RP: Abwehrans [-Jaspis System-] Second Chances

Kommodore Adler listened to the Doctor explain his position, her face remaining polite and friendly the entire time. She neither showed a hint of impatience nor did she seem bored by Cephei's explaination. "That's very interesting Doctor. An organization dedicated to research without being bound by law or society," the woman replied as she clasped her hands behind the small of her back. "That's a diffcult thing to accomplish, considering you are probably disliked by a variety of people because of it," the Kommodore said as she continued at her leisurely pace.

The corridors they had been going through for a time weren't decorated at all. In fact, the entire ship itself was spartan as walls remained a gunmetal grey. Often, the duo would run into crewmembers who would go about there work or move out of their way. They would often stand at attention for their Kommodore, but immeadiately return to their duties.

They also passed by a larger room with many soldiers leisurely sitting about, relaxing with books and such. "This is the lounge," the tall woman absent-mindedly said as they walked by. "It's merely just a place for the crew to relax and unwind," she explained. "But I do believe a man of your caliber will want to see technical aspects of the ship, so we're heading towards Engineering," she said before looking down at Cephei.

"What science do you study? If I may ask?" she said slowly, thinking before saying what she wanted to say.

The Dean scratched his chin a moment as he glanced at the room. It wasn't particularly interesting to him, since its spartan and somber setting was not unlike those at the Center. Still, one could gain stark insight into the nature of a nation simply by observing a recreational facility for a few hours. After musing this, he finally turned his attention to the Kommodore's question. "I dabble, more for curiosity than actual progress. Psychology, sociology, biochemistry, mathematical theory...though my personal favorite has to be hyperspatial engineering theory. Superstructure manufacturing, pan-dimensional movement, faster-than-light propulsion, interstellar implosion bombs, and things of that nature. Oh yes, hyperspatial engineering is where you really find gods in technology. Absolutely fascinating." He chuckled quietly.

"Now Kommodore, I believe diplomatic protocol dictates that is my turn for a question or two, no? Let me see. So many, oh do I ever have so many. But I do not doubt your officials will have many government groomed, neatly trimmed cookie-cutter answers awaiting me for the standard ones. Hmm." He scratched his chin as he paused in thought for a moment. "Would you be so kind as to tolerate a few unusual questions? I'd imagine so, out of fear that you may irritate the overly sensitive and ever grouchy old beast that resides within most diplomats, neh?" He chuckled once again.

"Ah, well, let me see...Are your peoples egalitarian in matters of subspecies? Or gender? What is the most common pastime among your race? What is the most universally hated faction or thing? Is your species sexually polyamorous? Emotionally? Is sexual pleasure something to be indulged in, or shunned and hidden behind closed doors, if tended to at all? Would you describe your society as ascetic or aesthetic? How do they commonly weigh the importance of their ethics in comparison to practicality? How does-- Ah. Oh dear, I forget myself again." He sighed, giving her an apologetic look. "That is the Academician's curse, you know; We grow and prune our minds, but neglect to exercise our social skills with equal dedication. Thus we end up thinking much too quick for our mouths, and others, to keep pace."

The Kommodore seemed to show no signs of confusion or distress over the mile-a-minute series of questions the doctor posed for her. "Quite all right, Doctor." she replied calmly. "You've obviously never met a person with twelve brothers and sisters before," she commented before smiling. "As a matter of egalitarian matters, both Surfacers and Night-dwellers have the same rights. It wasn't always that way, but we've developed an understanding amongst each other...even with different cultures." she explained slowly in her English. "There are even hybrids, Surfacer/Night-dwellers in our population. Our royal family are the most notable hybrids," she explained before moving on.

"Gender-wise, females are mostly found in positions of power while males are considered more of the protectors, traditionally speaking. For good reason too, since approximately 33% of our population is male. Surfacers have a more balanced 40/60 ratio of males and females, but Night-dwellers such as I are different. We have a 20/80 difference between males and females." she said as she stopped for a moment and held out her arm to halt the doctors progress as too crewmen crossed their path, carrying a crate as they went. Pausing a moment longer, she moved her arm and continued on.

