[ may ii log: we're a broken people living under loaded gun ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: Victory quickly curdles when the Cetagandans go nuclear -- literally.
When: May 18th - 31st
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base, Riverfall Village
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Barrayar / Cetaganda

barrayar
The jubilant atmosphere in the Barrayaran camp doesn't die out, but it does shift back into the sense of intense focus on their next task, their exhilarating victory driving them forward. The attitudes toward the outsiders are gradually lightening -- the fact that two of them rescued Princess Sonia has gone a long way toward fostering good will. While Prince Yuri and Colonel Vorvolk are still staunch their position of mistrust, Dorca is now openly showing support for Piotr's decision, tipping the balance of politics among the top brass -- which always has a trickle-down effect. But it's a slow spread, and while some of the other soldiers have turned entirely grateful to the outsiders for their part in the attack, for most of them they're only just starting to tone down the hostility. But the shift in atmosphere, however gradual, is clear: the outsiders are starting to fall back into favor with the soldiers.

Vorvolk himself still remains unconvinced, and in the downtime between briefings, can be seen frequently in conference with Piotr, and they don't often look to be in agreement. The fact that the body of Falco Vorkalloner, one of the more vocal anti-outsider dissidents, was found dead shortly before the attack only throws things into hotter contest: although as far Lakshmi and Sisko, the ones to discover the body, reported to him, it appeared to be an accidental death. Colonel Vorvolk remains suspicious considering the timing, but a funeral for Vorkalloner complete with death offerings is held on the 19th. If one is positioned correctly in certain circles, too, one may overhear more talk about the increasingly tense succession politics – talk, say, about finding Yuri a new wife so he can produce another heir. Yuri, perhaps surprisingly, seems reluctant, and harshly bites off the subject every time it comes up.

Lapis has requested a note be delivered to Sonia through the villagers, and Sonia rushes to show it to Piotr. While the gene therapy trials weren't news – and subsequently dire conclusions could be drawn from it – any deals with Jackson's Whole are news, and dangerous at that. If the Cetagandans release the outsiders' gene complexes to the Jacksonians, they might as well be releasing them into the wild: there'll be no hope of permanently recovering them. Piotr is going to want the his handlers to pass on this information to their informants so that they can keep an eye out for any new developments or ways to sabotage the deal.

Scouts are sent to Vorkosigan Vashnoi to further coordinate their efforts with the civilian underground resistance in the city and move on to the next step in their plans to retaking the city. The attack on the base had been meant to force Zahal to withdraw some of his troops from the city, and it works – except that according to Barrayaran intelligence, by May 21st he has recalled the entire occupying force from Vorkosigan Vashnoi.

At approximately three o'clock in the morning on May 22nd, the night sky goes ablaze with a sudden flash of light. The sound of the explosion doesn't follow for another minute, but even at night, the mushroom cloud is clearly visible from the mountains. And even at night, given the vantage point, it's clear that this means only one thing: the Cetagandans have just bombed Vorkosigan Vashnoi.

There's nothing left of the city -- the Cetagandans went nuclear on it, obliterating the city and all its inhabitants and leaving nothing but an irradiated crater behind. Morale in the camp takes a sharp U-turn after the total destruction of the district's capital. Not only were they on the verge of successfully retaking the city, it's the capital of the district, and a symbol of hope for many of the soldiers, especially those from the district -- or it was, anyway. Now there's nothing left of it. Everything they've been working toward for the last few months, everything they've struggled toward -- simply gone.

