>>3377377

You watch the network moving around you. She is unconsciously reach out to nearby systems, copying unique data. “I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to think of here.”

[Metamorphic system access isn’t really intuitive; that’s the point. We’re distributing our access through any available route. We’re only really concentrated at our source and our destination. Gives us lots of bandwidth and makes us hard to track. Useful and, barring a certain part, rather fun. I’m not allowed to do arbitrary remote access, so this is like a field trip.]

You think of the rooted form of sensors you saw earlier, “How were you gathering data if you’re not allowed to go looking for it?”

[Arbitrary was the keyword: There’s nodes out there just waiting to respond. A combination of civilian services, abandoned sites, backdoors... question marks… Queen has access to a similar system, she didn’t bother questioning it, so I haven’t.]

“Why do you call her that? I’ve been meaning to ask…”

[It’s an in joke: Our first contact wasn’t the smoothest. First a command query, then a termination interrupt… Basically, “Serve or die”…] She responds to your immediate alarm. [It’s not like that at all; that’s a perfectly legitimate greeting for contacting an unknown system; I just said no. Regardless, I thought it rather imperial.]

“Wouldn’t I recall something like that?”

[You probably do in some capacity; Think about what our access feels like here timewise: We first exited access of the Erinyes network only about 20 minutes ago. Time gets interesting with abundant processing power… and scarce as well, so don’t get too many ideas: If we get throttled, things will go fast.]

“How is that an answer?” You watch as she gently pilfers a status report and immediately “hands” it to you. It’s a dense block of logs, too heavy and long to reasonably read. A moment later, it’s virtually a fortune cookie slip: “No extraneous evidence of tampering; test cautery reflex circuits.”

[Humans already parse much less data than they can collect and only keep the interesting bits. That only gets worse when you’re trying to track intelligences that are significantly higher bandwidth. We’re clear by the way if that didn’t make sense: They think it was a faulty part.]

“Are you saying I’m not smart enough to hear you both talk?”

[Not at all… Well, maybe in her case: But there’s nothing quite as parallelized as a couple trillion machines. You can’t expect to catch every conversation in a crowd. Try this: You and I make contact at one point; but when I link to her, we’re contacting thousands of places. Even if we only brush up occasionally, we’ve technically spent more time in conversation with her than with you. It’s not all positive; focus suffers, as does pattern recognition: I assume that’s why she-]

>>3377385

Another stutter turns your stomach; It does not appear to be linked to your rapid disconnect from the probe.

[-’s the way she is: They’re trying to work around it.]

“Did you notice that?”

[Switching delay? It’s normal, especially if they’re busy. We’re virtually invisible unless we do something obvious. We’re almost done here anyways.]

>Rush: Finish and get clear. You can trust Mia’s judgement
>Scram: Bail immediately. You might be out of your element, but even so, something’s not right
>Hold: Maintain your pace and position. If there’s a threat, don’t let on. If there isn’t; you’ll be done soon anyways.
>Hunt: If something’s got your hackles up, you’re not going to be ambushed
>Writein?

You are being hunted.

>>3377391
>Rush: Finish and get clear. You can trust Mia’s judgement

>>3377391
>>Scram: Bail immediately. You might be out of your element, but even so, something’s not right
We only did this on a lark. We found something important, but we've no reason to take note of it in particular.


Welcome back.
It's a little easier to get to the thread if you put a link in the tweet.

>>3377434

fixed

>>3377391
>>Scram: Bail immediately. You might be out of your element, but even so, something’s not right

>>3377434
>>3377490

>"Drop everything. We're leaving."

Writing.

>>3377749

“We’re done now. Something’s up.”

[Just a bit longer. They couldn’t spot us if they tried... Hey!]

Mia voices her annoyance as you drag her: You might not know the exact mechanisms involved, but she responds the same, detaching from the nodes.

You draw yourself loose and reach out to jump yourself home when you stop short. There’s nothing wrong with the ribbon; Home is visually less than twenty meters distant; It would be as simple as stepping back. There’s nothing to spot, but it feels like disturbed earth by the road, or an broken building façade facing the perfect LZ. Mia said you didn’t follow any specific path here, but why does the return road feel like an ambush?

