[ june ii log: the underestimated power of the forces of the unseen ]

[barrayarmods]

Who: Everyone
What: Let's go steal us a spaceship.
When: June 18th-30th
Where: the Barrayaran camp, the Cetagandan base
Warnings: TBD

Quick links:
Barrayar / Cetaganda / The Hijacking

TIMELINE
6/28 Hijacking of the Star Gate, Haut Sei's death

barrayar
Things are as tense as ever in the Barrayaran camp, but at least morale is on the rise -- in a way. While Piotr's decision to help the outsiders as part of his plan to strike back at the Cetagandans hasn't been the most popular, ever since Vorvolk's summary demotion and dismissal from Piotr's general staff, few are bold enough to put forth criticisms of the General Count, especially considering his plan now has Emperor Dorca's endorsement. House Vorkosigan has always been deeply loyal to the Emperor, and that loyalty is repaid in kind with confidence, though it isn't necessarily shared by the Emperor's son. Yuri still has his own objections, and he certainly has no love for the outsiders, but he recognizes Piotr's brilliance as a military strategist, and rather than continue to stir malcontent in Vorvolk's wake, he has decided to fall into line with his father in backing the plan.

It isn't just the Emperor's endorsement, either. In the wake of Vorkosigan Vashnoi and the despair its destruction had wrought, the soldiers crave some direction, something to rally behind -- anything to get back at the Cetagandans. And those soldiers who have known the outsiders since the start…well, many of them are just as sympathetic as Piotr, some of them even more so. Piotr makes a public speech in his camp on the matter to drive up morale, and points out to both his and Dorca's troops that they have an utterly unique opportunity: hit the Cetagandans in a way no one has done before, and nip in the bud what could be the biggest threat of the war to date. "We won't let there be another Vorkosigan Vashnoi," Piotr declares to his troops, impassioned. "Not as long as I walk this planet. The Cetagandans may have already left its scars on Barrayar, and the war may rage on still, but we can ensure their ambitions go no further than this world -- and if this does not bring us honor, what else will?"

The speech is to great effect, but to anyone paying close enough attention, it's clear that what's really keeping Piotr upright these days is Olivia. The destruction of his own district's capital dealt an especially hard blow, but he's not a man who can afford to buckle now.

Vorkosigan's District is wracked with a heat streak, the sun beating down on them from the cloudless sky. Rain is rare, and while it's cooler up in the mountains, it's still hot as hell. Make sure you're drinking enough water, maybe take a cold bath or a dip in the creek, and…don't stand too close downwind of the stables.

The Barrayaran camps have spent the last few weeks communicating with Micah and the outsiders on the other side, preparing for the hijacking of the Star Gate. They pull together a modest cache of weapons and do their best to ready themselves, but when the night of the 28th comes, all they can do is make do with what they have. Sonia, unbeknownst to Olivia, Piotr, or anyone else, disguises herself as a soldier and slips into the rank and file at the last minute. There's a small panic among the top brass when they discover the Princess missing, but after the fight, when the dust starts to settle, soldiers who were in the shipyard report having seen the Princess there -- and that not a single one of them was able to stop her from getting aboard the Star Gate ship.

cetaganda
The atmosphere around the Cetagandan base is increasingly conflicted. Sei carries out her gene therapy experiments as always, and in Diya's stead she runs the genetics research project with ruthless efficiency and, apparently, increasing pressure. Amai is perpetually uneasy ever since she was drafted (blackmailed) into working against Sei, and there are murmurs that Sei is frustrated over some of her coms not going through properly.

Zahal is catching some serious flak from central command for resorting so quickly to nuclear measures on Vorkosigan Vashnoi; it was clearly not an order he received or even requested, and his superiors aren't happy with that. Coupled with Diya's recent passing, he's not so much his usual composed self these days. And with no clear direction after Vorkosigan Vashnoi, the soldiers are getting restless and antsy.

By the 25th, construction on the Star Gate is complete, and Micah is working with the exotics to execute their plan, loosely codenamed the midnight shift, in conjunction with the Barrayarans. They've been providing directions about how to proceed with regards to sabotage and preparing for the hijacking on the 28th. In their off hours in the lab, they've been constructing dozens of small, short-radius EMP charges to be planted in the other ship sin the shipyard.

