3174/Of Bottles and Moons

Of Bottles and Moons
Date of Scene:	31 August 2020
Location:	Work Deck - Watchtower
Synopsis:	Kara brings Maxima too the Watchtower looking for her people. There is talk of Earth Defense and Alien Supremacy.
Cast of Characters:	Kara Danvers, Maxima

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Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara understands just how it can be when you land on a new world, all the confusing rules and customs and languages. Though, so far it seems like Maxima doesn't care. May be she's not planning on staying long. Either way, helping her find her people is the right thing to do.

Kara leads Maxima up through the skies, up through the atmosphere and in to the beauty that is space. She doesn't push the speed, there's no need, but she doesn't want to take forever to get there either. The moon. The big gray ball in the sky. Sitting upon it, the Justice League's shiny new Watchtower.

Kara leads Maxima down to its surface and then in through its airlock. The gravity shifts once inside and Kara can breath once more. "Welcome to the Watchtower, Maxima." She smiles to the guest on her adopted planet and says, "This way upstairs where the bottled cities are being kept."

Maxima has posed:
Earth is certainly a confusing place for Maxima, a backwater world at the edges of known space that doesn't even seem to recognize interstellar royalty. How long she will stay remains to be seen, but the voice of reason that is Supergirl was a calm port amidst the maelstrom of attention that her dramatic entrance brought down upon her.

And so, accepting her offer of help and seeming knowledge of the fate of Brainiac's victims, Maxima follows after her jetting through Earth's skies and up out of the atmosphere towards the orbiting ball of rock that is the moon and the Watchtower base that lies upon it.

"Watch Tower?" The amazonian red head asks curiously as she follows after Kara, "Is this some sort of planetary defense installation?" For all the confusing things that foreign planets may contain, War and Defense is something that she finds all too familiar.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"It's a sentinel, rather than a military installation. In case the likes of Brainiac turn up again. Foreworned is prepared," she says with a small shrug of her shoulder. "I'm not sure how much of the battle against him you wish to know. It took Earth a while to understand the threat. At first he took cities from a small nation called Genoshia filled with genetically gifted humans."

As they wander in to the tower proper, there is a bustle of activity. Lots of scientists are setting up workstations and experiments. The novelty of being near so many superheroes hasn't worn off as several stop and stare at Supergirl and whoever it is that's walking with her.

"He made himself fully known though when he attacked North America - the continent you landed on - their biggest city called New York City. There he again targeted genetically gifted people by abducting their bulk from a suburb they have made their home called Bushwick."

Maxima has posed:
"Not a military installation, but just to watch if a threat comes?" Maxima seems to be confused by this, "Would it not be better to have a prepared response for such invaders such as a defense cordon to keep them at bay?" Even Earth's defense customs are strange to her in the end.

"Genetically gifted humans?" Those words seem to pique the interest of the Space Princess, "Genetically gifted how?"

Maxima doesn't return the stares, she is used to being watched by those beneath her and where she is from that is basically everyone, but Scientists in particular are of a lower caste. She pays them no mind as she makes her way through the station with Supergirl.

"Interesting," Maxima observes as she listens, "I was not aware he had such an interest in genetics. This explains much about why he would target the Almeracian Core System, the most genetically advanced worlds in the Empire where the Imperial seat of power is located. Were you able to learn anything of the reason for his interest?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara shakes her head and smiles again, "Remember I told you there are many nations on Earth? well they have treaties about space and no unified approach to defending the planet. Instead of a great of military technology, their best defence are people who are gifted: either with skills, smarts, or genetics. Those who choose to defend their home band together in to some of the mightiest teams on the planet. The Justice League with the help of many large corporations banded together to create this facility."

She looks a little amused at the questions, aware of how Maxima's people do things. "Well human genetics seem to have roughly 10% variance though most of those variances are very minor. Hair colour, eye colour. Some are burdened with a harder life, such as lower lung capacity, or flatter feet. But some are gifted with above average capabilities such as strength, or speed. Some people have a mixture of all this. It is a very diverse planet in that response."

She leads Maxima through the work area to a secured area and does an iris scan and hand scan and types in a code. The doors open and they can enter the room where the bottled cities are stored.

"Brainiac having revealed himself and his big skull ship made a threat to the world that he would return. Several of these teams of heroes went in to high gear now that they understood the threat. Brainiac took control of the satellites, but a man named Tony Stark was able to take control of them back so that we weren't blind."

Maxima has posed:
Maxima raises a brow, "It is impressive they have remained free of the conquering empires within this galaxy for this long with such an approach. Though is not making use of such individuals the same as utilizing an independent para-military force?" Such a puzzling place, this Earth.

"How... primitive, that their people must endure such hardships." It is an ideology unlikely to win her a lot of friends on Earth but the very idea of striving for less than perfection in engineering a new generation seems anathema to her.

