13516/Space Lex 17: Destination Moon

Space Lex 17: Destination Moon
Date of Scene:	06 December 2022
Location:	The Moon
Synopsis:	The Titans return to the moon to recover the satellite launched from Space Lex 17, and run into some alien scavengers. They get a hint of why it went wrong, and convince the aliens to change to different line of business.
Cast of Characters:	Donna Troy, Kian, Terry O'Neil, Gar Logan, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Caitlin Fairchild

---

Donna Troy has posed:
    Maybe the Titans could have Rabbit Holed to the Moon -- after all the moon's not to far. It's possible, Donna has said, they may rabbit hole back. However she has also said that they're taking the T-Jet. Also, there are space suits. Even Donna's got hers on, despite her protestations that she doesn't need a space suit, because Caitlin had insisted. It's not so much the vacuum that's the issue here, as the potential for doses of radiation well in excess of those normally visited upon lunar explorers.

    "Working in the lunar environment isn't going to be entirely convenient," Donna says as the team gathers in the rear of the T-Jet, half way to the moon, for the mission briefing. "But if we can get things done there rather than risking bringing the satellite back to earth, that would be ideal. Not just a matter of safety, but also a matter of security."

    "So, I followed up Kaida's lead. The unusual alloy that was being used for the satellite -- it's mostly used for medical implants. People don't generally purchase it in the kind of quantities needed for building the satellite. We found a startup electric car company called Editson had been buying it up in bulk. I droped over there to scope the place out. Their factory was a weird place. A lot of security. If that wasn't enough to trigger my suspicions, Batman was trying to break in."

    "So long story short, they were constructing these satellites using kidnapped engineers. Batman and I broke in, rescued them, trashed the place. If you saw something on the news about a large explosion at the Editson plant, that wasn't entirely our fault. We blew the computers, but it set something else off which I'm guessing was some kind of dark energy explosion. It opened a very short-lived wormhole that ate the plant."

    "It gets worse. Three things: first, they were manufacturing in bulk. Second, Editson was a start-up, with Lexcorp funding. Third, they had Brainiac tech on site. Batman has that for analysis."

    "So, our priority today is to figure out some kind of way of dealing with these things. The first incident, the satellite leaked its stored power, and the T-Jet detected some kind of resonance between the Space Lex fusion drive and the satellite. That might be something we can use. Alternatively, anything that allows us to locate these things so we can get up close will work, because there's nothing in them that a missile or a fist can't deal with."

    Donna tilts her head, fingers rapping on the helmet resting on her lap. "Any questions?"

Kian has posed:
    "Walking is *never* convenient, but I suppose this world is too small to retain an atmosphere," Kian says.  He too is clad in a spacesuit, one sent back from his world because his people *know* how to make a spacesuit a winged being can wear comfortably.  It's definitely the closest any of his friends have seen him to wearing anything like pants and a long sleeved shirt.  He himself isn't worried about the radiation, but a sudden and unexpected lack of oxygen would be... inconvenient.
    Even more inconvenient than walking.
    "No, no questions," the birdman says with a sigh, "although I'm sure examining it closely will lead to many."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yeah, if Batman is trying to break into anywhere, that's a sign that something bad is going on." He smirks, "Or maybe he needs to use the bathroom. Can you picture Batman in the john, reading the Gotham times?"

Focus, Terry.

His space suit doesn't come from Wonderland, but he's illusioned it up to have its own... flair. By way of vivid colors (purple and pink, to be specific) and glitter (lots of it.)

"I assume I'm here as the quick getaway guy in case something goes boom more than we anticipate? Any other usage you want out of my powers, fearless mission leader?" he grins at Donna.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan has spent some time taking a variety of selfies with Earth in the background, because that's the sort of thing he'd be all about posting on his social media accounts. Later, though. Best not to give away anything someone with ill intent and an ability to track them down could do something about.

His own spacesuit looks good on him, though it lacks any specific details to really make it his own. His voice comes through the same as it does for the others, over comms that accompany the usual. "I don't know much about what we need to do with this, but I've got two hands like everyone else. I'm used to dealing with tools." A brow raises pointedly in Terry's direction, then Kian's.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia has spent more than her fair share of time in space over the past two years. As a result several upgrades have been made to her Waspette armor, which among other features now boasts the ability to environmentally seal itself fully against the hazards of space and an additional propulsion unit for circumstances where her bio-synthetic wings are not a viable option.

    "Brainiac Tech?" That got her attention. Nadia looks up from her position at the Engineering controls, where she usually sits monitoring the Pym Drives and other systems when the T-Jet goes into space. "Did they manage to recover some? I thought the drones scoured everything offworld except the array that got torn off the ship and the cities we recovered? Getting that thing working and keeping it working was a really fascinating project. It tended to try and melt itself after each firing because we had to replace a lot of the original components with jury-rigged substitutes. Why did you give it to Batman and not Tony or Dr. Richards?" Or GIRL. Batman is definitely not the first person Nadia thinks of when she thinks 'brilliant science' or 'deciphering alien tech'.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's got her own suit on. It's a bit thinner and lighter than everyone else's, but like theirs some modifications have been made before it was ready to go. Regular cosmic background radiation is one thing, but given what the Titans know about the mysterious space device, there's a good chacne of exposure to more exotic energies.

In fact while Donna does the mission briefing Caitlin is inspecting everyone's suit and ensuring a second set of sensors inside the helmet visors are working as intended. Radiation detectors are mounted on the external belt as well, and she ensures everyone's taken iodine tablets and certain prophylactic measures to help them survive an unexpected radiation surge. Once she's concluded everyone else is properly outfitted, Caitlin checks her own and balances her helmet on her hip while they wait for the order to head down the ramp.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "That's going to pretty much depend on what our science nerds decide," Donna replies to Terry with a grin as wide as the grand canyon. "You, me and Gar are along to help out as we're needed. If we're lucky the nerds will declare the thing is entirely safe and can be taken back to the tower for closer analysis. Or maybe they'll decide they need some tools we didn't bring along, and your job will be to play fetch. We won't know until we look."

    Donna nods her head in the direction of Nadia, Kian and Cailtin. "And that means I'm not the mission leader, they are. This is science stuff. We're facilitating."

    "Brainiac's ship took a lot of damage, Nadia. Not everything was accounted for, so my guess, these people found some. I didn't give it to Batman, he found it. I'd have said nobody was better qualified than Vic to look at it -- he's the one who cracked the Brainiac code, after all. But the Bats like do keep everything in house." Donna's eyes flicker momentarily towards Caitlin. The younger Titans will come to understand the delicacy of working with the Bats in time. Caitlin and Donna know all to well.

