Scene #1362:

Owner	Pose
Lance Benson	The habitable moon is dark, but the planet it orbits overshadowing it during one of its peculiar long night cycles. The balance between the two objects makes one wonder how the moon could support life at all, with the planet it's orbiting a fairly large circle in the sky. The main planet is a gas giant of a pale green color. The modular station has its flood lights turned on. An area has been laid out, with various large components of engines have been arranged. And sitting at one of the tables, carefully cleaning a large metal tube-like device, is Harold, one of the Devourer infected and Lance's subordinate. The fuzzy cat-like being works on the presented components dutifully, wanting to make sure no dust or grease masks their function or their aesthetic. Lance, on the other hand, is in largely human form today, barring the long fuzzy tail. The tail wiggles behind him to the tune of music playing from the speakers of a small chrome-finish disk sitting on the table in front of him. He's eating some kind of packaged meal. He gave coordinates for a nice clear patch near there for any sort of teleporter that the Flotilla utilizes.
Starbound Flotilla	The Starbound Flotilla pulls in nearby, though they've only sent a small branch. A dark blue ship with fins, a mesoamerican-styled ship with pyramid-esque structures and a crystal engine, and a much more normal-looking ultramodern ship that could pass for a rather normal ship around here. The ones who beam in are ALBERT, MOONFIN, and PAVO, wearing some rather casual outfits. Jumping to the coordinates, the trio land in the clear area with a shining column of red light. Moonfin will likely provide the party's polite greetings as soon as they get a good look at the station interior.
Lance Benson	The polite greetings are met with a grunt from Harold -- that guy doesn't seem very sociable just this second -- and a smile from Lance. The scientist straightens out his white labcoat, standing up from his seat with a metallic noise of it sliding back. He'd even approach them all, giving a half-bow to the group as a whole. Examination of the room they're in tells the group one thing: The building is built out of pieces like it could be taken apart and modified with relative ease compared a house of similar size. The material looks almost metallic, but it lacks the shine. The rooms are all small circular lights set into the ceiling. It's a very plain room. The windows don't seem to have any glass to speak of, or if there is glass it is very difficult to see due to a lack of reflection in it. The outside is a wild jungle. Some large tentacle creature is ambling through the trees, picking fruit off of one of the trees to eat, barely visible thanks to the floodlights. There's an automatic door on one side of the room with a motion sensor connected to it. The only furniture in the room consists of tables and chairs, so the room is pretty sparse. "On these tables," Lance explains, gesturing to each table, "Are the components for the main FTL drives from my native region of space. They can generate a great deal of power-- here..." He reaches to pick up a coiling component that looks a bit like a spring. "I'm sure one of you recognizes what place this has in common FTL designs." It's clearly a coil, though it's fairly small compared to the more 'big as a person' designs. "The engine uses several of these, so they can be swapped out if they blow out. If the ship even survives a blow out, at least." Harold sets down the component he was cleaning, and picks up another one, meticulously examining it. It'd be impossible to tell what part does what without FTL engineering experience, a fact reinforced when he points out: "/That/ one is a secondary coil," he says in a mellow tone, "Does pretty much the same thing." Lance looks over at Harold with some surprise, and then gives a helpless shrug at the three aliens, setting the coil back down.
Starbound Flotilla	The Hylotl bows a bit as well, as is the custom of his people. Weebs. Albert and Pavo appear to have been told to not speak up much, and so grumblingly just sort of go along with things. They're familiar with modular, prefab space stations, at least to a certain degree. "Greetings, Mr. Benson." Moonfin speaks up with a rather pleasant sort of tone. "And thank you, again, for your offer to establish this deal. I hope we will shortly find ourselves mutually benefitted." Pavo is rolling her eyes a lot, but Albert is mostly keeping a military, attentive stance, in a respectful way. Then, business! Pavo is immediately moving to check out the components, picking them up with feathered hands if Lance lets her, and squinting at the nuances and greebles of each component. "Aye! Aye! I know what ye mean, matey, I've seen somethin' like this! Stole a few things like this right off a couple Miniknog in a trap. Blew up, though, yarharharharhar! You gimmie a week and I'll have this booty in the engine proper, then we get some real wind in our sails!" She laughs as she continues her examinations. "I believe that settles that this is at least what we are seeking." Moonfin says, nodding. "My concerns are more immediate. Not even gods offer a blessing without expectation, and it would be impolite for us to be ungrateful. Consider our reserves of currency, our resources, and our operational capacity all on the table for any exchange you may wish to establish. What can the Starbound Flotilla provide, in trade for access to this technology?"
Lance Benson	Lance watches Pavo patiently, and smiles when the Avian finds the components to be satisfactory for what they need. He seems pretty glad about that, because it means business is going pretty well so far. His attention, however, turns back to Moonfin, the wise Hylotl getting a more neutral gaze. Right... What Lance wanted. Thinking about it is only unpleasant in that it makes this seem more like a cold transaction. Lance puffs a sigh. "I always need more specimens for my research," he points out, "A group like yours would be ideal for getting things that I might've missed. I have this contract here..." he pulls a folder out of his labcoat, and sets it down. He opens the folder and gestures to it. It's a fairly simple document, with no legal loopholes that could leave the two at a disadvantage as a result. "I can supply these parts as well as help with maintenance, in exchange for effort to retrieve samples for my research." He smiles at Moonfin again. "Blood samples from some of you would be appreciated, too, but that's just personal curiosity speaking." "I'd also like to tag along with you from time to time, or maybe help you out, in the spirit of cooperation. My ship should be able to keep up without issue."
