8019/GIRL: Maiden Voyage

GIRL: Maiden Voyage
Date of Scene:	27 September 2021
Location:	Planet Rann, Alpha Centauri System
Synopsis:	An intrepid band of GIRLs set out on the maiden voyage of their spaceship and arrive at the planet Rann. What adventures await them there?! Tune in next time and find out!
Cast of Characters:	Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Irie West, Caitlin Fairchild, Donna Troy, Kaida Connolly, Kara Danvers

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Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"Space: The final frontier (maybe, the jury's still out on other dimensions). These are the voyagers of the starship Tereshkova! Their continuing mission, to seek out new life and cool new SCIENCE! To boldly go where no GIRLs have gone before!"

After immitating the dramatic captain's voice from the SpaceTrek intro, Nadia begins to hum the themesong as she settles herself into the Captain's chair on the bridge of the Tareshkova, GIRL's secret spaceship, the building of which has consumed the bulk of the organizations time, resources, and brain power for the past year.

From the outside the vessel is sleek and aerodynamic, sections of vibranium interspersed at key places in the hull amidst Riri's experimental Tricarbotanium alloy to withstand the forces generated by the now significantly upgraded Pym Drives. Those who recall the ship that crashed near Titans tower will notice some similarities here and there. It looks like Nadia was taking careful notes during the repairs of that vessel on how to overcome certain engineering challenges. It isn't the largest of spacecraft but easily has enough space for the members of GIRL and a few guests.

So long in the making, the excitement in the air is palpable, both in the clandestine decommissioned missile silo where the craft was actually constructed and back at GIRL HQ where Vivian and a few others are running mission control and testing improvements to the deep space communications technology that sent the Pym-van Dyne clan to Rann the first time around.

"Let's go!" Nadia exclaims once everyone coming has arrived. She practically bounces out of the captain's chair, since for this flight they don't exactly have enough technical crew that anyone can just be sitting back playing captain.

Irie West has posed:
Irie has to admit. She's a little bit nervous. Her recent exploits to Asteroid M has helped settle some of her nervousness about going into space, but still there's that fear of flying that grips her. Situations where she can't put her feet on solid ground always makes the speedster nervous and this is no exception.

This, however, is overshadowed by her excitement. This project has been a long time coming, and she's helped out where she can. She may not be a super genius like the other members of GIRL, but that doesn't mean she's not intelligent. She can follow along with the tech talk well enough to know what's going on and to help build things, though she has to admit that her super speed has made things a lot more expedient.

So here she is, strapped into one of the chairs facing a databank that she's been tasked to monitor. After all, Nadia can't be expected to have eyes /everywhere/. She grins at Nadia's opening speech and points to the heavens, "Onward!"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
GIRL boasts some of the top minds in the world, and they've bent their collective intelligence and resources towards building one of the few truly FTL spaceships on Earth. It's a grand moment for Nadia's crew, which is why Caitlin's there-- not as an engineer per se, but as someone who can be relied on in a crisis if things go sideways.

And she can physically carry the ship if she has to.

She's donned a green bodysuit with purple piping, hair done up in a helmet-friendly braid. Military webgear has been appropriated as a means of carrying various tools she might need, and there's a backpack that's almost as heavy as her near her feet.

"Everything's in the green, Skipper," Caitlin tells Nadia with an affected salute and a beaming smile. "You want me to man the conn or are you planning on piloting it personally?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    'Unicorn kitties'. This is the reason why Donna has wrangled herself a seat on the maiden voyage of the Tereshkova.

    'Unicorn kitties'. This is Nadia's description of the life-form she expects to find on this trip. Unicorn kitties sound cute and cuddly, but Donna:
A. Knows that unicorns have really good PR, but are really a bunch of demented horse psychopaths.
B. Knows Nadia.

    Therefore, Donna is making the entirely reasonable assumption that 'unicorn kitties' are a lethal form of life, giant horned psycho-felines likely to wish to tear human beings limb from limb. Furthermore she makes the equally reasonable assumption that Nadia will want to hug one of them.

    Donna is far from scientifically illiterate. She has spent far too much time around people like Vic and Caitlin to want to remain ignorant of scientific matters, and she has the typically Amazon ability to absorb information and learn things quickly. Her grounding in Themysciran science has been built on significantly over the last decade -- but she's no scientist. She's not GIRL material. Donna is definitely here as the muscle.

    Because Nadia will probably try to hug the giant horned psycho-feline, and Donna is far too fond of Nadia to allow that to happen without being around to punch the giant horned psycho-feline if necessary.

