Rrroriksix
Interstellar Space Colony Tranquility
Rrroriksix moved quickly towards the chief diplomats of the Solar Republic and the Verandi Empire. Both were Human civilizations and were incredibly important to build relations with. The Solar Republic owned the largest amount of space while the Verandi Empire technically 'owned' Tranquility. The Grand Diplomat made no move to interrupt their pleasantries, as having seen the similarities between rats from Earth and his own species, he knew that the Humans were not big fans of the Rakashians.
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior ValSpace station Tranquility, Sol System
Piper tilted his head as Blue went on and on, explaining what the guns did. "Now..." He said, seeming genuinely confused. "Why would I want to do that? It doesn't sound like a very nice thing to do." He looked down at the guns, wincing. "To inflict death upon someone? I've never wanted to do that, and I doubt anyone back home ever wanted to do that. We never thought of... hurting each other. It's a horrible concept."
His expression returned to normal once Blue commented how unlikely it was that they hadn't been invaded yet. "Oh, that's because... well, the Council tells us they protect Mountain City. We don't know how, but if they say we're protected, we're protected!" Piper smiled, nodding, before pulling out his clipboard so he could draw a gun on it. "I'll have to send this to the Society, to make sure we don't have any of those. I'm sorry, Mister Blue, but it seems like a very unnecessary thing."
Piper looked up from his drawing, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. "I mean, don't the existence of these guns make other people create better guns which makes this whole killing thing go on and on and on?"
Space Station Tranquility
"Pardon me," came a voice from not far behind the rest of the converging diplomats. "But am I to understand that this is the meeting place for what is being the talkers of the many speak?" There was a pause as Athena slowly hobbled over to the rest of the group; using her long folded wing-arms like a pair of crutches to slowly propel herself forward. Her long beaked head and slightly curved neck initially made it seem as if she loomed over the others with her head perched a good foot over their shoulders. Yet the most cursory of inspections would reveal that her body was as frail and spindly as a folded human microlight, a wispy construction of taut skin and hollow bones. She was followed by her compatriots; they were slightly larger and more muscular than themselves, and at leat one of them (her face and cheset covered in aggressive-looking tattoos) glared down at the aliens as if daring them to try and attack her charge.
"My apologies," she said after a second of thought. She had studied English extensively for many weeks before her arrival at Tranquility, though she still had trouble with some of the more abstract phrases. For the purposes of inter-language negotiation, she had experimented with a range of voices and accents before settling on a pleasant tenor, with an accent somewhere between French and Hindi. "I don't quite think that I said that correctly; let me try again. Is this the house of the speakers of problem-solving... no, that is not it either." She clacked her beak in frustration and preened before trying again. "This is the place of... diplomats, correct?" She clucked something to one of her attaches; the rainbow-painted Najani hobbled off in obedience before Athena turned back to the group. "You are all diplomats sent from your own home culture, I presume?"
edited 28th Sep '13 6:53:57 PM by Locoman
Ceres
Solaris tried to listen to each applicant in turn. It didn't help that several were talking over or to each other and drowning out one person or another. The cyborg gorilla was the first to get her attention mostly because it was loudest.
"Very well then. I have worked with your kind before. You are hired."
She eyed the next one more warily. The winged man certainly looked like he needed money. Solaris doubted that fixing his shabby appearance would make up for how uncouth he was. Not like she could judge though, or be picky right now.
"Money you can have, once you have proven yourself. What languages exactly?" It would not do if all of them were just different dialects from the same planet. "What experience do you have?"
The Sirian said some things Solaris could not hear. Her ears caught the word "Innon" however, and that was enough to get her attention. She briefly wondered about asking what year she'd gone, but if she was judging the Sirian's age correctly then Solaris had left long before she'd attended.
"Your academy's reputation proceeds you. I trust we can arrange a suitable payment."
That reminded Solaris to glance at the datapad the Grexian left. Overpriced as always, but Solaris was confident that they could be bargained down.
Hamare's attempt to sell herself was meeting with much less success than Erruan's had. "Exiled for what reason?" Solaris questioned. She did not want any more trouble with the law, from wherever that law came from, even this new alien's world.
"Turncoat" she simply said, as that could be corroborated if the High Council was contacted "But to be honezt, I happen to be framed, a zcapegoat for a petty territorial conflict 3 monthz ago, blame haz to go zomewhere, I juzt angered the wrong official and got myzelf exiled" she explained, in rather dignified manner.
