Move 2.2b Recap

The team reacts to information about Flute's orders and plans.

Debriefing: Reshad, Sasha, Seyli, and Sulen

Sulen greets the group returning from meeting with Flute: "I made tea in the common room. I tried to make coffee but it was more complicated than it looked. Is everyone uninjured?" Reshad says, "Nobody's injured." She thanks Sulen for the tea, and takes a cup. Sasha says, gratefully, "Fuck, yes, I would love some tea." She asks Seyli where they want to debrief.

Seyli has been tense and brooding. Disconcerted by Sasha's suggestion that they take twenty (heptarchate) minutes to yell, they say, "I'm not going to yell and certainly not at you if I was. Sir." Sasha leads Seyli to her office, acquiring tea on the way, and tells them, "Triage. What concerns you most, about that meeting?" Ignoring Sasha's gesture toward a seat, Seyli says, "What doesn't concern me? We're getting tangled up in a mission that involves someone who never lost a fight, without any significant backup, or clear support? Sir, I fail to understand how you can ask that question with the information before us." Sasha says, "Sit the fuck down, Seyli. You're hurting my neck." She attempts to engage Seyli and reassure them they will not be acting alone by saying, "I know you'd prefer a few more moths and a lot more heavy ordnance. But I believe you have not registered that Alaric and Ione and Aymad and I could kill everyone on this station, given a couple hours' lead time. Three, if their firewalls are really good. Humans are fucking fragile and very dependent on specific levels of oxygen."

Seyli sighs and drops into a chair, observing, "I understand a lot of your plans tend to go haywire. But that is...useful information to know. You're right, I haven't put those pieces together about the four of you." They ask what role they will take, as "the only trained infantry person." Sasha tells them, "Your role is security, and our mission is extracting information." She observes that Alaric and Ione have "significant operational experience," but notes that Seyli's ability "to predict the way an armed adversary will react" is important. She asks Seyli what they need to make training the Lanterners "endurable". Seyli ponders what requests are reasonable, and settles on, "Don't send me with the flower girl, if you can help it. I don't have time to teach and babysit at the same time." Sasha says, "Fuck, that would be an operational security nightmare." She tells Seyli that she will send Aymad and perhaps Gerae, "because the man remembers every word he hears."

Sasha warns Seyli that the upcoming all-team meeting will be chaotic, and asks them to bear two things in mind: "First, our fundamental responsibility is to keep the moth alive and report back to Ashari. Second, our resources are fucking strange. If you need something in order to get a job done, ask for it." Seyli assents, correcting from "sir" to "Sasha", and asks, "I trust I'm not going to sound like a moron when I describe a tool that I'm not sure is real but would help?" Sasha says she will offer a bonus if Seyli comes up with something Alaric hasn't heard of: "Did he tell you, he doesn't have a heart?" Seyli answers, "We've not really talked." They ask if Sasha needs anything else from them, and she says she will see them at the all-team meeting in 85 minutes.

Sasha meets next with Reshad and Sulen. She summarizes the meeting with Flute, then asks Sulen, "We have an emergency line to Ashari. Do we notify them of developments now, or do we wait?" Sulen doesn't want to distract or worry Ashari, so they say, "I'd advise against contacting them unless in a true emergency. They sometimes... overreact." They ask how much autonomy the team was intended to have. Sasha says, "They intended us to have a great deal of autonomy." She assumes this means she is responsible for any failure. She adds, "I can set up a fail-safe so that this information is delivered to them, should we find ourselves unable to do so directly."

