A report is demanded

[srwu_mods]

"I took the libery of informing ESUN - and the SSR." Suddenly there's an important announcement from Commander Howe.
"Gavin has all three seals he needs to bring the Lady back to this world. The good news is that he needs to be in the Discovery artifact to do it. It's under guard and the second anything suspicious is going on - we're moving in. The bad news is... I don't really have to tell you, do I? Efforts to track down Gavin, his allies, and his units are underway. Pray we find him before he makes his move."

"This is all."

That's all for the announcement - but the commanders are involved in another discussion behind open doors. Which means overhearing it by accident or purpose, or just outright joining in, is not difficult.


"Hmm? The Grungust Alpha and Huckebein Omega are dedicated psychodriver weapons, that's nothing new. But this part... the combination mechanism was originally planned, but the half-created project was stopped when it turned out the powerful psychodriver had no predisposition towards piloting. While still military, he became a commanding officer instead - who could this be talking about, I wonder?"


"The seal made the two able to combine somehow regardless. It didn't create anything new. The mechanisms were already there to begin with."


"What I want to know is where we are getting our money from. The council of sponsors turned out to be an elaborate hoax, same as Gavin's uncle. You mind shedding some light on that?"

The three faced towards the last person in the room.

"I have no comment. It's my job only to relay orders from above to you. I didn't know they came from a source that didn't really exist."

The one the reports always went off to, and who reported back with the council's reaction be it good or bad. The ESUN inspector.

Comments

[totallyhonest]

Out of nowhere, the door is kicked. Something rolled in, and it kneels up. It's Grace, who for some reason... holding a silver mirror at one hand and an iron horse shoe at another hand. An ornate cross is hanging from her neck. She... might have heard one or more conflicting rumours about the situation.

"Commanders, don't be fooled. This one might be one of those false people as well! I've listened to everything from behind the door. Prove that you're human. Show your face! What's your name? Do you know? Do anyone here know? You can't remember your name, can you?" She points the trinkets. at the ESUN Inspector.

[srwu_npc]

The people present lineface at the spectacle. Including the Inspector - who does indeed have a face. A middle aged man in a suit, he looks completely unremarkable. You'd mistake him for a random salaryman if met on the street.

"I didn't know you hire a comedian." He mentions with a completely neutral expression.


"We don't, inspector Jou. Not usually."

[actuallyselfish]

"It's worse than that," Dido remarks to the commanders, poking her head in. "If the Unity Group was assembled and funded entirely by instruments of the Lady...we have to question our entire infrastructure we're operating under."

She points out the office window at the nearby hanger bay...and the gleaming frame of the TSEN hub. "Teleport technology reverse-engineered from the Discovery artifact...but how does it really work? What dimension does it actually use as a short-cut?"

[srwu_mods]

"Good question. But not one anyone here can answer. Professor Dupond should be able to do it best, with what happened he won't be a target anymore... unless he decides to stay on the Discovery, even though it's evacuated from researchers."

"Your funding is safe whatever it comes from." As for the inspector, he shakes his head slightly and responds with a serious expression.
"It's not the Lady who provides it. Why would she, after you became Gavin's enemy? Maybe before when you worked together but now it makes no sense."

[actuallyselfish]

"Her actions might make more sense if we understood the–" Dido makes a quotation gesture "–Lady's true desires. We've never seen her face to face, but we know a few things."

Dido starts pacing back and forth. "She's secretive, ethereal...feathers are a sign of her manifestation. She deploys powerful machine-monsters that resembles religious creatures–Angels, Asuras Demons and Boddhisatvas, cloaked in wings and mandalas. She created a gonzo Cult that worshipped her, providing them with junk mechs and technology and a mandate to raise havoc."

Dido halts with a click of her heels. "And then she starts tearing her own Cult down. She raises–hell, maybe creates a reckless kid, stuffing him with ideas of being a hero. She assembles the Unity Group as a playpen for her kid, sending him to war against the Lady's Good Men. And once her Cult's destroyed, she busts her kid free and sends him on a quest to gather all three seals, master their power and release her at long last..."

[actuallyselfish]

Dido falls silent. "You're right," she tells the Inspector. "Her actions make no sense! If her end goal is to get someone to gather and open the seals, why mess with the Lady's Good Men and the UG? She could've fed Loni notions of being a super-ninja and skipped straight to stealing and assembling the seals!"

Dido spreads her hands and looks around at the gathered Commanders and Inspectors of the Unity Group. "So why make things more complicated?" She asks them. "Why the Lady's Good Men? Why the Unity Group? Why the TSEN? What does she gain from these three things?"

[srwu_npc]

The inspector listens to this speculation with a furrowed brow. Deep in thought, he turns around, his hands behind his back.

"I hope we will never have to find out."

[in_over_his_head]

[A quick knock on the door. When whoever was on the other end is admitted its revealed to be a certain ex-OSI operative.]

Commanders. Inspector...

If its not too much to ask, is it possible for us to get into contact with the SSR and request as much information as possible on Eriksen and Arian? Personnel files, background, recruitment and scouting... that sort of thing.

[Calvin already collected as much info that a civilian would be able to have access to. Information following Bry's career as a smalltime Idol for the most part.]

Psychodrivers don't get scouted out of nowhere. Especially if they haven't had any sort of predisposition to combat before. Something... it just doesn't add up...

[The implication left was... unsettling. Did the Lady maneuver the two into position for this from the start?]

[srwu_mods]

"You have permission to try, but don't expect easy results. Lee Linjun has been uncooperative on this matter. I requested information but he's playing his cards close to his chest."


"It's probably related to how he picked the two to spy on us in the first place, isn't it?"

[in_over_his_head]

Usually the important facts are always the hardest to get...

[And considering that Lee Linjun wouldn't give any sort of information unless the situation would look absolutely terrible for him if he kept his mouth shut... well it was looking pretty dicey indeed.]

An opinionated ex idol and whatever Arian is... considering their personalities they weren't exactly the kind of person anyone in their right mind would use as spies. Especially given their take of him.

More than that, given recent events things are looking suspect to me with the SSR itself and the Cambio Protocol with how quickly they were formed in response to the Unity Group without people noticing. Everything just seems too convenient... like there's a path being laid out...

I don't even know if information on Eriksen and Arian would give us more pieces to the puzzle, but any more we can get might help us get a better idea of what the picture is supposed to be...

And thinking about it... do we have any information on Gavin and his friends? Before they managed to get their machines...

[srwu_mods]

"Control yourself Edwards. It wouldn't be wise to accuse every other organisation of being the Lady's ploy without any proof, hmm? Now, Gavin, Gavin..."


"There are some records. He was an orphan with no living relatives but for his uncle, who dotted on him. Mlakar's his friend since childhood. An annoyingly vague childhood but it's not our job to spy on people."

[in_over_his_head]

Old habits die hard I guess...

[Still, Calvin takes Huffman's words with grace and does his best to compose himself.]

And that's understandable... so we know that he's been influenced into this role from childhood. Mlakar too. And the vagueness wouldn't surprise me that much either.

No one else they might have been in contact with?

[srwu_mods]

"No one important that we've been keeping tabs on, that for sure. Gavin doesn't strike me the kind of kid who makes connections. He was doing the footwork, it's his 'uncle' who was pulling all the strings."