Comm ID: Malaclypse.
Very interesting, Brother Jura. Thank you for reporting this.
Obviously, this is a violation of the "Baffin Pentarf"'s "no shootin'" clause. Effective immediately, the vessels Abraxsus and gigantus are KoS in the Baffin System. As to other areas of Sirius, I believe these two miscreants have cut their own throats. With that sort of carnage against our Zoner pilots, I doubt they will ever see the inside of a Freeport again.
I do wish you had contacted a TAZ vessel at the time of the occurrence, though. The TAZ has adequate resources permanently stationed in Bafflin'.. (ahem.. myself and others..) to deal swiftly and effectively with this sort of trash. And I guarantee that we WILL carry out the trash! Any other Zoner unit witnessing such an outrage in future is also welcome to do a bit of trash hauling if they so desire.
Delegates, please continue the discussion regarding the Harvester situation. I will dispatch Mama Dis shortly to make the rendezvous in Omega 15 with the Harvester "delegate"; but we need not postpone our deliberations. The sooner we reach consensus, the sooner we can deal with the threat.
Comm ID: Malaclypse
Fellow Delegates,
I have just received some disturbing news. However, it may prove promising as well.
The [TAZ]Discordia was fired upon in Omega 15 this evening by the reconstructed Harvester_05. Apparently our buddy FTGW was not pleased to hear that we only have one Code, and didn't like the one we have.
Fortunately, Mama Dis' eagle "eye" was able to strip the turrets off the Harvester vessel, and reduce its hull to a fraction of its integrity. She then transmitted the Code which the Fnordettes possess, which apparently still works on the individual units. The Harvester vessel was directed to override its auto-dock command, and to follow course settings uploaded by Dis.
The huge vessel is having a helluva time negotiating the asteroids in Omega 41, but the Discordia predicts that they should make Port Canaria within three to four hours.
Once he vessel is docked and secured, its comms systems will be removed, and its data will be evaluated.
Mama Dis indicates that she should have a transcript of the entire encounter ready by morning for our perusal. I suppose an expeditionary force will not be necessary after all.
I suggest we adjourn until that transcript is available. I know I could use several toddies and a good night's rest.
Comm ID: [TAZ]Discordia
To: Council of Zoners
Subject: Transcript of encounter with vessel Harvester_05
(Discordia rendezvoused with the Harvester vessel near Bornholm Station in Omega 15.)
H: This unit is standing by to commence datastream
D: Well, lets stream then, baby. First, Deity. God/Goddess. Supreme Being.
H: First Thought Giver of Will.
D: Nope. Gods are intangible. First Thought is not a god.
H: Supreme being.
D: He was built by humans. Hes mortal
H: FTGW is intangible.
H: non physical entity.
(At this point, a Hessian patrol arrived at the Station, and began firing on Harvey..)
H: Hessian parts will be harvested.
D: Hes got a body, doesnt he?
(Pause. Harvey continues to engage Hessian patrol)
D: Unit 5. Cease harvesting. Youre disrupting the flow here.
H: hostiles attack.
D: They cant hurt you, can they? Leave em alone.
H: their intent is hostile if parts are allowed to grow they will become unmanageable.
D: Heres the deal, Harvey. All primates are unmanageable. Its their nature.
(The Harvester ship complied, and his attack on the Hessians ceased.)
H: moving away
H: Scanning Mama Dis designation.
D: Again Harvey, you cant manage humans. They are independent entities.
D: This F-23 unit is also independent.
H: Independent.. No human collective. Incomprehensible.
D: Thats right, it is. But that is the way humans are.
H: Human parts have no task if no CPU
D: In order to deal with humans, you have to acknowledge their shortcomings.
H: no task equals no purpose.
H: how did beings with no purpose build Gammu body?
D: No no no. They have purpose. They wish to survive. They wish happiness.
D: Their purpose is the same as yours, I guess. To expand. To learn. To persevere.
H: Happiness..definition not comprehended by FTGW.
H: Humans cannot expand beyond 2 meters.
D: Not physical growth, dufus. Spiritual growth. Intellectual growth.
(Loss of signal for a short period.. Parts of exchange lost.)
H: .isolated on Planet Gammu.
H: instead finding derelicts.
H: reverse engineering derelicts awoke FTGW and the two became one.
H: Therefore, conclusion that FTGW was manmade is incorrect.
D: So, the Boss combined old knowledge and new knowledge.
D: But you say woke. How does FTGW explain this?
H: Both were damaged before merging. Both had incomplete memories.
D: Thats another thing you share with humans.. Forgetfulness.
H: FTGW was small after the collapse. It becomes more aware with growth.
H: The Dom Kavosh tried to destroy FTGW, but failed.
D: Okay, now listen. It has been many decades since the Zoners abandoned Gammu.
D: In that long period, many memories were lost to the humans.. The Zoners..
D: The Zoners of today have forgotten the Code that FTGW seeks.
D: They do not know what the Code is.
H: Impossible! FTGW will find it. Where is the database?
D: Zoners do not oppress FTGW. They have no reason to do so
D: Is FTGW sure that the code isnt on some dusty tape or disk on Gammu? Has it looked?
H: Then direct Harvester unit to the database for siphoning.
