PALISADE 20: In Their Fear Pt. 1

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Episode description

This episode carries content warnings for mention of blood, discussion of mass destruction/death, discussion of medical treatment, mind reading and medical coercion.

The wheel turns, for the crew of the  Blue Channel, there hasn’t been time for reckoning. Instead: a funeral; a  room with questions in it; the front steps of a church; another room, different questions; a message, contrite and frightening; somehow, a few small moments of real connection.

And above it all: Something is wrong with the sun.

March on soldiers, I’m your Queen / The ambassadress of beauty I’m told

Dossier

Organizations

Violet Cove: The Dim Liturgy claim to have seen the Divine Devotion's arrival coming in their sacred text: A battered and corrupted backup of Crystal Palace's final predictions for the future. Now the two cults work together to oust the Bilats... and perhaps to do more intriguing things, as well.
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.

People

Griesel Sunset (he/him): Coriolos' father. A zealous Devotee. Recently deceased.
Zedd Z. Izzard (he/him): Lovable dirtbag chef. Works in main hall's mess hall. Knows everyone’s favorite drink and most people's favorite meal. Satisfactory pilot. BIS Spy.
Stargrave Elcessor (she/her): Leader of the Bilateral Interecession’s occupation of Palisade, assigned personally by Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh. As a Stargrave, she has been granted the means and “right” to detonate the star at the center of Palisade’s star system if she determines that those here are an existential threat to the Principality.
The Witch in Glass (she/her): A former scion of Kesh who, after knitting a bond with the adversary Perennial, came into control of the broken body of the Divine Past, which she has renamed the Reflecting Pool. Rules over the Crown of Glass, a city-state on the southeastern reaches of Palisade. A shaky ally of Millennium Break. Haunted by an old foe.
Connadine (he/him): Commander of the BIS on Palisade. An expert in psychological operations and folklore. As a composer, his opus is the Adagio, a plan to get everyone on Palisade operating in ways not only predictable, but scripted. As a conductor, his orchestra now turns towards the second movement.
Saint Decario Dicario (he/him): Devoted Devotee warmonger and one-time lover of the Twilight Mirage rockstar Teleos Triton Tanager.
Elle Evensong (she/they) - Elle arrived to Palisade along with the first wave of Devotees, making a name for herself as a cunning combatant and clever commander. She became a poster child for Twilight Mirage's support of Palisade (and, for members of the Dim Liturgy, a prophesied bridge between the past and the future). But as the war began to heat up, she seemed to vanish into the background. Pilot of the Cataphract.
Saffron Septet (she/her):  A doctor from the Twilight Mirage who lives as a digital consciousness, spread across a number of bodily forms including a heavy Torch Unit, a small motorcycle, and a unique and specially-crafted surgeon body.

Places

Diadem Gravtrain: While the vast trench-city on Palisade's equator lays abandoned, Kesh has reactivated its railway via an operations center in Carmathen.
Tintagel: A city and fortress that marked the Fabreal Duchy’s farthest reach on Palisade’s southern continent. Stargrave Elcessor uses its palace as her operations center and home when she is on planet.
Brecheliant Forest: A vast, mysterious forest on Palisade’s southern continent said to confuse even the most experience of travelers.
The Paint Shop: Sitting atop the central peak of Steeple Catterick, most people assume the Paint Shop to be no more than an artist commune where visiting artists collaborate on eccentric and avant-garde work. In truth, it is both a manufactory and front for the Bilateral Intelligence Service.

Divines

Asepsis (it/its): The final living remnants of a Divine who pursues its particular vision of purity at the cost of everything else. Kept, studied, and utilized by Captain Kalvin Brnine. Recently confounded by BIS spy Zedd Z. Izzard.
The Divine, Arbitrage (it/its): The amoral machine turned de facto treasurer keeps the Frontier Syndicate a step ahead in all matters of commerce. Sole minter of “glint,” a newly popular currency on Palisade.

Mysteries

The Iconoclasts: Something beyond the human, desperate to eradicate subjectivity itself.

Contents

Opening

“

Griesel Sunset. No accounting of our lost brother, our lost father, our lost friend could be complete without talking about his love. Griesel's love. He had a great number of loves, didn't he, folks? He loved his family, some of whom are here today. He loved his coworkers, he loved the Cause we fight for, he loved to fish, he loved to drive his truck, he loved to play his guitar. I like to think he loved me too, but more than anything else he loved Devotion.

