Well, on disk...  8)

I thought I'd repost the latest installment of the #fflive story.  Sorry
that last Saturday didn't work out, everyone.

Hope I get a better turnout this time!  ^_^

-----


            The IRC round-robin fanfic (currently untitled)
 
        A bunch of us on IRC one night, decided to sorta start writing
this, back and forth.  I'll go ahead and post it in parts as I edit it
together.  We've agreed to meet on Saturday nights at 9 PM (EST) to work
on it, so if anyone wants to help, show up on #fflive on
anime.terratron.com, on IRC, around then.  We'll pick an order and have
fun.  ^_^
 
Everyone knows who Windlily, me (Damon), Panda, and Saf are.  Stryker is
Ben Kosse.  Childra is Christopher Willmore.
 
-----
 
<Windlily> There had been rumors of a rich mineralogical find on a
   remote planet.
<Damon> On the planet of Janus V, several rare ores were discovered.
   After hearing of the finds, the two megalithic corporations currently
   at the heart of the financial muscle behind planetary exploration and
   development, descended on the planet like vultures.
<Panda> Janus V, being a relatively poor planet on the galactic scale,
   was understandably motivated to seek the highest bidder. Jal was the
   governing official in charge of negotiations for the tiny planet, and
   he was not about to let this opportunity pass him by.
<Stryker> Jal, however, was not the most knowledgable person at
   negotiating. He knew that it would take someone good, and something
   unexpected, for him to secure the best possible price for the mining
   rights. To acheive this end, he was willing to break cultural taboos,
   and, without his advisor's consent, he employed his niece, to do the
   negotiations.
<Windlily> She stood in the tower that tracked all the traffic hovering
   above her small world--more than Kohl normally saw in a year--and
   chewed on her thumbnail. She had a meeting scheduled with one "Doma"
   Intrade in an hour and she was nervous.
<Damon> Anat wondered about the offworlders.  She'd dealt with some of
   the more ignoble houses on Janus V, under the nominal "supervision" of
   her father and uncle. This was something totally different.  Hopefully,
   the tapes she'd studied on the culture and society of Ikhth, the Doma's
   homeworld, would be sufficient.
<Damon> She couldn't be sure, knowing he had probably traveled a great
   deal, and so the cultural body language she had immersed herself in
   might prove useless...or it might not.
<Panda> Still, the tapes had helped her considerably, and Ikhthian culture
   wasn't vastly divergent from Janusian culture. Anat laughed to herself,
   remembering the plate of food that her "cultural upgrading" tutors had
   brought her one evening, so she might sample some Ikhthian cuisine. She
   certainly hadn't expected the food to move!
<Stryker> The hour passed much, much too fast for Anat. After what felt
   like only five minutes, her alarm went off, notifying her that it was
   time to meet this "Doma." She walked off, her long, red, silken dress,
   a signature of her station as the niece of Jal, the planetary director.
<Windlily> She ignored the men's stares as she passed. They did not
   approve of her Uncle's having allowed a female to take charge of such
   an important task. What would they think when the Doma, a reputed
   beauty, emerged from the docking shuttle?
<Damon> There were some who might consider her post as more than a little
   insulting, but as long as Intrade held no qualms, she would play her
   part, and be damned with their opinions.
<Panda> The air-lock doors at docking station 5 slid open with a hiss as
   Anat rounded the corner and entered the egress station. She halted a
   few feet in front of the open doors, and went through her mental
   checklist of things to do and say, all the while still chewing her
   thumbnail. The vapors swirling about the doors finally receded and the
   Doma stepped through the yawning hatch.
 
   "Umm," Anat stuttered. She was struck by the Doma's unexpected
   appearance of a tall humanoid with two heads; one male and the other
   female.
<Stryker> Anat's hands flew to her sides, as she stood stoic. Waiting,
   still, for the guest to speak first was the Ikhth custom. Anat was so
   speechless, she wouldn't have been able to say anything even if it was
   custom to speak first. Fortunately, her visitor started the
   conversation, as expected. "Hello. This one is the Doma. This one is
   glad to see you here." The Doma's voice was coming from both heads
   simultaneously, and they were in perfect musical harmony. A perfect
   duet.
<Windlily> The lilting harmony startled her even more. She could do
   nothing but hold up her hand, palm upwards in greeting, waiting for
   this strange being to accept it or not. She noticed that the male was
   fair haired and the female dark.
<Damon> "This one is honored," the translator next to her ear echoed.
   "Please conduct this one to the mediator expediently."
<Panda> Anat broke from her reverie brought on by the harmonious tones of
   the Doma's choral voice. "This way then please." Anat turned on her
   heels and began a quick pace, leading the Doma to the conference
   chambers in the commerce sector. The Doma displayed no difficulty in
   keeping up, but the two confused but still melodious voices behind Anat
   made her slow her steady clip.
 
