Hux being rather bored on the long flight decides to tinker with jib as he nearly always does when he has unused time. When he does he decides to see if he could add functionality by attaching one of his old guns to some extra partake has laying around and finds that he can make another functional arm and puts his Laser Pistol, Azimuth in until he can find a more effective weapon.
As everything wraps up with Chiskisk, Alim bows and leaves without saying much at all. While the rest of his comrades head towards the ship, Alim moves swiftly through the crowds, putting his agile training to use.
Before long, Alim arrives across the Station at the all-too familiar Solarian Supplies & Soothe Shop. Taking a deep breath to steady himself from the sprint he had just completed, Alim collects himself and walks through the front door.
Inside the shop, the faint smells of oils wafts to Alim's nose. The store is quiet, with only one other guest inside. They turn to look at Alim as he must have made a grander entrance than he had intended, and then return to browsing the shelves. Alim does a quick scan of the store for its employees, and finds one towards the back, near where the storage must be for the overflow of items. Alim makes his way over there quickly, but tries to make it seem like he isn't as excited as he is.
As the worker turns around, she lets out a small gasp,and Alim's heart drops a bit. No... Where is she? Alim thinks to himself, but says to the female human dressed in robes, " Hello. Sorry for the abruptness of my entrance, but I am in a rush... Do you happen to know where Naziha is?" The woman straightens herself, clearly feeling short next to Alim. She clears her throat, trying to dispel her shock and surprise from Alim's sudden presence. "She is not in currently. She will be in later. She was helping in the temple today...." The woman pauses, and looks hard at Alim. She rubs her forehead, and then gasps. " AH! You must be Alim! As in... ALIM! No! You're here now?!?! Ohhhh, Naziha will be so upset she missed you... she speaks so highly of you... and she hardly speaks to begin with..." The woman seems flustered, and begins to pace. Alim sighs softly, and tugs at a pocket within his armor. He pulls out a letter, sealed with crimson wax. He holds it out to the woman, and she stops pacing. "I am unfortunately holding up my comrades and must go, but had anticipated this possibly being the case... can you please make sure she gets this? I do not know when I will return next, and I wish for her to know my thoughts..."
The woman reaches out and takes it from Alim with great care. She hesitates a moment, ponders, then swifts holds up one finger, as though she thought of the most fantastical thing. She runs into the back, and emerges with a piece of parchment. She hands it to Alim, with a smirk on her face. "You two must be on some sort of unified wavelength... She had this sitting by our meditation pad, with a note that if you were to show up, to make sure you received it..." The woman smiles at Alim, and nods. "Please be safe on your journey. I know Naziha will enjoy reading your letter, and it will bring her great peace knowing you return her feelings..." Alim blushes, but it goes unnoticed by the human. Alim nods and bows slightly as he swiftly tucks the note into his pocket. "Thank you for the note. Please pass my well wishes to Naziha. Take care. " Alim turns and moves back out onto the streets, and begins to move swiftly again, back to the docks. Along the way, Alim stops by the vendors in the street and grabs some quick items for his journey.
Arriving back to the ship, Alim settles in. He taps at his pocket that contains the note, and decides he will wait until they are a bit into their journey before her pulls it out to read.
While on the flight, you get a message from Chiskisk. There is a postdoctoral student named Whaloss who has worked with the Society in the past. He has agrreed to meet you when you land at the university.
Castrovel is a vibrant planet of sparkling blue oceans, continents blanketed in vividly green forests, and swirls of clouds. As the Sunrise Maiden enters the atmosphere near Qabarat, the city-state’s aviation
authorities hail the hail you, ask for identification, and direct them to one of the landing pads at the city’s spaceport, Ship’s End. Once you land, a security guard and customs official briefly interview you about
your business in Qabarat, whether you have local contacts, the expected duration of their stay, and whether they are importing any foreign life-forms. At the end of the tedium the security guard informs you that carrying personal weapons is not illegal in Qabarat, merely frowned
upon. Private businesses may have their own rules. After the customs process, the officers issue the you travel papers to keep with you for the duration of their stay.
Whaloss, a male damaya lashunta, is waiting to meet you just outside the spaceport. 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 the you and show you around Qabarat.
