Frozen Soul, and other works: Prologue

(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, M.Mollen, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l44tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Lord_Kickass, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, Dolcett, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

CrazyCelt: Damn, this civil war thing is making it nearly impossible to do business in the Empire.

Chummer: What do you mean, CC?

CrazyCelt: I’ve been trying to set up a leatherworking shop out on one of the planets near the Ihm border, creating designer leathers that have good in-game effects, for when people want some protection without looking like they’re wearing body armor. Standard crafter gig, right?

Chummer: Yeah, pretty much the standard thing crafters do in any game. So what’s the problem?

CrazyCelt: With the way the war has disrupted supplies throughout the empire, I can’t reach the markets like I used to, and I’m limited to the supplies I can get on the planet I’m on, which is great for hides, but the local fauna’s meat is toxic to humans, though it makes good fuel, and this is a swampy world, so food and medical supplies are the primary imports. I’ve been eating soypaste rations for the last month, and haven’t had coffee in god knows how long!

Bennie: So in other words, you’re pissed because you can’t get coffee or good food without leaving your hunting grounds.

CrazyCelt: Damn straight I am!

Inquisitor: Well, from what I’ve seen, the war is likely going to end before too long, anyways.

DarkAngel: Well, the rebels certainly seem to be winding up for the final blow, but I doubt the AI cult is going to just go quietly into the night.

Dolcett: Damn, did you see the footage of the Alpha Centauri battle? I never thought about using the Gateways as indirect fire platforms!

SemiSolidSnake: But how did they target them? You can’t get return scans through the gate, so they would have been firing blind, and the ‘brains’ of those missiles aren’t smart enough to form attack patterns like we see in the footage, breaking up to take on their targets.

MajorTom: Same as when you use cruise missiles from over the horizon in RL. You have someone paint the targets closer in.

M.Mollen: You have to admit that it had the value of never being tried before.

DarkAvariel: I should have known you’d be involved in this.

M.Molen: Of course! Do you know of any other stealth ships attached to the rebel forces? We had to go the ‘slow’ way, of course, to set up for the attack, but once we were there, it was simply a matter of the Empress’s forces opening the gate and firing the missiles through until the missile pods were dry.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Well, that definitely was a solid play. So what’s next for the rebels?

M.Mollen: As if I’d give away secrets on an open line! But, honestly, anyone who doesn’t know that there’s going to be a battle in Sol space is a damn fool. How that battle’s going to shape up? No clue.

Anonymous9: Has anyone noticed that Imperial forces all along the borders, except with those around the Confederacy or the Gateways, have basically been stripped to the bones? It is a smuggler’s dream right now, if you’re looking to get goods (or people) in and out of the Empire without official notice.

Backlog: We’re talking about a ton of ships, there. Where did they all go?

Parca: Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.

Backlog: Oh. Oh god, this battle is going to be HUGE!

Anonymous3: You know, depending on how things go, we might walk out of this with the Empire getting conquered if the Confederacy or Imperium start getting in the mood to redress old grievances.

Hullu_Kapteeni: That is part of the reason the Empress is trying to end this quick, and may or may not have opened her own channels to the Confederacy, at least, to ensure that her brother’s bad choices don’t destroy the empire after she’s finished disciplining him.

l44tpally: You say ‘disciplining’, but I’m hearing ‘shooting him until it stops being funny’.

Guardian: Aren’t they the same thing? Remember, this idiot sold himself to the AI for a version of immortality. You can shoot him again and again because the dead horse keeps coming back to life!

M.Mollen: Well, until someone finds and blows up whatever facilities are used to make that happen.

MajorTom: You have a job for us, then?

M.Mollen: Maybe. A few things have been brought to my attention, and some of them will need the special care of the Black Star Marines.

MajorTom: Hoorah.

HaveGunsWillTravel: Boss? What is this message we just got from the offices back on Dimiya?

M.Mollen: Oh, that was just Requiesce-in-Pace giving us a heads up that someone’s decided to take a hit out on me, and they called in the big guns.

Requiesce-in-Pace: A measure of respect given, to show it isn’t personal. Strictly business.

M.Mollen: Yup. Don’t expect me to just lay down and let you kill me, now, but as long as it doesn’t get personal, that’s just part of the game.

MacD: You’re awfully blasé about someone putting a hit out on you.

M.Mollen: Remember who you’re talking to, here. I’ve had people gunning for me since I left Luna, and the numbers have only gotten higher. Travis STILL has a bounty of half a million on my head if someone can bring me to him alive.

Guardian: Fortunately, we have been moving around a lot, so it is hard for bounty hunters and assassins to get a bead on us, which is why I guess he isn’t too worried.

Requiesce-in-Pace: Yes, that was a rather large difficulty when it came to our mission planning. To successfully assassinate someone, you have to be able to either catch up to them, ambush them where you know they’ll be, or force them to come to you. M.Mollen is surprisingly difficult to plan for, even with him being a streamer.

GunKitty: You can’t plan for crazy.

Guardian: True.

Requiesce-in-Pace: Indeed.

M.Mollen: You make it sound like I’m some kind of lunatic.

Bennie: Yes.

HaveGunsWillTravel: Well…

Parca: Have you looked at some of your ‘battle plans’?

AggregatorOfSorrows: Hahaha!

GrimDark: They seem to have your number, M.Mollen.

M.Mollen: Fine, see how that affects things, come bonus time!

ElfMama: Ooh, M.Mollen uses ‘Angry Boss’ attack! It is super effective!

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