un: what a load of pollocks

[sergeant_slick]

Has anybody mapped this place out? We've got a thing in the lake, crazy buggers in the woods and stars know what or where else out there. Getting a proper feel for the area would go a long way to effectively dealing with this stuff.

And do we have a roster? Any sense of how many people are here, how often we're getting more? We need to know how much supplies we need, and how many people can get signed up for guard duty.

The answer's no to any of that, I'm doing it myself, and you're going to thank me for it.

Comments

un: any fin is possible (audio)

[lancifolium]

Hello Slick. I've been working on a map of the farm itself in the evenings because it's impossible to sleep with those disembodied wankers wailing on the wind. The next time we run into one another I'll share it with you.

(audio)

[sergeant_slick]

Should've guessed you'd be up to something good. I'll take you up on that--I've done some looking around, I can add some notes from my perspective. Hopefully others can pitch in any details we're missing.

[lancifolium]

Come and find me whenever you like, as a rule I prefer to keep close to the farm. I hope what I've put together is useful.

[handmaiden of unsheathed swords] voice posted:

[darkeststars]

[ the voice that cuts into Slick's broadcast at this point, surprisingly enough, seems to be speaking something close enough to standard Galactic Basic that he can half-recognize it even without the translator's help. But some of the newcomer's word choices sound decidedly... odd. ]

We do indeed have a roster, though I'm not sure if you are on it. I don't believe we've met?

And I don't think this rambling herd of lothcats has been able to agree on anything resembling a standard guard rotation, but at the very least, I'm aware several members do perform irregular patrols around the immediate farmhouse perimeter. We haven't been at this location long enough to establish much of a security routine -- the majority here seem to be civilians, and fortunately for us, [ his voice dips into a wry drawl ] those chasing our little group are also not the most singularly disciplined bunch.

(voice)

[sergeant_slick]

[Huh. The accent's strange, but there's definitely Basic mixed in there. Individual words, sometimes whole strings of it. It's making the translator phase in and out, creating a weird effect. Maybe it's a dialect he's never heard of.]

Don't think so. Are we sharing names over this channel?

Figures. Not sure what can be done with civilians, I'm not trained to wrangle them. But with how many incidents I've heard about since I showed up, something needs to improve, or this lot's done for.

[darkeststars]

[ he certainly hasn't failed to notice the same thing -- a first since coming here, which is odd considering Basic is, well, the basic language of the galaxy at large. It lends some further uncomfortable credence to Mingyu's idea that the various refugees must be from different dimensions entirely. But why he can only half-understand this stranger is a separate, very strange mystery in its own right; he's heard some thick Basic accents before but...nothing like this. ]

Mm... I don't disagree. But at the very least, several of us have quite specialized talents to defend our holdings with if the need were to arise.

Names should be all right here -- I wouldn't call these transmissions secure, but we're on a network unconnected to those the Unhalad and Anurr agents have access to. [ all right, unless he misses his guess here, this is a guy his name might actually mean something to so...may as well get the next bit out in the open early and see how he reacts to it: ]

I am Darth Imperius, you may call me Archeval. And who am I speaking to?

[sergeant_slick]

That's a start. Best bets for survival are usually on those who hang together and stay organized. We at least need a few people on night watch, if nothing else.

[He had no idea what that title meant.] My name's Slick, formerly a sergeant, Republic army. Not quite catching your dialect, but it's good to hear something familiar at least. Where are you from?

[darkeststars]

Hm. Interesting. A Republic officer who doesn't mind speaking to a Darth. I've not had that experience too many times in my life, and if you are ex-military... I imagine I'm not so astoundingly lucky as to hear you're with the Yavin Coalition, or once were?

I call Dromund Kaas home at the moment...previously Korriban, I suppose. I am a Dark Councilor of the Sith Empire. But I would consider alliance-building to be my business, so if you don't have a problem with that, then I have none either. With that dialect -- I imagine you must have served far out of the Core Worlds yourself...?

[sergeant_slick]

Doesn't sound familiar. But I'm very firmly ex-military. If you make trouble for the Republic, that's a plus as far as I'm concerned. They need to lose their war as fast as possible.

Not sure what you mean. We got taught Republic Standard Basic. Couldn't let anything inconvenience them about the war, after all. [But then he'd never heard of the Sith Empire either. Might be a regional power somewhere outside of Republic territory.]

