Session 27 - The Night Before the Dawn

Previously, across the Horizon... The quest for a crew and a cause continue for our heroes on the Starfall, exploring the Triad in search of both of those things.
To an extent, the journey has been successful -- a Spymaster has joined the crew, an old running mate of Bast's in his previous life doing things in the Triad he likely hasn't spoken at length about since joining the crew (perhaps he just collects grenades, and is attempting to encourage that hobby in passersby).
To an extent, the journey has been educational -- the political situation in Cardia is getting more interesting the longer Isa is out of the loop, with the Azure Dragoon leaving Cardia's borders to do petty bounty hunting for suspect rewards.
To an extent, the journey has been liberating -- a dead(?) scarab has been liberated from its crated prison and put into the warm, cozy safety of Yves's bag.
To an extent, the journey has been disappointing -- they have secured leads on ship parts, though there will be a waiting period for ship component inspection, as well as a waiting period for the acquisition of gil with which to purchase said ship parts.
To an extent, the journey has been utterly bewildering -- and, as Isa stands before a somewhat sleepy set of officers on this late night in the War Room, they're about to find out why.
**
The announcement was typically curt and to the point, and everyone on the ship heard it over the intercom. "Senior crew, to the briefing room." Instead of taking up a position at the table, Isa waited at the door, to prevent anyone with delusions of seniority from entering. Thus, it's only the five who originally liberated the Starfall who are in the room.
Yves is attempting to look professional, mostly by remembering to wipe his hands between leaving the engine room and getting here.
Bast taps his fingers on the table slowly, in no particular pattern, as he waits for the rest.
Linnet was already in the briefing room, because that's where the bookshelf with all the best novels happens to be located. She does, however, climb out from her hiding place under the table. (It's quiet down there.)
Orrey sits down at the table, wearily eyeing Isa and wondering what the hell is going on that we need a meeting this late WITHOUT COFFEE.
Isa latches the door, and then takes her seat. "Right. This is one of those bad news good news bad news things so I'm just going to lay it out. Bad news: Seventh Dawn is in port with us. Good news: I saw Cassiat on the pier. Bad news: she was boarding the Dawn, and didn't look much like a prisoner."
Any sign of sleepiness is instantly gone. “She’s not a prisoner or under duress or anything?”
"Didn't look like it."
Yves frowns. "So she's just... decided to join up with them now, huh? Is this one of those 'once you try a shady alleyway job crystal, you're hooked for life' things?"
"Incidentally, Isa, do you still have her crystals?" Linnet asks.
"Was she alone?" Bast adds.
"I do, and yes," Isa answers. "There was no sign of Galley or the Slim Reaper."
“Huh. Well, that’s something...interesting. I’ll go find out what’s up, then.” Orrey gets up and starts walking for the door.

Bast glances over at Orrey. "Do you think she'd play nice if they had him as a hostage?"
"Maybe want to think about a plan first?" Isa says.
"I'm sort of under the impression we shouldn't just set things on fire immediately, in this city," Yves says, a touch unsure about it.
Orrey pauses halfway to the door and thinks. “What kind of plan? I like the walk up and talk to my sister plan. It’s simple, straightforward, and quick.”
Linnet watches him. "Honey, at least take some backup in case the scary thing with all the armor is on deck." She pauses. "Person? Sorry. Not sure what to call them, really."
“You wanna come with?” Orrey asks. “It would be a lot less threatening without all of you heavily armed folks. And one or two people moving around would attract less attention than five.”
"The part about not attracting attention holds until we're well on our way." Bast points at Orrey, then at a chair. "Sit down. We need to think this through."
"I think, and, uh, this is probably going to come out wrong, but, you know, given your family's, like, track record, just of late, of being held captive and used to convince other family members to do things, then, well..." Yves gives up, and looks around for a coffee cup he can pretend to be focused on instead.
Orrey compromises and leans against his chair, clearly a bit agitated but willing to listen at least.
"It's certainly possible she's being coerced; she probably doesn't know about your father, and there's the boyfriend. But do you actually think they'll just let you walk up and say hello?" Isa presses.
“Maybe? You never know.”
"I mean, I can make an educated guess," Isa retorts.
