So, Hydroponics Lab will need setting up. Since I'm getting it, can probably add that to the list of good rewards.
Right. Time to search.
Gig Search
Heroics: She is very specific against desk work. Not the first time I've seen it, given I used to be that way myself. So any gigs that don't involve more heroic work are out. Thankfully, plenty of those around here, so shouldn't have any issues.
Rewards: Rare Plants, Idol-grade Mech Parts, or seeds, lots of seeds for food that can be grown in the Hydroponic Lab I'll be buying. The latter will be useful for both charity work by growing them, and feeding ourselves. Can also sell them too. [Not that this is a dealbreaker if it doesn't have it.]
Longer term gigs are likely to be here, so I can save a few for later months and come back to them if no one has done them yet. Might even pass a few to one of the managers. Apparently that Gunboat has a contanct in this Snowspark, so.. We'll see.
Project Valkyrie, eh. I'll need to send a message and maybe see if there is anything tied to that here. My memory is going to get some work here.
Later
Maybe later if this Idol falls through. Though how'd your friends think about that is funny to think about.
I'll take the Ulnan Pitchers to sample for growing in the lab. Given how bad they screwed up I'd rather run my own hospital in case any of mine get injured. In any case, I'm interested to hear about this project, sounds [i]very [/i]interesting.
Anyway, hope you do well. I'll see about contacting you about the toys once I get some cash flowing.
[s][b]2000+200 wired. UP and PV Info.[/b][/s]
Well, I should see Mr. Aegis tomorrow. It will probably be a while before the Jim is done.
Tim keeps working now. See where everyone have set up on this floor. As well as contact some people to get a Hydroponics Lab set up to the right of her Prefab Hospital.
She also sees what it would cost to upgrade her Hospital's equipment. Later expenses, and only so much to work with. Being an Idol Manager is a lot more work than being an Idol...
Garr meets you on a grimy rooftop, with a cigar in her mouth, a cup of some kind of stimulant in one hand, and a folder full of files under the other.
[1] There's a big Gig available here, but...
But.
"How skimpy a swimsuit?" you ask incredulously, staring at the files.
Garr shrugs. "Can't get access without being merchandise. They wouldn't be bad people if they didn't make people do bad things. Up to you."
You stare at it some more. It's a big bust, if you can pull it off. The Black Sun cartel are major criminal players, only very loosely shrouded behind "Black Sun Shipping" and their "shipping facility" used for... well, unsavory photo shoots is probably the least of it. Maybe the duckling hatchery. Not even Garr knows what that's for, but it's gotta be evil, right? Maybe they're eating them or something? Eventually?
The core of this hit, though, is an Agony Engine. If anything it's worse than it sounds, creating and then murdering clones to harvest their despair while also cycling souls through repeated resurrection and murder. Any thinking being could see that this is horribly wrong.
The problem is that intel reports that the victims are bad people and species themselves, so this is not a glamorous mission. On top of that, getting in would require producing some
very compromising media in very high definition. Finally, the facility gives out free ice cream, which would make shutting it down actively unpopular. That the last one is sufficient to shield a murder engine probably tells you everything you need to know about why space is so terrible.
So... as Garr says, up to you. And Starlight Shield. On the bright side, nobody's likely to be able to stop them, so you'll probably have plenty of time.
Black Sun Eclipse
Signing Bonus: Unknown, high possibility of confiscating illicit swag
Payout: -5 GLORY, +10 FAME
Description: Somebody attractive needs to create lewd media in order to gain access to and shut down a facility that creates and then murders people constantly. Also hatches adorable ducklings. Related?! Insufficient intel to determine at this time.
And an absolute pleasure doing business with you! I'll arrange the shipment shortly.
Now, as for Project Valkyrie... from my pile of cash this sounds like a familiar topic indeed!
See, these attacks aren't new. Lotsa people have been trying lotsa things to figure out how to deal with them. The colonies cooperating ain't new neither, they're always on the lookout to get in good with their neighbors at no cost to themselves.
So along comes this idea- very military idea, you understand- about mass-producing Idols. Now I know what you're thinking, "It don't work that way." Well try telling that to the fuzz! They're all "make an honest living this" and "we'll just train them to be Idols like we train them to be soldiers" that. Obviously don't work so great, BUT- you can make anything fly if you strap enough rockets to it.
So that's what Project Valkyrie is, basically- an attempt to mass-produce Idols hitting reality and trying to compensate with hardware until it hits an odd sort of middle ground. There've been a few different forms to it, but it generally works out as power armor or partial variants, like miniature tanks or powered flight frames.
That last one is the most mature version I heard of, by the by. Swarms of jetpack soldiers with some kinda shielding, swarming around the things to bring them down. Again, military. Classic military. So when they were setting you guys up? Well, in the back of their heads they're thinking maybe this'll be a launching ground for Project Valkyrie, or maybe you guys will make them the champions while they drum up some legions, that kind of thing. Oh, or... you know... if they get this up and running, maybe they don't even need you guys after all...?
I wouldn't worry about that last bit. Jackasses couldn't even stop me from selling- from doing very appropriate things for who knows how long, they'll be lucky if they can shovel money at you lot fast enough to save them. But it might be to your interest to know they've got half-Idol, half-soldier hardware scattered about in testing and production.
-2200 Credits
1 Unit Golden Dew Pitcher Sprouts acquired! Suitable for growing and harvesting in a hydroponics bay. More advanced models will produce higher-quality anesthetic dew. Note that the dew is exotic in these parts and thus an identifying agent, but unlikely to be recognized or successfully treated against.