Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
I'm actually working on that. We'll see how it goes today.
The Secrets' Crusade
- Thread starter Snowfire
- Start date
- Original Sci-Fi
I'm actually working on that. We'll see how it goes today.
- Location
- Australia
Today, to celebrate Earth Day, we will blow up the Earth.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
At this level of conflict, the Shiplords are much more equal opportunity. They'll kill all the planets in the solar system, not just Earth!
Pluto gets to survive and finally assert its supremacy!
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Minor celestial bodies will not be spared.
All planets matter?
What did planets ever do to them?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Produce races like humanity?
The Fourth Battle of Sol - Undone
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
The first volley came as a total surprise.
First Fleet had engaged as best it could with its own targeting systems, but you'd kept its fire limited to attempted interdiction and opportunity fire. That had been within the expected profile according to Project Insight, and you couldn't afford breaking from it far enough to focus all of the fleet's power on defensive action. The War Fleet needed to be held in place, and if you'd not presented a threat, they'd have ignored you until you did.
Perhaps that had fooled them enough that they'd become overconfident, certain in their belief that the War Fleets remained a weapon which no Tributary could match. They weren't wrong about that, even now. But you didn't have to match a War Fleet to kill it, all you had to do was know what it was. Humanity did, and your species had had more than a decade to prepare your countermeasures.
The Pacifier class was a marvel of engineering, equipped with an FTL drive so advanced that it would beggar entire minor polities to construct just one and a primary armament more suited to the largest of Regular Fleet vessels. But for all that, they were small, heavily coated in stealth composites instead of armour, and lacking all but the most basic shielding.
The Shiplords did lose them occasionally, though only to the blindest chance. Despite all of its advanced technology, a hit from a capital class disruptor could disrupt a Pacifier's jump cycle, leaving it open to destruction. Given the volume of space that a War Fleet could operate within, these occasions came so rarely as to be negligible. But it was a weakness, and First Fleet had paid in blood to give humanity the chance to exploit it.
The designated Fleets for response slashed out to the edge of the SEZ, and vanished into jump in a flurry of translations. Two of them were targeted on the Lumen, and were going to be needed to break the craft's frankly obscene shield capacity before it would be able to jump again. The Sixth and Second Fleets had different priorities. As your weapons shifted to fire based on the Orrery's targeting data, those ships jumped to the edge of a two light-second radius sphere centred on First Fleet. It was the closest thing to a deep space ambush that you'd been able to come up with in your planning sessions.
And then there were the Two-Twenty Three.
A veritable sheet of grav disruptor fire lashed out and in at the dancing War Fleet craft, thickened by the fury of the Unisonbound, and the tactical holo polarised as space in every direction erupted into a solid curtain of detonating starships. Perhaps five percent of them were yours.
You'd known from the beginning that you were only going to get one chance to do this, and you'd had to prove that the Orrery could work. So you'd stacked the deck, then stacked it again, and as the universe blew apart around you, you felt nothing but furious exaltation. It had worked!
Exactly how many War Fleet craft were destroyed in that initial clash, you could never say. But it shattered the contingent of Pacifiers dispatched to handle First Fleet, and your drives were almost recharged.
"Lantern." You snapped over the tac-net. The Two Twenty Three complied with the ease of endless training, streaming back to their couriers buried deep in the centre of your fleet, their drives fully charged. The sudden lack of incoming fire came as a shock, and a welcome one, but you were alone in enjoying it. Your outer shell, scattered as they were, now raced inwards, trying to close into mutual support range before the other War Fleet contingents could react.
Most succeeded, but most is only more than half. The Shiplords had been shocked by the sudden eruption of targeted fire against their ships, but they weren't stupid. The assignments shifted, and lances of grav fire carved through the rear echelons of Second and Sixth, wreaking a terrible price on ships too far from each other to effectively combine their shielding or firepower. That was the trade-off you'd had to make for your hammer blow.
It was worth it, you told yourself, trying not to feel the sudden flood of casualties. There'd be time enough for that if you won. The Orrery gave you a fighting chance, but at the percentages Vision had given you, it didn't guarantee victory. For that, you had to destroy the Lumen pointing at Sol, and it had weathered the initial attack on it far too capably for your liking. But that was what Lantern was for. First, Second and Sixth would hold here until you could move to reinforce Fourth and Third Fleet, but the Two Twenty Three could move now. And that was exactly what they did.
You wished, not for the first time, that Kalilah had stayed for this fight. The Adamant hadn't needed her for its mission, but she'd not been chosen for her particular Focus. Amanda had chosen to put her faith in the bonds of friendship and harmony that she'd helped create, and you'd seen the power of those enough before. Unfortunately, it left you without the only person in the entire star system who you were confident could have dropped the Lumen's shields barring Amanda herself. And without Vega to act as a nexus for the power around you - you shook the thought away.
The two Unison couriers blinked out of existence, and the two hundred seventeen Unisonbound of the remaining Two Twenty Three hurled themselves into the maelstrom of dying starships wreathing the Shiplord starkiller like a ghastly corona.
"How long?" You snapped. It was a needless question, but you needed something to take your mind away from that, even for a moment.
"Three minutes for us." Alex replied, watching the Fleet's power focus skew towards its drives. He glanced at the readouts for the Lumen, and his lips thinned. "The Second and Sixth won't get there in time, Lina. Either we kill it before they're recharged, or we've lost."
"At least the Two Twenty Three are in there." You said, trying to reassure your subordinates, and yourself. "Even without the First, they should be enough."
"It will be closer than you think." Vision reported, still moving faster than your intelligence officer. It was rather unfair, honestly. "I am detecting new ship profiles, with the same weapon signatures as those used against the Two Twenty Three in the Third Battle of Sol."
"Get them back in!" Your gaze snapped around, to where the Two Twenty three had already spread out around the Third and Fourth Fleets, raising barriers to protect them. Their own heavy hitters slammed fire inwards, hurling energy at the Lumen that threatened everything humanity had ever called its own. "Get them into the globe!"
Alex was already calling the codeword, and the world around you slowed to a crawl, heat building at the back of your neck as your enhancements pushed themselves to their limits. And there, in that crucial moment, a Shiplord EWAR tech found the right frequency. Comms slashed off from your detached ships around Saturn, slicing through the call to withdraw before it could be spoken. Alex's hand flashed in the light, in time with your own. Shiplords could jam lagless, but they'd yet to succeed at jamming the Unisonbound's connections, and the Auxilia had those too.
But not even those reactions were perfect, and despite all the training and preparation in the world, it took a moment for the message to be passed and authenticated. Just one moment, out of so many. But it was enough.
