Scene #5627: Prospektor's Revolt-2

Owner	Pose
Priscilla	Here are the results of the negotiations from last time: Concord/Flint: The group they had parley with seems to call themselves the Jade Survivors. They're actually a fairly numerous group, even deceptively so, for having taken control of Garit's largest corporate apartment complex as their home turf. They're a crew of Prospekt mutually aligned by little more than having no place to go and desiring to avoid conflict as much as possible. Every member is tasked with maintaining productivity in some way or another, but the reality is that they have to make most of their living sneakily scavenging supplies or making off with food from across the eastern barrier. They claim (credibly) that the population explosion of Prospekt is basically old news at this point, and that huge numbers of them have die off in ensuring conflict and loss of infrastructure, with only large and organized splinter groups really remaining. They aren't incredibly concerned with the big picture, but, true to their name, simply surviving the spiraling decline of the island. They absolutely wouldn't accept the return of Garit's original builders and owners, but they are tolerant of the idea of making peace with certain other factions of Prospekt, but vehemently refuse to deal with others due to past and current conflicts. Stability is a tempting prospect to them, and moreso than riches, but they view some outgroups as dangers that can't be allowed to continue to exist. Watch/Silver: Their group is called the First Militia, is is apparently organized by a number of Prospekt who are veterans of the civil war that threw out the original people of Garit. They are the second largest single faction on the island due to their appearance of strength drawing many other Prospekt wishing for security, who have been credibly trained to fight, and so they monopolize the island's magical and industrial resources, as well as a small portion of fertile land, though not nearly enough for their size. They are entirely willing to work with the Watch, possibly even glad for it, however their conditions for any kind of endgame is that all other Prospekt take knee and join their ideal of a new state, or else leave the island altogether. Their core circle of leaders have vague but somewhat credible visions of re-industrializing and Garit into something of a lightweight military dictatorship, and using the mines to re-arm and rebuild much of the city, by trading resources for skilled expertise from overseas. It's a solid plan to actually learn from foreign technicians, Garit isn't somewhere anyone wants to go as long as it's an open warzone; hence why they want to stomp out all opposition and dissent.
Priscilla	Both Sides: Aside from the Jade Survivors and First Militia, there are four other factions of note on the island. The eastern side is almost entirely owned and dominated by a faction called New Terra, which is hard line about eschewing the mines that got them in this mess in the first place, and intends to basically wall off all arable land and be self-sustaining until everyone else kills each other, then take over as an agrarian society with normal levels of technology. Since they barely enter the city, their equipment is really low, but they've done a solid job of barricading and defending much of the land due to the sheer numbers they can support, and they're the only faction that can consistently feed themselves. Everyone else wants their land, everyone else has been guilty of stealing from it to survive, and so they don't want to deal with anyone. The inner city is controlled by two other groups vying with the Jade Survivors; Lodestone and the Black Diamonds. Lodestone is the smallest faction, and mostly eccentrics who want to restore Garit to its former glory. They hide out in various boltholes and are experts at discovering and getting to intact magitechnology first, which they're attempting to reverse engineer so they can independently establish a technocracy. Nobody takes them super seriously as a threat, save for them taking all the useful tech everyone else needs for their endgame. The Black Diamonds are basically where the non-Militia warlords took over, and is likewise a faction built on need for security and general fear, being third largest in total. They're probably the nastiest, being run by pretty much a cult of personality, and are responsible for the bulk of raids and murders for people's stuff, hated by both the Survivors and Militia. They are fairly well armed and all of their Prospekt that can fight are pretty much bandit lunatics. Nobody likes them. Under the city is mostly "controlled" by a society everyone just calls the Underfolk. Mostly, nobody wants to go down there anyways. There's nothing useful in the sewers, and there's not enough space to build or grow much of anything. This is the reason why some Prospekt live there: they're left more or less alone, and can pop up all over the city to gather what they need and quickly escape underground again in relative safety. They're considered a non-factor, and nobody knows how big they are. Biteblade/George: The Underfolk have been living it up like crazy, filling their tunnels with Starbound Flotilla rapid-fab amenities, infrastructure, and luxuries they haven't had in forever, and have basically spent the time partying and stockpiling the weapons that they've been given as if by an irresponsible shotgun wizard. They are extremely eager to use them, considered every in-city faction (so all but New Terra) to be their oppressors. This cannot possibly be disruptive at all. Nope.
Count Kord	Kord has a different approach this time. Knowing the political climate of the island (fractured at best) he has a simple plan in order to tip the scales a little bit. He leaves others to their complex maneuvering and their deeper comprehension of social mechanics, where he relies entirely on his physical prowess and his knowledge on how to hunt his prey without being seen. Kord enters the city through a warp gate and immediately takes to the sky. He scouts from above to locate the Black Diamond base by taking quick leaps from point to point and flying to the next vantage, using his manipulation of shadows to conceal him when he's sitting still. From a distance, it would be hard to see him, though maybe not impossible. He's using his shadows to break up his silhouette, a technique proven even in modern camoflauge. If he can find their base of operations, he can watch it for where their supplies are being funneled to. Boxes, crates, bags, whatever. Any operation big enough to hold its own has a logistics chain that can be observed from afar, so that's what he's looking for.
Kushiko	It took some doing, some talking. Some finding out, some relatable stories and the like from Kushiko within her Warframe. Still using Mag (albeit the Orokin tech infused variant) and the like, she had come to the same conclusion the others had once information had been properly shared, getting stories and the like about the Black Diamonds from the Jade Survivors. She normally probably would have deferred this to someone else, but she would do what she needed to do. All that being said, however, it became abundantly clear that the Black Diamonds needed to go--be it through wholesale extermination (which might sit poorly with the rest of the Prospekt, even if they were despised) or by simply cutting off the head of this so-called cult of personality. Assassination, extermination, these were the kind of things that Tenno could do extremely well. So she hurtled through the cityscape, once she learned the lay of the land from the Jade Survivors. She'd probably end up with Kord somewhere on the way through, but she wanted to keep the demolition controlled. There was enough she heard about the volatility here that she wanted to avoid it. However... with her suit's scanners and other surveilling for mini-map type things, she could be adeptly stealthy enough to penetrate the Diamonds territory pretty well... but probably not without killing a few on the way if she ran across them. Still, her method tends to be unheard, oft unseen, scarcely leaving any presence she was even there.
