004: The Mean Streets of Aki

[Thumper]

Walt-
”Roscoe Metz, do nothing to or “for” her that she doesn’t ask for. You can try to persuade her and provide the procedure only with her consent. Can Bilis even uplift her to our status, if asked, or was that a one-time gratis? I suspect the latter. The Netz special alone is cool, but doesn’t put her on par with what we all are now.

Jaelah! I’m putting my foot down on giving Treegarden everything. This ship and what the pocket universe it’s connected to are off limits. Both of those are hard limits…red lines to use an overused phrase.

If we can get away without divulging the moon base, I’d like to do that too. I just can’t think of how to, yet. Can we focus on that? Will just asking her why she doubts the location of our discovery of the ship and debris field be fruitful? Maybe. The best , er, informational witholdings are plausible part-truths grounded in truth. So far on this whole quest to give her an Ancients’ ship to buy our freedom, we have just provided things to wow her. She’s seen through it…she’s wicked smart! We haven’t been clever.

I’m so tempted to read her thoughts right now, but I bet Omicron has shielding and possibly psi detection implants.

Garvin, take your crush along? Sure. Why would she want to go? Why not just demand answers and arrest us if we deny her? You just want to hit on her, right? Good taste if ya asked me…on your part.

Let’s get back to focusing on a credible story for how we got the ship we gave her.”

Walt walks to the bar and grabs a good red ale, pops the top. And asks, ”What, do you think we took that Silver Surfer out for a joy ride before giving it to you?”

[terrymixon]

Walt-
”Roscoe Metz, do nothing to or “for” her that she doesn’t ask for. You can try to persuade her and provide the procedure only with her consent. Can Bilis even uplift her to our status, if asked, or was that a one-time gratis? I suspect the latter.

Jaelah! I’m putting my foot down on giving Treegarden everything. This ship and what the pocket universe it’s connected to are off limits. Both of those are hard limits…red lines to use an overused phrase.

If we can get away without divulging the moon base, I’d like to do that too. I just can’t think of how to, yet. Can we focus on that? Will just asking her why she doubts the location of our discovery of the ship and debris field be fruitful? Maybe. The best , er, informational witholdings are plausible part-truths grounded in truth. So far on this whole quest to give her an Ancients’ ship to buy our freedom, we have just provided things to wow her. She’s seen through it…she’s wicked smart! We haven’t been clever.

I’m so tempted to read her thoughts right now, but I bet Omicron has shielding and possibly psi detection implants.

Garvin, take your crush along? Sure. Why would she want to go? Why not just demand answers and arrest us if we deny her? You just want to hit on her, right? Good taste if ya asked me…on your part.

Let’s get back to focusing on a credible story for how we got the ship we gave her.”

Walt walks to the bar and grabs a good red ale, pops the top. And asks, ”What, do you think we took that Silver Surfer out for a joy ride before giving it to you?”

I mistakenly identified Roscoe as the speaker that recommended Treegarden getting a package. That was Metz. And not the Ancients uplift, which is impossible, but the anagathic augment mainly.

She raised an eyebrow when Walt asks the question. “That’s easy. I had the destroyer’s navigator tell me how long a ship would stay in a stable position anywhere close to a gas giant. It would be fine for a long, long time, but not 300,000 years. They clear their orbital space. It’s an easy mistake to make and I asked very carefully and told him this subject was so highly classified that if I ever hear it mentioned, I’d know it came from him and there would be consequences.”

“I didn’t think if that,” Roscoe said contritely over the link. “I only made sure it was safe to be there. Sorry.”

[joertexas]

“I didn’t think if that,” Roscoe said contritely over the link. “I only made sure it was safe to be there. Sorry.”

Jaelah smiles and sends back. "That's how I always caught criminals. They always make a mistake. It's fine."

[Thumper]

Walt-
”Well damn! You are exceptional. Did you take her out for a spin? It’s exquisite! Why do you question the debris field?”

On the link-
“Work with that! Where’d we find the ship? Deep space? Why’d Mad Dog leave it there?

She is going to equate the downed 15,000 year old ship hole with the hole in Mad Dog’s ship. I’m thinking she suspects the moon already.

We don’t have to come up with the answer of how he found it.”

[terrymixon]

Walt-
”Well damn! You are exceptional. Did you taker her out for a spin? It’s exquisite! Why do you question the debris field?”

On the link-
“Work with that! Where’d we find the ship? Deep space? Why’d Mad Dog leave it there? We don’t have to come up with the answer of how he found it.”