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.Rrivel
3 Stooges, Ceres
Rrivel couldn't help himself, as he snorted in derision. His kind had suffered their fair share from 'territorial disputes' and he found himself doubting that a single member of a society would get singled out for the blame unless she was a major player who had made one too many enemies.
Regardless, he stepped forward, cleared his throat, and did a bit of a mock bow. "Razor Rrivel at your service, ma'am. If you need something dead, I can take care of it. Need something protected, and you'll find me just as capable. If you are interested in cross-referencing me with past exploits, you can discuss with the Freelance Caravan Security Guild." Scratching idly under his chin with his thumb, Rrivel let loose a smoke ring with a bored sigh. "I apologize if I am not as interesting as a political leper or an experienced power suit user, but I do my job efficiently and with pride. Really, that is all that should matter for whatever mission you are on. My costs are not extravagant, I only wish for decent food, decent company, and excellent cigars."
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior ValThe soldier who had disassembled her pistol looked over at Rufus. "He asked what I could kill with the pistol, not just what I could kill, but uh... Thanks?" she said a bit uncertainly. She then glanced at Blue, unsure how to answer the cyborg kangeroo about the gun.
"Trade secret" Blue responded rather simply, giving the kangeroo a playful grin before turning back to Piper.
"Your opinion would be correct, if everyone else in the galaxy shared it. Unfortunately the reality of the universe is that sometimes words and good intentions are not enough. When someone decides that they want something you have, are willing to use force to get it, and won't listen to what you say, then the only options left to you are to surrender or respond with force" Blue explained to Piper. "So, we need things like guns to protect ourselves from others. To not use them would be..." he trailed off, closing his eyes for a moment and twitching a moment, like a suppressed shudder.
"Anyway, I could demonstrate if you-" Blue was cut off by the arrival of Athena, who he stared at with a raised eyebrow. The Military caste security were mostly staring at the winged aliens as well as they attempted to speak English and kind of butchered it.
"You are all diplomats sent from your own home culture, I presume?"
"Uh, no. I am a business man, actually, a lobbyist at best. I don't know about the half-machine, but he is an ambassador" Blue said, motioning at Piper. "This is the correct station, however if you're looking for the assembly hall, I believe it is that way" he added, pointing to further into the interior of the station.
edited 29th Sep '13 7:37:16 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.International Space Station Tranquility
"Oh, hi!" Piper said, excitedly nodding as Athena asked if they were all diplomats. When Blue said he wasn't one, Piper simply chuckled. "Oh, please, Blue. Are you not here to defend the interests of a group of people? Weren't you chosen to make sure that the voice of the group you are defending does not go ignored? Then you are as much of an ambassador as I am!"
He bowed to Athena, smiling warmly. "Master Artisan Piper, of the Free Mind Society. So happy to meet you,..." He waved his hand, hoping Athena would finish the phrase.
3 Stooges Bar
The winged man rolled his eyes, removing the cigarette out of his mouth and scratching his eye with another. "Have you ever heard of the Free Mind Society? They're a bunch of idiots focused on art, to the point where people are taught all about a certain art since they're kids. Mine just happened to be the art of the tongue." He rolled his eyes at that last phrase.
He put his cigarette back in his mouth and leaned forward. "Let me put it like this. You see this bar? It's filled with people from all sides of the galaxy. I could offend them all in their native languages by using slangs they used back home. And they would think I came from there too, because, guess what?" He smirked. "No accent. And I also know how to operate machines so you can talk to other ships and stuff like that, but that's, like, 25% of the job."
And then, knowing that Solaris didn't quite believe him yet, he turned around, looking for the weirdest person on the bar. He pointed at it, leaned back on his seat and yelled out loud what sounded to Solaris like a garble of words. But for that person, he had just yelled their equivalent of your mother is a really really stupid person by using four words and two slang. "Now, let's see how they react."
Ceres
Wonderful, an accused traitor. Solaris thought to herself. She was not sure if she believed Hamare's claim of innocence, but the more she stared at the Kurasne the less she became worried about the subject. This species obviously was not particularly prevalent in this area of the galaxy. They probably would not cause much trouble even if they did find out she was harboring someone in dubious legal standing.
"Very well then, Miss Hamare. I can always use an extra repairman."
Once that was settled she listed to Rrivel's pitch. She could not help but let out a small chuckle at his ending comment. First smile she had broken into all day.
"Food and company I can provide. You are on your own for cigars of any quality though." Solaris wondered if "Freelance" and "Guild" were mutually exclusive, but what was in a name? "You are on for security detail."
