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Recipient: Ling Sender: Jack "Gambler" Montes Subject: If you're not dead Location: Liberty
The beginning of the recording was marked by a disturbed sigh, perhaps the Gambler couldn't even believe that he was recording this message in the first place.
Well, I'm gonna' be pissed if you went and got yourself killed.
But I find myself in need of your particular brand of skills, and since my alternative is asking one of the Lovelace gang.
Not dead yet. Been playin' safe for a bit, will be playin' safe for the foreseeable future.
I get that the Lovelace crew's got a... loud color palette, so to speak, but they're pretty skilled as far as I've seen, and generally willing to help. Sometimes too willing to help.
Well, that aside, what can the least Inner Circle-ey Inner Circle member do for you?
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Recipient: Ling Sender: Jack "Gambler" Montes Subject: Safe works. Location: Liberty
See, an aversion to loudness is the exact reason why I'd rather ask you in the first place. Hell, the least Inner Circle-ey part is just a bonus, if I'm being frank.
An amused chuckle was let out before the Gambler continued on.
But hearing you want to play things safe for the future is good as well. Gives us some common ground alongside a shared interest. I'm guessing you ain't gone deaf or blind while you've been playing it safe, which means when I say I need a clean identity you ain't gonna' be the least bit surprised. And ideally I'd like a pretty damn solid one.
Hell yeah, I am. Changing identities is the Lane Hacker rite of passage. I just need to know where you want to go, who you want to blend in with, and who you want to get away from.
I'll also have you bring all the devices you're taking along with you either to Pecos or to Barrier Gate, not sure which yet.
I'll probably have some questions for you, too, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
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Recipient: Ling Sender: Jack "Gambler" Montes Subject: Not disappearing. Location: Liberty
You misunderstand me, Ling. This isn't a vanishing act, and I'm not ready to fold just yet.
I already have the luxury of a clean ship. If getting away was what I wanted to do, I'd already be long gone from the Houses. After all, I've never been one for the public eye, my "infamy" as it were mostly extends to my nickname, my last name and the ships everyone already knows about.
What I actually need is a cover. An identity that even the damn president would shake hands with all the while being none the wiser about who I really am. Ideally one that can also drop off the map for extended periods of time or show up anywhere in the sector without anyone batting an eye.
In short, what I need is a doppelganger, another me. One with a full history, prints and DNA that would pass even the Navy or Sec-For's background checks. I need the legal identity of, if not an upstanding citizen, then at the very least a merc that toes the line for their side to allow me to do what I need to do.
And that is why I need a quiet professional. That's why I'm talking to you instead of the Lovelace Circle.
Now I can be at Barrier Gate very easily, but I'll ask again now that I've removed any room for misinterpretation.
Now there's the gamble of a century. An identity that will pass the cleanly through the security state. You want to pull the wool over the eyes of Navy, Intelligence, and presumably the Corporates as well. The scam of a lifetime, huh?
An identity that has at least some kind of trust and good favor baked into it, and not so generic as to be inherently questioned. A new history that you can just slide into. Sounds kind of impossible.
. . .
You've got the luck of the devil, Montes. You're going to have to brush up on your Gallic a bit, though.
There was a mystery case that I started looking into when I first joined the Inner Circle, something interesting to kill time. During the Gallic War, the Navy had an informant feeding them supply routes stationed in Magellan, part of the Gallic Royal Navy Foreign Legion, a group of expendables who were largely Sirian defectors to Gallia. A guy by the name of Judah Richmond. When the Battleship Carcassonne fell in California, he got a pardon and disappeared. Now here's the fun bit: No one but the Royal Navy saw this guy. Unless Gallia has them, this guy didn't have prints, DNA, not even a headshot recorded. The only time his name and former occupation ever shows up is a manifest on Sheffield Station from 827, registry for a Guild membership under the codename "Sincere". Done remotely. Seems likely that even the Guild never saw this guy. There was a report of someone receiving assistance from him in Tau 37 when Planetform was doing something in Baffin and whatever unstable jump network they were using was spitting people out there, and that's it.
