Taking a Break [Day 4 EE, Hanger]

[Charlie Schroeder]

"Yeah. They got all kinds of schools. My sister was going to go to an art school on Tharkad until.... until she became the designated heir." Charlie moves on since that brings up some unpleasant memories.

"The Gauss Rifle was amazing. I seen it once at the school. Wouldn't let me touch it though." Charlie chuckles. He was joking, but he really did want to touch it. "They can fire slugs that don't use combustible ammo, so no ammo explosions and they generate little heat. I hope you can see one soon."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Thar-kad. Thar-kad. That sounds like a fun place. I think." She repeated the name a couple of times. It sounded weird to her as she had never heard it or said it before.

"Hey now, look at this. Maybe we'll get to work on one of those goose guns together. You got those eyes on one before, but I think it's time to get those hands on one too. And me, well I'll jump in with both feet. I'm likin' how they sound so far." The smile spread across Hrafna's face yet again and she nodded enthusiastically.

[Charlie Schroeder]

"Well, I can show you a few things now." He grabs a piece of paper draws a very rough and basic blueprint. He explains the basic functionality and how it works.

((Note: Charlie does have LosTech as a skill, so it's accurate if fairly simple explanation.))

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

(oh, nice. Hrafna begins here LosTech education.)

She nodded at the sketch as Charlie drew. She had enough know how to follow even though the subject matter was new. Would Hrafna be an expert right away? No way, but at least she was keeping up with the explanation.

"Now this is somethin'. Now this is somethin' I can really get behind. I had no idea this was a possible but heck there's a bunch I don't know about a bunch. Now if we get these things in here I'll be able to seem then with my own two peepers. Then I can take this blueprint you just drew up Charles, and see everything in the third dimen...di...the third dimextension."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie nods. "You seemed like someone who would get it." She did seem like a natural. "There are others. The Star League had amazing stuff. Man, to live in that time. Before the 'Civil War.' " For some reason, his tone implies that there was not in fact a Star League Civil War."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna had not been taught much on the history of the universe growing up, many historical events were unknown to her. But that's not to say she was completely sheltered, just mostly.

"Hoo boy, I'd love to see all of the new stuff indeed. Well, new to me at least. This civil war sounds like it messed up a bunch of stuff. That's a bummer."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie nods. "There was a 'man' called Amaris who tried to take over the Star League and lost to General Kerensky. Well, that's the official story. There are theories of course." He leaves it open. He found it best to teach those willing learn the truth about the Star League Civil War and the secret alien invasion than to just tell everyone.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Well now, that details were certainly something that her school did not spend any time on. To be fair that kind of stuff to learn wasn't as important as other things. "Aramis. General Keren-stee. Interesting. But what are the theories? You said theories. Is it not true? What's true?"

[Charlie Schroeder]

"Well, history is a hard thing to know sometimes. The Succession Wars destroyed a lot of records. Plus, many of those who write history try to change it for their own benefit." He was thinking of the alien controlled Comstar, but he knew pretty much any government told history in a light that made them look best.

"One of the most important theories is that aliens from beyond the Inner Sphere became threaten by growing Star League. So, they infiltrated the Periphery nation of the Rim Worlds Republic. Amaris wasn't likely even human. He betrayed the First Lord and almost destroyed the Star League. General Kerensky and the Star League Defense Force had been fighting in the Rims World Republic and discovered the truth. After General Kerensky won the war, he took the Star League Defense Force to go fight the aliens on their home turf. We don't know what happened to them after they left."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna's eyes went wide. "Aliens! Aliens?! Aliens!" She quickly caught herself and dropped her voice. "Sorry. Aliens? In the Periphery? In the Periphery?! Periphery!" Again she caught herself and dropped her voice. "Sorry. I'm from that area. I don't think I've ever seen an alien, buuuut I don't know what one looks like so maybe I have. This is big Charles, real big. I should send a message home to let my family know."

[Charlie Schroeder]

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much. It's assumed they can appear to be human, somehow off. But they are farther than where we settled. Humanity explored a lot more than Inner Sphere and the Periphery but pulled back." Because of the aliens of course.

"But be careful of what messages you send. They can listen to HPG network." Because Comstar was also aliens of course.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Oh no..." She whispered. "I sent a message the other day tellin' my parents about the hole in the seat of my coveralls. Do you think they know that now?" Slowly her hand went to cover up the hole as her eyes looked around.

"I gotta know more about these aliens. If they appear to be human...could I be one? Oh gosh...oh gosh..."

[Charlie Schroeder]

"Maybe? Though they probably would ignore it since even they probably cannot pay attention to every message. Probably just things that are relevant to what they want to know."

Charlie smiles. It was always nice to enlighten people into the way of the Truth. "I could tell you as much as I know. Or at least the theories since hard facts about them are rare. I don't think you need to worry about being one without knowing." But could she be a mind-controlled slave human without knowing? Yes. Yes she could. But that's a later lesson. No reason to scare into doing something rash.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"You gotta, Charles. You gotta tell me everything. How could I have not know? Oh gosh, I was sittin' our there on that family farm and all the while we had aliens walkin' around and they were reading all my messages about the holes in my socks. I can't believe it. Luckily I got you to help me learn this stuff."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie nods. "I have some books on my Noteputer I can send to you. There's a wealth of information in there. I think The Truth About Kerensky's Sacrifice about the Star League Civil War, Comstar: Alien Menace?, and Salt: A Recipe Book - which is just a title to throw off any infiltrators - are good starts. They cover different topics, so you can read them in whatever order you wish."