“It would’ve been better if we’d worked that out before you reengaged with her,” Metz said sourly. “I have no idea. Whatever we come up with is going to have more holes than Swiss cheese. We’re screwed.”

“No,” she said with a smile, “though the navigation and piloting console was surprisingly comprehensible. Very much so. It’s almost like someone wanted to be sure we could see how amazing the ship is. And, to be clear, it is amazing. Hence why I am sure you know far more than you’re letting on. We can dance around the subject as long as you like, but if we don’t get you some cover, it won’t stop my superiors from asking hard questions. I can help hide the truth from them, but I want in. All the way in.”

[Thumper]

Walt to Treegarden-
Maybe I’m a dumb Marine, but I’m not following about the controls and nav thing you said. Lost me. Let me order up a refil for you. Roscoe, please?

To the link-
What do you bet she knows the 15,000 year old crashed ship has a hole a lot like Mad Dog’s? She suspects the moon station and wants us to say it, I’m telling ya.

[Thumper]

Did the moon with the Ancient ship yard have any other canyons with an interesting ber hanging wall that might have hidden the small Silver Surfer from sensors, etc. Walt did operate the holo-globe looking over the entirety of the moon display.

[terrymixon]

Walt to Treegarden-
Maybe I’m a dumb Marine, but I’m not following about the controls and nav thing you said. Lost me. Let me order up a refil for you. Roscoe, please?

“Of course.” Roscoe will refresh her drink and resume his seat.

To the link-
What do you bet she knows the 15,000 year old crashed ship has a hole a lot like Mad Dog’s? She suspects the moon station and wants us to say it, I’m telling ya.

“As I’ve said repeatedly, I believe that they salvaged a different disintegrator weapon”, Roscoe said. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t have stopped looking. I believe mentioning that would open up a line of questioning that we might rather avoid. Unless we intend to reveal the existence of the base with no guarantees that we’ll keep it.”

[Tiglath]

To your eye, she looks tired. You doubt she got much sleep over the last day, and what she managed was likely under trying circumstances. An old destroyer isn't made for comfort, much less passengers.

"... I'm showing you a great deal of trust in the hopes of understanding what we're dealing with and trying to get in front of it. I'm a big admirer of the way you can play with words, Mister Slade... Personally, I'd rather avoid that because I am fond of you."


She once again looked at each one of you. "Let me fill you in on what the Omicron Division really is. It is our mandate to guard the imperium from threats other than military ones... Our mandate covers the entirety of the Third Imperium and all those threats, however nebulous they are...

That's me showing that I can work with you.

Garvin eyes Treegarden fondly and gives her a warm smile "You've either got loads of front or you've worked me right out. Arguably it might undermine your bold declaration to "the pirates" if it's a dead cert there's a bloke aboard guaranteed to see you safe 'ome. You're sharp enough to know we're 'avin' a committee meetin' right now - but I've said my part".

He adds guardedly "I get what Omicron does but isn't there a tipping point where Empires or parts of them stop being a scarcity society? That's when their logistical advantage over their neighbours drives them to either expand or declare independence from the Emperor? I take it that falls under Omicron's brief an' all?"

He moves closer to talk "As to me word play... Well, I'm glad we can both agree I'm a cunning linguist". He smiles "You might 'ave also worked out I'm more than fond of you. You look as lovely as ever but near done in from sleepin' in Navy bunks. My cabin's very comfy an Roscoe cooks a fabulous breakfast. Even as we stand there's more to tell than we've time for. Don't suppose you fancy an extended de-brief by way of chasin' a pair of murderers to Weiss? They are actually smuggling archaeotech - we reckon it's part of Mad Dog's old stash". He adds with a laugh "I'll admit that I've used better chat up lines but since it's you an' the story's straight up I'm 'opin' it might work".

[terrymixon]

Did the moon with the Ancient ship yard have any other canyons with an interesting ber hanging wall that might have hidden the small Silver Surfer from sensors, etc. Walt did operate the holo-globe looking over the entirety of the moon display.

There were some, sure. Would the Navy have looked in them, too? Seems like.

[terrymixon]

To your eye, she looks tired. You doubt she got much sleep over the last day, and what she managed was likely under trying circumstances. An old destroyer isn't made for comfort, much less passengers.

"... I'm showing you a great deal of trust in the hopes of understanding what we're dealing with and trying to get in front of it. I'm a big admirer of the way you can play with words, Mister Slade... Personally, I'd rather avoid that because I am fond of you."


