Move 13 (Chapter 1.13)

[yhlee]

Year 361, Month Three, Day Sixteen (Sunday), evening
Station Moongray

Mikodez, on Moongray Station, pondering an egg

[Follow-up to this thread.]

It's easy enough for Mikodez to switch the motion detector off; it's not really designed for security use, so the researchers in the lab have it set up so it's easy to take offline for maintenance, etc. (It's highly doubtful they figured the egg would know how to hit the off switch.)

There is no one snoring under the desk, but there is a small file box containing a few paper notebooks, the old-fashioned kind. The game's soothing purring continues.

If Mikodez wants to set up the matter printer for a fake egg and one or two guns, that's easy enough. It might take some extra time to make sure the egg doesn't come out attractively plaid, though.

---

Year 361, Month Three, Day Sixteen (Sunday), overnight

on the Bumblebee/Wasp/Mothra

After Sasha and Ashari's fight/cultural misunderstanding, and Ashari and Sulen clean up afterward, Gerae's distress becomes increasingly evident. He's pounding on the door of the room that Sulen deposited him in, crying in an increasingly hoarse voice that he refuses to leave without Fluffy.

[lleullawgyffes, it's up to you whether Virmad pays any attention to Sasha's presumed discreet lokwor message and returns in time to help talk to Gerae, or whether Virmad decides to ignore it in favor of continued shenanigans with Teo.]

Sasha appears to be in good health; Iawa might or might not want to write this up formally for Ashari or Ashari's superiors, depending on their assessment of Ashari's mood. [Iawa is the de facto medic as far as I can tell!]

Remi is asking Alaric if it would be difficult to set up a radio to soothe the mothlings into docility, which is less invasive than sedating them.

Meanwhile, Mothra is making rumbly noises again. It sends another Space ASCII diagram, this time of mothlings playing hide and seek.

---

Active in Move 12: Sasha, Ashari, Sulen, Mikodez, Iawa, Alaric, Virmad

Continuing inactive: Yehan, Kaliyan, Ankat

Comments

Re: Sulen stole a magistrate, Sasha read all the files . . .

[zuhrovet]

"Grid, please tell the prisoner that the pseudo-dragon will be retrieved prior to departure-- He really ought to have two of them. Vraselian pseudo-dragons are sociable, and it's his own fault if his pet is bored."

Ashari hasn't contradicted Sulen's directive yet, so Sasha asks them, "Is it all right if we use your office?" and starts walking. Once the group gets out of range of Gerae's shouting, she adds, "Sulen, I saw in your notes that the magistrate had embezzled money to give to a mysterious person for rescuing his niece? I think I know who that person is. At least, approximately."

Gerae shuts up, at least temporarily

[yhlee]

It apparently takes the (infinitely patient) grid a few tries but eventually the noise from Gerae's room dies down, rather abruptly at that.

somebody should revoke Sasha's clearance - paging Ashari, Sulen, Virmad

[zuhrovet]

Sasha lets Ashari open the door to their office, follows them and the Rahal inside, and shuts the door again.

She stands very straight, and reports. "When I first contacted Remi, he was outside the station, using some instrumentation to measure output from our moth. He said he had many questions about moths, and seemed angry. I thought he might insist on freeing all the moths, not just ours. Honestly, from a strategic standpoint, I think that's a good idea. Our moth is demanding enough; just think what a blow it would be to the hexarchate if they all started expressing opinions!"

Sasha's been watching Ashari, but Ashari's not giving much away.
She goes on, "When Remi asked to meet an hour later, I messaged everyone [except Virmad and Mikodez] to return. But nobody answered right away, and only Ashari answered at all. So I tried to figure out whom we report to, in the rebellion. Because if Remi asked what we would do to free the moths, and I couldn't tell him even whom to talk to, that would look bad."

If this were only the Rahal, she'd try to finesse the precise source of her information, here. Sulen, in particular, seems like someone who could be bored out of curiosity by sufficient provision of technical detail. But it's not the right time to lie to Ashari. "There's a person, a facilitator named Quill. They're part of 'timeline desensitization', that deals with new recruits. Their name shows up repeatedly in the records of Ashari's past missions, and documents they've written are all through the command files, including the planning for this mission."

Deep breath. "The person who corresponded with the magistrate, and took his money? I think that was Quill, too. The writing style's the same. The rebellion doesn't take money for recruitment, usually. I'm wondering if that was a private project, on Quill's part. And I'm scared our entire mission is, as well."

Re: somebody should revoke Sasha's clearance - paging Ashari, Sulen, Virmad

[lleullawgyffes]

Virmad blinks rapidly multiple times in succession. “‘Free the moths?’ Remi’s on board? What have you all been doing while I was—” He stops, chooses his next word carefully. “—away?”

Sasha, like Alaric & possibly me, cannot ignore direct questions - please, Ashari, say something

[zuhrovet]

"The moth is intelligent," Sasha says. "Alaric figured out how to contact it. We had a meeting with Remi, and he helped us figure out how to reconfigure the range for his baby moths, but I think he's gone home to sleep now. The plan was for you and Sulen to arrest him tomorrow morning, on suspicion of heresy. That's why I was going through his files, and Gerae's: to insert appropriate evidence."

