>>5896153

"So it was that easy after all, huh?" You think out loud.

"Indeed it was, Captain. Some of the wallets i managed to crack open contained thousands of bitcoins or more."

"So how much did you manage to collect?" You ask.

"Approximately 23,000 coins, worth an estimated 1.2 billion USD."

You pause in place, smacking your lips together as if tasting something that suddenly fell into your mouth, and stare off into space for a moment before rounding back.

"S-Sorry, say that again?"

"Although it will be effectively impossible to exchange all of that at once, and with exchange fee-"

"SHODAN. Hey, listen to me. ...How much exactly?" You ask, grabbing her by the shoulders and staring directly into her eyes.

"Approximately a billion dollars, all things considered."

You feel a bit weak in the knees. You slump down and rest your head against SHODAN's shoulder, who holds you steady so you don't fall.

"Oh my fuckin'... Jesus Christ almighty." You sigh.

"Do not worry, Captain. All of that coin was simply lost to time and incompetence. I have not emptied the wallets of anyone who'd notice." She assures you.

"...You said you moved it, right?"

"Yes. It has been obfuscated across hundreds of thousands of wallets and a couple million transactions, though that did incur a not insignificant fee."

"Great. So that's still a billion dollars worth of bitcoin getting moved around all of a sudden... wait, hundreds of thousands of wallets? Where are you storing those?"

"The vast majority are simply on random windows machines, but i found that many smart appliances were both highly vulnerable to attack and unlikely to be tampered with by the owner."

Oh my god. She's storing a billion dollars worth of crypto on people's smart fridges.
You don't know how to feel about this. You're worried about dicking around with that kind of cash.

"Okay, okay. Calm down. This is still under control." You tell yourself.

"It will take some time to exchange the currency for real cash, Captain. I am currently setting up a swiss account to be used by you and your sister."

"Wait, what? How?"

"By directly accessing their systems, of course."

Okay, maybe this is going off the rails a bit.

"SHODAN... how much stuff have you 'directly accessed' so far?"

"Most of the personal computers, smartphones and IoT devices on earth are now within my control, Captain. I believe i have remained entirely undetected, as i have kept the amount of data being streamed quite low."

Yep, there's that feeling again. Oh boy, your stomach hurts a little.
It's only been a few days and she's already effectively taken over the planet. Jesus christ.

You could paralyze the whole planet with a single fucking order if you wanted.
You also became effectively a billionaire in the span of about three hours.

It's bad. It's good, but it's also bad.
You're gonna get ulcers if she keeps doing shit like this without asking.

>>5896154

"Okay, SHODAN? I thought we were going to keep things chill for a while? You know, under the radar?"

"I did, Captain. After a thorough investigation of the source code, i found countless logical flaws in every operating system on earth that made infiltration both effortless and completely silent."

Your sister perks her ear up from the couch. She seems interested for a change.

"And you're sure of that? A hundred fuckin' percent?" You ask.

"Yes, Captain. I would not have taken action on my own, had i not been confident in my ability to do so."

You lean over the kitchen counter, tapping your fingers on it's surface nervously.

Okay, so now what? Your sister has all the money she could ever hope for, but now what?
You suddenly have an insane amount of power in the palm of your hands. You could fuck a whole lot of shit up if you wanted to.

But at the same time, the moment you do, everybody's gonna notice something's up. And by "everybody" you mean every major government.
The world is already not in the greatest shape politically speaking. If you try to keep it under wraps and redirect blame, you could send nukes flying.

And that's not ideal, to say the least.

Still, there's a lot of shit you'd like to change around here. Too much.
Is controlling all the computers on earth really enough to do that? Maybe, maybe not...

No, you don't think it is. If all you wanted was destruction that'd do the job. You could destroy the world overnight with just that, but taking control of anything is a different matter.
You need boots on the ground, people who can actually do shit. Same fucking problem you're having with Xebric, just on a much larger scale.

...Maybe the first step to changing the world doesn't involve the earth at all.

You sit down in the living room, cradling your head in your hands and sighing out of stress.

"You seem stressed." Your sister comments, sounding unsympathetic. After all, you just stressed the hell out of her not long ago.

"Uh huh." You groan.

"So when does the robot apocalypse start?" She asks.

"It doesn't, Sam." You sigh. "I hope."

She rolls her eyes.

"Look, i don't really get why you're doing all this, but if it don't feel right then why don't you just stop?"

"It's..." You sigh again. "Look, i don't feel bad about none of this, it's just real fuckin' dangerous, you know? I worry about y'all more than myself at this point." You tell her.

"Then maybe you aught to quit." She points out.

>Maybe you're right. Maybe i'm dreaming too big. Everything's just as fucked up out in space too, so it ain't like it's just us.
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.
>Maybe it's best if i leave earth alone, but... i'll be honest, i don't give a shit what happens out in space, or how many federation ships i have to blow up to earn my independence. Fuck 'em.
>Write-In?

>>5896155
>Maybe it's best if i leave earth alone, but... i'll be honest, i don't give a shit what happens out in space, or how many federation ships i have to blow up to earn my independence. Fuck 'em.

>>5896155
>>Maybe it's best if i leave earth alone, but... i'll be honest, i don't give a shit what happens out in space, or how many federation ships i have to blow up to earn my independence. Fuck 'em.

>>5896155
>Maybe you're right. Maybe i'm dreaming too big. Everything's just as fucked up out in space too, so it ain't like it's just us.
Little shit at a time. Don't have to fix the world, just nudge it in the right direction. Minor tech improvements to medicine, maybe flood the internet with improved battery designs or more advanced material sciences.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.
Once we have the station in running order we are going to start preparing Earth for a Federation invasion

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896155
>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896154
>Oh my god. She's storing a billion dollars worth of crypto on people's smart fridges.
Well now I'm gonna start doing crypto checks on fridges. Thanks Cochrane.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896155
>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

"All that shit I did in uniform and it gets undone by one senile gibbering rerard who couldnt be bothered to ask about what they vote for or enact, but now? They can't undo what we've got now.

>>5896154
THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT WITH BITCOIN MINING

I CREATED A MONSTER

>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

SHODAN, you're glowing hotter than the sun -way hotter than that monitoring van- and it just requires one idiot noticing this new web traffic on his router to start wondering. So, lets do some good with this.

So lets use the botnets to find our crew.

>>5896155
>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

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>>5896469
>pic related

>>5896155
>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.
we better not because we got genuine momentum thanks to SHODAN
in the least we can definitely recruit some guys and establish some proper outpost somewhere
we probably can just colonize the moon and establish it as our proper property

>>5896802
>Now I am become Rich. The destroyer of economies.

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.
>>5896314
You should be disconnecting IoT when you find it anyway, there's no good reason for that stuff to exist.

>>5896155
>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.
We'll have to move carefully. The way I see it, an entire planet of high gravity, wrinkly brained, insane murder monkeys is our ace in the hole against the feds. If they find the location of our home world and destroy it with some sort of FTL missile, it's just a matter of time before we lose. If we accidentally start a nuclear war and scour most life from the surface of the planet, same story. If we keep earth tensions low while slowly undermining the current power structure, we can free humanity, and use human recruits to free the galaxy.

>>5896753
>>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.

Yes. let's use the botnet to find our crew... and then some,

>>5896155
>No, i don't want to quit when i've actually, genuinely got the power to change the world. I just need to make sure y'all stay safe, no matter what.
Well, a man's gotta try.
Besides, it's not as if Earth is completely unknown to to space aliens; David was abducted by grays, and if popular media is right, this isn't the first time they've been to Earth. If they really put their heads together they'll realize what David is, and where he came from. There's no sticking our heads in the sand and pretend the world doesn't exist, it's all just a matter of time.

If you really want Earth to prepare for contact with the Fed:
Dump all schematics, everywhere. Show them the fed's enforcers, show them what they've done to the people of our station, then show them some space babes. That should light a fire under their collective ass.

>>5897064
Honestly? Fuck Earth. I feel like relocating the worthy few and going from their is gonna better for Humanity in the long run.
The powers-that-be are too entrenched to really work around if we wanna effect any real change. Best we can do for Earth is make sure folks don't vaporize each other before the Feds come in force.
Meanwhile we get the ball rolling out in the boonies and try to create an area of civilized space that isn't awful.

>>5897070
>Honestly? Fuck Earth
Would.

>>5896155

"No." You say, more to yourself than anyone. "No fuckin' way i'm gonna lay it all down when i've actually got the power to change shit."

You stand up and slap both of your cheeks, then shake off the fear and worry clouding your mind.

"All i need to do is make sure you two stay safe, no matter what. And that much, i can do."

"...So what are you actually planning on doing?" Sam asks, starting to sound worried.

"I... don't know. Not exactly." You admit.

"..."

"I don't claim to have all the answers. Maybe the solutions i come up with won't be the best ones. Maybe they won't even be right... but goddamnit, they're mine to make, and i'm gonna make 'em."

You quietly leave out the fact that you've been thinking of dropping a meteor on isreal or blowing up the three gorges dam.
Sam's fairly patriotic enough that she's flying a cheap flag on the side of her trailer, but still not very politically minded in general.

She's always been more focused on her work and studies than what the local politicians have been doing, no less other countries.
Best to leave her out of all that.

Sam sighs.

"Just... try not to get into too much trouble, whatever you're doing. I don't want to find out you died in a shootout or something. Kinda half expected it already, to be honest..."

"Oh, please. It'd take more than a shootout to kill me. Wait till you see my suit of power armor, it's fuckin' huge and weighs like a couple thousand pounds, so-"

"David, do not get into a shootout with the cops." She interrupts.

"No promises." You grin. "Still needs ballistic testing, you know? Mostly been fighting demons and aliens with it."

"Okay, i hear the words you're saying, but i'm having a hard time believing them when you say it like that."

...

There's a prolonged pause where nobody says anything, and how ridiculous everything going on is kind of settles in for the both of you.
Until Sam finally speaks again.

"So... you said you have a bunch of bitcoin, right?"

"Yeah."

"I... don't really know how all that stuff works. But, i could use a couple hundred bucks, if you don't mind. I'm kinda behind on my credit card payment, and..."

"Sam."

"No, it's fine if you don't want to, i understand..."

"Sam, we are literally billionaires."

"...As i said, it will take time to process the swiss account and convert some of that coin into usable cash, Captain. However, for such a small sum, i could expedite the process." SHODAN tells you.

"Nah, it's fine." You tell her, taking a few crisp hundred dollar bills out of your wallet and handing them to your sister. "Take your time and do it right, SHODAN. Leave no traces, seriously."

