Koani nodded her head politely as Sejv spoke. Unfortunately, all that he had to say was nothing new to her. Her collegues, her advisors, they had all discussed the situation and possible solutions to death. Sejv might have even been surprised to hear that they had already come to a conclusion, and that things had been set in motion the very day after Zamfir's death. Koani's idea for reformation... well, it was sneaky. Already she had set up her supports. Contacted various parties that swam in her circles, and a few of those who were outside. Everything was weaving together so quickly, so smoothly. "You know the essentials it seems. I wouldn't be surprised if I caught you vying for a position as a politian someday." It was a compliment of course, although Koani was really only humouring him. Sejv's opinion on the rapine was another thing though. Of course, Sejv didn't know much in regards to rapine technology. Nor their language, nor their customs (aside from that gruesome soul sucking tradition of course). Koani herself knew a great deal, although she chose not to divulge this information. Of course, that had been when Zamfir was still alive. Unlike Karryasa, Koani knew that Zamfir would have struck her down had she even begun to speak of the rapine. To even utter a word of rapine in his presence would have been a death sentence. Maybe things would change a little now. Although Koani was still rather loathe to part with her secrets... knowing very well that she'd have to back them up with proof. She was highly aware of some of the whisperings and rumours going on behind her back (and some not so behind her back). That she was in league with the rapine (the news of a rapine vessel was really going to set those believers off), that she was plotting the destruction of Ramath-lehi. That perhaps she was even half rapine herself. And of course, that she could speak rapine. Koani nearly always laughed when confronted with these allegations. They couldn't prove anything. Koani looked over at Quen when his phone rang then turned back to Sejv as he took the call. "I'm not sure how much of an advantage capturing a rapine vessel would give us. Although we may benefit from their technology. It really all depends on the model of the..." She trailed off, diverted by Quen's now rather agitated body language and then his explosive WHAT?! She frowned when he leaned over her and told her that there had been problems. That could have meant anything. Perhaps one of Quen's people had fallen victim, perhaps something had backfired, an accident, perhaps there were more vessels... perhaps even... "Excuse me, Sejv," she said rather distractedly as she was led off to one side by Quen, quite unable to keep the concerned expression off of her face. When he finally spoke, his words quiet, Koani's frown deepened. Draconis. "How..." she breathed. "I mean, are your men sure?"
Sejv was looking at them curious, and wondering why they were telling him about the Rapine. If too big a word got out Sejv would be expecting a public panic with looting and other such mad things. Still he didnÂ’t really want to broad cast the news about the rapine, he didnÂ’t want to have to fight his way home... again. He smiled though when Koani complimented him about the politician, he considered it very nice of her especially since they both knew he hadnÂ’t said anything overly fascinating about the political scene, still he mused with the idea. "Ah I donÂ’t think so, IÂ’m not really ruthless enough for that sort of work. I prefer more action filled work anyway, desk work does not suit me at all." He said with a little smile, he was putting it in kind words really. The idea of being stuck behind a desk every day constantly competing for public affection turned his stomach, although power always sounded nice. He was half in the middle of listing to the Arch Magosai when Quen did his little out burst causing Sejv glance to flicker, he saw her do the same. Next Quen was getting up and dragging Koani off too. "Sure." He said curiously as he tried to read their facial expressions, they seemed some what shocked about something. Sejv's curiousness increased ten fold.
Shaking his head heavily, "Positive." He said in reply to Koani's question as to whether his men knew for a fact what they were facing. "They four ships locked the rapine scout in place and began boarding it, when one of them was torched, simply combusted. They dismissed that as nothing too extrodinary until they saw the Draconis." He voice was grave, as he had more disturbing news. "The one Draconis killed the forward scouting party. All that's left of my men are the few in the ships holding the scout locked in place... Those are my best men, and they all know everything available to us about the rapine." That last sentence held a sort of hidden meaning, he needed to know more. Much more. "I know you had encountered them while in space. I also know you spent time with them." He knew she'd be shocked at that, concidering how few knew about it. "Don't ask how I know that much, I simply do." He half-heartedly grinned, "It's my job, remember? Anyway.. I need to know everything I can about the Draconis. Anything you can tell me. I'm going up personally as soon as possible." He looked over to Sejv, and pondered a moment. The arden said he'd prefer action over a desk job, and Quen knew he was skilled in his chosen professions. He didn't like it, but if he went into space, he might need help... "I think I'm going to need help too..." He spoke to Koani as he glanced at Sejv. "I would want nothing more to have you with me aswell... You know more about them than anyone else... But I couldn't risk you getting hurt further." He shoved a hand through his hair, grumbling lightly, not really knowing what to do. He was confident in himself, but he knew next to nothing about the Draconis Rapine. He knew they could be big, mean, and powerful. Not nearly enough to go on. Jumping into the fray without knowing what you were jumping in to could be deadly, no matter how skilled you were.
