After filling in the others on some of the scary details of what she's been up to (and through), Tasha finally has some time to relax. Since Gabriel and Hakeber have to start getting certain things in motion, that leaves her in the hands of Katie, who actually seems to know some relaxation techniques, like massage (which she picked up after an accident damaged some of her muscles).
And so the pair find themselves in the soon-to-be-non-existent lounge, comfortable in one of the boothes and against each other. While Tasha has been trying to avoid drinking too heavily, if what she's been through isn't a reason to, very few things are. And so she's arranged a few bottles next to them with shot glasses, drinks she's been told are wonderful and hard to get, but as they're Galactic she wouldn't really know. She's settled against Katie and is doing her best impression of one of her cats, that is, being a fuzzy log.
"So.. any gear that needs to be replaced?" Katie asks while idly petting Tasha. "Anything important, that is."
"I lost a few of the nicer guns back in that place, some camping tents ... The biggest thing to replace might be Mel, not that he can ever really be replaced," Tasha explains, eyes closed and looking as relaxed as she feels, which is very relaxed indeed. "At least it wasn't a total loss. We have Tia, and I learned a little more about magic. Tia is going to teach me more when we're ready. I should speak to her, both because it's my job and because she's probably only touched on settling in."
"Has she been down with the Tadpole this whole time?" Katie asks. "And I suppose her and Fit-Riddle-the-Robot only have whatever they're currently wearing. I've never been in Thoth's room, have you?"
"yes, just what she has, and even on her ship there isn't much. It must be hard to assemble a wardrobe for who-knows-how-many worlds and universes." Tasha then holds up a hand, palm up. "Thoth did tell me not to enter without permission, but I suppose he won't mind considering. The room won't exist once we engage the reformation process and he was on the council when we agreed to it."
"The logistics of that still give me fits," Katie says. "We'll have to get everyone off at Caltrop, fly the Horse to someplace secluded on some pretext, and then let the process run with nobody aboard."
"The Niss will be on board. That's a lot of someones," the red woman notes. She spreads her hands. "It can't be helped. We're acquiring new crew at a steady rate and the Lounge doesn't get used nearly enough to justify it in the face of needing more quarters, research facilities, and other more practical rooms. It may be best to keep the pure crew on the midship and move the restricted research and council members to the top. This would make it a lot easier to accommodate passengers and make sure the secret ones can stay secret."
"We've got.. two secret passengers," Katie notes. "That is, two who can't leave easily. How secret are these new ones going to be? They look like regular humans, nothing exotic about them at all. And presumably they don't even need to travel with us if they have their own ship."
"Well it's more about the future," Tasha insists, reaching over to pour herself a shot and then taking it before continuing. "We get new people now and then. I don't expect we'll need a lot of special quarters, but it wouldn't hurt to have one or two. I'll probably have our family towwards the back again, maybe to port or starboard with our own hallway, and put the council hall on the opposite side. Getting rid of the Owner's Area's main lounge which even I don't use will give us a lot of space."
"I'm wondering how much longer we can keep Rock and Rainbow isolated on the ship," Katie says. "Do you think they'd like Abaddon?"
"Maybe. I feel badly that we haven't made much progress towards helping them. It's not that I don't want to, either, but we have such a heavy burden to deal with now." And so Tasha sighs, having felt that burden in a most brutal and direct fashion in the previous days. "Abaddon doesn't have a lot of water, and it's not as nice as their home. Perhaps we should return them home, and when we know more, come back to them?"
"Maybe, until we get the Starseed maps from the Seeders," Katie says. "Or stash them in your fairie world, if it hasn't been destroyed. We really do need a secure base."
"I was thinking that myself. Perhaps what we need is a larger vessel, something like a mothership. A defensible, self-sufficient fortress and city we can base ourselves on. There may eventually come a time when we can't rely on the Galactics, and can't return home; it would be good if we had more to fall back on," Tasha suggests, eyes opening as she looks back to Katie. "Having our own facilities for construction would also be nice."
"You should ask the Titanians," Katie says. "They had this ship laying around in a junkyard, maybe they have a space station too."
