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forbarrayar2017-03-04 05:33 am
barrayarmods) wrote in forbarrayar2017-03-04 05:33 am
[ march i log: we need medicine ]
Who: Everyone
What: New arrivals, desperate times, whispers down the hall.
When: March 1st - 18th
Where: Barrayaran camp / Cetagandan base
Warnings: TBD
Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Plague / Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Plague / Base / Missions
welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to in the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling -- in fact, it's dangerously cold, and all you have is the clothes on your back.. A steep mountain range towers just ahead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.
And you're not alone. There are a few other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive. There's a war on, they say, and you unlucky bastards have just been dropped right smack in the middle of it.
With March comes some relief. The first few days to a week are still bitterly, dangerously cold, but the weather starts to pick up gradually over the course of the next couple of months. It only gets barely above freezing, but after the last month, it might as well be a summer's day.
riverfall
The party last month definitely boosted morale, and certainly brought the outsiders closer to the villagers. They're noticeably friendlier toward the outsiders afterward, although they still give the exotics and their accompanying ghem soldiers the evil eye.
Given the village's covert assistance with the war effort and the fact that the Cetagandans found enough data to include the village in its regular patrols, Riverfall has become sort of a middle ground between the two sides. Coinciding visits don't happen every day, but they can provide opportunities for the two factions to secretly meet. Of course, this always carries a risk…best be sure not to be caught by either side's soldiers. Thanks to Negri, the Barrayarans roughly know the patrol schedule.
barrayar
Temperatures are still pretty low by the time March rolls around, and the first week is considerably cold, but it's steadily getting warmer as the month goes on. By the second week, it's just warm enough to start taking baths again -- and boy is there ever a queue.
On the 2nd, a small troop of soldiers arrives, led by Prince Xav Vorbarra, Olivia and Sonia's father, and Piotr's aide-de-camp Captain Ezar Vorbarra, a distant cousin of theirs. They bring with them a load of relief supplies fom Beta Colony, improving not only their food and medicine situation, but some to pass on back to the Riverfall villagers in return for their help. Anyone lurking around at night might see Ezar talking to Negri from time to time as well, and Sonia seems to be getting up to some kind of mischief where Ezar is concerned.
Prince Xav gives Piotr a very helpful tipoff -- there's a Betan biochemist waiting in the occupied district capital, Vorkosigan Vashnoi, to rendezvous with him on his way back off Barrayar. Xav can't stay long; he needs to find another way off-planet, and Doctor Micah Niadem has been laying low in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, but the risk of their presence being detected grows with every day. It may be easier and safer to smuggle them back to the camp than try to get them back off-planet for now -- and besides, their expertise in astrophysics might prove useful. But Xav hasn't yet been able to make contact through the soldiers occupying the city, so Piotr sends his own scouts.
Piotr, with Xav and Ezar as advisors, is trying to come to a decision about what to do about the Cetagandans' wormhole project. There's no telling what the Cetagandans really intend to do with the wormhole device, but disrupting or destroying their project would mean no way home for the outsiders, and…Piotr no longer feels that to be the most honorable option. That, and the idea of this technology in Cetagandan hands does them no favors. But their intelligence on the project is limited -- Byerly will prove to be a useful intelligent asset, certainly, but Piotr is looking for more informants. Any outsiders willing and able to make connections with any exotics sympathetic to the cause would certainly be appreciated by the General.
plague
Early in the month, some of the villagers begin to get sick -- it looks just like a particularly nasty cold at first. It quickly worsens and spreads to the camp, and by the 7th it is evident there is an outbreak of the Barrayaran flu, an influenza variant that has mutated over the last several centuries. Barrayarans have built up antibodies against most strains, but this is a particularly virulent strain, and with a population that has neither vaccines nor modern medicine, it can be fatal. The recent cold snap and limited food haven't exactly fortified anyone's immune systems, either, and in the first half of the month, about half the population of the village and camp come down with the flu at some point.
Although the virus isn't spreading much more quickly than your average flu, it's still a nasty infection, and the symptoms are difficult to effectively treat without proper equipment of facilities. Some of the relief supplies brought by Prince Xav include surgical masks and gloves for the people working triage to protect them from the airborne illness as much as possible. The supplies also include some analgesics and synergine, but hardly enough to go around. Fevers, aches and chills, coughing, vomiting -- they treat them with what they have once they run out of relief supplies. And for the most part, those with the flu manage to pull through and recover -- but if the flu turns to pneumonia, there's almost nothing they can do at that point. Thanks to the tireless efforts of villagers, soldiers, and some outsiders, the first half of the month sees only a 10% mortality rate between the village and the camp, resulting in only 23 influenza-related deaths.
