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[Dessau]

They say that if you want to write, first, read every day, and second, know what you're writing about. Guess I'm doubly screwed here! In any case, these are meant to be background tales by which to flesh out this character, and so general writing advice is desired. Also, I will attempt to adhere to the lore as best I am able, and have access to EVE: Source, but appreciate instructive criticism there as well.

The Feast of Vultures

Preface

(Ed. Intercepted transmissions from the subject to the point of contact Ligne Estemaire. Due to the nature of the encryption used, which was likely developed in tandem with other project members, the message metadata is rendered irretrievable. Thus, at this time we are only able to compile those messages originating at the trace source. Work on locating the corresponding replies has already commenced.

The following messages are assembled in what are likely to be chronological order, numbered and annotated with possible physical and temporal markers.)

1]
   Ligne… this is Niscoir. Sorry for contacting out of the blue. You’re probably confused as to why you’re receiving an encoded mail from an old classmate. Hopefully, you remember me… they were... wild times, as I recall. We took a few units of political philosophy together… ‘Morals & Ethics’ with Tisou, ‘Essentials of Government’ with Stenier-Tian. We hit a few parties together, too… seems like a very long time ago.

Listen, this is a little unexpected, but I’m wondering if you ever did get that internship you wanted with the Scope, you mentioned it once or twice before third year. I hope that it’s worked out the way you planned. While I haven’t heard about a big break yet, I’m sure you’ll make it happen, you were always ace at finding those references.

Hey, in case you aren’t too uncomfortable with the idea, drop me a line if you’re free sometime. Would be nice to talk shop with some of the old familiar faces, even if it’s only via Neocom.

(Ed. We place this message at some point between October and December YC 114. Very little outgoing traffic from this account makes pinpointing a date unlikely.)

2]
   Hi again… it’s nice to hear back from you, too. Have to say I didn’t expect very much. I’m glad you’re onboard at the Scope and are enjoying your work, and don’t worry, you’re just on the proving grounds right now. Alliance sovereignty is an enormous driver of commerce, and there are a huge number of variables within each nullsec entity. [TS] must trust your ability to keep a crew alive, at least, so your foot’s already in the door. The brass ring that puts your name on the byline, can’t be too far behind.

   My family… the same as ever, and thank you for asking. That’s life outside the frenetic crush of news, commerce, and politics, I guess, but that is the way they prefer it. Simple, predictable. My health is fine, too, I think I just recorded that last message a bit too early in the morning, and work has been keeping me up late.

   I had actually already looked into contacting a few of the others from the old study groups, but so far no luck… seems like they’ve gone quiet, or maybe I’ve just gotten the Neocom IDs wrong. You’re damn right about a reunion being in order, though.

   Keep in touch, I’ll be around.

3]
   Naturally, you’ve already found half of our cadre of troublemakers. Figures that Aurica and Sigel ended up together, but I’d be a little concerned about them going into business together, since freight can be fairly high-stakes. Time will tell, I guess. And Miles is now manufacturing for FDU… I suspect he’s living quite comfortably, shrewd man.

   There was that one aide from ‘Democratic Power and Federation’ with Dr. Lenelluc… Arnaud en Chalune. He was one of the casualties on Caldari Prime I hear… damn shame. I feel for the family, to have the promise of the future pulled out from under you. Unconscionable.

   Yeah, I guess I don’t say much. Life’s pretty routine. GalNet traffic analytics is a very dull affair, what else can I say?

(Ed. It appears that here 20 or more days went by between replies. We believe this was some time during April YC 115.)

4]
   Sorry, things have been busy the past couple weeks. New project for backend optimization across 15 systems in Everyshore. Couple of the bigwigs have second and third homes in the quiet corners, have to make sure they have the most sound and secure connections first, right?

   Appreciate the Egone mix. I’ve got it playing now.

(Ed. Again, it appears that at least 15 days went by between replies. We believe this was some time during May YC 115.)

5]
   Once again, you’ve caught me in the midst of some painfully routine workweeks. The problem is the team I lead are relatively new to the work, so I’m doing double duty on every issue. Shaking my head here, but it is what it is.