Hello friends! I am Whaloss. Chiskisk has told me the stars of the Drift Rock would be my duty to lead around! I have worked with Chiskisk many times while working on my school. I saw your adventure on the infosphere! What was it like to be there? I have gone on countless expeditions and have never found something so great.
It is clear that this guys is very happy to be working with you. He hails a cab.
Hello Whaloss, as you may have learned from the video my name is Katara.
Katara offers a greeting and extends his hand to Whaloss for a handshake.
It was very unnerving being on the Drift Rock, filled with reanimated corpses and monsters. Not to mention the random technology and weird language all around the rock.
The weird langues and tech is what makes it so exciting to me! But I must say I have not come across the the levels of danger that the Drift Rock held either. A few undead, sure but never something like the garaggakal.
The taxi shows up and zooms off to the heart of Qabarat and to the university. 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.
While I could not hazzard a guess at what that language was or the tech, I could intorduce you to Professor Muhali, the head of the linguistic anthropology department. I am sure she can help. Would you like to head to her office first?
With everyone just staring blankly at him blankly, Whaloss says Professor Muhali's office it is! He puts the address into the robo-taxi and it heads to her office.
As you aproach your destination, you see Alsima Karei Hall, an eight-story building. That is where her office is! Someday, I will have my own office there as well.
The robo-taxi lets you out in front of the building before it zooms off to it's next client. Upon entering the lobby, you see it is flooded with to a small pack of journalists insistently trying to convince a receptionist to let them upstairs. The receptionist, a male korasha
lashunta, looks extremely frazzled by all of this. Whaloss seems confused what this is all about.
Dahlia moves silently into the crowd, listening for clues about the reason for this ado. If she hears none, she will ask one of the journalists.
Between asking the people and what you can overhear, you can piece together that someone named Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 gave an incendiary lecture that some interpreted as a defense of violent xenophobia. The media is here to try to get an interview to ask about it or at the very least get an official statement from the university. But the receptionist is not allowing anyone upstairs. Your best guess is that you will struggle to go up as well until this gets resolved.
When hux sees the crowd he immediately assumes it must be people who watched their broadcast mission and have picked together the language samples from the books and also come for information from the university. Paranoid Hux tries desperately to hide himself and jib.
With the focus being on the stairs/elevator and receptionist Hux seems to easily slink off unnoticed.
Tool makes no attempt to hide. He politely makes his way through the crowd up to the receptionist. My name is E1518 but you may call me Tool. I am here to Speak with Professor Muhali, I have urgent business with him could you please point me in the right direction.
The receptionist clearly frazzled, not sure what to do about the media. It is not his job to try to counter the media and stuff. Right now, he is unable to really dedicate the time to hearing you out. Look, I can not give you access to the upstairs till this issue is resolved. I already contacted the dean security.
Hux still thinking these reporters are paparazzi hatches a plan to distract them. He positions himself near the door and shouts i just saw 'Strawberry Machine Cake' outside i cant believe a famous band like that is here! and then quickly tucks back into the shadows before rejoining the group.
The very convincing voice seemed to trick the journalist as they rush outside. With the lobby finally clear, the receptionist finally lets out a sigh of relief. Whaloss approaches him, Hello, Ikimsi. My new friends here appear to of saved your skin! They would like to talk with a few of 5th floor professors. Since they helped you, anyway you can help us?
Well, Professor Muhali is very busy right now. I can move some stuff around on her schedule to give you a real meeting. I can't promise that it will help much but I am sure she will react more positively than if you weren't scheduled. This whole Ailabiens 21:2 situation has thrown her for a loop. You can head on up! Good luck with her!
Whaloss leads you to the elevators to take you up to the 5th floor.Nice thinking with using Strawberry Machine Cake. That sure helped to clear them quickly. I wonder what this is all about... With that the elevador doors open. Whaloss takes you buy a few offices before getting to the one he is looking for.
As the head of the linguistic anthropology department, Professor Muhali has one of the nicer offices in Alsima-Karei Hall. Whaloss knocks and the door is unlocked. Whaloss states, Hello Professor, I have escorted your next meeting up for you. Some Starfinder's who have business with you. I will leave you to it.