Sonia is among the first to get sick, but she sweats it out in five days or so and manages a full recovery. Olivia, on the other hand, falls much more seriously ill. Piotr takes great care not to get sick; the camp is already incapacitated as it is.
camp
Camp morale is still buckling under the weight of crisis after crisis, but the arrival of Prince Xav and the improving weather have done a lot to lighten the mood. Xav and Ezar coordiate to distribute the relief supplies even as the flu ravages the camp and village, never a dull moment . Olivia and Sonia haven't seen their father Xav in over two years, and it's a long-overdue family reunion. Piotr welcomes the return of his friend and aide-de-camp Ezar, and Sonia seems to be getting into some kind of mischief with her cousin. And in a quiet moment here and there, Ezar can be seen talking to Negri.
By the morning of the 1st, Byerly Vorrutyer will have abruptly disappeared from camp.
Piotr is trying to keep military operations running as much as he can while half the camp tends to the sick or fall sick themselves. They'd found the traitors, yes, but Piotr's anger is far from satisfied. The food shortage had derailed their power supply strategy, and it's only further pushed back by this current crisis, so large operations are off the table. But Piotr has never underestimated the value of psychological warfare in this war. He has a few conveniently available corpses for hacking up and planting in the Cetagandan base just to shake things up a little, and anyone who can lift a sword without coughing is qualified. Xav does not approve.
missions
The medical assistance provided by the outsiders doesn't go unappreciated, nor without effect. Not every day is a success, but they manage to keep the mortality rate relatively low.
The infiltration missions to plant the severed body parts mostly go according to plan, although Lakshmi and Nash run afoul of some guards. Between the outsiders and other Barrayaran squads, they manage to plant several body parts, and in doing so, inadvertently spread the Barrayaran flu to the Cetagandans.
The outsiders scouting out Vorkosigan Vashnoi manage to stay undetected by Cetagandan soldiers, although they run into exotics on the other side. They manage to get some information about Micah's location, but very little…thankfully, Byerly passes on to Miles much more specific information the exotics were able to obtain.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
cetaganda
The snow piled up around the base starts to gradually melt over the course of the month as temperatures rise. The new wave of exotics are processed and very gently prodded like every group has been, but they've been treated with the same level of civility. The Cetagandans are generally exceedingly polite, but they are becoming a little less patient with the exotics after the recent bouts of violence and escapism.
Despite the Barrayaran flu sweeping the base, military operations must carry on. Zahal might have lost his informants in the Barrayaran camp, but he knows they've been struggling, and wants to implement some more aggressive tactics to hit them while they're down -- and more than that, the dead body parts of his own soldiers scattered around the base have had their intended effect, rattling and aggravating the ghem-General -- even more so when they realize that this was the means by which the plague spread to the base. Whatever organized strategy Zahal starts to pull together is immediately disrupted by the rapid spread of the virus through the base. With Cetagandan soldiers dropping like flies, military operations all but come to a halt on the base.
However, Cetagandan intelligence gets wind of a Barrayar-allied astrophysicist from Beta Colony, a planet renowned for its cutting-edge technological advances, particularly in the field of wormhole science; they may be able to solve some of the pieces of the puzzle. The Betan scientist is apparently hiding out in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, the capital city of the city. The virus has spread there too; Barrayarans and Cetagandans alike are facing the outbreak, although the native population seems to be faring a bit better. The Cetagandans need help bringing medical supplies, so while they're at it, the ghem-General dispatches a few teams to try and sniff out the scientist's location. Meanwhile, in the R&D labs, some of the exotics who have been promoted to lab assistant are helping the Cetagandans to make some advancements, and they're finally let in on some more details about the project.
plague
A few days into the month, some of the soldiers start to show cold-like symptoms -- and then the outbreak of Barrayaran influenza spreads rapidly throughout the base. Unlike the Barrayarans, the Cetagandans have no antibodies for this strain, and even their advanced immune systems cannot defend them against a totally new pathogen. They are infected even more quickly than the Barrayarans and their symptoms escalate rapidly as well, resulting in an alarming mortality rate. Cetagandan soldiers are falling sick left and right. Triage starts in the medbay, but they have to quarantine off another wing of the building just to make room for the rapidly growing population of infected ghem. The airborne virus is spreading through the base at an alarming speed -- save for Byerly, no one on base has ever been exposed to it. The symptoms are severe and while the Cetagandans have plenty of equipment, they have neither an antiviral nor a vaccine for the Barrayaran flu. High fever, vomiting, dehydration, respiratory and sinus problems run rampant, and though they have plenty in the way of synergine and analgesics, the Barrayaran flu quickly leads to pneumonia in most Cetagandan patients, and with their immune systems so completely unprepared, most patients with pneumonia die within 24 to 48 hours. The triage assistants are, at least, provided with surgical masks and gloves and antibacterial gel by the bucket load to protect them from the airborne illness as much as possible. By mid-month, nearly two thirds of the base has been infected.
