[ Netwok Video Post ]

[silenziobruno]

I just think the others might want to know about it... [ Alberto is talking to someone off-screen once the video starts, and it honestly could be anybody: Grogu, Omega and Simba are in the mines and not just about anywhere. They had the necessary crystals to turn on the machines and were small enough to fit through the tunnel.

Drake, who joined them a bit later, isn't too happy with their affairs. He can be seen in the background short of tearing his hair out in frustration, while a few feet from him, Grogu looks really pleased with himself. Alberto is doing his best to aim the camera of his device to the many, MANY new active monitors and ignore Drake interrupting him at every turn. ]

"Ciao, everyone! Look what we found when we turned on..."
"-YOU HAVE NO IDEA-"
"...the machinery in the mines...."
"-COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED-"
" ...it shows some funny symbols and pictures."
"DIDN'T TELL ANYONE WHERE YOU WERE G-"
"It looks like a monitoring sys-"
"UNBELIEVABLE!!!"

[ Frankly, Alberto doesn't understand why cause such a fuss. They were all together, so they didn't break Cobb's rule of 'don't go into the mines alone'. See? All ended well! They found televisions. Alberto is about to try and say something else when there's a ping coming from his communicator, audible to everyone thanks to the fact he's still recording live.]

🇸‌🇭‌🇮‌🇵‌ 🇸‌🇾‌🇸‌🇹‌🇪‌🇲‌🇸‌ 🇦‌🇨‌🇹‌🇮‌🇻‌🇦‌🇹‌🇪‌🇩‌. 🇳‌🇪‌🇼‌ 🇨‌🇴‌🇺‌🇷‌🇸‌🇪‌ 🇧‌🇪‌🇦‌🇨‌🇴‌🇳‌ 🇫‌🇴‌🇺‌🇳‌🇩‌. 🇦‌🇼‌🇦‌🇮‌🇹‌🇮‌🇳‌🇬‌ 🇮‌🇳‌🇸‌🇹‌🇷‌🇺‌🇨‌🇹‌🇮‌🇴‌🇳‌.

[ The young sea monster pauses, big green eyes blinking in confusion. He looks back at the others as if that will give him a clue, some of them are engineers too. ]

We what now...?

Comments

[Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Look, all Ezra is getting out of this so far is there's a bunch of kids together and an adult yelling. He's a little concerned.]

Wait, slow down.

What's happening? You're in the mines?

[Video]

[pantheraleo]

[Have an excited lion cub throwing himself at the screen.]

EZRA! You need to come check this out! We were sciencing and a wall moved and we found a thing!

Yeah! In the mines!

[Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra can't help but smile back some, in a helpless sort of way.]

Uh. Hey, Simba. Sciencing.

Ok!

Is everyone ok? Nobody's hurt or trapped or something else that means you need help real fast?

[Video]

[pantheraleo]

Nope! We're all okay!

Except that weird guy. He's kind of freaking out.

[Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ok. That's good. Hearing him freaking out is why I wanted to check.

So you found some new stuff, huh?

[Video]

[small_compromise]

It's fine! Nothing's blown up!

[Maybe not the most reassuring thing to say, although if one knew her brothers.]

I came down here with Alberto and Simba and...Grogu? Yes- I think that's his name. We were putting the energy rods into the machines to power it up. This man came in and started yelling- I think he's overreacting just a little.

Re: [Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

Nothing blown up is good!

I...think maybe Dr. Drake was worried that you all got together and did things without thinking it through. But yeah, he's sometimes not good at, uh, saying stuff calmly.

[Video]

[small_compromise]

Yeah, I've noticed. I can understand the concern, but he doesn't have to be so loud about it.

[Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

If everyone's ok, the lecture can wait.

What's going on?

[Video]

[silenziobruno]

[ Ezra is right in being concerned, Alberto is worried that Drake might have a heart attack at any moment. He brightens at the view of a familiar face and gives the other man a happy smile. ]

Yup! We've been there for a bit, finishing putting all the crystal rods in the right places. The machinery turned on, and then Grogu knew exactly what button to push to make it do something. [ It was less 'Knew exactly' than pure luck, but either way, it did work in his favor. Since nothing is exploding...yet. ] A wall moved and now there are a lot of monitors showing....Uh, I'm not sure. Some images look familiar.

[ He hasn't been in Not! Temba Sh’Ka often enough to memorize it, but there's plenty of buildings covered in vegetation showing in some of the screens to be a clue. Alberto is also trying to explain things quickly before someone interrupts him again. ]

And now this device says that we activated some bacon. That means more food, right?

[Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Or maybe Grogu did know exactly what button push, consciously or not. Force sensitivity can work like that.]

Um. Not bacon. Beacon. Like...an alarm? Or a radio broadcast. It's telling some ships, somewhere, something.

I hope that means the ships we use, and something useful. Not some unknown ships out there something we'd rather they not know.

Permavideo

[silenziobruno]

[ Could be! The Jedi work in mysterious ways and all that. ]

Oh...I might have preferred the bacon, but ships are also fun! I know we have them in the Hangar, but I have yet to see the inside of one. My friend Luca would have loved them, he likes space travel and planets and stuff. As for the radio thing...[ Alberto turns to give the machine a good look, eyebrows furrowing slightly. It doesn't look dangerous, yet now that it's all turned on, he can tell it's doing something. The Engineer in him missed it at first due to all the euphoria. ]

Wait a second, per favore. [ The camera is jostled as Alberto moves to take a closer look at the machine. Simba and Omega are chatting with Ezra in the meantime, so he should be entertained enough until the sea monster finishes prodding at the controls and staring at the monitors. Then he's back to focusing on his camera and waving to get Ezra's attention. ]This thing is, uhm, broadcasting something. A signal. But it's not directed to the hangar...

