Chander nodded giving no indication of his own definition of dealing with the problems. His team in Vul was in need of almost everything nearly all the time, with no hope of resupply. They had used more enemy supplies than Hegemony ones. He still had a case of bullets that belonged to some faction that he wasn't sure even existed anymore. The good news was, he got familiar with rationing and making supplies go a little further with almost no decrease in quality for the troops.

He wondered how often it would be called upon. "The team is a bit larger than my last but I've also heard you have extraordinary care for your people. I admire that and promise that you can be as lenient or aloof as you feel is needed. I will ensure safety and discipline. Unless it is skilled mechanics I can be your guy. The more we keep internal sensors online the more I can do from just one station.

Did you have any questions for me or want to meet anyone in particular before we move on? I can be your choice of discrete or shock and awe," he offered.

Commander Takagara is there, although he sits alone. His promotion was already secured and it seems he is destined to be returned to the Takagara Home Fleet for assignment having proven himself enough in the wider world to be brought back into the trusted fold. A typical fate of any nobleborn sent out in the Great Black to prove their mettle.

He is focused on his datapad and doesn't look up, it doesn't take much empathy to see that he's not exactly pleased about what is happening but he is expected to take part in his duties and meet his obligations all the same. Unless someone approaches him and attempts to get his attention, he simply sits out the entire ceremony until the end and then promptly leaves.

"Frankly, that is why I prefer the Nethros Consortium... their equipment might be expensive and hard to come by... as well as proscribed in some regions, but you cannot fault their craftsmenship." She runs her nails along her neck, drawing attention to the intricate bronze circuit patterns and synthetic skin, hard as metal and as flexible as silk. "Of course, the waiting list is long..."

She looks up as the new commander approaches and cuts the discussion with Zazan short for the moment until Diana moves on.

"As I was saying, you could spring for a spinal replacement for ultra-high-Gee tolerance and there's no one who does it better, although, Grammaton Cybernetics is admittedly gaining ground in structural augmentation..."

Zazan traces the lines of the eelskin capacitor mesh on his fingers as he talks, "I will not lie Ensign, I do not know if I am brave enough to have my spine removed....And such extensive augmentation are common on Lynn's World? Ze cost seems quite prohibitive for an entire culture to be so focused on body modification.

Iz it a case of economies of scale? Are there many cyberware shops based on ze planet?"

In reply to Chander Havail (msg # 38):

Diana nodded in response.

- "Then i shall leave crew discipline to you. One thing to keep in mind though is i hold everyone to the same standards, from Ensign to Captain: You will be expected to issue disciplinary action even to me and yourself if the situation calls for it, without regard for rank."

She looked at Chander.

- "But for what it's worth... i prefer discretion. Shock and awe can work, but sustained over longer periods of time it just builds resentment and hurts morale. But again, if and when you deem it necessary to act in such a manner..."

"Ma'am, I generally reserve shock and awe for enemies outside the Hegemony, but if you should need it... I am ever at your disposal. I appreciate your trust and understanding. I make special effort to apply precision and practice to everything I do. Is there anything more I can do? I'm not sure if TK generators are standard to your complement but I can run more than one at a time if you think that might help," he said allowing himself to fall a half step behind his new CO, having someone to answer to might take a little getting used to but, for now at least, she was merely an extension of the Hegemony. He had every confidence.

Diana tilted her head as she looked at Chander.

- "TK gens? No, but we've got a comm server unit on every ship to act as backup in case the ship loses Comms. You a Psi? What spec?"

Chander smiled softly and answered, "Mostly TK, though I have some Precog and Biopsi that came out in dire circumstances in the field. I can keep people for medical attention as much as we may need and I have a knack for making important decisions or timing important action. Then comes the fact that I can do just about anything the strongest grunt can do, with the range of my senses. I'm not as strong as some but I am consistent. I prepare and train before I try something and have stuck to my wheelhouse. I don't leave things to chance as much as I can manage. I am proficient with Metafocal Grenades and TK Sling which I've used to lovely effect in the past."

He took a slightly concerned look to his face, "Have you had issues with psi in the past that are going to make knowing all this harder to work with me?"

Diana gave a brief chuckle.

