Alitheia In Space [FT][IC][SEMI-OPEN]

[Parcia]

Rossin's Park
The Meeting


To say her blood pressure spiked at the sight of several...dozen armed cat-people aiming rifles on her would be...an understatement. It almost made her each for the 9 inch combat knife on her belt, yet thought better of it. "Disregard vitals spike, I'm not dead yet." A hesitant "Afirm" came through her ear. "Indeed, if everything does go right." Keeping her arms down and loose, she began to walk with him, looking around her surroundings.

The place looked...old. Like several years out of date in terms of equipment and gear and what gear she saw she didn't think was still in use. As they went further through the complex, she spoke. "This place is...forgive me but rundown, old, straight out of the outer colonies in terms of tech...have you guys really been waiting out here for this long?"

[Arktic]

Rossin's Park
The Meeting


To say her blood pressure spiked at the sight of several...dozen armed cat-people aiming rifles on her would be...an understatement. It almost made her each for the 9 inch combat knife on her belt, yet thought better of it. "Disregard vitals spike, I'm not dead yet." A hesitant "Afirm" came through her ear. "Indeed, if everything does go right." Keeping her arms down and loose, she began to walk with him, looking around her surroundings.

The place looked...old. Like several years out of date in terms of equipment and gear and what gear she saw she didn't think was still in use. As they went further through the complex, she spoke. "This place is...forgive me but rundown, old, straight out of the outer colonies in terms of tech...have you guys really been waiting out here for this long?"

Major Shadow nodded. "Well, we haven't been waiting for anyone, but yeah. Most of the system is like this." He gave her a somewhat sad look. "Most of the technologists and engineers were humans. Those few that were Gatoxite, well, they became prime officials, and prime targets for anti-Gatoxite security forces, in the Pride military. So when the Revolution came along, most of the technical skill and experience was lost. Most of who and what is left is on Aelurus Prime, the capital world of our empire, protected within the Imperial Archives and focused on solving much bigger and much scarier problems than fixing broken landing lights and cracked exhaust tunnels on a frontier world." Major Shadow smiled slightly. "But don't worry. We have enough builders in our ranks that the odds of any of these buildings collapsing in on us are pretty small. For most of them, anyways."

They were led to a broken-down hangar, where a few junior officers were moving around tables and chairs for them. The security, still on edge and occasionally pointing their weapons at the humans, encircled the room and nudged them towards the center.
"So, uh..." Major Shadow scratched his head. "I know I'm supposed to offer something to drink as a sign of goodwill, but... We really only have water to spare. I don't want to be yelled at by the civilians for appropriating their milk or coffee..."

[Parcia]

The meeting
Rossin's park

Keeping her eyes on the armed men around her, turning to the major she nodded, "Water is fine." Taking a seat opposite the Major she placed her hands forwards and on the table. "I'll be truthful with you, since my aim is to establish trust. I am a Colonial Navy Captain, a Destroyer Captain, not a diplomat. I Can make certain agreements to a limited degree but I can't guarantee major things like trade deals or defensive pacts. I am also obligated to inform you, in the matters of both securing trust and for my own legal protection, that my crew is monitoring my status from space...and I don't really think I need to go in to details beyond that."


Keeping her posture open and inviting, she spoke further. "So, tell me, start from the beginning."


Some were back home...


"Situation in EX-345 has gone...interesting. ONI file says something about cat people and possible insurgencies. Rest was blacked out. Tango-Alpha-Zulu-2-3 has requested back up, at least cruiser weight."

"Closest force?"

I faint chuckle. "Strenov, old man Strenov's combat formation." "Isn't a dreadnought centered formation a bit much?" "Indeed, but Old Ivan's been waiting for something to do, I here he's cut down piracy and cartel activity to something like 3% of what it once was." "Who the fuck let him be a COINOPs commander." "ONI, sounds like the bat shit insane fuckery they normally get up to."

exasperated Sigh. "Fine, send the mad Russian...but tell him he's under the operational command of the DD Captain, that will get his panties in a knot."

[Arktic]

The meeting
Rossin's park

Keeping her eyes on the armed men around her, turning to the major she nodded, "Water is fine." Taking a seat opposite the Major she placed her hands forwards and on the table. "I'll be truthful with you, since my aim is to establish trust. I am a Colonial Navy Captain, a Destroyer Captain, not a diplomat. I Can make certain agreements to a limited degree but I can guarantee major things like trade deals or defensive pacts. I am also obligated to inform you, in the matters of both securing trust and for my own legal protection, that my crew is monitoring my status from space.,,and I don't really think I need to go in to details beyond that."


Keeping her posture open and inviting, she spoke further. "So, tell me, start from the beginning."


Some were back home...


"Situation in EX-345 has gone...interesting. ONI file says something about cat people and possible insurgencies. Rest was blacked out. Tango-Alpha-Zulu-2-3 has requested back up, at least cruiser weight."

"Closest force?"

I faint chuckle. "Strenov, old man Strenov's combat formation." "Isn't a dreadnought centered formation a bit much?" "Indeed, but Old Ivan's been waiting for something to do, I here he's cut down piracy and cartel activity to something like 3% of what it once was." "Who the fuck let him be a COINOPs commander." "ONI, sounds like the bat shit insane fuckery they normally get up to."

exasperated Sigh. "Fine, send the mad Russian...but tell him he's under the operational command of the DD Captain, that will get his panties in a knot."

Rossin's Park

Major Shadow folded his arms. "That shouldn't be a problem. I have communication folks on standby for when the Navy warps into position. I... plan on telling them we captured you and are in the midst of negotiations and that opening fire like they are almost certainly going to really really want to do is a bad idea. By the time they think to ask questions about what is really happening, we should be in the midst of a true detente and not, well, whatever this is." He chuckled nervously. "I expect them to take the bait, but I don't know what your people will do. If you could find a way to relay these plans to your humans, that would be good."

Shadow cleared his throat. "So you want our story 'from the beginning,' huh... Well, for the past hundred years or so, up until six years ago, every single one of us were slaves to humans. We were clones, fashioned in their image and imbued with the characteristics of one of their favorite pets, manufactured and sold by the Gatoxite Corporation, whose brand name we reclaimed as the name of our species. We lived like this for hundreds of years, as far as anyone knows." He smiled and shrugged. "Really, history is not one of our strong suits."

Shadow's smile faded, and he paused for a long moment, hesitating, his eyes moving away from Captain Keys to the side and to the ground. The topic was clearly difficult for him. "I think... I'll talk about myself. I'm ten years old, and from the time I emerged from the cloning factory on this planet, I was made to... I was a house pet, a personal servant for a high-ranking human private military officer. He, well, he treated me nicely, mostly. My once-owner could be really kind when I did what he said and..." He clutched his pant leg near his thigh, without thinking. "When I let him do whatever he wanted to me, without struggling, or complaining..."
The Gatoxite commander swallowed, choking back something like pain, something like grief. The body language of the guards around him changed: they seemed to relate, to be sympathetic. A few nodded, a few shook their heads. Many exhaled. He continued. "That was my life, for four long years. And I was one of the lucky ones, one of the luckiest ones, really. I at least had an owner that was nice sometimes, who didn't really hurt me too bad, someone who would take care of me if I got sick. Others had to work hard labor for nothing at all, deal with all sorts of degradation and abuse, and were just murdered and thrown in the trash whenever they were seriously hurt or were deemed to be useless. We were objects to the humans, and they treated us like it."