The reconfigured Pacifiers slashed out of jump perfectly positioned around one of the roaming Heartcircles of the Two Twenty Three, and the Unisonbound staggered in space as the next best thing to jamming of the soul ripped through them. They'd had some practice since the Third, those Unisonbound, and they'd managed something approaching a countermeasure. But it took time, and that was the one thing that the Shiplords' stroke of good fortune had robbed them of.
Shields and veils burned away, and the Heartcircle was still moving to reestablish its evasive pattern when another group of Pacifiers blinked into being around them. These didn't have the old, ancient weapons that had struck Potentials so harshly. They were more mundane, but no less lethal for it.
The Aegis' of the Two Twenty Three protected their Potentials in ways that went beyond human understanding, and you'd seen them tested under capital bombardment before. But even those impossible creations had limits. Grav disruption tore out, and there was no miracle waiting to stop it this time. One of the Unisonbound, an Insight Focused with their wits more about them than the rest, hurled himself between the incoming barrage. He interdicted almost sixty percent of the incoming fire, enough for the rest of his Heartcircle to survive.
Across the breadth of the formation, the scene repeated itself. Most survived, though dreadfully wounded. But that first, the swiftest, was gone when distortion of criss-crossing grav fire faded, and he wasn't alone. In a single, dreadful moment, the Shiplords took four of the Two Twenty Three from humanity, and there was no sign of the first's Platform. The rest of the ranging Heartcircles fell back, scooping up their wounded comrades, and you shuddered to imagine the pain in those places as they did so. It tore at your own soul, the screaming pain all the sharper when it was those you knew dying.
The Two Twenty Three had been the symbol of an undaunted humanity, but without their leaders, they'd been lessened. You'd known that. But it hadn't been a choice you could afford to make any other way. But what came from it, as the heat close to your spine faded, and your perceptions decelerated, proved that you'd not been wrong when you'd chosen them.
No miracle had saved those four, maybe no miracle could have. You'd try to convince yourself of that, in dark nights still to come. But Kalilah hadn't been the only First Awoken among that force, just the most obvious. And Vega hadn't been the only Harmonial. Were they late? You didn't think that was a fair assessment, or a fair question. What mattered was that humanity still breathed, and it did.
Down where the Lumen's shield still held against the torrent of grav disruptor fire and more Practiced attacks, a spark of white light erupted. A spark of pure destruction, unleashed by five souls brought together in concert, that cared not a whit for the reality of that shield before it. The jamming fell, your own techs fighting back the encroachment of the Shiplords on the lagless, and the words of those five came across the net.
"Be Undone"
The light reached out for the Lumen, as it stood undaunted, still charging, hanging over your star like a headsman's axe. And smote it from creation.
The battle didn't end there, but the Shiplords appeared unwilling to commit a second Lumen, if they'd even brought one. The War Fleet retreated from Sol's heliopause several minutes later, unwilling to trade more of their number for lesser, human craft. Victory, for you, and for something far more important too. For the Orrery had performed exactly as you'd needed it to. It had been horribly, terribly bloody, and you couldn't imagine it would get any better as the Shiplords adapted to the new reality. But the defence against their most feared weapon had worked.
That lit a fire in you, in all of your staff, and more. Despite the losses, so much more terrible than any of the battles before it, you had proof that War Fleets could be fought. That they could, if not beaten, at least driven back. The threat of Lumens or similar special weapon designs would have to be taken into account for the other races, as they lacked the edge of Practice. But they had larger fleets, and weapons that were still more than a match to your own.
Already, as First Fleet returned to the dockyards for further upgrades, courier ships were being loaded with the core components of the Orrery designs you'd created. Hermes II, humanity's new interstellar lagless station, was unfolding swiftly from its prefabbed components. It would be online within the day, and then you'd be able to tell your prospective allies that you'd lived, and that they could too. The war, as horrible as you knew it was going to be, was on. And unless the Adamant found something truly remarkable out there, there'd be no turning back.
Stars were going to burn, yours and theirs, before this was done and the weight of that reality was almost enough to crush you. If it had been just you, it probably would have, but you weren't alone. You had comrades, and friends, and more than that too. Humanity was united, as the Elder First had begun, and Amanda had finished. Together, you believed, you could do this.
There was just one, last, thing.
"What do you mean, not what we think?" You asked Vision's avatar blearily, tiredly directing your Prologue enhancements to scrub the alcohol from your system. It was several days after the Fourth Battle of Sol now, and you'd thought it reasonable to celebrate a little. You'd succeeded too, and you could feel the flush of life in you that came from those rare moments, where you could be just Lina. You knew you should allow yourself more, but there'd just been no time since the Third.
That said, Vision wouldn't have woken you without good reason. At least she'd waited until your normal waking time, and you shifted one of the bodies in between you and the edge of the bed to let you slide out of it.
"I have only recently been able to recover the full telemetry from the Lux satellites." Vision explained. "And dedicating the requisite processing power was impossible until early this morning. The results, however, speak for themselves."
"One second," you slid your feet into your uniform, and it flowed up your body quickly. "Let me get to the secure unit." That was the work of a few moments, thankfully. One of the perks of being Minister of War, you had a secure interface in your quarters.
"Alright," you continued, flopping down on the reactive couch with a heavy sigh. "What did you find, Vision?"
"Understand that you will need to contact the President after seeing this." She replied. "I am bringing this to you due to your position in the chain of command."
"Understood." You flicked a few connections, checking Adri's schedule. It was still night where she was, but she'd wake up for a priority call. "But I need to know what I'm going to be reporting first."
"Of course." Vision bobbed once in place, then imagery filled your display. You blinked your eyes again, making sure you were awake, then examined it. It was a frame-by-frame of that...you swallowed hard and told yourself to use his name. Savino Lindholm, the Insight Focused who'd been the first of the Two Twenty Three's casualties in history. And the only one who'd been lost with his Platform. But the imagery on your screen looked...you jerked upright in your seat as it ended.
"Is this right?" You demanded, rewinding and playing it back through. Vision's avatar bobbed again.
"All projections support this conclusion." She told you, in the time it took for you your third repetition of the footage completed.
"What about the others?" You asked, squelching the hope. "Anything like this with Sharon, Ishael or Nyera?"
"I am afraid not." Vision said. You started repeat number five. "I would request that Project Insight be consulted to be sure, however."
"Yes." You swallowed again, to wet a throat gone dry. "I can understand that. Get me President Thera. Priority override."
Before you, caught by one of the Lux Sagum platforms established so many years ago now, was a very different fate. Savino's Aegis was ripped and torn, but he was still intact, still alive, reaching for his Platform to cast it away. And frozen, in a cage of gravity, as a Shiplord craft scooped him out of the black into a bay that the glimpse your sensor had gotten of it was saturated in the same jamming that had been used against the Two Twenty Three as weapons.