    And because Nadia is taking Irie along, and Donna is just as protective of Irie as she is of Nadia. Maybe more. Donna has promised Irie that she will not feel the lack of family just because she's stuck back in time, and that Wally's general 'I'm-too-young-to-be-a-dad' issue will not get in the way of Donna filling in as a big sister.

    Nobody tell Donna she's being all adult and responsible, she may punch you.

    Donna stays out of the way of the people actually flying this thing, seated to the back of the bridge, and dressed entirely inappropriately for space in a gray hooded sweatshirt and black leather pants. The sword, shield and lasso breaks the purely civilian look, but they hardly add to her looking like an astronaut.

    "Does it have a weapons con, Nadia?" Donna asks. "I can handle that. Maybe don't quite have Hawkeye's knack for it, but I've done weapons firing from a Warzoon dreadnaught without breaking anything. I mean apart from other Warzoon ships."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Kaida showed up with Donna maiden voyage. The reason is she now has a snazzy new shield on her back with her old sword (what is left of it) set into it like a form of crest and coated so it is tougher. Behind it is a sword made by the Amazons as well. She smiles as she explores the inner workings of the ship eagerly before finally 'calming' down on the bridge.

"Is everyone hooked up so we can see their vitals?" Kaida asks as she races over to a console and full body jumps across a keyboard with alacrity to look over various screens and then eyeing everyone carefully.

"Don't care how tough ya are. Space is big and weird with lots of weird stuff!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia can't help but grin from ear to ear as her friends settle into the various positions around the bridge. Enough time had passed, while she remembered her friends having been lost in space, it and the skills they must have developed during it wasn't at the forefront of her thinking. Of course, they'd know their way around spaceship controls.

Nadia in her latest iteration of Wasp armor, which is functionally a space suit when the helmet is affixed, steps over to the engineering console. She trusts her Pym Drives, but just like the T-Jet's first flight with upgraded propulsion, she isn't going to take any chances. "That would be awesome Cait! I'll be monitoring engineering."

She gives Donna a thumbs up, "There is! It's over there." Nadia points to one of the many consoles around the bridge of the ship. "Hopefully we won't need to test them. But given the number of alien warships we've met, going into space unarmed would just be irresponsible. Valeria also integrated some of her crystal-based force field tech to give us shields!" Every part of this ship excites the Waspette.

The console Irie has been sat in front of is actually a very important one, communications and sensors, so they can talk to Vivian in Mission Control or anyone they happen to meet in the inky black of the void.

"I think we are good to go Kaida!" Nadia already has what looks like a glorified fitbit strapped on to her arm. She punches the button that opens the long dormant roof doors of the missile silo. "We're probably all going to have elevated heart rates just because this is SO COOL!" She then busies herself strapping in for launch.

"Cait, take us up! Next stop Alpha Centauri!"

Irie West has posed:
Now that they're all strapped in, Irie's excitement grows. They're actually doing this! She's going to get to see another star system! Neat!

"All systems green," announces the speedster. Like most of the others she's dressed for the occasion, wearing a jumpsuit that matches her Kid Flash colors (she even got the patented Flash lightning bolt stitched into the back of the thing.) "Viv wishes us good luck!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna grins slightly to herself; of /course/ there would be weapons. GIRL really needs government oversight. When the Titans, Avengers or JLA fly around with military-grade (or higher) hardware, there are all sorts of accomodations, some official and some unofficial, that have been made involving small armies of bureaucrats the Supers never actually tend to meet. No doub that will be happening with GIRL some time very soon. Like when governments realize that a bunch of teenagers have a warp-capable spaceship to play with, and they don't.

    Janet will probably sort it out. Janet's the responsible type.

    Donna gets up and moves to the console Nadia had indicated, studying the controls there very carefully before touching anything. "I guess this is the master switch?" she asks, pointing to a control under a protective cover. "Nothing's weapons hot if this is disengaged, right? Things like that are good to know before I familiarize myself with the targeting system. Kaida, want to come over and help me with this? An extra eye on the tactical display is always useful."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin straps herself into the pilot's seat and takes a few moments to adjust the controls to fit her more comfortably. The system's not too dissimilar from the T-Jet, or the Quinnjets that are in more common use. The five-point harness is buckled into place and she starts bringing the thrusters online.