The soldiers all react in different ways. Most of them are furious, angry like a wounded beast, despairing but only more determined to eliminate the Cetagandan threat to them. Many of them weep openly in grief or despair -- lost family and friends, a lost home -- and some are simply stunned into numbness at so dramatic an escalation. The Barrayarans are badly thrown, and they need to regroup before Cetagandan strikes again.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

cetaganda
Thanks to the Barrayarans' extremely effective sabotage, there's no hope of getting the main or backup power generator back in operating oder until their next supply drop arrives with reinforcements -- still weeks away. Most of the base is without power, which also means no running water, no refrigeration, and no way of recharging their weapons' power packs. As much is being done by daylight as possible, including pre-preparing meals -- still a mix of MREs and fresh food, but especially the latter, as they have no way of keeping it from spoiling, but when they run out of fresh food from the Grow Labs, the base's denizens are stuck with MREs and rather unpalatable ration bars. Thankfully, the water treatment plant has a considerable buffer, so while they may not have running water, they do at least have some manually retrievable potable water for the time being. Hey folks, if you ever wondered what it's like for the Barrayarans roughin' it up out there in the mountains, here is a tiny fraction of what that's like.

On the night of the 20th, Diya is discovered dead. According to Sei, she was attacked and killed by Natasha -- for what exact reason, Sei cannot claim to know, but this clearly marks Natasha as a dangerous entity. Natasha flees the base that night in a hijacked groundcar, leaving no one to fast-penta and no witness but Sei and Ba Talim, and -- even though it would be an affront to suggest it -- haut and ba are immune to fast-penta. An elaborate but solemn funeral is held for Diya on the 21st. It's about what you've probably come to expect of Cetagandan functions, but the mood is distinctly different. There is still a lot of poetry reading. When not in uniform, Zahal now dresses in mourning colors.

The one building that does still have power is the building containing the medbay and gene labs, powered by the secondary backup generator that clearly exists for that express purpose: if all else fails, protect the interests of the Star Crèche. However, even with the base's population reduced, there are still thousands of people who need power, and Zahal is in a heated argument with the haut over redirecting power from the secondary backup generator to other vital base functions. The secondary backup generator does not possess the capacity to power the entire base, but some of its power could definitely be rerouted to select other areas. By May 21st, the barracks and mess have limited power -- just barely enough to get running water and the most basic of kitchen functions running. A little bit of power is rerouted to one of the undamaged research buildings for continued research on the Star Gate Project, since it's of nearly as much interest as the genetics research.

By May 21st, Zahal has recalled the entire occupying force from Vorkosigan Vashnoi. This means a couple thousand soldiers have now returned to the base, but they're still badly undermanned. Reinforcements are slated to arrive along with a supply drop at the start of next month, but until then, it's time to make do. Some of the repairs can at least be started manually, so any off-duty soldiers and willing and able bodies will be asked to lend a hand to start fixing up some of the base now that it's more cleaned up.

At approximately three o'clock in the morning on May 22nd, the night sky goes ablaze with a sudden flash of light. The sound of the explosion doesn't follow for another minute, but even at night, the mushroom cloud is clearly visible from the upper perimeter of the base. And even if you don't have the vantage point to see it for yourself, it doesn't take long for word to get around: the Cetagandans have just bombed Vorkosigan Vashnoi.

Apparently Zahal was able to pull together enough resources to drop a nuclear bomb on the city, utterly destroying it and everyone in it. Judging by the surprise of the rank and file, this was not a long-planned maneuver, but a direct response to the Barrayarans' attack. It isn't the sort of measure they're supposed to resort to so quickly -- the city itself is a valuable resource, and it gave them leverage -- but Zahal is furious.

Between Diya's sudden death and the bombing, the atmosphere around the base is suddenly tense and uneasy. While the Cetagandans have hardly felt threatened by the exotics, after Natasha's supposed recent actions, there's a growing mistrust. The victory might go to the Cetagandans, but it doesn't really feel like it.

The unabridged mission results can be found here.

Comments

NPCS: CETAGANDA

[barrayarmods]

Lady Diya d'Zefyst

[eugengineer]

5/18 - 5/20
Diya has seemed despairing lately, but in her final days before her assassination, an entirely new mood overtakes her. She seems extra alert, less impassive than intent, and filled with some new sense of purpose. With every new treachery of Sei's discovered, Diya has become increasingly wary, and now that she has physical evidence in hand of the deal with the Jacksonians, she intends to send word to the Dowager Empress and confront Sei herself.

