NationStates Jolt Archive

Somewhere near Cassiopean Commonwealth Borders-

Carla Baileygates relaxed on her Gagarin II Shuttle, one of New Dornalia's workhorses for this sort of job. As it was the VIP model, it had a lot of creature comforts that the usual Navy and Army models did not have. Mainly, TVs, Liquor Cabinets, and the ability to "pimp" your shuttle however the heck you wanted. Carla made hers simple yet tasteful, enlarging the shuttle with a small stateroom, a small lounge with said TV, HoloNet Access, and a library of movies and whatnot to keep the youngest child occupied, plus leather sofas and muted neutral tone furnishings. More than a simple diplomatic courier, it was a semi-luxury yacht.

The shuttle itself had two persons on it this day besides Carla and Gracie, the bubbly, cheerful ship's AI decked in anime asthetics. One was Lorenzo DiMaggio, soon to be Ambassador to the Cassiopean Commonwealth, and the pilot/bodyguard, named Jack. A stand-in for the usual one, Carla trusted both.

Jack said, "Ma'am, we are approaching Cassiopean Space."

Carla then said, as she was nursing a dog-eared copy of Starship Troopers: "Give them a heads-up, tell them we are going for Rosanica."

Jack then hailed the Commonwealth forces, saying,

Commonwealth Command, this is the New Dornalian Diplomatic Vessel Mama's New Bag. Requesting permission to enter your space, we are expected at Rosanica. We are an unarmed diplomatic courier, you may perform scans to double-check. All we have here is booze and a chatty AI, over.

Gracie then said, "HEY!"

Rosanica was a beautiful planet, the size of Earth of course. Oh and third planet from the sun... duh. It had two major land masses. The first was a massive island where the main capitol was located, and the second was a large archipelago, or however you spell it. It looked quite nice. Outside the planet were multiple space stations, I don't know how many since I didn't plan that far. They looked like the ones on HALO 2, since, you know, those rock.

A message went to the Dornalian spacecraft.

"This is Captain J. Feathersword of Station #042, we have scanned and you are clear but we request all alcohol is kept within the spacecraft and not boarded into the station. We can't have our soldiers getting drunk, sorry. Two CF-7 fighter craft will be approaching you for escort, please stand by."

All of a sudden two green Wolven like starfighters approached the shuttle. "This is Red 51 to Dornalian Spacecraft, we are your escorts. Please follow us and dock."

The two starfighters escorted the shuttle towards the station. "You may dock in Bay 35." Red 51 said. "The President is waiting for you personally. You better treat him right, eh? Oh and after you're done meet me in Apartment #61 and I'll treat you right too."

"Oh shut up." Said the station's captain. "Dock please, all three of you spacecraft."

Jack said, with a shrug, "Interesting people. I don't swing that way though."

Carla then said, over the intercom, with a giggle: "I think they meant me."

With a sigh, Jack said, "Meh. Guess that's their way of saying hello. Let's follow them, and get to work."

The shuttle docked, and then Carla got out, Jack following, stopping to check his railpistol before he holstered it, and then proceeded to leave with Carla and the Ambassador to meet the President.

George (who again looks like Putin) was sporting a suit. Behind him were two ceremonial guards who looked like the Ancient Greek Hoplites of old, the armour had green trimmings and the feathers on top of the hat were green too. The President approached Carla and shook her hand.

"Welcome to Rosanica, or at least, its orbit." He chuckled. "I hope the trip wasn't too troubling. Do you like the way the planet looks? I think it looks quite nice." He took a look at Jack, he had an inqusitive look on his face. "Ah." He said. "And you must be her bodyguard! Guards, check him."

A soldies out of nowhere approached Jack with a scanner like thing. They had rifles, which suspiciously looked like E-11 blaster rifles, on their back. They had on Star Trek fitting black uniforms with a grey stripe running down. "Sorry sir, but we can't allow any foreign weaponry aboard the ship." As he was about to start scanning Jack, George stopped the soldier and snorted. "No need to scan them if we are going to have the meeting inside their ship, which is what the Foreign Ministry told me."

The soldier mumbled.

George cleared his throat. "Though I request that your bodyguard stay outside, don't worry I won't bring my guard inside. Anyway, it's your choice."

