Trinity RPG: Back to the Stars - Xiao Dao: Body, Mind, Soul

[Hypothetical]

Marvin shook his head as he listened to the other clears. "Probably conditioning. Easier for an assassin to kill if he doesn't have emotional baggage in the way. I'm sure Evana would have no more compunctions about it than he would. That's what my experience says." He looked at their surprised glances with a touch of seriousness he kept as a cop.

"I was an Olympus Downside cop. Not too far from the Pit too. You have to deal with all the tough elements of society where I was stationed."

[Rorx]

George smiled at Anatole as he put the food in front of Evava, then quickly looked between the two before asking Anatole, "Is the resembelance between you natural or a shifted thing?"

Smiling at the answer, almost regardless of what it is, George turns to address the Ambassador's question. "Oh biotech is definitely organic rather than mechanical. Junior here," he indicates the biotech device that covers his right ear, "needs to be injected with food and checked over regularly. Having said that most biotech is less intelligent than a bug. Tesser of this ship annd the biocomputers that are underdevelopment are the places to watch for true artifiial intelligence to my mind."

[Special Agent Gary Samson]

"So he's a sociopath? Gee, that makes me feel better," he said with a hard edge of sarcasm. John looked over at the other table and wondered just what it was the Norça were here for. "I think I'd rather he was a robot." He looked down at his food and pushed it around the plate, eating little as he watched the others in the room.

[Evana]

She was mostly silent until now, taking in the conversation with polite smiles spread attractively across glossed lips. George's politeness in setting her food down for her was welcomed with a silently mouthed 'thank you' as to not disturb the on going discussion.

She replied to the Ambassador when she was settled into her meal. "To be honest, Anatole and I know very little of the mission. We were selected by Pai de Norça personally, but were told we'd be given the specifics by the Commanding Officers once we arrived. This mission is important for all the Orders, and Anatole and I feel very honored to be part of such a large joint effort like this. We surely do all our Orders a great deal of credit."

She smiled at George, and although he asked Anatole she decided to speak up. "No, although my hair is obviously an alteration, I also possess a few hearing and vision modifications."

She stood up, her voice rose up slightly so that the two tables could hear her. "Which is why I'd like to take this opportunity to make myself very clear. First, gentlemen," she glared at Marvin and John. "Make sure, before you insult someone that one of them doesn't have hearing thirty times greater than normal. Second, yes. Anatole and I are 'aggressive negotiators, or 'assassins' if you will, but what I will not abide is for a single person aboard this ship to look down upon, whisper, murmur and in any way degrade the two of us Norça as if they have not only forgotten that we are in a war, but also wish to pretend that every pair of hands aboard this vessel is stainless but ours."

"Perhaps John," Her five inch heels echoed in the now all but silent room as Evana caused an impressive scene. "Perhaps my brother is every bit the sociopath you just claimed he might me." She leaned into him. "And at the end of the day, you're a coward for speaking behind his back. Do you think what we do is easy? Do think it's something we take some measure of pride in? If so you can add "moron" to "coward" as well. We are trained for a task, and that task is to remove opposition in a manner that would result in the least amount casualties on both sides. We take no pleasure in what we do, but this is a war ladies and gentleman, and we, like all those in this room, serve a purpose."

Evana leaned against the other table, her palms flat on its surface. "We are here to help you, and a support you. We are a team, and if we're already, after less than an hour, spreading dissent amongst our fellows, then it's good to know exactly who among you I can rely on out there." She pushed up and away from the table, giving everyone of the little rumormongers a cold stare. "Enjoy your meal."

She returned to her table with nothing else to say to them, collapsing in very unladylike fashion into her chair. "Asshole."

[Grim]

Anatole's pale gaze had been studying Marvin and John as Evana told them off like schoolboys. As his sister strode back to the table, he continued to stare at them for a long moment before she dropped back into her chair. Then, and only then, did he turn back to his meal as though nothing had happened.

Except for the faintest of faint smiles he gave Evana.

He glanced at Lien then, head cocked as he considered something. "Other than the honour of serving aboard a ship such as this on an assignment as crucial as ours, I do possess a small personal interest." With curious delicacy, he popped a morsel of food into his mouth. "I am hoping to collect samples of flora from other worlds. I have heard that some truly unique and wonderful species can be found." A touch of warm enthusiasm entered his voice, just for a second, then faded again, his features returning to their bland stoicism.

"Naturally, that will be a lesser priority, behind the success of the mission and the safety of those contributing to that success."

[Rorx]

George had already had the minicomputer strapped to his left arm audio recording what was going on, but as Evana started to her feet he rested his left forearm on the table and Interfaced to give his agent it's orders.