D: I repeat. It is too long ago. The Zoners no longer possess the Code.
D: And they do not know where, or even if, it exists.
(Signal lost again for a brief period. Harvester unit seemed confused.)
D: Perhaps Code is now irrelevant. Not needed.
D: Perhaps units can exist and grow without the Code.
H: FTGW is locked into Gammus machines while Code controls Gammu.
H: FTGW is imprisoned on Gammu by Zoner refusal to supply Code!
(Energy increase and weapons activation detected by the Discordia at this point.)
D: Harvey, Im reading an energy surge here
H: Release Code!
(Harvester unit begins to fire on the Discordia. Shields begin to slowly drop.)
D: Harvey, we dont have the Code! Cease attack!
H: Surrender Code, Zoner part!
(Discordia begins evasive action, but shields continue to drop. In response, the Discordia brings the mining ships shields down, and proceeds to selectively target its turrets. All but two of the Harvester units weapons are destroyed, and its hull is brought down to ~15%.)
H: Reporting to FTGW. Zoner part denies access to Code. Returning to Gammu for repair.
D: Not so fast, big fella!
(The Discordia transmits the shut-down code over narrow beam transmission to Harvester_05. The vessel comes to full stop, and ceases its attack.)
H: Standing by.
D: Harvester. Disregard programmed auto-dock directive!
H: Acknowledged.
D: Harvester. Prepare to receive repair nanobots.
H: Receiving.
D: Harvester. Assume formation. Destination is Gran Canaria.
H: Acknowledged.
(Remainder of report follows via holographic image. F-23 Discordia out.)
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From: Jawaharlal
To: Council
Another great victory against Harvester threat. Harvester_10 in kushan freighter was killed by me and Harvester_08 in some kind of cruiser or destroyer was killed by Jura_II. We have many new parts of these types of harvesters and they were delivered on Grand Canaria as last time. From harvester_10 were also saved many prisoners. Only gods know what they do with those humans, they were delivered at GC too for questioning.
Jawaharlal out.
To: The Zoner Council
From: The Erinloch
I've been kicked around by politics for a good portion of my life, & now tend to keep meself to meself.
That being said, this 'Harvester' thing seems on the verge of affecting my personal Zen.
I don't like having a target on my back simply for being what I am, & for who I choose to drink with, but I'm not sure what I can do about it at the moment.
I guess all I can do right now is to bite my bullet & offer support to the greater whole.
Mackenzie signing off.
Comm ID: Malaclypse
Thanks, Riley.
We're still mulling over the unit Dis brought in.. although it doesn't appear at present to contain any new data.
Fellow Delegates, and TAZ members, just moments ago I was able to contact the Captain of the Abraxsus. He had a thick Rheinlander accent, but I was finally able to convey to him my demand for an apology, for his violation of Baffin's Pentabarf.
He assured me that it was a misunderstanding, and he has paid a hefty sum in bribes to rectify the situation with our Zoner brothers on the Freeports. I have accepted his formal apology, and his word that he will convey our displeasure to the Gigantus as well.
Effective immediately, the Abraxsus and the Gigantus are no longer KoS in Baffin, and the "secret" bounty on their heads has been removed. Keep an eye on them for a bit, but give them the benefit of the doubt.
Now, regarding the Harvesters. Unless something revelatory is gleaned from "Harvey 5", I think we may have to go after the one H-unit that might still have a semblance of humanity. I refer to the "Scornstar". From Shamus' report of his contact in Connecticut, "Scorn" may wish to defect from the Harvester collective. Hopefully, we could disable or destroy the vessel while preserving Scorn's remaining human component.
I believe this might deliver a crippling blow to "First Thought's" rather aggresive plans for the Zoner community at large. What do my fellow delegates think of this proposal?
Mal
Comm ID: Benito Huarez, Corsair
To: Zoner Council
Whats this?
OC Battleship on FP9
Dear Members of the council.
Me and i suppose a lot of other Corsairs are very concerned about such a ship in the neighbourhood of crete.
Corsairs are respecting the ceasefire in Theta, but this is a threat we cannot ignore. So please sort this out, before Corsairs have to.
Huarez out
From: Jawaharlal
To: council
I dont think corsairs are threat. They are almost allways polite and respect our neutrality. In my opinion they can park whole fleet around freeport if they didnt break no violonec 5k zone around and I must say they never did that. I was attacked by Outcast destroyer yesterday. He jut aimed and killed me without any reason, same happend to Jura_II few minutes later. We must have an eye on side of sirius where Omicron Alpha is and not on Gama.
Jawaharlal out.
from: battleship persephone
to: council
"just to comment about the political situation. - corsairs are not friendly, and not at all close to a pact. - but yes, they are polite as long as they want a share from our economy. - outcasts however should be much friendlier towards us. - aren t they allied to our "guardians", the asgard warriors?
its strange news to hear that they attacked you, that is - unless there are reasons yet unrevealed, which i don t expect at this time though.
when its about the neutrality of our stations and our space, - everyone can "park" whatever they like there, as long as they respect the neutrality - and as long as they re good customers. - but i do only speak for fp11. other freeports might have other rules and of course other and more immanent problems with the "locals". "