Does it make you happy now? (another Ngoverse alternate because I can't sleep)

[Cannonshop]

The music is the mathematics, the colors are the mathematics. 

Amanda paints the numbers on the butcher-paper, plucks she notes from god only knows where, and the equations flow.

"we can bend it..." she mutters.

"Duchess Ngo, are you decent?"  Lt. Noi asked from the other side of the door.

"Uhhhyeah. come in."  we can bend it.

"Holy shit, what is this?"

"Gravity." Amanda said.  "I finally realized what I was hearing in my head.  It's gravity...one of the fundamental forces of the universe, something we haven't been able to work with before, only work around...but I think...based on these manifolds derived from Kearney, who derived his from Hawking, who derived HIS from Maxwell...I think we have a possible means to unite electromagnetism, the Strong Force, and Gravity."

"So...flying cars??"

Amanda turned around, Morrigan was in Cadet Grays from The Nagelring.

"No.  not like that.  imagine something else-if you built a 'flying car' using gravitation, it'd strea off at light speed-or near enough, because it wasn't tethered to the mass of the planet anymore-it would get left behind at the compound velocities of the planet, galaxy, and universe.  If this works it supports Mom's hypothesis behind Airway...but it's got more uses than that...potentially.  It would require some serious unobtainium though.  Tech we can't fabricate yet, and the tech to fabricate that tech, and the tech to fabricate the tech to fabricate the tech...wait, we were going somewhere, right?"

"My mad-scientist almost-little sister, yes we are.  Hanse's Birthday??"

"oh shit was that today?"

"Shower and change and we're going to LePaul's first to get that hair done and those fingernails seen to."  Morrigan said with a sigh.  "Chop chop, duchess, we need to be done with LePaul's by seventeen hundred!"

[LightGuard]

3086

"Why do I have a sudden urge to cackle like Mom and tap my finger tips together happily?" wondered Amanda.

Morrigan growled softly, "I dunno, but it ain't getting ya outta LePaul's!"

----

Sorry Cannonshop.

[Cannonshop]

"...first time, Debbie scared the poor man almost comatose." Lady Daphne Rowe was explaining as the three of them stepped out of the Palace vehicle.  "It was hilarious."

"Why?" Amanda asked.

"LePaul made the mistake of insulting her background...and she proceeded to absolutely terrorize the man."

"Huh, I wondered why Mom warned me about him being rude, when My first visit, he was all politeness." Morrigan noted.

"She frightened him terribly.  Your mother can be absolutely a terror, Morrigan."

"I've never been here." Amanda noted.

"Your mother, Penelope, and I came here with Maggie Doons." Daphne said, "This was...right after we were released from the rehab, my parents were having another one of their temporary divorces, and Penny was staying with an Aunt in the Capital when her grandmother showed up and brought us to our very first appointment...It's where Lizzie picked out her first black suit.  LePaul was scandalized by her choice."

"Huh."

the sign on the door said 'By appointment only!' in four languages.

***

Kirklin system, Federated Suns...

"Throw the breakers in three....two...one...now!"

a flash of light that went unnoticed on the day-side of the planet heralded something unusual.

the rippling, water-like effect stayed for a moment, and then resolved.

the heat sinks began to overtax, information was passed across the threshold, and the crews shut down.

"it'll work, but we need to add cooling on both ends, a lot of cooling."

Crews cheered here, and in the Kowloon system.  the unveiling was still nearly six months away, but the first energized test showed the raw feasibility. 

and six months was plenty of time to inform the VIPs.

[Cannonshop]

"They're fine-tuning it." Peter told her.

in the background, the birthday party of Peter Steiner-Davion continued, with party games that would seem childish if the son of the Archon Prince wasn't such a sweet-natured man.

"you gave my project to someone else and they've locked me out." Amanda said.  "Let me guess...they had thermal blooms and the wormhole destabilized, if they were smart, they cut the power and bled off before it cracked the core, but they need at least three months to deal with the cooling issue."

He blinked.

"i did the math, Highness." she said, "There's more going on than Mom theorized when she was trying to plug holes in Fuchida's formulas."

"How much more?"

"We already know we can create a quantum gravity point-that's how we get the nice wormhole effect using quantum tunneling." she said, "But it's more than that, I had an...'idea', like a song in my head, and I finally got the notes right this morning."

"So...we shouldn't continue?" he asked.

"I didn't say that." Amanda said, "Why does everyone insert meanings?? no, keep on with it, you'll need to add cooling capacity at about twice what we originally thought, which shouldn't be too hard, and it won't take too long...but it's more valuable as a scientific apparatus, than it is as a highway."

