Zack
Inactive Member
He couldn’t stop thinking back to Ayenee. His focus strayed not to the bizarre magic or psychotic kings. His words there were not as tasteful as he'd wished. The feeling clung oddly to his mind, normally he'd offend someone and tell them to get over it but it wasn't the same.
"This is just sad," he muttered as he picked himself off the couch he'd planted himself on that morning after the festival. He telepathically connected to the new communicator that lay on the cheap dresser of his temporary base apartment. 'Okay, Wazu. Let's get this over with,' he thought to himself as he opened up a line with Harem's contact information.
"Uh... Yes, this is James." Wazu replied, stumbling through his opening words.
"It's Candon..." He paused to think, something he probably should have done first, ".. I wanted to know if you'd be free for lunch.. I wanted to have another chat.. not like the one on the ship. That was more of an interrogation, kinda.. you in?"
"Y.. yes." Wazu put his datapad down for a moment, clearing his head and taking a bit of a breath before continuing with a renewed strength of voice, "Where did you want to meet up?"
"Ya know, I really didn't think you'd say yes so I didn't plan that part," Candon replied, "I think there's a burger place near your place but I haven't spent more than a few hours off the base. Your call."
"That Neppies? I think I can make it down there in a few minutes. I am not quite at my place right now." He responded.
Suites checked the time with the augmented reality HUD from his communicator. "It'll take me fifteen minutes or so. I'll see you there." Swiping the communicator off the dresser he headed toward the door, slipping the device into where his right pocket normally lies.. it clattered to the floor.
"Hmm, I should probably put pants on."
NEPPIES, Yamatai, shortly after the Hanami festival
Wazu had already picked up a water bottle on the way over, and ended up waiting by the door, his attention focused on his pad, the man occasionally rubbing his temples, drinking, and generally looking like he was nursing a pretty heavy hangover.
A dark blue Zephyr pulled up slowly to the entrance, coming to a stop and opening the driver side door. Candon stepped out wearing civilian clothing for a change. Nothing special, blue jeans and a light gray t-shirt. Then he uttered words he'd never though possible. "Good to see you, James."
"That seems out of character for you... Not letting your guard down around an enemy of the empire I hope." Wazu teased, taking another drink of water. He was in a simple green t-shirt and some cargo pants... the man not having had a moment to go buy new clothes outside of what was in his duffel bag when he first joined the Eucharis.
"Heh, me too," he replied with what might have been humor, "I'm thinking a Frisco sounds good right now." The blue car creeped into the nearest open parking spot as it's driver pushed open the restaurant door.
The two men were seated without delay, the lunch rush would probably be following them shortly.
Wazu quietly looked up what a Frisco was on his datapad, "Sorry... I should apologize. I have been a bit distracted since we got back. Ayenee was a nice little diversion, but well... not a place I plan to spend the night."
"I feel that" Candon agreed as he took a seat, "Ley lines and magic seem to breed some odd people."
"They have got every kind of weird that you want there. That place resists structure and order... must be terrible for someone like you. You start pulling one one thread and soon you are full of things that need investigating."
The spy shrugged, James wasn't wrong. "I guess it was a little painful to see a place like that," he agreed, "but before you go apologizing for them I owe you one first-"
"-May I take your orders?" The waiter interrupted causing Candon to just roll his eyes. If the man's timing could have been just a few seconds sooner or later.. but of course it had to be right now. "That one," he said as his finger lay on an image on the menu, "combo, medium-rare, onion rings with ranch, and unsweetened tea."
"Very well," the waiter compiled with his pen, then looked to Wazu, "and for you sir?"
"Just fries and a milkshake," He replied
"I'll be back with your drinks."
"So yeah, Ayenee," Candon resumed, "When you were talking to me about Tsuguka I called you a dick.. I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. The fact is that the topic of friendship is a sensitive subject for me. Anyone from my past wouldn't even recognize me anymore. Almost everyone I would call a friend are either missing or dead, like permanently dead. And if that's not bad enough it was my fault. The fact is that I'm a dangerous person to be around, I'm confident there are still people who want me dead and I probably deserve it. It's just a matter of time before hell breaks loose around me. I just wan-"
"-Your drinks, gentlemen," the waiter stated as he set the ordered beverages on the table.
