Setting up a schedule has been exhausting. Even with Gabriel dealing with things on the Tartarus end, there were a lot of logistical details to handle for the Pit. The turn-around time for retrieving the Reaper was set at six days - two to get to Tartarus, two to get the giant Titan operational and controllable, and then another two to get it back to the Pit. Then there would be a big ceremony, and the arrival of a Silent-Ones Titan Transport ship afterwards. From leaving the Pit to final arrival at Star-City would take a minimum of twelve days (not counting any ceremonies at the final destination).
Tasha had to handle things without Liza, whom she'd set to the task of shopping for appropriate clothes and immersing herself in Silent-Ones etiquette, which mean dragging Tomorrow's-Hope along with her. At least while waiting for replies, she had Gabriel to keep her company - which was also exhausting but in a more enjoyable way.
With things set in motion and just waiting for a 'go' date to be sent back by the Silent-Ones Embassy, Tasha has time to clean up and see about dealing with her other, more covert mission. Which means a visit to the Winged Citadel..
There are the remains of a meal on Riddle's desk when Tasha arrives. "Ah, you're back in town I see," the red-haired human greets, although with the expression that says 'of course I already knew that' on her face. "Yue should be coming in soon too."
"I'm not sure why I even send ahead or schedual an appointment anymore," Tasha admits in mock-consternation, walking in and making herself at home by dropping in to the chair across from Riddle's own. She lets out an entirely non-faked exhale of exhaustion, then leans back and fishes out two of her cigarillos -- the other one is tossed to Riddle. "You wouldn't believe how busy I am these days! So," she sticks the cigarillo in her mouth but doesn't light it yet, talking around it, " ... how are my books coming along?"
Riddle uses her desk lighter and passes it to Tasha. "You're dressing better," she notes. "As for the books.. still in the 'we don't know what's there' stage. Our friendly neighborhood smuggler has managed to find two sets of building plans which don't match one another so far. We need some other source to confirm which is correct, if either. I was going to send Yue to Expedition City to talk to your gal-pal Hakeber, see if she's still got any contacts left after her last one 'vanished mysteriously'.." She actually holds up her fingers to mark the quotation.
Tasha fights to hide her grin; It doesn't work very well. She lights her cigarillo and takes a long draw, which at least partially hides the expression. "Well," Tasha begins, taking her smoke out and gesturing in vague circular motions, "I have to look better, don't I? Ship owner, officer, and who knows what. It could be anything, really. Even a pirate." The young woman shrugs, rolling her eyes as she has anotehr huff, then she blows before nodding. "If Yue can do it, it's a good idea. I worry for Hake, though. I had, um, we'll call it a vision of how things could have gone for Hake and I, and it wasn't good. I have a datapad ready for her, so I'll hand it to ue to send along. Then she can contact us if needed, as can Yue. Yue herself can probably level this entire building and everyone in it, so I'm sure she'll be fine too. As for confirmation, ever hear of the Planetary Defense Cooperative?"
"Ah, Nerds On The Moon," Riddle replies. "Yeah, program's been going for a while now, with no progress beyond 'we know where to put a hyperspace relay now' after discovering where the Silent-Ones had already left one."
"They clearly need the guidance of someone who has bumbled through space and gotten results," Tasha notes, thumbing towards herself with her free, taloned hand. "And it just so happens I have results that will get their attention and the contacts to get it to them. Did you know we had a Reaver-class Titan? Bathed-in-Gold's, an old Silent-Ones hero. Well, we kept it in the dark because we knew the Star Empire elites would start a war over owning it, so I suggested to Gabriel we pre-empt them and reveal it in a grand and definitely not plan serving way!" The young woman makes a 'lights and sparkles' wavy fingers gesture at the mention of the pomp and circumstance, then throws her hands wide leaving her cigarillo betwen her teeth. "Gift to the Pit, for defense. But first, a tour to Star City. Have to honor them properly, you know. The whole thing would be a grat cover for our book shopping, too, if we can get away."
