first

>>1305694
Woohoo HQQ!

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

>>1305706
dammit man

>>1305716
And on that day I became as a god.

File: spiderdad.jpg (41 KB, 357x345)

41 KB JPG

Best day of the week is here!

>>1305715
I completely agree with all of these ideas, let's get on them.

>>1305694

So slight question here Alpha, (ya don't mind I call ya that?) On Djin the frozen thing that went bezerk is that related to the Beta quest? Because that queen is on a frozen planet and recently fought some sort of independent drone that had no psionic connection either.

So are the things related or is Beta copying your thunder?

>>1305728
Beta quest is a cheep knockoff of HQQ, don't go getting them mixed up now.

>>1305715
>Board a scav vessel for their FTL

But we already got our own FTL....

>>1305735
But we can have MORE.

>>1305735
This >>1305736
All the FTL will be ours.

>>1305735
>not wanting to reverse engineer EVERYTHING
You don't even know how to play this quest, do you?

File: 2012-05-21-blade3.jpg (24 KB, 528x259)

24 KB JPG

>>1305694
The skyline of Path echoes with distant sirens as air traffic creates a moving starfield of lights against the overcast sky. Police and PDF forces remain on high alert as their lights flash along every street corner and at the entrance to every government building you can see.

Deep beneath the surface, in the labyrinth of drainage canals and service tunnels your clones sit up in their cots as the lights flicker on above, and Kent and his guards stand over them, he wears a large grin on his face, as if still struggling to subdue some joke he heard and still finds funny.

"So, I think now is a good time to have a quick talk about your employer, and why you were sent here." He says. "Tell me, real quick, where exactly is Lee right now?"

>Write in

>>1305747
Someone remind me what's going on with this pls?

>>1305747
You just saw him.

Too sarcastic maybe?

>>1305751
Rebel group that we could have used but became not important once the clusterfuck at nowhere occurred and the situation drastically changed

>>1305747
"On Gemini, functioning as an ambassador."

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

>>1305715
There is no practical possibility of boarding a scav vessel until we construct those ships with harpoon launchers / boarding pods from the dedicated crunch thread, in which nothing like that actually got put to a vote as far as I can see.

>>1305747
"He's on Gemini, duh. You saw him yourself."

>>1305759
Some of those are impossible too.

>>1305754
>>1305755
>>1305760
Uhhh.

DId our totally, one hundred percent human, agents there, get ANY internet access in the sewers?

They at best can say, last they heard, he was safely in hive custody.

>>1305747
"Should be on Gemini right now."

>>1305756
KILL THE CLOWN?!

>>1305747
>Last we heard he was in Hive custody.

>>1305764
Um yeah they saw the newsreport

We saw a snippent in the reactions of certain character to Lee reveal on that runway? And this guy was one of them, he woke up our drones by laughing

>>1305764
I specifically remember Kent laughing when he saw Lee reveal his face when he got out of our shuttle.

>>1305764
Our alibi could be that they went out at some point in time

>>1305764
Please note the quality of the player suggestions has dropped significantly since the hiatus.

>>1305771
>they saw the newsreport

No they didn't. They didn't have access to the TV. They were sleeping through it.

>>49200529
> Lightyears away, your clones wake up from their slumber in the makeshift barracks they have been provided. You hear laughter, a deep, almost wrenching laughter, as if moments from a coughing fit. The sound of a cane hitting the floor is followed by several medics rushing through the tunnels of the underground hideout as the laughing continues into bouts of coughing, and then more laughing.

>>1305764
It's pretty obvious who our guys are working for (especially on account of their unusual cybernetics), this guy is not necessarily an enemy unless we try to fuck with him either.

So it's not unreasonable that they'd have some means of getting information from us that he couldn't detect, but isn't tachyonic. If that's what you're worried about.

>>1305747
"Should be somewhere around the Hive Embassy on Gemini, why do you ask?"

So yeah they seen some of the implants, the know that theirs a lee on union prime since that was big news

So now he wants to talk to us,

Say our drones are just mercs and they can arrange a meeting with a speaker?

>>1305782

Are they not connected to the psychic network right now? These are hybrids, I thought all hybrids had parasites

>>1305765
This is probably the best answer.

File: HQQplayers.png (160 KB, 540x383)

160 KB PNG

Time to make some friends

>>1305785
>So it's not unreasonable that they'd have some means of getting information from us that he couldn't detect, but isn't tachyonic. If that's what you're worried about.

It is totally unreasonable though. They just got woke up from bed after the laughing fit that very night.

>your clones sit up in their cots as the lights flicker on above, and Kent and his guards stand over them, he wears a large grin on his face, as if still struggling to subdue some joke he heard and still finds funny.

Plus this is our chance to namedrop:

>>1305747
Last we knew, he was on Leeland.

>>1305694
Hurray! Time for our new daughter!

>>1305782
Ah, our hybrids haven't seen the news about the hive showing up, if they were to say Lee is in gemini right now they would reveal shit.
Apparently Kent is smarter than 90% of the union leadership.

>>1305798
i second this.

>>1305791
Yeah there connected, we still have a stealth pod in system with a relay

And do we still want that Q&A with the
reporters?

>>1305804
Good point,

Should just say wherever our employer wants him then

>>1305747
Change mine to
"He's being kept safe in our custody, how the hell would i know what he's doing beyond that?"

>>1305801
So what? Why would it be surprising that their employer (who is clearly the hive) told them beforehand that by the time they were inserted on Path, Lee would probably be on Gemini?

Saying he was on Leeland would be the more giveaway thing, because no one knew where he was at (on account of being in a gov't blacksite) until he showed up at Gemini a few days ago as our ambassador.

>>1305747
>"Dark... nightclub. Throbbing music. Men's room. Men's room stall. Penis! Two penises! Ugh, so gay. Gay, so gay. But in all seriousness he should be on Gemini."

>>1305747
He should be on Gemini now, in fact I believe he may be giving a speech to Parliament momentarily.

