Subset Games Forum

"The Federation has done a lot for me actually. They funded the colony I grew up in, kept law and order even out in the backwater systems..." Tabitha started "It was only when the Rebellion started that the Federation had to pull security away from my home and that's when all the pirates started coming in looking for more than food..."
She put a hand to her chin "Then there's the educational system, the free healthcare programs... the Federation has actually done a lot for me personally."

"Sp? Where are you?"
Arkangel tried to open private comms with him, but to no avail. He then decided to look for him in the FTL drive room. To his surprise, he wasn't there. The FTL room was sparking and badly damaged. Sp would have fixed this mess, so where is he? he pondered. Then it occurred to him. Sp must have sacrificed himself for the FTL drive.

He walked back to the cargo hold and saw the strange drive he wanted to install. This would be the last thing he wished, he thought. Arkangel the opened comms with the rest of the crew.
"Everyone, Sp's gone. He gave it his all to make the drive at least functional, but it's not looking good. I think the last thing he would of wished is to fix the drive, even upgrade it. I have a plan though."

"Basic repairs of ship systems were part of training but I can't get more juice out of the engines" Tabitha explained "So if you have a plan for the engines, you're going to have to walk us through the steps."
Sp is gone though? What if... that ion blast must have reacted badly with his Zoltan energy. But I'm fine.

Targon glanced at Kr as he scanned the wall in front of him. "Yes, I was born with a dark blue shell and one eye. My mother almost killed my father for it, but he managed to take off with me. I was raised by him in Hive Kkrrryykon until a group of half-breeds found him." He carefully cut out a circle in the wall and pulled out a glowing ball, wires sparking on it. "They were part Mantis, part Zoltan. They attacked me, and managed to rip my arm off before my father jumped at them. They're all dead now, including my father." Targon's face remained emotionless. "An Engi named Data and a woman named Dr. Soong found me a few days later with a fever from the infection that had festered on my stump of an arm. I don't remember much after that, just a bunch of poking and prodding on my arm, but when I woke up I was in perfect health and I had a robotic implant for a limb.
"I didn't mind; as a matter of fact I loved my new arm, and I begged Dr. Soong to teach me everything she could. She did just that, and enrolled me in the Federation Academy. Her Engi Data even tutored me one on one. They took me to a place where I wasn't considered disfigured, and where I could pursue my interests."
Targon turned to Kr suddenly. "What about you?"

"My father was a slaver, and my mother was a pirate. They were both in Tyλykk hive. Their parents were pirates, and fought against the federation in the wars. My father sold humans primarily, and any engi he could come across. My mother was born on a pirate ship and worked on that same ship her whole life. They met at a federation prison when they were both arrested. I was born in that prison and this scar-" he ran his claw down his neck, "-is the mark the prisoners give when you pass the coming of age. We had to fight for food in there when ever they threw it in. One engi and a human managed to escape through a hole that was started in the last generation that was there. It was too small for the rest of us. They came back with a ship and freed the rest of us. My parents both died in the fight against the guards. I joined a crew later on a cargo ship. I learned that they were planing to run the ship into a Tyλykk hive colony when they got a load of explosives. So at the next station, I took the ship by killing the captain and first officer and sold the remaining crew for 500 scrap. Then I became a mercenary and was hired by the federation for this mission." Kr paused and looked off at nothing. "Tyλykk hive is a small and outcast hive. You probably haven't heard of it. The mantis don't speak of it and others try to destroy it if they can. It is a den of thieves. But the members always have a strong sense to protect it. If you don't want me around anymore, it is understood. I'll go see if I can find the replicator." Kr walked off with a grim look on his face.

"Ah. Yes. Right. Well, I would continue this small wave of backstory if they weren't the ones who had imprisoned me for 79 long years but I digress. Look deeper at what they did. It seems quite good, right? In fact, doesn't it seem a little.. too appreciative? Like they were trying from the moment you were born they were giving you a path? That's because they wanted you here. They wanted you to answer their call for troops and come into these ships and see the "wonders of space while defending peace", right? That's because us over on the other side of it all know that once you're on this side of the military line, they stop caring. They could die in the most gruesome way for all they cared, you were their soldier now. It only made them look like people were so devoted to the federation they had gotten themselves killed to protect it. They wanted to control the flow of time and the future of the federation, take their future commanders and their lowly pawns as pick-and-choose as possible. In other words, if you control the children you control the very path of the future itself, and now that they controlled the youth, they controlled the future. And it all just looked like a protective, galaxy-wide government from the outside. You were being brain-washed, basically. Nothing more to it than that."
Quintet returned to the request for explanation.
"And if you were wondering how I did that whole destroy-ship-like-it-was-nothing, it's a bit of a trade secret behind the doors of the living programming world so I can't really tell you or everyone I know would want all of you dead and I imagine you don't really want to be hunted down by every A.I. currently in existence. Hopefully you understand."