Captain Flint	Amidst Survivors and fellow Concord members, Flint unfurls a map of Garit on a nearby table. The apartment complex that serves as their home turf is circled. "Your goal is to survive, and you already have a grasp of cooperation. Those two facts suggest a realist outlook, which I admire." The captain looks up from the map, and makes his argument, seafoam eyes studying the room around him. "So, let me be realistic with you. Your best chance at long-term survival is to join the First Militia. Certainly, you can keep scavenging and stealing, but, as they control the island's means of production, you can only do that for so long before they have the force to answer it. And they will answer it, believe me." He didn't bother to ask if the Militia was one of the groups they considered an unacceptable threat. In his mind, it doesn't matter. From what Silver's told him, the Militia is the more organized of the two groups, and therefore, the one better suited to exert its will. "Speaking from experience," he says, his mind drifting to one possible fate of Nassau, "That would be a slow, drawn-out death. Your alternative is not only your best chance for survival, it's the best chance for Garit's survival--and its long term prosperity. Under their leadership, Garit could be exactly as I described: a stable nation which uplifts itself by taking the expertise of others as payment for its rich natural resources. All you would have to do is maintain the spirit of cooperation you've worked so hard to develop, and fight to keep what belongs to the Prospekt." SILVER In the mining camp, once led to the boss of the place, Silver, free of his weapons, leans upon his crutch. "So, you want to kick everyone off this island who doesn't fall in line with you. Suppose one of the other groups wanted to join up with you. What would be expected of them, in return for... well. Not getting kicked out?"
Starbound Flotilla	Nobody knows how big the Underfolk are, but Biteblade now knows how big they /aren't/, which is any kind of small. She's been working hard on getting weapons produced -- or in her case, getting /weapon/ produced. The little tribal has gotten the people a little more eager to use her weapons than she expected, which is far better than she'd hoped. Sadly, it looks like flooding the Underfolk with amenities hasn't drawn out the raids she was hoping for to justify regional destabilization. Thankfully, there's a target on the list that's a little more justifiable for raiding, and an intention to go at them. "This is by far the most inelegant solution you could have attempted." "Fishface has a bit of a point, ye know. Not like they won't blame ye for..." "Floran knowsss. But won't be sssolid blame! Floran can maneuver." "Never let 'em get anything on ya. Just deny hard enough and loud enough." "Supporting. This is... Morally it's the right thing anyway." "Weapons loaded. Challenger online, ready for piloting." Biteblade has remained here the entire week, reconstructing underground shantytown infrastructure into nice, livable conditions, and getting the Prospekt stocked up on weapons. But she's also gotten as much help as she can on a specific, particular project: The Challenger, a custom-built super-tank, one she's encouraged the Underfolk to mark with plenty of their chosen graffiti, and one she's gotten the pilot seat for. The heavy scraptank has four massive treaded pods at the base and two huge pods at the top, and bristles with an absolutely absurd amount of the weaponry she's gotten the Underfolk to help her make. Her plan is to basically charge through the streets, avoiding Jade holdings and searching out Black holdings much like Kord. Coordinating with him, she'll act as disruption while he and Kushiko hopefully can work on infiltration. She intends to be far less subtle than them, though; her scanners blaze actively, trying to zero in on any significant holdings in Black Diamond territory and just dump huge volumes of munitions straight through their front doors. It's a challenge, meant to draw out the hardiest and the badassest motherfuckers the Black Diamonds have to offer, something intended to provoke their warlords into massive counterattack.
August Kohler	The terms were rough and made August super uncomfortable. But they were better than the alternative: the genocide or slavery of the Prospekt race. August had agreed to trying to get the rest of the Prospekt to join under the First Militia, hopefully peacefully, though he expected conflict. Based off the other factions they'd been told about, the Black Diamonds and the New Terra are the main focus to deal with, but August wants to deal with the New Terra, first. Securing a food supply would be essential to recruiting the rest, and the New Terra doesn't have the combat support to really refuse if they push weight, as much as August hates that idea. Heading off from First Militia territory, where he checked in to to tell them his plan, August and any Watch-aligned members who wanted to join him would be heading towards the barricades from before, which August is sure now is New Terra. There's a pistol at his side and a mirrored bracelet on his wrist, with a pair of binoculars brought with him because honestly it'd probably come in handy. He's going to march straight towards New Terra territory and try and get an audience. This can't go wrong at all.
Azure Armature	There was a figure in a profile concealing poncho with the Watch members as they hashed out the needs of the First Militia. A short crop of dull blue hair and sharp blue eyes observe the discussion, behind a digital camouflage scarf and a dark poncho in deep urban tones. She didn't introduce herself, merely asked the First Militia what they wanted very directly, what was their best case, what was their intelligence like, and what were their mission objectives. What she had gotten was pretty simple. >Primary: Ensure City Stability >Primary: Eliminate Dissenting Elements >Secondary: Preserve Industrial Capital The terms were simple and easy to grasp. She confirmed each of them once, and was not met with any correction. Broad latitude was how she generally preferred to work anyway. The military powers needed this place suppressed and secured, and seeing as the Black Diamonds were the chief drek-heads to the safety of the populat here, a little shock and awe seemed in order. Shortly before arriving like a ghost's shadow out of some rubble, crouched and peering into the makeshift base of the Diamonds, the Flotilla's armed gunship buzzes in to start raking the place with munitions. The blue-haired operative considers this quizzically, before crouching back down to tap at her ear once and mentally confirm her location. "Well now I look like a stripped bolt, with that gunship..." She trails off, considering, before blinking out from view to zip around to the back of the building and approach from the rear - or the 'rear-like' side of the building, hunting for the flow of gangers fleeing. It is a little known fact that, in fact, the Heavy Munitions Law states that any side of the building that has an armed and armored gunship strafing it is the 'front' and the opposite side is always the 'back'. Always.
Staren	Staren is torn between his practice killing things and his longing for peaceful improvements. He ends up accompanying Flint to talk to the Survivors. Golems carrying packs od supplies accompany him -- food, clothing, appliances, computers, batteries, and of course, weapons and armor. Putting the Concord's resources to good use making friends. "We've brought supplies to the Underfolk as well. The Prospekt must unite, if there is to be any hope of a better future. We can help you, if you'll unite. To form a new government and all that. Otherwise... we can give you supplies, but we can't supply a failing society forever. Rebuilding and unification will be better for all... but it is a necessity."
