After people have gotten dressed, several regroup up on the CIC deck of the command center. While providing a panoramic view of the valley, it also houses the main communication and air-traffic control stations, as well as a large tactical display system. Currently being projected is a hologram of Daltoona Station. Aside from Gabriel and Tasha, Katie and Yue are present. Daltoona isn't a smooth sphere, it's broken up into twelve large hexagonal sections connected by pentagonal ones, with six of the hexagons sporting covered cities and the others covered in industrial looking structures.
Each of the cities sports a thick central tower that extends beyond the dome, where the space dock facilities are kept. "The stators are supposedly manufactured in the towers, and shipped out through the ports," Yue explains. "Based on Terragens intel. There are several support levels beneath the cities that deal with life support and gravity, but we don't know what's beyond those. The industrial structures on the surface are Library tech as well, but we think they must handle waste heat processing. Because of the massive use of stators, we don't have a good estimate of mass or density or what might be within all that volume."
"So we literally have surface-level knowledge," Tasha summarize, rubbing her muzzle as she looks at the behemoth city, itself dwarfed by the planet beyond. Space, she routinely re-realizes, is startlingly large. "If we could trace the Library entries to our own Library resources, we might be able to determine their use and weaknesses, but that may prove impossible without having some way to track them down in that vast archive. Access restriction and gating seem obvious. A lot of nooks to hide in the outter surface though, which means good places to surface and hide the ship, assuming we can get that close to surface. The main pillars seem like excellent access points both of and down deeper in to the station, but I suspect they stop deeper in as security gets tighter. And that they are heavily guarded and monitored because they are convenient access points. I also suspect our target will be around the nexus where the pillars meet, detached by a few levels of security. We don't know it's size, so we don't know how large the containment unit would be."
"The stators limit the ability of Dark Horse to penetrate far," Gabriel also notes. "After going over things with Moka, the stators act as gravitational net in the Maelstrom. An actual physical sort of net. There may be gaps we can exploit, but until we can actually map things out we won't know. We aren't sure if Tia has a way to scan the Maelstrom or not, we really aren't clear on what sort of drive or sensor technologies the Astraea actually has."
"So for now we can assume the Dark Horse won't be involved except as a command and observation platform, and as a potential emergency method of escape. Given the sheer amount of stators and the risk to the station of disabling them, we may need to rely on other means of escape in a pinch. Escape pods, shuttles, and suits may be shot down by the station's defenses, however. At worst, we may have to rely on defeating the station itself to secure a way out -- seizing it, displacing or controlling its leadership, disabling or destroying its command AI, and so on," Tasha considers aloud. "We can get in, but getting out may be difficult, especially if things go badly."
"Defenses are 'standard' meteor shield ones," Katie says. "Nothing exotic, at least that is on record. What isn't public knowledge are the evacuation systems. Each 'city' has a population in the tens of thousands, so there has to be some sort of lifeboat fleet. We just can't see it. Khattans are very escape conscious, given that they gave up living on planets because they were too fragile."
"No two Khattan stations are alike, either, so we can't go by what others do," Yue adds.
"So it's probably there, but we don't know what it is or how to use it. And escape pods can be like meteors, so using one or two pods may see them shot down. It's good to know that if things go badly escape is available to both ourselves and the citizenry. I also wonder if each section can be separated, because that arrangement looks modular to me," Tasha inquires. She points at how each section fits together. "Why have one escape and separation system when you can have layers."
"The cities do seem to be self-contained and independent," Yue says. "But what if the city itself is compromised? The buildings don't seem to be securable against vacuum, but we don't actually know what technologies might be hidden."
"How does it move?" Gabriel asks.
"The.. the whole station?" Yue asks.
"It was either built in place or moved there," Gabriel says. "Khattan paranoia suggests to me that there would be a way to move it."
"With the resources it has available, it may have some system to move. But like the other systems, we don't know. If we could take control of the command system for seperation and movement, maybe we can just steal the containment section as a whole. Also, if they're as paranoid as you say, there must be an ejection or termination system for the containment region itself," Tasha suggests.
"I suppose those weird surface structures could be some sort of exotic drive system," Yue says. "It's a million klicks out from its primary. We know it isn't massive enough to generate libration points. None of the surface features look like a giant door or hatch though."