And then it was gone.
The Shiplords had indeed taken four of humanity's greatest weapons from you. But not all of them were dead, and you couldn't help but think that maybe it would have been a mercy for Sav to have died.
First Fleet had engaged as best it could with its own targeting systems, but you'd kept its fire limited to attempted interdiction and opportunity fire. That had been within the expected profile according to Project Insight, and you couldn't afford breaking from it far enough to focus all of the fleet's power on defensive action. The War Fleet needed to be held in place, and if you'd not presented a threat, they'd have ignored you until you did.
Perhaps that had fooled them enough that they'd become overconfident, certain in their belief that the War Fleets remained a weapon which no Tributary could match. They weren't wrong about that, even now. But you didn't have to match a War Fleet to kill it, all you had to do was know what it was. Humanity did, and your species had had more than a decade to prepare your countermeasures.
The Pacifier class was a marvel of engineering, equipped with an FTL drive so advanced that it would beggar entire minor polities to construct just one and a primary armament more suited to the largest of Regular Fleet vessels. But for all that, they were small, heavily coated in stealth composites instead of armour, and lacking all but the most basic shielding.
The Shiplords did lose them occasionally, though only to the blindest chance. Despite all of its advanced technology, a hit from a capital class disruptor could disrupt a Pacifier's jump cycle, leaving it open to destruction. Given the volume of space that a War Fleet could operate within, these occasions came so rarely as to be negligible. But it was a weakness, and First Fleet had paid in blood to give humanity the chance to exploit it.
The designated Fleets for response slashed out to the edge of the SEZ, and vanished into jump in a flurry of translations. Two of them were targeted on the Lumen, and were going to be needed to break the craft's frankly obscene shield capacity before it would be able to jump again. The Sixth and Second Fleets had different priorities. As your weapons shifted to fire based on the Orrery's targeting data, those ships jumped to the edge of a two light-second radius sphere centred on First Fleet. It was the closest thing to a deep space ambush that you'd been able to come up with in your planning sessions.
And then there were the Two-Twenty Three.
A veritable sheet of grav disruptor fire lashed out and in at the dancing War Fleet craft, thickened by the fury of the Unisonbound, and the tactical holo polarised as space in every direction erupted into a solid curtain of detonating starships. Perhaps five percent of them were yours.
You'd known from the beginning that you were only going to get one chance to do this, and you'd had to prove that the Orrery could work. So you'd stacked the deck, then stacked it again, and as the universe blew apart around you, you felt nothing but furious exaltation. It had worked!
Exactly how many War Fleet craft were destroyed in that initial clash, you could never say. But it shattered the contingent of Pacifiers dispatched to handle First Fleet, and your drives were almost recharged.
"Lantern." You snapped over the tac-net. The Two Twenty Three complied with the ease of endless training, streaming back to their couriers buried deep in the centre of your fleet, their drives fully charged. The sudden lack of incoming fire came as a shock, and a welcome one, but you were alone in enjoying it. Your outer shell, scattered as they were, now raced inwards, trying to close into mutual support range before the other War Fleet contingents could react.
Most succeeded, but most is only more than half. The Shiplords had been shocked by the sudden eruption of targeted fire against their ships, but they weren't stupid. The assignments shifted, and lances of grav fire carved through the rear echelons of Second and Sixth, wreaking a terrible price on ships too far from each other to effectively combine their shielding or firepower. That was the trade-off you'd had to make for your hammer blow.
It was worth it, you told yourself, trying not to feel the sudden flood of casualties. There'd be time enough for that if you won. The Orrery gave you a fighting chance, but at the percentages Vision had given you, it didn't guarantee victory. For that, you had to destroy the Lumen pointing at Sol, and it had weathered the initial attack on it far too capably for your liking. But that was what Lantern was for. First, Second and Sixth would hold here until you could move to reinforce Fourth and Third Fleet, but the Two Twenty Three could move now. And that was exactly what they did.
You wished, not for the first time, that Kalilah had stayed for this fight. The Adamant hadn't needed her for its mission, but she'd not been chosen for her particular Focus. Amanda had chosen to put her faith in the bonds of friendship and harmony that she'd helped create, and you'd seen the power of those enough before. Unfortunately, it left you without the only person in the entire star system who you were confident could have dropped the Lumen's shields barring Amanda herself. And without Vega to act as a nexus for the power around you - you shook the thought away.
The two Unison couriers blinked out of existence, and the two hundred seventeen Unisonbound of the remaining Two Twenty Three hurled themselves into the maelstrom of dying starships wreathing the Shiplord starkiller like a ghastly corona.
"How long?" You snapped. It was a needless question, but you needed something to take your mind away from that, even for a moment.
"Three minutes for us." Alex replied, watching the Fleet's power focus skew towards its drives. He glanced at the readouts for the Lumen, and his lips thinned. "The Second and Sixth won't get there in time, Lina. Either we kill it before they're recharged, or we've lost."
"At least the Two Twenty Three are in there." You said, trying to reassure your subordinates, and yourself. "Even without the First, they should be enough."
"It will be closer than you think." Vision reported, still moving faster than your intelligence officer. It was rather unfair, honestly. "I am detecting new ship profiles, with the same weapon signatures as those used against the Two Twenty Three in the Third Battle of Sol."
"Get them back in!" Your gaze snapped around, to where the Two Twenty three had already spread out around the Third and Fourth Fleets, raising barriers to protect them. Their own heavy hitters slammed fire inwards, hurling energy at the Lumen that threatened everything humanity had ever called its own. "Get them into the globe!"
Alex was already calling the codeword, and the world around you slowed to a crawl, heat building at the back of your neck as your enhancements pushed themselves to their limits. And there, in that crucial moment, a Shiplord EWAR tech found the right frequency. Comms slashed off from your detached ships around Saturn, slicing through the call to withdraw before it could be spoken. Alex's hand flashed in the light, in time with your own. Shiplords could jam lagless, but they'd yet to succeed at jamming the Unisonbound's connections, and the Auxilia had those too.
But not even those reactions were perfect, and despite all the training and preparation in the world, it took a moment for the message to be passed and authenticated. Just one moment, out of so many. But it was enough.
The reconfigured Pacifiers slashed out of jump perfectly positioned around one of the roaming Heartcircles of the Two Twenty Three, and the Unisonbound staggered in space as the next best thing to jamming of the soul ripped through them. They'd had some practice since the Third, those Unisonbound, and they'd managed something approaching a countermeasure. But it took time, and that was the one thing that the Shiplords' stroke of good fortune had robbed them of.
