When dealing with spies, secrecy is important. And in Elamoore it's fairly hard to come by. While Tasha has, on occasion, been paranoid, she lacks the truly innate instinct for it that certain others have. Luckily, she has a friend who is an expert and paranoia - and he brought her out to a very remote, secret place once.

Getting a steamcar was easy enough, although it was Tasha's first time driving this particular model. But she had the map coordinates and basic navigation, as well as her own Vartan sense of direction and landmark recognition. Yue was at first thrilled by the ride, but the constant roughness of the once-flooded wasteland outside the city and the poor suspension have since soured her mood. Eventually they reach their destination.. the stumps of a pair of ironwood trees atop a hillside. There's lots of debris strewn about as well.

A camouflage tarp conceals the vehicle. "Well.. this is about as depressing a location as I've every been," Yue notes, looking at the ruin of what was once fertile farmland.

"I won't mention what happened here then," Tasha remarks distracted as she rummages around through the dirt with a shovel taken from the vehicle. "Life can be hard on Abaddon; Sinai too."

It doesn't take long to find the door to the bunker, although the fact that it's covered up suggests someone came back to hide it. Hopefully that also means the bodies inside have been removed as well.

"This whole place seems.. out of place," Yue notes. She can see the dam and Winged Citadel from here. "This is really a section of Sinai that got swapped with Abaddon?" she asks.

"It should be empty, but, just to be safe let me go first." The young woman isn't trying to protect her associate so much as hide the horrors that transpired here. She's beginning to understand why the people of Abaddon feel inadequate compared to those of Sinai, and in that sense, has felt the push to conceal her own worlds' dirty history from the outsider. It's not fear, but a kind of housekeeping -- and maybe shame as well. As she pulls out her flashlight and has a quick look inside the entrance, she explains, "It is. It's called the Pit of Himaar because this used to be part of the Himaar region, a regional hub city and important to trade and government."

It's still a squeeze for Tasha to get into the bunker, but her light shows the simple furniture, ironwood root supports and fireplace without any of the old corpses or drip buckets. There's nothing left to identify the inhabitants at all - even the plates in the kitchen are gone. Anything too big or impersonal was left behind, which was mainly the furniture.

Greatly relived to avoid the grotesque display she had feared would be down in the bunker, Tasha steps back out and waves Yue forward. "It looks empty," she notes. Turning back and heading in, she explains, "The town in the center is what is lft of Elamoore, the city brough from Sinai. I used to visit there now and then, when I was younger. Now, there's New Elamoore, back on Sinai. With the loss of the city the region was annexed by the Khattan Emirate."

"And I guess there's a big mountain there now?" Yue asks as she enters the bunker. Given her stature.. the furniture is just the right size for her. "Wow, this place is like something out of a fantasy book. I expect a wizard to come knocking at the door and inviting us on a quest! Although.. I guess on this world we go to the wizards." She sits down in one of the chairs near the cold fireplace.

"A quest?" Tasha has never had a wizard ask her to go on a quest before, or for that matter, for anything other than money unless she counts all the time Fudgy -- Mage Neesa -- asked her to be more careful and less drunk. Looking around once more, she eyes the furniture and then simply choses to sit on the floor beside the unlit fire. Without much else to do but wait and talk, she notes, "The last time I was here, we were doing ... She pauses for a split-second to think of how to word things delicately, " ... reconnisance. It was my first time using a Confederate weapon in the field. We had to abort early though, because a monster attacked the dam."

"Was it a living weapon?" Yue asks. "I wouldn't imagine Confederate biotech doing very well on a desert world. But I suppose this bunker is from before the swap? Any idea who lived here?"

"A living weapon. You're also right about there being a mountain -- Sinai is poor in metals and so the mountain has become a major iron mining hub." The younger woman delays on the final question, turning to gaze in to a fire that isn't there as she thinks back, wondering what this bunker might have been like when it still housed a family and was safely back Sinai. At length she admits, "I know who they were. They didn't make it, though," thinking it enough of the truth.

"The swap wasn't planned then, I take it?" Yue asks. "I saw the dam and flood damage. And there are more sapient species on Sinai, aren't there?"

"It wasn't." Tasha briefly considers a fire, but quickly recalls it'd give them away and instead pulls her heavy leather coat closer. Abaddon is a cold world. "The canals are filled with life, but also deadly. The life inside is constantly at war and evolves quickly. Viruses, bacteria, deadly fauna and flora, toxins ... They all flooded in to Elamoore. Even now, they're a major hazard and why developement is so slow. We helped find ground water, though, so developement is increasing at least." She then tilts her head, thinking how much she should say about life on Sinai. She knows full well that it could present a host of Client opportunities, either directly or indirectly, so simple says, "A few more. And speaking of doing badly, you're right about Confederate technology. The Confederacy is falling apart."

