exsilium | Video - Keeping Promises

[The video opens on what could be a video game interface - a first-person view looking down from above, a courtyard with Initiative personnel taking a break from their work, enjoying lunch and the outside air, each individual bracketed with HUD reticles as they go about their business, while a variety of status indicators frame the edge of the display. Osprey's voice is heard, calm and professional.]

It has been 32 hours since I issued my demands. There has been no apology from the Initiative, nor has there been any indication that any is forthcoming.

[Osprey's sniper rifle comes into view in the frame, and the display changes, zooming in on one particular table down below, where several men are having lunch. The tracking reticle on one changes color from white to red, and the video of the man discussing the use of the mind control drug displays next to him.]

Colonel Jonathan Landry. The man responsible for the attempted brainwashing attempt.

[The video disappears, and crosshairs appear, centered on the Colonel's head. Then comes the bang, and the man's now headless body tumbles from his seat, before the video cuts to Osprey in front of a non-descript background.]

I repeat my demands. A public apology from the Initiative. Immediate cessation of the drugging. And increased openness and collaboration with the transports in the execution of the campaign against the United Earth. If no apology has been delivered in 24 hours, I will attack a new target, and then again 24 hours after that.

If there has been no apology by the time of my third strike, I will be forced to conclude that the Initiative prefers a state of guerilla warfare, and the pace of attacks will increase. I await your response.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Easy to hit a target that doesn't see it coming. You just gonna open fire with a semi-auto if they keep refusing to listen to you?

If they hadn't responded by the time the third target came due, I was going to move to explosives. Thankfully, the point is moot.

Well that's certainly gonna change the 'pace of attacks'. Did this actually result in any sort of net positive?

All my demands have at this point been met. The drugging has stop, the Initiative has admitted guilt, and it has promised greater transparency (although I suspect that point is going to take some hammering.) The transport who broadcast the video confirming that the drugging was deliberate has been released.

Okay, a little more beneficial than I'd thought. Usually killing people seems to result in a teensy bit more backlash than that. You know, not apologies on the part of the deceased.

The response isn't typical, no. But then, what about this Charlie Foxtrot of an operation is?

What people who feel cornered with weapons wind up doing, but really that's about all I can think of.

And that's where it gets interesting - we are their weapons. That's why they've pulled us here, to do their fighting for them.

Hopefully this will serve as a reminder that we're not just a more complicated gun, but that we're people, and will not tolerate being treated as anything less.

Yeah, good luck there.

I would like to speak with you.

not ominous at all. what is it?

You're extremely intelligent, correct?

very correct

I would like your help.

I'm not a scientist, and I'm not a genius.

I've been looking for someone who could stand an actual chance at figuring out the mechanics of what brought us here.

i am in fact both of those things. What do you know so far?

Not enough.

I haven't tried to gain access to the source of our problem because I haven't had the resources to gain any knowledge from it.

But if you think you could, I'd be willing to try to get you to it.

you've got access? what sort of access

[ The unspoken 'of course I can do it' thing being obvious. ]

I don't yet.

But I do have a specific skillset, and I believe I can gain access at least temporarily.

It would be a gamble. If I forced it - at this point it could well make things worse.

well i'm a pro at making things better when they ought to be getting worse

That's what I was hoping to hear.

As soon as I have a definite point of access I'll inform you. It may take time. There's a lot going on right now.

[ And most people consider that a bad thing. He likes the open-minded. ]

not really going anywhere, so

Video - Keeping Promises

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