{Damnatio Memoriae log system Ver 1.5.1*CSE} - For personal use and reconciliation only, please extend the user help manual for software guides and reference.
Please connect your Neuro-Sync interface to the device to transfer Bio-Health, Augmentation diagnostics and Psionic readings.
Ver 1.5.1 Patch notes:
- Stabilised Neuro-Sync system build, previous augmentation restrictions lifted and system statistics unencrypted. If information is presented erroneously, contact Enigma for further investigation.
- Health alerts now presented with option to establish immediate health support contact with Damnatio Memoriae, option also granted to declare 'Stolen Soul' protocol.
- (CSE Modification) Psionic readings unstable, interface device is maxing its capability, annoying. Waiting on further studies to work on translation matrix for something between the cybernetics, myself and any extra-neural activity.
> Enabled Data Handler UI;
> Loaded record explorer;
> Enabling Dark mode;
> ▓
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░Private Archive Data Handler - Record Explorer░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
Personal logs
Research, Engineering and Intelligence
Persons of Interest
PL01-01-|Fruition within the Graveyard PL02-02-|Revaluation, concerns of the soul. ERR01-03-|NStemp.log PL03-04-| Matter of Perspective. PL04-05-|Politics of the unforgivable. PL05-06-|Junction of reconciliation PL06-08-|Labourers Pass: Doctors orders PL07-09-|Ethereal Recall: Part I PL08-10-|Labourers Pass: Cave Courier PL09-11-|Labourers Pass: Life related sentence PL10-12-|Between Worlds: Consequences PL11-13-|Ethereal Recall: Part 2
Item Description: A small handheld device with only two data ports with rubber covers on either side, the casing of the drive is riddled with sandblasted metal and any markings made unintelligible. The port seems clogged with years of dirt, yet the structure integrity seems pristine while cosmetically eroded. Yet a clear cosmetic addition has been knife-etched in the side. "Shelter of Ghosts"
"I never thought they would come knocking at Thuringia, the separation of the military from the agencies allowed us to excel within fields that could fuel a purpose for people rather than war. I feared the technology it carried falling into abusive hands, even now my paranoia buried such a potentially capable beast away from those who invest in its infamy. But even now the temptation to return her into service within the Damnatio Memoariae beckons me to call her home of her spectres once again..."
Doc Hope suggests I keep a log for myself... She described even with my need to keep others going, my view that I am alone is true and that my efforts will only attract those willing to bare the burn, yet I will still persist that those sharing that burn are worth more than myself. Telling me to savour them if they come along. So as a result, she suggest I write down to remember what I think with a clear head after reflection rather than what I assume during the horror and disgust we jump into.
It's been a tough few years, we've quietly been building under the nose of this regime but our shadows move differently compared to the spotlight the imperials enjoy. Tennstedt has been favourable in salvaging equipment from the many battlefields of Thuringia and Frankfurt. I'll admit that it has started to grow tiresome ripping components from wrecks and sorting them according to binning grade. But our fleet has expanded enough that we can afford offensive efforts soon and hopefully send a clear message to the imperials after the loss of Bautzen... The urge to shed blood has been restrained for now but the calling is clear. We've come to an agreement within and we will support Klugmann in his efforts in the ways of the Damnatio Memoriae. I don't know where we will be asked to go, but if the need for an equalising instrument of fear is required against the Kaiserreich; we will be here.
Speaking of building up forces, The Klaxon, an Insurgency Dreadnaught has sought refuge with Klugmann and his flotilla. I must admit the idea of a liberty dreadnaught at our disposal would have some of the Imperial Military drooling at their teeth for either a trophy or exploitation... Their crew have become extremely valuable during their stay with us, not just an inspirational introduction to their means of direct democracy but especially helping with maintaining services for those under the Bundschuh's refuge. Thankfully a mix of our abilities kept the seclusion of Howe and their vessel uncompromised within the Sigmas has created an aura of co-habitation... I will need to speak with them again soon, potentially to assist Commander Howe in returning the Klaxon to her intended operational state at his crews will.
Another thing... I've been exploring more ever since the Gate network blackout, makes me feel like I'm truly chasing up on something instead of living a mundane life. I don't know if it's the Jump-space projects, the memories of Weimar's bloodsoil or whatever scars the Mindshare ha-- no... Mindshares, there's more of them now and I'll have to come to terms with the possibility of something beyond the hive of festering hatred that puppeted the lost souls of Weimar. But they have to prove themselves to me this time, if they truly are even capable of standing by a word of trust. But if I was to deal with what I've been told are monsters lurching from the darkness...? The pains of Weimar were either my limits or preparation for what is to come, but the minimum of my hopes is that humanity can survive.
There is a lot to catch up on in Sirius, I feel old, decrepit and obsolete. Even in these feelings I'm reminded of what I am to become if it's empowered in the wrong direction. Raven... -nant... Revenant had to remind me of OPSEC for once, their lines joined with the Gammu AI are waiting embattlement against the Corpo-Mercs of the Core. Quite the initial surprise when she threatened to kill me if I didn't keep my word on its secrecy, I don't blame her... I only knew her through Hunt, we've been distant and never talk much other than between whatever mundane attempt of personal repair that phycological genocide-factory made, but when she was married to the man that left me for dead, what do you expect? I think I'm only speaking to her because she's a familiar voice in Sirius that I know of in these matters. It's fucked... I feel like my augments are also frying themselves over this information. So now I have a choice, trust her word that she and her people will help The Platform in its need, or I can try and investigate in that system for whatever this oncoming storm is and get ejected into the void and left for dead like her Ex left me... Although she'll promise to do both the shooting and the leaving.
I need to prepare the a portion of Tennstedt to handle Fringe-Science operations... We of Rheinland's darkest has known the unpredictability of the Void for a long time. I just hope Klugmann realizes what we do to defend his right to life, no matter what punishment will inevitably fall on us, I accept that in hopes those after me are better.
They're probably fucking with me again, or at least trying to talk to me... One or the other its not something that I'm losing too much sleep over.
Of all the mundane numbness I've felt around Sirius, one thing stood out to me of all the things I've eavesdropped on, it was something a little less than the usual business chatter and military might. Open on the air yet it was something personal... A tarot reading...? Cards, not the gambling kind but they seemed to be a lot more than just numbers and colours.
First person seemed quite invested into it, instructed to speak to the cards within their mind with a question. Initially this was nothing more than an experience for someone else. Like every other time I observed and watched to understand the method, construct a meaning out of empty words for myself. I still didn't fathom it, maybe because those cards were... Not for me? Camille continued to offer and to at least gauge an understanding of a respectably honest offer for a provided experience; why not? Coined it as communication with my subconscious? Either they truly believed in such or worked it off as a cultural experience that was appreciated nevertheless...
Forty credits later is found myself next staring at these cards. shuffling around for me, watching them exchange places between the deck. Even as those hands moved with natural flow... the falling cards I could see moving like silk with an accurate order of acceptance to work and refined combination. I was told to "Ask the cards a question" as to which I struggled to think. This wont help me source the keys to strategic victory, the means to end a peoples suffering, or to finally rest my fears of humanity signing its galactic death warrant. The cards would have more social meaning, personal to its core. If there was one piece of intelligence I would pay a heavy debt to know with security is... "Who am I?"
At first I doubted the question, the fear of what i represent came closer as I questioned who I am in the eyes of good and evil within its place in the universe... But the cards couldn't wait, one feel from their fingers before giving her a chance to take one at will. She noted that its rather that her deck wanted to speak first in a need of urgency... Calling the card the "Seven of Swords, upright." Now without doubt I was unsettled to hear what it told me as a being. One of trickery and deception within its blood... It was like hearing your unethical regret manifest and condone you in an empty room with no doors or windows.
She placed three cards face down, my comm screen displaying of her silken dressed table of pristine condition presently in my view, told me as if they were my present entity, the question was no longer doubted. Those decorated long nails ensuring the position of the select three with those nails ensuring absolute levelling between each other. Nudges on all cards asking for no more than less of what was required.
The first card of the present was flipped, The Hierophant, unfortunately a resemblance of a holy redeemed individual and not too fitting at face value... I don't know how to feel, I carry the power and marks of infamous seclusion with a deathly toll and I continue to integrate it's service into something ethically mirrored as people watch on. Within the worst soil I've stood on, for all my fuel and my dedication was for the consolidation in favour of the few and what I see as a selfish evil. But that power and service is transferable... I've done for the sake of others, even if its a chance to remove this unsettlement within myself. The disappearances, the observations, the network of knowledge... The foresight to question outside the order of things but towards a people I truly believe are good, for all their faults they are a shining beacon within Sirius. But I have no doubt should we cease when our dedication is no longer required. I've seen what happens when our type of being elates to the power and greed of it all beyond our desperate call... My predecessor turned out to be nothing more than the pride of their own ego and it was never more clear when he stood in favour of selfish oppressive authority.
