ic The Dig

[Raveled]

Aya started despite herself. "Th' Communion?" If she hadn’t been sitting on the edge of that ghastly bone chair, she would have been now. “You think your people’s empire was brought down by an invasion from th’ Communion. That’s a hard idea to sell. I mean, th’ Communion are here now, and two galactic powers have them at a stalemate. How did the Za’akis empire, all by itself, not get destroyed?” A muscle twitched at the corner of jaw, but she suppressed the smile. “Plenty of Za’akis mercs have come up short against th’ Communion, after all. How come there are any of you left at all?”

[RobRX]

GM

"The Delaztri empire." He corrected her, shaking his head. "The species which found and uplifted my kind. I'm sure you Lor know that this is nothing new; a spaceflight-capable civilization finds a more primitive one and uplift them to serve their needs. My race's 'golden age' follows their collapse. We know their empire collapsed and scattered, we simply picked up whatever we could and endured. That is why the records are so incomplete; a great cataclysm destroyed their empire we simply survived and built our own, much smaller one, on their ruins. But those are all mostly historical footnotes." He then waved his hand, dismisively, as if bored by his own story. It was so long ago few being in the universe were old enough to remember those days. And it seemed that rather than a glorious Za'akis empire it was more akin to barbarians inhabiting the ruins of a more advanced civilization, enduring like some hardy space vermin.

"That's not very relevant to this story, this saga. What is relevant is that my people need those artifacts on this planet and we need them now. I'm willing to talk it over, because you might understand. And perhaps we can find something useful for the two of us, Lor and Za'akis, in these dark times."

Edited May 15, 2015 by RobRX

[Raveled]

Aya shook her head slowly. "Now you're sayin' that your folks were part of some mythical empire? Next you'll tell me that a Preserver appeared in your dream and told you ta' come here." She stood, stepping away from the chair and into the larger open space of the office. "If you can't show me some hard evidence that this used to be a Za'akis world, then we're finished jawin'. I think I'll be headin' back down to the planet." She held herself loose, feet shoulder-width apart, her forcefield charged. She knew Za'akis, and she fully expected him to attack her after this refusal.

[RobRX]

GM

"Hmm, and I thought my kind was the impetuous one. Very well then, we shall meet again at the dig site. Perhaps they will cover something to prove my kind did live on this planet and that, by our laws, it is ours. What I was simply going to say was this: I need those relics because I need us to retake our homeworld. Surely..." He paused for a moment, as Aya got up and prepared to leave.

"You know how it feels to have lost your home, haven't you? Lor-Van was destroyed. Za'ak is occupied by an alien species. I was hoping we could talk, I was hoping we could find something both of use to us in this, which is why I talked rather than act. I thought you were a principled, honorable woman and perhaps a great warrior. I was hoping this would allow us to see eye to eye; I was wrong." He took one final shot of his disgusting drink. "You are free to leave. We will meet again, on the surface."

As Aya left the bridge, with the Za'akis crew glaring at her despite not knowing a single thing about the meeting, she found her path cut off by another one, this one dressed in somber robes and carrying an elaborate weapon-staff. "So you are the Lor which the Captain spoke of. I must say, I am quite surprised he was so eager to talk, rather than act. Normally he's the one barking to 'get things done', usually with force." The new Za'akis said, this one sounding more like some smarmy butt-licker. "I take it from your expression this meeting has not gone well?" The alien bowed slightly. "I am Uvak. Diplomat, courrier, councillor and bureaucrat."

Edited May 16, 2015 by RobRX

[Raveled]

Aya was put off her balance. She hadn't expected such a cordial reaction from a barbarian, and was feeling more than a little jumpy when she was allowed to leave without violence. She felt a tingling in her legs and fingers as she walked through the corridors back to her shuttle, unused adrenaline fizzling through her body and making her paranoid. When a Za'akis stepped out of the shadows with the heavy staff, she glowed gold an crimson for a moment. She quickly realized he wasn't a threat, though -- or at least not anymore of a threat than the other heavily muscled and armed warrior-lizards moving and working around her.

The Lor quickly suppressed her powers, feeling her cheeks heat up at her mistake. She answered quickly, hoping to smooth things over. "He's very proud of his history," she said diplomatically, "an' expects everyone to be just as proud. But I need somethin' more than stories to hand over a valuable piece of tech." She gave the Za'akis a hard look. "I didn't realize Za'akis had diplomats. Don't seem in the temperament of most of your kind."

[RobRX]

GM

"Well, it is not the most respected profession. In our old language, 'diplomacy' as you understand it. It's meaning was closer to...I suppose 'agressive negotiations' is an apt descriptor. Language can be a bothersome barrier." He then smirked at her, showing hint of the same sharp yellowed teeth as the rest. "If we resolved every single of our problems with wanton violence we would have gone extinct a very long time ago, wouldn't we? All our politics would end in blood baths and that is not very conductive to creating a civilization. As for not meeting diplomats, it makes sense; most of our kin who leave their homeworlds are warriors. I assure you we do, in fact have farmers, scientists, engineers and doctors. When you leave, I suppose you might wish to update the Lor's information about my species." His voice showed many hints of amusement, as if he was mocking Corona's lack of understanding of others and her prejudice about his kind at how they seemingly were all low-intellect knuckledragging warriors.

"I am going to make a wild guess and say that was a very boring meeting, full of ramblings about ancient honor and grudges and all this incredibly mind-numbing old warrior talk."

[Raveled]

"In point of fact your cap'n was quite brief," Aya said, "though more givin' to jawin' than most Za'akis I've met." As they approached the shuttle she tapped at a control panel on her gauntlet; the ship's defenses were powered down and the gangplank extended to the decking. "He's determined, though," she said, almost to herself. "If'n he can't be made to see reason, people may end up in th' ground over this."

The Lor climbed the gangplank and closed it up behind her, standing at the pilot's station instead of sitting down. It was a relatively brief trip back to the planet's surface, and when she landed she went straight to the magistrate's office. "I need everythin' our people have dug up about these gadgets," she said. "An' I'll be headin' out to the dig site."

[RobRX]

GM

"Yes, I definately expect us to meet again on the ground." Replied the alien, bowing again, before taking his leave. Certainly a lot more courtesy than the rest of them.

Later that day...

"What is there to say? Our people have been digging up in the badlands when they started finding the remains of advanced technology." Explained the lumpy-looking Lor, still looking as nervous as ever. "We had a rather limited access to good quality excavation tools so they had to get their hands quite dirty in digging everything out the old way. Currently most of what they dig is nearly junk, or at least seems to be until we get someone good enough to appraise the origin and worth of these artifacts. What we really need to dig out are those two massive devices, several meters long and quite heavy. These are still active and we think they might be devices able to alter the environment. We won't know until it's all out and examined by an expert." He then handed over to her a bunch of data slates. "If you want, you can read everything in these."