Being weightless in open air takes some getting used to. Magnetic boots help at least, when it comes to walking around the skin of the Dark Horse, which looks more shiny under the light in this odd environment. The Beagle V is moored nearby to the trunk of the giant tree, over half a mile thick this close to the center point. Contrasting the sleek lines of the Dark Horse and the clean white Terran ship is the Jotoki wreckage, embedded deep in the bark of the tree. It looks like dark fingers trying to claw their way out from the wooden grave, with spidery webs of superstructure joining them together.
Zero-G in the sky has come with a lot of learning for Tasha. More precisely: Unlearning. The urge to flap her wings to move through the sky is fundamental to the young avian, a core aspect of all flying avians and a powerful habit to boot. It was so awkward that the young woman got fed up early after one too many unconcious flaps left her spinning in nauseating -- not to mention embarassing -- twirls and so she fetched her Titanian armor.
Now gliding along at a brisk pace with the others, Tasha at least feels like she has some wing-based control: The vernier system of her suit largely uses her wings to align the main jets, and so she's more spacecraft than boat -- a outcome that's just fine with her. "You must visit a lot of ruins like this, Yue," she asides to her guest spy.
"None this complete," Dr. Sen notes, linked to Tasha by a safety tether. As they get closer, it's easier to see the movements of the Jotoki themselves, which scuttle around inside the deep ravines in the tree-bark. Several are on the ruins themselves, following after the Karnors. Moka seems to scare them though, the big Phin moving effortlessly through the air with the help of her harness jets.
"Ever see anything like to Jotoki? There's creatres like them, uh, back home, but only in the vaguest sense. Otherwise they're new to me. The cloest I could think of out here were Harrowers, but then I think 'Harrower' whenever anything is sufficently alien, apparently! My first 'alien aliens,' as Bumper put it," the young hybrid notes conversationally as the proceed. She then looks down and asks, "Do we just land anywhere?"
"I'd follow the Karnors," Yue suggests. "They've got the tools."
"Hasn't lead me wrong yet," Tasha agrees. She then adjusts ehr jets, bringing her more in line with Gabriel's trajectory.
They all drift deeper into the ship, which seems mostly ribs. There are spots where the hull is still intact, but those are embedded into the tree. Other areas show were the encroaching wood buckled the metal. Eli stops near a tubular structure, and brings out his scanning tool.
With a puff of reaction mass, Tasha slows to a halt near Eli. Another puff, and she's slowly spinning in place to look around. "I wonder what happened to the rest of the hull? If anything happened at all, of course. The Jotoki look strong enough to remove it, but I don't see any structures made out of it. Maybe tools? Or else it's floating free elsewhere."
"Or it never existed," Eli offers, as he applies the scanner. There are multiple bright flashes as the laser vaporizes a bit of the target material for analysis. "I think this whole thing is a fake."
"Yue thought the same thing, but it'd be good to know for sure. I'm just worried the fake is a trap -- otherwise it's probably a deception, right? And well that's just interesting, not dangerous." The vaporized meterial puts Tasha in mind of something, and so she redirects herself and floats over to Moka -- or rather in to Moka, stopping herself with her hands before she stops by virtue of Moka just being larger. "Moooka, can you show me how this works?" She inquires, fishing the Phin materials scanner out from one of her many tool pouches.
"You need to set the mode," Moka says. She whistles, and the device activates. Another, slightly different whistle sets to mineral analysis. There are a lot of options on the small screen, everything from spectral to quantum resonance scanning.
None of which Tasha can read. "Can it be set to Standard? I haven't learned Delphin," She asks.
A few more whistles, and the device is more easily readable. There's a lot of green in the display though, so it will be more legible underwater.
"Thanks Moka." Tasha pushes off using the Phin, then flips using her jets until she's over by Eli again. Here, she begins testing her new gadget by burning off pieces as she moves through testing ranges.
There's a lot of data. The scanner identifies tungsten, titanium and carbon, and one mode even gives a microscopic look at the lattice structure. This particular piece is also part of the power reactor, so shows traces of beryllium and lithium.
"It's all wrong," Eli comments. "A drive like this would have to run continuously for a thousand years or so to make the trip, but I'm not seeing the proper distribution of transmuted isotopes from that. Same with the hull. High intensity cosmic ray bombardment should have transmuted more material."
"I might be wrong, but it seems like they were trying very hard to make this look like a pre-FTL ship, at least in the general materials. I can't say much about reactor materials, though. Still, it seems like you'd have a bit better than this for such a long journey, but what do I know?" She shrugs, knowing well how little she knows. Most of her sourcing for what ahse said comes from the materials of Expedition craft, Abaddon materials, and whata she was taught of spacecraft design.