The medical staff scrambles to put up a quarantine while also working on a vaccine for the uninfected population on the base. Byerly, being the only person on base who has ever been exposed to the Barrayaran flu, offers a blood sample -- potentially containing antibodies to this strain. Some of the Cetagandans' testing methods are a little ethically questionable, but they're trying to work fast. They're able to develop a working vaccine with a projected effectiveness of 70%.
Toward the middle of the month, Amai catches the flu and is laid low for about a week. Diya and Zahal take great care not to catch it -- Diya seems particularly absent lately.
base
Paranoia of infection hovers over the entire base, but some of the Cetagandans are concerned with another upcoming event: the arrival of the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche. What the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche actually is or does seems to be rather vague to the exotics -- she seems to play some role in genetic politics -- but it's known that she's haut, like Diya. The Cetagandans are scrambling to prepare for her arrival with considerable worry about resolving the flu epidemic before she touches down. The Cetagandans are about as close to cultural panic as they get right now. Diya received personal notice from the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche herself.
Starting on the 1st, Byerly Vorrutyer joins the exotic ranks as an undercover agent, looking not only for information but to potentially recruit exotics sympathetic to the Barrayaran cause.
Meanwhile in the labs, the Cetagandans have been letting the exotics get a little more hands-on with their research. Natasha, York and Symmetra have risen a bit in the ranks and are brought in on more specific projects. The ghem ladies are, surprisingly, now looking for volunteers to work in the gene labs too -- personnel shortage, of course.
missions
Even though a few of their own fall prey to the illness, the exotics' medical assistance does wind up being quite helpful, particularly with development of the vaccine. Meanwhile, eavesdroppers are doing their usual business and digging deep in places they shouldn't -- particularly where Amai and Diya are concerned.
The exotics that accompany the Cetagandans to Vorkosigan Vashnoi manage to stay undetected by Barrayaran soldiers, although they run into exotics on the other side. They are able to get some very detailed information about Micah's location, which Byerly passes back to the Barrayarans via Miles.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
Note: Negri and Zahal are available for threads by request only. Please hit up Madi or Ammay respectively for you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.
What: New arrivals, desperate times, whispers down the hall.
When: March 1st - 18th
Where: Barrayaran camp / Cetagandan base
Warnings: TBD
Riverfall
Barrayar: Plague / Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Plague / Base / Missions
welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to in the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling -- in fact, it's dangerously cold, and all you have is the clothes on your back.. A steep mountain range towers just ahead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.
And you're not alone. There are a few other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive. There's a war on, they say, and you unlucky bastards have just been dropped right smack in the middle of it.
With March comes some relief. The first few days to a week are still bitterly, dangerously cold, but the weather starts to pick up gradually over the course of the next couple of months. It only gets barely above freezing, but after the last month, it might as well be a summer's day.
riverfall
The party last month definitely boosted morale, and certainly brought the outsiders closer to the villagers. They're noticeably friendlier toward the outsiders afterward, although they still give the exotics and their accompanying ghem soldiers the evil eye.
Given the village's covert assistance with the war effort and the fact that the Cetagandans found enough data to include the village in its regular patrols, Riverfall has become sort of a middle ground between the two sides. Coinciding visits don't happen every day, but they can provide opportunities for the two factions to secretly meet. Of course, this always carries a risk…best be sure not to be caught by either side's soldiers. Thanks to Negri, the Barrayarans roughly know the patrol schedule.
barrayar
Temperatures are still pretty low by the time March rolls around, and the first week is considerably cold, but it's steadily getting warmer as the month goes on. By the second week, it's just warm enough to start taking baths again -- and boy is there ever a queue.
On the 2nd, a small troop of soldiers arrives, led by Prince Xav Vorbarra, Olivia and Sonia's father, and Piotr's aide-de-camp Captain Ezar Vorbarra, a distant cousin of theirs. They bring with them a load of relief supplies fom Beta Colony, improving not only their food and medicine situation, but some to pass on back to the Riverfall villagers in return for their help. Anyone lurking around at night might see Ezar talking to Negri from time to time as well, and Sonia seems to be getting up to some kind of mischief where Ezar is concerned.
