[ april ii log: here's unbroken bone ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: The sun finally comes out in proper spring, the labs are full of excitement, and Piotr prepares for real war. Your princess is in another castle.
When: April 18th - 30th
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base, Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Riverfall
Barrayar: Camp / Missions
Cetaganda: Base / Missions

TIMELINE
4/18 Fast-penta interrogation: Sonia
4/19 Eavesdropping Alpha (Barrayar)
4/21 Eavesdropping Bravo (Barrayar)
4/22 - 4/23 Vorkosigan Vashnoi trips
4/24 Eavesdropping (Cetaganda)
4/25-4/26 Satellite launch
4/27 Flower-viewing party


barrayar
Morale is still recovering after Princess Sonia's capture and the deaths that resulted from the ensuing battle in Riverfall, but at least they were able to make contact with Colonel Vorvolk, the leading officer of the other half of Piotr's army, and reunite the guerrilla army for the first time since their last camp was discovered several months ago. Their discovery is not only timely, but critical -- Piotr intends to launch an attack on the Cetagandan base next month, before any reinforcements can arrive, in order to force Zahal to recall at least part, if not most, of the occupying force in the capital city, so that Piotr's army and the civilian underground resistance can work together to retake Vorkosigan Vashnoi. If they can take back the city and continue to defend it, they might even stand a chance at pushing Zahal's forces out of the district entirely, and considering that Vorkosigan's District is one of the hot spots of the invasion, this might even turn the tide of the whole war in their favor. They'll also be attempting to rescue Sonia during the attack, making the most out of the chaos, but that is their secondary objective.

Zahal, of course, means to make the most out of his new hostage. Knowing for certain now that Piotr's army has contact with the Riverfall villagers -- a fact that puts the camp at risk for discovery once again -- Zahal sends a missive to Riverfall with instructions to pass it along to Piotr. His demands are simple: they'll guarantee the safety and return of the Princess on Piotr's complete surrender. Piotr responds by scrawling a particularly rude and short-worded rebuttal over the original message and has it returned promptly -- stuffed inside the mouth of some poor beheaded ghem soldier, left at one of the base entry gates to be discovered by patrols.

Hopes for a successful attack are bolstered still when word comes that Emperor Dorca and Crown Prince Yuri are on their way to the Dendarii mountains. On the 18th, a courier from Dorca's battalion arrives, only to discover that the first courier sent by Dorca some weeks ago never made it to Piotr's camp to deliver the news. Dorca and Yuri bring with them another 200 soldiers when they arrive on the 20th, which nearly doubles their forces, and, like Colonel Vorvolk's half of the army, they set up camp in another part of the mountains nearby, connected by the cave netwrok that runs through the Dendarii mountains. Unfortunately, the occasion isn't entirely joyous, as Crown Prince Yuri recently lost his only remaining son and heir in battle shortly before departing for Vorkosigan's District. This is not only a sad occasion, but a politically uneasy one: Yuri's wife died some years ago, and while he is next in line to succeed his father as Emperor, the lack of an heir to his own makes for a politically shaky situation. Should he die before producing another heir, the title of Crown Prince will fall to his half-brother Xav instead, and that…brings a whole host of other political issues to the table. Needless to say, while Yuri's succession isn't an immediate issue, the politically savvy are feeling a little nervous about it.

But the war marches on, and preparations must be made. Their odds are better, but they're still vastly outnumbered by the Cetagandans. They'll need the help of the underground civilian resistance to prepare to retake Vorkosigan Vashnoi, as well as some supplies. After all, they'll have an easier time infiltrating the Cetagandan base with a larger force if some of them look enough like Cetagandans.

