OOC: W/ [@White Feather]

“Wait, you know what I’m saying?” Innes was somewhat taken aback. “But… how?”
Was it that clip thing? The weird electric tentacle? Did she know all the time? How strange, and yet utterly fascinating - a creature that knew her language.

“I...  yeah, I’m okay.” Innes thought it best not to mention the strange moment they just had. Might take it the wrong way. And there were Knights aboard the ship, so if they started asking questions…

Speaking of the ship, she still had a squad on board waiting for her. Turning around to face the craft, she waved at the cockpit. The soldiers inside responded almost immediately, and within seconds five well-armed and fully armoured soldiers stood just behind Innes.

“I hope I’m not expecting too much by bringing them all along. I don’t mean to impose…”

“We are actually talking through our translation programs.I hear you and you me from the audio system in my helmet. The device I planted on us basically reads your thoughts and translates them.” Astra explained, wondering if these people could appreciate the science behind it. Nonetheless, the science was apparently working rather well.

When Innes said she was alright, Astra nodded. “Very well. If you start feeling badly, tall us. We are not sure your atmosphere and everything is entirely habitable to your people. Now, if you please?” Astra said, motioning to the elevator again and leading the way. “your troops can keep their weapons, but be advised there are extensive intruder countermeasures in the ship. They may as well leave them in your ship - it will not be manipulated without your agreement.” the captain said concerning the others, “but they are welcome to join us.”

Innes nodded solemnly. Paardveid really did have a lot of catching up to do. Translation software, military countermeasures, ships the size of a small moon - it made them look like fur-wearing primitives in comparison. Which, to these people, they probably were.

But now that she was here, what did she talk about? “Hey, we’re from a planet far away that is absolutely dwarfed by yours. Please don’t hurt us?” Was that the kind of thing the famous Chancellor Innes was going to have to resort to? No way.

“Alright, chaps, you heard the lady - no shooting, no hurting, no religious questioning. Sergeant, I’m looking at you. Follow me, stay close and for Konja’s sake, don’t touch anything.”

After catching up with her host, Innes started to look around the ship proper. Everything on board this vessel was at least twice as powerful as anything at home. She half-thought of asking to borrow some of it, but quickly shook that idea from her head. It would be of no consequence to these chaps if they advanced or died out - which was exactly why she was here.

“All of this stuff is amazing. How did you get it all? It’s like being in a workshop run by a magician” if that magician liked to make his guests feel annoying buzzes over their skin and give them migraines, she thought, but didn’t say.

Astra smiled. It was like teaching young children. she could go on about everything, but she figured all was in due time. First she lead them to a briefing room and motioned for them to take seat. “I’d like to start again with introductions, now that we can actually understand. I am captain Astra of the Faira people. We are a race of explorers and we do not come as a threat, we are merely passing by and would ask your kind to allow us this passage. We can of course offer something in return. I need to ask you - if we were to take you there, would you facilitate contact with your leadership for us?”

Introductions. Of course. she thought that her simple language in the hanger might have been enough, but as the good lady suggests.

“My name is Innes. Chancellor of Paardveid, and I suppose the…” she sighed. Why did the theocrats insist on having such long, complicated names? “Loyal Servants and Knights of the Konjan Faith - though between you and me, Paardveid is long enough.”

She said they were explorers, but that didn’t add up. The probe had definitely said that the life was in a small, fixed area. If the ship couldn’t move, that was one thing, but then why did the probe supposedly pick up on a planet?

Whatever. It was unimportant.

“You know, from what I’ve seen, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from passing by. Why don’t you just fly past anyway? The army shouldn’t be patrolling the stars just yet.” Right as she said it, she regretted it. This is what professionals called “Giving too much away”. She was inviting destruction by saying all their weaknesses out loud.

“I mean, yeah, sure, I could get the council to talk to you if you want. You might have to use our gear, though - our computers won’t be compatible with yours, after all…”

Astra was surprised to find out their guest did in fact belong to a governing body. Who sent their governors on a hastily built ships to the edges of one’s system? Well, sure, Admiral Cygnus was here, but the Trigati did a good job of protecting her, certainly better than that shoe box of a shuttle Innes was found in.

the Captain’s eyes went wide as Innes shared what the Faira would definitely not disclose in a meeting like this. Strange people, had they no regard for their safety? “I do not wish to sound patronizing, but you may not want to speak about your military to people you have only just met. But to answer your question - we would not like if unknown forces were transiting our home. We merely wish to extend the same courtesy.” the captain explained.

true, if the… What was the name again? It really was a mouthful, so she supposed Paardveidians would have to do. If they refused to grant them said access and a jump node was found in the system, the Faira might just do  what she suggested, but they needed to be none the wiser.Besides, they only could gain from this deal from what Astra could see.

