ic Stellar School (IC)

[Ari]

GM

 

July 1st, 2019, 4.51PM

Lor Diplomatic Navy vessel A Grace in Steel, in orbit of Xix Yr, first planet and capital of the Lia system civilization...

 

The meeting room was structured along clearly hierarchal lines, in contrast to the more egalitarian architecture of the Science Navy ship that had carried the Earth teens to the Lia system. The Ambassador's seat was elevated by a few significant steps, the room arcing inward from there, encompassing a torus-shaped table. Everything was birds, from the Great Galactic Bird blazing across the walls and ceiling to the bird-shaped chairs with crossed wings for backs to the furred and snuffling eagle-like creatures that appeared from nowhere to snuggle against the legs of everyone in the room. From his seat, poised as if about to take flight himself, the Ambassador spoke.

 

"...which is why Squire B'ka will not be joining us! Hopefully your visit to Xix will be less eventful! On behalf of the Coalition Council, and the worlds it represents, welcome to the galactic community!" Ambassador Ortilac already looked angelic with his sweeping red wings, long gold hair and dazzling white formal gown; his outright glow of joy at meeting the 'Terresi' teenagers was infectious, and the previously stern and solemn Lor Navy personnel had been suppressing grins at the excitable envoy throughout his welcoming speech, which had veered spectacularly from the Ealan's dignified, practical notes into vivid speculation about the glories to be seen, the wonders created and the almost frighteningly-rosy picture of the future Ambassador Ortilac believed in.

 

Luckily, he had very easily been dissuaded from trying to hug everyone in glee at paragraph breaks. 

 

With a wing, he indicated the armored feline at the table "Squire Kath'lana, of the Star Knights," with the other he gestured to the armored Earth woman and her strange, robotic associate "Sitara the Traveler, and Universal Field Operative 777, of our Praetorians. These good people have agreed to be present at this, the final stage of union with our newest member. For form's sake, the Li have requested we only meet them face to face on the planet surface. I promise, you won't be disappointed!" The ambassdor's ash-grey face creased as his grin returned. He leaned back in the chair, nodding to the assembled officers, dignitaries and Claremont students. "So, any questions?"

 

"Dozens, Ambassador, but they can wait."

 

Dr. Rakesh Chawla never smiled, but he especially didn't around people as gregarious as Ortilac. Cold and quiet, the Claremont head of Extrasolar Studies had been watching his students like a hawk's keener-eyed and more vigilant cousin, keeping the party firmly on track and where, in his mind, everyone was supposed to be. His uncanny talent for finding people just in time to spoil things hadn't endeared him to the teenagers, and even the Lor found the brooding young man hard to get along with.

 

Rakesh glanced at the Claremont students "I am sure the young heroes have questions, however, that can't wait. Not you, Leroy," he added with a sharp look at the tattooed boy who'd started to jump up, arm raised, causing him to wilt in disappointment, "you have done enough damage for today. I will be writing to your mother about that, rest assured." 

 

Seated beside Nicole, the gravity-bending prince of Earth-2 practically sunk into his chair. "I merely wished to know where the bathroom was" he murmured in utter dejection, golden eyes fixed miserably on the table.

Edited June 15, 2019 by Ari

[Thevshi]

Squire Kath'lana

 

Although seated during Ambassador Ortilac's speech, Kath'lana was straight backed and formal, almost as if she were at attention while seated. The Star Knight armor worn by the young F'terrix was emerald green, matching her catlike eyes. However, she had her helmet retracted, reveling her feline head, covered in a light brown fur.

 

The Star Squire tried not to show any embarrassment as the ambassador described the reason for her fellow squire’s absence from the ceremonies. While she knew the Hapisian meant well, his behaviors at times did not reflect particularly well on himself or the Order.

 

Kath'lana was grateful as the ambassador quickly moved on to discussing the coming proceedings, giving a small nod to those gathered as she was introduced. The young F'terrix felt a distinct honor at being chose as the Order’s representative for this occasion.

 

When the ambassador had finished, Kath’'ana spoke up, speaking in Gal Standard, but using her armor's translator to translate her words to English, a language she understood the gathered Terrans would understand. "Thank for the greeting Ambassador Ortilac. I am honored to attend these proceedings as the representative of the Order of the Star Knights."

