OOC: W/ [@White Feather]

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[b][i]FD Trigati, A while later[/i][/b]
Astra let Innes have the co-pilot seat on the way up, turning the shuttle in a way that would allow her to see her home from the large window. Astra was visibly relieved by the lowering gravity as they left the planet’s sphere of influence.

Once on board the destroyer, she dismissed the guards and lead Innes to a bunk room. “I’m sorry, I know our quarters are nothing much, but this is a warship. Once we got to a civilian ship, we’ll be able to do better. I suppose you’ll be staying with me for the while, so I’ll see to have something arranged for you. I have to go report to the Admiral, but would you like a tour of the ship later?”

Innes had a funny feeling in her tummy. It was a queer mix of excitement, nerves and anti-gravity. What did Weyss mean, he would decide when the time is right?  And why did everyone look so upset. Ah well. It was of little consequence up here. Plus, it meant that she had all the time in the world to better know these weird Fairy people. Especially Astra.

“Is it a good idea for you to leave me alone?” she wondered “I mean, I might end up doing something that I’m not supposed to. I still don’t know all the customs and rules of this place yet.”

Astra expected as much. She wasn’t sure how to handle this properly. Was raising a child like this? The only person who could tell her that… hey wait a minute. “You know what? How would you like to go see the admiral as well? After all you have a diplomatic status, you’ll meet all four of them sooner or later. There is one thing I need to say though - there’s going to be a resemblance, for yes, i am the admiral’s daughter. Please try not to mention that, it was hard enough to be allowed to be in the same fleet as her, and we had to keep our relation under the lid.”

“You mean,” Innes voice went quiet, with the air of one imparting a secret “That you’re not meant to be here?” Well, it seems like they had more in common than they thought.
“Well, yes, I would like to meet this admiral fellow. I suppose it’s important to make as many friends in the high-ups as possible.”

“Well, It’s more of a case of me not supposed to be anywhere near the front lines. The fact that we’re family was in my opinion used as an excuse. I don’t mean to brag, but I am sort of a national treasure. I designed both our faster-than-light drives AND our shielding. They want me safe home in a lab, but you try to spend two hundred years doing just math and stuff. It got too boring.” the captain complained. “Very well then. Let us stop by the manufacturing on our way to have your measures taken for the suit.”

[i]Command deck…[/i]
Cygnus was busy reviewing the reports. The cruisers have found several jump nodes out of the system, but none stable enough to allow anything larger than a gunship through. It would appear that this system was a dead end. Good thing too. Until the RLC could get their ships modernized, they wouldn’t be able to go too much further anyway. and there was yet another system to explore beyond Machina.

She was interrupted from her work by the comms officer who notified her Astra would like to report. Confirming, she left for the briefing room. She was not ready to still see the Sinnsyk on her ship. “Captain?” she asked, her tone enough to ask for clarification.

What Innes would see could have been a mime show. The Admiral and the Captain were almost a carbon copy. the only difference was that where Astra’s skin pigment and eyes were blue, Cygnus’ were dark red.

“Admiral. I have successfully negotiated free passage through the system. The Sinnsyk sent chancellor Innes as a diplomatic contact. They expressed interest in joining the MDA, so I suggest we tell Carn to send one of his ships to get a picture of these people on his own. Pending his approval, I recommend we allow them in. We have little to gain in technology, but they have certain abilities that would be of great use.”

Nodding, the admiral thought for a while. “Very well, I’ll translate your recommendation to the other admirals. I assume you would like us to deliver the Chancellor to the Hexus then?” Cygnus asked. Captain Libra will not be pleased with her colony ship being turned into a diplomatic hub, however it seemed like the most logical choice.

“Yes, and if it is still on the table, I will request to be transferred there as well. I have been working on ways to integrate RLC technology into our ships, and it would be convenient to be near the source.” at those words Cygnus finally smiled a little. “Very well, i’ll sign the papers once we’re there. thank you, and good work.” the admiral said and turned to Innes, her red eyes studying her for a second: “If it is alright with you, ma’am?”

Innes was more than a little stunned. Where was the contrast? The difference? If it weren’t for those enchanting eyes, how would she tell the difference between Astra and the Admiral? 

Oh crap, she’s addressing you. Say something, Innes, say something smart!

“Y-yes, I don’t see a problem with that.” In truth, she hadn’t really been listening. she was more concerned with how two people could look so alike bar one tiny and easily overlooked change. She tried to look clever and serious, but her face just wouldn’t contort the right way and in the end, she looked more frightened than anything else. Which was justified, she supposed, but probably not best to display.

Something about the way the Admiral and Astra talked to each other reminded her of the way Weyss and Temair spoke to each other - very slight aggression, using long and fancy words like ‘transferred’ and ‘diplomatic contact’ and ‘pending his approval’. And then she got a picture of Weyss and Temair as Fairy people in her head and couldn’t help but let out a giggle. The more she tried to suppress it, the more it came out and she tittered unstoppably to herself until the image was no longer funny.

The admiral nodded, trying her hardest to ignore the fit of giggles. If Astra wanted to spend time with the alien, she could have her. as for Cygnus, she’d love to visit a system void of life for once. “Wery well. We’ll be leaving for Machina in an hour. I suggest you get a suit made for the chancellor in that time, subspace seems to be rather volatile in this system.” the admiral finished and left.

“Well, that went well.” Astra said, unhappy about having to go back behind the lines. but what she said was true, and it was necessary evil. She already had an idea on how to use the RLC FTL gates to launch fighters, and more. “Very well, to the lab it is. I think I’d rather take care of your suit personally. I don’t know if we’ll have time to see the ship, but there should be plenty of that once we get where we’re headed. Would you like to talk in the meantime? I’d be interested in hearing about your history.” the captain said, waiting for Innes to join her before she lead them to the labs - her own little kingdom.

Having an attack of giggles is not uncommon for Innes, so she knew what to expect when she got over it. These people might be foreign, but look at their faces close enough and - yup, there it was. Thinly veiled contempt. A shame - she was planning on being really clever and funny.

The Admiral took her leave, and Astra seemed to be unhappy about it. Maybe being off the front lines was a good thing, Innes thought. Less danger and you’re more likely to do something that benefits the race as a whole. She thought of saying this, but decided against it in the end.

“Do I [i]have[/i] to wear one of those weird space-suits? They always feel too tight and cutting and they never let my skin breathe.” She huffed in a most undiplomatic manner

But, in the end, she toddled along like a good little diplomat. Sometimes that was the best thing to do.

“D’you mean my history or the Republic’s?” she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful - and failing.

When Innes complained about the suit, Astra grinned a spiky, shiny smile. “Challenge accepted. I’ll make you a suit you’ll never want anything else. But yes, I’m afraid I’ll have to insist. You don’t want to have just cloth on you when the ship rocks and you’re tossed about ten meters like a ragdoll.” the captain shuddered at the thought.

“Both, if you don’t mind.” the Faira smiled. She did not want to ask for the chancellor’s personal history not to sound prying, but since she offered…

They arrived at the labs soon enough. The inside was probably the exact opposite of what Innes expected. Equipment was [i]everywhere[/i], lying without any semblance of order. The strangest thing was a cot built out of empty cases and a sheet of sound insulating foam. Astra’s little backdoor for when she spent too much time thinking and needed some time to let the lamps in her suit recharge her body.

She found a chair on the other side of the room and offered it for Innes to sit while she fetched a scanner. Of course, she wouldn’t need this particular scanner just to take her measures, but she would accommodate the Patriarch’s request and see if she could figure out something about Innes’s condition - as long as it remained uninvasive. “This might feel uncomfortable for you, Em and all, but it shouldn’t take more than few seconds. ready?” she asked before she would turn the machine on.

“How uncomfortable are we talking?” Innes flashed her a grin. This lab was huge by her standards. There were things literally everywhere. It looked like some angry giant had marched into a perfectly nice lab and had a temper tantrum. Bits and bobs looked stuck together in patterns that she just could not fathom. There was a pile of something that looked like boxes and foam - closer inspection revealed it was some sort of makeshift bed. She shuddered at the thought of having to sleep in such a place - who knows what might happen? And Innes tended to thrash. Actually, that shouldn’t be a problem. She didn’t think she could mess the place up worse.

