thebastion | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Colin Starfury, any meddling kids
Open: Open as the plains
When: Day 267, late morning and early afternoon.
Where: The Farmland
What: Doing another survey for more development
Format: Anything, can match
Warnings: Colin IS a warning

As far as plans went, this wasn't how Colin had wanted to spend this week. There were a lot of things that needed doing even before the plight of the Ura reared its head. But Colin was an engineer, and he knew well that the universe had plans of its own and it really didn't care one little bit of the plans of individual people.

The day before this had been spent doing research, and helping Rob build his new cart. That had taken a fair amount of time on its own, but it was work that needed to be done if they wanted to set up a supply line. Now that the transportation was done, it was time to set up the facilities that would give them the supplies down the line.

So here he was, setting out more stakes and flags, taking more measurements, and generally making it apparent that SOMETHING is going to be going up in this area soon. And if the layout of the flags and stakes are any indication, it's going to be something BIG.

Anyone care to bother the engineer at work?

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"Sure thing, I'll see you there!"

Zahi decides to spend that hour chewing on what Colin told him about the thief, and possibly considering ways to secure his own home, in case anyone tries to break in. But he is waiting outside Colin's workshop about an hour later, like he said he would be.

It's a little over an hour before Colin actually makes it back. There was that unfortunate hill that had to be factored into things... Fortunately, it's nothing he couldn't plan for. And it will make a nice site for planting an orchard later. When he reaches his shop, he's drinking from his smoothie can, and he smiles at Zahi.

"Punctual, I like that. Sorry I'm running a little late," he says. "The Monument decided that the most convenient farmland also needed to have an inconvenient hill. I keep the letters upstairs, if you want to follow me?"

He moves for the stairs without any need for prompting.

"Well, it's Cael-made, of course it's inconvenient," Zahi says with a laugh. But he will follow after Colin up the stairs, to see what he has to show him.

"I'd blame nature and the Mancers, but the point is well made," Colin says, his tone friendly and recognizing the joke. He starts to climb the stairs, then he pauses at the door at the top and looks at Zahi.

"Don't step into my living chambers until I've disarmed my security," he warns. "I don't have anything lethal, but I also don't have any mercy time either. Doing something wrong could set off a nasty alarm."

He smiles then and opens the door, entering the room and stepping over to a keypad that he types at quickly. After a moment, he smiles back at Zahi. "Okay, it's clear," he says.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Zahi says, and he stands back so that Colin can work his magic. All of this future-tech is beyond him, and he's only paying attention to tell when it's safe to move on without getting blown up or something.

"You weren't kidding when you said you're prepared, though. Are the windows booby-trapped too?"

"Let's just say that if anyone tries to get in here that shouldn't be here, in any way that they can imagine, the whole Bastion will know," Colin says, smiling coyly. He doesn't think poorly of Zahi, but he's a hacker. Good security is the kind that everyone knows and is deterred by, but the best security is the kind that nobody knows to look for in the first place.

Most of his room seems rather sparse. Aside from the model ship placed prominently on the coffee table, the only noteworthy stuff lying around the room are numerous devices in varying states of repair on the far side of the empty room. It's everything from weapons to display units, all the way up to nearly unidentifiable towers of metal and plastic.

"The letters are over here," he says, gesturing Zahi over to a simple-looking desk near the bed. He reaches into the desk and pops a latch, revealing the presence of a secret compartment, and he produces the letters and the warden's journal from it. "I'm afraid some of this is not very useful, we didn't exactly have time to read everything we grabbed. But a good percentage of it is juicy. I made sure to take everything I could find with a Mancer sigil on it."

It's probably safer is Zahi doesn't know anyway. Not that he expects anyone to attack him, but it can't be used against him if he doesn't know anything.

Zahi will actually take a moment to inspect the model ship, wondering if that used to be Colin's ship or something, before he goes over to where Colin is. He may not be from Caelondia, but he instantly recognizes the names and symbols on the letterhead for those letters, and he frowns. "Why in the world would Mancers be in contact with the prison? It's not like Mancers typically get in trouble with the law or anything."

"Remember what I said about domestic spying?" Colin asks, opening the most damning letter and handing it over first. "They were tracking Rucks to arrest him almost immediately before the calamity. Probably Zulf and Zia too. Especially Zia, given her father."

He shakes his head. "Caelondia had security issues, and they were using the jails to keep them under wraps," he says. "Pretty typical of a ruling class worrying about losing power. The rest of the letters have the lead up to this one, and similar notes with regards to a couple of other people. I'm guessing most of those other people were Ura though."

Zahi's eyebrows practically shoot up to his hairline when he hears that, and the surprise is very clear on his face. He had heard that Zulf and his friends had been in some trouble just before the Calamity, but he had missed out on the whole 'fight and storytime' previously, since he and Zayna had arrived in the Bastion after that.

He takes his time to read through the letters and process what Colin has to say. Think first, then speak, that's what he has always done.

After reading through the letters and sitting on them for a moment, Zahi lets out a low whistle. "I knew about the Ura locked away in that prison, but I didn't know it was full of political prisoners too. Just what was Zulf involved in, to get in this much trouble?"