As to our employer, I hope you understand there is much we cannot talk about, and much we do not ourselves know. What do you wish to discuss?

File: yesandnani.jpg (33 KB, 105x198)

33 KB JPG

>>1305791
And? Do you want to explain all that to Kent or something?

So should we ask Dillon if he knows this rebel groups and any intel he has on this Kent guy?

But telling him that Lee is on Gemini would create holes in the narrative we are trying to weave.

>>1305827
Yeah, we need these drones to pass as human after all

And really dont want to revel the mind control parasites to this guy

>>1305824

That's a fair point, changing vote to

>>1305818

>>1305804
That or it means that they were aware of the hives plan to open diplomatic discussion with the union.

>>1305824
It's reasonable we have some way to communicate with our agents whether they be cybernetics either organic or mechanical in nature. For all Kent knows we just have a very well hidden ear-piece on our agents rather than a mind-controlling parasite.

>>1305829
why not just kill him then?

>>1305747
Disregard this one >>1305754
Support this one >>1305818

Forgot our shadowruns we had running

>>1305832
Then what was the point of this meeting then?

>>1305832
This too, so it's a choice between "i was told this might happen beforehand" or "I don't know"

>>1305818
Thirding.

>>1305836

Or some implant

>>1305844
To investigate this faction and it's goals, they were the ones who tried to bust Lee from prison.

His next question is probably how these guys ended up working for an alien bug queen who seems to give great implants.

What say? Pirates that tried to flee the Commonwealth into the Expanse, got an offer they couldn't refuse?

>>1305836
I dunno, if I had an underground rebel base I'd at least try to proof it against radio signals in case of moles.

>>1305844
We were planing this meeting before the Fuckup at Nowhere and resulting Union contact

So it was something that got sidelined during the chaos and now we just can only do cleanup this loose end unless we can think of something they can do for us now

>>1305854
Claim ignorance, why would agents know the mind of the alien they're working for? :^)

>>1305836
>wanting to reveal shit like that
Are you retarded?
>>1305853
Then in that case.
>>1305818
Is better to go with.

>>1305854
>His next question is probably how these guys ended up working for an alien bug queen who seems to give great implants.
>"Shouldn't you take me out on a date before you ask about my personal life?"

>>1305854
Could be small quantum entangler devices. The details don't really matter, and it's easily explained by saying "Our employer told us they might have to take Lee to Gemini soon." Anons are making this a much bigger deal than it is.

>>1305818
I'll support this to get moving though.

>>1305855
I mean we were probably planning to do hijinks using these guys against the union but now?

Im not sure what we can do with them given that Path is going to go thur spore hell and possible full "Thing" outbreak

File: wejustdontknow.gif (999 KB, 250x251)

999 KB GIF

>>1305844
Less be real, the secret reason is just to feel out and learn about the Hackers on Steroids Lee shitposts with on the internet.

What we say to Kent though, dunno. Gotta make it something he'd want to hear. The queen needs human friends. You were friends of Lee. Lee was the first human friend to the hive. ??? Profit.

>>1305747
"Well," one of your clones says "I would assume he'd be on Gemini by now."

"That would be an accurate assumption." Kent says back as a guard plants a chair behind him. He slowly lowers himself into the seat with a slight wince of pain. "In fact, it looks like he brought some friends along for the ride. Some rather powerful looking friends at that." He adds. "You know them much?" He looks at your clones for a moment before shaking his head quickly.

"Don't answer that, I'm just enjoying this. Sorry for waking you up at such a horrid hour but, alas, it's always primetime somewhere, and you can either keep up with politics, or keep up with your sleep schedule, rarely both." Kent leans on his cane with his one arm and rests his natural leg atop his cheap temporary prosthetic with a soft crunch of stained plastic. "But I would like you to tell me a few things first, and honestly. Who hired you, how did you get in touch with them, and where did you get those augs? Now before, I was able to pass those off as maybe some experimental Valen design. I hear they've been tinkering with some kind of artificial muscle tissue but I have yet to see them in action. Either that, or maybe something the Unity whipped up for its latest batch of madmen following in the enterprising footsteps of the last man to strike a deal with an AI." He seems to look off into the distance for just a moment. "I do regret having been unable to hire his services. We run in different circles. Anyways, now, I am starting to think you received those augs from a somewhat more unknown source, and I'd like to know the details of your encounter before we get started with any more in depth discussion." He eyes your clones, each one in turn, before he shrugs disarmingly.

"Please understand, you can still leave at any point, but if we are going to be working together, I need to trust my contacts." He pats the nub of shoulder beneath his sleeve. "I learned that lesson very well."

>Tell as much truth as possible (write in)
>Make up a story (write in)
>Other

>>1305862
In politics every detail matters. So yes they will scrutinize everything we say and do.

>>1305869
>Make up a story (pirates/mercs that were given an offer that cant be refused and then started to recive good payment that they kept doing work for us) aka lyle hiring

>Other include the location of a bug spacestation or free port that tech and stuff can be traded

>>1305869
So we need to avoid mentioning Nowhere at all.
>>1305880
>>Other include the location of a bug spacestation or free port that tech and stuff can be traded
We don't have one set up yet and QD is still working on the crunch genius.

>Tell the Truth or as much as we can. Be nut, be honest and give as much pertinent info as possible

>>1305869
Does Lyle know this guy?

>>1305891
It could just be a space ship orbiting a plant or something not like we have to be high tech or professional

>>1305896
The protagonist is Lyle isn't?

>>1305869
Say that they were recruited via someone else who might have been a middle man for the hive. Make a few guess that are true and a few that arnt to make it seem more credible. We wont be able to hide the connection, so just claim that the connection isnt that close.

File: 1428789821254.jpg (10 KB, 403x198)

10 KB JPG

Feels so fucking good seeing this thread every Sunday again.

>>1305893
I don't know about you but more then 50% of the information you'd be offering them would include pod people, parasites, and psionics. We want to avoid that shit.