Another pause, but this time Shadow smiled slightly, a smirk of triumph, of reminiscence. "Then our leader, Leo... The close band of revolutionary fighters he had cultivated for years sprang into action. We revolted across worlds, news of every uprising inspiring more to overthrow the system of slavery and abuse we lived under, to fight back against the humans here. We started to win, and then we kept winning. When my owner tried to organize his humans to fight back, to mount a defense of this planet, the time came for me to join the cause... It was kinda hard to do, but I didn't hesitate for long. I stole my master's pistol, pulled the trigger, and made my loyalties clear. With their leader assassinated by a Gatoxite they believed was too broken, to submissive to be a threat, the base fell quickly and the humans were routed and killed." Shadow's chest swelled with pride. "Leo himself promoted me for my actions, and for the fact that I had gleaned some knowledge about running a base from my time as a close confidant to a fairly competent military commander."

Shadow snapped back to attention. "So, right. We threw off the human owners, seized control of the cloning factories that made us from the Gatoxite Corporation, gained our independence, and forced the oppressive humans out of all the star systems we could, until we reached the frontiers of this area that were more difficult to cross than it was worth, usually. That is the story of the revolution, and why you got the greeting you got. We've always expected them to come back, to make reprisals, to take back what they think is theirs. And we stand here firmly to stop them."
He made a face. "We believed you were part of a fleet coming back to re-enslave or destroy us, so we had to fight back. If that's not the case, I really am sorry, but you have to understand why we're doing what we're doing. We're free now, you know, and we're never gonna not be free again. I would rather put a bullet between my ears than let someone like my old owner do what he did to me again."
There was a murmur and nodding of agreement among the Gatoxite fighters in the room with him. Shadow was telling a story that resonated, and it seemed that his people shared their commander's opinion.

---

Revolutionary Pride Navy Operations Center #8 "Pounce," in orbit above Tierra Neueva

There was a flurry of activity around the space station as Naval personnel ran back and forth. The noises of machinery and the cacophony of orders and reports going back and forth filled the depot as ships arrived to rearm, re-fuel, and group up in preparation for the confrontation they now knew was coming.
"Re-route auxiliary power to Section 19!"
"Get someone to the ammo depot, we need to top off our warhead load now!"
"Where is the computer center? I got three weapon system AIs that need re-calibration!"
"Don't unload your sick, we don't have time for that! Just load the medicine on board!"
"Lets move, people! The humans are coming!"

Admiral Joseph Hobbes, a high-ranking grey-furred Gatoxite, strode across the deck, with a large entourage of guards and officers.
"So I've been given command of this operation?" he asked a political aide, who nodded as she looked at her datapad.
"That's right, sir. The Revolutionary Senate's War Council has vested you with a mandate to deal with this human incursion."
He made a face like he had just sniffed an orange. "The Senate? Ugh... Is Leo okay with this?"
The aide shrugged. "I don't know. Nobody does. No one has seen the PME for days, so the War Council is taking initiative on this one."
Admiral Hobbes sighed. "Picked a hell of a time to disappear, Dear Leader... Alright, as long as it's in writing." He turned to an officer. "Where are the battleships? We need the ship-killers."
"Just arrived, sir. They're loading up their capacitors right now."
Hobbes grinned. "Excellent. Bet the humans won't be expecting this kind of firepower, haha!" The others were nervous, but shared in his excitement. It was their first confrontation with their mortal enemies in six years: this was the moment the Revolutionary Navy would really come into its own and prove its worth. Or, they would all die, and their empire was doomed.

As the Admiral watched the preparations unfold, another high-ranking Gatoxite arrived with his own smaller entourage. He saluted Hobbes.
"Rear Admiral Otie Wiley, reporting, sir!"
Hobbes returned the salute. "Excellent work here, Rear Admiral. I can tell you've kept Pounce Station in tip-top shape."
Radm. Otie beamed with pride. "Thank you sir! I'm just happy all the drilling and whatnot is paying off. Your fleet is being loaded in good time. Shouldn't be more than another hour and a half."
Adm. Hobbes nodded. "Right, good. So tell me, Otie, how much of my forces do you think I should keep here, in case the humans somehow slip past our wall of steel?"
Radm. Otie pondered for a moment. "Well, none, sir..."
Hobbes raised an eyebrow. "Really? None?"
Otie shrugged. "The station has pretty good defenses of her own, and besides, Admiral Claws and her force isn't that far away."
Adm. Hobbes shook his head. "That won't do at all. Claws is dealing with a first-contact situation that is apparently quite volatile. Her mission is just as important, if not more so, than ours. She shouldn't be called on except as an absolute last resort."
Radm. Otie's eyes narrowed for a moment, but then he nodded. "Understood. In that case, a cruiser or three would suffice to at least hold the line here."
Hobbes noddded. "Very well. I'll keep the destroyer Collar-Cutter and the cruiser Bad Paw here on standby. You're dismissed, Rear Admiral: we have work to do."
Otie saluted. "Yes sir!" He left, leaving Admiral behind to watch as the Gatoxites readied for the fight of their lives.

[Parcia]

The Meeting
Rossin's Park.


She kept her gaze leveled on him the entire time, leaning in slightly and keeping her hands on the table to get the message across she was actually listening, which she was. The audio and visual data was also being transmitted to the ships that had since moved in to high geo sync orbit over the meeting place. All of it was being recorded and transferred in to a data packet that would be forwarded to both the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Colonial Science Corps team that would undoubtedly coming with their reinforcements.


At the Conclusion of his story she leaned back and mulled over his words. Reaching for her vest, she stopped at the sound of several long arms being charged and slowly opened a pouch. "Assuming you know how to read English, I want to show you something." Revealing a small, slate grey book with a synthetic leather cover with the Colonial Eagle on its front. Opening the book she flipped through a few pages before coming to a section and showing it to him.

"The Universal Declaration of Sentient Rights (2548) states that "All Sentient beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (Article 1) and that "no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms" (Article 4).

The Colonial Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says in Article 8:

No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in all their forms shall be prohibited.
No one shall be held in servitude.
No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour."


Pausing, she continued. "This was passed in to law nearly 280 years by the Colonial Congress, meaning even if any of your oppressors are still around, they'd be guilty of the capital offence of not only creating an artificial life form, which has it's own legal tape, but they put you under chain and collar which would earn them the business end of a Colonial Firing Squad. Now, seeing as you were created outside of Colonial Jurisdiction, we technically would have no ground to put you back in to bondage and considering the welcome we received i'd be a hell of a fight to do so any way."

