"I've also got some people I can talk to about running down labs able to do this, although I don't know how much information I want to give them.  I also have to admit the possibility that someone took control of me to orchestrate this, I definitely remember this party being my own idea, but I'm pretty sure that many of the people I convince to do things feel the same.  I don't have any weird blank periods, or incidents like waking up in a strange place or with different clothes, so it's probably pretty unlikely.  Probably."  He sucked on his candy.  "Flare, I had no idea about those things happening to you.  After we finish hashing this out, let's have  a sit-down, ok?"

“Sure Imp, thanks.  I would have brought it up before, but well…” She squirmed a bit, clearly embarrassed.   She was Flare, fireball of T2M:A, she was supposed to save victims.  Not be one.

She cleared her thoughts, shame wouldn’t help this situation.  “I don’t know if I’d be much help for science or computer tracking, I think I'll see if I can find out what the police found out, if anything.  Sol, I think you’re right; we shouldn’t focus on Utopia when there are other possible culprits.”

It was comforting to see Gale's sympathy, and the other's acceptance.  Even Angelo was kind.  She had expected that response, but there was always the possibility that things could go wrong, some unexpected variable could throw everything off.  Especially now that her mental faculties were deteriorating.

Phantasm gave Gale a quick hug with one arm, and squeezed Angelo's hand with the other, then stood up.

"Alright everyone.  I'm sure we've got quite a bit of personal catching up to do; the things that have been revealed here are pretty big bombshells all on their own.  We need to set aside time to stay in contact, discuss some of this.

And we need to trust each other, we're all we've got right now.  'Stock, I know you and 'Kaze have problems, but she's always been loyal to us.  I don't much trust Kraken, but Sol, Imp, and Grav all thought he was safe.  Some of us may be tempted not to trust one another, most of us have revealed very... personal things that we've been holding back, but the fact we brought them up in the first place says a lot.  And we have to trust ourselves, even as our powers decay; indecision and second guessing will get us killed."

A short pause, then a steely look at everyone in the room.  "We've got new missions.  The top of the list is figuring out what's wrong with us, and how this happened.  But after that, well, the things utopia has done don't add up; we need  to address the problems there.  We need to get Imp's child back.  We need to deal with Nova sterility.

And I think we need to bring Slider back in.  She knows things, her abilities are both useful and not subject to this deterioration, and she's one of us.

Now, the question is, where do we start?  My analysis indicates..."

Phantasm continues for several minutes laying out her thoughts on the situation, and synthesis of the information revealed.  She agrees that working in two teams is worthwhile, with one to deal with scientific information (and ferret out such info from various sources) and another to deal with hunting down the cause of all of this.  She details her thoughts on how to go about both objectives, and then cedes the floor to the rest of those gathered, suggesting that they their insight.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
mega-atts trump this writers paltry mind.  P' rolls mega-int to say useful things.  I figure we can get some sort of group roll going.  I'll go with analyze weakness, we can get some science progigy, and if anyone has it, Tactical Genius.  Then get a direction and run off to start doing things, maybe talk about these revelations with our teammates in the process?

An.Weakness: 4 successes 5,9,5,4,7,6,9.
4 successes 1,8,5,8,1,1,4,1,5,9,6.
4 successes on a raw int roll to determine where the paths of least resistance are for us to exploit in this situation.

---

Gale remained quiet through the remainder of the conversation.  She would listen to the others, and do anything they asked of her.  After all, they were her friends, her teammates.  And Utopia, for all that it was her home, was just an organization.

Before anyone could think the better of it, Wilhelm completed the sample gathering on everyone else who'd offered.  He didn't go through the same analysis procedure with these samples as he had with the first.  He assumed the results would be manifestly the same and thus less immediately interesting.  Besides, he had access to more advanced equipment off-site.

"I'm afraid my expertise does not extend to matters telepathic.  Oh, I know the basics, but anyone with a college degree in physics can give you that.  It's much the same with the Opnet side of things.  I'm afraid my interests lie more in preventing people from penetrating my networks than the opposite.  I must, therefore, confine myself to matters biological.  Before I do, though, I will say this.  I would not expect those Colombians, as you called them, to know anything."

