- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I thought Iris behaving so human was because of her souls origin - human.
The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
- Location
- Somewhere out there
It's a reasonable hypothesis but I don't think we have the evidence to prove it as concrete fact, and even if we did that doesn't necessarily prove that Iris has a soul that counts as human for the purposes of things like Secret access, only that her soul is human-derived.
POSTMORTEM
-Iris survived entry and exfiltration from a first-line Shiplord Regulars computer network.
Ministry of Security and their Insight-Focused analysts is going to be intensely interested in what she saw.
-Given the destruction of the segment of the Regular fleet that the 223 came into contact with, one wonders if the reports on the existence of AI among Humanity made it back to Shiplord Command.
The Shiplord Analyst Interlude makes no mention of it, and it's enough of a big deal thatit would have merited a mention.
-Kalilah's enthusiastic performance means that we aren't likely to recover much Regular hardware for analysis
Which suggests we can't rely on this combat for a hint about what the missing Secrets are.
This is Amanda's first FTL transit, I think, but that description sounds distinctly artificial.
I wonder if First Secret FTL is reliant on an artificial dimensional construct.
I mean, that's been about par for the course for Humanity; First Sol saw eight Collectors instead of six, and Second Sol saw(I think) ten Collectors and a Medicament as well as additional support forces.
But apparently they would have faced a stack wipe without those reinforcements.
Amanda/Kalilah/First and Second Fleet killed around half the Regular Fleet.
And we know Third and Fourth Fleets killed almost two thirds of the capital ships they were initially facing.
There's a good chance that less than a third of the Regulars made it home.
@Snowfire
QUESTION
-How big was the Regular Fleet we faced compared to normal detachments?
And what are normal losses in Regular Fleet enforcement actions? Percentage wise?
Because I distinctly note that our analyst PoV did suggest that casualties from this fight were, and I quote:
Or further stretched.
-Iris survived entry and exfiltration from a first-line Shiplord Regulars computer network.
Ministry of Security and their Insight-Focused analysts is going to be intensely interested in what she saw.
-Given the destruction of the segment of the Regular fleet that the 223 came into contact with, one wonders if the reports on the existence of AI among Humanity made it back to Shiplord Command.
The Shiplord Analyst Interlude makes no mention of it, and it's enough of a big deal thatit would have merited a mention.
-Kalilah's enthusiastic performance means that we aren't likely to recover much Regular hardware for analysis
Which suggests we can't rely on this combat for a hint about what the missing Secrets are.
Going to point out this overlooked tidbit.
This is Amanda's first FTL transit, I think, but that description sounds distinctly artificial.
I wonder if First Secret FTL is reliant on an artificial dimensional construct.
We apparently faced an abnormally large and powerful Regular Fleet.
I mean, that's been about par for the course for Humanity; First Sol saw eight Collectors instead of six, and Second Sol saw(I think) ten Collectors and a Medicament as well as additional support forces.
But apparently they would have faced a stack wipe without those reinforcements.
Okay.
Amanda/Kalilah/First and Second Fleet killed around half the Regular Fleet.
And we know Third and Fourth Fleets killed almost two thirds of the capital ships they were initially facing.
There's a good chance that less than a third of the Regulars made it home.
@Snowfire
QUESTION
-How big was the Regular Fleet we faced compared to normal detachments?
And what are normal losses in Regular Fleet enforcement actions? Percentage wise?
Because I distinctly note that our analyst PoV did suggest that casualties from this fight were, and I quote:
But the fact that he had to explicitly say it suggests that we are entering the range where casualties would materially impact Shiplord military capabilities. Which in turn suggests the SL military is smaller than it theoretically could be.
Or further stretched.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
I'm pretty sure I said this before the battle, but about twice the size of the one you faced. Losses vary. A lot.
That's...a rather dangerous assumption to be making. From humanity's own knowledge of the Shiplord fleet, it's more likely that this was a statement of "Well, could have done better in hindsight." rather than "We can't handle losses like this."