Prince Xav gives Piotr a very helpful tipoff -- there's a Betan biochemist waiting in the occupied district capital, Vorkosigan Vashnoi, to rendezvous with him on his way back off Barrayar. Xav can't stay long; he needs to find another way off-planet, and Doctor Micah Niadem has been laying low in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, but the risk of their presence being detected grows with every day. It may be easier and safer to smuggle them back to the camp than try to get them back off-planet for now -- and besides, their expertise in astrophysics might prove useful. But Xav hasn't yet been able to make contact through the soldiers occupying the city, so Piotr sends his own scouts.
Piotr, with Xav and Ezar as advisors, is trying to come to a decision about what to do about the Cetagandans' wormhole project. There's no telling what the Cetagandans really intend to do with the wormhole device, but disrupting or destroying their project would mean no way home for the outsiders, and…Piotr no longer feels that to be the most honorable option. That, and the idea of this technology in Cetagandan hands does them no favors. But their intelligence on the project is limited -- Byerly will prove to be a useful intelligent asset, certainly, but Piotr is looking for more informants. Any outsiders willing and able to make connections with any exotics sympathetic to the cause would certainly be appreciated by the General.
plague
Early in the month, some of the villagers begin to get sick -- it looks just like a particularly nasty cold at first. It quickly worsens and spreads to the camp, and by the 7th it is evident there is an outbreak of the Barrayaran flu, an influenza variant that has mutated over the last several centuries. Barrayarans have built up antibodies against most strains, but this is a particularly virulent strain, and with a population that has neither vaccines nor modern medicine, it can be fatal. The recent cold snap and limited food haven't exactly fortified anyone's immune systems, either, and in the first half of the month, about half the population of the village and camp come down with the flu at some point.
Although the virus isn't spreading much more quickly than your average flu, it's still a nasty infection, and the symptoms are difficult to effectively treat without proper equipment of facilities. Some of the relief supplies brought by Prince Xav include surgical masks and gloves for the people working triage to protect them from the airborne illness as much as possible. The supplies also include some analgesics and synergine, but hardly enough to go around. Fevers, aches and chills, coughing, vomiting -- they treat them with what they have once they run out of relief supplies. And for the most part, those with the flu manage to pull through and recover -- but if the flu turns to pneumonia, there's almost nothing they can do at that point. Thanks to the tireless efforts of villagers, soldiers, and some outsiders, the first half of the month sees only a 10% mortality rate between the village and the camp, resulting in only 23 influenza-related deaths.
Sonia is among the first to get sick, but she sweats it out in five days or so and manages a full recovery. Olivia, on the other hand, falls much more seriously ill. Piotr takes great care not to get sick; the camp is already incapacitated as it is.
camp
Camp morale is still buckling under the weight of crisis after crisis, but the arrival of Prince Xav and the improving weather have done a lot to lighten the mood. Xav and Ezar coordiate to distribute the relief supplies even as the flu ravages the camp and village, never a dull moment . Olivia and Sonia haven't seen their father Xav in over two years, and it's a long-overdue family reunion. Piotr welcomes the return of his friend and aide-de-camp Ezar, and Sonia seems to be getting into some kind of mischief with her cousin. And in a quiet moment here and there, Ezar can be seen talking to Negri.
By the morning of the 1st, Byerly Vorrutyer will have abruptly disappeared from camp.
Piotr is trying to keep military operations running as much as he can while half the camp tends to the sick or fall sick themselves. They'd found the traitors, yes, but Piotr's anger is far from satisfied. The food shortage had derailed their power supply strategy, and it's only further pushed back by this current crisis, so large operations are off the table. But Piotr has never underestimated the value of psychological warfare in this war. He has a few conveniently available corpses for hacking up and planting in the Cetagandan base just to shake things up a little, and anyone who can lift a sword without coughing is qualified. Xav does not approve.
missions
The medical assistance provided by the outsiders doesn't go unappreciated, nor without effect. Not every day is a success, but they manage to keep the mortality rate relatively low.
The infiltration missions to plant the severed body parts mostly go according to plan, although Lakshmi and Nash run afoul of some guards. Between the outsiders and other Barrayaran squads, they manage to plant several body parts, and in doing so, inadvertently spread the Barrayaran flu to the Cetagandans.
