Mutants & Masterminds: Lake City Universe - M&M 3E - LCU: Alliance OS1 (IC)

[SalmonMax]

Sigil is the first out, and if she's hungover then she's doing a remarkable performance hiding it. She pops out of her room like a Disney princess, full of bright eyes and sunny smiles, dressed in a simple gown that wouldn't look out of place on Snow White or Sleeping Beauty either.

"Good morning," she trilled happily. "You should have come with us last night. It was great fun!"

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha came out shortly afterward, pulling on a rumpled t-shirt as he entered the communal area. Although not saccharine like Sigil, he didn't seemed any more fatigued or impaired than any person not a complete morning bird. Just the slightest hints of the desire for more sleep, but that was it. Superhuman stamina had its benefits. Shinji did have a sheepish expression on his face, explained when Lt. Arianna Fleming, with a similarly embarrassed expression, exited and was trying very hard not to notice Sigil or Ditra presented.

When she turned the corner, Gakusha fixed his gaze upon the females. "You saw nothing."

[SalmonMax]

"Ohhhh," Sigil reproved, "There's no reason to be like that. If you make a shameful secret of something, it will only attract that much more interest. Simply take each moment and enjoy it with no regrets, and you will see that all those fears and bad feelings simply disappear."

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

In fresh fatigues, Lusungu marched into the courtyard. She looked completely awake, and alert, but as soon as she shouted "Good morning," (and winced at her volume) it became abundantly clear that she was on the fine line between drunk and hung over. Given her size, and what memories remained of the night, she had managed to put away quite a bit of alcohol.

With great precision and care, in a more moderate voice, Lusungu tried again. "Good morning Ditra Fifty-five, Miss Sigil, Gakusha."

She set herself to a parade rest, then looked at Ditra Fifty-five for a moment.

"Ditra, will we be stopping by the armory? I understand regulations forbid non-security personnel from carrying firearms."

[Heritage]

Ditra grinned and held up a warning hand. "Oh no; the last time I spent a night out with Chance, I roused from my rest cycle to find I had pink hair, a beautiful twenty-year old Brazilian boy in my bed, and was the proud owner of a new hang-glider. Maybe next time." She looked at her bare wrist, then craned her neck towards Chance's door. "If he's not here in two minutes, I'm going to do a security override and see who or what he spent the night with *this* time."

To Gakusha, she smiled and winked. "I've already edited my datafiles; you left your apartment alone."

The Nameless smiled sympathetically at the somewhat more human African soldier. "You might want to hold onto your weapon, sergeant; I believe the Director wants to send you into the field on your first assignment right after your meeting!"

She checked her wrist again. "Alright, in exactly thirty seconds I'm throwing a smoke bomb through Chance's door..." She leapt out of the couchpit with surprising swiftness, a small grenade somehow in her hand as she took up a position by the entrance to the pilot's quarters.

[Prince of Boredom]

At just that moment Chance walked into the room...from the hallway. He was wearing the same clothes from last night, though they appeared a bit disheveled, and his hair was a bit mussed, but he had a big smile on his face.

"Hey Dit, what's up," he said as he ran his hand through his hair, "I trust everyone had fun last night?"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

With a huge smirk on her face, Lusungu strode to her own quarters, fed her access card to the door's card reader, then reached in and pulled out her rifle case. Doggedly not looking at either chance or Ditra Fifty-five, she slung the bag behind her shoulder, returned to where she had been standing, at ease, when Ditra had launched herself towards Chance's quarters. Then she looked to Gakusha, quirked an eyebrow and the corners of her lips for a long moment, shrugged, and looked back to Ditra Fifty-five.

"Yes, ma'am. When do we go?" she asked, her face serious as a heart attack.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil sighed. "I suppose this means no bomb," she said sadly. "Well, I am ready to go then."

[Heritage]

Ditra also looked a little disappointed as she made the smoke bomb disappear back to wherever it came from. "Oh, my night was fine; my guild went on a raid that took us four hours to complete, and I got last pick of the epic swag." Then she sighed deeply. "I once had a life; in fact, I had several. Oh well, no point in dwelling on the past. Come along." She stopped as she eyed Sigil's lovely 'princesswear'. "Uh, is that what you normally wear when you head out into the field? That is to say, into battle? I'm not sure the specific nature of your first mission, but you might want to change into something a bit more...uh, rustic."

