After one last big beach feast and a short shopping spree, the entire crew (and their charges, the Jotoki) had returned to the Dark Horse, which meant it was time to start planning their next destination and also to be fully clothed again (for those who wear clothes in the first place). There was also the matter of getting in touch with the home office back on Caltrop, which had a surprise of its own.
"You'd better not be having too much fun, Tasha!" Nora warned from the video message. "I've sent you a shopping list for some parts for my Titan. And some stuff Fred wants, but my parts take precedence!"
"I need to prioritize them, or Nora will get me," Tasha informs a nearby Katherine with a mix of droll amusement and real concern. As a person who would later become a kind of spirit of vengeance (and who would then later make effort to return to mortaldom), Tasha's creator-and-adopted-sister Nora isn't likely to take scorn mildly. What's more, Nora is her creator in a sense, and sister, so she really does owe her that extra mile of special attention. "But still, what could she want out here?" She peruses the list in a brief skim. "There were ample parts back home, even if they were hard ... ish to acquire. Oh. Upgrades. I bet they're upgrades."
For some reason, the Themis-Skoll requires.. a very fancy flight suit. Also a new interface helmet, some special lubrication, 'holo-paint' and some other things which didn't survive the long wait between launch and return to Orpheus. Also some fancy boots and underwear, a list of books and other entertainment, and.. some rather personal items.. but those might have been part of Fred's order. His seemed to deal with the things Tasha had never even heard of, but 'should be available by now' according to the notes.
Tasha looks over the list, then looks over it again and frowns in bemusement. "My family is kind of weird," she admits after a long moment of thought on the matter before putting the datapad aside. "Still, you know, they've earned it. I still feel kind of bad being out here and not back home helping out. Still, this is important, right? Katie, tell me I'm doing the right thing -- also how special and important I am." And so ears wiggle and smiles are directed.
Katie actually scratches Tasha behind her ear. "It's very important," she agrees. "Don't send her any pictures of our time on the beach though. Stick to the scary stuff." She consults her own tablet, and looks through the leads Mr. Invention has gathered. "Some of these are open contracts," she notes. "That is, open to anyone willing to take them on, rather than negotiated with us directly."
Tasha leans in to the scratching without a hint of dignity, then settles back in her chair and scoops up her datapad again. "Let me loo-- Wait, why would Nora need a flight su-- Oh." She scrolls back, then nods. "Children's sizes, of course. And scary stuff it is. I'm also going to have to spend more time in simulated Titan combat, because you know she's going to challenge me the second I get back. Nora's a 'high alpha' personality type. I'm not even an alpha-type, but she'll still do it." She snorts, then switches to Mr. I's list and begins reading. "Let me see ... I think we're okay on money for at least a little while. The scouting wasn't amazing income, but we're not a flap away from piracy, either. Our known targets -- targets we select for ourselves anyway -- are Daltuna Station and Varta."
"Daltoona isn't mentioned, but there's an open contract.. well a bounty out on someone from House Khomen.. put out by House Khomen," Katie says, and points it out. There's no reason given for why the capture-and-return contract was put out, just the details on the target: Abidjai Khomen III, who took his personal yacht out for a spin and vanished. Mr. I has added his own notes though, noting that the boy was supposed to be married the next day and supposedly left with quite a bit of pocket change.
"If we could find him, he might exchange safety and escape for information about his House. Of course he might still be loyal, too, just upset. Do you know anything about how severely they want him and what kind of punishment he'd face? Something that would tell us if he'd likely want to side with us or not, or if he'd see us as worse than his House. I'd rather not get the attention of House Khomen in any way unless the payoff is worth the risk." Tasha looks up, perking her ears as she waits for an answer.
"He's probably hiding on a colony world," Katie guesses. "Most likely Vartan if he's hiding. The reward is a lot more than what Mr. I says his ship and wallet are worth, so I'd think it was something major. No info on who he was supposed to marry though."
"Obviously someone he really didn't care for, unless there's more to it than that. We'll keep an eye out for his ship when we enter colonial space. Maybe I can try checking with the Titanians, they have as much freedom to travel as we do." Tasha looks back down at her pad and earmarks the mission for later reading, determining to study the ship and its rogue groom in the hopes more background might shed more light on things. "Anything else look interesting?"