Candon waited for the young man to be gone before picking up his thought, "I just wanted you to know why , that's all."
Wazu would end up setting his datapad down, trying to focus in on Candon, "I am sure I have been called far worse things. Lasting relationships in this line of work are not easy, and honestly... I was expecting this to go far worse than it actually did." Wazu's tone shifted to something between an admission and guilt, "I think I enjoy being on the Eucharis."
"Well that's something we can agree on. I'm still not completely sure what's keeping you under Yui's thumb," Candon shifted to a question, "do you mind me asking why she's grabbing your balls?"
Wazu certainly took his time responding, dipping a french fry in the milk shake and then eating it while he thought,
"Well, the Nepleslians were not quite happy with my decision to align myself with the garts. I think I also embarrassed Yumi at the last International Relations Conference. They had me thrown in jail for a little bit, and then I was released by Yui who claimed unjust imprisonment... you... have to read between the lines a little bit. Remember at the time Nepleslia and Yamatai were still at each-others throats. This was not just some misunderstanding. There are three heads of state involved and enough military secrets between everyone involved to bring down a government. They took their best shot at me, and the only reason I am still around is because Yui stepped in."
He smiled a bit,
"Which is nice, because I always seem to act like an idiot around her."
Candon chuckled, "I suppose it can't be too bad, no one would dare come after you in our territories. Say, your family and friends still visit, right?"
"Your empress... would not come after me while Yui is involved. The nepleslians would make a move, they grabbed Hanako once in Yamatain space I thought. But their administration is not going to risk war with Yamatai. Besides..."
He would hold a hand up in front of his face, hiding a smile and suppressing a laugh with a French fry in front of his face,
"... That administration is not around anymore now are they?"
He would munch on the next fry, before moving into his next line of thought. His smile quickly fading.
"My mother died early on during the draconian war. The Kessakus had her killed just to make a point to me... The rest of my family... Kinda frowns upon that."
Wazu then sat the fry down,
"No, wait, that is not fair. I do not know it was the Kessakus that had her killed. I do know the assassin was Eve. I know Eve had support from inside of SAINT. I know that Anri Kessaku had the most to gain from this though murder does not seem like her M.O. . I know that Irim certainly has no problem killing people to get her way. I know Yui is not bothering to look into it which means the person who did order the hit is much closer to her than I am."
Wazu sighed, "So.... read between the lines."
"That sounds about right, politics always seem to get in the way of justice," Candon griped, "that's why I went private in the second Mish War. Even that didn't work out. We ended up being branded as a terror cell despite the undeniable benefits we brought. That just goes to show that there's no such thing as heros and villains, good guys or bad guys. For me it's the personal agenda of every single person that determines who is an ally and who is dead. I had an SAOY commander pursue us straight up to the end of the war, gave her proof on three separate occasions that we were allies and spared her twice before I finally had to kill her. But that was ignorance and wounded pride that killed her, SAINT finally agreed when I returned to the military."
"Did they not bring her back?" Wazu asked curiously, "Of course, there is a lot to unpack there. Why do you suppose they would be against you striking against the mishhu on your own?"
"Well, that's the tricky part," He began to explain, "you see, our team's financier was playing both sides of the war. He had us fighting against the Mish but was also feeding them intel on very sensitive information. The issue is that we began turning up the heat on our own. All of us were elite in some way and served in a past war, we knew we were capable of dealing more damage than our financier was directing us to create and there were times that we couldn't contact him, so we took matters into our own hands. The Mish began referring to us as 'The Freelancers', to the Yamataians, 'terrorists'. This is because our financier was selling us out, the Mish began launching covert attacks that were nearly identical to ours. Of course we had no idea until that commander assigned a task force after us. She always seemed to be a step ahead of us. Whenever we started dealing too much damage to the enemy the SAOY task force was on us.. that commander was a Mishhuvurthyar sympathizer, I only found that out last year. She disappeared shortly after they brought her back, she must have believed that I'd discovered her secret."
