[Episode 217959] [Episode 217959]“I hope you had a pleasant journey, honoured guests,” the youthful pilot bade as she escorted the diplomatic party off the shuttle onto the spaceship proper. She winked at Reito. “Fly with me again some time.”
There was a moment of awkward pause as they were introduced to the flamboyant young captain in period costume, and got a sense of scale. At some seven feet of height, dressed in a flashy red and black uniform, she towered dramatically over the diplomatic party. “I am Fleet Captain Esmerelda van Claud, of the Naviru Orphan Fleet,” she saluted. “Be welcome aboard the Star of Hope, honoured guests. Please follow me, we have much to discuss.”
The diplomatic party were guided along the ships corridors to a luxurious stateroom overlooking a view of the Earth setting behind the Moon. Polite greetings were exchanged with an older woman in more stately garb, and the senior members of both sides quickly entered into the serious game of delicate probing diplomacy.
In other words, things soon became quite boring once more. Reito managed to distract himself with the magnificent view of the statuesque captain, and idle fantasies. This was a new era of diplomacy; boldly going where no man had ever gone before, exploring new horizons, discovering interesting new cultures, and making ou–
“Ah, Reito–san, this is quite boring, is it not?” seven feet of startling blonde distraction interrupted. “While the elders are discussing comparative culture, why don’t I give you a tour of my ship?”
“Ah, well,” five feet of flustered diplomat hesitated under her overwhelming proximity. He cast one glance back at Maoran, who at that moment was engrossed in an animated discussion on the importance of opera, and then Reito gathered up his best suave courage, and replied, “why, that would be delightful, Captain.”
The tour proved to be quite short and quickly ended in the most important room on board; the captain’s quarters. Reito soon found himself doing his part to further interspacial relations. Though surprised by the aggressiveness of the captain’s diplomacy, he rose magnificently to the occasion.
“Well, hello there, Hiroshi–kun!” the stethascoped hula dancer exclaimed huskily as he entered.
“Heeeellooo, Nurse! … Erm– That is… I mean. You’re… Uhm–“
“Why, I’m Lucrezia,” the dusky nurse reintroduced herself with a pout. “Oh, dear, are you suffering from the illness too?”
“Uhm, illness?” he hesitated in confusion, then snapped back with, “oh, right, that illness? Yes! I’m not feeling well. I’m… that is…”
“You are flushed, and a little feverish,” Lucrezia observed, pressing up against him to better feel his forehead with hers. “Your eyes are dilated, heart beat racing, breathe is erratic, blood pressure is rising, and now your nose is starting to bleed. You’re quite nervous, fidgety, and quite distracted. Just,” she concluded, peeling her body away from him, “like all the other young males who’ve come for treatment this morning. Such peculiar symptoms. It is most worrisome! I do hope it’s not an epidemic.”
“Uh, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Oh, no, I am sure it is,” she disagreed, stepping up closer to pull him into an embrace. “Your health is very important to me.”
With that said, she pressed a kiss onto his lips, pushed her tongue deep, and let her cybernetics infest him with a mild nanobooster colony. As long as she was playing the role, the young males would have no complaints about her service.
“Okay, Hiroshi–kun,” she beamed, pulling away from his dazed embrace. “You had best return to your lessons now, young male.”
As the slightly confused and light headed boy was pushed out into the corridor, Lucrezia flicked her dark tressed, and beamed at the waiting line. “Next!”
“Alright crew. First contact has been made with Ranma,” Esmerelda reported. “He is safe enough and in fine health considering his cyberware appear to have suffered considerable deteriation. The system decay is consistant with long term hibernation over usage. However, the immediate concern is that his sub space organ is approaching maturity.
“A delicate approach is required to avoid shocking his system into catastrophic awakening. C-Rank battlemaids, Lucrezia de Ampere, Minerva Hertz, and Noreen van der Volt have assumed positions of authority and will gain his trust to better guard and guide him through the process.
“Meanwhile the Orphan Fleet will establish a residence planetside, to ease him back into Naviru society. His long term memory has likely been degraded durring hybernation as he appears to have no awareness of his heritage, and has gone native.”
“We have established contact with the natives, and they appear friendly enough. I believe I have impressed their negotiator with a desire to maintain further interaction.”
“I hope you were paying attention, Reito–san. That was a masterful piece of diplomacy, if I do say so myself. You could learn a thing or two!”
“It was most educational,” Reito agreed with a slightly dazed and bemused expression. “At least we –ah– established friendly relations with the aliens.”
“Indeed, indeed,” Maoran preened. “Ah, and I must commend you on keeping in the background, Reito–san. I hardly noticed you were in the room.”
“Is… is that so?”
“Congratulation! You are finally starting to learn how not to make waves. Why, this could be the start of a turn around for your career.”
“You don’t say,” Reito mussed politely.
“Indeed, indeed,” Maoran repeated, leaning back in his chair. “Follow my lead and you will go far.”
“You seem very pleased with the way things went,” Reito commented carefully.
“Why, of course I am! Persuading the aliens to set up their first embassy in Japan is the diplomatic coupe of the century! Obviously they were impressed by my account of our culture.”
“Oh, obviously,” Reito echoed wryly.
Ignoring him, Maoran reached for a pen. “All we have to do is cede over a small amount of land for their residence. Best of all, they asked for a piece of undeveloped landfill, so I was able to promise it straight away.”
“Oh, where?” Reito asked, peering over Maoran’s shoulder.
“Uhm. Oh, somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo,” Maoran waved it off. “The important thing is that it’s in Japan, Reito–san.”
“Tokyo bay,” Reito corrected, looking up the map coordinates.
“I beg your pardon?”
“It’s in Tokyo bay,” Reito reaffirmed, placing the map on the table and tapping on a proposed artificial island. “Most specifically, it appears to be the land reclamation project. The embassy they’ve asked for would be the size of a ward.”
“That… can’t be right,” a pale Maoran choked. “They didn’t say anything about… Well, they did mention, but… I… I already agreed! If we back out now… What am I going to do?”
“Oh, I’m sure its not too serious,” Reito smiled reassuringly. “The Naviru seem quite … easygoing. Let’s take a look at exactly what you agreed to, shall we?”
Meanwhile…
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(Posted Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:15)
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