camp
Although the army is stronger than it has been in months, not all is at peace. Colonel Vorvolk has always been a trusted member of Piotr's general staff and a loyal officer, as well as a long-time acquaintance. However, his views on the outsiders don't exactly align with Piotr's: he thinks Piotr has been much too quick to trust them, especially given that several of them came over from the Cetagandan side, and Duv Galeni hails from Komarr, the planet that sold Barrayar out to the Cetagandans. Vorvolk doesn't believe that the outsiders should be given such freedom or privilege, let alone allow them to participate in critical military operations. Most of his own soldiers seem to share the sentiment, as do the Vorbarra soldiers -- in fact, Yuri vocally agrees with Vorvolk, and those outsiders who have been in Piotr's camp from the very beginning will feel an uncomfortably familiar air of suspicion and mistrust settles over the camp. While nothing has effectively changed -- the outsiders are not segregated away from the camp again as they once were, nor put back under guard -- the Barrayaran soldiers who are comfortable with and even like the outsiders are suddenly in the minority.

While few are foolish enough to disrespect the outsiders where Piotr can see them, some of the soldiers from Vorvolk's and Dorca's camps are borderline hostile toward the outsiders, jeering, taunting, even making hex signs or spitting in the most extreme cases. There are still plenty of soldiers who remain friendly towards the outsiders, but it's leading to friction between them and their other Barrayaran comrades as well. After several days of tension, a major fight breaks out in Piotr's camp over the outsiders' presence, and a few outsiders might even be dragged (or throw themselves) into it. Everyone involved in the fight gets a firm reprimand and then some, and worse still is that the fight does little to ease the tensions -- if anything, it only makes them worse.

Dorca and Yuri's mourning casts a somber air over the camps, and both Emperor and Crown Prince are in grave moods, Yuri's especially prickly. As his son was a public figure, they hold a public burning of death offerings on the 22nd, so that Imperial subjects may pay their respects to the recently deceased Prince. A large pyre is set up within one of the larger caves, so that the smoke will be less conspicuous, and any offerings submitted in earnest will be accepted. Typical Barrayaran death offerings consist of a small lock of one's hair, or, if none is to hand, any other personal object they might have on their person that would burn, such as a piece of clothing.

missions
With contributions of…mixed success from the outsiders, as well as help from the soldiers, the villagers are able to repair some of the homes damaged in the recent skirmish. Some of them are too far gone for repair, and so are broken down to salvage whatever materials they can for other repairs. Considering the village now houses fewer than fifty people, housing space is not a concern at the moment.

Preparations for the coming attack on the Cetagandan base go well overall. The raiding parties manage to steal uniforms and face paint for about 50 soldiers to disguise themselves, and parties sent to Vorkosigan Vashnoi successfully make contact with civilian resistance cells to pass their plans along.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

cetaganda
Zahal sends his terms to Piotr for Sonia's release, and the gruesome rebuttal -- a crude message scrawled over Zahal's own hand-penned calligraphy, the delicate paper shoved into the gaping mouth of a dead ghem soldier, his head left to be discovered just outside the best -- infuriates him. He's known Piotr for too long to expect him to give in right away, but this is just sheer insult. He's well aware of just how vulnerable the base is right now -- the epidemic has mostly run its course, but their total forces are down to about 6,000 soldiers, and there are only about 100 ghem scientists left. His requests for reinforcements have been delayed by Cetagandan central command -- they have no extra troops they can spare on planet, and it will be another month before more ships arrive. Zahal is struggling to balance out his forces, split between the base and Vorkosigan Vashnoi -- right now binternal base security is badly undermanned in favor of increasing the occupying force in the capital city. Piotr Vorkosigan is too smart a man not to take advantage of an opportunity like this -- Zahal just doesn't know exactly what he's planning to do. The Cetagandan base is in a vulnerable state.

However, there is one edge they have: Cetagandan intelligence knows that Emperor Dorca and Crown Prince Yuri are in Vorkosigan's District. The courier who never made it to Piotr's camp was intercepted by Cetagandan intelligence before he even made it to Vorkosigan's District, and the information was sent accordingly to Zahal's outpost. Piotr might have rejected his first demand -- but would the Emperor, the Princess's grandfather, respond the same?