“Do you mind waiting until after I’ve got the monkey-suit on before we start baring our souls to each other? It’ll be hard to focus if you’re fiddling about with me while I talk.”

“Just a few seconds of nothing worse than what you felt when you first came aboard. In fact you’ve gone through a security checkpoint that would have hit you harder than this I imagine.” Astra said and switched the machine on. “It’ll take a while to make the components, and before that I have to do some changes to the design. See, our people come form a place where the star was shining a very intense red light, and it’s how our bodies get their energy.” Astra gone into encyclopedia mode.

Speaking of the suits, she needed to shed this god-awful diplomatic attire. “Come have a look.” she pointed to where her jet black experimental suit stood on a rack. Fiddling with the controls on the wrist, the machine powered up and made a few clicks as locks released and the suit opened to admit the wearer. Astra pointed to the padding on the inside, where giant lamps were built in on the inside. “Naturally there’s no sun on the ship, so we had to get around it. We carry our sun with us. It is not so efficient though, hence the bunks. At some point we still have to lie down and recharge for the lack of better terms, despite the fact that we don’T need to sleep like you do.” she gone on.

“Suppose that particular feature is one your suit can do away with.” she said and reached into one of the piles, knowing perfectly where anything was - and being probably the only one at that. She pulled out two pieces of cloth-like material: “Which padding would you like? One is a memory cloth that will practically be unrecognizable from your skin, the other is a bit more sturdy and offers more protection.”

The mention of a planet was new to Innes. She knew they must have had a homeworld but no-one had mentioned it in detail until now. “We don’t have a star. We’re all dark.” Innes wondered what having a star so close to home must be like. Warm, probably, and very bright. She was probably better off not having one.

The suit made her blanche. Jet black? Did they not have something a little lighter? Her own was always a nice, calm gray shade. “That stuff looks like something out of…” she shut herself up before she went further, not trying to offend the people who were kind enough to let her aboard their ship.

The fact that the creatures didn’t sleep was interesting. She fully understood what they meant: it was like how she had to use her journal every so often to avoid burning out. But never laying down and closing your eyes? It was an aptly alien concept. “So, what you’re saying is that you won’t be sleeping with me?” she said innocently.

But the padding. Soft and smothering or tough and rough? If she had to wear it all the time, something comfortable would go well, something she could sleep easily in. At the same time, she didn’t want to appear weak.

Practicality won out. “I’ll wear the softer one, please…” she cast eyes at the floor, cursing her scrawny frame.

“Oh don’t worry, my suit is a prototype so I didn’t bother to paint it because I’m constantly making modifications here and there. You can have yours in any color scheme you like. Most of ours are the classic grey and red. It goes a long way with us. Our homeworld used to be grey, our sun used to be red.” the Faira explained the reason behind her people’s favorite.

“To be honest I find the need to sleep as alien as you find the lack of it. To need to shut down for hours and just lie there unaware of your surroundings and unprotected? How did your kind make it to technology let alone space? I would have thought something would make you a prey a long time ago. the universe is a strange place.” Astra noted. “Look, I don’t even have those, those… eyelids you do. Our planet was always facing one side to the sun, with the dark side being practically a dead world. It is jsut strange to see life flourish on a place as dark as Paardveid. Truly interesting.”

Astra felt a little more at ease making conversation as time went. It might have been because it was one of the nerdiest conversations she had recently, but whatever worked. She was a bit taken aback by the suggestion in Innes’ inquiry, but shook it off rather quickly. “Oh, sorry. I will probably outlive you by several of your lifetimes, it will be hard enough to say goodbye to you as a friend when your time comes.” the Faira said, her tone rather gloomy. “But you’ll find the Faira rather liberal as far as relationships go. It just happens when your race is 90% female I suppose. Most of the time we find a life companion in another woman. Let’s not tell the inquisitor about that.” she smirked, wondering whether Temair would just immediately declare a crusade on them if she knew.

“Soft it is. My choice as well, the cushions just dull your sense of touch that’s limited by the hardshell already.” she agreed on Innes’ choice of material. “What’s the temperature and humidity on your world? I’ll adjust the life support system to fit you the best. As you might have probably guessed, our suits keep us rather warm.”

Oh good. They had grey after all. She hoped it was as light as the one she had brought with her.

Wait, wouldn’t that one be just as practical? They were too far into the process now to back out so it meant nothing.

“I’m surprised you noticed the eyelids. Most people think I don’t blink.” she said, pleased to see that Astra paid enough attention to details to notice.

But the discussion about relationships threw her off. Why was she talking about that? Did that have any relevance to what she was talking about?

Oh no. nononono. Oh, by the Old Gods, no. That did not just happen. Innes thought about what she said a little more carefully and her face went as bright as a cherry with sunburn.

Congratulations, Innes. You are now officially Sapphic. Welcome to the party, please watch your step and prepare for the ribbing of a lifetime.

“I didn’t - I mean, I shouldn’t... “ Words failed the diplomat as she desperately attempted to explain what she actually meant. The problem was, she didn’t quite know herself whether what the Captain was insinuating was true or not. Her face was probably brighter than the star that once lit the Faira homeworld. 

In fact, she was so shut down that she couldn’t even answer the question about the humidity and temperature. She couldn’t say anything. Her mouth would not open and for one of the few times in her life, Innes was well and truly speechless.

Swallowing didn’t help. Neither did telling herself to calm down. She just sunk to her knees, making her seem a lot smaller than she had already been. She wasn’t even upset, just lost. How do you come back from something like that?


“You aren’t the only one of your kind I met, remember? If not on you, I’d notice on some of the others. But I’m a scientist. Paying attention and observing is in my job description.” Astra shrugged.

Things took an interesting turn afterwards. She would be lying she didn’t want to make Innes feel a little awkward in return, but this was just comedy gold. “Oh? Was it something I said?” She said in a clearly mocking tone when she saw the chancellor utterly gobsmacked.

“I’ll forget this conversation if you wish.” she said when she thought she let the Sinnsyk cook for long enough. “Anyway, I think most of the standard specs will do for you. The suit shouldn’t be giving you as much of a strength boost as it does for us given your species is naturally stronger, but it will still allow you to carry a lot of stuff if you need to. I’ll have to do away with the weapons though, the added shielding that will run nigh permanently will require more power, and there shouldn’t be any action on the ‘Hexus anyway. In case you find yourself in need sometime, I’m sure we can give you a sidearm.” Well that and of course letting someone unproven walk around with a weapon was just bad idea. She did not think Innes capable of such betrayal, but the Faira did not live this long by not being careful.

It took a while for reality to come back to the Chancellor and when it did, it came in the form of her host’s mocking taunt.

“Why, why, why in the name of all that is good, merciful and holy, did you do that?” she said, almost in tears. She’d put up with some mean things in her time, but that was just… sadistic. Did she enjoy that? “What, you get off to making young ladies question themselves? You’re mean.”

Childish, yes, but it was all she could do to alleviate the pain. Anyway, duty called.

“If I can breathe, walk and otherwise survive at your standard rate, I’m sure the standard specifications will do” She wasn’t looking the Captain in the eye anymore. “Oh, and I wouldn’t give me a gun. Might do naughty things with the handle” She spat out the last line, metaphorical venom dripping from her tone. Somehow she didn’t seem to care about offending her hosts anymore

“I might be 387 years old, but I suppose I did not mature out of the need for payback just yet.” the Faira smiled, “Do you know at how many occasions you made me feel awkward in just the day we knew each other? I realize some of the time it was just being unfamiliar with our culture but calling me by my name in front of the whole hangar? The rumors that were bound to go around the ship by now will be horrible.” Astra shivered.

“Cheer up, no word leaves this room, I promise.” she tried to lift Innes’ mood as she sent a request to manufacturing to make the suit while she got busy searching for the extra parts she would need for the modifications. She would have made a comeback about the gun, but she decided there was enough awkward in the air as there was and dropped the topic.

“Oh, by the way, about sleeping and all - something else we need to set up for you? I am not sure what you need to prepare your food, keeping yourself clean and other day to day things. Better have any appliances made for you now instead of solving a crisis later.” the practical side of her mind took over.

Note to self - don’t call anyone by their name. Ever. Innes resolved to have that written down as soon as it was viable.

