Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l33tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, TheDespoiler, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, M.Mollen, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, BigGunn, Dolcett, Starwatcher, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.
Chummer: So, like I was saying, the security on those DK-1234 modules is crap. You just have to do a basic number substitution, and they fold like paper.
Blaze: Sure, if you’re facing people with dedicated hacking equipment, and if you leave the system hooked in to the network.
Chummer: What, you go stand-alone on it? For a ship’s main computer?
Blaze: Damn straight. Physical access only. I have secondary systems for outside communications. Files are downloaded, scanned, and then physically transferred to ship computers. So, anyone trying hack my ship has to be physically on board. And if that happens, I’m probably screwed already.
Chummer: OK, I can dig that. Clunky, but it works for any remote hacking attempts. At least until any of your people get lazy, and pull a hardware work-around to download direct to the ship’s computer. There’s always someone who is lazy, after all.
Blaze: Last person caught doing that found themselves walking home, from orbit, without a suit. Nasty bit of work, what with him begging as he was shown to the airlock, but everyone got the picture, and I haven’t had any problems since then.
Chummer: Fine, that will work for locals, but it just takes one Nomad who doesn’t care about a quick death for a paycheck, and boom, you’re wide open.
Blaze: Oh, had one of those, too. I took a detour to that Amazon planet, and used an escape pod to send him down. Trapped him there, since the Greenwave is still going strong there.
M.Mollen: Oh, yes, I’ve done that as well. Very good way to get rid of Nomads who are causing trouble. I consider it my version of a nonlethal death penalty, especially if they have cyberware.
Requiesce-in-Pace: ‘Nonlethal death penalty’? I’ll have to remember that one.
Starwatcher: Hey, anyone notice that several Black Star ships near Star’s Reach used X’thari drives to leave the system?
DigDug: X’thari drives? Aren’t those the ones that let you go anywhere, so long as you either start or end near a Gateway?
MacD: That’s right, DigDug. What ships were they, Star?
Starwatcher: The Shinokage, Shadowdancer, Simo Hayha, Artemis, and the ships belonging to the Second Company of the Black Star Marines. All left at the same time, in formation.
MacD: Well, that can’t be good. Any idea where they went?
M.Mollen: To where they were needed.
BigGunn: C’mon, mister cryptic. At least give us a clue, so we can be elsewhere!
M.Mollen: Fine. Don’t schedule any trips to the Tsk’neth system in the Free Worlds Alliance anytime soon.
DoYouEvenDPS?: The agri-world? I know they supply a good portion of the food for the Alliance, but why would anyone go there, except on a cargo run?
MightMakesRight: Huh, that reminds me. I have a buddy in Alliance space that says that food prices have been steadily rising lately. No one knows why, since there haven’t been any reports about things going on.
BigGunn: Y’know, there have been a lot of gunrunners making bank off agents from Tsk’neth. Maybe a connection there?
CrazyCelt: Tsk’neth? Huh. Marko, a bounty hunter contact I have, went that way, tracking a skip about two months ago. Haven’t heard from him since.
AggregatorOfSorrows: Any chance you could give us a clue on what’s going on there, Mollen?
M.Mollen: I won’t say too much, since we are still in the cleanup phase of the operation, and we would like to get it finished before any idiots show up and make me shoot them for pissing me off.
Anonymous3: So, what, you’re trying to lock people out just so you don’t have to come clean about what you’re up to?
M.Mollen: Not rising to the bait, Anon. All I’ll say is that my people heard reports of strange things happening in the system. Both the rising food prices, and the increase in weapons purchases. Oh, and stories about ships going missing. So, I had someone go check it out.
Starwatcher: Someone?
M.Mollen: I have stealth ships, and I’m not afraid to use them.
BigGunn: So, what’s going on, then?
M.Mollen: All right, without going into too much detail, there was a little ‘incident’ aboard a ship coming out of the Ihm Imperium, and it ended up drifting in Tsk’neth. The local government and megacorporation investigated the ship, and things spread. Instead of taking steps to stop the situation, the bean counters and politicians tried to cover it up, to keep their stock prices from falling.
Chummer: I’m not liking the way you’re talking about this.
Blaze: So, what happened, then?
M.Mollen: So, who here is a fan of Paccom games? Especially ones from the mid-90s. Like 1996?
Number5Alive: You’re not talking about Alley Brawler or Ultra Man 8, are you?
M.Mollen: No.
Number5Alive: Oh. Oh dear. That’s really not good now, is it?
Golddigger: Why? What came out in 1996? That was a hell of a long time ago!
Number5Alive: 1996 is when the first Biohazard game came out.
Blaze: Wait, zombies? Really? Space zombies?
M.Mollen: To put it bluntly, yes. I have taken care of all the zombies we can find in system, but there are some people who are not happy with the current corporation’s handling of the affair, naturally.
BigGunn: By ‘taken care of’, you mean…
M.Mollen: I destroyed any ship or station infected, and any body uninhabited by living sentient life was purged, with prejudice. Thankfully, the majority of the system’s population survived, but, since they were mostly slave laborers, and the corporation and government are effectively wiped out, there’s a bit of a sticky legal mess.
Starwatcher: Wait, ‘any body’? Are you talking about planets?
M.Mollen: Just one. And it isn’t a problem, or a planet, any more.
Starwatcher: Aren’t there treaties against that?
M.Mollen: No, because the senior surviving representatives of both the government and corporation are on record saying that the planet in question was no longer inhabited, and that the situation required Exterminatus.
BigGunn: Wait, Greenwave wouldn’t do shit to zombies, would it?
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Be sure to read my published works!
Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):
Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT
Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37
Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J
Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):
Volume 1 - Tutorial
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB
Omnibus 1 - Volumes 1-4
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354XBook I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL
Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y
City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):
Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1
Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):
Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF
Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR
SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RL93VQN
Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):
Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S3S3K8
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