"So it's a fake," Yue agrees. "Planted here to explain the presence of the Jotoki. But whose fake is it, and why?"
"It seems unlikely they'd leave a clue, given it's supposd to fool us. But, maybe we can discern the truth from seeing how they might try and fool us further? And we can probably assume they didn't expect their fake to be exposed to Terran level developement, because you two saw through their fake in less than an hour," Tasha remarks.
"We got here too soon," Moka suggests. "Another thousand years, and the materials would have degraded enough that analysis would be inconclusive. I can only think of one high-probability reason for this deception."
"Well don't be dramatic, let us know squeaky-squeaky," the hybrid woman insists, spinning to face Moka and playing her head on her hands in a very attentive sort of way.
"A Senior Galactic civilization came across the Jotoki civilization outside the boundaries of known space. It was not advanced enough or the distance was too great for trade to be viable. But the Jotoki showed promised - they would be excellent Clients. If not for the pesky fact that they already had a technologically advanced civilization. Solution: capture a large group of Jotoki. Put them in a secret location, make it look like they crashed here. Destroy the original civilization. Wait a hundred generations so the captured population forgets their origins. Conveniently discover them, claim them as Clients."
Tasha's eyes widen, ears shooting back. Her eyes only get wider as the horror story continues. So horrible is it, she's left staring at Moka in stunned speechlessness. It's what happened to the Savanites on a Galactic scale, she realizes, It makes Blackwings look like hero! The scale itself is hard for her to grasp; She'd touched on galactic political terrors before, but not so directly. And, certainly not right infront of her. Star-spanning raiding and slavery ...
"You have a gift for keeping such an even tone throughout that, Moka," Yue says. "But there is precedent in Galactic History."
The half-Vartan still can't find the words, but she can follow at least. She looks between the two women, still trying to grasp at slavery on the scale of destroying entire interplanetary civilizations.
"The Kdatlyno," Yue says. "They had a small colony world at the time of first contact.. with the Khattans. Their homeworld suffered a global catastrophe not long afterwards. The Khattans offered the colony aid in exchange for becoming Clients. Methane breathers though, you don't see them much. House Khomen had several planets with methane atmospheres though. Useful to have Clients who could survive on them.. when anyone else would need an environment suit."
"Khomen again," Tasha spits out, finally having something to say and with considerable malice. She pulls her head off her hands and thumps her fist to her other hand, not having anything else to kick in easy reach. "Well. We'll see about this. Lets look for answers, and if we can, lets make who did this suffer for what they've done. It might not be much compared to this, but it's better than nothing."
"This is all conjecture," Gabriel points out. "We'd need to find their home system and confirm that it's been killed. Assuming there is any navigational information we can trust that still exists in the wreckage."
"Or ask them, if they haven't been here long enough to forget. Old legends, maybe. Records. We have a lot of analysis and contact tools here; We should make good use of them! I suggest we split up. You and Eli can focus on structure and ship's records, Yue and I will try to interact with them, and Moka can try and put it together. We can also use, uh, ship's resources for database fetching. Sound good?" Tasha suggests, fist still in hand as she looks to the others.
"C'mon Eli, let's look for data stores," Gabriel says, as Eli packs up his gear in preparation to delve deeper.
"I assume you want to try contacting one of the aliens first without using someone from the Beagle?" Yue asks Tasha.
"Moka, go with who which-ever party you think will help you work it out. Yue, lets go find some Jotoki -- and yes lets call someone who can speka the language. Between your skills, theirs, and the off-chance I can communicate maybe we can come up with something. The Beagle crew might also know of artifacts or records not based in the ship," says the hybrid, who activates her jets and starts gliding back out of the wreck to where a majority of to Jotoki seemed to gather.
Moka sticks with Tasha, since she's certain to be discovering new things, whereas the Karnors may come up empty handed. Most of the Jotoki are clustered near a 'pond' that clings to the side of the wreck inside one of the bark ravines. The colorful creatures dance and jump and move about with easy, but always keep one of their five eyes on the strangers.
"Yue, you have more clout with the Beagle, so can you request someone join us? Then we'll head in together and see what we can come up with. With your abilities, maybe you can get the gist of their reactions and thoughts if language fails. I'll try something too, but if that fails I'll have to 'wing' it. Moka, you know what to do." Tasha looks around for a moment, then nods towards the pond. "That looks like a gathering area, we'll start there once our fourth has arrived. Now's a good chance to see if you can sense anything, at least after you've made your call."