When they reach the secure chamber with all of the bottles, Maxima steps inside looking around. She walks slowly forward to the very center of the room and closes her eyes. What follows might look like she is just standing there to some, though the sensitives among the station's residents will feel the brush of Maxima's mind as she reaches out with her telepathic power, probing, searching, looking for any trace of Almeracian minds among the residents of the bottles and indeed all of the sentients in the area of the Watchtower.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Well, in a way. Though many of these groups have the blessing of world governments. Not all of them, but the people of Earth are huge fans of their heroes. Whether those heroes are human or not. They represent the ideas of tomorrow, a new dawn for humanity that is just over the horizon. As you say, primitive by the standards of your people and my people but they are progressing fast."

Kara tucks her hands behind her back. "That same man who took back the satellites from Brainiac then went on to develop a beam weapon capable of shutting down Brainiac's shields. When fired, the hero groups took the opportunity to board Brainiac's ship. One team called the Titans went for these bottled cities and the technology Brainiac had used to shrink them. They were quite successful. The other team, a mixture of the Justice League and another group called the Avengers confronted Brainiac on his bridge. I was amongst this force."

She tilts her head a little as Maxima seemingly does her thing. Telepathy is not one of her abilities. "He was surprised to meet Kryptonians on Earth by all accounts. Two of us attended this fight. He turned his beam weapons upon us and while it was quite painful, it was not enough to stop us, nor did he have enough beam weapons to stop all the rest of the team. He was being hacked and physically attacked and could not stand up to our might. His last ditched act of revenge was to unleash an anti-Kryptonian weapon upon us, but we were backed up by many non-Kryptonians so while that.. really really really hurt, we ultimately defeated him."

Maxima has posed:
Maxima stands still in the center of the room as she continues to reach out with the powers of her mind, probing, searching, for any sign of her countrymen.

Eventually she turns back around. "It is an impressive tale of battlefield comraderie. Finding Kryptonians on this planet was certainly a surprise. As far as most know, you were all wiped out with your homeworld, such a shame. It is good to see that some of you have survived. Though on this planet of all places, are you all in hiding from some threat?" Apparently she was listening in the midst of her search.

"They're not here." She adds after a pause. "I cannot sense a single Almeracian mind upon the whole of this Moon." She stops and thinks for a moment, "Back down there," she points at the Earth, "I think you mentioned his ship falling into the ocean?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara stiffens just a touch when Maxima mentions the destructions of Krypton casually. It's history for Maxima but still extremely fresh for her. "I hope more of us survived than just us here on this planet. But my uncle calculated our chance to live our best lives would be found here on Earth."

Perhaps best not to mention Kandor at the moment, she doesn't know if she can trust Maxima, it is something Kal and Kara have been keeping pretty close to their chest for the time being. "No, no hiding. This is our home now. This planet has adopted us and we in turn have adopted it. They embraced my cousin as his deeds of heroism became known world wide. That same good will has been extended to me."

She frowns a moment, "Not a single one? That is very unfortunate. Yes, his ship crashed in the Atlantic ocean and sunk to the sea bed. Some sort of automated system recovered the ship and repaired it enough that it could leave. It is unknown where the ship is now. I have not personally gone down there to see if any of it remains."

Maxima has posed:
"Your best lives, here?" Maxima seems intrigued almost incredulous at this notion, she is trying but from where she stands the concept strains believability, "Perhaps this world harbors more secrets than it has been given credit for. There are any number of great empires that would be willing to take in surviving Kryptonians and help them rebuild, my own among them." That last part sounds an awful lot like an offer.

She nods her head, some disappointment showing in her expression, "Not a single one. He definitely took the city though, perhaps it was somehow thrown free when his ship crashed. That will be the next place to look. Who rules the Oceans of this planet?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara raises an eyebrow at the offer. If she didn't trust in her parents and Kal's parents so much she might agree on the spot to leave this little blue planet behind. But she could never abandon Kal, she was sent here to look after him after all. Though, that plan hasn't quite worked out as intended.

"Now you are understanding. The oceans are ruled by the Atlanteans. Their leader is called Namor. Aquaman in the Justice League can perhaps point you in the right direction, and if not him then Tempest of the Titans. They are both trust worthy, though Tempest is a magic user whole Aquaman is not. They would certainly appreciate you asking permission before you zoom about in the seas, however they are used to being ignored by surface dwellers too. You will find some of the large nations on Earth have built sophisticated naval vessels such as submarines for traversing the oceans."

Maxima has posed:
An eyebrow is arched at the idea of asking permission, "Your assistance is appreciated. I shall locate these individuals and see if they are able to aid in my search." Maxima looks Kara over almost as if truly seeing her for the first time, "You are a credit to this planet, too good for it. I hope our paths cross again."