She once again looked at each one of you. "Let me fill you in on what the Omicron Division really is. It is our mandate to guard the imperium from threats other than military ones... Our mandate covers the entirety of the Third Imperium and all those threats, however nebulous they are...

That's me showing that I can work with you.

Garvin eyes Treegarden fondly and gives her a warm smile "You've either got loads of front or you've worked me right out. Arguably it might undermine your bold declaration to "the pirates" if it's a dead cert there's a bloke aboard guaranteed to see you safe 'ome. You're sharp to know we're 'avin' a committee meetin' right now - but I've said my part".

He adds guardedly "I get what Omicron does but isn't there a tipping point where Empires or parts of them stop being a scarcity society? That's when their logistical advantage over their neighbours drives them to either expand or declare independence from the Emperor? I take it that falls under Omicron's brief an' all?"

He moves closer to talk "As to me word play... Well, I'm glad we can both agree I'm a cunning linguist". He smiles "You might 'ave also worked out I'm more than fond of you. You look as lovely as ever but near done in from sleepin' in Navy bunks. My cabin's very comfy an Roscoe cooks a fabulous breakfast. Even as we stand there's more to tell than we've time for. Don't suppose you fancy an extended de-brief by way of chasin' a pair of murderers to Weiss? They are actually smuggling archaeotech - we reckon it's part of Mad Dog's old stash". He adds with a laugh "I'll admit that I've used better chat up lines but since it's you an' the story's straight up I'm 'opin' it might work".

“That would be something the division would handle, yes. It is tempting to hare off with you, but if you want the cover I can hopefully arrange, we’d need to leave for Glisten very shortly. The person arrived there after you left and will be departing shortly. We have barely enough time ti catch them and I would rather argue the points we’re discussing en route there.

“I hate putting you in the spot, Garvin. I have my suspicions as to the caliber of what you are hiding because a priceless ship is what you’re hanging out as bait to distract the Omicron Division.

“I’ve said it serval ways, but getting a patron is the only thing that will stop my superiors from perusing this. You can help me understand what you’re protecting and why, and I can help give you cover, but if you don’t meet me partway, I’ll be hobbled. Your prospective patron is beyond reproach and is untouchable by the Omicron Division, but will have to hear everything, so hiding it now is hindering you. Please, trust me on this. If you can’t, then I’ll drop my request and try my best to protect you. I’ll fail, but I will try.”

[Tiglath]

Walt-
”Roscoe Metz, do nothing to or “for” her that she doesn’t ask for. You can try to persuade her and provide the procedure only with her consent. Can Bilis even uplift her to our status, if asked, or was that a one-time gratis? I suspect the latter. The Netz special alone is cool, but doesn’t put her on par with what we all are now.

Jaelah! I’m putting my foot down on giving Treegarden everything. This ship and what the pocket universe it’s connected to are off limits. Both of those are hard limits…red lines to use an overused phrase.

If we can get away without divulging the moon base, I’d like to do that too. I just can’t think of how to, yet. Can we focus on that? Will just asking her why she doubts the location of our discovery of the ship and debris field be fruitful? Maybe. The best , er, informational witholdings are plausible part-truths grounded in truth. So far on this whole quest to give her an Ancients’ ship to buy our freedom, we have just provided things to wow her. She’s seen through it…she’s wicked smart! We haven’t been clever.

I’m so tempted to read her thoughts right now, but I bet Omicron has shielding and possibly psi detection implants.

Garvin, take your crush along? Sure. Why would she want to go? Why not just demand answers and arrest us if we deny her? You just want to hit on her, right? Good taste if ya asked me…on your part.

Let’s get back to focusing on a credible story for how we got the ship we gave her.”

Walt walks to the bar and grabs a good red ale, pops the top. And asks, ”What, do you think we took that Silver Surfer out for a joy ride before giving it to you?”

Garvin responds "Well, there is the fact that she's lovely to weigh up but over a week we've got a chance to put together a decent enough cover - for which we need 'er 'elp workin' either inside or outside. That an' I think she'll want to chase the bad guys. She's professional and driven but as fish for 'er to fry they might be too small. The trouble is whatever we present as a cover is going to be examined by very dedicated scientists with huge resources and much worse huge enthusiasm for the investigation. I've staged crime scenes for the cops before: "nasty pimp shoots human slaver who shot 'im right back" was a very satisfyin' personal favourite. With limited time, resource an' enthusiasm to investigate a "no human involvement" crime the cops were more than 'appy to join the dots but I think we've just discovered that we 'ave nowhere near the resource or ability to "stage" archaeotech "finds". She's willing enough to 'elp. If Metz controls 'is ruddy urges an' we're careful I think she'll be on our side".