“You’re going to need to give me a list of things that I should and shouldn’t do.” She muttered “Don’t want to accidentally hit on anyone else. Or deliberately, come to think of it”

It would take her a while to overcome the shame she felt today. Maybe weeks, maybe months, maybe never. Stop going over it, Innes, you’ll only make it worse.

“Before we bury this subject so deep underground it’s being fried by whatever planet we buried it on’s core, if you don’t mind my asking: Do you genuinely think I may have a… thing for you?” There was no challenge in the voice, just simple curiosity. She thought it best to establish boundaries as to avoid any further awkwardness until the time was right

What did she need set up for herself? Best to go over everything. What would be important? Sleeping, eating, washing and leisure. The four main parts of life outside of work.

“Something soft and comfortable to sleep on would be nice. Preferably isolated without anyone able to sneak up on me. It’s something of a phobia. I could stay in your quarters, but that might not be entirely appropriate for now. More practical though.”

“For food, it has to be natural. Fruits and berries mostly, though a bit of meat now and then doesn’t go awry. Doesn’t matter if it’s raw, I can still get it down.”

“Cleaning… there’s a mix of two chemicals on our planet, oxygen and hydrogen. We call it water. If you get a warm tub full of water, and three types of soapwort - one for the hair, one for the body and one for more sensitive parts of the body.”

“And for fun?” she winced, awaiting a taunt “I’d like to see what your culture do to entertain themselves. I do have a book I take with me, so I could use that. You know what a book is, right? It’s like bits of paper jammed into a filey-foldery bit of paper…” Innes thought it best if she just showed the Captain the book, so she went into her bag and retrieved her diary. It was plain blue and smooth to touch, with the words ‘Innes’ Journal’ scrawled on the front.

“And that should be it…”

Thinking for a little while, Astra decided to answer the other things before coming back to the list of things-not-to-do, as that would take the most time to explain. First and foremost she needed to end this thing. “Moot point, I already said I am not interested whether you are or not, sorry. Let’s… never talk about that again.” she cut it before this got way too awkward again. “But as I said, unlike on your world, I don’t think anyone would frown upon it, hypothetically.”

“Your sleeping accommodations won’t be too hard to make then, the civilian issue quarters are good enough in that regard I think. If your food needs heat to be prepared, that shouldn’t be a problem. Ourselves as I mentioned we get most of our energy from the light, we need food practically only to heal, not to live, but it shouldn’t be hard to re-purpose some equipment to your specification. The water, which is a compound and not a mix mind you, should be OK. We use sonic cleaners so you may wish to give those a shot first though. As far as the chemicals go, I think we’re better off getting them from your world along with the food, at least you’d get what you’re used to.” Astra crunched through the information.

“An entire tub?” she said in amazement, “so that’s what it is like not to be short on resources. Must be nice.” she sighed. “It shouldn’t be a problem as long as it’s just you here though, so if the sonics don’t work, it should be alright.”

She looked in amazement at the diary. It was such a space wasting way to store data, and yet it somehow made her envious for not having one. “Huh, I’ve never seen anything like it. You’ll soon see why, we had to make a rather large technological leap in our development so we probably skipped several eras other races would have gone through. It does seem nice though. I guess it would feel better in the hand than reading off of a screen.”

”Well, as far as things not to do go, It’s in part to why I wanted to know your people’s history and give you ours, to prevent exactly that. One thing the history won’t give you about us - our antennae.” Astra said, pointing to her head, “to us, those count as your ears, tongue, and much more. We’re able to process a lot of input from our environment through them, but they are also extremely sensitive. Try not to yell too loud and in high pitch, and for the love of Old Gods, don’t touch them without approval or at least notification.” she said, thinking the words Innes used would give them the appropriate weight, ”’Coming through’ will do if you have to squeeze by someone in a jammed hallway, but give us a heads up.” the Faira explained, choosing to omit the fact that they were also a highly erogenous zone. She did not think Innes should back to that line of thought.

“Anyway, make yourself comfortable, the history part is going to take a while.” Astra warned and fished in her file storage for a while until she found the appropriate file. The holo came to life, making it seem like the two of them were stood in the Faira system like some sort of gods looking down on their playground that was the universe. “What you see is our home some 350 years ago.” the captain explained, zooming in on the red giant and the gray world that orbited it flashed, drawing Innes’ attention to it. Six red dots were shown leaving it and heading for a green sphere on the edge of the system before vanishing in it - the indicator for the jump node. Fast forward for a little while, it was as if the star hiccuped a few times before it exploded brightly.

The blast was so strong it obliterated the grey world into small chunks and blown away the gas giants behind it, merging them into the expanding blue nebula that was left in the wake of the event. If Innes looked, she would find Astra facing away, unable to watch this again.

“That is probably the single most important thing you need to know about us. Our home is no more. Billions of us perished that day, we were not fast enough to save them. there is only about a million of us left, living on our ships. It’s why we are so advanced - we had to if we did not want to die. We are so desperate for all resources for the same reason.” she explained, her tone still a bit dark. “The only gift is that the nebula that is our system now is also the best place to hide. The EMP of the nebula blinds almost every sensor and the storms would obliterate any unshielded ship, making for a relatively safe haven.” she said, taking a pause for herself. It was still hard to speak of it.

“Sorry. It’s just… I am one of the youngest that still remembers the homeworld. It’s a very sad topic for us, so don’t mention it unless we do. Ever. Our people don’t get angry easily, but over this, they will. It’s also the why to how my guards reacted when Weyss spoke of preventing a war. Not only are our lifespans so long, but there are too few of us as well. any threat to us, however small, we’ll crush, so I hope your inquisitor will see reason and not provoke us.” the captain said darkly. She did not wish to see Paardveid burn, but knew it would happen if they pushed too far.

Innes nodded her head. Moot point, never speak of it again. She could live with that.

“It’s not really a chemical, it’s a plant…” Innes started, but her voice barely got above a whisper and she decided that such minor details would be unimportant.

But when the Captain looked at the diary, it was her turn to laugh. “Really? You’ve never seen a book before? We use them all the time. Sometimes we read from them, sometimes we write in them. It’s kind of nice to have something that is just yours that no-one else can access. Speaking of which, don’t bloody open that or I may treat your innards to an outdoor holiday” she said the threat so casually and without a change of voice that if one had not been listening they would see no danger in it.

Looking at the weird tentacle things on the head of her host, she tilted her head slightly and studied them closely. They didn’t look particularly sensitive. But then again, one usually doesn’t find shame in being addressed without proper rank, and she had gone out of her way to make reference to her own religion. She had a lot to learn about these people.

“If we’re going to talk about sensitive things, I suppose I better reciprocate” She giggled at the long word, before getting serious again “I’m probably too small to touch them without trying anyway, so I guess that shouldn’t be a worry. In response, I must ask you not to touch my hair or my mouth - back home, it’s kind of taboo. The breast area and backside are both off-limits, as are the thighs, soles of the feet and underarms. And never, ever touch around here” she implied one very particular spot that the writer is loathe to describe in detail. “That’s probably even more sensitive than your tentacle-hair. Please, not even as a joke, don’t touch it. Ever.”

She sat back and watched the pretty light show as the Faira went to to describe the history of her race. She oohed and aahed at the shiny lights, but when the star went supernova, she went all quiet. Astra wasn’t looking at it. Something had gone horribly, unfixably wrong.

“I-I’m sorry…” she whispered, somewhat disturbed. So much life, snuffed out by something no-one could have stopped. It was a cruel universe they lived in and Innes had to stop and think of all the other worlds that shared the same fate. Not for the first time, she was glad there were no stars near Paardveid.

“Miss Captain Astra, I wish to apologize for earlier. If I’d known…” She was, of course, referring to her endless inquisition before they met the Patriarch. “I didn’t mean to open old wounds, I was just curious…” Tears were falling down Innes’ cheeks as she sat, shocked and horrified. She had a renewed vigour, though - these people did not deserve what happened to them. If it was the last thing Innes’ did, she’d find them a new, safer planet with a younger sun, or perhaps one like her own, life supporting without a star.

“It is alright. You did not know, and I couldn’t have told you - you understand, we are so few that we can’T tell the location of our home to just anyone. First we had to be sure you could never threaten us, and despite what the Inquisitor probably thinks, your military left me, well, sorry, but I was not impressed. Which is probably good for you though, given her feelings.” Astra explained, the semi-threat not apparent in her tone.