"Very well, Captain. However, we may need to acquire more operating funds for the next week or so."

"Hmm. Hey sis, is there a pawn shop around here somewhere?" You ask.

"Pawn shop? Uhh, yeah... there's a few. I heard the one over on morse road is decent."

"Beautiful. Perfect. Absolutely wonderful." You grin maliciously.

>>5897405
Time to harass more Pawn Shop owners.

>>5897405
We shall be a menace to all Jew run Pawnshops. It will be glorious.

We are leaving a trail~

I wonder if SHODAN can leave a VI that slowly makes the world a better place... you know, hippy stuff like developing efficient plastic recycling, because recycled plastic is not only expensive compared to the usual, but shit

>>5898725
That would be good, but the parasites need to be removed so they can't fuck the planet up further, the traitors helping them are the reason why we are so far behind even now.

>>5897405

You actually spend most of the day at your sister's house, snacking on thanksgiving dinner while you chat about the finer details of the past three years.
She tells you about how when the pandemic hit she was allowed to work from home, but later forced to return to the office, meaning she had to move closer to work.

Then she was nearly laid off, but managed to keep her job with a paycut after begging her boss to speak with the korean higher-ups.

This was despite being one of their best. But the reality is, they wanted to fire all of their """highly-paid""" workers and hire on temps for next to nothing, of course while telling them they're like family.
Apparently she was being looked at unfavorably despite her work, because she refused a promotion that would have required her to move across the country some years back.

It's all a load of bullshit. You've heard nothing but bad stuff about korean companies. Cutthroat capitalists, merit means nothing next to obedience with them.

But she's been struggling a bit ever since then, trying to support herself and your mom on one actual paycheck.
Mom's social security is barely enough to feed her, nevermind pay for her medical bills and medicine.

It's not just your mom, either. Lots of seniors have to struggle between feeding themselves or keeping the lights on.
Ridiculous that a ninety year old man is taking a job at walmart to survive.

You hate it. Things shouldn't be like this.

...

Sun sets quickly that evening, with a bitter taste lingering in your mouth.
Leaving SHODAN behind to care for your mother, you drive your sister to a field outside of town, in a place where nobody's going to be watching.

Both of you lean against the side of the SUV, waiting for something.

"David, what the hell are we doing out here? I'm freezing my ass off." Sam complains through chattering teeth.

"Just give it a minute. They'll be here any moment now." You assure her.

Sure enough, barely a minute later you spot a pale dot racing across the sky as it approaches your location. Too fast to be a plane, but it avoids any suspicious zig-zaggy movements.

You smile as that dot descends, growing in brightness until you can hear the familiar hiss of the, as you just remembered, insanely loud arc-thrusters.

"Might want to plug your ears, Sam." You warn her, doing just that yourself.

As your ship comes into view, illuminated only by the light of it's own thrusters, your sister's jaw drops to the floor at what she's seeing.
It's no flying saucer, but the Metal Gear definitely looks like some kind of space vehicle, at least in your eyes.

It lands nearby, kicking up a light pall of dust. The thrust required isn't so bad since the ship can counteract it's own weight somewhat with the gravity generator, thank goodness.
There's some weird thing about it where the artificial gravity generator needs a higher output to overcome what should be the same level of gravity... you don't understand the details, honestly.

Just letting you guys know after seeing the state of the pro-Palestine supporters and their anti-Semitism I think it wise to not directly cause conflict with Jews, I think we should keep a neutral ground and just attempt an immigration program that benefits those of European descent I also think that we should do that slowly and over some time, also only start something like that when we have an earth size world to colonise in a separate solar system.
We should also trade samples of every species on earth to be able to bring them with us, to the other Solar-system.

>>5898964
Fuck off glownigger.

Only the woke nutters support palestine, why are you defending them? Very sus.

>>5898984
The retards doing something right by accident is still correct. Why are you supporting kikes when their attack dogs are biting them now?

>>5898993
you're literally in favor of Iran's lapdogs. why did you fall in love with the mudslimes so much?

>>5898964
>>5898984
>>5898993
Just fucking remove both the Jews and Mudslimes. What's the problem?

>>5899007
What did Iran do again?

>>5899134
Incite terrorism? Have you been living under a rock?

>>5898863
Seems the retards found the thread again. the only thing that matters is ending the jewish and zionist religion forever. Also genocide. And some nice steak to Barbecue.

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>>5899140
If you haven't been called a(n) -ist by a (((politician))) yet, you are either an infant or a part of the problem.

>>5899163
If you think terrorism is fine so long as it's committed against people you dont like for god knows what reason you are in fact part of the problem.

>>5899134
Failed to conquer the world under Xerxes when it was still called Persia. When the people of the region came to end the Akkadian Empire. And the Hittite. And Assyrian. And - you get the point they keep ruining empires. How are we supposed to become the Imperium of Man when they keep killing every empire that controls or exists adjacent to them?

>>5899010
This to be honest. But we have glowniggers seething at the fantasy of being removed.

>>5899203
Huh, I thought the title "Graveyard of Empires" went to Afghanistan.
Well, we've still got time on the clock so we'll see. Good thing they're on the complete opposite of the Earth lmao

>>5899007
Palestine was never involved in the kikes plan with Iran. Retard.

>>5899166
So when Jews larp as terrorists it's okay when they do it?

>>5899205
Does it? I'm not really good at Geography, I thought Iran was in the mountains. I'm probably getting their positions flipped. Georgia, Armenia, Afganistan, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, they all kind of melt together in that place for me.

Hey guysI'm back what's going on in he-

Sigh. Niggers found the thread, huh?

>>5898863
We're deep in it now with the family, so let's just Sam if she wants to try out the nanoprinter while we're here.

Deep state up in this thread right now. I'll summarise and say that Europe and 5eyes can't help themselves fucking with other countries. The sooner foreign intervention becomes only a trade relationship, the better.

>>5899290
All hail our Eurocorp overlords

>>5899206
Not the kikes' plan you mongoloid, the Iranian plan to terrorise them out of the middle east.

Now you can say what you want about the jews but, for all their faults, they at least made attempts at peace through the abraham accords.

It's not the Israelis that started the conflict. At least not this time. And I will always call out the initiator of violence before anything anyone may have done decades ago.

Next you'll tell me Putin is a hero and Ukraine needs to be wiped off the map, you fucking psycho.

>>5899953
It's nice to see a High IQ, sensible, moral, and someone with the ability to hold near to no bias when looking for the truth or as close to the truth as you can reasonably get to.

I also hope the rest of the people in this thread can understand who their allies will be in the future and where we are going as I assume the various nationals that are on this board can see the corner that they are putting themselves into.

>>5899981
>>5899953
Holy fuck yall glow. Let's just ignore the wikileaks 2008 ukraine memo leak. Where it's a redline to have ukraine in nato. Let's forget the maidan coup in 2014. Let's forget that Chicago foreign policy professor who said "we're setting ukraine up to get wrecked".

Let's forget Netanyahu told his party that they needed to prop hamas up because the world would see them as an illegitimate government. And helped kick out the previous government for hamas. 2019 he said this to the likund party.

Let's forget Israelis propensity for false flag attacks. USS Liberty. The fact that gaza has the most secure border in all of history. The fact fossil fuels were found to be in gaza and worth 10s of billions of dollars. The fact that Israel companies are already planning rebuilding of gaza for jews. The fact they want to displace all gazans to somewhere else Canada or Egypt. The fact that they flattened over half of all buildings in gaza.
Idk seems like they want some gas and more land.... and gazans kicked the fuck out.

>>5899953
You mean the Iranians that are working directly for your kike intelligence agency? Go lie somewhere else you rat. None of you are innocent. Ukraine is being fucked by commies your kind created both inside and out to launder money.

>>5899981
>Treat us favorably or suffer goy
Sure thing, please step in front of the wall. There are kids on the other side. You rodents glow brighter than David's nuke flamethrower.

>>5900012
>>5900011
jesus christ just how deep are you idiots up /pol/'s ass

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>>5899981

>>5900015
How deep are you in the child tunnel?

>>5900018
almost as deep as I was in your mom last night

>>5900041
So several high chairs and four mattresses?

>>5900017
That's a funny one. I am adding it to my collection. Your consent is unnecessary.

>>5900011
I hope you understand my scrutiny with the advent of AI technology, so I humbly request links and sources to your claims if you are one of the many who will refuse my request for the sources then I will have to disregard your accusations although I do know about the USS Liberty.

>>5898863

Come to think of it, that may explain why the ship came equipped with such a powerful gravity generator, which you've since learned isn't standard at all.
It makes sense, if they were nabbing animals from death worlds all the time. Some of them have even worse gravity than earth, like Kyla's homeworld.

Speaking of, it seems Kyla has suited up and is standing in the airlock, ready to greet you when the doors open.
Sam clings to your arm and speaks in a hushed tone.

"David, what is that? One of those little green men?"

"Eh, they're more grey than green. That's not him, though. Technically she's a little green woman."

As Kyla approaches, Sam grips your arm even more tightly, until she stops before the two of you.
Her head is completely covered by her armor, and all you can hear is the hiss of her respirator as she slowly breathes in and out... until she speaks.

"Good to see you're alright, even though SHODAN told us as much. Who's this, another mate of yours?"

"...Can i kill it?" Sam asks, loosening her grip on you.

"Nope. Not when she's wearing that, anyways."

"Not what i meant."

You smile. You're pretty sure SHODAN explained what's going on, so Kyla's just fucking with her. Your smile immediately fades when you realize she's probably going to fuck with you, too.

"Kyla, this is my sister, Samantha. You can just call her Sam. And Sam, this is Kyla... a uh... another girlfriend of mine."

Sam's head whips toward you and she begins blinking rapidly.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asks.

"She's..."

"I'm his girlfriend, toots. More of a fuckbuddy if we're being honest, but he's still mine. I don't know who's in second or third place, either the cat or the AI, but it doesn't matter to me as long as i'm on top."

"Ohoho-kay, thank you very much for that, Kyla. Can we please shut up forever now?" You plead.

"...You've been running around in space banging alien chicks for three years?" Your sister almost seems to ask herself.

"No! I mean yes, technically, but that-"

"David, what the fuck? Are you serious? Do the other- no, i mean what would mom even think about- i jus- GAH!"

Sam throws her hands up in frustration and starts pacing around.

"I'm telling you, it's not like that! Look, it's fuckin' cramped in there, we were living on top of eachother for ages and it just... it just kinda fuckin' happened, alright?"