   Let me get back to you shortly, we’re almost through this optimization cycle.

(Ed. Estimate early June YC 115.)

6]
   First, I understand why you’re angry. I don’t blame you for being angry. You have every right. Second, let me stress that I am the man you attended UC with, and I’m not lying when I say I am that man. But the reasons you can’t find any record of a GalNet analyst by my name, or records after graduation… are complicated.

   This isn’t the venue for a convenient explanation. Give me two hours. I’ll come up with a way to give you more, but it might be a little rusty.

7]
   Alright, hopefully you’re getting this. Matari encryption is all I had on hand, no time to whip anything up.

   Listen, you and I both needed you to find this out on your own. Think about why I would approach you. Think about how you would react if something like this was just laid out in front of you. Would you believe it?

The Niscoir Grancoeur you remember? He’s alive and well. He didn’t simply stop after we left university, in spite of what the ‘records’ say. It was during third year, in the midst of all the capsule acclimatization we went through, that a couple suits named from back in Villore came knocking. Louess and Schoun, but I can’t back that up. Apparently some of my papers had turned some heads in the department administration, and they pushed my name through the channels. I had a chance to work into something with the FIO, and they said I could get a free ride plus placement after graduation, with only a couple stipulations about capsuleer status. I said yes.

   I don’t have time to make a full production out of this. Especially if you won’t listen. So I’m leaving the next step up to you. If you contact me again, make sure to secure the channel.

8]
   I’m glad you’re up for this, because at the moment neither of us have many options outside of one another. If we can’t be friends now, maybe our past friendship is enough.

   Getting things straight… I did a lot of work for the FIO after the enhancement training at the Navy. A lot. Eventually had regular dealings with their Regional Bureau Chiefs. HUMINT, op install, extraction, wetwork, you name it. The suits said I was building a skillset, something to take forward. Turns out they had something specific in mind.

   We have been very fortunate, born into the Fed. We have all the liberty and safeguards afforded by the Constitution, and if we want for something, society provides the means to acquire it. But out on the Verge, there are a lot of remnants who are not so fortunate, refugees who still hunger, and that hunger can be exploited. The FIO wanted to use that hunger, and I was going to be the facilitator of that particular remedy.

   Ligne… we’re a long way from Caille out here. Might be just a handful of jumps for you or me, but for many they might as well be in null space.

   I’m going to stick with this formula. You verify what you have to, and if I hear from you again, I can answer your questions. But sooner or later we have to know where we’re both going with this.

9]
   Okay, we can operate like that if that works best. The goal here is that someone outside the program knows something about who was involved in this mess. That’s a goal we can both agree is worth pursuing, and benefits us both. Fair enough?

   We were set up in Aeschee, one jump from the CEWMPA nonsense, one jump from the President. Since we thought we were FIO, after having been set up by FIO, it made sense. We had access to FDU territory and access to the systems along the edge of Amarr space, it was a nice buffer zone to get acclimated and roll out the program.

   They wanted Minnies, Sebiestor mostly, in the cockpits. Sebbies in labcoats too, though we didn’t handle the technical recruitment. Hell, other than the manifests and conference requests, I was simply told that they’d get what they requested through project liaisons directly, bypassing us altogether. They were the MSA, Tech Dev, Engineering guys. We did deployment, mission debrief when it was done.

   Here’s where it really falls off the rails: when we were doing recruitment, around the eighth week, there was an advisory panel who would sit in the information briefing while we covered the candidates, and there were two Deteis of all people. Deteis, in an FIO grey-ops staff meeting of all things. I don’t have to tell you how wrong that felt.

   But what did they tell us? We’re the project leads, jocks who train jocks based on the program. We’re providing a technical edge for our border pilots and possibly the rest of the Federation Navy.

   Anyway, we need to change the encryption again. I don’t know how much time is left to operate, we’re coming up to a decision gate here.