Permavideo

[ezra_of_lothal]

You should at least check out the ship you're assigned to, sometime.

Um, do any of you have the Communications data point?

[thesepreciousthings]

Well, sure sounds like you found somethin' interestin'.

Dr. Riley, if you can hear this, kindly shove an ice pack down your shorts and calm the hell down. Doesn't sound like anythin' exploded to me.

[silenziobruno]

[ Alberto tries (and fails) to hide his smile when the new lady addresses Drake. Oh, she likes her already. ]

He worries way too much but he means well. I think we all did a great job! [ Since, as she mentioned, nothing exploded and the mines didn't cave in. ]

Ciao, signorina, pleasure to meet you. I'm Alberto. Alberto Scorfano.

[thesepreciousthings]

Ciao, giovanotto, mi chiamo Clarice. So che Drake ha buone intenzioni, ma deve anche imparare che si prendono più mosche con il miele che con l'aceto.

["Hello, young man, my name is Clarice. I know Drake means well, but he also needs to learn you get more flies with honey than vinegar." oohhhhhhh it feels so good to speak Italian again. warms her soul, really, like a perfect cup of espresso on a fall morning]

[silenziobruno]

[ That gets a surprised look from him, followed by an earnest, happy smile. ]

Ah, you speak the language so well! Better than me, I was still learning it back home.

[ He understands it better now, though, so he got what she said...well, 60% of it. The vinegar bit lost him a little, wooops. ]

Sei italiano, signorina Clarice?

[ 'Are you italian, Miss Clarice?' ]

[thesepreciousthings]

Grazie mille, darlin'. I'd be happy to teach you, the same way I was taught. Sono in realtà americana.

['I'm actually American'. Her smile was warm and bright, if a little apologetic. He seemed so excited to meet an Italian that she couldn't not be.]

What kind of data points do you kids down there have, right now?

[dr_riley]

In the background, Drake's head turns suddenly to look sideways at Alberto's communicator with one wide, indignant eye. And just as suddenly, there he is taking up most of the screen space, looking shocked and affronted.

"Excuse me?! You of all people, a law enforcement officer meant to protect people, should appreciate how reckless this was!" He began pointing on the fingers of one hand each offense that had his feathers all ruffled. "They didn't tell anyone where they were going or what they were doing! They could have gotten lost or hurt or killed..."

He doesn't know about Clarice's cave-in incident, but if he did, you can bet he wouldn't hesitate to highlight it in an even more shocked and affronted how-are-you-not-concerned-about-this tirade.

"They had absolutely no idea what they were doing or what could happen! What if something exploded somewhere else, hmm? What if this was a nuclear weapons deployment station? You don't know! I don't know!" He stabbed a finger at the screens behind him, "What if those are targets? We. Don't. Know."

[thesepreciousthings]

Clarice pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "They've all got data points, same as you and I. Anyone with Communications can tell what the displays mean. Anyone with Engineering would be able to see if there was a malfunction that could cause an explosion. If it was a well-balanced group, they had it handled, regardless of how old they are. I know you're angry because you were worried. I get that. But none of us would be here if we couldn't potentially handle things, and none of those kids were alone. Like it or not, it's really different here, and I prefer to lean into trust in everyone here with me than be paranoid."

She paused, pursing her lips. "That's not to say we don't need someone to be paranoid, you're right. But there's no use closing the barn door after the cows are all out, is what I'm getting at."

[dr_riley]

Drake boggled at Clarice in stark contrast to her calm and collected manner.

"Regardless of how old- they are children! And if you're suggesting for even a moment that they and I are equally qualified, I.... I don't even know what to say to that. It's lunacy. And it is deeply insulting."

With that, he pushed off from the counter he was leaning on and turned to the newly revealed monitors, intent on disappearing into his work.

video;

[demjiin]

Since you didn't actually blow something up I'm calling it a win. Nice way to show some spine, kid.

[ Kaz has had a smirk straight off, too. ]

Whatever you did got Riley pretty riled, at any rate.

Re: video;

[silenziobruno]

Kaz! Hi! [ Alberto grins, happy both to see a familiar face and to hear some praise. ] Thank you. We wanted to figure what these machines did and everyone else was too big to get into the passage properly. Well, Drake can fit in...somehow.

[ Which is a bit weird to Alberto that the other man is so short, but who is he to go pointing fingers? ]

He came later when we were about to start this thing and has been screaming since then. Can't be good for his throat.

video;

[demjiin]

Or his head.

[ That would be agreeing with Alberto as well as vaguely threatening Drake. ]

Cobb did make a good point about why it's deactivated and then buried. Somebody, the Agrii or otherwise, didn't want that machine found.

[silenziobruno]

No, he might get a headache. [ Alberto takes it as only agreeing rather than threatening because he's a sweet summer child like that at times. ]

Ah, yes...But the Agrii that are still around were curious about it too, they made a video and got rid of the bugs, so we could go through the tunnels. Maybe it was someone else who buried the machines, as you said.

The monitors don't show any interesting movies, there are just streets and ruined buildings like the ones here and... [ Alberto turns to give them another good look, then frowns. ] ...No wait, not like the ones here. There's a lot of plants, like in the other city.