Once all were ready, the Nameless lead her charges out to a waiting hover-tram, which whisked the team a quarter of the way around the station, arriving at a heavy security door marked 'Spoke One' guarded by a mixture of human and Nameless guards in their Alliance grays. A human male in a uniform marked by several stripes on his shoulders stepped forward and saluted Ditra smartly. "Welcome back, Assistant Director. If you don't mind?" He held out an electronic tablet for her signature.

"Of course, sergeant." The smiling cyborg closed her eyes for a moment, and the tablet promptly beeped in the sergeant's hand. "Oh, ah, yes, of course." His cheeks flushed slightly as he signaled for the doors to cycle open. "Have a good day, ma'am."

"You, too, sergeant." The tram whispered through the gate as the Nameless chuckled. "Poor fellow must be new."

Once inside, the team found themselves in a bustle of activity, the lobby of OS1's Administration Department; a long gallery of white marble and luminous crystal, its walls lined with turbovator shafts into and out of which humans, Nameless and floating Orthi constantly darted. Beautiful Orthi water sculptures twisted and flowed under a central dome, which was ringed with a variety of kiosks selling all manner of foodstuffs from around the Great Wing of the Milky Way. Celestial music seemed to hang in the air, competing with a number of spoken languages for the four corners of the Earth.

Their Nameless guide gave the new arrivals a few seconds to gawk. "Wonderful, isn't it? It can be a bit overwhelming your first time." She pointed to a turbovator door, flanked by a pair of imposing Nameless security agents, their tactical shells well over seven feet tall. "We're over this way."

[SalmonMax]

Sigil smiled and craned her neck to look up and around as they passed through the remarkable gardens and promenade of the space station. Though she was no stranger to unearthly vistas of magical beauty, she never stopped appreciating them. On Ditra's recommendation, Sigil had transformed her silky dress and gown into more 'warriory' garb...a form-fitting cuirass of hardened leather, engraved with strange emblems and patterns that blended into a leather 'skirt' of similar design. Greaves, bracers and boots of the same elaborate cut and make rounded out an outfit that wouldn't have been out of place on Ditra's medieval fantasy MMORPG character.

"It is beautiful," she sighed wistfully. "It reminds me of home."

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha was gawking more than the others- a limited realm of experience (at least memory-wise) and his enhanced senses had positively enraptured the cyborg. "Damn, it's... really beautiful." It took a little effort, but his eyes tore finally to the mission. "Yeah... mission, boss, ready to go."

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu rode on the tram the way she seemed to ride to most places. Her eyes were heavily lidded, and she looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep, but she was always slowly scanning the area around them.

Her manner changed when the team arrives at the Spoke One door, where she actually seemed to straighten up a bit, and her balance shifted to the balls of her feet as she sized up the gray-uniformed guards.

Once through the doors, she again scanned the area, but her eyes were hardly sleepy looking. For the first few seconds, her mouth actually hung open again. Then she noticed the imposing Nameless security agents, and (almost like some sort of terrier) she was again on the balls of her feet, leaning slightly forward.... Not attacking, but ready for action. Silently, she followed the team through the portal, shifting from point to the rear position as the team passed through.

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance ran into his room quickly and grabbed his "suit", flung it over his shoulder and jumped into the hover-tram. As the tram sped through town, he stripped down to his underwear and pulled on the heavily modified blue space suit, fastening the last of the buckles just as they arrived at their destination.

Jumping out of the hover-tram he smiled at the others, "Yeah, pretty sweet, huh?"

[Heritage]

The turbo ride was fairly brief, though it felt rather odd to travel upward into slightly lower gravity; when the door slid open, Ditra gracefully leaped out of the capsule and landed on the balls of her feet in the carpeted hallway. "Take a minute or two to get acclimated to the point eighty-three Gs; it might not seem like much, but it'll throw you off more than you think."

The bone-white hallway was rather long, which gave the first-time space travelers a chance to adjust themselves; this was not an accident, as the Director specified this particular architectural detail hirself for the comfort of hir visitors. On the walls were several stunning oil paintings depicting various views of the galaxy, like Hubble photos but much larger and somehow more vivid, and each signed in alien Orthi script. At the end of the hallway stood a thick security portal with a plaque reading 'Station Director Max Orlrunithios' in English and Orthi; as the group approached, it slid open to reveal a small office for the Director's assistant.

Ditra tapped her temple with a slender green finger. "I already phoned ahead, so we can head right in." A human male in crisp Alliance gray smiled and waved at the Nameless as he motioned for them to go straight on through. "Good morning!" His accent sounded vaguely Dutch.

