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Comorro Station isn't exactly a station. It doesn't remain in any one place for a significant span of time. It is, in all accuracy, a massive starship - incapable of atmospheric flight - that has been roaming the stars on a voyage that some say has lasted for more than 90-million years.
The vessel is a Yaralu, a sentient spacefaring vessel. Her true full name cannot be spoken in a single day, but is shortened for convenience to Comorro. Several epochs ago, after her final era of fertility ended, she converted the gray-green ribbed chamber of her womb into a docking hub for smaller Yaralu and non-organic vessels. She made it known to the denizens of Hiverspace that she would serve as a neutral outpost for traders and diplomats.
Use of energy and projectile weapons is prohibited aboard Comorro. Violators will be absorbed into the vessel's nutrient replenishment matrix. She is capable of monitoring almost all chambers within the station for illegal weapons, but some areas - such as the Forgotten Quarter - are lost to her neural pathways and sensory organs.
Learner
You observe what appears to be a human man of moderate height, just a few inches over five and a half feet tall. He has long dark indigo, almost black hair that falls around the unblemished pale, soft skin of his face and cascades over a hood that hangs undrawn around his neck. Only his head, hands and feet are showing. He is adorned simply in a dark brown, loose fitting robe with no visible opening down the front. It is made of a rough, unsophisticated material but looks freshly woven and does not appear to have any frays. He wears a pair of similar colored sandals on his feet.
Learner is crouching here, facing the Tradeport hatch just meters away. A plain dark brown robe seems to be draped over his humanoid form. The only "flesh" that can be seen are his hands, head and toes. He stands from his crouch and can be seen stuffing some intricate object into his robe. It doesn't leave a bulge indicating a concealed object.
James Sterling strides in from the tradeport, clad in his red and white smartsuit armour with its helmet and visor retracted. He pulls up short on seeing the robed form. "Hey, there," he calls, his tone vaguely warning, glancing down into the HUD display that's concealed within the collar of his suit.
Learner's hands hang at his sides first before politely bringing them together, hand in fist. "Mister Sterling," He states the armored individuals name dispasionately and offers a nod that could almost be a bow, the dark indigo hair undisturbed by his movement save for a thin lock that falls in front to cling to the fabric sheathing his chest. "We meet again. Can I assume you do not remember me? When we last encountered each other I was not quite myself, or atleast I was more so but less familiar. You are well and in good spirits?"
Sterling cocks his head to the side, staring at the robed figure suspiciously for a moment. "Can't say I do," he says, stopping about a metre from the other man. "No, wait. Y'do look familiar..." His gaze again goes to the display within his suit. "Ah!" he says at last, looking up with a smirk. "'S Learner, isn't it? Y've gone all human again."
"Yes, for the moment." He gestures to the surrounding area with one robed arm, "Depending on the state and duration of our current condition is whether or not I will remain so for the foreseable future. I expend less energy in a Rift form but expend more to cummunicate and physically intereact with anything in a meanful way that doesn't include consumption while I am in that form. Keeping up the shell of a physical humanoid form, how ever, also expends energy though the cost of communication and physical interaction with objects can be reduced." He gently turns nearly 180 degres to glance back at the surrounding docking hub, his 'shoulder' and 'hips' slightly torqued, "It's a careful dance and requires that I balance my activities with the form I choose to take." He turns back to face Sterling straight on, shoulder and hips realigned. "This is why I had remained reclusive through out the very begining of this ship wide ordeal." His tone remains dispassionate yet soft, his eyes are sharp and alert.
Sterling raises an eyebrow as Learner speaks. "Er, right," he says finally. "So, er, what've y'been up to since I saw ya floatin' about in the tradeport last week?" He appears to be scrutinising the brown robe Learner's wearing, occasionally glancing into his collar.
"I have not been up to anything except foraging for materials and energy to store." Learners attention is hardly pulled away from sterling. Only a few unimportant sounds and events in the distance insight two or three glances from the Riftwalker. "It has been very recently that I have been able to retake a humanoid form. Last night to be precise. My interaction with anything that I do not sustanence has been limited. No that I can afford to be more corporeal I aim to be of some use."
"Tryin' t'be of some use meself," Sterling replies. "Decided t'stick t'me own kind for now - the mercs, that is - since it seems certain parties of the engineerin' variety don't like me around too much." He shrugs, spreading his hands. "We figure us soldiers'll be needed sooner'n later, so we're gearin' up so's we'll be ready when th'time comes." He smacks one metal-clad fist into his other palm. "An' we'll be ready," he states, a decidedly malicious grin on his face.
"What sort of challenges are both groups meeting?" Learner asks, his eyes and ears catching bits of activity in the distance, "If the local Malitias job is to be ready for combat then what goal are the engineers and scientists striving to achieve? Could it be that Comorro herself is not 100 percent operational?" Learner cranes his neck and glances up for a moment as though looking at a thought only he can see. "And what sort of confrontation do the 'mercs' expect to befall Comorro?"
