"Good evening, Kayes." A voice filtered through the speakers to the cockpit from the great beyond, hastily interpreted and transted by Arc into an accent somewhat simir to the originator's. "I pray you have been well?"

  Donovan remained silent, letting the Bishop do the work for him here. Diana would be on her way after a shower of her own, so he didn't have the necessary diplomatic expertise to make an appropriate introduction for the occasion.

  "I have, Archbishop Envers. In fact, I've just been treated to dinner and a show."

  "Dinner and a show? Have they brought along some entertainers?"

  "No sir. Their ship has a theater for motion pictures and a kitchen for meals.” Kayes looked to Donovan for an indication of urgency, to which he shrugged. Even Donovan understood pleasantries were a prerequisite of diplomacy, and it certainly didn’t hurt to have Kayes paint a rosy picture as to Terran accommodations.

  “A theater and kitchen? Well I suppose I could understand installing a kitchen if fire wasn’t such a concern, but a theater? Is that really a proper use of resources?”

  “I would cim it depends upon your criteria for ‘necessary’. This ship, the Pegasus, is very clearly a vessel intended to carry rge amounts of people for an extended period of time. Some degree of entertainment would be ideal. I mean, it also has bathrooms, showers, recreational facilities, a pce to grow pnts, and a, um, a hospital, of sorts.”

  “A . . . hospital?”

  “Are you sure you aren’t still at the Sanctum?” Another voice belonging to someone other than Envers quipped back at Kayes, likely unaware someone else could hear him.

  “I can assure you that the facilities he speaks of are present on my ship.” Donovan judged this to be a decent point to jump in, partially to prioritize upon what even he could recognize as a diplomatic blunder on this individual’s part, but also because some part of him felt defensive about the Pegasus. Even if he felt it to be a terrible design, it was still his design. It wasn’t like they were in the business of making something better.

  "That- has Cayzi hit puberty?" Yet another voice from beyond, this one quite a bit older.

  "I am afraid not, Eban. That would be Donovan, the Terran who designed and pilots this behemoth."

  "He's learned our nguage?! So quickly?" Envers again this time. "I mean, even if his grammar is a bit on the choppy side, being able to speak Holifanian with such fluency in so short a time is nothing short of remarkable!"

  "He, um, he does not speak the nguage, but rather has a tool through which he may transte his native tongue into our own and vice versa. At the moment he cims it is still quite rough."

  "I'd prefer it if you didn't refer to Arc as a tool. . ." Donovan raised an eyebrow towards Kayes.

  "I'm sorry, Donovan, but I don't exactly know how to communicate what Arc is." He hadn't seem to have thought of how to introduce Arc at this point, if he had even pnned to think about it in the first pce. "In lieu of a less offensive term, 'tool' is the best I could come up with."

  ". . . Arc, if you would like to introduce yourself to the gentlemen on the other side-"

  "Greetings, Archbishops. My name, as you may have heard, is Arc, a shortening of my full name 'Arcs', which itself is an acronym for the title 'Adaptive Reconnaissance and Combat System'." Donovan felt the introduction to be exceedingly textbook, like one a grade-schooler might offer on their first day of css, which he supposed wasn't a bad idea given their admittedly limited grasp on the intricacies of Holifanian speech. "I am not Terran, though I am borne of their minds. Officially, I am what you may call an 'Artificial' or 'Manufactured' intelligence, my blood electric and my flesh a mosaic of metals, however I assure you that very little about me may be thought of as 'fake'. My purpose is to protect Donovan and Diana - as well as their progeny - and ensure the continuation of Terrans as both a race and culture. I look forward to working with you towards that end."

  Okay, maybe the introduction was a little bit more than grade-school in content, however it was still a retively bnd introduction. At least, that was what Donovan felt. When he thought of the introductions his own subordinates offered upon their first meeting, he couldn't help but feel this cked color. Compared to his pnned introduction, this might as well have been a rainbow though.

  ". . . and so you have it. I would appreciate it if, for the purposes of communications going forward, you treat Arc with the same level of respect you treat me. He is going to be responsible for a great deal of infrastructural and logistical pnning in my absence, and will be your primary point of contact with Diana and I at almost all times should it ever become a necessity." Donovan tagged that information onto the tail of Arc's introduction in a bid to prevent any poor notions of 'artificial' life from manifesting, though he didn't know if that would be effective. "As for myself, my name is Donovan Strauss. I'm sure you've received your fair share of reports about me from the Montaug or whoever, but I feel compelled to inform you that my background is primarily a military one, and so I would beg your forgiveness for any ill considered cultural faux pas I may be responsible for. It is not my intention to sour retions with our benefactors, however I am not as attuned to diplomatic nuance as either Arc or my fiancé, and I find I do not have the time to ameliorate this shortcoming. With that said, I look forward to working with you all in the future."

