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Gryphonadmin
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Jun-01-23, 02:32 AM (EDT)
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"Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
 
   OK, so!

I'm not even going to get into what a blank the last few weeks have been because I doubt the details would even be all that interesting from the outside, but I did want to let folks know that Operation BLACKOUT is still a thing. A big, huge, sprawling, possibly slightly out of control thing that may just keep getting longer until it runs into something, like a game of snake, but be that as it may! Here is a piece of a scene which you may find intriguing!

If you were worried that this might be one of those stories where everyone just goes on vacation and has a nice, conflict-free time... well,

don't worry about that.

I'm just sayin'.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


Shepard flopped into the Daytona From Hell's driver's seat, shut the door, slotted the key, and powered up the vehicle. As soon as the systems were finished booting up, she switched the radio to hyperwave mode and raised the Wayward Son on encrypted emergency band X.

"q, it's Gin Shepard," she said when the connection was established. "I have to talk to MegaZone. Urgently."

"Like roger that, hang on a sec. Zoner! Yo! Mini-Shep on line X."

A moment later, the familiar voice of the WDF's Supreme Commander came on the line. "Hey, Gin. What's up? Why are you on the X-channel?"

"I'm in a situation, Captain," Shepard replied, using her most professional tone of voice. As quickly and economically as she could, using the clinical wording as a way to detach herself from the narrative, she explained what had happened the night before.

"Fuuuck," said MegaZone appreciatively when she'd finished. "Are you all right?"

"I'm maintaining," Shepard said brusquely, not wanting to dwell on the subject.

Zoner picked up on the tone at once and replied in kind, "OK. You're the one on the scene. How do you want to play this?"

"If we make too much noise bringing in firepower, it may tip off whoever's behind... whatever this is. If that happens we'll lose them. There's no time, anyway. I'm requesting Article 17 authority to resolve the situation personally."

"Done," Zoner replied without hesitation. "Your SA ID will be live within a minute. The codename for this operation is..." He paused, waiting for the operations computer to assign one. "... BLACKOUT."

Shepard chuckled in spite of herself. "Apt."

"I'll back you all the way," MegaZone continued, sounding more businesslike than Shepard had ever heard him before. "Keep me posted. Use the direct line. If I'm not available, Gryph, Kei, or Yuri will be."

"Roger that. Thanks, Captain."

"Good luck, Gin. Sounds like you could use some."

"You've got that right. Shepard out."

She commed off, sat behind the wheel for a moment in thought, then hailed another station.

"Hello?"

"Terry. It's Gin. I've got an Article 17 here. Grab your gear and get to Thea as fast as you can, but do it discreetly. Com me when you get to Metropolis and I'll pick you up."

There was a momentary silence while the person at the other end didn't ask the hundred and one questions that flashed through her mind, and then she replied crisply, "On my way. Sterling out."

Shepard closed the link, sat back in the seat for a few moments, then got her ID card out of her pocket and looked at it. Sure enough, as Zoner had promised, it had changed. Where before it had identified her as a Midshipman Fourth Class on the Accelerated Academy Preparation track of the WDF's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (Rosalind Franklin Memorial High School Company), it now listed her rank as Special Agent and her branch of service as the Rapid Crisis Response Division. The colors of the insignia had switched as well, from the reversed red-on-white of the JROTC branch to the white delta on red disk of the regular WDF.

Cracking a tiny smile, Shepard put the ID away, shut off the car, and got out. She felt better now than she had at any point in the last few hours. It was a relief and a comfort to be doing something. She still didn't know exactly what the hell that something was, but at least now she had clearance to do it, whatever it turned out to be.


