From up high in the sky, Tasha can see that the dragons are still camped out at the castle, and the airbase seems rather quiet. Somewhere in the mountains, Gwyndrael supposed has Mressa 'captive' for Sasha to rescue, but Tasha doesn't spot any telltale metallic glints, so a cave may be involved.
Tasha ponders what to do. She isn't used to moments where there's just nothing going on -- some crisis, or something weird, crazy magic or nerve wracking horror. Normally she'd sleep through it; growing up on a board a ship has trained her to sleep when she has the chance, which hasn't translated as well to her current life, but she continues the tradition mostly out of ingrained habit.
Tasha ultimately decides to make the rounds, starting with the dragon-wizard. She needs to discuss Sharon after all, just to make sure there's no confusion.
The two dragons, Wormwood and Thermoriax, are sunning themselves in the courtyard when Tasha lands. This causes some commotion among the Kobolds for some reason who run around and make bird noises.
The red woman watches this play out for quite a bit longer than she intended to. Sometimes she feels bad for kobolds; other times she feels bad for them but also finds them inexpliccably silly. She wonders how they came to be, this small dragon-like beings who serve dragons but are so unlike them.
"Hi," she goes after this long moment. "Do you know why they're doing that?" She thumbs at the the tweeting.
"Because you're wearing clothes," Wormwood claims.
"Hmmmm," goes a squinting and disbelieving Tasha. "Lots of people wear clothes. They don't make noises for them." A pause. "I wanted to talk about Sharon; you probably know what this is about and already have complicated and deeply considered thoughts about the matter and can maybe answer me before I state the matter?"
"Is it about her magic lessons?" Wormwood asks.
"Not that," Tasha clarifies.
"Then I'm not sure what you wish to discuss," the dragon says.
"Oh, she's in to you. I don't mind, just be delicate. She gets it from me, which makes sense because she is me, in a way." Tasha scratches her nose. "I figured you caught on about it and were politely pretending not to notice due to some complicated mentor, dragon, dragon-mentor or other reason."
"She has father issues, and a lack of those similar to herself that don't come with complications," Wormwood says. "She is not confident enough to be bold or to explore her sexuality without guilt. I'm not certain a tryst with a dragon is the healthiest thing for her right now."
"Oh, probably not. And probably not with me, either. But learning the hard way is often the Tasha-way. Either way, I just wanted to say I won't stand in the way of it. I don't think you'd hurt her, except maybe emotionally, and you'd probably regret it." Tasha dips her head. "That's all I had to say. I'm just making the rounds since I woke up. Does anyone need me? Need to talk to me?"
"Sharon did not show up to training today," Thermoriax notes. "I suppose it could be because of the holiday though."
"There's a holiday? I've been in a tube for a while. Sharon was, too, but she and Vasha got out before me." Tasha stretches her wings leaning back a bit and rubbing the base of her spine. "At least Gwyndrael seems to be having fun."
"She is a romantic," Wormwood says. "Hopefully her players are respecting the holiday."
"I don't think anyone knows it's a holiday. I didn't," Tasha admits. "So what holiday is it, anyway? Dragonmas? Is there food?"
"Laundry Day," Wormword says. "A holiday that Princess Whisper just announced."
"Oh. Normally that day means a lot of work and washing clothes in a lake, no I just let spinning machines do it." Tasha looks around again, then asks, "I guess that's why the bird noises?"
"I think the Kobolds just made that part up themselves," Wormwood speculates. "They are very fond of the Princess."
Tasha smiles at that. "Well, I'm glad the two of them get along. I assume she likes them as well, since they're together a lot. I was worried she'd be lonely." And so her smiles fades a little. "It's hard to look after everyone."
"Only children and the elderly need to be looked after, Tasha," Wormwood points out.
"Whisper's kind of like a child, though." But Tasha ducks her head at the point. "I guess everyone can take care of themselves, other than a small few. Well, I'll try not to worry so much about it. I don't think I have the energy to do it anyway."
"When you have your own children, you can be as over-protective as you like with them," Wormwood claims. "That is part of the fun."
"Eeehhh, well, we'll see how that goes." Tasha looks around one more time, as if searching for something and not finding it. "I'll get going then. I feel like I should check on Sasha, but your words make me think I shouldn't."