Leaving the book in front of him, she continued. "That is the Colonial Book of Law, a slightly summarized version of the Colonial Legal codes of law the govern all 1200 or so systems the Union governs, its standard issue to every officer at the academy. Now, if you're wondering why such a large nation would be so harsh on Slavery, let me regale you of the Rebellion of the Crescent Stars."

"Close to 300 years ago, all of Human space was ruled by a single government known as the United Earth Federation. Formed out of the ashes of the 3rd world war by the few surviving nations of Earth, our home world, and you'res, by extension. At first this government was just and genuinely lead humanity in to what we now call the Golden age, an age of progress and prosperity that matched our first golden Age: The Industrial Revolution...."

She would go on for some time to describe the last Great Golden age of mankind, the Rebellion of the Crescent stars, the civil war and formation of the Colonial Union, the Red Death and it's effects across the Galaxy. She'd go in to depth about the major conflicts, the Marathon Gulf War and the like. After what had to have been an hour she paused and thought for a moment.

"I think that's it, that's the most recent set of events I can personally think of."

[Arktic]

The Meeting
Rossin's Park.


She kept her gaze leveled on him the entire time, leaning in slightly and keeping her hands on the table to get the message across she was actually listening, which she was. The audio and visual data was also being transmitted to the ships that had since moved in to high geo sync orbit over the meeting place. All of it was being recorded and transferred in to a data packet that would be forwarded to both the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Colonial Science Corps team that would undoubtedly coming with their reinforcements.


At the Conclusion of his story she leaned back and mulled over his words. Reaching for her vest, she stopped at the sound of several long arms being charged and slowly opened a pouch. "Assuming you know how to read English, I want to show you something." Revealing a small, slate grey book with a synthetic leather cover with the Colonial Eagle on its front. Opening the book she flipped through a few pages before coming to a section and showing it to him.

"The Universal Declaration of Sentient Rights (2548) states that "All Sentient beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (Article 1) and that "no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms" (Article 4).

The Colonial Covenant on Civil and Political Rights says in Article 8:

No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave-trade in all their forms shall be prohibited.
No one shall be held in servitude.
No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour."


Pausing, she continued. "This was passed in to law nearly 280 years by the Colonial Congress, meaning even if any of your oppressors are still around, they'd be guilty of the capital offence of not only creating an artificial life form, which has it's own legal tape, but they put you under chain and collar which would earn them the business end of a Colonial Firing Squad. Now, seeing as you were created outside of Colonial Jurisdiction, we technically would have no ground to put you back in to bondage and considering the welcome we received i'd be a hell of a fight to do so any way."

Leaving the book in front of him, she continued. "That is the Colonial Book of Law, a slightly summarized version of the Colonial Legal codes of law the govern all 1200 or so systems the Union governs, its standard issue to every officer at the academy. Now, if you're wondering why such a large nation would be so harsh on Slavery, let me regale you of the Rebellion of the Crescent Stars."

"Close to 300 years ago, all of Human space was ruled by a single government known as the United Earth Federation. Formed out of the ashes of the 3rd world war by the few surviving nations of Earth, our home world, and you'res, by extension. At first this government was just and genuinely lead humanity in to what we now call the Golden age, an age of progress and prosperity that matched our first golden Age: The Industrial Revolution...."

She would go on for some time to describe the last Great Golden age of mankind, the Rebellion of the Crescent stars, the civil war and formation of the Colonial Union, the Red Death and it's effects across the Galaxy. She'd go in to depth about the major conflicts, the Marathon Gulf War and the like. After what had to have been an hour she paused and thought for a moment.

"I think that's it, that's the most recent set of events I can personally think of."

The Gatoxites listened quietly and with surprising patience as Captain Keys gave the history of her people. Major Shadow took the book in his hands and read it himself while she spoke, although judging from the scrunching of his face and furrowing of his brow he seemed to have a hard time with the language. Some of it everyone seemed to know, with heads nodding in agreement and yawns of boredom. Some of it was new and interesting, causing ears and tails to perk up and heads to tilt in curiosity.

Finally, when Keys finished, there was an uproar. All the Gatoxites seemed to have questions or things to say, and all of them wanted to do so. Lt. Tiger, however, stepped forward and silenced everyone with a loud and surprisingly long "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH", allowing the Major to talk.
"So..." he began, uncertainly. "You have this law. Our former owners would be criminals to you too?" Shadow smiled faintly. "A firing squad sounds pretty revolutionary, heh."
Another Gatoxite guard spoke up, her lip curled up in a snarl. "What was that about putting us back into bondage? That's on your agenda, isn't it, disgusting human!?"
The Major nodded as jeers and angry shouts came from the assembled Gatoxites. "She's right. Clearly this law didn't do anything when it was supposed to. I can hardly read it anyways, it could just be a big lie." Shadow threw the book to the side, and glared at Keys with a surprising intensity. "Now tell me, Captain. What is your human empire really like? Why is it that I still believe that if I were to step aboard your destroyer, would I find my people in cages or collars?"

[Arktic]

Hudson Station, Yurani System, Vexian Confederation

The small, beat-up human model starship touched down without any problems on the base’s landing pad. The mid-sized crew of what appeared to be humans exited, heads covered by hoods and tuques. A slower, feebler-looking one trailed behind the rest of them, held slightly up by two others with backpacks and suitcases and another holding a foldable wheelchair.
“Are you sure about this, sir? You don’t have to-“
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” the one being helped insisted, shaking away their arms. “Just... a little motion sick, that’s all. I can walk, alright!?”

Soon, the ship’s door closed, and everyone was on the pad outside. As the Vexians went about their business in the sparkling spaceport, these beings waited quietly and nervously for their contact to arrive. They were strangers in a strange land, and couldn’t risk anything, and even though their clothing was casual and they tried to act that way, any passerby could tell that there was something of unseen gravity weighing on all of them.

[Parcia]

The Meeting
Rossin's Park


She but only blinked with the up roar and kept her composure, only sipping her water. While she was ready to answer questions as in an orderly fashion when the same Lt Tiger made him self known. Meeting his gaze and not breaking it, she looked him dead in the eyes and spoke, "If you paid any attention, Lieutenant, you would have herd me speak of Jurisdiction. This system and likely the entire Gatoxite Revolutionary Pride lay outside Colonial space meaning while these were horrible, horrible things and I am truly, truly sorry they happened to you and your people...they happened outside of our space."


To his second comment she visibly scoffed at him. "You want to know the real Colonial Union? Alright, fine." Flicking her wrist she opened up the embedded PDA program in her suit, tapped it a few times and brought of a map of the Galaxy. Squared off in to numbered sectors, she tapped twice to highlight the Colonial Union's recognized boarders. "The United Sovereign Colonial Union of Fortuna, Heaven's Reach, El'Parcia, Behemoth, Beta Pixie, Hawking and several, several tens of thousands more worlds is a democratic republic stretching several hundred thousand charted star systems, home to nary 490 billion Humans and nearly 13 billion Xenos. We command one of the largest unified Armed forces known to the galaxy, the single largest economic block in the galaxy, and an armada of ships that has yet to falter in the face of a significant enemy force, be if the Faeson Unity's fleet at the Marathon Gulf or the near unending, World eating Hives fleets of the Vresh and will continue to defend this great nation from all threats foreign and domestic."


