Z
Zack
ON> 188604
A few days after the beach episode,
*BOOM*
The distinctive sound of rockets firing off in the distance could be heard as the aspiring tyrant made her way toward the courthouse, landing with a heavy BOOM-THUD as she rocket-breaked right before making the hard landing on the room of the structure. The Neko was again dressed in her bodysuit, the rear of the suit looking just a bit scorched from where the rocket exhaust exited... a bit of steam rising up from the mesh panels on the exterior of her legs and arms.
"ARCCOS!" Uso shouted, bounding towards the office, a stupidly-wide smile on her face.
The actual entrance to Arccos' office was inside, a hole knocked in the side of the roof access stairwell to give entry to the rafters above the old Osman High Court. Arccos liked high places apparently. But as Uso bound down the stairs she nearly collided with the 'spacer coming up to meet her. Arccos staggering slightly and snatching a balistrade. She wore her same old uniform, broad hat, tank top, jeans with tall boots. Her coat and poncho were gone, probably still inside.
"Woah! ...Okay, this is never a good expression for you to have." Arccos said, regaining her balance.
Uso would similarly brace herself against the walls, legs pressing outward, a hand grabbing the railing, the other gently holding Arccos' shoulder.
"You still want to be a grand-high-spacecase-admiral-spacer-type right? And The White Lament still needs parts like one of those Poly-Sentence Wave-Couplers right?!"
"Fleetkeeper. Evanescent Wave Coupler. Yes." Arccos corrected, looking down a little at Uso's hand on her shoulder. "What terrible things have you done to get one?"
"What terrible things we WILL DO!" Uso said, lowering herself down so that she was standing on the staircase rather than perching herself awkwardly, ".... come on.... What one object will satisfy both of those needs? What one object would signal to every spacer out there that you're hot shit? That you're THE spacer who is going to lead your people to do great things? Better yet! I think we both know that wave coupler is going unused and unguarded!"
"Are you talking about one of the lighthouses?" Arccos raised her eyebrows slightly, turning to head down the stairs towards her office proper "Because the answer to those things is more likely some sort of publicist... But I'm listening."
The excitement inside of Uso was practically bursting to get out, like a kid on Lewis Pasco day, or a ship with its reactor about to go critical. Uso just couldn't keep it in...
"Arccos.... I want to steal the Great Lighthouse...."
"That's..." Arccos seemed to mull it over, leading Uso through a hole in the stairwell wall and out onto a narrow walkway... The entire 'office' was narrow walkways. Floorboards hastily added to the rafters over the old high court room, forming a haphazardly renovated second floor to the entire building. Desks with piles of junk were about, cargo-netting suspended from higher up held storage, and a bed in the corner indicated Arccos probably slept here.
"BRILLIANT! I know..." Uso said.
"Also potentially crazy." The Sheriff retorted, emphasis on 'potentially'.
"Potentially BRILLIANT!" Uso reiterated, following Arccos closely, "Freehold and the Great Lighthouse were abandoned by Yamatai... Shit, your people didn't even react when Yamatai flew in there to repair the Lighthouse at the Great Lighthouse. The place is..."
"You can just call it the Lighthouse."
"Ok, The Lighthouse... Because the other Lighthouse is on Freehold right? If you're worried about looking like a pirate trying to disturb the Lighthouse on the.... you know. The one on Freehold is far less likely to be noticed if it went missing. Plus there is an entire planet worth of spare parts and material that we can use to build up the White Lament.
Think about it. You setup a new Lighthouse in this system, start providing star charts and polysentiences bandwidth for your people.... in the process you get a nicely upgraded White Lament and we really get to start putting this place on the map!" Uso said, certainly quite happy with herself for this scheme. "Not to mention here's always Halna... Sure Yamatai made a mess of it but you know... spare parts... which are markedly less exciting than the ones that make up the Lighthouses."
"The Lighthouse was abandoned aside from a bunch of refugees. Freehold's sister unit was reduced to slag, along with everything else on the surface of that planet. Halna is... Halna." Arccos moved over to her desk-slash-workbench, scratching an eye, "Any mention of it will probably have Yamatai chewing on our collective asses for trying to dig up the skeletons in their closets... The question is really how the so-called 'Free State' might react to this. It can have us made pariahs, or messiahs depending on how we swing it, but at the same time you are literally a nekovalkyrja tyrant proposing that you swing Freespacer interest towards your cause... Almost literal definition of insanity."
"That's racist!" Uso said, hoping to score some points, or at least buy some time while she thought of an appropriate response.
"I'm quite openly racist towards most nekovalkyrja. If anything I've been shockingly nice to you to date." Arccos shrugged. Perhaps it was a bit more obvious now that Arccos had never spoken with Errowyn...
