eh, hatred gets you nowhere. and unlkike many other things that get you nowhere, it isn't even fun. so don't bother with it- it's a useless emotion.

tell the marshall you need to catch a ride offworld.

Considering you can't hate Mint for shooting Fuze despite us seeing her do it, unlike you, I can't see you hating these people.
You are a horrible commander, Oken, and you should go fellate Arclite's cannon.

Time to get your people in line, no matter how much you hate the guilders fighting will only be counter-productive at this point.

>>394911
"Stow it, you two. Picking fights gets in the way of business."

>>394911
"Everybody, please, despite our feelings for one another, this is neutral ground. Neutral ground is sacred, it's where the the most hated of factions can be allies for a small bit for mutual gain. And that's pretty awesome Please, don't tempt aggressive behavior and dismiss the value of mutual gain, Arclite and both Hoft and Fuze. And this is not either of ours domain, it is the Marshall's, let's respect that for now. Though, Arclite, our last deal didn't have much of a mutual gain. Did not appreciate that enslavement clause. Not a bit."

>>394911
Stand up on the cushion to make yourself taller than everyone who's not an astranian sitting down and shout "EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" while holding your little hands up.

>>394913
Well hatred is kind of enjoyable in a perverse way. Its just also horribly impractical.

Have a hat party. Only people with hats are allowed, everyone else has to leave.

Oken 2012/03/23(Fri)16:55 No. 395277 ID: f72f26
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Oken:"Evereybody Please stop fighting, this is neutral ground where we put aside war and all that. Fuze, Hoft I know the Guilders enslaved us and all that and that was totally not cool, but we're going to have to deal with that later on our own time. As for now we should be respectful to the Marshal and the other Solars they run this town so we should act proper and all that."

Arclite grabs one of the bottles and sits down.

Fuze: "Forgive me Oken, I spoke out of turn."

Hoft: . . .

Droegen: "huh you're a Dorau if I'm not mistaken, didn't realise there were any of you left . . . You aren't a pilot by any chance?"

Kushkron: "Marshal, stop stalling, why did you bring us here?"

Droegen seems to ignore the guilder and continues to stare at me as if awaiting a response. Hoft mumbles to himself."

Hoft: "where the hell did Mint run off too?"

>>395277
Sigh
"Yes, I'm a pilot, and if you know that I'm not sure I like where this is going..."

You're not just a pilot. You're Ace Pilot Oken!

Get really worried about Mint all of a sudden. Her mean, stubborn, prideful and harsh type will probably get herself killed! She needs your help Oken! Tell the Marshall to keep an eye out for her. She's one of the most skilled of us, so if she gets hurt by other third parties, it would be terrible to lose such skill!

man, fuck that Mint. she's being all weird again. it's not even remotely surprising she shot Fuze.

yes, you're a pilot. THE BEST THERE EVER WAS

Oken 2012/03/24(Sat)12:34 No. 395515 ID: f72f26
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I-I can't help Mint now, she'll have to make do on her own were ever she is.

Oken: "Yeah, I'm a pilot; Ace Pilot Asnia Oken!"

Droegen: "thought so, You're Masoro's kid."

Oken: "you knew my father?"

Droegen: "everyone who was anyone knew Masoro Oken, he made it his mission to try and convince the most influential people of our time, the fact that he chose to include me in all that is flattering. Your father was truly a remarkable being"

Oken: "My father was an idiot, a coward and a traitor he's only worth remembering as a lesson on how to live your life entirely wrong!"

The marshal seems stunned by my accurate representation of reality. when he finally speaks there is a strange tiredness in his voice.

Droegen: " . . . I suppose every now and then the apple does fall far from the tree."

"the tree's gone, landing anywhere is far from it"

yeah, complaining about your parents to non-relatives... not a road you wanna go down.

so, was he going anywhere with this line of questioning?

>>395515
Wait, no, ask him what he means, your father died when you were young, right? Ask him about your father. Tell him all that you know about him, and see if that's right.

Your view of your father might not be right.

