"Going where I list, my own master total and absolute" (Part 2 - Diplomacy, Tourism, and Processing)

[meat_mooks]

The trip down was uneventful. The view was gorgeous when the viewing window shields were raised again when they were through the atmosphere, especially as they passed down to Megalopolis, the simply-named giant city that was this world's capital. To the Earthlings there, the continents of this world would look vastly familiar, but that didn't mean

Comments

A Welcome and a Thorough Probing

[galilee_npcs]

"I am Councilman Allin An. These are Council Memmbers Orin Calad, Kanner Drayan, asmin Landala, and Bal Valad, respectively."

He gestured to each as he spoke.

"Please, allow us to lead you through the spaceport and to the Scanning Bay, so we can lower our personal anti-contaminant shields. Our sincere apologies for the inconvience but we have rigorous quarantine standards on our planet, to prevent the spread of xenobiological hazards. It's a requirement that all people entering the City are scanned. Then I'll brief the diplomats of your group on our situation, while the rest of you receive a tour of our fine capital city."

[ooc: This is a one-thread free for all.]

[thunder_ace]

Fate, like Jr., had been on enough worlds on her various missions as an Enforcer to not be bothered by the scanners. Allin had a point; there's always the possibility that someone might be carrying something that may not affect them, but might be dangerous to the people of this planet.

So Fate stepped through the scanner without raising a fuss. She wasn't that knowledgeable in medical-type things, so she preferred to stay off to the side during this conversation.

[galilee_npcs]

"They are that all-encompassing. There are other ways to prepare for every eventuality in illnesses as well," Allin went on. "But we'll have plenty of time to discuss our technology later, and we even plan to allow a few of you to tour our primary medical facilities."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel trailed after Rory, studying the architecture and the people leading them before his eyes returned to Councilman Allin An. He could understand a scan. He'd be surprised if they didn't perform a medical and security scan on them. Daniel had made sure that while he wasn't unarmed, the Beretta was in plain sight in the thigh holster. Security generally seemed about right.

What felt weird to have to undergo the scan and the spit and swab. It seemed like such an odd after thought, especially considering how advanced they seemed. Almost like those DNA tests on one of those crime dramas he caught on TV a few times. Back on Earth, they did those because it was cutting edge for them. But if these people clearly had better, why bother with something outdated

[galilee_npcs]

"An excellent question." Councilor Orin Calad stepped forward. He was a portly man, to say the least, and the features of his face would normally look very grim if it weren't for his jovial tone and smile. "Very sharp of you. We do apologize for the archaic form of collection. It's true our technology is advanced, as we'll be delighted to show you. However, all technology has room for improvement, and I assure you we are very close to developing a less invasive scanning technique.

"Normally we would have no need for it but unfortunately, several young children on an outlying colony in our solar system died last year from an engineered bioweapon. It is is undetectable by our scanners, as it mimics the host's cells. We are very close to perfecting a scanner that can detect it, but until then, the only known method we have is to expose possibly infected epithelial cells to healthy ones."

[hit_girl_mindy]

And speaking of children...

She was in Hit Girl mode right now, as traveling to another planet as Mindy Macready was out of the question. This stuff was all pretty wicked, though she preferred to keep all ideas and feelings to herself for now, just so she could get a look at what everyone was doing. Of course it was the usual shit: the Councilors tried to look all accommodating and brown nosing, and looked stern at anyone daring to stick an impertinent toe out of line. She only hoped that Hiccup was a little less of this when it actually came down to a situation that mattered.

She surveyed everything, blending in as well as she could, which for her could be easy. The whole "children should be seen and not heard" thing could work in her favor when she wanted to keep a low profile.

[kandrakar_heart]

Will blinked, glad that her question had been actually answered before she could actually say it. While having to do the medical scan didn't bother her that much (considering the state of the worlds she had visited before this whole ship non-sense, it was probably a good idea anyway), the spit and swab was kinda well... odd.

But hey, that was answered, so through the scanners she went.

[i_am_the_bafo]

Suddenly the room was much more crowded, as a couple dozen minions piled through the scanner rambunctiously, like kids charging through the front gates of a waterpark.

"Damn it!" Zetta bellowed at them. "Best freaking behavior today!"

The minions promptly assumed a demeanor more appropriate to a funeral than anything, marching soberly through to be scanned, be sampled, and then be dismissed. At last the book and the loyal leader minion who carried him were the only ones left.

[ruffntumblenut]

Ruffnut followed Zetta and his minion parade looking suspicious, and sketchy to say the least. But it all seemed pretty dumb to her. Was this what all missions were like?

[starlight_ace]

Nanoha was looking less grumpy now than she had been before, though she was still a far cry from her normally upbeat self. Still, she met the delegates with a polite smile and bow, introducing herself as the head of the Magical department. She'd been to enough worlds and seen enough devices to not be bothered by the scanners - their reasoning was wholly sound, wasn't it? No reason to kick up a fuss when they were supposed to be diplomatic.

[moms_temperment]

Hana followed the rest of the group, only half paying attention to what his crew mates were saying as he abided to the scanning instructions with little resistance.

"I feel like I'm at the doctors or something." He mumbled, trying to move closer to those he recognized if only to have someone he could talk to later and ask what the hell everyone had been saying because there was no way he'd been giving this welcome party his full attention. "I hate the doctors."

[haruno]

Sakura hung back with Lash for a moment, doing a similar headcount. The whys for the scanning seemed to make enough sense, if she wondered at the presence of the Councilors at all if they were worried about possible contaminants.

"In light of such health concerns, thank you for meeting us down here, Councilors."

Looks like it was about time for her to follow through on the scan, spit'n'swab herself.

[galilee_npcs]

"Ah, fortunately, we do have personal anti-contaminant fields. We'll be putting them down shortly, once you're all cleared. They're about to go into mass production this year."

[galilee_npcs]

Kanner was already moving through the group. He was waiting along with the rest of the Council to let his contaiminet field down, one sign of apparent faith after everyone was checked out as all-right.

He came to a stop first by Zouichi, seemingly by chance. "You and yours have our gratitude in coming so quickly." He was soft-spoken, hard to read. "It behooves me to ask a small number of you to accompany me before the debriefing begins. There are things related to the debriefing Councilor Allin An will be delivering in a short while that require showing, rather than explaining."

He was concerned, looking back to Allin. "Touring the city is well and fine, if I understand it's not what you are all here for. This isn't be for sight-seeing. I'd be obliged if you would come with me for now."

[zouichi]

Hmm. Zouichi didn't know what this little side gathering was about, but he doubted it was going to be more diplomacy theater. If it had been, the man would have pulled aside someone who wasn't dressed head-to-toe in black body armor.

But whatever the reason for the sudden invitation, it was probably best to play along. He bowed, politely. "And you have our gratitude, for extending your hospitality to us. I'm sure we'd be honored to accompany you, Councilor Kanner."

He still had a bad feeling about this drop.

[galilee_npcs]

A regal, somewhat grim-looking woman steps forward from amid the counselors and dips her head slightly in a formal nod of greeting. She eyes the crew for a moment before speaking. her tone is clipped, but polite, although there's certainly not much warmth (feigned or otherwise) in her voice. "My apologies for my own belated greetings. Everything will be explained in time and once again, we apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you. I am Asmin Landala and I welcome you to our planet. I will be showing some of you the sights of our capital city."