<TIGHTBEAM> to: XA-Cobra

[Goddess Astra]

$Solatra@NinthWind >> neuralnet comm priv "cobra@LFR"
Neural Net Protocol: Searching...
Neural Net Protocol: Channel located.
Neural Net Protocol: Initializing stream.

...Right.

She sighs, and rubs her face.

You know, when we first met, you made a pretty big impression on me. Kind of huge, actually. I ain't the sort of person who springs for causes most of the time. Think I told you that at the time, too. But the way y'talked about the LFR, and the ideals y'stand for, and everything else...

It made me believe y'wanted to do right, y'know? That y'wanted to do good. That y'wanted to make Sirius a better place, that y'weren't in this for the power games. I don't think y'think you are. I don't...

She winces.

I think y'still wanna do good. But this ain't the way you're gonna do good. I know y'think y'can take on the big shots by taking their little weapon and using it against them. But that ain't how it works.

What's gonna happen is it's gonna get its hooks in you. Best case scenario, y'get a big stake in the trade, right? Y'get a steady stream of income coming in. But the people who give you that money, they ain't gonna just give you that money and let you be. They're gonna demand it from you. And you're gonna have to keep supplying, and where does that take you?

Back to the Outcasts. Y'become their lapdog. It happened to the Rogues. It happened to the Chrysanthemums. It happened to the Junkers. You'll become part of their cartel, and y'won't be able to break out from that, 'cuz if you do, y'get caught between your hungry buyers and the suppliers who have a gun to your head.

But that's the best case. Worst case? It all backfires on you. Outcasts backstab you, or others get testy that you're trying to muscle in on their market.

No matter how this plays out, though, none of this is how y'make Liberty free.

Y'wanna talk about how foreign capital's ruined Liberty? Y'wanna talk about how Liberty's a wreck, a mess drowning in its own excess? Y'wanna talk about excising the corruption in Liberty?

THERE IT IS! IT'S THE F*CKING OUTCASTS AND THEIR F*CKING CARDAMINE!

Y'wanna know why I didn't take the oath? It wasn't 'cuz I thought this was what was going to happen, I won't insult you by saying that. But it's 'cuz if something like this was gonna happen, I wanted an escape route. And as much as I didn't wanna believe you were like that, well. Here we F*CKING are.

Thanks for proving all my insecurities right, I guess. In a year or two, when it's really got its chains wrapped around you, think about what I said again and maybe you'll see what I meant. Maybe you'll see the actual big picture, once you're through the tunnel vision and the credit signs in your f*cking eyes.

Or maybe you'll be someone else. Someone I was right not to want to know.

I hope you think better of this. Consider this my f*cking resignation until then.

$Solatra@TheNinthWind >> return
Neural Net Protocol: Process terminated.
$Solatra@TheNinthWind >> logout

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