2013.04.15 - Lost In Translation... And Outerspace

In Outerspace there is a lot of space. It is easy to miss things approaching Earth sometimes, just because there are so many places that need to be looked at at any given time. So while it may be surprising to the people of Earth, it is really not that uncommon that something managed to enter Earth's orbital space without being detected in advance. This is especially true when the manner it appears is via some sort of advanced space-folding technology that does not match most 'hyper-drive' and 'warp space' methods of travel known to those who tend to frequent planet Earth.

What may be surprising, however, is just how big the thing that appears in a *CRACK* of distorted space is. It is a spaceship, according to sensors and devices available to various high-tech parties, and it is about a mile long and appears to be a 'capital ship' and perhaps even a 'warship' judging from the heavy-duty armor, the aggressive forward-sweep of the hull and super structure, the red coloration, and so on.

Judging from the streams of plasma spouting from various parts of the ship, however, it appears to have been damaged. It also appears to be hurtling right for planet Earth without any visible signs of attempts to correct its descent angle or similar. If it breaks up in atmosphere, it's going to rain chunks of debris at thousands of miles per hour over who-knows-how-big an area, doing who-knows-how-much damage!

"This is not being a thing that is to be happening!" a teenage girl's voice protests from within the vessel as she struggles to make it to the control room. She is, unsurprisingly, not heeded by the mass of metal and alien space-stuff.

It had started out as such a pleasant day, too. Stopping a dam from breaking and washing away the inhabitants of a hamlet in Bolivia by freezing the water and allowing the crew time to make repairs. Stopping a sinkhole from swallowing a bus full of nuns in Albania by grabbing the vehicle and flying off with it. Even stopping a few giant mutant lizards from rampaging in Tokyo.

The Girl of Steel was taking a well-deserved rest in lower atmosphere over Hong Kong when it happened. Just floating there, stretching her back with her arms lazily overhead, looking down at the lights of the city from afar, for it was dark on this side of the planet currently. And wondering... what exactly she was going to do with her life. She had the Titans, sure, but had yet to grow close to any of them. Her cousin had his own life. In fact EVERYONE seemed to have their own life so far.

Except for her. And superheroics were all well and good, hell, she felt DUTY-bound to perform them, but she wanted something... more. Like friends and a nightlife. Maybe she should just go to college. Become an Art major. But no, she'd probably become some kind of scientist just like her parents had expected. Advanced computational blah blah like a good little nerd and never go to that rave that she was watching even now down below. Well... maybe just a quick stop in wouldn't-

It's not the sound, for sound doesn't carry in outer space. But solar winds do, and the heated winds that come with some large object hundreds of kilometers away are her first warning. The blue-eyed blonde looks in the direction it came from, narrowing her eyes, telescopic vision kicking in and expanding her view, even around the curvature of the Earth.

"Never a dull moment."

Kara Zor-El, Last Daughter of Krypton, quips as tucks her knees up, rolls in place, and then extends her legs out behind her and arms out before her. She vanishes, followed by a brief, and thundering, breaking of the sound barrier. Were aliens attacking Earth again? So soon after Zod's failed invasion!? No, this thing appeared to be ready to crash-land, unless it was a missile of some kind. Yet she could see some kind of windows and entry hatches. No, there were probably beings on board. Human or not, hostile or friendly, they couldn't be allowed to just... die.

There's a reveberating *THUMP* at Supergirl makes contact with the underside of the enormous ship. This was probably going to hurt a little.

"Ee-gaaaaaah!" a piercing shriek sounds throughout the bridge as a red-haired, red-eyed, alien girl with rather elven features reaches the controls only for momentum to suddenly be decreased in such an abrupt manner, hurling her off her feet. She manages to avoid crashing into wall beyond the holographic view screen by virtue of her own flight powers, but that doesn't keep her from becoming disoriented. The ship's hull remains rather stable even with Supergirl colliding with it like that, but there may be small dents in the shape of Kryptonian's hands when all is said and done.

