Move 5 (Chapter 1.5)

[yhlee]

Time: 361
Place: out-rift near Station Moongray

The Wasp's cockpit/command center:
Kaliyan notes that the Butterfly Lens asks for a docking maneuver with the Wasp, and approaches slowly and politely on the assumption that this is approved. In the meantime, the second vessel, which Sasha and Yehan previously identified as some kind of Naxorian Rosemallow House starship, decelerates and holds position some distance from the Wasp, lingering without initiating communication.

The Wasp's Engineering room
Anyone in or near Engineering will notice what almost feels like a quaver from the Wasp at the second starship's approach, as though the Wasp is nervous.

[Skipping ahead a bit with the logistics--feel free to add any other preparations that the team would have made before the meeting proper.]

The Wasp's airlock, welcoming party
The ship-to-ship docking maneuver goes more or less smoothly--partly due to Kaliyan's vigilance, partly due to adroit piloting on the Butterfly's end. Two individuals emerge from the other ship. The first is a tall alt with long, rippling hair, their eyes wide and anxious. The alt is not wearing Nirai colors, but instead wears shades of desaturated blue with a blue-and-silver pin that declares that they are a Contact Specialist, Second Class. Their companion appears to be the alt's assistant, a tidy older man with his hair in braids, all wrapped up in a black coat with silver buttons, as if he's used to warmer temperatures. Neither of them resembles Nirai Remi.

Ankat doesn't spot any obvious weapons--it looks like the man could be hiding something beneath his coat, but he'd probably have difficulty getting it out before Ankat could react or call a warning. Probably.

"Ah, snacks!" the alt says, looking sharply at the edible fidget spinners. "You must be from one of those timelines, where the Liozh--" They flutter their hands. "You know."

"Manners, Contact Specialist," the man in the coat says. "You mustn't insult their way of living. We have special dispensation about...alternate orthodoxies, remember?"

"Indeed," the alt says. They will address themselves to the welcoming party in general, although it's clear that they're trying to identify Andan Rii. (As a Contact Specialist, they've probably learned not to make too many hasty assumptions.) "I'm Contact Specialist Andan Bokali, Second Class, and the Nirai have given me the honor of welcoming you and the rest of Bumblebee's crew to Station Moongray. [Referencing this message from Move 4.] This gentle here is my liaison on the station, Nirai Pavn." They smile, eyeing the fidget spinners again as though they suspect some of them are rigged to blow. "It is very good of you to provide refreshments. We were going to feed you back at the station, you know, but--" Andan Bokali smiles wryly. "The cooking there is not always the most festive." Their gaze drifts to Ankat's Scadrian whiskey, and their eyes brighten.

[Feel free to introduce yourselves to the NPCs, mingle with them, discuss terrible space snacks, ask them about the other ship, etc.]

[If you need clarification from me or from another PC, please don't hesitate to ask/message!]

Comments

[vass]

"Honored to meet you, gentles," Iawa says, stepping forward to proffer the glasses. "I've never spoken to someone from a research moth before. Are you studying the rifts, then?"

He addresses the question slightly more to Pavn than to Bokali. He'd prepared his conversational gambits for Nirai, expecting that it might be awkward for him, since he hasn't had much to do with Nirai before.

The Andan contact specialist throws him off a little. Something about them gives him a slight prickle of danger. He's comfortably familiar with Andans and their status games, but always in situations where he was their social equal, or in which it would be unbearably gauche for them to try to enthrall anybody.

It's a little different, facing one as a humble, factionless crewman, and he's not sure he likes it. He wonders how Ashari measures up to Andan Bokali.

Nirai scientist snobbery

[yhlee]

Pavn inclines his head to Iawa and takes one of the glasses. After a polite sip, he speaks. "Well, we're studying the rifts," he says gruffly. "Bokali here seems to think the people who come through the rifts are more interesting than gaping holes in the fabric of space-time, but we can't all be scientists. A curious phenomenon, to be sure. You're not a research ship yourself, then?"

