cargojet | IC Contact

Not turning up anything new. I had mirrors with each team, but they've stopped working. No tracking spell is turning up anything. They're all well into the dead zones.

[ Which is just. Super. ] Communications dropped out last time. This wasn't unexpected - even a disaster wasn't unexpected. There's a reason Shepard wanted people with experience out there. It's the other factors. Bloody luring more people down there.

[ He has no idea what mirrors are, but assumes it's some method of communication. Magic is still a mystery for him all of two years after seeing it for the first time. ]

I saw something coming, getting lost again, maybe cutting it closer to the jump this time. But this...they've gotten too close to something, you heard the post on the network. And it's out there, chasing them.

The instinct is to run straight down the nearest corridor and try and find them, but this ship is too big to try anything like that. In many ways the fact that it let them call for help is itself alarming.

My instinct is to find out if it's really them calling. Kate Bishop is a warrior. Either something down there is so bad it's broken her or it's not actually her at all. Everyone on these teams has field experience for this very reason-- to keep them from falling apart if something goes wrong.

[ Sort of resigned, ] I'm still going after them when we find out all we can, but I know damn well how reckless it is.

I agree. Brad Colbert called me, and while he sounded like himself...he's a capable soldier, and he asked for my help. That's not regular.

Hell, maybe he called me because he knows I have influence.

I - hold on. [ He's not putting Nathan on hold to be a jerk, he just has a new message. Given circumstances, surely this is understandable.

A minute or two later: ] Add William Tsang to the list of recon personnel checking in asking for help.

Tsang I'd believe a cry for help from but.. Have all of them said 'you have to come', so far? No 'help me'?

[ Audio messages play out loud from the speakers of Nathan's console.

Kate Bishop: ] --you have to come help

[ Brad Colbert: ] You have to come help.

[ Thomas: ] You have to come help, you have to come help me.

[ And finally Bucky Barnes: ] you —ave to come help.

[ Hearing them all on top of each other like that makes him feel sick. ]

Send me Tsang's message.

Fucking hell. [ is murmured out.

He then sends this. ]

Blanket apology for his personality. I messaged him five hours ago. Apparently it got through.

That's not disturbing at all. It doesn't seem to fit. [ A pause. ] It all sounds like posthypnotic suggestion. Who says that, anyway?

Something that wants us all down there. But if it was the ship merely luring us to our deaths, surely it could just suck the oxygen out of the populated decks and have done with it, no circus necessary.

[ Nice thought. ]

Tsang says they're separated. I've heard Kate's messages to Claire and Darcy, she uses 'we', not 'I' like William. The others?

I'll check. But here's a question for you: If it wants us all down there, what does it want us to do? Look at Engineering. It did everything in its power to send us there. It's using the same trickery to achieve this.

And more importantly, how do we make sure that we explicitly don't do what it wants?

It did everything in its power except just transport us there and give us an instruction manual. I assume there's something it needs, but whatever it is requires willingness or even enthusiasm on our part. There are plenty of rituals and spells in my fields of study that need consent.

Depends on if it only wants one thing, I suppose. And on which goal benefits our continued survival more.

To be fair it transported a bunch of people. Couldn't step into the corridors without finding yourself on the other side of the ship. It's the entity that's moving the corridors, and it's doing it in response to our being in them, so these people being lost is no coincidence. They aren't lost. They're right where they're supposed to be, and when we go down there we'll be where it wants us too.

You're right, everyone else seems to be alone. Kate's use of 'we' is unique.

I Apparated into a bloody hall closet. [ WITH SIRIUS. It was great. ] Certainly not a coincidence. But why now, why not last jump the first time the teams went out?

Kate also contacted two people.

[ What is apparating why are you inventing words. ]

Do you happen to know who she was paired up with?

[ Because he's looking for clues. ]

My guess would be it thought it could dissuade with winding them in circles last time. You go out map making and all your maps are useless, why bother doing it again? It's either pissed they didn't back off, or they've gone too far. Maybe going out there again weakened it.

Maybe this response to Shepard means its underestimated us, and this is some desperate attempt to prove itself. The best thing about desperation, though, is that it means mistakes. We might nail it this time.