<Stryker> The Doma knew that the negotiations would be starting
   immediately upon its arrival, and was expecting to be greeted by the
   chief negotiator.
<Stryker> However, it was more than willing to give some leeway towards
   this backwards culture. They didn't even seem to allow women to have
   roles above that of servants and housekeepers.
<Windlily> It frowned at the color of the dress this honorable wore,
   though. That specific shade of red denoted rank and honor in this
   culture.
 
<Windlily> Anat wondered why one head was smiling and the other was
   frowning. Where they arguing between themselves? This was not in the
   briefing tapes. The male one smiled at her, while the female looked
   sideways at the other!
 
<Damon> In the luxurious accomodations of the nearly vacant conference
   chambers, sat the Doma and Anat.  Two aides followed them in, and
   waited, standing, by the table. Now both heads were frowning, looking
   back and forth between the three of them.
<Damon> "Which of these is the..." he trailed off.  Confusion slowly
   worked its way across both faces, and then the female one grinned
   suddenly.  "My sincere apologies for misunderstanding."
<Damon> He was both pleasantly surprised, and at the same time uneasy.
   The society of this planet was more advanced than he had anticipated,
   but he hadn't seen it. Negotiations would be touchy, at best. He chided
   himself to be more observant.
 
<Panda> Anat stood abruptly, her jaw muscles tensing as she fought back
   her irrittation. "I will be your mediator for these negotiations, Doma
   Intrade," Anat began, her voice firm and controlled.
<Panda> "I assure you, I will show you the same respect as your
   competitors the Kurlinians. I hope you will find my abilities
   satisfactory." The Ikhthian emissary sat stunned for a moment, then a
   smile grew in parallel across the faces of Doma Intrade. The harmonious
   voices echoed each other in their response. "Of course. We are
   completely in agreement." Anat smiled. "Excellent. Shall we begin
   then?"
<Stryker> Anat was pleasantly surprised that the Doma had been a little
   surprised to be negotiating with a female. She was also a little
   curious as to what the male half was looking at.
<Stryker> She knew it was looking at her, both now, and when it had met
   her outside its shuttle. It made her a little curious, and a little
   afraid. But she was determined to carry this negotiation through,
<Stryker> and she'd be damned if she'd let this feeling of fear stop her.
   It only took seconds for her to completely regain her composure, and
   she began negotiations properly. "We are here to discuss the mining of
   janite and <insert other mineral>." There was a knock on the door, and
   an aide opened it up to reveal the large, snake-like face of the
   Kurlian negotiator.

<Saf> The Kurlian looked distastefully around the room, minutely examining
   every feature.  S'hor'ha would rather have attacked this planet full of
   weaklings rather than negotiate. Pah! 'Negotiate'!  What *true* Kurlian
   would lower herself to that level?
<Childra> Any good omens that had been promised by the reactions of the 
   Doma were quickly cancelled by the new arrival's frosty gaze.
<Childra> It had the demeanor of a conqueror, not a trader, and it was 
   hard, when one looked at it, not to speculate as to what manner of 
   teeth were hidden beneath its scaly lips.
<Childra> The diplomatic 'best fit' for dealing with the double-gendered 
   folk was to show herself as assertive; her own person. She shuddered 
   to think what would happen if she tried that on the Kurlian 
   'negotiator', though.
<Childra> Best to take a middle road - neither too submissive, nor 
   agressive - until she found an opening that would allow her to twist 
   the situation to her advantage.
<Childra> To her WORLD'S advantage. <Have to remember that,> she thought. 
   <More than my career's at stake...>
<Damon> "Come in and sit down," she said.  Anat waited as the Kurlian
   diplomat glared at her and the Doma, then inched nervously across the
   room and stood next to the table.
<Damon> Almost a minute passed.  It finally growled, "I am not here to
   play games, I am here to take what you have.  Give me your piece of
   paper and this talk will be at an end."
<Damon> It spat on the table, indicating its disgust at even being here in
   the first place.  Anat sighed again inwardly.

