NiNES: A Broken Galaxy

Luckymoose said:

Well you can keep reusing things made by other people while everyone else is creative and helps make new things.

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Yes.

tenchar

Niklas said:

Really scary! I could really hear those inner screams, very nasty.

48 h to deadline, 1 set of orders in.

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Some people should answer their goddamn diplomacy, even if its just to say no

OOC: Diplomacy all responded to. Time for a story!


Timas Minell stood at the podium deep in the bowels of Huris' primary governmental complex, formerly the headquarters of the IG Corporation's Hurisian Branch. The podium was at the center of a semicircular chamber. The elected Senators all sat in uniform desks, radiating outwards from the podium.

Timas Minell was the first and thusfar only President of the Democratic Autarchy of Huris. Prior to the revolution, he had been a minor factory worker (officially) and a conspirator and revolutionary (unofficially). He had actually been the leader of one of the later factories to join the revolt against the IG Corporation, a fact which had often jeopardized his political career.

Following the revolution, he had become one of the most vocal advocates of the Democratic Autarchy government form. Its success had brought on his success, and the first democratic elections saw him elected, not so much due to his policies (which were, if nothing else, simple and pragmatic) as to his being a well-known figure and renowned debater. His main rivals were, naturally, other revolutionaries; often with more impressive war records than him. Their defeats were due primarily to a mixture of vote-splitting and more radical policies.

Minell was a rather ordinary-looking middle-aged man, who could at some times seem very youthful and enthusiastic, and at others old and experienced. His wiry frame gave him an illusion of height, which in truth was slightly below average.

At this time, the President stood at the podium deep in the bowels of Huris' primary governmental complex, formerly the headquarters of the IG Corporation's Hurisian Branch. The podium was at the center of a semicircular chamber. The elected Senators all sat in uniform desks, radiating outwards from the podium.

"This Senatorial Session is now called into order." announced Minell. The sounds of speech, ranging from idle chatter to involved discussions on matters of state died down.

"Firstly, matters of foreign interest: The Shuurai-Nekomi war continues, with no recent combat as far as our intelligence services can ascertain. Also, contact has been made with another spacefaring power, identifying themselves as the 'Emergents of Providence'. Their technological development is, frankly, extremely impressive. Not even Shuurai has redeveloped so much. I am working to set up a mutually profitable trading relationship with the 'Emergents' as they are referred to in shortened form."

A pleasant applause was interrupted by someone who was, according to the screen built into Minell's desk, Farlas Charoni, Senator from the Sivev region near the southern pole of Huris.

"I assume this 'trading relationship' entails the introduction of more one-sided trading relationships with foreign powers then, President?"

"It's better than those Corporate Shuurai-" started another Senator.

"Enough!" exclaimed Minell. He had the official power to verbally silence a Senator if he wished to do so, but it was generally a poor PR move, and elections were only a few weeks away. On top of that, he loved a good verbal spar with the Senators.

"Speak, Charoni."

"President, Huris simply cannot continue to be technologically dependent on other powers. It reduces our independence, atrophies the capacities of our own technologists, and pours huge amounts of our economy into other nations, causing a vicious cycle of dependence. To prevent corporate domination from reaching us again, or even domination from these 'Emergents' we must remain self-sufficient."

Timas Minell managed to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. How many times had he needed to answer this question?

"Senator, the amount of money we give to others is a pittance compared to the costs of creating our own advanced research systems. And despite your statement about our technologists, Huris has never had those in any large number. Those who do work for us specialize in adapting technologies for our own use. There is not waste of talent or brain drain here. Huris is a world of wealth and industry, not of technological innovation. We cannot simply continue doing what we do today AND add a colossally expensive system of research. Huris is the fastest-expanding nation we are yet aware of. We are colonizers and skilled producers. In the future, this will bring us the wealth needed to support these programs you want, Senator Charoni. Until that day comes, I will continue my policies as I have for all of my presidency."

Minell took a deep breath, something which he had not been able to do for some time during his monologue. Senator Charoni repeated his points, but after failing to find anything new to add, retired from the debate in silence. The majority of the senators applauded the President's commitment, the silenced again.

"I believe that should conclude our details of foreign affairs. Does anyone have anything they would like to add? No? Good. Now, for adjustments of domestic policy from last year..."