  Donovan shot a gnce back towards Kayes for approval, who responded with a thumbs up and a conflicted expression. In all likelihood, he wasn't sure how someone of equal standing to his own superiors was supposed to greet them, especially when he couldn't rely on the usual niceties of in person meetings like a handshake or gifts.

  "Ah, uh, ahem-" The first person on their end to speak was Envers, who clearly hadn't expected to be having a direct conversation with their biggest diplomatic and political matter. "I suppose introductions on our end are to be expected then! I do apologize if you have heard any of this before, but our government is run by a series of councils, the High Council which us Archbishops sit having the greatest authority. My name is Envers, Archbishop of Temperance. I head the Council of Internal Affairs, and am responsible for the allocation and management of various Bishops, Deacons, and Priests to their roles, as well as the pnning of internal reforms and social projects. It is a pleasure to meet you."

  "Hm. Eban, Archbishop of Diligence. I'm head of the Council of Labor Management, which oversees any and all public works projects and bor ws. I suspect you'll be having a lot of contact with my people."

  "I look forward to working with you." Eban came off as a straightforward - if a bit stubborn - old man. Despite their quirks, Donovan found they tended to be his favorite people to work with.

  "Adiren, Archbishop of Patience. I sit at the head of the Council of Resource Management, overseeing the collection of state data, such as census, crime, and economic information, as well as the management of natural, industrial, and financial resources. I must say that your requests have been a challenge to work out. We don't exactly transfer metals between pnets that often."

  "Then I'm sure you're going to hate the rest of my pns, but I'll save them for ter. Nice to meet you."

  "I am the Archbishop of Kindness, Muarikyo. I manage the Council of Councils, which itself is an aggregation of the heads of other lesser councils, as well as oversee Parliamentary debates and ensure the smooth operation of our bureaucratic apparatus. I suspect we will not interact much, but it is a pleasure to meet you nonetheless."

  "Well met, Muarikyo. I must apologize for not being that familiar with such matters."

  "I wouldn't expect you to, though I would be willing to offer some level of assistance in setting up your own nation's administrative systems should it be necessary."

  "I will keep that in mind."

  "Uh, um, my name is Monda. I am the Archbishopess of Chastity. I-it is pretty small, but I am in charge of the Council of Foreign Affairs. My job is to a-act as the face of the Theocracy abroad, but I've never had a meeting with someone important over radio before. I-I apologize for my ck of experience!"

  "I'm sure you'll get along swimmingly with Diana. Shall we continue with our discussion? I'd like to get a few things out of the way before Diana gets back from her shower."

  "Please, go ahead." From the way they spoke and who took initiative, Donovan could only assume that Envers tended to act as the leader of this council.

  "Then I will cut to the chase. It is my intention to provide you and your teams with several sets of equipment, most of which will be intended to facilitate the ease of communication between us. As I have learned the hard way today, your communications network - I refer to both your physical equipment and the methods used to connect - are hideously archaic in my eyes, to the point it would actively hinder efforts to synchronize information on our end. Now, I am not saying that your system does not work or is stupid, I am sure that it is about as efficient and effective as one might expect at your level, but this operation will require a much greater degree of information and communication to flow between nodes than your current infrastructure can handle. Can you promise that this equipment will be cared for until such a time that your information infrastructure can be brought to our level?"

  "If . . . if that is what is necessary. Will you be delivering it personally?"

  "As much as I'd like to say that I trust you to handle it, I will probably want to ensure that it is properly delivered. A failure to get communications working properly has the potential to grind everything to a halt or cause serious damage to ongoing operations. I expect Diana would like to take such an opportunity to meet the five of you in person."

  "Then we will have to set up a date for such a rendezvous ter. Anything else?" Donovan appreciated what sounded like the scribbling of pen on paper in the background.

  "Among the equipment we will be providing is a series of what you might call 'standardized measurements'. I don't know what system of units you use for all your measurements, but I need your manufactories to supply parts in our standard units both as a means to minimize the number of independent parts being supplied, and to begin the process of teaching our citizenry those units for the future."

