The Twelfth of May (Episode II: Masquerade)

[Theodidactus (OP)]

Upper Decks of the Coronado, may 1st, 2142 (Everybody)

A few days later, most of the senior officers aboard the Coronado attend a reception for the civilian team to brief the concordant. The Admiral is conspicuously absent,  perhaps involved with the particulars of getting the fleet underway. Seating is strictly assigned, nearly regimented, and the entire affair has a stiff, uncomfortable feeling. Junior officers move like mannequins, waiters are nearly silent, everyone here seems to know something you do not. You look around you and are vaguely proud of who you recognize in attendance,  Commodore Fu Dai Shu and  Du Quian E, two war heroes of the greatest prestige, eating side by side. The civilian delegation representing the sum total of humanity's knowledge about the alien threat, carefully broken up and distributed among other  groups: Peacock finds himself uncomfortably wedged between two stout gunnery officers, French at a table with the ship's primary surgeon, who he is doing his best not to condescend to, as the man appears to know next to nothing about real medicine, and a female Lt. who for some reason seems to have been allowed to keep her sidearm, eying the whole group carefully.

Food is good but conversation is terrible. Some newly enlisted public affairs officer, one Conner King, gives a halfhearted toast welcoming everyone aboard, he seems more nervous than anything, and finishes quickly. As concluding drinks are served, some find their trays hold a tiny invite slip, about the size of a business card, welcoming them to a brief toast in the Forequarter lounge at the front of the ship, generally reserved for the most senior of officers.

Lieutenant Commanders Tourinho, Rochat, and St. Pierre are all invited, as is Yao Yab Wu of the civilian detachment, and a few of the more bureaucratic-looking mid-level officers.  Every attempt is made to conceal this invitation, but it gets out to the more observant members of the room. The forequarter is not exactly under high guard, and the cards say nothing about stragglers showing up uninvited. Some of the snubbed almost feel like pressing their luck. The door is guarded by one cadet who looks more nervous than anything. Hardly an obstacle to someone with wits or a well-rehearsed story...but he does seem to be rather insistent that attendees present their card...and he looks especially nervous and observant as you approach...

Zebulon, Semetary, and JaceHahn: Do you go uninvited, invent some wild story, press your luck, or perhaps attempt to devise some way of listening in?


Magnus, 3_14, and Jameskiller: Do you formally attend?

[Sematary]

Before I reply, who is Yao Yab Wu?

[Theodidactus (OP)]

5th member of the civilian detachment.

see here:
http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php/topic,7081.0.html

[Sematary]

Ok, thanks. Even after pointing me to the right post it still took me a minute to find her. I will respond later today.

[MagusXIX]

Is Renee Claude still charged with keeping the civilian experts safe, or did that mission end when they arrived at the Coronado safely?  If she is still responsible for their safety, she will go wherever they go, and ardently advise against splitting up in any way that would make it impossible for her to keep an eye on each of them at all times (she'll command it if she has the authority to do so.)  She'd explain (in private, before the party) that she'd been assigned to keep them safe for a reason, and that they should be very careful, especially in a room as full of capable and dangerous people as this.  To her, the reception party is nothing but another job assignment, and a dangerous one at that.

I'd like to add that she will have personally checked each of their quarters for bugs or any other suspicious tampering to the best of her ability, and would make a point to do so again whenever convenient opportunities present themselves.

If she's not responsible for them, then what is her new mission?

[hunter james]

Lt. Co. Andre Rochat formally attends. He will use the party to try and find some insurance he won't die if anything dangerous comes up. He will also carry a personal weapon if allowed for self defense.

[3_14159]

Luciana Tourinho did attend the reception as one of the few in only his normal dress uniform. He was seated between a Captain bristling with awards, and a civilian so-called expert who seemed rather without a clue. The dinner passed slowly, and only the afterwards received invitation slip bore promise to change that. So, he slowly made his way to the nervous cadet guarding the door. "Here's my obol, Cadet Charon," he said, discreetly showing his invitation slip. Now it would get interesting.

[Malikane]

[ooc]Assuming you need input for Lt. Co. St. Pierre,[/ooc] He attends stoically.  The former weapons analyst turned intelligence officer sees little reason for small talk at the moment--goodness knows that dinner was awkward enough.  Still, silence lends itself well to observation.  Gregoire figures that in his new role information is power, and he intends to not miss any information that could otherwise be useful. 