Must have missed it.
So we faced a fleet twice the size of a normal fleet and still inflicted those losses? Huh.
Admittedly, it would have been funny to have them send in a normal-size fleet, and have it mobbed by all four mobile fleets.
Do they have a loss percentage that triggers a "Fuckit, retreat and call in the War Fleet?" contingency?
Or is it another depends?
Fair enough.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
I can't speak to the Shiplords, but typically any battle with more than 10% losses counts as a "disaster". Unless it's "decisive", of course.
Morale depending. It's pretty much the point at which humans start rebelling, if it happens more than once or twice.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Very much depends on the situation. If they're trading efficiently, then they'll keep going until their opposition is dead. If they're not, then they'll disengage and call for reinforcement or a War Fleet.
One may note my experience as an Eve FC showing here. That is as intended.
So relatively casualty-insensitive. More calculated than the Tribute Fleet, but no less dedicated.
I don't know if this has ever been asked, but has a Regular or Tribute Fleet detachment ever warped into a system and immediately noped out without a fight, calling for reinforcements or a War fleet?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Yes, to both.
So.....what's the going rate for
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
So.....what's the going rate forbribingpersuading you into giving us an Interlude on the subject?
What's your bank balance like
Unfortunately skinnyWhat's your bank balance like
I do have internet cookies
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Unfortunately skinny
I do have internet cookies
Alas, they are not an omake coupon. I believe @Baughn, @Coda and @DragonParadox still have theirs, though. Coda has two, if I remember right.
The Third Battle of Sol - Aftermath
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
The departure of the Shiplords brought the Third Battle of Sol to a close, but it didn't end your responsibilities. With the battle proper done, the Two Twenty Three were assigned to the role they were suited to above all else: aiding in the recovery of escape pods launched by FSN craft during the battle. Lina had hoped that the designs she'd created, based off of the work of Project Insight, would help preserve human life even when ships were lost. The hundreds of lifepods scattered across the battlespaces were the most tangible proof possible that she'd succeeded. You remembered the Second Battle of Sol. The reality of the FSN's designs then had left far less recovery work to be done.
The FSN had Search and Rescue ships too, of course, but none of them came close to the blinding agility of Unisonbound. Even the newly trained auxiliaries were often swifter than military drives, one of the not-so-rare occasions on which Practice proved superior to creations of the Secrets.
It was, in fact, something of a welcome shift from what you'd expected to be needed for. The post-battle doctrine outlined before the battle would have placed you and a small core of the Two Twenty Three on security duty around the Shiplord wreckage. Given that the pause in combat had allowed the Shiplords to recover or destroy the vast majority of their hulks, that task could be seconded entirely to the Fleet's escorts. Ministry of Security vessels were already on their way, and once they arrived, they'd take the lead on the matter. That wasn't to say that every member of the Two Twenty Three with an applicable focus wasn't paying attention to those ships. Humanity's experience with Shiplord infiltration systems wouldn't allow you to do that. But with so few ships, especially with them mostly scattered, it didn't have to be a primary focus.
Even with the entire Two Twenty Three working on it, recovery of escape craft took hours. But they were hours well spent, and not just for all the souls returned swiftly home. Once Mir returned with Asi, Kalilah had proven capable of reconnecting with her Platform. You'd have preferred that she go sit on one of the Unison couriers and rest, but she was even more stubborn than you. And that wasn't the only reason that she was out here with you, the crimson and dark metal of her Aegis shining in the light of the stars.
The entire star system had seen what she'd done, even if they'd not understood it the way the Two Twenty Three had. To see her on her feet again, returned to duty as it were, that meant something. Ever since the Sorrows, and especially since the Second Battle of Sol, humanity had found definition in some its ability to overcome. Seeing Kalilah out here with the rest of the Two Twenty Three meant something just as tangible as your shared survival. Perhaps even more.