[Thumper]

Walt is grateful Garvin is distracting her with somethings she may find interesting.

On the link-
”We’ve got to previously park the Silver Surfer somewhere. Linking it to the moon under Ancients stealth tech, the IN missed it… should take the heat off us with her. Say we intended to keep her initially, flew her, but then thought best to turn it over in exchange for our previous demands since we already had a kick-ass and legal ship. The big problem with that is, it (despite being plausible) invites a more thorough search of the moon…and potentially our base there.

Unless we got a good map of the debris field moon and can “place” the parking spot someplace there. Ya got bots you can send there now to prep a fake parking spot for it the past 300,000 years? Landing gear imprints, dust off marks, etc.? The problem with that is it’s another outright lie and bound to have mistakes in it. Can we afford to get caught in more lies?

Giving up the moon base may be the best route. I’d love to hear any better alternatives besides just stalling her?

[terrymixon]

Walt is grateful Garvin is distracting her with somethings she may find interesting.

On the link-
”We’ve got to previously park the Silver Surfer somewhere. Linking it to the moon under Ancients stealth tech, the IN missed it… should take the heat off us with her. Say we intended to keep her initially, flew her, but then thought best to turn it over in exchange for our previous demands since we already had a kick-ass and legal ship. The big problem with that is, it (despite being plausible) invites a more thorough search of the moon…and potentially our base there.

Unless we got a good map of the debris field moon and can “place” the parking spot someplace there. Ya got bots you can send there now to prep a fake parking spot for it the past 300,000 years? Landing gear imprints, dust off marks, etc.? The problem with that is it’s another outright lie and bound to have mistakes in it. Can we afford to get caught in more lies?

Giving up the moon base may be the best route. I’d love to hear any better alternatives besides just stalling her?

“There is no way,” Metz says. “No time, too far, and to complicated.”

[terrymixon]

She watches the silent conversation with some amusement. “Really, all this chatter tells me I’m right. Perhaps you need me to break the ice. What if I revealed a secret of mine that proves I’m trustworthy? Would that help?”

She tossed her drink back and visibly steeled herself. “You never asked me how I activated the gateway. There are no buttons. I didn’t say ‘Open Sesame’ either. What also makes me an excellent judge of character? If you haven’t figured it out, I can read minds, like I suspect the Ancients could. That’s a serious crime in the Imperium. Now you have leverage.”

She turned to face Walt. “You had a mental shield the day we met. I’ve known you’re like me this entire time and your secret has been safe with me. You aren’t trained, or you’d know how to plant fake thoughts for someone to find instead of a blank. I could teach you how, if we had enough time,”

Then she looked at the rest of you. “I could read your surface thoughts that day, but now I can’t. Somehow, you’ve all become psions since we last met at Glisten. I suspected something when I felt the change before you sent me after the ship, but I said nothing.”

Lastly, she turned to face Roscoe. “You have one, too, and that confuses the hell out of me. I couldn’t read your thoughts before, and that’s how I knew what you were, and I told no one. In fact, I broke some serous laws to create an official identity for you. I’ve been in your corner all this time.

“Also, the ship’s computer is psionically controlled and accepted me as its commanding officer. It had to memory of how it came to be where it was, but it was happy to tell me that you ordered it to delete its records. That’s the main way I knew you’d planted it.”

She once again looked at you all as a group. “The only answer that makes sense to me is that you found something that activated your psionic potential and found the ship there. It’s in this system somewhere and I could launch a search, but I’d rather keep this low key.

“What happened to you? What has you so afraid? It has to be bigger than an Ancients city, so it'sd damned big. Tell me and I can help. Of don’t and hold my secret over my head. Personally, I believe in you. Prove me right.”

[Tiglath]

“I hate putting you in the spot, Garvin. I have my suspicions as to the caliber of what you are hiding because a priceless ship is what you’re hanging out as bait to distract the Omicron Division.

“I’ve said it serval ways, but getting a patron is the only thing that will stop my superiors from perusing this. You can help me understand what you’re protecting and why, and I can help give you cover, but if you don’t meet me partway, I’ll be hobbled. Your prospective patron is beyond reproach and is untouchable by the Omicron Division, but will have to hear everything, so hiding it now is hindering you. Please, trust me on this. If you can’t, then I’ll drop my request and try my best to protect you. I’ll fail, but I will try.”