Tranquility
"Back to life as usual." Tebigon replied. "I was planning to launch an expedition beyond the frontier before the king summoned me here." At the mention of the king his smile faded. "He is dead, Charles. I am going to officially announce it at the conference, but the news is already out. King Hemant is gone and now little Amelia is queen."
Tebigon sounded like he did not quite comprehend it himself.
Ceres, 3 Stooges Bar
"I thank you for your patronage" she said briefly, and bowed her head respectfully, then reached in her bag and set on the table an ocarina of simple yet elegant design, made from a chrome colored light metal "A token of my gratitude" she explains
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.Sorry, Parable, but maybe it's best if I do it. Much faster, don't you think?
3 Stooges
A snail-like being on the back of the bar chirped up after hearing the winged man's yell. He slammed his cup on the counter, raising his hand into the air and waving it around, replying to him with the same garbled words he had just used. "See?" The man said, pointing at the snail. "I bet you don't even know who these guys are, and I've just insulted them in their home language." He winced once he heard a particular set of words. "Now that's harsh. He just called you his world's equivalent of a bat."
Tranquility Space Station
Nekane would go on ahead and marched to the room where the great meet to occur and took his place. His assistants; cousins and half-siblings of the ambassador, now walked around and giving gifts to the other ambassadors and delegates. The gift would be a translucent jar of glowing mushrooms, chemically treated to suppress their mutating capabilities by the Church of The Last Light. They would say "a gift from the Kurasne, and Diplomat Faseven, may you enjoy" and leave it to them. If it would be eaten it would have a tangy and slightly sweet taste, with a texture that reminds one to truffles.
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.International Space Colony Tranquility, Sol System
The ambassador was going to inquire more about the trade secret when a relative of some sort of Nekane held out a jar.
"Thank you," Rufus said and accepted the gift from the Kurasne, but wasn't exactly able to open it herself. She handed it to a helper monkey who used his thumbs to make short work of the lid. Out of courtesy, the ambassador took one of the mushrooms out and ate it, recording the data from the chemical reactions for further processing and analysis. "This unit has ingested the offered edible and is now developing a comment regarding the flavor." After a couple seconds, she added "Positive."
Ceres, Sol System
"That race is known to the other civilizations as the Snailian," Bobby said to Johnathan. "Your grasp of languages appears to be in the upper percentiles of galactic organic life. What would you estimate as your average time required to learn a new language?"
"Oh, please, Blue. Are you not here to defend the interests of a group of people? Weren't you chosen to make sure that the voice of the group you are defending does not go ignored? Then you are as much of an ambassador as I am!"
Blue glanced over at Piper and raised an eyebrow at this. "I suppose you have a point, but as far as I know, the Galactic Nations does not bring in ambassadors from private companies, just nations" Blue pointed out, glancing over at the Kurasne spreading throughout the room. The one that tried to approach him met with the same result as Piper did when he first approached Blue; multiple Grexian Military caste members stepping in front of Blue and pointing their pistols at... It. One of them however, one of the two with more technological bits on his armor, stepped forward with some kind of scanner to check the jar with.
"... No obvious explosive compounds" the tech finally said simply, at which point the rest of the Military caste put their pistols away and stepped aside to let it through. Blue just sighed and rubbed his forehead a bit.
You are reading this.Tranquility
The one tending to Rufus; Egen, nodded pleased and with a boyish voice responds "I'll give your commendations to the Diplomat". Meanwhile the one dealing with the Grexians; Munae, said with a pleasant female-ish voice "None of the sort, just some of our sacred fungi, a local delicacy at out capital, as a token of friendship in name of all of us who bring the light" she said, trying to avoid any unnecessary conflicts, though the wished she had her pistol, or at least a defensive drone.
edited 2nd Oct '13 5:42:24 AM by sanojutsu
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.Rrroriksix
Interstellar Colony Tranquility
Bowing graciously, Rrroriksix motioned for one of his guards to take the jar. Safety first. "And to whom my I offer my thanks for this delicacy?" The Grand Diplomat never took his eyes off of the gift-bearer, watching for any potential signs of treachery or deceit lining its face.
Rrivel
3 Stooges, Ceres
Exhaling a smoke ring than spitting through it, Rrivel turned to look at the winged man. "Perhaps if we were on a mission to sow galactic dischord, you'd be of use. I don't see what being able to insult insignificant infant alien species brings to the table." Doing his little chuckle-snort, Rrivel looked back at him, grinning with the cigar back in the mouth. "Now, if your mastery of tongues encompasses more than just languages, you might be useful..."
