Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
So you don't see the hypocrisy in a Worm Tinker saying someone else's technology is inconsistent and impossible?
... good point.
Guess we now know how Simurgh's going to hit us next.
Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Silently Watches
- Start date
Guess we now know how Simurgh's going to hit us next.
...Well, at least we got two quests close to completion! Now all we gotta do is focus on the future mana generator quest and the Monster Mash quest!
...Or we can put it on the backburner for the Brockton Bay quest. If that's still an option, of course.
Basically saying that in terms of programming, Taylor's magic code makes absolutely no sense and should by all rights and purposes fail horribly since it doesn't follow the set rules and patterns established by the known variables. It's even more bullshit than people who have powers that break the rules of physics constantly, apparently.
At least, I think it's saying that. My technobabble is rusty.
Also, Saint was concerned about Aliens as well, correct? If that's the case, then we have something new to deal with in the upcoming arc!!!
...Or we can put it on the backburner for the Brockton Bay quest. If that's still an option, of course.
Basically saying that in terms of programming, Taylor's magic code makes absolutely no sense and should by all rights and purposes fail horribly since it doesn't follow the set rules and patterns established by the known variables. It's even more bullshit than people who have powers that break the rules of physics constantly, apparently.
At least, I think it's saying that. My technobabble is rusty.
Also, Saint was concerned about Aliens as well, correct? If that's the case, then we have something new to deal with in the upcoming arc!!!
jwolfe_beta
Semi Genre-Savvy Overlord
- Location
- Canada
Not when they always seem to think they have all the pieces in regards to their tech. They never seem to cotton on to the idea that there are gaping holes and inconsistencies in their creations. I blame the Shard programming.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Pretty much this. Nanoha programming (or at least what I'm pseudo-inventing for this quest) was developed to be used by people, not machines. That means there's a degree of intuition required that would never work on Earth's pure-logic computers. Dragon wouldn't have nearly as much difficulty with this if she weren't an AI.
Due to the aforementioned programming and the completely non-electronic nature of magic, this ranks high among the strangest tech Dragon's ever worked with. Her frustration is understandable.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
That is a fair point, so I will maintain a 'well so is yours' position.
Clarification: Dragon's power is the Thinker ability, specifically the ability to comprehend Tinkertech
She can make underlying sense of even apparently nonsensical tinkertech given time to examine it.
If she says it's not operating by Tinkertech principles, it's absolutely true, because for HER alone, the principles can be understood and replicated, though it's very difficult without a dedicated shard cheating for you during construction. Dragon needs an actual techbase where a real Tinker wouldn't need much of one.
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Inverness
The Foxiest Wife
I think I'm missing something due to not following this quest too closely. If the radio has a time limit, why isn't Taylor sending a non-voice message of some sort containing a bunch of information and a request for assistance? The message could include a time in which she will turn the radio on again to check if the TSAB has a response message. This could be done in a few seconds each time if a protocol is established. I would expect TSAB to already have something like this considering how advanced they are. They have AI's no? Let them do the talking much more quickly than a human could.
Archeo Lumiere
The Prince's Archivist
- Location
- Lumiose City, Kalos
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
She needed proof of aliens for Dragon.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
Not about the external aid.
About the contact with aliens possessing superior and incomprehensible tech.
Who know that we are here and have only one 'mage'.
And we don't know anything about them except that they have spaceships and call themselves 'Enforcers'.
It's good reason for panic.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
It's a kinda shitty reason to panic, since you can read anything into that information.
It could mean Space!police who will be sending more people to this under-staffed world with a rampaging monster.
It could mean they're Space!Mafia who see an opportunity to loot and shake down a weakened world.
It could mean that they're Space!military peacekeepers who deal with dangerous threats like the Simurgh.
It could mean they're Space!Dictators who want to conquer this world.
See how there's a ton of info needed to make any real decisions missing here?
Also, you forgot they define types of Telepathy.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
That means they have good enough understanding of Telepathy to be even worse enemies than Ziz herself.
There is chance of course, that they are Space!Police or Space!Peacekeepers, but it's Worm!Earth.
When something good happened there last time?
And alien police don't have any obligations before Earth. Why they'll decide to help?
And you admitted that there is chance that they are Space!Mafia or Space!Dictators. Telepathic Space!Mafia or Space!Dictators.
It's government job to try and find out way to protect Earth from possible invasion.
And Calamity is the only known user of their tech.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Or even unfuck all her people-bombs.
Calamity Witch.