"I'd think everyone would be hurting from lack of resources," Yue admits. "But they don't seem to be. Or else have gotten very good at managing them. That vehicle we rode in on.. it shows manufacturing capability but nowhere near what they landed with. What's the issue with the Confederacy then? Just lack of organics?"

"They lost their Dome," Tasha replies. She turns around, watching Yue in the dim light. "Outsider from Sinai came, and something happened. The Dome's central AI was destroyed, causing the Dome's defenses to weaken drastically. The Celestial Empire took advantage and managed to capture the Dome, destabilizing the balance of power. The Celestial Empire hasn't pushed any further since then, but we're all a bit worried they will after they're done consolidating. At least the corporate structure of the Confederacy is allowing the survivors -- at least some of them -- to survive and find new ways to live. But the Confederacy itself is no longer on equal footing." She reaches up and rubs her nose; The dry weather here alwasy makes it itch so. "Its been six-thousand years since planetfall, and you're right about resources and management. They've done their best and avoided catastrophic warfare. The planet is almost opposite of my home world Sinai, which has many abundant resources but has lost nearly all o

"But there's trade between them?" Yue asks. "An already in-place transit system between worlds, or something similar to the landscape-swapping?"

"Trains, yes. They've always managed to remains civil even in wartime, and the wars have largely been skirmishes except for a few major incidents." The talk of war reminds Tasha of anotehr hazard and so she stands up, turning to walk over to the shuttered entrance before closing it. She then walks over to an unused chair, intent on using it to bar the door as well. She knows from experience how deadly a rotbiter in close quarters with nowhere run or evade can be. "They used the rails," she notes as she wedges the door in place. "Trains, that is. Steam technology. Caravans too, and airships, like you saw."

"So how did you get here?" Yue asks. "Were you in Elamoore when the swap happened?" There's also a faint sound in the distance.. quieter now with door closed, but Tasha knows the sound of a steam motor.

Tasha pauses on her way back to where she had been sitting, stopping in place to listen before turning and walking back to the door where she sits down to listen against it. "I came through the Gateway, the Tower I mentioned before. The Gateway is an old Sifran artifact that connects the known worlds and Primus -- the sun -- though we're uncertain why it exits next to a solar body. The Tower can be used once a day to transport between worlds, so trade is steady, but staggered and slow compared to most other routes." She stops again, frowning, then adds, "I hear a vehicle approaching."

"The local agent you want me to meet?" Yue asks. "I know we weren't followed on the ground.. but anyone on the rim with a telescope could have tracked us."

"That's true; The Pit isn't an easy location to find a place to talk privately. Normally I'd use the Council building, but havign you both present there would probably earn me long talk with a PHTO representative. I'm not sure they'd approve of me making contact and negotiating with Galactic powers. I'm really just a cadet, but I 'wear a lot of hats,'" Tasha admits, glancing back briefly before returning her gaze to the door. "We should be ready for the worst, just in case." And with that Tasha draws a heavy pistol she brough along, identical to the one she gave Yue.

The motor noise becomes more pronounced, then stops. It's actually a few minutes before there's a knock on the door. "Tasha?" a voice calls. "You aren't going to kill me, are you?"

"Only if you drink all my new beer. Oh," the figure outside can hear the low scratch of wood against wood; the hatch rattles. " ... and maybe if you don't throw in something extra for what you wanted!" The wooden frame opens, albiet a crack, and the person standing outside can see a single golden, avain eye peering out at them.

A figure clad all in leather (tight fitting leather, of course) waits outside the door. She's got dark goggles, a leather aviator cap and a bandana dust-mask around her nose and mouth. There a camo-tarp covering her vehicle as well.

"You've gotten more suspicious," the woman notes, and raises her goggles and pulls down the dust-mask. It's Riddle Smith, or an uncanny doppleganger. It isn't clear where she's managed to tuck all of her hair, but a few red strands escape the leading edge of the aviator cap.

"I blame adults and their politics," Tasha retorts, opening the hatch all the way. Riddle can see the young woman in her heavy red leather cloak, hood up, looking like as much of a jumble of parts as ever -- but not new parts. "Hurry on inside, there's someone I want you to meet." She then ducks back inside, getting out of the way.

"If it's someone claiming to be my long lost son or daughter, I have bad news," Riddle notes as she enters.. and has to stoop over.

"What news is that?" Tasha inquires, wcurious as to what story the woman she nicknamed 'Treachery' can come up with. And as she does, she only proves her increasingly suspicious nature by moving to a corner and stooping down, giving her a clear view and an open field of fire. She isn't sure if it's the place or simply having two spies full of secrets near her, but the urge to be prepared for anything gnaws at her.

"Well, the news would be that you'd been duped," Riddle notes, before spotting the other human. Like Tasha earlier, she opts to sit yoga-style on the floor. She seems at a loss, and covers this by removing her cap (and revealing her hair was pulled back into a ponytail the whole time).