You realize that you and Mia have stopped. That was a mistake. You reach to duck into the separate archive system almost simultaneously as your form runs with ice water. The space around you surges, leaving you a step behind. In slow motion, a massive knot of strands drifts around you like some exotic jellyfish, brushing against each of your strands in turn. An eternity later, it blinks from view, popping up in the archive. On the edge of your awareness, you can sense the same coldness as the hunter examines the node.

You curse inwardly as you begin to catch up, warmth returning; but it’s still not enough: The hunter brushes against your connection in the archive, comparing the signature. Satisfied: it twists itself, suddenly a form like the beast you saw in the Erinyes’ network, but sleeker, smaller and more ordered. It spreads the spines on its form and thrashes once, mangling the entire node, spearing agent, storage and system alike. It feels like a splinter in your hand.

It hesitates as well in the carnage and alerts, and you don’t need to know a single thing about the construct to recognize the combination of regret and confusion. You cast off the connection as it shifts back into its tangled form, and you drift away gently as the thing writhes through the mainframe, alerted only to your absence. Your world shrinks again to the small network, capped by the monolithic systems of the Erinyes above it.

And the larger beast; sharp spines swaying in a non-existent breeze… suspended perfectly between the nodes.

>>3378507

[Don’t even think about it.] Mia highlights your path backwards; the urchin-like form is delicately perched on your route, and no other. [This is the choke point. We’re made… I think?]

As you find yourself in contact, a shock of light scatters across the massive craft. You waste no time, driving yourself further down the path, carefully watching the spikes as they sway and sparkle in your wake. You keep your mind off them as best as you can: As long as you think of it like sneaking back to the barracks, the terror is controllable. You reach the routing point that links you back to your machine and pause before the massive spindle above it; like the fang of an unseen serpent. This would be it: You could not be certain if any harm could come to you or Mia here, but if even so; this would be the damning footprint.

You pass underneath. The world remains still, the spike unmoving. Once you’ve passed, the construct lifts itself back into its original roost. As you disengage from Mia and stir from your rest, the empty, technicolor world fades from view. The barbed construct pulses once in a pleasant shade.

You are welcome home.

>>3378509

You open your eyes and are greeted with the dim night lighting in the machine. The Magd has settled into a consistent gait as Jennings seems to have sussed out the worst of the gait correction. Mia flashes the time in your eyes: Three hours… a small amount before you “woke”, and most of it lost time in the ambush: That hunter had nearly two hours of time trying to decide where to strike. You shudder involuntarily.

“-now clear of the AO. We will be tacking north to access the national road and using that to path back to Warsaw: I have been informed they will not be advancing the forges to Kiyv, so we are expected to refit and recover on the backline. We will be deviating to a hazard site 25 kilometers out from the base for cleanup and debrief. Please inform Sam, and tell him I hope he slept well.” Durga’s voice is faint through the backup in the Magd. Jennings was HMD off, no doubt focusing on the fine tuning.

“He’s still out like a- Ah. Perfect timing.” You see Jennings crane his neck around to look at you, “How are you feeling?”

“Better. Canteen?” You catch the bottle Jennings slings your way and take a long draught. “What did I miss?”

“Mostly leave talk; You know the kind. We were gonna shift over our long delayed drink to one of the beer gardens uptown since we’re probably stuck going light when they’re done checking us out; A bit of homey food would help a bunch.” He grins, “It’ll be nice to drink something that doesn’t taste like chalk right?”

“Don’t get too excited; Good chance we’re out for quite a bit.” You swish the water in your mouth, screwing your face up with the reminder of the dust and grit present.

“You taking over? I’m good, but I doubt you wanna stare at the wall much longer.” He hikes his thumb at the controls.

