AU History Babble
Don't mind me! Just talking out loud here...
From his app history so I don't have to talk about it again:
In North's near-future, he and South will be sent to the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility to retrieve a crucial data file located there. What happens on this trip will be where North's timeline will deviate from canon. The team will successfully retrieve the data file (as they will in canon), however, an incident with a poor soldier fetching a couple cups of coffee won't end in his body accidentally striking a button and raising an alarm. Instead, the soldier is dispatched silently--and they leave as stealthily as they came. It might seem like a small difference, but thanks to the success of them not raising an alarm, Carolina won't be called in to back them up, North won't be shot multiple times, their Pelican dropship won't be chased through the Artic by a pair of Longswords, and thus won't have to use countermeasures like the Pelican's missiles, distraction flares to offset heat-seeking missiles, and North won't be authorized and ordered to use his bubble shield enhancement to protect the ship as a last resort. Oh, and the Mother of Invention, Project Freelancers mobile command center frigate, won't have to expose itself and take out the pursuing Longswords to rescue the Pelican and its crew.
And that's only the start. His deviated timeline will follow closely with canon's, but as a result of a completely successful mission and not half a one, South's number four rank won't be switched with North's number five. Her lack of punishment right then won't start her down a dark and jealousy-borne path. She'll be included in the eventual mission to retrieve the Sarcophagus--a crucial component the Director needs to fragment the Alpha AI--and the key to open it instead of being forced to sit it out. Team B's acquisition of the key while Team A acquires the Sarcophagus will succeed since CT was left behind with South taking her place. And because Team B does succeed, instead of failing long before they can get the package, North's successful leadership of the mission will earn up a raise in rank. Not only that, but Team A will be able to escape without worrying about the package, and Agents Maine, York, and Carolina won't be chased down a highway in a high-speed fight with the insurrectionists they stole everything from. And Maine won't be so badly injured that he'll lose the ability to speak. Why? Because of the success of the mission to the cryogenics facility, the insurrectionists and other important civilians involved in all that wouldn't have been alerted to the security breach in the same way. Sure, Team A would alert the security in the building in which they located the Sarcophagus, but they wouldn't have been ready to launch a full-on armed air pursuit down a busy metropolitan highway.
But anyway, since North rightfully earned that bump in the ranking board, it shouldn't incite South's jealousy as badly since his canon promotion originally happened as a way to punish her for her hasty actions. Years down the road, after the AIs have been implanted and Washington's famous incident with the Epsilon AI has occurred, things might turn out differently for North and South. Most likely, the Director still would have used them as an experiment to see what would happen if one agent got an AI and the other didn't, but the deep-seated jealousy within South might not be there or be as bad--and she just might not betray her brother. (Granted, this could and probably will change once we see how North is with Theta, but as that part of the story has yet to be told, we can only guess.)
---------END APP HISTORY. NOW COMMENCING BABBLING---------
With all that done, with Maine left uninjured, with Carolina not competing that one time with Tex over the package (and perhaps making her a little less desperate to prove herself as Tex wouldn't have procured the package since North, Wyoming, and South would have gotten it just fine.) The scoreboard would definitely be different after this with the missions' success as opposed to the failures (or maybe it wouldn't have shifted too much from its pre-mission state?) The Director seems like the kind of guy who would promote the leaders and who did an exceptional job in the field. Tex probably would have been placed on the board since gave the Sarcophagus the final push to the pelican with Wash on top, so he probably would have gone up a bit too? Or stayed the same. And North would have gone up too since he was the leader of Team B and things went off without a hitch.
So things are pretty much the same, except CT wasn't there to potentially sabotage Team B (if she DID, in fact, do it), so there's still the mole, the AI production continues as it does in canon. And most likely...the implantation groups by then are similar too (and South still wouldn't receive an AI as North is higher in rank and overall more reliable.) But the big question then is...with Maine avoiding those catastrophic injuries, would he be so easily swayed by Sigma to become what he is later on? Did those injuries in canon harm him mentally? He was shot through the freaking jaw, in the throat multiple times, shot in the chest with a sniper round, and battered and bounced around like a ragdoll before being struck by a truck at high speeds and then sent sailing off the highway. How he survived all that, oi, his armor was definitely doing its job that day. But would those injuries have been the start of his own mental breakdown and subtle coercion by Sigma that went unnoticed because of how bad Wash's was? Would Maine have become the Meta? With him still being able to talk, would any videologs have been made on the dead agents' logs of him speaking and thus making him easier to identify and locate?
