exsiliumlogs | (CLOSED) My hands are tied, for all I've seen has changed my mind

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(CLOSED) My hands are tied, for all I've seen has changed my mind

Date & Time: Forward-dated to Nov. 16 0300hrs through Nov.19th ~0230hrs
Location: Observatory, East Loading Bay, Transporter Room, Various (read: everywhere)
Characters: Pro-Initiative and Mutineer action teams
Summary: With mutineers occupying the transporter room and vital base systems hamstrung, Pro-Initiative forces work against mutineer teams to bring those systems back online and reach the transporter room.
Warnings: None yet (will update as necessary...because lbr ‘none yet’ isn’t going to last long)
Notes: All threads, with the exception of the Transporter Room B, are open for posting beginning now. Transporter Room B will kick off on Nov.16th proper in order to incorporate decision making from earlier action team’s choices and to maintain tonal cohesion. Community wide mingle log for the mutiny will go up on Nov. 16th.

[At 0300hrs on November 16th, things suddenly go wrong. The network cuts out, lighting abruptly goes from artificially sterile to the unsettling flickering of red emergency lighting. Furniture, supplies and even Transports suddenly find themselves untethered from the ground as the base’s gravity regulation abruptly shuts down; moreover, it isn’t long before Transports begin to realize they’ve been locked off from anything but the housing(/restrooms), vr and cafeteria sections of the base. Not long after:

Click-HHHSSSHK-click!

A woman’s voice speaks over the moon base’s PA system, echoing through the dark corridors and off the odds and ends gently floating through them thanks to the lack of gravity regulation. The voice is rich and accented, with a certain practiced ease to it - one that sharpens to a point the longer she talks:]

Testing. Testing-- are we good? Christ, I'm not echoing, am I? No?

All right good. Listen up, fellow transports. As you might have noticed, some of the base's general systems have gone offline: this, I assure you, is absolutely intentional. There's no need to panic.

So moving on from the understandably frustrating to the even more frustrating, I'm sure you all have also noticed the fact that we're currently all stuck-- starving and defenseless-- on the bloody moon. In a base that was, up until a few days ago, overrun with zombies. And before that, thousands of lives were bombed right out of existence, and before that, an entire world-- and before that we were all still being thrown at the United Earth for the sake of dying off repeatedly in a war we never stood a chance or had a say in. Transports have been treated like pawns since day one, and I'm sorry, but we don't deserve it.

If we're giving up our lives and our freedom, I'd say it's about time we earned ourselves a little equality.

We deserve a say in what goes on in this fight, and with that in mind, a few of us have decided to hold onto the transporter for a while. Just until the Initiative agrees to treat us like people instead of ammunition. Trust me, we’re not here to hurt anyone; none of this has to end badly. But it does need to end. Things have got to change. And if this is what it takes? This is what it’s going to be.

We need your help; please don’t make it any harder for us.

[The PA clicks off, pitching the base once more into complete radio silence.

Over the course of the next four days, pro-Initiative transports gather their resources and individuals form impromptu (or well planned) teams to bring these systems back online and out of the hands of mutineers so they can ultimately reach the transporter room and set things to right -- whatever that “right” may be.]

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[There’s only so many hours of floating around aimlessly in cruel, red emergency lighting while disconnected from the network that anyone can take; in this case, it’s almost exactly twelve and a half!]

Edited 2013-11-15 02:45 (UTC)

[Now that everyone has their feet on solid ground, the next sensible step is to get the network up and running. Hard to strategize and regroup on multiple fronts when communication with vital parties isn’t just a button click away.

Soon after communications come back online, the PA clicks on with its distinct feedback noise. A moment later, the same woman from yesterday’s announcement begins to speak. There’s a forced light heartedness about the words, a sarcasm there clearly meant to cut:]

Okay, look. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot, yeah? Because some of you-- and I won't name names, 'batfamily'-- seem to think we're not on the same side here. I know it's a pain in the ass when you're stuck sitting in the same spot day in and day out: we've been doing it for the past year, after all. But it'd be nice if you would stop turning on everything we've turned off, all right?

Keep the network, keep the gravity. Fine. It's a show of good faith on our part that we'd rather you not die of boredom. Did I mention it's boring in here? You know, fighting for transport equality.

Because it really is.

[Click. The PA shuts off.]

Edited 2013-11-15 02:46 (UTC)

[With comms back online, being able to see what you’re doing might be a good step forward - it’ll help with recon and go a long way to establishing a sense of normalcy on the base for anyone not directly involved in the conflict.

With lighting back on, the click-hiss-click of the PA system coming on as a result is probably familiar. There’s a beat - a sharp intake of breath from the other end - and then the same woman who’s been addressing the base for the past two announcements speaks. This is the last message they’ll send out, though they likely don’t know it yet.]

