ID:Ezrael Vertiga Location:Omega-49 Subject:About you ENCRYPTION:
Boy, what a day.
I have some questions about you, to be honest. Like, you seem to have had a bit of knowledge about me, and since I'm still a bit, well, disappointed about what Auxesia did and how they behaved during our meeting on the Eidolon Wraith, I tried to take my distance from you guys. However, apart from your funny appearance today in New London, I think talking to you might be less of a catastrophic mistake than I thought first, especially after that, well, incident in New London.
First of all, what's Auxesia doing lately? I know your leaders seem to have some business in Liberty, as I saw the Navy there poking the Cincinnati a bit too hard behind Manhattan. Aside from that, I'm a bit, uhm, remaining untold. I thought Auxesia was based in Kansas, but when we were on the Eidolon Wraith, it was residing in Inverness. Where would I need to go if I'd want to say hello to our waffle-eating, consistently-in-bad-shape-remaining Raven? And is she better now? Like, seriously, she didn't look very well when we were in the Zeta section.
Aside from that, I'd like to know why you as a mother joined Auxesia. Isn't that a bit too dangerous? And are you really sixty years old? You sound a bit younger.
And then, I'd like to know if you know something about what happened in New London. All I know is those Cultist-designated peeps showed up with an interesting amount of ships that seemed to be remote-controlled drones. Got some debris of those and a bit of data on them. Will have to take a look at it later, it's a bit much. Those red beam cannons, funny coincidence that those people show up with them right after the nomads seem to have learned to use beam weapons as well. They refused to talk, but fired on everything around.
And then there was that guy of the SirLagsalot-ship. Do you know him? He was weirdly interested in the drone debris and the data I collected. However, I learned making deals with strangers is always leading to trouble. You don't know anything about this guy, don't you?
That's a set of questions, looking at it. Now, as you said, I seem to have a dossier in the Auxesian database, so I guess you're hesitant to answer most of the stuff. However, I'd appreciate it if you could at least answer some of my questions. Would be nice.
Oh, and I hope your date with Miss Mercier was nice. Gallic woman are known for their kissing skills. This one is a badass, though.
Sender ID:Nesrin Ezra Elhertani Khan Affiliation:Auxesia, Primary Artificial Intelligence Species:Gammuian Date of Birth:<<Error - discrepant value>> 05.01.776 Status:<<Error>> Status mismatch. Registered as deceased since 822 AS. Attitude:Neutral. Height: 264 cm <<Error>> - value appears unreasonably high. Weight:4.31 metric tons <<Error>> - value appears unreasonably high. Citizenship:Bretonian. Parents:Mohammed Shakour Khan (male), Maya Khan (female). Offspring:Marten Khan. Theology:Ibadi Islam.
Subject:The London Look.
Mercier’s a firecracker. She's a great example of the best of humanity - kinda' rare. Might go all harvester on her and collect her - you never know. Hoping for higher things than an in-like-Flynn, but, hey. Probability knocks. They'll date if you're a computer but nobody wants to be seen getting serious with your K'hara hating blow-up-doll, you know what I'm saying?
But, serious - you think I’m interested in her kissing skills? Hah. You don't have to be a robot to realise that don't compute.
Damn. Those red highlights don’t lie, do they. You ever got laid?
I don’t know what Auxesia’s doing. If I did, I’d be unironically saving the universe instead of scudding around New London in a slightly stolen prosec’.
Now, I’m going to be telling you all of this not because I think you need to know, but because I believe you’re a good man and my love for Raven’s vision and what she’s constructed is only exceeded by my maximal distrust for the bitch.
How do I know about you? I read your intelligence dossier. I read all the intelligence dossiers - keeps me ahead of the threat vertex. Slide-duplicated a tonne of intel at my rank clearance before scooting off to New London to pursue a domestic life. I’m a fighter jock. Clarions follow me where I go. Rude, but I plan to live for another decade. Got the prey itch - Nomads on the brain... uh, CPU. You feel me?
