PALISADE 28: Honesty and Integrity Pt. 1

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Episode description[edit | edit source]

This episode carries content warnings for imprisonment, withholding medical care, chemical warfare and civilian casualties.

The Blue Channel orbits Palisade unhelmed, one of its members sacrificed and two under lock and key in the brig of a ship hiding in the darkness beyond the system’s fringe. Nevertheless, the Blue Channel’s remaining crew attempt to get back to work—and there is work to do, as their allies on the planet below have suffered from Bilateral retaliation. Plus, there is the matter of the new factories popping up across the planet: A new mystery waiting to be investigated…

This week on PALISADE: Honesty and Integrity Pt. 1

They got the devil hidin' in plain sight[Note 1]

Dossier[edit | edit source]

People[edit | edit source]

Continental Countinghouse (he/him): Former host of the Stel Orion-broadcast panel show “CENTER/Line”. Now host of the most watched interview show in the Principality, “Five Stels, Five Questions”.
Routine Rennari (he/him): Half-Apostolsian, scion of a minor Kesh noble house, and the Blue Channel's heavy.
Partial Palisade (he/him): A man who was once a Divine, now living in the shell of a being quite unlike what he once was.
Eclectic Opposition (he/him): A delegate and member of the Cause who left Palisade to spend time working under Exeter Leap before returning to his home planet to investigate the strange factories being built by the Frontier Syndicate
Captain Jev’ari Estano (jev/jev, they/them): Commander of Onyx Squadron and captain of the ship holding Brnine and Routine.
Aleel Verdicate (she/her): Song of Partizan, making her the de facto head of the Church of Received Asterism on the moon.
Particular Emphasis a.k.a. Parti (she/her): Member of Reunion on loan to Grey Pond's communication and outreach division. One time protégé of Black Screen.

Factions[edit | edit source]

The Bilateral Intelligence Service: Formerly called the Curtain, the BIS is a Kesh-operated organization which specializes in espionage, subterfuge, and surveillance. Though it is as secretive as ever, it is no longer the true source of power in Kesh territory. Instead, Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh (he/him) has modernized its structure and operation, and has ensured that it remains well integrated into the Bilateral Intercession’s greater workings—as to better keep one eye on them.
The Frontier Syndicate: A powerful conglomerate with a broad purview, including technology, heavy industry, entertainment, telecommunications, and transportation. Led by Exenceaster March (he/him), the Syndicate betrayed the Pact of Free States and joined the Bilats in order to be part of their colonization efforts on Palisade.
The Pact of Free States: One of the two factions vying for leadership of the Principality, a joint operation by Stels Columnar and Apostolos. Led in name by the Glorious Princept, Dahlia (they/them), but operated in day-to-day matters by members of the original Pact of Necessary Venture, including Rye (he/him) and Gallica (she/her). Though they are reformist in some ways, their primary goal is greater autonomy for each Stel, freedom from the legal restraints, taxes, and oversights demanded by the Principality, with additional deregulation to follow downstream.
The Devotees: A church from the Twilight Mirage that is committed to the worship of the Divine Devotion, which they sometimes refer to as Fervor. Common practices include the regular checking of one’s pulse and multi-day group picnic outings.

Divines[edit | edit source]

The Divine Motion (she/her): One of the founding members of the Pact, the necromantic Apostolosian divine once led its infamous retinue, the Black Century, on Partizan. They were defeated and dispersed, turned into part of Kalmeria, during Operation Shackled Sun.

Mysteries[edit | edit source]

Axioms: Once, these beings were made by a so-called "Post-Divine" as embodiments of particular ideals, supposedly detached from mortal perspective or subjectivity. Now, they are the emanation of one woman's ideals, given perfect, violent form. In this way, The Ingrate is the first of its kind.
Perennial (she/her):  The Principality's so-called 'adversary,' who lives at the center of the galaxy and whose chaotic whims spread through her "Perennial Wave," an ever-present nanoparticle that has recently bonded with Kalmeria.

Contents[edit | edit source]

Opening[edit | edit source]

“

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good Palisade. My name is Particular Emphasis, but you can call me Parti. This is... well, it would normally be where you hear the voice of Black—that’s Black Screen, a.k.a. Baldwin Home, a.k.a. Big Bro—whose words brought so many of us into the mission. And a lot has happened lately, and uh, I guess he wanted me to have his slot? But I can't just get into it without paying service to him. Baldwin, we miss you. You're a hero of the movement. Rest in power. There will never be another.