We get it, okay? You want to do the right thing; you want to be the hero. So just-- just stop for two seconds and think about how much you need this change. How much we all need this change. Stopping us now won't make anything better, I promise you that. Worlds have been destroyed thanks to their carelessness-- their own bloody city wiped out and left behind-- you can't seriously think we should be answering to them without a say in what goes on.

[And here a man’s voice breaks in for the first time. It’s heavily accented, likely distinct enough that anyone familiar with Cutter will recognize it. His voice is also clipped - raw - clearly tired:]

Look, obviously this isn’t the way we’d prefer to do this - but there’s no time for anything else. There’s a bloody UE rover out there - if they don’t know we’re here already, they will soon. We can either do this now, get our foot in the door and get enough of a voice to fix things, or we risk being wiped off the map by the UE. Or we go back to status quo, somehow pull together our shit long enough to get back down on the island and-- then what? Because don’t try to sell it to me that the Initiative will learn from their mistakes and if we wait until we’re downstairs again, when there’s time for diplomacy, they’ll be back to outnumbering us and we’ll have nothing. We’ll have frittered away our only bargaining chips.

This whole time there’s been two options to how this moon base nonsense ends: either the UE crushes us, or we get back to Exsilium and return to cowtowing to whatever the Initiative demands until they land us back in a situation just like this one.

Now there’s a third option.

[The first voice returns, nearly talking over the man’s last point.]

It might not be the way you'd go about it but this is the only shot we've got at pulling this off, before the Initiative is staffed enough to keep us away from their toys.

Don’t let it be for nothing.

[There’s a click and a hiss as the PA system switches off.]

Edited 2013-11-15 02:46 (UTC)

[If there’s to be any hope of getting to the transporter room, the mutineers and liberating the Initiative hostages there, the door controls will have to be overridden or repaired. Which brings us to early on day four of the mutiny when finally…:]

[With the doors taken care of just after midnight, that leaves a straight shot to the transporter room. Well, relatively -- the radio communications and recon attempts from the past two days have likely made it known that there are mutineers waiting in both the observatory and east loading bay; pro-Initiative transports will probably want to somehow deal with both so no one cuts in during the last dance in the transporter room itself.

Anyone going through the observatory with be faced by Seviilia Brightwing and James Bond; anyone passing through the east loading bay will have to deal with Connor and Maria Thorpe.]

Edited 2013-11-15 02:47 (UTC)

[Once past the last line of defense, pro-Initiative forces will finally be able to move into the Transporter Room proper. They’ll find themselves face to face with a small group of largely non-powered mutineers and the three Initiative members who were in the room at the time of the initial takeover. How the arrival of pro-Initiative transports is welcome is entirely defined by the choices that have led to this moment.]

Edited 2013-11-15 02:47 (UTC)

[The first thing anyone entering the observatory will notice is that there is a steady, yet heavy echo occurring in the open space -- the sound of plate armored boots marching in a beat as their owner paces from one end of the room to the other, blocking the path to the transporter room. Even from a distance, it is not difficult to tell that she is armed with two very sharp axes, each surrounded by a purple and blue miasma that seems very intent on their magics staying separated from one another even as they flow freely around the blades. The only other discernible features from a distance are her pointed ears and glowing blue eyes, narrowed in disdain. If the PA transmissions were anything to go by, things were not going well and they would be joined by company soon.

Seviilia, covered from head to toe in black plated armor adorned with skulls and spikes with weapons in hand, very clearly does not appear to be prepared for negotiations. Occasionally, her ears will twitch and she will stop pacing to glance around suspiciously before looking back to her partner in crime to ensure he hadn't somehow seen something she had missed.

With his heartbeat so close, it would be harder to hear others approaching.]

[When "Cobalt" is sent out of the transporter room to help defend it, he sets to work preparing the east loading bay immediately. The mutiny hasn't gone as smoothly as they might have hoped it would and now they're facing considerable opposition from their fellow Transports. Connor isn't surprised by this development himself: he has long known just how many Transports side with their captors, through thick, thin, and even the most foolish and criminal of their decisions.

So it's come down to this, a final effort by a select few of Chloe and Charlie's ragtag group to fend off those blind soldiers. The mutineers must hold the transporter room or all their planning and hard work could be for naught...

Those who approach the east loading bay will find a small tripwire bomb inside the hallway door. Though it's a rudimentary explosive and not very powerful, it packs enough of a punch to knock a grown man off his feet and cause some superficial damage. Connor doesn't honestly expect anyone will be careless enough to step on an unconcealed bomb planted right in the middle of their path, but hopefully it will serve as a deterrent or at least slow advancing Transports down.