"Common past-times as a race? That would have to depend if you meant the current trends or what we've done for the majority of our history. From a military standpoint, I'd have to say we're pretty experienced in warfare on a variety of environments, having sixteen world wars and a variety of other military conflicts over a span of nearly eight hundred of our revolutions can do that to a species." she stated. "Societal-wise, we are a familial oriented society, treating our young as precious treasures. Anything involving harm to a child is a rarity and we tend to spoil them more than anything," she explained. "We legalize duels of first blood and vigilanteism for purposes of capture, killing in either endeavor is a crime. You'll have to narrow down your question if you need anything else answered," she replied as she paused to motion in another room.

"This is the armory," she replied as one could see with all the racks holding weapons and primitive (in comparison to Yamatai) versions of power armor. "We store all our infantry armor and mass-driver weaponry here," she explained before continuing to walk.

"Most universally hated faction would have to be....hmmm...well, they used to be the pirates and slavers we had in our system. But once the Weltraumflotte became fully operationally and after the Pirate Wars, we physically whiped out their entire existance. About two hundred of our revolutions ago, we used to be under the rule of an opressive, fascist government organization known as the Verdienstorden. The funny thing was it was the people who put them into power nearly four hundred revolutions ago because they were tiring of two ancient kingdoms warring over one another, but that is another thing entirely. So I believe all Abwehrans universally hate fascists, slavers, and pirates most of all, even if they hardly exist this day and age." she explained.

"We Night-dwellers are poligamist in nature due to our large difference between the male and female population, so we are both sexually and emotionally polyamorous. Homosexual activities are also acceptable to us as well as marriage between females. Surfacers, on the other hand, find polygamy and homosexuality to betray their more balanced population and ridicule such things between their own kind." she explained. "As far as sex in general is concerned, we don't shun it publically. Though there is a time and place for everything," she hinted.

"Surfacers, ascetic," she paused for a moment before cracking a small smile. "Neither go hand in hand with another for they are notoriously hedonistic. We Nightdwellers aren't such, but we are a bit more...frugal, in such things," she explained.

"We prefer to work by our ethics, but overall...practicality will outweigh ethics if it is for the good of our species survival," she explained as they finally stopped by a hatch by the floor. "We'll take the ladder down to engineering, if you're up to it."

Onboard HMS Dauntless: Currently docked to Weltraumflotte HQ
+2 Standard Days (+1 Abwehran Day)

Kommodore Leah Adler stood in her quarters, staring out her window into the expansive depths of the Military Orbital Space Station that had been given the name 'Weltraumflotte HQ'. It had been a quarter revolution since she had dared show herself at headquarters, but the first contact with the CSEIA had allowed her to return. The crew of her ship had been glad about this...even cheering the good Doctor Cephei Rasalgethi when they thought she wasn't looking. Honestly, Leah was grateful for the doctor's arrival as well. Her squadron as a whole was probably happier than it had been for a long time.

She had given Rasalgethi a tour of the Dauntless, allowing him to see one of her proud vessels. Well, she was proud of them anyway. She never got a comment from him, but she suspected that the Abwehran technology was primitive to him. She had even invited the doctor to dine with her officers, which was quite a surprise for them all. Especially when Dr. Rasalgethi had been informed of the general life expectancy of the Abwehran people as well as how long an Abwehran Revolution truly was. Even Kommodore Adler had trouble believing that there were people who lived somewhat shorter lives than her own kind.

After the dinner, the doctor had left for his ship, which was still in orbit around the military facility. His ship wasn't authorized to enter a military station considering his position was civilian based anyway. But with the arrival of the delegate from Abwehr, he would probably be allowed to dock. Which came to the current situation that Leah was uncomfortable with. The delegate from Abwehr wasn't just any random politician or businessman...she was the First Crown Princess of the Empire itself! Why the Imperial Family had allowed the young woman to be delegate in first contact, the Kommodore didn't know. But with one of the most loved individuals in the Abwehran public traveling off-world to visit their guest from outside the solar system, Adler knew full well HQ would see the tightest measures of security since the end of the Pirate Wars.

Princess Johanna Rosenthal had arrived in secret, with only the brass and the Kommodore knowing about it. Her Highness had wanted to avoid the ceremony of her arrival and had come in the dead of night, much to the station commanders dismay of course. Now she was preparing for her meeting with the CSEIA delegation, under guard of the most elite Marines on station. Kommodore Adler could only wonder how this meeting would turn out.