"Ever wonder why it seems so easy to transition between the SAOY and the NMX?" Wazu asked, though he did not sound like he was expecting an answer.
The waiter returned with Candon's sandwich.
"I got the impression you were more of a by books type when I first met you. Hanako's crew has an interesting experience so far....How did you end up with Hanako anyways?"
Candon chuckled, "you're probably not going to believe me, I won her in a bet." Candon attempted to take a bite of a sandwich but couldn't stop chuckling. He set the burger down.
"Okay, here's what happened, I had a meeting with the director of SAINT. He's the one who made my entry to SAINT a possibility however, he wanted me to upgrade to a Neko body He told me that only a handful of Minkans had ever received a GO from SELECT. I wagered that not only would I pass, I would do it with flying colors. We made a deal, if I made it AND exceeded any two of his scores from his entire time in training he would give me a really nice assignment after graduation. If I didn't succeed there would be no second chance. I'd be tasked to an infantry squad and would have to serve six years before I'd be trusted as any type of Heisho with mandatory loyalty tests every year. That wasn't a very appealing prospect.
Of thirty participants only four of us proceeded to INDOC and wouldn't you know it, turned out to be faster than him through the Mindy's flight course and the flightless obstacle course. I also nailed a target from two klicks with a LASR mk 2 but I had been a sniper for a long time leading up to that so that doesn't really count.
Candon's expression became more solemn, "Anyhow, we met again after my graduation. He told me he was glad that I had
earned the cool shirt. He had suspected that I had the qualities that he was looking for to fill a very unique assignment. See, Hanako isn't what The People want to believe she is. She's not a goddess, she's a military admiral. She's not a adventurer, she's an enforcer of law and a defender of borders. But, if her reputation suffered at this point it could open the empire up to a social attack from the Kuvexians. Civil unrest can make it mighty hard to operate a government and I'm sure they know it. That's where I come in, I used to create disorder in the ranks of the NMX, I can apply what I know to see the angle of attack from a political, social, and economic level... and despite it all I just can't see a solution.
"Planet Higaflan is being ruined, those Rixxicor are spreading like a cancer. They breed faster than anything I've ever heard of. If we exterminate them we look like the bad guys, but if we let them stay.. James, whatever goal they wish to accomplish, they're going to succeed so long as they have those roaches. There's just no good solution."
Wazu picked up another fry and slowly chewed on it... taking his time to finish eating it before continuing.
"... Well... certainly a lot to unpack there." He said, "... I always wondered what might have happened if I stayed in the SAoY. Maybe that would have been it for me... as a person. Just sorta... losing myself in the machine."
He seemed lost in thought for a good few moments, before snapping back to his conversation with Candon,
"You seem to view things a lot like Yui does. That this is a Zero-Sum game. That the Rixxikor's success are equally your own failures. Higaflan was not your world if I remember correctly, nor do you have any basis to exterminate them. They've killed a few of yours, but you'll restore them from backups. At most the Rixxikor's actions amount to some petty vandalism of your material. Boarders, the rule of law, maybe a ministry of rixxikor affairs and a long term plan to turn the Rixx into trading partners... or at least less-bad neighbors.... might be the way to go. Not every solution requires use of the fleet's ability to destroy.
"Of course, Hanako seems to think like Yui too, as do a lot of your commanding officers. Maybe I would too if I stuck around."
Candon shrugged, "maybe your right. We're all military minded, so yeah, we think alike. I think a precision orbital bombardment would successfully remove them, and I know I'm right about that. But, if we touch them we look bad, they'll naturally resist us. I can't think of a good solution. Do you have a better idea to stop their spread?"
"Killing people to get your way does make you the bad guys." Wazu replied, "... Hanako earned that bad reputation because of what she did to the 'spacers. Naturally, everyone is watching her closely to see if she is still has the same... Ease for genocide.
Which is also why I worry about how she carries herself. Perhaps the festival will have done her some good...