"The Seeders.. Seedists? That group that charts the starseed migration.. are looking for transport to a specific location, and not saying more. Funded by Dassen K'tar," Katie points out. "They came to us specifically. But they have a pretty large timeframe, since the date they need to be there is a hundred days off."
"I want to take that. The Seeders and related organizations inherently support people like us -- mixed crews and peoples -- and are especially pleased to see someone like me walking around. They help solidify our cover and give us a legitimate, widespread organization to work through. Besides the benefits to our mission planning and resources, I also like their causes." Tasha taps a nail on the edge of her pad, nodding slowly. After a moment of thought she decides. "Since it's not urgent, we don't need to jump on it, but we should definitely do what it takes to be available when the time comes."
"I'll send a note to Mr. I in that regard then," Katherine says. "Now.. about Varta: have you got any sort of itinerary figured out? And will you need to bring Melchior to the surface?"
"The main focus is the Temple and other holy sites strongly connected to Horus. Since he's forgotten so much, visiting the sites where he worked might help him remember something useful. The big sites I know of are the main temple and the location where the Marker was found, which is on a nearby world or moon. I'd also like to see the university and spend some time getting a feel for the culture. They're both similiar, but specifically I want to know it for my own sake and so I can report to Horus regarding Aerie Vartans. He'll definitely want to know." The young woman then cocks her head to the side, thinks a bit more, and nods once again. "Yes, yes I think I'll have to bring Melchior. Horus may need to be on hand directly, after all. I'd rather not since it's going to really draw attention, but there's no other way. Carrying the Origin Marker of Vartans around would be even more suspicious."
"Do you think the cult is still active?" Katie asks. "The one that launched the Magi with the Expedition, I mean."
Tasha shakes her head definitively; certainly not. "No. Ser Heraphel told me the cult's long gone. House Khomen fought with them over the Origin Marker of Khattans, though, but they were able to retrieve it and put it in Mel. So, they might still remember the old cult even if the cult itself has been gone for a while. Actually I'm certain of it, because their spy on Sinai had been specifically sent to retrieve and pilot Balthasar, and he knew I piloted two Titans. So it's risky, but there isn't much point in going to Varta unless Horus is allowed to look around, we'd be better off just trying to find the Doctor." The young woman bites her lip, then adds, "There is one other thing: Ser Heraphel doesn't know who sent Harmonia. There's the possibility it was Khomen."
"They didn't know the Marker was in Melchior then.. so must still think it's lost," Katie ponders. "Harmonia snuck in with the fleet using that gravity-stealth trick, but.. did they know or anticipate that the Expedition would be stranded? Or were they just aware of the hidden agenda behind it? Harmonia has an interstellar non-FTL drive, so was the only ship that could potentially return to Galactice Space.."
"I think they knew, what's more I think they knew something the others didn't. Harmonia has always seemed like she was waiting for something, and she readily identified me and welcomed me aboard -- she was avoidant or hostile to any other being approaching her. For me, she welcomed me aboard and helped in any way she could. Yet, she could never tell me why, what she was waiting for, who was waiting for her message, or what needed to happen to send it. All she ever told me was that she was waiting to see 'if the Expedition succeeded.' Of course we know there were many missions attached to the Expedition including the Vril-contact mission, so whether she was waiting for me or Contact not we can't be sure, but it seems very likely that's it or something closely related." Tasha draws in a breath, exhales, and shakes her head. "It all seems like whoever sent her was either hyper-cautious or had foreknowledge, which seems a lot less impossible now that I've met beings like Thotep and the Waymakers."
"And Katha-hem, who is also on Abaddon?" Katie asks. "Could part of the Expedition have had to do with that do you think?"
The hybrid woman tilts her head the other way at the question, frowning. "Katha-hem knew who I was through the Ogdoad, too, and Hosue Khomen may be in contact with them as well. We know they've captured a Ogdru-hem for their own schemes, so Sedu-hem may have told them long ago about what to expect. I've never found anything else that specifically mentioned Katha-hem as a target for the Expedition, but both he and Harmonia have very similiar duties: Watch and wait for something to happen. It's just maybe you're right, maybe Harmonia is watching Katha-hem. If that's the case, then she's probably watching to see if the Sifra or the Ogdoad have decided to to finally act in force. Almost anyone would want to know that, because it means the beginning of the end unless stopped."
