Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - (Interlude) Young Justice Two: Forging Better Tommorows (FIN)

[Karren Gaunt]

Location: Mars

Time: Late Morning on the 21st of May

Invited Partisipants: The Siblings, Kamiko, Shaman, Starseed, Zephyr, Dan Hawkins

A pitchblack Warp opened a foot or two above the surface of Mars, a rocky patch this time where new arrivals before Alex deployed her automatic shelter wouldn't sink ankle deep into the crimson dust.

First through was a white-haired dark-skined girl with white-on-black eyes, a beauty by any meaning of the word as she floated there six inches above the surface of the alien world, sucking in a breath of the nearly vacum thin air, gaze sweeping the heavens above for potential eyes and ears. She nodded upon seeing no obvious signs and gestured an all clear at the Warp behind her. A few minutes to go before the appointed meeting time. And she was the speaker of honor today, her work on display to be judged and marked as fit or unfit to lead them in making a better world for Novas and Baselines.

Coraline Boehm hoped to her Node that she was ready.

[Sailor OOC]

A paper ring appears right on the mentioned coordinates for the meeting, it sparks to life like something out of stargate.

Some figures step out of the glowing aperture.

"Thanks, Dan for showing me that technique, by the way. I think my head is starting to clear up."

Dan nods and smiles as Dan, Kamiko, and Sonja make themselves present at the arrival point.

Kamiko was carrying quite a large white bag, and a large first-aid kit.

She sets them down on the ground and waves to Cora. "Here I am, with some company."

She smiles. "I brought a couple pressure suits and a first aid kit in case anyone needed them during this meeting and I got a first aid kit. Been deciding to practice with some weights. Getting in shape, you know?"

"And thank you for the invitation, by the way. I'm glad you still feel I'm a integral to the mission."

She bows in gratitude. "Arigato."

[Sunstar]

Marina steps though the warp after Cora. She seems have taken to having her hair in a light pink color and is wearing a blue and white dress, a blue hat, and a pair of brown boots.

She breathes in deep and then exhales, getting used to Mars' atmosphere.

She then looks over at Kamiko, then her at sister.

"Friend of your's Cora?"

She said eyeing Kamiko.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded to Cora as he and Sonja emerged, the young second generation nova still feeling more at home at her father's side. "Good to see you again."

He looked to Kami. "Teaching is something I enjoy, though some things more than others."

He and sonja adapted to space with ease, having already been to mars more than once.

Seeing Marina in the flesh the first time, Dan nodded. "First time on Mars?"

[Sailor OOC]

Kamiko smiles. "The pleasure is mine to learn from you, Dan-Sensei."

She turns to the new face. "Oh how rude of me, I'm Kamiko Hideyoshi." She says with a polite bow.

"I'm one of Coraline's compatriots in this endeavor."

[Sunstar]

Marina nods to Dan.

"Yeah this is my first time out here."

She also looks over at Kamiko.

"Name's Marina. Nice to meet my little sis' friends."

She said with a smile to the both of them.

click

(First Impressions)

[Sailor OOC]

"Ah! Nice to meet you, Miss Marina. I hope you're ready though, you're about to go down the rabbit hole."

note

No need, you're giving a good first impression from the start. But I dig.

She nods as she walks over to Dan's side. "I'm surprised I got here first. Not like Star not to beat me to anything. I'm actually worried."

She scratches her head. "Was Star coming to this meeting, Cora? Has she notified you about not being able to come? I... I'm not used to not seeing her here when I arrive."

She has a look of genuine concern on her face.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

At that moment, a short streak of martian dust whipped up a tiny cloud that quickly dissipated in the thin atmosphere ... an unseen ship touching down from rapid velocity to stop in less than a dozen meters. Those who knew Star knew it was her and the door of her signature cloaked shuttle opened as if a door to the heavens had opened wide.

Azure-violet radiance back lit the familiar little figure in her crisp white dress uniform. Her skin seemed to have a golden cast, as its subtle glow was overpowered by the sudden light of the open portal. She walked down the extended ramp, and then another of her bearing a small metal rack. In the rack was a dozen bracelet sized versions of the familiar security serpents ...

"Hello everyone! Took the scenic route ... testing a few new systems on the shuttle. Lots of fun!" said the first Star. The Star with the red badge, carrying the miniature snakes, offered one to everyone with a "Hi ... hello ... they can stretch thin to make necklaces too ... ".