Shields and veils burned away, and the Heartcircle was still moving to reestablish its evasive pattern when another group of Pacifiers blinked into being around them. These didn't have the old, ancient weapons that had struck Potentials so harshly. They were more mundane, but no less lethal for it.
The Aegis' of the Two Twenty Three protected their Potentials in ways that went beyond human understanding, and you'd seen them tested under capital bombardment before. But even those impossible creations had limits. Grav disruption tore out, and there was no miracle waiting to stop it this time. One of the Unisonbound, an Insight Focused with their wits more about them than the rest, hurled himself between the incoming barrage. He interdicted almost sixty percent of the incoming fire, enough for the rest of his Heartcircle to survive.
Across the breadth of the formation, the scene repeated itself. Most survived, though dreadfully wounded. But that first, the swiftest, was gone when distortion of criss-crossing grav fire faded, and he wasn't alone. In a single, dreadful moment, the Shiplords took four of the Two Twenty Three from humanity, and there was no sign of the first's Platform. The rest of the ranging Heartcircles fell back, scooping up their wounded comrades, and you shuddered to imagine the pain in those places as they did so. It tore at your own soul, the screaming pain all the sharper when it was those you knew dying.
The Two Twenty Three had been the symbol of an undaunted humanity, but without their leaders, they'd been lessened. You'd known that. But it hadn't been a choice you could afford to make any other way. But what came from it, as the heat close to your spine faded, and your perceptions decelerated, proved that you'd not been wrong when you'd chosen them.
No miracle had saved those four, maybe no miracle could have. You'd try to convince yourself of that, in dark nights still to come. But Kalilah hadn't been the only First Awoken among that force, just the most obvious. And Vega hadn't been the only Harmonial. Were they late? You didn't think that was a fair assessment, or a fair question. What mattered was that humanity still breathed, and it did.
Down where the Lumen's shield still held against the torrent of grav disruptor fire and more Practiced attacks, a spark of white light erupted. A spark of pure destruction, unleashed by five souls brought together in concert, that cared not a whit for the reality of that shield before it. The jamming fell, your own techs fighting back the encroachment of the Shiplords on the lagless, and the words of those five came across the net.
"Be Undone"
The light reached out for the Lumen, as it stood undaunted, still charging, hanging over your star like a headsman's axe. And smote it from creation.
The battle didn't end there, but the Shiplords appeared unwilling to commit a second Lumen, if they'd even brought one. The War Fleet retreated from Sol's heliopause several minutes later, unwilling to trade more of their number for lesser, human craft. Victory, for you, and for something far more important too. For the Orrery had performed exactly as you'd needed it to. It had been horribly, terribly bloody, and you couldn't imagine it would get any better as the Shiplords adapted to the new reality. But the defence against their most feared weapon had worked.
That lit a fire in you, in all of your staff, and more. Despite the losses, so much more terrible than any of the battles before it, you had proof that War Fleets could be fought. That they could, if not beaten, at least driven back. The threat of Lumens or similar special weapon designs would have to be taken into account for the other races, as they lacked the edge of Practice. But they had larger fleets, and weapons that were still more than a match to your own.
Already, as First Fleet returned to the dockyards for further upgrades, courier ships were being loaded with the core components of the Orrery designs you'd created. Hermes II, humanity's new interstellar lagless station, was unfolding swiftly from its prefabbed components. It would be online within the day, and then you'd be able to tell your prospective allies that you'd lived, and that they could too. The war, as horrible as you knew it was going to be, was on. And unless the Adamant found something truly remarkable out there, there'd be no turning back.
Stars were going to burn, yours and theirs, before this was done and the weight of that reality was almost enough to crush you. If it had been just you, it probably would have, but you weren't alone. You had comrades, and friends, and more than that too. Humanity was united, as the Elder First had begun, and Amanda had finished. Together, you believed, you could do this.
There was just one, last, thing.
"What do you mean, not what we think?" You asked Vision's avatar blearily, tiredly directing your Prologue enhancements to scrub the alcohol from your system. It was several days after the Fourth Battle of Sol now, and you'd thought it reasonable to celebrate a little. You'd succeeded too, and you could feel the flush of life in you that came from those rare moments, where you could be just Lina. You knew you should allow yourself more, but there'd just been no time since the Third.
That said, Vision wouldn't have woken you without good reason. At least she'd waited until your normal waking time, and you shifted one of the bodies in between you and the edge of the bed to let you slide out of it.
"I have only recently been able to recover the full telemetry from the Lux satellites." Vision explained. "And dedicating the requisite processing power was impossible until early this morning. The results, however, speak for themselves."
"One second," you slid your feet into your uniform, and it flowed up your body quickly. "Let me get to the secure unit." That was the work of a few moments, thankfully. One of the perks of being Minister of War, you had a secure interface in your quarters.
"Alright," you continued, flopping down on the reactive couch with a heavy sigh. "What did you find, Vision?"
"Understand that you will need to contact the President after seeing this." She replied. "I am bringing this to you due to your position in the chain of command."
"Understood." You flicked a few connections, checking Adri's schedule. It was still night where she was, but she'd wake up for a priority call. "But I need to know what I'm going to be reporting first."
"Of course." Vision bobbed once in place, then imagery filled your display. You blinked your eyes again, making sure you were awake, then examined it. It was a frame-by-frame of that...you swallowed hard and told yourself to use his name. Savino Lindholm, the Insight Focused who'd been the first of the Two Twenty Three's casualties in history. And the only one who'd been lost with his Platform. But the imagery on your screen looked...you jerked upright in your seat as it ended.
"Is this right?" You demanded, rewinding and playing it back through. Vision's avatar bobbed again.
"All projections support this conclusion." She told you, in the time it took for you your third repetition of the footage completed.
"What about the others?" You asked, squelching the hope. "Anything like this with Sharon, Ishael or Nyera?"
"I am afraid not." Vision said. You started repeat number five. "I would request that Project Insight be consulted to be sure, however."
"Yes." You swallowed again, to wet a throat gone dry. "I can understand that. Get me President Thera. Priority override."
Before you, caught by one of the Lux Sagum platforms established so many years ago now, was a very different fate. Savino's Aegis was ripped and torn, but he was still intact, still alive, reaching for his Platform to cast it away. And frozen, in a cage of gravity, as a Shiplord craft scooped him out of the black into a bay that the glimpse your sensor had gotten of it was saturated in the same jamming that had been used against the Two Twenty Three as weapons.
And then it was gone.
The Shiplords had indeed taken four of humanity's greatest weapons from you. But not all of them were dead, and you couldn't help but think that maybe it would have been a mercy for Sav to have died.