10]
   Yes. But here’s the thing, the more we pushed ahead with the program, which they called Wayfarer, and the more contact we had with Louess and Schoun, it became apparent just how little contact we were having with anyone else in any official capacity. No one from Navy, FIO, the Republic or Tribes, any of them. The more I think about it, this isn’t about Hawks versus Doves at all.

   Listen, this is getting to the point that I don’t trust our SIGINT to provide clean comms anymore. We need a sit-down, and I can give you real details to work with. I won’t have a substantial window, maybe 18 hours, maybe less. Onne III, mid-morning, one week from today.

In case things go dark, here’s a little insurance: Laraert, Reitufung, and the DSC.

11]
   Alright, as long as you give me some time, we can work out a place more to your liking, but ignoring me isn’t productive. Just think about what we’ve discussed and choose carefully, yes?

   Don’t wait too long.

{GNSP Error 018: Unresolvable address. No such ID. Please check the ID and try again.}
.
{GNSP Error 018: Unresolvable address. No such ID. Please check the ID and try again.}
.

(Ed. Contact neutralized 14 August YC 115)

[Bayushi Tamago]

I like it, probably because I'm fleshing out my character in a less straightforward way as well.
Keep up the good work.

[Jace]

Interesting format. I'll read it more thoroughly with my thinky cap on at some point. If I forget, poke me.

[Dessau]

(Ed. Recovered from the files of Ligne Estemaire subsequent to her liquidation. Though metadata shows no GalNet transmittal of this recording, there is evidence of physical media duplication, though any copy is yet to be located. This is the third recording in the series of five, with the latter two still in the lab for decryption and two prior recordings available on the local server. The transcript will be broken into segments which will be decrypted, coded for voice stress analysis,  and audio scrubbing. Subsequent edits of the file will include annotations.

Regarding research: for CONCORD record acquisition, please note that Ms. Estemaire registered as a pod pilot without her family name.

Based on current analysis, this recording is believed to have taken place in August YC 115.)

{Recording 3a, asset ticket REDACTED}

{RECORDING BEGINS}

Niscoir Grancoeur: (non-descript noise) ...we on?

Ligne Estemaire: We... are all set. So, when we last spoke, you mentioned some of the personnel who were involved, team members and those who were administering Project Wayfarer. What was your relationship to them? Where did you fit in to their hierarchy, if at all?

NG: Well, you know about Louess and Schoun, but with them it was early days, during and just after UC, handing me assignments, contacts, keeping me up with the long-term directives. They brought me into Wayfarer as the program lead, but after that I was dealing with a different office. I’m not sure who we’re talking about, but it definitely feels different. Less official, somehow. Anyway, FIO moves my assets from Ignebaener to Aeschee, from the President’s front yard to the back yard, right? We get the corp HQ installed and take care of all the front-end formalities. Our core team members begin to assemble, we draw up some contracts to get supplies rolling, and send word that we’re awaiting the science team. This was the first indication that something was odd.⁽¹⁾

They didn’t ask for inspection, didn’t even want to see our progress or go over the specifics of our operation. They instead asked me to go to them in Ekuenbiron.

LE: To your home?

NG: Very near home, to the Core Complexion station at the moon of E-five. So when I said that things felt unofficial, this here was the first confirmation. No Fed representation. I was just a visitor waiting like everyone else to meet with management. After the biometric sign-in and getting a breath of the Minnie ambience, I’m greeted by this Intaki called Cazbal, whose name Louess and Schoun have dropped in the past as a key asset in Solitude. I'm thinking this is unusual, first because we aren’t in Solitude where he is supposed to be some kind of lynchpin, but also because this assignment is getting more and more complicated by the minute. We have a lot of interests and a lot of moving parts which makes it increasingly uncomfortable. But you take it in stride, so I play that I am hearing the name for the first time. One way to work an asset, if you can, is to see how far off the dossier is from he or she in his own words. Get them to do your profiling for you, then keep tabs of the indicators or discrepancies for later. In any case, as we're doing the introductory dancen we turn a few halls to the entry of a boardroom, and I mean this place was nothing like home. Lit like a morgue in a bad holovid. There’s a metal table and a sparse placement of chairs, and a blue holoprojector at one end with a cycling animation of Keres configurations, along with some animated diagrams that look similar to neurometric readings. Cazbal walks over to an empty chair on the left side of the table, and there's a datapad there waiting for him. On the right side, seated, is a tanned, shaggy-looking Deteis, and there’s another Deteis leaning cross-armed against the wall opposite the holoprojector. I look at Cazbal, putting a thin mask on my incredulity, and he motions me to sit down.