These novas obviously had very little experience with industry.  When contemplating something legally ... questionable, one never actually told one's minions anything.  Preferably one never even got within a few kilometers of the minions.  Minions got nicked.  Minions couldn't keep their mouths shut.  No, if the responsible parties had been so amateurish as to give the hired help anything beyond a bank account number where payment could be found and the bare minimum of instructions then they'd have been too amateurish to pull off the operation undertaken.

"If you want to eventually find someone to run down I am afraid you will most likely have to content yourselves with the physical evidence for now.  Accordingly, I will need to take these samples to a more complete lab to do a full analysis.  I will leave the MEDBOT here.  While I'm gone, you may wish to have the MEDBOT perform a full physical on each of you.  I've noticed some discrepancies in your charts.  The changes in node composition that I noted, or rather the immune response to these changes, should have produced a very distinct signal in CSF and blood tests:  oligoclonal bands in the cerebrospinal fluid, none in the blood.  Your records indicate that the required protein electrophoresis tests were run, but no bands were recorded.  Very sloppy that.  Who knows what else they missed.  Anyway, if you'd be so kind."

Wilhelm waited around for a portal out of the base and listened.  He was eager to start producing results instead of debating methods, but he was more than willing to postpone his departure if something groundbreaking came up in the next few minutes.  With all this talk of sterility, Wilhelm was also planning out an experiment to solve the fertility question.  He'd need to locate a corrosion-resistant catheter, an XG-sized cylinder of argon gas, and some zona-free hamster ova by tonight.  He'd have to search all his desk drawers.  Let it not be said he wasn't willing to suffer for science.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:38, Mon 21 Nov 2011.

"I read you loud and clear, sir," Angelo said to Comstock, then rose to his feet and spoke up so everyone could hear him.  "Since everyone else is emptying their rucks on the table, I'll empty mine."  Then he added, "not that there's much in it."

His heart was pounding as he shifted from foot to foot with his hands shoved into the pockets of his fatigues.  What am I doing? he thought.  I took an oath!  Can I really stand up here and betray that?

You took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, came the voice of his Tia Carmen over his shoulder, as it so often had during the troubled years of his childhood, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Is that it then?  Has the U.S. military become an enemy?  He thought about that as he looked over the faces of those around the room, coming finally to Comstock's hard, expectant eyes.  No, he decided, but these people were standing up to protect that which he had sworn to protect.  To expose their current weakness to his superiors in Washington would be a most fundamental violation of his oath.  Though he was thinking his superiors would hardly see it that way.

Realizing he had been standing and staring for several seconds, Angelo cleared his throat.  "When I was assigned here, I was given two missions.  The first was printed on my orders: essentially to be the official Liaison between the U.S. Army and Project Utopia and to act as a full member of Team Tomorrow: Americas; the second was given to me in the corner of a conference room, kinda like this one.  And it was given to me so slyly that It was a month before I even realized they were orders.  I was supposed to watch you and report back anything 'unusual'."  He tipped his head down to stare at the toes of his boots for a moment before he added, "If any of you are surprised that I was given this secondary...mission...you need to take Professor Bharati's Political Science again."

He paused, pulling his hands out of his pockets and resting his fingertips on the table.  After scanning everyone's face again, he said, "I'm sure that the Army would be very interested to learn about our condition...but they're not going to hear it from me.  To set your minds further at rest, I'll give you a reason why that comes strictly from logic:   I took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.  If the military 'Establishment' were to learn of this, even if they didn't isolate the cause, there would be enormous pressure to take advantage of Utopia's temporary weakness to effect a shift in the balance of power.  Pressure to attack an organization we signed a treaty of mutual cooperation with.  Others would rightly feel that such an action would be a violation of our national honor.  Those advocating 'action' would whip up fear among the masses (all too easy to do these days) and there would strife and division in this country.

"No," he said again, "they won't hear it from me."  He took a step back from the table and crossed his arms.  "Here's the bottom line.  Unless I hear of something that is a threat to the national security of my country, I will consider everything I see, hear, and do as a member of T2M:A to be covered by the Security Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed as I was processed in.  And according to the laws that govern such things, no one outside this chain of command can order me to reveal any classified information...not even the Commander-in-Chief, himself."

"Now, if that doesn't satisfy everyone, or if I'm liable to hear something that could be deemed a threat to the United States, I'll leave now and we can discuss my continued status at a later time."  Then turning to Impetus, he said, "If you're agreeable, perhaps a silent vote could be taken? (I can't leave this sealed room, but I can stand in the corner with my eyes covered)  The question being whether they will trust me."

Imp smiled, "I have no problem with you being here, Angelo, if I had figured you couldn't be trusted you wouldn't have gotten the invite.  Also, it is impossible for us to expect others to trust us unless we allow ourselves to trust them. You've always been as straight forward with me as you could, and I think you've read the situation rightly." He paused, looked pensive, "Sometimes I wonder if the world would be a better place with one of our kin at the helm of a world power, the question is who, and what country.  And would it make the world safer for ourselves and our future." He shook his head, then focused on P.  "I'll talk to Anna DeVries, see if any of her on site scientists have heard anything about this, or if any of her operatives have encountered anything similar.  They must have field tested this prior to hitting us."

Comstock had been vacillating on saying something.  He wanted someone to just go through his head.  That wasn't an option.

Dragón's forthright honesty was the last straw, shaming him into coming clean.

"Alright man.  You're alright by me."  He slapped DeVarga on the shoulder, then took a deep breath and paced a few steps.  "Okay.  I'm not really sure.  I think ... I think I know why my brain has kept locking down so hard over the years."

The alarm and confusion on his face was obvious.  "Guys ... I think I took Caroline into custody."

He kept his voice level, trying hard to put together half-thoughts and shadowy impressions.  "I need a telepath to try and get in here.  Because I think they asked me to do things and then wiped my memory of those events.  I'm remembering two different days on the same day and everything you guys are saying ... one memory seems more real, and one meshes with what all of you are saying."  He quizzed people on details for a few minutes, mostly events from just after Colombia.  A few events dating all the way back to the Equatorial Wars.  Talk of a secret department or a shadowy organization led him to think of an internal security officer that had reviewed tactics and strategy with him on a regular basis.  He thought he recalled times when they'd persuaded him to follow more risky strategies, things that put his people in greater danger.  "... and then there was this, this ... this shimmering cocoon thing."  He spared a look at Impetus and Solitaire.  "Look I didn't know what chrysalis was back then, I figured it was some weird nova-tech animal or a new eruption with like butterfly powers or something.  I didn't even remember this until just now!"

"They asked me to head in, set up some equipment, make sure it was safe and then bring the cocoon out.  I ... I think I handed it off and then I ... no, I took it to a truck with a containment unit, like a military ambulance.  And then I rode back with them and talked to ... to someone.  Ah damnit!"  He clenched his fists a little too hard.  Droplets of quicksilver and crimson dripped to the floor, then lethargically seeped back toward Comstock's feet.  "I went to the truck and then I rode back with them and then I talked with another nova and then ..."

He turned back toward the teragen members.  Aggressively.  Since he was expecting a fight, some anger and backlash, his frustration was helping him find one.  "Look, my head's not what it used to be, alright!  And I'm trying not to lock down here because I'm not sure how much of that is the metal and how much of that is like some brainwashing or whatever, okay?  I didn't goddamn know."

Here's where we get to see what the teragen are really made of...  Phantasm held a neutral calm, but inside she was prepared to move the instant anyone went after Comstock. Of everyone at the meeting, he'd been there for her the most, and she wasn't about to let anyone hurt him.  Odds are it wouldn't come to that, but if it did... Well, she was ready to lay Impetus out before he even had a chance to use that pretty voice of his.

Quentin felt a migraine coming on. He wasn't sure how much of it was his node pressing against the rest of his gray matter and how much was the situation in the room. Probably more the former than the later, if he was totally honest with himself (which seemed to be the prevailing theme of the meeting). He resisted the urge to thoughtfully scratch at his chin with his right hand - the motion would be incredibly awkward with his cybernetic fingers acting up.

