>: Nicole Hayes

[Reeves]

☠ Incoming transmission.
☠ Signal source: Free Republic relay, Liberty
☠ Opening video feed...

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Sender: Alliance Commander "Cobra"
Recipient: Nicole Hayes
Subject: Re: Asylum

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I will freely admit.

That I am a creature of spite and cunning, these are the ingredients of what I simply must be to live in the world I chose to occupy. Heh, almost ironic to think of it that way. Especially given that I spent precious decades pretending to be things I'm not. The LSF has a file on me, and in an instant you'd have all the pieces you'd need to understand my entire history and even a mostly accurate psych-profile. But you had a little too much integrity to be one of them.

I have a fascination, or maybe it's better to term it as an obsession. I like to strip away barriers, restraints, consequences, and even incentives. Leaving nothing but a man and an infinite series of pathways and choices to make. Pay attention, choices - not dilemmas. The latter only leads to problems while the former may yield solutions. But if you're wondering why, it's because when all things are removed, and with every construct absent, a man is left unafraid to be himself. The self he may otherwise pretend doesn't exist.

So now, I wouldn't impose a term so droll as an effective conscription. I'm playing a high stakes game for the soul of a country and the hopes of an entire people, that's not something anyone can be forced into, it would pervert the purpose. Whether you want to stand by me and help see that future be made manifest, that has to be of your own free will. The terms of your asylum will accord you protection till the day you die, or until you voluntarily relinquish our protection. I resent cages, and have no intention of shackling you to a cause if you don't believe in it.

My methods are crude, and violent. And my most reliable weapons are Liberty's own decadence, corruption, and ineffective bureaucracy. But these are still just weapons, things I only chose to pick up so that I could put them down again, or for the people who carry on this struggle in my name to have the satisfaction of doing. I want a blank slate for my people, the inheritors of what Liberty's culture group was meant to embody before reckless ambition, and a blinding hubris damned us all - myself included.

A world where we are left alone, unimpeded by invasive intelligence agencies, content to arm and fund terrorists like me. A Navy that illustriously casts itself into the service of a Congress that doesn't represent its people, content to be attack dogs for the rest of their days, lionizing themselves at the expense of hapless, and at times fabricated opponents. And last but not least, a police force that partakes in a form of slavery, arguably worse than what presently exists on Malta. Worse yet? The other Houses are all the same. Bound together in one cancerous cycle, fostering life only to then cannibalize it. To recite every group unworthy of trust would take too long. You would be wiser to ask me who you can trust, it's a much shorter and more concise list - with the first and foremost always being yourself.

You want to help the people of Erie. I will do nothing except ensure that you have the means to do so, as an agent of yourself and what you believe in. The fact of the matter is this, Hayes - I wouldn't have it any other way. I only ask that as a token of appreciation for this ability, and my own insight into the world I've seen from an uncensored vigil, that you help me secure a future less decrepit than this one.

Consider this my manifesto. And be mindful that you still have a choice to make.

"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"

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☠ Transmission signal lost.

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On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed