trans_9 | The Squire's Gathering [Open]

When it looked like everyone who was going to show up had already filtered in, Tarrant stepped forward. "First of all, let me welcome you all here. My name is Gerald Tarrant; I am the newest member of the ship's civilian governing council. And the story that you were told when you awoke in the Pod Caverns was part of the truth -- but not all of it.

"We were drafted into this war by a race known as the Daligig, the founding members of an interdimensional alliance known as the GIA. They have told us that they rescued each of us just before our worlds were destroyed, and placed us here, on this ship, to help them win their war against the Ohm menace. What they failed to mention was that the last crew found out something about the Daligig's involvement in the war and rebelled against them as a result, only to be viciously put down.

"Shortly after uncovering proof of their past misdeeds, we learned that the Daligig are under some amount of suspicion, even in worlds ruled by members of their GIA. Rumors abound about their genetic experimentation on themselves and their vassal races, about their continued willingness to send their allies blindly into missions to die for them, about their real role in the war against the Ohm.

"But most tellingly, when two teenage members of the crew tried to leave the ship during our last stop planetside stop, our Daligig 'allies' attempted to subject them to torture in order to show us what happens to those who defy them. According to the Daligig, all of us -- every last one -- are part of their army. Their war. And we have no choice about the matter. Those who try to escape the ship are considered deserters, and are punished as such. Naturally, many of us find this state of affairs... unsatisfactory. But Farseer Ildraniath can fill you in in that regard."

He gave a brief, but eloquent bow. "For those of you interested in a slightly more detailed version of events, please allow me to direct your attention to my last crew-wide memorandum on the topic. I will also be happy to answer any questions you may have."

Jorge has wandered over here, mostly curious about what's going on, but also because he was going stir-crazy. He needed something to do. And he had mostly been avoiding contact with others, if only because of the little scene in the observation deck with 'Vadum.

He suspected that wasn't a popular move.

Still, the 7'8", armoured SPARTAN is stood off to the side, listening, his arms folded, helmet tilted forward as though he's deep in thought. It's only until after Tarrant finishes speaking that he finally speaks up.

"What's the plan?"

Edited 2012-04-07 00:35 (UTC)

Tarrant nodded to Ildraniath. "I believe the Farseer can fill you in in that regard."

"With all due respect to our Councilor," Not that it sounded like Kerrigan had much, "Their experimentation isn't just rumors. The previous Daligig crew experimented on several of us, including me. They essentially psychically lobotomized me and altered me to turn me into their own weapon."

"Thank you, Councillor Tarrant," Ildraniath nodded at Tarrant as she stepped forward. For a moment she took in those who had decided to show up. Interesting. Then she folded her hands and began to speak.

"Unfortunately, although we have an idea that the daligig are not being honest with us, we also know that they have soldiers who are capable of defeating us in combat and whom are perfectly willing to die to protect the daligig. Whether or not this sense of trust is misguide is moot; they have fanatic soldiers to protect them from us. However, no enemy is without a weakness, and I intend to find out what it is. The Council and command structure aboard this ship, with all due respect to Tarrant, do very little. They do not effectively communicate nor do they effectively lead. Hence why we are meeting outside of their auspices. To that end..."

She took a step or two, gathering her thoughts, "...we are gathering information. We have people watching the daligig, or trying to, and attempting to discover all that we can. It is my belief that a concrete, surgical strike can behead their command structure and force them off of the ship, allowing us to make good our escape."

Another pause, "However, open combat... may fail. We will most likely lose people injured and killed. To that end, we are making a contingency plan. Members of the crew will pretend to side with the daligig and help them in putting down our rebellion. We hope that this will lull them into a sense of security and allow us greater control of the ship."

The way her mouth set into a thin line told what she thought of the idea.

"Then we will seize control and make our own way, discover the true reasons behind this war. But that comes later."

"You're imbeciles."

It was loud, it was meant to garner attention, and it was the first thing out of Sherlock's mouth. It probably would have been the first thing out of his mouth if the Council were the ones presenting the same information. It probably would have been the first thing out of his mouth if anyone had presented any number of plans in tandem with said information, because he would have found most of them stupid.

"While most--no, strike that--all government is largely ineffectual, as a rule, people as a whole tend to follow its authority, meaning that if you don't include them in your plans, you'll have competing factions of individuals obedient to different leaders and governing authorities, working at odds when they should be working for the same purpose. Moreover, for all they may be ineffectual--and as previously mentioned, they probably are--your own plan is ridiculously lacking in substance and doesn't exactly inspire trust in your competence."