"I remember the ones inside the ship.. very hard to get a read on them. Five brains after all... it'll take practice. Best thing to do is assume everything is a lie, since they don't really have any reason to be honest with us," the agent notes, then disconnects from Tasha's safety line and makes her way along the ravine towards the Terran ship.
"Well, we can try and show we're friendly at least. Or just float nearby, and let them come to us -- that seems less threatening. I did say you'd see interesting things coming with me!" Tasha reaches over and grabs Moka's fin, then points towards the pond. "Lets head over there, a distance away. Then we can keep to ourselves and see who is interested in us. It seems like a good way to find the friendly ones, on their terms."
Closer to the pond, it's clearer why the Jotoki converge on it. It's full of immature, free-swimming 'arms'.. and a few small juvenile clusters, some with only two or three arms. Adult Jotoki bring sky-fish in baskets, and put them into the water so the children have food. "I don't think I should go into the pond," Moka says, but still sticks close to the wall of the ravine. She's also listening to the Jotoki speak, occasionally repeating a click or whistle made by the aliens.
"They seemed intimidated by you, but hopefully they'll see you're not a threat. They don't seem very interested in me, which I'm not certain what to think of." Tasha risks stepping a bit closer, to take a look at the children. It's certainly not a heartwarming display for her, as they're far too different for her to feel the usual emotional surge around children -- a common instinct of Vartans and also part of her character. She can, however, appreciate what it all means -- and on that level it makes her smile. She also looks for anything that might be useful: mosaics, art, writing or anything that might suggest a history. "You're good with languages Moka?" She asks idly.
"It's all just signal and pattern analysis," Moka notes. "There are repeating structures. Listen for them, repeat them, see what the response is."
There are certainly a lot of bits of metal and ceramic about, some of them 'nibbled' into meaningful (probably) shapes.. but nothing that looks like writing.
"Huh, really? Well, I'll give that a try." Tasha sits herself down where she is, leaning back against the wall as she listens in and looks. She doesn't expect a miracle, but she figures it's a better use of her time than doing nothing. "Depending on how long they've been here, they may have regressed to a tribal structure. That's what it looks like to me, anyway. I don't see complex tools, art, or other signs of more advanced culture."
"The need for survival is a good way to obscure history," Moka notes. "It becomes oral tradition, which will vary with each telling over time. We want to hear their myths. Those will be based on fundamental truths, without the actual details."
"Hmm, well, I do know a little about regressed tribal cultures. Maybe that will help here. It also means they were probably abandoned to duress, which compounds this horror." Tasha listens, but it all sounds like so much clicking. Still, she urges herself to focus and reminds herself Vartan uses a great deal of clicks -- and the creatures do have beaks. "How does this sound to you?" She tries in her native tongue, wondering if it will illicit a response.
"I also suspect this environment is considerably less hostile than their original one, so that most of their effort is in finding resources. Less competition means less innovation. Dolphins did not need to manipulate their environment, and it took an external agency to make us true tool users," the Phin notes. And indeed, nothing looks like it was made with a tools beyond those built into the Jotoki physiology. Except for the ceramic, and the baskets. Those might count as tools.
A few of the smaller Jotoks are casually moving closer to the pair of alien intruders, now that it's clear Moka isn't some kind of new predator (and if there are sky-fish, there are probably sky-sharks as well). The closest tries to echo some of Tasha's words.
"So mind numbing too. Awful." Tasha asides before she notices their guests. Scooching a little closer, but not standing up so as to look smaller -- something she learned handling pteras -- she points at herself and squawks, "Tasha."
"Hawk," the creature repeats. It's got two blue legs, a green, a violet one and a golden one.
Hawk? Tasha boggles momentarily over the similarity in language, then realizes that they may have learned Standard through the Beagle crew. Just to be safe, she asks, "Do you speak Standard?" in Standard.
"The duck goes quack," the Jotok juvenile replies. "The cow goes moo."
The second closest one produces what must be music. It sounds familiar enough to probably be Terran in origin.
Moka whistles a tune of her own right back. This draws the second one closer.
"Yes, but just barely. It's okay, I 'just barely' spoke Standard for a long time, too." She smiles again, hoping it isn't a sign of aggression like it can be with Karnors. "These words are Standard. What I said earlier is Vartan." Tasha then repeats all she said, but in Vartans. "These words, Standard." "These words, Vartan." "Same, different language." Again. She points at herself. "Tasha." "Tasha."
