Chapter 295: Venture’s Officer Dinner
After a while Jace led the High Priestess to the formal dinner. They talked a lot about the Kin for the most part. It seems the Centuria really was a sore spot for Victorium. They had been effectively turned away at the border since their founding. Now Jace was the first thing to interest them enough to reveal their faces.
It seemed the Victorium were aware of the Centuria traditions for a while. Which is why they restricted travel and the colony near the border of the Centuria’s territory. Now they were building a military station in orbit since it already looked like the Centuria were open to interaction now.
After getting over the issues with the Centuria and their reproduction habits. They talked briefly about the Xenar race. Which is what the Vexical’s Requiem and the Victorium’s Ancestors were. Learning the Centuria existed before the Xenar had been another thing that caused the Victorium stress. Because their people would start treating the Centuria with reverence.
The discussion of the Kin was much more detailed and in depth. He discussed what happened and how he came to know about them. She realized the Victorium would have to wait to encounter them again since their information regarding the Kin were limited to the one encounter. So they would have to wait and see what the Kin do now that they know a way of communicating with them. Because what it sounded like was the Kin were a completely different form of life that needed time to come to terms with alternate forms of life. The chances are that they would approach other species in terms of similarity first.
As they walked into the dining room their arrival was announced by a Victorium instrument that he was not familiar with. They walked past the doors and he led her to her seat and pulled out a chair at the head of the table which she probably sat in. He then sat in a chair next to her while General Isaiah sat in a chair on the opposite side of her.
"Thank you for joining us, High Priestess." The General thanked her as he nodded at her. "I doubt you have interacted with humans many times outside of formal conversations. While I am sure many humans have questions for you as well which is a large part of this dinner. Another is for you to meet the officers that are a key part of this ship’s operations." General Isaiah explained as he waved at the occupants of the room.
They were sitting at a ’U’ shaped table with all of them sitting on the outside while the servers who were just the cafeteria chefs walked in with trays and bowls of food. Setting them down around the table. Leaving an empty plate in front of the people sitting down.
It was a formal dinner tradition for the Victorium to plate the foods themselves as a reminder of their roots as working people. They had many traditions like that for people who managed to reach a higher level of living or were born there. Since this was an ’officers’ dinner they would be following the trend.
But as Jace looked around the table he could see a few of the humans were confused like the officer in charge of one of the hangars. He was looking around at other plates around him in confusion. Probably looking to see if he was the odd one out.
"I have questions!" A very energetic Hydragentia raised a branch into the air. She then looked right at Jace. "Your armor’s maintenance! Can I watch it! I tried to go see it but the engineers turned me away at the door!" Masilla the Chief Engineer yelled excitedly across the room.
Jace shook his head, "not happening. Spectre Armor is some of the most advanced and dangerous stuff out there. But it is also some of the most technologically interesting. As it is, the engineers in charge of its repair do not even understand what they are doing. They are just following instructions. So no you may not take a figurative peak under the hood without Director Fenrir and the creator’s consent." Jace answered ignoring the glare from the High Priestess.
"What!!! But-" Masilla was interrupted by Isaiah’s chuckle.
"I think I am starting to understand why you locked Masilla out of your squads quarters and ready room." Isaiah pointed out. "As it stands the most complaints I have been getting has been Victorium engineers interrupting humans while they work because they are too distracting."
"Is it that bad of a problem?" The High Priestess asked in surprise.
"Only human engineers do not mind stopping and explaining. Mostly because they enjoy their work which is why they are so good at it in the first place." Jace declared as he began plating something that looked like meat. "I have no idea what this is." Jace mumbled under his breath as he poked the purple stuff with something that looked similar to a fork.
"Is there anything we can do to help with it?" The High Priestess asked as took some meat from the same plate he just did.
"No, it is a culture clash issue. We just have to wait out for humans to adjust. There is still a large caveat of people in our Vexical faction that do not enjoy their work. No matter how good they are at it." It was another human, a pair of giant round rimmed glasses on his face, that spoke up. That was rare for a nanohuman to end up with glasses. But after focusing for a moment he noticed the glasses were an interface that he was using to work.
"In that case..." The High Priestess turned to Jace. "What is so special about this armor that you will not let our engineers repair it for you?"
Jace finished plating something else that looked like some green French fries. You cannot go wrong with something being fried. He blinked at her and then turned to Nila who was still on the High Priestesses security detail. "Nila, may I see your sword for a moment?" Jace requested and she stepped forward and pulled it out then offered it to him.
Jace shook his head, "now just hold it out." He then pointed at it. "My armor’s shell is made of that material." His admittance caused not only the Victorium to stop what they were doing but the human engineers to stop as well.
"You humans managed to reverse engineer it?" The High Priestess asked in bewilderment as Nila put away the sword and stepped back.
"Yeah, it was not that difficult. Myself and a genius armorer from the Vexical Empire managed to do it. Although it did help that the system is highly compatible with the material." Jace declared before turning back to the food. Picking out more food while the High Priestess stared at him with a stunned expression.