RP: UOC Government Drifting Into Place

[zephyrite]

Galar rose from the chair inside Drift's bridge and stretched. It had been a long, boring week in transit from the place where the large Freespacer mothership they were all inhabiting was constructed. The only personnel aboard Drift at this point were the automatons that had been thrown into the deal with the ship itself, a few citizens looking to make a new life, and, of course, himself. Galar was relieved that nothing had gone wrong with the ship yet. He trusted Freespacer technology, but didn't quite know how it worked. It didn't help that he only had two engineers that barely knew what a spaceship looked like to help if things did go wrong.

They had passed into UOC territory a little while back, with permission from the government. Hopefully, Drift would have a place for itself at last. It would only be a few minutes until he would have to set out for orbit around Jiyuu, for in order to start the discussions face-to-face, the ship he would descend in would have to be subjected to a decontamination procedure first. In fact, Galar thought to himself, I should start prepping the ship for launch right now.

Before leaving the bridge however, Galar spoke to the air, "I trust you three to keep the ship from falling apart while I'm gone, alright?"

The three syntelligences in the ship's computer responded simultaneously, "I don't expect we'll need to worry."
"Not a problem."
"Of course we will."

Galar smiled; he had barely gotten to know the personalities behind those three, but they were a good fit for the ship. He would have to talk to them more later, for now he had to get going.

Settling into the pilot's seat of his ship, the New Beginnings, Galar flipped the switches and pressed the buttons necessary for getting the old Geshrinari Light Freighter ready to fly. The ship was a bit cramped, but it got him from point A to point B, and that was all that really mattered. The ship all warmed up, Galar pressed the comm button and said, "Think one of you could open the hatch?"

A metallic sound came through the speaker as the hatch door opened. Galar frowned; the sound was vaguely reminiscent of a raspberry.

Jiyuu was visible through the windows, and it was indeed a beautiful sight from where he was. Blues and greens filled its surface, with clouds of white obscuring much of it. Accelerating towards the planet, Galar sent a communication asking the nearest patrol what to do in order to decontaminate his vessel.

 

[Kim]

The Jiyuuian Planetary Patrol Guard sent Galar a short set of instructions that directed him to pull into what could've been best described as a drive through starship wash that was drifted in orbit of Jiyuu. They assured the captain that the ship would've be damaged in the micro-scrubber decontamination process of the ship itself.

The personnel going to the planet's surface would have to go through a separate decontamination process before they would be ferried down to the planet and then to Tokyo to meet with the Prime Minister. In a sense, JPPG would be washing the ship, valet parking it and driving Galar to where he needed to be after paying for a trip to a day spa.

The whole process took about an hour and they even quickly steamed cleaned Galar's clothing in the process. They were not trying to take any chances of something like the Abwehran incident happening to Jiyuu but they also hoped to make the extensive process as comfortable as possible for their guests.

 

[zephyrite]

Galar was honestly impressed. Really, the whole process turned out to be...pleasant. Nodding in approval, he quickly thanked the decontamination personnel, popped the complementary mint into his mouth and said to the transport pilot, "I have a meeting with UOC Prime Minister Katsura-Tange Ayana, but I do not know where her offices are. I'm assuming you do. Could you please bring me there?"

Pleasantries aside, Galar's mind was still focused on the amazing treatment he had received. Especially that complementary mint. That sold him. He thought to himself, This really was the right place to ask for assistance. People seem pretty generous!

 

[Kim]

"Of course, I can take you to the government building. Tange-san's offices are in the main government building straight down the main corridor, it's marked with signs as well if you happen to get lost or take one of the turns," the pilot volunteered as he brought them closer to Tokyo. "We haven't been seeing too much of the Prime Minister since her health has shifted with her surprise pregnancy and the disappearance of the Prince. We all figure she's working herself too hard since she's had to take over the Crown Prince's workload as well as her own."

The co-pilot turned with a nod, "Better to work than to sit and stew in heartbreak, but may I ask why you got an appointment with Miss Tange?"

 

[zephyrite]

Galar was impressed; the leader of the nation seemed to be very overworked in addition to being pregnant! His opinion of the UOC kept going up.

"Thank you very much for your help," Galar said tipping his head slightly to the man. "I'm not sure how the Tange has enough time to have appointments with people like me, but I guess I got in because I have a proposal that could help trade among the UOC, Yamatai and Nepleslia."

The transport sped toward the government buildings, and before long, they had arrived. As they came to a halt, Galar smiled at the two who had brought him to the surface and said, "Thank you very much, take care now!"

