This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KyleKKent on 2024-04-09 22:16:27.
The Bounty Hunters
(Sorry for the delay, news of my grandmother passing followed by a not so pleasant dental appointment killed all my will to write.)
“Milady, as you have called, I have come.” Harrika says as she bows to the hologram before her.
“You may rise Miss Spindle. You have totally served the Empire well, and like we offer you a chance to serve further still.” The Figure before her states. Harrika is not personally familiar with the woman, but through rumour alone she knows that the Gravia, Lady Matrix, sits within the Empress’ Court of Lablan. Specifically she sits as Advisor to both the Lady of War and The Lady of Commerce. Advising both in equal measure. Her chosen form has grey skin and white hair to both blend and contrast with her immaculate white gown.
“This is to do with my… comments on The Chainbreaker isn’t it?”
“Totally.” Lady Matrix states. As she moves her image goes to a series of abstract shapes in a gown before reforming into a woman that looks more real than real. “You like, totally showed fierce protectiveness of them, cause they totally showed fierce protectiveness of their own.”
“Yes.”
“And there were little notes describing how totally unfair it was that you had to stay professional.” Lady Matrix says with a smile on her dark lips. “Now, what I’d like, like to do is for you to get what you want as we get what we want.”
“And is that we a plural or a royal we milady?” Harrika asks.
“Totally both.” Lady Matrix says. “It’s been totally agreed, like unanimously, that Holy Lablan and The Undaunted are compatible cultures. One like wants the best overall culture and the other like wants the best people.”
“Yes, this is fairly obvious from interacting with them. While we of Holy Lablan seek to be a greater people, The Undaunted seek to be better as people. For as confusing as that might be to say.”
“Don’t worry, I totally understand.” Lady Matrix says before nodding. Her presence temporarily goes down to very primitive and seemingly fake, then back into hyper realistic. Gravia that relax and let their bodies just cycle normally can strain the eye, those that control it are somehow more disturbing. Which is why there was no consensus among the Gravia as to which to be.
“Now, we’ve been watching the pattern. The Chainbreaker is totally going on a recruiting spree, and not like only fighters. All Undaunted ships are on a talent search. They’ve like got themselves two girls, Begrobs Sallie and Susie-Lu. Sisters both. One totally a shooter and the other a weapon smith.”
“Yes I am aware of them. Although neither of them spoke much to me about my charge.”
“Totally aware, one talked about how like scary he could be with his drones and the other was totally complementary about his skill putting them together.” Lady Matrix says. “Which like, totally brings us to you.”
“It does?”
“It totally does.” Lady Matrix says. “We have like, not had any real contact or communications with the humans so far. Before this we were only like, kinda sure about what they were. But now we totally see that even if the humans a a whole aren’t like, like this then it’s still worth it to have some solid cultural outreach.”
“And how does this involve me? I am not a cultural outreach official or a proper representative of The Lablan Empire.”
“But you totally are! While we’re totally going to make contact with their official headquarters at their main ship and the embassy. There, like, needs to be another set of eyes on the ground. One that like understands people and totally has a good introduction into things. Also you’d like, like to be there.”
“I would, but it would be very inappropriate for me to simply run off and join their ship. I have my own career and life and…”
“Like, no romantic prospects that have panned out, a job that you love and a totally limited social circle after the office event.” Lady Matrix says and Harrika resists a flinch. She hates it being brought up. Oftentimes the price of doing the right thing is the loathing of the people who should have done it first.
“It’s like… totally a tragedy when the people of Lablan can’t live up to the dreams we share. But that’s like, the whole reason we keep trying. Because we’re totally not there yet, and like, might never be.”
“It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” Harrika says and Lady Matrix claps her hands together and nods.
