ic Second Star to the Right (IC)

[Thevshi]

Kestevan 79
Coalition Victory Station
Lor time mark 2269.1 (Friday January 10, 2025, 3:35 PM (Eastern time))

 

There had been numerous conversations among many of the Claremont Junior class about space and CoVic Station over the last year since Lawrence had talked about his trips there and Michael had had the opportunity to meet Paradigm (as did most of the rest of the class during the trip to the pocket timeline last February). During the League holiday party, several of the class had talked with Paradigm and the new Star Khan and the idea for a trip to visit the station by several of the Juniors, as well as Carmen had been brought up. 

 

So, in the weeks following the holiday party and even into the start of school after the winter break at the start of the week, there had been discussions and plans being made for a trip to visit CoVic Station. Those plans had been finalized by mid-week, and just after the end of classes, a group of Claremont students and Carmen had met down in the Doom Room with small bags for an overnight stay at the Praetorian headquarters on CoVic. Once everyone was gathered, Lawrence had had them gather close and then raised his hands as a wave of temporal energy swirled around them and they were gone from the school and from Earth.

 

As the Doom Room disappeared around the teens, it was almost instantaneously replaced by a large open area as the gathered Claremont students found themselves in vast, spacious plaza. All around the edges of the plaza were various low buildings spreading out almost as far as could be seen. Off in the distance they could see what appeared to be walls, going up higher than the buildings near them. All around the plaza could be seen hundreds of figures moving about like normal pedestrians in Freedom City. However, not only were here numerous human looking individuals in utilitarian jumpsuits, but there were aliens of all types, including reptoids, felinoids, insectoids and even a few that appeared to be amorphous blobs moving on several pseudopods.

 

Overhead was a massive domed ceiling, on which massive sections had been replaced with some sort of translucent material. Out beyond that, they could see the vast blackness of space, though half the "sky" was filled with a bright blowing cloud of various gases that formed a nebula, along with a small, brightly shining point of blue light that seemed very different than any star. Some distance away, silhouetted against the glowing gas could of the nebula was a large vortex of slowly spinning cosmic flotsam, with light ending in unnatural angles around the outer edges of the massive, semi-circular singularity. Dozens of objects, which were soon identifiable as spacecraft of all shapes and sizes could be seen moving toward, into and out of the singularity with regular frequency.

 

"Well, welcome to CoVic Station." Lawrence said with a slight grin, though his face showed a slight bit of exhaustion from the effort to transport them around 25,000 light years from Earth.

 

"Indeed, welcome young Claremont students." Came a deep, gravelly voice from behind the teens, speaking English with an unusual accent. Turning around, they found standing in front of the nearest building the massive eight-foot-tall reptilian Praetorian many of them had briefly met in the pocket timeline or at the League holiday party. The Praetorian had a powerful, stocky build, with green and brown scales and a ten-foot-long tail that ended in a spiked ball. 

 

"It is good to see you Seresk." Lawrence said with a smile as he stepped up to hug the massive reptoid, who gently returned the hug. 

 

"It is very good to see you as well Lawrence Harrow, you have grown since last I saw you."
 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins had been part of the discussions about CoVic Station. Iris was extremely interested in seeing space. Either had been up in the great beyond before, though they did indeed know that some of their new friends came from there. So instead of Daniel dragging Iris on adventures, this was a rare reversal where Iris was dragging Daniel along with her, figuratively so. The young heroine of giddy with excitement, though she did try to keep her calm and cool during classes. The plans were just too exciting!

 

When they finally arrived at the domed station. Both would look around in wonder, their mouths hung open for a moment then they shook their heads. Iris was vibrating at the moment, she wanted to talk to these aliens, again quite odd considering the usual dynamic of the twins. Daniel seemed content to let her take the reigns this time, he too was filled with wonder, but for the moment, he was just smiling contently. When they heard the gravelly voice, they turned around and looked up at the large being. 

 

"Thank you! I am excited to be here! Also thank you for bringing us here Lawrence!" Iris smiled softly.

[Thunder King]

Ryan blinked, and blinked again. He was in outer space. Actual, real life, outer space. He looked up and around. He could scarcely believe it. He thought of all his old fellow inmates at the orphanage. Everyone he ever knew or loved. He shook his head. The alien hardly surprised him. He knew a couple of aliens. It was the actual being in space aspect of his trip to space that shook him.

 

He had only one thing to say to mark such a monumentous occasion. 

 

"Holy $#*% I'm in space."

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Michael was always vibrating, but he was vibrating even more than usual at the idea of finally leaving Earth.

