trans_9 | Contact - [CLOSED, backdated to a little after Trojan Horse]

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Contact - [CLOSED, backdated to a little after Trojan Horse]

Le Prefecture was currently empty and quiet, save for the projection of one blonde princess that was simply waiting. Waiting for the other members of the council and appointed leaders of the ship to arrive. They had taken care of the Council's open house, and she had made sure to attend even though she had still been recovering. But it was important to be there, and it was even more important to be where she was now immediately after they finished that. Her and Setsuna's encounter with the Ohm had been quite the experience. And though they were still in the darkness when it came to understanding them completely, there were little hopes of light starting to shine in.

Once the rest of the crew arrived, she'd begin. The meeting repeating itself over and over again in her head.

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Behold a Zetta, appearing on the scene by the expedient of, well, walking in. He was carrying some sort of folding contraption.

"So this is where you tell us the terrible secret of the Ohm, right? Are they actually on our side, or just being manipulated? 'Cuz I gotta say those two are where my money's been for a while."

He held up a hand to forestall the inevitable. "Yeah, yeah, 'wait for everyone, Zetta,' I know. Don't worry, I came prepared."

He unfolded the contraption, revealing it to be a stand with a large sheet of paper rolled up at the top. This sheet he pulled down, revealing... a booking sheet.

OHM STATUS

NOT EVIL: 1:1
MANIPULATED: 2:1
MANIPULATED BY DALIGIG: 3:1
ACTING FOR 'GREATER GOOD': 4:1
ACTING FOR 'GREATER GOOD' AGAINST DALIGIG: 7:1
SECRETLY ON OUR SIDE: 11:1
THREE PRINNIES IN AN OHM COSTUME: 5,000,000:1

He honestly intended to take this as seriously as he did most things. Really. He just felt like pointing out he'd been predicting a Terrible Secret of the Ohm since... Marriage Planet or so.

Matt arrived a little later, looking a little out of sorts but he was refreshed for the most part. He took his customary seat, hoping to hear some good news.

She couldn't help but laugh lightly at that.

"Sorry ... but what are Prinnies?"

"When murderers, thieves, and people who've led worthless lives die," Zetta said, "their souls get sewn into the body of a Prinny. A Prinny is basically a stitched-together penguin with two peg legs, tiny bad wings, and a pouch for holding stuff. They're the cosmos's punching bags and they explode when you throw them.

"If they're in Celestia, they have to do good deeds for free. In a Netherworld, they do terrible chores for less than minimum wage, till they've earned their reincarnation."

"Reincarnation?" She blinked. That was certainly surprising to hear. "That exists where you are from?"

"Hyaaa ha ha! It's the way the cosmos works! Die and be reborn, hopefully as an improvement! Not everyone gets the privilege, though." Some people went on to a more final reward, after all. Good or evil.

Well, that was something to come in on. Nehaalista raised an eyebrow as she entered the room, but kept her opinions to herself. She waved, but chose not to say very much as she took her seat.

She didn't wait for any push to begin. Having thought over exactly what to say and how to say it while she waited. There was so much to say about this-- so Dhianeila spoke clearly, slowly and most of all, seriously.

"During the mission outside of NiSaris' asteroid field, Setsuna and I were successful in making a form of contact with the Ohm's Leviathan Node. Unfortunately, due to both the window of opportunity we were given, as well as the Ohm's retaliation against our attempt, we could only do so for a matter of seconds.

"However," she added, remembering her own struggles with beings they tried to learn more about, "those precious seconds were not wasted, and given our knowledge of the Ohm prior to this encounter, we learned much in that tiny bit of time. I believe ... the first thing I shall say is that the Ohm are in fact, not any sort of hive mind, as many feared them to be. I felt the presence of many, many different beings. All with their own thoughts, and their own emotions. However, the connection they share seems to be something that not many others possess. Once, not too long before my arrival here, I met a race with what I feel is a similar connection. A single connection of minds spanning through their entire race. Everyone communicating and circumspecting with one another, none being left out, and none staying silent.

She took a short pause, taking in a breath. "Their feelings and emotions ... they are more than just simple anger and hatred. Some of them were frightened, surprised when they realized that we were there, attempting to speak with them. Before were pushed away, I also felt..." Dhianeila looked down, looking a mix of confused, like she wished she could have experienced more, yet sad, as despite what was happening, they possessed those feelings, too. "Sadness. Some sort of profound sadness. And anger, but not a simple, untargetable anger -- they think we are terrible for a reason, as if we've done something terrible in their eyes."

And then she shook her head before anybody asked the obvious question. "But I do not know what, or why. There was not enough time during the battle to learn any more than that."

"Having expected this for, I don't know, freaking forever," Zetta said, "I say we activate Contingency Plan Alpha Five, 'Not Really Caring Yet'. Because right now there's not a damn thing we can do about their after-school-special feelings. That Oracle that was yakking at us after we all got hitched was pretty much promising we'd be taking some weird turn when we got that Wall Hanging the Map was leading us to."