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Traveller

Sitara had never really liked the more rigid hierarchy that the Lor always seemed to add to gatherings like this, so whilst she could have stood nearer the top of the pile, she was the Praetorian representative after all, she’d chosen to stay down the bottom. In her jumpsuit she looked just like an average Lor naval technician, an image she was more than happy to foster. Of cause she nodded politely when her name was mentioned she did know when to be diplomatic after all.

 

“The head is the second on the right, best avoid the methane breathers one though.” she whispered into Leroy’s ear in perfect English

 

“Peace is always something to celebrate Ambassador.”

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole

 

"If you're so determined to miss all of this, why don't you try another go at it?" Nicole said blithely, barely looking at the other dimensional prince. "Maybe if you annoy Chawla enough he'll let you go just to keep you quiet."

 

Nicole crossed her arms and faced away from Leroy. She had resolved not to spend her last Claremont field trip herding cats like the Sun Dragon as there were much more fascinating going-ons than his failed bathroom break. Being in space was one thing. Space! And not merely within the Sol system but lightyears farther than she'd actually ever imagined travelling. She had thought herself an Earth-bound girl but the opportunity to witness the diplomatic union had come and she couldn't pass the chance up.

 

One last field trip. So many aliens, and technology, and culture, and worlds all together to witness the Lia sign, just like four Claremont students aboard the A Grace in Steel. She was lucky the rest of her soon-to-be former schoolmates were not as determined to kick themselves out.

 

Then Sitara the Traveller appeared beside them, whispering into Leroy's ear.

 

"You're the Praetorian," Nicole interrupted, her universal translator working to convert English to Gal Standard. She was now only half-listening to the ambassadorial proceedings. "Sitara the Traveller. Why're you--."

 

Her lips pressed together before she could throw a barrage of questions. Slowly, she extended her hand.

 

"Hi, I'm Nicole Whitfield-Hall and this klutz is Leroy Ransom-Conte." With her free hand, she lightly slapped the prince's shoulder. "And he's so sorry for breaking your ship, right Leroy?"

Edited June 17, 2019 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Dr Archeville]

Two and a half months.  Ten weeks.  74 days.  That's how long it had been since his life had changed in so thoroughly and unexpected a manner.  Before that, he was a mild-mannered high school student, comfortable working behind the scenes of Franklin D. Roosevelt's theatrical productions.  After that, after the lab accident at FCU which had granted him extensive shapeshifting abilities -- an accident involving  Grue biomaterials -- he'd been thrust into the whirlwind world of Claremont Academy, and its many teen metahumans.  In that time he'd met a dragon, traveled back in time, met a faerie and a Grue (and learned he was part Grue!), and helped explore a sunken ship.  And now, after a trip on the Radiance Unveiled, he was on an honest-to-gods space station.

 

Even for someone who'd grown up in Freedom, and was frequently exposed to that city's weirdness, this was all getting to be a bit much.  But he had friends with him, which helped.  And Ambassador Ortilac was so positive and uplifting, it was easy to feel welcome.

 

"Davyd Palahniuk," the round-faced, long-limbed Ukrainian-American boy said, extending a hand to Sitara, "pleased to meet you.  This is my first time in space!," he exclaimed.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Dr Archeville

[Azuth65]

Selena sat in her chair next to Nicole, quietly fidgeting with her dress.  She would much rather be attending in her grey and purple costume but today's calendar had called for diplomacy, not manipulating electromagnetic fields.  The fact her friend and team-mate had chosen to also arrive in formal wear instead of her armor at least made her more comfortable with her decision.  'Besides,' she mused to herself,  'walking around in a magical WMD is bound to make our hosts regret inviting us aboard.'

The longer the speeches went on however, the harder it became for the teen to sit still.  She was in freaking space, she wanted to see what a lack of gravity allowed her to do with her magnetokinesis.  Leroy's... exuberance on the ship being brought up brought the heroine back to the moment, "Dr. Chawla, it wasn't that bad.  I was able to seal the breach before anyone went the way of a Xenomorph Queen," she said, hoping to defuse that situation before it got any worse.

