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[Ozarck]

Maybe we should get an office in the upper stacks? It's a logical step for a thriving organization.

Offices, living quarters, everything. We're rich. Live the lifestyle peeps. Live it.

Action later, real life now. Now is time for actions.

1) When possible, discuss the situation with Steve. It seems to me that we have expanded well beyond our mission parameters, and are in a good position to influence this world in larger ways. Ask about additional orders and new objectives. Request additional people to help carry them out. Oh, and inform him of the disappearance of Xael. It was never stated where she was when she tried her stunt, so I don't know how much IC knowledge Dester has to offer, but give whatever I know.

2)Branch out to ship construction. Purchase what shipbuilding assets we are capable of.

3)Rake in the dough legitimately: via high-bid contracts. We need 50,000 bodies, at 80 per shipping container. That's 625 containers of stasis pods to ship, total. Retain enough space to ship our own stocks, and contract out the rest.

4)Take careful note of attempted hostile takeovers. Keep security on our ships high and tight.

5)As Kedley says: expand our legitimate business and relocate to more appropriate places. Retain our hidden sites lower in the stacks though. Dester will remain out of sight, but will migrate closer to the power, to assist as he can.

Questions: How are our body shipping enterprises going? How many have we shipped, that will likely arrive at their destination, and what kind of rate are we looking at?

Suggested actions
Vincent: Continue acting as wealthy magnate. Insert yourself into politics.
Petra: Continue handling human relations within the company. Interact with the Mercenaries, the people-processing staff, and the "cargo."
Ryan: Maintain the medical network. look into all medical shipping concerns, continue overseeing the doctors and patients.
Gus and Jesse: We have at least three security situations: 1) the processing of large groups of emigrants, and keeping mouths shut. 2) maintaining our larger safe house and preventing unwanted intrusions. And 3) Preventing hostile takeovers of our shipping industry. Decide how much leadership you guys can and are willing to handle and jump in. If you prefer to remain low level, that's fine too, as it fits with your characters.

I don't mind you taking initiative. I do question the need for the prison planet contacts now, as we a) have our own shipping industry into which we can easily disappear bodies [thanks to you], and b) have a growing income of people willing to be put in stasis to be moved to unknown locations. I think focusing on making all sorts of money and protecting our interests is a better use of your talents. Grow our business and keep people's attention away from the transportation of bodies off-world. We really don't want people wondering why you are fixated on the prisoner problem. Besides, now that you have a lot of power, you can use that to sway the government to give us those contracts for prison transport anyway. Remember, they were already leaning toward doing so. All you probably need to do is, when negotiating with the government for shipping contracts, simply casually suggest that they send us the prisoners we had already discussed as a means to sweeten the deal for us, and they will likely throw it in as a minor bonus to get their more important shipping sent. Don't force the issue, just bring it up. It'll likely go our way with a minimum of effort.

@kedley: No worries, lol. You got us the shipping, after all. And you were kinda the lieutenant before anyway, so ...

[Ozarck]

Guys. Understand the magnitude of our position. We now have a controlling interest in the shipping for an entire hive world. remember, each stack is a nation to itself, and each stack has more people than most worlds. Each stack is hundreds of miles wide. Than means there could be hundreds on the planet. A hundred billion people?  Possibly. Even if I am overestimating our control of shipping, we still have a crap ton of power and wealth right now (besides the wealth from Steve's manipulations). A mere 50k people is now almost small potatoes for us. We could almost accomplish that as an afterthought.

[Twinwolf]

Guys. Understand the magnitude of our position. We now have a controlling interest in the shipping for an entire hive world. remember, each stack is a nation to itself, and each stack has more people than most worlds. Each stack is hundreds of miles wide. Than means there could be hundreds on the planet. A hundred billion people?  Possibly. Even if I am overestimating our control of shipping, we still have a crap ton of power and wealth right now (besides the wealth from Steve's manipulations). A mere 50k people is now almost small potatoes for us. We could almost accomplish that as an afterthought.

So, should we ask Steve if there's anything else to do, or play it safe and stick with 50k?

Dester is basically the boss. So do what he says, again.

[DoctorMcTaalik]

((How would Gus counter a hostile takeover? He doesn't know anything about stocks or investments. He wouldn't even know what a hostile takeover is in this context.))

[Gentlefish]

"...Son of a bitch. I knew this was coming, but goddamn, I only got to use my PK once." Ryan sighs as he feels the wave of Origin-death hit him. He pat his Orangutan on the head. "At least you don't have anything to worry about, girl. You're an Orangutan. The most important thing to you is when's the next meal."

