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Reverse Engineering For Fun and Profit (Planetary Annihilation/Multicross SI)

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I blame @Harry Leferts for this. And probably I should blame Kiyohiko Azuma, but well....

Forbidden Knowledge, Third Time ++NOT++ a Charm.

----

After reviewing the list Phytagoras sent to him and discussing it with Agent White, Agent Blue finally had narrow down the candidates. The list had been greatly reduced to two names. Or, to be more exact, a pair of... bonded Terran (and no, they're not married. Yet. The fund still going strong).

James E. Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan.

One is an earthly Terran with many... earthly experience and wisdom, and naturally a nice guy to boot. The other is a strong telepath that understand many facet of human, Terran minds, the brightest and the darkest. Oh, also had teaching experience.

Agent Blue reviewing the names and also their private schedule (don't ask), and found the time table to call them in the least incovenient way. In theories.

So, he simply dismiss the nagging routine behind his core programming that somehow, tell him to don't call now, wait a week or so. It's not exactly high-priority task, but, well....

Maybe it was Agent White... restlessness that begin to affect him.

Well, making a call now seems to be only logical....

----

"FUCK YOU HARKEN!! FUCK YOU TORROS!! FUCK YOU ALL YOU LUNATIC, IDIOTS, OBNOXIOUS, SPOILED BRATS-"

"Sarah, Sarah, please stop-"

"SHUT UP YE PIG, VIVA LA FEMINISM!!"

"-Your drinking, think of your liv-"

"I KNOW FRIENDS WHO CAN GREW LIVER ON TREE, QUIET JIMMY BOY!!"

This 2 weeks had not been kind to Sarah Kerrigan. Became leader of one of the most prestigious Ghost Academy in the whole Tarsonis certainly not a walk in the park. Never when you had to deal with a bunch of teenagers, physically isolated from families and all the hormones.

And then you add psychic powers, and things can escalate rather quickly. But so far, Sarah Kerrigan manages to deal with it with grace, poise, and bullheadedness.

Then come the storm. That takes form of an high-ranking Old Family, his brother-in-law with deplorable taste in female companionship, two teenage girl with rate 7 Empath, Gabriel Tosh, several sharp implements, lawsuits, and orbital standoff. And that's before... Things... sniff up blood in the water (calling them vulture and sharks would be insulting to vulture and sharks) (calling them Zerg makes you liable to lawsuits. By Overmind).

Needless to say, these two weeks and future months had not been kind to her.

And here she is, on Mar Sara's Joeyray's Bar, outdrink everyone combined.

"Please, Sarah, please stop for-"

"Am I... interrupting... something?"

The whole bar goes silent, what with the figure (in?)famous Mr. Blue now occupying the holofield. Some of them had been Tarsonis Veteran. Some of them had boys that goes to New Gettysburg.

Point is, everyone presents know him.

"...Um, yeah, maybe 3 days- scratch it, one week lat-"

"Wait."

Now, everyone was looking at half-sloshed Kerrigan.

"What do ye want?"

"...Well, I suppose... it could-"

"You call here, on this arid rock in the middle of nowhere. Not Tarsonis. Not Antiga Station. Not even Char. Not even New Hope Capital. ...Why? This is... taste private... stuff."

"...Fair... enough. So... Mr. Raynor?"

"...Well, I-"

"Shut it Jim. Okay, Bluey, you told me."

So Mr. Blue told her about Gamma's Request.

"...Well, maybe tomor-"

"How fast you can call them?"

"Uh, Darling, I think-"

"Quiet, Jimmy boy. How fast can you call them?"

"...Let's see... Well... that was... surprisingly... fast."

"Patch them now. Let's strike it while it hot."

"...Auxilia Command here, Miss Kerrigan. Will you teach us?"

"Tachikoma Network here, Miss Kerrigan. Oh, I can't wait to learn!"

"Oh, Me too! Me too!"

Sarah Kerrigan grinned. Jim Raynor suddenly feels very, very nervous.

"Um, Darling-"

"Let me teach you about bird, bees, and everything in between...."

