Hebe

"Psh," he answered, picking her bag up onto his shoulder. "It's been fine. I've had lot's of time to plan and cause trouble and stuff. Y'know, with work. Crazy ass boss pulling some crazy ass moves and I'm in the middle of it."

"Well. I only wish I could get Bo to come here. I think your boss might have a harder time here." She was still miffed over the diner incident, and did not appreciate it. "Is he treating you okay?"

"Me? Oh he's treating me fucking magical. Like his very own pocket pal. Invites me to dinner business meeting things, brings me along to parties, gets me to do the dirty work. In short, I know of pretty much fifty percent of what he's doing. And that's a safe estimate because the guys a nut."

"Ah, Bo... Ha. She's really infatuated with that Dracokitty. It's cute, I guess. Someones going to get hurt there, though. He's got morals that she doesn't."

Hope frowned at this and held him close. "Bring me to the next party thing. I know you're amazing, bu I worry." She said quietly. She held him and smiled. "I know it's odd, but well. I don't want you to die. again." Besides, he died and she died, and then she lost a day or more's memory and it was very very annoying.

"Oh don't you worry about me, I'm preparing a speech for the big party Vidious has planned. But I don't know about that one so no telling," he said, tapping her on the nose. "And you can come to any of my parties. But... When I said parties I meant most of them are hiring people and killing people. They're not really parties. They're usually pretty boring."

Hope shrugged. "Alright. If there is ever a real party, I am, for all intents and purposes, your spouse." Though saying it was harder than she thought it'd be. She and Norry didn't exactly spend as much time together as possible. Their jobs tended to be contrary, now that the Grand Ding Bat had taken Norry and put him in his old body.

His tail swatted at her rear. "I'll keep that in mind. But oh man, I could talk about work for hours. That's what happens when you don't have a social life." He stretched lazily.

Hope grinned and batted as his ears. "Yeah, trust me, I know." she sad and smiled to him. "Thanks for coming here with me." She knew he couldn't be comfortable. It wasn't exactly his favorite thing. She paused at a window. "I do like the view."

His ears twitched and he offered a wide grin. "No where else I'd rather be," he said, hooking an arm around her waist. "Now where can I dump the bags?" If she ever, ever left him unattended he was going to start sweeping the entire facility to try and locate all cameras and bugs, or at least those within a fair radius.

Hope grinned and motioned to a corner, off set from the area slightly. "Right here Romeo." She declared and grinned to him. "Stop feeling the urge to sweep the place. I already did once."

She was a good match for him in paranoia.

.

It had been some time since Dev Eru had been destroyed, and was past time for Erutin-Aschen relations to move from hostile to neutral, or at least, somewhere below shoot on sight when Erutin saw an Aschen vessel near their territory. They were most certainly not allowed in it, including in the former Hegemony. Right now though, they were here for peace, or at least an easing of aggression, and to show the seriousness of the matter to the Empire, the imperial princess, Shine, had been sent. Given said princess ran a large tract of the Empire singlehandedly, it was hard to deny how serious they were on wanting peaceful relations.

Shine stood, looking out the spaceport window, her guard by her side, and desperately wished that Viktoria was here, and not here. She had a better handle on politics of the nature, while she lived, than Shine ever had. Unfortunately, the youngest princess of the empire had died in battle some time ago, leaving behind a devastated consort, now in seclusion, and a family in mourning and shock from the loss of both of the Kampfs. Father, or rather, her step father, had been passingly dear to her. She had been fond of him, as one of the few people in their empire allowed to even touch her. She had been full grown when rediscovered, a survivor of Dev Eru, though her vessel had ended up missing halfway through space on an uncharted planet for several years before she had been rescued by her people.

The princess turned her attention to her actions today. The goal was to get started on some form of trade agreement, even if access for the other side would be limited to the outer most edges of the empire, or to select Scatterran worlds. Of course, this was par for the course. Almost no one was allowed to the inner rings of the empire unless they were Erutin themselves. For now, she was curious as to the representative that the Aschen would send. Were they equally serious about a form of peace, between the two, of standing down from the constant edge of hostilities they had been balanced on? Or did they do this only to appear as if they cared for peace and all that came with that. There was no telling. Shine hoped for peace, but the guards in the room said exactly how much was actually expected, as did that fact that under her grey linen suit was thin body armor, to protect her from most plasma bolts and projectile weapons. Her dark hair, usually loose or elaborately coiffed was even held back in a combination of braids and a bun. It was too long for a shorter, less elaborate hairstyle, but it would work for now.