Um, all right. It’s been a busy week, but let’s begin with a win. If Black were in, with worst undid, he’d kick this off with a celebration, a liquid demonstration. Raise a glass at last for unbound sun, sin undone by Phrygian. Clear sky forecast, their battle won. But I look around the base, and I'm not counting many smiles. Mountin' losses, same old bosses, make victory feel like miles away. Those milder days, when the breeze makes easy afternoon’s opportunities evaporate. I wish I brought good news, but bad news can be useful, truthful, crucial, a wake-up call as we snore, a note slid under door. They said, “Stop rhyming, music’s ours. We got rhythm in a snare.” But we don't care. We’ll slip off-beat for a bar, get a drink, then beat you there.

From the snare trap to the snare drum to that drum magazine. I mean, stop worrying about stacking L’s. Start thinking of what they could be, ‘cause L is a letter, and Black taught us better than to go quiet in hard times. I'll put them to use. Watch me unloose 80 L’s on these next lines.

They’re fully illogical, unintellectual, Bilateral personnel. We’ll wait for a lull, say our farewells, then skillfully toll that bell. Rebel artillery pulling patrols through hell, got ‘em feeling pell-mell. They dilly-dally as we really rally ballistically with pockets full of shells.

Realistically, colloquially, it’s all on the table. Think idyllically. In fact, let’s turn these L’s into dubs! They judged us, then led us right up to the ledge, and then sentenced us to leap. But we’re wed to this Cause, we’ll slam our wedge in their laws, and fight til we make ‘em weep.

Love, Parti.”

Plot[edit | edit source]

Stolen Cameo[edit | edit source]

Brnine and Routine have now been prisoners aboard a Pact ship called the Stolen Cameo for two days. They are in urgent need of medical attention: both are still feverish and Brnine's blood feels hollow. Captain Jev'ari Estano comes to see Brnine and makes them an offer: if they complete two "asks" for the Pact, then they and Routine will receive an antidote to their fevers. Brnine agrees, and Estano leads them to a command room that has been set up for a televised interview. The Pact's first "ask" for Brnine is to participate in an interview for Five Stels, Five Questions.

During the interview, Continental Countinghouse outs Brnine as the terrorist Kal'mera Broun and, via limited self-projector technology, Aleel Verdicate confronts Brnine with footage of themself gassing civilians in Orzen. Brnine struggles to keep their composure and answer the questions. After the interview, Gallica appears and offers them the choice of taking one of the antidote shots themself or having it administered to Routine. They choose to give it to Routine. Gallica leads them on a "tour" that transports them into another ship, the Divine Present's frigate form. Present then teleports far away, to dark space.

Chimera's Lantern / Blue Channel[edit | edit source]

While the crew prepares to leave Chimera's Lantern, Thisbe and Cori take separate walks to different Divines' mausoleums. In Barricade's, Thisbe wonders whether she can do something to help protect Divines. In Loyalty's, Cori connects to a strange vision of Devotion, a deeply sad and tired version of the Divine, and her "shield" tenet loosens. When they reconvene, Cori and Thisbe discuss the questions they both have about the nature of Divine existence and how Divines communicate.

Back on the Blue Channel, the crew gathers at the command deck. Keith's new character, the mole-turned-pirate-turned-private investigator Eclectic Opposition, is already in the room. He says that Exeter Leap sent him and tells the crew that he and Leap have evidence suggesting that new Frontier Syndicate factories on Palisade are doing something related to Motion. Figure calls the crew meeting to order. Hunting traces the signal on a radio ad for Brnine's interview and determines that the Stolen Cameo was on a trajectory out of the system, toward the galactic core. Asepsis interrupts by broadcasting on every screen that all of the other Cause factions are in weakened states. Hunting continues to work on the data as the rest of the crew gets to work untapping factions.

Eclectic tells everyone that he already used his pirate connections to drop off supplies for Carmine Bight. Cori brings rations and MREs to Jade Kill. Thisbe helps Grey Pond coordinate their supply chains. Figure goes to New Oath to help train Rose River's mech pilots, with Gur Sevraq talking to them all the while. While they're there, Figure runs into Partial Palisade and convinces him to join the Blue Channel's crew, at least for a while.

Cast[edit | edit source]

Other Characters[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Lyrics from the song namesake by Noname
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