Daniel looks over his shoulder as Fossil shows up, scratching his jaw as he recalls the plan.

"No big changes come to mind. Meeting the new blood gave me some ideas on how to turn up the heat on them, though."

He starts counting off with his fingers.

"Kumiho is motivated and ready to sacrifice herself if necessary; she should be frustrated, knocked away or forced to something inglorious like abandoning the fight to transport a wounded comrade or carry a message. Mountain needs to face the despair of a truly overwhelming opponent, forcing him to flee, get clever or watch as everything crumbles around him. Adam must conversely be driven to take a stand, even if it's not the smart thing to do. And Mercy... Well, I still think she needs to learn she can't choose to not be a warrior, but I'll settle for having her have to rescue someone or something from my grasp."

"Nah, force her to fight.  Hopefully after crushing one of the others,"  Fossil says, "Lord knows we've all been in THAT position... the rest are pretty on point.  Though I think you're not giving Adam enough credit in that department, he's pretty sober-minded and balanced.  If he was an Exalt I'd have him pegged at reaching your level in a few years just by sheer competence.  So maybe teach him some imbalance."

Fossil snaps his fingers,

"Ah, right.  Core was reporting the VR simulators are running at top efficiency, as in, 110%, and is wondering what the hell you just did."

"Very well. You're the one who was thinking of baby steps with Mouse, mind."

He rolls a shoulder.

"I don't think I'm giving Adam too little credit. Hell, after Kumiho I have him pegged for the most promising of the bunch. I'm just thinking his transformation from prodigal son wanderer is fairly recent and could use some reinforcement. Y'know, have him embrace his chosen path further by forcing him to stick to it despite it not being the sober-minded and balanced thing to do in the situation. Like you said, imbalance."

As the news of the simulators' newfound efficiency comes forward, Daniel is momentarily confused but quickly catches on and gains a smirk.

"Ah. I just had a talk with a little god running the simulators and put a benediction on them."

"I was, but, maybe my gut is saying otherwise here."  He admits with a shrug.  "It's a really good thing you came here, though.  I think it's important what we're doing today.  Imagine if you'd- ah, never mind."

"... Hmm, you what?"  Fossil laughs aloud, "Yes, it's a very good thing you came here.  You sure you don't want an apartment in the back of the Library?  I know for a fact you got Troubles knocking on your door a lot and with the Library up in front we can filter some of that stuff out for you in return."

"I definitely agree it's important what we're doing, for several reasons", Daniel agrees before tilting his head. "Imagine if I'd what?"

He seems to seriously consider Fossil's offer for a moment.

"Well, it's not a rotten idea. I'm not sure you know just how much Trouble having me would bring upon your doorstep, though. Not to mention I value my privacy. I'll have to think about it."

His glance sweeps over the corridor.

"Which pod am I going to be in?"

"From what I understand you didn't have this set up,"  Fossil explains, "Mentors.  Someone to learn from.  You and the other Exodites had to learn on the fly.  As far as I can tell, there's never been this amount of continuity for the Exalted, aside from the Dragon-Blooded gens."

He nods once,

"Well, if trouble comes, we have an entire library of warrior-scholars eager to kick the shit out of it.  C'mon.  Your pod's here,"  He starts directing him back towards one of the other rooms, "You get the C&C pod."

The Command and Control pod is quite bigger than the one Kumiho and the others moved in; whereas Kumiho had to be hooked up manually and lies back, his is more of a couch, letting him take a more comfortable position.  The giant data cable with the spike at the end, though, seems pretty ominous.

"We certainly didn't. We Exalted and acted in a very different world, conceptually even more so than physically. If there's something I can do to ease the new generations into this hellhole I really should. It's going to be a learning process for both sides, though."

He walks after Fossil as he leads the way.

"The kind of trouble you can kick the shit out of is precisely the one sort I'm not worried about."

He looks around the pod curiously, eyes eventually settling on the giant cable and spike.

"Well, that's quite Matrix-esque. Seeing I don't have a data port on the back of my head, where's that supposed to go?"

"Here's where I'm supposed to claim I've never seen the Matrix, but I'll admit I watched it a couple dozen times as a kid."  Fossil gestures to the couch, "The metal that makes up the spike is actually heat-sensitive, and a lot more flexible than it seems.  Look at it up close and you'll see it's actually made of a lot of fibers."

He opens up a cabinet by the pod and pulls out a helmet that looks awfully like something from X-Men.

"It'll go into a port back here," He shows Lucifer, "Which will in turn spread out to surround your brain waves.  The pod is older tech than the ones they're using but the big advantage is you can get in and out pretty easily while they can't.  It's perfect in case you need to take a break, get some planning done, bathroom, what have you."

Daniel tilts his head as Fossil digs up the helmet, letting out a faint 'Huh'.

"Well then. Nothing else for it now but dive in and traumatize the rookies, I suppose. I suppose it'll be a bit as you wind up the simulation so I can get acclimated. Does this have an observer mode or such, or should I just wait until it's time to make my appearance?"

He walks over to the couch-like station and takes a seat.