Seeing the two aren't immediately trying to kill each other, something Tasha wasn't completely sure would be the case, the hybrid woman lays her gun down in her lap and gestures at Riddle with her taloned hand. "Yue, this is Riddle Smith," and with her other hand, to Yue, "Miss Riddle, this is Yue Sen -- also a Terragens agent."

"From Galactic Space," Tasha excplains a second later, thinking that to be an important distinction as she was told Riddle isn't the only Terragens agent on the planet. "You really don't recognize her breed? Then you were appointed an agent here?"

"I'm from a Terran colony world you wouldn't have heard of," Yue explains, then grins her enigmatic grin.

"She's Chinese breed," the young cadet notes, "I met her while in Galactic Space getting what you asked for."

"Of course I was appointed here," Riddle notes. "I was born on Abaddon. So does this mean you managed to smuggle a human onto the Titanian's ship?"

Tasha nods to this, although it's difficult to see in the dark. "With their permission, of course." She then turns to focus more fully on Yue and says, "You should know Yue is a psychic: She can read surface thoughts and other things. There isn't much I can do about that, but I thought you'd wany to meet her enough to bring you here. You can see why I didn't want anyone eavesdroppong."

"Really?" Riddle asks, raising her eyebrows at the smaller woman. "Then I finally get to use my anti-mind-reading training?"

"Of course not, I just wanted to see if you were reading my mind," Riddle notes, and waves her hand. "Everyone knows the best defense against mind-readers to be constantly inebriated."

"Ah, so they do have the drinking skills training here then," Yue notes, a bit sarcastically. "We've brought you your requested communication satellite," she also notes.

Riddle beams at this information. "Finally! We can get the juicy gossip first-hand without having to flirt with the Silent-Ones for it.."

"I'm disappointed, I was going to ask you to teach it to me." Being a Vartan, and until recently, one even more obvious in her emotions than most Tasha would have been glad to have the ability to hide her thoughts from Yue. She likes Yue, but being read all the time makes her distinctly uncomfortable. "The satelite is being prepared for lift in to orbit even as we speak. It should be up there within the week. You'll need to talk to Gabriel, if you want to keeps tabs. I'll be leaving in a few days."

"Yes, if you don't mind. She'll have a lot of questions and where I'm going it's best I go alone. Faster, too." Tasha stands up again, walking over and then sitting herself right back down by the two other women. "Yue, Riddle is the ambassador to the Knights Templar and with the Expedition, of course. I trust her, but she has obligations. What do you think about talking about that?"

"You've got intel on the other nations here, I take it?" Yue asks. "If you're the ambassador to a multi-national force, you should have lots of informants and other agents you share information with, right?"

"Even the Kampfengruppe?" the woman from outer space asks. "I need to review as much of their history as possible."

Not wanting to interupt when the spies are talking informants and plots, Tasha leans forward and perks her ears, head propped up on her hand.

This earns a raised eyebrow. "The Templars have the most extensive records on Abaddon," she notes. "And since the Kampfengruppe are not allied to the Templars, we collect lots of information on them."

"Do the Kampfengruppe have alliances with anyone one Abaddon? I know they have the Offworld Legion, but are there any other groups not made by them or made of Khattans?" Inqires the young cadet, who can't resist.

"No," Riddle says. "They don't have allies. And as militarized as they are, they don't engage in wars. They can't afford to. They've never really been attacked because they don't have anything that anyone needs. Only now, by having the Gateway Tower in their territory do they amount to anything. It isn't really clear just what their treaty is with the Khattan Emirate either. Khattans don't have a military presence on Abaddon, but the Kampfengruppe have one at the Sinai side of the Gateway.. but as far as anyone knows, that's as far as they go. The Offworld Legion handles the other worlds."

"They seem like a paranoid lot," Tasha remarks, head cocking to the side on her taloned hand. "Always afraid something bad will happen. I have to wonder, what happened to them? Why did the Fafnirites turn their back on the rest of the galaxy, even their own uplifts? It can't be just religion, can it?"

"Why not?" Yue asks. "On Terra, their forebears where into racial purity, self-proclaimed superiority and all that. So they went and founded a colony on those principles. But the only way to sustain them is to become an echo chamber. Outside cultures are 'contaminants' that could make people question things, which is never something these sort of groups survive. Then they found something to bolster their beliefs, and even managed to spread it a bit to other cultures while still keeping it a secret."

Tasha nods her head slowly at the explaination. "I geuss that makes sense; I never really thought about groups like that until recently and they've always confused me a bit. I can see how they'd work now, though." She then glances at Riddle before turning back to Yue and says, "We might as well trust her with the rest. If things go wrong, we'll need Riddle. Besides, she has a a great deal of resources we also need. You ahve more experience with this though, what do you think?"

