Prophet - Your Go-To Blog for Politics, Entertainment, and Crime Tips

It was very informative, Mekan.

...I was under the impression Valhak was at best exaggerated. One or two of the stories seemed outright falsehoods, but if this information is valid, perhaps I'm mistaken as to how severe a danger he might be.

A scary vorcha.

Sure.

Let's just put it this way. If you ever meet Valhak, immediately expect your life expectancy to drop to the next few minutes and nothing more. If you ever engage Valhak, then you're either an idiot or desperate.

This is coming from someone who's not even a trained soldier. I've looked at his contract and mission success records on several mercenary networking sites, and any number of descriptions of how and why he's killed people that litter the extranet. It's never pretty. There were pictures. I didn't look.

He's no super-soldier, and I'm certain he can die, but fuck if he's not a scary bastard in every sense of the term.

'Upstanding member of society' my luminescent biotic backside.

That said!

The vorcha's no joke, sorry to say. Way it looks to me, he was probably gunning for Cerberus during the war as payback for their takeover of Omega-I heard he left quite the trail of bodies getting off the station.

I AM TOTALLY AN UPSTANDING MEMBER OF SOCIETY

COMPLETELY REFORMED

AND HONEST

...by Erszbat and Omega standards, anyways...

BAH! NO VORCHA CAN EVER EMULATE THE SHEER SKILL AND TACTICAL PROWESS I POSSESS. LETS TAKE A LOOK AT HIS-

....

That is an impressive kill list. Hrm

That's just stuff that's actually on the record, stuff that can be verified by eyewitness accounts, public reports, and the occasional employer reference and public endorsement on MercNet. There's no telling what else Valhak's killed on those black ops he was hired for. Only reason I even know about those is because my sources got me the blacked-out mission reports. They only got me those because they couldn't get anything else on those operations.

Really?

Well, if someone wants a more complete list, I have very reasonable rates.

Yes, yes, I'm sure the vermin is very frightening. I want to discuss this so called Deep state. By your own admission, if there is such a conspiracy, it lacks the cohesion necessary in order to achieve their goals.

Are you sure you're not mistaking this Deepstate for how tenuous the recently formed Confederacy is? Your civilization is literally starting from the ground up, and straining in a dozen different directions. Why compound the severity of your problems with speculation of a conspiracy?

Because the Deep State does exist. It's not speculation on whether it exists, but more speculation on its composition, structure, and the extent of the threat.

It's difficult to explain to someone who isn't batarian, or hasn't been involved in batarian society. The effect it's causing batarian society to feel in the wake of the Confederacy's formation is enough to make otherwise normally-rational people point and say "Look, there's no proof, but LOOK." There's only so much that can be said before one degenerates into a raving madman, and there's only so little that can be said to downplay its existence. It's a perpetual bogeyman. Every day, I feel like I'm being watched, and it's not just me. It's impossible to say that I'm crazy, even though I'd prefer that option to the existence of the Deep State.

While I am rather skeptical of this "Deep State's" existence, there are indeed several factions, especially on pro-Na'Hesit worlds, that yearn a return to the old Hegemony. As such, I can see some perhaps exploiting the myth of this Deep State in order to spread dissent.

I really wish I could agree with you, and I think that on some level I might. But, I need to say this in response.

The Deep State may have no command structure, supply chain, or organization. It may only exist as a source of paranoia, and have no substance, but the impact it's having is real.

It could be a conspiracy only in the loosest sense, or it could be the puppetmaster pulling the strings of everyday life.

None of that matters. The Deep State simply is. Even if nobody can prove it.

Insanity wouldn't quite be the word I'd use. The Hegemony been the dominant aspect of batarian culture for generations. Its sudden absence is no doubt affecting more than a few of you like this. You're jumping at shadows, looking for someone to fill in the gap left behind by the Hegemony, and every little quirk and oddity is taken as evidence, rather than the more likely scattered coincidence it really is.

The MAIN problem with everything you're saying is that it makes sense, except when presented with certain realities. Specifically, voting in the Confederate Council. Everything seems to go one way, then another, with no specific pattern. Votes apparently go in one direction and then another, with little explanation. People either don't vote with their parties, abstain from voting entirely, or go and vote on a measure that makes no sense for their planet's interests. Sometimes, they go back to what's expected of them for a while, only to go ahead and join a landslide in favor of one specific measure that seems just too out of place to be anything but pre-planned.

The Confederacy is unstable, and I agree that we're going every which-way within our first couple of years, but there's just something off about the way the Confederate Council seems to go on any given proposal, to the point where going ahead and saying 'Deep State' actually makes more sense, half of the time.