The Director's office was ovoid in layout, the curving back wall one giant window looking out over the length of the spindle; as the oxygen ring rotated, the spindle seemed to twist while the office they were in stood still. The view was truly breathtaking. All the furniture was low to the floor, though the ceiling was high enough to accommodate taller bipeds. To human eyes, the furnishings looked vaguely Japanese in aesthetic, though the sinuous curves and crystalline materials suggested frozen smoke. Elegant scrollcases flanked a magnificent desk grown out of coral, its surface cluttered with various human bric-a-brac (the Director has a soft spot for kitsch), a state-of-the-art Orthitech laptop and stacks of jazz CDs, one of which was playing on a Bose radio. A full drum kit is tucked into the last reaming space of the office, which lacks all chairs and has only floor cushions.

But of course other than the view of space, the most striking thing to most eyes was the Director hirself; as a Gamma, zhe was smaller than most of hir species, hir main body less than a meter across and hir limbspan well under three meters. The top of hir shell is covered in large brown spots in mandala-like clusters. When the new team enters, all nine of hir eyes are closed as zhe listens to particularly impressive drum solo, following along with a pair of drumsticks on the top of hir coral desk.

Ditra tastefully cleared her throat. "Uh, good morning, Max."

The Orthi spastically twitches hir limbs as all nine eyes go wide with surprise; the speakers in hir adaptation disk make hash out of whatever subaquatic curse squawks out. When it finally catches up and intelligible English is produced, the voice is clearly synthetic, a little tinny like a classic sci-fi robot.

"Oh my goodness-goodness! Much have you startled me, Ditra of the soft green skin! Apologies for the intensity of my musical focusing; Buddy Rich powers me with irresistible urgency!" The central eye wanders over the new team, and the Director waves hir tentacles in an excited fashion. "Much greetings to you all, brave new faces! Most happiest is this day of greeting and welcomeness! Please lower yourself gently onto a cushion!" One limb stretches out to rest on Chance's shoulder. "You are known to me, Chance of the many exploits! How I am mirthsome as I read of your activities!"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu cautiously approached the window, and looked out at the spindle projecting out over their heads. It had been explained to her back at home, but there was a world of difference between being told about it, and actually seeing it. She looked back at the others on the team, then shyly looked down before looking back out the window. I can not show them how little I have seen of the world! she thought to herself, and regained her composure, before turning to sit, looking on the strange creature and trying not to shudder or imagine them being the ones who had--with anger, she shut that line of thought down, and calmed herself. She was a soldier, and her commander was about to give her orders, and that was that.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil's expression darkened and she planted her hands on her hips as her mood swung sour. There was so much walking and talking and not doing anything!

"Is this to be a briefing for an assignment?" she asked.

[Heritage]

The Othi's many eyes blinked and hir tentacles visibly drooped. "I...am sorrowing! Of course you are righteous, Sigil of the distant lands! Timeliness is of an importance!" One tentacle hit pause on the CD player while the other two tapped the keyboard of the laptop; the large window dimmed to opacity as it was switched over to viewscreen mode. "All eyes upon the information surface, please."

A large revolving graphic of a blue world blinked into view; at least eighty percent of it appeared to be covered by water, though there were several bands of verdant island archipelagos, and what looked like four small arid continents, none of them larger than Greenland. Small polar icecaps were also visible.

"This is the brilliant homesphere of my people, called Orthi Prime in the tongues of Anglo-humans; it is a glorious sphere, though not untouched by wars and pollution, much as your's is." A few taps on the keyboard caused the view to zoom towards the largest of the desert land masses. "This is the Second Continent, a wasteland we aquatics dare not cross, but not without much usefulness among the clever." As the view dives in closer, large costal cities are visible on the eastern shore, built half on land and half below the water on an oceanic shelf. "The continental cities grow ever larger, demanding more and many sources of energies to power all industry, life, education and other necessaries. Our newest human allies have aided us in developing exciting sources before untapped." Snaking across the desert sands is a sort of pipeline, raised up on pontoons that drift on the shifting dunes; the pipeline ends at a unique blossom many miles from the shore, a glass flower shimmering in the simulated sunshine.