She has already drafted her correspondence to the Dowager Empress, though she is waiting to send it until she speaks with Sei, should there be any important details to add. Correspondence takes long enough to reach Eta Ceta; she'd rather send a complete report, and if Sei has any words in her own defense... Oh, but Diya hopes she does. She hopes that some part of it, any part of it, is salvageable. She wants to believe that. And so she doesn't confront Sei right away, thinking over how to approach her, what to say.

And so in the meantime, in the days leading up to her death Lady Diya d'Zefyst can be found in her habitual routine of places: most of her work is in the science/medical complex, and she does still visit the gardens, although with the power outage much of it is starting to wither and wilt, and that drives away many of its usual visitors. She can also be found in her personal tea room in the women's quarters, if one knocks politely enough.

postmortem
Sei reports Diya's death the night of the 20th, after an alleged attack by the exotic Natasha Romanoff – and the details do indeed match up, and Natasha's immediate flight from the scene only speaks to guilt. An elaborate but somehow still subdued state funeral is held for Diya the following day, all attendees dressed in the subtle protocol of mourning clothes.

[asklepian]

After Julian's conversation with Deanna, what she told him about the genetic experiments and their decision to do what they can to impede it, Julian had been deciding who, exactly, he should approach and where he should begin.

Lady Diya had seemed like the logical choice, from what Deanna had told him and what he'd learned from everyone else he'd spoken to.

He was prepared to weave some kind of story, if he needed to, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't treating this at least a little like a holonovel. The Cetagandans had social roles that are nearly as complicated and thorny as Cardassian ones, and it's easier to create a bit of a personality to inhabit with that in mind.

(Garak here would be a nightmare. A glorious one, but still a nightmare.)

He doesn't want to approach her when she's in the gardens--that seems like an improper time. Instead, he makes sure she's in the medical complex--not in the least because he feels better about being in territory that's at least vaguely familiar. Despite the natural inclination, he deliberately avoids looking straight at her as he approaches--it feels to him like he's broadcasting nervousness, but he has to remind himself--this is normal. Ranging possibly on painfully polite. Hopefully it's not a line he's crossing too far.

"Lady Diya, may I have a word?"

[eugengineer]

Diya never seems quite pleased when the exotics pick up on what are undoubtedly firm Cetagandan social customs -- this practice of averting the gaze from a haut woman when she is no longer permitted her force bubble only irritates her, though she imagines it must help other women in her position cling to the familiar. Diya gives him only a wordless look and a slight nod of her head, an invitation to continue.

[asklepian]

Did he miscalculate? Does it matter? He's not exactly trying to win her trust and affection, all he's aiming for at the moment is to gain access to the genetic research team.

Roll with it.

"My thanks."

He doesn't really smile, but he's not trying to charm her. It's not part of the persona. But, he does actually look up to her face, showing what he hopes is enthusiastic academic interest in a fellow scientist's work without looking too starstruck. She is beautiful, but she looks annoyed. Wonderful, an uphill battle then. Nothing he's not used to with a pretty lady.

"My name is Julian Bashir--Doctor Julian Bashir. I was hoping to speak to you regarding your research."

[eugengineer]

Haut are immune to charm by offworlders, if only by virtue of thinking them as...well, putatively human, but far inferior. Diya tilts her head at him, her face a work of genetic art; even the way she purses her lips at him just slightly seems like art in motion.

"What would you like to know?"

[asklepian]

Well, women being immune to his charms isn't anything new, Haut or no.

"I was actually hoping to offer my assistance, where I may. I'm not much of an engineer, so what knowledge I can offer in regards to technology is limited. However, genetics is my area of focus."

Julian had been wondering, before this encounter, how forward he needed to be. He doesn't necessarily want to out himself, it's for one always an uncomfortable feeling--it makes him want to crawl out of his skin--and he'd really rather not give the Cetagandan scientists reason to want to poke and prod him. But with their attitude, he decided it was really the only way to have a ghost of a chance of getting close to the research one of them intends to sell. He just has to hope that it doesn't come off as unduly arrogant--not that the entire Cetagandan society isn't coming off that way to him.