"Well, if the Sifra can be stopped, the Ogdru-hem have to be stopped first for things to work out," Katie says and then leans back and spins her chair around twice. "We need a map. A list of where they are. If anyone had one, it would have been Horus, right?"
"Horus or a major Library hub, and not the current Library either. We'd need one of the five-galaxy versions, which are either completely lost to modern Galactics or hidden and used in secret. Of course we don't know if Horus ever knew, or if he did, if he'll even remember and we have no leads on the hub at all. So, right now, we just have to pursue what we can and see if it works out, so that means Horus," Tasha answers.
"He's really lost a lot of his memory then?" Katie asks. "But.. well, I guess he's technically dead right? So I suppose it can be forgiven. Unless there are more caches of Horus-bits buried somewhere. If I could carve off parts of mind and bury them, I'd probably be tempted. Who wouldn't?"
"Death and the Vril is kind of hard explain in our terms. They're made from energies completely foreign to our universe, and the rules by how they lose or gain strength seem to include more than just basic injuries, decay from time, or other mortal-style problems. Horus isn't really dead, but he's greatly diminished. I guess you can say the Vril-ya shrink or grow. They are what they know, but depair and other things can weaken them, and I think without their protective stone they'll weaken when exposed to our reality. As they fade they lose what they were, so they lose both knowledge and identity -- or maybe being. They can also merge with each other, with Atum being the gathering of a great deal of Vril-energy." The younger woman then spread her hands, not unlike Hakeber or Eli when they wax professorial. "Horus probably faded because he couldn't endure being immortal but suffering mortal losses. Everyone he cared about vanished with time, and so literally a part of him died, too.
There may be more to it, but he told me that specifically."
"You'd think they would have figured out a way to have children," Katie says. "That's how we renew ourselves. But it sounds like coming together creates a new combined being instead of creating a child that still has the parents."
"That's what Horus did with Ahriman, as a kind of peace offering to Neith. They combined and created Thoth. Thoth was the one Atum said would serve best as my patron among the Vril-ya, but neither Horus nor Atum know where Thoth is, all they know is Thoth is 'closest to mortal thinking' and a 'second-generation Vril-ya'. Vulcan might also be a good choice, but I don't know where he is, either." And so Tasha shakes her head, wondering at her life choices in the face of greater beings. It's educational, if nothing else. "Oh. There was another attempt at children. Lilth tried making Human-Vril hybrids, but they didn't work out somehow, so she made the new Humans we all know and love."
"They are very good at petting," Katie admits. "So.. Vulcan could be figuratively anywhere the Titanians can go, which could be anywhere. But Thoth has to be in Known Space I'd think. Any colony worlds shared by Vartans and Celestials? Or would Thoth be.. more like Samael? Fluid."
"Well, there's alway the moon named after him. He was made to make peace with Neith somehow, so he was probably made near or even on Zion. Except, well, that moon may have been destroyed to make one of their gate fortress-stations, which means he probably left long beforehand. Really, he could be almost anywhere between his possible knowledge and powers and his lack of attachment to a sentient species. Still ... " Tasha taps her cheek before leaving the finger there, frowning and considering. "If he's 'closest to mortal thinking' he's probably not going to just hide in his shape or play hermit on a rock somewhere removed from all mortal life. He'd probably be close enough to watch and listen, maybe even interact. I don't know what powers Vril-ya at full strength have, so he might even be able to blend in or take other forms."
"So a sympathetic demon instead of a meddling demigod?" Katie suggests, and looks thoughtful. "So where would his.. aid.. have the most influence right now, do you think? Assuming we're correct about any of this?"
"If he knew about Marduk's warning, he'd probably be interested in the same things we are. How to stop the Sifra and Ogdoad, because even if he doesn't care about mortals he'd still be in great danger from at least the Ogdoad, and if he remembers that far back having nearly all of the Vril-ya break down or rebel probably isn't something he'd forget. If he felt obligated towards his parents, he'd want to try and protect their children and allies children: That'd be Silent-Ones, Celestials and Vartans. If there was somewhere where all three gathered and shared information -- like say a major or even main Library hub -- that'd be a good choice. It's what I'd do, anyway. Move around, try and help, learn, meet people, and the hover around places with strong information flows or where relevant artifacts pass. It's even possible he knows we're out here," the hybrid woman tells Katherine.
