Weird occurrences happen to the crews in the science station and in the ships attached to it, creating unexpected obstacles to the carefully orchestrated hostile operation. The ships seem all "broken": corridors and rooms are connected in different ways than before; some passages simply end up in open space, although the crew can pass by them and land on random spots around their ship, and even in the other two ships. Some corridors seem to be stretched out for miles, and anyone who tries to go through also have their bodies deformed. As the crew shuffles to map the new geometry of their surroundings, it becomes clear that time is also affected: as one leaves and then returns to a room, he is baffled to see the immediate past version of himself there, just before he left, reprising all movements. Others see themselves already carrying out the tasks they were just about to start. Some rooms are completely frozen, while others move fast-foward or in reverse.
The difference in time frames make all computers go haywire, as commands and systems are out of sync. The invaders find that although they have no trouble cracking the facility's firewalls, but operations that should be instantaneous might take a couple of minutes, or even a few hours to complete. This also means that the fact the doors were melded shut doesn't mean much within this distortion, as the station's security might as well show up out of thin air --which is exactly what happens in the power room. A smoke grenade suddenly pops up there, filling it with an irritating agent. Immediately after, three guards in helmets and full orange jumpsuits fall straight from the ceiling and proceed to perfectly dodge reaction fire, as if they had seen the action beforehand (which, perhaps, they did). That pirates are pinned down, as they realise the lab crew already have a map to how, exactly, the station was folded within this anomaly, space and time-wise: this is not their first rodeo.
Despite the intervention of the station's security, the hostile team in the operations room succeeds to turn off the reactor, but power is still on: it's coming from either the past or the future, but still feeding all systems, although intermitently.
In the main lab, doctors Spin and Fermi are confused: they know where to check the system logs to assess what will happen when they collapse the anomaly back into normal spacetime, but, for "now", it seems that that will never happen. They gasp at the perspective that the station will still be folded in 10-dimensional space 10.000 years in the future of their current perspective, the remains of both the lab's crew and the pirates deteriorating slowly all around. Some kind of energy field on the Leptis star system is preventing them from returning. Of course, that is not the only way the future will unfold, it's just how probability wave functions are collapsing "now". As soon as whatever is interferring with the anomaly is put down, they might be able to return. Whenever that is.
Back on Leptis II, Tarius Black waits anxiously for news from the alien team dispatched to the science station. He feels reliefed that the shareholders are meeting with other strangers that approached the system, both because they finally got in the loop of the current events, and because the Consensus might come out of it with an expanded set of new allies, possibly reducing the menace of total takeover presented by that unsettling (but fascinating) visitor.
Fort_Master_Gustav
Your delegates are met by an unnecessarily large entourage of junior executives, assistants, secretaries and all kinds of clerks and servants. A bizarre fanfare starts playing on speakers as soon as the visitors disembark to see red carpets, a long line of flags with all kinds of corporate logos and a lush snacks table set up at the entrance to the luxurious building ahead, apparently a five star hotel. "Welcome, friends! Welcome, and please, enjoy your stay at our humble little planet", says the PR agent who escorts you to the shareholders who wait inside, ready to start a meeting.
"We are the shareholders of the Corporate Consensus", says a woman inside, dressed in a red suit of flowy fabric, adorned by intricate jewerly. She's accompanied by at least 200 other fancy suits. "I am Wanda Tabrit, founder of Quartz-o Tech LLC. The Consensus' CEO, Tarius Black, is busy at the moment, but I assure you you are meeting the top authorities of Leptis II, both political and economic. We are eager to negotiate military and economic agreements with our new friends, as well as answer to all questions you might have about our... troubles with the miners at Leptis III. Please, come in, make yourselves comfortable, and let's talk".
Those who preferred not to sent delegates are given the option to follow and interact with the meeting through comm systems.