    The trip to the moon does not take long in the T-Jet, thanks to the prototype sub-light Pym Drive Nadia has equipped it with. The far shorter journey entering into orbit and then modifying the orbit to cross over the point where the satellite had been dumped takes significantly longer, but sure enough the T-Jet is soon in the correct orbit and starts its gradual descent towards the target. The lunar landscape seems to scroll away below the ship like some overly long and gray website, and the horizon rises slowly up the cockpit windows until the target location is just a few miles ahead.

    Donna jabs a finger towards the ground ahead. "What's that?" she asks. "That wasn't there before."

    Amazon eyes had picked out something white against the surface as soon as it had crested the horizon. As the T-jet gets closer, a dome comes into view. According to the T-Jet's sensors it's about sixty feet across, and covers over the site where the Satellite had been left.

    "Cait, pull up and sharp left. let's get back to orbit and try not to be spotted."

Kian has posed:
    The trip, as a trip, is nothing new to Kian.  He's piloted a small craft to the larger of his homeworld's moons.  The moon as a moon, however, retains its fascination as it's so much larger than the ones he's used to.  Kyshan got quantity, but Earth definitely got quality.
    Donna's question arrests Kian's attention, and he peers into the black and gray of horizon and lunar surface; perhaps a hawk's vision might notice something too, and almost more by reflex than by design, he opens up his senses to see if he can detect any unusual energy signatures.
    "So, that dome wasn't there before?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Got it, we're the muscle!" Vorpal says. Then he looks at himself, at Gar, and then at Donna, and amends, "You're the muscle, we're the... Gar, what /are/ we?" he turns to look at the green Titan, but he frowns when Donna points out something that wasn't there before.

"It's got a dome. We're nowhere near the Russian station, right? I don't really know exactly where it is in relation to where we are... although I /could/ Rabbit Hole into it."

He purses his lips and says very quietly, "You know, it shouldn't be normal to treat a trip to the moon as... pedestrian, and yet here I am."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan gets some images of the moon as well, but any need to strap in for the ride is taken care of along the way. He's used to Caitlin doting over everyone, so that's no matter. Sometimes it's nice that someone's thinking about things like that and looking after the others. "Thanks," he throws in along the way.

"We're..us. That's usually enough said," he says to Vorpal, adding, "You look funny like that, especially with your tail in the suit too." Then, the dome on the surface of the moon becomes more of their focus for the moment and he notes, "There isn't exactly a lot of traffic out here. If we can see them, bet they can see us too. If there's anyone down there and they're monitoring things, I mean."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "Maybe the Justice League found it and put up a dome?" Nadia offers as she peers at the strange Dome on the view screen in place where their destination was supposed to be. "Their Watch Tower is on the Moon, too." Though even as she asks that, her fingers are running across the console in front of her as she directs the T-Jet's sensors towards the strange Dome to see what kind of energy signatures or any signs of transmissions the T-Jet might be able to pick up.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Right-- fly casual," Caitlin acknowledges from her spot at the pilot's console. One nice thing about spaceflight is that 'down' is whatever you want it to be. While the scanners do a passive scan, Caitlin rolls the T-jet over so she and Donna can get a good look at it with the naked eye. With their engines momentarily on a cold burn it'd take a pretty keen eye to pick up the ship just cruising past overhead, and that's *if* someone was bothering to look up from the lunar surface.

"Sixty feet, that's... what, just shy of three thousand square feet of coverage," Caitlin says, wrinkling her nose in thought. "If there's someone down there it's gotta be a pretty small group."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Nadia's scans, along with Kian's senses, return nothing. Enough nothing to make it clear that there's some pretty heavy shielding involved in that dome. It might indeed even be the purpose of the dome. Donna and Caitlin's view as the T-Jet peels rapidly away reveals the dome to be white and featureless -- and also reveals a space ship of an entirely unfamiliar configuration a few hundred feet away from the dome.

    "Possible," Donna says to Nadia. "But the Watchtower's a long way away. We picked a pretty quiet crater to park that thing in. We need to treat whoever's got that dome us as potentially hostile. Any signs we've been spotted?"

    There are none. There's no visible reaction from the parked ship or dome, no warning signals from the T-Jet's sensors that anything is scanning them. It's not certain, but there's no evidence that the Titans haven't got out undetected.

    The T-Jet returns to a parking orbit, the orbital path chosen to remain over the horizon from the position of the dome and unknown space ship at all times. Donna turns in her seat to look back at the rest of the crew. "Okay. Suggestions?"

Kian has posed:
    Well, heavy shielding, or nothing actually happening at the moment, take your choice... but Kian knows which one he'd bet on if he were a betting bird, and it's not the latter.  They just don't have that kind of luck.
    "I'm hoping they weren't expecting visitors.  I didn't feel anything that could be used for radar, and nothing else besides.  You can't shield radar, that kind of defeats the purpose of it.  As the duly appointed voice of reason -- at least according to Terry -- I wish I could say they didn't have some other means of detecting us."
    He frowns slightly.  "I don't really have any suggestions without more data.  I'd like to have some idea what -- and who -- is in there.  All I can say about that ship is that it's not one of ours."  He shrugs.  You'll have to pretend feathers rustle, encased as he is.  "That doesn't narrow it down a lot, I know."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I could open a rabbit hole into, you know, /there/," the cat gestures in the direction of the ship. "Not exactly subtle, and definitely a 'We Come In Peace Shoot To Kill Shoot To Kill' move if we're detected. And they might detect, say, science-based teleporters." He taps a gloved hand along his right hip, "But do you think they could detect magic?"

A side-glance at Gar, and a frown. "I don't look funny. I look regal. Imposing. In my space suit. Like a furred Flash Gordon. Aaa-haaa." He nods.

Gar Logan has posed:
With the ship relocated, Gar looks down on the ship and dome from their vantage point. "For starters, we should stay in motion just in case they have, you know, missiles or something that could lock on to us. Or, freaking laser beams."

He gestures with both gloved palms up, shaking his head within the suit. "We could rabbit hole, but we don't know if we'd be jumping in on anyone, or if they're friend or foe. I'd offer to turn into something and sneak inside, but there's the whole lack of air thing. We can't get a scan of the inside at all?"

Looking around to the others, maybe one of them has a better idea. "And no, you don't. You look like you're headlining a gay space opera," he deadpans to Vorpal.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia peers at one of the nearby holographic displays, "It doesn't seem to be giving off any kind of energy readings or signals or well anything. Meaning whatever that dome is, it is likely capable of some very heavy shielding. But like how did someone track it down and set all of this up so fast and why? How would they even know?"

    When Donna asks for suggestions Nadia thinks for a moment before offering, "I can think of three things. One, we try the smashy approach and just bust it open, maybe not the best idea. Two, I could try and get inside by getting really small and finding my way between the molecules to see what's inside. Or three, blind portal in. OR four," She continues as she suddenly has another idea. "We fake a rough landing and engine trouble and see if anyone comes out to help change a flat tire or something." Never mind that the T-Jet doesn't really need tires for locomotion. She may have seen this in a movie recently. "OR five we could go check out that ship and maybe bring them cookies. Everyone likes cookies."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin looks up at the overhead view of the moon, this time in a mild expression of exasperation. "Could you guys, like, just-- take this a bit more seriously?" she inquires of the collective quippers behind her, before returning her full focus to the sensors monitoring the dome.

