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>>1416982
Lyle examines the sensor readouts carefully as he watches the Valen fleet adjust its formations in real time, waiting for any hint they may be deploying interceptors, or even showing any hint that they may have been spotted. Coil emits a burst of technical data as his nerves continue to feed the ship and consume its readings directly, his cluster of control cradles and armatures linking into his shell like a drop suit's control plugs. His synthetic voice cracks through the speakers.

“We have exited anti-orbital weapon coverage zone and are entering the upper atmosphere.” He says.

“Good. We can dump the shuttle and escape pod here and give them a goose chase until they fall out of orbit. Unhook the shuttle.” Lyle says, and the ship is momentarily rocked with the slight bump of a sudden change in mass. As the sublight shuttle disconnects from the ship's airlock. “What's the status of our guests?” Lyle says on the radio. “We need that escape pod jettisoned asap.”

“I got em out.” Jackob replies. “Pod is ready to disconnect, but we should figure out what to do with these idiots before this jarhead starts punching holes in the hull.”

“You mean the drop trooper?” Lyle asks. “I think we came to a decent understanding in our last conversation.”

“Yea well, having him in the same vacuum sealed can as me doesn't seem like a good idea so we should find a way to deal with the lot of them before they start breaking things. Right now they're still trying to figure out who we are, so that should give us a bit of time but they're going to realize their on the Angel before too long.”

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It's time.

Daily reminder

>Raid OQ
>Read the locked memories of that thinker.
>Board a scav vessel for their FTL.
>Send a diplomacy team to earth.
>Build that new FTL prediction building.
>Take Reprive (I think that is the system that our mother made her last stand and it only has mining corvetts, it would be a great test for our raiding fleet.)

>>1416982
Praise mother!

DAILY REMINDER: OQ a shit.

>>1416988
Obviously Jackob drugs them all.

Putting people into a coma always satisfies their thirst to ask inconvenient questions.

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GAS THE SQUIDS
NUKE THE WHALES
STAB THE MONKEYS
TRUST NOTHING
THE VOID IS WATCHING

>>1417005
So the trooper will start breaking things before getting drugged. Unless we menage to knock him out with a drug of our own. The others are easy because, except for the trooper and the rogue guy, has a symbiot in them.

>>1417038
Jackob has the sting whip implant. We can dose the Jarhead with enough sedatives to kill an elephant before he's even realized what's happening.

Plus, we also have flies on the Angel. They should be able to disable the drop trooper even if Jackob somehow fails.

>>1417038
That's why Jackob shakes hands with him first! Basic triage. Obviously he's in the most dire need for calming drugs.

GAS THE SQUIDS
NIKE THE WHALES
STAB THE MONKEYS
TRUST NOTHING
THE VOID IS WATCHING

>>1416988
Jackob stands by the main cargo bay as he seals one of the docking clamps with the push of a button that releases a quick hiss of pressurized air. The pod within quickly falls away, tumbling from the hull of the ship after the drifting shuttle further below. Dillon has already left with Anderson, a trail of blood marking their path to the medical bay, but the remaining Cortez crew stand by the airlock as they collectively size up Jackob as well as the surrounding ship. Mauser eyes Jackob's armor, glancing at weapons between searching the inventory of the cargo bay for any useful items and mapping the layout in his head.

"So what do we do? We try to knock em out Mauser is gonna be a problem, but if we don't he's probably gonna be a problem regardless unless we can get to a planet damn quick." jackob says.

"What are we doing with these bastards anyways?" Dillon asks over the radio. "This conman isn't looking too good, but this hive tech is damn impressive, I can see the tissue growing back just looking at him. He should be good in a few hours at least, but the others are going to start asking questions, and they'll either need answers, or be taken prisoner again."

"Alright, I'll be back in a second." Lyle says.

"Maybe not." Jackob replies. "I don't think you should restart any beef with Mauser. I don't want to deal with that kind of fight in the middle of fucking space."

"Well if he starts shit, you'll be damn sure I'll come back there and finish it. I kicked his ass once, if he wants a rematch I'll feed him his own balls."

>Have Jackob attempt to sedate the Cortez crew
>Deploy flies to swarm them while Jackob and the others avoid contact
>Speak with them (write in)
>Other (write in)

>>1417062
>Speak with them
The con is that our boys got hired by decker right?

Ask decker where the money and where does he want to be dropped off

PASS THE SQUIDS
JUKE THE WHALES
STAT THE MONKIES
THRUST NOTHING
THE 'ROID IS WATCHING

>>1417062
>>Have Jackob attempt to sedate the Cortez crew
Except Decker, maybe.

We can 'ask Decker what he wants to do with the others' while they're asleep.

>>1417062
>speak with them
>tell them that we're a rescue crew Decker managed to contact by hacking the Valen while he was being nerve stapled. use Decker to confirm the story, and get Decker to reassure our men that they'll get their money soon as he's safe.
Aaand I don't know where to go from there.

It begins.

>>1417045
I completely forgot about our flies.

>>1417047
Well guess that is minus one problem. The rogue we can implant while he's into a healling tank.

>>1417067
We need them asleep for a while to make anything plausible, or else they'll recognize the Hel's Angel.

>>1417067
I thought decker payed for the mercs by stealing valen money while he was being nerve stapled?

>>1417062
>>Have Jackob attempt to sedate the Cortez crew

>>1417084
Not from the inside and as long as they stay in the cargo hold,

>>1417087
Yeah, so have our guys ask decker where the pay and where does he want the drop off for him and his buddies

Should at least confuse them and stall for time once we "encourage" them to start arguing about where and stop mauser from wrecking shit

>>1417062
>Speak with them
The Jackob shakes hands with Mauser(Maybe he's a fan of the famous drop trooper faction) and sedates him.

>>1417096
>>1417072
Second.

>>1417098
*Then

And remember we cant afford to fuck with the memories too much if we want them to get pass the union debrief since the union already went through those crew members we gave back

>>1417096
>Not from the inside and as long as they stay in the cargo hold,

No, they will. The Angel's insides have been described by former passengers before.

I mean he even says
> they're going to realize their on the Angel before too long.”

Right there.

Honestly all paths here lead to them being put to sleep and implanted with a parasite, at which point we have control, it's just about the best way to do that while minimizing how much shit Mauser can fuck up. Keep in mind it's quite possible he has implants to delay / counteract poisons

>>1417062

>Have Jackob attempt to sedate the Cortez crew

Even if we can talk to these guys, they will know something's up when they all feel sick after the FTL jump and notice it is instant. Sedation is the only way.
Jackob is experienced enough. Let him figure out how he wants to put the crew to sleep. Mauser's the only one we really need to worry about here.

>>1417062
Actually, changing to this:
>Have Jackob attempt to sedate the Cortez crew

>>1417113
Personally i think some of them we will have to avoid parasiting, like Mauser maybe since he's high rank military and has augs, he will probably take a dip in a union medical pod when he arrives.

>>1417132
Or instead of returning him we change his face and make him into Lyle's odd couple-esque unwilling partner in crime.

>>1417104
Actually we could just leave the parasites in this time.

>>1417132
Mauser may be spending time in a medical pod, although I doubt many people would be able to force him into one.

I still think parasiting everyone is probably the way to go here. While it is risky, it's less risky than not parasiting everyone and having inconsistent stories and annoying questions.

>>1417062
>Have Jackob attempt to sedate the Cortez crew

Jackob feels the augments as they respond to his mental alert, his arms loosening their joints as his chemical fabricator begins to secrete a potent sedative.

