Boomer is happily chipping away at the ship and wondering who wired this thing when a beeping sound comes in on his datapad. Pausing and wiping his brow he pulls it from his pack and reads the message from EH-RK.
"Well well well. Lady luck is looking down on my furry butt." he says to himself.
Bommer types up a seply and hits send. Then rolls under the dashboard of this ship and carries on working.
His reply reads 'Paid?"
Ysoki Codename Boomer:It is a Starfinder sponsored mission. So upfront payment is impossible. However, you would be entitled to 20 percent of all collected remuneration upon completion of the mission to Castrovel. Eric sends back
EH-RK attends to his business for the remainder of the day, retiring to the Sunrise Maiden to ensure its safety and Boomer's workmanship.
The next morning he sends a message to the rest of the crew
Attention Humanoids of the Sunrise Maiden Crew: We are scheduled to depart for Castrovel in 2 standard hours. Be here or be a four sided geometric shape.
Everyone arrives at the ship in time, whether they got the misquoted human saying or not. Everyone boards and takes their usual seat. Boomer takes the abandoned pilot seat, and once the station control gives clearance, he steers the Sunrise Maiden clear of the docks and accelerates. From how he does it, one can tell that he actually cares for the ship and isn't set on squeezing the last bit of power out of it. Which is a nice thing for the passengers.
Castrovel is far away, so the route leads through the drift. Activating the drift drive the ship jumps into the drift and travels there for three days, before leaving the fast route again and entering normal space in vicinity of Castrovel.
From space this planet looks turquoise and green. As you got announced by the Starfinder Society and the fees are paid, you immediately get a clearance for landing.
The Maiden glides into the atmosphere, flying over an ocean and then over tick jungle. Above this jungle rises a city with the space port. Qabarat - you land on the assigned space pad.
As a matter of course, a lashunta guard and a customs official greet you. "Good day. I need to know about your business in Qabarat, whether you have local contacts, the expected duration of your stay, and whether you are importing any foreign life-forms."
Manteca spends the time on the ship getting accustomed to his new neural implants. He spends a large amount of his time in his quarters, reading books on tactics and management.
Arriving on Castrovel, Manteca strides off the ship, answering the custom officer's rapidfire questions in an equally energetic style.
"We're here on Starfinder business with the University, only a recommendation to a professor (never met the man), staying only a few days and... Well..." Manteca looks at the party. "None of us are from Castrovel, so I suppose we're all foreign. Though I'd say we're visiting, not importing." He gives the guard and officer a very sincere tentacle wave. "Will that be all?"
"That's all. Here are your papers, keep them with you while you're on Castrovel. You're free to go." the officer tells while handing the freshly printed id-cards.
Once you're out of the space port, you see a lashunta waiting for you. Even for a damaya, he is tall and thin, almost to the point of seeming gaunt. His clothing is a stylish blend of local silks, though the overall ensemble shows considerable wear, as though he has relied on this nicer outfit for formal meetings for many years. Nonetheless, he positively beams with antennae-twitching excitement to meet you. "Hello and welcome to Qabarat. I'm Whaloss. I'm here to show you around and help you with your investigations. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Whaloss! Charmed to meet you!" Manteca immediately goes in for an energetic handshake. "Manteca Imani, MD - you may be familiar with my xenopsychiatric vidcasts? I don't know how much Station-sourced materials out here, it's a modest subscription base at - I'm sorry, I'm gushing," he says. "I'm just excited to be on such a verdant planet as Castrovel and engaging with top academics - bit of a 'geek out' for someone like me."
Lashunta Damaya Whaloss: It is our pleasure to greet you. We have need to study the writings and work of one Halkueem Zan, late of the Qabarat University of Xenoarchaeology and Exoanthropology. Starfinder business.
"It's just Whaloss. Straight to business I see. I suggest you meet with Professor Muhali, the head of the linguistic anthropology department then." He waves over a robotaxi for a ride to the university.