But as the trials of war marches on, so do the advancements of science. Micah is still hard at work in the labs working on the Star Gate Project, but the data they've been able to gather is incomplete and insufficient. They have convinced the Cetagandan science officers to send a scientific party, Micah included, off-planet to take a closer look at the collapsed wormhole and launch a satellite to record more data. They've made a fair bit of progress in discovering the new type of field generated by the collapsed wormhole, tentatively named the Niadem field after its primary discoverer, but they still know too little about just how and why the exotics have been brought here to complete their designs.

base
Despite the military tensions, the Cetagandans work hard at maintaining a lighter atmosphere around the base. Since the weather this month has finally given them some real relief -- and the epidemic raging the base has been quelled -- the Cetagandans decide to host a flower-viewing party on the 27th in the gardens adjacent to the Grow Labs. It is explained to the exotics that such events are regularly held to herald the coming of spring, although emphasis is placed on the fact that the viewings are usually much more sophisticated and lavish than the 'meager' offerings of the lush gardens on the base.

Typical of Cetagandan functions, it is elegant, overwrought and full of a lot of needlessly artfully crafted food and drinks -- many of them intoxicating, so take care what you drink. Sonia and Micah are both in attendance, although Sonia doesn't look particularly happy to be there. The party is celebrating in particular some of the genetic-botanical achievements of some of the ghem lady artists on the base, as well as some recently genetically engineered koi, to update the atmosphere of the garden to proper spring. However, the real show-stealer is the debut of Amai's personal project: an elaborate zoo-biological sculpture designed as tribute to the Star Crèche itself. It takes up a considerable portion of the back wall of the garden, vinelike branches woven into the trellis, curling and spreading in elaborate patterns, and flowers bloom along the lengths in clusters, each a different color. On a closer look, they can be identified as asters -- but some in colors no one's ever seen an aster before. The vines themselves are ridged with what looks like some kind of delicate fin that sways softly with the slightest breeze, a shimmering dark blue. They look more like koi fins than anything botanical, and with the groups of flowers set over them, it looks something like a night sky. In the center is an elaborately crafted flower sculpture of the Star Crèche's screaming bird insignia in minute detail. And though it is rooted to the rest of the sculpture, it seems to move at times -- the slightest flutter of its wings. The placard placed with it explains that each colored cluster of asters is an artistic representation of one of the Constellations that make up the haut caste. The Navarr constellation, from which both Diya and Sei hail, is flowered in asters of a striking violet color.

As time passes, Haut Sei's presence becomes more palpable on the base, and her force bubble is seen more frequently outside of the science/medical complex. Though she and Diya are working closely together, it's clear to anyone who spends enough time around them that there is some tension between them. Ba Talim is almost always present when they are together, although it can at times be found on its own around the base.

missions
The gene therapy trials take a turn for the worse despite glimmers of promise earlier on, and all three subjects suffer from complications with no progress made.

The investigation into the weapons smuggling operation is ultimately a failure -- while they are able to track down one of the resistance cells, the civilians involved manage to get away before any useful information is extracted from them. The next time Cetagandan soldiers return to the place where they'd been discovered, the establishment has since been boarded up and closed down.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

Note: Gavalas, Ezar and Gail are both available for threading on request. Hit Madi (Gavalas) or Ammay (Ezar & Gail) up if you are interested!

Comments

Lapis Lazuli | Ceta

[mirrortide]

[Flower Viewing]

As of the current moment in time, Lapis is neither suffering from a headache or particularly moody. Surprisingly the strong aromas don't trigger any headaches, and as there isn't really any good reason to splash people at the flower viewing, Lapis is free from those types of headaches as well. She's also back to wearing her skirt and crop top (which are clean this time around, thankfully), and she's avoiding anything that even vaguely smells of alcohol.

Lapis might not be the one to initiate any sort of conversation, but she does look surprisingly contemplative, like she's trying to work something out and just can't seem to.

[Here and there]

Her migraines haven't gotten any better, but right now she's trying to ignore the growing throbbing in her head. Ever since the migraines have started coming on when she hasn't even been using her powers, it's been making it hard to use them in the first place. But Lapis is nothing if not patient and most importantly skilled. Despite everything, she's trying to manage balancing a small, baseball sized sphere of water in the air.