"Aside from that, I myself am what my society calls an Augment. Most of our genetic research is used for gene therapy, those of us who have enhanced genetics are a group unto ourselves."

[eugengineer]

Diya's eyebrows lift slightly in interest, but she doesn't look surprised. All of the exotics were given physical exams on intake, and genetic samples were, of course, taken -- and thoroughly studied.

"I suspected so. Your genetic makeup seemed altogether too fortunate to have been left to random chance." She gives him a curious look, a slight narrowing of the eyes. "Deanna Troi spoke of something similar. Do you both originate from the same world?"

[asklepian]

He figured that might have happened. Anyone with as much experience in genetics as this civilization had would have realized that his genome was too ordered. A year or so ago, he would have panicked at the realization that someone else knew his secret--now, he's just resigned to it.

He knows she means reality, so he doesn't make any sort of smart remark. "We do, yes."

Haut Sei Navarr & Ba Talim

[genaesthetics]

haut sei navarr
The Handmaiden of the Star Crèche is difficult to miss, considering she is always cloaked in her iridescent opaque force bubble, hovering a few inches off the ground. The small entourage of ba servitors that usually accompany her make her all the more conspicuous. When Haut Sei Navarr enters a room, everyone notices.

She is a prominent presence at Diya's funeral, leading the procession in whatever arcane reitual the haut mourn by. She reads some deeply moving poetry by way of eulogy, but without cultural context – or perhaps even with – it is difficult to tell just how personal it is, especially with Sei's voice coming flat through the force screen. And without being able to see her face, it's just as impossible to tell how much Diya's death has affected her. They were clearly old acquaintances – and, if you happened to eavesdrop on certain conversations, much more than that – but after the funeral and the mourning period is over, Sei immediately overtakes all of Diya's duties and business seems to go as usual. She seems oddly distant from the recent military activity -- as far as she's concerned, the details of the war have little to do with her work, and the use of nuclear weapons on the Barrayarans does not seem to faze her much.

It is generally understood etiquette that one does not address a haut lady directly, but through one of her servitors, or, if present, a haut lord, unless invited to do so. She is, however, not so aloof as to refuse conversation with the exotics, which to the ghem appears pretty damned talkative for a haut lady. She seems to have stopped visiting the garden entirely since Diya's death, but she can easily be found around the science/medical complex.

ba talim
Ba Talim is usually seen in the company of its haut lady, but the ba have a degree of their own autonomy. This particular ba can be found just about anywhere, seemingly on errands of one kind or another for Haut Sei, but it seems to have leisure time to itself on occasion.

Diya's death seems to have impacted Ba Talim more than the other ba, though whatever sorrow it holds, it keeps to itself. It only shows in the way it moves, a look of deep pain lingering behind the eyes. The ba are literally engineered to be loyal to the haut, but that doesn't mean they can't yield interesting information if asked the right questions, and right now, Ba Talim is uniquely vulnerable.

Amai ghem-Soren

[ghemsweetscent]

The young geneticist has been on edge all month, but she is visibly shaken by Diya's death. Not just because she had been a protégé to Diya for years, and that for a long time she had looked up to the former haut lady – but with all the shady dealings between the haut on base, Amai is gripped with fear and paranoia. She has no idea if Diya found out about Sei's deal with the Jacksonians, or if Sei found out about the ba experiments on her own – in the case of the latter, no heat has come down on Amai recently, so it's impossible to tell.

While Amai is generally as inclined to write off most of the exotics as inferior offworlders as the rest of the Cetagandans, knowing what she knows, the story about Natasha just killing Diya and then taking off just doesn't sound quite right. But she's not stupid enough to say anything about it. She supposes that with Diya dead, that's one less problem she has to worry about, but – God – she's a little nauseated to think about it that way.

Amai weeps openly at Diya's funeral, and she's subdued and jumpy for the days following. And after the nuclear attack, she's a little bit horrified. She won't advertise that fact, because she isn't a soldier and she's far outnumbered here, but even to her it seemed a little too much like overkill.

