Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Quantum or otherwise?
The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
Quantum or otherwise?
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
could simply refer to the propulsion - we need currently practiced sublight engines to come in spitting distance of the SL.
- Location
- Notelling
Well, that still brings up questions about what they did to us in their death. I mean, I don't think manipulating space could possibly have done this to humanity.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Their abilities are what started humanity down the path of researching reality physics, which Practice seems to be an expression of, but apart from that you really don't know. All of the data on them was purged by the Shiplords, and the Skylark wasn't involved in their production or maintenance at any level. General archives on the Second Secret? Yeah, the Red Tower has those, although you're keeping that incredibly quiet. Mary has all data on the First and Second Secrets locked behind the Tower's security systems, and she's the only one with admin rights.
Indeed it does, although you know a little of the what. You just have no clue of the how.
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That needs to change, accidents happen.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You could think we would encounter aliens, hear some rumors about Practice-like happenings and start an expedition to go look for it ...
Yeah, like an accidental disclosure getting out. Remember that the Shiplords and everyone else around seem to have FTL sensors that don't rely on Practice; we are, after all, about to enter some sort of diplomatic phase since everyone around has apparently somehow become aware that we defeated a Tribute Fleet, despite the fact that it happened inside our FTL exclusion zone. We're going to have to be very careful in how we instruct Mary to never let that crap see the light of day if we don't want our sun getting crushed.
...or were you under the impression that we were going to have more people gaining possible access to something that could see our species Xenocided?
- Location
- madison
hmm, is this because we kept the shiplords from getting word out, or because the shiplord commander burned herself up to send a message saying we are not whatever she thought we were?
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
Um...no, I'm pretty sure the concern is that if something happens to Mary, no one has access, even if we wanted it.
Single point failures are bad.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I completely agree to handle it like a pound of antimatter. Still, if there's no inheritance procedure in place, only Mary having admin access is a problem. Think about a situation where she's not available for a purge and a in situ check commission is coming.
Vanishing in golden light could be a/the message.
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Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Tribute fleet fails to return from the second run with a new species.
Word like that gets around
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Now I want to know if the options areTribute fleet fails to return from the second run with a new species.
Word like that gets around
- tribute fleet comes back with tribute
- tribute fleet comes back with tribute and battle damage
- tribute fleet comes back without tribute and battle damage
- tribute fleet comes back without tribute and no damage
- tribute fleet does not come back
How, exactly? Are the Shiplords just incorrigible gossips? To they issue press releases to Resistance races, letting them know when they've been beaten?Tribute fleet fails to return from the second run with a new species.
Word like that gets around
Or is it more likely that there are people who can keep tabs on the Shiplords and their Fleets, and thus could just as easily keep tabs on us? If those people know we've got First/Second Secret antimatter in our hands, who knows what could happen?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Make "Alien Reactions" (or similar) one of your Interludes to find out!
Uh, being able to spot a fleet entering a system and then not coming back out in no way implies the ability to read our networks from interstellar range. Even the Shiplords needed in-system assets for that.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Adding on to this, the Shiplords are powerful. Vastly, immensely powerful, in fact. But they are not gods.
There are some limits to galactic technology that even they share. I've talked about them before, actually, and some effective keyword searches should be able to find the relevant sections.
If, of course, you can work out which piece is relevant.
I an sometimes an evil man.
- Location
- Somewhere other than where I am.
*snert*
The Second Battle of Sol: Ending
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Your Heartcircle found you like that, Vega standing close to you as you stared at the broken wreckage of the Shiplord combat chassis, its words still ringing in your mind. Regardless of how much you wanted to deny it, it had believed what it was saying. Every one of the Shiplords had, and shocked reports from the defensive line had come in moments later as the other combat chassis followed their commander into peaceful death. The drones continued to fight, and to human personnel they were still dangerous. They were little more than chaff in the wind to the Unisonbound, however, and even normal Potentials could fight them without fear now that the far more lethal armaments of the Shiplords had been taken out of the equation.
