Move 2.7 Recap

An unrestrained prisoner: Jedao, Reshad, and Seyli, joined by Ione

Reshad places her hand on Seyli's arm and murmurs, "A moment." Seyli's eyes sweep the room. Once they have both established there is nothing unexpected in the room besides an unrestrained Jedao, Reshad says, "I am sorry for the wait. But we came in to release you. I see no reason to get all the way back into that. Your leg's all right now?" Carefully holding out the restraints, Jedao answers, "My leg's fine. What now?" Smiling, Reshad takes the restraints, telling Jedao, "We're in motion. And I'd like to begin our work soon, but before that, your room is configurable to a certain extent." She asks the grid to display the options. Shrugging, Jedao says, "As long as there's a shower and commode I'm fine. What work do you have in mind?" Reshad explains that the first task is to get Jedao settled in: "You'll have very basic access to begin with--but we do have a government to topple. Your help would be deeply appreciated." Jedao asks courteously for food and drink, adding, "I assume your government-toppling can wait at least that long." Rubbing his right, gloved wrist, he continues, "I will be of the most help if you are able to give me accurate information regarding your capabilities. It will be impossible for me to advise you honestly, otherwise."

On the team channel, Sasha says, "Ione can deliver food, if you judge it appropriate." Seyli nods at Reshad, approving. Reshad tells Jedao that a meal will arrive shortly, and asks Sasha, subvocalizing, for "anything palatable". Sasha pages Ione via the grid and asks her to deliver a meal: "Let's stick with finger food for now. We have bananas, tangerines, and rice balls, and the walnut-plum ration bars aren't bad. I'll print a paper cup for water." Ione arrives quickly, carrying the food on a tray. She has pinned up her hair and slung a stethoscope around her neck. Looking pointedly at the tray and stethoscope, Jedao smiles and thanks her, saying, "I can listen while I eat, if you want to tell me more about this rebellion of yours."

Placing themself between Jedao and Ione, Seyli says, "Give me the tray back." Jedao does so, saying ironically, "Very good." Seyli tells him, "That's low hanging fruit, condescending praise." Jedao asks, "Would you have trusted anything other? You're not the first Kel to regard a mere fox with skepticism." Seyli says, voice sharp and a little high, "I wouldn't trust a word out of your mouth and it has nothing to do with the fact you're a fox. Skepticism is left for normal foxes, not war criminals." Eyes narrowing, Jedao says, "Yes, Corporal, about that. Why don't you tell me what it is I've done, in your timeline, that dishonored the uniform. Since it's so important to you."

Speaking to the supervisor: Ione, Jedao, Reshad, and Seyli, with comm traffic from Sasha

On the team channel, Sasha says, "Seyli. Stop." They clamp their mouth shut and shift into an alert posture. Interested, Jedao says, "That wasn't a reaction to me, however obnoxious you find me. That was your handler intervening, wasn't it?" More loudly, he continues, "Perhaps it would be more fruitful if we spoke to each other directly, whoever you are. Whatever you want of me, you already have me at a disadvantage. Talk over a comm channel if you have to; I want to hear what your plans are." Nodding at Reshad, Seyli snaps, "She's as much as in charge as anyone else here." Looking at Reshad, Jedao says, "I wouldn't presume to understand your rank hierarchy, but I would rather not have to take your people apart to figure out who's in charge, and what the plan is. We could save a great deal of time if someone besides the corporal here gave me a straight answer." On a private channel, Sasha tells Reshad, "I shall follow your lead." Reshad tells her, "Acknowledged and appreciated." Meanwhile, Ione watches quietly and with evident compassion, her empathy active.

Reshad asks Jedao whether he would like to eat first, or during the conversation. Since he indicates he can eat and listen simultaneously, she signals Sasha and continues, "The leader of this segment of the group is Sasha. As far as assets... She can give you a better assessment than I can; I'm very new to this group. But I can tell you that I find the plan to be credible. The Hexarchate will not succeed without its transport, and my associates have found a method of compromising it. As of yet I'm only aware of proof of concept - not full weaponization. But that, I think, is a matter of time. There are...complicating factors, of course."

Sasha is concerned that Reshad is describing the moths as a means to an end. Activating a voice connection, she introduces herself to Jedao, continuing, "According to the high calendar I was born in the year 201. Our role within this organization is science and intelligence. Our mission has both a scientific and an intelligence-gathering component. We're not conventional military, and this conversation will make a lot more sense if you stop trying to act like a general."

Jedao apologizes to Reshad for eating while talking. Meanwhile, he talks to Sasha, addressing both her and Reshad as equals: "I'm afraid one of the pathologies of conventional military service is that, well--as they say, if you hand someone a gun, everything looks like a target. I understand that you don't owe me answers, or honesty, but I have nothing to lose by asking--Certainly if you can break the stardrive, you will break the heptarchate. But are you prepared for the human consequences that come with disrupting trade and travel?" He further explains that his "sole area of expertise" is "conventional military operations" and he does not know how to "raise an army," nor how to act as a scientist or spy, concluding, "I won't pretend that we trust each other, but what is it that you want me to offer you? Or was it on the strength of my connection to a certain Nirai that you picked me?"

Privately, Sasha tells Reshad, "Hell and stars, I see the shape of this." Reshad answers, "Then it's yours. And I'll put an envoi on it." Sasha tells Jedao, "The heptarchate kills people to maintain the mothdrive, and invents new categories of enemies and heretics so it can go on killing people to maintain the mothdrive, so if you're asking if I understand that my choices have a price, the answer is 'yes'. I started out tracing another agent altogether, though I won't pretend I don't wonder if she's linked to your Nirai." She points out that he hasn't asked when the destination is, though "I couldn't tell you if I wanted to, because that's the experiment we're running." She explains that the rebellion uses "time is sticky" as a training slogan, meaning that it's difficult to cause major changes, such as erasing oneself from existence: "If you hang around the rifts long enough, you'll meet people from streams that are very different--where the heptarchate is a pentarchate, or never ruled at all--but that's not where the rifts we have mapped ever lead, and those aren't the times we want to influence. The question is, how sticky is time? When we came from, you are a famous traitor. If we're lucky, when we return that won't be true, and we can jump back to a couple hundred years after I was born and prevent the mothdrive from taking hold. If we're not lucky, time is stuck. We'll jump to a time where you are still a traitor, where you took the trade to make yourself undying. We won't be able to act until we get past the sticky bits, to a future even Reshad hasn't seen. And if that's true--if that's the stream that we are stuck in--I need you as an agent against a particular enemy. Not your Nirai, but the undying version of yourself."

notes

never did find out whether this Jedao likes ration bars

Seyli thinks Ione's lack of fear of Jedao is more reasonable; "They view Reshad and Sasha to be the de facto leaders" - Sasha's going to have to deal with that

Sasha starts out keeping her promise to Reshad