"This is our Himawari Station, the hope of many more in following; it gathers our star's rays and sends much electrics to the cities; it was of Jah-pah-nese construction conglomerate Mitohama built. All staffings are of Jah-pah-nese; insular culture not a crime, but accommodations have been made. All has been wellness for three Prime years." But now the Director pauses, hir disk leaning forward slightly as hir tentacles intertwine nervously. "But, there has been changing in a recent time; communication with coastal utilities are now less in frequency, as well as strange request of replacement parts when all is in peak functioning. Mitohama is not bothered, as orders are all met and staffing contracts are five Prime years, but we Orthi are troubled. Odd-usual message was sent to Earth embassy on Prime, plea for help in terror, but soon followed by other message, filled with dutiful apologies for technician filled with stress and alcohol, please dismiss all concerns..."

After a moment, the Director seemed to take a deep breath and rise up to human eye level. "A shuttle you shall take, standard gravmag but launched to Prime via jump gun for greatest speed. Know you some of Jah-pah-nese language, customs and feelings. Orthi, as non-humans, not always sure of inter-species communication; you to meet, examine, diagnose? Rapid resolution is hoped for; go peacefully and with great success."

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha nodded. Inside he didn't really know how to interact with Japanese besides the language... how long would it be before the facts came out about his origin? At least the mission was straightforward. "Clear enough, sir."

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Looking in space somewhere above the station director's... uppermost extremities, Lusungu responded: "To confirm, we are to be inserted at Himawari station by shuttle, where we will scout the station, verify the condition and safety of the station crew, communicating in Japanese, without harming the crew or being harmed ourselves, and return to report. Clear, sir."

[SalmonMax]

"Are we going as ourselves?" Sigil asked curiously, her earlier moment of surliness now forgotten. "Or pretending to be somebodies else?"

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance nodded at regular intervals, not really paying much attention to the briefing until mention of the shuttle, "Sweet, this is gonna be awesome. You guys are gonna love the jump gun."

[Heritage]

"To confirm, we are to be inserted at Himawari station by shuttle, where we will scout the station, verify the condition and safety of the station crew, communicating in Japanese, without harming the crew or being harmed ourselves, and return to report. Clear, sir."

The Director's tentacles writhed harmoniously, a sign among the Orthi of pleasure or relaxation. "An exceeding summation, Sergeant Chanda of the central plains! You appear to be of a common purpose with our Alliance intentions, and in all end all mostly fitting to this task. I am pleased in all ways forward!"

"Are we going as ourselves?" Sigil asked curiously, her earlier moment of surliness now forgotten. "Or pretending to be somebodies else?"

The hovering creature blinked for a few seconds; as a race, the Orthi are not known for the skills at deception or subterfuge. However as a Nameless, Ditra was on more familiar ground, and she quickly spoke up. "Whatever you feel most comfortable doing should work best; if, for instance, you feel that posing as a Mitohama corporate shuttle would suit you, I, for one, would encourage that approach. We can, of course, obtain any codes, uniforms or company credentials you'd need to pull off that disguise, or any other tactic along those lines."

The Director slowly dipped hir disk in agreement. "Yes...the Assistant Director would be most aidful under such a circumstance."

"Sweet, this is gonna be awesome. You guys are gonna love the jump gun."

The green-skinned cyborg laughed. "Well of course you're pumped, Chance; it's not often you get shot several light years across the galaxy!" She checked her bare wrist again, then turned to the rest of the group. "You've got an hour to get ready; if you need anything from me, I will move Earth and stars to make it happen before you go. We can upload any data you need into your shuttle's online computer, but be advised that once you've hit the Orthi system, you'll be out of communication with Earth, even by psychic means. We've scheduled another gunshot from Prime twenty-four Earth hours later to get you back to Sol; if you need more time, which I hope you don't, you'll need to arrange for another shot at the Alliance base on Prime." She took a deep breath and proudly locked eyes with each member of her new team. "I have every confidence in your abilities; now let's get you ready for travel!"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Snapping off a crisp salute while still focusing somewhere above the Orthi's being, Lusungu picked up her rifle, then started heading out the door, glancing briefly at her comrades.

This should be interesting, she contemplated. A bunch of civilians, and we're not even sure what we're up against.

Lusungu hugged her rifle closer, as a feral grin spread across her face.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil shrugged. "I am ready now, or in an hour," she replied. "What power I have is yours to direct during my time here, as agreed."

An hour seemed to her like an impossibly long time to just wait around though, so she indulged her curiosity.

"If it is not secret, what is a 'jump gun'?"

[Heritage]

Ditra eagerly herded her charges out of the office and back down the hall to the waiting turbo capsule, which this time however continued to ride up, on its way to the core of the Spindle itself. Even though they were heading into lower and lower microgravity, the acceleration of the capsule was still providing them with a few last seconds of 'full gravity'.