"They left the ship parked. That means they're not waiting on a ride on or off the station. It also suggests there's an external override to the dome, probably a manual one since you don't want a wireless transmitter near an unstable energy source. That means we can attain access to the dome and we've got leverage to keep the moon guys here in line-- we can just threaten to disable their ship."

"But that's all a lot easier to do when you're on the doorstep. Safest bet is for me to head down there first via kinetic drop," Caitlin says, and sets the autopilot to continue the passive geosynchronous station-keeping. "Kian, you jam their communications systems from up here. Once I'm sure there's no radiation leak or some crazy self-destruct thing, the rest of you can portal down to the surface and we can get a look at this up close."

She rises and pulls her helmet on, sealing it with a *hiss* and letting Donna double-check the seals before giving a thumbs up. Caitlin engages the blast shielding on the helmet face plate as well, and moves to stand near the T-jet's airlock.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna listens to all the suggestions without comment, finally nodding her head at Caitlin's suggestion. "Let's not give them a chance to react though," she says as she does the final check on Caitlin's suit seals. "We do the drop and the rabbit hole at the same time. Cait, you jump out and check on the dome, make sure it's safe and see if you can gain entry. As soon as you exit, Terry brings up the rabbit hole. Kian, you stay on the T-jet and monitor Caitlin's descent and entry, suppressing anything that might give her position away, while the rest of us go through the hole close to the ship, and knock on the door. As soon as Cait has cracked the dome, come down to join us Kian. "

    "Terry, Nadia, Gar, our job is to keep whoever's in that ship paying attention to /us/ and not to what Cait is doing. Be ready for that meaning a fight, but we have no idea who these guys are. Could be friends, could be enemies. Could easily enough be aliens, too. We're not throwing the first punches, okay?"

    Donna gives Caitlin the thumbs up to indicate her suit checks are done, and cycles the airlock for her before giving Terry a nod. "Let's get going."

Kian has posed:
    "If I can *find* their communications beams, yes.  I haven't sensed anything yet," Kian says, reaching out with his /rhy'thar/ again, "and I'm pretty sure you don't want me to just cause an electromagnetic pulse to kill it outright."
    He bites his lower lip, thinking.  "If their communications are easily blanked, Cait, I can try to mask your descent.  I tried something while Gar had the Cheshire and it was a bad idea to do to myself, but it should be easier to manage around someone else, where I can try to bend light around you so you're not easily spotted.  *If* blocking their communications isn't too complicated."
    He blinks at Donna.  "Uh, I don't know how to pilot this ship.  How am I going to join you?  Unless Terry can throw me a Hole?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"So our mission is to draw attention and make ourselves punchable. Ok, I can do that." Vorpal smirks. Did his spacesuit get more glittery? Is that even possible? "No worries, we won't throw the first anything. In any case," he opens the Rabbit Hole and gestures, "Apres vous, my team-mates. Let's be as visible as American tourists walking through some foreign and very, very, sacred holy site somewhere."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan, not the tactician of the group, simply nods to Cait's idea and says, "Sure. Let's go with that. Maybe they'll recognize me from my time as Tork and want an autograph." He gets into position, trying to avoid some of Vorpal's extra glittery deal, and he adds in, "Away Team, away!" just before they drop outside the ship that's already on the surface of the moon.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia listens to the plan that's eventually hashed out. Basically a combination of the first two ideas. There is definite tactical value in a two pronged assault. The Waspette helmet is pulled on, environmental seals hissing into place as Caitlin heads for the airlock.

    <<Time to reach out and touch someone.>> Nadia's voice can be heard over the comms from her helmet as the wings extend from her back and with the help of an extra thruster, she zips through the portal towards the strange ship. Taking a moment to survey it, she darts towards the bridge and tries to get in front of whatever looks like a window or viewscreen sensors waving her arms. <<Hello Strange Space People! Can you come out for a chat? That would make everything SO much easier!>> It's an open frequency broadcast as she stands there perched on the bow of the craft.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Three hundred pound chunk of meat falling at close to ten meters per second? I'm really not that worried about them spotting us," Caitlin says with a wry amusement. She turns to the airlock and lines herself up just a step ahead of Donna. Once they're on trajectory Caitlin and Donna tie up with one another in a curious grapple and then Caitlin launches off her friend with a modest grunt of effort. It's only a few hundred meters to the impact site and Caitlin crosses it at pretty good speed, *thudding* into the lunar soil and sending up great plumes of grey moondust around her. She doesn't miss a beat, scrambling to her feet and encircling the dome to find the emergency manual access port.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Once Donna has helped Caitlin on her way, she steps back into the ship and closes the airlock. "Terry will leave the rabbit hole open for you Kian," She says, giving the bird-man an encouraging grin. "Just make sure no sensors catch Caitlin at it!" With that she heads on through the rabbit hole to join the others.

    Kian's senses are still not picking up anything much from the dome -- perhaps it relies on being hard to detect itself for security. So far so good -- no lasers, radar or other unusual electromagnetic energy being beamed in Caitlin's direction.

    Terry and Donna approach the ship last, but Nadia has already taken the initiative, waving her arms at the dark rectangles that look most like windows and broadcasting to the ship.

    There's a rapid response, in an obviously synthesized voice: <Humans, what do you want?>

    Caitlin lopes briskly around the circumference of the dome in huge low-gravity steps, trying to keep out of sight of the ship as much as possible. Before long she locates an obvious air lock entrance, with a keypad control. A dozen buttons bear unreadable symbols. Through the window of the airlock, Caitlin can see the shape of the satellite inside, and at least two figures apparently examining it. They're humanoid, but distinctly non-human - puce-skinned, four-armed, slender, and taller than she is. There may be more of them out of the direct view of the airlock window.

Kian has posed:
    "Well... all right, then," Kian says as Cait bails out, and he focuses on scanning for, and interfering with, any untoward signals from the dome.  Even if he's not really sensing any yet.  Well, maybe it's short-burst technology, maybe they haven't noticed yet, maybe they use something totally weird that he won't notice until too late.
    Best not to think too much about that last.
    Mesons?  Variations in the strong and weak forces?  Probably not, but it can't hurt to check for those either.
    "All right, just let me know when to come through... the ship *will* be all right on its own, won't it?  And I'm still not picking anything up, which I can't say I like."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<Actually- Humans, and Cheshire,>> Vorpal cuts in, glances at Donna, and is tempted to add 'And goddess,' but he decides that the incoming question of 'What's a Cheshire' is probably going to be enough of a distraction. <<We are merely perambulating on this selenic surface and noticed we had neighbors. As my colleague said, we merely wish to acquaint ourselves with you. It is usually customary to bring a baked delicacy to such meetings but, unfortunately, we are distinctly lacking in atmosphere for such things, so just a chatty welcoming team is what we have.>>

He ponders, for a moment, using his powers of illusion to create an illusion of himself standing there while he slinks off to the side, invisible, to head off any potential attacks...

