video, backdated to the 2nd; locked from Name (metaplot-related joint post)

[lemontree]

[Jon, a member of the Guard often seen in an armored leather tunic with a full, fur-collared cloak over it, appears today in a loose-necked linen shirt and a pair of plain modern cotton twill trousers.]

The Null are coming. We don't know when, or how. We might have the turn of a moon, or we might have a year.

We ought to assume that we have less time than more of it. [ Also present is Dany, dressed similarly: simply, and for the jungle’s heat rather than the recent tundra’s chill. ] Better to prepare now than to wait any longer and regret the time lost.

[Jon turns his head to watch Daenerys as she speaks, then turns his head back to the camera.]

Back where I come from, I spent many years as a sworn brother, defending my people's lands from a foe at least as terrible as your Null, maybe greater. Now, at home, our home, [(his gaze slides sidelong to Daenerys, as he chooses which word to use)] we prepare for a greater attack. If we fail, it's the end of every living person. We think of what to shore up, what to protect, and where -- what will give all our people the greatest chance of survival.

We have to think about the same things here.

[ Dany listens patiently, but there is a hardness in her face: there is great danger at their door, and she knows better than most that not all are meant for the vanguard. ]

For those who cannot or will not fight, we will prepare the empty units within Delight’s housing to act as shelter. They seem defensible enough for our purposes and should provide a suitable refuge.

[ For everyone else, though? For the citizens of Hadriel who plan to fight the Null? Well: ]

Those aren't the only shelters around the city, but it seems fitting to have more of them. But they can't be the only defensible positions. Anything we can do to make the city more defensible, any way we can make our buildings stronger, we should be working on it. The gods have helped greatly, but we must help ourselves. We must fortify what we can and think of where and how we'll make our stand when the time comes.

What will you do? What can you do? Join us, or work to the same purpose -- the most important thing is that we all have a plan.

What's your plan?

Comments

[soldier_blade]

[Sonya's actually on her way to HQ when she gets the feed, the duel feelings of excitement and dread building in her. This is more her territory, what she's at home with-and it never fails to have her wonder.]

The shelters should have escape routes planned if those inside need to make an escape. A shelter will be useless if the Null breach the defenses and trap those inside.

[Of course, it's a risk either way, but better a chance at freedom than the risk of ending up inside a death trap.]

I'll join the rest of the guard in planting an attack, of course. Till then, we should also reinforce various defenses and escape routes in the city. The Null are machines, even if they can't be brought down like flesh and blood creatures, we can set up traps to slow down or even damage them.

[lemontree]

I'm not sure that we can provide much of an escape. The houses have no tunnels or other exits.

[ Not that they know of, but she doesn't expect Delight's housing to come with secret passageways, either. ]

We plan to reinforce our defenses, but someone with greater knowledge of the streets should map our escape. As you say: we can leave traps along those routes to ensnare the Null while our people flee. There are...many moving parts within this machine.

[soldier_blade]

I can make some smaller maps of the more concentrated areas, and HQ will have maps of the wider areas. [They were more used for planning patrols, but it'd serve this purpose just as much.]

Some of the more limber trees could be manipulated to damage their joints, the ground could be made more uneven so they couldn't move as fast, and vines and other plants could be moved in such a way that even if they were to cut free, they'd have a hell of a time getting through.

[There's something of the ghost of a grin on her face.] I had an uncle who served in a tropical environment like this decades ago, and I did survival training in such jungles. The more gear and 'parts' you have, the trickier it is to navigate, to say nothing of vines, wood and even muddied paths set to slow them down.

[She knew this all too well from her own experience-both good and..well, it was all bad.] As for the escape routes, we'll have to find a way to make them ourselves. The Null might try and trap those inside if they can't find a way to get to us.

[lemontree]

Your experience - and your uncle's - will aid us. [ Sonya clearly knows a lot about the environment either through what she's been through or what she's been told, and she's a soldier, too. She'll be invaluable in everything that's to come. ] In that case, we will use the maps as we're able to plan for escape as best we can. There is only so much to be done by theorizing about what the Null might or might not do.

[ There will be loss no matter what. She has to remind herself of this fact going in. Though she hasn't died yet in Hadriel, the threat posed by the Null in this upcoming fight will be, perhaps, more perilous than anything so far. ]

[soldier_blade]

Will be on it right away.

[Sonya's well aware of this. She's lost too many to take such realities for granted.[ In the military where I'm from, there's a famous acronym used by many soldiers to describe a military operation. SNAFU, meaning Situation Normal; All fucked up, it means the only thing that could be counted on in a mission is for things to go wrong.

Words to live by, I think.

[lemontree]

I agree. [ Despite the situation, the acronym makes her smile. ] That is the truth of Hadriel, and we must be prepared for it.

[ Fortunately, most of its residents seem to know this and are preparing appropriately. ]

What will you do when the time comes? Fight on the front lines?