George cleared his throat. "Though I request that your bodyguard stay outside, don't worry I won't bring my guard inside. Anyway, it's your choice."

Carla nodded and said, "Very well. He'll stay outside during talks."

Carla then turned to George, and smiled, saying, "Ah yes. My little yacht-shuttle here is where we will chat. Please, follow me."

She then led him to the ship, and motioned for Jack to stay outside, telling him to "Make nice" as she opened the door.

One of the ceremonial guards turned to Jack and sniffed him. "You want your cornbread?"

____________________________________

Jack entered the ship and saw the the semi-luxiourishness of it all and whatnot. He was impressed. "A man could live here you know." He sat down on one of the leather sofas and started to speak.

"Well the Cassiopeian Commonwealth is not that large. We only consist of eight planets, with three being majorly occupied. Of course because of this we always have to run patrols. If you may have noticed, but you probably didn't, there's a massive asteroid belt seperating our system. This is the Cassiopeian Belt, from which our, errr, glorious nation is called. Right now we're just looking for life out there, with some success." He chuckled.

"Though errr, we're also looking for new technology and the usual. Do you have anything of interest? Or anything you want to offer?"

Carla said, smiling, "An excellent place to begin. We have many technologies to choose from. I can give you Temporal Shielding, and Abblative Armor. As New Dornalians use the two, the Temporal Shielding is murderously effective, generally absorbing energy shots and slowing physical shots massively (to the point where they are useless, or crumble MythBusters-style, or even to the point where they stop) to reduce impact and damage. Plus, if your engines are down, you can use them to move, albeit very slowly.

The Abblative Armor, when deployed, is very, very good at resisting physical blows, torpedoes and railgun shots-it multiplies your armor defenses by 3x. Of course, it doesn't cover the vitals (i.e. weapons, thrusters); but the Temporal Shielding works hand in hand with that to provide a comprehensive defense. We also have Demolisher Guns capable of tearing new ones at the sub-atomic level, we have singularity reactors imported from the Minbari that are very good at providing power in a small package, we have teleportation devices and replicators, you name it, just ask. We even have Bosun Jump drivess-they're FTL, but much faster, with nigh-near instant travel times."

OOC: I'll be out for 2 days...so I may not be able to reply until much later.

George's face was blank. "Oh dear.... well. We don't really have much to offer for technology. I mean we're not that advanced. But we do have minerals from the mining operations we have in the asteroid belt. You name it we... probably have it, even the hard to pronounce stuff that probably doesn't exist in your region."

Aka we have everything that you could think of and I can't.

He cleared his throat. "What about a cultural exchange also? We have music, HoloNet shows and many other things we can trade. Also, I'm sure there's a Non Aggression Pact offer in there somewhere eh?"

George's face was blank. "Oh dear.... well. We don't really have much to offer for technology. I mean we're not that advanced. But we do have minerals from the mining operations we have in the asteroid belt. You name it we... probably have it, even the hard to pronounce stuff that probably doesn't exist in your region."

Aka we have everything that you could think of and I can't.

He cleared his throat. "What about a cultural exchange also? We have music, HoloNet shows and many other things we can trade. Also, I'm sure there's a Non Aggression Pact offer in there somewhere eh?"

Carla then said, "We're reasonable folk. The non-aggression pact and a non disclosure agreement, plus an agreement to trade minerals will be good in exchange for whatever tech we give. As for a cultural exchange, we have plenty of HoloNet shows, music, and other goodies of our own."

George nodded. "Excellent, I'm sure the Senate will agree. Now all we need are official papers and whatnot but I'm sure our foreign ministries can handle all of this hm?" He winked.

"And while you're here why don't you go down to the planet and enjoy yourself?"

George nodded. "Excellent, I'm sure the Senate will agree. Now all we need are official papers and whatnot but I'm sure our foreign ministries can handle all of this hm?" He winked.

"And while you're here why don't you go down to the planet and enjoy yourself?"

Carla then said, "Lemme print out a copy. Hold on a moment."

