Unknown Transmission
21 Nov 2023Kasumi Goto
[OOC] Notice of clarity - the letters in front of each individual talking are purely there as guidance for the reader, rather than having any actual presence in the transmission.
Listening Post XJR-3A1
Signal detected...
Unique identifier detected. Activating encryption...
Warning! Encryption failure.
Signal transmitter malfunction. Attempting reboot...
Instruction packet located. Reading...
SEND TO ALL SYSTEMS WITHIN HUMAN SPACE.
Relay transmitter active. Broadcasting live transmission [AUDIO ONLY]
F: How long has she been missing?
P: About a month.
F: A month?! Why hasn't she been found yet?
P: You know why. She's always been good at keeping herself hidden. And with the Thargoids in her head...
F: I don't want excuses. You managed to keep track of her for five years after she destroyed the colony, and even when they altered her. Why is it so hard to find her now? Just follow the damn trail of -
E: Relax. All they've had her do so far was some sabotage, and it didn't even kill people.
F: Relax?! There's a goddamn human-Thargoid hybrid out there that looks no different to any other person. Do you have any idea what kind of damage she could be causing if they stop being so restrained, or dominate her mind entirely?
I: The only damage she's caused is easily repairable. Most of the affected stations already are back at optimal performance already.
F: And how long until she decides to set off a reactor's self-destruct sequence? We all know she's damn well capable of that.
E: She can't hide from us forever. You know that as well.
F: It would have been better if she didn't slip out of Aegis' control in the first place. How is your project to create genetically engineered humans with superior strength, resilience and the same intelligence within the same body, so we can colonize new worlds more easily, going now? And you managed to get her enhanced by the Thargoids even further.
E: It was a risk worth taking. We didn't anticipate her discovering the project and destroying it, but that just makes her all the more valuable. And we shouldn't bring that project up over a comms channel.
F: The link is encrypted even beyond military grade. No chance anyone's going to hack into it. And how valuable is she going to be if she ends up joining the Thargoids entirely? We can't get her back if that happens.
P: I'm inclined to agree with her. Is she really still worth the risk of keeping around? Maybe we should just get rid of her. And where the hell is [signal interrupted]
S: Where was I? Trying to clean up your mess. Killing Kira is not an option. We want her alive. The things we could learn from her existing -
P: Cleaning up my mess? I'm not the one who's letting the world know that a damn hybrid is on the loose in the middle of human society, controlled by a species we're at war with. How was I even supposed to know she'd suddenly just run off like that? She's got as much a mind of her own as Seo Jin-ae does. Unless you want to try predicting what either of them are going to do next.
S: Let's not focus on her getting away from Aegis, but how to get her back. She's too valuable to lose to the Thargoids, especially if they have done whatever they did to her, to those recovered from a Titan.
F: And how do you want to do that? Bounty hunters aren't gonna cut it. She'll just run from or kill them. And some of those rebels removed the access lock on her carrier.
E: I'll deal with that matter separately. Who do we want her back with? Azimuth?
P: Azimuth?! Forget it. She'll put a bullet through her head before she even gets dragged close to one of their facilities. Especially with what [static] is letting them say. With Aegis, she'll at least be more inclined to stay there.
F: Because they didn't let her run away in the first place.
P: That wasn't exactly planned. And she'll know better than to listen to what the Thargoids are telling her after this.
F: You and [signal distorted] should have known better than to create a superior human and try to interface her with a Thargoid ship after the Proteus Wave. Look at what that got us.
P: You -
I: Enough! This squabbling won't get us anywhere. How do we get her to realize that she's not thinking for herself? Her mind's strong enough to resist it, but there needs to be a trigger.
F: We need some kind of bait. Something, or someone, that's annoyed the Thargoids a lot in the past.
E: One of her friends, perhaps?
P: No. If she kills one of them, it's going to push her over the edge. And if anything else goes wrong, they'll be what pulls her out of trouble. It needs to be someone she doesn't know, or she’ll suspect it’s a bait, too. I've got a candidate in mind already.
I: And I have somewhere to send them.
F: Do it. And make sure -
System alert! Listening post security failure!
P: What - damn it, one of our beacons has been transmitting this whole thing, and without encryption! Cut it -
Relay transmitter deactivated. Transmission interrupted.
New command received. Purging records...
Error. Unable to fully execute command. Data purge partially successful.
Remote link disabled.