barrayarmods: (Default)
For Barrayar mods ([personal profile] barrayarmods) wrote in [community profile] forbarrayar2016-12-20 10:13 am

[ january i log: cetaganda ]

Who: Everyone
What: Arrival on Barrayar and what follows
When: January 2nd - January 17th
Where: Cetagandan base
Warnings: None (at the moment)


welcome to barrayar.
It's the dark of night when you come to beyond the foothills. Snow on the ground, chill winter wind whistling. A steep mountain range towers overhead, its peaks illuminated by the light of two moons, and the foothills behind you ascend quickly into rocky mountain faces. Whatever you last remember, it isn't how you got here, and you feel oddly jetlagged, slightly queasy.

And you're not alone. There are nine other people close by, all looking equally lost and confused. But before any of you have a chance to figure out what's going on, the soldiers arrive.

They're fitted with what look like futuristic tactical vests and armed with some kind of energy weapons that look deadlier than not. They surround you at gunpoint, dealing orders in intelligible English, but with some obscure, unplaceable accent, and their faces are colored with vivid paint. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that you are not the people they at first assumed -- something about Barrayarans, the barbarians in the mountains. The one who seems to be in charge steps away to murmur into what looks like a wristwatch-like communicator. After a minute or two of inaudible conversation, the officer steps back in. He orders his men to escort you all back to their base. As long as you cooperate, that's all that will happen.


the base
You are taken back to a military base of considerable scale and some serious fortification. There are two rounds of guard checks to go through, both taking what must be a lot longer than usual, and it's cold out. You are ushered past the guard checks into what looks like a barracks building, but relegated to a bunk on one end. They seem to have cleared the immediate area, with guards posted at the door, but there's audible activity beyond the short hallway in front of the door. They make it clear you are not under arrest, that you are merely being detained until they have ascertained the situation -- the word quarantine is used, but it doesn't seem to be of a medical sort. Either way, the only people who come to the bunk are those cleared by the guards, and they all seem much more interested than hostile.

They answer your questions with the very basic facts: the people who hold custody of you are the military service of the Cetagandan Empire, and the planet you are on is their Ninth Satrapy, and they're currently at odds with some of the native population. They won't say it outright, but it's clear they have no clue how you came to be here or why, but it's clearly of great interest to them. For the most part, the Cetagandan soldiers are civil, if at times distant and aloof, but if you look a little less -- or more -- than human, they'll eye you with visible curiosity, perhaps even some kind of appreciation.

At daylight, a few women in lab coats and the same face-paint as the soldiers come to the room to escort you across the base to the nearby medbay, two or three at a time. The medbay is an intimidatingly sterile and state-of-the-art facility, all gleaming chrome and polished glass and crisp holo displays. You are taken in one at a time for a physical examination -- they have to make sure you haven't brought any foreign contagions into their base, after all -- but the military physician isn't the only base personnel in the exam room. You hear the word exotic tossed around a few times until they realized they're talking about you. They call you the exotics.


the exotics room
For a military bunk, it's in surprisingly tasteful design. The room sleeps a dozen soldiers, so you even have a little bit of room to yourself, and while the furnishings are relatively spartan, they're hardly uncomfortable. If you're in need of clothing, the soldiers will bring you base fatigues – no rank insignia, of course, but the make of the textile is surprisingly fine.

You're served food at mealtimes, a combination of shelf-stable meal rations and what seems to be fresh food, all prepared with unusual artistry for a military base. There's a sophistication to the preparation that seems more like it belongs in a four-star restaurant than a military base. If you have any special medical needs, they'll do their best to attend to them -- and their medicine seems impressively advanced.

Soldiers and scientists alike come to the room every so often to ask you questions, more like interviews than interrogations, but behind the civility there's a burning intellectual curiosity. They seem intent on knowing as much as you'll tell them, and then some.

The nearest bathroom is at the end of the hall, and while they seem to have cleared the area of all other personnel, showers and baths are scheduled, and any trips to the restroom are chaperoned. The guards, while not hostile, are certainly not interested in letting you escape. You could try sneaking past them, but you probably won't get far.

Well, at least you've got each other for company: the exotics on the Ninth Satrapy.
mirrortide: (028)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-08 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
"What sort of context?" Obviously Lapis wants to know what she's signing up for, but she's also... Frightened, upset. She's not exactly moving back towards the table, if that's what Diya wants her to do. She'll have to use her words for that.
eugengineer: PB: Ming-Na Wen (pic#10678197)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-10 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Diya holds out a hand, ostensibly mollifying. She wonders what it must be like, to wake up and have one's very being be so substantially changed. Could she bear it with any grace? She would no longer be haut. Then again, by some definitions...