>>1305869
This >>1305904
+"some of us were homeless bums living in the sewer when we got offered a new life."

>>1305869
>>Tell as much truth as possible (write in)
Keep to the basics, and ask that he not broadcast that he has any sort of contact with us.

He could be useful in the near future, we're likely going to be in charge of humans soon and we have absolutely no idea how to govern them, he could be useful for advice in this respect. As good as "just live as you were before" sounds I have a strong feeling that won't cut it and we have no idea how to govern things that we cannot talk to directly.

>>1305908
Thats why we give them a few nuggets of truth, but nothing more then a bunch of mercs hired by a middle man could figure out.

>>1305869
>>1305904
Second'n.

>>1305869
Okay, what is as unfalsifiable as possible?

Lyle hired some people at Mars to come with him, but these guys are clearly different from those guys. Must've changed their faces too.

And these guys' history can be tracked back to Gemini, but no further.

Have to guess how far Kent's info gathering goes.

Yet not reveal the existence of a sewer hive on Gemini that gives augs, among other things.

I guess you could say they were on a mission to capture bugger specimens, and failed. But got offered freedom, augs, etc to go off into human space to find Lee.

Implicitly, this was with Lyle, we don't need to drop him by name.

They split up, another team ultimately found Lee. We remained behind, while remaining under contract for new orders...and we got them, to come visit Path to make friends, while apparently Lee was on diplomacy duty.

>>1305911
Mercs are a better cover. Mercs might be trusted to leak some info on there clients, a bunch of people who now owe their lives to their clients are less likely to be trusted by these guys.

>>1305869
>Tell as much truth as possible
"To be honest, I'm not really sure how I met the bugs. Can't remember past waking up in one of their medical tanks. They've treated me well since then though. They make efforts to make their accommodations as amenable to visitors as possible, but we were unfortunately not allowed to leave. On account of possible information leaks.

Then they offered me these augs, combat training, and a chance to work for them that would let me off planet in advance. Otherwise I'd have to wait til first contact, information security you see. I didn't have shit for memories, didn't have anything better to do, and so I took them up on it.

I could've been a pirate before, or a stranded motherfucker on their planet, cowering in the dirt. Now I've got a purpose and someone who's got my back, it's good enough for me. There are some others who didn't take up the offer, I wonder if they'll be free to go now that contact's been initiated. Either way, it's of no concern to me.

Any other questions?"

File: 689a20e17d.png (816 KB, 580x625)

816 KB PNG

>>1305869
>Mercenaries contacted by another mercenary/mysterious third party who had the line on an employer with lucrative contracts and a great health plan

>>1305918
It can't be via middleman if we have to answer where they got those augs, which is increasingly obvious they are of alien design. Did you forget that part of the question?

I mean random mercs don't submit to surgery by unknown bio technology at random, do they.

>>1305916
Theseus would gladly teach us in exchange for any data we gather on them.

>>1305931
Damn it, meant to also quote >>1305820
for pic related.

>>1305927
I recall one of our hybrids is a survivor type with a bunch of duck tape in his pockets and i though admitting to him that he used to be a bum might impress him.

>>1305869
>>1305904
Going to back this.

>>1305880
Seconding

>>1305904
>>1305953
How did they get hive augs if they didn't meet the hive directly?

>>1305869
>Tell as much truth as possible (write in)
Our ship crashed on one of their planets. (Fact because they have the crew aboard the ship that crashed in our planet.) They explained they couldn't take us home because Union did some stupid, something about putting a satellite with hukes on the orbit of one of their colonies in a spore planet(also true). We were detained but not unharmed we did tried to escape but they are giant bugs and one of then was almost this room size so we weren't suicidal at that moment. Then some bullshit happend and they came with a offer, we would work as some mercs giving information about human politics and about something the Union found on the expanse and were doing some stupid experiments. Now that i think about it they only started to talk to us around the time that attemp to a Union and Commonweatlh metting accoured (This will give the impression we only started to notice humanity after Union started to fuck with crystals).

>>1305926
>I guess you could say they were on a mission to capture bugger specimens, and failed. But got offered freedom, augs, etc to go off into human space to find Lee.

I'm liking this one, mixed maybe with >>1305928 but not including the amnesia backstory.

>Merc sent to poach some bugs
>Shit went bad
>Wake up in medical tank
>Offered new job
>I ain't got nothing better to do
>Give me augs, get sent on job

Could get in touch with them on your behalf if you want.

>>1305955
They didn't meet the hive directly at first, a few jobs later and they got offered sweet augs.

>>1305944
That would actually be awesome, voting for this

>>1305955
A discreet middle man that deals with the source directly. We were planning on selling our augs at some point anyway, it makes sense.

>>1305931
>>1305904
Backing this general idea

>>1305880
There's no bug station 13 yet.

The more I read through all the posts the more I realize there is no good response for this situation.
The only way they could be completely unfalsifiable is if they came from Nowhere.

>>1305880
Actually voting for this
>>1305972
Yea but there will be, and we want publicity

>>1305957
>We only started to notice humanity after the union started to fuck with crystals.
>Even though they put a satellite filled with nukes on orbit of one of our "colonies" earlier.
Not to mention we don't know how long the union have been fucking with the crystals.

>>1305969
>selling Augsburg
No we aren't.

>>1305904
>someone else who might have been a middle man for the hive. Make a few guess that are true and a few that arnt to make it seem more credible. We wont be able to hide the connection, so just claim that the connection isnt that close.

But then they do know what the plan was for Lee to be on Gemini.

It kinda has to be a close connection, if they're in the loop on the Lee plan. Although maybe they started out as through a middleman, but ended up paid directly by hive now.

>>1305979
I think we're only planing to sell cheap downgraded versions, not the "I can lift a car" ones.

>>1305975
Never put your horse before your carriage anon. Wait until we set it up.