Sigil shrugged. "I am ready now, or in an hour," she replied. "What power I have is yours to direct during my time here, as agreed."

An hour seemed to her like an impossibly long time to just wait around though, so she indulged her curiosity.

"If it is not secret, what is a 'jump gun'?"

The Nameless turned to the fae and smiled. "Oh, well, it's hard to explain, especially to someone who's missed out on the last few centuries of human progress and pop culture, but I'll do my best. Let me see..." She gently tapped her perfect teeth as she thought (or processed or whatever). After a few seconds, she shrugged and then did something rather unexpected: she grabbed the material of her jumpsuit covering her stomach and pulled it apart to expose her smooth green skin, the fabric easily parting along the seam. Looking down at her exposed tummy, Ditra adopted a lecturer's tone.

"Okay, I can manipulate my skin pigment to show-" Then she stopped suddely at looked up at Lusungu apologetically. "Oh I'm so sorry; I forgot how not fun all this alien stuff is for you. I could sense your discomfort back in the Director's office." She smoothed the fabric back in place, fusing the seam closed again, then briefly rested a hand on the African's shoulder.

"Let's just use words like normal people, alright?" Her cheeks flushed darker green with embarrassment, the Nameless rapidly explained her point with several hand gestures. "A jump gun essentially punches a hole in the space-time continuum, temporarily linking two points that can be several billion miles apart. It takes a lot less energy to make a small hole for a shuttlecraft than to make a much larger hole for a full starship, so as much as possible we use the gun technology, which is powered by the same engines the starship would use at a fraction of the fuel cost." She shrugged. "Of course, it only works if you're firing the shuttle to a place you know has another jumpship waiting on the other side. Also you have to plan the launches on a specific synchronized schedule so that everyone knows who's going where when; official Alliance Standard Time was shifted to synch with Greenwich Mean Time in 1990 as part of the UN agreement when humanity offically joined." Again the shrug. "Some people bitched, but we've got all the kinks out now. But without faster-than-light communications, the Alliance has been operating more like the Pony Express of the Old West than anything else."

The capsule began to slow down as they reached the core, and suddenly everyone was drifting away from the floor. Ditra giggled as her hair rose up around her head like a pale green cloud. "Oh, this never gets old! Any more questions before we head for the docks?"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

"Okay, I can manipulate my skin pigment to show-" Then she stopped suddely at looked up at Lusungu apologetically. "Oh I'm so sorry; I forgot how not fun all this alien stuff is for you. I could sense your discomfort back in the Director's office." She smoothed the fabric back in place, fusing the seam closed again, then briefly rested a hand on the African's shoulder.

Lusungu shivered as Ditra Fifty-Five started modifying her skin. She looks so human. Is she even a she?

"Let's just use words like normal people, alright?" Her cheeks flushed darker green with embarrassment, the Nameless rapidly explained her point with several hand gestures. "A jump gun essentially punches a hole in the space-time continuum, temporarily linking two points that can be several billion miles apart. It takes a lot less energy to make a small hole for a shuttlecraft than to make a much larger hole for a full starship, so as much as possible we use the gun technology, which is powered by the same engines the starship would use at a fraction of the fuel cost." She shrugged. "Of course, it only works if you're firing the shuttle to a place you know has another jumpship waiting on the other side. Also you have to plan the launches on a specific synchronized schedule so that everyone knows who's going where when; official Alliance Standard Time was shifted to synch with Greenwich Mean Time in 1990 as part of the UN agreement when humanity offically joined." Again the shrug. "Some people bitched, but we've got all the kinks out now. But without faster-than-light communications, the Alliance has been operating more like the Pony Express of the Old West than anything else."

The capsule began to slow down as they reached the core, and suddenly everyone was drifting away from the floor. Ditra giggled as her hair rose up around her head like a pale green cloud. "Oh, this never gets old! Any more questions before we head for the docks?"

Rapid-fire style, Lusungu bore into Ditra Fifty-Five "If we do face non-alliance opposition, are we authorized to engage with lethal force? Also, does jump gun travel require any special precautions with storing explosives? How high a priority is taking the facility intact? And the priority of rescuing all of the still living station crew?" She paused and bit her lip, before adding: "Can we leave earlier, or do we have to wait for that hour?"

[Prince of Boredom]

Chance by now had completely tuned out the conversation going on, his attention span having completely expired. So, as the effect of gravity in the capsule began to fade away, Chance started bouncing off the walls with a smile on his face offering a hand to Sigil for her to join him.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil grinned and gently pushed off from the floor to drift towards Chance with arm outstretched take hold of his hand as she passed close by.