"If you don't have local backup, you don't go in," Yue recites. To her local counterpart, she says, "We need to get our hands on a copy of the Teuton's religious book. A real copy, not a 'for the masses' copy."

"The Book of Ascending in to Life, or the Book of the Dead -- that's what I've heard it's called. It's said to be an artifact, and we need it. That means we need to sneak in and find it, because everything I know about the Kampfengruppe tells me they'd shoot us just for asking," adds Tasha in elaboration. "I don't like using this option, but it seems like the best one."

"Nobody's managed to do that yet," Riddle admits. "Considering they shoot any of their own that seem likely to run away. And.. they don't have spies of their own that we've been able to find."

Tasha grimaces, but lfts her head and spreads her hands. "We have to try. I'll be asking Raehab for weapons later today, and we'll have between current technology all he way up to modern Galactic technology. We also have Yue, a trained psychic agent, and I'm good at working my way through the 'impossible.' We're also considering hiring mages; We have an appointment in ... " She pauses to check her datapad, " ... eight hours, at Gateway. That's three. If you have suggestions, we're open to hearing them."

"Magic is certainly an unknown variable," Riddle agrees. "Of course, I would strongly doubt that any of the visiting mages here on a mission of goodwill would be experienced in espionage or infiltration." There's a lot a winking and sarcasm in the woman's voice.

"Oh of cooourse," agrees Tasha, who rolls her eyes. "And of course a cadet like me would never know or be involved with it." Her head shakes; Magic and now spying. She decides she might go down as the worst Vartan in Sinaian history at this rate. She pauses to think a moment, then says, "Well, we shouldn't stay here too long. Even if we did cover out vehicles, there's still the tracks and if we were seen, they'll need time to intercept us and we should be gone before then. So, how about this: Yue joins you for the trip back and you two work out what I need to buy, and make a list. Then Yue and I will meet up in the city and go see Raehab. After I leave for Sinai, you two can work out the other details with as much time as you want. Sound good?"

"You want me to drive her to a dive bar where the criminal element gathers?" Riddle asks. "Without Rapatia? She'll be ticked. But alright.. just this once.."

"You can bring Rapatia if you think she'll be okay with the plan. I'd figure she would be, but I know the Confederacy is in trouble and may not want to risk associating with a plan that could put them in conflict with the Kampfengruppe," the youngest of the women offers.

"Besides," Tasha adds, glancing off in to the dark and grinning, "Having Rapatia around should get us a better deal."

In a back booth in a dim, seedy bar near the airfield, an unusual group has assembled. On bench is taken up by a human woman, a Vartan woman, a smaller, exotic-looking human woman and a Karnor-Vartan hybrid, all of them of differing height. Across from them sits a large Vartan-insect hybrid, with far more bug-parts than Tasha has Vartan-parts. "Why do I feel intimidated?" Raehab asks, a bit rhetorically.

"Think of is as an opportunity!" Tasha remarks in a low but encouraging voice of inflicted excitement. "Despite what you probably think, we're not here to get you. Not today, anyway. No, this time we're here to do a deal."

"Or, more accurately, I will be your customer today. And I have your favorite words: I'm buying," the lesser hybrid concludes with her winningest smile.

With that, Riddle slides a folded piece of paper to Tasha: likely her requested equipment list.

Tasha picks up the list and tilts her head down, giving it a read. "Just a moment," she urges Raehab.

Tasha looks up at Yue and raises her brows, then she simply turns to Raehab and slides the paper across the table to Raehab face down.

The Vartan looks suspicious, and raises up the paper carefully, lest it explode. He reads it, then sets it back down. "What's your budget?" he asks, rather than say whether he has the item or not.

And rather than give a hard number, Tasha spreads her hands and replies, "You know who I am and what we can do. And as of recently, I can do even more. But maybe that's too vague?" A Vartan herself, the youngest klnows full well how to wet a fellow Vartan's appetite -- and so she pulls out a vial and hands it over to Raehab for inspection.

"Hmm," the old Vartan goes as he inspects the diamonds. "This might do for me, but we are talking about a lot of bribes and favors here," he notes. "Likely more 'retirement' offers for certain Kampf associates... and possibly myself. Might be cheaper to know what you want it for?"

"Since you're infront of all my kind and delicate friends, and since I know you won't betray me for all I've done for you because I like you, I'll tell you. But, first: I know you use this booth for your regular deals, but how safe is it to talk really?" Tasha asks, though her gaze shifts longingly to towards the vial as she realizes it isn't coming back.

"Everyone in this bar works for me," Raehab notes. "And they owe me. If I couldn't trust them, I'd be dead already."

"And you didn't take advantage of me when I was drunk, so I trust you." Tasha pulls out a piece of paper, then writes down: We need to invade the Kampfengruppe central dome, locate an item, and copy it. Item: Central Holy Book, Original Copy. Name: Book of Ascending in to Light or Book of the Dead.

