Time is always a bit weird when traveling through the Maelstrom. Especially when there is 'paperwork' involved. It's really more like administrivia with the occasional seasoning of legal terminology. This means taking time to look up and cross-reference things. All to make it possible for them to operate in the more urbane core worlds and stations. It might also just be a test by Mrs. Teatime and Mr. Invention to see how well Tasha can hold up under bureaucracy. Eyeshine probably never had to put up with this much complexity.
"Uggghh, what does pan-jurisdiction fiat localized to sub-jurisdictional discreet metaspaces even mean?" As far as Tasha can tell, it means something about having authority in purely virtual hosted spaces, such as for AIs. virtual spaces, and rented spaces of the same. Or else she's entirely wrong and it's about licensing franchises. She doesn't know what either thing has to do with her ship, their business, and it makes piracy increasingly appealing.
There's a knock at the door, distracting Tasha from spiralling any further down the jargon hole for the moment.
Tasha has a entire hovering window full of jargon. There is jargon linked to jargon, and jargon that means different things in different contexts even in the same general context, She suspects jargon may be an Ogdru'hem.
The red woman is glad for the interruption. "Come in please."
The door opens and Hakeber enters. "Have you gone insane yet?" she asks.
"I thought I was already insane. I think I'm going sane -- that sane civilization is. I hate it." Tasha drops her head on to her hands and rubs her temples. "How is this so boring. I was a cadet, and nothing was this boring. I had to sign things to go to a moon. Not even close. Is civilization aware of this craziness? Is this an Ogdru'hem? Can I fight it?"
"Civilization depends on bureaucracy," Hakeber recites. "Without it, things would happen too fast and the machine would tear itself apart."
"Plus something about having the sort of people that aspire to being bureaucrats left to run wild, I think," the Karnor adds.
"I should have been a Titanian," Tasha complains. She picks up her coffee and has a long sip without lifting her head off her hands. "So did you come to do everything for me?" Her ears go up.
"No, to make sure you exercise!" Hakeber claims, hands on hips and smiling wide.
Tasha stares at Hakeber and slowly puts down her coffee. "What are you and what have you done with Hakeber?" She reaches in a a drawer.
"Hey, I'm still me!" Hakeber claims, and wags her tail. "You haven't asked what kind of exercise."
Tasha's ears go up more, and her hand goes out of the drawer. "Please tell me what kind of exercise." She plants her head back on her hands and smiles the brain-off pleasantness of someone no longer having to think about paperwork.
"Aggressive exercise!" Hakeber says, and does a fist pump. "A hunt! For me. I mean, you have to hunt me down. Can't be a chase since that would mean just running up and down the main deck corridor and we'd have to pass each other when we got to the end.."
"I like this thought. So, how am I suppose to chase you? And do I need to wear anything?" Tasha's grin widens, and her tail begins to wag. Slow, of course, being like the rest of her weighted down by bureaucracy.
"Well.. hmm," Hakeber says, tapping her cheek and looking thoughtful. "You'll need a handicap of course. Like a blindfold! There's a risk in that, of course, of Katie finds you and ties you up to be stripped by bunnies. But we could strip each other at the start, then do the hunt."
"I do have that any-pattern outfit Katie got me, that could work. Besides, I have another idea to use with it that Moka gave me. And before you ask, it's a secret!" Tasha sits up and then settles back, hands behind her head, looking more relaxed than she had been earlier -- which was not at all. "Are we going to use the whole ship or just my room? The upper deck?"
"Well.. would it cause morale issues if we were seen by the others?" Hakeber asks. "I like suprises! Do I get to watch you change into the outfit?"
"We could scandalize Lacci some more, that's always fun. I think some of the more mature crew would shake their head at us, but I'm not leading anymore so what do I know?" Tasha shrugs with her hands; she knows nothing at all. "Also if you see me change there's a risk we will skip things. I have been going through hoops all day."
"Do you have a hoop to go with your whip?" Hakeber asks. "And I won't do anything to get you worked up while you change, cross my heart!"
"I think we might have a hoop somewhere. Despite what you, Aaron, and half of everyone think, the whip is not for fun times unless we become a lot more sadistic in as a crew, and I'm saving that for when I get older." Tasha pushes off and hops up, then wave her console to lock before heading for the door. Hakeber gets her tail grabbed and thus must come along with. "Lets go m'dear."
Hakeber follows by walking backwards and really swaying her hips. "This doesn't count as me being caught," she says.
"It could but I'm more fair these days!" Tasha tail-pulls Hakeber to sit on the bed, then walks over and pokes a wall, which promptly lights up, forms break lines, then slides apart to reveal a length of outfits all on racks. She snatches one that appears to be made of translucent plastic and is split in several parts: one piece a one piece of the body, long stocking-like lengths for each leg, similar for the arms, and even one tube for her tail. To call it tight fitting would be an understatement. She tosses the rack on the bed and begins to undress. "So what do you think of this body versus my last one?"
"Slinkier," Hakeber says. "A bit more elegant, I think. I'm not afraid you'll break me. Even if I still can't overpower you."
"And I really like the tail," Hakeber grins. "I can think of interesting, if obvious, uses for that."
"I'd have to be two feet tall and made of noodles for that to happen!" Tasha then whips around and shakes a finger at Hakeber. "Don't jump the tail, I have ideas too, and you'll ruin what may or may not be a surprise!" Tasha then tosses her top on the bed, followed by her booties, pants, and underwear. Getting in to Katie's gift requires some wriggling, but it's not quite as impossible and fur-removing as it looks; there must be something to the material to keep it from clinging. It also shrink wraps itself, adjusting until it finds a good fit, so some sort of smart material.
Once she has it on, Tasha spreads her arms and wings in a what do you think sort of way. If mezzodes are Galactic Space's custom sentient toys, she looks like someone's toy half in its packaging, and all ready to go. In its current form there's only two uses for an outfit like that, the first is showing someone off, and the second is more intimiate. She's a collar away from being a fantasy fiction model from one of Hakeber's racier illustrateds.
"Woooo!" Hakeber whistle-howls. "It's like looking at something really tasty behind glass. Is it as hard to get out of as it was to get into?"
"I don't think so? I tried it on once but only one piece at a time." Tasha tries twisting and bending, then fumbles around behind herself. "It's supposed to reconnect and become seamless, you can have it release by the wrist input or speak the code word. It can also do this." The plastic-wrapped woman pokes at a display by her writs, which lights up when she reaches a hand near it, and suddenly the clear plastic is highly shiny silver-metallic, and Tasha looks like Katie might if Abaddon allowed this sort of outfit, or else an erotic dancer, or fetish model. "I programmed this one myself." Which, given it's highly reflective silver, must come as no surprise. "There's other ones, uhhh ... "
A bit of static and Tasha looks like she's wearing a velvet one piece and leather boots and arm pieces.
The next looks light a blue swimsuit, but with arm and leg pieces.
Yet another could pass for just-barely levels of socially acceptable skin suit, except the missing gaps at thigh and upper arm, and no helmet.
"And I found this last one while looking at Terran fetish clothing -- you know what this is, right? I knew about it but in that weird Nora way and looked it up when the catalogue for the suit mentioned it. I put it in memory to drive Aaron or Liza crazy some times." And then Tasha hits it and it looks like a casino stewardess's outfit, one piece, with stockings, long boots, gloves, a faux-leather halter and puffy tail, except rather than a rabbit's it's just really long. She pulls out a head piece form a drawer and suddenly she has bunny ears. "I mean, how coudl I not? Don't tell anyone, though!"
"You can't let Liza see that!" Hakeber says while she giggles and rolls about a bit. "She'll demand a wolf costume then."
"I could never wear fishnets.. not real ones," she adds. "Having something holding the fur back is handing though!"
"This is all smart materials, they're adjusting alignment and color to make it seem like it works! It's all from the standard catalog except the silver outfit. I have a gold one too, it's easy, just set metallics and yellow to max!" Tasha takes a setp towards Hakeber and then nearly falls over, frowns at her boots, then carefully and somewhat awkwardly walks over, exaggerated hip swaying mainly because she can't quite figure out how to walk in heels. "So is this the outfit you want?"
"Well, you'll have a harder time catching me in it," Hakeber admits, tail wagging. She reaches out to see if it feels like cloth. At least where it covers Tasha's butt.
There's only so much it does cover her butt. The material is something slinky, like silk combined with leather. "The material is based on some brand I don't know, but it's supposed to be an expensive leather and slinky fabric combo." Tasha then wobbles a little and ends up having to grab Hakeber to keep from falling over. She turns this in to a hug, then a snuggle. "Apparently real people wear outfits like this in Terran casinos and things like this. Some Khattan ones as well, you know, where you can lose money while oogling cute woman. Real mezzodes do that sometimes, dress up like this and slink around, get used and abused." And then Tasha bite-tugs Hakeber's ear.
"So should I abuse you?" Hakeber asks, and nuzzles Tasha's neck since it's right there in front of her while Tasha is tasting her ear. "I don't know how you can walk in those boots when you have hoofies."