"Amanda," Kalilah was the first to reach you of the three, the time spent as your bodyguard still very present. "What happened?" You looked up, staring with eyes that only just saw her. She looked over at Vega, and you felt a question snap across the link between them. The Harmonial shook her head, her dark eyes still clouded by the half-state she was still maintaining, even after fighting personally.
"She Spoke a Word to help her understand if the Shiplord answered the questions she asked." She said, squeezing your hand. "Then it did." More information across the links, a recording maybe, you weren't sure.
"She asked it why?" Kalilah demanded, clearly shocked, and if there was an edge of hidden…not contempt, but close, behind her voice who could really blame her. She had lost everything to the Week of Sorrows, after all, to her the Shiplords were nothing but an enemy. The idea that you could speak to them was one step short of treating with them, and although you think she would accept that if you judged it necessary, she could never be comfortable with the idea. "It replied with poetry and death, what exactly is the problem?"
You knew she didn't mean to be harsh, Vega had to know too, but the look the Harmonial bestowed on Kalilah was older and far more withering than you'd ever thought her capable of. "The problem is that she Spoke. A. Word." Vega's voice was taught with anger born of fear. "She was trying to give herself the ability to do what an Insight Focused can, I think. But she's never had training to deal with that, and confronted with as much information as I felt her absorbing," she shook her head, hair tight against her cheeks.
"Frankly, I'm surprised she isn't passed out on the deck right now. Sidra must be helping her," she was right about that. The lion's share of your attention was deeply entwined with theirs at the current moment, as they helped you process the flood of information the Shiplord's words had set free inside you. It was coming to an end now, and as Kalilah opened her mouth to apologise, you managed a crooked smile.
"Amanda!" Lea noticed it first, a little distance giving her a better view, or perhaps it had been her focus. You nodded, then coughed, clearing your throat for what felt like the first time in months.
"I'm alright." You said. "There was just a great deal to take in. Not just the words," you shook your head, "but what went with them. What it saw in my question, the reasons for its answer, and why this battle is finished. I don't want to think about how many died for it, but we've won." Your eyes dropped to the floor as the harsh reality of that fact set in. "This battle, at least."
Then you took a breath, and looked over to Lina, a gentle touch to your Heartcircle telling them you'd be with them in a moment. "Lina, get the Calypso cleared of active Shiplord platforms. The Two Twenty Three should be able to do it easily with the Shiplord presence gone. Then get us out of this thing."
"Yes ma'am." Lina nodded sharply, already moving towards one of the remaining command consoles. You turned back to your Heartcircle, holding up a hand to forestall questions.
"I'll give you the cliff notes, but it'll have to be whilst we're moving." You pushed lightly off the ground, moving up under the power of your Aegis. "I don't want to be inside their ship for any longer than I have to be, and the sooner the drones are cleared, the sooner we can leave." It wasn't an explanation and they knew it, but it would get you moving. And away from the bridge, for what you weren't really ready to share. It would distract Lina, and she needed all of her focus right now. You'd tell her later, after the battle was done.
Kalilah and the rest of your Heartcircle rose around you, Vega beside you. After seeing her fight three Shiplords to a standstill whilst the harmonic network she'd created barely flickered, you weren't going to argue about that. You reached out to the four others in the Heartcircle, touching the connections that bound you and opening to them wide. The others mirrored your actions, and ten minds wove together to share what you'd found. It wasn't a hivemind, and each of you was a distinct presence within it. Vega and others like her had called it a gestalt connection, and the ability of the Two Twenty Three to form them between any who were part of it was part of what made them so powerful.
This time it wasn't for combat, however, it was for sharing. You'd only barely managed to process it all, and even then, there'd not been as much as there could have been. The Word had been poorly spoken, after all. As everything you'd found from the Shiplord response poured out into the gestalt between you, you found yourself impossibly grateful for that. It was more than you'd ever considered possible from such a small interaction, but it was all there.
