RP: NSS Alliance Dignitaries and Diplomacy

"Very diplomatic choice of words.â€

"Now you know why I'm here," Soreta replied sussinctly, as she closed the door.

There was an un-restrained giggle from out in the hall. Benji had wandered away from Jet, gettign himself hopelessly lost to find himself eavsdropping on their conversation. With a sharp intake of air Benji put on a mask of stone and then folded the orders and other papaers in his hands and stuck them in a pocket in his coat. He strided right past the door, pretending he hadn't heard a thing.

It took a good five minutes before Benji finally found his room along with the rest of the crew quarters. The first thing he did was change into his uniform and snack on the dry fruit he'd snuck aboard. Pulling out his MP3, he stuck it in his shirt pocket and slid his headphones on. Taking his time he pulled out a skinny book full of papers, some with the layout of the ship on them and studied them. With a satisfied nod to himself he piled everything on his bed and then left for the mess hall.

Matthew couldn't help but let out a sigh as he entered the ship after returning from his leave. He was lucky his father was planetside this time instead of out on a job, allowing the two nearly identical individuals to have some quality father-son time together. Time that involved a nice visit to a neighborhood pub and a few good drinks.

The young warrant officer could only be grateful that he didn't have hangover when he had received the message to return to the ship. With a brief fair well, the younger Lionheart was out of the house and away towards the spaceport.

Now, here he was, back on the Alliance and hopefully ready for the next mission. "Well...at least I'm around a power computer again," he commented as he wirelessly connected to the Alliance's systems to download a status report.

Mom's Kitchen

After a small touch up Chris went to the kitchen to begin preparing lunch. He was unsure what to cook though; he wanted to make something that didn't take too long but wasn't instant either. He also wondered if the rest of the kitchen staff had returned yet.

Kokuten broke off from the tour group and decided to find his own room, he wanted to get that duffel bag off of his shoulder. He looked left and right and asked for directions occasionally. The cyborg soon found the crew quaters and quickly laid out his stuff in his room. After double checking to see everything was there, he decided to hunt down the Mess Hall and see if there was something to eat.

These arms use more energy than my body itself...

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the case of his favorite cigars. Opening the box he pulled out a cigar and lit it, then stuck it to his mouth. He loved the test, and he loved the smell, almost as much as the smell of food.

Kokuten found his way into the Mess Hall and looked around, it was time to meet some new people.

After Rico had received the message from the ship to return, he released a heavy sigh. The effects of his questionable drinking last night still had some undesired effects on his stomach, and he had been hoping to work it off before returning to the ship. After giving himself a moment to regain his composure, he quickly spun around and started towards the port.

"Jeez...guess leave is over for now.â€

Miller's stomach growled. He was hungry, and skipping breakfast left his body feeling like a great injustice had been done to it. Nevertheless, he was pleased to see the fruits of his labor in the form of the near-complete medical bay. The light on his nearby data pad flashed blue, drawing his attention to Wazu's request for a meeting. Without second thought, he approved it and waited for his arrival.

Upon receiving approval Wazu quickly made his way to the Captain, leaving Ally to watch the Geshrin Diplomat. When he arrived his body snapped to attention, "Sir, I would like to make a complaint about the choice of diplomat for use on this mission."

"At ease, Lieutenant," Miller said as he spun in his chair to face Wazu. "What complaint do you wish to register?"

"The diplomat is highly aggressive, confrontational, and even worse than that she is a Geshrin that comes from Yamatai of all places. I do not believe we can be sure of her loyalty, much less her ability to successfully negotiate with the Elysians." Wazu said flatly

"Oh really," came the reply from the Captain. "I haven't had the chance to meet her myself. Is she causing waves already?"

"Perhaps you should have Ally playback the recordings of her arrival for you." Wazu said, easing up his stance a bit, "She arrived with two bodyguards and once I dismissed them she became immediately confrontational and proceeded to arm herself but that isn't what I am concerned about. We are sending a Geshrin to negotiate on behalf of us. Not only is she trained on Yamatai but she carries their mannerisms completely as if she was freshly out of a body bag. As a Geshrin she represents everything that has caused the Elysians problems. Yamataian neglect has destroyed their post-war economy. Their fleet has killed and consumed untold numbers of their people, heir policies have involved them in wars that they probably had no wish to participate in. On top of all of this the diplomatic style that their kind employs is the kind that a conquering nation uses. I do not believe the Elysians will be willing to simply lay on their backs for this."