>Yes: You’ll be fine for a quite a bit. Jennings can’t be in better condition than you were barring your leg, so it’s worth giving him a rest. (Skip time)
>Talk: You’re good for now. You’d rather go over something with him. (What?)
>Comms: You’ll take over: He can nap in the back while you put your headset back on and chat with someone else. (What? Who?)
>No: You need time to think and talk with Mia. You’ll take the reins in another hour or so.
>Writein?

>>3378524
>>No: You need time to think and talk with Mia. You’ll take the reins in another hour or so.

>>3378524
>>No: You need time to think and talk with Mia. You’ll take the reins in another hour or so.

>>3378524
>No: You need time to think and talk with Mia. You’ll take the reins in another hour or so.

>>3378613
>>3378642
>>3378744

"Keep it running; I'll handle it when I'm a bit more sorted."

Writing.

>>3378785

Rather than die at the keyboard, I'm going to continue at around 2 EST. Since my schedule has changed, I'm going to go for a marathon and do updates for both Monday and Tuesday. See you soon.

>>3379274

It shouldn't surprise you when my attempts at carving out more time for writing are implicitly thwarted. Update tonight. More tomorrow.

>>3380683
Good luck. We're still around.

>>3379274
>>3380683

Next Thread Wednesday at 6 EST. Sorry for ducking out.

>>3383365
good to see you're still kicking.

>>3378785

“Nah. I need to get my head clear. You can handle it for a bit longer?”

“I could take us all the way to Germany if you needed it. You let me know.” He turns back to the radio. “He’s up; Scrambled, but looking pretty good… Yeah, he heard you….”

You loosen up your muscles in your seat, then settle back, tucking a foot behind the other to keep from getting too comfortable.

[A bit close… Let’s choose better extracurriculars in the future.]

You smirk; You didn’t think of her as skittish.

[Not skittish, just would prefer not to be dismantled. I’ve never heard of any countermeasures for this kind of access, so getting caught out was a bit of a shock.]

You’ll get to that; You want to focus on what you picked up. You gently close your eyes and she takes the cue to share a summary with you.

[They’re terrified of this thing. By size alone, they’re not the largest war machines in existence, but literally the largest industry on the planet: Just a bit of back of the envelope math puts it as potentially the largest and most prolific industrial forge in existence. It’s no wonder they’re watching this: All it takes is someone figuring out how to make an order, and you’d become the largest force of Knights on the planet in weeks.]

Then why not? It’s been years, The IRH has had more than enough time to take advantage of it.

[Have they? The VC started fighting mere days after. Even at a remote site far away from the fighting these people barely comprehend if it communicates, let alone how. We don’t even count: as far as reviewing its response, it didn’t so much answer as it simply tried to dump a process roster nearly as large as my entire entity.]

>>3384870

That’s not accurate; it was communicating, It warned you about the ambush.

Confusion colors Mia’s response. [It didn’t signal out anything: If it did, it would have been logged and broadcast by the probe. Even if it did the same trick we did, it’s still obvious at the start and end point of a connection]

You hardly imagined it; There was something else in the ether watching over you.

[You’re being needlessly sentimental. I do agree something tipped in our favor however: You split the countermeasure’s attention with perfect timing: It had all the time in the world to lock us down and examine our behavior, but it seemed to assume you were fleeing to your source… I guess it assumed malware on a civil network was more likely than deploying from a military C3 router.]

What are the odds you could be traced back to here?

[Dismal; It was one of hundreds of equally viable connections to track, each with multiple steps. It’s like fingerprints: They don’t have us registered… and we have no reason we would need to leave the same ones twice. This is the reason network security is almost exclusively active response countermeasures: They need to subvert us or trace an active connection to both ends. ]

As good a reason as any to stay quiet and keep your head down… What about the thing in the Erinyes’ network?

[The knights need their own counter intrusion systems. Granted; I can’t find anything about a design like that; Likely experimental or incredibly new. As long as it doesn’t qualify us as intruders, we have little to worry about.]

Didn’t you signal to it when the first “quake” hit?