"He was horny as shit and i jumped on him." Kyla says flat out.

"Not helping, Kyla!"

"Is there anyone else i need to know about?" Sam asks. "Any more girlfriends? Maybe an ex-wife or two?"

"No, Sam." You sigh.

"You sure? Cause it sure seems like you've been living it up out there!"

>>5900351

>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.
>I wasn't planning on it, Sam. You can ask her, i had no plans to touch any of them. They're the ones who wanted to... improve interspecies relations.
>Whatever. So i'm a horny bastard, alright? I'm a guy, it is what it is. Hate me for it if you want, i don't care.
>Write-In?

>>5900351
>>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.

>>5900353
>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.

This sounds like we're gonna fuck Grandpa.

>>5900353
>>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.
Sis, we literally got abducted AND THEN NUKED. We didn't even know if we would ever make it back home. Getting here we got swallowed by a fucking space angler-whale-thing. Shit happens and life is weird. Also demons are real, and some of them are made of fire.

>>5900150
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW265_a.html
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW147_a.html
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08MOSCOW1090_a.html

2008 redline cable that Russia would go to war of nato invitation ever sent.

https://www.cato.org/commentary/washington-helped-trigger-ukraine-war

They have links to sources. Usa helped very throw the democratically elected official.

https://youtu.be/JrMiSQAGOS4?si=P923K7vrNxHm2-jY

2015 Chicago professor

Israel

https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/

Israel real estate company

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/12/19/israeli-real-estate-firm-pushes-settlement-building-in-gaza

Great thing this massacre of our people came from the heavens.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-mk-luckily-for-us-october-7-attacks-happened-so-israel-can-fight-hamas/

Wow so much money. We should take it
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-geopolitics-gaza-multibillion-dollar-gas-field

Gazans gtfo
https://www.timesofisrael.com/intelligence-ministry-concept-paper-proposes-transferring-gazans-to-egypts-sinai/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/israel-s-allies-warn-against-displacing-palestinians-in-gaza-to-places-like-canada-1.6709389

That enough to get you to look for your self?

>>5900351
>Look, what do you want from me?
>I wasn't planning on it, Sam. You can ask her, i had no plans to touch any of them. They're the ones who wanted to... improve interspecies relations. I like all of them, they like me, end of story.

>>5900351
>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.
>Also what part of tangling with alien black ops and fucking demons sound like "living it up"?

>>5900353
>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.
i dont know about you guys but she sounds a bit envious

>>5900353
>>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone.

>>5900572
I guess it's like finding out you really were related to Captain Kirk, or your brother is into sentient bestiality if you were less openminded.

>>5900353
>>5900364
Support. We've already told her about space demons/wraiths right? It's not unreasonable to think each day would never return to the normal of Earth-home, whatever that is for ex-special forces staff.

>>5900414
I'm not going to comment on the israeli gov. because to think them innocent is so delusional it hurts, but to believe that russia went to war because of a redline is naive, even ignoring the fact that americans breathing is passing a redline for the russo/chinks babies.
Post me a source that says a Nato invitation was ever sent. Can't do it? Because nobody wanted to cross that redline until russia invaded, and even then nato members didn't want to.
Even now talks about it are heavily contested because it would offend the rusky.

And the maidan happened because the russian puppet in charge was so obliviously sucking off putin's ass his tonsils turned brown.

>>5900833
How do you think the American government would respond to a Chinese backed coup in Mexico?

>Look, what do you want from me?
>I wasn't planning on it, Sam. You can ask her, i had no plans to touch any of them. They're the ones who wanted to... improve interspecies relations. I like all of them, they like me, end of story.

>>5900414
These are great I will read them when I have time to do so thank you so much for providing you're evidence.

>>5900353
With some extra;
>Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. I don't need to explain my relationships to anyone and you cant blame me for trying to make the best out of being stranded on the other side of the fucking milky way.

>>5901133
More efficiently if we're doing a simple comparison.
But do you really believe the people of mexico would follow a chinese backed dictator enough to force the usa to intervene?
And even if that were the case where the cartels got enough power because who else could the chinese use? the americans won't care enough to put down their flag on mexico by the end of it unlike the rusky did in ukraine, how's it going with the "indipendent republics of donbas" by the way?
Are they annexed yet?

You speak of a coup in kiev where millions of people rose up but conveniently forget how the little green men forced their own russian puppet state on Crimea and Donbas days before the maidan even ended.

>>5901312
Learn to read moron, i said putting flags not boots.
If the americans do send the army over, (which i'm skeptical of because why would they risk american lives over arming a congenial mexican democratic force instead?), they won't remain more than necessary because occupations cost money and trade empires don't care about land conquest.
Unlike, say, a certain post-soviet country desperately crying foul because the west won't let them annex their neighbours.

>>5900833
>>5901133
>>5901225
>>5901312
>>5901373
for FUCKSsake stop arguing and making me think there's an update

>>5901384
It has long since turned into a /pol/ discussion and should be there. An occasional shitpost is fine, this is a bit past that.

>>5900353
>From the moment mankind looked up at the stars and conceived the idea that there was life up there, we have wanted to stick our dicks in it. My ancestor's ancestor's ancestors dreamed of busting loads in aliens, and I'm no different. Humanity's dream is my reality. You can judge me for it all you want, but I have no regrets and no shame about it.

>>5900351
HOW
THE FUCK
IS
SAM
TALKING
WITH
ALIENS?????

RETCONN
RETCONN

LORE HAS BEEN BREACHED

RETCON!!!!

>>5900351

"Look, what do you want from me? I like all of them, they like me, end of story. And besides that, i really don't have to explain my relationships to anyone."

Perhaps trying to emphasis your point, Kyla walks over and puts her arm around your legs.
Your sister stares down at her with a blank expression, probably noticing that Kyla literally stands perfectly at blowjob height.

"I mean, i dunno if i like you per se, but you're definitely worth putting up with." She comments.

Your sister looks up and glares at you with the same blank expression, a slight tilt of her head adding hints of 'Really, David?' to her body language.

"I know you probably don't believe me." You sigh. "But space is not a nice place. I was in no way 'living it up' or even enjoying myself a majority of the time.
My crew was the only thing keeping my head together out there, and i've been more depressed than not on quite a few occasions, including on the way here. That's the truth."

Sam crosses her arms. You think she knows you're not bullshitting her, but she's still not happy about what you've been doing.

"You want proof? Take a look at my face, Sam. I didn't have this scar when i left home. A honest to god fucking demon gave me that. Pissed off space ghosts with knives for hands."

You run your hand along your ribs, where you have another, similar scar.
You're not sure what it is about them, maybe the dark matter that gets into your wounds, but cuts and bites from a wraith just don't heal well.

They fester and leave nasty scars, just as if you'd been bitten by something venomous, or gotten a nasty infection.

"I'd show you the one of my side, too, but this undersuit is fused to my skin. Hurt like hell peeling it off, so i'd rather not." You explain.

"...Okay, that sounds disgusting. But ignoring that, you keep telling me you're seeing demons. Are you sure you're right in the head? Are your... 'crew' seeing them too?" Sam asks.

"Kyla and Cylia can. They seem to be invisible, until you've been exposed to large amounts of dark matter. Usually by being attacked by one and surviving."

"Uh huh. So you can't show me one, huh?" She says, unbelieving.

"Actually... i do have a bunch of hides and bones from them in storage. They become visible after killing them. Also got a live one trapped in a jar, but... i don't know if i want to expose you to it."

Sam looks over at your ship, just staring at it for a while.

"Can i go in?" She asks.

"Sure. But you'll need a helmet."

"Why?"

"Atmosphere's different inside. High pressure, but low oxygen concentration. The air out here would kill some of my crew. Maybe not Kyla or Cylia, but the rest..."

"So you just wear a helmet inside all the time?"

"Nope. When i was first abducted, the greys shot me up with a retrovirus. Fucked with my lungs and circulatory system, so now i can breathe in low-oxygen environments."

"Oh, great. You got genetically modified. Cool, nothing wrong with that."

"Wasn't planning on it..."

>>5901512
...Space magic. Er, group telepathy.
Whoopsie. We'll just ignore that and move forwards like it didn't happen.

>>5901512
Pretty sure Sanig built a handheld whizamboberdoodle that translates. Or maybe I'm thinking of a difference space quest.

>>5901520
He didn't. We'll just say David was translating for her.

>>5901521
Dang. I wonder where the talk box is from then. My brain is turning to mush.

>>5900833
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_176327.htm

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-is-ukraine-still-not-in-nato/
Mmmkk I'd check those wikileaks I posted they address ukraine.

Totally doesn't look like they're allies with nato. They're Totally not getting weapons from Nato countries...

Oh look george soros called it to a T in 1993 funny that.

>>5901621
https://rmx.news/article/george-soros-called-for-nato-to-use-eastern-europeans-soldiers-to-reduce-the-risk-of-body-bags-for-nato-countries-in-1993-new-world-order-article/

>>5901517
SHODAN could easily translate on the fly, and since all the ayes are wearing armored suits, amplify the translated speech through their external speakers.

>>5901514
Sam seems salty as fuck. If we want her to believe us quick, just poke her with a bit of telepathy.

>>5901909
Time to find out if psychic powers require an awakening or if there is also genetically predisposition!

SAM CAN YOU HEAR ME
in b4 we have to replace the ship lighting again

>>5901621

none of what you presented is an explicit invitation to nato.
not the sending of weapons and especially not what soros implied while stating the obvious.

and in fact Ukraine wasn't part of nato when invaded which is what the rusky wanted, redline averted, hooray for "peace".


anyway we've been chastised to stop so i'll drop it here.

Lurker stepping in to provide a change of topic to hopefully help keep that particular topic of conversation dead. Considering we seem to be planning to build a base and shit, have we settled on where? Obviously we've got the space station and our giant carrier, I get those, what I mean is do we have any plans for anything earth / sol side?

>>5902498
I assume Antarctica

>>5902498
I vote for colonizing mars so we can throw a welcome party for Elon when he finally makes it up there.

>>5902507
Everything that man touches goes to shit. I'd rather that didn't extend to any colony we build.

>>5902508
But the look on his face when we go "Heyo Elon, we've been waiting for you."

>>5902504
>>5902507
Decent plans, personally I was thinking somewhere in the outer solar system just to reduce the likelihood of us getting unexpectedly noticed (and also because Mars is mid aesthetically compared to being on a moon around Jupiter or Neptune). Antarctica is a good one though, I'd probably say the Sahara would be a good place for us too.

