Rumors Around The RND Clan By Pat Willis#224534

In this line of work you hear a lot of interesting rumors, especially involving the ever changing clan landscapes on the Clan War front. The most recent rumor I have heard pertains to the RND clan family, only time will tell if it pans out to be truth or not.

What I have heard that they want to do is try and get top end players and newbies in the same level unit to as my source put it "Break the game open and re level the playing field". The line of thought here being to develop a critical mass of sorts through the restructuring of the clans, it keeps the flood gates open by other clans having to match strategy. By way of ripple effect changes out more than just one division. Ideally spreading like a wave through all divisions and making things "new and fresh" again for all involved. 

Now admittedly this will take more than a few top guns, high levels, and big respected names in the community to pull off. That alone is a massive undertaking, simply trying to convince folks of this vision. Not to mention the math that would go into balancing out all these high end/ low end clans to achieve the proper average for a  targeted division. But understanding is they are going to do all of this publicly. Presumably on the players page and across all other aspects of Mecha Galaxy. Their reasoning for such is that no one can then cry about being left out, or back room deals, or no one having a good and proper say on the issue.

Will they pull it off? Will other players find their offer attractive enough to join in or maybe follow their example? Would it really effect all divisions and restructure the game or is that just idealistic thinking?

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

A Bit of a Rant by David McCallum : #701548

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

Musings on the Past Year by David McCallum : #701548

So, another year draws to a close, and what a suckful one its been.


Not only another year putting up with the mild alcoholism and drive by abuse of Patrick, but to make matters worse I now have to put up with the inane twitterings of Kenneth.


I mean,  Patrick you can cope with by throwing dirty looks, insults, crockery or area effect munitions at, depending on the level of escalation necessary and how severely he is being an insufferable ass.


But Kenneth is so... happy! I've seen puppies and kittens give up and commit sepuku at his enthusiastic approach.


If one of them did its business in his shoes before it popped it's clogs, he'd consider it to be a gift of free fertilizer, then joyfully apply it to one of the multiple potted plants he decided the office needed to 'brighten things up'.


And I swear, as in I make this my New Years Resolution, if he tries to rearrange the desks according to his Feng Shui book once more, I shall increase the flow of of his chi through prolonged use of  Hex Cannon.


Speaking of prolonged use of weaponry though,  I think we can all agree that while its nice to have free weaponry, perhaps we would have preferred not to have had reason to receive a Grabthar's Hammer, Purple Rain, Vulcan Phaser or Liea's Blaster.


And let us not forget those who no longer ride their battle beasts with us...


Anyway, by the time you read this, from my particular time zone, the year will be done and I will be able to give you an indicator if the new one is any better.


So, let your incoming fire be light, your shielding be heavy, your alcohol and ready ammunition never run out and your admirers be willing.


And since we at the G.G. offices are all inclusive, you may make your own choice.


Let the laws of nature always be on your side, or let the deity of your choice walk alongside you when you need them.

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

Tradition and Superstition by David McCallum : #701548

We compete. We play games.


Ergo, we are superstitious.


It may be little things.


A mech you can't go into battle without.


Hitting a different mission after you get a duff one like 'Blank Stare' or 'Nothing to Report' so it instantly breaks the bad run before it starts.


Not attacking the same player twice in a row in case luck swings the completely opposite way.


And it's infectious as well with people feeding off each other.


I started one myself.


I normally fight as a specialist, so much so that before this war, I can't actually recall the last time I wasn't one.


We don't like getting caught out of formation, so a reminder is normally sent over clan chat. Most of the guys respond to confirm they have seen it and are all set. Sometimes they confirm before the call goes out.


My confirmation is 'cruisers on the field', due to the spec type I normally use. It seemed funny not to be declaring that this war... almost setting my teeth on edge.


And then one of the other guys declared he had set his spec, somebody who normally uses a weight class a little higher than mine.


'Heavy cruisers on the field' was the call.