KrankysFirebrand48 Romando07
General Anvil Kai is exhausted. The attack on the habitats got everyone on red alert, mobilizing personnel on all 2.088 modules to make repairs, care for the wounded and securing the space around the mining station to the best of their possibilities. The second wave of attack was even more damaging than the first: hollow asteroids filled with antibattery guns managed to hit the missiles shot at the habitats, but the shrapnel and plasma bursts hit hard habitats 13, 60, 72, and 88 to 102. Things seem quiet since the hostiles disappeared and the misterious energy field around the system was erected. It's time to attend to the prisoner, in an attempt to (finally) get a grip on what is going on.
The general stands just outside the stranger's cell. He remains in silence for the first couple of minutes, trying to make sense of what is going on in the room --it's clear that the woman has the power to get out at any moment, and is there merely by choice. Facing something far beyond his understanding and agency, the general knows to be careful.
"Ok. I realise you're submitting to this on your own free will, and for that I thank you. I apologise for trying to lock you here, but you must understand the situation was urgent and complex. I need some answers, by the best of your capacity", he says, hoping the entity in his presence will remain collaborative.
"First things first: who are you? on behalf of what government you seek us? Are your intentions friendly?"
"You approached us saying you had insights about our situation. What are those?"
"Do you know who attacked us, and why?"
"The energy field around our system. Is it your doing? If so, why did you do it? What is it?"
The general eagerly awaits for answers to all those questions.
Dumb
"Captain, I... I apologise for my reaction earlier", says Drill, already on the bridge, after begrudgely being carried there by a marine. "When I told you before that we all were fighters during the revolution, that was not exactly true. I was not. I was an administrator. I was on the side of the revolution, of course, but my weapon was internal sabotage. Slowing down the efforts of the Consensus in any ways I could... In short, I'm a pacifist, or a coward, whatever you find more fitting", he says, still in shock after the recent happenings, but happy to get this out of his chest.
As soon as your ships reenter the system, you notice the battle is over after causing considerable damage to the miner's habitats and many new ships of familiar factions from across the galaxy are around. An energy shield is erected around Leptis, seemingly preventing more armadas from coming in for the moment. Communications are restablished with the Free Miners Union, and Chief Hammer Dazh is calling all involved parties for a briefing meeting to discuss the recent events. "Let's go, friend. I shall give good word on you for mobilizing such an impressive armada to come in our aid. It seems that I was wrong: we do need all possible efforts to ensure our safety", Drill says.
ONI
Chief Hammer and his entire cabinet are gathered in the main conference hall on Habitat-1 to present the status report after the attacks and begin conversations with all parties who got involved in their ongoing conflict with the Corporate Consensus. All factions were invited to attend, and those who preferred not to send emissaries are free to follow the meeting remotely and address the participants through the gigantic viewscreen hanging above the round metal table that hovers above the middle of the room. After a lenghty recounting of the recent happenings, Hammer addresses the present factions.
"Well, it seems clear to us by now that the aggression we suffered from an unknown party earlier today was provoked by the Corporate Consensus. I believe our first question to you would be: do you recognize the ships responsible? Are you familiar with whoever caused so many casualties, not to mention the misterious disappearance of our most important scientific facility? Are they mercenaries of some sort? Pirates?"
"Also urgent, is understanding what is this strange phenomenon our sensors detected around the system. What is this energy field? Are we locked in? Do you know anything of it?"
"And, of course, there's also some need for introductions. Are you all familiar with one another? We are unaware of any past history you might share in common, and apologise in advance if our gathering here may have brought together factions that may not be on their best terms."
"We are open for all kinds of negotiations, although, quite obviously, our main interest at this moment is addressing the unwanted escalation of our conflict with the Corporate Consensus. We assure you we are peaceful people, but if it's time we defend ourselves once again against tyranny and oppression, we'll search all means to do so. All assistance to our righteous struggle for independence is welcome, and will be rewarded within the best of our capabilities."
kola2134 Manoel15 KrankysFirebrand48 @ONI