Or, and I understand why you'd infinitely prefer the Deepstate idea, the reason why these events are happening is because of the instability happening within the Confederacy, and that is reflected in poor and occasionally irrational decisions. Its not uncommon for newly formed democracies that lack a central authority to deal with issues like this.

Now, you admittedly have a better perspective and research to comb things over, but if you can't detect a pattern, then you have to consider whether there is in fact a pattern, or you're looking at it from the wrong angle. I do wish you luck though, in finding you the answers you seek. I just don't think they're the ones you want to hear.

[Cross-posted to CrossNet Prime, DarkNet, Electronix, Undernet, Cerberus Daily News, and Erszbat Social]

Alright, people. This week's going to have entertainment, politics, and then we'll do electronics and cybercrime, and this week's entry of Underworld, advice for career criminals and rookies alike.

ENTERTAINMENT

Alright, people, UCL time. The premier match went about as well as expected. Couple of nobody-gives-a-shit human teams, still not showing any offworld crews strutting their stuff yet. The Bears won the match, but they're not really showing themselves as a stand-out team to me, yet. I always paid more attention to the Omega Circuit and the Cartagena Circuit back in the day, so humans aren't as common of a sight to me in Urban Combat matches as you might think. Two all-human teams going at it just didn't do it for me, but with the Wolfpack losing this match to the Bears, I don't think they'll stand a chance against the Erszbat Marauders if they ever go up against each-other. The Bears and the Marauders fight in very similar manners, but the Marauders are just more 'no, fuck YOU' about it, and if the Wolfpack just barely lost to the Bears, then they're going to lose to the Marauders if they EVER fight.

Now, on the subject of the actual match between the Wolfpack and the Bears, you'd think that the Bears wouldn't split off and pull the lone varren shit that they did if they were going up against a largely ambush-oriented team. Communication is critical in UCL matches, but so is sticking close to your team, and the Bears just didn't seem to get that. The whole match SHOULD have gone to the Wolfpack, but the Bears got VERY fucking lucky. Their initial split-off maneuver was a bad move, in my opinion. The Wolfpack, though, they had their shit together. Splitting off into pairs like that was pretty damn smart, just for the sake of having back-up in case they got jumped.

Now, one thing I need to highlight - Brandt getting his shit smacked by Tarkov at the end of the match. Holy SHIT, that was badass. That's basically a move the Marauders pioneered, even if the Bears didn't outright study it. Enforcement Gauntlets are apparently legal in UCL now, so I'm looking forward to the Marauders going completely nuts with them during their first match.

This is gonna be a fun season, I think, so let's all keep a close eye on it. Go go Erszbat Marauders!

POLITICS

For today's Politics section, we're going to discuss the recent brushfire war in Karval and Lok-cal Counties here on Erszbat. Karval are the aggressors, of course. They never really got over the county lines being redrawn and putting a decent-sized chunk of farmland firmly in Lok-cal territory. Anyways, there's been some skirmishing between local militia gangs along the county lines. Mostly small, scattered exchanges of small-arms fire, but I'm worried it'll escalate, and for good reason. I've been in touch with a few business contacts of mine in Karval County, and there's been word that some local crime gangs are taking advantage of the chaos to roll out the big guns for the sake of 'protecting the people.' Reports are in circulation about a few civilian businesses outfitting ground cars with improvised armor and some heavy machine guns (allegedly imported straight from Omega) welded onto sunroofs. The Erszbat Council is talking about trying to get the two counties to stand down with a peacekeeping force, but none of the big players are actively getting involved. It's a mess.

What's worse, there's talk of calling in offworld mercenary companies to provide 'much-needed mechanized and air support, as well as a professional, hard-hitting force to augment and supplement our local militia', according to an anonymous Karval County official. This is all topped off by the militia leaders mostly ignoring orders from their respective County officials to stand down until further notice; the whole thing is meant to be a display of force on Karval's part and from the look of some reports, they're trying to reel it back before it REALLY turns into an inter-county war, but the militia on both sides have been going out of their way to take potshots at each-other if their opposition comes within line of sight, which means if mercs get involved, it's going to be a hell of a free-for-all due to the sheer confusion of the situation. This is going to escalate into a disaster, and the Erszbat Council isn't doing a damn thing. It's annoying as hell, because this is my tax credits at work for the planetary government, and they're going to waste while the Council hangs around with their thumbs up their collective asses.

I've got mercenary friends, and I know mercs come in all shapes and sizes. I know what goes down when mercs roll in. I don't want these guys coming into my backyard unless we're about to fight Reaper War II. Karval County is RIGHT over the western county line from Ertl. If mercs start coming to Erszbat to fight out this dick-measuring contest between Karval and Lok-cal, I doubt things will go well if they happen to conveniently cross the wrong county line and engage Ertl County militia for shits and giggles. If these guys come to town packing armored vehicles and gunships, my neighbor and his old Batarian State Arms rifle sure as hell aren't going to be able to stop them.

