THE SLORG!
The gunner watched Piper leave, arms still crossed, until the ambassador had finally headed down into the proper conference chamber. Then he couldn't help but idly comment, "... Is he serious?"
Blue glanced over, and shrugged. "It sounded like he meant it as an insult. Perhaps it is one where he comes from" Blue guessed, making a quick search through his datapad. Ah yes, there was the ID for the station message system on Piper. Blue then got to work on a very quick and simple message. 'Clay. Realistic.', it started, and he paused as he thought what would be an appropriate price. Diplomatic caste members had never been hired for anything before, just Military caste; it seemed only fair the price be much higher, considering his higher importance.
Ah yes, enough metal to make a small, lightly armored vehicle seemed about right; of course, Blue didn't word it that way, instead just listing the mass. Then, after a thought, he added a mark down on that of half, and put next to the mark down, 'Favor.' With a low chuckle, he hit send, then put his datapad away and waited for the conference to start.
You are reading this.
State of Mind
Tranquility
Once the last of the delegates, including Piper, had trickled into the chamber the giant doors that most everyone had entered through began closing. The old fashion hinges creaked and groaned under the weight of the heavy wood even as the beings inside began quieting down. The closing of the chamber was an unofficial indication that the meeting was about to begin.
And begin it did. Around the room, a light strip turned bright green. Video recorders came to life and armed guards stiffened and began looking about with increased vigilance. From the bench Lord Tebigon produced a gavel and brought it down several times, the sound amplified naturally by the building's design as well as by actual sound amplifiers broadcasting from the area.
"The 47th Galactic Nations Conference will now commence." Tebigon announced. "The Galactic Nations welcomes the ambassadors from across space, old and new alike, as we return to our mission of achieving security among ourselves and cherishing a just and lasting peace among all nations."
Tebigon again looked about at his fellow delegates. The size of the meeting party had increased ever so slightly. Which brought him to the first order of business.
"Among us today are representatives of the newest members of this community of nations. We extend you our welcome." There was a scattering of applause mixed with the equivalent actions of many alien species across the chamber. Tebigon waited for it to die down. "Would those ambassadors like to come forward and convey any words to their neighbors?"
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
huzzaaaaaaaah
Tranquility
Putting aside his notepad and his datapad, Piper stood up, cleaning his throat and stretching his wings. "The Society of the Free Mind would like to thank all of you for accepting its entrance on the Galactic Nations. We hope to create many everlasting alliances, and to assist in the development of a better galaxy." He said with a smile, before blushing, his wings fluttering a bit. "Uhm. That's all. Thanks." He scratched the back of his head, gave them an awkward grin and sat down. " Was that any good? " He whispered to Rufus.
State of Mind
Caroline
The rooms themselves were relatively spacious as far as ship cabins went since they had been designed with luxury in mind. Beds and outlets for machines were readily accessible. Showers were also in each cabin though anyone larger than a tall human would find them cramped.
That the Caroline had once been something classy was evident by the dining room. Larger than a restaurant it had enough tables to seat over a hundred humans. The tables themselves were made of varnished wood, the floor was carpeted. Pillars covered in mirrors went up the ceiling where chandeliers illuminated the room.
That the Caroline was definitely no longer something classy was evident by the fact that the kitchen was filled only with non-perishables and instant meals.
"Now that everyone has settled in," Solaris began once the crew was finally gathered. The most recently enlisted would see that there only about a hundred other crew members, mostly human. "I would like to welcome out new crew members. May we have a fruitful relationship. Now, we are charged with delivering building material to this settlement in the Naga System. We shall pick up our cargo at Titania and then leave Sol as soon as have it. Now to your posts!"
edited 16th Oct '13 9:18:25 PM by Parable
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
THE SLORG!
Hrof was a little surprised to have been directed to one of the former passenger quarters. As far as living arrangements went, the only requirements for Grexian mercenaries was 'somewhere to rest and store excess equipment'. As such they were commonly given either smaller crew quarters, a section of a storage area, or a corner.
