Puzzle Pieces
11 Nov 2021Iridium Nova
It occurred to me that I never actually wrote a logbook regarding the reasons I went to Jelani in the first place. Usually I write the logbook entries in the downtimes after operations, but considering the way that op went, I guess that never happened.So while I was at the monastery, I had been doing a little light reading: newsfeeds, data dumps, decryptions, trade and travel advisories, etc. The usual. During this process, I like to see what kind of patterns emerge and see if any of them make enough sense to indicate a potentially lucrative change in the wind, so to speak. For career intrigue artists, this kind of thing is like foreplay. It gets the imagination going and prepares your mind to take advantage of the suffering of others that comes in the wake of other people taking advantage of the suffering of others. Now, I know that sounds ghoulish, but it's not really that bad. First, I rarely do it for the money. Most of the time, I'm just looking for an opportunity to engage in some state sanctioned fun, or make a mark on history, or get ahold of some shiny rare tech, or just make a friend by making more enemies. That's more morally acceptable than doing it to con victims out of their money (in fact, the people who do that are usually the ones I end up killing), but there's always someone out there ready to condemn you for being practical, even if you're serving the greater good while doing it.
Anyway, this particular operation was the product of a fascinating rainbow of information consisting of local news, decrypted data I'd pulled from some of my previous ops, and Galnet forum rumors, which all pointed to something called "Theta-4", and suggestions that it had been purchased from the Blue Viper Club. Now, everyone knows that the Blue Viper boys most likely gave the Kumos gamma strain, but what if that wasn't all they had? I had to check this out.
Well, the rest is history. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what the hell actually happened to me there. The corrupted data from my equipment makes no sense, and I've got nothing else to go on. The scans of the facility from after I returned have nothing of value to add, and my memory following waking up from the coma is unreliable when it's not non-existent. The logbooks read like a bad horror story and Dr. Ferrous hasn't responded to my messages. His staff assured me that he reads the messages I leave with them, but I've got no way to know if that's true.
On the one hand, I don't want anything more to do with that. That was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. But on the other hand, I want to know what happened to me. When something happens to you that just doesn't make sense, it's real damn hard to let it go. It haunts you, it invades your dreams, and it tugs at every thought. There is a palpable need for closure and I feel like I've got no way to fulfill that need. But I'm also smart enough to know when to hold em and when to fold em.
In this 'verse, you gotta know when it's time to walk away.