PARTIZAN 40: Engine Burn

Episode Description

The Blue Channel and its inhabitants have left Partizan behind. And as it grows dim in the distance, they have time to both reflect on the hard path here and plan ahead to what they hope will be a bright future. But before the moon can disappear entirely, it reaches again. Breaking away was never going to be easy...

This week on PARTIZAN: Engine Burn

///Operation Dossier\\\

//Organizations\\

Organization for the Foundation of the Orion Republic (OFOR): A group of growing import in Orion territory, who advocate for Orion’s secession from the Divine Principality and re-establishment as a league of democratic, merchant republics. Both OFOR and their opposition, the yet-unnamed Principality loyalist faction, have support across class demographics. Many.corporations and independent guilds see OFOR as an opportunity for additional profit, while others believe that leaving the Principality is a risk too great to take.

After Law’s attack on Oxbridge, OFOR has largely relocated in “The Old Old,” a region towards the southern pole of Partizan untouched by Logos Kantel’s miracle.

//People\\


Avar (they/them) and Ryrira (she/her): Members of the Church of the Resin heart. Once Gur Sevraq’s chief of security and quartermaster, respectively. Have a child, M'reb. Onboard the Blue Channel.
Si’dra Balos (Si/Si’s, they/them): During their time in a communications division of the Apostolosian Navy, Si’dra saw the cost of war first hand. Now they dream of a world where people can connect instead of fight. Onboard the Blue Channel.
Jesset City (he/him): Previously worked for Adamant Arms and Manufacturing, Jesset became full time Oxblood Clan lieutenant and then a major figure in Millennium Break. Expert technician, veteran hollow pilot, and Cipher Certified by Stel Nideo. Onboard the Blue Channel.
Eiden Teak (he/him): Soldier and commander in the Sable Court. Wears the wounds of past fights on him with a distinct sort of pride, inherited from his time fighting as an Apostolosian soldier: He’s missing right leg under the knee, and a number of his antlers have been snapped and broken. Wears loose olive drab fatigues, marked by the occult insignia and wards of the Court. Onboard the Blue Channel.
Sabeeha (they/them): Sabeeha is pound-for-pound GLORY’s best pilot, though their specialities also include infiltration, disguise, and sabotage. Brown, light olive skin. Brown hair kept short and wavy, close to their head. Face and body both a little long, a little chubby. Big brown eyes. Slightly bushy brows. Pilots the Aponia.

//Places\\

Barranca: To the north of Obelle lies the Apostolosian province of Barranca, where mediterranian subtropical shores give way to a vast latticework of ravines and crags. There, military bases and civilian settlements sit in the crooks and alcoves, shaded by high canyon walls. Rising above it all is the famed Barranca Loop, a massive suspended cable system that runs up above the atmosphere like a giant bridge, and which allows Apostolos to launch ships and cargo into space. Heavily patrolled and under complete control of Stel Apostolos.

//Divines\\


The Divine Motion (she/her): Long after enemy fuel tanks run empty, Motion continues to power Apostolosian machines of war (like its infamous retinue, the Black Century) and service (including the massive Barranca Loop that allows Apostolos to regularly launch ships spaceward). Ver’MIllion Blue’s rival.

//Things\\


Aponia (Sabeeha’s Hallow): A highly modified Kosmos unit (see below) which is able to transforms into a high-mobility aircraft mode. Though it can be outfitted with a custom, solid-state rifle, this limits its maneuverability and flight length, so Sabeeha often chooses to leave the weapon behind, instead favoring the machine’s built in energy blades, featured on its wings in flight mode, or extending from elbows and knees in humanoid forum. As a holdout weapon, this configuration also comes with energy-powered throwing blades.
Adamant Arms and Artifice Murders: These hollows are built for area denial, especially in space. They shift between two modes, a defensive “closed wing” mode, where heavy metal armor bolts surround their bodies like a cape, and “open wing” mode where those wings spread wide and can be fired. The wings consist of a dozen “feathers” each, with each long flight feather can be fired as a blunt weapon with its own onboard directional engine and booster. These feathers can be used as direct attack weapons, but are often instead used for area denial, blasting off along with many other feathers and then orbiting around a location in order to make the airspace around it deadly. Once Murders are able to deploy a large number of their feathers, an entire operational area can become a death trap.
The Blue Channel: Kal’Mera’s Broun’s corvette. Though it’s rated for spaceflight and features a cargo space large enough to hold at least three hollows, it does not have the ability to break escape velocity on its own.
The Voice of the Exemplar: Howls and echoes through the canyons of the Barranca, where its power is captured by the Barranca Loop.
Modular Base Kit: A collection of materials for the modular construction of an off-world headquarters for Millennium Break. Includes housing, water and air filters, an energy generator, communications equipment, agricultural gear, and basic trade goods (whether to be used as bribes or for the legitimate purchase of land).

//Additional Notes\\

Primary Objective: Escape Partizan

Secondary Objective: Safely extract with the Modular Base Kit

Plot

As they launch, the crew can see an artificial Sphinx constellation displayed just for those taking off, and catch a glimpse of inter-Orion conflict below. Their launch is rocky and difficult.

They now face a week in space. Thisbe, aware of her size, mostly stays in the mechbay, though M'reb gets brought down to see Thisbe at least once. Broun is doing a lot of check-ins, serving as captain—and they've set up an office in engineering. They're working on outlining Gur and Valence's notes. Millie works on zero-G movement and physical training. Eiden works with Jesset to make sure his prosthetics don't break in space; Eiden is generally doing a lot of working out and making sure people are getting their vitamins.

Three or four days in, an object begins to approach them from Partizan: five ships attached to a high speed carrier. Thisbe tries to use her psionic amplifiers but only catches the voice of Motion taunting them. An object strikes the ship—a long pole with an engine (a mechanical "feather"). Millie tethers the damaged Stray Dog to the cargo bay and jumps out so she can make long range shots. She knocks two of the enemies off the carrier. Broun manages to maneuver to avoid shots coming in toward the ship.

By now the carrier is close enough for them to see the Sabeeha in the Aponia and two AdArm Murders. Millie shoots back again, destroying the Murders and the carrier. Sabeeha cuts in close to attack her and the cargo and continues making strafing runs. Broun and Si'dra coordinate to bombard with the ship's machine gun, but Sabeeha evades and strikes back. Thisbe releases delayed explosives from the ship which damage the Aponia.

It flies in close and lands on the Blue Channel in its humanoid form, cutting into it.

Cast

Other Characters