... But, as for the Rixx. I was thinking of using their herpes simplex virus. We splice in some genes for sterility, release it through a mister on a power armor or maybe as a spray bottle.... Let it spread through their population... I actually have some slides for this, I was going To show it to Hanako later.... I am no PNUgen but I have been brushing up on biology and I am fairly certain I could make a working version soon." Wazu would pick up his datapad and begin searching for his slideshow presentation.
Candon thought on it for a moment, it was a much better idea. But.. "Of course the bugs won't be willing to cooperate. If we start spraying them they will likely become violent.. what if we started feeding it to them? They were more than willing to eat at our barbecue, we should start treating them like refugees. We could send them Aid in the form of food and resources. We would end up looking like the good guys and reduce the economic damage they bring at the same time. Is there any way we could make this edible?"
"Ah, here we go," Wazu said, getting up a series of images on his datapad, "I am sure we could make it edible, but there are transmissability issues there... and not just with packaging the virus so that it does not degrade during transport. The Rixxikor mouths are usually full of acid, it is very harsh and will denature just about anything we send in there. I am not saying no... just that, I am an engineer not a doctor. I flunked out of the last college level course I took and pretty much everything I know about this I had to learn in the last few days. What I can throw together right now is.... well this presentation."
He would display the first of his slides on his datapad, holding it up for Candon.
"First off, the Rixxikor reproductive cycle is fairly straight forward. Each Rixx lays an Egg. Some Rixx ends up spraying sperm in the area to fertilize the Eggs. New Rixxikor are born and rapidly mature.
Herpes is fairly harmless, and it has largely been eradicated from civilized worlds. The Rixxikor have their own version of it, it does not seem to cause much discomfort for them but it does out-compete other viruses and may have something to do with how they are so immune to disease... I suppose we should name it Rixxikor-Herpes-Simplex just for clarity here... but... Much like in Nepleslians the virus is only really transmissible through direct contact with bodily fluids with the exception of tears and urine so in order for this to work we would need a sexual infection to spread between all the Rixxikor.
Of course, the Rixxikor often spray sperm over a wide area. They also have large open areas on their body that are susceptible to infection.
If we infect a Rixxikor with the modified Rixxikor-Herpes-Simplex they would produce an infertile egg. Then when they spray to fertilize other eggs they would both spread the infection to other Rixx, and fertilize eggs with their sperm, leading to additional eggs that will never properly hatch. Eventually the local area would fill with infertile Rixxikor laying duds.
Of course, we also know that Rixxikor ships also return to hub worlds, and then go out on other operations from there. I suspect that this could lead to a very high rate of infection among the Rixxikor in the Kyoto sector.
As for distribution, we could use M3200s and fill them with virus infected tissue instead of B.A.C. The dispensers can be placed on just about any atmospheric ship for initial deployment."
Wazu looked at his datapad again, "I suppose I could tighten this presentation up a bit..."
"No," Candon replied, "it's perfect and thorough. If I can understand it Hanako should pick it up fine and it's a much better plan than I can come up with. Have you discussed this with anyone?"
"Just yourself. I was planning to speak to Hanako during the festival but I got sidetracked. I was going try again when we all meet up back at the ship. That gives me a few more hours to tighten up the general presentation and brush up on reproductive science..." He replied.
Candon chuckled oddly, "I never thought I'd hear a Nepleslian say that." It was intended as a joke but simply came out odd, as if he didn't want to be enjoying the conversation. The traces of a smile were faint but still there.
"I'll get behind your plan a hundred percent, it may well be the only thing that will keep someone from tasking bombers. I prefer not having to pull the on so many.. people? Yeah, I guess they're people, being sentient and all. They're disgusting but that doesn't warrant death."
"Disgusting, even uncaring about their own Death, lacking in good sense... But killing is wrong and should be avoided where possible." Wazu replied, his voice fairly flat And unconvincing as if reciting a rule he read somewhere once.
"Long term, a group will need to be setup to develop and release new versions of the virus. Eventually the Rixxikor will spawn a line of Rixx resistant to this virus... I do not know how to estimate the time table for that though. Yet.
Maybe we should call it a night here before I start rambling about what ifs?"
