Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

[cityship]

There is a resounding mental alarum that sounds through the ship. Nearly "deafening." Lights flash from places for extra emphasis, making it impossible to ignore.

||Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention. All personnel please report to the Observation Deck. Attention, Attention, all personnel...||

It's entirely likely that she won't stop repeating the announcement until, well, everyone reports to Obs Deck. Outside the windows, a very Earth-like planet is visible, hanging in space. The mouth in the huge statue opens, revealing a screen. On it, the dossier for the mission flickers into display, understandable to every person there. Smaller copies of the dossier appear in holographic form in front of everyone.

The planet's stats, right next to a rotating holographic picture of it, marbled blue and green, are as follows:

Planet Designation: Earth-78734XM45
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Homo Sapiens. [Various translations of "human" appear here so everyone understands it]
Water: 69.5% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Earth-like, in the throes of a mild nuclear winter [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Varied.
Air: Normoxic concentration. Slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide.

Air Pressure: 101.3 kPa (kilopascals) = 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch)
Sky: Blue. Often overcast.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star.

Warnings: Wildlife and plant-life can be hazardous. Humans can be hazardous. A human cultural and legal database is available. [click here]

Mission: Revive the spiritual entity at the North Pole.

--

Following that, there are various maps and things visible. The version of Earth this world is may be very recognizable to some, but vast cities dot its surface.

||Attention, podmates. Attention.||

Apparently Stacy wants their attention.

||It is critical that you pay attention at this time.||

A few people will be able to avoid the call by being in the right place at the right time, but most will be gathered up on Obs Deck.

[ooc: Organization Post | You can post into the gathering thread. I'll add more subthreads with explanations of aspects of the mission as we go. Note: If you don't have time to post to this mission briefing but still want to have your character in the plot, that's fine. You can just pretend they were there the whole time. If you DON'T want your characters to be in this plot altogether, however, don't have them in the briefing--Stacy could have missed snagging them.]

Comments

Gathering

[cityship]

People will have a chance to gather and talk.

Re: Gathering

[gogopowersuit.livejournal.com]

Samus quickly made her way to the Obs Deck. She was always ready for the next job. In full armor, she arrived and was currently reading the screen.

Hmn. Earth. She'd actually never been.

Re: Gathering

[enter-aeneas.livejournal.com]

How…how had he managed to get here so early?

”Persistence, that’s what,” Aeneas told himself as he filed inside the Observation Deck, looking a little annoyed, ”Having someone scream in your ear constantly about going someplace really works wonders on your sense of direction, eh?”

Yeah, yeah, subconscious. No need to get riled up because you were interrupted from your inventing time. This was obviously more important.

In any case, as soon as the hologram (which Aeneas was not expecting) popped up and showed him the planet in question—primarily the inhabitants—he was more than interested.

“…So this is the planet humans are from?” he purred curiously to anyone who happened to be listening, “I wonder why we are going there?”

Re: Gathering

[bonk-you-up.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, yeah, whaddya want?"

Scout was here (very reluctantly) and probably wasn't going to bother actually reading the screen. Or look at the holograms. Or pay attention well. Or do anything that might be useful at the moment.

Re: Gathering

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Earth.

Matt was familiar with the concept of other worlds but to be at another Earth once again...

Clasping his hands behind his back (and wishing for the umpteenth time he had pockets), Matt read over the instructions. "Hmmm..."

Re: Gathering

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

Luke stared at the image of Earth; he'd only thought of it as a legend, a myth of where humans had come from, and that they'd really arisen on Coruscant and radiated outward. But there it was, and there they were going.

Despite all his Jedi training, he felt a flutter of excitement.

[mammalrobot.livejournal.com]

At the warning, Robo became all business and made his way to the Orb Deck. However, just as he was coming through the door way, he froze mid-stride when he saw Earth on the screen.

The data alongside was mostly ignored (The nuclear winter bit was interesting.) as he remembered the world he tried not to think about. The world that was left behind. Mentally shaken, although it didn't effect his movements at all, he sat down and actually read the information presented.

A spiritual entity at the north pole. This far into December..."Are we going to rescue Santa Claus?

Re: Gathering

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Lafiel gazed down at the planet, dark eyes wide. She was ready. She would go planetside.

"Is this the homeworld of humans?" She wondered aloud.

Re: Gathering

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate hustled in, bow and arrow ready. Another mission? About time!