The second of the future. "Four of Swords, upright." or "A Long Rest", there were many ways my mind raced to decipher the most obvious to the likely alternatives of their meaning... Or I was trying to kick myself back into some sense that I was reading this a little too deeply. Three swords displayed over a resting knight, the fourth at his side signalling an end to his fight. Tempting i know but the idea of finding myself resting...? This is the future we are talking about so how much more I have to fight through may have me concerned enough that while resting, what would I have laid waste to? Or what couldn't I save...? This probably wasn't meant to send me thinking about all of this in a few seconds but one still stands all above the rest. Resting... For what? The potential to rejuvenate and regather my strength and to bring my ability to fruition again. But I always question that last blade, will it hang up on the wall? Or will that sword seal the tomb for good? I reject rest on the notion I am not fulfilling my duties towards those who deserve their defence for the peaceful betterment they can bring. Not I, I must- N-Need... Damn..
I fear... The crossed keys return to my head and I'm creating an endless loop of panic and trepidation coming back to me. The same thing that fuelled my constant drive to protect with unending fury, there is no rest until that is broken, maybe that is why the third card of advice came to play.
"Ace of Pentacles", garden of the flowering haven, it wasn't the stunning visual beauty that I know rarely within our dimension of cold resilient metals and engineered harmonic veins, our brutalists concrete monoliths and atomically balanced perfection that I truly understand and refine with personal heartfelt investment. What that card was a mirror image of what I currently live; but that of harmonic breathing life. Within the garden that displays a wonderful experience within its verity of life and flourishing off the glow of the pentacle star that we hardly ask for, yet provides at the expense of its own atoms. I was getting myself lost again.. A few seconds feels like minutes living within the data-lanes of my augments. But it that garden worked as flawlessly as a well maintained and cared for system, but that care must come from somewhere.
I kept looking at these cards on that comm monitor, but every inhale within the confines of my helmet brought me back to realize those are just three cards. They won't do anything beyond what is told to myself... But I had to continue asking those questions every half a second... Repeat. But maybe this has provided me the time to digest something greater. I may not be able to plan an absolute future for the betterment of mankind to be fair and just within the expanse, but I can at least prove to others that we had the ability at some point to ground those foundations.
Even if it was all in spite of the institutions that grew me up as nothing more than a... A Tool! A tool for their own selfish and ignorant betterment! I won't taste this garden, but... Maybe someone else can that can truly appreciate its peaceful synergy and hope to maintain it. My blood in the soil I will defend that garden in the way of the seven swords, but to stand within it and grow it with my ways will rot it to the core. My head no longer hurts since I sat down and recorded this, I needed to confirm what i was fighting for with my own acknowledgment and willpower from what judgements I make. I can not promise that garden the audience it deserves in the case of those that wish to ignite it to oblivion, nor can I dictate its growth into my support. But only hope that what comes from that garden is hoping to stand by my side to what I am willing to give, blind hope with insidious fury. Some may say its risky and I have fallen victim to another manipulative beast. But from my high throne of deception and elusion, I treasure what is the existence of real trust, no matter how unorthodox... That garden, I trust even if in hope.
I thanked Camille for her service, ensured further payment to feel satisfied that her efforts were justified. Although I question that she said the cards had potential to show compassion. I doubt that, there isn't much compassion for the likes of us. And even if it knew me, would they truly trust what it sees in me as the truthful good? Even if I've been deluded myself?
But now Camille, potentially with all her innocent ignorance, has been escalated on my entities of mindful interest. Any similar event will create startling speculation.
I haven't eaten In a while, I'll need to visit the vending hall. FH and EE are usually around there so maybe they'd like to talk free of concealment within our quarters... I returned from Kusari baring treats from passing through, FH has taken a liking to the 'fruits of Sirius' since she's weaned herself off the comfortability of rations packs, seeing them enjoy things like this wasn't imaginable during our previous time... Its nice seeing them get a chance.
[20.10.2023 21:37:22] Laplace.Vector: C: [The card flips. A woman in a cleric's robe, the moon at her feet, flanked by black and white pillars. The High Priestess,--
[20.10.2023 21:37:27] Laplace.Vector: --reversed.]
[20.10.2023 21:38:08] Laplace.Vector: C: The High Priestess, reversed. Your future may contain hidden meanings, false masks, and the repression of your own--
[20.10.2023 21:38:28] Laplace.Vector: --intuition and an inability to make sense of things. Your inner voice will be confused, even quiet.
[20.10.2023 21:38:52] Cherry.Blossom: Th-That does n-not sound pos-sitive..
[20.10.2023 21:39:03] Laplace.Vector: C: It is one potential path. Not the only one.
[20.10.2023 21:39:08] Laplace.Vector: C: Now, for advice.
[20.10.2023 21:39:50] Laplace.Vector: C: [The card flips. A man in a papal tiara and robe sits on a throne, keys crossed at his feet. The Hierophant, upright.]
[20.10.2023 21:40:30] Laplace.Vector: C: The Hierophant, upright. The deck advises to look at tradition, conventional methods... to heed the words of others, of--
[20.10.2023 21:41:06] Laplace.Vector: --experience and education. Beliefs will be founded in learning and practice from that which is established.
[20.10.2023 21:41:19] Laplace.Vector: C: This is the advice the deck gives.
[20.10.2023 21:41:19] Cherry.Blossom: Elaine: Quite funny how this fits to your current situation. And that Camille is there to give you advice for things.
[20.10.2023 21:41:29] Cherry.Blossom: W-Well I m-mean..
[20.10.2023 21:41:42] Laplace.Vector: C: I assure you, Elaine, there is no slight of hand.
[20.10.2023 21:41:59] Cherry.Blossom: Elaine: I bet she read your diary.
[20.10.2023 21:42:00] Laplace.Vector: C: The deck provides perspective on our present issues. Illuminating that which we may not have considered.
[20.10.2023 21:42:20] Cherry.Blossom: N-No! Sh-She can't.. It is.. l-locked by a fingerprint s-scanner, r-retina and v-voice match.
[20.10.2023 21:42:52] Laplace.Vector: C: [A smirk.]
[20.10.2023 21:43:07] Cherry.Blossom: W-Well th-then Camille! G-Give m-me adivse.
[20.10.2023 21:43:16] Laplace.Vector: C: The cards did.
[20.10.2023 21:43:35] Laplace.Vector: C: Listen to them. See what you feel.
[20.10.2023 21:43:42] Laplace.Vector: C: The truth you glean from that is what to heed.
[20.10.2023 21:44:15] Laplace.Vector: C: [They leave the cards out for a bit.] So. It resonates?
[20.10.2023 21:44:50] "Civil'Servant": I'll give it to you, listening to cards isn't really on my list of things to look out for.
[20.10.2023 21:45:12] Cherry.Blossom: W-Well.. I think.. I un-nderstand a b-bit of it..
[20.10.2023 21:45:17] Laplace.Vector: C: Do I sense a "but" coming?
[20.10.2023 21:45:38] Cherry.Blossom: F-From who? M-Me?
[20.10.2023 21:46:00] Laplace.Vector: C: More meant for our civil servant, here.
[20.10.2023 21:46:05] Cherry.Blossom: A-Ah!
[20.10.2023 21:46:20] "Civil'Servant": No I'm just surprised someone can get that much from someone from the mere notion of a select set of cards.
[20.10.2023 21:47:04] Laplace.Vector: C: The human mind is an incredible repository of symbols and interpretation.
[20.10.2023 21:47:23] Laplace.Vector: C: The medium of the tarot cards gives us a way to interpret our own unconscious self more effectively.
[20.10.2023 21:48:01] "Civil'Servant": My unconscious self? I think sleep tends to--
[20.10.2023 21:48:49] Cherry.Blossom: I w-wonder if you d-do that again on another d-day, if it w-ould be the same.
[20.10.2023 21:49:31] "Civil'Servant": Anyway, these... Cards.
[20.10.2023 21:49:50] Laplace.Vector: C: Mhm?
[20.10.2023 21:50:34] Laplace.Vector: C: [They return the cards to the deck, shuffling.]
[20.10.2023 21:50:51] "Civil'Servant": If its my unseen self that will be... communicating this to me.
