2018-02-05: Salvation's Scorn
- Log: Salvation's Scorn
- Cast: Elhaym van Houten, Kahm Yugh
- Where: November City, Hotel Renais
- Date: 2/5/2018
- Summary: After several weeks of no contact, Kahm tracks down Elly to get her side of the incident El Pazzo, and provide her with new orders.
=======================<* November City - Hotel Renais *>=======================
Hotel Renais is one of the largest hotels in November City. It is not the most posh, though. It is dedicated to moving a lot of business, and welcomes Drifters as a rule. The inside of the lobby looks nice enough, with wood paneling and gilded decor. The chairs and couches are plentiful. However, a dozen armed men patrol and keep a close watch to discourage barfights.
The rooms are spacious and welcoming, and enjoy luxuries only dreamed of in other parts of Ignas. Hot water and baths can give someone everything they need to have a little time to themselves, and some rooms even have small refrigerators.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzRqtW1C0Zo
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
ELLY VAN HOUTEN is still in November City. So at least she's probably not going completely dark. Or if she is, she's doing it poorly.
AT THIS EXACT MOMENT she is in her small room, re-wrapping some bandaging on her wrist and hand and considering whether or not she should practice her flute or not. The room's small window is open, the cheap curtains billowing slightly in the dry breeze from outside.
Or I could get lunch, Elly thinks.
The room itself, if entered with great force (there is a lock but not a bar), is more or less as it was the last time it was visited, although there are small re-arrangements here and there. A small stack of locally-sourced books is significantly taller.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
At this moment, Kahm is also in November City. His arrival has not been previously announce to Elly, or to be more specific-it was announced, but she presently lacks any ability to receive the message. As such, he checks in with the man at Hotel Renais's lobby to confirm the Lieutenant's previous comings and goings.
A minute later there's a knock at Elly's door, brisk but forceful. Presumably she'll open the door, but if not Kahm deftly blow the lock with pinpoint etheric accuracy. Either way he's stepping foot into that room the moment the door is cracked open, his broad black hat pulled down low.
"Lieutenant." He said. "It's good to see you. I was beginning to grow concerned."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
The door, fortunately, is opened within about ten seconds. There isn't a peephole, but Elly did leave the chain on. It bends slightly when Kahm steps in, and Elly herself yields a pace back, which, given the size of the place, pushes her almost back into the desk.
She seems to be on the verge of a gasp. Then --
-- he --
Is he just trying to --
Elly blinks several times. "Mr. Rider," she says, with a slightly false laugh. "Ah - here, if you'll shut the door, I'll get you something to drink." 'Something to drink' is in this case the white noise pod, which is activated as Elly moves to close the window.
Her eyes stay half-turned towards the mirror as she shuts it. Her body posture is tense, which she can't do anything about.
Perhaps it is a sign of growth that she does not, immediately, stumble into some other panicked flurry of words... perhaps.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
That Kahm made the slip of her rank before the door was closed and proper precautions observed was perhaps telling of the nature of his visit. He doesn't say anything other than to wait, eyes mildly lidded, until she closes the door and activates the white noise pod. When he speaks again, it is in Solarian.
"At this point i'd rather arouse suspicion over an unknown language than risk anyone hearing what we're about to discuss." He said, noting the tension in the younger woman's posture and doing little to alleviate it. He stared at her evenly, blue eyes tinged with vague sense of uncertainty, but not quite judgment.
"I've already been to El Pazzo. We've tried to hail you several times and have received no response. What happened to your tablet?" He asked, having already observed the room and assessed that the device was no longer in the Lieutenant's possession.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly doesn't sit.
She also doesn't answer for a full second and a half. What is she doing? Freaking out? Yes. Internally, she is also code-switching back to Solarian, which does take half a moment, but that leaves her with another one unaccounted for.
Elly shuffles her feet. "It, ah. It was damaged, sir," she says, back in Solarian, as the Emperor intended.
"Between the, operational tempo and how it happened, I hadn't had the chance to... I'm sorry, that I haven't been able to report," Elly falters, her eyes turning to the floor. She bites her lower lip for a moment, hard.
"It's been destructed, sir; completely," Elly concludes.************************************************************
Logging Started: 252018 6:46:39 PM
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Damaged, then destroyed. Kahm nodded at this-the Lieutenant's description more-or-less matched what he expected. "I see. Unfortunate, but i'll see to it that you're issued a new one as soon as it can be furnished. It may take a few weeks, but you can utilized dead drops until then."
It's the other thing she'd mentioned, reporting, that now had the Major's attention. "Yes, well, that's another thing that bring me here. Since you haven't had time to formally report, i'd like to hear your account of the events surrounding the destruction of the Dinoginos statue."