So, not a doppelganger, per se. A name with a history and without an identity, though. Something you can fill in the blanks on, as long as you don't run into him or someone who knew him.
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Recipient: Ling Sender: Jack "Gambler" Montes Subject: Slow down. Location: Liberty
Yo, yo, slow the fuck down my man. Usually the point of an elaborate scheme is to eliminate points of failure, not add more.
First off you want me to pretend to be ex-military, need I point out the flaw there? Second, you want me to masqureade as a fucking Guild Hunter, which first of all is a disgusting thought. But more importantly, again comes with it's own flaws I shouldn't need to point out.
Besides we can't even rule out the possibility of the fucker in question popping back up, even if unlikely we both know fate can be a moody bitch.
But most importantly of all the idea here is to not be too interesting or notable. Y'know, blending. This Richmond? He is definitely both of those things and doesn't lend too well to that idea.
But on that note I will say, it is a helluva' story. One that regardless of what happens next, I'll tell you if I ever stumble across the guy or anything about him.
Anyway, don't you worry about expediency or the like, I've my own resources and ideas to work on building trust. After all, this is a long con. What I need is a solid and non-descript background. Ideally one created and not being borrowed.
Fundamental law of the universe: Solutions that are 1) the first thing you think of, 2) sensible looking at first glance, and 3) easy to implement are almost always terrible, ineffective solutions that will cause suffering down the line.
The number one reason for taking someone else's identity is that you don't have to come up with your own details. Any plot hole in the story is already patched because there aren't plot holes in real life, just unknown details. Creating a brand new identity requires a lot of number fudging that takes your mind off the task at hand. I've been doing this intelligence business since 826, believe me on this one, infiltration is made so much easier when you can focus on your objective 100% and your cover story tells itself.
Number two reason is look at the quality of Navy's today. The only ones that seem remotely competent are Rheinland and Kusari, and it don't seem like you're going to be ending up there. Think about a 1st Armada member. In today's environment, you could easily pass for ex-military. Hell, you could pass for current military. You might even pass for an ace pilot.
Generating an entire persona is possible, but outside of quick smash-and-grabs, they simply don't hold up in Liberty's security state. Life is far more random than any computer can generate or any human can think up. Events are real. Anything and everything else is based on an algorithm, a pattern. Any decent detective can recognize patterns.
And as for Richmond showing back up... I mean, just kill him. Karma's the bitch, man, Fate is just a little kinky. You can get away with tempting Fate a little.
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Recipient: Ling Sender: Jack "Gambler" Montes Subject: I forgot you were one of those types. Location: Liberty
Right... I should have remembered that detail before asking.
Anyway, I already have details all ironed out, all I need you to do is just take care of the databases end of things and we'll be solid. Trust me, I already have all the details figured out regarding a history, hell, you could even say I was inspired by somebody I used to know.
But none of that shit matters the moment a single print, flake of skin, hair, or even blood blows the best damn story out of the water to begin with.
Oh and for the fucking record, I don't even speak a word of that frog shit anyway, so I don't get why the hard on for this Richmond dude.
At this point it's a case of you do you wanna' actually make bank or not?
Oh well. One condition: If/when it falls through. I will say I told you so.
I'll run through databases. If you've got biometrics on hand, I can include them in whatever identity you need spoofed. Probably going to need a forged repcard and ship identification metadata. You got implants with internal ID tags? Gonna need to wipe metadata off of those, too.
Also just don't mess with LSF if it's at all possible. Their primary answer to server vulnerabilities is saturation, if they have any kind of bead on you it's gonna be copied hundreds of millions of times across an absurd number of closed systems. I can snag anything held up on the Ageira network, but getting at the rest of the network would require accessing the notoriously pain-in-the-ass Mitchel Servers on Prison Station Fairbanks, and that would require breaching Alaska for a pretty extended period of time, and that's a gamble I don't think even you would take. As much as I wish I had inside men on Fairbanks, I don't, so just avoid LSF as much as you can. I'll introduce a script to regularly replace whatever the Mitchel Servers restore from backups, but the update cycle is asynchronous so there's going to be moments of vulnerability.
Need anything else, while I'm writing a project outline?
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