Andrea paces in her office. Hanging from her privacy screen are two outfits. One is an elegant dress, long and slim, though with no train behind it. The other is a more utilitarian affair, casual pants and a comfortable shirt. Dressing to impress would be preferred, unless the outfit got soiled in her wanderings. It just wouldn't be a very impressive sight for her to show up with grime on her nice dress. Counter-productive, in fact. But, for something like this, impression was everything. She would just need to be careful NOT to spoil the dress.
That decided, turns to her mask. The dress she wore to the masquerade did not fare very well. By the time she returned from that fiasco, it had been only slightly better than going naked. In fact, the only positive thing about wearing it on the way home was that she was
not naked. She'd thrown it out as soon as she could get out of it and into a bath. But, the mask had survived basically intact. Once she'd cleaned the dust and sweat from it, it was again a pristine white. She spent some time applying makeup to the surface, since this new outfit wasn't all-white. Some red on the lips, and a bit of contrast by the corners of the eyes, and it would go nicely with the blacks and reds of the dress. There was a matching hat, and a scarf she could use around the edges of the mask. Not quite as custom-made as the old costume, but it would do for now.
Why haven't I thought of this before? I was disciplined for having purple hair. A mask is much more elegant, by far. And it would avoid the uncomfortable looks at my eyes.
She made a note to find someone to help her get another few masks of different styles, with smoother headcoverings. Grandiose hats were fine for formal affairs, but they weren't really useful for daily wear, even if most masks assumed you'd have a hat and scarf to complete the look. It would take some work, but she felt it could be worked out. Probably she'd have to wait for the next port, if there were time once more food had been acquired.
But first, she had to go talk to the ratings. To tell them that all of their work and sacrifice was appreciated. To share with them why it was important, why it was necessary. And to hope that they embraced their roles again.
With the mask properly made up, the dress on, and the hat & scarf firmly on, she inspected herself once more in the mirror. "Perfect."
The Hab Decks
Of course, any visit to the ratings must start with the
Eternals. And any visit to the
Eternals must start with the clan representatives. Andrea had started with Lady Kharmyna, but the matriarch had been predictably occupied with other matters. Her minion had taken the bottle of aged Amesec, of course. What mattered is that Andrea had made the attempt, really. Kharmyna would know that she had been the first stop. From here, she just started walking towards the stern of the ship.
In the Gunner’s Rest (Level 23, Rear Section, Port Commons), Andrea walked inside. The overhead lights were surprisingly on, but someone had partially occluded them with colored cloths. It produced a dim and strangely colorful atmostphere, where the ratings were sitting and eating and drinking. There was a... for lack of a better term, proprietor of the place, who quickly approached her. The mutter of conversation stopped as heads turned towards her, and the man spoke even quieter to her. “‘Ow can I ‘elp ye, ma’am?”
In the stillness, all could hear her response, “Good man, on behalf of the Lord-Captain, I would like to buy a round of drinks for these heroes of the ship. And I hope they will drink a toast with me, in honor of our fallen comrades.”
The proprietor was confused. “Heroes, Lady?”
“Why, all of you.” she says to the room in general. “You heard the Lord Amphael today. You are the lifeblood of the ship. This ship that is the last hope of the great Amphael family, you are all the saviors of that family.” She turns to a table of men with fresh bandages. “And, just the other day you fought and bled to save us once again. Heroes, I say. And who will say that you aren’t?”
“So then, a round of drinks for all. I cannot truly repay all that you have given to me, but I can stand among you and tell you that I am in your debt. We all are.”
As the man starts to give drinks to all those in the quiet place, a few people nod appreciation. Free drinks are never refused, aboard the
Invictus Aeterna. But in a back corner, one man stands up. He’s a little unsteady, which is explained by his missing leg as he makes his way to the middle of the room. “That’s it, then? The Captain finally heard we was mad, so he sends you down here to buy us off? Pat us on the back an’ say ‘Thanks, chums! We really hope you’ll keep runnin’ the ship for us, so we can get more of you killed off.’? Why should we keep on, just so’s others can enjoy the fruits of our deaths?” Some of his neighbors reach out to hold him up as he starts to wobble from gesticulating emphatically on only one leg.
