ximilialog | MISSION: THE AI AND THE COMMANDER

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MISSION: THE AI AND THE COMMANDER

● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 4 . 0

// SOMEWHEN  

The hum of the teleportation platform is familiar, filling your ears as the bright light dissipates enough to safely open your eyes. You feel something solid beneath your feet, and the lack of scent from the asphalt and dirt in Nuhiri and Deumia marks a departure from anything resembling a planet, the space around you giving you no reason to think anything of it. You're on the Ximilia once again — finally. Another mission successfully accomplished, for whatever other hardships you and the rest of the team have endured. Hot food and hot showers await, and Newt will surely be scurrying off to prepare for the team’s usual post-mission movie night.

You’re back and you can’t wait for Viveca to greet you, and for Degar to take the orb away, back to the North Wing to join the other ones.

Except … the station’s walls appear to be peeling, and some of the equipment looks a little older and unpolished. There’s even a layer of space-dust on one of the control boards. And most importantly: no one is here to greet you. As you turn and look to your fellow crewmates in confusion, even now some of you might start to wonder at the change of routine. Ivy, who had just been handling the orb, will be empty-handed, but surely there’s nothing to worry about. The station is peaceful and still. Nothing feels amiss … yet. And then:

// 0-L1V-14

Oh, hello. You are not the team I know. Yet you are here for the orb … Good.

The sound of 0-L1V-14 — or 'Olivia' as many have come to call her — voice springs to life around you. She almost seems to sound confused for a moment, clearly recalibrating her systems for this strange occurrence, before the gentle tenor of her voice regains its composure and she recalls her mission directive. The lights in the teleportation platform seem to glow just a little brighter, as though the arrival of the crew has buoyed the AI's spirits.

// 0-L1V-14

I've located one within the station, but it seems to have fractured. The air around them appears to have some sort of temporal disturbance that I can't quite pin down. Be cautious, but bring them to me before anything happens.

Well? You heard the AI. Best to start looking.

1.0 The first thing you might think to do is return to the sleeping quarters, either to clean up and change into another set of clothes; or to take a much-deserved nap; or maybe you just need a moment to yourself to collect your thoughts. The doors to the sleeping quarters seem to stick for a moment, which isn’t worrying in and of itself, but as the doors slide open you realize that you’re looking into a dark and empty carved out space that resembles a place for storage more than anything else. The walls and doors that used to make up your individual rooms are absent, and the floors are stripped bare, with rows of perforated grates allowing the cavernous space to remain relatively well-ventilated. It’s clear that no one has visited this room in quite some time, and perhaps there had once been plans for it, now abandoned to hold a stock of random items in its place.

There are boxes stacked against the wall, and a shelving unit that holds miscellaneous supplies: cans and boxes, batteries and wires, old bound notebooks made of paper. Rolls of rough tarp are haphazardly leaning against the wall to one corner, and thermal blankets are scattered amongst scraps of loose-leaf, a sketch of a cluster of spherical shapes in different colours, and other foreign knick-knacks that seem to have no place on a space station. If you decide to explore this space you’ll have to provide your own source of light as none of the lighting above seem to work though the row of fixtures that you’re used to seem, at least, to have been installed. They’re just not currently online.

Investigating the room a little deeper might draw you to a simple metal box sitting in the middle shelf next to what looks like a half-broken lute, its strings missing. There is no lock on this box, as though it wants to be opened, and lifting the lid will reveal a bright rosy-coloured light. Reaching out towards the small sliver of light in the shape of an elongated teardrop will recall a memory of your childhood so vivid, you’ll think you were back in that time, in that exact moment, to relive it again. Whether it's a good memory or a tragic one is left up to random chance. Only someone entering the room to talk you through your memory will remind you that you aren’t actually a child any longer.