********
ON: Weltraumflotte HQ, Conference Room 23

The conference room, Cephei was directed to was a rather large room with a large round table surrounded by plush, reclining chairs. The walls were decorated with a variety of Abwehran art depicting soft meadows and lush forests, probably one of the more pleasant environment upon Abwehr's surface. Lighting in the room was rather dim compared to the rest of the ship, but at least the gravity had been placed at a more suitable level for the Doctor's comfort. Along the round table, small computer screens and keypads were built-in and wired directly to the stations network so that information could be accessed when necessary.

The only two guards were seen outside the door, the two huge Abwehran Males wearing the typical green and black uniforms of Weltraumflotte Marines. But those guards had been carrying large rifles, as well as specialized patches upon there uniforms, probably symbolizing a special or elite unit. They were silent and didn't bother even looking at the doctor as he entered the conference room.

Dr. Rasalgethi nosily sighed as he entered the room, a degree of irritation notable in his demeanor. If there was one thing he hated above all else, it had to be politics. Power brokering made them waste precious funds on defenses, politicians fear mongered and turned the masses against them, and idealists shunned them for their practices. No, when it comes to politics, the Center rarely comes out better for it, he sighed as he took a seat at the table. I'm nearly tempted to give up this entire endeavor if it means I can avoid mucking about in ethics and bureaucracy for who knows how much longer.

It would only be five minutes before the door opened again. The first person to enter the room would be a familiar face, Kommodore Leah Adler. She set off to the side of the door and stood at attention, wearing a jacket over her turtleneck shirt and having replaced the cargo pants with a pair of black khakis. <"Thanks for not announcing me, Kommodore,"> a feminine voice echoed in Abwehran from outside the door thankfully as the source entered the room. The source being a very diminutive woman compared to the Commodore standing beside the door. With a formal attire of brown khakis and a black tunic with a brown vest covering it, this woman looked as if she were barely out of her teens and only reached 5'3" in height.

Turning to face Cephei as the door closed behind her, she smiled gently. "Greetings, Doctor Rasalgethi," she said in English, a bit more easily than the Kommodore had been during the tour. "I'm sorry you had to wait on me," she spoke in a friendly and rather honest manner for a politician. "Bureaucracy can be such a hassle can it. Allow me to introduce myself," she began as she walked over and held out her hand towards the Doctor. "I am Johanna Rosenthal, First Crown Princess of the Abwehran Star Empire."

Having witnessed some numerous forms of humanoid experimentation in the bowels of the Center, there were very few things left that could take him aback like her self-introduction did. However, he knew it was neither polite nor good negotiation practice to tip one's hand so easily to another, so he quickly composed himself. Rasalgethi stood up from his seat, eyeing her curiously for several moments. After a long pause he finally took the hand of the smaller woman, a hint of a smile upon his lips. "Well, you do not seem aloft enough to be a bureaucrat, nor old enough to be a power broker, nor dressed extravagantly enough to be spoiled heiress. I think, perhaps, I will enjoy doing business with you. I am -- Well, you already seem to know who I am, so please do not be offended if I choose to avoid such superfluous ceremony."

"So, another who dislikes ceremony as much as I do," the Princess replied as she shook his hand firmly. "It really will be a privilege to speak of relations between the Center and the Empire," she said as she broke the hand shake. "Kommdore Adler is here to represent the military side and I assume you don't need an introduction for her," she said as she motioned for both of them to sit down, waiting until they were before sitting down herself. "I've read the Kommodore's report and I must admit, I'm a bit puzzled on a few things. But I'd like to get straight to business before I go about satisfying my own curiosity, just as much as you probably want to get this done too. So I want to hear what you exactly want from this little solar system, if you please."

"Well, standard fare mostly. Eh, let's see... Right-of-Passage Agreements, Construction Rights Permits supply depots and Hotlabs, long-term purchase contracts for..." He hesitated for a moment, then leaned back in the chair and placed his hands behind his head. "The short and sweet is we'll we want resources; Bulk metals, isotopes, and so on. We're also interested in the people themselves: recruiting Abwehran military staff, technicians, and other specialists for station support and defense. There's also the standard political squabbling of travel, construction, and experimentation restrictions..." Rasalgethi inaudibly muttered to himself for a moment then piped up, "Oh, and of course we're looking for expendable elements of society as well. Slave and prisoner purchase contracts, preferably in bulk. Just about anyone you'd deem expendable and we'd deem fit enough for experimentation on. Oh yes." He nodded to himself thoughtfully for a moment. "Yes, I think that's about the bulk of it."

