|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:39 pm
The Facility... The words "That's no moon" would be appropriate, except that the Facility is significantly smaller and less conveniently shaped. Decades ago, when the Kore destroyed Satellite (former ACO headquarters, the destruction of which began the ACO's cold vendetta against them), those highest in the Organization who had not been there fled to the more dangerous depths of space.
Their collected ships became the jury-rigged rough draft of the Facility, and headquarters regrew from there. Today, it appears a madly twisted and fused mass of metal, plastics, and Spacewind Cloth.
The Facility's greatest asset is the secrecy of its location, but its protections--and many of its occupants--may surprise you.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:14 pm
Cassandra swore. "Not what I had in mind, Taln."
A man with purple-dyed hair and a mild expression stood before her desk. "Frankly, Anne, I don't much care. That's what's going to happen, and the plan was already set in motion before your return. Even I didn't know about it until today, and you know how I have my... resources."
She sniffed and frowned. "Cut it out with the 'mysterious demon' references already. It's getting old. Fact is, my resources are usually better, and I didn't catch wind of this until just now. That means you're either lying to me, or NAT is particularly good at the tight-lips, and... Sh*t, Taln, you know as well as I that we can't allow it. Not that we can stop them from here, but there has to be a way to intercept and foul things without killing the lot of them. We need someone on that planet, just not... this."
Taln looked at the woman he treated as a daughter as if she was an idiot. "How the Hells do you mean to pull that off? They're the only cell on the planet, and no one else has time to get there and filter in!"
"Come on, Taln, give me options," she urged. "Do we have OWL there? Does WAR have a front? Even a vampire on Blood-Call who might owe me a favor or two. It would only take one person, probably not even a sacrifice of life to trip this."
"Nobody, Anne."
She sighed and ran a hand over her bound gray hair. "This isn't kind, my friend." She stepped out from behind the desk and began to pace. "There's a way, there's a way... what way..." She ran a hand over her hair again and looked up. "The Minister of Finance owes me his job, which to him is his life on that planet. He'll do it, if you remind him of 'Transaction 956.'"
The purple-haired man bowed slightly and left her office, presumably to go deliver the message and arrange for the fouling of a rather brilliant plan... that someone else had had.
Cassandra sighed again, this time in frustration. Why had everyone gone and started making their own plans in her absence? Yes, she had encouraged that before, especially during those times when she disappeared for years at a time, but why now? Didn't they see that this was different? This wasn't the usual, run-of-the-mill politician, conquerer, mutilator of men. This wasn't even the Kore up to its usual antics. They had Hally! Hadn't they seen the concern in her eyes when she'd returned the last time, right before the galaxy learned of the Kore's new power? Didn't any of them realize that she had already known, that that was what she'd been so worried about? Idiots!
Poor NAT idiots, among other cells, who had been brilliant enough for any normal trouble and not quite brilliant enough for a real war...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 9:50 am
Days later, Cassandra was walking back to her own quarters, exhausted mentally and emotionally, when a small butterfly hit her in the face.
Literally. Which was impossible. Butterflies are extinct.
Apparently, though, someone forgot to inform this particular monarch that it's kind had not only been extinct for hundreds of years, but that they'd never had survived space long enough to get to the Facility anyway. It was fluttering around her head while she stared in shock, and lit on her very gray nose as someone next to her laughed. Cassandra's eyes nearly crossed staring at it, which only make the person laugh harder.
"Oh, my one," a young woman gasped, wiping her eyes. "You are a character, Lavendra. Quite a character."
Cassandra turned in startled surprise, causing the butterfly to fall off her nose and fly back to its masked mistress. "You! But- but you're not--you don't--I've never--I..."
The butterfly-masked woman in brown shrugged. "I know. It's fine. Just, one of my worshipers perished a few moments ago, and her guests right before were ones known to you. So long as I'm here, I figured I'd tell you to check your comm. The old comm, you know." She winked. "The 'towers' that no one makes like they used to..."
Colors warped, and the woman disappeared.
Cassandra, one named Aryn Lavendra Chris, sprinted for the comm closet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 1:24 pm
In the comm closet, Cassandra sat in confusion. Wasn't there supposed to be a message here for her? Had she misunderstood?