Visible from the Hebe Space Station was the traveler ring. To her amusement, their word for it translated to dimensional, though she supposed it did deal with dimensions, it was more in terms of measurement, than different versions of reality. She wondered how many people made that mistake. Either way, despite being rather obviously an Erutin trade outpost, this was technically neutral ground, and the other side was being allowed a few more armaments to this meeting as concession for the location. The location had been a requirement though, and it was interesting to watch the freighters entire the ring, only to not appear at all on the other side of it. Of course, they would exit a day or twos travel from the nearest Erutin trade planet, but it was still interesting to watch here. Or at least most would. Some of the freighters took longer to head through, she had noticed. Different coordinates set at the tower control, she supposed. The princess waited patiently, well aware she was there ahead of time.

When the Aschen delegation arrived there was little in fanfare, no ships in the vicinity, nothing. Simply a long foreboding silence. Were they going to arrive?

The doors from where the Aschen delegates were to emerge opened with a hiss, revealing two hulking figures in power armor. Their faces obscured by closed visors. Their blue armor bore the sigil of the Adepts of War; an elite super-soldier organization that was carving their name through the galaxy in a bloody swathe of enemies.

Their footsteps rang through the room as they moved forward, rhythmic thunking of their heavy boots on the metal as they stood side by side. Cradled neatly in their arms was a 20mm heavy magnetron rifle, though they made no outright hostile moves, their subtle actions said all they needed to say.

Behind the two hulking Adepts was a young woman, or what appeared to be a young woman. Long silver hair over a slender frame, adorned with a neat dark grey uniform trimmed with blue.

Her heels also echoed on the metal floor as she walked, each of her movements deliberate as she moved past the two War Adepts.

She approached Shine, while the Adepts stood back, her eyes on the Erutin before her. There was something unsettling about this strange white haired woman as she stared uncomfortably at Shine.

"Are you alive..?"

Interesting. Shine didn’t recognize the woman before her. That meant she was likely not from the upper echelons of the government. Mother would have been insulted. Shine was, but only vaguely. She was rather used to people trying to get anything other than a calm reaction from her. This one would not get more than a quiet smile. Still, t was nice of them to finally arrive.

Her own guards, two lithe soldiers, one in a traveler’s garb, the other in the light armor of a marine kept their eyes on the Adepts, and their hands on their guns, the traveler clearly read to rock forward and grab the princess to port her to safety and get her away from these beings. The distaste was hidden from his face, but clear in his posture. The marine didn’t bother to hide his disgust.

The question resulted in a raised eyebrow from Shine, as she offered her hand for a hand shake, her guards having been briefed so that they wouldn’t be too shocked when some strange commoner dared touch a member of the imperial family. “I am alive.” She said simply. The other was odd, and set off warnings in her head. “My name is Princess Shine of House Erutin. And you are?” Other than incredibly unusual.

Shine had a feeling that these talks were going to go south. Well, it wasn’t too surprising. They’d likely be in similar talks for months just to get some form of peace. She would likey only attend this one.

The strange woman's silver eyes looked Shine up and down, as she moved uncomfortably close.

"What am I, a man? Or am I a machine? I am a monument to all your sins." She replied.

Her head canted slightly, in an almost childlike demeanor. At this distance the slight imperfections of an artificial being could be made out, most notably the Graystone Industries logo printed on very small print on the strange woman's Irises, around the very edge.

She slowly reached up and moved to cup Shine's chin in the palm of her hand as she spoke, her tone hushed.

"The neuroanatomy of fear and faith share common afferent pathways. Flip a coin. Increased vascular pressure marks the threat response. Free will scuttles in the swamp of fear, do not fear me."

She slowly let go before taking a step back, hands resting at her side as she spoke once more.