The raccoons were not my fault. A clan mate had one as his profile picture eer since I joined, and his luck in raids was obscene. Then he changed the picture and his loot dwindled to nothing. We suggested he put it back, the loot arrived again.


Now my raid luck was not abysmal, but it was below average. I changed my profile pick to a raccoon, and I had a run of loot luck that was so far into the top of the bell curve that I lost sight of it.


Suddenly we were overrun with raccoon profile pics.


We formed a new clan at the bottom end, the Raccoon Rangers.


The clan chief stayed diplomatically silent on the matter. The 2IC was far more vocal and either dismissive or mildly annoyed at the frivolity of the situation.


It must have been maybe... 20 minutes? before that particular war started that we got notification that 'somebody' had changed their profile picture. The catcalls on clan chat were intense to say the least.


Under the circumstances, trying to use the reason of 'It can't hurt' doesn't cut the mustard with our lot.


And there must be more out there. Weird, wonderful, just downright strange or 'in jokes' that need to be explained.


Come on folks, fess up. Note them below and we'll even pay for them.



Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

Who Are The Real Bad Guys A Galaxy Gossip Video By Pat Willis#224534

Editors note * this is for fun not to be taken as news or fact hence why it is listed under Galaxy Gossip.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Evolve Or Die By Pat Willis#224534

The Brotherhood, one of the oldest if not currently the oldest clan family in Mecha Galaxy and where I personally hang my hat. They have seen many great players pass through the clan halls and call it home. They battled all the greats in the game from the old days like Cyberstorm, and Murderbots back before they were AFF. They were often fierce competitors in KOTM, and the clan halls were adorned with many first-place medals from both Clan and Faction Wars. But like many great old houses age has set in; cracks are beginning to show.

The first major crack was many brothers breaking off from the clan to start something new with Fusion. They were perusing their own play style and trying to start something different in the galaxy. Not saying anything against them or theirs mind you just stating that such a clan formation from the bulk of another major clan family is a rather large crack in the cohesion of any clan.

Morale thus over all took a major hit and given the remaining numbers in the active clan family results varied from war to war on how the remaining brothers and sisters performed overall. If the result wasn’t necessarily a desired one, or the expected, well of course morale suffers that much more. No matter how you try to hide it, or who you are it is felt. So, another major crack in the old regal house. Going from a solid Gold medal winning clan to a more all over the board situation with various clans bringing home whatever they could pick up.

Alliances were made here and there that before wouldn’t have even been considered. Some worked favorably, some had a mediocre outcome, and others crashed and burned horribly. The clan everyone used to want to team up with had to basically outsource to other families to make temporary alliances to get the job done. This further effects morale, performance, and showings for the clan’s trophies.

We also had brothers retire from the game entirely or pass away. Such things will always affect the ones still playing. We can chalk that up to further morale decline. What that left us with is a once old and great name slowly dying due to break offs, morale loss, decline in membership, and a spotty performance in KOTM and C.W.

But, we are the Brotherhood. We do not lie down to die so easily. The powers that be have recognized these things. They have read the writing on the wall, and they refuse to accept it. A life line has been offered to the Brotherhood from an unexpected direction. The life line has come from the Dragons clan family.

Dragons leadership has offered a full cooperative and even alliance with the Brotherhood across all clans and divisions. Dragons as many know are a newer but solid name in the Galaxy for a clan family. They have some of the game’s best pilots, hold overall decent levels, and are consecutive performers on the battle field, as well as generally good folk.

The situation now is up to the Brotherhood to decide the fate of our ancient and noble name. Our leadership is listening to each and every one of us who has a question, concern or idea pertaining to the saving of our clan. Spirits are high, doubt is beginning to give way to hope. Will we survive as the Brotherhood still, will we become Dragons, or will there be a totally new emerging force that will yet be born?

Either way there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Brotherhood, and it looks to be a Dragon’s flame.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Trash Talk by David McCallum : #701548

Being the total gentleman I am, I would normally be loathe to publish such puerile banter as implied by the title.