To normal people, the room may not have seemed all that luxurious, and maybe suitable for two people at best. Hrof knew that this room could probably accommodate a five strong squad of Grexian Military caste sleeping on rotation. And having a shower for himself on assignment was nearly unheard of. With a room like this all to himself, it made Hrof wonder just what was going to be expected of him.
He no time to dawdle and gawk though, there was work to be done. His mobile pack and ammo box were each stowed away and securely locked in a corner of the room, and with those no longer weighing him down he was able to get the assault rifle less obtrusively stowed on his back. Then he headed to the dining hall.
After entering the dining hall, Hrof simply stood at attention until Solaris finished talking, gave a sharp, "yes captain" then turned around and... Started looking slowly around the room. It would be easy to guess that he was being enraptured by the awe of the place, but the reality was much more practical. He was analyzing the room, quickly determining where would be best to take cover in a firefight depending on where the opponent(s) was. As far as Hrof knew, his current assignment was to patrol the ship and generally act as security.
Well, step one for him then was to inspect the ship top to bottom, and if possible get a copy of the layout. As long as he had such a spacious room to himself, he might as well put it to good use...
You are reading this.
huzzaaaaaaaah
Whilst waiting for Rrivel's answer, Johnathan shot an absentminded glance at Solaris as she welcomed them into this unusually fancy ship. He expected something more barebones, but... he could get used to this. Raising his hand to attract Solaris' attention, he idly rubbed the back of his neck as he asked her a question. "Where are our posts, anyway? We just got here."
Some Guy Or Something
Rrivel
Caroline
Rrivel's headache left him predisposed to not answer the winged humanoid's question, but after a moment of silence, he supposed he could lighten up enough to respond. "Rrivel. My friends call my 'Razor' Rrivel, so you can just keep calling me Rrivel, winger."
The Rakashian could feel the new crew gawking at their mini-Galactic Nations and sighed. What did you get yourself into this time?
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val
huzzaaaaaaaah
Johnathan opened his mouth to explain to Rrivel how his name wasn't winger, but a smile creeped onto his face. "Winger. I like that nickname." His wings shook with pride as a rather comfortable tingly feeling crawled up his back. Oh, so that's what slight happiness felt like.
Dreams of Revenge
Azunn — Tranquility
Azunn waited in quiet anticipation of what the newcomers to the Galactic Nations would have to say. With any luck, he could get a measure of their character. Alas, it was not to be with the first alien to speak. The Sirian blinked hard in surprise at how abruptly the speech had ended. Perhaps the Society's diplomat was a man of few words... or woefully inexperienced. He sincerely hoped the former; surely they wouldn't send someone who was still wet behind the ears?
Erruan — Caroline
Like Hrof, Erruanuzua was surprised to find herself assigned a (former) passenger cabin. She had assumed there were crew rest areas. However, the Sirian was hardly going to complain - though Sirian Union warships made at least some concessions to crew comfort in an attempt to maintain morale (especially on longer deployments), the quarters aboard those paled in comparison to this. She wasted no time in finding spots to put her bag and other non-essential kit. That done with, she took a quick look around the cabin, making particular note of the tightly packed* confines of the shower. It wasn't ideal, but she had endured worse hardships - you didn't become Powered Infantry by being pampered, military academy or no. And regardless this ship's quarters probably hadn't been designed with a Sirian's bulk in mind.
With that dealt with, she had followed the others to the former dining room. Now this was a surprise for Erruan: having only served on Sirian warships, she was far more used to the sterile steel and synthetic materials of those behemoths than the positively inviting varnished wood and carpeting. The room was also practically cavernous - though Sirian ships' cafeterias weren't cramped affairs, they were not lavish affairs, with a distinctly utilitarian design.
The multitudes of humans were a sight that would have been novel for her a long time ago, but now they were effectively background noise aside from the potential threat they might pose. Though there were too many to make any detailed assessment, Erruan quietly filed the rest of the crew* into one of several categories depending on how much of a threat she thought they posed.