Re: Nirai scientist snobbery

[vass]

"No, we transport passengers and cargo," Iawa says. He nods in Ashari's direction. "Our current client." He shrugs. "It's a living, and it lets me see the universe. Maybe more of it than I ever imagined I'd see. What have you found out about the rifts? Do you think you'll know what's causing them soon?"

[Iawa has no idea how scientific progress works.]

[lleullawgyffes]

[just for the record, based on that description, I'm imagining Bokali is wearing something like this but instead of "ask me about my feminist agenda" it says "ask me about being a contact specialist, second class".]

Another Andan, one who sounds just as exhausting to be around as all other Andan. Virmad offers the most neutral formal bow he can without it being insulting — he still has his Rahal pride — then takes a moment to check both the Andan’s and the Nirai’s signifiers.

“Rahal Virmad, second-level inquisitor,” he says by way of introduction, but he doesn’t plan on volunteering any more information, at least not until their welcoming party’s intentions are clearer.

NPC signifiers and the matter of Rahal

[yhlee]

Interesting--the Andan has a Shuos signifier, Ninefox Guardian. [Fun fact: this is the same signifier that Shuos Zehun has, if that gives you any indication.] This indicates someone vigilant, pragmatic, concerned with duty. The Nirai's signifier is a less eyebrow-raising Clockwork Moth, suggesting someone who is interested in protocol and routines.

"A Rahal!" Andan Bokali exclaims, perking up. "Are you from--may I ask what time period you're from? The station is having a certain amount of difficulty with the local authority. The station administrator would be charmed to discuss the details with someone more knowledgeable in these matters."

[venndaai]

[uh can I just say Sulen is also here and listening attentively and managed to produce some clothes that look rahalesque despite me dropping the ball and not having them doing anything last move]

Common knowledge about Andan

[pengwern]

[Could I ask about where you could expect to find a contact specialist, second class - like if it's reasonable to see one here in heptarchate space, or who their training might lead them to defer to - anything that other faction members (or cadets that hacked the Andan) would know about their status within the hierarchy of diplomats?]

Re: Common knowledge about Andan: Contact Specialist, Second Class

[yhlee]

[Sure. The Andan have three tiers. First Class would be like ambassadors or very high-ranking diplomats. Second Class are the mid-tier folks, some of whom specialize in cultures internal to the heptarchate because it's a multi-ethnic/world/etc. polity, some of whom specialize in foreign cultures. Third Class are basically one step up from cadets, usually still in training. It's not too weird to see one assigned to a Nirai station if contact with different peoples from different times/places is expected. A Contact Specialist, Second Class would probably stick pretty closely to their mission statement rather than being in a position to determine policy--they'd defer to their superiors for that.]

[pengwern]

Mikodez would have been delighted to hear all about Station Moongray’s policies on the Hexarchate. If only he had intended it. As it is, he lurks behind Iawa like he can avoid Ashari’s gaze. They could have said something earlier if the spinner snacks were wrong for the occasion, okay. Nobody even disturbed the plate when it was in the fridge for an entire eleven hours. The ombres came out so nicely, especially the dash of arsenic for Vidona emerald.

Going by the way Andan Bokali was looking at the spinners, Mikodez isn’t even going to try offering the plate to them. He could eat at least half the plate himself, once Ashari finished the introductory browbeating. He watches as Bokali continues their chat with Virmad, and uses the hand to the other side of Ashari to be obviously surreptitious in sneaking a silver-dark wheel to eat, in case Nirai Pavn noticed his staring.

Either the Andan at the bars could afford to be smoother jackasses to skulking Shuos cadets, or the heptarchate had left a less than stellar Andan in a station this far into their own space. Or protocol had ossified in 841 years. Or something else. With a little luck, Ashari would scent weakness in their direction and sweep after them, rather than turn the fury of an Andan event planner defied onto his head. Anyway, Ashari couldn’t be an event planner. Nobody else had been left bleeding or crying or with their hair totally redyed to match an antimacassar.