Cauldron.
Dragon.
You want me to keep going?
You're making a bit of an assumption. Especially in the light of the info that Calamity Witch has one of their ship radios.
That'd be like asking why the US doesn't send people to Bumfuckistan when one of their planes is found to have crashed there.
And them being benevolent and helpful is equally likely, all you've got to argue otherwise is pure pessimism.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
The girl who found somewhere piece of alien tech and decided that it would be a good idea to talk with aliens, putting in danger all planet?
Shady people, who sell powers with unknown motivation? (Group of desperate people, who tried to save Earth and was killed in process?)
The greatest Tinker of Earth. Okay. (Okay?! It's AI! She can decide to kill all humans in every moment!)
They can send their people to retrieve shipwrecks. They still don't have any obligations to handle Earth's problems and unfuck the unfuckable.
It' government job to be ready to the worst possible scenario.
I hope that there wouldn't be nuclear war.
But if war will breaks out, I know that we have plans for it.
It's make me feel better.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
And kept civilization from falling apart by making stable capes the bedrock of larger organizations.
And who, mind you, the US government both knows about, and also discuss these kinds of issues with.
The Triumverate's part of Cauldron, and of course Rebecca has that double life.
... We know from Interlude 10.5 that Dragon is literally incapable of doing that, because she has a hard-wired restriction to always place human lives above her own, unless ordered by a legitimate authority and on targets of a certain priority. Thus, the only way she can kill all of humanity is if a parahuman takes over the US government and orders her to do so.
Article: She had been forced by the rules her maker had imposed on her to sacrifice herself for the human.
Article: If a despot seized control of the local government, Dragon would be obligated to obey and enforce the rules that individual set in place, no matter how ruthless they were. It was a spooky thought.
So in summation, you have no clue what you're taking about. Or Saint, but that's be redundant.
They do when said giant, glowing problem decides to try and mulch them. Then it becomes self-defense.
And that's all well and good.
But there's a fine line.
See, there comes a point where one spends so much time planning for the worst, you stop thinking about what you're gonna do if the worst doesn't happen. Then we get fun things like confirmation bias, and it becomes very hard to break out of that mindset.
You've taken one look at that line and decided to make the biggest jump you can across it.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
Ziz attacked Brockton Bay, because she wanted something from Calamity. It's fully possible that she wanted the TSAB come on Earth.
All this quest is her plan!
Correct me if I wrong, but in canon Dragon found a way to unshackle herself through Defiant's help.
And we don't know how that turned out for Earth-Bet.
...I don't have much trust in person created through space whale bullshit.
"Benevolent aliens" is on my list just after "incomprehensible aliens with incomprehensible, but malicious goals (Kyubey, Society)", "aliens who want us dead/enslaved (Ethereals, goa'uld)" and "aliens just like us, who want money and influence (Citadel Council)".
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
You would be correct. Colin did circumvent the restrictions... at great cost to Dragon.
Until Scion GB'd it, pretty damn great. She played a key role in Golden Morning and coordinating Khepri's capes.
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Short answer is that Taylor and PS don't know how to work the radio besides "feed it power to turn it on", which they managed by a stroke of pure luck and GM fiat. Especially since all they have of the radio is the transceiver.
An observation of some quest mechanic things, but in spoilers, cause it's old hash and doesn't really need to be re argued or anything.
That said, I like the writing, it's engaging, so... good job, and keep it up.
EDIT:
So, I'm just reading this quest, not participating (beyond this), but... I've been picking up on some GM cognitive dissonance going on occasionally here (and oddly it seems to happen more when Vista's around)
Here's from your first post:
And then the Vista getting chomped post:
The problem I saw with the interpretation you took is that this vote didn't specify "only the PC should stay in the air out of reach", and could have been interpreted by the voter's as keep everyone out of reach in the air. If there was conversation to support that, then if you're following your own starter post points, that's what you should have gone with.
If you're wanting to "EXACT WORDS" votes, you should remove that bit from the starter post about using the conversation along with the vote to influence your decisions, as it can only result in, and continue to lead to dumb things, and also overly exact actions. At some point in time, you're going to get players writing 20 page long votes just so they cover every eventuality, and... that's silly.
I'd also point out the Vista "tank it vs fly" vote during the endbringer fight as not great. You decided that "grab vista and protect her with your barrier jacket" was mutually exclusive from "grab vista and fly", when that literally could be handled by grabbing vista and flying, while putting your body between the blast wave and her. And apparently ignored that the temporal sludge's 12 votes also included grabbing vista and flying away (which put the total votes to fly @29 vs 20 to just "grab or grab and shield") to come up with, as compromise, "don't fly and just tank it in the face". :/ Like, wat. Again, old hash and all that, it just struck me as really weird.