[20.10.2023 21:51:50] "Civil'Servant": Then how am I to seek what it says?
[20.10.2023 21:52:05] Laplace.Vector: C: Ask a question.
[20.10.2023 21:52:16] Laplace.Vector: C: Ask it of the deck. Forty for the reading is little to play.
[20.10.2023 21:52:42] Laplace.Vector: C: Only forty credits for answers. For guidance.
[20.10.2023 21:52:54] "Civil'Servant": Asking me of anything is already a heavy burden, 40, per-card.
[20.10.2023 21:53:03] Laplace.Vector: C: No. Per reading.
[20.10.2023 21:53:31] "Civil'Servant": I care little for these digits, and I think you'll get more use out of it than me.
[20.10.2023 21:54:06] Laplace.Vector: C: Suit yourself, stranger. The butterfly effect doesn't always work out, hm?
[20.10.2023 21:54:28] Cherry.Blossom: N-Now I can s-see you.
[20.10.2023 21:54:47] Laplace.Vector: C: [Camille is in fact there. Shuffling the tarot deck in the seat.]
[20.10.2023 21:55:09] "Civil'Servant": The trade is done.
[20.10.2023 21:55:15] Laplace.Vector: C: Excellent. Do you have the question in your mind?
[20.10.2023 21:55:22] Cherry.Blossom: [Cherry reaches forth with her hands, seemingly making a zooming notion with her hands. There was a faint shimmer in the glass]
[20.10.2023 21:55:44] "Civil'Servant": I think I do.
[20.10.2023 21:55:54] Laplace.Vector: C: Keep it there. Ask it of the deck in your mind.
[20.10.2023 21:56:04] Laplace.Vector: C: Once you have done that, I will draw.
[20.10.2023 21:56:48] "Civil'Servant": Odd but... I have asked the deck.
[20.10.2023 21:57:43] Laplace.Vector: C: [As they shuffle, a card falls out. An image of a man making off with seven swords, stealing them from a camp. The Seven--
[20.10.2023 21:57:51] Laplace.Vector: --of Swords, upright.]
[20.10.2023 21:57:59] Laplace.Vector: C: Oh! That doesn't always happen.
[20.10.2023 21:58:15] "Civil'Servant": I wish that sounded new.
[20.10.2023 21:58:20] Laplace.Vector: C: Whenever a card falls out during a shuffle, I consider it as the deck very much trying to tell you something.
[20.10.2023 21:59:03] Laplace.Vector: C: In this case, the upright Seven of Swords signifies betrayal, deception, escape... all manner of cunning and trickery.
[20.10.2023 21:59:16] "Civil'Servant": Ah...
[20.10.2023 21:59:19] "Civil'Servant": Aha--
[20.10.2023 21:59:31] "Civil'Servant": I think I'll take your word on these cards.
[20.10.2023 21:59:42] Laplace.Vector: C: The deck says this energy is present... somewhere about you. Past, present, future... anything. But it is there.
[20.10.2023 22:00:14] Laplace.Vector: C: Now. For the actual draw.
[20.10.2023 22:00:31] Laplace.Vector: C: [Three cards are laid out, face down.]
[20.10.2023 22:00:34] "Civil'Servant": I guess the deck couldn't wait.
[20.10.2023 22:00:52] "Civil'Servant": Most things usually don't for me.
[20.10.2023 22:01:11] Cherry.Blossom: Elaine: Captain, I think such was already achieved.
[20.10.2023 22:01:22] Laplace.Vector: C: First card. [Flipped over. A man in a papal tiara, sitting on a throne and holding a scepter. Keys crossed at his feet.--
[20.10.2023 22:01:29] Laplace.Vector: --The Hierophant]
[20.10.2023 22:01:39] Laplace.Vector: C: Hm. Drawing a lot of you lately...
[20.10.2023 22:02:16] Laplace.Vector: C: The Hierophant, upright. Representing tradition, education, experience, conformity... all the established things.
[20.10.2023 22:03:21] "Civil'Servant": Concerning... But--
[20.10.2023 22:03:25] Laplace.Vector: C: Now, the Hierophant appears in your current, present situation.
[20.10.2023 22:03:39] Laplace.Vector: C: Think on that, and I shall draw the second. A potential future.
[20.10.2023 22:04:58] Laplace.Vector: C: [The card is drawn. A man sleeps in a church, in death-like repose. Three swords hang on the wall, one by his side.]
[20.10.2023 22:05:22] Laplace.Vector: C: The Four of Swords. Rest. Gathering strength. The calm before the storm.
[20.10.2023 22:05:42] Laplace.Vector: C: Sanctuary and recuperation is in the future. Healing.
[20.10.2023 22:06:16] Laplace.Vector: C: Especially after suffering.
[20.10.2023 22:06:18] "Civil'Servant": *His speech gone, but his own breath remains as he slouches back into his flight-seat with a slow creak.*
[20.10.2023 22:07:02] Laplace.Vector: C: Now. The third. Advice from the deck.
[20.10.2023 22:07:42] Laplace.Vector: C: [A hand emerges from the clouds, holding a coin with a five-pointed star over a lush garden.]
[20.10.2023 22:10:26] Laplace.Vector: C: Now, the advice given to you, Civil Servant, is the Ace of Pentacles.
[20.10.2023 22:10:28] Cherry.Blossom: S-Scary.
[20.10.2023 22:10:49] Laplace.Vector: C: It represents rebirth. New beginnings. And the plenty, security, and stability that can come from reaching a new paradise.
[20.10.2023 22:11:17] Laplace.Vector: C: Look for the new dawn. The new prospects of life.
[20.10.2023 22:11:25] Laplace.Vector: C: They will guide you true.
[20.10.2023 22:12:08] "Civil'Servant": Well--
[20.10.2023 22:12:30] Laplace.Vector: C: Does the reading resonate with you?
[20.10.2023 22:14:03] "Civil'Servant": Your cards are certainly quite the listeners themselves.
[20.10.2023 22:14:14] Laplace.Vector: C: They are very compassionate, in their own way.
[20.10.2023 22:14:20] Laplace.Vector: C: I find their readings are often hopeful.
[20.10.2023 22:15:31] "Civil'Servant": Hopeful? Potentially... But I have to say that their compassion is wasted on me.
[20.10.2023 22:15:50] Laplace.Vector: C: Mm. Best not to presume the utility of the deck's judgements.
[20.10.2023 22:15:56] Laplace.Vector: C: They simply are what they are.
[20.10.2023 22:16:25] "Civil'Servant": In my line of work, a rock isn't always a rock.
[20.10.2023 22:16:32] Laplace.Vector: C: I know.
[20.10.2023 22:16:37] Laplace.Vector: C: The card said so.
[20.10.2023 22:18:00] Laplace.Vector: C: So, I wonder what you will do with this... perspective.
[20.10.2023 22:18:35] "Civil'Servant": Well if the 'first' card was to say anything about me, would you believe what I say?
[20.10.2023 22:18:59] Laplace.Vector: C: Mm. Lie to me, if you like. So long as you learn to not deceive yourself.
[20.10.2023 22:19:25] "Civil'Servant": A lesson learnt through blood and salt.
[20.10.2023 22:20:25] Laplace.Vector: C: I do believe that, despite your initial skepticism, you see the value in the cards.
[20.10.2023 22:20:33] Laplace.Vector: C: [They return the tarot draw to the deck.]
[20.10.2023 22:21:32] "Civil'Servant": Was I skeptic about the cards?
[20.10.2023 22:22:36] Laplace.Vector: C: The transport captain heeded the cards, though they came true in a way I did not expect.
[20.10.2023 22:22:49] Cherry.Blossom: D-Did he e-explode?
[20.10.2023 22:22:52] Laplace.Vector: C: Danger was not on the way, but in the place he was coming from.
[20.10.2023 22:23:01] Laplace.Vector: C: An earlier ship.
[20.10.2023 22:23:19] Laplace.Vector: C: An interesting development.
[20.10.2023 22:28:57] "Civil'Servant": Your cards have a lot more insight than they wish to have I think.
[20.10.2023 22:29:18] "Civil'Servant": I wouldn't have figured it would be so eager to share what it thought.
[20.10.2023 22:29:31] Laplace.Vector: C: They are agents of fate. They share what they know, do not keep secrets.
[20.10.2023 22:29:39] Cherry.Blossom: L-Last time I ch-checked.. I w-wasn't a boy..
[20.10.2023 22:29:41] "Civil'Servant": Although I did admit, the question in itself was very simple.
[20.10.2023 22:30:02] Laplace.Vector: C: Sometimes simple questions are good questions.