"You make several good points, Wazu," Miller said, scratching his chin. "But, could it be that this woman is simply on the defensive because she's surrounded by men? Marines, no less. I am, however, as concerned as you are with her being a Geshrin," he continued. "You'd think Command would have more sense than this, but the orders are right here." He handed his data pad to Wazu, which read the order in full. The ship was to escort the diplomat to Elysia where negotiations for peaceful relations would begin. "To tell you the truth, I'm a bit scared that we're going to be shot at the second we enter Elysian space. Free empire or not, we did use to be part of the empire that was at war with them... and we know the consequences of that war all too well."

"I fully believe that she is not acting in an aggressive manor because she is surrounded by men. I have not known their kind to be aggressive for that reason." Wazu took a deep breath as he read the data pad. "This will be an important meeting. One that will set the stage for how Nepleslia will be viewed by Elysia. I can not stand by and let a geshrin represent us. I also believe these orders do not say that she has to be the one negotiating. She merely must be transported to Elysia." Wazu said in a much calmer tone.

"The amount of hoops we'd have to jump through to get this order changed would be tremendous," Miller let out with a sigh. "What are they planning to do--offer the Geshrin up as some kind of ritual sacrifice?" He chuckled at the thought. "But seriously, I can send a complaint to Command, but I'm not sure of the good that will do. If they strike it down, it's up to us to make the best of this bad situation."

Wazu paused for a few moments before saying, "I can think of two options in the event that the complaint is overturned. The orders contain no provision for allowing her to do the actual talking with the Elysians. If we follow the orders to the letter we can let someone else to the negotiating. The alternative to this would be to send someone down there with her to keep an eye on her."

"Knowing the Elysians, we'll be sending plenty of escorts down there," Miller said while crossing his arms. "But who do you suppose can perform negotiations in the place of a trained diplomat? Hell, I don't even know how to address the damn winged things."

Wazu looked down at the data pad and brought up her personnel file. He then looked up at the captain, "Negotiations with a foreign people is not to hard so long as a mutual respect is maintained." He paused for a bit again before bringing up his next point, "Her training was on Yamatai. Regardless of how she was trained I can not believe that it will help her as even if she is well trained she will act as if she is a diplomat for Yamatai not for Nepleslia. On top of this I feel obligated to question her loyalty as she is not a native born Nepleslian."

The captain's brow furrowed on these words, and he thought for a few long seconds before speaking. "As much as our conspiracy theories may or may not hold water, I think it's in our best interests to sit down and talk with this diplomat, so that you can bring your issues up to her in a place where she can defend herself. The last thing we need is to piss Command off over some wild fox chase." He walked back to his desk and sat on the edge of it, his arms still crossed. "Have you heard complaints from the rest of the crew as well?"

"No sir, I have not. But Ally would be a better person to ask than I. My time has been spent babysitting her since she arrived." Wazu said.

The Nepleslian captain cleared his throat. "I've made a decision. We're going to have a private meeting with her one hour before the scheduled briefing in the mess hall. The command staff will attend and we will have an inquiry of sorts to see if she can suspend our suspicions long enough to perform this mission. Do you have any other thoughts on the matter?"

"No Sir," Wazu said.

"Then inform the rest of the command staff of the situation and have her here at the appropriate time," Miller said as he returned to his chair. "I must take care of the finishing touches of this construction and recruitment documentation. Dismissed." He turned away.

Wazu snapped to attention upon hearing Dismissed, then turned and left to return to his position 'escorting' the diplomat. "Ally, I need you to relay a message to the Command Staff..."

I don't know why I did this...surrounded by distasteful marines, travelling on a virtual garbage scow, and what's worse, that lieutenant is probably snooping around about me. ...well, I did want a challenge, and now I've got one. Those thoughts ran through Soreta's head as she examined her SMG, lying on the uncomfortable bed and half-wishing she hadn't taken this mission. If they aren't incompetent, they're going to be overly suspicious of me. Invasive, even...I suppose, then, it's time to put my talents to good use.

"Ally. I would like to speak to the communications offer, if there is one on board. Would you patch him through?"

Ally's voice projected into the room. "I can handle your communications needs myself if you would like." The computer began patching her request through, notifying the person in question that someone wanted to talk with them and waiting for their response before making the connection.

mi elección del alimento es excelente

To Chris' dismay the kitchen was empty of staff. Either the others had not returned yet or they were somewhere else on the ship. This changed his plans for the meal. If he had to cook enough food for everyone on his own, it'd have to be closer to instant, and boy would it be chaotic. He didn't even want to think about it, having to rush from spot to spot removing this and placing that, but it was his job. With the determination of a mother he set out to begin cooking.