"With the Kampf, there isn't any cover - they could care less about anything we do out here so long as it doesn't cross into their territory," Riddle notes. "Still, it's an excuse to party, and everyone can get behind that. I assume you've already snagged a pilot for the beast?"
"It's mostly to help our departure here, and to also help if we fail and end up looking foolish. Oh, and of course it's for the defense of the Pit; I'm not that jaded by all your bad influence on me," Tasha notes, shaking her cigarillo at Riddle condemingly. She then pops it back in her mouth and signs, "Tomorrow's-Dope," even as she says, "Tomorrow's-Hope, who has absconded with my personal assistant and I can't even be mad because it's my fault. I have to make my own tea and do my own hair, it's awful." She throws her hands up again, head shaking. "I miss her already, how did I function without Liza? Terrible. She's off learning their culture and getting us clothes, which is why he's with her."
"Personal assistant?" Riddle asks, one eyebrow raised. "So, you've finally decided there are some things you shouldn't handle yourself? Where'd you find this one?"
"It's hard to believe isn't it?" The young woman reaches up and raps her knuckles on her head. "It takes a while, but it does sink in. I realized it the moment I had a handful of jewels and thoight, "You know what? I'm tired of living rough," and bought myself a trip's worth of luxury. My bunny, Liza, she was my maid at the hotel. I found her so easy to get along with, I knew she was the one; I thought about Katie's own assistants and realized I could really use that help. So, I asked, she said yes, I signed a lot of paperwork and we've been together since. She's still adjusting."
"What is with you and bunnies?" Riddle asks. "And once again, you didn't bring enough to share. But I see you've grown then, if you're willing to have someone cuter than you follow you around. That must make you the most exotic couple on Abaddon. Unless Yue is with you, then you're a trio. Did you uncover anything useful on your trip back to Sinai? At least.. anything useful to us here?"
"My adventure started with bunnies, they're sort of a tradition," Tasha notes, gesturing again with her cigarillo. "Besides, they're cute. It's hard to be mad at them, unless they're exceptionally annoying." The last part being said with no small amount of rancor, but she drops it quickly as she pushes on. "Liza is amaizng though. You'll see. Anyway: Found a small fortune, some artifacts that I brought along in case you want a peak, nearly got my soul flattened, annnd ... Oh! I found a coin from a precusor civiliation and what's probably the true history of life in the universe. is that any help?" She raises a brow, taking a long drag as she cocks her head t the side questioningly.
"Competing with religion isn't very productive in politics," Riddle notes. "Did you find what you were looking for from the Titanians? Something we can use for planetary defense that isn't part-and-parcel of Bellerophon?"
Tasha pauses for a moment, then exhales before admitting, "Uhhh," her head cocks the other way, " ... no."
"But I do know the Nerds in Space need a ship. I might be able to do that," the young woman adds quickly, trying to redeem herself.
"If you can get a spaceship here.. yeah, that'd be worth something," Riddle notes. "Just having one we can launch fast or plug up hyperspace with will be useful."
"I'll see what I can do I have a good track record with finding spaceships it seems. I'll need to establish connections with Confederates out in the Black, but I've learned a bit from the Titanians and I might be able to find a black or grey market seller. Maybe make a few deals, do some exchanges? I could use a connection that isn't Terran -- um, no offense to you and Terra," the hybrid woman explains, holding up a hand at the end to show no hard feelings. "I just don't want to be too connected to any one Galactic,a nd options are good. I can't get everything or reach everywhere with just one, either."
Tasha then glances back towards the door and pulls her cigarillo before saying, "You can come in now, Yue."
The door remains closed. "I came in a few minutes ago," Yue says from behind Tasha. "Or I could have been here all along, and we're just playing a prank on you. I've got contacts within the Confederates that I trust."
"Ahh!" Goes Tasha, who hunches forward and nearly drops her cigarillo in her lap if not for a flurry of last second scrambling. She waves the smoke at the woman, ears back. "Don't do that!" There's some eying, then Tasha slowly eases back in her chair and shakes her head. "Every time I think I know my luck, it just proves to be more panic-inducing and dramatic," she tells Riddle before looking between the two, "So, if you're done ganging up on me and helping me feel better about my 'less Terrans policy,' what's about those contacts?"