"This is nothing like flying," she told him with a delighted grin. "It's less controllable, more unpredictable...which makes it more fun! Have you been without gravity before, Chance?"

[Heritage]

"If we do face non-alliance opposition, are we authorized to engage with lethal force? Also, does jump gun travel require any special precautions with storing explosives? How high a priority is taking the facility intact? And the priority of rescuing all of the still living station crew?" She paused and bit her lip, before adding: "Can we leave earlier, or do we have to wait for that hour?"

Ditra laughed as the capsule finally slowed to a full stop and full microgravity was achieved. "My goodness, you are so full of questions, but that's good!" The Nameless allowed the last of their previous acceleration to send her to the top of the capsule, where she opened a hatch in the former ceiling, which also trigged several recessed handholds to slide out of the walls to aid departure. "I'll do my best to answer all of them, including a few of the unspoken ones." She held up a hand. "Don't worry, I didn't scan or probe you, since I didn't have to; there are certain looks I've gotten very good at reading over the years." She indicated the hatch with a jerk of her head. "Come along! I'll fill you in as we go."

There followed a bewildering series of airlocks, hatches and padded crawlways for the team to navigate in order to reach a core shuttle, and as she effortlessly led the odd interspecies procession, she amiably answered the sergeant's questions point by point.

"The Alliance policy on lethal force is simple: we don't like it but we understand there are times when in can't be avoided. If lives are endangered, either your own or those of innocents, then by all means use lethal force. We have some of the finest lawyers and diplomats in the galaxy on our team, so we can handle and backlash or negative press. Watch your head, Chance."

"During a jump, explosives and weapons are not under any unnatural stresses, since the distance is covered instantaneously, so I'm sure the standard military procedures you're familiar with will be fine."

"The Mitohama Corporation no doubt considers the facility to be irreplaceable, and I'm sure the local government on Prime would like to avoid paying for unnecessary repairs-" The green-skinned beauty paused to look back over her shoulder. "But you of all people understand the nature of fieldwork in a potentially hostile environment, Sergeant Chanda. In the Alliance our top priority is always protecting sapient life, especially from other forms of sapient life. Objects can always be replaced." She resumed navigating the passageway. "That being said, at least attempt not to blow the whole place up. I believe that also answers your fourth question."

At last the group climbed into a core shuttle, a rather cramped oblong with only a handful of small thick portholes at both ends. High-backed chairs were bolted to the floor, but swiveled to face the direction of travel, not for the pleasure of the minimal view but for more comfort during acceleration and deceleration. The assistant director helped each of her charges strap in, checking and rechecking buckles. “Your fifth and final spoken question referred to our current timeframe, as you are no doubt eager to be on your way, but as you can see-“ She waved offhandedly at the inside of the shuttle. “There’s a bit of transit time involved. Due to the time/space warping involved in jumps, it’s very dangerous to open portals onto a docked ship, so we have to go through all this nonsense, which eats up gallons of time; I hope you guys are on your way in an hour.” She rolled her eyes as she took her place in a seat at the ‘front’ of the core shuttle, but as she strapped herself in, her light tone shifted a bit as she seemed very intent on her safety protocol.

"And as to your unspoken question, or at least the primary one I suspect ran through your head as you discretely ran your eyes up and down my humanoid form-" She stopped, took a deep breath and turned to level a steady though not unfriendly gaze at the African woman. "Ditra Fifty-Five is a shell of the diplomatic class; she contains advanced computer systems, a cloned cerebral cortex and was designed to fulfill a wide variety of functions, and as the old joke goes she's 'fully functional'." She laid a feminine hand across her belly. "My pilot rests safely in here, a sterile hermaphroditic drone that you will probably never meet; it has no name, merely an untranslatable series of mental sensory impressions instilled into it at the point of first consciousness, and it’s about as smart as your average housecat." She shrugged. “I am what I am and that’s all that I am.”

Ditra then coolly turned back to the ‘front’ and closed her eyes, as several switches on the shuttle’s control board began to activate seemingly by themselves. “Please save any additional questions about my disturbing alien nature for when you get back, okay?” The shuttle abruptly took off down the Spindle, pressing them all firmly back into their chairs.

[SalmonMax]

Sigil sits back with a laugh, then gives Ditra a wicked grin. "Why did they make you 'fully functional?'" she asked, making air quotes...a modern gesture she adored. "Do you have cause to exercise that functionality commonly in your duties here in the city in the sky?"

