An Invitation, of a dinner party nature

[Harcourt.Fenton.Mudd]

/nkin to char bio since I havent RPd with everyone that'll be attending.

Captain Kashiwaba Tomoe rifled thru her wardrobe in her cabin.
"Frak .........."

After that Lieutenant had asked her out, she had went back to her ship only to run into a problem.

She didnt have a single dress to wear.

"Frack it..... time to go shopping" she mutterd to herself.

As she started to walk down the corridor she stopped and swore to herself.

"Wait.... " she thought to herself "this party is for that pilot that called me a ricer the entire time she escorted the ship from the magellan hole to omega3 ....... just bloody wonderful.

Oh well..... I'll let her be the one to misbehave first."

[Trim]

Dum dum de dum dum dum de dum dum went the dorbell and a collection of 4-5 letters dropped through

Robert Woodrow looked through them putting them at the back of the pile after he'd seen them

"Ughh, bill, bill, bill, hmm, whats this... He read out:

To Celebrate the belated 18th Birthday of Her Ladyship Countess Lafiel Tarrant

His Lordship the Marquis of Araluen Sebastian Tarrant

Requests the pleasure of your company at a reception for his daughter

on Saturday 23rd January 818A.S at Araluen Manor Cambridge

At your convenience you may bring your family and an additional friend but this is only extended to members of the nobility of the admiralty and the government.

RSVP by the 19th details are enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival.

Dinner party, eh? Haven't been to one of them before, hmm, first time for everything, i'll be needing a suit, or summat."

Looking through his wardrobe his eye catches something to his liking

"Hmm, perfect..."

[Seth Karlo]

Lord Hester hurried up the steps towards the library, his ceremonial robes flapping madly around him. Finally, he was close to unearthing the location of the last of the knights of the realm, responsible for murdering that bastard Kithe.

The giant door was pulled open with his shaking hands, and he proceeded cautiously into the dark library. The library was ancient, the youngest book almost a hundred years old, and he had had to pull in a dozen favours to get this far.

He lit a candle, and walked between the shelves, his eyes darting across the titles, until he gave a short yelp of excitement, and pulled a heavy book from the shelf. Too anxious to look for a table, he fell onto the floor, spreading the book open on the stone beneath.

4 pages in, he smiled as he read the information he needed.

"Something interesting?" came Salazar's voice.

George Hester looked up just in time to see a silenced blaster firing at him.

Salazar wandered over to the body, 2 of his marines behind him, waiting silently for his signal. He looked down at the book, and read a passage. He smiled, lifting it up, and handing it to one of the two marines. Then he checked the Lords pockets, and, a curious look on his face, he pulled a small letter from one of the pockets.

It had been opened before, and Salazar pulled the letter from the envelope within.

To Celebrate the belated 18th Birthday of Her Ladyship Countess Lafiel Tarrant

His Lordship the Marquis of Araluen Sebastian Tarrant

Requests the pleasure of your company at a reception for his daughter

on Saturday 23rd January 818A.S at Araluen Manor Cambridge

At your convenience you may bring your family and an additional friend but this is only extended to members of the nobility of the admiralty and the government.

RSVP by the 19th details are enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival.

And slowly, Salazar started to laugh.

---

Signature by Sleipnir.

[MrHeadphones]

Robert Jones woke to the sound of a letter being pushed through the letterbox of his Cambridge cottage. He sat up, then heaved himself off his armchair. "Must have dozed off" he muttered to himself, stretching. He walked over to the door, and picked up the letter, noting the Araluen seal on it.
"So, what could this be? Do they want me to bunk a couple of farmers in the barn for the spring harvest or something? Or perhaps it's something to do with the incident which kept me on leave for three months..."
He opened the letter carefully.
"Looks like good quality paper, probably a court summons or something..."
He flipped the letter over and read it:

To Celebrate the belated 18th Birthday of Her Ladyship Countess Lafiel Tarrant

His Lordship the Marquis of Araluen Sebastian Tarrant

Requests the pleasure of your company at a reception for his daughter

on Saturday 23rd January 818A.S at Araluen Manor Cambridge

At your convenience you may bring your family and an additional friend but this is only extended to members of the nobility of the admiralty and the government.

RSVP by the 19th details are enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival.