"Tusha," the juvenile says. "Tusha. Tusha."
"That's right, Tusha!" Tasha says with another smile. She then points at the small Jotoki and looks expectant, hoping they know the expression by now.
The five-legged creature speaks from five speaking mouths at once, each one giving a different sound.
Suspecting each one has meaning, but completly unable to repeat it, Tasha ponders. She considers using her datapad, but she isn't sure how to integrate the language -- she's never worked with combining recordings before. Looking at her datapad gives her an idea, though: She does know one being -- beings -- who have a great deal of experience talking in many voices. She holds up a finger indicating a pause, then makes a deliberate turn to her pad to show where her attention is and asks, "Niss? We've encountered an alien race that forms from a mating pair of five fingerlings, to create a mind. They speak in five voices. I thought you mighthave more luck understanding their language, and interacting with them. Want to try?"
"We are always eager to encounter new sapient life forms," the Niss reply over the link.
"Well here's a new one for you." Tasha turns back, deliberate as before, then points at her datapad. "Datapad. Niss. Niss talk, you talk to Niss." She then holds it out and says in a lower voice, "'You're on,' as Katie would say."
The two Jotoki clamber closer, attracted by the shiny lights of the data pad. Niss being displaying pictures. Apparently of animals they've already encountered in the Smoke Ring. These elicit various sounds from the two juveniles, and then Niss says something back, and more pictures and sounds are exchanged. This goes on for some time, and Yue finally returns, riding on the back of an adult Jotok. "Did I miss anything?" she asks.
Yue finds Tasha sitting and listening to the exchanges, head on her hand as she watches the display and tries to put it all together. In a very real way, she's learning right along with the others. She takes special interest in the way the Nisss go about making contact and establishing a dialogue, mentally noting it for the future.
"We've been trying to communicate. We managed to look friendly, at least. I then had the idea to let the ships, uh, AI talk to them. It's an organic collective-type, so it's used to speaking in multiple voices. I thought they'd get along. They're well at it now," the hybrid woman explains, gesturing around to the activity she's involved in.
"Well, I've learned a bit about the Jotoki life cycle," Yue notes. She points to the two juveniles, and says, "Those two are in post-imprint learning savant mode. Basically, the Jotoki don't have families in the sense we do. They release their fingerlings into the pools, then when they want a 'family' they pull out a juvenile when it's ripe. The juvi imprints on the adult, and enters a stage of rapid learning and emulation. Spinner here imprinted on one of the Beagle crew. It understands both languages, more or less. No genders, by the way. Each limb produces a partial egg, which merges with the others in the central body to form an embryo. No need for sex, since the legs are usually not genetically related."
"Really quite different," Tasha observes, turning to look up at Yue with ears perked. "And very interesting! I never imagined I'd meet a race like them! But, here they are. And! With any luck, the Niss will make quick work of communicating." She pats the ground beside her, then asks, "We may not need a translator at this rate -- I'm sorry by the way!"
"It was still worth it to learn more," Yue says, and grins. "They've also figured out that the Jotoki population here is old enough that all traces of their original isotope signatures are lost. These guys are built of what's here in the Smoke Ring. The webbing between the legs is also likely an adaptation to the environment. They think the adults live for around three hundred years in weightlessness. Lots of redundant organs to share the load, and all.."
"It may have been too long for finding their homeworld, then. They might have forgotten, but maybe their records haven't. I'm not giving up, anyway." Turning back to the conversation, Tasha asks of her datapad, "Any luck, Niss?"
"We are making progress," the datapad replies. "We have formulated the basic syntax and structural rules. Cultural references and names will require a more in-depth conversation. We request you find an elder."
"Carry and move duty, got it. Please inform them we're going to find an elder, and they're welcome to join us. If they know of the oldest, or most knowledgeable, that'd very helpful." Pushing off, Tasha hoves in to the air in a cross-legged pose, then unfolds her legs and engages her jets to glide closer to the pool, but keeping to the outter area fearing moving towards the pool itself would illicit a hostile response -- Vartan instinct. "Now lets see ... "
"I take you to [five-part harmony of whistles]," the big Jotok that Yue rides says in Standard. It then starts moving, spreading it's arms out and 'rolling' like a wheel down into the ravine.
Tasha just uses her jets, starting to like the feel of being a one-person spacecraft. She think it lacks the action and life-affirming movement of flapping, but the almost tranquil, deliberate choice-to-motion hs an appeal that reminds her a bit of her ship. "Thank you," she says as she follows along.