The outsiders scouting out Vorkosigan Vashnoi manage to stay undetected by Cetagandan soldiers, although they run into exotics on the other side. They manage to get some information about Micah's location, but very little…thankfully, Byerly passes on to Miles much more specific information the exotics were able to obtain.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
cetaganda
The snow piled up around the base starts to gradually melt over the course of the month as temperatures rise. The new wave of exotics are processed and very gently prodded like every group has been, but they've been treated with the same level of civility. The Cetagandans are generally exceedingly polite, but they are becoming a little less patient with the exotics after the recent bouts of violence and escapism.
Despite the Barrayaran flu sweeping the base, military operations must carry on. Zahal might have lost his informants in the Barrayaran camp, but he knows they've been struggling, and wants to implement some more aggressive tactics to hit them while they're down -- and more than that, the dead body parts of his own soldiers scattered around the base have had their intended effect, rattling and aggravating the ghem-General -- even more so when they realize that this was the means by which the plague spread to the base. Whatever organized strategy Zahal starts to pull together is immediately disrupted by the rapid spread of the virus through the base. With Cetagandan soldiers dropping like flies, military operations all but come to a halt on the base.
However, Cetagandan intelligence gets wind of a Barrayar-allied astrophysicist from Beta Colony, a planet renowned for its cutting-edge technological advances, particularly in the field of wormhole science; they may be able to solve some of the pieces of the puzzle. The Betan scientist is apparently hiding out in Vorkosigan Vashnoi, the capital city of the city. The virus has spread there too; Barrayarans and Cetagandans alike are facing the outbreak, although the native population seems to be faring a bit better. The Cetagandans need help bringing medical supplies, so while they're at it, the ghem-General dispatches a few teams to try and sniff out the scientist's location. Meanwhile, in the R&D labs, some of the exotics who have been promoted to lab assistant are helping the Cetagandans to make some advancements, and they're finally let in on some more details about the project.
plague
A few days into the month, some of the soldiers start to show cold-like symptoms -- and then the outbreak of Barrayaran influenza spreads rapidly throughout the base. Unlike the Barrayarans, the Cetagandans have no antibodies for this strain, and even their advanced immune systems cannot defend them against a totally new pathogen. They are infected even more quickly than the Barrayarans and their symptoms escalate rapidly as well, resulting in an alarming mortality rate. Cetagandan soldiers are falling sick left and right. Triage starts in the medbay, but they have to quarantine off another wing of the building just to make room for the rapidly growing population of infected ghem. The airborne virus is spreading through the base at an alarming speed -- save for Byerly, no one on base has ever been exposed to it. The symptoms are severe and while the Cetagandans have plenty of equipment, they have neither an antiviral nor a vaccine for the Barrayaran flu. High fever, vomiting, dehydration, respiratory and sinus problems run rampant, and though they have plenty in the way of synergine and analgesics, the Barrayaran flu quickly leads to pneumonia in most Cetagandan patients, and with their immune systems so completely unprepared, most patients with pneumonia die within 24 to 48 hours. The triage assistants are, at least, provided with surgical masks and gloves and antibacterial gel by the bucket load to protect them from the airborne illness as much as possible. By mid-month, nearly two thirds of the base has been infected.
The medical staff scrambles to put up a quarantine while also working on a vaccine for the uninfected population on the base. Byerly, being the only person on base who has ever been exposed to the Barrayaran flu, offers a blood sample -- potentially containing antibodies to this strain. Some of the Cetagandans' testing methods are a little ethically questionable, but they're trying to work fast. They're able to develop a working vaccine with a projected effectiveness of 70%.
Toward the middle of the month, Amai catches the flu and is laid low for about a week. Diya and Zahal take great care not to catch it -- Diya seems particularly absent lately.
base
Paranoia of infection hovers over the entire base, but some of the Cetagandans are concerned with another upcoming event: the arrival of the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche. What the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche actually is or does seems to be rather vague to the exotics -- she seems to play some role in genetic politics -- but it's known that she's haut, like Diya. The Cetagandans are scrambling to prepare for her arrival with considerable worry about resolving the flu epidemic before she touches down. The Cetagandans are about as close to cultural panic as they get right now. Diya received personal notice from the Handmaiden of the Star Crèche herself.
Starting on the 1st, Byerly Vorrutyer joins the exotic ranks as an undercover agent, looking not only for information but to potentially recruit exotics sympathetic to the Barrayaran cause.