And yet, the woman behind the symbol she'd become had changed too. What she'd said to calm you had recognised a reality that could contain more than just her and the pain she'd carried since the loss of her family. It had recognised the world you'd sought for all ever since childhood, and for the very first time, accepted it. If that would endure, you couldn't know. But you could hope, and that you most certainly would.
Conversation passed slowly between you as the unit gathered up the precious cargo of lives, but it was of less weighty things. You shared new hopes, and even some curiosity as to the mass of churning smart matter that had been deployed bare minutes after Sol had been confirmed to be secure once again. You and Vega knew what it meant, but you couldn't speak of it. A new Hermes Station, to connect humanity to the galaxy and, most importantly, your allies spread across it.
Ministry of Security transports jumped from the edge of the Stellar Exclusion Zone to the squadrons of FSN escorts guarding the remains of the few Regular Fleet craft left behind. They would secure them for full analysis, as they'd done with the Tribute Fleet craft before. You wished them luck, and kept a Heartcircle ready to redeploy via courier in support. It wasn't the designated role of the Unisonbound, but there were precious few things that could truly harm one of you, and you could react faster than any other force in the fleet.
Finally though, to your subtly accelerated senses, all escape pods had been recovered. You weren't sure how many people had died, but Lina's voice over the comm was brighter than you'd expected. The majority of any fighter bailouts must have been outside of the burst of devastation that Kalilah had unleashed.
The debriefing that followed confirmed what you'd hoped. Losses had been far lighter than Lina had hoped, less even than those sustained in the First Battle of Sol. Yet your victory, if you could call it that, had not been one of arms. Practice had stopped the fighting, and your words to all present had sent your aggressors home. Lina understood why you'd made that choice, though she was clearly worried about the possible results of the actions you'd taken. After the Second Battle of Sol, something very close to a religion had formed around your actions there. The scale of your actions this time were far larger, even if they were split across the whole of the Two Twenty Three.
Salvage was expected to be less than extensive, given the manner of your victory, but Lina accepted that gladly when set against the losses she'd expected to suffer. And nowhere was the worry of what the Shiplords had seen. What they'd take home. That, you learned there, had never been something Lina had expected to be able to hide. Against a Tribute, it would have been enough. But Regulars were too organised for such tricks to work. Something you'd expected, but still hoped might not be true.
And then, of course, there were the results of the cyberattack that had not just failed to breach your networks, but been a truly impressive display of ability from your daughter. Iris had flatly refused to move more than a few meters from your side after greeting you with a hug that had actually stressed your Aegis. Here, though, she stood proudly to explain.
"The Shiplords didn't expect us to have anyone like Vision or me." She told you all calmly, very aware of all the eyes watching, yet unafraid. She had come so far. "That was our greatest advantage here. We know from the Contact Fleet that no other race but the Shiplords are known to have AIs. No matter their attention to detail, they've enjoyed dominance in that field for longer than humanity has existed. That they were prepared as they were, all things given, was surprising."
"That could speak of simple paranoia," Lina's intelligence officer noted, but the comment was deferring.
"Or of what to us would seem impossible dedication," Iris replied, shaking her head. "I think we can guess which is more likely, Commander. We've seen enough of Shiplord military culture." It was a fair judgement, though it left space for the certainty of a Project Insight confirmation.
"I have a gestalt of my time in their networks compiled," your daughter continued, and you practically felt the burst of excitement from the intelligence section gathered at the table. "I'll upload it to the secure network before I leave the ship." A subtle check told you that the upload was already in progress. "I can't promise that it will help you with anything specific, but I think anything would be helpful here."
"Thank you, Iris," Lina's words brought the meeting back under control, before her intelligence section could try to excuse themselves. Then she turned to you, and the question you'd been dreading filled the air. "Now, Amanda. Could you explain what happened out there?"
