Chapter 138: Holiday Season Part 2
Washington D.C., December 25th, 1999 (Earth Time)
The house hadn't changed since Samantha Carter had visited the last time. Which had been quite a while ago, before her father had been healed by Adora, actually. Before they had made up. Sam was happy about that, of course. Her Dad was alive, and the rift between them had been healed. And they could celebrate Christmas together. Which also is a good thing, Sam told herself firmly as she walked up to the door.
Unless there was an emergency, she wouldn't be able to spend Christmas in her lab, anyway. The General would probably check on her. Not that she wanted to spend Christmas in her lab. Not really.
Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell.
"I'm coming!"
She blinked. That wasn't her father's voice. That was…
The door was pulled open, and Sam found herself looking at her niece, Lisa. "Aunt Sam!" Before Sam could say anything, the girl turned her head and yelled: "Dad! Gramps! Aunt Sam's here!"
Her brother and his family were here? Sam blinked.
"Come in!" Lisa grabbed her hand and started to tug on it, and Sam followed her inside.
"Aunt Sam! Did you bring us presents?" David, her nephew, asked.
"David!" Mark's wife appeared in the door leading to the kitchen, an apron covering her front. "What did I tell you about being good?" Then she smiled. "Hello, Sam. Merry Christmas!"
"Hello, Marian." Sam nodded at her. "I didn't know you were visiting Dad."
"Oh! You don't have presents, then!"
"David!"
"We'll take money, too," Lisa said, smiling impishly. "You have money, right? Dad said you live for your work, so you can't be spending much, right?"
Sam raised her eyebrows. "He did?"
"Hello, Sam!"
And there was her brother, standing in the hallway leading to the backyard. Behind him, just closing the door, was Dad. Both were wearing winter jackets.
"Sam!" Dan beamed at her. "You made it."
"It's a Christmas miracle," Mark commented.
Sam frowned, and he grimaced. "Sorry."
"'Christmas miracle'?" David asked in the sudden silence.
"Nothing," Mark told him. "Just a stupid joke."
"Yes. Very stupid," Marian told him.
"Anyway," Dad said. "Come, join us in the living room!"
Sam was tempted to comment on the fact that Marian was going back into the kitchen, but like her and Dad's military career, that was a touchy subject.
"So, do you have money?" Lisa apparently had clear priorities.
"I already sent your parents the money for your gifts," Sam told her. "I didn't know you would be travelling to Washington."
"It was a rather spontaneous decision," Mark said as he sat down on the old and worn couch in the living room. Next to it, a Christmas tree with familiar decorations stood. It was a bit too tall for the room's ceiling, and the tip was bent to the side, the star meant to be mounted on its top dangling from it instead.
Sam joined him on the couch while her nephew and niece sat down on the carpet, grabbing the toys spread out there.
"I told Mark that both of us would be in Washington for the holidays," Dad added as he sank into his favourite seat. "Barring an emergency."
Mark snorted. "And it might have been the last opportunity to catch a flight on an aeroplane. I didn't want David and Lisa to miss out on that experience."
David nodded. "We watched 'Star Princess and the Snake Empire' on the flight! We wouldn't have had the time to do that on a shuttle!"
Sam nodded, suppressing the urge to correct her brother about the odds that commercial travel would switch to shuttles in the next few years.
"Have you seen the movie?" Lisa asked. "Dad said you live it!"
Sam narrowed her eyes at her brother, who grinned in response, before smiling at her niece. "No, I haven't seen the movie. I rarely have the time to watch movies."
"Ah!" Lisa nodded and smiled at her, sitting cross-legged in front of Sam. "So, the movie starts with the Star Princess and her friends on their planet, Eternia. They're having fun with all the animals, but then the Snake People attack, and the whole forest - they have a magical forest where the trees have chocolate fruits - is set on fire! But Star Princess's friend Aqua can control water, and so she…"
Sam felt her smile freeze a little bit as she realised that her niece apparently was going to tell her the entire movie's plot - a plot that sounded very much like it was 'inspired' by the Horde War, with the Horde replaced by obvious Goa'uld expies.
Someone at Disney must have commissioned that movie as revenge for the Etherians' refusal to respect their copyright, Sam thought. She could only hope the General didn't hear about this - he'd use it for a mandatory movie night.