----

The Sun Rises. The Sun Shines.

Flower blooms. Fruit ripened up.

Cicada chirping. Birds singing.

Bee workers feed their young. They contact each other to find nectar source.

Season changes. Leaves falls. Snow cames. Spring bud sprouts.

Citrus. Grape. Melon. Berries. Honey.

Live is wondrous, and full of beautiful things.

(In case you wondering, yes, these are Relax-O-Vision, because teaching delicate subjects like this should never done while you drunk. Nyamo should have known better)

(And Kerrigan, I guess)

-----

[3 days latter]

The headache was beyond horrible. Kerrigan never felt this bad, not since she overexerted herself in some of her more difficult... assignment.

Furthermore, she can felt it with her Gift, that...

That everyone in the city, probably most people in Mar Sara, felt some kind of... awe, worship on her. And good amount of... fear?

Huh. She start to wondering what's this about. That's when Jim Raynor come in and gaves her some of Joeyray's Hangover cure.

Hmmm. That is much better now.

Feeling better, she decides to approach the subject.

"Jim, what happened 3 days ago?"

"Um.... You did something... weird?"

"...Jim, I felt everyone here thinks I some kind of demigod or something like that. Or close. ...I didn't hurt anyone, isn't it?"

"NO! Not like that! Nobody was hurt. ...We think."

"...Jimmy...."

"Ah, Good Morning... Ms. Kerrigan. ...Feeling better?"

"Mr. Blue? Why are you here."

"Ah... Right. This is... Mr. Blue... speaking. I'd like-"

"Ms. Kerrigan, that was wonderful. So inspiring! So... beautiful...."

"So much... so much... love..."

"Terrans are... awesome...."

"Yes! Ms. Kerrigan, I, Tachikoma unit 326, was enjoying your lecture! ...Though it's a bit confusing. Tachikoma collective still debating about it. I wonder why Mr. Batou insist to keep The Major out of discussion, though."

Dread start to filled Sarah's heart.

"...What kind of lecture."

Tachikoma 326 begin to, helpfully and enthutiastically, repeat the lecture. With Mr. Blue, helpfully, provides the context. And illustration. And diagrams.

By the end of the lecture-

----

-I felt that entire multiverse, a strong sound emerged. Like many of my Iteration start screaming in embarassment for some drunken stupidity.

Oh well. Another planet to seeded....

----

Commander Gamma, after receiving report for the whole thing, start to doing something that makes sense to him. He start banging his main cognitive processor, placed in his 'head', to the wall.

****

Scene that inspires the whole story:
 
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Chapter 46
  • Threadmarks
    • Naihama, Japan
    Public Security Section 9
    Briefing Room

    xXxXx

    The wizened figure of Chief Daisuke Aramake, head of Public Security Section 9, sat at his desk, tapping a finger on the aged wood as he watched his agents make small talk among themselves. Glancing at a clock, he cleared his throat.

    "Thank you for coming. We have quite a lot to cover, so let's get started. First, Ishikawa. Any news on the anomaly that the Tachikoma units reported a few days ago?"

    The older agent and hacker shook his head from his seat. "Nothing actionable, Chief. We pulled logs from both the Tachikomas and various servers around the region, and while it looks like the think-tanks were being truthful about some unusual and momentary access, it doesn't appear to have been anything directly harmful or illegal. Just a massive number of serial connections to the national data networks. We backtraced the access as best as we could, and from what a few contacts and discreet inquiries, as well as the actions of some of our opposite numbers, it looks like the original origination point was in one of the American Empire's networks."

    Aramake hmmed. "Hmmf. Well, given it doesn't appear to have been an actual act of cyberterrorism, and that it originated outside of our jurisdiction, we'll just have to set it aside for the moment. Still, do keep an eye out for any unusual activity, beyond what we usually have to deal with."

    Batou snorted, the ex-Ranger sarcastic as he lounged back in his chair. "Nothing but the easy orders from you, Chief!"
    Target sighted. Confirming identity.
    The section head merely raised an eyebrow, looking at the burly agent impassively, then shook his head slightly. "Moving on. We do have something more recent to deal with." The old man tapped a control, a map of Japan appearing. A second tap, and red dots appeared scattered across it.