"I want a photo and short video of each individual person that you can get an image of until we reach my assigned quarters. Monitor the audio recording to ascertain when I reach my quarters. Then when connected to the ship network identify each of the people and access all their available profiles. In addition I will need floorplans and available technical details of the ship."

When Evana flopped into her seat George wordlessly pours her a glass of water and passes it to her before addressing Anatole, "I know it may not be ideal, but even in a war zone I'm sure you could snatch enough time to grab some samples for pressing. Taking live samples and having the space aboard to recreate their environment enough to keep them healthy for a prolonged period might be more difficult however."

[z008]

Lien winced internally at the friction already occurring amongst the psions of the crew. This mission was likely to be tense without the crew at each other's throats; this was not the most auspicious of starts. She made a mental note to get together with the mental health professionals on board and try to figure out something to do to help everyone integrate better; they didn't have to be best friends for life, but getting along would be essential to the success of the mission.

Her stomach deciding this was just the right time to no longer like anything on her plate, the Ambassador set the piece of cheese she'd been nibbling on down and smiled at Anatole and George. "Well, given the planets and colonies we'll be visiting first, it shouldn't take much to create a small garden area here on the ship; those places have environments fairly close to Earth. Perhaps we could speak with the quartermaster on board about finding a space and the tools for such a project. I bet such a garden would make a wonderful and exotic place to relax."

[Rorx]

George very briefly stares at the Ambassador in disbelief before looking down at his plate and eating a few bites.

I guess all her training was in the social 'sciences' rather than the physical or biological ones.

"We could do that and be lucky, but my initial impression would be that each planets plants would need its own native soil, solar spectrum and perhaps temperature, gravity and atmosphere controls."

George pauses for another bite to eat before nodding to Anatole, "But I suspect our new associate has already considered this."

[Special Agent Gary Samson]

John groaned inwardly and bore the woman's scorn, deserved or not he had earned it. As she walked away he stood up. "Excuse me, its one thing to make an accusation, its wholly another to walk away without so much as allowing the accused to speak in his own defense."

John shifted uneasily, he clearly didn't like this many people watching, let alone listening to him speak. "I will not deny having said thing which may be construed as both derogatory and or insulting." He held up a hand the index finger alone extended, "However what your eavesdropping did not pick up it seems what the humor and sarcasm with which I made my comments. Do I think your bother cold? Yes, I do, that is the impression I have after such limited time in his company.

"Do I honestly think he could be a Qin, a bio-android, or a sociopath? Of course not, let's not be silly." He turns to Erin, Amica, and Marvin, "I think the humor in my statements was clear was it not?" They nodded in agreement and John turned back to the others, "Perhaps I should have been more careful, perhaps with telepaths and shapeshifters on board I should watch what I think and where I sit as well." John was now flushed deep red and clearly uncomfortable with his little speech. "But I think that's going a bit far. So I'm going to apologize for what I said, though it was in clear jest; Anatole, if I have offended you, you have my deepest regret. I am no coward however, an that insult was not made in jest." He stood silent looking at both of the Norça, waiting for acknowledgement from one, and an apology from the other.

[Grim]

Anatole turned in his seat once more as John stood and spoke, remaining expressionless throughout, then tilting his head to one side and regarding the man for a moment that seemed to stretch out. Finally, he spoke.

"I am not offended." His voice was as cold and bland as before. "There are no words you or anyone could say about me that has the power to offend me." His lips and eyes tightened then looked at Marvin and John, pale eyes mercilessly boring into theirs. "You have, however, offended and upset my sister. For her sake, and the sake of the mission, I forgive you so that this may be put to rest."

Without any further pause he turned back to his dining companions, glancing at George. "I have numerous modifiable habitat cylinders that I have had brought on board. And it should not be difficult to cultivate living specimens. At the very least, I can store viable cuttings in cryals. I do not -press- flowers." A look of distaste flickered across his bland expression for a second, then he turned to Lien, more warmth entering his arctic countenance as he regarded her.

"I would very much enjoy the challenge of creating a small garden aboard the ship, as long as it is practical to do so. A fine suggestion, Ambassador." He actually smiled then. "Do you perhaps enjoy floral gardens, then?"

[z008]

Mei snorted from her place next to Lien, and the ambassador flushed and looked down at her hands for a moment. Mai recovered enough to give a perfunctory apology, "My apologies." She gave her friend a rueful look. "The Ambassador has, however, managed to drown a cactus, starve a venus fly trap, and freeze an entire row of potted ivy-"

"Thank you, Mai," she cut in with the acerbic inflection only friends can truly perfect with each other. She glanced up at Anatole and smiled apologetically, "I love sitting in gardens, and smelling flowers, but if you care for them, you'll never leave them in my care. I would be more than happy to help arrange things for a garden on the ship, though. It'd be a great place for-" she stumbled over her words for a moment, coming up short, then continued on, "for crew members to relax and socialize with each other."