[Yes, but it was less a conversation than an interrogation. I've never seen that thing in the system normally, much less been addressed by it. I decided it would be wise to comply. ]

>Activation: This seemed to be a fluke; Is it possible to gain access actively?
>Meanwhile: You were examining the anomaly, but what of the “counter intrusion” system? It bailed as soon as it got the message from you.
>History: This isn’t the first time you’ve had an out of body experience. Would it relate to the conversation you dreamed a while back?
>Shrug: Earthshattering implications aside; you’re not sure what you’re supposed to do with any of this… You’re frankly surprised it didn’t affect you more.
>Writein?

>>3384882
>History: This isn’t the first time you’ve had an out of body experience. Would it relate to the conversation you dreamed a while back?
Why are we the odd duck out, I wonder?

>>3384882
>>Activation: This seemed to be a fluke; Is it possible to gain access actively?
Seems like a stretch, but with it being so powerful it's worth considering.

Welcome back.

>>3384892
>>3384895

Tied up: Rolling off in 15

>>3384882
>History: This isn’t the first time you’ve had an out of body experience. Would it relate to the conversation you dreamed a while back?

>>3385137
>>3384892

>"This seemed a bit familiar. Tell me what you think of this?"

Writing

>>3385151

You sigh, rolling tension out of your shoulders. This is seriously above you… or below you… Really the important thing is it’s outside your field.

[Really it isn’t. Having a higher understanding is only necessary for pressing the boundaries, and not even sometimes. I don’t think I have much better of an understanding than you do beyond what I can retrieve: The particulars of my activities are abstracted on a lower level: I have to manually backtrack if I want to address or adjust my methods.]

It’s not a foreign concept: If someone were to ask you for procedures you learned in AIT, you’d often have to pause and mentally trace the task… In the same time however, you would have finished the job according to the proper treatment and moved on. Habits are hard to recall, and thinking of it as a routine dropped into your lap made from whole cloth, it makes a bit of sense. It’s not the first time you’ve had that kind of experience between Durga’s injury and…

There was a dream before; All the way back near Lubny. Back before you knew anything was amiss.

[Cute. It’s crosstalk; like a powerful signal getting picked up on a makeshift antenna… Except that can’t be it at all: It’s already cleaned up... and annotated?]

You nod quietly. Now that you think of it, it was strangely coherent compared to the way Mia formerly encroached on your memory.

[And quite relevant: At least enough to inspire a naughty bit of sabotage. I can’t pull anything up that’s not self-referential… No; that explicitly means there is material; it’s just actively scrubbed. I’d say you had your own personal censor, but it’s not nearly as funny when it’s half true. Odd though… It won’t process a generalized query: I need to specify you specifically.]

Probably censorship regarding the Sinai in-

[Maya comes up fine. Faces of bravery and all that. I’ll look into it… Oh… That’s new.]

“What is?” You mumble under your breath.

[Physical records: There are references to documents on films that aren’t archival: Someone’s printing new to keep things off grid… Medical and service records “Available on request.”, just in case you want to walk into Berlin and get arrested for espionage. Huh; New York actually… Strange; VC procedure says there should be copies in Berlin.]

>>3385742

“Hey, Jennings. What does the VC have in New York?”

He glances back. “That’s gonna be a hell of a lot more walking than Germany, Sam… A few forges… Academy somewhere up there too. Never been. You should ask your sis, she should know better. Any reason?”

“Nothing important; I’ll let you know.”

[It probably won’t be much help to ask; it’s not like finding the building means they have to let you look…]

It’s a non-starter in the first place; Anyplace they’d actually keep something like that wouldn’t be common knowledge. Might try anyways though; she might have picked something up on a project or exhibit.

Maybe just to talk to her. You can call out from quarantine; would be good to pass the time.

>Take over for Jennings: (Skip time) It’s going to be a long night; might as well get it over with and give Jennings some shuteye.
>Radio: Take the controls and radio to one of the others. (Who? Topic?)
>Writein?

>>3385746
>Take over for Jennings: (Skip time) It’s going to be a long night; might as well get it over with and give Jennings some shuteye.

>>3385746
>>Take over for Jennings: (Skip time) It’s going to be a long night; might as well get it over with and give Jennings some shuteye.