Last edited:
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
So...um. This happened. This is unbetaed, so apologies for any and all errors that might be here. I'm a little late for Earth Day, but it's the thought that counts, right? I don't actually have much more to say, surprisingly. This is, well, it was always what was likely to happen after you took Amanda's entire Heartcircle off the field. The Two Twenty Three were more than just good, and they did adapt, but they were never going to be as strong. And that...told here. Shiplords got a lucky roll on the EWAR field, and this all cascaded from there.
At the same time, though, Lina's ambush wiped an entire War Fleet detachment out of existence. I rolled the percentage of that group that survived using a Discord bot on the PW server. They got a four. As one shot acts of defiance go, that's a pretty damn good one.
At the same time, though, Lina's ambush wiped an entire War Fleet detachment out of existence. I rolled the percentage of that group that survived using a Discord bot on the PW server. They got a four. As one shot acts of defiance go, that's a pretty damn good one.
- Location
- Australia
So when do we get Shiplord pov posts regarding this? 
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
So when do we get Shiplord pov posts regarding this?
Will write custom interludes for omakes
- Location
- PA
Well. The Two Twenty Three...Are no longer such.
On the one hand, it's a terrible loss. A shining light, dimmed, 'if only slightly'...On the other hand?
The power to stand firm and oppose the Shiplords, confirmed. The ability to keep them from just destroying as they please. An end, perhaps to their cruel tyranny.
On the one hand, it's a terrible loss. A shining light, dimmed, 'if only slightly'...On the other hand?
The power to stand firm and oppose the Shiplords, confirmed. The ability to keep them from just destroying as they please. An end, perhaps to their cruel tyranny.
- Location
- Australia
The question, of course, is what sort of heads or tails the Shiplords will be able to make from something produced via Practice, like the Platforms are. These are not the most reverse-engineering or even conventional logic friendly systems.
If everyone wants to dip into the paranoia pond just ever so slightly, consider if the Shiplords went into this battle considering the Lumen to be an acceptable loss to get actionable intel on Humanities strange capabilities.
What would they do to prevent another site like the ones Amanda is visiting right now? Not just to prevent one, but to prevent them from ever occurring again.
Material costs are kind of meaningless to that kind of civilization impetus. As well, in my mind, the shiplords basically have a production and crew training economic frontier of 'yes'.
What would they do to prevent another site like the ones Amanda is visiting right now? Not just to prevent one, but to prevent them from ever occurring again.
Material costs are kind of meaningless to that kind of civilization impetus. As well, in my mind, the shiplords basically have a production and crew training economic frontier of 'yes'.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
If that were the case, then they would have far, far more war materiel like that of the existing War Fleets and superweapons, mothballed in strategic reserve. Because they know threats like this can emerge as bolts from the blue.
That is not the case, unless they have been spoofing Insight on that one specific issue.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Or the UPI report took that into account and it's why a third of the galaxy is expected to be lost in any full tilt throwdown between the Shiplords and everyone else. And the Shiplords do have some level of active defence against Insight, given the events of the Nightfalls interlude in the PW thread.
Humanity knows that the Shiplords have a lot of strategic reserve, but it's focused at the Regular Fleet level, and that stuff takes a lot of time to get anywhere beyond the galactic core.
Oh! That reminds me. Your next sidestory piece will involve your good friends at the closest-to-Earth Shiplord comm relay. If people have forgotten - which I can totally understand, its been a while - a big part of your initial attack plan after surviving a War Fleet was to hamstring the Shiplords' galactic comms net. That's going to start happening.
Hmm. Some, yes, but not much. The issue here is that War Fleet craft are incredibly vulnerable to direct fire but also need direct fire to kill. So you've got some stupidly advanced stealth composites, bits and pieces of the grav-shear banks the Pacifiers use, and a reasonable amount of core system wreckage to work with.
Nothing more than scraps of their FTL systems, unfortunately, which I expect is what you were really looking for. As expensive and capable as those are, they're kinda hella fragile. Lina considered trying for one of the War Fleet mobile shipyards, but that would've taken her out of Orrery range. Otherwise known as committing suicide.
- Location
- Ekaterinburg, Russia
Not really, no. The haul is already more than the bare minimum I was expecting (those stealth materials), the Drive systems were the expected writeoff in the first place. Same with "anything Lumen has" because it was probably obliterated wholesale.
Really the only surprise bigger than the Drive systems would have been if the salvage included anti-Practice weapon systems.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Getting the Unison Platform off the Unisonbound is likely to be a rather extreme struggle. And the whole conceptual inviolacy to bioweapons and nanotech isn't something that they're going to be able to disrupt without killing their intel source.
- Location
- Australia
New spinoff quest: ABDUCTED: Life with the Shiplords!
Do your best to withhold potential keys to blowing up Earth, while reaching out to the Shiplords and achieving a new peace!
Novel Worries, New Choice
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Personal Journal, Vega Cant, September 5th, 2130
I'm worried about Mandy.
It's not a simple thing to say that about my friend, the woman who led humanity through trials that I don't think any of us could have imagined. She's stood for so long at the heart of humanity, and of our purpose. She placed herself there, made herself into a symbol, and accepted the cost without blinking. It's a burden she's withstood for decades, and despite everything that I am, I never saw her crack even once. Not until now.
What we saw down there, on that world we're swiftly leaving behind, was simply beyond us. What the Shiplords fought, what the Uninvolved had to break from their position to end, it's so much bigger than humanity and the war we've begun. We want freedom, a peaceful future that I know is worth fighting for. But if we can find that future, how do we keep it? I know, that where we're now going, we should be able to discover more of the truth of the Sphere. Why the war began.
This place, this system, we think it's the reason the Second Secret was barred to us by the Directives. After seeing what it's capable of, I'm struggling to disagree. We all are. Properly explaining what we saw to the other is more difficult than you could imagine, and I wish I'd spent the time to try and understand how the Marionettes share memories. Or maybe I don't. Sharing this with others in a way more than words, I don't know if I could do that without feeling guilt. The horror of what we saw, and the finality of the Uninvolved's actions to stop it are terrifying.
Amanda hasn't spoken much since then, but she knows something. Something that's been eating at her, and I don't know what it is. Mary and Iris, they try, but neither of them are sure either. None of us are. She's trying to come to terms with something, I think, something that she doesn't want us to see. And something that I know she's afraid of. The shocks of what I can only assume were the Fourth Battle of Sol haven't helped either.