However Patrick (in his infinite wisdom) has decried that there is not so much of it around as there was in the good old days, and as such we are duty bound to enter into such tomfoolery.

Ah well.... have at it.

A pleasure as always... until next time.

CW 3317 Rule change by David McCallum : #701548

Attention all clans... rule change for next war

Straight from our news feed...

SECOND WAVE PORTALS

In the aftermath of the recent conflict with Unification, the Illyrian Hegemony and all the mercenary clans are regrouping and discussing the abrupt end to the final battle on Srixin. No one is certain about the reasons for Unification’s retreat, but all are determined to be prepared if and when they return to our galaxy.

Just days after the Unification Army inexplicably retreated from Srixin, a new phenomenon was sighted on Srixin. This phenomenon appears to be another type of portal or gateway, similar in form to the portals used by Unification. Preliminary scans indicate that this new portal is considerably smaller in physical size than the previous portals and seems to be even less stable, flickering in and out of existence.

Initially, there was some speculation that these small portals might be a weapon or a weapon delivery system of some sort, but there has been no evidence to support this theory. Top scientists and theoretical physicists across the galaxy have presented many theories on what these could be, but as of yet, no one opinion has gained much support outside its presenters.

As a precaution, governments are warning citizens to avoid the portals, if possible, and have dispatched military units to secure areas where they have appeared. More new portals are being reported each day and the growing number has made it challenging to respond to them all, even with additional help from the Mercenary Clans.

The Illyrian troops have resorted to splitting their forces into smaller units in order to cover more ground and will likely need to persevere with this strategy if they hope to keep up with the increase in portal appearances.

The Mercenary Clans will undoubtedly be asked for assistance in addressing this new threat, as they were with the portals last year. The Mercenary Clans can expect to have a clan size of 5 to 7 for Clan Wars 3317. These smaller “squads” will be better equipped to handle the current challenges. Any clans planning to participate would benefit from starting to prepare as early as possible.

These flickering portals are now opening seemingly at random across dozens of worlds. It is possible that they are uncontrolled. It is also possible that there is a pattern to their appearances that has not yet been discerned. Either way, the Illyrian military and the few reinforcements from the other Major and Minor Powers involved are already being stretched thin in their attempts to monitor the situation.

CLAN SIZE 5 TO 7... expect some shuffles

Folks, this is a very interesting development.

For single clans, it unfortunately means that somebody may need to either sit out, or alliances will be formed and players swapped in, or an influx of people on the Free Agents page.

Larger clan families will suddenly be giving out brevet promotions as squad leaders are pressed into taking up some slack.

There is also going to be a greater chance of clan families being piutted against each other in the same division with its inevitable probability of clone on clone action.

Is it going to mean more, smaller, faster battles?

Oh, and specialists... with less numbers in the clans, these will play an even bigger role on a percentage basis... or will this finally be the long awaited return of the unlinited clan war?

Who knows?... but stay tuned.

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

It's a Classic by David McCallum #701548

Rilius Sectorum drops into Leander La'Salles after a hard day of completely failing to stop clan pilots running amok on Novum Delorum.



The bartender says to him, "So Rilius, what can I get you?"



"Bad day. I'll have a Martinus please," replies Rilius.



"Don't you mean a Martini?" asks the bartender.



Rilius gives him a dirty look and says, "If I'd wanted a double, I would have asked for it!"

It's Just What We've All Been Thinking... by Eman Eliforp ID #955029

If the game is going to taunt us like this, we should have a chance to win them from a mission drop, even if it is only the same likelihood as getting a Novum.

Submitted by Eman Eliforp ID #955029

Weapons Factory Leveled In An Act Of Eco-Terrorism By Kenneth Hicks ID# 846092

WEAPONS FACTORY LEVELED
CORVELLIA CITY, HARPER'S WORLD - The Trinitarian World Symposium was dealt a heavy blow Thursday when mercenaries under the Blackwing banner attacked and destroyed factories producing its marquee T9 Berserker and T10 Tsunami missile weapons, as well as the ammunition for those systems. Blackwing Mecha forces landed on Harper's World on Wednesday via orbital insertion and sent over 100 Mecha to assault the facility, catching TWS defensive forces by surprise and retreating via Niode gate Friday after significant losses to planetary militia. The damage planetside has been estimated at 150,000 Crystal.