For now the teenage alien (the red-headed one inside, not the blonde one outside) just flies back down to the floor while pressing a button on the control panel and demanding, "Karkel! How is detour of no-scheduling being happening when Pyre no has say, 'making a detour of scheduling to be happening at this time'!?" She pauses and frowns at her own words. "...Noh-meh-daa, why is Pyre only talk in oh-so-is-stupid talking!?" The girl reaches up to her head, where her translator is located and pokes at it as a computerized male voice responds in Firetongue, "<>"

Pyre throws her hands in the air and yells, "Noh-meh-daa! Pyre no is care! Fix stupid-dumb space problem oh-so-is-fast-what-makes-heads-begin-'the-spinning'! Also, no has crash into big planet thing there what approaches oh-so-is-fast." She folds her arms over her chest and waits. Karkel says, "<>" Pyre claps her hands to her cheeks and yells, "Is suck!" Karkel says, "<>" Pyre interrupts the computer to snap, "Karkel no is allowed to talk in proud Firetongue when Pyre no has talking in proud Firetongue!" The A.I. switches to English and continues without pause. "Your majesty, there appears to be some outside force matching the dimensions of a person on the exterior of the hull." The view of the looming Earth warps in one location into a circle that shows the underside of the vessel, and Supergirl there pressing against it. "She appears to be deccelerating the shuttle."

Pyre's red eyes widen. "Hoh! How is?" "Methods are unknown. No signs of adequate technology or elemental energies detected. It may be physical strength." Pyre frowns and then says, "Is slow? When no-go-fast, is talk to person what has oh-so-is-strong." "Yes, your majesty."

While all this is going on, Supergirl is struggling to keep a mile-long 'shuttle' from reaching atmosphere. Bit by bit, she succeeds. Damaged portions of the hull seal up, jets of raw plasma thinning as emergency repair devices place some sort of rubbery substance over the holes to keep any more energy from escaping. Once the vessel that is SURELY SOME SORT OF MILITARY SHIP AND NOT AT ALL A MERE SHUTTLE finally ceases its movement, a hatch leading to an airlock will unlock and pop open a short distance away from the blonde, light shining from within showing there is still power of some kind and that she is likely being invited indoors.

"HNNNNNNGHRRRRAH!"

Even a mighty Kryptonian has to struggle with such a colossal load! Kara plants her back to her new burdern, her fingers digging into the alien spaceship as she struggles to use all of her physical strength and flight powers to keep this enormous freighter or whatever from crashing into the planet. Slowly, it starts to decelerate as the girl strains nearly every muscle in her body and her brow starts to bead with sweat.

Impossibly... she does it. The ship canters to a slow, grinding halt from its ungodly acceleration and begins to enter an unstable orbit over the Earth. Either it would eventually need to correct its own orbit (as all satellites must eventually), or she'd have to take it out further. But for now, it was in no danger of slamming into the atmosphere and baragging half of North Korea with its debris.

The blonde pulls her hands out of the dents she's made in the ship and floats a few meters off from it as she turns around. Just as she's wondering if she'll have to tear her way inside to find out what's going on, a hatch pops open. "Convenient." The teen says with a frown. This all seemed quite oddly familiar, a spaceship luring heroes up, inviting them in. All that was mississing, she noted, were the Kryptonite-laden tubes in the walls as she enters. Of course, there was still a chance that that was going to happen further in!

Kara's feet alight on the metal (or so she assumes) floor of the artificial gravity within the ship and she begins walking forward, following... wherever this hallway was gonna take her. She even cups a hand to her mouth. "...Hello?" She tries in a few languages, Korean, Mandarin, Japanese. Hey, this thing was over the Far East, all right!?

Once Supergirl is inside, the airlock door closes, pressurizing the room and filling it with air. Then a second door leading inside opens once things are breathable and so on. There is indeed a hallway on the other side. A really, really big one. Like maybe it's designed for giants to walk around in! The walls are all a shiny brick-red metal, the floor a mix of red and black diamonds, the ceiling the same as the walls, and everything seems to be a mix of angles and curves that evokes a sense of the form fire takes on. Intense lighting is provided by the glow of low-output plasma-emitters on the walls that resemble torches. The hallway is big, and red, and fire-themed and... And... Empty. No sign of Kryptonite tubes or anything, but it's definitely bereft of any activity that one might expect. Enough to potentially make an already-suspicious Supergirl more so.