[20.10.2023 22:30:13] Laplace.Vector: C: Especially for smaller draws.
Endless fire, whistling death.
The trees are sometimes louder than my breath.
Screaming whispers of the furious gestalt, mutilating both body and mind.
While blind hope and material strength drive our souls, possessing physical horror that would instil fear of all kind.
Both of us fighting, caution thrown into the wind.
Was their purpose as selfless, possibly in the defence of their kin?
The tunnels are freezing and the possessed echoes lurk, incomplete comfort yet a familiar and tolerable state.
Just keep ignoring that my brain feels scarred and my legs are burning, but the bloodsoil leaves little room for debate.
Living afar, ignorant yet admirable. Do they not see what innocence they drag into our grounds?
The pain, horror, the export of our limitless unethical rage that we promise to end what we corrupt around.
A campaign of desperate to ask the final question.
Who will come home, to carry on in this oppression?
I was made to see all, I know this was their land too...
But maybe things would be different, if both of us just knew.
Within this dream I remember this place.
But only now I can look back and question this trace.
This war seems petty, but I feel I am without choice.
An enemy of goals in vain, against most of us without a voice.
They come back sickened with grief, "They're not possessed souls, they could have been more than me!"
I get their feelings, my inability to speak, I find myself alone screaming the same plea.
For what? Land, money, pride and fame?
Even as I see all, they pursuit it without shame.
I once viewed them with respect while fighting in the darkest battles.
Now I see from the top, they bind us all in corporate and bureaucratic shackles.
Stars and stripes, glory and pride.
The generals count the efficiency of lives.
Stocks and shares, money and power.
Executives rejoice while their ethics sour.
But down here I see their faces, witness me with dread on the bodies I tear.
How one can butcher so many, yet continue on as if I don't care.
Their guts in half, screaming while they cower.
Yet not us here, this battlefield isn't ours.
This Kaiser is evil like the screaming rage.
But this time inane, suppressing all under their oppressive wage.
I never wanted to be here, I never questioned this place,
Never was I so sure, as I remember the blood on my face.
I'm here again in the service of the many.
But now I've seen the injustice, of those with excess of plenty.
No currency turns my heart, a language the corporates abolished.
And their grins and oblivious egos, without a means to counter, demolished.
My silent sentence is clear, for my crimes against the public souls.
I will serve on in blind hope, engraved in my name as if allure to a holy scroll.
My blades, my mind and my devotion on demand.
My faith in them to build better with my powers in their command.
But to truly love what humanity can bloom.
To defend the morsels of hope that can nurture it in this depressing gloom.
Yet hope to bury my unforgivable horrors, so they never take my place.
They are my drive, my reason to defend their egalitarian grace.
Pathetic, limited invaders. A body of cold and steel.
Butcher themselves just like ours, yet they expect us to kneel.
Our void consumed, wasted and ravaged like a virus on our treasured petal.
Infected across the stars, what remains are their coffins of empty metal.
Now a instrument of our use, we reign your material death.
In the shadows they can't feel, your husk of our breath.
Corruption of land, slayer of innocence.
Now our hands know the blood, and will wield their violence, limitless.
A trade takes place, your rest for our gain.
Thank you for teaching us how to deliver this pain.
You shall no longer wield the power to question this place.
Your home across the stars abolished, murderer of our race.
ShellSys01: FtlErrLog.Sys > [ALERT] Neruo-Sync.Sys ERROR LOG SAVED
> Do you wish to store the error report in a hidden repository?
> " G E T O U T , I T H U R T S , W H Y D O E S I T N E E D T O H U R T"
CS was quiet and dormant, his helmet removed within his quarters, sitting at a desk and twiddling his thumbs while glaring at the broken artifact on the table. His quarters were not as typically spartan as one would imagine but he at least had some furnishings for comforting familiarity. He was occasionally sipping from a glass of soda and snacking from a bag of rations he'd been grazing through all day. The soda was a rare indulgent extra since usually around this time he'd spoil himself on something if the challenge required a relaxed approach. But for now he was too enchanted by the artifact recently, an almost alluring mystery puzzling his mind had him locked silent as his eyes darted over every millimetre of that golden wrapped crystal.
He'd been here for the last hour, almost half an hour since he deactivated a majority of his augments, and only five minutes since he'd logged off the DM comm network. He almost needed absolute peace to work his understanding around the artifact. "But... Why?" He questioned it's silence, holding such a gem up to his face as the purple polished quartz was dark and dim within, a crack had shot itself deep inside of the gem that almost looked like a spiders web reaching out. Although the fracture never seemed to reach the edges, the surface was still as smooth and uninterrupted as a perfect glacier, the sounds that run silent to others keeps his dreams and heart rate unsettled at night. Sometimes the tapping and the clicking can be heard in his wall safe, distinctive to any other sound, yet it's hollow echo gives a feeling as if it was both there to him and absent to anyone else. Any attempt at further investigation like this morning, as soon as it was removed from its secure compartment... The sound stopped.
"This isn't me suffering hearing loss, I know no one else can hear you..." He talked to it like it could hear him, it had been with him long enough and like with any other functional possession he has... He will talk as if he respected and expected it's action in return. Although the notion of expecting anything from it has disappeared long ago, instead his mind queries if it demands something from him. The crack could be less of a sign of deteriorating wonder, but more of a opening. "Especially how it the web funnels down to..." The finest webs of the crack began to shimmer, his hand froze like the thoughts had taken over as he attempted to verify it through his own mind if he wasn't hallucinating, he observed closer as his eyes squinted into the shimmering purple...
"The Void." At a near instance his face froze of utter realisation, those cybernetic retinas whirring as his eyes blackened completely and his legs rose him slowly off his seat. The ambient hum of Tennsdedt was drowned out by the angelic chorus the web of cracks harmonized, rotating slowly as it funnelled the purple void into itself. Cupping the artifact in hand up to his face, his other hand proceeded to grace his bare digits onto the surface... It was like the hairs on his body elated and stood with a field of energy that he could feel surging though his body, but as rhythmic as the pulsing flow of the shifting tunnel within the artifact. "She knew, she..." He stumbled backwards gripping the artifact in hand, knocking the chair over his desk before narrowly catching himself as he scrambled over to his couch-bed. Swiping from under the pillows a steel necklace... Kissing it, praising it and thanking it under his incoherent mumbling as he struggled to segregate his constant calculation from an overwhelming pain that made him weak to the knees. "I'm so sorry I... Thank you--" the necklace pendant... Or hollow computer data card was held close to his heart as if it eased the flourishing grief that had concealed itself for years. His breathing struggled out of sync, there wasn't a rhythm anymore, a sequence of emotional distress and cold sunken despair. "I wasn't there... I'm so sorry, I said I would be..." His betrayal, not out of choice of his own, one unseen by them both that could not be possibly rectified before disaster; but as far as CS's logic was concerned it was his own betrayal.
-----
"I know we both couldn't stop the strike, We didn't know about the attack until they were there." He was talking to the empty chip while hiding behind crossed arms and resting on his raised knees, he knew very well it wasn't talking back but he'd like to imagine, willingly letting his woes out at it for the past 30 minutes. "I just wish if all the power I have, I could have done something.""You still can." CS' face shifted from smiling melancholy to stoic annoyance to the presence of that voice. "I don't need you providing me options.""But that was the option I gave you, many times, absolute and certain violence for survival: The Valhalla failure, Fall of New Berlin, Slaughter of Camp Haus." A voice of true conviction, but one no difference from CS in any shape or form. CS was in no mental shape to argue, he knew that in a fragile state of mind, he couldn't prioritise the feelings of- "Don't even find an excuse for it, you lost her...""Don't you dare speak about--" If his eyes could well up, they would do it by now, the prior shock of his departed other and now this condoning wasn't what he was expecting from the crystal puzzle. "WE'RE THE SAME PERSON...! You couldn't bare the thought of a human being the teacher of unethical killing, questioning your actions meant questioning what you have passed on... You manifested me, to remove your responsibility for the consequences of their orders and your actions." A exact copy of CS stood there, helmet bound in his bloodied, oil stained and torn flight suit, dripping his stains and essence that sizzles on the carpet into nothing... Misery, desperation and defiance. "This universe took her from US! The life was always dangerous and you knew that, I've known that, always known... But the message is clear. She told you to--" A sudden grab to the neck of the manifest, yet it was nothing more like attempting to strangle a statue. "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY MIND!" CS' eyes had blackened until the whites had vanished into an empty void. His own hand, leeching the blood and oil from the neck of the manifest as every human muscle in his arm bulged from the force of his grip.