>Attempt to administer to sedative stealthily
>Attempt a surprise attack
>Other

>>1417147
We could have a parasite that self destructs without spraying acid all over the place.

>>1417151
>Attempt to administer to sedative stealthily

>>1417132
Muser is just too risky given his implants and detailed medical file they would keep on him

>>1417151

>Attempt to administer to sedative stealthily

Shame we cant just fill the ship interior with sedative gas.

>>1417147
>although I doubt many people would be able to force him into one.
They don't need to if he's willing, he's a soldier so all they need to do is order him into one.

>>1417158
Don't talk crazy.

>>1417151
>Attempt to administer to sedative stealthily

>>1417151
>Other
>Let Jackob choose

>>1417151
>Attempt to administer to sedative stealthily

>>1417132
Agreed. The only reason we were able to parasite two top Union officials is because we got them in the middle of the research facility evacuating and from a netting in an apartment. Decker would likely get the least thorough search since he isn't technically a Union operative.

>>1417163
Don't talk stupid. It's a great idea.

>>1417151
>Attempt to administer to sedative stealthily

>>1417161
>Shame we cant just fill the ship interior with sedative gas.

Lyle was very protective of his Angel. I don't think he would like a gas system inside his ship. But nothing stop us from asking if he want on.

>>1417178
What else could it possibly explode into if not acid? Milk? Don't be silly.

>>1417172
It's doubtful anyone will get deep medical scans looking for strange growths inside them if they're healthy.

I mean at worst it would happen if they're scheduled to have new cybernetics put in. And Mauser already has all his. Unless there's something QD said that I don't remember.

>>1417158
They are symbiots!!!

>a parasite that self destructs without spraying acid all over the place.

Don't be crazy anon. Also i'm just joking

>>1417190
Just thinking, with our parasite granting immunity we could just knock everyone else on board out cold and then deal with them.

>>1417204
Dillon does not have a parasite.

Okay LeBlanc, Mordey, Grey, Decker, Mauser, Anderson. We 'rescued' six prisoners just now right. Seven if you count Coco.

We already have the space dwarf Calhoun somewhere from an earlier capture.

>>1417214
Well would suck to be him then.
Besides, you dont need to keep it gass'ed up. Just long enough to lock folks down.

>>1417190
We don't need a sedative gas. Just cut the Oxygen and the excess of Nitrogen will put everyone right to sleep (unless they have a parasite helping them out).

>>1417193
They might be looking for non literal bugs and they might find them in the process.

>>1417193
I specifically remember that if any parasited agent goes into a medical pod the parasite is detected.
If i recall correctly it's because medical pods do several things at once or something.

>>1417230
I've seen one too many 'just cut the oxygen temporarily to knock them out' plans result in death instead of unconsciousness.

Though I guess we can cure death. We've done it before. But it takes so damn long.

>>1417204
If Dillon stopped being a party pooper and accepted our gift that could be possible.

>>1417192
Seems you need reading comprehension.
>Acid glands: Glands of acid burst open on death, rapidly disintegrating the body in a manner that does not cause harm to others.
This is what I meant by "not spraying acid all over the place."

>>1417223
I forgot about the space dwarf, he obviously can't just pop back in at the union.
Maybe we can ransom him?

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>>1417240
So you want the parasites to have the adaptation that they already have and have always had since the day they were designed.

Mission accomplished.

>>1417238
>But it takes so damn long.

So does inferior human spaceflight. Even if we kill them all by oxygen deprivation (unlikely), reviving them will only take long enough that it would make sense the human ship was transiting to whatever system we drop them in during that time.

>>1417151
D-Did we not even have to roll for this?

>>1417230
This: >>1417238

>>1417256
OK everyone, PLACE YOUR BETS!
Did we overestimate or underestimate?

>>1417253
Well whatever, if we go with the "Loot at me. I am the Captain now" thing for Decker hiring these mercenaries for a rescue, we can ransom them back to the Union in exchange for Decker's pardon or erasure of all records of him or something.

Something he can verify they can't go back on. And a pile of creds.

Though like the Valen said, their value has been reduced already by their capture.

>>1417247
Actually we use the explosive glands.
>Explosive glands: Pressurized organs of highly volatile chemicals burst on death, splashing everyone and everything within melee range with caustic acid.(2N)
Those kill people.

>>1417247
>everyone
>not making it viable only for the humans in the expanse
>not creating a black market for our nice bio-tech
>not making absurd prices for those out of our space

>laughingjewwhales.png

>>1417272
>Actually we use the explosive glands
'Actually' you dreamed that up. Quit huffing so much Nepenthe anon.

>>1417265
Overestimate we keep forgeting our biy jackob is full of nice improvements cortesy of your friendly red hive.

Other products such as those from Obsidian hive are to not be trusted or related to Red hive bio-tech because their queen is a cunt.

>>1417276
Seriously, though, when we start giving out our "biotech" we need to make it exclusive. People will be paranoid no matter what, of course, but they'll be a lot more paranoid if we're giving perfect healthcare away to everyone for free than if we're being selective about things.

Maybe only provide the "free" healthcare option to people who choose to live in the Expanse? (and let some people say no). While otherwise we sell our paras and other healing services for extremely high prices in Union space.

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>>1417272
Pic related.

>>1417265
I think we overestimated Mauser. He's on our ship and most of his augments have been disabled by the Valen. We have complete operational control of the situation.

>>1417151
Jackob adjusts armor as he arms flex and change length by a quarter of an inch as the bones settle. He looks over the group of concerned looking humans before looking down to the floor where Coco hisses at the two taidarens, their backs arched like some feral animal as their bodies tense up like a spring ready to fire. Jackob snaps his fingers and the shade hound glances over, its snout flaring as it examines the heat of Jackob's hand, and walks forward into his outstretched hand.

"You leave our mechanics alone, alright?" Jackob says before glancing back to Huey and Dewey. "And you, I know how you antagonize things. You both just stay away from each other, got it?" The twins quickly flee, scurrying over crates and cargo pallets like panicked lizards as Coco's heat pits flair in waves as Jackob scratches the gill like slits along its snout, the hound emitting some guttural gurgling of appreciation.

"Seems well trained, whose is it?" He asks. Decker holds his hand up to chest level.

"That's Coco, he's mine, had him since he was a pup." He says quietly. "Um... Where are we going, exactly?"

"That would largely be up to you." Jackob says as he pets the hound quickly and stands back up. It trots about his feet for a moment before returning to Decker's side, and Jackob moves forward as he holds out his hand.

Please roll 1d100, best of 3.

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>1417309

Rolled 40 (1d100)

>>1417309
FOR MOTHER!

>>1417276
You know we still haven't found out the deal with that holo-printer we traded our parasites for.

Rolled 30 (1d100)

>>1417309
For mother!!!

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>1417309
I gotchu

>>1417326
No, you don't :(

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>>1417279
Okay I concede.
>>1417276
Here's the closest thing I could find.

78 is still good.

>>1417287
We could make buckloads of profit in the medical industry. But, if we even care, we will need to hold on the good stuff so we don't brake the industry on the human worlds.

>Maybe only provide the "free" healthcare option to people who choose to live in the Expanse? (and let some people say no).

I guess that is pretty much the idea we sell the symbiots and our less powerfull implants

>>1417132
>>1417172
>>1417193

I don't think we should even send them back to the Union honestly, at least not all of them. They'll likely want to give them all medical exams if they find out they were interrogated by the Valen, and we can't really control whether they find out or not. The conman and Decker weren't going to go back anyway, they're better served working for us in the criminal underworld

>>1417312
>>1417330

78 is likely good enough. We did give Jackob some pretty sweet augs.