“That’s totally it! See? You live it! You’ve totally embraced it!” Lady Matrix says in a happy tone. “It’s your choice. You like…”
She coughs into her fist and takes a deep breath. She then opens her eyes and fixes Harrika with a look that pierces through the hologram. “It’s your choice. You are not a member of our military. You have only sworn to follow our laws and live under our protection. You do not have the obligations of the Command Class, let alone the higher ranking Nobles. You have every right to refuse and this will not reflect poorly on you.”
The Gravia glances away from a moment before her lips quirk. “Although some women will question why a healthy young lady such as yourself refused to join up with a ship full of strapping men. But that will be as far as it goes. That I can promise you.”
“Your accent ma’am?”
“Is an accent. Gravia like myself are naturally taught and conditioned by our own language and culture to be as clear as possible, but Galactic Trade is so unclear compared to our own language that we will use conditioners such as totally and like to indicate certainty and approximation where appropriate. It takes a little… mental planning to speak without it, but it’s merely reflexive habit, not overwhelming compulsion. I could tell my accent was starting to irritate, so I apologize for the discomfort.”
“I accept however, this does not change the issue of things being a concern about potential corruption or foul play… I just finished evaluating them as an appropriate home for the newly risen Lord Slithern. To say that people will decry this as a conflict of interest is the least of the concerns. There are also…”
“You are free to refuse.” Lady Matrix cuts her off and Harrika comes up short. For a moment both women simply regard each other.
Then as there are no protests from Miss Spindle, Lady Matrix slowly smiles. “If you are willing to accept, then I can arrange for everything you need to be in order. But the better an idea we get about The Undaunted, the better off it will be for all. Their dedication to self improvement and our dedication to societal improvement means that we will have a great many interactions. The Council and I would like to see what those interactions will be.”
“Are you sending anyone else?”
“We’ve requested several volunteers, and then had to pare them down and hold a lottery for who could be in the proper lottery. You Miss Spindle, will be the envy of many a woman. You’re at the front of the queue.”
“What is the plan?”
“We have a group of five volunteers that will be offering to join The Chainbreakers. No doubt they will know that we are trying to get a read on them, so any more than five soldiers and a civilian will be a bit much. Granted The Chainbreakers could refuse, but with how large their ship is and how eagerly they recruit I doubt they will.”
“And what will be expected of me? I’m no spy, not any kind of infiltrator. I’m not even a fully accredited psychologist.”
“The accreditation can be taken care of. You’ll need a quick test and primer to get you onto the newly revised standard level, however you can easily earn your doctorate.”
“You sound so certain.”
“Your old essays and lessons still hold a great deal of promise and while the standard shave tightened somewhat, they’re still strong enough to get a passing grade.”
“… Alright putting aside how much my own life seems to have been examined under a microscope, we’re ignoring the issue that The Chainbreakers are far from stupid and may very well refuse on the reasonable ground of not wanting to be spied upon.”
“I already have a woman working on that.”
“Of course. I can’t believe I expected any less.” Harrika notes in a dry tone.
•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•
“Well, yes. Of course, we introduce ourselves like this of course they’re going to want more. Honestly this isn’t unexpected at all.” Pukey says to the figure projected from his communicator and receives a grin from the physically youthful agent in return.
“I know, this situation has a lot of ‘well duh’ going around. I’m just saying the official policy is summarized as ‘go with it’ Lablan has some odd regards in some ways, but is pretty damn agreeable culture. They want to get to know us, we want to know them. Let it happen.” Herbert explains. His business casual may not be as iconic as Private Stream, but it still makes him look like a child playing grownup.
“It’s not exactly hard. We’ve already invited two civvies in, how many more are coming?”
“From what we can tell they’re going to assign a small honourguard to the ship to ‘protect’ your son. Although in all honesty they’re probably going to want to… well… I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.”
“They’re waiting until he’s at least eighteen.” Pukey says in a tone that brokes no argument.
“Hey, dial back on the big man routine. I’m on your side.”
“I know. I’m just saying.”
“And I’m saying as well, cool it. We have done some digging and the rare times that…
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1c020vd/out_of_cruel_space_part_972/