"There's a warning on the outfit that says hoofed individuals should practice for a few hours before any professional activity," Tasha assures Hakeber. Given her instability and lack of rabbit-outfit oriented professional activities, it's unlikely Tasha has done so. Hakeber gets another hug, then holds her at arm's length, which also stabilizes Tasha. "Can you abuse me? Should this be Hake's assertiveness training?"
"Well, if I tip you over would you be able to get back up?" Hakeber teases.
Tasha blinks at that. "Uh, maybe?" her grin then turns very sly for a rabbit. "I would be rather helpless if I couldn't, a poor defenseless bunny!" Since the rabbit ears fit over her real ears, she can wiggle them, if not her nose.
"I've never met a poor defenseless bunny, even the one I had as a pet kicked me all the time," Hakeber claims, and tries to tickle Tasha through the material. "Let's see if you are defenseless!"
"Wha-whaa!!" Tasha can clearly still feel it, which given the nature of the outfit seems intentional. It does beg the question just where Katherine found such a thing, but that's a question for later. As it happens, Tasha giggles very hard, struggles, and then promptly falls over on to her butt.
"Haha-- ow." She looks up splayed out, hands at her side. her bunny ears lay back and she gives Hakeber a pout. "You are a bad doggie."
Hakeber pounces Tasha once she's down. "Ooo, say that again!" she says with a bit of a growl.
Tasha oofs, then leans in, nose to nose, and declares, "YOU are a bad doggie, Doggieber!" And then channeling her inner rabbit, which is mostly her outter-has-experienced-rabbits rabbit, she bites Hakeber's nose. Not hard, but defiantly, and her ears go up.
"Naughty bunny!" Hakeber growls, and bites Tasha's neck playfully. "And what happens to naughty bunnies?"
Tasha yips at the bite, but in a way that could best be described as phoning it in, and clearly to tease. "They end up either working with me or getting sexually frustrated by the fact I could have their bunnies?" It's said very innocently.
"Hah," Hakeber counters, and starts pinching to see if that's more clearly felt through the fabric.
This does get a real yelp, and causes Tasha to squirm as if she were wearing nothing, maybe even less than nothing. It's a very slinky material, after all, and she is dressed in a decidedly submissive and intentionally pandering way. Hakeber has heard some of the stories from Tasha's earlier life and the woman she was with, after all.
Hakeber grins, but it doesn't last long as she feels over the outfit. "Where'd the.. it's all one piece now?" she asks.
Tasha is still squirming when she wriggles around to look at what Hakeber is looking at. "W-what? It's supposed to be several/ pieces, hake did you break it ..-"
"I can't see the edges.. and I don't want to bite it," Hakeber claims.
Tasha frowns, then tries to sit up, snuggling up to Hakeber for use as a support and a back rest. "That's weird ... It's not suppose to change modes. I didn't think it even could form one piece." She looks down at herself and takes a look at what's changed.
It doesn't look like anything has changed. "Is it because I tickled you?" Hakeber asks.
Tasha reaches down and pokes where Hakeber tickled her. "Are you sure you're not thinking I just feel like the suit or something? It looks fine to me, let me see ... "
Hakeber is wagging her tail a lot now.
Tasha keeps searching around. "I don't know what you're talking about Hake-bear, I could check the instructions--" This goes on as she examines herself for this supposed malfunction.
"Maybe you should just try to tug it up a little?" Hakeber suggests.
Hakeber gets a look, but then Tasha's grin goes lopsided and she says, "Yes ma'am," in her best impression of Liza and tries to tug on the suit.
"See if you can get it over your head," the wolf prods.
Tasha does as bidden, knowing full well it might be a trap, but it's hardly the first time some woman has bossed her around in to an 'accidental' compromising position. "If you insist," she sing-songs.
It's a trap! As soon as Tasha has her arms up and her face covered, she's pounced again, and given a very slobbery motor-boating.
"Ahh!" The shriek is replaced by giggling and a lot of squirming, but also faint relief as she sees she's not trapped in a racy rabbit-eared serving outfit. Hakeber gets what she wants and Tasha, whatever she may have been through already, is still sensitive to certain things and that hasn't changed through at least most of her forms -- no one would have dared try this with the leviathan!
It's also easier for Hakeber to get under the hem of the pants. That's enough to cause the shrink-wrap effect to reverse, and they're pulled down to Tasha's knees. And then a wolf nose pokes her there!
Tasha doesn't sound like a bunny, anyway! Though she doesn't sound quite like a wolf, either. It's when she's really under duress Hakeber gets to hear all the new animal noises she can make, such as a new kind of whining and whimpering. They're a little exotic.
More licking, and tickling, and nipping.. Hakeber is really taking advantage of Tasha being tangled up in her own clothes right now. Maybe because Tasha can't see her.
Eventually Hakeber has to hold Tasha still to get anything done, which is a lot easier with Tasha's arms caught up and given how she can't get any leverage on the floor with those heeled boots she's wearing. Before long the red bunny just gives up and Hakeber is treated to all the moaning and squirming that comes with it, and of course the fact those rabbit ears are still accepting commands, so they shoot up every time Hakeber goes in and lay back when she keeps at it.
"So did you take lessons from Liza?" Hakeber teases, pressing her weight down on top of Tasha and nipping a bunny ear as if Tasha could feel it. Or Hakeber just isn't very rational at the moment.
Tasha is mostly panting now, and still struggling out of her outfit. "Liza is mostly the aggressive one. And she's hard to coerce." She does sound a little pouty, not to mention out of breath. She looks up and watches Hakeber chew on her faux ear a moment, wonders what that would be like to really ahve bunny ears, then decides that's a dangerous idea. "She's actually afraid of predator-types, some kind of weird fear, and you know I don't like being with someone who isn't having fun, too. Maybe she'd like this outfit though. It'd break Aaron's brain, I know that."
"You should put it on Yue!" Hakeber suggests, then goes in for a nosing of Tasha's armpits.
"I CAN'T GET THIS BACK ON IF YOU-AHH!!" Tasha has to roll over and huddle in a ball to both get her outfit back on and avoid the tickling. Eventually she manages it, then sits up and looks at Hakeber with an exaggerated huff. "You are still a bad doggie. But maybe more of a wolf now. Maybe." She tugs her costume back in to place, asking, "So now what?"
"You were supposed to hunt me, I think," Hakeber says, and licks her nose.
Tasha's bunny ears flick, she then sniffs and looks off. "I don't know, maybe I'm feeling difficult. Maybe these bunny ears have gone to my head." And she she folds her arms.
Meanwhile Tasha's tail sneaks around to try and grab Hakeber's tail. She can feel it. Lurking. Plotting. "And maybe you should run or something."
"Maaaybe," Hakeber says. Then jumps up to her feet and flees the bedroom!
Tasha also jumps up, has to balance herself off the bed, then stumbles after Hakeber. "I am going to get you! I traveled to bunny land! I know all their tor-tures!"
Hakeber has the advantage of not having weird boots to deal with. The elevator door is already closing by the time Tasha gets as far as the lounge.
Tasha may not be able to walk, but she can fly. It's not misuse of alien super-technology to get one over on your fleeing friend slash lover, is it? Tasha decides it is not. She spreads her wings and accelerates down the corridor like an angel of vengeance that happens to work in a casino part time and tries to get her hand in the door to prevent the auto-close.
"Cheater!" Hakeber barks, and tries to bite the intrusive fingers.
"I see you don't know bunnies as well as you thought!" But Tasha's fingers are pretty sensitive and she didn't think hakeber would bite her, so Hakeber gets away. "I'll still get you!"
Well, Hakeber does want to be gotten, but she also wants more of a chase too it seems.
It's not like Tasha can just take the stairs either. She thus has to stand around waiting for the elevator, floating down and tapping her heeled hood, pulling on her stockings, adjust her outfit, and hoping no one shows up.
The door opens before too long (there aren't many stops after all).
Tasha quickly hops inside and starts sniffing the buttons. Hakeber's worked up, so she shouldn't be hard to follow and maybe her scent will be on the controls telling Tasha which floor she used. She doubts Hakeber went to the cargo bay or the Tadpole hangar -- no one really goes there -- but Hakeber's smart. Smart, but still wants to be caught. She sniffs anyway.
It smells like she at least brushed all of the buttons. But the main deck button is probably the one she actually pushed.
Too smart. Tasha hits the main deck button, but the hides against a wall so she can peek out and see who is outside before exiting the elevator.
Nobody is in the corridor itself, but there are definitely people in the galley from the sound of it, and the doors to the bridge at the distant end are closed.
The corridor gets the sniff test. Her nose exits the elevator and sniffs one way, then the other. There are rabbit ears too, since Tasha has forgotten she's wearing them. She doesn't think Hakeber would run to the galley, that would be very daring, but if Hakeber is daring for anything it's sex, food, and knowledge, and the galley has one and maybe two if she catches her there.
The air system does a good job of filtering out lingering scents. But Hakeber probably went left, away from the main corridor and toward one of the rear passages, since hiding in the airlock wouldn't be very much fun.