MIcah Niadem

[withanh]

The second power is rerouted to the labs, Micah immediately jumps back to work in overdrive. Ever since their chat with Symmetra about installing a failsafe, they're determined to get ahead of any of the Cetagandan researchers by putting as any of their notes on the subject in indecipherable shorthand – or by merely committing it to their eidetic memory. May is a pretty good month for research, thanks partly to the Star Crèche's increasing pressure on the project, but Micah is running under the gun, too. It isn't just the time window with the fading Niadem field they're concerned with – it's staying ahead of the Cetagandans and making sure that once the project is complete, once the extrauniversals are sent home, that the Cetagandans can never use it again. That every scrap of research for this project will be destroyed.

After the bomb is dropped, they're beyond horrified. They're not from this planet, but they've come to empathize with its cause, and all war sympathies aside, the sheer atrocity of nuking hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people without so much as a warning is staggering. When they first hear confirmation of what had happened, they find themselves so overwhelmed that they're almost immediately sick. Micah had known some of those people. Some of those people had taken Micah in, kept them hidden from the Cetagandan patrols, protected them. Micah finds they can no longer look their ghem colleagues in the eye when they're working in the labs together, and when none of them are, they take a few private moments to themself to cry.

[durango]

Going to the labs again the morning after the bomb is dropped somehow seems... sacrilegious almost, to be focusing on the Star Gate when so many thousands of people are gone, in a horrible instant (All she can think about is Byerly and the cheerful man who ran that wonderful patisserie and... oh god, was he right, could she have done more?). Yet it's habit, it's familiarity, and probably one of the few things keeping her from doing something very stupid - like flying at Zahal in a rage.

As soon as she arrives and discovers Micah crying alone, all other worries and concerns are pushed away as she rushes to Micah's side. "Micah?" Kneeling beside them, she lays a tentative hand on their arm, unsure if they want company.

[withanh]

Oh -- drat -- Micah had thought everyone would be long gone by now. They hadn't wanted to risk the embarrassment of one of their Cetagandan colleagues walking in on them. They hadn't wanted to risk the embarrassment of anyone walking in on them, although in Deanna's case, Micah doesn't want to worry her, either. They look up a little surprised, then quickly scrubs their eyes on the back of their sleeve. No use in pretending they haven't been crying -- but they manage a small, if watery, friendly smile.

"Ah -- hello, Deanna." They sniff a little. "I'm -- alright. Didn't mean to alarm you."

[durango]

Too late. Of course she's going to worry - it's her job. And even if it wasn't, she cares for Micah a great deal. "You don't have to put on a brave face for me, you know." She smiles softly. "I'm here for you, any time."

[withanh]

"I know. I mean -- thank you." Micah, usually so collected, seems uncharacteristically scattered, their balance temporarily lost. Another little sniffle escapes them as they try to steady their breathing. They press the heels of their hands to their eyes. "This -- ha -- this isn't me putting on a brave face. I'm just...just processing."

[durango]

A misreading then. She's gotten better at this, but not perfect - like trying to hear underwater or see in twilight. "Take what time you need. It's a lot to have to process."

Clinical, maybe too much so. She's defaulting into counselor mode. Yet she rather suspects they need a friend more than a therapist right now. So after a moment of hesitation, she rests a cheek gently against their leg, a small offering of affection.

[withanh]

Micah just nods mutely, still trying to slow their breathing, but it still comes in hitches and swallowed sobs. They sniffle, wiping their eyes on their sleeve again, and manage a watery but grateful smile at Deanna. The almost-clinical approach is sort of comforting, in truth. After all, every Betan ship has a counselor or two of its own.

"I'm -- I'm just..." But there's no coherent thought to follow, no words they can put it into. Micah's hands close and open in a useless gesture. Their voice is still thick and shaky as they slump back against the wall. "I spent -- weeks in that city, Deanna. There were people there who protected me, who sheltered me. They were civilians."