LE: So that was your introduction? No handshakes or anything?

NG: I just sat down. I didn’t have a lot of time to decide how to play it, whether I’d come off as suppressing hostility, or perhaps feign ignorance. I figured, let’s see if we can put them off balance. So, shortly after I sat, the younger Deteis lays into his pitch. Now, I say Deteis, but this guy was clearly not vat-grown, there was an ethnic mix there that I wasn't able to put my finger on. It was a little different, particularly once he starts talking. Have you ever heard a Deteis speak Gallente, without need of the translator?

LE: No, I don’t think so.

NG: It’s… I find it a bit off-putting. Something in the way they emphasize certain syllables, the accent. It sometimes feels like they are intentionally manipulating the language to make you uncomfortable, you know? In this case, I don’t know whether he was fluent and elected to make the alterations in his annunciation, or if he was simply out of practice. So let's say he's playing the same game I am, since I'm still working under the assumption he was some kind of contract intelligence, maybe an independent analyst. I mean, he’s sitting in the meeting for my gods-forsaken project, right?

LE: Is there something wrong with that?

NG: With a Caldari in an FIO briefing? My gut says something wrong with that, but there must be a reason they’re involved. Could have something to do with his mixed ethnicity, or maybe they’re pulling double duty for us, I don’t know. My concern is primarily what it means for the project, since it's my ass on the line, but I also don’t want to be the one to blush first when these kind of issues arise.⁽¹⁾

So, I sit and wait… the guy says, “I’m Sinirinta. I’ll be facilitating synergism between your team, the clients, and the management.”

LE: You’ve already got your dose of corporate circumlocution for the day.

NG: Right, you can imagine how that sits with me. He motions to the holovid and asks me if I recognize the imagery on the projection, and I tell him, “yeah, that’s a Keres schematic, and those look like pilot neurometrics.”

He says, “Quite right, but do you recognize the type of neurometrics you’re looking at?” I shrug. “These are the readouts of a novice Sebiestor who’s been in the Keres for just three extended sorties. Notice anything else?” He gives me that flat Deteis stare, and I stare back at him. He makes a gesture to the projection and there’s now an overlay which shows another pattern. “Here’s a mean from thirty other pilots after the same amount of flight hours, Caldari, Gallente, and Amarr. As you can see, the Sebiestor is notably more in tune with this particular configuration.” I'm paraphrasing here, but I think the meaning is clear to you.

LE: Mmhmm.

NG: I looked back at him, told him, “go on.”

He tosses a smirk and leans forward, folds his hands on the table. “You see, there is a wealth of research that has demonstrated that the Sebiestor are possessed of… superlatively geometric minds. Based on our client’s preliminary findings, there is some evidence that certain combinations of hardware, wetware, synthetic neural boosters... and training... can yield a vastly adaptable combat psyche."

LE: Let me interrupt for a moment... to be clear, you're saying that the FIO program you were charged by your handlers to oversee, that you were groomed for... one to train promising Minmatar capsuleers in guerilla border engagements... that once that program was in place and running, you were informed that was actually to be a proving ground for some kind of... augmentation program?

NG: At the time, that was my line of thinking, yes.

LE: At the time, but it changed?

NG: There's more, but even at the time, in the briefing, I already knew I wasn't hearing everything. At this point it became clear to me that I needed honest rapport with Seneun, to find out where the gaps were in their story, and maybe we could fill them together. First and foremost, though, was keeping Wayfarer on-task, which was no picnic either.

{End Recording 3a}

(1) {Voice stress analysis compared to baseline data suggests possible deception.}

{RECORDING CONTINUES}

[Dessau]

[spoiler]

Copied from main file.