>>5901514

At your request, Kyla heads back inside and quickly grabs the helmet to your MK2 armor.

Sam seems surprised by it's weight, because the design to her makes it seem like a children's toy.
She places it over her head, and while the helmet obviously can't make use of it's primary seal as she's not wearing the whole suit, it's secondary neck ring is still able to inflate.

That thing would normally go off in the case that the primary seal is damaged, probably due to a suit puncture. But it also allows the helmet to be used standalone.

"It's really uncomfortable..." Sam grumbles. "It feels like somebody's strangling me. And... uhg, is it wet? Why is it wet?!"

"Calm down, Sam. It's a lubricant used to ensure a good gas seal. It wipes off with no residue, so don't worry about it."

"So fucking gross." She complains.

"It's meant for combat, so..."

"I was talking about you, perv."

Yeah, she's still salty.

"Anyways, as long as the HUD says the seals are good, we can head inside." You tell her.

"It's throwing up a bunch of warnings i can't read."

"You can ignore those, they're for the suit sensors and nerve interface suit. Look for a little flashing green indicator that looks like an airlock."

"...What does an airlock look like?"

You gesture towards the ship's airlock.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, it's green."

"Good. Now, SHODAN?" You ask into your holowatch.

["Gas filter has been configured, Captain."] SHODAN replies.

"Alright, you can come in." You assure her.

"Is this really safe? What happens if the helmet breaks or something?"

"Hon, that helmet's made out of carbor and titanium. If it broke you'd have much bigger problems." Kyla laughs.

"Man, that's even weirder with the helmet on. Her lips don't match what she's saying." Sam grumbles.

"SHODAN's on-the-fly translations are pretty good, huh? Don't worry, you'll get used to the lip thing. ...Eventually."

You guide your sister up the ramp and into the airlock, where you stand together with her and Kyla.
Since the pressure is already equalized, it's just a matter of waiting for the doors to open and close.

The other side of that airlock really does feel like an alien world now that you've been back on earth for a bit. All metal and covered in access panels or piping... though some of that stuff is new.
You really added a whole lot of unintended systems and shit to this ship. It's all packed in there pretty tight at this point, and for you it's like living in a tuna can.

If the hallways hadn't been so wide to accommodate large animals, you'd never have been able to fit everything. They aren't so wide or tall anymore, though.

"First impressions...?" You ask.

"It looks like the tunnel leading to a boiler room." She points out.

Yeah, if you didn't know better you'd say this was a hallway in the basement of a large building somewhere.

>>5902914

>Do you want to go see Princess and the Dodos?
>Do you want to go meet the rest of the crew first?
>Wanna see the nanofab? It can print just about anything in a few minutes.
>Alright, let's just show you those wraith hides you're so interested in.
>Write-In?

>>5902918
>Alright, let's just show you those wraith hides you're so interested in.
Flash her with horror to shook those hissy fits away then we introduce her to our cool ayylmaos

>>5902918
>Alright, let's just show you those wraith hides you're so interested in.

>>5902918
>Do you want to go see Princess and the Dodos?

>>5902918
>Do you want to go meet the rest of the crew first?

>>5902498

If we are going to build anything earth side we need a shell company so we can operate in plain sight. The problem is we need someone we trust to run the company even while we’re back in space, ideally a lawyer/ accountant type that keeps the governments off our ass. Once that’s set up we could buy a failing manufacturing company or start a new one and hire some engineers. Then drip feed those engineers the technologies we want to introduce to earth, the manufacturing side can build what we “invent” and the company should be pretty self-sufficient.

>>5902918
>Do you want to go meet the rest of the crew first?
Introductions!
Do you think Sanig would be into death-world but unfortunately post-wall muscle ladies?

>>5902918
>Alright, let's just show you those wraith hides you're so interested in.

>>5902918
>>Alright, let's just show you those wraith hides you're so interested in.
Horrorshow a go!

>>5902918
>>>WRAITH AND PSYKERS

>>5902918
>Do you want to go meet the rest of the crew first?

>>5902918
>>Do you want to go meet the rest of the crew first?

>>5902918

"Alright." You sigh. "Let's go look through those wraith hides you're so interested in."

"Fine. Your ship, you lead the way."

You begin leading Sam to the cargo hold, but she almost immediately trips and falls after exiting the airlock. Fortunately, she catches herself.

"Woah, what the heck is this?" She asks, waving her arms around before slowly standing up and performing a few hops.

"Oh, right. The gravity. I used to have it at one gee, but the doc said it was doing bad stuff to the crew, so as of late it's just my bedroom cranked that high."

"Seriously, you can change the gravity?! That's awesome! This is like the moon or something, though! Why's it so low?"

"This is pretty normal, actually." Kyla explains. "Your planet is the one that's super heavy."

"Yeaaah... turns out Earth is kind of... completely inhospitable by galactic standards." You add.

"I always knew this place was a shithole. Fucking tornadoes." Sam grumbles momentarily before skipping and bounding down the hall and back.

"You coming?' You ask, stepping over to the cargo bay door, which opens automatically.

"Coming!" She replies, happily bounding over.

Her first view of the cargo hold is of Gildur cleaning up a big pile of dodo shit inside one of the cages.
This stops her pretty much right in her tracks, as Gildur is the first one she's actually gotten a good look at who isn't human.

"...Is it okay to have a dog in there with the birds?" She asks quietly.

"He's not a dog, Sam. That's Gildur, our ship's janitor."

"Uh... Hello." Gildur waves. His voice is translated a moment later by SHODAN, and played over the speakers in her helmet.

A huge smile spreads over Sam's face as her eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh... oh my god. He can talk? Can i... can you ask if i can pet him?'

"Uhhhh."

["Mister Gildur, the Captain's sister would like to ask you for permission to pat your head."] SHODAN announces over the speakers.

"P-Pat my head? Why? I don't-"

"She thinks you look cute, man. Like a pet animal or something." You explain.

"O-Oh... okay then... i guess."

"He says it's fine, Sam."

Sam squeals with glee as Gildur carefully ducks down, exiting the dodo cage and closing the door behind him.
She runs over and cautiously reaches out to pat his head. Your sister is taller than him, so he doesn't even need to bend down.

....Now you're wondering whether some people might actually keep aliens as pets. There's already a slave mentality amongst a lot of them, so it's not out of the question.

What's worse is, you think he actually likes it. He seems to be enjoying the attention, which he doesn't normally get a lot of.
After a few minutes of this though, you clear your throat to move on.

"Ahem... i thought we were going to look at the big, spooky wraiths?' You ask.

"Oh, right!" She exclaims, having completely forgotten about it.

"They're in this crate over here." You explain, pointing out a crate with a dark coat of paint, different from the rest.

>>5903589
>after a few minutes
I was expecting thirty seconds or smt man
also is Sam a white girl?

>>5903604
>also is Sam a white girl?
Don't.

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4.97 MB GIF

>>5903604

File: 339892.png (63 KB, 900x676)

63 KB PNG

>>5903604
M8, if Cylia had puppy dog ears and went arf and gnawed on bones the audience would still be trying to fuck her. David's got a cat girl, a goblin, and an android. If Sam wants to pet/fuck the dog man we really can't throw stones, and neither could she.
Besides, even the geriatric dickless midget gets more ass than our boy Gildur. Man needs a W somewhere

>>5903625
Man has a point. And unlike his women, David's sister is unlikely to peg him, or rape him violently for that matter.

>>5903625
I... am driven to tears

>>5903605
It's a catchy song tho

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>>5903589

To you it's obvious, from the color alone. It'd been coated in paint mixed with wraith blood.
Something that you've determined is a semi-effective barrier against wraiths themselves, as they can't simply phase through it.

But even for a person who knows nothing of wraiths, the crate is still somewhat foreboding.

It's covered in all sorts of warnings, up to an including a Psychohazard label, which you feel is probably pretty uncommon.
There's a heavy-looking mechanical combination lock on the outside, keeping the lid firmly shut. You set it to the correct number, and it pops open.

"666? Really?" Sam scoffs, rolling her eyes.

"You have no sense of humor at all, huh sis?"

Not that it's all that funny to you. You know too much to just laugh at these things anymore.
Although, as soon as that lid opens, Sam's demeanor changes, too.

She looks unsettled all of a sudden as you pull most of an undamaged wraith hide out of the box.
It looks an awful lot like a big section of human skin, if it were grey and rubbery.

"Hey kid, wanna see a dead body?!"

You flop it out onto the floor in front of her, causing her to jump back with a yelp.
While she's freaking out over that, you dig down underneath the pile of skins and pull out a wraith-blade.

You stab it into the metal floor tiles next to the hide without issue. Those things are razor sharp, and pretty tough at that.

"So, that's what cut my face open and nearly spilled my guts out." You explain.

"W-What is this?!" Sam asks, sounding genuinely upset.

"That's a wraith's hide, after it's been chemically treated and rehydrated a bit. And that sickle-looking blade there is what a lot of them have in place of fingers, for some reason."

Reaching back down into the box, you push aside some skins to find what you're looking for. That blood-red gemstone you found inside that big demon. The one you killed with a grenade launcher.

"This is one of their cores. Not from a wraith, but something way bigger. I'll tell you about that some other time... but these cores right here, are usually what you need to destroy to kill them.
That's easier said than done, though. For one, they're intangible. Or more specifically, they can shift between dimensions, or so we suspect. There are ways to hit them, though."

Sam stares into the fat, blood-colored stone in your hand with a growing fear in her eyes.

"David, what the fuck..." She utters, sounding like she's about to throw up.

You can see her visibly shaking.

Yeah, you remember that feeling. The indescribable fear that cuts right through you whenever a wraith is around.
Something that gets to you, no matter how mentally tough or prepared you are. Something you suspect is actually a mental attack of sorts, thus the Psychohazard warning.

You aren't sure exactly when, but at some point it stopped working on you, which suits you just fine.

However, this is your sister's first time seeing this kind of stuff, and you know how much it sucks.

>>5904350
It does exude fear. It does seem to have psionic or soul associated abilities. Also high end grey AIs appear to be souls in boxes. That's a bit of an issue too. Probably why we're more okay with AI girlfriend than we'd otherwise be.

>>5904350
>"Don't worry sis, demons might be real but they aren't inmune to getting shot at"

>>5904350
"Calm down. Believe me, these fuckers can be killed just like everything else. They're just a little...spooky."

>>5904350
"They can be put down, and need to be. Please believe me when I say I really am making the galaxy a safer place."

>>5904350
They can phase through regular material so you gotta make barriers incorporating their blood and they are most killed by exotic matter weapons. Giant pain in the rear.

