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"Allow me to start from the beginning..."
Unity Group was late to the party. Frustrated that ESUN did not support him, Lee Linjun made the first move. SSR approached the Discovery and fought the Guardians and the Seekers, only to receive help from people trapped inside. People who managed to break out, not without outside help. Linjun tried to have the Shirogane fire on the Discovery, but he was stopped, stopped by the very same outside help.
Now, the fight is over, the Discovery secured. And the ESUN inspector, the one who visited Unity Group many times - Inspector Jou has some very important things to say.
"I'll repeat myself for those who were not here to hear it."
"Aeons ago, sentient beings of the universe were enslaved by an entity of godlike power. The entity loved stories, but it could not tell new ones by itself. It could only recreate stories already known, and it did that by changing reality itself, with others as unwilling participants. To be the hero of a story is good, isn't it? But what is it like to be the helpless victim? The villain, or one of his henchmen?"
"The sentient beings of the universe rebelled. Putting their differences aside, they cooperated, all working together towards a shared goal. This is the process known as..."
"Unification."
The inspector turns around and wipes his glasses, his gaze falling on the giant and mostly lifeless hulk floating in space.
"What you see is the effect of Unification, rather what remains of it. The Discovery, or should I call it by its full name: Discovery of Self, was a weapon built to fight the reality-warping menace and its lust for stories. And to achieve that, the one to use it was not an elite warrior, a bright youngster ace or any other possible protagonist of a story. Chosen at random, from a random world, it was a completely ordinary, middle aged being of no particular skill, accomplishment, or talent."
"In other words, it was me. And I failed."
"The Lady as you call her was not destroyed, only sealed away. In battle, Discovery of Self was severely damaged, its components strewn around or lost forever. But that was good enough - with unification over, the people of the universe returned to their homes, in time becoming Protoculture, Balmarians, and so many others. And I... I found myself unable to age anymore. I remained here, on the planet where the battle with the Lady took place, one that'd in time be known as Earth. And I waited for the time when she awakens, grows strong enough to break the seals."
"Most of that time I spent asleep inside a chamber in Discovery of Self. Several times I had to wake up when seals grew weak, but I had plenty advance time to stop the Lady's awakening. I may not have any talent, but time and experience were on my side." The inspector looked unusually prideful just there, but just as quickly that look turned into one of regret.
"I grew too reckless, too sure in my success. When I awoke several decades ago, I took advantage of... precautions I made the last time to install myself within ESUN. I influenced good old Professor Dupond to find the Discovery, and later I pulled strings so ESUN would form Unity Group, an organisation which I proceeded to fund with the help of my network of contacts and resources. All to battle what I perceived to be the Lady's minions and agents of her awakening, the Lady's Good Men. But that was a mistake."
"The Lady wasn't seeking freedom through minions, but by recreating a story. And the most often retold story all over the universe is one of an individual who, through advantage of skill, moral character or destiny, achieves greatness. The hero."
"Gavin was the Lady's hero. The Good Men were merely villains in his story. And after their defeat, the Lady decided you would make better ones. Her power wasn't strong enough to change Unity Group but there was no need, you did little to ingratiate yourself with her champion, did you? Not that I blame you."
"Regardless, you need to face the fact that the seals were broken. The only thing that stopped the Lady's coming - temporarily, mind you, was an intervention by a trio of Psychodrivers. I had no hand in creation of SSR, neither did the Lady, what Arian and Eriksen did is beyond my sphere of influence. But they had help from someone who wasn't. Antov was the most powerful Psychodriver I could find. I expected him to be the Grunbein's pilot and a major asset to the cause. Unfortunately he had no predisposition towards piloting, and chose the path of an acting officer instead. But in the end, his actions bought us time: the three working in unison managed to touch the Lady's mind and, if only briefly, made her realize what a human, no - what a person is, more than just a character moving in a story, a breathing, living being of their own, each one flawed, each one different."
The inspector pauses, catching his breath before he can continue.
"I made my way here as fast as I could, and remotely activated the safety mechanisms that trapped the SSR and Unity Group teams inside Discovery of Self. Fortunately with the Lady's temporary absence, her minions were confused, weakened. But she'll return. She will be back, and her hero Gavin will be back with her. We need to be prepared for when that happens."
"Discovery of Self in its current state can't match up against the Lady's power. We need another Unification. Locate ancient parts that gave the Discovery its strength - or lacking that, find suitable replacements. Many won't be on Earth, or even in this solar system, but we need to reach them nonetheless. The closer Discovery of Self is to its fully restored state, the better a chance we stand against the Lady when she returns. And this time we can't afford a loss."
"Does this answer all your questions?"
[One more thing of importance - also taggable]
"You're right, inspector. What we need is another Unification."
"But you must also realize you're putting the weight of the universe's fate on shoulders of a group with limited jurisdiction. To put things simply, Unity Group has no authorization to do things you ask it for. And having lived for so long, surely you realize how important it is to have a strong leader in charge."