Ruthless. Yes, Koani imagined that would have to be at least one quality in a politician. Although, there was a time and place for ruthlessness. Sometimes you had to take so that you could give. Sometimes you had to hold your head up and simply move on when upsetting news reached your ears. Koani listened to Quen now with varying levels of surprise and disbelief. From the ship, to the first scout party being lost, and then to the degree of Quen's knowledge about her. It was all very disconcerting. “I'm sorry to hear that, but with the rapine Quenetym, it's to be expected. Perhaps we should give the order to destroy the ship. No questions asked... before we open up any more room for error. If it really is a Draconis, they'd have a wealth of rapine military tactics behind them." Koani frowned. Something wasn't right. She was feeling rather agitated by the whole situation now. It was one thing to deal with the rapine in an offhand manner, it was another to have Quen not so subtly prod her for information. Then there had been his follow up comment about her getting hurt, which Koani completely resented. “I'm not nearly as fragile as I seem," Koani stated, “Besides, I've got Vythe. He's quite competent as you can plainly see by the fact that - I'm not dead yet." This caused a flicker of a smile to run across Vythe's face. It was a bit of a rarity for Koani to compliment him. Specially with all of the awkwardness between them as of late. Vythe was wary though. While with him, Koani always seemed to be getting herself into dangerous situations. It sometimes felt as if she were deliberately getting herself into trouble just to test him. Her even considering going up against that ship though, that felt like impending doom to him. A little bit like... suicide. “I'm not so sure about bringing Sejv into this either. He is a civilian after all. We are a little strapped for time though... I'll assist however I can. We lost on Candrice though. Lost badly. I should have died too then, but by some sort of fluke, here I am. I think that maybe you're assuming that I know much more than I really do." She was downplaying the situation of course. Perhaps it had been a fluke, and perhaps it hadn't. Then there had been the long years that had followed that catastrophe. Koani inwardly cringed at the thought, her stomach tightening. She was in no mood at all to turn this into some sort of sob story. Unarmed, hand to hand combat? You're dead. Fighting alone? Dead. Show fear? Dead. And not just simply dead. Your soul is obliterated. So why was she still here? Scarred, but still here? That was just but one of the mysteries that encircled Koani Grader. “Do you know if the rapine ship has been trying to send out any transmissions...? Or has it been just dead air?"
Sejv's eyes where jumping to every member of this little talk, changing between the mysterious Vythe and then the brutish and oh so subtle Quen. Then to the ridiculously mysterious Koani who seemed to be stopping her foot down on Quen for some reason. Sejv felt somewhat .... out of place, totally not sure off where to sit or whether he should just excuse him self. It al seemed very not his sort of thing, he still wasn’t sure why they just didn’t blow it up if they thought the ship was worthless. Unless they were trying to do something totally stupid like ... kill them personally or something. Then a more sensible idea clicked in his head, it occurred to him that they might even be trying to captured one. His head was reeling from the idea, maybe that’s what they were fighting about. He looked over intently at Quen and Koani, trying his best to lip read what they were saying. It wasn’t really a skill of his and he was mostly just guess, the angles didn’t help either since he could only really see Koani and it wasn’t even a clear view. After straining his mind and his eyes all he could make out was. “Do .... rapine ship .. seen flying .... many tran...? For ... seen .... dead ....?" Sejv scratched his head with a lot of confusion, that really made no sense.
[OOC: Uhh.. I know I should be posting, but er... I've been completly drained for ideas right now... I'll post my update to this thread as soon as I can, mighty sorry. :COO]
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>I don't... really see us picking this up again. :/ For archive purposes, lets just say that the rapine ship had to be destroyed. They were starting to work around the Ramathian communications jamming devices and in order to prevent them from sending out a distress signal - KABOOM! Rapine ship had to be exploded. Then the pieces were salvaged, but not much was learnt from that.</td></tr></table>
