster looked over to one of the technicians. "While we wait, let's make sure the Lor translators Deadalus installed are online. While some of the Praetorians speak English, many do not, so want to make things as accommodating as possible."

 

Over the next several minutes, the Lighthouse technicians, tracked the first craft, which eventually entered Earth's atmosphere on the opposite side from where the Lighthouse was currently orbiting, appearing to descend down toward the West Coast of Africa. The information was relayed to the Praetorians as their vessel proceeded through the solar system.

 

As short while later, Velocity, Gaian Knight, Ghost and Artificer were two levels down, near one of the airlocks set up for docking with vessels too large to fit into the internal hanger. The Praetorian ship came into view, a long, generally teardrop shaped spacecraft just over one hundred feet long. It had a sleek and smooth silver hull, the point of the teardrop apparently the front of the vessel.

It was not long after the Praetorian vessel had docked that four individuals exited from the airlock.

"Hey Traveller, Moonmoth, Galvanic, good to see you all again." Velocity said in greeting as the three Praetorians led the way in. She looked at the fourth individual, a tall individual wearing armor that seemed familiar to the Speedster but she could not quite place it. He had grey-blue skin, white hair and tapered ears and was carrying a large pike in one hand. His expression was not hostile, but certainly seemed a bit more serious than the others. "Hi, I don't believe we have met, Velocity from the Freedom League." She said with a smile and a small wave.

 

"Justicar Vor'an." The figure responded, bowing his head slightly.

 

Velocity gave him a small nod in return before more generally regarding the group. "These are my fellow League members, Gaian Knight and Ghost, and our guest, Artificer." She said by way of introductions. "Sooooo, not going to lie, the suspense has been killing us. What's going on?"

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

Sitara had been putting it off for a long time (and she could do a long time really well) but it seemed that circumstances meant she was returning to the Sol System for more than a quick visit.

 

 

"गृहे स्वागतम्!” she said mostly to herself, in what sounded to those in the know as archaic Sanskrit, before she switched to flawless English

 

 

“Nice to meet you all, though Sitara will be just fine! So you haven’t you been briefed on what lover boy has been up to?” she grinned a moment before more seriously adding “This might get a little complicated, what do you know about Galactic politics?”

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic

 

Chlo'zel strode off the ship, her yellow-and-gold coat streaming behind her, striding in her leather boots as she pulled on some matching gloves. She looked almost human, but her eyes had red irises and no visible pupils, her skin uniformly cerulean, her hair white. A faint scent of ozone trailed in her wake. She inclined her head amiably to the rest of the group, flashing a wide smile. "Translator software?" Galvanic asked, inclining her head to hear a strange language. "Gooddesirable." 

 

She switched to Tempestian, if she was going to be translated anyway, there was no real need to try to speak through multiple layers of second languages. "<Greetings, my name is Doctor Chlo'zel Elzak,>" she said, greeting the other humans she didn't know. "<Sitara is correct, there's been a mild diplomatic incident where the leader of a sovereignty has...>" She trailed off, a strained expression on her face. "<I will confess, while I have met a couple of humans, I do not know your values. Do you have a phenomenon where the male of your species will do some truly incredibly foolish things in the name of love?>"

[Avenger Assembled]

The Patriot 

 

She strode into the corridor behind her team, adorned with the symbols of her nation-state, heavily armed and kitted for battle. Married to a surveying officer in the Lor military who had settled in the Sol system, mother to a clone-citizen of the Republic, Patriot was recognizable to the Praetorians if only because she was at least a supporting character in many of the latest strategic and tactical updates from this bizarre planet. Rather than interrupt the ongoing conversation, she took up a position behind her team. 

 

Inside Ashley was exhausted - and not a little angry. Phil was fractious these days which meant his moms were fractious with each other. But how could she just not _tell me about this_ dammit! There were fights about whose turn it was to wash the baby's dishes and then there were fights where you just didn't remember to tell your wife that the Praetorians were making a visit to Earth - and that Star-Khan was coming with them - until they were already here! We are going to have some words, dammit. 

 

But she'd been in diplomatic situations when things were bad at home before. She'd get through this fine. She wasn't just going to lash out because she was having a bad day. Christ, is this some kind of sick sexual-ugh, stay focused. "If you can slow his assault long enough to scramble our meta and regular defenses, we can hit Star-Khan before he hits us even if he's got one of the big battleships," she said with cool tactical precision. "Are we shooting for hard or soft?" she asked. "Are there eyes on his touchdown? I'm assuming that since we're all here, we're not trying to intercept him in-atmosphere." 

