Z
Zack
ON> Queen's Slave
Uso was standing in the CIC room of the Queen's slave... the ship was still as messy as ever... with the exception of the very well polished I'ee Placcard setup near the cockpit. The display table in the center was showing a list of contacts, people, and locations... while the edges of the room were showing a still half dissasembled power armor and some gun parts that had been stripped then thrown about.
"Hey Arccos, Who do you know on Nepleslia?"
"The planet, the people, or the empire?"
"Yes?" Uso said, tapping her datapad against the table, "I wanna slip a message to their Sky Marshal, but it isn't like I can just call him up and ask him to meet me for a drink. I figure I got to know someone who knows someone who's close to him."
"I'd put myself four degrees of separation from him. Probably..." Arccos gave a weird sigh, one which sounded like a lot of cooling fans. "I know people in the Hacker Cult, who know people in the Projectorate, who know the Free State Protectorate Senator who would probably know how to contact him..."
"What do you need to talk with the most powerful man in the most superfluous empire there ever was for?"
"He's basically our space-neighbor. I was going to go say hi and see if he can do stuff for us."
"Why would he do stuff for us?"
"Because we ask'd nicely."
"No. Really. Why would he do stuff for us?"
"I don't know yet! I haven't met the guy! There's like no information on him anywhere... on like 'who' he is." Uso said, "I mean, generally it boils down to leaning on money, their sense of duty, or a feeling of obligation... getting hooks into someone usually takes some finagaling... but the point being we're playing in the big leauges now. We need to manage our," Uso waved her hands around a bit as she tried to find the words, "Brand? Image?... How they view us... Kinda like training an animal: If we come out of no where we're going to startle them.
We want them to know we are here, feel that our intrests are aligned, and have a way of talking that will prevent them from sending a fleet in here to bust stuff up. Signaling is a big part of deterrance and all that.
Of course, if there is a working relationship to be had here I would like to open it up. A planet cracking operation is going to generate a lot of useful material. Certainly more than we can use at any given moment." Uso said.
"You realise that about half our actions on that planet is in violation of treaties his nation signed off on, right?" Arccos said from her seat at the messy CIC, pressing a boot to the edge of a table to lean herself back, "By rights, as Nepleslian nationals more or less all of Ragnarok are now criminals in violation of the Osman people's rights of early contact."
"A law setup by Yamatai, that Nepleslia isn't really a party to, that hasn't been tested in court and only nebulously applies to this situation as these people technically aren't in a first contact situation. We're on very solid legal footing here, and if we aren't giving them a reason to come gunning for us we should be fine.
However, if they want to cause problems for us, they certainly can. Which is why we need to get working on this now before they have developed their opinion on us." Uso replied.
"So your plan is to just literally call up the most important man in Nepleslia, and say hey we're friends now?" Arccos asked back, voice low and grumbly.
"Unless you've got something better. This is the research phase of the plan. Sadly Nepleslia doesn't need much of anything and see quite happy letting everything rot around them. Of course that means we'll need to make a need for them. Dumping cheap materials on their market maybe... or I dunno... positioning ourselves as a hedge against Yamatai? Let them score some diplo-points by getting in good with Us and the I'ee?"
"Dumping cheap materials from foreign exports tends to go down badly. We're too small to particularly be a threat to Yamatai worth investing in. Diplo-points with the I'ee is... I don't know. It's hard to get Nepleslia on anything other than pride." Arccos thought out loud.
"There's always that 'Hey, we're just like you! Scrappy underdogs who love fighting and fucking!' thing..." Uso offered, "Diplomatic low-class-fast-pass."
"You honestly want to go for the 'We salute a fellow warrior' path?"
"I want to go with what works, but its kinda hard to tell that until I get in the room with the guy... Some people are easy. Raphael just wants someone to love him. Our SAINT friend has a real hard on for his duty. The I'ee... " Uso paused for a bit, "... Shit. We just kinda took away our real bargining chip with them didn't we? We're going to have to start all over on I'ee relations... "
"I feel alone being in it for the money and power." Arccos gave a little laugh, "And yes. The I'ee are going to be difficult to deal with now they're not particularly threatened by anything."