Whaloss shares with you what he already knows from the Pathfinder Society and asks you a lot about what you have seen on the drift rock. He knows his share of Xenoarchaeology and Xenoanthropology, but what you brought from the drift rock is beyond his knowledge. But he is very interested in this, as it might expand the knowledge in these areas of science.
As the taxi wends its way deeper into the city, trees give way to elegant towers of carbon fiber, glass, and steel, each artistically sculpted to create a stunning forest of dazzling skyscrapers. The Qabarat University of Xenoarchaeology and Xenoanthropology is just north of the downtown commercial district and consists of about 10 buildings scattered over a campus of groomed lawns and gardens.
The office of Professor Muhali is in the Alsima-Karei Hall, an eight-story building whose lobby is currently home to a small pack of journalists insistently trying to convince a receptionist to let them upstairs.
Boomer looks around and they walk and says mostly to himself "Nice digs."
"Whats with the journalists?" Boreal asks as they walk in
"I don't know." Whaloss replies. "But it's that receptionist we would have to talk to."
Boreal saunters foreward and stands behind the crowd, "We have an appointment." She makes herself heard to the receptionist
"With whom?" The receptionist inquires over the noise the journalists make.
"Muhali. And can you tell me what's with this lot as well?"
"I have no entry here in the calendar. Your name is?" The receptionist asks. "And this lot also has no appointment, but they won't go away."
Eric does a few searches in the local infosphere
He attempts to gather some information about this Muhali.
"We are the Starfinder society."
The receptionist checks the calendar again. "Sorry, I have no entry here. And I can't help you." the lashunta tells with an excusing gesture to the mob.
And all the time the journalists try to get to the front of the desk asking questions and demanding to see someone. The receptionist tries to fend off these with phrases like no time/no comment/need an appointment/can't help you. But they won't go away. In all that Boreal also gets pushed from one side or the other.
Meanwhile EH-RK does a quick search. He finds the official pages of the university, showing Professor Muhali as the head of the linguistic anthropology department.
But there are also a lot of current news articles that tell that "Professor Muhali has not yet commented the issue" or maintains her silence. Reading through the news you find that a Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 gave an incendiary lecture that some interpreted as a defense of violent xenophobia. Which caused quite an uproar.
Attention Lashunta Receptionist: I believe that the Professor would want to hear from us. I am sending you encrypted datafiles that you will forward to the Professor. They include several promising new linguistic anomalies found near Absalom Station. Eric sends several images of the script found in the Drift Rock.
We will be found in the city. I have included our contact information in the datafiles.
Eric then turns and heads for the exit.
Manteca quietly takes in the crowd and the receptionists' harried answers. He speaks telepathically to the receptionist and to the party.
Out of curiousity, would the good Professor's schedule be cleared up at all if this crowd were to be taken care of?
Marvelous, the shirren says before climbing onto the counter and clearing his throat.
"Thank you for your interest in this story, ladies and gentlemen - unfortunately, at this time the University is unable to comment until their internal investigation is complete. We will be happy to inform you when the press conference is scheduled, simply please leave your information with my colleague here!" He claps Boreal on the shoulder before. "No further comments at this time."
He steps down off of the counter.
At first the mob is confused, by a shirren that came out of nowhere to speak on behalf of the university. But it gives them pause. And once the first one tries to get the comm id to send the registration for the press conference from the receptionist there is no holding back. Once everyone got themself a confirmation the mob dissolves and one after another leaves. Some write messages or make calls but eventually all but two are. gone.
Ikimsi, that's what the name tag on the receptionist tells, plays around with the datapad in front of her. "Now let's see what I can do... yes, the professor will receive you in 30 minutes. Please give me your id, so I can prepare your guest passes for the university building."
Boomer taps the rifle strapped to his back. "Media vultures."
Eric turns back from the door to see Manteca performing feats of brilliance.
Shirren Manteca Imani: It seems you have solved our quandary. I believe the phrase is...Great Job
Eric sends his contact info to the receptionist.