"Rice or mashed potatoes? Hmmm, mashed potatoes should do nicely. Now what should go with it? Remember it's lunch not dinner, maybe rice instead? Ah!!!! First let's pick the main course then plan the side dish. Lunch.. big group of people... no not sandwiches... defiantly needs meat... hmmmm. Tacos! That should do it. With that I can take off the side dish completely. Oh you're so smart."

A Kokuten, Mola, Fian, Omega20, Moonman, Tyler JP.

Adrian stretched as he walked to the cafeteria. He had changed up and felt absolutely froody in his sharp looking uniform. He had some reggae going on his music player. He walked into the large room and looked around, hoping to see someone he felt like talking to.

As Rico entered through the mess hall doorway, he took off his beret and took a huge breathe of the air and released it with a laugh. He smelled food, and it smelled heavenly. Rico looked around at the men already seated, trying to spot a familiar face. No sooner than he had started Rico spotted Adrian moving a bit ahead of him, his ears plugged with his usual choice of music. Rico decided to seize the moment, sneaking up beside Adrian and clapping his hand on his shoulder. "Yo, Adrian! Still got that goofy shit in your ears, eh baby?" Rico spoke jokingly.

Adrian jumped at the hand that smashed him on the shoulder. He popped the earbud out of his left ear and looked cheerily to Rico. "Oi, man. This shit ain't goofy. Where'd you go last night, anyway?"

Benji wandered the halls of the ship, going until finally he found what he was looking for. Arriving soon after Adrian, Benji walked into the mess hall and then looked a good look around. At the moment the techno blasting through his ears could be heard by anyone without their own music players. He walked over to the table and took a seat. Upon noticing someone sneak up on Adrian, Benji shifted in his chair to watch as Rico clapped his hand on Adrian's shoulder. With a heavy sigh he decided he might as well be social and turned off his mp3. Taking the headphones out of his ears he tucked them into his pocket and then pulled out his crumpled Beret and straightened it out before setting it on his head and tugging it down.

Kokuten puffed his cigar, looking at all of the people already in the Mess Hall. With eyes clacking with his blinks, he scanned around to see if he could join any recruits as green as he was. He looked and saw someone who may have been on of those people. The Cyborg strolled over and sat next to Benji, who seemed to be fitting his beret.

"Hey man, you new here too?" Kokuten said, raising his cigar.

Benji looked up at Kokuten and then eyed the man. "Yup, I am... how about you?"

Kokuten scratched his head with a metal hand. "Eh, Just got settled in the room, saw my place of work. Hell, it's not even finished yet. Can you believe that these guys went out with an unfinished medbay?" Kokuten shook his head, puffing his cigar.

Sighing heavily, a red coated lieutenant walked into the mess hall and looked around a bit. "Great everyone's here EXCEPT the dunce that called his meeting as usual." Jet sighed. "But I guess that Miller's busy with his own shit." Jet said as he looked around the grunts. Jet continued to look over the new recruits, stopping to stretched a bit until he popped his back, and went over to take a seat in a chair. He looked over at the newbie's for a moment but kept silent as he quietly pulled out a data pad and began looking over the layout of the ship for a space to use for the security hub.

Benji turned to see Jet when he appeared and started talking about Miller. With a shake of his head and a sigh he turned his attention back to Kokuten. He sighed and then leaned back in his chair, bored as ever. He considered taking out his mp3 again, but didn't. Instead he prodded Kokuten's leg with his boot.

Kokuten shifted his legs over to the opposite direction of Benji, and puffed his cigar again. "Hey man, watch your legs." Benji let out an evil chuckle and then leaned over and poked Kokuten in the ribs instead.

Rico laughed again, putting his free hand on the back of his head. "You got me baby. After drinkin' all that shit last night, I'm surprised I'm not in a tub of ice missing my kidneys!" Rico swung his head around, trying to look for a free table with some moderately friendly faces. His eyes fell upon two marines having a small conversation. "Common' baby, let's sit with the new kids." Upon reaching the table, Rico caught sight of Fian as he entered, and attempted to catch his eye and motion for him to join them at the table.