2.0 Perhaps you decide to forgo the sleeping quarters entirely, and want to revisit one of your favourite simulations in the simulation room. Familiar oceans, the futuristic bar, or the room filled with adorable puppies might be your first choice — but every preset you’re used to scrolling through seems to be different now. There are the standard, familiar pre-mission training simulations, and even the Lodgen Mountain Mines mission appears to be here, but everything else has either been deleted … or it was never here to begin with.

You might decide to go ahead with one of the already existing simulations anyway, or you might want to start rewriting the one you’d come here for in the first place. It will depend on your luck, and it will depend on the success of your mission-training, but a small shard of bright, silvery coloured light may suddenly reveal itself to you. It appears like a thin tear-shape that hangs suspended in the air. The faintest whisper beckons you close; it’s familiar. Will you reach out to touch it? Doing so will colour the simulation room around you with a memory so real it might as well be — suddenly you might recall a happy moment in your life, or perhaps your greatest victory or adventure. This can be shared with whoever enters the simulation room with you or after you, and will fade when you manage to locate the right door and leave the room.

3.0 The sunlight room that you may have walked through on countless occasions is missing the familiar bridge, the river that runs beneath it, and trees that surround it. Instead, the vegetation around you appears to be far more deliberate and practical, thick foliage like bushes planted in rows, their large leaves covering most of the ground and soil. Several small metal boxes with wires and buttons can be found planted across the space, each with a thin rotating disc that whirs and spins quietly. Each of these boxes appears to give off readings, each screen displaying a continuous green wavy line scrolling across it and text that displays the quality of the air with a percentile grade, the amount of it being produced, and that particular box’s designation zone: Mess Hall, Storage, Living Quarters, and Teleportation Platform among others. This isn’t just a room that simulates nature, but if you were to approach any of the small bushes and saplings here, it’s clear that the plants here are real and they’re currently working to provide the rest of the station with oxygen.

Further to the back of the sunlight room, a bright sliver of colourful green light seems to glitter and glint between the leaves. It feels familiar in the way that it whispers faintly, and if you concentrate you can make out the sound of your name in a voice like that of someone from your past: a friend, perhaps, or a family member. Maybe a loved one or an enemy. Or perhaps it’s a voice you can’t actually recognize. It might compel you to reach out for the light, but will you listen? Or will you turn away?

If you embrace the light and call out in answer to the voice, you will re-experience the action, the conversation, or the thought that you attribute as being the reason you are who you are today with that most important person being the key piece in your memory.

4.0 Looking for your usual snacks? Feeling peckish for that bowl of instant spicy space-ramen you saved for post-mission? You might head into the kitchen expecting the familiar foodstuffs that you’re used to only to find that the room has been rearranged, with far fewer cupboards and appliances, and more of what looks like typical space-fare: freeze-fried items and nutrition-focused meals sealed into silver foiled bags. What ‘fresh’ ingredients exist are even less, and there are a stack of dirty plates and cutlery in the sink that don’t look like anything you or your crewmates might have used. You may already suspect that this whole station isn’t the one you’re used to, or you might still be in denial. Either way, you may find through your rummaging the call to a little sliver of coppery-coloured light located behind the freezer door.

If you decide to touch the fragment of light here, you’ll feel a ghostly burning as though the glint of the light has cut your skin, almost cold enough to feel sharp — but it’s just your imagination, isn’t it? What you remember now as it comes back to life around you (and the team member or members who may have joined you) is the best meal you’ve ever eaten, whether it is something you made for yourself, something made by your loved one, or the meal that leaves your heart feeling empty and aching.