Thankfully, any awe the others felt they kept to themselves. You didn't want to think about the reaction humanity was going to have had to your actions during the battle, and for now they let you remain blissfully ignorant. They focused on the data, and you were thankful for it.
:That's a lot to take in.: You should have guessed that Elil would've had an opinion first. One of your peers in the Second Awakening, his Focus lay in Clarity; seeing the deeper patterns of even the simplest pictures. It had been his opinion you'd wanted most of all, as he'd been trained to process experiences like the one you'd brought on yourself.
:The truth behind the words is clear enough, I think all of us can pick that up.: He continued, well aware of the entire Heartcircle's attention now focusing on him. :But it goes deeper than that, there's more to it than you could see. Something for examination later, however. I think you will want to ask Phoebe to look at this, Amanda.: You tried not to wince, she was still recovering from the effects of Insight's destruction. Yet at the same time, something to work on; it might be exactly what she needed.
:That aside, there are a few other things that I can work out now, taken together with Vega's own senses. First, that was not just a commander. That was the overall commander of this ship, if not the entire fleet.: Shock rippled across the links, along with a careful question from all of you. Was he sure?
:I could be wrong, but I doubt it.: He replied. :It's an Insight-Focused thing, not easily explained, and also not the most important thing about that interaction. What it said to you, it was an answer to your greater question, at least how it saw it. I think.: There was a feeling of confusion that you recognised as a mirror to your own. :The mindset is…alien. I keep on trying to find human connections and they don't line up right.: There was another pause, the feeling of taking a breath.
:Regardless, its answer was to a question of purpose. What lay behind its actions. There's a possessiveness there, but also something that I can only analogise as pride. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, the crews of these ships are highly respected within the Shiplord's social hierarchy. There was also a complete willingness to die, so long as it was in the service of that purpose. And none of it feels forced.: The last part was to answer another question, one that had flowered within Lea's mind as he'd spoken.
:If they've been,: his tone wavered a little, no one liked the idea Lea'd voiced, : programmed in some way, it's incredibly subtle. Far more than anything the old records say the Second Secret was capable of.:
:Then what about the suicide?: Kalilah asked, and you could feel the effort she was taking to keep her voice level. :That can't be normal, just to let yourself die like that.:
:Aliens, Kali.: There was a flare of irritated confusion. :I wish I could give more than that, but I can't. Not right now. There's something in there about completing their duty, but that doesn't explain the pity. From what Insight found, it's very rare that Tribute Fleets are completely destroyed without anything getting home. It has to have happened before, but they never found an example of it. Without that, I'm flailing in the dark here.:
:I understand, Elil.: You sent. :Thank you.:
:It's not much,: he replied, but there was acceptance beneath the words. :Reading deeper into it, however, I think your first reaction was right. This battle is over. The Shiplords are removing themselves from the field, but we don't know what effect that'll have on their ships. Vision said that there were AIs aboard them, but again, the protocols in this sort of event are completely unknown to us.:
:Then getting out of this ship just becomes even more paramount.: Kalilah pointed out, and you felt agreement rush through the gestalt connections, joining your own to it.
: Pretty much. We need to get these recordings out.: Elil said. :Thankfully, with the Shiplords off the board, the defensive line is pushing back now. The drones are dangerous, but the Calypso's automatics were built to defend herself against them. We,: you cut in, already gathering power.
:Just need to get them back online.: You felt the sudden sputter of objection, but waved it away. :I know what I'm doing, and this is at the core of who I am. It wouldn't have done much before, but it'll do a great deal now: Your voice brightened with sudden amusement. :And hey, you'll be able to watch me do it this time.:
You cheerfully bounced the four not quite serious mental glares, and reached. The power came easily this time, but you had far more time to bring it to you. It wasn't an explosion of energy like Purify, but it didn't have to be. There were still Restorers linked into the Calypso's systems, but most of them were still stuck on trying to keep everything together. A few had begun repairs, and were making progress. But compared to what you were capable of?
