Bastion: Sulis #2

Demiurge
"Welcome to Winter's Edge."
After their release, Lita offered to house the guests in her home. Perhaps the mages might feel some mistrust toward her after the manner in which they were welcomed, but she seemed to genuinely want to make amends, and as of yet no one else had stepped up to offer the same. The villagers had heard by now about the origins of their mysterious guests, and while many were curious (and few seemed anything close to openly hostile,) very few felt safe welcoming them into their homes. Lita's house was of a moderate size, with a single guest room that Grace, Lena and Patience would have to share. But there were enough beds for all, and plenty of food, and the house had an elegant and rustic charm. Lita resided with a man and another woman, all of whom appeared to be in a comfortable polyamorous relationship. The man, Brandon, was a tailor, while Sara, the younger woman, seemed to be some kind of artist. A number of her paintings hung on the walls of their home - beautiful abstract creations full of wild, vivid colors. Of the two of them, she was the most warm and welcoming, but Brandon was cautiously friendly.
All told, it wasn't a bad place to spend time while they regained their strength. Lita even managed to procure a few of those digital bracelets that everyone seemed to wear, and left them for Grace, Lena and Patience to use if they wished. A thorough inspection combined with trial and error would reveal the bracelets to be some type of computer-slash-communication tool. To access its menus, an interactive holographic display would appear in the air, and could be interfaced with via both voice commands and hand motions.
The day they'd been released, Olga had told them about the Company's base ship. They if Atreyu was still alive, she would be there - airborne behind the tall, snow-capped mountain range. There was no chance of them getting there by foot. But by air? Perhaps. The locals were already planning a rescue mission.
It was three days later when Lita came home from a hunting excursion to seek out her guests and give them the news. Wherever they were, she approached with a grim and excited expression.
"The dragonriders are attacking tomorrow."

Demiurge
[Edit: "That if Atreyu was still alive"]

Grace Evans
[Int + Computers, Diff 8 - 1 (Ability Aptitude) Specialty: Creative/Analysis]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1

Grace Evans
Grace has been much happier since being released from jail. Which, really isn't surprising, exactly, but the people of Winter's Edge will find her to be much less full of snark and sarcasm, and much more utterly gleeful. She also spends nearly all of her time glued to her wrist computer, and telling her compatriots everything she finds out about the way those computers work.
For a person who has never seen a holographic bracelet computer in her life, she's quite a quick study.
And that is where Lita will find Grace, peering into holograms and waving her fingers like a kid who's gotten the toy they wanted most at Christmas.
"Tomorrow? Are they coming by the village, or should we go out to meet them?" she asks, the excited grin on her face fading into something that more respects the gravity of an immanent attack.

Lena Reilly
For her part, Lena isn't distrustful of Lita, because she understands.  Putting herself in the shoes of those at Winter's Edge, she completely gets why they would be cautious, wary and even directly hostile to outsiders, especially ones who talk about things that don't seem normal to them.  Lena's just glad that they listened to reason at all, and Lita had been level-headed and smart throughout.
So she's friendly to the woman, and grateful for the offer.  She takes the offered bracelet with the same gratitude and leans the ins and outs of working with it.  She's no technophobe obviously and she's curious by the holographic technology, though probably not as keenly as her fellow Awakened.
She speaks with Lita and her partners, seems comfortable around them.  If they end up trapped somewhere in the end, this would certainly not be the worst place to be trapped.  Of course, that's not her goal, and she's focused on finding the next way out of here, which brings them to Atreyu.  She listens as Olga explains about the ship, frowns thoughtfully and nods.
When it's almost time, Lena turns to hear the news from Lita and nods.  "All right.  Well, no time like the immediate future then."  She smiles a little, even if it's faint.  After all, this is an assault and there's danger.  She takes a breath, running her hand through her hair.  "What do we need to do?  Find someone to ride with, I'm assuming, or is that covered?"

