mental link | Day: 38

[earthborn]

( Some of you may have noticed a fire, not too long ago. Or maybe you were busy, fair enough. )

[Shepard's broadcast is just that; open, conversational. Let's have a little chat, all of you. The fire last night burned through a fair portion of the Descendants' dormitory, destroying property and causing distress. Deaths? Don't worry about it. Shepard certainly isn't.]

( I would like to formally take responsibility for that incident. Don't worry, we didn't get caught, this isn't my first time setting fire to something-- no, Sam, it was fine, I had it under control. More to the point, we happened to acquire a bunch of junk, including some tech Pidge has been making good use of-- You're welcome, by the way. ) [This addendum delivered with no particular malice. All the blame and none of the credit, that's how it always goes. ( As for the rest, I have it; decent haul, some of which might be relevant, some of which might just be that I've stolen somebody's junk mail for all I know. )

[Always a risk with smash-and-grab]

( Anybody who thinks they might have some insights, feel free to have a look. )

Comments

[earthborn]

( Oh I'm sorry, did I disrupt some plan of yours that you neglected to share with me? Kill a friend you planned on keeping longer than a month? No? )

[Sorry not sorry.]

( You don't like it? Work faster next time. )

[shri]

( I have made no secret of any of my plans. I had befriended Keya's Aunt, a high ranking member of their party, as some measure of use out of one of our own being killed.

Perhaps you forgot that it was one of their lives that was saved. That perhaps we could ask for anything from that.

But you might have ruined all of it because you didn't have the - what, patience? Ability to see five steps beyond yourself? )

[earthborn]

( Impatience and destruction, That's me. Took you a long time to figure that one out, too-- what else are you missing? )

[Shepard feels it's probably rude to scoff in Lakshmi's face after this; she doesn't believe for a minute that gratitude, even for a life lost or a life avenged, would have gotten them what they needed. Or, maybe it would have, who knows, but only too late. This trip is long, but not infinite.]

( So, I made a judgement call, too late to take it back. What are you gonna do about it? )

[shri]

( I gave you the benefit of the doubt that you in some way deserved the title Commander. )

[ It's bitten out, hard between her teeth. ]

(Judgement implied you bothered to think, was there an impetus to pick a mourning family - a politically powerful mourning family?

Or did you just, oh, I do not know, draw names out of a hat for your idiocy? )

[earthborn]

( Since you asked so nicely: I'm looking for actionable intel here, and we have the least on that group. So I started there. )

[The threat is casual; had no one convinced her not to, she might have done more. She may yet do more. Who is going to stop her, and how?]

( Your way is slow, less violent, quieter-- cleaner. Fine, I accept that, in a perfect world you'd be right every time. But it is slow. You're more concerned because they lost someone recently, and they're in mourning, that it's inconvenient to your sensibilities, and ruins some efforts on your part. You befriended them, and that's understandable.

I'm more concerned that every single one of them will be dead before their next birthday, if we don't figure this out in a hurry. Because we will have to kill them. )

[shri]

( And?

We are all waiting. What was this great 'actionable intelligence' that you might have forsaken all other plans for? )

[earthborn]

( You did listen to the start of this, right? The whole... I've got stolen tech and paperwork, need some help with the interpretation and evaluation stage bit? I'm just a dumb jarhead, Lakshmi, not some genius-intellect Royal Highness like some people. I can't really make the process any more transparent than it is. )

[shri]

( My mistake I thought you would at least be discerning in what you took as having importance not just grabbing items at random.

Fine. Have them ready, I will look over them. Fighting with your poor action gives us no benefit no matter how you deserve it. )

[earthborn]

( I'll take your complaint under advisement, for next time. )