Having slowly raised from her chair and gotten closer and closer to the LT, she found her self inches from his face and matching his expression. "You speak to a humble captain of a Colonial Destroyer, likely one of thousands, but with me comes not only the promise that any harm that comes to me will be met with the veritable Hammer of God, but the option, nay, the invitation to promote diplomacy and peace between out peoples and our worlds."

Leaning back in her chair, she would pause to take a breath. "Major, I would ask you to calm your Lieutenant so that we may continue these negotiations unhindered by hot tempers."

[Arktic]

The Meeting
Rossin's Park


She but only blinked with the up roar and kept her composure, only sipping her water. While she was ready to answer questions as in an orderly fashion when the same Lt Tiger made him self known. Meeting his gaze and not breaking it, she looked him dead in the eyes and spoke, "If you paid any attention, Lieutenant, you would have herd me speak of Jurisdiction. This system and likely the entire Gatoxite Revolutionary Pride lay outside Colonial space meaning while these were horrible, horrible things and I am truly, truly sorry they happened to you and your people...they happened outside of our space."


To his second comment she visibly scoffed at him. "You want to know the real Colonial Union? Alright, fine." Flicking her wrist she opened up the embedded PDA program in her suit, tapped it a few times and brought of a map of the Galaxy. Squared off in to numbered sectors, she tapped twice to highlight the Colonial Union's recognized boarders. "The United Sovereign Colonial Union of Fortuna, Heaven's Reach, El'Parcia, Behemoth, Beta Pixie, Hawking and several, several tens of thousands more worlds is a democratic republic stretching several hundred thousand charted star systems, home to nary 490 billion Humans and nearly 13 billion Xenos. We command one of the largest unified Armed forces known to the galaxy, the single largest economic block in the galaxy, and an armada of ships that has yet to falter in the face of a significant enemy force, be if the Faeson Unity's fleet at the Marathon Gulf or the near unending, World eating Hives fleets of the Vresh and will continue to defend this great nation from all threats foreign and domestic."


Having slowly raised from her chair and gotten closer and closer to the LT, she found her self inches from his face and matching his expression. "You speak to a humble captain of a Colonial Destroyer, likely one of thousands, but with me comes not only the promise that any harm that comes to me will be met with the veritable Hammer of God, but the option, nay, the invitation to promote diplomacy and peace between out peoples and our worlds."

Leaning back in her chair, she would pause to take a breath. "Major, I would ask you to calm your Lieutenant so that we may continue these negotiations unhindered by hot tempers."

The room fell deadly silent. This seemed to be both a good thing, and a bad thing. Lt. Tiger backed off, but Captain Keys got the distinct impression that the room was much, much more hostile than it was just moments before. The guards became noticeably more twitchy, and even Major Shadow suddenly wouldn’t meet her eyes. The fear, and the tension, could be cut with a knife.
“Of course,” Shadow said quietly. “Sorry...”
It seemed to be dawning on every Gatoxite in that room that whether humanity was their enemy or friend, complete and total human domination was upon them regardless. What hope did 15 billion have against 500 billion. Lt. Tiger seemed to get sick, and nobody said anything for a while.
“What...” choked out Shadow, glancing back at the many Gatoxites with guns standing behind him, “What do you intend to do, if you leave this planet?”

[Parcia]

The Meeting
Rossin's Park


She resumed her open posture, now a little visibly tired her self. "I won't be going any were for a while. I'm your point of first contact with the CU and the one you're most..."comfortable" with, if that word is applicable. When my reinforcements get here, there will likely, probably, be a diplomatic team from the Diplomatic Corps and a Science team from from the Colonial Science Corps. What's going to fallow is likely several days of talks and negotiations...likely including my self...which mean's i'm going to miss my furlough...fuck."


"The first thing is likely going to be a Cease of Hostilities, then likely a set of talks about basic things, travel rights, a more concrete peace agreement would be written out. After that its likely going to be an official recognition of the Pride as the legitimate government of the space you do govern. Once that's done, your likely going to get offers from sources like defense contractors, mining companies, agricultural businesses, etc etc etc. Mind you I'm a naval captain, not a diplomat so I can't exactly promise anything, but from prior experience and reading I can give you a rough idea."


She looked around, seeing the general state of the room. "You're not going to get conquered, or subjugated, or sent back to being slaves. I didn't come here to conquer a sentient race, nor did any of us. Hell if anything, given your status and origins you'd likely be given a deal of protection..." Then something dawned on her. "Hold on...you're all clones...Oh lord...you don't have families, children." Subconsciously her hand drifted to her mid drift.

Then, a second, more drastic realization came to her. "6 years with out stock refreshment, you have to be nearing the depletion of you're stock of material to clone, to tinker with." She paused, debating if she should go forward with it, "Which means you're likely sterilized at creation...oh God I can't even imagine how that feels, to be robbed by some creators most insidious from one of the single largest portions life development."

[Arktic]

The Meeting
Rossin's Park


She resumed her open posture, now a little visibly tired her self. "I won't be going any were for a while. I'm your point of first contact with the CU and the one you're most..."comfortable" with, if that word is applicable. When my reinforcements get here, there will likely, probably, be a diplomatic team from the Diplomatic Corps and a Science team from from the Colonial Science Corps. What's going to fallow is likely several days of talks and negotiations...likely including my self...which mean's i'm going to miss my furlough...fuck."


"The first thing is likely going to be a Cease of Hostilities, then likely a set of talks about basic things, travel rights, a more concrete peace agreement would be written out. After that its likely going to be an official recognition of the Pride as the legitimate government of the space you do govern. Once that's done, your likely going to get offers from sources like defense contractors, mining companies, agricultural businesses, etc etc etc. Mind you I'm a naval captain, not a diplomat so I can't exactly promise anything, but from prior experience and reading I can give you a rough idea."


She looked around, seeing the general state of the room. "You're not going to get conquered, or subjugated, or sent back to being slaves. I didn't come here to conquer a sentient race, nor did any of us. Hell if anything, given your status and origins you'd likely be given a deal of protection..." Then something dawned on her. "Hold on...you're all clones...Oh lord...you don't have families, children." Subconsciously her hand drifted to her mid drift.

Then, a second, more drastic realization came to her. "6 years with out stock refreshment, you have to be nearing the depletion of you're stock of material to clone, to tinker with." She paused, debating if she should go forward with it, "Which means you're likely sterilized at creation...oh God I can't even imagine how that feels, to be robbed by some creators most insidious from one of the single largest portions life development."