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

"Lover boy? Somebody going out of their way to show off how strong they are to get someone to marry them or something?" Ghost asks, looking at Sitara. Chlo-zel (he is sure that he will be pronouncing that wrong if he tries) sheds a bit more light, and then Patriot comes from out of nowhere and starts talking about Star-Khans, scrambling defenses and whatever else she got going. She clearly knows a lot more about whatever is going on here than he has any chance of knowing.

 

He shakes his head. He has absolutely no idea what's going on here.

 

"How about we just assume that some of us got no idea what's going on here at all?" he asks Sitara. Honestly, he is just confused right now.

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

Heroditus bowed to and saluted each Praetorian, briefly interrupted by the double-take he did on seeing Patriot.  It was only after doing so that he realized he was -- once again -- the tallest person in the room.

 

Are all the peoples of the galaxy so short?  I know Surfacers are short and thick compared to Atlanteans, but I was hoping to see more variety as I saw more and more, beyond even the Surface.  Could Atlanteans truly be so different from everyone else?

 

And then he saw Justicar Vor'an, who stood a few inches taller than Heroditus.  Ah, that is more like it.

 

Shakig his head to clear such existential thoughts, he looked to Doctor Elzak, briefly admiring her cerulean skin.  "I know little of human courtship rituals, but from what I have seen, extravagant gestures do seem to be the norm.  So this," he glanced to Patriot, "this Star-Khan is looking to impress someone?  Someone from out there," he gestured to the monitor showing the long-distance sensors, still trained on the wormhole near Pluto which they'd all comes through, "or someone on Earth?"

 

Trying to impress someone on Earth is unlikely -- how would they even have met? -- but long-distance relationships are possible.

 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

“May I introduce Justicar Vor’an, sworn protector of the Star-Khan! So no we’re going to let the ship land for now…” Sitara smiled sweetly at Patriot “And Earth’s still using nuclear weapons? No wonder the Lor consider us so primitive!”

 

 

She activated her wrist computer to display a map of the local region of the Milky Way

 

 

“The Stellar Khanate is, or has been, an aggressive expansionistic galactic power on the edge of Lor space. They were mostly kept in check by the Grue Unity, but they’ve been licking their wounds since all that trouble with the Incursion. The new leader of the Khanate wants to halt this expansion and even drawback to try and gain control of his space. It could mean peace for that region of space for quite a long time.”

 

 

She took a deep breath before continuing with the whole reason they were here.

 

 

“To do this he suggested a marriage between himself and Amara Val-Ren, leader of the Praetorians. When she gently and politely gave a solid maybe, he did the macho thing and decided to prove his worth as a husband he would have to go and prove himself as a hero. And I’m afraid he picked our little planet to do all that!”

 

 

She looked around at the assembled Humans, and Atletean, before looking back at her fellow Praetorians.

 

 

“Any questions?”

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

Megan had given Sitara a questioning look when the Praetorian mentioned 'lover boy,' but then Chlo'zel spoke up, adding a bit of context, but still raising more questions for the speedster. Before Megan could respond to Chlo'zel's question with a 'oh god yes,' Patriot came striding into view, apparently ready for a fight. "What do you mean Star Khan?" The speedster managed to ask before Sitara introduced the Khanate Justicar that was present and offered a good bit more information about what was going on.

 

Vor'an had sightly narrowed his eyes at Patriot's statements but remained still and silent as Sitara spoke. "Praetor Shashikala's account is accurate but leaves out some key details." The Justicar began. "Kinan Khan, the one most likely known to you as Star Khan, has died, succumbing to both his advancing age and the grievous injuries he suffered as a result of the modifications made by the Communion. Kinarr Khan, his only known remaining child, has ascended to rule the Khanate. I accompanied him as part of a delegation to CoVic Station, where he presented a formal request to enter into a peace treaty with the Lor Republic and other Coalition worlds. It was during this audience with the Coalition Counsel that he also made his marriage proposal."

 

"One of the Khan's ambassadors is still on CoVic Station, negotiating the terms of a peace agreement with Imperator Th'emme of the Republic and other representatives of Coalition worlds. We have been following Kinarr to several other worlds in the sector, where, as indicated, has been seeking to prove himself worthy. There are those within the Khanate, and without, who would not want to see any peace with the Lor or other worlds. Paradigm is currently enroute to the surface of your world to find Kinarr and convince him to return to Covic Station."

 

Megan let out a sigh. "So, let me get this straight, we have the young, possibly idealistic, new ruler of the Stellar Khanate, looking to make peace with the Lor and its allied worlds, a peace, which I expect would benefit billions, if not trillions of beings in this quadrant if it was successful? But, this new Star Khan also has the hots for Paradigm, so he has set out to prove himself, while there are those that would very much like to see any peace fail?" The speedster glanced at the Praetorians and Vor’an for confirmation before putting her hand to her head for a moment. "Oh god, it sounds like the plot of a sci fi/action movie, or a rom-com, or both."