 

"This is incredible. To think that so much stuff exists just in our own universe. Thanks so much Lawrence, it's good to see you, Mr. Seresk."

He'd been to the moon once, but never further. He'd gotten jealous of Lawrence, listening to his stories, and while he felt bad that Veuriz was stranded on this planet, he had wanted to go out to space for awhile. Real Space. And now he was, in an instant, so far away from Earth that thinking about it might send him reeling, if he wasn't totally busy with his excitement at everything going on.

 

"This is so cool! Look at that! Real life space ships! And look at the stars!" he said, preparing to fly up to the top of the room, up to the glass ceiling that he wanted to get close enough to press his nose into, to look out into the bright, glowing clouds, the blue dot, and the singularity.

[The Sailor]

Mizuki "Torpedo Lass II" Iwasaki

 

"Okay Lawrence... I'm impressed."

 

She looked about, taking in the sight of this massive space station... seeing the nebula and the wormhole gate only further exited her.

 

It was real... all of it. The Aliens, the people, the space craft... was this all that was to be laid before her once she graduates? Here she was just sticking to the sea... but there had always been something there not even getting her toes wet at the shores of the cosmic ocean. She'd been to Low Earth Orbit a few times seeing just how high she could go. She couldn't break the surly bonds of earth, not yet, but this...

 

She made a cute two-fingered saluting gesture to Seresk. She remembered the titanic reptile from the madness dealing with that time warping jerk last year who hijacked their ride home from Fiji.

 

But he seemed not to know who they were at all... maybe it all was just an illusion.

 

She made the conscious decision for the moment to stick to Lawrence.

 

She did feel she fit in, the new concept for a costume now that she wasn't just the new Seaworthy Sentinel of Freedom City, but fully flight capable, in her multi-environment jumpsuit, she definately looked the part of a spacer as much as a sailor or flier.

Edited January 6 by The Sailor

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

The moment that they appear, Parker is stunned for a moment. His senses expanded, taking in everything around him. 

 

He has gotten used to going through Lawrence's portals, the slight disorientation as his senses realign with everything else being in different places relative to him, but this? There is just so much going on all around them. So much distance to everything, so many things to sense, so many different things.

 

Parker breathes and pulls it back in to a manageable feeling.

 

At least he made the right choice by wearing his uniform, cape and all, judging by what the people around the station seem to be wearing.

 

"Thank you for having us, Praetorian," he responds to the Seresk. "Lawrence has told us a lot about CoVic Station, but his stories doesn't do the station justice."

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Standing by Michael as she once again came to be off planet again, the werecat Carmen stood with a somewhat uninterested look. For her, agreeing to this was mostly a way of getting out of the dorms and classes, skipping the boring lectures of which she had no interest in whatsoever. Instead, she got to stay with her boyfriend get a free trip away from school once more. Across her left shoulder she carried the duffle bag of clothes for the day. Sparse and light, it also carried book materials, study stuff that she needed to keep with her even on a trip. Homework was still homework, as much as it was detested.

 

"That's great Michael. It's pretty cool," she says smiling towards him. His eyes were now open to the wider world off of Earth and no doubt broadened the scope of what was around them. There was that same feeling she had in the cockpit of Patriot ship and again on a fateful Valentines Day she remembered fairly well. Looking towards alien figures, it always seemed weird to see so many of strange looks and varieties, and Carmen still had issues with her loneliness. A deep breath was made as she looked to the large reptilian, a sort of Praetorian that she had seen before. 

 

"Thank you."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

Baz hadfully intended to arrive, fresh out of a space-time-warp-thing, looking resplendent and wonderful. 

 

Perhaps it was because he was radioactive. Perhaps it was some random flux of something fluxy. Something quantum, because quantum always sounded cool. But whatever it was, he arrived a few seconds late, glowing sickly yellow, and curled up into a ball. 

 

"Eugh..." he drooled, before ejecting the contents of his stomach onto the CoVID station floor. 

 

"I'm fine. Awesome, actually. Eugh..." he said, putting up a cockroach thumb to indicate how truly awesomely awesome he was, in contrast to every scrap of evidence to the contrary. 

 

"Space is great. And so is the Station. And so am I. Errr... what did I miss?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

While the rest of the group was taking in the initial impressions of CoVic station, Vueriz had headed over to talk to some of the nearby residents, relying on her translator to communicate.

 

Lawrence just shrugged and gave his friends a smile as they thanked him for bringing them all on this trip. "Of course, I told you all last year I would get us out here. For a while I was thinking it might have to be aboard a League spaceplane."