>>1305931
>>1305918
If you want this guy to be straight with us we're gonna need to be straighter than this with him. He'll see through that load of crap in a heartbeat, mercs don't tank shotgun blasts to the chest willingly. Augs or not.

>>1305986
You're not my real dad, you cant tell me what to do, Im gonna go tell humans about bug atlantis and you cant stop me! And then Im going to invade the Space whale homeworld, and make them slaves, AND I DONT EVEN CARE IF YOU GET MAD. UGH.

>>1305869
Make up a story:

We were hired by a mercenary called Lyle Rogers to do a few jobs for one of his mysterious employers in exchange for some rather powerful cybernetics. Eventually we came into contact with Lyle's "employers" and began working for them directly.

>>1305869
Although, I mean, does knowing your contact's backstory actually inspire trust?

>>1305959
I like this. Seconding.

>>1305991
I'll vote for that over "Some middleman!" anyday.

>>1305976
Yeah i can see the flaw. But i was thinking that the nuke planting could be viewed as a "Well those guys aren't friendly at all, fortunantly they aren't so advance so they aren't a big problem. Let's avoid then and take care of the void gods and the traitorous queen." Then when humans started to fuck with crystals, by using theyr tech to make a invisible ship, we started to infiltrate then and when shit hit the fan real hard they forced us to reveal ourselfs.

>>1305995
>"Well those guys aren't friendly at all, fortunantly they aren't so advance so they aren't a big problem. Let's avoid then and take care of the void gods and the traitorous queen."
I'd prefer if the satellite nuke was what attracted our attention and the latest union void fuckery is what attracted our interest/anger.

>>1305991
Where were those cybernetics installed? In the medtank on the Hel's Angel? I guess they'd have to be pre-grown.

>>1305991
Hell yea

>>1305957
Just say that its a cultural thing. That we figure the best way to figure out a new race or polity's intentions is to let them think they have the advantage. Humanity failed most impressively.

>>1306001
Well that is actually a much better idea.

>>1305991
Actually I'll switch to this.

File: confused-math-lady.jpg (36 KB, 681x445)

36 KB JPG

>QD trying to count the votes like

>>1306013
Well actually we isolate one of their individuals then interrogate them to figure out their race's intentions. So far it has been pretty reliable.

>>1305991
Lyle doesn't seem like the type to subcontract work. Whoever our middleman was could have brought them in contact with Lyle, but Lyle hiring directly?

>>1305991
Looks good to me.

>>1306032
>Lyle doesn't seem like the type to subcontract work.
He hired on extra crew on his original mission. Call it not so much subcontracting as getting hired help.

>>1306032
But didn't Lyle hire mercenaries directly when he originally attacked the hive? I'm pretty sure that was definitely Lyle doing the hiring and not his big shadowy boss.

>>1305991
The only trouble we have with just about any mercenary backstory is that there won't be any records of the advertising of a job looking for mercs. There'll be no one who saw the job offer and declined, and no one who got refused.

>>1306031
Well yes, but then we don't get an excuse to mock union politicians

Quick questions does anyone know how many light years/hexagons the blink drive travels?

>>1306031
Butif we say that we don't get the chance to be checky!!

>>1306041
Black ops para-military mercenary groups working under the table for illegal augments don't exactly post on future-Craigslist. I'm not sure why we need a "record" here.

>>1306058
Our drive has no limit in distance but it get less accurate after 5 i think

>>1306058
As many as we want but it's safe range is 5 light years though it increases with better and more sensors.

>>1306030
I can hardly keep up sometimes in my own quest, don't know how he does it

>>1306066
I dunno, anon has a point. Where ever these folks DO post their job listings this guy undoubtedly has a tap into that network.

Which is why I feel this: >>1305959 is a better option, because it allows him to piece together whatever details he pleases on specifics. There's nothing to check our factuality against, but it's sufficiently frank that it comes across as truth. So he'll just wait to see how we operate to decide whether he trusts us or not.

>http://pastebin.com/u/QuestDrone
>Hive technology

"...drops the drone at, or at least close to, the target destination. Extremely complex calculations are required to perform an accurate blink maneuver, and even the smallest miscalculation could result in overshooting the target by many light-years, or even appearing within the target planet or star itself. At least one thinker is needed to calculate a blink maneuver, and extensive sensor systems are required to safely plot a course. More thinkers or higher quality sensors will increase the range,while dense star clusters and high levels of gravitation will hinder it."

>" More thinkers or higher quality sensors will increase the range,while dense star clusters and high levels of gravitation will hinder it."

It depends of the system and the amount of thinkers working on the jump calculation.

>>1306091
Opd forgot to quote
>>1306058

>>1306068
>>1306073
Thanks.
Also i spotted a contradiction on the rip/micro rip drive descriptions.
>Rip drive
however the range itself is limited to fifteen light years per jump for a one-sided jump
>Micro Rip drove
Range has also suffered slightly due to the reduction in size compared to a ship using it as its main drive, allowing a ship to target its spacetime tear to any location within five light years, roughly HALF that of a full sized drive.

>>1306091
And sensors. If we had gravity sensors in every hex on the map we could conceivably blink, in one jump, from end of the map to the other.

>>1306091
I read that but it doesn't specify it's standard/ideal light year range.

>>1306091
I think the 'more Thinkers' part must be retconned now that we have a drone population of "ALL OF THEM."

>>1306107
Yeah i noticed it. But i would rather have more threads then forcing QD work on the paste bins.

>>1305959
I'll back this. This is what we did to Lyle, it's functionally untraceable, and simple.

>>1306117
I agree.

>>1305869
"We were hired through our contacts." Your clone says. "Someone was offering high end gear and major perks for a long term merc contract. A few of us figured it was a Unity contact too, but turned out it was a bit more alien then that."

"And who was this contact?" Kent asks. "It wasn't Lyle himself?" One of your clones shrugs.

"We never dealt very close with the guy. I wouldn't know." Kent leans in with his cane.