"Yes, captain," said Erruan coolly in response to Solaris. Since her job description was quite literally ensuring the security of the ship, the Sirian understood the importance of familiarising herself with every nook and cranny. It was more than likely that the Grexian was also hired for security work, and so she decided that she would first cover the parts of the ship that he left for later. If necessary she could always let him and the Rakasha know about anything suspicious.
Locking you up on radar since '09
King of Lame-Style
Hamare, Caroline
Hamare had indeed been stunned by the luxury that contained the ship, it almost reminded her of her parents' parlor back home in the oceanic pearl of the sky. Smiling she went over to her quarters and after hitting her head on the ceiling of the shower during a quick bath she took her tool-box and went down to the engineering section of the ship and began to examine the place and getting used to her surroundings.
Nekane, Tranquility
The next to stand up and and speak was the Ambassador Faseven, of course after a polite applause was given to both Piper and Tebigon "On behalf of all of us, members of the Kurasne Nation and colonies, I, the mere diplomat you find before you, extend our most sincere words of peace and prosperity to all those accepting, we thank that our parent race would allow us to see the lovely blue jewel that is the cradle of both our races, but most of all our desire to trade and learn with new races, so new horizons might be reached, may the Great Glowing One guide us in that path!" he said in a vigorous tone before he sat down.
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.
huzzaaaaaaaah
Tranquility
Having heard at least one person applaud, Piper visibly relaxed. "That's the thing with speeches." He whispered to Rufus. "They can teach you how to write great ones... but they can't teach you how to muster up some confidence and deliver them." He sighed, before perking up considerably and applauding Faseven's speech.
State of Mind
Tranquility
Lord Tebigon clapped politely after Piper finished his speech while his face remained a mask of impassivity. Inwardly though a frown was forming. That the Verandi ambassador was not impressed would be an understatement. The Society's ambassador had started of well enough with the usual platitudes of peace and goodwill that everyone gave eventually but towards the end had just floundered before ending abruptly. This was simply baffling to Tebigon. At best the man had simply gotten tongue tied or forgotten his speech. But how could you forget that short a speech? What was so hard about harmless and ultimately empty greeting? Was the man incompetent? Was the Society taking the Galactic Nations seriously?
Any of the quickly thought up options was troubling to the human. Both for personal relationship with Ambassador Piper and for Verandi-Society relations as a whole. Tebigon made a mental note to check in with his Grexian contact later, see if perhaps he had some light to shed on the winged beings.
The Ambassador of the Kurasne Nation was the next up. Nakane Faseven, his name was if Tebigon remembered correctly. Tebigon had already read about how they had originally been from Earth but for all practical purposes the Verandi ambassador had lumped them together with the "Non-humans". Judging by the ambassadors words, Kurasne felt the same.
Listening intently, Tebigon could not help but feel silent approval for the Kurasne ambassador doing his greetings properly. Silly and superfluous other nations might find it but Verandi was built on protocol and proper manners. There was that "Great Glowing One" business Tebigon had to check into. Just how seriously did the Kurasne Nation take this religion? So much could be affected by a nation's beliefs.
Or a leaders. Tebigon was loathe to admit that he did not actually know where he supposed to stand in regards to Kurasne. While the late King had made his feeling towards the fledgling galactic power obviously known to his confidants ("A child should be under the protection of a guardian.") the Queen had not given him any specific instructions, just the impression she was not going to pursue the same aggressively paternalistic policy. And so Tebigon was in limbo, left to adopt a wait and see approach.
More applause once Faseven had finished. The welcoming and greeting having concluded, Lord Tebigon rose once more to conduct the next order of business. It was the part of these meeting he liked to call Talking About Really Big Things That Just Happened. Unfortunately Verandi was the one doing the reporting this time. He pounded the gavel for order once more.
"We shall now commence with the Report on the State of Galactic Affairs." he started before clearing his throat. "Worthy colleges, I open the report speaking as the Ambassador of the Verandi Empire. On November 15, our beloved King Hemant II passed away while at home in the Shining Palace. Immediately upon his death Crown Princess Amelia was declared Queen of the Verandi Empire. It is now as part of Her Majesty's government that I speak on behalf of Verandi. The Queen wishes to reassure our friends across the stars that she will maintain and strengthen our bonds. Any people with whom we have conflict with she also states her intention to be open to peaceful dialogue. Her Majesty remains committed to the policies and principles of the Galactic Nations and hopes for continues joint efforts with this estimable body in working for peace."