Tasha nods to this. "Or another ship. There were a great many in the Ship Graveyard. I need to speak to them anyway, let them know about our operation and what we expect to find. They could probably run interference, do something hectic to help our infiltration and help explain the after-effects." She settles back in, one finger raised, the pointer of her other hand circling around it. "If something strange happens when they happen to be around, well, the blame would fall on them, and there's little consequence to that and no love lost."
"We don't know how complicated the situation is," Katie admits. "But, that's what we have mercenaries and spies for. And this time it doesn't have to be just me.. and a marching band."
Tasha's muzzle creases in to a grin. "You and a marching band would cause a lot of distraction, maybe that should be our plan." And so her tail wags. "We'll keep it on the table then. As for the overall plan, we can work with the Titanians once we have our basic outline and fit them in. Performing this task will not only further our mission and help Hake, but it will also endear us to the Titanians further, which may help us secure a ship of station in exchange. We've done well enough with this one."
The elevator opens, and Galatea steps out. "Tasha," she says. "Do you have a space suit?"
"Yes but I don't think it will fit you," the winged blonde replies, with so little pause in the response as to strongly suggest she has become used to these sorts of sudden non-sequiturs, "We may be able to find you something. Why do you need a space suit while we're on the surface?"
"You misunderstand," Galatea says. "You will need the spacesuit. And a projectile sidearm if you have one."
"Am I fighting again?" Tasha points back at Katie. "I just got comfortable. Maybe I should just get a laser installed in my hand or ... eye. Or tail." But she does sit up. Eventaully.
"Allllllriiiight, so I need a space suit and a projectile weapon. Easy enough. Any reason why," is Tasha's inevitable next question.
"Training," Galatea says. "We need an isolated location as well. Perhaps the glade where we first met? You can carry the space suit inconspicuously on this planet, can't you?"
"I'll bring a fold up one, and a gun. I'll say I'm hunting or something. I'm rich, no one will question me too much." Tasha then glances back. "Do you wnat to come with us or," and forward, "is this private training or the kind of training where bystanders could get hurt?"
Galatea seems to think that over for a moment. "Well, not hurting bystanders is probably important as well, so it may help you focus."
"You see why I end up getting hurt? Well I did say I shouldn't be left alone, so do you want to see what craaaaazy new thing I'm going to be learning next?" And then Tasha quickly downs another shot, which is a crazy old thing she learned.
"Someone has to watch out for you, yes," Katie says. "And she probably can't take over both of our minds at once or something."
"Oh, probaly not." Tasha slides off the couch so Katie can get up too, then pulls out her datapad and checks inventory. "There. One Vartan revolver and a light duty space suit reserved and brought up from storage. It should be ready for pickup. I also informed Gabriel where we'll be going and why. Shall we get going before I get the urge to lay back down again?"
"Yes," Galatea says. "I need to get you familiar with the basics to keep my mind focused."
"Basics of what though?" Katie asks, getting up after Tasha. "Should I call an aircar for us?"
"Well lets go basic then," Tasha declares, snatching up Katherine's hand and then grabbing Galatea's with her other. "Yes call an air car, and maybe we can get her some clothes along the way. 'Basic dress' is so basic it stands out in this society of high-tech-everything."
"Clothing can wait.. can't it?" Galatea asks. "I'm sure you have something lying around that will fit me."
"In your winged form maybe, but-- You know what? It can wait. I can tell you're fretting and I'm not going to keep you waiting any longer. Lets go." Tasha nods to the exit and starts walking.
The aircar takes them only so far. The area is technically wilderness, but Katie doesn't have any problem with the hike. And despite not being fully rested still, it's easier for Tasha to lead the way when she's not carrying her painting kit.
"This is pretty," Katie says, and goes to check the pond. "No fish though that I can see."
"I came here a lot to paint, it's where Thoth thought I might attract faeries. Instead I attracted Gal-- Tia." Tasha takes a moment to look around to see if anything has changed, wondering if the fae realms know about what happened and her part in it, and if they might do something about it while they're here. "Think the fae will interfere, Tia?"
"With us?" Tia asks, as if that had never occurred to her. "Faeries are afraid of me, so it shouldn't be an issue."
"Dare I ask why they are afraid of her?" Katie asks Tasha.