"I mean, if you want to try that approach, I'm happy to go along to try to talk our way out of certain death and/or imprisonment." Linnet marks her place in her book. "And have we actually met anyone from the Seventh Dawn besides the armored giant?"
“Do we know anything about who’s on the Dawn?” Orrey adds.
"And what they're after, apart from Alternan scraps? Because a firefight with a train doesn't really fit that picture," Bast says.
"I didn't get close enough to take a census. I'm assuming they know we're here but I didn't feel like making it easier on them," Isa says.
“They buzzed us once, dropped an armored thing that turned out to be a fairly reasonable, uh, person,” Orrey says.
"I don't even know why they would /care/ about us, aside from the... uh..." Yves, who has still not found a coffee cup, blinks. "Oh, right."
"So, plan A, diplomatic approach with emergency signaling capabilities, then plan B, sneak on board, and only then Plan Q, all-out invasion?" Linnet offers. "Soliciting other suggestions for Plans C through P."
Orrey squinches his face up at the thought of invasion.
"I can probably handle Plan E if I get some lab access, basic research supplies, and access to their beverage storage area."
Bast sighs. "This reeks, and until we know from which direction, I don't want anyone she knows showing their face around her."
"Oh, one other thing." Isa waits until she has their attention. "The Dawn's being fitted with a fuck-off huge harpoon. Three guesses as to who they're planning to hunt with it."
Orrey raises his hand. “A whale?”
Yves raises his hand. "Us?" He lowers it slightly. "...I'm not actually very good at guessing. I'm better at studying to the test."
Linnet smacks her forehead. "Right, sorry, answered my own question. Um, we do have a bit of an idea about the Seventh Dawn's crew other than the Iron Giant. Marina and I got talking - she projects a real hardbitten image, but she loves cinnamon rolls, so it wasn't hard. She's hopped around a lot, and the Seventh Dawn was one of the only ships she stayed on for a while."
"She share anything beyond that?" Isa asks.
"Something about chocobos. Nothing of strategic importance."
"The armored person in question is the one that jumped on the ship and then got pitched off, right? Did we ever find out what that was about?" Yves asks.
"Not that I know, but it sure doesn't spell out peaceful intentions to me," Bast replies.
“Not hostile.”
Bast gives Orrey an odd look. "Oh?"
"I mean, it's a kinda aggressive way to come say hello," Yves points out.
Orrey fidgets anxiously by the wall, his eyes continuing to look in the direction of the docks. “Yeah, we spoke in the air dome at the bottom of the ocean where I dove into after the tower collapsed.”
Bast's tapping fingers pause.
“Dobverat of Alexander was seeking to warn us about needing to remember the Sovereign. They identified The Forgotten as the Sovereign.” Orrey looks up from his notebook that contains the entry he wrote while under the sea.
"...what?" is all Bast manages in reply.
"Huh. So they can, what, create air domes? That might be useful to know," Yves says.
"That is what you took from it?" Isa asks incredulously.
“Dob said that they saved me from the fall, and helped me rise back to the surface. How else do you think I survived such a calamity?” Orrey replies.
"...the sovereign of what? And how can we remember something we don't know about in the first place? And who or what is Alexander?" Linnet asks.
"So, let me see if I've got this straight,” Bast says, holding his hands up to keep everyone else quiet. “The ton of metal that cracked the deck of the Reaper just wanted to talk to us about whether we've accepted The Forgotten into our hearts? And then just so happened to be waiting around by the Alternan shoreline to save you and talk to you? And gave you a lift from the bottom of the sea afterwards?"
Orrey shrugs. “Yup. Speaking of which, did you see them at all?”
"When?" Isa asks.
“When you got me back onto the ship. “
"No. Just you."
"Falling out of a giant column of light. There may have been wings involved?" Bast says.
Orrey stops. “Wait, what?”
Bast glances at Linnet as the lookout for that particular adventure, not entirely trusting his own version of events.
"Um. The wings and the giant column of light, I remember. What specifically they were attached to, I do not. I was kinda busy panicking," she admits.
“Must have been how Dobverat got me to the surface.” Orrey nods thoughtfully.
"So they can fly? Through water?" Bast says.
"Gotta wonder why they were hitching a ride on the ship, then," Isa adds.
"Or jumping onto ours," Yves says.