Sources say that the Blackwing forces were hired by the United Sentients for Liberation and Freedom, a radical environmentalist and human rights group that had made claims that TWS had violated planetary law by building its new factories on existing Dreadwing breeding grounds and had funded local elimination of this species during the latest war against Drochah.

USLF representatives refused to comment on the attack, but reiterated their claim that the Dreadwings are more intelligent than recent scientific claims, and that full self-awareness and sentience makes the species fall under galactic rights and protections.

TWS remains under planetary investigation on Harper's World for large scale insurance fraud related to the fire and explosion at its New Catalina plant which provides rocket fuel for its T-line of missile ammunition.

The ALT Purge Of 2016 By Damien Valentine#885659

The facts are these: The existence of alternate accounts ("alts") in *Mecha Galaxy* ("MG") has been controversial since the game was released in 2012. Kongregate and Facebook specifically forbid multiple accounts in their Terms-of-Service ("TOS"), but the rule is weakly enforced, and MG has no separate TOS of its own. Hundreds of players took this situation as license to create alts -- up to a dozen per player -- which obscured the actual size of the player base, and skewed player-vs.-player ("PVP") interactions. This state of affairs was obviously unsustainable, for reasons best summarized on this blog by Kenneth Hicks in his article "Alts and How They Effect Business".

Beginning in August 2016, Game Craftsmen ("GC") began deleting these alts, without making any announcements in advance. The purge is still incomplete -- as evidenced by the number of identically-named alts in daily PVP events -- but at its current pace, it cannot possibly be completed before this month's biggest PVP event, the Clan War. In addition, the methods of prioritizing alts for deletion, and the reasons why GC waited four years to address the problem, have never been openly discussed.

So much for the facts. Now, inevitably, for the rumors and opinions. Some of the affected players claim that during the purge, GC personnel told them their alts were unacceptably powerful for their level, and risked "breaking the game". This is a plausible claim, given the close player-developer relationship that GC strives for. However, it raises the question of how GC determines "unacceptable power", and whether GC -- even subconsciously -- favors some players over others. There are also claims that in the game's first year, GC actively encouraged the creation of alts in order to test various aspects of the game, and then targeted those very same alts during the purge. It seems unlikely that GC would risk losing access to both its host sites by violating their TOS, but GC's silence means it cannot yet be ruled out. Finally, a large fraction of the affected players have publicly "flounced" out of MG and its associated social media groups. As of this writing, it remains to be seen how sincere these players were, and whether GC can attract new players to replace them. However, there is considerable anger being expressed on both Facebook and Kongregate, and this is likely to dissuade new players from investing heavily in MG for the next several months.

Submitted by Damien Valentine (ID# 885659)

The Retirement of a Legend by David McCallum #701548

It is with no small amount of sorrow that I must announce the retirement of a player who is literally one of our legends.

Don Fugate of Zeon is stepping away from the game.


The word legend is correct, for you will find him listed in the Hall of Legends under the entry for the Torrent, a machine that he rightly became known as an extremely dangerous opponent with. For those who have been around a while, he is an integral part of the Zeon machine that has been a force to be reckoned with at the higher levels of the game.


However if you look down towards the bottom of his accolades, you will find record of the time that I know Don from, a time before Zeon when he joined the first clan I was a member of, Heroes II.


He was a part of the team that brought the first gold to that family and along with others we and I were promptly promoted to the Heroes main regiment, jumped 3 divisions and against the odds brought home a second gold in the Rise of the Specialists.


From my time as his clan mate, I have two lasting impressions. The first is that he is straight as a die... no shades of grey, all black and white. You certainly know exactly where you are with him.