[yhlee]

While Andan Bokali seems...dubious about the spinners, Nirai Pavn smiles and grabs one. "Edibles, correct?" he says. He takes a candy-crunchy bite and chews with gusto. "Bokali complains about the food production facilities on our station more out of habit than anything else, I'm convinced, but these really are tasty. And different flavors for each color! Not something any of our food planners would think of, I can tell you that. So you come from one of the timelines with only six factions?"

[smokedetective]

Ashari claps Mikodez on the shoulder, smiles, eyes half-lidded in a slightly sleepy manner, and takes a few steps towards Bokali. "Andan Bokali, wonderful to make your acquaintance. I'm Andaan Rii. If I may say, your hair is simply lovely."

[yhlee]

Bokali's bow would apply to an equal or honored guest--just that bit of ambiguity. "You're one of us, all right," they say genially. "I don't think in my time on this station I've ever got a single compliment on my hair or jewelry."

Pavn glances in Bokali's direction and says mildly, "If you'd added it to the list of Approved Procedures, we would have been happy to have one of the research assistants follow you around complimenting you."

"Don't mind him," Bokali said, "he thinks sarcasm is an art form. Did you come here by accident, or design?" They make an ambiguous gesture. "If the latter, I admire your stout heart at the thought of bringing art to...the Nirai masses, but they are a tough crowd."

[zuhrovet]

Sasha plays the conversation on a monitor.

Meanwhile she tries to see what she can learn about their visitors from their devices: do they have tablets that are trying to communicate with the grid? Are they carrying devices like the lokwors [space radios, feel to rename]? [Can Sasha see Space Internet traffic from the Butterfly in some way, or does that happen on an inaccessible ansible channel or something?]

[Space internet, etc.]

[yhlee]

[Sasha can see Space Internet traffic from the Butterfly just fine--the Wasp is advanced enough to do that without much trouble.]

The visitors have tablets. One of them appears to be downloading the equivalent of Space Torrented Figure Skating Competitions from the station. The other appears to be nosing about in search of the wriggly Space Virus from earlier, although it's not having any luck finding its traces.

They are additionally carrying lokwors that communicate on an open frequency with the station, and which seem to be transmitting periodically in a "Hi! We're still alive, no worries!" fashion to whoever's monitoring the frequency back home.

Engineering

[slybrarian]

Down in engineering, Alarci has forced himself into a pedestrian mechanic's jumpsuit, an outfit largely unchanged from that worn by spacers and sailors for untold thousands of years, and is carefully applying a few grease stains to make himself fit the appearance of the redecorated engine room when the ship quivers. He frowns at the unexpected vibration, not sure of the source. It was too long and drawn out to be from the docking collar, and the wrong direction besides, but it also wasn't from anything else he recognizes. He eyes the false bulkhead separating the engine room and the moth chamber, then pressed one ear against it.

The noises inside have changed; subtly, yes, but there is a distinctly different pitch to the familiar rhythms. Every ship, and every engine of those ships, have their own sounds, no two alike. Even ships of the same class, produced by the same yards or churned out by the thousand in automated factories, grew swiftly unique from different stresses and maintenance patterns. Like any engineer worthy of the title, he had quickly learned to recognize those of the Wasp. So often the first sign of a problem would be a minor change in background noise long before alarms started.

Alaric checks all the readouts, flicking a switch the show the real es rather than invariant-only version he'd cooked up. Nothing seems to be amiss, despite the change between the present to past calendrical zones, but still.

"I'm a scientist, damn it," he mutters to himself, "not a veterinarian."

The moth drive is one of the most intriguing bits of technology the hexarchate has, in his opinion, even if the idea of a living ship is a bit dubious. There were ingenious weapons, yes, but ultimately dead was dead. (Usually, unless you were unlucky.) The bigger-on-the-inside wasn't unique; difficult to implement unless you got your calendar right but so useful many people tried it anyway. But harnessing whatever that was at the heart of the moth and using it as a stardrive - now there was something interesting. So much to potentially learn and write about!

