text;

[alittlesweptup]

ATTENTION TRANSPORT COMMUNITY:

Hullo there from your neighborhood detainee! I realize a number of you may have forgotten about us in the past week, but we remain cheerfully under lock up in the West Wing where we've sat for going on eleven days awaiting you lot to get your shit together so we can get this nonsense sorted. Now some of you may be unaware under what terms we agreed entered holding. In the interest of full disclosure, I shall outline those here:

1. We were to be granted protection from the general transport population until justice could be served.

2. We were to receive a fair trial and face whatever sentencing the transport population deemed fit despite the overwhelming lack of civil structures to support fair sentencing.

Despite CI Small and the Transport Police Force's valiant efforts, these terms have not been met over the past eleven days. Members of our group, supposedly under the protection of the police force, have been assaulted. There has been very little communication to us about any forthcoming trial; we have been assigned a lawyer and promised that we won't rot, but all evidence (network postings and otherwise) points to the contrary.

Very few of you know me personally, but I can tell you right now that I'm not the most patient sort you'll ever meet. As of this moment, we are being held here entirely under good faith. But allow me to make this infinitely clear:

You have no code of conduct or system of law.
You have nothing to charge us with.
You have no jurisdiction to hold us now, much less indefinitely.

And as of right now, I'm feeling a lot more vulnerable in a small room than I am protected. The personal benefits of me waiting here while you sort out a system of rules that we can be grandfathered in to breaking are beginning to look very bare indeed.

So as of now you have one week from today to figure out how you plan to deliver us a fair trial (as I think none of us would be content to see this brushed under the rug). If December 6th comes and goes, I'll be petitioning CI Small to release any of us who agree to absolve her and the transport police force of any responsibility for bodily harm rendered to our persons that might occur when released into the general population (given that many of you are apparently eager for our blood, though none but our own was spilled over the course of the base's lock down). If you'd like to do something about this, I'd recommend putting your heads together and getting it sorted sooner rather than later. Holding us here like animals when we've technically broken no laws and done nothing to set back the war effort - made infinitely clear by the AI's latest transmissions - while you run round going on about betrayal and what-if's is irresponsible at worst and unethical at best.

Warmest Regards,
C.C.

Comments

[legal_eagle]

[She crosses her legs and bites out, the smile dropping away harshly and sharply:]

Oh, I don't have to. I'll just have to go to your supplier, since you are doing exactly that to me every mothercocking day. Which, thanks, by the way, it's fucking delicious, you dangling scrotum.

[alittlesweptup]

[Good. He's so sick of that smile--]

No one asked you to do any of this. So don't pretend I'm forcing anything down your bloody throat, alright?

[legal_eagle]

Yeah, hi, dickface, yeah, someone did.

[She leans forward aggressively, her words more frustrated and sharper than she even intends.]

Why the shit do you think I'm doing this? I'm a fucking prosecutor. I hate this nicey-nicey defense attorney kiss-ass shit. Fuck, I'm not even getting paid. But you shitbirds needed representation, and I was the only lawyer who didn't hate you, so Small asked me. And I agreed, because you needed someone to speak for you, because it wasn't fucking right to leave you helpless. But thank you, thank you, all you assholes, for completely neutralizing any advantage I might get you.

[alittlesweptup]

[There. Something he can latch on to to avoid any kind of culpability for this train wreck:]

Oh is that why you're such a two-faced bitch? [He can't get much sharper.] --I don't care what Small asked you. We don't need your pity or anything else apparently because as far as I can tell, we're no closer to getting any kind of resolution to this than the day we stepped into these fucking cells. But please, if you've secretly been putting into place a legal system for us to be tried by while no one's been looking, share it with the class Sonya. Because all I've seen is the same shit there's always been: petty nitpicking in lieu of concrete decision making while we're left to go mental in here.

[legal_eagle]

[And that brings her to her feet. She's five foot four when she's wearing three-inch heels, but she looks bigger, like a bristling cat.]

You wanna call me that again, you worthless motherfucker? You want to use that word again? Because I have been nothing but honest with the whole fucking lot of you. Unlike you, who's done nothing except lie to me and sneak around behind my back. You know why you're still in here? Because you're a lying, duplicitous piece of shit. Unfortunately, I cannot do fucking magic to change your personality.

And for your fucking information, fuckwit, that's exactly what I've been working on. [That robs her of a bit of steam, because she has to clarify:] The system, not the magic.

[boughtabookstore]

[ Roslyn had taken the time to read the whole message. She had thought, perhaps, it would give her time to get her thoughts in order and have something to say.

Then she had read it again, since the first time hadn't worked.

Her expression might be a little bit furious as she opens the door and then (with a pointed look) slams it closed behind her. They're not having a repeat of Chloe, thanks. She does take a moment to step between Sonya and Charlie, one hand out, though reluctantly. ]

You're a fucking idiot. [ It's delivered in the exact same professionally crisp tone of voice she's always using these days, but her eyes are murderous. ] What did you think this was really going to help?

[alittlesweptup]

[Charlie's all on the verge of snapping back at her when the door opens. And there's Small - to his credit (it's worth nothing at this point), he does straighten and take a moment to right the angle of his shoulders and set his jaw before Roslyn even gets between them. It's a thin veneer, little more than a check against how angry he is, but it's there for a few seconds as his voice comes clipped and rough and growling.]

The longer we stay in here, the worse off we are. [He might be answering Roslyn's question, but he's looking straight at Sonya. He told her about Chloe, goddammit.] If they want anarchy, then we should bloody well give it to them because pretending anything else for the sake of looking nice is rubbish. But you know what?

[And he does look to Roslyn then.]