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole

 

"I guess it wasn't that bad if nobody got hurt," Nicole said, turning to her friend. "Or died."

 

She sighed then turned her attention to the waiting assembly. A thought niggled at the back of her mind, waiting for an answer, and she raised her hand for all to see, her eyes on Ambassador Ortilac.

 

"Besides the obvious benefits of intergrating a new system state into your galactic-wide organization, what does the Coalition hope to gain from the Lia civilization? I imagine there was something about the Lia state which had caught the eye of the Coalition heads and allowed it to pass the prerequisite conditions so it could be accepted." Her question seemed to end there but after a moment's pause she spoke up again, voice cutting through the room.

 

"And why hasn't there been an offer been extended Terra considering its proliferation of extra-normal citizens, which could allow it to offer the Coalition both military and scientific contributions disproportionate to its size? Given the record of past Praetorian and Terran superhuman operations wouldn't a more extensive cooperation be in both parties' best interests?

Edited June 17, 2019 by Zeitgeist Blue

[RocketLord]

U.F.O.

 

777 had stood beside Sitara in its slightly humanoid form, arms extended by its sides. The display that showed its red eyes had been flickering and moving around, trying to take in everything around it, but otherwise, it had remained motionless. It was strange to be here. It had only recently returned to duty with the Praetorians, and now it was representing them alongside Sitara, one of its designers! There were so many beings around it that it had never seen, and the Terrasi students were all so different, even from each other. It was all a bit overwhelming, so many things to try and understand at once.

 

When Sitara had moved towards the Terrasi students, 777 had followed, though it stood back. It was unsure how they would react to it, after all. Still, they were rather interesting, these Terrasi heroes, as they bickered among themselves. For now, 777 just watched, standing close by Sitara. It was really rather unsure of whether it was even permitted to speak up in this situation.

[Heritage]

This was so amazing! Lulu couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she and her fellow students were light years away from home, witnessing an historic event most folks back home would probably never even hear about. Could her life get anymore surreal? 

 

Under her foster mom's guidance, the young telepath was starting to evolve her own sense of style, and she'd  put a lot of thought into what she would wear to the ceremony. After much deliberation, she decided to try something a little daring: a fashionable denim jumpsuit. It just struck her that a gown would just feel out of place in space, at least to her, though she had some regrets when she saw what the other girls in the Claremont contingent while wearing. Still, she felt confident that it would be very hard to offend alien sensibilities, and that she looked damn good in the jumpsuit. Feeling the need to share her excitement with someone, she sent a mental message Davyd's way.

 

-Pretty cool, huh? Who needs Star Wars when you've actually been to space!-

 

But then a thought occured to her, and she cleared her throat to speak.

 

"Uh, hello, Mr. Ambassador, sir? Ah'm Lulu Beaumont, from Earth. Ah just wanted to let you know that ah'm a telepath, and if there's any rules or regulations ah'm supposed to follow, or like a rulebook, ah'd be happy to read up on 'em."

Edited June 19, 2019 by Heritage

[Thevshi]

Squire Kath'lana

 

After her comment, Kath'lana stayed quite as other discussions continued among the group of visiting Terrans. The young F'terrix had only met a few Terrans, Sri Steward and Sri Montoya during their rotations on CITADEL to assist in the training of recruits and Squires. She was not quite sure what to make of this group of, as she understood it, young Terrans.

 

But then one of the Terran females asked a question about membership in the Coalition. While it may not have been the Terran's intention, to Kath'lana the question suggested both a significant misunderstanding in how the Coalition functioned and a bit of arrogance at how important Terra could be to it.

 

From what Kath'lana understood, even if the Coalition had wanted to extend an invitation to Terra (as opposed to world, system or the like seeking to join the loose association), there was no central government for the Coalition representatives to deal with or to represent the world within the Coalition. As for the suggestion of what Terra could offer the Coalition, the Squire rather doubted the technology it could offer, seeing at these Terrans had travelled her on a Lor vessel as opposed one produced by their world. And while Kath'lana knew Terra had a number of formidable beings far beyond the normal Terran, some of whom had played significant roles in the struggle against the Communion, she still found the Terran's comments to be something of an insult (inadvertent or not) to the BILLIONS of beings that had up the Coalition forces that had fought against the Communion’s advance.

