I woke up in a white, very clean room. I looked from the window and saw a city I didn't know. My head felt like it could explode next minute but what confused me most I didn't remember anything from my past. Who I was, where I came from, how did I get there or why did I sustain a complete memory loss.
After lots of sessions with the hospital therapist small fragments of my past life slowly started to reveal themselves. I was told Rick Deckard was my name - as it was written on the lifepod they found me in. My ID was lost and my biometric data (fingerprints, retina scans) were deleted. I was also told that I am at Planet Manhattan in the New York system, Liberty Space.
The most distant remembrance I now have was my last mercenary job. I was hired by a secret agent carrying a strange hat for escorting a heavily guarded military freighter convoy carrying some classified technology from Rheinland to Atka Research Station, Sigma 19. I was supposed to meet them in Frankfurt system with a large number of other mercenaries. There were 2 main convoys. The first one was protected by us, and the second one by Rheinland Military, but we weren't supposed to know that. The more I think about it the more I believe we were just a diversion.
When we were attacked by several unidentified ships appearing from nowhere. I heard rumors about these cloaking devices but never experienced them myself. The shield was gone in a moment and my ship exploded after several serious hits. They must have been using some nomad weaponry as well. The last thing I saw was the second convoy trying to slip through the blockade and then continue to the research station.
I must have somehow survived in an escape pod, which was later picked up by a bounty hunter. He apparently couldn't find someone who could give him some reward for saving me so he dropped me carelessly in the space nearby Manhattan and disappeared.
Luckily for me this was seen by a pilot in a hospital shuttle which brought down to hospital. Unfortunately they didn't manage to identify the bounty hunter so the only lead to my I had past was gone. I didn't find any mention about a destroyed military convoy in the GNN either.
I had no credits, no ship, and I started to have feeling I am being tracked by some military intelligence so after leaving hospital I decided to disappear from Manhattan. I came to this company called Compressed Space Technology asking for a job in logistics department. I think working in this environment could bring me closer to finding out some details of my past.
I'll try to find out more about the mysterious convoy I was escorting. That could be the key. I'm still not sure if my memory loss was a result of my ship crash or a brainwash before the bounty hunter found me. If only I knew where it was...
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Personal log entry #7:
Work at CST has been a very good decision. They pay me very well, the team is great and the work is interesting. We deliver supplies of miscellaneous parts&material mainly to our home base - Ames Research Station in Kepler system. Sometimes we deliver classified products to our customers in various places so I can get to even less known parts of Sirius.
I have been searching a lot at Mercenary communication channels and found out that several well known mercenaries stopped communicating approximately at the same time we escorted the convoy and no one ever heard of them later. I tried to search for the specifics of their contracts but it looks like all the records have been deleted.
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Personal log entry #12:
I met an interesting pooch on Corfu Base in Theta and started to call him Fnordie.
All my notes and saved messages can be found here.
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Personal log entry #18:
I took some days off and went to Sigma space, trying to find out something about my last mercenary job. I was asking several people in bars and shops and I have discovered some new clues.
There was one guy who started talking (after I bought him x-th tequila) about some secret project by Rheinland Military regarding enhance ments of Artificial Intelligence and creating perfect battle robots. They tried to monitor behavior of group of selected people and create an AI database of their reactions in different situations and then apply this enhanced AI to machines.
Later they even tried to combine the enhanced AI with something they extracted from Nomad brains which process took place somewhere in Sigma systems. This research must have been supplied with testing material somehow. Atka RS? Possibly, but not necessarily. There are rumors about special mobile research stations which can move in space and even jump through holes.
But I have to be careful not to raise much attention. The last guy was starting talking loudly and I noticed at least one gloomy look pointing our direction.
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Personal log entry #25:
Easy come easy go. Fnordie's away and I'm alone again. Hope I meet him sometimes. I heard he is an excellent ELF Ranger Epopt now.
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Personal log entry #34:
January. There were some interesting stories in GNN News that brought my attention.
A criminal scientist escapes Rheinland Military Prison. He was convicted for experimenting with AI on humans, usage of cloaking technology and and breaking nomad transportation bans. A week later a trade convoy ambushed and destroyed by cloaked moving station "Ska Ralla". Pilots in lifepods tractored inside the station. And later lots of more insane attacks with relation to this criminal scientists.
What does that mean? I feel this man must have been somehow connected with the ambush of our convoy. Yes he might have been in prison that time, but everything else fits perfectly. Attacking supply convoys, tractoring pilots of destroyed ships, usage of cloaking technology. Someone could have been preparing him the way out of prison somehow.
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Personal log entry #39:
February, again GNN News. AI controlled ships attack humans in Kusari space without any warning. They just appear, destroy everything in sight and disappear again. AI going mad and killing innocent people? Hmm, interesting. And another new events about our criminal scientist...
Bad news about my employing company (CST) is I heard some rumours that several research projects failed and we are facing the threat of bankruptcy. I contacted my boss and he denied it but I feel something's in the air.
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Personal log entry #44:
Terrible news. I found Fnordie's ship in Omega-41. Well, wreck of his ship. His lifepod was jammed inside the ship. I managed to release it and get it out of there and bring him to the emergency service at Freeport 5, but after a week he still remains in coma.
I was studying recordings from the black box but what I found out troubled me even more. The oldest recordings showed Fnordie's ship entering Omega-41 through a jump hole. He then continued to an area full of mines, which everyone normally avoids. Then he stopped in the middle of the mine field and waited for about 15 minutes. Suddenly a black Slipstream appeared. It's tagged [ELF-23]Kitty. Fnordie transferred a large sum of credits to the other ship's account. It would be enough to fully equip a new fighter.
I knew Fnordettes have freed themselves from their "primates" and that they truly loved shopping. So far I saw no problem on the recordings.
Fnordie also dropped some H-Fuel, nanobots and batteries. The other ship tractored dropped goods, but then suddenly it pointed all guns to Fnordie's ship, and while the shield was still down, all guns kept firing until Fnordie's ship exploded. Which is obviously where the recordings end.
The attack was absolutely shabby, Fnordie had no time to defend himself even if he expected it which he obviously couldn't. And it looks that Kitty has prepared this to the last tiny bit. Or was it not Kitty? I was communicating with her several times and never had the feeling she could be "unstable". But again, combined with the last GNN News, nothing regarding AI's is sure these days.
This event hit me too deeply. Why FNordie, he was such a nice fellow. I can't sleep, I barely eat and I am just randomly flying in Omegas and trying to figure out what's going on here.
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Personal log entry #46:
I finally found some peace at my friend's Veranda on Planet Grand Canaria. I plan to stay here for a while, rest and wait for any news about Fnordie's condition.
Maybe I could also make some progress with that load of my unanswered questions as I met very interesting people here whose wide knowledge certainly could push me a bit forward.
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ooc:
Maybe, too long has Rick's story been waiting to be uncovered so it's quite a long one.
Sorry for that but I tried to shorten it and also to glue it a bit to some other interesting stories on disco.
If you have anything to participate, fell free to go on.
![[Image: Rick_at_hospital.jpg]](http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w129/majkp/FL/Rick_at_hospital.jpg)