"so, Project Excelsior Begins. Let's try and keep it under wraps this time people."

"I don't think we can sir. I mean, It's currently visible from the planets Surface, and Its Only 25% finished."

"It is?"

"Sir, yes, it is."

"Drat. Ah, well. How Gose the Re-activation of the Original Yamoto?"

"Quite well, though Shuurai Is strangely Claiming it was already destroyed by them."

"when they actually destroyed the 'Celeste' which was the seconded prototype. Yes I know. not much we can do about that. how Gose Project Chronos?"

"Thanks to those Beacons Shuurai keeps sending through the warp gate, we have Located the Kapteyn transit Area with 60% certainty, compared to the 40% certainty we had previously. we have begun moving the orbital defenses and the-"

*KREPBB*

"what the heck was that?"

"It came from.. Ah, I see. Mr. President, It appears we have a bug. Perhaps it is time for another personnel review?"

*CRACK*
[SIGNAL LOST]

The best misspelled word: Gose.

Cleric said:

The best misspelled word: Gose.

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Worst smiley ever. I'm sorry but Gose made me lol.

Cleric said:

Worst smiley ever. I'm sorry but Gose made me lol.

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My apologies

since it makes you so happy....




*ahem*





lol




happy?


EDIT: all done with the spam

“Try inverting the polarity.”

“That never works.”

“Reverse it then?”

“… OK, now that might work.”

“Solid state medium is coping.”

“You know, I’ve honestly never understood why we can’t just scale-up the design; we already have these functional hand-held laser weapons and all, why can’t we just make them bigger?”

“It’s because of the scaling; smaller effects become more visible, you get quantum fluctuations in the solid state matrix and so on—like we are now.”

“Yes, yes, but what I’m saying is that if we can make it work on the small scale how is it just all that much more difficult to get it to work on the large-scale? I mean, look at those MAG-Rifles and the ship-based railguns, they’re the same damn thing, one’s just bigger than the other. Are you going to honestly tell me it took the same amount of funding to work out the economies of scale on that one as it did to come up with the methodology in the first place?”

“Solid state medium is fluctuating, however no danger of criticality.”

“You’re right, the research paradigm is just totally bogus and you’re the most clear-sighted person since von Neumann.”

“I’m just saying that it should be a lot easier to get this weapons system working when we already know the fundamentals of creating a laser-weapon in the first place, not a monolithic undertaking of corporate resources. And who says ‘bogus’ these days anyway?”

“I do, clearly. Didn’t you know it was back in vogue?”

“No, I thought ‘heavy’ was the—”

“Solid state medium showing strain, verging on criticality.”

“The casings on the lateral flux capacitors are starting to melt! Turn it off!”

“Recommend research faculty evacuate testing center.”

“It’s under control! Just reverse the polarity again and interplex the amplifiers grid to stop the interference with the free-electron beam!”

“That’s a bullfeathers solution and you know it! It’ll just turn the thing into a bomb!”

“Closing blast doors and decoupling power supply in twenty seconds. Recommend research faculty evacuate testing center.”

“Can somebody shut that damn AI up already?”

“Working on it…”

“Listen, even if it goes off, we just lose the prototype, we’ll be fine.”

“Isn’t that enough of a loss?”

“Decoupling power in ten seconds.”

“Goddamnit, I run this lab, it’s my authority, now do it!”

“… fine, reversing polarity and interplexing amplifiers…”

“Decoupling power in five seconds. Four…”

“Shut the damn thing down already!”

“I can’t, sir, its overriding manual controls, keeps going on about safety protocols.”

“We are safe!”

“Two…”

“Solid state medium is compensating! Power levels are climbing!”

“Power consumption normalized, aborting decouple. Manual control returned.”

“The casings are on fire!”

“Shoot the damn thing already, while we have the chance!”

“Firing.”

“…Hot damn did you see the hole it put in the test plate?”

“Get me an extinguisher for these damn casings!”

“Who the hell says ‘hot damn’ either?”

“Shut up and backup the data recordings already, would you?”

[END RECORDING]

My orders are sent, which means no more negotiating and haggling, sorry. Global Nexus and germanicus, the offer from my PM stands.