 

But the F'terrix Squire quickly caught herself before she might have made any sort of response. She was here to represent the Order for this ceremony, not to berate or getting into an argument with a visitor from an Isolate. So the Squire remained quiet, looking over to the ambassador to see his reaction. At least the Terran female with the red hair had politely asked a truly pertinent question, one Kath'lana was sure the Lor would be able to address.

[Ari]

GM

 

"A splendid question, Nicole!" Ortilac plucked an imaginary spec of dust from his wings, ignoring the murmurs and raised hackles evident among the other  officials present. The captain of the Science Navy ship Radiance Unveiled, that had brought them from Earth, looked especially nettled. 

 

Though it was hard to tell, since they didn't have an indentifiable face among their cybernetic enhancements.

 

"The Li have a unified government that speaks for all sapient life known to exist in their system. Their stealth technology has allowed them to remain undetected even to us, let alone to Terres' observation points. And, perhaps most importantly, they asked to join.

 

"As it stands, no Terresi organization can justly claim to speak for all inhabitants of your home world alone; your prime development, dimensional travel, is riven with risks nobody in greater space would dare accept unless they were already vastly more powerful than the Preservers themselves; you also have not asked. This is a free association of worlds, the Empire is dead and buried, we no longer seize every world and people we find simply to ensure it does not rise to challenge us. Who knows? Maybe one day Terres will form a bloc all its own!"

 

The ambassador smiled kindly at Louise "Oh, yes, I was informed of your awakening. Just so long as you have explicit, uncoerced permission from the sapient, use of your gift is unrestricted. Here: you may look into my mind whenever you wish, Crystal-Gazer, and make whatever use of what you find that pleases you." He indicated a grim, grey old man with pointed ears and brutally cropped silver hair,  "Mentat Pei'n, my associate, can answer any more personally significant questions."

 

"Ambassador, uh, may I be excused?" 

 

Blinking at Leroy, who'd raised his hand much more gingerly this time, the Ealan inclined his head, bestowing an even more beneficient smile than usual. "All of you Terresi may come and go as you please. Unless an emergency arises, you are not under my authority. You are under your teacher's!"

 

Dr. Rakesh rolled his eyes. "Go. Be back in ten minutes. Touch nothing."

 

"Wretched thing had 'pull hatch' written right on it..." Leroy rose and was soon gone from the room, the door cycling closed behind his angry back.

Edited June 23, 2019 by Ari

[Ari]

GM

 

As the gravitic gallivant's footsteps receded, Ortilac cleared his throat, adding "As well, Nicole...at a guess, how many of your fellow metahumans are more like yourself, and how many are more like, well..." he glanced meaningfully at the door.

 

 "If you can make these metacausal abilities and unknown sciences work predictably and fit within a society outside of fighting metabeings and ransoming technology, so the much the better. Until then, it's regrettably a drawback. Personally, the potentially catastrophic ecological collapse on Terres is also a factor, but I would not make my own feelings into Coalition policy."

 

"But enough of downsides! As Praetorian Sitara says, peace is a time of celebration! What else can I tell you? Perhaps you would like to know about the Li?" 

 

Craning forward on his dais, Ortilac beamed hopefully at the teenagers.

Edited June 23, 2019 by Ari

[Azuth65]

Staying seated, hands in her lap, the Selena exercised one of the most sound teachings, used by both her parents in their professions, legal and diplomatic alike, remaining silent.  She frankly had a hard time believing that every people within the Coalition had become so utopian that they never had anyone stumble into powers greater than those around them and found a desire to settle some scores, real or imagined.

 

"I'd love to take a look at some of your geological information.  I'm a magnetokinetic and I'm curious what kind of magnetically reactive metals are available to experiment on with my powers," Selena said, turning to eye her friend and squad mate, "Yes, before you say anything, I'm going to more than hurl chunks down a firing range."

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole

 

Ambassador Ortilac's made fine points. Humanity needed to band together first instead of squabbling among each other, and also institutionalize systems related to metahumans. Claremont was a step towards that, but she knew that she was one of the privileged few to have gone through its training. There were many others who had less to go on and some of them were vulnerable enough to be snatched up by vultures to use powers for criminal activity.

