Sunday March 16, 2014
Book 15: Delegates and Delegation — Part I: Confidence

Transcript

TITLE: BOOK 15: DELEGATES AND DELEGATION

Xeno Team, their shiny new ship, and their lofty new clients are on a diplomatic mission of actual diplomacy...

Maxim 66: Necessity is the mother of deception.

NARRATOR: Sol System, port-of-entry escalation office, aboard the battleplate U.N.S.V. Chesapeake...

battleplate: *printed* CHESAPEAKE

BALA-AMIN: What have you got, Lieutenant?

NARRATOR: If you want in, this is where the buck (unadjusted for inflation) stops.

SORLIE: Request for diplomatic credentials.

The vessel and crew are under the contract flag of something called the Neoafan Freehold.

Arriving from and vouched for by Parnassus Dom.

BALA-AMIN: So, mercenaries accompanying diplomats who are requesting official recognition and audience.

SORLIE: Exactly, sir.  Everything's in order, but the Neosynchronicity is not the simple corvette it claims to be.

BALA-AMIN: Suspicious shadows on the active scans?

SORLIE: The whole ship is a shadow.  I have never seen a hull like this before.

BALA-AMIN: Well... that is interesting.  Clear them, grant a full diplomatic banner, and put them inbound along 322-A.

SORLIE: Aye-aye, sir.

BALA-AMIN: We welcome our new friends with open arms.

And if they're not friends, well...

we're big, and our hugs can be a little suffocating.