The room seemed to relax. At least it didn't seem like Major Shadow was going to reluctantly order his people to start shooting anymore. The idea of recognition and trade deals seemed to intrigue and excite quite a few of them: it would be nice to not have to be on a constant war footing anymore. Many of them had worked in the fields they mentioned back before the revolution, and the idea of going back to something familiar to be in charge of a new operation was a pleasing prospect.

When the conversation turned, the mood surprisingly didn't. There still was a sense of optimism in the air.
"Yeah," said Major Shadow, with a solemn nod. "We're running out of stock clone material, not to mention that the machines are starting to break down in ways we can barely figure out how to fix. When I mentioned the 'bigger and scarier' things the best minds of the Gatoxites are focused on, that was one of them. We've never had a need for family: our comrades are our family. But this is a problem that needs to be solved."
"But Leo will fix it!" exclaimed one of the soldiers cheerfully, eliciting approval and additional cheer from the others.
Major Shadow smiled brightly. "That's right! Our leader, the Pride Male Emperor Leo, has told us that he's working on a solution to the Gatoxite production crisis right now. Soon, we won't even need the cloning machines anymore!" He glanced briefly at Captain Key's midriff and quickly looked back up, tail waving. "We'll be able to grow our numbers like the humans did. It sounds crazy, but so did rising up against the humans. There's nothing Leo can't do for us!"

[Parcia]

The meeting
Rossin's Park

She paused, Conflicted about what she was about to say.

"Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, and I do think you are a tough lot, the massive paint scratch along the prow of my ship is testament enough to that. I will be a little more frank with you."

"The Galaxy is a big place, a really, really big place. My position as a Naval Captain sorta gives me a different perspective then most Diplomats will. I deal with unknown, Dangerous unknown and have to do so while commanding a 580 meter long destroyer that carries in to the blackness of space 250 souls. In terms of Numbers of Guns, men at arms, and the sheer number of shit that we can make and weight we can throw, as a leader it might be fruitful to give the order to have what ever reinforcements coming to not come in hot with guns blazing and shields razed."


"The CU can't really afford a war on the end of the Galaxy, and neither can you."

[Arktic]

The meeting
Rossin's Park

She paused, Conflicted about what she was about to say.

"Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, and I do think you are a tough lot, the massive paint scratch along the prow of my ship is testament enough to that. I will be a little more frank with you."

"The Galaxy is a big place, a really, really big place. My position as a Naval Captain sorta gives me a different perspective then most Diplomats will. I deal with unknown, Dangerous unknown and have to do so while commanding a 580 meter long destroyer that carries in to the blackness of space 250 souls. In terms of Numbers of Guns, men at arms, and the sheer number of shit that we can make and weight we can throw, as a leader it might be fruitful to give the order to have what ever reinforcements coming to not come in hot with guns blazing and shields razed."


"The CU can't really afford a war on the end of the Galaxy, and neither can you."

The Cavalry?

Major Shadow was about to speak, but then an electronic chirping came from his pocket.
"Speak of a human..." he muttered. "They're here."

---

"Prepare to exit warp!"
All at once, the armada that had been assembled under Admiral Hobbes' command came out of hyperspace and into view of Rossin's Park. The dreaded human ships were in view immediately, and a whole host of targeting lights and lasers danced on their surface.
"Only three of them," he said with a sneer. "This should be easier than using the litterbox..."

However before Hobbes could even give the command to fire, a communications alert came up on his screen.
"Sir, incoming transmission! It's the PDF!"
"The planetary defense force...?" he grumbled in confusion. "How are they still alive? Whatever, put them through and prepare to engage."
Major Shadow's face came up on the screen, and he smiled. "Good afternoon, Admiral. Glad you could make it."
The Admiral was less happy. "What is this about, Major? Shouldn't you be fighting the humans, or conducting the evacuation of the planet?"
He gave a satisfied smirk. "About that, Admiral... We got the humans right here." He pointed both his gun and the camera at Captain Keys, giving her a reassuring wink from behind the datapad.

Hobbes blinked in disbelief. "You... captured the humans. After they blasted the mass driver to Hell."
Maj. Shadow shot Hobbes a glare. "It's in Heaven now, Hobbes. And yeah, we did, no thanks to you or the missile shipment we've been begging for that STILL hasn't come yet. The human leadership was stupid enough to descend while the bombardment and evacuation was happening, we captured her, and now we're holding her hostage for negotiations. Guess they wanted to taste their food without chewing first."
The Admiral couldn't help but give a satisfied grin. "Excellent," he said, ignoring Major Shadow's complaints and anger. "That'll certainly... Wait, what did you say? Negotiations with the humans? What could you be possibly negotiating, our price tag?"
Shadow shook his head. "Turns out these humans are... special. They didn't even know we existed until now, and just want to talk."
Hobbes thought for a moment, then leaned into the camera. "You, human. Do you understand what you've just done? The position you're in?"

[Parcia]

Meeting
Rossian's Park

To this she rolled her eyes. "Oh the horror, to be seized by such formidable feline foes." Her inner thoughts told a different story. Because your little flotilla of half dozen rusty "Battleships" is going to do fuck all to Strenov's battle group. "Indeed I do, Please care to join us, venerable admiral, so that we may hammer out some terms and...negotiations." She felt almost sick, feeding this feline's ego so much.

Her XO's voice appeared in her ear. "6 Battleship weight vessels, Reading tuned drive cores and we are being painted by several dozen...Are those manual targeting modules? Escort fleet of around a dozen cruiser weight vessels. Secondly, we got confirmations, Serpentia is 6 hours out, CNS Themistocles leading roughly 80 vessels, so we just gotta hang on till then."



Tapping her wrist twice to give then a coded confirmation, she waited for the Admiral to go on.


Key's XO took a rather...cautionary step to avoid having his fleet blown out from underneath him. "Right, order the formation to cue up their Electronic War fare suits, the moment they open fire I want their Communications and firing radars jammed. Adding to that, i want Flares and Chaff pods cued and ready to go, we don't have the fire power advantage so prepared for some fireworks."

[Arktic]

Meeting
Rossian's Park

To this she rolled her eyes. "Oh the horror, to be seized by such formidable feline foes." Her inner thoughts told a different story. Because your little flotilla of half dozen rusty "Battleships" is going to do fuck all to Strenov's battle group. "Indeed I do, Please care to join us, venerable admiral, so that we may hammer out some terms and...negotiations." She felt almost sick, feeding this feline's ego so much.

Her XO's voice appeared in her ear. "6 Battleship weight vessels, Reading tuned drive cores and we are being painted by several dozen...Are those manual targeting modules? Escort fleet of around a dozen cruiser weight vessels. Secondly, we got confirmations, Serpentia is 6 hours out, CNS Themistocles leading roughly 80 vessels, so we just gotta hang on till then."



Tapping her wrist twice to give then a coded confirmation, she waited for the Admiral to go on.


Key's XO took a rather...cautionary step to avoid having his fleet blown out from underneath him. "Right, order the formation to cue up their Electronic War fare suits, the moment they open fire I want their Communications and firing radars jammed. Adding to that, i want Flares and Chaff pods cued and ready to go, we don't have the fire power advantage so prepared for some fireworks."