 

Those assembled took offense at her and her questions, but she was merely asking out of curiosity so she ignored the murmurs and pointed looks her way.

 

Then Ortilac turned his attention to Leroy, and Nicole and Gauss leaned in towards one another. "Or we could board a ship and go to the asteroid field we passed on the way here. Imagine." Nicole's eyes sparkled. "Zero-gravity and deep-space space rocks. How much could you move without anything pulling you down?"

 

She noticed then Ortilac beaming down at them though she did not know why. A quick mental replay of the past few seconds revealed his question, and ever happy to learn more Nicole raised her hand again. "Ambassador, are there any pertinent cultural or historical facts about the Li we should know about? I would like to know if the Coalition embraces the diversity of its many worlds instead of merely gathering them for their technological advancements."

Edited June 26, 2019 by Zeitgeist Blue

[Ari]

GM

 

"By happy coincidence, those are connected!" Brushing his fingers against a panel on his chair, Ortilac conjured a photorealistic three-dimensional model of a planet out of the table. His warm, liquid voice flowed breezily over his following exposition.

 

"This is their capital and homeworld, Xix Yr. As you can see from the ravines and rugged mountains covering most of the non-submerged surface, it's been quite tectonically active in the past. At around three times the size of your Earth, with even more mass to boot, travel was exceedingly difficult for life forms to develop. 

 

"Cold, too. Temperatures in the mountains rarely reach 200 degrees [kelvin] in the summer. Agriculture is only possible in the temperate, sheltered valleys, and then for a third of their year. Put that together with new forms of life still regularly breaking up from the superheated interior, and you have the Li philosophical foundation: solidarity.

 

"Community and togetherness is pivotal to their thought, their development from religion to science to comedy. Even the divisions based on regional physical differences are unknown." Ortilac looked deeply chagrined "On my homeworld, Eal, the unjust and grievous mistreatment of the wingless stains my peoples' history. Given the recent influx of refugees from spinward systems, and the new species being welcomed as Coalition members, this open and unprejudiced mindset will be invaluable. Imperial history colors much of our Lor-derived thinking."

 

He tapped another pattern on the panel beside him, drawing up an image of a massive, burly creature with long claws covered in reddish-brown hair, a white chevron gleaming on their chest and with a bear-like snout flanked by tusks. The figure was dressed in a cycling series of costumes, minor shifts in physiology accompanying those changes of clothes. 

 

"With a few natural exceptions, the Li are lovely, charming and hospitable people who take every pain for the support and comfort of all in their society. They have had conflicts over resources between each other and against other native life, but the last was millennia ago, since then they have learned the value of controlling perception. From natural forms of camouflage they have developed unparalleled stealth technology. Their philosophers theorized and their scientists later confirmed the existence of alien life.

 

"Until now, the Li considered themselves unready for contributing to the interstellar community. Settling and developing their own star system has been their mission for many centuries, decoding transmissions and scanning alien vessels to learn what was needed to care for and benefit these unwitting neighbors. Learning of the Coalition's recent diplomatic troubles appears to have been their signal."

 

Ortilac stretched his wings. "I rarely use this superlative, but the Li appear to be an ideal society, by almost any metric."

[Dr Archeville]

Davyd had been silent after his attempted introduction to Sitara, thoroughly awestruck by all that was around him.  He had heard Nicole and Lulu's questions (especially Lulu's), and Ambassador Ortilac's responses.  When he realized Ortilac was talking about Li -- the main reason they were even there -- he tried to focus on what was being said.

 

Sounds like a perfectly functional democratic socialist society.  

 

"They sound amazing," he finally said, voice small and unsure, "like... like big plyushevoho vedmedyka!"  He suddenly blushed, realizing how offensive being compared to a teddy bear could sound, "ah, no, that may be wrong thing to say.  But, ah," he scratched the side of his head, "when will we be seeing them?  That is, when will we be going to Xix Yr's surface?  Oh," he snapped his fingers, "speaking of, you said what the temperature was down there, but not the atmospheric composition.  I know we will need insulated, heated suits, but what about nitrogen-oxygen mix?"