Sei is murdered by Jasper on the evening of the 28th, before the hijacking begins. Lapis did tell Amai that they'd take care of things with Sei, after all. But because things go to hell so quickly that by the time they have a chance to process the site of Sei's death, the responsible parties are already long gone. Amai also seems to have gone missing, except she isn't really missing -- having been blackmailed into helping with the hijacking, she had no choice but to go with them. Her career might has well have a DNR order on it at this point.

In the aftermath of the hijacking, the base is in a logistical shambles, despite them having taking comparatively much fewer casualties than the Barrayarans. However, beyond the initial emergency response, Zahal's response has been disorganized, enough that they don't manage to immediately get any ships off the ground to pursue the hijackers.

the hijacking
The unabridged mission results are located here.

The Barrayarans don’t descend from the mountains until after dark, their faces smeared with mud to keep the light from reflecting off their skin. Ezar and Piotr lead the infiltration force, while Yuri and Dorca lead the assault on the shipyard perimeter. Casualties in a mission like this are inevitable -- it's just a matter of how many.

While Byerly and Lakshmi are infiltrating along with the rest of the security task force, another force is taking out the shipyard perimeter security. An initial wave of soldiers takes out the perimeter guard, while a second wave fans out through the shipyard to dismantle internal security, including any inner guards. Sonia sneaks herself in on the mission, disguising herself as a soldier in uniform and sticking with the second wave. They're able to secure the shipyard more or less successfully, but it's at the cost of quite a few bodies, and their hold is shaky at best, especially with alarms being triggered after the security task force fails to disable internal security.

Meanwhile, Micah and Kaidan are working on the anti-aircraft protocols, Julian and Pearl are destroying the gene samples, Nash and Symmetra are destroying the research, and Tarn and Lapis are trying to create a diversion. Unfortunately, it doesn't entirely succeed, and with the alarms going off, it makes everyone's job harder. Sisko and Deanna move in with the second wave into the perimeter so they can get started on re-engaging the flight mechanics.

It doesn't take long for things to get bad, and the ghem soldiers begin to close in on the shipyard. There are Barrayaran assault teams both inside the base and in the shipyard, among which are Wash, Miles, Vex and Tucker. The Barrayarans are fighting fiercely, but they're still vastly outnumbered, and they push the perimeter into the shipyard, forcing the rear guard further back. Timing for the Star Gate's departure is starting to run out. Thankfully, though, despite the delays, everyone manages to get to the Star Ship just in time for takeoff -- except for Vex and Tarn.

Micah detonates the EMP charges in the Cetagandan ships as they take off, but they've only planted 23 devices. Luckily, the Barrayarans took initiative and brought along some bombs to plant in the shipyard, like they do. The Barrayarans provide cover fire until the the Star Gate ship clears, and once it does they begin to fall back, taking even more casualties as they pull out. The bombs that go off shortly after their retreat take out another 22 ships, leaving the Cetagandans with only 5 immediately available -- but plenty enough to go after the Star Gate ship.

The Barrayarans retreat back to the mountains, many of them wounded, and at least a hundred of their small army died in the attack on the base, including both Lakshmi and Tucker. The Cetagandans' attention is sufficiently occupied right now, which is good, because now more than ever the Barrayarans need a chance to recoup.

The Star Gate ship breaks orbit, but it's only a matter of time before they'll be pursued. In addition to Micah, both Sonia and Amai are aboard the ship when it lifts off, and later Negri is discovered to have somehow stowed aboard while no one was looking.

Comments

MISSIONS

[barrayarmods]

SECURITY TASK FORCE

[barrayarmods]

DIVERSION

[barrayarmods]

ANTI-AIRCRAFT PROTOCOLS

[barrayarmods]

DESTROY GENE SAMPLES

[barrayarmods]

DESTROY RESEARCH

[barrayarmods]

GRAND THEFT NUCLEAR

[barrayarmods]

RE-ENGAGE FLIGHT MECHANICS

[barrayarmods]

COVER FIRE

[barrayarmods]

NPCS: BARRAYAR

[barrayarmods]

Sonia Vorbarra

[vorbratta]

a. if i were that kind of grateful, what would i try to say?
While everyone's gearing up with rising anticipation, if not excitement, for the upcoming mission, Sonia is looking a little melancholy. She hadn't had many friends before the outsiders arrived – really, it'd just been her sister – and she knew they'd probably all leave someday. And she does want them to go home, if that's what leaving means. She knows they don't belong here. That doesn't mean she isn't any sadder to see them go for it.