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 is a damaya lashunta. She is dark-skinned for a lashunta, with pale green facial markings and purple hair cut in an asymmetrical style. She looks up at you, I am not sure how much I can do for you, but what do you need?
"Thank you for taking the time to see us, Professor, I know your time is valuable. My name is Dahlia Morgandanger. My associates and I are members of the Starfinder Society. Recently we were tasked with the exploration of a mysterious asteroid. On this asteroid, we encountered several hostiles, but more interestingly, we discovered signs of an as-yet-unknown ancient alien civilization. We have brought some of the discovered material with us in the hopes that you might help us make sense of it. I understand the process is slow, but we felt strongly that you were the right person to bring this to."
Dahlia seems winded by her speech, trying to remember the details of their mission, and focusing on being civil during first impressions.
Dahlia looks to the others to help fill in the gaps in her recounting.
The professor looks regretful, It pains me to say this, but I’m not in any position to assist you or instruct my department to assist you. I saw your adventure on the Rock and it is a huge honor to come to me first for help, but I can't take a project on until we resolve the current debacle. I think both you and I would consider ourselves lucky if this blows over quickly. I promise to take the time to hear you out, just not this moment. She looks clearly stressed out about what is going on.
Remembering all the reporters in the lobby Katara asks the professor about it.
Hello my name is Katara, it is unfortunate we had to meet at a stressful time. Could you tell us what exactly what is going on?
One of my colleagues, Ailabiens 21:2, gave a rather incendiary public lecture last night in which he examined a war from nearly a millennium ago and used the cultural fallout from it to rationalize the genocide of the formian species. Even before the lashunta city- states and formian Colonies signed peace accords thirty years ago, such brutal conclusions would have been dismissed. Now he is fomenting hate crimes under the guise of ‘pure logic’ and anthropology. This is not what the university stands for, but it’s what the public now believes. I’ve placed him on academic leave and restricted his access to university resources until we can clean this up.
"Why not simply fire him and release a statement disagreeing and distancing him from the university?"
He has not broken any laws per se and he has not quite violated enough protocols to be dismissed; firing him would otherwise be good for optics.
"What if he were to quit? Would that alleviate some of this consternation for you?"
I would not be upset if he quit, I am sure I could find a respectable replacement without much effort. Though I do not think he will be easy to get to quit. He enjoys his research that the university allows and he believes he is right. I think the press would be satisfied with an apology from him, though that would be tricky to get from him, Desna knows I have tried. But yes, working with you would become my top priority once we get past all of this.
---Through the telepathic bond---
We could ask Chiskisk to offer this professor a fake job with the society to entice him away. The job could include continued access to the school (because the society is in good standing with the school.) Then the society could fire him for being a jerk, and the school could say 'your continued access was contingent on your employment at the society'.---
If there are no objections, Dahlia will relay this plan to Prof. Muhali.
Alim hears what Dahlia is saying, but notices that the Professor seems to take note of the abrupt silence that has fallen upon the room. Recalling the one Lashunta Alim had encountered, Alim remembers that the female had spoken telepathically, and being a Professor, Alim presumes she knows what is happening. Alim sends a message to Dahlia, Dahlia, this woman is smart, and the Lashunta people have telepathic talents... She can sense what we're doing. I will move our conversation out into the hallway to further discuss this matter.
Clearing his throat, Alim speaks. "Professor, I apologize for the silence. Since it is clear that you are busy, and have answered our questions at this time, we will take our leave. However, before we go, I think we want it to be understood that we would like to help you in getting an apology or something worth redemption for the university. We are still muddling out the details, but we will work with as much diligence as necessary." Alim bows slightly. "We look forward to having this resolved, so that you might be able to assist us in our quest." Alim straightens. "If you would be so kind as to give us the location of both this colleagues' office and his current residence should we need to speak to him, as well as any addition information that may help us in getting an apology out of him, it would be appreciated." With that, Alim nods, and moves himself out into the hallway area.
She gives you his room number, It is just down the hall. He should be in his office. I don't have the authority to give out his private residence though. If you are going to go talk to him, I have a few warnings. He will be offensive. He will assume you are less intelligent than him, unless you manage to prove him otherwise. Also flattery will get you nowhere with him. Good luck, and keep me in the loop of what happens.