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko walks along with August, continuing to rely on him for bodyguard activities on this mission. She's got some heavy concerns about the First Militia's terms, but most of that can wait until they get opinions off some of the other sides. "At the least, if they could be convinced down from 'dictatorship' to 'junta,' there'd be room for negotiating the other sides into retaining some power, and make this a merger instead of a conquest." She's keeping up her scanning, per SOP, though her ability to do that on the move has limited depth, with breadth at maximum.
Priscilla	Searching for the home base (at least ostensibly) of the Black Diamonds is . . . not hard. At all. The cityscape is large and impressive, easily comparable to modern day New York, in that it is clearly a state all on its own at this scale of world, but it's also a dead city, near completely empty, and flying or vaulting over its rooftops massively cuts down on the time it takes to get around and/or search for things. The incredibly obvious point of interest is what appears to have been a college campus, crowded and vertical with square buildings and little in the way of courtyards, now fenced off with barbed wire and bolted barricades, stationed with salvaged sentry guns and guarded by rough looking Prospekt in yellow and black. Huge yellow banners are hung from various faces of the campus buildings, slashed across with black paint, and the prominent literal imagery of a black, star-cut diamond. For their reputation of brutality, they aren't poorly organized to the casual observer. Though less so than the First Militia, they have their act together, involving cargo from raids and salvage being brought in on what amount to hover flatbeds (cobbled together fairly Mad Max style) and being let through thick sliding gates of many layers of corrugated metal bolted together. The yards are frequently patrolled, and overseen by 'amateur' but at least experienced marksmen on the balconies of some buildings. Lower-class workers are seen prying open crates, bringing them to a quartermaster for inventory, and hauling them off, while two supply lines form under the awning of what was probably a student services building, for no-doubt rationed food and amenities. One line is for combat personnel, and clearly gets the better share. That means they're fairly well prepared when Biteblade and the Underfolk's bravest show up, or at least as prepared as they can be for a gargantuan tank that grinds rusted cars under tread on its march down the street, emblazoned with such colourful slogans as 'point towards fuckfaces' and 'shitter shanty uprising' on appropriate parts of its hull. When the tank just bulldozes down the main street, forcing flatbeds to increase their life and scatter in risk of being mulched in its path, the whole compound springs to life, sound off the obligatory awful bandit camp alarm, and soon the walls and windows are crawling with Black Diamonds. Veritable hails of gunfire pour on the tank from all directions, highly inaccurate, but at its size, they basically can't miss. One, two, three, then four rockets streak out from several positions, adding a more credible threat to the fusillade, followed by a couple of grenades and an out-of-place molotv. The chaos is absolute. All attention is completely focused on the Challenger, easily being the craziest thing the city has seen since the civil war, if even then. Azure Armature has zero trouble doing hard entry through the back. The walls are equally high, steep, and covered in barbed wire and guns as the 'front', but now literally nobody is manning them. Those that were have turned their backs and are running to join the fight at the front, with a couple of the stronger, bigger Prospekt ripping chainguns off of mounts and hoofing them over as well.
Priscilla	MEANWHILE, in more diplomatic affairs, Flint's pitch is met with incredible amounts of disgruntled discomfort with the Jade Suvivor reps who have met with him, largely being a mix of 'retrieval personnel' in athletic wear and bandaged hands, and baggy-clothed logistics types. While they accept supplies gladly from Staren (which is probably why they don't walk out on the two of them), they aren't happy to hear what they have to say."So what? You're telling us the options are kneel to new slave drivers or die?" "How is that any better than what happened before?" "Even if they're Prospekt, that doesn't mean they can't exploit everyone in the same damn mines as before." "Why do you think they want them, right?" This is the chorus of uncomfortable dissent they have to put up with. There is bad blood between the two. Of course there is. Otherwise they'd have already joined. Things are luckily a little easier on Silver's end, where the First Militia don't take the opposition nearly as seriously. There is less of a motley crowd all opinion on his questions at once, and much more unified answers. The long rundown amounts to a general disposition towards accepting those who will bend knee, but having especial interest in integrating New Terra on relatively equitable terms since they're all farming specialists and they need that, and the least interest in having the Black Diamonds except maybe those who can shape up enough to be soldiers instead of looters. They don't especially hold ill will towards anyone else because neither the Jade Survivors, nor Lodestone, nor especially the Underfolk have any ability to have done more than inconvenience them in the past. Finally, August reaches the edge of New Terra territory without issue. Unlike the others, their presence isn't actively obvious. There are barricades of defunct technology piled up everywhere, broadly restricting movement and walling people out, and in many places these are rather inventively trapped with some of the classics, like punji pits and grenade tripwires, but Kyoko's (and only Kyoko's) scanning can easily pick them up, since most of it uses magical ores anyways. Scanning through binoculars at many points, he can't find anything that looks like a central HQ. Chances are they don't have one, being decentralized across many acres of land. Nevertheless, he does spot a rather large and probably previously very wealthy farm homestead, the size of a squat mansion, which is clearly being used as a community center for scores of Prospekt, having some kind of meeting. They appear to be only mildly armed, in the sense that deep south country folk area, though some of the farm vehicles left loitering in the field for now scarily appear to be repurposed Garitian military armour with ploughs and rakes attached. Nobody notices him or Kyoko, instead paying attention to a gazebo being used as a stage for some communal mayor or some such.
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko points out the traps as they progress, carefully avoiding them herself, making every effort to avoid triggering them both for her own safety and to leave them intact in case of later need. Better to not tick off New Terra unnecessarily. Once they get to the barricade, she's effectively blocked off, not relishing the idea of climbing over walls on her own. Hopefully, August will have some way of opening things to make it easier on her. If not, she's going to get very dirty and a little tired. In either case, she's not going to rush in on her own, but does make motions toward the meeting. "Let's go listen in. And... pretend there's no reason for them to be surprised at us being there? I guess we're going to stand out no matter what, may as well act like it's no big deal."
