Meet N' Greet

[cityship]

||Initiating Meet and Greet. Crew members, for the sake of morale, there will be periodic meetings on the Obs Deck so that newer members of the crew can be welcomed and so the crew can communicate with one another.||

Apparently, Stacy liked to throw a party now and again.

[ooc: Anyone may start new threads here]

Comments

[iaijutsu]

Oh.

Okay.

"This is somehow worthy of particular favor?" It's all amazing technology compared to what he's seen, sure, but out of all the technological marvels that apparently exist, it seems like a strange one for someone to like in particular.

[herhonorness]

Honor shrugs.

"For some reason, the man I ran into wished to scavenge their parts for some other machine...I have a feeling he was one of those eccentric but innovative scientists."

But anyway...

"Have you made contact with any of the organization leaders on this ship? I've recently gotten in touch with the commander of the Space Combat Division."

[iaijutsu]

Eccentric but innovative science, in Saitō's experience, usually leads to nothing but trouble. But it's an opinion he's keeping to himself.

"I haven't yet, but if there was ever a place to find them, I imagine it would be here."

[herhonorness]

"I agree." Honor says to herself. "We must forge many contacts here if we are to thrive and protect them."

She frowns suddenly, not an annoyed or discomforted, but a frown halfway into becoming a snarl of contempt. You notice her hand clenching at the hilt of her sword.

"But before we do that, I've another question: what have you heard so far about the creators of this ship, the race known as the Dalgig?"

Nimitz's back hair stands up slightly.

[iaijutsu]

"All of what's in the guide provided on the omnicomms." Although that's plenty, really, to put his opinion of the Daligig pretty low, even without having heard more from anyone else on the ship yet.

Her reaction is stronger than he was expecting, though (even considering that just because he doesn't really put his feelings on display doesn't mean the rest of the world works that way). Interesting. Something there hitting a sore spot?

[herhonorness]

"Indeed. The Omnicomms give quite a summary of the Dalgig as a culture: an empire, a core member of the defense against the Ohm, the creators of the Transmigration ships...and so overbearing politically that the crew felt the need to kick them off this ship."

Honor's snarling outright now.

"But when talking with other members of the crew, one gains a more concrete of the relationship between the crew and the Dalgig. To be precise, that the Dalgig before the rebellion against them were treating the crew effectively like 'slaves'."

'Slaves'. She pronounces that words with such a degree of burning contempt that it makes you wonder things.

[iaijutsu]

It certainly does make him wonder. It's not a subject he can easily find emotional investment in; he certainly doesn't agree with the practice of slavery, but it had been banned nearly three hundred years ago, in Japan. It wasn't something he'd ever had much cause to think about.

"You speak as one with personal experience." He's not making any assumptions about what may have happened or how she encountered it, but the level of passion is certainly too intense for him to think otherwise.

[herhonorness]

Honor blinks, then shakes her head to clear her thoughts.

"Let's just say that I ran into the scum of the galaxy from time to time in the Queen's Service, skirting underneath all the laws and accords of civilization. The worst of the worst were the genetic slave traders...and the behavior of the Dalgig resembles them too damn much for my liking."

[iaijutsu]

"Genetic slave traders?"

The latter part makes sense. The first part, though, leaves him unsure of what the distinction is.

现在我在北京大学。全家说汉语！ 我很怕！

[herhonorness]

［Beware: exposition follows]

"In my time, scientists had discovered how to manipulate the...the threads of life within every single part of our body that contain the blueprints that determine the traits we acquire as we grow from adulthood–what they called genes." Honor begins to explain. Don't worry, she'll keep it mostly brief.

"By combining these genes in different ways, these scientists were able to create living beings that possessed traits that they desired: hair color, height, strength intelligence, a greater resistance to disease...completely new forms of humans, designed according to a plan. Life, though, never acts the way you completely want. In the Final War of old Earth, the nations of that time modified millions of children in the womb to produce an army of perfect soldiers. Stronger and faster than any normal man, with the intellect of geniuses. They were all those things...the hair-trigger tempers and psychotic personalities was not intended."

Honor raises her hands to the side, palms open.

"The devastation of that time led to the banning of such gross alternations under the Beowulf Convention...but some kept on with their work...designing humans for sale and commission, made to order, modified to possess the biological traits that any number of unscrupulous customers might desire: dumb laborers, entertainers, socially meek savants, bodyguards, docile pleasure servants..."

Honor brings her hands together, fist to palm, a furrow in her brow.

"I'm proud to say that even the enemy of our star nation joins forces with us to hunt down those slavers...but there always seems to be soulless bastards willing to keep them in business...hell, it's enough to make one think that a fair chunk of the human race just needs a good culling."

[iaijutsu]

It's a lot of new ideas in a short speech, and Saitō is silent for a long moment, mulling that over.

The idea of trying to create the perfect soldier isn't new, of course - but he can remember those uncomfortable arguments, first with Niimi and Serizawa, and later with Sannan, over the use of the ochimizu, what limits they should place on it.

And he can certainly remember how they dealt with Niimi and Serizawa. There were lines that were not to be crossed, regardless of the shogunate's order. This was different. Sannan, Heisuke, Saitō himself - they had all freely made the choice to give up their humanity, for their own reasons. They made no apologies, because they all owned their decisions about what they had become, even if that was something -

"Unnatural."

[herhonorness]

And indeed, upon listening to Honor's discussion about the trials and troubles that genetic tinkering unleashed upon humanity, that would be an appropriate word to use to describe the whole business.

Which makes it a bit strange when Honor...'tenses' when Saito sums things up with that one particular word.

[iaijutsu]

He's sharp enough to catch that change to her posture, and his eyebrows lift, just slightly. What's that about?