"Okay, patched in ... clearance from ground tower... commencing VTOL liftoff," Caitlin says over the comms, and with a gentle touch of her fingers the jet's repulsors kick online and lift it gracefully out of the hidden silo. Once they're clear of it Caitlin aims the nosecone towards the coast and they launch smoothly into motion.

She switches the channel to local air traffic control. "ATC, this is GIRL-01, come back, over," she says. "ATC at ZNY, come back, over."

"<We read you GIRL-01, over,>" is the response. "ZNY, GIRL-01, data pack on send, authorization DEO1201, how copy?" "<Data pack received, authorization accepted. Proceed easterly at current altitude, keep your airspeed fixed until you're sixty klicks out. Fair weather and good flying.>"

"GIRL-01, thanks ZNY, clear skies to you," Caitlin bids them. The radio cuts out and she noses the craft to follow the flight pattern the FAA has authorized them to take, heading east out over the ocean.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Looking at the various readings, Kaida sets some auto-recording options and nods before she checks her own special suit and races over to Donna. She looks over the display before pointing at it.

"No my area of expertise, Donna. Someone has to monitor the crew." She smiles and gives a thumbs up before racing back to the display and activating the magnets on her suit feet. Then they take off and she just crosses her arms.

She is by no means the strongest but pound for pound she is strong as hell. Not to mention tougher than she looks. She stares forward and points a finger.

"Let's go!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
One of the basic tenets of GIRL is they do not develop weapons, at least not that they release outside of the organization. The advances given over to society are meant to change the world for the better. But they're also not so naive as to think they won't need to defend themselves, thus the console that Donna is sitting in front of. "Yes, that is the master switch." Nadia confirms. "If you don't arm it, nothing will fire. The various weapon systems also have individual safeties."

She pauses thinking of something. "QUINN, can you help Donna with the specifics of the tactical controls?"

"Of course Nadia!" A friendly voice chirps and a floating image of a teenaged young woman with shoulder length red hair and freckles materializes near Donna as she is 3D projected into existence.

"Donna, meet QUINN. She is a Quantum Intelligence I helped bring into being. She is so awesome. QUINN, this is Donna, she's wonderful." Nadia just couldn't resist the pun.

"Excellent Irie, tell Viv everything is going smoothly here, too and we are headed off world!" Nadia can hardly surpress her grin. She waits until Caitlin has finished talking to the various authorities so they won't get shot down. Her own idea to just make the ship undetectable having been deemed inadvisable. Not missing a beat after Kaida's 'let's go!' Nadia looks towards Caitlin and her best SpaceTrek voice says, "Engage!"

Irie West has posed:
"Roger!" chirps Irie, and the back to the comms she tells Vivian, "Viv, we're taking off and we're five-by-five." She pauses and admits, "I don't even know what that actually means but whatever it is, we're it."

Then they Engage. She doesn't even feel the acceleration as the inertial dampeners keeps them from feeling the Gs as they suddenly rocket off.

"Oh, hi Quinn!" Irie says, turning to wave at the quantum intelligence. "I didn't know you'd be joining us!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna gives Kaida a nod and a grin. "Aye aye, security officer Kaida!" she says, winking at the smallest Titan. Kaida's enthusiasm about... just about everything... is something Donna tends to find infectious.

    "Hi Quinn, nice to meet you," she greets the VI. Of course the's ship's onboard VI would look like... well, another member of GIRL, really. "I think I get the general idea, but I could use a quick run-down of a few things here. Rather hoping we don't need to use this, but best not to have to learn on the fly if we do. I assume the targeting lock-on is touch-activated by tapping a contact in the holo-display when I'm in target mode? And if I activate point-defenses, I'd guess that's going to be automated based on incoming trajectories? Is there an override mode for that?"

    QUINN leans over the console to indicate a few finer points of the defense systems to Donna. As the ship movies out over the ocean and takes up position for orbital burn, the pair discuss the system in some depth, Donna bringing her experience of using the Warzoon systems to suggest some tweaks to the interface that might be considered for future engineering efforts.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"I hope you figure it out Donna," Caitlin calls back. "Because the only idea I've got is to toss you out the airlock at anyone shooting at us." She turns in her seat and grins over her shoulder at the dark-haired princess, then focuses back on the task at hand.

"Okay, seatbelts kids, we are going up," she says a beat later in a more serious tone. Fingertips tighten on the control yoke and the nose aims skywards. The craft rises through the stratosphere under Caitlin's fingertips, flying skywards like a loosed arrow.

The rumble and protest of the atmosphere rattle and shake the vehicle for a few moments. Crossing the line into the mesosphere there is a sudden cessation of the background noise, replaced by the low and steady hum of the engines.