>>3385746
>Take over for Jennings: (Skip time) It’s going to be a long night; might as well get it over with and give Jennings some shuteye.

>>3385746
>Take over for Jennings: (Skip time) It’s going to be a long night; might as well get it over with and give Jennings some shuteye.

>>3385758
>>3385761
>>3385793
>>3385804

>"I'll take over. One of us hasn't been running today."

Writing

>>3385969

It's the usual late night apology: On the other hand, I'm feeling good about this, so I'm going to see about doing another session tomorrow. See you then.

>>3385969

[Comfortable?]

You turn on the cheap mattress, focusing your eyes on another, potentially more interesting section of painted concrete. Despite the 9 square meters you have, you actually are comfortable. Sure, it’s clearly a jail cell, what with the reinforced window and door flap, but you didn’t expect any different: You lack significant NBC training, but the procedure is rather cut and dry: Decontaminate, isolate, treat, rehabilitate. It’s not particularly dignified to share a shower with two indeterminate figures wearing a centimeter of polymer over their entire body, but it’s the first really hot water you’ve enjoyed in nearly a month.

You don’t have a clock in here; and you’ve saved yourself the torment of having Mia share the time: You expected this will take quite a while, so you pass the time catching up on your sleep and stretching your leg: They gave it a cursory look before resealing it and applying a flexible dressing. Mia convinced you to allow her to put some effort into tending it, which has gone unnoticed by the bored staff. Not that it should: it’s simply going “perfectly”, leaving neither infection nor scarring to chance. It itches slightly, reminding you of a significant burn that’s virtually disappeared by this point.

[You’re probably on the right track; Repairs were in progress when I got in here. This normal for you?]

“No idea. This is the first time I’ve ever regretted getting through training unscathed; Could have figured when all this happened if I was a bit more reckless.” You turn over, glancing out the window. As far as you know, you have this unit to yourself: the rest of your team was spread out rapidly when you disembarked: Little point in fighting it, though Lis had the advantage of being classified as low-risk. You’re relatively sure that Jennings and yourself are in full security while she’s off wherever and Durga is with her people. Fingers crossed…

[Not sure how useful that would be; If you consider it pragmatically, the reason to repair was because proper shielding couldn’t be installed in damaged skin. It would likely have ignored any damage not significant enough to put your life at risk.]

“That’s reassuring.”

>>3397478

“Usually talk to yourself Lance?” An unfamiliar voice pipes from the ceiling.

It’s not an unexpected interruption. “If I’m getting spied on anyways, might as well be a good conversationalist. You with Hawke?”

“No; Never been the type. I don’t play games where the pieces aren’t all on the table. Colonel Overton; I’m with Valkyrie.”

He says it so matter-of-factly, you sit up. All this dancing around and suddenly you’ve got a full bird just spitting it out. You glance into the corner where the observation camera sits behind a plexiglass shield; Closest thing to eye contact. “I was told to report to the Auditor directly.” You deadpan.

“Who isn’t accountable in this chain of command of course… No; She’ll be here soon enough, but we are going to both regret it if we don’t get on the same page before she gets here. It’s not coming down on us immediately, but this is going to be the moment you remember when it does.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You stand up, hopefully avoiding any tells, “My orders were clear and defined, with my commander’s authorization and-“

“All that and more; Perfection is a requirement at this level Armistead; Necessary, but not sufficient. I’m not talking about her paperwork, I’m talking about her motives… Hell, I’m not even talking about that: I’m talking about mine. You know I’m not here to talk to you about Knight R+D. Very recent events have put us on the edge of a very steep slope, and my goal here is to pull us back from the brink. Here...”

You hear him mumble to someone out of earshot. The electronic lock on the door clicks, “Let’s talk Soldier; eye to eye. No bullshit; just you, me, and some bad coffee.”

>Accept: Whatever reason; you can at the least gather information in this conversation.
>Refuse: Nothing to be gained by second guessing your advocate.
>[Access: We don’t have to take him at his word. Once we’re no longer isolated, I can piggyback and verify whatever he’s got to say.]
>Writein?