Why did she decide that she couldn't spend the day in her lab, anyway? Because she hadn't seen her family in months, she reminded herself.
"...and then Star Princess rode her pegasus to the Horde sky fortress, and…"
"It's actually an alicorn," Sam said before she could help herself. "Sorry," she quickly added.
Mark snickered. "You'd know the difference - you met the real thing, right?"
Both Lisa and Davis gaped at her.
"That's classified," Sam said, frowning at her dad. He was the only one in the family who was aware that she was a close friend of the Etherians. Of course, her friendship wasn't that much of a secret, considering how many knew about it…
"Classified?" Lisa asked.
"That means Aunt Sam goes to prison if she tells us," David told her.
"I didn't spill," Dad claimed.
"I figured it out from how often you were in the news," Mark said with a satisfied smirk.
Her brother wasn't stupid, Sam reminded herself. She sighed. "It's classified. We're at war."
"Oh! Are you going to ride alicorns into battle?" Lisa asked.
"Or dinosaurs?" David added.
"No," Sam said. "That's just the show, not reality." Riding Swift Wind into battle? She wasn't Adora. And she doubted Adora would ride him into battle, either.
"Aw." Lisa pouted. "And will you attack the Horde Sky Fortress?"
"The Etherians already defeated the Horde, duh," David said. "Now they are fighting snakes!"
"The Alliance is engaged in a war with the Goa'uld Empire," she corrected him. A war that the Goa'uld were not yet aware of, actually.
"Yes, the snakes!" David nodded.
"A war that keeps your aunt very busy," Mark added. Sam could hear the 'too busy to visit her family' clearly even though he didn't say it out loud.
And so could Dad. He frowned. "Sam's essential for the Alliance."
Sam, not her work, Sam noted.
Fortunately, Mark didn't pick up that nuance. He slowly nodded. "But at least you managed to visit over the holidays." He tilted his head and frowned slightly. "You're staying over the holidays, aren't you?"
"I'll visit in my free time," Sam told him. "But I don't have leave over the holidays." And she didn't want leave anyway. She had too many projects to tend to, and her friends needed her.
"You have to work on Christmas?" Lisa stared at Sam as if she had heard that Christmas was getting cancelled.
"We're at war," Sam said.
"And you're doing your duty," Mark said.
Sam ignored the familiar hint of bitterness in his voice. She wouldn't start that old argument again.
Fortunately, neither did Dad. "Well, at least you can travel around the world faster than you can drive through Washington these days."
"What?" Mark looked surprised, even though he had commented about shuttles rendering planes obsolete before.
"Shuttles are far faster than planes," Dad said.
"I didn't know they were that fast…"
"I don't have a personal shuttle," Sam pointed out.
"General O'Neill does, though." Of course, Dad would have heard those rumours!
"Which he uses," Sam said. She didn't bother denying the rumours. That would only make her brother tease her. Or make assumptions that were completely inappropriate and wrong.
"Who's General O'Neill?" Lisa asked.
"My former commanding officer," Sam told her.
"And you can use his shuttle?" Lisa looked impressed.
"If I need it, I can require a shuttle for transport," Sam said. She needed one every time she visited the Spacelab in person or had to move between different bases.
"To visit us?" Lisa asked.
"That wouldn't be a need," Sam corrected her. "But if my duties lead me to Washington, I will visit. You're staying the whole holiday?" she asked Mark.
"Yes. Marian's family was not amused, but since we stayed with them every year…" He shrugged. "They can't complain."
Neither Dad nor Sam commented on the reasons why Mark and his family had visited Marian's parents every holiday and not them.
Sam tried to change the topic again. "I might need to get a copy of that movie," she said. And watch it so she would know if it could cause problems with the Etherians.
"Can we have it when you're done?" Lisa looked hopefully at her.
David nodded with the same expression.
"Well… it's a bit too late to get a copy today," Mark said with a glance at the clock on the wall. "But we can get one tomorrow. And watch it together. Consider it a late Christmas present, Sam."
"Yes!" Lisa cheered.
"Yay!" David nodded so rapidly, Sam was briefly worried for his health.
She thought about bowing out - she had only planned to visit today for the big dinner - but faced with her niece and nephew's beaming faces, she couldn't disappoint them.