"He should be having fun on his own," the dragon confirms with a nod.
Tasha shrugs with her shoulders. "Then I guess I've done everything I planned to do. Maybe I'll grab a chair and sit on the balcony or something. Anyway, see you around Wizard, Priestess." She gives both a nod, and then she's heading off and back towards the sky.
There's no sign of Whisper from the air, but presumably she's in the castle somewhere. The base and Dark Horse are left to check on, but Dark Horse isn't visited very often.
Tasha decides to stop by the Horse, since it'd be a lot easier to end her rounds back at home where she does indeed intend to kick up her legs and watch the day vanish once she's done. She lands on the docks and heads inside, planning to check the console and see if anyone's on board and if there have been any warnings.
The ship is very quiet inside. It's unlikely that the Tadpole would be in her bay either, since she can freely roam around outside. But Moka has been known to run through her checklists when nobody is around.
Tasha decides to walk to the Bridge then. It all feels a bit unnecessary, but old habits die hard and she remains unused to long stretches of peace and a lack of the rush. She wonders if she fits in in this peaceful new world, without people-problems -- really people-with-problems -- conflicts, adventure and mysteries around every corner. She doesn't know what a Tasha who belongs in peace looks like.
The big display table in the strategy room behind the command deck is lit up, displaying a hologram of a muddy-red looking sphere with storms and turbulence in it, possibly a gas giant. But there was also a line circling above its equator.
Tasha doesn't recall any planet like this, nor any plans to go to one. She assumes it's either a test or maybe one of Tia's research projects. She frowns in consideration as she slowly walks around and past the table, reading the data as she goes.
The data displayed doesn't make much sense. It's a registry number rather than a name, and just lots of numbers and abbreviations. The only name listed is "Antimatter Factory K-Prime."
"Weird," murmurs Tasha. She wonders if it's another hidden-in-the-open factory like Daltoona; if gravity-juice can be siphoned from Ogdru'hem blood, why not anti-matter? They have, after all, each their own specialty. Their thing.
The command deck is empty and quiet, not even the sound of sloshing water from the Phin stations. The only thing active is the communications system, which isn't showing any notifications since the ship returned from Caltrop with Darksight and Mressa.
"Alllll cleeear I guess," Tasha says to no one at all. Even she isn't really listening to herself. She brushes the armrest of her station, pleased there isn't dust on it, not that she expected there to be. Quiet times, she realizes, makes her think things have stagnated somehow, grown older, faster. It's a weird thing to realize, and she shakes her head as she starts walking for the exit.
The dock stretches out to the dirt road, which runs to the ramp through the gates of the firebase security wall. At least the gates are open, so no alarms there. Tia would have told if there was a problem, wouldn't she?
Tasha doesn't think Tia would, at least, not for some types of problems. But then, maybe she should let Tia be Tia. Perhaps the dragon's right, and everyone really doesn't need her to think about them constantly. Maybe she should just relax. Let go a little.
The canid-avian-other things woman lets out a long breath and stuffs her hands in her jacket as she walks back towards the base.
The main floor, with the cafeteria, is full of people. Sharon is in the kitchen, wearing an apron. Even Tia and Darksight are there. Gabriel is at a table with Katie, Hakeber and Kai. And as soon as Tasha enters, they all point at her make 'looloolooloo' sort of noises. Vasha has issues, so makes chirping sounds. They're all naked (unless the apron counts as clothing.)
This turns out to be a lot for Tasha, so she puts her hands up in surrender, then promptly turns and walks right back out again. The action even surprises her, but shifting mental gears so quickly caught her off guard and she just wasn't ready for it.
And now she's back outside. Outside, and immediately in need of a smoke, which she pulls out and lights with her thumb and the raw power of fire magic.
"Was that normal?" Redfang asks, appearing after the cigar lighting.
"It's some kind of fairy-thing. Whisper probably heard someone say 'it's Laundry Day' and she decided to make a thing of it. It's fun." Despite admitting it's fun, Tasha is out here, and most everyone else is in there.
"Maybe you should ask someone about it," Redfang suggests. "The ululations were scary."