The gang regroups in the hallway to discuss the plan.
Hux has a decent intelligence he could probably at least pass for one of his students what does he teach and would it be possible for Hux to get his hands on some of the books he uses for his classes he probably doesn't know many of his students personally so hux could probably act like he is one and never raise any flags as long as he doesn't ask any strange questions that would at least get a conversation started. i imagine if i can get him talking about the same things again and egg him on i could get him to say something relay bad and then if i recorded it and leaked it on the super net he would be dead in the water they could fire him no problems.
Dahlia does not doubt the privacy of her telepathic link, but waits until they are outside just the same.
---Here is the outline of the plan I propose.
We hire one of his race, which I assume to be android, to impersonate a senior operative of the Starfinder Society.
This actor would offer him a position inside the society that would grant him power and influence and still allow him to continue to use the resources of the university unhindered (contingent upon his continued employment with the Society).
The society would employ him for only a few day, and then fire him.
The school would then be free to sever ties with him also.
The plan relies on gaining his trust, and assumes his ego is sufficient to assuage any trepidation he may have.
This plan will require Chiskisks help and approval and will take several days.
We are free to explore any other plans any of you may have in the meantime. ---
**ring ring**
"Ah, greetings good Chiskisk, I hope this isn't a bad time. Not sure if there is a time difference between planets. An interesting situation has arisen that we believe you may be able to help with.
We have arrived at the university to find it in a somewhat disturbed condition. It seems a professor here has made some contentious remarks and caused a bit of a shutdown. This has precluded us from acquiring the assistance we need.
We believe that if this professor were to quit, it would free up the help we need to advance our investigation of the ancient aliens.
If we were to convince the individual that the Starfinder Society wanted to hire him, he might be lured away from the school.
We would like your permission, and possibly assistance, to offer him a job that would cause him to quit the school. We could then reveal the job as a hoax, allowing you to deny any knowledge, or simply fire him.
We understand that your decisions will be based on what is best for the Society, and we will abide your instructions."
*cough, cough
*cough cough
"Hux, I don't think this comm system is working. Do you think you could take a look at it?"
no problem let me take a look
Hux looks at the device and quickly figures out what is wrong. The comm unit Dahlia is trying to use is one that only works world wide. She would need a better comm unit to work across a system and an even better one to work anywhere. That being said, she is able to make use of a university phone to call Chiskisk, who picks up when you call him.
Hmmm. That is an interesting problem. This plan would be a lot easier if the person you were trying to lure was both less educated and in less of a prestigious position. But I will see what I can do. There is a board meeting in a couple hours and I will bring it up there and we can try discussing how we might pull this off. It won't be an option to just plead ignorance because he most likely wouldn't be fooled unless this job looks legitimate with contracts and interviews... I am not going to make any promises, but I will contract you once the board has the chance to talk. We need to make sure the Society doesn't come out of this looking like a bad place to work.
In the meantime, try gathering any information you can. I we are able to work through this, having as information as possible would help pull this off. Feel free to talk to him, just leave the society out if you choose to talk. Sound good, any questions?
"That's all for now. Thank you for your time."
We should ask around about this prof. before we go see him.
Try to gather info and find out race, age, gender, length of imployment, history before joining the school.
I'll see what I can find on the internet
Ailabiens 21:2 is a male contemplative.
The beings known through the Pact Worlds as contemplatives of Ashok were once humanoids of extreme intelligence living on Akiton. Upon unlocking exceptional psychic powers, they deliberately evolved their brains, to the detriment of their bodies. Now, contemplatives float along using telekinesis, their atrophied bodies dangling from pulsating brain-sacs.
Generally speaking, contemplatives rarely care about practical application of science or worldly things such as power or dominance. They often focus more on the lofty theoretical or philosophical questions.
Although contemplatives are known to be extraordinarily intelligent, observant, and confident, their behavior is often jarring to their colleagues of other species. Individual contemplatives often refer to groups of their kindred using the first-person plural, suggesting some degree of racial hivemind, telepathic union, or sacred sense of shared existence. Further supporting this theory is the fact that contemplatives rarely come into conflict with one another, with few instances of intraracial violence in recorded history. Despite contemplatives’ relative peacefulness, other races often perceive them as aloof, overly logical, and emotionally sterile.