[Shosuro Toshi]

Gakusha grinned at Sigil's comments, but didn't ask, simply waiting to hear the answer.

[RushingMountain]

Lusungu considered the answers she had been given, especially that last one, and mulled them over for a few minutes, watching thoughtfully as the other two females of the group discussed "fully functional systems.

Then she looked at Chance and Gakusha, contemplatively.

Finally, she simply raised her arm to squeeze Ditra Fifty-five's shoulder. "In some ways we are all human."

[Prince of Boredom]

Try as he might, Chance couldn't stifle the chuckle that escaped him when Ditra mentioned she was "fully functional." In truth, Chance could confirm that statement. Well, not in relation to Ditra 55 specifically, though not for want of trying, but there was this pink nameless, the one he'd been at Take 6 with just the day before, that he'd tested that theory with.

Smiling briefly at the memory of his first encounter with the nameless, Chance turned to Sigil and winked, "It's not always about duties here, I mean everyone needs some time off to relax and enjoy themselves, right?"

[Heritage]

Ditra, who clearly hoped the discussion was drawing to a close, went dark green in the cheeks as the conversation turned to her sex life. "Alright, fine, if you really have to know...we-" She stopped and took a deep breath. "We have no culture of our own; our pilots are simple predatory organisms that had their genetic material completely messed with several hundred years ago by a race we call the Harvesters. In their mad scheme, we were treated something like a virus, to be shot off into space to infiltrate, colonize and ultimately conquer inhabited worlds." The lovely green synthetic turned to look at the others in the shuttle, her eyes hooded with shame. "We were sent here to take over your planet, just like we were sent to take over Orthi Prime. But luckily, just like with the Orthi, by trying to become more like your race, we evolved into something better. Despite their many, many flaws, humans have art, compassion and really good food. And also...amazing sex." She shrugged and laughed. "Why wouldn't we want to become a part of that?"

Just before she turned back to face forward, she paused when Lusungu laid her hand on her shoulder. "Well, at least we try..."

[SalmonMax]

"It seems so," Sigil replied to Chance when Ditra had said her piece. She smiled warmly at Ditra and said, "There is something special about humanity. Even the fey, who are immortal and powerful, look on the human world with a mixture of envy and longing. The fey live stories out, but mortals create them. It is why only mortals with fey blood ascend to be king or queen. A pure fey is...unsuited for ruling even their own impulses, let alone others."

[Heritage]

In response to Sigil's refering to humanity as being special, Ditra can only grin and nod. "Yep; we sure know how to pick 'em..."

At last the shuttle reached the docks, and it was time for another bit of crawling through hatches and riding lifts before the finally were in a genuine space vehicle, a small gravmag shuttle called the Magic Crab. Like all craft of Orthi construction, there were very few hard angles to be seen, but the controls and seats were clearly designed for humanoids; in fact, dropping into one of the chairs was a very pleasant experience, not unlike one of those high-concept massage chairs that come from Japan. Ditra tried one out of curiousity, and nearly gasped as she sank into its depths. "Oh my...I might have to ask the Director for a leave of absence! I don't think I can actually leave this chair..."

Two chairs were clearly intended for pilot and co-pilot (if needed), with four more in pairs a few feet behind them. A large myoplex window offered a view of the large jumpship's underbelly straight forward, framed by the walls of the jump gun. With great effort, the Nameless hauled herself out. "There we go! These new astrocliners are downright dangerous!" Stepping over to the main console, she fished a long cable out of her left wrist. "I can avatar myself into the ship's computer, if you want a friendly face to talk to; once you make the jump, you'll be completely out of contact with the Sol system until you get back."

[Heritage]

Hearing no objections, Ditra plugged herself into the control panel and closed her eyes as she began the upload. "I'm also going to add everything I could get on Mitohama on the way over here; uniform patterns, letterhead, SOPs, security protocols and some random things I found on web searches. Hopefully enough for you to call up anything you might need, though I'm sure I missed a lot." After a few seconds she opened her eyes and smiled. "There, all done!" She disconnected her cable, which discretly slid back into her wrist as she ran her fingers over the control surfaces. "Let's just see if I was successful..." Suddenly a minature Assistant Director a mere eight inches high shimmered into view standing on the console, her features and uniform identical to the original. She raised a tiny holographic fist into the air and shouted in triumph.

"Success! All your shuttle belong to us!"

