all i see is a fake revolution [open]

[securityconsultant]

Who: Murderbot and possibly YOU!
Where: Various places along the train; Quiet Carriage, as a starter!
When: Nebula 25-on.
What: Unhappy with the events on the station, Murderbot attempts to debrief those involved and gather a bit more information while also trying to figure out a plan moving forwards to Deal with the Void Ministry.
Warnings: kanye shrug

---

They'd been tricked.

It wasn't the fact that it happened so much as they'd fallen for such. It had fallen for such. Murderbot - Rin - really, really hated the feeling of being tricked in such a way, and the fact that everyone was all right meant nothing. It almost felt angrier for such; all this worry, all this shit, and for what?

So a bunch of assholes could interrogate them and toss them back out when they were done.

To keep itself from getting too frustrated, Murderbot doesn't bother with the comms. Considering it's about to do what it hates most - initiate social activity (though 'social' is used loosely), a couple signs will do-

DEBRIEFING SIGNUP

-with a location being one of the quiet cars, and timeslots available for anyone who bothers doing so. Murderbot will be in one of the quiet coaches to 'conduct' these, which really boils down to it staring grumpily at whomever's across from it for a few moments before beginning, voice as flat as a board;

"What happened."

Between its own 'interviews', it remains in the quiet car just...staring at the wall. Outwardly, at least. Inwardly it's trying to piece together the fragments of knowledge, and occasionally it can even be found in the library car, searching for anything related to the Void Ministry. Because, quite frankly...

It can't not consider them a security threat.

Comments

[monkeyinthewrench]

Debriefing? Sure. Okay, whatever. Jake can handle it, probably.

And he immediately starts to regret it when he sits down.

"...geez, the other interrogation this week was a little friendlier," Jake jokes, trying to crack a smile. It doesn't quite work.

"Anyway. Got knocked out in the chaos on the first day, somehow. Woke up in a white room. They scanned me, I guess, picked up my name and age from the ticket. Wanted to know what we'd been doing and if I was in distress. I mean...I wasn't, and I told 'em I didn't know much, but they insisted. Asked me about the birds, and where the Express came from."

He'll catch his breath a moment here.

[securityconsultant]

Yeah, that face? That face is someone who doesn't do friendly. Murderbot just stares, deadpan, for a few moments, before taking in how Jake continues. Right, white room...

"...so what'd you tell them?"

[monkeyinthewrench]

"The truth. Or at least what I know to be the truth. That the train came from Enrara, and that world's been so thoroughly wiped out that no record of it exists anymore."

He sighs.

"I know people are gonna call me stupid for that, but...they need to know that this is real, and it could happen to them. Or us. We're fighting something much bigger, and they're going to need us. So I tried to show them that they should work with us, not against us."

[tactlesstantei]

[Masumi's up for a debriefing. She needs to get info about what just happened out anyways, so this is as good a chance as any.]

They kidnapped me from the 'mission' on the second day, forced me into an interview about the train and recent events like what happened at Diagad, and then locked all the interviewees up in a holding room until they were done with no way to tell anyone what was happening.

The people doing the interviews were weird too, they had these full body armor suits and masks and kept using this calming power during the interview.

[securityconsultant]

'Calming power'? [you Have its interest]

[tactlesstantei]

Yup. When they entered the room there was this feeling of dread and fear, but it went away after I agreed to answer their questions. I’m not sure what kind of calming power it is, but they kept using it every so often during the questioning, to calm or reassure me I’m guessing. It was unsettling.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi twitches his tail, staring back at Murderbot with a frown. Then he slides some of the blank forms he'd been given across the table, ones that asked for names, system numbers, a section for filling out details; a form, like all such forms, indicating bureaucracy.

"Shit happened." Metaphorical, but it felt literal enough.

[securityconsultant]

Oh. This is something. Murderbot's eyes seem to light up just a bit when it's given the forms, and it'll scan them quickly while committing the details to its long-term storage.

"That's obvious." Geez, though. This may as well have been conducted within official sectors for the details in here. (To be fair, it's still not on top of how voidspace conducts itself, but...) "Did everyone get these?"

[jingyeets]

"Don't think so. The... what were they calling themselves again? Investigators? Whatever, they were interrogating with emotional something or anothers in the room." He shrugs his shoulders, because he'd noticed the outside emotions without caring about them.

Hell no he wasn't going to calm down for those.

"They'd asked if I had anything else to say, it ended up being a question of, what if I do later? One of them left and came back with these forms. I also got a pen."

The pen is produced from his robes and slid across to it, utterly unremarkable cylinder of metal it is. And the pen is, in fact, just a pen. A pen that might technically count as stolen by now.

[wewillwewill]

Elidibus stops by, though it might not be on the first day; he'd been doing reviews of his own. He's back in his host body and remains standing in the room of the quiet coach chosen by Murderbot to conduct these reports.

Call it professional courtesy.

"In the most simple form, the station was a trap to lure the Voidtrecker Express to a false rescue mission. Whether there were any to rescue in the first place remains unclear. By the time we were introduced to the scenario, it was nothing more than a scenario, likely designed to observe our capabilities and problem solving skills under duress. I recommend considering any of our investigation and findings as well as the encounters in the space station itself to be nothing more than a fabrication."

He nods and then allows,

"Though perhaps not without considering what happened to the people who should have been on the station prior to our arrival."