She's doing her usual thing around camp – boosting morale however she can, although she seems to be paying much sharper attention to what's being said around camps, conversations between the soldiers, and especially among her own family. There are politics at work that make her uneasy, and she's getting savvier to them these days. But as the 28th draws near, she's far more preoccupied with saying her last goodbyes. She's become deeply attached to many of the outsiders even in the few short months they've been here, and the need for closure is urgent, bordering on desperate. If you haven't come to her to say your goodbyes, she'll almost certainly find you.

b. can't change the start of a hurricane
It isn't until almost the last minute that Sonia decides to do something so spectacularly stupid that even she's able to admit to herself that it's just a little bit of a bad idea, especially after her capture a few months ago. But saying goodbye to her friends now just doesn't feel like enough, and realizing that she'll never get to say goodbye to Miles if she stays behind, and worse, that she won't be able to make him go home, eats away at her steadily. The night before the hijacking, she lies awake for far too long wrestling with the idea.

She waits until it's already well after dark, taking advantage of the distraction of war preparations to steal a Ranger's uniform. She braids her hair and tucks it under the cap, tugging it low and hiding her face behind war paint made of mud across her cheeks. Her height is to her advantage here; while she isn't as tall as most of the soldiers, with a uniform that's just a size too big on her and the darkness obscuring all else she can pass herself off as a man of somewhat below average height -- at least for now, anyway. Sonia isn't a soldier, she doesn't move or think like a soldier, but she's been taking self-defense lessons from Wash and Carolina, and when there are hundreds of soldiers moving out, it's easy enough to slip into the ranks of the assault force on the shipyard. She knows how to use a stunner, but she's smart enough not to put herself in the front lines, hanging back until the second wave moves in.

c. in the grand, i'll go anywhere with you
Sonia knew posing as a soldier wouldn't really be sustainable, but as long as it gets her to the Star Gate ship, that's good enough. It's only a matter of time before somebody figures out the Princess is in the middle of the action, and some of the soldiers try to catch her, usher her away to whatever safety they can provide here or fall back and take her back to camp. But Sonia is famously stubborn, and she makes a beeline for the Star Gate ship as quickly as she can – not only is that her end goal, but she also knows that it's probably the safest place she can be right now. That doesn't mean she isn't at risk the whole time she's out in the open, but she holds tight onto her stunner, even fires off a few shots to get past ghem soldiers.

She's aware it might be a little too much to hope for that her friends won't be mad at her for putting herself in danger, and she's probably going to get a lecture from whoever's on the ship when she gets there – or anyone who shows up after she does. But that doesn't stop her from helping as much as she can from the ship, offering a hand to pull people in to safety if they need it.

Piotr Vorkosigan

[oldvor]

a. in camp
No one is as intent about the preparations than Piotr is. He's striding through the camp, checking in on everything from training drills to armory inspection to horse grooming. This is their second major operation on the Cetagandan base in as many months, and they need to make sure it goes just as well as the last. As usual, he's in no mood for bullshit, but if there's something mission-related you need to talk to him -- or something equally worthwhile -- he'll stop and listen.

He'll be leading one of the front lines of the hijacking, but he won't be joining anyone on the ship, so if you'd like to say your goodbyes to Piotr, now's your chance. He's not exactly a sentimental man, but there are a few outsiders he's come to like and even respect. He'll give them the courtesy of his attention -- there are probably a few people he'd like to say goodbye to himself.

b. the vanguard
Piotr is leading the infiltration team into the base along with Ezar, and he's right on the front lines with his men, fighting the Cetagandans as soon as the alarms sound off. He favors his sword for a while, hacking viciously at men with far deadlier weapons than him, but after a while he takes the nerve disrupter off a dead guard and then things get really serious. He fights like he strategizes: to win, at the cost and exclusion of anything and everything.

Emperor Dorca/Crown Prince Yuri

[madvor]

a. in camp
Yuri and Dorca are seen in Piotr's camp just as frequently as he travels to theirs, in conference in the war tent nearly every day. The Emperor has been motivating his men up with speeches, a man of perhaps surprisingly eloquence, but he hasn't led this war effort for a decade by being clumsy. And Yuri, his chief strategy, is mercilessly running drills, and some of his plans and plays can be overheard with conversations with his officers. If you think Piotr is ruthless, Yuri's tactics are even more brutal.