"That was a lot of ululations," Tasha indirectly agrees. Then something bugs her, and so she asks, "But why would they scare you? I don't feel like noise is enough to scare you."
"It wasn't as bad as beating iron pots, but it was sudden and coordinated," Redfang says. "And there was pointing."
"Mind control, maybe? Or maybe they've been doing it all day and are used to it." Tasha wonders if she -- they? really just she since the spirit isn't a full entity -- are being paranoid, but she decides to ask. She saw Tia, and Tia sympathizes with the occasional social discomfort. "Hey Tia, what's with all the coordinated noises and pointing? It's making my inner fire nervous."
"It is Laundry Day," Tia explains. "Whisper's nightgown had finally gotten too dirty, and needed to be washed. Since it is her only garment, she decreed that nobody should wear clothes on Laundry Day, on threat of yodeling."
"The yodeling is very unnerving. I'm going to be suitable chastened and hide, as a example to others." Tasha takes her cigarette and herself in to the air, landing on her own balcony, before kicking back and dropping in to a chair to lean back. She puts her legs on the rail edge and her hands behind her head. "Hey fire, how'm I doing?"
"Doing at what?" the dragon-spirit asks. "Aren't you going to take your clothes off so the yodeling stops? Is it something they're doing voluntarily?"
"I don't know. This is funny, too. Sometimes I like being contrary for the sake of it. I'll think on it." Tasha takes a deep breath, exhales, and lets the smoke roll away. "And I mean, have I done enough fire stuff. Dragon stuff."
"For a non-dragon I suppose you have," Redfang says. "You have a treasure hoard that you sleep on sometimes. You are loud and can throw your weight around too. You have a serviceable if small tail. But you could do more to strike terror in your enemies."
"It's hard to strike terror in to the hearts of timeless, deathless gods, the spawn of said gods, ancient beings who have seen so much and.. Who else have I fought a lot? Elves. I guess I can scare elves. They're kind of full of themselves, though, so getting past that can be a lot of work. And they fight a lot of dragons." Another long inhale, then Tasha blows the smoke, igniting her breath to scatter the questionably fragrant cloud with flame. "I guess I should get undressed now, I think I've made my point and I'll hear about it if I make everyone -- what was it? Yoodooling? -- much longer. Someone might pass out."
Tasha doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to undress, however.
"You could find a village of more easily frightened enemies," Redfang suggests.
"I feel like they'd become my enemies mostly by me making them such, probably by burning their homes to the ground. I don't really have 'village-level' enemies. And, well, you saw how that went with your prior. I might end up having to face Gwyndrael and the rest of the Dragon Triad. I could be exiled." Tasha says all of this in the hazy might do it, might not do it of someone actively considering an idea with an uncertain and dubious amount of seriousness. "I wonder if there's a way to bring fear to the ineffable. Something strange, I'm sure. Like splitting them across all of the multiverse, or sticking them with mortality. Or a soul. Starving them. Making them eat each other. Making them eat something that doesn't agree with them." It's telling multiple suggestions are food-related.
"Are you hungry?" Redfang asks. "You can practice scaring Samael."
"I'm always hungry." It's a sentence that means a lot, and Tasha knows the spirit knows the fact. "I guess old Sam might appreciate being scared. He scares people all the time. Maybe it will be novel. Got any suggestions?"
"He is scared of Tia, and you have some Tia powers now," Redfang notes. "So.. maybe they're scary to him? Unless it is something else that he is afraid of."
"Tia is rather mysterious. I could also show him that Sign I picked up. It might be a bad idea to get in the habit of scaring my allies, uncomfortable an ally as some may be. You said enemies." Tasha purses her lips, then begins to shrug off her jacket, kick off her booties, and wiggle out of her shorts. "I don't have a lot of close enemies. That's probably for the best; that's why this all exists."
"You need a pet enemy," Redfang suggests. "Know your enemy. Your enemies are largely unknowable though."
"It really is a conundrum. I don't even have an enemy to bully -- unless it's Elves. But Whisper is kind of like an Elf, so, it's harder now. I did enjoy wrecking part of that Night City though, I just think that city has a lot more power than I saw, and picking a fight with it alone's a bad idea. Plus, some of it's nice." Tasha smiles. She slides her shorts down with a hoof, puts her cigarette aside long enough to strip off her top and bra, and then slowly kicks off her underwear too, just to show she's giving in on her own terms.