All-team meeting

Sasha summarizes Flute's orders, concluding, "We suspect that the mission to assassinate Jedao is in Quill's interest, not in the interest of the rebellion as a whole. However, we must bear in mind that Flute's commitment to the rebellion may be genuine." She asks for input on factors to consider and future actions. Sulen says, "I've accessed all the information we have on this Shuos Jedao, and it certainly seems like his assassination is a worthy goal, although it wouldn't have been my priority." Alaric agrees that Jedao is an odd target: "In the long run doesn't his big murder-suicide do a lot of damage to heptarchate forces anyways? Not even that long-run, really. Medium-term at best. Was the war really close to tipping the other way at this point?" Sasha observes, "We don't know who made the choice. Ashari thought that Quill designed the mission. If Quill's working with the Shuos who sent Mishka, she might very well have chosen to assassinate Jedao on the grounds that this will help the heptarchate somehow, in the long run." Alaric suggests, "Maybe it would benefit a specific faction, either in the heptarchate sense of the word, or a faction of the rebellion."

Virmad observes that if "a small client state" could thwart the heptarchate, without Jedao's leadership, "that could both leave it open to external challenges and exacerbate the internal contradictions that let heresies spread in the first place." He points out that multiple assassins might attract Jedao's attention: "If they can draw his attention to the assassins and prevent that damage, who knows what he might accomplish while clear-minded? It was always speculated that his actions at Hellspin might have been connected with the aftereffects of the assassination attempt." The assassination plan seems "ill-advised", he concludes, "But doing nothing will attract attention we don't want from our 'superiors' and their other agents here. I wish we had a better sense of Jedao himself, beyond the historical record."

Sulen asks why Quill would care about the campaign against the Lanterners, rather than simply wanting to remove a talented general: "Do we suspect them of being an agent of the Heptarchate? Or are we merely remaining open to the possibility?" Ione suggests that the team "borrow" Jedao: "We would be removing him, but then we could find out why, or maybe why he thought they specifically wanted him dead." She elaborates, "Could we just. Pretend to kill him?" and offers, "Poison dart that isn't actually fatal sort of thing?" Sasha tells Sulen, "We know that Quill is working with the Shuos agents who sent Mishka. Whether that makes her a heptarchate agent, rather than a faction of her own, is anybody's guess." She tells Ione, "I like the idea of not doing what Quill wants, but I don't see an easy way for us to extract a body, dead or otherwise" when other "interest groups" would take priority. Reshad says that Quill's removal of Mikodez together with "Jedao's legendary mind" make her "think we want him." She suggests that perhaps Jedao "could be persuaded to see the monstrosity the Hexarchate becomes." She tells Sasha that extracting Jedao without Flute's knowledge "may be easier than you think. We botch the mission, and botch it badly. Disrupt their comms, break their plans, and execute our own. No, I'm more worried about the Kel."

Sasha objects, "Jedao's a monstrosity himself, isn't he? He's about to murder his own army. I can see that he would be a valuable bargaining chip. But that's a massive risk for an uncertain payout." Reshad answers, "Hellspin fell out of the deck sideways, though." She tells Sasha that retrieving Jedao would not entail "trying to make him not a monstrosity," but she should "think of it as denying the Hexarchate a weapon - not by destruction, but by theft." Sasha responds, "I wouldn't steal one of the fungal weapons. Because a weapon's no good if you're not willing to use it." She asks why Jedao is different: "Why in all the hells do we think we could use him safely?" Seyli agrees strongly: "Why do we think we could use him when no one else has managed to do so? I'm sure as hell not that special." Alaric suggests that trying to use Jedao, as the hexarchate did, may be the wrong approach: "They also use moths, and while nothing's happened yet, traditionally enslaving strange creatures from beyond space and time doesn't go well either. So far working with a moth for mutual benefit seems to work pretty well though." Reshad says, "Assassinated or kidnapped, either way we deny the Hexarchate his ability. But to Alaric's point - alliance may be more potent yet. And make every plan with an eye to harm reduction." Mafyyil, who admires Jedao's record, suggests, "Can't we, like, talk to the guy? We want to damage the heptarchate. Apparently, so does he, and he's good at it, too." Sasha says, "I don't know what the fuck harm reduction means in this context, or why we're comparing the moth, whose priority appears to be protecting babies, to a man who murders his own people." She warns Mafyyil that talking to Jedao risks him warning the Kel. Alaric agrees, "It does seem like the sort of situation where you kidnap first and ask ideological questions second. Or shoot him, whatever."

