Alcyone: also any chance I could get "Who shot Sanyang, under whose orders?" for 50kcr? To fulfill my campaign promise of "perform an independent investigation into the matter"
Sam: 50kcr is not much for investigating both the murderer and the cause
Sam: But you can try
Alcyone: maybe I'll try just asking "what was the cause of Sanyang's death" then
I guess immediate cause. Was it in fact a bullet from one of our security forces or from something else
Sam: Cause of Sanyang's death is a couple of hollow-point rounds from a small-caliber firearm, likely something high-end or custom—not the kind of thing your Local soldiers typically carry.

• did Thatch know Than was going to be killed?,
• who outside the union was involved? (as implied by the fact that there were non-union guns)

• No, there's no evidence that Secretary Thatch knew about the death of Sanyang.,
• Bratva assassins killed Sanyang unders orders from Obshchak Sylvana.

Alcyone: @Thatch congratulations on your exoneration

Alcyone: the VONC is not going to pass so there isn't any urgency in telling the union in the next few hours

Maureen: Congratts but also what the heck

Alcyone: I am so glad Thatch wasn't implicated
also how did this chain of events even happen

Maureen: what if we post this image in the ⁠news channel with zero context and dont even say it was from us (screenshot of Sam's statement)

Alcyone: Some options:

• I am willing to take the fall for assassinating Obshchak (and would have a bonus to doing so). It would be expensive and I don't know if it's feasible. It would also probably get me out of trying to find enough time to play next week lol. Maybe we can convince tylerb to donate his assassination fund and deal with that problem as well. This would mean keeping everything completely quiet for a while and I need to come up with more excuses for why the investigation is going poorly,
• war??,
• go public, do economic sanctions or stuff,

Alcyone: maybe we are strong enough that we can make it public and let the union vote on what to do though. But realistically if we want to do an assassination we have to do it quietly

Maureen: this does not bode well for the train plan

Alcyone: I think the union will want blood, I am thinking of someone who described me as a "Sanyangist" in terms of why they voted for me which I think is not totally true but I think tells you a bit of the mood of a lot of people

Alcyone: going to wait for us to come to a consensus but it has occurred to me that if I go rogue like Sanyang did then probably neither of you can actually shoot me after all

Maureen: Time for our first wuh oh (real)

Alcyone: I still have a lot of questions about how this assassination managed to line up with Thatch doing other things to make her frameable but I'm not sure we'll get answers more thoughts

• assassinating Obshchack would probably be satisfying and would probably make a lot of people happy.,
• telling the union and letting them decide what to do is maybe more union-y. It may make it easier to get other people on board with an anti-bratva coalition. It probably precludes a later successful assassination and will make us not able to work quickly and effectively but we have other tools. I do not want to do some kind of stupid ritual murder thing to resolve it though.
• if we do the latter I've come back around to announcing it anonymously. They'll figure it out fast but the tempest reaction could be interesting,

I feel like, of the living, Thatch, is the most directly wronged by them so jokes aside I think her views on this are especially important

Maureen: I'm also a fan of anonymous announcement, I agree the tempest reaction will be very interesting and we can act from there.

Thatch: So, im going on that Sam-run choke expedition tomorrow at 2PM est
I may die 🙁

Maureen: please tell me you've got your successors confirmed with sam (dont tell us who)

Alcyone: oh god imagine the conspiracy theories if you do

Thatch: Yeah basically

Alcyone: if it happens and they get unfairly blamed they deserve it

Maureen: yeah

Thatch: Ok. So what the fuck does this all mean?

Alcyone: in terms of what happened or like what we do next?

Thatch: ...yes.

Alcyone: well it looks like Obschack assassinated Sanyang and then IDK tampered with the report you got about what happened.

Thatch: It did take a while

Alcyone: Did you find that thread? If you had a screenshot of like exactly what Sam told you we might have some idea of how the tampering is supposed to have happened but it seems pretty clearly like it was not your fault

Maureen: ((I'd assume 'in fiction', it was a bratva squad dressed as a union squad))
((or at least one squad member))

Alcyone: we don't know all the details of what happend but we do know a) it was not your fault and b) Obshchack murdered Sanyang and I think that's all we absolutely need to know
as for what we do next I think we know enough that we should do something I think the union deserves to know for sure. I don't know what else we should do
I don't want them to get away with this

Thatch: Something here doesnt add up though. That op result seems impossible

Alcyone: how?

Alcyone: so I noticed a lot of typing and not typing and I'm not sure how to reassure you that I'm on your side but I'm on your side and I 100% believe you are innocent and would like to help figure out how

Thatch: I appreciate that Alcyone, this has all been such a whirlwhind that im not sure if we talked much before your Boss Ascension but youve got a good head on your shoulders
ok, come to jesus moment time. how with me are you guys if i kind of fucked up one singular time
but for like a good reason and have otherwise done nothing but give for this union.

Alcyone: I am totally with you we are not doing a VONC again

Thatch: gosh i hope thats true. here goes
(if you want me dead over this, im leading the choke expedition tomorrow, and the threat of death is real. let me get myself killed down there instead of face the scorn of my people)
i intentionally killed sanyang, or rather had her killed, but for the same reason ive been saying. there was no security standoff
it was partially to stop her warhawking (she had taken major action without tui or i by then, i figured she'd absolutely mobilize without our approval as well)
aaand partially because she was ridiculously, absurdly aloof and rude to Jasmine Gold, an agent of mine who ended up leaving the station over it

Maureen: How do you explain the intel op then.

Alcyone: is the Bratva part true?
"there is no evidence" is very specific phrasing

Thatch: yeah. i was gonna try to lie just now but itd only make things worse for you guys if i die tomorrow

Maureen: This is not adding up.