Edited August 16, 2019 by Dr Archeville

[Ari]

GM

 

"Oh yes, clear forgot!" Coughing apologetically, Ambassador Ortilac swept his fingers across the table. The planet returned, splitting in half to display a cross-section of its atmosphere. "It's very toxic to us natives of oxygen-based atmos, primarily carbon dioxide here and here, with some nitrogen dominance here. Their seas would be to us highly acidic, their rain season deluges as well. Your charges will of course be kept in the hospitality sectors, Dr. Rakesh," the angelic alien bowed to the Claremonters' stone-faced guardian, who nodded curtly, "there you can observe and meet with life on Xix Yr without fear. There are fields, herds and other representatives of native species, museums and commercial establishments, even samples of their technology and dissections of recently deceased volunteers."

 

"Where do they get food for people of our makeup?" Dr. Chawla had seemed bored and impatient as ever, but the mention of commercial establishments had caught his attention.

 

"They've been perfecting synthsizing food for about 200 years. I tested one of their svillo cakes, just like the real thing, was shocked to find it used to be a block of volcanic rock." The captain of the Grace had been busy absorbing news reports, but evidently had kept at least half an ear on the conversation. The diminutive purple furry thing had been vocally displeased at so many additions to the finalizing ceremony and only begrudgingly agreed to let them in the meeting at all.

 

Ortilac nodded vigorously, addressing the students at large "Please do not go outside the hospitality sectors without protective equipment-ah, and do let your scarred friend know about that too. His communicators keep vanishing for some resson." 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

She’d allowed the Ambassador to say his piece before responding to the teenagers, she found there wonder quite refreshing. She knelt down besides Dayvid, she’d not heard many of the accents of Earth so she found it fascinating.

 

“Tell you what once we’re done, and your mentor agree’s, I’ll take you out in the Kavaca. Seven’s here...” she gestures to the probe 777 “... has found so interesting stuff near this systems Kuiper belt. We might be able to manage some zero-G stuff.”

 

She smiled to herself as the Ambassador talked up the species there were there to visit join the interstellar community

“They’re got a terrible night life though, not a decent dive bar on the entire planet!” she looked a sheepish before adding “If your old enough to drink obviously, things were very different when I was growing up!”

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole

 

Nicole gave Selena a wide grin at Sitara's offer. She had been expecting to ask, beg, and cajole Chawla to let the both of them leave the Li's hospitality sectors when they had the time, and if none of those worked then they might have had to sneak out to find someone who would agree to take them. Yet here was an offer not two seconds after Selena and her had come up with an itinerary.

 

"See?" Nicole said, looking as pleased as if she had planned Sitara's offer. "We've got a ship already. Now all we need is a good excuse to duck out for a few hours."

 

She had depleted her questions for Ortillac, so she turned to Selena and Sitara. The diplomatic proceedings and Leroy's exit both faded to the background. She knew they would be called to witness the end of the proceedings once the questions had died down.

 

"It's funny how many things are the same in other worlds as it is on Terra. Legal drinking age for one. I don't know the protocol for when you're light years away from home." Nicole leaned forward to hear the alien better. "But how did you do things when you were young, Sitara?"

[RocketLord]

U.F.O.

 

777 listened, comparing everything that was being told of the planet below them to its own archives. It had to make sure everything was up to date, as it should be. The universe was vast and ever changing, but that only meant there were more things to learn, after all. The Terrasi students seemed interested, at least, which was good. They were strange, not two of them alike, but that only made them more interesting.

 

Now that Sitara was addressing the students again, and refering to 777's findings out there, it almost swelled with pride. Such a strange feeling. "Greetings. This unit is designated Universal Field Operative 777," it introduced itself, otherwise remaining as motionless as ever, aside from the display showing its eyes turning into a happy smile with closed eyes, rather than just two red eyes, before being replaced by just two red eyes focused on Nicole. "This unit has noted the occurence: It is commonly considered illegal for life forms that have yet to reach full maturity to participate in the ingestion of substances that alters brain chemistry. While this unit has seen different reasons on different worlds, the major reason seem to be avoiding irreversible damage during a life form's development." 