Speaker of Practice: 73 + 100 (Practice) + 35 (Web of Dream) + 20 (Concert Set) = 228 vs ??? Greater Success
Mend
Energy surged forth, a blinding coil of power loosed by the Word that was your Focus, and you felt the Practiced shell of the Calypso react. At the core of everything, despite every Word you'd spoken, you were a healer. You put things back together, made them whole again. That was what you'd done ever since you could remember, what brought you to the attention of the Elder First. In Mending, you were unmatched, and you would not forget that.
The prismatic mix of Practice-light shimmered across the Calypso, sweeping across the jagged tears in the ship's armour and into internal systems. Matter wove into being in some places, restoring her hull integrity. In others, automated weapons systems woke again, twisted wreckage reforged by a single syllable. The spitting fury of damaged drive rooms and shield generators calmed, the crippling damage done by the Shiplord assault wiped away in an instant.
It was easy, really, but it wasn't everything you had to say.
Heal
Broken bodies jerked up, the fading of their life arrested by an influx of purest power. Bones knit back together, wounds vanished, and across the ship medics stared in disbelief as scores of wounded became wounded no longer. Restorers fighting to support them felt an echo of the power behind it rush through them, the same lifting note that you had cast at Lea singing through their hearts. Letting them know that they had done enough.
Perhaps that was arrogant, but in that moment, it was probably justified. Two more words formed in your throat, and your awareness surged outwards. You saw the links between the Calypso and the Collector holding her. You saw fissures spread all across it, and with them the points that would shatter it to dust. Sidra quietly passed the latter to Lea, even as your awareness continued outwards.
You saw shattered hulls, human and Shiplord both. Sparks of fire on a red plain far below, dotting the edge of where you knew Skylark stood. Tens of thousands of lives, willingly sacrificed to protect billions in the harsh calculus of war. Anger and fear, at the Shiplords for their actions and for you, seemingly lost within the last of the Collectors. Taut faces in front of command consoles and firing screens.
They thought they'd lost you, and already you could feel the beginnings of a wave of rage that would crash against the peaceful society you had done so much to bring to life. A fire crawling up the flowering seed of humanity, seeking to cover it in thorns.
No.
Not here. Not now.
Not ever.
You pulled yourself back to the Calypso, and Spoke the Words. The only words that you needed to say.
Be Free
A last wave of power washed out, sweeping up every human aboard the Calypso and cloaking them in protections (if temporary) formed of your own power. The defence line surged outwards, Vega's Harmony guiding them as they burnt away every Shiplord drone platform in a storm of Practiced firepower. Space twisted around grav emitters, lances of spatial shear tore through the weaknesses you'd found, and Calypso's drive woke.
Her shields cut away the hold of the failing Shiplord systems, and as her emitters fired she launched herself forward. She raced out through the death throes of her captor, and you felt a matched surge of hope and despair through the links you could feel everywhere. Then the burning image of the Calypso's IFF bloomed on plots all across the fleet, the lagless links cut away by imprisonment restoring themselves. The despair vanished, and as Lina reconnected with her subordinates you accessed the media broadcasts and rerouted them.
You and your Heartcircle appeared on every civilian screen in the solar system, a little battered, but undeniably alive. Hope became something more, the fire upon the stem of humanity's flower snuffed out in an instant, and you smiled very gently into the pickup. Saying nothing, for nothing more needed to be said.
Bent, but never broken. From the ashes of this victory, the humanity you had championed would rise.
"Amanda," Kalilah was the first to reach you of the three, the time spent as your bodyguard still very present. "What happened?" You looked up, staring with eyes that only just saw her. She looked over at Vega, and you felt a question snap across the link between them. The Harmonial shook her head, her dark eyes still clouded by the half-state she was still maintaining, even after fighting personally.
"She Spoke a Word to help her understand if the Shiplord answered the questions she asked." She said, squeezing your hand. "Then it did." More information across the links, a recording maybe, you weren't sure.