Kalilah stirred at your side, but a soothing motion through the web settled her back into her chair. "I'm not sure I can," you said, meeting Lina's eyes steadily. "Some of it is obvious, I admit. Kalilah attempted something that we weren't entirely sure was possible, after the Regular Fleet deployed anti-Practice weaponry against us. I saved her from the consequences of it."
"What consequences?" Several voices asked, in the same moments.
"Death," you replied steadily. There was no way to sugarcoat this, and no one present would want you to. The gasp from close to your left told you that Iris wasn't exactly happy with that reality, though. Explaining this to Mary was going to be…you weren't going to think about that for now. You leant forward in your chair.
"Everyone here should be aware of how Practice works. There's a well of energy that our entire species is connected to, that Potentials can access more of." A murmur of agreement swept the room, and you went on. "What Kalilah tried to do out there was to draw on more than her soul could survive. It was theory up until now. Now we know that it can be done, at least by a Unisonbound." In truth, you were unsure if any other Potentials would be capable of it.
In another world, you might have feared the reaction that, especially when you'd succeeded in saving Kalilah from it. Here, you did not. "I was able to save her, but that was far more luck than skill."
"And power," Vega added from a few seats down. "Between us all, the Two Twenty Three drew on more power than I think humanity ever has in one moment. Kalilah in unleashed what destroyed the Shiplord fleet. Amanda in protecting her, and herself. And," she paused.
"The webwork that you and Mir created to contain the blast," Kalilah said, her voice surprisingly gentle. Her dark eyes swept the table. "I do not regret what I did. I understood what it could have cost. And though I am thankful to still live, I would do it again if I had to."
Silence fell at that, the words the pronouncement of a pledge that all recognised. Lina let it linger for a moment before breaking it. "We all swore an oath. I only hope that in the future we can find a way to make such sacrifices not be required." Her attention returned to you. "You will be investigating this fully?"
"Of course," you said. "The lack of any functional sensor data on the event itself is going to make that a challenge, but we'll do the best we can." It was all anyone could ask, a sentiment that Lina made clear herself. After that, there was little more but what you'd expected of a debriefing. Detailed figures and initial analysis, trying to find ways in which all of you could have been better prepared. It lasted longer than your recovery operations had, but it did end.
Lina returned to her duties, supervising the FSN's return to stations on one hand, whilst already preparing for the next clash on the other. You wondered what designs the War Office would produce as a result of this engagement. Maybe an improvement to the FSN's fighters, but that was personal bias talking. Compared to a Unisonbound, even the F6 was terribly fragile.
"Mom," Iris' voice pulled you from the moment of contemplation, her eyes flickering gently, like firelight. She'd already told you what she'd needed to, in that crushing hug. She wasn't just talking for herself now, though, you realised. "Are you trying to distract yourself?"
"Yes, Iris," there was no point trying to deny it. "I am." Your daughter nodded thoughtfully, pursing her lips. Then she smiled, a gentle thing which she'd learnt from you and Mary both. It was hard not to see those parts of her, especially like this. And especially when your emotions were still so close to the surface.
"Will you and Mary be alright?" Oh, she was worried, wasn't she. Still so young, in so many ways, to focus on that.
"We'll be fine, Iris," you told her, and you knew that it was true. "That wasn't why I was trying to distract myself." Your daughter made an inquisitive sound, as you stepped from Lina's flagship into the Unison Courier bound for Mars. You looked across at her, only a little down now, and considered what to say. Better the truth, you resolved. She was your daughter, but she was also older than you had been when you'd learnt the cost of choices like this.
"I helped kill what must have been thousands of lives today, Iris," you said softly. "I chose to do that, and I'd do it again in an instant. But I still killed. And you know what my Focus is. I'm not meant to do that, even though I can. So long as I distract myself, I can keep that at bay. And," you turned as the airlock sealed behind you, regarding Iris squarely. "I don't want to let go of that until we're home, alright? I won't stop you being there, I don't think I could."
