voice!

[wronganswer]

[ It's not immediately after arriving that Anderson finally accesses the network. Out of sorts and deeply discomfited, she falls back on professionalism, as she's been trained to do, and scopes out the area first. This reconnaissance includes a brief mental skim of assorted passersby, mostly to gauge honesty and make sure this isn't an elaborate psychic-induced hallucinatory trap.

She's strong, but she's not invulnerable. She knows that's a possibility.

Except... it seems like it isn't, and she really is here, wherever 'here' is in the universe. After the two days she's spent poking around and reassuring herself of the reality of everything, though, that's not even the most incredulous part to her. ]

Looking for some information. [ Her voice is smooth, pleasant, a young woman's voice largely stripped of tone and easy to listen to. ] Someone told me there's no police here.

No judges.

How does that... work? Has anyone had experience with the intermediary system?

[ How can a place like this exist? It seems impossible to her. And just who is she, here? Who is she if not a Judge? ]

Comments

[wronganswer]

Yeah. I'm interested. And I don't need to be paid. [ She's among those people that can't just sit around and wait. Anderson is incurably filled with the need to do something. ]

I'm Anderson.

[warandpeace]

[He had basically started the rescue service for people like Venom Snake. As he'd told Venom, Kaz is good at waiting. Given the necessity, he could wait a whole decade for a goal. He could strive fore it. But Venom Snake and people like him are good at results, not waiting.]

[Results are where the big pay off in this case.]

I'm Miller.

If you ever need more information on the original Ingress malfunction, I can help you with that, too. [But not over the network.] My diner is in Kauto Region 1, called Pax Hamburgana.

[You better believe that ridiculous name is given in a tone of straight-laced military seriousness.]

[wronganswer]

[ Anderson is more dedicated than patient. She can be patient when she has to be, when it's to wait out a perp or another week of studying for a test she knows she'll probably fail, but her purpose in life is to make a difference and help others and she just doesn't see any point in putting that aside.

She's definitely smiling on this side of her TAB connection, but her voice remains even. ] Thanks. I think that's where they put me, that region. I'm supposed to be a... anti-cheating specialist at a casino.

[ She sounds pretty clearly like she's struggling between exasperated and amused despite the attempt at sustained professionalism. ]

[warandpeace]

Anti-cheating specialist? Do you have an actual specialty in it?

[He's assuming that she's something to the affect of a bouncer. After all, a number of operatives or soldiers or officers that were on the Moira have since either found mundane careers or joined private security forces. Which generally still have them patrolling.]

Region 1 is pretty densely populated. Luckily there's not been a lot of restrictions about where to live thus far. If you don't find it to your liking, there are other places here that are more hospitable.

[wronganswer]

I don't mind it. I'm used to cities. [ To say the least. Living anywhere else would probably be too weird on top of everything else.

And... here we go. Anderson was intentionally angling this way, because if they're going to discuss sending her on rescue efforts or something the like, he would absolutely need to know. It's not a secret by any means, but she's used to the way people see her changing abruptly after they know this.

Nothing for it. Exceptionally matter-of-fact: ] They gave that to me because I'm psychic. I can read minds-- cheating is the least of it.

[warandpeace]

Ah. Well, that would help.

[He doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Charles Xavier had been a psychic (well missed by his students, as he'd gathered when the man disappeared). And Tretij- well, his issue wasn't that he was psychic, but rather the feelings that he fed from.]

Sounds like a good job to use that skill for.

What did you do before you ended up here?

[wronganswer]

[ Oh, good. That's about as much reaction as her superiors usually had to seeing her Psi Corps badge these days. Maybe her real issue is that she's starting to interact with civilians here, although some Judges weren't anything but anti-mutant bigots either. ]

I'm a Judge. [ She's not sure the past tense will ever quite happen there. ] Something like an armed paramilitary police entitled to sentence criminals in the field. I was recruited specifically because of my abilities.

