EVENT #07: ASPHODEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

[vivalamods]

EVENT #07: ASPHODEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT PLANNING

The Corsairs have been mobilized and preparations are underway. As negotiators are dispatched to Vindess to prepare for the evacuation under Imperial noses, the crafters and suppliers set to work, preparing the new settlement and whatever airships can be spared for the evacuation. Some Corsairs have even taken it upon themselves to build or “liberate” more airships for the effort.

As always, when the goal is certain the Corsairs move as one. Together, they will see Asphodel completed. All hands are needed, the question is, where do you lend yours?

MISSIONS

Prepare Asphodel: Get the new settlement of Asphodel up and running to receive the refugees from Vindess.
Priority: Critical
Challenges: Corsairs will need to keep the settlement hidden while also making suitable housing and preparing farms and other amenities to sustain life. It will require a large amount of excavation to get in order, as well as construction of homes, furniture, and other facilities. The work will be backbreaking and the timetable is extremely aggressive.

Prepare Citizens for Evacuation: As the citizens of Vindess toil under Imperial lockdown, the Corsairs must prepare the entire population for evacuation.
Priority: Critical
Recommended Roles: Negotiators and Infiltrators
Challenges: Corsairs will need to convince the entire population to evacuate. There are a number of methods that can be employed, while many are going to be reluctant the Imperial crackdown has shaken the settlement and unease is high. There is evidence within the Imperial offices that Infiltrators can recover that show mass executions with lists of “dissidents” have been scheduled for April which the Corsairs might make use of if they choose to investigate. Other options include capturing potential dissidents and taking the entire willing population while executing or taking prisoner loyalists, or other methods the Corsairs determine for themselves to make this happen.


Acquire Airships: The Corsairs always need more airships, and moving an entire population will require heavy effort and can use as many ships as can be mustered.
Priority: Optional
Recommended Roles: All
Challenges: The Corsairs don’t have the major Ether Stones that serve as the airship engines and will need to either capture or salvage resources to increase the size of their fleet. While the Corsairs have been investigating airships that don’t require Ether stones, that research is still a distant dream, but some Corsairs may want to spend some time pushing that investigation along to see if they can make it a reality sooner rather than later.

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Comments

[singlemilletgrain]

"And that..."

Shu's expression becomes stern once more.

"...is where I come in. How foolish it is to set a man at a task with no guidance. They only find new ways to create catastrophe when left to their own devices. Just look at your companions over there. They are too lazy to perform the task I requested, so they would rather try to divert the water from the stream to irrigate the field all at once, not even considering that flooding the soil will make it rot."

She shakes her head.

"I am allowing them to proceed so they may learn from their error. People like that will not learn from a thousand lashings, only from seeing the consequences of their own actions."

[bearsperminute]

She pauses. "Wait. They have stopped the river on the other side, right? They're not going to wash out the field entirely, are they?"

She might not be a farmer, but she knows rock, soil, and erosion...

[singlemilletgrain]

"Do not fret."

Shu smiles benignantly.

"At the proper time, I will step in. And then perhaps I shall plant them into the soil so that they may grow. If not physically, mentally."

She has no intention of allowing anyone to ruin their work.

"...Why don't we take a rest now for some food? You must have exerted a great deal of energy. And then perhaps you may tell me how your missions have proceeded in the past months."

[bearsperminute]

Kanna is about halfway towards her pack with the pilots' suit before Shu tells her to calm down. Woman moves fast when she wants to.

"Ah-- Yeah. Okay. I mean, if you need help with that, I'm pretty sure I can avoid burying them entirely..." Of course people sometimes can control Ether. That's just a thing that happens, obviously.

[singlemilletgrain]

"A little communing with nature is good for one's soul."

She responds obscurely as she guides Kanna towards a tent where they have set up a camp of sorts. It is not sufficient for anyone to stay the evening, but it provides some shelter and refreshments when needed.

"Well? How went the missions of the previous month?"

Of course there is tea, somehow, as Shu pours from a full thermos and offers a cup to Kanna.

[bearsperminute]

"Thank you," she says, accepting the cup, and sipping. "... As for the missions, well... It was mostly a lot of boarding actions and demonstrating why you don't put Armor-cannons in my hands. Harlock did really well in command. I guess he's more capable than most when it comes to boarding actions... Which... I guess makes a certain amount of sense."

"I really gotta start training better for ship-to-ship actions, though. The way things keep going, it's probably going to happen a lot more often."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Don't fret. I have so little experience with those matters that I don't even entirely understand what you're talking about. Are you describing commandeering other ships?"

This honestly sounded like something that Kanna should be good at.

"Did you perhaps cause too much damage to the ships when you were trying to steal them?"

[bearsperminute]

"... Well, some of them, yes. That's unavoidable, they're shooting back." Kanna sighed. "Really, though, what it is is that when it comes to shooting, I'm just about good enough to keep peoples' heads down. Unfortunately, when you're doing ship-to-ship, about the only thing you can do in a Schwert that'll have any real effect is to haul yourself on to the deck and equip cannon."