She needs to know how long she can last like this. The water shakes and malforms, threatens to drip every now and again, but she's managing to catch it before it can completely disperse. It unfortunately won't take much, only a small surprise or perhaps being bumped into gently to make her drop it.

[Closed to Pearl]

As soon as Lapis spots the other Gem, she follows her, just a small distance away, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Which is to say as soon as Lapis sees any sort of clearing of people near somewhere she can grab Pearl and drag her off to somewhere more secluded so they can talk, Lapis will absolutely do it. Sorry Pearl.

... Then again, Lapis is a little more frail than Pearl is at the moment, so if Pearl resists there probably wont be a lot she can do about it.

[terrifyingrenegade]

Honestly, it's not hard to get Pearl alone. For the most part, she has no interest in talking to the other party-goers, since she's literally only here to look at the flowers, so the rest of this event holds little interest for her.

She's off in her own little world admiring a particularly opulent display when Lapis decides to get grabby. Feeling the tug on her arm, she instinctively digs her heels in and turns to face the offender.

"Lapis?" she hisses with surprise. "What--"

Lapis why can't you just use your words.

[mirrortide]

Because you're a Pearl and Lapis shouldn't have to use words to get her point across, duh.

Lapis tugs a little harder, like she's trying to prove a point. When that fails to work, she narrows her eyes like Pearl has just completely offended her. "Come on, get over here. I don't have time to explain."

[terrifyingrenegade]

She folds her arms across her chest, looking stern. "Next time? Just tap my shoulder and ask me," Pearl says tartly, more ruffled by Lapis' demanding behavior than she'd like to admit. Without another word, she gestures for the other gem to lead on, ready to follow.

[mirrortide]

Lapis gives Pearl a flat look to that, one that clearly conveys the message of 'Yeah, that's not happening, ever.'. But she does lead Pearl away from any sort of prying eyes or ears and then...

Mumbles. Like it's a sort of disgraceful thing to ask.

"How did you decide to become a rebel?"

[terrifyingrenegade]

Pearl boggles at her. "What?"

Her frown deepens. Well that... Sure is a question. AND AN INCREDIBLY PERSONAL ONE, at that!

"Why do you want to know something like that so suddenly?" she asks, highly suspicious.

[mirrortide]

"Because I want to know?" Is it really that big of a deal? Maybe she shouldn't take the small jump from fugitive to rebel.

"Is it a big deal or something? I didn't think it was."

here/there

[vorrutyer]

"Oh, I'm thirsty."

Rather than doing what a normal, reasonable, polite person would do - like say wow or neat or oh my god - Byerly is just grinning at Lapis, shittily, leaning against a wall.

"Come on, pour that down my throat. I have a pounding headache from last night. Rehydration would do me good."

byerly no

[mirrortide]

Well, that'll do it. Lapis jolts and the water drops to the floor with an extremely lame splash. Thanks for nothing, Byerly. Lapis whirls around to face him, but it's clear she's just... confused? She raises an eyebrow.

"Why don't you just get a drink? There's a fountain down there." She points down a hallway."

[vorrutyer]

"But that's not fun," he pouts. He shakes his head, then, and takes a step back, opening his mouth. "Go on, give it another try," he urges. "Right into here." And he gestures to the floor-water, and then sweeps his hand up towards his mouth.

[mirrortide]

"Um. No. Besides, my head hurts now anyway. I wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to do it." Which is... sort of a lie, but really the headaches are only going to get worse from here on now that she bothered using her powers.

She's basically in for a solid hour of cowering under a blanket in a few minutes.

[vorrutyer]

"Ah." His hand drops to his chin, and he strokes his goatee as he surveys her. "Overindulged yourself, did you? It's all right. Learning your limits is difficult."

[mirrortide]

"Yeah, these are hardly my limits. Normally I could take this planets entire ocean if I wanted to and then some." If she sounds a little salty, please forgive her. This whole process has been really hard on her.