“Feel free to share that in your report. I did not give you the location to our home, so I would not be breaking regulations by telling you that much. But I could only invite you to our home if your government joins the mutual defense act, sorry.” the captain finished.

“anyway, past this event, our history is a big reconstruction project. It is why we are a military state, why we send a whole battlefleet to explore. Crush a threat before it can crush us, simple as that. We only started exploring past our own borders this month, and already you are the second species we encountered. We expected the universe to be a lot more barren than this. Fortunately, so far we made friends everywhere we went.” Astra shrugged, walking over to her prototype.

Her suit made a few snapping sounds as it released her and she traded the attire. For a moment Innes could see that the suit was really a two-piece, and undersuit of the thicker memory cloth, Astra’s lined with additional circuitry, and the hardshell itself that encompassed it.

“Much better.” the captain said for herself once her normal suit snapped shut around her. “Well, is there something more you’d like to know? If not, I’d like to hear your side.”

“Well, I guess that about covers it from your end.” Innes really wasn’t keen to delve deeper. Chances are there was just as much pain and hurt in the other aspects of Faira life.

“I guess Paardveid’s history must seem a lot brighter. Years and years and years ago, there used to be lots of intelligent things that shared the planet with us, but they all sort of… died off” Innes frowned for a moment before getting back on track “It wasn’t war or anything, they just faded away.”

“The whole Sinnsyk race used to fit into a bunch of big villages The more races that died out, the more space we got to ourselves. Eventually, we managed to take up the whole dang planet. And that’s when all the fighting started.”

“It seems so silly to me now, but back in the day that sort of thing was important to everyone. Religion, I mean. It used to be there were a bunch of old dudes who ran the sea and skies, but some people thought some old dudes were more important than others. The whole planet was divided on which old dude to worship and some genius got the bright idea of just killing everyone who didn’t worship the guy he liked.”

“Some old woman, they called her Alfsighr the Naive, tried to get everyone to unite. The religious groups united solely to take her down, before turning on each other.”

“The winner of that big fight was the guys who are in charge today - the Konjan church. They used to be nice guys as well, from what I can tell. They used to think it didn’t matter who you are or where you came from, but who you were as a person that counted.”

Innes laughed bitterly “Not the case anymore. Some people thought that the church was too weak and easy to ignore, so they started looting and rioting again. The church fought back hard. They started to let people take slaves. They made it so that people like Mama and Cousin Pyrrha were ‘unclean’ and had them put to death. Turns out, annoying people you promised to free isn’t such a good idea, so there was another big war, lead by some disgruntled soldiers.”

“That war went on and on. They called it the War of the Kings. So many people died trying to do what they thought was right. Blood and violence everywhere.”

Innes looked a bit sickly, going even more pale than she already was, but she pushed it down and continued “They promised to bring back the old system. Monarchy, they called it, but they decided that sounded too old-fashioned. So instead, we now have a Theocratic Hereditary Republic - where if you’re not either a priestess or the person in charge, you’re treaty horribly. And Weyss is the most recent descendant of the first Matriarch.”

“I don’t know what to add. That seems to be it, up until recently. But we’re like you. We only achieved faster than light travel recently and everything is still really experimental. And I’m scared that if we keep looking upwards, then the Church is only going to get nastier and nastier.” Innes couldn’t repress a shudder, remembering her ‘purification’ after her Mama was executed. “They’re mean people, the Konjans. That’s why I keep talking about the Old Gods. It means I amn’t associated with them.”

The Faira were not easy people to anger, but what Innes said made Astra furious. also, she noted to rather not speak of her family unless Innes brought it up. “Such disregard for life, it’s appalling!” she grunted. “I was willing to give the Konjan the benefit of the doubt but after you told me this, I am afraid we will have to take them more seriously. It could put a hitch to your joining the alliance in fact. If they are as bad as you say - you understand why our vote would be not to associate with them.” Astra shared uneasily.

“Well, unless… Unless it wasn’t a problem anymore. Am I correct that you do not think of the church too highly? What I am about to say would be… blasphemous.” she said, fairly certain of the answer to follow, but she needed to be certain.

“They’re mean people, sure, but they kind of… saved my life.” Innes looked uncomfortable “I hate them and I hate what they want to do, but that doesn’t change the fact that they did save me.”

“But I won’t tell them if you won’t. As long as you’re not about to threaten my life, that is…”

“And took your family from you for no apparent reason.” Astra said angrily. “If someone took my mother…” she didn’t finish, too scared of the thought. It might have not appeared to a sinnsyk that way from how they poke to each other, but there was a deep bond between them. It just was that the Faira didn’t express it all that much. “And I won’t let anyone threaten you any more. the patriarch was right in one thing, there’s no danger to you here.”

“What I meant though… We could support opposition. Help the right people and get rid of the church once and for all. By force if necessary, but I believe we’d all rather avoid that. Does anyone who would champion that cause come to mind? The Patriarch himself did not seem too keen on the church either, although in his case I would be wary. he is after all directly affiliated with them.” Astra thought out loud.

“Weyss hates them. He says that they keep hurting those they try to save. But they won’t listen to him cause he’s a boy, so he’s a ‘lustful, inferior heathen’” There was no mistaking the voice that Innes was putting on - whether she meant to or not, it sounded almost exactly like the head Inquisitor herself. “Asta says that she’s not a fan of them, but they pay her wages so she guesses she has to work with them. But Vigdis… she’s a girl, high position, well respected. Much prefers the Monarchy. Wouldn’t try Gydja, she’s too lazy. Temair is a big no-no.”

And then she sighed “The problem is the opposition is almost a total fifty-fifty split. And everyone who’s important seems to prefer the church. And I mean, it’s better than before, right? Better a tyrant than no leader at all…” But her words faltered and it was all too easy to tell that Innes just wanted them to go away.

Once more, she started crying. She sank to her knees, head in her hands, and lamented mournfully “Mama… why Mama?” her voice was not much louder than a whisper, but in the quiet room it was as clear as a bell.

Seeing Innes crumble like that should have jsut blown Astra’s fury out of proportions. But something else took hold of her core and wrenched hard, as she felt overpowering need to comfort the woman. Maternal instinct? Perhaps. [i]Alright, not the back, not the… Ah.[/i] she thought, as she gently laid a hand on Innes’ shoulder, hoping she’d help somewhat.

“And how many side with the church only because they are afraid of repercussions?” Astra asked, “When they see the church can be done away with, they might turn. And leaders will always rise. In fact, we need not get rid of them, only the church. As you said, Weyss doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t seem like a bad leader from the brief time I spoke with him.” she theorized. “Tell me more of them. Their beliefs and all. Most made up things have a way of destroying themselves when logic is applied. there could be a way to invalidate the whole belief.” she thought out loud.

“They’re beliefs? Ha!” Innes scoffed bitterly “Once upon a time, they had a belief system. They wrote a book on it. They used to say ‘hey, if the gods are looking out for us, why wouldn’t they want us to be happy’. They gave that idea up pretty quickly, though. Have you ever heard of a thing called a…. a mafiya? It’s like a group of people who control things and if you don’t join them they step on you until you either do join them or crush you into the dirt. Now imagine if they owned a planet. That’s Paardveid. The Church isn’t so much a church as a Mafiya. They offer things that hard work and prosperity can’t - money, power and respect. Men can’t join, though I’ve seen them being used as concubines before. And they say that homsexuals can’t join either, even though I know for a fact that Sister…” she clammed up, realising she might say too much.

“My point is” she said swiftly “ they don’t have a fixed belief system. They have power because they were born with power and work hard to absorb those who want that power. Join up now, and in a couple decades time, your dynasty might make a name for itself! Of course, they act like rising through the ranks is a big deal, but step back and look at it from an outsider's point of view and it’s a loooong way to the top. That’s why they're so powerful and that’s why they’re unassailable.”