Ryan turns his attention to Dester. "We're big now, yeah? I'm glad we got a heads-up before this hit. You're doing an amazing job of keeping this place together.

"One point of note, though. We can't just not ship kids anymore. We have to accept anyone willing to pay. Think about it. It would look pretty fucked up if we don't let parents take their kids with them to some 'farm world' to 'let them escape from the madness', right? We have to look like a legit business now, and legit businesses ship kids, too."

Yes, look into medical supplies. How are we doing? Were we relying on shipments or do we have what we need to finish the base parameters of this mission? In either case, what's the long-term look like? We're planning on setting up for the indefinite term, so this is a problem to deal with now.

Also, look into the news. I remember hearing something about Arbiters and Titans. What's going on there? Do we have either of those things on this planet? What about the lawless/law exploding from Origin-death?

And, as a last thing, since by rights we're rick as the everloving fucks in the upper stacks, are there any good places that look like a good place to upgrade our surgery bay? We can probably look into hiring surgeons that aren't underground criminals when we move up, too, so long we keep them out of the loop of where exactly we're shipping the bodies.

Look into separating the surgeons from the surgeons from the rest of the op, for specifically that reason. All they need to know is the operation they're performing and a general idea of what's "happening" to the bodies, i.e that they're being shipped off to "new and better lands"!

[Ozarck]

((How would Gus counter a hostile takeover? He doesn't know anything about stocks or investments. He wouldn't even know what a hostile takeover is in this context.))

I'm talking about the violent type of hostile takeover. That is, make sure people don't just arm up and steal the ships by force. that is a very real threat.

"...Son of a bitch. I knew this was coming, but goddamn, I only got to use my PK once." Ryan sighs as he feels the wave of Origin-death hit him. He pat his Orangutan on the head. "At least you don't have anything to worry about, girl. You're an Orangutan. The most important thing to you is when's the next meal."

Ryan turns his attention to Dester. "We're big now, yeah? I'm glad we got a heads-up before this hit. You're doing an amazing job of keeping this place together.

"One point of note, though. We can't just not ship kids anymore. We have to accept anyone willing to pay. Think about it. It would look pretty fucked up if we don't let parents take their kids with them to some 'farm world' to 'let them escape from the madness', right? We have to look like a legit business now, and legit businesses ship kids, too."

Thank you. Everyone has been working pretty hard on this. Dester looks troubled for a moment I do wonder what happened to Xael, however. Her disappearance is troubling. Dester pauses for a few moments, appearing uncomfortable. I believe we began shipping kids when we started taking refugees from the violence down below. We really couldn't do otherwise, unless we wanted to abandon the mission. And I am still not sure why I don't do just that. I don't know.

[Kedly]

We shouldn't take our recent increase in influence and power for granted, it may stay, it may go. There are a few reasons I am still working on the prison route, but rest assured once it is running without my effort, I will focus on running the business, in order to keep it's influence, and to keep the eyes off of what we are actually doing. The first reason is that it was what I was working on before the shit hit the fan with Amps, and as it will still contribute to the mission, and won't negatively impact us, I might as well finish what I started. The second reason is that since I am sending prisoners to multiple different locations, we can have the sons set up a fake prison/company, and send that entire shipment to Steve, and if that fake company ever gets compromised, fault won't fall with the shipping company, as that was just one of the many buyers we were selling to, that also keeps us from having to sneak anyone on or off shipments. We are just straight up sending bodies to Steve. This means we can send a large and steady stream of bodies with minimal risk of attention. The final reason is that, while I am fine with doing morally questionable things to win this war, I WOULD like to do the least harm where possible, and cleaning up the streets of a corrupt city, while getting us the bodies we need helps me sleep a little better. I don't think there will be any focus on me setting up this prisoner thing, in most peoples eyes it will be just another business deal, especially after I move on to another project afterwards. Finally, I'd like to stay out of direct politics wherever possible as I don't want my face familiar with the public, so that it'll be easier to be "Hired off planet" when it is time for us to head back. I would prefer to continue doing subtle pushes, where my face is not a factor.

[DoctorMcTaalik]

Okey doke, Duster pal. We'll keep the culties at bay if we gotta, don't you worry.

Take a more administrative position among my fellow guards. Ensure that the shipyards themselves are adequately guarded, not just the patients.

[piecewise]

Have the sons set me up with a contact on one of the worlds that had it's amps go haywire first, and have him be willing to say he's a business partner/friend of mine, and gave me a heads up on what was about to happen with amps

The purpose of this action confuses me and seems to be somehow logically impossible or at least inconsistent.