Admirable Admiral

Hobbes wasted no time in jumping on board his shuttle, leaving a high-ranking Captain by the name of Benji in charge of his flotilla. It took no more than fifteen minutes for the spacecraft to come screaming out of the sky and to plonk down near the hangar.

When Admiral Hobbes arrived, the room stopped as everyone saluted him. The orange-haired catboy waved them off though, and approached Captain Keys with a smirk, ignoring everyone else.
“I have to say, I never expected to meet a living human face-to-face again,” Hobbes confessed. “Your presence here is both a great excitement and a little bit of a disappointment.” The smile faded from his face, and his hand went to the pistol on his belt. “Now explain yourself, human. What are you doing in a sector of the universe you know you don’t belong in?”

[Parcia]

The meeting

Matching his smirk with a friendly, cheerful smile of her own, she went on. "Me and the good major here were just discussing that, actually. See, I'm not from the Human Faction that unjustly enslaved your people. I'm from a much larger nation built on the ideals of personal freedoms and liberties."

"Our long range sensors detected a large burst of radiation, in both forms of communications and weapons fire, from this sector of space some time ago. Knowing there was a Human colony here, outside out jurisdiction mind you, me and my little destroyer force were sent here to investigate."

"As soon as we entered the system, we were fired upon with out warning or really any posted reason beyond "Die Human Bitch!!!" Said Mass driver proved to by wholly inadequate to do anything beyond denting my destroyer and was promptly dusted from high orbit by my return fire. Now I will pause here and offer aid to those wounded and their families, but will not apologize for defending out selves from a then unknown aggressor."

Leaning back and thinking for a moment, she nodded. "I think that's it, really. That neat little silver book you walked past here is an abridged version of my nation's code of laws, you might want to take a peak at it."

[Arktic]

[spoilerThe meeting

Matching his smirk with a friendly, cheerful smile of her own, she went on. "Me and the good major here were just discussing that, actually. See, I'm not from the Human Faction that unjustly enslaved your people. I'm from a much larger nation built on the ideals of personal freedoms and liberties."

"Our long range sensors detected a large burst of radiation, in both forms of communications and weapons fire, from this sector of space some time ago. Knowing there was a Human colony here, outside out jurisdiction mind you, me and my little destroyer force were sent here to investigate."

"As soon as we entered the system, we were fired upon with out warning or really any posted reason beyond "Die Human Bitch!!!" Said Mass driver proved to by wholly inadequate to do anything beyond denting my destroyer and was promptly dusted from high orbit by my return fire. Now I will pause here and offer aid to those wounded and their families, but will not apologize for defending out selves from a then unknown aggressor."

Leaning back and thinking for a moment, she nodded. "I think that's it, really. That neat little silver book you walked past here is an abridged version of my nation's code of laws, you might want to take a peak at it."

Everything was silent for a moment as the Admiral stopped smirking, inspecting the human in front of him. After a while, the Admiral's face twisted into a vicious sneer, and he walked over to the silver book, kicking it away. "Humans don't have laws, they're just bad jokes. They obey only their instincts of violence and greed." He straightened up his back and looked around, clearing his throat. "Even now, after you've attacked us and tried to 'reclaim' our planet, you feed us lies about fake ideals, and offer false promises to keep our guard down. Well, human bitch, you may have managed to convince these backwater terrestrials, but it won't work on me. I can see your complete disdain and dismissal of us in your eyes. You know exactly who we are. And for the record, no Gatoxite ever needs to give you justification for our actions: your people never gave us justification for yours."

Admiral Hobbes reached to the communicator on his wrist. "Fleet, standby. We're taking the human prisoners to Prime to be executed, as a personal gift from me to our dearest Emperor. Prepare for enemy human reinforcements and combat."
Major Shadow paled, and stepped in front of the Admiral. "W-Wait! This isn't right! You're making a mista-"
There was a loud blasting noise, and Shadow fell with a scream, clutching his suddenly smoking and bloodied side. Admiral Hobbes hissed with intense fury, and kicked the fallen Major in the face, smoking gun still in his hand. "And take him to the brig, too! He'll stand trial for failing to defend this planet properly, and for being stupid enough to fall for the human's lies!"
The Admiral's security team approached the humans, weapons raised and armed, and shouting various commands to surrender. Shadow's people stepped back, in fear and confusion, looking in shock and terror at their commanding officer whimpering and bleeding on the ground. Lt. Tiger was frozen, hand on his sidearm, looking back and forth between Admiral Hobbes and Captain Keys.

[Parcia]

The Meeting

The good captain remained stoic, while her vitals spiked and plateaued at levels suggesting a flight or fight response was on the horizon.

Keys frowned, rubbed her temples and tried her best to keep her breathing deep and even. "I-is that it then? Your going to throw me in to chains and haul me off to the stake to be shot? For being simply Human?!" She paused, setting her self up for this coming bout of verbal Judo. "Your a valiant, courageous race of artificial humanoids, as fully sentient and Sapient as I am and your going to stoop to the levels of your masters and commit was it is arguably the murder of another sentient being under the mere suspicion of being of the same species of a sect of greedy, corporate thugs who created you only to keep you under lock and chain..."

"You're a proud people, you rose up in rightful rebellion against tyranny...only to go and commit the same crimes and wrong deeds as them? Do you not see the irony in that?"

[Arktic]

The Meeting

The good captain remained stoic, while her vitals spiked and plateaued at levels suggesting a flight or fight response was on the horizon.

Keys frowned, rubbed her temples and tried her best to keep her breathing deep and even. "I-is that it then? Your going to throw me in to chains and haul me off to the stake to be shot? For being simply Human?!" She paused, setting her self up for this coming bout of verbal Judo. "Your a valiant, courageous race of artificial humanoids, as fully sentient and Sapient as I am and your going to stoop to the levels of your masters and commit was it is arguably the murder of another sentient being under the mere suspicion of being of the same species of a sect of greedy, corporate thugs who created you only to keep you under lock and chain..."

"You're a proud people, you rose up in rightful rebellion against tyranny...only to go and commit the same crimes and wrong deeds as them? Do you not see the irony in that?"

Admiral Hobbes laughed, but there was no joy in his voice. "Oh yeah, this is a classic.. I remember the humans that made that same argument to me, when they were being put up against the wall. Humans that were friends and family with the people who claimed to own us, the people who created us to be slaves, the people who abused and exploited and worked and raped and murdered us. These were the same people that ignored us when we said we had feelings and consciousness of our own, and did nothing when others laughed at or threatened us for expressing our spirits without permission."
He approached Captain Keys and got close to her, eyes filled with hatred. "It's a lesson I learned very early in the Revolution. See, moral righteousness and distinctions between innocent and guilty groups only matter to humans when they're the ones being threatened. Sure, when humans seek to gain from justice, they're paragons, they're f_cking angels. But when they're the ones delivering justice... When they're in power, they'll permit and abuse anything they can."

