Valiant: The CURSE Files
[CURSEd #31: Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover]
Log Date: 1/18/12765
Data Sources: Darrow Bennion
[I8] Valiant: Season 2
Following
Table of Contents
Valiant #27: Reunion Tails #22: Recovery Covenant #21: The Blackthorn Demon CURSEd #17: Relocation Valiant #28: Butterflies and Brick Walls Covenant #22: The Great Realignment Tails #23: The Most Dangerous Prey Valiant #29: Sunbuster CURSEd #18: Culling Covenant #23: The King of Pain CURSEd #19: Conscript of Fate Tails #24: Explanation Vacation Covenant #24: The Demon Tailor of Talingrad CURSEd #20: Callsign Valiant #30: Sunthorn Tails #25: Eschatology Covenant #25: The Commencement CURSEd #21: Subtle Pressures Valiant #31: Recruits Tails #26: Prodigal Son Covenant #26: The Synners CURSEd #22: Feint Covenant #27: The Stag of Sjelefengsel Valiant #32: Marketing Makeover Tails #27: Kaldt Fjell Covenant #28: The Claim CURSEd #23: Laughing Matters Valiant #33: The Gift of Hate Tails #28: The Leave Taking Covenant #29: The Mirage Mansion CURSEd #24: Mixed Signals Covenant #30: The Gates of Hell Valiant #34: Be Careful What You Wish For Tails #29: S(Elf)less Covenant #31: The Old City Valiant #35: Preparations CURSEd #25: The Cruelty of Children Tails #30: The Drifter Deposition Covenant #32: The Hounds of Winter Valiant #36: The Fountain of Souls Tails #31: Statistically Unfair CURSEd #26: The Call of Avvikerene Covenant #33: The Daughters of Maugrimm CURSEd #27: The Lies We Wear Tails #32: Life-Time Discount CURSEd #28: Avvi, Avvi Valiant #37: The Types of Loyalty Covenant #34: The Ocean of Souls Tails #33: To Kill A Raven Valiant #38: Tic Toc (Timestop) Covenant #35: The Invitation CURSEd #29: Temptation Tails #34: Azra Guile... Covenant #36: ...The Ninetailed Tyrant Valiant #39: Dizzy Little Circles Tails #35: I Dream Of A Demon Goddess CURSEd #30: Kenkai Gekku Covenant #37: The Ties of Family Valiant #40: Apostate Covenant #38: The Torching of Tirsigal Valiant #41: Location, Relocation CURSEd #31: Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover Valiant #42: The Book You Need Tails #36: Meet The Parents CURSEd #32: Turkey Bacon Club Covenant #39: The Deals of the Demon Lord CURSEd #33: The Debt Comes Due Valiant #43: Phobos Valiant #44: Conciliations Tails #37: Tear The Veil CURSEd #34: The Invitation of Makalu Covenant #40: The Malice of Mortals Valiant #45: Turncoat's Elegy CURSEd #35: Media Meltdown Valiant #46: Defined In Opposition Tails #38: Metamorphoxis Covenant #41: The Road Paved With Good Intentions CURSEd #36: Joint Operation Valiant #47: Alliances of Necessity Tails #39: A Family Matter Covenant #42: The Story Goes On Tails #40: Foxtails CURSEd #37: Silver Linings Valiant #48: ShatteredCURSEd #31: Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover
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Intercepted Transmission
CURSE Secured Line
6:14am SGT
Tenji: Alright, SCION, I’m in a secured room now. Give me the briefing for the day.
SCION: There are several items of importance, but we will start with the macro item. The fluctuation in Collective communications that we have seen over the past two days has translated into fleet movements. Several intelligence agencies have reported unusual maneuvers from Collective vessels — deviations in normal patrol routes, fleets being assembled or reorganized deeper into Collective space, and continued high traffic on their observed comms channels. The Vaunted have calculated the trajectories of the vessels seen detouring from their patrol routes, and it seems that they are converging on the Honaus System, which borders COS territory.