"Those bug things are so adorable.. it is basically cheating... at least we got a starport and some decent allies out of it... and money.. and some NMX stuff... actually all in all that didn't go so badly..."
*POP!*
Uso clapped her hands together, "Right, Nepleslia. Gotta focus on that one." Uso would turn her attention back to Arccos, "We are way outgunned here. Money is poor people's money. Rich people's money is owning people who own the people who use money. Sky Marshalls have the machinery of state to call upon. We need to have a hook to get his intrest."
"Seduce him? Kidnap his daughter? Get him hooked on the Dune Demon's sacraments?"
Arccos pondered, "Something about that war Yamatai is in? Provide intel on it or something-something-you need eyes in the west frontier..."
"That wouldn't hurt... if he is the soldier type the 'eyes out west' thing is going to sound nice. We can save seducing his daughter for later." Uso replied. "... Do we have dune demons?"
"There is a dune demon. Yes." Arccos sighed, bringing up images to her datapad of some blurred video-feed of a faintly humanoid creature with an elongated head and huge curled horns like some sort of ram. "Some local folklore thing. You'd be surprised how many fanatics are down there. This is on top of the snake cult resurrectionists and the ones who think the princess is a savior figure..."
"I mean..." Uso said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "It isn't a real demon right? Just some weird animal thing? I can't wait till we finish building some real infrastructure and don't have to deal with gross smelling locals and their weird animal problems."
"Well it turns up after people do some sort of summoning ritual, and it causes them to go insane, hallucinate and vomit up and down the streets." Arccos said with a sigh, slouching down in her chair, "But I don't have the time or manpower needed to track it down since otherwise it's not hurting anyone..."
"Regardless, I'll track down those details you wanted..."
"Thank you," Uso replied, "... This demon thing sounds fun, when things quiet down a bit we should go hunting."
------
Some time later, Nepleslia, state building>
Uso had arrived, Ragnaguards outside watching the car while she headed inside, dressed in a quite professional white button down and black skirt. Her green hair pulled back into a bun, and a certain lack of jewlery on her body.
"Maybe I should have talked to Van Banning's tailor..." she thought outloud, gently tugging and adjusting her sleeves to try and get it to fit just right.
Buisness clothes certainly felt weird.
As Uso entered the building, she was met by 4 ID-SOLs. "Ms. Uso?" He asked as Premier Gaelan's secrect service surrounded the neko. "If you will follow me, the Premier is waiting." The ID-SOL added.
"Lead on Mr. Beefy," Uso said, lacking an offical title for the soldier that greeted her, following behind him by only a few steps, "Looks like the Premier's time is quite valuble?"
"In deed it is." The ID-SOL replied tersly. He lead Uso through the building and up to the top floor. They passed his secretaries desk and lead her to his office. "Right in here." He said opening the door.
As Uso entered, Premier Gaelan Sanders stood from his desk, his face blank and devoid of emotion. His prostetic eyes fixing Uso with a stare. "Please come in." He said stepping out from behind his desk.
~Fucking great... robopokerface.~ Uso thought to herself as she smiled and made her way up to the Premier,
"I get the impression you don't want to dick around with the formalities? I'm Uso, I run a small planet out to the Galactic west, and we're going to run into eachother sooner or later so I opted for sooner."
Gaelan gave a subtle nod and his secret servicemen left the room. "I heard. We have been keeping tabs on you and your gang." He said calmly, still not showing any emotion. "Impressive work with the NMX..." He said off handedly as he moved and offered her a seat as he moved to take his own.
"I'd question the amount he knows, personally. Maybe not to his face..." Arccos' voice chimed somewhere in the back of Uso's skull. "I'll need to make a note so that we've got proof you've been here. And just remember: Don't fuck this up."
~it's me. What are you worried about? Just gotta figure out what this guy wants. He led with the NMX thing. I'm guessing he's all about the warrior life. I bet sitting here is fucking killing him... ~ Uso sent to Arccos as she took her own seat,
"Consider I put that together with a few calls and a planet full of dirt-eating gross-farmers. I have actual manufacturing and resourcing up and running now. The frontier hasn't exactly been quiet either but so far we've been able to knock down any challengers... 'course our baddies have been the type to bring fleets. From what I read you put away a few challengers yourself in the political field."