Beyond the doorway and the bomb lies a loading bay that appears to be empty... of living occupants, anyway. Some of the contents of the storage compartments have been dragged out and arranged into piles. Strategic clutter piles.

It looks a little like a maze, actually.

The mutineers assigned to this area could be anywhere, taking cover behind any given heap of stuff. And who knows what powers they possess or what weapons they might have aimed at the doorway? Best tread with caution.]

[When your characters arrive at the main lighting control panel, what they’re greeted with is a real mess. It’s plain that this was no accidental power failure, where there was once a neat bundle of wires and a line of fuses, there is now chaos; the wires have been severed, with foot-long chunks missing, and the fuses have all been pulled out (a few lie smashed on the floor). It’s nothing catastrophic; anyone with basic electrical skill could fix it, but they would need replacement wire and new fuses. Until those things are found the lights will stay off.

The Supply Closet located below the cafeteria, where things like spare fuses would normally be found, is in mild disarray. The place hasn’t been tossed exactly, but someone was clearly looking for something. And they found it, because there aren't any fuses or wires in sight.

As it turns out, they have been hidden. The wires are located in one of the kitchen’s fridges. The fuses can be found in a locked stall in the Northwest bathroom.

Meanwhile, at the torn-up panel, a sound can be heard in the dimly-lit distance.]

[ the swearing precedes the man. a pinched, angry look adorns han's face. this has not been a good day, gaiz. all his hard work. ruined. ~~by his hand. while others helped.~~ ]

You listening? When I find out who was responsible, I'm gonna use you for target practice!

[ when he spots others near the panel, his look darkens. han's hand floats by his blaster as he braces himself against a wall. ]

Talk. Who are you?

[This day has been just awful, and Han's arrival doesn't really improve the situation. Asch turns from the panel when he hears Han swearing and tenses up when the bounty hunter lets his hand hover near his blaster. Asch himself doesn't reach for his weapon, but only because he knows from his experiences with Legretta that even his fastest draw will be several times too slow to matter.]

We're here to fix the lights. [Asch doesn't offer his name--not yet, at least. He thinks that Han is vastly more interested in explanations that introductions.] And you?

Still not sure why we needed to put everyone in danger on the base in order to make a point. [Peter's muttering to himself as he looks over the fuses, wires, mentally cataloging what needs to be fixed. When Han Solo shows up—Han Freaking Solo!—he's got to force himself to finish his list in his head. Peter figures that if he dismantled his webshooters, he could make something to fix some of this, but he doesn't think dismantling his webshooters is a good idea right now. They have plans involving them.

He resists answering Asch's question, even if it's hard to believe that someone wouldn't know who Hana Solo was. Interdimensional whatever, and they just didn't make Star Wars universal? That's a crime!]

And I've got this covered. [He places a hand on his head, what a pain.] ... Mostly.

Edited 2013-11-15 16:55 (UTC)

I'm the one who's been fixing the lights since we got here, buddy. [ if they were any closer, han would be prodding a finger into asch's chest. he settles for an unimpressed glare. ] And the doors and the life support and the gravity and I don't appreciate my hard work being undone.

[ as if deciding they're not a threat, he lets his hand drift away from the blaster. han moves closer, trying to glimpse the panel proper. ]

You carry fuses on you, kid? [ it's a sign of how long he's been traveling that peter's getup doesn't even merit blinking. ] You're gonna need 'em. I was just at the supply closet; it's been cleaned out. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. [ aheh. ]

[Han doesn't look like he's going for his weapon anymore, so Asch steps aside and lets him pass. He could still attack, but Asch doesn't see any bladed weapons on him--and if he's there to fix the lights then there's nothing to worry about. The news of the cleaned out supply comment makes him frown.]

Damnit. [Stupid mutineers. Asch considers the new information for a moment before he speaks again.] The lights can be fixed, so mutineers obviously don't want the base crippled permanently. If they didn't destroy the panel, then I doubt they destroyed the replacement parts. [Asch lets out an irritated huff.] We'll just have to find them.

But if they took them, wouldn't they be with them?

[Peter's definitely caught in to the absence of the fuses, and he didn't even know where to look, so he's glad this guy bought him some time. His slow down and come up with a solution kind of mindset begins to kick into gear. Lack of fuses, hidden fuses, this place isn't even running that well, and Peter's still annoyed at the point in time where they lacked gravity. That's one thing that can really mess with a guy who sticks to walls.]

Unless that's part of the plan. Make an easy job harder, keep us distracted. [After all, if someone can fix this, then they can probably go help out elsewhere.] So much for doing what needs to be done. I'm still lost on why we couldn't have tea and talk this over like friends.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it's because there is no tea. [ or decently timed showers. ]

Guess the first step would be finding out who did it. [ running around after an imaginary person with a pocket-load of fuses. excellent. this is going great already. ]

Someone staging an armed mutiny probably wasn't in the mood to talk in the first place. [Asch's tone is distinctly annoyed. There were better ways to push the Initiative into cooperating, but there's no sense in talking about it now.]