It was about mid noon to gauge the time outside Elly's window, but a crow auspiciously called somewhere out of frame. There was a slight tick in the Major's composure, the image of a man poised on the edge of knife. He'd acquired quite a distaste for crows, recently.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly feels her pulse in her temples, hears it faintly in her ears. It is like a subliminal backbeat to what Kahm says. He says he sees. That it's unfortunate. He isn't raising his voice. He isn't -
He IS still talking, Elly, she scolds herself. Pay attention. She dips her head then in acknowledgement.
... then, he believes me...
Taking a deep breath, Elly composes her thoughts. She misses the crow's sound, or perhaps, she's used to it being part of the ambient Hotel November soundscape.
"Fei had received word of the statue through one of his Digger contacts. He wasn't able to get Gear support from the Yggdrasil pirates but had asked me to accompany him to the Dinoginos site in SLIDE-1. I obliged him, even if I think I was more of a security blanket than anything. He operated SLIDE-1 against a digging Gear of some kind, operated by a man they call Ambrosius, along with several similarly equipped Drifters."
Elly takes a breath. "Once they were able to overcome Ambrosius's machine, they found that there were a range of others who had been in conflict with Ambrosius's subsidiary drones. The Black Ties... they'd already seized the Statue."
Looking up at Kahm now, directly, Elly says, "At this point I had no real hope of discouraging them from pursuing the Statue in order to attempt a complete sealing. I'd thought that perhaps, given that Mr. Hauch knew me, I could persuade him... And I suppose if he had only taken it to keep in a treasure hall or something, or if I had been able to separate from the others, I would have been able to complete the mission."
Her eyes return to the floor. "... I suppose you know that that isn't what happened. I didn't mean to cause any harm to any of them, sir. And, I didn't know about the unknown party's attempt to intervene with a bio-weapon..."
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
Kahm hears Elly's report with unflinching neutrality, his eyes neither distrusting nor overly confident in her testimony. The Lieutenant's version of events is silently weighed and measured against what Fargo had reported, along with what Kahm discovered himself when he confronted Kent.
Fei and SLIDE-1. Kent's words echo in the Major's mind despite his best efforts. "Thank you, Lieutenant." He says, finally, after a stretched moment of consideration, "The bio-weapon was a factor outside anyone's ability to project, along with the involvement of a Veruni operative. These factors have been considered in the overall cause of the statue's loss."
Another moment of silence. Kahm took off his hat and placed it on the small dresser the room provided, looking no less stern and judge-like for the ability to see his brow.
"In my assessment, most of the fault lies with Black Ties. Their seizure of the statue, while perhaps a good example of initiative, was not communicated to command and prevented us from adopting a fully effective posture. Otherwise you would've been informed of this development ahead of time and could have adopted a better response."
If that seems to sound good so far, Kahm isn't done talking. "That said, while I recognize you were constrained by the circumstances of your cover, your actions also contributed to the outcome. You know as well as I that the Black Ties are an unruly lot, held together only by the charisma and fear of a strong leader. Trying to persuade Kent in public at the head of a force of drifters forced him into a corner." Kahm said, turning towards the window to investigate something hidden from Elly's view. "You can't afford to forget that we're still dealing with 'lambs' at the end of the day, Lieutenant. Especially when we're working with them."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
He's speaking so normally, Elly thinks.
He's taking it in stride.
Is he really - Am I -
Did I really not do so badly? Elly can hardly believe it. The moment that she saw Kahm she had thought to herself that if he came too close to her or produced something medical she would - would - she hadn't known what; she was confident she could protect herself, and run to...
To whom? Fei? It would not be that it would be impossible to elude Kahm, especially in a settlement like this. It is that what would come after would be beyond knowing. Her family...
... he's... blaming the Ties?
Elly's face crumples. It's not a complete breakdown, the waterworks don't start up, but there's a pinching there, a faint shift of the jaw and the lower lip. "O-oh," she says, "I, I did not mean..."
Her head tilts forwards then and she says, a little too loud, "I understand it was my mistake!! I couldn't have, I was -" She stops, sucks in a deep breath as Kahm turns towards the window and away from the juvenalia, "I understand why it was an error, sir. I realize I've compromised that connection and I only hope that it hasn't damaged the operational linkage too severely."
Her posture is stiffer now. More military. But that's better than bracing to get hit.
"... There have been other developments since then, as well," Elly continues, but then stops short, eyes returning to Kahm even as he checks the windowsill.