"So, what do you think?" Tasha then asks after sliding the paper over like the last.

"Those guys are all crazy, and you want a copy of the source of their crazy?" Raehab asks, his single surviving eyebrow going up.

"Sometimes there's truth in myth, behind all the, uh, obfuscation, lies and madness," explains the cadet. She spreads her hands again and setles back against the bench. "Time to find out how much truth."

"So, you need to me to find out where it is, and how to get to it," Raehab notes. "Not in a rush are you?"

"It'd be best if you could accomplish the task in three weeks. If you can't, my window here will close and it may be weeks or months before it opens again. Accuracy, safety and going undetected are more important though, so take your time if you need to," Tasha replies. Her hands fall and she settles them in her lap, smiling in a pleasant, business-like way.

"I'll be your point of contact while Tasha is away," Rapatia notes with a Vartan grin. "I expect to have a feasibility report and cost analysis within five days, Captain," she says, sounding like she's giving an order.. and Raehab does come to attention slightly.

"Ooh, I've never seen you in action before Rapatia. Pretty scary!" the youngest asides to the elder female Vartan, brows and ears going up. Those beside her can even feel her tail wag. She grins a moment, then turns back to Raehab. "Well you heard her. Chances are we'll also need weapons, armor, all untracaeable. If you recommend anything, you should have an idea of how to supply it if possible. Rapatia knows more about that than I do, so she will handle that. I'll also be leaving in a few days, so if you have any important questions, now or late tomorrow or early the day after would be best."

"Just one question," Raehab says. "How far are you willing to go to get this thing?"

Tasha glances at the others before looking back and leaning towards Raehab. "I plan to go myself and there's one other volunteer so far. I'm risking the life of people who trust me and my life as well. You know what they'll do to us if we're caught and it'll be an disaster politically. We don't do raids, especially not against governments; It'll undermine what we're trying to do here. We may have to fight, so people may be killed. So to put it bluntly: Far."

"Ah.. what political fallout?" Raehab asks, and grins. "They have no allies, which means no treaties. The only ones who might care are the Khattans, and only then if it disrupts trade. And the Kampfengruppe themselves would never admit to being infiltrated by any inferior species."

"The only use they serve the rest of us is that they prevent a war to control the Gateway Tower," the old Vartan says.

Tasha's brows go up again, then she grins too. "Well, that'd be the best of the worst results, but I can't be sure they won't use it against us. It'd be worse with hostages, because they might be able to demand technology or other limited-access items for our return. I'm just being care, in other words. I've never planned a raid before." She bites her lip a moment, then notes, "One other thing ... "

After pulling another sheet of paper, she makes a quick doodle: It's a geometric shape with what look like two stick figures, one obviously male and the other just as blindingly female. This gets slid over. "A object resembling that may be with the book, or nearby. I'd be very interested if you located that too, but consider it secondary."

"Heh, if it's one of their holy artifacts, you can forget anything short of a military strike to get it," Raehab says. "They will go full on war-crazy over something like that. But a copy of a book is more likely. Besides, you need one you can actually read, don't you?"

"I'd just like to know the second object is present, not acquire it. Not if it's a major problem, anyway, and I agree with you opinion on it. As for the book," and here Tasha taps her muzzle as she looks up, thinking, "yes, we need to be able to read it. The problem is that we're not sure what it's made of, how it may work, or what language it's in. The real item will probably be alien in materials and possibly even design and language, because, well, it is alien."

"They'll have translations," Raehab claims. "If it's alien, then there's not a lot of certainty that you can copy it."

"Maybe. I know who made it, or think I do anyway, and I know a bit about them. I also have a galaxy full of resources and chances to translate what we find. Unless a monolith we can't move or read, it'd be best to get the translation and attempt to reach the book itself. If that fails, the translation alone will have to be enough," the Cadet explains.

"If the Book is here at all," Yue finally speaks out. "There's no reason to think the Sleipnir was carrying the original artifacts."

Tasha doesn't comment on the how and why, instead she smiles a little more and, looking to Raehab, asks, "Anthing else? If we're done, I'll buy us a round of drinks. All of us."

Raehab just looks at Tasha for a bit. "If you start a war, I'd like some warning ahead of time," he finally says, then sticks his insect-clawed arm through the privacy curtain to summon a server. "You'd better pay for the booze up front," he suggests to Tasha, and nods to Rapatia and Riddle. "You'll be under the table before these two, after all."

"Not today. I have a long train ride tomorrow, so I'm going to drink 'lightly'." Tasha then winks at the man, reaching in to her coat for her shekels. "Or maybe not? Of course, it's not me you have to worry about starting a war. Not with those two. Like you said, I'll be safely under the table. Good luck, Captain!"