The Crown Prince and the Emperor both need to train themselves too, of course. Yuri can be found sparring with his men and holding nothing back, or viciously attacking training dummies. Maybe the man has some anger to let out. Just maybe.

b. the vanguard
While Piotr and Ezar lead the infiltration, Dorca and Yuri head the assault on the shipyard perimeter. The perimeter is manned both with heavily armed soldiers and armored groundcars with mounted high-precision plasma cannons, but the Barrayaran front line doesn't even hesitate. Many die in the first wave, but not without sacrifice, and their attacks on the Cetagandan soldiers are nothing short of brutal. Yuri himself fights like a bat out of hell; however you may feel about the man, as a soldier he's viciously effective.

NPCS: CETAGANDA

[barrayarmods]

Micah Niadem

[withanh]

Micah and the extrauniversals (who they have, subconsciously, begun to think of as their extrauniversals) have done a good job of keeping everything on the down low so far, miraculously so, but the good doctor is still antsy as hell. Not that blind wormhole jumping is a totally safe way to make a living, but Survey is a paramilitary organization, not real combatants, and they've never been involved with an operation like this. This is an entirely different level of wormhole wildcatting, and while they've got plenty of tales to tell, trying to steal a ship not intended for actual flight from a heavily fortified military base might take the cake.

They're trying to play it cool, and not entirely successfully, but they've been in a working frenzy for the better part of the last few months they've spent here, so thankfully, nothing really registers as that out of order to the ghem soldiers. By this point Micah's been given a fair amount of autonomy in the labs, which is the only reason they're able to build a few dozen EMP charges and discreetly pass them off with no ghem the wiser. They might also be building a few other things that go boom.

On the night of the hijacking, Micah is helping Kaidan disable the anti-aircraft turrets, but as soon as they're finished with that (and getting past the soldiers that come down on them while the alarms are blaring), they book it for the Star Gate ship so they can get make sure everything's ready to go, running systems checks and preparing for flight. They'll also be helping people get inside ship, offering some cover fire with their stunner.

Amai ghem-Soren

[ghemsweetscent]

Thanks to Lapis and Jasper (and their blackmailing), Amai is in on the Star Gate ship hijacking plan -- perhaps the last person the outsiders might expect to be helping them, and with this risky plan, of all things. But for better or worse (mostly worse, where Amai is concerned), she has to make good on her half of the deal with the two Gems or else she's screwed -- but, she reflects, she's already kind of screwed. Just being involved in this is might constitute treason. But Amai's so deep in a hole she didn't even dig for herself, and she doesn't see any other way out.

Later. She'll figure it out later. She sent word to the Star Crèche already -- hopefully without it being intercepted by Haut Sei -- and Jasper and Lapis said they'd take care of the rest…whatever that means. Amai hasn't bothered to ask; she just knows they're very, very invested in stopping the Jackson's Whole deal. Right now, she's more concerned with keeping her secrets and her current position intact -- and keeping her head on her shoulders, both literally and figuratively. It doesn't help that she's still struggling to cope with Diya's death, because as much as she'd been prepared to distance herself professionally from Diya, she had never quite been ready to turn on her, either…and she doesn't know if she entirely believes all of the assassination story. There's just something about it that doesn't sit right with her.

On the night of the hijacking, before the plan goes into action, Amai covertly sets up access to the Grow Labs and Gene Lab Sigma so that the exotics can get in when it's time, and when the alarms go off she's still in Gene Lab Mu down the hall, frantically destroying all the evidence of her and Diya's illicit ba experiments -- starting with any records that might remain, and then, with great chagrin, by dumping every sample into the incinerator, and even destroying the uterine replicators they'd used. She manages to slip through the chaos for a little while before she's stopped, and the soldiers get suspicious -- but Amai, unarmed, just runs for the Star Gate in a panic, taking a bad plasma burn on her arm in flight. But she makes it to the ship in one piece, perhaps to the bafflement of the others on the ship, because until now, Amai ghem-Soren hasn't exactly been their ally.

Haut Sei Navarr - 6/28

[genaesthetics]

Haut Sei is beginning to get suspicious.