Meanwhile in the labs, the Cetagandans have been letting the exotics get a little more hands-on with their research. Natasha, York and Symmetra have risen a bit in the ranks and are brought in on more specific projects. The ghem ladies are, surprisingly, now looking for volunteers to work in the gene labs too -- personnel shortage, of course.
missions
Even though a few of their own fall prey to the illness, the exotics' medical assistance does wind up being quite helpful, particularly with development of the vaccine. Meanwhile, eavesdroppers are doing their usual business and digging deep in places they shouldn't -- particularly where Amai and Diya are concerned.
The exotics that accompany the Cetagandans to Vorkosigan Vashnoi manage to stay undetected by Barrayaran soldiers, although they run into exotics on the other side. They are able to get some very detailed information about Micah's location, which Byerly passes back to the Barrayarans via Miles.
Here are the unabridged mission results.
Note: Negri and Zahal are available for threads by request only. Please hit up Madi or Ammay respectively for you want threads with either of those NPCs. You can also request a thread with Village Speaker Yakiv Gura if you want, in which case hit up Madi.
no subject
[ See if that doesn't change his opinions about the Cetagandans some. They intend to do something with this mess, rather than simply just fight. She wouldn't be so supportive of them otherwise.
Satya's brow arches. ]
I don't suppose the rebels made that offer. They'd be far too happy with the additional manpower available to them to consider relinquishing it.
no subject
No way. No fucking way. He would have heard about it if it was.] It's pretty easy to promise shit. Like, seriously, I could promise not to totally imagine you naked later, but that doesn't mean I have the capability to keep it.
[What? It had been a good five minutes since he had said something of that caliber. It was well overdue.
But either way, the sentiment was there: how did any of them know if the Ceta could get them back? How could they even start promising shit when no one knew how they got here in the first place? It was stupid. It was-- it was fucking bullshit! A lie.
He could feel the glare fixing itself into place, because those were people she was talking about. Friends. Ones he was fighting with and for. ] Seriously? It's not about fucking offers; this isn't the worst game show ever made where we get to pick what's behind Door Number One and it's a consolation prize of more goddamn war. They're just trying to stay the fuck alive and have their freedom.
Maybe if your BFFs could take a hint and leave these guys alone, there wouldn't even need to be a war to start with.
no subject
They are not trying to enslave them. They are trying to help them.
[ Satya let out a sigh, her breath fogging in the air. ]
Look around you. These people are starving. Freezing. Dying of disease. The Cetagandans would put an end to all that. Their technology would see these people living in security and peace, with luxuries they've only ever dreamed of. Those that fight? Only do so at the bidding of those who stand to lose power. They don't realize what they are fighting against. I've seen firsthand what the Cetagandans are, and they are not the tyrants the rebels would have you think.
no subject
In turn, Tucker was really great at ignoring other people; time spent with Caboose honed that skill rather easily and very early on. But the things she was saying were impossible to shut out, even though he earnestly tried. He knew about people wanting power as much as he knew about the plucky rebels that didn't seem to have a chance; they were things he had lived with for years.
But scenarios weren't always black and white; they were shades of grey and he fucking hated it. It was a lot easier to despise something that was blatantly wicked than it was to be stuck in the realm of I don't know.]
Watch it; I'm friends with some of those people in power.
[Well, one. Sonia, a princess, but he wasn't sure how much power there was; politics bored the fuck out of him and there were a lot more fun things to do than sit and talk dynasties and power plays. If he wanted that, he'd go back to his Sangheili lessons. Besides--]
Is that what they told you? Because it seems like your guys kind of came in and started telling people how to live, how to be, wanted to take over for them and not give them a choice. Who the fuck made you guys the universal police, huh? You're like a pushy fucking prom date that can't take a hint.
no subject
[ There's less righteous anger in her today than there is a sort of pity. For Tucker. For all these people. The more she sees, the more she is reminded of the communities she's been sent to in the past, on behalf of Vishkar.
They too raised their voices, complained about freedom and choice from the depths of poverty and chaos. They just didn't know any other way. That wasn't their fault. ]
'Freedom' will not put food in their bellies. It will not keep them warm at night. It won't see a better future for their children. And these people deserve better than what I've seen here.
[ Satya's jaw sets tightly. ]
I won't apologize for believing that. I don't think turning a blind eye to ignorance is the best solution.
no subject
[There was the barest of twitches when she mentioned children, something small and slight as his eyes snapped over to her. Children. Yeah, they were the ones suffering the most, weren’t they? And they didn’t ask for this shit, they didn’t ask for a war or to be oppressed or dying. They didn’t ask to be buried in the frozen ground.]
Believe what you want; that’s on you.
