¶ Jirael and McKenzie have Tea
Characters: Jirael, Fleet Admiral Alastair McKenzie, Lieutenant Commander Christian Booth (Sooni plant), Captain Nicholas Hayes
- Jirael and McKenzie make small talk.
- Jirael sees a lot of herself in McKenzie, rating him as a deadly predator.
- She clearly has a strong appreciation of and attraction to him.
- We find out the Terrans have moved to terrorist tactics, focusing on killing as many civilians as possible, even at the loss of their own people.
- Such suicide runs were unheard of in modern warfare, so as a weapon of fear it was proving very effective.
- Jirael makes a pass at McKenzie, if he'll tell her who his tea supplier is, and he doesn't rise to the bait.
- McKenzie redirects the conversation to the real reason she's here, after expressing concern for her and Kashk
- Jirael assures him they're fine, now, and repairing their rift.
- The real reason for her visit is to get information on the Sooni.
- McKenzie reveals his wife was Sooni.
- She was the leader of a resistance force among her people, that do not follow their Doctrine.
- She died to protect the rest of the resistance, and he feels he is steward of her secrets.
- Jirael realizes that what she'd been true was near enough the truth, just very vague.
- McKenzie says that Kashk knows more than most, but had never tried to pry.
- It's only Kashk who David and Glyse can talk to about their mother, outside of McKenzie. He deeply regrets this.
- Jirael says she wants to know her enemy.
- “I want to know my enemy, McKenzie. I want to know how they think, what drives them, what haunts their dreams. I plan to destroy them, but to do that, I need to know them as you know them.”
- McKenzie says it's impossible. "You can’t destroy them, and even knowing them on the same level I do is impossible without living my life. [...] There is not much you can do when the Sooni decide they want you dead; they are too powerful a foe.”
- Jirael says that she believes he could take down the Terrans, the NorAellians, and even her people, if he wanted to. There is no foe too strong for him, or perhaps he isn't the man she thought he was.
- "“No Jirael. As lavishly as you praise my skill, I am just a man. A simple human being with just enough knowledge and skill at using it to stay one step ahead of most of my fellows. That’s it."
- McKenzie tells her they're a foe that are simply too good, and too powerful to be destroyed. At least not with how things are right now.
- Jirael corrects herself. While yes, she intends to make them pay for their crimes eventually, she'll settle for just bloody for the time being.
- McKenzie hasys he can do bloody.
- Jirael agrees
- Lieutenant Commander Christian Booth interrupts.
- A chime at the door stops the conversation
- Christian enters and Jirael is annoyed at his nonchalaunt air.
- McKenzie appologizes for having him work on a weekend.
- There's some light banter, and flirting with Jirael.
- She notices a strange sent about him that bothers her, deeply.
- Christian attacks
- Christian went for Jirael first, clearly seeing her as an easier target and a good distraction.
- Jirael smelled the use of Focus before she saw it, and was already prepared to defend a blow before it came.
- They trade blows, but Jirael's skill and experience sparring with a NorAellian stands her in fair stead, and she can hold her own, only getting a cracked rib in the exchange.
- McKenzie counters, flipping the desk
- Jirael smells the 'wrongness' coming off both of them, now.
- The fight continues.
- McKenzie and Jirael are hard pressed against this foe.
- They both are amazing fighters; McKenzie matching the strength and speed of a NorAellian and Lyndri combined, while Jirael is a master of tactical analysis, maximizing her blows to keep their enemy distracted.
- Regardless, it's a difficul fight to imagine winning.
- Suddenly, there's an opening
- Jirael takes it, plunging her eager claws into the man's midsection.
- It takes a second for her to register that someone had just shot off his arm at the same time she gutted him.
- Hayes is in the doorway, having taken the shot.
- Christian is defeated, though not dead
- Hayes keeps his gun trained on Christian, while McKenzie takes care of Jirael.
- We find out firefights are taking place all over the station.
- Hayes had just read a report about a mass killing of Terran nobles, and when fighting broke out, he had a hunch.
- Jirael is in rough shape, but she'll life. McKenzie asks her how she dodged the blow.
- She explains he smelled 'wrong'. And so did McKenzie.
- He explains it was "focus", a solidification of willpower into a tangible force.
- They interrogate Christian
- McKenzie asks what the council is up to; murdering humans is against Doctrine.
- Here we see the Zealot viewpoint; that some humans can die as long as humanity itself is preserved
- And in this case, they're keeping humans from killing themselves, so it's justified.
- McKenzie isn't impressed, and Hayes is shaken; Christian dated his daughter, and the two went drinking before.