    "We appear to have had a rash of industrial espionage. In the last few days, we believe at least fifteen companies have suffered a break-in and data theft, as well as several military bases."
    Identity confirmed. Adjusting for wind and weather conditions..
    Section 9 shifted, straightening up, frowns gracing a number of faces. Major Kusanagi, the head of his field agents, shook her head, a bemused smile on her face. "I haven't heard of this, and that's a little bit unusual, Chief. Where'd this info come from?"

    Aramaki acknowledged the point. "Well, naturally, the companies and the government are playing this close to their chest until they have a culprit, or at least have covered their own culpability. Ironically, the only reason we were aware of several of the thefts because they came from some of the smaller companies that have less advanced security. Whoever our thief is, they apparently were able to easily disable high-tech security systems, but missed a few lower tech back-up measures. In this case, a firm used by three of the victims had put an air-pressure sensor in a closed system in the data vaults that were robbed as part of the standard 'off the books' package that was not written down in any of the publicly recorded work orders."

    Kusanagi nodded knowingly. "Ah hah. So, they know the vaults were opened, and when, but the monitoring systems didn't catch anything?"
    Ready to begin my own assault. Ready when you are.
    The chief nodded again. "Exactly. Frankly, if one of my contacts hadn't brought the initial breach to my attention, we still might not have caught on."

    The most organic member of the unit, Togusa, frowned slightly. "Chief, if the companies aren't fessing up, and you only have confirmation of three targets, what makes you so sure those other companies have been hit?"

    Aramaki smiled. Intelligent subordinates were a treasure. "Excellent question, Togusa. In thise case, we have circumstantial evidence." He manipulated the controls again, revealing a picture of a smiling Caucasian man in a dark maroon suit, red-haired and with a red tie, shaking hands with a Japanese businessman. "This is general surveillance data from the first of the companies that we have a confirmed theft from, Toro Security Technologies. This man is an accredited negotiator working for a technology brokerage firm in Norway. According to his papers, his name is Sven Erickson, and he is officially here on business to negotiate the purchase goods and technology for a number of clients in the European Union."
    Secondary units, in position, ready to engage.
    Aramaki ignored the snorts of amusement from his team at the generic, and most likely false, name. He clicked his controller again. "And here we have the same man meeting with a representative at Yoshiro Medical Suppliers." Click. "And now we have a picture of Mr. Erickson meeting with a representative from Kenbishi Heavy Industries." Aramaki turned back to his team. "Once is a coincidence, twice is happenstance, but three times is a pattern. Once we cross-checked Mr. Erickson's movements, we noticed that he had visited several companies that are now in what we can state to be electronic lockdown with a reasonable degree of accuracy."
    Taking the shot. Begin your assault.
    Aramaki clicked the control again, bringing up the map. "It's a bit weak, but he's the only lead we have right now on this case. Saito, Boma. I want you to follow up on where our Mr. Erickson has been. Backtrack him, see if he's gone off the grid. Major, I want you to investigate the companies that have been hit. See if you can figure out what was stolen. Togusa, Ishikawa, you'll be her back up for this. Batou, Paz. Check and see if our suspect has been in touch with some of the underground elements or the black market. I'll follow up with my own contacts in the government. You have your orders, so-"

    The door to the briefing room was opened suddenly, one of Section 9's Operator Ladies standing there. "Pardon the interruption, sir. Priority message from the Minister of Home Affairs. We've just had a member of one of the Cabinet Intelligence Services publicly assassinated via sniper fire. Section 9 is being mobilized to assist."
    Target silenced. Exfiltrating. Status on secondary targets?
    Aramaki frowned. "Damn. Major, deploy immediately to the scene via helicopter. I'll follow shortly once I have more information. Move out, people. Time is of the essence here."

    Section 9 braced to attention, a chorus of "SIR!" escaping them before the agents left, hurrying to arm themselves and deploy.