Re: Gathering

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"Mild nuclear winter... cultural and legal database... revive the spiri--" Wyn mutters, idly scrolling through the holographic dossier in front of her. "--oh my god, we're saving Father Christmas!"

Yes, it's great that there's another Earth, and it's nice that the crew are getting to visit it, but obviously all that pales in comparison to getting a chance to save Santa Claus.

Re: Gathering

[thehollycopter.livejournal.com]

As soon as the alarm started, cop training took over Holly's thoughts. She got down to the Obs deck as quickly as she could - alarms did usually mean urgency, after all.

"Nuclear winter..." Holly said softly as she read the dossier. There was a pang of sadness to her voice. She didn't even want to imagine her Earth like that.

Re: Gathering

[prof-indiana.livejournal.com]

Indiana leaned his head against the back of his forearm, pressed against the Obs Deck window. He looked out, finally getting a good view of what they've been traveling through this entire time.

He'd read the screen over and over again. It said it was Earth. Earth. And yet it wasn't home. He wasn't entirely upset over it.

God damn, Indy had been on this ship too damn long.

[morphitudinous]

Mission time is here again. With a small sigh, Billy removed himself from his latest side project. Confirming that his morpher was strapped to his belt, he dutifully reported to the Observation Deck.

His surprise continued to mount as he read over the mission briefing. They were visiting another Earth-like planet---another painful reminder that his own was gone. But now wasn't the time to resurrect that pain again. He clicked on the cultural database and examined it. Similar to his own planet in some ways, but with some differences.

The part of the briefing that really widened his eyes was the mission statement. A spiritual entity at the North Pole? The legend of Santa Claus immediately came to mind.

"We're expected to restore the spirit of Christmas." But could they?

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

Fate was feeling... just a tad conflicted at the moment.

On one hand, their destination was... some version of Earth. She had heard about alternate dimensions and such, so she supposed she shouldn't be too shocked over seeing another version of Earth... but there was still a small ache in her chest. Sure, it wasn't her home planet. But she still had friends there.

But the part that interested her the most(and took her mind off of the whole Earth issue) was their mission objective. Spiritual entity at the North Pole? Fate was never a believer, due to never hearing about Christmas before she was 9, but could it be possible...

"... Santa is real?"

Re: Gathering

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

"Oh great. Even in SPACE I can't get away from Christmas." Danny grumbled.

Re: Gathering

[clear-horizons.livejournal.com]

Picard was busy reading the information about the planet and their mission. "After everything I've seen here, saving Father Christmas seems almost mundane. I don't know if I should feel amused or disappointed by that."

Re: Gathering

[ihasvision.livejournal.com]

"Wait. We get to save Christmas. Literally? AWESOME!" Shawn proceeds to do the Charlie Brown dance.

Re: Gathering

[hero-medic.livejournal.com]

Peter walked onto the Obs Deck. For the first time since he got on ship, he looked visibly shaken.

"We're... Saving Santa?!" Peter said incredulously. "You... You've got to be kidding me. Seriously?"

Re: Gathering

[top-teen-38.livejournal.com]

Slobo simply walked in, chuckling to himself.

"Revive Santa? Heh. Looks like Timmy wasn't lyin' about him and the rest killin' the old bastich."

Detailed Briefing

[cityship]

||Mission crew is now gathered for briefing. Briefing will commence.||

Background

[cityship]

||Earth-78734XM45 is a dimensional variant of Earth. For those of you not from Earth, it is the planet that many individuals on the ship are from a variant of. It's sun, Sol, however, is a class G2V, yellow star, but the planet is extremely overcast due to a mild nuclear winter from a limited nuclear exchange between the countries Pakistan and India. Temperatures in the northern hemisphere are currently at record lows.||

||The following individuals have been selected for this mission:||

All of the people going are listed.

||The year is 2245...||

She explains the background of this world. For those not from Earth, there are helpful links to definitions of certain words and explanations of certain concepts like "corporation."

[sexygman.livejournal.com]

Booth made his way to the obs deck, rather glad for another expidition. He just hoped he didn't come back injured like the last time. He knew it was always a possibility though.

Strangely, this mission was rather odd...he might actually have some fun with it.

