Session Eleven — The Long Burn¶
Played: 2026-05-29
Five days of transit. The crew trained, researched, planned, forged weapons, completed the most important body of Talent research in human history, briefed two civilizations, built a cover identity, and found a family that had been torn apart by slavers.
This was the session where the crew became a unit.
Retcon: Kago's Dreams of Mr. Batty¶
Little Batty¶
Before departure, Auntie asked Rin to accompany her and Kago to see "Dr. Victoria." She'd been concerned about something.
Kago was too shy to talk at first — ten years old and nervous — until Rin bundled him onto her lap. Small enough for that, still. From there, safe in his sister's arms, he told them about Little Batty.
Little Batty liked to explore small places and find valuable things. Little Batty loved his family, and his family loved him, though they sometimes worried about him going into tiny spaces. They were always in contact with him and knew he was okay. Little Batty loved to look up at all the beautiful colors of the sky.
Then Kago dug a small, rounded octagonal crystal out from its hiding spot within his Mr. Batty stuffy. He'd hidden it from the Corporate Sons of Bitches.
"Language, Kago!"
"Aww, but Mom! They are Corporate Sons of Bitches!"
"I don't care. Language."
Muttering: "Rin gets to say it."
Rin: "Yes. But we don't say Corporate Sons of Bitches here. We save that for in private."
Victoria, conspiratorially: "Even if we all know that they really are Corporate Sons of Bitches. Deal?"
"Deal!"
The Crystal¶
Victoria had easily won Kago's trust, so he let her hold the crystal. Through psychometry, she saw what it truly was: an emotional photo album. A series of happy memories of Little Batty — the preserved Tiamat individual whose remains Victoria had examined in the cylinder, years ago. Not death. Not warning. Life.
Victoria solemnly handed the crystal back and asked Kago to please continue to keep it safe from Corporates.
Auntie's Lightbulb Moment¶
Rin and Kago went to the Sagan's mess hall for sweets and silliness. Auntie and Victoria remained in medical.
Victoria reassured Auntie that Kago was completely healthy. Then she told her what he actually was: an empathic Talent, like Rin, with a leaning into psychometry, like Victoria herself.
Auntie had been rather busy leading a flotilla and hadn't caught the news. Victoria filled her in on the Tiamat discovery and the Tiamat's constant empathic connection with one another — then explained how it pertained to Kago and the other Mispahk children.
Auntie had a lightbulb moment. "Mr. Batty." "Little Batty." "Their family." Her three children and their older siblings had been using a childish code to openly discuss actual non-Terran life for years.
Victoria explained that Kago would need training to use his Talent safely. She recommended Ujin Kuzai — a Belter with both telepathy and empathy, someone Auntie should feel able to trust. Victoria then contacted Azure and enlisted his help in preserving the entirety of the crystal's memories telepathically. She was now a living backup of the crystal, should its contents ever be lost.
Aboard the Spice Road, In Transit¶
Training¶
The crew stuffed as much training time as possible into their schedule.
Sion and Kai: Sion followed Kai like a puppy, learning kinetics "more responsibly." Kai saved his FAFO moments for when Sion wasn't watching. Sion saved his FAFO moments for that too, apparently, since Victoria had to treat him twice in two days for kinetic exhaustion. Victoria reminded Sion that as an adult, she couldn't tell Rin — but that casual conversation in a limited community meant Rin would find out eventually, and sooner was better than later.
Kyle and Rin: With Kyle no longer working as intel or security, he had more time — which he used to up his sneaking training with Rin. Hide and Seek brought Rin to an abrupt wake one night, where she stopped herself from stabbing Kyle, who was stuck to the ceiling and grinning. Another time, they played "Intruder," where she had to find and subdue him.
Rin and Azure: Both made a point of getting to know at least a subset of the Spice Road's forty crew. Bridge crew, plus whoever they regularly encountered during training.
Azure and Kyle — Shield Work: Azure worked on shield-breaking with Kyle. He realized that with shields as strong as Kyle's, he couldn't break through. With lesser shields, or with Kyle's partially lowered, he could.