Uso was taken aback! "But... you're supposed to be all 'Nooo, I'm not racist... OK, new play: After all this is a SPACER doing spacer-things. You could just say it was your idea. I mean spacers are going to be all spacery anyways. Plenty of people are going to think plenty of different things about you if you pull this off. The important thing is that the ones that approve of what you're doing are going to be the ones that make up your fleet."
"Of course it's my idea. Most 'spacers don't think Nekovalkyrja are capable of rational thought to begin with." Arccos daintily pressed her fingertips to her own chest, putting on the prissy for a moment. "The main thing is how I swing this entire deal. For the most part if I just tell them the truth that I've been using nuclear bombs as deterrent to allow me to enforce democratic justice which would otherwise be done at gunpoint it might work. Might not. It can certainly be done, anyway. Just need to work out spin on the polysentience, and whether this would effect the Nepleslian protection deal."
"Nepleslia isn't protecting the Lighthouse and we aren't exactly affiliated with any of the groups that anyone really hates. All we have to deal with besides the Polysentience is whatever booby-traps were left behind..." Uso said, "We've even got a fleet and a private army ready to do the job..."
"Well, if we go for the actual Great Lighthouse, it's occupied by Nepleslia. Technically. They can't argue if I'm taking it, though as they don't determine Free State ownership. If we go Freehold, no one will stop us, but that's salvage operations rather than grand heist..." Arccos gave a little droning noise like a hum. "This would be a lot easier if we'd gone north rather than west... I'm also not entirely convinced this isn't you trying to get in my pants with grand schemes of madness."
"Don't mistake my hedonism for delusions of grandeur... Maybe you spacers would be a bit more ambitious if you didn't have so much life to waste. You want what? A fleet? Respect? Followers? You can work on it in your own ways and it'll be decades and decades before you can get what you want... or we can make this work and get things done." She replied.
"Not sure what you mean about life to waste. I'm not going to live much longer'n you." ...Wait, was that deliberate?
"I guess if we retake the one from Freehold... It's least dangerous, and requires some engineering work to do but won't be so bad... Then... Uh... Maybe if we want to go for a real statement? I can one-up you... What if we steal the first Freespacer Fleet?"
"I wasn't aware the spacers had a fleet? Not one with any organization." Uso replied.
"Once upon a time, when the Free State was born they fought as a rebellion against a tyrannical government. The first fleets which fought in that war still exist, but mostly as a monument. They're at Null and Void, suspended in the event horizon of a black hole. It's where ships go to rest when they can't be maintained anymore. But... We have ships which can fish them out again if they're ever needed. Stealing an active lighthouse will cause us to recoil for stealing how we talk. But steal our history, and it's only talking about something which has been brought back."
"Well... 'stealing' is a harsh word." Uso replied, "So not quite stealing... spinning it as reclaiming would certainly be nice... so, how do we bring back this fleet?"
"Steal a distortion barge and haul it out of the black hole." Arccos informed. "Most of them will be near derelict ship frames, but it's easier to refurbish a 'spacer vessel than you'd think. It's certainly easier than building a new one."
"Then lets get a group together and go get one... Obviously I'll need you to head it up. What else do you need?" Uso asked.
"The Lament needs to fly it. Only way in and out of Null and Void is a huge mass driver made out of an entire moon. They generally don't let foreign ships in... Aside from that, it's a run-down station and I can probably swing enough clout to do anything we need electronically. Especially if I turn up with a vanished ghost ship of mystery."
"So you need your ship up and running sooner rather than later. You know this plan requires trust on both sides. I'd hate to feel like you were taking advantage of me." Uso said.
Arccos had at this point started to rummage around her desk, looking for something or other. "I mean... Usually when I take advantage of people they really like it..."
"Usually when I propose a win-win, the other party agrees to it instead of finding a way to make it more win for them. But what's a little advantage taking between friends?" Uso asked.
"I can do it without your help if it comes down to it. But I may just enjoy taking advantage of my friends."
"Oh you'd be so bored without me." Uso replied, "I expect in exchange for upgrading your fleet, you'll help us save the I'ee."
"I admit that this planet is certainly boring without you." Arccos turned and sighed, clearly having failed to find what she was looking for, "And I'd probably have done that without you too. But you can take a little credit."
"Oh come on, you know taking the wave coupler from the lighthouse was a brilliant idea." Uso said, "Plus I'm going to take a lot of credit for the spacer fleet."
"It is a bright idea, I suppose. Or completely barking mad, but that's you... Of course I'm mainly going to be taking credit where it matters for the Freespacers, but you can be worshiped as the golden heavenly queen by the I'ee all you like."
“Great, figure out what you need to make it happen and let me know. We're racing against the clock here!” Uso replied, turning back towards the door to bound away at high speed.