The most likely problem would be that although they fell asleep, they noticed there was a problem before hand, which would mean we would have an absolute need to parasite everyone to maintain secrecy, which itself could increase the risk of discovery.

>>1417349
Or just dip them in medical pods which will let us read and rewrite their memories.

>>1417330
You soiled my roll.
SOILED IT.

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>>1417357

>>1417317
I guess it's still a automatic action. Each numbered thread is a whole day. Don't forget we grew our empire in less then a year and having less planets then everyone else. So since the time we made the deal we can assume we manage to meet with the matriarch on Gemini sewers.

>>1417339
But is it good enough?

>>1417338
Eh. Good one.

>>1417349
We can always just recycle them after copying all the expertise from their brains if there's no good way to set them loose.

>>1417399
True enough. We might have trouble replicating some of the augs on Mauser, but everyone else is replaceable.

>>1417454
I think what you mean is that we will be busy getting hot RESEARCH sprayed all over our faces from Mauser augs.

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>>1417460
That is lewd

>>1417309

"You're the one who hired us, after all." Jackob adds as he turns to Mauser. "You must be the ship's drop trooper. I got friends in the military, it's nice to meet such a well decorated soldier." He says as he holds out his hand. Mauser stares into his helmet as the two lock eyes. The others surrounding them hold a silent unease that permeates the room as Coco whimpers and paws at Decker's legs as his heartbeat and temperature shift with the tension of the room.

"What division?" Mauser asks coldly.

"Special Operations. Real top secret stuff. He's retired now but he's still a stickler for rules and always had a stick up his ass." Jackob says.

"You know you're still on an open mic." Dillon says in his earpiece as Lyle lets out a chuckle. The two keep their locked gaze as Mauser holds up his hand, his face remaining stoic and stern, his expression unmoving as if chiseled from stone, and he grips Jackob's hand with a powerful grip.

"He got a name?" He asks.

"Yea, Dillon Reager." He says as the augmented ports within his palm uncoil the sedative laced sting whip directly into Mauser's palm. There is a loud thud behind him as Mordey drops to the ground while Grey stumbles, and then falls over. Decker holds himself up on a nearby crate as Coco droops its head and rolls to the side. Mauser rips his grip back, wrenching Jackob's arms as the bones unhook and he nearly stumbles backward as the arm stretches out by several feet. LeBlanc lets out a frightened shout as he jumps back and begins to run, and Jackob launches his other arm, firing the sting whip as it coils around his neck, the skin beneath his chin quickly puffing up as the hair thin microneedles send him dropping to the ground.

Mauser drops to one knee before he tenses his body and he launches himself into Jackob, his shoulder breaking three ribs as it impacts Jackob's armor with the impact force of a decent sized truck, bringing him into the air as Mauser sprints into the wall. The both of them impact with a reverberating thud that leaves a slight dent where Jackob's back impacts the polymer wall.

"Cut the gravity, now!" Jackob shouts, and the maneuvering thrusters offering a facsimile of half earth gravity cuts out as as Mauser's free hand curls into a fist and cracks against Jackob's helmet, the opaque faceplate cracking open and sending shards of metamaterial scattering into the air as his other attempts to crush Jackob's hand, the flexible bones coiling into a compact ball in his immense grip. He punches again, the helmet continuing to break apart at the faceplate as the built in hud crackles and dies, and Jackob's free arm retracts its sting whip and wraps it around an available strut on the wall behind Mauser's girth, and detatches it from his arm as the back end of the tendril wraps arround Mauer's forearm as he swings again. The sudden pull throws his fist into the wall where a sharp dent appears, splattered with blood from his knuckles.
Cont.

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>>1417531
>Mordey drops to the ground while Grey stumbles, and then falls over.

So those got drugged by their internal parasites. Jackob didn't touch them.


>LeBlanc lets out a frightened shout as he jumps back and begins to run, and Jackob launches his other arm, firing the sting whip as it coils around his neck, the skin beneath his chin quickly puffing up as the hair thin microneedles send him dropping to the ground.

Uh. Didn't we already parasite LeBlanc when he was found injured by Anderson. Why did one of our adoptees need to be drugged from the outside and not the other two?

>>>/tg/48070575
>Several gurgling whimpers escape LeBlanc's limp body as flies stab at him with their hypodermic blades, slicing open his abdomen as a parasite lunges into the wound, wrything its body from side to side as it forces its way beneath the skin and the rest of the flies drag his body away from the flames.

>>1417531
This fucking guy... Lyle did less damage to Jackob when they fought - and this time Jackob has a fancy hive suit.

Okay, maybe now we swarm with flies?

>>1417587
Not using a hive suit and we know mauser is smith tier

>>1417531
Dam... Mauser is a monster. I'm so glad Jackob has a symbiot he is going to need it.

>>1417586
QD made a mistake.

>>1417587
Remember anon, Jakob is wearing shitty human armor due to the mission.

>>1417531
>>1417589
LYLE GET YOUR ASS IN HERE STAT

>>1417587
>>1417589
Guess this tell us we won't be druggin any smiths when we attack that company on Tokyo 2. Now that i think about, there is nothing that is stopping from their security have a Mauser or Lyle kinda guy working as security chief.

Do you guys think he might be rewriting it?

>>1417606
Nah, it's fine as it is.

>>1417596
Oh no, looks like it broke and we don't have any spares. We'd be happy to offer him a replacement though.

>>1417602
For that, we break out our Lyle/Mauser mind-template hybrids.

>>1417611
This anon >>1417586 pointed out he did make a mistake.

>>1417606
I highly doubt it. This is just a minor mistake (which is more than understandable in a quest as long running as this one is).

>>1417602
Well that is a given since it maybe the smith factory, imagine the security measures to ensure that smith rejects dont destroy everything

That going to be a tough mission if its still on the table, the rebels may now decided to say fuck off to us cause of the shit we just pulled

>>1417606
Nah. If anything this could be intreperd as the parasite having a weaker or a not complete link with LeBlanc brain.

>>1417602
We already knew you can't "drug" Smiths, they have literally nothing biological below the neck.

Now it remains to be seen if Mauser has a really good anti-toxin implant that can truly make him completely immune to hive toxins, or if it can only slow down the effects.

>>1417531

Mauser's arm reels back as the tendril contracts like a stretched bungee cord and he tumbles back, dragging Jackob with him as they hurl through zero-G, their bodies flung back and forth with the weight of their punches until Mauser impacts the support strut with a loud grunt and Jackob kicks off with a quick kick to the drop trooper's face, sending himself spiraling away until he launches his arm out to grab a secured cargo crate and anchors himself to it. Mauser lashes out, ripping at the detached sting whip as it pulls him back into the wall over and over, each attempt to kick off the wall or rip off the stinging tendril becoming slightly less and less forceful until he begins to thrash about in a blind rage, his eyes closed as his body still tenses against the sedatives, and he drifts into the air as his muscles finally relax.

"God fucking damnit!" Jackob shouts. "The guy hits like a fucking jackhammer!" He holds his hand up, the palm mangled at unnatural angles as he grips the thumb and pulls it back into place with a loud crack. "It's a damn good thing these bones are designed to do that or I'd have to learn to be a lefty." He ads.

"But is he out?" Dillon asks.

"Yea." Jackob says. "Yea he's out. Most of the others dropped from the parasites sedating them. Had to knock out one of them though. Think he may have a detox, probably a civilian version, but I know Mauser's got a hell of a high quality one judging by how much of a dose he needed. He's got enough juice in him to put a goddamn Carnatar down for the count."