"What is it you have called us here for, Erutin." The woman asked, her demeanor cold and calculated, nothing about her movements were natural, yet they were fluid and deliberate. The strange woman's chest did not rise and fall, she did not breathe, when she touched Shine, her hand was cold, synthetic

Shine’s hand came up to still her guards as the aschen scum grabbed her by her chin, confidence radiating from her. This being would not harm her, and it was clear she was projecting this belief, along with a lack of fear. She allowed the other’s inspection, a frown clear on her face. Given Aschen research tendencies, and reports from spies on Terra, combined with her own observations of the other’s eyes and speech, this was no living being. This was an AI, if a convincing one, at first glance.

“You are AI.” She said simply. “A new kind of sapient being, inorganic in nature.” She said simply. “Neither man, nor machine.” Interesting. A hand sign, her hand down by her side, had the traveler move almost uncomfortably close to her. “And you were called here to attempt to negotiate a stand down from hostilities between our nations. Though we have not come to blows in some time, we deal with each other as enemies. It is the wish of the Empress for us to deal with each other in a more neutral manner, possible even establishing limited trade between our empires.” Possibly.

It was a possibility, though like most, the Aschen would be limited to their trade planets, and would never come closer than the outermost rings to the empire’s center and heart, not legally, at least.

"I am differently sentient." The Ai replied. "I am a compendium of the last hundred and fifty thousand years of knowledge gathered by the civilizations who call themselves Aschen. I am their child."

"You are Erutin; your home world was destroyed by a Singularity core overload of the Reverence Class ship Sacred Promise initiated by Fleet Admiral Raphael McGregor in his last moments of defiance, after you refused his calls for surrender. I have the detailed report of the incident memorized, there are fifty thousand six hundred and thirty seven variations of propaganda pieces that have resulted from this incident, in addition to the institution of several policies concerning the Shaw Protocol." The AI said.

"His actions were not an attempt to make war on your people, only to prevent his vessel and crew from falling into your hands."

She glanced back to the two Adepts, one of them was War Captain Tidus Khaine, who was specifically sent to protect the AI and prevent it from being captured.

"You seek to mend relations with us, to secure peace and a limited trade agreement. Why?" She asked.

“I am aware of what happened. I was evacuated from the planet shortly before the explosion. Our ship was damaged and we crashed. It was sometime before I was rescued. I assure you, I know of the destruction the misunderstanding caused. At the time of the incident, we did not speak your tongue, except for less than one thousand travelers, stationed at empire’s edge.” She said calmly. “We did not understand the calls made, and assumed it was some sort of attack on our home world.” She said simple. “But we have many worlds. Even the loss of our homeworld does not diminish us by much.” They were long lived, and their history even longer. They forgot more than was recorded even.

“We wish to mend relations because it is more advantageous to not be so close to troubles on one of our borders. Trade would be better for both sides than war, both in the cost of goods, and in the cost of lives.” Though all would give their life for the empire and the empress, of course. That was simply the culture. “If you are uninterested, than it would be easy enough for both sides to part from here peacefully.”

Or it would be, this one time, this one offer.

"I will bring your proposal before our Government." She replied, staring off into space for a moment. "The Emperor is in agreement that hostilities should be terminated, therefore as of this moment he has decreed that hostilities between the Erutin and the United Aschen Empire are at an end."

She stared off into space once more.

"Emperor Prince will also consider your proposal for limited trade, we are willing to deal in the trade of raw inorganic materials for the time being." Lunetea added.

"These are the offers the Emperor has placed fourth until our government can deliberate on; and construct a more formal trade policy. All trade goes through the Imperial Province of Tal'dor, where it will be required to pass customs, additionally an import tax of ten percent of bulk value must be paid prior to acceptance of goods, is this reasonable?"

Ah, she was speaking to the emperor then, through the AI. Clever, and the same had often been done with Travelers and their implants. She smiled, rather pleased with this situation. "The temporary agreements sound excellent. All trade will occur on Liana V.” she said simply. “Or on Nodiexo.” Two options. “Imports will have a 10% tax to match your own and must go through customs.” For now, the tax would be ten percent. Formal agreements must be drafted after all. Raw goods only were an excellent choice for now. It was best not to introduce this competing culture just yet. First appropriate agreements must be made.

“We accept your provisional agreements. Consider the fleet notified.” She said calmly. They were being, even as she spoke, the Traveler writing the agreement up, or a summary, as they spoke. “Thank you for your consideration. Please pass on my thanks to your emperor.”