>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<
Sender: Tex.Mex
Recipient: The Lane Hackers
Location: Junker's Town, Puerto Rico
Signal strength: Kinda iffy...
Encryption: *SMACK* ok, it's workin' again
Howdy all you good people of the Lane Hackers,
Hope y'all been doin' well, and thank you very much fer the help with the counterfeit S.K.Y.P.3 software. Our new recruits are all up and runnin', except fer the one feller, Snell, that is still tryin' to download more R.A.M. for his ship console to get it to work, but that ain't no fault of yours.
That, unfortunately, ain't the the reason of this here communication though. The Congress seems to have attracted a bit of unwanted attention from a peculiar feller that seems to prefer hiding in the shadows. Now, everyone knows, the shadows is us Junkers' playground, and we don't particularly enjoy there bein' threats around that we don't know about, when we go flyin' through the shadows in our Salvagers, with our families on board.
You guys and gals over at the Hackers have gotten quite the reputation of bein' able to out people and information that others would prefer to stay hidden. Information like police and navy classified information, ship and weapon designs, stuff that us laymen could never even have thought existed, nevermind how to get to it. What I ask of you is not going to be an easy task. In fact, for me, it would be completely impossible. For you however, who knows, maybe it can't be done, maybe it's easy pocket money fer one of yer members. What I require is the identification of the faceless man that calls himself Blackwood. This man has taken it upon himself to put a bounty on my head, just to make an example of me. That is not why I am upset though. Nooo...I don't mind a good scrap once in a while (no pun intended). What got my blood boilin' is him insulting me with a measely 10m SC bounty. I mean, 10 mills...who does he take me for? Some rookie straight off of the planet in his Stargazer? This man needs to learn the value of a Junker's life, and I need to learn who he is before I can do it.
My offer to you good folks, are 25 million credits, in small, unmarked bills. What I require is to know who this man is. You get me that info, and the money is yours soon as I can verify yer results. I don't want no day old pilot sufferin' the wrath meant for Blackwood, and then Blackwood strikes one of our ships when we think we're safe. Some kinda proof of how y'all get to yer conclusion would be appreciated, even though it probably won't be understood by my simple mind. After I learn who Blackwood is, he will be made to pay for his arrogance. That would open up a way to some more money fer yer peoples if you're interested in that sorta thing.
I upload a copy of his communications with us, to maybe assist you in your investigation. Some parts of it is encrypted, but since another feller managed to decrypt it without too much difficulty I'm sure y'all won't have much trouble with it either.
The deadline for this offer would be before I am dead. The rules are simple, I die first, I can't pay the money cos of, ya know, deadness. You get me the info and he dies first, he can't pay the bounty so the bounty disappears.
Hopin' to hear from y'all soon.
Tex.Mex
Salvager Wrecker Pilgrim Liner Waran Bustard Pirate Transport
My name is Le Gérant, I am the newly appointed Ambassador of the Lane Hackers. As such, my new position does not allow me a lot of time at the moment, lots of paperworks and the likes, I'm sure you know what I mean. So I will try to be as direct as possible about all this.
I have went over the attached logs that you have provided us and I have a few questions.
First, what do you know about this individual so far? Or perhaps it is a group of individuals? To be honest, to have a single man put the Junkers in such Frenzy leads me to believe that you might know a little bit more than you let on. Surely if it was just another idle threat, it would be shrugged off as such and simply ignored, right?
Second, if a bounty was put on your head, it is quite likely that you have already met this man or the organization this man is part of. Can you remember anyone you might have recently offended to the point of wanting to physically harm you? As attempt on your life been made by said individual so far?
Third, I need to know who this Ari Kova individual is. If we can find a link between this individual's past actions, it would be much easier to build up a dossier on who we're dealing with. Additionally, the individual has asked for a meeting in the Sigma-19 system. For the moment, it is a stretch to make any assumptions but it would not be far-fetched to say that there is a reason to have chosen Sigma-19. It is a hot spot for both Outcast and Corsair activity, perhaps the individual is linked to one or the other, perhaps not. It is however worth investigating.
Fourth, the messages that individual has sent are quite ominous. To be paid twenty-five measly millions for our reconnaissance and espionage services are almost making a fool out of us. We do not yet know what threat this man represents to you or us. However, I believe we can smooth out the finer details on the reward later so do not let this bother you too much as of now. For now I would like you to answer the questions asked.
I apologize if this is not the straight up answer you would have wanted but before any good Reconnaissance and Espionage mission can be done, it is very important to sit down for a moment and know every facts and details of what we're dealing with here. Men will be sent on the field to investigate if this escalates and so before sending any men to potentially dangerous situations, I would have as much information and intelligence built up on this dossier as possible before men are deployed.
We are professionals, it would not be wise to just rush headlong into something like this. Thank you for your understanding.
>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<
Sender: Tex.Mex
Recipient: The Lane Hackers
Location: Junker's Town, Puerto Rico
Signal strength: Kinda iffy...
Encryption: *SMACK* ok, it's workin' again
I have to thank you fer takin' the time to attend to my request. I must admit I'm not one fer all this here cloak and daggery kinda stuff, which is why I came to you, and it seems I made the right choice as yer askin' stuff I never even thought about.
Unfortunately, the only thing I have in common with this entire situation is I ended up gettin' a bounty on my head. The comms I sent you makes you as knowledgeable about the situation as I am. Snell, though, the guy that finally figured out ya can't download RAM, seems to be the right person to be askin' questions of that nature, so I'm lettin' him in on our conversation to hopefully be able to shed the needed light for y'all. @"Living Bullseye" , ya can take it away brother and please cooperate as much ya can with this fine gentleman.
