THE AMAZING BASE.

[agogemod]

WHO? Everybody!
WHAT? Welcome home, nerds.
WHEN? Outside time and space, in the aether between dimensions.
ANYTHING ELSE? There is also a fish. Please warn in subject lines for anything beyond physical violence and move to a personal journal if things go beyond PG-13.

MYSTERY FISH;

question the mystery fish

DEPARTING GALLIPOLI

The order comes the day after the Marie Antoinette sets sail:

PACK UP AND GET READY TO MOVE OUT. WE'VE DONE ALL WE CAN HERE.

DEPLOYMENT: BASE.

WE NEED TO RESTOCK. BE PREPARED FOR MORE TRANSFERS ON ARRIVAL.

STAY SAFE. TIME-STEP EXPECTED TO BEGIN WITHIN THE HOUR.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NEW TO COST: FIND A SECLUDED SPOT AND TRY NOT TO EAT ANYTHING BEFORE THE JUMP.

The Time-Step

The transfer begins like a vibrating heat on the collar bone, just a hum of sensation.

But the vibration spreads. Veteran COST soldiers often refer to this phenomenon as "the buzz". The feeling builds, not unlike standing near a great engine or the wind-rattled branches of a massive tree. There is a long moment of motion sickness and you can't be sure if the world is shaking you from the inside out or the outside in. It may be better to close your eyes against the growing nausea, as the world blurs out of focus.

A star shines in the distance. You may hear the faint rustling of leaves. Some swear they hear voices in this moment, indistinct words echoing off nothingness. Others say they feel a touch of the divine, that the eyes of the eternal look down upon you. Ancient bones rattle just out of earshot, cold and brittle and nothing more than the suggestion of sound. Or maybe it's only an illusion, brought on by the powerful technology grafted into your skin.

One thing is for sure: One moment you are here and the next you are not.

The shift takes you from whatever solitude you could find aboard the Marie Antoinette to the temperature-regulated hallway of what looks like a very poorly put together space station. Droids rush up and down the long hallway, fixing broken bits of machinery or just chattering with each other. A few crows sit on high ledges, looking down and watching. Someone mutters something about a centaur around the corner.

And you might just notice, provided you were in Gallipoli long enough to acquire stowaways, that the parasites lurking on your skin are mercifully gone.

For new arrivals who didn't experience Gallipoli: You, too, will appear in this long hallway, filled with droids and crows and humans (still filthy and clad in ANZAC uniforms, carrying battered equipment from the first World War). And you'll be wearing the minimal COST-issued athletic underwear and holding whatever one item you were allowed to bring. Surprise!

READ THE BASE INFOPAGE.

home away from home

Those who have been to BASE before may find a strangeness to it all: BASE seems...still. The windows show a verdant world instead of the usual aether (though with the typical paranoia), and the halls are bereft of all but a few crows. A man stands at the end of the long hallway you arrived in, waiting for you to get your bearings before he speaks.

Except, you know, he's not a man. He's a centaur.

"It's been barely a week since you left, by my reckoning. But for you, I'm sure, it's been much longer. Still, much has changed. You may have noticed we are...becalmed. This is due, it seems, to an error in our ways. We kept something that does not belong to us, several wild creatures that are meant to be free. They seem to have psychically called out to their home, and their home responded; we are now somewhat stranded.

"But let me explain—the Aether is the nexus between worlds and times, but it is not a dead thing. Creatures live in it. We have crashed onto the back of one such creature, a mighty beast, as large as a small country and entirely undiscovered. We have found why the creature has intercepted us: we have accidentally taken captive some of its children. Shapers, the wild creatures I mentioned, it seems they form a symbiotic bond with the creature, and live happily within its stomach."

He frowns, considering this.

"Shapers, I should mention, are creatures that briefly infested our fair BASE. The issue was dealt with, though we kept some for experimentation. The coelacanth took issue with this, it seems. It can speak, of course; we are stranded very near its head, and if you wish to ask it a question, I implore you to do so. The creature is older than creation—older than me—and only speaks once to any creature it encounters. It's said its wisdom brings kings to their knees."

His eyes crinkle in humor.

"My name is Chiron and I am the caretaker of this place, for those of you whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting. More importantly, I am a trainer and a teacher of some experience; if you wish training or schooling of any sort, do summon me. I will be happy to assist."