Andrea is taken aback. She didn’t think this would be easy, but she wasn’t expecting open hostility. Looking around at the crowd, most of them avoid her gaze, which is only proper respect towards a noble. But a few of them, those near the spokesman, looked her in the face, nodding to the man’s words.
“Um.” she said, trying to think of a more eloquent response. She thought back to Detronimus’ words,
'For the ratings, service to the ship is service to the Imperium. It is the only higher purpose they know. Harm to the ship is an insult to her legacy and to the Imperium. The ratings are but men and women, they have needs, desires, and fears. Satisfy those needs, channel those desires, and dispel those fears.’
She tries again, “You’re right.” This brings the man short. He’d been preparing himself to debate the points with her. “In a way. Why should you bear the brunt of the pain? Why should you be the ones to die?” She looks around at them further. “I’ll tell you why. You deserve to know that much.”
“Most of you have never left the ship, I imagine. You never get to see what it’s like for the rest of the family. On Malfi, you can see the monuments to the Amphaels who helped to build the world. You can see the shipyards in the sky at night, where the Amphaels used to maintain a fleet of ships. Ours, no longer. Those monuments are in the towns of other families. Those shipyards were sold off generations ago. This family is dying. The
Invictus Aeterna is all we have left of our former glory. Our flagship, it was the one thing we held on to above all else.”
“And perhaps, this ship can help us rebuild our fortunes. And when it does, we’ll be able to repay the centuries of faithful service she’s given us. She’s been hurt, and you’re taken care of her as you could, but the family can’t afford the credits it would take to properly care for her. So, here’s what we do. We take her out here to the Koronos, hoping that we can earn profit faster than she ship degrades. We keep her going, and eventually we can dig ourselves out of these dire straits. Because if we don’t, in not too much time, we won’t be able to afford fuel, or the next batch of supplies, or shells for the batteries. And when that day comes, this last great ship of ours will be just another frigate in the fleet of someone like Cyrus Deltael.”
“So, yes. We’re courting favor with the Deltaels. We escort the ships of Trader Galen. Because we need friends here. We’re ferrying these Alid-Yuril merchants to some death world, so they can harvest some fungus there and give us a cut of the profits. Every job we take, we risk everything we have, because if we don’t take a job, we perish. But if things work out, we’ll bring home enough from this venture to keep the ship going for a while longer, so we can get to the next venture. And maybe from that, we’ll get enough for a second ship, so we can finally treat the
Invictus right, and get her fixed up properly.”
“But all of that relies on you. All of you. You, and the thousands of others aboard this ship. Working to keep the ship alive, even though she’s old and worn. Working to defend her from pirates, and sometimes dying. Sometimes we risk the Warp, and sometimes we risk death worlds, or Xenos horrors, or treachery from bad men. What you do is important. It’s necessary, both for the ship and for the Amphael family. And those of us in charge of running things, we’ve been lax. We thought you didn’t need to know all this, that you were better off knowing. Not because we were trying to hide it... we just assumed that you who had never seen the great floating cities on Malfi wouldn’t care why we were doing this.”
“Still, I think you care. They’re your family, just like the men who work the ship’s lance are. You trust them to do their parts, knowing that you all strive towards a greater goal together. And I know you care about the ship. I know these old halls, with their flickering lights and strange smells, they mean something to you all. And I think that we have done you a disservice by not telling you what you were about. There is great honor in this venture. And great risk, as well. But you deserve to know. And you all deserve an apology for this being kept from you. It wasn’t meant as an insult, but the damage was done regardless.”
“I could tell you that we’re looking for a place to resupply. That once we’re in orbit around this Death World, we’ll have a lot of time to relax while our guests harvest their fungus. Time to repair the damage to the ship and the damage to her crew. Our new Lord is a stranger to us, and his ways are not what we’re used to. But we will get to know him, and we will begin to trust him. When the pirates were in our holds, killing our kin, Garrius Amphael gathered up armsmen from the shuttles and brought them here to restore us. He fought the pirates himself, risking himself for his ship, because he knows that the ship is the heart of this family. He may not be Laurent, but our old Lord chose Garrius over his own brother. We should trust in his choices. And I will make it my duty to help the crew understand just how much faith Garrius Amphael places in you, even if he is too proud to say so.”
[
Let's also go for a difficult Charm test, as on pg 226. And while we're at it, let's throw a Fate Point at that. I do still have at least one Fate Point left, I hope.]