Kind regards
Tex.Mex
Salvager Wrecker Pilgrim Liner Waran Bustard Pirate Transport
<<<INCOMING TRANSMISSION>>>
<<<Ship Designation: ScrapVulture>>>
<<Encryption: Do it.>>>
So, you need me? Quad the original price, 100 million's on the table now. That should solve number 4, on your list of requests.
Ari's supposedly one of yours, going under the name Yaroslava Ivanov, originally.
She was involved with a project involving some 'Kronos Device,' which apparently lead to her current, computer state.
Yep, she's an AI. Everyone I've asked has no idea who she is, and I've already asked one of your own to go asking. No avail, it seems. This is about as much as I know for number 3 on your list.
The individual, whose ID is named 'Blackwood,' I know positively -nothing- about, aside from the fact that he doesn't like Junkers and wants Ari for unknown reasons, claiming it to be for the lives of millions. Guy's encryption was 24.4.74 MHz until he changed it when I got the LSF operative Avery Reeves involved, his encryption currently being 13.3.70 MHz. If I had to speculate, he probably has either funded or been deeply invested in this Kronos Device project. I've spilled the beans on number 1.
No man I've met, or that Tex has met wants to directly harm us. I've pissed off a few Order capitals in my time before being a Congressman, yeah, but no real vendettas, though the bounty seems to be merely a method of getting to me by ensuring the loss of a friend. This is as much as I know concerning number 2.
All we really need here is a name and ship ID for this guy. Not much else, we can do the tracking from there.
Apologies for the delay.
<<<TRANSMISSION CLOSED>>>
User was banned for: They will know.
Time left: (Permanent)
Thank you for your swift reply. Time is of the essence in situations like these.
A very generous sum that is. Four times the original amount, is this man starting to worry the Junkers that much?
This whole story is a little bit confusing, I won't lie about that. Let's recap, an individual named Ari Kova going under the name of Yaroslava Ivanov who happened to once be with the Lane Hackers worked on a project called Kronos Device that I've never heard of and is now an AI? That is a lot to swallow in one go but I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Can't say it hasn't piqued my curiosity however.
We accept your terms. We will mount a dossier on the individual, we will find what this entity who calls itself Blackwood is and come back to you with our findings.
Also, you seem to be rather knowledgeable on this Ari Kova, where have you learned of all this?
At any rate, stay safe out there until we know more about this individual and always have an eye on your back.
If you have anything else for us, do not hesitate to contact me directly.
<<<INCOMING TRANSMISSION>>>
<<<Ship Designation: ScrapVulture>>>
<<<Encryption: Just do it.>>>
The 100 million was just for encouragement. Where did the info come from? The horse's mouth itself, Ari.
What's the ID I need to send the cash to, by the way? I just want to get it over and done with before I find a Crowd Killer pointed at the back of my head.
For the record, I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous.
<<<TRANSMISSION CLOSED>>>
User was banned for: They will know.
Time left: (Permanent)
I will be personally out into the field to see what I can find. It is unknown if this individual knows of your contact with us Lane Hackers. In the event that the person knows and things get dangerous, I expect your bases to be ready to receive me.
However, I do not think it will go that far. A quick in and out espionnage is more in our line of work and interest.
Money sent, guy's already gotten 2 Junkers killed, one Congress member.
The one that initiated this.
Yeah.
We'll be ready to receive you at any time, just as long as no Liberty officials are watching. We already got an incident with one of yours that puts us in a bad spot.
Until then.
<<<TRANSMISSION CLOSED>>>
User was banned for: They will know.
Time left: (Permanent)
I have started fielding men in search of this individual or possibly even organization called BlackWood. So far they have not found much unfortunately, he is either a very slippery fellow or simply works through others.
I received footage of Sigma-19, they went to the Rendez-Vous point to see if they could find anything. They haven't found much but they have found a Jump Hole to the Sigma-17 system. One could assume this would be the escape plan. Once in Sigma-17, it can also be possible to assume where they might head to. The odds of them going back to Sigma-13 are slim as it is not in their best interest to stay around for too long after the transaction. my scouts have found Jump Holes to unknown systems but they haven't dared pushing further at the moment.
Additionally, I have heard about the sad passing of Mr Tex Mex. His death might not be in vain however.
Do you have access to the black box footage of the two destroyed Junker ships? If the individual truly work through others, it might be worth it to first know the identity of the killers that could link back to BlackWood if BlackWood himself wasn't the perpetrator in these murders.
<<<INCOMING TRANSMISSION>>>
<<<Ship Designation: ScrapVulture>>>
<<<Encryption: This is actually something we want to keep relatively private.>>>
There's only the one black box, that being Cory's. The black box recording.
I don't think there's too terribly much that's relevant here, though you did ask for a black box.
Tex was too far off, no logs that I've seen. No black box, either.
Guy's ridiculously slippery, hence why I hired you folk.
He did admit outright that he killed Cory though, after I got him angry something fierce.
(10-08-2016, 06:11 AM)Blackwood Wrote: NO!!!
I KILLED HIM, YOU RUSTY PIECE OF SCRAP!! ME!!!
No response to my latest transmission, though. Probably still stewing.
<<<TRANSMISSION CLOSED>>>
User was banned for: They will know.
Time left: (Permanent)
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![[Image: Deceiver.png]](http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff420/Infitrative/The%20Lane%20Hackers/Ranks/Deceiver.png)