"Well, I think when you live long enough and have enough of a power base, faeries either fear you, or think you're a toy. Fear is safer. So it's for the best." Tasha then holds up her hands. "And no I can't answer. Hopefully when we know more I'll be able to answer more of these forbidden questions!"
"I can see through their glamour," Tia explains, and looks around the area. "There's a clear path to the air, which is good. You should put on the space suit now."
"I think I'm about to be launched in to space," Tasha laments, pulling out the suit and letting it conform itself to her body as she holds her arms out. "This will be the first time without a ship, giant broken pillar, or some other vehicle."
Tia watches the suit with interest as it wraps itself around Tasha. "How do you link to your giant robot?" she asks. "By which I mean, what sort of commands do you use, or is there some sort of user interface?"
"It connects to my brain, I think and it does stuff. If you want to know more than that you should speak to the more technically minded members of the crew." The blond then reaches up and taps the back of her head. "It's basically some kind of brain meat interpreter engine, but I think the system can also sense the soul. Thoth would know more about that side of things."
"In that case, just think the command.. hmm.. ansible access," Tia suggests.
"You better have Persephone put me back together if I explode or something." Tasha very deliberately steps away from Katherine and makes to stand in the center of the glade, where no trees or other obstructions are above her head. Then she stows her gun, puts her hands to her helmet, and thinks ansible access.
It's not quite the same as the heads-up display of Melchior, but it gives the same impression without the visuals. The 'menu' has two entries: network and kinetics.
"Okay, so, I see a menu," Tasha notes, eyes clearly flicking to focus on things only she can see. "Network and kinematics are the only options. Is this the one I, um, broke?"
"Yes," Tia says. "I've moved it to your implants. Timestone is usually tuned for specific purposes, like power production, communications and movement. Ansibles are communication tuned, but they still have the other abilities to a lesser extent. If you access the network, you should see myself and Kai."
"Okay ... Accessing now." Tasha wills the access, trying not to think of what it means for a broken piece of timestone to be stuck in her brain. Timestone she stabbed with that dagger. Can you crash a network with mortal suffering?
There are, as suggested, options for Kai and Tia, but with different sub options for each. She can communicate or 'ride' Tia, but Kai has ride and control, with both having different 'depth' options similar to Melchior.
"This reminds me a lot of controlling Harmonia," Tasha remarks as she wanders around, going through controls as she paces. "I see different control options. It reminds me of systems permissions and access. There were systems I could not control directly within Harmonia due to safety restrictions, and I could pilot her own ProgMat remotes, unless she was already piloting that assembly."
"I will control your access for the time being, until you've become more proficient with the basics," Tia says. "But for now you will be training with kinetics, so switch to that."
"Okay, switching." Tasha stops moving, just in case. On reflection, she's rarely been so deeply concerned by browsing a menu before. It's very different when the menu is attached to hyper-advanced technology you broke and then someone put in your brain. "And ... There."
Now there are extra options: adaptive kinetic field and adaptive kinetic motion.
Tasha's eyes flick back and forth. "Two options, both adaptive: Kinetic field and kinetic motion."
"Yes, activate them both," Galatea says, as she approaches. "These are limited by the power reserves of the ansible. It will recharge over time, but not as quickly as the power is used, so there is a limited availability." She fetches the pistol from the bag and looks it over.
"That's dangerous," Katie warns Tia.
"Okay. Activated both." Tasha then turns around to frown at Tia and her new gun. Her brows go up. "I was not lying about what I said regarding my earlier reasons! I mention that for no reason what-so-ever. Just a reminder."
"Ah," Tia says, finding the safety. She then raises the pistol and shoots Tasha in the face from about two feet away. There's a flash, and Tasha feels some sort reserve energy meter dip, and then Katie is tackling Tia to the ground. There is no hole in Tasha's helmet though, because the bullet has stopped, and is held in place, about a centimeter in front of it.
"And here I was hoping I would not be shot at today," Tasha says after a moment of getting past the shock. To her credit she didn't flinch, but her ears are back and she's having to blink away the bright lights. It helps a great deal that was she getting shot at for a few hours just a while ago with no effect.
The blond woman gingerly reaches out to try and take the bullet as she walks towards the pile. "Katie, I'm okay. I think. But wow, Tia, you should not do that to poor Katie or this sort of thing happens."