Staren	Staren scratches his head. "Perhaps there's been a miscommunication. We're not asking you to kneel to the First Militia or the Undergrounders. We're asking you to form a partnership. Pool your resources and manpower. Form a new government, that will take control of all of Galit. Reunification is the only way forward for the Prospekt... If you continue to fight eachother, it doesn't matter how many supplies we bring. You'll all be fighting over them, and daily life will continue to be a struggle for survival, in the ruins of the life of comfort you could have had. I mean... some of you will still have to mine, sure, but you'll be employed, well-payed by fellow Prospekt for work that you all know all Prospekt depend on."
Kushiko	Brutality rarely, if ever meant disorganization. The Grineer, for example, were exceedingly brutal, efficient killers of anything 'not Grineer'. They would not be taken lightly, for all the Tenno spoke of being a practiced killer herself. She surveyed, and relayed what she saw. Little details, troop dispersements to Biteblade and those Prospekt that would undoubtedly accompany. A secondary announcement to the Survivors about fighting--that the supplies would be for Underfolk, unless they wanted to fight. And on it went, her recon from above. Yet, as much as she might be able to possibly take advantage of the absolute bedlam that Biteblade introduce by way of their Challenger Tank, she can't quite let it slide. Not with the command of powers that Mag has. She launches herself like a veritable bullet up into the air, revolving and seeming to glide. Just a little bit, and then she's sweeping her hands forward, a strange pulsation emanating from her. When she does this, the Warframe's attempting to do something that will be... problematic, potentially, for the fusillade being leveled at the tank itself. Electromagnetic energy, focused to magnetize some of the heavier weapons would be bubbles of energy. Energy that would take rockets, shards of metal and twist it about, bringing it back not only to their owners, but to anyone being drawn in by the impressive electromagnetic force she's putting out. As much as this will decidedly announce herself to the others, the fact is after say, 10 or so seconds, those bubbles will explode violently and selectively affect the Black Diamonds she's been spotting. And one of those bubbles is set right in the heart of their supply works. A bubble that sees her whip out her Lanka sniper rifle, and send a pair of railgun shots into, creating a literal bubble of death for any that might still remain. She's on the move still, though probably a pretty good target for those not focused on the Challenger. Chaos is always good.
August Kohler	As they approach the barricades, August stares into his mirrored bracelet. "I'll get us over. You'll have to deal with me carrying you over, though." He speaks, firmly. "Persona!" In a flash of blue energy, the Tin Soldier appears, silently moving forward and...not burning the fence. No, that's too noisy and bad impression. Instead, it moves to grab Kyoko, leap, and get her over, and then leap back, grab August, and get him over. The Persona disappears afterwards, August hoping they weren't noticed. Following Kyoko's lead to not step into traps, August nods to her. "Good plan. We'll just be weird humans who totally belong." His tone is dry, as he moves to walk up into the crowd and just...stand behind them and watch. He's not hiding his presence at all.
Starbound Flotilla	"Tread four sour, break right." "Floran isss breaking! Fox two at ten!" "Aye, captain! Payloads away!" "Monkey friend! Knock door!" "Fox five at twelve. Munitions joker. Wrecking ball away." "Where are evasssives?" "Blink engine charging. Countermeasures at half." "Focusss grenadesss! Human friend, ssstage two?" "Core's solid tiger. Ditch treads?" "Yeahyeahyeah!! Let'sss kill!!" "Determined. Go! I've got the pods active!" "CHALLENGER TWO!! GOOOOO!!" Rockets batter the tank and brutalize its mobility as it charges in, blasting away with massive weaponry. Pavo deploys heavy, wide-area-saturation missiles that dump massive chemical payloads, while Moonfin's active countermeasures cause the entire tank to blink just slightly out of the way of slower-moving projectiles. Albert's heavy bunker-buster missiles dump unspeakably intense amounts of force straight into the main gate, intending to blast the entire thing straight off of its hinges. As it goes on, Biteblade is /screaming/. "LOOOOOK, PROSSSPEKT! LOOK AT WHAT BLACK DIAMOND DOESSS FOR YOU!!" She cries out. "You give up moralsss for sssecurity and sssurvival, and now they can't even give you that!" One of the Challenger's treads was blown clean off, and another heavily damaged, but the massive tank fires up a huge rear thruster and charges HARD, trying to blast its way into the compound's interior areas, hopefully open enough for cargo or other suchlike. "Floran givesss good life for Underfolk! Flor Floran'sss tribe! For anyone, ANYONE, who givesss up ANYTHING, trading for sssecurity and sssafety from WEAK AND SSSTUPID BLACK DIAMOND, Floran gonna give DEATH!!" Her machine tumbles, discarding two of its useless treaded pods and shifting the pair of upper pods down. The upper pods unfold into massive floating hands bristling up the "arms" with a pair of huge railguns, and the central section of the tank shifts up, making the whole thing almost move more like a skating mecha. "You want to DIE for Black Diamond that can't even PROTECT?! Come on! FLORAN WILL SSSTAB ALL!!" The huge railguns begin firing tremendous harpoon-like solid durasteel piercing slugs, meant to skewer whatever they impact, while the main body's guns light up anew with more spraying firepower, much of which she tries to blast into the magnetic danger zones that Kushiko has helpfully provided, meant to amplify their power. "Bring me TOUGHEST TOP PROSSSPEKT for Black Diamond, or die quick! Floran doesssn't care which!! But either way, Floran isss going to show Black Diamond can NEVER protect! Can NEVER give sssafety! Can NEVER give sssecurity! ONLY FLORAN CAN!!" BOSS STAGE 2 is initiated, and Biteblade seems to be working pure brutality as best she can with the intention of breaking the Black Diamonds' only claim to support: Their ability to provide security and safety. Her hope is to use this event to fully fold a heavy amount of their population into the Underfolk, something she hopes can boost their visible numbers and organization enough to enable her to engage proper open conflict with the other factions.
Count Kord	While chaos erupts around the Black Diamonds, Kord makes sure to take full advantage of the noise. With a fight being held against two or three very competent Elites with a bunch of grossly underprepared magitech highwaymen, it mean Kord could more easily slip between the cracks in their surveilance. Shadows warp as he flits from his perch and slips into their base between the scattering soldiers. Once inside he makes for the building they were taking their supplies to, and makes sure to skitter across walls or leap through obstacles in ways normal human beings would be hard to track, and he makes sure the shadows cover him as much as he can manage. The comparisons to Dracula would be very apt, going by his movements. Once in the building, he doesn't waste time finding the ideal way to break everything. He has no need for such eloquence, not when the Black Diamonds can do little to stop him. He just starts emitting blasts of Dark magical energy throughout the stockpile, hammering it with enough power to blow out windows, walls and the ceiling. It's not quite a bomb, but for his purposes it's close enough. He doesn't care about leaving anything intact, so he doesn't hold back. Now the Black Diamonds will be hearing /more explosions/ but now in a place they really shouldn't be hearing it. And laughter. Booming, baritone laughter. Kord really likes breaking the things of corrupt jerks.