Augh, Oken you make me so mad. So mad that I made a unreadable post of expletives that the suggestion inside can't even come out.
You apologize, you apologize right now. I don't care how you feel, you stomach those feelings like a real soldier and fighter for the Alliance. Why? Because you owe this man your life and the lives of your team by keeping this situation calm and getting your team out of this place in tact. You have that responsibility, Oken, to serve your team and government to flatter this man and his sayings because he has the resources to help your country. Do not let your pride compromise that. Ever. It is foolish, an a foolish Ace Pilot who's to prideful to properly serve her country is just as pathetic as your traitor father.

>>395515
He obviously respects your father, so that outburst was terrible diplomacy.
Put your hand to your face
"I'm sorry, that wasn't called for.
Please, understand that he abandoned me when I was young, and left me to grow up under the burden of his reputation.
You were going somewhere with that. Please, continue."

>apologize
Fuck no, Oken has a right to state how she feels about her dad. If Marshal got offended its his own fault for bringing it up.

Oken 2012/03/24(Sat)21:26 No. 395667 ID: f72f26
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for some reason I feel my eyes begin to water.

Oken: "I'm sorry I-"

Droegen: "Don't sweat it kid, life's been hard for you lately, hard for all of us for that matter."

Fuze: "I assume you started this line of questioning for a reason?"

Droegen: "I did and it conveniently works into the reason I brought you all here. Three years ago I spoke to Masoro Oken for the last time, what he told me I'll never forget.

'Marshal, this endless, pointless war has gone on for forty years and now it will finally be over. I sincerely thank you for the part you played in making my dream a reality.'

but as we all know that's not what happened, the man's dream remained just that-"

Fuze: "Because your kinsmen betrayed and murdered him in an act of genocide numbering in the millions"

Kushkron: "Hah! as if the Astranians have any right to object to genocide."

Droegen: "hey, stop that! I don't think I caught your name mister . . .?"

Fuze: "DOCTOR Belial Fuze."

Droegen: "Okay Doc, I hear what you're saying and believe me I was first to condemn the militant jackasses in my government but then I stopped and thought. I thought: why? and I want you all to put this into consideration; no matter how you look at it the Solars are losing this war, from this peace treaty we had everything to gain and nothing to lose, so why sabotage it? why nuke a civilian target? why commit genocide against the only people who sympathise with our situation? what did the Solar Militia hope to gain?"

they wanted to! uh... uhhh... hmmmm... anyone else want a shot?

>>395667
Oken facepalm and go "uuuuuugh, bugs probably did it. Man, they puppeteer everything. The Solar desert world is full of them, mind controls a bunch a solars to starting conflicts. Why didn't I put two-and-two together long-term wise when Enrad explained the situation?"

No reason. There is no honor or pride in killing civilian targets nor was their any reason to throw away the chance to get out of a battle they can't win. The military might be dumb, but not suicidal.

Someone wanted the two sides to keep fighting and benefit from it.

>>395670
It's likely not as simple as that. I'm sure the bugs just set sparks to already rising tensions. There's way too many shades of grey, purple, and orange going on to count.

Astranian and Solar radicals, pirates, psionic space bugs. You hit something big and complicated. It's best to not start throwing theories. For all you know the bugs are just making a perfect scapegoat for another faction's intentions.

broodmother did 911

The destruction of the Solar empire is all that they'll gain from doing that. Wait, maybe they were... trying to destroy it? Destroying your own empire by provoking alien hostility. Eh, Solars have done crazier things before.

>>395667
"Ugh, now it makes sense; the bugs did it. Enrad said the Solar government is completely infested, but they must have been infested then too."

Oken, stop treating Fuze like you outrank him. You don't, Counselor's daughter be damned. He says Mint shot him. You will hear him out, you understand? Just because hes shy doesn't mean he's not higher up in the hierarchy than you, you spoiled little girl. You may be holding this group together but making blatant shows of insubordination will only encourage unrest within the ranks.
I understand you're in a situation here, but Fuze was shot by Mint once and you will address him about this before she gets a chance to finish the job.
Understand?
As for the current situation, you've just proven to the Marshal here that you are in his eyes a bigoted, hate-filled Astranian just like your leading enclave.
Ask him about his point of view. You've already found out that Enrad was a good person--he sacrificed his life for you--do you think maybe the Astranian propaganda machine has poisoned you just as much as it had poisoned Enrad at first?
If a Solar was willing to change, and died for his new views, then maybe you should too.
Explain the bug situation, and hear him out.