- McKenzie tells Hayes to kill him, and Christian taunts McKenzie saying he is not afraid to die.
- More back and forth before Christian strikes a nerve, and McKenzie lets loose his power, lifting the man up with ease and telling him in no uncertaint terms he will win.
- Hayes kills the man, and McKenzie helps Jirael up.
- As they leave, Jirael realizes McKenzie has kinda snapped, and is far more dangerous than he ever was before.
¶ David and Glyse Have a Chat
Characters: Captain David McKenzie, First Lieutenant Glyse McKenzie, Rekonin
- David is looking for his sister
- He checks a few places, but is worried if he checks the pilot baracks, one of his people will pull him into something.
- There's another way to check; just ask the ship.
- Here we see he's clearly uncomfortable with AIs. The idea is just plain unsettling to him.
- He asks, and she opens up a console nearby so he's not talking to the wall.
- Embarassed, he's even more thrown off when he notices how good she looks in her modified uniform.
- He asks her where his sister is, and he finds out she took a phone call in his room.
- The even more odd thing is, she asked Rekonin not to inform him until after the call was over.
- Rekonin also tells him Mir wanted his people on alert; there's been a huge drop in Terran communication in the last 12 hours.
- David finds all of this worrying, so he goes to meet with his sister.
- David and Glyse compare notes
- Glyse doesn't seem forthcoming, so he lays his truth bomb on her. Prometheus has gone silent, and it wasn't scheduled to move any time soon.
- David also relays the news about the Terrans.
- This is enough to push Glyse to give up her news. Her Uncle called her; he's been the go between for her and their mom's group of rebels, the Heretics.
- David is pissed; they had an agreement she wouldn't get involved.
- Even McKenzie is trying to keep her out of it.
- The Zealots now control the council, and they're removing the Heritics, and halfbreeds, like David
- David gets a little emo, pointing out that he's different, even if he pretends to be human.
- We learn that David views this as a gift, somethign he wears with pride.
- However, the Zealots (and even the Heritics) view him as an Abomination.
- Glyse hates that her people won't even acknowledge him.
- David points out they need to tell the Captain
- We learn Glyse things her dad and Mir are an item; and that's the only reason she got the promotion.
- There's a lot of bitterness here, and it smacks of a storied past.
- We also learn that Glyse helped Rekonin pick her outfit, and David's being a bit sexist.
- David points out she's being sexist, and that Mir's a damned skilled captain.
- Glyse insults Mir again, and David has enough.
- He orders to to get the squadron in the training simulators, while he informs he captain about her little chat.
- They share a laugh, and he realizes things are about to go very badly, very quickly.
Characters: Sean Krimm, Selene, Unnamed Grey
- Sean is getting a report from a Grey who clearly is disrespecting him
- The Grey is speaking in broken english, just to be a dick.
- We get a description of what a Grey looks like.
- Selene is itching to kill this one.
- The report is about what happened to the "enemy" from the attack on the Terran Colony that Rekonin stopped.
- "Crew all dead. Ship dead. No data without brain, so secure. Didn’t want to send in more forces for dead. Strange ship collected all debris and towed ship corpse. Did not follow."
- Selene can sense Sean is about to kill this fool.
- Sean asks why another ship wasn't sent in when this 'strange ship' showed up.
- The Grey did not take his orders seriously, so they hadn't cared about success.
- They also, clearly, didn't think anything could harm them.
- Sean insults them, and asks if they've had the independence bred out of them.
- Sean strips the Grey of it's rank, dismisses it, and it attacks him.
- He easily pins it the the ground, using Focus to hold it on the ground.
- We learn why Selene is special; she can see the threads of willpower, and Focus as if they were tangible things.
- In fact, this is a form of synesthesia; there's nothing to actually there; willpower is sensed and felt differently than sight.
- However, there is a rare genetic mutation that allows some to experience willpower through another sense, like smell, taste, sound, or sight.
- In this case, Selene sees it.
- Kashk and Jirael smell it, though in a more weakened form than Selene.
- Selene was recruited for her gifts, and she even thinks she can see the "threads" of the Overseer's will.
- Sean uses this poor wretch as an example
- He addresses the other Grey that are watching; explaining he understands them far better than they think.
- He knows that they can speak all human language fluently.
- He knows about their genetic memory, and that ritual canibalism is how they share skills and knowledge quickly.
- He then explains that he worked out that the consumption of the dead is a sign of honor; it means they live forever in the race's genetic memory.
- This, in turn, means not collecting their dead from the fight meant they viewed those Grey as having dishonored themselves by following Sean's orders.