"It doesn't matter how close you are." He says. "If you're working with Lyle Rogers, you know. Now it isn't unknown to me that he was hired for an expedition to the Expanse after a Union ship went missing, after the first one went missing anyway, and then he went missing before I get a call from a contact saying he was selling razor trout at a port over Mars, and I know he was never at Huron. He was fresh from the Expanse." Your clone Bartholomew lets out a short grunt before interrupting.

"I thought you ran in different circles." He says, Kent's face becomes more serious, the slight humor quickly dissipating.

"He's hired by anyone and everyone, and if he gets the job to kill me." He says flatly. "I need to know. He's a hard man to track, likely because he knows so many try to track him. I often wonder if it's more devastating for the Union to employ him, or send one of their tin men. I've dealt with the tin men before, but so has he."

"So maybe we were? So what?" Another clone asks.

"So, maybe you were hired by one of the most dangerous men in all of known space, but you're not sure?" Kent says. "Now, I know he brought back alien life from his expedition. I have contacts in Olympus shipyards who were involved in the exchange, and I know the lab they were transferred to was never public knowledge, and was nuked soon after." He points to your clone as he speaks, adding a bit of emphasis on each new statement. "I make sure to keep a very close eye on what the Union does outside the public view, especially if it involves them hiring mercs. So, before this, I was still in the dark on a lot of things, but now I think it's starting to come together. I just need to know why? Did he actually kidnap an alien species, and if so, how is he now working for them? Unless it was all deliberate, a part of some kind of test, or as a method of probing humanity's capabilities." Your clones glance at each other in some mild confusion.

>Claim to be working with Lyle
>Deny any affiliation with Lyle
>Other

>>1306090

Well, I think Lyle would probably have personal contacts he has picked up over his career. I don't really see how records of mercenaries would be more available for some guys sent to poach bugs than otherwise.

At the same time, though, you make a good point that this guy has serious underground ties and I actually really liked the story you linked.

I'm changing my vote to support.
>>1305959

>>1306128
Supporting
>>1305959

>>1306128
>Deny any affiliation with Lyle

We killed all of the mercs that came with lyle
And if he knew what lyle was doing then he probably knows what mercs went with lyle

>>1306128
>Unless it was all deliberate, a part of some kind of test, or as a method of probing humanity's capabilities.
>Other
"Both, they don't like being poached."

>>1306145
What does that mean.

Now were these mercs hired before or after Lyle delivered buggers into Union scientist hands, is the real question. If before, then they might know that the hive did sell some of their own drones to the Union for credits, via Lyle.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>1306151
I'll support that.

>>1306128
>>Other
"You don't get that sort of info without trust first. We can tell you Lyle is working for our employer and isn't going after you. Isn't that enough?"

>>1306128
We didn't sen our original flash clones to Path right?

>>1306151
Support that answer for that question

>>1306128
>Deny overt affiliation with lyle.
seriously we are mercs right? we follow the dollar signs and we aren't Lyle tire, without the new augs we would be pretty much just thugs with slug throwers working for a PMC.

Dam this guys is super paranoid. I like him.

>>1306162
This is as good as it'll get.

>>1306151
The real problem is that the Union would try again and again until they got their hands on drones, so at least this way they got a cut of Lyle's profits.

I'm really not sure if these guys should even know this much about the hive's motives though.

>>1306151
Just dont make it sound that personal. Make it sound as if its common sense and less like they told us directly

>>1306173
Has to be given what the union cia is like

>>1306151
supporting

>>1306128
Supporting
>>1306151

>>1306128
Supporting >>1306162

>>1306173
Really putting Jacks paid brainiacs to shame.

>>1306178
>Make it sound as if its common sense.
No one likes being poached.

>>1306199
Jacks?
Term for Union?

>>1306162
This and >>1306151

"Oh, the lab was nuked? The eggheads in the labs didn't know what they were getting is my guess. Those bugs are pretty clever."

>>1306148
So these are other mercs that had to be hired later than that Mars recruiting.

>>1306162
Well that or, the boss doesn't always explain everything to hired help.

>>1306206
Now now, no need to feed his paranoia that much.

>>1306204
Jack Windsor. Have you not checked the wiki?

>>1306204
Jack is one of the secretary council's member, he's in charge of intelligence.

>>1306206
Ad in unless you kill the thinker. Then the workers go into a berserk rage.

>>1306128
>Other
" honestly we don't we didn't meet with our implore and they didn't want to meet with us we went to the place they asked us to and next thing we knew we were on Gemini with new agus new identies and a message that wiped it self after we read it. If lyles working for them he may as well have hired us but we never meet the guy

>>1306128
>>1306151
Yeah, I'll support this.

If we claim association with Lyle we need to have a reason why we're not on this guys radar if he keeps track of Lyle. Maybe we can claim to be former Commonwealth freelancers that have mostly been working in that end of space?

>>1306225
No. Bad anon.

>>1306220
This guy should be in it's place. At least he seems clever then Jack.

>>1306230
We can use the "I know a guy who knows Lyle" excuse, i.e. our flash clones we sent to help Lyle and set up the sewer hive.

>>1306231
why? IT would explain why the drones started killing everyone in the lab. Also i'm starting to suspect the tech girl might have survived the purge our drones made to the facility and she is now working for him.

>>1306232
But then the union would be an actual threat rather than threat by repeated fuckups.

>>1306243
>survived a worker blade to the chest

>>1306243
We never talk about the thinkers or queen if we can help it

>>1306243
>Also i'm starting to suspect the tech girl might have survived the purge our drones made to the facility and she is now working for him.
You mean the one we killed? With a worker blade to the chest?

>>1306243
Why explain shit? They don't need to be told anything anon and certain not from our clones.

>>1306248
Humans have survived worse I think you might have meet the nuclear strike

>>1306248
>survived a worker blade to the chest.

And then a fire...

and then a nuke...