She then left, and went into her stateroom. The sound of printing, whirring, and the occasional curse flew, but five minutes later, she presented George with the documents- a Non Disclosure Agreement, a Non Aggression Pact, and a mineral trade agreement. She then presented the documents to him, and said, "I signed them already. Once you get permission, go ahead and sign them, and get them to us."

Then, hearing of George's invite, "What kind of liquors do you have down there?"

George chuckled. "We have the finest. Now we could go to the surface on your ship or on a Cassiopeian ship. Either way, I promise you to give you the tour of your life."

He picked up the agreements and took out a scanner thing, like at the ones from KMart. He scanned each document, taking his time as not to make any errors. After a few minutes he put the scanner back into his suit and smiled. "It should be approved in a matter of minutes, or hours. See what I just did was digitally record and send the documents to the Senate, we have a giant Hologram apparatus, they'll see them. In fact if my phone rings it should mean that they were approved."

George paused and smirked. "Now do you want to go on my ship or yours?"

George chuckled. "We have the finest. Now we could go to the surface on your ship or on a Cassiopeian ship. Either way, I promise you to give you the tour of your life."

He picked up the agreements and took out a scanner thing, like at the ones from KMart. He scanned each document, taking his time as not to make any errors. After a few minutes he put the scanner back into his suit and smiled. "It should be approved in a matter of minutes, or hours. See what I just did was digitally record and send the documents to the Senate, we have a giant Hologram apparatus, they'll see them. In fact if my phone rings it should mean that they were approved."

George paused and smirked. "Now do you want to go on my ship or yours?"

Carla said, "I'll take yours. You've seen my ship, I wonder what yours is like."

He escorted Carla across the Bay to his shuttle (http://starwars.wikia.com/images/9/97/KappaShuttle.gif). Now whether it actually looks like something from a familiar movie is a pure coincidence... look don't judge me but I have a real lack of ships to choose that I can trust you know. Don't look at me like that. "This." George said. "Is my personal transport. The military uses something completely different, but I bought this with my own money. They're quite unique, only a few people use them. It's an aquired taste really."

He turned to Carla. "Will you need your bodyguard with you?"

He escorted Carla across the Bay to his shuttle (http://starwars.wikia.com/images/9/97/KappaShuttle.gif). Now whether it actually looks like something from a familiar movie is a pure coincidence... look don't judge me but I have a real lack of ships to choose that I can trust you know. Don't look at me like that. "This." George said. "Is my personal transport. The military uses something completely different, but I bought this with my own money. They're quite unique, only a few people use them. It's an aquired taste really."

He turned to Carla. "Will you need your bodyguard with you?"

Carla said, putting a finger up: "Unless you're willing to provide security-and I'd hate to be a burden."

She then looked the shuttle over, and said, "It's not much on the outside, but I'll ride. It'll be nice and cozy inside, I hope?"

George nodded. "Of course. I have five soldiers inside just in case I was attacked, obviously they weren't needed. Right, let's go inside." As they entered they could see five soldiers relaxing. Two were playing cards, two were playing chess, and the last one was flirting with the onship flight attendant.

The ship was decorated nicely. The center was a large circular table. To one of the corners was a gaming console, connected to a television where satellite programs can be accessed. George accidently left it one, showing that he was watching the live feed of the Imperial Light Orchestra. It isn't really an orchestra, but we'll get to that later. To the right was a large line of sofas. Hanging from the roof was the Cassiopeian flag, and of course other trinkets that I've yet to name.

George looked at the soldiers. "Men!"

The soldiers went to attention. "Yessir!"

"We have a guest." He pointed his head towards Carla. "You soldier, pilot this ship towards the Presidential Villa. The rest of you, provide security."

George sat on the sofa while the shuttle was lifting off. "So what do you think?"

Carla then said, "Videogames, eh?" as she wandered about the ship. Sauntering up to the videogame machine, she then said, kneeling and squatting down to get a closer look: "Nice machine you've got here. What's it got?"

George's brow raised out out surprise, a woman gamer? Impossible. "Err, well only one. It's some sort of shooter where you simulate the life of a Commonwealth soldier. It's quite realistic. It has multiplayer."

He paused. "Wanna play?"

George's brow raised out out surprise, a woman gamer? Impossible. "Err, well only one. It's some sort of shooter where you simulate the life of a Commonwealth soldier. It's quite realistic. It has multiplayer."