T: That’s close to Mokasha, isn't it?
SCION: Approximately sixty-two lightyears away from Mokasha, but yes.
T: And we still don’t know the reason for the Collective’s sudden shift in behavior?
SCION: There is nothing concrete yet, aside from a consensus that something might have happened in the Honaus System to prompt this behavior. The other theory, which is not considered likely, is that they may be massing for another campaign on a Confederacy border system, but that view is only held by the COS at the moment.
T: They’re paranoid after losing Mokasha, so they’re going to see any Collective movement near their border as a potential attack. Says more about their state of mind than it does about what the Collective’s actually up to. What is your assessment?
SCION: Most of the data I have is collated from the shared observations of other intelligence agencies; I do not have many direct observations of my own. However, viewing the total sum of data, and looking back on military patterns and trends within the Collective, inclines me to think that the Collective’s recent movements are either defensive or reactive in nature. They generally avoid telegraphing their offensive campaigns, and typically only mass a fleet in a home system as a defensive response. I would rate the likelihood of an aggressive maneuver as very low in the near term; however, as we still do not know the reason for their congregation in Honaus, I would not rule out an eventual aggressive maneuver in the mid term or the late term.
T: So they’re not a problem right now, but might be a problem later on down the line. Do we know what’s in the Honaus System?
SCION: There is a single habited world by the name of Tirsigal, which has been under Collective control for nearly a millennium. Decently large population, standard mix of industries you will find on many Collective planets. Other than that, the system is unremarkable. Two gas giants and another rocky planet, standard-sequence yellow star. The system has no outstanding tactical or cultural importance, as far as I can tell.
T: Mmm. Interesting. Keep an eye on it, let me know if there’s any updates worth my attention. You said that was the macro item; what are the micro items?
SCION: The Dandelion Drift and its crew. I understand you intended for them to return to the HQ for debriefing, maintenance, and to bring them more firmly under CURSE’s thumb, under the guise of helping them pursue the entity that the Daughters of Azra summoned.
T: Yes, that was the plan. I assume that if we’re talking about this, then the plan has been wrecked or made unviable in some way.
SCION: The Drift missed its scheduled check-in at a resupply station a couple days ago. The vessel’s transponder has either been turned off or shielded, and status requests have gone unanswered. I had to delve into my surveillance network to scrape together enough data to locate their last known position and calculate their trajectory. They appear to be en route to the heart of the Rantecevang Diaspora’s territory.
T: Mmmrrglh. So they’ve officially gone rogue. What changed? When we met with them, we told them to return to the HQ for debriefing, and that the Azra matter was out of their hands. Dandelion acknowledged both items. As far as I'm aware, she’s not capable of lying, is she?
SCION: While the CURSE conditioning was still in place, she was incapable of lying, especially to CURSE personnel. Now that it has been removed, I cannot say for sure. My tentative assessment is that she is capable of lying, but probably averse to it, and probably avoids lying where she can. If she has decided not to do what she had committed to doing, it’s possible that something may have happened, or the crew received some new information that changed her intended compliance.
T: I don’t like the sound of that, SCION. Are you implying that they found out that we sold them out to the Daughters of Azra?
SCION: Again, I cannot say for sure. There are a variety of possibilities, and we cannot confirm anything without more information. All I can say is that the behavior they are currently exhibiting leads me to believe that they either do not trust us, or they think that CURSE will try to stop whatever they’re currently trying to do.
T: So what are the options here? Is it worth it to go after them, or should we just let them run off and do their thing?
SCION: I believe we should secure the Drift. If the crew would like to continue their pursuit of the Azra matter, then let them do so; but the Drift is a vessel of considerable value and utility. I believe we should reassert control over it to ensure it does not end up in a situation where it could be damaged or stolen.