No, she has already been suspicious for some time, but maneuvering in this place, surrounded by all these ghem, it's tricky. She actually finds herself missing Diya, as much as she's convinced herself that the culled haut's death was necessary. There had been nothing but friction and Diya's tiresome broken heart, but she'd been haut all the same.

Her coms aren't all going through. Some of them -- but not all. More than one message to her contacts in House Bharaputra has bounced back or gone without reply, and with the communication delay between the Ninth Satrapy and Jackson's Whole, it's a whole lot of wasted time. She's frustrated and suspicious, and with Diya dead she assumes it must be her little protégé ghem-Soren. She must have seen more than Sei guessed; it seems increasingly unlikely that Diya had shared the information with anyone else before her death. She'll have to deal with the problem of ghem-Soren sooner rather than later, it seems...

But more immediately, she needs to deal with the problem with her coms. Someone -- probably ghem-Soren -- is interfering, and she can't let this deal with Baron Bharaputra fall through. If for nothing else, then the sheer loss of face it would cause. So this evening Sei is in one of the non-restricted gene labs on one of the comconsoles, apparently operating it remotely from her float chair, because she's still encased in her force bubble.

Lavernius Tucker | Barrayar

[lovernotafighter]

Tucker listened to the speech with everyone else, felt the energy around him, the hope. His own excitement over going home, over the chance of seeing the Reds and Blues, helping them, over the possibility of surviving it and seeing his son overwhelmed him, and he couldn’t wait. Charon was his battle, that was his war, that was where his heart was, even if he had learned to care about this one. And sure, now he would have to face the emptiness of not having Epsilon anymore, there was still so much to look forward to.

And one thing not to.

Tucker was shit at goodbyes with anyone; he didn’t like being abandoned, feared it, but he secretly expected it. Being on the other side of the coin was infinitely harder, not matter how not-sudden it was. He had made friends here, good friends, important not-friends-but-something-more-and-way-better, and he didn’t want to let it go.

But he had to. Had to and they knew it.

So Tucker tried to do everything before he left: go down to the village for a final meat bun and a game of kicking the ball with the kids, a totally naked skinny dip trip at the creek (come on, you know you want to see allll that), a campfire drunken singalong with a bunch of tracks none of these locals knew. He smiled even when it didn’t reach his eyes.

Something felt off. Wrong. Looming like a storm, but he just chalked it up to having to say goodbye.

Come and see him before he goes off to his mission. Surely, it’s going to be fine, totally, totally fine.

CETA SIDE if that is okay

[dendarii]

Miles encounters him as the chaos is going down, having grabbed a gun and started helping with the cover fire. God, he must really be hard up (bow chicka) if he's glad to see Tucker. But glad he is, and fond besides. He missed this guy while he was trapped on the Cetagandan base.

"Ready to give 'em hell?" he says with a grin. "I am. Could do with some nice, healthy payback.

[protocol]

Things between him and Tucker have been a little tense as of late, but for everything he's told him Tucker still talks to him and still listens to him and, well. Wash still isn't sure if he really deserves that. He's quite sure he doesn't, actually, but bringing it up again is only going to be worse for theas harm both when there's so much to do with the upcoming mission. He's going to have some whole new ways to disappoint him and remind him how much better off he'll be without him ( Tucker, I'm not sure if any of us are going back home with you ), but that'll be. Later.

Right now, the focus is on making sure Tucker is going to get on that damn ship. On making sure he's going home.

Which means, of course. Training. Wash is pushing him as hard as he always did, and he's always beside him, too. All the laps he demands Tucker to run, he runs with him, making damn sure he keeps pace the whole time, every pushup, every exercise, every drill. Wash himself keeps falling back to his knives because that's what he knows best, but he forces himself to practice with the rapier, too, has Tucker spar with him. They've been at it for a while, now, before Wash finally, finally calls for a stop.

"That's enough for now." Wiping the sweat from his brow. Taking out the waterskin he carries around, taking a good long drink. "We can finish off the day with a few more laps after you rest up some."

[vorbratta]

That's right. Everything is going to be fine.

That's what Sonia's been telling herself. She's used to feeling helpless in war, but she's never felt so powerless as when it comes to her friends -- her friends -- going on a dangerous mission in an effort to go home. She has to believe it'll work, that this will go at least as well as the last attack, or else she'll worry herself half to death. She just wishes she could be there.