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  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
  RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Sofaspud Jun-01-23 1
     RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Verbena Jun-01-23 5
  RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Peter Eng Jun-01-23 2
     RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive mdg1 Jun-01-23 3
         RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive The Traitor Jun-01-23 4
  RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Zemyla Jun-05-23 6
  RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Peter Eng Jun-09-23 7
     RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Gryphonadmin Jun-09-23 8
  RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Droken Jun-09-23 9
  RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Verbena Jun-28-23 10
     RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Droken Jun-28-23 11
     RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Gryphonadmin Jun-28-23 12
         RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Verbena Jun-29-23 13
             RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Gryphonadmin Jun-29-23 14
                 RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Verbena Jun-30-23 15
                     RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive Gryphonadmin Jun-30-23 16

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Sofaspud
Member since Apr-7-06
421 posts
Jun-01-23, 12:13 PM (EDT)
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1. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #0
 
   ... well, that's intriguing.

Also! Clearly the After-School Special Mission Force has a distinguished pedigree :D

--sofaspud
--


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Verbena
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Jun-01-23, 09:42 PM (EDT)
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5. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #1
 
   >... well, that's intriguing.
>
>Also! Clearly the After-School Special Mission Force has a
>distinguished pedigree :D

Yes, it does! I'm more and more excited for this.

Also, Terry Sterling. Can I just say how pleased I am to see more of the Sterling sisters?


------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge


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Peter Eng
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Jun-01-23, 12:46 PM (EDT)
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2. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #0
 
   After reading this a few times, I get the impression that some people might nickname Article 17, "Mission: Impossible." While the intent is more, "I need support out here," the feel of pulling together a crew of irregulars for a single mission is similar.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


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mdg1
Member since Aug-25-04
1310 posts
Jun-01-23, 06:01 PM (EDT)
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3. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #2
 
   >After reading this a few times, I get the impression that some people
>might nickname Article 17, "Mission: Impossible."

Or possibly "The Global (Galactic?) Frequency."

Mario


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The Traitor
Member since Feb-24-09
1184 posts
Jun-01-23, 07:56 PM (EDT)
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4. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #3
 
   Article 17 is pulling together a bunch of heavily-armed misfits for a mission of dread and baleful import. Article 17b is pulling together the same bunch of heavily-armed misfits for something even worse.

We do not talk about Article 17c.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.

Article 18 is "Senior member of WDF General Staff has an appendage irrevocably lodged in the vending machine in the breakroom."


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Zemyla
Member since Mar-26-08
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Jun-05-23, 09:33 AM (EDT)
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6. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #0
 
   Ooh, a Golden Age story. Even though we know how the Golden Age begins and ends, there's still hundreds of years of stuff happening across an entire galaxy.


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Peter Eng
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Jun-09-23, 02:07 AM (EDT)
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7. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #0
 
   >Shepard closed the link, sat back in the seat for a few moments,
>then got her ID card out of her pocket and looked at it.

After further thought, I like that you can do it like this in text. If this were animated, she'd pull her ID out, and we'd get to see it transform. Visually neat, but one of those moments where you have to suspend belief.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


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Gryphonadmin
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Jun-09-23, 02:45 AM (EDT)
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8. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #7
 
   >>Shepard closed the link, sat back in the seat for a few moments,
>>then got her ID card out of her pocket and looked at it.
>
>After further thought, I like that you can do it like this in text.
>If this were animated, she'd pull her ID out, and we'd get to see it
>transform. Visually neat, but one of those moments where you have to
>suspend belief.

In the interest of full disclosure, there is an earlier scene where, in the film version, it would have been visible in the prior form described here, so it could've been done that way too, if the filmmakers wanted to be Subtle™ about it. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Droken
Member since May-6-08
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Jun-09-23, 10:57 PM (EDT)
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9. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #0
 
   -SO- looking forward to this. Between Golden Age, young Shepard alongside the Railgun, and now a Major Incident requiring an early activation to Special Agent?

This is gonna be -good-.

-Droken

"If at first you don't succeed, bull-
riding is not for you."


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Verbena
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Jun-28-23, 05:22 PM (EDT)
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10. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #0
 
   Separate question, and apologies if someone asked this before. I'm sure we'll get an explanation in the piece, but is Thea an Asari planet? Kind of sounds like a name they would use.

