Partnership fragments
The Partnership fragments can be found around the Jupiter Gas City, and are narrated by Alad V.
Things have never been this bad. [sigh] The currents are strengthening in that rank cesspool of a Board. Nef Anyo has consolidated his power on Venus, winning Frohd Bek's favour. All eyes are turning toward their new darling. And the currents… the currents would drag me down.
[growls] I am underestimated. I am unseen. I must turn that to my advantage.
I seek advantage and advantage appears! I'd long thought that old fool Regus dead, but here is – rich and gullible as ever! With an offer of shared wealth. Says he has tech like I've never seen! Old War tech. And he wants an investor. Oh, I'll invest all right….
This is about more than investment. Regus surprises me. How a man of his limited intellect came by such wonders is…. But… forget that. What he has is… exceptionally viable. Where did he find this technology? It stinks of Tau, but the advantages to be had in the exploitation of it… the things I could create… the profits I could accrue… the Board will never dare underestimate me again!
Regus' price was high, but I dangled the Board's most enticing intellectual property, SysComm, to seal the deal. Then I placed a contract, loaded with escape clauses and loopholes, in that slack idiot's fingers… and he signed! The fool signed without even reading it! [laughs]
Any partner that thick is a liability. A liability soon to be… nullified.
Regus has changed. Or, perhaps, he is not such a fool… and today I saw beneath the mask. He is no longer so agreeable. Rather, he came to our meeting with a raft of his own, radical, proposals. An entire shift in direction. And then, as I made to leave, he smiled. He smiled and, for just a second, I don't think his face was human at all.
This is all wrong. I'm tearing up the contract. I have a terrible feeling that if I do not escape this partnership immediately, I never will.
That was not Regus. It never was Regus. It revealed its true face to me and… by the Void! I've entered into a partnership… with Sentients. The world-builders, the world-killers. Our enemy under all. This contract is worthless. Instead, they demand submission.
CT! Assemble the disciples. Arm the Condors. Those oversized crustaceans have no idea who they're dealing with.
That did not go as planned. Thousands against one. That massive grotesque tore through my forces like… like a shark through a shoal. We never inflicted so much as a scratch.
Now it perches outside my home. The message is clear. I am to make Amalgams, and if I cross them, the Ropalolyst makes an ash cloud of this city.
If my rivals find out, I'll be executed for treason. What choice do I have but to comply?
Disciples! Good news! The Amalgam program has entered into a fruitful partnership. Pursuant to our agreement, their identities will be kept confidential, and a strict no-fly zone shall be instated around their craft.
In time the nature of our project will be made known. Until then, know that we work for a brighter Corpus future! Life is… [sigh] Profit.
2 Comments