It really is a potential problem for our relations with Etheria, she told herself to soothe her guilty conscience.
It didn't quite work.
Pentagon, Washington D.C., December 25th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"So, has the special agent finished their investigation yet?" Catra asked as she leaned back in her seat and put her feet on the table.
"Catra!" Adora hissed next to her.
Catra rolled her eyes. "It's not as if this is a serious matter," she said, loud enough to be overheard by the others in the meeting room. "Someone just wanted to feel important."
"This is a serious matter!" Kearsy bellowed, as expected.
Catra snorted. Really, didn't the man realise that he had been set up? A bunch of soldiers brawling was a matter for their officers to settle. It wasn't as if anyone had died - they hadn't even been hurt seriously. Not enough for needing Adora's healing magic, at least - which disproved Catra's earlier (and far-fetched) suspicion that someone suffering from a disease or whatever had arranged that to get Adora involved, hoping she would heal them. In any case, Kearsy shouldn't have become involved in the first place or, at least, should have dropped the matter when the Navy police had taken over. He should have followed Jack's example, who had dropped the thing on Adora as soon as he had an excuse and must be enjoying the holidays right now.
"I fail to see why this investigation should persist," Priest cut in. "The records we saw were clear - your sailors attacked my people first. And since I, following the example Her Divine Highness set, agreed not to pursue punishment of the attackers, the matter should be settled already."
Adora nodded. "Yes. There's no need to punish anyone if their victims forgave them."
Catra doubted that any of the hurt Clones would have dared refuse to forgive their enemies when Adora asked them, but that wasn't her problem.
"We still don't know the exact circumstances of the brawl, so any assumptions about guilt seem premature," the base commander, Admiral Jeffries, apparently called back from a vacation with his family, said, glancing back and forth between Kearsy and Adora. The guy didn't want to be here any more than Catra did.
"As my people told me, they merely answered honestly when asked about their opinion of this holiday," Priest said. "All in accordance with Her Divine Highness' orders," he added with a deep nod toward Adora. "That this was taken as an insult by your sailors was not their fault. But even if it were, that would not excuse an assault on them."
"You cannot expect a man to suffer such an insult without reacting!" Kearsy snapped.
Priest tilted his head slightly in apparent - and, Catra was sure, fake confusion. "I was under the impression that this was a core tenet of your religion. To turn the other cheek instead of defending yourself, much less counter-attacking, even when you are physically assaulted."
Kearsy ground his teeth. "That's not what it means!" he spat. "And they attacked their faith, not the sailors themselves!"
"I bow to your expertise," Priest replied in a mild tone that left Kearsy even more furious. "My own faith does not require us to react with violence when questioned - quite the opposite, actually."
Admiral Jeffries cleared his throat. "I think that a thorough investigation would help us to decide what punishment is appropriate for the attack on your soldiers."
"And you are free to do so," Catra said. "But that doesn't mean we have to stay involved with this. We've got better things to do." Hell, even watching paint dry would be better than this - at least she'd be able to take a nap without Adora feeling embarrassed.
"We trust that your judgement in this matter will be fair," Priest added with more fake sincerity that once again riled Kearsy up.
"Do you expect us to sacrifice good sailors for politics?"
Catra couldn't resist. "Isn't that a tradition for your country?"
"Catra!"
"What? I've read their history," Catra said, shrugging. "They sent their Navy to open other countries for their trade."
"Are you insulting the US Navy?" Kearsy glared at her.
Admiral Jeffries cleared his throat again. "I think we should focus on the matter at hand. Which is, if I understand your stance correctly, a disciplinary matter left to the involved sailors' commander."
"Yes," Adora said, nodding emphatically.
"As Her Divine Highness mandates," Priest added.
Kearsy managed to nod without blowing up.
"Great. The matter's settled then," Catra said, taking her feet off the table and standing up to stretch. "Let's go back home."
But as they filed out of the room, an aide approached Admrial Jeffries. Catra's ears twitched as she listened to their whispered conversation.
"Sir, there's been a complication."
"What?"
"The press is covering the incident."
"What?"
Catra muttered a curse under her breath. "Someone must have leaked this to the press." This would greatly increase the pressure on anyone involved.