5.0 You may have become so accustomed to seeing the North Wing doors sealed that it’s your curiosity that draws you forward to the wide expanse beyond the now open wing, your feet testing the threshold as if you’re expecting an invisible wall to keep you out. Nothing happens when you step into the North Wing, though you might immediately notice the large tank that holds all of the team’s successfully captured orbs is very clearly missing. And not only that but the space appears to be well lived in, a small cluster of worn chairs and a table set to one side, and data pads and drawings on white-boards in plain view. They don’t seem to be much more than a couple of crude strategy diagrams (and a couple of silly stick figures in one corner) and as you move towards the crew quarters, some of you might instantly recognize the familiar room with its rows of beds and a scattering of personal effects assigned to each bunk. Photos are pinned to walls of a twenty-person crew, pillows and blankets are left in disarray by unfinished knitting projects, a diary written in a language you can’t quite translate, and a stuffed elephant-shaped plush doll lies at the head of one of the beds in the middle of the room. By the door is a neatly made bed. An analogue paperback novel sits on the nightstand, a bookmark set in the middle to note its progress. On top of it is a well-kept watch stopped a little after the sixth hour and a medal of service in the now recognizable insignia of the Ndiera Complex’s Federation.

By the far wall of these sleeping quarters is a bright golden starlight that seems to illuminate that side of the room as though someone had turned on a torchlight to the highest setting; it’s almost blinding. Moving closer to it, you’ll find that it’s like all the other slivers of light scattered across the station — a broken shard, like a piece of a large puzzle. Touching it may pull you — and whoever might be in the room with you — into a memory from your time with the Ximilia crew, whether it happened over a year ago, or it happened only on the last mission. It might be a happy memory, or it might be something you regret, which is poignant considering your initial raison d’etre for being here at all. It’s a vision that appears from your perspective and while you relive it, you feel outside of yourself.

6.0 The rest of the station still appears to be intact, with the infirmary, the training room, and the armoury in the same locations that you remember. Those of you who have been here for quite some time, you’ll find your way around by muscle memory alone; but even if you’re a newer member of the crew you’ll have wandered the halls enough to know what feels familiar to you … and what doesn’t.

The infirmary looks to be a little out of date, though it looks as if it’s seen its fair share of use. And it’s smaller too, the more recent addition and surgical area missing from the cozy space. The training room and the armoury share similar qualities of seeming a little older, a little more lived in, and with well-used equipment and weapons to boot. The training room is still padded with firm padded flooring and benches for sitting. Some of the racks and hooks (all empty) that had been against the wall have fallen now, and similar to the teleportation room, you’ll find that some of the paneling in this room has since peeled away, revealing some of the bare structure behind them. In the armoury, you won’t find your favourite knife or preferred staff but there are still a few choices in weaponry to arm yourself with.

Wherever you decide to explore, you might once more happen upon a bright bluish light that seems to whisper and call to you in soft, hushed tones. No specific words can be picked out through the murmurs but the feeling is all the same — it draws you forward like a moth to flame, but whether you decide to reach a hand out to touch the sliver of light that hangs suspended in the air is entirely your choice. If you do, you might succumb to a vivid memory of a significant injury you or someone important to you had suffered once, reliving that moment with too sharp clarity. Those feelings of fear or threat or maybe even satisfaction seem to come to you again as though you were there again — only this time you may not be alone as you witness this memory, and someone else has entered the room with you.

● ● ●

Present Day.

The teleportation platform hums quietly in a clean, well-maintained room. No walls or floors appear to be even the least bit dented, and now the Commander of the Ximilia stands behind the control board, staring at the screen as though doing so will bring their crew back by some wild form of magic. Degar knows magic — he’d come from a world so full of it. This, however, is something different.

Beside him, Viveca scans through the data that had sent the crew into the Ndiera Complex, as it should have brought them back the same way, with the orb in tow.

// VIVECA

“I don’t know how it happened… they should have arrived here. Everything seemed normal! But I’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out.”

// DEGAR

“They could be anywhere, right? Except we can’t even help them if we don’t know where that might be.”

// VIVECA

“I know. The strange thing is that it seems that we’ve located another orb… only, it states that it’s here. On the station. So even if the platform sent them straight to it… why aren’t they here?”

The Commander and the AI both turn their gaze towards the still empty teleportation platform before exchanging worried glances with each other. Degar finally heaves an exhale but the frown in his features deepens.

// DEGAR

“Keep working at it. I’m going to see what I can figure out in the station’s systems. Maybe we can trace back to the team somewhere. Or somewhen.”