"Didn't we suspect there's some sort of gate network connected to the station? What happened with that investigation? If they can just move things out of the system by non-local means, they have many more options and resources than even the station itself suggests. It's also another way in," the red woman asks.
"So far the only claims of something like that come from the Titanians," Yue notes. "Assuming they're able to track things, and the trail ends at Daltoona, then artifacts could literally just be there still. They may not be telling us everything, but I'm thinking they wouldn't suggest it if they didn't have some way of knowing the artifacts weren't there, or were turning up somewhere else somehow."
"Still no reason to think the method isn't one-way," Katie points out. "Stuff gets to Daltoona by regular means, then shows up elsewhere. If it were two-way, there'd be not reason to suspect Daltoona at all."
"Unless they detect things showing up there mysteriously and then showing up someplace else," Yue says. "The Titanians weren't clear on that. They can supposedly catch any ships traversing space or hyperspace though. They couldn't take on a station though."
"Correction, they absolutely could take on a station if their intent was to destroy it," Gabriel says. "But they aren't known as mass murderers."
"That still brings the object to Daltoona though. Why bring them here at all? It's their primary base. Why not some far-flung outpost, or a series of them? Do they need them here? Maybe they need them to power things, or as part of obscure systems. They determine if they can be used, then sell the rest. I think understanding why they must come here at one point is important. It's very risky, artifacts can be dangerous, and it attracts Titanian interest. The Khomens ostensibly live here." Tasha then nods to Gabriel. "The Titanians have a number of powerful assets that could destroy a station. Which is another reason why I wonder why Khomen brings the artifacts here at all. Why he lives on top of a Ogdru-hem. These are not paranoid, safe things. They're very dangerous things. He must have a very good reason, is mad, or be confident in his defenses and securities."
"Human shields," Katie says. "Well.. multi-species sapient shields," she corrects. "Tens of thousands of them. The only credible threat to artifact smuggling are the Titanians. They haven't raided museums though. But every government forbids the movement and trade of First Ones artifacts. Clearly there are lines the Titanians won't cross, and planets and stations can exploit that."
"The Khomen imposter in the bid for Archon of the Silent-Ones had a personal space station with several Sifran crystal artifacts on it. They were inert, supposedly, so may not have been considered targets by the Titanians."
"The ones carried by the Expedition were also inert until we got to the surface of Sinai," Gabriel says.
"Hmm," goes Tasha, who taps her chin more. "And that's a lot of people to forcibly evacuate. We could make a pseudo-disaster, interfere with vital systems and make a show enough to force an evacuation, but that could go badly." And then she shrugs. "We could also just put off our primary mission and assassinate the Khomen family instead. Target the core, destroy them. We could then bargain from our position of power inheritance of the Khomen power structure, find heirs who are amiable to us, help them take over. Then, deal with the other problems later."
"That's a lot for under a dozen people to accomplish," Gabriel says, but in a thoughtful way. "We do have someone with experience bringing down governments though: Kai."
"Kai does indeed. I'm also a lot better at raw destruction of dangerous things than complex stealth operations in massive structures I am unfamiliar with. Eliminating the Khomen core family would also benefit us by improving our relationship with the Star Empire, and by potentially securing a new Khomen leadership ally. There's also the possibility the Khomens are under the influence of an outside entity, and if that's the case, defeating them swiftly would be important. Also, if we do accomplish our primary goal, they are likely to be both furious and vengeful, and naturally wish to counter us and regain face," Tasha notes.
"Yeah, all of our planning so far hasn't really taken any repercussions into account beyond escape," Katie says, and rubs her left cheek. "Ideally we would get our objective done without disturbing things, at least until we were already gone. And the objective, as far as I understand it, is to get Hakeber to where she can do her thing to Sadu-hem and get the spell or whatever out of her head."