Story may come later today.

Orders Sent. Deals Are included Lord Iggy, Global Nexus, and germanicus. If you include the offers in your Orders, they will go through, since I Included them in my own.

The moving object was a tattered football. Mindful of the possibility of puncturing or rupturing an interior wall (even with vacuum suits, it was good to have spare air around), Blue Eight nailed it with a Quickset round. Five pellets hit the nearby wall and floor, two the football, and burst to release a dozen sticky threads which locked the football down. Probably overkill.
"Blue Nine, scope the area."
"Way ahead of you, Six. Metascope's tagged the area, there's something approaching. It appears to be a cyborg."
Blue Leader sat at an unnamed private's computer, oblivious to what was going on 'outside' as he browsed for useful files.
"Blue Six to Gaia Station, we have a bogey. Please watch our data channels for anything suspicious."
"Naturally."
"Cyborg approaching."
"Blue Four, you've got weapons and UV, go and meet it."
"Right-o. There had better be a combat bonus for me in this."
Blue Four trundled over towards the highly immobilized football, an electric stunner and a Quickset gun at the ready. He pondered the silence with which the thing was approaching. He leaned forward as he came within the last few meters and caught his first glimpse of what had kicked the football.
It started with a pair of what appeared to be metal foot-bones and two segmented columns of metal protruding up from each of these to about the height of a knee. The metal was thinner than bones, and strips of flesh which appeared oddly preserved hung all about the robotic joints, as though rot had set in and then ceased, and then the rotten flesh had been surgically stripped away. From the knees, brownish-yellow bones of the normal human type extended backwards, somewhat more flesh on these, into an unidentifiable lump where a few wires protruded here and there, and rhythmic beats suggested that whatever this was, it was alive.
"HALT AND IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" Blue Four shouted at the top of his voice. This was probably an ex-military, and might respond to the familiar hailing challenge.
"Private Roger Jenkins, sir! Fifth command unit of the SS Jared!" replied the dragging lump, but it didn't stop. As it drew closer, Blue Four saw the mess that constituted the thing's upper body. Some wires and some flesh on the skull, the chest in ruins. There was no way it could breathe, let alone speak.
"Might be an imitator." Four called to the team. "I said Halt and identify yourself!"
"Private Roger Jenkins, sir! Fifth command unit of the SS Jared!"
"Halt or you will be fired on."
"Four, can you challenge it once more? I've got a reading on the metascope. Might be a speaker."
"Will do, Six. Unknown unit, halt and identify yourself!"
"Private Roger Jenkins, sir! Fifth command unit of the SS Jared!"
With two metascopes knowing what to look for, it was obvious now that its response was programmed. The order to fire was given - the Quickset round came out alongside a short pulse - the thing dropped even deader than it had been before - the team tensed to see if it would begin moving - additional Quickset rounds were fired to lock it into place - some remote diagnostics confirmed that the thing was dead - and Blue Two took a claw and began poking at the thing, his data capture unit recording every second. It gave up its data far more willingly than the computer where Blue Leader was now finding a set of tourist holographs of the pleasure planet Capella. How ironic.
"Ex-cyborg. He must have tried to shut himself down when the Scourge hit. Some basic systems preserved, including an answer routine, probably for answering superiors when he was drunk and couldn't talk straight."
"Black hell, he must have been wandering around this derelict for years! And every single moment while the research team was aboard too!"
"We can’t discount that he was activated by the research team."
"What the hell has he done to his mouth?"
"Hell, there's a sentient survival program in here. I can see a reference to a brain backup, but it's gone. In case of near-death, it looks like his cyborg part was supposed to go dominant and back up his brain for later. Crazy bugger. As for his mouth - looks like he's been eating everything else on the ship. That explains why there aren't any corpses in this area."
"NA NA NA not listening!"
"Here's the cleanup brush too. Don't worry, he couldn't have taken on anything larger than a mouse. Purely a scavenger mechanism."
"All right. Since Blue Leader is still away, I'm officially taking command. Blue Nine, metascope everything you can and send it in a homing pack. Eight, Nine, Three, get this thing out of here. Drag it back to Gaia in a container. The rest of us will try to secure the area."