He's easy to contact, often found in the library, the training area, his capsule, or elsewhere in the station, attempting to fix what he understands and arguing with crows.

"We intended to spend this time exploring, for this is a rare opportunity to discover more of an entirely uncharted world. I hasten you to see if anything on the coelacanth can be of use, but be careful. Take only what you need, not what you may want. I intend to learn my lessons well; these creatures are not pets. Takes food, water, and any materials of use to us for our survival and perseverance, but no more. We task you with this: explore the coelacanth, and see what of it can be understood. Bring us back samples, but do try to interrupt the natural habitat as little as possible. We are guests here."

He bows and the action shows a slight limp in one of his back legs.

"I would join you, but I am far too old for such activities. Still, do pepper me with any questions you should encounter. I am always available on the network, or in person, within this hulking mass we call home."

And then he leaves you to find your capsules and rest.

CAPSULE ASSIGNMENTS

Once you've found your room and settled in—perhaps taken a shower, collected clothes, and eaten—a droid will approach you with camping equipment and give you a brief explanation of how to access and use the database. It's time to get your gear and go.

Of course, you can decline. You can stay and tend to the fort, maybe try and clean up this patchwork jumble of metal and machinery. But seeing the sights on the back of a giant fish flying through non-space? Who can say no to that?


the undiscovered country.

BASE's airlocks open into a lush valley, vibrant with color and rustling with life that has thrived on the coelacanth's back for millennia. It's a striking shift from the rot and gunfire of Gallipoli, unmarked by shrapnel, bombshells, and never-fresh air.

No, the air here is clean in a way that can leave you breathless, untouched by pollutants and stirred into a gentle breeze. It's a marked departure for anyone used to a more modern Earth or rough equivalent; letting the air sit on your tongue leaves a crisp, unsullied taste behind. And the whole forest feels alive, in a way that reminds you of how small you really are.

A white crow perches in a tree near BASE's exit, too high up to properly engage but a stark contrast to the bright leaves around her. She merely watches recruits come and go with a shrewd eye, feathers fluffed against the light chill. There are other crows scattered throughout the wilderness, some easier to find than others as they flit through the trees, sit on camping equipment, or hitch rides on the hoverbikes.

Besides those brief flashes of black feathers, however, you're left unsupervised.

Try not to fuck up anything too badly.

EXPLORE:INFOPAGE|DATABASE
talk to a fish | destruction report

NAV. NETWORK LOGS OOC MEMES PLURK

Comments

[heilt]

We needed to stop an assassination.

( and to keep the french army winning the war, as they had done in jerusalem )

We were successful there, though we also saw what the Regency were capable of.

( watching someone be dismembered before her eyes, and then wiped from existence, without anyone physically doing it to her... it had been hard to sleep )

[doublejumps]

[ Genji has sparred with Lena enough times that he can tell the difference between a blink and a recall. There's no streak of blue light to give her away this time, she simply vanishes, and Genji tries to count back in his mind and figure out where she'd been a few seconds before.

He half-turns in order to meet the kick, but isn't quite fast enough to keep it from connecting. He is fast enough to grab for her ankle before she lowers her leg, though, lifting it further up to force her off-balance. ]

You've been staying sharp, Lena.

[ There's something teasing in it. Not sharp enough, is the implication, though in all seriousness she's giving him a run for his money. Since this is just a friendly spar, Genji's taking the chance to enjoy himself. ]

[thunders]

I... magnanimously spared its life. [ The truth is that there are plenty of unimpressive stories about him; it's just that his friends are normally the ones to tell them. ]

[ryuji]

[He takes the exiling pretty well, all things considered. Thanks, Eren. Kicking him out of the house is a few months shy of his 18th birthday, but he appreciates it nonetheless.

Up next... the great wilderness. Time to reflect.]

[thunders]

[ He's pretty sure that's a type of sausage. ] Never heard of them.

[ Thor shovels more breakfast into his mouth. ] Adoptive family, that - can be nice. [ He's sure. For someone. ]

[raisedbybirds]

[Her true feelings on peace are of course more complicated that that, and a subject of many sleepless nights. Instead of ruminating on for more she thinks it couldn't hurt to ask a primordial fish creature's thoughts on it. She thinks Genji, especially from this conversation, is of a similar mind too.]

Of course.

[She'll gladly oblige the answer.]