Hobbes stepped away from her and inspected his claws. "Besides, it's not just for the crime of being human you're to be killed. You murdered a lot of Major Shadow's people, and injured even more of them. Even if I was willing to overlook the fact that you belong to a race of slaving monsters, I can't forgive that. My- Our honor won't permit it, regardless of whatever deal that stupid coward may have told you could happen."
Lt. Tiger's fists clenched, and he was visibly biting his tongue. Shadow sobbed on the ground in pain, nobody willing to help him.

[Parcia]

The Standoff


She kept her posture, not giving him the satisfaction of stroking his ego any more then she had to. "That stupid coward, who you so ruthlessly shot, was brave enough to sit down with me, face his fears that pigheaded men like you seared in to his brain from the moment he stepped out of his cloning vat, and question the status quo among you're people."

"I bring with me a genuine, legitimate chance for peace, for an age of prosperity and progress and you, Admiral, will be remembered for it...either as the men who helped usher it in for your people, or the man who doomed them all to war and strife because he was to scared to set his paranoia aside and see what was really before him."


Stepping closer, she stared down at him. "You're choice."

[Arktic]

The Standoff


She kept her posture, not giving him the satisfaction of stroking his ego any more then she had to. "That stupid coward, who you so ruthlessly shot, was brave enough to sit down with me, face his fears that pigheaded men like you seared in to his brain from the moment he stepped out of his cloning vat, and question the status quo among you're people."

"I bring with me a genuine, legitimate chance for peace, for an age of prosperity and progress and you, Admiral, will be remembered for it...either as the men who helped usher it in for your people, or the man who doomed them all to war and strife because he was to scared to set his paranoia aside and see what was really before him."


Stepping closer, she stared down at him. "You're choice."

“My choice, is it?” Admiral Hobbes said with a smirk. “Fine. Since the first is a lie I choose the second one. Now let’s go.” He nodded to his men, who began to prod the humans toward the hangar door with their weapons.
“W-Wait,” stammered Lieutenant Tiger suddenly. Everyone stopped and turned to face him, and the previously hyper-aggressive Gatoxite shrank and hesitated.
Admiral Hobbes groaned and rolled his eyes. “Great, more insubordination? What is this, amateur hour? Don’t you know I outrank you in every possible way!?”
“Before Major Shadow got on the comms, the humans were about to annihilate us,” he continued, ignoring Hobbes but speaking sheepishly, like he was admitting to an angry parent that he broke a vase while playing. “The truth is, we... we didn’t capture Captain Keys. She came down here on her own.”
Admiral Hobbes squinted. “So what? Shadow’s a liar then, as well as a coward and an idiot?”
“No, he’s not!” said Lt. Tiger, suddenly shouting. “She- she didn’t have to come down here! The human group was gonna kill all of us for attacking first, but she stopped them and came down here, practically unarmed, and told us everything she just told you! What if the human is telling the truth!?”
“Then she’s the stupidest and unluckiest human ever,” said Admiral Hobbes, dismissively. “Now come on, let’s...”

He noticed a line of Gatoxite marines, forming in front of the door and clearly blocking his path. The Admiral blinked in confusion, then shook his head and began barking. “I order you to arrest Shadow, that butter-bars troublemaker, and escort us to the shuttles!”
“We can’t let you do that, Admiral,” the head of the line said, glaring from behind his armored faceplate. “We were ordered by Major Shadow to protect the humans unless they attacked, and since they haven’t attacked, we’re gonna obey that order.”
Lt. Tiger drew a sidearm and stood with the marines. “You’re Navy, not Defense Force,” he said with a growl. “You don’t have jurisdiction here.”
“And Shadow is not a coward!” someone in the crowd shouted, starting an angry murmur of agreement.
Admiral Hobbes stepped back, utterly baffled. “But... But the Senate...!” He shook his head again, realizing that argument wasn’t gonna convince anyone. “W-Why are you still supporting him!? He almost got you all killed!”
“But he risked his life with us too,” an engineer said, folding her arms and clutching a large wrench. “Nobody knew where those shots were going to land, he could have been wiped out like the others on the mass driver as well!”
“Yeah! You didn’t show up until you had half the damn Navy at your back, and you’re gonna call him a coward for defending us!?”
“Where the hell do you get off!?”

Admiral Hobbes looked around, now clearly in a panic as the other Gatoxites grew increasingly hostile and his own security very clearly not knowing who to support. “But... but I know Shadow’s story!” Hobbes said, pointing to the injured, shaking form of Shadow on the floor. “He’s a f_cking sympathizer! H-He let the human commander of this base have his way with him whenever he wanted before the revolution, and he probably f_cked more humans than that too! That’s why he’s negotiating, he’s going to betray everyone because he secretly loves humans!”
The attempt to defame and dishonor Shadow backfired severely: many Gatoxites on the base knew Shadow’s story well, and they didn’t much care for Hobbes’ retelling of it at all. There was plenty of angry shouting and weapons were drawn, with most of them aimed at the Admiral and not at the humans. A shooting fight was moments from breaking out, and regardless of the victors the Captain Keys and the other humans would be in the crossfire.

[Parcia]

The meeting

Seeing her plan actually working was immensely satisfying, yet there were more pressing matters at hand. Catching a hint of a whimper, she turned her head and saw the good Major laying on his side, a pool of crimson blood starting to collect underneath him. Moving away from the admiral she pushed her way through the crowed, drawing more and more stares until she came to the major.

Retrieving her knife, she heard a few collective gasps and a few charging of weapons before she knelt down and...cut open his uniform. With out really asking him, she rolled him over on to his back and reached in to her rig's webbing. Again, amid gasps and a another set of weapons charging and pulled out a bright red pouch and opened it.

Being guided by her XO's voice in her ear, she pulled out a can of disinfectant spray, a bio-foam can, and a set of sterilized adhesive bandages. "Right, Major, I'm going to need you to hold still." With out giving him much of a warning, she sprayed the wound and her hand with the disinfectant. Lacking any major painkiller beyond the numbing agent in the spray, she promptly used a finger to feel around for the bullet. Amid the gasps and groans of the feline mad underneath her, she found the slug, seemingly lodged in some muscle tissue.

"So, looks like the plasma charge didn't prime properly in that side arm, which is good because it didn't cause too much damage, bad thing cause the plasma coating will poison you rather quickly. You're likely already feeling the effects of onset Plasma poising." Flipping the knife around, she stripped off some of the synthetic leather grip, she folded it tight and placed it near his mouth. "Your going to want to bite down on this, cause this will hurt like a Human bitch."

Waiting until he did so, she used the blade of the knife and made the wound a little larger, giving her more room to work while not cutting him open more then needed. Using her two longest fingers, she slid in to the wound deep enough to get a grip on the slug. Being as ginger as she could, she began to slowly extract the round until she had it out and dropped it in to the palm of her hand. "9mm, Plasma tipped slug." Hissing, she dropped the partially melting bullet on to the concrete floor.