The second is his opinion on specialists. It is perhaps fitting that the final time we met, and the first time on opposing sides it was in a specialist fight.


My clan mate, my opponent, the target of my potato armed ants, my drinking buddy through long nights. I have no Torrent to name in your honour, but in the war when we last met, I earned another that is perhaps more fitting.


I name my mechs alphabetically, and the last was a 'C'. It is fortuitous that the pattern is not broken. Your name at least shall continue to fight, even though you have hung up your helmet.

Know that in the ranks of my chosen specialist formation you shall have a place, for no other reason than I get to play my final joke on you.


Submitted by David McCallum #701548

How to Deal with Dreadwings by David McCallum #701548

Here at the Galaxy Gathering, we pride ourselves on giving rational thought behind good advice to our readers and fellow pilots.


Well, at least I do. Patrick has been known to give the odd pearl of wisdom when you are busy scraping him off the pub floor, but generally those tidbits are along the lines of what drinks not to mix with each other and Kenneth, since he has joined us, has collated an almost encyclopedic knowledge of which are the best cut price knocking shops in whatever port you may happen to find yourself in.


But those areas of expertise are far more geared towards downtime, while I prefer to give advice on more pressing matters.


Take the current issue of annoyance facing pilots of every clan.


You ae out on patrol when quite suddenly your threat detector goes off and you find yourself with a
surprise guest, quite literally dropping in, in the shape of a Dreadwing. Not exactly a welcome visitor.


How does one deal with these pests?


Well, after much thought (and admittedly a small amount of mental lubrication provided by Patrick's hidden stash of vintage refreshment) I have devised a Standard Operating Procedure that I am pleased to share with all my fellow pilots.


1. If you don't have one already, go and find/steal/borrow a Novum. It may seem light compared to your main battle line but trust me, this is the ideal machine for this task.


2. Head to the canteen and requisition all the steak knives. Trust me, they won't be missed; most pilots haven't graduated to the knife and fork stage and even those that have tend to prefer a diet based on bacon sandwiches and alcohol.


3. Now take a trip down to the maintenance bay and borrow a few rolls of duct tape.


4. Use liberal amounts of tape to attach the steak knives to the hull of the Novum, remembering to keep the pointy bits outwards.


5. Assign a gullible junior pilot (or anyone else equally disposable) to fly air cover for your formation. Making sure of course that their will is up to date and the have you down as the executor.


You see, the problem faced by Dreadwings is that while in flight, they have those oh so vulnerable wings extended. A quick brush from Mr Choppy Slicey Novum and they are suddenly going to find themselves on very bad terms with Mr Gravity.


And even if they do survive the landing, they then have the additional headache of having to deal with you in a bad mood backed up by an unreasonably large amount of firepower.


See, don't say I never share things with you...

Submitted by David McCallum #701548

Random Musings by David McCallum #701548

So there appear to be... occurrences...

First of all, with the upcoming Faction War coinciding with the ancient Olympics being held on Old Terra, how many of you were expecting another Mechalympix, hmm?


I believe the collective sigh of relief was heard around Mecha Galaxy, which is no mean feat when you take into account noise doesn't travel in a vacuum. There were however reports of gale force winds at the niode gateways cause by mass exhalation of mecha pilots.


Speaking of things coming through Gateways, there is a fair amount of traffic over on the direction of the smelly armpit of the universe, also known as the Jungle Moon of Rizpah.


Beasties, greeblys, sightings of scaly face himself and a chance for a crack at some of his high ranking if decidedly inept clones. Not to mention reports of increased salvages of the recently released Spitfire and sightings and capture of a new 30 ton Niode mach (the Banshee) is making the Jungle Moon a bonus pay day for quite a few.


Not much detail on the Banshee as yet apart from the fact that it appears to be a missile mech, and the styling and body work appears to be by Lilo and Stitch.


Of course the big thing on everyone's mind is the impending Faction War.


A few changes here, with both minimum and maximum for faction size being lower than ever before plus complicated calculations required to ensure clan levels are valid.