"Any other physical changes now that you can check everything?" Redfang asks.
"Lets find out." Tasha stretches across the chair, absently wondering how mad everyone will be for letting them yodel for so long, and seeing what's different about her today.
Her hooves stand out now that her boots are off. There are swirling curlicue threads of gold running through them more. No other golden highlights are immediately obvious elsewhere though. Her nipples aren't glowing or sporting little gems. Nor is her naval, which might have been nice to have a gem in it.
Tasha wonders why just her hooves are so gilt, but she supposes they must be like her hands -- a tip by which something is produced. Her belly button, however nice, is not often a point by which she attempts to do something. She settles for being a bit more shiny, which is always a positive. "Maybe I made some temporary enemies with all the yuoodeling. "A shame I can't just produce food. I wonder if I can make a coffee machine." She checks.
There doesn't seem to be a coffee machine under tools or weapons.
"Well, I'll have to address that with Tia later." Tasha then slowly rises, hover to the lip of the balcony, then drops off. "Come on, lets check on everyone."
Back inside, Tasha is greeted with applause, and Kai pushes a seat out for her with her foot at Gabriel's table. "Happy Laundry Day," she says.
"Thanks, I had some stuff to do before I did my laundry." Tasha flicks her cigarette and then immolates it in to thin ashes before it travels two feet from her hand. She then sits down, legs crossing, leaning back and propping her hooves on the table.
"All done cooking in Tia's tube?" Kai asks.
"New and improved," Tasha confirms. In order to demonstrate, she creates a stiletto from thin air and uses it to skewer something from a nearby plate -- and then try to move the skewer to her mouth to eat.
For that short range, there's no issue managing the trick. "I hope you can't conjure up toys too," Gabriel says, with the emphasis on toys to clearly mean adult toys.
"Oh-ho-ho we'll just have to see won't we," Tasha evades with smokey merriment. She pops the stolen sausage in to her mouth, then tosses the stiletto over her shoulder, where upon it promptly ceases to exist.
"I assume you had a good reason for this, Tia?" Gabriel asks the alien. Tia says, "I wanted to see if it would work."
"I'm compatible with all kinds of technology, species, strange otherwordly energies, organs, darknesses, and foods," Tasha insists, her tail wagging slowly, which makes it seem more cat-like. "Did I turn out according to plan, Tia?"
"I didn't really have a plan," Tia admits. "I wasn't sure any of it would work at all, or what to include. I thought about adding walls to the projection options, but I didn't think that would be very useful. But I can operate through you if necessary, which should cover most unexpected situations."
"I feel a bit remote control these days," Tasha laments. She's well aware Sharron and Vasha can hear her, yet in their own way they're less controllable than she is. "Well, it's all very useful. I think I may be as universal to combat as I am to acquiring strange elements and having kids."
"And I notice that Kai didn't include you in the whole Laundry Day thing," Tia says, glancing to the not-really-human woman at the table. "I didn't include the dragons either," she claims in defense. "I can't control dragons."
"Wait.. am I not controllable now?" Tasha's ears go up. "Have I become too dragon? One fifth perhaps? Is there a percentage cutoff?"
"I didn't try to control you because I wanted someone for them to react to," Kai claims. "But also because you belong to Tia now, and she's the only one who should be controlling you."
"Like my handler I guess," Tasha posits. Well, it could be worse; Tia may be uptight and difficult to comprehend sometimes, but she's rarely malicious, except apparently when she's genocidal. To be fair, Tasha admits, sometimes she gets genocidal, too. It's something they have in common. "I should probably practice with these powers. No use having an arsenal I've never used, let alone don't even recognize half of."
"They should all work like typical firearms," Tia says. "I didn't include anything too powerful, other than the railgun. I've never used any of them myself, but collected the data as part of my regular activities."
"You never know when you might need a giant gun," Tasha agrees, even if that wasn't exactly what Tia meant. "Oh, what did you do for the others? Can Vasha turn in to me?"