Four distinct pulses, so close together that they were almost one, then nothing. We'd tested the 223's internal web over interstellar distances before, but we'd only been able to go so far. Communication, direct communication I should say, seemed impossible. But when the Shiplords reduced our number to two hundred nineteen? We felt it, even this far away. In a way, it's a blessing; the lack of any more shocks means the Orrery worked, and that humanity still lives. Whatever price we paid, Lina proved that a War Fleet could be fought. But for Mir, Amanda and I, the timing couldn't be worse.
We've seen now a glimpse of the sort of horrors that the Secrets can truly unleash, and I have no doubt that we'll discover yet more on the world ahead of us. What the Shiplords have done to countless trillions is inexcusable, but now I know that there's something worse. I delved back into the memory we were given through Kagiso, bending my Focus to the task of trying to understand it. What I found was that the Sphere called itself that because it wasn't just made up of Hjivin. There were other races, other souls, poured into the monster they tried to create, and none of them were truly willing. Not even those of their own people.
What sort of journey must a race take to do something like that to their own? And at a practical level, how did they do it? Surely if direct control in that capacity was possible, the Shiplords could just force a problematic race to go Uninvolved. So why don't they? They've walked these stars for longer than our species has existed, and Insight has always been very clear on their mastery of the Secrets. So what's stopping them?
None of us have an answer to that question. Not a real one. The best we have, stripped of all the various dressings, is that there apparently are some things that not even the Shiplords will do. That to meddle in the soul is a moral event horizon that not even they would cross. Easier for us to believe with how the war against the Sphere was referenced in the tomb of the Zlathbu, perhaps. But it's not easy. Never that.
How long will that refusal last, in the face of true rebellion? I wonder if that's what Mandy is afraid of, but I don't think it is. Her fear is more personal, fixed on the nature of herself instead of the reality around her. She's only spoken to me and the rest of the crew to issue orders, as if she's trying to hide it, but it's such a poor trick that it makes it utterly obvious. Lea is trying to work out what to do, but it would take me and Kalilah together to hold Mandy still long enough to let her get through to her. Or Mary, I suppose.
Mir has been a great comfort, I can't deny that. His presence has helped to soothe my own fears, and I know mine has done the same for him. He's so young - I never believed I'd say that - yet so subtly strong. I needed that strength to get through to the other side of what we experienced together. Yet again, every time I consider it, I'm struck with the truth that Amanda doesn't need that help. I'm so used to knowing what the answer is, being able to discover it by following the path to harmony. It makes it so much harder when the answer I find is to leave something alone. That there is no simple solution but time.
Do we have that time to spare? I'm not sure. If the Fourth Battle has already taken place, three days ago now, then Adriana will already be moving into the next stages. The network of comsats that link the galaxy together for the Shiplords will have been broken, and they'll be mobilising in response. Hermes II will been assembled to inform our allies of our survival, and to pass on the plans that will allow them to replicate our success. It will take months or years for conventional Shiplord forces to reach Sol in any numbers, but the Void Crystal experiments should allow the FSN to aid our allies far more swiftly.
And whilst they do that, we have to focus on our own mission, which brings me back to my own worries. We'll be fine going down there, I think. We don't have Iris in the security systems, but we never needed her last time. So I'm not worried about our chances there. What does concern me is what that information might do to us. Myself and Mir are hurting, and that's spread throughout the Heartcircle. But Amanda is vulnerable in a way that I've only seen once before, after she almost died at the hands of a Shiplord assassination attempt.
She's always been one of our strongest, but that strength was also what unleashed Purify. And if presented with similar horrors, as I fully expect us to be, will she be able to prevent a similar response?
Before a week ago, I'd not have considered that question. Now I have to, because I don't know the answer anymore.
The approach to the second habitable planet went smoothly, as there was plentiful civilian traffic this time to hide the Adamant's approach. You were glad of that, as it gave your pilots some time to ease back into use of the ship's stealth systems. The week of quiet would have been good for the crew in most circumstances, but these weren't those.
"How are we doing, Jane?" You asked, watching the clear displays around you.
"We're through their main sensor screen now." She said, gesturing to the display in front of you both. The planetary screen, supplemented by the dormant warship, had been her greatest concern. "We should be in position to send down a landing party within the hour."
"Good." You nodded. "That's good. Do we have any more detailed scans?"
Jane shook her head. "Nothing more than the layout. We'll need people on the ground to find out more."
Your lips tightened below clouded blue eyes. "That'll have to do, then." You rose to your feet. "Keep me apprised of any further developments. We'll be landing the moment we reach a safe distance."
"Ma'am?" Jane's tone was polite, but there was a layer of concern there that hadn't been there before. You knew why it was, the careful looks had been obvious, but there just wasn't time. Not with these new stakes.
"I'd prefer to be out of this system as fast as I can, Jane." You told her. It was even true - but when had you started keeping secrets like that? You weren't sure. "Go down, find what we can, move on to the next. Better than waiting in orbit for another week."
"Of course." She nodded, but her face was tight around her darker eyes. "I'll inform the rest of the landing team to be at the launch bay in seventy minutes."
"Thanks." You said, and meant it. A moment later, you were gone.
That hour and some passed quickly, lost in a haze of meditation that Sidra was eventually forced to bodily rip you from in time to make your own deadline. You'd not lost time, not exactly, but there was a lot on your mind. A lot that still didn't make sense. You knew you weren't explaining, and that you really, really should, but where could you even begin?
Better to get this done, you told yourself, lying all the while. Better to be out of this place before whatever this was caught up with you. Safer for everyone, too. You moved with an almost surgical precision as you crossed the ship to the launch bay, choosing your landing party, boarding the shuttle. It was...no different in substance, but there was an edge this time. A fear of what you were going to find, and more than that. What it might cost?
The planet was not the same as the one before, but where Mary had drawn your attention to fauna and flora before, you left it to the automated systems this time. The Zlathbu had had none, and it was good to see how the autos functioned without supervision.
But stepping out into the air of a third extrasolar body, the sight before you was very different. Three towers this time, but connected, not alone, ringed a central plaza. They shimmered silver in the light of the system's star, scattering the light like vast prisms. A small cleared area separated the compound from the sprawling jungle around it, extending to secure the landing zones you'd taken advantage of. You weren't logged in the system this time, though. Without Iris there on the other side, that would have been far too dangerous.
So you ghosted this time, and hoped that you would still be welcome. This was still a civilian installation, after all. You needn't have worried. Your Masque rippled faintly as a Shiplord approached, and as before at the tomb of the Zlathbu, bid you be welcome beneath the towers. This one, their use-name Kicha, offered you warm greetings of the Hearthguard, and a choice like the last. You left the small-talk to Vega, her Focus far more capable than your own in that respect.
"There are three paths here, to experience the truth of this place." Kicha said to you and your small party. "All are open to you, but only one may be taken first, and none of the Hearthguard will speak more of them without first knowing your choice."