End Briefing - Separation and Deployment

[cityship]

||Mission briefing complete.||

Tentacles sweep through the room and grab all of the people on the mission, suddenly and refuse to let them leave the Obs Deck. The doors seal, those with power suits stored elsewhere on the ship and not with them, have said suits get pulled out from where they're stored, have morphers or weapons handed to them, and the tentacles will even help dress the folks in their suits if they need it.

||Approaching the target planet.|| Stacy's voice says on the comm and the ship shudders as it slows and the swirling light of space travel dwindles down to the simple black of the void, of stars streaking past.

In the distance, a star gets brighter and brighter, larger and larger as they approach, a great yellow star, burning with a bright glow, and a speck near it grows until they can make out little swirls of color on its surface, like it's a marble floating around in nothing.

That marble starts to fill their view, growing until they can see the planet clearly below them, as the ship's orbit (which is crooked and slightly cock-eyed over what is likely the northern hemisphere of the planet) is established.

The atmosphere is full of thick white and grey clouds, that cover most of the surface. The land that's visible varies in color, from stark white at the very tips of the poles, like ice, to sandy tans and desert reds, and vibrant greens, to the blue of the oceans. As they rotate around the planet, some places are pockmarked and ugly-looking when they come into view. They get glimpses of vast cities that stretch right to other cities.

Detachment Procedures

[cityship]

Stacy's voice intones:

||Initiating Detachment procedures.||

There was a tremendous shudder and the artificial gravity cut out. It felt as if the entire Obs Deck was drifting.

That was because that's exactly what it was doing. As it slowly rotated through space they could most likely see the rest of the ship through the windows, and long umbilical cord that connected Obs Deck to it.

At first, it seemed like there was a sheer wall there, but as Obs Deck pulled away, they could see that it was in fact the ship.

And it was huge.

A long, shriveled thing, it was like a diseased organ, made of what looked like mottled, wrinkled flesh, gray in some places, green-gray in others, and black most of all. Bulbous pods, glowing faintly in the void, were clustered along the surface of it, like eggshells illuminated from the inside.

Still, its eerie appearance was dwarfed by the sheer size of it. It was bigger than a city--to those that had traveled through space already, it was easy to see that it was bigger than the average-sized moon.

Entering Atmosphere

[cityship]

||Preparing to enter atmosphere.||

They get a glimpse of a massive...cord, shielded with energy, still connecting them to the ship proper, like an umbilical cord. Then, over the windows shielding lowers down and up, meeting in the middle, like eyelids, and sealed and all of a sudden, there is a sudden bumping, then a lurching, and then bumping again, like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond. It shakes them only slightly from the zero-grav, but they do feel it.

||Please keep in mind you will be experiencing some turbulence|| Stacy says politely.

There is lurching again, and then...the sudden feeling that they are plummeting to the earth at several thousand miles per hour--while still floating into the air. It's almost like they were being tugged slightly at both ends, and the air in Obs Deck starts to heat up.

||Entering atmosphere|| Stacy's voice cheerfully came in their heads, unaffected by the roaring of the friction trying to burn away at the hull.

Re: Entering Atmosphere

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Lafiel looks completely at home, smiling contentedly.

The Polar Night

[cityship]

When Obs Decks eventually lands, compartments lift up displaying the group's equipment and warm clothing.

Then the hatch opens and cold air starts to spill in. Better bundle up fast--it's cold out there. Very, VERY cold, and covered in ice and drifts of snow. It's dark here, even though it's daytime. This partly because of the nuclear winter, and partly because it's just mid-winter.

They have lights with their gear, at least.

Re: The Polar Night

[enter-aeneas.livejournal.com]

Aeneas could deal with the tentacles. He could deal with the talking statue and floating holograms. But looking out those windows, seeing space flash past, feeling the ship shudder as they began traveling towards the surface…knowing that only a single crack in Stacy’s flesh could force in the vacuum, that a little bit too much heat from reentry could burn them alive, that a fraction of a second of delay in putting on the breaks could cause them to crash into the ground…

It was official. Aeneas was afraid of flying.

When Stacy let them go the poor creature was shivering furiously—and not because of the cold. That actually helped to calm his nerves a little bit.

He refused to put on clothing. If it had been possible he would’ve gone out without the plantsuit. Truth be told, Aeneas thought freezing conditions were the best ones he had yet to experience; stepping out of the Observation Deck, getting that first, head-on gust of blistering, frigid wind and cutting ice, somehow managed to revive him.

He stood there for a moment, eyes closed with tranquil grin, as he soaked in the frozen atmosphere. Now this was more like it.