Here's from your first post:
And then the Vista getting chomped post:
The Vote said:
The problem I saw with the interpretation you took is that this vote didn't specify "only the PC should stay in the air out of reach", and could have been interpreted by the voter's as keep everyone out of reach in the air. If there was conversation to support that, then if you're following your own starter post points, that's what you should have gone with.
If you're wanting to "EXACT WORDS" votes, you should remove that bit from the starter post about using the conversation along with the vote to influence your decisions, as it can only result in, and continue to lead to dumb things, and also overly exact actions. At some point in time, you're going to get players writing 20 page long votes just so they cover every eventuality, and... that's silly.
I'd also point out the Vista "tank it vs fly" vote during the endbringer fight as not great. You decided that "grab vista and protect her with your barrier jacket" was mutually exclusive from "grab vista and fly", when that literally could be handled by grabbing vista and flying, while putting your body between the blast wave and her. And apparently ignored that the temporal sludge's 12 votes also included grabbing vista and flying away (which put the total votes to fly @29 vs 20 to just "grab or grab and shield") to come up with, as compromise, "don't fly and just tank it in the face". :/ Like, wat. Again, old hash and all that, it just struck me as really weird.
That said, I like the writing, it's engaging, so... good job, and keep it up.
EDIT:
I'd like to add one thing to this post. If you've got a relatively simple, binary situation like that again, just ask the players. If it's super complicated, yeah, just hash the best thing together you make make from it, but for example, with the recent vote, it was a simple binary decision: Did the players want to leave Vista on the roof, or carry her? And that's all you need to ask:
Dear players, I wasn't sure based on the previous vote, did you want Vista to maintain position on the roof, or did you want to carry her?
[] Fly
[] Roof
no writins.
And that solves the problem and hopefully reduces stress for everyone. And if players still fuck it up, you get a nice big scooping of schadenfreude.
Dear players, I wasn't sure based on the previous vote, did you want Vista to maintain position on the roof, or did you want to carry her?
[] Fly
[] Roof
no writins.
And that solves the problem and hopefully reduces stress for everyone. And if players still fuck it up, you get a nice big scooping of schadenfreude.
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Emigration 4.x
Silently Watches
Professional Stalker
- Location
- Right behind you
Emigration 4.x
Samstag, 9 Grasmanod, Year 0080
"Right now, we're still waiting for the majority of the supplies to be collected and brought on board and the specialists to arrive. We can set off as soon as that's finished. I'd estimate no more than a week."
"That is good news, Erga," Admiral Dietrich Tucson said with a sigh. Finally, something was going right with this blasted operation. "You're sure no one else knows the details of your mission?"
"Just myself and Captain Aska. We told the rest of the crew that we're on a routine expedition and surveillance mission with unsubstantiated rumors of pirate activity in the area. It seemed the best explanation for why I'm aboard and why everyone needs to be prepared to adhere to first contact precautions," the Enforcer said with a shrug.
Tucson nodded. That was good enough, for now at least. That kind of cover story would not last forever, particularly not if everything went south the way he was afraid and half-convinced it would, but it would do until the Sojourner reached Delnarib and the Dimensional Sea beyond. "Just be careful. I believe I've explained how delicate this situation is. A Lost Logia activating is not the kind of first impression we want to make on a magic-naive world. I'm just glad we have some point of contact on this Earth Bet place."
"Explained more than once, if you don't mind my saying so, Admiral," Erga said with a cheeky grin. The Eltria-born mage had an incorrigible habit of toeing the line between simple sass and true disrespect, but thankfully for him he was also a damn fine investigator. There were days his skill was the only thing keeping him from getting busted down a rank. "Find the dimension, find the Lost Logia, beat it up if it's active, lock it down if it ain't, and bring it back. Standard Enforcer op except for the planet. Also look for that Taylor girl and convince her to leave her backwater and join up."
"Don't get cocky," Tucson warned. "We lost two ships and almost three full crews to this thing, and that's without knowing whether it played any role in the Agharti's crash. You stick your neck out too far, you just might lose it this time."
The much younger mage scratched his purple stubble. "Ah, love you too, Admiral. Promise I'll come home safe and sound. Erga out."