"She asked it why?" Kalilah demanded, clearly shocked, and if there was an edge of hidden…not contempt, but close, behind her voice who could really blame her. She had lost everything to the Week of Sorrows, after all, to her the Shiplords were nothing but an enemy. The idea that you could speak to them was one step short of treating with them, and although you think she would accept that if you judged it necessary, she could never be comfortable with the idea. "It replied with poetry and death, what exactly is the problem?"
You knew she didn't mean to be harsh, Vega had to know too, but the look the Harmonial bestowed on Kalilah was older and far more withering than you'd ever thought her capable of. "The problem is that she Spoke. A. Word." Vega's voice was taught with anger born of fear. "She was trying to give herself the ability to do what an Insight Focused can, I think. But she's never had training to deal with that, and confronted with as much information as I felt her absorbing," she shook her head, hair tight against her cheeks.
"Frankly, I'm surprised she isn't passed out on the deck right now. Sidra must be helping her," she was right about that. The lion's share of your attention was deeply entwined with theirs at the current moment, as they helped you process the flood of information the Shiplord's words had set free inside you. It was coming to an end now, and as Kalilah opened her mouth to apologise, you managed a crooked smile.
"Amanda!" Lea noticed it first, a little distance giving her a better view, or perhaps it had been her focus. You nodded, then coughed, clearing your throat for what felt like the first time in months.
"I'm alright." You said. "There was just a great deal to take in. Not just the words," you shook your head, "but what went with them. What it saw in my question, the reasons for its answer, and why this battle is finished. I don't want to think about how many died for it, but we've won." Your eyes dropped to the floor as the harsh reality of that fact set in. "This battle, at least."
Then you took a breath, and looked over to Lina, a gentle touch to your Heartcircle telling them you'd be with them in a moment. "Lina, get the Calypso cleared of active Shiplord platforms. The Two Twenty Three should be able to do it easily with the Shiplord presence gone. Then get us out of this thing."
"Yes ma'am." Lina nodded sharply, already moving towards one of the remaining command consoles. You turned back to your Heartcircle, holding up a hand to forestall questions.
"I'll give you the cliff notes, but it'll have to be whilst we're moving." You pushed lightly off the ground, moving up under the power of your Aegis. "I don't want to be inside their ship for any longer than I have to be, and the sooner the drones are cleared, the sooner we can leave." It wasn't an explanation and they knew it, but it would get you moving. And away from the bridge, for what you weren't really ready to share. It would distract Lina, and she needed all of her focus right now. You'd tell her later, after the battle was done.
Kalilah and the rest of your Heartcircle rose around you, Vega beside you. After seeing her fight three Shiplords to a standstill whilst the harmonic network she'd created barely flickered, you weren't going to argue about that. You reached out to the four others in the Heartcircle, touching the connections that bound you and opening to them wide. The others mirrored your actions, and ten minds wove together to share what you'd found. It wasn't a hivemind, and each of you was a distinct presence within it. Vega and others like her had called it a gestalt connection, and the ability of the Two Twenty Three to form them between any who were part of it was part of what made them so powerful.
This time it wasn't for combat, however, it was for sharing. You'd only barely managed to process it all, and even then, there'd not been as much as there could have been. The Word had been poorly spoken, after all. As everything you'd found from the Shiplord response poured out into the gestalt between you, you found yourself impossibly grateful for that. It was more than you'd ever considered possible from such a small interaction, but it was all there.
Thankfully, any awe the others felt they kept to themselves. You didn't want to think about the reaction humanity was going to have had to your actions during the battle, and for now they let you remain blissfully ignorant. They focused on the data, and you were thankful for it.
:That's a lot to take in.: You should have guessed that Elil would've had an opinion first. One of your peers in the Second Awakening, his Focus lay in Clarity; seeing the deeper patterns of even the simplest pictures. It had been his opinion you'd wanted most of all, as he'd been trained to process experiences like the one you'd brought on yourself.