We are receiving widespread reports as to how various clan leaders are coping with this new twist on eligibility. RND have opened a new spreadsheet. John Mainer was found attempting to use empty beer cans as an aid to calculating clan level until his wife relented and raided the petty cash tin to buy him a calculator (then spent the next 3 frustrated hours showing him how to use it...). Veteran clan leaders like John Fuller of the Heroes simply delegated the task and went fishing instead...


And finally we have the upcoming celebration of another Mecha Galaxy anniversary. The party is likely to be loud and long and appears to have been timed precisely so that pilots are going to be sufficiently hung over (and or still drunk) for the first round of Faction Wars.


Suffice to say, it's going to be interesting...



Submitted by David McCallum #701548

In Response to Certain Statements. By Scott Abbott Player ID# 468961 and Kenneth Hicks Player ID# 846092

On July 26^th, a member of Death’s Collectors {AFF} made a statement towards the character of another player, Mr. Scott Abbott, leader of the Dragon Clans. In this statement, claims of account sabotage were made from when both players were members of the AFF. For ease of reading, I have included the Bio that Michael refers to in the Mecha Galaxy Players page. 

Here now is Scott’s reply to these accusations:

I have had an "Online game family" for the past 20 years.  For the past 3 years, that family has been of the Mecha Galaxy variety. From eating Mongolian Grill with Andrew Bell, or daily conversations with Andrew Bell and Todd Rainey, to weekly strategizing with FJ Bros and James Waddington, to funny quips about my most recent birth of my youngest child.

The post by Michael Beagle made me realize that my family is alive now more than ever.  I have had personal conversations with Michael after the incidents in question where he personally thanked me for what I had done with his mechs and resources.  Keep in mind that this all happened over a year ago. 

 I can only think that this latest post is directed by Robert C Goetz, who also used to be in my MG family.  I am almost certain that he currently drives the Michael Beagle account, perhaps only on occasion, and this post is directed to smear not only my name, but the Dragons in general.  His once great "AFF" family took in zero gold medals this past war, and the Dragon clans took in over 10. It saddens me that he would drop to this level, but I cannot think of any other reason for it.

I have over 50 guys on MG who would have my back in MG, as I would gladly have theirs.  I was not trying to sabotage anything on Michael Beagle's account when I had access to it, and I apologize to him for him thinking I did so.

So in a nutshell, one player asked the other to watch accounts while his computer was going to be down for a while. Both had words and discussed after the player came back, and there was supposedly no issues. A year passes, clans split, now there are issues with what has been done.
We’ll let you the reader draw your own conclusions.

<end transmission>

And This is Happening Too by David McCallum #701548

So, fifty two percent of the population of Yomi Reefs have decided that they should seceded from centralised government.


Everyone has lost their minds, Galactic stock markets are set to tumble, there's panic buying of niodes and other commodities....


Until of course somebody pointed out, "Hey it's Yomi Reefs, so who actually gives a monkey's? I mean, it's not as if we get anything decent out of there..."

Somebody desperately in need of
some corticosteroid cream

Then of course we have those intercepted transmissions, apparently from agents of old fishface himself urging the use tunnel fighting and the smallest mechs available if they have them.


Good job the Raddix Tribe have found a way of fast-track upgrading Red Ants, isn't it? Sure, the package can be a bit iffy, sometimes with Ants that are fresh purchased they can grow at percentages every minute. At other times it's longer. Still, nice to see the little guys getting a boost.




Speaking of boosts, the suppliers have gotten together and in honour of 225 years of Red Ants courtesy of the Radix tribe they are handing out sets of Aviator 3.0s to all and sundry.


Now you know me, love a piece of free kit, and its a nice little add on in place of a cup holder.


The only down side of course is that wearing these things make you look about as cool as Tom Cruise from the old diaspora moving picture 'Top Gun'.



Speaking of dwarves, our own intelligence has it that there are various cells of dedicated tunnel fighters training in mech operation at hidden facilities, possibly bio-engineered by Drake and under the command of eczema head.