Both Stars greeted Marina with warm handshakes / waves ... "Hi we're Starseeds! Nice to meet you ..." the stereo effect and choice of plurals had not been planned, gave both Stars pause, and then minor giggles.

[Sailor OOC]

Kamiko adjusts her glasses. "Brilliant work, Star! You've improved on the form. I wager this requires less energy on your part to attune such objects of this size compared to the large serpents you were using." She observed while looking about.

"Glad you made it. Having two warpers for a endeavor like this is better than just one."

She nods, sitting on a paper chair she whipped up as she talked to Star. "If everyone wants I can form up a table and some more chairs. Would only be good manners."

[Adrian Moss]

Zephyr

A strange, swirl of symbols appears in the air, signalling a warp portal opening. (Hopefully) Before someone panics and starts shooting at it, Zephyr floats through. He smiles to those he knows, and nods to the person who is new to him.

"Hello, have I missed anything?"

The warp collapses behind him, the symbols of a hundred languages and a crazy series of equations disappearing.

"Time required me to let one other know of the meeting, but not of the members or consequence. I will promise you this, they risk much by aiding us. I trust them with my life."

Shaman

Shaman's enterence is less spectacular. Coraline is familiar with the Horizon Portal he steps through. The creator does not follow. She has little doubt that the nova has safely absconded himself in a local bar while his charge is Node-knows were doing Node-knows what. Horizon can keep the secret because there is no secret for him to keep. So what if the King's crazy Son wants to hop to Mars for a bit. That's not his problem, sorta.

"Hey Stars? Okay. Kamiko, Major, Sonja, Cora, and ... " he smiles warmly at the stranger, "and I don't know you. Nice to meet you. I'm Shaman."

First Impression

First Impression in effect. Normally Zephyr would be more suspicious.

[Karren Gaunt]

"I'm sure if he's anything like you, I sure your ride is more than discrete enough for our needs," Coraline volunteered warmly, "And, no, you haven't missed anything, just a few essential people gathering. I'm going to give a few more of my siblings a minute or so to come through our Warp before giving my big speech. Speaking of which..."

"Marina, this is Zephyr, the good-hearted Utopian who really started this thing rolling when I took a risk to introduce myself and got luckier than I expected," she explained with a gesture at the older speedster, "Guys, this is Marina, my older sister. She'll be providing our dome and the atmosphere within if Alex decides to not show this time so we aren't whsipering at one another all meeting."

Her chorus, whisper-soft indeed thanks to the thin air, turned amused, washing away the traces of nervousness in her eyes.

[Sailor OOC]

"That is so cool..." Kamiko says seeing Zephyr enter. First time she's had the honor.

She straightens the navy blue and white trim sailor collared blazer she was wearing. "You really need to invite me aboard the sub, Zeph. I would love to see it."

She puts on her bracelet and it turns her usual orange. "And fair enough on the dome. Although I was packing my emergency shelter as well if needed..." She says, pointing to the backpack on her back. "...Think of it as a tertiary option."

She turns to Shaman and starts to blush. "H... Hello."

The feelings she has towards Shaman are ones of warmth on this cold rock. Not like the lust she felt when seeing Puck and Shadowheart. This was... love?

She straightens the bow on her white blouse, suddenly feeling very self-conscious, wanting to make sure she was presentable to the Prince of the Congo.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch adjusted the collar of his favorite leather jacket before stepping through the warp that would bring him to Mars. He hadn't been out very much in recent times. Frankly, the prospect of being a known quantity to law enforcement coupled with a concerted effort by a massive conspiracy to execute second generation novas seemingly on sight had encouraged him to stay out of the public eye unlike some of his siblings. Though he had considered making some forays out into the world, his closest foster sister, Cora, had emphasized patience on his part in this particular matter. She assured him that there would be ample opportunity to get out there in the near future.

Her desire to organize meetings with outside groups was a great sign of progress for the wards of Traveler. Butch's own attempts to organize the siblings had been a colossal failure, and he was still feeling the pangs of harsh disappointment following the last disastrous family meeting he had demanded. When Cora began discussing her plans involving some of their new allies, Butch felt relief that someone besides himself in the family was interested in moving together in a well-thought out manner rather than the haphazard, slapdash reactive way they had been working in the past. Thankfully, it was Cora who was moving them forward. Momentum was part of her powers, so, in a quiet philosophical moment, Butch felt that perhaps Quantum abilities worked in ways that were not always so obvious...