 

Lowering her hand, she looked back up at those gathered in the Lighthouse’s corridor. "Well, I for one do not believe the Freedom League wants to be responsible for any sort of intergalactic incident that might disrupt this potential peace treaty." She focused on Patriot at the end. "So, as the senior active member of the Legue, my recommendation is we all head back up to the command center to help track down our love-sick Khan so Paradigm catch up with him so she can try to convince him there is a better way to go about this."

 

"If that works, maybe we can arrange for a nice candlelit dinner for them in the Starlight Room? It is after all Valentine's Day currently in Freedom City. While I expect the restaurant is fully booked up, my husband and I would be happy to let them take our reservation, in the name of helping facilitate intergalactic diplomacy."

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic 

 

Chlo'zel exasperatedly sighed as Megan reiterated her understanding of the situation. "<That would unfortunately seem to be the situation, yes. Ultimately I do think, in the name of ending hostilities with the Stellar Khanate, which is a lofty goal, we need to... mitigate the impact of Kinarr's actions. I do not believe he intends harm, but...>" She threw her hands up, sighing deeply before turning to the Justicar briefly. "<Look, Justicar, I apologise, but in the spirit of honesty? If it wasn't liable to end a hard-earned peace, I'd do to the new Khan the exact same thing I did to his father. Agent, I assure you, if it had been up to me, we would not be debating how to stop this ship. It would be floating in the void light years behind us as we had this conversation.>" Her exasperation was apparent in her voice having become desynced from how fast she was speaking in her native tongue, staccato clicking and chirping and shirt syllables taking significantly more time to convey in most languages. 

 

She held out a hand to Traveller and Moon-Moth. "<Given as our commander is occupied with her... paramour. I think Velocity's plan sounds fairly sound. Our priority is to stop the Khan jeopardising his own peace and to stop his enemies from jeopardising him. Secondary priorities include getting some vid footage to hold over our commander. Are we in consensus?>"

Edited February 15 by Ecalsneerg

[Fox]

Gaian Knight

 

Tarrant...did not know what to think of this - and looked it, brow bemused over his goggles. "Well," he said with the voice of someone rapidly developing a headache, "I'll certainly take it over an invasion. If this is how he approaches romance, though, I can see why he got a solid 'maybe'."

 

He ran a hand back through his hair, sighing. "I agree on the general plan, but we're going to need to get the word out to some folks and it wouldn't hurt to have some reliable locals on hand just in case. If he came in full regalia or starts throwing his name around and the wrong people catch on, we risk someone else picking a fight before he does. Patriot's well-earned enthusiasm isn't going to be unique, and not everyone has her sense of teamwork." He paused a moment before frowning, adding, "Not to mention that his idea of worthy heroism isn't guaranteed to line up with ours."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Well thank God," said the Patriot when she heard Star-Khan was dead. She resisted the urge to spit on the ground, and made a mental note to take this bit of news home with her at the end of the day. Even if they were fighting, it would make her wife happy. "We have confirmation on that?" she added, keeping her tone cool. 

 

With the news of what the new Star-Khan was after revealed, she relaxed a fraction. "And on February 14th no less. Guess even Star-Khans are slaves to Hallmark," she snarked. "Paradigm's the Centurion of space," she explained for the benefit of Artificer and anyone else who wasn't familiar with the Lor Republic's version of the Freedom League. "And I don't say that lightly. So if she's on this, I agree with Velocity - let's back her play and make sure this doesn't get out of hand for anybody. We need domestic eyes on it too," she added, "both to give her a hand and to make sure we've got a vote in what happens on our planet." She smiled thinly. "The Lor have a saying - when loxodonts fight, the grass suffers. But here on Earth, the grass fights back." 

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

As Sitara and the other Praetorians start to explain things, Casper holds his hand up in front of his eyes, as he tries to stop himself from chuckling. 

 

"I really only meant that as a joke, y'know," he tries. 

 

Galactic peace, and all that, and all they need is love? 

 

"All that sounds good, but do we need an observer on the ground or something?"

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

"Well, Fleur was down at Freedom Hall when we came up," Megan stated as she indicated Artificer and Ghost, "and she can certainly get anywhere quickly, so we can reach out to her and get her up to speed on things. Then we just need to find out where she and Paradigm need to go in order to talk to the new Star Khan." She continued as the group started back towards the command center.

