Sixth | Audio

[strategic_guile]

[His voice is calm as he poses this question. It's a voice that wants to encourage discussion but not necessarily a heated debate.]

What is it that the United Earth wants from the Initiative that keeps us alive? That last curbstomping we received doesn't leave much room for debate about our chances.

Is it the tech? Are we a propaganda tool? An experiment?

Throw some ideas out there.

[And then the feed ends.]


[[OOC: Threadjumping and jacking are encouraged in this post! Blaine wants allllll the ideas.]]

Comments

Audio

[misplacedxsheath]

That's something I've wondered, as well. Propaganda is a possibility, as is the idea that they might be convinced that they're the ones in the right and believe that showing us mercy proves it. They may also simply be arrogant enough to believe they don't need to destroy us completely or wish to break us rather than eliminate us.

permaaudio;

[strategic_guile]

Propaganda might work even better since their population is so drugged up all the time. They're run by an AI though, so I doubt it thinks of things as 'right' or 'wrong' in the moral sense anyway.

[gordonowesmeabeer]

Maybe just so they know where all the malcontents are and can keep an eye on them? We're like a lightning rod for trouble makers.

permaaudio;

[misplacedxsheath]

That depends on the level of the AI. I've known multiple artificial humans who had a fully developed sense of morality. Of course, even in cases such as those, their moral compass still depends heavily on that of their programmer.

[strategic_guile]

I'm not willing to put much faith into that AI's moral compass. Having it in charge of the entire UE is a stretch for me as it is. Especially when they enjoy good ole' fashioned bombing.

[strategic_guile]

[snorts a bit] Well, that's an idea. Give all the naysayers a place to run to and keep them all in one place. Throw a few bombs here and there to get them riled up. Not a bad idea, really.

[misplacedxsheath]

It's the biological warfare and the attack on the other world I find more unsettling. The bombings show that they either care little for the possibility of a distinction between the Initiative and the civilians or simply have no concern over killing innocents, but the virus and the destruction of a planet imply that they have no concern for the typical rules of warfare.

*Really, they remind him uncomfortably of how he used to act with regards to their approach to war.*

It wouldn't be...unheard of for a group to discard such things in the belief that their side is correct and any actions they take justified. But the possibility also exists that they really do lack any concern for morality. Either way, though, they're worthy of contempt.

[strategic_guile]

Who knows what the typical rules of warfare even are in this time, though you'd think biological warfare would be included in 'Do not do' column. People can justify a lot of things if they put their mind to it. Especially if they're distanced from the decision making.

[misplacedxsheath]

Attacking an uninvolved third party also falls under the category of obviously an act of terrorism rather than war. But it's not only those removed from positions of authority that can find it easy to justify whatever they consider the most effective.

[Audio, sort of.]

[trustycrowbar]

[More like calling from the next room.]

It took you THAT long to realize this?

[strategic_guile]

[Shouting right back.]

No! It took me that long to bother making a post!

[strategic_guile]

Who's this uninvolved third party? Everyone here is part of the resistance by simply not being part of the UE, as far as they're concerned. I don't think some believe their justifications. They may say it as lip service, but they're killing us because we won't submit.

[misplacedxsheath]

Hmm, you must not have been present for that. The Initiative attempted to send someone back to his own world a couple of months ago. They succeeded, but the United Earth also paid that world a visit and laid waste to the entire planet despite our best efforts to combat them.

[strategic_guile]

Ahhh, that. I was on a mission then, but I've heard about... the carnage afterwards. That's what makes me believe they want our tech, despite all the bombing that could destroy it.

[misplacedxsheath]

Obviously they have some of the same capabilities we do, otherwise they wouldn't have been capable of mounting that attack. However...it is possible that they're using us to discover new worlds for them to take advantage of.

[strategic_guile]

That's what I'm guessing. They don't have the same capabilities of time travel as us, so they ride our coattails to new worlds. Hell, who knows how the Initiatives machine even picks us out of the infinite worlds and peoples there are. Maybe we're already linked to this world.

[misplacedxsheath]

It would help if we knew why they bothered destroying that world. While I've met the occasional depraved individual who indulges in mass slaughter with no real reason, I find it unlikely that that's the case here. Likewise, if they were clearing the planet out to have uncontested access to its resources, they would have done the same thing to every other world they've come across. Even if they only developed the technology to send their forces across dimensions after we did, there's been enough time that we might have seen evidence of it by now.

The most likely reasons I can think of are because they consider us entering the worlds they scavenge a threat or they wanted to provide an example of what they could do if they ever decided to stop showing us mercy.

[strategic_guile]

A pretty effective, demoralizing scare tactic, but we don't know exactly what resources they're after. Totally stripping the land may not be the most effective way. If, once they get to a world, they can go back any time they want they won't need to mine it to dust.

[misplacedxsheath]

There would be benefits to having the natives out of the way even so, as long as the resources they're stealing occur naturally. But given the state of this world, I wouldn't be surprised if they were using others as a source of cultivated plants.

[charming_jerk]

[No need to call back when you're living in the same apartment. But he'll actually come to Blaine's door to talk instead of shouting back and forth. :V]

Been wonderin' the same thing for weeks now. I don't get it at all. My closest guess is that they're usinn us for something, spyin' on us for ideas.

[strategic_guile]

As good of an idea as anything else. [He tilts his head at Johnny]

When we lost that guys world, do we know for certain it was destroyed?

[strategic_guile]

I suspect they would leave people to farm and cultivate the resources. Even if it happens naturally, it isn't so organized.

[charming_jerk]

[He shrugs lightly, leaning against the door frame. The look on his face is distant.] If they managed to do what they did to New York to other major cities - and from what I've heard, they did - there's not much left there, if anything. The UE really fucked that place hard. The fact that they can do that to a whole planet, but haven't bothered to wipe us out yet, is pretty weird. So they probably need us for somethin'.

[misplacedxsheath]

We know uncomfortably little about the exact method they use, but taking advantage of the work of the natives does seem to me the most likely reason they don't make a habit of removing sentient life from the planet prior to syphoning the remaining resources.

[strategic_guile]

[He makes a noise of acknowledgement]

I think we should find that out instead of all these other missions we were going on. Especially if they start them up again.