Nodding grimly, Astra thought for a while. “And did our arrival change that, I wonder. Maybe the joining of the treaty under the condition that this has to stop would be enough to convince a few otherwise. Your people have it all to gain, but the treaty also promotes equality. Their ways are simply unacceptable. It does seem like we’d have the support of the male population of your world at the very least though. I don’t know, there is not enough information and it is not my decision either, but you should go tell the Admiral all this - or all of them. Possibly convince Weyss to come along for that discussion. The marshall won’t be a problem, if it is a paycheck that has her loyalty, that will not be hard to arrange.”

the captain sighed. thsi took a rather grim turn, and frankly she was happier with the awkward. “Well, no sense bothering ourselves with it right now, nothing will change in the foreseeable future. If the RLC gets this information, then from what I know of them they will feel similarly to us. We would have to be mad to arm someone who would fight us. Let us talk about something else.” she suggested, “although from what you told me I understand if you do not wish to talk about your past anymore.”

“I feel like I have to get it out.” Innes growled - yes, actually growled - “If I can’t discuss it now, I’ll never be able to talk about it with anyone.”
“You know how I said the church saved my life? Well, it’s a well known fact I’m lowborn. No dynasty for me. So that makes a lot of new people think ‘How did she get a place on the council?’ I’ll tell you how. It was Weyss.”

“Back when I was just a kid, Mama used to take care of me. She said Dad had died, but she never said how. It’s a seven month gestation period, I mean, what can happen in seven months that you forget the cause of death of the love of your life? Anyway, Mama had this thing called depression, which meant sometimes she got really, really sad. Like, so sad she wouldn’t feed or wash herself. So she went in and out of the local asylum to try and get it fixed. Every time she came out, i was like ‘ maybe she’ll be fixed for good this time’ but she always had to keep going back.”

“When Mama was away, Cousin Pyrrha would look after me. and she was nice too, she fed me and clothed me and kept me company when it was dark. But Pyrrha had a problem. A problem called a ‘girlfriend’. Pyrrha was a lesbian, and her girlfriend was nice too. But one day, the church found out. They broke into our home, dragged Pyrrha and her friend away and had a mockery of a trial. They were executed. Since Mama was technically still my guardian, she was charged with child abuse for ‘leaving me in the company of dangerous individuals’. Mama was also executed.”

“And then there was me. The rest of my family couldn’t be traced, so some wiseguy thought ‘hey, let’s make her a priestess’. But first you have to go through the Purification before they let lowborn - sinborn, they started to call me - girls join the priesthood. And during the Purification, you get put into a dark room on your own, just you and some other high-ranking church woman.”

“She… wasn’t a very holy woman” Innes tittered like she had made a great joke. “No, she was a very bad Priestess, one that the faith would not approve of at all. She was… was…”

Innes stopped. And then, from the depth of her stomach, she laughed. It was not the nice, friendly laugh of someone laughing at a joke, nor the nervous giggle of someone telling an embarrassing story. It was a hearty, maniacal laugh, one that can only come from someone who has experienced too much pain to care anymore.

It took several minutes for her to stop her insane chuckle, and when she did she had a crazed grin on her face, talking at a hundred miles an hour.

“They said Pyrrha and Mama were bad people. The Konjans, the big, all-important church whom we owe our very lives to, said that my family were bad people and to repent for their sins, I had to be alone with a woman who made all but the worst crimes seem like minor grievances. It’s funny, when you think about it. You're a bad person, now be alone with this even worse person and you’ll be a good person when you come out! Genius!”

She giggled again, having lost what little sanity she clung on to for the time being “And then they had the nerve to say the ritual didn’t work. Back into the dark room again, different priestess. Should be better, right? Wrong! Same thing happened, same result! Went back out, still wasn’t cleansed. Back in again! In! Out! In! Out! Pain, pain, pain! I went through that damn ritual 14 times before they said it worked. You know how many people were on the council that decided if I was pure or not? 14! Coincidence, uh? Isn’t that funny?”

For a moment, it seemed like Innes had tired herself out. She swallowed, panted and tried to get her breath back. When she did, she gave one final giggle before talking in a slower, more sane tone

“When Weyss found out, he was furious. He said one ritual was too much and that I should not be accountable for other people's supposed crimes. He called one of the priestesses scum, and another a monster. He took me back to Dun Ara, where I’ve been ever since. And Weyss never did those things to me. He gave me food, warmth and comfort and asked for nothing in return. Then he made me Chancellor. Chancellor! It was the greatest day of my life, getting that promotion.”

“You see, Weyss’  the leader of the church, technically. If he hadn’t come in when he did, I have no doubts that those priestesses would have killed me. Slowly, cruelly and sadistically, I would have died by their hands. Weyss is the church. He saved me. So the church saved me. Get it?”

And at that, this poor, lost little girl gave a howl somewhere between delight and despair and sank her head back into her hands, laughing while crying all the way.

Astra didn’T know what to do. Well, other than rid the universe of every single one of the Konjans. Well, maybe save for the Patriarch, but he should have made certain a situation like this never happened. Inappropriate to hell, she had to give the crying girl a gentle hug.

“It was Weyss that helped you, not the church, get it?” she replied in the same tone as Innes. “If Temair was in his position, would she bother?” she argued her idea. Then she got up, pressed a few buttons on her wrist control panel and sent a copy of everything that was just said to the Admiral. This needed to be brought to her attention immediately. She just wondered why the Patriarch didn’t bring this up. No, he definitely wasn’t as holy as Innes thought him to be.

“Shh, it’s alright, no one will hurt you here.”  Astra tried to comfort her again, unsure about what to do.

Innes snuggled into the hug that the Captain offered her. She was running on instinct. To all intents and purposes, Innes was no longer here, just this shell of a young lady who didn’t know whether she was happy or sad.

It was slow, yes, but gradually she came back to the fore. The tears dried up and the laughter died until naught was left but it's faint echo.

“So yeah, I’m not a big fan of the church.” she said, as though nothing had happened. “But that’s fine, cause they don’t like me either. And I’d like to be rid of them, but it’s either them or back to the days of the cults.”

She yawned, gave a shy smile and said “I’d… like to discuss something else now, if that’s okay with you.”

“If the correct people make the cult, why not. But yes, please, new topic.” she smiled weakly. An alarm beeped then and Astra went to answer the door. A little while later, Astra wheeled in a gurney carrying a blackish bits of a scaled down suit. “Gotta love the manufacturing dept. They sure are quick - when it is me calling.” she said, knowing full well that as the local mad scientist she had priority call for whatever it was she was doing. “Let’s see if it fits you?” she offered to change the topic.

Innes didn’t reply, just smiled. She removed her old clothes and was surprised to find herself blushing. This was what she wore most days - nothing at all, that is - so why did it feel strange now? Whatever. She put it down to having just given the only other person in the room a mad ramble that pretty much summed up her life. Yeah, that ought to make one ashamed of oneself.

“So, how does it work?” she said, looking over it “Is there a zip, some buttons or what?”

“Here. You can have it password protected if you wish, although I believe that is more of a sentiment for our people, something like keys to your house. We do live mostly in these.” astra noted and pressed the buttons that opened the suit in a way that Innes could easily see.

The suit opened from the rear. The sleeves remained closed, but the thighs also folded down to allow the wearer to get in easily, sort of like putting on high boots and sleeves. “It will detect you are in and power up, allowing you to move and press the buttons to seal it. I’ve already instructed Manufacturing to minimize its electronic signature and put in passive shielding. The suit alone should make you feel much better, let alone when the active shielding is installed.” the nerd in Astra gloated. “Oh, but before that, here. This will act as a conduit for your muscle to the suit’s motors.” she said, handing Innes the memory fabric undersuit and stepping aside facing away to give her enough privacy to change. “Security cameras are off, go ahead.”

“Um, thanks…” she said, before laughing “Why bother turn everything off? It’s nothing they haven’t seen before. And it’s not like it’s something unnatural now, is it?”

It certainly lightened her mood as she stepped into her memory suit. Astra was right - it was pretty comfortable. Maybe not quite as comfortable as not having anything, but good enough. Then she tried to get into the oversuit, slipping a couple of times before finally pulling it up over herself.

“Oh…” she whispered. She could still feel the buzz of electronics, but now it was more like a vibrating blanket. Though nothing was physically shaking, it still felt kind of funny.

“Is it meant to feel this - I dunno, weird? It’s like I’m being shook about without any movement.”

“And here you go again. Making it awkward.” Astra hissed in frustration, “Different culture, we like our privacy. Roll with it. think of it the same way as you wanting a secluded place to sleep. same principle.” the captain said in frustration, glad to hear the suit snap shut around the woman.