Captain Flint	One of the Survivors thinks their only options are to kneel or die. Dying is indeed an option, but the alternative need not be so extreme as forced servitude. "On the contrary," says Flint with a knowing smile to the Prospekt. "The Militia would much rather have you on their side than force you off the island. They could certainly do it--but the time and labor required for such an endeavor would be quite prohibitive, given the other items on their agenda. You could buy peace--and equity--at an all time low, if you use that to your advantage." Flint leans upon the table, giving a look around the room. It's time to start making promises. "Your issue seems to be with the conditions in the mines. So. Four hour shifts, five day work weeks. Guaranteed, gratis medical attention in the event of an injury. If all of you joined at once, that would be more than enough labor to satisfy the Militia's desire for magical materials. After all... if you chose not to join, there would be less people around to split the work between." But, he doesn't stop there. "What else do you want?" SILVER The pirate pauses for a minute. They'd give Terra Nova fairer terms than most to come in. If they're willing to do that... would they do it for the other groups? "Okay... okay. So, in order for this all to work, /someone's/ got to run the mines. And... and, a lot of the people out there have problems with the way you run them. In fact, /you/ had problems with the way they were run under Garit." Silver rubs his chin, thinking for a moment, pretty much coming up with this on the fly. He snaps his fingers. "Anyone who's thinking of joining you, instead of trying to fight, is going to ask how you'll run it differently. So... how would you?"
Azure Armature	From her position at the 'back' (with the 'front', again, being the Challenger's approach, guns blazing), Azure brings her clothed and gloved right wrist up, a small digital display showing various bars, charts, and details in strange circuit-like runes. The cacophany from the front is making this too easy. That was not, in fact, a good thing. Deciding that blowing the back wall open wasn't a fantastic idea, the infiltrator tapped a few selectors on her floating wrist display and then stepped forward towards the wall. And through it. It's perfect, really. She's a master of solo stealth infiltration. Activating her optical stealth system, she hustled across the intervening courtyard area, molested by no guards and alerting no sensors, because they're all pointed in the other direction. It was a perfect piece of textbook tactical espionage, except... It seemed entirely uncalled for. Pointless. And, as some sort of dark thaumaturge started exploding the insides, almost superflous. Like a grand mechanical spider upon a wonderfully spun web of force and intrigue in preparation to clear a house of pests, when it turns out that three cans of RAID and an afternoon with the windows open was what actually happened. To begin salvaging the situation, which is at this point a big checkbox in 'crush the dissenting powers', she blinks from the courtyard up to the wall, softshoeing behind one of the running guards to hook an enhanced arm around his neck and drag him off for some nice, happy knifepoint interrogation. "Talk." She mutters, barely above a growl, having rested an extremely tactical knife along the guard's clavicle. "Where are your leaders? Where are your key supplies? Spit it out."
Priscilla	At the negotiating table, things don't go any worse, but they seem to be extremely skeptical of Staren's and Flint's bold claims. While what they assert seems ideal, the thought of the First Militia offering something that good seems to be something worth getting incredulous about, likely due to the group's past dealings with them. The dozen or so Jade Survivors shuffle around in agitation, torn on what to make of the situation, and not eager to speak up first. One finally breaks the ice, with a relatively firm "Yeah that sounds great. Is that what they told you? You believe any of that? If that's their deal, why ain't they here themselves huh? Or you really think you can squeeze that out of them? I'm not buying they'll go for something like that. Anything less than crack'o'dawn PT is too soft for 'em I bet." The other negotiating table is comparatively relaxed. The First Militia assumes they a position of power from which to bargain with other factions, and they aren't wrong to do so. Their general stance seems to be that New Terra is unneeded to runs mines, and probably shouldn't, since they're now the only Prospekt on the island with any real idea how to do agriculture, and thus should really stick with it for everyone's benefit. There's some vague interest in having Lodestone largely assigned to technician study and apprenticeship, but mostly the call seems to be that 'anyone without specialist skills or a volunteer combat position gets a division of labour in the mines'. This is more or less how they're doing it now, but most of their time has been spent building up infrastructure to handle such previously unaddressed trivialities as 'potential collapses or explosions'. They don't seem to be shift-based so much as quota-based on a team to team basis. It's hard to tell without being an experienced minor, but it seems? reasonable? The question is then if they'd jack up said quota later. On the farmstead, Kyoko and August easily jump the lax barricade, and enter a broad, fallow field (that means crop rotation, so a basic plus on New Terra's competence check sheet) where at least three score Prospekt are seated on cheap benches and listening to the presentation. It's a little hard to make sense of when they wander in partway through, but what they can make out before the assembly notices them and the speaker stops is largely uninteresting. Plans for the new years, planting schedules, debate about /what/ to plant where, increasing concern about need for defense, and a contentious notion of properly scrounging the city for better weapons than what they have, fearing full mobilization from the First Militia. They're relatively quaint and unaggressive for Prospekt, which is probably a process of selection rather than culture. That doesn't stop many of them (in mostly durable labourer clothes) going for crystal-studded shotguns and rifles, but the assemblyman waves them down, stepping off his stage to get a little bit closer. "Now now, there's no need for that. These folk ain't dressed like no Garit, and if they were they'd be the least sneaky ones I ever did see. Now, what can I do you for?" he asks. Perfect. He sounds like a stereotypical southerner when the translation effect does its work. All he needs is either a straw hat or a preacher's outfit.