But if they have sensors, which they do, they can see him, invisible or not. So he desists.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan attempts a facepalm, but it's difficult to do when there's a protective layer of solid, clear material in the way, making up the helmet of the streamlined spacesuit. <<What he's saying is 'we come in peace' and all that. I've got experience with this kind of thing. This is the part where we ask you to take us to your leader, and we find out that you're either here to try to kill us, or you're in need of help. Hopefully it's the second one, because we really didn't come here to fight. Not unless we have to.>>

While Cait's dealing with finding her way into the dome, they're checking the ship itself out from what's hopefully a safe distance, though still close to it. "I kind of hope they're Quarians. I always wanted to check out one of their flotilla ships." Nevermind the fact that's not real. <<Oh yeah, have you seen any satellites around?>>

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia looks over in Vorpal's direction for a moment, <<What are you talking about? /Of course/ I brought cookies, among other emergency rations. We definitely have cookies that we can share.>> She turns back towards the black triangle. <<You like cookies right? Let's talk, this is our Moon, so we just want to know why you are here and what you are doing and to share some delicious cookies with you.>>

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin waits until the Titans have terrain dominance and she sets herself up near the airlock door. Knocking on the door would accomplish little: it's an airlock. No atmosphere to transmit vibration.

So she steps to the side, sets her feet right, and hauls back to mule kick the superstructure hard enough to flip a passenger car over.

She returns to the airlock window and disables the blast shield on her visor so they can see her face, and clicks into the communication channel. "Hi! We're investigating a possible act of war against humanity. I'd suggest you pop this door open and let me in so we can discuss this peacefully and clear up any confusion about what you're doing on our moon with what sort of weapons. Otherwise I'm going to have to come in there myself, and trust me-- the airlock won't survive the process."

Donna Troy has posed:
    At the alien ship, there's a few moments silence, no doubt as the aliens process the barrage of not exactly coordinated messages from Nadia, Gar and Terry. After a few moments, they speak up again. <This is not your moon. There are no permanent colonies, so you have no greater claim to it than us. This is a legitimate salvage operation. Please go away.>

    Caitlin's direct approach at the dome causes obvious consternation from the aliens inside, and she gets a response that unlike the message from the ship is not in English. There's a lot of rushing around and after a short time the outer airlock door opens. On the other hand, she can now see a couple of aliens inside taking up positions facing the inner doorway with some kind of rifle weapons.

    Donna shakes her head slightly, but doesn't address either situation. Instead she calls up to Kian on the T-Jet: "Well, I think we don't need to worry about detection any more, you might as well come down and join us. We may need you."

    Back at the ship, it's obvious some alert has been sent by the aliens at the dome, because the synthesized voice reappears, less friendly now. <Cease hostile activity, bandits. This is our salvage. We are armed and will defend ourselves.>

    Donna finally joins in the radio conversation, replying "It's not salvage. That's our equipment you have inside that dome. We have a ship in orbit which has your vessel targeted already, I suggest you do not take hostile action. Return our equipment to us, and this doesn't need to be a problem for you."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal purses his lips and raises an eyebrow at what's going on. Caitlin going Full Fairchild will definitely add an intimidation bonus to their roll, of the 'This is whata will happen if you don't cooperate' variety. Donna is trying the rational 'This belongs to us, doofi' approach. Maybe he can add a little to both?

"Actually, my esteemed visitors," he says, clearing his throat and speaking into the broadcast as formally as he can, "You are, in fact on claimed soil. Troia here is the daughter of Phoebe, the Titan goddess of the moon, so you are technically trespassing on her property, and Troia's inheritance. Now, we are not the violent kind and we decidedly prefer to use words than to use fists- so why don't we settle this like good neighbors and admit that Mistaes Were Made, Misunderstandings Were Misunderstood, you let us have our property, we share some delicious baked goods, and you go on your merry way without any legal reprecussions from having occupied Donna's mom's place without permission like delinquent teenagers breaking and entering? Do let us be reasonable!"

Gar Logan has posed:
<Yeah, I don't think you guys understand how this all works,> Gar says, making sure his words can be made out one way or another. There are frequencies already allowing them to hear the aliens, so it must be fine.

Pointing toward Earth, he adds, <You see that blue and green place? That's Earth. Our planet. Not yours. The moon orbits Earth, which also makes it ours. Not yours. Our people have already been here and built stuff, which makes it even more not yours. So I'm gonna have to ask you to reconsider before you make an even bigger mistake. We're good to have as friends.>

Cait's own way of encouraging them to listen to reason is more direct, but the rest of them could follow suit very soon.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    <<Why don't they ever accept the cookies?>> Nadia wonders aloud over the comms. <<You really don't want this to be a fight.>> Nadia informs the aliens from where she is standing on the bow of the ship near their view ports.

    When Caitlin goes Full Fairchild, Nadia sighs. Someday someone will just accept the cookies, she has faith. Taking a step backward she drops off the bow of the ship and for a few moments out of sight. That doesn't last for long though, as soon a much much much bigger Waspette is taking up far more of their sight as she grows even larger than their and places a hand on either side of the vessel to hold it in place lest they get any ideas. <<Now, like Cait said, we'd really just like to talk. Talking and enjoying cookies is going to go /much/ better than the alternative.>> She rocks the ship a little as if to emphasize her point.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin provides the most articulate punctuation she can. The redhead steps out of the airlock window, measuring some careful paced steps. Three steps one way; she measures her strides, one hand trailing on the exterior of the building. A point is scuffed in the moon dust and she moves to the other edge of the wall, counting back the other way. A little eyeballing and Caitlin kicks some dust around to unearth a large rock or two. It's rolled over to a spot near the wall and she puts one foot against it like a track runner readying to launch. She focuses herself, eyes fixed on the weakest point of the bulkhead, ad she hauls back and kicks it. The first blow shakes the sidewall. The second dents it in, alarmingly. It's pretty obvious the aliens aren't safe in there.

Donna Troy has posed:
    There's a lot of chatter from the aliens audible in their own language, with translation switched off -- but they're speaking in the universal language of panic.

    Donna glares at Terry a moment, before her voice cracks out over the broadcast channel: <Everyone STOP! Stand down.> Despite her call, there are systems powering up on the alien ship.