Using it for a casino is pretty... trivial. [ Anderson is struggling not to say beneath me, because she doesn't feel like things are beneath her, but. Dishonorable is not something Judges are supposed to care about, either. ]

[warandpeace]

I guess we can be in the same boat.

[A diner with a doofy name (he doesn't think it's a doofy name, he thinks it's a fantastic name) isn't exactly the most elite example of his skills either.]

So that's why you were wondering what the intermediaries do. What did sentencing usually entail?

[wronganswer]

[ There's a slight quirk of humor to her voice. ] How's it been in that boat? The weirdest thing about being here is that there's no use for me.

[ Anderson is equally baffled, disgruntled, and alarmed by that. It's going to take some time to wrap her head around it.

Regarding work, she's far more no-nonsense. ] Depends. Most often they get picked up and sent to the iso-cubes for a duration of time determined by their crimes. Some of them, including attempting to murder a Judge, carry a death sentence. [ It's clear she doesn't mean that as a euphemism but a literal death sentence. ]

[warandpeace]

It's a boring and occasionally uncomfortable boat.

Whatever your job is there will likely be instances in which your skills become useful. But I can forewarn you that they probably won't be as frequent as at home.

[Time for him to take in those descriptions.]

Iso-cubes?

That sounds like an extreme version of closed custody.

[He could sound more shocked, or appalled, but it's the iso-cubes that get his attention. Retaliating with lethal force against a clear murder attempt, too, also doesn't sound that out of the ordinary to him.]

[wronganswer]

Boring and uncomfortable... I guess I can live with that. [ Though whether she stays an anti-cheating specialist remains to be seen. It's distasteful to her to dig through peoples' heads all day looking for cheaters. It really is trivial.

She's starting to see the appeal to opening a burger joint.

It's also something of a relief to speak to someone that doesn't react to descriptions of Mega-City One. It's almost normalizing. ] Solitary confinement in a small apartment, [ she clarifies. ]

way to type both "too" and "also" me. /sky-rockets into the morn

[warandpeace]

[Well, at least that doesn't sound as extreme as he had been concerned with. As for the death sentences... There's a reason that he wanted Huey Emmerich lynched. Or why he wanted Quiet dead. Or why he felt so gratified at being able to rend Skull Face's limbs from his body. To Kaz, some people just aren't worth the risk (he would also attribute this characteristic to himself occasionally).]

[Fortunately for some people, other people argue with him.]

And because you're psychic, you can better ID their guilt and punishment. [That much is obvious.] Can you turn it off? Or is it a constant state?

LOL. I didn't even notice, so automatically forgiven

[wronganswer]

[ Anderson falls differently on the ethical question depending on the person. Sometimes she can't think anything but good riddance, humanity is better off without you, and she doesn't lose any sleep over Kay bleeding out from a missing arm, or Dredd launching Ma-Ma over the railing. But other times... she understands all too well that they deserved better than what they were given. It might not always change their sentence, but it speaks to a wider, systemic infection in the Mega-Cities, one Anderson just doesn't know how to begin to address.

At least he's quick to pick up the point of recruiting psychics into the Judges. ] Right. It's more like a radio. I usually leave it off out of privacy concerns-- [ Wryly, ] and because what people are thinking most of the time isn't that interesting.

[warandpeace]

[She actually makes him laugh a little bit. Just a quiet chuckle but it's something.]

I would believe you. Half the time I'm working out scheduling conflicts and finances.

Not exactly something people would want to listen in on.

[None of the worst stuff, either, but he knows by some miracle that, in the past year, he managed to think of it less.]

[wronganswer]

[ She smiles on her end. Even when Anderson can't literally feel someone else's responses to her, she automatically mirrors emotions, and given that she spends the majority of her time feeling malicious intent, contempt, and fear, she especially enjoys evidence of positive ones. ]

Yeah. I could tell everyone here was telling the truth right away when I arrived, but apart from that... What people are making for dinner isn't worth tuning in.