(Ed. Recovered from the files of Ligne Estemaire subsequent to her liquidation. Though metadata shows no GalNet transmittal of this recording, there is evidence of physical media duplication, though any copy is yet to be located. This is the third recording in the series of five, with the latter two still in the lab for decryption and two prior recordings available on the local server. The transcript will be broken into segments which will be decrypted, coded for voice stress analysis,  and audio scrubbing. Subsequent edits of the file will include annotations.

Regarding research: for CONCORD record acquisition, please note that Ms. Estemaire registered as a pod pilot without her family name.

Based on current analysis, this recording is believed to have taken place in August YC 115.)[/spoiler]

{Recording 4d, asset ticket REDACTED}

{RECORDING CONTINUES}

NG: There had been... a growing number of indications that the wind-up was coming: the deteriorating condition of the pilots, the surplus of time spent digging into a fast-growing list of unfamiliar faces, techs and physicians being ‘unavailable’, communiques excluding either Seneun or myself, Sinirinta’s unexpected reassignment and Konpeitoh’s disinterest. Over the course of those last three months it seemed that the machine was left running with no one at the controls, yet somehow it was still our project. We were getting tired of the stonewalling, the misdirection. It wasn’t until we ordered Voixy to scrape the transmission server that the big picture began to crystallize.

LE: Why do that? What was the indication that the server would tell you anything about the problems you were experiencing?

NG: As the project grew from just a couple of FIO reps and a handful of pilots, the facility became home to a growing cast of one-offs. The faces in the labcoats were always rotating out, and the logistics staff that came with them were all compartmentalized. There was a degree of plausible deniability in every interface between every department, and that was not by our design. The program grew but we became just the ‘intelligence’ guys, even our pilots were spending less time with us. What changed and who changed it? The server could tell us where the orders were coming from.

LE: Louess, Schoun, FIO?

NG: We did find something relevant there. Schoun was FIO. We were able to gather enough on him, both at the incept and later via the scraped data, to know he worked for the Assistant Supervisory Agent of Weapons Intelligence. Bricipe Louess however… was a Senior Technical Program Manager with Allotek. Private sector. Calling the shots on the design of the program, with his encrypted transmissions coming from Elore, probably since the beginning. Connected to Malotte Laraert, or someone with access to his office. I should have known that he dressed too well for an FIO companyman, and it explains why we couldn’t find more on him sooner.

LE: So who initiated Project Wayfarer?

NG: We were told that we were going to recruit test pilots, Sebiestor mainly, and that we were building a training program for the field testing of new hardware configurations.

LE: As I recall, the Sebiestor tribe is heavily invested in Core Complexion.

NG: Substantially, though I’m not aware that it’s a controlling interest.

LE: ...and the training program.

NG: It was only part of the picture, what we were meant to know, I guess. From the server data we were able to scrub, the essentials were that we were the FIO’s middle management, keeping the tests rolling, keeping the pilots engaged and on-task. We provide the cover, the blanket of Executive authority. The real meat of the program was conducted without our involvement, in the interface between the experimental tech and the burned-out nervous systems of our best pod jockeys. They project was ultimately about the tech, not about the pilots or the strategic value of a Sebiestor test unit.

LE: Okay… but Allotek don’t do neural enhancement as far as I know.

NG: Allotek are known for partnering with CCI, and they are known for developing new tech. This wasn’t new neural enhancement, though, this was a complete adaptation of the Gallente starship core systems integration with the capsule, designed by Sebiestor techs for Sebiestor pilots. The Federation held the purse-strings, but the profit, if they could get a breakthrough, would all funnel into these R&D suits’ retirement accounts. Public loss or private gain, whatever the outcome.

LE: They are a Roden subsidiary, aren’t they? This could be a conflict of interest here, using the FIO and military contractors to hedge against losses from R&D. Was this something you considered?

NG: I believe Roden money launched Allotek, but they reorganized rather promptly into a self-governing corporation. As for his involvement or influence at this point, it would require further digging. Possible.

