[M] Penitence

[Imperial1917]

Being the last to post and having no co-post in the works, I've got nothing right now.

[Azazeal849]

Yes, and I don’t want to keep you waiting too much longer. With that in mind:

@Atrum Daemon and @dakkagor - Paint hasn’t logged on for a couple of weeks, so on the assumption that he’s currently indisposed, can you please gloss over sections featuring his characters as best you can (they can be filled in later, and the course of conversations / events tweaked accordingly) and just post for yourselves for the moment? If you have partially-completed co-posts with Paint, just add them to your post with a “HOLD” or “TBC” placeholder at the end.

[Azazeal849]

@Imperial1917 - planning to kick up a new plot-mover next week, which should make for the second-last (?) round of posts before we can call this thing complete.

[Azazeal849]

Okay, and thus starts my attempt to get things moving on into the final couple of scenes.

@dakkagor - I have deliberately had the NPCs square off against non-entity Nebulas (apart from Marc going for Arcolin since, really, there’s no other plausible outcome) so that Kally and Tomas can pick their sparring partners. For this scene I am happy for you to NPC Crenshaw, Glabrio and Sapphira. Alicia is of course a narratively satisfying target, as is Kirabo (previous beef with Kally) and McLaughlin (the guy who shot and nearly killed Vince). Callisto will be pairing up with Alicia, and Ella will be trying to get the hell out of the way. If you want to dogpile Arcolin that’s okay too, although a couple of Nebulas are liable to join in and make it more of a team fight.

Things to note: you have only a few seconds before the Nebulas’ satrophene injectors kick in; use them wisely. Also, while we’d prefer for at least one ranking Nebula to be captured, the death sentence on Arcolin of course still stands.

@Atrum Daemon (and Dakkagor) - Raechel’s word “Oh” just about sums it up. This is a very nasty data daemon, and it’s on the offensive. Because it’s not a computer program Viz’ soul-killer won’t knock it out (it is also currently blocking him from using that same soul-killer to strike at Arthrashastra). First objective is to survive the neurofeedback. Failure to achieve this will make it hard to accomplish much else.

@Imperial1917 - I have deliberately not placed Trist in the post, because he might need some freedom to roam the ship depending on his objectives. If he’s feeling loyal to the Imperium, then calling the Impiger to board the station and destroy Arthrashastra is still a good idea, though a bit harder now that Gav is preoccupied and Ella has turned traitor (you can assume she never sent that first warning to Impiger either...). Perhaps if he goes to find the Tiercel’s tech priest he can rig up an incredibly crude but detectable solution for the Impiger’s sensors by using the ship’s warp core to pulse some kind of morse code message? Or perhaps he’d prefer to man a turret, fire at the Arthrashastra, and hope their Navy allies can put two and two together?

Alternatively, if he’s feeling loyal to Adrantis then he should probably hop in an escape pod over to the Arthrashastra, perhaps after committing some kind of sabotage...or maybe he wants to commandeer the entire vessel by running up to the vox mast and shooting the preoccupied tech-team in the back of the head?

[dakkagor]

Well. I didn't see that coming!

[PaintSerf]

*falls through a plot hole that manifests on the ceiling and lands with a heavy thud*

Ow.

[Azazeal849]

Welcome back! Feel free to overwrite any relevant text that I’ve put together in your absence.

[PaintSerf]

Welcome back! Feel free to overwrite any relevant text that I’ve put together in your absence.

Thank you, thank you.

I'll leave well enough alone for now, as knowing me I'd fall right back down into the backlog chasm.

While I'd love to pick-up where I left off (if only because I like to show the moments where Crenshaw internally goes to mush about Kally, especially when he's looking at her and fiddling with a ring...which also happens to be a concealed las - which, come to think of it, may not even work 'cause Alley's traitorous scum) it'd probably be for the best to keep moving forward.

I think the only exception would be finishing out the scene when Gavin rouses Viz...for that one hell of a reason.

[Azazeal849]

As you wish! It’s pretty much just the wrap-up after this round, but I’ll be setting aside some time before The Big War to try some different things (and also to let Dak focus on GE2). There should therefore be plenty of time to backfill missing scenes.

[Azazeal849]

@Atrum Daemon and @Imperial1917, have you seen the latest? I have received replies from Dak and Paint.