Viveca nods, her voice sounding complicated when she responds next.

// VIVECA

“Yeah. We’ll find them.”

TOP

F Y I

• The events in this log take place during the first two weeks of June.

• For this mission, we have decided to run the search request mechanic a little differently. Depending on whether your character decides to touch or grasp one or any of the slivers of coloured light that can be found throughout the station, you will have the opportunity to participate in a search request. More on this is explained HERE.

• If you have questions about any of the prompts or the mission in general, please direct them HERE.

• Any in-character questions to 0-L1V-14 can be asked HERE.

• And finally, your soundtrack for this log: ♪ ♪ ♪

TOP

▶ NAV

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fucking magic. [ she agrees with a certain level of solemnness. ]

[ she doesn't quite understand the end results of what happened to him, but andy knows it's fucked up. it doesn't take a technological or magic genius to figure out joric was very unwilling. ]

We don't have that kind of thing in my world, but we do have plenty of people who like to push too far. For the greater fucking good. [ she hates that phrase. there's a pause. ] What were they trying to do?

[ Joric takes a moment to find a space against the wall to lean against and cross his arms before he answers. ]

Those were the senior members of the Mages' Council. They're a branch of the army that answers to the king. Mages aren't fighters. They're our healers. But sometimes a mage gets it in their head to try experimenting with magic that doesn't come naturally to them. And they convinced the king we could end the war faster if we had fiercer warriors. If we weren't restrained by thinking too much. If we were just weapons.

[ He sighs, presses his head back against the wall, and stares up at the ceiling. ]

The king said they could try on one man to see how it worked. I volunteered.

[ Andy isn't wrong that he looked unwilling in the memory, but things hadn't started out that way. He'd wanted to help his country. ]

[ she frowns as he expounds, because andy might not know magic but she does know kings and armies and the way the search for power pushes boundaries and tries to break humanity. it's repetitive over time and apparently over universes. ]

[ people as weapons taken to something more literal in his world. ]

Did you know what exactly you were volunteering for? People like that... have a tendency to bullshit their way into getting their way.

Doesn't seem fair if you couldn't walk away when they started going too far.

I was grieving my brother. I was willing to do anything to help in the war so others wouldn't have to feel what it was like to lose a brother in battle.

[ He swallows the lump forming in his throat and stares at the ceiling. ]

In my land it would be cowardly to walk away from something you vowed to do.

[ that loss is as familiar to andy as anything else, and she frowns in sympathy. grief has made many people do all kinds of things they might not otherwise. she knows she'd been nearly driven mad over quỳnh. ]

You had a good motivation, and your lands are probably not the only ones to hold that value. [ she doesn't agree, but she's lost her ties to any real culture, and it's not her place to say so now especially in sitting with joric's trauma over it. ]

Can I ask what it is exactly they were trying to do? How was it supposed to end a war?

[ A mirthless laugh leaves him before he can stop it. ]

It sounds ridiculous now that I've had time to reflect on it. To put that sort of rage inside a person was meant to make the soldier more fierce and frightening. The goal was to make me like a living weapon to strike fear into the heart of the enemy. I wouldn't be aware of anything but the kill. Any injury I took I wouldn't feel and I would keep going no matter how badly hurt I was. It was meant to push me to my limits to turn the tide of battle. And with that standing in their way, our enemy would finally give up.

[ Joric exhales a sigh, staring off at nothing in particular. It's not that he's afraid to meet her eyes, but more memories are replaying themselves in his mind. ]

Of course, things didn't go as they intended with their superior soldier.

[ what he describes makes her think of the berserkers, which doesn't help her separate joric from the whole viking thing, despite knowing he is not one. ]

[ it helps that this tale is much more fucked up that the myths and folk tales. ]

That's fucked up. [ she does often say what she's thinking. ] Seems like all it would do is just create more violence. I'm not really surprised it went awry.