Tasha presses against the wall, peeks around the corner, then exits and hurries around the way towards the aft. She can at least say she's getting better at rushing around in heels, since she only needs to use the wall sometimes now, to keep from becoming a floor bunny again.
Hakeber isn't visible in the corridor. But is she still running, or is she hiding?
More sniffing, which makes Tasha feel a little silly, or maybe like one of those strange holovid characters that ends up in weird situations and outfits but must then solve a crime, or maybe assassinate someone. The idea makes her feel less awkward, and who knows, maybe she'll need to solve a crime or assassinate someone -- or both! -- wearing something like this some day.
Well, it does smell like Hakeber passed here. And it is ominously quiet up ahead.
Tasha sneaks forward, using the wall again for cover and support. When she reaches the Hangar Bag she pokes the hatch button and then tries to look as nonchalant as possible, just in case there's someone inside who is not Hakeber.
Three sets of eyes turn to look at Tasha. And all of them are Hakeber, somehow, as she now appears in triplicate.
The bunny's ears go lopsided, which Tasha would realize is a funny pun, or maybe the lop in lop sided does comes from rabbits somehow, if she wasn't struggling with the problem of three Hakebers. "Well, this is weird." Maybe she'd been looking at paperwork too long, or the ears are crushing her brain.
All three of them move in unison. "Ever played the cups and ball game?" the all say.
"Yeah I tried that when we got our sexes switched, it was weird," Tasha insists, folding her arms and shifting her weight to one leg. It makes her look like someone stiffed her on a tip. "How did you do this, or is that you Sam?"
"Sam is afraid to come back here," the Hakebers claim.
"Oh, is this Hake, Tia, and Kai? Am I being tested? I'm dressed like a bunny, why am I being tested?" The surly waitress becomes pouty, or maybe it's just the outfit. There's really only so many emotional positions one can project while dressed like a sexy rabbit. "But fine, I'll play your game."
The three of them shuffle around one another to make more confusing.
First, Tasha sniffs. Anticipating some kind of test, she uses her third sight, then the anisble to try and determine which is which.
Two of the Hakebers have shiny dark spots in their heads, but all three smell like Hakeber.
All the ansible tells hers is.. that she can see herself, but because of the constant movement it doesn't help much. And then she appears as Hakeber too.
Tasha suspects the one that does not have dark spot is Kia, so she says as much. "I think that one," she points at the one missing the sparkle, "Is Kai."
The ansible doesn't help, and seeing herself dressed as she is is a little embarrassing, but then seeing herself as Hakeber kind of makes up for it? She isn't sure, but thinks this is why rabbit holes are associated with crazy things happening, somehow.
To add more confusion, they all start belly dancing. Without music, it just looks.. seductive?
"Hmm, now I really do suspect Tia is involved somehow." Since she looks like Hakeber too, she sticks a finger in her mouth and begins sucking on it in a very lewd way and studies the reactions of the others. Neither Tia nor Kai would react much, but Hakeber might.
They still all act in unison. In response to the finger sucking, they turn to look over their shoulders and.. rub their butts while swaying them.. and then giving them a slap.
Tasha suspects automation now. Hakeber isn't so resolute! "What happens if I guess wrong?"
"Well, how would you know if you guessed wrong?" the Hakebers ask.
"You can't really automate Hakeber," Tasha insists. Thinking the longer she stands here the more likely someone else might show up, she randomly points at one of the Hakeber's and says, "That one."
They all point to themselves and ask, "Me?" before pointing to each other and asking, "Or her?"
"This all seems very Tia. Only Tia does this kind of teasing, where you keep going at it on and on and on." And so Tasha sticks out her tongue, leans forward, puts a hand on her butt, and goes crosseyed. "Dragon grandma likes me better anyway!"
The Hakebers gesture for Tasha to come closer.
"I think I'll stay here," Tasha insists, and then hops back a step.
"Where's the fun in that?" they say, crossing their arms. "You can't spot the real one from back there, can you?"
"This is a lot more paperwork than I was expecting Hake, you're cheating by using guests!" Tasha huffs, but then walks forward. Walks slowly, but walks. She's getting the hang of these heels. Maybe she'll put this on again for Gabriel, later. "If this is a trap I'm going to get all of you. Don't think I can't just because I'm wearing this!"
"Well, if we all ran away, that would be hard!" they say. "Better that we're all in one place, isn't it?"
"If this is you and not some secret trap to get me back for ... something!" There's always something, Tasha knows.
"Like anyone could replace me," the Hakebers claims. "You know me better than anybody!"
"I feel ganged up on here," Tasha says as she stalks forward, a little low and like she expects a trap. "Is this some new magic you learned? If so, you're copying me!"
"I'm no copycat," they all claim. "So, which of us do you want?"
Tasha plants a her hands on her hips. "The best one."
"Well, that would be me," they all say, predictably.
"Then the closest one, who is better by virtue of being slightly closer." And so Tasha walks to the closest one.
The closest one.. is the one without the shadowy bits in her head. "So, the one that's easiest to catch?" they ask.
Tasha decides that would be Kai, which would be awkward to explain to Kainudy later, so she then walks around that one and heads for the furthest one. "I was a lot easier to get than this!"
"Well, I do like to play hard to get," the Hakebers claim, "But that is play, not what I'm really like!"
"Yeah you're really easy to get. I guess that's how we're different, I'm harder but easier once you catch me?" Tasha click-clacks her way towards the furtherest Hakeber and then tries to grab her.
All of the Hakeber's eep, but the one Tasha grabs.. is actually Kai, it turns out. Tia wasn't the one to copy the shadowy bits.
Tasha wraps her arms around Kai, then one leg as well. "I see what Kainudy meant when she said she could 'even be fun'." She then rests her head on the faux-Human's shoulder and looks back at where the clones had been.
Tia is standing there, but Hakeber is high-tailing it towards the right side hall back to main part of the ship!
"I've been going through her memories," Tia says. "She's been used for.. lots of things."
Tasha laughs at that. "I bet she has." And then Kai gets snuggled up to before being given a licky kiss. "See you next time I'm inside you."
Kai winks to Tasha.
Tasha winks back, then starts walking out -- but not before she veers closer to Tia and tries to get a quick kiss on her, too.
Tia does blink in surprise, and blushes. Without looking like Hakeber, she's back to being awkward.
This makes Tasha titter. "You're kind of cute when you're embarrassed! Now I just need Lacci before I reach Hakeber. I better hop to it." And so Tasha makes a too hands flopped out gesture to Tia while bending over, winks at her too, and then waves. She even manages not to fall over while walking out.
By the time Tasha has finished with Hakeber, she's a bit exhausted (but didn't damage the costume at least). There's just enough time to catch a good nap before they arrive at the Caltrop nebula, which will probably entail some amount of rushed activity.
So that's what Tasha does, after she's put her clothes in the wash and laid out something more presentable to wear. Hakeber gets sent off so as to not be a further distraction, and so she'll also get some rest.
Sleep comes quickly, possibly because Tasha hadn't had much of a meal before taxing both her brain and body. She dreams of being in the 'cathedral' with Tatha-hem above her, except now the floor is a large steamy bath. Perhaps the bunny costume but her in mind of Amazonia and the big baths they have. It's certainly relaxing.
And so Tasha wakes with a yawn and a stretch, wondering why she dreamed of what she did, but only having vague guesses, as is the case with these things. She sits up and turns to where she put her clothes and prepares to get dressed.
There's a chime over the intercom, followed by Moka saying, "Prepare t-to exit hyperspace."
Hyperspace. It's a lot more boring than the sky, despite it's unusual nature, so far removed from home. The ship, too. So dangerously silent, so still. She's glad so many people have joined her, or the silence might get to her.
After dressing -- a respectable knee-length skirt, long booties, Dark Horse logo style semi-formal jacket over a less formal cream colored plain blouse -- Tasha makes her bed as the ship transitions out and heads for the Bridge.
The underwater effect of the Maelstrom is gone when Tasha gets to the bridge, replaced by the multi-colored tapestry of the planetary nebula. Caltrop isn't in view yet, but the navigation display shows them heading towards the asteroid belt anyway. "Back to the old mysterious alien outpost that could decide to eat us at any moment," Gabriel says to Tasha. "After stopping at the old mining station, anyway."
"Yeah the mining station is very suspect, why isn't it weird, alien, or trying to eat us? I just can't trust normalcy anymore." Tasha shakes her head in mock-distaste as she joins Gabriel at the captain's console, standing beside him. "I suppose Tia and Kai will do some redecorating, although Tia suggested she might come to Caltrop instead."
"I have no idea how that works," Gabriel admits. And then the proximity alert sounds for just a moment before going silent.
"That's weir--" Tasha blinks, then relaxes. "Oh, Tia's ship must have just joined us. Well that accounts for the 'fleet', such as it is. And soon, maybe we'll have a space station. I'm hoping for a geode. A space geode. With buildings inside."
"Wouldn't that be distractingly shiny?" Katie asks from the comms station. "I've never actually seen a geode."