T: Logical. Alright then, see if we have any assets near the Diaspora’s territory that can be dispatched to repossess the Drift and return it to the HQ. I can trust you to figure out something to tell to the crew about why we’re doing this, right?
SCION: I will try. It will probably lack the warmth and personability that you bring to the matter. Sentiment is one of the organic traits that I find difficult to replicate, and it still escapes me to this day. I never quite seem to do it convincingly enough for organics.
T: This’ll be a good chance for you to practice, then. Is there anything else before I go? I need to start getting ready for the hearings at the Colloquium Senate today.
SCION: Nothing that requires immediate redress. I will see to it that the operation on Valcorria is finalized and initiated today. You can put your full focus on the hearing.
T: Good to hear it. I’ll talk to you later, SCION.
Event Log: Darrow Bennion
Valcorria: Miraiku Starport
8:18am SGT
“Finally! I don’t know why that was such an ordeal.” Whisper says, tromping down the ramp of the troop transport we’ve landed at the starport. “Talingrad basically rolled out the red carpet for us when we went to go arrest Chameleon. Dunno why it took us days to get operating permissions here.”
“Might be due to the fact that we trashed their museum last time we were here.” I point out as the rest of us follow Whisper down the ramp of the transport. “They might not remember that fondly.”
“You should hardly give yourself such credit.” Nazka says coldly, descending the ramp behind us. “While your performance on that assignment left something to be desired, it is not the primary instigator of Valcorria’s resistance to our presence. This world has long been sympathetic to the Challengers, and by extension, their successors in the Valiant. Were it not for the fact that Sybione has been pulling strings for us, we might not have gotten operating permissions here at all.”
“Man, what’s up with that?” Onslaught demands as she heads over to one of the other troop transports, where all our equipment is currently being unloaded. “A year ago, they were skulking around like criminals, spending most of their time on the run. Or in dark space. Now you’re saying there are worlds that are willing to go to bat for them?”
“They have the Bastions now. Of course people are going to want to butter up to them.” Gossamer says tartly. “Who doesn’t want to be friends with the people that control some of the most powerful orbital fortresses in the galaxy?”
“Stewing over it will achieve nothing.” Ironfist says, kneeling next to his equipment locker and popping the latches on it once it scans his hand. “We are here with an assignment: capture or kill the Valiant team here, and recover the artifact that Laughing Alice gave to Songbird. Our time is better spent on focusing on the things we can do, instead of griping about things that are beyond our control.” Pulling out a sheathed sword from his locker, he holds it out to Whisper. “I got the sword back from the forge sooner than I was expecting. The smith approved of the name you chose for it, once he heard where it’d been and what it’d done.”
“Oh sweet, that was pretty quick.” Whisper says, taking the sword and unsheathing it to look it over and give it a couple of balancing swings. “Thanks, Ironfist. I appreciate that.”
“Do we know where we’re going to be intercepting the Valiant, and how many will be with Songbird?” Kwyn asks, following me up the ramp of the transport that’s got all of our equipment.
“We think it’s gonna be a small group.” I explain to her, heading to the locker that’s got my Axiom suit. “From what we can tell, they split up and have been lying low after Prophet ambushed them a few days earlier.”
“Of course, if he’d done his job right, we wouldn’t even be here.” Gossamer grouses, kneeling to open another locker that holds her railgun. “We gave him the perfect setup; the intelligence department moved mountains to sneak him and that bigass suit of his onto an intercontinental flight that most of the Valiant hotshots were on. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and all he had to do was bring down the flight and kill them all. And he still managed to screw it up.”
“That would’ve killed a bunch of civilians in the process though, wouldn’t it?” Kwyn points out as she snags one of the plasma rifles out of the equipment boxes.
“I mean hey, if that’s what it takes to finally put an end to all this nonsense.” Onslaught says as she yanks her rocket launcher out of another lockerbox. “If we keep on tiptoeing around the issue, we’ll never get rid of them. Can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, right?”