I was setting up a believable lie as to why we knew shit would hit the fan


1. Contact any off planet corporation that deals with prisoner populations, use charisma skills (per company) and newly gained monopoly to get the 10 best prices on a per prisoner basis.

2. Contact anyone on planet that deals with prisoners, and convince them to ship said prisoners off planet (before it wasnt as important, but now it is important to earn a significant profit off of this, so if the people on planet are asking for too much per prisoner, do not accept offer).

3. Hire more staff, and upgrade company offices (and locations) to reflect our new wealth (nothing that would significantly impact our profit however), and buy more amp free ships while they are still cheap

Have Petra write articles and opinion pieces to help convince the population that A: Now that things have gone crazy, we really shouldnt be keeping prisoners on this planet, and B: Wonder if the amps not working has something to do with the cult. (Sorry for taking a bit of a boss role this time Oz, right now Vincent needs to set up business, and with the extra attention on him, writing pieces to manipulate the media would be risky, and we stil need to sway public opinion on the
ultand the on world prison population)

0. Don't worry about it.

1. Ok. Honestly with prisoners we just send them to tomb worlds and say whatever. Nothing really on the other end to worry about.
2. Consider it set up that they're gonna send you their excess or their bad boys.
3. Alright.
4. A, Ok. B, Probably not.

"...Son of a bitch. I knew this was coming, but goddamn, I only got to use my PK once." Ryan sighs as he feels the wave of Origin-death hit him. He pat his Orangutan on the head. "At least you don't have anything to worry about, girl. You're an Orangutan. The most important thing to you is when's the next meal."

Ryan turns his attention to Dester. "We're big now, yeah? I'm glad we got a heads-up before this hit. You're doing an amazing job of keeping this place together.

"One point of note, though. We can't just not ship kids anymore. We have to accept anyone willing to pay. Think about it. It would look pretty fucked up if we don't let parents take their kids with them to some 'farm world' to 'let them escape from the madness', right? We have to look like a legit business now, and legit businesses ship kids, too."

Yes, look into medical supplies. How are we doing? Were we relying on shipments or do we have what we need to finish the base parameters of this mission? In either case, what's the long-term look like? We're planning on setting up for the indefinite term, so this is a problem to deal with now.

Also, look into the news. I remember hearing something about Arbiters and Titans. What's going on there? Do we have either of those things on this planet? What about the lawless/law exploding from Origin-death?

And, as a last thing, since by rights we're rick as the everloving fucks in the upper stacks, are there any good places that look like a good place to upgrade our surgery bay? We can probably look into hiring surgeons that aren't underground criminals when we move up, too, so long we keep them out of the loop of where exactly we're shipping the bodies.

Look into separating the surgeons from the surgeons from the rest of the op, for specifically that reason. All they need to know is the operation they're performing and a general idea of what's "happening" to the bodies, i.e that they're being shipped off to "new and better lands"!

The numbers of shipped subjects are increasing steadily however things are too chaotic right now to say it is a long term stable system.

There are none of those on this planet, but apparently earth-2, the unofficial capital of the UWM, is burning. On a global scale.

You could basically buy/ build a large medical building and employ an entire staff to do the work. And considering you're now getting a large number of prisoners that are legit and above board, you can conduct at least those activities in the open without fear of reprisals.

You keep your older, more iffy surgeons away from the newer, clean nosed ones.

Okey doke, Duster pal. We'll keep the culties at bay if we gotta, don't you worry.

Take a more administrative position among my fellow guards. Ensure that the shipyards themselves are adequately guarded, not just the patients.

You're basically commanding a small army at this point.






Alright. Changes.

1. Despite your best efforts to maintain shipping, this is a planet with a frankly unreasonable level of people. You and the scattered other groups providing shipping simply cannot keep up and supplies are dwindling. Several million people have died of starvation already and the lower levels are rapidly starting to riot and then being sealed off from the upper levels. Stacks are sealing themselves off from other stacks  and full scale invasions and war can't be far off. Especially with your stack, since your company is there.

2. The government is attempting to pass a law which will give them control over your ships. They say they are doing this to allow them to choose what is shipped, so that basic supplies rather than luxury items or whatever you feel like, will be brought in.

3. The cult is literally charging up the stack, gaining floors every day as their doomsday death worshiping rhetoric is looking more and more reasonable by the day.

[renegadelobster]

((Get your 50k people and then GTFO. Just sayin'.))

[Kedly]

((Im planning around that right now, waiting on some information))

[Ozarck]

My action was not included in the update. Was it missed or subsumed by the changes?

