Marriage Planet

[cityship]

Stacy's voice came over the comm, blaring across the entire ship.

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

The mouth in the main sculpture on Obs Deck opened, revealing a screen with the image of a mottled blue and purple planet, rotating slowly.

Planet Designation: Gondepetil
Status: Terrestrial, H-class. Mass slightly larger than most Earths.
Non-sentient life: Extensive flora and fauna.
Semi-Sentient Life: Yes.
Sentient Life: Yes.
Water: 88% of the planet's surface.

Climate: Similar to Earth's Mediterranean climate. Warm but hospitable.  [Click here for cultural equivalents for non-Earth cultures.]
Landscape: Short trees and scrubs. Most mountains are plateaus, terrain is hilly and rocky on 65% of the land surface.
Air: Normoxic concentration: 25% oxygen, 65% nitrogen, 5% xenon, 5% trace gases, such as hydrogen, neon, krypton, and argon.

Air Pressure: 17.02 pounds per square inch. Heavier than ship's air pressure, but breathable.
Sky: Blue/purple with silver clouds.
Sun: A class G2V, yellow star. The planet is unusually close to its sun, but its ozone layer is fully capable of filtering out harmful radiation.

Mission: Spiritual elders of the local inhabitants are in possession of an artifact of great importance to the war against the Ohm. The crew will participate in the inhabitants' rituals of judgment and joining to enter the region known as the Sacred Mount, where the artifact is being stored. The crew is to negotiate with the spiritual elders to acquire this artifact. The crew is expected to comply with any of their demands in order to successfully complete negotiations.

Time for another mission, then.

Comments

[cosmicprayer.livejournal.com]

"I can hardly believe I'll be visiting another planet," she mused. "Then again... I still have a hard time believing a lot of this." She pushed the thought of all the other planets that no longer existed to the back of her mind.

"I wonder what kind of artifact it is?"

[jesushasagundam]

"Me too," he agreed. "But this... really puts things back home in perspective." For all that Natural and Coordinator fought and bled and died, they were still humans fighting over humanity's home. And that pale blue world was a far cry from the one that stood beneath them right now.

"It could be anything. I wonder if it's a weapon."

[cosmicprayer.livejournal.com]

"I suppose that's the most likely scenario." Disappointing, but how were they supposed to negotiate with beings that destroyed entire worlds?

"And these 'rituals'... what do you think that means?"

[jesushasagundam]

He glanced over at her, and shook his head. "I wish I knew. It can't be something bad, or she'd be warning us. I'm sure of it."

[cosmicprayer.livejournal.com]

"It must be something about their religion." Was she going to have to worship an alien god for this?

"Well, then. Where do we go from here?"

[jesushasagundam]

"Probably," he agreed, "If we're meeting with their spiritual elders, then that's a good guess. We should respect it, at any rate."

A small smile. "We just stay here. The whole deck detaches - it's like one big shuttle. Let's just trust in Stacy and the rest of the crew for now."

[cosmicprayer.livejournal.com]

"Oh, wow!" She had to marvel at that. "I'm sure the views will be amazing."

She looked out at the planet and could only hope she would be able to do something to help.

[jesushasagundam]

He nodded. "It always is, isn't it? There's something really beautiful about the view from space... even if it's a different world altogether."

[cosmicprayer.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she agreed with a smile. "I never get tired of it."

[jesushasagundam]

Kira's eyes went back up to the projection of the planet floating in front of them. "...I wish everyone could see something like that some day," he said quietly. "Maybe it'd change how they see the world."