>>395949
I agree, you're ideal of absolute trust is amateur, unprofessional, and naive. And you can never be too sure of Flek's own trust in his troops, he just picks the best of the best, not the most loyal. For all we know, he probably trusts his men as far as he can throw him, you don't speak for him.

Oken 2012/03/25(Sun)21:44 No. 396072 ID: f72f26
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Hoft: "they wanted to uh... uhhh... hmmmm... I got nothing."

>>395949
>>395961
I can't keep treating Fuze this badly, I just can't deal with this he not like any other leader he just let's me do everything, I'll deal with Mint I'll make this all better and be a good leader like Commander Flek. . .

Fuze: "You're correct the Solars have no motive."

Droegen: "exactly which brings-

Fuze: "you are implying those alien creatures are responsible for the situation at Doraun."

Hoft: "wait, I remember that Pinkskin we interrogated mentioned the Solar government was entirely controlled by these bugs, I guess it would fit if that'd make them want to wipe out planets.

Fuze: "that man was insane Hoft, and on top of that he was little more than a front line trooper we can't trust anything he said."

Droegen: "what's the matter with your pilot?"

"pissed off that i've been lied to about why my people died"

>>396072
Hoft was hijacked by one of those bugs too. This can go either way.

>>395949
This. Stop ignoring Dr. Fuze, especially regarding Mint. She's been acting weird for a long time. That time she barricaded herself in her room nearly got you killed, and as far as I know, she hasn't explained herself yet.

>>396072
Well, Fuze, the Solar government gained nothing from the attack. The bugs obviously thrive on conflict and I'm not sure if the prisoner was insane. He seemed right in the head, just scared of the bugs. They are terrifying. Maybe it's just common knowledge for Solars on that planet. It's not that far a stretch the bugs commandeered a high ranking Solar that would screw up the entire peace treaty, because they can control any mind, and they thrive on conflict and scheming. It's the simplest explanation for the Solar government losing all rational thought around the time of the peace treaty, and these things are native to the Ice World, so to get to the desert planet they must have space worthy means of transport.

Seriously, where do you get off calling Enrad insane? There's no evidence to that.

Your pilot is inspired with newfound confidence in the vetting of her dad's terrible reputation for auto-genocide. She triumphantly swears to uphold the family name like any good daughter should!

Oken 2012/03/26(Mon)06:15 No. 396164 ID: f72f26
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Oken: "I'm just a little upset at being mislead."

Droegen: "I think that's something we can all relate too. Doc, how bout get into a debate of responsibility later the point I'm trying to make is that these creatures pose a common threat to everyone."

Fuze: "I suppose that's true."

Droegen: "judging from your comments I'm willing to guess you all know what this is"

the marshal throws a crawler husk onto the table

Droegen: "I was planning on keeping it alive for study but in the end I had no choice but to kill it, why did I have to do that?"

Kushkron: "the danger of psionics."

Droegen: "That's right, these creatures are like living two way radios, they broadcast some sort of psionic impulse message and at the same time they tap into minds and transmit whatever information back"

Hoft: "that doesn't sound like a radio at all

Droegen: "then think of your own metaphor! to get back on track I learned that the creature on the other end of the line was something called 'BroodMother' though I suspect this one is not the only such operator, Broodmother just being the one 'aiding' the solars"

Droegen waits for someone to speak, after a several seconds pass he speaks again."

Droegen: "as a sign of trust I've told you everything I know about these creatures, now it's your turn to provide enlightenment."

>>396164
"The Astranian government keeps them pretty hush-hush. They have a hive structure, they can manipulate and taunt people at a distance, and if they get on your neck they can control your mind.
They came from the Vin-Malor, the ice world. Same place that Mint is from. Err... Did anybody see where she got off to? She would know more about them than any of us."

they rule the solars via their thiionics. the solars have to do everything they command. those who disobey are tracked down by bugs and have their brains eaten and their bodies used as zombies.