"it looks like it's going to be damned valuable as a highway." he suggested.

"Yeah, it will be...but it's even more valuable as a research tool." she said, "We need to build another one-one without a beta, and one with several betas."

"What's the first one for?" he asked.

"Maybe to fabricate some exotic matter." Amanda said firmly, "So we can test Alcubierre's 'warp' theory."

"And the multiples?"

"because why not." Amanda said firmly.  "Some science is 'why', and some, the kind that advances our technology and brings us ever closer to god, is predicated on 'why not'."

[Kasaga]

BattleTech with warp drives will be kinda cool lol.

[DOC_Agren]

Liz was scary as a mad scientist..  Amanda is terrifying

[wolfcannon]

holy mother of Blake.

[JA Baker]

If I didn't know better, I'd say she was Heterodyning...

[mikecj]

Has anybody seen that post why the Vulcans let the Humans run the Federation....

Vulcan Science academy: This is a species where if you give them two warp cores, they will ask for a third one, immediately plug all three into each other... then try to turn a nearby sun into a torus because that was what their initial scientific experiment was for and they didn't want to waste a trip.

….also they did turn that sun into a torus, and no one actually knows how.
This is why we let them do whatever they want.

Not posting a link because some of the language isn't forum friendly.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

If I didn't know better, I'd say she was Heterodyning...

But where is Der Kestle?   :thumbsup:

[croaker]

But where is Der Kestle?   :thumbsup:

In another Princess?

[worktroll]

Boojum 5?

[Cannonshop]

Intelligence efforts were hampered by an unexpected gap;  The belters weren't cooperating.

Belters 'no cooperating' can be defined one of two ways: refusing to speak, and refusing to be in a position where they can be easily collected and compelled to speak.

in this case, somewhat pre-emptively, the Sol Belt's communities weren't coming into port, and the known burrows showed signs of an orderly move-out.

"I remember a few long conversations with Liz." Victor said, "About spacer culture.  I think she tended to spend more time around them than she did with any group that wasn't Kowloonese, sometimes she'd let their pidgin slang slip into her conversation."

"How's this relevant, Vic?" Devlin asked.

"It's relevant because she explained what the Belters did during the Amaris occupation, and why they weren't harder hit by the whole civil war."  Victor noted, accepting the snifter of cognac from the Exarch, and looking at the fireplace, "They made themselves...'scarce'.  As in avoiding entanglements in 'Dirtyfeet problems'."

"Vic, if you're going to say something, say it."

"The Relocation Initiative." Victor said, "Spooked the ****** out of them."

"It didn't even touch them-hell, we can barely find people who can handle assignment to the yards as it is!" Stone scoffed.

"Yeah." Victor nodded, "but convince them of that, when they won't sit still long enough to talk to your envoys, Devlin, or convince them we had nothing to do with Nha Tranh, when Lizzie and her people were the first bunch in the last six hundred years to get the Belt to pick a side that wasn't 'passive-aggressive avoidance'?"

"If I remember, that was Nikki Minh." Stone observed.

"It was...and where did Nikki Minh go after the Blakists were destroyed-hell, she was born in the Sol Belts, but where did she go after collecting her people?"

"She left again."

"She went back to her adopted homeworld, and is currently the replacement for Alicia Li." Victor informed him, "Which means it was her people who caught your Fidelis team trying to blow up Boojum.  This isn't one insult, it's two.  We can count ourselves fortunate most of the Belters follow the Zero Aggression Principle, but your operation lost their trust hard Devlin, and I'm not sure what either of us can come up with to get it back, and without that, there's going to be a shortage of skilled labor for the shipyards, and that in turn is worse because you shuffled the damn workforce we've got."

"Speaking of Ngos..." Devlin said, "Intel found the Beta site."

"Where is it?"

"Kirklin, surprisingly good security, too.  the Bug-Eye that spotted it had to un-ass the system in a hurry."

[Cannonshop]

For General Release

To: Liao, Daoshen; Kurita, Hohiro; Stone, Devlin; Steiner-Davion, Victor, Marik, Corinne, Halas, Thomas
CC: Magnussen, Ragnar

From: His Majesty Peter Steiner-Davion and Her Highness Yvonne Steiner-Davion

RE: You are cordially invited to an unveiling.

As Leaders of the major nations in the Inner Sphere, in the interests of continued peace and diplomacy, and as a demonstration of what is possible when not embroiled in constant warfare and bickering, the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns invite you to an unveiling of a scientific and engineering triumph.  If you can not personally attend, please send observers.