He paused. "Wanna play?"

Carla chuckled, and said, "Played a lot of games in college, mostly beer pong, Civ IX, and Quake XI. Let's do this."

She then picked up the controller, and looked it over, saying, "What's the control scheme for this game?"

George scratched his head. "Err... well. Umm... you know the usual, R to shoot, L to aim, A to jump etc etc. It's quite hard really, I'm stuck on the fifth level. But errr, it doesn't mean that I'm bad at multiplayer."

He coughed.

George scratched his head. "Err... well. Umm... you know the usual, R to shoot, L to aim, A to jump etc etc. It's quite hard really, I'm stuck on the fifth level. But errr, it doesn't mean that I'm bad at multiplayer."

He coughed.

Carla shrugged, and said, "Well no biggie. I've never played this game before, so we might be on par."

She then gripped the controller firmly and said, "Well then, let's begin, shall we?"

I am about to take severe liberties, with that let the games begin! The game turned on. Menu, Multiplayer, Two Players, Level 3. AND LOADING. LOADING. Ah okay it finished loading. The first thing the player could see was the display HUD. To put it simple it looked like Halo's. The only weapon visible was an E-11. The environment was quite simply, a large lush forest with the sun beaming in and whatnot.

The way the soldier looked was, well, imagine an American soldier but more futuristic looking. That's how Cassiopeian soldiers look too. It started with both Carla and George running around looking like idiots. But then, bam! George founds a sniper rifle which eerily looks like a Barret. George, being a little bad at this game, started aiming this large massive rifle. And by aim he just started shooting everywhere. A long beam came our everytime he fired, and by luck he killed Carla.

George stood up shouting. "OOOH! PWNED!"

Carla of course didn't like this. She had a plan, as soon as she respawned she found, gasp! A vehicle! It was a Cassiopeian MBT, which strangely looked like the ones that Trade Federation used in Episode I... cough. She started driving it around, firing the side lasers since there was no gunner. George was shocked, he had no anti-tank weaponry! He started running but it was too late. He was blasted over the forest and landed on the other side, dead. It was now one-one. Two more deaths for each and well, they lose.

George was angry! He ran and found an anti-tank weapon that was ZOMG HUGE. And then he like fired it in Carla's direction and she died. Of course in return Carla respawned and shot George in the back. It was now two-two. The next kill would win.

The two, desperate to win, just ran towards each other E-11 Blasters in hand. They shot wildly and in the end... it was a tie.

George dropped the controller twitching. "NO NO NO NO NO!!! This is impossible! Agh!!!"

Obviously he's a sore loser.

He looked at Carla, and cleared his throat. "Errr, umm, that was quite entertaining." He paused. "So umm... err... tell me about Dornalian culture?"

I promise you that my next post will involve us landing in Rosanica. Seriously.

He looked at Carla, and cleared his throat. "Errr, umm, that was quite entertaining." He paused. "So umm... err... tell me about Dornalian culture?"

I promise you that my next post will involve us landing in Rosanica. Seriously.

OOC: It's fine. Better than me sending anthropologists.

IC: Carla said, leaning back, " First of all, good game. Second of all....Well, I actually have something right here that answers that question."

She pulled out her PDA, and flipped it open, queing up the New Dornalian Factbook, before showing it to George:

Culture-

The People of ND are raised, technically from a Post-Apocalyptic situation; hence the Abhumans. As such, many forms of modern pop culture, such as anime, Star Wars, etc., are seen as simple myths and folktales, and cherished. Rock and roll could be called the national music, though blues and R&B/Soul have a huge following too.

Also, years of Communist indoctrination have given the People an inbred distrust of royalty and big business, and other practices they see as "capitalist (a perjorative)," such as Christianity (it was only with the MacIntyre Administration that Freedom of Religion was instituted; he himself was a Baptist) or addressing persons as "sir" or "ma'am," as "Citizen" or "Comrade" is often a common form of address.

Many can quote old Communist texts, and many are devout, religiously and Socialistically, though not as much Socialistically anymore among youths.