Zahi is a bit partial to Zulf, and not just because he's been subtly pushing Zulf and Zayna together for months. Zulf was quickly taken under Zahi's wing, and he feels protective of the man.

Colin starts to open his mouth, then he pauses, and he shakes his head. "I can tell you what I understand, but I'm definitely missing some of the vital information, so what I'm telling you is NOT the complete story," he says. "Please remember that, because it's not a pretty story. Not that anything about this whole eel-fuck has been pretty."

He gestures towards the couch by the coffee table, and he moves to sit down there as well.

"The big thing you need to know... Zia's father was being forced to build weapons for the Mancers," he explains. "Blackmail, extortion, again, nothing all that surprising when it comes to black ops. That said... the belief is that he built the weapon that was responsible for the calamity, to be used as a weapon against the Ura. Zia, Zulf, Rucks, and Raile seemed to know each other, and they had inklings of what was going on. They were trying to stop the whole thing from happening."

He gestures to the letters. "Obviously... they didn't go unnoticed, nor were they successful," he says sadly. "But Zia's old man didn't want to use the weapon against the Ura, so he sabotaged it. Then... well, here we are, huh?"

Zahi had heard the gist of it before, that the Calamity was caused by a Mancer weapon. And he had known that Zia's father had been involved too. But even so, hearing the whole thing again, it's still heavy knowledge to have.

"And here we all are," Zahi says slowly, nodding, "Zia doesn't blame her father, right? Knowing what I know about the Caels, there has to have been some coercion going on."

Poor Zia. She's the one caught in the middle of all of this.

"As I said... Blackmail and Extortion," he confirmed, nodding. "As far as I know, Zia doesn't blame her dad for any of it. But for any more details... I think you need to press Zulf for it. He seemed to be there in the thick of things. He lead Zia here after the end of everything."

He makes a vague gesture towards the letters, then. "As for me, I don't want Zulf knowing about these letters yet," he says gently. "For just that reason. The man's been through a lot. And there will definitely be a time to fill him in, but right now, I don't think this would tell him anything that he doesn't already know. Except maybe that he needed to be be sneakier."

He frowns. "And me... just personally? I think we've either got a stray Mancer agent who's trying to sweep things under the rug, or possibly a Ura who wants to know a lot more about what happened, as our thief. Nobody else has both the motive to do what they did AND the knowledge of who to go after," he says finally, and gently. "So I wanna grab Raile, at the very least. Try and get a little more of this puzzle solved before something else happens that we can't fix."

Zahi nods in agreement. "Seems like a fair assessment. We want Zulf to be in his best mind right now anyway, if he's going with that group. Having this weigh on his mind will only affect his abilities as an ambassador." After they get back, though, Zahi fully intends on questioning Zulf. Because out of everyone else here, he's sure he can get a truthful answer from Zulf.

Zahi is a little confused on the rest of what Colin says, though. "How does our thief tie into this, though? I thought someone was just ransacking homes."

"He was ransacking Nathan's home, for an object we brought back from the Mancer's Observatory," Colin says, lowering his tone almost out of reflex. "They knew what they were looking for, and it was only sheer luck that the object had been moved without anyone else's knowledge."

Welp. It looks like things got a bit more serious.

"If this thief was after something in that journal," Zahi says, "Then it's safe to say he or she would be after whatever is in these letters, if they are connected. If that is the case, then perhaps you should continue to hang onto them. I doubt anyone is going to ransack your place anytime soon."

Not without getting a laser to the face. Zahi will hand back the letters, too. "It might be worth talking with that group and finding out just what our thief could possibly be looking for," he adds, "Perhaps we can find a way to discourage the thief if we eliminate their desire for whatever it is they're looking for? Or at the very least, lay a trap to catch them in."

Colin takes back the letters from Zahi and he nods. "That's my thinking," Colin says. "If I have all the pieces, I can make just about anything, but right now... still too many things missing from this equation. Still too much that doesn't make sense."

He shakes his head and starts folding the letters closed again. "You see why I'm so concerned, though?" he asks wryly.

"Yeah. To be honest, I'm concerned too. Too many secrets are being hidden here. I'm pretty sure that this particular group-" meaning Rucks, Raile, Zia, and Zulf, "-isn't telling us the full truth either. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it was those secrets that our thief was after, if it's something big being hidden."

Zahi is all for sharing information and hopefully having this turn out to be a non-issue, but he still worries. Even though he's come to like the people here, he doesn't want to needlessly put anyone (especially not his daughter) in danger.

That's one of the reasons that Colin likes Zahi. Information should be shared, free, not hidden away and used only to advance a single person or group's agenda.

"I don't disagree, but I suspect that most of them wouldn't know the significance of what they know either," he says, and he sighs. "I don't mean to look down on them, but... aside from Rucks, they don't seem to be the smartest bunch of people. Of course, I'm sure that the trauma of failing to stop the end of the world probably has something to do with that. They've got reasons to keep secrets, after all..."

He rises from the couch then and walks back over to the desk to tuck away the letters.

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