Even though the Astraea isn't visible to him, Kaa still feels competitive. This means that Dark Horse is soon under high acceleration and maneuvers. Then again, it could just be how Kaa always enters Caltrop's space.
"You could close a window or something. Activate a shutter. Maybe we could plant some trees. Space trees." Tasha nods as if it had all already been decided. "Oh, and a geode looks like a rock with crystals growing on the inside. Very popular with Vartans back home."
"What color are the crystals?" Katie asks, pointedly not looking through the main viewport as things swing about from Kaa's dance.
Tasha continues to watch the screen impassively; after all, she used to do things like this on occasion with The Rake. "Mostly white, purple, and yellow, but there are other kinds. I suppose it depends on what sort of minerals are available and the geology of the planet. I don't think they can appear in space, but geology and mineralogy isn't exactly my forte."
Yue shows up on the bridge, and is likewise not disturbed by the spinning sky. "Back to the crystal bauble," she says. "Oh, that teacup is apparently real, as far as Jonas could determine."
"Anything can be real if you just believe hard enough," Tasha sing-songs, smiling. She looks at Yue for a moment, and a bit over-long, then goes back to watching the display. "Maybe I should ask for a coffee mug that says, "This mug isn't real" on the side."
"You can probably get one of those from a stall in the marketplace," Yue notes. Kaa has calmed down, and the ship is moving in a fairly straight line (as much as anything is straight when matching orbits).
Tasha sometimes wonders that with all that everyone knows on board, and all there is to know, if maybe she's not sufficient. It's the promise of teamwork that helps her feel like she won't end up insignificant against a backdrop of more competent people. That, and the option of ascension, in all its myriad forms. "Maybe I'll grab one back home if I ever manage to get home again. I'll probably be busy with prep work, but maybe I can manage some time for shopping for souvenirs. I'd like to arrange a package to send home, but I'll need Tia to complete it."
"Nearing the area where the space k-k-kraken attacked us," Kaa reports cheerfully. "Get the harpoons ready!"
"Let the Tadpole stretch her wings?" Yue replies, and does not react to the space-kraken comment.
"It was one here?" Tasha hadn't realized the ship had been attacked in Caltrop space, she figured it was further afield and between stars, away from gravity wells. She then glances at Yue and nods. "It should be safe. It'll be the first time the entire fleet is deployed at once, too."
"I need to practice with the Tadpole," Gabriel says. "I'd rather not have to depend on a Confederate pilot."
"Matching orbit and making approach to Outpost Potatoho," Kaa announces next.
"Going to hand command to Moka, then? I guess I can sit in your chair in case the Galactics are out and about and want to speak to 'an authority'." Tasha rolls her shoulders, not feeling especially inclined to leave the Bridge. "Maybe I should learn to pilot something other than Mel and a truck, in case ... " She pauses, frowning. "Well, you know."
"We'll all get our turn with the Tadpole," Gabriel says. "It's more about knowing the route than actual piloting. You've flown in her, does she fly herself for the most part?"
"For the most part. I think. The pilot was connected to her and it was hard to make out what he was actually doing. It's a lot like me connected to, uh, Mel." Tasha spreads her hands. "Probably psionics at work too."
"So, probably a bit weird," Gabriel says. "And speaking of, you'd better get Tia and Kai ready for.. whatever they're going to do when we get to the old mining base. I'm assuming it's secret as far as Shojo's men are concerned, so I didn't want to use the intercom."
"It's definitely secret alien stuff. I'll send them a PM and have them report here." And so Tasha sits down at an unused side console and issues the request, telling them to be prepared to outline what they'll be doing, who is going where, and roughly how long it will take. A copy of the ship's data store on the asteroid is sent as a reminder. "Annnd done."
"Can you meet us in the airlock?" comes the reply.. over the ansible, of course.
"I'm on my way to the airlock," Tasha says out loud and, of course, over the ansible. She's still getting used to having the ansible; being able to hover, fly, resist the random hurled foodstuff via force field, and have a communication connection in her brain feel a little like cheating in that they're so useful, and yet she forgets she has them because they seem to like cheating. It's a strange dichotomy, she decides, as she stands.
"Don't leave without a spacesuit," Gabriel says.
"I guess," Tasha teenagers, "I mean I have had this body almost a few months now, I suppose I can keep it alive." But Gabriel does get a lick on the cheek before heads aft and grabs her space suit along the way.
Having the ansible apparently means Tasha knows which of the two airlocks to go to. Tia is there, now wearing a modern, if nondescript, tunic, trousers and boots. Kai is wearing a jumpsuit that is a lot plainer looking than anything Katie would wear.
Tasha is in a more generic space suit given that many of her personal hard suits have met their demise, much like their owner. It's shiny and metallic gold, and comes with a helmet which she is wearing. I'm here, she communicates via ansible, mostly to get used to using it again, Are we heading out?
"First, I need to explain something," Tia replies. "I've given the dimensional shunt to Kai. I intent to find out just how autonomous she can be, since I've seen from her memories that it is possible to simply give her a task and she will do whatever is needed to complete it. I'm testing this out here because she has no moral restrictions or conscience that I can find, so it should be safe enough."
"That sounds very scary. Should we maybe not be on the ship when she starts testing things?" Tasha gets that 'must inform Gabriel immediately' itch, and so adds, "I really should inform Gabriel to brace for weird things and-or danger."
"She's not going to do anything until she gets to my ship," Tia assures. "And I will still be checking on her regularly. She is also to contact us if she has questions." After another moment, Tia adds, "I think she has a better chance at success than I would."
"She does seem very capable, but I can't tell how capable or how much independence she has. Given Kainudy's reach it would make sense her tool and body would likewise be capable, especially if it's one of her main tools," Tasha reviews, nodding slowly. "But beside that, do you need me to follow you to your vessel? That's why we're in here, right?"
"Yes, there are some things I want to collect," Tia says. "We've matched up with the asteroid now, so there won't need to be any high-energy maneuvers."
"So I'm carrying stuff then," Tasha deadpans, then she shrugs. "Old job it is! Ready when you are." She then wonders if the bridge is watching the three of them effectively stare at each other while she gestures now and then. It must be eerie.
Kai turns and walks through the permeable bulkhead first, followed by Tia.
"Actually you are practicing vacuum maneuvering with the ansible," Tia sends after vanishing out into space.
"Got'cha." Tasha ins't even going to question it this time, that will show the universe. She simply steps out in to space after sending Gabriel a message of, "Going in to space to practice it looks like!"
"Don't bring back any more aliens," Gabriel replies. Outside, it's easy to spot the asteroid base, since it's being lit up by the spotlights from Dark Horse (in its disguised state). Seeing the two women, however, is more difficult, since they aren't carrying any sort of lights. The ship they're going to is also cloaked still at this range.
And so Tasha lets herself drift forward, inferring they must be going in this direction thanks to her deep and abiding understanding of curt alien logic: If they're doing something and havn't mentioned changing it they're probably still doing it and assume you realize that.
It has also been a while since she was imply in space, and not without a ship. She takes a moment to marvel at the emptiness of the universe which, after her experiences, is at least non-threatening. The void may kill her, but it's not malicious at least. And vast emptiness no longer intimidates her like it once did. She had a thought: does the empty darkness envy the candle? The candle may be small, but it's the only thing in the empty room, and it shines brightly. And as with the Niss, size doesn't matter so much as density and quality.
It's the sort of thing Sam would say about candles and darkness. There's a lot of reflected light from the asteroid, at least around the base part (the rest is covered with dark dust or soot from the mining operation). The Astraea could very well be on the far side.
Tasha decides to head for the asteroid then, at least she can't get lost with it as a land mark. Her wings extend and she accelerates, keen to bear in mind that without an atmosphere her acceleration will be unimpeded by anything except gravity, starlight, and whatever sundry forces of the universe remain.
A good lesson to remember, since there are limits to what the kinetic shield can absorb if she doesn't decelerate when she needs to. So far she sees the asteroid more as 'the dark thing' that isn't stars or gas. "You're going to miss us," Tia says via the ansible. "Remember that you can pinpoint us exactly if you think about it."
"It takes getting used to. I still forget I have the spore, and I've had that longer." Tasha thinks she really should grow in to these abilities rather than see them as 'new' and 'foreign', strange cheats she's acquired instead of parts of her. She suspects her Human side is suspicious of them, as she never used to be this forgetfully avoidance of new and interesting things before. She wills the location of the two, as Tia directs.
It really doesn't take much effort or concentration. She just knows where they are in relation to her, as well as motion. This doesn't show up in some sort of representational HUD either this time.
Tasha supposes it is very convenient. It also asks a question: If she's using the network, then does she know where other things are? As an experiment she simply thinks to quesry if any other contacts are within range, and also tries Kainudy just because.
She senses Tia and Kai, and that's it. After all, even Galatea couldn't detect the ansibles until Tasha had left Kainudy's little pocket world. There are barriers even they can't bridge.
A valuable lesson, that. Tia did mention some sort of longer range communication -- if range even applies to such a thing -- to reach Persephone, but she isn't about to try that without guidance. She would like to thank her and the Null, but she thinks there will come a time for that if, again, time even applies. She shifts her flight and heads for Tia and Kai.