Stepping through the warp, Butch prepared himself for the sensation of setting foot on the Red Planet. His black boots kicked up tiny clouds of red dust as he moved towards the group. The handsome young nova ran his hand through his short dark hair once, then rubbed his jaw which was smooth following a quick shave prior to leaving for Mars.

He looked at the group that Cora had been able to bring together and nodded. The result of her efforts was impressive.

"Howdy," Butch said. "Glad to see y'all again. Looking forward to another coming together of great minds."

[Karren Gaunt]

"Marina? Would you be so kind as to make us something nice to meet in before I get us started?" Coraline asked with a smile and a glance over one shoulder at her older sister, "I think Alex is trusting us to handle this meeting and this is everyone from outside the family I'm expecting."

[Sunstar]

Marina shake Starseed's hand "Nice to meet you too. Name's Marina"

She then turns and faces her sister.

"Alright give me a moment...."

She causally raises one of her arm

click

Abyss Phantasia *rolls* 24d10: 8+10+2+10+3+3+5+3+10+7+6+4+6+1+10+4+8+8+8+

8+5+5+9+1

16 sux on using Elemental Mastery one making a Ice Dome with Shaping

At that point a Massive ice dome about 48 cubic meters forms out of thin air

She then raises her other hand

click

Abyss Phantasia *rolls* 20d10: 1+1+5+9+10+6+2+3+7+1+10+1+10+7+10+4+1+1+5+

7: 101

Elemental Authority to create Oxygen 14 sux

She fills the inside with air

"All done, Cora!"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan and sonja took the serpents as always. He smiled. "Good to see you here."

He looked to Butch and nodded. "You're really starting to look more like your Dad, Butch."

Zephyr got another Nod, one first gen to another. "We all take risks with this, but it must be done."

He looked to Marina. "I see all of the siblings in that family posess great ability and talent." he smiled, though a part of him wondered about Sonja when she was this age, and of likely a greater concern, Starseed, and Kamiko, who were likely closer to apothesis.

[Sailor OOC]

Kamiko nods. "It'll do in a pinch I suppose. At least we can speak clearly."

She brushes off her outfit a little as she forms a table and chairs out of paper. The top of the table seems to be semi-transparent, a slight bit of gloss allows it to shine a little.

"If we need any visual representations for this meeting I've been practicing dynamic paper sculpting and changing color and translucence on paper... I can even make it glow if I so desired."

Little glyphs of words drift from her hands in several languages, dancing about. Like "Mold... Form... Sculpt... Origami..."

The sparks drift around the table and chairs that form around the words, drifting on Kamiko's quantum influence.

[Adrian Moss]

Zephyr

Zephyr grins at the name 'Zeph', as it is normally reserved for those closest to him by age, but in these circumstances, they all must be a bit old, shouldn't they.

"A pleasure to meet both of you ladies."

Looking to Butch,

"Good to meet you too."

Then to Cora,

"How many more are we expecting. I don't have good news yet, but I think we are getting close."

Zephyr remained hovering off the ground, seemingly more comfortable in the air.

Shaman

He smiles to Kamiko. Why wouldn't he. They were good friends. Besides, he wasn't making a fool of himself around Cora, and Kamiko felt ... comfortable.

"It's good to see you again, Butch. Nice to meet you for the first time, Marina. It is good to have you here."

Shaman wiggled his toes in the Martian sand and winked conspiratorially to Kamiko,

"Beats the mud anyday, eh?"

[SalmonMax]

A dark swirl of light and unlight signaled another one of Warren's warps opening in the enclosure. Through it popped Alexandra looking a bit unkempt in a big plaid flannel shirt and grey tights with bunny slippers on her feet.

"Hell," she said on seeing everyone already there. "Sorry. I got busy with something else and kept putting this off. Really bad habit. Anyway! What's up?"

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan chuckled, so did Sonja. "She dresses almost like you on Sunday mornings daddy. Except your slippers aren't bunnies, and your pants are silk."

Dan was fairly unfazeable. Still he almost blushed. "So indeed she does. Glad you could make it Alexandra."

[Sailor OOC]

"Hey, I got the cutest PJs around." Kamiko quips.

"I like sailor suits... sailor suits are cool."

She straightens the bow on her blouse. "That and bows."

She sees Shaman and blushes. "Hey... I'd rather be walking on the beach to be honest... but we so don't have that luxury."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Star, who had been handing out more serpents waved to those who arrived after her ... the other Star was busy inspecting the dome "Interesting use of ice ... good structure, thermal characteristics should be fine in this environment." and was absorbed for a moment as her quantum senses scrutinized this new to her application of power. That Star was listening though, letting a little chuckle go when Sonja offered up the image of her Dad ... but she visualized it as him in bunny slippers ...

