<Sciencegar> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Sciencegar> It has been a day since families have been reunited. After a day of celebration, it is time once again to discuss the next move.
<Sciencegar> The former Mitsuhama boardroom has been redecorated to make it more welcoming, and less conspiratorial.
<Sciencegar> Starting from one end, the representatives of the Magical Girl Alliance, sitting beside their former enemy Elsa. Beside them are Quatre Rebarba Winner, looking rather tired, with Master Asia and his pupils across from him.
<Sciencegar> Shinji and Asuka look over at young Alphonse Elric, and Mashymre Cello looking down at Lunamon scampering around his feet.
<Sciencegar> On the holo-monitors are the Eye of Duminass, the imposing virtual hulk representing Restoration of Gravitas, the Captain of the Antaeus, and the Warstrider at the centre of the Aumbry of Pristine Works.
<Sciencegar> Finally, at the far end are seated QUESTs main members, along with young Taiki and Kazuki, a young scarred woman, a man in a bright red spandex combat suit, and the pale figure of Celena Schezar making everyone refreshing tea.
<REDAdventFalls> "Quite the motley crew."
<Sciencegar> The door opens and the woman known as Red walks in. "Sorry, had to handle a little thing."
<Sciencegar> She plops herself down beside Quatre. "So, are we starting?"
<Sandwitches> Illya looks around to the assembled group and rises from her seat.  "Yes...  everyone who can be present, is present."
<Sandwitches> "If Everyone is ready, I'll get started."
<REDAdventFalls> "Ready."
<Anthy> Ellicia nods, sitting quietly for now.
<Gulping> A phone rings in Illya's pocket.
<Sandwitches> Illya looks down at the phone...  and smirks.  "Gravitas, please route this call to a screen for me?  Looks like we have one more person attending."
<Sciencegar> [RIGHT] Another holo-monitor pops up
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<Gulping> The old man's face blinks into existence, and he raises an eyebrow as he can see he suddenly has an audience. "...Well, this caught me off guard, I'll admit."
<Sandwitches> "Whats wrong Gihren?"  Another voice calls from off the panel.  "She have someone with her?"
<Gulping> The face of Gihren Zabi is unmistakable, even though his hairline has receded and his face is worn with age. "More than a few, I would say..."
<Sciencegar> Theres the distinctive sound of Mashymre Cello falling backwards in his chair.
<Sciencegar> How this sound got to be distinctive isn't something we have time to explain here.
<Sandwitches> "..."  Illya sends a text only message to Gihren which Mashymre is on the ground..
<Gulping> "Ah, Cello. It's good to see you alive and well here, although we're strangers to each other. Everyone who doesn't know who I am already, I am Gihren Zabi, former President of the United Earth Sphere and currently Chief Administrator of the Third Street Saints."
<Sandwitches> Lou stands at attention and salutes the man.
<Sciencegar> Mashymre seems too stunned to be able to get up.
<Sciencegar> Alphonse is staring at Gihren, his expression confused.
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<Gulping> "I come to you from the distant future of Universal Century year 160, where I miraculously pulled my head out of my own ass and managed to 'win' the One Year War, then ended up as lord and master over all mankind in the following minor conflicts and attempted coups as the Earth Federation tore bits of itself apart due to jingoism, corruption, and sheer apathy."
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<Gulping> "So if you came from another Universal Century... Suffice to say, things went rather differently where I come from."
<Sciencegar> Mashymre just sort of...squeaks acknowledgement.
<Gulping> "All hands, at ease."
<Sandwitches> Lou nods and lowers her hand, taking her seat.
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<AdventFalls> Rei nodded politely, familiar with who Gihren Zabi was.
<Sandwitches> "Alright then...  Let's get started."
<Sandwitches> "As everyone here knows...  Quest has grown quite a bit from it's starting point over the last couple of months...  and now we find ourselves at a crossroads."
<Sandwitches> "Soon the time will come when talking won't be enough to solve our problems..."
<Sandwitches> "Zaibach."  An Image of the Floating Fortress of Zaibach appears on a holographic display in the center of the room, along side some of their units.
<Sandwitches> "The Database."  Multiple Strange looking Mecha appear on the display.
<Sandwitches> "The Dinosaur Empire."  The Mechasaurus Guda and Stegon.
<Sandwitches> "Smart Brain." The Symbol of XANA, and a image of the Virus Megabyte.
<Sandwitches> "Badan." Kaijin and Mobile Dolls.
<Sandwitches> "The Vertans." Images of strange machines appear on the screen.
<Sandwitches> "Normal Diplomatic negotiations are not going to work with them, not like they have with others."
<Sandwitches> "We will have to be prepared to defend ourselves and those under our protection..."
<AdventFalls> "Obviously," Rei pointed out, "there will have to be some degree of armament buildup. But I think it's clear that if we want to continue our current mission as an organization, we cannot militarize."
<Gulping> "Who says you even have to? Refer to yourselves as defense forces, or police forces."
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<Gulping> "Officially, the UES didn't have a military for over fifty years, just a defense force and a mobile police force."