[darkeststars]

[ and now it's Arche's turn to have half of what Slick is implying sail straight over his head, but it's certainly crystal clear the man is no friend of the Republic, so... good enough for now. That last bit, though-- ]

...I've heard a lot of Republic soldiers speak Republic Standard Basic, and it sounds a great deal more like me than it does you, as far as I've ever noticed. [ giving a sigh, sounding decidedly perplexed now ] Well, this is a conundrum. Can't believe I'm going to have to tell Mingyu he was apparently right-- [ that bit is grumbled out for a second before he moves on ]

Have you been informed already about the various theories on where exactly we were all pulled from? I was convinced when I came here that I'd just been kidnapped offworld straight out of my latest posting, of course, but it seems increasingly likely that such can't be the case. Some of us are convinced that the laws of timespace are warped here such that we come from different... dimensions, or different timelines, or something of the sort. One of the other refugees is here with his boyfriend, and informed me that through corroborating of personal details they were able to determine one of them came from a point in time a standard year or two before the other.

[ pausing ]

...and actually, now that I say that, suppose we might as well check-- What is the date where you come from?

[sergeant_slick]

...

No, I hadn't heard any of that. And I'm not inclined to believe it when there's simpler explanations.

[There's an audible sigh.]

It's 13:7 GRS, maybe 13:8. I've lost track of the exact date. Two months after the Battle of Geonosis?

[He could believe a lot, but this was just insane. It still just made more sense if they were from different parts of the galaxy.] If you're on the old system it's Ruusan Reformation year 978.

[darkeststars]

[ he definitely doesn't want it to be true either, it makes everything vastly more complicated. But he's never been the type to deny the truth in front of his face, no matter how annoying.

And this is certainly... a very annoying truth indeed, considering what it might imply. There's a long moment of silence from the other end of the line. ]

.......well I must confess I'm more than a little concerned that I haven't heard of either of those entire systems, or a Reformation, or that battle. I didn't think Geonosis had even taken official sides in the war. At least, at this point, assuming we're even talking about the same war--...

...at any rate, if it means anything to you -- I am from year 21416 on the Galactic Standard Calendar, about 16 standard years since the Treaty of Coruscant.

[sergeant_slick]

None of that sounds familiar. [None of this is making any sense at all. And he's starting to get suspicious.]

There's people out there who think clones are stupid. That we'll believe anything. You wouldn't happen to be one of those people, would you? Because I'm not fond of them.

[darkeststars]

You're -- a clone?

[ this is just getting weirder by the second, honestly. The whole security discussion is forgotten at this point, at least on Archeval's part, as he turns to trying to puzzle out this bizarre mystery. He catches that note of warning in Slick's voice, that the other man thinks he's being fucked with, but for his own part he's so completely baffled by now that it's hard to even know what to say back. ]

I'm not sure I quite follow what you mean. You don't strike me as a stupid man, otherwise I would not be bothering to have this conversation...

Hm, and I'm not sure I knew cloning techniques had advanced so far as to produce a full sentient being such as yourself. I've heard tell of cloning body parts for when kolto healing doesn't suffice, but I am no scientist, so I may just be uninformed--... [ Is this some kind of secret Republic breakthrough?? Usually that sort of major intelligence makes its way to the Council, but it's not like he's held his seat for that long... ]

Still, something is not adding up here. You are the first person I've met over two standard months in this place who even speaks any form of Basic, but it seems hard to attribute these discrepancies to mere planetary or system distance.

un: dappled pearl of the parted seas [voice]

[beitangmoran]

I bought a star map in town because I was curious about the constellations. They are different from those of my world.

(voice)

[sergeant_slick]

Good thinking, that'll be useful for navigation. [He doesn't find the different constellations to be at all surprising--you'll rarely see the same sky twice in the Republic army.]

Where's it being stored right now?

(voice)

[beitangmoran]

I keep it with me, of course.

[he bought this with his husband's porn money, after all.]

congratulations I nearly choked on my lunch

[sergeant_slick]

Can I get a look at it?

[beitangmoran]

Of course. You can even make a copy if we find enough clean paper. It has been in rather short supply, though.

[sergeant_slick]

Good enough. I don't need to copy down the whole thing, I just want to memorize the basics.

My name's Slick, by the way. Where can I find you?

[beitangmoran]

Beitang Moran. I am usually in the study.

I am still there right now.

[sergeant_slick]

Good to meet you. If now's a decent time for it, I'll be along in a minute.

[beitangmoran]

I don't sleep much, so any time is a decent time as long as I am awake, Master Slick.

[sergeant_slick]

[Heh.] Please, don't call me 'Master', that makes it sound like I'm a Jedi. Slick's fine, 'sergeant' if you really want a title.

[He arrives wearing his white trooper armor, because it's more familiar and warmer than the local clothes he stole.] Hey. Thanks for sharing this. We need all the information we can get, if we're gonna get out of this in one piece.

[Another guy with long hair. He was starting to get jealous, though maintenance on that much hair was probably a pain.]

[beitangmoran]

[It is a pain unless you have people to do it for you. /ahem]

Good evening. What, pray tell, is a Jedi, exactly?