"You'll have a god's-eye view of the battlefield if you choose.  This is the one I usually use when I want to get up close and personal.  You should be able to piggyback on anyone you wish, or any of the virtual fighters.  If you want you can also speak with anyone or issue some limited orders before you're really prepared to OPFOR,"  Julius starts rigging up the helmet, placing it on Lucifer's head and turning some rather ominous screws.  "A little bit of disorientation if you follow the same person for too long is pretty common.  I recommend not spending more than five minutes per person, but I bet you could last a lot longer than that."

"Got it. I'll survey the scenario for a bit, lead the Dead fleet from afar and spy on the poor Exodites until it's time to make my entry. I suppose you'll be observing from somewhere as well?"

"I'll be GameMastering the system.  They'll be able to ask a certain variety of questions as if I were Command- though they kind of know better than to think I'll give them perfect information.  You'll be able to chat with me directly, though, and I *will* give you perfect information if you ask about it.  After all, our enemies always seem to have that..."

He finishes tightening the helmet.  It's a trifle uncomfortable, and that's obvious; he starts loosening a place here or there until it sits well.

"How do you feel?"

"Right. Perks of being connected to a bunch of Creation-spanning Void entities, I suppose."

He tilts his head left and right, getting a feel for the helmet.

"Feels like I suppose it should now. Ready to go when you are."

"Initializing in five, four..." He starts tapping buttons and suddenly it's all black.

There's a fleeting sort of sense that he's done something wrong.  Like his brainwaves have suddenly stopped.  Something dark, forever far away, laughs in triumph.  And then-

He's standing in a white void, stretching out to forever.

"three, two, one... you there?" Fossil's voice echoes in the void, "How do you feel now?  Fully integrated?"

There's an immediate reaction to the feeling in his Anima; an immediate jolt of angry Essence as a metaphysical reflex surges through and around him at the taunting presence. His body tenses in the pod, only barely avoiding cracking something in his grasp.

"...Something's fucky."

He brings his hand in front of him, checking if his appearance was already different as he balls the hand into a tight fist.

"I don't think that's what VR immersion should feel like. Disorientation and a sense of wrongness I would expect, but I felt... A presence. Dark, far away, mocking. What exactly is powering and running this system?"

"Core and WAL.  It's not uncommon the first time you jack in,"  Fossil says, "We think this happens a lot on the heavy circuits, it's a reason why Core can't ever leave his cradle.  The heavier computing stuff needs quantum computing, and most of the universe's mass belongs to the Neverborn now... Core spends quite a bit of time making sure we don't get compromised.  At least that's... kinda how he explained it to me.

We sometimes end up with people who can't handle it.  They get drummed out pretty quickly.  Exalts, however, are pretty safe."

”...Yeah, that’s not something I feel comfortable to leave uninspected. I’ll have to follow this up afterwards.”

It’s not that he thought ill of Michael - the man was no doubt doing his best for the Living, but unlike many others, Daniel was all too aware of the Infernal’s origins and limitations - despite his ascension, he was not the omniscient, infallible being so many of the Refuge looked up to him as. Lucifer was a pillar among the Living, but the Stark White Messiah was by far more of a priority target - a single point of failure. He was no doubt under fire on all fronts at all times, and few would be capable of noticing if so something did befall him.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t enough to abort the matter at hand just yet. He looked around, rolling on his heels and getting a feel of his virtual projection of a body.

”Anyway, nothing else for it now. Are the Exodites all here?”

"Sure thing.  We've got a lot of people on it.  The upside is, Core has assured me that if he's ever compromised it'd be painless."  The joke is there but it's not particularly funny.

But he can feel at home in the VR.  He's already pretty much OK with the avatar, moving just as if it was his normal body, at the speed of thought.

"They're all in and getting their briefing.  In the meantime you wanna punch up and customize your avatar while you still got the free chance?"

"I mean, the name's Abaddon, Angel of the Void. Theming should be easy."

He looks for a reflective surface, thoughts molding his visage into a vantablack menace in sleek, angular power armor. No face as of yet, just a visor for the void to return any gaze.

"Not the most focused on appearances, though. Let's see what we're working with."

The feed cuts to the Kilroy, floating in space and chugging along the orbit of a gas giant.  The ramscoops slice portions of the rings and outer troposphere of the gas giant, forcing it into large tanks for later use by the Living Fleet.

Then comes the Bataan frigate with a small fighter escort and a half-dozen bombers.  This is all preprogrammed, the show playing out for the benefit of the newbies; after all, they're not guarding the wildcat miner, as it's operating without Fleet permission.  The Kilroy puts up a token fight as it sends out the alarm.  The timer begins in the corner of Lucifer's vision:  -1:00.

At 0:00, the relief force jumps in.  The newbies are brought along by the carrier-cruiser Anaconda and quickly take off.  Mountain is in a bomber, Smith in a fighter, Kumiho in an interceptor and Mercy in a small support vessel.  They're supported by a half-dozen simulated Mortal pilots in fightercraft.

