if i disappear: progress (and WIP Wednesday)

[autisticblueteam]

 I have a completed draft of chapter 1! It's not a chapter heavy on word count because of it's format, so banging out a draft of it wasn't too intensive and any difficulty I had was working with the weird structure. It feels good to be writing something besides my academic stuff, again, though; even if that remains a priority, once I have my allotted work done for the day I'm free to work on other things for a while. 

Chapter 1 is also perhaps the most solid thing in the fic besides the ending, in terms of it's place and inclusion. I doubt much about it will change besides wording, by the time I'm done with the rest.

I had fun writing Connie's dialogue in this. Here's a little snippet from part way through:

COUNSELOR: Let’s start at the beginning. You, Lance Corporal Diaz, are being held here under 10 counts of failure to obey a lawful order or regulation, including bypassing security measures to gain unauthorized access to secure UNSC servers and the subsequent unauthorized distribution of protected data. Am I correct?

DIAZ: You know you are. Keep going. I know you have the details there.

COUNSELOR: Very well. These charges were all brought in relation to the recent distribution of a number of secure UNSC documents relating to Lockson Industries, who were responsible for the supply of military equipment to the colony of Resol. Those documents revealed that Lockson had been supplying the soldiers there with… poor quality, armour and weaponry.

DIAZ: Poor quality is one way to describe it. So is dangerously prone to failing in the middle of a firefight. Do you how many of those guns jammed? Or how many sets of armour damn near fell apart?

COUNSELOR: I have not been granted access to those records, however, from your tone I can assume it was—

DIAZ: (interrupting) Too many, that’s what it was. If you looked at our casualty rates you’d think we were engaging the Covenant, not a band of poorly stocked Innies who could barely shoot their way out of a wet paper bag!

COUNSELOR: I take it that you do not, in any way, deny these allegations?

DIAZ: No. I don’t. I did everything they say I did. Though the charge of aiding the enemy was a bit of a stretch. I’m glad they dropped that.

COUNSELOR: I see.

(Writing.)

(DIAZ picks at the edge of the stunner.)

DIAZ: Notepad and pen. Huh. You’re a little bit old school, aren’t you?