"You didn't break anything, did you?" Lyle asks. Jackob eyes up the number of dents in the wall.

"Nope." He says quickly. "Nothing's broken, I mean. It's fine."

"So what are we going to do with these assholes?" Lyle aks. You ponder that question yourself.

>write in

>>1417633
This really should be a mission we involve Theseus in. Given how many black-op sites the Hive has destroyed the chances we are detected is pretty high if the Hive provides any kind of direct assistance. And we already suspect the terrorist cell might be infiltrated by the Union...

It's much safer to just provide intelligence and tech to Theseus and let him take out this "Anti-AI" research facility.

>>1417650
>>1417650
STRIPMINE MAUSER!
MIND TEMPLATE
AUGS
EVERYTHING HE HAS WE WILL TAKE FOR MOTHER!

>>1417650
I say we give those who still lack parasites parasites, and keep them sequestered in whatever unused compartments we can find. Confine them separately, of course.

After that, we can inform them of their surprise adoption.

>>1417650
Well, parasite Mauser immediately. Anderson too. They are too dangerous to be left off the leash.

Maybe don't let Dillon know we're doing that though.

We need to somehow find a safe house where Decker can be 'in charge' of them and try to ransom them back to the Union from an undisclosed location. Somewhere in the Expanse. But we need to get such a location first somehow... in the unclaimed wilderness caves?

>>1417633
Worst, imagine the security measures against a rogue smith.

>inb4 they have a lot of those rogue smith locked up inside a secret lab or something.

>>1417650
Dump them at a random union station and hope they get pass the union debrief

Send them on the clark or hire a free trader to take them there

Since the only worth is as deep cover agents for spying

>>1417662
Why ruin there minds? we need them as spies
so the less they know of how there handled the better

>>1417650
Alright then, let's drop them into the medical pods and rewrite their memories.

Here is how i think the big lie should go.
>Their memories of valen prison remains unchanged.
>The interior of the ship they boarded is different.
>No taidarens, maybe replace them with an extra human merc so the crew looks bigger.
>Jackob did not reveal himself, instead the room was flooded with air sedatives and everybody passed out.

>>1417675
They can know and still serve well, jsut look at our cute little pet scientist for example.

>>1417680
I'll back that one.

>>1417680
>Their memories of valen prison remains unchanged.
No this means they would remember the parasites.
>Jackob did not reveal himself, instead the room was flooded with air sedatives and everybody passed out.
Here's a better one. The ride was eventful.

>>1417675
We aren't ruining their minds. Our new children are going through a trying time, and as their mother, it's our duty to help them through it.

>>1417650
>>1417680
Backing

>>1417688
*uneventful

>>1417663
Deckard’s claim is the most developed, but even it lacks even a million people. Not sure if the sewers there on the colonies would be big enough yet to hide in.

Maybe they could get smuggled to Corbin somehow.

Maybe the HMS Orphan needs to give Decker and his prisoners a ride or something.

>>1417680
Also remember, Decker has to stay with us and disappear from the union, he hired mysterious Mercs and is a felon, he won't be useful as a spy and will definitely be interrogated for how he know the Mercs.
We should also avoid parasiting anyone we expect to be examined in a union medical pod like Mauser.
>>1417688
I was talking more about the break out, i thought they already forgot about the parasites, if they haven't do so.

>>1417699
Incorrect. Billiard has a million.

>>1417680
Backing

>>1417680
Yes, but that leaves the direction "Decker" will take this now that he's in charge now.

Anderson, let's say Decker killed him offscreen or he died of his injuries or he never made it off the Valen station. He belongs to us now. He's definitely getting the face-changing implant that Jackob has.

And he can work off his debt to us for his new implant, never needing another face changing surgery again! By helping us build more criminal/Taidaren contacts out there as a parasite salesman or something.

The rest of the crew, Decker has to decide what to do with them. Ransoming them will help pay for his own rescue. But he needs a good human-looking space to keep them in, not the Hel's Angel or a hive.

>>1417707
Anderson too. He'll be going nowhere but a cell is we send him back anyway.

>>1417707
We need to keep Mauser parasites until it would be detected.

>>1417650
I want to send Gray and the other Union folks back to the Union by saying Decker had his hired mercs dump them off somewhere. They keep their parasites but lose the memories of the flies and who rescued them. Give them memories saying that Anderson convinced Decker not to send him back to the Union so they disappeared with the mercs.

Decker and Anderson keep their parasites and they become adopted for use in the Hive. I'm sure Anderson would love that mod that lets them change their facial features.

Maybe keep Mauser and try to make him into a redundant Lyle in case we need another Andre the Giant sized monster in a mission

>>1417650

>>1417680
I'd support this with a few changes.

Obviously they don't remember the parasiting in the Valen station.

Make sure after we study Mauser to hell and back we don't keep a parasite in him since he is more likely to undergo a full medical scan.

Make up some story where Decker hired mercenaries and they were then drugged before payment.

Anderson and Decker stay with us.

Honestly, I'm considering just creating replicents of everyone at this point so that they can continue to spy without the risk of detection due to the parasites. If we can do this (and just upload their memories to the clone) I'd say go for it. However, the detailed cloning method would mean we don't get our spy in the Union council for some time, which could be problematic.

>>1417720
Mauser-Lyle double team is a must for the Smith Factory Raid.

>>1417650
>what do we do?
>alter their memories:
>there were no alien parasites or flies on their ship. cut that right out.
>decker's mercs showed up, freed them, then gassed the lot of them. they passed out.
>they awaken wherever we decide to put them, with a gap in their memory. no idea how they got there. although maybe they remember people talking in Esperanto.
>Decker fucking disappears. he belongs to us now.

>>1417710
Oh right. But Billiard is also a gas giant, so you can't as easily sneak onto it as a terrestrial colony since it's a bunch of floating airships.

>>1417717
We can either ransom them or just drop them in a union world.
I am in the favor of the latter since the whole valen prison breakout was due to us needing our agent back to killingers side.

>>1417688
Don't forget the mind fuck Unity made on Decker inside the Prison. But i think only one saw it happen

>>1417728
Nope it's a gas dwarf.

>>1417720
Anderson could just be dead in the cover story. He did get injured and the station did blow up.

He's probably faked his death a hundred times before anyway.

>>1417721
Don't parasited humans count as replicents?
And again, i thought the parasiting memories were already erased.

>>1417735
Ah Decker...

Recipient of the dubious award of being the only individual to have survived a three way mindfucking between a psionic hive-mind and a quantum A.I.

>>1417733
But would they believe Decker would just drop them off with no resentment or trying to gain anything out of it whatsoever?

He's on the lam, now. He should at least want his record erased from the official systems.

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I know i shouldn't and he was using a high quality implant to detox. But...i'm... some what offended and ashamed that a tranquilizer we created took so long to take effect.

>>1417750
Decker technically is gaining something just by dropping them off.
Freedom.
If we ransom, not only will we have to wait, we'll also be targeted by the unions intelligence agency.

>>1417749
His brain is going to end up like Spider Jerusalems later on in life isn't it?
He definitely needs a parasite then

>>1417759
He could drop them out an airlock for that.

Hell he could've left them all on the Valen station for that.

He needs some motive for having taken them with.

>>1417750
He could ransom them cheaply, say something about "more trouble than they're worth", or "just need to cover extraction expenses" or something.

>>1417766
Didn't our agent save Decker from space? There is a reason.

>>1417750
They'll know where he's calling from, you know.

Also if Decker just straight up disappears, he doesn't have to give a reason why he did anything, because no one can ask.

>>1417768
We would still have to wait for the payment to arrive and will certainly be targeted by union intelligence agents.