As Alex came through, the greeting Star said to her "Hey! Had no word from you. Hope all is well."

[Karren Gaunt]

"Ahem. Well, we're just about to start, and since this is about everyone I was expecting and all of you trusted me to come up with the grandstroke ideas for what we're doing together... I'll start first."

There was a hint of laughter at Dan's expense in her tone, gentle teasing even as she took in a breath and gave the gathered company of mixed 1st and 2nd generation Novas a sweeping look. "For the last seven days, I've been thinking about how we can help one another best bring about a better tommorow for all of us, baseline and nova, how we can avoid provoking the Powers That Be into a fatal response before we're ready to snuff that response and get them talking to us instead of hunting all of us down in our craddles for being born."

"The primary advantage they have over us is sheer numbers and the time they've put into developing the networks they use to find their targets. We can't do a lot about the first one, at least safely, but the second... Between Zephyr's nova finder program, Alex's efforts, my family's contacts with the Aberants, and the fact the nine of us have connections to many of the major players in this genocidal shadow war, we can play catch up very nicely and start finding Nova parents, too. That's our priority. Develop our inteligence sources. Find the parents and children and get them out of harm's way before the Hunters find them. Fetch them in teams of at least four of us with one or more on back up. If we find the Hunters at the same time as we're finding our real targets or we're staging a rescue, then we beat them. Alive if possible since some of them think they're doing this for a good reason. And some of them have a good reason."

Coraline loses her cheerful mask, nodding gravely at Shaman, "Not a few days ago, Shaman and I fought a Nova who was breaking the weather in Uganda. He was a Trog, a 2nd gen made crazy and dangerous through inherited taint. Right now, we have only one way to deal with most trogs without letting them hurt a whole lot of people just because they have a Node. Killing them. And we're going to probably find more than a few trogs on our hunt for 2nd Gens, and since they're much more dangerous most Hunters... This is the hard part. Policing ourselves *and* robbing the Motherhunters of their main publically acceptable reason for what they do. Butch and Alex converted a Motherhunter who thought Trogs were all Nova parents produced, so maybe we can gain a few more allies that way. Maybe not. But worth a try."

She looked more upbeat again, concluding confidently, "But those two steps are only treating the symptoms of the disease Aeon and Proteus have unleashed. So we have to go after them. Find out who they are. Find out where they bury the evidence of their many, many crimes. Find out how we can take them in for the sane majority of humanity to punish them. Zephyr and Alex probably know more about that than I do, but *once* we get all that together, I have a big idea or two about how we can provoke them into something stupid so we can catch them with their weapons in hand and agents in motion if we want to."

[Sailor OOC]

"My ability to warp on the terrestrial level has come a long way since we last met. In fact making it here without worry was... a coup to say the least. If you need transport, feel free to call on my services. I wager Starseed feels the same."

She nods. "What we need is to start developing associations, figure out where their webs of influence are at their weakest."

She sighs realizing her resources may be used to kill. "As for the Trog situation, after what was encountered... making a Trog's death quick and painless is the best mercy they deserve."

"I can't believe I said that... but our hand is forced."

"In the end I think we will be forgiven."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Trogs can be every bit as powerful as any of the apothesized second generation, if not more so, and even more dangerous depending on their abberations." Dan looked at them. "I'm all for digging in whatever closets we need to , undwer whatever rocks we need to look. Still I'd prefer we have a leg up where we can."

[SalmonMax]

"Riiiight, well, unfortunately the process I developed to purge taint won't work on novas who were born aberrated," Alex said absently. "Putting them in stasis is a nonlethal alternative, but ultimately it's just delaying the inevitable decision."

"As for finding parents...I've been doing some work on the side on that. The Q-R detectors on my satellite network can be upgraded, I think, to detect individual quantum signatures from orbit. With that, it would be a simple matter to triangulate the signals and map their locations. Known signatures could be matched and identified from the database. Unknown signatures could be first-gen novas who's signatures aren't on file...or they could be new second-gen novas. Either way, we'd have something to go investigate. This, in combination with the data we got from Zephyr the first time, would essentially give us tools to find nova parents and children that are superior to the ones Proteus and Utopia have available to them. We'd have a much easier time keeping ahead of them. Combine that with intel from inside about their objectives, and we'll be in a position to move ahead of Proteus every time."

