6: The Count of Tuscany

terminal 0

unfinished

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It's not clear what this station is for. I'll look into that, and hopefully I'll have more data the next time I get in touch with you. What's clear, though, is that the Pfhor are deep in combat with these other people. They've moved a squadron up through the caverns south of here to get a better attack on the facility. Head up behind them and do what you do best. And try not to fire on the other party if you can avoid it; there is the distinct possibility that there is a friendly alien species out there.

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success

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This Renegade sect apparently learned a lot in their absence from the Pfhor strategic body at large. As I've said, free teleportation is impossible throughout these facilities. Beyond that, there are very few locations where teleportation is possible at all; all of these compounds and garrisons have very few entrance and exit points, and this is not one of them. You'll have to look for appropriate terminals for extraction. (In case you're wondering: your suit has a built-in teleportation module that is extremely successful at penetrating teleportation shields for inbound teleportation -- but you already have to be at the destination to use it.)

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terminal 1

unfinished

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I didn't know the Pfhor were susceptible to such infighting among their higher ranks! This is fascinating! This kind of rebellion against the Pfhor body may be exploitable in the UESC war against the Empire at large. It's too bad they appear hostile; we could use their insight in Pfhor society. We can use this rebellion to our advantage. Wherever the Pfhor and what they call a "Renegade sect" are clashing, you can probably sneak around most of the action. Though you'll probably just blast through them anyway. There is a central recon tower on the opposite side of a large barrier. You'll need to find two control ports to open it up. Once you're there, you'll figure out what to do.

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success

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This Renegade sect apparently learned a lot in their absence from the Pfhor strategic body at large. As I've said, free teleportation is impossible throughout these facilities. Beyond that, there are very few locations where teleportation is possible at all; all of these compounds and garrisons have very few entrance and exit points, and this is not one of them. You'll have to look for appropriate terminals for extraction. (In case you're wondering: your suit has a built-in teleportation module that is extremely successful at penetrating teleportation shields for inbound teleportation -- but you already have to be at the destination to use it.)

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terminal 2

unfinished

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These Renegades are more heavily armed than I expected! No wonder they're giving the Pfhor so much trouble; the Pfhor still must outnumber them by a factor of thousands, and could send in a million more troops in a heartbeat, but these Renegades fight much tougher and are entrenched in their garrisons very well. I believe that no mission can truly begin without good intelligence, and we lack intelligence. There are two potentially sensitive terminals in the upper levels of this tower, one each to the east and west of your position. Get to those terminals and install these Uplink Chips; we'll extract what we can from there. When you're done, return to this terminal. It doesn't look like I can teleport you out from any other point.

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success

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Well, those terminals didn't have a lot of especially useful information about these Renegades, but there were a couple little nuggets in there; luckily for us, their encryption is little better than the Empire's. 1. There is a shield wall protecting the bulk of the Renegade-controlled development, and it is totally impenetrable by any unwelcome visitors. 2. The Renegades have recently developed some kind of AI technology. 3. One of the peripheral complexes just outside the wall seems to be completely unused, yet from what I can pick up, there are huge electrical pulses surging from one end. This is unusual and different from pretty much every other site in the area. I'm going to send you there next. I seriously don't believe that there won't be any resistance, so be prepared for... anything, I suppose.

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<teleport to level 7>

terminal 3

unfinished

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this conversation was extracted from a brief communication between Lieu-Commander E'lyzah Kalgan and Automated Intelligence Unit "Karma" it is dated at 4 days 3 hours 21 minutes ago --------------------------------------------------------------------- Report on the aggressors' progress. Within the last week the "Pfhor" have gained complete control of southern sectors 4A, 4B, 4C, 4E, and 5B. Overall they have lost 11.2236 troops to 1 of our own. Yet we've never been able to hold their progress outside of the shield wall. Why is that, Karma? Poor decision making among my superiors and their ancestors have-- You are not permitted to speak in dissent of the Commanding Lords. You don't have the authority to punish me. I'll say what I like. My programming relies on frankness for maximum effectiveness and clarity.

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Answer my question, Karma. Oh, yes, of course. Our esteemed Commanding Lords, in their wisdom, have used valuable limited resources in such a way that prevents us from achieving space flight to a degree that would give us a dominion in a scope capable of standing up to the slavers. They have several thousand years head start on us, Lieu-Commander. Our biosynth technology should be able to match them, man to man. Evidently it's not. The material required to run the biosynth tanks is much more finite than a thousand worlds of Pfhor spawning production. But what about materials from the fallen ship? You would know of any possible tools we could manipulate into our advantage.

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The humans are not familiar with biosynthetic production. They rely on technology gifted to them by the S'p-- Do not speak their name, Karma. --ht, and they can only reproduce inanimate materials, and to a limited degree. The humans cannot help our cause; nor would they anyway. I am led to understand that you have workers extracting materials from the fallen craft for some sort of construction? We plan to manipulate their craft technology to provide our own transportation away from this planet and away from the slavers. Then you are aware of the weaknesses of human technology.

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terminal 4

unfinished

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Well, you're new here, aren't you?

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You aren't among the slavers. You're among the "humans." Sort of. I'll thank you and grant you the responsibility of informing your superiors that I am grateful for my existence. But I'd recommend you leave. Your predecessors didn't live long here. You won't either.

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12004120101954013259912419415095 | [Who was that? No matter. Whoever 35298583287194815981109632168926 | it was failed to lock out the data 15193857193851398326024630983713 | stream from this terminal. 15139085130913609206023640390361 | This is the kind of stuff we're 11193185723985329686886282357235 | looking for... I'll have my intel 19815179520200260220382589234715 | boys work on it right away.] 19581791858675309218941274926958 | 12490185023962089620692809142157 | 10591758019581091851138325989183 | 15901591385013964830643732491874 | 15013958103926804398043959328477 | 00110190293293939333923852796896 | 41011001193295329853253498577725 | 11204121929291203259286532603474 | 40102941208591229939235732598835 | 10912850139682064920398129784736 | 12301951023949949698237523589175 | 10141010103529283579328572385837 | 49101010101013532239852375923858 | 11118148189523883298239293902358 | 32049939324832588023681860680198 |

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