Participants:
| Scene Title | Gathering Forces |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Lynette taps Endgame for some help with their Hell(er)ish situation. |
| Date | December 7, 2011 |
On the Radio
Thanks to Noa, her power and her generosity, Lynette is able to tap her connection to Ygraine despite the island being otherwise cut off from the outside world. But, developments have come up, and whatever the rest of the Council thinks, she knows they need backup. Or, she would feel better with backup on the outside. So it is that the radio crackles to life and Lynette’s voice comes over.
“Hopefully this is the right number,” she says, cheekily and with little regard for proper radio etiquette. “Ygraine,” is called in a sing-song voice. A jovial tone to cover what is certainly worry on the part of the Ferrywoman. “I’ll start yelling, if I have to. It wouldn’t be very kind to our girl here, though.”
For good or ill, Ygraine hasn’t exactly spent her time in Kabetogama sitting by the radio awaiting contact from Noa. But once the call came in, she scrambled to answer - and a slightly breathless smile can readily be heard in her voice.
“Yes, it’s Ygraine. It’s good to hear from you! And I’m glad I got this working all right. I’ve never bought a radio before. Fortunately, it came with an instruction manual, and there’re others here who could help me figure it out…. But what can I do for you? Are you just checking in?”
“I have an update,” Lynette says, instead of something like hello, but perhaps she’ll be forgiven, “and a favor to ask.” The preamble is followed by a stretch of silence while she works out how to begin. Or when to begin. It speaks to how complicated things have gotten, that she does not speak.
But she gets around to it, after clearing her throat. “Heller’s taken up position around the island. Not just him, obviously. We’re behind a forcefield, but…” Complications galore. “How willing is your team to come up against the US Military?” They’re going to have to leave the island eventually. And it isn’t likely that Heller will get bored and go home anytime soon.
“That….” Ygraine pauses in turn. “That’s not, oddly enough, something I’ve directly asked them.” The British accent comes through praticularly clearly, with the dryness of her tone. “But at the least, that section of the military is likely to be considered a viable target. But we’d certainly want all the intelligence you can share. We’re… low on numbers and equipment. No special forces troopers in powered armour any more, I’m afraid. And we’ve still got wounded. But at minimum, I’d expect to be able to provide a couple of people to help with observation and a distraction. Maybe more, in numbers and options.”
“Well, now would be a good time to pose it to them,” Lynette says, with a smirk. She can’t see the smirk, of course, but it’s definitely there. “I’ll see what intelligence we can gather. But we’re… up against a wall, as it were.” She is really trying not to get too maudlin, one might assume because she’s not alone and she doesn’t want to frighten anyone too much. “But we’ll need to leave here. It would be great to have someone running distraction. Or even just there to help us with wounded. Or to provide a getaway car.” Or several. “Not if it’ll be too much for your people. But if you’re able.”
“Even if it were just me, I’d want to help,” Ygraine says - enough of an idealist to offer that answer without either hesitation or reservation. “Just… be aware that we’re not going to be able to break the impasse, unless we get the kind of opportunity you can’t really plan for. At least not at this range. Do…. are you under pressure? Should we be hurrying? We’re a long way away, so can’t get there immediately, no matter how hard we try. But… should we be aiming to be there as soon as possible? In a week? Longer?”
“I appreciate that, Ygraine, but I’m not sure throwing yourself on this particular grenade would help. A team to harass, though, that would be something.” Lynette’s gratefulness comes through, even through her wry tones. “We’ve got firepower in here, but I’m just not sure it’s enough if every bullet he has is pointed right at us.” The questions get a pause. Lynette chooses her words carefully when she answers. “It’s a stalemate at the moment. As long as we have this dome up, he can’t reach us. However. Our supplies are not infinite. And we have a traitor.” So hurrying would be good, probably. “We’re attempting to find them, so hopefully we’ll have that in hand soon.” The but isn’t spoken, but it hangs there all the same.