"Two weeks' warning before they fire me and I can't find a job anywhere? Don't say it, I'll have to get a government job of some sort, won't I?"
The woman's computer complied and did not say that, or anything else.
"I suppose there's some kind of economics lesson to be had from this. Military team finds a broken cyborg on the Cygni Derelict, military recruitment goes up, everyone with even the smallest implant gets fired. Figured. Just like ten years ago, I got quarantined by the officials for no good reason."
The complainer had a small data repository in the back part of her skull, added over twenty years ago. Since its only function was to store and retrieve her memories with better recall than what she would normally have had, she hadn't had to worry about the Scourge, but had been quarantined anyway due to the presence of a biomechanical implant. It held even less risk than a prosthesis, since it didn't have any sort of control.
"Okay, say it. Let's see what the government has available... public relations, nope, I'll get thrown out of there too. Filing clerk, never. Programmer, maybe. Skip this, let's go to the last section, these jobs suck. Incentive payment to go to Alpha Centauri, that would be nice. What's the size of it? Hmm. About three months of what I've been earning recently. Prices there would probably be higher, though. I could go on explorations there and memorize everything I see. Definitely a possibility - that and Chara, which I suppose is a nice place to go, but with less money."
She ruminated for a while on the idea of taking a subsidial grant to move to Alpha Centauri permanently. It wasn't as though she had anything better to do here or even a job, not once Tuesday rolled around. She continued to read the offers aloud, weighing each in turn.
"Test subject for radiation control. Let's see, they've got a project to diminish radiation and they want human volunteers for the final stage of testing. No thank you. Let's look at the normal jobs again. Simulation programmer. Simulation tester. Simulation debugger. Simulation hostile strategy composer. Simulation - this has got to be a joke, they can't seriously want a 'Tactial Combat Simulation Combined Glitch, Goof, And Incongruity, Watcher'. It's not even grammatical. Back to the last section."
The reason for the popularity of the combat simulations was that retired servicemen from the Fleet, and some not so retired, had begun spreading word of the simulations to the general public, at the same time as hackers had begun designing their own, and now the military was planning to increase its funding by designing variant simulators and selling them to the general public with Military-Grade Certification ®.
"Special offers. Bugger the CD, I'm not going near the ship that got me fired. Security and intelligence professionals wanted. Hmmmm. Very interesting. Let's see the details... this would be the intelligence agencies Churchill was talking about a few months ago. Odd that they're hiring publically. Hehe, they want 'good conversational, visual and spatial memory'. Should be easy, if only I can get these witnesses of good character that they want. Educational marks - computer, Command: Compare these required educational marks to my educational marks."
One week later, she was officially in the employ of the recently founded Emergent Security, Intelligence and Preservation Agency (ESIPA), while also 'officially' having taken a subsidial grant to move to Alpha Centauri. Who said you couldn't have your cake and eat it too? Life was looking up.

<23 h to deadline and 5/11 orders in.

Extracts from the 1st Edition ESIPA Public Handbook
These samples are being released in the interest of public scrutiny of the Emergent Security, Intelligence and Protection Agency (ESIPA).

Chapter 1: Introduction
ESIPA was founded shortly after the assassination attempt on President Nicholas Churchill. Its stated purpose is:
"To advance the interests of the Emergents of Providence, these hopefully being aligned with the interests of humanity, through covert means and through preventing the use of harmful covert means by other factions."
The ESIPA, like any government agency, has an official recruiting agency. This means that you, too, can be a spy. But be warned: Being a spy isn't all it's cracked up to be. Most likely, it will mean being sent to a system you didn't particularly want to go to, announcing to everyone that you're there to keep an eye on them, and sending regular reports back home that absolutely nothing is happening that you're aware of. If you're still intent on joining, turn to chapter 2. If you want to know more, continue reading.

Chapter 2: Joining the ESIPA
ESIPA has operatives in the following factions: Magistracy of Capella, Shuurai J&#363;k&#333;gy&#333;, Nekomi. In the near future, agents will likely be introduced to Norsk Automated Mining, the Colonial Federation of Sezuren, Furia, and the Democratic Autarchy of Huris. Meanwhile, here are the things you should take into account if you intend to apply for a job at ESIPA.