- "Oh, quite the opposite, i'm a Bio myself. Mastered stabilization and healing, in fact. Secondaries are spread across the board though, some TK and a little precog and teleportation. It's just that i try not to be very vocal about it, though i won't hesitate to use them if the situation calls for it."

Chander opened his eyes slightly then nodded, "I tried to hide my power to keep people at ease and lost a pair of members in Vul Belt's tunnels. Lost another two even after that but with 6.5 being the average team losses in that victory I console myself a little. Battle isn't a place to hold back unless you are sure to walk out. Most of my remaining teammates may not trust a TP still but they loved having a good TK to put rocks and shrapnel into enemies around corners. I have nothing to hide anymore though I don't always offer the information up. As CO I felt you should know before it becomes part of my fixing a situation."

As he processed her confession he quirked one eyebrow, "Do you use a psiblade?" there may have been a hint of jealousy in his voice already.

Diana shook her head.

- "No psi gear, couldn't afford it on my own dime and i was an Ensign three months ago, so no chance of getting it requisitioned either. So i grabbed a rail rifle -- pretty useless in ship combat, but the scope on that thing puts binocs to shame. Three hundred mag is nothing to scoff at."

"Lynn's World..." you could see the expression on face soften as she thought about it, eve though her bionic eyes didn't change the skin around them did. "They often call it the Chromeworld or the Shining Star."

"Augmentation and cyberware isn't uncommon in the Hegemony, even the most backwater of worlds will have a cyberdoc somewhere, but Lynn's World is the core of the industry." She gestures at your implants broadly. "Even if you've never been within light years of it, you probably have a microprocessor or optical grid that came from there in parts or was designed there and exported to any of a dozen other planets. They say Vauln's presence is strong there and indeed, there is a great sky-cathedral over the Angelis Archipelago devoted to His worship."

Moving through the officer's crowds. a tall blonde woman with green eyes, wearing an Indari Hegemony Astral Force Officer's Uniform, hands folded behind her back and a sword in scabbard at her side as was the style of many of the Astral Force Officer Corps. She has the tall near two meter build and sturdy muscular common among the Hegemony nobility. She bears the golden crossed-swords and rocket torch symbol of a Master and the command bar on her hat and shoulders, indicated she has command of a starship. Her name tag says "A. Quarnstrom" on it.

With her, and almost barely noticeable in the shadow of the amazonian blonde, is another woman in pristine uniform. She also bears the signet of Master although she lacks any other decoration, surprising for someone of that rank. Darkly beautiful with features more perfectly proportional than anything nature intended, she looks just like what most people think perfect women should look like. Standing at exactly 5'3” and likely not to weigh more than 100lbs soaking wet she couldn't blend into a crowd without a heavy jacket and a deep hood if she tried.

"Good morning, Commander." The tall woman smiles down at Diana and offers her a crisp salute, the customary introduction when reporting for duty to a superior officer. "Shipmaster Quarnstrom of the frigate Talos reporting for duty to King Squadron."

Diana smiled and returned the salute, having to look up at Anika due to only reaching up to her chest. She was too used to it to let that bother her though. The other woman with her was around her own height, which was amusing on its own, and she figured since she hadn't spoken up yet to be Quarnstrom's XO. She did pause for a moment to tap her chin.

- "The Talos... I had heard we'd be joined by a new frigate to replace the Sigfred, but i could have sworn it was captained by someone named Gryphon. You'll have to excuse me, what is its type and class?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 17:49, Fri 17 Sept 2021.

Zazan notices several ship masters talking to the Squadron Commander decides he'd better go make introductions. Thanking his Ensign for her insight and perspective, he makes his way over to Commander Hersson. As he walks, he briefly makes eye contact with Hargrave and indicating with a subtle head jerk that the captain's presence was requested.

Looking back at the group, Zazan remarks to the youth of the group group officers he approaches. When he was their age he spent most of his time suited up enjoying the lovely Bothisilian weather before ruining someone's day. A younger Zazan couldn't imagine living life in the federations clean naval stations.

Pushing the brusque thoughts away, Zazan draws up to the group and introduces himself briefly, "Good Morning, pardon ze interruption, I am Captain Mysh, Master of ze INS-Randver and King Squadron XO."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:25, Fri 17 Sept 2021.