Re: Sasha, like Alaric & possibly me, cannot ignore direct questions - please, Ashari, say something

[lleullawgyffes]

“The moth is intelligent...this moth? The one we’re standing on right now? You mean like the mothgrid?” Virmad is absolutely not processing this. “...Baby moths?”

hi, I am the exposition fairy - still paging Ashari, Sulen, Virmad

[zuhrovet]

"Not the ship. The actual, physical alien moth at the center, the one that powers our drive. Something different about the calendar in this time meant they woke up, and Alaric's been talking to them. They turn out to be quite opinionated. In particular, our moth wants to adopt all of the young moths that Remi has been studying. Remi calls them mothlings, the babies, that is."

Sasha's talking to Virmad, but she's still looking at Ashari. She's not sure how far their understanding extends. There's a lot of empty space between 'I will not enthrall you in a meeting' and 'I will protect you from the machinations of my own supervisor.' In the grand scheme of things, if Sasha's right about Quill, they're all in danger. And on a smaller scale, if Ashari takes exception to Sasha's analysis of their files , well . . . they know plenty of ways to hurt her without leaving a mark.

Re: hi, I am the exposition fairy - still paging Ashari, Sulen, Virmad

[venndaai]

"Provoking an interspecies conflict," Sulen says, slowly, "sounds like a good idea to you?"

free the moths! - still paging Ashari, Sulen, Virmad

[zuhrovet]

Sasha grins. Ashari's wolf has teeth! "I think if you're going to kill intelligent beings, you should have the decency to tell them why. And it would certainly disrupt the hexarchate. I don't know what sort of rebellion you signed up for, but I'm not here to be nice to people."

Inquisitor transformation sequence, go!

[venndaai]

[If Sasha's only just learning that now, I clearly haven't been doing a good enough job letting Sulen turn on the intimidation!]

"And these transdimensional aliens of unknown aggression and destructive capability are only going to 'disrupt' the people you think worthy of being disrupted?" Sulen takes a step forward. Their voice is getting deeper, louder yet very much not shouting. "Did you sign up to change my civilization or to destroy it?"

Re: Inquisitor transformation sequence, go!

[zuhrovet]

[Previously the most disturbing thing Sulen had done to Sasha was to touch her arm . . .]

"Your 'civilization' turns entire planets into balls of mold. The moths play tag. You'll forgive me if I think the hexarchate is a higher priority."

Re: Inquisitor transformation sequence, go!

[venndaai]

Planets into- Future thing, probably, right. Explore later, and probably shelve under reasons to stop the future from happening.

"The Heptarchate is made up of billions of people," Sulen says. "People on planets that are not self-sustaining, on stations that will die if cut off. People who have never heard of moths, who aren't even part of the factions, who for the most part suffer themselves under faction rule. And you- you, personally, a foreigner who knows nothing of us, take it upon yourself to hold those people responsible for the crimes of our leaders. You think you are pure enough to make that judgment?"

Sulen can feel work habits taking over. This is not good, they need to stop and take stock of themself, because they're not in work mode, they are extremely emotionally involved, and this is not an interrogation setting, they have no baseline for Sasha, Sasha is a coworker and they are in a dangerous precarious situation and cannot afford to be doing this-

but they are angry.

Re: Inquisitor transformation sequence, go!

[lleullawgyffes]

“I’m sorry, who’s killing who? What interspecies conflict?” Virmad is still extremely confused, and also senses that someone should be intervening, although he doesn’t actually understand what the root of this conflict is. “You’re saying, Sasha, that our ships — all of our ships? — are powered by living creatures, and that these creatures are sentient and capable of communicating with us?”

Re: Inquisitor transformation sequence, go!

[zuhrovet]

"That's right. I'm a foreigner. Nobody gives a fuck about me, not for hundreds of years in any direction, maybe not ever. So if I do fuck up, if I get myself captured or killed, it's just me. They can't go after my household, my family-- probably even the mountains I loved have holes blown in them, by now. What about you, Sulen? Whom are you risking? Which are the intelligent beings you're willing to let die?"

Ashari is terrible as always

[smokedetective]

It’s stupid. This whole argument is stupid. But Sulen’s distressed, and if they’re ever on anyone’s side, it’s Sulens. Still, even now, they can’t quite bring themself to care about all the ethical implications. They just want to live, comfortably and without having to worry about anyone breathing down their neck.

Ashari walks over and puts a gentle hand on Sulen’s shoulder, but they’re not looking at them. Instead, their eyes bore into Sasha.

“Transdimensional aliens...” they drawl out. “Civilizations... Morals... Let me be frank. The Heptarchate hasn’t done me any favors. Neither have these moths. Dragging... dead weight... around against their will is no favor. We can stand here debating the ethical and moral implications till the heat death of the universe. So. What, my dearest Sasha, do you want us to do with this information? And. What’s in it for us? For me? The rebellion’s promised us all something, I’m sure, for our involvement. We all get something out of it. Whether it’s the chance to live, or to fulfill our sense of duty, or simply to make a lot of money.”