Garvin fixes her with his blue eyes and says with a slow smile " 'Ow did I some'ow already suspect your secret? Aster I trust you an' I think I know of a way that I can show you enough to allow you to experience what's at stake 'ere. It's just too big to explain but if you've felt it you'll know. You'll have enough to sell your patron on the extent of our find. There will be some "smoke an' mirrors" to cover our end but if you're 'appy enough to get an answer to "what" but not "why" or at all "how" because most of it's beyond that then I can give you that to take away with you if that's what you want".

He smiles "You'll have to trust me but given where we've been an' your last revelation I think you'll guess that if your willing I can send you proof to corroborate some of what you already know".

[Thumper]

Walt on the net-

“Also, the ship’s computer is psionically controlled and accepted me as its commanding officer. It had to memory of how it came to be where it was, but it was happy to tell me that you ordered it to delete its records. That’s the main way I knew you’d planted it.”

“Roscoe, you missed telling us that small detail. Is this true?

Her revelation materially changes nothing yet. The IN has officially sanctioned Psi.”


To Treegarden with a smile as he coolly sips from his bottle:
“It seems you need a refill. I’m throwing a BS flag on a lot of this. If Metz can make a tech device that can activate psionic devices, he may not be the only one. And so what if a very low-grade feral manifestation of psi presents in me. I’ve not developed a bit of it, and that’s absolute truth! So, I’m still no threat to the Imperium. Random presentation.” an innocently dismissive tone in his voice.

[terrymixon]

“I hate putting you in the spot, Garvin. I have my suspicions as to the caliber of what you are hiding because a priceless ship is what you’re hanging out as bait to distract the Omicron Division.

“I’ve said it serval ways, but getting a patron is the only thing that will stop my superiors from perusing this. You can help me understand what you’re protecting and why, and I can help give you cover, but if you don’t meet me partway, I’ll be hobbled. Your prospective patron is beyond reproach and is untouchable by the Omicron Division, but will have to hear everything, so hiding it now is hindering you. Please, trust me on this. If you can’t, then I’ll drop my request and try my best to protect you. I’ll fail, but I will try.”

Garvin fixes her with his blue eyes and says with a slow smile " 'Ow did I some'ow already suspect your secret? Aster I trust you an' I think I know of a way that I can show you enough to allow you to experience what's at stake 'ere. It's just too big to explain but if you've felt it you'll know. You'll have enough to sell your patron on the extent of our find. There will be some "smoke an' mirrors" to cover our end but if you're 'appy enough to get an answer to "what" but not "why" or at all "how" because most of it's beyond that then I can give you that to take away with you if that's what you want".

He smiles "You'll have to trust me but given where we've been an' your last revelation I think you'll guess that if your willing I can send you proof to corroborate some of what you already know".

“I agree,” she said simply.

[terrymixon]

Walt on the net-

“Also, the ship’s computer is psionically controlled and accepted me as its commanding officer. It had to memory of how it came to be where it was, but it was happy to tell me that you ordered it to delete its records. That’s the main way I knew you’d planted it.”

“Roscoe, you missed telling us that small detail. Is this true?

Her revelation materially changes nothing yet. The IN has officially sanctioned Psi.”


To Treegarden with a smile as he coolly sips from his bottle:
“It seems you need a refill. I’m throwing a BS flag on a lot of this. If Metz can make a tech device that can activate psionic devices, he may not be the only one. And so what if a very low-grade feral manifestation of psi presents in me. I’ve not developed a bit of it, and that’s absolute truth! So, I’m still no threat to the Imperium. Random presentation.” an almost dismissive tone in his voice.

“It’s true,” Roscoe said. “Otherwise there would be records of the base for them to eventually find.”

Treegarden considers you a moment, and then shrugs. “Then nothing I say can convince you personally, so I’ll focus my attention on those who haven’t already made up their minds. I need something big enough to present the potential patron or you will be in an unenviable position when the dust settles. Perhaps one day you will see me differently.”

She turned her attention back to Garvin.

[Thumper]

Walt on the net-
Ok, I guess she did not use logic to connect our discovery of the Silver Surfer to Mad Dog’s moon site. Sorry. We still may need an answer to that worked out though. Now we have more data. And Garvin appears to be her lifeline.