mental link; after everything goes down on the evening of :038

[adamance]

[As it becomes apparent that it's time to move on—to shift forward in what feels like an endless pilgrimage, one in which none of the Hosts will gain any "true" enlightenment, as they will never see this culture as anything more than a means to an end. (At least, that's as far as Lexa sees it. Perhaps it's disrespectful. Perhaps she would bristle at it herself if it were about her culture. But then, no one is calling these people primitive and uncivilized like she's heard about her people in the past.)

Not that any of this will be spoken. This mission will go on, but it's a mission that can come to an end. That is something within their reach.

Which is why she opens up a mental communication to all the Hosts.]

( We must discuss, as a whole, how we hope to proceed moving forward. Before we pack up our things, I would prefer that we have some plan in place for how we act next. It'll prevent any further need to take on actions individually as we will be acting for each other. With the knowledge of each other's future actions.

That is not to say that I recommend against actions. But we can't act in contradiction to one another. Out of impatience for each other. We all hope to be done with this mission as soon as possible.

We have confirmed the presence of the Enemy. How do we hope to proceed? How will we ensure that the Descendants do not claim control of this power?

Furthermore, I implore you all to consider why it is the Enemy would act to prevent peace talks that could secure them the Nectar. And why it is that they need the Nectar. We are only fighting one battle here.

I won't lead this discussion. But we must have this discussion. We work well under time constraints. Let's have an idea of how we hope to proceed before we continue our journey. )

[That's her way of setting a time constraint, all in hopes that people will discuss what they will have to do. It's no longer about Keya (as far as she's concerned), but about their greater mission.]

[ooc: please please please treat this as an IC discussion post where people can threadjack and discuss whatever! i figured it would be a good idea to facilitate discussion here!]

Comments

[raw]

[ Elliot may have used the word primitive once or twice...

He, unsurprisingly, approves of this message. Though he has his own thought to add. ]

( If we know the Enemy is among the Descendants, and our mission is making sure one of the other groups leaves with the Nectar, then we have to decide whether our goal is to sabotage the Enemy or to support a different faction. We can't end their war, but maybe we can decide who wins it. )

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam listens when Lexa speaks - he usually does - and there's a sense of agreement followed by a hum of consideration at Elliot's addition. ]

( There's enough of us, if we manage to coordinate our efforts, maybe we can do both. We got a lot of different skillsets - some'd be better at sabotage, and some at getting in enough to influence a decision. )

[ It's the coordination that's gonna be the hardest part - but if everyone who wants to be involved's got something to do that aligns more with their abilities, that might be a little easier. ]

[shri]

( Once we have ascertained a lack of interference with the other groups - then that I can help with.

My hands are old to matters politic, but I think I can muster some measure to them again. )

[wrackful]

( Yeah, let's talk about proceeding against someone when we still don't know if it's them. That always works out. )

[Dry and derisive as usual, but there's something grating harsh under the surface. A nerve, cut raw and exposed.]

[adamance]

( I don't understand the point of being contrary here, Murphy. )

[As in: are you arguing with me for the sake of arguing?]

[earthborn]

( It's still not what I'd call the best tactical option, but there's always the straightforward solution to these problems. )

[Killing people: always an option when you're already going to hell and don't mind making damn well sure that there's a good reason for it.]

( That said, we don't need anybody specific to win, we just need to make sure they don't. Screwing people over is always easier than trying to beat them at their own game. Sabotage is the easy option, and if that fails we can always just stop being so nice. )

[adamance]

( If we're right about the agent in question— ) [This is a fact she's certain about, even with Murphy's line of questioning] ( —we'll be harder pressed to deal that straightforward solution to an entire body. Plus, as we've covered in the past, the Nest houses a majority of people uncomfortable with that idea. )

[Lexa is decidedly removed from that, but has adjusted and accepted that it won't be an answer.]

( So, the true solution is sabotage. We have information on Keya's aunt that could help. Why she was willing to volunteer it is surprising, but it could put us in a situation to harm her envoy. )

[deployed]

( Shouldn't we clear the other factions? )

[ this might be partly motivated by the prickling awareness of murphy's concerns, but it's also paranoid worry about their faceless enemy. ]

( We don't know that they're not involved with someone else. )

[adamance]

( We have to assume that we've found the faction involved with the Enemy. If we overreach, we'll be handling too much.