"I need to be able to move around a lot," Yue says, perching on the edge of Riddle's desk.. and holding her hand out for a cigarillo. "The Confed have been cozying up to Terra for centuries. Lots of shared interests, let's say."
"Well that's good to hear, at least." Tasha listens, ears perked -- which is especially obvious when she patently ignores the request for a smoke. "We'll have to look in to that, then. This means you want to stick around on my ship? Did your handlers ask you to?"
"Terragens Agents have a lot of leeway in their assignments," Yue claims. "And it's the only way I can follow up on locating the Jotoki homeworld and making sure it didn't suffer - or is about to suffer - any 'convenient' extinction events."
Tsha nods slowly, although her easr do go askew. "Extinction, it's terrible that I forgot about that, isn't it? I need to tell Liza to prioritize reminding me of extinctions." She shakes her head, then taps her head with her taloned hand. "Very busy these days. Hokay, you're in for now: But's it's my ship and my Elite. We'll be heading for Varta as I said, too, once we're all done here." the young woman then turns to Riddle again and says, "Which means we should try to act soon after -- or during -- the celebration. I don't like leaving my ship waiting, but I like endangering us less. I can wait if we need to, but sooner is better."
"When were you going to the moon then?" Riddle asks. "A few telescopic photos of the layout for the Kampf city would be handy."
"When I'm in Star City, being political. I should ahve a lot more clout riding on the back of the Reaver," the young woman replies before taking another draw from her cigarillo. Belatedly, she then fishes out anotehr one and holds it out to Yue.
"Soon as you get them, send them to me," Yue says. "I should be in contact with that scholar girl, Hakeber, by then."
"I have a gift for Hake for you to bring to her. You can use it to contact us, as it'll be given access to our satelite communication network," Tasha informs Yue, glancing towards her. "Is there anything else you need? Either of you?" Her gaze shifts, moving between them. "Gabriel needs me back, we have a lot of planning to do -- and that's not, um, innuendo."
"I'll probably have a list after I've met with Hakeber," Yue says. "I might be able to seduce a Kampf officer if I can find one. The humans here have a really mixed gene-pool, so features like mine are rare."
"See, I've got a bunny of my own afterall," Riddle teases.
"Be careful, they seem to hate just about everyone. You might be able to find another disgruntled one, but .. Well, you've been doing this longer than me, haven't you? You know what to do," Tasha notes, shaking her cigarillo Yue-wards. She then turns to Riddle and smiles. "I thought you two would get along. Anything else?"
"Anything we need to know about the Titanians on Sinai?" Riddle asks. "Are they working with the Galactic clans, or in communication somehow?"
"Titanian secrets are Titanian secrets, and although Terra is big and scary, Titanians are scarier. Remember, I'm their ally too," Tasha notes, brow arched.
"You could have just said 'nope, didn't find anything like that' instead of making us curious," Riddle points out, wagging a finger. "We just need to know who we can ignore and who we can't."
"I'm an adventurer, an explorer, apparently some sort of pirate and in need of funding, so of course it's interesting," remarks the hybrid, who grins. She then begins to rise, adding, "One more thing: depending on the status of our refit, I may need to do one mroe thing before we leave Primus. If I do, I'll let you know. Otherwise, the plan stands. And now ... " Her gaze drifts towards the door. "And now I get to return to the less interesting part of adventure, exploring and that other thing."
"Paperwork?" Riddle asks.
"Paperwork and planning," tasha confirms as sheturns to walk towards the exit, waving back over her shoulder. "See you soon."
"We're having a visiting dignitary for the big unveiling," Gabriel tells Tasha when she gets back. "One of the Silent-Ones that came back with us, Lonevigil. Big-time Mecha Warrior back in the Empire. Apparently piloted the modern version of our monster."