Oscar was enjoying the conversation of a particularly interesting young man from House Aesgar when he was notified by social cues that his presence was requested from Zazan. Politely excusing himself, Oscar could see that there seemed to be an impromptu meeting of brass for King Squadron. Joining the group as seamlessly as he could, Oscar took note of the new faces and waited to make his own introductions.

"Shipmaster Hargrave, of the Angantyr. I'll be the squadron's intelligence operations and Marine lead for the next rotation."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:28, Fri 17 Sept 2021.

Quietly waiting behind the larger, and obviously in charge, woman the smaller and more youthful one doesn't react immediately to the conversation, she seems to be able to focus on the people talking well enough, and tracks each new person as they join in, but almost instantly returns her gaze to something much farther away in even the smallest of gaps in the conversation.  Over time it becomes clear that she is looking at more than one thing in the distance as well, her gaze tracking slowly across the hangar bay, and returning to the exact same spot to track along after each distraction from the nearby set of introductions.

"You must be mistaken, check the orders again. Gryphon is my executive officer." She gestures to the small slight woman at her side. "The Talos is the first ship of her namesake class, a prototype long-range fast frigate with significant enhancements in automation. She's outfitted with advanced navigation for quick interstellar jumps, best-in-class spikedrive and fuel scoops for long term mission duration."

She states this proudly, green eyes beaming as she describes her unique command. "The shakedown cruise was a success last month and command has decided that it's time for her to be put to the test in a real-world scenario."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 06:11, Sat 18 Sept 2021.

Diana simply nodded.

- "Understandable. As a prototype a lot of the documents were classified and redacted, so i had limited information to work with. Regardless, let's hope for a good field test so we can spread those innovations along the rest of King Squadron next time we hit the drydock. Our command ship is a frigate we've ordered custom built from the budget we had been assigned, this should be her maiden flight."

Chander was a bit increased in formality having greeted the others properly when they arrived, he offered to Diana, "Ma'am, There are a lot of powerful people here now so I'll just listen shortly. I'm no ensign and have requisitioned such gear before. I bet I can get that gear we were talking about sent to the ship before we get aboard, if you would like, Ma'am."

He was uncertain how much they knew about her and knew that it wasn't his information to share but even as her ship XO he wasn't nearly of a rank to cause any issue or be familiar with her.

Diana raised an eyebrow in amusement, but decided to humor her XO for now. If he could arrange such things then it was a skill that was bound to come in useful sooner or later.

- "Well, if it could be arranged, i certainly wouldn't be the one to turn it down."

In reply to Anika Quarnstrom (msg # 55):
07:35, Today: Zazan Mysh rolled 3 using 2d6.  Perception, what is Gryphon looking at?

Zazan glances off in the direction of Gryphon's gaze but can't make anything of it.

His remaining eyebrow does raise slightly at the conversation between Hersson and her XO. As he tries to figure out what is so irregular about the exchange, and as he takes a closer look at the man, he notices an insignia that turns his stomach over.

Between the enigma that is Hersson's XO, the prototype ship, and the ever more eclectic officer corps, squadron's dynamics have become exponentially more intricate, and now possibly dangerous.

"When we have a chance to discuss with more privacy I would like to discuss what our wolf-pack is evolving into. What sort of teeth does ze Talos possess?"

ooc: edited for spookyness
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Sat 18 Sept 2021.

While not quite interrupting her captain Sara does cut her off when the direct question about the Talos's capability is asked, her gaze snaps over to Zazan in an almost aggressive way, but the answer itself is both calm and polite, and is even followed by a slight smile that should really just be called a smirk.

”The Talos class is not intended as a brawler, it mounts a single Plasma Beam intended to act as much as defensive deterrent as to be used as an aggressive weapon.”

Diana thought, and nodded.

- "Yes, the fuel scoops and enhanced spike drive did already imply she's more of a deep reconnaissance vessel. Enhanced sensors too, i reckon? And is the Talos a patrol boat or a full fledged frigate?"

Flicking her attention over to Diana Sara and answers her question without even a moment's delay.

”Considering a Patrol boat lacks the power distribution systems to support either a fuel scoop system or any kind of advanced electronics in addition to a Plasma beam and fast drive system that question seems to answer itself.”