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge


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Droken
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Jun-28-23, 05:36 PM (EDT)
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11. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #10
 
   Thea is where Metropolis ended up after Brainiac had "a plan" of some form. Details and specifics are in the Featured Docs for H2G2: Metropolis.

-Droken

"If at first you don't succeed, bull-
riding is not for you."


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Gryphonadmin
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Jun-28-23, 07:26 PM (EDT)
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12. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #10
 
   >Separate question, and apologies if someone asked this before. I'm
>sure we'll get an explanation in the piece, but is Thea an Asari
>planet? Kind of sounds like a name they would use.

Nope, not an asari planet, although there is at least one asari living there in 2169. (Not really a surprise, you can find them pretty much anywhere in known space.) As noted in Droken's reply, Thea is the planet where the city of Metropolis, Ohio was moved by Brainiac in the year 2020. Said planet was originally in the galactic catalog as Kappa¹ Ceti III, but the inhabitants voted to name the system Harbou and the planet Thea in 2027, in a deliberately tongue-in-cheek reference to Thea von Harbou, author of the 1925 novel Metropolis.

--G.
Among other things, the Metropolitans were tired of people thinking that "¹" in the system's name was a hanging pointer to a footnote, which it is not. :)
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Verbena
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Jun-29-23, 07:03 PM (EDT)
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13. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #12
 
   LAST EDITED ON Jun-29-23 AT 07:03 PM (EDT)
 
>Nope, not an asari planet, although there is at least one asari living
>there in 2169. (Not really a surprise, you can find them pretty much
>anywhere in known space.) As noted in Droken's reply, Thea is the
>planet where the city of
Metropolis, Ohio was moved by Brainiac in the year 2020. Said planet was
>originally in the galactic catalog as Kappa¹ Ceti III, but the
>inhabitants voted to name the system Harbou and the planet
>Thea in 2027, in a deliberately tongue-in-cheek reference to
>Thea von Harbou, author of the 1925 novel Metropolis.

Aha! Thank you kindly. And if there's one Asari living there, that might meet Shepard...yeah. XD

Looking forward to this piece even more. :)

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge


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Gryphonadmin
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21960 posts
Jun-29-23, 09:27 PM (EDT)
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14. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #13
 
   >And if there's one Asari living there, that
>might meet Shepard...yeah. XD

Not that one! She's actually younger than Shepard in UF; in 2169 she hasn't even been born yet. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Verbena
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Jun-30-23, 08:45 PM (EDT)
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15. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #14
 
   >>And if there's one Asari living there, that
>>might meet Shepard...yeah. XD
>
>Not that one! She's actually younger than Shepard in UF; in
>2169 she hasn't even been born yet. :)

Wow! I would have lost that bet big time! Definitely not how it usually is, but then again UF is not Mass Effect.


------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge


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Gryphonadmin
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21960 posts
Jun-30-23, 09:04 PM (EDT)
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16. "RE: Operation BLACKOUT Is Still Alive"
In response to message #15
 
   >>>And if there's one Asari living there, that
>>>might meet Shepard...yeah. XD
>>
>>Not that one! She's actually younger than Shepard in UF; in
>>2169 she hasn't even been born yet. :)
>
>Wow! I would have lost that bet big time! Definitely not how it
>usually is, but then again UF is not Mass Effect.

It's an artifact of how much longer Shepard's WDF career was prior to her gaining command of the Normandy. When she and Liara meet in 2280, Liara's a hundred and six, just as she is when they meet in Mass Effect, but by that point in UF, Shepard's been a WDF officer for a hundred and eight years (Academy class of 2172). So Liara's not that much younger--only 20 years, which isn't so much in the grand scheme of things--but it does mean they won't be meeting when Shepard's 15. Unless time travel is involved in this story, which, spoilers, it is not. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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