Kyoko Takada	While there was that moment of tension, it passes, and Kyoko gets a chance to relax around what passes for civilized people on this island. She can't relate to the farming life, but it's closer to understandable to her than the militarized survivor creed. "Hello!" she begins, putting on a little cheer, "and thanks for the welcome. I'm Hibiki, an analyst for hire. We came in to see how we could help you out, actually. It came to light that the former residents here, those Garit, want some people to come in and get the island running again for their benefit. It sounded like bad news, so we're trying to head off anyone working toward that. We've already checked in with the guys around the mines about trying to get people around here working together again. They said 'New Terra' was the group they most cared to work with, so we came up here. Sounds like they didn't think highly of the people in the city." She'll leave off some details of that for later, not that the First Militia gave many. She looks around. "That's where we are now, right? New Terra?"
August Kohler	August's hands move, once again, for his head as people turn towards them and move to draw their guns. Bracelet in his line of sight. "Absolutely not Garit. Name's August Kohler, Cloak of the Watch. We're a revolutionary organization that's come because Garit's hired extremely skilled mercenaries to come and throw you all back in cuffs. We don't want that. We want far from that, and we want to help the Prospekt not get oppressed." August actually steps to move forward, trying to give off confidence and a lack of fear. "I'll be entirely transparent. We talked to the First Militia before we came here. We are currently working with them. But our primary objective is that the Prospekt aren't wiped out or enslaved. We'd like you to work with the First Militia. But if you can't...atleast tell us what you would like. Tell us how we can help you." Despite how he's phrasing his words, his tone is genuine. All he wants to do is help them.
Priscilla	At the site of the Black Diamond compound, things are an absolute mess. It's only the second day outsiders have been here, which they haven't even heard of yet, and already heavily armed Elites are waging full-scale war on their totally unprepared territory, probably sign a significant degree of their 'soldiers' out in the city. The fire pours down on the Challenger, being a considerable amount that only escalates with each passing moment as more and more thugs pour out into the courtyard and pop out from the windows. For a little while, it's a somewhat credible battle of attrition. The Challenger /clearly/ has the early advantage as volleys of insanely destructive missiles rain down on the fortifications that are clearly not meant to deal with legitimate military hardware, blasting gun mounts and ammo stores, and incinerating dozens of hapless goons. Later on though, the amount of fire it's taking in return starts to grow to match the damage it's dishing out, when even more mooks appear to replace the dead ones, some of them looking and sounding /very/ drugged up, hooting and hollering as they wildly fire chainguns and rockets at the tank, redoubling their attack in a chaotic but dangerous way. The counter offensive doesn't last very long. Mag drops in by surprise despite her unsubtle approach, and the orbs of swirling magnetic chaos make the turn barrage into a mind-bending mess of twisting bullets and explosives that fall back into the crowd as often as they fly straight and true. They aren't taking good positions of cover, and aren't organized for mass combat, so it quickly turns into a mess when the Lanka blows the brains out of the closest to a sergeant-looking guy she can spot. This makes Biteblade's return escalation even more lethal. The Challenger switches modes, breaks the front gates, breaches the yard, and begins hammering the Black Diamonds' HQ with firepower it couldn't possibly have been prepared to withstand, turning makeshift bunkers inside out and gutting the insides out of considerable sections of buildings with the massive railgun darts involved. Biteblade's screaming declaration, surrounded in fire and bodies, is soon met with screaming on the Black Diamonds' part, who begin to falter, break, panic shoot, and turn and run. In the chaos, it isn't hard for Kord to infiltrate inside. Stockpiles of supplies are something he has to find manually, pretty much floor by floor, and the suspicious leadership doesn't keep them all in one place under one quartermaster for reasons Captain Flint can probably sympathize with. Nevertheless, there's a great deal of havoc he can wreak by smashing everything from tools to ammo to what look like MRE stockpiles, and laugh about it when the returning Black Diamonds /avoid/ his ruckus rather than actually charge to meet him. It also does half of Azure's work for her, disappointing as that might be. He hostage she takes is already distracted and pre-terrified of everything that is going on, dropping his gun and holding his hands up immediately as he staggers in her arms, hyperventilating and sweating as he hurries to comply. "Yo wait wait wait! I'm gonna talk okay! I'm gonna talk! Yo listen! Fearless leader ain't here okay! He's out with his Diamond Fangs dudes to shake down some shitheads in the city! With this kinda mess he's probably gonna go to a hideout okay? Big one in the metro at city center and 4th! You gotta believe me, I swear! That's where all the backup shit is too! He predicted we might have to start over man! He's got it on lockdown!"
Count Kord	Kord doesn't meet a lot of opposition. That's actually good. It means he can systematically go through each building and floor on the campus containing supplies, and not even be particularly subtle about it. It's quite a mess of destruction, with food, ammo and weapons ruined. He does not, however, target anything looking like medical supplies. While he knows food can be replaced, he also knows medicine cannot. He knows the Prospekt are durable and yet not invincible, and doesn't want the survivors of this to die from his actions. He is very thorough, but ignores any of the Black Diamonds that try to avoid him. He isn't here to kill them. He's here to scatter them. To shatter their efficacy. At most he'll laugh some of them scamper off, and bark insults at them as they flee, and maybe blast at the ground to further spook them. He feels beads of sweat roll down behind his half-helm. Using this much energy is taxing. He can destroy a lot of supplies but he isn't going to be able to do this forever, especially not with the supplies scattered all over the place the way they are.
Captain Flint	At the scepticism, the pirate captain locks eyes with the Prospekt who uttered it. "/You/ can squeeze it out of them," says Flint in the barest rumble. He sounds like he believes it, as utterly as any one of them believes in the necessity of food to survive. His eyes smolder with conviction, his lips pulled into a thin, determined frown. "Since you're all alive, there must be some labor you can provide to /keep/ yourselves alive. Whatever it is, it's something you can offer to the Militia, in place of or alongside working in the mines." Staren's assertion gets a nod of agreement from Flint. "Imagine this: some of your number work in the mines to help the Militia meet its production quotas. Some serve as scouts to provide advance warning for threats to their soldiers. Others scour the island for technology to provide to Lodestone, whose research is used, alongside the advice of the experts the mines' materials purchases, to uplift Garit above and beyond its former place in the world. Terra Nova's farmland keeps you all fed. The Militia's soldiers protect you all from outside aggression, and the Underfolk make use of the interconnected sewer systems to get the city's waterworks running again and facilitate expedient communication." That's everyone, isn't it? Everyone but the Black Diamonds. "That's just /one/ possible way you could all work together, so don't fucking stand there and tell me it's impossible." He fumes, nostrils flaring, and stands up straight. Deep breath. "Things like this only happen if people are willing to talk to each other. So, if you want to give this a shot, you pick a few ambassadors," He points his finger into the surface of the map on the table. "And you pick a neutral meeting spot. Then, you let us make this same pitch to the other groups, and we all sit down at that meeting point and discuss it." "Or, yes--you can let the Militia and God knows who else slowly pick you off until there's nothing left of this place. Or Garit."