“Define weird. I hope you are not having an allergic reaction to the cloth, that would make me look terrible.” the scientist said, not thinking of that as before when Innes tested the fabrics for which she would like nothing happened, but perhaps she needed bigger exposure? “Is it like anything you felt before?” she inquired, wondering whether it was related to her computer problem.

“You like your privacy, but I don’t mind.” she shot back, a naughty smile playing at her mouth “It’s not you stripping off, is it? Why should you get embarrassed over me getting changed?”

“Unless” time for the icing on the cake. “Unless, maybe you've got some sort of inferiority complex? Me being compared to you, you’d rather look like me? Maybe you think I might tempt one of your superiors, is that it?” she had no idea how she managed to keep her voice even. Even though she was smiling like a cheshire cat, Astra could put it down to Innes just being incredibly confident with herself.

And then came the punch “Or maybe you [i]are[/i] attracted to me and seeing me in the nuddy-pants gets your motor running?”

Still with that smile on her face, she answered the second question “It’s kind of like when I had a nightmare back at Dun Ara and Weyss would give me a hug, but our breathing was out. I could feel him shaking and moving but it was out of time with my own. Thats what it feels like.” She gave a little twirl, like she was wearing a designer dress “Feels quite nice, actually”

“Huh? Wha? OOooh! I seee! It’s fine when you’re the one doing the payback, is it? Oh, no. I’m not playing your game.” Astra grinned at Innes’ attempt to make her as awkward as she made her before. “And sheesh, you’re going to the ‘mine are bigger than yours’ territory? You are such a child!”

Then she said something about superiors. “Just as long as you don’T hit on my mother, go after anyone you like. But remember, all women here. Last time you did not seem all too thrilled by the idea.” Oh, if Innes wanted to play this game, Astra was happy to play. “Unless you [i]are[/i] attracted to women and being on a ship full of them gets your motor running.” she said, perfectly mimicking Innes’ tone and body language as she did so.

Sobering up a little, she checked around the suit. It was too regular to be a mechanical problem, so it had to be related to her special condition - oh wait a second. “Damn, they insulated the suit but not the motors themselves. Cheap, lazy ...” Astra sighed, “If you want something done right, do it yourself. Alright, climb out, this will require a disassembly.”

Innes didn’t react badly this time. In fact, she was ready for it. She was planning on turning on the charm, but Astra fell right for it herself.

“Oh, Astra!” she said, all melodramatic “I said it felt nice, yet you still wish to strip it from me? And with the cameras off as well! Are you sure you're really going to insulate the suits motors? Or is there a different motor on your mind” That smile reached from one ear to the other, practically taunting Astra to trump it.

“I know I said you’re in no danger here, but I [i]will[/i] hit you.” Astra said in a deadpan, although it was obvious she never would. “Besides, you really think you’re so appealing to different species? Not that’s a lot of self esteem crammed into one [i]tiny[/i] shell. What’d I even do with you? ‘T would be like molesting a child. No thanks.” she shot back, ready to get to work, or do anything really that would end this conversation.

“You’ll hit me?” Innes was not done. Not by a long shot. “Sounds kinky. And no, maybe I’m not appealing to a whole species, but even blind people can see I’m appealing to YOU. And you know what they say about small girls - can get into a lot of tight spaces.”

Bringing up child abuse was kind of far - Innes probably should have laid off. But she didn’t “I suppose, compared to you, I am a child. I’m in my early twenties and you’re 387 years old. Talk about an age difference.”

Astra stared at Innes blanky. If she had eyelids, she would do a double take. “Right. Diplomat, they said. More like a wh*” Astra stopped herself from the insult - well, halfway - but turned around and gone to fetch the parts she would need for the insulation and the added shielding, while putting on her helmet and turning the visor opaque. “Knock when you feel like having a civilized conversation and not being twelve.” she said as she sat down and got to work.

Innes almost cheered. She won! she trumped everything Astra threw at her and still managed to play on her mind.

It was actually a very clever diplomatic technique, one that Innes had resorted to many times in the past. The idea was that the opposing party didn’t  know whether or not Innes was being serious. It played on their mind and helped distract them. It meant that the other party was confused and started questioning themselves, but were unable to get a straight answer out of the diplomat. Sometimes this was helpful, since it meant that some people were unaware of deals that could be turned against them later, but sometimes it was just used for fun, as it was here. She did, however, run the risk of it being turned against her. It had happened once before and she shivered at the memory of where she ended up that night.

But she had to reign it in. If she kept pushing, Astra might decide she wasn’t worth her time and abandon her, or worse, think her serious and end up doing something about it. That could go one of two ways, neither of which appealed to Innes.

But until Astra was finished, she had nothing to do. Back to the drawing board, she thought, digging out her diary and pen. She flicked over to a blank page, then started drawing the working Faira. Despite her somewhat shoddy handwriting, her artistic skills were actually pretty good. She kept sketching until the image was near completion, before looking up to see if Astra had finished.

Astra was fully intending to demonstrate that it would indeed be beneficial for Innes not to go there ever again. If the other thought of this as a victory, it would be pretty short lived as the Faira moved back and forth between the workbench and the suit, without sparing the sinnsyk a single look from behind the shut visor or a word.

When she was done insulating the servos, she mounted them back to the suit along with several modified shield projectors. It was a rather challenging task to make them work continuously. It has been a problem she had for a long time, and even with the RLC power unit in her own prototype, there were issues. In general, the shielding got more power consuming going smaller or bigger from a certain size. Their combat suit models could only hold under fire for five minutes before the shield gave out. Her prototype could expand the field to encompass a small unit, but it still didn’t last under fire for more than ten.

She tried solving the problem for Innes by setting the shields to a lower power setting. She never expected the chancellor to get into combat (provided she did not hit on the wrong people), and it did not take full output to keep the harmful frequencies out.

Still without a word, the Faira simply nodded towards the suit for Innes to try it again.

“So it’s done, then?” she asked, eyes bright. “You know you didn’t really have to play with it. It was fine the way it was.”

Putting the journal to the side, she toddled up to the waiting scientist. The suit looked the same, to be sure. Changes were internal. Would she feel any different?

Trying her best to remain supported, she slipped into the new gear. It did feel different. The vibration was gone and she felt less of a headache coming on. But it still felt a little strange. She put it down to it being unfamiliar material.

“Thanks, Astra.” she smiled, then realised her mistake “Oh, sorry, erm, Captain. What happens now?”

Wordlessly, Astra reached to the gurney and pulled out the helmet, carefully fitting it over Innes’ head. The thing sealed shut with a hiss and the internal life support kicked in. Taking the chancellor’s forearm to access the controls, she pressed the bigger red button to the side and a shimmering blue field enveloped the suit, completely blocking off anything harmful.

Finally taking her helmet off, Astra took a few measurements with the scanner which Innes wouldn’t even feel now. “Looks like it works. Now the suit comes with wireless fleetnet connection and communicator, but all that won’t work while the shield is up, so if you want to connect, you’ll have to drop them or plug in to a socket with an actual cable. The visor in your helmet has a HUD which should display translations to anything you see, so getting around the ship should be as easy as following the signs. Both the Raider-class and the Hexus are rather large though, so try not to get lost?” the Faira noted, unsure whether the slightly air-headed chancellor would be a subject to that.

Innes rolled her shoulder. This was going to take some getting used to but it was nothing major. If it meant she could walk around without getting lost and talk to people without needing to use foreign tongues then it was absolutely worth it. The dropping of the shield to use the communicator was a major drawback, but she considered herself lucky to have this much.

“Anything else I should know about this suit? Does it come with an instruction manual or will I not need to use it all that much?”

“Not once we’re on the Hexus, since it won’t be going anywhere unless it comes under attack, in which case we’Re screwed suit or not because the colony ship is not made to withstand that.” the captain shrugged. “It responds to the neural input that moves your muscle, so it should keep it’s low response time and pretty much reacts to movement. All controls are translated to your language. The control panel is wrist mounted for access, but you can also control the systems with just your eyes. If you’Re still wearing the thing I put on you in the hangar, I can rig it up to respond to your thought alone.” Astra said in just a little bit boisterous tone. “and I did need to ‘play’ with it. I don’t send unfinished things to the field. It’s a matter of pride.”