Then again, that was probably their goal, she added to herself with a glance at Kearsy.
"What are they saying?" Adora asked.
The aide winced. "Uh…"
"Spit it out!" Kearsy growled.
"Most call it 'the Christmas Brawl'," the man replied. "But some of the more conservative media are calling it an 'attack on Christmas'."
Catra could imagine what those news agencies said about this and clenched her teeth. She was really, really sick of that part of Earth's media. "So much for this being settled," she said.
They had to discuss this with Jack and the others.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 25th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...and while the Pentagon refuses to comment on the issue and the Alliance spokesperson has claimed that an investigation is still underway, sources usually in the know claim that the Supreme Commander of the Alliance herself, She-Ra, Princess of Power, was called to heal the personnel involved. That means this wasn't merely a brawl amongst drunken soldiers, something anyone living near a base is probably familiar with, but a serious fight. James, what do you think the consequences of this will be?"
"Well, Bob, such a bloody, if you'll pardon the pun, altercation means that there's serious tension between the different factions of the Alliance."
"Which factions do you mean? We've heard allegations that many Earth soldiers resent the Etherians for their favourite treatment. Some claim that Earth soldiers are used as cannon fodder on the ground while the Etherians stay safe in orbit."
"Ah, I cannot comment on the validity of such claims, but given the technological and population difference between Earth and Etheria, it's only natural that we - Earth - would mainly fight ground battles. Don't forget that Etheria in total has less than a fifth of the population of the United States."
"But that's math. For the soldier on the ground, sitting in the trenches while others stay safely aboard spaceships, that won't mean much, will it?"
"Indeed, Bob, while that perspective is limited, and possibly misleading, it's still a valid point to be taken into account."
"And there's more. While it would be reaching to claim, as some of our less integer colleagues do, that Etheria is waging a 'War on Christmas', it is commonly known that the Etherians are rather aggressively spreading their religion on Earth and in space. I could imagine that such proselytising would not be received well by devout Christians."
"Once more, I have to agree. There's a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes, as you might know."
"I didn't, James, but it's kind of fitting, isn't it?"
"Yes. Anyway, we've heard complaints about Etheria's religion spreading on Earth for months now. While most of its followers are, unsurprisingly, located in India, the Church of She-Ra is also growing in the West, and that causes tension. This incident might just be the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, an indication of a lingering and growing rift inside the Alliance."
"That sounds daunting, James."
"That's because it is daunting, Bob."
Jack O'Neill switched the TV off and turned to look at the others in the room. "Sounds like a bunch of hot air to me," he said. "Just people stirring up emotion for ratings."
Catra nodded, but Adora was shaking her head. "Admiral Kearsy seemed to share this view."
"Kearsy is an idiot," Jack said. "And he'll probably be removed from his post over this." Someone had to take the fall for this, and Kearsy was the most exposed - and the most expendable - amongst the higher ranks involved here. Although the yard commander might be sacrificed instead, if Kearsy managed to shore up enough support. Unless Adora personally intervened, which she wouldn't do. Probably not.
"Do you think someone set him up?" Catra asked.
Jack shrugged. "Someone used the opportunity to let him step into this, at least." Staff politics, how he loathed them!
"So, someone's risking the Alliance to get rid of a rival?" Catra asked.
"Or someone's trying to prevent Kearsy from risking the Alliance for his beliefs," Jack said. "You met the man - he sounded like he was all-in for the whole 'fire and brimstone' stuff." Hell, Kearsy had made Priest look like a moderate or sceptic.
"'Fire and brimstone'?" Adora asked.
Daniel pushed his glasses up. "It's referring to the threat of hell and damnation in Christian dogma. Jack is, I believe, using it to refer to more extremist churches and views."
"Yes." Jack nodded. "People who talk about your immortal soul being in peril whenever you do something they don't like."
"Idiots and bigots, you mean," Catra said.
"Well… mainstream Christianity focuses on love and compassion, both divine and, ah, mortal," Daniel said. "But there are extremists in every religion."
"Like Priest." Adora sighed.
"He's actually quite… restrained for the leader of an expanding religion," Daniel said. "Or maybe diplomatic would be more precise."