In a darker corner of the universe, the Butterfly rolled her eyes and debated doing something--again--to spark interesting action and plot progression. Boredom is a terrible, terrible thing...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 1:50 pm
(Is that a request for complications I here? Buwahahaha....*cough* buwahahah)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:22 pm
Eulalia Danae (Is that a request for complications I here? Buwahahaha....*cough* buwahahah)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:45 pm
(I plan to have a sexy party)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:26 pm
Cassandra pulled some thin cords out of her pocket and started knotting them together, waiting for the supposed message.
Suddenly, she sat bolt upright and looked at the equipment itself. Why would the Butterfly appear, in person, period? If there was a crucial message, and she was interested, yes. But there isn't. "A ruse..? A distraction!"
Cassandra's chair fell back as she ran back out of the comm closet and down the hall.
[Later]
"F*ck."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:40 am
Xeen stepped out of the plane-between-planes into the Facility, specifically the location where he and Cassandra met most frequently.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:01 pm
A light blinked on about Cassandra's office door, signaling the hallway that someone was waiting for her. She swore again, and she detoured for her office. While it was nice that Xeen had answered so promptly--assuming it was Xeen--it was a tossup whether this would give her the information she needed. She could be wasting valuable time asking him.
"Xeen!" she said in partial relief. "Were you just near an old comm tower? An unused one? Or with a dying woman who may or may not have had anything to say about butterflies? Or anyone you know, has anyone just been there?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:06 pm
ArynChris A light blinked on about Cassandra's office door, signaling the hallway that someone was waiting for her. She swore again, and she detoured for her office. While it was nice that Xeen had answered so promptly--assuming it was Xeen--it was a tossup whether this would give her the information she needed. She could be wasting valuable time asking him.
"Xeen!" she said in partial relief. "Were you just near an old comm tower? An unused one? Or with a dying woman who may or may not have had anything to say about butterflies? Or anyone you know, has anyone just been there?" "I was with an old dying thing. Male or female, I could not tell. She did little speaking, and less mentioning butterflies, and left my daughter, my niece and myself on a deserted rock, near a comm tower. Why?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:15 pm
Das Steube "I was with an old dying thing. Male or female, I could not tell. She did little speaking, and less mentioning butterflies, and left my daughter, my niece and myself on a deserted rock, near a comm tower. Why?"
"What's going on, wherever you are now? I don't have the latest."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:02 am
Xeen paused.
"My involvement with the Organization is now public knowledge. I have no information on who found it out and spread the information, or how they got the information, or as to why they did. The Kore has issued an ultimatum on Thesys concerning the transfer of all survivors of the Gilgamesh. You and myself are on that list. Thesys is ready to fight against the Kore, but we cannot do so and expect to win without help. Doctor Mizrahi fled Osis when it fell, and I need you to find him. After Thesys falls, Earth is next, then you. They have the odds stacked in their favor, Cassandra. You cannot run from them forever. I need your help."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 4:29 pm
Das Steube Xeen paused. "My involvement with the Organization is now public knowledge. I have no information on who found it out and spread the information, or how they got the information, or as to why they did. The Kore has issued an ultimatum on Thesys concerning the transfer of all survivors of the Gilgamesh. You and myself are on that list. Thesys is ready to fight against the Kore, but we cannot do so and expect to win without help. Doctor Mizrahi fled Osis when it fell, and I need you to find him. After Thesys falls, Earth is next, then you. They have the odds stacked in their favor, Cassandra. You cannot run from them forever. I need your help."
"So." She folded her arms and regarded him. "You're exposed, as I knew you would be, and the Kore is playing with Thesys now. I assume it's unclear to them whether I'm still there or not? And Mizrahi's still on the loose somewhere, if his own creations haven't killed him yet, and you think he's still useful. Gotta tell you, Xeen, I've always found him a bit of a fool. A brilliant idiot, as it were..." She tapped her fingers on her arms. "I dare not trust any more fools, or we really will fall."
Whether she included Xeen in "we" was unclear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:41 am
"Yes, but I was hoping that my exposure would wait for a less... Trying time. Futile hope, as it were, but one can have it. The Kore is getting more bold. I would advise you to watch your back twice as much. However, is there anything further you need?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
