MOD:WCU:PrivRFstory

== Privateer == Yeah, let's take it apart... Note: If you're not familiar with the story, play Privateer Remake before reading any further.

Q1: Allright, you meet Sandoval, but who is he, really?

• Later, Tayla says she 'used to do business with him'... (Hmmm, sounds like some rich guy, after all, Tayla is a pirate boss of sorts, not a drug-runner herself
• Tayla also says the police have postered your mug all over town, in connection to his murder... (Sandoval must be someone important...)
• Much later Monkhouse mentions Sandoval, saying that 'he seemed to hold that artifact dearer than his life', paraphrasing... (How does Monkhouse know about Sandoval? Did Sandoval reside in Palan?)
• Someone wealthy and important, who may have resided in Palan, what business do we know of, based in Palan?

A1: Sandoval was probably Rondell's owner or shareholder.

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Q2: Sandoval has a valuable artifact; does it really belong to him?

• Tayla mentions he 'stole it from his previous owner'... (Did she know his previous owner?)

Q3: Who was the previous owner?

• Assume Tayla knew the previous owner, whom do you know she knows?

Q4: Now Tayla is sitting there..., but who sent her? Not Sandoval... Perhaps the artifact's previous owner?

• When, later, you're doing missions for Lynch, he suggests he needs to 'borrow' the artifact to look at it... Burrows refuses, of course; but the next time you see Lynch, he says his people have looked at a hologram of it... (Hmmm... How did Lynch get a hologram of the artifact?)

A2: Sandoval indeed stole the artifact. A3: Lynch was the artifact's previous owner. A4: Lynch sent Tayla to meet you.

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Q5: Why doesn't Lynch, then, appear to be too concerned to get his artifact back, like, IMMEDIATELY? A5: He doesn't need it; --he has a holo already. His only concern is that it doesn't end in the wrong hands... (Rondell)

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So, Tayla gives you dangerous missions, probably as instructed by Lynch, to try and help Death happen to meet you, without implicating her or Lynch, but the plan doesn't seem to work. Lynch figures he can do a better job than Tayla, so she sends you over to him. He fails to have you get killed also, and finally has his own personal bodyguard try and get the artifact away from you in a more direct way... Doh! And I'm sure he deeply regrets having mentioned Oxford... The Mother of all Freudian slips...

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Q6: Masterson pays you 10,000 credits to protect Hunter Toth: Is that out of Oxford University funds?

• He says the University is cash strapped, and wouldn't the university expect Hunter Toth to pay for his own protection? I mean, protecting book shipments, getting rid of data-stealing pirates, that's okay... but paying to protect a speaking visitor? Hmmm...

A6: Masterson is probably dishing out those 10,000 credits out of his own pocket. (But why?...)

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Q7: Lynn Murphy says that Bronte has layed siege to Palan to cut off Rondell's food exports. True?

• Paying for the services of hundreds of mercenaries hardly seems justified by the dismal profits in the food business...
• Not only that, if Bronte is in the food biz, it probably doesn't have that kind of money in the first place!
• Someone has the money to do that, and a better reason than 'food exports' to lay siege to Palan and Rondell...
• And this someone doesn't want to get him/herself implicated, and so uses Bronte to lay siege on a food exports excuse, but pays for the cost of hiring the merceneries...
• Who would be so rich, so powerful, and so angry at Rondell? Why? And besides anger, what do Rondell have that could be so valuable?
• Sandoval was possibly the owner or a major shareholder of Rondell, and he stole the artifact from Lynch. That gives Lynch a reason to be angry, perhaps...
• But Monkhause had published the fact that his piece of Steltek glyphs represented part of a map, and the fact that Sandoval stole this piece from Lynch proves to Lynch that Sandoval, therefore Rondell, ought to have the other piece, or a holo of it (othewise why the keenness, right?).
• So Lynch, who apparently controls Bronte, paid for that siege of Palan out of his deep pockets in order to get the other piece of the map, or its holo, from Rondell; but had Bronte act as a front for the operation.

A7: False --but Murphy probably believes the official story, anyways (we'll get to her..)

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Q8: Monkhouse says he was kidnapped and taken to Palan by some corporation. Which? Q9: And he says the compound was bombed from space... By who?

• According to the records at the library, Rondell is financing Monkhouse's excavations in Palan.
• The fact that Monkhouse doesn't want to name the corporation means he perceives some risk doing so.
• Palan is controlled by Rondell, so it's obvious which corporation he feels threatened by.
• Would anyone kidnap a scientist to excavate? No, something more concrete than 'discovery' must be at stake.
• And Monkhouse says he was being "interrogated" at a compound, not forced to dig.
• He was working on no excavation in Palan, probably; rather hiding from his former captors, and so the library record was false, and probably resulted from a misleading statement by Rondell officials, therefore...