[But she wasn’t wrong either. Cold and hungry, what could--]
Look, who’s to say what would happen if you folks left, huh? How can you guess that things wouldn’t get better or that they would be able to feed these folks instead of dropping all their shit into war? I mean… [He waved one arm, waved it at this place around them, waved it while looking up at the sky.]
You don’t know the future. They could wind up better than you guys in another twenty years or something because they have the choice to do it.
And shit. [His brow furrowed a little because the real question was--] Why is this so important to your side? Like, seriously? If these folks don’t want it, why not just say ‘fuck it’ and go? What’s in it for the Cetagandans, because I’m pretty sure they’re not doing it out of the goodness of their heart either.
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[ Her arms fold across her chest as she tips her head, gold eyes searching out Tucker's dark ones. ]
The need to fight anyone would disappear. Isn't that what everyone wants, in truth? An end to the conflict and suffering, once and for all?
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Church, and the thought burned like fire across his heart like a brand.
No more death. No more burying kids. No more Great Wars and civil wars and--]
You know it's impossible to stop everyone from fighting, right? There's always going to be some asshole who just wants a television the size of a billboard and will kill people and start shit to get it. No one can stop that. You can't like, genetically engineer greed out of people.
[Fuck, but a universe where there was no war, where Junior wouldn't have to worry because he was Sangheili, where he could grow up and not have to fear his status. An existence where folks like Hargrove couldn't have fucking trophy rooms with the symbols of his dead friends decorating it like a prideful museum. Shit. One where he wouldn't have to fight anymore and could just vacation with his son.]
What about the people who don't care about art, huh? Who don't want anything you're offering? Freedom and choices are pretty freaking important to happiness, and happiness is what gives shit meaning. You can't just turn them into puppets.
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[ How many times has she been told this? More than she can count. It's one of the first lessons Vishkar taught her. To seek to profit on one's own is selfishness. To attempt to exist outside the community is to doom yourself. Safety can only be found in cooperation, in serving your function to serve the whole. And it is no different here. ]
These people are not 'free'. They answer to their leaders even now, who tell them they must fight to ensure their continued leadership. If they answered to the empire instead, what would change? They would go about their daily lives as they ever did, but without conflict. Without unnecessary struggle. With more resources and a governing body capable of turning this planet into part of a greater whole, protected and cared for.
[ Satya gestures to the village around them. ]
Should they be 'free' to choose to remain in these conditions? Nothing improves for them save the idea of 'freedom', this lie given to them to placate them. Oh, they suffer nobly for the idea of it, so long as they can be convinced that is the truth. But what good does that truly do them?
[ Go on, Tucker. If you've got a convincing argument here, now is the time. ]
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[Once when he was a kid he had watched some ancient, shitty movie, something that had the worst graphics he had ever seen, with easy to see camera tricks and horribly dramatic acting. It had only come on at three a.m. after everything else had been exhausted. It was about ants, radioactive giant ants, but he remembered being fascinated by it so he decided to read up on them.
Turns out, radioactivity would have just killed, a fact that made everything way less cool. But he learned about the nest, about working, about the social constructs. It was boring at the time because he couldn't relate.
Now he just didn't want to. Because, fuck, she made a good point and he hated it.]
There's always going to be someone in command, another C.O., another military, another shitty corporation. And maybe people are fucking selfish, maybe they suck, but if you give anyone too much power, you just have to wait until that shit corrupts them. Someone is going to take over and--well, it's all going to hit the fan eventually.
Besides... [He sighed a little.] What's the point of having a voice if you're not allowed to say what you want? Why not just open your doors to the ones who want to leave, and let the rest just decide their own fate? You get to save the folks who want to be saved, the war can fucking end, no more people have to die, and your conscience is clear?
[Gloved hands slid into his pockets as he looked away. This was all moral debates, important over ideas, but the real hook here was--] Going home. Is that a hope, or a possibility?
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[ Though her lips thin in displeasure almost immediately. That brings up her previous point rather nicely. ]
We might be closer still if not for the abhorrent tactics of the rebels. Leaving diseased body parts all over our base in the hopes of killing whoever they can with this sickness?
[ He seems to have the people's best interests at heart. Surely he can understand what is so terribly wrong with someone who considers that a fair method of fighting back. ]
These are the people who want to decide the fate of this world. Even if we were to remain a part of the conflict, how can you support that sort of depravity?
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...The void that Epsilon left.
He almost opened his mouth, almost started asking about it because he needed more details, needed to know if there was a way that she could sneak him to it when it was done, if he could get out of here, but she was talking about something else. About body parts. About the sickness. His eyes widened, his mouth twisted into a grimace, before he looked away, stomach turning and flipflopping.
