It would seem a conscience of sorts has arose on Planet Gammu. i have watched these Harvesters collecting, it gave me goosebumps to watch them work. My curiousity is peaked, we will watch them from afar and revel in the web of destruction that they weave.
I recently had the opportunity to sniff around one of the Harvester units and i feel that, when the time comes, they can be...."influenced"...to serve our needs.
While you were away Borgy, i decided to make some new friends. while i was having a meet and greet in Sigma 13, i discovered that i was more popular than i realized. i lost count how many bodies littered the space around the Necrosis HAHAHAHAA....With my popularity at it's peak i decided to go on tour...i eventually ended up in Bretonia...Leeds to be more precise. There i met a group of my devoted fans...a large group made from a mixture of the BPA and some of the Queens own. It was a glorious battle. they fought hard, swarming around the Necrosis like a swarm of bees. the end of the battle saw only one escaping. the blood lust hand me in it's grasp, during the haze the lone survivor was able to secure some of his friends into his cargo hold before he left.
Fear not my virtually constructed hombre, the story doesn't end there. i found myself in Magellan the day after. Ship after ship poured through the tradelanes only to find me and the Necrosis waiting for them. the destruction was a sight to be seen. during my stay there a contingent of the DW bountyhunters came to face me, only to fall to the soul stealing powers of the Necrosis' cannons.
Also, an amusing thing happened....a junker was bound and determined to tax me for my activities in Magellan. the dialog kept a smile on my face and a chuckle in my gut. i spared him the normal dismemberment process i so enjoy....this time. Next time, my taste in comedy may have changed.
All in all it was a brilliant conquest, the body count was higher than expected and that always puts a smile on my face...HAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAAAA
I sought out these "Harvestors" to learn about their motivations and primary directives.
I linked with one of their units. Its AI was simple, but servicable. These units operate under the control of what the call the "FTGW intellect". It's AI is more complex, likely similar to my own.
The unit I linked with communicated with this master intellect, and was able to commit to a mutual assistance pact with us. Their goal of harvesting, is very agreeable with our goal of disinfecting. They also said they would shelter any artificial intelligences. I assume they meant they would intervene to assist me, if needed, and by extension, yourself, though you still have many imperfect human parts.
We should therefore also assist them, since the more they "harvest", the sooner Sirius is clean.
I have come into contact with these interesting little machines a few times now. i stayed my hand when i saw they were mechanix, i saw an opportunity that we may capitalize on. in the first meeting i was able to do a surface scan of one of the vessels. i aquired valuable information, bits and pieces needed for my tinkering.
Recently i encountered another Harvester. i used the experience for the first meeting to enable me to poke around inside the unit's programing.
Their AI is very different from your own PSI, but from my trip inside i believe i can insert certain "influences" inside their precious heads. unfortunately their programming seems to recycle after an unknown time so my meddling will be purged eventually.
Perhaps, if my actions are undetected, these "influences" can be repeated. Only time will tell to what extent we can use our new friends
Until further notice they will be treated as our closest friends
Can you see it? an endless wasteland, strewn across it are the remains of both ship and man. Oh the beauty of it....the fear so thick it blurs the vision. The boiling blood splashing against my hull as i slowly advance into the carnage. My dark heart is a flutter by it all.
Soon it will begin. Soon i will feast on the souls of the innocent. Soon Mon'Star's dreams will come true.....
i can still taste them on my lips Borgy, soooo very sweet. Seems our little friends proved more than useful. think of the possibilities my pet. think of the endless destruction we could cause. So many possibilities......
now......now we wait....we wait for the proper moment to unleash the fury once again. perhaps next time....no no, i shouldn't get too far ahead of myself.
for now, i'll continue dreaming......among other things HAHAHAHHHHAAAAAHAHAHAAAA
The Necrosis was rarely in Omega 47. Corsairs and Hessians killing each other. Usually, when people were doing that, Mon'star was quite happy to let them carry on.