    Aramaki sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a moment, before activating his video phone, the image of the Minister of Home Affairs appearing on screen. "Aramaki."

    The white-haired old man inclined his head politely. "Minister. My team should be en route within five minutes. I can brief them en route. Do you have any further information for me?"

    The toad-faced minister frowned, nodding. "Mm. Well, it is a bit odd, but the target was a fairly minor functionary who headed up one of the data manipulation divisions within the Cabinet Intelligence Services. Hitori Gohda, the functionary in question, was leaving a regular staff meeting when his head was taken out by an armor piercing high-explosive round. No chance of any recovery from that. Security forces are sweeping the area, but we haven't found the sniper yet."
    First set down of secondaries down on our end, moving on to the next.
    Aramaki hmmmed, already pondering who in the government, and outside of it, would have a stake in provoking the usual responses by eliminating a functionary in such a public manner.

    He idly acknowledged a communication as the Major indicated that they were airborne, sending back a silent message with the basic information, already typing a message in to the Section 9 support staff to begin pulling data.

    Assassinations and espionage...Looked like the previous stretch of relative quiet Section 9 had been enjoying after its previous case was definitely over.
    Warning to network: Public Security Section mobilization orders sent.
    xXxXx

    A/N: Yeah, yeah...I know I let things slip, schedule wise, but I'mma gonna try and pull out of the slump a bit. Not the longest bit, but I had fun with it, and hope it comes off well. In hindsight, trying to write Section 9 is haaaaaaaaaaaard. *whiiiiiiiiiiine* xD
    Edit: Had to tweak a name for maximum amusement value. It's even a canon joke!
     
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    • Vortiboy23 said:
    So murder machine goes to Ghost in the Shell?
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    Nonsense.

    Commander Gamma would certainly never send a single murderous machine into the Ghost in the Shell Universe.
    Raising Kittens said:
    I have no idea what's going on here!

    Excellent, I shall be pleasantly surprised.
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    Hmmmmmm.
    *checks Conspiracy-O-Meter*
    Working as intended.
    Edit:
    Just in case that was serious and/or a request for more information, I shall put what happened in spoilers.
    Basically, Someone put a hit out on a Minor Functionary In the Cabinet Intelligence Service and blew his head off above the lower jaw (as is wont to happen in Ghost in the Shell. It's a running Thing) while Aramaki was briefing Section 9.

    Someone Else is also currently eliminating a list of Secondary Targets with prejudice.

    A third person mispronounced someone's name from the idiosyncratic way they insisted on reading the kanji.
     
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    The main antagonist for the anime series just got killed. Glorious. The man was a Massive asshole.

    And going by the apparently quiet week, I'm guessing Black and White are having "fun."

    And Green is having fun as a break in specialist for once, instead of being the head of security.

    Nice touch on them getting caught by low tech security. Really shows off the high tech bias the Geists have.
     
    Darik29 said:
    The main antagonist for the anime series just got killed. Glorious. The man was a Massive asshole.
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    And they misprounounced his name, as well.

    The final indignity.

    Also, to clarify, the main antagonist for 2nd GiG just got his head above the lower jaw blown off early. Precision is key, you know~

    Darik29 said:
    Nice touch on them getting caught by low tech security. Really shows off the high tech bias the Geists have.
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    Well, to be fair to the Geists, whoever was doing the B&E, it wasn't so much 'we got caught' as in 'we didn't notice the secure vault equivalent of a piece of hair or thread tucked into the doorjamb'. They still got in and out with their data steal, it just wasn't traceless. The higher 'tier' firms had the money to buy fancier technology, which is easier for them to deal with, amusingly enough.

    4/5 stars run, much dissapoint.

    Good traditional three word preamble to a burial, tho'.
     
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    One of the things I really like is how the Legion isn't taking the "spam killbots" approach to problem solving. I mean, it can and does when appropriate, but it doesn't solve every problem the same way. The hardest part of writing commander fiction is to have problems that can't just be handled by spamming killbots. Sure, early chapters where a commander is teching up are a challenge for them, but later on it's the more complicated things that are fun to read.