Kushiko	In the eyes of the Tenno, tactically this is about as perfect as it could get. Were it somewhere else, one could imagine a kill counter, steadily going up, gauging whether or not the Black Diamonds would be as yet broken by the totality of the chaotic onslaught. That said, even if they weren't retaliating explicitly in her direction, the Tenno would hardly stay still, serving as a curious counterpoint to Biteblade's rabidity. Where the Floran was loud and visceral, she was coldly efficient, as she could appreciate that savagery rendered by the Floran member of the Flotilla. Yet quietly, did she keep an 'eye' on her, so to speak. In the meantime, she swept her hand up, nascent energy billowing and turbulently wreathing her hand as she gathered, and brought that hand down, resulting in a polarizing wave of energy that began to sweep across the compound itself. The effect is terrifying--for those Prospekt not allied (read: Black Diamonds) their armoring itself is attacked, electromagnetic energy that shouldn't have any effect on non-ferrous materials somehow /finding/ a way, to destabilize, to cause electrochemical disruptions and to take shards from said potential armor ruptures (or simply parts of the compound already shredded) to become an electrically charged field of chaos to further make what the Floran and others are doing. Suffice it to say, she is cooly doing her very best to bring nothing but singular death, while Biteblade takes the stage. She'll somersault off while the radial wave, really a 'dome' of energy radiates outward, eventually fading after a couple of seconds, but it was able to travel a good severl meters in distance. Kord will surely see it, but won't feel anything save a pleasent tingle. The Flotilla's members could definitely feel it--in a good way; any shielding they may have active would see a recharge, if not a slight overboost. Another blast of her Lanka, potentially picking off another target, before a spiralling leap takes her downward, and towards the compound proper, intent on getting inside, though not without swapping from Lanka to her sidearm and glaive.
Staren	Staren blinks. "Well... to be frank, yes, I do think we can squeeze that out of them. I'm sure SOMEONE wants to build a new society on this island... and if not, if every single Prospekt really DOES prefer to keep things the way they are, then... I guess we go home and find some world where people are /willing/ to better themselves. Learning that I can't help everyone was a tough lesson..." Staren shrugs. "But if that's really what you want, I suppose we can. leave. I really would prefer to help you though. But we're gonna need some cooperation. Some prospekt committed to a better future. We can't help you if you don't want help."
Starbound Flotilla	"LOOK! You give up everything to get freedom! You put trussst in Black Diamond and trade away moralsss and ethicsss! Now Black Diamond can't hold up end of bargain! Now you run away! RUN! RUN AWAY!" Biteblade cries out, as her mecha shifts, arms going down as a last few bits of armament bristle out the back. With Kord having gotten most of the supplies, hardened as they'd be against something like a fire, Biteblade intends to simply make as much of the infrastructure here unpalatable as she can. Canisters are fired high up, arcing down. Where they impact the structures here, they begin to burn as Biteblade does her best to simply saturate the area in as much destruction as possible. Her intent is to break the spirits of those who try to return here, to shatter the dedication to the Black Diamond and to drive as much of the population into the waiting and highly receptive arms of the Underfolk. "Floran'sss Underfolk don't get ssscared! Floran'sss Underfolk are sssafe! Floran'sss Underfolk are happy! Floran'sss Underfolk live well! And not trade principle for it!" Her shield systems hum with a sudden, abrupt boost from Kushiko, and the visual effect of a brilliant halo of shining green light and the sudden halting of many of the panic-shots, even as some of the remaining damage batters through her systems and overloads the emitters, should emphasize the next part. "If you run, RUN to Underfolk! Join! Live! Be happy and sssafe! Floran will only, /only/ hurt Prossspekt trading away ssself to awful tribe with no sssafety! Floran will /kill/ becaussse Black Diamond can't ssstop Floran! But come to underground! Join with Underfolk! And Floran will make you SAFE! Floran will help be HAPPY! Floran will bring LIFE BACK TO GARIT!! FLORAN WILL HEAL WOUNDSSS OF CIVIL WAR!! CAN ANYONE ELSSSE PROMISSSE?! NO!! EMPTY, BROKEN PROMISSSE FROM FAKE LEADERSSS!!" "RUUUUUUN!! TO THE UNDERGROOOOUUUUND!!" She calls out, over what is likely to be a roar of fire. And if everything's settled here, she will in fact already be turning her mecha around, rolling it out, and beginning work on constructing access paths to outright /invite/ those who abandon Black Diamond straight into the new and robust infrastructure she's building. If everything works out, she'll have another, little bit larger feast to be encouraging... If that works out, she'll need to link with Terra Nova to figure out either trade or some kind of justification for conflict, or go to Lodestone if there haven't been enough people to strain their Flotilla-tech food hyperproduction infrastructure. She'll also need to patch up. The Flotilla's suffered no shortage of burns and bruises inside this machine, and the machine itself is scarred and damaged. If there's a Black Diamond counterattack in the near future, she'll need the Challenger to be back up to snuff fast, with better rocket countermeasures.
Azure Armature	Oh hey, that's useful. She doesn't even need to interrogate three seperate guards and then on the third hear mumbled gobbledegook that tumbles out to 'the answer she actually needs'. It's always the third for some reason. Never the second, maybe sometimes the fourth, fifth, eigth, or tenth, but rarely the first or second if they're not clearly someone of authority. So, instead, she brings back up her right arm, continuing to control her captured moron. She wrassles him down to a crouch (so he's now sitting?) and re-ignites her wrist display in a simple map of the known locations of the area. "Point to it on the map." She orders, keeping him engaged with the knife as she lets his arm up to handle that, since there's not a whole lot else going on. "This, I suppose, is the wages of not maintaining your society. Chaos. Destruction. Base thuggery." She mutters, while she gets her location. Once she has it, she drags him to the edge of the wall. "I estimate this fall will be nonlethal. Seek medical aid after." She suggests before tossing the poor (and potentially Wilhelm Screaming) mook over the wall, sliding her knife away and disappeaing in a puff of smoke and muted flash of light. She had other places to be. Like Main and 4th, now that she had an idea of where to go. At least to case the joint for later.