Patience Mason
Freedom was theirs and there was certainly no time to waste. The trio were housed, given a home away from home by Lita and Patience harboured her no ill will. She had performed her duty, protecting her people and her loved ones. It was impossible to be unhappy with someone for such an act.
But with freedom there was no time for idle chit chat, no time to sit back and enjoy the hospitality [great or small] that the village had to offer. No after learning of the nature of their enemy, this so called 'company' Patience had set about working, her methods would no doubt seem strange to the people of Winter's Edge, and she took whatever space she could to begin her work. Much of it centered around the device she had extracted from the company pilot. The neural interface which allowed them the ability to communicate with their machinery on a neural level.
Such technology was formidable...but also bore deadly weaknesses. Ones that Patience now sought to exploit.
It would be early  on the third day that Patience would approach her companions wherever they were, already looking tired, perhaps a little manic, but through it all she seemed alive, almost bursting with an energy that was raw and vibrant.
"Potential thesis!" She would declare as she strode up to the two. "Utilizing a data trans-sublimation pulse wave on a integral frequency generated by the neural cerebral data transmitter and integrator unit, I theorize that a reciprocating and degenerative temporal neurokinetic loop may be integrated into the companies individualized personage relativistic perceptions. Thus reducing successful reaction times and computational processing by all opposing amalgam operatives!" She would seem to indicate it was so simple, so easy to do.
"Grace, Lena, project and disseminate potential data integration and program actuality...potential?"

Demiurge
Grace and Lena were already there in the living room, with Grace manipulating the holographic images in front of her like a kid who'd just been given a new toy. Lita seemed fondly entertained by the group's fascination with everything they came up against, and although she'd likely never fully believe the story of the mages' origin, she did at least believe that they were not intentionally lying to her. After that first night, she hadn't asked them many questions about their past. Perhaps she assumed they didn't wish to discuss it, or perhaps it was more that she didn't want to hear the answers.
As she gave her news, she set her things down by the front door, hanging her jacket and placing her weapons and hunting tools in a locked alcove on the wall. She was about to answer Grace and Lena's questions when Patience came striding in with her announcement. The idea seemed to give Lita a moment of pause.
"Do you think you could achieve something like that?"
Because if they could, it was certainly worth trying.
To the others she said: "The Wingleader said she'd make a stop here to talk to you. I think she's interested in finding out how useful you might be. But no word yet when she'll arrive. I think they're pretty busy preparing."

Grace Evans
"Slowed reaction times while piloting a jet would be pretty catastrophic," Grace says, pondering Patience's 'thesis'. "Like drunk flying. How many do you think you can hit? Do you think I could help?"
Grace's eyes flit back to her holographic display. "If they're networked, I could try to bring down whatever firewalls they put up to stop you. Keep the effect flowing, maybe even spread it virally. What do you think?"
To Lita, Grace just shrugs. "It's not really a question of can and cannot, more a question of how. Everything is possible. I think I could probably hack into their computer and bring it to its knees and call me Mistress, except that I don't know their tech very well yet. Could be tricky. All we have is that implant. But you know... I have seen the weaknesses of those kinds of things firsthand. It gives you some benefits sure. It's also the very opposite of pretty when one explodes."

Lena Reilly
Patience's thoughts on a potential plan put a smile on Lena's face.  She has no idea how that would work (she's not THAT savvy with such things), but it's certainly worth a try and her expression suggests as such.
"Great idea," she says with a nod, and Grace is already talking about ways to assist, and offering her own ideas.  Lena, for her part, is a little less confident in a situation like this, but that doesn't mean she's not willing to try.
"I'm no computer expert," she says, turning to Lita.  "But I have a few tricks I can pull.  Get inside their heads on a limited scale, person-wise.  Nothing huge, but enough to give them some very detrimental impulses."  She shrugs.  "Outside of that, I'm pretty incompetant when it comes to fighting but that doesn't mean I won't try."

Patience Mason
Patience nods repeatedly to Grace's words, happy that the Virtual Adept had no trouble understanding her in moments like this. "Degenerative data packet transmission is in theory relatvistically simple, primary variables associate with strength of transmitter and integral systemic failsafes, potential extrapolation curve forcasts potential actualization in ninety eight point nine nine nine percent of alli individualized personages currently integrated with the afformentioned neural cerebral network integrator."
Lena offers her own thoughts as well and Patience nods. "Potential assimilation and utilization of the afformentioned transmitter may allow for a greater geographical range and numerical affliction ratio." She offers, before looking to Lita in particular.
"Are direct luminous field generators readily available within your socio-political amalgam?" She inquires. "Or, more effective, general high frequency data transcievers?"