“We should not be stooping to that level.” Ironfist says sharply, clomping into the transport in his basic combat armor. Seems like he’s eschewing the more advanced armors for this mission. “The occasional bit of collateral damage can be expected in our line of work; a lost life here or there is inevitable. But we do not accept mass civilian casualties in the pursuit of our enemies. We will undertake this operation in a responsible manner that preserves the trust that the galaxy has placed in us, even if it increases the difficulty of our task.”
“Speaking of which, and not that I’m complaining, but is there a reason the Anayan altar boy isn’t gonna be joining us for this operation?” Whisper asks, joining us in the transport’s cargo bay as she belts her sheathed sword across the back of her waist. “Is he too embarrassed about his failed ambush to show his face around us? We’re basically cleaning up his mess because he couldn’t get the job done even when it was handed to him on a silver platter.”
“He’s currently in convalescence. Apparently his fight with Songbird didn’t go too well after they were sucked out of the cruiser.” Gossamer says as she finishes assembling and checking her railgun. “His power armor also sustained heavy damage, so he will be out of commission while it’s being repaired.”
“I’m starting to think that his grudge against Songbird is more of a liability than an asset.” Whisper says, checking her wrist pistols. “He had plenty of easier targets on that cruiser he could’ve gone after, but no, he just had to settle a score with the big dog. And what do we have to show for it? All of the Valiant hotshots are still alive, and the altar boy is in the hospital.”
“Thankfully, it is not your job to judge the value of Prophet’s contributions.” Nazka says icily, gliding up the ramp of the transport. “That responsibility lies with the administration, and we will make those assessments as we see fit. Your job is to carry out CURSE’s agenda, ensuring that we help maintain peace and stability within the galaxy, which our current assignment will help achieve, if it is successful. Your time and energy will be better spent focusing on your own performance, rather than focusing on the performance of an outside contractor.” He pulls his glare from Whisper to look around at the rest of us as we gear up. “The same goes for the rest of you.”
“Yeah yeah, we get it. Focus on the mission.” Onslaught says, rolling her eyes as she starts loading up on grenades. “Are we at least authorized to use lethal force? The answer has to be yes, with all this equipment we brought.”
“We are required, at least nominally, to give them one chance to surrender. If they do not take it, lethal force is authorized.” Nazka says as I step into the Axiom suit, and it starts to fold closed around me. “Having said that, I will also remind all of you that this operation will be taking place in a metropolitan environment. Civilians will be cleared from the AO, but we will still be operating in and around an abundance of civilian and commercial infrastructure. If combat breaks out, you are to minimize collateral damage to the best of your ability, though we should spare no effort in bringing down the Valiant. Is that understood?”
There’s murmured assents from around the transport’s cargo bay. As the Axiom suit’s interlocks finish clicking into place and calibrate, I step out of the suit locker, taking a measure of satisfaction from the hefty thump of the metal boots against the transport’s floor. After checking the suit’s range of motion to make sure everything’s functional, I look up to see that Kwyn’s finished gearing up, and is staring at her hand, slowly curling her fingers.
“Hey Junior, you good?” I ask, lumbering over to her.
She looks up at me, then back down at her hand. “…just thinking about the last time we went up against Songbird.”
“You worried?” I ask, tapping on my forearm plate so I can do another check of my suit’s metrics.
“A little bit. A lot bit, actually.” she says, curling her armored hand into a fist. “He obliterated us last time, and he was running solo. This time he’s going to have others with him.”
I take a deep breath, remembering how we’d gotten rolled in the Cradle. “Yeah.” I concede. “Yeah, but this time we’ll have the upper hand. Element of surprise and all that. Plus, I’ve got a Spark now, and you’ve gotten stronger over the last year.” I reach out, planting a hand on her shoulder. “This time’ll be different. We got this.”
She looks up at me, and smiles a littl