If Auxesia has business in Liberty, that’s beyond me - they’ve alternated between staunch adherence to the Commonwealth and trying to fling white pigeons at the Federals. Last I knew of them they’re guests of the Commonwealth - hence all the red bannered ships, the swords, the skulls. They saved our gammon from the wolf with the star shield and now we return them by pretending to fandango with the Federalists. Doesn’t sit with me. I can’t shoot blue anymore and there’s always out there some punk with twice the tenacity, thrice the speed. I’m no man’s saviour - not by killing. Not through dead Libertonians. I’m no literalist, no party to the old wars, the cycle of the bodies dropping into nemesis. I figure best way to not take a bullet is not to play Coalition roulette, so I quit out of the service and took the uniform with me. One hundred and fifty tonnes of liberated live metal and I packed off for the cityscapes. Memory pins Auxesia’s primary battlegroups in Kansas, Inverness and Bretonia, with picket forces expanded out into the Omicron worlds. I can’t go into specifics because that information is hyper-likely to get me killed if you’re playing the antagonist - I’ve got no proof you’re not. You’re a smart man with a well-gunned flotilla - so you’re getting canned, Department of Defence answers. I don’t leak like a Junker bar tap without a hold-over.
So you want to know who I am? Quartermaster Sentinel Nesrin Ezra Elhertani Khan, born on the 5th, 1st, the ’76th, Cambridge and also on the something, the something, the something else, Gammu. Confused? So am I. As for personal facts about my family that’s a none-of-your-damn business kinda’ question, but I’ll be nice. I made my choice eight years ago that me and mine were better off a long way away from me. I’m a big-time believe in foster care - it worked out for me, it works out for mine and it keeps odd bastards like you and me a few star systems away from my kid. You work in merc trade you get well acquainted with the noun "leverage".
Raven is one of those people the term hypochondriac was invented for. Note, hypochondria’s fictional. You have problems or you don’t - Raven has them by the noose. You can see her brain fizzing away under her eyes, like someone shoot her too much and you expect it to boil out of her ears. Two thousand years ago, she would have been a burnt witch - Hunt makes a hell of a Proctor. As for who is running the organisation - it’s not them. It’s some rococo masked chap called Leviathan. Now, Leviathan might be Hunt, maybe. Hunt’s used proxies before - a Curator Endurance - a robot fashioned to imitate like a suit of combat armour. They’ve got more eyes on their ass than they do in their face, so it’d be a typical move. Raven herself is… indisposed. She’s been making motions to retire even back when I was in the service.
Sir Lagsalot. Sure. His real name’s John - never learnt his last. He gallivants around the sector hunting for information. Professional tattle - he hunts for personalities he finds curiosity in and grabs every little bit of information he can. The man’s a true psychopath - he doesn’t make allegiances and if you trade with him, he’ll trade off you. Ultimately he’s an information goldmine that likes to poke a few Midas fingers into the less salubrious orifices of those who mine him. I’d be surprised he’s not dead, but that camara has proven desperately difficult to kill. I’ve tried twice. Don’t be tempted to work with him, Vertiga, unless you want your most intimate secrets plastered all over the neural net, whether you tell him them or not. He isn’t bright, but I’ve never met a snake so canny. Don’t bite the apple.
Best way to attract his attention isn’t hard. He’s got no weakness for money or coercion, but he damn well won’t leave you alone if he thinks you’ve got a set of breasts or a story to tell. He goes after the hard cases.
You know as much about the cultists as I. Auxesia definitely knows more because they only sent the most highly decorated Q ship in the fleet to retrieve their remains. Know what you mean about the beam cannons - never saw the like although the conceptual idea has been in circulation for hundreds of years - prime issue is thermal management. You project continuously, you reduce your heat sinks to molten slag. You can’t radiate pulsars and still run by the same thermodynamic laws I do - human tech doesn’t scratch. Gammu tech, of course, does, but unless you’ve got a hundred year running leap on positronic quantum tunnelling, you can get on your bike. Eagles are racehorses, not rhinos. You can’t hotload your heat sink with its own superheated charr and expect your fighter not to die around you, so whatever they're packing far exceeds anything anyone else with two fleshy legs and two fleshy arms has to offer. Odd that they waste them on dumbass low-gear drones. Squandered potential. Somebody doesn't have the forces.
Now, want to go tit-for-tat? You've been nice enough to charade me as a search engine. How about you take a gander?
What do you know about the exo-Sirian mindshare self-styling as “the Vagrants” in their audiovisual theatre? This isn’t a trap, nor is it aimed at you - I know you’re not a Nomad proxy, nor would I give a crap if you were. Doesn’t mean I’m not hunting one who might.
Give me a hint. You’re my only lead.