Such as, for example, whether the hexarchate calendar allowed the thing to live, or merely allowed keeping it bound and not eating people. Maybe best to run another diagnostic just to make sure everything is working order...

[I wasn't sure if I should be up with polite society, so for now I'll tug on that plot thread with the engines.]

Re: Engineering

[yhlee]

The effect is subtle, but as Alaric runs the diagnostics, the Wasp's internal sounds shift again, back to normal operating standard. Almost as if the Wasp is aware of the diagnostics (not impossible, considering how the interface has to work) and is reassured.

If Alaric pauses running the diagnostics, the moth's harmonics will shift yet again--whether it's trying to get his attention, or the diagnostics tickle, is anyone's guess.

Re: Engineering

[vass]

[I love what you're doing here.]

Sasha has an attack of politeness: paging Kaliyan

[zuhrovet]

Sasha messages Kaliyan through the grid: "Ankat and the pretty people are all at the reception. Let me know if I can get you anything."

[cover story details? paging Ashari et al.]

[lleullawgyffes]

[I've just realized a key...mm...issue that probably one of us in character would have noticed during transit so that we could have gone over it in advance: presumably it'll quickly become obvious that we're from the future, but also presumably we're going to claim to be from the same time in the future, as admitting that we're all from different times seems likely to raise more questions (e.g.: why are we all traveling together, and on a ship from a time that none of us are originally from?) than it would answer.

so: when are we collectively claiming to be from?]

Re: [cover story details? paging Ashari et al.]

[zuhrovet]

[My understanding was that we were hoping to pose as visitors from a time contemporary with the one we are visiting, who had moved only in space, and that this plan is shredding rapidly under contact with an enemy enthusiastic about time travel.]

Re: [cover story details? paging Ashari et al.]

[smokedetective]

[That was my original idea, too.

An alternative is currently coming to mind, and that's that the people posing as the core crew of the ship are from one time, Ashari and their entourage are from another (explanation for the obsession with current Andan minimalism: fashions come and go in cycles, Andan minimalism became popular again, also would explain any discrepancies), and the Rahal are from one adjacent, or something along those lines.

It would stick with the smuggler story, but add to the poorly maintained and executed cover as a tourism business. Poorly maintained and executed as part of the cover story itself, in that the smugglers aren't especially good at the whole rift deal, have some very limited maps, and would like to go home as much as anyone else.

LMK if this makes sense]

Paging Sasha

[yehan]

Yehan is about to head to the airlock when she gets Sasha's message. She checks on the status of the Rosemallow ship and frowns, trying to puzzle out more of the meaning of its designs and what it's up to with this hovering out of sight business.

Before she leaves, she sends Sasha a message back. "I'm about to join the welcome committee. Should I should ask our visitors about the second ship?" She wishes she could check with Ashari, but they've already made contact with the visitors and she has no idea how to interrupt without making a scene.

Re: Paging Sasha

[zuhrovet]

"PLEASE DO," writes Sasha. "But don't let them know you recognize the culture."

[yehan]

By the time Yehan makes it to the airlock, the visitors have already arrived. She waits for a lull in the conversation, then jumps in, affecting a neutral working class accent as far from Kirrish or Naxorian as possible. "Excuse my interruption. Name's Veraaz, I'm one of the crew here. A few of us were wondering about your other moth there....curious thing, none of us have seen markings quite like it before. Is that from one of these alternate timelines too?"

[yhlee]

Pavn nods to "Veraaz." "Pleased to make your acquaintance. Do you like these edible fidget spinners too? As for the other starship, it's accepted our hospitality for the past several weeks. They share our curiosity about the rift, although they're in extended negotiations with the Station Administrator about observation rights and"--his voice lowers a bit, involuntarily--"publication priority."