Dead Star Dockyards

Diana viewed her conversation with the Scholar as extremely informative, if a bit disappointing. She learned a great deal about the outside world from it, though not all of this information was of the sort that boded well.

Her primary concerns about 'the crew of the Oberlux' such as what sort of organization or state they belonged to, what their purpose was, and their ability to provide assistance were the first to be answered of course.

With the exception of a large portion of the younger members, the crew of the Oberlux fell under the jurisdiction of something known as the 'Sanctum'. This organization was politically structured as an entity existing somewhere between the administrative, enforcement, and religious sectors, existing to serve and protect something known as 'the Great Csillacra'.

She had heard this name from the Captain, and apparently the best way to describe it was 'religious icon/individual'. It was not worshipped per se, but it was given a great degree of reverence and respect from all parties owing to its wisdom, anciency, and the tasks it performed. While the Scholar would not explicitly state that it was a tree, such a phrasing apparently could be construed as being disrespectful, he was willing to admit that it looked very close to one in appearance.

Furthermore, she learned why it was that the people aboard were only referred to as their titles and not names. While it was true it was partly a measure of diplomacy, it had far more to do with the ideology and practice of the Sanctum itself. 

This Sanctum upheld a value best labeled 'Neutral Absolutism'. They were to be an existence completely removed from conflict save to uphold the protection of the Great Csillacra. This extended to cultural, organizational, and political conflicts.

As the crew of the Oberlux were essentially diplomats to new cultures from the greater universe, they were expected to not act in a way that would offend their contacts. Previous experience from a very long time ago had informed them of the possibility, albeit very small, that some names that had absolutely no connection culturally could very rarely hold the same meaning as something offensive.

Titles for a certain job or position would almost never have this issue, and any that did could be smoothed over extremely easily.

Where this presented a problem for Diana was that this neutral absolutism extended into the realm of international (interstellar?) politics.

The only allies that she had a chance at making while still protected from external forces were from this Sanctum, people who were, by code, restricted from showing favor.

As she still did not completely understand their positions, values, and policies, she was still unsure of the possibility of some form of negotiation. She reasoned that, hypothetically, there was the possibility of them granting her and Donovan some sort of backing either politically, economically, or militarily, but she could not guarantee what she would be able to get from it.

The concept of reparations might not even exist in their political sphere.

The Sanctum's neutrality became even more of an issue once she learned that the politics outside of the sanctum were considered 'hostile' by her standards. There was technically a single unified political organism called the Confederation that encompassed every individual nation, however it had little power. From what she learned, it really only acted to legitimize nations.

The Scholar did not elaborate much on the subject, but the state of the universe is apparently one of constant low level wars. Border skirmishes, raiding, pillaging, and sabotage between neighboring nations was quite common, common enough to the point that it would be considered odd for a border to not have such interactions, and territory changes were frequent enough that having a large political map was worthless.

In a few years it would become inaccurate.

Roughly every month or two a full on war between two smaller powers would take place, but in a reality where thousands of independent nations spanning several solar systems existed together, such a thing was not too big of a disruption from the norm.

War was expected, yet never predicted.

This would make things extremely difficult for a small power comprised of exactly two people, a dog, and a sentient computer to hold territory and power for any meaningful amount of time. Their closest allies being sworn to neutrality would not help in the slightest.

But those were long term concerns, the Scholar went out of his way to tell her she had a long time to think about it. They may be neutral, but they were very clearly not keen on throwing lambs to the wolves.

In the short term, she had some extremely good news.

The food aboard the Oberlux was quite delicious, leaving her expectations of bland space-food completely shattered.

The Chef had personally come by to deliver the plate and get her opinions on what she did and did not like, clearly some species could not eat everything.

Diana, much to his surprise, was a true omnivore. She finished her entire plate, stocked with bits of various meats, fruits, vegetables, and a few different types of bread.

The taste wasn't too different from the foods available on Earth, some of the fruits being a tad sweeter than the closest things she could compare them to, and she could take an educated guess about the nutritional make up of the different items from their similarity to those she was familiar with.

She was full from the plate, but she gave an instruction on what she would like for her next few meals through the Scholar so that she would not need to disrupt their work.

Alongside her own order, she requested a plate of meats and fruits, the meats for the dog whenever it decided to wake up, and the fruits to be fed to the unconscious Donovan in a sort of puree. 

Content with her current position, she chose to forego the offered lodgings and instead remain by Donovan's side.

It was no exaggeration to say that he was her lifeline in this situation, physically and emotionally.

Of all the people alive in the universe, only one would be able to understand her situation.