Relocate the command staff into orbit upon our finest, fastest, safest ship.

Import only food. Export only people. Offer space on ship to the highest bidders. keep most shipping off planet as much as possible, landing under tight security to load people. unload from orbit. Acquire and use whatever weaponry necessary to retain control of our ships.

Build ships. buy up shipbuilding operations, hire crew and more militia for protection. make sure our people are fed in exchange for their loyalty.

Send message to Steve:

The situation is grim. Millions die. War is imminent. We have a near monopoly on shipping and are importing food as fast as we can, while exporting people as fast as we can. It is a drop in the bucket. The situation is, as I am sure you are aware, exceedingly unstable. Food and a show of military might could win this planet, once the warfare dies down a bit. The population will likely be drastically reduced, and the economy will be shattered, so expect serious rebuilding and general chaos. We six have somehow become the center of a global storm. We have power, wealth, and a large organization, but are now primary targets for the hatred of the suffering, and our relationship with the government is becoming quite tense. Advice would be most welcome.

Insist on retaining our ships. Pressure the government to remain off our ships in exchange for guarantees that we will import only necessities and that government contracts have top priority. Caution them against the devastation that not having any shipping might cause, and remind them that they have other problems right now, and we are actually trying to help, and would help best if given support and access (docking protection, freedom of movement, whatever is useful).

Launch a media campaign, assuring the people that we are working hard in this time of catastrophe to bring necessary supplies to the people. Promote ourselves as hard at work for the benefit of all.

Attempt to get some of our own into government.

Attempt to form an alliance with the other shipping companies, perhaps even merging under our wing, as a mutual protection thing, so we face the crisis as a united front. unfortunately, I remember what happened to the engineers and farmers on the sharkmist colony, so be ready to cut and run if attacked. Our shipping will be of use elsewhere.

Dester watches the world burn. Millions die. Riots, cults, famine, and war. the apocalypse has begun, at least on these most populated worlds. it's a damned shame. it's a catastrophe that dwarfs imagination. The cost in human suffering is monumental. No, monumental is not a big enough word. Countless images, quotes, and events from history - from times of war, times of death - cycle through Dester's mind as he witnesses global chaos. his own recent crimes feel almost benign now, in comparison. His guilt, while great, is dwarfed by the misery before him.

Something here will survive this. Dester intends for him and his to be a part of that. We will survive. We will make something of this. My team will live and we will make something of this.

[Kedly]

"Firsts things first, we need our ships off planet Now, and we may need to cut and run. We might have enough ship space to get the numbers we need anyways. I think next we should contact Steve and see what he wants before we act next. If he doesn't want anything further, it isn't worth the risk for us to stay here any longer, we can retreat and complete the original mission without further risk to ourselves. If Steve want's us to stay, we should ask for reinforcements, and get immediate information on the cult"

Request that next turn not be a full time skip, only the amount of time it takes for Steve to reply, and contact Steve to find out what he want's and if he finds any further value in us staying on this planet

We managed to keep things stable for a while after amp's stopped being reliable, and ended up with a lot of control, power and money because of it, but this planet relies too much on amp based shipping that things have started to deteriorate fast here. We probably have enough ship space to get you the bodies this mission originally required, so if we cut and run right now, we can probably still complete mission objectives as they originally were. That being said, if this planet is valuable to you, or if you wouldn't mind us continuing to work on a stable supply of bodies, taking control of this planet might actually be possible, and creating a steady supply of bodies would then be more then possible. The catch to us taking control of the planet is, it will vastly increase the risk to us, and we may very well need back-up. There is a cult here that is also taking advantage of the chaos, and we have yet to gather enough intel on them to determine how much of a threat they are, aside from that they are indeed a threat. For now I'm agreeing with Ozarck and pulling our ships off the planet, as the planet's governments are trying to commandeer the ships from us, but aside from that I await your orders"

[DoctorMcTaalik]

I second not doing a time skip.

Hey Duster, Boss, those culties are getting feistier every day. I've taken charge of our little army, such as it is, and I was wonderin' if we could maybe arm ourselves up a bit... You know, import some weapons, maybe some machines, and cetera.

Also, Boss, do I get a title? Like, General or something? Supreme Guard Commander? 'Cos I think I deserve a title.

With Dester's approval, send the following message to Steve:

Dearst steve:
I need guns for troops. A shopment of blaster rifles and those bullet cloak things should do. Please send asap.

Best regards, Gus
P.S also do you do tanks

[Ozarck]

Please arm the troops as well as you can. We're gonna need it, if we intend to stick around here and survive.