Priscilla	The assemblyman who walks down to join Kyoko and August in conversation looks intensely suspicious, but continues with a squinty-eyed drawl. "Aye that's right. This here is New Terra, or at least one compound with the right good sense to know that fightin' over scrap ain't gonna get anyone anywhere." Unhappy mumbling rises from the assembly at the mention of the First Militia (does everyone on this island hate everyone else?) but it grows even more urgent and restless at the mention of 'skilled mercenaries'. While they certainly have reason to be suspicious of any kind of cooperative overture from the Militia, it seems like they are /very/ much willing to believe the displaced people of Garit would do precisely that. "That's . . . quite the claim." he starts off after a long minute. "No surprise the damn Militia wants to-" he literally does airquote gestures "-cooperate. Look, we ain't listenin' to a damn thing those fools say, but if there's actually paid gun types landin' on these shores, it's the Militia they're gonna have to go through. I ain't never heard of no Watch Revolution, but if you want us to cooperate with them gun toting lunatics, you best be at the table and not us, got it? I'll /consider/ it if it doesn't involve our folk havin' to be in the same room as those nutcases." The other negotiating table has considerably less steam against the guy taking them to it. Whether Flint is just intimidating, or whether it's because he's the first guy with real passion and vision any of these disillusioned and jaded hangers-on have spoken to in a long time, they do, /finally/, seem to sort of gel to what he's saying. One of them shakes his head at Staren and at last says "Look, we tried talking before. It didn't work. Like this idea okay? I'm sure boss will be willing to give it a shot, but /only/, and I mean only alright?, if there's gonna be some third factor here that stops it going down like the last time. You people are there, you people are telling them this, and you people are collateral if they get trigger happy instead of talking it out, 'kay?" That seems to be his condition he intends to take back to the Jade Survivor leadership. It probably sounds like hardlining to him, but then he isn't aware of the amount of bullshit that Elites already deal with day to day.
Staren	Staren nods. "Oh yeah. We're SO on hand, if they get trigger-happy, the same thing will happen to them that's happening to the Black Diamonds right now. But don't even think of running some false-flag operation to make us THINk they're betraying us so we put you in charge. We've seen that shit before, and it's not worth risking your future for." "Speaking of the future... I think maybe we can find a way to make it so /noone/ has to work the mines. Can't promise anything yet, but I'd support looking into it." <"Biteblade, Kord, Kushiko, can you bring back some Prospekt corpses to study? The more intact the better.">
Kyoko Takada	Kyoko doesn't say too much about August having put the harder line on roughly the same picture. And wow, hey, that's actually a really easy demand to meet. "You want us to negotiate in your stead? Or no, better idea, we can leave you guys a radio. No point in walking back and forth every time, and no reason to get back and see what they mean by 'cooperation' if we can't see whether you're up for it." She's not, unfortunately, carrying any extras. "You have any on-hand? I can fix it up to make secure calls out to one of ours, if you just give me a bit with it. If not, we'll figure something out." Or maybe August is carrying extras.
August Kohler	August sighs, but nods. "I understand your apprehension. I can't be sure entirely why you hate each other and it's not my place to make guesses, but I'll negotiate for you. Just tell me what you want." August knows, somewhere inside, he's setting himself up for the impossible. But this is the fastest way of getting what he wants done, and he's not going to browbeat them. "Maybe you can't trust me, but you definitely can't trust the guys on Garit's payroll. And that gives us the same goal." August nods to Kyoko, pulling out a miniature radio. He tunes the frequency, before reaching out to hand it over. "Work with us. Yeah?"
Priscilla	Inside the compound, things are almost as loud as outside. Though the deafening crash and boom of Biteblade's screaming rampage is muted by the thick, old construction, the shaking of the building is a constant, loud rumbling, and the panicked shouts and slamming footfalls of the Black Diamonds inside echoes a considerable distance through the old lecture halls, now repurposes as armories. Kord's good sense in sparing medical supplies will likely be lauded later, though in the meantime, only a few of the most aggressive (and probably stimulant-addled) Prospekt stop when they see him and fire wildly down the halls. Anyone crazy enough to shoot at him also isn't likely to expertly avoid a return attack from him, albeit bullets are bullets, and magical crystal dust is no less powerful than gunpowder, if not moreso. Outdoors, the courtyard firefight avalanches into a one-sided slaughter. Soon, the thugs and killers previously so gung ho about throwing their weight around have been burned down almost to a man, and it's the less committed, and probably less privileged, low rank goons and non-fighters that are throwing down their guns, ripping off their body armour (especially when it starts /exploding/), or otherwise making a huge show of surrender, covering their heads and running from the explosive firebombing and doing their best to rip down the barbed wire and jump from their own wall emplacements to scramble down the other side, making a break for it into the city. Most of them will probably remember to seek the sewers. Probably. Some might still be too stubborn or too proud or too dumb to do that. The guard Azure has captured is none of those 'too' words to be above or beneath hurriedly complying, pointing emphatically at the weird tactical holo map as he instantly recognizes the topography he has probably been patrolling for years. "There! There! Just calm down man! No need for the knife and- WAAAAHHHH!" he screams out whence the Alchemical just straight picks him up and tosses him from the wall, dropping a distance of 'way too high for someone to jump and climb from the outside' and rolling into a convenient ditch, where she loses sight of him for the moment. Her exploits at 4th will be covered . . . in a later episode. ==/to be continued/==\|>
Kushiko	Well, that would work out well. There's no doubt to the fact the Black Diamonds as a group, have been broken. Kushiko does not linger, though she does look back to Biteblade, to the tank, to the members of the Flotilla. Only once the oft silent yet deadly Warframe seems certain of their safety and the general surrender of them, would she advance properly into the compound. Mostly so she can hopefully find someone, or maybe even that guy that the Alchemical pitched in order to give him a continued bad day. ...alternative of this, she's pretty sure she can find /some/ hint of their leadership, given they never properly surfaced, knowing they probably weren't even here. That's definitely the best realization out of all of this, the figure moving silently but perhaps she'll snatch one up, capture style, so Staren can have both a body /and/ a live one and they can interrogate them if they don't give her what she needs.