"Smooth," Jack said. Priest knew how to play others and exploit the rules and regulations. Jack couldn't even tell if the Clone was sincere in his belief or merely used the adoration people held for She-ra for his own goals. Though even if he were, there were worse messages to spread than 'be more like She-Ra'. Far worse ones.
"So, what do we do about this?" Adora asked, pointing at the TV.
"Nothing," Jack said.
"Nothing?" She frowned at him.
"Ah, you think this will blow over?" Daniel asked him.
Jack nodded. "It's a bunch of hot air," he repeated himself. "There's no such 'rift'. Soldiers complain all the time, and everyone thinks the other branches have an easy job. You know, like they call us the Chair Force?"
Catra snickered.
"Anyway, I like to think I know my soldiers, and they don't have a problem with each other like those idiots claim," Jack went on. And, of course, anyone who actually fought on the ground knows you were in the thick of it." That meant a lot more than what some idiots said on TV or preached in church.
He didn't miss how both Adora and Catra looked at Daniel.
"Yes, I would concur. While there are bound to be some religious tensions, that's nothing unusual for such a large force as the Alliance. And, so far at least, the media attention focused on this seems limited to the United States—none of the European news agencies is paying a lot of attention to the entire affair. So, I think this is an isolated incident and not indicative of a larger problem."
Adora seemed relieved. The girl really needed to stop feeling responsible for everything, in Jack's opinion. It wasn't as if she were an actual goddess.
"So, you see, there's no need to worry about your faithful," Catra said with a grin.
Adora frowned at her in return.
"Indeed," Teal'c spoke up. "On the contrary, your church has great potential for turning the false gods' followers into our allies. Its ideals may appeal to many amongst the Jaffa who would scorn your other religions. If you have the time, a visit to the Jaffa currently held by the Alliance could prove helpful."
Adora blinked.
Jack looked at his friend. "Is there something you'd like to tell us, Teal'c?"
"I have been working with the captured followers of the false gods, as have members of your church," Teal'c replied. "We have made inroads with many of them, especially after you released the synthetic symbionts. That you visited daily before that to ensure those who had lost their symbionts didn't die also left a favourable impression on many."
That was good news, Jack decided. Even if the image of a bunch - or an army - of Jaffa fanatically devoted to Adora was a bit concerning as well. "Merry Christmas?" he said with a wry grin.
Adora didn't grin in return.
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, December 25th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"...and that's why we aren't going to visit the prison camp this week."
Adora frowned at the grinning Catra. It wasn't funny at all! She looked at her friends for support. Bow winced and avoided meeting her eyes. Either he was embarrassed or felt guilty, which wasn't good. And Glimmer…
…stared directly at her with a serious, determined expression. "You should visit them. They're your people."
"What?" Adora blurted out. "They aren't! I am no goddess!"
"But they follow you and look to you for guidance," Glimmer, standing behind the desk in her office, told her. "And you have visited the prisoners before."
"When I had to heal the wounded and Haken," Adora retorted.
"And they worshipped you back then already," Bow pointed out. "Teal'c didn't tell you anything new."
"Yes, but…" Adora trailed off. What could she say? That she had hoped they would stop worshipping her if she stopped visiting? That if she hadn't wanted to deal with them? "I didn't think it would spread."
"But it did." Glimmer shook her head. "And you can't ignore that."
"You don't owe them anything," Catra said, sitting on the edge of Glimmer's desk. She put down one of the crystals serving as paperweights that she had been playing with. "If they decide to worship you, that's on them. It doesn't make you responsible for them!" She turned to glare at Glimmer. "That's not how it works."
"I wouldn't turn people away who wanted to become my subjects," Glimmer told her. She frowned for a moment and added: "Not unless they were dishonest or tried to use me or something, of course. But people honestly wanting to join Bright Moon?" She shook her head.
"I'm not a ruling princess," Adora said. "I don't have a kingdom."
Catra nodded.
"You don't have a kingdom, but you have people who follow you," Glimmer retorted.
"That's not your fault or responsibility," Catra said. She didn't look amused any more.
Adora bit her lower lip. "I'm no goddess. But they won't believe me."
"And that's their fault," Catra said.
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is," Glimmer said. "The fact is that people follow you. If you don't lead them, others will - and in your name."