[raisedbybirds]

[She follows along just fine even if it's easy to see he's condensing the story. Which is fair, they just met, though that doesn't lessen her curiosity so she isn't going to complain with what he does give her. Further more, she focuses in on how his terminology changes from vague guys and partners to "assets" and...]

There were kids involved? Did you save them?

[Don't get her wrong, cutting through a building wall with a sword of all things sounds impressive--he might not see the way her eyebrows go up as her imagination is kindled--but it isn't going to mean much to her if it was all in vain.]

[prizeneck]

[He nods, and it comes as a dismissive scoff - his version of reassurance.] They're both fine.

[Mamoru is well aware of the peculiarity of their situation. Haruka and Anna Riddle were both considered one in a million, Haruka with her precognitive skills, Anna with her genius and wisdom that goes even beyond his own age.

They're kids who barely had a chance at having a decent childhood. As someone who also lost his own to a drunk driver, he wishes he could settle everything as fast as he could to at least grant Haruka some sort of normalcy.] My partner is twelve years old, but she's strong enough to deal with something like that.

[prizeneck]

[Hm. Okay, that comes a little less easier. That the technology isn't as analog as the laundry machine got him fussing and he still has a knuckle sore from testing temperatures.]

there's a surface that looks like glass right
thats ceramics
there are two circles and below a sort of square drawn
press lightly on the square

[prizeneck]

[A soft hum precedes:] I get it. I do remember getting here, the whole recruitment process, but it must be real confusing for some people who had their BCE's glitched.

[Excuse you, Genji, he's going to zoom in into that particular detail.] You have friends here, then? That must be nice.

[He pauses to consider it. In fact, when isn't he hungry? But he was on a mission of mindmapping the rest of the ship, so he better follow through. Still...]

Thinking of getting a snack, then we can keep going, if you want.

[prizeneck]

Ya did what you had to do. [Mamoru leans back, a little further away from his bowl.] Sometimes politics and action don't mix.

[Not that he is... a perfect example of what you'd consider a diplomat. In fact, it's the total opposite, standing at the other side of the spectrum, or out of it completely. That Mamoru had been called anachronistic several times without even mentioning his penchant for the art of the sword kind of set himself apart from who usually made the calls.

Then again he was an instrument, not a judge, and he's aware of that.]

I was part of a similar group. We were independent, though, responded to a guy who oversaw the whole network but not much else. [He tilts his head, bringing his elbows a little closer to each other on the table to sit up a little straighter.] I had to work behind the scenes a lot, enough to know that sometimes it's just necessary.

What kinda mission was it?

[prizeneck]

[Mamoru should've expected that reply - it's simple, really. History repeating itself, each time with a new flare to make it relevant.

He grins, he can't help it, even if it's not aimed at 76 or at anyone or anything in particular. Mamoru can't help but be just a tiny bit delighted at the fact that even a seemingly all powerful group such as the Regency can't help but have a thorn in their neck. Even if COST felt like just an annoying splinter and not much else. ]

What d'ya think came first, the chicken or the egg?

[doublejumps]

[ That smile from 9S draws one out of Genji as well. It's good to see that the android is still able to manage a smile, even with the state of his world sounding so dire. Then again, if that's all he's ever known, maybe it makes it a little easier to find those silver linings.

It's not as if Earth is in the best shape right now either. There's still discord, there's still groups like Talon out there, and there's even talk of another Crisis. But all of that will have to wait, it seems. ]

It feels that way.

[ Genji lets out a breath and lifts a hand to point at the lake that they're slowly moving toward. ]

It must be in there.

[mylawn]

Not sure that’s an apt comparison.

[Maybe it’s circular, but in Jack’s experience, war and conflict seems like the default state of humans. Maybe peace is temporarily achievable, but it seems in human nature to eventually fall back into chaos. A utopia seems so far out of reach, especially for someone who’s spent his entire life fighting for one cause or another.]

Feels like humans are always going to be fighting about something.

[raisedbybirds]

[I mean he's not wrong... they could be chicken sausage.]

You sound uncertain.

[She says, this time finishing chewing but pointing with her fork.]

[neutronium]

"What can I say?" Hux gives a bright, albeit brief, grin. "We are good at what we do." He would never not be proud of the accomplishments that the First Order had achieved.

