And after a bit they explain what happened and Sparkles is introduced.

Well, all of that is very... itself. That seems to be the general consensus.

Some dwarf's grandma fails to grasp the concept of alts and just thinks that Sparkles is Sadde's twin.

People are invited to live in the new colony. Some pointed out that it isn't much of an invitation given the lack of options, they are Federation runaways.

Some people want to get other relatives and bring them here. Either because they want them around or because of the whole new exciting kind of magic and immortality.

Eventually everyone's going to have the new magic and immortality, but yes, they can bring relatives.

They plan the logistics of bringing people to and from their still unnamed colony.

Even with the superior capabilities, there are a lot of concerns with bringing so many people from Federation space-

-One of Temperance's half-sisters gets teleportation as a gift! She can't do interplanetary distances, but she can definitely port people to and from a shuttle.

While Temperance's other half-sister (they have different moms, but many people assume they are twins or full-sisters) gets the wakefulness gift to sense life and the health gift to create a "lifeforce link" that allows remote lifeforce transfers.

...Half of their logistics concerns go away.

So they can go do that, right?

Yes they can!

Various family are fetched. Sadde's father not included.

Are there any problems during the extractions? (They can do two teams, one with Sparkles for larger groups and one with Arya and Meghan for individuals.)

There are some!

This lady loves her pets, can she bring them? This one has reading club next week, she can't possibly miss it. Someone thinks they're some conspiracy and when they see the relative in question starts yelling at them and throwing things at them. Someone underestimates how bad the Federation is and tries to contact them to check the story. Someone with a gift is acting shifty and wants to be dropped off instead. Someone is divorced and wants to take their kids but their ex has shared custody.

Pets are fine (they can just keep Sparkles away).

Reading club person: they would really like to emphasize this is a matter of life and death. Also well-being. ...Did someone mention the torture to her?

They subdue the conspiracy person. Is either them or their loved one willing to explain this violent reaction?

They prevent the naive person from contacting the Federation. Would they be at least willing to accept a bribe to stay quiet? (They have money, Lord has some investments and they also have Sparkles).

They send someone to ask the shifty gifted person's plans once dropped off? Do they have a way to avoid Federation attention? (Felix is not visibly around but he is observing.)

They send someone to talk with the divorcee before they actually perform the extraction mission.

...what torture?

Violent reaction is that they, ah, didn't part on the best of terms. Actually she ran away from home.

Bribe? What do they take him for?

Oh, you know... stuff... getting back to their life... they live in a small town, the Federation won't care...

What do they want to talk about?

They tell her about the torture. Ideally the relevant loved one could do this to make the message the right amount of informative without being too uncomfortable.

Okay. They should've asked that before coming. Is the conspiracy person willing to talk at all?

The human-passing augmented that suggested the bribe isn't sure how to respond to this. She is aware that people often respond to economic incentives and this is a fairly default reaction. She guesses she could take him as naive or not very understanding of how to model the world since any simple form of contact with the Federation is not likely to mean anything. He is not likely to learn anything because a bad Federation would hide any obvious evidence and a good Federation wouldn't have any obvious evidence... She digresses talking about logic. Someone else interrupts and asks if he is at least willing to entertain the possibility that calling the Federation is an action that can't be reversed and he might as well hear what they have to say.

The person asking this is confused. It would be fairly trivial to put a warrant for his name and that would be flagged at any point he tried to live a life with any semblance of legal presence. (Felix peeks at the shifty person's emotions.)

They want to plan the kids' extraction better. They understand that divorces can be very complicated situations and more so when custody is involved. Primarily they want to know what the kids' reaction would be like, what the former spouse's reaction would be like, likelihood that the kids will want the other parent around, and likelihood that the other parent will desire to move to another planet. They have a preference for taking the kids to the new colony because it seems much easier to fairly rearrange the custody issues that way than leave it for the Federation to sort it out.

...yeah she's going with them.

Conspiracy person is willing to talk, yes.

He can hear what they have to say, sure, but he thinks it sure is suspicious that they're preventing him from talking to the government.

Oh, but... you know... they can change names? And stuff? And they miss home and it's not like they'll need to do anything official... (They're very nervous and terrified and confused and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.)

The kids would probably find it awesome... but former spouse would probably make a fuss, and they'd want their parent.

They will try to explain the situation. Yeah, they understand that it sounds crazy and conspiracy-like, but they are at least willing to sit down and talk even thought they displayed the capacity to subdue them, which should at least buy enough credibility for a single conversation.

They admit it's not exactly the most high trust situation. They explain the events at the binary star system. (They don't go into detail about sorcery and make it sound like one of the kinds of magic that was rediscovered.)

(Trevor advises the person talking to the shifty individual. Felix is still watching.)

Well, that's still rather risky, especially if he still wants to be dropped off at home. They could get into an altercation or in an accident or anything that could potentially reveal or draw attention from official sources. Anything that displayed anything unusual would be of Federation interest and even if they never suspect their connection with the rebels and the new colony they might just experiment on them. The fact that they can heal from anything would be... the opposite of a deterrent for both the experimentation and possible torture. The hostages that they recovered only didn't get it worse because the Federation wanted to keep them alive. And that included otherwise loyal Federation staff that happened to be related. Can you imagine the kind of thing they would do to a traitor as soon they realize that anything could be healed? It would be nightmarish. She looks rather pale imagining the things.

Huh, what is their estimate for some sort of compromise? They could staff a second settlement earlier if that is what it took. Would the other divorced be willing to at least talk and iron an agreement out?

Do they have evidence? And where's that ungrateful, disrespectful, shameless little—

...uh huh. Why would the Federation do any of that tough.

Um. He... guesses they're right? But... he... really misses home? Really?

Their estimate is that it'll be hard, their ex has remarried and has more family and is very entrenched in the local community.

They have some. If conspiracy person wants to check. Most of the easily and public available evidence is the blank space that the Federation left around the entire mess. They can also demonstrate some of the extraordinary magic if that turns out to be necessary.

Power.

Maybe they could work out visits? But it's not like he is going to be allowed to stay home. The Federation is too much a danger to him.

They see. Is at least a peaceful conversation possible?

Sure, do demonstrate the extraordinary magic.

That sounds dumb.

...yes, visits sound good.

Naturally, they parted on amicable terms, they just had different ideas about what to do in the future.

They demonstrate some gifts (Arya's teleportation) and one of the augmented lifts their pant legs revealing the bowed leg.

Dumb how?

Sure, but they are going to revise their procedures after the most recent incidents. They're will get back to them in a jiffy.

Differences that are likely exacerbated by the entire mess. Any idea if they are going to be sympathetic to their side of things?

...okay, new magic, sure, doesn't mean it isn't a conspiracy.

It just does! That's like what a storybook villain would do!

...are they gonna take long?

Perhaps. Not sure. Too weird.

Well, they concede that. Since both sides of the conflict are working using secretive means.

Which doesn't mean a real organization with less than moral standards wouldn't do that same thing. That behavior shows up in storybook villains precisely because it is based on fundamentally universal impulses... She is interrupted again. Would he like some sort of evidence that some of his claims are true?

Not at all. They are just going to wrap up the current extraction missions and call in a meeting to revise things. Make contingency plans and things like that. It probably won't take twelve hours. She pats his hand sympathetically.

Nod. They are going to call a meeting to plan this and other extractions better. To reiterate, they are still defaulting to taking the kids they just want to minimize the mess of the entire situation.

Yep.

Yes, please.

...okay. Yes, he can wait.

Yeah, that's reasonable.