Scene #4062: Same Planets - Different Universe

Owner	Pose
Yulia Koslova	Just what does the Multiverse find so fascinating about the Sol System anyway? It's a question Yulia has mused for a while - mostly to herself, sometimes to others, and occasionally stated aloud in exasperation. The only conclusion she's come up with so far is that The Multiverse Is Weird. Sovereign State of Neo-Zeon (that's its official title, apparently) sent a missive at some point after the surpise raid on a convoy and the rescue thereof asking if there would be interest in further contact. After whatever needed to go on behind the scenes to allow a social call has been done and settled, Yulia returns to the system in the same ship as before. This time, not in battle conditions, which means it takes up orbit around Earth and within safe distance of the Solaris. Not long after, a pair of mobile suits launch from its flight deck - the same purple mech (albeit in much better condition than after that battle), accompanied by a green mech of a similar but notably different model. "This is first Lady Yulia Koslova," she calls over the comm, "requesting permission to come aboard."
Morrigan	The Solaris is the first of its name and, along with the rest of its line, had once been considered the most controversial piece of hardware in the system. But war, funnily enough, has a way of eliminating controversy. It is surrounded by a host of warships - battle frigates and support cruisers - all ready to jump away at a second's notice should the GTVA launch a new offensive. "Confirmed, Lady Koslova. Solaris Control reads you. Your approach is clear - please land in Bay Four and one of our staff will be there to meet you presently."
Yulia Koslova	"Acknowledged, Solaris Control, and thank you. We'll land in Bay Four." Yulia flicks off her comm, and follows the beacon to where they've been directed to land. Along the way, she does take the chance to take in (gawk is such an ugly word!) the other ships in orbit. The sheer number of them... Neither she nor her wingman is familiar with the setup of their host's bay, and so they both take it easy with the landing - upright, slowing with the smallest verniers till nearly a standstill, then touching down with a clunk-clank of metal mecha boots on deck surface and magnetic clamps.
Morrigan	The UEF ships are beautiful, seeming almost apologetic about their gun batteries and missile tubes. Only the Solaris seems to take pride in its ability to make war. Inside the cavernous hangar and flight deck, the smaller ships are much the same - sleek Uhlans and Kenturois juxtaposed against hulking Uriels and gargantuan Durgas. Techs swarm over them like ants, replacing weapons and fixing issues. Yulia and her wingman are met by two figures in UEF uniforms. One's a woman, lean and dark-skinned, the other is a man - bigger, older, greying. By their voices, it's clear that this is Noemi Laporte and Manuel Brie. "Nice to meet you in the flesh, so to speak," says Brie.
Yulia Koslova	If they find the mecha to be more imposing than the woman inside it, well, they wouldn't be the first. Probably not the last either. Yulia's in uniform as well, and by all appearances she's comfortable in wearing it. Her dark-haired wingman, who has a good feet of height and a few more years in the gym on her, is quite obviously as much bodyguard as pilot. "Likewise!" Yulia replies, smile on her face as well as her voice. "And nice to meet you in calmer circumstances." Pause. "Do you normally shake hands, or bow?"
Morrigan	"I'd shake hands," Brie says, "But I've never entertained nobility and have no wish to offend. How about we sort that out off the deck?"
Yulia Koslova	Yulia quirks a lopsided grin at that. "I'm very hard to offend, don't worry. Please, lead the way."
Morrigan	It's only a short walk to a meeting room, although it seems to be more of a debriefing area for pilots. "Space is tight," Brie says, as if apology or explanation is required. On the walk there, it's clear that the Solaris operates like a well-oiled machine, with uniformed crew performing whatever innumerable task is required to keep such a behemoth running. Announcements ring out through the corridors, progress reports and daily bulletins, Ubuntu thoughts for the day and flights returning. "Noemi," Brie says, gesturing to the counters on the far side of the debriefing room. "Tea, coffee, water?" he asks Yulia and her bodyguard. "Not that the Solaris has good coffee, mind you." He smiles, laughing.
Yulia Koslova	Yulia's being observant on the short walk...The decor is different, but the underlying design is pretty familiar. There only so many ways to lay out a hallway and briefing room, after all. The constant announcements are a bit of a surprise, but aside from a quizzical glance at the closest speaker during the first of them she hears, she doesn't bring attention to it. Another lopsided grin. "Maybe I should have brought some of our coffee over as a visiting gift, then. Tea's fine, thank you." She'll make her way over to the machine labeled tea, and unless she's stopped will attempt to serve herself. "I know I've barely seen any of it yet, but your ship looks impressive. As does your fleet..."
