A Diplomat's Trial By Fire (Collab with Radiumio)
24 Mar 2022Lily Flemmon
Lily's TITAN ID
(A note: this log and the arc it's part of are still pending confirmation into the lore of Titan Contractors; contradictions may occur.)
Continued from Encountering the Impossible
So I ran to Bay 11, but not so hard that I got winded- pretty easy in the low effective gravity. I tried to mentally prepare myself for whatever was about to happen, and I realized that this could very well be a first contact situation. Not with another species, but an isolated sect of humanity. There are quite a few of those, after all.
Before I get too far into this, a little bit about me that I don't think I've mentioned in my logs yet: I've been taking remote classes at an independent university- not a big-name school, but still a good environment with good people- New Los Angeles University in Meliae. I'm double majoring in linguistics and anthropology, an interest that started as a way to cope with how Silas taught me Greek, and to help myself be less uncomfortable with how fascinating that language is to me. Turns out, all languages are fascinating to me, primarily because of the people who use them. It... was originally Ronni's idea that I pursue further education in this field, because she noticed how interested I was in the Ojibwe language, and how it's a language that seems like it was made by people, for people. A language that's not made for bookkeeping and bureaucracy... a language that always describes feelings. A language that's made for stories. I'll see you again when the time comes, Ronni.
Anyway, NLAU was how I learned about NEWP, and that led to a whole career, and also being able to actually afford my tuition, and by now, I subsidize tuition costs for all students at the school. And my studies there proved essential to being able to handle this situation in Bay 11.
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I got to Bay 11, and the landing pad hadn't lowered yet. Maintenance workers were hanging back at their stations, and a CSF security squad stood guard in the entrance, black visors obscuring their faces as usual.
ATC was patched through to the hangar foyer, and I heard the tower call out, "Zero-one-niner, uplink to carrier services and request pad descent to enter the hangar, where our security element will meet you. Be aware that security screening is mandatory aboard this vessel, due to current protocols."
As I stepped out of the lift and headed for the front of the foyer, some of the CSF soldiers turned back to look at me, their weapons lowered but in their hands regardless. One with silver accents on his armor, the squad's captain, stood in my path.
"Wait, Commander. Miss Flemmon, correct?"
Being referred to by just my last name was not something I was used to. I guess now that Silas is dead, it's not as big of an issue, but it's still... a little raw. "Correct. Commander Lily Flemmon."
"Stay put. We have orders to screen the vessel, and also you. Nothing personal, just security." The captain waved a soldier to his side, who holstered his rifle as it locked to his suit pack, reaching back to grab a profile analyzer from his hip. The device unfolding, he went through a standard scan procedure.
I kind of wished it were personal. The opaque visors that CSF used while on-duty always were a bit off-putting to me, along with any other anonymity in law enforcement. But as long as they aren't Federal cops, it's more of a minor gripe than an actual issue. "Sure thing. I’ve scanned the vessel itself, and it doesn’t have weapons, just some kind of mining and material collection implements. Appears to be a Cobra, of sorts. I was hoping to get a closer look at the markings on it. He said something about earning his trust, and I’m a diplomat. Earning trust, establishing connections… it’s what I do."
The soldier who scanned me glanced at his profile analyzer before stowing it again and bringing his rifle forth, held lowered in his hands. Nodding towards the Captain, he faced Lily again and the captain sighed a bit, stepping aside after a moment.
"Fine. But if there's any security risk, we'll be taking over. We cannot afford any more internal attacks. We're waiting on the ship to lower the pad, and then you may proceed."
ATC came on again. "Zero-one-niner, this is Solaris Flight Control. I repeat, connect to carrier services and descend into the hangar for security screening. If you are unable to, we will initiate a pad descent ourselves."
I turned to the captain to respond. "Thank you. I'm glad you're taking good precautions, but don't worry too much about this situation. It's far more likely to be awkward than threatening."
The pad lowered, and judging by the timing, the pilot had figured out the hangar interface API and done it himself.
As the pad locked and the hangar shutters closed up above, there was some excited murmuring among the maintenance crew. The ship was indeed a Cobra, but every detail was different. The hull had a ceramic hexagonal tile surface, and one of the maintenance crew, a woman in her 40s, pointed to the landing gear, which had a logo I didn't recognize. I overheard her gasp and say "Is that logo... Cowell and MgRath? Holy shit."
I walked out into the hangar bay first, and motioned for the maintenance crew to follow, but the CSF captain raised his hand, giving a contradictory signal.
"Maintenance crew, hang back until we've ensured the ship is not a security risk."
I lowered my hand in response. "I defer. Hang back." Turning to the CSF crew as they spread out to form a half-circle around the front of the ship, I asked, "So, does anyone have any guesses what kind of ship this is?"