The strange spaceship-embedded-in-abstract-art silhouette of the Astraea appears once Tasha gets close enough, even though she knew where it was before that. The airlock is lit up, at least, since the rest of the vehicle is dark.
Tasha glides over the rest of the way being careful to slow herself, as she knows without reference an object in space can seem closer or further than it actually is, and she's hardly that familiar with the Astraea. It's an important lesson for things she's even less familiar with and she vows to ensure a range finder of some strength is on her next set of space suits and hard suits.
Once she comes to a stop inside, the door closes and gravity returns along with the air. Tia does take a few sniffs of it before signaling it's safe for Tasha to remove her helmet though, despite the pressure indicator already being green.
The gesture makes her think of Titanians for some reason. Tasha removes her helmet and tucks it under an arm. "It's nice to be back aboard without homicidal despair or complete exhaustion."
The inner door opens, and Kai heads and turns towards the bridge, while Tia turns in the opposite direction. "I am always concerned about the air being stale," she tells Tasha.
"Oxygen recycling problems, or the smell?" As something-like-a-Karnor, Tasha understands about a bad smell ruining a living space. She follows Tia, but keeps track of Kai just in case.
"It's the sort of thing that slips my mind," Tia says. "There was a time when that just wouldn't happen. I could never understand it in 'grown ups' when I was young. But now I'm the same. Once I let the atmosphere freeze in here."
"I often forget I have the spore, or the ansible, or even things I should be doing. And between you and me where the others can't hear, sometimes I feel like I forgot some of my empathy and drive after so much has ... happened. That's part of why I stepped down. I guess death and immortality can wear on you, as can the rest." Tasha's shrug is slight. "I have also discovered leading probably isn't good for me. Too little structure. But I'll do it when I have to, like now."
Once they get to the living quarters, Tia begins opening some of the wall panels. The intercom remains quiet this time. A few featureless plastic bricks are recovered from various places, and the panels sealed back up again.
"Since we're here there was something I wanted to request: Can you make a small remote for me? Something-" Tasha holds up a hand just above her knee, "This big, non-threatening, maybe cute, with at least some protective capacity, but nothing near as much as what we'd need out here. Maybe like a doll, or something that can sit in place for a time when not used? I want it for someone I want to be close to, but have hesitated to visit in person because of ... " And she gestures vaguely to everything around her; "Hastur, the Shadows, and everything."
Tia pauses in thought. "I've never done that," she says. "I can sort of do that with something that already exists, like the Astraea itself, but that's really just providing a control interface. Your cover story claims the existence of artificial lifeforms at least. But it sounds like you would like some sort of robot."
"A cute robot if possible. I don't want to scare her, or draw more attention to her than I need to." Tasha bites her lip, fingers wiggling. She looks around anxiously. "I should probably send souvenirs. A lot of them."
"I have what I need," Tia says, having transferred the bricks to backpack. She then looks to Tasha and asks, "You haven't been communicating directly with Kai about any of this, have you?"
"No? I mean, she can probably just hear us, we're not that far away. I'm also sure Kainudy can read my thoughts, or can now, so maybe she knows everything anyway. And I have been piloting her, so she might have been listening then. It's been on my mind." Tasha glances back towards the Bridge. "Do you think she'll try something?"
"I don't know," Tia says, and shakes her head. "I haven't decided if she's more like a djinni or a Monkeys Paw yet."
"Maybe both. Sometimes, people say that about me, too." And so Tasha grins a little, suspecting she and Kai might have a little mischief in common. "Perhaps some day we'll know."
"Hopefully it will not come as an unpleasant surprise," Tia says, and the looks around the bare chamber. "I feel odd."
Tasha looks around the chamber as well. "Unwell? Nostalgia, maybe? Home sickness? It's been a long time since you were around others, too?" She takes some time to inspect this place, reminded that Tia had spent who-knows-how-long just chugging away through realities, alone, perhaps the only survivor of a doomed world and its people.
"I.. a lot has changed recently," she says. "I suppose it is all really 'hitting' me now, though." She turns towards the doorway and notes, "We should head back."
Tasha reaches over and lays a hand on Tia's shoulder to half her. "Maybe we should talk about it? I haven't shared everything that happened during that time. Maybe we can make sense of things together."
Tia stops in her tracks. "When I sensed the ansible, I didn't know how to feel," she says. "I hadn't felt anything in a long time. I was hopeful, maybe desperate.. and then I found you." Now she looks at Tasha, and frowns. "I was angry. I'm not sure why. And then everything happened so quickly after that. Everything was suddenly worse than when I thought I'd been orphaned a millenia ago."
"Worse in reality, or worse in your head?" Tasha rotates Tia around to face her, then lets go. "Kainudy is alive, or was. She hadn't forgotten about you. Yes, she did hide in a hole, but she did that because she thought she was a danger, and a failure. And maybe because she was afraid of you, or didn't know you were alive. Like ... What I'm doing with Mariel, I suppose." Now it's Tasha's turn to frown. "But I am reaching out at least. For Kainudy, she's always been afraid of herself, and then her fear came true and she lost everything, and then her instability seemed to require she lock herself away. Play the invalid, harmless. I don't think she ever wanted to be powerful, just as I don't like to lead. She didn't want the choice or the burden of it. I've met a lot of powerful beings, and she's as uncomfortable with it as any I've ever seen. And now she has it all and has to face it."
"That's.. that's not how I remember her," Tia says. "I thought I was the strong one then, because she was always so fragile. Because I only knew her after she was already broken. I was a lot more ambitious then than I am now. I don't know if she thought I could take care of myself, or if I wasn't as important to her as her other goal. I still don't know."
"Being the most important thing to someone is a difficult thing to ask, take the Melchior for example. It existed for me alone. And now, his soul is free. But he may still exist for me, and now I have to consider the repercussions of that even as I hold out hope he lives. Sometimes it's better to be valued, and not ask how much. It's a bit conceited to need to be the most, after all. I learned that the hard way." Tasha sniffs, looking around for a place to sit. "As for Kainudy, she told me a bit about what happened. How she lost two loved ones to the thing she was about to do to me. I believe the daughter she was speaking of is you. She said astral projection caused it, and I think her great fear made her slip when handling the ... test with me. Persephone called it all irresponsible. Maybe Kainudy's just a lost soul who got handed more than she wanted, and maybe she's a bit of a screwup. That's just how people are. Maybe you needed her to be perfect, with perfect reasons?"
"I needed her to be bigger than me," Tia says, and stares forward again. "I've looked into her original remote's memories, and.. I can't imagine my mother doing some of those things. She'd never have asked me to do anything like she did with Kai. I think that means she valued me more? But she didn't take Kai to war with her either. Why wouldn't you take your best weapon with you though?"
"She left her with you, didn't she? How did you get Kai?" Tasha's head tilts after she turns to face Tia again. "It's awfully strange, isn't it? Just you and Kai survive? Maybe she did take Kai to war, but her duties weren't on the frontline. Kai's her remote. And she didn't see surprised to see you when you showed up."
"No, I'm not her first daughter, and I never saw Kai before we were forced out of the Halfworld," Tia explains. "Kai went into storage when the war hadn't even started.. but it was after Kai met Thoth. I saw that in her memories."
Tasha frowns again, scratching the side of her muzzle. "It sounds like maybe she anticipated the possibility of failure. I did pick up that Kainudy had met Thoth, but not what their relationship was. he told me, "you can put your faith in her, but don't trust her," or something like that. Not that I listened, and it was vague advice to begin with anyway." She then tilts her head to the side again. "Maybe she believed you'd be okay? Or, and this may be hard, what if you weren't the only, or the most, important thing to her? I know she lost her daughter and her mate, he ... reached out to me, at several points."
"I only know a little about their current relationship," Tia says. "I had two mothers, no father." Then she squares her shoulders, and says, "It's not important right now though. I need to relearn how to be around people again. I can't dwell on unknowns."
Tasha barks a laugh at that. "What do you think we do when we're not fighting, fucking, or the other little things? Worry about each other, what we think of each other, and unknowns. This is stuff I worry about all the time. For example, did my creator care about me? Answer: probably not very much, I was a tool she created to roll fate's dice. I later got her respect, but that's how it was. Also: am I competent enough to even be here? I must be considering what I've done, but I still don't feel it." And then she throws up her hands. "I'm avoiding Mariel in many ways like how Kainudy avoided you. And I know Kainudy has the same problems with her creator and her loved ones."
"Yes, but this is a problem I can do something about," Tia claims. "Everything else is just coincidence or fate or that if people didn't go outside of their competency level then nothing would ever get done. Or fail spectacularly."
"I'm sure Thotep just eats this stuff up, too. Who needs blind insanity when you have this frustrating mess." And so Tasha huffs, butt hen makes shooing motions towards Kai. "Lets get going then, we have a space potato to remodel."
Kai heads for the small mining base, while Tasha and Tia return to Dark Horse. "I gave her vague instructions to make it useful to us," Tia explains via the ansible.