Azure and Chavez — Piloting: Chief Pilot Jesus Chavez showed Azure where he could get time with flight simulations so Azure didn't "hurt his baby." Chavez was definitely the hotshot fighter pilot type — excellent with drones and small fighters, excellent with the Spice Road, but his weak spot was medium-size ships. He wouldn't do as well with the Sagan as Azure had.
There was a macho-pilot name-calling exchange between them that ended with Azure calling Chavez a "frog" — Loonie derogatory slang for Earthers. Chavez seemed to find it acceptable, but the empaths all knew Azure was less "into" the banter than usual. Chavez may have crossed a line that wasn't recorded.
Thumper¶
At one point, Rin asked Kai if he'd help her by making a metal baton of approximate mass to the wrench she'd always worn clipped to her belt. Kai knew the wrench was her Dad's.
So he decided to transform the wrench itself into a personalized baton — using only his kinetics.
At first, Rin's eyes bugged out and she nearly grabbed the extinguishers as the heat in the room climbed from the rapidly heating metal. But she settled down after a moment and watched in awe as Kai forged a floating, red-hot baton perfectly. He even added an imprint of her bunny, doing a double-kick with both back legs, at the end of the contoured handle.
While Kai dumped the heat into a bucket of water, Victoria brought him kinetic jellies to snack on — Claris had warned her with "I think you're going to want to check the live feed on Kai's neural monitor."
Rin grinned when she first held her upgraded and personalized weapon, christening it "Thumper."
Victoria's Research: Completed¶
Victoria's extended research rolls regarding the nature and capabilities of Talents finally came to an end. Her total roll and final roll truly knocked the research out of the water, giving her years' worth of papers to publish — or one encyclopedia-sized single paper.
Final Discoveries¶
- The precognitive pattern is present in every Talent to a small degree; it is exceptionally strong in precogs
- Psychometry is almost a post-cognition — very close to precog in brain patterns. A person who isn't blocking themselves can get enormous amounts of information, far beyond what "psychometry" traditionally defined itself as
- Prime levels must be inherent and cannot be achieved via training
- Telepaths have the largest stretched range when they stretch, compared to empaths, kinetics, etc.
- Azure's brain structures are unusual for the combination of Talents he has — increased levels of activity and energy use
The Dissemination Plan¶
Victoria discussed with the group what papers to release and how. After intense discussion of pros and cons — particularly what was most likely to spark violence — they concluded:
Mycroft Holmes receives the research in full. Both so that he might advise Victoria on timing and placement, and so that he is a backup holder of her discoveries.
Gestalt will be taught to every Talent they meet, and those teachings passed on. The argument that won everyone over: people who discover Gestalt independently are likely to burn themselves out or kill themselves. Teaching it properly is a safety issue. The worry was real — Gestalt is a huge revelation and a dangerous weapon in the hands of a rogue Talent — but the alternative was worse.
Talent-reactive tech revelation will go out within Leonidas's Tiamat discovery releases, seeding the idea that it is possible and paving the way for the prototypes in progress.
Talent growth — every Talent they meet will be told it is possible to grow and expand one's Talent. A safety issue and part of Talent birthright. Others will be encouraged to spread the knowledge.
Merge knowledge will be shared with trusted Belters and trusted fellow Talents on Mars/Phobos and Luna. This was the tensest discussion. Merge is a terrifying level of power to unleash — but the crew believes they will need that power beyond themselves, and they're not wrong. The circle stays small until they understand more.
Range limits — the various small professional organizations for Talents will be told about the significantly larger range limits. Belters will also be told.
Talent Detection — Victoria's medical papers will go to the University of Mare Serenitatis. Belters will be taught the practical aspects so more Talents can be safely identified and trained.
Zerker false-flag warnings — information about the "zerker"-alike brainwashing done to Leonidas and "Stewart" will be disseminated around Ceres, to warn the population and put them on the lookout for false-flag "Talent threats."
