barrayarmods: (Default)
For Barrayar mods ([personal profile] barrayarmods) wrote in [community profile] forbarrayar2016-12-20 10:13 am

[ january i log: cetaganda ]

Who: Everyone
What: Arrival on Barrayar and what follows
When: January 2nd - January 17th
Where: Cetagandan base
Warnings: None (at the moment)


welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to beyond the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling. A steep mountain range towers overhead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons, and the foothills behind you ascend quickly into rocky mountain faces. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.

And you're not alone. There are nine other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive.

They're fitted with what look like futuristic tactical vests and armed with some kind of energy weapons that look deadlier than not. They surround you at gunpoint, dealing orders in intelligible English, but with some obscure, unplaceable accent, and their faces are colored with vivid paint. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that you are not the people they at first assumed -- something about Barrayarans, the barbarians in the mountains. The one who seems to be in charge steps away to murmur into what looks like a wristwatch-like communicator. After a minute or two of inaudible conversation, the officer steps back in. He orders his men to escort you all back to their base. As long as you cooperate, that's all that will happen.


the base
You are taken back to a military base of considerable scale and some serious fortification. There are two rounds of guard checks to go through, both taking what must be a lot longer than usual, and it's cold out. You are ushered past the guard checks into what looks like a barracks building, but relegated to a bunk on one end. They seem to have cleared the immediate area, with guards posted at the door, but there's audible activity beyond the short hallway in front of the door. They make it clear you are not under arrest, that you are merely being detained until they have ascertained the situation -- the word quarantine is used, but it doesn't seem to be of a medical sort. Either way, the only people who come to the bunk are those cleared by the guards, and they all seem much more interested than hostile.

They answer your questions with the very basic facts: the people who hold custody of you are the military service of the Cetagandan Empire, and the planet you are on is their Ninth Satrapy, and they're currently at odds with some of the native population. They won't say it outright, but it's clear they have no clue how you came to be here or why, but it's clearly of great interest to them. For the most part, the Cetagandan soldiers are civil, if at times distant and aloof, but if you look a little less -- or more -- than human, they'll eye you with visible curiosity, perhaps even some kind of appreciation.

At daylight, a few women in lab coats and the same face-paint as the soldiers come to the room to escort you across the base to the nearby medbay, two or three at a time. The medbay is an intimidatingly sterile and state-of-the-art facility, all gleaming chrome and polished glass and crisp holo displays. You are taken in one at a time for a physical examination -- they have to make sure you haven't brought any foreign contagions into their base, after all -- but the military physician isn't the only base personnel in the exam room. You hear the word exotic tossed around a few times until they realized they're talking about you. They call you the exotics.


the exotics room
For a military bunk, it's in surprisingly tasteful design. The room sleeps a dozen soldiers, so you even have a little bit of room to yourself, and while the furnishings are relatively spartan, they're hardly uncomfortable. If you're in need of clothing, the soldiers will bring you base fatigues – no rank insignia, of course, but the make of the textile is surprisingly fine.

You're served food at mealtimes, a combination of shelf-stable meal rations and what seems to be fresh food, all prepared with unusual artistry for a military base. There's a sophistication to the preparation that seems more like it belongs in a four-star restaurant than a military base. If you have any special medical needs, they'll do their best to attend to them -- and their medicine seems impressively advanced.

Soldiers and scientists alike come to the room every so often to ask you questions, more like interviews than interrogations, but behind the civility there's a burning intellectual curiosity. They seem intent on knowing as much as you'll tell them, and then some.

The nearest bathroom is at the end of the hall, and while they seem to have cleared the area of all other personnel, showers and baths are scheduled, and any trips to the restroom are chaperoned. The guards, while not hostile, are certainly not interested in letting you escape. You could try sneaking past them, but you probably won't get far.

Well, at least you've got each other for company: the exotics on the Ninth Satrapy.
ghemhotstuff: (pic#10917818)

[personal profile] ghemhotstuff 2017-01-25 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
It's the alien race that gets him to stop and stare at Kaidan with open, hopeful eyes. "Really? That's-- there's no sentient life anywhere that we've come across. Some native wildlife on some planets, but nothing alien." It takes a longer moment for Kaidan's request to sink in, and Gail nods. "There's probably some books on it. Would you like me to get them for you?"

He might throw several others in while he's at it, if this man is so interested in learning about Cetagandans.
standsentinel: (dat jacket)

[personal profile] standsentinel 2017-02-01 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
He recognizes that gleam of helpfulness. He'd seen it in his own shaving mirror more often than he'd like to admit to, back when his rank insignia would be a non-artistic equivalent to the ghem-Lieutenant's swirls. Somewhat more cynical and Major-ly now, Kaidan privately reflects that he can work with this.

"I'd like that very much," he confirms, and lets a smile pair with it as he offers "If you want to hear more about aliens, I can even trade you for the books. I've been getting the impression that's out of the usual for people here."
ghemhotstuff: (pic#10917822)

[personal profile] ghemhotstuff 2017-02-06 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, that smile. Gail smiles back to match it while inwardly sighing slightly. Right.

"I'll make sure you get a disc reader -- I don't see why anyone wouldn't let you have one.. and how many books again?" But about those aliens... "I think that's a fair trade."
standsentinel: (looking down)

[personal profile] standsentinel 2017-02-11 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Kaidan, for all that Property of Commander Shepard is metaphorically stamped on his heart, and for all that the lieutenant is very much the young lieutenant, can still appreciate just how appealing Gail is when he smiles. He does so, and there's a bit of playfulness in the nod he gives ghem-Estif as a result. "We have a deal, then. Bring me, oh, three books to start with, and I'll tell you about turians. They're the first species we met, after all."

The implication that there's more than one sort of alien out there ought to do to ensure him access to a lot more books... and might just lead to a chance to talk about more tactically-relevant branches of philosophy.
Edited 2017-02-11 16:02 (UTC)
ghemhotstuff: (pic#10917822)

[personal profile] ghemhotstuff 2017-02-12 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"When would you like them?" He could go get them now, if Kaidan wanted. It wasn't like he had anything else to do now that he was off duty. Well -- that wasn't exactly untrue, but there weren't any raids he could easily sign up with currently. So this was his next best option. And he liked everyone that showed up, even the ones that didn't look like anything special.

But -- first. "How many do you have? I mean, does every planet have a different species? What are they like?" He has completely forgotten the books, at least for the moment.