BROADCASTS.com

b'

It is a moment of crisis, with many threats coming to bear on the residents of the Twilight Mirage all at once. Sui Juris, a separatist movement, has kidnapped the Divine Fleet\'s human leader\\u2014the Cadent Under Mirage\\u2014and is demanding the fleet recognize The By and By as its new capital. Meanwhile, military perils from the outside\\u2014including military vessels from both the New Earth Hegemony and the Rapid Evening\\u2014charge towards the fleet at speed. And as they race closer and closer, the Twilight Mirage itself collapses inwards, towards the Quire System, where every major remaining ship in the fleet rests... and where the Iconoclasts\' machine god Volition threatens to shatter the walls of reality.

And now, in this moment, the divine Indpendence\\u2014driven by pulsing Heart and housed in crystalline Body\\u2014has landed on that false moon, searching for its Mind. If it is successful, it will join with Volition and bring on an impossible age, where even materiality itself is threatened.

But unlikely heroes race towards Volition too: The excerpt \\u2e22Signet\\u2e23 and her recently revived Divine, Belgard, who seek to confront hopelessness itself. Korrin Kim, mercenary recently released from Contrition\'s Figure, determined to make right by the world. \\u2e22Blooming\\u2e23, who has spent the last six months hiding the death of the divine Empyrean. The technologist and soldier, Even Gardner, who wounded Independence and took from it its pilot. The Saint hunter, Cascabel, who gave him the tools to do it. And Grand Magnificent, the artist who built Independence\'s Body, pristine and powerful, a perfect mirror of personal accomplishment and failure.

It\'s hell on Earth and the city\'s on fire.

This week on Friends at the Table: The Miracle of the Mirage: The Dragon

DIVINE FLEET READIES WARSHIPS, LAUNCHES FIRST EVACUATION VESSELS
Count Nideo: \'We must make landfall with or without The Cadent.\'
SEANCE, Quire
BY ACTIVATION STEVENSON, SPECIAL\\xa0CORRESPONDENT

Thousands of evacuation ships launched today from the lowest levels of THE BY-AND-BY, carrying over 100,000 citizens of the Divine Fleet towards the surface of the planet Quire. \\xa0The ships are expected to land and establish preliminary camps within the next three days, per a statement released by the evacuation committee, and millions of additional refugees will be transferred across the next week.

Yet, given the occupation by Sui Juris, such an effort will face many obstacles which will challenge the speed or efficiency of the operation. Note Shimmering Sea, interim leader of The By-and-By, addressed these concerns during a press conference earlier today, stating that \\u201cAny evacuation that leaves behind the Cadent Under Mirage would be a failure that dooms the future of the Fleet. Like the Cadent Herself, we must be clever, wise, and careful in this moment.\\u201d

Note Sea has reportedly split her resources between three internal teams: One in charge of evacuation, one which readies an active-responses to Sui Juris\\u2019 actions, and a third which prepares for an unspecified \\u201cexternal threat,\\u201d which may be connected to recent phenomena observed on the edge of the Quire system\\u2014phenomena that the Signal believes to be related to confidential military action.

Critics say this is not enough, though. Count Aram Nideo, who has sprung into prominence in the days since the Cadent\\u2019s kidnapping, has argued that Sea\\u2019s primary concern should be the evacuation: \\u201cWe must remove every lock\\u2014budgetary, bureaucratic, or otherwise\\u2014from this effort. This evacuation effort must be funded and supported with everything The By-and-By has to offer. Every other vessel in the fleet is giving its all. As much as it pains me to say this: We must make landfall with or without The Cadent.\\u201d

Others in the government have gone further, calling for an investigation into Note Sea\\u2019s actions. \\u201cBy failing to support the immediate needs of the people during this crisis,\\u201d said By-and-By Level 2 Alderman Brisk Bronze, \\u201cthe Note is offering credence to the terrorists who have taken her Ship and our Cadent hostage.\\u201d

Whether Alderman Bronze\\u2019s accusations hold water or not, it is a reminder of the open-endedness of action in crisis. As the Signal continues to report from the front lines of this emergency, we vow to bring you the truth as best as we can find it\\u2014and to consider our own culpability, potential, and reach as we do so.

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Austin Walker

Music by\\xa0Jack de Quidt

A transcription is available for this episode here.

A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you\'d like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!