[Rorx]

George eat a few bites while Anatole and Lien spoke then addressed Anatole himself, "My apologise for the pressing comment. With the talk of war I remembered a story of an American naturalist who was a soldier in the Second World War and who took pressings of various plants during his combat assignments in asia. Of course you are correct and cryals where available are a much better solution."

He turns then to ladies sitting around Anatole and himself, "And do any of you have hobbies you would care to share? For myself I used to play a few sports, but since starting my training I have largely been to busy and had to make do with participating in VR."

[Evana]

She was still to irritated at John to even bother looking at him, the spoiled little rich girl somewhere still inside her was being stubborn and refused to give John nothing but silence as she daintily chewed her meal. She could have been a bit more mature about it, the spoiled princess inside of her refused to give an inch.

She giggled at the comments made by Mei, and smiled brightly at Ambassador's admission of possessing black thumbs. "I understand completely, Ambassador. I have no idea how he does it, after thirty minutes of trying to help him once he was never happier to be rid of me." She smiled and looked to her brother. "And don't give me that look, it wasn't that bad... was it?"

"It was, yes." Anatole replied calmly and seemed to smile without actually smiling.

She stuck her tongue out at him briefly and then laughed softly. "There's gratitude for you." She looked to Goerge. "I enjoy literature, anthropology, swimming and meditation."

[Special Agent Gary Samson]

It took everything he could muster to not visibly slump with relief when Anatole apparently accepted his apology. Now John stood there waiting for his own apology from the blue haired Norça, an apology he apparently wasn't going to get. "Sit down, please John, let's just try and have a meal?" Erin's voice wasn't quite pleading but she was earnestly hoping to let this whole thing slide.

John shook his head, "I'm suddenly very much not hungry." He tossed the napkin, which had clung to his pants when he stood, to the table and headed for the door as anger began to percolate up and replace embarrassment and shame. As he left the room the doors shushed shut behind him and he began to wonder if he was really cut out for this mission.

[Rorx]

George turns and watchs John 'storm' out of the room, and takes the oppurtunity to subvocalise another order to his agent "Make getting his profile a priority when you get a chance to do them."

Turning back to the table he addresses Mei and Lein, "and what about you ladies, any hobbies? Or does your work with the Ministry of Psionic Affairs keep you too busy?"

[z008]

Lien sighed slightly as John left. I probably should have done more to help that.

Aloud she merely smiled at George and answered, "I enjoy playing games and cooking. I'm rather hoping to pick up new recipes while we're visiting the colonies and Qinshui; I love trying out new foods."

Mai nodded, "We should have a dinner party at some point. She's really quite the cook. For me, I'm love studying languages and ancient history."

[Krul]

At about that moment, just as John left the room, the first officer who had directed the Ensign to guide everyone here walked into the Dinning Hall, with someone else at his side. "Ladies and Gentleman, Crew of the Xiao Dao, I would like to introduce, Captain Cedric Kerris."

The man who stepped forward appeared to be healthy, in good shape, with black hair, green eyes and caucasian features. He walked over to where Lien was, and he bowed, in a smooth and charming manner. "Ambassador, it is an honor to met you..." He looked at the others sitting with her. "To meet all of you, in fact."

[z008]

Lien stood and greeted the Captain, trying to match his charm and confidence and getting it about halfway. "It is an honor to meet you as well, Captain Kerris."

The food had helped and she was feeling a bit better. Hopefully this round of introductions would go a little better than the last.

[Evana]

She was still fuming over John and the attitude was evident in her eyes as she ate. When the Captain arrived there was visible change in her posture, mannerisms, and mood. With both Lien and Evana standing to greet him, the Captain suddenly became a very popular guy.

Unlike Lien, who had made it about half way in her charms, Evana seemed to possessed a certain confidence, but it was an act she put on for the sake of the Captain while her temper still flared beneath the surface. "I have to agree with the Ambassador, Captain Kerris, it is an honor to meet you as well."

[Rorx]

George wiped his lips with his napkin, then stood and offered his hand to the Captain, "Captain, George Kalnan, part of the Orgotek Operation detail for the ship. If you have a moment I had a question? I wondered if you had heard what ships were to be joining us as a protection force?"

[Krul]

"I assume you mean what sort of defenses and weapons, we have a full load of hybrids, bioVargs and other ships, and this ship is armed itself. But if you mean any other ships coming with us, the Xiao Dao is the first of the Jumpships to be completed, we'll be making the initial jumps alone."