Camp Caroban
Set just beyond the edge of the Gateway Lifedome is a collection of tents and other temporary structures marked with the Spheres of Magic diagram. This is where visiting mages stay and work while on Abaddon for the time being, as the local governments prefer the magic users keep to one place for now. There are accommodations for perhaps a dozen people, along with one large tent with symbol for the Sphere of Life on it.

It's been a while since Tasha visited the mages, so it's no surprise when she sees a lot of new faces and fails to spot old ones. None of the mages are permanently assigned to Abaddon, after all - they still need to earn money to pay off their huge education debts. This is also Yue's first look at the new species from Sinai. "That's a bunny as tall as I am," she notes. "And a raccoon. Deer? Is that a horse? What's that little thing with four ears?" Apparently even a Terragens agent can be surprised.

"It's not hard to be as tall as you are," Tasha teases as she leads her new ally through the camp, finding that even the layout has shifted. At a bit of a loss but following Mage Neesa's directions, she weaves through the assorted tents, magical objects, crates, and overworked mages in an attempt to find Mage Latania. "I'm told many of the sentient species I grew up with were created from the Terran Trade Library, back on the Ark. Gabriel was telling me about their origins; It's hard to believe, and I bet it's just as hard for you to see them like this? Oh, and that ... " The young woman frowns, examing the creature for a moment and then realize it's an Aelfin. She hasn't seen an Aelfin in ages.

"Oh, that's an Aelfin! I'm not sure what Terran species they were? You don't see very many of them. They're from a remote area south of Ashdod, which I've never been too. The surrounding regin is dangerous, though, so few ever leave. There's some old sailor stories about them, about magic and strange airships, but I'm not sure I believe it."

"None," Yue tells Tasha. "There is no species in Galactic space that looks like that, sapient or animal." The main medical tent is still at the center of the camp, with a cluster of smaller structures around it. They're marked by the symbol appropriate to the sphere of magic they are assigned to, and one of the bears the symbol for Life (which is also the Olympian symbol for Arcadia).

"Is that so ..?" The younger woman asks, her gaze lingering on the Aelfin until it disappears behind a tent. This isn't the first time I've heard about the strangeness of the Aelfin; The rumors, the sailor's tales ... But Warloq also mentioned them. The key, he said; Their language. And now they're unique the galaxy? I need to send a note off to Remiel, Gabriel and leave one for Eli to consider putting more resources in to investigating them.

With the Aelfin mystery hovering over her head like a magical rain cloud, Tasha approachs the medica tent. Then, she pauses. "Um, just a warning: Mage Latania can be a bit, um, blunt. Even cross. Which is why I brought a bribe this time, but even then, be ready." And with that she approaches the entrance flap.

Just as Tasha approaches the flap, someone steps and bumps into her. It's a Rath'ani, wearing robes of Life, who blinks and has to back up. "I'm so sorry," he says, then gets a look at Tasha. "Oh my.. are you.. are you two people that got fused together in some sort of accident?"

"No, but sometimes it feels like my sister is fused to me in a painful way," Tasha replies, head cocking to the side. "You're fusing people together now? I can just hear my mother's thoughts on that." her head shakes, then she notes, "I'm here to see mage Latania, if she hasn't died from working too hard. Or become a zombie, you do that too don't you?" She grins, showing she doesn't mean it, and knowing she needs to show it.

"Well, there was the Pegasus project.. uh.. just a moment," the mage says, and then sticks his head back into the tend. "I'm sorry to disturb you again, ma'am, but there's a Vartan woman out here with Jupani bits.." There's some sort of grumble in reply, and the raccoon holds the flap open. "You can enter. Good luck," he says.

The white Cervani doe looks.. older. And honestly more like a harried mother (or schoolteacher) having to deal with a gaggle of children than an elder mage and former Dean of the College Esoterica. She's in a complicated looking chair that actually reclines, and has a damp cloth covering her eyes and forehead. "What horror have you brought with you this time?" she asks once Tasha is in the tent, with Yue peaking from under a wing. "It better not being another exploding corpse. I've had enough of those," she notes, then wrinkles her nose. "Wait.. that wasn't you, you were the worn-out Jupani.."

"If I remember right, and I might not considering I blew myself up, I paid you a great deal of money to help my Karnors, was ungrateful about it and magic in general, then involved myself in your affairs with the Dome and otherwise came by now and then for assorted problems and details," Tasha counts off, one-two-three on her taloned hand. She tries to count beyond foru on her taloned hand, though, and pauses to look at it suspiciously for a moment before turning her attention back to the Mage.

"So, I'm either 'here to stick my nose in to things and cause mild problems' or 'I'm here to pay you for things.' I'm sure you'll appreciate that today it's the latter. Or, well, maybe both, but primarily the latter." She smiles, although she has to force it in the fce of an imminent upbraiding, and quickly notes, "My friend and I would like to speak to a Mind and 'Shadow' Mage. Shadow for me, Mind for her."