Demiurge
"Oh," Lita looked at Lena in surprise. "Are you an empath? I didn't think..."
What was she about to say? That she didn't think the people of Earth had that capability? Perhaps wisely, she chose not to complete the thought. Instead she smiled sadly and said, "I wish I could go with you."
"Maybe you can, Lita. I heard they were looking for anyone skilled in combat to help in boarding the base ship." Sara walked into the room with a smile and stepped up to kiss Lita hello. Her arms and clothes were covered in drying paint, and Lita ducked out of the way after returning the kiss.
"Careful. You'll ruin my clothes. Where did you even hear that?"
"Eric, Hestor's kid. He was telling me about it."
"Ah," Lita replied, as though this was all the information she needed to complete the picture (not just of how Sara had heard it, but of why she herself had not.)
Patience asked Lita a question, and Lita cocked her head in silent contemplation. "Of course. All of the villages do. It's how we communicate."
She looked as though she was about to say more, but just then the air outside the treehouse came alive with the low, wailing echo of a siren.
Like a weather warning. Or worse: an incoming attack. Lita immediately snapped to attention and pressed her hands to Sara's shoulders. "Stay inside." Then she kissed the other woman on the forehead and ran out onto the porch.
In the distance, beyond the treeline: a wave of fighter jets was heading their way.

Grace Evans
Grace follows closely on Lita's heels to see what's the cause of the siren, as if she wasn't fairly certain already. She then looks back to Patience and says, "How soon do you think you can get your thesis operational? I know our wrist computers have a comm system built into them, could you use that as your field generator?"
From her vantage point on the porch, she watches the behavior of the villagers. Assuming they seem to know what to do, she will follow suit. When on Sulis...

Lena Reilly
If they hadn't already confessed to everything they had, Lena would have gone about her skills discussion differently.  Made something up and quietly done her Mind work under the guise of something else...distractionary work, perhaps.  But they've already shown their hand, what's one more card?
She smiles a little when Sara comes in.  In truth she's a little envious of the two.  There's nothing wrong with Envy, when not allowed to grow out of control and fester; it helps us recognize the things we value.  They talk and Lena tilts her head, listening for a moment, before the alarm sounds and one of their hosts is running out onto the porch.
Lena follows suit, looking at the jets.  "What can we do?"  It's her first question, help offered without reservation.

Patience Mason
"This theorem would require a data sublimation and transceiving locus of significant transmission strength, amplitude and frequency in order to be efficient on any large scale deployment." Patience looks at the row of fighter jets streaking towards them, their arrival imminent, likely even sooner then that.
Good science required time, careful planning, revision and accumulation of data to make said revisions. The mere seconds available to Patience at the moment...did not even remotely allow for 'good science'. Thankfully the Etheric scientist did not entirely rely on good science. When it came down to it, she could play dirty in a pinch with a lot of elbow grease and a bit of luck. Necessity was the mother of invention after all.
"Direct and immediate assembly of a functional and actualized prototype will require several temporal cycles in the standardized temporal unit identified as minutes to the layman. Addendum, necessary programming and data architecture is not concurrently available for appropriate field testing, further addendum, utilization of the afformentioned weaponized cerebral noospheric disruptor may gestate an innate and detrimental immunity should any individualized personages afflicted survive."
It was a warning...a very grim one at that.  But Patience started to move, running headlong towards whatever space she had commandeered for her work. She had much to do...and very little time to do it.