Flower viewing party :')

[sparkwhisperer]

After four drinks everything is starting to seem fuzzy around the edges. Any inhibitions that may have been present begin slipping as Tarn nearly trips over himself trying to get to the exit.

Perhaps pearl was right about the substance that he'd been sucking down for the past several hours.

He shuffles quicker, wandering the perimeter to trying to get through the throng of mingling ghem ladies. Tarn probably doesn't even hear them snickering at him as he trips over his hem of his robe, catching himself on Lapis in an attempt to not fall on his face.

im sorry

[mirrortide]

For all that Lapis might have been watching him make a fool of himself (had she been just as uncoordinated when inebriated?) that still doesn't prepare her for the full weight of someone trying to not fall down by falling on her.

She tries, in vain, to side step him, but he grabs on too late and-

Well, by some miracle she manages to keep her footing, but it's absolutely touch and go there for a few moments.

"Please don't barf on me."

[sparkwhisperer]

Tarn continues to bear his weight on Lapis, pausing to try to will the room to stop spinning.

"Fine. It's fine." Never in his life has Tarn been so in-eloquent with his words, but he can't bring himself to care. The slight slur in his voice only punctuates his intoxication.

"Help me get outside. I need to get out of here."

[mirrortide]

"Uh.... Sure?" Lapis is struggling to keep them both up already. She's not exactly some strong, capable quartz. She's a Lazuli and all of her strength is located in her powers, for the most part.

And her innate gem strength certainly didn't get transferred over to her squishy meat form.

She moves, trying to lead the stranger literally draped over her outside.

[sparkwhisperer]

Tarn is nearly six feet tall and made of compact, lean, muscle. It's less than a 30 foot transforming robot, but he isn't light either.

"I should have listened to Pearl. She tried to warn me, but I was foolish and didn't listen. She told me this would happen."

[mirrortide]

Unfortunately for Lapis, being blue gives her zero extra muscle.

"Ah. You drank the alcohol." Everything makes immediate sense. "You should have listened to her. You're going to want to hide under the covers and avoid light tomorrow." If he's anything like her. "And if you're smart you'll never touch the stuff again."

here n there

[stompadour]

After making a Terrible Mistake pushing herself far, far too hard working out, Jasper is still pretty out of sorts, and disgruntled about it – she'd been warned not to, but she just hasn't been improving her physical prowess at the rate she wants to be, and then with the theoretically powers-restoring gene therapy other people have been undergoing but not her... Well, she made some bad choices and now she has to live with them.

She drags herself out to the mess hall to eat, though – gotta keep her strength up – which is where she spots Lapis's ball of water hovering and rippling a little way off.

Hopefully Jasper's hulking shape looming over her doesn't count as a surprise. It happens often enough, after all...

[mirrortide]

Unfortunately when you're concentrating very hard, and against a horrible oncoming headache, pretty much anything can count as unexpected. Lapis might not notice it at first, but when she does, she jolts suddenly and yelps, dropping the water and whirling around to face Jasper.

"Don't sneak up on me!"

[stompadour]

Jasper straightens up guiltily. "I wasn't – I didn't sneak up on you," she protests. She is holding a tray of food and she looks kind of like death warmed up.

[mirrortide]

Lapis makes a small disgruntled noise to Jaspers protest, but even she knows that she wasn't sneaking. Jasper probably isn't capable of sneaking in any sort of fashion. Also, to be completely fair, Jasper also looks like she's in pretty rough shape.

"... Do you need something?" Look, she's still not entirely sure how to act around Jasper, but she's not nearly as standoffish as she could be. "You look terrible."

Nevermind, there it is.

[stompadour]

"So do you," says Jasper, scowling. She does indeed look terrible. She is wearing her usual eyeliner, though, perhaps in defiance of that fact. "I wanted to see how you were doing. With the water."

[mirrortide]

"Fine." Lapis replies, lifting her hand and showing off that she has the ability to lift water too by doing the exact opposite of that when the water on the floor doesn't leave its spot.

Lapis sends the offending liquid a glare, and jerks her hand upwards again, this time more forcefully and the water complies. "See? Fine."