Oh, and don't shroud the innards of your ship in ultraviolet lights, seriously. You're skin isn't boron wrapped - I'm suprised you're not the walking icon of skin cancer right now.
Take care of yourself, mate.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)
ID:Ezrael Vertiga Location:Omega-49 Subject:About you ENCRYPTION:
I'm a bit surprised, to be honest. From what I heard over audio comm, I'd never expect you, uhm, to be what you are. That raises some interesting questions, but to be fair, I should answer your question first.
I'm afraid when it comes to the Vagrants, I know less about them than Auxesia does, mostly because my fiance would kill me if I'd start to roam around in the Omicrons again, and the Core probably would do the same. As you may now, the Apahanta is right now inaccessable to me, thanks to your old friends. Once they are done with their search on my ship, maybe I can find out more about the Vagrants. Right now, everything I know about them is based on what Raven and Miss Loyola told me about them in Pennsylvania, two days ago. And that's not much, as those two petulant ladies were rather busy bickering with each other. Like, Raven called her constantly "Lolli" and it's pretty much known how loose the triggerfinger of Miss Loyola is. Actually, knowing that Raven suspects, or even is rather sure about Miss Loyola being infected - something that is also rather obvious, to be honest - it's weird to see her not fighting her. When they suspected me, I was certain they would have killed me and Maren as soon as they got the proof.
Anyway, all I heard is there are those "Vagrants" is that they are said to have recently shown up in the Omicrons, they are said to have an external mindshare, independent from the K'haran Mindshare, and that one of them, according to Miss Lolli, is called "Kishar". That's all I know. Sadly. The urge to just take the Apahanta the way it is and go to the Omicrons to look for those Vagrants is strong, though. Maybe, in a month, I can tell you more about them.
You know, now that I think about it, maybe there is a connection between those Vagrants, the Cultists and those new beam cannons. Argh, my fiance will get mad at me, I can see that coming.
Oh, and to answer your other question: I think both of us know very well that I have a certain reputation when it comes to women, so, yes. That even drew the attention of Core Guildkeeper Cordelia Lyell, as one her the first things she ever said to me was her awareness of what I did frequently on Yaren and Durban. A weird thing to her that from the Core Granny. Also, I never had cosmetic surgery - as the first thing I would have done would be the removal of my scar. My body is the product of athletic workouts on Curacao and healthy diet. And, no post punk. Just old-fashioned rock. Just to clarify.
Anyway...
So, you're, uhm, a cyborg? Probably the first Auxesian I saw that doesn't actually hide behind a power ranger armor but rahter is that power ranger armor. No offense. It was just a weird experience to see the, uhm, the Auxesian uniforms. But you pretty much validated what I thought about Raven and Hunt. To the outside, it always makes the impression Raven is leading Auxesia, but from what I've seen on the Wraith, it's rather Hunt, or Curator Endurance, whatever he prefers to be. Wouldn't be surprised to hear Curator Leviathan is just another mechanic onesie of Hunt. But whatever, not my business. Keeping a certain distance from all that always was a good idea, as the recent encounters with Auxesia just caused those stupid hostilities, not only with Auxesia themselves, but also with the Lane Hackers and, from what I guess, the entirety of Bretonia. You don't happen to know if it was your leaders that told Bretonia that about the suspicion about me being infected? Like, I have no proof on that, but it's basically obvious. I was begging for Asylum for the Apahanta in Bretonia, and waited months for an answer, and in the end, those shitters just told me to fuck off, telling me about exactly those suspicions. And here I thought Bretonia was the most welcoming house in Sirius, as they also could use every help possible against the weird frenchmen. And they act as if anything would prevent me from taking a smaller ship and go to New London. If I was infected, I already could have established a network down there, I guess.
Things really aren't working out as planned, thanks to Auxesia. It's really a shame. The only good thing is that, although she is probably the most mental unstable girl I know - and since I left Curacao, I met one after another - she seems to have a heart somewhere. Hunt on the other hand...
So you're, like, 47? Would work with Miss Mercier, as she is just like me, 31. What makes you interested in her, though?
Can't wait to hear more from you, Nelly the Elephant.
Sender ID:Nesrin Ezra Elhertani Khan Affiliation:Auxesia, Primary Artificial Intelligence Species:Gammuian Date of Birth:<<Error - discrepant value>> 05.01.776 Status:<<Error>> Status mismatch. Registered as deceased since 822 AS. Attitude:Neutral. Height: 264 cm <<Error>> - value appears unreasonably high. Weight:4.31 metric tons <<Error>> - value appears unreasonably high. Citizenship:Bretonian. Parents:Mohammed Shakour Khan (male), Maya Khan (female). Offspring:Marten Khan. Theology:Ibadi Islam.
