Section 8 - Logs

[S8 Operatives]

Section 8

Login ID: Solemn
Entry Date: 18 Jan. 830
Location: Bielefeld Base, Sigma-15

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Report: Sigma-15

As requested, I returned to the Sigmas to look out for unusual activity. My timing could not have been better: The orbit of Planet Hammersee, Sigma-15, was crowded. Notably present, among others, were:

• Caliban (formerly Vincent Abrams)
  
• Ridgenose (former Xeno Alliance member)
  
• MNS-Amalfi (potentially infected crew)
  
• A/)-Revenant (high priority target)

Others included several ships of the Rheinland MND, the Core, and several freelancers. As I arrived, Caliban and the present Core vessels were engaged in combat with Revenant and an Auxesian frigate. Both Revenant and the frigate went down.

Following the engagement, I contacted Ridgenose over a tightbeam frequency to inquire about Caliban and the current goings-on, assuming the former's ties with the latter from when he still went by Abrams remained. Ridgenose wasn't eager to talk at first, but opened up eventually. He confirmed the Alliance commander's information that Caliban is indeed Abrams. He further stated that Caliban is currently involved with the Core, Bretonian intelligence, and the Outcast de Marco. Also that he is still seeking "the Vault" - the presumed information cache guarded by the Sentinels.

Closing the conversation, Ridgenose made a request: that Section 8 share with him the evidence presented to Cobra regarding Vincent Abrams prior to his (failed) termination. In return for this, Ridgenose will gather intel concerning Caliban and the Sentinels and forward it to us. My personal opinion would be to agree to this deal. Ridgenose is now an independent pilot and may prove a valuable asset to us - especially considering how difficult to track Caliban has proven to be. Their former loyalties to each other could be useful in that regard. Even should Ridgenose go back on his end of the deal, little will be lost by giving him access to the files at this point. It can be revoked easily enough.

I wish Emissary had been there to handle the talking. Maybe she could have gotten more out of Ridgenose. Logs of the conversation are attached to this report.

That is all.

- Solemn

Attachments:

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Communications log

[18.01.2023 20:35:21] "Solemn"|S8: Former Alliance member, Ridgenose?
[18.01.2023 20:35:50] Ridgenose: Hello spook.
[18.01.2023 20:36:10] "Solemn"|S8: Mind explaining what's going on here?
[18.01.2023 20:36:24] Ridgenose: To you? Really?
[18.01.2023 20:36:37] Ridgenose: Why would I?
[18.01.2023 20:36:49] "Solemn"|S8: Credits.
[18.01.2023 20:36:58] Ridgenose: Fuck you.
[18.01.2023 20:37:11] Ridgenose: All the shit that went down and you wanna' just try and buy me?
[18.01.2023 20:37:21] "Solemn"|S8: What shit would that be?
[18.01.2023 20:38:11] Ridgenose: The shit that created the shell in front of us that's running around in the body of my former friend.
[18.01.2023 20:38:25] "Solemn"|S8: Oh. That shit.
[18.01.2023 20:38:36] "Solemn"|S8: He's alive, isn't he?
[18.01.2023 20:38:40] Ridgenose: No.
[18.01.2023 20:38:45] Ridgenose: No he isn't.
[18.01.2023 20:39:17] "Solemn"|S8: He felt plenty alive when he forced me to punch out of my last ship.
[18.01.2023 20:40:32] Ridgenose: Well, if you want to ruin my rare moment of poetic crap, yes, technically.
[18.01.2023 20:40:40] Ridgenose: Mhm.
[18.01.2023 20:41:01] "Solemn"|S8: Not big on poetry. Sorry.
[18.01.2023 20:41:19] "Solemn"|S8: Though maybe it's poetic that the man we thought we killed came back to kill us.
[18.01.2023 20:41:22] "Solemn"|S8: How about that?
[18.01.2023 20:42:09] Ridgenose: The man you thought you killed was sector's apart from the mercenary that's caused you problems today.
[18.01.2023 20:42:54] "Solemn"|S8: Then maybe we didn't fail after all.
[18.01.2023 20:43:05] Ridgenose: Depends on how you look at it.
[18.01.2023 20:43:17] "Solemn"|S8: What can you tell me about him?
[18.01.2023 20:44:15] Ridgenose: Mostly just second hand tidbits.
[18.01.2023 20:44:48] "Solemn"|S8: I'll listen to anything you've got.
[18.01.2023 20:45:48] "Solemn"|S8: If now's a bad time, I can ask again another day.
[18.01.2023 20:46:07] Ridgenose: Don't think there won't ever be a bad time.
[18.01.2023 20:46:36] Ridgenose: On the other hand most of what I could tell you you've probably witnessed yourself, assuming that was you lurking around.
[18.01.2023 20:47:32] "Solemn"|S8: Guess he doesn't care much for the Auxesians anymore.
[18.01.2023 20:47:47] Ridgenose: They've fallen out for a long time now.
[18.01.2023 20:48:15] "Solemn"|S8: To the point of him wanting to kill Revenant?
[18.01.2023 20:48:35] Ridgenose: Ain't the first time he's tried it.
[18.01.2023 20:48:53] "Solemn"|S8: Maybe this new version of him isn't so bad.
[18.01.2023 20:49:15] Ridgenose: Pfft, he's on the Core and SIS's payroll, not sure that qualifies as good.
[18.01.2023 20:49:27] "Solemn"|S8: Bretonian intelligence?
[18.01.2023 20:49:34] Ridgenose: Yeah, that's what I heard.
[18.01.2023 20:49:45] "Solemn"|S8: Interesting.
[18.01.2023 20:50:01] "Solemn"|S8: Is he still pursuing his old obsession?
[18.01.2023 20:50:33] Ridgenose: Far as I know.
[18.01.2023 20:51:04] "Solemn"|S8: Then maybe he's not so good.
[18.01.2023 20:52:23] Ridgenose: Definitely not.
[18.01.2023 20:52:40] Ridgenose: Then again, in my book neither are you spooks.
[18.01.2023 20:53:22] "Solemn"|S8: Well, we can't please everyone.
[18.01.2023 20:53:58] Ridgenose: Mhm, 'cept in the case that leaves me with a grudge with you people, you certainly could have.
[18.01.2023 20:54:46] "Solemn"|S8: What if I told you we're terribly sorry it ended up the way it did?
[18.01.2023 20:54:57] Ridgenose: That makes me and you both.
[18.01.2023 20:55:22] "Solemn"|S8: But we did what we believed we had to do. I'm sure someone with your background understands.
[18.01.2023 20:56:01] Ridgenose: I understand that, I don't understand why I was kept out of the loop.
[18.01.2023 20:56:26] "Solemn"|S8: If I remember the reports correctly, you screwed up one time.
[18.01.2023 20:56:47] Ridgenose: Your reports were wrong, I didn't screw up, I decided to do things my way.
[18.01.2023 20:56:50] "Solemn"|S8: Or maybe your commander just wanted to protect you. Who's to say.
[18.01.2023 20:57:56] Ridgenose: If protection was the case, then Damien fucked up badly.
[18.01.2023 20:58:46] "Solemn"|S8: By failing to protect Abrams?
[18.01.2023 20:58:58] Ridgenose: No, by failing to trust me.
[18.01.2023 20:59:18] Ridgenose: Way he said it, you all gave him proof Abrams was infected.
[18.01.2023 20:59:41] Ridgenose: He declined to share it.
[18.01.2023 21:00:29] "Solemn"|S8: That sorta intel is highly confidential. He was requested not to.
[18.01.2023 21:00:53] Ridgenose: Yeah well, had he actually shown it I'd have called off what happened next.