>>1417764
He already has a symbiot in him. I think he's only alive because of it.

>>1417769
Okay he's grateful to Michael Devon.

He'd definitely be the opposite of grateful to Anderson, so we should pretend he's dead.

>>1417772
He can use the Deepweb and so can the Union.

But yeah, the question is if his actions are so inexplicable they flag the rest of the crew as suspicious by association or something.

Dropping them off would be easier and quicker for sure. Maybe his motive is solely to frame the Union and make the Valen mad at them.

>>1417769
The excuse we were working on was that Decker had some money saved from when he hacked the Valen bank. The rescued team, Lyle and company, would have being hired by using such money.

>>1417794
Yes.
That post you replied to wasn't talking about the money or crew, it was talking about Deckers motives(Why does he need motives?)

>>1417790
> Maybe his motive is solely to frame the Union and make the Valen mad at them.

Well the Union did have him arrested and he dislikes the Valen Money grabbing attemps so this can be used as a excuse. I don't think Decker would murder someone.

>>1417776
Could take payment in whatever they got laying around. Him being on the runs supports taking what he can get without drawing undue attention.

>>1417650

Several workers are quick to emerge from the service tunnels and begin carrying the humans away to the cramped brig, while other drag Mauser to the medical bay. Jackob watches the drones skitter their way through the cargo bay as he rips off his helmet, or what is left of it.

"Goddamn this is some shoddy workmanship. You know once you get used to the whole living armor aspect it's hard to go back to standard equipment." He says. "Where the fuck is that supersuit? I'm not bullshiting with these assholes anymore without it." Jackob floats off as he rubs his hand, grumbling to himself muttered curses.

>Speak with Decker about the situation
>Speak with Devon
>Speak with Anderson
>Take Anderson and Decker back to Leeland and dump the rest in the expanse (write in)
>Other (write in)

>>1417802
He didn't murder Anderson, he just didn't rescue him from the Valen. He didn't expect the station to blow up.

Such shoddy craftsmanship.

>>1417800
The guy hacked a Valen bank and give it everything to charity. He's just wanted to escape prison and he didn't trusted the Union to seal the end of the deal.

>>1417808
>>Speak with Anderson

Anderson is a career spy, he'd have good input on what scrutiny they'd be under if they went back

>>1417808
>>Speak with Decker about the situation

>>1417808
>"Goddamn this is some shoddy workmanship. You know once you get used to the whole living armor aspect it's hard to go back to standard equipment."

And now i feel better. Thanks Jackob you are a great son.

>Speak with Decker about the situation
>Speak with Devon
Then
>Take Anderson and Decker back to Leeland and dump the rest in the expanse (write in)

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>>1417822
By "speak" we mean "speak to him in his dreams while the parasite gets settled in and he heals in the bacta tank" I presume.

>>1417808
>Speak with Decker about the situation

I mean it has to be something that the Union would believe he would do.

>>1417808
>>Speak with Anderson

>>1417830
Actually changing vote to


>>1417808
>>Speak with Anderson

Curious about reading his brain contents now. We can finally find out his birth name to call him that when we're angry.

>>1417808
We'll need to talk to both Anderson and Decker eventually in order to determine what the Union would believe Decker would or is capable of doing, and what their likely response will be to our agents returning to Union space.

Besides that, I'm okay with voting for either one (no particular preference).

>>1417808
>>1417866
Actually, I'll change my vote to
>>Speak with Anderson
In order to push the voting to a conclusion.

We definitely need to still talk with both guys before the group is sent back to the Union, but Anderson should be particularly interesting as we haven't had much interaction with him yet.

If the Cortez wreck was docked at the space station being torn apart, did all the Canderon and the quantum power tap crash down to Aral?

Or was all the damaged and unstable space-gold removed first and shipped elsewhere.

>>1417808
Anderson sits in his booth, the walls vibrating to the rhythm of the music in the club. He takes a sip of his drink and smiles at the women giggling on either side of him as they pass some local party pill between them. Bedrock was quite a place, a small chunk of Union city life floating in space in the middle of some of the least interesting small colony towns he has ever seen, but here, the party drugs were on demand, the alcohol on tap, and pretty girls with father issues looking for a ticket off this dead end truck stop to nowhere.

"So you say you're a secret agent?" One of them says with dangerous looking smile.

"Not secret enough to not tell us." The other says.

"Well you know how people complain of a lack of transparency in the Union, well here I am, being transparent. You see I'm performing a very important investigation that has brought me to this very booth regarding a suspected melon smuggling ring. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" He asks as the lot of them cackle at the deliberately terrible joke, the lot of them inebriated on some chemical cocktail of commercial fun drugs and drinks. "But I have to ship out soon on some major matter of national security. I may not make it back."

He leans in to one of them as he closes his eyes, and when he opens them there is a new set of lights, and new music as some Pathian pop music plays behind him as his feet dig into the carpeting as a large man lifts him into the air like a gym bag and tosses him out of a door, the music suddenly replaced with the sound of traffic and the harsh pelting rain of New Tokyo.

"I see you again you'll be paying your tab in skin." The bouncer says, and the door slams shut as the feeling of wet cement grinds into his face. He gets up and begins slapping the mud from his suit, and he flips his fingers to hold out the small card in his hand with the bouncer's face, name, and credit number listed in fine lettering. He rubs his thumb over the card to reveal the sensitive data from the card's default blank appearance and quickly memorizes the name and each number, then tosses it into the garbage bin beside him as he makes his way to a nearby banking machine, smiling to himself as he rubs the road rash on his cheek.

cont.

>>1417927
Someone's going on a trip.

>>1417927
Time to rewind to a few faces ago.

>>1417927

The downpour is cold and harsh as it drains from the endless maze of pipes and drainage canals above, the countless leaks of ancient infrastructure making it rain from the dilapidated ceiling of the old industrial district of the deep sea dome. The seemingly endless stream of valuable ore likely created from the native silicon life long since having been mined dry, and the facility overrun with criminals, homeless, taidaren which could count as both, and the general criminal underbelly of any decently sized city. The chains rattle as he shivers in the cold, the links pinching the skin of his wrists as a number of figures stand bathed in shadow.

"Look, I'm telling you the money was never at the drop point!" He shouts between gasps. "I mean it I'd never lie-" A brass knuckle cracks a rib as his statement is cut off by a sudden gush of wind from his lungs and a gasping wheeze.

"Connor, you know we don't buy your bullshit anymore. My boys already had a nice chat with the O'Harris brothers and they say it the other way."

"You know you can't trust those bastards, they're lying!" He gasps back, and one of the figures unwrap their thick coats to pull out a telescoping rod. He flicks it open and it begins to hum, cracking sparks erupting from it where the salt water rain lands on the metal rod.

"I'm not buying the shit you're selling no more, Connor. You know what, keep the money. I'm gonna have Pete here make sure you earn every credit."

The figure swings the rod and there is a sudden jolt of pain as his vision flashes red.

He opens his eyes he rubs the glowing halo of light from his vision and slowly the blurring figures come together. A pile of ash colored powder is placed on the table before him, with several small lines placed in a row on the glass. Several other people are passed out on the couch across from him and a man laughs uncontrollably on the seat beside him.

"You throw a good party, Steve, I'll give you that!" The man shouts, as if unaware of his own volume, or perhaps it's a matter of perception. The walls seem to vibrate, the objects around him moving in and out of focus as he watches the towers of the city twist in the air as if attempting to swat the shuttle traffic out of the sky as they move in and out of the local Arnim spaceport. The vision is overwhelmingly funny to him, and he leans back in his seat and lets out a cackling laugh as he throws a fist full of credits at the ceiling and watches them dance in the air for what feels like hours.

cont.