[ it seems like a recipe for disaster from the start, even if she's seen the same sort of logic applied to war over and over and over. ]

[ It's absolutely a berserker thing. In fact, he was one; it's just they wanted to make berserkers even crazier. ]

It didn't really change the course of the war at all and their experimenting was a failure. I lose myself when I go into a rage so it's not beneficial to our side because I'm not on anyone's side. I'll try to kill anyone before me.

You don't have any awareness of your actions? [ she frowns, though it's in sympathy more than anything else. no judgement, just concern. ] How does it turn off?

[ but he speaks in present tense, which suggests to andy that he's very much still dealing with it, however failed an experiment. ]

You still have it. I'm assuming you have a way to control it before rage mode kicks in? Is there some kind of magic words I should beware of?

None at all. It's like blacking out.

[ He grimaces slightly and adjusts his stance. Talking about this obviously isn't comfortable and it's making him want to keep moving. ]

The magic put on me doesn't give me any magic of my own. It ends when my body has exhausted itself too much to continue. Or if there are no more moving targets to kill.

[ He hums and gives a nod. ]

When I arrived I was... here. In the infirmary. And there was a bottle of pills on the table beside me with my name on it. That is what I've been using. They don't cure me. If that were the case I would have no regret left to undo, but it keeps it at bay. I can still feel the rage inside wanting to get out, but it's held back by the medicine.

[ Joric releases a sigh and looks up at her. ]

I should have warned everyone from the start but I'd been isolating myself for so long that I just wanted to be around people again. And then the thing with Kovacs happened and I didn't know what to do. I could see myself in him. But you know now. People are going to find out because of my memories. And if my medicine fails I know someone like you can end me to protect the crew.

[ she can tell it's not a favored topic - why would it be? - but andy presses on with her questions, for both curiosity's sake and now a certain concern over safety - for the other orbers as well as joric's own. she'll at least follow his lead in terms of movement. ]

We all have plenty of secrets when we first get here. We arrive with regrets, some of which come from our not so great moments. I don't blame you for wanting to keep it quiet at first. There are a lot of unknowns with this crew.

[ she lost her arm to kovacs, but she's certainly in a unique position there. franken-kovacs stealing dean's arm would have been a much different effect than it was on her. ]

I'm not going to kill you if that happens. [ on that much she's firm. ] But I can take you down in other ways, even if you kill me first. Are there any signs that it's kicking in?

Yes. I would have enough time to warn people if I can tell the medication isn't working. If I were to be separated from my pills and not be able to take them everyday when I wake up, I would have even more time to warn that it will happen. Any small thing that would mean little to anyone else would irritate me and the spell would hold on to that feeling and make it grow. I start to feel hot and my vision starts to blur and go dark at the edges. And then I'm gone.

[ Pushed down in his own mind while the spell uses his body as a weapon. ]

[ she's still frowning - though it continues to be more with an undercut of sympathy. joric might have volunteered, but it doesn't mean he or anyone deserves to live with such an unstoppable thing. ]

Plenty of time and warning then. [ for her, at least. ]

Does preemptively knocking you out work, if you can feel it coming on? [ it's not exactly a sarcastic question. ] I know a lot of ways to kill a man, but I can just as well render them unconscious.

[ andy is not a small woman - she's closer to six feet than other women on board, but joric is still much larger than she is in girth alone. it doesn't seem to matter to her. ]

I think so. In those early days I was kept chained up and I didn't really recognize the signs. By the time it started I was too dangerous to get close enough to, so no one attempted to knock me out.

[ It feels a bit surreal to be explaining so much but the weight on his chest from holding it all in is strangely absent. ]

[ this continues to be fucked up!!! there's something in her that recognizes the agony of being chained to a wall, however different the reasons. how inhuman it makes you feel. ]

Okay. So we can come up with a plan that doesn't involve you dying but still keeps everyone safe.

[ she pauses. ] The easiest is to just let me know if you feel it coming on and down you go. I assume even if you normally wake up still in a rage, you'll be out long enough in this case for someone to get you some medicine.