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior ValTranquility
Hagef, a slightly brawny kurasne tending to the the Grand Diplomat, responds with a bow of his own "The Kurasne, and Diplomat Nekane Faseven, please enjoy" as he handed the jar to the ambassador's guard.
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.Ceres, 3 Stooges
"Called you, you mean. I did not have anything to do with it." Solaris said flatly. "You've proven you are capable with languages, though our friend here is right." she nodded toward Rrivel. "My mother would have insisted you wash your mouth with soap."
Solaris was about to use her own mouth to take a drink before remembering her glass was empty. "I hired the blue one, so I guess you will do. I need someone on the comm anyway."
Azunn — Tranquility
Like the other diplomats' teams, Azunn's bodyguards took the profferred tin and examined it both visually and with a hand-held "wand" scanner. A single sweep caused the scanner to emit a long beep and a small green LED to illuminate. The woman holding the scanner sniffed dismissively. "It's clean."
Azunn felt faintly embarrassed by how his protection had swooped upon the tin - a tin! - even though he knew that it was just good security practice. He just wished they would do it in a more low key fashion. Taking it from one of the guards, he thanked the Kurasne aide and popped it open, thinking that it couldn't hurt to try one of the fungi. He had always been an adventurous sort when it came to trying foreign and alien food anyway.
Experimentally, he put it into his mouth and chewed it. He wasn't sure how to feel about the flavour; though there were several Sirian foodstuffs that had a similar taste, it was ever so slightly different. Nevertheless, he nodded appreciatively. "Thank you very much - you can tell Diplomat Faseven that I appreciate the gift."
Erruan — Ceres
"You won't regret it," replied Erruan, trying not to let her relief become obvious. She did not, after all, want the captain to think she was desperate. Then again, Erruan wasn't sure how much longer she could stand the monotony of Ceres' corridors and live in it. "Just pay me a fair wage and I'll be happy. If you need something more specific, then perhaps it should wait until we've got a little more breathing space."
Her ears perked up as Hamare admitted that she was a 'turncoat', though she wasn't sure what conflict she could be referring to*. It seemed that they were attracting quite the collection of unlikely bedfellows (herself included).
The mystery of Rrivel's occupation was finally solved as he revealed he worked in security, of all things. A surprising choice for a Rakashan, but she supposed that they must have had at least some soldiers. Even if it had been in vain in the end, Erruan knew that the Rakashan who had fought her forebears had proven tenacious in all aspects. If nothing else, he was a wisecracker. That could make long voyages more interesting.
The polyglot's talents were impressive, to be sure, but she hoped that he wasn't going to turn out to be a smug know-it-all. She had had enough of that to last a lifetime in her old squad - one of her subordinates always had to get the last word in, whether or not it was appropriate.
However, it wouldn't hurt to get to know the people she was going to work alongside with. If Solaris decided to hire one of those human mercs, she could catch up with them later. For now, though, Erruan focused her attention on Rrivel. "So, I guess we're going to be working together. I haven't seen Rakasha doing security work, but you learn something new every day." It might not have been the most elegant conversation opener, but it would do - and she could always plead ignorance if she ended up insulting Rrivel. She was a soldier, not an insensitive boor.
edited 2nd Oct '13 2:39:19 PM by Flanker66
Locking you up on radar since '09Space station tranquility
The girly one named Ik, looked pleased at Azunn's reactions and chimed "I am glad... I'll go inform him in this instant" she shuffled away after bowing to the dog-man.
edited 2nd Oct '13 3:20:35 PM by sanojutsu
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.Rrivel
3 Stooges, Ceres
Rrivel puffed out a blast of smoke to the side of the Sirian. "Might be hard for a Sirian to tell, but I'm tall for a Rakashian," said the mercenary, doing his best to continue the rather unnecessary conversation. "That and rightning is the great equalizer; let's an angry little runt put a few smoking holes into a foe three times their size. Six rightning bolts are more than enough to kill anything that moves, they say. My rifle is equipped with seven charges at all times, just in case we need to dispose of immobile opposition."
