OOC:
This is a closing scene and ends this Thread and the next comes shortly (Chapter 4.5 The Petition Path)
The decision is made aboard Star’s Mercy, but Verik does not let anyone rise from the table immediately. He holds them there a little longer, not to delay them, but to keep the next step from being wasted by a careless word once they leave the safety of his ship.
Verik stands near the end of the table with his cup forgotten beside one hand. His manner remains calm, but there is a firmer edge beneath it now. The negotiation has moved from theory into procedure.
He explains that the petition path is not a rescue demand. Not yet. It is an opening of a door that might remain open afterward. That distinction, he says, is the difference between getting an answer and making every person in the room decide whether they must defend their honor before they can speak.
Verik goes over the rules carefully.
Some greetings are not neutral. Some titles are safer than names. Some names must not be spoken first unless the speaker has been invited to place weight on the floor. Silence may mean refusal, but it may also mean caution, calculation, or permission for someone else to answer. A lowered gaze may be courtesy from one person and contempt from another. A repeated phrase may be an answer. A refusal to correct a phrase may be an even better one.
He knows which greetings carry insult if given too early, which silences mean caution rather than refusal, and which titles should be used before names. More importantly, the Alejia know him as someone who has moved through Balac Pontli’s difficult spaces without trying to own them. That does not make him trusted. Trust is too expensive a word here. But it makes him recognized, and recognition is enough to open the first door.
The petition itself will begin quietly. No accusation of abduction. No demand for return. No mention of hostages, prisoners, captives, or stolen personnel. Verik repeats the phrase until it becomes the shape of the approach.
Lost guests.
The question will not be, "Who took them?"
The question will be,
"Who holds obligation over the lost guests who came before us?"
Verik makes them sit with the wording. It is not decoration. It is not softness. It gives the Alejia room to answer without confessing dishonor. If they reject the phrase, that rejection reveals something. If they accept it, that acceptance reveals something else. Either way, the petition moves forward without forcing the first answer to become a fight.
Chaala will attend as the formal authority. She gives the petition weight without needing to lead every word. Virel will carry the first phrasing, because this is a diplomatic door and should be entered as one. Wilber will be present as a practical eye, alert to spaces, movement, machinery, body language, and anything out of place. Dr. Shone will attend as medical officer, but Verik cautions that medicine must not be placed too far forward unless they want the Alejia to hear accusation in it. A doctor’s presence can mean care. It can also imply harm.
Scout-Engineer Harlan Voss will accompany them.
That part Verik states plainly.
Voss is not an extra voice. He is the forcing function. His presence changes the petition from an abstract request into a living proof. He waited with the cutter. He survived the silence after Dominicus and her crew disappeared from the signal environment. He is evidence that the earlier mission did not end cleanly and that the people who came before are not merely names in a report.
But Verik is equally clear on the danger.
Voss comes as witness, not accusation. He does not lead. He does not demand. He does not correct Alejia phrasing unless Chaala permits it. If asked a direct question, he answers only what is asked. His grief is real, but if it enters the room uncontrolled, it may become the thing everyone else is forced to answer instead of the petition.
The party will travel light. No obvious show of strength beyond what common sense requires. Weapons, if carried, remain controlled and secondary. Armor and posture matter as much as words. The appearance must be serious, not aggressive; prepared, not fearful. Chaala’s authority, Virel’s diplomacy, Wilber’s observation, Shone’s restraint, Voss’s witness, and Verik’s local standing form the visible hand.
Verik closes the briefing with one final warning. Once the petition begins, speed is not measured by how quickly someone gives an answer. Speed is measured by whether the answer still leaves the missing crew alive at the end of it.
Then he sends the first messages out.
Not by broad transmission. Not by the obvious commercial channel. A crew member from Star’s Mercy leaves first, carrying a sealed marker and a spoken phrase. Later, another message goes by a different hand through a cargo contact near the ad hoc starport. No one message says enough to betray the whole request. Each piece only confirms that Verik is asking whether a recognized speaker will hear a question of obligation concerning lost guests from the earlier offworld party.
The waiting begins.
It lasts two Marinagua day-cycles. (or about 72 Imperial hours)
Long enough for the players to feel the weight of delay. Long enough for Verik’s contacts to move without looking rushed. Long enough for several people in Balac Pontli to learn that something is being asked without yet knowing exactly what will be answered.
By the end of the second cycle, the reply comes back.
The petition will not be heard at the Xá’kai holding grounds. That is either courtesy or warning. Perhaps both. Instead, the meeting will take place at a neutral market outside the direct control of the eight major tribes of Balac Pontli. Verik accepts the location without surprise. He calls it a proper first door.
OOC:
In the next Thread - state what your character is wearing, if they have armor or not, if they have a weapon or not. Even if it is a blade.