Why he'd even shown up to this meeting was beyond him, but with so many talking about the dearth of murders and being told one of the greatest mysteries of the ship was what the Daligig were up to, he had actually showed up, hoping that there'd be something that would capture his interest.

"The ship itself supposedly houses the brain of the AI, effectively making the entire structure under her control, barring blind spots like this. That makes any attempt at rebellion incredibly delicate and potentially lethal and while I'm not saying we shouldn't shove our slavers out all of the nearest airlocks at the first opportunity, why should any of us trust you in particular either? You're strangers, telling us to follow you, when one of you is a government leader working outside of the influence of the elected government and ignoring the will of the people that voted him into his position."

His mouth twitched.

"I'm far from being an individual that believes there is anything remotely resembling a public trust, nor do I subscribe to cushy notions that this crew can hold hands and sing kumbaya long enough to drive our captors from the ship, but I have been told that there have been a ridiculously small number of murders on the ship, despite the myriad individuals that live here, the stressful conditions, and all their social differences. What could you possibly hope to gain by splitting up the governing body of the ship, ruining any chance at a shipwide alliance? If you're working 'outside their auspices,' after you've led the rebellion and taken the ship, how are we to trust that you'll care a whit for the will of the people that helped you do it? And how in the world are we supposed to trust that you'll be competent when you think a secret meeting with absolute strangers will actually stay secret the moment we all leave the room? Are we all to do a special handshake at the end, pinky-promising that we won't tell the ruling Council you're doing this? If you can't even take the proper precautions to keep a secret as small as that, how are your plans going to be kept from the Daligig?"

Sherlock had a point about the secrecy. It was what Kerrigan liked least about this plan ~~other than the lack of genocide.~~ Being called an imbecile however, and his utter disregard for the threat the Daligig posed.

"What can we hope to gain? Justice. The Daligig have committed crimes against us and they are withholding information. The will of the people is clear. If you had seen the reactions of the crew to the information we have uncovered you would know that. We're not here to overthrow our government. We're here to rid ourselves of a threat."

Kerrigan turned her thoughts to him, focusing on his mind.

"And yet the people that are attempting to lead this group are ignoring the fact that any one of the people here could leave this meeting and tip off the Daligig about the rebellion--and are more likely to than those that have already proven their allegiance to the crew, since none of our alliances are clear yet. They're clearly imbeciles. There's no question that the Daligig are a threat, but why should we follow these two in particular?"

Not to mention that a government official working both within and outside the auspices of the government was...

Well, it reminded him of Mycroft, which meant he held a great deal of distrust.

Meanwhile, another plain-faced human in the crowd has raised his hand.

"Hi. Newbie here. With another question."

Shawn directs his wave to Tarrant.

"Is there a 'Two-faced Councilor' contest going on? Is there another power-grab being organized by another politician somewhere else that we could maybe sample before finalizing our budding shipside political opinions?"

Ildraniath arched a brow at Sherlock. Talkative. Very talkative. With a rather inflated opinion of himself, if anyone asked her. She shook her head with a resigned, irritated sigh, "If you think this meeting is anyway secret from the Council, then you're not nearly as perceptive as you think you are. One of the councilors is here. If the others wished to show themselves, speak or otherwise communicate or provide some form of leadership or do anything, I would not object to their presence nor would I be lambasting them for their criminal lack of action. Now, if you're quite finished finding some sort of error where there isn't any..."

She turned her attention to Shawn, "No. This is not an internal power-grab. We are merely circumventing those people who refuse to act or who are too apathetic to act. If and when they decide to provide leadership, I will quite happily follow them. I, personally, do not care who is on the Council or who is in command, provided they actually do something besides sit and wait and refuse to communicate with us."

A pause, "Admittedly, we are attempting to improvise, but we've been sitting on our hands for many, many months."

"You still have a Councilor essentially undermining the very government he's supposed to be leading. If he isn't competent enough to get the Council moving on the issue internally, why would he be competent working outside it?"

This was not making sense to him.

"Furthermore, wouldn't it make more sense to have those in the elected government making nice with the Daligig to try to obtain a transfer of power, rather than random individuals on the crew who they might suspect as being part of the rebellion? It'd be more believable that they'd throw the rest of us under a bus for the sake of power. And you only say this isn't a power grab, but none of us have been here long enough to discern the true nature of the governing bodies on the ship and you're trusting--rather naively--that we'll trust you. Your own lack of logic is what's criminal here, and yet we're supposed to trust that your vast powers of improvisation will get us through a potentially fatal situation?"