"I was wondering what those two were up to, now one comes to us. Well, the more the merrier, isn't that the Terran saying?" Tasha remarks as she slips her coat off and hangs it on the room's rack. "I remember that we talked about Titans for a while, although hew as a bit distant. I argued with him about women pilots, didn't I?" She turns back to gabriel and pauses to give him a kiss on the cheek. "As if local big shots aren't enough to deal with, hmm?"
"Not quite local - he's in Star City," Gabriel notes. "But he'll be here for the ceremony. Liza and Tomorrow's-Hope got back a little while ago. They're in her room, probably going over etiquette and such."
There's a little grin on Tasha's face. "Probably," she agrees as she walks over and has a seat on the edge of the bed, where she stretches her hands upwards, locking digits. "So much to do, are you still glad we got in to all of this?" Her hands fall in to her lap, and her head tilts. "Still love me, now that I've gone and changed? Become political?"
"You can never escape politics," Gabriel says, setting down his pad. "Still.. it can't always be non-stop swashbuckling and discovering ancient secrets," he notes with a grin. "You've just grown up a bit. I expected that."
"It's your fault," Tasha points out, wagging her Karnor finger at Gabriel. "You and the rest, being good influences on me. The Progenitors will meet me and think, "how can this be? we should have met whoever changed Tasha instead," and they'll look right past me." The hand falls, then she tilts her head. "Speakingof which, if the refit is rady before we -- I? -- leave Primus again, I think it's time. Ser Heraphel thinks I should see them before interfering with House Khomen, abd I agree. We can't be sure they won't mess with us first, and it would be good to ... To resolve things a bit."
"Fred has been running systems tests, and getting the second reactor lit," Gabriel says. "How'd things go with the Red Menace?"
"Menacing as usual. Yue is even worse. Red is working on the books, and making progress, but she wants a ... List from our friends. Our friends want their shipment. Yue's off to Expedition City to try and get what she can from Hake, and I sent a datapad along with her for communication and to help Hake get ready -- I doubt she'll say no to chasing after the culmination of her work," Tasha explains. She grabs a pillow from the bed and bunchs it in her lap, leaning heavily on it. "Everything is moving forward, we just need to fill some gaps here and there and we'll be ready."
Gabriel gets up from his desk and stretches his arms for a moment. "Still not sure how the new Titan is going to play out. There's always a chance that some Silent-One big-wig will want it for himself after all. But letting the VIP run it around a bit should be good for us. The Pit could always use more support. If fuel wasn't an issue, we could have used the shuttle to drop off the relay and do recon.. but it doesn't have the juice to make orbit, even with a boost from Harmonia."
"If one of the big wigs tries to snatch it, I'll do what I can to stop it -- using their system of course. I'm sure there's something, though it'll make us enemies that'd probably be inevitable by that point. More like he'd have already chosen to make enemies of us," the cadet notes, still curled around her pillow. "At least we can drop off the relay on the way to Arcadia. There's so many ominous things to do, I might even be a little worried." She holds up her Karnor hand, fingers out so there's a gap between pointer and thumb. "Just a little."
"We can't spy with Belle either," Gabriel notes. "Everyone will have their dazzlers going once we launch. But as far as we know, the Kampf are unaware of the moonbase. It's on the dark side, opposite Orpheus, so nobody is worried about planetary surveillance from them. Which means you'll need to commandeer a telescope and carry it to where it can be used."
"You want me to bring a telescope ... To the moon? With Mel, or something?" Tasha asks, ears perked forward and brows raised. "I've never tried spying from a moon before."
"They'll have the scopes there already," Gabriel says with a grin. "Wouldn't much of a defense post if they didn't. You just need to use one of theirs."
"And find a tiny spot on a bit planet and hope I can work the telescope without anyone noticiing, or 'not noticing.'" Here Tasha makes air quotes, coping Riddle's style. "No problem, I'll figure something out, I always do right? Anything else, or should we get back to paperwork?"
"We can relax for a bit," Gabriel claims. "Still waiting on stuff from the Embassy. What did you send Liza to get? She had Hope carrying a bunch of bags."
