(The original story and art plans, for multiple reasons became overwhelming, and we both moved on. However a lot that was finished was left on the cutting room floor. Using these assets and plans, with some new writing tie the missing pieces together this deleted bonus content has been restored. It's been a long time coming, but this is the BP3 epilogue, please enjoy.)
Hello, and welcome again to Rhomboid Reveals!
I am your host, Rickatak Rhomboid, and we have a special show in store for you tonight!
Last year, the entire quadrant was held in thrall of the Exterminator Battle Royale
. There was excitement, betrayal, anguish, and a band of plucky killers-for-hire that banded together to break the system!
But what happened after the show ended? Where did the survivors end up? And were tales of psychic ghosts haunting the station true?
Stay tuned as we try to get to the bottom of it all!
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Obviously, the corporation that staged all of this wasn't too happy with the outcome. Sure, the show made cuckoo KOR with all those people glued to their vids every night, but that whole escape bit? Never supposed to happen!
Our sources say that there was a thorough investigation afterwards. How could the supposedly secure station be escaped so easily? Why were the security forces not better prepared?
The answer? Nepotism and corruption, in a nutshell. Turns out the entire security detail was owned by the brother-in-law of one the main organizers. And it was a security corporation with a string of failures and botched operations going back almost a decade.
And given the strange reports of multiple ships launching and leaving the impound without even having pilots on board? Well, it's a pretty safe bet that the corruption goes pretty deep.
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Evidence of the Corruption goes even further than that. We got our hands on this:
Evidence that someone was messing with funds controlled by the various Exterminators. Look, all of it going into one account for a dead participant?
Seems like something fishy was going on there. But our sources did indicate that "the error" was caught and corrected before everything finished up.
My guess? Someone not in on that take caught wind and spoiled the con!
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That's not all! Apparently there was corruption going on during the show!
We've gotten evidence that the camera operator, roseheart, was collaborating and in contact with the various Exterminators throughout the show. And taking bribes for who got to feature most prominently in the promotional material!
You all remember this thing, right? Couldn't hide in an asteroid belt without running across it for a few weeks there.
Anyway, all that weird stuff in there? Yeah. Paid for by the Exterminators!
Can you get any more shady than that?
Oh, and they did that photo shoot on the Station itself, weeks after all this went down! Yeah. You know, after the station was supposed to have been locked down and in the middle of a full investigation!
Gotta wonder how many KOR greased palms to get that to happen.
Seems that not all is well with our erstwhile Exterminators, though. According to our sources, Heydude6 turned on Jim during the photoshoot. Apparently upset about Jim trying to take all the credit in stories about the escape or something. Bet that was a sight to see! Sadly, there's no footage available of that debacle. Seems like Jim made it out alive, though.
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In our next section, we tackle a rumor that just refuses to die. That's right, ghosts
on the station!
As many of you are aware, there were some very suspicious things going on during the event. Exterminators claiming to talk to their dead comrades and even some video clips that hint of unexplainable things happening during the raid on the hanger.
We talk now with Crugenan, who was part of the clean-up crew on the station.
(The host turns to talk with an image of a Suvanon that shows up on one of the wall panels)
Host: Now, Crugenan, you say that you had some strange experiences while on the station after the event was over?
Crugenan: That's right! We had all sorts of strange things happen. Sections where you could feel a chill even through space suits. I swear one time I heard some sort of angry ranting that I couldn't quite make out. We all had stories like that. No one felt right working on that station.
Host: Fascinating! Any actual appearances by the ghosts?
Crugenan: Well, I didn't see anything. But one of the other cleaners did. She said she was looking at one of those posters and the whole thing just kinda...shifted...and there was this skull staring back at her! I don't think she was lying about it, either, her spines stood up just talking about it! But when the rest of us went to look at it the skull was gone.
Host: Quite the fright, I'm sure. What do you think happened to those ghosts, anyway? Think they're all still haunting that station?
Crugenan: Uh. Well. Uh. I'm kinda worried they followed us out. I still have strange things happen around me sometimes. Stuff I can't explain.
HostLike what?
Crugenan: Well, this one time <fffffzt>the screen goes dark for a moment
Host: Huh. Strange. Their signal seems to have cut out. We must be having some technical issues. We'll be back after these messages from our sponsors!
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Well that just about wraps up our show for the evening.
It's no surprise that a show that crazy had a lot going on under the surface, but who could have expected there to be quite so much under the surface??
Ghosts? Right? I'm telling you, this universe gets weirder all the time.
I am Rickatak Rhomboid and thank you for watching Rhomboid Reveals!
Tune in next week when we delve into the strange and repulsive lives of Doppelgangers!!
And that's it! Should have wrapped this all up almost a year ago, but hopefully everyone will still find it entertaining.