Morrigan	"Maybe, but I'm fairly sure bad coffee is a constant when it comes to warfare," Brie replies as Noemi returns with a variety of cups - well, bulbs, of course, just in case the Solaris took a bad hit and went zero-gee during tea time. "The fleet's not impressive enough for us to win the war," Brie says, sounding less jovial than a few seconds ago. "We've got fine ships and finer crews but I've been doing this for two decades. Oldest pilot on the Solaris. I don't know who's right, Byrne or Calder, but they both say the same thing - we'll lose the war if we make one wrong move." Noemi passes around the bulbs to each guest and then to herself and Brie.
Yulia Koslova	Perhaps on the recommendation against the local brew, both Yulia and her wingman will have the tea bulbs, with nods of thanks. The design is a little different, but still familiar for both of them to figure out. "We try to keep the coffee at least decent. It mostly makes up for the reconstituted flavored cardboard we call ration bars." Yulia's mostly joking. Mostly. The young woman's brow furrows a bit at she looks to Brie. "Just who are you fighting, anyway? I know you've given us names, but that really doesn't tell us who they are."
Morrigan	"The GTVA," Brie says. "The Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance. The descendents of the guys who used to run Sol, before we were cut off from the rest of known space when the Lucifer collapsed the Delta Serpentis node." "The Shivans came back," Noemi says, "And they cost the GTVA more than another solar system."
Yulia Koslova	"And who are the Shivans, exactly?" Yulia asks, her gaze shifting over to Noemi now. "Bear in mind that while I might be Earth-born and Tuomas here is from Mars," and her wingman gives a nod of acknowdgement, " we're not really from around here..."
Morrigan	"We don't know much ourselves," Noemi says. "During the war against the Vasudans, they came out of nowhere with these jet black ships, annihilating everything in their path. They never broadcast anything. I'm not even sure if the Elders know whether they even can communicate." "After the Great War, the Shivans came back. Apparently, they really bloodied the GTVA, took our their largest star system and then just... vanished." Brie shrugs.
Yulia Koslova	Yulia and Tuomas exchange glances, before she turns back to their hosts. "So, if I'm understanding this, you have not one but two enemies you're fighting, and one of them is completely alien? I see what you mean about one wrong move..."
Morrigan	Brie shrugs. "The Shivans haven't been sighted since they took out Capella and the UEF has no record of them since the Great War. Our only conflict is with the GTVA."
Yulia Koslova	"Oh, I see. So a war with one enemy with another one possibly in the shadows somewhere." Yulia gives a small shake of her head. "Still not an enviable position."
Morrigan	Brie allows himself a small smile. "And a third possibility - the Vasudan part of the GTVA. But they're sitting out, apparently. It's a human fight."
Yulia Koslova	Yulia's lips purse for a moment. Not that war against alients is arguably any better, but... "May I ask what this war is about, and how it started in the first place?"
Morrigan	"There's not much to say," Brie comments, taking a drink from his bulb. "The GTVA rebuilt the node and sent through a fleet of warships. They made a series of demands: the immediate surrender of our leadership, the liberation of 'all GTA citizens in Sol, the immediate 'ascension of Sol to the GTVA', and the end of 'isolationist and antimilitary policies that placed Sol's defense in critical jeopardy'." It seems like he's memorised them. "The Elders, of course, refused their demands." "As to how it started, well..." Brie sets his bulb down on the tabletop. "The GTD Orestes and its battlegroup was intecepted by the UEFg Renjian under Captain Leicester of Calder's Jovian Rim Fleet. Standard protocols when dealing with unknown ships. We know that the Orestes ordered Leicester to stand down, surrender his vessel and prepare to be boarded. We know that the Renjian signaled for reinforcements and was then lost with all hands."
Yulia Koslova	Yulia nods slowly, and makes a mental note to have someone find and bring back some copies of the local history books. The Intelligence Corps could use something new to gnaw on, and it sounds like this is prime cut material. "And things all went downhill from there?"
Morrigan	Brie nods. "Basically. The way Calder tells it, he was fighting off the entire GTVA with only the Toutatis. Heard scuttlebutt that he was so angry with the lack of reinforcements that he got into a shouting match with the Elders themselves - of course, you didn't hear that from me. And that goes for you too, Noemi."