"Clothing for our visit to Star City -- we have to look the part. I'm a Knight, so I'll be in my mask and whatever else is appropriate. Liza needed clothes for Abaddon, so this gets her ready for here and there. The rest is her education -- I want her to be aware of local custom and history," the young woman explains, gesturing vaguely with her taloned hand. "I need Liza to support me, and she can't do that without my support. Besides, I want her to feel like more than my servant."
"Plus it saves you from having to study up on it all yourself," Gabriel notes with a smile. "You're learning to delegate."
"I can't get anything past you," Tasha admits with a matching smile, tail wagging. "I guess I really can't do it all myself, but you know what? I don't miss it. I just had to want to change."
"Speaking of delegation and efficient support staff.. are you inviting Katie to the ceremony in the Pit?" Gabriel asks.
Tasha gives Gabriel a look as if he had suggested the sun revolved around the moon. "Of course I am. She'd have Mr. I murder me if I didn't invite her to the largest celebration since her last tour, and besides, there's a Titan involved. Katie loves Titans!" And then she shakes her head. "I do not want to know what Katie looks like disappointed, I like having my soul not crushed, whatever my experience with god machines."
"We've got a rough estimate of the celebration date, and she'd probably need to arrive ahead of that anyway," the big wolf says. "Going to send her a letter, or did you already send it with Dr. Sen?"
"I figured I'd better do it myself, I don't know if there'd be a problem for a Terragens agent meeting with her or not. She's still a military officer, even if she's reserve. It's a shame I can't contact her more quickly; is it bad of me that I've begun to think letters and wire are slow and backwards? We should really help provide communications infrastructure," Tasha replies, gesturing all over again. "But, maybe wire will work. The sooner the better. I could stop by the Expedition telegraph office."
"I should really just give Katie ehr datapad," Tasha admits, ears sinking. "But I wanted to give it to her in person, she'd be thrilled. Still, I should probably put her planning and our schedual before my own interests."
"Well, you can do that at the ceremony," Gabriel suggests. He reviews his own tablet, and notes, "I'll need to do some shopping of my own tomorrow it looks like. Some items the base wants. The Picnic Basket is scheduled to arrive tomorrow evening. We should be ready by then, right?"
"If all goes well," Tasha agrees, tail wagging again. "If not we'll send what we can and work it out as we can, like we always do."
Passenger accommodations on the Picnic Basket had not improved any since Tasha's last trip. Partitions were set up to create sleeping areas, and camp-stoves and toilets rounded things out. It was also cold, so it was a good thing Liza had found some suitably Abaddonian apparel, especially the big fur-lined leather coats with hoods and integrated goggles and dust-masks. Tomorrow's-Hope carried a duffel bag but didn't go to great lengths to bundle up - his jacket was thinner, and made of something with better insulating properties than fur apparently. Gabriel and Tasha didn't really feel the cold that much, both being used to the upper atmosphere temperatures.
Liza had acquired a book called "The Diplomat's Guide to Silent-Ones" that kept her occupied when she wasn't busy with food preparation or seeing to Tommorrow's-Hope. Tasha also had some reading material: a packet delivered from Rapatia just before they left.
The packet included a history of heavy weapon usage by the Kampf, along with a tally of what warheads they were presumed to have had at hand during landing. The result was that Rapatia didn't think they had any more ground-to-air missiles. They still possessed 'dazzlers' though, which were wide-beam laser weapons designed to blind an enemy. These were generally used against aircraft to prevent photography and bombing runs.
Now aboard the Harmonia, Tasha stretches as she stands up and makes her way across across the peculiar hover frame and on to the deck. Harmonia's interior is just as she rememebrs it, beautiful and orderly, a kind of precision-driven Vartan's paradise. She considers how much she likes the design as she veers away and walks out in to the open hangar. The package, tucked away under her jacket, remains out of sight.
"Since I'm on board, I think I'll go be a proper captain and get to the bridge," she calls over to Gabriel who has recently exited the Basket.