- An Elder comes forward, and in perfect English, asks to be allowed to punish the offender in their own ways.
- Sean says the Elder has wisdom, but a lesson must still be learned.
- He orders the Elder to stand witness.
- Sean releases the offender, and fights him.
- Immeditarely, the offender goes back to attacking.
- Sean stops using focus obviously, and is primarily usong physical prowess.
- Selene can see Sean's will wrapping around all the Grey gathered there.
- The fight continues, with Sean keeping the upper hand.
- As they fight, the Grey is a howling animal, all the while Sean calmly converses with the Elder.
- Even when he's wounded and bleeding, he continues to talk at an unnaturally even tone.
- Sean points out he's a Sooni pawn, like them, but he sees no reason to remain so.
- He asks why the Sooni, and not the Grey rule?
- The Elder does not know, but is very interested in what Sean's saying.
- Sean brings up their old religion.
- "It was a religion of pain, my lord. It was believed that the universe was a sentient being, and to understand itself, it split into smaller sentients. And those beings had to understand themselves. But the only way to do so was through pain. Happiness, joy, ecstasy, they were always mingled with pain. Birth and death were unified by pain. Existence was, by its nature, painful. Therefore, it was believed, one could fulfill the universe’s duty only by spreading pain and death. Pain to aid in understanding, and death to return to the universe."
- Sean asks if the Elder still believes that religion.
- The Elder says he does. There are gasps around the room.
- Sean says good, as he's bringing that religion back.
- He rips off the creature's jaw, and tosses it to the Elder, commanding him to strip it of flesh.
- He commands them to eat his opponent alive, and is informed that is a forbidden, but sacred tradition.
- Sean informs them that, from now on, they server him, not the Sooni.
- Sean commands them to call him 'Overseer' in a mockery of the Sooni faith
- The elder agrees; they are eating his performance up.
- Sean informs them that he will lead the Grey back to the path of righteousness, and through him, the universe will know itself.
- He commands them to consume their fellow, and learn of his strength and power.
- They descend on the wounded Grey in a fury, and they consume him in the most painful way they can, being sure not to kill him for as long as possible.
- Sean has Selene follow him inot the hall.
- She wants to fuck him, and he dismisses the idea.
- Sean tells her that Mir lived, and Selene doesn't believe it, because the Sooni themselves checked.
- Sean informed her that they were wrong, but he intends on correcting that little oversight.
- Selene asks to be sent, she wants to punish the bitch.
- Sean counters with wanting her unspoiled, because he is going to take her, as she watches everything she loves burn.
- Selene tells him that as long as he leaves Earth alone, he can do what he wants to the rest of humanity.
- Sean informs her that he finds the Sooni useful, for now, but he will discard them as he sees fit.
- She struggles against him, but sees his will thrading into the will of the Overseers, and realizes that she loves him, and will end up dying because of it.
Characters: General Stephen Harper
- Harper has killed the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- He murdered the guards, and the Joint Chiefs easily.
- One of joint Chiefs, Sarkozy got away, but he was heavily wounded.
- Harper things he sees Freeland move, and goes to kill her, but gets interupted.
- Harper can hear Kashk from down the hall, and realizes that there's a chance he and his people won't all make it out alive.
- He is excited about the challenge.
¶ Liz and Em watch the Galaxy Burn
Characters: Lizbeth Locke, Captain Emelyn Acheson
- Liz and Em are watching the news coversage of the assasination of the League Leaders
- Bodies were being carried out of the capital building.
- The host confirms the President and Vice President are dead.
- They talk about what's going on, and Liz says she's confident a leader will emerge, and people will rally behind them.
- Em wants to know why she's so confident.
- Liz says she hedged her bets, by keeping Em safe.
- Em says that she would be terrible for the job.
- Liz says she already has 9/10ths of what's needed.
- Em asks if the other 10th is a great ass, Liz chides her.
- More news drifts in, about martial law being declared.
- Em asks Liz, what if one of her crew were a sleeper agent and gets her, later.
- Liz says impossible, she'd stop them.
- Em insists, what if it happens. What would she do then?
- Liz says... she'd lead.
- Em finds this dubious.
- Liz gets embarassed she said anything, and En appologizes.
- Rioting gets worse, and the two just listen through the night.
- Em falls asleep on her, but she's still up. restless.
- Eventually she makes a plan. She will give her contacts 24 hours to get back to her, and if she doesn't hear from them by then, she'll start rallying people.
- It almost doesn't matter who it is, as long as people have a rallying point.