"Someone like that should have left a trail in history or mythology," Katie notes. "Maybe you should sic Lacci and Hakeber on it."
"Can't have them sitting around drinking all my beer, after all," Tasha agrees, grinning. She taps in the work order reminder and stores it; she'll get to it after they're done here, n case there's more work load to pile on. "The Vril-ya seem to prefer to stay out of mortal affairs after they've done their work, but obviously some of them stay longer, or even permanently. It'll be interesting to see what kind of would-be demi-god Thoth chose to be."
"I hate to say this, but it might be good to keep Sam with you on Varta as well," Katie says with a frown. "I don't trust him.. it.. as far as I could throw him, but if you're looking for another being that might be similar, they'd probably notice one another."
"Well he does seem to like following me around and I've always been good with animals." That's not exactly true, and Samael isn't exactly an animal, but Tasha does suspect he might be listening somehow and if he's going to tease her and enjoy tweaking her nose with his immortal, ageless mind, she feels she ought to give as good as she gets. "Alright, he can come too, though I may want him to change his disguise. Something more subtle; Vartans will definitely pick up on how odd he acts and react to it constantly, especially these ones. He'll also be useful if anything else takes an interest in us. We might start seeing other beings -- unaligned, curious, opportunistic -- start showing up, too. Who knows who or what has been watching all these millions of years."
"So, it'll be you, Lacci, Sam and Shojo?" Katie asks. "Sam can surely look like an actual Vartan if he wants. What about you?"
"I don't know, I'm not sure I can look like an actual Vartan, or an actual Karnor. Actually, I'm kind of a mess." And so Tasha reaches down and shakes her datapad with mock-scolding. "Thanks Nora." Then she snorts, grins, and looks up again. "If I use the Niss's trick I can blend in for a while, but last time I passed out, too. We think we've fixed that, but what happens if I get stuck somewhere for more than a few hours? We might be looking at things for days, or something could happen. I guess I could try surgery, but ... " The grin becomes a frown, and so she looks at a loss.
"Well.. this temporary disguise is good enough to fool the biological sensors?" Katie asks. "Because once you're past the border, things are a lot easier. You've got armor.. just put the Vartan pieces back on where you've got Karnor ones now. Save the real disguise for when you have to expose your face. The warrior type Vartans don't seem all that big on reconstructive surgery either, so pretending to have horrible scars or needed special life support provided by the armor wouldn't be too outrageous - you'll need to ask Lacci. Shojo looks like a warrior-caste too.. and is a medic. He could be your nurse-technician.."
"I'll ... ask Lacci," Tasha agrees, sounding somehow more uncertain. In the realm of looks and judgement, Tasha has never found any lasting peace. She suspects this new adventure will further test her endurance. "Wellll, um, anything else we need to review that doesn't involve how strange I look?"
"I think you just need to work things out with Lacci and probably Dr. Sen for getting whatever documentation is needed. And talk to the Niss and Sam. Maybe he can disguise you too. Who knows how his own shape-shifting works."
"I like to picture him as a squishy ball of sludge, eyeballs and tentacles," Tasha insists, tail wagging a little. "But sure, I can do that. Time to go be the boss! See, it's stuff like this which will make Nora challenge me incessantly." The younger woman rises to her feet or, rather, hooves then punches her datapad. It beeps and she talks. "Lacci, Yue, Sam and Shojo, can you meet me innnnn--" Not my office, it's a storage room for insanity apparently. " ... On the owner's deck by the elevator, we need to discuss mission planning."
On the way, Tasha has to pass the galley, where she meets up with Shojo. "I've put your tacos in the cooling unit," the Vartan informs her as he joins her.
"Thanks, Shojo. Those are special tacos. I hope you added the 'do not eat on fear of hand-scrubbing the shuttle bay' warning. You know how some people can be with food around." Tasha makes grabby-grabby motions with her hands. It's harsh, but upsetting the spirit of the ship is something no sailor worth their wings would take casually, and her ship just happens to be powered by an ancient spirit whose power may very be total annhiliation. In hindsight, she wonders if she should have added a sterner warning. "Alright, well, up we go. We need to plan Varta, adorable mini-Vartans and all."