"All right, we're clear of the atmosphere," Caitlin tells the cabin. "Quinn, please plot a jump point for us," she requests of the AI, and then patiently steers the ship away from Earth's orbit while the AI does the tedious task of calculating the hyperdrive course they'll take out of the solar system.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Space. Space is...quiet. Peaceful. Calming. Once free of the Earth's atmosphere, the intrepid crew begin to awaken to sense of weightlessness. Nothing but the sound of the internal mechanisms of the ship quietly humming along. Little things like navigation, control surfaces, life support. The little things like those.

And then...there's a pinging, tapping sound at the starboard viewport.

No, it's not something going horribly wrong leading to an icy doom in space or a firey doom by crashing back to Earth.

It's just a Supergirl, wearing an oxygen mask and waving wildly at her freinds. Her blonde hair is splayed out in a nimbus from the null gravity. And kara's face is lit up with a proud smile. "You guys did it!" she shouts excitedly over the comms system in her mask. "You really did it! Sorry I missed the launch; Kiluea decided to blow a few minutes before takeoff. But...Wow!" She's still looking rather impressed with the endeavor as she looks to her left, then to her right.&r&r"Ummmm...can someone let me in? Please?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Escape velocity is always an experience, no matter how many times you do it. For Nadia this is at least the third and so she knows to brace herself when Caitlin gets ready to really punch the thrusters that will free them from Earth's gravitational pull and take them into orbit. It's like the mother of all rollercoaster rides as the G forces press them back into their seats and then there are a few magical moments of weightlessness in orbit before the artificial gravity systems, courtesy of Valeria and her family, kick in and everyone falls back into their seats from the half inch they had floated upward.

When suddenly there is Kara! "I knew we were forgetting something! Er someone! QUINN, can you open the starboard airlock for Kara please?" Nadia beams at her new friend and by some accounts daughter and waves at Kara.

"Already done!" Quinn chirps and sure enough outside the airlock has opened to admit Supergirl inside. She gives a nod to Caitlin when she asks for the hyperspace course, "I am calculating one now."

Meanwhile Nadia is busy warming up the Pym Drives and going through the various checklists for the propulsion system. It's not exactly wholely new technology and a version has been tested in the T-Jet, but the upgraded drives are a night and day difference with a vessel designed from the ground up specifically to handle the stresses that they inflict on the craft. "Engines are all green, whenever you're ready QUINN!"

"Course set, the data has been relayed to your console Caitlin. We are ready!" QUINN herself seems excited, but then it is easy to be excited when everything is a new experience.

The Pym Fields extend out around the ship expanding and contracting the very fabric of space itself and suddenly faster than perhaps any of them have every traveled before they are on their way to another star almost 4 and a half light years away.

Irie West has posed:
Irie can't help but giggle as the high Gs of the liftoff pushes her back into her seat. Once they're in space, she grins and shouts, "SPACE!" She's already over her fear of flying for right now. This is a rocket ship, which is far different, and probably safer than, an airplane.

And then they're going faster than light. She watches out the window as the starfields blur and lengthen, kind of like in Star Wars, but they don't go past nearly as fast.

"You know," she says. "This isn't the first time I went faster than light. Though when I did it I ended up going back in time."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "It wouldn't be the first time Cait," Donna says with a grin. It's a fair point. There had been the time when the Warzoon sent a boarding party to try to take back the dreadnought and Donna had decided she was more effective than the dreadnought's point defenses when it came to soldiers in personal maneuvering suits. Then there was the time when they first met the Guardians of the Galaxy there had been that pirate ship, which had been dealt with by Kara and Donna leaving the shuttlecraft they were in to go and beat it up. Launching Titans into space to punch things is pretty much S.O.P at this point.

    Donna greets Kara with a broad grin and a quick 'Welcome aboard' in Kryptonian, and gestures to the seat at the tactical console beside her. It's unoccupied, and Kaida's decision to go on security duty rather than tactical leaves a crew position spare.

    And then... warp drive. Donna's done this a few times before on the Milano, but it's always fun (if you have a strong stomach at least) and Donna soon has a grin on her face and can't help letting out a "Wheeeee!" of delight.

