keith keith, the liger man (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
secondnature) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
futurology2017-09-16 11:28 am
secondnature) wrote in futurology2017-09-16 11:28 am
text | un: redlion
[This message shows up about an hour after their arrival in the Mothership. Keith has had it made clear to him that if he doesn't handle this appropriately, then some of the people who have volunteered will take care of it themselves. If there's any better reason to step up (to be the leader his team back home believes he can be), this is it. It's text because they can't risk being overheard.]
Hey. Some of you don't know what the taraxa are, or what that has to do with our mission. I thought I'd begin there, and then make it clear what we're doing here with that.
A year ago, we had a mission on Perdition's Rest. That's when our team first learned about Zymandis and their goals. They utilize taraxa agents. These agents are slugs that take over someone's mind against their will. The person loses themselves, but ALASTAIR has developed a means to get most of them back. The problem is that they're a part of a hive mind led by the Mother. They can communicate with each other so long as she's active.
That should make our goal here clear.
1. We need to identify the location of the Mother and take her out. This is a necessary casualty to save as many of the hosts' lives as we can.
2. We need to identify taraxa agents. Kal and Rhys both have means to scan for taraxa-affected brains. Work with them if you need someone confirmed. Once they're confirmed and the Mother is down, we put them to sleep until we can rift them back to Oska. We'll need to find a safe place to gather the bodies.
3. Once the Mother is identified, we take her out, and then we head for the rest of the taraxa agents.
We need to work quickly.
And I KNOW some of you will think we're better off killing the hosts than risking Oska, but that's stupid. They never asked for this! Plus, we put down a Zymandis force before. We'll do it again. So don't even try it. I already remember all that from last year. Trust me. I've heard it all before.
So, let's do this the right way this time.
[It wouldn't be Keith without the little bit of abrasiveness at the end.]
Hey. Some of you don't know what the taraxa are, or what that has to do with our mission. I thought I'd begin there, and then make it clear what we're doing here with that.
A year ago, we had a mission on Perdition's Rest. That's when our team first learned about Zymandis and their goals. They utilize taraxa agents. These agents are slugs that take over someone's mind against their will. The person loses themselves, but ALASTAIR has developed a means to get most of them back. The problem is that they're a part of a hive mind led by the Mother. They can communicate with each other so long as she's active.
That should make our goal here clear.
1. We need to identify the location of the Mother and take her out. This is a necessary casualty to save as many of the hosts' lives as we can.
2. We need to identify taraxa agents. Kal and Rhys both have means to scan for taraxa-affected brains. Work with them if you need someone confirmed. Once they're confirmed and the Mother is down, we put them to sleep until we can rift them back to Oska. We'll need to find a safe place to gather the bodies.
3. Once the Mother is identified, we take her out, and then we head for the rest of the taraxa agents.
We need to work quickly.
And I KNOW some of you will think we're better off killing the hosts than risking Oska, but that's stupid. They never asked for this! Plus, we put down a Zymandis force before. We'll do it again. So don't even try it. I already remember all that from last year. Trust me. I've heard it all before.
So, let's do this the right way this time.
[It wouldn't be Keith without the little bit of abrasiveness at the end.]
no subject
Labs come equipped with safety measures. Masks, hoods. Even have one of our own who is immune set it off.
[ he recommends clark. ]
Gas also typically disperses quickly so, depending, we'd only need to wait a while before the affected space is safe to move around in freely again.
no subject
[Keith would just prefer to keep out of the paladin gear until necessary.]
Do you think we should angle on rounding them up into a place, or find them separately? One is more effective. I know that. But it might be harder to pull off.
[The rounding up is harder, in his opinion.]
no subject
[ a little pause. ]
The first time, did the other taraxa converge on the Mother when she felt threatened?
no subject
No one managed to find her. She got away.
no subject
If she is located, she can be used to draw the hive to a given point. Of course, she could not be allowed to guess at our purpose. But she might be our best bet at being able to round them all up.
[ and she could be knocked out with the rest, kept under heavier sedation to ensure she cannot organize, be the first host whose parasite is removed. ]
no subject
[In terms of keeping her alive, Keith hasn't figured out that some people are reluctant to kill her.]
no subject
It's much easier to wrangle enough supplies to keep one under for several hours.
no subject
It's not a bad idea, but I'm worried that they might still be able to connect even if she's out.
We might need to make sure they can't right away. Some ... test.
no subject
[ see: "necessary" is extremely debatable, etc. ]
We can figure something out. The hard part will be in the finding her. It'll all be for nothing unless we locate her first.
no subject
What if they keep it all on file?
[It can't be that simple, but it's worth a shot.]
no subject
[ aka it is a distinct possibility and one worth checking. ]
no subject
Are those odds high or low?
[Keith doesn't really think about other people's passwords.]
no subject
no subject
Keith is now figuring out passwords. +1 to learning stats. Or whatever.]
Got it.
Let us know what you find.