Her knowledge of planets is mostly theoretical -- she's spent most of her life in space, and even things like atmospheric diffraction of starlight aren't intuitive to her, even if she knows them. Sample: The station kept some jury-rigged but (technically) flight-capable spacecraft. It was Lafiel’s intention to comandeer one, and return home. Of course, that would mean she would have to learn a new system of navigation, even assuming that such horrible little relics were capable of travel between universes.
But, she knew her duty. She was a captured soldier, even if those on the station were more her fellow prisoners than her jailers. Not to mention that, while the war with the Triple Alliance was progressing well enough that a single commander’s absence might not turn the tide, the Empire would find the existence of the Fay’lia... distressing. To say the least. The existence of technology that would make their own drives obsolete, not to mention its presence in the hands of people -- aliens, even! -- that would not be content to leave the Empire alone... well, something had to be done.
Not that Lafiel knew what could be done once she reported back. It wasn’t like she could steal the station ansible’s plans... or find anything helpful in the library, besides trashy fiction and the schematics for antique vehicles. Right now, the Fay’lia had them as helpless as a planet who had forgotten its spacefaring past -- they had to hope that they were overlooked for long enough to gain the technology. Poor strategy to rely solely on luck.
Someone was coming. She flattened against the wall, looking for cover, and cursing the fact that this appeared to be the least cluttered part on the entire station.
“Abriel-san! Are you free right now?” It was the lander engineer, Tanabe. Lafiel didn’t know much about her, besides that she was from a barely space-faring society, worked mostly outside, and was annoyingly cheerful.
Answering in the negative would lead to questions of what she was doing here. So could answering in the positive. Lafiel decided to redirect the conversation entirely. “Do you need something?”
Tanabe nodded. “Some of the junk is starting to get into dangerous orbits, where it could hit the station at high delta-v, so I’m putting together a EVA team to move it.”
And, of course, they didn’t have anything that could reliably move it without half a dozen people in suits going out to supervise. And, Lafiel was one of the obvious choices for the job, given her affinity for microgravity. “Let me get my equipment.”
Tanabe beamed. Lafiel made a note, next time, to time her approach for whenever the other woman was in bed.
Re: Lafiel, Crest/Banner of the Stars
Sample: The station kept some jury-rigged but (technically) flight-capable spacecraft. It was Lafiel’s intention to comandeer one, and return home. Of course, that would mean she would have to learn a new system of navigation, even assuming that such horrible little relics were capable of travel between universes.
But, she knew her duty. She was a captured soldier, even if those on the station were more her fellow prisoners than her jailers. Not to mention that, while the war with the Triple Alliance was progressing well enough that a single commander’s absence might not turn the tide, the Empire would find the existence of the Fay’lia... distressing. To say the least. The existence of technology that would make their own drives obsolete, not to mention its presence in the hands of people -- aliens, even! -- that would not be content to leave the Empire alone... well, something had to be done.
Not that Lafiel knew what could be done once she reported back. It wasn’t like she could steal the station ansible’s plans... or find anything helpful in the library, besides trashy fiction and the schematics for antique vehicles. Right now, the Fay’lia had them as helpless as a planet who had forgotten its spacefaring past -- they had to hope that they were overlooked for long enough to gain the technology. Poor strategy to rely solely on luck.
Someone was coming. She flattened against the wall, looking for cover, and cursing the fact that this appeared to be the least cluttered part on the entire station.
“Abriel-san! Are you free right now?” It was the lander engineer, Tanabe. Lafiel didn’t know much about her, besides that she was from a barely space-faring society, worked mostly outside, and was annoyingly cheerful.
Answering in the negative would lead to questions of what she was doing here. So could answering in the positive. Lafiel decided to redirect the conversation entirely. “Do you need something?”
Tanabe nodded. “Some of the junk is starting to get into dangerous orbits, where it could hit the station at high delta-v, so I’m putting together a EVA team to move it.”
And, of course, they didn’t have anything that could reliably move it without half a dozen people in suits going out to supervise. And, Lafiel was one of the obvious choices for the job, given her affinity for microgravity. “Let me get my equipment.”
Tanabe beamed. Lafiel made a note, next time, to time her approach for whenever the other woman was in bed.