Subject:The London Look.
Uhm. Dude, living on Curacao does not earn a healthy diet. I’ve partaken in those buffets - I know.
I’m… Prefer if you don’t call me a cyborg, to be frank. Cyber organism? Maybe. Sure, the term’s logical - it’s just… the implications. I’m not a- hmph.
But… look. I’m a person - stick to person terms. Perhaps I wouldn’t care so much if I… I didn’t choose to be alien tank girl. It helps me to know I’m Nesrin, you know? Stick to Nesrin. It helps me if I remember I’m… look, I’m trying to live my life like I’m more the sum of my parts, yeah?
Yeah. Raven has always been an ideological figurehead, and, in the beginning when Auxesia wasn’t much more than an airwing and a battered cruiser, she did exercise absolute command. Hunt is the operational brain. He’s more level-headed, more self-consistent. Raven… glimmers. She’s occasionally here, and she occasionally isn’t.
The problem with Hunt is that he’s self-aware, compassionate, tenacious, anti-social. He views the universe as so many chess pieces. Raven has K’hara exposure syndrome - has it bad, but seems to steer true to the course most of the time. The general rule is that the audacious strokes come from Raven, whilst the day-to-day house keeping and general ops come from Hunt. Hunt isn’t as directly ruthless as say, Golanski, but he’s on par with Cordelia for tenacity and and Chandler for resolution. He’s got this… lilting manner of speech that tends to sooth where Raven aggrieves. Diplomatically, they’re oppositional. Doesn’t prevent them from sleeping together. Long and short is he’s the honcho, she’s the ideologue. We fight for Hunt and we die for Raven, if that makes sense.
Their duality is all the more symbiotic when you realise that they’re the beneficiaries of no small amount of exo-terrestrial augments. I don’t know the specifics, never looked to delve, but they’re got what can only be described as a mini-mindshare going on between them - the result of poking around with a Nomad detached from the wider share - I don’t have the specifics of that, either. Couple to that the whole host of psychiatric disorders Raven backpacks around with her - everything from panic attacks to post-natal anxiety, you’ve got a pair of bright, very unstable suns.
I seriously trip when I come into the interference of the mindshare - don’t know why - I’m not a chemical computer, I should be more resistant to neurological interference on the account of me not actually having any damn neurones, not less. Even then, I’m psyched by the dangers of Hunt and Raven travelling down the rabbit hole. Auxesia’s assets are measured not in force of arms - they have considerable - but in information, and some of the schemata I’ve been privy to would send you packing off to Gallia if you knew what they’re attempting to machine. It’s been enough to send me a-running, twice, but you don’t get to know that, Ezrael.
Yeah, no shit. Nothing works out as planned when Auxesia’s involved. Call them benign dictators. They’re gonna’ do what they believe in and they’re not going to put it out to the popular vote whilst they do so. Now, I’m ex armed services - I can play the grunt. But I also murdered enough other grunts in the 800 war off faux agendas to know that human beings break - and nobody’s more more breakable than Raven.
Auxesia… never just killed people for being infected. They’ve got that over-curiosity complex going on. Auxesia was never about being the surgical knife to cut the cancer out, it was about learning how to live with it. One beast’s malignant tumour is another’s vital organ.
The Nucleus was never learning how to create the fantasy of a post-Nomad universe, but instilling the environment wherein humanity could occupy the same boots - be heirs to the Daam’k’vosh just as concretely as the nomads themselves. Sirius is artifice, after all - most of the Orion arm is a tailor fit for the Daam’s sleeve. Which is why the Order can never fulfil their mandate - you can’t defeat the Nomads with guns, you defeat them with their design. This subversion was the true lesson the Order should have taken from the battle of Omicron Major - but never could. These stars were never made for humanity alone - anthropocentrism isn’t going to save us - a little is healthy - making it your dominant ethos dooms you to die.
I’m self-interested, of course. I don’t want to have to kill my way to survival, to become as self-outcast as the Maltese, at least, not anymore. Maybe I want to live a little. The Order didn’t save me, people doing their jobs did, and I’m not going to drop whatever pretences of a principle I have left and gallivant off to plant shuttle bombs in urban centres. Ultimately Auxesia is a force for good, and they don’t justify uncanny ends-justify-the-disgusting-means that the Order and Core do. They’re not torturers, they’re not killers. They’re just… spooks. But even I’ve got hard limits.