[Rorx]

George nods slightly uncertainly, "Yes, I meant the ships assigned as escorts. I believe our first Jump will be to the predominantly Chinese colony on Khantze La Ga? So I guess that most of the major escort ships are Chinese? I just wondered what types of ships they might be, it's become an interest of mine since I recently started learning to pilot myself."

[z008]

Lien regarded the Orgotech psion with a slight frown and furrowed brow. "Mr. Kalnan, I think there has been some misunderstanding. There are no escort ships for the Xiao Dao. As the only jumpship yet completed, there are no other ships that could keep up with us."

Her voice dropped slightly, a cue to the more socially adept that she wasn't entirely pleased by the prospect of her next words. "We're on our own out here, Mr. Kalnan." She motioned to the others seated with her, "That's part of the reason for the high level of coorperation between all of the psionic orders and the world governments. The Legion can provide soldiers on the ship itself as protection, and Orgotech and Norça have provided state of the art weaponry, but the ships will have to wait until they've been built, and that is waiting on both reasources and the technological breakthroughs to apply jumpship technology to smaller vessels."

She'd done her homework.

[Rorx]

George loked from the Captain to the Ambassador irritation rising that he tried to keep from his face and voice as he replied, "Yes, Ambassador. I'm aware that we have so far failed to reduce the Tesser drive by any meaningful amount. However, a paper I came across during my Noetics studies and preparation for this mission suggested that the Jumpships would be equipped with external docking points for upto four Frigate class vessels and around a dozen Hybrids to act as escorts for the Jumpships. These ships would be transported along with the Jumpship in a similar way that an Upeo Ferryman was able to Transportal everything within 10's or 100's of metres."

He turns to face the two equally again as he finishes, "Perhaps this was an early proposal that was later dropped?"

[Evana]

"Well," Evana said as she sat back down to continue enjoying her meal. "Perhaps my English is a bit rusty, and I'm no scientist or engineer, but when the Captain said alone I took that to mean 'without any others being included or involved'."

She was being a smart ass and it was obvious. Apparently she was still bitter about the John incident. "Anie, please remind me to refer to my Webster's later. It appears my definition of 'alone' is in conflict with some others. I'd really love to make sure I get the proper definition down, to avoid communication errors, of course."

[Rorx]

George turns to Evana with a raised eyebrow, a little surprised at the tone of her interjection, "He also said that 'we had a full load of Hybrids, BioVARG's and other ships'. It's these Hybrids and 'other ships' that I was interested in finding out about their number, type and nationality."

[z008]

Lien stepped into the breach and bowed to George, "My apologies, it was a misunderstanding all around. I think, perhaps, the others did not think of the ships docked within the Xiao Dao itself as escort ships, especially after the comment of Legion protection. Please, there was no offense meant."

So much tension....and we haven't even left orbit yet. What have I gotten in to?

[Rorx]

George smiles at the two ladies, "No offence was assumed or taken Ambassador. If it is as I saw in that report then the Frigates would be docked behind the 'wings' of the Jumpship and some of the hybrids docked to the outside of the main body rather than being docked within the Jumpship. I believe the idea is that the wings help form a bubble behind them that the other ships travel through Jumpspace within."

[Krul]

"Well now, that at least make sense, the way you were asking, I, and it seems some of the others here thought you were asking something else. "We have 4 Scarab Frigates, and 20 Locusts, counting the 8 Locusts attached to the Scarabs. Some of the Crew will be living within the Scarabs. Each of the Scarab cargo bays also have 4 to 12 bioVargs within, and two of them have Circada's as well. Does that answer your question better?" The Captain responded.

[Rorx]

George smiles and nods to the Captain, "Thank you Captain. Yes that was the basis of my question. I apologise to all for my poor wording and the confusion it has caused."

He turns and sits back into his place, dictating the list of escorts into the minicomp using his subvocal mike as he does so.

[Krul]

"Good." He paused a moment, then gestured to the young woman who had entered behind him. "This is Gunsou Astrid Magnussen, she's the commander of the units assigned to the scouts and to yourself, ambassador."

[Astrid Alfarsdottir]

"I thank you, Captain Kerris," came the surprisingly cheerful reply as the tall, bright-eyed blonde approached around his left side. Her pale hair was pulled back into a low, braided knot at the nape of her neck, and a startling band of cobalt ink masked her cornflower blue eyes. She paused deferentially a half-step behind the Captain, folding her arms behind her back as she surveyed the assembled group.