His eyes widened slightly.
"A dinner party? Definitely not what I was expecting. Well, chances are if they're sending me an invitation they'll probably have sent some of the planetform higher-ups one as well. Should give me a chance to apologise about the incident in September"

He walked over to his wardrobe, and selected a black suit and matching tie. Then, realisation seemed to strike him.
"If the countess is running this, chances are she won't have bothered with much security. Best to be safe, I guess."
He opened his personal neural net terminal and began to type an RSVP indicating his acceptance of the invitation

[pbrione]

Lord Canning didn't even look up when his private secretary announced the arrival of the letter, sitting at his desk in the Foreign Office Building. "Thank you Perkins." he dismissed his secretary with a wave and went back to working through his ministerial red box. He paused for a moment and sighed. He had already pre-empted the invitation and set aside time from his schedule. He had had his valet prepare his best dinner jacket and other formal attire. He had even asked his butler to order a fine Fortnum and Mason Hamper as a birthday gift. However, he realised, as he pressed the button to summon his private sectretary once more, that he had neglected to inform his wife...

----------------------

Sir Stanley Nelson was at one of his many desks, this one aboard the Battleship Harlow, meeting place of the Admiralty Board, when the note arrived. A young Lieutenant saluted smartly as he handed over the rare piece of paper correspondence. Nelson opened the envelope with a puzzled look and then quickly scanned the page. The Lady Tarrant.... reception .... Saturday 23rd January.... Cambridge. Damn. Yet another ostentatious gathering of aristocrats that he was expected to attend... as if these people forgot that he had a war to fight. Nelson quickly scribbled a note on a piece of paper and handed it to the waiting relay officer to be drawn up into a reply. "May attend, work dependent." As if he could write anything else, when the combined enemies of Bretonia could attack at any moment, and find all Bretonia's military and government leaders distracted at some tea-party on Cambridge. Sometimes he really questioned the sanity of Bretonia; letting nobles run everything, and making sure anyone who wasn't a noble who ended up running anything was quickly turned into one. Half the Bretonian leadership would be at any such party. On reflection, he scribbled a second note, and called for another officer to deliver it. It was addressed to MI5, "Ensure maximum security at Araluen Manor, Saturday 23rd, Nelson."

---

Sir Stanley Nelson




<span style="color:#000066">Charles Canning </span><span style="color:#000066"> Foreign Secretary</span>

[Akura]

Valentine sighed as he glanced over the carnage, Djinn was in the next room trashing the living room.

This ship is nice he called out,
Shame we plan to fly it into a sun eh? she chuckled, a prominent *smash* being heard,

The yacht was trashed, the crew slaughtered. He kicked the corpse of the Count lying dead at the foot of the bed, his eyes filled with pain and terror. The furniture was askew, bodies of short-lived guards where they fell, blood splatters across the bedding and walls.

Valentine sighed again and slumped into the soft desk chair, swivelling idly. A letter on the desk caught his attention; he brushed the some dust and pillow feathers off the envelope, sliding his finger under the edge to break the seal.

Inside was a neat, decorated, expensive piece of paper, Valentine read through, smiling as he went,

To Celebrate the belated 18th Birthday of Her Ladyship Countess Lafiel Tarrant

His Lordship the Marquis of Araluen Sebastian Tarrant

Requests the pleasure of your company at a reception for his daughter

on Saturday 23rd January 818A.S at Araluen Manor Cambridge

At your convenience you may bring your family and an additional friend but this is only extended to members of the nobility of the admiralty and the government.

RSVP by the 19th details are enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival.

He reclined in the chair, spinning to see the wardrobe, door slightly ajar. Djinn appeared at the door, her outfit splattered with blood.

We done here? she smiled, wiping the blood off her knife using the torn drapes,

Valentine pulled a neat jacket from the wardrobe, sizing it up on himself,

You wanna go to a party? he smiled, indicating to the invitation,
Oh hell no...
Oh hell yes, pick a disguise! he laughed, waving towards the extensive wardrobe.




//Yes we asked, and yes we will be in disguise as the Count and his date. Looking forward to seeing you all there...

[Incindre]

There was something on her desk.

She was sure she had shut it off and DNA locked it the night before, like she always did.
Commander Lucy Silsbury sat down in her chair and looked at the foreign object.

She poked it.

It remained where it was.

Evidently not part of the hologram system then. Pushing her chair backwards warily she spoke to her secretary, Chelsea?
Yes Maam?
Did this thing get checked out before it came in here?
Yes Maam, several of them came in today, all addressed to important officers; nothing dodgy in them at all.

Silsbury resumed staring at the envelope.
In her life she had only seen a proper letter inscribed on paper once and she couldnt remember where.
Eventually she tentatively picked it up and opened it, noting the crest on the back.

She read the letter in disbelief. Not a day ago she had been accosted by the girl for insulting her in a transmission to a known criminal and now she wanted her to come to a party!
On consultation with a rather distressed looking Chief Commissioner it was confirmed that the letters had indeed been sent to the Senior Officers of the BPA and BAF.