Days like today, in fact, when Erga's skill was the only thing keeping him safe.
Tucson shook his head and turned back to his regular display, but he barely had time to read the first line of the report in front of him before his secretary buzzed him. "You have a priority call, Admiral," the woman's voice said.
"Who is it?"
"Enforcer Lanster, sir."
His hands froze on the keyboard. This was a confrontation he did not have the wherewithal for right now. Unfortunately, he also knew that if he didn't answer, she would just call back again. And again, and again, until he finally gave in and talked to her, at which time he would have to slap her down for insubordination because there was no doubt in his mind that she would be in a temper by then. Running his fingers through his greying head, he sighed again. "Okay, Stella, patch her through." A video screen popped up where Erga's had been a few moments before. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Lanster?"
The redhead scowled at him; as much as she would scowl at her superior, anyway. "I heard you found it."
No matter how tempting it was to play dumb about what she was talking about, he knew she would confirm whatever rumor she had heard eventually. "We received a message via the radio that was part of the Agharti a few weeks ago. A local mage on a magic-naive world managed to power it up with what sounds like an ad hoc setup. We've already started organizing a mission to pick her, and the Lost Logia, up."
"A… a few weeks?!" she spluttered. "Admiral, with all due respect, you know what happened when that thing activated last time, and that was when it only had a few days and two ships to build up its forces. Now you're saying it's been on an inhabited world for a few weeks and we haven't grabbed it yet?!"
"The initial communication did not indicate that anything untoward had happened, which should have meant that the Lost Logia was still inactive. There was no reason not to be cautious with regard to assembling a team to retrieve it," he explained as patiently as he could. Lanster's indignation was understandable, admirable even. Had he been in her shoes when he was still an active field agent, he would have been just as upset. But aggravation did not help anybody right now. "Yesterday's follow-up message regarding a telepathic monster driving people insane, on the other hand, rapidly accelerated our plans."
Lanster's face turned even more pallid than it already was, nearly the shade of her white gown, and he could see her mouth his last words. "Who…. Who's the Enforcer going in?"
"Erga."
"Erga?! Sir, he's one of the worst choices for this operation!"
Tucson crossed his arms and stared hard at her. "Do recall, Lieutenant Commander, that his attitude aside, Commander Erga has substantially more experience working around low-magic worlds than have you. I fail to see what standing you have to criticize his placement as the Enforcer for this incident."
"That's not what I meant, sir," she said, eyes down and voice audibly chastised. "Erga is more experienced, and he's a good investigator, but even he'll admit that he's weaker when it comes to combat. This Lost Logia will not go down without a fight." Glancing up again, she suggested, "What about Fate? She's one of our strongest fighters, and she's worked on magic-naive worlds before. She even lived on one for several years. If anyone's the best bet for dealing with this, it's her."
"I agree. Or I would were Captain Harlaown not currently on an undercover assignment. Total radio silence by her own orders."
"Then what about calling for help from—"
"Lanster," he interrupted with a sigh, "while I appreciate the suggestions, we don't know anything about the situation. Certainly not enough to think that we can't handle this without calling in the rest of the Navy."
Lanster bit her lip before blurting out, "Send me."
"What?"
"You could send me. I'd serve as Erga's adjunct during the investigative phase, but if things got out of hand, I'd be able to put it down better than he can. Not to mention, I've fought this Lost Logia before. I can do it again."
"You might have forgotten what kind of condition you were in after that incident," Tucson said humorlessly, "but I certainly haven't. And since I doubt you've started wearing hospital gowns as a fashion statement…."
The woman shook her head. "This is nothing, sir. I'm ready to get back to work."
Right. Meeting her eyes, he asked, "Can you walk?"
"I've already been cleared for flight, sir. Medical's just dragging their heels on signing off regarding rejoining combat exercises—"
"Lieutenant Commander." Her voice trailed off. "Can. You. Walk?"
Her silence told him everything he needed to know.
"Until you've completed your physical therapy, you aren't going back on active duty. I don't know that I could trust you with a desk job right now. Either way, there's no chance I'm going to put you on the Sojourner."
"Admiral, please," she said, her voice soft, nearly begging. "What if… When does the Sojourner head out?"
He answered carefully, "A week, maybe a little later."
"A week." Lanster nodded to herself. "What if I was cleared by Medical before it departs? There'd be nothing keeping me from returning to active duty, would there?"