    <In case you weren't aware,> she continues to broadcast, <Earth has been attacked by a number of aggressive space empires in recent times. That makes us jumpy. Every one of those space empires has had to retreat, and that should make you jumpy. However as you have yet to demonstrate hostile actions, we are willing to talk.>

    There's silence in response, just white noise over the channel. After a few moments, Donna continues. <The machine you have located and isolated inside that dome is not salvage. It is evidence in a criminal investigation, left here temporarily as it was emitting dangerous amounts of radiation. We cannot let you have it as we need to investigate it further as part of that criminal investigation. If you insist on attempting to remove it, you will be guilty of interfering with a criminal investigation and will be subject to incarceration and the impounding or destruction of your ship. If you cooperate you are in do danger from us.>

    There continues to be silence from the aliens. Donna switches over to broadcast on the Titan's private channel. <Guys, we're just beginning to shed the Earth's galactic reputation for being easy marks, let's not build a new reputation for Earth as space bullies, okay?> She's in a space suit, or she'd probably be pinching the bridge of her nose.

    Finally the aliens return to the channel: <There is no radiation source on the abandoned equipment we were recovering. We do not believe it to be Earth technology, you must be mistaken.>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal gives Donna a perfectly innocent Puss In Boots look. As the aliens respond, he gives a very theatrical and exaggerated sigh and answers back.

<Guys. Guys.. Guys. I'm going to tell you what we are going to do. We are going to take a look at that piece of salvage. As my handsome green friend pointed out, you are in our system. You are trespassing. You have appropriated Earth technology and now you are interfering with an investigation. We've tried this the nice way. These suits are uncomfortable and are not meant for someone with a tail and I am starting to get impatient and /cross/. This is the last nice warning I am going to give you. If you don't let us in, we will let ourselves in. And believe me, you will be vacuuming glitter from every nook, cranny and orifice of yours until the end of the universe.>

He switches over to the Titans private frequency, <Donna. They are showing the most horrible of galls, here. What's more, their denials are making me think something truly fishy is up. Do we have a good reason to not just go in? I don't think they could stop us if they wanted to. They certainly aren't going to listen to our arguments.>

Gar Logan has posed:
Nadia going large is a good trick to see what kind of response it brings. So far..unclear. The aliens aren't suddenly running off, but neither are they opening fire immediately.

Gar answers over the Titans side first. <This isn't us being bullies. It's us defending things that belong to us, to Earth. They're being shady AF, Donna. Just letting them go on unchecked, I don't like it. But I have an idea.>

Switching back over to the more open frequency, he walks closer to the dome Caitlin's sizing up, and he holds out his hands. <I think we can come to a solution here. Like my friends have said, we get a little twitchy when others come around places native to us and start poking around or worse. We are the Titans, a known group operating to help defend Earth and the people there. If you're investigating something criminal, if it's got to do with the moon then it's got to do with us. So let's work together and see what we can do to figure it out. It sounds like you want cooperation. So do we. So let's cooperate and help each other out.>

Worth a try, right?

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    <I think what Earth really needs to do is enforce our borders so we stop having to deal with situations like this. It's kind of hard to bully someone when they walk into your house and try to take things without permission.> Nadia echoes Gar's sentiments over the Titans comm.

    <<Okay, this is your last chance to start cooperating. Unless you want me to permanently disable your ship, stop powering it up.>> As she says this, she adjusts her grip so that her wrist blasters are pointed at the vessel's engines.

Donna Troy has posed:
    <You don't talk like law enforcement,> the alien voice replies in what surely is the alien equivalent of a sardonic voice. <This moon does not have any permanent habitations on it, so by intergalactic law it is nobody's territory. We have the same legal rights to be here as you do. Why should we believe you have any prior claim to this obviously non-terrestrial technology? All our data says that your world has not developed the type of gravitic resonance technology we've found in this wreck. This kind of equipment is dangerous to technological primitives, and we'd be doing you a favor by removing it.>

    Donna does not seem too interested in responding to the aliens, because she has Titans to respond to. <No Terry, I'm sure they couldn't stop us. Does that make it okay? We beat these guys up, just because we /can/? That's being a bully. >

    <Gar, we turned up without announcing ourselves in case they were hostile, but we went straight to the threats. That's being 'shady AF' too. And hell, maybe they're right about the colony thing in intergalactic law. Maybe they think they're doing nothing wrong.>

    <Nadia, maybe they genuinely don't /know/ it's not salvage. Can we just dial back the threats?>

    Whether the aliens are worried by said threats or just don't want to risk it, it seems like something's getting through though. <Humans, we are not here to cause trouble. We'll disengage our weapons if you will disengage yours too. We are willing to negotiate.>

Gar Logan has posed:
<And we were going to come check this thing out, when we found they'd already set up that dome over it,> Gar answers over the Titans frequency. <We tell people all the time to cut it out or else, so I don't see how this is any different. I'm kinda over aliens coming around all sneaky-like, not announcing themselves then acting like we're the ones in the wrong.>

Of course, being Gar, he just can't help himself sometimes. The pop culture references and random lines? He's got a treasure trove full of them. <Oh, well, you might not have seen it, but back in the 1960s we already landed on the moon. Even put in a flag. You know what they say. No flag, no moon. You can't have one.>

If they could only see the grin behind the opaque visor of his space helmet.

<But I like what I'm hearing. Let's talk. Can we come inside? Shake hands, or exchange universal greetings?> He holds a hand up to make a 'V' with his fingers.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    <They know now, we just told them. And really intergalactic law? We need to really clear that intergalactic law doesn't supersede Earth Law in Earth's own orbit. It's not threats, it's outlining consequences if they choose violence over talking.> Nadia responds over the Titans comms. She has made her stance clear to the aliens 'Cookies or Consequences' the choice is theirs.

    <<Good.>> Her voice comes back across the comms when the aliens choose talking. That's all she wanted. <<I think you'll like cookies.>>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<You are lucky. It's not just anyone that Garfield Logan does his Eddie Izzard impersionation at,>> Vorpal sends, and smirks. Then he switches to the private channel.

<I still think they're kinda sus. Let's watch out in case they try to pull a fast one...> He ponders. <So, your truth-sensing powers, Donna. Are they a human-only thing or does it work on alien species?>

<I am glad that they chose cake instead of death. Well, for now, at least.>

Donna Troy has posed:
    <Gaia give me strength. Gar, you do realize the whole point of that skit was mocking the idea you could own a place just because you put a flag in it, right?> Donna responds. <But fine. I mean why not just smash their ship up and kill them rather than talking, if we're going to be like that? Whatever. You guys do whatever.>

    <Donna, maybe we went in a bit eagerly, but...> Caitlin starts, giving her old friend a somewhat frustrated, somewhat puzzled, and somewhat guilty look. Donna's not hearing it though -- instead she just walks back through the Rabbit Hole to the T-Jet.