However, all of this takes a back seat to something that is likely to be noticed more and more readily as Supergirl passes through the hallway. It is HOT in here! 'Room temperature' appears to be about 180 degrees Farenheit. The temperature was somewhat less around the airlock, but now that things are all sealed up, it's clear that things are plenty warm. Enough to make humans incredibly uncomfortable or even pass out!

Supergirl's super hearing may make her aware that there isn't much sound anywhere on the ship, aside from machinery, the hum of energy as it passes through conduits in the walls, and so on. No thundering footsteps of giants, no whispering voices of ambushers lying in wait... But there is one sound that makes itself known suddenly as a circle of light appears on the floor a dozen feet ahead of Kara, and a red glow shines upwards, revealing...!

A red-haired, red-eyed elf-looking alien girl in some kind of bikini-and-tunic-combo! She appears to be a hologram of some sort, as she stands there with her hands on her hips, seemingly about the same age as Kara, or perhaps slightly less or more. It's hard to tell with aliens, as Supergirl likely knows from experience and being one herself. The girl says, "Hoh! Is being rescuer, tah? You has privelege of being speak to Princess Pyre of Fire-Planet! Pyre say, 'is here' and you has make movings to being here where is Pyre. Is okay?" She waves a hand and the hologram is gone just like that with minimal chance to respond. In its place is a different hologram of a bobbing flame. The circle emitting it starts heading down the hallway, away from Supergirl, pausing when it reaches an intersection further along to make sure the guest is following it, before then heading down thre new hallway.

This whole thing is kind of surreal. Especially how Pyre talks. What's up with that!?

The sudden appearance of a person gives Supergirl some pause, the tensing of her legs and the tightening of her hands into fists being the major giveaway that she's expecting trouble. But the other girl just... talks and then vanishes. She clearly didn't know English very well. Like at all. Was that even English? Though she really shouldn't judge, not being a native herself, it had taken her several days to begin speaking the languages of her adopted planet!

Before she can even open her mouth to ask the other girl what the heck she was talking about, she's gone, leaving the blonde-haired teenager with some kind of... fire. Seemed legit, considering this place was the temperature of an oven set on low broil. She would almost attribute it to the damage and near-crash-landing, but none of the metal seemed super-heated, just really, really warm. Thankfully her kryptonian immunity extended to temperature extremes.

"Princess of a Fire... Planet. Mm. Reminds me that I forgot to TiVo Avatar."

Well, it's either back the way she came or forward to the place that is the place where the Princess is that is not this place that is the place where Kara is. Or something like that. Kara's red boots lift off the ground and she hovers after the flame-hologram that's supposedly leading her. Probably right into the aforementioned trap. You'd think Kryptonians would learn to stop entering mysterious alien spacecraft by now.

But she still had to find out who the people were here, why they were here, and what their intentions were. If the answer was 'incinerate the Earth', well, she'd break that bridge when she came to it.

Eventually, after being lead through vast hallway after vast hallway, through cavernous rooms that seem to be there just to be there, without furniture decorations, machinery, or similar, she is lead to a central corridor with a pair of gold-and-red doors at the end. The doors open before Supergirl gets near, revealing a large control room or bridge beyond, based upon the blinking lights and beeping and booping of computers and so on. The same girl that appeared in the hologram floats out, the holographic flame stopping where it is and 'going out'. The alien princess is attaching a golden wristband to her right arm that seems to have a device built into it, but then stops when she looks up and spots Supergirl.

"Hoh! You has come so-so slow that Pyre has being coming to find you!" A computerized voice emits from the wristband that the girl just finished locking into place. "Your majesty, emergency sealing operations have been completed. We are no longer venting plasma and auto-repairs are underway. Some aspects of the shuttle are unrepairable by automatic systems in its current state, however." Pyre frowns and says, "Karkel find how is fix. Pyre talk to rescue-lady what is having shiny yellow hair now." The wristband simply says, "Yes, your highness." Then the princess turns her attention back unto Kara. "Talk to Pyre. Who is?"