"That sounds like an open-ended and exciting test of her powers," Tasha replies, her mind awash at the possibilities And there are so many! "Who needs multitools, ProgMat, and magic when you have Kai the Magic Remote."
"I'm hoping it will reveal something of her psychology as well," Tia notes. "She's from a different period of my mother's life, and I've only gotten glimpses of what she was used for during that time."
"Have you considered she may be set up to avoid such inquiries and to confound them?" Tasha posits, thinking it reasonable to suggest based on what she knows and the consequences of Tia finding out the remote may be misleading her. She has a certain responsibility to Kainudy, and thus to her remote's wishes, but she'd rather not see Tia get hurt more than may be necessary either.
"Yes, since my mother has apparently been hiding things from me since I was born," Tia notes as they reach the faux-airlock of Dark Horse. "So I'm going to try and ignore it and be surprised."
"That's normal you know, to have your parents lie to you and hide things. My mother and my creator have both lied to me numerous times, and my father doesn't know I exist. It may be unreasonable to expect her to tell you the truth, but I don't think it's unreasonable to be offended by being lied to." Tasha drifts through the airlock, brings herself to a halt, then lowers herself on to the deck where upon she cancels her flight field. "What is it you really want from Kainudy, anyway?"
"I want to know why she abandoned me," Tia relays as she touches down next to Tasha. "How do you get your tail into the vacuum suit anyway?"
"Are you sure she abandoned you, or did it just appear that she did?" Tash then looks back at her butt and waggles her tail. "My tail is prehensile, and all my suits are designed to accommodate my tails. Karnor and Vartan suit technology has evolved to expect such difficulties. Mine's just easier than most thanks to Persephone's modification."
"I won't know for sure until she tells me," Tia says. "I miss my tail. I hope Caltrop is distracting."
"I guess it's a quest worth pursuing. Sometimes I've thought o ask my creator how many of me there were before I succeeded, but then I feel I wouldn't like the answer and that knowing may not improve my future, so maybe it's better to let it go." Tasha waves Tia to follow her to the Bridge, since Tasha knows she may be needed to talk to an authority or two. "You had a tail? Caltrop is interesting, but be careful, it's at the edge of lawful space. Maybe a little beyond it."
"Is it full of pirates?" Tia asks. The galley is quiet, as everyone is getting ready for when they reach port. "Package delivered?" Gabriel asks Tasha when she and Tia reach the bridge.
Tasha accidentally thinks the answer before realizing her mistake and repeating it aloud, which means she stares at Gabriel for a second and then answers. "Yes, all done. We should see results one way or another, in time." To Tia she sends, "Yes, but more so it is full of people who either chose to live on the fringe or can't live anywhere else, and all that entails. We're also in that catagory."
"Lost souls," Tia replies, and looks around the bridge. "Hopefully the asteroid will still be in the correct orbit when we return," she says.
Tasha follows Tia's gaze in silence; it's eerie. "Not all souls are lost; some don't want to be found, or part of anything at all." She then nods. "It would be very inconvenient if it, say, docked at Caltrop suddenly. I don't even want to know what sort of paperwork and fees an asteroid incurs."
"Well, we have our berth reserved at least," Katie reports. "We can head in now."
"Anything more we need to deal with here?" Gabriel asks Tasha.
"Before we dock? Not that I can think of. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but we can deal with that later." Tasha takes a moment to bruhs her hair back in to place and adjust her outfit. It doesn't do for expensive mezzodes representing fictitious Houses to look unkempt. "Ready to seem important."
"We're still a few hours out, might want to eat something," Gabriel suggests. "Or there may be problems getting past the donut embassy."
"The Donutians are a fearsome and powerful species, we'd best not risk their mental powers." And so Tasha heel turns and heads back the way she came. "I will fortify myself with several meals. Come along, hungry ones."
Since Kaa is piloting, that means Gabriel and Katie come along as well. "I think we need to get the Tadpole fed as well once we're docked," Gabriel notes. Katie immediately heads to the pantry in the galley to see what needs to be 'cleaned out' before taking on new supplies.
Tasha plops herself on the bench closest to where toe food is with a distinct air of 'feed me'. "I should probably change back, but food is more important. Maybe we should take this time to review what we need to do?"
"We have sausages!" Katie announces. "Who wants them warmed up?"
Both of Tasha's hands and her tail go up, the rest of her does not react at all. "So besides the asteroid, we need to ... what. Get intel, prepare personal tools, get supplies, and drop off whomever wants to leave for home?"
"Mr. Invention and Mrs. Teatime will be arranging transport for Shojo's squad, but there will be more training before then," Gabriel notes. "And hopefully we will have a better idea of how Daltoona is laid out."
Katie soon has a plate of warm sausages on the table. "We have the navigation data for the hyperspace conduit back to Primus, just have to figure out how to use it with the Tadpole."
"I can help with that," Tia offers timidly.
"I hope so. I dislike the idea of going in blind. I'll help with the training, although I'm not sure what capacity I'll fill on Daltoona. It's very likely I must reach where the target is, but besides that I'm a little obvious, as are you and several of the rest of us." Tasha's limbs go back down and she props a head on the table. "Whether we use manipulation, proxies, or even assault ... We just don't know yet. That intel can't come soon enough. Will Aaron and Liza be going? This may be their lst chance to avoid becoming inter-Galactic criminals."
Tasha glances to Tia and nods. "Tia may be able to help, can you help remotely?"
"I can help get the Tadpole sorted out," Tia explains. "My understanding is that you need to get Hakeber to the 'target' on Daltoona, correct?"
"Yes, and I should be there as well. Ideally there'd be a few others aside from us in case something happens to Hake. Shojo can handle basic medicine until we can get her out of there, for example. I can fight, and I can do other things, but we both know I'm hardly invincible and I have vulnerabilities alone." Tasha glances past Tia now to check on the status of sausage.
Katie nudges the plate towards Tasha. "Well, we probably can't get Dark Horse into the station submerged. It will be lousy with those gravity stators. A plan for quick escape would be the first thing to figure out."
"Not to mention how badly the station would shake even if it didn't have them." Tasha slides the plate in to her arms, then it goes on the table where she leans over it in subconcious defense of her sausages. One is immediately picked up and put to mouth. "As for escape, without the Horse the most obvious and probably least useful option is back through the station. There's also exiting through alternative dimensional paths, which is unknown. More so, considering how much gravity warping is going on, not to mention whatever containment they happen to have. And we don't know what other resources a base capable of containing the target might possess."
"If the dimensional drive on Astraea is repaired in time, it could be used to create an escape portal," Tia suggests. "If it's only dealing with a few people, it wouldn't be risky."
"Maybe I can help stabilize it?" Tasha taps her head; with the anisble. "Act as a beacon?"
This question inspires another in Tasha, an important ones. She looks back to the counter. "Do we have any bacon, Katie?"
"Well, yes, there needs to be something to lock onto," Tia says. "I have something that can serve that purpose that doesn't need to be implanted in someone's head."
"I think Hakeber used the last of it to make a smoothie," Katie says. "But I can check. Why bacon in particular?"
"They we'll split them up so there's at least two beacon carriers, and hopefully one per group." Tasha continues to watch Katie, however, even as she eats another sausage. "Because beacon sounds like bacon and now I want bacon. Or a bacon beacon, which brings bacon to me."
"What sort of bacon?" Tia asks.
"There are different kinds of bacon?" Katie asks.
"Yes there are, some day we will learn their names and eat them." This, Tasha declares. "But we should also focus on not dying in the depths of a space station."
"Always have an escape plan," Katie reiterates. "Then we can build everything else on top of that, working backwards. If this portal thing can be used, it will need to be tested first."
"We can't really do this like a military action," Gabriel laments. "Too many civilians and we're massively out-gunned."
"We should have alternatives too, and try to avoid tipping our hand as to the technologies and powers we have available. We should appear as mundane as possible until we need to reveal our card, or cards." Tasha then nods to Gabriel. "It'll probably be stealth and manipulation, maybe micro-violence if necessary. Perhaps we can throw parts of the station in to chaos and act in the silence between."
"Guerilla tactics," Gabriel nods. "Something to suggest to Shojo."
"I won't be of much direct help," Tia apologizes. "I can't pass Dr. Knight's medical scans. If they have advanced security scanners on Daltoona I would be spotted as an anomaly pretty quickly. I can't pass for completely human like Kai can."
"Tia and I can try and use our special powers against vulnerable individuals, systems, and other things. We could use the Horse to create localized gravitic disturbances to cause a distraction. We may not need to enter the station, but drawing near it may cause space quakes and force stator shutdowns, evacuations." Tasha makes a mental note to send Shojo a copy of this planning later.
"Can the Ogdru-hem see things in the Maelstrom?" Katie asks. "Ours can move and presumably perceive things through it. If they control one, then they may have access to all of its senses too."