>>1417992
Guess it's time for "Anderson" to get a new supplier. Let's give him our "offer."

Not only does Mother provide the best drugs possible, we also have the best detox and healthcare system in the galaxy. All you need to do to earn it is to work for her loyally ... forever ...

acceptance of said offer is mandatory.

>>1417992
> he throws a fist full of credits at the ceiling and watches them dance in the air for what feels like hours.
That sounds a lot like that drug from the Dredd movie the Slo-Mo stuff.

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>>1417992

>>1418068
Actually it's Connor or Steve. I guess we can call him by each of his diferent names and trigger his memory. I guess we can call him Connor when we are really pissed with him.

Upgraded or unlocked specializations when?

Is there anything to reverse engineer from Decker's brain implants?

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Us offering Decker a job

>>1417992

The credits shimmer in the light, glowing brighter and brighter until they become stars in the darkness of space. The shimmer of the reddish glow comes through the screen from the ship's speed, even with the sensors decompressing the starbow effect some of the visual doppler effect is still visible. The local picket fleet of Mercy shimmers on the sensors as the computer highlights their interceptors as the flight computer attempts to find a route into warp before they converge on their vector, and finding none. A broadcast begins playing ordering the ship to decelerate and hold its course begins repeating automatically as the interceptors close in and begin locking their docking anchors into the small cargo runner, and the lights begin to flicker as they saw through the hull and connect with the ship's power systems. There is a flash of light in the control center as the navigation systems cut out.

The bright light of the cameras hurt his eyes as they photograph from multiple angles, and his fingers are roughly smashed into the print readers one by one by the attending guard. A list of smuggling charges are read by a synthesized voice as he is offered the right of an automated lawyer and it recommends a plea deal.

"Nicholai Sanders, you are charged with smuggling of illicit goods, illegal possession of a firearm, unlicensed operation of a relativistic vehicle, and engaging in unlicensed international merchant activities. How do you plea?" The judicial system is impressive with its efficiency. Most of the procedure is largely automated with only a bailiff to process him and ensure it all goes smoothly. The automated attorney offers a pre-set selection of available legal options, while the terminal before him simply acknowledges his plea. He could claim innocence and have it eventually push to a trial with real human people involved, but it wouldn't be very likely to result in an acquittal, and the plea deal is already at least moderately lenient as it crawls across the screen next to him. He enters the plea and is quickly escorted to the holding cell just down the hall. The door slams shut and he is left alone in the darkness to think and pretend to sleep on the concrete bed.

A harsh buzzing awakens him and he gradually opens his eyes to the bland pre-fab structure of his bedroom. He lets out a slow, drawn out yawn as he props himself up on his bed and pulls down his kitchen table, the unfolded table revealing a small pantry next to his bed where he pulls several small packs of processed food. It claims to be some manner of dried processed beef substitute with a smiling human enjoying his meal of the stuff with hysterically overblown enthusiasm. A momentary thought of how the mascot of so many brands tend to be the animal the meat is made of crosses his mind for only a moment, but it is dismissed out of disinterest as he drops the brick into a bowl and pours water over it, causing it to slowly break up into a chunky, brown paste.

>>1418136
>some manner of dried processed beef substitute with a smiling human enjoying his meal of the stuff with hysterically overblown enthusiasm. A momentary thought of how the mascot of so many brands tend to be the animal the meat is made of crosses his mind for only a moment

Eh human meat. Cannibals must love this brand

>>1418134
Change the pills into red and blue cute parasite grubs and we're golden.

>>1418168
Have them wave at him from our palms

>>1418168
>not making the pill be all blue
>not shapeshift into a living parasite, once he has made his choice
>and then have it force itself down his throat

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>>1418168

>>1418136
Interrupt his jog through memory lane with the queen appearing and say "This is getting ridiculous! How many aliases do you have do you even remember your real name?" And then block his memory of his real name.

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>>1418168

>>1418201
>New Paracutes from FormOther!
>In three friendly colors!

>>1418168
Sorry for stealing your artwork

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>>1418209
Nice.

>>1418168
Change all the people in his memories into Lyle.

>>1418210
Never feel lonely again. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever.

>>1418219
OH god that is a catastrophic idea but I'm still laughing.

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>>1418219
I like you, you can stay.

>>1418219
Is it wrong that the first thing that popped into my head was young Anderson walking into Lyle having sex with Lyle?

>>1418246
Mother dammit anon... my sides... i lost then.

>>1418136

He chews his breakfast as he pulls out a remote from a small drawer and activates his room's only window, which flickers, darkens, and then quickly erupts in color the built in smart glass becomes a primitive 2d screen where the local news plays. Various stock reports scroll by as a man recites a long list of managerial staff changes, noting relevant alterations will be noted automatically on every worker's standard issue data pad. He checks his own, and notes any alterations in his work day today as it chimes with an alert.

"Your shift has been rescheduled for: Five, two, zero. Please ensure you are not late." His eyes glance up to the clock where it reads Five nineteen, only to change a moment later. The data pad chimes again.

"You are late for your shift. You have received three demerits and three work hours pay has been docked. Please-" The voice cuts out as he chucks the pad across the room and watches it shatter against the wall. The speakers in the wall let out another chime.

"One hundred and sixteen credits have been deducted from your account and a new data pad has been assigned for your use. Note, your balance is now: One hundred seventy five thousand credits owed. Please pick up your new data pad when you report for your assigned function." An itinerary quickly prints itself out from the wall holding a barcode address for the local mass transit system. There is another chime.

"You have been charged one credit for printing services in substitute for the use of your data pad."

He stands up from his bed, and with a swift kick sends it snapping up into the wall and plucks the sheet of paper from the wall and quickyl skims the header. Aledalandus Inistad Librae, menial laborer rank six, you have been demoted to rank seven. Please scan this paper on the destination reader of your local public transport drone and report to your new assigned function. Today's transportation fee will be sixty three credits.

He lets out a tired sigh as he takes the two steps to his door, and slides it open to the cramped, windowless hallway of the housing complex and walks his way to the exit where people are lined up at the local tram station as small personal tram cars pull into the station and various other employees enter and quickly scan their data pads on the tram car's interior terminal. He gets into his own and scans the paper, and the door quickly seals as he is zoomed off along the tram rail from the massive superstructure of the local housing complex and into the open air of the city beyond. The city itself is hardly what would count as a city in the Union, with most of the area simply open water or swampland rapidly passing by beneath the tram's elevated tracks. The massive shells of valen pass by at a leisurely pace in wide waterways below, and great swarms of the monstrous valen tadpoles devour whatever local animals they can find in a feeding frenzy within a fenced in nursery.

cont.

>>1418212
Nah, it's OK man. QD himself likes it so it can't be bad, can't it?

>>1418273
Jesus fuck I'm suddenly incredibly sympathetic to this guy.

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>>1418273
This reminds me of that one scene in the Fifth element.

>>1418273
Jesus

>>1418280
I'm not. You do the crime, you do the time. I am suspicious about the correctional system he's in though.

>>1418273
Wow, talk about being nickel and dimed.

>>1418273
>Aledalandus
So I guess we could call him...Lando.

>>1418273
I like how this is running

>>1418293
He's not in prison in that memory. He's working as a menial.. somewhere.

>>1418273
>Librae

Why does it sound familiar? Have we meet someone with Librae on his name or i'm inventing shit.

Also fuck me it's horrible to be a human working for the Valen.