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
International Space Colony Tranquility, Sol System
"Advice acknowledged," Rufus 'whispered' to Piper. "Thank you for your insight." She then continued to listen to the Report on the State of Galactic Affairs. The change of leadership in the Verandi Empire would need to be analyzed. The largest deviations from the current stochastic estimates were the new leader's age, gender, and general lack of known datapoints with which to base future interactions with the Verandi on, and would need to be considered with greater weight in the meantime until more precise estimates were acquired.
Bobby analyzed the tables in the dining hall of the ship. He cast a glance around the room to briefly study the other members of the crew who were there, and nodding at the captain's words, he picked up his tool box and stood up. He went to go inspect the ship for any critical repairs that would have to be made, which he would most likely do until his presence was once again requested.
huzzaaaaaaaah
Tranquility
Piper leaned towards Rufus, raising an eyebrow. " Uhm, I'm sorry. I don't think I know that much about the civilization you represent. I mean, I read the basic stuff, but... I kinda want some more information straight from the source, if you... know what I mean. " He whispered, making sure no one but Rufus heard him talking.
State of Mind
Caroline
In response the Johnathan's question, Solaris jerked her head towards a panel on the wall. It was a simple ship's computer designed specifically to help crew and passengers navigate through the giant ship. The screen at the moment displayed a simple outline of the ship's interior with labels marking the different compartments: Bridge, Engines, Cargo and others. The dining room was colored in pink, indicating "You Are Here".
Once the crew were in their positions the ship opened communications with the Ceres Harbor Authorities. Within the hour the Caroline was lumbering off into space, speeding towards the outer solar system. Uranus was the current destination, the moon of Titania specifically where their cargo was awaiting them.
It took some time to get there but astronomy was on their side. Uranus and Ceres were orbiting around the sun at the point when they were nearest each other, cutting down in travel time and cost considerably.
"Mr. Johnathan, open up a channel to Titania. Inform them that we sending a shuttle down." Solaris commanded. Then she opened up her own channel to her new enforcers. "Security, meet at Shuttle One. Prepare to go to the moon." Then another channel directed at the engine room. "Engineering, this is the captain. First, how are we doing over there? Second, after you tell me good, I want one of you to come down to Shuttle One."
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
huzzaaaaaaaah
Caroline
Johnathan's eyes went towards the panel, as he grabbed a little box of cigarettes in his pocket and lit one up, taking a big drag out of it before moving to his location, sitting in front of the communications console with one side of the headphone covering his ear and the other placed behind his ear.
"Sure thing." He muttered, the cigarette still in his mouth, as he opened a channel with Titania, leaning forward and removing the cigarette as he spoke. "Titania, this is the Caroline, we're sending a shuttle down to your planet in order to collect some cargo, please respond." Johnathan let go of the button, leaning back and blowing the smoke into the air, looking around to see if there were any cute ship officers he could chit chat with.
King of Lame-Style
Caroline
Hamare worked the intercom from the bowels of the ship "all in order, captain, right away, captain" she responds heading down to the shuttle "Take care of the section" she said to the gorilla in her stride
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.
Some Guy Or Something
Rrivel
Caroline
Rrivel strolled along the ship, silently impressed with the set-up. He had had his doubts at first but it seemed that this Solaris ran a pretty efficient ship. Upon hearing the summons, he clipped his rifle to the magnetic holder on his back and made his way towards Shuttle One. As he patted down his top pocket, the Rakashian sighed. Out.
"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val
State of Mind
Caroline
"Titania to Caroline. Message received. You're expected and we have Dock A-7 cleared for a shuttle from you."
There were in fact a few women aboard the bridge for Johnathan to lay his eyes on. An operator and the navigator were both human woman in their twenties. One was entirely preoccupied with her own duties at the moment and had not noticed Johnathan aside from a passing glance when he had first stepped in. The other had looked at him from the corner of her eye several times since they had left Ceres.