"I altered their vocal chords and hearing slightly," Tia explains. "As well as yours. You should all be able to sync up and harmonize, acting as a single four-voiced entity."
"For song-based magic, then. And to form an amazing pop group," Tasha assumes, grinning. "Not that I know how to magic-sing. I do potentially know a wide variety of fire-based rituals and incanted magics, but I haven't tried to learn them yet. Like your arsenal, they're a library in my mind, which I've skimmed over but not read nor practiced in-depth."
"Four voices are the minimum needed for higher dimensional harmonics," Tia notes.
"Like the angel's song, then?" Tasha distinctly recalls being sung in to pieces and reformed, it was a wild ride, and not something should easily describe to anyone, if at all. "I'm sure learning one form of song will help other forms of incantation."
Tia tilts her head slightly. "Yes. It's used by angelic level beings in my experience."
"I've heard it twice in different forms, a terrifyingly potent song from higher dimensional beings," Tasha elaborates. "Although I imagine I won't be matching that any time soon."
"It should allow for the creation of a portal," Tia says.
"A portal to here, or somewhere else?" Tasha naturally inquires.
"Wherever I need it to go," Tia says. "It can be used to summon me physically as well."
"Hmm, Summon Tia. I can see a lot of uses for all of those things. A lot of uses." Tasha rubs her chin and leans back, legs crossing. "I forsee a lot of training sessions, and soon. I should also train with Wormwood, magically."
"Dragon magic?" Tia asks.
"Dragon and fire magic. When I read the Book of Life, I beheld all of the myriad truths of Red, but 'behold' is accurate: I could see them and know the path, but beholding isn't knowing. I only knew where I could go, and where to start. The rest remains in my head, there but unopened. That's my Red magic; and I haven't tried much in the way of the Creation side of things, which is Sharron's specialty. I could do to learn Dragon Magic as well, in case there's something that's available to me," Tasha explains.
"I never had a chance to learn magic," Tia says, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps I should observe through you."
"What would you do with magic?" Kai asks Tia.
"Sometimes learning something is the goal, whether that knowledge is useful or not," Tia counters.
Tasha nods to Tia's answer. "Like that. I don't use every ability or every skill I know, some I use very rarely, but they all grant perspective and extend my reach -- even if just mentally."
Kai just twirls her hair with a finger and says, "That sounds weird to me."
"Well, you can't expect a hammer to be interested in learning about screws," Tia says. Was that an insult?
"I find learning about screws can be useful because sometimes you need to hammer them anyway, even if you're just a hammer. Having the right tool can be a luxury," Tasha contributes, more of a side agreement than attempting to undermine things. She has tiffs with her siblings, too, and it's not for outsiders to get in the way.
Kai doesn't seem to care. "Never had much need for tools," she says. "Being one isn't so bad. I'm like a Swiss Army Knife, which is a reference you probably won't get Tia. It's a tool that has a lot of other tools that fold into it, and fits in your pocket."
"I get that reference. Thanks, Nora." Tasha scratches the side of her muzzle. "I'm like that, too. And now, with magic. If that magic is fire."
"Fire is just the source of the magic," Kai notes. "The magic itself doesn't have to involve fire all the time."
Tasha's ears go up. "Is that so? See, I thought it all had to be fire. Well, except the Creation elements. I guess I did know that." Tasha cocks her head to the side in a "huh" realization gesture.
Kai holds up her hand, and the multicolored flames burst from each fingertip. "All from the same source, each relating to something different. It sounds like Sharon will be strongest with the white flame."
"Where as I'm strongest with the red one?" Tasha inquires, considering the fire.
"You're most familiar with it, I'd say," Kai says. "I can't teach you anything though, since my abilities are all stolen from elves, dragons and assorted demons and monsters."
"Where as I integrated those abilities.. Well, I won the dragon power. The rest came as they did. I was able to do some basic magic even before the heart, through what I learned from the Book of Life. And the way I learned from that is hard to describe. I know all of it, but unpacking it, understanding it, being able to utilize that, those are all a different problem than knowing it." Tasha spreads her hands. "It's a bit like the Book of Eibon."
"Hmm, the map, yes," Tia says, and rubs her chin. "I'm still trying to chart that."