:The truth behind the words is clear enough, I think all of us can pick that up.: He continued, well aware of the entire Heartcircle's attention now focusing on him. :But it goes deeper than that, there's more to it than you could see. Something for examination later, however. I think you will want to ask Phoebe to look at this, Amanda.: You tried not to wince, she was still recovering from the effects of Insight's destruction. Yet at the same time, something to work on; it might be exactly what she needed.
:That aside, there are a few other things that I can work out now, taken together with Vega's own senses. First, that was not just a commander. That was the overall commander of this ship, if not the entire fleet.: Shock rippled across the links, along with a careful question from all of you. Was he sure?
:I could be wrong, but I doubt it.: He replied. :It's an Insight-Focused thing, not easily explained, and also not the most important thing about that interaction. What it said to you, it was an answer to your greater question, at least how it saw it. I think.: There was a feeling of confusion that you recognised as a mirror to your own. :The mindset is…alien. I keep on trying to find human connections and they don't line up right.: There was another pause, the feeling of taking a breath.
:Regardless, its answer was to a question of purpose. What lay behind its actions. There's a possessiveness there, but also something that I can only analogise as pride. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, the crews of these ships are highly respected within the Shiplord's social hierarchy. There was also a complete willingness to die, so long as it was in the service of that purpose. And none of it feels forced.: The last part was to answer another question, one that had flowered within Lea's mind as he'd spoken.
:If they've been,: his tone wavered a little, no one liked the idea Lea'd voiced, : programmed in some way, it's incredibly subtle. Far more than anything the old records say the Second Secret was capable of.:
:Then what about the suicide?: Kalilah asked, and you could feel the effort she was taking to keep her voice level. :That can't be normal, just to let yourself die like that.:
:Aliens, Kali.: There was a flare of irritated confusion. :I wish I could give more than that, but I can't. Not right now. There's something in there about completing their duty, but that doesn't explain the pity. From what Insight found, it's very rare that Tribute Fleets are completely destroyed without anything getting home. It has to have happened before, but they never found an example of it. Without that, I'm flailing in the dark here.:
:I understand, Elil.: You sent. :Thank you.:
:It's not much,: he replied, but there was acceptance beneath the words. :Reading deeper into it, however, I think your first reaction was right. This battle is over. The Shiplords are removing themselves from the field, but we don't know what effect that'll have on their ships. Vision said that there were AIs aboard them, but again, the protocols in this sort of event are completely unknown to us.:
:Then getting out of this ship just becomes even more paramount.: Kalilah pointed out, and you felt agreement rush through the gestalt connections, joining your own to it.
: Pretty much. We need to get these recordings out.: Elil said. :Thankfully, with the Shiplords off the board, the defensive line is pushing back now. The drones are dangerous, but the Calypso's automatics were built to defend herself against them. We,: you cut in, already gathering power.
:Just need to get them back online.: You felt the sudden sputter of objection, but waved it away. :I know what I'm doing, and this is at the core of who I am. It wouldn't have done much before, but it'll do a great deal now: Your voice brightened with sudden amusement. :And hey, you'll be able to watch me do it this time.:
You cheerfully bounced the four not quite serious mental glares, and reached. The power came easily this time, but you had far more time to bring it to you. It wasn't an explosion of energy like Purify, but it didn't have to be. There were still Restorers linked into the Calypso's systems, but most of them were still stuck on trying to keep everything together. A few had begun repairs, and were making progress. But compared to what you were capable of?
Speaker of Practice: 73 + 100 (Practice) + 35 (Web of Dream) + 20 (Concert Set) = 228 vs ??? Greater Success
Mend
Energy surged forth, a blinding coil of power loosed by the Word that was your Focus, and you felt the Practiced shell of the Calypso react. At the core of everything, despite every Word you'd spoken, you were a healer. You put things back together, made them whole again. That was what you'd done ever since you could remember, what brought you to the attention of the Elder First. In Mending, you were unmatched, and you would not forget that.