Send your RSVP to attend, there will be two sites, to avoid unwanted...conflicts.  Site Alpha is in the Kowloon system of the Lyran Commonwealth, Site Bravo is in the Kirklin system.  Witness and be delighted by the potential you are about to see, and after, will be a small get-together to discuss the diplomatic options this new and amazing technical wonder creates for the future of the human sphere.

[idea weenie]

If Stone manages to get both Airway structures to detonate, it will decapitate so many nations

Fortress Republic had to be tested, right?  Why not test it and at the same time make sure the Republic isn't bypassed by an FTL 'bridge'

[Artifex]

Sure .... if he does go ahead with that, he can kiss his ass good-bye, because then it'll be the casus belli par excellence that Peter is really waiting for to rally his people behind and Yvonne will not be able to maintain her neutrality for.

[Kasaga]

Was Candace Allard-Liao just a regent for Daoshen?  If so then Stone could be facing Lyran, Suns and Capellan troops at the minimum.  He can't defend on that many fronts even resorting to nukes.

[JA Baker]

Surprised that they're not inviting the Ravens

[Cannonshop]

"...they won't come." Amanda said, looking at the announcement.  "I could see Liao, maybe, and the two captains general, and maybe Rasallhague and Kurita, but Victor won't, and neither will Stone."

"Because...Kowloon?" Morrigan hazarded.

"Because of Kowloon." Amanda stated, "mind, I've got an idea if they do come, or even if they don't." she smiled innocently.  "Missing a few guests on the list though.  I think inviting the Outworlders and their Snow Raven allies would be good...and the Diamond sharks."

"They renamed themselves 'Sea fox'."  Morrigan pointed out.

"Even better."

She penned a separate note of invitation to the Snow Ravens and Sea Foxes, being sure to add them to the list of invitees before sending the revision to Peter's P-mail address.

The revised notice went out over the network the following day.

***

"We have to go, Devlin." Victor said, "Especially now."

"Why?"

"Because if you want to sell the Republic's innocence, you won't snub this." the former Archon Prince told the Exarch.  "If you don't go, if you refuse or you send a lower-tier diplomat, it's as good as announcing that 'why yes, we nuked twelve and a half million people to silence one critic'."

"You already decided to go, Vic. why do I need to?"

"Because you're Devlin Stone." Victor told him, "I should be arguing why you shouldn't, but you already decided to go, and-"

"I have.  we need to see this thing in action."

"Not destroy it?"

"Not if we don't have to." Devlin said and watched as Victor relaxed.

"Kirklin or Kowloon?"

"Kirklin, I'm not an idiot." Devlin said.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

I think the jury is still out on that one, hung up on "Total" or not on the idiot.

[Alexander Knight]

I'm upset that Victor's so willing to accept a friend's murder along with the murder of millions of civilians.

[AMARDA]

I think it's clear that Victor is at least somewhat compromised in terms of his thinking by the WoB.

[Cannonshop]

Kirklin System, September 19, 3086...

How to make the right impression.  Begin with the impression you're trying to make.

for example, the Republic's delegation went to Kirklin, being both closer to home and not quite as deep, and in a neutral system  (Well, as neutral as anyone in the ongoing not-quite-war between the Lyrans and the Republic.)

To make the right impression, the Republic's delegation came aboard the RAF Abundantia, a former Clan-made Essex class vessel.  the coordinates and guidance were provided by the FCS Kentares, which shadowed and 'guided' the diplomatically flagged warship to a stationary position just off the wing of the CAF Xiu Lin and the GBS Ursa Major, a Nightlord class.

These were matched by FCS Lucien Davion, Kentares, New Syrtis and Covenant, along with a brace of 20 Adventure class armed sloops and a bevy of Overlord A3's.

if anyone started shooting, the probability being that only the host nation's naval assets would actually survive the fracas.

The ring station itself was enormous, easily able to hold the entire flotilla including both Fedsuns vessels and visitors from the Republic, CapCon, and Dominion.

The actual heads of state, gathered on the bridge of the Lucien Davion *(Avalon Class).

"Welcome guests, dignitaries, and visitors." Yvonne announced, "Before we begin with the unveiling, I felt it appropriate to play for you, a message recorded by the creator of this marvel, the will and the funds behind it, and a very good friend of my brother Peter's family and court.  Pardon the quality of the recording, it had to be moved by less polished means."

The First Princess of the Federated suns made a gesture and stepped aside as the holotable lit.

Amanda Ngo appeared.  She wore black, like her mother, but not a business suit.  a black cloak covered shoulders, her shock-whitened hair hanging loose, her right hand resting on a staff made of alloy, and below the cloak, a black-and-gray skinsuit could be seen, running from magnetic deck-boots to the barely concealed helmet ring.

the impression, though, was somewhere between dark sorceress and witch.