Spill the beans on whatever you can tell them, but warn that a lot of what you know might be intentional misinformation from the astranian government.

Fuze, bring up what that mindbug told you about Mint.
No, I don't care that we're controlling Oken now, it's weird that Hoft shared some of our thoughts so fuck it, Fuze you share the fuck out of our thoughts right now too.
And No, I don't care about what sharing that could all mean. What Mint is doing only hurts Astranains and the bugs, not the Solars or Guilders, so be free to share with these people. Astranians and bugs are the only ones that would interfere with Mint's plans, should anyone desire to side with her plan despite her desperate, outrageous, and bitchy choices, and Oken and Hoft won't go out of their way to stop her unless it's super mega evil. Just don't share this info with the Astranian government.

FUZE HUG OKEN

Oken 2012/03/26(Mon)21:58 No. 396285 ID: f72f26
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Hoft is the first to speak up.

Hoft: "The Astranian government doesn't Like to talk about them but I've found out a few things. I think they've got some sort of hive structure, they can manipulate and taunt you at a distance, and if they get on your neck they can control your mind, I know from experience.
What's more they came from the IceWorld: Vin-Malor, Same place that our engineer is from. Err... Did anybody see where she got off to? She would know more about them than any of us."

Droegen: "came from Vin-Malor? where they make all the RayTech? how do you know this?

Hoft: "well umm, I just do, OK?"

Fuze stand up on the couch

Droegen: "could you stop doing that, you're getting mud on the upholstery ."

Fuze: "one of these operator bugs spoke to me this very morning it warned me of the danger our Engineer Mint posed, obviously I assumed it was some sort of ploy but Mint's action have done nothing but further support it's claims. Suspicious in the extreme through out our entire endeavour, from shooting me to wandering off alone she simply can not be trusted. her connection to these creatures is obvious I agree with Hoft the Answers to the mystery of the bugs lie with her."

Kushkron: "an Astranian being treacherous scum? I find this easy to believe let us find this creature."

Droegen: "hold it, If we do this we'll just be falling into the same old trap, can't you see this is exactly the sort of thing these Aliens want."

which is why we capture her and have her tell us what the hell is going on, not shoot her in the back.

If mint is bugged she could be conspiring against us right this moment.

Does this place have any form of surveillance? Can Droegen check up on the status of a single fat cat's position?

Mint isn't bugged. and apparently she isn't allied with the bugs either, but that could be trickery, so we don't really know anything about her. she could be a good guy. she could be a bad guy. but Oken's known her for years, so she deserves the benefit of doubt.

I think the time may have come for confrontation, however. she must reveal what the deal with her is or the integrity of our little band will be shredded into bits.

man Fuze, didn't you find it the least bit suspicious that the last thing you remember before talking to the manipulative, mind controlling queen of the manipulative, mind controlling bugs was one of your allies apparently betraying you? Hasn't it occurred to you that your memory of that stretch of time might be somewhat suspect? That sewing memories of betrayal is precisely the way the bugs got to that white fellow with the wonderful hair next to you? You heard that story, right?

>>396304
Fuze: Come to the abrupt realization that you in fact -may- be the crazy one, sweat up a storm and begin preaching denial.

Oken 2012/03/27(Tue)10:24 No. 396370 ID: f72f26
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Fuze: "Marshal do you have any sort of surveillance with which to find Mint?"

Droegen: "'fraid not"

Fuze opens his mouth to speak but pauses, I see a look of doubt in his eyes, he then shakes his head.

Fuze: "well then we'll have to do this on foot, come on! we have a rogue Maloran to catch!"

Fuze, Hoft and the guilders leave in search of our Engineer.

Commando: "Don't worry Marshal, I'll keep them in line."

the Commando leaves

Droegen: *sigh* "you best be going with them, hopefully this won't turn into the mess I expect."

I'm not sure what to feel at this point . . .

CHAPTER 4: end

DUHNT DUHNT DUHNTTTT