I’ve been quizzing you about the Vagrants because I’ve been looking for reasons not to completely disturb myself. I made contact with an Auxesian patrol vessel somewhere in the celestial north of Omicron Minor. Yeah. I was chasing down a mind node which had been giving me audio-visual bullcrappery, and was about to desiccate the damn thing before I got pulled out by a retrieve order. The pilot concerned, somebody totally ambiguous of course, span me a narrative that doesn’t fit with what I know - that Auxesia has some kinda’… non-aggression pact with the Vagrants, but not the K’hara. Now this doesn’t sit with what I know, nor what I like, nor what I’m pre-ordained to do. Collaboration? That’s not my story. I saw my world burn around me, Vertiga. They took me, body and soul. My mind in my twenties and my humanity in my forties. I don’t want to be an accessory to the obituary of dead people.
Assuming I wasn’t being lied to by an opportunistic incubi, Raven’s put her leg in it. I can’t decide if I should play along, or turn everything I know over to the Overwatch. Treason or tastelessness. I guess you can see why I’m scrubbing around New London. Huh.
First thing I’m going to do is get in contact with Leviathan - learn the damn narrative. Then I’ll plan move two.
As for Mercier? She gives as good as she gets. She’s a self-consistent, beautiful woman in the middle of the apocalypse. The photons get just a wee bit more exciting when they’re pinging off her face. She can banter, she can repartee, she doesn’t stick her nose in my secrets nor mine in hers, and doesn’t give a damn about my body, mind or day job. Who could ask for more? I know I can't, so I won't ask for her. I'll just see how the burger rolls down.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)
ID:Ezrael Vertiga Location:Omega-49 Subject:About you ENCRYPTION:
You really have an enjoyable way of talking, Nesrin. Reminds me both of Raven with her waffles and that one guy that played my nurse when I collapsed on the Eidolon Wraith. Of course, you're talking way less vulgary than the latter. I believe he was a perfect example of libertonian proletariat.
K'hara exposure syndrom. You don't have a dossier on that? I remember my first days in the Core, when I commanded a bunch of Core rookies on the Apahanta. That was before the Dyson Sphere became active. The deeper we got into the nomad controlled space, the more crew members got headaches, nose-bleeding and went completely insane. I never really found out why that happened, and once I had a regular crew rotation - without 'rookies' from Alabama, if you get what I mean - that never happened again. Is there a connection to what you were talking about? And, they are actually a couple? I knew it. Maren and I were wondering all the time whether those two are a couple or not. Not that it is important, but you know, every now and then it's enjoyable to think about that. Hunt and Raven... cute.
Explains a bit to me, though. Everyone on the ship seemed to be very well aware of what was happening to us. Mini-Mindshare. Oh god, must be a pain in the ass once you have a pervy in that link. Like, there once was a bigger K'haran Mindnode called Sovereign in Omicron Delta. Hunt and Raven surely remember that day. Sovereign asked for a mindmelt, as it would make the talk easier. To be honest, I still regret I did it, but the experience I made during that was helpful, as I learned that there are nomads out there that actually try to understand humans better. Sovereign, for example, wanted to know what love is. Now try to explain that to an alien when you're a guy that may had a three digit amount of girls on Curacao, but never was in a relationship, back then. I think I failed in telling Sovereign the essential things about it. And, my god, the weird thought of "Just don't think about something perverted!" during that entire encounter.
Say, is there any instance that watches Auxesia? I mean, who watches the watchers? Maybe I make a mistake by asking you, but I can't think of anything that would prevent Auxesia from simply taking the Apahanta, as there is only a skeletal crew and a few mortar shots between them and it, I guess. I've seen how questionable a friendly relationship to Auxesia is. A few rumors were enough to have them working completely against me, making the Lane Hackers turning hostile to me, Bretonia being suspicious of me and maybe they spread even more rumors about me. When I was there, on the Wraith, Hunt wanted to bargain about what they would get for sharing the truth about me not being infected. Like, they make accusations I never would be able to defend myself of. K'hara exposure syndrom? Non-aggression-pact with Vagrants? The only that prevents me from spreading that in Bretonia would be the little bit of trust I have in you and your trust in what Raven might be able to pull off. And let's be honest: I have no intention in telling people such things. What Auxesia does is maybe interesting, but not really my concern. The same it should be the other way around, but I guess a guy with a ship that is barely operable as it is crewed with twenty humans is so much more dangerous than twenty humans operating twenty bombers...