There's a lot more detail down deeper. Further from the pool, there are passages carved into the wood. Even doors and windows (if the smaller openings are just used for looking out of) and grander constructions with pillars and arches. Not much in the way of straight lines though. It's into one of these larger, most-likely-public areas that Spinner takes them. Light comes in the from of glowing balls of.. something. It gives off a golden light, and is likely biological in origin. Fire in a weightless environment would be problematical, after all.. any industry depending on it would have be done closer to the ends of the tree, where there's more tidal force to produce an up and down.
There are lots of Jotoki here, and lots of chatter. It might be a marketplace, since there are lots of baskets as well, full of vegetation and fish and other things.
The young woman marvels at all the activity and life. She had no idea just how many Jotoki were present, and had only suspected there must be many more due to the needs for a diverse breeding population that would be needed to sustain their long term imprisonment and 'conditioning.' The thought of what may have been done to these people is braced somewhat by seeing them about their business -- and familiar looking business it is. Aside from the general lack of gravity and the Jotoki themselves, she could almost believe this was a market on Sinai. Onward she floats, and on she observes.
Several Jotoki approach, wielding spherical baskets from which they extract strange creatures, or plants.. or plants that might be creatures.. and wave them at the newcomers. Many of them speak a word or two in Standard, like 'Glass' or 'Beef', suggesting what they're willing to trade for.
Inwardly, Tasha makes a note to trade with these people when she has more time to do so. A souvineer, she decides, would make a great addition to her quarters -- she also decides to start a tradition of gathering souvineers from her travels in order to both decorate and keep the memories alive. "Later," she replies, "busy now, important." She isn't sure how to be more apologetic, so just inclines her head and keeps floating.
They get past the market, and into an area that is more obviously 'cultural' in nature. There are carvings both realistic and abstract - art, certainly. And likely made (along with the environs) by nibbling Jotoki mouths. There are also more clearly old creatures here. Ones with nearly transparent carapaces, or clouded eyes or missing fingers. Spinner brings them to a very large Jotok, clinging to a sort of bowl-seat. There are chewing sounds from inside, so it's likely eating with the foodmouth at the bottom of the central body. It has two still-clear eyes, which focus on the visitors. It whistle-clacks something to Spinner, who replies.. and this goes on for some time.
"Introductions being made, I imagine," Yue says to Tasha.
Tasha waits patiently, having approached quite enough elders by now to know how they tke to impatience and rudeness. She's even made enough progress where she doesn't willfully ignore the knowledge -- at least some times. "Oh, probably," she tells Yue, glancing her way. "By the way, have you given any thought to where we should drop you off next?"
"That depends on where you're going next," Yue says.
The elder shifts slightly, and one arm raises up and reaches out towards Tasha.. or more specifically, her datapad. The fingers wiggle.
"I can't really say. I like you, I do, but I'm uncomfortable with having a government agent on board. We'll talk more about this later." Turning from Dr. Sen, Tasha hands over the datapad and inclines her head.
The Jotok takes the device, and holds it up to its two good eyes. Another arm is used to feel over the device, and tap at the surface. There's light shining on the carapace.. so Niss must be showing pictures again. The elder begins talking, and Niss replies. Spinner says, "Elder [five-voices whistling] thinks your boat is pretty."
"The elder has an excellent sense of beauty and style," Tasha says without an ounce of humility, grinning widely and wagging her tail. "It is the prettiest ship in the galaxy."
"The elder likes your device," Spinner says. "It is asking many questions. Few come to the elder anymore asking questions."
"The device just speaks for the questioner. There is a being on my ship, that is speaking through the device, the Niss, and it is the one the elder is taling to," the young woman explains.
The elder isn't just talking. Occasionally it moves to touch something on the screen, or draw a symbol.
Tasha eyes the exchange, then twists her muzzle in a face. "He never talks that much with me. I must not be that interesting," she remarks.
"Perhaps the Niss already knows everything about you?" Moka suggests. That grin is a fixed feature, but it's still hard to shake the idea that the Phin is poking fun at Tasha.
The red -- though currently grey -- woman fires her attitude jets, floating in to Moka's side and then hooking an arm around her dorsal fin. "It's a good thing I'm not the captain and my job is just seeming important, or I'd get you for that," she asides, then promptly wraps her arms around the fin and lays her head down on Moka. "By the way, how are you enjoying being a member of my crew so far?"