"Try no to send anything this way that will spook our passengers," Gabriel requests, and waves Tasha off.
"No ProgMat army of me? Fine, just the one!" And then Tasha is off in to the ship. She knows the way by now, riding the moving floor until she's on the bridge. It always makes her both excoted and a little sad to be on the bridge as she's unable to escape the sense that maybe she should have done more here, been more. What that more is, she's never been quite certain -- but the feeling has lingered regardless.
moving up the dias, she turns, lowering herself on to the captain's chair and tilting her head forward.
The elegant brass-and-silver-and-gold armature unfolds and makes contact with Tasha's studs. "Welcome back, Captain," Harmonia greets, the view of endless churning gears being replaced by a view of the sky and ground.
"It's good to be back, even if I won't be your captain much longer," Tasha returns in greeting, her head lowering further as she pulls out the package and negins opening. Connected to the system as her mind is, she can simultanously intiate a ProgMat distribution in the hangar deck creating a clone of herself while also linking her input audio to the area, allowing her to listen in in case she's needed. With an avatar nearby, she can appear to be present even if she's physically on the bridge. It's a feature she wishes she could use elsewhere, as she never seems to have enough time or presence. "How have you been, Harmonia? Excited to have Eli as your new captain?"
"It is good to have a captain," Harmonia replies. "He will be a good captain. You have been exposed to hyperspace radiation, Captain. Have you been traveling again?"
"He'll be here more, and more active. He's a scientist, so I'm sure you'll have a lot of adventures together. I hope you'll share them with me, some day." The wrapping gets put aside, leaving Tasha to mull over what's beneath with her head propped up on her left hand. It makes her look a bit like a thoughtful, somewhat burdened young queen on her golden throne, weighed down by the burden of royal life and mail. "I have. We've been active in Galactic space and I've been traveling with the Titanians and my ... um ... My own ship, the Dark Horse. Life has gotten very busy, very fast."
"Such is the nature of life," Harmonia claims. "I am assured it is better than the alternatives however. I have not observed any anomalous events during my route since our last encounter."
"No news is good news, as Gabriel would say. You recieved our mission overview? The raid on the compound will be delayed for the coming celebration, but we're fnding difficulty getting accurate data about the city itself, so it's fine. I just wish I wasn't making the dark Horse wait so long. I hope Eli isn't getting worried," Tasha explains. She then picks up the package and begins opening it, having waited long enough and feeling antsy. "After that, we may proceed to Arcadia, to the Progenitor base. I'm a little worried about you, Harmonia. Worried that whatever it is you've been waiting for will come to pass. I wish we knew what that meant for you and also us."
"That would require accessing my protected memory," Harmonia explains. "I do not know what circumstances will allow that."
"Is it possible for me to request access to portected memory? Or is my clearance not high enough?" Tasha asks, pausing in her exploration of her package from Rapatia.
"I do not know," Harmonia claims. "It is not a part of my mind. To my knowledge, it has never been active."
"Then lets find out. I, Aldara Tasha Argentine, Captain of this vessel and sole remaining operative of the Magi mission request access to ship's protected memory from ship's AI." Tasha lets the command linger, waiting in anticipation with ears perked and hands gripping the item in her lap. The result of Harmonia's directives completing has always been an unsettling unknown, one that ahs caused her anxiety. She doubts she'll get an answer now, but can't be sure she won't, either.
The answer, when it comes.. is a poem.
/Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality./
As the poem rings in Tasha's mind, her face contorts in to a solid frown. The package is abandoned as she drops back in to the captain's chair, arms out and expression shadowed, pensive. "Another poem. A mission-poem, like those of the pilots, maybe. I don't like what it's talking about, though. Not at all," Tasha admits at length. "Was that the entire datastore? Were you able to compare the poem's storage size to the volume of the stored data?"
"I do not know what you mean," Harmonia replies. "What poem are you referring to?"