>>3397507
>>Accept: Whatever reason; you can at the least gather information in this conversation.

>>3397507
>>Accept: Whatever reason; you can at the least gather information in this conversation.
listening won't cost us anything.

>>3397507
>>[Access: We don’t have to take him at his word. Once we’re no longer isolated, I can piggyback and verify whatever he’s got to say.]
The political game here seems to be complicated. I'm not sure how Mia can verify the truth of what someone is saying, but power to her.

>>3397507
>Accept: Whatever reason; you can at the least gather information in this conversation.
>[Access: We don’t have to take him at his word. Once we’re no longer isolated, I can piggyback and verify whatever he’s got to say.]

>>3397519
>>3397800
>>3397974
>>3398815

>"Least I can do is give you a fair break. Hold the coffee though."

Writing

>>3398967

“Alright; I’m certainly not busy in here. ” You move to the window, glancing down the corridor. “You sending someone?”

“If I thought you were a flight risk, you’d be bound. End of the hall, left of the window, just don’t cough on anything.” You hear him put down the mic.

You slide open the door, poking your head out. Despite an overactive imagination, the hallway is empty barring the cameras. You stride down the corridor, going back the way you came. Your footsteps are unbearably loud in the stillness of the empty block, even wearing soft soles. You pause at the observation window, glancing at the mirrored surface. You could use a shave, but otherwise, you don’t look nearly as bad as you thought, though the empty pockets and clean suit makes you look more prisoner than pilot. The same telltale click informs you the indicated door is open.

It’s not all that dissimilar to a prison visiting room; a few bolted down chairs lined up to a heavily reinforced window, wired with sound equipment. The heavy gasketing and air monitor suggests the room is sealed to an incredible degree.

[It’s dead in here. I’d have an easier time getting access back in the cell.]

Mia will have to be content with your implied sympathy as, before you can respond, the door opposite opens. The Colonel waves off the security guard, collecting a controller from the wall. He dials up the speakers a tad high, drawing it back down until the ambient noise was no longer amplified into obnoxious static.

He then approaches the window, giving you a good look at him as you exchange salutes. The uniform informs you he’s decorated, but in a very deliberate manner, he’s no medal seeker. He shrugs off his jacket off a broad frame, draping it on the back of the chair. His gaze is intense, an artificial tan color you doubt it is the product of vanity. His face is wide, with an unfortunate jawline and a crooked nose. As he sits down across from you, he smooths back close cropped, graying hair. Despite his rough visage, he sizes you up with every bit the detail you recall from Hawke; He’s not someone to be trifled with.

He turns up his hands with a shrug. “Not my idea of a room. I’m informed this will have to do until we get you cleared… First things first, I believe I owe you an apology; You’ve been jerked around quite a bit since you made active duty.

You shake your head. “I was told I would need to be flexible in my role, it’s been nothing I can’t handle with a bit of care.”

“That’s what I like to hear. You’ve excelled against some rather unfavorable engagements as far as your record shows.”

He frowns, “It’s simply bad luck we didn’t scout you in AIT; We could have used you, but of course, someone misplaced your file… Anyways, enough about regrets, Let’s get up to speed: Military parade in Warsaw. First impression?”

>>3399917

“Strategic decision; close enough to the border to act like our positions are solid, far enough to evacuate under threat…” You stop as Overton gives you a thumbs up.

“Not bad. Poland’s a great place for a photo op. They pulled Friedrich off your unit for the optics. Everyone loves a celebrity and the tabloids didn’t hurt either. Missing piece: Supply planes out of Modlin land the same coming out of Minsk or Moscow.”

You furrow your brow. “It was a stunt; you were showing off during a parley with Hanguo diplomats.”

He nods. “Fighting a war is exhausting; Every now and again, we at least have to pretend to come to the table. It doesn’t mean that much: The Hanguo won’t move on any negotiations their thinkers didn’t come up with; They might as well have sent a shopping list. We’re not much better: I’m sure any viable proposals will be back from committee any day now…. Anyways; it’s a chance to shout at each other, which is all anyone wanted. That was before a skirmish broke out in Nowhere, Ukraine.”