>>1418289

It remind me of the Vogon from Hitchhiker

>>1418307
I thought it was pretty clear that he's paying off the fine levied for his crimes. He took a plea-deal remember?

>>1418293
The rescheduling his shift to literally less than five seconds in the future, when the higher-ups know exactly where he is and that it'd be literally impossible for him to avoid punishment, proves that said higher-ups are abusive pricks (or at least absurdly incompetent at programming the system that manages shifts). That's worth sympathy for anyone who isn't a sociopath.

Y'know, we could make a killing in the private prison industry and in excess criminal transfers/extradition. We can do it so much better than them, like mostly everything of course, but there's so much love lacking in their correctional services. It's a shame, really.

>>1418313
More so since that trick came with demotion and reassignment. Boss might not like Lando here.

>>1418273
So the Valen just refer to humanity by the surname Librae I guess?
>Anitianus Descolade Librae
>Librae Turusch

>>1418289
>>1418311
Reminds me of the scene from demolition man where he procures toilet paper.
"Johnspartan You have been fined-Johnsparta-jhnsparta-jo-JohnSpartan you have been fined 30 credits for violation of the verbal morality statute."
>>1418313
Like I said, it's a punishment. And anyone who's worked retail can tell you the same shit happens to free folks as well.

>>1418312
The justice system knew him as Nicholai, but the name given when he's referred to as a menial laborer is Aledalandus.

>>1418322
Probably means "free" or "doesn't belong to a clan" or something.

Given their society it's probably an insult,

>>1418324
Sounds like someone stole a joke somewhere

So working for the Valen is like being a wageslave to a megacorp in Shadowrun, ouch.

>>1418316
Good god, we could have willing migrants under the guise of a penal colony. And the true scum we don't want are nutrients /that they pay us to take/. Even better, we eat the bad ones and send back replicants that fit perfectly back into society.

We need to open a penal colony somewhere.

>>1418336
Fifth Element for the demerits.
Demolition Man for the "you are fined/charged".
Vogon for the general asshattery.

Less "stolen joke" more "blending three together".

>>1418330
Good catch. Think he had a new name assigned to him, or a long, long history of breaking the law?

My money is on the latter.
>>1418336
Ehh, they're similar. The concept of omnipresent surveillance in the future is so prevalent that poking fun at it can't really be considered 'stealing' a joke.
>>1418342
Form Other Reformation and Rehabilitation Division?

>>1418312
That's ridiculous. We have consistently gone BACKWARDS in time, not forwards.

>>1418322
Librae is a star system.

>>1418322
Librae could mean that they are able to read us

>>1418342
I was mostly thinking of accruing copies of skill sets, with the inevitable diminishing returns, but that's an excellent idea.

>>1418345
>>1418345
QD has a pretty good taste for movies.

>>1418352
>read us

I think you meant to say humans anon.

>>1418353
Now we just need a place to set up the Form Other Rehabilitation and Regrowth Division.
Somewhere we can set up without anyone noticing it's actually a huge operation... Valen space!

>>1418342
That's a decent idea that would absolutely wreck our PR with the general population. Governments might like it, but we'd become a race of jailers in the eyes of the people.

>>1418370
But Valen space is the worst location for secrets of any kind, remember nowhere?

>>1418311
>>1418322
>>1418332
Specifically Librae is the star system human settlers colonized in Valen space. So of course lots of humans have that in their Valen style name.

>>1418347
>Think he had a new name assigned to him, or a long, long history of breaking the law?

Anon, you're just being dense now. This is his pre-criminal day job before he realized working 9 to 5, or 5:20 to 19:40 or whatever his Valen masters demanded, was a sucker's game and he should be a conniving backstabber like his successful employers were.

Every flashback is further and further back in his history, starting from Bedrock on backwards.

>>1418389
Not jailors, rehabilitators! They go in one door as criminals and out the other as contributing members of society within [[NON-SUSPICIOUS TIME UNIT]] as opposed to being locked up in some prison somewhere soaking up taxpayer money for the rest of their lives!

>>1418370
We could just build it in deep space somewhere. No one's going to stumble across it unless they follow one of our ships.
>>1418412
Maybe. we'd still need to carefully manage the PR.

>>1418389
We'd have to make it a secret hive operation. Clones and hybrids only on the surface.

>>1418394
Good point, but we need a place for a secret prison that won't be inspected by the union. Nowhere might have to be it.

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>>1418273
The tram quickly pulls into the station connected to the base of a large structure and quickly departs the tram before it charges him a loitering fee, and it zooms off as he examines the building's spiralling artwork of Valen script.

[]Department of unskilled labor management[/i] Is scrawled across the building in sweeping, spiralling letters of the trade language, and he walks up to the small kiosk at the entrance, the desk itself almost comical in its size compared to the vast structure that it marks the entrance of. A ceph sits in a basket of control armatures and quickly runs his sheet of paper through a machines that scans it, then shreds it, and a data pad emerges from a small slot in the desk. The ceph wordlessly slides it through the small hole in the security glass and a detailed set of navigational instructions appear on its screen as the ceph twists a limb in its armature and the door beside the kiosk slides open. He quickly walks through as it shuts behind him and follows the directions on his data pad to a small door slightly too short for him to walk through at full height with a placard on the side marking it as Reemployment office 632. The inside holds the appearance of a cheap indoor pool, the shell of a valen floating in the waters in front of a narrow ledge of wet friction polymer as water splashes up from the pool where the valen's maw pulls in some manner of fish. An eye twists to look at him as he approaches.

"Uh, hello, sir. I'm-"

"I know who you are. I requested your reassignment from the brine filter sanitation stations. You are late." The valen says.

"Yes sir. What happened to the brine filtration managers?" He asks, the valen lets out a number of hisses from its shell as it sprays salty mist from its shell.

"There was a restructuring event. Your labor manager is no longer employable." It says. Valen consider almost anyone employable. The statement was about as direct as could be, the old boss had played the valen power game a bit too fast and loose, likely wrote a check he couldn't cash, and is in all likelihood at the bottom of an ocean ravine, or on his way to one. The old boss always did ignore the regulations, so it was hard to say he would be missed. The valen sits in silence, as if waiting to make sure what he said was understood properly before continuing, shooing away several ceph workers from their work polishing its shell, and they fly away before it continues.

"Your debt to us is untenable considering your level of skill and estimated lifetime labor value." It says. "You will be unable to repay your debt within your lifetime. This is including the value your body holds from reprocessing after death." The statement stings like a twisting knife in his gut. "I propose an alternative, but it requires your agreement to hold all resulting risk to yourself." He looks up to the valen with sudden interest.

"What do you mean? What risk?" He asks.

cont.

>>1418370
>>1418421
Or just open them on Human worlds- Spine buddy the social workers/doctors put in to prevent abuse, then have them turn a blind eye to spine-buddying.

Putting them in far-off space would make it worse.

>>1418421
It'd be wonderful if the ships ran on Canderon and then blinked of in the other direction once they were out of range. Next stop, Space Australia and Warden Lyle.

>>1418412
I think this is one of those good ideas we should set aside for the backburner until we've established more stable relations. I would love to create a prison to "rehabilitate" offenders when we have the chance, but the time to do that isn't now.

The humans won't be giving us any of their population (from the core worlds) for the foreseeable future. We should focus on converting the humans in the Expanse into believing we're good rulers (or at least much better than the hell-hole working for the Valen is), creating peace between the Union and Commonwealth, and selling our "life extension technology" and "medical services" for the time being.

>>1418432
Again, you can't put a secret prison anywhere in valen space and expect it to stay a secret.