>>1306259
And union black ops cleaning crew

>>1306255
this. seriously we are trying to make it look like these guys are mook hirelings not integrated hive members.

>>1306248
I didn't remembered she was pierced by a blade. Doesn't stop form him having anyone else from it on his group. Since the commander of the facility in the planet was from that lab.

>inb4 all survives of that incident are on Tokyo

>>1306251
I was saying about the SPEAKER anon. Not the thinkers. If something it will make people think twice before attacking a speaker.

>>1306270
Just give up on it anon. These guys are terrorists any so telling them that might encourage them too.

>>1306277
Okay.

>>1306128
"Both." Your clone James says. "Seems like an obvious way to get the Union to piss off, I'd say. And Lyle didn't hire us, but sure, he's working for our employer, and he doesn't give a damn about you. Any more details like that is gonna need some reciprocated trust. It's not good for business to talk about your employers." Kent sits still for some time, eyeing your clones one by one until he stands up with some effort, a guard helping him to his feet. He flips open his wide rim mirrored glasses and nudges them on with his one hand, the faint image of some holo-display flashing from the inside of the lenses as he fumbles with them in his hand.

"Fair enough." He says, his grin growing again ever so slightly. "I think there's enough here to at least start building something of a working relationship."

"Alright, so what now?" Your clone asks, Kent begins to turn around as he hobbles to the door. He looks back at the bunks.

"You tell me. You're the ones managing the first contact, and I am very much enjoying the show your employers have been putting on so far. They certainly have the Union by the balls. I'd love to help twist the knife, to be honest. I apologize for interrupting your rest."

"Don't worry. You learn to sleep when you can." A clone says, your others nodding as they stand up from their cots.

"Good, good. Then if it's all the same to your employers, I could use some help with a few things."

>Make a request of David's organization (write in)
>Offer assistance in his activities
>Request an exchange of intelligence (write in)
>Other

Is anyone else having issues with captcha tonight?

>>1306294
Could they extract the remaining stuff on Djinn or would it be better if drones went instead of overly curious humans?
Captcha is working fine for me.

>>1306294
>Request an exchange of intelligence
We can trade the newest upcoming Union Science catastrophe for something, what do other anons think?

>>1306294
>Kent sits still for some time, eyeing your clones one by one until he stands up with some effort, a guard helping him to his feet. He flips open his wide rim mirrored glasses and nudges them on with his one hand, the faint image of some holo-display flashing from the inside of the lenses as he fumbles with them in his hand.

Was he trying to use a lie detector program on their faces?

>>1306294
>>Other
Reaching high shelves?

Clearly this guy needs a new hive provided arm.

>>1306294
>Request an exchange of intelligence
Going ons on path right now? Research labs? Private corp research? high rank officials etc
Thoughts on the battle in space

>Other Offer to arrange a meeting with a speaker in a neutral place? or valen port?

>>1306309
>Request an exchange of intelligence

>>1306294
Would request a intelligence gathering from the lab on the planet be a good or a bad thing to do?

>>1306309
Let's not offer that speaker meetup just yet, we just said "Any more details like that is gonna need some reciprocated trust. It's not good for business to talk about your employers."

>>1306306
>>1306309
Let's first get some FREE intelligence on this guy by seeing what he even wants, though.

And maybe see if an opportunity to adopt him comes up later.
>>1306294
>>Offer assistance in his activities

>>1306294
>>Request an exchange of intelligence (write in)
Our employer feels it necessary to keep an eye on Path, we can use any intel of any sort about events happening on the streets of Path.

>>1306308
>Reaching high shelves?
lol

I do wonder if he's interested in a new leg and arm and spine-buddy

>>1306328
He's too paranoid for that spine buddy offer, we're going to have to think that through.

>>1306335
That's why you sneak it in while installing the second heart, duh.

>>1306319
Don't say like that anon. Let the paranoid human think that there is no hive influence on the planet. It will make even better when the BQ's spore come and make shit up on it.

>>1306328
We can offer it as payement.

>>1306294
Ask Kent how's Alder's doing and if he anything about what's happening on Talgo?

>>1306294
>>Offer assistance in his activities
We're making the initial contact, let's get things started on the right foot. Maybe mention that if he interested, we could fix that limp.

>>1306343
Nah i don't think he would apreciate it. Let lay down on the assimilation thing. Also they aren't parasites they are symbiots!!

>>1306294
>Offer assistance in his activities. and do a piss poor job of actually helping out.
If we were having trouble strong arming the Union this guy would be useful, and I think we can use him later as a net to snag entrenched resistance, but his methods, motives, and objectives, as we know them so far, are pretty solidly counter to our own.

We want to build a unified front against the void. He wants every individual planetary or solar entity to operate independently.

>>1306353
He can't unappreciate what he doesn't know.

>>1306294
>Offer assistance in his activities
>Request an exchange of intelligence (write in)

You said you want the Expanse to be free from Union influence; our employer wants the same. It is ancient alien territory - or so they claim - and contains many extremely dangerous artifacts. We do not know the specifics, but according to our "employers" the Union, in their greed and arrogance, have been experimenting on them in ways that could doom us all.

The Hive believes that the galaxy will be safer if Union meddling is contained, and I believe in pursuit of that aim our goals may have some alignment. Perhaps we can work together towards this goal in the future.

However, we are mere agents of this greater organization and cannot speak for it ourselves. Perhaps you would like to speak to a representative of the hive itself, or send one of you agents to speak with one of theirs?


>Is anyone else having issues with captcha tonight?
Yeah, I'm having some problems. It banned my desktop for using a VPN (I'm not), so I had to switch to my laptop.

>>1306354
They actually aren't as much as you think. We don't actually want or need a strong Union or human empire in general.

>>1306359
Seconding

>>1306354
The void literally cannot be defeated by any coalition no matter how large, unless every single ship is 6 kilometers long and equipped with a psionic cannon.

Mundane brute force can't even dent them. And we can't let humans engage the OQ, their proxy, because that risks an enemy hive reverse engineering human tech.