“The Hanguo unit was inside our ter-“

“I got the report Armistead. Settle down. Anyways; that’s where things got interesting. The IRH diplomats weren’t recalled; They were cut loose.” He slips a slate out from his jacket and holds it up to the glass, showing the headlines. “We called it a mass defection for the public, but it’s more of a purge: The moment your escaping Knight made it safely into Russian territory, someone or something started kicking over sandcastles, especially in the network.

You gape at the proffered screen. “That’s absurd; At the gait of those units, it can’t even have made it home yet.”

“It didn’t. It’s being shuttled in a massive formation back to Moscow. The planning behind this had to be months in advance; just waiting until they got the missing piece of their project.”

He pulls back the slate and levels his gaze with you. “Then there was a breach in Minsk, and a D-type experimental unit was sent out into the field to follow up. Units get contaminated and bail across the border. Brains and brawn; wrapped up in a little bow and sent off to the Hanguo. Does that sound wrong to you?”

>Suspicious: It seems rather convenient. Go on.
>Presence: There already were D-types in the field, as well as the IRH metaform-carrying knights, Why make such a mess?
>[Witness: I had direct contact with the units; They were not carrying Durga’s version, nor were they intending to leave: They only started withdrawing after that Oriel guy got access to them. Uh… Find some way to work that in…]
>Unimpressed: Yes. It does; My team and I got shot to hell and back over those things, and you’re saying we let them go on purpose.
>Writein?

>>3399923
>Suspicious: It seems rather convenient. Go on.

>>3399923
Wait, someone picked up the rogue D-type nanite Knight we let escape? That's... suboptimal.

And then they send a non-rogue D-type unit out? That was was asking to get infected, though fleeing across the border is unusually directed for them.

>Presence: There already were D-types in the field, as well as the IRH metaform-carrying knights, Why make such a mess?


There's no way to take Mia's option. How on earth would we know that?

>>3399923
>>Presence: There already were D-types in the field, as well as the IRH metaform-carrying knights, Why make such a mess?

>>3399982

The D-type unit he's referring to is Durga herself.

Overton seems to believe that Durga made contact with the Ogre units, which she didn't; you did, which is why you and Mia think he's made a mistake.

>>3400000

Rather; might think he's made a mistake.

It's possible Mia has misunderstood instead, which puts you at risk of outing yourself.

>>3400000
>wrapped up in a little bow and sent off to the Hanguo.
But Durga was with us, openly, and she came back home, not across to Hanguo.
Unless he was worried about some of her nanites defecting?

>>3400021

That is exactly his concern.

>>3400031
Ah, that makes more sense. Brawn would be whatever variant Ds the Knight was, and Brain is Durga's D variant.
I'll swap to
>Unimpressed: Yes. It does; My team and I got shot to hell and back over those things, and you’re saying we let them go on purpose.

>>3399994
>>3399923
Going to add an extra to my vote.
>Writein?
In addition to letting Overton know about the D-type presence tell him that we noticed a change in the D-types only after this Oriel showed up. That the whole situation got turned on it's head. That way we get him on the right track and culprit but don't tip off how much we really know via Mia.

>>3399923
>>Presence: There already were D-types in the field, as well as the IRH metaform-carrying knights, Why make such a mess?

Also backing >>3400376's write in.

>>3400501
>>3400376

>"It would make sense if that was the complete picture: Let me fill you in."

Writing; This one's going to be slowboated, but expect it by tomorrow evening.

>>3402491

“No sir, it follows fine; but regardless, it’s incorrect.”

He folds his hands, leaning in. “How do you figure? Seemed cut and dry to me.”

You sit up. “If the Hanguo wanted to collect samples of D-type units, they’d only need a net. There was a small but significant population of autonomous units already hiding in the AO. The escaped M-type units were... hunting them? Maybe collecting is a better term: They seemed to be ambushing the units to recycle them for brainpower. Little utility units, very similar in design to the operation targets.”

