Chapter 0: The Waiting Room

Lester looked away from his bloodless fingers to where Amp was stroking Voja's hammer. He shook life back into his fingers while smirking a little, and he threw a glance at Zushe to see what his response was to all this.. muscle, and subsequent hammer envy. "Besides hit things very hard, what does she do, Vojo?" His voice was warm and didn't seem patronizing, just genuinely curious.

The agents’ discussion of the room-dominating hammer was interrupted when another door opened and two people entered the room. One was Corva. The other, following behind them, was a serious-looking woman in an all-black UIG uniform.


(The description below is different to the one in the other thread, because the characters who are part of society notice different things.)

She was white, with the pale skin of somebody who saw very little natural light and long, dark, hair. She moved at a slightly rushed pace, as though having to walk was an annoyance she wanted over sooner than later. In typical UIG fashion, her non-combatant uniform (including a full jacket not pictured above) was flattering to neither build nor figure, but the insignia on her left arm indicated that she was a Colonel – rank 6. The eyepatch was a strange affectation for somebody of her rank; it would have been trivial to have a lost eye regrown or replaced with something better. Zushe, at least, had certainly seen people wearing them in an appeal to coolness rooted in the classical image of piracy, but there was a world of difference between petty pirates and a UIG officer.

“Good morning, agents. My name is Camille Lazard*, and I’m the commander of Black Knight. Your boss, in other words. And this-" She gestured towards Corva - "is Corva Rhodophyta, your division tech specialist. They're from the Aldiek Syndicate, a long-destroyed corporation lurking under the sea and plotting to kill us all as revenge. A couple of the Naval Lockdown Zones are to keep corps away from known hotspots, in case you’re wondering... Anyway, the important part is, this one’s agreed to work with us. That established, I need to get back to the comms room. We're co-ordinating with the crew on the ground at Berlin, where the last of your fellow agents is fighting their way through terrorists to get here. You five play nice in the meantime."

With that, the Colonel turned and left, the door sliding shut behind her.

*the d is silent, it's French

Corva seemed to be taken aback by Lazard leaving abruptly. They briefly stared at the closed door she had left through, before turning back to the rest of the agents. They scanned the rest of the agents, retreating slightly before their glances, and as their eyes came to rest over the huge plasma hammer, they adjusted their grip on their rifle slightly. While they were attempting to hide it, they were obviously scared and unhappy about the situation.

Voja was still for a moment as he processed the new information, but then he strode forwards offering his free hand to the newcomer. "Hi! I'm Vojislav, and this is Lester, Amp and Zushe" The huge Russian was gesturing towards his team mates with his hammer in what he viewed as a non-threatening manner.

Corva was thankfully aware of this greeting ritual, although they would have liked to take part in it with someone who didn't look like he could rip their arms off if he got distracted and turned around while shaking hands. They slipped their hand into his.

Up close, Voja could see that their skin was slightly red tinged. Their hand felt cool, and slightly clammy. Their left hand stayed grasping their strange rifle; it was not something that anyone in the room would have seen before.

"Corva." they muttered, removing their hand from the handshake the moment they felt Voja's grip slack.

Amp was still taking in the colonel's introductions even as Corva and the others exchanged names. The eye patch was very interesting. Either a reminder of some important incident or a means to hide something. Perhaps some sort of X-ray eyeball. The UIG had tech far in advance of almost every corporation after all. The lawyer decided to keep her observations to herself, or at least, to herself and Prince but that would be later.

Amp turned her attention to Corva, she was by no means a tech specialist herself but as an employee of Iyo she knew her stuff. She doubted very much that this girl was intimately familiar with modern technology but who knows, an outside perspective was always valuable. She glanced over at Zushe, she knew of the naval lockdown zones of course but the shipping magnate probably had them memorised.

There was a lot, a lot to unpack here and Amp took a moment to look Corva up and down. She realised she had the poor girl at a disadvantage. The lawyer stayed at a distance, since Corva seemed so skittish. "Hello there, Captain Ampora Okawa, Law & Order for Iyo. Perhaps you've heard of us? ... Recently, anyway." What, no of course Amp wasn't fishing for more information, how could you think that.

Zushe didn't say anything as yet, standing and watching their new comrade with a thoughtful, if unimpressed, expression. One hand was idly fingering the sword at his waist.

Amp was right, he did have the naval lockdown zones memorised. And the news of a destroyed corporation lurking within them was mostly new to him. Although there had always been rumours about underwater terrorists...

Corva nodded, curtly, allowing their rifle to fall slightly from their readiness position. "Iyo is one of the corporations which I have previously been briefed on, particularly in regards to the current sarn incident."

This greeting was somewhat unexpected, although they supposed that if you weilded the power in the situation, or in this case, the power hammer, you could afford to be welcoming in this way. Zushe's reaction was far more expected, and it was almost a relief to see him fingering the sword. Corva could grow a chopped off limb. A -they scanned the hammer briefly- plasma hammer may be harder to regrow from. They were glad that Voja seemed far more interested in social pleasantries.

Lester just nodded and smiled. Agents aged very well, and who knew what people under the ocean did, but Corva looked very young. He raised his eyebrows, and tried gently, "Sarrenax? What language is that?" His voice was polite and almost sweet, showing a bit more tenderness than he showed the other three people in the room. "I'm Lester, by the way. I'm a Health Inspector for Multymeat."

