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ximilialog2023-05-30 07:00 pm
CONCLUSION: A MATTER OF IMPORT
The shrill blaring of the evacuation siren is impossible to drown out, but inside the Nuhiri lab the three scientists are caught in a swirl of motion regardless — Ivy and Newt gathering what they can, Zandr teleporting from room to room, taking with him all the essentials, and setting destruction protocols for everything else that can’t be carried out with him.
Finally he goes to the container full of the algae-based substance that Ivy had devised, something that he had initially been wary of but conceded was actually pretty useful. It proved to be a great stabilizer for the anti-matter, and for that reason he takes it. In the background, Bracken’s footsteps can be heard like heavy drumbeats against the floor of the laboratory amidst his shouts for Zandr to hurry the hell up.
These are Zandr’s parting words, and with a worried smile he disappears along with Bracken.
Now all that remains is for Ivy and Newt to safely make it out of the lab and out of Nuhiri without being caught … and fortunately for them, they’re far from being on their own.
On Naephus, news that the laboratory is under attack quickly catches wind, spurring a number of Orbers into action — but not all in the same ways. Lockwood begins by heading to the port, making it hard for new Federation ships to depart by leaving a trail of chaos in his wake; meanwhile Vash pickpockets a jet-key and puts his energy into distracting the Federation's ships. Close by, Yelena and Aleksander commandeer another ship, and with the latter’s control over shadows making for a devastating sight deep in space as the shadows gather into a sickle right there between the Federation ships … before they launch out in a wave, cutting through every ship they come into contact with.
Meanwhile Cal and Chishiya, and Jim and Bones, seem to share the same idea to find a ship and head to Nuhiri to provide assistance, medical or otherwise. All the while, Yzak remains on his, maintaining contact with everyone else involved in the fight. He utilizes his skills in space-combat to coordinate and ensure that the other Orber ships retreating from Nuhiri or heading towards Deumia have safe passage through.
And on Nuhiri, where Felix has been guarding the lab, he'll bear witness to Vash arriving just in time to pick Newt up and quickly fly off once more. Only once all three scientists have been safely evacuated does Felix join the battle in the skies over Nuhiri, pushing himself into multiple dogfights where his skillset is best suited.
Eventually the Federation seems to realize that Zandr has evaded their grasp yet again, and the ships disperse from the skies, to await further orders … but the Orbers hardly need to wait for theirs. Now that the coast has cleared enough, it is time to head to Deumia where the harvesters await.
For so long, executing the next and vital part of the plan had always depended on retrieving the access codes to the harvesters, a task that neither Zandr nor Kaeya could ever fully succeed on — and yet Yujin, having played his cards just right, has successfully accomplished it by being handed the codes from the Chief of Staff himself, Emerton Haughtford. Mindful of his lack of superpowers, he passes the codes off to someone else who can take them where they need to go — to the clever and powered Daisy.
Daisy wastes no time getting to the planet along with Joric. She teams up with Alina who has arrived with Mal in tow, and with the help of Alina's light-summoning, Alina casts the perfect camouflage to hide the group, masking them from view. Now all that remains is getting to the harvesters themselves undetected.
And luckily it isn't long until The White Peak — Bracken and Fyna’s ship — flies in to join them, with Zandr aboard; at the same time, Felix and Yelena arrive by their respective ships, so that the infiltration group is assembled and ready to go. Zandr assures them all that he can teleport in and that Kaeya will be waiting for them. So with two sets of mercenaries, and Mal providing protection over the trio carrying the anti-matter as well as the codes, the group make their way into the building from which the harvesters are controlled.
From the back entrance, Kaeya allows Daisy and Alina access first, knowing that no one would catch them on the surveillance cameras so long as Alina's trick of light continues to work. From there, Zandr seems to vanish right out of sight, secure with the knowledge that having worked for the FNRR and knowing which spots to avoid allows him to keep to the shadows and remain hidden in plain sight.
Kaeya holds the door open for a moment longer. She has spotted the familiar sight of Stephen arriving with Ciri to provide the team with a quick retreat the moment they've accomplished what they've all set out to do. She lets them all in and quietly leads them through lengthy corridors that wind around Deumia's power plant, signaling to them when to move and when to hide.
They nearly make it to the control board without an issue, too — but no plan can truly be foolproof, and this one is no exception as other scientists prove that their actions can't be predicted, not even by one who has worked in the building for much of her professional life. One of them spots the group, and though they seem not to notice Kaeya right away, sounds the alarm without hesitation. Bracken and Fyna are quick to dispose of the first of the Interstellar Ops who come running; Yelena quickly falls into a combat stance, and Felix and Mal grab their guns to offer support.