Seriously, what. the. fuck.]
They-- okay, that shit is fucked up, but there has to be a reason. They wouldn't just-- I mean-- okay, so maybe they do some shady shit, but...
[And that was it, that right there. He trailed off, his brow furrowed a little as he looked away.] You got proof of this shit? Of your side? Of the shit we pulled?
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Of course. It's not as though I simply invented such a grotesque display. No doubt the rebel leaders would even confess, if you asked them. Doubtlessly they think they're very clever for having come up with the idea.
[ There isn't a doubt in her mind. It is clever, of course, but the sort of underhanded, gutless move that in her mind? Only proves how desperate these backwater lords are to retain their power, no matter how vile the action required. ]
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Okay, let me throw this at you: you're on the enemy side and you're coming at me with negative information about the army I'm fighting for. I'd be a fucking idiot not to question your motives and whether or not to believe you.
[He looked away, back to the village, his forehead furrowed a little. He felt... heavy. So very heavy with all the information.] Words are fucking easy, and knives are sharp.
[Which probably meant shit to her, but--] I'm just saying, I've had people lie and manipulate me before, and it doesn't make me ex-Spec-Ops level paranoid, but pretty close. [Too close, really. Dammit, and he thought he had gotten away a little more unscathed than this. Well, shit. Lesson learned.]
Look, I'll peek around, okay. See what I find. Talk to folks. But....I want to see you again, too. This shit, it isn't over.
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[ She states it slowly, as though to a child. As though this should be obvious. As though it ought to be clear that yes Tucker, she believes everything that is coming out of her mouth, and she'd have no other reason to say it beyond it being true.
Yes, some people would lie and try to manipulate him, but Satya couldn't ever imagine being one of those people. So the idea that anyone else might see her that way would naturally be quite offensive, no matter how good his reasoning. ]
Go, then. Ask them. See what they are willing to tell you.
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[He wasn't trying to be a dick, really; he just needed confirmation. He needed focus. He needed reasons if it was true, needed to know why, why the fuck this shit was allowed to happen. He needed the blanks filled in, needed answers.
There was nothing wrong with needing that. There was nothing wrong with wanting that. ]
You do realize you're talking about my friends, right? And that you're kinda painting them as a bunch of liars-- [Or worse, manipulators] -- and that shit isn't going to win you much from me. One of them-- look, just there's a couple over there that I would trust with my life, and I don't say that shit lightly. I knew them long before I wound up on this Dollar Store level snowglobe.
I just know that they'll tell me the truth.
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Do I seem a liar to you, then?
[ Friends? Sounds fake, Tucker. Her arms fold tightly across her chest as he comes back at her, unmoved. ]
Let us hope that they do, then. I don't know your friends. I know what I've seen, what the rebels have done in their bid to win this terrible war. They will tell you the same or they will not.
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Does my kid seem like a liar? No. But sometimes we're not exactly truthful when there's something we want.
[How many times had he told a woman he could go for hours? Yeah. Like that. Just like that, but with less sex, more moral grayscale, and way too many severed body parts.
And hey, he has friends! Lots of friends! Shut up! He turned back to her, staring, eyes meeting hers, unfettered by her steadfastness but still unsure of his foot on everything else. There was so much to fucking unpack, so much to say, to think about, to mull the fuck over when all he wanted to just ignore it like he used to. Dealing with stuff when it came up was way better than this. ]
Well, let's hope that they don't corroborate your story. [He waited for a look, for backlash, spoke if there was or wasn't some.] What? I don't want to know that my side is doing terrible shit anymore than you want to know that your side is. I don't want to think--I don't want to be the bad guy, you know?
No one does.
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[ Her eyebrow lifts as she pulls her coat tighter around her. ]
You seem to have your heart in the right place. May you find the truth.
[ And she sincerely hopes that. But she's lingered here long enough, and they've spoken of meeting again. Perhaps it will come to pass.
She has her own digging to do. ]
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Well, clearly I’m the fucking good guy. Heroes are always the handsome ones, right?
[His smile eased, less trying, less forced as his feet began to crunch in the snow. One step, two, and it was so much shit on his plate that he wasn’t sure what to even do with it, where to begin. But he started to walk away anyway, stopping long enough to say--] Be careful, okay? Like, you’ve got a full on truce with me, but I can’t promise the same with everyone else.
Let’s be real, you’re too hot to be stuck in a med tent.
[And with that, he was gone.]