"Of course, " Candon replied, "I actually have to get ready, I'm training the infantry recruits this evening so I'll have to get going soon. Thanks for joining me."
"This is just sad," he muttered as he picked himself off the couch he'd planted himself on that morning after the festival. He telepathically connected to the new communicator that lay on the cheap dresser of his temporary base apartment. 'Okay, Wazu. Let's get this over with,' he thought to himself as he opened up a line with Harem's contact information.
"Uh... Yes, this is James." Wazu replied, stumbling through his opening words.
"It's Candon..." He paused to think, something he probably should have done first, ".. I wanted to know if you'd be free for lunch.. I wanted to have another chat.. not like the one on the ship. That was more of an interrogation, kinda.. you in?"
"Y.. yes." Wazu put his datapad down for a moment, clearing his head and taking a bit of a breath before continuing with a renewed strength of voice, "Where did you want to meet up?"
"Ya know, I really didn't think you'd say yes so I didn't plan that part," Candon replied, "I think there's a burger place near your place but I haven't spent more than a few hours off the base. Your call."
"That Neppies? I think I can make it down there in a few minutes. I am not quite at my place right now." He responded.
Suites checked the time with the augmented reality HUD from his communicator. "It'll take me fifteen minutes or so. I'll see you there." Swiping the communicator off the dresser he headed toward the door, slipping the device into where his right pocket normally lies.. it clattered to the floor.
"Hmm, I should probably put pants on."
NEPPIES, Yamatai, shortly after the Hanami festival
Wazu had already picked up a water bottle on the way over, and ended up waiting by the door, his attention focused on his pad, the man occasionally rubbing his temples, drinking, and generally looking like he was nursing a pretty heavy hangover.
A dark blue Zephyr pulled up slowly to the entrance, coming to a stop and opening the driver side door. Candon stepped out wearing civilian clothing for a change. Nothing special, blue jeans and a light gray t-shirt. Then he uttered words he'd never though possible. "Good to see you, James."
"That seems out of character for you... Not letting your guard down around an enemy of the empire I hope." Wazu teased, taking another drink of water. He was in a simple green t-shirt and some cargo pants... the man not having had a moment to go buy new clothes outside of what was in his duffel bag when he first joined the Eucharis.
"Heh, me too," he replied with what might have been humor, "I'm thinking a Frisco sounds good right now." The blue car creeped into the nearest open parking spot as it's driver pushed open the restaurant door.
The two men were seated without delay, the lunch rush would probably be following them shortly.
Wazu quietly looked up what a Frisco was on his datapad, "Sorry... I should apologize. I have been a bit distracted since we got back. Ayenee was a nice little diversion, but well... not a place I plan to spend the night."
"I feel that" Candon agreed as he took a seat, "Ley lines and magic seem to breed some odd people."
"They have got every kind of weird that you want there. That place resists structure and order... must be terrible for someone like you. You start pulling one one thread and soon you are full of things that need investigating."
The spy shrugged, James wasn't wrong. "I guess it was a little painful to see a place like that," he agreed, "but before you go apologizing for them I owe you one first-"
"-May I take your orders?" The waiter interrupted causing Candon to just roll his eyes. If the man's timing could have been just a few seconds sooner or later.. but of course it had to be right now. "That one," he said as his finger lay on an image on the menu, "combo, medium-rare, onion rings with ranch, and unsweetened tea."
"Very well," the waiter compiled with his pen, then looked to Wazu, "and for you sir?"
"Just fries and a milkshake," He replied
"I'll be back with your drinks."
"So yeah, Ayenee," Candon resumed, "When you were talking to me about Tsuguka I called you a dick.. I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that. The fact is that the topic of friendship is a sensitive subject for me. Anyone from my past wouldn't even recognize me anymore. Almost everyone I would call a friend are either missing or dead, like permanently dead. And if that's not bad enough it was my fault. The fact is that I'm a dangerous person to be around, I'm confident there are still people who want me dead and I probably deserve it. It's just a matter of time before hell breaks loose around me. I just wan-"
"-Your drinks, gentlemen," the waiter stated as he set the ordered beverages on the table.
