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.]
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Try to find out if they look like the Qorral. If the taraxans have new bodies, then she'll likely have one, as well.
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I'll make a note of the appearance of any Taxara-infested individuals I'm able to identify. Although it may be worth bearing in mind that some of their number may not have been amongst those we encountered in Perdition's Rest. It depends, I suppose, on whether they're able to function at great distances from the Mother.
I'm assuming that, should I locate her first, it would be best to call it in and organise ourselves before simply taking her out?
[He's trying here, to make this a team effort rather than going ahead and doing things his own way. It's something.]
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Definitely put in a call.
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[Or you know, do his very best to restrain himself. But he has some extra help, at least, this time.]
And I'm aware. But has anyone come up with a sure-fire suggestion for saving that particular host? I'm not strictly against it. Only dubious as to such a plan's efficacy.
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I'm gonna put in a call to Lloyd. See what he says about it.
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If we're unable to determine a relatively safe way to save the Mother's host, however, we'll need to carry on as planned. Believe it or not, I'd prefer to avoid falling back on the last resort. But nor am I willing to leave the hosts to suffer their current fate.
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