    "Never got to go into space in the future, Irie?" Donna asks. "Well bad news Nadia, that means your design probably won't outstrip Toyota's sales any time soon."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara flosts over to the opened hatch and gets inside. The airlock cycles with a pressurized *hiss* and she makes her way to the cockpit. "Amazing job, guys." She says with a smile. "GIRLs. You know what I mean..." Kara barely has enough time to sit down and strap in before the ship's drives kick in. She remembers the long ago sensation of the star drive on her escape pod that uncle Jor-el built. There's a momentary sadness at the memory, but this time, she's not alone on the interstellar voyage. And this ship, this drive that Nadia created...it could be one of the keys to bringing back Krypton...

Did Donna just 'wheeee'?

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"We're not technically at FTL," Caitlin points out over her shoulder. There's not a whole lot for her to /do/ at this point, aside from watching the psychedelic lightshow out the viewports, and monitor for gravimetric shears.

The pilot's chair pivots around so she can face the others. "We're in hyperspace. No time dilation, no inversion loops, nothing like that. I've got some good reading on the topic if anyone's interested," she offers. "Some of them don't even need a primer on p-brane dimensional theory." The offer is a cheery one and she pivots back to her station when Quinn chimes gently to let her know they're near the departure point. "Alpha Centauri should be on our port side. Everyone get your cameras ready," she grins, and queues up the commands to drop them into real space.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Magnetic suit plus being able to lift ten times your own body weight really helps against the g-forces of take off, all the same though, the attempting to be stoic Kaida has her ears pulled back against her head and her cheeks pulling back and well, everything pulling back as she stands there with her arms crossed, leaning as hard as she can into the forward and only somewhat maintaining composure until they finally reach space and she can finally disengage her magnetic suit.

"Wow!" Kaida declares as she stumbles a couple of steps and then clears her throat and straightens up, "That was cool!" She then looks at her readout and peers at everyone's read outs, checks some other readings and then nods, "Excellent! Everyone is doing well!" She then gasps, "Oh no, my heart rate is at 600 beats per minute!" She declares and then giggles and then looks over, "Of course, that's pretty normal but hey!" She then races over suddenly to the front of the ship and looks out as they go into hyperspace. She looks left and right, up and down and then hmms, "Can this thing go plaid?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia for a moment actually sticks her tongue out at Donna at the Toyota comment in the fleeting moments before they enter Hyperspace. "I think King T'Challa would be kinda upset if we tried to mass produce this ship." To say nothing of the other components involved, the vibranium alone would make such a venture a pipe dream at best.

Kaida's question only seems to briefly confuse Nadia, wait what? Plaid?" But then they are in hyperspace.

When the ship drops out of hyperspace, those aboard are greeted by the sight of not one, but /three/ 'Suns'. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system with the ship currently in closer proximity to the yellow stars of Alpha Centauri A and B, the primary Binary star pair of the system, while the small Red Dwarf of Proxima Centauri dimly shines from further off in the void of space.

Orbiting Alpha Centauri A is the planet Rann, where Nadia and her family once became lost for a few days after a hyperspace communications accident resulted in interstellar teleportation.

The planet Rann could be a cautionary tale for those from Earth. In the distant past, the advent of nuclear weapons on the planet lead to a war which literally bombed them back to the dark ages and while they've since clawed their way back to technological sophistication, the green and blue planet spinning on the view screen still bears the scars of the conflict.

When the planet comes into view, Nadia springs into action with all of the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning. They're here! They made it! "Irie, I'm sending a comm frequency to your station. I need you to use it to contact a man named Sardath. He is their chief scientist and super smart! He is also expecting us. We'll be landing in the spaceport of the capitol city of Ranagar. Relay the landing information he sends to Cait and patch her through so she can talk to the people on the ground.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "We kind of are going FTL really," Donna argues. "I mean not relative to local space, but that's because local space is distorted. Relative to our origin and destination, we're traveling at a velocity that is far faster than light. Relativity is a strange thing. And as for their being no time dilation, that's kind of dependant on your frame of reference. Arguably the creation of a warp field and entrance into hyperspace dilates time for the entire rest of the universe in equal and opposite degree to the relative dilation local time. Which sounds irrational and insane, but the math checks out. Kind of a matter of where you decide the equals sign to be. Charikelia has a theory that..."

    Donna pauses, glances in Caitlin's direction and grins wide before giving her old friend a shrug. "I mean... we don't /experience/ time dilation. But it may be equally true to say that there is time dilation that we don't experience than that there isn't time dilation. The universe is weird."

    Especially when you try to blend the theories of Themysciran science with the theories of the science of the world outside.

