exsilium | 03

[This is Jaime's first post to the network as Blue Beetle, and the name displayed on the tablet has changed accordingly. For any hackers out there, it can't be linked back to him as he's not actually using his tablet; he's posting directly from his armour.]

Hey. Blue Beetle here. I know that after all this, the last thing we're thinking about is the UE's soldiers, but something's been bugging me. Everyone who was on the distraction team with me, you must have noticed the new soldiers, right? They didn't have anything like them on Elmer's world, and I'm pretty sure that war was an all-hands-on-deck sort of deal. The normal soldiers were really well equipped as it was, but these ones must have been metas. They were stronger, and faster. It was so busy on the field that I don't know whether or not I was seeing ones with different powers or if they all had the same skillset going on, but the ones I noticed could fly and had elemental powers. And they were small. Like children.

[Which is deeply off-putting.]

I'm not sure what their deal is, but consider this a heads-up for what the UE's got in store, and the kind of technology we might find on them. For some reason, I don't think an army full of tiny meta-soldiers is something they just managed to find one day. If any of you ran into them too, I think it'd be good if we could get some sort of list of how much they can actually do. Oh yeah, one last thing. Since we don't exactly have space suits around here yet, if there's any maintenance that needs to be done outside the base, let me know. I'm guessing we don't have a whole lot of people who can breathe out there, and my suit's built for space travel.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When it comes to raw power they can beat us any day. That's why we bother with the whole time traveling thing. I guess they just want even more of it.

If a Push meets an equal and opposite Pull, there is no net movement.

[It's one of Allomancy's basic principles. Kell's not surprised it applies here.]

If they can make people to match us, that is what they might use it for.

Is that an unstoppable force meets immovable object sort of deal? Thing is, they could already match us. I guess this is a little more insurance in case any of us are too strong even for them.

I'm not what that means. Is it a riddle?

What did the clones do, when you encountered them?

It's a paradox. It's not really important.

[His science teacher talked about it, once, a lifetime ago.]

They tried to kill me, mostly.

Did they seem like themselves, or husks?

They acted the same as the soldiers, but the soldiers are drugged to do what the UE wants them to do. They definitely weren't husks, though. One of the telepaths said they were suffering.

[A lifetime away he's telling Vin to simply end the lives of their enemies, justifying it by saying they've made their choice. She argues - says there wasn't one in the first place.]

[This stings.]

What is a telepath?

Someone who can read the thoughts or emotions of other people.

In a way that is different from knowing people well?

Oh yeah. I mean they can actually feel their feelings and hear their thoughts.

[Kelsier thinks that's creepy as hell and wonders if burning copper will protect him.]

A telepath from our side or one of the cloned children?

Our side.

[A pause.]

Oh crap. That means the UE might have it too.

[Doesn't today just keep on getting better?]

We can't assume they don't.

Do we have Smokers?

[then, realising Jaime won't get the reference-]

People who can shield us?

From telepathy, you mean? I'm not sure. It's possible, but it's not like we'd have an entire troop of them.

So the children are with us now, but it's likely there's more copies? Clones?

No, the UE still has the children. The clones. There could be more than one of each. I'm not sure. I think most of the people kidnapped from us were adults already. It's just that you can't just make copies of adults into adults, they have to start young and grow up first. Except I guess they have a way to accelerate their aging process.

This will be worrying if we have no way to effectively distract or defeat them.

That's what time travel's for. We can't distract or defeat most of the UE anyway.

What is required in this case, then? Capture the children?

I'm not sure. From what I can tell our biggest options are to capture the children before they even break out of their tanks and target the UE's data and resources so they can't make more. Or make sure they could never make them in the first place. But that would be the same as killing them.

[He notices Jaime didn't take killing as the first option. This bothers him more than it would normally - because Vin was the same.]

You are willing to organise a mission to that effect?

[He wants to see which option Jaime thinks he's endorsing...]

I'm willing to try. I'll need help though.

[Perhaps there are some superheroes out there who will insist on doing everything on their own, but Jaime has no illusions about what he can or cannot do. He'll take all the help he can get.]

They deserve a life too. And a choice.

[There was a time in Kell's life when he wouldn't have cared - something like this held no glory.]

[He's changed more than he knows.]

What do you require?

Minds, mostly. People to help come up with plans and poke holes in others, people who know enough science to figure out all the technical stuff behind the clones, people who are good at figuring out all the cause/effect history stuff to make sure we don't seriously mess something up. We've gotta be smart about this.

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troublemancy - 2013-10-17 08:44 (UTC) - Expand

khajidont - 2013-10-18 01:20 (UTC) - Expand

troublemancy - 2013-10-18 11:24 (UTC) - Expand

khajidont - 2013-10-18 21:20 (UTC) - Expand

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