"Probably not," Iris said into your pause for breath. She wasn't joking, either, and it almost brought you down there and then. Instead, you reached out and pulled your daughter into a hug, even as the courier dropped away from the immense dreadnought. Its FTL drive began to charge rapidly.
"Thank you," she stiffened a little as you said those words, as if surprised. "You're family, Iris. You're our daughter. If you want to be there, you can."
"I might need it too, you know," she murmured, voice muffled by the hug before she drew back. There was the shimmer of tears in her eyes. "It was just flicking a switch." The drones she'd destroyed, you realised. The detonations would have ended lives, even if she'd never seen them. She was smart enough to know that.
"Alright," you pulled her against you gently, like you'd done when she was younger which prompted a small protest. But only a small one. "Then we'll do it all together," you said firmly, leading her down the corridor that led to the viewing spaces of the small craft. "As a family."
The FSN had Search and Rescue ships too, of course, but none of them came close to the blinding agility of Unisonbound. Even the newly trained auxiliaries were often swifter than military drives, one of the not-so-rare occasions on which Practice proved superior to creations of the Secrets.
It was, in fact, something of a welcome shift from what you'd expected to be needed for. The post-battle doctrine outlined before the battle would have placed you and a small core of the Two Twenty Three on security duty around the Shiplord wreckage. Given that the pause in combat had allowed the Shiplords to recover or destroy the vast majority of their hulks, that task could be seconded entirely to the Fleet's escorts. Ministry of Security vessels were already on their way, and once they arrived, they'd take the lead on the matter. That wasn't to say that every member of the Two Twenty Three with an applicable focus wasn't paying attention to those ships. Humanity's experience with Shiplord infiltration systems wouldn't allow you to do that. But with so few ships, especially with them mostly scattered, it didn't have to be a primary focus.
Even with the entire Two Twenty Three working on it, recovery of escape craft took hours. But they were hours well spent, and not just for all the souls returned swiftly home. Once Mir returned with Asi, Kalilah had proven capable of reconnecting with her Platform. You'd have preferred that she go sit on one of the Unison couriers and rest, but she was even more stubborn than you. And that wasn't the only reason that she was out here with you, the crimson and dark metal of her Aegis shining in the light of the stars.
The entire star system had seen what she'd done, even if they'd not understood it the way the Two Twenty Three had. To see her on her feet again, returned to duty as it were, that meant something. Ever since the Sorrows, and especially since the Second Battle of Sol, humanity had found definition in some its ability to overcome. Seeing Kalilah out here with the rest of the Two Twenty Three meant something just as tangible as your shared survival. Perhaps even more.
And yet, the woman behind the symbol she'd become had changed too. What she'd said to calm you had recognised a reality that could contain more than just her and the pain she'd carried since the loss of her family. It had recognised the world you'd sought for all ever since childhood, and for the very first time, accepted it. If that would endure, you couldn't know. But you could hope, and that you most certainly would.
Conversation passed slowly between you as the unit gathered up the precious cargo of lives, but it was of less weighty things. You shared new hopes, and even some curiosity as to the mass of churning smart matter that had been deployed bare minutes after Sol had been confirmed to be secure once again. You and Vega knew what it meant, but you couldn't speak of it. A new Hermes Station, to connect humanity to the galaxy and, most importantly, your allies spread across it.
Ministry of Security transports jumped from the edge of the Stellar Exclusion Zone to the squadrons of FSN escorts guarding the remains of the few Regular Fleet craft left behind. They would secure them for full analysis, as they'd done with the Tribute Fleet craft before. You wished them luck, and kept a Heartcircle ready to redeploy via courier in support. It wasn't the designated role of the Unisonbound, but there were precious few things that could truly harm one of you, and you could react faster than any other force in the fleet.
Finally though, to your subtly accelerated senses, all escape pods had been recovered. You weren't sure how many people had died, but Lina's voice over the comm was brighter than you'd expected. The majority of any fighter bailouts must have been outside of the burst of devastation that Kalilah had unleashed.