Candon waited for the young man to be gone before picking up his thought, "I just wanted you to know why , that's all."
Wazu would end up setting his datapad down, trying to focus in on Candon, "I am sure I have been called far worse things. Lasting relationships in this line of work are not easy, and honestly... I was expecting this to go far worse than it actually did." Wazu's tone shifted to something between an admission and guilt, "I think I enjoy being on the Eucharis."
"Well that's something we can agree on. I'm still not completely sure what's keeping you under Yui's thumb," Candon shifted to a question, "do you mind me asking why she's grabbing your balls?"
Wazu certainly took his time responding, dipping a french fry in the milk shake and then eating it while he thought,
"Well, the Nepleslians were not quite happy with my decision to align myself with the garts. I think I also embarrassed Yumi at the last International Relations Conference. They had me thrown in jail for a little bit, and then I was released by Yui who claimed unjust imprisonment... you... have to read between the lines a little bit. Remember at the time Nepleslia and Yamatai were still at each-others throats. This was not just some misunderstanding. There are three heads of state involved and enough military secrets between everyone involved to bring down a government. They took their best shot at me, and the only reason I am still around is because Yui stepped in."
He smiled a bit,
"Which is nice, because I always seem to act like an idiot around her."
Candon chuckled, "I suppose it can't be too bad, no one would dare come after you in our territories. Say, your family and friends still visit, right?"
"Your empress... would not come after me while Yui is involved. The nepleslians would make a move, they grabbed Hanako once in Yamatain space I thought. But their administration is not going to risk war with Yamatai. Besides..."
He would hold a hand up in front of his face, hiding a smile and suppressing a laugh with a French fry in front of his face,
"... That administration is not around anymore now are they?"
He would munch on the next fry, before moving into his next line of thought. His smile quickly fading.
"My mother died early on during the draconian war. The Kessakus had her killed just to make a point to me... The rest of my family... Kinda frowns upon that."
Wazu then sat the fry down,
"No, wait, that is not fair. I do not know it was the Kessakus that had her killed. I do know the assassin was Eve. I know Eve had support from inside of SAINT. I know that Anri Kessaku had the most to gain from this though murder does not seem like her M.O. . I know that Irim certainly has no problem killing people to get her way. I know Yui is not bothering to look into it which means the person who did order the hit is much closer to her than I am."
Wazu sighed, "So.... read between the lines."
"That sounds about right, politics always seem to get in the way of justice," Candon griped, "that's why I went private in the second Mish War. Even that didn't work out. We ended up being branded as a terror cell despite the undeniable benefits we brought. That just goes to show that there's no such thing as heros and villains, good guys or bad guys. For me it's the personal agenda of every single person that determines who is an ally and who is dead. I had an SAOY commander pursue us straight up to the end of the war, gave her proof on three separate occasions that we were allies and spared her twice before I finally had to kill her. But that was ignorance and wounded pride that killed her, SAINT finally agreed when I returned to the military."
"Did they not bring her back?" Wazu asked curiously, "Of course, there is a lot to unpack there. Why do you suppose they would be against you striking against the mishhu on your own?"
"Well, that's the tricky part," He began to explain, "you see, our team's financier was playing both sides of the war. He had us fighting against the Mish but was also feeding them intel on very sensitive information. The issue is that we began turning up the heat on our own. All of us were elite in some way and served in a past war, we knew we were capable of dealing more damage than our financier was directing us to create and there were times that we couldn't contact him, so we took matters into our own hands. The Mish began referring to us as 'The Freelancers', to the Yamataians, 'terrorists'. This is because our financier was selling us out, the Mish began launching covert attacks that were nearly identical to ours. Of course we had no idea until that commander assigned a task force after us. She always seemed to be a step ahead of us. Whenever we started dealing too much damage to the enemy the SAOY task force was on us.. that commander was a Mishhuvurthyar sympathizer, I only found that out last year. She disappeared shortly after they brought her back, she must have believed that I'd discovered her secret."
"Ever wonder why it seems so easy to transition between the SAOY and the NMX?" Wazu asked, though he did not sound like he was expecting an answer.