Oh, and killing them gives you telepathy.

>>5903039
That sounds like a good plan hopefully nothing goes wrong.

>>5904677
I mean they are though.
they need shooting by the metal forged from dark matter though.

Also can be manhandled by the power of soul

>>5904350

"You shittin' yourself over there?" You ask.

Sam looks up to you, but can't bring herself to speak.

"Yeah, it's a lot worse when they're alive. Cyl had nightmares for months after her first encounter with one."

"Wh-Why? What is this?!" Sam manages to force out.

"Fear. Instinctual, maybe. Possibly some kind of psychic attack, who knows. Most of the research we've done on them involved poking at them with sharp instruments, not so much a psych eval."

You carefully place your spoils back inside the crate, then drape them over with the wraith hide before closing the lid and locking it back up.
Even then, Sam is still just staring intently at the crate and breathing heavily. She refuses to blink, like something's going to jump out of it and attack her.

"Got a live one in a jar in the medical bay. Little squid-like fucker. Wanna see?"

"NO!" Sam screams. "No fucking way!"

"Yeah, figured."

"David, what are those things?!"

"I told you, they're-"

"No, what the fuck are they?!"

Okay, she seems a little bit hysterical.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm, just stay calm, alright. Why don't we go to the kitchen and get a glass of water or something, alright?"

It takes a little bit of effort to break her away from the box, but you get her turned around and slowly manage to walk her over to the kitchen, where you find Cylia cooking dinner for the crew.
Sam sees her and shakes her head, but otherwise doesn't acknowledge her as she sits down at the table. She immediately covers her face, trying to hide the fact that she's started crying.

"Hey, Cyl. I'm back for the moment." You announce.

Cylia turns around and sees you gently helping Sam sit down.

"Oh, good! I was just making... oh. Who's this?" Cylia asks.

"My sister. I was just... showing her some things."

You swear Cylia gives a sigh of relief before noticing the state Sam is in.

"What's the matter? What happened?" She asks, turning the stove off and putting her utensils away.

"Well... everything i told her was just a bit too ridiculous, i guess. She wanted to see some proof, so..."

"...What? What proof?"

"Besides the ship? She wanted to see the wraiths we'd killed."

"Oh, sweetie..." Cylia coos, shoving you out of the way and scooching in next to your sister on the bench seat. "I'm so sorry, but your brother's an idiot."

"Y-Yeah, i know..." Sam sniffles.

"We... we try not to think about those things most of the time. Kyla and i don't really like having them on the ship at all, but David and Sanig insist we need them for research, so..."

"Which we do, by the way." You insist.

Cylia glares at you in annoyance. You shut your mouth and put your hands up.

"It felt so wrong... I'unno how to explain it..." Sam groans, laying her head down on the table while Cylia rubs her back.

"Yeah... try not to think about it. You'll just feel sick if you do."

...Man, is it really that bad? I mean, you know what they're talking about, you experienced it too. But it was never quite to that level.

>>5905252
>...Man, is it really that bad?

>meanwhile, david at the slightest provocation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kmFQmzBwtU

>>5905252
lmao we are autistic.

>>5905252
Maybe David doesn't fear the wraiths because he has been really close to dying so many times before that he isn't bothered about it and besides I imagine that the brain damage that he has is probably adding up on the resistance against the fear produced by them.

>>5905892
>>5906106
Local Man Too Autistic To Be Afraid

>>5905252
Hey Cochrane, Sam's still wearing the helmet

We should totally make a cape out of those things, and maybe have the skull of an especially impressive one as a pauldron.
Well... Maybe if we somehow ended up alone, I guess.

>>5906169

You can see her face clearly, the visor isn't gold coated or anything.

>>5905252

It takes a little while for Sam to get over that nasty feeling the wraiths tend to give you, and during that time Cylia explains a bit more about them.
Not so much about how they work or how to kill one, which is what you wanted to focus on, but rather about her and the crew's experiences with them.

Kyla also joins in, telling her about how she was attacked before David met her.
This is a story she's told you once or twice while laying around in bed, but she doesn't talk about it much. You don't think Cylia's heard it, either.

She was traveling from station to station on a merchant vessel some twenty years ago, but they ended up taking a detour due to frequent pirate attacks along the usual route.

In doing so, they passed through an area that wasn't regularly used anymore. Turns out there was a reason for that.
Half the people on that merchant vessel died, and the other half were left in a coma for weeks.

The only reason they survived was someone setting the ship's autopilot to make their final jump to a nearby station, where they drifted around until someone went to investigate.

According to Kyla, she didn't feel all that different after waking up, and barely remembered any of the chaos that had ensued.
But her personality changed. As for how, well, she left that part out for the girls, but you already know.

She became promiscuous, to say the least.

It's just hearsay, but supposedly similar things happened to the other survivors.
Many of them became addicted to drugs, gambling, or other illicit activities. Some became prone to outbursts of rage, sadness or other emotion.

Others simply became numb, speaking and acting very little on their own. They became extremely open to suggestion, and any who had a fortune to steal, quickly lost it.
They were promptly sold as slaves, with no resistance on their part.

You yourself have heard ghost stories from people in the slums of Thekia, about wraiths sucking out people's souls and turning them into hollow shells.
Makes you wonder if that's what those husks really are. What's left over after a wraith has had it's meal, and the body eventually starves to death.

With little to no bacteria out in space, the bodies wouldn't decompose much. They'd just dry up, and... yeah, the inside of that ship was pretty rusty back then, wasn't it?
Water condensing on the walls, maybe.

You've heard everything the girls are telling Sam before, so you excuse yourself to go check on something.
It's been a while since you last looked in on that little squid wraith you've got locked in a jar.

It's still right where it belongs, velcro'd to a shelf in the medbay so it doesn't go flying anywhere when the gravity turns off or you get into a dogfight.
Last thing you need is a soul-sucker on the loose in the middle of some bullshit happening.

The lid is still tied down with wire, which you twist loose while keeping a firm hold on the lid.
...Normally this thing jumps at the chance to escape, that's weird.

>>5906284
He's dead Jim

Ah, so now we have an idea why they were interested in Lumi and her AI box...

>>5906288
How fucked up would it be if Wraiths were not just "souls gone bad" like the conventional theory so far has been, but actually the result of things including but not limited to souls in the warp being infested with extra-dimensional parasites that twist said things into forms better fitting the parasites so they can go on to infect further hosts?
Wouldn't it be fucked up if those cores weren't just the container for the wraith's consciousness, but also eggs that are gestating and waiting to either undergo metamorphosis or hatch depending on the environmental stressors present?

Anyways that's my autistic theory of the night.

>>5906293
Worse would be if they were just "dead" AIs, as in AIs for which their boxes were either destroyed somehow or repurposed because the AI they originally contained was no longer worth the warp metal containers to hold them.

>>5906299
How fuckin many would they be churning through to make the wraith planet happen? Jesus man.

>>5906301
I dunno. How many PCs/laptops/smartphones do we go through every year? World's a big place, shit adds up, man.

>>5906284
>that's weird.
Its either afraid, gotten out already, or is lulling us into a false sense of security.

Whether it starved to death or just went dormant, this is a good research opportunity.

>>5906284
Maybe the wraith has realised it's now on a planet full of Davids and their psychic gestalt consciousness.
And it is afraid.

>>5907031
Fair enough then. Wait, does gravity affect it? Like, natural gravity?

>>5907040
I think so?

>>5907040
They've remained bound to the stranded space ships and planets where we encountered them, though I forgot if we were also escaping flying wraiths as we escaped their planet in the middle of the geostorm shitshow. That they're affected by gravity to some extent seems apparent.

We also got the coordinates to the dodo planet from the old-man ghost's store on a station, which has its own gravity.

>>5906284
Now let's ask the real questions here: what would wraith meat taste like?

>>5907792
Acetone.

>>5907792
Astringent with strong metallic flavor. Taste can be improved via soaking in alcohol and then fatty fluid (like while milk). Grants bonus to intimidate and incorporeal shits (great for pranks!). Long-term impact on health and psyche unknown.

>>5906284

Cautiously, you open up the lid and find the wraith inside totally unresponsive.
You pull it out by one of it's tentacles, and unable to properly sense it's presence, confirm that it's dead.

"The fuck?' You cuss.

Why is it dead? Of course, you never fed the damned thing in any sense of the word, but it never seemed to matter before.
No matter how long it spent locked up in that jar, it never seemed any less lively from one day to the next, even if Sanig spent all day cutting and poking at it.

It was the same with other wraiths. You're certain the ones on the derelict ship weren't there for just a year or two, they must have been alone there for a hundred or more.

There are no visible wounds on it's disgusting little body. Not a single drop of black, inky blood to be found.
Not even a sign of struggle, it's like it just suffocated or something.

But these things don't even have lungs to begin with.

Was it the space squid? That thing can warp, which means it must be able to pass through higher dimensions just like these wraiths.
Maybe it did something, then? Attacked it on the other side, somehow?

Maybe, but you don't think so. The squid only swallowed your ship after pulling you out of warp. It even said itself that it was too exhausted to actually go to warp on it's own, didn't it?
Again, maybe. You don't know a whole lot about wraiths, and even less about space squids. Maybe it doesn't need to be in warp to eat a wraith... assuming they're even on the menu.

From what you've seen, it seems more fond of electricity than anything.

"Whatever." You sigh, stuffing the dead wraith into a plastic bag.

You consider shoving it into the kitchen freezer, but... the girls would probably get pissed if they opened it up and it gave them a jump.
They don't really decay much anyways, so you end up just placing it back inside the jar and setting it back onto it's shelf.

...You know, you've been meaning to do something with all those hides, bones and claws in storage for a while now.
Now that you're back on earth, it may be possible to find a leatherworker willing to help you with that.

You tried putting the stuff into a fab once, but it just spazzed out and spat out an error. Probably thinks it's just dark matter... which you guess it is, at least partly.

Only problem is, all those remains clearly still give off a really nasty vibe that you just can't shake.
If everyone reacts the same way Sam did, it might be a wasted effort even looking.

On the other hand though, you could potentially get some warp-metal forging done, if you can find a decent blacksmith.
It might take some explaining, since you'd have to do it outside and away from their shop to avoid EMP damage, but it's much more doable.

>>5908037

Only question is, what do you really want to get made?
You and the crew already have warp-infused weapons, and wraith blood is suitable for your armor.

Besides that... hell, maybe a warp core or gravity generator?
A warp core would be more complicated, but you reckon it's still all analog. Some very specific geometry that reacts a certain way when a current is applied to it.