<Kergma> Dispelling her inward disgust at the behaviour of the Kurlian, 
   Anat rose to address it.  She knew that protocol was being broken here,
   but she didn't care.  "Look", she began, before she was overcome by
   anger.  Regaining control of herself, she began again.
<Kergma>  "Look, you come storming in here, asking -- no, demanding that
   we acede to your wishes."  Drawing a deep breath, she continued.  "I am
   in charge of these negotiations, and you will abide by the rules of
   them."
<Panda> The Kurlian hissed at Anat and leaned over her menacingly. "You 
   are weak! You cannot control me!" Anat reached up suddenly, grasping a 
   bit of protruding flesh behind the Kurlian's ear, evoking a cry of 
   pain from the serpentoid.
<Panda> Anat calmly spoke, looking the Kurlian in its multi-lidded eyes. 
   "I know your race well enough from my information to know that your 
   sex organs are not located where human sex organs are. Furthermore I 
   may be weak physically compared to you, but this is not a physical 
   confrontation."
<Panda> The Kurlian grimaced as Anat applied new pressure to the area 
   behind its ear. Anat ignored the creature's offensive breath, and 
   leaned closer. "Are you ready to negotiate now?" The Kurlian paused, 
   then nodded slowly.
<Saf> S'hor'ha looked more carefully at the one in the red dress as she 
   sat down. <Hmm... Not *all* non-Kurlians are so weak, nor so 
   unintelligent.  That one knew one of the weak points in a Kurlian.>
<Saf> "Shall we start the meeting?"  Doma Intrade turned to Anat.
<Damon> "There are certain...niceties...we should attend to first."  She
   looked at the Ikhthian, then at the Kurlian.  "How do you wish to be
   called?"
<Damon> "I am the Doma," Intrade intoned.  The Kurlian just hissed.
<Damon> Anat rolled her eyes, and nodded.  "You're both here for the
   janite and oolian ore our planet has to offer.  We are concerned as to
   your mining practices on other planets."  She gazed at the Kurlian
   meaningfully.  "Your kind is known to crush lesser planets and use
   their peoples as slaves, sucking their lives away under your tyrrany."
<Damon> She smiled craftily.  "The only reason you can't here is because
   of the planetary shield we recently put into operation."
<Damon> Anat felt relieved that the scientists had managed that one in
   time.  After news of the janite and oolian became public knowledge,
   there were many unsubtle hints and a few outright threats put forth.
<Damon> She took a breath.  "So...how should we handle this matter?"  She
  waited while the Kurlian glared at her, and the Doma looked at himself.

<Kergma> Muttering to himself about what he would do to Anat, the Kurlian 
   sat himself down as far away from Anat and the Doma as possible.
<Kergma> Suppressing the urge to dismiss the Kurlian from the talks, Anat 
   addressed them both...
<Kergma> "Very well.  As protocol has already been broken, I shall get 
   straight to the point.  We have janite and oolian available.  You are 
   the two main contenders for it.  What are you offering in return?"
<Kergma> The Doma started at this.  Such directness had never before been 
   presented to it.  It was... refreshing to say the least.
<Kergma> The Kurlian for its part looked relieved.  Finally a chance to 
   get something out of this puny human.
<Childra> He smiled. <She is weak, but audacious... An admirable trait, 
   but it does not go well with her inexperience.>
<Childra> "We Kurlians," he spoke gruffly, "know of your technology... 
   You have advanced in some fields, yes, but there are OTHERS in which 
   we, with our strength, could be of help..."  Another disarming grin, 
   full of sharp, carnivorous teeth.