A8: Monkhouse was kidnapped by Rondell and taken to Palan (yes, CC, you were right)

• Neither a Talon, nor a Demon, can 'bomb a planet from space'; you need some heavy firepower for that...
• What kind of ship has heavy guns? Some capship?
• Who has capships? The Confeds and the Kilrathi.
• Which of the two seem to have an interest in Monkhouse? The Kilrathis, who intercept you to try and get Monkhouse.

A9: The Kilrathi seem to want to grab Monkhouse alive, so they brought a fleet to bomb the compound and free him from his captors (but they managed to take a holo of his piece of the map, anyhow).

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Q10: What does Lynn Murphy know about all this? Q11: Who's she working with/for?

• If she knew about Monkhouse and the Steltek, she'd have grabbed him before you. In fact, she says, 'did you find your friend?'

A10: She knows nothing about what's going on.

• She says she's hiring people to break the blockade but you end up doing all the work... (Hunters won't work for her?)
• She dresses in some kind of military uniform or fatigue...
• In the final mission, she gives you two militia escorts...
• But much later, in RF, she says that Menesch is a "thorn on her side"... (NOT on her front; on her side)
• If Menesch was her enemy or target, he wouldn't be a thorn on her side, but on her front
• Rather, he creates problems for her and her mission. What's her mission?

A11: We'll come back to this...

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Q12: What happens to Monkhouse?

• He says he's going to charter a luxury cruiser back to civilization... But where's that?
• The library record said he studied in Sol, and later at Oxford. Probably Sol. Long trip...
• Will he make it? Highly unlikely... Will he die? Eventually, but the kats want him alive...

A12: He probably end up in Kilrah.

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Q13: Why is Taryn Cross' rear end under so much pressure?

• She doesn't mention Confeds or Militias or politicians being interested in exploring Delta Prime, just 'HQ'.
• Who the hell IS 'HQ', anyways? The confeds were not getting involved in Palan, Terrel is clue-less, and if the Militias were involved, Murphy would have known her mission well; instead she said 'have you found your friend yet?'. She knows nothing. So neither Militias nor Confeds know the first thing what's going on, so someone who responds to neither is somehow 'HQ', even though the ES is supposed to be a branch of government?! I smell a fish...
• Doesn't the Retro informant in RF mention that the reason Eden is hidden is that the Retros had an infiltrator in the Exploratory Services who kept the jump point off the records?
• But we know from RF that the Kilrathi and the Retros are allied, and the kats know what's going on... BINGO!

A13: 'HQ' is a Retro infiltrator in the ES urging exploration of Delta Prime for their own benefit.

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Q14: Why are the kats exploring that area as well as the Retros (through the ES)?

• Well, would the Retros and the kats really trust each other that much?

A14: The Retros and the kats are trying to beat each other to it.

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Q15: Why pirates there? Q16: Why do you have to return each time for results analysis?

• Presumably jump point analysis equipment is restricted sales.
• Presumably rogue factions would be interested in finding unexplored systems to base their bases in
• Presumably this would put jump point analysis equipment in high demand
• Presumably pirates would care to take such equipment from ES ships
• Presumably the ES learnt it's better to keep the analysis equipment at a secure base...

A15: Pirates are waiting for ES ships equipped with valuable equipment. A16: You have to return each time because the ES doesn't trust just anybody with such coveted equipment.

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Q16: How did the Retros and the Kats know where to look?

• That's a tough question, and if the previous ramblings were speculative, after what follows they will seem like facts by comparison... :-)
• We could wonder about Masterson: When you get your artifact analyzed at Oxford, he might have saved a copy of the holo.
• According to the library records, Monkhouse studied at Oxford, so he probably knew Masterson. Would Masterson have a holo of Monkhouse's piece, and together with yours be able to figure out the map? Obviously; but then, why would Masterson give this info to the Retros or the Kilrathi, let alone both of them? Somebody made good money selling the info twice! And Masterson doesn't seem like that type.
• The next time you meet Tayla, in RF, she is relocating from Pantonville to Sherwood. Is she escaping from Lynch?
• But then, where did the kats and retros get the other piece of the map?
• Perhaps Menesch controlled Rondell, just like Lynch controlled Bronte?
• That might explain how the Retros might know, but not the kats...
• Well, the kats have Mandarin informants, who might also have someone in the ES...

A16: Your guess is probably as good as mine.

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