"Greetings guests and dignitaries.  I am Amanda Ngo, you are witnessing the last of my mother's grand ideas, made manifest today, on the third anniversary of her murder."  the girl reaches up with a gloved hand, and pushes the hood back, freeing her hair and the neck-ring of her skinsuit to be seen.  "If you look out the..port? Port side viewers, you can get a good look.  This project was code-named airway, and it cost a lot to bring it from theory to fact."

the girl gestured-and apparently knew enough about the combat information center of an Avalon to be pointing the right direction.  "One Hundred Kilometers in diameter, with a thickness of forty meters at its thinnest point, this is something you may have only seen if, like my parents, you held a deep love of ancient speculative fiction romance stories."

the girl raised her staff, and the speakers picked up the thump as she brought it down, "Behold, I bring you wonders."

The flash of activation had to be dimmed temporarily, and instruments on the vessels picked up a concentrated burst of Neutrinos and electromagnetic shock.

The surface rippled.

"I will now switch to live broadcast." the girl announced, "Let's see who actually came!"

The image on the holostage rippled and static, and then, it was ultra-clear.

and she was not alone on the stage now.

"Yvonne, are you getting us now?" Peter Steiner-Davion asked.  Behind him, the dignitaries could see Marthe Pryde, Lynn McKenna, a man dressed in Taurian garb, and Corinne Marik.

at his side, was Amanda Ngo, still garbed, though with her hair tied in a braid and wrapped, in a cloak, and still holding the staff.

"I see you, Peter."  Yvonne answered.

"Good.  we see you too.  Amanda?"

"I see...huh, Devlin Stone himself, Victor, Daoshen Liao, and Ragnar Magussen.  Hi Ragnar, we haven't met.  Now, if I recall correctly, Victor should be able to confirm this is not being handled by HPG?"

"He should be able to, yes." Peter said, "But you've got a better way to prove this is real, Amanda."

"Oh, right...come on over, we've got the airscrubbers up on the moonlet, and a barbecue pit's been cooking for three days.  Dinner, is on me, while you important government types discuss my mother's invention.  This being diplomacy, you're all safe, even you, Devlin.  and even you, Victor.  come have a seat at my table, Peter can guarantee your safety."

Yvonne smiled, "Helm, set course through the ring."

"Aye your majesty."

the ship swiveled slowly, grandly, and the main engines fired.

There was a brief feeling of vertigo as it passed through...

"Confirm our location?"

"Kowloon system, Ma'am."

"Exterior views all sides."

screens lit, showing the ring behind them, with the flotilla of warships receding in the distance.  Ahead, was a dark moonlet with patches of lighting on the surface.

gasps of amazement circulated throughout the bridge.

"It worked?" Yvonne asked.

"Obviously, we've got you on traffic control." Amanda Ngo stated, "Welcome to the Lyran Commonwealth, esteemed diplomatic visitors, and welcome to Kowloon.  Some of you, I have been aching to meet in person."

behind the ship, the ring blinked and Kirklin system was replaced by a view of regular starlight.

[Paladin1]

"Welcome to the Lyran Commonwealth, esteemed diplomatic visitors, and welcome to Kowloon.  Some of you, I have been aching to meet in person."

Why do I hear "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly" when I read this?

I'd love to see the look on Stone's face when he realizes that he's actually in the Kowloon system.

[JA Baker]

It's amazing just how much you can still get away with without breaching diplomatic protocol.

How's Stone at dealing with spicy food?

[Sir Chaos]

Why do I hear "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly" when I read this?

I'd love to see the look on Stone's face when he realizes that he's actually in the Kowloon system.

"Devlin Stone, you are under arrest for ordering twelve million people nuked, shielding Blakist remnants from justice, and being an all-round duplicitous ******. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you."

[Paladin1]

"Devlin Stone, you are under arrest for ordering twelve million people nuked, shielding Blakist remnants from justice, and being an all-round duplicitous ******. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you."

I don't think that's going to happen, at least as long as Amanda is playing at being cordial.

I suspect something much more sinister and underhanded is about to happen that is going to cause either Stone or Vic, if not both, to panic and do something stupid that will have their diplomatic immunity revoked.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

"Devlin Stone, you are under arrest for ordering twelve million people nuked, shielding Blakist remnants from justice, and being an all-round duplicitous ******. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you."

Unfortunately he's still there under diplomatic immunity.  Kick him out, fine.  Arrest is a no-no.  Which is why she said Peter could guarantee his safety.

And did Amanda go Full Technomage for her "Look"?  I'm certainly getting that vibe, what better to use to open the first "Jumpgate"?