  "Pardon me, Donovan," Eban, the Archbishop most familiar with these matters, spoke up, "It has been some time since I st set foot in a factory, but retooling everything to a completely separate set of standards would take up an inordinate amount of time and resources. Are you certain you cannot consider an emergency provision for this until we can retool our machinery?"

  "No. This is non-negotiable, but I'm not going to be asking your industry for nuts and bolts. I pn to have my foundries produce parts that require that degree of precision. Instead, I want your industry to focus on rge scale raw resource refinement for use in said foundries and the supply of certain medium to rge scale components for terrestrial construction. Those should require less precise tolerances, and therefore be roughly approximated by a rounded measurement in your system."

  "Pardon me for misunderstanding as this is not my area of expertise, but would that not be less efficient than having us produce them ourselves? I imagine the energy required to smelt everything again would be difficult to produce in such an environment."

  "Don't worry about that, Adiren. We have our ways." Donovan did not feel like expining that energy was something of a non-issue at the moment. "Instead, I want to maximize the efficiency of your ability to haul cargo. You are very much restricted by mass. If your cargo load gets too heavy, you can't even get off the ground, er, water. By knowing the precise amounts of metal you are hauling over beforehand, we can instruct different amounts of material to be carried in future loads, preventing the overstocking of any one material in our banks and making sure everything is being put to use. Once we get a few Passenger type Trawlers into service and increase our industrial capacity beyond what you are able to supply, I expect we may be able to provide a few Cargo type Trawlers to drastically increase your supply capabilities to keep everything running at maximum efficiency. Does that make sense?"

  "About as much as I could hope it to. Eban?"

  "I think it should be possible to have our refineries supply materials of a given mass. I can't imagine molds for ingots would be difficult to resize, but achieving specific purities might be a bit too much to ask

  "That's fine, some level of impurity is expected. We'll also supply you with a printer so that data and drawings may be printed into physical copies on your end." Donovan checked his list. "I'd like excess capacity, that being anything we can't handle, to be dedicated to the transportation of textiles or other organic materials we can't really manufacture at the moment. That would mostly include clothing, bedding, wood, food, and fuel. Do you think that would be possible?"

  "Certainly, though I imagine you aren't asking for mattresses."

  "Cots should be acceptable for use terrestrially, however we will be needing a great many seat cushions for the Trawlers." Arc made sure that their industrial needs were not misunderstood. "We would like to minimize the medical complications expected to arise from the great lengths they are to be seated for. We will supply an acceptable range of dimensions for those cushions, as well as the preferred design."

  "Hmm. I suppose I'll need to visit the textiles and see what we can make the textiles out of . . ."

  "Will you be needing any financial assistance?" Adiren jumped in where he could.

  "I'm not sure. Chances are we will shift towards purchasing sves to supplement our manpower after the Nekh crisis has concluded, however I suspect we will be want to do so through barter to build up an export economy rather than relying upon capital. We may require some level of financial assistance if we encounter a resource of strategic importance though."

  "To supplement Donovan's expnation, I also expect to begin minting our own currency for use domestically. Should it become necessary, we may submit a request for valuable metals in order to stock an initial treasury, however I anticipate that this will not be as much of an issue."

  "Ah, hell. Here I was thinking I could dump our surplus."

  "Surplus?" Another voice, this time from Donovan's end. "What's this about a surplus?"

  "Oh, Diana. I didn't hear you come in." Donovan greeted Diana without turning back to look at her. They may have been communicating on the radio, but he was still in control of the Pegasus at the moment. He didn't want to lose sight of the entire screen if he could at all avoid it, even if the likelihood of a system failure was proving to be astronomically low. "Arc managed to get the radio working, and so I was talking shop with the Archbishops until you arrived."

  "You haven't done anything I would think ill of, have you?"

  "Oh no, no, he hasn't done anything of the sort, madam." Envers responded to Diana so as to assuage her concerns. "Donovan has simply been informing us of what we should be expecting both to receive and provide, as well as beginning to set up a more concrete pn of action as far as transportation and construction."

  "Thank goodness for that . . . to whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking with?" Diana shimmied down to sit on the edge of the cockpit, draping her slightly damp legs over Donovan's shoulders and leaning forward to rest her stomach on the back of Donovan's head. It was just as much a means of flirting with Donovan as it was intended to be a way to provide a more comfortable view of the main screens in py, but Donovan's counter of massaging one of her calves with a free hand still surprised her. A deep-tissue massage after a rexing shower wasn't on her agenda for the day.

  cakeonfrosting