Nonetheless, the skin around his flat, black eyes tightened. "As someone who may also have been the victim of telepathic tampering, I find I cannot blame you for your role in Caroline's abduction - if that's really what happened." The fact that he chose to use the word 'abduction' said much all on its own. "If you were mentally tampered with, I should very much like to find a telepath we can all trust - preferably one capable of negotiating your mind and mine, and perhaps Flare's - to confirm your testimony and attempt to retrieve the lost details and to see whether or not our memories has been tampered with." That was a fairly tall order, he knew. Not many people trusted telepaths if they knew what they were.

"In any event, I wish to know where she was taken. If she is still there, we should retrieve her, regardless of her current... state." He knew Impetus believed her to be dead. That may well be the case, but even if true, he didn't want Utopia or, really, anyone else getting their hands on a chrysalis-bound nova body. "It is likely that the child would be in the same place, if it exists as believed," he added. Such a child was one in, well, six billion; Quentin found that its life was rapidly rising on his priority list as he considered what it represented.

How much of this was connected? If there were a telepath that had tampered with the memories of several of the individuals present, that might neatly tie everything together. But there was still the possibility that the condition afflicting then, Caroline's abduction, and the nebulous nova sterility issue were all independent events. Quentin needed more data, and he needed it soon.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Tue 22 Nov 2011.

Imp was perfectly still.  Not still like a mime, or still like a cat stalking a bird, they had involuntary muscle contractions, trembled slightly, breathed.  He did none of those, he was, for all intents and purposes, a statue made of flesh and bone.  His mind raced, recalled its former processing power, then threatened to shut down.  After what felt like an eternity his vision came back, strange that he had never noticed that it was gone.  He looked up, perfect blue eyes stared directly into Dillon's.  "It's not your fault, my friend, there is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to apologize for." He put his hand on Solitaire's, either looking for comfort or trying to offer a sense of calm.  "Trust me when i tell you that I still trust you with every fibre of my being, and that you are still the person I look to to make the right choices, and for leadership.  They have taken the love of my life from me and my daughter, who i have never met.  I refuse to let them take one of my best friends." His voice was soft but firm, resonating with emotion but still keeping the near hypnotic quality it was famous for.  Then it hardened.
"I am, however, now finding it very hard to find some other solution to what we do when we find these people, other than wringing every last drop of information from them, and making them glad they gave it--then making sure that they can never, ever do something even approaching this again."

Feeling the tension in the room once again focused externally, Angelo stood up again.  "I can't contribute anything to the scientific search, and my investigative skills are fair at best, especially since my nova abilities have faded.  One thing I'm uniquely able to offer, however, is my knowledge of strategy and tactics.  Not only have I made a study of it as an officer in the U.S. Army, but I've earned a Master of Science degree in it, and even beyond that, I understand tactics at an instinctual level...sometimes I can just feel a tactical situation.

"I really don't want to sound like I'm beating my own drum here," he said with eyes that asked for acceptance, "but this is something I know I can do."  He starts to sit back down, but a sudden thought strikes him and he holds up his hand and says, "And just so your all aware, tactical science can be applied to areas other than the battlefield.  It can be applied to any situation where one side seeks to employ its resources to gain an advantage over another side.  That includes the board room - which is why so many businessmen buy a copy of "The Art of War" - negotiations, trading, you name it.  As long as I'm in the grip of this...thing...I can't serve as a soldier, but I'm also trained to serve as a staff officer, an adjutant or an adviser.  Let me serve that way."

Angelo then made his way around the room to where Hell Kraken was waiting.  He was getting his first up close look at the giant teflon containment suit.  He couldn't help but be reminded of the old sci-fi movies and serials he used to watch on Saturday afternoons. He had to suppress the urge to grin and say "cool."  "Professor Förster?" he said, stepping forward, "I beg your pardon, but do you prefer Professor Förster or Hell Kraken?"  Did I hear you right?  This stuff around our nodes is based on eufiber or something like it?