"Zephyr's helped with that too, getting a few bugs in past security. I've taken a few opportunities to move them around and see what their operational range is. Unfortunately, it's not good...and signal strength is pretty poor. I may have to destruct them and design a new, improved model designed to overcome the limits of working at great distance through a well-shielded installation."

"Other than that...things are going good. Warren and I took a weekend to visit and classify a whole bunch of star systems. Nothing in the ninety-five percent ideal match range so far, but several that make it into the eighties that would probably be useable."

[Sailor OOC]

Kamiko adjusts her glasses. "Outstanding work on the planetary survey." Kamiko says. "Although I don't want to give up on earth. Not yet."

She adjusts her suit and stands up. "We need to consider all potential first generation signatures as potential parents and thus under our protection. But if they show themselves to be of the percentile most likely to produce a trog, we have to either cut them loose or..."

She wretches. "No... I can't stomach that thought..."

[SalmonMax]

Alex blinked, but didn't mention Warren himself hadn't come...he'd just obliged Alex with a warp.

"Well, I can't tell just from a signature if they're first or second generation," she clarified. "Or if they're going to have a trog baby. All I can do is compare it to a database of known novas and determine if it's one of them or not. Then, if not, I assign it a tracking number and go find out who it is. Then I update the database, and boom. They're known."

She nods at Zephyr. "What he gave me will help with that though. Proteus had data on a lot of suspected parents. I've added that to the database, which will let us track them once the system's working."

"Limits are dorming and going underground more than a few feet. Can't read the signature through much interference...and dormed novas have signatures so weak they may as well not even be there."

[Karren Gaunt]

Kamiko's squeamishness worried Coraline, but Alex's news was more encouraging. Much more encouraging aside from the irrelivancy of looking for other planets to settle. They weren't beaten yet.

"That's great news, Alex. Very helpful," Coraline gushed in an enthused chorus, "I didn't realize you were so close to getting a cure for taint working. It's... unfortunate that we can't do anything for Trogs, but if we can find fertile but highly tainted novas and persuade them to take your cure... That means their children will come out Trues instead of Trogs. And here's something important I've been testing... If we can find an unknown nova and get close enough, it's possible to smell out whether someone is fertile or not. And while there are tricks to hide that fact, if you can look at a nova's node the right way, you can find out if they're cappable of hiding it. We don't have to protect the entire nova population at once, just the ones who escaped Aeon's sterility cocktail. Hit the Rainbow Room a few times and we can probably sort through a lot of the more likely prospects in a few goes."

She grinned behind one hand, thinking furiously, "We can do this."

[Dan Hawkins]

"I don't like Ibiza much, but I'd be more than happy to be on one of the hunter teams for those hiding out." He nodded. "The idea of finding some healthy, fertile high taint novas and giving them a chance to lose their accumulated taint, I might be able to help with that. I know some novas who would jump at such a chance. They could be quite discreet, and neither has any living family. They would readily volunteer, to keep from becoming more inhuman."

He looked at her. "Does it help any with abberations?"

[SalmonMax]

"Sort of," Alex admitted. "It doesn't cure aberrations, but it takes away the subconscious, uncontrolled manipulation of quantum forces that locks them in place. So after the procedure, the aberrations can be corrected via other methods, and they won't regenerate or recur. Also, Cora...when you guys hit the Rainbow Room, lemme give you little Q-R scanners. They're small enough to hide in a watch, kind of short-ranged, but they'll scan a nova's signature and store it. When you identify who's fertile, just upload that info and I'll update the database. Do it enough times...and we can track the fertile novas anywhere in the world on Primus' big screen."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"So how do we get the people we save out of harms way? Everywhere planetside is dangerous or if safe probably can not house the number of people we have to plan for to make a difference at scale."

"What is our policy on clearly unfit parents? What if they refuse our help? Also...a little further on...what do we do to recon these missions in terms of avoiding a setup? On that line of thinking what do we think their intermediate counter moves might be? We have to assume they know about us and base contingencies on that."

"On the related topics its amazing by the way. A taint treatment is a huge step. It occurs to me that a series of safe havens for the people we help could also support whatever infrastructure your taint meds nescessitate Alex."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "Then a phone call is all it will take, and you'll have your first patients. They can call in enough favors to have the rest taken care of." He looked excited. "If you agree you'll have made two good people very happy Alexandra."