Maybe we can keep some pills in alternative locations, like a back up.

Well, if you can stop me than I'd prefer not to die.

[ It's strange to have someone helping him make plans in case anything happens. As hard as it was to let someone in to see this, it's removed such a weight. ]

We could do that. Some in the infirmary, some in my room, some on me?

I can. [ her tone isn't particularly confident so much as matter of fact, though her confidence is fairly inherent. ]

[ andy nods. ]

It's a start. What about on a mission? How do you feel about giving someone else a few pills too?

[ It's not something he ever considered possible, but now he has to be willing to trust others to handle his pills for him in case he's unable to do it for himself anymore. In a way, this feels like a big step forward. He nods. ]

I would trust that to those who have seen my memories that led me down this path. You are one of those people.

I can carry some with me. I don't have it on me now, but I usually have this pouch that lets me store more than meets the eye within it.

[ she mostly uses it for weapons. a pill bottle will fit easily. ]

If you want to hand some over to others, let me know who if so. [ she pauses. ] You don't have to die over this, Joric. You certainly don't deserve to.

[ Such a thing sounds handy and like his pills wouldn't be taking up room she could use for something else. ]

I already know who: Daisy. I've told her about this.

[ Granted, that was a very recent admission on his part as well, spurred on by the sight of his memories, but luckily these are people he doesn't feel wary about having this information on him. ]

Back in my world, I hadn't given up. I was hoping to find a magical healer outside my country who could cure me. I can't go home again. I'd be executed for leaving the army without permission. But I suppose if my regret is undone this will never have happened and I can be home again.

[ she nods, easily. ] I trust her. I'd say with my life, but I'm not sure it applies the same way to me.

[ not when she'll bounce back from it. but daisy would save her anyway. ]

[ she's very familiar with the execution of deserters - most recently, it was booker's first death - but every thing she hears about this system joric comes from frustrates her as much as she understands it, simply because she's been around that kind of world (sans magic) for much longer than not. ]

Then don't ask anyone to kill you when you go full berserker mode. [ she's teasingly chastising him. ] But good. Maybe there is someone out there who can fix it, if the orb plan falls through.

[ He nods, feeling the same way. If anything, Daisy's determination and stubbornness can pull her through anything. So even if he were on the brink of death he's sure she'd figure out a way to keep him alive. ]

It's different here. I like the people so if it came between me and them...

[ Trailing off, he shrugs. ]

But no, I don't exactly have a death wish. I've just have some time to think up the worst scenario. Maybe there is someone out there who can help me. Time will tell.

[ daisy's stubbornness is a blessing and a curse, and andy would tell her so to her face. but she trusts her perhaps more than most on the station. maybe cares about her more than most too. ]

I get it, somewhat. The amount of metaphorical bullets I take here... [ she trails off, because it's exhausting, but she won't stop doing so. the people have grown on her too much. ]

With what you've been through, I'd be more surprised if you hadn't thought of worst case scenario. There's something about this station that seems to remind us there's more than that though. I'm glad you're open to a different plan.

[ Tell him about it. If he didn't like her half as much he wouldn't be willing to put up with her stubbornness half so well. ]

I hadn't expected it, but I'm glad to find people I want to be around.

[ The two of them discussed loneliness when he saw her memory, so he's sure she gets what he's saying. ]

I heard that we lose our memories of this place when we return home. On the one hand I understand why; it would hurt to be parted from the people I've come to know here. But on the other I would rather have the good memories to look back on.

[ the power of daisy johnson. ]

I hadn't expected it either. [ she hadn't arrived with the same kind of isolation as joric so much as a determination to avoid connection, for quỳnh's sake. ]

[ she thinks quỳnh would laugh at her for making those connections anyway. ]

There's a lot about this place I wouldn't remember anyway, but I have to admit, I'd like to keep some of it too. [ like memories of the aforementioned daisy, like the others she's grown incredibly fond of. ]

MISSION: THE AI AND THE COMMANDER

● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 4 . 0

F Y I

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