trans_9 | When in rome [Semi-open]

The mission briefing was short and sweet. Planet Epicurea, breathable air, drinkable water, food that wouldn't melt your stomach, matriarchical society unusually fond of procedure and posturing. The plan was to find an object of interest (description helpfully provided by the ship), negotiate for it, then return to the rendezvous coordinates before Stacy decided to leave without them. So simple, only three crew members would be assigned to carry out the mission.

Anwei Ayles, whose negotiation skills and extensive experience dealing with alien races (especially slightly snooty ones) would no doubt prove eminently useful for the delicate nature of the bargaining that would take place,

Howard Bassem, whose intrinsic understanding of diplomacy and unorthodox means of obtaining information would smooth over any rough edges (and maybe help grease the wheels a little behind the scenes), and last of all --

[ooc -- Anyone's free to barge in during the first subthread ("Mission Briefing") if they like, the rest of the post is only Anwei, Howard, and Zouichi :) ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Would you prefer if for this mission we all had to marry each other? You would make charming co-husbands," she said with a sideways glance. Then she frowned at the dossier. "I'm hoping that the size of the team reflects the possible threat level. We get the Orb, we give them the food, we leave before any catastrophe can catch up to us."

Anwei actually agreed with Howard, but the old aristocratic bones of her personality persisted in poking through the skin of her civility. She had been raised to think that meat should be every meal, and that meat should be talking-meat.

"Stacy's systems can't be too tightly balanced, or she wouldn't allow us to go on shore leave and excrete solids and liquids that can't be reclaimed. Although come to think of it, that would make shore leave more fast-paced, wouldn't it? 'Do whatever you like but hold it until you get back to the ship'!"

"I will have to take a pass," Zouichi said, as politely as could possibly be expected. "There was quite enough of that on the last mission." And lot of good it did them; they still didn't know what information that map really held.

"And I agree. If there was a high probability we would run into complications, then the ship should have sent out more personnel." Assuming the ship still had two bio-circuits to rub together, that is.

"Honestly? I'd rather marry Zou than get shot at. Temporarily, at least." He looks over at Zouichi and shrugs. "No offense."

The more Zouichi insists that this would go well, the more Howard's convinced they're just tempting fate. Which is only slightly better than the idea Anwei's brought up that they're probably not eating their own recycled waste, but just maybe...

"Okay, so then what reason does she have to send you? Or me, for that matter. Pianomouth, I'm guessing you're at least good at this upper crust talking business."

Anwei briefly pondered the possible children of such a union, and then put the thought aside.

"Perhaps we all happen to resemble deities in their pantheon and they will hand us what we want, no question. Perhaps there is a legend of three aliens who are entitled to get the object, after which the skies will rain wealth on them all." She shot a glance at Howard. "Or maybe they have a weakness for pretty teeth." She grinned, wide enough to show that while she might not have a full complement of eighty-eight teeth, she certainly had more than most standard humans.

"I'd rather get shot at," Zouichi says. After a moment, he looks back over at Howard. "...no offense." He got shot at all the time; it's something he at least knows how to deal with. And Howard would probably be high-maintenance.

"If we do resemble local deities, that could prove to be a problem just as easily as it could be a point in our favor."

"None taken."

Howard seriously doubts any of them look like local deities. "Zou's got a point. Haven't you guys ever seen Road to El Dorado? Things can go seriously south if we let the local priests have their say. But no, I'm just betting Stacy's expecting this to go wrong. Occam's Razor and all that. We're screwed."

With a dramatic sigh, he starts walking over to the shuttle. "Let's do this stupid thing."

When in rome [Semi-open]

Re: MISSION BRIEFING

Re: MISSION BRIEFING

Re: MISSION BRIEFING

Re: MISSION BRIEFING

Re: MISSION BRIEFING

Re: MISSION BRIEFING