[SalmonMax]

"Okay, Dan, you'll want to get in touch with a nova called Puck then. He's got an outfit called Exalt that I'm working with to break the tech to the world without exposing myself. He'll be looking for volunteers, so steer them his way. One thing though, it takes time. It could take...a lot of time. The tech is in an early state right now. Reducing taint that's been absorbed into the body takes months in stasis." Alex chews her bottom lip for a moment, then adds, "Sometimes years."

She looked at Starseed and shrugged. "So far we've taken our refugees to Primus. It's big enough and has amenities enough for quite a few people. And people who refuse? Hey...I'm not going to kidnap novas and bring them to my sub. That's their biz. I'll keep tabs on them and renew the offer every so often, and that's that. No need to make this harder than it has to be."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "I'll handle it once we're done here.The time isn't a factor for them, it will make the end result all the sweeter for them."

He sighed. "As far as the unfit, I'm inclined to agree with Alex. If it's her place you're using for shelter, and they don't want to go, we're not proteus, we don't force them against their will. If they do get found, we still try to save them, and renew the offer."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"Fair enough, though I wonder how many people will fit on your submarine. Its fine for now, but the math is simple ... these people are often in danger from mother hunters because they can't hide themselves, or their carefully laid plans failed. These people need a little bit more than a free week long stay aboard a luxury cruise line ... we are taking on a responsibility to help them find long term solutions. Over time this could be hundreds of people. More if we end up helping groups somehow."

"I agree with you about the ones who don't help by the way. The issue had to be brought up ... though what if they are unfit? Do we take children from irresponsible parents? Again ... just bringing up the issue so we have a policy in place."

"... Alex ... are you OK? You do know I run a branch of Exalt! right? ... also, was hoping you'd got the comms issues squared away."

[Sailor OOC]

Kamiko scratches her chin. Quietly observing everyone. At this point it would be pointless to ignorantly jump in like the last time. All of the people here except for Dan had thought her ideas were bad. Or were indifferent.

"Starseed... I think we should tell everyone what's being considered... namely the marine maneuvering unit. We can convert one of the cores into a ocean-going ship using the MMU. That could buy us some more space for the time being."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"Hmmm ... maybe, but Alex - you would need to stealth the ships. I can certainly cloak things, even for extended periods ... but that requires one of me or my constructs to be there. Being underwater affords little overall protection from detection unless some other advanced tech is in play."

"Unless no one knew that families were living aboard our subs too. Dangerous though, because it would be fragile security. One leak and the whole thing crumbles ... unless they can't find the subs."

"From what I hear, Proteus stealth systems are top notch. I am guessing not so easy to replicate though?"

....

"One option is getting them cover identities spread through the Congo or Japan. We shouldn't collect too many people in one place. In Japan, they would be working for some of the less visible corps ... they have very good security against the people who are our enemies. In the Congo ... as long as we don't cause King Ein trouble by making a political incident somehow. ... Shaman?"

[SalmonMax]

"Primus can hold a couple of hundred people in comfort and security, I estimate," Alex replied with a proud smile. "For as long as necessary. More than that, we'll have to find other places. We're discussing matters with the Congo."

"And Starseed, when did YOU join Exalt? I had no idea you were helping run it. Look, I probably don't have to tell you, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me in conjunction with the taint reduction process. I really -really- want to keep my connection to that below the board."

She shrugged and added, "I dunno what you mean by stealth. The fact is that submarines are very hard to detect once they get deep enough. You can use MADs but those are short ranged. And Primus runs quieter than most subs. Besides, for sonar you have to know generally where to look. Fact is, if I had to find Primus, I'd find it a challenge. Surmountable, but a challenge. I figure for people who know literally nothing about it, and I feel pretty confident in saying that Proteus has no intel on Primus, it should be pretty much impossible short of parasenses like precognition...which are notoriously vague and untrustworthy anyway."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

"No worries Alex. I run tight security - ask anyone here who seen my operations. I was the fifth Nova to join ... but I have kept it somewhat low profile. I just figured you knew. Mainly I am doing apotheosis research there."

"I am also guessing you don't know about the impending Galactic Navigation Services launch destination. Most people here know, but don't spread it around - thanks to Puck, we've found a habitable world. A second Earth. You are welcome to come along ... but that is another topic for later. I don't want to derail the matter at hand. We need policies and procedures people ... we have an excellent vision, a solid mission ... but we still do lack a quantifiable goal setting framework. Mission planning, specifics."

"Oh, I agree with the notion of focusing major resources into intel. We should do more hum-int ourselves though. To compliment the sig-int from satelites, bugs and what not. Will the Q-R scanners replicate along with me when I weave more copies of myself?"