"If you have nothing useful to add, the door is over there," Ildraniath nodded toward the exit, "Believe me, mon-keigh we have tried to get the Council moving. I have sat on my hands, petitioned, and made every attempt to go throw the proper channels. I have received silence, bland assurances and precious little communication in any sort of regard. If you bothered to read the briefing that's handed to you, you''ll find the ship's constitution - as ineffective as it is - and the structure of government detailed therein. If you still think that I plan to somehow become a councilor without being elected, you're free to imagine whatever it is you like."

She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and then flicked her wrist, hand spreading in a little gesture of dismissal, "Improvisation, planning and luck are what we have at this pint, human. We are already in a, as you put it, 'potentially fatal' situation. We're trapped in the crossfire of a war that none of us really want to be in. If you don't wish to be a part of this, I cannot force you, nor would I be inclined to try, considering your talents apparently lie in making illogical leaps to conclusions."

She had to force herself to bite back some sort of generalized insult aimed at humans.

Not the time.

"Ah, and there it is. The people you're supposed to be leading are critical of your methods, motives, and expertise when it's our lives we're supposed to trust in your hands and that, of course, is immediate grounds for dismissal, despite any possible aid would could render you in your plans."

Not surprising in the least. People did get so touchy about being criticized.

"For the record, I read his missive, and for all intents and purposes, it appears to be a Councilor addressing the crew about the Council's plan, given he is a Councilor and referred to another Councilor monitoring the movements of the enemy, and mentioned other individuals in the Command structure assisting. Excuse me for misinterpreting 'working outside the auspices of the government' as contradictory when, to all intents and purposes, it sounded in the missive as if he was working within it."

His face tweaked up into a very false smile, and he turned to walk out, deciding this all was a waste of his time. That likely would have been inevitable, whoever was leading such a meeting. Sherlock Holmes and Authority tended not to get along in general.

"Good luck with the 'planning' aspect of all that, seeing as you haven't really got one."

And out he flounced at that, and yes, it was a flounce. She'd called him a monkey and said he was making illogical leaps. Of course it was a flounce. No one with the maturity of a teenager like he had and the ego he had could have walked out without flouncing.

Laterz!

Edited 2012-04-07 02:41 (UTC)

Shawn raises his hand again.

"Yeah, I need a little more incentive before I throw my cards in with someone who couldn't get elected and calls people monkeys when they disagree with her, and someone who DID get elected but is working personal politics with a space-racist on the side. If we sign up now, do we get to be princes in your new world order, or does the organ grinding just come later for us?"

"I'm not asking you to trust me implicitly," Ildraniath resisted the urge to rub her temple. Headache. Remind her to never try leading humans again, "This isn't a coup. If I wanted to plan a coup against the council and command, I wouldn't be standing here in an open meeting asking people to overthrow them. I am trying to keep you people - who have just been thrust into this as suddenly as the rest of us - in the 'loop', as you humans say. To keep you updated of plans and of things that are ongoing on the ship. If you want to help us - fine. If you do not - fine. Just don't interfere to an irritating degree."

Ildraniath shakes her head, "I am not interested in overthrowing anyone except the daligig and, as I am sure many of the people her can tell you, they are the main problem. My issue with the Council and our command chain comes from their inaction. How many times am I going to have explain this?"

Shawn raises his hand one more time.

"Will there at least be punch and pie at future meetings?"

Trudy hadn't come to one of these things before, but from the post Tarrant made on the network, they were actually getting serious. Some of her pilots were involved - she had a duty to them to make sure Ildraniath wasn't just full of hot air and about to get everyone killed.

Needless to say, she was more than a little relieved to hear the Farseer admit outright that open combat would likely fail, and that their goal was to have the authority figures of the crew appear to remain on the Daligig's side.

"My primary responsibility is the safety of this crew, followed by the safety of the ship and then the safety of my pilots," she said. Her voice carried - she was used to shouting across the Sensorium during drill. "But I know that I only operate because the Daligig have yet to perceive the military here as a threat. If it comes to that, I'll have to kiss ass to them and toss any of my guys in the cooler, otherwise they could very easily lock down the Hangar."

The Squire's Gathering [Open]

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Ildraniath's Address

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