"Listening to others, considering well what they say" (Part 3: Maingate Hotel)

[cityship]

The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her.

They were all teleported from the main teleport pad of the hotel into the conference room, which was a large enough room to be able to hold a group their size and had plenty of chairs arranged in a circular pattern so they could mostly all face each other or whoever was in the middle of the room.

Everyone had to settle down so they were all able to talk, and the meeting itself would have to be carefully controlled so they wouldn't all talk over each other. But they were up for the task, right?

[ooc: Guardian Setup, General Mingling, Clone Checkup, Newbie Briefing, General Briefing, More Mingling, Back to the Meeting, and The Idea Guy sections are open. Backup characters introduced to the plot can join in the mingling subthreads if they want. The opening of new subthreads will be announced here and the ooc. Please read the linked OOC post for a plot timeline.]

Comments

[governorkang]

After talking with Sakura, Kang needed to see what information others had come across, be it the technology they had come for or the laws that had so conveniently not been given to them at the start of the mission. The notes adn datapad in front of Rory looked promising, and he had a feeling that he could trust the human to not try and keep anything from him.

"Is this technology even close to being worth the disrespect we've been shown, or is it a lie too?"

[theboywhowaits]

Rory startled, just a little, glancing up at the Councilor for a long moment before responding. It wasn't reticence with the information that caused him to pause, or horror at the sight of the mark on his forehead, in fact Kang could likely see him consider the question before even starting to voice the answer. It was only right, snap judgments served no one.

"Would you like my professional opinion or my personal opinion, Councilor? As the personal opinion is markably more biased by my own connections to the situation." He made a gesture to the chair, quietly offering the seat.

"I don't think any tech, battle changing or not, was worth the indignity our crew members suffered today, Kang. And that isn't just my affection speaking."

[governorkang]

"Neither do I, which is why I chose the wording I did," Kang snorted, sitting down and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'd like both opinions. I'd also like to know what kind of tech they have, and if you managed to get a copy of the laws on this world."

[theboywhowaits]

"As far as the tech goes, well. It's as good as they said it was, every example is leagues above what we have. They can regenerate limbs and preform surgery with almost no recovery time. It's impressive tech, some of it is dependent on the presence of clones to provide the spare parts and fluids needed for the patient's recovery, but not all of it. This lowers the rejection rates of organs and fluids and provides an overall safer experience for the person going through treatment. They are capable of a portable stasis lock that I would very much like to get a look at and their emergency response unit is second to none. Overall lifespans are extended beyond anything approaching a normal range and the quality of life is greatly improved. It's usefulness in the war against the Ohm is immeasurable, the lives that could be saved with the technology are countless." The words were delivered in the flat, even tone one one reciting exactly what they knew without applying a single shred of personal feelings into it. He might as well have been reading from a script.

His eyes hardened, voice dropping. "It's good tech, the reliance on clones is both disturbing and disgusting, and the slave caste makes me want to give the clones as much of our tech as we can manage and let them finish their rebellion on better terms. What little hands on experience I've had with the tech is mostly counterbalanced by what seems like a smoke and mirrors game to make us think better of the tech than we normally would. They tell more than they show, and explain less than they should. If they intend to offer even half of this tech, then I owe Lex Luthor a drink. And no, I haven't, though I believe someone has one and it is currently being passed around. You might look for Lt. Nightwing, he seemed to be primarily in charge of it."

[governorkang]

Wings rustling, Kang muttered a string of curses in Nerakese. "Of course it can't be easy. Nothing ever is. Honestly, I might have considered helping them if they hadn't; they're the ones that shot themselves in the damn foot by lying to us, withholding information, and personally insulting some of us."

He'd never been one to hide his nature from others.

Lowering his voice as well, he added, "I'd rather help the clones myself, kill Councilor Kanner at the very least, and steal some of their technology if at all possible so we can reverse-engineer it. That likely isn't going to be an acceptable plan, though, and it has a high probability of getting us all killed." He wasn't an idiot, after all.

"I need to speak with the Lieutenant anyways."

[theboywhowaits]

"It's completely impractical to expect even a diplomatic party to treat a direct attack with anything less than rejection." His eyes found the woman from magical, and then Luthor. "But then, it's obvious that even among our crew, some people are more caught up with the method of birth rather than the person born."

It wasn't something he could understand, and he knew it. While he would gladly throw his own life away for the sake of the people he loved, to create a child to be disposable, and then act as though it shouldn't be a problem...

"Is Kanner the one?" Something in his eyes hardened, even seated it was obvious that he had shifted, though he didn't seem to realize. His hand drifted automatically towards his hip, fingers curled vaguely on air. "The one that cut the five of you from the rest of the group, correct?" He glanced away. "If you get a shot, I didn't see anything." His fingers tightened on air, shoulders a solid line of tension. "Though theft...they seem to guard it well, we weren't even allowed near the doctors, these are little more than advertisement for tech they're trying to sell.."

He glanced up, lips twisted into a wry half smile. "I somehow doubt they'll be expecting anything. A few ill prepared clones to challenge a sleepy empire? And managing to damage it badly enough that they call for off-world aid? I think they're far more used to sleeping and dreaming and being catered to. Most of the people I've seen have either been clones or upper class. How much would you wager less than a tenth of the non-cloned population even knows how to drive?"

[governorkang]

"If another nation on Krynn had dared to do anything like this to citizens of mine, there would be war," Kang said bluntly. Draconians didn't play around.

And apparently, neither did Rory. He noticed the body language, particularly the reaching for a sword that wasn't there, and quirked an eyebrow ridge, "That's the one. I almost did get him, but I missed. He won't be so lucky next time." He liked this human.

"I'd bet good steel on it myself. I don't think it'd be too difficult for the clones to win, if given the proper technology and information. There's far more of them than there are non-cloned; if enough of them rise up..." The same thing had happened in Neraka, when the draconians had gotten sick of how the humans had been treating them.

[theboywhowaits]

"I don't know what Earth would have done, or even Britain. Attacking diplomatic envoys is frowned on, in all situations. I'm not sure how they managed to convince themselves that we would be alright with it."

He nodded, obviously marking the man in his head. Kanner might have had a chance to escape with his life if he hadn't touched Rory's son. He'd let Kang have the kill, regardless, if the situation presented itself.

"See that he isn't." The words were clipped, quiet. "That's the impression I get as well, it might be that they wanted an outside force because their army is made up of clones as well. A little help and I'm certian they could. Is this the typical nature of GIA alliances?"

[governorkang]

"That bastard seemed shocked that we fought back, like he hadn't expected it. I think he assumed we'd be good little clones and go along with it like we were supposed to." That last sentence was said in a very sarcastic tone.

Kang nodded, a dangerous grin crossing his face briefly. "We haven't gotten to deal much with the GIA yet. They haven't yet proven to me that we're not just tools for them to use against the Ohm instead of allies. A number of them consider us to be stupid, primitive 'pre-bleeds' who will just get in the way."

[theboywhowaits]

"Well, yeah. He probably expected you to be passive and willing, just like any of their clones. I'm sure they bred out disobedience years ago." He looked down at the notes, lips quirking in an unreadable expression. "But it seems they didn't manage entirely. Loyalty isn't entirely programmable, or so it appears."

He nodded, taking in the new information. "Wouldn't be the first super advanced race to look at those that weren't and decide it must be inferior to its own species, I've encountered one or two that rather thought humans made good lunch, or at the very least, good materials to make something else." He frowned faintly. "Perhaps in the future we should snoop more before charging in to what they tell us is a safe situation, this could have been prevented if they'd warned us what the Galilleans thought of members of our crew."