Demiurge
In the face of imminent threat, the mages' thoughts were not toward their own safety, but rather whatever assistance they could provide to defend against the assault. Lita told Sara to remain in the house, but of course she did not (because she was not a child, and she had her own mind.) So she followed the others onto the balcony to look up through the trees at the approaching squadron. When Patience left the group to get to work on whatever it was she had planned, Lita spared her a glance, but little more.
There were no bomb shelters here. No underground space... at all. The village had not been built with defense from air attacks in mind. The truth is, the people here had nowhere better to hide than inside their own homes, or perhaps out in the woods, if they spread out enough not to draw individual attention. Lita's home at least was far enough back that they'd escape the first wave of the assault.
"We have to get people to shelter," Lita answered Lena's question. "If you see anyone, especially children, tell them to fan out and get to the woods. The thicker the trees, the better."
She looked at Sara. "Where's Brandon?"
"He's in the market. I'll get him. You go help the other hunters."
Lita nodded, and this time when she kissed her lover, it felt like a goodbye. (Like: I love you, and stay safe.) Then Sara ran down the spiraling steps that led to the ground and Lita ducked back inside to get her gun. Weapon in hand, she made for the center of the village, where other armed citizens were pooling together.
Everything was happening at once. The sirens blared their warning, and all around the village people shouted and ran, confused and afraid. Perhaps they'd never thought that an attack would hit so close to home. But it had. And now their more leadership-minded members were herding the others away from the front lines while those in charge of defense raced to enact what little help they were capable of providing. Near the front of the village, a couple of metal turrets rose out of the ground and began to fire bright bolts of electricity at the approaching jets. One of the jets was caught and crashed into a grain field. The others kept coming though.

Patience Mason
[Int+Tech Spec WP diff 8]
Dice: 8 d10 TN8 (2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP]

Grace Evans
When Patience left, Grace went with her. The two of them have worked on projects before, and perhaps she can be of some assistance. At least she probably won't be in the way.
In theory, they should be able to use their wrist computers to connect to the village's comm hub, using its power to funnel a powerful signal straight up those jet pilots' wetwares. But it's that power boost that's needed, isn't it?
"You deal with the implant, I'll see if I can't get the comms on full blast," Grace says, and starts waving her fingers at the holographic interface on her wrist.
[Int + Tech Spec WP Diff 8]
Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Lena Reilly
There's a quick nod when Lita says it's about getting people to shelter.  She can't do a lot, but that she can definitely do and without hesitation she sets off, heading to handle crowd control.  She's scared...this is important to mention.  She's been very specific in her mind that this is all a simulation, and that's all it is.  It does not mean that she doesn't care about her person.  And besides, it's like the mercenary told his captain about the undercover Alliance agent:
Pain is scary.
And yet the fear doesn't stop her.  Pain is just pain, and if she is actually to die...well, if she dies, then she died saving people.  That's her best-case scenario anyway.

Patience Mason
Patience ran, felt her lungs burn as her legs drove her onward and her mind began to consider the plans required, the connects necessary, the theorems that would need to be computed. To her benefit, and her gratitude Grace had elected to join her, the pair running first to her small work space, and then towards the village's communications hub.
Patience simply nodded, not having the time to agree verbally, every nano second spent in conversation was several noospheric computational allocations lost to more important endeavours, because every full second could mean the difference between life, and death for the villagers, and themselves.
She worked quickly, having already been fairly aware of what needed to be done with the neural link...and it only took her a few moments to get it operational, she was over to Grace then, ready, waiting.
"Noospheric uplink and data dispersion capacitator operational and suitably augmented." She said as she waited for the necessary connection to bring it all together.