    Caitlin blinks at the space Donna had vacated a few moments, but before she can respond further the aliens are back on the channel. <Of course we are prepared to talk,> the voice says. <If you lower your weapons, we'll admit you to the dome and we can talk over things in a civilized fashion.> A series of lights come on at the entrance hatch, and the outer door of the airlock of the dome slides open.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan rolls his eyes behind the visor. <Oh come on, Donna. You know us better than that. Nobody wants to just up and destroy everything and kill them. Don't be that way. Look, they're letting us in. So we can talk and see what happens, and if they still don't cooperate /then/ we can..hey, I'm kidding. But the flag line was perfect.>

He's not the one who started kicking at the way into the dome, let it be made clear for the record.

Motioning for the others to catch up, he trudges his way toward the hatch and airlock into the dome, while at the same time changing the opacity of the helmet's visor so they can see his very green face. <Sooo, where are you all from, anyway? What are you investigating?>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal watches Donna stomp off with a frown. What he thinks about it, though, he keeps to himself. INstead, he decides to weave a subtle illusion of himself, one that goes ahead of him while he remains invisible a few steps behind. Just in case. He lets Gar and co. do the talking, for now, while he observes.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Caitlin gives a little sigh and joins Terry, Terry's illusion, Gar and Nadia in the airlock. The outer door slides shut, the air cycles, and the inner door opens.

    There are four aliens within, clearly representing two different species. Two of them are holding guns, but the guns are held downwards. One of the unarmed aliens takes a couple of nervous steps forwards and speaks in a series of gargling whoops which are translated by a device at its neck. "We come from a variety of places. We are an intergalactic salvage team." It gestures a limb in the direction of the satellite, standing on the surface of the moon beneath the pressure dome, somewhat disassembled. The aliens have obviously been taking a close look to see what it is. "We located this device and believed it to be abandoned. Perhaps scrap from one of the wars that have taken place in this system. It is not hugely valuable, but please understand we have invested some time and resources into it already. If you wish to take it we are prepared to give up our salvage rights to you, but would like some compensation. This is reasonable."

    "Perhaps we can come to some arrangement," Caitlin offers thoughtfully, looking at the partially disassembled satellite. "If you have sufficiently analyzed the machine and are able to provide us with fully complete schematics and a thorough analysis of the system functions, we /may/ consider letting you have it."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Correct," the Cheshire illusion says, "Since this is part of a criminal investigation, the data and analysis are far more important than the hardware itself. As you no doubt observed, its level of technological advancement isn't on par with the average level of technology on Earth." He puts his hands behind his back. Is he pretending to be Mr. Tork? "I don't suppose that your analysis has led you to elaborate any hypotheses as to which civilization the technology might hail from?"



His invisible self glances around, but soon seems satisfied there is no duplicity.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan makes his way inside, and at least tries to put on a front that this is old hat for him. Upon checking oxygen levels inside the dome, he disconnects and removes his helmet, clipping part of it to the side of his suit so it can hang there rather than needing to be toted around. Hands-free technology! "Hi there," he says with another wave, looking between the others before taking a closer look at the aliens. Translations are great.

"You must be working for someone, then. What was the crime here, or are you trying to figure that out?" He doesn't go on much with the questioning, as others here might be able to cover that better than he. As more of an aside, he says to Vorpal, "First the place in Wales, now this. Someone's always after our money. And you can't be Tork. I'm Tork."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Caitlin takes a moment to give Terry and Gar a disapproving look. She has already admonished them once about not taking things entirely seriously, and she's tempted to do it again.

    <You claimed this technology belonged to you,> the lead alien says in response to Terry's question. <Are you now admitting that it is not yours after all, and is thus unclaimed salvage which we have retrieved legally? How very interesting. We are not investigating any crimes, we are salvaging some discarded alien technology.>

    Caitlin gives a small growl of frustration. "It was built on Earth," she replies firmly. "Using some recovered alien technology. It went wrong when it was being launched into orbit. There was an unexpected leak of radiation and we put it here on the Moon for safety. Now we're recovering it, as the radiation leak has passed. It's not salvage, sorry."

    <Interesting. Yes, there's no longer any radiation leak, the containment field collapsed and the compression chamber is empty. It would seem the scientist of your world do not properly understand the alien technology they recovered, that would explain why they allowed the containment field collapsed. An obvious compromise seems clear then. We will take the parts made from alien technology, which is of no use to you and is not of Earth origin. The rest, the part that is made by your people, we will make safe and return to you. Do we have a deal?>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Always after our money," Vorpal mutters back, and he watches the exchange. He narrows his eyes. "The object was-," he stops as Caitlin steps in, and points at her, "As she said. Dear god, we seem to have stumbled into a cadre of aliens raised by wild Ferengi. No, we don't have a deal yet since there has been no mention of analysis data, if anyone was performed. If there is no data, then the notion of a deal isn't even on the table. If there is data, Doctor Fairchild will be the one to determine whether it is sufficient for the purposes of the investigation and whether to offer you the hardware. But we must reiterate that this is not an equal transaction. The item, regardless of the origin of some of its parts, is of Terran extraction and does not belong to you, we may only consider allowing you to have it."

His illusion takes off his helmet... and for a horrifying moment, his head as well. There is no blood and no horror, just a neck stump. "Oh for crying out loud," he says, and reaches into the helmet. He then screws his head on, for a moment leaving it backwards before giving it a straightening nudge with his hand. "So let's not lose our heads here and talk data first, deal later."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan gets quiet here. Studying what they were in search of is not something he did, so deferring to others who have more expertise there is, naturally, the wise thing to do.

This includes a moment of staring at Vorpal's illusion, and he /can/ pinch the bridge of his nose - so he does.

"Let's just..get to the bottom of this and keep from having a reenactment of Mars Attacks or something. I'm going to get a few pictures of this thing." Out comes his phone, indeed taking some shots from different angles, but also making sure he subtly sneaks a few images of the aliens as well without being openly obvious about it.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia makes a face behind the faceplate of her helmet. "You can't just go into inhabited systems and claim whatever you want. Nevermind that this wasn't just laying around to begin with. We put it here. By your logic, I can claim your ship as found salvage, it's here on our moon, I found it. But that's stupid. Deciding to spend your resources where you shouldn't be in the first place is not something you can just demand compensation for. Until Intergalactica sends us an ambassador, the only law that applies here is Earth law. That said, it does suck to invest a bunch of resources and turn out to be wrong. I agree with Cait's suggestion, if you can provide us with schematics, data, and detailed information on how it works, then it wouldn't hurt to let you take it and everyone gets what they want."

Donna Troy has posed:
    The aliens just gawp at headless Terry, and Caitlin sighs again. There may be baking-related punishments later. She takes a few moments to recover, before asking the aliens "Do /you/ claim to understand the non-Terrestrial technology involved better than we do, then? It's possible we may be willing to make a deal if you can provide us sufficient useful information about those parts."

    One of the aliens accompanies Gar as he goes on his mission to photograph the exposed satellite. "No invasive scans!" he insists, clearly not aware of the limited capabilities of Gar's phone. "Not until we have a deal." He doesn't seem too worried about being in the background of some of Gar's shots though.