"I haven't even -- looked at isn't the word -- but beheld it yet. I was waiting to focus on that after we're done with Daltoona. It would be a good point to work on during the down time, in preparation for sharing it with the Titanians and others. They'll be more inclined to listen to us when we show them an end to the smuggling," Tasha explains.
"I will be studying the brown dwarf that Daltoona orbits while you're on the station," Tia says.
"Is that the map I saw on the Dark Horse bridge?" Tasha turns to Tia. "I saw it while doing my rounds."
"Yes, that's the dwarf," Tia says. "The antimatter factory is also built around it's waist."
Tasha does not mention she didn't recognize it despite the fact she really should have. "Antimatter is it? They also make antimatter? Or is that what's inside the stators? And, isn't it incredibly dangerous to have an antimatter-factory next to such a large, habitable world?"
"The Khattan civilization is powered by antimatter," Tia notes. "There are no planets orbiting the dwarf, just the space station, and that's at a sizeable distance. The dwarf produces some heat, and that is enough to power the factory."
"Well, that's incredible. Magic or technology, wonders abound everywhere," Tasha remarks, impressed. A second later she adds, "How close are we to heading out, Gabriel?"
"We're still waiting on a report from Batty," Gabriel says. "Most of the transportation has been worked out though. Sojo's team will be in place before we get there."
"I have a potentially better idea for concealing myself: I can now appear to be Vasha. It might be easier for me to maneuver as just another Vartan than as myself. Twin sisters aren't unusual. But, I can still go with the original plan if that one's too much work. I just worry I'll draw attention." Tasha cocks her head to the side. "Maybe I'm worrying too much that one Mezzode will stand out in a world of millions? I suppose there will be a lot of them there."
"We don't have a demographics breakdown yet," Gabriel says. "Is the disguise good enough to fool their bio-scanners?"
Tasha turns to Tia for this answer, brows going up.
"Mmmmm," Tia responds. "I'm not sure. It is not a Kai-level disguise."
"As long as I'm with her when she goes through the scanner, it will be fine," Kai claims.
Tia asks, "And just how does that work, exactly?"
Tapping her head, Kai says, "My telepathic control works on machines as well if I'm close enough to them."
Tasha nods her head to that answer. "With twins we also have the option of one of us going missing without raising an eyebrow. Of course if I have to switch back that might set off alarms."
"You'd just be another Vartan bodyguard then," Gabriel says.
"If you and Vasha are both there together, then I can spoof the system using Vasha's readings, so long as she goes first," Kai claims.
"That sounds like a better idea. I can also revert to my real form if I need to cause chaos, such as a diversion. With my new tools and abilities, I should be able to handle myself foir a little while, as long as I don't remain in place too long. They can't watch and guard every point in a gigantic city-sphere after all, and if they could we wouldn't even be discussing any of this," Tasha notes.
"Are there any risks with this disguise?" Gabriel asks Tia.
"I wouldn't recommend using it all the time," Tia says. "Only in public. I'm not sure what the effect of prolonged use might be, but it does draw on her energy reserves."
"Exposure to Sifran technology could also cause it to fail," Tia adds. "Avoid crystal artifacts if you can."
"Maybe I can try to be two people at once. If Kai can fool the sensors in to believing there are two Vashas entering, and I enter later, we'll have an extra phantom person I can be, letting me move between two identities,"Tasha suggests. She then nods. "We don't know what's in the core, so I should expect it may fail before the end and plan accordingly."
"My understanding is that almost all of the known Sifran crystal artifacts are inert," Gabriel says.
"We can't disguise Hakeber," Tia notes.
"She'll be arriving separately, as will Katie," Gabriel says.
"That may be changing. A lot is moving the Sifra are concerned with. Impact on the Ogdru'hem may gain their notice and they may begin to move in what mysterious ways they can." Tasha then nods to Tia. "Past a point the time for dinguses will have to end. I doubt they'll be very convinced of any disguise when we're there in the station core interfering with things. We should plan that when we make our final moves, our time will become limited and we must be prepared to either take overwhelm the station, take it, or escape."
"Planning our escape routes will be the first task," Gabriel says. "You may need to create a portal from the core to get out."
