(NERV Game Site – Official DAtS Offline Forums)

Number5Alive, Golddigger, BurtBacharach, CrazyCelt, Blaze, DoYouEvenLyft?, MarcoPolo, MightMakesRight, l33tpally, Bennie, SEA-TAC_Sweetie, Requiesce-in-Pace, MacD, HaveGunsWillTravel, TheDespoiler, Guardian, GunKitty, Chummer, Inquisitor, Lizard, RedFox, SemiSolidSnake, ElfMama, Not_the_Face!, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, Anonymous7, Anonymous9, AggregatorOfSorrows, M.Mollen, WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot, DigDug, BigGunn, Dolcett, Starwatcher, Backlog, DarkAvariel, Knocker, Hullu_Kapteeni, GrimDark, BloodForTheBloodGod, Queen’s_Bitch, BackDat@55Up, DoYouEvenDPS?, MajorTom, Parca, and DarkAngel are in the chat.

Anonymous7: Heads up for those who are tracking the Black Stars. The Black Star Marines just returned to Star’s Reach from wherever they went, but Third Group of their fleet didn’t come back with them.

MacD: Huh. I would have thought that they would all return.

SEA-TAC_Sweetie: Maybe they got destroyed? Those ships were mostly supports for the mobile shipyard, right?

Chummer: Sure, that’s possible, but something that could take out those ships, but the Marines somehow escaped? I doubt it.

DarkAngel: Especially since you know there were at least a few Starbolts available to the group.

Anonymous7: Got a better look at the Marine craft. There isn’t any sign of battle damage. All Marine craft accounted for.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Well, that means they probably weren’t involved in a fight.

Knocker: How come? Could be they were just lucky enough to not get hit.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot: Any fighting bad enough that all of their Third Group got ganked would have dragged the Marine ships in, as well. They don’t exactly like running from fights.

Queen’s_Bitch: So where is that Third Group, then?

M.Mollen: Safe. And conducting their mission.

Starwatcher: What mission? Where did they go?

M.Mollen: Elsewhere. And what mission do you think my team of mobile builders would be doing?

BigGunn: Sooo… secret base?

DarkAngel: Why would he need a secret base? He owns a star system!

Anonymous9: To study Lost Tech artifacts he’s been hoarding! That was how he got the money for all of this. The Arena thing was a distraction!

M.Mollen: Wow, I have conspiracy theories about me now? I’ve really hit the big time!

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Lizard: Still, you have to admit that you have had a disturbing trend of being at the right place at the right time. Too often to be random.

M.Mollen: It isn’t random. How many players do you know that have put together a fleet of ships? There’s a few, sure. Each of them has had more ‘events’ happen around them than someone just going solo, or in a squad with a single ship. Why? Because they’re out there, with more potential contacts.

Starwatcher: And none of them have the kind of contacts you’ve gotten.

M.Mollen: Mostly by luck. I got my ship because an idiot didn’t know I was cheating at cards. A lucky encounter had a princess fall into my lap, which spurred a whole host of troubles and opportunities.

Backlog: So, you’re saying that the rumors of a connection between you and the devs are false?

M.Mollen: They’re factually incorrect. My performance in the beta, combined with my situation in RL, made me the perfect test subject for a couple different systems. Sure, I had some lucky encounters, but those were the results of my work putting me in those situations to begin with, not the devs pulling strings.

Anonymous3: Any truth to the reports that you’re some kind of unique race?

M.Mollen: Not unique, but I’m likely the only player with this race. No, I won’t tell you what it is or the backstory. But basically, I had a start that was more disadvantaged than even those who started off as slaves.

Anonymous3: Bullshit.

M.Mollen: Believe me or not, it is your call. But it is the truth. I spent my first two weeks in game figuring a way out. I didn’t even know what planet I was on, until a week in.

Chummer: So, anyway, what are those ships doing out wherever they are?

Inquisitor: Nice subject change.

Chummer: Shut it. The guy streams, so you can see how he did most of what he did if you go through the logs. I want to hear about future plans.

M.Mollen: Well, I have some mad science types on the payroll, and I’m fine with them doing their experiments, but if one of them does something crazy, like opening a portal to a hell dimension, I want it to be on a nice, isolated facility that can be destroyed from a distance, instead of in a populated system. Doom was a fun game to play, but I’d rather not live it.

Blaze: Wait, is that really possible?

M.Mollen: We have ships that can travel light-years in an instant by tearing physics a new one, and psychic powers. I wouldn’t bet against it being possible to rip open a tear into another dimension.

TheDespoiler: The Immaterium beckons. The Eightfold Path opens before you, beckoning all who would turn to the salvation it offers.

GrimDark: Silence, heretic!

BloodForTheBloodGod: YES! Rip and tear the universe apart, and offer all for the glory of Chaos! Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!

Inquisitor: This heresy shall not go unpunished. Soon, all shall see.

Lizard: Well, that’s not ominous or anything.

MightMakesRight: But seriously, what are they researching that needs to be locked away?

M.Mollen: Punching holes in the fabric of reality for instant transmission between location, using power sources that could power a superdreadnought.

MightMakesRight: No, really.

M.Mollen: Really.

MightMakesRight: But… but why?

M.Mollen: Did you miss the part about mad scientists? They see things like the Gateways, and decide they want to learn how to make new ones, or some other ‘fun’ thing. I’m fine with them doing that, but I don’t want them anywhere near me when they do it.

Not_the_Face!: Hey, anyone got eyes on Earth? I’ve heard some disturbing rumors that something’s going down.

BackDat@ssUp: Not another civil war!

Not_the_Face!: No, nothing like that. There’re just rumors going around like mad. Something about an Awakening. Capitol A. I think something’s going down.

Inquisitor: So, it begins.

M.Mollen: I just want it on the record that, whatever it is, it is NOT MY FAULT! I’m not even in that arm of the galaxy!

Anonymous4: Defensive, much?

M.Mollen: Read this chat log again. Got plenty of reason to try and establish ahead of time that this is not my fault.