The New Terran council had heard and understood Lyra's concerns, regarding the galaxy at large. Without some kind of guidance, she couldn't find the belief in the rest of civilized space to not repeat its mistakes and shortcomings of an age past. For all the same reasons as before, life would be toppled, perhaps with no recovery to be made the second time around. However, before they could reach out to the rest of the galaxy, they needed the resources and manpower to do so. They also needed to secure their own space against the remnants of ancient evil still lurking amongst the stars, and the evils of civilization against itself. Evil would weaken their overall strength by turning that strength and dedication against others.
    The powers of Terra watched the cosmos with a new material that powered a new way of life. A crystal formed from hardened, crystalized energy; the substance responded to the presence and the will of life, absorbing the ambient energies of life to grow. Some of the few satellites still in orbit from the old days were modified with crystalline arrays. These arrays, as they carefully scanned the sky, detected a voice come into being. The stellar seers on Terra traced the voice back to a planet in a nearby system that showed energy traces consistent with early civilization, so the decision was made to send Terra's yet burgeoning fleet to the area.
   The primary objective would be to establish contact with the civilization on the planet in question, as well as update the fleet and Terra with local information. The name of their planet and other cultural information regarding nearby celestial bodies would be especially valued for navigational purposes; local culture itself would be interesting, but ultimately unimportant, unless major philosophical differences forced an issue. Hopefully, the operation to establish contact would be able to see agreeable local politics flourish to a leadership position. Their criteria were not strict; enable freedom, respect life, embrace diversity.



   "So, basically, be chill." Lyra looked over the list Jesse had brought to her attention. Her finger flicked across a hologram display, dragging lines of a briefing summary across the display like one of those license agreements from some of Jesse's old games. She hadn't removed them to preserve authenticity, which Lyra could understand. "Don't culture shock them, don't be obnoxious, blah blah blah. Did they forget I have a tail, am I supposed to blend in? Maybe that's the point…" she knew she could handle herself, especially now, but it still irked her to get treated like an extra variable. "Jesse, would you remind me to drill the mission director about this later?" She received a positive chime in response.
    Lyra's landing craft came in low over the ocean. She was supposed to land overnight, in the forest by the foot of the mountains. They'd traced the voice to a lake in the mountains, she was to hike her way through the mountains to find the source, likely in a settlement. The continent she was landing on had a temperate disposition, filled with plains, forests, and mountains, without any desert or tundra regions, though certain extreme mountain heights saw snow.
    The craft itself was a large mass of energy crystal interwoven with living wood and some bits of old era ship, like the cockpit Lyra sat in. A lot of the old systems had been replaced with new equipment, but it felt familiar to look at, at least. The propulsion came from a flared crystal formation at the back of either side of the ship. Crystal grew over the metal nose of the cockpit, coming to a point at the front. The craft was a blend of old technology and this new crystal wizardry. She wasn't sure what to make of it herself, but Jesse understood the new stuff pretty well.
    The combination of crystal, metal, and wood touched down in its predesignated forest clearing and began to undergo changes. It began working the large crystal mass into the ground, even as Lyra disembarked. Slowly, carefully. The living wood crawled over the surface of the crystal and into the ground, manipulating the dirt to guide the semi-translucent blue mass down into the roots below.
    "That's pretty cool…" Lyra took a moment to appreciate the enchantments at work. The ship had been engineered specifically to plant a certain kind of tree in the location it landed. Afterward, there would be a personal craft left over for her to use. "Jesse." Certain branches had formed a descent ramp for Lyra, she turned and waited for her fairy companion to emerge from the crystal and join her as she descended them. She wore her denim sundress with her "summer cut" flight suit underneath, as well as one of the light tactical display visors she'd been provided. She had been given a certain amount of equipment she could share with a small group, if necessary, but she was supposed to avoid that. The single flight pack she'd been provided also sat on her back. It was a decently small, white, very rounded box with seams of exposed Aevon. The sides would open up and extend as rigid wings, feathered with crystalline channels for thrust.



   "You're sure there's nobody around who's gonna shoot at me…?" Lyra folded her arms, someone back home had warned her about going into no-fly zones. Jesse conferred with the sensors in the ship, and the crystal it was still connected to, before giving Lyra HUD a thumbs up. "Cool."
    Without further ado, the flight pack opened and the crystal feathers glowed before carrying Lyra up through a gap in the trees and toward the mountain. Jesse maintained a navigational waypoint for her, guiding her on her bounding path. She didn't want to push the pack too hard, they weren't engineered for someone past a metamorphosis. They were still figuring out how to engineer higher capacity.


    She crested a mountain pass and found herself overlooking the lake in question. Her wing pack folded back up as she started descending into the valley, wondering how she was going to go about introducing herself to the local populace. "I can't just ask them 'hey, who's got one of these', can I?"
   [i] [color=skyblue]Unlikely.[/color][/i]
Right. People were probably a little more guarded than that. She flicked her large fennec ears idly as she thought. They were fun to flick and flop around, and she felt really cute doing it…
    [i] [color=skyblue] You're having fun.[/color][/i]
   "Maybe, so what?" Lyra huffed playfully at Jesse, turning her chin up in mock scorn. "You're just jealous I'm so adorable now."
    Jesse jingled bemusedly in response, sitting herself in the dusty brown fur of her companion.