"Are you alright?" Katie turns to Tasha, not seeing her pluck the bullet out of the air. Tia, for her part has dropped the pistol after setting the safety on it. "I'm sorry, what did you think I asked her to bring the pistol for?" the alien asks.
Tasha shows Katherine the deformed bullet, then hands it to her as she helps both women up with a hand. "Alright first, Tia, Katie and the rest of the crew aren't used to your and my ... our teacher's method of direct action without forewarning. I am, but I'm considered strange and probably insane on some level by most, so there's that. Katie," she turns to her girlfriend in turn, "Tia has a habit of being very direct and in that sense evasion about her behavior. I suspected what she was going to do once I say the menu, but it's still alarming even for me. Tia's a lot like thoth in that manner, but more active and appears more reckless."
"I thought you would find this fun," Tia claims.
"And it's only fair I get to shoot you at least once," she adds.
"Well I do, I just don't like seeing my girlfriend panic when she thinks you tried to -- or just did -- kill me. A little forewarning goes a long way, Tia." Tasha blinks, then barks a laugh. "Yeah, I suppose it is. I let Persephone bite my head for the grief I gave her, and Charon and I ate chocolate while I was still Human. But it's not fair to Katie to scare her like that, and probably my mistake for not speaking my assumptions." She gives Katherine a sheepish smile. "You see, this is often how my away sessions go."
"I am going to shackle you to the ship then," Katie grumbles. Then she asks Tia, "How often does that force-field or whatever it is work?"
"Until the power reserve is depleted," Tia says. "But I don't think the gun has enough bullets to find out for sure."
Tasha's smile gets ever more sheepish at the threat, and her ears are right back to flattened on her head. "I was hoping to introduce you to how I do things more, um, gently than this. That's part of why I wanted you to tag along. The rest is the habit of dying part, and company of course."
"I definitely felt the energy level go down when the impact occurred," Tasha adds, tapping her helmet. "Let me see if I can check how much ... "
It doesn't seem to have been significant, but in relative terms a bullet doesn't a lot of overall kinetic energy compared to that of one Tasha. So it probably isn't enough to get a feel for how much energy there actually is in the battery.
Katie has the pistol, and is eyeing Tasha.. but puts it back into the bag for now.
Tasha holds her hands up. "I promise to let you get me some other way. You can, um ... How about five whatever-you-want outfits? I don't want my loved ones to feel shooting me in the face is a good way to vent their frustrations with me. What if I run out of energy? Then who feels bad."
"We are going to drain more energy now," Tia says, and has sprouted wings while Katie had Tasha's attention.
Tasha blows Katie a kiss. "Five free outfits! Whatever you want," she promises again, and then she turns to Tia. "So ... flying I guess?"
"Yes," Tia says, and rises up into the air while spreading her wings. She hasn't actually flapped them yet. "I don't have a limited energy reserve," she notes. "But you should intuit how to control your speed with your wings." And then she just couches her wings into a sort of swoop-dive position and shoots up into the sky.
Tasha watches Tia go. "It'd be funny but too mean if we just left now, wouldn't it?" She rolls her shoulders and stretches her wings, then rocks her head back and forth. "Well, here's hoping you don't have to pick me up in high orbit or something."
"Gabriel wouldn't teach me how to fly the shuttle," Katie claims, and stands back. It's unlikely there will be rocket exhaust but one never can be too careful.
"Just pose on it until he gives in. You may not be interested, but no one can resist Katie Kaboom. Or if that fails, just say I'd want him to teach you." The winged blond winks, then crouches. "Here we go, I always wanted to be a spaceship!" And with that she spreads her wings wide!
It's not very different from flying Melchior, except there's no thrust. She still has to flap to get started, but then things.. adapt.. to her, so that she can manage with just minor twitches. The heads-up in her helmet at least tells her how fast she's going.
It makes Tasha feel distinctly more than mortal, as natural flight is to Vartans as scent and tail wagging is to Karnors. With flight performed by who-knows level advanced technology, in her brain no less, there is a detachment from the mortal physical, a visceral and primal sense of ascension that she only felt when piloting the Melchior. In a word, she might describe it as godly.