My bet's on the general populous not being fond of that idea as none of them want to come out of this with their hands anything but sparkling clean.

[legal_eagle]

[Sonya does move back when Roslyn steps in, though she's still fuming. That last comment, though, makes her scoff loudly - ]

Yeah, newsfuckingflash, buddy, you don't have the abs to play Jesus, so maybe climb off the cross.

[boughtabookstore]

Really? Because the longer you stay in here, the more I see public sentiment dying down.

[ Jesus Christ, this is just going to stir everything all over again. ]

You're a fool, and while I don't personally care if you want to play martyr or not my position requires that I do.

So you're going to sit down, and you are going to explain to me in small clear words without any bombast or hyperbole what it is you thought this post would help you accomplish.

[alittlesweptup]

You haven't seen me with my shirt off.

[Cheap shot? Cheap shot. As for the rest--Rooooos, bombast and hyperbole are his bread and butter Fine. Talking straight may be a rusty skill, but he might be able to shake some of the dust off.]

How much longer do you think we can survive like this? I want to know. And I mean us as in Transports and Initiative - before the UE wipes us the rest of the way off the map.

[legal_eagle]

[With sarcastic brightness - ]

Good point! And this is definitely the way to fix that!

[alittlesweptup]

[Charlie shoots her a sharp sidelong glance, a clear unspoken 'fuck you very much for your input'.]

I'm serious. We're more vulnerable than anyone wants to think about, but if you tell people that, it means shit. So push on the weak spot until they realize it. We've been in here eleven days. That's nothing. [Because a week and a half of incarceration is nothing and he's not so stupid as to think it isn't.] But every day we're not actively shaking the bloody tree is one where they're happy to string debate along until it becomes irrelevant or they have something bigger and badder to focus on for longer than ten seconds.

[boughtabookstore]

You keep saying words, but I am still not hearing a single explanation for how raising people's emotions about something that so far only seems to make them want to fight each other was remotely a good idea.

[ Seriously, Charlie. ] There are productive conversations being held. This one? This one is more likely to renew the danger on all of you than it is to be productive.

[alittlesweptup]

[He goes all sharp then, growling low:]

These people aren't stupid. Give them a bloody deadline and they'll make something work. But tell them they've all the time in the world and they'll take it. You might think everyone here wants goddamn chaos, but my bet's on no. It's-- [He pinches his nose, grinds his teeth and--]

For fuck's sake, it a con! It's a long con!

[legal_eagle]

[Sonya listens to that, then interjects:]

Have you ever even considered the possibility that you were wrong? Because you keep trying to find new ways to twist it so that you've won, so that you make things better by, you know, revolutionizing the place even if you have to suffer for it, blah blah. Have you ever considered the possibility that your vision for what things should have been was just full-on wrong?

[alittlesweptup]

[That catches him up - makes him pause for a half second before he bristles back:]

Please, go ahead. Tell me what my grand vision is as you and everyone else seem to have the finer points more nailed down than I have at the moment. But if wanting to do something beyond mindlessly bowing and scraping to people who would rather sacrifice us than strategize with us is wrong, just chuck me out the bloody airlock now before the Aristeas tech comes back online.

[boughtabookstore]

They are talking! It's more than I could have asked for, and I'll admit it, I'm glad this happened, I'm glad people are talking about it because god knows we need something more official than me and the position I'm holding onto because not enough people have asked me with enough force why I'm the one who gets to make the decisions about you yet. Okay? I'm glad.

But when have you ever known people to make good decisions when emotions are running high? What is this post doing but pushing all that emotional turmoil back up just as people were starting to settle down and think with clear heads?

[legal_eagle]

[And, adding on:]

Also, stop fucking acting like we're not on your side. Okay? I'm obligated to look out for you, and Small is just a good fucking person who's been working her fingers to the bone to protect the lot of you - a task which you all make very difficult.

[Which...actually seems like a decent tack for getting Cutter to calm the hell down, now that Sonya thinks about it. So she takes a step forward and indicates Ros' face with a wave of her hand.]

You see this? You see how wrecked she looks, Cutter? You see how tired she is? And you seriously want to go about making things worse for her?

[boughtabookstore]

That's not -

[ That's not the point, but if Sonya wants to make it the point she can. She sighs, glances away. ]

It's my job.

[alittlesweptup]

[Wrong tack. If anything it puts his hackles up farther.]

Where in that post did I say jack shit about Small or her people not pulling their weight? I know she's -- I know you're a good person and don't think I'm not sorry for collateral damage. [That much is sincere enough. He likes Roslyn actually and god knows he's kept her running for the past week and a half.]

--But don't pretend like you two are the only ones in the firing line either because that's all of us. This whole bloody base is!

[legal_eagle]

[Her look is sharp and contemptuous.]

Was there anything in what I said that indicated I was saying that we were the only two exposed? I am just asking you to stop being a massive shitlord for one fucking day so that she can get a full night's sleep.

[alittlesweptup]

Maybe you ought to do her the same courtesy then! I'm not the one who started shit about Pinkman on the network. I told you about Chloe!

[And if they don't understand what that means, then fuck the pair of them.]

[legal_eagle]

[Harshly:]

Fuck you. I started shit about him so that the girls could get their gifts back.

[And she does relent slightly - ]

And you did help with that, yeah. But this? This is just making everything many times worse.

[alittlesweptup]

Oh, so you starting shit for what's supposed to be a good cause is justifiable but no one else doing as much is? Stop acting as if you're the only person in the room with a brain between their ears.

[boughtabookstore]

What's done is done, all right? I am here to ask that you not continue to make it worse. You're getting your results, you're getting your discussions elsewhere, keeping on pushing is only going to distract people from the actual progress they were starting to make.