[standsentinel]

After the confirmation that Vorkosigan Vashnoi was now radioactive rubble, the quiet affability that's a familiar sign of Kaidan among colleagues has been swiftly replaced by an equally quiet rage. He looks the ghem in the eye and silently dares them to look back. His interactions are more crisply military than he's ever openly been, aware that he can hardly march into Zahal's office and slug the man responsible for the call, and that launching into an open argument in the tech labs would be nothing more than displacement.

Still, the ghem are giving him a wide berth, more often than not, and it's not surprising that one of Micah's private moments comes on the heels of a bunch of them decamping at once, scattering before Kaidan can return from a break spent finding something inanimate in the gym that he can hit.

The simmering anger banks itself when he finds the herm in tears, awkward concern as effective as cold water. "I, uh... well fuck, right?" he offers understanding profanity in lieu of inadequate sympathy.

[withanh]

Micah jumps a little when Kaidan speaks, clearly not having noticed his approach -- they're a little preoccupied. Their cheeks go a little redder in embarrassment over distress and they quickly sniffle and blink back the tears, though it's a little late for that.

"Yeah, that's -- that's a word for it." Micah isn't too inclined to cursing, but that does about say it. They sniffle again and try to discreetly wipe the corners of their eyes, rubbing their forehead. "Sorry, um -- I was just -- um, were you scheduled for a lab shift today?"

This is about as out-of-sorts as Micah Niadem gets, disoriented and badly thrown by recent events.

[standsentinel]

"I know a couple really nasty alien curses that might work better," Kaidan offers, because even simmering rage and the hollow shock that lurks behind it can't quite suppress a soldier's need to make dark humoured remarks to try and cope with a bad situation. "But I don't have the throat architecture to pull them off. And it's not you I want to be cursing at anyway."

He falls silent then, studying Micah for a long moment before he shakes his head, takes a breath, and lets hidden plans out into open, hopefully unmonitored air. "I wasn't, but I needed to find you alone. I, uh, have some news. This-- With Zahal deciding that a city full of civilians is a fair target for a nuclear strike, I can't sit on this any more."

[withanh]

Aliens -- God. If it were any other day, if Micah were in any other mood, they'd be asking Kaidan more about the aliens in his universe with ravenous curiosity. But not today.

"News?" Micah looks up at him, eyes red and still sniffling, but alert, even a little anxious. "What news?"

[standsentinel]

"Well, ah..." The ellipsis threatens to go on forever, before Kaidan decides to just go for it, and see just how much Cetagandans really are bugging the space as Darryl once suspected.

"I've been passing on information about all this," he says, with a hand taking in the Star Gate lab in particular and the Cetagandan base in particular. "To the Barrayarans. Nothing targeted, just what I could find out without risking too much. But now?" He shakes his head, and for a moment the flames of Vorkosigan Vashnoi can be seen flickering in his expression again.

[withanh]

Someone else might have been suspicious or even angry at Kaidan for withholding that kind of information, but Micah just looks intensely desperate for a second, leaning in and all but grabbing Kaidan's shirt, their eyes wide.

"You've had contact with the Barrayarans?" Their voice is hushed, but urgent. God, Micah hasn't heard word from them since Xav's last instruction to lie low in Vorkosigan Vashnoi. "With General Vorkosigan? For how long?"

the assassination

[eugengineer]

It so happens that Sei is the only one in the gene labs when Natasha comes looking to talk, and Sei is perfectly pleased to discuss anything regarding her gene therapy. It's only natural for her to have concerns, after all. But the quiet conversation is shortly interrupted when Diya storms in -- and storm is really the best word for it when the woman is otherwise so composed, but now looks like she may as well have brought the crack of thunder with her.

Diya is unusually agitated, her face drawn and almost angry, yet there's still a faint desperation for hope lurking in her eyes. Nothing about her appearance is any less composed than usual, but the energy about her feels frantic, off-kilter, thrown badly off balance. She doesn't even seem to notice Natasha as she enters, a data disk clutched tightly in one hand. Ba Talim, ever present at Sei's side, looks just slightly wide-eyed.

"Sei," Diya says, her voice taut and pained, "we must talk."