"Flight over substantial distances is really not all it's cracked up to be. Particularly given how much armor they were wearing, that's gotta hurt," Linnet says.
The docks are quiet. Somewhere behind Orrey, somewhere off of this ship, Cassiat is out there. In trouble? Emphatically not in trouble? Standing in here isn't telling him that.
"Alright. So maybe jumping on us wasn't an attack? Did this Dobverat say anything about what the Seventh Dawn was about on that trip?" Bast asks.
Orrey looks at the wall again. “Nothing about the Dawn. So should we ask Marina to join us? I’d like to get this plan thing settled as soon as possible.”
"Plan first, then we bring her in for information. She hasn't been with us that long," Isa states.
Isa stands up. "I'll go track her down, though. Bast, you know where I'm useful."
"Well, you know my opinion on this plan thing. Talk first, form at least two backup plans while doing so," Linnet says.
“Wing it. That’s my plan,” Orrey says confidently.
"My plans are--I mean, usually, when they--that is, on occasion, I've found that actually--" Yves stops, and his lop ears droop a little lower. "Maybe I should let other people plan."
"She's probably in the galley." Bast turns back to the rest of the group. "Look. We don't know what the Dawn is after, but right now, I have to assume that it isn't in our best interests. And that Cassiat is in on it. So no, we're not winging it and we're not coming over for a chat. We have people who can find out more for us. People she wouldn't recognize."
"That would be... people not in this room, pretty much," Yves notes.
“Do you just assume that anyone you don’t know is a perfidious enemy type?” Orrey’s tone is more curious than judgey.
"Short answer: pretty much, yes," Linnet says.
"No, but I do object to almost being crushed out of the sky. And Cassiat is probably quite pissed at us right now. And they're well-armed but installing a new harpoon right now, and I don't think it's because they've taken up a sudden interest in fishing. A new crewmember who tells a bunch of relic-hunters about a giant ancient ship that was just raised in Alterna, though? That'd be a hell of a catch," Bast says.

"Okay, we've justified the threat potential, could we please do something about it? I know we're supposed to be talking Orrey out of being impulsive, but skies above, I'm about ready to fly recon over there myself," Linnet says.
"So, uh, not to cast aspersions, but... Orrey, /would/ your sister shoot us out of the sky? Because it's kinda looking like it. And I wouldn't want to be unfair. But... just saying," Yves ventures.
“I need to tell Cass about Papa being home. She would not shoot us out of the sky,” Orrey says.
Yves wears his doubt face politely, but wears it all the same.
Isa opens the door. "Helm reporting in," she says, silencing any further conversation, before leading Marina Zaharak into the room.
"Hi, Marina. Welcome to...what I suppose counts as the big kids' table? Ish?" Linnet says with a wave.
If Marina was surprised to be called in so late, she doesn't look it, and she also doesn't look tired in the least. She walks into the room, slides one of the chairs out from the table with the toe of her boot, and drops into it. "What's going on?" she asks as she drops into it, kicking her boots up on the corner.
“Marina, my sister is on the Seventh Dawn, which is parked a short way down the docks. You served on that ship, right? Anything you could tell us about the people on it?
She thinks about it. "No."
"...don't know anything, prevented by NDA or geas, or unwilling to speak?" Yves asks.
"Mind hedging in a direction with that 'no'? As in, they change crew after every flight, or they're holding your beloved and will kill them if you talk, or they're not people?" Linnet adds.
"You pay me to fly, you don't pay me to snitch," Marina says, calmly. "When my flight with you is done, do you expect me to tell the next person who hands me 600 gil everything you've ever wanted?"
Yves nods agreeably. NDAs. That makes sense.
"That's fair. We shouldn't be expecting to run this ship like a family." Linnet slides a plate of cinnamon rolls into the center of the table.
“Maybe not 600?” Orrey asks.
"Are you offering to pay me more for information?" Marina says, flat and affectless.
“I don’t know if that’s an acceptable ask, to be honest. I’m not looking to offend you.”
She nods, satisfied, as if mentally moving a tally mark.
"Look. We're not trying to pry into their business. But I have a hunch that we might end up on the business end of their guns if we ignore this, and I'd much rather clear this up before it comes to that. Not least because the only thing we could do is run, right now," Bast says.