He shrugged. "I am getting used to it." He said before sitting forward and steepling his fingers. "It is odd that you would want to speak with me. There are quite the rumors circling about you. Honestly my predecessors would have never allowed you in the building, let alone their office." He sat back. "And yet, here we are. So what is it you want to gain here from this meeting?" He asked.
"A nice working relationship with you." Uso said, pausing for a moment to let that goal carry some weight.
"There are certainly small goals here and there that can be resolved. There are baddies out West and I am sure you would love to have some eyes on the goings on in that area of space. I'm going to be coming into an abundance of raw materials soon that Nepleslia could certainly use. There is certainly an amount of technology that could be traded, and joint security concerns that could be addressed....
... but bottom line? I want to establish what our relationship is now, before some event establishes that for us."
"Quite..." The Premier said. "The actions of you and your crew, against the natives of your newly acquired planet, are quite damning." He said pointedly, "However, due to the recent political shifts, and arrival of new players in the system means that I have bigger fish to fry."
"At best, you've got shaky legal grounds for any action you take against us, and I don't think you want to start collecting enemies in your position.
So if the brothers in arms thing isn't doing it for you what does? You don't strike me as someone who's in it for the money." Uso replied.
"I'm not in it for the money." He replied. "And that is also why I didn't come after you. Plus having you as an ally is much better than having you as an enemy." He replied. "So, what do you want from the Imperium of Nepleslia?" He added.
"Right now? Just to be good friends, get on each other's Usomas card list, that kinda thing.
In the short term, we could use a few more production options. Junker drones, fabricators, ect. And we've got technology, raw materials, and intel assets worth trading."
"Usomas? What..." The premier had an actual look of confusion, but quickly dismissed the comment. "That can be arranged. We could spare some junker drones and fabricators. In exchange you provide us with raw materials, and allow us to set up an outpost in your system.
"Embassy on our soil? A little ol piece of Nepleslia out on the Frontier?" Uso offered.
"No..." He replied. "I mean allow us to set up a small military listening post in your neck of the woods. An embassy would be nice to, but as you said you are in a unique location." he added.
"How much space do you need, and what kinda footprint are we talking about?" Uso asked.
"I don't plan on being on the ground, there will be no footprint. I am talking about a space station out in your system." He replied.
"Hm, I have some privacy concerns... let me speak with my people real quick."
~You hear that Arccos? Is that going to spook you or what?~ Uso asked.
"Free State actions are covered as protected under the Nepleslia-Free State protectorate treaty." Arccos' voice came along with the sound of furious typing as she checked the relevant documents. "I have less to fear from this man than you do, at this point. As long as he doesn't claim national boundaries, declare us a Nepleslian colony, or demand legal jurisdiction it's fine with me.
"Sounds like we have a deal," Uso responded, "Listening station is fine, and we can certainly work out the exact specifics. What is your administration's goals for the western Kyoto sector anyhow?"
"As of right now, observation. I merely want to keep tabs on the western front and a listening post out in U.S.O space isn't a bad place for it." He replied.
"So he isn't worried about his entire Imperium being smack between these Kuvex guys and the one they're warring with?" Arccos thought out loud. To Uso.
"Nepleslia has been able to remain out of entanglements with Yamatai for quite some time" Uso said to them both, "I take it you're going to continue this policy of remaining out of their sphere of influence? Or are you looking to get back into datass?"
"He's pretty okay, actually... I'd get in that ass..." Arccos mumbled over the comms.
He looked at her with a rasied eyebrow. "DATASS is dead. If we were to continue relations with Yamatai, a new treaty would have to be created." He replied, as if ignoring the joke.
"Not that we have designs on Yamatai or anything, but we would be making a mistake if we did not try and get a hand on that ball. You've got great relations with the spacers so I don't think we have a problem there... which means we've covered what we need to cover." Uso said.
He nodded and stood. "Then if you don't mind, I have some things that need taken care. We will be in touch for the junkers and fabricators." He added. "It was a pleasure meeting you Uso." He added, offering his hand.
"Likewise, I hope this is the start of a very fruitful relationship..."