The waiter returned with Candon's sandwich.
"I got the impression you were more of a by books type when I first met you. Hanako's crew has an interesting experience so far....How did you end up with Hanako anyways?"
Candon chuckled, "you're probably not going to believe me, I won her in a bet." Candon attempted to take a bite of a sandwich but couldn't stop chuckling. He set the burger down.
"Okay, here's what happened, I had a meeting with the director of SAINT. He's the one who made my entry to SAINT a possibility however, he wanted me to upgrade to a Neko body He told me that only a handful of Minkans had ever received a GO from SELECT. I wagered that not only would I pass, I would do it with flying colors. We made a deal, if I made it AND exceeded any two of his scores from his entire time in training he would give me a really nice assignment after graduation. If I didn't succeed there would be no second chance. I'd be tasked to an infantry squad and would have to serve six years before I'd be trusted as any type of Heisho with mandatory loyalty tests every year. That wasn't a very appealing prospect.
Of thirty participants only four of us proceeded to INDOC and wouldn't you know it, turned out to be faster than him through the Mindy's flight course and the flightless obstacle course. I also nailed a target from two klicks with a LASR mk 2 but I had been a sniper for a long time leading up to that so that doesn't really count.
Candon's expression became more solemn, "Anyhow, we met again after my graduation. He told me he was glad that I had
earned the cool shirt. He had suspected that I had the qualities that he was looking for to fill a very unique assignment. See, Hanako isn't what The People want to believe she is. She's not a goddess, she's a military admiral. She's not a adventurer, she's an enforcer of law and a defender of borders. But, if her reputation suffered at this point it could open the empire up to a social attack from the Kuvexians. Civil unrest can make it mighty hard to operate a government and I'm sure they know it. That's where I come in, I used to create disorder in the ranks of the NMX, I can apply what I know to see the angle of attack from a political, social, and economic level... and despite it all I just can't see a solution.
"Planet Higaflan is being ruined, those Rixxicor are spreading like a cancer. They breed faster than anything I've ever heard of. If we exterminate them we look like the bad guys, but if we let them stay.. James, whatever goal they wish to accomplish, they're going to succeed so long as they have those roaches. There's just no good solution."
Wazu picked up another fry and slowly chewed on it... taking his time to finish eating it before continuing.
"... Well... certainly a lot to unpack there." He said, "... I always wondered what might have happened if I stayed in the SAoY. Maybe that would have been it for me... as a person. Just sorta... losing myself in the machine."
He seemed lost in thought for a good few moments, before snapping back to his conversation with Candon,
"You seem to view things a lot like Yui does. That this is a Zero-Sum game. That the Rixxikor's success are equally your own failures. Higaflan was not your world if I remember correctly, nor do you have any basis to exterminate them. They've killed a few of yours, but you'll restore them from backups. At most the Rixxikor's actions amount to some petty vandalism of your material. Boarders, the rule of law, maybe a ministry of rixxikor affairs and a long term plan to turn the Rixx into trading partners... or at least less-bad neighbors.... might be the way to go. Not every solution requires use of the fleet's ability to destroy.
"Of course, Hanako seems to think like Yui too, as do a lot of your commanding officers. Maybe I would too if I stuck around."
Candon shrugged, "maybe your right. We're all military minded, so yeah, we think alike. I think a precision orbital bombardment would successfully remove them, and I know I'm right about that. But, if we touch them we look bad, they'll naturally resist us. I can't think of a good solution. Do you have a better idea to stop their spread?"
"Killing people to get your way does make you the bad guys." Wazu replied, "... Hanako earned that bad reputation because of what she did to the 'spacers. Naturally, everyone is watching her closely to see if she is still has the same... Ease for genocide.
Which is also why I worry about how she carries herself. Perhaps the festival will have done her some good...
... But, as for the Rixx. I was thinking of using their herpes simplex virus. We splice in some genes for sterility, release it through a mister on a power armor or maybe as a spray bottle.... Let it spread through their population... I actually have some slides for this, I was going To show it to Hanako later.... I am no PNUgen but I have been brushing up on biology and I am fairly certain I could make a working version soon." Wazu would pick up his datapad and begin searching for his slideshow presentation.