And if that IS the case, would Maine/Meta have gotten so far in his murders as he did? Would he have found the twins, or would Wash and the might of the Freelancers have come down on Maine/Meta to stop him before he got the chance to kill too many agents? If that happened and they were able to stop Maine/Meta, Wash would have merely continued on with his duties, cleaned up York/retrieved Delta, and he never would have been betrayed since he never would have gone to clean up North (and technically South). South never would have gotten Delta, and she and North would have...continued doing whatever the fuck they were doing. North would still be alive. Wash would still be in that extremely frustrated state of knowing what he knows but still playing the long game to eventually bring them down but with no real possible way of doing so. And...Church/Alpha would still be in his lone base, with Tex still gone but on his mind. Caboose would have been stuck in the brig forever until something changed. Simmons and Grif probably could have been killed by their squad, but more than likely would have escaped due to sheer dumb luck. Sister, Sarge, and Lopez would still be in Blood Gulch. Tucker (and Junior somehow) would still be under siege by CT and her gang. Epsilon and all the other AI--now including Delta--would be in the storage facility in that one Freelancer base (because Wash would have done his duty and brought it there.)
And the Director still would be in charge of Project Freelancer, continuing his studies.
Of course...with more Freelancers left alive, the program still running, and Maine/Meta dead, there IS potential for some pretty epic shit to happen from there. If Wash or any of the others ever met up with Carolina (and lord, this is going to be hard to plot out without knowing how the fuck she managed to stay alive all these years and is only now showing her fucking face), they could possibly regroup and maybe take down Project Freelancer with Wash's help--if they actually decide to trust him. For all they know, he's still the Director's little boy scout since he never entrusted what he knew to anyone--and would be extremely hard-pressed not to betray what he knew since, you know, he still was betrayed quite a few times even if he wasn't specifically by South.
Hmmm. Without Delta there, Wash never would have learned that "memory is the key" and never would have gotten the idea to go to the AI storage to get Epsilon and EMP the entire facility. His EMPing the place had a dual purpose of stopping the project--but also stopping Meta since he knew that without the AI, Meta couldn't activate any of his systems. And anyway, he never would have been put on a path to find the Blood Gulch guys, observe Church (both him and Delta) and Church's nature would never have been exposed and so Wash never would have deduced that Church was the Alpha.
So the question is...how the hell would they find the Alpha? Would Wash get the idea to seek counsel from Delta? I highly doubt it since Wash knew he couldn't really trust the AIs and what reason would he have to go there again? It wasn't likely that another agent with an AI would get harmed all that soon (or rather a rogue agent since in canon, the only technically active agent by the end of S8 was Wash; all the others had been arrested or were dead, or were missing, and the ones who were arrested definitely had NO AIs or else that would have been some proof of Wash's claims that the Alpha had been tortured.
Ohhhh, wait... Wash knew the Alpha had been moved to a base, so...maybe he would have started there eventually? Researching the rosters for any suspicious activity around the time of attack on the facility all those years ago? Granted, the Director was careful not to leave a psych record for him, Alpha, and Tex, but the payroll thing had to have existed in some form (unless the Director himself gave Alpha 'an allowance' in the form of a regular paycheck to keep those records out of the database, but that transfer of money would still be traceable in some way. ...And besides, if the Director really did it? He was a fucking cheapskate since Church always seemed to be mooching for money.)
Hrm, hold on, I'm forgetting something. Omega. The whole reason Outpost 17 was attacked by the Meta in canon was because of Omega's presence. And since the Meta didn't show up there...then perhaps original Tex also lived. And she would have learned that the war had ended. And Gamma would still be in the damn Pelican with a broken Sheila.
So at this point... All the AI fragments still exist (and there are a couple of dead Freelancers, including Maine.) North and South are still alive, North has Theta, Tex needs a new fucking body--or she would have just repossessed the robot one she'd been given since it was probably still somewhat functional so she'd probably stick with that instead of trying to get a new body, Omega still plagues her (and Outpost 17), someone would have been sent to recover Gamma. ...maybe that's what happens. Maybe Wash was sent there (since he wouldn't have been recovering from his back injury at the time and Recovery agents 6 and 9 wouldn't have gone in his place) and met with Tex, Omega, and Gamma (and Wyoming's helmet). But what then? Would Tex go back to trying to kill Omega again? What would Wash think of it? Would he suggest letting him encrypt Omega so it could be brought to the AI storage? He could fashion an AI unit that would be able to hold it, after all.
But again, what then? And what the hell are the twins doing during all this? And for that matter, what the hell were they doing originally in canon?