She isn't in love with Tucker. She's certain she knows the difference. But she cares for him, a lot, and he's good to her, and saying goodbye to him won't be easy. It'll be hard. But not saying goodbye...God, that would be so much worse. She doesn't broach the topic until a few days before they're all supposed to leave on this big attack, finding him down by the creek south of camp close to sunset. She's barefoot in the summer heat, dressed in only a light dress, hands clasped behind her back as she meanders toward him.

"Tucker?"

washington | barrayar & ALSO SPAAAAAAAACE

[protocol]

i - and the future hangs over our heads | weapons cache

[ The one benefit of his little solitary adventure earlier in the month is that it'd allowed him to reaffirm the memories of the area closer to the Cetagandan base in his memory, and he knows surrounding terrain well enough that making use of it to get to the patrols comes -- easily enough. Maybe it's because he's trying not to let the latent anger still boiling inside him overtake him, but things aren't nearly as clean for him whenever he engages a patrol this time. He manages decently well, strips the patrol of what they have and bring them back to the designated cache. Stays there for a moment, looking over what they have, updating the rolling tally he has in his head.

They're running out of time. This won't be enough. With the pattern of patrols out here it's going to be too risky for him and anyone else with him to stay out here much longer today, and there aren't many days left. He shakes his head, straightening slightly, still knelt on one knee in the dirt, just staring at what they've managed to gather. ]

Shit.

[ Just muttering under his breath. This won't do. This isn't enough. ]

ii - it only feels worse when i stay in one place | pre-mission

[ Days leading up to an op are always tense. This is -- worse than usual.

Maine's loss is still sharp and fresh in his mind. Worry about Miles hasn't eased at all, especially since after circling the drain on telling something or the other to the general about who he really is, he's mostly decided that saying nothing is still the better choice. He still has to do something, knows the base well enough to cut a detour to the cells, but he'd be abandoning his post, though Tucker could cover for him, but. And there's just the mission in general, so many moving parts, so many points of failure, so many things that could go wrong and so little they can control. The odds feel stacked against them, still, and.

Then there's going home. There's talking to Tucker. There's the looming specter of a choice to make, but it's so much easier to just focus on the mission, instead. As always, rest is something Wash clearly needs, the fatigue is clear in his eyes -- but nowhere else. He's intent on his training, either with his knives or with his rapier, more likely with the former than the latter, and whoever comes by and lingers for even a while, he's likely to challenge to a spar.

Keep busy, keep thoughts from straying -- and be ready. There's only so many days left. ]

iii - i know 'im leaving but i don't know where to | post-hijacking

[ Wash is on the ship. Tucker isn't. Lakshmi isn't. Maine isn't.

He isn't entirely unscathed, mostly out of carelessness, recklessness born out of anger and grief and it could've been a hell lot worse -- a plasma burn against his right thigh. The bolt hadn't actually hit him, but plasma's intense enough to burn even on a close graze, and it mostly hurts like hell. But pain is fine, pain is something Wash can handle, is almost a welcome distraction, even, from everything else buzzing in his head. He's talked to Sonia as much as he could, but god, the look on her face. It hurts, but he can't talk to her about this. Not now. He's not the right person to talk to her about this. Someone else can do it, there has to be someone else.

Raw determination and adrenaline is mostly what keeps him upright when he staggers onto the ship, or maybe someone helps him limp on -- but once everything finally settles, that's when the pain really hits, both from the burn and from the grief twisting around his lungs in his chest, just as sharp and just as real. He finds as quiet of a corner as he can on the ship and just -- collapses against the wall, sliding down against it until he's little more than a crumpled heap, knees tucked against his chest. One hand clutched over one knee, his knuckles bleached from how tightly he's gripping it. He looks like a fucking mess, like he's struggling to even breathe, tipping his head back against the wall.