He wasn't sure what to think of the canine alien. Sure, their ancestors had gotten into a pretty bloody kerfuffle, but that was in the past and Rrivel didn't really give a rat's ass about the past. After all, thinking about the past didn't hook him up with any tasty fine cigars in the present or the future.
edited 2nd Oct '13 5:48:02 PM by EviIPaladin
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior ValHamare
3 Stooges Bar, Ceres
"A technology, unheard of, from beyond the stars?" thought the tall alien "Excuze my ignoranze, but what iz rightning?" she asked now examining the rifle with her sight,
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song."So this is a food then?" Blue asked rhetorically, taking the jar and looking closely at the mushrooms. He started to unscrew the lid when one of the Military escorts cleared his throat.
"Sir?" the escort said a bit uncertainly.
Blue stopped, about to retort but thinking carefully. On the one hand, it would be highly unlikely for someone to go around with a bunch of poisonous food or some such to give to a bunch of people right in an international space station; how did you expect to get away without getting caught? On the other hand, such a thing is exactly what some kind of extremist group trying to make a point might do.
"Uh, yes. Thank you very much, I'll try them later" Blue said, screwing the lid back on and handing it off to one of the escorts, who put it on one of the crates. "But right now, I'm afraid we have business to get to. Need to get our luggage to our quarters, see" he explained, motioning at the collection of metal crates. Of the ten Military caste, six started picking up crates to haul, most of them having their armor start to glow red between the gaps of the outer layer. Two prepared to follow along without crates, ready to spring into action faster if needed, while the last two stayed behind to guard the rest of the crates until some of the others came back to help finish moving them.
As the group of Grexians prepared to head out of the docking area once again, Blue glanced over to where the Verandi ambassador was talking with the ambassador of the Solar Republic. We're going to have to have a talk later Blue thought, and prepared to follow the majority of the Military caste out.
You are reading this.Three Stoges
"Nah, I'm pretty sure he said her." The winged man said, leaning forward. "And I didn't have any other way to prove it. It's much more informal and much more efficient than having me do some stupid test. By the way, I know a crapload of written languages too, so don't worry about that." He then smirked. "And my mother would have congratulated me for showing that I can at least do something."
He shrugged, taking another drag out of his cigarette. "My name's Johnathan." The winged man said, smiling. "So, when do we start? Now? Cause I'm pretty excited to get as far away from this place as possible. You know how it is, that urge to travel. To boldly go where no whatever has gone before or something like that."
Space Station Tranquility
"Oh, please." Piper said, waving Blue's reply aside. "The Galactic Nations definition of what an ambassador is should have been the same as the definition I just gave you. I mean, you deal with these terrifying guns... you must be the best of your company. You'd have to be, I can't imagine any random person would want to get their hands on those things."
Once he got his gift, Piper immediately devoured it, letting out a delightful noise as he pulled out a piece of paper and started writing something in it. "I'm going to compose a song based on this— wait, Ambassador Blue!" He said before Blue left the room. "Perhaps you would like to share a meal with me? Maybe dinner? I could show around my room..." He blushed, scratching his chin. "I kinda brought some of my creations with me, and I do love to show them around, heh heh..."

International Space Colony Tranquility, Sol System
"Such a question is logically correct, but misleading. Analysis has shown that an individual such as that one would be capable of killing another lifeform without the assistance of weaponry, or with the assistance of items not intended to be utilized as weaponry," Rufus buzzed over her speakers and transmitter, hopping near Piper and Blue as her small entourage followed. "If that one is attempting to intimidate the young man, this unit's analysis is that it will be mostly unsuccessful as the lack of familiarity with your terminology will more likely confuse him. More observation is required to confirm. Should this unit's assessment be incorrect or further dialog required, we suggest using the statistical likeliness of successfully using the weapon to execute a target considered durable by others. Using a theoretical target such as this young man would be inadequate, as success is likely with or without its use. It is unlikely that discussing the likeliness of her defeating one of your other guards, thus comparing the superiority of your arms to your armor, or the more-likely converse, will be of assistance, and thus not suggested. Archival data shows that the effectiveness of a weapon against large animals from the Earth continent of Africa are frequently used to measure performance. This unit suggests a rhino, though elephants are another commonly-used example."
"On the other matter, you are correct. The likeliness of an organic civilization with minimal knowledge of weaponry achieving interstellar capabilities is statistically low," the cyborg kangaroo added, "The likeliness of an organic civilization with minimal knowledge of weaponry maintaining their independence is improbable."
"That is a unique arm. Several of its characteristics are uncommon and not indicative of known models," Rufus added to the soldier. "Which designers and manufacturers are responsible for its creation?"
edited 28th Sep '13 1:54:06 AM by nman