thebastion | Event: Day 355 [OPEN]

[Colin glances at Nathan, then at Zahi, and he nods.]

Why do you ask, Meg?

And anyway, Nathan and I can go get everything we need to set up a test. Nathan, wanna come with me to my workshop and we can see what we can whip up?

[Take the hint, Nathan.]

... I just recall what happened then, and with some of those who have joined us since...

Sure, you guys wait here, okay?

[He's not quite getting the hint, because Zahi's plan sounds like a good one if the core is safe to use. But he will go with Colin anyway.]

Thanks. Ikuri, keep an eye on things here for me, would you?

[Please let her realize that's an indication of just how worried he is right now...]

[Colin turns and moves at a light jog to his workshop. He's setting his personal sensors to alert him if ANYONE besides himself and Nathan get within 200 feet of the workshop.]

[Of course, once he's out of earshot of the groups...]

We're in trouble. Unless everything is EXACTLY as it looks, we've got maybe a thirty percent chance of seeing the next sunrise...

We've got a couple of minutes, I need you to do a couple of things for me.

[Perhaps not, Colin. She doesn't see it as anything more than another instruction - not in itself, anyway. It's too likely that many of the subtleties were lost on her, but that's not the same as saying she's not on edge herself...for whatever that's worth right now.]

[She gives him an answering nod before he departs. Ibuki's out here, so she's staying out here too.]

[Well then. That certainly gets him worrying right away.]

Right, what do we need to do?

I think Zahi has a plan. He knows I don't trust him fully.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what the plan may be. Turning the enemy against each other would be great, but we have no guarantee that it can happen. That core, however, I will wager is not an option for us.

The alternative is that Zahi is acting against us. A decent possibility... but it doesn't feel quite right to me. I'm not the best judge of character.

[He reaches into his belt and pulls out his pad.]

In the meantime... I want you to swipe through these pictures. Quickly. There's roughly 250 pictures in there, some of them aren't clear. They're taken by the cameras I've trained on the entrance.

If you recognize ANYONE, if you even think you recognize someone... Let me know.

My turrets, all together, can in all likelihood kill fifteen to twenty people, and immobilize another one hundred before they're neutralized. We're still outnumbered. We need to play along as long as we can. If we can identify their leader and neutralize his or her influence, that will go a long way. But we're still in trouble.

Have you got any backup plans for when things go south? Ghaleon might. Zuko might. Zuko's gone with the other group though, because damn if anyone listens to me...

There's a slim possibility that they really do want peace, but I don't believe it. The timing is too suspect. Our heavy hitters, other than our dragons, are out of contact.

I don't think I can go through all of them in just a couple minutes...

[But he still takes it, and he tries.]

I have a plan, but it's not a good one, and I hope I don't have to use it. I need to be by the monument to do it, too.

[He doesn't want to say it out loud, in case anyone is listening to their conversation.]

We've got a bit of time. Throwing together a quick test radio is easy enough for me. I just needed to get you away from the other group so we could talk.

Just use your fingertip to flip through the photos, it doesn't need a lot of analysis. Just... if anyone looks familiar, makes you say "wait a second...", then give them a little more attention.

I've got several turrets in place watching over the monument, I can at least keep you covered there. I might have something that can give you a moment's respite, too. Of everyone here in the Bastion, I know that you're not going to mess us up.

[He gives Nathan a smile.]

Whatever we may think of each other, engineers know how important their jobs are. I trust you here.

[The words of encouragement and the promise to help do reassure Nathaniel, and he nods to Colin. Then he starts looking through the pictures, trying to find familiar faces.

After a while, he frowns. Not because he recognizes an individual person, but because of something else.]

Some of these people, they're Caels. Not anyone I recognize, but I know what my own people look like. There's a few Ura, too. But everyone else, they're a patchwork of different people from different planets.

But why are there Caels in that group? The Bastion, it ended up pretty close to the ruins of Caelondia. These people should have come across us first.

My thinking is, and I'd really love to be wrong... That there's an enemy agitator in that group. Someone who knows what the Bastion is, and wanted it to fail.

Someone in that group has been lying to them about us. What we don't know is why. We need to find THAT person. If I had to guess, I'd say they lead the Caels AWAY from the Bastion. That's what makes sense to me.

It's not the only option, but it is the one that explains why people who should be here... aren't.

[While Nathan's working, Colin's putting together another radio that they can use to test the core. He's ALSO installing a dead man's switch and a self destruct charge... 'cause he'll be damned if he's going to make himself sick a second time.]

[He really wishes he knew what Zahi was thinking...]

[When he is done looking through the pictures, he goes over to see what Colin is doing.]

Does the core even look right yet? We might not need to even test it, it looked all wrong the last time.

[The core would not look alright, by the way. It's still sickly looking.]

The core is assuredly not all right. But I was saying that before. You can't just clean energy by waiting it out.

I think Zahi knows that, too... There's no way this core should ever be put into anything.

[He gestures to the core in all its sickly goodness.]

But whatever the case, we shouldn't test it yet. We still don't know who those people even are... It wouldn't do to eliminate a bunch of innocent people just because there's one or two enemies among them.

We need to root them out.

[He shakes his head then.]

I hate not having enough information.

Zahi is an Ura, and Ura aren't always the best at tech-stuff like this. He might genuinely not know.

[Whoops there's his prejudice talking again.]

And if it is him, how would we convince the others? They're not going to believe me if I say it, not after everything that's happened between me and Zulf.

That, my young engineering peer, is a lesson you learn as you grow.

[He gives Nathan an absolutely wicked grin. He'll let the prejudice go for now, it's hardly the time to get all high and mighty...]

Redundancies. Contingencies. Plans within plans. Nobody, nobody can keep up with an engineer at home in their own projects.

Take, for example, the radio I'm putting together. This time? I'm putting in a dead man's switch, and a self destruct charge hooked to the receiver. If it's used against us? It blows on my command. Plain and simple. If we're incapacitated and unable to do anything consciously? It blows.

... Blows the radio, not the core. I'm in no mood to see the energy discharge of an exploding core, frankly.

My first plan is... if someone intends to use this against us? Take the ability away from them. Let them expose themself, and THEN pull the rug out from under them.

That's why I wanted you to look through the pictures. Whomever's doing this has to have some knowledge of the monument... Stopping them is good, but being able to expose them is the end game. Once I have an ID, they're getting pasted to the wall. Literally pasted, not a euphemism for violence.

That's also why I was kinda hoping you'd been working on any backup plans of your own. I've got several more plans, but each of them has a criteria that hasn't been met yet. And I'm not about to go turning the turrets on a bunch of people just because some of them might be against us.

... And since we're on this topic. If things go down? Run back here. I've designed this place to be defensible. This place and the Safehouse should be safe, short of the Bastion falling out of the sky. ... That reminds me, I need to move the flyer into position for a quick takeoff...

[Nathaniel nods as he listens to Colin's explanation.

Right, let him think he has what he wants, then reveal everything. I think that can be done.

But we should go back once you're ready. If we take too long, everyone will get suspicious.

[He makes a mental note to come back here if things get bad, too.]

[Colin nods, still working at the radio.]

It won't take too much longer, I just need to make sure that I've got the charge right. If I get it wrong, it's a bad thing.

Hey, in the store room... you remember the festival the gods threw us? I've got a few of those charms that have reportedly helped out every now and then. Snag a couple for yourself, will you? Way I see it, if we can get a little extra help... well, I won't turn it down.

Event: Day 355 [OPEN]

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