The cloth is lifted so Latania can actually look at her visitors. "Was your eye and hand like that the last time you visited?" she asks. "We've got one Mind Mage and one Shadow Mage... somewhere," he notes. "Required to have at least one from every Sphere, even if there's no point. Anyway.. you can't miss them. Mage Zwouf is an Aelfin.. uh.. male I think. Hard to tell. They need antlers really. He or she is our Mind Mage. Shadow is.. give me a moment. Ah, it's Mage Giesel. A Jingai.. a bit googly-eyed. Wears a pointy hat."

"Thank you! Oh:" Tasha reaches now in to the duffle bag she's been hoisting, which aside from containing their travel gear and a few meals for teh long train ride, also contains: A pillow? " ... here. This is for you, as thanks for your work with Gabriel, Eli and Remy, and for helping me so many times despite how busy you are." It's a very peculiar pillow, because it appears to be made out of shiny metal. Yue recognizes it easily enough, as a Galactic technology. "It's, uh, magic. Well, technology. Anyway, it's very comfortable."

"Zolk?" Latania asks, taking the pillow. "Well. thank you, Tasha." She even almost smiles.

"It's not zolk, and please, don't take it apart. It's filled with a special foam-like fluid that disperses heat and doesn't lose its softness. Well, you'll figure it out!" Tasha then gives the Mage a slight bow, then turns to her compatriot. "lets see if we can find those two mages," she notes before giving Mage Latania a farewell.

"I never thought a deer could seem.. cranky," Yue says. "So, I want the little four-ears fellow I suppose. What's a Jingai?"

"They seem to be offshoots of Naga, or may be Naga that experimented with Terran DNA later, after planetfall. Anyway, the difference names have something to do with how many arms you have and therefor how important you are. Humans aren't the only ones to decide superiority based on rediculous rules," Tasha explains as they walk out in to the camp. Busy as ever, and without a clear map, the two are left to wander. "Mage Latania is just very busy. I think she has a good heart but she isn't very good with stress. Or maybe she is, and she's not very good with not being stressed out."

There are a few Naga in the camp, all bundled up with fur-lined cloaks. There's plenty of day-to-day sort of activities.. just ones that are done with magic, like drawing fresh water from a well, or tending to the garden plot. There are some suspiciously lounge-shaped boulders that various reptilian types lay on, marked with various magical runes as well.

"Well, their diversity certainly makes them stand out. I bet this is how people feel about us, come to think of it." There's more wandering and more looking at the sights. One sight in particular catches the young woman's attention, because it's the very rune of the Sphere she's looking for. "The runes are actually old Olympian, linked to the Old Olympian gods. I speak some of the langauge, so I know which are for which Sphere now that I know what the Sphere are and which rune they use. This one is 'The Sundial,' the rune for Shadow. The one you need is, 'The Mind' which looks a bit like a targeting recticle."

"I suppose it's safe to just ask around for Zwouf?" Yue asks. "Are there any special protocols for talking to a Mage?" Nearby, a two-armed, two-legged Jingai with a rather thick, stumpy tail is resting on one of the stones, a floppy (but pointy) hat draped across its face. The Sundial is prominent on the hat and robes.

"That's a good idea. Mage Zwouf could be anywhere, although maybe your own talent will help? That would be interesting to know. I'd like to meet him ... her? ... too, but since my mage is right there," and here Tasha points right at him, "I'd probably better talk to him before he disappears. Or explodes, vanishes, turns in to a planet. You'll be fine alone, right?"

"I wouldn't be very good at my job if I couldn't work alone," Yue says, and then.. sort of just slips off, vanishing behind a Rath'ani.

Tasha scratches her head as Yue appears to vanish herself, staring at where she'd been, then she simply shakes her head and vows to learn how to do that.

Now alone, tasha turns and approaches the Mage. "Hello," she greets him, arms folding behind her back as she leans forward a little, as the Jingai is below her upon a rock. "My name is Tasha. Are you too busy to talk business and other things?"

"WhuSsS?" the mage mutters, then sits up in surprise.. which causes a brief moment of struggle with the hat. It finally ends up flopping to one side of the rather triangular face. The Mage's eye do seem a bit googly, in they they are big and protrude a bit.. while the left one seems to wander about on its own. The right one however looks right at Tasha. "I am Mage Geezel the Green," declares the somewhat brown lizard. "Master of the realm of shadow.." he adds while making a gesture that seems less mystic and more stage-magician. "What can I do for you, my dear.. uh.. chimera?"

Smiling politely but increasingly dubious, Tasha explains, "I'm interested in learning more about Shadow Magic; The general idea of it, how it can be used, and the cost for services. A demonstration would be nice, too." As she thinks on the nature of Shadow and of concealment, something strikes her: Is he ... playing dumb? She wonders. As a mage of epionage, stealth and general skulldudgery, she suppose it wouldn't do to be flaunting your abilities. A easily dismissed facade would be more useful.