Fian checked his watch, although he slept in during the morning he still managed to get back with plenty of time to spare. He walked right up the ramp of the Alliance whistling a tune. He paused for a moment to notice the new arrivals that seemed to be all over the place. Upon reaching the mess hall doors, Fian was ejected into the cafeteria by the insane traffic of greenhorns outside. His hair was messed up and he hoped there were not scratches on his favorite coat. He quickly re-checked his personal inventory to find that thankfully nothing is missing. Catching a friendly wave from Rico, Fian shrugged once to express his current condition and then waved back, making his way to his Cleaning Alcohol drinking friend.

"Hey hey Fian! Plant it here chief, come and meet some of the new guys!" Rico laughed and he and Adrian took a seat in front of Kokuten and Benji. As Rico sat down, he ran his hand through his hair and put on a friendly grin, ignoring Kokuten's complaint. "Hey there baby. Name's Rico. Welcome to the Alliance, Nepleslian ass-kicker number one!"

"Hey man, glad to see that you're still alive!" Fian said, playfully punching Rico on the shoulder. Fian then turned around to look at Adrian. "And you too! Did the bot carry you back or something?"

"Unless he thought home was a pile of trash, no. We were gonna terrorize the new kids. Care to join us?" Adrian walked over to some of he new guys and grinned evilly at them. "Hola, newbies. One of you the new medic we're supposed to be getting?" He crashed in a seat next to Benji and wrapped his arm around him. "Is it you? Or your buddy? Come on come on, tell me!" Adrian spoke loudly, with a slight mock in his tone.

"Nope, not the medic... I got too much muscle for that job..." Benji said with a meaningful grin at Kokuten. He watched the medic and then shook his head and stretched his legs out in front of him.

"Hey chill out you guys, I'm concentrating on something important here." Jet said, looking over at them out of the corner of his eye.

Just before Kokuten was about to blow smoke into Benji's face, he turned and looked at Rico. He looked to be some sort of suave man. "Er, yeah, pleasure's all mine, the name's Kokuten Gaiasis Chiaki the 5th." Kokuten said, putting his cigar in his mouth and offering that hand for a shake. While holding his hand out, Kokuten looked at the guy who asked who the Medic was. "Nah, this guy's more of a pecker checker, I'm the Doc over here." Kokuten said, with a grin.

Rico cocked an eyebrow at the new guy's name, and after a moment or two returned the handshake firmly. "The 5th, eh baby? You a clone or just a big family?" Rico said jokingly, not really expecting an answer. "This here is Adrian and Fian. Not as good lookin' as me, but they're decent guys."

Fian paused a little again. He was normally a little apprehensive about meeting new people but considering the two of his buddies were socializing, he figured he should go with the herd. The Vel Steyr sat down, took a deep breath and then offered his hand to the two. "I'm Fian Vel Steyr. Welcome abroad."

Kokuten nodded, "Moreover an old Yamataian tradition that my father wouldn't give up." He looked up at Fian who was offering his hand for a shake and replied it with a firm grip. Fian looked at the man in the eye. "Kokuten eh? Good to meet you." Fian expressed respectfully.

Benji turned his eyes to silently study Fian and Adrian and then Rico. "Benji Storm, all muscle no brain..." he said in a flat monotone, shaking no hands. He just kinda sat there, very silently.

Adrian grinned at the recruit. "Hola then. You get to be my bullet sponge." He stood and smashed the medic in the back. The force of Andrian's strike, his body went forward, his head went up, and down went his cigar. Kokuten began gagging on his cigar, coughing harshly as he tried to cough it up. "Oi, didn't they teach you that smoking was bad? Anyway, who else has met that bloody civvie that brought on board?" Adrian asked, his expression turning into a look of slight distaste.

"You mean Soreta?" Jet asked Adrian. "Yeah, whatta bitch." He said, over hearing that comment about her.

"Soreta hmm? Better avoid the lot of us if she wants to leave a virgin." Benji said with a conspirator snicker.

"Oh?" Fian asked, anxious to change the topic. "I just got on board, do tell."

Rico turned his attention to Jet, his attention fully diverted towards the new topic for conversation. "Hey, I heard about that! Heard some talk about her. What's she like?"

"Just ignore her you guys, she isn't worth that kind of attention, and I bet she likes women instead." Jet chuckled, joining in the conversation.

"Whoa-ho! Now I'm interested!" Rico said with another laugh.

"A bitch..." Benji interjected "I over heard her and her escort talking earlier... she's got some rough vocabulary for a lady..."

"I'd rather shoot her with a few rubbers." Jet muttered.

