>>@SGT | TO: @ALL.

[byhand]

I usually reserve these communications for private networks, but it seems necessity has hastened our meeting. For the safety of myself and my family, I would be of no uncertain gratefulness if you would refer to me as Sargent, and little else. Though I am sure, with time, some of you will come up with more colorful nicknames.

Pleasantries aside; welcome, new faces and old, and I must ask this with all seriousness and kindness: What have you done?

Things are moving at the wrong speed. The prognosticators were not expecting to compensate for such a load. Several droids have begun misfiring, our protochron readouts are gaining sentience, a prophet is missing, and the birds are growing increasingly agitated. This is not the series of events your ancestors knew, much less my progeny.

To put it simply: things are not moving apace. I cannot say for sure if this is your influence, or the influence of an outside power, or perhaps both. And yet:

Mary Wollstonecraft, who was not supposed to enter Paris until next month, is already here.

The King's Trial has not even been proposed by the revolutionary government.

Mirabeau sleeps still in a place of honor.

I will put more work into discovering the source of this snarl in history. But you must be warned: every action you have here changes the lives of untold million not yet born. Tread carefully, for as the poets say: you walk upon dreams.

Comments

[byhand]

I cannot decide if that answer is delightfully optimistic or painfully naieve, or perhaps I am simply too old to appreciate the beauties of either. Power, I fear, is power; designed to make only the benefactors of the powerful more safe and secure.

The kingdom, the empire, which you refer to as The Regency, is something of a monolith in and of itself. It is an empire, hosting multiple political factions, ethnicities, townships, colonies, companies, libraries... I cannot disagree with them all, even now. In truth, the majority of the empire is something I worry for. But I cannot help these scattered people, fed lies until they burst with patriotic fervor, until they offer up their freedom and justice with open arms. If there is one organization to winnow down my doubts toward, I oppose the junta that caused much of the pain and damage we see today. Those are my enemies, and I regret it dearly, for many are soldiers brainwashed from an early age, never given a chance to know better, choose different, try harder.

I cannot leave something that is my life without dying, and I am very fond of life. All men must die, your people say, but not all of us are men.

[dorzalta]

Or perhaps jadedness tinges your sight. It can be cruel at times, but we do what we must to protect our people. Have faith, Sargent, not all those who yield power are as you imagine. In fact, I can name a mutual ally who would leave you pleasantly surprised.

How, then, do we defeat an enemy that's bled its taint into the hearts and minds of so many? It's one thing to offer choice, to have the defeated join our side. They do so willingly, then. It's entirely another to fight an opponent who believes with every piece of their being that they defend what is theirs.

Could you not travel time to stop this brainwashing from ever occurring?

[ She's become quite skilled at sending her thoughts faster, thanks to all the mind ravens shared with Jon. Still, there is a hesitation as she reads and rereads his words. ]

Valar dohaeris. And so you serve instead. I wonder if not a man, what does that make you?

[byhand]

A heartening thing to hear. I am perhaps grown too old and tired to see the light through the keyhole, so to speak.

We wear them down. Of the types of war you have encountered, have you ever heard of the style known as guerrilla?

We can travel through time, but our travels only aid us as much as what we do with them. The enemy expects such movements, posts guards, spies, and safeties. They protect their assets, just as we protect ours.

Clearly if I am not a man, your highness, I must be a monster.

[dorzalta]

I'm unfamiliar with that term, Sargent. Wearing them down sounds somewhat passive. I hope that's not to be the case?

Such as what we've seen in Paris thus far? Does COST monitor our worlds, as well to protect us and our people?

[ This threatens to veer off into ideas that threaten to make her head spin. ]

My question was not meant to offend. Your phrasing and distinction made me curious. Still, there are far too many men who are monsters. I've yet to see cruelty about you that would suggest you are as well.