"Adorable mini-Vartans?" Shojo asks in confusion when they reach the elevator. This makes them the first ones to arrive.. except for Samael, who apparently lives on the couch there. "I still prefer Lacci as a sacrifice," the demon remarks.
"No sacrifices!" Tasha barks, shaking a finger at Samael as she comes to stand beside the elevator. "We're here to talk about heading to Varta. Since you're here -- you're always here, actually? Since you're here, we can start with you. Do you have any disguising or transforming powers that will work on me? Our current method doesn't last long enough, and I don't want to spent my first visit to our Homeworld hiding in my helmet."
"Well.. the easiest way involves removing your brain," Samael says. "The hard way involves making you look fat."
"Okay, your ideas are terrible. Whatever anyone says, I need my brain -- and there's no way I'm looking fat for anyone." Tasha just shakes her head, turning to Shojo and throwing up her hands; see what I have to put up with?
"What's wrong with looking fat?" Shojo asks, just as Lacci arrives and gives him an odd look from behind.
"What's wrong with looking fat he asks," Tasha repeats, turning to Lacci for feminine support. While they may not see the world similiarly, or even loosely, the hybrid thinks she's safe on betting Lacci agrees with her sense of body image. "So! Samael is a pain and his magic is not useful for anything other than annoying me. I guess I'm stuck with hiding. Lacci! Sam can change shape and you and Shojo probably pass for Vartans, what would Aerie Vartans think of me, and if that's bad, what options do I have for not being exiled from the planet?"
"Well.. first, have you tried looking more fully Vartan?" Lacci asks. "It's just.. even Khattans don't get to the surface of Varta anymore. The planet-bound ones will never have seen a live non-Vartan before. And certainly not a hybrid. Vartans aren't xenophobic.. they're just very insulated on homeworld. If you showed up on a colony, it'd probably just make the local Vartans think of Karnors in new, sexy ways."
"I can make her look like a Vartan," Sam claims.
Tasha sighs at this. "A fat, brainless Vartan," she retorts.
"I do like new, sexy ways, though," the hybrid admits a half second later, finger resting on her muzzle and head tilted.
"The brainless part is for the non-fat version," Sam says. "For the latter, you would wear my body."
"I now see what is objectionable about the fat part," Shojo claims.
"Like ... a coat? And what is the brainless version, anyway?" Tasha risks asking, sure she'll regret it but once again chosing adventure over sanity.
"The brainless version is where I take just your brain inside of me," Samael explains.
"Can you actually pass for Vartan at the molecular level though?" Lacci asks. "After the whole fake-Silent-One debacle security is a bit more thorough."
"Wouldn't the rest of me sort of die?" The hybrid asks, brows arching ever higher. She has not been disapointed in weirdness adventure department, at least.
"I am not noticed by people I don't wish to notice me," Samael points out. "This includes machine senses. As for your body dying, it is doing that anyway. It could be put into stasis if it mattered."
"Let's look at other options first," Lacci suggests, and looks to Tasha. "There are other options, right?"
"I'll consider both of those ideas a last resort, thanks. I really need to find my own amazing magical powers and stop risking this back-alley crate full of random ways to make me regret." Thus Tasha turns to face Lacci, placing Samael out of view. "One or two. One is using another alien, urm, device, and the other is hiding in my armor and pretending to be crippled. Maybe I can even pretend to be an AI -- Jonas thought I was the ship's AI."
"There aren't an AIs on Varta," Lacci says. "What is a back alley? You don't usually get armored soldiers on the surface unless there's some special circumstance."
"Well, I'm out of ideas, then. We can probably look through the Library, but any easy option will be known, and harder ones are, well, hard. If you have any options say them now, otherwise I'll just risk our original plan's ... artifact," Tasha says.
"Well.. any method needs to pass genetic screening," Lacci says. "As long as that works, the rest should be.. easier? And if there's anything that needs to be.. uh.. smuggled.. it should fit inside of Mr. I-Can-Be-Invisible, Give-Me-Your-Brain over there."