They lean in closer to Sulen. Their gaze is searching and their voice turns a little softer, a little less theatric. “There are billions upon billions of people, aliens, civilizations, out there, risings and falling and singing with joy and suffering. No matter which way you turn, there’s a change you can make, a helping hand you can lend. So. Why the Heptarchate? Why the moths? Why any of this? What would freeing one, even ten, moths do, when there’s thousands more enslaved across time and space? And what can even one rebellion hope to accomplish in the face of sheer scope of what this damn empire is? Do we really think there’s something we can do, or is this just to ease the weight on our consciences?”

They look back up at Sasha, and they’re tired. They’ve been tired for longer than they care to admit. “You’re right. This is about what we’re willing to risk. We’re all here, I think, because we have more to gain than lose. But what’s the point? What is it that you want? And why should we risk anything?”

Sasha did originally call this meeting for a reason

[zuhrovet]

Sasha tries to look away, on dearest, but she can't. She's already chosen a path, here. The only way out is to keep going.

"Every government kills people. Not every government kills planets. I'd like to stop that, if I can. And I'd like to see the universe. But, to begin with, I'd like not to get killed, doing it."

Sasha gestures, including everyone. "I was hoping you would tell me what to do about Quill. It's useful, in a technical sense, that rebellion fingerprints are all the way through both Remi's and the magistrate's files. Makes it easier to suggest they were both involved in some other, different heresy. But I don't like the fact that Quill was taking Gerae's money, I don't like the fact we weren't briefed about Gerae in the first place . . . There's a lot of things about the setup of this mission I'm not happy with. Please. You're the experts in heresy and corruption and politics. Do you have any idea what we're walking into, when we get back? Is there anything I should set up now, to keep us safe?"

Ashari Speculates (aka I make a blind shot in the dark)

[smokedetective]

Ashari takes a moment and can almost feel the gears in their head click into place. Fuck Quill.

“Best case scenario, we deliver Remi and get moved on to the next job. Probably one that’s more dangerous, with less resources, and a smaller chance of success. Worst case scenario, we end up scapegoats for something and are sent to our deaths. Or worse. The more information you can get right now, the better. And anything that makes it look like we did our best and stuck to the job. We need to look for any recordings, any bugs, failsafes. A single wrong move could mean the end.”

They squeeze Sulen’s shoulder. “Sulen, darling, you saw the rebellion from a markedly different side than I did. Any suggestions?”

Re: Ashari Speculates (aka I make a blind shot in the dark)

[venndaai]

Uh. They were kind of hoping to avoid revealing their... exact history with the rebellion.

“From what I observed,” they say guardedly, “they’re very willing to cut off compromised agents, and information is given out sparingly in case of capture. Which makes sense, given the consequences of capture.” They look around. “Do any of us actually know anything that could compromise the rebellion in any way? I don’t.”

[moths - paging GM]

[lleullawgyffes]

[would it be common knowledge that there were living creatures powering h*archate ships? i.e., how righteously angry should Virmad be getting, lol.]

Re: [moths - paging GM]

[yhlee]

[It's not common knowledge unless you're a Nirai specializing in moth engineering, or maybe one of the Kel who works with them--although Nirai in general have a higher chance of having learned the truth. Common citizens in particular simply aren't aware. A Rahal would probably not know unless they had somehow worked with a Nirai in moth engineering. It could very well be a complete surprise to Virmad.]

Re: [moths - paging GM]

[lleullawgyffes]

[great!]

PAGING GM - what would Ashari know about Quill?

[smokedetective]

[Can I ask what Ashari would know about this Quill fellow? Specifically in reference to Ashari’s past missions and involvement with the rebellion? Has Quill done any especially shady or lucrative shit Ashari would care about or compromised a mission before?]

Re: PAGING GM - what would Ashari know about Quill?

[yhlee]

[For reference, this thread originally covers Sasha finding out about Quill.

As a baseline, Ashari has mostly known Quill as middle management involved with personnel and who hands off new recruits to be broken in. They haven't previously been caught doing shady/lucrative stuff, but no one was investigating them before. (Sasha appears to be unusually paranoid haha.) Quill may have left hints that they have been dumping less well-trained recruits on Ashari, which Ashari probably previously interpreted as bureaucratic incompetence rather than active malice. It looks like malice of some form may, in fact, actually be the case.]

Re: PAGING GM - what would Ashari know about Quill?

[zuhrovet]

[Sasha appears to be unusually paranoid.

Sasha's assumption that Nirai workplace politics would be easier to deal with than Fountain House might have been correct.]

Re: PAGING GM - what would Ashari know about Quill?

[smokedetective]

[Wow this actually works very well with a side RP that venndaai and I have going (bc we thought it would be funny to do a Mx & Mx Smith type story with Ashari and Sulen. )

Thank you for this very good information. ]