“We would like to speak to this council then. I do not wish to offend you but we can not exactly verify you are who you are.” Astra said, still remembering the debacle in the Machina system. They did not need another one of their contacts to be a rogue nobody. “To save time, I suggest travelling with one of our ships. The Trigati might be a bit too threatening, I will admit, but we can tow your shuttle into subspace with any of our capital ships. the trip should not take long, if that’s acceptable?”

Capital ships.  Subspace. Every word that came from the Faira’s mouth practically leaked superiority. How did so much happen without their knowledge? 
“What do you mean, you can’t verify who I am? I’m Chancellor Innes of the Paardveid Republic. Did I not say that? And anyway, how do I know you’re who you say you are? You could be a bunch of…. marauding space pirates for all I know.” Innes was offended. Incredibly offended. This was the first time in ages someone had questioned her credibility. “You might be superior, but you’re not smarter, miss. Show a bit of respect, would you?”

“Anyway, I could probably contact Weyss from here, if we’re permitted to hook up some of our equipment to yours. That is, of course, if we’re not too primitive or untrustworthy to attach something to your headache-inducing supercomputers”

An angry Innes was a rare sight. Her face went bright red, her mouth quivered and if you looked closely, you could almost see her tremble with rage. None of that alleviated the fact that, since that was combined with her small stature and youthful face, she looked more like an angry toddler that had been told to go to bed than a professional diplomat. Ever her own troops were struggling to contain giggles, so gods only knew how the Faira was supposed to react.

“It’s amazing the kinds of things that piss her off” on soldier whispered to another, not quite quietly enough.

The outburst took the Faira by surprise. Why was she still here? This was captain Libra’s territory! Astra was no diplomat! She did well with the machines before because they were exactly that - no emotions attached, just logic. Maybe [i]now[/i] the admiral would see it fit to relieve her? Astra could only hope.

“If we were pirates, would we bother talking at all?” Astra suggested, trying to keep her voice calm and not let her distress show. “And you just might be right about the smarts. When we first encountered another species, it turned out the contact that presented itself to us as a diplomat was in fact a rogue. So please, pardon our caution.”

Astra took a deep breath and sighed. “Anyway, We have the capability to make said contact, so it should not be a problem.” she confirmed, before realizing something else the chancellor said. “Headache inducing? I did ask you if you were alright. A moment, please.” Astra said, thinking quickly. How could a computer affect them? It had to do with EM. Tapping the controls on the panel in front of her, an eerie blue glow surrounded the walls of the room as a shield enveloped them - one of the countermeasures Astra mentioned before. but right now, the shield was blocking almost all EM radiation that would come from the outside. “Is this better?”

For someone who had just been yelled at, the Faira was taking it pretty well. She didn’t shout, scream or demand - Temair would -, but handled the whole thing very rationally. Still, she had managed to offend her host and it wouldn’t be right to continue without an apology.

“I-I’m sorry It’s been ages since someone last called me a liar, it’s kind of a sore spot.”

She still wasn’t sure though. Some nations liked to keep pets and concubines. Maybe this one was just trying to win her over. Though, would that be so bad? No responsibilities, no jobs, just lay on your back and look pretty - everything she was good at.

Nope, she was getting distracted. Concubinage second, duties to the Republic first

What truly took her breath away, out of all the things on this ship, was those blue shields. The second they were up, the pain started to fade.  As she stood there, surrounded by machines, the most she could feel was a little tingle. The first Sinnsyk in history to be this close to computers and barely feel a thing.

“How in the name of the Old Gods did you do that?” She stammered, earning glares from the more religious of her soldiers. “This is amazing - I feel like a new person”

Anyway, down to business. She wanted to talk to the big guy, well, that was who she was going to talk to. How would Weyss react? Confusion? Terror? Joy? She could practically see the look on his face.

“Captain, run back to the ship and disconnect the comms system. Bring it back as quickly as you can, if you please.”

The soldier returned with a makeshift system that looked about as slapjob as the craft it had been on. There were wires hanging out of it, loose knobs and wonky buttons and a screen that was somewhat discolored from age. Still, it was the only thing backwards enough to connect to Paardveid and the machines on board would give them the strength they needed to make contact.

“If you don’t mind, we have to plug this thing into one of your things” Innes explained, hoping it didn’t sound too suggestive. “You don’t happen to have a port you're not likely to ever need to use again, are you?”

Having located a somewhat suitable drive, the soldier that got the machine started taking it apart. He unplugged things, disconnected others and made quite a mess of the station, but in the end, the little device was hooked up to the ship - no, it was more than that. The little box had been attached to it. It was unlikely they would ever get it back without causing irreparable damage to both the ship and box. Ah well, they had plenty others at home.