Corva was exactly as young as they looked, not that Lester knew that, and they hadn't meant to slip back into Abyssal. "It is our language. Sarrenax is the term we use for what you would call an Archon." They paused for a second. Multimeat had often been marked as a target for espionage; even for the Aldiek, food was useful, and although their bioengineering was highly focused, it was still useful. Still, they didn't want to say this in front of the surface dwellers, so instead choose a different route. "I have injested your products previously. They are...interesting. I would be interested in seeing the growth procedures and how they differ from our own nutrient creation methods."

Lester was on much firmer grounds here, smiling wider. "Our vat fields are something to see, and RD have all manner of new and exciting foods. Most people don't realize that we also have several Reale Foode brands, with percentages as high as 45%. Now the standards on that are really strict but.. uh.." He moved away a little, aware of how he sounded. He shook his head self-deprecatingly. "I can arrange a tour for you, if you want. I'd love to see yours, as well." He seemed sincere.

Corva nodded, slightly more enthusiastically. "I was particularly interested in the recent adjustments to the Cyctophocia strain to improve water usage efficiency. It seems like it would be fairly easy to adjust that to make use of higher salinity water sources..."

Corva seemed to realise what they were saying, and what they were about to let out, and stopped, visibly adjusting themselves. "Yes. So. I'm sure we'll have a chance to discuss this later."

Voja was looking confused again. Lazard was definitely the name he was given for his CO, but these people did not seem anything like the combat team he was expecting. Why would they need a health inspector to blow up droids? "Sorry to interrupt all this talk of food, but I was wondering how many of you are combat trained? Beyond basics?" He looked around at the rest of the team, hoping he wasn't offending anyone. "I must admit, I was expecting more WF UAS than lawyers or freight shippers."

Amp smiled tightly and rolled her eyes at Voja. "Oh, I've got very basic training," she said overly sweetly and drew both an EMP cannon and a Hodag from the mule-tech poor Prince had been dragging around. "Not exactly subtle, I know but feel free to take a swing at me."

Corva tucked their rifle behind themselves slightly. They were certainly not a combat specialist, and they didn't see any particular need to get involved in a "My heavy weapon is bigger than yours" contest. Instead they shuffled around slightly, moving away from the pair.

"I've seen plenty of combat ops," Zushe said with a tight smile. He still hadn't entirely taken his gaze off Corva. "Better trained than most Agents, I'm pretty sure, even if I don't think I could quite match up to you and that hammer."

Lester gave a look to Voja, and he took a breath. He sounded patient. "We're not ground troops. If all they wanted to do was stomp them with force, they would just use the Malenbrach." He smiled a little, and he seemed tired, already longing for another cup of coffee. "We all have different skills. I have been trained in Cougar use"--of course, every agent had--"as well as my other abilities. And that's what is important. A breadth of experience. We're here to solve problems that mere violence can't." When Lester spoke passionately, or passionately for him at least, his South American accent became a little more pronounced.

Voja shrugged his massive shoulders. "In the past the UIG have just hired me for fairly straight forwards things. They need something destroyed, I destroy it with the new weapon I am testing. Everybody's happy." He was talking as though this was the most normal thing in the world. "But if you are all here for all the other things you do," He was still looking a little unsure of that logic, the droids weren't going to worry about health violations after all. "Then maybe I am here to keep you safe."

"Ah, yes, of course." Amp agreed amiably. "You're here to keep us safe," she repeated, passing her L&A roll by 4. It would take a very perceptive or personable person to realise she meant that they were here to keep him safe/keep him pointing in the right direction. It was petty for her and Prince gave an incredulous beep at his owner. Which she ignored, entirely. "And I for one, feel much better that you and Jonnochka, was it? Are with us." This was said with utmost earnest.

Corva had scooted further around, while the conversation turned away from them. They reached one of the chairs and poked it gingerly with a finger. Everything was too soft up here. No rust. They dropped onto the floor, curling up in a gap between chairs when they thought the rest of the group were distracted (presence+stealth, pass by 4). Their fingers played over the case of their hacking computer, and they waited to be told that there was action for them to take.

Lester watched Corva easily, as if they hadn't even tried to hide. (Pass Per+Obs by 11.) He leaned over the side of the chair, looking down at Corva. "What are you doing down there?" He raised his eyebrows at them, smiling gently. This new little underwater child seemed pretty weird, even for little underwater children.

Corva looked at the other agent, opening their new toolkit and checking the contents. "I was informed by Lazard that there was a 'ticking clock' on the planet's surface. I was assuming we are waiting for deployment." They pulled out a part that Lester recognised as part of a droid hacking apparatus.

"Not until the last agent gets here," he smiled, still glancing down. "We'll probably be a while, waiting for the last agent to get here. Stand up, I'll buy you a coffee." And buy himself a coffee. Without waiting for a response, he turned and purchased another two coffees, giving another sidelong glance to Zushe. Amp and Voja seemed to be entertaining each other, at least. Ah, youth, and the appeal of a large hammer. He wordlessly handed a bottle down to Corva.

Corva took the bottle, looking at it curiously. They turned it around in their hands, and read the ingredients list carefully, checking the nutritional information before opening the cap and taking a sip. They smacked their lips, making a slightly odd face, before taking another, slightly larger sip.

"Does anyone know anything about this last Agent?" Zushe kept an eye on Corva, but most of his attention was back on the rest of the team. "I'm guessing not, since I didn't know about any of you, but you never know."