>>1418273
We need to rescue the entirety of the Union's population from their horrible fates. All must be adopted by mother.

>>1418439
Now this is interesting. Maybe the Valen experimented on "Anderson" to make him the way he is today?

>>1418445
Definitely. First strike is being a benevolent force to those that have no choice, second strike is giving those that've wronged their societies the best choice: Union correction services or Hive Rehabilitation.

>>1418460
Or maybe it is a suicide mission

>>1418453
As soon as we adopt all the trillionaires we'll be able to buy out all their businesses and turn them into adoption agencies.

>>1418460
He obviously means 'go do something illegal for us, deniable asset.'

>>1418445
We could prototype all sorts of ideas on one of our shiny new expanse worlds. I doubt we ever will (too much to do each week), but we've got some populations to experiment with if we want.

He was a valen agent?

NUKE THE WHALES

>>1418480
fucking whales man.

>>1418472
Great. The Valen employ Shadowrunners.

Well, he shouldn't have any trouble adapting to being one of Mother's runners.

File: BringUsTheParasites.jpg (273 KB, 1366x768)

273 KB JPG

>>1418439
Uh oh.

>>1418493
He'll probably welcome it, we're much kinder and willing to give our agents agency and free shit to make it nearly impossible for them to die.

>>1418439

"A new job has become available that requires a disposable individual to take on a not insignificant risk of bodily harm. If you refuse, you will be reassigned. If you accept, your debt will be repaid. Training will be offered and paid for as part of this agreement, but it will not guarantee safety or success." The valen's voice rumbles through the cramped office pool as it waits for a response.

"I.... what, what's the job?" The valen just hisses, and its shell lets out a sharp squeak of ill tempered distaste.

"Only those who have accepted the employment option may be given details." It says, but it goes largely unheard as he cuts off the valen's reply.

"I'll do it. Whatever it is, just say what I have to do." He says, his breathing heavy and his hands balled tightly into fists. The valen lets out a sharp pop of air like a deflating balloon as it chuckles.

"Excellent. You will be assuming the role of a false individual. Nicholai Sanders. He does not exist, and now neither do you. You will be given falsified credentials to assist in your identification, and a course in deception to assist in your objective." The valen says. "Your new function is as an independent merchant. You will ship goods between Union and Commonwealth space using the midway station we will designate. Exit the office, and a puppet will escort you to the psychological training center." The valen's maw quickly manipulates some controls beneath the water, and there is a chime from the data pad. He quickly looks to the screen, still in shock as he can hardly even read the numbers.

Nicholai Sanders: Current balance, 0.

>Prod his mind with specific questions (write in)
>Discuss something in detail (write in)
>Other

We should give the Valen something really, really nice so they can be in dept to us.
Perhaps a box of pencils or gravity technology.

Wait if he is a deep cover agent of the whales, does this mean we have a opportunity to compromise the whales black ops if we send him back to the union

Screw having him stay in hive space send him back with decker and the others

>>1418480
I think given what we know now we can be certain that nukes are far too kind, although efficient.

For specific singular valen that have offended us, we capture them and put them in a suspended pool surrounded by a colosseum of hundred speakers who do only have one job: intermittent-to-endless psionic screaming.

Extremely inefficient and wasteful of time and resources? Yes. Doubtlessly satisfying? Also yes.

Also; can threaten valen with "suspended scream pool" or something. Naming isn't my strong suit.

>>1418515
>Prod his mind with specific questions
How did your handlers keep in contact with ya?
What was you mission objective?
Are you still working for the whales?

>>1418525
Yes and yes.

>>1418515
>>1418543
Supporting.

>>1418539
We already know he got caught and arrested on Mercy on that smuggling job. That was years ago. He's burned now.

How would that help us?

>>1418539
>>1418515
Second.

Huh, maybe we should let lyle and crew interrogate him

Let him have access to all the hive tech to use as they see fit to see how they do

>>1418548
>>1418515

Sorry, meant to say I was supporting
>>1418539

>>1418515
>Prod his mind with specific questions
Did you take O'Harris brothers payment?

>>1418553
>implying that wasn't one of his false identities.
We are just making sure he doesn't work for the whales. The many changes in identity may be out of Valen pay outs

>>1418515
>Other
Let's move on to Decker. Hopefully we can analyze him and move on to (or at least start) the interview tonight.

If we do decide to keep talking with him, though, my vote is (in addition to the other questions):

>Prod his mind with specific questions (write in). How would you feel about the chance to get revenge on the whales?

>>1418553
Because clearly their objective wasn't just setting up a menial laborer as a smuggler, there's a bigger con going on.

>>1418553
You never played Shadowrun have you? There is always a bigger plan behind everything. Do you really think the whales would allow a debt to go unpaied? And if the was busted what was his real goal?

>>1418515
>>Discuss something in detail (write in)
Consider, if you will, that you had leverage over Decker, a set of mercenaries, and all of the Union agents on the Cortez, such that none of them would think to disobey your orders now.

How would you arrange to fake your death, and make use of Decker's hacking skills for your own gain, while setting the Cortez crew up as sleeper agents within their old jobs?

How would faking your death, having Decker, with a virus injected into the Valen's nerve stapler from his brain, breaking all of the Union agents out of Valen custody, and dropping them off fare?

Would it be plausible that Decker would simply let them go, no strings attached?

Could the Valen be kept assuming that the Union itself rescued its agents by doing that, provoking conflict?

>>1418539
>>1418548
>>1418556
>>1418559
>>1418560

Did you all completely forget the point of this conversation or miss what the flashbacks even meant?

>>1418585
>expecting anons to get anything without it being spelled out to them

hahaha

>>1418515
>>1418585
Reluctant support.

>>1418515
Supporting. I guess i will go sleep.
>>1418585

>>1418568
The Valen literally sent him into a psychological training center for being a smooth talking conman. Aledalandus was a genuinely near-illiterate laborer, we can tell in the memory he wasn't faking anything. It's his obvious origin story. He hadn't fallen into the underworld at that point.

>>1418573
>>1418578
The debt was paid by the possibly years of offscreen smuggling he did up until he got caught. We saw his old account go to zero. They obviously wrung all the blood they wanted from that stone already.

>>1418585
We could ask him this, but some of these questions are too specific for him to really answer. I think this would be a better question to pose to him when he has more information (aka, we've interviewed Decker and brought our adoptees up to date on the current state of Union international affairs. Knowledge of a Commonwealth and Alien invasion could easily change how he would answer this question.

>>1418628
That's true, we have to weigh in that there's an alien faction we don't want either the Union or the Valen to suspect had a hand in it, as we want them specifically bickering with each other.

And despite the Union knowing that they didn't rescue their agents, not being able to prove to the Valen that it wasn't them.

>>1418515
P.S. it seems you're in need of a new face now. That can be provided. The latest cybernetics can even let you change your face bones on your own without surgery, if you can bear the pain.

>>1418532
"Wailing(Whaling) Pit" has a nice ring to it.

>>1418664
That hit some internal funny bone that I can't sweat off anon, that's super good.

>>1418515
>Prod his mind with specific questions (write in)
Actually, I wonder if he knows much about the snobs at the Guild of Transportation who didn't even show up for dinner negotiations.

At some point we might want to send a smuggler to make contact with the Ceph heretic faction on their homeworld at some point, to smuggle an 'all purpose microfactory' to create weapons they can use. AKA a hibernating egglayer and a Thinker packed in a crate. They can create a hive in some deep ocean cave there and start producing (quantum teleporting) CIP weapons or whatever they like, as promised.

If we don't send Coil, it might be this guy.