"As it happens," Angelo continued, "I'm very adept at manipulating eufiber, and have a lot of experience with meditative trances.  I don't have any illusions of being able to control it, but I thought if you were to make active scans as I made the attempts, I could see if I could get it to react.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:33, Thu 01 Dec 2011.

It had been a long time since Flare had been shocked into tears.  There had been too much bloodshed, and too much war for her to gasp in surprise or howl in anguish over every new atrocity.   She swiped angrily at her eyes now, wanting to hurt someone, preferably the responsible party, over this.

“We’ll get them Imp.  We’ll find them, then find Caroline and your daughter, and then…we’ll settle up with them.“

She was a bit shaky at the apocalypse she had envisioned between Comstock’s admittance and Impetus’ acceptance.  An eternity passed for her in those few moments, one in which she’d imagined Utopia razed in a nova battle.

What had it cost Comstock to admit he could be, and may have been, used against his teammate? That he might have, unknowingly, assisted in this abduction.   And what had it cost Impetus to accept that information without retribution and move on?

This wasn’t the time for musing, she supposed.

“Grav is right, your wife and child are likely held together, and it would be the safest method for guarding them.  We need a plan of attack on this.  If Comstock’s memory is accurate then there was transport, and accomplices to get this kind of operation in motion.  Also some method of finding a nova in chrysalis.  It reeks of military in some form.”  She put a hand on Comstock’s arm and tried to look supportive.

“It might be an idea for you to try to find and go back to the scene of all this.  I know it was probably a while ago, but it might help jar your memory, assuming no one has a telepath on hand that they trust.”


Flare had a cop’s brain, and it told her that something messy might be in the works.  The sooner they got to work on whatever they were going to do, the better.

Flare seemed to calm Comstock.  There hadn't been a kaboom.  He'd been expecting a kaboom.  She let him know it was alright to stand down.

"Thanks."  He recomposed himself.  "I think I can lead you guys back to the spot.  I don't know who else would know where it is, so maybe we can narrow it down or something."

"And Devarga?  I'm convinced.  I want you in on this.  We could use another badass, and if that brain of yours is as good as you say it is than I want you puzzling out the angles before anyone here gets their ass shot off."

He sat down.  "If one of you vouches for a psychic, I'm game for it.  Otherwise ... looks like we've got four things to do: find Caroline, find the kid, sort out the business with our nodes, and get Slider back out of the cold."  He drummed his fingers.  "Vegas should be safe.  Fl- ... I know some safe-houses and people around town.  And I'm willing to guess the rest of you have your own resources available.  Sol, do you think she'll come back in?  We could ask Raoul to use the Archon as neutral ground."

"The Archon," Angelo said, raising his eyebrows, "isn't that awfully public?  I mean...she's not running from a gang or a crime syndicate who might have a vested interest in respecting a neutral ground.  These are the legal authorities and they're coming armed with an arrest warrant that allows them to pursue her pretty much anywhere.  Getting them to agree to a neutral ground would take some major leverage."

"Who said anything about the authorities?  I meant neutral ground with us.  If she thinks everyone in Utopia is out to kill her, I don't blame her for getting all weird on us."

"Whatever she's thinking, most of us are still Utopia too.  The Archon, she could portal into the back room, she's got Raoul and his friends to make sure everyone's playing nice, and the only way the cops or the bad guys will know to show up and crash the party would be if one of us told them.  If it goes well, she'll calm down and at least talk to us.  Maybe we could let her crash in town for awhile.  I don't know."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:34, Fri 02 Dec 2011.

"I agree with Dillon. Cops, or nova cops, are the least of Slider's worries.  Heck, I have standing orders to try to take her into custody if feasible, she should be very leery about meeting me.  We were friends before this Corbin business started, and I certainly bear her no ill will, but she hasn't stayed free this long without being paranoid.  If it makes her feel better I say that everybody currently working for Utopia stays away."

"That probably goes double for me then," Angelo said, jerking a thumb up to the Army insignia on his uniform.  After a moment's thought, he said, "I can help you design your security tactics for the building, I suppose.  Other than that..." he added shrugging, palms up, "if anyone can think of another way I can help, I'm all over it."