LE: Returning to CCI, which has come up a number of times. Was there any sense that they had a rep onboard, an analogue to Louess?

NG: None that we were able to find.

LE: Chemal Tech, they’re also known to have partnered with Core Complexion.

NG: We didn’t find any involvement on the part of Chemal Tech. As for any proprietary materials they supplied to CCI… I can’t say.

LE: So as you’re pulling this data, working these things out, what’s the state of your team at this point? Who knew? Did you have a plan, some kind of exit strategy?

NG: At this point, we were doubtful how much longer our pilots would perform. The boosters they were on, when combined with the hardwiring and alterations to the pod interface… they were starting to lose neurological stability. Cisol, as their instructor, was the first to see any changes. From increased irritability, to sleeplessness compounded by antisocial behavior, to near-catatonia outside the pod, unit cohesion became an impossibility. It was his conscience that really overcame the rationalizations that were championed by the suits. That we fed to the staff. The techs resigned themselves to testing individuals, gathering the best data available, while we were left with whatever information we could acquire. We knew it was a waste to go on this way, and were left with little recourse. By design, I should add. Seneun and I decided that it was past time to take out an insurance policy on the affair, and back up everything we could get our hands on: transmission logs, reports, databases and spreadsheets. Anything that could be used to link those in charge to the results we were seeing. The little act of scraping the server meant that we needed a dupe in place of it in order to maintain continuity in the logs, but we also knew that eventually the slight shift in the transmission metadata would raise questions, should anyone go looking. We just assumed that they would indeed go looking. So we were operating on borrowed time.

LE: So you kept the data to what end? If there was ‘plausible deniability at every intersection’, as you put it, couldn’t they just deny everything?

NG: In addition to the lab reports, there were mission logs, jumpgate flash logs, third party transmissions in local comms… things that would be corroborated by outside sources, red flags due to incongruencies in real data and official assurances. We took anything we could get that we thought might be useful, and told our small command structure to begin delaying compliance with any directives as they came down. Find ways to stall, find flaws in the command structure and ensure they came about.

LE: You ordered them to disobey orders from your superiors?

NG: In effect, yes. Voixy was the toughest to get onboard as was dyed-on-the-wool Feddie, but even she understood the rationale behind our unified opposition to the continuation of the project.

LE: If there was unified opposition, why didn’t you just contact the senior command and express it? Refuse to cooperate.

NG: That would be a sure ticket to an assignment scrubbing biomass from the carpets at liquidation sites, with no chance to access any of the project records. As for voicing opposition, we did. As I said, the Deteis from the initial meeting, Sinirinta and Konpeitoh, were missing in action. The attempts we made to contact Sinirinta were returned with bad gateway errors, as if his DED ID was completely compromised. This alone should have been worrisome. After repeated attempts, Konpeitoh simply responded on one occasion that his term in the project was fulfilled and that he couldn’t provide further information. He blocked all subsequent attempts to reach him. The stonewalling continued. Schoun was already on his next detail, so his office claimed, and unable to discuss sealed and classified records without proper authorization. Louess was a non-entity at this point.

LE: How do you respond to a situation like that?

NG: Seneun was the first to defect. Perhaps due to the tribal loyalties he felt, or some personal sense of professional or ethical dissatisfaction, he decided in short order that continued involvement with the project was less desirable than a price on his head. For better or worse, I consider it a matter of principle on his part. I’m ashamed to say that I did not have the same courage. In any case, we agreed that a decentralized storage and access mechanism for the data we had duplicated was the safest arrangement, before the project records were expunged and we were left hanging in the breeze, to use an old turn of phrase. So physical media were used to make copies, encrypted, and they were split up using a sequence of third-party courier contracts so that no one member of the command staff would know where all the data was located. It was a pretty slick system and was probably the highlight of my involvement in the whole affair, a sad and ironic reality in retrospect.

LE: Now that the data has been backed up and your insurance policy is in effect, what is the status of the project?

NG: My involvement in the project has been terminated, voluntarily. As to my current status within the FIO apparatus or the Federal system of justice, I can only speculate.