"... That and I got tangled in the riggings."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hm. We do not have airships in our world, but I believe traditionally, ship-to-ship combat involves aiming at the weapons and munitions to disable those parts of the ship. Of course, the structural integrity of the ship must remain intact. Perhaps if you were to be more focused in your attacks?"

Not that Shu really has any idea of this kind of warfare. Combat tactics belonged to the purveyance of a different sibling.

"Either way, I am grateful you and the others were not harmed."

[bearsperminute]

"The trouble is, they're all way too close together, and if you disable the wrong thing, you're thousands of feet in the air." she sighs. "Even with a modern airship design, with descent failsafes, like as not you're going to get a serious amount of damage."

She takes another drink of tea. "Not that I couldn't afford to take a minute to aim now and then, I suppose."

[singlemilletgrain]

"A moment of thought oft avoids greater catastrophe."

Shu agrees as she somehow procures biscuits from thin air and places them before Kanna.

"Perhaps somebody in the technology department can be of use. An... aiming assistance? Is there a way to hone onto specific pieces of equipment or apparati? To identify a heat signature or lack thereof? Or... perhaps boarding ought to be performed more stealthily. Donnie and I had some success with sneaking aboard an airship some months ago."

[bearsperminute]

"In the air?" She hums. "I guess you could try to hide through cloud cover, maybe...? Although it's probably a little easier if they're in landport..."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Ah. ...Yes. The airship was grounded at that time."

She takes a sip of tea to cover the slight awkwardness.

"Perhaps not so much, then. ...Or you could develop flying wingsuits." The only downside being, of course, that if they missed the ship, they would plummet straight into the Endless Ocean far below. "I suppose there is no helping it but to have a protracted air battle, if it is impossible to steal them while docked. ...Why don't you steal them while they're docked?"

[bearsperminute]

"Docks have things like guards. And walls. And port guns. It's a different set of concerns, but no less important." She sips her tea. "And we do. Often, actually. Last month was an open fight, though."

Across most of the World Below, really.

[singlemilletgrain]

"It has been too many years since I have had experience in war." Shu sighs slightly. "But I do still think it a less harrowing approach. You have experience with the Empire's forces, formerly being in their number. Are you worried about the proclamation they made?"

[bearsperminute]

"... I am a little worried. The Empire hasn't fought someone close to being a peer in decades. In a lot of ways, we're not a peer to them, yet. To Varsheim's logic-- and it is the Emperor's logic, as much as they love to call everything the Will of the Divine-- we're a small matter that's gotten slightly out of hand and started to mess with the people who really keep him in power. Nobles, the people who own the factories and the ships of the various Imperial Companies and own the cities in which those august organizations reside-- these are who we've really got to watch out for."

She takes a biscuit. "If things start getting really out of hand? We'll start getting offers of assistance from them-- and don't doubt that it's got strings attached; namely, making sure they stick around after all the shooting's over. And then? Then we're almost right back where we started."

[singlemilletgrain]

"I should prefer not to make partnerships with organizations of dubious morality. But I suppose it is impossible to be particular about choosing allies during war. When you say 'back to where we started,' you mean that if we do not destabilize the power structure altogether, it will matter little to the common people who is in charge?"

At least, that was what she gathered.

"It would be to our benefit to rally the forces of the common people, then, if we are to make enemies of all those who would jockey for power."

[bearsperminute]

"That does seem to be the current goal of high command, overall, so, smarter than me are agreeing with you." She nods. "I just wish I understood how all my stuff helps. I just hit things, mostly."

[singlemilletgrain]

"...Isn't that the sort of help that is in high demand nowadays?"

Shu responds with a faint tone of amusement.

"But I wonder if we are working towards those goals quickly enough. To gain trust is not an easy thing to accomplish. Especially now that we are forced to work from the shadows."

[bearsperminute]

"... Yeah. There's always that question, isn't there, of how long, even if we are honest in our stated intentions, that we can keep going."

[singlemilletgrain]

And as Shu refills the teacup with the last of the tea from the thermos, she voices a thought that she was invariably bound to voice eventually.

"We could distribute food. The peasantry are always in short supply. Nothing is as valuable in times of hardship as a reliable meal."

[bearsperminute]

"Well. To do that, of course, there's the simple matter of our work." Simple, of course, but not 'easy'. "Speaking of, should we be watching the idiots?"

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu glances briefly at a clock in the corner.

"Two more minutes."

And she sips the last of her tea calmly in silence. As the seconds tick down, she holds up a hand and counts down from 5. 4. 3. ...2.

...The sudden sound of yells from outside.

"And that is our cue."

[bearsperminute]

"So it is!" She sets down her empty teacup, breathes a short, sharp breath, and takes it at a run.

Say this, she's a consummate actress-- so however Shu decides to go, she'll follow her lead.

[singlemilletgrain]

Outside, a group of louts are looking rather embarrassed as water sloshes around in the mud and a fragmented pile of rocks lies in the middle of the adjacent streambed. Shu smiles pleasantly as she retrieves a small stack of shovels and hands them out.

"How fortunate that I set aside this portion of the field for a drainage ditch earlier. ...I would suggest you all start digging. Quickly, before the water spreads towards the actual cropland."

"Commander Kanna, is there a usual protocol for those who do not follow directives?"