Sasha summarizes four possible courses of action (numbered from zero to three):

• Let the Lanterners make their assassination attempt without interference.
• Let them try, but attempt to secure Jedao if they fail.
• Assist in the assassination attempt seriously.
• Sabotage the assassination attempt and go straight to kidnapping.

She states that, lacking information on Quill's motives, she favors attempting to secure Jedao if the assassination attempt fails, and asks whether Iawa or Ione has a drug that would cause Jedao to come willingly.

Ione says that she has a suitable drug which comes in powder form "which can be powerful even when inhaled but if you put it through a ventilation system you'd have either a lot of problems or the most complacent group of people you've ever dealt with and they would be extremely annoying, but they would also probably all forget it happened." She adds that she can make a suspension to dart Jedao with as well, though he may object to the side effects. "If I have a couple of days and lab equipment and someone else to do calculations for me because that will be much faster, I can adjust the potency."

Reshad tells Sasha, "Harm reduction, in this case, is stopping Hellspin and its associated remembrance, and we have the bonus option of denying Quill what she seems to want by keeping him alive." She smiles at Mafyyil, saying, that although Jedao likely can't be trusted, "Working with someone doesn't necessarily mean full trust. Only that you trust them to act in a known way." She reflects that though predicting Jedao's actions will be difficult, "even foxes have patterns." She agrees that kidnapping Jedao before talking to him will be necessary, and says she favors sabotaging the other assassination attempts, rather than "leaving our outcome to chance or someone else's competence."

More about Flute's plans: Alaric, Ione, Reshad, Sasha, Seyli, and Sulen

Sasha carefully investigates the information she collected from Flute's mothgrid. She identifies the work of at least two highly competent security specialists, Spider and Firecracker. Sasha met Spider during her rebellion training, and believes Spider underrates her skills. Sasha is able to identify one of Flute's team members who is evading Spider and Firecracker's security precautions; based on the grid use pattern, this person appears to be infantry, perhaps former Kel. Sasha uses this person's messages to gain access to Flute's personal and work message accounts.

Sasha finds notes showing that Flute plans to propose a reorganization of Personnel due to their failures in preparedness. She locates Flute's orders, which say in part, "Above all things, avoid being outed as out-of-timestream agents, even at the cost of the assassination's failure, which at least will leave us no worse than our starting position. The worst-case scenario is Jedao himself becoming aware that he's a target of interest to out-of-time powers. He is to be assumed mentally unstable." Though Flute is not aware of their source, Sasha is able to confirm that these orders follow Quill's usual style. Sasha learns that the rest of Quill's team will be providing surveillance assistance, using a large amount of technology in order to monitor from outside the system where the conference will take place. She finds a contingency plan to vent atmosphere from an entire section of the conference station if the Lanterners' attempts to assassinate Jedao are unsuccessful, and is furious that Flute would send her team to the station without warning her about this plan.

Ione senses Sasha's rage, and finds her in the galley, slamming cupboard doors. Reshad follows, curious about the disruption. Sasha asks the grid to summon Seyli and Sulen, and tells the grid to display the substance of Flute's orders. Seyli arrives quickly, and initially assumes the meeting is informal. Sasha asks the grid to page Alaric as well. She summarizes what she learned from Flute's messages, asking the grid to relay this information to Sulen as well. She concludes that because Flute's team is "looking at a software solution, not explosives," they will "have to override the emergency airlocks." Alaric says, "My guess is that they'll target the safety systems. They could convince the emergency locks that there's pressure on the outside and it's safe to open. Alternatively, they could rig the life support sensors in the compartment to show that there's a dangerous overpressure." Sasha agrees that tampering with the emergency airlocks is most likely. She tells the assembled group, "We can deal with the atmosphere problem. But before that. We want Jedao alive, because fuck if I'm going to do what Quill wants. We don't want Flute's people to know we have him, because then we become a target. How are we going to accomplish this goal?"