"'M not sure what the science folks're up to. Last I heard they were tryin' t'design a way t'surround Comorro with mines t'protect her." Sterling frowns. "'Course we've got incoming friendly ships t'help out so that's not so great an idea any more. An' yeah, Comorro's not a hundred percent. She's bettern' she was when she was at the bottom of the ocean, but she's still hurtin'. As fer th'mercs, we're expectin' the bad guys t'send their ships after us. We're hopin' the butterfly people that're bringin' their ships'll have some better information on what it's like t'fight these guys, given they been fightin' 'em fer... what was it he said... close to a hundred years, I think." He follows Learner's upward glance, then frowns faintly at the Riftwalker.
Learner nods assuredly as he listens to Sterlings words. "Yes, that's right. The hostile fish people I have heard a little about." He steps a few feet away but remains near as to maintain verbal communication. He crouches back to the floor and ends up with one knee in a small patch of grime and/or dirt. His hands rummage through the refuse. "It sounds as though the engineers are instrumental in our common goal of survival. I find myself assuming that even the malitias must be dependant on their technology." Learner stops sifting through the rubble when he finds another errant componant of some machine. He shakes it with one hand and brings it to his ear. "Do you expect the engineers and scientists to have any more effect on Comorros current state of health or is that to lofty a goal at the moment who's hope is better reserved for after she's returned to her home space?"
Sterling scowls. "'Instrumental'? I dunno as I'd go that far. Sure we all use tech, but it don't mean the engineers're the only ones who understand how it works." He retrieves his PDA from within a storage compartment in his armour and holds it up. "I dunno how this was built, or even just why it works the way it does. But that don't mean I can't use th'thing t'do what I need it t'do." He replaces the device in the compartment and unslings his Pyracani battle rifle, holding it up demonstratively. "Likewise, I can't manufacture a bran' new rifle, but I can field strip, clean, maintain, an' fire one wit' deadly accuracy." He replaces the rifle in its carrier on his back. "So before y'go declarin' the brainiacs th'great saviours of us all, keep this in mind:" He takes a few steps toward Learner and leers arrogantly at him. "When th'bad guys come t'blow us inta space, it'll be the soldiers whose job it'll be t'keep everybody safe."
Learner takes the broken device away from his ear and dismisively tosses it back into the rest of the rubble. He stands from his crouch to meet Sterlings gaze with his own. "Perhaps I spoke with haste and disregard for your efforts as a rifleman and mercenary." His expression is the same as before, cold sharp and alert and his voice also remains as it did in the begining, calm and dispassionate. "My opinion is merely an assumption based on the little information I have collected over my past week of limited interaction. I will not hesitate to point out that much of this limited knowledge of current events originated from you as the source. Surely you must understand that I am simply being objective."
[Skill System] Learner tests its Persuasion skill at a modifier of 0. The result is 3.
Sterling grins his typical smartass grin. "Yeah, alright." He spreads his hands. "Things've been a bit tense around here. Words've been said, y'know, the nine." He tilts his head at Learner. "Y'oughta know, though, that yer way o'speakin' makes y'sound kinda... superior." He smirks. "That kinda thing c'n set me off. I don't like bein' talked down to."
"By the standards of many species, simply speaking in terms of chronology, I could still be considered infantile." Learner steps away from Sterling again in an attempt to regain some distance from the brief invasion of personal space but chooses to keep facing in Sterlings direction. "I speak the way I do simply because of the lack of culteral influances. I can hope that in some relatively short period of time I will adopt a manner of communicating words that attempts to use shorter words and quicker phrases." He glances at the Tradeport hatch. "I will not apologize for that lack as it has not to do with any control that I can exert, but instead I can offer you my sincerest future efforts to communicate with you and your fellow riflemen in a way that does not make you feel inferior. As of this moment I have no clear course for achieving this."
"Alright, mate, yeah, I remember." Sterling's still grinning. He catches the glance toward the hatch and steps to the side, then smiles wistfully. "Sorry if I was a dick. Been a rough week. If y'wanna stop by the ol' HQ sometime feel free." He sticks out a hand toward Learner. "Okay?"
Learner looks down at the mercs hand for a few seconds before extending his own and clasping Sterlings gloved hand and gently shakes, "You certainly did adopt a confrontational attitude for a brief moment, how ever I do not believe that you took the form of human male genitalia at any point during our conversation. I wasn't even aware that you had this abillity." Learner lets go of Sterlings hand and heads for the trade port hatch but before he steps through it he half turns around and wears a subtle grin on his milky white face. "I appreciate the invitation and accept it. I will stop by some time in the near future and we can further discuss the best course of action moving foreward in aiding with Comorros recovery." Learner doesn't bother to lift his plain robe as he steps through the hatch, it simply glides over bulkhead material without effort. Once on the otherside he removes himself from immediate view from through the hatch.