Manteca's hands fidget and his antenna quiver in a pleased manner. "Sometimes, you just need to give the people what they want - even if it's really nothing at all." He turns to Whaloss. "Well, if we have half an hour - anywhere nearby we can tour?"
Ikimsi checks the id cards everyone got at the space port and uses the info on it to print out cards ids with some near field chip on it to open doors.
As Whaloss is a registered member of the university Ikimsi tasks him to show you the way, after a short wait. The waiting area contains all the cyclic publications of the professors and is really interesting if you're into xenoarchaeology or xenoanthropology.
Whaloss leads you upstairs. The door to the professor's office is unlocked and after knocking, you're asked to come in. This office is clean, roomy, and orderly. A large desk stands imposingly before a broad window that offers a charming view of a nearby park, and a small table in one corner has a quartet of chairs arranged evenly around it. Near the door is a wide examination table covered with broken fragments of stone, many of which bear incomplete words or letters written in a spiraling text. Several tiny fountains throughout the room burble soothingly and shimmer with soft light.
Professor Muhali, a female damaya lashunta, is fairly stern, having wrestled with offworld authorities to secure excavation permits, cut through red tape, and debunk fraudulent ideas vigorously defended by stubborn fools. She is dark-skinned for a lashunta, with pale green facial markings and purple hair cut in an asymmetrical style. Muhali has spent the past several hours corresponding with colleagues and devising
ways in which to resolve the scandal Ailabiens 21:2 started.
She looks up and asks "Yes?"
Whaloss introduces you to each other, but leaves it to you to tell what you're here about.
Eric begins Damaya Lashunta Professor Muhali: We have need of your assistance. As contracted members of the Starfinder Society we came across the following writing. Eric sends over a hires photo of the script It is our belief that this writing was discovered by one Halkueem Zan, late of the Qabarat University of Xenoarchaeology and Exoanthropology. We wish to peruse his files and findings.
"As you can easily see" Professor Muhali replies pointing to her desk cluttered with informations on different media "I'm drowning in work. So I have no time to help with whatever. No matter how interesting it might be."
Looking over the desk you easily notice that the work is about reigning in the scandal Dr. Ailabiens started.
"Professor, I'm certainly not as accomplished as you are academically speaking, but I do pick up the occasional peer-reviewed journal or two," Manteca says. "I know how... frustrating it is to be taken away from academics by something that seems beneath your attention. My colleagues and I have some small experience as mediators and problem solvers - I can refer you to the Eoxian delegation to Absalom and a pair of corporate entities if you'd like - and we'd be happy to offer the University and your department our assistance... if you think it might free you up enough to be able to help us pursue our areas of study further."
"You’re persistent. Maybe that could come in handy. What the university needs right now is to smooth this over quickly, and Ailabiens 21:2 is not listening to anything I say. He has not quite violated enough protocols to be dismissed; firing him would otherwise be good for optics. I think the media would settle for a public apology. If you can convince him to do that, I should be able to handle the rest." Muhali suggests.
"Well, that's easy enough," the shirren chirps cheerfully. "What, precisely, did the professor say? Something simple to walk back?"
"Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 gave an incendiary lecture that some interpreted as a defense of violent xenophobia. I think Whaloss can show you to the Doctor's office." Muhali replies.
Whaloss agrees and shows the way.
Dust, debris, and discarded papers litter the floor of this disorganized office. A single chair stands in the corner, and the desk and shelves are crowded with books, scrolls, statuettes, and loose computer hardware.
The office of the academic Ailabiens 21:2 - male contemplative (a flying brain with a tiny body handing from it - is a model of disorganized chaos, containing a mishmash of texts and cultural artifacts from across the Pact Worlds and beyond. Because he flies using psychic powers, the contemplative is nonchalant about the filthy floor, which crunches noisily under visitors’ feet. With little else to do with his time, Ailabiens 21:2 is willing to entertain visitors, communicating almost exclusively through telepathy while doing so. Welcome visitors, what leads you here?"
Manteca walks through the office, wincing with each crunch of the floor as he goes. He also speaks telepathically, making sure to include the others in this thoughtspeech.