Demiurge
Grace and Patience set to work on finding a way into the enemy's neural network, while Lena ran to ground level and joined the other villagers in getting the people to safety. There wasn't much she could do, true. There wasn't much any of them could do. But they had to do what they could - and they did.
When the attack hit, it came hard and fast. The planes let loose a rain of red-hot laser-fire at the fields and farmhouses beyond the trees. One of the houses caught fire and lit up in a brilliant plume. Then the attack hit the front of the village proper, decimating trees and buildings. The sound of it was almost terrifyingly clinical. Not the harsh echo of bullets but the near-silent rush of air and heat followed by the tearing and sundering of wood and stone.
A lot of people died. You could see them falling, their bodies torn and smoking from cauterized wounds. Some of them were beyond recognition by the time they hit the ground.
The planes shot upward, hurtling over the tree-tops to make a pass at them from above. (Then it really was like rain.)
As Lena drew near the center of the village, she saw a ground of children sitting on the ground, crying and confused, beside the body of a woman who had likely been their mother. There were five of them, at varying ages between 5 and 13, the oldest of which (a boy) was trying desperately to get the others to move.
"Come on, we have to go! We can't stay out here!"
As Grace and Patience broke out into the fray, heading for the communication hub at the front of the village, they'd be confronted with the full vision of the attack - and the destruction left in its wake. They'd have only a few moments to reach their destination while the squadron doubled back and went in for another pass at the front. Enough time to reach the massive tree where the Council chambers (and their former prison cell) lay, but not enough time to climb to the transmitting device without putting themselves in harm's way.
When they got there, the tree was already a patchwork of scars, the ground littered with smoking bark and broken limbs alongside the dead villagers.
Then the next attack hit. And this time a few of the jets dove straight through the trees. Lena could see the plane coming. Could see the twilight sun glint off of its opaque black surface. There was a person in there. She couldn't see him, but she could feel his mind.
Those kids were going to die if she didn't do something.

Demiurge
[Edit: "she saw a group of children sitting on the ground"]

Grace Evans
When the lasers start, it's almost surreal. The relative quiet in which the village burns only serves to highlight the sounds of the dying and afraid. But with a goal ahead of her, Grace has to block it out. There are things to focus on that are not the dead and dying.
It's almost comforting, isn't it? To have a purpose in all the chaos? To keep one's mind off of the terror for as long as is necessary?
In between strafing attacks, they run their way through the village. But when taking cover, Grace works on boosting the signal of the transmitting device from her wrist computer. It's technology on a whole other level than what she's used to, though.
She huddles behind the council tree, trying to hold on to breath that threatens to go a bit too rapid. Sweat drips down the wild hair at her neck. And she's got her face firmly planted in that holographic interface -- joyless. She looks to Patience to know when to move and when to hide.
[Int + Tech Spec WP Diff 8 again!]
Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (3, 4, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1 [WP]

Lena Reilly
Real or not doesn't matter.  These are people and in here, they matter.  The horror of war is real in the most visceral, violent and traumatizing way and they have the most immersive experience with it ever right now.  She keeps an arm up to protect her eyes from debris as she runs, trying to get to someone and help.  Try to get to anyone and help.
She sees the kids, sitting there and needing to run but afraid to do so.  She sees the plan, bearing down on them.  It's like some kind of slow-motion scene of tragedy about to unfold where the hero can't do anything about it.
But Lena can.
She has two potential targets for her magic.  And they speak to her two sides, the two sides in everyone.  Her Wrath tells her to send the impulse to the pilot and force him to veer away, maybe crash into the ground somewhere safe.  Her Empathy tells her to save the kids.  It's a battle in her mind of which takes hold.
In the end, her Wrath holds sway for one simple reason: she can't target that many kids at once.  But she can try to get them to run as she affects the target in the plane.  And so she runs up to the kids, already starting to hum so that she can get in sync with the Lakashim.  The kids will never get why she's singing, and it doesn't matter.  All that matters is that she get them to safety.
"Go with him," she says, indicating the boy, and while she's not doing lyrics it is that her voice that taken on a melodic tone.  "You'll be okay..."
And with that, her eyes are targeted on the plane, Correspondance expanding out to locate him and affect his mind:
Veer away.
[[Mind 2/Corr 2, specialty focus!  Exending as much as needed, Quint to lower diff to 3, WP]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (6, 7) ( success x 3 ) [WP]

Patience Mason
Horror's were unfolding all around them, lives were being destroyed in all the ways one could imagine. This was not a territory dispute, this was not an act of vengence, this was systemic and total elimination of another ideology.
Genocide was likely the best way to describe it, albeit on an inefficient and piece meal scale.
Patience became all the more certain of her intended course of action as they ran through the burning, dying village, the lives of the pilots in those jets no longer a concern, if they fell and died or suffered brain damage...that was not her concern. Anyone who systematically bombed a village from above..deserved such a fate.
But they had to wait at the base of the tree, sheltered in its roots as they waited for the wave to pass, it would do no one any good if they were caught in the wave of destruction and killed before they could even make an attempt at Patience's plan.
When the planes past, and they were still alive the assent began in ernest, they would hook up the device, they would send the signal...they WOULD kill those jets.