"--Find what she left you." The manifest had both artifact and chip in hand, hovering the hollow centre over the purple gem to see what the vision had hidden in chosen sight.
There she was, hidden under all sight except through those that know. A black ship with a broken bridge, piercing the hole with the brightest of lights as its bow endlessly collided with a fury of ricocheting streams of energy. As if all his work still remained intact and looping in function, stuck with no command.
------
CS woke up, sitting on the floor with head tucked between his knees. The manifest was no longer present and whatever stains had scarred the floor were gone, a mental lapse would be the most obvious answer, the traumatic loss, and the regret of inability and inaction. Although the suspicion remained, "dream or not?" Lifting the artifact up with slow anticipation only to widen his eyes as the lungs tremored with air, the void remained.
Rheinland, its always had a more frequent history of asking the question of what people want more than money. To base a beings personal worth down to the amount credits that they have seems to defy the logic of the universe to me...
You... You ever think nomads even have a system like that? I've thought I've met enough at this point to even think that they do have... Uh-- No. Its messy, the only way I can think this correctly in my head if they were like a... Meshed isolated network.
[Amused laughter, but slowly reducing to a questioning err as he attempts to start his next sentence; coalescing thoughts interrupting him.]
A meshed isolated network with a decentralized data system... Sure, Its like saying servers are bigger, faster and more knowledgeable than clients when they obviously reach a point of data capacity; within relation to AI learning skills. Individual AI's? Sure, easy as can be with access to indisputable data sources... But amongst each other? Would you think they'd argue because they've been right for so long and reliant upon a method of calculation that when a new data source comes along they instantly declare it anomalous? Or would they actually take time to compare, contrast and calculate to potentially work out a more suitable solution to a potential problem, or simply just to learn about something...?
Now the part that I said to myself is if... what if that was some sort of framework to understanding more than just AI's... Whatever this is, doesn't need to be restrained to a synthetic origin. The Sirius has taught me early on that I have been condemned to the emerging horrors it contains and be-- I don't know. Something? It gives me a choice of Shoot or Talk and both tend to try and kill me...? W-Why?! I could be sitting in a skyscraper! Sipping on a vintage Gaul Bandeaux paid for by corporate sponsors and massacring rebellious underpaid workers because they hoped for just a little more in there lives... And I wouldn't lose even an ounce of sleep over it. Yet every bit of me would consider such a being irredeemable, a propagator of unjustly resource wars and silencer of mass populace progress.
Someone-- In hindsight that probably wasn't just one being behind that face... They told me I had to "Stop doing it for the sake of proving yourself, because that was merely just a meager bonus in the greater scheme of things." I laughed it off, figured I aimed to be impressive to climb my skills and career like the most devoted in my craft; young ambitions turned lethal when its spoon-fed to you.
Humanity of Sirius has encountered so many space faring and sentient species in the last 30 years that were getting close to not being able to count them on our hands... Now we have a new complication that could take that all away, all of us, indiscriminately; Sentinels is what Revenant called them.
While word by mouth doesn't seem to kill us, the mimetic and psionic prowess of these things exceed that of the K'hara or Vagrants. Trying to apply human diplomacy to this seems futile to say the least but we all have to make compromises in negotiations... But again dealing with 'living weapons' it usually takes a lot of bloodshed to get that far. Apparently even recognizing these Sentinels in their true form causes some sort of mental and life force elimination... I've heard whispers of Earhart, the graveyards that loom there and what relics people have hauled for themselves, maybe I need to visit there and see what this deathtrap truly hides about this malicious ancient race. But I believe I'll need to make a risky move... I'll need some advice first.
[Exhaling a long and staggered breath as the rubbing of fabric rustled in the background, along with a harder tapping of the heel of his foot is heard, rhythmic in combination.]
I've never dared to take a step like this when it comes to talking to something instead of shooting them up, and usually that person is a human... Usually. Because in the end I realized the one I trusted the most without even doubt.... wasn't. Every inch of my skin feels like its wrapped in spider webs as soon as I even try to think about it, yet every muscle in me moves without even the slightest hindrance to my will; can't deny that I am desperate enough to do this, even if I am repulsed by it. I have the facts in hand and I need to speak to the Vagrants, information is the key she left me.
Fuck me, don't let this be my Pre-KIA log, I don't want this at my funeral.
To think its like winding back the clock, its a familiar crossroad but not entirely, this time the looming threat of hegemonic reaction isn't there, the choice of helping to defend all of sirius against these hostile invaders is the right choice. The Damnatio Memoraie, our people are consulting with each other right now... I've never seen the helmet communication logs so dense with questions, curiosity and concerns. But even now it seems the decision of the incoming threat of the Sentinels has caused most of us to already accept extreme action must be taken.
I can't speak with the rest of the Damnatio Memoraie on what I saw last night, two relics from my own history that have had their dramatic shift in modus operandi... It's extremely hard to believe, that these two are more than likely to be either disgusted in ones past or have somehow grown to become unrecognizable from what I've always known. Although if I were to judge the actions of my previous self, before falling into Valhalla, I would have shunned my actions is irrational, irresponsible and dangerous for the sanctity of life here in Sirius. But what I won't deny is the potential that was birthed from it... I wouldn't have been there if it wasn't my curiosity, but now how do I act differently to before? Revenant had introduced me to what the story was like on the other side of Sirius, a small pocket of our infamous neighbours but I have a feeling I need to rewind the teaching this eternal conflict has given to me.
Leviathan and Harbinger, two betrayals on the same hour. One leaving me for dead to achieve his own goals of greed and power, the other disregarding our peaceful history with one intent outcome to vent me into space to show me I was as disposable as could be, but they weren't the malicious and self-centred individuals I once flew with. I was one between these two giants, although I doubted that old instinct for a second to understand that my old grudges were... Petty? While at the gates of their world, my impulses were already pushing the psionic suppressants as much as they could. I was only hoping for one elder, not three and a flurry of others. Revenant was subject to a overcompensating counter-signal leaking out my private communications, I had a moment to analyse my health systems to correct the issue. I was still preparing for the pain, but their chorus of many wasn't... It wasn't--
It's hard to describe, you run off the constant repeating cycle of violence with the hive in Thuringia that its an impulse that you don't even debate. But this time, the pressure of messing this up and losing the chance to make the right choice in this moment as I have known that the other path leads to what I've suffered and grown under the Agency for a decade. My hypothesis seemed vaguely in the right direction, finally discussing the information about previous conflicts, it seems I've come to more potential branches of what really has happened over the past 30 years involving our two species, and how menial and pathetic our hostilities were to what these Sentinels might bring to our frontier. I've known for some time now that I perpetuated the message of the great threat these aliens possessed, have done for a long time... But even as I was, wielding my doubt, I was hoping to secure something that would expose a truth to what that message obscures. And now the conclusion is inevitable.
The Nomads are here to stay.
To deny their place with the same persecution is to establish ourselves as unjust within Sirius.
Those fractured hives have proved to end this conflict between us without extinction.
Then we must judge them how we judge ourselves.
Towards rectifying the alienation from their own home.
Therefore the will and the intent of the Platform is clear.
> "Shelter, home, the seeping shadow. Free from her turbulence between the void... Years of time and effort undone, but the method was preserved during our crumble."
> ▓
XU-001 Operation Introduction.
Damnatio Memoriae teams scored a big one for us today. Usually these matters mean a small win for us, but considering the background of this vessel and what technology it harbors, this could be a huge win for us in this field to bring a counter to what technological prowess our neighbors have. Auxo teams in the Omicrons have been doing a huge favor for us, ever since Vipers experiment, Suhl-Fragments were detected some time ago in the Delta region after a spike in Jump-Space energy occurred. It must have taken some time to travel from the initial blast-radius from Gotha, but what came through was a mix of the anomalies from the Suhl and Jump-space along with an almost impossible void on our radar...
The ship had ruptured out of a nearby tear in space, a collapsed hole that was emitting heavy amounts of sub-space radiation along with a trail of residual energy that lead to an almost dead husk of a prototype left floating in the dark corner of the Palau ice cloud in Delta. (Damage assessment below) But it seems like a wandering freelancer had already found the ship first, laid claim to it... Odd.
The freelancer kept her distance, was odd... Tagged along with the ship like she couldn't let it go, but usually when a band of Rheinlanders show up with heavy support this far out, you probably would think twice about trying to claim it a salvage but, thats left me questioning how she found the vessel in the first place, and especially alone. I don't believe in coincidence so i might have to take some time and ask her how she 'found' the shadow, but its also probably for the best that we don't treat her any wrong for trying... Its desperate out there.