A few days after the beach episode,
*BOOM*
The distinctive sound of rockets firing off in the distance could be heard as the aspiring tyrant made her way toward the courthouse, landing with a heavy BOOM-THUD as she rocket-breaked right before making the hard landing on the room of the structure. The Neko was again dressed in her bodysuit, the rear of the suit looking just a bit scorched from where the rocket exhaust exited... a bit of steam rising up from the mesh panels on the exterior of her legs and arms.
"ARCCOS!" Uso shouted, bounding towards the office, a stupidly-wide smile on her face.
The actual entrance to Arccos' office was inside, a hole knocked in the side of the roof access stairwell to give entry to the rafters above the old Osman High Court. Arccos liked high places apparently. But as Uso bound down the stairs she nearly collided with the 'spacer coming up to meet her. Arccos staggering slightly and snatching a balistrade. She wore her same old uniform, broad hat, tank top, jeans with tall boots. Her coat and poncho were gone, probably still inside.
"Woah! ...Okay, this is never a good expression for you to have." Arccos said, regaining her balance.
Uso would similarly brace herself against the walls, legs pressing outward, a hand grabbing the railing, the other gently holding Arccos' shoulder.
"You still want to be a grand-high-spacecase-admiral-spacer-type right? And The White Lament still needs parts like one of those Poly-Sentence Wave-Couplers right?!"
"Fleetkeeper. Evanescent Wave Coupler. Yes." Arccos corrected, looking down a little at Uso's hand on her shoulder. "What terrible things have you done to get one?"
"What terrible things we WILL DO!" Uso said, lowering herself down so that she was standing on the staircase rather than perching herself awkwardly, ".... come on.... What one object will satisfy both of those needs? What one object would signal to every spacer out there that you're hot shit? That you're THE spacer who is going to lead your people to do great things? Better yet! I think we both know that wave coupler is going unused and unguarded!"
"Are you talking about one of the lighthouses?" Arccos raised her eyebrows slightly, turning to head down the stairs towards her office proper "Because the answer to those things is more likely some sort of publicist... But I'm listening."
The excitement inside of Uso was practically bursting to get out, like a kid on Lewis Pasco day, or a ship with its reactor about to go critical. Uso just couldn't keep it in...
"Arccos.... I want to steal the Great Lighthouse...."
"That's..." Arccos seemed to mull it over, leading Uso through a hole in the stairwell wall and out onto a narrow walkway... The entire 'office' was narrow walkways. Floorboards hastily added to the rafters over the old high court room, forming a haphazardly renovated second floor to the entire building. Desks with piles of junk were about, cargo-netting suspended from higher up held storage, and a bed in the corner indicated Arccos probably slept here.
"BRILLIANT! I know..." Uso said.
"Also potentially crazy." The Sheriff retorted, emphasis on 'potentially'.
"Potentially BRILLIANT!" Uso reiterated, following Arccos closely, "Freehold and the Great Lighthouse were abandoned by Yamatai... Shit, your people didn't even react when Yamatai flew in there to repair the Lighthouse at the Great Lighthouse. The place is..."
"You can just call it the Lighthouse."
"Ok, The Lighthouse... Because the other Lighthouse is on Freehold right? If you're worried about looking like a pirate trying to disturb the Lighthouse on the.... you know. The one on Freehold is far less likely to be noticed if it went missing. Plus there is an entire planet worth of spare parts and material that we can use to build up the White Lament.
Think about it. You setup a new Lighthouse in this system, start providing star charts and polysentiences bandwidth for your people.... in the process you get a nicely upgraded White Lament and we really get to start putting this place on the map!" Uso said, certainly quite happy with herself for this scheme. "Not to mention here's always Halna... Sure Yamatai made a mess of it but you know... spare parts... which are markedly less exciting than the ones that make up the Lighthouses."
"The Lighthouse was abandoned aside from a bunch of refugees. Freehold's sister unit was reduced to slag, along with everything else on the surface of that planet. Halna is... Halna." Arccos moved over to her desk-slash-workbench, scratching an eye, "Any mention of it will probably have Yamatai chewing on our collective asses for trying to dig up the skeletons in their closets... The question is really how the so-called 'Free State' might react to this. It can have us made pariahs, or messiahs depending on how we swing it, but at the same time you are literally a nekovalkyrja tyrant proposing that you swing Freespacer interest towards your cause... Almost literal definition of insanity."
"That's racist!" Uso said, hoping to score some points, or at least buy some time while she thought of an appropriate response.
"I'm quite openly racist towards most nekovalkyrja. If anything I've been shockingly nice to you to date." Arccos shrugged. Perhaps it was a bit more obvious now that Arccos had never spoken with Errowyn...
