#Lore 24 – Entry #98 – Sci-Fi Month II #7 – Potential Threats (Aboard Ship)

From Personal Logs of Gravius Scharaiden, Chief Security Officer, assigned UEF-04 Maharani Morgiana, decryption algorithm successful, translated from original Aerian script.

Clusterfuck doesn’t even begin to describe this stupidity.  I would prefer a clusterfuck to this any day.

Captain Silvercask has expressed his concerns to me about the personnel assignments aboard the ship.  I share these concerns.  He has tasked me with analyzing the personnel assigned and requested a report on possible security issues.  Guessing this will take a few hundred pages.  Copy of important details follow.

Report Summary, Highest Threats:

• The Elves – Personal biases against elves aside, elves should always be considered suspect and treated with sufficient caution. Too many worked under DSM previously, many more are associated with the Great Houses in some way.  Always scheming, always plotting, always running long games to twist things to suit their whims.  Can’t trust any of them.  Reports of malfunctions and sabotage have come from previous UEF missions.  No proof, but makes sense that DSM wouldn’t take being left out of the ruling council lightly.  Always suspect elvish involvement.  See Section 2 for information on suspicious individuals.
• Corporate Entanglements – The idea that multiple corporations could function together successfully was ludicrous. They like to spout cooperation and equality for the media, but each of them are vying for a bigger piece of the pie than the others.  Dozens if not hundreds of corporations of every size and type, too many possible dangers.
  1. Veylani Transport is in charge of the ASC; somehow that girl has managed to keep the top spot and pulled several other big names around her to keep her there. She’s romantically involved with a dark elf though, Fenrou Varmyrl, big name in their for-profit prisons, suspected he’s much more than that, though.  Likely she’s compromised, though partnership with the prison corp kept DSM away during hostile takeover attempt.
  2. A3 wants resources, and they want their people securing them. Dwarves are greedy, they’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get first rights to mine whatever we come across.  Trust them to prioritize these resources over any other concerns, though it’s likely they’ll sacrifice others before any of the dwarves onboard; at least they still value loyalty to their own kind.  Hopefully they’ll start with the elves when it comes to sacrifices, at least.
  3. ASC – The Aphelion Station Council has become unstable. Lots of arguing since it expanded from the Big Three it was initially founded with.  Basically your typical nightmare bureaucracy now, composed of over a hundred entities.  Expect conflicting orders from the top.  They will test loyalties, try to extort compliance in some way or another.  Agree with shifting personnel around; some will need to be watched more closely.
• Racial Tensions – Expect frequent arguments at least, violence more likely. Elves don’t get along with anyone, can barely stand each other.  Dwarves, orcs, and kobolds have long-running hatred that hasn’t died yet.  Kerryn, equinarians, and halflings are hard to provoke, but tend to band together against threats.  Ferians are loose cannons, likely to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation; watch the male ‘dogians and female ‘katians especially.  Aerians and orcs get along better than some, don’t expect two warrior societies to get along all the time, though.  Rattenvolk keep mostly to themselves and the bowels of the ship, so if sabotage is going to happen, they’re likely the ones to do the dirty work.  Gnomes are wildcards, can’t predict them.  Succubi will entangle themselves with whoever gives them the best offer, then try to manipulate others to their side. 
• Religious Conflict – There is a reason aerians usually don’t have faith in the gods. They’re like anyone else, always squabbling, pushing conflicting beliefs.  Those serving the whore goddesses will cause trouble just by their nature, stoking passions and twisting people one way or another.  The Mausolians will seek death at any opportunity, wouldn’t trust their recommendations on most things; expect any sudden deaths and assassinations to be their fault.  Expect the orcs following their war god to want a fight whenever possible, even if peaceful solutions would be best; can’t really fault them there, always prefer a fight myself.  Wouldn’t even trust the followers of the librarian goddess not to cause problems, either; probably some militant ones there who will start trouble if they smell a secret to uncover. If any followers of Saressh happen to have a prophetic vision, though, might actually pay attention to that.  Studied history enough to know that goddess at least has an above average success rate on her predictions, so I guess maybe she’s not entirely useless.
• Untested Tech – This ship’s an accident waiting to happen. Pushed it through trials too fast, too many hands have touched it during the refit.  Last shakedown had some issues that were supposedly being fixed, but don’t count on it.  That docking frame on the hull, that’s just asking for trouble; one ship goes up, and the rest of them are not far behind.  Don’t like the idea of those robot drones being onboard, either; haven’t been tested enough, still likely to suddenly develop a killing impulse like previous robotics; keep the AI on a short leash, or dump them into deep space the first chance we get. 
• ASD – Can usually trust an arcanist more than a priest, not that that says much, but the Arcane Support Division is as big a mess as anything else. Too many ties to too many corporations, too many old loyalties, too many abrasive personalities.  Division lead, Tallfoot, she’s unstable; not sure how she managed the spot.  Guess maybe pickings were slim by now.  Lots of new blood, too many straight out of school to be counted on in a crisis.  They’ve got their own dress code; should be in uniforms like everyone else.  Special treatment is bad for everyone. 

Report continues…