Amidst the chaos, Zandr directs the two invisible women towards the control board. And as a quick study, it doesn’t take Daisy long to upload the codes into the system. As soon as it gives them the all clear and full access is granted, Kaeya rushes to the board and begins to input the necessary parameters to reverse the harvesters, while Zandr who has finally openly revealed himself to the lab rather than remain shrouded in hiding, pulls out the container of anti-matter. He loads it into the harvester.
Apprehensive, he flashes Kaeya a grin anyway. She nods, two of her four eyes fixed on him, before she leans in and presses the button that executes the sequence to begin the reverse protocol. It hums to life, the harvesters groaning as the energy flows outwards now, and not in.
For a moment, the room is absolutely silent. Not a breath is let out. And yet, there is no explosion.
Kaeya runs to the atmospherometer.
With a shout of laughter, Zandr takes the good and leaves the bad: so what if they didn’t succeed entirely? At least the mutation was guaranteed to disappear over time.
With that, Zandr grabs Kaeya and teleports outside the building, intent on returning to grab those who can’t get out on their own — but Stephen and Ciri have been waiting to help the others escape by way of their unique portalling abilities.
Of course, it was never going to be that easy, was it?
Outside of the FNRR facility, the sight that greets the team is an imposing one: with a deafening roar, another destroyer ship touches down on the uneven soil of Deumia … and from it emerges two figures dressed in uniform, surrounded by an entire imposing battalion of Interstellar Ops members. It's Commander Brennon and Doctor Breezr.
For a moment, everything comes to a stand still. Zandr quickly seems to consider his options: teleport away; entrust the safety of the team to Stephen and Ciri and their powers; retreat.
But instead, he steps forward.
Brennon’s voice is cold. By his side, Doctor Breezr appears to be incredibly distraught by comparison.
Breezr’s voice is quiet; Brennon’s, however, isn’t.
A different voice comes from the walkway out of the ship.
With steely determination in his eyes Emerton Haughtford, Chief of Staff, approaches the group to ground level. His gaze fixes upon Brennon and stays there. Whatever warmth he may have possessed is tempered now by his disappointment and his anger.
In the midst of Emerton's speech, Brennon's Interstellar Ops surrounding him begin to let their guards down, whispering to each other while Brennon’s face turns a bright orange with increasing rage.
But no one from the militia surrounding him moves. They still remember their former leader, after all — and Emerton’s words, strong and commanding as they had been, have set doubt in their minds.
With some respect in his gaze, Emerton turns now to look at Zandr and everyone gathered around him.
Zandr blinks, bewildered by the turn of events, but Kaeya tugs on his hand to prompt him forward. He nods and soon they are both gone in the blink of an eye. The rest of the Orbers begin to move away just as Emerton had suggested, leaving the tense situation behind and trusting that Emerton will, indeed, take care of it all.
The group rendez-vous just outside of the main cities on Nuhiri. Zandr offers his gratitude to the team for their help but he still has one last request, if he might — after all, there are still so many citizens suffering from the effects of the synthetic ghost matter, it would be helpful if the team remained on Ndiera for just a little while longer, long enough anyway to use what medical skills they have to aid them.
As with all important decisions, this one too is put to a vote. And after more than one heated discussion amongst the team, the vote is hardly unanimous. Some express their attachment to the world and its people, uncomfortable with the knowledge that taking the orb away will result in the death of thousands; while others feel reluctant to remain, remembering the consequences of staying too long on E-23b and what had happened to Ciraiwei, their argument being that staying here might doom another world, one they really might not be able to save on time. Eventually, those arguing to leave bear more support and so the team must refuse Zandr's ask, a decision he is clearly disappointed to hear but accepts anyway.
With a small smile, he takes the orb out of his lab coat pocket and hands it towards Ivy, the smoke-coloured swirl inside the round, pearl-like object dying down as it touches Ivy’s hand …
And with that, the team hardly have time to even say their goodbyes before they already start to feel the ever-so-familiar tug at the pit of their stomachs … and yet this time instead of being pulled back towards the station, it almost feels as though they are being pushed forward into some place cold; strange. Some place ... unfamiliar.
When the world clears around them, the first thing they see is the teleportation machine, its hum a comforting sound … but the room around them is empty and a little too cool. There's a layer of dust across the control panel and some of the panels appear to be peeling, half-torn from the walls. The doors to the North Wing are open; and in Ivy’s open palm there is no trace of the orb that had just been placed into it.
Viveca and Degar are nowhere to be seen either — instead, what greets them is a voice in their earpieces, smooth and yet fragmented all at once.
N O T E S
This is the end of the 13th mission! The orb your characters just came back from retrieving doesn't appear to be among the crew, but if your character goes back to review the mission file, they will notice that next to the mission name, a little check-mark in green has appeared.
This is not an official log — and players may notice this return to the station is different from the others. That is because this conclusion jumps right into the next mission log, coming up on June 2.
A separate OOC plotting post is available HERE.
Should characters try to talk to Viveca or Degar, they will find only static at the end of their calls.