Besides, we have no means to clear any other factions, barring creating the same circumstances we did just hours ago. Too many events like that will further suspicions, and possibly call an early end to this pilgrimage before we've done more than find one suspicious entity. )

[She considers these words and then adds:]

( For now, we have to trust the mission parameters set by the elder Hosts. The Enemy have infiltrated one group. Our mission was to find that group. )

[shri]

(Agreed, it is just as likely they are working through multiple groups to play them against each other. )

[incinerates]

How EXACTLY are we going to handle sabotaging - if that's what we're doing - the culprit's actions in a way that doesn't give us and our OWN shady exploits away in the end? And what the hell even IS our end game move - what are we building to?

If we have that in mind, we can grandmaster our angle of approach and hit all our stupid mission's goals.

[ The restless thrum of his mind suggests he has ideas, but trusts so few to actually listen to them. ]

[raw]

( Does it matter if we give ourselves away? The Nest doesn't need the Nectar. So long as we take the Enemy out of the running it won't matter if we go down with them. )

[shiro2hero]

(Too bad we can't just point at them and say "hey, they're an inter-dimensional evil" and leave it at that, huh?)

[He's not that serious. But figures tossing that out before saying anything else can't hurt that much.]

(All we have to do is keep them out of favor. That seems like it would be simpler to do than anything else.)

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Sam - pays attention, mostly, to the points people bring up about their game plan moving forward and their end goals. But aside from all of that, he's got something on his mind from before all this shit went down. ]

( We've still got a few items from the Descendants' quarters. ) [ It feels like so damn long ago that Sam ran interference with Shepard and Damon - but really, it was less than a day ago. ] ( I'm bringing a couple of them to Rhan and Lyr and the others who've been here longer to get their opinion, anyone wanna come with? )

[ He'd almost said pick their brains, but he's kind of worried someone might take that literally. ]

[deployed]

) I'll come. I want to talk to Rhan again. )

[ someday rhan will give him answers. SOMEDAY. ]

[shiro2hero]

(I'm going with you.)

[isorropia]

( A simpler question: if our Enemy requires the Nectar, why would they tolerate the brokerage of a peace where they might be expected to share it? )

[aluminumandash]

[ Rust won't belabor the obvious; he'll leave that to Lexa. ]

( How much time do you figure we have? Can't help but notice they're getting bolder—last circle was practically on the front lawn. )

[adamance]

( Why wouldn't they? What do they require the Nectar for? Am I wrong to assume that they require this resource outside of this particular set of worlds? )

I SWEAR I AM NOT BEING VAGUE ON PURPOSE I just didnt want 2 write u a wall of infothought?? tldr

[shri]

[ She's been quiet, listening, absorbing, a lot of words and ideas flung about. ]

( A question that goes both ways - who would be willing to share with this enemy of ours? What do we know about them that might make them so ... enticing an ally? Apart from the ability to kill mercilessly, it seems. )

[ A pause. The bite at the side of her thumb in thought. ]

( It could be for a number of reasons - they don't have enough numbers or skill to sweep across in open war. Or perhaps it is merrily, ... mercantile. )

[shiro2hero]

(Thank you.)

(I couldn't agree more. We've needed to work together for a long time now. Not just on this mission.)

[He's felt like they all started fracturing even before this began. Back on the station when half the team wouldn't stop going on and on about the idea of nuking the planet.]

(It's some kind of power source, isn't it? Something that's helping an entire war effort. They have to have something to gain by controlling the war itself.)

(What all do we know about the conflict?)

[adamance]

( My thoughts from the very beginning were that the Hyrypians hold all the power in this conflict. It's why this charade has seemed like little more than a power play. Perhaps that's a shallow way to perceive it. But I've worked under the assumption that the Enemy has no greater interest in this set of worlds than the Nectar itself.

Do you believe that assumption is wrong? )

[erbier]

( Was our goal not to definitively find the traces of our Enemy. Why so much chatter, still. )

[ Her response is airy, cold. ]

( Perhaps we are not so clever as we think, in our idea of 'definitive'. )

[ Wow, Ilde... you are not.... helping... ]

[deployed]

[ ilde............... ]

( Finding traces doesn't end the Mission. We still need to decide what to do about the Nectar. )

[ a pause, something in bellamy shattering slightly to betray a flicker of guilt and grief. ]

( And I promised to help Keya's aunt. )

[detestable]

[ seth listening in on this post like

]