At the first word of slave, the Kommodore's jaw seemed to tighten as she began to take her goggles off for the first time since meeting Cephei, revealing glowing blue eyes. "I hope you remember what I said about slavers being a type of scum we Abwehrans' hated the most, Doctor," the military officer growled in anger.

"That's enough, Kommodore Adler," Johanna admonished as she turned back to Cephei. "Doctor Rasalgethi...I believe I can get you almost everything CSEIA needs," the princess responded with a smile. "The Abwehran Armed Forces has a sizable reserves that we can pull from for your security needs, though you'd probably have to give them a crash course in your technology. Resources are another we can give you; I believe about 10% of our resources will do." she listed. "I can easily push Passage and Construction Permits through the Civilian Space Administration Agency and probably discuss with the 'Manufacturing Triad' we have to give you support on your construction efforts. However, we have no slaves for you to purchase." she responded honestly. "And we have a constitutional amendment that deems cruel and unusual punishment as wrong, so I can't give you test subjects for experimentation out of our own living prisoner populations. I can try and make an agreement to give you the corpses of criminals who have been executed for their crimes, and even allow you to openly advertise the necessity of hiring experimental subjects for testing," she explained calmly.

"If I am be so bold as to interject," Rasalgethi cut in quietly, as he sat up in his seat. "You seem to have no problem spending absolutely gross amounts of materials on warships and stations of such magnitude. If you were to divert even half of such resources to stellar farms or orbital housing you could easily support an additional, say, 50 million more citizens." The Doctor continued to meet her stare without hesitation. "That is a 50 million children condemned to death before they were born, or just perhaps, up to a third of that number that have been born and are living in your streets in poverty at this very moment. It's little more that ethical calculus; statistics, if you will." He shrugged nonchalantly, "You sacrifice the unborn future generations, perhaps or the now-improvised, in order to reinforce your strength and secure the lives of the majority. We work along parallel principals. By sacrificing the few, we can conserve the time, energy, and resources to spend them on other constructive pursuits. Or, perhaps even produce a cure for an alignment a half-century before it would have been produced by other means." The Doctor motioned towards the Kommodore. "You are an avatar of war; of the ideology of force, might, unity, and destruction. Do not think yourself in a position to lecture me on ethical calculus, my dear."

"There are no orphans in our society, Dr. Rasalgethi," Johanna replied, intercepting the Kommodore before she could say anything. "But you are correct about our current infastructure and we are in fact decreasing our amount of warships to build up our reserve of resources to do just as you say," the Princess said. "Though, I must say...you would make a brilliant politician with those words," she commented with a more grim smile. "Children our precious to the Abwehran people. After centuries of warfare, you could say we spoil our children no matter our class. But back to business, the 10% I was referring to was from our mining operations in the system. From our current supply of resources we have stored, we could definitely give you 40%," she explained. "This means you will get quite a large quantity of resources in our first transfer, with 10% of each mining cycle. I don't know how much other nations among the stars generate, but I believe we are being fair in this. Besides, you have yet to talk about what you will give us in exchange," she said as she leaned forward in her seat. "After all, the Abwehran Star Empire is a capitalist society, we won't just give you valuable resources without something in exchange."

PAUSE

ON: Weltraumflotte HQ, Conference Room 23

"Yes, of course. The ethics of greed at it's finest." Rasalgethi gave the princess a smirk. "As a scientific institution, one of the foremost things we can offer is knowledge; technology, specifically. The Center has a rather colorful history in arms dealing and starship design for, shall we say, niche markets. I think you'll be most interested in our fold drive technology, which are among the fastest short of military-grade Yamataian vessels. If that isn't sufficient, we also have numerous schematics on other biotechnology, defense and offensive equipment, and so on."