[ Seriously. Creepy obvious come hither messages? Unless revealing itself that way is intentional. Double jeopardy. That would really suck. ]

Fireteam Perugia. Hook, Emma Swan, and Jack Davis [ aka Bucky "memory wiped" Barnes, not that they know that ] with Kate. Claire's their liaison, they made a network broadcast less than a fortnight ago. Agincourt is Shepard, Javik, Corvo, their liaison is Darcy Lewis. Hasting is Colbert, Tsang, someone named Thomas, their liaison is Elena Gilbert. Nairobi is John Grimm, Tony Stark, Jason.. Something, liaison is Maria Hill. Shasta is Rey, two men I don't have any memory of, their liaison is Ryuuzaki.

[ Yes he really did recite that from memory. It sounds like he's pacing. ] As far as I'm aware, Hill hasn't heard anything from her team. I haven't been able to pin down Elena.

Progress is never easy. [ In short, he agrees with the assessment. It's why Severus has always supported in theory these drastic ventures, even if he's not out there himself. ] Something has been destabilized. It's a step forward.

I envy you your memory.

Elena's is one of the comms I've lost. She might have received one of those messages and gone looking for answers herself. I'd be interested to know whether the rest of Perugia have checked in with other people, maybe then we could eliminate our way down to finding out who or what Kate is with.

[ A pause on Nathan's end. ]

I'm coordinating with Tyke to assemble a rescue mission. I want to take the fight to it. Maybe I can take Perugia's last known coordinates, though frankly I'd love to find Shepard herself. If It is pissed, It's going to be pissed with her most of all.

We'll have to hope people keep coming forward with information as they receive it. [ There are still whole teams unaccounted for - if this can even be considered accounted for. ]

I won't go anywhere with Tyke. [ Presumably Severus doesn't have to explain why: Edgeworth assaulted him and Tyke's shielding the man. As well as Black. Severus has less than no faith in SEC and as far as he's concerned, would be far safer by himself than in the midst of people who'd rather he be dead. ] But I'll go. I'm no use up here going through communications.

You won't have to. You can come with me. Tyke can't lead everyone, we'll need to split into groups as it is to take on the different coordinates. I'm a natural candidate to lead one of them, since following through with what it wants it my plan.

We don't have much of a choice in that matter, at least. We go with a plan, or we step back and watch other people go without one. I'd...appreciate having you backing me up.

Then I'll go with you. [ Simply. If a bit gravely. He tends to operate on his own better in general but - this is not a normal situation. Not by far. ]

I've supported Shepard - Lydia - in this since the start of it.

[ 'Invested' is a word. ]

We'll go after her, then, if I can swing it.

[ Lydia. First names are always a thing, and Nathan hasn't been calling Commander Shepard by her first name, even considering what they'd both been through on the bridge. ]

I want to speak to the network first, try and get as much information as I can before we go. Maybe we can work out what the ship is really after.

[ First names are humanizing. To him, anyway. ]

Of course. We must move quickly but with as much information as possible. I have to check in on a few people.

[ Pause. ]

Do you happen to know who's running medical with Tam gone?

We'll wait until Tyke is ready, but she can be overcautious. I'll press her if it seems like she wants to back out.

William Tsang was. I'm not sure we have a medical doctor right now, with him missing, though I suspect some of our scientists at least did premed. If we need to, we'll have to bring them in.

Volunteers are dropping through the floor. This could be it for medical.

Odessa in Xenogen is a medical doctor. I know at least two witches are left in medical, but there's resistance to our people by most of the ship. Hopefully that'll be enough to get us through this.

[ Because he assumes not everyone is going to come back in one piece. You know, if at all. ]

I'll let you go. Tell me when I need to meet you to leave.

My family...they're as good as any doctor, you just need to know how to use what they can do. I won't...I won't tell you. It's up to her to do that. But if you'd bring along needles and empty bloodbags we may find a use for them if people get badly hurt.

[ He doesn't like to think of Claire as a tool, but... But it may be necessary to stay practical in this case. Her blood could mean the difference between life and death. ]

I'll call you back when we're ready to go.

She told me.

[ P..ossibly could have mentioned that during the 'how close are you and my daughter' convo, but perhaps it's evident already that Severus is unlikely to discuss things people tell him in confidence no matter what. ]

Good.

[ Off he goes. ]

IC Contact

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject