agogelogs | THE AMAZING BASE.

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THE AMAZING BASE.

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

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Hux gave a nod. "Poison usually is the quickest way to down something--or at least take it out as it's taking you down." Mutually assured destruction, and all; Hux believes in that.

Giving a shrug, he smiled softly, his brow furrowing as he tried to keep his face somewhat stoic, still--but failing. "I know it's the effect of the tree more than anything, but I'm not overly interested in exploring, more. I'd prefer to just spend time resting here."

Again, this is a sensation he rarely ever feels; perhaps it's selfish, but he'd like to take advantage of the time he had with it.

"I suppose. It was looked down upon in my own time due to the backhanded nature."

The Greeks just really liked stabbing folks and getting it over with, really. Not that Chiron would even think to utter such a general overstatement, but still.

At Hux's expression of wanting to sit and rest for a while, Chiron nods. The tree is downright intoxicating, and in truth, his mind is in a similar place.

"I've no problem with that at all. Just signal to me when you want to get moving again."

Hux gave a slight snort, tilting his head to the side. "Let people look down on it all they want; but results matter in the end." The ends justify the means. Not always, of course--but often.

"Of course." Hux was pleased that Chiron was willing to rest with him. He wasn't sure if there was anyone else that would take the risk with him; he was still learning who was willing to hazard time with him. This place was so different from the Order, after all.

"May I ask you a question, Chiron?"

"I suppose. But if cultural norms demand forthright acton and place honor upon that as the only correct way to do things," well, Hux ccould figure it out from there. As it was, Chiron knew very well how it wold read to his own people.

As Hux sat, he continued to prod at the tree, ginger and taking advantage of the height his normal legs gave him.

"Of course. What is it?"

Hux gave a small snort. "'Honor' is something people often cling to when they have nothing else. It's often used to shield bad actions," he countered. His father certainly liked 'honor' and he was the worst of them all.

"Why did you choose to join this cause?" He looked up at Chiron frankly, quirking an eyebrow. "If you remember, of course. Why choose to leave what you were doing, and come here?"

Somehow, Hux's cynicism about the concept did not surprise Chiron in the least. "Often, yes. But as I said, it's a matter of cultural norm, and plenty of groups rely on that concept among others. Depending on which city you were in within my time, some elements shifted."

Athens and Sparta are the obvious ways of expounding, but Hux hasn't asked that.

"In truth, I don't recall." But that had never bothered Chiron. Not when he learned the truth of the war and what it entailed. "But given all I've learned, I can easily see why I'd remotely entertain the possibility."

"I assume your city, or your group was high on honor, then?" Chiron often attempted to seem relatively neutral in their talks, but Hux had no doubt he had his own thoughts on each subject they spoke about, but often talked in the royal 'we' to keep things less than personal.

Ah, so he was one of those. Which surprised Hux, honestly; with the way that Chiron spoke on things, and the fact there was a doppleganger of him here--he would have thought of all people, he would have chosen this.

It made him more distrustful of COST than ever, regardless if Chiron trusts them. He would have felt more testy over this, were it not for the tree. "Does it not bother you, that you can't remember? You still trust COST despite that."

"The overall culture was, yes." There is a pause, before he elaborates on why his own responses tend to remove himself from the answer. "Understand that I lived a little outside of the city-states of Greece, on a mountain known as Mount Pelion, and so I don't dare to place myself squarely within the realms of men."

For Chiron, it's an important distinction. He knows his people, their history, their values, he was a product of all of those things. But to not lived within their walls, not been truly subject to their laws, that's a nuance that should be kept.

His response to being bothered about a memory gap is probably not what Hux is expecting. "Have you ever been summoned through magic or teleportation seemingly against your own will?"

"I assume you lived apart due to your nature. Were common people aware of what you were? Or did you usually live apart, in this form?" He gestured to the centaur's frame. Hux knew that he might seem invasive with his questions, but with the calm of the tree, he was finding himself more willing to be curious and just ask questions he might have simply made assumptions about, previously.

At question, Hux frowns. "...no. Besides what COST does, I have never experienced anything like that." The force abilities used on him to throw him across a room, or slammed into a floor don't count.

"Oh, centaurs weren't uncommon. More out in the wilderness, of course, but people knew what they were, along with nymphs, dryads, and all the other spirits, gods, and demi-gods that occupied their own spaces in every level of Greece and her many islands." They were a part of the whole place. It was a time of gods and their ilk.

Chiron nods. "Well, I have. Once before, and shortly before COST summoned me. So the sensations, the feelings, they weren't novel. An advantage over many people here, I'll admit."

Most of those creatures were unknown to him, but Hux decided not to ask about them. Given the differences in worlds, it wasn't so surprising, and really to speak on all the differences would mean they would be here for ages. He gained the answer he was looking for.

Though it did lead to one question that had some pertinence. "For you, what is the difference between spirits, gods, and demi-gods?" For Hux, he would have thought they would be one and the same.

"Yes, I suppose. I've experienced hyperspace jumps for as long as I can recall--and those can cause sickness in people who have never felt it. I suppose the feeling is similar...even if the result is different."

"Well, there's a hierarchy of sorts, based on parentage. There is a pantheon of 12 major gods. If they have children with mortals, those children are demi-gods. Usually my charges." That was the easy part. "Spirits is sort of a catch all, perhaps legendary creatures would be a bit more fitting. They're not born of gods, but they're non-human consorts of them, usually associated with aspects of nature."

That's about as simple as he can make it, in the end.

"Mm. May I ask what they are then, or perhaps more precisely, how they transport an individual?"

"Ah. It does not sound very egalitarian; but then again, power rarely is." There is no judgement in his voice, just an observation. For all force users speak of how anyone could be born to have the powers, it seems to run in families. Which is how most things do. He just prefers honestly about it.

Hux lets his fingers trail over the grass beside him. When was the last time he felt anything like this? He can't remember. "Hyperspace is what we use to travel quickly through space on our ships. Hyperdrives manipulates hypermatter particles in order to thrust a starship into hyperspace. It takes advantage of the wrinkles in the fabric of realspace."

"In truth, it is probably easier to just say it's messy due to inter-family relations and leave it there." Technically, Chiron's parents were either Titans or the offspring thereof, and his own place on the hierarchy ought to be higher than it was. "It is messy to explain, after all."

The family trees? Way worse.

Chiron pauses, trying to follow Hux's explanation. There's a lot of words he doesn't know, but he thinks he understands it. "So basically you're manipulating natural occurrences and using them to speed through."

"I can understand that. I think if families are around long enough, they often become difficult to explain." Convoluted messes; his is complicated for different reasons, but that is for another time.

He wishes there was a better way to explain things that didn't involve his terms--but translating it into other words was difficult. Still, Chiron seemed to understand. "Yes; almost like folding a map in two, and just moving directly from point to point." That was a vast oversimplification, something he didn't like to do--but without fully defining terms, it was perhaps a better way.

"And the moment immortality is thrown into the mix, complications multiply." Is that a near smile on Chiron's face? It may well be. He looks amused at the very least, offering a very small smile.

It endures as Hux confirms that Chiron actually has understood the concept of hyperspace well enough. He wasn't expecting to, given how advanced it sounds, but it's a nice little victory to have. "Fascinating. What are the effects it has on the body?"

Immortality seems like something no one should have; even though Hux knows he could do a great deal of good with such a gift--all he can think is that it would cause chaos, in the end. But still, he smiles back, because there is something comforting--beyond the tree--being able to talk to someone like this, and share thoughts. This was rarely something he was ever able to do back where he came from, for so many reasons.

"Well, as the traveling here can, it can make one queasy if you aren't used to it--but on large ships, as long as all systems are working, nothing at all. You might not even know it's happening." Hux smirked. "I'm sure the early versions of it were messy and much harder to bear on the body--but we've perfected it to the point where it's almost nothing at all."

Chiron is nothing if not a wise centaur, and that makes for good conversation in the end. He himself has been quite pleased for the more pleasant conversations to be had thanks in no small part to Hux, and to this entire mission. It is such a breath of fresh air after the trenches. Their exact opposite, in fact.

"Oh, I meant long term," he clarifies. "I can imagine that the technology is perfected. But I also would conclude that it may impact aging, heart health, and other relates issues. Unless your technology likewise renders those concerns irrelevant, which would not shock me in the least."

Leaning his head back against the tree, looking up into the branches, Hux gives a slight shrug. "As far as I am aware, there are no long terms effect on the body, as long as the durasteel on the ship is well enforced and not compromised. Of course, if the ship is old and has trouble, there could be effects where aging could happen in a strange way." It is a hypothesis, only. Usually if there is a weakness in the ship it would fail and kill someone before any sort of long term effect could be felt.

A beat, then, "Do we know if the travel COST uses has any long term effects?" Though he supposes, they most likely wouldn't tell them.

"Mm. Fascinating that ship integrity is the only issue at hand," Chiron murmurs, before considering Hux's question. It...it's actually a pretty good one. He rubs his chin, considering. "I might ask myself. I expect that if we suffer damage from it, then the Regency must as well."

Or the Regency is equipped to deal with ill effects. Regardless. "I wouldn't discount the possibility, I'll put it that way."

"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.

"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."

"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.]

"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!]

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THE AMAZING BASE.

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