"And that has unknown consequences. It could empower Sadu-hem. It could destroy the station. It could do both. It could benefit the Ogdoad. It could benefit Khomen. Or multiple of these. I will be there with the idea to help prevent these things, but I may also be compelled to act. Tia will be my safeguard there. But what we've not considered is that what happens is random and unknown, and then we leave somehow, and we're assuming both the happening and the escape will be fine. Even if we succed perfectly we'll have ruined a key business for Khomen out of the blue, and he will naturally wonder why, and how, and then if he figures it out, he will likely be hostile." And so Tasha spreads her hands. "So I think maybe Khomen is a better target. Eliminating the core power structure enough we can replace or remove it will help dampen the consequences of many problems, remove an indirect enemy, and maybe help us in the long run."
"Or you convert or replace him with a duplicate," Kai suggests, suddenly present over Tasha's shoulder, making everyone jump.
Tasha does not jump. Tasha is used to Kais and Tias, especially when she starts talking about them. She continues like she'd expected this, which she partly had. "Or that. And there's surely plenty of people in House Khomen who would like to rule, and other Houses who would appreciate a change in leadership. And, from what I understand, no one has seen Khomen in a long time -- and it's not like the House will admit their leader got replaced openly. It would be humiliating."
"You're talking about creating puppet-people," Gabriel says, his ears lowered slightly. "I thought you could only do that here because of the nature of this place."
"It doesn't have to be out of thin air," Kai claims. "It doesn't even have to be a new body. The people don't even have to realize they've been changed, or programmed to pass away peacefully in their sleep a month later. I have no qualms about doing such things, you know. But if there is a line you do not wish cross in this matter, best tell me now."
"They don't have to be actual puppets, they can real people who just act like they're Khomen. No one really knows what he looks like. So long as the central family keeps issuing decrees that make sense, who is going to know they were replaced?" Tasha wiggles her fingers. "And people like that always want power. We just find someone who likes us and wants it."
Gabriel looks to Yue and Katie, the intelligence agents. Both women wear expressionless masks. "It is the one certain tactical advantage we have," Yue admits, "Unless there is some Library tech that blocks telepathy or whatever it is Kai uses, but then the targets would have to be paranoid enough to put that in place."
"What won't it work on?" Katie asks Kai.
"With some time I may also be able to impersonate Khomen with Kai and Tia's help. I can appear to be other beings; if we secure them I can try and appear to be him, with Tia's help securing his likeness and nature, and Kai extracting what he knows so I can answer correctly. We'll just have to find a replacement; we can even nominate the replacement ourselves. Talk to secret alliances, of how House Khomen was saved from destruction by our timely intervention," Tasha suggests.
"Dragons and other high-end magical beings, limited artificial intelligence and purely clockwork systems," Kai explains. "At least not without a bit of extra effort."
"Oh, and hive minds or puppets," Kai adds. "Can't control a puppet without controlling the puppeteer first."
"And hive minds have no puppeteer -- they're too many minds that will notice?" Tasha inquires.
"Yes, they're self-correcting," Kai says.
"And I have a limit on how many minds I can affect with more than simple commands," she points out.
"Good to know." Tasha nods, then turns to frown at the station some more. "I don't like creating puppet-people either. I would prefer a living, breathing heir. Or taking his place myself, or through another ally, until we can arrange a change of power. At the same time if we ignore him he's likely to become an enemy if he isn't already, and he's already using Ogdru-hem and may be influenced by them. He's also not well-loved by the Star Empire, who is aware of us and is probably willing to assist us, if very covertly. Handing them Khomen's head will go a long way to showing how capable we are and please the Archon."
"Playing galactic politics on our own isn't something I'd recommend," Yue says. "Especially assuming one government or another would be happy with the results of our activities. Terragens have been willing to leave us alone since we've proven useful so far, and we're on good terms with the Confederates, but that may only last as long as we don't drag them into trouble."
"I'm not sure how we can avoid galactic politics by infiltrating a capital city with a plan with an unknown result. What do we tell them if they find out? If it's a disaster? If Khomen calls for our blood across Galactic space? It may be too late by then," Tasha counters, holding a hand up as if she held her point in it. "As I see it the only way we get out of this without a political fallout and without deaths and-or replacements, is if we do it perfectly, when we know very little, not even what we're doing this. This is, in two words, a terrible plan. And I know about terrible plans. We're only here because we're running out of time. If we go for perfection with a shaky plan with an uncertain outcome, we're expecting perfection but will likely receive disaster."