"We don't know the special power nor general powers of this Ogdru'hem or how much control they have over it. Its powers may be gravitic in nature, or they may be unrelated and the extraction of the blood is simply a part of her biology they're exploiting. Hakeber may know what her powers are, that information would be useful for any actor sent against the target to know." Tasha picks up another sausage and has at it. "Ours moves the ship but doens't provide us with much more. Theirs may be the same. Another possibility is that it's not captured, that it's working with House Khomen intentionally."
"So it's not just going up against a clan of absurdly wealthy technocrats, but potential cultists as well?" Katie asks. "I remember what he found out in the void. There's only one thing they could be feeding their monster if they have some sort of pact."
Tasha's face goes grim, and she frowns, but she still eats her sausage. "Maybe we should investigate missing persons, or supplies being shipped in that don't make sense or are going unused. Smuggling routes, mislabeled cargo. Sam might know more about how many souls, and of what kind, might be needed."
"Smuggling," Gabriel latches onto. "That was the thing. They had a way of moving artifacts that the Titanians couldn't detect. Like Tia's dimensional drive wormhole thing."
"Yes, which is very strange since Titanians utilize alien artifacts and advanced technologies all the time. They're adept at seeing through these things, it's basically their self-appointed job." Tasha chews and thinks, frowning more. "If we could hijack a smuggling vessel we might learn a lot. Or if we follow one heading out, look for mysterious behavior and track the vessel, we could follow its journey and maybe find a lot more."
"I think the implication is that they don't use ships," Katie says. "Or they're moving their ships with something like a Silent-Ones stargate but stealthier. They'd be able to corner the marker on shipping with something like that, unless it's absurdly expensive or dangerous to use."
"A gate, maybe a gate left over. If the space station was constructed around a pre-existing structure it could have a great deal of pre-existing amenities already in place. How large is Daltoona Station?" Tasha turns to Gabriel, then to the wall and declares, "Computer, display the specifications of Daltoona Station. Mass, star system, location in system, and the existence of any precursor relics in system or in neighboring systems."
There isn't a holographic projection system in the galley, but there is a wall display. It shows a somewhat gaudy looking bauble, which grows larger until one can make out the city structures than twine through it like Mobius strips. It's nearly 120 kilometers in diameter, boasts over a thousand spaceports and shipwright facilities, and orbits a stable red dwarf star with nothing else in the system. Presumably anything that had been in orbit around the star had been used up in Daltoona's construction. It's in a relatively empty region, with the nearest inhabited system being six lightyears distant. The small mass of its star and the 'clean' system makes for very close-in hyperspace event horizons, making commerce less expensive. The system also has no Aldersen tramlines, meaning hyperdrive and warp drive are the only means of entry. The Silent-Ones do not have a stargate in the system.
Tasha pauses, and her sausage eating stops. "It's a little bigger than I expected." Her chewing resumes, but slowly. She waggles a station at the screen. "A Khattan and Celestials only station the size of a small moon. Nothing else present, which suggests either the Khattans cleared the sector or something else did. Close in hyperspace arrivals. That might be important. But, wow. It's like plotting against a city -- a world."
"Computer, is the core of Daltoona hollow, or a covered mass of structures?" Tasha decides this may well answer if a pre-existing structure is present.
"Enough gravity projection could prevent any ship from entering or leaving, and for hyperdrive just make the ship vanish altogether into D-space," Gabriel points out.
"That's a strong defense. We may have problems even getting near the station, it may detect our approach from the disturbance in space-time," Tasha notes.
"The inner structures compromising House Khomen are unknown," the computer voice relates. But there are some pictures - real or fabricated - of what might be there. Everything from giant castles to figure-eight Mobius parks, all done through the use of controlled gravity.
"Correction: Is the station's core a hollow space, or is there mass, facilities, anything there? I don't even need to know what, is the core walled off from the rest of the station, or is it open -- can you fly through the central areas," Tasha explains.
"The central part of the station is separate from the city level," is the response. "This comprises House Khomen proper, with restricted access."
"There we go," Tasha says, leaning back and grinning around her sausage. "They probably build it around something that was already there. If not, well, the core is where she'll be. Now the question is, are the transport facilities in the core, or out on the edge? And--" Tasha pauses, then blinks, then holds up her sausage indicatively. "Our target may also be able to provide the transport."
There are more pictures of the surface of the inner section, which also seems to have a small island-dotted ocean on it with towers linking it up to the tangled spaghetti city zone above it.
"This is kind of unfair," Tasha complains after a moment. "We're fighting a city, a sector, a secret base, an alien menace, and a luxury island chain."
"Islands generally don't fight back," Tia notes.
"We're fighting people," Katie says. "They are the weak point in any infrastructure, be it a city, fortress, airship or cave."
"Maybe not against you," Tasha retorts, but then she points at the screen, "Also it doesn't need to fight, it radiates jealousy psionics and I am clearly being victimized by them. Okay, well, I'm more motivated than ever. We'll need to either find a way directly in to core access -- where the arrival point will likely be heavily staffed and-or automated, so most likely if we can't find a quick access we're going to be making our way through the city. Seduction of guards, House members, scientists, anyone with core access will be important. If we're detected early we should evacuate immediately, this station could be a quagmire. The second alerts go up we'll need to act fast one way or another."
"That could be phase 1," Katie says. "We may want to revisit your other suggestion about figuring out the smuggling method. Using that to get into the core may be an option, once we have the necessary intel."
"I think so, too. Maybe if we enter the system ans observe for a while we may be able to determine what they're using, then hijack it. The problem is if we arrive at their gate, there will definitely be people paying attention. If we could locate the end of their gate and hijack that, or some transport system there, we could take it in and then use brute force coercion through psionics, impersonation, and other things to rapidly move towards the core," Tasha posits.
"Couldn't you just have an artifact you need smuggled?" Tia asks.
"Maaaybe? Would they let just anyone smuggle an artifact in right next to their super-secret base, though?" Tasha turns to Tia and tilts her head. "If they did allow it that means the transport method would be of a much lower security level. They'd know full well artifacts could reveal the process, or cause some other chaos. They'd want to inspect them carefully, and to request that transport would require connections."
"If the trafficking of artifacts is a criminal enterprise between wealthy collectors, then it would follow that there must be a means of contacting buyers or holding suitable auction events," Tia suggests.
"But would they link that system to the same system they sue to transport sacrifices? Have it anywhere near the core?" Tasha frowns, shaking her sausage at Tia. "We need to find out. It's not a bad idea, but if the facility is 20 kilometers separate it won't help us much."
"That depends on the artifact being used," Tia says. "Especially if that artifact actually provides a means of entry to wherever it is stored."
"Or if the artifact is immovable," Tasha adds, head tilting. "If it's a pre-existing transportation system they may have no choice in how close or far it is from the containment facility."
"I've brought materials from Astraea that can be used as beacons, and may not exist 'naturally' in this reality. As such, they may be eligible for use as a forbidden technology or artifact," Tia explains. "If part of the initial investigation is to discover what the nature of House Khomen's smuggling system is used for, we may be able to take advantage of it."
"Oh, you mean drop them on the market and see where they end up? That could work," Tasha agrees, nodding with some vigor. "I like that plan, although it does entail some risk, namely providing House Khomen some new insight and artifacts they may be able to exploit. We should consider attacking the artifact research -- in fact I have a way to do that and more."
"We don't exactly have contacts with the Galactic criminal underground," Gabriel notes. "Not yet. This is the sort of thing for Mr. Invention to deal with. Unless he already has those contacts."
"We should put this plan to him, he and Miss Teatime. She'd probably know more than anyone," Tasha agrees, pointing the sausage at Gabriel, then quickly pulling it back. There is no love when food is involved with Karnors.
"How is the sausage?" Tia asks.
"A bit fishy," Katie claims.
"It's the fact we have Phins that everything becomes a bit fishy by volume of who eats the most," Tasha admits.
"What sort of food is available at Caltrop?" Tia asks next. "I will need to start eating again."
"All kinds, it's a melting pot. Terran, Celestial -- though why you'd want that I don't know -- Khattan, just a bit of everything, even some Client species have their own special shops," Tasha answers twirling a finger. "It's eclectic."
"I will follow your leads in what to eat then," Tia notes, and looks at the Daltoona display on the screen. "It looks pretty."
Tasha turns and plops her head on her unsausaged hand, "Yeah it does. It makes me feel a bit bad we may end up ruining it. But that's how it goes."
"I wouldn't want to make a decision like that," Tia says. "I promised myself when I was barely a year old that I would not end up like my mothers."
"Part of being a leader is making tough decisions. No one on this ship wants to make that decision, that's why I do it. I make the tough decisions and do the things so someone else doesn't have to," Tasha insists, her selfless effort marred somewhat by the shaking of a sausage. "Remember the blood's still on your hands whether you decide or not. If you hide behind guards who kill in your defense, it's still your responsibility. Unless you didn't ask, I suppose. But if you benefit, I say you're a little guilty. Which makes things like this easier for me to deal with, because everyone's guilty."
"I can only help with.. what I can help with," Tia notes. "I can't make any decisions or act directly to achieve your goal. I can only help with an artifact, or with escape, I think."