“Alright, calm your pants” Innes put her hands up placatingly “I just have a certain way of speaking, that’s all. What’s the matter with you?”

“Calm your pa… How much more can a language be bastardized?” Astra thrown her arms high in exasperation. “The translator does not do well with idiomatic expressions you know? I did not exactly understood one earlier, what was it, something about fitting into tight spaces? Yeah I suppose you’d be awesome for ship maintenance, we have to resort to drone manipulators at times, but I don’t think that’s what you meant?” Astra rambled, liking the logical and determined nature of her native language, blissfully unaware about the trap she was setting for herself.

Innes didn’t even say a word before bursting into a fit of laughter. Oh gods, could she have stumbled any further into that? 

“You mean, you like to use drones to maintain your ship? Well, I suppose they won’t ask for dinner and a date first.” She tittered “No, Ma’am, I have the most awkward feeling that we are discussing two very different spaces. Or maybe we are thinking of the same one and you're just trying to offset the whole premise. Tell me, are those drones all female too? Or are there some lads amongst the ranks? No, no, do you use drones often? What kind of maintenance do they perform? Percussive? Invasive? Oh bloody hell, my sides - I can't, I just can’t”

The more she laughed, the more a little inside voice told her that she was for it now. There was a reason that she waited until the suit was on before discussing this, she felt, but the promise of a good chuckle lured her in without thinking. First diplomatic mistake, possibly her last.

Despite the laughing, very little explanation was actually given. “nonono, from the context of the earlier conversation, I got the general meaning mind you. I don’t get the etymology, what does fitting into tight spaces has to do with any of it? I don’t compute. Your language is the strangest thing.” the captain shook her head in frustration.

“You’re really going to force me on this?” Innes hadn’t quite got over the laughter “I thought it was obvious.”

A cruel thought entered her head, one that on Paardveid would see Innes forced against a wall and screamed at for even thinking it.

“Oh no.” She smiled evilly “Nature wasn’t very kind to you, was it? Maintenance shafts a bit loose? Heh, comes with age. The problem with these old ships is if you keep stitching the old parts together, they lose their luster. You don’t want to overuse them, of course, but they need to see something every now and again, lest they start to fall apart. I assume that’s what's happened here.”

Astra did not look any more enlightened than before. “You’re not helping one bit, …” and then it hit her, “Oh wait, this has something to do with your biology right? Ehm, I’m not sure - and I don’t want to know - how it works for you, but with us, the only thing involved in… conception… are those.”  she said, pointing to her antennae. “So yeah, again - Don’t. Touch. EVER.” she warned.

“Well” said Innes “you seem very liberal with your information. Why would you bother explaining all this if you didn’t want me to reciprocate?” If it was anyone on Paardveid, they would have simply said ‘shut up, Innes’ and that would have been the end. The Chancellor was genuinely confused - why was she still going on about it if she didn’t want to discuss it? “I mean, I could give you a rudimentary biology lesson, but part of me tells me you’d rather find out what parts do what for yourself. Am I right?”

“Also, that’s just dumb. You spend all this time panicking about someone seeing you nude, yet you’re not wearing a hat. Your most sensitive and vulnerable parts are all out in the open, but you don’t want anyone to see your body? Is that not kind of like me wearing an outfit with the chest cut away, yet worrying over whether I still have it on or not?”

“Nope. Biology is not my area of expertise, so you go and be lewd somewhere else.” Astra huffed with a wave of the hand to close the matter. Why in the universe did she even… Oh whatever. “Let’s just agree to disagree and move on.”


As if she had it planned, the chime announcing their departure echoed through the ship. “I’d hold onto something.” the captain said as she moved to grab the safety bar next to the door, nodding to Innes to do the same.

The ship momentarily entered subspace, and for a little while everything worked as it should. But then the ship shook rather violently, slamming Astra against the wall before stabilizing again. “Well, that was less than  expected. You should have seen the turbulence we hit on our way here.”

Innes tried, she really did. But it had been a while since she last had to move quickly and she was too busy puzzling over what the sound might have been. By the time she was aware of what was going on, the ship was already in motion and she hurtled violently into the closest wall arms first.

“Owww” she moaned, rubbing her arms “You could have warned me that was going to happen. I mean, I could have hit my face off the wall and then where would we be? This is pretty much the only asset I have, you know.”

Shaking herself off, she clung to the wall and shot Astra a look. “So, is it safe to let go yet, or am I going to be here awhile longer?”

Astra snapped her fingers and pointed up in a ‘wait for it’ sign. Then another tone sounded, and the Faira nodded: “Should be safe now. It only takes a few seconds in subspace to get really far away from your system. I don’t know what makes it such an unstable region - maybe Paardveid itself, being a rogue. But I don’t know for certain. Our science is good, but our own FTL is still quite a mystery. We were glad to get it working in time to escape the Cataclysm.” she explained.

[b][i]Machina system, Faira Hexus[/i][/b]
The rest of the trek was fairly uneventful. The duo got Innes’ suit finished along with the paint (Astra suggested neon pink with some flashy blue vinyl), and soon enough they were on a shuttle heading for the colony ship turned diplomatic station. The three shuttles they had in tow were loaded to the roof with the contents of Astra’s lab and their own carried the stack of food and other things for the chancellor.

“I still get jealous every time I see this.” Astra pointed out the window as she rolled the shuttle. The massive swarm of activity that was P1 came into view. “Aaaand, there’s home!” she exclaimed, her finger pinning down one ship that was quite larger than the others and obviously of different design. It looked different form the Faira warships though. The slab-like structurre was still apparent, but rather than a monolith, the ship was several blocks arranged around a long, cylindrical spine.

Innes was impressed. The kinds of things that went on behind close doors were not limited to Paardveidan cultural advancements, it seems. Once again, the idea of the universe advancing without them entered her head and she wondered whether it had been a good idea for her to leave the relative safety of her own system.

In fact, she realised that she was in the belly of the beast now. If at any any time the Faira decided that they didn’t like her or that she was of no use to them, she could do nothing to stop them. And that thought terrified her. She started asking herself questions. What was she doing here? Why did she come? Why wasn’t she at home right now, reading a book, irritating Weyss, curling up in bed? Did she really trek halfway across the galaxy at the behest of a charming stranger?

“Well, I’ve always been a sucker for a pretty face” she mumbled, not quite quietly enough.

“So, Miss Astra, what happens now? Do we wait for someone to pick us up or are we to go ourselves?”

Just as Innes asked, a hangar bay came into view. “Door’s right over there. We may be military but we’re also efficient, so I apologize if you were expecting a diplomatic welcome with fanfares and confetti. I’d be only half joking if i said we can’t spend any resources on that. Right not the Striker fleet and the Hexus are our only ships in the system, the rest belongs to RLC.” she noted.

The shuttle touched down in it’s parking slot with a soft thud and the click of docking clamps locking in place. With a small hiss, the door opened to the brightly red lit hangar. Astra stepped off the small craft, and was approached by another Faira, one that unlike almost all the others was in just a uniform. “Welcome back, captain, you’ve been gone for far too long.” Libra nodded with a smile.

“Thank you, it’s good to be back. Eager to get back to work, but first - “ She turned around, beckoning Innes to come out, “Chancellor Innes, this is captain Libra, CO of the ‘Hexus. Captain, Chancellor innes of Paardveid.” Nodding at the introduction, Libra gave the chancellor a salute.

To be honest, she wasn’t expecting much of a welcome anyway. These people were like Republicans - efficient, productive and pragmatic. Big fanfares and grand welcomes always made her blush anyway, so it was probably all for the best.

She stepped forth cautiously, trying not to make any mistakes. Of course, once one tells oneself not to make any mistakes, one is doomed to failure. Murphy’s Law was a dick sometimes.

Returning the salute in the most ridiculously cute way, Innes then proceeded to make a huge diplomatic blunder “It’s an honour to meet you, Libra.”

The second it came out of her mouth, she instantly regretted it. She could feel herself flushing and she prayed that she had said it quietly enough so no-one else heard it. She hadn’t.

“I-I mean, Captain Libra -” She could feel her chest tightening. She decided that the best course of action was to take a sudden interest in the floor. It was a very nice floor, after all, and at least it wouldn’t berate her for something so simple and yet so major.