From his app history so I don't have to talk about it again:
In North's near-future, he and South will be sent to the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility to retrieve a crucial data file located there. What happens on this trip will be where North's timeline will deviate from canon. The team will successfully retrieve the data file (as they will in canon), however, an incident with a poor soldier fetching a couple cups of coffee won't end in his body accidentally striking a button and raising an alarm. Instead, the soldier is dispatched silently--and they leave as stealthily as they came. It might seem like a small difference, but thanks to the success of them not raising an alarm, Carolina won't be called in to back them up, North won't be shot multiple times, their Pelican dropship won't be chased through the Artic by a pair of Longswords, and thus won't have to use countermeasures like the Pelican's missiles, distraction flares to offset heat-seeking missiles, and North won't be authorized and ordered to use his bubble shield enhancement to protect the ship as a last resort. Oh, and the Mother of Invention, Project Freelancers mobile command center frigate, won't have to expose itself and take out the pursuing Longswords to rescue the Pelican and its crew.
And that's only the start. His deviated timeline will follow closely with canon's, but as a result of a completely successful mission and not half a one, South's number four rank won't be switched with North's number five. Her lack of punishment right then won't start her down a dark and jealousy-borne path. She'll be included in the eventual mission to retrieve the Sarcophagus--a crucial component the Director needs to fragment the Alpha AI--and the key to open it instead of being forced to sit it out. Team B's acquisition of the key while Team A acquires the Sarcophagus will succeed since CT was left behind with South taking her place. And because Team B does succeed, instead of failing long before they can get the package, North's successful leadership of the mission will earn up a raise in rank. Not only that, but Team A will be able to escape without worrying about the package, and Agents Maine, York, and Carolina won't be chased down a highway in a high-speed fight with the insurrectionists they stole everything from. And Maine won't be so badly injured that he'll lose the ability to speak. Why? Because of the success of the mission to the cryogenics facility, the insurrectionists and other important civilians involved in all that wouldn't have been alerted to the security breach in the same way. Sure, Team A would alert the security in the building in which they located the Sarcophagus, but they wouldn't have been ready to launch a full-on armed air pursuit down a busy metropolitan highway.
But anyway, since North rightfully earned that bump in the ranking board, it shouldn't incite South's jealousy as badly since his canon promotion originally happened as a way to punish her for her hasty actions. Years down the road, after the AIs have been implanted and Washington's famous incident with the Epsilon AI has occurred, things might turn out differently for North and South. Most likely, the Director still would have used them as an experiment to see what would happen if one agent got an AI and the other didn't, but the deep-seated jealousy within South might not be there or be as bad--and she just might not betray her brother. (Granted, this could and probably will change once we see how North is with Theta, but as that part of the story has yet to be told, we can only guess.)
---------END APP HISTORY. NOW COMMENCING BABBLING---------
With all that done, with Maine left uninjured, with Carolina not competing that one time with Tex over the package (and perhaps making her a little less desperate to prove herself as Tex wouldn't have procured the package since North, Wyoming, and South would have gotten it just fine.) The scoreboard would definitely be different after this with the missions' success as opposed to the failures (or maybe it wouldn't have shifted too much from its pre-mission state?) The Director seems like the kind of guy who would promote the leaders and who did an exceptional job in the field. Tex probably would have been placed on the board since gave the Sarcophagus the final push to the pelican with Wash on top, so he probably would have gone up a bit too? Or stayed the same. And North would have gone up too since he was the leader of Team B and things went off without a hitch.
So things are pretty much the same, except CT wasn't there to potentially sabotage Team B (if she DID, in fact, do it), so there's still the mole, the AI production continues as it does in canon. And most likely...the implantation groups by then are similar too (and South still wouldn't receive an AI as North is higher in rank and overall more reliable.) But the big question then is...with Maine avoiding those catastrophic injuries, would he be so easily swayed by Sigma to become what he is later on? Did those injuries in canon harm him mentally? He was shot through the freaking jaw, in the throat multiple times, shot in the chest with a sniper round, and battered and bounced around like a ragdoll before being struck by a truck at high speeds and then sent sailing off the highway. How he survived all that, oi, his armor was definitely doing its job that day. But would those injuries have been the start of his own mental breakdown and subtle coercion by Sigma that went unnoticed because of how bad Wash's was? Would Maine have become the Meta? With him still being able to talk, would any videologs have been made on the dead agents' logs of him speaking and thus making him easier to identify and locate?