[Azuth65]

Turning her head to face UFO she answered, "It depends on the local governing body.  In some countries, the drinking age is as low as five years old.  In my father's country for example, nineteen is the minimum while my mother's is twenty-one."  Facing Nicole and Sitara she gave a grin, "But, I'm betting space is like international waters.  Odds are good, depending on the adult supervising, eighteen will work in most places."

 

Looking over at the recent transfer student she nodded, "So, Dayv, want in on the plan of messing around with space rocks?"

[Dr Archeville]

Looks like this could be a good place to test just how adaptable I really am, Davyd thought, though I'm not quite sure I'm ready to intentionally go out there without a suit.  But if something breaches the hospitality sector, I should be okay.  But what about others?  Is suppose I could block any breaches with my own body...

 

As the conversation veered slightly to drinking ages, he smirked and shook his head.  "Americans seem so hung up on drinking," he said to U.F.O., "and most of what they serve is so bad!"  He looked to his fellow Claremonters, "I've had drinks at family things for years, since before I was a teen.  My Uncle Sasha makes this horilka, with honey and red peppers -- delicious!"

 

He suddenly felt their chaperone's eyes burning into him.  "Oh, ah, of course, that was under parental supervision, and should not be done here," he lied, "and we probably should not go outside the designated safety areas.  Especially me, since I've only had the most basic of zero G training since before we got here, not the full Claremont course."

Edited August 16, 2019 by Dr Archeville

[Ari]

GM

 

"Oh, yes, later I need to talk with you, Rakesh, about what's legal on Earth and what isn't relative to Li space..." an insistent chiming, like clacking stones, drew Ortilac's attention to a flashing square on the table "...which is suddenly very relevant! We will shortly be en route to Xix Yr's surface. Captain, I will meet you on the bridge once this meeting is over." The ambassador nodded to the squat, furry Captain, who hopped down from their chair and vanished in a cloud of light without a word.

 

"Oh, and of course there will be a null-gravity recreation room, Davyd." The wingéd envoy seemed honestly taken aback at the shapeshifter's lack of weightlessness experience, shooting a questioning glance at Rakesh, who responded by meaningfully tapping one of his feet.

 

"You won't be expected to have formalwear at the ceremony. If you would rather not be there, that is no issue either. Just relax, mingle, learn about the Li. I hope to as well, they're such wonderful people to negotiate with! Any other concerns, before I confer with Rakesh?"

 

With no obvious move on his part, the teacher's phone sent a simple message to the comms he'd insisted each student carry offworld: 

 

'SAY NO.'

[Zeitgeist Blue]

Nicole

 

"Which means we're drinking alien cocktails tonight," Nicole said to Selena and Davyd. Nicole matched her friend's grin. Then she gestured at Lulu, catching the telepath's attention. "And you, Lulu? Coming with us and Sitara to a bar and deep space both or just one or the other?"

 

She turned her head to look at Sitara and Seven both. "I think, Davyd," she said slowly and unknowingly trampling iver Davyd's curated lie. "That these two are better teachers than any zero G training we could get back on Earth."

 

"And our mentor's fine with it, I think. This is all about cultural immersion for us and what better way than to do things with the locals? Are you bringing us to the Kavaca or to one of the terrible dive bars first?"

 

Ortilac's parting words lent weight to Nicole's own. They were here to learn and mingle. Then the ambassador asked for last second questions and Nicole's comms buzzed with with Rakesh's curt suggestion. So she shook her head at the ambassador.

 

"Nothing more to ask."

[Heritage]

Lulu had grown a little quiet; she'd taken Ortilac up on his offer, and was learning some truly amazing things about the Coalition and life out in space. It wasn't until Nicole addressed her directly that the redhead returned to the real world.

 

"Oh, ah don't know if drinkin' is such a good idea, especially in outer space," she said as she looked over to their chaperone and smiled sweetly. But in their heads, her fellow students heard a very different message.

 

-My family's had a whiskey still operating out in the woods as long as I can remember; I've got no problem with sneaking out for a sip!-

 

"Ah mean, we're hear to learn, right? Asteroids an' stuff sounds pretty cool."