Demiurge
As Grace and Patience were forced to take shelter from the attacks, Grace continued to work diligently on her device. It was difficult work, trying to focus on an alien technology while so much chaos erupted around her. But instead of letting the distraction overwhelm her, she used the pressure as a focus. And finally everything fell into place.
When a lull in the attack came, she and Patience made their way up those spiraling stairs. Going up and up and up...
The source of their plan was located high on the tree. A small enclosed room with an antenna on the roof. Somehow it was still in one piece.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Lena got to the kids and worked her effect, focusing all her strength and Will on the pilot of the jet that bore down on them.
Those words she offered the children, and the soft lilt of her song, were the last things she would ever utter in this realm. Veer away, she thought. And the jet suddenly slowed and veered to the side, but not before sending a spray of weapon-fire right at her. The beams tore into her body, burning and lacerating, and as she dropped to the ground, the world glowed with a strange kind of firelight. It felt like she was dreaming. Burning. Dying. Floating away...
And the world went black again.
But the kids, they got away. And the jet? A moment later it crashed headlong into a tree, killing its pilot in a bright explosion.

Grace Evans
"I've got it!" Grace yells over the screams of others. She doesn't know yet that the latest plane to crash was the one that dragged Lena out of this world.
"We should be ready for you to run the shit out of your thesis, Patience!"
But, it should be noted that Grace has not disengaged from her holographic interface just yet. She is preparing to assist with the thesis in play.
[Corr 2: Bring the Firewalls Down -- Attempting to weaken the defenses of the enemy tech to attacks from a distance. + WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (4, 5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Patience Mason
This was it, the moment of truth, all this dirty science would either result in something spectacularly chaotic as planes crashed down out of the sky like giant bolders of hail. Or they would continue unabated until nothing of the village stood but burning tinder and desiccated stumps.
Patience plugged in the neural uplink, hoping that it would hold the amplitude that was about to coarse through its circuitry and in that moment she began to deploy what counter measures she could slamming interference, high gain noise, and all manner of unpleasant frequencies along the neural uplink.
Anyone on the receiving end would..in theory, be rendered insensate.
Time would tell.
[Forces+Life 2: base diff 5, +1 for quick cast, minus one for quint WP]
Dice: 2 d10 TN5 (3, 4) ( success x 1 ) [WP]

Grace Evans
[Wits + Computer = 7; Diff 8-1 (Ability Aptitude)]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (4, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Patience Mason
[Wits+Computers WP]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (5, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]

Demiurge
High up in the comm tower, Grace and Patience had no idea yet that Lena was no longer with them. And that was probably for the best, because they might not have managed to do what they'd gone there to do if they'd been so weighted with grief. Perhaps it was not a real death, and she was already awake somewhere else. But they didn't know that for sure. And either way, it was only the two of them left to finish what they'd come here to do.
Somehow, in the midst of this war, and the destruction of this beautiful place and its people, two women from another realm managed to do something that many would have though impossible. With the neural implant back online and the device on Grace's wrist linked into it, she and Patience were able to pull down the firewall and hack the device's code to use the transmitter to send a bolt of raw neural feedback into the minds of all the pilots.
It was going to hurt like hell.
The planes broke formation in the sky, veering and dipping and spinning out of control. And for a few brief, glorious moments, the rain of fire ceased as the pilots struggled to keep their jets under control.
That was when the dragons came. Not many - not enough to defeat the entire squadron if they'd been fully functional. But enough. Just enough to finish them off while they were reeling from Grace and Patience's attack. The great beasts let out an echoing chorus of roars and swooped down, spitting mouthfuls of acid and wrenching the jets out of the sky with their clawed limbs. These dragons had no riders. They'd come of their own accord to help protect the village.
Back on the ground, the people realized what was happening and began to come out of hiding, looking up at the sky and crying with relief.
They would not all die tonight. Many of them already had - but not all. Thanks to two strangers who they'd all thought insane, and a handful of wild dragons.