And if that IS the case, would Maine/Meta have gotten so far in his murders as he did? Would he have found the twins, or would Wash and the might of the Freelancers have come down on Maine/Meta to stop him before he got the chance to kill too many agents? If that happened and they were able to stop Maine/Meta, Wash would have merely continued on with his duties, cleaned up York/retrieved Delta, and he never would have been betrayed since he never would have gone to clean up North (and technically South). South never would have gotten Delta, and she and North would have...continued doing whatever the fuck they were doing. North would still be alive. Wash would still be in that extremely frustrated state of knowing what he knows but still playing the long game to eventually bring them down but with no real possible way of doing so. And...Church/Alpha would still be in his lone base, with Tex still gone but on his mind. Caboose would have been stuck in the brig forever until something changed. Simmons and Grif probably could have been killed by their squad, but more than likely would have escaped due to sheer dumb luck. Sister, Sarge, and Lopez would still be in Blood Gulch. Tucker (and Junior somehow) would still be under siege by CT and her gang. Epsilon and all the other AI--now including Delta--would be in the storage facility in that one Freelancer base (because Wash would have done his duty and brought it there.)
And the Director still would be in charge of Project Freelancer, continuing his studies.
Of course...with more Freelancers left alive, the program still running, and Maine/Meta dead, there IS potential for some pretty epic shit to happen from there. If Wash or any of the others ever met up with Carolina (and lord, this is going to be hard to plot out without knowing how the fuck she managed to stay alive all these years and is only now showing her fucking face), they could possibly regroup and maybe take down Project Freelancer with Wash's help--if they actually decide to trust him. For all they know, he's still the Director's little boy scout since he never entrusted what he knew to anyone--and would be extremely hard-pressed not to betray what he knew since, you know, he still was betrayed quite a few times even if he wasn't specifically by South.
Hmmm. Without Delta there, Wash never would have learned that "memory is the key" and never would have gotten the idea to go to the AI storage to get Epsilon and EMP the entire facility. His EMPing the place had a dual purpose of stopping the project--but also stopping Meta since he knew that without the AI, Meta couldn't activate any of his systems. And anyway, he never would have been put on a path to find the Blood Gulch guys, observe Church (both him and Delta) and Church's nature would never have been exposed and so Wash never would have deduced that Church was the Alpha.
So the question is...how the hell would they find the Alpha? Would Wash get the idea to seek counsel from Delta? I highly doubt it since Wash knew he couldn't really trust the AIs and what reason would he have to go there again? It wasn't likely that another agent with an AI would get harmed all that soon (or rather a rogue agent since in canon, the only technically active agent by the end of S8 was Wash; all the others had been arrested or were dead, or were missing, and the ones who were arrested definitely had NO AIs or else that would have been some proof of Wash's claims that the Alpha had been tortured.
Ohhhh, wait... Wash knew the Alpha had been moved to a base, so...maybe he would have started there eventually? Researching the rosters for any suspicious activity around the time of attack on the facility all those years ago? Granted, the Director was careful not to leave a psych record for him, Alpha, and Tex, but the payroll thing had to have existed in some form (unless the Director himself gave Alpha 'an allowance' in the form of a regular paycheck to keep those records out of the database, but that transfer of money would still be traceable in some way. ...And besides, if the Director really did it? He was a fucking cheapskate since Church always seemed to be mooching for money.)
Hrm, hold on, I'm forgetting something. Omega. The whole reason Outpost 17 was attacked by the Meta in canon was because of Omega's presence. And since the Meta didn't show up there...then perhaps original Tex also lived. And she would have learned that the war had ended. And Gamma would still be in the damn Pelican with a broken Sheila.
So at this point... All the AI fragments still exist (and there are a couple of dead Freelancers, including Maine.) North and South are still alive, North has Theta, Tex needs a new fucking body--or she would have just repossessed the robot one she'd been given since it was probably still somewhat functional so she'd probably stick with that instead of trying to get a new body, Omega still plagues her (and Outpost 17), someone would have been sent to recover Gamma. ...maybe that's what happens. Maybe Wash was sent there (since he wouldn't have been recovering from his back injury at the time and Recovery agents 6 and 9 wouldn't have gone in his place) and met with Tex, Omega, and Gamma (and Wyoming's helmet). But what then? Would Tex go back to trying to kill Omega again? What would Wash think of it? Would he suggest letting him encrypt Omega so it could be brought to the AI storage? He could fashion an AI unit that would be able to hold it, after all.
But again, what then? And what the hell are the twins doing during all this? And for that matter, what the hell were they doing originally in canon?