Uso was standing in the CIC room of the Queen's slave... the ship was still as messy as ever... with the exception of the very well polished I'ee Placcard setup near the cockpit. The display table in the center was showing a list of contacts, people, and locations... while the edges of the room were showing a still half dissasembled power armor and some gun parts that had been stripped then thrown about.
"Hey Arccos, Who do you know on Nepleslia?"
"The planet, the people, or the empire?"
"Yes?" Uso said, tapping her datapad against the table, "I wanna slip a message to their Sky Marshal, but it isn't like I can just call him up and ask him to meet me for a drink. I figure I got to know someone who knows someone who's close to him."
"I'd put myself four degrees of separation from him. Probably..." Arccos gave a weird sigh, one which sounded like a lot of cooling fans. "I know people in the Hacker Cult, who know people in the Projectorate, who know the Free State Protectorate Senator who would probably know how to contact him..."
"What do you need to talk with the most powerful man in the most superfluous empire there ever was for?"
"He's basically our space-neighbor. I was going to go say hi and see if he can do stuff for us."
"Why would he do stuff for us?"
"Because we ask'd nicely."
"No. Really. Why would he do stuff for us?"
"I don't know yet! I haven't met the guy! There's like no information on him anywhere... on like 'who' he is." Uso said, "I mean, generally it boils down to leaning on money, their sense of duty, or a feeling of obligation... getting hooks into someone usually takes some finagaling... but the point being we're playing in the big leauges now. We need to manage our," Uso waved her hands around a bit as she tried to find the words, "Brand? Image?... How they view us... Kinda like training an animal: If we come out of no where we're going to startle them.
We want them to know we are here, feel that our intrests are aligned, and have a way of talking that will prevent them from sending a fleet in here to bust stuff up. Signaling is a big part of deterrance and all that.
Of course, if there is a working relationship to be had here I would like to open it up. A planet cracking operation is going to generate a lot of useful material. Certainly more than we can use at any given moment." Uso said.
"You realise that about half our actions on that planet is in violation of treaties his nation signed off on, right?" Arccos said from her seat at the messy CIC, pressing a boot to the edge of a table to lean herself back, "By rights, as Nepleslian nationals more or less all of Ragnarok are now criminals in violation of the Osman people's rights of early contact."
"A law setup by Yamatai, that Nepleslia isn't really a party to, that hasn't been tested in court and only nebulously applies to this situation as these people technically aren't in a first contact situation. We're on very solid legal footing here, and if we aren't giving them a reason to come gunning for us we should be fine.
However, if they want to cause problems for us, they certainly can. Which is why we need to get working on this now before they have developed their opinion on us." Uso replied.
"So your plan is to just literally call up the most important man in Nepleslia, and say hey we're friends now?" Arccos asked back, voice low and grumbly.
"Unless you've got something better. This is the research phase of the plan. Sadly Nepleslia doesn't need much of anything and see quite happy letting everything rot around them. Of course that means we'll need to make a need for them. Dumping cheap materials on their market maybe... or I dunno... positioning ourselves as a hedge against Yamatai? Let them score some diplo-points by getting in good with Us and the I'ee?"
"Dumping cheap materials from foreign exports tends to go down badly. We're too small to particularly be a threat to Yamatai worth investing in. Diplo-points with the I'ee is... I don't know. It's hard to get Nepleslia on anything other than pride." Arccos thought out loud.
"There's always that 'Hey, we're just like you! Scrappy underdogs who love fighting and fucking!' thing..." Uso offered, "Diplomatic low-class-fast-pass."
"You honestly want to go for the 'We salute a fellow warrior' path?"
"I want to go with what works, but its kinda hard to tell that until I get in the room with the guy... Some people are easy. Raphael just wants someone to love him. Our SAINT friend has a real hard on for his duty. The I'ee... " Uso paused for a bit, "... Shit. We just kinda took away our real bargining chip with them didn't we? We're going to have to start all over on I'ee relations... "
"I feel alone being in it for the money and power." Arccos gave a little laugh, "And yes. The I'ee are going to be difficult to deal with now they're not particularly threatened by anything."