He settled back uncomfortably in his seat.  He had always been so proud to serve in the Army, especially as a Ranger.  Proud to serve his country, proud that the men in his platoon trusted him to lead them into combat.  Tonight however, there was a small part of him that wished he could take the uniform and hide it away so that no one could see it and he could deny it existed.  These thoughts left a bitter feeling in him which began to show on his face.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Sat 03 Dec 2011.

"I think she'd show up if asked. Honestly, anyone dumb enough to try and raid Archon deserves what they get. Everyone there is a nova, and a fair number are Terats. They'd back us against Utopia Spec Ops any day." Solitaire said, looking around the table, but mostly at Comstock. She had absolute faith in Comstock, that he always did the right thing. It didn't shake her confidence in him per se, but it was... Something to consider. "I can set that up. You are all welcome to show up if you wish, but Slider is under my protection, and I will personally beat any of you who try to arrest her down. With love, of course."

Dissens?  Interessante...  Any possibility of driving a wedge between Utopia and world governments looked promising to Wilhelm.  If it were a country, KHI's GDP would be slightly ahead of Norway's in the world rankings.  This economic power could be exploited in dealings with individual nations in order to initiate a race to the regulatory bottom.  Utopia's overarching bureaucracy acted to make things more difficult.  Personal concerns didn't enter into the question.  Caroline was not among his people.  Neither was anyone here.  He owed no duties to anyone beyond what he was hired for, finding a cure for and the source of whatever ailment was causing the node interference.  He was thus perfectly free to exploit what he heard here for his own private gain.  Looking too eager might harm his hand, though.  Fortunately, looking nonchalant was easy when you were wearing a carapace.  When Wilhelm reduced the suit's internal pressure, retracting its limbs and settling it to the ground, people occasionally mistook him for some sort of appliance.  A soft-serve machine, perhaps.  You couldn't get more nonchalant than that.  How best to move forward?  Being helpful, helping everyone cause as much trouble for Utopia as they desired, that was probably the best option at the moment.

"Professor Förster was my father, Lieutenant Colonel Devarga.  I'm afraid I've never taught at the university.  As to the Hell Kraken moniker, well that was an invention of the papers.  I'll admit that it serves admirably as a trademark, but Doctor Förster will suffice as a means of address.  It would certainly be interesting to see whether you could exert some form of control over the synthetic farahcytes.  Here is not the place for such a test, though.  The MEDBOT's instruments are limited in either temporal or physical resolution.  The instruments that can produce the best picture quality can only capture stills and vice versa.  I could taste for any changes, but that would be ... unpleasant."

Wilhelm extruded a flaming pseudopod through the arm of his carapace to illustrate just how unpleasant.

"More than usual.  Potentially damaging.  Inadvisable.  Have you been to the KHI compound in Mercury?  The company hospital there has a much more complete selection of equipment.  A SPECT scan ought to suffice for functional imaging of your node.  Present this at the gate..."

Wilhelm's grasper opened up to reveal a plain, white RFID badge, the required biometric identification information already captured and loaded into KHI's computer system.

"...to be admitted.  My assistant will be contacting you shortly to arrange an appointment."

Wilhelm hadn't sent Lucas an email stating that an appointment was needed, the anti-snooping field around the room making certain of that, but he had no doubt that Devarga would have a message waiting for him as soon as he left this meeting.

"So Slider is still around.  I would've thought she'd have disappeared for good after all that hubbub.  If you want something more private than the Archon, I could arrange to have her filed in KHI Central Records.  People have been lost down there for weeks."

There'd be a fee involved, of course, but Wilhelm could think of few safer locations than under 400 meters of Polish salt.  And he figured whatever information Slider had that necessitated her flying under the radar would be useful for sticking in someone's eye.  Keeping her safe at least until she could be thoroughly pumped for data was just good business.

"Oh, one last thing before I forget.  All of this talk of the 'scene of the crime' makes me think you may need some means of remote sensing.  Try not to crash this into anything."