Law and order is a desired virtue; indeed, many support the broad powers of the Internal Security Bureau (though it has been softened and restrained in recent years by Premierist and Politburo action). Progressive "nanny state" measures like welfare and national health are favored, and generally, the attitude of the people is that big government that works for the people in a contract relationship (it gives them plenty of goodies, they fight for it and pay it taxes) is good. Still, with the rise of Fiscally Conservative parties such as the Democratic Coalition, one can say there is still a challenge that exists to this mode of thought (though one can say most members of DC are from areas that were only recently introduced to New Dornalia by the Treaty of Los Angeles).

However, in a contradictory turn of events, many embrace the idea of small business and medium business. This has led to a form of "Restrained Capitalism" featured in the MacIntyre Administration; which allows for large corporations to exist, but puts them under control of Worker's Committees (OOC: Credit goes to Communist Louisiana, and some RL Chinese companies for this concept) or the direct command of the government, while leaving medium and small businesses unimpeded, but watched. Closed shops where people must join unions are mandatory, and only recently have businessmen been allowed to join the Party.

However, among many New Dornalians, freer business has more tolerance and acceptance, as many have become accustomed to prosperity and freedoms that have accompanied the MacIntyre Era. More people are going into business, and entreprenuerialism has increased, as shown by the Trader-Adventurers in Nova Louisana- a development that would have been seen as parasitic years ago.

Guns are also cherished and tolerated; this is again due to the necessity of a post-Apocalyptic landscape. In fact, citizens are even required to own a firearm and are required to be proficent in it; this is a duty which many surprisingly enjoy.

Abhumans occupy a unique place in society. Their lot is equivalent to Black Americans or Northern Irish Catholics, especially the "Neckers," which thanks to continous warfare in the early days of the WSND, were and are still treated like different persons, often recieved discrimination in housing and jobs and were stereotyped in everyday media in a way similar to Native Americans and Asian women (the "Suzie Wong") in the 1950's. Elves actually had it a bit easier, but were still mocked as "pretty boys" and "Spocks."

Things are getting better, as Abhumans have banded together using legal action and their efforts have succeeded. Most notably, most of the perjoratives and more ulgy and obvious elements described above are increasingly frowned upon by a large segment of mainstream ND society that has become increasingly tolerant. Still, there is work to be done; and discrimination of all kinds, if not legal, still exists.

Catpeople do not have standard last names; in lieu of this, the mother's first name and the suffix "Chibi" is affixed. This is the equivalent of old Scandanvian names liked "Carlsson," which mean "Son of Carl;" a name like "Linda-chibi" means "Child of Linda." Catpeople, meanwhile, come from all over (ex. Mexican-American and Asian-American descended tribes in the Western Old US, Turkish and German tribes in Eastern Germany); but they all generally have elements of Japanese culture in every tribe; a pattern that demands further research.

Elves use standard last names, as many Elves came from populations of West-Central European descent, predominately Dutch and German (large numbers of Elves exist in or are descended from populations in Midwest North America, South Africa (Boers), the Netherlands, Germany, Scandanavia, and Celtic areas like Scotland and Ireland), many will have names of these sort; for example, particularly well known Elven surnames are "ten Boom," "Kruger," "van der Roon," "Stuyvesant," "Botha," "Larsen," "Christensen," "Becker," "Olsen," "Mackay," "O'Connell," "MacClanathan," and "Menzies."

New Dornalians are also eager to embrace science, if not necessarily new ideas, an ideal formed from necessity in a post-Apocalyptic world. As a result, a new wave of scientific integration and innovation has occured, and has impacted society. Many older New Dornalians cherish old timey things and will often follow the way of "waste not want not," but get a new shiny car in their face or give them a new computer and they'll go for it. Younger New Dornalians, however, embrace the new, and though keenly aware of their traditions, are more eager to experiment and try new things, a product of prosperity and technology such as the HoloNet.

Sports in New Dornalia are relatively primitive compared to other civilizations. Sportshooting, boxing, kendo, kung fu, and soccer are relatively popular. In addition, the rise of Mobile Suits has led to private and government attempts to begin some kind of Mobile Suit Tournament, akin to G Gundam or Battlebots; these have panned out.