He massaged his temples. Why did his Enforcers have to be so tenacious? Why? He could barely believe he was considering this, but he consoled himself with the fact that what she was offering was practically impossible. "Fine. Get cleared before the Sojourner ships out, and I'll permit you to join the crew and assist Erga with this case." The redhead laughed, but he raised a warning finger. "But! I need to have their approval for you to rejoin active duty on my desktop before you so much as step one foot on the deck. Do not test me on this, Lanster, I mean it. You will not like the consequences if you try to sneak on board. Is that clear?"
"Absolutely, sir. You'll get it. I'll put the form in your hands myself if I have to."
The video feed cut out, and he let himself lean back in his chair. That girl was either going to be one of his best Enforcers, or she would be the death of him. And that was ignoring her terrible, terrible luck in the kinds of cases she wound up taking part in. First the disaster with the Mariage, and now this? He might have to stick her with a desk job just to keep her from getting killed.
He could appreciate the opinion she voiced after she returned from her latest mission, though. Appreciate and totally agree with. Nothing good ever came out of Galea.
Parts of this interlude might have worked better had you already converted somebody, but oh well. At least you got a major piece to the puzzle of just what the hell Perfect Storm really is.
Samstag, 9 Grasmanod, Year 0080
"Right now, we're still waiting for the majority of the supplies to be collected and brought on board and the specialists to arrive. We can set off as soon as that's finished. I'd estimate no more than a week."
"That is good news, Erga," Admiral Dietrich Tucson said with a sigh. Finally, something was going right with this blasted operation. "You're sure no one else knows the details of your mission?"
"Just myself and Captain Aska. We told the rest of the crew that we're on a routine expedition and surveillance mission with unsubstantiated rumors of pirate activity in the area. It seemed the best explanation for why I'm aboard and why everyone needs to be prepared to adhere to first contact precautions," the Enforcer said with a shrug.
Tucson nodded. That was good enough, for now at least. That kind of cover story would not last forever, particularly not if everything went south the way he was afraid and half-convinced it would, but it would do until the Sojourner reached Delnarib and the Dimensional Sea beyond. "Just be careful. I believe I've explained how delicate this situation is. A Lost Logia activating is not the kind of first impression we want to make on a magic-naive world. I'm just glad we have some point of contact on this Earth Bet place."
"Explained more than once, if you don't mind my saying so, Admiral," Erga said with a cheeky grin. The Eltria-born mage had an incorrigible habit of toeing the line between simple sass and true disrespect, but thankfully for him he was also a damn fine investigator. There were days his skill was the only thing keeping him from getting busted down a rank. "Find the dimension, find the Lost Logia, beat it up if it's active, lock it down if it ain't, and bring it back. Standard Enforcer op except for the planet. Also look for that Taylor girl and convince her to leave her backwater and join up."
"Don't get cocky," Tucson warned. "We lost two ships and almost three full crews to this thing, and that's without knowing whether it played any role in the Agharti's crash. You stick your neck out too far, you just might lose it this time."
The much younger mage scratched his purple stubble. "Ah, love you too, Admiral. Promise I'll come home safe and sound. Erga out."
Days like today, in fact, when Erga's skill was the only thing keeping him safe.
Tucson shook his head and turned back to his regular display, but he barely had time to read the first line of the report in front of him before his secretary buzzed him. "You have a priority call, Admiral," the woman's voice said.
"Who is it?"
"Enforcer Lanster, sir."
His hands froze on the keyboard. This was a confrontation he did not have the wherewithal for right now. Unfortunately, he also knew that if he didn't answer, she would just call back again. And again, and again, until he finally gave in and talked to her, at which time he would have to slap her down for insubordination because there was no doubt in his mind that she would be in a temper by then. Running his fingers through his greying head, he sighed again. "Okay, Stella, patch her through." A video screen popped up where Erga's had been a few moments before. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Lanster?"
The redhead scowled at him; as much as she would scowl at her superior, anyway. "I heard you found it."
No matter how tempting it was to play dumb about what she was talking about, he knew she would confirm whatever rumor she had heard eventually. "We received a message via the radio that was part of the Agharti a few weeks ago. A local mage on a magic-naive world managed to power it up with what sounds like an ad hoc setup. We've already started organizing a mission to pick her, and the Lost Logia, up."
"A… a few weeks?!" she spluttered. "Admiral, with all due respect, you know what happened when that thing activated last time, and that was when it only had a few days and two ships to build up its forces. Now you're saying it's been on an inhabited world for a few weeks and we haven't grabbed it yet?!"