"That which only you could provide. We don't know anything about Gems. We don't necessarily know we'll be able to derive useful conclusions from the data alone. You know what Gems are capable of, what they are. If any of that remains in your genetic structure, you could very well be the one to help us isolate it."
mirrortide: (097)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-10 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
"How? I'm not- I'm not a Kindergartner. I don't know more than the basics, it wasn't my job." Peridot could have provided a lot more useful things to these people than Lapis could ever. "I can answer what I can, but I don't know how useful any of it will be."
eugengineer: (pic#10725601)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-11 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Diya smiles at her again, this time almost maternally. She doesn't touch Lapis, but the way she turns her palm out is akin to a touch to the shoulder.

"You would still be doing us a great service." Diya blinks slowly at Lapis. "Perhaps you could start by explaining to me what a 'Kindergartner' is among the Gems."
mirrortide: (065)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-11 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"They're the ones who oversee Gem production. Peridots sometimes oversee it." It's an answer at the very least? Lapis is trying here. "I don't know anything about actual Gem production though."
eugengineer: (pic#10725602)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-13 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Diya's eyes light up in some new interest. "And what sort of thing would a Lapis Lazuli oversee?"
mirrortide: (095)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-13 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Lapis rubs her arm nervously. The sensation is strange in an organic body; it feels off. "I can control liquids. Water, mainly." Which isn't quite what Diya asked, but she's avoiding the subject a little. "I can also project anything i've seen onto a surface."
Edited 2017-01-14 04:45 (UTC)
eugengineer: (pic#10725599)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-15 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"By what force?" Diya knows an evasion when she sees one, and she knows better than to press. Feint and parry with every utterance; but still, her eyes betray her curiosity. "Surely there must be some anti-gravitational component to it, although -- are you born with these abilities? Or, shall I say, produced?"
mirrortide: (012)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-15 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's magic. And yes, we're made with these abilities. Every Gem is made for something in particular." And as far as Lapis is aware, there's no Gem without a job designation.
eugengineer: (pic#10725600)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-21 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Magic." She sounds the word out contemplatively. Her eyes glint. "So your form defines your function, then? Or perhaps the other way around."
mirrortide: (030)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-21 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Not really; we can shape-shift if we need to. Or want too, in some cases." Looking at you, Amethyst. "Our Gem type defines what our functions are."
eugengineer: (pic#10725602)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-22 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
"A form in and of itself. And what," Diya asks, fingers lightly tented, "determines your Gem type?"
mirrortide: (012)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-22 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Where we're made. Some planets are better at producing certain types of Gems. It's probably more complicated than that, but that wasn't my business to know." And she doesn't really see how this information is relevant to turning her back into a Gem, but she hopes it is.
eugengineer: (pic#10725608)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-22 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, this is a fascinating topic. Less physical, more interview now, but Diya's small glow of a smile doesn't relent. "It must take an empire's worth of planets, then, for the propagation of your kind."
mirrortide: (009)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-22 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Something like that. We were conquering planets when your species was still evolving, before you could even dream of space travel we'd already made millions of colonies." And wiped out countless forms of organic life doing so. But that didn't matter. Not to the Great Diamond Authority.
eugengineer: (pic#10725608)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-23 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, there's a world of fascination to be unpacked there, surely -- but Diya is only truly concerned with parts of it. Parts that Lapis, frustratingly enough, seems to lack. She ignores the underlying condescension toward humans. "All to spread your kind, I'm sure. Your influence. You must have some extraordinary leadership."
mirrortide: (011)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-23 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course. The Great Diamond Authority. Each Gem has their specific purpose, but each Gem is also made for a specific Diamond." And she had been made for Blue Diamond. "Everything we do is for them." Or, did. Lapis is a traitor to Homeworld, even if she'd rather not be. Not part of the Crystal Gems, not affiliated with Homeworld.

Lapis still misses it back on Homeworld, even if Earth is her new home.
eugengineer: (pic#10725600)

[personal profile] eugengineer 2017-01-23 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"An honorable service." Interesting tales, but none that get her any closer to her goal. Diya gestures smoothly with one hand. "If you'll submit to the rest of the scans, you will be free to go. A mere matter of minutes."
mirrortide: (007)

[personal profile] mirrortide 2017-01-23 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"I.. Sure, I guess." Not that she wants to, but she will. Anything to get her closer to being turned back into a Gem again.