Yulia Koslova	"I have no idea where I might have heard that," Yulia anwers in her blandest tone of voice. Then, more seriously, "And no hope for a diplomatic solution yet, I'm assuming?"
Morrigan	"No," Brie replies, "They made their demands and they are sticking to them. The wholesale destruction of our way of life is not an option. Byrne believes we can fight the GTVA into a stalemate, burn out their urge to make war. Maybe he's right."
Yulia Koslova	Yulia just barely avoids making a face at that answer, though she can't stop her nose from wrinkling. "I see..." Then, she shakes her head, accompanied by a sigh. "It's a war of attrition, isn't it?"
Morrigan	"Absolutely," Brie says, raising his bulb in a somewhat sarcastic toast. "Desperta Ferro," he says to it. "We'll die on our feet, just like we lived."
Yulia Koslova	"Mmph." Not the most diplomatic answer, but better than some actual words she could use. Yulia takes a long draught of tea from her bulb, then sets it on the table. "To change the subject a bit, if I may...there's another reason I came to visit. Have you and your people been given warning about the larger-scale war that your universe has been uncerimoniously dropped into?"
Morrigan	Noemi replies, "We've heard a little bit about it but, really, we've got enough to worry about without getting involved in something else. What should we know?"
Yulia Koslova	Yulia reaches inside her greatcoat and draws out what in some worlds would be called a minitablet, or a datapad, or a smartphone. "We weren't sure what storage media you use," she says with a note of apology, "but everything stored on here is in the plainest text and image formats we could manage." She slides it across the table to Brie and Noemi. "The very short version is that there are two extremely large superpower organizations out there, both of which actively recruit new worlds into their ranks, sometimes by diplomacy and sometimes by force. One calls itself the Union, the other calls itself the Confederacy. Nearly everyone out there has aligned themselves with one or the other, either because they share the same values, or out of fear, or to protect themselves from the other side. If their emissaries havn't started beating on your door yet, I'd expect them to. And they'll do the same with the GTVA, I'm sure."
Morrigan	Noemi scoops up the datapad before Brie can get his hands on it, already devouring the information on it. "When it rains it pours, as the saying goes," Brie comments. It seems like that particular announcement has only aged him further, if such a thing were possible.
Yulia Koslova	The writers of the material did their best to be neutral, but it does ever so slightly slant past neutrality into not favoring either of the superpowers. There's also maps (albeit with notes that amount to: these were out of date before they were even assembled, but still useful), guides to known flags, sigils, and the like, and the major players. "It is possible to remain non-aligned, but it's a balancing act. Their war against each other has cooled off recently, thank God, which has helped with that," Yulia continues, her smile thin. "In full disclosure, Neo-Zeon flirted with the Confederacy after the Earth Federation - our enemies at the time - joined the Union. But once we realized how one-sided that treaty was going to be, Governor-General Koslov quietly showed their diplomats the door."
Morrigan	Brie nods, listening, while Noemi seems to be content with going through the various files. "Then we'll balance," Brie comments, "I don't think the Elders will be particularly keen on signing anything given that our brothers and sisters in the GTVA have been our first experience with the world as it currently stands. We won't sacrifice our whole to the GTVA and I'm not sure we want to sacrifice any part to either of those groups either. We have something beautiful here, something we need to preserve."
Yulia Koslova	"I understand the sentiment," Yulia says with a nod. "And honestly, from what you've told me, it sounds like you have enough on your plates without needing to step out there to fight in other people's battles. Still...there are individuals on both sides that aren't too bad, and may be willing to jump in and help you if you ask, like you have before." She picks up her drink again. "Officially, Neo-Zeon is at peace for the first time in decades, but there are enough reasons for us to keep a strong military. Unofficially, if you need a hand, we may be able to find some reason to just happen to be in the neighborhood."
Morrigan	Brie opens his mouth to say something further when a klaxon sounds over the PA system. "All hands to action stations, all hands to action stations - this is not a drill. GTVA forces have been reported in Luna sectors. All hands stand by for immediate response." "That's our cue," Brie says to Yulia. "Such is life."
Yulia Koslova	Yulia and Tuomas both are on their feet when the klaxon goes off, simply out of reflex. Even when their brains catch up to realize it's not for them, she remains standing, and so does he. Unapologetic. "So it is. Good luck out there. We'll sit tight until you've sortied before heading out ourselves."