    "Our ship was not abandoned," the lead alien tells Nadia. "If it had been abandoned, as this was, you would have a legitimate claim to salvage, whatever world the ship had originated on. Just as we have a legitimate claim to this abandoned technology. Your lack of knowledge of intergalactic law is your own failing, not ours. You don't get to own an entire system just because your planet happens to be there. How do you think systems with more than one spacefaring civilization on them would manage things? You're not making sense. But we understand you are a young and primitive species. We don't hold that against you. I'm sure we can find a mutually advantageous arrangement."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Primitive?" the Cheshire cat raises an eyebrow. "First rule of negotiation. Do not call the other side primitive to their faces. Especially since you are primitive enough that -you- probably don't believe in magic."

The chaos wave spreads out from under his feet and sweeps out across the ship's floor-plates. Wherever the magical wave spreads, metal becomes impossibly, unexplainably fertile. Flowers sprout- not flowers from Earth, but Wonderland flowers and plants. Sugarcane glistens, with its bent heads glittering in caramelized hues. Snapdragons try to nibble on a crew-mate, but fortunately remain bound by the reach of their stems, leaving the jaw-like petals to snap in the air harmlessly. Milkweed bends under the weight of milk pods bearing chocolate, regular and strawberry milk. Sunflowers stand tall, blazing brightly and a little too warm for comfort in the immediate vicinity, while tiger lilies growl menacingly at anyone who comes too close, threatening to defend their personal space with thorn-claws.

Vorpal reaches for one of the milk pods and snaps it off, the stray end of it forming a perfect straw. "So let's be clear about that. Now don't be a jackass and stop the condescension before I am tempted to see if you can make the trip home in a ship that has turned into an enormous cantaloupe."

He takes a sip of the milk, his eyes on the head alien, "Just in case you decided to feel smugly superior. In any case. You were /saying./"

Gar Logan has posed:
"Oh, you'd know if it was invasive," Gar says quietly to the alien that's decided to tag along. Playing up a mysterious nature about it, he adds, "Trust me." Sure, there's probably a video recording of this from multiple angles built into bodycams in the suits, but there's nothing like good ol' photography to go with it.

He's done with all of the negotiations for the time being, leaving it for anyone else to take point. With Vorpal doing /that/ chaos-laden display, something that is largely impossible anywhere but Wonderland, Gar says not a word. Instead, he rubs the back of his head briefly and merely watches it all as if it's nothing new for him. This, really, is quite true. Of greater interest is how the aliens react.

He does make a point of getting Cait's attention, enough to gesture toward himself, indicating where he is, then doing the same to show Vorpal being apart from him. No collaboration here. Under his breath, he mutters, "If they want primitive, I could show them a saber-toothed tiger..."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    There are many insults that Nadia will let go. Primitive though... primitive?! She tries to be nice, it is her natural inclination. But some people just take advantage of it and that's not cool. Watching Donna go, she turns back to the aliens. "You clearly do not understand the core nature of politics, laws are only as applicable as they are enforceable. We've already repelled several alien invasions that thought they could apply their laws here. Yours are the same, unless you can maintain a monopoly on the use of force your laws are meaningless. It's almost like you're trying to pick a fight. The offer of an acceptable compromise that lets you have the satellite has been made twice and you've yet to answer." She says before adding, "Call me primitive again and I'll show you technology that'll make you sub-atomic." He seems to have touched a nerve in the normally unflappably kind girl, Janet might be rubbing off on her a bit.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Caitlin is getting increasingly agitated. "Guys, I'm starting to think Donna had a point, can we dial it back a bit?"

    The reaction to Terry's chaos magic is hard to interpret, but perhaps the closest human parallel to the expression on those alien faces is nonplussed. Nadia's threats produce something more clearly a frown.

    The lead alien switches off his translator and indicates to his companions to do the same. They have a short, rapid debate before the leader reactivates his translator.

    "We have agreed a willingness to share information with you already. You are being very non-specific about what you want, and your claims of technological advancement seem at odds with your aggressive tendencies. It was not our intention to insult you, but it remains a fact that Earth is not a technologically advanced world by galactic standards. You yourselves admit that this satellite was dangerously faulty, do you not? Please understand, we are showing concern for the well-being of your planet here. If you do not have the technical knowledge to utilize this kind of equipment without triggering a cascade failure, it is extremely dangerous to you."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Gardening is not aggressive," Vorpal says, reaching over to snap the tip of a sugar-cane off and dip it into the milk. "Alright. Except when my mother does it. But she is not here." A sip, "Fortunately for you." It might just actually be that this is a very true thing. Agatha O'Neil in a FIrst Contact situation would be an interesting scenario. To witness from a safe distance.

"In any case, let's rewind back a moment there." He gestures with a hand, "From the data you gathered, do you have any way to tell if this cascade failure was triggered by accident... or intentionaly?"

Gar Logan has posed:
While all the rest is going on, Gar is, of all things, evidently trying to make a new friend amid the displays and threats or not-threats and everything else. The alien that moved off toward him is, if not already perturbed by the other posturing, subject to Gar showing him a few different photos on his phone. Nothing top secret, really, just a few landmarks and some casual and silly images, but he speaks in a more hushed tone. Maybe he's trying a different angle. Maybe he's just avoiding being caught up in everything else.

"So what was really going on with this?" he casually asks along the way. "What went wrong? I didn't have anything to do with making it. I may /look/ like an alien, but I've only played one on TV."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia glances in Caitlin's direction. "We tried offering them cookies, they refused, they instead powered up weapons and were deterred from doing so while we again and again asked to talk until they finally agreed. Now they're continuing to be belligerent and calling us primitive. What part of that is Donna having had a point?"

    She takes a calming breath, centering herself before looking back at the aliens having their secret conversation, putting on the 'team leader' face she's managed to acquire during her time with GIRL. "Well, we're making progress at least." She comments on the improved tone of the conversation. "Here have a cookie." She says producing a bag of cookies from one of the miniaturized storage pouches of her suit and offering one to the lead alien. "I made them myself this morning." Regardless of if the cookie is taken or not she listens to the alien's largely non-offensive, if condescending, statements.

    "I think you misunderstand the development of Earth. It is true the general levels are lower than general Galactic standards," That she'll concede, she's been to Rann and other places, she knows several highly advanced aliens. "However there are several organizations that are much more advanced. This satellite seems to have been created by an organization that did not fully understand what they are dealing with for nefarious ends. That said, I personally have worked on and repaired technology from the alien conflict that spawned this into working order, part of a team of others that were also capable of doing so."