Azure Briefs Mycroft and Silence Before Dawn¶
Azure took the time to tell Mycroft Holmes and Silence Before Dawn everything.
Silence Before Dawn would be able to spread information among the Luna and cetacean populations. Azure had his usual sass, leading Silence Before Dawn through ever-increasingly shocking information, then ending with:
"Oh yeah, I wasn't the one to figure out how to teleport."
Silence Before Dawn was rendered speechless in shock, and the whales showed up in the link.
"While you're here: thanks for the Care Package. The new wardrobe is appreciated by everyone."
Then he had the cojones to give the whales advice, telling them maybe they should talk to people more about things.
The Ceres Plan¶
As the Spice Road approached the turnover point, Azure commented about feeling rushed. Rin reminded him that Diallo had intentionally given them as much time as they needed. Perhaps now was the time to decide on a rough course of action.
Consensus was easy to reach. Details were rougher at first, until their ability to work smoothly as a team polished the edges of their priorities into a functional plan:
Maximize on Leonidas and Noor's distractions while they can. Go hard, soon. The goal: find the ship. Once they do, that leads to who was on it and what can be taken back. To achieve this, they'll go to Ceres.
- Vance — charm and intel, what he does best
- Kyle — espionage, what he does best
- Victoria and Azure — asking around, using Rin's name and favor to get information. Both are minorly recognizable to Ceres folk.
- Kai — the distraction. He'll make sure he's very noticeable and nowhere near Rin.
- Rin — won't be Rin. She'll be Linnea Saburo, a persona she's built a full (if sparse) paper trail for. "Lin" as a reasonable slip — yes, she planned for that. As Linnea, she can access her contacts for the shadier goods and services on Ceres with less of a target on her back.
The lack of surprise by everyone — especially Kyle — when Rin revealed the cover identity really reinforced her paranoia about ARC. Before, she'd been about 60-40 on "ARC wants us, me in particular, dead." Now she's at 100%.
They killed the adults. They would have killed the kids if they could have. They tried to kill Cristina, Michael, and Sion at least three times that they know of. Rin knows of three suspicious "accidents" in her own proximity, each avoided somehow.
She's now convinced, and a little freaked out.
To add to the Mars distraction, they'll also leak their own news: Talent-reactive tech is unethically stolen Tiamat tech. This will probably be done by Azure, Kai, and Victoria as they "shop for more parts" in Ceres.
Victoria helped Rin "put on her face" in medical — transforming Rin's appearance into Linnea's. With Sion's help, Rin managed an appropriate change of clothes and lift shoes. Sweetie would send Linnea's potential job titles along to Vance, so he could remove Rin's presence from the computer and place Linnea appropriately.
The Damaged Hauler¶
Vance pinged them to suggest they come to the bridge. Right when they got there, the hail went out to all hands to prepare for zero G.
Ahead, drifting, were the remains of a small independent hauler from the Belt — the kind run usually by a family of about six people. Sensors showed it running on backup power, with significant structural damage. Chaff and debris drifted through the area. The exhaust trail was about one day old, off on a different vector Beltward, to a less populated area.
Azure sensed no minds on board. Kai spotted that the meteor defense guns and engines had been destroyed. The cargo bay was open. Rin immediately suspected the ship had been raided, given the damage pattern and open cargo bay. Victoria suggested an EVA to check the interior. Kyle agreed.
Their first training mission.
The Investigation¶
Azure piloted a shuttle over to the ship with the team and their suits. The shuttle appeared to be a fairly standard cargo shuttle. It wasn't. It had missile launchers and fancy attitude control thrusters.
They docked via the airlocks, which despite having been blown or cut open, they managed to get functional enough for an outer door seal. This close, they could see the ship had been forcibly boarded but maintained pressure inside.
The team split: Splishy and Kyle entered through the cargo bay. The rest went in through the airlock, Rin in the lead. Kai stuck close behind her, carrying intense emotions — the guilt of not being there to stop whatever happened to these people, harkening back to a certain day where he wasn't there for Azure.