Hanger doors were ripped off upon my arrival, I dare not bother the freelancer or tell her to back off, if she wanted the vessel, she wouldn't have started blasting it up once I jumped onboard. Unfortunately communications were heavily dampened by the stealth technology of the ship, communication from here on out was hard to maintain. I also had to remain in the engineering deck, the destruction of the bridge had left me rerouting what navigation controls I had to the engineering systems but it was like flying blind while she was screaming in pain the entire time. Screaming...? Being linked via synaptic implants was odd, its been some time since I've
The trip home wasn't too good either, met some interference along the way from the 'locals' that by the time Leviathan and Revenant had appeared, I had only managed to jump-start the reactor and engines by flooding the engines with catalyst vapors to get a high-energy ignition. Next thing you know, garbled frenzies of communications while setting the pre-planned route had the entire ship rocking its way towards home while it was shedding hull-panels along the entire way... There was already enough work made to get her back into shape but at this point I'm going to have to start from scratch on the space frame... But...
The super-computer array, advanced research laboratory, electronic warfare suite... Records from an Agency's past are on here and they do contain the means of restoring this ship. Unfortunately this ship needs to go through a full quarantine sweep before we progress with anything, parked near Geneva and vessels are required to maintain their distance as all activity will be monitored while Void-Marines prepare to purge the vessel first while conducting a finer sweep for repair detail.
Geneva isn't going to like this extra work detail...
> "There was more to her than when she left, tooling true seclusion at the cost of herself and yet she still hides her secrets from me. She went though hell itself, but her echo being the messenger of her last desire... It must be fulfilled."
> ▓
XU-001: Preliminary damage log.
> || Reactor, propulsion and Engineering.
Apart from the bridge, these reactor systems had met an incredible last push right to the end. Fuel consumption was almost depleted thanks to its time in slipspace suckling on what it can to maintain the Graviton array to keep it from ripping apart in there, it wasn't until the reactor had finally given into the pressure of being on full burn the full stretch when the HTTB-01 wasn't designed to power on though this extended operation on autopilot for so long. We had to SCRAM the reactor as soon as we hit Geneva. A few hours more and the inner shielding would have cracked and we could have been looking at a bigger issue than this ship is already in. Its gone... Needs a complete replacement, thankfully I know the design like the back of my hand. But instead i'm going to look at a redesign, Having the schematics available can speed things up since there are a large amount of over engineered components that I can replace with, something to keep down the maintenance time on a failed component.
Engine didn't fair much better too. impulse had already burned though its main fuel supplies and had little left in its reserves. All the engine cores would have to be replaced as they've almost completely ran themselves into smithereens, DT fuel was a lost cause and its almost impossible to source, but with Bielefeld now producing a supply of H-Fuel for the Bundschuh means I wouldn't have to worry too much about fuel independence. I'll need to replace the stealth cooling systems on the vessel, when the computer sealed the feed of cryo-coolant to the exhaust systems, they ran hotter than they could have been sustained and have melted the thermal transfer mesh into waste... But this was to maintain the survival of the supercomputer array, otherwise we would have cooked our research instead.
> || Metastability supercomputer array.
Probably the beating heart of this vessel in its ability to conduct sabotage and espionage on enemy networks. It's quantum and conventional processing allows a gap to be bridged between binary digital systems and a close approximation of the hectic quantum reality that is our Sirius sector and it's connections within sub-space and jump-space. But for us, the true gem is the massive raw computing power of this array, along with any research originally saved on this system should hopefully get us kick started in our developments of replacing some advanced systems such as the graviton emitters, active camouflage and stealth components for the hull.
The actual condition of the supercomputer seems... Fine? It's exceptional and beyond believable that the integrity of it's systems remains almost as perfect the day she escaped. The amount of data that she had collected during her half-a-decade within jump space is exceptional but the majority of it is just 'raw' data, yet to be translated and may take several months before we can even look at utilizing any of it towards major projects... Or maybe we just use it to understand jump space for the sake of obtaining that knowledge. But until the laboratories are up and running inside this ship, we won't be able to turn theory into praxis.
I haven't got any plans to upgrade the array as of yet, the majority of this quantum hardware is rare outside of the commercial and high-tech industry so squandering it because of more recent developments would be idiotic. I'm sure if we were to ever circulate the hardware, a majority will be offloaded towards Bundschuh research programmes... Waste not, want not, right?
> || Sensors, radar, lidar.
Eyes and ears to this lair of ghosts... Fortunately, she was blinded and deafend during her ordeal. I've got multiple static radar panels torn off along with it's surrounding hull, image sensors are burnt to hell and the communications array took a strike from heavy amounts of subspace energy that I've now got to find a replacement system. The communications array would need to be replaced regardless, this ship can't have it's old codes, they're known... I'll have to work on a new scramble matrix, thanks to Revenant and the military clearance codes she's provided, I can see about incorporating this into the platform network to stay undetected when our vessels need to operate within the heart of the Rheinland's defence net.
The Lidar system was probably the first of them to fall, although considering the size of the data it recorded before it's systems terminated, it looks like it clung on for some time. All 142 sensors are cooked, the intense light and radiation from Jump-space must have caused them to deteriorate until any photosensitive elements had been burnt. These might be difficult to source, but I should be able to pull some stings in the underground market, or maybe it's worth hitting a kishiro transport sometime...
The radar system, a 'gift' from some unscrupulous cyber criminals... Although there were some optional extras offered to me which was of extreme disgust. But I must admit, there was some genius in their scanner systems that I don't think we had anything to rival it. It's not in the best shape, almost every fuse and capacitor needs to be replaced, static radar panels need replacing across the hull... But overall, compared to the rest, it's at least repairable and not a full replacement.
> "A vast tomb of secrets, once kept away in fear... But now the time is right, a justification of 'need' triumphs over the 'want'. A way to hide those from the fist of unjust wrath, a means to strike from the shadows such as us? Are we their teachers...?"
> "I must work as have never done before, my body is merely a shell as if this ship is to me, but that pain I must endure; As for I care for her as I know she cares for me."
> ▓
"Why exactly are you giving me this assignment Doc'? I figured you were putting all my communication and assignment requests on hiatus...?"
CS was currently reclined in a medical examination chair, multiple cables were attached from the auto-doc to his helmet interface. Doctor Hope on the other hand was standing next to him, observing between her data-padd and CS' as he complained away.
"You have any reason to complain to me? You haven't done this before." CS chuckled, the jib was up before he could begin. He knew he didn't mind being sent out, rather he preferred it. "If you're going to be treating regular patients instead of ghosts at some point, you have to be prepared for the nuances that come with it..." Hope continued to monitor the diagnostic data on his augmentations coming through the data-padd. "When I am being interviewed for a doctor's position, I think my explanation for not taking the Hippocratic oath will not be accepted in their institutions..." CS locked visors with her own, and she in return did the same. "Hmm... You're right. Saying 'it doesn't apply out here' doesn't seem obvious to them."
The doctor continued to work away in silence, she usually only kept up with the conversation that CS made for her. "But seriously, why this assignment?" Hope didn't want to even look at him in the visor, she continued to run his examination on him without another word while he was left with a handheld scanner being wafted over his chest. "She asked if I was a robot..." The pressure on her caved, his constant stare wasn't something that could easily break before the recipient would. "...I just hope this proves I'm not." CS' response was immediate, the grip of his gloved hand rested on her forearm with a gentle wrap, it was rather reassuring in their nature. "Stubborn of you, I think you underestimate your own will... But I don't think being human or robot really matters, apparently humanity is stuck within the preferences of Sirius only containing humanity... Until they're suddenly forced to contend with the obvious truth." "To know us for who we are...?" "In time..."
Hope stopped, placing her scanner down ontop of the auto-doc and took a moment to rest her hands a top of his shoulder... The two of them remained there, the hum of Tennsdedt, the bleeping of the infirmary medical equipment and the quiet rhythmic movement of each others clothes as they comforted themselves. "If it's important to you, it's important to me... It's how it works here Doc."
While they continued to remain in quiet solace with eachother, it was peaceful to say the least... Nothing was there to disturb them apart from the ambience of a familiar safe place. "It's very different when someone asks you for help, isn't it...?" All she did could muster out of her were a few shallow nods, her fingers repeatedly tensing and loosening their grip on CS like kneeding for her comfort. "At that point... The choice is yours, for the most part... We're not going to gain much out of this except the trust in that person." "Don't you always say trust and favours are more powerful than money and profit...?"