[Owen Quillion]

(I was hoping some of the other Civilian folks would pop in (and for an answer to Magus' question). At this point, Dr. French is interested but only really willing to go through with it if two or three of us show up and act as though the delegation had a last-moment invitation by someone.)

[Sematary]

[ooc]I am in the same position Zebulon. Too bad we are spread throughout the room.[/ooc]

[JacenHan]

Stephen leans back and surveys the situation. There was no reason to endanger himself by attempting to sneak past alone. However, should most of the invitees (or those attempting to get into the event) go at the same time, he may try to hide himself among the group and get past while the cadet is processing everyone else, assuming that that's possible.

(A couple questions: Do I have anything on my person that could be mistaken for an invitation if the reader were to only get a quick look, or see it from a short distance away? And are there any other ways into the forequarter that I would know about?)

[Theodidactus (OP)]

Is Renee Claude still charged with keeping the civilian experts safe, or did that mission end when they arrived at the Coronado safely?  If she is still responsible for their safety, she will go wherever they go, and ardently advise against splitting up in any way that would make it impossible for her to keep an eye on each of them at all times (she'll command it if she has the authority to do so.)  She'd explain (in private, before the party) that she'd been assigned to keep them safe for a reason, and that they should be very careful, especially in a room as full of capable and dangerous people as this.  To her, the reception party is nothing but another job assignment, and a dangerous one at that.

mission ends when they're safely aboard the Raphael so they're still yours to guard.

I'd like to add that she will have personally checked each of their quarters for bugs or any other suspicious tampering to the best of her ability, and would make a point to do so again whenever convenient opportunities present themselves.

sweet

(A couple questions: Do I have anything on my person that could be mistaken for an invitation if the reader were to only get a quick look, or see it from a short distance away? And are there any other ways into the forequarter that I would know about?)

none that you know of
If you think you might have something on your person, invent it. This ain't a standard RPG.

[Owen Quillion]

(Apologies for my tardiness; had a rough day yesterday and have been pondering approaches to this).

Nathan makes his way towards the forequarters and, after waiting a minute or two to see if any of the rest of the civilian detachment shows up, approaches the cadet. He wears a scowl with an air of indignation, hoping to throw off whatever military discipline the Cadet has by putting on the best whiny, arrogant scientist act he can.

"Yes, yes, the card - I'm afraid there was a mistake at dinner. I know Dr. Wu and some of the others got one, but we," he indicates anyone who might have met him at the corner, "seem to have had ours lost in the shuffle. In case you didn't notice that lovely little party," he says snidely, "was partly in my honor."

If that's not enough, he purposely interrupts the cadet and adds "Even if this is purely a social call, and with full professional respect for Dr. Wu, if there's any discussion of the Opiuchian matter I feel that there really needs to be a counterpoint, so I should really be in attendance."

If that fails, he raises his voice and tries to make just enough ruckus that the attendees and possibly any stragglers in the halls can hear him in a last-ditch effort to intimidate the cadet. "Fine, then, I see how much my presence is appreciated here. If you can do nothing else, please let Dr. Wu that I wish to speak with her when she leaves." He'll also try to catch Dr. Wu on his own, ask her thoughts on Opihuichian aggression, and try to wheedle out what was talked about at the toast, disguised as an awkward attempt at realizing he's missed a beat on social niceties.

[Theodidactus (OP)]

[ooc]any last minute embellishments, addendum, et. al. get 'em in soon, I'm writing the next episode as we speak....it's gonna be loooooooong [/ooc]

[Theodidactus (OP)]

[ooc]I am in the same position Zebulon. Too bad we are spread throughout the room.[/ooc]

The civilian detachment remains spread throughout the room, no one willing to move forward. Only Nathan french takes the initiative to move to the forequarter, and he goes alone.  By some miracle his trick works. What he learns inside could of course be shared with the other members of the civilian detachment...or anyone else, for that matter. You may have to wait until he re-emerges to play a part in what's about to happen.

Tourinho, St. Pierre and Rochat attend, and willing or not, through attendance alone are formally inducted into a conspiracy that will reshape the course of history...