In the entry area: signs of a fight with a slug thrower. Messy and irresponsible. A body on the floor — clearly a defender, killed by said slug thrower.
Kyle and Splishy reported that the cargo bay had been utterly stripped of anything of value — and stripped by someone who knew what they were doing.
Azure was subdued but in control. He'd already dealt with these demons and kicked their asses.
Victoria's Psychometry¶
Victoria remained near the airlock with Azure, using Kai's taser for Gestalt to power her psychometry.
"It's fizzy!"
The intensity of emotions was already easy for her and Rin to pick up, even at distance. Viewing such recent events was simple for her. In her mind's eye, Victoria saw:
A family group of eight people showing concern, scrambling to prepare as a ship approached them. The airlock stormed by eight attackers wearing a mish-mash of clothing and carrying a mish-mash of weapons — one semi-automatic pistol, shock batons, batons, and one fellow using powerful fists. The semi-automatic quickly took down the lone defender at the airlock, wearing a few scraps of armor. The remainder went quickly: a scramble through the ship, grabbing the family members. The captives were cuffed and manacled, then led off the ship. Cargo removed — anything usable or valuable: food, booze, drugs, a few hidden bits of valuable refined ore.
What Rin Found¶
Rin and Kai found very little signs of scuffle past the airlock. The people who did this were cold, calculated, and efficient. They found the false and real cargo manifests in a hidey hole. Rin also took a couple of booze bottles and some personal items.
Nothing inside the ship was gratuitously wrecked, suggesting a group with discipline. These raiders would be tough to take down.
Everyone quietly acknowledged that they would be taking the raiders down.
The Deep Dream¶
On the shuttle ride back, Splishy shared something with the crew: the cetaceans, too, have had troubles with slavery.
Azure, a little surprised, asked if that was a "one-way ticket to the Deep Dream."
Splishy said yes, it was. Then he sorrowfully indicated that perhaps the Deep Dreamers themselves were treated like slaves, though that was more complicated, he admitted.
Since he could now explain, he did: those who store the Deep Dream — voluntarily or involuntarily — keep the ancient knowledge and histories of the cetaceans, as well as doing things like spotting patterns and making accurate predictions. Severe crimes are typically punished by congratulating the individual for "volunteering" for the Deep Dream.
This is something orcas and dolphins tend to object to.
Following the Trail¶
The shuttle returned to the Spice Road. Diallo and Vance were waiting. The crew gave a quick report and requested that the trail of the traffickers be followed back to its base.
Nothing on long-range sensors — more than two hours before they'd get there. A brief discussion of how to take them on, but without information, they chose not to overly speculate. Kai would use capacitors for quick-burn energy; the plan was at minimum to burn out their engines to prevent escape.
The session ended with the Spice Road on the hunt, Rin becoming Linnea, and the crew heading toward their first real fight as a unit.
Civil War Sparks¶
Spark #14: Victoria's complete Talent research — once disseminated, this rewrites everything anyone thought they knew about what Talents are and what they can do.
Spark #15: Teaching Gestalt and Talent growth to every Talent they meet. The genie is leaving the bottle.
Quotes¶
Azure: "Wow, that's great! You know that great tradition where blacksmiths forgo using fires or forges or anything like that, and instead heat metal by kneading it in their bare hands?! ... Yeah." (Kai laughs at himself and how he got caught up in the moment.)
Azure: "Oh yeah, I wasn't the one to figure out how to teleport."
Azure: "But that was a laundry list! Let me give you Story Time with a tale of the first interplanetary brain surgery!"
Victoria: (using a taser for her first Gestalt) "It's fizzy!"
Kago: "Aww, but Mom! They are Corporate Sons of Bitches!"
Mechanics¶
| Event | Roll | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria's final research | Extended test | Exceptional success | Years of publishable work; completed the research arc |
| Azure shield-breaking (Kyle) | Contested | Cannot break full shields | Can break lesser/partially lowered shields |
Note¶
Session ended mid-pursuit. The Spice Road is tracking traffickers to their base. Session Twelve picks up with the approach and assault.