Disassocation

War-Torn is the third of the Flashback missions Colin goes through, recounting the events of the Ghost Academy comic. It comes after War-Torn.

Mission dialogue transcript will be provided once we get to the point where we begin developing it, but basically it will be select scenes from the comics.

Mission
The mission starts black. Colin hears a voice from an adjutant saying the most recent rounds of memory wipes were a success. Director Bick and Superintendent Sarco Angelini discuss Colin’s Quiet Force, Corbin’s pressure to get his son released from the academy, and his ability to astrally project himself, and express some worry about General Leonid Celsus’s coming to take Colin away. They say they will prepare a demonstration, and Colin’s vision once again goes black briefly. When he awakens, later, Bick and Angelini tell Colin there were several Arcturus Mengsk holograms around the academy, and that he had to find them.

Colin disassociates himself, and begins to wander the academy. The places where the holograms are are marked on the map and easy to get as Colin can phase through walls. However, wandering the academy will give key pieces of intelligence for the later mission. As well as scouting the area, Colin can overhear conversations on how to disable traps, security systems, and little bits of worldbuilding. Those will be outlines later.

One key conversation Colin will have to overhear is between Nova and Tosh, introducing Tosh and affirming his belief in the Terran Dominion. They will briefly notice the projection, before it vanishes.

When Colin comes back to his body, he’s ordered to give a report on the locations of the Mengsk holograms, to which he lies. Celsus insists he’s been tricked, and scolds Bick and Angelini before storming off. They ask why Colin lied, and he responds that he didn’t want to go with him. They don’t blame him, and place him back in the chamber he started in. His vision goes black, and hangs there, as if time passes.

Then, a small blast wakes Colin up. He stumbles out of his memory wipe chair, wondering where he is. A shadowguard, Reyes’s assistant during the events of the campaign (currently named Neil, but I’m about to rewrite his story) appears from the blast, telling him to come along, and that his memories had been wiped but he was going to take him back to his father. Colin expresses confusion as to who his father even is, but begins to have flashbacks, remembering his time at the academy, including the astral projection experiment and the events of it, but just barely.

The two go through the academy, Neil explicitly not killing to avoid repercussions by the Dominion, but using shock charges. Colin meanwhile can use his “quiet voice” to distract guards, which serves as a projection some can see, and has some other hallucination abilities. At some point, they encounter Tosh, who realizes what they’re doing and points his gun at them. He realizes who Colin is, and after a brief moment, he tells them where the exit is, and leaves them be.

The two escape to a dropship, with Neil telling him that his father is looking for him. From this point on he would be free to live how he wanted, fight how he wanted, and he could make the men who made him suffer pay for what they had done. Colin, confused, says he just wants to go home, and follows Neil on the dropship.

Mission Intelligence
During the astral projection sequence, Colin can uncover different pieces of intelligence to make his escape easier.


 * Two techs are working on a room full of generators for Sparky (the academy AI’s) defense system, and says they installed shock shielding on all but one, which seems to have some issues. Using Neil’s taser round on that one generator will shut down all turret detection, but doing it on any other will cause the alarms to go off.


 * One of the ghosts mentions he lost his platoon to a group of zerglings. Nearby, there is a pen full of different robotic zerg training bots. Colin can use hallucinate on one of these and cause him to panic and run. Doing one that is not a zergling will cause the alarms to sound.


 * One of the professors will talk about a test they were going to do with his students by using holographic walls in one of the rooms, some leading to the courtyard. This allows Colin to get out faster.


 * One tech will mention the robotic zerg pens, and if Neil can get close enough he can release them and cause a distraction.


 * Because Colin can phase through walls, this is a good place to hide some easter eggs outside of the academy, where players normally wouldn’t look.

Characters

 * Major
 * Colin Phash
 * Neil (Reyes’s Shadowguard)
 * Director Bick
 * Superintendent Sarco Angelini
 * General Leonid Celsus


 * Minor
 * Gabriel Tosh
 * Nova Terra
 * Theodore Pierce
 * Other ghosts (probably plenty more)

Lore Details

 * Tosh should not have a Jamaican accent, as he gains that later due to flashback from terrazine exposure. Tosh also needs a new suit since he normally wears a spectre one.