She reaches about 1000kph before the power output hits its maximum. Given the power drain, she could probably keep this speed up for a good ten minutes, and lower speeds for considerably longer.
Tasha sees her fears of -- and interest in -- reaching orbit are unfounded, as she'd be falling from the sky long before she reached even low orbit, assuming a Terra standard. She slows herself to a more sedate 160kph, watching the lower drain shift.
At the more manageable power usage, she would expect to reach the rest of the way into very low orbit in about 20 minutes, thanks to her original speed. "How are you doing?" Tia asks through the ansible, presumably. "If you run into difficulty I can hand-hold you. And falling does not use up energy."
"I think I'm figuring it out. It helps this is like two different interface experiences I've had, and one of which I sue all the time. The big difference I'm getting used to is there's no middle system, I'm directing myself, in a way. It's like having pilot control over myself with Mel's functions." Tasha ponders ascending, but isn't sure how far she can go before she's intercepted by one or more security forces, and wouldn't that be hard to explain away. Her current best ideas are 'alien technology zapped me' and 'if I explain it it will cost you trillions of shekels in licensing fees alone'. "I see the acceleration caps out, but I keep my my momentum?"
"There is a limit to how much power can flow, since you aren't really compatible with the system, and since it is not optimized for power generation," Tia explains. "I have a separate power system, so I don't have to worry about that. Ansibles have better uses than for this, but it is something available so you might as well make use of it. The field only uses power when it has to, so you can just leave it active all the time for defense."
"Well I'm not going to complain, this is very useful and I can already think of a number of uses for both systems," Tasha relates. She slows now, practicing breaking, and to see if she can hover. Hover is the forbidden avian creature's art, the black magic of winged flight that only the strangest of birds can manage. She always wanted to be able to do it. "I'm very happy to be less destructible, and there's a lot of advantages to being able to suddenly accelerate to such speeds."
Hovering takes some experimentation, since it's not natural to Tasha, but she he does manage it by just spreading her wings into a soaring position. It takes up considerably less power. "I had to use this to travel between worlds when I couldn't reactivate an old Trade Gate, and before I had a ship," Tia relates, then comes to hover in front of Tasha.
Tasha gives a wave as she hovers, then points at herself in a look at me and what I can do now manner, which would be very impressive if Galatea couldn't already do it and was a non-hover capable avian-based species. "I hope you could accelerate more than I can, otherwise that sounds like a very long and boring trip. Probably very relaxing, though."
"It is actually very cold," Tia claims. This high up, the external temperature is already well below freezing, and the air pressure is minimal. Tasha can see stars through the dark blue. "It did encourage me to figure out hyperspace travel though. This is probably more fun down near the surface where you can get a sense of speed. It isn't likely you will need to travel so far straight up after all. But in space, you can use this to maneuver and travel more easily."
"It should also work underwater," Tia adds. "And through mud, oil and butter. Not caramel though."
"I can already fly under my own power, and I always wondered what it would be light to fly straight up in to the sky, farther than airships and sailor's warnings permitted. Of course, I've already done that in a ship, but part of me still just wanted to do it as me. Every Vartan born on a planet probably dreams of it at one point or another, and now I have!" The blond holds her arms out, indicating space, the planet, and the universe beyond. "It's surprising how different the experience is when it's not in a ship or, better but still not like this, a Titan. I suppose a more practical use would be evasion and personal combat, or retreat. Recovery if I get thrown in to space." Her hands then fall. "I will try and be extra cautious on Carmel World."
"For low altitudes you shouldn't need the space suit," Tia notes, probably unnecessarily. "But higher speeds will drain your defense field faster as a result."
"Oh, it really is adaptive! Are there weapons and hazards that can bypass it? Psionics, I suppose?" Tasha then points downward with her right hand and begins to descend towards the planet, keeping slow until Galatea matches her transit speed and then accelerating.
"Non-kinetic attacks will bypass it, such as lasers," Tia warns. "Psionic defense will be the next lesson. It does not have very good radiation defense against high energy photons, but slower neutrons and beta particles will be blocked. It can be overwhelmed by large-area pressure fonts, so do not stand next to explosions or under floods or landslides."
