trans_9 | Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Katara looked at the other woman and nodded. "I've never seen anything like this before in my life. I mean, its one thing to see your world from outside, but to see it like this, its breathtaking! Is this the Earth I keep hearing everyone talk about? What are we doing here?"

"It's *a* Earth. It's not any of ours I think. I haven't heard of anybody else coming from nuclear winter for one."

Kate glanced at the briefing, "Saving the holidays. Especially Santa."

She then tilted her head, "Wait, do you have anything like Santa in your world? Fat jolly guy who likes to give kids presents once a year?"

"A nuclear winter," Katara repeated, looking at the place. "So that isn't common. Where I'm from, its just the way the climate is. So its unusual to have winter all over. Huh."

Katara shook her head. "Fat jolly guy? Sounds a little like Zuko's uncle for all I know, but no one celebrated him as a holiday, that's for sure. So why are we having to save the holidays? Don't these people believe in taking a day to have fun and be with family?"

"Well it's the climate in the polar areas, but where I live, we have full out seasons."

Kate then remarked, "I think somebody's trying to keep them from doing that or at least stopping the spirit behind it."

"Oh," Katara said, a little embarrassed that she looked so eager to have a colder climate. now. She couldn't help that though: she really was starting to miss home, especially after seeing the planet they were going to land in.

Katara did look a little stricken by this. "Why would anybody try to do that?" She grabbed the briefing and took a look. The more she read on though, the more she started to look bothered, and then she just looked downright offended. When she was done, she gave the briefing to Kate.

"I'm going to be on this mission," she said, her voice set. "You can't just stop people from being with each other and interacting. That's just wrong!"

"Speaking from experience, at least on my world? It does sound like something some of the supervillians back home would try. So we got to save the holidays."

Kate then grinned as she looked over the briefing, "Easy enough. There's plenty of us to go."

"Supervillains must not have a lot to do then," Katara said. "Then again, I'll bet this is just a way to make a profit, and people just go along with it because they don't have to really deal with the real world. Well I own;t stand for that!"

She paused. "Uh, would you like to come with me at all?"

"Sure, I think our teams are different but hopefully we can work together."

Katara smiled. "Hope I see you then! I'm siupposed to be helping out with a holiday in the East."

Kate checked the briefing over again, and her smile widened.

"Got your wish then, teammate. I'm doing that too, and I think it's a great idea by the information here. Kind of like what I did before I got into heroing."

"Oh, excellent!" Katara grinned. "We'll be able to give out things to the poor and get families together!

"Hey, what's your power, if you don't mind me asking?"

Kate frowned a little.

"Not all superheroes have powers." It sounded like she had to explain it a number of times, and it still rankles a bit.

"I know archery, fencing, swordfighting, hand to hand combat and a number of martial arts training."

"Oh, so you're more like me!" Katara said, relieved. "I'm sorry. I've just been used to thinking that most people are superheroes. Half the time they don't really need to learn anything because they have powers. But I'm glad that not everyone is a superhero.

"That's several great skills to have! I know a few of those skills, and I'm a waterbender. It'll be great to work with you!"

Kate likewise relaxed more, "The superhero can also mean you want to fight the bad guys, dress up in a costume, and have a secret identity. Doesn't have to mean powers. And you do? We should practice together sometime."

She then tilted her head to the side, "Water bending? You mean you can manipulate it? Just liquid, or all of its forms?" She wasn't about to point out that technically that still meant Katara had powers.

Katara shrugged. "Well, in my world we really didn't go around wearing costumes. You wore what you had and you do what you can, you know? It's not so much about wearing a disguise as it is just being quick and ready to engage your enemy. Not that we don't wear them sometimes..."

Which made her think of Zuko as the Blue Spirit and when she was going around as The Painted Lady.

"Manipulating is one way to say it, but I can use it if that's what you mean. But doing that requires knowledge in martial arts and movement too. You can have the ability to waterbend and still be really bad at it if you haven't been trained or aren't very good at moving around too fluidly."

"Ok, it kind of sounds like some of the powers from my world. Especially if you talk to some of the mutants. There's a couple of them on the ship including a friend and teammate of mine." She was interested in seeing it in action, which will likely happen on this mission.

"So far the only mutant I know is Julian, I think, but people call him Hellion," Katara replied. "He's our captain in those teams that Stacy created for us. I haven't seen him use his power yet though, so that might be interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing you in action either, to be honest."

She smiled. "And maybe you can tell me about the mutants on the ship. That'd be neat."

Mission 02 - Stacy Says Follow the Yules

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