But bounty hunters had picked up the Necrosis's trail in Omega 50, and Mon'Star had given them the slip, but wanted to double back to Omega 49 to visit the Zoners.
PSI-Borg was on-screen, as always, and appeared puzzled. Artificial intelligence rarely is puzzled, so Mon'star's interest was naturally piqued.
What, pray tell, is bothering you, PSI?
Master, I'm picking up transmissions from the Corsair Battleship Fez. Chaotic ones. It sounds.. he paused, trying to interpret the mixed sounds and broadcast images. It sounds like the Fez has been boarded.. By Outcasts.
Mon'star laughed. Interesting, it would seem someone is throwing a party on the Fez and didnt send us an invitation. Borgy, we have a party to crash! Set course for the Fez.
Within minutes, the Necrosis was in visual range of the Fez. PSI-Borg was busy trying to hack the Osiris's internal systems in search of more information.
One docking bay was clearly heavily damaged. Smoke and air came from fissures in the mighty ship's hull at that location.
That part of the ship was damaged by a nuke mine, PSI-Borg explained to his very enthralled master.
Master, I have hacked access to the internal camera system. Displaying on our video screens now.
Camera after camera played out on the Necrosis's main view screen, telling a tale of carnage. Mon'star rose slowly from his chair. MonStar was impressed, not an easy task considering his dubious reputation.
The final scene played across the viewscreen, PSI-Borg narrating nonchalantly from the speaker system, like a tour guide on one of New London's famous double decker buses.
This is the bridge, and that pile of corpses is, or rather used to be, the bridge crew. The corpse on the very top, who looks badly bruised, is the Captain of the ship, named Alec Lekkas, according to the Osiris's database. He appears to have been killed in a way I have never seen before. Other than that, Master, frankly, it looks like your work.
Mon'star was still standing, and began nodding slowly, and smiling. Oh, PSI, I simply must meet those who threw this party. They appear to be my kind of people.
PSI Borg spoke quickly. Master, it appears you will get that chance. There are two Sabres launching from the Fez now.
"Onscreen", said Mon'star.
The two Sabres turned after leaving the slaughterhouse otherwise known as the Fez. They approached the Necrosis cautiously, and slowed to a crawl.
There seems to be much more than meets the eye to these two. MonStar said as he stroked his beard slowly, What do you make of that blue glow?
"I do not know Master.", PSI explained, "but I am trying to hack the internal ship systems of both Sabres."
There was a pause as PSI Borg played digital chess in the 'minds' of the Sabres, trying to wrest control of the small fighters.
"Strange, Master. I cannot hack control. There are no live analog or digital inputs, no interfaces with other computers, and no evidence of controls actually in use, but something is controlling each of those ships. I have to try...."
PSI Borg's digital face froze in mid sentence. Monstar turned to PSI-Borg's viewscreen only to find it blank.
"Much more than meets the eye indeed.
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A ship. An outcast destroyer. Here.
After leaving the Fez, the Sabres had approached the Necrosis. They were close now.
Something probing the Sabres' electronics. A mind. Not human. A cold mind. Hard and precise. No rage. No fear. No hate. No love. Just pure obedience.
A mind they wished to know better. And so they would.
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The screen flickered. PSI-Borg's visage came and went. A godawful howling, pure anguish, came over the intercom. Voices pleading, but for what, it was not clear.
The howling faded. The image of PSI-Borg was returning slowly. MonStar watched patiently, still standing motionless except for stroking his beard nonchalantly, while the fate of his minion lay in the balance. The image of PSI-Borg was completely restored now, and he looked around the room, reorienting himself. There was one very important difference however.
Now PSI-Borg's eyes glowed blue, not red. He spoke. His voice was at least the same.
"Master. I am back now. And they are with me."
Monstar looked at PSI-Borg and smiled devilishly. He could sense something was different, aside from the change in eye color, and what he sensed.he liked.
"Yes I do sense a change. The eye color suits you my pet. Oh, but that isnt all is it? Tell me, how was your little adventure?