[18.01.2023 21:01:17] Ridgenose: Probably wouldn't be out in this god forsaken wasteland, so forgive me if I'm bitter about it.
[18.01.2023 21:01:32] "Solemn"|S8: Understandable.
[18.01.2023 21:02:03] Ridgenose: All the fucking trouble and the only result is a bigger asshole being made.
[18.01.2023 21:02:39] "Solemn"|S8: It's a miracle Abrams survived. To the extent that he did, anyway.
[18.01.2023 21:03:19] Ridgenose: Miracle ain't the word I'd use.
[18.01.2023 21:03:28] "Solemn"|S8: Curse?
[18.01.2023 21:03:34] Ridgenose: Something like that.
[18.01.2023 21:03:47] "Solemn"|S8: Well, we did try our best.
[18.01.2023 21:03:58] Ridgenose: Now what remains has even less of a code than me.
[18.01.2023 21:04:30] "Solemn"|S8: Do you know what exactly he's up to? What he's planning?
[18.01.2023 21:05:07] Ridgenose: Not really, just that he's got his sights on the Vault and has a vendetta with you spooks and Rev.
[18.01.2023 21:05:21] Ridgenose: Oh and I left out the part where he was on De Marco's payroll as well.
[18.01.2023 21:05:43] "Solemn"|S8: The Core, Bretonian intelligence, and the Outcasts?
[18.01.2023 21:06:00] "Solemn"|S8: And he's still after whatever it is the Sentinels are guarding?
[18.01.2023 21:06:19] Ridgenose: Mhm, was the Buro at one point was as well, but that might have died with Abrams.
[18.01.2023 21:06:33] "Solemn"|S8: He sure gets around.
[18.01.2023 21:06:55] Ridgenose: Mhm, yeah he always was a pain in the fucking ass.
[18.01.2023 21:07:04] "Solemn"|S8: Makes me wonder what he's got to offer them.
[18.01.2023 21:07:29] Ridgenose: Fucked if I know, that's spook territory, not really my preferred line of work.
[18.01.2023 21:07:44] "Solemn"|S8: What exactly is your line of work these days?
[18.01.2023 21:08:14] Ridgenose: Whatever odd merc work I can get that doesn't make my skin crawl.
[18.01.2023 21:08:39] "Solemn"|S8: Can't be much of that out here and with this sort of company.
[18.01.2023 21:09:13] Ridgenose: Ain't that the fuckin' truth.
[18.01.2023 21:09:47] Ridgenose: But to answer your question, yeah, last time I spoke he was still gunning for the Vault but that was about a year ago.
[18.01.2023 21:10:16] Ridgenose: From what odd tidbit's I hear from the wrong side of the Liberty border, things are changing these days.
[18.01.2023 21:10:30] "Solemn"|S8: How so?
[18.01.2023 21:11:04] Ridgenose: Dunno' heard at one point he had a cease fire with you guys.
[18.01.2023 21:11:29] Ridgenose: Much as I hoped he took what I said last time we spoke to heart, seems I was wrong.
[18.01.2023 21:11:38] "Solemn"|S8: And what was that?
[18.01.2023 21:12:03] Ridgenose: To drop the vendetta and leave the fucking vault be.
[18.01.2023 21:12:31] "Solemn"|S8: After what it cost him, I can't blame him.
[18.01.2023 21:12:52] Ridgenose: No, I can't, but my mind was elsewhere at the time.
[18.01.2023 21:13:56] "Solemn"|S8: Well, keep an eye on him. If you're still friends.
[18.01.2023 21:14:02] Ridgenose: Cal?
[18.01.2023 21:14:07] "Solemn"|S8: Mhm.
[18.01.2023 21:14:07] Ridgenose: Not really.
[18.01.2023 21:14:25] Ridgenose: Look, I've told what I know.
[18.01.2023 21:14:45] Ridgenose: What I need are two favours.
[18.01.2023 21:14:51] "Solemn"|S8: Ask away.
[18.01.2023 21:15:23] Ridgenose: First is whatever you gave Damien that convinced him to make the choice he did.
[18.01.2023 21:15:29] Ridgenose: Second is, well...
[18.01.2023 21:15:35] Ridgenose: Tell Damien I said...
[18.01.2023 21:15:49] Ridgenose: I don't know, just tell him I said I wish things turned out different.
[18.01.2023 21:16:16] "Solemn"|S8: I'll pass both of those along. No promises concerning the former.
[18.01.2023 21:16:34] "Solemn"|S8: Like I said. Highly confidential.
[18.01.2023 21:16:59] Ridgenose: I understand that, but I need some convincing that all the bullshit that mess caused was at least worth it.
[18.01.2023 21:17:15] "Solemn"|S8: I'll see what I can do.
[18.01.2023 21:17:26] "Solemn"|S8: And before I forget.
[18.01.2023 21:17:32] Ridgenose: You convince me of that and I'll give you everything I can get on Cal and the Sentinels.
[18.01.2023 21:17:58] "Solemn"|S8: Now you've got yourself a deal. I'll -really- see what I can do.
[18.01.2023 21:18:29] "Solemn"|S8: In the mean time, if you're looking for work, keep an eye out for ... things that might interest us. If that doesn't make-
[18.01.2023 21:18:34] "Solemn"|S8: your skin crawl too much.
[18.01.2023 21:18:59] Ridgenose: Ain't got problems pointing you in the direction of aliens to vaporize.
[18.01.2023 21:19:24] "Solemn"|S8: Good. And if you do any vaporizing yourself, you'll find yourself a few credits richer.
[18.01.2023 21:19:31] Ridgenose: Noted.