Ditra laughed. "Well, that's in no way creepy. All right, let's get you all buckled in so you can be on your way."

"I'll run the pre-flight check from inside."

"Uh, okay, good."

The bonafide Nameless guided everyone to their seats and secured their gear into a storage locker; once everything was all squared away, she checked and double-checked everyone's jump harness and gently kissed them all on the forehead.

"Be safe, and come back to us in one piece."

With a final hopeful wave and glance over her shoulder, the AD was gone; Mini-Deet waved in return, then scampered to the edge of the console and dangled her legs over the abyss as she rubbed her holographic hands together.

"So this is all autopilot stuff; once we get to Prime, I will yield the controls to you, Chase, and you can show everyone how well you manuever one of these things. But until then, I'm in charge now."

The seals of the ship cycled closed, and several lights began to flash and dance across the console. The whole craft began to vibrate, rattling the teeth of everyone on board as the main ship's jump drive redirected its power into the gun.

"Everybody make a wish!"

A high-pitched whine began to build, getting louder and louder until BANG!

The Magic Crab was suddently floating over the vast blue, white and violet globe that was Orthi Prime, spread below them like a beautiful quilt; the small continents and massive archipalagos were visible under belts of cloud cover, and the oceans than covered the rest of the planet were a deep pure turquoise. Mini-Deet ran across the console and pressed her tiny hands against the myoplex.

"Wow! It looks so much bigger this way!" Then she looked over her shoulder at Chase. "Now it's your turn, space cowboy."

[SalmonMax]

Sigil didn't really understand the nitty-gritty of what she was seeing. It seemed to her that Ditra had simply used a spell to create a tiny homunculus or self-willed illusion, which was clever...but hardly amazing. In a distant way she understood that wasn't really what had happened...but she also knew that it was really close enough to the same thing as not to matter. The parallels between high magic and high 'technology' were many and myriad, and she had already come to the conclusion that they were just forms of power being used by similar people to accomplish similar ends. A woodsman's axe or blacksmith's hammer could be a weapon or a tool. Either suited the purpose of the wielder, having none of its own.

She did like looking at the world from this high though. On the surface, a world didn't seem like a WORLD. Earth or Faerie or 'Orthi Prime' were just names for trees and dirt and people and buildings. But from high up, those things vanished, and you could see the world as it truly was...a single entity, complete unto itself. She wondered if such a thing was possible in Faerie. Were there gnome tinkers who could make a flying carpet that would go that high? Could the spriggans build a tower that one could look down from and see the curve of the world?

It made her a little sad to think she might never know.

"The people of Orthi Prime," she said, "What are they like?"

[Heritage]

"The people of Orthi Prime," she said, "What are they like?"

The tiny holowoman frown slightly and scratched her head, "Uh, well you've seen a few of them today, most notably Director Max, of course." She gestured overhead, and three Orthi of varying sizes formed out of light; all three displayed the radial symmetry comon to the race, with three tentacled limbs with clusters of eyes in between. "They have three genders, which are called Alpha, Beta and Gamma in English, and then there's the weird 'sub-gender' Gamma Epics." Little graphics and texts pop into view, detailing the many differences between genders, but much too quickly for the typical human to process. "Earthlings always imagine aliens as all being the same, but the Orthi have over fifty different spoken language groups, thirteen major religons ranging from monotheistic to animistic, and six major discernable races. Lots of the Orthi love humans, but almost as many think they're genetically inferior and might shoot you on sight." She shrugged. "People are pretty much the same all over, I guess."

Mini-Deet waved a hand, and the floating aliens disappeared, replaced by a wireframe globe of Prime, with their landing sight picked out in glowing orange. "There's our destination, boys and girls." She turned to face the four much larger occupants of the shuttle, hands on her hips. "So, how exactly do you want to do this?"

[Lusungu Mercy Chanda]

Lusungu thought back to a movie a bunch of her squad mates had watched once. It had been a horrible military tale about a bunch of soldiers trapped on a planet with acid-blooded aliens. After a few seconds of contemplation, she decided that the line she was thinking of, while had thought it hilarious at the time, would in no way be appropriate at the moment. Instead, she chose a more somber approach.

"My preference would be make a stealthy approach, land somewhere out of sight, and approach by foot or by some other... 'low visibility method'. You mentioned, however that it is essentially a desert? Is there dangerous wildlife to ... 'contend with'?" She looked earnestly at mini-Deet, deciding to assume this situation was like a two-way video conversation. It probably was, but with all of this alien technology, she didn't always feel confident.