• Going to Capella: As the Capellans are a highly sensual people with a caste system based on beauty, you must be tolerant of diverse sexual practices, satisfy a minimum appearance requirement, and be willing to quickly laugh off any insults you may receive.
• Going to Epsilon Eridani: Current inhabitants of Shuurai are all considered expected to be stakeowners in the megacorporation that was Shuurai Heavy Industries and is now an interstellar government. You must have some business skill or a reasonable amount of seed money to invest, preferably both, and you must familiarize yourself with the rights and regulations associated with being a stakeholder.
• Going to Sirius: It is highly preferable if you are willing to accept felinoid genetic grafts such as large claws or ears. At the very minimum you must remember that you will see these on a daily basis. You should also be familiar with the Nekomi concept of "kami".

Chapter 3: Visible ESIPA Agents
Opennness and value can be as good a defense as secrecy and counterespionage. If you run an excellent business on a foreign world, are an upstanding citizien, and the people of another faction love you, their government will be partially blocked from moving overtly against us. If they attempt to move covertly against us, so much the worse if they are discovered.
Most such ESIPA agents are also of direct use to the Emergents of Providence as a whole in their capacity as traders, diplomats or the like.

Chapter 4: ESIPA's dark side
Until such time as humanity is united again and the ESIPA, along with all other agencies, is reduced to a simple police force, it may be required to undertake operations in other factions which are illegal both there and under our own laws. When possible, these are carried out by hired locals of said faction, and permission to bypass laws is sought or fast-tracked from the government in question, which is usually willing to turn a blind eye if the ESIPA can plausibly state that the Governancy would have launched sanctions had a target continued to operate. However, you may be called on to commit crimes for the greater good. Remember the Chapter 1 mission statement - ESIPA is to attempt to advance the interests of the Emergents and the interests of humanity simultaneously, and criminal missions are never carried out lightly.

The 1st Edition ESIPA Public Handbook is available from your local book retailer, or can be ordered directly from the Governancy Publications Institute for only 34 credits.

((OOC: ESIPA was invented here. Also, "factions we have agents in" is the same as "factions we have active trade with", since those are in range. ))

Going to Epsilon Eridani: Current inhabitants of Shuurai are all considered stakeowners in the megacorporation that was Shuurai Heavy Industries and is now an interstellar government. You must have some business skill or a reasonable amount of seed money to invest, preferably both, and you must familiarize yourself with the rights and regulations associated with being a stakeholder.

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OOC: Actually, they're not. It's an opt-in system, not a given. Who gives away stock for free? Even employees must choose the option in lieu of pay, or purchase stock seperately with such funds.

Also, there is the problem of our security forces currently having orders to vaporize whosoever comes through our gates unannounced, should they not send an RSVP. One does not merely jump into Epsilon Eridani...

Symphony D. said:

One does not merely jump into Epsilon Eridani...

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You need like an army of ninjas...and ummm wizards. Ninja Wizards! Maybe some bears too...that shoot laser beams out of their eyes.

Shuurai researcher said:

"The capacitors are on fire!"

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Lurker's Comment: Anything "on fire" is automatically funny.

Public Service Announcement:

Due to recent &#8220;situations&#8221; in and around Huntington Park and the surrounding neighborhoods, we ask that the local residents please follow these simple guidelines:

-Do not tarry outdoors after sundown

-Do not venture past the outskirts of the city

-Do not investigate wrecks or anything &#8220;shiny&#8221;, regardless of how tempting they may be

-Do not play with chainsaws and any other weapons you may happen to find lying around the outskirts of the city

-Do not fraternize with cyborgs you do not know

-Do not randomly flick light switches on and off

-Do not associate with those that foam at the mouth

-Do not get any ideas from the terminator video films of the late 20th century

-Do not put whipped cream in your mouth, tear your clothes, walk with a hunched back, breathe heavily, and wander around in your local convenience store&#8230;or anywhere for that matter

-Radioactive waste is not for toddlers

Thank you, this public service announcement was brought to you by the Leftover Scourge Department (LSD) and the Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Have a nice evening

Nylan said:

-Do not investigate wrecks or anything “shiny”, regardless of how tempting they may be

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XD You win ten pirate points. Must sleep now, repeated electric shocks are tiring. Speaking from experience capacitors on fire are not funny.