Starbound Flotilla	"Ah, certainly!" The Hylotl seems quite agreeable. "Evolution's wonderous artistry should be appreciated by a fine connoisseur such as yourself, and I will happy to be nature's matre d'. SAIL has the beginnings of some research into live-capture technologies that I think will be perfectly useful for something like this, if that's what you'd like us to work towards. As for blood samples, certainly. I can collect them from every member besides our Floran, as there are various reasons you do not want to very thoroughly analyze Floran DNA." He's at least not a very cold guy! Albert speaks up next, prefaced with an apelike sort of grunt. "We are planning a visit to a world with high-risk fauna. The Flotilla has no standing stance regarding you, so you're free to accompany us for operations and travel if that's what you'd like. We'll procure samples in operations where we can." Another affirming ape-grunt. The Hylotl looks, casually, back outside, to the tentacle creature barely seen through the floodlights. "Forgive my curiosity, if it is out of line, but I notice the research focus here, and the presence of unusual biological elements. What is it, precisely, that you do?"
Lance Benson	Lance rubs his hands together excitedly, brightly amused at the food-related way the Hylotl described that. Harold just makes a puffing sigh, experiencing the reverse emotion: Dull impatience. Albert's confirmation that Lance can tag along for some adventure also gets a great big smile out of the mutant. "Well! I'm actually pleased you asked. My actual occupation is Xenobiologist, and Captain of the Confederacy. I have a company called Sirius that I use for the research of medicines or disease, as well as the study of the biological functions of species in other worlds. Not really a culture study, though, that's a different field. A Xenobiologist is someone who studies 'alien' life forms, which is to say, creatures encountered during extraterrestrial travel. Like yourselves, or like the beast seen outside. I'm always looking for new and exciting discoveries on how life can adapt and thrive." "I even engineer my own animals, though many of them lack the stability of an ecosystem." He's... kind of excitable about it. "Nothing sapient, of course. There's a line I would prefer not to cross. I'm not a mad scientist, after all." He grins brightly at them, and his large fuzzy tail wiggles behind him like a dog's might.
Starbound Flotilla	Albert looks, for a moment, like he's about to see red, something visibly boiling in his blood for some inexplicable reason, until abruptly the mention of "nothing sapient, of course" just cools him off immediately. Moonfin continues pleasantly, nodding and doing a little bow again, closing his two lower eyes and keeping the third open in a dramatically stylish way. "An endeavor we will have no obstacle in supporting. I will be happy to provide materials from our members, and assorted useful biological samples we find in the field as well. My own race dabbles thoroughly in such sciences, though not nearly as much as my friend Albert's ever did, so we can certainly understand its scientific value." An uneasy grunt from Albert, but his weird problems with this don't seem to be boiling at all anymore. Pavo looks up. "Aye! Takin' loot from the creatures, we've got no problem with that! I'd say this is a good price to fetch already! Yarharharhar!"
Lance Benson	Lance looks over to Albert, blinking slowly, the cheer fading. He knows he must've hit a nerve on accident by the look on the military fellow's face. But it seems that it was entirely the prospect of modifying or creating sapients that made it an issue. So the scientist observes him for a second or two longer than might be comfortable, thinking of something to say to him. That will happen in a moment. For just then, he smiles at Moonfin again, "That's good," he says, "I have a crisis or two that need some positive advances, so your help with be deeply appreciated." He seems absolutely ecstatic! And he is. Diplomacy has been going great, but for one part: "As for the changes to me," he points out to Albert, "These are a result of a symbiote that cannot be removed at this point. Having experienced modifications without my consent from this entity, I sympathize with those who have experienced similar problems. If I do any sort of gene therapy, it will be under the full understanding of both parties on what they're getting into, and even then I'm hesitant to do so." He gives what he hopes is a more placating smile. "Sorry for the scare."
Starbound Flotilla	Albert seems to be satisfied with this, doing another quick affirmative apelike grunt. "I understand." He doesn't seem to begrudge the situation, so at least there's no diplomatically inopportune incident here! "Excellent." Moonfin speaks up, interjecting to defuse just a bit more. "As you are no-doubt quite aware, we've crises of our own. The best partnerships are forged in the flames of this world's troubles, though, and I hope to render as much help to you as you have rendered to us." Albert shakes his head. "Even if you don't have that sort of magnanimous stance, I've no intention of obstructing the deal. I already have one vendetta. A war on two fronts is a stance any army should avoid. We'll have our deal, and you won't need to worry."
Lance Benson	"All I need is a signature," Lance says, pulling a pen out of his lab coat and setting it down next to the contract he pulled out. "Feel free to read it over. It's mostly for the sake of having papers saying I made a deal with you. I can make copies for you, if you like. It's binding in those places that care contractual obligations." He shrugs, and reaches over to tap at the paper with a finger. "After we have the official stuff figured out, Harold can help you with answering questions about the components. Meanwhile, I have some specimens to check on. There's a Nargacuga that needs her dinner, she gets cranky when she isn't fed properly. Can't have a cranky wyvern when I have guests."
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin takes the pen, signing in a way that somehow manages to be calligraphic using just a regular old ball-point pen. He's practiced this for years, apparently, being excessively ostentatious. "I can function as a legal and diplomatic representitive for the Flotilla itself, so this should be quite fine." The name, of course, is signed in space-japanese. Pavo grins, which is a bit uncanny given her beak. "Aye, that grumpy one? I'll do my best not to ruffle his feathers! Seems he doesn't like havin' his time wasted." Pavo gives a friendly sort of wink and slips the coils back into place with a graceful, expert little flip. "And well get ye some nice, interesting sorta samples! Believe me, matey, our galaxy has a lot of real monsters in it."