A slight variation, but that was expected. Three more than two, that would change anything.
"Would you witness?" A hand-analogue rose towards the towers, before moving down, implying the plaza, you thought. "Remember?" The not-hand moved again, to the low structures that bound the three towers together into a circle. "Or experience?"
You have brought a maximum of three others with you. You may select as many you wish, or leave allocation to Amanda's discretion. Vega is automatically present. Elil has remained aboard the Adamant to ensure stealth is maintained.
[] Iris – Your daughter, and the only non-Unisonbound on the list. As an AI, she is more capable in the infospace than any other member of your crew, and her avatar is fully capable of interfacing with a Masque. She can think even faster than you can, but her physical capabilities still lag behind a Unisonbound. But then, so long as she has lagless signal she's never in any real danger.
[] Kalilah Mishra – A risky choice, you would have believed, but Kalilah has continued to change since the Third Battle of Sol. Her experiences in the home system of the Zlathbu have left their mark, though you are unsure if her request to join you this time was driven by curiosity or concern. If you are discovered, there will be no greater ally in returning you all safely home.
[] Lea Halwood – A Mender like you, though through a different lens, Lea tends to act as a sounding board for you, and the younger woman is very good at it. Easily capable of keeping up, and would provide a backup medic in the event of combat.
[] Mir Hayes – Apart from you and Vega, the only Speaker on the mission. Mir also possesses a truly rare Focus of Peace, and believes that he may be able to turn this to your advantage in seeking undisturbed access to the Shiplord memorial site. His request to join this mission was oddly intent.
And where do you choose to begin?
[] Witness
[] Experience
[] Remember
I'm worried about Mandy.
It's not a simple thing to say that about my friend, the woman who led humanity through trials that I don't think any of us could have imagined. She's stood for so long at the heart of humanity, and of our purpose. She placed herself there, made herself into a symbol, and accepted the cost without blinking. It's a burden she's withstood for decades, and despite everything that I am, I never saw her crack even once. Not until now.
What we saw down there, on that world we're swiftly leaving behind, was simply beyond us. What the Shiplords fought, what the Uninvolved had to break from their position to end, it's so much bigger than humanity and the war we've begun. We want freedom, a peaceful future that I know is worth fighting for. But if we can find that future, how do we keep it? I know, that where we're now going, we should be able to discover more of the truth of the Sphere. Why the war began.
This place, this system, we think it's the reason the Second Secret was barred to us by the Directives. After seeing what it's capable of, I'm struggling to disagree. We all are. Properly explaining what we saw to the other is more difficult than you could imagine, and I wish I'd spent the time to try and understand how the Marionettes share memories. Or maybe I don't. Sharing this with others in a way more than words, I don't know if I could do that without feeling guilt. The horror of what we saw, and the finality of the Uninvolved's actions to stop it are terrifying.
Amanda hasn't spoken much since then, but she knows something. Something that's been eating at her, and I don't know what it is. Mary and Iris, they try, but neither of them are sure either. None of us are. She's trying to come to terms with something, I think, something that she doesn't want us to see. And something that I know she's afraid of. The shocks of what I can only assume were the Fourth Battle of Sol haven't helped either.
Four distinct pulses, so close together that they were almost one, then nothing. We'd tested the 223's internal web over interstellar distances before, but we'd only been able to go so far. Communication, direct communication I should say, seemed impossible. But when the Shiplords reduced our number to two hundred nineteen? We felt it, even this far away. In a way, it's a blessing; the lack of any more shocks means the Orrery worked, and that humanity still lives. Whatever price we paid, Lina proved that a War Fleet could be fought. But for Mir, Amanda and I, the timing couldn't be worse.
We've seen now a glimpse of the sort of horrors that the Secrets can truly unleash, and I have no doubt that we'll discover yet more on the world ahead of us. What the Shiplords have done to countless trillions is inexcusable, but now I know that there's something worse. I delved back into the memory we were given through Kagiso, bending my Focus to the task of trying to understand it. What I found was that the Sphere called itself that because it wasn't just made up of Hjivin. There were other races, other souls, poured into the monster they tried to create, and none of them were truly willing. Not even those of their own people.
What sort of journey must a race take to do something like that to their own? And at a practical level, how did they do it? Surely if direct control in that capacity was possible, the Shiplords could just force a problematic race to go Uninvolved. So why don't they? They've walked these stars for longer than our species has existed, and Insight has always been very clear on their mastery of the Secrets. So what's stopping them?
None of us have an answer to that question. Not a real one. The best we have, stripped of all the various dressings, is that there apparently are some things that not even the Shiplords will do. That to meddle in the soul is a moral event horizon that not even they would cross. Easier for us to believe with how the war against the Sphere was referenced in the tomb of the Zlathbu, perhaps. But it's not easy. Never that.
How long will that refusal last, in the face of true rebellion? I wonder if that's what Mandy is afraid of, but I don't think it is. Her fear is more personal, fixed on the nature of herself instead of the reality around her. She's only spoken to me and the rest of the crew to issue orders, as if she's trying to hide it, but it's such a poor trick that it makes it utterly obvious. Lea is trying to work out what to do, but it would take me and Kalilah together to hold Mandy still long enough to let her get through to her. Or Mary, I suppose.
Mir has been a great comfort, I can't deny that. His presence has helped to soothe my own fears, and I know mine has done the same for him. He's so young - I never believed I'd say that - yet so subtly strong. I needed that strength to get through to the other side of what we experienced together. Yet again, every time I consider it, I'm struck with the truth that Amanda doesn't need that help. I'm so used to knowing what the answer is, being able to discover it by following the path to harmony. It makes it so much harder when the answer I find is to leave something alone. That there is no simple solution but time.
Do we have that time to spare? I'm not sure. If the Fourth Battle has already taken place, three days ago now, then Adriana will already be moving into the next stages. The network of comsats that link the galaxy together for the Shiplords will have been broken, and they'll be mobilising in response. Hermes II will been assembled to inform our allies of our survival, and to pass on the plans that will allow them to replicate our success. It will take months or years for conventional Shiplord forces to reach Sol in any numbers, but the Void Crystal experiments should allow the FSN to aid our allies far more swiftly.
And whilst they do that, we have to focus on our own mission, which brings me back to my own worries. We'll be fine going down there, I think. We don't have Iris in the security systems, but we never needed her last time. So I'm not worried about our chances there. What does concern me is what that information might do to us. Myself and Mir are hurting, and that's spread throughout the Heartcircle. But Amanda is vulnerable in a way that I've only seen once before, after she almost died at the hands of a Shiplord assassination attempt.