"I will also add, that should it come down to it, I will destroy that entire station to protect all of you. Everyone on it, everything on it, with every weapon I possess at my disposal. That is one possible outcome of disaster," Tasha adds, dropping her hand. "We need something better."
"Actually this sort of things goes on constantly within the Khattan Houses," Yue says. "Corporate espionage, sabotage, and so on. And they aren't above assassination either. We won't be the only ones trying to infiltrate the station."
"That's good, then. I like that. If no one really cares and it's Khomen's embarrassment for getting assassinated, then that's fine. We'll just be one more team in the dark, with the exception of what we do with Sadu-hem," Tasha says with a nod, seemingly satisfied. "I'm not very learned in galactic politics nor infiltrations, so my apologies if I'm over-reacting."
Yue points to one of the cities, and says, "It's highly likely that each city will be run by a 'prince' who is personally responsible for its output, which is likely tied to their own personal fortune. They'll be competing. But it does mean there's going to be a high-up Khomen family member in each one."
"Hmm, so we find one who might like us -- or at least be least likely to betray us before we're done." Tasha tilts her head. "Do we have any information on them? How many are there?"
"But won't they have lots of people trying to get close to them, for legitimate and clandestine reasons?" Katie asks. "We need an in. I say we go back to First Ones artifact gambit.. not necessarily trying to smuggle one, but trying to acquire one."
"Well, one of them was disgraced, but I'm pretty sure there are more than six," Yue says. "I don't know them offhand, but that much will be available publicly."
"Disgraced.. Are they still in charge, then? Or have they been replaced?" Tasha tilts her head the other way.
"They were caught in the Silent-Ones takeover attempt," Yue notes. "So they've been excommunicated from the House, and I think they're still awaiting prosecution by the Galactic Court."
"Caught, or scapegoated? Do we know what role they played, and what intelligence says about them? I notice Khomen himself wasn't caught, and that his businesses seem to still be running. Unless it really was just one scion who planned it all?" Tasha's ears perk. her head tilts the other way.
"The House officially denied involvement in the prince's attempt, which involved the genetic manipulation of his own son," Yue says. "He was not one that was a major heir, rather low in the rankings."
"The one who had that agent on Sinai?" Katie asks, more to Tasha than to Yue.
"Hmm, so maybe Khomen isn't as responsible as I thought. Or is, and is more subtle about it." Tasha then nods. "I guess so? I was just told House Khomen did it, not who, and it sounded like the House did it. The agent I killed was one of theirs, from Daltoona. Mentioned a Per Wynlass along with a passphrase."
Tasha scrunches her face for a moment. "Warloq, Idrahim warlock. He was a tricky man I wasn't really prepared for."
"So there's a contact?" Yue asks. "A contact for what though? Per is an honorific, too, for a female.. uh.. not quite family but family-adjacent and important."
"Like a Knight," Katie suggests.
"It's also been a long time, and I did kill the agent. It's usefulness is known; it may even be a trap," Tasha clarifies.
"We have multiple vectors of investigation," Katie notes. "As in different teams. One of them can look into Per Wynlass."
"Then we've probably discussed as much as we can. We'll need to wait on more information, but at least we seem to have ruled out a few approaches," Tasha points out.
"I suggest blowing up the brown dwarf," Kai says. "Big disaster, antimatter factory destroyed, shock-waves and stuff, mass evacuation.. great distraction."
"We can't blow up an almost-star," Gabriel says flatly.
"That will probably result in unnecessary casualties and a lot of political problems if they find out,and of course there are a lot of people whose lives would be displaced. We need to think about them, too." Tasha nods to Gabriel. "It's a bit much."
"It would probably look really cool though!" Kai counters. "Maybe the Titanians could do it for you."
"Tia would not approve," Katie claims, giving Kai a look.
"Well.. no, she wouldn't," Kai admits with a sigh.
"I'm all for blowing things up, especially fire-related things, but I'd feel bad this time and I already dislike knowing how close to my line this operation could be. It's.. wearying," Tasha confides.
Yue gives Tasha a considering look. "We may have an in," she says. "The whole Silent-Ones thing was supposedly to get access to Sinai, specifically to magic. If the Khomen's are still looking for that.."