    Keep up the good work @TikiTau
     
    EmperorArthur said:
    One of the things I really like is how the Legion isn't taking the "spam killbots" approach to problem solving. I mean, it can and does when appropriate, but it doesn't solve every problem the same way. The hardest part of writing commander fiction is to have problems that can't just be handled by spamming killbots. Sure, early chapters where a commander is teching up are a challenge for them, but later on it's the more complicated things that are fun to read.

    Keep up the good work @TikiTau
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    Well, it helps that I'm puttering around in settings that don't really NEED Killbot Spam at the moment.

    (Leeroy doesn't count, he needs Killbot spam but that's a different problem. Or a Cybros or two to deal with a few Fraternal Orbital Objects)
    ((Or just Pyre-01))
    Like, if the Legions of Hell suddenly erupted and attacked, they'd probably get to meet Auxilia using Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Platforms, but since Ghost in the Shell is actually a surprisingly stable setting (Relatively. IE, the locals can deal with their own problems, even if they are also the cause of their own problems), plus Gamma's general reluctance to get too tied down in other people's problems, they generally show up to amuse themselves, steal tech, and maybe nudge a few things.
    Such as Gohda's head. With an armor-piercing round with a high-ex core. For reaching out and touching someone.
     
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    ltmauve said:
    "APHE rounds. For when you need to reach out to someone and give them a good jolt."
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    It's also a running Thing in Ghost in the Shell.

    Generally, at least once per story/movie/anime season (not sure about the manga, honestly, been a while. Might not be a hundred percent accurate, but it's enough to be noted as a Thing anyways, on TVTRopes, which keeps track of such running bits), SOMEONE gets assassinated or killed and has their head blown off by armor piercing high explosive rounds, leaving everything above the jaw gone.

    Like, the Geisha Robots that took hostages, one of them has its head blown off that way. As does a defecting minister, a defecting intel agent, the Major when they were sniping her remote controlled body, etc etc etc.

    Same with the Major's iconic 'fall/jump backwards off a building, activate optical camo mid-free fall, smile/look enigmatically at witnesses before vanishing' thing.
     
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    Hey, it works for them. Of things to know a series for, those aren't bad. It's better than being known for "My name is Major and i give my consent." Seriously, no, that's a title not a name. For a movie all about identity, it just killed me. That and them overplaying the evil CEO.

    Edit: That and the Major gets her a** handed to her in almost every scene.
     
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    It's Alive!

    Well, while the main story is still good, I will waiting for Leeroy Gibbs once again make a come back.

    Well, Gamma works fast huh. I have no idea who the hell just die. - -;
     
    Akasui said:
    Well, Gamma works fast huh. I have no idea who the hell just die. - -;
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    Alayne said:
    Apparently the main villain.
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    To be accurate, it was Hitori ("It's read 'Kazundo', you know. Common mistake, don't worry about it, although I personally don't find it difficult to read it properly." "Nobody cares, Gohda!") Gohda, an apparently relatively minor member of the government's Cabinet Intelligence Services.

    This charming fellow.

    In the 2nd season of the GitS Anime, 2nd GiG, he's the mastermind behind:
    -The Individual Eleven organization/memetic infection, which caused a terrorist attack on the Chinese Embassy.
    -Several Incidents that were aimed at whipping up trouble, such as the Jigabachi AI Chopper incident (which, on the upside, did cause the hilarioius moment of Tachikomas going '...*stare at Spider Hunting Wasp-Shaped helicopters in the distance* We all have tummyaches, can we go home now?' 'You guys don't even have stomachs!').
    -Artificially agitating and stirring up trouble with Japan's refugee population.
    -Nearly causing a nuclear war to break out. Erm, again.
    -Tried to go head-to-head with Section 9 in dirty tricks and information warfare. Ishikawa was not impressed.

    He is a thoroughly unpleasant sort, and the -entire- reason he did everything he did throughout 2nd GiG is that he has a massive inferiority complex and wanted to be a Special Snowflake, possibly even trying to one up the Laughing Man for impact on society (and failing). Among other things, It's why he insists on a weird-ass reading of his name and has, after an accident, refused to have the damage to his face repaired, despite it being expressly noted that the cosmetic damage is easily fixable given the setting's medical technology and his own position and influence.