"Alright, rescue op,"  Smith reports over the comms, "Pretty standard, Kumiho take care of the Kilroy with the fighters, I'll cover Mountain as he goes to take out the enemy frigate."

"Yeah this is a bit too basic of an op..."

"The root of survival is good fundamentals."  Mountain counters her.

Daniel - or Abaddon, as it were - zooms closer to the Anaconda and each Exodite ship deploying from it in turn.

Kumiho was right, of course - the first complication would be finding out the Kilroy had been boarded. And then there was the Dead reinforcements on the way; another timer likely starting off right about... now.

As the Exodites organize and set off, he takes a brief look inside the Kilroy. Bullshit as the Abyssals were wont to be, he could decide whether to spawn outside or inside the ship when it became apparent which way the scenario was going to go.

"Time to reveal the first twist. Hit them with a transmission from inside the Kilroy. Screaming, horrible carnage, the works."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:26, Tue 07 Jan 2020.

The Kilroy is like most transports:  a spacious bridge, a big living area, a long hallway that connects to whatever module is used to transport (be it a water tank, ore storage, or further living quarters), and then a weapons room and an engine.  It's very linear, simple.  In the Kilroy's case the vast majority of the storage space is set up for exotic gas transportation, so there's not too many places to hide from a pissed-off Abyssal.

The space combat begins in earnest, but there's not much the Abyssal forces can do against a full suite of Exalted fighters.  In the time it takes for him to investigate the Kilroy, they've already eviscerated half of the Abyssal combat group.

That's when the screaming starts.

"Oh no..." Mercy moans out loud.

"It's coming from the Kilroy!"  Mountain starts slewing his ship over.

"Stay on target, Mountain,"  Adam shoots off a Tripoli trying to engage the Solar, "Kumiho, you're closest, sitrep!"

"Nothing got close!  I shot everything down before it could even get within a few clicks!"


"I need to splash that Bataan... Adam, you take the others and board the Kilroy!  LEt the mortals fend off the ghost forces!"

The three start powering for the Kilroy.  Just boarding will be an issue; they'd have to dock with Mercy's ship, who would then need to dock with the Kilroy just for them to enter.

Abaddon bides his time; it remained to be seen whether he should enter the scene during this act yet, and whether he should do so on or in the Kilroy.

Of particular interest will be their method of entry. It wasn't an easy task, boarding a ship quickly in these circumstances without blowing a hole in it, knowing the crew was getting decimated all the while. The other potential point of failure was leaving Mountain - supposedly among the weaker pilots in the group - alone to handle space combat with the mortals.

"Bog Mountain down with Tripoli but concentrate firepower on the mortals - he is likely too tough to be more than inconvenienced by Tripoli weapons. Have the Bataan fire at the Kilroy. Maximize mortal casualties."

"Yes, master,"  The hollow voices of simulated ghosts darkly chuckle through the comms to him. The Bataan's shots already begin landing on the Kilroy, adding some minor holes to thinner sections of the hull.

"Powering through, they're hitting the other pilots!" Mountain announces as he blasts his way through the fighters, "Bataan is targeting the Kilroy- getting in the way!"  Mountain and his bomber are durable enough to take the hits from both, but not while also maintaining any kind of fire on the Bataan.  He manages some potshots but nothing particularly effective; in a game of attrition he may very well win, but not without serious damage to himself and others.  Focusing on the Bataan takes it out, but the Kilroy would take just as much hurt.

"Alright, Mercy, void gap jump, like we practiced."  Adam tries to sound calm, "Blast hole in the tanks.  They're separately pressurized, and shouldn't be anyone in there, and I'm pretty sure there's an access airlock inside for maintenance.  Should protect us during boarding procedures!"

"Uhhhhh!"  Mercy brings her shuttle over, a pair of heavy-duty missile launchers protruding from the bottom.  "Won't it explode the whole ship?!"

"I'm already seeing some holes in it from the Bataan, can't be worse than what'll happen!"

Mercy presses her button.  A pair of missiles, too slow to do anything other than a point-blank shot on a stationary target, lob out and blow a hole into the side of the pressurized tank.  Her shuttle strains as the remainder of the stored gas streams out; Kumiho strafes the rest, blowing a hole big enough for Mercy's ship to enter.

They were boarding in force. Perhaps too much so; leaving only Mountain and the mortals to handle space combat outside spelled dire odds for clearing the Dead presence before reinforcements arrived. Perhaps the transmission clouded their judgment? Not that he could blame them for it.

Mountain would definitely out-tank the Bataan in time, but unless he whipped out some serious offensive ability as well it seemed likely the Dead reinforcements would be here before the area was clear. That would mean Abaddon making his entrance within the Kilroy already.

But not yet. There was still time for unexpected developments without his direct involvement.

"The Exalted are boarding. Offer resistance in the back to buy time for the massacre of the remaining mortals inside. Destructively jam all available doors so they'll have to break them open. See if you can explode any of the remaining gas tanks when they're boarding or boarded. Sabotage everything. Maximize chaos. Kill the mortals."

Was he kind of getting into the role? Well, he had to provide a suitably realistic antagonist for them, right...?