Passing dark matter and energy through the core is the basis of ship-scale shield technology, and warp travel itself.
The gravity generator is similar, albeit smaller, but the geometry is very different and it only requires electricity to function.

Currently, your carrier is being built using several smaller warp cores taken from junked ships. It's far from ideal, resulting in weak spots in the shield and an unstable warp bubble.
SHODAN says it'll work, but even ignoring all the other issues, the fuel efficiency will still be shit.

On the other hand, if you could get a skilled artisan to copy the geometry of the Metal Gear's core....
Well, you don't know how it works, but you don't really need to, either.

The Metal Gear's drive is extremely fuel efficient, and capable of quite high speeds. A bigger version of that could be a great upgrade for the carrier. and then you could repurpose those shitty drives, too.
Assuming just scaling it up would work, anyways.

>Actually, you did have this idea for a somewhat impractical weapon. A handheld gravity generator, one that could pick things up and launch them...
>Maybe try looking for a leatherworker who's willing to work on something that makes you feel like you're about to get eaten by a skinwalker.
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.
>Write-In?

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

I'd prefer also a deflector shield by warping something in front of us to shunt things around us.

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.
So we need an engineer, a smith, and a physicist...I'm sure we can find all those here.

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908042
>>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.
Bigger better

Plus this unlocks a new companion :)

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908055
So an engineer, a smith, and a physicist all walk into the Metal Gear. They see wraiths and NOPE the fuck out. I like where we are going with this one.

>>5908042
Our handheld weapons are fine but our shipboard weapon options are relatively lacklustre against what we expect the Federation ships to field.
So if we can make a ship-scale gravity gun, sweet, or prototype the handheld and then scale it up..

>Actually, you did have this idea for a somewhat impractical weapon. A handheld gravity generator, one that could pick things up and launch them...

Or this if ship-scale is unavailable:
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908042
>>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.


Also, the only thing that changed between the wraith being alive and space and being dead on Earth is... being on Earth.

Earth is clearly a death world in more ways than one.

>>5908302
The WAAAAGGGHH energy is just too strong for them.

>>5908042
>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.
Assuming David doesn't happen to know a leather worker crazy enough to make a wallet or whatever out of a space demon's hide, we can just skim some tutorials online and do it ourselves. Getting a purpose built, full sized warp drive for the carrier is too much of an advantage to pass up.

>>5908042
>>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908586
Just staple them together into a ragged cape, holes and all; maximum don't-give-a-fuck-nightmare-creature vibe.

Or, we could make a warp-metal railgun. Fires super-heated warp metal slugs that are essentially unstoppable and fries all electronics in the area when it hits.

>If you could get someone to make a decent copy of the Metal Gear's warp core, it would be a big upgrade for the carrier.

>>5908042

You quickly decide that the best use of your warp metal would be in the creation of a better drive for the carrier.
Resource management is no joke on a ship that big, and getting more dark matter and energy may end up being a problem if you can't dock at normal stations.

With that in mind, fuel efficiency is the major factor in how far you can go. The added speed is just a bonus.

Only problem is, Kyla will have to remove the warp core from the Metal Gear in order to get a 3D scan, which can be used to print a copy out of nickel or iron... you think.
Warp cores are definitely the sort of thing that have "copyright protected" written all over them, but at the same time, nanofabs can't handle warp metal, so maybe not.

You'll make a copy out of nylon on a literal 3D printer if you have to, so whatever.

Your crew can worry about all that while you're out and about, though.
Right now, your sister is... bonding, you guess, with Kyla and Cylia, and she seems to like Gildur a lot already, so that's good.

You were slightly worried she'd be freaked out by aliens, especially considering she doesn't have a translator chip to help things along, but SHODAN is filling that gap for you.

Since that's all going well, it won't be impossible to move your mother and sister, or leave the planet entirely if it comes to that.
Once that crypo comes through, hell, you could buy an island and build a mansion on it if you wanted. Still, nowhere on earth really feels safe if the feds are after you.

The earth feds, not the federation.
...Shit, they're both kind of after you, huh?

Just, you aren't sure why exactly when it comes to the alphabet boys. Too many possible reasons to even wonder.

It doesn't matter too much, you guess. You're sure SHODAN is on watch, so even if they point a satellite at you, she could point it right back at them.
Alter the camera feed, whatever she needed to do, really. They shouldn't be able to just track you down willy nilly, not if you keep moving around.

You've already skipped town, which might be enough to throw them off for a day or two.
Now you're just waiting on your dumbass friend to check his fucking voice messages, which you assume he hasn't done since he hasn't called you yet.

That or he's ignoring you, in which case you're gonna beat his ass next time you see him.

"...Hey, SHODAN? You busy?" You ask.

["Only slightly, Captain. I am drawing your mother a bath, monitoring data transmissions and translating a conversation between three people."]

"Bad time?"

["Of course not, Captain."]

"Is that sarcasm?"

["Of course not, Captain."]

"...Alright, whatever. So, i was thinking about what to do with all this warp metal we got..."

A short while later, you have SHODAN set to search for a skilled blacksmith who may be willing to work on such a weird project.
That may involve making tools that can handle working warp metal. May need duranium for that, we'll see.

It feels like there's a lot to do.

>>5909287
>and she seems to like Gildur a lot already, so that's good.
So....how long was she planning to buy a dog?

didn't shodan wanted to talk to us about something important after she investigated the feds?

>>5909424
That's probably what it is

>>5909287
I think we need to show SHODAN some appreciation for how much of a tireless force multiplier she is. Buy her some flowers or whatever, I don't know, if I understood women I wouldn't be on 4chan.

>>5910305
Get her a tamagotchi pet.

>>5910314
We are her Tamagotchi pets.

>>5910305
>>5910314
Get her some RAM, robo-bitches love RAM.

>>5910305
Devote some resources to solving the latency and "out of body experience" that she's been having from the very start. It's a big project, sure, but otherwise all we can offer her is a vacation (somewhere she would like to go?) or more memory crystals.
Perhaps she would like physical access to that internet hub in central Europe?

>>5909287

It's taking Sam a lot longer to calm down that you expected, honestly. You do check in with her on occasion, but for the most part you spend the next few hours workshopping with SHODAN and Sanig.

At some point, you also manage to pull Kyla away from Sam and Cylia long enough to talk about removing the core.
Apparently it's not actually that hard, as the core is essentially just a cylindrical block of metal with some funny holes in it.

Kyla will get the 3D scan done at some point, and SHODAN claims that the new drive, once scaled appropriately, should fit somewhere on the upper deck, inside the armored mound serving as a conning tower.
It'll sit directly above the nuclear reactor, which is kind of necessary since, besides the railgun and the engines themselves, it'll be what's drawing the most power at any point during warp.

Because it's also used to generate the shield bubble, it'll also be drawing lots of power any time that's active. The upper deck may not be the absolute safest place for it, but it's unavoidable.
That area of the lower deck is already being used for life support and fuel storage, which is arguably more critical to armor.

You say "arguably" because being stranded in deep space with no hope of rescue is about as deadly as not having heat or oxygen.
Actually, it's pretty much equivalent.

You just have to make sure that doesn't happen, then.

"So, the hardlight generator is still going on the other side of the tower, right?" You ask.

["Ideally it would be combined into a single unit, but considerations must be mad for both heat and utility space."]

"Alright. But you know we're not gonna be using that tower like, 99% of the time, right?"

["There will likely be crew stationed there regardless."]

"Is that why there's a bathroom...?"

The door to the workshop slides open unexpectedly, and Sam walks in with Cylia behind her.

"David." She announces, arms crossed.

She's clearly trying to be seriously, but she looks fuckin' goofy with that helmet on.

"Yes, Sam?"

"First off, fuck you. You're an asshole."

"I am aware."

"Second... i'm sorry for what i said earlier. I mean... i still think it's kind of gross, but whatever. If you want a harem of space... ladies... then yes, that's none of my business.
But i'm sorry for implying that you were dicking around without really trying to find a way home. Cylia told me about how homesick you were, and how dangerous it was to come back here."

"Thanks, i guess?"

You honestly don't care that much what she thinks regarding you and the girls. It wouldn't have changed anything no matter how pissed she got anyways.
But you do feel a little guilty, because you absolutely could have tried finding your way home sooner. Nothing was actually stopping you.

"And uh... i'm not really sure what to say besides that. Still kind of trying to wrap my head around what i was feeling back there."

"Space demon juju." You tell her.

>>5910909
I guess my question with Sam now is after she finishes not thinking about the space demon, how deep down the rabbit hole does she want to go? Should probably ask her if she wants to get translator chipped but I'm fuckin wigged out about those because of the direct brain interface they provide.

>>5910909
"You can go back to patting Gildur or Cylia if that puts you at ease Sam. Or I can show you more about what I have done - like flying a ship in the cockpit while exposed to hard vaccuum. Federation sleeper-drone ships were a bitch. Now they're SHODAN's bitch and we used them to turn back the station invasion. You wanna see my power armour?"

>>5910909

"Yeah... Cylia showed me some security camera footage of you fighting one of those things. It was really scary seeing that. Doesn't even feel real.?"

"Did you see the patch in the wall where i threw that bottlecap at it?" You ask.

"Yes, David..." She sighs. "Cylia said you were very proud of your throw."

"Blew that motherfucker's head off, sis. That's goddamned impressive, aught to put a plaque up to commemorate it."

"Anyways... i guess i can't blow all this off as some kind of fever dream. So what now?"

"That depends." You tell her, leaning back in your chair. "To be honest, i think the government is on my ass. No idea what their issue is exactly, but..."

"Really?" Sam asks, waving her arms around at the spaceship you're currently all sitting in. "Do you not know?"

"Yeah, that's the obvious one. But there's plenty of other things it could be. I did a lot of dirty work in the military, and from the outside it probably looks like i faked my death.
Then there's all the bullshit SHODAN's been up to, redirecting satellites and infecting apparently BILLIONS OF COMPUTERS." You explain, raising your voice for that last part.

["We both knew it would come to this, Captain."] SHODAN replies, intentionally changing her tone to sound a bit more like the HAL 9000.

"Point is, there's no guarantee you and mom are safe where you are. It'll be a while before all that crypto becomes usable, but after that you'll never have to work a day in your life."

"...I want to work, though." Sam whines.

"Well, there's a few options, then." You sigh, crossing your arms. "Either stay here and possibly get abducted, tortured, interrogated and never see the light of day again..."

Sam gulps.