We come on behalf of outside mediation, from the Starfinder Society, seeking to help everyone come to a favorable conclusion to the difficulties with the University and their public relations, says Manteca. We were hoping to hear your side of the story, find what sort of settlement to the whole issue you would view as fair, and serve as arbitrators to help put this whole thing to bed, so to speak. My name is Doctor Manteca Imani, xenopsychiatrist. The shirren starts to extend a claw for a shake, looks at the otherwise un-physical nature of the contemplative's office, and instead settles for a telepathic projection of goodwill.
I held a lecture. I analyzed ancient lashunta armies’ strategies against their formian neighbors and concluded that the former’s conditioned sentimentality inhibited more effectively destructive actions against their long-time enemies. The audience found my conclusion upsetting. But offense only indicates a narrow perspective in the listeners. Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 replies.
Eric does some quick searches on the subject using his HUD and Datapad. However, they don't turn up much information.
Contemplative Ailabiens 21:2: It is quite possible that your analysis is flawed. It's been my experience that sentimentality isn't quantifiable with any degree of accuracy. My own calculations veer into entirely too much variance when inputting human/humanoid emotive tendancies... Eric begins chattering about psychological coefficents and dualistic nature loops.
Manteca listens intently for a time before chiming in. Well, Professor Ailabiens 21:2... wouldn't such actions have ultimately inhibited the overall growth of Castrovel into the planetary force that it is today? While it's difficult to conclusively prove the certainty of actions based around emotional coefficients (as EH-RK will happily continue to prove to us), the more important questions aren't ones of which facts lead to which actions, but what those actions wrought over time. So while a conditioning may have prolonged war in the past, current Formian-Lashunta relations and the combined strengths of Castrovelian cross-species culture, clearly a by-product of that sentimentality, that leads to things like... say, this fine institution - and making efforts in those sentimentally-conditioned veins help preserve the culture determined all those years ago.
The shirren doesn't need to pause for breath as it's all telepathy, but he pauses nevertheless. For effect.
I think what I'm saying is that stating the truth of the matter seems to be hurting the University and yourself at this point. Stating that truth doesn't make it more or less true - and apologizing for the statement made during the lecture would benefit both you and the University, so further facts could be determined... though perhaps not shared.
"See, that's what I mean! You're arguing with scientific objections to my theory. Possible margin of error in my data, wrong assumptions about the outcome... wonderful. I don't agree with you. I put serious effort into my studies and don't conclude out of thin air. But I'm willing to defend my work against all that think I'm wrong."
"But to sanction me for stating my well founded conclusions about the results of historical warfare, just because it doesn't match their view of the world is an outrage." Ailabiens 21:2 fumes telepatically.
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Manteca folds his claws thoughtfully in front of him. So what about your hypothesis did you think would preclude their tendencies towards sentimentality? Surely the lashunta cultural bias hasn't shifted so much that genocidal actions have become the norm - surely a scholar such as yourself could have anticipated the continued sentimentality of the species. To the University's credit - I haven't heard them say that you're wrong in your analysis. It seems that their conclusion is that the expression of such analysis is detrimental to the University as a whole. For you're correct - the sentimentality of the lashunta certainly plays a factor in the perception of your lecture, but that sentimentality is just as much fact as your analysis and has to be determined for in the handling of current events. And in a setting as focused on prestige as a university, that public perception is instrumental in helping the administration choose which truths to uphold and advance and fund, and which truths to... allow to flourish under their own merits.
Your mind is a sharp weapon. And you uncovered a flaw in my application of my knowledge. I should have foreseen their reactions. What do you suggest as a solution to factor in these prepositions Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 wonders.
Eric pipes up Noted Scholar and Author Ailabiens 21:2: I believe the quote “When the past is unknown, we must make a tradition of challenging so-called tradition.” is applicable in this situation. In this case, we know the past.... we have records and archaeological evidence. Perhaps instead of challenging traditions, we must make the leap to use them in our analysis.