The Kommodore sat back with a very serious look on her face as the Princess blinked in surprise. "That is quite a bit you can offer us," the young woman replied as she seemed to ponder for a moment. "Education in advanced technology would probably be the primary part of our deal, since we will have to learn about it eventually. If a few of your scientists would be interested in temporarily serving in an educational matter to some of our own scientists, that should be fine. This 'fold drive' you speak of, I assume it's a faster-than-light capable device. That would suffice along with any more advanced armor and weapon systems should do, though you'd probably have to talk to the Kommodore about the details." the seemingly fragile Princess explained. "But to summarize our dealings, it would be that we give you an initial 40% of our current resource pool with 10% per cycle following as well as a sizable portion of out reserves in the Weltraumflotte for security. In exchange, you provide us with any technology you can give us as well as educational assistance to a few professionals who will then pass their knowledge onto the rest." she summarized before sitting back. "Does this sound appropriate?"

"Well, a proper military force would be nice. Pirate mercenaries and aging automated defenses are more headache than they're worth," he sighed and crossed his arms. "Technology will be disclosed at our own discretion, of course. We don't want to wear ourselves out too quickly. Of course, you will reserve the right to terminate cycle payments and defense pacts if you believe we are in breach of contract."

"My, my, my, so accommodating of you, Doctor," the young woman replied with a smile. "Believe me, our reserves are proper military forces," the Princess said. "In fact, the majority of them are veterans from the Pirate Wars, so they should be more experienced than just sending you regulars," she explained. "And allowing technology at your discretion is fine, but I'd prefer a document on the technologies and weaponry you currently possess before any decisions on what we want are made. We wouldn't want to be uninformed about our purchases after all."

"Fair enough. But be forewarned, we don't operate on the same ethical scales as you do, and we've historically sold to more...niche markets." Rasalgethi began counting off on his fingers. "Biochemical weaponry, radiation bombs, retro viral engineering, nanowarfare, real-time genetic mutation. Very nasty stuff. Keep such things in mind when we're training your own kind, as well. We make it a policy not to needlessly cripple scientific progress by bowing to petty things like ethics or law."

"That is understandable," the Princess replied with a nod. "After all, it is not our duty to place ethical or legal restrictions upon you, as long as it's kept in the dark from the populace of course," she explained with a frown. "Though, I'm not accustom and I don't like secrets from the people, I understand the necessity," she said. "Either way, it's our duty to manage and regulate the knowledge and technology you give us. You can teach and give us whatever you want, but we ultimately decide what we use and what we don't use."

"Right, right. Now, I talked to the folks up at Rapid Assembly and Spatial Engineering -- Our manufacturing and engineering branches, respectively. Before we begin operations we'll need some information in return. We want the schematics for all vessels in mass production. First we need complete schematics on all your mass-produced starships, for technological assessment. We will also require a full report on your planet's industrial status, as I imagine that such a large technological leap forward will require an industrial retooling to better fit the new processes we will introduce. Some reports on local resource economy would be good as well so we can determine which manufacturing processes would be most cost-effective."

"I can give you that information in two days time, Doctor," the Princess replied. "I would have to contact all parties involved in our industries to gain the necessary data and permissions. But I'm sure I can get it to you in that time frame," Johanna explained.

"Right, right." The Doctor paused for a moment, and began patting down his coat. "Oh dear, where did I put my notepad? Never the mind, I think we've covered most of the key points, haven't we? Well, we can begin shipping out modules to built our HotLab in orbit of your gas giant, to act as an operations center and temporary research base until you start fielding your own high-end research equipment. Oh, one last thing. Our professors and academicians have a relatively low tolerance for any sort of dogmatism and lectures on ethics. Make sure the staff and students you select have open minds, or can at least hold their tongue."

Rasalgethi quietly added under his breath, "I really don't want slog through another public relations nightmare when I hear Academicians start feeding students to the bio mechanical test subjects again... "
lionheart86va: At this the Princess frowned, "I should probably just send over the professors of the Imperial University over there then," she said in annoyance. "I've got a few of them I want to get rid of before my next term paper," she joked before coughing into her fist. "Jokes aside, I do not believe it will be a problem over all."

Rasalgethi paused for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Oh, no, don't worry. It was just a one time incident...we frown upon such things as well. The educated are quite expensive to replace, though I personally think that particular student wasn't much of a loss given his dogmatic views. Minds are like doors; if they will not open, what good are they?"

"That is true. It's the same for ethical reasoning just as much as education, hence the reason I'm not preaching to you Doctor," the Princess replied with a smile. "Anyway, I do believe our business is done with. Now comes the part where the foreign visitor dazzles the fair Princess with tales of the outside world, right?" Johanna said with a grin.

END