"The initial communication did not indicate that anything untoward had happened, which should have meant that the Lost Logia was still inactive. There was no reason not to be cautious with regard to assembling a team to retrieve it," he explained as patiently as he could. Lanster's indignation was understandable, admirable even. Had he been in her shoes when he was still an active field agent, he would have been just as upset. But aggravation did not help anybody right now. "Yesterday's follow-up message regarding a telepathic monster driving people insane, on the other hand, rapidly accelerated our plans."
Lanster's face turned even more pallid than it already was, nearly the shade of her white gown, and he could see her mouth his last words. "Who…. Who's the Enforcer going in?"
"Erga."
"Erga?! Sir, he's one of the worst choices for this operation!"
Tucson crossed his arms and stared hard at her. "Do recall, Lieutenant Commander, that his attitude aside, Commander Erga has substantially more experience working around low-magic worlds than have you. I fail to see what standing you have to criticize his placement as the Enforcer for this incident."
"That's not what I meant, sir," she said, eyes down and voice audibly chastised. "Erga is more experienced, and he's a good investigator, but even he'll admit that he's weaker when it comes to combat. This Lost Logia will not go down without a fight." Glancing up again, she suggested, "What about Fate? She's one of our strongest fighters, and she's worked on magic-naive worlds before. She even lived on one for several years. If anyone's the best bet for dealing with this, it's her."
"I agree. Or I would were Captain Harlaown not currently on an undercover assignment. Total radio silence by her own orders."
"Then what about calling for help from—"
"Lanster," he interrupted with a sigh, "while I appreciate the suggestions, we don't know anything about the situation. Certainly not enough to think that we can't handle this without calling in the rest of the Navy."
Lanster bit her lip before blurting out, "Send me."
"What?"
"You could send me. I'd serve as Erga's adjunct during the investigative phase, but if things got out of hand, I'd be able to put it down better than he can. Not to mention, I've fought this Lost Logia before. I can do it again."
"You might have forgotten what kind of condition you were in after that incident," Tucson said humorlessly, "but I certainly haven't. And since I doubt you've started wearing hospital gowns as a fashion statement…."
The woman shook her head. "This is nothing, sir. I'm ready to get back to work."
Right. Meeting her eyes, he asked, "Can you walk?"
"I've already been cleared for flight, sir. Medical's just dragging their heels on signing off regarding rejoining combat exercises—"
"Lieutenant Commander." Her voice trailed off. "Can. You. Walk?"
Her silence told him everything he needed to know.
"Until you've completed your physical therapy, you aren't going back on active duty. I don't know that I could trust you with a desk job right now. Either way, there's no chance I'm going to put you on the Sojourner."
"Admiral, please," she said, her voice soft, nearly begging. "What if… When does the Sojourner head out?"
He answered carefully, "A week, maybe a little later."
"A week." Lanster nodded to herself. "What if I was cleared by Medical before it departs? There'd be nothing keeping me from returning to active duty, would there?"
He massaged his temples. Why did his Enforcers have to be so tenacious? Why? He could barely believe he was considering this, but he consoled himself with the fact that what she was offering was practically impossible. "Fine. Get cleared before the Sojourner ships out, and I'll permit you to join the crew and assist Erga with this case." The redhead laughed, but he raised a warning finger. "But! I need to have their approval for you to rejoin active duty on my desktop before you so much as step one foot on the deck. Do not test me on this, Lanster, I mean it. You will not like the consequences if you try to sneak on board. Is that clear?"
"Absolutely, sir. You'll get it. I'll put the form in your hands myself if I have to."
The video feed cut out, and he let himself lean back in his chair. That girl was either going to be one of his best Enforcers, or she would be the death of him. And that was ignoring her terrible, terrible luck in the kinds of cases she wound up taking part in. First the disaster with the Mariage, and now this? He might have to stick her with a desk job just to keep her from getting killed.
He could appreciate the opinion she voiced after she returned from her latest mission, though. Appreciate and totally agree with. Nothing good ever came out of Galea.
Parts of this interlude might have worked better had you already converted somebody, but oh well. At least you got a major piece to the puzzle of just what the hell Perfect Storm really is.
I believe we will live in interesting times.
Good luck with that.
- Location
- Ural, Russia, Earth
So it's really some kind of magical Borg.
Wow.
Okay, the worst case scenario: TSAB will decide that Taylor was brainwashed by Lost Logia and will attack her. They will be right.
I sense a kindred spirit of Taylor's, never knowing when to rest.