And here's where being her cousin would come in handy, Kara tells herself silently. Kal would know how to greet alien invaders and/or refugees diplomatically and without offending. And he'd instantly gain their trust with mild-mannered speech backed up by deeds. Kara... was a teenager. And a lot more direct and confrontational than her 'younger' cousin was.

"So your ship's fixing itself." The blonde-haired girl notes, taking in the surrounding room, the strange-looking woman in front of her, that odd little talking device strapped to her wrist that seemed ready to replace Siri as the Next Big Thing on iPhones. "I'm Kara Zor-El of the destroyed planet Krypton. You've come dangerously close to crashing into Earth. Can we expect whatever's damaged your ship to come here looking for trouble?"

She raises her yellow eyebrows as she drifts back down to the floor, her cape falling down around her shoulders like a curtain with the lack of movement. "Or do you just need help leaving Earth's orbit?"

Pyre frowns. "Not having knowing why is damaged. Space-fold break. Talk-implant break." She taps the side of her head. "Make so is talking so-so stupid-dumb." Pyre looks around. "Some fixing. Other things breaking so bad Pyre has wish they no has breaking so bad." Then her wine-red eyes focus on Supergirl again. "Hoh! Is Earth?" She smiles and lands on the floor from her hover, seemingly for the explicit purpose of hopping up and down and clapping happily. "Karkel, is hear? We has having being arrive on Earth-Planet after all!" Karkel's voice says, "Perhaps sensor systems were providing erroneous readings, your majesty, but this does not appear to be the solar system of the Earth-Planet--" Pyre waves dismissively at the computer on her wrist, and says consolingly, "Is okay." The A.I. does not seem consoled but decides not to argue with the princess. "As you wish, your highness."

Pyre then starts walking only to look surprised, as though she forgot Kara was there. "Hoh! Kara Zor-El! Pyre has come to Earth-Planet from Fire-Planet. Beginning courtship with Earth-Planet royalty, tah? You is having honor of showing Pyre to palace of Earth King." Then she folds her arms and waits.

What palace? Earth King? What?

A broken down royal yacht. That's what this enormous thing was. Kara has to resist the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose and sigh enormously. A pleasure cruise or some such gone horribly wrong, and thus almost dotting the landscape of her new favorite planet with dangerous falling debris. Still, could have been worse. And didn't SEEM to be anyone's fault. No more than that bus full of nuns almost driving into a sinkhole had been.

Kara holds up her hands and pats the air in front of her as if trying to get the alien princess to calm down. "Yes, you are on, or at least near, the planet Earth. Did you come to see the Green Lantern?" The Green Lantern Corps was the only galaxy-wide space-police force SHE knew of anyway. In fact they were the only galaxy-wide anything she know of. But the more the red-haired teenager continues talking, the more perpeplexed the blonde becomes. At least that's the way it seems judging by the shape her brow is twisting itself into.

"We... don't have a 'King of the Earth'. Earth is made up of hundreds of different nations of various forms of government. Kings, presidents, some prime ministers, I think some generals own a few. The closest thing to a world-wide government is the United Nations, and that's headed by a chairman." She looks down at the armband. "Are you sure you have the right Earth? You didn't cross dimensions or anything, right?"

Pyre seems just as perplexed as Kara. However, she is also more vocal about it. "Noh-meh-daa! No has knowing Princess Petra? Prince Geode? King Terrai!? If all Earth People is so ignorant of education, Pyre will have rocky time when she is co-in-charge of dirty planet! Is joke, tah? Pyre is say 'rocky' time changing 'dirty' planet, and planet is Earth-Planet! Oh-hohoho! Pyre so clever." The wristband speaks up then. "Your majesty, this does not appear to be the Earth-Planet, but rather a different planet with a similar name. I have a hypothesis about what may have happened, if I may?" The princess claps her hands to her cheeks and declares, "How is having same name in two places!? Karkel talk to Pyre." "The navigation system is based on both database records and spatial coordinates, but these are routed through the space-fold engine. When the engine malfunctioned and was damaged, the systems may have attempted to fall back on the only other world in the database with a similar name that was within range of our failing power at the time. In essence, we are at the 'wrong' Earth, though one that has at least been visited in the past in order for us to have a record of it."