There's a chain dangling from his other hand propped up over his other knee. Another set of tags to match the ones around his neck. Too much, too quickly, too soon. He closes his eyes and tries to breathe and sees nothing but Tucker falling in a hail of plasma fire. Tucker had saved him. Tucker had fucking saved him -- that idiot, that goddamned idiot, why is it always someone else, why is it never him. ]

iv - wildcard;

[ Wash will in general be in various states of distress before the mission and in one very extreme state of distress after it. Feel free to run into him at any time, though he's probably going to be kind of snappy with you in the latter depending on who you are. ]

iv

[dendarii]

[ Mercifully for all involved, Miles is not actually locked up when Wash comes to find him. The Cetagandans somehow decided he'd be less of a maddening thorn in their side if he was allowed to wander, so wander he has. The catch is that, as soon as things start to blow up, the guards go for him to lock him down - and dammit, he's not quick enough to get away from them before they can.

And then he sees Wash, his hero, god bless you Wash for showing up right at the best moment possible. Struggling against his captors, Miles nonetheless manages an ecstatic-- ]

Wash!

Lapis Lazuli | Ceta Base + Riverfall

[mirrortide]

[Backdated to Riverfall for Byerly]

Lapis doesn't actually think she'll be able to spot Byerly hanging out in Riverfall, let alone manage to get close enough to him without arousing any sort of suspicion. Somehow, however, she does. Enough to get his attention a little, and it's easy to play off herself getting closer and closer to him with quick flashes and shows of power, watering crops....

And wrapping a tendril of water up and around his leg, and yanking him towards a less open and obvious area. Sorry, not sorry Byerly.

Lapis follows soon after. "I've got a message from someone for you."

[General, any time after therapy but before Shit Goes Down]

It doesn't take very long for Lapis to realize she now has the power of flight back. It takes even less time for her to actively put those flowers into use, shooting off into the sky above the Cetagandan base and doing some pretty serious aerial acrobatics.

She also has no problems with divebombing anyone who happens to be below her at the time, pushing their head down with what is probably the happiest noises Lapis has made since ending up on this backwater planet.

She probably flies between the base and Riverfall a few times too, testing out her wings. Granted, she does have to take a break due to the migraines when they flare up, but right now it's a minor inconvenience.

[stompadour]

Jasper proves to be a poor choice for divebombing, because her instinctive reaction is to just grab Lapis by the arm and yank her down.

"– Lapis...?" She stares at her. She hasn't let go of her yet. "You can fly–?"

lakshmi bai | ota | cw: death

[shri]

I. You were burned ( OUTSIDER'S TENT )

[ The morning of - she isn't any different to any other day. Isn't out of turn to anything else, and if she has any idea that anything that might be coming for her, she takes in only as she always does. The Blackwater didn't grant immortality, only eternal life. Death held her just the same as it did any other. I need you to continue the cause should something happen to me. How Devi denied it, but she knew it to be true.

After all, she had died once already. If there is any truth to her own legends, she suspects it's only in that she has ever been too stubborn to know when to stop.

But that morning, she does stop, in the fire in the middle of the tent that has kept them warm all winter. To die in battle, she was told, once and much smaller, ensures that the life will pass on, but that she should go to it in fullness of herself and her cause. So she does that, dressing purposefully. So close together in this tent, now, she doesn't bother who watches her and who doesn't, no more than cares what others do. Her leg braces, arm braces, the scarf she ties to her middle, the belt that covers. Last is her hair, brush out, the gold settled into it, and - there, now, from the beginning to the end.

All days like they are the first, all days like they are the last. They are, after all, just one life.

The mark on her forehead tattooed in, that dark stain from a lifetime ago, but now she picks up the knife from where she left it at her side, picks it up, and dances the tip of the bare blade against the pad of her littlest finger. The prayers come then, by the fireside, burned out - but embers hot still, and they fuel the sound of the words in her mouth - to Durga, to Lakshmi, to Ganesha and Krishna in syllabic chant.

( Did Satya say them, still? )

Twist of red in all that black. Watching it's brightness reflected in the flat shined silver of steel. Promises the blade it's purpose made whole in her hands and presses it hard into her skin.

Blood wells, bright and red and holy from underneath it, and she lets it blot there like ink for a moment more. ]

II. you were about to burn ( FIRE FIGHT )

[ She had spoken truth - when she had told Nash that she found herself at utter purpose in the midst of a fight. C True as it had been when she was eighteen, blood stained and voice stolen in the effort of screaming over guns - so too it is now, years past the time she should have died in a kind of fight that was far different. Some things, at least, never changed.