The debriefing that followed confirmed what you'd hoped. Losses had been far lighter than Lina had hoped, less even than those sustained in the First Battle of Sol. Yet your victory, if you could call it that, had not been one of arms. Practice had stopped the fighting, and your words to all present had sent your aggressors home. Lina understood why you'd made that choice, though she was clearly worried about the possible results of the actions you'd taken. After the Second Battle of Sol, something very close to a religion had formed around your actions there. The scale of your actions this time were far larger, even if they were split across the whole of the Two Twenty Three.
Salvage was expected to be less than extensive, given the manner of your victory, but Lina accepted that gladly when set against the losses she'd expected to suffer. And nowhere was the worry of what the Shiplords had seen. What they'd take home. That, you learned there, had never been something Lina had expected to be able to hide. Against a Tribute, it would have been enough. But Regulars were too organised for such tricks to work. Something you'd expected, but still hoped might not be true.
And then, of course, there were the results of the cyberattack that had not just failed to breach your networks, but been a truly impressive display of ability from your daughter. Iris had flatly refused to move more than a few meters from your side after greeting you with a hug that had actually stressed your Aegis. Here, though, she stood proudly to explain.
"The Shiplords didn't expect us to have anyone like Vision or me." She told you all calmly, very aware of all the eyes watching, yet unafraid. She had come so far. "That was our greatest advantage here. We know from the Contact Fleet that no other race but the Shiplords are known to have AIs. No matter their attention to detail, they've enjoyed dominance in that field for longer than humanity has existed. That they were prepared as they were, all things given, was surprising."
"That could speak of simple paranoia," Lina's intelligence officer noted, but the comment was deferring.
"Or of what to us would seem impossible dedication," Iris replied, shaking her head. "I think we can guess which is more likely, Commander. We've seen enough of Shiplord military culture." It was a fair judgement, though it left space for the certainty of a Project Insight confirmation.
"I have a gestalt of my time in their networks compiled," your daughter continued, and you practically felt the burst of excitement from the intelligence section gathered at the table. "I'll upload it to the secure network before I leave the ship." A subtle check told you that the upload was already in progress. "I can't promise that it will help you with anything specific, but I think anything would be helpful here."
"Thank you, Iris," Lina's words brought the meeting back under control, before her intelligence section could try to excuse themselves. Then she turned to you, and the question you'd been dreading filled the air. "Now, Amanda. Could you explain what happened out there?"
Kalilah stirred at your side, but a soothing motion through the web settled her back into her chair. "I'm not sure I can," you said, meeting Lina's eyes steadily. "Some of it is obvious, I admit. Kalilah attempted something that we weren't entirely sure was possible, after the Regular Fleet deployed anti-Practice weaponry against us. I saved her from the consequences of it."
"What consequences?" Several voices asked, in the same moments.
"Death," you replied steadily. There was no way to sugarcoat this, and no one present would want you to. The gasp from close to your left told you that Iris wasn't exactly happy with that reality, though. Explaining this to Mary was going to be…you weren't going to think about that for now. You leant forward in your chair.
"Everyone here should be aware of how Practice works. There's a well of energy that our entire species is connected to, that Potentials can access more of." A murmur of agreement swept the room, and you went on. "What Kalilah tried to do out there was to draw on more than her soul could survive. It was theory up until now. Now we know that it can be done, at least by a Unisonbound." In truth, you were unsure if any other Potentials would be capable of it.
In another world, you might have feared the reaction that, especially when you'd succeeded in saving Kalilah from it. Here, you did not. "I was able to save her, but that was far more luck than skill."
"And power," Vega added from a few seats down. "Between us all, the Two Twenty Three drew on more power than I think humanity ever has in one moment. Kalilah in unleashed what destroyed the Shiplord fleet. Amanda in protecting her, and herself. And," she paused.