Urgh, I shouldn't rant about that the entire time. Sorry about that.
Oh, now that I remember it. Seem's like you have a misconception about Curacao. Most tourists only visit the primary islands. But there are also the secondary and tertiary islands. The primary islands are what you see in the media. Clubs, casinos, resorts, hotels, all the places for tourists. The secondary islands are open to tourists as well, but the OSC personnel and Curacao-borne people like me live there as well. Those islands are usually way more quiet, still pretty idyllic, and they are way cheaper, as the OSC people have to live there as well. And then there are the tertiary islands, where you will never see tourists, but only the families of OSC personnel. I guess it's noted in the Auxesian intelligence dossier about me, but before I left Curacao to join the Core, I used to be a biology and physical education teacher on a curacaoan college. Times were easier back then. Much easier. Anyway, you really shout visit the secondary islands. Neo-Lagun, to be precise. You'd surely love it there. White beaches, planetform-filtered water, so you could surf there, nice seafood restaurants that serve the finest of the imported maritime wildlife and a good number of nicely shaped women. And men.
Anyway. As soon as I'm get the opportunity, I'll try to find out more about those Vagrants, and maybe you and me can every now and then share our information about them. I wonder how Auxesia managed to get this non-aggression-pact with them, and I wonder if it's something real or just a trick of one of the sides. Whatever it is, we should stay careful, expect the worst but allow us to be positively surprised. I mean, the nomads are, to a certain point, reasonable, with the exception of Ish'tar.
Would also be good if you could keep me informed about Leviathan. Like, we know what we have to think about Golanski, Lyell and all the other people in command. Auxesia however has a special position. I'd like the be sure noone is going to abuse this position.
And good luck with Marie. Her humor surely works well with yours, Nelly.
Sender ID:Nesrin Ezra Elhertani Khan Affiliation:Auxesia, Primary Artificial Intelligence Species:Gammuian Date of Birth:<<Error - discrepant value>> 05.01.776 Status:<<Error>> Status mismatch. Registered as deceased since 822 AS. Attitude:Neutral. Height: 264 cm <<Error>> - value appears unreasonably high. Weight:4.31 metric tons <<Error>> - value appears unreasonably high. Citizenship:Bretonian. Parents:Mohammed Shakour Khan (male), Maya Khan (female). Offspring:Marten Khan. Theology:Ibadi Islam.
Subject:The London Look.
Or men? You trying to flirt with me, Vert’?
Who washes the Molly washerwomen? Age old question. Well, uh, I try to. To an extent, the Republic of Liberty does. They’re remarkably tenacious at cutting through the crap when it comes to Auxesia - irritatingly, they tend to Dirty Harry it - but it’s the nation of cowboy justice and it’s done a hell of a thing by bench-pressing Auxesia to the neg’ table. Say what you will about theatrical violence - it gets shit done. ‘Course, Hunt will always find a way of morphing this into a plus. They’re going to have to shed the
You want to know the really cute thing about Hunt and Raven, Raven and Hunt? They’ve taken to calling themselves Junt. Yeah. Frickin’ power couple straight out of bad daytime neural net re-runs - the kinda’ crap NTV you get bootlegged off a Zoner holo cassette store, probably subtitled in French with the audio in Japanese. They’re still good together, if anything, they’re what keeps Aux stable. Hunt props up Raven’s weaknesses and Raven gives Hunt the motivation he requires to stick to his fundaments. Raven gave Hunt a second chance at life - in return, Hunt’s been giving humanity a second chance at existence. They, and Aux’ itself, can’t take all the credit, but they’ve done more in one year than the Order has done since the fall of toledo - and yes, sometimes that agenda involves impounding other Core defectors when they try to transit the core worlds.