    Basically, he's a relatively minor bureaucrat with massive delusions of grandeur and just enough influence to cause a hell of a lot of trouble.
     
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    TikiTau said:
    To be accurate, it was Hitori ("It's read 'Kazundo', you know. Common mistake." "Nobody cares, Gohda!") Gohda, an apparently relatively minor member of the government's Cabinet Intelligence Services.

    This charming fellow.

    In the 2nd season of the GitS Anime, 2nd GiG, he's the mastermind behind:
    -The Individual Eleven organization/memetic infection, which caused a terrorist attack on the Chinese Embassy.
    -Several Incidents that were aimed at whipping up trouble, such as the Jigabachi AI Chopper incident (which, on the upside, did cause the hilarioius moment of Tachikomas going '...*stare at Spider Hunting Wasp-Shaped helicopters in the distance* We all have tummyaches, can we go home now?' 'You guys don't even have stomachs!').
    -Artificially agitating and stirring up trouble with Japan's refugee population.
    -Nearly causing a nuclear war to break out. Erm, again.

    He is a thoroughly unpleasant sort, and the -entire- reason he did everything he did throughout 2nd GiG is that he has a massive inferiority complex and wanted to be a Special Snowflake, possibly even trying to one up the Laughing Man for impact on society (and failing). Among other things, It's why he insists on a weird-ass reading of his name and has, after an accident, refused to have the damage to his face repaired, despite it being expressly noted that the cosmetic damage is easily fixable given the setting's medical technology and his own position.

    Basically, he's a minor bureaucrat with massive delusions of grandeur and just enough influence to cause a hell of a lot of trouble.
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    Not anymore, it's jaw dropping.

    -cricket noises-

    What?
     
    I only watched SAC for the first time about six weeks ago and did not expect the cast to show up here.

    Aramaki's and the Major's voices came in loud and clear, but I hope you have a replacement villain ready to take Gohda's place. Solid State Society's plot worked IMO because it wasn't just about Section 9 hunting the Major, but also the two supposedly-allied villains using the same system to pursue two opposing goals. Perhaps the American Empire will make moves in response to Gohda's death - not retaliation, because he wasn't even one of theirs, but more just salvaging whatever they sought to gain by working with him? That would also let you make a bunch of modern politics jokes.
     
    Weren't the AE trying to turn Japan into a servant nation? Where japan basically just became a foreign extension of the empire, for the purposes of a Cold War with China?
     
    OverReactionGuy said:
    Not anymore, it's jaw dropping.

    -cricket noises-

    What?
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    BOOOOO! THAT WAS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.
    (also, I would have gone with 'mind blowing', myself!)

    SwiftRosenthal said:
    I only watched SAC for the first time about six weeks ago and did not expect the cast to show up here.

    Aramaki's and the Major's voices came in loud and clear, but I hope you have a replacement villain ready to take Gohda's place. Solid State Society's plot worked IMO because it wasn't just about Section 9 hunting the Major, but also the two supposedly-allied villains using the same system to pursue two opposing goals. Perhaps the American Empire will make moves in response to Gohda's death - not retaliation, because he wasn't even one of theirs, but more just salvaging whatever they sought to gain by working with him? That would also let you make a bunch of modern politics jokes.
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    Eh, they're also still fairly early in SAC, timeline wise. Plenty of trouble they can get up to, their normal case load (not everything is the work of one guy from the 2nd season, you know), that whole Laughing Man incident, plus-
    *several gunshots offscreen*
    ...Okay, /slightly/ less caseload. Jeez.

    It's like the covert ops/assassin robots think they can fix everything with assassinations. Tsk.

    Darik29 said:
    Weren't the AE trying to turn Japan into a servant nation? Where japan basically just became a foreign extension of the empire, for the purposes of a Cold War with China?
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    ...maybe? It's been a while, need to go rewatch the shows to double check that.
     
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