 

"We could have provided transport." Seresk stated. "We did so for another visiting group of Claremont students."

 

"Yeah, I remember Lulu telling me how Angelic arranged for some of her class to…" The rest of Lawrence's sentence was interrupted by Baz’s late appearance. "Baz! Are you okay!" He stated, moving quickly over to his roommate and friend and helping him sit up.

 

Seresk followed behind, looking down at Baz. "Are you certain you do not require medical assistance young one?" He asked with a concerned tone.

 

As Baz was helped to his feet, a small robot came hovering over, stopping to suction up the mess Baz had made and clean the section of floor.
 

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass

 

Mizuki quirked an eyebrow at Baz' condition. As a member of her specific squad he was one of her teammates, and an equal in terms of year.

 

She walked over. "Everything good, Baz? Seems something waylaid you hard on the trip over."

 

This was not something she wanted... being light years from home and away from the Claremont infirmary if this was far more serious than just a case of teleport sickness.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Michael floated his way back down after Baz threw up, his brilliant exposure to the star and skies of an alien landscape scaled back a bit.

 

"...Oof. Space Barf." he said jokingly. "But hey, we just traveled a ton of light years in an instant, so I think that's normal, to be honest."

 

He wasn't going to crowd Buzz, he had enough people running around looking at him, so what could Michael do other than be an overbearing hen? Instead he watched from above, and turned his attention to Seresk.

 

"Ah, don't worry Sir. Lawrence loves transporting us all around Earth and the Stars." he said, trying to keep the mood up a bit. "He's a good guy like that. Sometimes I feel like I don't even need a driver's license because Lawrence loves teleporting us around so much." He laughed as he floated down to Carmen, lazing about in the air a little above her head.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzztastic

 

"Sure, fine, I'm totally fine, and fine is what I totally am!" said Baz, getting to his feet, lurching this way and that, clutching his cockroach gut with cockroach hands. 

 

"I mean, maybe not totally fine. But I'll survive. Probably. Wow. Never had that happen before, how far did we travel!"

 

He looked at his cockroach drool on the floor. It glowed a sickly yellow green. 

 

"Better mind that. Its probably radioactive. Not that radiation is harmful or dangerous, and it is only a bit lethal. Only in high doses. Or medium doses. Or small doses, sometimes. So best keep away."

 

He scratched his cockroach chin. 

 

"Dunno what happened, Lawrence. Maybe its radiation? something made everything go wobbly..."

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

"Do not worry, the cleaning bots are programed to detect and deal with radiation and are equipped to properly remediate such events." Seresk stated as he glanced briefly at the small robots that were dealing with Baz's mess before focusing back on the teen. "But come, let us take you to our medical bay for a precautionary exam while the rest of your classmates have a moment to drop their belongings off in the quarters being provided for your stay." The massive reptroid continued before leading the Claremont students into the Praetorian's headquarters.

 

The interior of the headquarters was similarly impressive as Freedom Hall, but with a lot more obvious high tech throughout the building. As he led them through the building, Seresk explained it had been built to start at the edge of the Main Plaza outside and continued all the way toward the exterior of the station. Among the amenities within the building were living quarters for the Praetorians and support staff, training facilities, laboratories, as well as hangers for the Praetorian spacecraft.

 

The group first stopped by the medical bay, which Mizuki found was filled with advanced equipment far beyond anything at Claremont. The Praetorian's doctor, a woman Seresk referred to as Ringdown, appeared to be the same species as Paradigm and immediately took charge in starting some tests on Baz.

 

While that was taking place, Seresk led the rest of the Claremont students to their quarters. For their weekend stay, the teens had been assigned rooms with the roommates they had in the dorms at Claremont. But each pair of students’ quarters was not just a single room (like back at the dorms), but a small suite of rooms, including a large living area, with what appeared to be a small kitchen off to one side (although the ‘appliances’ were not like anything any of the teens had seen before (save Lawrence, and most likely Vueriz). In addition to a restroom, each suite had two bedrooms, one for each student.

 

After the Claremont students had dropped off their bags and looked over the accommodations, they met back at the section of the plaza in front of the Praetorian headquarters, Baz having been given a clean bill of health and sent out to join them as well.

 

Once they were all assembled together again, Lawrence looked over his friends with a small smile. "So…where do we want to start?" He asked with a smile. "We could stick to up here in the Main Plaza to start, which is primarily government buildings and embassies." The blond teen gestured to the area around them.

 

"Or, we can make our way down further into this habitable zone, starting with the main market on the station."