Gilded Sands 04 — Ignition

IGNITION was the fourth session of Gilded Sands, played on 17th September 2020. It was Dodeka Graft's second downtime. Hot off the tail of an almost-fatal mission, the squad focused on licking their wounds, making repairs for their pasts, and making moves for a better future.

Cast

 * Iskra Garomedon, a regretful soldier. (she/her)
 * Skoryy Feldspar, an ace seeking a different way. (she/her)
 * Nandi Tin, a desperate scout. (she/her)
 * Zoya Gabbro, a nostalgic former smuggler. (she/her)
 * Crystal, a Satellist medium. (she/her)
 * Kaleidos Green, a wounded ace. (he/they)
 * Branka, a snarky resistance leader. (she/her)
 * Eik, a loyal bodyguard. (she/her)
 * Kladi Demos, a nonplussed defector. (they/them)
 * Atreus Falx, a slippery evil doctor. (he/him)

Nandi's Solo Mission
While the rest of Dodeka were busy with their previous mission, Nandi had taken on a solo scouting mission where she ventured into the Osskil Highlands. There, she was stopped in her tracks by unusually active Terrenon patrols, and returns to the FOB to find Skoryy and Zoya suffering from injuries after their raid, and an even more beat-up One-Winged Hussar.

Iskra
In an attempt to clear her conscience in the wake of the massacre she brought to Stervat Services, Iskra goes for a séance (with Zoya as her +1) in Pesok Station, in which a Satellist spirit medium known as Crystal (of Crystal's Healing) reads her (and Zoya's) through a mirror as she calls on Harrox the Grave to relieve their guilt. While Zoya is unimpressed and uncomfortable, Iskra breaks down in tears, and Zoya offers her a hug.

Seeking to further take her mind off things, she joins Nandi on a trip to a farmer's market, having some traditional Terrenon food, and tasting some seeds Nandi buys for her garden.

Later, she goes to meet with Branka and Eik of The Broken Crown in an abandoned Satellist church, with Nandi watching the situation through her scope from afar. Though it seems Branka and Eik are set on turning down Iskra's offer to join forces, and delight in mocking Iskra's royal bloodline, they are won over when she presents them with a salvaged Alexei unit and promises of more support in the future.

Nandi
A mail on her personal terminal, marked with an icon of the Taimu god Uncle Run Tracert, arrives for Nandi one morning. It's a letter from her brother, Geto Tin, a Taimu priest. He expresses his relief that Nandi is alive, but has nothing but bad news about the Dodonan oppression of their homeland. Frustrated to know he was able to track her down, Nandi moves the letter to her spam folder without responding.

Looking to take the deletion of her service records into her own hands, Nandi seeks out Skoryy for help with a plan; drive a salvage car strapped with explosives into the government building in Kleidos that holds her service records. When they arrive, they find the streets of Kleidos to be barren and quiet in the wake of Iris propaganda and the news of the formation of the Argent Canopy, letting them pull of their scheme and escape without much trouble.

When they return to base after everyone's trip to Vow, Skoryy—suspicious about Nandi's lack of presence on their last mission—pulls a gun on Nandi and announces her intent to defect. Nandi tells her about the Dodonan oppression of the Taimu and how they left her for dead, and together agree to defect.

Skoryy
Beginning her downtime in surgical recovery after getting shot in the last mission, Skoryy finds herself with ample time to chat with Zoya, recovering in bed next to her. Recovery is a long and resource-draining process, but eventually—after some mandatory bed rest time—the two get back on their feet, albeit still hurting.

After her excursion with Nandi, Skoryy heads to Vow with the rest of the gang, and follows up on clues from Oko Glass to track down Kaleidos Green. With Zoya at her side, she meets him in the flooded undercity of Vow—and to match her +1, Kaleidos brings the Kappadokios, still wounded from his fight with Dodeka. When Skoryy admits she was the one who brought in Stem Tromara, Kaleidos draws a gun before the two of them can blink, though Zoya draws hers too. Skoryy, unarmed, offers Kaleidos the option to shoot her where she stands if her words don't move him, and she explains their disillusion with working for Dodona. Kaleidos reveals that Tromara is still alive in Iris custody—for now—and an agreement is reached; Dodeka will retrieve her as soon as they can.

Finally, Skoryy makes an attempt to collect some resources for Dodeka, as their stocks have been quickly dwindling. She steals a truckload of supplies in the Ripshaw, though it does not amount to a lot.

Zoya
After an equally resource-intensive recovery period, Zoya invites Skoryy to meet her in a secret location in the desert—a deserted oasis that she's discovered. Zoya tells Skoryy about how it reminds her of her Universal Choir home—the grass under her feet, the plants, and the water, so rare on Aureate—and the two have a quiet, relaxing picnic together.

Zoya spends her time in Vow looking for more clues on the whereabouts of Pasha Marble, sneaking through cramped back-halls and mingling at card tables at the Toporik casino Aureate Grande together with Skoryy. She doesn't find any concrete clues, but the fact that everyone recognises Pasha's name confirms that she's looking down the right avenues.

Mutiny
Arming themselves to the teeth, the squad burst into Kladi Demos' office, declaring their intent to defect from Dodona at gunpoint. They seem completely unphased by their lack of loyalty, though surprised at how soon it happened. They agree to defect with them, but during this meeting, Dr. Falx makes his escape, buying himself time by remotely setting off a nerve agent he'd implanted in Nandi. She's made very ill, but thankfully avoids fatal harm.

Dodeka Graft becomes simply Dodeka, an independent squad. In the wake of this, Nandi begins work on building a testing facility for the FOB, and Dunyasha Sand contacts the squad with another job offer.

Mechanical Notes

 * Dodeka Graft is renamed Dodeka.
 * Dodeka loses the Infirmary FOB upgrade.
 * Dodeka becomes an independent squad.