    Donna's pleased to see, on returning to normal space, that they haven't arrived in a system of impossible planets orbiting an artificial black hole. No frozen arches of plasma filling the sky. Stars filling the sky. Below them Rann is obviously not Earth, but it's certainly Earth-like. She reaches a hand out to give Nadia's shoulder a squeeze. "Congratulations, Nadia. You just made history."

Irie West has posed:
"Aye-aye, Captain!" chirps Irie, turning to the console and dials in frequency that was given to her. "This is the GSS Tereshkova contacting Sardath. Sardath do you copy?" She can't help but giggle over what she's saying. It's all official like and everything!

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara listens to Donna and Caitlin, following the science babble perfectly. She'd been exposed to all of this before, after all. By her father and uncle in preparation for her escape from Krypton's doom. She turned to Nadia, smiling at her friend. "Crongratulatoins," she says warmly. "Uncle Jor-El and my father would be most impressed with what you've accomplished. This is going to change everything. Earth isn't just some...remote planet in the cosmos anymore. It's showing a readiness and an ability to begin joining the galactic community. To take it's place among the other civilizations of the galaxy. Your name is going to be remembered for all of history."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin groans and stares at the ceiling at the theories Donna promulgates. She's already shaking her head when Donna grins over at her, deliberately focusing on the landing instruments in front of her. "No, that's cool, I mean I'm only a PE who works for the biggest tech firm in the world, and Charikela thinks that math peaked with the abacus." It's all done in a low mumble, sotto voce-- but her focus is on the navigation work as they close in on Rann.

"Keep hailing them Irie," she bids the speedster. "And flash the handshake protocols on a five second repeat. Start with the ones we got from the Milano. If those don't work, we'll run the Richards progression next. I don't want to get shot down because some over-eager security unit decides we're moving too aggressively."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
A look out the window and Kaida is once more at the front of the ship, looking out at everything out there, "Amazing!" Her eyes go around the area as she walks and pushes along the glass, peering out at the amazing sight of another system with multiple stars. She then leaps back down and races back to her station. She breathes in sharply and then declares.

"The ship is secure and I think this is awesome. That is all."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
At first the response to Irie's message sounds like garbled gibberish. Nadia makes a face before the lightbulb seems to go on above her head. "Oh right! Quinn, we need the Menticizer tech, filter the signals through that."

Within moments the signal clears. <You must be one of young Nadia's friends. Welcome to Rann. I am beaming the landing information to your ship now.>

Nadia briefly looks like a dear in headlights at Donna and Kara informing her she made history. She's stunned enough that she doesn't even comment on the ongoing physics debate. She may not have fully thought through the implications of building a ship like this, at the time there was someone who needed help, so of course she decided to do it. "There's uh other ships right? Donna said it's not going to catch on. Ahahaha." She laughs a bit nervously. "It's not me though, it's all of GIRL, we made this together. I couldn't have done it on my own. It /really/ is cool though. We can sort out the small details later! Thanks for being here everyone. I'm really glad I can share this with all of you. Everything is awesome."

Moments later, Caitlin's console lights up with Rannian landing clearance and coordinates for a landing pad in the starport of Ranagar.

Irie West has posed:
"I am!" Irie says, forgetting protocol. Or forging new protocol, since this is their first flight. "I'm Irie! We're receiving your coordinates now." She feeds the information into Caitlin's console and leans back.

"But still, Nadia. You're the one who spearheaded this project. It's gonna be your face all over the newspapers. It's like Elan Cochran from Space Trek! He's the one who invented warp speed for them!"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "You just think you need computers to solve equations quickly because Tony Stark would grumble if you took years over something, Cait. Charkeleia doesn't have that issue," Donna says, sticking her tongue out at Caitlin. "And you're stuck in a mindset of materialist science that makes it harder for you to appreciate the fluidity of reality, even when the math stares you right in face. The relativity of time is a direct conclusion of Einstein's equations, and that applies just as much to time dilation. If he'd thought about hyperspace, he'd have said the same thing. And gods, read some Bohm already!"

    Donna turns back to the tactical display, still grinning wide to herself, but using the excuse of scanning local space for traffic to hide it from Caitlin. "Besides," she adds at a quiet mutter. "/Sphairopoiia/ is /way/ beyond the abacus. You guys were still counting on your fingers just two hundred years ago..." The arguments will never end, and Donna wouldn't have it any other way. She just loves Caitlin's outrage.

