video; un: urahara | we must have died alone a long, long time ago...

[predomination]

[are we all ready to start roughing things up? springing into action for revenge, information, SCIENCE™, or otherwise?

well hold your horses, because Urahara has something to say.]

Evening, everyone~

I know we're all ready to start taking this seriously- or more seriously, in some cases- but before anyone sets out, I have one bit of information to share that might bring some clarity on how much of a mess we're really in.

[he holds up his holodisc fragments- all three of them] Jin-san and his magitek-stealing friend gave us the opportunity to share what we've found on all these scattered pieces, so I won't waste anyone's time by rehashing what's already been said and debated over. The thing is.. This one's complete now, and I believe it speaks for itself.

[and he plays it, snapping his fan open as the audio crackling to life:]

Findings indicate a temporal crystal deep within the planet's core, that when pierced will bring about the certain destruction of this section of the Timeline. For the sake of the continued existence of all life in this timeline, ALASTAIR must keep the core of this planet from being breached.
 

[it ends and Urahara makes a sound of mock-disapproval] Well, that doesn't sound good, now does it? [he snaps his fan closed for dramatic effect. because he's dramatic.] Now some of these fragments- one of mine, included- specifically mentioned a group known as Zymandis, who were dropped in both the Taraxa file and the transcript with Lloyd-san. So we can only assume, given what we know from back then and what we know now, that all of this seems to be Zymandis finishing whatever it started years before- specifically, destruction of this part of the Timeline by using the Qorral's equipment and knowledge to their advantage.

So my question is this... [and his voice drops an octave] Did anyone know of Zymandis before we arrived here? I'm curious if there's more to the story, and exactly how much and what we should be asking our Taraxa friends once we find them.

Comments

text | un: Sasaki

[ex_adept136]

That's... I have to agree, that's a serious problem.

Which could go without saying, but no, that's some terrible news right there.

And least now they know what the enemy wants, even if they don't know why]

I'm afraid I know no more than you do. You'd think if ALASTAIR had a standing enemy whose objectives directly opposed its own, they'd give us a little heads-up.

[Though for reasons they've discussed, he can't be entirely surprised]

[predomination]

It's a bit more of a disaster than previously thought.

[hes not surprised. Irked beyond belief because this just added even more complications and variables to an already complicated problem.]

I can think of a few reasons why they would feel more comfortable keeping it a secret. They might have had reasons to believe the threat was eliminated or maybe they didn't think they could trust us.

[the circle of trust goes two ways after all. And more importantly, and this is the option he believes most of all, they probably suspected no one would agree if they knew being an agent of ALASTAIR would paint a target on their back.

He knows this because he would do the same thing.]

[ex_adept136]

[He takes pause to shift to voice communication. It needs little more than a thought, although he still finds that strange]

Considering the lack of informed consent in our recruitment, not trusting us wouldn't be surprising. It'd be unfortunate, given the circumstances, but not surprising.

[Naturally they've spoken on this subject before, though not with this information at hand. It means there are certain things he needn't restate, and shouldn't on this open network besides]

Though now we're left to determine what we do with this.

AUDIO. UN: LOKI

[selfimage]

There's always more to the story; speaking as someone who's been here for the last five missions, Zymandis has never been mentioned. Not once. [ his voice comes out smooth, easy. ] Though I'm sure that ALASTAIR, being a force throughout the timeline itself, doesn't have it's share of enemies.

Where something's trying to preserve, there's always something trying to destroy.

[predomination]

[its a weirdly casual tone party and everyone's invited... To wonder what these jerks have to be casual about.]

That's a relief! I was worried I missed something in the briefing.

[he was worried about no such thing. He knew and he was deeply frustrated by this lack of knowledge. He does so hate flying blind.]

Having enemies doesn't surprise me. It's the lack of any official statement that bothers me.

[selfimage]

Ah? Does it? [ there's a moment where he sounds a little unsurprised on the verge of disinterest. ] While ALASTAIR certainly has its secrets, I have no reason to doubt their sincerity. I'd not call it an oversight as much as an act of omission, bu-ut ...

[ hm, how to put this? ]

Desperate times, desperate measures, I suppose.

I'm certainly not against finding our for ourselves.

video; un: kazbrekker

[steler]

I'm almost more interested in what ALASTAIR has to say about them than whatever the Taraxa do. The Taraxa are likely just pawns, they may not have been told enough to even be able o answer those kinds of questions.

[predomination]

Given how little Lloyd-san said in the transcript about them, it doesn't seem to be a topic they're inclined to go into details about right now.

[steler]

That's my point exactly.

[kaz already got screwed over by one employer in recent memory. fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...]

Either the information is too dangerous, or they think we're too stupid to handle it.

audio;

[pummelling]

[there's a stunned, almost breathless silence.]

Elder gods.

[He and Urahara had certainly been on the right track with Zymandis' relevance... but...]

Guess this is going deeper than we thought. Literally.

[predomination]

I should hope not. [in the most teasing, playful tone THAT DOES NOT BELONG IN A CONVERSATION ABOUT IMMINENT TIMELINE DEATH] Especially since everyone who was in Nalawi is still a little touchy about gods.

[that moment of levity and being a giant idiot passed...] It was quite a clever ruse. If Keith-san and Rey-san hadn't discovered the information that they did, we might have missed the connection entirely.