Griesel wasn't part of the first wave of fighters who came from the Brink five years ago. But he waited not in cowardice, not in fright, but in love. Devotion sometimes moves slow.

Devotion to Devotion means putting others first.
Devotion to Devotion means knowing your worth.
Devotion to Devotion means drawing a blade.
Devotion to Devotion means having no shame.

Yet some people in this room, they draw up their collars.
They hide behind careful words and donated dollars.
You're loveless and curt. We're lower than dirt,
A machine well-greased.
Our blood's on your shirts but you call us a cult.
We're useful, then we're deceased.

Griesel knew this. He fought for you anyway.
He fought for you in the dark. He fought for you in the day.

Devotion to Devotion means putting others first.
Devotion to Devotion means facing the worst.
Devotion to Devotion means moving with motion
that's confident, a notion of loving emotion.
Devotion to Devotion means opening up your arms
and letting us in. We're not marked by sin.

We're believers. If you'd known Griesel, you'd know.
We're believers. It's just that we know what we know.
And what we know is that real victory carries a price.
Blood for blood, a little quid pro quo, and we're willing to slice
ourselves open.”

Plot

Stage-Setting

Strange things are happening in the Palisade system. People see things that look like shooting stars streak across the sky, then freeze in place. Civilian settlers arrive in droves. The air feels oppressive and too hot. Out of nowhere, the sun dims and develops a "red band of light" around its middle, panicking both wildlife and POWs from the Bilateral Intercession. Rumours spread that Stargrave Elcessor has gone mad.

The Cause receives Stargrave Elcessor's ultimatum: she has armed the Stellar Combustor and will detonate it if any movements are made against her, the Combustor, or the Bilateral Intercession. She will only disarm it once the leaders of the six factions of the Cause have turned themselves in. Cause leadership orders the Blue Channel not to engage.

Downtime

Mustard Red assures the Blue Channel that Elle Evensong is a double agent whose loyalties lie with the Cause.

Most of the crew gathers to discuss their plan of action. Phrygian wants to kill the Stargrave, and Cori wants to give Gucci and the other Cause leaders up to the Bilats. When Brnine disagrees with Cori's suggestion, she storms out, and Figure quietly slips out after her. Brnine receives a text from Jesset saying he doesn't know what to do, and they text back sympathetically.[note 1]

Figure finds Cori in a nearby hallway shoveling fries into her mouth. She asks them how they were resurrected. Suspecting they know why she's asking, they tell her that if she asked the Witch to bring back Griesel, and if the Witch agreed, then Griesel would be beholden to the Witch the same way that Figure is. Cori implies that the only thing that matters to her is that he not remember how he died. Figure hugs Cori and tells her they will do anything to help as long as she doesn't seek out the Witch. Cori and Figure's Gravity clocks about each other both advance to +2.

Later, in the infirmary, Saffron chisels scorched concrete off of Figure's body and clears out the smoke trapped inside him. As this happens, Figure feels the Iconoclasts trying to fight their way out of him again: the Witch has unlocked their power and is trying to open Figure up from the inside out. Figure takes the Burden "Faulty". After Saffron is done with Figure, Phrygian has a talk therapy session with her to begin to address their war-weariness.

Cori and Brnine attend Griesel's funeral. After the ceremony Elle brings her a lemonade and asks her how she's doing. Cori tells Elle that they don't have her fooled; Elle expresses surprise that Cori still believes in the dogma about Devotion, which they call bullshit. They goad Cori and she punches them in the face. Brnine picks Cori up in their hover car and drives her back to the Blue Channel, and they have a little heart-to-heart about grief.

Thisbe propagates plants from clippings in the hydroponics garden. While Cori and Brnine are at the funeral, she goes to the Twill settlement impacted by the conflict in "Upon Our Grace" to help the people there. They rely on her to uproot plants that have been determined to be irretrievably damaged.

Cast

Other Characters

Footnotes

  1. ↑ JESSET: I don't know what to do
    BRNINE: 🫂
    JESSET: 🫂
    BRNINE: 📞⏰
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