Commissioner, is this some form of retaliation after you told her off for spying on us and having the cheek to request an apology?
I dont think so Miss Silsbury and I do believe you should go.

There was a pause.

You didnt explain things to her did you
I am a very busy man Commander! You will have a perfect opportunity to make amends! Perhaps that is what she is trying to do now.
Or she could be rigging this all to her advantage; I sense treachery and attempted embarrassment!

The Commissioner sighed, Lucy, just go to the party and DONT OFFEND ANYONE! This will be good for your image hopefully god knows you need it after the BBC 1 fiasco.
I am not hearing a lot of conviction Palmer!
Chief Commissioner Palmer to you! Now you will go and make amends, thats an order.

Silsbury sneered a little and ended the internal call.
She would go, even if she ended up pouring punch over the guests in anger and getting BAF Commander Goodmen to run around yelling I HATE NOBLES! into a megaphone.

She noted that only members of the Admiralty, Government and Nobility could bring friends and family, then she un-noted it and asked Sykes to be ready to come with her.
Upon being asked what to wear she was stumped.
Lucy could relate in great detail the workings of almost all scanner and engine mechanics but she had no idea what to wear to a party full of Nobles.

She decided she needed professional help and opened up the intercom to the Inspectors offices down a floor.

SAAVINS! Report to my office at once!

---

Currently Retired

Signs and Portents

[Banza]

Sir. You recived a letter.

Put it on the table, together with all papers.

This letter doesnt seems like to be..yet another report regarding certain individual, sir.

Really? Let me see it then.

Hobart opens letter and slowely read few short and clear sentences.

To Celebrate the belated 18th Birthday of Her Ladyship Countess Lafiel Tarrant

His Lordship the Marquis of Araluen Sebastian Tarrant

Requests the pleasure of your company at a reception for his daughter

on Saturday 23rd January 818A.S at Araluen Manor Cambridge

At your convenience you may bring your family and an additional friend but this is only extended to members of the nobility of the admiralty and the government.

RSVP by the 19th details are enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival.

He knew that, with certain rank, comes certain things. In this case, such invitation could hardly be rejected by an Admiral. It would just create much unwanted mess and fuss among cloud people.
It will be dull, of course. Lots of fancy people, with no real profession, leeches, as Hobart called them.

Alright John. Please call my wife, and tell her to find some nice dinner dress for tomorrow night. We...are.. going out.

Out sir? Your wife will be probably very happy. I mean, sir, with all that work that you do, you hardly have...

Call my wife, John, thank you.

I am crazy. I really am. I hate those kind of things. People will know that I dont really belong there. All those, fake smiles, fake laughs, fake moves.
There was so much of misunderstanding between some of my lads and Countess Tarrant, that my non appearance could cause only more mess, and headache. Hm. This could be actually good chance to clear some things.

Sir. I informed your wife. She was not...

Good, please send answer on this letter, we will be there. James Hobart, and my wife, Kimao Tatsuki. That would be all John.

Yes sir...

[Slainte]

Aboard the Battleship Stirling in the Dundee system, Jack Frost, the newly promoted Commodore, is back after flying another sortie to thrash out is fighter wing's training program.

" Sir, a letter for you " called his batman, Dan.
" A letter ?, all the way out here ? " called Jack climbing down from his fighter " who the hells that from then Dan. Open it for me would you "


To Celebrate the belated 18th Birthday of Her Ladyship Countess Lafiel Tarrant

His Lordship the Marquis of Araluen Sebastian Tarrant

Requests the pleasure of your company at a reception for his daughter

on Saturday 23rd January 818A.S at Araluen Manor Cambridge

At your convenience you may bring your family and an additional friend but this is only extended to members of the nobility of the admiralty and the government.

RSVP by the 19th details are enclosed. Please present this invitation upon arrival.


" Bloody hell Dan, i just got here and i get this. Damn decent of the lass to invite me but im a bit busy. Send a reply to say that im afraid i cant make it due to operational duties please"

" Aye sir " And with that Dan scurried off to his duties.

---

[Jihadjoe]

Admiral Hale opens the letter, rather later than he had intended. He had been swamped with paperwork of late, and was looking a little stressed.

He put out his cigarette and smiled as he read.

Punching a few numbers into his comms device he grinned slightly.

"Hey Sarah, want to go to a birthday party?"

"Uh... You what?" came the reply.

"Yeh, on the twenty-third, in Cambridge, it's for the little Bretonian Princess."

"Uhm, let me think on it Dave."

Hale started drafting a reply...

'I most gratiously accept the invitation, and trust that Admiral Sarah Willows would also be welcome if she is available on that date.'

He chuckled, signed it and handed it to his secretary on the way out of his office.

---