“Run, or ram, or board,” Orrey says.
Marina drums her fingers on the tabletop. "If you're saying the Starfall is fighting the Seventh Dawn, I'm not going to ask you to let me out here. I fly for whoever pays me until I don't anymore." "I can tell you that if you fight them in this ship, right now, you die, because you have no way to fight them."
"I mean, that seems pretty accurate to my understanding of our....... weaponry? Such as it is?" Yves says.
She nods to Yves.
“Maybe you could tell us things that other people not on the Seventh Dawn know about it already? Sort of general knowledge type stuff?” Orrey asks.
Bast leans forward. "Not fighting yet. That'd be one of the things I wanted to ask - whether this is something to expect, if we have something they want."
"What would you do if someone had something you wanted and didn't want to give it to you?" Marina asks Bast.
"And you were much bigger and scarier than them, I suppose," Linnet says.
"Depends on how badly I wanted it. Which is another question you might help us with. What would they do for an Alternan ship?"
"We know they make runs to Alterna. Don't think they haul much out, most times."
"So they're interested in things from Alterna," Marina says. "Information more than artifacts."
"What sort of information do you get from ruins?"
She shrugs. "That's a question for someone that's not a pilot."
“Know where we could find someone like that?” Orrey asks.
Linnet pokes Orrey in the side. "Like you, you mean?"
“Well sure, but someone like me from the Dawn.”
"Oh. I thought you were being self deprecating."
“Nah, no time for false modesty.”
"I mean, in all seriousness, Bast, you're looking for information as to why the ruins are, in fact, ruins. Signs of habitation, signs of the reason for ex-habitation, et cetera,"
"I thought that's pretty well-known, with Alterna?" Bast says.
"Ancient technology with big 'do not touch world-ending button' signs to loot..." Yves says.
"You have the big picture, but you go in there looking for the little details," Linnet tells Bast.
"Or to very carefully not loot and make sure not to build in the future, maybe, if you're the type to prefer that approach," Yves says.
“There’s rumors of treasures, powerful artifacts, priceless unique pieces of art, ancient books. They could be looking for something in particular that they found a clue to elsewhere,” Orrey says.
Marina recrosses her ankles and closes her eyes, quite at peace.
“If I go over there and try to contact my sister, what would happen?”
"I don't know, Orrey," she answers without opening her eyes.
“Then I gotta go find out. Time to roll the dice, as it were. Bast, do you have any suggestions for me to both go over there and keep a low profile?”
Bast frowns. "Yeah. Don't. At the very least, I can have someone arrange to get her on shore for that talk."
Marina stands up. "I'm done here. Let me know if I need to warm the engines for a getaway."
"How likely do you think that is, without us doing anything to provoke it?" Bast asks.
"I can't imagine you all doing anything to provoke anyone inside this little room. You're only dangerous when you're outside," she says flatly.
"Hey," Yves says, indignant. "That's only because I don't have a proper lab in here."

"Can't stay in here forever. Would they want this ship, or not?" Bast asks.
"...Bast, you gotta respect the NDA. I'm pretty sure it's not just lawyers that get involved if these type get broken."
“Fine. Let me know when you’ve arranged to get Cass outside for a chat.” Orrey gets up, a little defeated and a little irritated. “I’ll be in my room.”
Bast gives Yves a level look. "I'm asking our pilot for her professional opinion."
"My professional opinion is that this is the nicest ship, physically, that I've ever seen," Marina says, holding the door for Orrey. "Anyone with an interest in Alterna would be interested."
"Yes, well, can't we just send a /letter/ asking someone to meet up for lunch and chat?" Yves says, a little exasperated.
Bast nods to Marina. "That'll be all, then."
Down belowdecks, Chmurka runs a hand through her hair and scowls down at Bast. "You know it's dangerous out there," she grouses. "You know that she's out there. This is that important?"
Linnet has retreated to the galley to take out some extremely frustrated boredom on hapless salad vegetables.
Yves is currently prowling through the ship in search of the best place to install a proper laboratory, just in case people need... things. Certain things. As can be made. In certain places. By certain people. Given certain tools and materials.