"It is very entertaining so far," the Phin replies. There's a pause in the tablet-to-elder conversation, and the Niss speaks in Standard again. "The Jotoki language is refreshingly high-bandwidth, being able to carry on five conversations simultaneously. As we are limited to a single voice, the elder must think us rather slow."
"It's okay Niss, I know you're a wonder of processing power and computational might and wisdom," Tasha assures her resident nation, smiling. "And if that's not enough, well, you can still do great things even if people think you're slow." She tehn taps her head and winks.
"According to their legends, they once lived in a world of twigs and flat water and weight," the Niss explains. "They created machines and build towers into the sky that they could not fly in. And then they went beyond the sky to where they could fly. And there they met the gods of the sky beyond the sky. But the Jotoki of the ground did not accept the gods. So the gods took the chosen to a realm where they could fly, and escape the fate of those who clung to weight and stone."
The tablet displays a symbol: a stylized, barred spiral. "This is the symbol of their gods. Which is also the symbol of the Galactic Library, and adorns all of their exploration vessels."
"Well, that explains a lot. But, I'm surprised. The Library is neutral, at least on the surface, isn't it? Or could the Librarians have reported the find, then hid it, to benefit a Galactic? Sell the information, and what happened was readying merchandise?" Tasha asks, doing her best to try and hide her anger with the Jotoki present. Her ears begin to flatten, but she forces them up again and pushes ard to keep a neutral expression. "It does mean the Library knows where their homeworld is, which means that's another possible source to find it."
"The Library is supported by many Khattan Houses and the Celestial Empire," Moka says. "While the Library claims neutrality, those that support and maintain it do not. The ships in question belong to the sponsors, and have exclusive rights to information they gather for set amount of time, depending on the value of the information."
"What fine explorers. Conquerors, more like it." Tasha bites her lip a moment, then shakes her head out to clear it before continuing. "We need to know who found them, or if there are more details. Oh: Niss, what did the gods look like? Serpents? Felines? Avian people who look a little like me?"
"They appeared as glowing golden Jotoki," Niss replies.
"Khatta then," Yue says. "Naga are too proud to hide behind a mask. And the cats love the color gold."
"Sounds like something the Khattans would use. Can't be bother-" Tasha pauses as Moka comes to the same decision, looking over and nodding to her. "It does feel very Khattan. So, that narros it down. But, there are a lot of Khattans, and a lot of Houses. Chasing them is also very dangerous and I'm not in a position to do that yet. We need more. Niss, any other details? What did their ship look like? Any other symbols? The voyage? Anything that might tell us where the homeworld is, if they left anything here with the Jotoki, a way to contact their gods, or other details about their gods?"
"There has not been any contact with the gods since they were brought to heaven," Niss replies. "Extrapolating from your conclusions, the Jotoki encountered robotic avatars controlled by a Khatta faction which sponsors the Library. They would have already had knowledge of the Smoke Ring, and exclusive rights to the information until such time as the resource was exploited. As they have not exploited this system yet, officially, its existence remains hidden within the Library."
"And yet we're here. No Khattan ships have shown up, so, they may not be monitoring things -- maybe. More than likely they're waiting to see if we're a problem." Reaching up, Tasha rubs her muzzle and purses it too, frowning. "We have a good idea of what happened, but no homeworld for proof, and no one to blame yet. Unless anyone else has an idea, we may be stuck for now."
"There is another possibility," the Niss interjects. "Khattan Houses do not last forever. Some vanish, or are taken over by others. The House which discovered the Jotoki my no longer exist, and due to the secret nature of the Jotoki enterprise the knowledge could have been lost."
"That's true, but it's hard to rely on that assumption given the power of the Houses and what's at stake. We really need a definite answer, and then we need to work with the Jotoki to use it. Or," and here Tasha glances towards Yue, "we could stay out of it, at least for now. But I really don't like the idea behind what we talked about in the lab, Yue."
"Well, one option is to just announce the discovery of the Jotoki, try to get a joint expedition to search out their homeworld.. and see who gets upset," Yue suggests.
"For that matter, announcing the discovery of this system should bring about a lawsuit by those who had secret claim to it," Moka adds.
"Wouldn't that risk to Jotoki though?" Tasha asks, turning to fuly face Yue now. "And who will take the brunt of the owner's anger? I can do it, I just want to be sure we're making the best decision for them and for us."