[Cannonshop]

"Hopefully, your ships have enough sense not to start shooting." Yvonne announced.  "This is not a kidnapping and you will all be allowed to return home as soon as the cooling levels on the Airway gates are back in safe range, but you needed to see it, to comprehend it."

"Did you know about this Davion??" Daoshen demanded.

"My science advisors knew about this, I only got the layman's summary." Yvonne said casually, "The person who really knows about this, I believe, awaits us on the moon below."

"Where exactly are we?" Devlin Stone asked.

"Kowloon's outer system.  I believe teh moonlet we are currently nearing the orbit of is Snark IV, the fourth moon of the second gas giant in the system-that one-with the rings." Yvonne said.

Ragnar did some mental math.  "That is almost eight months travel by jumpship from Kirklin..."

"Straight line, and only if you don't have to stop for customs or evade border patrols."  Victor said, "amazing."

"We, have a dinner to attend." Daoshen said with exaggerated dignity.  "That little girl looked very...hungry."

for some reason, this broke the tension.

***

At least they didn't try to hide anything.  The landing pad was out in the open, exposed to vacuum and the view of Snark rumbling high in the sky, though it meant Daoshen had to borrow a pressure suit from one of his bodyguards to cross over to the station shelter itself.

Having to wear a suit (and having a fine, Capellan made suit without foreign devices on it) convinced him that yes, he was now all the way across the Inner Sphere from the Confederation, on a Lyran owned moonlet in a Lyran owned system governed by a gothy little teenager with a clumsy, but almost endearing sense of the dramatic.

who happens to have just demonstrated a level of personal power that almost made her a peer.

For Devlin, the realization came with a cold knot in his gut.  it works...and they built it...  his personal danger sense was going off the charts and there was no way to bluff, bully, fight or shoot his way out of this.

For victor, the pulse and the vertigo sense triggered something else.  a young girl's laugh in the back of his mind, and a feeling penetrating the numbness of his soul.

guilt.

For Yvonne, it was a chance to have her family together again, if only for a little while, to see how Little Hanse was doing, and to meet her Niece Morrigan for the first time.  she felt good about this.

The airlock cycled and opened, and the party of dignitaries walked in...

***

Peter greeted them in the atrium.  Yvonne managed to make an AFFS issue spacesuit look good.  Victor looked...a little befuddled and distracted.  Stone looked like he badly wanted to swallow his own tongue, while Ragnar and Daoshen's expressions were filled with wonder.

"you're not going to make a scene, are you?" Peter asked.

Amanda leaned on her 'staff', "of course not." she said, "I know what 'Diplomatic status' means. I also know how much Victor meant to mom, nobody's getting spaced just because the teenage duchess is feeling angsty or vengeful."

She looked up to meet his doubting gaze, "Besides, it would be bad form to offer someone food and drink, then toss them into hard vacuum, it would even violate guestrite and if we start doing that, well...we'd be no better than Terrans."

he nodded as the lock alarm shifted to green, and the inner door opened.

"Welcome to Port Nathan."  Amanda announced, strutting along the ceiling, before hopping and flipping to the floor, a move that billowed her cloak out dramatically (just as intended.)

she gave the Celestial Wisdom a very shallow head-dip of a bow, "добро пожаловать в мой дом, лорд-канцлер Даошен Ляо."

"Your Russian is very good." Daoshen said.

"It was slightly easier to master than Mandarin." she replied in english, then she faced Ragnar, "välkommen till mitt hus,prins Ragnar Magnussen."

Ragnar chuckled in surprise.  "Jag accepterar din gästfrihet, hertiginnan Elizabeth Ngo."

she smiled up at the Ghost Bear Khan/Prince.

then she gave Yvonne a Curtsey, "Please accept my hospitality Your Majesty, and be welcome, my air is more abundant with your presence."

"Thank you for sharing your air and shelter, Sov Ngo, and I accept your hospitality."  Yvonne accompanied this with a clasping of her chest followed by open hands.

"Guestrite?" Victor mused.

"yes." Yvonne said, "Belter tradition, if I'm not mistaken."

"Historically." Amanda said.  She looked to Victor, "victor."

and stepped aside, "There are facilities if you want to change into more comfortable clothing, everyone is meeting in the greenhouse, about ninety meters to the port side, when everyone is ready and seated, food will be served."

Spending time in the tutelage of Daphne Rowe and Marie Mullins-Steiner-Davion had taught Liz the power of the snub in social situations.

[Artifex]

Hah!

If that's not telling, I don't know what is ... snubbing Devlin Stone amidst nearly ALL leading dignitaries of the Inner Sphere and without! Well played, 'manda, well played!