Do you still have a lot of scheduling to do while you're here? [ Since running a PMF is obviously a complex logistical operation that really would involve endless scheduling and finances. Anderson doesn't envy it. She's a field op and she knows it. ]

[warandpeace]

I'm one of those people that's better off with a schedule to keep or numbers to crunch.

I stop thinking about the more boring things and I don't like to hear my own thoughts. Pretty hard to turn off when they're in your own head. [It's not a hugely personal admission; after all, that's the way it is for many people.]

So scheduling it is. Thank god there's some sort of day/night ratio here.

[wronganswer]

I hadn't thought about that, [ she admits. ] I haven't been off Earth. [ Though it's a possibility at home, she's firmly tied to Mega-City One, and had never even considered it.

Anderson knows better than most just how common it is for people to have lingering thoughts they're trying to evade. She has them herself. ]

I'm used to taking in perps doing that for me. You can't get distracted while you're in a firefight. [ It definitely has a way of clearing your head, and focusing you. She's truly not sure what she's going to do instead, here, but that's not his problem. ]

[warandpeace]

That's true.

Before I was brought to the Moira, I had a period of time in which I couldn't go into combat anymore. I missed the front lines a lot.

Luckily dispatch takes a lot of concentration, too. If someone does it the way I do, anyway.

As for Earth? This is my first time away from it, too.

[wronganswer]

[ In wry agreement, ] Dispatch is no joke. Sometimes it feels like the only lifeline I have.

[ Especially since Judges often get sent out solo.

It's too personal to ask about the rest of it, so she says, ] Anything I shouldn't miss, it not being Earth?

[warandpeace]

I think a good dispatcher, whatever sort of officer they might be, realizes that as much as someone out in the field can trust their skills they have to depend on the sound of the voice at the other end of the line.

Treating it like any sort of run of the mill job is unfair to the people out there risking their lives.

[He grunts thoughtfully.]

Try some of the planets that the Ingress gains access to. Otherwise, Kauto isn't overwhelmingly different from Earth.

[wronganswer]

[ There's a smile in her voice. ] Sounds like you're a good dispatcher. How often do you need to run rescue trips around here?

Other planets... That's pretty tempting. Anything I should worry about before I head out? [ Does she need backup? A flamethrower? Anderson is not really used to merry jaunts. ]

[warandpeace]

Sometimes the locals don't like us much.

[Something she needs to know about Kauto. He's not aware of how much that'll escalate.]

I usually recommend some standard items. A medkit of some sort. There are people that can produce healing potions too. It sounds ridiculous but accurate. Duct tape is usually a good standard, and rope. A multifunctional pocketknife. Weapons are usually restricted by access levels so you may have to depend on melee or non-lethal options.

And I don't run the actual rescue missions very often. Here I've mostly acted for financial arrangements. I would if I were asked.

[wronganswer]

Somehow I'm not surprised. They didn't ask for us to show up. [ And the ensuing strain on resources does not make friends. Boy, does she know that one.

Anderson might as well be taking notes for how purposefully she takes this in. ]

Understood. I'll have to brush up on my CQC. Does what passes for the local government ever organize anything, or are we on our own? [ Because she has no qualms with self-organizing if that's the case. ]

[warandpeace]

It's a double edged sword. If we didn't come, we would have died. There was no way off the planet our ship crashed on. Since then the Ingress has brought people here instead.

We're pretty much on our own. I actually theorize that the general populous is supposed to pursue their own law enforcement. There are agreed upon rules, except that if someone breaks them civilians have the authority to bring them in for mediation. I've not received a confirmation yet, but that's what it seems to be in theory.

[So yeah, there would be some self-organizing. Sadly.]

[wronganswer]

Not saying there was another option, but it's not something that makes you any friends, either.

[ She makes a quiet, thoughtful noise as she considers his theory. ]

I've heard some unfavorable things about the mediation process. Are we expected to self-police as well? Someone said before this, it was a democratic vote for locking people up.