+ Chapter 3: Epilogue

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H: .... fuck.

M: That's an understatement

J: How could we be blindsided by this? we have protection against this kind of thing, it is why we have the Exec Branch, to handle these kinds of situations. How can they just TAKE one of our Top Hunters!

G: Indeed this is troubling, we have not had a security breach this bad since the 'board room incident'.

N: Board room incident?

M: Before your time, kept under wraps from the press. The last time we had a breach this bad, a hit squad of former hunters, broke into the buildings in disguise, worked their way up to the board of directors room, and gunned down the entire board along with everyone there. Most of them had been around since the company started.

???: It was a monumental loss.

N: so ... our own hunters did that?

J: We've never been able to track down who was behind it, it is why we have the Exec branch. We suspect Remnant radicalised, brainwashed, manipulated ... and turned against us.

???: and now they're kidnapping our people and replacing them.

G: And trying to recruit more hunters. This information brought forward is worrying, it could lead to another incident if we're not careful.

H: Yeah, and the harder we push back the more we're turned into the bad guys!

???: Not ... not necessarily. Maybe it's time we started sharing a few 'company secrets'.

Chapter 3: Aftermath

[SEASON 1. CHAPTER 3] .Aftermath

___________________________________________________________________ FRTN: 6.2▲ // VG9: 2.9 ▼ // TMBW: 2.0 - // MBS: 3.1 ▼ // HXCB 4.2 ▼

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

.Fortune Battlecruiser...

The battlecruiser sails out to the closest Fortune affiliated station. With the capture of Athis and the destruction of the hidden lab, it seems the leak of data has been plugged. One good job done.

Fol comes to debrief and gather all that you are willing to part with. The syringe gets carted off somewhere and Athis’s unconscious body elsewhere. You’re assured that Fortune will make very good use of this. Meanwhile, authorities and high profile locations, like the Hotel Lorelas get paid off. Witnesses and lower profile locations get… Quieter or quieted.

The transport carrying Athis to a higher security station encounters an unfortunate “accident”.

The ship itself was damaged but not destroyed. The holding cells though... The recovered surveillance tapes reveal that the explosion came from Athis himself –an explosive device he was carrying inside him? Likely. Nothing but scraps of the Aurastar agent could be salvaged.

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Upsilon receives a message from an unknown ID that simply says: “Not holding your end of a bargain is bad bad manners~ Especially when you mess with someone who has way more experience in this business than you do hon~ Here’s your pic though~ Toodles, hope you have fun babe~”

The picture shows the six armed lion man Jurrat and the back of Gerlam walking away, along with a group of various old wrinkly ladies all wearing fluffy pink unicorn costumes. One of them also bears an outrageously bright and wide fuschia afro and waves at the camera.

In the following weeks, information slips in the media. Details you didn’t want known. Fortune does its best to squash out and control the information but there is no stopping the spread on social media. Bazzili getting mercilessly beat up by Kenneth (though you now know it was Athis). Rumours that various criminals are currently harboured by Fortune, while their home governments are looking to get them. Something about the fox gentleman with a pipe funding a gang of bandits? And that several of them have darker pasts, steeped in blood and murder…

Some of the information is sold through more discreet channels. The Church of Solaz is made aware that some of them are on a list, probably being targeted by a runaway nun. The name Mantys Sorro gets dropped to certain parties…

Damage control does its best but you know the saying… Once something is on the galactic web, it’s there forever.

.Lab wreckage...

Recovery and science crews sent by Fortune inspect the wreckage of the lab at the very bottom of Keem-78’s core shaft. Tons of concrete, torn metal and cold water await them. The information that remained on the computers that didn’t get gutted out has been corroded by the steam or damaged by the explosions and the fall.

Deep in the rubble, the black box got ruptured. Athis probably hoped that the fall was enough to completely destroy whatever remained of Kenneth. Through cracks and interstices, rust coloured nano-organisms grind and consume through their containment. Kenneth’s body lies in pieces, partially thanks to its captors and partially thanks to the destruction. For their survival, in order to repair their self, K.V.A.S.I.R, the AI part of Kenneth, takes over for a moment.

Ravenous for resources, the nanomachines cover the rubble, devouring the concrete, the metal, the silicone. Metal limbs punch through the rubble and the nanomachines spread further. They crawl up the limbs of the recovery crew, consuming and deconstructing their outfits and consuming *them*. Only those that are off the ground manage to escape. It is neither bloody or gory, just blankets of rust covering bodies and reducing them to nothing. Kenneth’s body digs out of the rubble some time later, finishing to reconstruct itself. He, it doesn’t seem to register the chaos or the carnage it caused. It stays there for a short while and then, it laughs. An odd, too regular laugh, artificial, too much of a steady rhythm.

It doesn’t take more than two galactic days for Kenneth to get back on Fortune’s mass media communications. For the public at large, indeed, nothing ever happened. There never was any leak of data, nothing wrong in Fortune’s world :)

Aurastar Solutions begins to lose several contracts, missions fail, investments get withdrawn… Just another company failing, huh?

With the return of strides Top Bounty Hunter, you can’t help but feel a sense of tension around the company. The Bounty Board was limited, the usual PR appearances, commercial sponsorships had been put on hold and you had a feeling that a lot of conversations were taking place above your paygrade.

The feeling was only made worse by what you’d agreed to do a few days prior, withholding important Fortune files, and trading them with the mysterious ??? in exchange for ‘answers. Whoever was holding the data-stick could feel it burning a hole in their pocket as the fear of Fortune discovering them wayed over their heads.

And low and behold, just as the fleeting thought passed through your mind Fortune gives you a call...

Howdy hunters! It's Vix again.

Your favourite A.I interface!

As of late it's come to our attention

that some hunters have started to engage

in questionable activities that may break clauses

44-B to 1342-A of your contract. Now we know

everyone likes to stick their mitts on the cookie

Jar every now and then, who doesn't like

a bit of spice in their life ;)!

But sadly these activities are illegal and dangerous!

But, rather than pointing fingers and calling people out

Fortune would like to introduce a NEW loyalty scheme,

we like to call 'Verified'...

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VERIFIED

[SUB FACTION]

Verification (or being 'verified') is a new sub-role to the Fortune Faction system. To be verified means Fortune recognises your hard work, achievement and loyalty to the company. Verified hunters gain a rapid increase in fame, social media traffic and company perks, however, to be verified comes at the cost of being constantly tracked. The life of a bounty hunter is built on fame and means constantly being on the job, especially in the public eye, and given the recent issues with certain top bounty hunters going missing Fortune can't afford to lose track of you. In exchange, you will be ushered into Fortunes inner circle, and learn a few 'home truths.'

An announcement about how to become verified will drop very soon...