No matter what, I'm keeping the shotgun close and my body armor available at any given time. Just in case.

ELECTRONICS

OK, this entry is going to talk about one thing that I'm particularly well-versed in. There's been a batch of malware making the rounds on the extranet lately, called collectively the Fuck-U Pack. Yeah, creative, I'm sure. Anyways, it's a collection of malware that generally fucks up systems relying on the OD-145 operating system that came out just before the war. Does EVERYTHING you expect malware to do, and more. What's worse is that it's been exploiting a common patch in the OD-145 OS to help it penetrate firewalls and bypass antivirus systems.

This basically means that if you've downloaded any OD-145 patches recently, it's been helping the Fuck-U Pack penetrate your security and steal information for the company that makes the OD operating systems, or at least for a specific individual within the company. Numerous petitions for tech support are being turned away, and it took fucking Undernet to get this shit figured out. Half of Undernet is on the war-path now, trying to find the fucker who made the Fuck-U Pack and I've been personally keeping my ear to the ground.

This is why I don't use the OD operating systems. Everyone watch your asses and don't download any patches for the OD-145 OS for a while.

CYBERCRIME

Another common tidbit that everyone ought to know.

Details can get you arrested and/or killed. When you actually hack into a system (especially government databanks and related networks), do not hang around to check every snippet of information and every file. Just grab the data and run. Even if a client is paying you ten grand to sift through everything and find one file, it probably won't be worth the money when your friendly neighborhood law-enforcement organization or a group of thugs hired by your target run you down like a wild varren and beat the shit out of you because you wasted time in their network and got traced.

For the occasions where you're hired to grab a specific file, grab everything you can, shunt it over to a disposable omnitool or spare terminal without wireless access, and then sift through it later once you're out of their network and can't be traced anymore. This is basic fucking common sense, and it honestly shocks me when an otherwise-competent hacker I'm acquainted with gets caught because he found something juicy and then made this classic mistake.

In short: Steal everything that's not nailed down and then hang onto it, sell it, or hand it off to an employer at your own discretion later.

UNDERWORLD

Mercs. Mercs, mercs, mercs. When you need protection and don't have many private armies or armed friends to turn to, you need mercs. I, personally, am acquainted with a lot of mercs and ex-mercs, some of whom I've come to call good friends.

Now, I need to recommend a few things when approaching mercs, and the first thing is 'don't assume they're the best or the worst.' It's not like the vids where mercs, even the Big Three, are either the best troops around or a bunch of scumbags only fit to be slaughtered by the dozens. The vast majority of mercenaries are competent combatants, but far from perfect. So my recommendation to anyone looking to hire mercenaries, do some research into PMCs or freelancers before you hire them. Look at records, and if you can, take a look at mercenary networking sites like MercNet, and Darknet's 'Mercenary' forum section. Others exist, I'm sure, so look around. Chances are you're hiring more than one mercenary for any given job, so if you take freelancers, make sure that they play well with others.

Another bit of advice I need to suggest is 'don't hire the psychos.' Here's the thing. Everyone assumes mercenaries are either some of the least discipline rabble in the galaxy, or some kind of super-elite black-ops unit, because of all of the fiction they've read or watched about 'em. You get mercs in all shapes and sizes, and some of them ARE fucking insane. Try to strike up a rapport with them, do what you can to make nice, treat them with the respect any professional deserves regarding their job and their given assignment, but do NOT hire anyone who seems legitimately fucking crazy. You'll regret it, no matter the job.

Be smart, run background checks, be polite, and always try and pay well. Remember, mercs have bills to pay too.



That ends this entry of Prophet, ladies and gentlemen. Stay safe out there.

Very interesting Mekan! I must say that it's a refreshing change of pace compared the Dick casts and the Vorcha news.
Out of curiosity, how are your readership ratings going?
About the mercs I can't agree enough. To get mercs Slaves4Us not only compared the Big Three, but once we settled for the Blue Suns we investigated each legion individually. They're not remotely as unified as you could believe.

The political scene seems rough there Mekan. Stay safe and I hope it blows over without comin' into yer neck 'a the woods.

The worst part of the fighting in Erszbat is that the fleet cannot properly intervene without coming off as an oppressive force to the populace and the other colonies. And if Karval and Lok-cal escalate the crisis by bringing in mercenaries, this has the chance to spill over to the other planets, which is not what the Confederation needs.

Stay safe Mekan, while I hope to be wrong, I feel the worst is still to come.