[and boy doesn't that just get his dander up.]

[pummelling]

[HE'S NOT EVEN GOING TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT G O D S URAHARA]

Which is exactly what Zymandis was hoping for. Which also means that your earlier theory... was right on the money.

[the plot thickens!!!!!]

What've they got to gain out of destroying the Timeline? All I can think of is some insane 'rebuild the universe from the ashes of destruction' crap. Obviously, that's something to avoid.

video; un: MANDROID

[friendlykillingmachine]

Aha! I figured there'd be something other than argecite at the core of this planet.

Now that we know what's going on, now is the time to start deciding what to do. As a team.

[predomination]

Correct. I don't think most of our original plans should have to change much- if anything, things should go a lot more smoothly now.

[friendlykillingmachine]

Right! But there's still this matter of the mines and how to shut them down. It seems like everyone has their own opinion about the 'right' way of doing it.

audio; un: cardmaster

[fateality]

All right, so not only are we bumpin' into the Taraxa, which ALASTAIR definitely knows about, bute also a new name -- these Zymandis folks -- on a planet in which ALASTAIR has been to before.

What a grand ol' messy time. Somebody might want to nudge ALASTAIR for a few answers, maybe. Not like the Deemers or Taraxa or whatever they actually are would be too inclined to answer a few questions, I figure.

[predomination]

I think the problem is that Lloyd-san didn't seem too inclined to elaborate much on what he knows about Zymandis, but it could be as simple as he didn't know they were still an active threat. [among other ideas.] These are old records after all... But they do paint a picture of what probably happened.

[ALLOW HIM TO ELABORATE] So ALASTAIR came to this planet and given the remaining fragments we haven't pieced together, we can probably assume it was to investigate the crystal within the core of the planet. Once they knew how dangerous it was, they pulled back their investigation and abandoned the project entirely. Through all of this, Zymandis was a looming threat.

Much, much later, Zymandis sees an opportunity in Qorral colonizing and mining this planet and using defected Taraxa agents are able to create the "Deemers" to hide in plain sight. It's even likely that they're responsible for the destruction of the ALASTAIR records so no one could draw any connection between Zymandis's goals and the Deemers' goals.

There's missing pieces, course, but it all makes sense.

[fateality]

Inclined to not answer doesn't mean incapable, if someone wants to know that badly. Most people can be convinced of anything. Not volunteering myself, just sayin' if it's so important, possibility is there.

Yeah, that's what it's all soundin' like. [Sighs. This is all part of one big unraveling plot, undoubtedly, and there is a part of him that's curious.

But ultimately, he'd rather just wash his hands of it.]

Well, let's focus on the baby steps. That means gettin' the Qorral to stop what they're up to, and doin' whatever with these Deemers. Either way, mission's gonna need to be finished off before we get much of anything in the way of answers.

audio; un: fiona

[cachemoney]

[She's busy, so she doesn't say anything; just interjects with her own holodisc fragments:]

--has been an update on the status of Zymandis activity in this quadrant. Due to lowered activity, continued monitoring is no longer cost-effective. We recommend pulling out--

@shirogane | audio

[racking]

Assuming we can get our Taraxa friends to talk. They didn't seem particularly forthcoming.

[ though that being said— ]

If they aren't working with Zymandis by choice, that could be why.

[predomination]

That would make things simpler if they are- if Zymandis threatened them into compliance, then liberating them might even make them more compelled to cooperate and abandon their hosts without much persuasion or violence.

[HOWEVER] It's hard to believe it would ever be that simple, after all this.

video; un: G.SLQHV

[twinpeak]

... Yikes. That sure explains a lot.

[ Under every insane idea is a sinister plan, huh. Dipper wouldn't have imagined there was anyone working against ALASTAIR's goals... Perhaps he should have known better. ]

But—no, I'm pretty sure there's never been any mention of Zymandis to our team. It'd be hard to forget hearing about that kind of group.

[predomination]

I wish I could say it's difficult to imagine they exist at all, but I know better. Some people have a very complicated relationship with how things are and should be for the benefit of the universe. They call it complacency when it's just order.

[THANK YOU, AIZEN.

STILL DONE WITH YOUR SHIT.]

video; @daria

[conqueress]

The Taraxa must needs be put to the question. [ The Mother, ideally. ] We must learn of Zymandis' size. How many bases are believed to span the multiverse? How many races do they employ? Which races? It may be these Taraxa are no more than galactic sellswords, offered something they desire and caring little for the objective. To that end, what do they desire? Someone must learn that.

I am only a young girl and know little of monitoring, [ the strange word is said sweetly, ] but it seems to me we will learn little and less of Zymandis in its present form otherwise. [ From Fiona's fragment, Dany suspects ALASTAIR, or at least the rung as high up as Lloyd, knows nothing of present-day Zymandis. ] Still, whatever quarrel we might find with a new enemy cannot be waged and won now. I would see the mining halted.

[predomination]

[if she's just a young girl, then his hat's a radish. ]

It's all of a piece, isn't it? [he sighs in a mock-tragic way.] They're going to keep trying to kill us if we try to halt the mining, but I think we've split our efforts enough that nothing is going to go ignored.

But the finer details of Zymandis will probably have to wait until we get back, unless the Taraxa will talk.