New Dornalians love booze, a thriving government-controlled prostitution business exists (where prostitutes are required to come in for physicals every month and are required to pay a cut of their earnings to the government, in exchange for very clean and comfortable "working areas."), and a pervading sense of "anime asthetics," which inflects all parts of art and society with an anime-style look, exists as well.

George read the PDA thoroughly. He smirked. "Don't worry Carla we have all the alcohol you like here."

At last the shuttle entered Rosanican sky. The view, one might say, is beautiful. The pilot was then nice enough to put what he was seeing on the television. It was beautiful. Rosanica was mostly a water world, like Manaan. The only floating city was massive. The size of China. Though for all this water there was no beach. I mean there was the archipelago but nobody went there especially after the last incidents. No back then the Cassiopeians were eager to build and expand. But after they built over what was one a rose field, they realized something. They killed the environment. After that the Senate made sure not to destroy the ecosystem anymore. Nevertheless the island has been expanding for the last few centuries, artificially of course. Some state that in a few centuries the entire planet will be a city on top of a waterbed. Though for now, George and Carla were enjoying the view.

George nodded. "Home sweet home. This is our capital, Carla. Over 1/3 of the Cassiopeian population lives here. That's right, one billion on that island over there. Though thankfully most immigration has been towards our moon colonies and other planets. So overcrowding is not as big a problem as some might think."

The shuttle was now over the city that you could see how it actually looked like. Strangely enough there were not as many skyscrapers as one would think. No, that was only downtown in the center of the City (as it was called sometimes), most of the City were large apartment blocks. There were no houses, no, that was reserved for the super rich who could build their own island. Thankfully there were barely any rich people. So where does that leave the population? Well of course the City had their urban poor but due to the recent mine boom most of the City was middle class. They either worked for the Royal Mining Company or they had stocks in the RMC.

The houses looked like those of Naboo, but there was a reason. Due to a lack of wood the early colonists had to rely on something else. A yellowish cementlike mineral called julanskite. Julanskite was apparently quite common in this planet. The first settlers got it from the forests in the archipelago. Of course after some fo them died due to mysterious attacks somebody decided to mine the ocean. Strangely enough there were hordes of the stuff and thus oil riggy like devices were built over the spots.

Of course there were a few disadvantages. Large skyscrapers couldn't be built and most of the buildings had to be curvy or else it couldn't support itself with all the extra weight. Plus they had to stay with the yellow buildings due to a lack of paint.

Though after a few centuries the Cassiopeians were able to recreate cement, making julanskite useless. Though since they were used to the yellow buildings so much they just nautrally built it to the Naboo style. The only large building made of julanskite was the Presidential Complex, where the Ministries, the Embassies, the President's, and Government complex living quarters were located. It is quite big.

As the ship landed George began telling the orgin of the yellow buildings and whatnot to Carla. The pilot spoke.

"Mr. President we have landed successfully." Where did they land? Inside the Presidential Complex itself, it had a docking spot ala a helicopter's spot for the Presidential Yacht. Outside were two soldiers waiting for him, saluting.

George led Carla outside. "Welcome to Rosanica." He said. "Well we are here for a meeting. So do you prefer it to happen inside my living quarters or inside the Foreign Ministry?"

(There, posted. I hope it's not bad since I don't consider it my best.)

Carla said, looking about the surroundings and even taking a glance out the window: "Its beautiful. Absolutely beautiful."

She then said, somewhat embarassed by her enthusiasm for the place, "Oh yes. I was just enjoying the unusual geography-unusual for a New Dornalian. We can talk here."

George raised his brow. "Here? On the landing pad? Well, yah that would work. I'll just tell a guard to bring chairs."

A guard overheard this and ran towards the main building of the complex.

George didn't notice. "Anywho." He said. "We are here for negotiations after all. Well, let's begin. As you can tell the Commonwealth is quite paranoid about security. We are, as you may notice, may not be as technologically advanced. But we do have mines. Lots and lots and lots of mines in space, any mineral you can dream of can be mined. We don't know why but we're not complaining."

He paused. "So, what do you have to offer the Commonwealth?"

George raised his brow. "Here? On the landing pad? Well, yah that would work. I'll just tell a guard to bring chairs."

A guard overheard this and ran towards the main building of the complex.