"The problem with secrets like this is that those who kept them will look bad if they are exposed," Yue notes. "If it was just this star system, then the owners could come forth and make a claim, showing documentation from the Library. If they did so after it was clear that a population of sapients had been living here for generations under suspicious circumstances, however, it is more likely that the original owner of the information will have been 'lost' in some way. As for the Jotoki, since they are clearly not native to the Smoke Ring, no offers of Clienthood can be made until their home system is located."
"Which isn't to say every Galactic Patron will not be trying to make a good impression on the refugees," Moka notes. "I have seen this myself. There are clauses in the Client-Patron contract that allow a Client to sue for a new Patron should their current one not be fulfilling their obligations."
"It favors the Seniors, naturally," Yue notes. "They have the wealth to potentially bribe a Client race into their arms. It hasn't happened since Terrans came onto the Galactic scene, however."
"And if we can find it, maybe we can do something about it. Perhaps the Titanians? I'm sure they'd like to have a new world and bait for Khattan ships intent on recovering their sla-" The young woman pauses, takes a koment to breathe, then nods and continues. "Their finds. Well, I didn't interfere on something like this before for what were probably good reasons, and I didn't interfere again for what were probably bad ones. I'm not turning my back again; If I can do something to make this better, I will. I don't mind revealing the information since they can't sue me anyway. I already work with Titanians, and I'm not a member of any Galactic race. If they push me, I'll just threaten to reveal it to the Titanians and let them make a claim on the Jotoki. Or, I will make a claim -- at least to distract and confuse them until something better is available."
"You can't just claim a species as Clients," Moka points out. "And the Jotoki cannot be claimed as it stands. I am sure the original plan required locating their homeworld and showing it to be dead, if that is in fact what happened. It is equally likely their homeworld still thrives, but is too far away to matter. Or that a claim could be made that these Jotoki have been separated long enough to count as an independent species. In any case, as they are now, the Jotoki are not in a position to be announced directly. They must have a recognized Galactic group as a protector until their status is finalized. That group does not have to be a Patron, but it cannot be Titanians. Titanians are not part of Galactic custom or law. While having them protect the Jotoki would certainly ensure nobody exploits them, it will not benefit them either."
Tasha mutters under her breath a moment, closing her eyes and rubing her muzzle in an attempt to push herself to think more with her head and less with her heart. Yue is right, she thinks, I do have a temper. "Well ... Well, I can't help there. We can try and find the homeworld and maybe other information, such as what House was involved, but it'll have to be the Terrans -- you all -- to do the rest. It's probably for the best, I have my hands full right now as it is. I just ... I didn't want to stand by. Again."
"Ah.. well, Terra isn't really in a good position to protect the Jotoki right now," Yue claims. "We'd keep them a secret, and use back-channels to find an ally who could step up. Given the isolated location, it would probably have to be the Silent-Ones. They can set up a Gate here. Once they have a Gate in a system, it's nearly impossible to take that system away from them. It's a huge strategic asset."
"Failing that.. we'd have to give them to the Celestials, most likely," the woman admits. "They're the closest to neutral, while still having a grudging kinship with Terra. The Khattans aren't going to dispute things with the Celestial Empire."
"Can they be trusted, though? To not claim the Jotoki themselves? I don't know a lot about the Silent-Ones other than some obscure politics and some old history," the young ship owner notes, turning now to Yue with an expression like she swallowed something didn't agree with her. "I saw what the Celestials did to some of their Clients. That didn't look like helping."
"The Jotoki are almost perfectly built to be space mechanics," Yue notes. "As such.. the Silent-Ones would want them most. The Khattans rely on automation, and their machinery has almost no user serviceable parts. The Confederates prefer biological solutions to technical problems. The Silent-Ones, in comparison, are very 'hands-on' with things. Terrans.. well, we're descended from monkeys, and Pans can use their feet as hands. We've got mechanical acuity covered. The Celestials are not built for fine work in freefall. They depend on robots for that. They don't have any Clients like the Jotoki. It's also why they'd like to have Humans as Clients, frankly. The value these people would have for the Khattans is as a hired-out workforce."
"Of the lot, the Silent-Ones take Uplift very seriously, and do not take shortcuts," Yue expands. "That is, no genetic engineering."
"I don't like it, talking about them for what they're good for. It sounds like discussing conquest, and it doesn't sound any better to talk about how we can enable others to do it rather than do it ourselves." Tasha rubs her muzzle a bit more, then looks 'up' -- which is really just above her head at the moment -- and stares in to the sky. How did I get involved in this? Gabriel, you told me to never change, to not become political ... And now this ... And it's only going to ger harder. We've barely been out a week and I'm discussing the welfare of a people.// She takes a deep breath, then says, "If it's inevitable, then ... Then we'll have to go with the least awful choice. That, or ... I could take them home."