"Orrey is going to run off and do this on his own if we wait much longer. Pretty sure the people on that ship want ours, his sister seems to be working with them, I'd rather not find out the hard way. I'm thinking get one of the actors to pass a message - don't know if she knows her father is back, something about her mother might fetch her - and bring her to a place we pick. Here, if we have to. But I think you see why that's not my top choice."
Chmurka sighs, and stands up. "Yeah. Do you want a message taken onto the ship, or just someone to catch her if she leaves again?"
"Catching her alone would be ideal, but let's not wait too long," Bast says.
"Okay. I'll send one of the Hive out."
Meanwhile...
Ivy raps her knuckles on Orrey's door. "Hey, Lily said Daisy saw you head past Holly's room in a sour mood. Do you want to grab a bite to eat and talk about it, or...?" The door to Orrey's room swings open. Orrey's room is empty.
Meanwhile...
The sun has long since set. The lights from the ships cast long shadows on the dock.
Orrey sighs as he looks up at the Seventh Dawn, half expecting someone to have noticed him leaving the Starfall and grab his shoulders to shake some sense into him.
There are very few lights coming off the Seventh Dawn, just a few below decks, and then a flicker of one up on the deck itself, just out of Orrey's view. Laughter rises, relaxed and male, multiple people. The ramp to the deck is still down. The ramp going to the cargo hold is not easily accessible, but the ship is close enough where Orrey could try to climb on and around it, depending on his preferred approach.
He finds a spot on a crate a little ways away to sit and sketches the ship, keeping an eye on it to see if there’s any sign of it leaving.
The sketch is good -- the light makes for good shadows. There are some interesting shadows cast from the port side of the ship, shadows that are wider than they should be for something so sleek and aerodynamic. Like something's jutting out.
Orrey gets up to go see if it’s the Slim Reaper attached to the side. He’ll attempt to be sneaky.

No one appears to see Orrey move up toward the ship. The laughter up top, the flickering lantern light, it does not change.
The Slim Reaper is not attached to the side of the ship.
The ship has extended panels out of the side of it, revealing a passageway that's a good five-foot jump from the dock to the ship. A strange place for a hidden passageway, perhaps, right parallel to the loading dock.
Back on Starfall, Isa pokes her head into whatever room Bast is occupying. "Thought you might want to know Orrey went ahead and jumped ship. My vote's to let him dangle until morning."
"...oh fuck me with an anchor." Bast buries his face in his hands. "By morning he'll probably be floating facedown somewhere."
Isa shrugs. "Maybe. But if we keep charging in to the rescue, he's going to think it's fine to keep doing it."
"He does have a way of coming back. Don't think that'll help us much if he gets grabbed sneaking onto the Dawn, though."
"I'm just trying to figure out if he'll be even stupider if he accomplishes anything out there."
"We need a brig on this ship, don't we."
Isa shrugs again. "I've been told I can't run this ship the way I was trained. He'd be flogged for this, otherwise. And even I can admit that's probably too much. He doesn't know any better. He's a kid," she says, from her year or two of vantage.
"Need to learn sometime. Question's how."
There's an explosion and a yelp from the kitchen, followed by an exclamation of "Salad dressing's not supposed to do that!" Yves has found his way into Linnet's range, it seems.
"...oh, for salads," Yves says, a faint voice of recent enlightenment, in the distance.
"His sister is with them, so I honestly think he'll live through the night. Might not be happy about it, but they haven't killed her."
A voice comes from just behind Orrey's shoulder in the shadows of the Seventh Dawn, quiet and low, a whisper of steel in its tone. "Stay quiet, stay down, and don't do anything rash."
“That’s exactly what I’m doing!” Orrey remembers to whisper after the first word. He tries to make out who got the drop on him.
"Is that what you're doing. It looks to me like you're trying to sneak onto the most dangerous ship in the Triad." The voice remains low, but the speaker comes a little closer to the edge of the shadows.
“I was thinking about it. Is there a better place to have this conversation? I’d rather not draw any more attention to myself.”
His white hair comes into view first, followed by the slight sparkle of his blue skin, his dark eyes unreadable.
Apocynthion Lunakreia Tolvani, the Third, shakes his head slightly. "Why don't you do what you came here for? Then we can go back." He pauses, as if for effect. "Together."
End session.