The captain looked up at the ship, standing near me as his squad got into position. "Well... that symbol on the wing certainly sticks out. Just looks like a regular Cobra to me otherwise, though."
I looked back at the maintenance crew, and we exchanged a collective awkward cringe, and the woman I had overheard earlier was shaking her head, signaling to me that the captain's assessment was very much incorrect. I turned back to look at the logo on the wing and responded to the captain. "Huh, yeah, the logo does stand out. Seems vaguely familiar, or at least similar to something familiar. I saw text on the ship too, where was that again?"
The captain started approaching the front of the ship that he thought was a regular Cobra, shifting his kinetic rifle in his hands as he took position at the center-middle of the craft, directly in front of the staircase that would typically be integrated into the front landing gear. The rest of the CSF soldiers had now formed around the front of the ship, spread out quite decently across the pad as they all stood there, weapons in hand, but all fairly relaxed. "Text? Not sure. If you wanna climb on top of the ship, be my guest."
Taking advantage of the low gravity once again, I jumped up and gracefully guided myself over the edge of the starboard wing, alighting gently on the hull. For me, it was nearly effortless- I routinely train in a woodland facility on HR 5451 2, an Earth-like world with 1.54G gravity and an atmosphere composition that makes the planet only negotiably habitable. Climbing trees there is mildly difficult for me, and impossible for most.
I saw the text and stood still, and I felt like my mind was whirring like the turbine of an atmospheric shuttle as I tried to understand what I was seeing.
ΑΣΤΡΙΝΆΤΟΣ ΑΝΑΚΑΛΥΦΤΉΣ
The second work was Greek, "anakalyftis." The pilot used it as part of his callsign, and translated, the word means "discoverer," although the grammatical usage gets a bit complicated. The first word, however, seemed to just be written using Greek script, despite not being Greek. The first three letters were in the ship's transponder code, but I was still baffled until I sounded out the word.
"Ah-stree-nah-tose?" It sounded Latin, or at least very Latin-based. I dropped back down to the captain to give him an update.
"Well, the second word of the inscription is Greek, and he was using it as part of his callsign, as well as his vessel make. It's a Cobra, but it's by no means a normal Cobra. Also, by the way, the second word would explain his non-threatening nature, it means 'discoverer.' I'm pretty sure this is an exploration vessel." Then, more to myself, I thought aloud about the first word. "But... astrinatos? Latin-based, maybe? If it's a portmanteau word, the parts would probably be 'astri' and 'natos.' So, 'star-born.' Star-born discoverer..." I walked briskly over to the symbol, and pulled up an image on my comms pad, the symbol of the Scriveners Clan. The center was different, more curves, but simpler, but the majority of the symbol was identical.
It all added up, a Greek and Latin fusion meaning "star-born discoverer," the odd accent the pilot had, the unique design of the entire ship, the different logo on the landing gear... This is, or was, a scout of the Scriveners Clan.
But I needed to be sure. I looked at the cargo scoop, and it was also far from standard, and it looked like it had sectional extending arms with forcefield generators on them, much like...
Like a dredger maw.
I couldn't deny it, this was a momentous event, and I was the only person who realized it. It was very hard not to panic.
I hurried back to the front of the ship, where the captain was still standing, speaking frantically. "He's a scout from the Scriveners Clan, or he was. Why is here here? Why did he contact us? Why was he at the generation ship? Why is he... Why is he alone!?"
The CSF captain looked at me, fairly unamused, and then looked back at the Cobra. "...Yeah, Commander. This is all really exciting... Now, can we get the pilot out of this ship or not?"
I considered picking up the Captain and throwing him across the length of the hangar. Even with all his gear, I could probably get him to hit the far wall. I also considered telling him to shut the hell up, and to fuck off. Taking a deep breath and realizing that those ideas, while tempting, were very bad ideas, I regathered my tact and replied. "We have to earn his trust. He said so himself."
"If we wanted to kill him, Flight Control would've taken him down when he entered our airspace. We're securing the carrier. If he has nothing to hide, then there's no issue."
"No issue on our end, you mean. But it seems he has something to hide, at least for now, but that's not your issue either. It's mine, if anyone's." I jumped back up, this time onto the nose of the ship, "I think we just need... to listen better."
"Listen to what? I don't have all day, Commander. The ship's on private property, which means it needs to follow our laws."
I put my ear to the canopy to try to hear inside, and what I heard was clear, and it made me realize that I had to figure out why this ship was here, and I had to figure it out fast before someone snapped and the situation deteriorated rapidly.
I stood back up and called down to the CSF captain.
"I know, don't worry. it's just... he's sobbing in there."