"Those bug things are so adorable.. it is basically cheating... at least we got a starport and some decent allies out of it... and money.. and some NMX stuff... actually all in all that didn't go so badly..."
*POP!*
Uso clapped her hands together, "Right, Nepleslia. Gotta focus on that one." Uso would turn her attention back to Arccos, "We are way outgunned here. Money is poor people's money. Rich people's money is owning people who own the people who use money. Sky Marshalls have the machinery of state to call upon. We need to have a hook to get his intrest."
"Seduce him? Kidnap his daughter? Get him hooked on the Dune Demon's sacraments?"
Arccos pondered, "Something about that war Yamatai is in? Provide intel on it or something-something-you need eyes in the west frontier..."
"That wouldn't hurt... if he is the soldier type the 'eyes out west' thing is going to sound nice. We can save seducing his daughter for later." Uso replied. "... Do we have dune demons?"
"There is a dune demon. Yes." Arccos sighed, bringing up images to her datapad of some blurred video-feed of a faintly humanoid creature with an elongated head and huge curled horns like some sort of ram. "Some local folklore thing. You'd be surprised how many fanatics are down there. This is on top of the snake cult resurrectionists and the ones who think the princess is a savior figure..."
"I mean..." Uso said, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "It isn't a real demon right? Just some weird animal thing? I can't wait till we finish building some real infrastructure and don't have to deal with gross smelling locals and their weird animal problems."
"Well it turns up after people do some sort of summoning ritual, and it causes them to go insane, hallucinate and vomit up and down the streets." Arccos said with a sigh, slouching down in her chair, "But I don't have the time or manpower needed to track it down since otherwise it's not hurting anyone..."
"Regardless, I'll track down those details you wanted..."
"Thank you," Uso replied, "... This demon thing sounds fun, when things quiet down a bit we should go hunting."
------
Some time later, Nepleslia, state building>
Uso had arrived, Ragnaguards outside watching the car while she headed inside, dressed in a quite professional white button down and black skirt. Her green hair pulled back into a bun, and a certain lack of jewlery on her body.
"Maybe I should have talked to Van Banning's tailor..." she thought outloud, gently tugging and adjusting her sleeves to try and get it to fit just right.
Buisness clothes certainly felt weird.
As Uso entered the building, she was met by 4 ID-SOLs. "Ms. Uso?" He asked as Premier Gaelan's secrect service surrounded the neko. "If you will follow me, the Premier is waiting." The ID-SOL added.
"Lead on Mr. Beefy," Uso said, lacking an offical title for the soldier that greeted her, following behind him by only a few steps, "Looks like the Premier's time is quite valuble?"
"In deed it is." The ID-SOL replied tersly. He lead Uso through the building and up to the top floor. They passed his secretaries desk and lead her to his office. "Right in here." He said opening the door.
As Uso entered, Premier Gaelan Sanders stood from his desk, his face blank and devoid of emotion. His prostetic eyes fixing Uso with a stare. "Please come in." He said stepping out from behind his desk.
~Fucking great... robopokerface.~ Uso thought to herself as she smiled and made her way up to the Premier,
"I get the impression you don't want to dick around with the formalities? I'm Uso, I run a small planet out to the Galactic west, and we're going to run into eachother sooner or later so I opted for sooner."
Gaelan gave a subtle nod and his secret servicemen left the room. "I heard. We have been keeping tabs on you and your gang." He said calmly, still not showing any emotion. "Impressive work with the NMX..." He said off handedly as he moved and offered her a seat as he moved to take his own.
"I'd question the amount he knows, personally. Maybe not to his face..." Arccos' voice chimed somewhere in the back of Uso's skull. "I'll need to make a note so that we've got proof you've been here. And just remember: Don't fuck this up."
~it's me. What are you worried about? Just gotta figure out what this guy wants. He led with the NMX thing. I'm guessing he's all about the warrior life. I bet sitting here is fucking killing him... ~ Uso sent to Arccos as she took her own seat,
"Consider I put that together with a few calls and a planet full of dirt-eating gross-farmers. I have actual manufacturing and resourcing up and running now. The frontier hasn't exactly been quiet either but so far we've been able to knock down any challengers... 'course our baddies have been the type to bring fleets. From what I read you put away a few challengers yourself in the political field."