LE: Does this bring us up to speed?

NG: Almost. However, there are some other concerns that we will have to address more immediately, starting with you.

{End Recording 4d}

{RECORDING CONTINUES}

[Dessau]

[spoiler]

Copied from main file.

(Ed. Recovered from the files of Ligne Estemaire subsequent to her liquidation. Though metadata shows no GalNet transmittal of this recording, there is evidence of physical media duplication, though any copy is yet to be located. This is the third recording in the series of five, with the latter two still in the lab for decryption and two prior recordings available on the local server. The transcript will be broken into segments which will be decrypted, coded for voice stress analysis,  and audio scrubbing. Subsequent edits of the file will include annotations.

Regarding research: for CONCORD record acquisition, please note that Ms. Estemaire registered as a pod pilot without her family name.

Based on current analysis, this recording is believed to have taken place in August YC 115.)[/spoiler]

{Recording 5b, asset ticket REDACTED}

{RECORDING CONTINUES}

NG: That’s essentially the gist of what I have been cautioning you against, Ligne. These people, the braintrust behind Project Wayfarer, saw the influx of Matari refugees, people with nothing but the clothing on their backs, who strove to find freedom for their children, the freedom we promised… and they saw them as an opportunity. They used the most talented, promising individuals of these desperate people and exploited their ignorance of our political apparati for purely material gains. These were good pilots, capable, hard-working people… and I helped the FIO turn this project into a reality. Not just this project…

LE: What do you mean?

NG: That’s the ugly heart of this business, the reason they chose the name ‘Wayfarer’ for this project. Not only because of the literal connection to the nomadic peoples we were exploiting, no. A wayfarer travels from place to place, forging paths between pockets of civilization. They aren’t wholly disconnected from society, they just focus their interactions at the hubs of activity, the place where they get by until moving on. Our project, the one we headed, was just the proof of concept. Soon the project spread to a dozen other facilities, then a hundred, with a different command staff in each one, each probably thinking itself alone. There are a hundred or more Wayfarers out there, waiting for the desperate to offer their best and brightest up for a chance at something greater than slavery or destitution. We sponsor this activity, through our acquiescence, and through our ignorance we enable the mechanism of its delivery. My handlers, their commanders… have used this pilot as a blueprint to gather a ‘larger sample size’ of human test subjects from amongst those who have nothing. What does that say about how they value life?

LE: … I’d say…

NG: That’s a rhetorical question. Listen. We’ve met how many times now, six, seven, each time somewhere new? Every time you jump through a gate, there’s a record of the transponder code from your capsuleer ID. From these records, patterns can be established, and from those patterns, a forecast. It’s safe to assume at this point that the data regarding your movements is readily accessible and of some interest to the parties we have been discussing. What you need to do is backup your files, and head outside of empire space, away from anyone who the FIO have access to. Even if it’s hostile territory, you can at least find neutral docking facilities with GalNet access outside of the influence of the Big Four. You need to be where other powers reign for a while, and I recommend getting there soon. Syndicate is a good bet, and it’s possible that  those of us who have seen this face of the Federation could find assistance there, from you know who. My guess is that Seneun has gone there already. There’s nothing left here but to secure the data we have wherever it has been stashed, and for that we will simply have to wait for the locations to present themselves.

LE: There’s just no guarantee that will happen.

NG: That’s true, but a plan -

(Ed. At this point, the voice recording is muffled and overpowered by the proximity of several non-vocal sources of sound. Technicians are currently assigned to clean up the final 16-second segment of the recording, but the layered distortions heard may be stronger than our software can compensate for or correct.)

{End Recording 5b}

{RECORDING ENDS}

[Dessau]

Hopefully this does enough to flesh out the history of this chracter without horrible PF violations and third-rate spy novella tropes.

I feel that this is enough of an exploration of the background, outside of an odd 'flavor' edit here or there. Anything further should be left to character interactions.

As most of the players involved are now deceased, there are very few loose ends left to tidy up. Your move, FIO.