Common practice among contemplatives is to abandoned their childhood name for one based on a favorite quote or intellectual hero. The second article published by the radically anticonventionalist scholar Ailabiens in the year 21 ag, which contains the famous line, “When the past is unknown, we must make a tradition of challenging so-called tradition.”
Just for reference, is is currently 318 ag.
He is 58 years old.
Ailabiens 21:2 has been involved in academia for his whole adult life. His move from student to employee was a gradual one that isn't clear when he became a full professor rather than a student as he was teaching classes as a student. He has his doctorate and a bunch of post-doc certificates. He has lead a distinguished career so far with lots of publications. That being said, his publications are met with mixed reviews over the utterly sanitary impartiality and lack of empathy with which he approaches his work and subjects.
On a "Rate My Professor" website, he has received mixed reviews (more bad than good). The consensus is the guy is a jerk who is not afraid to say things that most people wouldn't for fear of "social justice". The students who are not offended by this seem to love him. But anyone who has "empathy" tends to see him as an awful person. He has a passion for teaching, but has no patience for people who "don't want to be taught".
Dahlia does a little digging around and reveals what she remembers and learns.
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Hux finding all of his groupmates acting peculiarly distant and sluggish decides to explore the school while they rest. He leaves the linguistics wing and heads for a building labeled in shining silvery letters robotics and technology department making his way into the building he begins poking around darting from door to door peering in through cracked open doors and windows to see what us going on. Quickly he finds himself at the practical robotics laboratory. Here he cannot resist getting a closer look. Just as he is about to burst through the door everyone in the lab gets up and moves to the door. Startled Hux withdraws and a few moments after a new group of students begins to stream in. His tucks in behind one of the groups and follows them in the door and sits down at a lab table near the back of the room and tries to act naturally. He sees in front of him components nothing like he is use to. He begins turning over several of them in his hands trying to discern their purpose. Quickly he realizes that these are much newer parts than he is use to working with. Jib is 50% scrap metals and electrolyte bubble gum but this stuff is the real deal. Not wanting to break anything and bashful after having gotten his former coconspiritors arrested he decides to listen carefully to the lecture but not actually mess with any of the parts fearing he may get in serious trouble for breaking anything. Still he listens carefully and learns a lot about how these robots work. Apparently these robots are for performing maintenance and cleaning on the station's communication systems. When the instructor is done and everyone begins cleaning up Hux breefly considers pocketing a few connection plates he knows he could use on jib but decides he can't risk getting caught now because it would jeopardise the whole party's mission. As he leaves he hears a few students in the hall talking about all of the drama involving the professors controversy. He listens closely but they only seem interested in talking about how weird and creepy he looks and arrogant he is and don't seem to have any valuable information so Hux decides finally to return to his comrades.
Alim decides he has been quiet for long enough. He moves from the group, and heads towards the professors' door. Before he knocks, however, he hears him muttering to himself. Pressing his ear to the door, Alim listens to see if he can pick up anything of what the professor is saying.
Alim is mistaken as the door to his office is wide open.
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.
A large floating brain with a tiny body seems to be floating back and forth until it realizes that it has guests.
This floating brain is a contemplative. As soon as he notices you, he sends out a telepathic message to you all. Ahhh guests! Thank goodness... I am going crazy here not having anyone to teach or any resources to research. He pauses for a moment, looking you over. You aren't here as students, which is no surprise. I doubt the university would let me see students right now... but that raises the question, who are you?
Dahlia follows closly, but remains behind Alim. If addrrssed directly, she waves her hand away and defers to Alim.
Alim, having grown used to the telepathy in this Pact World, seems unphased as he speaks.
"Good sir, we are not students. We are here because of the statement you have made publicly..." Alim pauses, and bows respectfully. "My apologies, let me introduce myself. My name is Alim, and I have been raised understanding the value in the histories of both my people, and of the Pact Worlds. I am currently on my pilgrimage, and learning in depth amount about different civilizations and cultures through these travels I am on. It seems as though you are an intellect with great knowledge of the history, and I would greatly love to converse with you about it sometime." Alim pauses again, righting himself, waiting for a reply.