“A traitor? Shit. And… dome? Seriously?” Ygraine manages a weak laugh. “That brings back a few unpleasant memories, personally. Ummm. Still. If it’s the same sort of thing as I saw from the inside earlier this year, it’s pretty damn impressive. But… this traitor - how do you know you have one? Or is that not something to ask from outside?”
“Same dome, actually,” Lynette says with a chuckle. She wasn’t stuck inside last time, but Ryans was and she recalls that it wasn’t the most fun he ever had. “And it is impressive. The man in charge of it… well, less so.” Impressive, that is. A sigh comes over the radio, which really just speaks of how sharply this woman can sigh. “The first hint was that Heller knew right where to ambush us at the Arcology. He was waiting. He knew we’d be there. But more recently, our… protector was murdered. Smothered. Thus, the army. And the dkome. They’re here, whoever they are, unless they were very sneaky.”
“…shit,” is Ygraine’s considered opinion. After delivering it, she remains silent for a few moments, her lower lip receiving a good chewing. “Mmmm. I’d offer you a run-down of what I learned about the Dome while testing and observing it… but you probably know more than me. The most basic thing is that you shouldn’t run out of air. But… yeah. At least things should hold together in there a lot better than they did in my experience of it. I got to experience a whole bunch of ‘firsts’ while in there: starvation, diving in and out of a firebombed building to rescue trapped people, trying to talk down a mob, getting shot, having someone seize my being in prison as a great chance to take my girlfriend from me…. But at least I could hope that it coming down’d be an end to most of the shit. Being able to see Heller waiting for you: that must be horrible. So, yeah. We’ll definitely do what we can. I’ll see who I can round up to help you. We’ll be limited in how many vehicles we can provide by the small number of drivers… but we’ve got the money to have some extra rentals waiting for us, and ferry people to those, perhaps. Hrmmm. We should be able to provide some options for whenever you manage to get people out of there and past the lines.”
“Luckily, we would only have a small mob,” Lynette notes, as it isn’t an impossibility. People trapped. People scared. “Hopefully our stay under the dome is a little less eventful. I don’t even have a girlfriend for anyone to take. Perhaps there’s time for me to find one, though.” It’s a tease, just a playful one. It’s the next note that sobers her voice. “Yes. He likes to remind us that he’s there waiting. Him and a hundred of his closest friends.” Or however many. “We can provide drivers, if there are vehicles for them. There will probably be plenty of volunteers itching to get behind the wheel by the time we’re moving.”
Ygraine blinks at the radio, letting slip a surprised little laugh in response to the teasing… but her mood thereafter swiftly returns to attentive solemnity. “Mmmm. We’ll need to think about logistics - not least how to get hold of a batch of vehicles without using any ID, if we can manage it. But… if you can get us some estimates for numbers, it’d help. I’m wondering about using mobile home- err, RVs, maybe. Something we could cram quite a lot of people into, for at least a shortish trip. Out here, things are quiet enough most people are able to pretend the world’s still pretty normal, so we should be able to use a few ‘normal world’ options. But numbers’d certainly help with the planning.”
“Alright. I’ll work on getting some intel. My girl will pass it to your girl,” she says wryly. Noa and Alia, likely. “If the situation changes, I’ll let you know. If I have the chance.” That is an important if. “Thanks for this, Ygraine. I know it would be a lot easier to sit this one out and look after your people.” And just when she starts to get too serious for her own liking, she slips in one last favor. “When you come, bring some decent coffee with you. No one here’s seen one in months. Or had any to drink, either.” There’s some shuffling on her end there, muffled voices and clomping footfalls. “Looks like my turn is up. I’ll be in touch.”
“Please do! Any updates you can provide’ll be welcome. And take care of yourself. You need to be around to drink the coffee!” Ygraine has to bite off the urge to spill more words into the microphone, instead sitting back and waiting for the connection to terminate.
Then, the worrying can really start. Along with efforts to round up the rump of Endgame for one last hurrah.