Pyre frowns and props her hands on her hips. "Lanterns of Green-ness... Is sound familiar! Karkel, we has know what is Lanterns?" The A.I. says, "As Lady Kara Zor-El has spoken of, the Green Lanterns are a galactic law enforcement agency with whom the Fire People have had contact in the past. There have not been extensive interactions, but they are aware of the Fire People and we of their organization. They may be of aid. Database operations have been disrupted, but there are other files on this 'Planet Earth' that may be retrievable once more repairs have been completed."

Pyre folds her arms and tilts her head to the side, letting out a thoughtful 'hmmmmmm' and squinting in concentration. "What has Pyre do until fix?" She looks at Supergirl and says, "Kara Zor-El! Pyre has need of place to be staying until shuttle fix!" Yes, 'shuttle'. Karkel says, "Your highness, might I recommend awakening Caela from cold-sleep? This planet may have unknown dangers. Your protector should be aware to do her duty." Pyre shakes her head. "Pyre no want bossy Caela bossing. She sleep for now."

"King... //who//?" Kara shakes her head. She doesn't get the joke, she doesn't get the names, she isn't sure about anything except apparently this young space princess wants some kind of dirty person to take on an intergalactic date. No accounting for taste, she reckons. For a moment, Kara considers just giving her the address to the nearest homeless shelter. Plenty of dirty people she could have a 'rocky' time with there.

Kara's hands fly up, palms held outward, to ward off the notion of Pyre needing a place to stay faster than she'd throw them up to block a punch. "Whoa, now. I'm not exactly a travel guide. I'm sure there's plenty of hotels you could check into between Shanghai and Seoul that would be suited to cater to... royalty. I think. Or the five-star ones at least."

She lowers her hands to prop one on her fist, the other fingering her lips. "Can't you just stay in the ship? The Justice League has probably already detected your entrance and are monitoring the situation. I... guess we could talk to them about arrangements. Barring that, you might get the 'royal treatment' at the nearest US Embassy, which would be in Seoul. I don't think Titans Tower would have a bedroom, uh, big enough for you."

She eyes the red-haired girl up and down a moment. "But as long as you don't burn anything down, it might be as good a place as any to go. We can try to contact Green Lantern from there and see what we can do about your situation." Maybe Kara had a future in diplomacy after all!

"Will your ship be fine up here with no one to fly it?"

Pyre listens with a frown on her face that might be unhappiness or just thoughtfulness. English may not be a language she can speak well due to her malfunctioning translator, but she seems to understand it just fine. "Karkel, is okay?" she asks of the wrist-mounted computer. The A.I. says, "Security measures can be put into place for the database, but the following systems are off-line: forcefields, defensive weaponry, internal teleportation system, faster-than-light radio, any space-travel faster than drifting without propulsion, space-fold system, navigation system, plasma baths, food processors and other culinary functions, holographic entertainment room, and also--" Pyre interrupts with a shriek of, "Eee-gaaaaah! Enough is being enough! Pyre understand!" Karkel says, "My apologies, your highness. In summary, the ship would be vulnerable to boarding by any person or persons who wished to do so. On the other hand, until proper manual repairs are conducted, the shuttle will be unable to leave atmosphere under its own power if it lands on planet Earth."

Pyre chews on her cheek a bit and taps her booted foot and says, "Is okay. Kara Zor-El can super-fly shuttle back to the place that is space outside of planet-space." Funny how Kara didn't volunteer to do that and yet it seems to have been decided already! "Princess Pyre has being accepting your offerings! Justice Friends is sounding like good start, and also embassy and hotel and lanterns and all other things what Kara Zor-El say." She then nods firmly.

...Surely, this will all work out somehow.