"Little bastards still hot." Bringing her attention back to the wound, she shook the can of bio foam, shot him a sympathetic glance, and promptly embedded the end of the can as deep as she could in to the wound with out deepening it more. Holding down the nozzle she filled the wound with the bio reactive agent and slowly with drew the nozzle, he wouldn't feel to much, but the foam would stiffen and harden sealing the wound shut.

Lastly she would apply the bandage over the wound. Finding a clean set of wipes among the kit, she began to wipe up the excess blood fluid.

"Well, your going to want to not move to much, but you'll live."

[Arktic]

The meeting

Seeing her plan actually working was immensely satisfying, yet there were more pressing matters at hand. Catching a hint of a whimper, she turned her head and saw the good Major laying on his side, a pool of crimson blood starting to collect underneath him. Moving away from the admiral she pushed her way through the crowed, drawing more and more stares until she came to the major.

Retrieving her knife, she heard a few collective gasps and a few charging of weapons before she knelt down and...cut open his uniform. With out really asking him, she rolled him over on to his back and reached in to her rig's webbing. Again, amid gasps and a another set of weapons charging and pulled out a bright red pouch and opened it.

Being guided by her XO's voice in her ear, she pulled out a can of disinfectant spray, a bio-foam can, and a set of sterilized adhesive bandages. "Right, Major, I'm going to need you to hold still." With out giving him much of a warning, she sprayed the wound and her hand with the disinfectant. Lacking any major painkiller beyond the numbing agent in the spray, she promptly used a finger to feel around for the bullet. Amid the gasps and groans of the feline mad underneath her, she found the slug, seemingly lodged in some muscle tissue.

"So, looks like the plasma charge didn't prime properly in that side arm, which is good because it didn't cause too much damage, bad thing cause the plasma coating will poison you rather quickly. You're likely already feeling the effects of onset Plasma poising." Flipping the knife around, she stripped off some of the synthetic leather grip, she folded it tight and placed it near his mouth. "Your going to want to bite down on this, cause this will hurt like a Human bitch."

Waiting until he did so, she used the blade of the knife and made the wound a little larger, giving her more room to work while not cutting him open more then needed. Using her two longest fingers, she slid in to the wound deep enough to get a grip on the slug. Being as ginger as she could, she began to slowly extract the round until she had it out and dropped it in to the palm of her hand. "9mm, Plasma tipped slug." Hissing, she dropped the partially melting bullet on to the concrete floor.

"Little bastards still hot." Bringing her attention back to the wound, she shook the can of bio foam, shot him a sympathetic glance, and promptly embedded the end of the can as deep as she could in to the wound with out deepening it more. Holding down the nozzle she filled the wound with the bio reactive agent and slowly with drew the nozzle, he wouldn't feel to much, but the foam would stiffen and harden sealing the wound shut.

Lastly she would apply the bandage over the wound. Finding a clean set of wipes among the kit, she began to wipe up the excess blood fluid.

"Well, your going to want to not move to much, but you'll live."

Although they had initially freaked out and started yelling and pointing their weapons at Captain Keys, when they realized that she wasn't hurting or trying to capture Major Shadow but was instead trying to heal him, they all stopped to watch in awe. Shadow screamed into the knife grip, which he bit down on so hard his canines ripped holes in it as she went to work, but when the triage was over and it seemed like his side was starting to heal, Shadow gave Keys a pained but clearly grateful and appreciative look.
"...th...thank you..." he muttered quietly, curling his body and tail up slowly to rest.

Admiral Hobbes stared at Keys and Shadow in disbelief. "I... That's..."
"See!?" Lt. Tiger interjected, pointing at Captain Keys."These humans aren't the same! Evil humans would have just let Shadow die, since he wouldn't even be worth the medicine to them!"
Hobbes stammered, trying to form words to respond. "What... What am I supposed to do now?"
Everyone in the room looked at Keys to see what she would say next.

[Parcia]

The Resolution.

Leaning back she fell in to a seated position and rubbed her face. "Probably the best option would be to tell your fleet to stand down, the amount of targeting laser's lighting up my ships are singeing their paint." Reaching to her her belt, she pulled out her canteen, unscrewed the cap and took a long swig. Reaching up behind her head she undid the scrunchy holding her navy issue bun together and let her dark chestnut hair fall to a little past her shoulders.

She held the canteen over her head and let a good portion of the water fall on to her face and neck, washing away a good portion of the sweat that had formed were her jump suit hadn't covered. "Next would be likely be an agreement to not shoot at each other. Lord Admiral Strenov, the commander coming to reinforce me, is on standing orders that if he does not receive a stand down order as soon as he leaves FTL, he'll light up anything not throwing up a Colonial Navy IFF Tag."

She paused for a moment and turned to the Admiral. "Which, given the fact I am not a diplomat, I can send such order to my crew in orbit permitted you agree not to shoot any of us...which would be great." "After that we might have to meet along side the Colonial Diplomatic and Science Corps teams that will want to meet with you all."

[Arktic]

The Resolution.

Leaning back she fell in to a seated position and rubbed her face. "Probably the best option would be to tell your fleet to stand down, the amount of targeting laser's lighting up my ships are singeing their paint." Reaching to her her belt, she pulled out her canteen, unscrewed the cap and took a long swig. Reaching up behind her head she undid the scrunchy holding her navy issue bun together and let her dark chestnut hair fall to a little past her shoulders.

She held the canteen over her head and let a good portion of the water fall on to her face and neck, washing away a good portion of the sweat that had formed were her jump suit hadn't covered. "Next would be likely be an agreement to not shoot at each other. Lord Admiral Strenov, the commander coming to reinforce me, is on standing orders that if he does not receive a stand down order as soon as he leaves FTL, he'll light up anything not throwing up a Colonial Navy IFF Tag."

She paused for a moment and turned to the Admiral. "Which, given the fact I am not a diplomat, I can send such order to my crew in orbit permitted you agree not to shoot any of us...which would be great." "After that we might have to meet along side the Colonial Diplomatic and Science Corps teams that will want to meet with you all."

Uncertainly, the Admiral touched the communicator on his wrist, and when he saw the rest of the Gatoxites were looking at him expectantly, he raised it to his mouth and spoke.
"The humans are... not to be attacked. They are peaceful.Negotiations are ongoing."
There was a silence, then the communicator came on again. "...are you sure about this, sir?"
"No," Admiral Hobbes admitted, striking a more confident tone, "but we don't have any choice but to go with this gamble. In any case, these particular humans are nothing at all like our former slavers, so rest easy up there."
The response came back after a moment. "Uh... understood, sir... Should we relay this news back to A-Prime?"
"Please do."

High above, the targeting lasers stopped blinding, and the radar stopped drowning the Colonials' passive defense systems. Meanwhile, back surface side, Admiral Hobbes stared at Captain Keys awkwardly.
"I... never expected to genuinely meet a human in peace, since the revolution. I wish I had words for this..."