Though not formally attired, her fitted "work" uniform was immaculate, and bore the brilliant starburst insignia of the Phoenix Squadron on the shoulder. The toes of her boots reflected the faces of those present, her belt buckle was a waist-level mirror, and the grip of a sizable sidearm protruded just-so from a very visible holster at her hip.

"I am very much looking forward to working with all of you," she said brightly as she nodded at the group, her crisp, sing-song voice as much an indicator of her heritage as her name.

[z008]

The petite Asian woman dressed in silk bowed to Astrid and smiled. "As am I, Ms. Magnussen. Please, join us. We were having lunch and getting to know one another. I am Lien Mei. This is..." She trailed off, not because she'd forgotten who was who, but to gesture to the others and allow them to introduce themselves however they wished.

After the round of names, ranks, and other such identifiers was finished, she mentally added up the people she'd met and asked the Captain, "Are we assembled on the ship now, or are there others that we are still awaiting their arrival?"

[Rorx]

George looks up at the new arrival from his seat and gives a semi-wave/salute, "George Kalnan, Orgotek Operations. I guess our teams will be working alongside yours for some of this trip Gunsou."

[Special Agent Gary Samson]

Elsewhere John walked through the ship. Only partially crewed and still in dry dock the ship was eerily silent, only the occasional sounds of the biosystems and his own footfalls disturbed the deep quiet as he roamed the vacant halls.

He considered looking in on the gathering again but opted not to. The thought of it made him both angry and ashamed. Angry about the Norça woman's eavesdropping and ashamed that he had been in a righteous fury about it. ISRA trained its people well and one of the things they trained was the respect of privacy. John knew he shouldn't hold her to his standards even is she certainly was holding him to her own.

So instead he wandered alone in the quiet and cleared his mind and thoughts. He sought to center himself and find an answer to his own doubts.

[Grim]

"Anatole. Norca." The rumpled, unremarkable-looking blond murmured without any change in his tone, expression or body language as he sat in his chair. Pale green eyes studied the Legionnaire, noting her garb, bearing, the hip the sidearm was worn on and perhaps a dozen other details in one dispassionate sweep from feet to hairline.

If he thought or felt anything, it was carefully hidden. The faint traces of animated humanity he had displayed when talking about his passion for horticulture gone as though they hadn't existed.

[Evana]

The fresh new face helped to seethe the rising irritation growing in Evana's belly. The Ambassador and, of course, her brother seemed down to earth but she honestly had no idea what planet these other Psion's were from. One had only met his team for ten minutes before he's dishing out insults and spreading dissension among the ranks while the Orgotek guy, instead of properly and politely greeting the Captain begins an interrogation!

Sweet Jesus, please just fucking shoot me now if this is what I'll be stuck in space with for the next, oh, several years... She thought to herself as her middle finger and thumb massaged her temples. Anatole could tell she was already at her wits end with 'these people'.

Never the less she stood up and presented a smile that was pleasant, warm, and sincere (forced as it was at the moment). Again, Evana displayed her prowess at faking sincerity. "Hello Gunsou Magnussen," She used formal titles once more and extended her hand. "I am Evana, Anatole is my twin brother and I assure you he apologizes for his improper greeting." All five inches of her 'tramp heel' swung sideways and thwacked Anatole on the shin. She glared at him for a sec through pursed lips. "Right Anatole?" She smiled widely.

"From us both, truly, it's a pleasure to meet you."

[Hypothetical]

Marvin turned around to Ms. Magunessen. "Marvin Melrose, ISRA. John Saxon left a few minutes ago, so I'll have to introduce him later if I can." A quick smile completed his features.

The tone was smooth, much like his wish to smooth over the ISRA faux pas and move onward in a better manner than before.

[Grim]

Anatole blinked once at Evana as she thwacked him with her stripper-slippers, then turned his gaze back to Astrid.

"A pleasure." he echoed his twin. "And my sister is correct. I meant no offense through my economy of words." He might have been reading a stock-report off a page, sans the emotionally-charged content.

[Astrid Alfarsdottir]

Astrid's smile was easy and all-encompassing as everyone introduced themselves. It broadened with the clasping of Evana's softer, more delicate hand in her larger one, and did not waver even in the face of Anatole's stoicism. After all, she reasoned, were the men of her home not much the same?

"This will be very exciting, ja? I am very much looking forward to crushing many of the alien scum alongside you!" The awkward silence that followed did nothing to dim her apparent enthusiasm, until the Captain cleared his throat, leaning over to murmur something in her ear. She blinked, then laughed unreservedly at her mistake and shook her head. "Nei, nei, the other aliens, not the nice ones who give us such wonderful vessels! Of course I would not want to be crushing them!"