"And it's blocked from ship's AI. I won't repeat it, I think the ... thing we were talking about would be edited out of your memory anyway. Whatever it is and means, it's just for me. Or, at least, for whoever was supposed to be here and hear it," the young woman muses. She rolls her head to the side, cocking it as she repeats the poem in her mind. Whatever it is, the ship's AI is prevented from understanding it -- the same situation aswhen she activated the secret directories on the Melchior. She isn't sure why the AIs are prevented from being aware of the systems, but they are, and she can only speculate about it. The poem is even more myserious, though she finds it very clearly threatening. A poem about death; She's been called nonsensical but poetic before, and she thinks she understands that the poem references the end of life, that the carriage is a euphamisim for the jounrey in to the afterlife. To her, it sounds like something she expect before the system tried to kill her -- and she doesn't like it at all.
"Well, I'll think on this," she mentions distractedly, turning once more to her package for lack of answers.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Harmonia asks.
"If I mentioned the contents, you wouldn't remember them -- or something worse might happen. I can tell you they hinted at death, and yours or mine, it isn't something we should do more with without the others on standby. For now, um, for now ... Lets keep on course and leave the contents for later after I've talked to the others." Despite what she says, Tasha can't quite let it go. It's every bit as ominous as her anxiety had wanted her to believe and even mroe unsettling for its vagueness. The poem, she is certain, is clearly about the end of life -- but why and what it entails is another matter. She mulls on the other poems, which were instructional and predictive -- but what instruction or prediction can she get now?
Tasha doesn't know. Still, she tries working it out from the two perspective: As instruction, given the other poems she knows, she would almost think it suggests the listener must die, or was always dead, and that death contains but themselves -- and leads to immortality. She knows that immortality and some sort of godhood was mentioned in connection with the Magi and the Progenitors, but the connection beyond that are just wild guesss based on flimsy connections. The prediction assumotion is even worse off, and ominous, predicting her death and a straught end or some form of immortality based on all she is.
The young woman bites her lip; It's all one more scary thing to worry about, on top of a host of others. "Well, Harmonia, you know all the mission poems. If we had another poem, speaking of the end of of life, death, and immortality, how would you apply what we know of interpreting the mission poems to the new one?" Tasha inquires, going against her earlier statement.
"It is not part of the Magi Mission," Harmonia concludes. "The poem is in relation to me. I am not part of the Magi Mission. Therefore the poem cannot be related in that sense. However, I am of Khattan manufacture and programming, as are the Magi. The Khattas are fond of poetry. Even the JEF ships had poetic keys when activated."
"But what's the purpose of the keys? What do they do, other than sounds ominous and make my hackles go up?" Tasha asks, head cocking the other way as she stares off in to the virtualized sky.
"They are error check messages," Harmonia suggests. "If they are garbled, then something is wrong with the system. Or they are meant to imbue a sense of awe and grandeur."
"/I hope that's it,/" Tasha admits, chewing on her lip again. "/It'd be nice if all it was, was some drama and an error code. Well,/" her gaze drifts, returning to the package in her lap, " ... lets go with that answer. If there's another one we'll worry about it if it's a /problem,/ and we'll /deal/ with it./" Decsiion made, the young womans ticks to it this time and instead finally tears in to the package Rapatia sent her.
"Any sense of prophecy is surely coincidental," the AI continues. "Bellerophon's key is not describing your battle with the hybrid Magi Balthasar, or your mission to locate the Progenitors base."
The package contains diagrams of ancient weapon systems - missiles, cannons and the like.
"You're right, it probably isn't. I looked in to the story of Bellerophon, and I really don't think it's a reference to me. I didn't try to reach heaven and get shot down and scarred, although the Fenris ... No, no. I'm going to start seeing prophey in everything. Hokay, moving on: look, weapon schematics for older weapon systems. Lets see what these are for ... Ours or theirs ... " Tasha holds up the schematics so Harmonia can get a clear scan, then begins reading them herself to see if there's an indicator of origin.
They seem to be in reference to Terran weapons - which the Kampfengruppe predecessors would have had as well.
