Culling the Weak

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Smash and Grab
Chapter 1: Probation
1a Enemy of my Enemy 1b Turning Coat 1c Recruitment Drive 2 Intelligence Mining 3 Planning the Operation 4a Sabotage 101 4b Brassy Faced Bastard 5 Upward Momentum
Chapter 2: For Fun and Profit
6 Miscommunication 7 Fuel Gauge 8 Knockout Punch 9 Culling the Weak
Chapter 3a: Internal Security
10 Threat Assessment 11 Dread Pirates 12 Rabbit Hole 13 Passing the Buck
Chapter 3b: Internal Security
10 Smoke and Mirrors 11 Foxfire 12 Spy Games

Type	Branch
Objective	Choose your path
Rewards	0.5M ISK + Time Bonus

Mission briefing

I've come across a problem in my operations. You may have noticed a lot of interloping on the part of other agents. Whether it's Kori trying to get you to show a modicum of mercy to the Navy or, as I strongly suspect, Irichi leaving those messages, I'm done with people trying to influence my business. I can't have all this politics messing with my operations, especially not where a valuable asset like you is concerned. I want you to choose one of these offenders and follow their activity. They're both so eager to take you off my hands. I suspect one, or both, of them are actively betraying the Guristas in some fashion. Call me paranoid, but I just don't trust them. Thus, you will be my mole and try to determine who is undermining my operations. This previous operation went well, but I suspect some tampering from them. Operations like this don't normally go this well without a major disaster occurring directly afterwards. Let's try to avoid a fiasco, OK? Once I have this information, I'll be able to send them the appropriate message. No, I'm not going to do anything extreme. I'm not going to do anything as stupid as encourage open infighting while the Navy is so active. Consider this a setting of boundaries; but yes, I'm essentially asking you to help me screw up another agent's operation. We'll see how they like it. Threat Assessment >> Alright. Irichi. There is a small chance you may have worked with him before. He was a Lai Dai ordinance engineer who failed one of his annual psychological evaluations. From there, he stowed away aboard a capsuleer's ship heading into lowsec space. His mistake. The capsuleer's crew found him, and he became the capsuleer's toy for two years before he escaped, absolutely insane and missing half of his body parts. We've been taking care of him ever since, and when he's lucid, Irichi is actually quite brilliant. He has made some small recoveries, but we're not out to make him normal. If we did, he might not want to be a pirate any longer. See the problem in that? The notes you found make a lot more sense under that context, don't they? The fact that he's sending you missives on his “transformation,” or whatever the hell he's calling it, means you're either his favorite culprit at the moment, as is any capsuleer that he comes across, or he suspects someone you're working with. That worries me. Any time he becomes particularly active in this sort of way, somebody gets killed. Don't believe anything he says about me unless you think it's gonna somehow give you an advantage, okay? He's dangerous, and even if he sees you as some kind of instrument, it's not beyond him to kill your for amusement. Be careful. Smoke and Mirrors >> Kori is one of the reasons I came over to the Guristas. But he's become soft, and he meddles. I've been monitoring his transmissions to you in the field, and I'm sure he's working with the Navy. He won't be willing to work with you directly right now. I've arranged for you to meet with one of his operatives, Eroma Eralen. You'll meet him in a deadspace pocket at these coordinates. Be careful, though: Eroma is renowned for his technological ability. He's not good at anything else, but he sure does know his way around illegal pirate tech, especially wavelength and frequency modulation. Meet with him and see what he knows. He owes me a favor, anyway.

Choose between:

• the Irichi Path
• the Kori Path

Your choice has no lasting impact on the Epic Arc.