The prismatic mix of Practice-light shimmered across the Calypso, sweeping across the jagged tears in the ship's armour and into internal systems. Matter wove into being in some places, restoring her hull integrity. In others, automated weapons systems woke again, twisted wreckage reforged by a single syllable. The spitting fury of damaged drive rooms and shield generators calmed, the crippling damage done by the Shiplord assault wiped away in an instant.
It was easy, really, but it wasn't everything you had to say.
Heal
Broken bodies jerked up, the fading of their life arrested by an influx of purest power. Bones knit back together, wounds vanished, and across the ship medics stared in disbelief as scores of wounded became wounded no longer. Restorers fighting to support them felt an echo of the power behind it rush through them, the same lifting note that you had cast at Lea singing through their hearts. Letting them know that they had done enough.
Perhaps that was arrogant, but in that moment, it was probably justified. Two more words formed in your throat, and your awareness surged outwards. You saw the links between the Calypso and the Collector holding her. You saw fissures spread all across it, and with them the points that would shatter it to dust. Sidra quietly passed the latter to Lea, even as your awareness continued outwards.
You saw shattered hulls, human and Shiplord both. Sparks of fire on a red plain far below, dotting the edge of where you knew Skylark stood. Tens of thousands of lives, willingly sacrificed to protect billions in the harsh calculus of war. Anger and fear, at the Shiplords for their actions and for you, seemingly lost within the last of the Collectors. Taut faces in front of command consoles and firing screens.
They thought they'd lost you, and already you could feel the beginnings of a wave of rage that would crash against the peaceful society you had done so much to bring to life. A fire crawling up the flowering seed of humanity, seeking to cover it in thorns.
No.
Not here. Not now.
Not ever.
You pulled yourself back to the Calypso, and Spoke the Words. The only words that you needed to say.
Be Free
A last wave of power washed out, sweeping up every human aboard the Calypso and cloaking them in protections (if temporary) formed of your own power. The defence line surged outwards, Vega's Harmony guiding them as they burnt away every Shiplord drone platform in a storm of Practiced firepower. Space twisted around grav emitters, lances of spatial shear tore through the weaknesses you'd found, and Calypso's drive woke.
Her shields cut away the hold of the failing Shiplord systems, and as her emitters fired she launched herself forward. She raced out through the death throes of her captor, and you felt a matched surge of hope and despair through the links you could feel everywhere. Then the burning image of the Calypso's IFF bloomed on plots all across the fleet, the lagless links cut away by imprisonment restoring themselves. The despair vanished, and as Lina reconnected with her subordinates you accessed the media broadcasts and rerouted them.
You and your Heartcircle appeared on every civilian screen in the solar system, a little battered, but undeniably alive. Hope became something more, the fire upon the stem of humanity's flower snuffed out in an instant, and you smiled very gently into the pickup. Saying nothing, for nothing more needed to be said.
Bent, but never broken. From the ashes of this victory, the humanity you had championed would rise.
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Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
As it turned out? No vote. I hope nobody minds that, but Amanda choosing any other Words would have been massively out of character. The next interlude will be set after the battle has been completed, and will cover the full breadth of your casualties as well as the general feeling of humanity and a few other things. Expect Amanda to have formally begun the process of rescinding her emergency powers at that point.
Voting for interludes will open then, so you've still got some time to think about them.
Voting for interludes will open then, so you've still got some time to think about them.
I'm amazed that a plea for understanding actually caused the enemy to suicide themselves; that doesn't usually happen in anime.
Also, you need to edit out the smileys.
Also, you need to edit out the smileys.
Na, what's Absolutely Disgusting is that I take a vacation, come back and people think that just because a Shiplord expressed pity that they're good guys in disguise.
DO NOT FALL FOR THE TRICKS OF THE XENOS! Pity THEM for giving up, for thinking their path is the right one. Fuck'em. Humanity stands on it's own feet. We need never follow anyone else's predetermined plot!!
Also great story update.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's not the point - their pity points at things that may be worse than them.