    "There's a bit of traffic out there," Donna reports after going over the tactical display. "But nothing that looks threatening. Quinn and I are gonna set up a firing solution just in case. Don't worry, just tactical solutions, no active tracks. Don't want to spook anyone, and from the sounds of things they're being freindly. Let's not turn Nadia's historic trip into a diplomatic incident..."

Kara Danvers has posed:
As they enter the Rann system, Kara undoes her chair harness and gets up. There's some concern about not being welcomed here, so kara wants to be ready to defend the ship from outside, if the worst happens. She's relieved when what seem to be landing instructions are sent, but she still stays standing and alert. After all, she can handle a bit of jostling with a landing, no need for her to be seated...

She looks over at nadia, smiling warmly. "GIRL did it. But you're our leader. You're the one that's going to get the credit." She looks back out of the forward canopy. "And, you're the one that's going to have to make the speech establishing first contact that will be memoriezed by schoolchildren for hundreds of years to come." She looks back at Nadia and gives her a teasing wink. "Better make it a good one..."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Someone throws a pencil at the back of Donna's head. Should Donna look to Caitlin, the redhead is /very studiously/ focused on the task of bringing the ship in to land with the directions supplied to them.

"You've earned this, Nadia," she bids the younger woman, and smiles reassuringly over at her. "Not a lot of humans have ever left our solar system, let alone in a spacecraft built by us, on Earth. You're in pretty rare company."

There's a shudder as the aircraft hits the upper atmosphere. "Okay, we're coming in for landing," Caitlin announces, and takes over manual control of the ship again. "Shearing in the upper atmosphere-- we're in for some chop. Everyone buckle in until we're on the ground."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
A look over at the communications and then she sighs before shaking her head, "First contact is so not for me!" She shakes her head, "Unless they're cute and then it is for me." Kaida then races away from her console and she looks from Donna and then at Cait before she puts her hands behind her back and shakes her head, "You two arguing about relativity is silly. As if anything is more complicated, chaotic, and just plain insane as the biochemical processes that go about making life. Let alone life that can withstand getting hit by lava balls, picking them up and then throwing them back." She points at Donna and then at Caitlin.

"You two are two walking talking miracles. Relativity is just math!" She then races back to the front of the ship and looks to Nadia, "Technically, I only became a mouse but you can claim this for humankind and I'll claim it for rodentkind." She then looks out, "oh, and QUINN can claim it for AI-Kind." She then casually turns on the magnets again.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
In the end what can she do but accept it. Nadia smiles brightly, "Thanks everyone, really. It's all just so crazy, a year and a half ago I was living a captive existence in a bunker and now I'm looking at a binary star pairing in person. You're all amazing and I'm just glad you're here with me." She stares out at the twin stars for a moment before the ship enters the atmosphere, before adding ""It's not really first contact though, I've been here before. First contact by spaceship I guess! Their zeta beams are /really/ amazing. /Interstellar/ teleportation!"

Almost as an afterthought when she hears Donna mention Bohm, she adds "David Bohm is pretty cool. I remember reading his book on Quantum Theory when I was younger." Perhaps inadvertently throwing fuel on a fire that might have soon died out.

There is indeed some chop as the ship shakes, entering the atmosphere but it is a testament to its construction and some of the materials used to make it that it is still a relatively smooth atmospheric transition.

Soon the scarred Rannian landscape is coming into view. Vegetation has begun to grow back since the nuclear Armageddon, there are trees and forests, hills and plains, though the colors and forms of the plant life remain rather different than their Earthly counterparts. Coming into view is a walled city of tall buildings and advanced technology. The landing information guides them to one of a series of platforms in an open area outside of the city proper, in the same way airports on Earth often occupy their own space. To one side of the platform, as the ship comes in for a landing, two individuals are waiting. One is a young woman probably in her teens like most of the members of GIRL and the other an older gentleman who is almost certainly her father.

Irie West has posed:
Irie is barely paying attention to her console as they land their ship on another planet. "I can't believe we're on another planet! I'm on another planet! Maddie is going to be so jealous!" Maddie being her best friend and Star Wars fiend (and maybe a Jedi). She turns to face Quinn and asks, "We're recording all of this, right? We better be. I'm gonna want a copy to show to my friend."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Fortunately, Donna's not going to take Nadia's comment as fuel. That fire has burned, and as far as she is concerned she won the argument. She can tell because Caitlin threw a pencil at her head. This is not indicative that Caitlin has submitted to her logic, only that Caitlin has acheived a certain level of frustration at the discussion (and at Donna attempting to trespass on Caitlin's territory), and that level of frustration is as much as anything what Donna was aiming for.