Priest. Adora clenched her teeth. The Clone was… infuriating was the word. He claimed to worship her, to obey her every word, as he put it, and yet he wouldn't listen at all when she said she wasn't a goddess!
"You could disavow them," Catra said.
She could. She might not be able to convince everyone that she wasn't a goddess, but she could convince people that Priest or anyone else claiming so didn't speak for her.
"You should only do that if they betray you," Glimmer objected. "Not if they're just annoying."
Adora looked at her friend. "I don't want to be worshipped."
"There's a lot of stuff I don't want to do or deal with," Glimmer said. "But I do it because someone has to, and I am the Queen of Bright Moon, so it falls to me."
"You aren't the queen of Bright Moon," Catra pointed out to Adora.
Bow cleared his throat. "But is it that different from being the Supreme Commander of the Alliance?" He held up a hand before Adora could tell him that people didn't worship a commander as a goddess. "You do give orders and lead people, and do your best to fix things if they need fixing and that people do the right thing. Whether they call you commander or goddess doesn't really change that, does it?"
Adora opened her mouth, then closed it again. That… wasn't wrong.
"And Priest and his people would answer to you anyway as the leader of the Alliance," Glimmer added.
Adora pressed her lips together. Would Priest actually be in the Alliance if he didn't worship her? Sure, WrongHordak and his people didn't worship her and had joined the Alliance, but that didn't mean every other Clone would act the same. Like Hordak, who led First Fleet's remains, WrongHordak had his own reasons for joining the Alliance. Reasons Priest and others might not share.
On the other hand, letting people worship her as a goddess so they would help you fight the Goa'uld felt wrong. It was like exploiting their faith - like something the Go'auld did! "I don't want them to follow me because they think I am a goddess!" she blurted out.
"But they do think you're a goddess," Glimmer retorted. "That's not your fault - you never claimed to be a goddess. But it's a fact we can't just ignore. Not without serious repercussions."
Bow nodded. "I've looked into Earth's religions. All of the major ones have had problems with their followers becoming radicalised. And the most radicalised are often those who converted from another religion."
Oh. "Like those who start worshipping me?" Adora asked.
Bow nodded with a grimace.
Catra hissed a curse.
And Glimmer nodded.
Adora sighed. She didn't want this, none of this, but she couldn't ignore it. If she left her… followers to their own devices, who knew what they would end up doing? And in her name? Unwanted or not, it was her responsibility. She couldn't, wouldn't run from that. "I won't act as a goddess," she said. "I won't lie to them. But I will visit them." And keep a close eye on Priest. A closer eye.
Catra sighed as Glimmer and Bow nodded with sympathetic smiles.
The sudden silence was broken by the guards announcing that Entrapta had arrived.
A moment later, Entrapta entered the office with a wide smile.
"Hey!" Entrapta beamed at them, holding up a disc. "Sam just told me that Earth made a movie with us!"
What?
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, December 26th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"No! I can't end like this! I was so clo…AARGHHHHH!"
"Let that be a lesson to you! Love, not might, conquers all!"
"Yes, meow love!"
Samantha Carter winced while the ending credits scrolled over the holoprojected screen, and everyone else in the room turned to look or glare at her. In hindsight, she should have called Daniel and told him about this movie so he could handle breaking this to her friends instead of sending a copy to Entrapta.
But after a whole day at her family, being badgered by her niece and nephew with questions about 'the real star princess', demands to meet 'the real alicorn' and wide-eyed pleas for stories about space and trying to ignore her brother's passive-aggressive sniping at her career and the duties that entailed and her sister-in-law's questions, encouraged by her traitorous dad, about her love life, she hadn't really been thinking clearly.
And now she was facing a bunch of magical princesses and former alien warlords who didn't seem to be enamoured by their portrayal in the movie.
"I do not have horns or a tail. And I threw Horde Prime into a shaft - I didn't fall into a shaft by tripping over a cat-shapeshifter!"
"I am a cat - I don't change into a cat! And I would have kicked you down a shaft."
"I don't sound like that at all! And I cannot fly, whether it's the full moon or not!"
"I don't have a curse that makes me burn if I cover up my chest - I just like having my midriff free!"
"I didn't conquer Etheria! Much less the galaxy! And I don't want to!"
