Today, our contacts identified a large amount of ranking BAF officers running training operations. As previously there had been issues recovering the Artifact due to the apparent lack of clearance of lower ranking officers, I programmed Vorzeichan to try contacting them, and if possible bargain for the Artifact. It's raw log files are attached. Hammerschmidt was assigned to accompany Vorzeichan on its task in case things got ugly. They did, eventually, but I gave Vorzeichan a few special orders in response to my previous excursion to Bretonia- I thought that perhaps we might persuade them to treat us more like humans than just monsters.
Well, no incident happened until Vorzeichan and Hammerschmidt were in position. Various BPA recruits stumbled upon them and were summarily captured, providing Vorzeichan with a solid bargaining chip by the time the BAF pulled out of training operations and arrived. They surrounded Vorzeichan, but did not fire immediately. That already speaks for the usefulness of the more 'human' operating style I tested on Vorzeichan. Vorzeichan and the BAF exchanged words for about half an hour, and it appears that the Cambridge researchers are keeping more of a lid on the Artifact than I would have guessed... either that, or they lied even more and even better than I think is reasonable to believe by any standards.
While they could not offer up the Artifact itself, they offered to check on the Artifact and use their influence to see what could be done. While Vorzeichan was sure they did not plan to pass along their findings nor get the Artifact, Vorzeichan agreed to release the hostages to them. Its memory logs indicate that this may make the BAF suspicious enough of its importance that they will investigate, or have it moved to a 'safer' location, and that either of these may provide us an opening. It also made sure to plant a seed in one of the BPA hostages, along with some false information that might present a reason for an otherwise unrealistic security breach. I must say I am impressed with the progress of its reasoning abilities.
The BPA Constable "Abigail Thorn" appeared during this conversation, and Vorzeichan passed along my little message, along with the 'license fee'. It almost appeared that the gambit had paid off, that the Bretonians might have actually thought of treating Community like people, rather than faceless monsters. However, I do believe Vorzeichan stumbled across a particularly bloodthirsty Lt. Commander... or one highly desiring of a promotion. After handing over the hostages, Vorzeichan was informed that while it had been ordered not to lie, humans bore no such restraint... and they attacked.
Recording from late in the encounter, immediately prior to Vorzeichan giving the BAF the hostages.
Despite having access to a veritable fountain of regenerative machines, Vorzeichan and Hammerschmidt successfully destroyed one Challenger Bomber and appear to have driven off the other. The remaining ships were enough to whittle down Hammerschmidt, whose ship was destroyed. Vorzeichan finally began to fall before their continued attack, and decided to charge straight at Planet Cambridge and make a nice explosion inside the atmosphere. Our contacts report that commerce on the planet is at a standstill while civilians cower, and Bretonian ground forces are sweeping the entire planet for the wreckage.
Vorzeichan is exceeding my expectations, and may be ready for large-scale implementation within a few months. While the operation did not recover the Artifact, Vorzeichan has provided us a few opportunities for doing so, and we have a better idea of how the Bretonians work. In the mean time... Vorzeichan informed the BAF that if they responded to his parleying with violence, they would receive violence. If we don't follow up, they might not take us seriously... if I remember the phrase correctly, in the next few days... let's give 'em hell.
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