George didn't notice. "Anywho." He said. "We are here for negotiations after all. Well, let's begin. As you can tell the Commonwealth is quite paranoid about security. We are, as you may notice, may not be as technologically advanced. But we do have mines. Lots and lots and lots of mines in space, any mineral you can dream of can be mined. We don't know why but we're not complaining."

He paused. "So, what do you have to offer the Commonwealth?"

Carla immediately shot back, "Besides the technology I offered you before? We have rock and roll music. We have anime. We have people who have powers. And, we have luxuxry items such as Space Mambo fish, gems from Trotskygrad, and other technologies I didn't mention before, such as singularity drives and replicators."

George paused. "Well... we have gems. But mention your technology, what is a replicator exactly? What's a singularity drive? And are space mambo fish delicious?"

George paused. "Well... we have gems. But mention your technology, what is a replicator exactly? What's a singularity drive? And are space mambo fish delicious?"

OOC: Disclaimer-some of this is pseudo-science.

IC:

Carla replied, "Space mambo fish are really delicious, especially fried in batter and served with what we call french fries, or braised. They're very pricey though. Replicators are, at their heart and soul, machines that use energy to synthesize any desired object one needs. Sometimes, to speed the process, samples of material similar to the requested object-for example, scrap metal to speed up the replication of ship plating-are added into the production process. But we've gotten to the point where pure energy does the trick alone.

As for singularity drives, imagine a tiny black hole, trapped in a case using energy fields and harnessed to produce energy in fantastic amount, in terms of energy, say thousands of terawatts plus, if not even more. Extremely efficent at energy production, and in the case of the drives, this energy is harnessed to propel a vessel, either purportedly by direct manipulation of gravitational energies or using the energy harnessed to power a seperate drive."

George raised his right brow. "This technology certainly is different. In fact it could put hundreds of ships out of operation, I mean who would need transports when you can replicate food yourself? The Commonwealth would gladly buy a product of this magnitude. As for a singularity drive, we'd love one as well. If only for testing. As for the mambo fish well err..."

He paused. "If you may have noticed we're... a giant island. As such as eat mostly seafood so, hmm. I got it! Tiger fish! A rare delicacy that is slightly poisonous. Delicious though.I remember when I had some... oooh."

He continued. "Of course all we have to offer are minerals, anything you need in specifc?"

George raised his right brow. "This technology certainly is different. In fact it could put hundreds of ships out of operation, I mean who would need transports when you can replicate food yourself? The Commonwealth would gladly buy a product of this magnitude. As for a singularity drive, we'd love one as well. If only for testing. As for the mambo fish well err..."

He paused. "If you may have noticed we're... a giant island. As such as eat mostly seafood so, hmm. I got it! Tiger fish! A rare delicacy that is slightly poisonous. Delicious though.I remember when I had some... oooh."

He continued. "Of course all we have to offer are minerals, anything you need in specifc?"

Carla then said, "Minerals, eh? Well, we are in demand for diamonds, gold, silver, precious stones. People love those. Also, we use a material called Leninite in civil construction, it's pretty strong stuff, and our most efficent refining and alloying processes and replicator processing have produced some high-quality steel out of it."

She then pushed a few buttons on her PDA, detailing the substance, showing a few samples and the chemical makeup of Leninite ore to George. "Think you got this stuff in your neck of the woods?"

George looked at the datapad. "Well errm, I've never seen anything like it. Sure we have diamonds and whatnot, but this? Well we've found innumerable minerals before that we've never heard of, granted we don't know how to use them but eh. To be honest I can't understand half this stuff. Maybe if you gave us the color and whatnot..."

He paused. "But we do have diamonds and whatnot of course, lots of them."

George looked at the datapad. "Well errm, I've never seen anything like it. Sure we have diamonds and whatnot, but this? Well we've found innumerable minerals before that we've never heard of, granted we don't know how to use them but eh. To be honest I can't understand half this stuff. Maybe if you gave us the color and whatnot..."

He paused. "But we do have diamonds and whatnot of course, lots of them."

Carla then replied, slightly surprised, "Well, if you must know the color, it's gray, and kinda shiny. If you do a flame test to it, it should burn a nice Prussian Blue."