 

Soon the gathered members of the Freedom League, Praetorians and other guests were all up on the station's command center. "So, any updates?" Velocity asked as the group arrived.

 

"We have reports of an alien in power armor assisting the evacuation of the crew of a cargo ship that lost power and was taking on water off the west coast of Africa." One of the technicians responded. "After evacuating the last of the crew the armored figure was reported flying off west/northwest. Last report has what appears to be Paradigm assisting with moving the cargo ship to the coastline where it can be recovered."

 

"Have we been able to pick him back up?"

"The armored figure is on course for the East Coast." Another technician responded. "Are we planning to intercept?"

"No, we are tracking and providing the new Star Khan's location to Paradigm and Fleur so they can try to catch up with him and talk with him." The speedster responded before looking back to the others. "I better give Fleur a call and get her up to speed on what's going on."

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

Heroditus' eyes widened at the thought of meeting Fleur de Joie, the Savior of Sanctuary, and seeing her in action.  He had long been following the stories of her reclamation efforts on that damaged world, and hoped to help her some day.  And if some Atlatean techniques could prove useful there, and some of the techniques she & her people (giant bees?) had devised could benefit the reconstruction of Atlantis, so much the better!

 

But that would have to wait until the current crisis was resolved.  But what could he do?  

 

He made a sudden click-pop sound, what some Claremonters had learned was the Altantean equivalent of "Oh!"  "There are a few Atlantean outposts near that area!," he exclaimed, "If we can tie the Lighthouse's scanners to their sensors, that should help us pinpoint the Star Khan's location."

 

[Fox]

Gaian Knight

 

"Fleur would be ideal if we can get a hold of her," Tarrant agreed, rubbing his chin. "Damage control and diplomacy all in one package, plus a friendly face people will recognize. Let's hope she stuck around."

 

"As for the sensors, you'll have to talk to the experts but that sounds like a good idea to me - even if we can't actually tie our systems together, we can share our data. If you think you can help on the Atlantean side of things, there's a technician on the far side of the room there who can probably help you from our end." He gestured, indeed, toward the far side of the room, pointing out someone who was trying to look busy. "Black hair with the wireframe glasses. If she can't help you, she'll know who can, and hopefully without having to turn one of our arrays inside out in the process."

[Exaccus]

Moon-Moth sympathized in a way, mating rituals were difficult times the universe over, but it was no reason to go inflicting your hormones on everyone around you.

 

He remained quiet during the back and forth banter between the various groups and independents present, it was unwise for a being so...unskilled at galstandard to communicate in this tense situation.

 

"If needs musts myothizar can scry for his locations, but given his ranges of movement it would be bests to avoid casting such a wide ranging spells, lest ripples in the aether draw unbidden attentions from things best left ignorant."

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

“If things quiet down someone will have to explain why this day is important to you Terran’s, cultural stuff doesn’t tend to translate as well.” she winced inwardly at the line you Terran’s, guess she had been away a few thousand years to long.

 

 

Best to focus on the technical side of things, at least she knew about that kind of stuff among thousands of different species.

 

 

“Paradigm know her stuff, if she can she’ll give a signal we can use. I’ll go give your nice technician our access code, we might even be able to get your tech to give us some holographic images! If not we can probably improvise something...”

[Thevshi]

Velocity

 

While Velocity stepped off to one side of the command center to contact Fleur de Joie and give her the background on what was going on, Traveller and Artificer began working with one of the Lighthouse's technicians. Soon enough, there was a holographic display of Paradigm moving the disabled cargo ship (a process that was slower than it might normally be to avoid unnecessary stress that might have caused the vessel to break apart). Not long after between the Leagues own sensors and information provided by the Atlantean ones Artificer had patched in, they had managed to get a lock on the young Star-Khan as he approached Freedom City.

 

As the Star-Khan reached the city, the sensor lock was lost amid all the clutter of the city, at least for the moment. "Well, that figures." Velocity commented, looking over to some of the technicians. "Let's closely monitor all police or other emergency frequencies for anything that sounds like him. And see if we can do something to filter out all that interference."

 

A couple minutes after losing the lock on Star-Khan, one of the technicians reported reports of an AEGIS prisoner transport being intercepted by a group of costumed supervillains, but just as any discussion about possibly responding to the incident began, the technician reported that the rather new super team Young Guardians had almost immediately responded to the incident. By that point, Paradigm was on her way towards Freedom City as well.

 

A few minutes after that, another technician spoke up, "I think I have something, a live feed from a fire in Riverside coming from the hero Predator." The technician activated a holographic screen that showed the live feed, which was from Predator’s perspective, showing the young Star Khan standing in the street near what a burning building, a mother and young girl just near him. Predator appeared to have a weapon trained Star Khan, who was not making any aggressive moves.

