[RP] Turn 44 - Donegal

[august]

CLPS Quintus

Hold your breath, calm the muscles. Vision will come back, eventually. As it always does, until it doesn't, but this won't be the time. Jump sickness, stomach moving up into the base of your throat. Flesh warps, muscles moving inside out, bones bend. Thank god you didn't eat anything today. Fade, a point of light. Maybe the blue of a uniform, unless it's a spectral nothing come from whatever lay between the there so far away and wherever you are now. Swim. Blueness slowly taking shape, not one person but five, or less than five. Close eyes, clear the film that isn't there. Breath the stale air, it smells wrong. Is it over yet? One more minute? Ten? Forty years? You won't be able to tell the difference anyway.
...

Rengesburg picked herself up from the dropship's deck and stifled the continuing impulses to sob - the sickness had always hit her with a particular urgency. Alone in her quarters, she tried to call out a vague recollection of whether she had screamed this time, and whether anyone would have been around to hear. Undignified.

She reached over to the panel and took a sip of water, her muscles still quivering. An effort to bring the bottle to her lips, which seemed unwilling to latch to its rim. A deep sigh. She reached to the communications panel and pressed the button, putting her whole weight behind the gesture - she didn't trust herself to do so otherwise.

"Captain, we are arrived?" Affirmation. "Good. Patch me into the broadcast channel and beep when ready."
...

"Attention Donegal Command, this is the CLPS Quintus, bearing aboard Delegate Wroclaw and an associated group of officers of the Tharkad Martyrs. We are here to discuss the situation of the Lyran peoples and your own specifically. Request clearance for landing."

[Dave Baughman]

"Quintus, this is Donegal control," responded the speaker, "you are cleared to land at Wellington spaceport. An official vehicle will meet you on the tarmac and transport Delegate Wroclaw to the provisional command center."

[august]

"Roger, Donegal Command. See you groundside."
...

Rengesburg peered into the mirror - not enough light to judge. As with the aftermath of every jump, the wrinkles on her forehead seemed a little deeper. Two or three more, and they might reach to the back of her skull. That little vein, the one on her right temple, throbbed. Evidence of life, at least, or the semblance thereof. A hint of a voice not heard in years echoed in the chamber...a lover whose name she couldn't recall. If he had ever existed, that is, perhaps just a phantom calling from the nothing, calling for someone else.

A surge. She quickly moved to the tiny toilet and crouched, dry heaves wracking her body. A faint taste of acid, nothing more. Find the pills, as if they ever did anything. As if anything did, ever.

[Dave Baughman]

At the capital building, Delegate Wroclaw was greeted by an older woman dressed in the same modified LCAF uniform that had been seen in the recent news broadcast announcing martial law.

"Madame Delegate, welcome to Donegal," she said with a polite bow, "I am Colonel Lisa Gould, acting governer of Donegal for the period of the emergency. How may I be of service?"

[august]

Rengesburg returned the bow, perhaps a little deeper than was proper. Call it a matter of the clothing - her businesswear, not fashionable or even notable seemed shrink her frame several sizes before the uniformed governor.

"Colonel Gould, I thank you for making time to meet with us. Our mission here is primarily one of fact-finding; with the flight of Robert Kelswa into the talons of the Jade Falcons and the recent conflicts here, the Estates-General is curious to know what direction your government intends to take in the coming months. Our first concern, of course, is seeing that we are not drawn into unnecessary conflict - the CLP is a collection of peoples who have joined willingly, and our aim is not to force our will upon any, whether of the Lyran nations or any other. The Tharkad operation was, of course, necessary to protect ourselves against the old order, but the Estates-General does not bear any malice towards the worlds of Skye and Donegal. But that disclaimer out of the way, may I ask - what course is Donegal charting for itself?"

[Dave Baughman]

"To be entirely honest, madame Delegate," said Gould, "our primary goal is to maintain public order in the Donegal and Skye regions, especially with the Clans pressing in on us from the north. As you are probably aware by now, Free Skye almost brought the whole house down with their ill-advised power grab, and now the military is doing its best to keep the pieces glued together. Right now, we need allies - that's part of why we have reached out to our colleagues in the Association - but we also need a partner in getting what's left of the old Commonwealth back together. I, for one, am very concerned about the possibility of a land grab by the Terrans, the Free Worlds League, the Dominion, or all of the above. That possibility becomes much more likely the longer we are running by the skin of our teeth here."

"At the same time, I'd be lying if I said all of the systems under our control were happy - at all - about how events played out on Tharkad. I understand it had to be done," she emphasized, "but not everyone has that kind of perspective, especially the average man on the street. Any political support you can give us to better expain your decisions and put them in perspective to the general public would be a great help."

"I digress, though. Our course? We'll chart our course on our own if we have to, but I think its much more likely we'll have to ally with one of the neighboring powers. Personally, I'd prefer that by the CLP, but that's as much in your hands as it is in anyone else's. What kind of conditions and requirements would you lay on us if we were to consider accession to the CLP?"

[august]

Rengesburg raised an eyebrow. "Conditions? Accession is better than we had hoped for - under that measure, you would be covered by our neutrality agreements, which should spare you most of the potential aggressors. We could promise Donegal and Skye seats in the Estates General, as well as two seats to be created on the directorate council. Given your willingness, I could offer one of those to you personally."

She paused for a moment - "We would likewise help you root out the noble opposition and Free Skye terrorists in exchange for full integration. The only thing that we would ask is that Arden Tymoris, who we believe to be a Loki agent in your employ be jailed and turned over to us for questioning, along with any known associates. He is wanted for questioning in relation to the nuclear terrorism on Tharkad some months back. Would you consider this acceptable?"

(OOC: I've take the liberty of nominating the nameless fellow who was mentioned in my turn 43 intelligence report.)

[Dave Baughman]

Gould narrowed her eyes slightly at the name of Tymoris, "As a matter of fact, it would be my pleasure to give you Tymoris. We know him by his latest nom de guerre, of course: Busby the Great," she rolled her eyes somewhat, "his name for himself, not ours."

"Busby-slash-Tymoris is believed to be the head of the Free Skye splinter group that organized the strikes on New Earth and Donegal, plus a handful of smaller incidents. If you can loan us intelligence support in tracking him down, we'll send in our own operators to take him down... and then he's yours. Is that workable for your side?"

[august]

"Far better than workable - it seems that our relations are from the fore, better than could be expected. We look forward to furthering our shared interests."