"You don't all need to be in the same place for that," Tia says. "I just need Kai to be the communication conduit for that."
"Then we'll need to ensure we're all ready and available when it comes time. Failing that I'll do my best to get Hakeber out of there, even if I have to go through the walls," Tasha promises.
"We can get Dark Horse to any point in the station, unless there's something blocking access from the Maelstrom," Gabriel says.
"Ogdru-hem extend into higher dimensions, so should have a presence in hyperspace and the Maelstrom," Tia points out. "Until it's gone, your ship will not be able to surface inside the station."
"That will cause immense stress on the station, won't it? It did on the Phin ship, and the station is a lot bigger. Of course if we need to do that then I suppose some structural damage is the least of our worries, so long as we don't kill civilians doing it," Tasha considers aloud. She then nods to Tia in what feels like the tenth time. "I can't guarantee what will become of the Ogdru'hem, so we may have to settle with appearing near the station. Preferably inside its defensive line, such as against the hull, and then move inward and avoid docking bay defenses. We've never tried the Horse's defenses against weaponry, and that station must have immense zone defenses."
"Stations generally have heavy defenses, and that station is huge," Gabriel says.
"The antimatter factory also has railgun and linear cannon defenses," Tia adds.
"I feel like their defense against something appearing right next to the hull from the Maelstrom will be lowest. We can then move under more standard power in to the station -- I don't think they'll risk firing heavy weaponry with our ship back to the station wall. It seems more likely they'd rely on small vessels and lower power weapons, boarding teams, and robots. The ship may come under siege while it takes refuge from the heavier weapons outside inside the station's hull. We should minimize the time the Horse is in space next to the station and how long and how difficult it is to get it inside the station if we need to perform a direct extraction. Maybe commandeering a repair or loading bay, especially one that has direct transport access to the inner sections. Defenses are probably outward facings, so attacking in an effort to escape to the bay should face lighter resistance than fighting from the bay to the core," Tasha suggests.
"We don't have a full report on their interior defenses," Gabriel says. "They probably have a battalion of Vartans and robots though, along with the civilian police forces. Stations tend to have ways of dealing with hostile boarders, especially when there are Titanian raiders that might target them."
"That's why I want to minimize how much fighting we do in any one place, and how long. They may have immense forces, but it's a big station. Even with transports, rails, and interior aircraft it will still take time for them to organize and respond; the faster we are, the more confusing we are, and the more spread out we are, the harder it will be for them to come get us. We should avoid any fighting until absolutely needed, however -- and then it should be spectacular and confounding," is Tasha's take.
"I can help with crowd control," Kai says. "Although on my own, without Kainudy providing power, I'm limited to maybe a thousand or so in a given area, if the commands are simple."
"What's an example of a simple command?" Gabriel asks.
"Putting everyone to sleep is an easy one," Kai replies.
"Having a crowd be confused and get in the way of the armed forces might help, assuming they're relatively gentle. It would be a disaster if the guards are brutal. It may help to be more precise and interfere with operators: transport operators, pilots, AI controls. If their armies get flown right back to where they started, they are that much slower, and they also have to figure out why that happened. If we control a few of them at a time it may sew doubt in the rest and slow them down. If we control their leaders we can order them to perform useless actions," the red woman suggests by way of mind control.
"That depends on proximity and how sophisticated the AI is," Kai says. "If it's animal-level AI, I can control it. Above that gets complicated."
Tasha frowns, but nods. "Then we can rule out the AIs beyond that. What about organic leaders, captains and police leaders? Operators of equipment?"
"If I can locate them, then I can control them," Kai says. "I may need to just walk around a bit to locate them. After that I can tap them from anywhere."
"That's a good idea. Moving around the hangars and machine shops should help. Locate one with good access to the interior and the outside, somewhere the station can't afford to take rail gun hits. I highly doubt House Khomen will allow heavy firepower to be directed at the station if we're too close to it, but lets be careful. Once the ship's inside we can hide it there, or use it to escape, depending on when it's moved inside and why." Tasha tilts her head back and forth. "My power is direct, and I can talk and charm. I'd be best used against structures, robots, demons and other outsiders, and people. But I will be focusing on getting to the core with Hakeber, so I will be primarily evading and, if needed, assassinating. It would be good if Batty could join us, and Kai, if they're not needed elsewhere. There's also the danger of letting Hakeber and I be alone at the core."