The only one who didn't seem to be annoyed by the movie was Entrapta, Sam noted. A silver lining, at least.
"Being a bot would be so cool! I think I could adapt metal tentacles like that!"
Or not. Sam winced. "I don't think you should replace your body with a bot body," she said. "And I think your hair already does everything the tentacles in the movie did."
"Oh, right." Entrapta pouted. "Forgot about that. But I could build a bot that looks just like the movie-me!"
"Ah… that might violate copyright," Sam said.
"Copyright?" Glimmer snarled. "What about our copyright? Whoever made this movie…"
"Disney did," Catra cut in.
Disney distributed it, but it had been made by a new and nominally independent production firm, Sam knew. Probably in an attempt to shield the corporation from any backlash. Or to reduce taxes somehow. But this wasn't the time to bring that up.
"...Disney used us for their movie!" Glimmer went on. "Why didn't we hear about his before… this?" She gestured at the screen, which was fading to black. "Someone should have told us about people making a movie like that about us."
Sam winced again. "It's not the first such movie or series. It's just the most successful." Thanks to her niece and nephew's enthusiasm, she now knew far more about cartoons than she had ever wanted to know. "And probably the one that is the most obvious about its, ah, 'inspiration'."
"Really?" Adora frowned.
"And no one stopped them?" Glimmer glared at Sam as if that was her fault. "And what did Julie and Mr Brown do? They're supposed to help with our image!"
Sam was a scientist, not a PR specialist. And the relations between the Etherians and their PR consultants were none of her business. But she spoke up anyway: "The movies and series are quite popular amongst children." At least amongst the children in her family. "They probably didn't think that this would hurt you."
"It hurts my image," Hordak complained. "I was a competent warlord, not such a clumsy oaf! And it claims I was Horde Prime!"
"And it claims I defected over a can of tuna," Catra added.
"Well… you love fish?" Adora smiled weakly.
"Not the point."
"It takes a lot of liberties with what actually happened," Bow said. "I know it's not meant to be a documentary, but they could have stuck a bit closer to the real story."
Glimmer turned to frown at him. "They should have changed more things! They made me out to be a figurehead! All I do is fly in the moonlight and hold speeches! And I get shot down in every battle so Adora can rescue me!"
Catra shrugged. "Someone paid a lot of attention to our history," she said with a grin. "They even have the cat defect and sneak into the prison to save you."
"Could we have a leak?" Adora asked.
"None of the, ah, information in the movie was classified," Sam said. She had checked.
"It's still a lot of detail," Adora retorted. "Someone must have collected a lot of information for this."
"Disney is a big corporation. And they might have wanted to make a point," Sam suggested.
"Do they really expect that we agree to protect their copyright claims on Etheria if they stop this movie?" Glimmer scoffed. "So, what do we do about this?"
"Can we do something about this?" Bow asked.
Sam wasn't a lawyer, but she doubted that. As persons of public interest, her friends were, as someone had called it, 'fair game' for the media.
"Why would we want to do something about it?" Entrapta asked. "It's a fun cartoon!"
If Sam liked such cartoons. And hadn't been forced to watch it with two enthusiastic kids commenting on every scene.
"But it makes it look as if I - as 'Star Princess' - saved Etheria by myself," Adora said. "That's wrong."
"Well, Priest will love the movie," Catra commented. Then she blinked. "Wait a minute…"
"...do you think he had something to do about this?" Glimmer sounded sceptical.
Sam doubted that herself. If Disney were working with aliens, that should have been noticed by someone. People were supposed to keep an eye on such 'business ties'.
"Oh, his book." Catra sighed. "The writers must have read his collection of She-Ra's heroic deeds."
Adora groaned. "Does that mean the movie's protected by religious freedom? I mean, I don't think we should try to ban it anyway, that would be wrong, right?"
Glimmer's expression made it clear that she disagreed, but the others nodded, to Sam's relief.
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, December 27th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"We were aware of the movies inspired by you, yes."
Mr Brown smiled as if there was nothing wrong with that, Catra found. And unlike Julie, who was wincing a little, he was unfazed by the frowns from the princesses present.
"And you didn't tell us?" Glimmer asked.
"We thought you knew about them," he replied. "Etheria seems to be importing all mainstream media from Earth - at least based on the complaints about copyright violations we passed on to you."