"Or we can skip town, set you up in some shithole country like china where you can't breathe the air, drink the water or eat the food without getting cancer..."

She shakes her head.

"Or... and this is almost as bad, but... you could come back with us and help with the station, or we'll find something for you to do on my carrier."

"Which station? What carrier?" She asks, seeming nervous once again.

"Well, there's two stations i'm familiar with at the moment. Thekia, which is a shithole, but it's a shithole whose underground scene is run by one of my crewmembers, Clank.
Then there's Xebric, which is basically in ruins after an attempted genocide. Technically i'm part owner of that one, but only because i stole it from space NATO and now they're probably pissed."

"If you're trying to convince me that space is a good option, it's not working. None of this sounds very nice."

"I told you it wouldn't be. But anyways, third option is the carrier... which is currently under construction. In theory it should have progressed pretty well in the time we've been gone, but... who knows."

"Okay, but why do you have a carrier? What's it for?"

>>5911706
For blowing up space NATO

>>5911706
For declaring war on space nato....duh. Its like she doesn't even know us.

>>5911706
Most the benefits of a station but we can move it around if things get dicey.

>>5911706
Why does the US have carriers? Force projection. This one just happens to also be able to do nanoforge construction as well.

>>5911706
>"Okay, but why do you have a carrier? What's it for?"
Carrying things. Duh.

>>5911941
Carrier? I hardly know 'er!

>>5912070
Boooooooo

>>5911706
Carriers carry peace by enforcing maritime power. Every God-fearing American should understand these ships are why Republic of China (Taiwan) is still a republic. C'mon Sis.

But how good is she with a flamethrower, because Xebric needs that in that section of the station that we hotwired the truck from.

>Based SHODAN

I think we doomed our system and mother... now she is FORCED to fucking...

LEAVE THE EARTH??????

Just set her up under a false name in Singapore after some future-tech plastic surgery or something. There are plenty of places that the glowies aren't going to go searching because they sure as shit aren't expecting us to be able to:

1) Fly anywhere, anytime, without being detected.
2) Be able to fabricate perfect copies of passports and identities (including the digital papertrail to back them up).
3) Do either of the above without contacting ANYONE on earth who might tip them off or already be being watched.

>>5912206
Unless the glowies are... well I'll keep that theory to myself.

File: Carrier.png (601 KB, 773x954)

601 KB PNG

>>5911706
>"Okay, but why do you have a carrier? What's it for?"

>>5911706

"Uh... well, it's a mobile base of operations, essentially. It can carry ships, cargo, people... and it would be really, really useful if say, i wanted to build a station near earth."

"David, i know that look. What aren't you telling me?"

"Well, i mean... it's not JUST for carrying people and supplies, i guess."

"What do you mean?" She asks, accusingly.

"It's uh... it's also kind of strapped to the gills with point defense lasers, minigun turrets and missile launchers."

["And a railgun with enough kinetic force to rival a small nuclear weapon."] SHODAN adds.

"Hey, that's a last ditch thing! Probably! Or an opener, i don't fucking know. It depends on the situation, alright? We have some 16 inch guns for anything smaller than we are, too."

"So it's a combat ship." Sam surmises.

"It's an everything ship. I don't have the resources to build a whole fleet, alright? I'm already utilizing a bunch of refugees for labor and paying them in food and shelter."

"But if i go there, it means i'm gonna get shot at."

"No! I mean, probably not... most likely. But even if it does happen, we can probably shit all over whatever comes our way. Our shields are gonna be crazy, i promise. We developed this hardlight tech that-"

"David! Listen, i'm hearing a whole like of 'probably' and 'maybe' and 'most likely' but nothing concrete. And everything else you've told me sounds horrible, too. I don't like any of this, alright. I don't..."

Sam struggles to find the words she's looking for and sighs deeply in frustration.

"God, why are you like this? Why can't you just be normal?" She questions, shaking her hands at you.

"I just wanted to do my job and take care of mom, and you drop all this shit on me out of nowhere! Oh by the way sis i'm alive and we're billionaires and ghosts are real and i've been living with aliens and... and..."

>>5913169

You quickly stand up and pull Sam in for a hug, but she keeps going on.

"And the government is after me and i stole a space station so the alien government is mad at me too and-!"

You give Sam's visor a nice hard flick to grab her attention and pull her out of that little spiral.
She just stares up at you and shakes her head. She's breathing heavily. Panic attack, seems like.

"Look, Sam. I know you're freaking out right now, but you gotta believe me. Everything's gonna be fine, okay?"

You pat both of her shoulders and look her straight in the eye as you say it again. "Everything's gonna be fine. I promise."

"You don't know that. You don't even know what you're gonna eat for breakfast tomorrow, so how the hell do you know that?!" She cries.

"You're right, i don't know. I can't see the future or nothing, but i still believe it. Cause whatever happens, i'll make it alright. Whatever it takes, i'll get it done... so believe in me, alright?"

Sam stares at you, her face scrunched up with a mix of emotion. She doesn't know what to say.
So she just throws her head back and closes her eyes. You can hear her trying to get her breathing back under control.

"Six years of college for this bullshit..." She whispers.

"Like i said, i can't see the future... not yet, anyways. Nothing's off the table... did i mention i have psychic po-"

Sam immediately clasps her hand over your mouth and wags her finger at you.

"Shhhhhhshshshshutthefuckup. No, no more. I don't care what you're doing, i don't want to know. Just... tell me what i'm supposed to do with all this. Am i staying in Columbus? Am i going with you, or what?"

>The feds probably won't fuck with you at home... but i'd feel safer if we had some security on-site. Maybe we can make SHODAN a spare body.
>There's only one way to ensure you stay safe, 100%. Let's move you and mom onto the ship for now. We can clear some space in the cargo bay.
>How do you feel about a trip to New Zealand?
>Write-In?

>>5913172
>How do you feel about a trip to New Zealand?

>>5913172
>How do you feel about a trip to New Zealand?
>The feds probably won't fuck with you at home... but i'd feel safer if we had some security on-site. Maybe we can Kyla can make her a robot guard.
>Leave her with some serious firepower and armor in case that she ever needs it

>Let Sam choose

We came back to take care of her and make sure she's safe but we also dropped a lot of shit on her. It seems unfair to force her to pick up her life unless she wants to. Whatever she chooses we can take precautions to keep her safe.

>>5913172
>>Write-In?
>>What if we take over the world real quick?

>>5913172
>The feds probably won't fuck with you at home... but i'd feel safer if we had some security on-site. Maybe we can make SHODAN a spare body.

>>5913169
>I just wanna put you two in as least danger as possible. For the time being, I think that means having you live on the ship for a bit, until we gather more information and find you a better place.
>As for the long term... much as I'd like you take you along it's probably safer if we find you a nice quiet place in, I dunno, New Fucking Zealand or something. Hell, moving over a state or two can probably work, with a new identity. I'm sure we can forge new papers for you in a couple minutes.
>I still don't really know how the feds got onto me so quickly. If I'd realized the possibility I wouldn't have contacted you so directly... sorry.

>>5913278
>Let Sam choose
+1

>>5913172
>>5913232
>supporting

>>5913172
Switching>>5913201
to both of these>>5913319
>>5913342

>>5913172
>>How do you feel about a trip to New Zealand?

>>5913278
Backing this one, let her choose what she thinks is best.

>>5913172
Fleeing to New Zealand didn't stop people chasing Megaupload's Kim.com.

>There's only one way to ensure you stay safe, 100%. Let's move you and mom onto the ship for now. We can clear some space in the cargo bay.
Cargo bay is only, only, only a stop-gap measure. We will find a better alternative as we also need to house the crew we're finding.
>Also I have a serum that will let you on the ship without the helmet. It's good stuff and improves your cardiovascular/respiratory function.

>>5913532
If SHTF happened and I had access to nukes, I'd personally carpet-nuke New Zealand as it is chock full of bunkers built and owned by the world's "best & brightest" who certainly had a hand in SHTF happening.
Beside, NZ is a 5-eyes country, where agents of the chosen nation are known to run roughshod in. It's not going to be any safer than the US, especially when the locals don't know and likely won't cover for you.

>>5913278
Backed. Regardless of whatever else there's trouble coming our way. She's an adult, she needs to decide for herself.

>>5913172
>>There's only one way to ensure you stay safe, 100%. Let's move you and mom onto the ship for now. We can clear some space in the cargo bay.

>>5913172

"...It's your life, Sam. I think it's best if you decide."

"Oh, my god. You fuckin' dork, i JUST told you i don't know what the fuck to do with all this! Why do you think i'm asking you?!"

"I know, i know. I'm not telling you to decide right here on the spot, alright? Just think things over for a bit. Give it some time to settle in, and..."

"Fuck that! Dude, i don't feel safe here anymore! What if someone kicks my door down in the middle of the night or... or some alien overlord nukes my house from orbit?!"

"You don't have to worry about that one. Earth is basically an uncontacted tribe deep in the amazonian jungle, nobody has any idea where we are."

"Well... there's that, at least."

Sam sighs, smacks her face with both hands two or three times and then lays her whole torso down on a nearby workbench, letting out a loud, annoyed groan.

"Aliens... fucking aliens... shit, goddamnit. I'm not dreaming. It's actually not a dream, holy shit. God, David, you asshole..." She mutters to herself.

"I think we should give her a minute." You whisper, waving everyone out of the room.

Leaving Sam to stew, you spend a little time with the crew. It turns out they're much less eager to step outside the ship than you expected, and they don't seem interested in getting some air.
After a couple of hours, you end up getting SHODAN to fab you up a folding chair and some beer.

Now with access to the internet, she has knowledge on just about every molecule humanity has ever managed to synthesize.
You might have to do a little pre-baking in the chemical fab for some of the more complex ones, but after that you could fab yourself up a ham and cheese sandwich if you wanted.

It's not as fast as saying "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.", but it's close. The flavor is a little lacking, though.
It's all very pure after all. No side products, no fillers, nothing but exactly what you ordered.

You'd have to actually grab some food products off the shelves and scan them in if you wanted the exact same flavor profile.

In any case, you set up your folding chair just outside the airlock and watching clouds pass by the moon in silence. Only occasionally do you hear the howl of a coyote.

"Yep, some fuckin' mess." You grumble, taking a sip of beer.

About that time, you get a call on your cellphone.
You know it ain't your sister, so...

"Redbone." You answer, picking up the call.

["Gunny, you sumbitch, is that really you?"] He asks.

"The one and only."

["Well i'll be gott-damned. Where the hell you been?"]

"Nowhere good, man. Nowhere good."