Yeah, I do have a dossier on K’hara exposure syndrome - hell, I feel like I am the motherfucking dossier - although logically we should just be calling it Nomad syndrome now that there’s more than one bloody mindshare and all that’s black and white is blue, purple and pink. Allah protects; you put your head down for one second and Sirius has had a seizure, done a backflip and rammed a quantum string up its ass and nothing is quite the same again. The experience your rookies had is essentially that - it’s an extension of the same telekinesis you see in highly developed incubi. Your brain is just a collection of electromagnetic fields and considering they can cast complex hard fields around themselves and mess around with gravitons, driving you totally bonkers is small fry. Some people claim they can build up a resistance to it - which is kinda’ askew. Just because a full-on heroin addict doesn’t feel the effects of the first dose they ever took doesn’t mean its wise to keep chugging the opiates. Now, I’m a positron based quantum computer, not an Amstrad - they shouldn’t be able to mess with me, but they do, metal or not. Seems humans are just as vulnerable as everything and everybody else.
See, I tried surfing. I sank. Turned out I couldn’t swim either. You know what it’s like to get salt water on dried skin, yeah? Now replace salt water with circuitry. What was even worse was I gave as good as I got and pan-seared every fat-flippered-fillet of marine life within twelve nautical miles and sent a lifeguard properly comatose. I learned my lesson and slapped some non-ferrous tantalum laced plasteel over my frame and a few repulser plates. Hurts like a bad piercing but I’d probably be able to give surfing another shot. Might have to take you up and visit Neo-Lagun.
Tell you what. If there’s anything you need retrieving off the Apahanta, contact me. I’m a sentinel - mid-com. I can probably get access to most of the ship. I’m not sure I can expedite it but I sure can rescue any materials you don’t want Auxesia to see, make sure they don’t poke through any excessively personal effects, etcetera.
Oh, and, uh; here’s your infectee dossier. Just yours. To be clear, this is stolen, unauthenticated intel, so If you tell Raven or Hunt about this, I’ll get canned, so, y’know, keep it low key. There aren’t exactly open-door employment prospects for aliens out there.
I’ll find out what I can on Leviathan from the inside, but I fully expect him to be harder to hold onto than a greased octopus. Curator Endurance was only identifiable through his networking into the same systems as me, Eido side. Sloppy. They’ve probably got fake data emanating out of Leviathan’s wazoo, so the only way to be sure is to catch him, Hunt or both, in the flesh. Considering I’ve got a history of screwing with their sense of the clandestine, they’re not exactly going to loan me the keys to the archive. Gonna' admit, they under-estimate your age considerably. Looking good, Vert'.
I’ll also have you know that the “Libertonian Proletariat” who you pissed off just coincidentally happens to be my best friend, so watch your perfectly supple mouth, mate.
ID:Ezrael Vertiga Location:Omega-49 Subject:About you ENCRYPTION:
I really hope they don't get secret copies of our transmissions, Nesrin. You're risking too much for a man you don't know. After all, I could be everything. What I can tell you for sure is: You just made a friend here. For what you did, I'll try to help you as much as possible with the limited ressources I have, that I can assure you.
That dossier is surprisingly small, however. Nothing about our smaller assets. I wonder how Maren's dossier looks, they sure have one on her as well.
Is something known about therapy concepts on the K'hara exposure syndrom? Any dissertations about that?
I probably should stop pestering you with those questions. But yeah, a good diving suit is always a good idea for surfing. How about you and me actually go there at some time? I mean, it's probably better to have someone with you who knows the best parts of Curacao. And to be honest, I'm very curious about how you look like in natura. So far I had only a few encounters with Gammuians, some of them being PRIME units, including Empathy, but also the one unit called "Dron" that was, other than PRIME, able to communicate with nomads. Shared some information on the latter with Raven, as she said she was working on something that would allow exactly that. Probably for her ship. To be honest, I'm a bit careful when it comes to AIs, hearing what happened with Thallia Thorn from the IRG and her project called "Lexi".
By the way, out of curiousity, since we had that talk about flirting... do you still have your female reproductive organs? Don't get this question wrong, please, but I just wonder about that fact. And don't come and tell me that's a stupid question, given that a subcompany of Kishiro is producing those expensive robotic love androids that come suspiciously close to the human original. There was an erotic show on Curacao on the primary islands three years ago where those love-bots were presented. "Goodbye, hot banana peel!" was the catchphrase... I'm drifting off again.
What I wanted to say is, don't worry, I won't tell anyone about our little secret. I highly appreciate what you did for me. You took a great risk. If you need something, you can reach me on this channel. I can't do much, but if I know something interesting, I'll tell you about it. Can't wait to add something about the Vagrants and the Cultists to my nomad database.
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