Alaric suggests, "If we're un-sabotaging the air supply already, we could introduce knockout gas - say, a safe exotic crowd-control agent like Sevenfold Soothing Scilla - and swoop in through unsecured emergency locks. Or we pretend to be medics after one of the assassination attempts. How hard could it be to dress up, right?" Sasha points out that, in addition to dressing up, the team would have to counter surveillance and haptic analysis: "I'll take that as a proposal for sedative gas or Lanterner assist, though. Ione, I'm assuming you have a stronger tranquilizer available? Seyli, any thoughts on recovering Jedao?" Sulen arrives quietly, apologies for tardiness, and asks, "Have we decided who we're sending to train our allies? It sounds like they might need to perform some sabotage." The idea of retrieving Jedao makes Seyli angry, but they ask, "If we can't pose as medics, is there the same issue posing as Kel? I don't doubt they'd close ranks around him." They tell Sulen they will be training the Lanterners. Sasha says, "Also Reshad, Gerae, and Aymad, in my current thinking: Reshad to talk to people, Gerae to memorize what they say in answer, and Aymad to act as a tech and work his way into the Lanterners' systems." She notes that the team may be able to sabotage the Lanterners' armor through software.

Sasha adds that she likes the idea of posing as Kel: "That explains why Jedao would end up somewhere that Spider's eyes can't see." Reshad observes that the Kel "didn't get the standardized body language until later," which will make posing as one of them easier. She offers to act as a decoy: "I can make a scene at the appropriate moment, or try to get close to their infiltrators. Whichever is more likely to help when we fox their plans." Sasha is at first confused by the reference to formation instinct, then translates, "You mean, the Kel aren't all bound together, yet." She asks whether Seyli or someone else should play the Kel role, and points out that if it's Seyli, the team will "have to make sure the Lanterners can't report their involvement." Seyli says, "There is no reason I can't pose as Kel, a convincing one at that." They're not thrilled by the idea, but point out that they are unlikely to be successful in pretending to be anything but a soldier.

Sasha worries that ensuring the Lanterners don't report that Seyli is a double agent might involve killing them. She tells herself that she can take responsibility for ordering the assassins' death, if necessary. She asks Seyli, "Do you want to escort Jedao after we drug him, or do you want someone else to do so, to leave you free to deal with other contingencies? And if you are escorting him, how do we handle the Lanterners, and anyone else who might recognize you?" Ione asks how and by whom the drug will be administered: "That changes formulation." She adds, "Strength isn't an issue, I could do unconscious for five minutes or unconscious for five hours easily enough. Or five days, but that seems excessive." Sasha reminds her that the goal is for Jedao to be "agreeable and following our fake Kel." She says that the method of administration depends on the number of targets: "Ione, did you say your drug affects memory? If so, should we be planning to give it to the Lanterners as well? Because we have three choices, as I see it. Either we deceive them, or we make them forgetful, or--we disable them." Seyli says, "If you think clean up is going to involve combat of any kind, then yeah, I should stay behind to clean up." They point out that they lack "training on sneaking," but add, "The last time I needed to look entirely different, I just wore a waist cincher and a tight dress, makeup, left my hair down. It's not the best disguise, but it's an easy one." Sasha is disconcerted by the idea of Seyli in a dress, something she views as a strange heptarchate fashion. She says, "Yes, if Ione's drug can affect short-term memory, our options increase. Or I think Alaric mentioned an exotic?"