"The webwork that you and Mir created to contain the blast," Kalilah said, her voice surprisingly gentle. Her dark eyes swept the table. "I do not regret what I did. I understood what it could have cost. And though I am thankful to still live, I would do it again if I had to."
Silence fell at that, the words the pronouncement of a pledge that all recognised. Lina let it linger for a moment before breaking it. "We all swore an oath. I only hope that in the future we can find a way to make such sacrifices not be required." Her attention returned to you. "You will be investigating this fully?"
"Of course," you said. "The lack of any functional sensor data on the event itself is going to make that a challenge, but we'll do the best we can." It was all anyone could ask, a sentiment that Lina made clear herself. After that, there was little more but what you'd expected of a debriefing. Detailed figures and initial analysis, trying to find ways in which all of you could have been better prepared. It lasted longer than your recovery operations had, but it did end.
Lina returned to her duties, supervising the FSN's return to stations on one hand, whilst already preparing for the next clash on the other. You wondered what designs the War Office would produce as a result of this engagement. Maybe an improvement to the FSN's fighters, but that was personal bias talking. Compared to a Unisonbound, even the F6 was terribly fragile.
"Mom," Iris' voice pulled you from the moment of contemplation, her eyes flickering gently, like firelight. She'd already told you what she'd needed to, in that crushing hug. She wasn't just talking for herself now, though, you realised. "Are you trying to distract yourself?"
"Yes, Iris," there was no point trying to deny it. "I am." Your daughter nodded thoughtfully, pursing her lips. Then she smiled, a gentle thing which she'd learnt from you and Mary both. It was hard not to see those parts of her, especially like this. And especially when your emotions were still so close to the surface.
"Will you and Mary be alright?" Oh, she was worried, wasn't she. Still so young, in so many ways, to focus on that.
"We'll be fine, Iris," you told her, and you knew that it was true. "That wasn't why I was trying to distract myself." Your daughter made an inquisitive sound, as you stepped from Lina's flagship into the Unison Courier bound for Mars. You looked across at her, only a little down now, and considered what to say. Better the truth, you resolved. She was your daughter, but she was also older than you had been when you'd learnt the cost of choices like this.
"I helped kill what must have been thousands of lives today, Iris," you said softly. "I chose to do that, and I'd do it again in an instant. But I still killed. And you know what my Focus is. I'm not meant to do that, even though I can. So long as I distract myself, I can keep that at bay. And," you turned as the airlock sealed behind you, regarding Iris squarely. "I don't want to let go of that until we're home, alright? I won't stop you being there, I don't think I could."
"Probably not," Iris said into your pause for breath. She wasn't joking, either, and it almost brought you down there and then. Instead, you reached out and pulled your daughter into a hug, even as the courier dropped away from the immense dreadnought. Its FTL drive began to charge rapidly.
"Thank you," she stiffened a little as you said those words, as if surprised. "You're family, Iris. You're our daughter. If you want to be there, you can."
"I might need it too, you know," she murmured, voice muffled by the hug before she drew back. There was the shimmer of tears in her eyes. "It was just flicking a switch." The drones she'd destroyed, you realised. The detonations would have ended lives, even if she'd never seen them. She was smart enough to know that.
"Alright," you pulled her against you gently, like you'd done when she was younger which prompted a small protest. But only a small one. "Then we'll do it all together," you said firmly, leading her down the corridor that led to the viewing spaces of the small craft. "As a family."
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Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
And here we are, folks. The penultimate update of the quest. Many thanks to @Coda for checking this for me. I'm afraid that there's no vote here, but it just didn't make sense to put one in. This is the wider aftermath, in general terms. The update after this you get a bit of the personal aftermath and then the resolution that brings us to the end of the quest. I think it should be suitably interesting. More seriously for a moment, it's actually really starting to sink in that Practice War will be ending sometime within the next week and a half. And I'm seriously struggling to conceptualise this on a personal level.