"Why is that, some programming?" Tasha turns to focus entirely on Tia now, replanting her head. "Have you considered that in trying to not be like your mother, you're still living in her shadow? Your life becomes about negation, but is still defined by her. You are what she isn't. Do you not value what she does, or do you not value being like her?" She raises her eyesbrows in an ah-ha sort of way. "As for responsibility, I imagine Persephone is a better teach about than I am, but let me tell you, if you help us you still get your hands dirty, even if indirectly. No one ever won a war by running away, not unless you can attack or make someone else attack themselves by it. I think one of Nora's military science instructors said that."
"No, I choose to use them as bad examples," Tia explains. "I have to live with the consequences of my actions forever, never being able to forget them. I don't want to end up being haunted."
"I'm not sure it can be helped, you can be haunted by inaction too. You can be haunted by things you have no control over." And so Tasha pats Gabriel's hand, then hands him a sausage off her plate. "Maybe it's better to figure out how to live well while being haunted."
Tia notes, "I don't want to be responsible for what happens to others. I will never understand what their lives are like well enough to make a proper decision. There are times when I feel like exploring or need to seek out company, but I have to be careful."
"Yes, it's impossible to know it all without being a god. In fact I know a great deal of gods who don't appear to know everything, either. Thotep may be a horrible mass of insanity and malice but he is right about one thing, you do have to accept a certain chaos, or you can't really do anything in most realities," Tasha explains, waggling a hand at Tia. "I don't know anyone on this ship as well as I probably think I do, and I'm sure they know that, but I make decisions, I accomplish things, I have people who follow me. That tells me I'm making the right choice, if not ultimately, then I least the basic idea. You live alone and wander, and what have you built? What is your legacy, Tia?"
"I don't need one," Tia says. "I tried early on, but it just brought pain. All I want is to find someone like me. Someone I can understand and be understood by. When my mother found that, she went to war a second time to try and preserve it, even if it meant leaving me to fend for myself. It's not a legacy if you keep living beyond it."
"So you want to find another you, then live in isolation? Maybe Persephone is who you need answers from, not your mother," Tasha suggests.
"I can't relate to the Stelya-rhyan, despite my kinship," Tia claims. "I'm small. I can't think like them. Not anymore. It would be like.." She struggles for words, and looks at Katie and Gabriel. "Feeling inadequate forever. I'm already having trouble just dealing with Kai. My issues aren't going to be solved over lunch."
"Well you do bring them up a lot, it's hard not to discuss them." Tasha pops the last bit of sausage in her mouth, then hands the plate back to Katherine. "Well we have a basic plan anyway, lets wait on intel and then compare it."
"Mrs. Teatime should have something more for us by now," Katie says. "And she has her network too. We know what else we need to look into. I'm going to take a shower before we dock."
"Same, need to degrease my fingies and not wear a space suit in to port." Tasha stands, stretches, and then heads for the exit. "Anyone want to join me?"
"I'll take that offer," Gabriel says, getting up.
"I need to.. pack up my clothes," Tia says.
There is a large cargo ship taking up an entire docking platform, with cylindrical cargo modules being exchanged. No other large ships are in, just smaller local ones. Dark Horse gets its usual berth at least, so they'll know where they are when the get inside the outpost. They make for a large group, with the security personnel, Mr. Invention and Miss Necessity, the Karnors and the Phins and Lapi and Yue. Even Jonas decides to come along. And Tia keeps to the center, near Yue and Jonas. The relative peace of the docking platform is soon replaced by the cacophony and bustle of the inner spire.
"No Titanians outside," Hakeber notes. "But that big ship probably means lots of buying and selling happening."
Tasha feels like she's at the head of a mob out to do something, it makes her want to tackle something, but it's not what she's here for. "I can reach them if we need them, and we might. Do we have bunks at the office or are we going to need a hotel?" Tasha looks back, to Mr. Invention specifically.
"We have some apartments set aside for the company," Mr. Invention says. "I have accommodations set up in a different arm for the new hires." He seems to be paying more attention to the Celestial longshoremen that seem to dominate this section of the bazaar, along with their Zelak-like Tandu security. "That cargo ship is Celestial merchant marine. So expect a lot more reptiles about."
Mr. Invention and Gabriel garner most of the attention from the Tandu. Other than Tasha, they stand out the most, with Katie and Hakeber a close second.
It probably doesn't help that Kaa clacks his jaws at the big pseudo-insectoids.
"I've never seen one of their transports, interesting. I wonder if they have anything interesting to sell." Tasha knows she may stand out, but she doesn't stand out in a 'national' sort of way. She seems to be a mezzode, a custom organism, and thus rare and expensive. Gabriel, Katie, Mr. Innervation, and the other old-style Karnor stand out as Terrangens martial power personified. "I saw a Tandu sin-cleansing execution once. Those were interesting blades."
Lacci also moves closer to Tasha. "I think Kaa is wondering how they taste," she whispers. Shojo and his men have already spread out from the main group, leaving Lacci and Tasha the only non-Terrans. "I think the Phins are scarier."
"Soft-shelled crab," Liza offers.
"I know from personal experience how scary Phins can be." And so Tasha reaches over and pats Moka's snout. "But we're probably fine. It's all just a bit of inter-power posturing and sizing up. It's not in anyone's interest to start something, although a sailor-sailor brawl does sound like fun."
"Last time I was in one of those I accidentally killed someone," Aaron gripes. "Tranquilized people drown too easily."
"Wow, you even kill people by accident. It's no wonder I'm so violent, all my mentors are whirlwinds of destruction. I blame peer pressure." Tasha walks like she doesn't have a care in the world, but her eyes stay sharp, and she watches the crowds as they pass. "Did you kill an army though? I killed an army once."
"No, I don't mess with armies I'm not related to," Aaron notes. "I was acting in self-defense."
Liza locks arms with Aaron, and says, "I'll look out for you from now on."
"Well so was I. I mean, kind of. They were attacking my teacher and I politely told them to get lost, and did they listen? No." And so Tasha locks arms ... with Lacci. "No one ever takes me seriously Lacci."
"I prefer the spotties to the scalies," Hakeber says, her nose held up a bit to catch the scents. "I smell caramelized meat," she claims.
"I do," Lacci says. "I take everything seriously."
Lacci gets her arm patted. "This is why you're a valuable member of the team, unlike my lout of a mentor." And so they walk.
They've been through here often enough that the Khatta in the various stalls don't try to get their attention.. at least not when they're all together. Khattans seem to be somewhat leery of Phins, or at least the ones in Caltrop are.
There area few new businesses that have set up, and what might be some sort of amusement arcade under construction. Things get more upscale the closer they get to the hub, where Embassy Row and the business offices are situated.
"I can bring you to our apartments," Necessity offers.
Tasha suspects some tails have been bitten, and other parts have been rammed, one way or another. "Any recommendations on what to do between all the planning, Mr. I? Want to go beat that guy up, Lacci?"
"I'm not a violent person," Lacci claims, her neck feathers puffing out.
"I'll set up a briefing later today," Mr. Invention says. "For now get yourselves settled, and relax."
"How do I have so many non-violent people around?" This Tasha asks of Gabriel. "Maybe we should change our work." And then back to Mr. I. "How about relaxation, and ideas there?"
"There is a spa, for serious relaxation," Mr. I notes. "Also bars. The one at the Surf-n-Turf is the most reputable. There even some dance clubs, catering to different groups on different days."
"Clubbing!" Hakeber cheers.
"The Surf-and-Turf isn't the same without big grey fuzzy, who is going to endlessly tell me exciting stories of things I haven't seen or had try to kill me? I'll save the bar experience for if they come in." Tasha turns to Hakeber and tilts her head. "I know what clubbing is, but I've never actually done it."
"I assume it won't an amateur band in a bunch of old hulls," Katie says.
"Not in the club I'm thinking of," Mr. Invention says. "There are raves and other impromptu events in some of the other areas."
"It sounds very bright and noisy." Tasha considers whether she wants bright and noisy, but even if she doens't Hakeber does, and Hake has been through a lot. "Well I'll go if Hake wants to go."
"There is also a milkshake and ice-cream bar," Miss Necessity notes.
"Mmmm, hard milkshakes?" Yue asks.
"Unofficially, yes," Necessity replies.
"I have something I'd like to do," Gabriel says. "But.. accommodations first."
"Yue, which must you tear me between friendship and ice cream with liquor in it. Can I get one to go?" Tasha's tail flicks and ears flatten. That is until Gabriel has something he'd like to do, "What's that?"
"A surprise," Gabriel claims.
"Oooh," goes Tasha, who then shoos everyone to go faster. "Can't keep the surprise waiting. Hake, we can go get dressed at the hotel, and drop Yue off at the ice cream bar on the way to the club. Lacci, Katie, want to come with us?"
"You need a chaperone, so I'll go," Katie says with a grin.
"If it isn't too loud," Lacci says.
"I'm... interested," Tia offers. Or she just doesn't want to be left alone.
"Then it's settled. Katie, help Lacci decide what to wear. Hake, help me." And with that Tasha marches the group towards their rooms.