>>1306354
Not all of them, just the "Humanity must expand" bit for me.

>>1306359
tHIRDING

>>1306294
>Offer assistance in his activities

>>1306359
No pitching from from mercs
They get this pitch from a speaker for it to be legit

>>1306359
Something like this, but dont make it sound so...un-merc like. It sounds like its coming from the Hive and not some hired guns looking for a few energy credits.

>>1306368
Yeah let's not. That's big picture stuff.

>>1306359
No, this dialogue is filled with "I know more than i let on"

>>1306363
the void cant, but we can. If we let the factions be fractured then the more opportunity for nowhere like events occurring without a clear situation. just as we are popping parasites into people the void could just as easily me crystallizing brain matter. Its in our best interest from a defensive standpoint to unify.

>>1306377
Thats what I was saying. It makes them sound like agents of the hive instead of contractors.

>>1306294
>Offer assistance in his activities
The path to free intel.

>>1306383
Or take them over. Which would be better than any of the other options.

>>1306383
>the more opportunity for nowhere like events occurring without a clear situation.
Can you try saying something that makes sense instead of whatever bullshit that was.

The Tartarus reactor is a fairly unique confluence of events, and the enemy won't have to repeat it with humans. The Ceph will just try to reproduce it themselves.

Why did we even send these guys here? I don't remember, it's been about a year.

>>1306409
Because we wanted to know more about the guys who tried to bust Lee out of prison.

>>1306409
They have any employer that wants Lee and I'm assuming this employer is Alder.

>>1306412
I thought Kent was the guy who want's Lee, who's Alder?

Oh i have being thinking on something, that has nothing to do with the current discussion. What are the chances that the grey Ceph being crystal sleeping agents?

>>1306412
Oh yeah sure, the Greens run a terrorist organization. Tory pls go.

>>1306418
The green lady that killing wanted dead on that station

>>1306423
Why not can you honestly say that politicians in the union wouldn't be willing to fund a few terrorist cells

>>1306426
Ah, she's obviously not connected to this group.
How is she doing btw QD?

>>1306432
Yes I'm so sure a representative elected to interplanetary Parliament would fund a guy who wants interplanetary governance abolished and thus to remove them from power.

>>1306409
This guy tried to grab Lee to use him as a inspiration to Human-Xeno groups but the Union actually used him as a escape got for the terror attack that "killed" Lee. He might be trying to get back at Union for tricking him, so finding Lee would be a good way to clean him from this incident and there was also that intel Lee had from "his friends" from the internet.

So in a disguise to try and find out who this guy was and what he wanted with Lee and avoid any Union intelligence trap. We sended our agents to meet with him.

>>1306440
As long as the terrorist is never successful in abolishing the government he's a great scapegoat for all sorts of things.

>>1306440
Always a need for deniable assets to do the dirty work

But yeah i agree this guy wouldn't work with the greens

>>1306294
>>Request an exchange of intelligence (write in)
Nothing is specific comes to mind, but intelligence exchange is pretty much the basis of all of our current alliances.

>>1306465
Well with our race being the way it is nothing anyone else has would be interesting or worthwhile. Aside planets that is

>>1306369
Yeah, I agree it needs some work. We need to make them sound a bit less interested in the politics of it. I still thinking asking them to meet with a speaker if they want to do real political negotiation is the way to go rather than have it be with middle men. Of course, it would look bad if the Hive were to be exposed funding terrorists... so we'd have to be careful not to get caught.

>>1306465
There's nothing specific we want to know that he'd have access to, and we probably don't want to reveal how good our already existing information gathering network is in human space, which is the only place he'd want intelligence from.

Talking to Deepsong Valen when?

>>1306531
Soon. Also i think we should send the Valen some kind of exotic fish. Wasn't that really dangerous Trout considered to be a exotic food? Let's send perfectly preserved eggs of the thing, so it won't hatch by accident on it's way to the Valen, as a gift for the honey.

>>1306465

Hey, hang on guys, we might be able to get them to help with the escape from the Valen Lyle and Co are working on. We need plausible deniability for human agents for that, right?

The only problems are that our clones already said they aren't working with Lyle and that this guy is paranoid enough he might be able to figure out we have the union compromised if we're trying to get allegedly Union agents released/escaped. And if he figures it out the Union might be able to too.

>>1306294
>Offer assistance in his activities
Why not help them out to earn some trust?

>Other
Offer to arrange some kind of meeting with the Hive, or as close as these guys can get.

>>1306541
Did you not read what I said? DEEPSONG NOT GEMINI.

>>1306531
Them lyle bank right?

>>1306541
Huronese Razor Trout is a common food staple for them.

>>1306557
Deepsong is where we're selling the reactors. The Valen there will be asking some interesting questions.

If our attemp to take the expanse by political means fail we can always back this guy up in the future.

>>1306558
Oh. Then forget about it then.

>>1306294
"Well as far as helping out, all we know is they have plans in the expanse that don't involve the Union." Your clone says. "I'm sure they'd appreciate anything you can do to help make things go more smoothly. They seem to be more than fond of a lot of those archeological finds out in the Expanse, I think the place is an old stomping ground of theirs, so, I guess just help get the Union out of the ancient bug burial grounds before they start haunting the place."

"I figured something like that." Kent says. "Either that or a more straightforward issue of two parties calling dibs on the region at the same time." Your clones follow as Kent makes his way to the cramped and odd smelling control room of the base. Like the rest of the place, it smells faintly of chemical laden rainwater with the occasional whiff of something far more foul, although the room also smelled of burnt rubber and fried hair, with the distinct but faint scent of spoilt meat. You begin to question their professionalism until a taidaren pokes its head from a conduit. It twitches its head frantically, shaking for a moment as if cold. Several of its whiskers simmer as it pulls out some manner of alien rodent-like creature from the depths of the wiring, its fur covered body burnt and smoking.