"I'm going to petition ESUN for integrating Unity Group into SSR, all its assets included. The personnel will retain their ranks, or receive SSR equivalents when they lack one. It's a reasonable request, so I don't see why it shouldn't be approved."
"In times like these, all we need is discipline and a clear chain of command."
[See also the OOC post.]
Unity Group was late to the party. Frustrated that ESUN did not support him, Lee Linjun made the first move. SSR approached the Discovery and fought the Guardians and the Seekers, only to receive help from people trapped inside. People who managed to break out, not without outside help. Linjun tried to have the Shirogane fire on the Discovery, but he was stopped, stopped by the very same outside help.
Now, the fight is over, the Discovery secured. And the ESUN inspector, the one who visited Unity Group many times - Inspector Jou has some very important things to say.
"I'll repeat myself for those who were not here to hear it."
"Aeons ago, sentient beings of the universe were enslaved by an entity of godlike power. The entity loved stories, but it could not tell new ones by itself. It could only recreate stories already known, and it did that by changing reality itself, with others as unwilling participants. To be the hero of a story is good, isn't it? But what is it like to be the helpless victim? The villain, or one of his henchmen?"
"The sentient beings of the universe rebelled. Putting their differences aside, they cooperated, all working together towards a shared goal. This is the process known as..."
"Unification."
The inspector turns around and wipes his glasses, his gaze falling on the giant and mostly lifeless hulk floating in space.
"What you see is the effect of Unification, rather what remains of it. The Discovery, or should I call it by its full name: Discovery of Self, was a weapon built to fight the reality-warping menace and its lust for stories. And to achieve that, the one to use it was not an elite warrior, a bright youngster ace or any other possible protagonist of a story. Chosen at random, from a random world, it was a completely ordinary, middle aged being of no particular skill, accomplishment, or talent."
"In other words, it was me. And I failed."
"The Lady as you call her was not destroyed, only sealed away. In battle, Discovery of Self was severely damaged, its components strewn around or lost forever. But that was good enough - with unification over, the people of the universe returned to their homes, in time becoming Protoculture, Balmarians, and so many others. And I... I found myself unable to age anymore. I remained here, on the planet where the battle with the Lady took place, one that'd in time be known as Earth. And I waited for the time when she awakens, grows strong enough to break the seals."
"Most of that time I spent asleep inside a chamber in Discovery of Self. Several times I had to wake up when seals grew weak, but I had plenty advance time to stop the Lady's awakening. I may not have any talent, but time and experience were on my side." The inspector looked unusually prideful just there, but just as quickly that look turned into one of regret.
"I grew too reckless, too sure in my success. When I awoke several decades ago, I took advantage of... precautions I made the last time to install myself within ESUN. I influenced good old Professor Dupond to find the Discovery, and later I pulled strings so ESUN would form Unity Group, an organisation which I proceeded to fund with the help of my network of contacts and resources. All to battle what I perceived to be the Lady's minions and agents of her awakening, the Lady's Good Men. But that was a mistake."
"The Lady wasn't seeking freedom through minions, but by recreating a story. And the most often retold story all over the universe is one of an individual who, through advantage of skill, moral character or destiny, achieves greatness. The hero."
"Gavin was the Lady's hero. The Good Men were merely villains in his story. And after their defeat, the Lady decided you would make better ones. Her power wasn't strong enough to change Unity Group but there was no need, you did little to ingratiate yourself with her champion, did you? Not that I blame you."
"Regardless, you need to face the fact that the seals were broken. The only thing that stopped the Lady's coming - temporarily, mind you, was an intervention by a trio of Psychodrivers. I had no hand in creation of SSR, neither did the Lady, what Arian and Eriksen did is beyond my sphere of influence. But they had help from someone who wasn't. Antov was the most powerful Psychodriver I could find. I expected him to be the Grunbein's pilot and a major asset to the cause. Unfortunately he had no predisposition towards piloting, and chose the path of an acting officer instead. But in the end, his actions bought us time: the three working in unison managed to touch the Lady's mind and, if only briefly, made her realize what a human, no - what a person is, more than just a character moving in a story, a breathing, living being of their own, each one flawed, each one different."
The inspector pauses, catching his breath before he can continue.
"I made my way here as fast as I could, and remotely activated the safety mechanisms that trapped the SSR and Unity Group teams inside Discovery of Self. Fortunately with the Lady's temporary absence, her minions were confused, weakened. But she'll return. She will be back, and her hero Gavin will be back with her. We need to be prepared for when that happens."
"Discovery of Self in its current state can't match up against the Lady's power. We need another Unification. Locate ancient parts that gave the Discovery its strength - or lacking that, find suitable replacements. Many won't be on Earth, or even in this solar system, but we need to reach them nonetheless. The closer Discovery of Self is to its fully restored state, the better a chance we stand against the Lady when she returns. And this time we can't afford a loss."
"Does this answer all your questions?"
[One more thing of importance - also taggable]
"You're right, inspector. What we need is another Unification."
"But you must also realize you're putting the weight of the universe's fate on shoulders of a group with limited jurisdiction. To put things simply, Unity Group has no authorization to do things you ask it for. And having lived for so long, surely you realize how important it is to have a strong leader in charge."