"Technically you are never alone," Tia says. "Unless I'm incapacitated."
"In context, that is very comforting," Tasha says with a very straight face. "At least if one or both of us lose control we may have backup."
"It all hinges on what Hakeber can do to Sadu-hem," Gabriel says. "Which is also unknown."
"I also have an obligation to 'deal' with Sadu-hem, which may be impressed upon me. It depends what I need to do, and what Hakeber needs to do," Tasha warns.
"Obligation to whom?" Gabriel asks.
Tasha spreads her hands. "Mr. Yellow. There's a reason I still have terrible powers despite it all. He knows I'll get to it in time. Otherwise he'd be reminding me."
"Wonderful," Gabriel says. "I assume he means get rid of Sadu-hem them."
"That's what I assume as well, which means I may end up at cross purposes with Hakeber's goals," Tasha says with a frown, ears canting back. "Which could go any number of ways. I'm hoping to find some common ground, but I don't know. That's why it's good to have someone watching out for us, and maybe Batty as well. Of course having to disable one or both of us will make escape a lot more difficult."
"I can't fight an Ogdru-hem," Tia says. "I don't think I could win, I mean."
"You need to know the proper rituals," Kai explains. "Or whatever it is Hakeber has."
"She was able to effect Urgo-hem," Gabriel says. "By reciting something. Maybe it's just the right words that are needed."
"Winning may not be needed, just preventing either of us form harming the other. Directing Hakeber to escape. Redirecting me to 'deal with' Sadu-hem. Redirecting Hakeber. Make sure all the pieces face the right direction and not each other. You don't need to fight the Ogdru-hem nor Mr. Yellow directly, because fighting each other isn't what the powers behind us want and they don't want us fighting because that will reduce our effectiveness and our willingness to help them. Keep us on target and not targeting each other -- even if it means I need to destroy Sadu-hem or Hakeber needs me out of the way for a moment." Tasha taps the side of her head. "The right directions."
"It's likely that Hakeber's spell will release Sadu-hem from his restraints," Kai says. "Restraints could mean its anchors to our reality, which would make it vanish, or just the restraints that the Khomen's have on it. However, a spell that affects the Ogdru-hem directly wouldn't be dealing with external restraints."
"There may be additional restraints, machines, artifacts. We don't know what Khomen has available, or know how to use," Tasha advises. "But it's also posisble he doesn't care about any of them, only what money they bring."
"Or sacrifices," Tia suggests.
"Or sacrifices. There was also mention of strange Vartan pairs along the path of the artifact route, but we don't know what they're for or why they're pairs. They could be sacrifices, or something else," Tasha notes.
"We can speculate for hours, but until we get more information it's all just that; speculation," Gabriel says. "We can't plan with it. We need to get Shojo's troupe into their positions so they can get to Daltoona. They'll each leave from a different planet or station."
"Then we'll wait and see. I have enough to do to keep me occupied until we know more," Tasha agrees, nodding in approval. "Perhaps I should focus my training more on station defenses, structures, and so on. Heat systems are important to all space craft of any type, maybe studying heat sinks and arrays might be useful. I doubt they expect heat dissipation systems to reverse."
"The station's heat dumps are internal somehow," Gabriel says. "Library tech. Which is our biggest weakness, since we aren't familiar with it."
"We do have a Library, but I suspect finding the exact technology would take more time than we have, and I don't want to tangle with a highly complex system I might just break," Tasha admits. "Well, I'll think of something."
There's a beep from somewhere, and Kai announces, "Laundry Day is over." Suddenly everyone really notices that they're naked, and there's a bit of chaos as people rush to the residential towers to get clothes. Gabriel and Katie stay at the table though.
Tasha only seems to notice how panicked everyone is, watching with interest as most people flee. "Young people are so anxious," she observes, before sliding an abandoned plate over to herself and holding a hand out so she can magically reheat it.
Tasha says, "If you need Tasha to do something, I've considered having her get drunk and smoke a lot, then maybe go find Sam." (OOC)