Sword in one hand and once they're caught, the Cetagandans on them, she takes a certain kind of satisfaction - a quiet that comes from nothing else as she pivots on her heel to slash the man lining up his sights on her from one side of the neck to the other. Pitiable fool, he didn't know how to protect his weak spots even with armour. The next thing she does is yank the Plasma Arc weapon - whatever they were called and hardly did she know otherwise, except what she was told. That it wouldn't be any good in camp - but they weren't in camp, they were here, in Cetaganda's base, so what were they even going to track?

But no good in her hands. Instead, she throws it to the person nearest to her who she hopes has a better damn idea about how to use it than she does. ]

Cover me!

[ It's shouted, and think quick, she isn't slowing down even slightly. Trust is earned only one way in battlefields after all. But her plan is simple. Ahead is a group of guards that are taking cover behind barrels. She wants them distracted from the front as long as possible. ]

III. you’re still on fire ( DEATH )

[ It isn't very strange to taste blood in her mouth, anymore. After all, what was the blackwater but made of that same thing. Thick as it was dark, life-giving even as it took its price. No, nothing to notice, when she feels it bubbles in her mouth, her nose, trickling and choking life a footnote to some greater cause. A first and last thing to notice and her only thought of it is familarity of beginnings that follow endings. The greenest fields were the ones washed this way. Come, Kali, make life again.

Which is, she doesn't feel the hit, the plasma fire that scorches nearby, but not her exactly. She has said it, thought it often enough. What is dying to her but something she must do over and over again. She doesn't feel it anymore or any less than any of the other deaths that came before it. It doesn't have to be special, fool's thought death would be special. Enough heat, enough fire, a throwback from the explosion it causes that sends her reeling. All things are paid - blood for blood - and was this not what it took to kill Sir Perceval. Was it not the same for Sir Bors, gone in the canons of the British on the walls of Jhansi.

Fitting then, like a closing page on a very long book. All ripped air and shards of metal. Fire that scorches her, the explosion that is loud and makes the air so quiet afterwards that as she stumbles, reeling, onto her knees and the sword she now used to dig into the ground, to hold her up now. A sitting target, when the nerve disruptor hits right shoulder, the feeling going from it immediately, but her hold so tight that the nerves clutch to the weapon even as she sways. Ah, is the mild thought, that's why her hip feels strange. What an odd weapon. Would it work on a Lycan? She should take one with her. Give it to Tesla - he will look so pleased, with a new toy, and Devi would tell her she was bleeding too - of course she is - that piece of metal in her leg wasn't so polished grey anymore, it ran rivlets. But it was set in very deeply and she would - need to pull that out, wouldn't she?

She needs as one half-formed thought follows, half there, half gone already, she curls her still usable hand around that metal, stuck out of her abdomen - how polite, that had already made sure she couldn't feel much as she did it - and takes hold of the metal that adorns her now better than diamonds ever did. It was important, she must not get scars, Manu, it is not fitting for a Queen to be scarred. Hush, Kashi, she tells that minds eye, or maybe says outloud, hush Kashi, it is more unfitting to be Queen rendered like this, and with a growled hiss of pain and last remaining effort, she pulls it out of her own flesh.

Then she topples, bleeding out, knees, to hand. Dimmed like forging coals, she hits the ground. ]

CLOSED TO MILES

[shri]

You can sleep now, you said. ( REUNION )

[ She only really has one other purpose here, - the one she has asked Piotr for when he had first been captured and pursues now. Kicking down every door in the path that she remembers towards the cells that she had escaped from, as weak as she had been, half hanging onto life it is still remembered. Now - now making her way through it, she takes that - that life - like it was her right. So that by the time she does find him, she blood splattered, a sword in each hand, and breathing ragged, wretched and bright. Hair half unravelled, she doesn't think she can feel the skin on the outside of her leg. Someone in short range had clipped her jaw and slashed the upside of her chin.

But nor did she even have words for what she sets her eyes on him - alive and whole. Better than her fireside imaginings where she had seen him clear as glass, dull-eyed and all that brightness snatched from her.

They don't have much time, but it settles an impossible lump in her throat. For now, it's quiet - only because she's made it quiet, and enough people are distracted in the chaos of alarms blaring and the Barrayarans making their presence known otherwise. But it's all she can do right then to swallow down, trying to form the sound of his names as more than a croak out of the smoke in her mouth. ]