A simple apology by way of explanation that sentimentality should be studied "in the context of cultural and historical biases". This might help the Professor Mughali fend off the...least academic of your detractors while you consolidate your research and prepare to defend your own thesis.
Eric adds It might also help your career.
Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 agrees and sets up a written half-hearted apology. You help him take out te passages where it is too obvious that he sees the fault with the public opinion and after some back and forth you got something that should work. You can still read it as an apology to all feel unrighteously offended because of being too stupid to classify scientific facts as what they are. But it probably is concealed enough to get through with it.
Ailabiens 21:2 sends it to Muhabi. Two minutes later he gets a reply lifting his suspension. Your advice to use their sentimentality to my advantage seems to work quite well.
Taking another look at the group Ailabiens 21:2 inquires Why are you here at the university at all? You might pass as a mediator hired by the university, going for a shirren might even be justified as a neutral species.
But considering your companions - especially the vesk lady - that makes no sense. Only if you were ordered to dispatch me if I don't agree. but we agreed that they are too sentimental for that. he jokes.
Contemplative Ailabiens 21:2: We are here to investigate the writings and findings of one Halkueem Zan, late of the Qabarat University of Xenoarchaeology and Exoanthropology. We wish to peruse his files. We are from the Starfinder Society
"I reviewed the entirety of Zan’s original notes early in my time here at the faculty, and to my considerable knowledge, only Doctor Solstarni has studied them more recently. Zan’s methodology was imperfect, catering to an uneducated reader’s lexicon, fetishizing the ‘exotic,’ and conveying a pathological love of his self-image as an adventurer — likely to earn money or as an elaborate mating ritual. As a result, his work is scientifically wanting and his conclusions doubtful. Nevertheless, his notes provide enough detail to hypothetically retrace his steps."
"What piqued your interest in these files if I may ask?"
"I reviewed the entirety of Zan’s original notes early in my time here at the faculty, and to my considerable knowledge, only Doctor Solstarni has studied them more recently. Zan’s methodology was imperfect, catering to an uneducated reader’s lexicon, fetishizing the ‘exotic,’ and conveying a pathological love of his self-image as an adventurer — likely to earn money or as an elaborate mating ritual. As a result, his work is scientifically wanting and his conclusions doubtful. Nevertheless, his notes provide enough detail to hypothetically retrace his steps."
"What piqued your interest in these files if I may ask?"
Manteca looks up from where he sitting, redlining Ailabiens' apology and taking out the worst of the passive aggression. We're hoping to do some comparative linguistic analysis on the ruins he discovered - sort of a 'follow in his shoes' situation, and apply some more rigorous academic minds, rather than... well, it sounds like some sort of exotic travlougue or pulp tale rather than an archaeological study, from what you're saying.
"You can't have the original writings. And no one ever cared enough to get that into an up to date format for distribution. You know the circumstances under which these notes came to be? One wouldn't want to throw them away, but they are also nothing to be proud of as Zan was breaking quite some laws by doing his 'scientific' expedition and the work was wrought out of his hands. But I digress. I can fix this issue in about a day and give you the information in a format readable be current devices. Can you imagine - the notes are in part on paper notebooks!" Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 explains.
"You can't have the original writings. And no one ever cared enough to get that into an up to date format for distribution. You know the circumstances under which these notes came to be? One wouldn't want to throw them away, but they are also nothing to be proud of as Zan was breaking quite some laws by doing his 'scientific' expedition and the work was wrought out of his hands. But I digress. I can fix this issue in about a day and give you the information in a format readable be current devices. Can you imagine - the notes are in part on paper notebooks!" Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 explains.
Manteca's antenna quiver at the thought of the original notebooks, but he tries to suppress the telepathic feelings of excitement. That transfer would be much appreciated - especially by our electronically-minded, says the shirren. Thank you for the kindness, Professor. He looks at the other members of the party. Anything else we'd like to ask our good Contemplative? Or to Dr. Muhali?
Boreal shrugs, leaning against the wall