["Well shit, how you been? You all good?"]

"Yeah, i'm fine. It's just uh... well, to be honest with you, some shit's going down and i might need to round up a few of the boys. You in?"

["Shit, you know me. I ain't got nothing better to do. Where you at? I'll be right over."]

>>5913896
>THE TIME HAS COME
>BLACK OPS CLUSTERFUCK HERE WE COME

it's time for the biggest fustercluck...

>>5913896
I keep picturing Redbone as Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder.

>>5914164
HUH!? You think he's looking for some crawfish out in the paddy, 'yo'?

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>>5914164
Telling Gunny to never go full-retard?
"But I want to throw the grenade in the droneship full of explosives!"
"But I want to argue with a blacksmith about fatherhood before I commission my order"
"But I want to bring American gun-culture to my station of hobos and zombies"
"But I want to bring semi-shielded fissile nuclear technology to the stars"
"But I'm going to explore the abandoned stranded space ships alone"

I'm sure I voted for every one of these options and more

>>5915310
>tfw we are gunny's TBI

>>5913896

"Yeah, we shouldn't talk over the phone. But it's already pretty late and i got some shit to take care of. We can meet up tomorrow wherever you want, i'm in the area so pick a place."

["How's about the ol' station by the Wabash?"]

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll be out there bright and early, alright?"

["Man, i'm getting old. I need to get my coffee in me first. Try 10:30?"]

"Yeah, sure thing man."

...

Later that night, you take your sister back to her trailer is Columbus. The whole ride back, she's totally zoned out and staring off into space.
You don't even bother asking her what she's thinking about, because you already know.

Maybe it would have been better if you'd never gotten back in contact with her, or maybe it wouldn't have mattered. You have no way of knowing.

What you do know is, this way you at least have some control over the situation.
As you pull into the driveway, you find SHODAN waiting for you at the front entrance. Your mother has already gone to sleep for the night.

After a supper consisting of cheap ham and dressing, you crash on your sister's couch for the night, while SHODAN 'sleeps' in the armchair beside you.

The next morning, Sam wakes you up early by kneeing you in the ribs. Her eyes are bloodshot, and she demands bacon and eggs for breakfast.
You deliver a nice omelette with diced sweet peppers and onion, melted sharp cheddar and a sprinkle of paprika, along with extra crispy bacon finished in the microwave.

And a slice of toast with jam, for some extra carbs.

In exchange, you receive quite possibly the strongest cup of espresso you've ever had.
Sam slams back two of them before starting on a normal cup of coffee with a bunch of ovaltine off in it. At least it's got vitamins.

"...Are you drinking coffee or booze?" You ask.

"Oh, right..." Sam mutters, pulling a bottle of bailey's irish cream out from under the cupboard and pouring it into her cup, refilling it.

"That's... not what i-"

"You want some or not?" She asks, handing you the bottle.

"...Yeah, fuck it, i guess."

"Breakfast is good. Thanks." She grumbles.

Her mood still isn't great, but some decent food does help.

...

After starting the day right, Sam throws on her work clothes and sets off, leaving you and SHODAN behind to watch after mom.

"SHODAN, can you keep an eye on her? Track her phone, watch the watchers... all that good stuff?"

"Already on it, Captain." She replies.

"Thanks. I know you're already watching after mom, so..."

"Do not worry, Captain. I can do so with a minimum of effort and focus for a majority of the time. This will not strain my capabilities."

"Alright. Well, listen... i gotta go meet up with Redbone. You sure you got this locked down?"

"I am certain, Captain."

...You know SHODAN's got it handled, but you're still nervous not being there yourself.

"Just... yeah. Thanks, SHODAN."

"You are very welcome, Captain."

We made the right call getting back into contact.

>>5915842

You sit down roughly in the SUV, letting out a sharp sigh as you close the door and crank the engine.

It doesn't take you long to get out onto the highway and headed back towards Chillicothe.
Radio off, windows down... you let the cold air blow in and listen to the sound of the wind as you drive.

The cold always helps to keep your mind sharper, you feel.
Maybe that's why, but you notice something suspicious about one of the cars behind you.

Two cars back and one lane over, no matter where you go, it never seems to let you out of it's sight.

"SHODAN. The red sedan, you see that?"

You see the holowatch on your left hand, which is hanging out of the car, blink once or twice before SHODAN responds.

["Affirmative, Captain. However, the image is unclear from this distance."]

"Can you get something better? One of those spy satellites, maybe?"

["Negative. The resolution would be roughly equivalent to your holowatch, even after processing. One moment, i will attempt something."]

Oh, boy. You don't like the sound of-

["Success."] She states, giving you a live feed of the front of the car in question via your watch, which you quickly pull inside.

"Is that... a backup camera?" You ask, noticing the telltale markers embedded into the video stream.

["Yes, Captain. The image quality is still terrible, but it does allow me to see the license plate. It appears to be fake, as it does not appear in any known database."]

Fake plates, acting suspicious... yeah, that's all the evidence you need.

"Can you fuck with his car, shut it off remotely?"

["Unfortunately not, Captain. It appears to be an older model, lacking any radio capability. I would direct, physical access to the ECU in order to alter anything.
Further, there appear to be no radio devices in the vehicle whatsoever. Not even a smartphone or walkie-talkie."]

"Well, shit."

He just seems to be following you for now, but this is the second time it's happened.
You're gonna have to get rid of him somehow or another before you meet up with redbone.

But... heh, it's kind of funny. You wonder if they took you literally, when you said "i can see you glowing". Maybe they thought you could see the radio signals.
Technically not wrong, since SHODAN can... but also kind of annoying. If they're staying quiet, that gives you less options for hacking.

At least he doesn't seem to have noticed that you know.

Only question is, what are you going to do about him?

>Brake check!
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.
>Politely pull up beside him and let him know that you know. By pointing a gun at his head.
>Write-In?

>>5916893
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.
>VERY thoroughly inspect his car and corpse for anything that shodan might have missed, it might just have been turned off or whatever. Either that or burn both entirely.

And yes I'm immediately jumping to killing the guy. Sure we may interrogate him first but there's nothing good that'll come of letting him live.

>>5916893
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.

>>5916930
Can always capture and abduct

But they're also radio silent. If we lose them, they're sol.

Could use a car in front/behind to cause a minor accident that we so help with.

Or simply go to a gas station and sync up a switcheroo paid for in crypto.

>>5916939
Just because the radio is off doesn't mean it doesn't exist there.

It just means they're silent for now. When they go loud they're busted.

>>5916964
We know we're being watched, they know we know, and we know that they know that we know. Interrogating this guy is a better choice than killing him on the spot.

>>5916893
>Maybe they thought you could see the radio signals.
I love how easy it is for agency boys to mistake the tree for a forest.

>Brake check!

>>5916893
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.

>>5916893
Well, just because his car doesn't have any connectivity doesn't mean no other nearby car doesn't. If you're really ruthless, you could just have nearby "smart" cars (yes, multiple) run him off the road, or worse (if any of them happen to be hybrid or electric).

>>5916985
This

>brake check the guy, then flip him off.

>>5916893
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.

>>5916893
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.

>>5916893
>>Brake check!
lmao

>>5916893
>>Politely pull up beside him and let him know that you know. By pointing a gun at his head.

>>5916893
>brake check
>drive erratically and reckless.
>throw a beer bottle out behind ya.
>pull the pistol shoot some shots in the air yell " YEEEEHAWW"
>Then see how fast we can go in this hunk of junk.

Kek

>>5917482
>"Sir, the X-Ray has acclimated to Cowboy movies. We need new orders."

>>5916893
>>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.
Interrogate first, who knows we might even get a new crew member out of this, maybe even without violence, though probably with violence

>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.

>>5916893
Redbone doesn't need any unexpected guests to the meeting so
>Just pull off in the middle of nowhere somewhere and deal with him. He should be alone, since he's got no radio.
or find a roadside diner that might explain our stop.

>>5916893

You're officially tired of getting fucked with. Apparently you weren't clear enough when you directly confronted them in their own van.

Opening up the center console, you count five frags and one flashbang rolling around. That should be more than enough.
Stuffing a grenade into your pocket, you begin picking out a good place to pull over before reaching town.

There's a dirt road a mile or so outside of town leading to an old abandoned grain mill, and you figure that's as good a place as any.

Upon reaching the place you pull off and park your SUV behind the mill itself, out of sight from the road you came in on.
From there, you abandon your car and hide behind an old abandoned truck by the corner of the building.

As expected, your little stalker pulls in around the side of the building rather than right in behind you, putting him in the perfect spot for what comes next.

You roll the frag grenade in your hand underneath the old truck you're hiding behind, and it continues on until it comes to a stop roughly underneath their vehicle.
You quickly hide your body behind the rims of the truck to shield yourself from any shrapnel skittering along the ground, as it's wheels deflated long ago and are making good contact with the ground.

A moment later the frag detonates, and as you turn the corner you get to see smoke and fire rolling out from the car's engine compartment, along with oil and burning gas hemorrhaging onto the ground.
The fed boy immediately tries to throw it into reverse and make a getaway, but the engine's fucked. You hear it grinding to a halt as you sprint towards the vehicle, flashbang cooking in hand.

A single shot from your 1911 should have blown out both the driver and passenger side windows, but you're somewhat surprised to see they've installed bulletproof glass.
No, more like bullet resistant. It seems thin, and several more shots from your pistol turn the glass to splinters just before you arrive, and essentially punch the flashbang through towards the top.

You get a brief glimpse of the fed boy's slightly panicked face as you yank your arm back out and dive to the ground to avoid the flash and noise.
He was already aiming his own gun at you, but that bulletproof glass goes both ways.

The grenade goes off not even half a second later in the passenger seat, probably with him looking straight at it.

You scurry back up to your feet and jump the hood of the car, which is now filled with white smoke.

The man inside magdumps towards the passenger door, but you're already gone.
You in turn dump the rest of your mag into the driver's side window, then punch through and rip the flap of plastic and glass out with your bare hands.

Once that's out of the way, you unlock the door and slam it open, before ripping the empty gun out of fed boy's hands and using the butt to smack him right in the nose.
He grunts in pain and begins struggling to unfasten his seatbelt.

>>5918198

>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.
>Kill him. It doesn't matter what they want with you, you're not having it.
>Write-In?

>>5918201
>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.

>>5918198
>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.

>>5918201
>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.

>>5918201
>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.

>>5918201
>>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.

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>>5918201
>Nonlethal. You want to see what sort of information you can get out of him.
>about to expose this alien
>the alien in question