Some of the details were, after all, oddly elaborate. The fanfiction journal for one.

[securityconsultant]

Second or even third day is fine; Murderbot, even it half wants to, isn't going to chase people down. At least not at first. It's busy going over what it has already, and when Elidibus enters, it regards him in silence.

(Mostly, it's just amazed that someone actually seems to be half-serious about the debrief.)

"The trap part is obvious, now." Though it may or may not have had its suspicions during. "Did you learn anything about the people who were doing this, though?"

[wewillwewill]

"It was obvious then," Elidibus counters. During, if you want to split hairs, but it's clear the Ascian probably had more than suspicions during the 'mission'. "But I wanted to be clear for the sake of your report. And it is likely anything that seemed relevant while searching the spacestation was fabricated to test us."

Murderbot did ask for a debriefing. That does mean covering even the obvious.

"Hm. Only possibilities. I'm inclined to believe they were speaking truthfully of their claim to act on behalf of the Void Ministry. Whether that is in our favor or not remains to be seen. If their words to me were correct then we have no rights to representation under their current laws and are largely at the whim of their governing body's generosity toward our circumstance."

Elidibus then studies the one before him. "What have you have gathered about these Inspectors from others who came to your briefing?" If indeed anyone showed up yet, though it has been a day. Perhaps Murderbot fared better than he in asking nicely.

Debriefing

[schrodingersghost]

"You're kind of bad at this, huh."

1/2

[securityconsultant]

2/? i lied

[securityconsultant]

3/?

[securityconsultant]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4/done

[securityconsultant]

"Are you going to tell me what happened or not."

[schrodingersghost]

"Sure, sure. I'm just saying adding a please or something when asking people about their possibly traumatic kidnapping experience might not be a terrible idea."

Danny shrugs.

"But honestly, there's not much to say. I got grabbed, got asked a bunch of questions by the same weird government type guys from before, and then got dumped off in a room with everyone else. Pretty much my most boring kidnapping ever."

[yondu]

Despite not being one of the people that was taken in, he's got an interest in it. He's been researching it for months. Not just for the desire to build void craft to escape, but for this inevitability. And that it slipped past him chafes him to no end.

He doesn't give much warning, he slams a few books down in front of Murderbot. The Founding Six, A Void Military, a book of architecture that he'd kept for himself called Open Spaces: The architecture of System #392, as well as a couple of related train and treaty books to go with it.

He pulls up a chair and without saying a word, opens it to a page showing a person in a mask and slides it across to Murderbot.

Then, after it has time to be noticed, he asks. "Did the rooms have doors or entrances whatsoever?"

[securityconsultant]

 
 
 
Huh.

Murderbot looks down at the books, up to Yondu, then back down at the books- specifically, the one with the mask. It takes it, looking it over with a frown.

"From what they've said, they were all kept in one room- no doors or exits. A wall of monitors, some chairs, cots, a place to make food. I'll ask the next person to describe the mask," it adds, tapping the page. "And follow up with a few others."

But this? This is a start. This is firm information that it didn't have before.

[yondu]

"This was the system that was part of the Ministry's start. I've been tryin' to get ready in case we came across the Ministry for a long time. My plans were either to fight, buy time, or run..."

He pulls out a sheet of paper, handing it over, a list of books.

The History of the Void Ministry
History of System #23
History of System #392
Numbering the Void
Laws of the Void
Famous Voidtrains through the Ages
Great Trains of the Void: Issue One Issue Four
Empire of Stars Series
What You Need to Know
Bhifve: A Biography
Missing Worlds
The Void Ministry: A Photo Essay

"Most of these should be available in the library still. A couple are fiction but might have somethin' in the way of truth. Found some ways we might be able to call for representation should we need it. Ones what broke laws in the past an' some idea of what laws they broke. Ones which are declared humanitarian."

He folds his arms on the table. "...An' I still didn't notice the bastards under my damn nose...."

[subcircuits]

Like a good soldier, Devero signs up for a debrief; like a good soldier, he reports promptly for his timeslot. He ducks a little as he steps into the designated quiet car, and if he's surprised to see it's Rin running debriefs, he doesn't show it.

He sits, and-- before Rin can initiate the interview-- says, "So that whole op was a shitshow, huh?"

Insert Gordon Ramsey 'finally, some good reporting' meme here

[securityconsultant]

Devero, at least, has shown enough capability in the field - that Murderbot's seen firsthand - that it's looking forwards to this. As much as it could look forward to any of this, anyway.

"We were baited, and we took it without hesitating."

[subcircuits]

In the same way, Devero's looking forward to it too. A chance to discuss and strategize with someone who's whip-smart and has good judgement? Yes please.

"We sure fucking did," he says bitterly, folding his arms and staring out the window at the void flickering by. "Not that we had much say in it. Train's the one that answers the calls."

[firewalled]

Rich doesn't really bother with the sign up sheet, but he does poke his head in the quiet car, a little put off by Rin's clear annoyance.

He doesn't leave, though, as much as he considers it. Instead, he just tries to give a smile (though whether that succeeds at easing the android is anyone's guess) before offering a shrug.

"Just the usual kidnapping and interrogation as a crucial intergalactic crime witness, or whatever. They didn't do anything dangerous. I think they were trying to help?"