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
"Hm." Kahm continued staring out the window, fingers rhythmically tapping on the sill. "Right now I don't know what the long-term looks like, but for now we have to consider you persona non grata in El Pazzo. You're to cease further contact with Kent Hauch or the Black Ties as much as possible, but if necessary maintain your cover. I've warned Kent about the danger inherent to harming a member of the Elect, but I suspect he won't listen. I'd hate to lose an otherwise effective resource to such foolishness."
The Major turns back around just as Elly mentions further developments, his renewed willingness to look at her face perhaps evidence of magnanimity?!
Whatever the case, his eyes are level and keen. "Go on."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly thinks to herself: Kent hurt me. I could tell him that.
Elly's eyes turn to the ground.
... Like a first class child who's playing at being a soldier.
She raises her gaze to meet Kahm's. She then folds her hands before her, scratching lightly at the bandaged one. "The first," she says, "is that I can... unfortunately... verify failure to seal the 'Stare Roe' statue. I was present... Siegfried, the Metal Demon general, came personally."
Elly rubs at her hand.
She exhales as she moves on to the next one. Raising her eyes to meet Kahm, she says, "I think I have mentioned Leon Albus in the reports. Affiliate of Kiel. He asked that I support him in the pursuit of an autonomous ARM called Gryndile, which I believe is connected somehow to -- it's complicated, sir, I'll skip to the action item."
Elly takes a deep breath.
"There are Kislev elements who intend to assassinate the Kaiser, using that autonomous ARM," Elly says. "Albus has access to some of their operational plans. He intends to stop them."
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
At word of another statue's loss, Kahm makes an imperceptible noise. "Without back-up, there was little you could done against the leader of the Quarter Knights. I've engaged Berserk personally; they're in a different class than the others." He said.
The Major's arms crossed, and he leaned back against the crook of a wall as Elly laid out the latest crisis. It was an unusually relaxed pose for the superior officer, but it meant something very important: He was thinking.
"Still, failures continue to mount. We're in desperate need of some good news." He said, and at this point Kahm was more than willing to consider the angle Elly offered.
"I'm familiar with Gryndile and Albus both. I'm not sure how these dissidents plan to take control of it, but if he has a plan to stop it, support him. We can't afford a change in the Aveh-Kislev conflict right now, and the Prime Minister would surely capitalize on the chaos Sigmund's death would cause." Kahm said, thinking more than likely that Shakhan would overcommit his forces in a land invasion until Kislev martialled around a new leader and repelled him, wasting countless resources in the process.
"There are a few more things I have for you, before we're done here." He adde.d
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
I...
I'm being told to support him, Elly thinks. She blinks several times, and her face adopts a certain neutrality as she tries to wrangle with this feeling. The panic, the anxiety, was... was it all over nothing? Is this just going to be a mark in my record?
Do I care about that?
He's familiar with them both...
"Understood, sir," she says. The question crosses her mind - couldn't we do the same? - but it doesn't reach her mouth. Widening vision? Increased wisdom? Not wanting to push her luck? It is something of all of these.
"Of course, sir!"
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
"The first concerns Fei Fong Wong." Kahm said, transitioning immediately into his points. His eyes narrowed here, as Kent's ostensible wisdom began to war with his own sense of what he believed to be possible.
"Remember that when the time is right, we will move to repossess SLIDE-1. Frankly, I don't particularly care what happens to him as long as we recover the unit. Not having any interference would be preferable, however."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks at Kahm dead on, eyes to eyes.
She keeps that neutral face.
He hates it, anyway.
It's fine.
Elly nods slightly, once. "I understand. Isolating him from the Gear shouldn't be difficult..."
<Pose Tracker> Kahm Yugh has posed.
I could have you sent back to Etrenank, for your own protection. Kahm thinks, I owe your father that much.
It's banished in an instant. He has few enough soldier at his disposal as it is. He'd have the Lieutenant the benefit of the doubt...for now.
"The second....we can't overlook the metal demon craft near wayside. Lieutenant Voss was unable to destroy it, and we've lost our window to infiltrate in the time being. We're going to have to rely on your connection with Riesenlied to rectify that situation. That may well include Riesenlied herself."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
And in that moment, nine years of childhood abuse fulfill their purpose!
Internally, Elly is stunned. Thunderstruck at this news. The idea of killing Riesenlied, the sweet and sickly blonde woman with courage to stand against murderous elites and the scorn of her own people, rocks her.
Externally, Elly blinks several times and her brow furrows slightly for a moment. "Ah," she says, "the relic aircraft. I understand. ... I'm prepared to do so, sir."
Her hands unfold from before her and fold behind her; parade rest.
She says no more.
The image niggles into her mind, of the orphan girls that have often accompanied Riesenlied. She imagines them in the honeycombs, with the other 'Worker Bees'.
The feeling is no longer one of salvation.