This quest has been a regular influence on my life for over three years now, and even though that's not going away, endings have power. So this is your warning that I am likely to be rather the sop about things when I get that finale update out. Which I'm probably being right now, too, but y'know. Who's counting?
Obviously not me.
This quest has been a regular influence on my life for over three years now, and even though that's not going away, endings have power. So this is your warning that I am likely to be rather the sop about things when I get that finale update out. Which I'm probably being right now, too, but y'know. Who's counting?
Obviously not me.
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something of a welcome
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I came in really late to this quest (during the last half of the Third Battle of Sol), but even with that this has been a hell of a ride. And as bittersweet as it is for a wonderful story to end, thank you for bringing us this far.
You go ahead and be a sop about it, because I (and everyone else) will be too.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Was there going to be much of a hiatus before the start of Secrets' Crusade?
"[It] is only the end if you assume the story is about you."
~Jeffrey Cranor
"On to the Crusade! Let's break shit and get some fucking answers!"
~@Lailoken
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From awhile back, but no less important. Yes, we have the first iteration of the FTL computer, finished just before Third Sol. Which is good, because I don't think it'll be long before a War Fleet comes calling, likely less than the interval between Tribute and Regular, if only because a War Fleet's massive tactical speed almost certainly translates to a faster strategic speed. OTOH, War Fleets seem to be more puzzle bosses than the Regulars were, so the completed Orrery 1.0 should be enough to beat one.
This seems like something relatively simple to test in a couple of weeks:
- Teach Iris and Vision what humanity knows of, say, the Fifth and Sixth Secrets.
- Put one of them in the driver's seat of a Sixth Secret factory producing Fifth Secret star drives.
- If they're able to successfully operate the factory to create a working gravitic drive, they are capable of using Humanity's knowledge of Secrets effectively, something that we were not able to do, for example, when the Telas tried to teach us the Third Secret.
Although that is also extremely important. Humanity really cannot absorb regular massive losses to trained fighting personnel: it takes too long to train up a new generation of soldiers if we have to take a greater than 10% loss every 5-10 years. Something like a Shadowrun-style skill chip would be a way to mitigate this, but better to just not lose the personnel in the first place.
I'm worried about more than that. The Regulars sent back rather clear evidence that humanity has something like Project Insight available, which means that they're likely to double down on obfuscating their military maneuvers from now on, possibly hiding their strategy planners behind Essence Disruption. Effectively we won't be able to purpose-build our Fleets to match what the Shiplords send against us anymore, but rather we'll have to keep a large standing defensive force available 24-7-365. Fortunately for us we have good enough knowledge of the Sixth Secret to continually keep all our ships at the state-of-the-art; all that really remains is ensuring that we have enough trained personnel ready to keep those ships manned and ready to deploy all the time.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
We might attempt 2. first, to test the hypothesis that Vision/Iris already have access to all of Humanity's secrets on the basis that they are part of/born from humanity, and are basically human.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Likely not. I have a Dreams update to write, then I'll write the end of PW and the opening to Secrets' Crusade. I won't post the end until I have the opening done, or most of the way there. So expect a few days, maybe. Hopefully less.
Iris' Avatar upgrade gave her Fifth Secret emitters built into her body that Curiosity's Wings clearly showed that she could access and manipulate freely. This should answer the implicit question here.
The FSN actually has something in the region of its full personnel compliment currently trained, but unable to fight due to lack of ships. Lina is taking a very long view to the need for reserves. Skill-chips have been investigated by the government as part of this. They're non-viable, unfortunately.
- Location
- Somewhere out there
It really doesn't, because those emitters could have been built by someone else. It's already been made clear that Secret tech can be used without the requisite soul interface, most obviously because drones are perfectly capable of using 5S drives and weapons.
I don't think the answer you gave me in tech support discussion would be a spoiler, since it's just a matter of existing in-character knowledge that hasn't been put forward in the narrative, but I'll leave that to you to decide how to convey since tech support chat isn't necessarily canon until you say so.