"Looking at the size and diversity of these weapons and their age, materials, and notes, I'd say these were brough with the Kampfengruppe during the oirginal Expedition. Rapatia must think they still have some of these; The static defenses seem the most likely to remain intact on their grounded spaceship, especially internal defenses and maybe some of the external ones. Smaller weapons, they might have a few for defending from higher threats, but I'm sure they're limited. What reallys matters is that this gives us the scope of their most likely highest level of defenses, which means we can plan around them. The rest is going to be Abaddonian modern weapons," Tasha considers 'aloud,' tapping various blueprints and lists. "Fred and the others can use this to equip us and I'm sue the others can decide tactics around it."
"Much of that technology will be useless by now," Harmonia points out. "Or else modified to use current fuel systems. Radioactive elements will have decayed too far to reach critical mass. It is therefore likely that all guided projectiles will be considerably slower and weaker than originally designed or completely inert."
"That makes sense to me. Um, I'll tell you now I don't have a military education like Gabriel and the others do, so I have to go with what I've been exposed to, which isn't a lot. I've been picking up what I can, but lucky for me I know people who do know what they're doing." Tasha taps the topmost diagram again, nodding slowly as she thinks. "Optical weapons would have gas, lensing, battery and other breakdown problems. They'd have to be repaied with modern materials, so weaker or unreliable. I remember Fred talking about the reactor's lasers. Atomics would be useless, not that they'd use them inside their own city. What else? Rail guns may work, but only if they were preserved very well. Solid ammunition would need replacement, so it'd be basic and maybe not much better than what we use on Abaddon. I think this all points to: A very few full strength weapons may exist, more salvaged, inferior ones may exist. Most will be modern Abaddonainw eapons. Do you agree?"
"That seems likely, except for solid-state laser systems," Harmonia says. "Modern Abaddonian weapons follow a wide range of effectiveness, however. The Silent-Ones have maintained their technology with few compromises. The Kampfengruppe have been scavenging what they can, since they are cut off from trade with the other powers. This makes them an unknown in terms of what they may have."
"They also have connections with the Sinai Khattan faction, which also may have connections with the Galactic Houses. They also have the Offworld Legion, which may have recovered alien weapons or exotic materials, magic, and other items. That would agree with your idea that they're wildcards. So, we can rule out a number of Expedition leftovers, but we have a large area of unknown equipment to deal with." The young woman looks up and leans back, still thinking but shifting her gaze skyward to consider something other than the plans. "Harmonia, you have self-maintenanea nd you can perform maintenane on Titans. Does this mean you can also fabricate weapons and armor from templates? Without templates? Armor such as Vartan mercenary battle armor and their weapons? That should be in the Expedition database, especially Sheol's memory core. What use are mercenaries without weapons and armor?"
"I can manufacture things given the necessary raw materials," Harmonia says. "I was able to construct the Toporgic Lifting Cage from steel."
"Since we'll just be dealing with personal weapons and armor, we shouldn't need that much. Can topogroic be used for weapons or defenses? I remember a dream where it could generate shielding, but that might have been nonsense. I know it can convert energies in to other kinds, so it could be used to create effects if the power needed is portable. It could also be used as a stator, to lighten heavy armor. Since I'm not a solider, tactician, scientist or agent I'm the least useful member of the team, so I should focus on what I do have: technology and fighting capacity, so the others can specialize more. Does all of that make sense?" The young captain inuqires.
"The activation barrier and power requirements for using the toporgic are extreme," Harmonia notes. "My maser is required, which is impractical for most uses. There has not been adequate research into the passive properties, malleability or explosive qualities of the material yet."
"Then we can't use it, so that rules out topogoric. I remember Gabriel talking about relaibility in military use, and I heard other Terrans talk about it as well when speaking of alien technologies -- it seems safer and more reliable to go with what works. Lets bring up the mercenary weapons and armor templates and see what they have listed. I'm sure they would have prepared for both advanced materials and low technology construction because they knew they were entering Sifran space. We can use their preperation to our advantage, and we have plenty of time. It's a long trip. Ready to get started?" Tash asks, ears up.