"That is Kinarr." Justicar Vor'an confirmed.

 

"Okay, get the address to Fleur and the coordinates to Paradigm." Velocity called out. "Hopefully one or both of them can catch up to him before he decides to go somewhere else."

As the feed continued, Predator lowered her gauntlet and suddenly turned to her left where a man in a black and orange costume had stepped out from an alley and threw some glowing object in Predator’s general direction. Suddenly the holographic screen flashed bright orange as those watching realized the object had exploded. Predator seemed to stagger slightly, looking back in the direction of where the mother and daughter had been, to see Star Khan shielding them with his body. Then both Star Khan and Predator began to engage the costumed supervillain.

[RocketLord]

GHOST

 

"Commercial stuff," Ghost explains to Sitara, while he watches them work. "Valentine's day, supposed to be a big love thing where you go and give your significant others gifts, does grand romantic gestures and all that, but it's really mostly just a commercial thing to sell expensive chocolate, cards and flowers."

 

Cynical? Maybe, but Casper had never wanted to let others decide which days he should show people he loved them.

 

Watching the events of this Star Khan in action, Casper has to admit that he at least seems like he's trying to do good. Not for the best reason, sure, but he seems like he's doing his best.

 

"That's not bad," he says, pointing up at the screen as the Star Khan and Predator fight the costumed super villain. "I mean, if we didn't know all this about him, he'd seem like he's trying to do good."

[Avenger Assembled]

The Patriot paced as she watched the fight, tensing visibly when she saw Predator in peril. It was good to see Star Khan defending her, even if it wasn't hard to imagine ways the space monarch could be working an angle. "We have a read on Halloween Man?" she asked tersely, pointing with a gloved finger at the orange and black terrorist Star Khan and Predator were fighting. "One of ours or one of theirs?" she asked the technician. She hated this waiting, she hated - being a spectator when people were in peril down below. She forced herself to stand still, fiddling with her wedding band for a moment. 

 

"With a normal - person, I'd say it was no coincidence he showed up in Freedom City to court his cosmic crush just in time for Valentine's Day," she explained to Sitara. "Making it more likely he'd planned something out here with local agents. But the thing with supers is that weird coincidences happen all the damn time..." She trailed off, hand against her armored chin. 

 

 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

“How to put this nicely…” Sitara thought for a moment generally trying to stay friendly “...when I woke up after a thousand years in stasis, the first time around, though I don’t make a habit of it, no one even knew Earth existed. I thought it had been destroyed in a Galactic war between two incredibly powerful alien powers.”

 

 

“Only after the second time out of stasis was Earth known about by the Lor, and that’s only because of all the metahumans that seem to come from our planet. No one among the Lor knows about a random fertility festival to sell aphrodisiac foods, let alone some from the Khanate thousands of parsecs away.” she quickly looked around to see if this would go down badly before adding.

 

 

“Personally I actually think he’s being genuine here, it’s just this is the only way his macho brain knows to impress others.”

[Ecalsneerg]

Galvanic

 

Chlo'zel raised an eyebrow at Ashley. "<I perhaps think you're reading too much into this, Agent. There is not some grand plan here. Indeed, myself, the Praetorians and his handler are here because the Khan having done this has the potential to ruin his actual grand plan, which is to reform the Stellar Khanate. On my world, we have a proverb, that if the dust diver retreats into the soil, do not overthink and look for a predator or a warren or a nest, you look to the sky for the incoming storm.>" She exhaled. "<I am no fan of the man, but I do not believe he is his father's son.>"

 

7 hours ago, RocketLord said:

GHOST

 

Watching the events of this Star Khan in action, Casper has to admit that he at least seems like he's trying to do good. Not for the best reason, sure, but he seems like he's doing his best.

 

"That's not bad," he says, pointing up at the screen as the Star Khan and Predator fight the costumed super villain. "I mean, if we didn't know all this about him, he'd seem like he's trying to do good."

She kept her arms behind her back, watching the screen from a respectable distance. "<I agree with Sitara, I do believe he is trying to do good,>" Galvanic commented. "<And less incompetently than I feared. I think we should remember, this is a diplomatic incident, this is a real upset in Lor politics, he is clearly a bit naive and overly enamoured, and to be blunt, I dislike him. But I don't doubt he wants to do good.>" She clicked her teeth disapprovingly. "<Velocity, should Paradigm and your Fleur fail to contain him, should we be on standby? I can be planetside within 3 of your Earth minutes, providing I don't push it too hard.>"