@leo.fitz

[retravel]

Hi everyone,

It's time again for the irregularly scheduled update on the shadowy conspiracies surrounding our spacetime displacement.

If you don't already know me, I'm Leo Fitz, one of the arrivals from the first transport. Prior to being here, I was an engineering and technology operative at SHIELD, an American extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency. Myself and several others have been investigating the circumstances of the fire and the nurse's death, with the generous aid of Gaby, El, and Morningstar's contacts.

Debris samples from the apartment site collected by Kylo (@kylo.ren) and I contained the expected signs of fire damage as well as a significant oddity: Residue left by an organic material. While the residue was too insubstantial and damaged for a full chemical analysis, it showed matching markers to the samples of the smaller creatures of unknown origin (designated 084s), previously tested by Kylo through Morningstar.

At great personal risk, Katelin (@katelin.philips) and Marcos (@marcos.diaz) also questioned the morgue attendants. In doing so, we learned the following information:

1. Our nurse suffered blunt force head trauma, noted as his cause of death prior to the fire reaching his body. Such an injury occurs most often by accident, as in the case of a car crash, or when an object is used to bludgeon the skull, as in the event of a homicide.

2. I'm inclined to classify this cause of death as suspicious, and it seems the local authorities agree, with a group of individuals in possession of NAFD Forensics identification having carted off the corpse before we arrived. Additionally, records of the nurse's collection and autopsy have been scrubbed, much to our morgue attendants' surprise and alarm.

Further investigation shows that all of the nurse's data has been wiped, as if he never existed in the first place.

Maybe this only confirms our suspicions of foul play and establishes a concrete link between the fire and the creatures. To me, it guarantees that we are dealing with an organization capable of using, coercing, and erasing individuals, even those who have proven useful to them in the past. Everything we do in pursuit of answers is a risk, so please be careful as we work together to solve this.

— Fitz

Comments

[strove]

[It's a question she should have considered in this light sooner. Clarke has for Morningstar. As much as there may be an ideological bent to their actions that has appealed to many among their group, Clarke feels like people actively overlooked the violence. That's not to say that she isn't capable of it. No, it's the fact that she is.

So, there's that.

How does she apply that same reasoning to the people who died to "protect" the goods? And should she apply it that way?]

We'll need to see what types of groups inspire that loyalty in this world. Morningstar is one. Who else would do that? The political outlook for this world is far more neutral than I've ever experienced.

[One nation under all, so to speak. It stands out. It also makes this line of inquiry difficult.

But it is one she can happy tackle herself. In all of the projects she's seen and suggested to others—and watched even more pursue on her own—this is possibly one best suited to her. To someone with her experiences.

Where is the drive to fight a war here? Or a battle akin to one? In her world, that shoot out would be enough to be considered a battle. Enough lives were taken. Enough people were lost.

So ... what then? And does Morningstar struggle with the actions they took that day?]

[retravel]

And yet there is another group treated with the same uncertainty, despite the hundred or so megacities and colonies united under its banner, if you dare to ask after them in this city.
Known for their nearly anonymous handling of circumstances and consigned for life to the job. Erasable, loyal.
A fondness for large, black armour that ought not go unnoticed, if you can remember our initial guards.

[ Is that enough? Is it a coincidence — intentional mimicry of a known entity's style? El had said it didn't look like their modus operandi, but for all they know, El is a medium-level company Joe who lacks the intel to confirm that.

Everyone is fallible, even their handlers. ]

Historically, the UNA are the key adversary of Morningstar.
Perhaps Morningstar even thought the initial shipment of human cargo — the supposed weapons transport — was one for their long-standing opponents, and thus marked a breakthrough worth bleeding for, on both sides.

[ It's not nothing, even if making it something requires further evidence, like everything else. People have posited that their initial transport was going to be a peaceful one, too, but Fitz remains unsure. Why fight Morningstar so resolutely? Because where they took their cargo mattered — perhaps more damningly, they knew to keep the cargo away from Morningstar, regardless of the cost. ]

[strove]

You're forgetting the part where that proved incorrect. But you have to look at it from another way. [She's breaking this down because she's had this conversation with Rey more than once.] It may have read as similar to UNA because it used similar channels, similar techniques. That's how Morningstar drew that conclusion, not the other way around. Given that, they found an unexpected discovery. I think it may be someone with similar resources, or someone who's able to take advantage and manipulate similar channels of information.

There's a reason why I've been trying to understand how corporations work. These resources must be allowed to move around because the government has people in positions who are meant to look the other way.

Does that sound right?

And soldiers take orders. Not always. But I don't think the UNA are an independent entity here. It's in their name.

The bigger question is: if Morningstar didn't exist, what would the UNA be around for? If you're saying they're in their positions because they've inspired loyalty.

[Clearly this world does need soldiers, but her understanding of Morningstar is that they're nowhere near as established as this governing body.]

[retravel]

Not forgetting a thing.
It hasn’t proven incorrect.
You can’t prove anything incorrect.

[ He said as much to Clarke before, when they were discussing spacetime. this is where others occasionally make him tired, with a need for absolutes that strikes him as counterproductive in their pursuit of nebulous answers. Fitz will continue advancing any theory with an iota of evidence and play devil’s advocate regarding what they think they know. ]

Reverse that sentence. I’m drawing a comparison precisely because of their ability to inspire devotion, not because they stand equally in the public eye.
As a soldier of a kind myself, I think there’s a touch more to it than taking orders.
And I’m not saying this is an answer to our questions, but it’s unwise to assume we understand the UNA and its place in this world, or that our Morningstar handlers know all, particularly when the latter has also told us how intel is segmented and anonymised to prevent compromisation.

[strove]

Your theory predicates itself on the UNA being an independent entity, when you can look at who's calling the shots. It's not the UNA that inspires that devotion.

It's the United Nations.

[That's the point she was trying to make. Perhaps the UNA has gone rogue, but they haven't proved that yet. They need to start there and work their way down.

Clarke recalls when her people tried to argue with Anya—or even Indra—to do things or make decisions that only Lexa could make. They'd be foolish to make the same mistake here.]

[retravel]

I disagree, and I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this.

[ not a bad thing, when they've got a lot of ground to cover from various angles. ]

The UNA doesn't work transparently, not in the way other organisations tied so closely to a cause tend to do — up to a point, of course. I won't put joining up as down to a love of Queen and country alone.

[ consignment for life is beyond the norm, and the UN isn't popular enough topside to warrant that, in his estimation. ]

[strove]

I'm not trying to say it is, but I think we'd be foolhardy to believe they work independently of the government.

[She phrased it poorly, in short.]

[retravel]

[ theorising the lot of this is a mess, and he rarely says things in the most concise or clear way possible. they're all just trying their best. ]

And I never suggested they did, though I wonder if they have robust checks and balances in place.

[ signs point to no. ]

[strove]

I'd say that depends. I've seen how a guard can keep order, and this world depends on the image of that.

The "balance" may be permissions that are in place.

But we'll have to see them in action. Outside of the heavily armed guards who were there when we first got into an accident, all they've been known for is attacking a monster.

[They need more evidence. More experience. More everything. And if there is none—well. That can be something, too.]