Pulling out a flash drive, Wilhelm plugged it into his PDA and downloaded the software and encryption keys required for retasking one of his fleet of mapping satellites onto it.  The satellite in question was KrakSAT-103, one of his older Yantar units.  The xenon propellant for its Hall effect thruster had run out some months ago, severely limiting its maneuverability, but it could still generate a bit of delta-v through the use of its photovoltaics as a combination solar sail and aerobrake.  KHI being deprived of the satellite would be no great loss.  A press release stating that KrakSAT-103 had suffered a computer failure and was no longer under ground control, but was expected to reenter the atmosphere harmlessly in a few months should provide suitable cover for the use of the satellite.  If someone was going around snatching novas it would be reasonable for them to take measures to protect against novas snatching them back.  Better then to take a bit of care in reconnaissance.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:14, Sat 03 Dec 2011.

Angelo accepted the badge with a nod and slipped it into a uniform pocket.

He listened to Solitaire's assessment of the situation with Slider.  At first he sat up and put his arms on the table, but then his face hardened and he slumped back in his chair, chucking his pen down, sending it rolling halfway across the table.

He wanted so badly to stand with his team, but He kept running into that brick wall that was his chain-of-command.  If someone in the Special Operations Command caught wind of this (and there was always a leak) there would be some hard questions that he would have to answer...and he couldn't flat-out lie to them.  Thoughts began to chase one another around in his head.  He stood up and paced along the back wall of the room, looking very agitated with twitching fingers and eyes that couldn't seem to land on any one thing.

On his third trip across, he stopped and snapped his eyes closed tightly.  He took a couple of deep, but uneven, breaths then strode quickly to the largest area of open floor he could find (probably a corner).  After a couple more breaths that are growing more regular, he began to flow through Tai Chi patterns.

Imp watched Dragon's progress with interest.  "If it helps, my friend, there will always be times when you cannot say everything to the people you must tell everything to.  The best way to deal with it is to remove their ability to ask that question, either by careful use of NLP, or by making the question seem like it's one they dare not ask.  I can give you some pointers on either or both, if you'd like."

Angelo's breathing had evened and deepened as he had focused his way through the simple patterns of the Tai-Chi exercises.  When Impetus spoke, his tone was reassuring even if what he said wasn't entirely clear.

"NLP?" he asked, not interrupting his movements.  "Frankly, Imp, I could use all the help I can get in that area.  I feel so completely out of my depth when it comes to the admin functions and politics my new rank involves.  A year ago I was a captain in command of a platoon of Rangers, and I knew what to do with that."  He takes another measured breath.  "Then when I erupted, they promoted me to major, way ahead of the curve.  I was fine with that because it seemed like a mostly ceremonial promotion, and the only responsibility I had was to learn to use my abilities."  He paused through two slow breaths before he continued.  "But then this thing opened up with Utopia that they felt called for a 'field grade' officer, so they promoted me to light colonel.  A lot of guys spend eighteen to twenty years in service to get this rank."  He finally stopped and returned his hands to his sides with a final exhale.  "I'm still only halfway through my second enlistment, dude," he said, finally opening his eyes.  "If I'd known they were going to chuck me this far out into the deep end, I'd have become a SEAL," he said with a self-deprecating chuckle.

"Neuro-Linguistic Programming, it's not that hard, once you get the hang of it.  I reccomend using it sparingly though, if people find out you've selected their reatcions for them they tend to be upset. I, we, also understand being promoted with a certain breathtaking rapidity.  Before i erupted I as working on a phd and my most pressing decisions were what tshirt to wear, what kind of burger to have at lunch, and what manner of geekery i would engage in to while away the evening.  Then i joined Utopia and, well, there were the EQ wars, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia...  If it helps, there's plenty of people splashing around in the deep end with you, some of us have found floatation devices that we're willing to share."

Anyone with quantum sight notes that Angelo's pattern is more stable as he moves through his exercises.  Particularly perceptive individuals in touch with their nodes feel a calming sensation in his portion of the room, where the rest of the area is subtly discordant, akin to constant low-level static.

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
more to come, but I wanted to throw that out there while you were together and it came up.

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