Candon thought on it for a moment, it was a much better idea. But.. "Of course the bugs won't be willing to cooperate. If we start spraying them they will likely become violent.. what if we started feeding it to them? They were more than willing to eat at our barbecue, we should start treating them like refugees. We could send them Aid in the form of food and resources. We would end up looking like the good guys and reduce the economic damage they bring at the same time. Is there any way we could make this edible?"
"Ah, here we go," Wazu said, getting up a series of images on his datapad, "I am sure we could make it edible, but there are transmissability issues there... and not just with packaging the virus so that it does not degrade during transport. The Rixxikor mouths are usually full of acid, it is very harsh and will denature just about anything we send in there. I am not saying no... just that, I am an engineer not a doctor. I flunked out of the last college level course I took and pretty much everything I know about this I had to learn in the last few days. What I can throw together right now is.... well this presentation."
He would display the first of his slides on his datapad, holding it up for Candon.
"First off, the Rixxikor reproductive cycle is fairly straight forward. Each Rixx lays an Egg. Some Rixx ends up spraying sperm in the area to fertilize the Eggs. New Rixxikor are born and rapidly mature.
Herpes is fairly harmless, and it has largely been eradicated from civilized worlds. The Rixxikor have their own version of it, it does not seem to cause much discomfort for them but it does out-compete other viruses and may have something to do with how they are so immune to disease... I suppose we should name it Rixxikor-Herpes-Simplex just for clarity here... but... Much like in Nepleslians the virus is only really transmissible through direct contact with bodily fluids with the exception of tears and urine so in order for this to work we would need a sexual infection to spread between all the Rixxikor.
Of course, the Rixxikor often spray sperm over a wide area. They also have large open areas on their body that are susceptible to infection.
If we infect a Rixxikor with the modified Rixxikor-Herpes-Simplex they would produce an infertile egg. Then when they spray to fertilize other eggs they would both spread the infection to other Rixx, and fertilize eggs with their sperm, leading to additional eggs that will never properly hatch. Eventually the local area would fill with infertile Rixxikor laying duds.
Of course, we also know that Rixxikor ships also return to hub worlds, and then go out on other operations from there. I suspect that this could lead to a very high rate of infection among the Rixxikor in the Kyoto sector.
As for distribution, we could use M3200s and fill them with virus infected tissue instead of B.A.C. The dispensers can be placed on just about any atmospheric ship for initial deployment."
Wazu looked at his datapad again, "I suppose I could tighten this presentation up a bit..."
"No," Candon replied, "it's perfect and thorough. If I can understand it Hanako should pick it up fine and it's a much better plan than I can come up with. Have you discussed this with anyone?"
"Just yourself. I was planning to speak to Hanako during the festival but I got sidetracked. I was going try again when we all meet up back at the ship. That gives me a few more hours to tighten up the general presentation and brush up on reproductive science..." He replied.
Candon chuckled oddly, "I never thought I'd hear a Nepleslian say that." It was intended as a joke but simply came out odd, as if he didn't want to be enjoying the conversation. The traces of a smile were faint but still there.
"I'll get behind your plan a hundred percent, it may well be the only thing that will keep someone from tasking bombers. I prefer not having to pull the on so many.. people? Yeah, I guess they're people, being sentient and all. They're disgusting but that doesn't warrant death."
"Disgusting, even uncaring about their own Death, lacking in good sense... But killing is wrong and should be avoided where possible." Wazu replied, his voice fairly flat And unconvincing as if reciting a rule he read somewhere once.
"Long term, a group will need to be setup to develop and release new versions of the virus. Eventually the Rixxikor will spawn a line of Rixx resistant to this virus... I do not know how to estimate the time table for that though. Yet.
Maybe we should call it a night here before I start rambling about what ifs?"
"Of course, " Candon replied, "I actually have to get ready, I'm training the infantry recruits this evening so I'll have to get going soon. Thanks for joining me."