"I'm sure he makes for a wonderful suitcase. We fill him full of all our luggage, too." Tasha nods in exagerated agreement, rubbing her chin in what she hopes resembles Thotep. "My own DNA is largely Vartan. It's Vartan enough that I pass a blood test scan that results in my Clan being Harbinger, a now defunct Clan. If that's acceptable I may be able to use my own DNA, unless Varta's guardians frown over members of dead clans showing up?
"There's no way to have a genetic profile of every Vartan, but if the genes persisted long enough that you have them, then they're probably spread through the colonies too," Lacci reasons.
"My genes are kind of ... special. Maybe not unique special, and Harbinger probably inter-married or some-such, but still." Tasha tilts her head, but nods slowly. "Well, they've probably spread, right? And I have the sword, which is a clan artifact. Come to think of it, why can't I just claim Patron priviledge and go down as I am? I'm still part Vartan, Varta is still my homeworld. Partly."
"You might be seen as.. a spy or something," Lacci says. "The Khattans stay in the orbital cities, where trade and such happen. Keeping the homeworld safe is the whole reason behind Vartans agreeing to be Clients. When it came out that the Silent-Ones were nearly taken over by an imposter.. Well, Varta is paranoid. With the Client period nearly up, there's fear of Khattan infiltration to steer us towards signing up for another 10,000 years, or tricking us into violating the rules to give them an excuse to say we aren't ready to become Patron level."
"So I'm either a great hope for Vartans and Karnors or a nasty trick. It's always like this with my life." The hopeful yet tricky woman shakes her head yet again. "So, I have to blend in, but it's either being brainless, being enveloped, or risking my disguise failing and having the whole world -- and then probably the whole Galactic sphere think I'm the next big Khattan powerplay spy." More head shaking. "Fine, you know what? This is his world, and he made us. He knows how to change Vartans, I'll ask him. Otherwise this may just be too risky right now. We can come back when we have better tricks."
"You mean Horus?" Lacci asks.
"Our shiny maker himself. He is why we're here, after all," Tasha confirms.
"You aren't going to mention me, are you?" Samael asks.
Tasha turns to peer at Samael. "Why, do you have something to hide? Besides the usual demon things, I mean. Is it that Order and Chaos thing?" She asks.
"He might take unkindly to me.. or decide that I'm the key to fulfilling his mission," Samael says. "Either can reduce what freedom I have."
"Even if he is our creator or at least uplifter, he still doesn't get to tell me what to do with my ship and my crew. Besides for being so different you're both kind of similiar." Tasha shrugs ehr shoulders, spreading her hands; it's weird to admit, she knows. "Whatever he thinks of me, and therefore you, he and I have to work together, and I'm his warden, not the other way around."
"What if he wants to go down to Varta though?" Lacci asks nervously.
"Yes, well, about that: I have to bring him down one way or another. This is where he was most active, where he first stepped foot -- or maybe it was hoof even back then. He would have been here for thousands, even millions of years. If there's anywhere he'll remember something, or have left something behind, it's probably here. And if he doesn't want to help or we can't bring him, we don't even need to go down," Tasha explains.
"If it's just research, we can do that from the orbital cities.." Lacci agrees. "If there are specific artifacts he needs, you need to find out from him."
Tasha nods, just so. "I think it might help him see these Aerie Vartans, too. Help him recover. They might be what he was hoping for. We'll see. Otherwise it's going to be me visiting religious sites and hoping he remembers. That also means I will probably have to take Mel down. Do Aerie Vartans appreciate historical relics?"
"Relic?" Lacci asks. "Your Gryphon? Isn't it.. brand new?"
"It's six-thousand years old. My sword is ... Well, I don't actually know. I'm made from old clan DNA, so I'm kind of a relic, too," the hybrid woman answers.
"Wouldn't that mean your mother was a relic?" Lacci asks. "Genes last a long time in populations."
"What did I miss?" Yue asks as she exits the elevator. "And yes, genes last a very long time. I've got genes from an extinct species of human. And also genes that I share with trees."
Tasha reaches up and begins rubbing her temples. "Well, here's what I think: We're not coming up with any good ideas, which means that unless good ideas show up soon, I'm going to suggest to Gabriel we look for another mission. Rushing in without a good way to handle these things will be very risky, when we don't absolutely need to be that risky. We have other options. Think about it. I'm going to go talk to Horus." The young woman nods to everyone, then heads off, patting Yue's arm as she passes. "And please catch Yue up, too."