They hadn't seen those shows and movies, though. At least Catra and her friends hadn't. She really needed to check the black market herself to see if there were other things they were missing. Stuff that many might not dare to mention to them, but others might want to use against them.
"Why would you get complaints? We have diplomatic channels for that," Adora asked, interrupting Catra's plans.
"And we get complaints there," Glimmer added. "They don't seem to understand that we don't have any copyright on Etheria."
"Oh, they understand that," Julie said. "But they don't accept it. It's why we have been 'finalising the last details' about the cultural exchange program for so long. Pressure from the labels and studios on the actors and performers."
"Oh."
Well, that made sense. "Sounds like Horde politics," Catra commented.
"What?" Hordak seemed surprised.
Catra sighed under her breath. "If the Force Captain in charge of supplies wanted a favour from you, you helped them out if you wanted to get your supplies on time."
"That's… corruption!" Hordak shook his head. "Sabotage and treason, even!"
Catra shrugged. "That's how things worked for those who weren't in command of the Horde." Like she had been, or Shadow Weaver. And Hordak, of course.
"Are you sure? I don't think I ever had to deal with stuff like that," Scorpia said with a frown. "And I was a Force Captain for years. They never said anything about that in Force Captain Orientation, either."
Catra snorted. "That's because you always did whatever favour people asked for."
"Well, we were all on the same side, so why wouldn't I help the other Force Captains out if I could?"
Glimmer cleared her throat. "Can we talk about the corruption problem in the Horde later? We have a problem at hand."
"Do you mean the copyright complaints or the movies?" Mr Brown asked. "Because the movies and assorted media aren't a problem for your reputation. All the movies and series that we watched display you in a very positive light - and we watched a lot of them with the kids. We would have to spend a lot of money to get that kind of coverage."
"'Positive light'?" Glimmer spat. "I look useless and clumsy!"
"I sound like a fool," Hordak joined in.
"They wrecked my outfit. Have you seen the action figures? That bow would never work!"
"They make me look like a goddess!"
Those were all perfectly on the nose, in Catra's opinion. The speech impediment she had in half the series was a bother, but at least all cast her as a cat. And teasing Adora about the cartoon series where she was a tiger Adora rode to battle hadn't gotten old yet.
"They styled a bot and an octopus after me!" Entrapta, of course, was happy with the media featuring her.
"I think I'm far too scary in the shows," Scorpia said. "My stinger doesn't have deadly poison!"
"I remember you throwing tanks at us," Adora told her.
"Well, yes?" Scorpia tilted her head. "I didn't hit anyone, did I?"
Catra rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I gather the copyright violations are the real problem?"
"Yes." Julie nodded. "And they are the reason that even if we wanted to stop such 'inspired media', we wouldn't succeed. Even if the shows hadn't changed the characters modelled after you significantly, at least where their visuals are concerned."
"There's also the fact that as persons of public interest, you wouldn't have good chances to win a court case even if the media used your likeness and names - at least with the Saturday morning cartoons we saw," Mr Brown added. "Adult entertainment would be different, of course."
Catra clenched her teeth and hissed. She hadn't thought about that. That changed things. If anyone tried to…
"'Adult entertainment'?" Scorpia looked confused.
"That's media aimed at adults, usually with sexual content!" Entrapta cheerfully explained before anyone else could say anything. "Also known as porn."
Scorpia blinked. "Oh. Like the dirty pictures soldiers hide in their barracks?"
"Yes. And movies. And I guess some live performances qualify as well."
"Is there porn with us?" Glimmer looked shocked.
As did Adora and most of the others, Catra noted.
"We haven't seen any such, ah, productions related to your likenesses," Mr Brown quickly said. "If we would encounter any, we would take measures to stop it." He smiled weakly. "And while there are strong precedents against censorship, at least in the United States, we're all too aware that the crews of the fleet protecting Earth hold you in high regard and might not react well to any such media."
Right. The Clones would not like porn featuring Adora. Not at all. And they wouldn't really care about any anti-censorship laws at all. At least Priest was unlikely to react violently, but Catra had a feeling that that might not help whoever might be responsible for such media much.
That Clone was a bit too sneaky for her taste.