 

[Kim]

The pilots said their goodbyes and watched Galar step out of the transport to the curb. The assembly hall was indeed what was to be suspected, the city itself felt very much like Yamatai's Kyoto with the sizable government building in the center of the city bordered by public gardens. The construction on the elaborate public library on the east side of the Hall appeared to be newly finished with a large statue of a Ibis with outstretched wings looking skyward towards the rising sun.

It was about midday and the streets were busy with activity, there were people everywhere. The steps up into the assembly hall had sparse groupings of youth groups posing for pictures as they waited for their tour of the building to start.

The directions to the Prime Minister's office were fairly simple and the way was clearly marked with signs written in Trade, and Yamataian. The hallways of the Assembly hall were large but had a lively essence about them with what appeared to be gallery hung paintings and prints by a variety of local artists.

On the wall closest to Ayana's office were delicately framed artwork of what appeared to be the local sea wildlife done by school aged children with their names and ages written in a variety of handwriting from childish scrawl to elaborate calligraphy.

The large cherry stained door to the Prime minister's office was marked with a simple brass plaque that said simply, "Officer of the Prime Minister" but the door was closed at the moment with the gentle sounds of instrumental music wafting out from within.

Tange-Katsura Ayana was sitting behind her desk going over a large series of reports that were projected on floating volumeric screens around her. She frowned at what the reports were telling her: piracy incidents were increasing and more ships were 'disappearing' as they went out to investigate. That seemed to her that there were more problems than just the pirates around. And she received her confirmation from a urgent blinking screen that SMX forces were tearing through their territory among other things.

'Lovely, what a lovely mess this all is. We're not ready for a war... we're stretched thin at present with the stabilization and colonization projects, alongside our anti-piracy efforts,' she thought to herself as she waited for her appointment to arrive. She almost missed the days where all her life was written out for her... she missed being out in the fields tilling the earth, and some days she felt like she was way out of her league but... someone had to do the job and for now, it was her.

 

[zephyrite]

Galar walked along the passageways admiring the artwork as well as the structure itself. Never having been in a governmental building before, Galar had never seen such beauty in a building in his life. He blushed a little, he must have looked quite as amazed as the tourists outside. But he couldn't help being enthralled by the scenery. Chuckling to himself gently as he passed the children's artwork, he made his way to the Prime Minister's office. The door was quite simple and unadorned, save for a single plaque stating the nature of the room's purpose and occupant.

As the door was shut upon his arrival, Galar took a deep breath and knocked gently upon the door, hoping that above the music coming from within, the prime minister would be able to hear his approach.

 

[Kim]

The Prime Minister heard the knock and started clearing away her volumeric windows, pulling up her appointment list on her data pad. "Ah yes, it should be that appointment. Hopefully, we can get something arranged,' she said softly to herself as she looked at the door.

"Please, come in," she said loudly so that the person standing outside her door might come inside her office so they could talk.

The office was furnished in rich warm tones of dark cherry stained furniture and burgundy sheer curtains over a dark gold toned window treatment. The floor was a dark colored hardwood with a soft, thick throw rug of what might have been a synthetic lambskin. The walls were simply painted a rich cream color with gold speckles in them.

The prime minister herself was dressed very plainly in a dark blue maternity dress with her lilac colored hair pulled into a loose bun with several strands of her bangs framing her face. She offered Galar a warm and inviting smile as he entered the office.

"Welcome, please forgive me for not standing up to greet you, my doctor is fairly strict with me these days. I trust your trip was safe? Please take a seat," she offered warmly as she gestured to one of the 3 large plush chairs in front of her desk. "Now you have a proposal for us?"

 

[zephyrite]

Galar was silent as he smiled and nodded at the prime minister's questions, making his way across the beautiful room towards the chair in the center, facing the desk. Settling into the chair, he felt all the tension in his body evaporate as if given a massage. Being used to military seating or the pilot's and passenger's seats aboard spacecraft, Galar was taken aback at the plushness of the chair. Making a mental note to get one of them later, Galar said simply, "Yes. I do have a proposition for you. I believe I prefaced it in a message sent to this office. What I would like to ask of you is for you to cede a very small piece of territory to a private venture that I have been working on with the help of some of the Freespacers."

He paused for a moment, took a steady breath and continued, "I have had a Freespacer mothership refurbished and outfitted with all the necessary systems and configurations to become a space station. I plan to create a small trade nation, always free of all political bonds, where anyone can come and be together. Sadly, in the universe we live in, certain peoples aren't treated as well as others, and I aim to at least put a dent in that with this venture. A small station, home to as many as 200,000 people."

Pulling out his communicator, Galar said, "I was hoping you would be able to cede me the rights to a very small piece of territory in this location," He pointed to an area on a map displayed by the communicator.