Thuringia is an unusual inside-pocket within the coat of Rheinland, an eerily quiet system who's existence is tirelessly kept only under pen and paper to those outside of its reach. When a crippled republic sheered itself irreparably, it held as the last bastion of a desperate democratic desire within a forbidden graveyard. Even as the silence returned once the guns fell wary, Pandora finally picked the last pin behind her own lock as it finally tasted humanities blend of destructive evil. But for the Thuringians it made here, they shed all they once were to thrive in this place. The civilian worlds were nothing more than protected gardens to the souls sentenced here, even if they seclusively dreamt of leaving it behind, their everlasting call to this dark void from its threatening to seep and poison the hope they have for their unmet populace. To live though what is foretold to arrive, yet with the goal of peace that their blood invests in, is accepted as their eternal traumatic campaign. Hidden within the corpse of Gotha is the asteroid base, Tennstetd. Housed between shattered fragments to conceal those that were left behind from the costly schism, to rebuild from their forbidden lives while they grapple with their engineered purpose.
The hanger bay is the most active of places on the station, the inside had no evidence of the asteroids exterior as the monumental array of reinforced panels, catwalks above manning the freight cranes or operating the command room that watches over. The work of tireless people continue to maintain the equipment rotating in and out constantly, pilots replace each other in mere minutes and the crews get their vessel resupplied and re-equipped without even a second of delay, all before being relaunched out into the deadly void to continue volunteered duties. But that action seemed to repeat everywhere, repair teams working on the station infrastructure swapping burning hot injectors and replacing them within a blank of an eye, working forklifts with hairline gaps between obstacles still and walking. But not a word even whispered from them, no pleasantries or commands, no arguments or complaints.
CS was stood at the airlock entrance facing it, worrying if he stood out among the entire hanger as he was the only one rocking back and forth on the heels of his boots. Looking about at his comrades as his urge to join them was hard to ignore, waiting about for the arrival for anticipated guests was a new feeling to Tennsdedt's inhabitants even if they attempted to continue. It was hard to separate the feeling of judgment from their curious observation, but he had to reassure himself that this moment of social exercise was more than just for his adventurous indulgence.
Seeing past the small window on the airlock door, he occasionally tilted his head to view down the entire length of the airlock, seeing the lone approaching woman clad in a dark purple robes and uniform but donning a helmet similar to the rest of the stations inhabitants. Ten meters from the door... Looked like a bodyguard at the door, maybe it was the right call to trust her word, but it was more valuable him to see it work. Five meters from the door... While guests were a rarity enough that the idea of their crew quarters being visited had everyone in edge about outsider perception. Although what worried him more was the essence of what lied underneath his own helmet was truly known by her... She's at the door, the hissing hydraulics swinging the bulkhead open up high, the noise felt through the floor as the motors rumbled to announced her arrival.
The Velvet Coronet had made entry to the base. Disembarking shortly was a figure composed of silver and white robes with components of armor, accented by deep purple hues. Accompanying the masked figure was a robot, akin to an operative, they were ordered to stay back and guard the ship. Approaching the door, she awaited in anticipation, with a degree of nervousness of them finding out the truth. As the bulkhead revealed the way forward, she walked, noticing more figures. A simple silent nod of a salutation was had. No expression was had as her arms rested in the concealed comfort of the draped cape, simply gazing through the faceless mask.
A simple nod, it was enough of a greeting for many around here, and then another... Equally and without hesitation to the robot, who was behind Revenant, stood to remain here. "I appreciate your arrival, we'll be heading through to my quarters but please feel welcome as a guest here... Before we begin, is there anything you require while you're here?" The voice amplified through the speaker of his helmet as his hand swiftly and smoothly reached out to extend a handshake to formalise his greeting.
"... I am most gracious for your warm welcoming. I still have the aforementioned tea time special." She was willing to follow him, settling down at a familiar face. "I have my flask incase the affliction gets worse. But, no, thank you, I won't need anything." Her arms never left the concealed cover of the robes.
"Ah..." His fingers curled and retracted for a moment as he consolidated his thoughts, he took a second to extend his arm beside him as his palm opened towards the access corridor to the rest of the station. "This way, I think you've already got enough people curious hanging around here..."
He looked around the hanger on level and above, some people had already diverted completely from their duties, clinging onto the catwalk rails as their helmet visits gazed down to the pair below... Until one was aware of the attention, the hanger had become eerily quiet. "Follow me, it's not too far of a walk." Quickly noting, before setting off at the same place Revenant arrived.
She nodded, silently following him down the corridor. "I think the visit of a mysterious ghost would pique the curiosity of many. " Acknowledging, she happily followed him down the various hallways.
A maze of corridors and lifts were wandered through by the pair, seeing the communal-rooms that were occupied yet dormant at the same time by these people, passers by walking at a brisk march to their next destination with their footsteps in synced like clockwork no matter how many were traveled together. The security on the station almost seems lax as a lack of checkpoints or security, CS and Revenant progressed though Tennsdedt as if life was uninterrupted... Except for the 'glaring' fact that almost every other inhabitant had fixated their view on Revenant throughout the journey, as if they were seeing through visor and and past the whites of her eyes. "You've seemed to have stirred up a few questions being here yourself... We're almost there anyhow."
As they approached a hallway of doors, each one had a sign outside with two letters: FH, EE, US... CS. As soon as he approached, the hydraulic heavy duty door slid open without command. "Please, make yourself comfortable as you can. The door will shut behind you." CS took the first step inside himself to guide the way in, it was moderately spacious and decently furnished with comfortable necessities. Although the colours looked almost clinical with shades of black and grey, and decorations were beyond non-existant as the wall panels were as clean as the day this room was constructed... Except for one thing, the large round black polished steel table that sat in the centre of the dimly illuminated quarters was a familiar black velvet bag, brimming almost by it's seams. "I will SCIF my quarters shortly, then we can speak in full confidence." He took a moment to pull out one of the chairs at the table for her to sit on if she pleases... Although the room had other choices for comfort it seems.
Revenant glanced around quietly, investigating the state of the oddly serene nature yet depraved nature of his monotonous room. Taking a small but polite seat - her limbs all tucked in and kept still, her palms still remained under the robe. Clearly, they were holding something underneath. She looked around, briefly scanning under her mask for anything unusual as he mentioned he would conceal up the room from any unwanted eavesdroppers. Should be walk away, or look away, suddenly, a small kitchenware tub would appear on the table in front of her, containing what vaguely appeared to be some kind of cake.
While using the control panel on the wall, a lightly noted two tone bleep responded to his finger tapping. The ambience stations vibrations have dropped immensely, the room had at least some echo previously but it was soon replaced by a slight muffled pressure as if the walls absorbed the noise. Turning off the panel to observe Revenants actions in the hazy reflection, he was taken back by the tupperware for a split second, his eyes vaguely identified the porous nature of the food inside... Looked better than his usual desert meal set.
"Uh... SCIF is on... Sorry if it's weird, we don't take too kindly to being seen." As he strolled past the table, he moved over to a small tea and coffee station on a little table in the corner of the room, equipped with an instant water boiler and a small tray of cutlery to go with it. While a stand of many bland coffee mugs stood at the ready, A single steel camping mug took the top... One that had seen a fair bit of action as its repeatedly polished surface was marred with scratches, dents and plenty of scorching. "Would you like a coffee... Or a tea? You'll have to pardon the choice, I've always taken them from hotels to drink at some point but never any time to try any." He noted at an assortment of single use tea bags and instant coffee sachets, there was certainly a choice for someone in there. As he prepared his own coffee by ripping two milk sachets open, he took another mug off the stand in anticipation...
She nodded, acknowledging him. Her posture was more relaxed, palms resting upon laps. "I wouldn't mind any Bretonian tea, if you have any. Usually, I'm opposed to it, but supplies are quite... -- Well. The Stores in Rheinland lack variety. I understand your need for secrecy, especially in this sector. So, Viper, huh. Have any thoughts about their experiment?"
"Its dangerous... A gamble, I can already tell that its probably going to involve a high amount of overcharged plasma." He sounded disappointed or exhausted, it was hard to tell between the two. The quiet clinking of spoon hitting the tea up didn't even echo in this silent room. "But sooner or later it was either me or her that would try to find a way to assault the hive here." As he was emptying the tea bags out of both cups, he took a moment to tidy up the small tea station...
His fingers slipped under the rim of his helmet, a small hiss from the seal around his neck... The sound his helmet squeezing out around his face as it came off left his short hair rife with static. Grabbing both mugs and sitting down to the right of Revenant on the circular table. "Although I don't know what such a brute force method will do to this fragile system, the temples below... That power cell she has." He slid over the tea towards her.