    She lets that settle in for a moment before continuing, taking that moment to eat a cookie herself. "Our goal is to find the one who made it and stop them from putting more dangerous faulty things into orbit around the planet. Your concern for our wellbeing is appreciated. To that end, we would like any sort of schematics of exactly how the technology of this satellite works and what went wrong, so that if we come across another one we can avert the cascade failure and keep others from harm. Because whoever made this, I sincerely doubt it is a one off thing, it is never a one off thing. I am pretty good with advanced technology, so is Caitlin." She gestures in Caitlin's direction. "How about instead of assuming we are too primitive, try teaching us about this technology and what went wrong with this satellite, so that we can help keep others safe from future ones once you take this one away? Does that sound like a fair offer? You get the whole satellite and we get knowledge to help keep others safe and avert future crises as well as insight into what the nefarious actors behind the construction were trying to accomplish. I will even throw in the rest of this bag of cookies. I custom created the chocolate chips from the molecular level up. They are amazing. If you don't want them I am sure Gar will eat them, but you'd really be missing out."

Donna Troy has posed:
    One of the aliens who has so far remained fairly quiet approaches Nadia to examine her bag of cookies, peering curiously in at the baked goods. His boss shoos him away.

    "We don't know if it was an accident or intentional," the chief alien replies to Terry. "All we know is that it happened. The equipment is inadequately made. The storage cavity does not have the correct damping structures. I'm reluctant to say this as every time we say anything remotely unflattering about your technology you seem to threaten us with violence, but there are irregularities in the casing. We interpret this as inaccuracies in manufacture."

    He taps some controls on a device, and a holographic projection floats in the air, which Caitlin steps forwards to study with interest. The alien jabs a long thing finger at one part of the floating shape. "You see here? There's a discontinuity there, which is at a critical frequency. Something must have induced a resonance at that frequency, triggering a cascade transformation of the Dark Matter containment."

    "That is very odd," Caitlin says, rubbing her temples. "This material looks like it was print-deposited. There's no reason for such a discontinuity, unless..." she gives a shrug and glances at Nadia.

    Gar's new buddy seems quite impressed by some of the landmarks Gar shows him, and is happy to chat along while the others talk serious business. "Don't ask me," he says. "We're just collecting salvage. Apparently there were a bunch of ships destroyed in orbit around your planet in recent times. Bound to be something good. This is just something we stumbled across, and parts of it looked kinda interesting. Honestly I'm not sure why the captain's so bothered. It's a curiosity but it's not worth that much. Honestly I think we could make more money running a tour service to Earth. Some of these places look really interesting to visit."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan looks up and over at the cookies. Oh, yes. If the aliens don't accept them, he'll make sure none go to waste.

Keeping more to himself, though also paying attention to what he can make of the information being shared, there is a hint of relief on his face that cooler heads are beginning to prevail after all the posturing that went on at first.

To the one he's more in conversation with, he shrugs a shoulder and says, "We've had a bunch of others try to attack us over the years, and there are already some from other worlds that live with us now. I guess we're just that interesting. But..yeah, I dunno about the tour thing but we do have a Starport you guys should get in touch with if you're ever serious about it. That could prevent, you know, a repeat of all this."

He's just going to pretend the Wonderland elements with vegetables and other types of creature-based plantlife aren't there. Simpler that way, really.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "Unless it was deliberate and this wasn't an accident or a failure but intentional sabotage." Nadia finishes for Caitlin. "Maybe it isn't a coincidence that it was triggered by the shuttle's fusion core, but rather was designed to be. But why and who?" She muses aloud, before looking back to the aliens. "I'm not sure what technologies you're capable of interfacing with, Kree? USB-C? Crystals? But if you could give us some data on what went wrong and this technology in general. I think we can all be on our way and we can study this problem at length without wasting any more of your time."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
There is a shift in reality, and Vorpal's space suit is replaced by the outfit a Belgian dandy would have worn circa 1910. His whiskers seem to have been curled into the facsimile of a ridiculous curly moustache. "Why, that is the question, isn't it?" he says, sipping daintily from his milk, "We have to set the little grey cells in motion and ask ourselves: Who stands to gain from the sabotage, non? I did wonder, when I asked whether this had been triggered accidently or non, but ma foi, now we have an answer!"

He looks crestfallen, "That, malheuresement only creates even more questions. But nevertheless, it is a start, hein."

Hercule Purrot sips his milk.

Donna Troy has posed:
    <The post-grad engineers who were forced to build this thing, Terry. They would be the ones who sabotaged it,> Donna's voice crackles in over the radio. She may have stormed off in a huff, but apparently she has been listening in.

    Caitlin nods her head at Nadia. "If they were all made with the same fault, we could trigger it," she says. "And we've got scans of the resonant interaction while it was happening. If we analyze the frequencies involved and compare to these scans, we could confirm it. And then we'd know how to duplicate the effect if there are any more of those satellites in orbit."

    Caitlin turns to the lead alien, looking apologetic."I'm sorry, but we're going to have to take that part of the satellite. You can have the rest though."

    The chief alien gives a squawk of outrage. "That's the most valuable part!" he complains. "The rest is junk. It wouldn't even cover our fuel costs! This is outrageous!"

    "Uh... boss?" Gar's buddy interjects. He steps over and whispers hurriedly in the lead alien's ear. The lead alien's features crease into a deep frown at first, but rapidly the expression softens. "Show me," he says.

    Gar's new buddy takes him over to where Gar is standing, and gives Gar a nudge. "Show him what you showed me," he says."

    The two aliens spend a while looking at some of Gar's more touristy snapshots, and then the leader gives Caitlin and Nadia a brief nod. "Okay. You can have the whole thing, if you'll agree to help us get permission to bring tour parties to your planet. That sounds like a much safer line of business. Do we have a deal?"

Gar Logan has posed:
With everything going on, the negotiations over the remains of the satellite, Vorpal being Vorpal, Nadia and Caitlin in discussion with the aliens over how to handle all of this...Gar is just over there sharing pictures of this and that.

Little does he expect the guy to approach his boss, share some hushed whispering, and lead to the both of them examining a few of those landmarks.

Then, the alternate offer is made and he clears his throat. "Wait..what? What just happened? I mean, I'm sure we /could/ but, you know, there would be the matter of behaving, and that's even if we could get the okay. And...yeah." This has caught even him by surprise.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Leave it to my boyfriend to charm the pants off them," Vorpal says, finishing his milk. "Just you wait until they discover chocolate." His eyebrows rise, suddenly realizing the potential of a business opportunity. He sidles up to the aliens and, summoning a chocolate bar out of a Rabbit Hole, hands it to them. "You might also be interested in a certain Terran delicacy." It is a fancy bar, you can tell because the wrapper is almost completely bereft of any design whatsoever, "As a potential add-on to your tour. Let me know if the taste appeals to you, we can have whole tasting tours, too."

Hey, a boy's gotta make a living. He got fired from the Planet, something's gotta pay the bills!

"But it looks like we have a deal- at least, no objections from me." He glances at his team-mates, and perks an ear to listen for any objections from Donna.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna's voice crackles out over the radio again: "I hate you all."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan's response is just as brief: "Don't be mad we get things done unconventionally."