"Zetta, just because we can't do anything at the moment, doesn't mean we can't act on what we know." Superman said, leaning forward. At the very least, this is very interesting news. They weren't fighting some sort of hive mind.

"At the same time? I feel that this is something that, while the crew must know about, this is something the Daligig shouldn't."

"Oh yeah, we tell the crew." Zetta took that as a given. None of this secrecy crap on HIS watch, if he could help it. "I'm saying we know WHAT they feel, but not WHY. And we need to make that freaking clear. I'm saying what we CAN'T do is just start questioning everything we're doing... uh, any more than we were, because I'm pretty sure we all should be at this point.

"But we can't hold back on fighting them off if they attack because we think they might be sympathetic or misunderstood or something. And I think we can still count pretty hard on the idea that whatever the sides are here, they're still the ones who wrecked up the cosmos. Whatever their intentions, they don't get a free pass for THAT."

"I agree that, until we are able to take progressive action in figuring out their motives and searching for a way to put an end to the senseless destruction that our worlds have met, we must ensure that we survive. We must defend ourselves and those in danger of meeting the same fate as the places we have come from, much like those on NiSaris. But, in knowing now what we know, there is more to their actions than a mere thirst for murder. We cannot view them as mindless, enemy drones that must be eradicated at all costs. Doing so would turn us into the very thing we fear and wish not to exist most."

She turned to Superman after that. "While our situation on many fronts, including that on the existences of the Daligig and the GIA are still potentially confusing, that may be a safe route to take. I wonder, though, regardless of the goals of the Daligig, how they would respond to this knowledge."

"I wish I was a mind reader, I'd be able to answer that question easier. I fear, though, that they won't take it kindly." Superman said. "At the worse, it would probably give them even more reason to have them wiped out - that they weren't acting on one thought, that it was all on their own."

He leaned back on his chair in thought. "We need to find out the truth, but the only way to do that is suicidal."

"I still don't completely trust the GIA," Kang spoke up, the tip of his tail moving slightly in thought. "And I sure as hell don't trust the Daligig. I'd rather not tell either of them until we have a better idea what they're really like. And, I agree about the Ohm; once, my kind were thought to be nothing more than murdering monsters, and genocide has been attempted against us before. I know what it feels like, and I'd rather not inflict that on others."

He snorted quietly. "There has to be a way to communicate with them without sacrificing any of our own. Dhianeila and Setsuna managed to do it, even it was just for a few seconds."

"We shouldn't trust anyone but our damn selves, and that includes the ship," Zetta said. "And I still say fixing that last part needs to be a priority, because I'll bet anything there's some stuff on all this tucked away where we can't get to it right now."

He crossed his arms, looking around at all the others. "For the record? Yeah, I want them destroyed. Not because I think they're murdering mindless monsters. Because they started something with me and I intend to freaking finish it. And have enough mana power to wish back the cosmos to normal... uh, as soon as I find the Sacred Tome. Working on that. Uh, anyway, that goes back to my original point. I'm betting we get info from the ship, and the poster... of destiny... thing... when we get it."

"Fixing the ship is pretty much on my mind as well," agreed Matt, folding his hands in front of himself. "We need to take it one step at a time and considering what kind of track record we've had on Stacy, getting our own ship under control is the first thing on my list."

"After that, inform the crew, and get to work on figuring out how this is all going to pan down. Now that we know they're not a hive mind, we can probably use this information somehow."

Kang nodded. "Information is extremely valuable."

Rhiow kneaded her claws into the surface she sat on, her eyes narrowed in thought. "Was it simply an emotional impression, or did you speak with them as well?"

She wasn't ready to come to a decision yet. She needed more facts. The Daligig had not seemed like a species with malicious intent, but she also knew better than to trust her surface impressions. The rage virus, ostensibly created by them, gave her enough reason to be wary. "Also - in the asteroid field, who fired first?"

"Their concept of communication..." she began, thinking of the simple, understandable, yet so different, "is something unlike what we appear to share on this ship. It was more than a simple emotional exchange. But because it happened so quickly, because we were pushed away seconds after ... I did understand. They wished for us to leave, and denied our pleas to reconsider. Beyond that, and beyond their claiming us to be ... to be monsters, there was no opportunity to learn any more."

She paused, thinking. "I believe once they noticed us, they began to rush and fire, but I cannot be completely sure."

"I say we tell the ship right away," Zetta said. "Aside from the fact that people keep complaining we don't do anything or say anything, they oughtta know anyway. We've got no reason to keep this a secret."

"Agreed," said Matt, leaning forward a little, his hands coming out of his meditative steeped pose. "If anything, it might give our people more reason to find a way to end this war, and work together instead of bickering all the time. And with the open meeting coming, I fear there's going to be even more division amidst the crew."

"I shall do so immediately following this meeting."

Her eyes moved over the others as she made her next request. "I am sure much of the crew will take this information and react in different ways. Many of them will, like us still, have many questions even though we may not be able to answer them all. But, please aid me in responding to them all, and ensuring that they all know and understand every detail of what we have discovered."

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Contact - [CLOSED, backdated to a little after Trojan Horse]

[ARRIVALS/MINGLING]

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[GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS]

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