"She wants to obliterate the infectees nest. The brute force, indeed. I don't think it's going to end well. She doesn't know what she's toying with, especially with the machinations that are tied to the DKV. After Harbinger mentioned to keep a jump drive charged while asked of to observe the incident, mmm. You can bet something won't be right. "
His eyes while replaced were succumbing to a feeling of retraction at the mention of that name. "Why does he want to watch this place again? Potentially another peice of the puzzle... Might even explain why I've been feeling watched... Again." He takes a moment to collect himself before sipping on the hot metal mug of tea. His crossing his legs and tucking them under his seat, "Because I had the same idea myself. Once we've got the ship back, we were to station it here to watch over this place." He tugs over the velvet sack by its drawstring, it rolled its way over to him with a heavy growl until he cupped it within his hands. "He gave me this... You think he'd feign ignorance of knowing me? He felt as clueless to who I was."
"Curiosity. Turns out he had the same thoughts as I did, those subrelays in Earhart, how it's going to affect the machines there." Revenant gazed at the sack, tilting her head slightly in curiosity. "I do not know, I believe he may have forgotten you. A lot can happen. He does seem to be focused on these matters regarding the DKV devices uncovered... What is in there?"
His hand slipped into the pouch, gently easing out purple jewel with an oval like shape, wrapped within a gold band engraved with glyph writing. "I don't know... Had it for almost a decade. Harbinger led me to it within the caves of Sprauge. Demanded blood at the time..." He held it up, raised by his fingertips as he twisted it for his own eyes.
"Those caves... I'll never forget those caves." Twisting it in the dim light from above, the single crack inside never seems to reach the outer shell of the jewel, it shimmers brightly even while it sits motionless as it was being gazed upon... Something was definitely moving within.
She held a silent gaze on the object, pondering, feeling, contemplating what was revealed. "Do you remember why he wanted you to go there?"
"I..."
His eyes looked like they were on the brim of realization, but as his mouth resisted giving any speech. He cradled the artifact in his lap as he slumped back into his seat, seeing as Revenant was relaxed as much as he's ever seen her... Maybe he should take a few pointers.
"I was curious... They had shown me peace once because I was so frightened to shoot them the first time. A new situation and I wasn't prepared to act, so when Harbinger and I had taken a few occasions to chat. I quietly went on patrol and never came back to military command... I've heard stories of possessed pilots but I figured a gun would keep them at a distance if trained enough."
His thumbs gently rubbed on that glossy jewel as he spoke, his black and teal cybernetic eyes gloomed over the fractured void within his hands. "He pointed the way to Sprague, deep within the tunnel networks was the first time I've seen the work of the DKV. He told me to retrieve a sacred path... I didn't know what it was myself but the urge to succeed in an assignment just took over... To explore, to understand, to dare the frontier... I went willingly into the depths with Harbinger perching its voice on my shoulder."
"Heh." She listened, casually leaning upon the desk. "Familiar. That's what is going on with me too. Did he ever know what to look for? If he wanted it, I'm surprised you're still keeping it? What happened in the end?" A brief pause, thinking, assessing whether or not that it's worth the risk of telling their secret. "It seems like they have always benefited from like minded people who are too curious for their own good."
"Don't start now with all those questions in one go... You'll get what I can tell you because I know there is more." His head hung low, his body took to attempts to try and shift itself to face her... His hand reached out slowly with the artifact. Offering it to her to observe what lied within. "He saw what he wanted to see... I just had to be dragged along with it. Sometimes I see glimpses of it when I'm on the cusp of sleep... I remember the caves falling away as I fell further."
"Too much? Hmm. Don't remember then, eh?" She jested lightly, slowly reaching her palms out to gently grasp the artifact, gazing down it intently upon the table. Inspecting every little part of the quartz, scanning it within the mask. An oddly familiar sense was had. She couldn't quite understand it, but that odd sense of connection was there. A dulled, drowned out feeling. Perhaps the spark of light within could feel its gentle aura. No less, for her, it was an idle point of curiosity - destined to be drowned - yet disturbed by the small sensation of white noise the little sample produced.
"I do remember up to a point." The shimmering underneath he couldn't ignore as his eyes never broke from it. The hand he held up to her was slowly brought to his chest, the remaining right hand came to tug off the gloves that covered it... A long single scar that stretched across his palm. "After that...? I felt the void, free of a shell and I somehow knew how to move with the current of energy... On demand, at a whim!" His palm had already clawed with tension, his voice had inflection rather than it's usual monotonic narrowness. "The problem is I will try to remember what I saw, yet I still don't understand it... Even if it screams so loudly at night. My gamble many years ago thought this could bring a means of translation of their language or methods. But no, problems started after I offered my blood for it..."
Her masked face peered up, locking over to him, gesturing in curiosity once more with a tilt, perked up by his words of a blood ritual. "I saw it as no sacrifice, my blood is replenish-able, the pain merely a moment to pass... Harbinger wanted me to tell it who I was in a way it understood." Its like as if the helmet wasn't there anymore, the notion of confident leadership, a stable calculated individual in both lives... But not here. "My blood went in, and in return the noises grew louder and clearer, the rock, stone and dust in the caves were gone for good, I was assured I wasn't just hallucinating some sort of psionic trickery. In that moment, it, not Harbinger, was showing me this. While Harbinger watched that was all he could do... At that point I was conscious that the decisions in this vision were my own, soon surrounded by the dense energy structures and junctions of flowing matter, it was not too dissimilar now to the presence of a psionic entity... But not an emotional feeling... it was in a way how we work machines, I knew it was telling me its function purely from its feeling."
He unzips his flightsuit outer layer, a hand reaching in to pull out a black leather-back pocket journal. And in the same time taking a sip of tea while sliding the journal onto the table. "But I was overwhelmed with new sights, sounds... I could never get anything coherent until I held my hands close to the streams that crossed all over this weightless void. My hands could almost feel the current flow of them as if they vibrated through my skin... Harmonic, constant. But I felt like I could sway the current as if I could leech the flow with the thought of my hand pulling on that energy, A challenge to do but it was enough." His eyes accidentally slip onto Revanant and her mask, while in the moment of looking for reassurance he was startled about the perception of himself to her. Slouching back in his seat as his hands quickly began to rub up and down the length of his thighs out of habit. "I'm sorry... I must be flooding you with information. Its been a lo- No. I've never talked about this."
A light hum, her tone almost similar to that of nostalgia. "An attunement to machines, hmm... Though, not in the same capacity as you with the very control of energy itself, I was imprinted similarly by another specimen, a crystal. This was... years ago. I find myself very familiar to the synthetic but -... You? Your entire senses must have been completely overridden. " She reached up, releasing her mask, a small hiss of air releasing as pressure normalised, to reveal the now-much refined face, stress and damage piling up. The missing eye replaced with a cybernetic implant - akin to a flat surface. A gaze of curiosity yet concern coated her expression, wondering if the man she knew was hurt by this change. "It must have been a lot."
He crossed his ankle over his knee... His fingers tapping away as he continued to switch his eyes between her and the artifact. "I uh-- yeah... It was, felt like seconds and days at the same time. When I pulled a stream across one into the path of the other..." His hands danced with his fingers spread out, hands shaping around an invisible orb which he is clearly imagining himself. "I just remember, when they finally collided... The rush of the void was trying to drag me in, but the mere thought of resisting these... sub-space winds was enough to keep me static in this infinite web of--" He was still struggling to explain the sights of a vision from another life,even if his eyes were fake, his habit of rubbing them with his thumb and fingers in this instance was more than required.
"When the flow merged, a spark at the point of convergence, brighter than a white dwarf as it's scream of impact soon merged into a synchronous chorus. It grew in size as I wished it to be. You could feel it's turbulent rumble becoming a gentle hum as it pushed itself and the winds it pulled became stronger. But I would only move as soon as I felt it was ready, when the winds stopped growing stronger, and only then I let my grip go, I felt my weightless body fall in and flew through the current myself..." Remembering such an intense yet indescribable memory, his hands continued to tense around an object in mid air, his tendons bulging from under the ball of his hands and between his fingers. His attention fully falling into the state of the memory, unaware of the artifact twitching by the micrometer, the newtons of weight gently pressing into Revenant's hand as it attempted to tug itself in some direction... All in sync with the movement of CS's restless digits...
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Inventory listing![[Image: CS-artifact.png]](https://i.ibb.co/ystwCZT/CS-artifact.png)