"It's still a lot better than what I had before, because what I had could withstanding pretty much nothing," Tasha admits, shrugging her hands as they plunge out of the sky. "So I'm really grateful for this gift even if I may have accidentally stolen it by melting it, which was also unintended. Lasers might be a problem though. Maybe I can dress in very shiny clothes?" It's an exciting prospect.
"I'm sure you have already have adequate armor available," Tia replies as she falls alongside. "Armor usually catches up."
"I have broken a lot of armor," Tasha admits. "I think I'm down four or five suits by now, one way or another. I suppose I could just combine the defenses and that would solve many problems of my personal defense, at least on a small scale. I don't think I'll be attacking battleships or cruisers with a sword and armor in space, however."
Falling really does use little energy. The opening to the glade is quickly visible.
"Swords and armor are very effective against battleships," Tia claims. "They are after all not built to defend against them."
Tasha points to the glade and adjusts her trajectory to descend in to, and slow down in, the glade. "/I suppose that's true. I /did/ achieve a great deal of success throwing giant rocks at wizards and using a fourty-foot tall robot to defeat men with swords. That's a lot to say for attacking outside the expected way of things."
Katie has her arms crossed and is tapping her foot when the pair land. "Did you reach orbit?" she asks.
Tasha descends... to hover next to Katie. "I could have got to low orbit in half an hour, but I thought you'd be bored." She then holds her hands out.
Katie arches an eyebrow, but takes the offered hands.
Tasha floats forward, pulling Katie along until she lets go, ducks her hands under, and picks Katie right up! Katherine is now floating in Tasha's arms a few feet off the ground. "How impressed are you with me right now," Tasha asks, grinning widely.
"Well.. you could do this before," Katie claims. "Just not while floating. And you've got your spacesuit on. Still.." She grins and taps Tasha's helmet right in front of her nose. "Not bad! Would be cooler with rockets or jets though. Some noise and flame!"
"Reaction-less drives aren't as exciting visually and auditorily, I know," Tasha agrees, floating back to the ground and putting Katie down. "But, ut looks like I can now do this regularly, or at least as long as Gala-- Tia lets me." She then glances back at the aforementioned alien. "So what's next, or are we going to take a break for now?"
"The next part will require some experimentation, but does not need wide open space," Tia says. "And I'm not certain how to proceed with it yet. So we can take a break now if you like."
Tasha stretches, then looks around. "We can stay here or head back to the ship. The ship has food and amenities, this place has greenery and the view."
"Well, I'm not hungry yet, and we could take a swim in the pond," Katie says. "Pretend we're forest nymphs!"
"The actual forest nymphs may have pointers on how to do that," Tasha agrees as she strips off her space suit, letting it peel off and fold itself back up in to a nice, convenient rectangle. She looks to Tia and points to the water. "Want to join us? Just let me know if our flirting becomes intolerable."
"I'm used to flirting as an art form," Tia says. "One of my earliest friends and teachers used it all the time. Or did you mean to flirt with me? I'm terrible at it, but I can appreciate it when it is between others."
Katie is already getting her boots off, and eyes Tia. "You're completely human, or are you a robot?"
"It's complicated," Tia says, and has the least to remove, and so gets to the water first.
"Oh I meant between Katie and I; flirting with you right now seems very inconsiderate, and it probably is with Katie, but it's hard, you know?" And so Tasha gestures at the increasingly naked Katherine Vesuvius, then becomes increasingly naked on her own. "I mostly use flirting for sex, or did. Now I use it for sex and teasing people, most Lacci, which is fun by the way."
"I'll remember to tease that one then, once you introduce me," Tia says, and.. frolics. Or else performs some sort of dance that involves lots of splashing.
"I used to think Hakeber was a bit odd," Katie notes as she finishes shedding her own clothes. "So.. frolic, dive in, or do erotic poses under the waterfalls?" she asks Tasha.
After folding her clothes neatly, Tasha slides in to the water and wades towards the waterfall. "I am all for lounging." She does seem to lounge a lot, though that may be well explained by Katherine's new glimpse in to her life, which seems to involve casually expecting to be shot in the face. Or, perhaps her cats are a bad influence. True to her word she slides down next to the waterfall and lets the water wash over her. "Ahhhhhh~"