And so, Tasha decides to just ask, demonstaring her own lack of subtly at the same time. "By the way, is that ... an act? You're a Shadow Mage, so hdiing your prowess would be important, right?"

"Shadow magic isn't always about deception," Geezel claims. "It is kin to Dream and Illusion and even Mind. It can conceal, or instill.. imagination. And it has many practical uses as well, such as sending messages over long distances.. or messages that only certain people can read."

"Like a radio!" Tasha declares, eyes widening. "That does seem useful. What about ... Well, what about more physical shadows? Or beings that are thought to be shadowy. Beings of darkness, or ... Do you know about dark matter? How about gravity? What about them and those?"

"Shadow is not Spirit," Geezel explains. "It cannot effect the physical world, beyond what a shadow can do. And while I've seen spirit-seeming shadow projections, they were a special case."

"I don't know, I've seen shadows do a lot, but maybe they're just shadows in a figurative sense and another kind of being. I wasn't expecting much from that flight, anyway." Cocking her head to the side, Tasha then asks, "I assume you accept the usual guild payment, um, structure right? How about anonymity and secrecy?"

"My Sphere is mostly about secrecy," the lizard man notes, and taps his nose. "Or at least privacy. You must be from Sinai to ask about Guild Rates. That will depend on what you need done, and what resources I have available to me here. Magic is a bit sluggish still on this world, I've found."

"I am interested in hiring a Shadow Mage for what's probably most easily described as a covert military operation, without the military involved part. On our side. There will be an actual military. Our side would be a small team," explains the 'chimera,' her head tilting. "Can I trust this won't be mentioned to anyone else?"

"You haven't dealt with Mages before?" Geezel suddenly asks. "Only the particulars of our services are recorded.. as in what we did.. and for whom. But not the details of why, or where. As for trust.. look around." The Mage makes a sweeping gesture.. and apparently, without Tasha ever noticing, the rest of the world has gone gray and silent.

"Thaaat's ... a neat trick ... " Tasha admits, not even bothering to hide the awe in her voice. She turns around slowly, taking in the monochrome wonder, and then turns back. "I never ddi ask about the details, as it wasn't necessary for the mission. This time it is. And as you can tell, I've only worked with a few Sphere and not yours." She bites her lip, turning to gaze at the greyness a little longer before saying, "We'll be sending a team in to a major city, to recover an item or items related to that item. It will be extremely dangerous and there will be many hostile forces. The environment will be Abaddonian lava wastes, a domed city, and likely an old spacecraft. Detection methods range from observation by human senses to electronics and other Expedition-era technologies. The Mage's job will be to help conceal the team and send messags if necessasry. Fghting will only be necessary if we're detected and must defend ourselves."

"That sounds exciting," Geezel says, his tongue flicking out. "I don't know how shadow will affect mechanical senses. But as long as a living mind is at the other end, it should work. It will be expensive though. This privacy spell was not cast.. I used an enchanted item. Those work well enough here, if a bit slowly. They are the best choice for something like this, but I don't have the resources to create them here. I'll have to send for them."

"It will be exciting, that much I can promise. Well ... " Tasha sucks in a deep breath, having spent a small fortune in the last two days -- and recieved more than one tease from Gabriel about it. Not only that, it's more money than she had most of her life, by many orders of magnitude. Spending so much makes her itch, but she knows it's for an important reason and so must live with feeling like she's draining the JEF coffers. " ... That's fine, I can afford it."

"Ah, the three magic words all mages need to hear," Geezel says. "When will you have the specifics of how many people and how long you need them to be concealed for?"

"I'll have the basics in a few days, the whole thing ... It could take a few weeks or a few months. There are other groups and agents working to prepare the way, get information, and assess what we need. Sice their work is vital, it can't be rushed. That shoud at least give you enough time to ship the items here," answers the Cadet, who briefly wonders how she went from drover, to hero who would change the world, to shady chimera making deals both figuratively and literally shadowy. "If you need to reach me, I'll be staying in the Pit. My full name is Aldera Tasha Argentine, Pilot-Cadet to the Joint Expeditionary Force. My commander, Captain Gabriel T. Akkers, can also be contacted."

"I will recommend you seek out our Light Mage as well," Geezel says. "She should be able to tell you if scrying is being blocked at the target site - which would mean an awareness of magic."

"That's a great idea! We aren't sure, but we can't rule it out and strongly suspect the target group will be experimenting with magic." Tasha then glances off, in to the murk. "I should catch up with my friend. Here are the details, although it'll be missing anything we just discussed." She reaches in to her coat and pulls out a folded piece of paper, then several more, and hands them over. "Let me know if you need anything else. I'll be in the camp for an hour or two more. Hopefully, if all gioes well, they'll never even know we were there."