"I'm going to petition ESUN for integrating Unity Group into SSR, all its assets included. The personnel will retain their ranks, or receive SSR equivalents when they lack one. It's a reasonable request, so I don't see why it shouldn't be approved."
"In times like these, all we need is discipline and a clear chain of command."
[See also the OOC post.]
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"Technically, Antov was dead already. But a part of his psyche somehow remained in the unit he was in when he died... and the Grunbein, as a result."
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"I agree about the funeral. I'll forward a suggestion to the Unity Group command staff."
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And this whole thing is quite the story on its own.
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Which is why I intend to ask for your resignation.
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You have had your time, commander Linjun, but right now Earth is in trouble and we need someone in touch with reality leading the SSR.
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Either way, Commander Linjun, this is the third time you insist on not only overstepping your boundaries but acting as though you had a complete lack of knowledge of how international law, or for that matter the universe, works. After all, while we're on reminders, I will take a minute to remind you that your group is not part of the UN, that the powers backing it created it precisely because they want nothing to do with the ESUN, and that you are, in fact, basically talking out of your behind, sir. What you ask for is only slightly removed from the United Nations ceding their arsenal to a guy off the street, from a legal standpoint. Given this, my options are to either consider you incompetent or guilty of conspiracy. I am, officially, acting upon the first assumption.
And, by the way. As a GRAVEYARD field commander, sir, I know rather well the difference between a task force succeeding thanks to its commander and despite its commander. Part of my drafted petition does include several compliments for your troops for attaining their current degree of success despite the circumstances, after all.
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"You choose between insults and veiled threats, I had enough of both. I won't be intimidated, unlike a certain high security mental ward patient you've attacked recently."
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That said, you misunderstand. That was not an attempt at intimidating you. I am simply making my position clear. I do not intend to serve under your command. And I intend to petition for your removal of said command, as I believe that would be a greatly useful measure to increase the SSR's effectiveness against the otherworldly threats we are about to face.
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Who knows, if you at some point get to be as mature as most of the sixteen year olds in Unity group, you might get to learn that. But I wouldn't bet money on it.
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2 Something Kagura and Jen are in agreement on
But, you're like, the biggest goddamn asshole on the face of the entire fucking planet. So there's that, too.
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Barring your sudden resignation, demotion, or ritual suicide, any sort of setup with us working for SSR is going to end very badly.
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"This is a war, people die. Grunts have no right to complain about it."
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I don't forget how things developed. But if you can't see anything wrong with a plan that kills your own men and starts a new war being plan A-not B, or C, or Z-you have no business being in command of a filing cabinet.
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"Reality check. This is not how real life works. If you get on the battlefield, you may die. And sometimes, your life may be thrown to the fire for a greater good."
"Everyone in SSR realizes it. If Unity Group had something resembling discipline instead of coddling spoiled brats, you'd realize it too."
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Look, nobody-or at least not me-has a problem with joining SSR, or becoming more disciplined. My problem is with you. I will not accept placing my life in the hands of a sociopathic incompetent who resorts to name-calling whenever someone points out his mistakes. SSR, Unity group, and the world-they deserve a better protector than you, and I will testify as such at every hearing on this matter.
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"It'd be too late then. SSR understands, I can't risk the whole of humanity just to save one life, two, or a dozen. If Unity Group fails to grasp it... well, maybe there's a reason why our own record was far more successful tha yours."
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And funny you should mention your record. Today was a near-disaster averted in spite of, not because of your actions. Your agents and attitude got us into this mess, and then you almost started an interplanetary war while pulling off a hell of a friendly-fire incident. Really a great performance, bravo.
Now you've been lucky so far, but that luck is damn near running out. Don't. Push it.
[Lest she start breaking people's bones, Jen briskly walks away.]
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You have to be. Everything you said and did out there was one thing, but this is just... on an entirely different level!
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[At first it seems like she's finished, but then realization strikes.]
And that's another thing! We've been hurt bad by a lot of things recently... you'd think that we should be the ones to join them instead!
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"Even in its weakened state, SSR achieved results Unity Group can only dream of. It's obvious we have something they lack."
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And for all your talk, we're still the ones who dropped the ball and couldn't defend the Discovery. And they're the ones that rescued you. And if not for trying to use spies who then joined Loni, we could've probably stopped him before he broke those seals!
[Holy cow now that she said all of that it just... seems obvious.]
This is your fault too!
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"I guess whatever SSR has that Unity Group lacks, professional behavior among grunts is not one of them."
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[And with that, Ana turns and moves to leave. Lee's a stubborn ass, but he's not the top dog.]
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Dido rubs her chin a bit before continuing.
"Where did Gavin come from? Was he just some orphan that the Lady found and reared in her Uncle guise? Or...was he custom made?"
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"Orphans aren't hard to come by in this day and age. I'm sure many of them dream of being the hero, too. But there must've been something about Gavin... that made the Lady decide to make his wish come true."