Before anything else could happen however, the cigarette was plucked from Johnathan's hand. The captain stood over him, scowling.
"No smoking on the bridge."
With that said, Solaris turned around and headed for the exit. "I'm going down. Mr. Yeslah, you have the bridge."
That last part was directed at the first mate and only other non-human on the bridge, a Knotarian. To humans he would look a lot like a buffalo on hind legs. He snorted his acknowledgment and nodded.
At the door, Solaris got in contact with the crew gathered at the shuttle again. "Captain to Shuttle One, I'm on my way down."
edited 14th Nov '13 4:28:34 PM by Parable
"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim
Dreams of Revenge
Azunn — Tranquility
Azunn received the news of King Hemant II's death with a stoic expression, but his mind was working on overdrive digesting the information and its likely ramifications. The Crown Princess would be something of an unknown quantity, and the Sirian Union didn't like unknown quantities, almost as much as they hated being surprised by unforseen developments. Hemant II had been a man the Chairwoman respected, perhaps even liked in some small way, at least if several anecdotes Secei Berreil had heard were any indication.
Of course, that was now all strictly in the past. Hopefully, Amelia would prove to be like Hemant II... or a weak point in Verandi decision making which could be exploited. Either would be acceptable. But until she actually did something, it was pointless to speculate.
Erruan — Caroline
"Understood, captain," replied Erruan to Solaris's transmission. She was now wearing her semi-powered armour, its plating glinting in the artificial light as she made her way to the shuttle. Based off of the Fox* scout armour, it differed in several respects: for one, it was more heavily armoured, with armour covering far more of the body glove, and it lacked the more stealthy (and confidential) features of the powered armour it was based off of, which was no great loss in Erruan's opinion. What did annoy her was the fact that it was only semi-powered; for someone used to having the full strength of a powered armour suit behind her, it almost felt comically slow.
The armour itself was made up of sharp, aggressive lines, each carefully shaped to deflect incoming projectiles away from vital areas or the gaps in the plating, as few as they were. The bodyglove itself had thinner, lighter plating - capable of handling shrapnel, but direct hits from anything more than a small pistol would cause problems. Her head was ensconced in a helmet that lacked any obvious visor, aside from a slightly raised plate*. Her view of the world was provided by cameras in the helmet, though they were difficult to pick out. Her HUD overlayed any important information on her vision, such as data about her railgun - which was currently held tightly in her hands. Erruan's pistol was in a magnetic holster. If necessary, she could just sling her railgun.
Although it could get rather hot in the armour - the Fox armour that her suit was based on was always known for having a feeble cooling system - she could, at least, move her ears and tail in a comfortable fashion thanks to those sections of the suit being fully articulated*.
She arrived in the shuttle bay in good time, and waited for the other members of the security team to arrive.
Locking you up on radar since '09
THE SLORG!
Blue had to keep himself from scoffing at the shortness and amateurishness of Piper's speech, thinking it to be quite bare boned. Either the entirety of this 'Free Mind Society' was as naive as Piper, or they did not take the Galactic Nations seriously and had just sent Piper to... Probably to get him out of the way back home Blue thought, now nearly chuckling. The Kurasne's speech was also fairly short, but at least longer than Piper's, and caught Blue's attention more.
He didn't really know much about the Kurasne; none of the Grexians did. The Kurasne system was nearly perfectly opposite the Grexians from Sol, and about as far away; Grexians simply hadn't had the chance to really interact with them yet. But, the mention of 'parent race', and 'blue jewel that is the cradle of both our races' is what gripped Blue. Staring at that... Thing down there, Blue was stricken with a terrifying thought; that it, or perhaps its ancestors, had once been Human.
Xenophobia was on its way out in Grexian society, but the ideal of Human purity was still quite rampant, due in part to their hatred of clones. On some core level, the idea of being compared to some glowing mutant disgusted Blue.