I'm sure they took some of it, but... [He's seen that storage room before. It's pretty big.] There's no way they could carry an entire supply closet with them, not in the middle of something like this. There might not be any spare wiring left, but there's going to be something we can work with. [Even if they have to disassemble the coffee machine--not that he thinks anyone will miss it.]

[Maria was uncertain, at first, how much help she could really be in all this. She's more than willing, but she has no powers and few weapons.

Fortunately, she does have a mind for tactics—as does Connor, and for one of the first times since she arrived here, they're of one mind and more than able to work in accord. It may just be the two of them at the final line of defense on this side of the transporter room, but the key factor is that no one knows that.

No one in a position to stand against them, at least.

She maintains her position far enough from Connor that if an attack comes, they won't be boxed in together, but maintaining a clear eyeline. The radio is with her, but having sat through instruction on its operation, its volume is at a low setting to avoid giving away her station.]

[Well. Kang can't help but be a little impressed by the setup. He's still pissed this is even happening, but they seem to know what they're doing, at least when it comes to defense.

He has no idea what to expect, so he's being cautious. So far, the mutineers have been very clear on not wanting any violence, but it's entirely possible not everyone is going with the plan. He doesn't want any violence, either. He approaches slowly with a hand on the hilt of his sword, trying his best to not let his claws click on the metal floor and give away their position (that is, if they haven't already been spotted).]

[The actual damage to the door systems is relatively minimal - some of the wiring's been torn out in a few places, but it could probably be spliced back together. In other places gears have been jammed. Most of them seem to have been forced to overload via a well-timed power-surge or have been shut down remotely. The main control panel's been locked down with some kind of encryption, but anyone with experience in code-cracking will probably be able to get past it or brute-force it without too much trouble.

It'll still take time, of course.

And if that all fails, there's always magic.]

[The time for spygames had come to an end, but James can deal with head on collisions just as well. Discussion wasn't something he was prepared to linger on, those fighting for the Initiative making it perfectly clear that they intended to oppose rather than support. Bloody idiots.

Against the heavily plated Death Knight, Bond seems a little under-dressed in his tailored suit, not to mention apparently unarmed going by first looks alone. Granted there's a pistol and knife concealed, but those aren't something he'll be showing until the need arises. He likes to play his own cards very close to his chest, after all.

While his company paces, he remains still, guarding the transporter room door stolidly while his gaze drifts about the room, watching and waiting for any sight or sound beyond the heavy thumping of plated boots.]

Ssssso.

[ Ella mutters next to him as she looks around casually, although she's also making her best attempt at being silent. Years of hiding have made her particularly good at it. ]

I take it they're not inviting us to play hide and seek, right? Nothing can ever be simple.

[ Humor beats her incredibly spoiled mood at the moment, really! ]

[Raiden is grateful for his stealth training now, otherwise his heavy, metal body would be making a lot of noise.

He slinks alongside Ella, his AR visor drawn over his face and his sword at the ready. The Augmented Reality display shows people hiding throughout the loading bay. Useful to know their general location, but since his AR does not show walls very well it's hard to pinpoint them.]

They're hiding...

[His voice is soft, and rusty and he speaks mostly to Kang.]

I can take point if you want. I'm a scout. Maybe I can flush them out....

[The sound of Sev's boots is unmistakable, especially to Koltira -- after all, it's the same sound his footfalls make as he strides up the corridor, intent on getting through whatever obstacles might remain. He doesn't have Byfrost drawn, yet, but he flexes his fingers in agitation once he sees who's waiting for him.]

Stand down.

[ Batwoman moves quietly along with the group, ever vigilant and ready to strike at a moment's notice. Despite the lack of violence in this takeover, she doesn't doubt there are trigger and stab happy mutineers. Better to be cautious than unsuspecting in a situation with too many unknown variables. ]

They haven't hurt anyone... yet. [ Her voice is hushed, but firm. Raiden is heavily armed, he might spook them. ] We should consider reasoning with them.

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Page 1 of 11

(CLOSED) My hands are tied, for all I've seen has changed my mind

GRAVITY REGULATION | NOV 16

NETWORK | NOV 17

LIGHTING | NOV 18

DOOR CONTROLS | NOV 19

TRANSPORTER ROOM A: OBSERVATORY & EAST LOADING BAY | NOV 19

TRANSPORTER ROOM B: TRANSPORTER ROOM | NOV 19

OBSERVATORY

EAST LOADING BAY

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