"You want to offer them magic? Or artifacts, Sinai?" Tasha turns to Yue, ears up. "Or someone who can use magic?"
"Certainly proof that magic can exist outside of Sinai would pique their interest," Yue suggests. "How many magic users do we have right now, other than you? Hell, we could pass of Tia as a First One if we could convince her to go along with it."
"I can conjure small things, like teacups," Kai notes. "Do the Galactics have matter projection?"
"Nothing like on Dark Horse," Yue assures. "Holograms, sure, but programmable matter is the closest thing."
"We don't even know what they look like," Tasha notes, spreading a hand. "I've never seen one, though I have encountered their machines, and some are surprisingly humanoid. That said they use servitor species, so they may well be something other than humanoid. And Kai's magic is primarily controlling, especially mind controlling. We'd best not show them that. But yes, I'm willing to go with this if it means a safer time for everyone else."
"Okay, I like that," Katie says. "We have contact, we have a pass-phrase, and we have something that will get their attention."
"If the princes really are in competition with each other, then they'd each want to be the ones to control this new opportunity as well," Kai says. "We can come up with six different magic users if we need to. Aside from Tasha, myself and Tia we have three dragons."
"The dragons may need extensive familiarization wit our universe, but they seem quick to understand and fast to learn," Tasha notes, but nods her head. "Are you thinking we create competition between them? I doubt they know I have ties to any other being mentioned, so, if necessary, we can distributed our alliances and a relations however we wish."
"And each magic user has different abilities, beyond a common shape-shifting one," Kai says. "I'm sure Gwyndrael has some combat specialty."
"She likely does, yes." Tasha taps her chin. "And what would we ask in return, why are were out there, meeting them? Why now, when so much time has passed, and their agent is dead?"
"Do they know their agent is dead?" Yue asks. "Did he say what his means of contact was? For all they know he could be the one sending you to meet them."
"We'd have to depend on Per Wynlass if we don't have a way to confidently approach the princes," Katie says.
"There's no guarantee they'd know about Sinai at all," Gabriel points out.
"So, we need to get close enough to read their minds and find out," Kai says.
"Or talk to them," Tasha offers. "We'll save mind reading for if things become more desperate."
"It's always best to lead with mind reading," Kai insists.
"I feel led down a dark path," Tasha laments, hanging her head is a partly melodramatic, partly honest admittance.
Kai insists, "It's the best path, because it's the easiest."
Gabriel sort of grumps.
"That's what they said about all those books of power, demon contracts, and all the other things exactly like that," Tasha points out.
"And they were all right," Kai says, crossing her arms and smiling. "Hey, is there a role in all of this for your personal demon?"
The others look a bit queasy at the mention of Samael.
"You'll have to be more specific," Tasha responds, but then she folds her arms because she knows she's being called out. Her ears and tail go up. "He's more like a advisor, anyway. And I'm not sure what to do with him these days, I don't have the same empathy I used to, and my judgment is biased."
"Well, we can trust him," Gabriel claims. "Of all of us, he's the most likely to easily penetrate any security."
"Would someone else like to be his handler, then? I'm unlikely to use him well, or at all. But if you all trust him, then he shouldn't go to waste or be forgotten on my account." Tasha looks around, considering. "Kai and Tia can help you understand him better, and I can as well."
"We've tasted him," Yue points out. "We understand him pretty well."
"He's alright," Kai says. "He's afraid of Tia, which is a sign of sanity."
"Then I suppose I'm the one who no longer understands, but I understand enough to know I'm a poor choice, now. And as Kai points out, I'm not the sanest of our members. So I suggest all of you handle him. It will help." Tasha nods, she thinks it's a good plan.
"I can talk to him," Yue volunteers. "He doesn't fill me with existential dread like Galatea does."
"Why does Tia fill you with existential dread?" Tasha's ears focus.
"Tia is a young human woman who was hanging out naked in the cafeteria an hour ago," Yue says. "Galatea is an immortal super-powered entity that effectively makes all other life obsolete just by existing. The Ogdru-hem at least are nebulous and unknowable in their power. They don't ask for fashion advice while clothes shopping."