Shopping trip: Remi, Reshad, and Mafyyil

Reshad has dressed in flamboyant colors for the shopping trip, hoping that people will notice her fashion choices rather than her face. She asks whether she should pick up anything besides Lanterner cordial. Remi is also dressed elaborately. He tells Reshad, "I bet Sasha would appreciate some more flavors of jam, if we can find it." Mafyyil's outfit is comparatively practical. Reshad compliments her, "Your flowers look particularly vivid today."

Reshad asks Remi what kind of jam Sasha likes: "I'm becoming worried we won't get along, so perhaps a gift would help." Remi checks the Cantata's inventory and reports that plum, sour cherry, and pine-resin flavors could use restocking, "And maybe a few new flavors in case she likes trying new things. Worst case I'll have them with toast." Reshad says she has been avoiding the hot-pepper jam until she finds out how hot it is, but, "The sour cherry is definitely a favorite. If Sasha likes it too, maybe we do have something in common." She observes, "I have a few things I might like to find, but I'm not sure what the trades look like right now." Remi offers to test the spiciness level of the jam. He reports that the most valuable commodities are information and "novelties--whether that's food goods or the latest hottest cocktails or the like. Also entertainment items; games and game variants are pretty popular." Reshad says, with some amusement, "If it's too hot for you, it's definitely too much for me." She is enthusiastic about the idea of new games, and asks, "Is there anything in particular you like to play? I'm a fan of strategic board games in particular." Remi says, "I especially enjoy Prisons and Pangolins and all the tabletop roleplaying games that it spawned. I'm afraid strategic games are not my forte." Reshad says, "I never did find a group I particularly enjoyed, but the game itself seems interesting." Remi says that he likes mages and alchemists, and notes that the team has a P&P game going. He notes, "The Cantata is still figuring out what it wants to do with its druid character. I wonder if it thinks it can take humans as pets?" Reshad expresses her interest, and her curiosity about the Cantata. "I suppose it has human pets, anyway." Remi explains that he has been answering rules questions for the Cantata, agreeing, "From its standpoint, it already has human pets. I guess I can't blame it for wanting to play something familiar. I had this one Shuos friend who always wanted to play an assassin..."

Planning, loyalties, and future challenges

The team has a very interesting discussion of the ethical implications of their orders to assist in Jedao's assassination. The participants in the discussion divide into three rough groups. Sasha, Seyli, and Sulen are inclined to fear and distrust Jedao, but Reshad and Virmad are both fascinated by his career and would like to learn more about him. Alaric, Ione, and Mafyyil, who have less connection to the heptarchate or hexarchate, are more generally curious. Sasha's decision that the team will attempt to foil the assassination and kidnap Jedao is driven by her feelings about a leader's obligations and resentment of both Quill and Flute. Seyli is particularly disturbed by this course of action, though they are committed to professional behavior. Sasha's attempt to engage and reassure them is partially successful, but this tentative rapport cannot entirely offset the combination of the team's failure to adhere to military norms and the danger that Jedao himself constitutes.

Ione may be the team member most focused on social integration; on a team with many intense personalities, this is likely to constitute an ongoing source of stress. Ione does use her empathy to nudge Sasha to share information about Flute and Quill, usefully offsetting Sasha's tendencies toward unilateral action.

Reshad and Sasha cooperate on a professional level--cooperation made easier by Sasha's decision to pursue Reshad's favored strategy--though Reshad continues to worry about Sasha's evident uneasiness around her. She mentions her concern to Remi, but, like many Nirai, he offers technical solutions rather than an analysis of interpersonal dynamics; in general, Remi only sustains interest in other team members when their actions seem likely to affect the mothlings. By virtue of their interactions with Sasha and their role on the team, Sulen is perhaps best equipped to explain this particular interpersonal dynamic. However, Reshad has surely marked the stress Sasha and Sulen both exhibit when discussing Ashari, and may not wish to pursue this avenue of investigation directly. Reshad does make a sustained and somewhat effective attempt to engage Mafyyil; meanwhile, Mafyyil is learning more about heptarchate culture and the team's goals.