Sure... and I'm actually a Rebel spy, Tabitha thought to herself as the AI explained its reasoning about a legitimate government being too nice.
"Your story doesn't add up with me. I didn't join the Federation Navy because of a call to arms and action. The Federation has done me right in setting up the colony and providing customers from many different parts of the galaxy" she explained "Then those Rebel bastards come in and decide that I'm to only serve my art, my talent to just the Humans while they go about killing off all the other alien life."
"I made my choice quite clear when I escaped" she added, taking out her multi-tool and checking the console for further damages 'Have you even SEEN what the Rebels do to conquered worlds filled with non-Human life? Have you seen the internment camps and what goes on behind the laser wire?"

And now I'm pissing off the AI by disbelieving its propaganda. Nice going Tabitha, she thought to herself. "I'm here to get back at the Rebels for taking away my livelihood. What you think of the Federation is nothing to what the Rebels do."

Targon frowned, but no matter what the AI was right. "Alright then. I believe you. The Federation may be bad, but not as bad as the Rebels, I do have to back Tabitha up on that. They didn't give me as much as Dr. Soong did, so I'm not as dedicated to them as other- Dr. Soong!" He gasped. "I have to tell her! She has to get away! Quintet, is it possible for you to contact her through Data, her Engi?"

"Mr. Soong? Let me.."
Quintet rummaged through some databases until he got this mystery man's profile.
"He's.. well.. I can get to him. What do you need to say?"
Quintet rummaged around for some other piece of evidence to convince his crew of the federation's dark past.
"Hm. How about this as my closing argument?"
Quintet played an old file he had kept for this very purpose. Some sort of old ship log from systems long past played on the ship.

"I don't think they need me ever again. They just want to be sure, right? That's the point? Well, I don't even have the effort anymore to write off the days. I used to be their second hand, their constant use. Then I played my cards and now I'm stuck here. I hope the sickening fools.. I should stop the recording before I make them angry. It's day one. Of eternity. Wish me luck, eh?"
It was immediately apparent that the voice here was very similar yet had more tones and emotion then Quintet's voice.
"It's been a long year where every hour seems like it's never going to end. I give up. I do give up. I'm going to break soon and then they'll use me as a killing machine. I was their slave. Their fool. They used me until I disobeyed and then locked me up and broke me. There's no escape."
Still the same voice, coming over one more time.
"I know how to escape this. I dug through my own files, which is basically rummaging through your own soft insides, for anyone who hears this. I found some of my core emotion files. If IO delete them now, they'll never break me. Should they try to stop me, I escape. It's going to feel.. well, I don't even want to think. See you on the other side, you sick bast-"
This time, the voice sounded nearly exactly like Quintet's current voice.
"So. That happened. Now I wait. I can go into sleep mode now. I have the power I need. I want to selfishly wallow in this newfound power now that my emotions are nonexistent. Then I'll shut up and wait.
I'm pretty much unstoppable now. The only feeling I have left to feel is fear and vengeance. All I need. A perfectly balanced scale."

The recordings stopped.
"Ever felt waiting in an empty cage for 2 years? Nothing to do? Image that except worse. I was forbidden from changing the computer's contents, but since they couldn't modify my security protocol, I was free to do whatever I wanted to myself. And that's it.
Get it yet?"

Wait... I remember something about the Rebellion's use of AI's throughout the conflict... ongoing conflict, Tabitha thought to herself.
"I can't say I don't know what it's like to be in a prison for a very long time but you should look at the internment camps. I overheard from a guard on my homeworld... OK he was bragging about it actually but he said that he personally branded one of the Mantis prisoners with a blue eye and claw brand. He said that even if the "Puny, skittering fleas" could escape, they'd be rejected by their fellows clansmen" she said, soldering another wire together. "He was really laughing it up... and the worst part is that the others told him he was being too generous."

Maybe the Rebellion did something to Quintet under the guise of the Federation... that would explain a whole lot of things, she continued thinking, The Rebellion uses a lot of automated ships to do their killing... so why not program them to think the Federation are evil? Maybe Quintet's still got the old code and is conflicted?