Still, Hux shrugs his shoulders. "Perhaps; we don't know the technology nor the ships that the Regency uses--or at least I do not. We can't assume they are in the same state we are." Given their position, he would assume they were better off, actually.

"And no, I suppose we must take the risk into consideration, but accept it, just the same." What else could they do? Besides defect, and Hux already knew that Chiron would not do such a thing.

[horsepowered]

"You are. And I'm pleased that there are parts of the universe that have experimented and achieved such feats that my own people could only dream of."

Although perhaps that was for the best. Greeks in space sounds like a poor idea at best, and an invitation to pure stupidity at worst.

"Mm. They may have better mastery, but there was doubtlessly a point in time in their experimentation when they had greater problems with the technology. It would make no sense otherwise, the trajectory of experimentation must follow the same, or at least a similar, arc."

[prizeneck]

[It's part of human nature, he agrees. Mamoru barely has any recollection of when he didn't think about violence, injustice, anything that made people fight for and fight against. Only a rosy, halcyon blur in his mind that is quickly replaced with a tire screech.]

That's what people like me are for, I guess. [And 76, he supposes, but he knows that he doesn't need to say it.] To fight until they think they figured it out, then when they realize they haven't.

[deem]

Maybe, but...the feeling an android gets out of combat is supposed to be modeled after love. We're built to get a certain fulfillment out of it, know what I mean?

[For soldiers fighting an endless war, it makes sense to 9S, just as it made sense to Jackass when she'd gathered enough data on the topic. Such a design ensured that combat rewarded them in some way.

9S can't say it feels exactly like love does. A fight certainly is satisfying in its own way, but his experience with love is complicated]

But it'd be nice to relax, or well, not have to worry about the enemy cropping up pretty much anywhere.

[deem]

Yeah, I think you're right.

[There 9S pauses, if only to look Genji over, a quick scan down and then back up, watching for any signs of damage or apparent distress. Finding no clear damage, he looks to the man's face]

You doing okay?

[While he's confident in his ability to perform maintenance, he does want to ensure that present company is in good stead, this close to whatever they're to find. Better that than knowingly risking significant damage when they have little by way of supplies]

[neutronium]

"Dreaming is always the start. It may take a millennia, but you may reach the same heights." It might sound condescending, but Hux doesn't mean it to; he doesn't know anything about Earth and this level of technology is not easy to achieve at first. Some plants in his Galaxy still have never really experienced such things, after all.

Giving a nod of his head, Hux smiles softly. "I am quite sure." Closing his eyes for a moment, he lets his fingers drift in the grass. "I suppose we should get going, hm? ...we can't stay forever." As nothing ever lasts forever.

[ooc: figure we can start wrapping this up and I can hit you up on the salon. Ive been trying to keep myself from getting swamped cause I've spread his spider legs thin.]

[horsepowered]

"There's another culture that came after ours that had a pithy saying about that," Chiron says with real warmth in his voice. "It translates as through difficulties, to the stars."

It's a good and enduring phrase. Good on the Latins for saying it.

"Ah. Five more minutes. And some sample gathering, I think."

[ooc: I think we can call it here and roll over to the salon!]

i see ur matchy icons

[thunders]

[ Anything is possible with enough creativity and an open fire. ]

I mean no offense. [ He holds up a hand in a vaguely placating gesture. ] My brother was adopted. When he found out, he didn't take it well. He lost his way, tried to kill me, tried to take over Earth... It was a whole thing. [ More vague gestures. ]

But on the rare occasion... [ Thor looks down at his breakfast, spearing a sausage. ] I could see how things could have been different.

[ He stuffs the sausage into his mouth. He really could go for some strong ale with this. ] I mean, you didn't try to take over a planet or anything, did you?

[mylawn]

Yeah, I know what you mean.

[76 isn’t programmed, not in the sense that 9S might be, but it doesn’t change the fact that war is what he’s built for. He might be able to say he gets a similar sort of satisfaction just from being able to do his job and do it well.

His problem is that he doesn’t envision a retirement for himself, not the way 9S is describing. He likes to think he’s come to terms with it.]

It’s a good thought.

[One to hold on to, maybe.]

[mylawn]

[76 is at least self aware enough to know that Mamoru’s statement applies to him, too. He’s not sure what’s going to happen to him once the fight is done, so he carries on like the fight won’t ever be over. If he hasn’t come to terms with it by now…]

Not really much of a way to live.