<Gulping> "Although this is really because, well... We didn't have an enemy army to fight. Ever. We had to deal with ongoing anti-piracy and anti-terrorism efforts, but even at it's peak, the so-called 'Jupiter Empire' was nothing more than a pirate faction."
<AdventFalls> "Right. And we're in a much different - and delicate - situation. If we just start laying into organizations we deem dangerous.... even if we're doing it for the right cause, we're going to look like aggressors."
<AdventFalls> "At the same time, we might appear incompetent or uncaring if we wait for them to move first."
<Gulping> "Not to mention that a purely reactionary approach has the risk of giving the attacker more time to inflict damage, unless you do what we did, and station some kind of force anywhere that could be potentially threatened."
<Gulping> "Which is a rather resource-intensive way to go about things."
<Sandwitches> "While I agree with your assessment Gihren...  we have Oracle.  With Oracle, we should be able to correctly predict when attacks against our protectorates will happen...  and should give us enough forewarning to get our people in place."
<Sandwitches> "As most of you know, We've already been developing units for the defense of Scalecrest..." Illya admits, "I believe that we should expand it.  And I believe that we need to be prepared to fight back against those that attempt to attack us and refuse to negotiate."
<Sandwitches> "I believe the issue with doing this however...  Will be in recruiting appropriate manpower for our Defense force."
<Sandwitches> "We've seen from examples in other worlds that just recruiting every avaliable pilot can lead to some abusing their power.  I refuse to allow this mistake to be repeated by Quest."
<Gulping> "That's a good policy. It only takes a few bad apples to turn a fine, disciplined unit into a band of heavily armed thugs."
<OvermanXAN> Elfriede, who has been present if silent, nods. "If I can find my subordinates, I can vouch for their character."
<OvermanXAN> She smiles thinly "And piloting ability, of course."
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<OvermanXAN> "I do have a question, however."
<OvermanXAN> "I understand that you trust your computer system with the majority of your data gathering... but I hope you are not ignoring the human element of data collection."
<Sandwitches> "No...  which is part of why I have been thinking about recruiting a...  Partner for Gravitas, assuming he has no problem with that."
<Gulping> "You think you can find another AI as good as he is?"
<Sandwitches> "Well...  We have another AI who will be working alongside him... but I wasn't referring to an AI.  I was referring to a human."
<Gulping> "Oh? Who would that be?"
<Gulping> "That's not sarcasm, by the way."
<OvermanXAN> Elfriede looks rather pleased.
<Sandwitches> "Tell me Gravitas...  Have you spoken much with Tiffa Adill?"
<OvermanXAN> A very interested look. She's listening very carefully now.
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<Sciencegar> [NOT PERSONALLY, BUT I'M AWARE OF HER WORK. SHE'S BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN KEEPING THE CORRIDOR BETWEEN MAGANAC FORTRESS AND POLYHEX SECURE, WHILE MINIMISING CASUALTIES ON ALL SIDES.]
<Sciencegar> [HER ABILITY TO PREDICT ENEMY ACTION IS QUITE INCREDIBLE. I'M NOT PROGRAMMED TO QUANTIFY IT, BUT IT'S EFFECTS ARE IMPRESSIVE.]
<Sandwitches> "Considering her skills and abilities...  would you agree with my assessment that she would be an optimal partner for you for running Oracle?"
<Gulping> "...Are you telling me you've found an actual precognitive!?" The old man's face is a rictus of disbelief.
<Sandwitches> Illya smirks more than a little.  "...  More than one.  I jsut believe that she is a better partner for him than the other precognitives with Quest."
<OvermanXAN> Elfriede looks rather amused at Gihren's startlement. Or probably really amused, given she's actually showing some sign of silent laughter.
<Gulping> The old man just sighs softly, and rubs his forehead. "Right, just another thing I previously believed impossible to be filed under 'things to be considered.'"
<Sciencegar> [OUR CURRENT TECHNOLOGY BASE SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT TO ALLOW US TO WORK TOGETHER REMOTELY, WITH SOME ASSISTANCE FROM DUMINASS. THE PRIMARY REQUIREMENT WOULD BE THE USE OF A NEWTYPE INTERFACE SYSTEM, WHICH I BELEIVE MISS ADIL'S UNIT HAS, IN AN INACTIVE STATE. A SLIGHT MODIFICATION BASED ON L'IL ZENNY'S UNIT SHOULD CREATE THE NEEDED INTERFACE.]
<Gulping> "of course she's a newtype." More groaning and sighing.
<OvermanXAN> "It's not defined in the same way where she's from" Elfriede notes pointedly.
<Gulping> "It's the principle of the thing... Bah, whatever, still glad I quashed NT exploitation, no matter what they could have done. Would have probably lead to artificial creation of newtypes, or turning normal people into newtypes, or other stupid fucking wastes of money."
<Sandwitches> "... I would prefer avoiding topics like that today."
<AdventFalls> "Yeah, and I bet you couldn't magic people into Newtypes. ....That actually sounds like an awesome id- oh, right. Avoiding topics."