    Donna doesn't have to look behind her to see Caitlin pretending she had nothing to do with it -- Donna knows Caitlin well enough to /know/ she's pretending she had nothing to do with it. In turn Caitlin knows Donna well enough to know that Donna is grinning, even though she can't see Donna's face.

    "Well said, Kaida," is all that Donna feels like continuing to contribute to the discussion.

    "Yeah don't worry about the first contact thing. I mean, do I need to point out we have a Kryptonian friend on the ship with us? Just relax and enjoy it Nadia, and we promise not to write down anything you say that won't look good in the history books. Quinn can edit the recordings or something."

    Donna's less excited that Irie about being on another planet. She feels like she's an old hand at arriving at it by now, but there's something different about Rann than anywhere else she's visited. "What in Hades happened to this world?" she asks. "It looks kinda trashed."

Kara Danvers has posed:
Instead of returning to her seat when the Captain turns the seatbelt sign on, Kara moves inbetween the command chairs to watch the craft's approach. She's handling the chop just fine, and she's stillnot trusting that she might notneed to be out of the ship in a hurry. "She looks over at Donna when the Amazon mentions Kara's herritage. She closes her eyes and gets a tense look on her face. "Yeah....ummm...maybe we can just skip my homeworld, for now?" She's stilltrying to sort out the complex history of her people among the civilizations of the galaxy. "Just...introduce me as Supergirl, if you have to. Okay?" She looks around the cabin nervously.

At the pondering of what happened, Kara points to the circular growth patterns of the returning Raan vegitation. "Global war? Maybe atomics? Those look like circular patterns there. Big ones. Like a huge explosoin happened, and nothing makes that size of a blast patterns short of nuclear weapons."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's eyes are fixed on the command console. "I'd agree, this looks like nuclear fallout." She nods at Kara in agreement. "Impact marks are consistent with low-yield tactical nuclear weapons and there's more radiation in the lower atmosphere than normal. Atmosphere is oxy-nitro, a little heavy on benzene and methane. Reading fifty millisieverts in the atmosphere but it's up to a few thousand in the impact craters, so... don't go wandering around outside the containment areas, I guess."

"Donna, Kara, an' me, we'll probably be OK," she says. "Kaida, Irie, you two might want to grab respirators." The ship lands on the pad quite skillfully with barely a *thud* to indicate the landing struts have made contact with the pad.

Cait unstraps from her seat and gets up, moving to the rear of the craft to access the medical kit there. "Prophylactic use of iodine tablets, just to be safe, and if anyone gets acute radiation exposure we have calcium trisodium injector pens."

Medicine's passed out, then she steps back and gestures for Nadia to stand in front of the access hatch. "This is your show, Nadia," she says, eyes dancing, and she puts a palm on the hatch open lever. "We'll give them the slow ramp and you can tell them we come in peace."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"Everything is being recorded Irie." Nadia confirms, "But we might want to be careful who we show it to." Nadia? Careful? Could spending time around Caitlin as a lab supervisor possibly be rubbing off on her?!

At the discussion of sticking to containment zones however any notion of careful seems to go out the window again. "I've been outside of the walls and I was fine!" Nadia protests, that's probably where the Unicorn kitties were. "But yeah, we should definitely be careful of radiation levels out there. This place, last time when I was here with Scott and Dad and Viv and Janet, Sardath told they had a war a long time ago, a really big war. Like if all the countries on Earth with nuclear weapons actually pulled the trigger and now the people have been suffering the long term effects. Many of them are almost completely infertile and they've been suffering population decline. It's part of why they seek contact with individuals from other worlds. Oh, Irie, Alanna has a jetpack, it's soooo cool!"

Suddenly Nadia pauses as if remembering something and goes into her bag pulling out what appear to be tiara-like circlets for everyone and passing them out. "You'll need one of these to understand the Rannian language, I think they called them Mentacizers last time, I did my best to copy them, hopefully they'll work!"

The ship impacts with the landing pad and comes to a rest. By the time it does Nadia is already standing in the airlock. When the door slides open she is all smiles and waves for the people who helped her and her family when they got stranded here. "Dr. Sarnath! Alanna! It's so great to see you both!" She practically dashes down the ramp to offer them hugs.

"Ah, young Nadia. It has been some time. Have you been well?" Anyone wearing one of the circlets will understand Sarnath's words. He puts an arm around his daughter's shoulders and smiles warmly to those aboard the ship. "Welcome to Rann."