<Childra> Anat was taken aback <It's being helpful?  Something's not quite
   right...> "What KIND of... Help?"
<Childra> "My government," continued the negotiator in his snake-oil 
   voice, "has graciously allowed me to proffer my species' services. For 
   the sake of the ores, which your planet alone seems to be so rich in,
<Childra> ...we are willing provide that which others have FOUGHT us for, 
   and in exchange we ask for nothing but the mining rights. " A pause. 
   "FULL mining rights."
<Childra> Anat's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly IS this precious 
   treasure of yours?"
<Childra> "Our full technological support.  We'll send you copies of the 
   blueprints of all our latest scientific developments, along with the 
   staff needed to put them to use, build and maintain."
<Childra> "And, of course, this has NOTHING at all to do with the fact 
   that once on-planet, your 'friendly, courteous service staff', with 
   access to our tech sites, would be able to gain access to the Shield's 
   working?" She cocked a questioning eyebrow.
<Childra> The Kurlian smiled. "None at all."
<Childra> "Just how NAIVE do you think I am?"
<Childra> "We aren't the CONQUERORS you paint us as!  Our present empire 
   is MORE than adequate for our needs!  Our government will let YOUR race 
   decide upon what access it will grant our operatives..."
<Childra> <When a fellow like this one gets eloquent,> thought the woman, 
   <it's time to be wary...>
<Panda> Anat sat back slowly in her chair, the Doma looking at her with a 
   sly smile upon each of its faces. "You know," the Doma started in 
   chorus, "the Kurlian talks with a forked tongue." Anat spun her chair 
   around slowly to eye the serpentoid as it hissed at the Doma, 
   revealing the tips of its split tongue. Anat looked over at the Doma 
   with a wry grin and nodded slightly. The Doma grinned back smugly, and 
   steepled his fingers.
<Panda> Looking only at Anat, the Doma proceeded with its own variation 
   of "the pitch". "We on the other hand are prepared to offer a far 
   greater resource in trade." Anat sat forward now, attempting to gauge 
   the Doma's strategy. As the two-headed diplomat continued, Anat 
   watched the eyes of the two heads closely, looking for clues to a 
   deception.
<Panda> The serpentoid Kurlian sat heavily in its chair as the Doma 
   smiled annoyingly. "We are prepared to offer your planet military 
   protection from "planet-rapists" like him. The Kurlian spun around to 
   regard the Doma, one scale-clad claw clenched in rage. Anat braced 
   herself to intercept the retaliation that was etched in the 
   serpentoid's multi-lidded eyes.
<Saf> An aide opened the door to let in a servant with refreshments.  
   Anat turned at the intrusion and missed the gesture the Doma made 
   toward the Kurlian.
<Saf> "What is this?  I ordered no refreshments."
<Saf> The servant bowed.  "I'm sorry, Mistress.  Director Jal ordered 
   them."
<Saf> Anat nods, her eyes narrowing.  <So, he doesn't *quite* trust me 
   with this task.>
<Saf> Anat wondered where the concealed pickups were.  However, unknown 
   to Anat and the two ambassadors, a fourth party was interested in the 
   ores and used the intrusion to sneak in.
<Damon> Anat smiled defensively at the aide, and waved him out.  The
   assassin hid in the shadows, cloaked by his light-bending suit.
<Damon> "I don't think we need to even bother with trivialities.  You both
   have better offers you can make."
<Damon> "For instance."  She looked pointedly at the Kurlian.  "Your
   people have the advantage of the fastest fighters and transports in the
   known galaxy.  In exchange for *limited* mining rights, we would accept
   a pair of fully operational fighters, complete with a technical unit
   that will teach us their secrets."
<Damon> She paused for a moment, drawing the tension in the room to a fine
   point.  The Kurlian glared at her, knowing he would be forced to
   accept.
<Damon> "You provide your own miners and equipment, subject to approval
   by us on a monthly basis.  Any ore you mine is yours, subject to a
   small 'finder's fee'.  Ten percent?"
<Damon> Anat turned to the Doma.  "And you...your empathic skills are
   beyond renown here on Janus V."  She smiled triumphantly at the Doma
   as both heads gasped in unison.  "How did you know?"  They sang
   discordantly, obviously distressed.
<Damon> "We would employ you as diplomats in several capacities.  Since
   you have less to offer, we must restrict the ore you can remove from
   Janus to 20 kilotons a month.  I'm sure you will understand."
<Damon> "Again, the same nominal 'finder's fee' applies."  She watched as
   the Doma almost exploded in anger, and then smiled.  "Unless of course,
   you have something better to suggest?"
<Damon> The assassin noted all of this with practiced complacency.  His
   first task was to gather information on the new diplomat, and his
   second...
<Damon> He smiled at the thought of the glorious battle that would ensue.
<Kergma> Carefully, the assassin slipped further into the room, taking
   care not to move too quickly lest a revealing blur be seen.  The
   Kurlian stirred uneasily, aware of something, but concentrating more on
   Anat.
<Kergma> Both the Doma and Kurlian were sitting, considering Anat's offer.
   Anat sat back, partaking in some refreshment while watching both the
   Doma and the Kurlian.  If either of them realised how small her hold on
   them was....

<Panda> The Kurlian's lips parted slightly, his forked tongue gliding
   menacingly along the ridges of its sharp teeth. The room had changed
   somehow since the aide had arrived and taken leave.  The Doma sat
   stoically as Anat went on about Janusian tariffs and such. The
   serpentoid's second eyelid wiped its eyes, revealing a distortion in
   the visible spectrum of light.
<Panda> The Doma glanced once, then twice at the Kurlian, suddenly
   noticing its distracted behaviour. Anat caught the Doma's sudden loss
   of attention, and turned, following the Doma's line of sight. The young
   mediator glimpsed the Kurlian in a semi-entranced state, its piercing
   eyes focused on something she could not see.
<Panda> Abruptly the Doma's choral tones broke the thick silence, and Anat
   and finally the Kurlian turned to face them. "While all of this is
   quite interesting, and perhaps beneficial to future relations between
   our worlds, we really need to make a decision here."

Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu

				* Love *
                 Between two people, there is nothing that
                      can draw them closer together