"Humans don't know their creators," Gabriel says. "This sort of thing seems to rattle them."
"Didn't Thoth say there was still at least one Vril-powered Human from Eve's original batch?" Katie asks.
"That's pretty heavy," Tasha admits, nodding her head slowly. "Though I'm uncomfortable with your comparison to the Ogdoad, who, I assure you, are worse, as they enjoy eating realities because they enjoy eating. And they're not alive, or even relatable. Not immortal. Unalive. Amortal. They're a concept that eats realities." She then nods to Gabriel. "I think I met their creator, or, at least, one creator of one Humans in one or more realities. She wasn't so bad for all the tales, though Galatea is uncomfortable with her." And then Tasha nods to Katie in turn. "Yes, but we have no idea where they are, and they don't want to be found. Without Thoth I had considered them beyond our ability to locate."
"Anyway.. I'll handle Sam," Yue says.
"That would be best. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it," Tasha tells Yue.
"He's been avoiding the dragons, but since they're on the other side of the lake he may be easier to find now," the lone Human says.
"You can also call his name, if he thinks you're looking for him, he'll come," Tasha advises. "I can also help locate him, or at least the direction he's in."
"I've still got my own connection to him," Yue says. "It wrecked me for awhile, but it's still there."
Tasha smiles a little at that. "Kai can say all she wants, there's always a price. It's also why I can't be the one to direct him, and I don't know if that will change, or how. Anyway, I guess we both have our tasks to focus on, then."
"So, do we know for sure that Sadu-hem is there?" Kai asks.
"No, I'm not even sure how they retain Sadu-hem if she is there. Library technology, most likely, or something worse. I can try and search for her on the premises -- my gaze should be able to spot her once I get in range. her signature should be immense and obvious, unless her presence is shielded somehow," Tasha answers.
"Or she's one of the smaller ones, like Tatha-hem," Katie says. "But I'm pretty sure she's key to their stator production. It's their main product and the source of their wealth."
"Well, they could just use her for the smuggling operation too," Yue points out. "We really don't know. The smuggling is the one that seems to rely on a fantastical mechanism."
"They all have their one trick, their one element that they alone have, and that makes them special. They may have other abilities, but their special trick is extraordinary in the supernatural way. Tatha-hem's is movement, for example. Maybe Sadu-hem's is gravitation. Intense gravitation could both creator stators and bend space-time for transport," Tasha offers.
"Well, it's the blood, if Sadu is anything like Katha was," Katie says. "But gating things sounds reasonable. We do that with.. uh.." she looks to Kai.
"Tia's borrowed dimensional shunt and a bit of fey magic," Kai says, wiggling her fingers.
"Right. Maybe she can manipulate gravity, and therefore both her blood and her power is useful. Luk'Thu-hem's power was in creation, but it was also enormous and akin to a demigod, a match for an entire ancient fleet -- a battle she won. Their special power is formidable but we must not forget they can do a lot more that's dangerous," Tasha reveals.
"Well, we need to convince the dragons and Tia that it would be worth getting up close to an Ogdru-hem if Sadu-hem is a big one," Gabriel says.
"And also convince them of the rest of the plan. Except Tia doesn't need to be told, since she already knows and probably has an answer, including to the question you just asked." Tasha taps her head. "The dragons, I think, will go along with it. They joined up to fight after all, and I'm sure they'll be curious about our universe."
Kai says, "Tia will be the hard sell there."
"If she declines, she declines. If we need five magic users and so many fighters, we need a better plan, anyway. I'm not going to drag her in to a battle she doesn't want to fight," the red woman declares.
"We still need to see what the situation is on the ground," Katie says. "And change our plans accordingly with what we have with us."
Tasha nods to this. "We'll know a lot more once we're there, and once we have our reports in. I don't think there's much more to do here, so we should focus on preparation. If I'm going to be a magic show off I may go train with Wormwood."
"Alright, Yue can seek out Sam, Tasha can talk to the dragons, Kai can.. do whatever she wants, I suppose," Gabriel says.
"Yes, I will," Kai confirms.
"As usual." Tasha stretches her wings, then rolls her shoulders. "Dragon time, then. After I grab some snacks. Magic is hungry business."