She's always been one of our strongest, but that strength was also what unleashed Purify. And if presented with similar horrors, as I fully expect us to be, will she be able to prevent a similar response?
Before a week ago, I'd not have considered that question. Now I have to, because I don't know the answer anymore.
The approach to the second habitable planet went smoothly, as there was plentiful civilian traffic this time to hide the Adamant's approach. You were glad of that, as it gave your pilots some time to ease back into use of the ship's stealth systems. The week of quiet would have been good for the crew in most circumstances, but these weren't those.
"How are we doing, Jane?" You asked, watching the clear displays around you.
"We're through their main sensor screen now." She said, gesturing to the display in front of you both. The planetary screen, supplemented by the dormant warship, had been her greatest concern. "We should be in position to send down a landing party within the hour."
"Good." You nodded. "That's good. Do we have any more detailed scans?"
Jane shook her head. "Nothing more than the layout. We'll need people on the ground to find out more."
Your lips tightened below clouded blue eyes. "That'll have to do, then." You rose to your feet. "Keep me apprised of any further developments. We'll be landing the moment we reach a safe distance."
"Ma'am?" Jane's tone was polite, but there was a layer of concern there that hadn't been there before. You knew why it was, the careful looks had been obvious, but there just wasn't time. Not with these new stakes.
"I'd prefer to be out of this system as fast as I can, Jane." You told her. It was even true - but when had you started keeping secrets like that? You weren't sure. "Go down, find what we can, move on to the next. Better than waiting in orbit for another week."
"Of course." She nodded, but her face was tight around her darker eyes. "I'll inform the rest of the landing team to be at the launch bay in seventy minutes."
"Thanks." You said, and meant it. A moment later, you were gone.
That hour and some passed quickly, lost in a haze of meditation that Sidra was eventually forced to bodily rip you from in time to make your own deadline. You'd not lost time, not exactly, but there was a lot on your mind. A lot that still didn't make sense. You knew you weren't explaining, and that you really, really should, but where could you even begin?
Better to get this done, you told yourself, lying all the while. Better to be out of this place before whatever this was caught up with you. Safer for everyone, too. You moved with an almost surgical precision as you crossed the ship to the launch bay, choosing your landing party, boarding the shuttle. It was...no different in substance, but there was an edge this time. A fear of what you were going to find, and more than that. What it might cost?
The planet was not the same as the one before, but where Mary had drawn your attention to fauna and flora before, you left it to the automated systems this time. The Zlathbu had had none, and it was good to see how the autos functioned without supervision.
But stepping out into the air of a third extrasolar body, the sight before you was very different. Three towers this time, but connected, not alone, ringed a central plaza. They shimmered silver in the light of the system's star, scattering the light like vast prisms. A small cleared area separated the compound from the sprawling jungle around it, extending to secure the landing zones you'd taken advantage of. You weren't logged in the system this time, though. Without Iris there on the other side, that would have been far too dangerous.
So you ghosted this time, and hoped that you would still be welcome. This was still a civilian installation, after all. You needn't have worried. Your Masque rippled faintly as a Shiplord approached, and as before at the tomb of the Zlathbu, bid you be welcome beneath the towers. This one, their use-name Kicha, offered you warm greetings of the Hearthguard, and a choice like the last. You left the small-talk to Vega, her Focus far more capable than your own in that respect.
"There are three paths here, to experience the truth of this place." Kicha said to you and your small party. "All are open to you, but only one may be taken first, and none of the Hearthguard will speak more of them without first knowing your choice."
A slight variation, but that was expected. Three more than two, that would change anything.
"Would you witness?" A hand-analogue rose towards the towers, before moving down, implying the plaza, you thought. "Remember?" The not-hand moved again, to the low structures that bound the three towers together into a circle. "Or experience?"
You have brought a maximum of three others with you. You may select as many you wish, or leave allocation to Amanda's discretion. Vega is automatically present. Elil has remained aboard the Adamant to ensure stealth is maintained.
[] Iris – Your daughter, and the only non-Unisonbound on the list. As an AI, she is more capable in the infospace than any other member of your crew, and her avatar is fully capable of interfacing with a Masque. She can think even faster than you can, but her physical capabilities still lag behind a Unisonbound. But then, so long as she has lagless signal she's never in any real danger.
[] Kalilah Mishra – A risky choice, you would have believed, but Kalilah has continued to change since the Third Battle of Sol. Her experiences in the home system of the Zlathbu have left their mark, though you are unsure if her request to join you this time was driven by curiosity or concern. If you are discovered, there will be no greater ally in returning you all safely home.
[] Lea Halwood – A Mender like you, though through a different lens, Lea tends to act as a sounding board for you, and the younger woman is very good at it. Easily capable of keeping up, and would provide a backup medic in the event of combat.
[] Mir Hayes – Apart from you and Vega, the only Speaker on the mission. Mir also possesses a truly rare Focus of Peace, and believes that he may be able to turn this to your advantage in seeking undisturbed access to the Shiplord memorial site. His request to join this mission was oddly intent.
And where do you choose to begin?
[] Witness
[] Experience
[] Remember
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
This took a while to get properly started on, but I was able to pretty much blitz it yesterday after cycling through some of my thoughts and working out where people were standing after what Vega, Mir and Amanda witnessed. As you can see, Amanda caught the worst of that, but there's more to that then you're aware of and in this particular case I'm not going to tell you what's wrong with her, as it's going to end up being rather important to the story as it progresses. I will be kind to any guesses, however, and if someone works it out I'll tell you. Any other questions, just ask.
Thanks go to @Baughn for betaing this today. Happy voting.
Thanks go to @Baughn for betaing this today. Happy voting.
For a judgement to be made, we need a judge.
You have brought a maximum of three others with you. You may select as many you wish, or leave allocation to Amanda's discretion. Vega is automatically present. Elil has remained aboard the Adamant to ensure stealth is maintained.
[X] Mir Hayes – Apart from you and Vega, the only Speaker on the mission. Mir also possesses a truly rare Focus of Peace, and believes that he may be able to turn this to your advantage in seeking undisturbed access to the Shiplord memorial site. His request to join this mission was oddly intent.
And where do you choose to begin?
[X] Witness
You have brought a maximum of three others with you. You may select as many you wish, or leave allocation to Amanda's discretion. Vega is automatically present. Elil has remained aboard the Adamant to ensure stealth is maintained.
[X] Mir Hayes – Apart from you and Vega, the only Speaker on the mission. Mir also possesses a truly rare Focus of Peace, and believes that he may be able to turn this to your advantage in seeking undisturbed access to the Shiplord memorial site. His request to join this mission was oddly intent.
And where do you choose to begin?
[X] Witness