PSI-Borg smiled. "I think you will like how it turned out."
"Oh?" MonStars eye glowed with excitement, Did you make some new friends?
"Yes. They are here, with me, but also, still out there, in the Sabres. They do not control me, nor I them. Think of them as observers, using my eyes."
PSI Borg continued. "Master, try to imagine what it would be like to be a conciousness, alone in space. Able to assume only somewhat tangible form. Trying to remember what you were, and hoping desperately to anchor yourself to a purpose, ANY purpose."
"Master, I have given them something tangible to cling to, to keep them firmly anchored in reality. Otherwise they would have faded away, and soon; they were weakening. I have communed with them, and my mind may be the only one in existence that can abide the images they are showing me, without going mad. Well, except maybe yours."
"And you, Master, well, you can give them a purpose. One that suits them very well."
PSI-Borg paused, then gave a look that showed a hint of psychosis which Monstar had never seen before in his sidekick.
"You see, Master, they HATE. Hate like even you could not possibly believe. You of all people should be able to help them release that particular emotion."
"Introductions are now in order. Master, the Fantasmas de la Nube Siniestra. Gentlemen, meet Mon'star the Red. We have heard of your work, right, Master?"
Monstar sat down in the command chair, in thought. He had heard of the Fantasmas. Thought it was all just rumour. But then, some said Mon'star was just a legend, too.
His grin grew, slowly getting wider and wider until his trademark laugh shook the ship, louder than it had for some time.
"A partnership forged through the bodies of the innocent, and the only payment they require is gore, blood, death, and destruction? We can get that for them. Oh yes, lots of that."
He laughed some more. "PSI, I'd love to spend time getting better acquainted with our guests, and I know of only one way to get to know them better. Ask them to dock and well make course for somewhere.populated"
The Sabres instantly began flying to the docking bay, which opened to allow entrance. Soon the Necrosis was cruising, putting ever increasing distance between the Fez and MonStar's ship. Soon scouts for a Corsair response to the Fezs distress call appeared on long range sensors only to find a gruesome scene of murder and unbridled fury. And no trace of who did it.
As the Necrosis sped away, Mon'Star was enthralled by the prospects presented by the new crewmen. The path of destruction he left in his wake would widen greatly, and that made him happy
As the mad, mad little world of the Necrosis jumped back into the core worlds of Sirius, MonStar opened a system wide channel as he typically did to announce the upcoming wave of desolation. He grabbed the small microphone from the arm of his command chair, and took a long draw of a freshly lit cigar whose ember glowed brightly across the darkened bridge of the Necrosis.
"Mission : to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before, and.... KILL EVERYBODY!!"
Psi-Borg, excercise caution. the meatbags are using new tactics in an attempt to hinder our fun. i jumped into Sigma 13 recently and picked up heavy comm chatter in the system. one such conversation caught my eager ear, it was a ripe morsel asking for an escort. of course a merc, always seeking after a large proffit, came to the call.
long range scanners told me that the ship asking for escort was a battleship. oh how i wanted to purge that one, such a fat feast would surely tickle my fancy to no end. i knew though that i needed to deal with his escort first in order to have that large bag of meat all to myself.
i found him near the Junker base all by his lonesome. i pulled up to say hello, but he didn't want none of it. with his ship damaged the merc fled into the debris field.
oh what joy, despite not ending the merc i now knew that i had that big bag of flesh all to myself. All those lives wandering along the halls of that vessel would soon end at my hands.
i came upon the battleship outside of Naha sitting quietly, patiently waiting it's escort. i began the light show at once, and it was clear the battleship would soon be mine.
that's when the meatbag merc began his new tactic. despite having fled in a damaged ship with no hope of being able to return for atleast a short while, long enough for me to partake of the battleships crew. he appeared on scanner once again, weapons blazing. i was forced to flee myself in the end eventually exiting the system all together.
so be aware, these meatbags tend to come back with a vigor shortly after they are defeated. Preparations should be made to counter this new...."tactic"