As he shook the shivers out of his system, Blue turned his attention to Tebigon as he started the report on the late king's death. In all, it didn't surprise Blue that much; saying that they will 'maintain and strengthen our bonds' and 'open peaceful dialogue' sounded like just stock phrases for any new leader to say and try to look good. Even if she really meant that, it's not like she wouldn't keep hiring on Grexian mercenaries for defense purposes... Right?
"Security, meet at Shuttle One. Prepare to go to the moon."
"Yes captain" Hrof immediately responded with a hand to his ear. (Or where his ear would be, under the suit.) He looked around the corridor he was inspecting as part of his front to back inspection of the ship, quickly getting his baring as best he could from the ship layout he'd seen earlier. Then, with a switch of modes, the gaps between the outer layers of the armor started to glow yellow, and Hrof took off running faster than a man in that armor should be able to for any extended period of time.
Unfortunately, Hrof had been at nearly the opposite end of the ship, and it still took him a while to go towards the shuttle bay. Arriving in a slight crouch, he gave it a quick visual sweep, hand on his holstered pistol as he switched his suit back to its default armor mode. After seeing that the only other person there was the Sirian, he relaxed and stood back up to full height, giving her a nod. Then he moved to get a position where he could see as many of the entrances as possible with the least turning of his head.
You are reading this.
International Space Colony Tranquility, Sol System
"Analysis of the current situation indicates that there is insufficient time to give you a description you would consider satisfactory," Rufus whispered back to Piper. "Suggested course of action is to schedule a period of time for exchanging information, while using the current opportunity to pay heed to the other representatives at this meeting, including Lord Tebigon."
"Affirmative," Bobby replied to Hamare. Of course, this section had already been taken care of, making the order ambiguous to him. However, now was a prime opportunity. With the captain leaving the ship, then there would be less interference with performing his maintenance duties there than normal hours, though night and meal breaks might also have less hindrances to workflow. However, as the bridge performed critical functions, its priority exceeded that of every other section of the ship, save for those that had already been tended to.
Thus, picking up his toolbox, Bobby walked over to the bridge and gave it a quick look, to see which part of it he would have to start tending to.
huzzaaaaaaaah
Caroline
Johnathan gritted his teeth at the Captain once she had her back turned, repeating her words in a high-pitched, mocking whisper once she was far away. Well, it seemed like he was going to have to fill his mind with other things. "Copy, Titania. Moving in." He replied, shutting the channel and leaving his headphone on the console before sliding his chair towards the navigator. "Hey. Just got the go-ahead, which means me and you are going to be spending some time on this bridge, waiting for them to bring in the cargo. So I guess we can have some time to... mingle. As a crew. What's your name?" He said, doing his best kind and warm smile as his wings fluttered slightly behind him.
Tranquility
" I think I can... " Piper grabbed his datapad, searching for the name of the previous king, wanting to find out more about how he handled foreign relations. " Look at me. I can create an entire opera in a day and I still fumble my way into diplomacy like a little kid. " He whispered, frowning. " Seriously hope the guys back home aren't watching... "
King of Lame-Style
Hamare, Caroline
Eventually the tall, gaunt woman would come down to the shuttle and greeted the crew-members already there when she bowed her head.
The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.
The Docks
"Woah, calm down, buddy." Johnathan said as he threw his bag on the corner of the room, stretching his back and his wings. "I think I just struck a nerve. It was a little comment. You know, those things normal people call a joke." He glanced at 'Bobby' once he explained why he was interested in watching him sleep. "After hearing just that, I've decided I'll sleep as far away as him as possible."
He looked back at Rrivel. "What's your name, anyway? I didn't catch it yesterday, but... lemme guess... Unusually Angry Guy?"
Tranquility
Piper raised his hands semi-defensively, letting out several awkward chuckles as one of his hand rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, I-I don't think that's gonna be needed, Sir." He said, trying to seem as friendly as possible. "It's just... I really want to model him. There's so much history behind that stare... my fingers itch just thinking about translating it to clay." He closed his eyes, smiling to himself, as his fingers swirled in the air. "The details, each of them carefully etched into a surface capable of containing so many tales without uttering a single world... it just fills me with excitement!"
edited 16th Oct '13 2:20:15 AM by Stratofarius