Fian laughed a litte at the Lieutenants comment. "Heh! We are dealing with the enemy here, we need some intel!"

Benji chuckled at Jet's comment. "Heh, rubber bands and paperclips are more effective..."

"I mean with a riot control bullet nitwit..." Jet sighed and shook his head

Rico nodded as everyone put in their own comments about Soreta, trying to make a mental image of her...it was a little hard without more physical evidence. "Okay, so we know she's a tough cookie. I'm more interested in the looks baby! I'm guessin' Geshrin, right? Got curves in all the right places, eh?" Rico jabbed a rib into Adrian as he made the last comment.

"Not really Rico. Think little boyish." Jet groaned, his distaste for the subject fairly obvious to the rest of the group.

Adrian turned and nodded profusely to Jet. "Yeah, she and her bodyguards are fucking dicks. When I came back here this morning, she's standing there with her two mates, and I ask her if she can just go in and let me in. Her friends looked like they were gonna kill me, and she just bitched at me about how she needed 'clearance' or something...â€

"I have an email to send some friends at Kyoto; I've got some pictures to attatch to it too. I haven't written the mail ahead of time, so could you take a listen?" Soreta smiled for the first time since she came in the ship, and seemed quite...diplomatic, with her choice of words.

"Ahem...'Hey Satoshi. I've been spending a few months on Nepleslia, and it's really not as bad as they make it out to be, as long as you stay in the right places. I bought a car while I was there; I had to replace the sparkplugs, but then it ran just the way I wanted it to. I've attached some pictures of my stay, too, I hope you enjoy them. With love, Soreta.' And I have the pictures in a storage device; I presume there's wireless somewhere around here so you can just take a look." Soreta raised a small spherical device; presumably the storage device she referred to.

Ally appeared in Soreta's room, smiling and sitting down on an invisible chair while pretending to write down her message on a paper tablet. She looked up and answered Soreta with, "Yes, I can download, attach, and send your message and pictures now if you would like.â€

"Right now would be great," Soreta said with a slight smirk. "Tell me about the crew of this ship; about anyone who I might be able to talk to without wanting to smash their heads in. Chances are I'll be here a while." Figuring that the AI was female (in theory) and that she might understand her a bit better (despite her appearance), Soreta decided it was best to make friends with the AI.

No Taco Si Burrito

The meat simmered on the stove, in massive proportions, while the cheese was grated; none of that pre-shredded crap. Various vegetables and condiments were also available to add to the mix should the soldiers choose.

Cooking was sadistically fun in it's chaos at times, and soothingly relaxing at others. Chris enjoyed the rush from one project to another and working with his hands. He enjoyed catering the food greatly, and it was then he realized it was just like the time in the med bay. That thought was very comforting, but he soon realized a more immediate problem.

The ingredients were all there in massive quantities, as per the supply, but there were no pre-made taco shells. That was the one thing he was willing to have pre-made since making the shells himself would take quite awhile. It was time to improvise.

"Well everything's fine except the shells. Guess we'll go with burritos instead."

And with that he began making the rolls.

"The crew is mostly Nepleslian or ID-SOL with few exceptions including your self." Ally replied as she processed the message, checking the picture for microdots on orders of the first officer before transmitting the data. "A few of the cooks are good natured and get along with just about everyone but the serving staff and marines have a history of discontent between each other.â€

Finally!

The cooking was finally done and the food was laid out. It was in a self serve manner, starting with the burrito rolls they would move down the line adding what they wanted starting with the ground beef and ending at the sauces. His work complete he yelled out to all the people waiting on food.

"Get your food and quit your bitchin'!"

Benji, who'd wandered back to his room, walked back in through the doors. He had his headphones stuck in his ears, with loud techno (sandstorm) playing. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, showing the metal of his mechanical arms. He took a sniff of the air and then looked over and low and behold there was food. Of course he didn't hear Chris tell them to stop bitchin.

Following his nose, he strided over and helped himself to a burito. After filling it full of meat, cheese, lettuce and a thin layer of sauce, he rolled the whole thing up and scarfed it down on the way over to a half empty table. True, he had almost no manners, but he was a marine and that was his excuse. If he was hungry, he was gonna eat. It didn't really matter how or what or where. Of course not realizing that Chris was a girly man didn't make things any better.

Wazu knocked on Soreta's door three times, "Ambassador, We are requesting your presence on the bridge for a meeting before we arrive at Elysia.â€