If Libra was taken aback, she did not show it, unlike Astra who was throwing her arms up behind Innes where she couldn’t see her. That alone gave Libra the idea that this was probably to be expected of their guest on more regular basis. Fortunately, unlike Astra, she had proper training,

Returning on the same informal note, Libra bent down to Innes’ eye level and gave the chancellor a quizzical look. “So, you’re one of dem Sinnsyk, huh?” she said, observing her features for a second longer, “Damn, you’re so tiny!”

Astra simply facepalmed. Now there were two of them.

Relief flooded the Chancellor. Though she knew she was going to get it in the neck from Astra, at least this other captain seemed a lot less fussed over what was really a minor mistake. 

“I might be small, Miss, but that just means I can get into tighter spaces!” she declared proudly, only half meaning it in a dirty sense “There’s nothing that a Faira can do that I shouldn’t be able to do either. Except maybe open large doors - that I’ll need help with.”

“That’s what the buttons at the side are for, chancellor. In any case, welcome aboard. I will have quarters ready for you in a minute. If you have any official business to discuss, come find me. Unless there is something else, i’ll leave you in captain Astra’s hands for now.” she said, earning herself a glare from Astra. Of course Libra couldn’t have known, but Astra was already weary of every sequence of words that could have another meaning. Well, at least they sent the specs in advance and Innes’ room should be done to how she wanted it. “Alright, let’s see if local manufacturing is as good as the military’s.”

“Thank you, Captain” Innes said, the image of pleasantry and innocence “I look forward to the stay.” She did not allude to any double-entendres, not even a nudge or sideways glance. Instead she just grinned and waved her new host off.

“So,” she said to Astra when Libra was out of earshot “Where will we be staying?”

Leading towards the crew quarters located at almost the very back of the ship in a rotating segment, Astra pointed along the way where everything was so Innes would have easier time navigating the ship. It was obvious the ship’s design was still heavily utilitarian, but the lack of heavy armor allowed more resources to be spent on infrastructure, so there were halls that could fit more than two people next to each other.

Astra gave particular note to the recreational rooms, where the native environment of their homeworld was emulated for the Faira to recharge. She gave a very stern warning for Innes to stay away, as the temperature alone would have cooked the sinnsyk.

Finally they arrived at the quarters after passing the science department. “Well, you did want a place for your own use.” she said, giving Innes a keycard to the door. “There should be most of what you ordered already. I’m not sure they had time to actually synthesize enough of the water for the taps to run, but it shouldn’t be too long.” she noted and beckoned the chancellor in.

Looking around the room, Innes was actually quite taken aback. They had got her specs down to a T for the most part. Okay, sure, the bed could do with a little bit of build-up and the bath was in the same room as everything else, but other than that, all seemed good.

Wait. There was something missing. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she felt the horrible feeling that there was something she’d forgotten.

“Um… where’s the toilet?” she asked her partner.

“Eh, while we’re not in constant need of food, we aren’t free form it either, but due to the infrequent use it’s just a waste of space to put those in every bunkroom.” Astra said and sent a map to Innes’ HUD that highlighted its position.on the deck. “I take it the rest is acceptable? The storage area is this way - ” she sent another map, “- your stuff will be there if you need it, including supplies. there’s cold storage compartment as well if you need that. Lastly If you need to find me, I’ll be either in the labs we passed on our way or in a bunk a deck up and three to your left.” the captain explained.

“Wait, what?” Innes looked a little stunned “You’re not staying with me?” She had been laboring under the assumption that she was to stick to Astra like glue. This was news to her.

“Well, believe it or not, I do have work to do.” Astra grinned, “You’re free to come around and make things awkward any time I am not testing heavy weapons, but I would send you in captain Libra’s direction otherwise. She knows much more about our history than I do, among other things. You’ll have better luck talking to her about these things. And between us, she’s not as busy as she made herself look. there’s nothing to do here other than the occasional diplomatic visit from the surface.” astra smiled knowingly.

“Right.” Innes nodded. “So is there a timetable or something, or do I just potter about until one of you two look relatively free?”

“There are other people here you know. Go make some friends. Also there’s a terminal in your room if you want to look something up. What is there of our literature, games and stuff. I’m sure you’ll find plenty people online playing something when you’re bored. It should all be translated for you already.” Astra thought for a while, “You know you never really told me what your people do for fun aside from that book you showed me.” astra said in an inquiring tone.

Go make friends. As if it were so easy. Just walk up to someone and say ‘Hi, I’m a total stranger. Wanna be friends?’. Every other diplomatic mission she ever had, she had people of her own race and culture around her to talk to, and she always took her ship with her, so she had her own place to stay. 

How enormous the situation, how ridiculous it seemed. Innes shook her head. “I’ll be fine, I suppose. I mean, it might pay not to get too attached to too many people.” She was worrying about the temporality of her placement. If she knew too many people, it could cloud her judgement. Also, she wanted to fit in seamlessly. By going out and making a name for herself, she was attracted attention. Attention is bad. As few people should know about her as possible - that’s what Vigdis had always said. Don’t be too obvious and you won’t attract unwanted affection.

For fun? Now there was a good question. She was so busy all the time that outside of writing in her book during travel and talking to those at Dun Ara, she never really did much for fun. It struck Innes that she never officially took holidays. It was always downtime between jobs. That was partly her fault, actually, since she went out into the field whenever she could. The other diplomats were secondary to her.

“I don’t know…” she mused “I guess I never found the time for fun. It just kind of enjoy what I do. Heck, you should know, I did it to you on the way in.”

“Don’t remind me.” Astra rolled her eyes. “You are cruelty itself.” she added in jest. “Well, I need to go sort my equipment out, so I’ll be in the lab if you need me. I suggest getting some sleep though, you’ve been up for hours. I don’t know how long a time you need between those but I guess you’ve got a lot to process.”  the captain said and excused herself, about to head to the lab when her suit’s controls flashed.

“Oh?” she asked herself, pulling up the message. A few seconds later, she stumbled back into Innes’ room and plopped down on one of the chairs, looking utterly gobsmacked. She needed a full minute to recover. “Oh, ehm, sorry I...” She stammered, slowly coming to terms of what she just read. “Damn, Ma, why didn’t you tell me?” she cursed silently. “So, yeah, I’m a rear admiral now, apparently.” she said, not quite believing it yet.

“You’re not the Admiral of my rear yet” Innes grinned, unable to resist. “But seriously, congratulations! I bet you’ll be great at it!”

Innes had literally just taken her bag off and was in the process of getting her pyjamas on when Astra came back. As such, her helmet was off and her suit only half-on. She had, at least, the decency to not remove it any further until Astra wasn’t looking.

“So what does a rear admiral do exactly?” She asked, not being familiar with such military terms.

“It… It mean they’re going to give me my own bloody fleet!” Astra exclaimed with a twinkle in her eyes akin to a human child on christmas. It took a little while for the overly loud YAAAAHOOO! to follow before Astra bolted out of the room with just a quick wave and anote that she’ll be in her quarters.
[/hider]

[b][i]Faira Fleetnet News[/i][/b]

[i]New contact[/i]
36 hours ago, the Striker fleet travelled through one of the newly discovered jump nodes in the Machina system and discovered an infant civilization beyond. First contact was initiated without hostilities and diplomatic talks are in progress. the admiralty has been secretive about the direction these talks are taking. For what reasons their offices refused to comment. A Sinnsyk ambassador has however been appointed to Faira Hexus, suggesting that for the moment our relations are friendly.

the new system has been christened Paardveid. Striker fleet is now returning to the Nebula for repairs and resupply, putting the exploration of the other system beyond Machina on hold.

[i]Formation of a new fleet announced[/i]

The admiralty has announced the formation of a new fleet. Unofficially called the Response fleet, it’s mandate will be to fill in the blanks in the spaces patrolled by any of our current fleets, perform special operations and evaluate new technologies.

With the resources we received from the RLC as a payoff for some of our technological patents, the engineers on Faira Tris estimate the first of the new classes of ships should be completed in a month.

[i]A new admiral?[/i]
The admiralty has refused to comment on who will be the head of the new fleet. Unconfirmed information state various outcomes, ranging from joint command of the current admirals to the new fleet operating entirely outside of the standard command structure. A highly positioned source however stated that given the new fleet’s focus on technological advancements, a new admiral would likely be selected from within the scientific rank of our officers.