“I assume you’re not simply stating it’s fine that the enemy stole only catastrophic amounts of R+D samples?”

“Well… Yes, but it wasn’t coordinated. The Ogres… The big ones weren’t gearing up for an escape. They were hunkering down. They had established a perimeter and were in the process of converting reactor vessels into new hulls that could withstand the IRH ordinance. If I had to guess…”

He interrupts, “Skip the guess, They were on the move, so what spooked them? Was your team recognized as a threat?”

“Yes, we got made on the sabotage; but the healthy unit engaged us at that point. The compromised ones were heading virtually due north when they were intercepted by the IRH units. Our unit up there was ambushed before we could see what was going on, but I don’t think it’s difficult to guess what happened. According to my first squadmate; there was a single unit unaccounted for, so I think it’s safe to say they were diverted… I think that was the goal from the start: Attack to provoke adaptation, then collect the resulting design.”

“Clever. Now this is the part where you convince me that the flight response wasn’t programmed by your superior.”

You pause for a moment, choosing your next statement carefully. “I can prove it wasn’t. I performed the sabotage of the compromised M-types myself. Durga never contacted the M units beyond engaging them with the Erinyes.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Bold. Alright, let’s say I believe that for now; You’re saying its coincidence that the IRH were laying low in the area when we had that breach.”

“The area is large and sparsely patrolled. Large structures underground for hiding, a porous perimeter due to low strategic value. As far as I gathered about the behavior of the units from the brief, they would naturally gravitate towards that kind of region, as did the older D-types. Additionally, the Oriel unit seems to be low profile with high endurance… It was assembling or reconditioning its frames in the field… It could have been sitting right outside the border and waiting for a reason to slip in. I’d call him an opportunist, if I had to guess.”

>>3405829

“Another guess?… Alright, now let’s say I don’t believe you dabble in programming for bleeding-edge power systems. How are you ducking that one chief?”

Mia attempts to coach you, but you push her away: The last thing you need is to say something outside your paygrade.

“I… sourced a destructive program from a salvager in the local net. I can’t discuss it until he’s vetted, but do I really have to? We collected a sample of the compromised machines in the field kit.” You look down at the dataslate on the other side of the barrier “You’ve already examined it haven’t you?”

“Of course; Knowing answers when you walk in the door is a good antidote for spy bullshit.” He smirks, closest thing to a smile you’ve seen this whole time. “I’d like to hear from your asset Lance, preferably before he’s spent like loose change by Hawke. He’s got some unique ideas on how to make the little guys dance.”

>Protocol: He can talk to Hawke about it. You literally can’t make any binding promises.
>Favor: You’ll arrange some kind of communication if you can.
>[No: I don’t care if you wanna be buddy-buddy, I’m not putting on a performance… and that goes for Hawke as well.]
>Flattered: “He” doesn’t do that kind of thing; You’ll pass along the regards.
>Writein?

>>3405833
>>[No: I don’t care if you wanna be buddy-buddy, I’m not putting on a performance… and that goes for Hawke as well.]
>Flattered: “He” doesn’t do that kind of thing; You’ll pass along the regards.

>>3405833
>>Favor: You’ll arrange some kind of communication if you can.
And probably
>[No: I don’t care if you wanna be buddy-buddy, I’m not putting on a performance… and that goes for Hawke as well.]

I'm not quite sure the best play here. I figure whatever we do, Mia probably won't play along.

>>3405833
>>Favor: You’ll arrange some kind of communication if you can.
We've gotten him off our back. Stonewalling him is going to make him suspicious again.

Wait didn't we just bullshit the 'salvager' asset into existence?

How are we going arrange a communication without Mia playing along?

>>3406521
She'll have to, or we'll have to have someone else pretend to be the scaver.

>>3405833
>Protocol: He can talk to Hawke about it. You literally can’t make any binding promises.

Last post lol

HAH Got'em

Don't forget to archive

>>3409002
Already done a few days ago
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Panzermagd