"We should also ask them what they want, tell them what we think happened, tell them their gods are just people like us who travel the stars. Tell them why the Gaalcics fight over them," the young hybrid woman adds, having hd a chance to calm and think.
"If you can find it, that's make things easier," Yue says. "They could be anywhere though. The Khattans have the Second Quantum Hyperdrive.. even though they're loathe to use it.. so could have traveled all the way to the Core for all we know. In any case.. you'll need to take a few Jotoki with you. As you said, they need to learn what's out there and where they came from.. and that works best if you show them."
"I'll make the arrangements then. We have room, if they don't mind sharing quarters. We still have a few more crew members schedualed to come aboard before we continue on our mission, too. Maybe that'll be enough time; If not, I can arrange for more." Tasha thinks for a moment, but decides that she's happy with the current plan -- at least as happy as she can be. Instead, she turns to another question. "The Second Quantum Hyperdrive? Is that a technical term for a second-generation of quantum drive model?"
"More literally, it's a hyperdrive that operates at a higher quantum energy level," Yue says. "We don't know how fast it is, but some estimates put it at one hundred to ten thousand times faster than conventional hyperdrive. If you're familiar with the psionic mass detector and the strain it can put on a pilot.. imagine dealing with that at such a higher rate of speed. It would feel like dodging raindrops. Pilots capable of handling that would be rare. Unless the Jotoki are secretly adept at dealing with it, just as Phins are with normal hyperspace."
"There's just one of these? Archaeotech?" Tasha asks, tilting her head and perking her ears. "Well, two, since it's the second. It sounds like you meant there's a few and we're not talking about a whole section of drives."
"We don't know how many of their ships have it or what the technical details are," Yue notes. "Technicians that work on the First Quantum Hyperdrive - the one that the Confederates use and even most Khattans - say the Second Quantum version would be massive. As in ninety-percent of the mass of the ship would be the drive. So either the Khatta have a more compact version, or there are some very large ships out there that are mostly hyperdrive shunt."
"However, if they were using standard hyperdrive in their exploration ship, then we can narrow down their likely routes - and one of those should have the Jotoki homeworld," Yue concludes.
"That's an impressive prospect. I'll have to keep my eyes open for something like that. Anyway," Tasha looks between those gathered, then says, "I think we've confused the elder and Spinner long enough. I'll stay here and work out the details, ask Gabriel to join me even if just by comm. Once everything is settled, we'll be underway. Our destination is probably Outpost Caltrop -- I need a few more crew members before we head elsewhere and I'd like to plan things out a little more. I also need to know what everyone's stance is, so I know if I should be dropping anyone off."
"I'll head back to the surface and wait for your demigods to show up," Yue says with a grin. "C'mon Spinner, escort me out?" And with that, the human and the ambling Jotok leave.
"Demigods?" Tasha asks as Yue heads out, ears askew and expression a crunched-browed look of perplexity. It's not that she doesn't understand the description, it's simply that she's found herself surrounded by more gods, god-like beings, and more immensity than she knows what to do with -- seeing it in her closest doesn't help matters much. After a moment she just sighs and turns to the elder.
"Help me translate this Niss. Gabriel is probably out of comm range, but sdhould join us once he's clear. Ah ... Here we go." Stepping forward, tasha spreads her hands and says, "I'm sure you heard us talking, elder. You may not understand what it all means, but that's what I'm here to discuss: Those beings you call gods are no different from us. We, too, can travel the stars. My ship can travel beyond this 'heaven' and to other worlds, other 'heavens.' The beings who rule empires of he stars meant to use your people, and fooled you, bringing you here. You have decisions to make on our future, to know how to answer this problem they have put you in. And so, I offer to take some of your people with me so they can learn the truth themselves."
The Niss translates, and the elder replies.. briefly. "Good luck," Niss replies, making it sound genuine. "Take juveniles. They are eager to learn. Bring them back when they are adults."
It's not the answer she expected, and the lack of questions or confusion surprise her -- she can only assume the elder understood far better than she expected. Given her own confusion, the sudden clrity by the Jotoki seem startling to the young woman. "Well, um, thank you," she replies a bit awkwardly, "I will. Spinner and his friend seemed most interested, and one more should be enough. I will need to know their living needs -- food, housing, medicine. We can work that out now. Niss, before I forget: Send the Beagle a copy of the language translation too when you have time. Anyway, lets get started ... "