Uso was taken aback! "But... you're supposed to be all 'Nooo, I'm not racist... OK, new play: After all this is a SPACER doing spacer-things. You could just say it was your idea. I mean spacers are going to be all spacery anyways. Plenty of people are going to think plenty of different things about you if you pull this off. The important thing is that the ones that approve of what you're doing are going to be the ones that make up your fleet."
"Of course it's my idea. Most 'spacers don't think Nekovalkyrja are capable of rational thought to begin with." Arccos daintily pressed her fingertips to her own chest, putting on the prissy for a moment. "The main thing is how I swing this entire deal. For the most part if I just tell them the truth that I've been using nuclear bombs as deterrent to allow me to enforce democratic justice which would otherwise be done at gunpoint it might work. Might not. It can certainly be done, anyway. Just need to work out spin on the polysentience, and whether this would effect the Nepleslian protection deal."
"Nepleslia isn't protecting the Lighthouse and we aren't exactly affiliated with any of the groups that anyone really hates. All we have to deal with besides the Polysentience is whatever booby-traps were left behind..." Uso said, "We've even got a fleet and a private army ready to do the job..."
"Well, if we go for the actual Great Lighthouse, it's occupied by Nepleslia. Technically. They can't argue if I'm taking it, though as they don't determine Free State ownership. If we go Freehold, no one will stop us, but that's salvage operations rather than grand heist..." Arccos gave a little droning noise like a hum. "This would be a lot easier if we'd gone north rather than west... I'm also not entirely convinced this isn't you trying to get in my pants with grand schemes of madness."
"Don't mistake my hedonism for delusions of grandeur... Maybe you spacers would be a bit more ambitious if you didn't have so much life to waste. You want what? A fleet? Respect? Followers? You can work on it in your own ways and it'll be decades and decades before you can get what you want... or we can make this work and get things done." She replied.
"Not sure what you mean about life to waste. I'm not going to live much longer'n you." ...Wait, was that deliberate?
"I guess if we retake the one from Freehold... It's least dangerous, and requires some engineering work to do but won't be so bad... Then... Uh... Maybe if we want to go for a real statement? I can one-up you... What if we steal the first Freespacer Fleet?"
"I wasn't aware the spacers had a fleet? Not one with any organization." Uso replied.
"Once upon a time, when the Free State was born they fought as a rebellion against a tyrannical government. The first fleets which fought in that war still exist, but mostly as a monument. They're at Null and Void, suspended in the event horizon of a black hole. It's where ships go to rest when they can't be maintained anymore. But... We have ships which can fish them out again if they're ever needed. Stealing an active lighthouse will cause us to recoil for stealing how we talk. But steal our history, and it's only talking about something which has been brought back."
"Well... 'stealing' is a harsh word." Uso replied, "So not quite stealing... spinning it as reclaiming would certainly be nice... so, how do we bring back this fleet?"
"Steal a distortion barge and haul it out of the black hole." Arccos informed. "Most of them will be near derelict ship frames, but it's easier to refurbish a 'spacer vessel than you'd think. It's certainly easier than building a new one."
"Then lets get a group together and go get one... Obviously I'll need you to head it up. What else do you need?" Uso asked.
"The Lament needs to fly it. Only way in and out of Null and Void is a huge mass driver made out of an entire moon. They generally don't let foreign ships in... Aside from that, it's a run-down station and I can probably swing enough clout to do anything we need electronically. Especially if I turn up with a vanished ghost ship of mystery."
"So you need your ship up and running sooner rather than later. You know this plan requires trust on both sides. I'd hate to feel like you were taking advantage of me." Uso said.
Arccos had at this point started to rummage around her desk, looking for something or other. "I mean... Usually when I take advantage of people they really like it..."
"Usually when I propose a win-win, the other party agrees to it instead of finding a way to make it more win for them. But what's a little advantage taking between friends?" Uso asked.
"I can do it without your help if it comes down to it. But I may just enjoy taking advantage of my friends."
"Oh you'd be so bored without me." Uso replied, "I expect in exchange for upgrading your fleet, you'll help us save the I'ee."
"I admit that this planet is certainly boring without you." Arccos turned and sighed, clearly having failed to find what she was looking for, "And I'd probably have done that without you too. But you can take a little credit."
"Oh come on, you know taking the wave coupler from the lighthouse was a brilliant idea." Uso said, "Plus I'm going to take a lot of credit for the spacer fleet."
"It is a bright idea, I suppose. Or completely barking mad, but that's you... Of course I'm mainly going to be taking credit where it matters for the Freespacers, but you can be worshiped as the golden heavenly queen by the I'ee all you like."
“Great, figure out what you need to make it happen and let me know. We're racing against the clock here!” Uso replied, turning back towards the door to bound away at high speed.