He shrugged. "I am getting used to it." He said before sitting forward and steepling his fingers. "It is odd that you would want to speak with me. There are quite the rumors circling about you. Honestly my predecessors would have never allowed you in the building, let alone their office." He sat back. "And yet, here we are. So what is it you want to gain here from this meeting?" He asked.
"A nice working relationship with you." Uso said, pausing for a moment to let that goal carry some weight.
"There are certainly small goals here and there that can be resolved. There are baddies out West and I am sure you would love to have some eyes on the goings on in that area of space. I'm going to be coming into an abundance of raw materials soon that Nepleslia could certainly use. There is certainly an amount of technology that could be traded, and joint security concerns that could be addressed....
... but bottom line? I want to establish what our relationship is now, before some event establishes that for us."
"Quite..." The Premier said. "The actions of you and your crew, against the natives of your newly acquired planet, are quite damning." He said pointedly, "However, due to the recent political shifts, and arrival of new players in the system means that I have bigger fish to fry."
"At best, you've got shaky legal grounds for any action you take against us, and I don't think you want to start collecting enemies in your position.
So if the brothers in arms thing isn't doing it for you what does? You don't strike me as someone who's in it for the money." Uso replied.
"I'm not in it for the money." He replied. "And that is also why I didn't come after you. Plus having you as an ally is much better than having you as an enemy." He replied. "So, what do you want from the Imperium of Nepleslia?" He added.
"Right now? Just to be good friends, get on each other's Usomas card list, that kinda thing.
In the short term, we could use a few more production options. Junker drones, fabricators, ect. And we've got technology, raw materials, and intel assets worth trading."
"Usomas? What..." The premier had an actual look of confusion, but quickly dismissed the comment. "That can be arranged. We could spare some junker drones and fabricators. In exchange you provide us with raw materials, and allow us to set up an outpost in your system.
"Embassy on our soil? A little ol piece of Nepleslia out on the Frontier?" Uso offered.
"No..." He replied. "I mean allow us to set up a small military listening post in your neck of the woods. An embassy would be nice to, but as you said you are in a unique location." he added.
"How much space do you need, and what kinda footprint are we talking about?" Uso asked.
"I don't plan on being on the ground, there will be no footprint. I am talking about a space station out in your system." He replied.
"Hm, I have some privacy concerns... let me speak with my people real quick."
~You hear that Arccos? Is that going to spook you or what?~ Uso asked.
"Free State actions are covered as protected under the Nepleslia-Free State protectorate treaty." Arccos' voice came along with the sound of furious typing as she checked the relevant documents. "I have less to fear from this man than you do, at this point. As long as he doesn't claim national boundaries, declare us a Nepleslian colony, or demand legal jurisdiction it's fine with me.
"Sounds like we have a deal," Uso responded, "Listening station is fine, and we can certainly work out the exact specifics. What is your administration's goals for the western Kyoto sector anyhow?"
"As of right now, observation. I merely want to keep tabs on the western front and a listening post out in U.S.O space isn't a bad place for it." He replied.
"So he isn't worried about his entire Imperium being smack between these Kuvex guys and the one they're warring with?" Arccos thought out loud. To Uso.
"Nepleslia has been able to remain out of entanglements with Yamatai for quite some time" Uso said to them both, "I take it you're going to continue this policy of remaining out of their sphere of influence? Or are you looking to get back into datass?"
"He's pretty okay, actually... I'd get in that ass..." Arccos mumbled over the comms.
He looked at her with a rasied eyebrow. "DATASS is dead. If we were to continue relations with Yamatai, a new treaty would have to be created." He replied, as if ignoring the joke.
"Not that we have designs on Yamatai or anything, but we would be making a mistake if we did not try and get a hand on that ball. You've got great relations with the spacers so I don't think we have a problem there... which means we've covered what we need to cover." Uso said.
He nodded and stood. "Then if you don't mind, I have some things that need taken care. We will be in touch for the junkers and fabricators." He added. "It was a pleasure meeting you Uso." He added, offering his hand.
"Likewise, I hope this is the start of a very fruitful relationship..."