Here we have a group of them heading out on jungle training at Rizpah; from right to left Gampy, Stroppy, Porky, Stoner, High-as-a-kite, Wasted and Completelyoffhistits...


It's a good job you can't fit a nuke into a ten ton chassis... just saying.



Speaking of small things liable to blow up your face, maybe we need our own set of short nut-jobs who are versed in tunnel fighting....?

Submitted by David McCallum #701548

Galaxy Gossip Newsflash

with:

John Fuller #2021250
Colin Toenjes #650451
William Pierce #802131
Eric Evans #2612604
Kevin Kyrouac #53414
Mike Wach #145772

A Reply To The Editor Letter That Ran Yesterday By Pat Willis#224534

Dear David,

Apparently nothing sobers one up faster than finding their offices burnt to the ground. Until this issue is resolved and the cause determined I have frozen all Galaxy Gathering spending accounts, and through some Brotherhood connections you may find your personal assets to be much less than you remembered.

I have full quarters and offices on Garhan station, so this is where I can be reached if needed. It’s a fully loaded orbiting Forerunner defensive platform that has been reconverted into a Mecha manufacturing plant. Also it is where the Brotherhood calls home these days, and even has a gate room connected to the spine of the gateway network. So we can access really any gate we want in any area fairly easily.

The only real downside to it is it is now “owned” by the Forerunner construct Kellek, and the Niodemancer Johnathan Judas. The Brotherhood had to work out a R&D contract with them for weapon and mecha design/testing for room and board but it works and we are all happy with the arrangement. As well as VERY well armed.

I suppose I should thank you really, the daily commute to and from the office was just a pain in the exhaust given traffic. This has allowed me to move everything to the station and allowed me to go on full time Brotherhood rotations. No worries on the liver failure front, I had that replaced right before my birthday this year. Full on toxic filtration system beyond a certain blood alcohol level. Best part is no hang overs!

Also I received a full reimbursement on the offices when they burned down as I had the place fully insured on a separate private policy. It was a pleasant surprise to get a few cargo crates full of credits and niodes delivered before I moved to the station. So enjoy your little jaunt, I’m sure Kenneth will be in touch soon, and try not to get shot up out there.

With many thanks,

Pat Willis#224534
Chief Editor

A Letter to the Editor by David McCallum #701548

Dear Pat,


Hope this finds you well, at least as well as you ever are after you sober up.


You may notice that a few things have changed while you were inebriated, to whit your staff have disappeared and the offices have burned down. No real idea how that happened, I would have thought the fire suppression system would have kicked in, but c'est la vie, eh?


Kenneth is currently working from his home barracks and I'm off following up a story over in Cogwork.


Don't worry about the offices, I have already dealt with the insurance stuff while you were unconscious. The money has come through but the way things turned out I wasn't able to transfer it across to the company accounts before I had to head out on this story.


Besides that, it's probably better lying in my account for a while. Let's face it, if Leander Lasalle gets wind of you having a pile of ready cash, somebody will get sent out to settle your bar tab and if that happens we will probably just about be able to afford a tent to prepare news-copy out of as our next office.


Never fear, it'll all come out in the wash, eh?


Anyway, I've organised for you to bunk up over at Joel's place. Supposedly a decent drinks cabinet as long as you can get past all the local wildlife that wants to kill you. Just be aware that some of those species are on the endangered list... I know what you can get like when something interrupts your libations.


So, toodle pip for now, gate transit is booked and I must away. 


Please don't try and contact me, it's one of those incognito jobs and you know how the locals can get uppity if they think the press is snooping around. Besides, my usual comms gear will be in safe storage and I'll be using burner gear so everyone has plausible deniability... you know the way it works.


Be good, try not to kick the bucket from liver failure while I'm away, and save me a vodka martini for when I get back, there's a good chap. You know the way I like them.


Yours faithfully,


DM

Submitted by David McCallum #701548