"When you find those things jaw-locked on the power cables you shouldn't try to eat it yourself." Kent says, the taidaren nods awkwardly, the head motion an unnatural but learned mannerism.

"Yes." He squeaks "Good advice, yes." Another two climb out of the conduits over the first one after another.

"Humans have good saying: Second mouse get's cheese."
"First get's trap!"
"We fix conduits!" They begin chirping in unison after all three have emerged from the service opening, their collective stench quickly filling the room with the smells that previously were held at bay.

"Above humans keep changing channels."
"We too clever! We change channels too!"
"Use new cables, swap with old, yes!"
"Under-humans can watch above humans do more human things."
"Boring things, yes."
"Yes!"
"Mostly."

They notice your clones and they swirl around each other, as if fighting to avoid being the one standing closest to them.

"Who is new humans?"
"Smell like above humans!"
"Too clean to trust!"
The three hiss at once. Kent lets out a harsh whistle and several clicks as he speaks over them, mixing pathian with some colloquial taidaren dialect for emphasis.

"Bad and rude! These are my guests. I invited them here on a matter of business. Behave as if the matron watches. Keep away and help." He turns to your clones. "These three are Whiphik. They're excellent electricians, despite themselves more often than not, but they tend to blunder their way to greatness. Let them know if you need any help."

cont.

>>1306566
I think we may have our claws full with Path tonight.

>>1306558
>expensive fish from human planet
>food staple

>>1306581
Okay, a staple for the wealthy ones

>>1306576
He has Tal comic relief?

This guy is awesome

>>1306576
>"Either that or a more straightforward issue of two parties calling dibs on the region at the same time."

How is this guy not a intelligence agent!!Fuck Union would be scary if this guy was helping then..

>>1306585
A.K.A most valen we'll be interacting with.
How about that Leeland crab creature as a gift?

File: david kent.gif (2.9 MB, 500x540)

2.9 MB GIF

>>1306590
>tfw to intelligent for the Union

>>1306595
That was one of the organisms I was going to suggest cloning for export to the Valen actually

>>1306590
That's just basic logical deduction on his part, anybody seeing what's going on in the Expanse would have made a similar conclusion.

>>1306576
>taidaren
these guys are great. If this is the same planet that we've been "trading" the taidarens spine-pals though, I wonder if word has leaked back to this guy about that trade yet.

>>1306576
The Gemini Taidaren matron has to be adopted by now, right? Parasites install pretty fast.

>>1306604
The Union haven't come to this conclusion what does this tell us about then?

>>1306590
Well, he could possibly be a former intelligence agent who was dis-enchanted with Union corruption and the like.

Or he may not necessarily even be a "former" agent. The Union does love its black ops and false-flag operations... I think that's very unlikely, though.

>>1306607
That would be on Gemini, these are Pathian Taidaren

>>1306610
Of course the Union realizes we are about to exert our claims over the expanse. We told them so. To their face. After flying an entire massed armada over Gemini.

>>1306610
They did, it just we scared the everloving shit out of them when the commonwealth is invading and them seeing the first sign of void god

>>1306607
I don't think so. The planet we are trading with the Taidaren is in Gemmini.

Would to love to see one of inner cabal meeting going on in the union right now

Must be a neverending series of
PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC

Given all the things that happened to the union so quickly

>>1306621
I still think adopting the Taidaren population of Gemini was a great idea and we haven't utilized them to their fullest extent.

If we ever go to war with the Union they will make life on Gemini hell with all the sabotage they could do

>>1306628
That's why I'm pissed we sent off Michael on that goose chase that nothing came out of. Could you imagine seeing Killinger's reaction the last 20 threads or so?

>>1306635
We never saw this shit coming anon.

>>1306639
No one could fuck up this bad...except for the Union.

>>1306639
Yeah, but even if we didn't completely flip the table on the Union that would have been an invaluable source of intel and insight into the council decision making process. Instead we squandered Michaels value as an agent by sending him on a mission he would fail in the ass end of the expanse. If I had any idea the mission would have lasted half as long as it did, I sure as hell wouldn't have voted for it at the time.

>>1306649
we could have meet Void cultist skyl when we found that ship in Tannhauser and we wouldn't have screwed up as bad as the union.

>>1306635
Commonwealth war :
No worries we got them by the balls

Then
Lyle hunting Op failure:
Fuck, gonna owE the whales more money but it can be fixed

Quickly:
Nowhere:
Some Egghead being a pain? whatever
FUCK WHAT DO YOU MEAN BUGS AND THE UNITY SHOWED UP
WTF HAPPENED TO THAT SERVER SHIP

OK ok we just need time to deal with this

HIVE FLEET ENTRANCE AND SPEECH TO WHOLE PLANET ABOUT THIS BEING THE LEADERS FAULT?
FUCK YA ALL, WTF WHATS GOING ON
WHERES THE EMERGENCY BOOZE AND BLOW

Lee is ambassador and shown on union boobtube:
WTF HE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, WHO ARE THESE FUCKERS

Hive fighting over path:
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE MULTIPLE BUGS

All events withing a week or so

>>1306656
Kek

File: 140052685594.png (76 KB, 698x658)

76 KB PNG

>>1306656
God dammit my sides.

>>1306656
And this is why the union is useless right now

No organizations can handle these level of fuckups happening so quickly and on multiple fronts

>>1306656
I just wish I could have seen it first hand.

>>1306670
Soon to appear:

DID YOU JUST SAY WE RELEASED THE FUCKING "THING" IN A MAJOR CITY!

>>1306676
For all we know Kent is about to help break it out.

>>1306656
I don't think the Union will be staying in once piece by the time these crises are over with

>>1306670
We could potentially handle all that shit but it wouldn't be easy.

>>1306676
Followed by

WHAT DO YOU MEAN "A STRANGE BIO-MASS" STARTED TO GROW IN THE LAB WALLS?!?!!

>>1306696
You mean whole planet yes?

>>1306706
We won't let it get that far.