Thatch: i let in a bratva hitman and ran an op to erase footage of the event

Maureen: Thatch, respectfully, I think you may need to consider standing down.

Thatch: i was already talking to obschak sylvana at the moment, she asked if i needed anything, i said Funny you mention

Alcyone: ((I feel bad for saying this))
I think getting yourself killed may be a good option

Maureen: I can at least understand the dispute leading to the death of Sanyang, but this level of cover up and embezzlement I can't condone.

Thatch: oh it was cheap dont worry

Thatch: Nah its chill. listen i was really, really fed up

Alcyone: I think the union deserves to know something. I don't think they have to know about your part in this if you would prefer to resolve it that way.

Thatch: i cant believe she talked to someone that way after i spent almost an hour telling her jasmine wasnt an enemy
i had a proposal on what to do that might help

Alcyone: If we go public with the Bratva part then Bratva will accuse you. If you die in the choke then anhything they say seems dubious. If you don't it will probably come out.

Maureen: You have painted yourslef into an almighty corner.

Thatch: DUDE, RIGHT,

Alcyone: ((also, holy shit))

Thatch: you run a hundred shipments a day, no one bats an eye. but you do ONE INTRIGUE,

Alcyone: I appreciate you being honest and want to give you whatever option you want to go with. But I think we have to do soemthing

Thatch: oh definitely
my thoughts are thus
first of all, SORRY LOL

Thatch: Youre right that if the bratva involvement is revealed, theyll just show screenshots of my arranging it. obviously my own boss-status and reputation will vanish but so will trust in union bosses at all. so i think keep that one to ourselves

(off-topic for a bit)

Alcyone:ok going back to the keeping it to ourselves
we arne't going to do that
I have to tell the union something. It doesn't have to be everything. It can be Sam's carefully worded screenshot and we can have dueling conspiracy theories.

Maureen: Mildest Secretary Thatch event: I MAYBE KILLED SOMEONE AND ALSO WAS THE FOCI OF THE CHOKE EVENT
Most intense Treasurer Tūī event: shit did i forget to set the furry art commissioning thread to private?

Alcyone: here's another option which is also kind of crazy. Does anyone know about this other than us and Obshchack

Thatch: Jess Levine

Alcyone: damnit

Alcyone: I was going to suggest assassinating Obshchack, pressuring you to die in the choke, and then dropping the screenshot
two bratva makes it hard though

Maureen: I really don't think we should do that. We would fuck it up, and also they'd investigate.

Thatch: shes undoubtedly in somewhere just as fortified as our hq.. wed go broke

Maureen: I don't think we really have slime with Brat as of current.

Alcyone: I have a bonus to assassinating people who have hurt a teamster though probably that wouldn't be enough

Alcyone: 1. I feel like I have a strong personal obligation, as someone who many people elected to get to the bottom of this, to do something about this that is not just covering it up. I am open to different possiblities
yeah the more I think about it the more I feel I can't blame bratva much as I want to

Thatch: if you want a crazy and useless one, i was thinking we somehow point the finger at CHC and go to war and stuff.

Maureen: I also think this should not be covered up. It goes againt my personal morals and my duties to the union.

Thatch: Aw but what about your old pal Thatch, old funny Thatch, think of all the Thatchisms,

Alcyone: I do love the thatchisms man I really hoped it would not come to this. I was so happy when the intel op said you were innocent

Maureen: The biggest thatchisim is we found out for once and for all you did actually 'wuh oh'

Thatch I dont disagree really. Listen killing was against my personal morals but she was SO WAR and NEVER LISTEN and got my trusted underling to leave the whole station

Maureen: Thatch I was also very war, just slightly less so.
Would you have had me killed?

Thatch: you were being normal about it though
I do emphasize that she was unforgivably unreasonably abhorrent to my agent but above that i do ACTUALLY, REALLY think she would have moved ahead with War Maneuvers without approval from [Maureen] or I you could have even been an ecstatic fan of it, i never once thought you would just Start it

Maureen: True

Thatch: So i'll stand by that much very firmly, but i wont deny there was that bit of pettiness mixed in

Thatch: So heres an idea. im a bad person and should die.

Alcyone: ((man when you put it that way))

Thatch: but i really want to reap the rewards.

Thatch: I will say the actual literal cover up was very cheap. paid with my own salary.

Maureen: It's more the morals of the cover up.

Alcyone: this is like the least of my concers lol

Thatch: SO: I cant stop you guys from doing whatever, especially with the succinct and screenshottable summaries available in this thread. so heres a proposal. im just spitballing here.
tomorrow, i go down in the bad hole. if i die, i die. whatever happens next is in your hands but i ask you to paint me as "complicated" instead of just evil. IF I LIVE, uhh, ive typed and backspaced a couple ideas but maybe we get to that if we get to that. rest assured i dont want to just hide everything, the union deserves better.

Alcyone: I can do that (paint you as "complicated" or even like good except for that one time)
I feel like you do deserve a lot of credit for coming forward about this before it could have gotten a lot worse

Maureen: Mmm, cutting it close, but yeah.

Alcyone: ok, I will write up what happened tomorrow while you're fighting the chokespawn. I will post it at some point after the expedition returns.

Alcyone hey everyone this is really important cool it with any militant sounding talk for a bit. I don't like to tell you what to do and I can't make y ou but it might be really important

Alcyone: uh everyone thinks we're prepping for war @Thatch did you do anything @Maureen what's happening
ok going to chisel this into the wall for whoever comes next in case I die.
Secretary Thatch killed Sanyang by arranging an assassination via Bratva.

Thatch: No one's dying, I'm back, let's uh, scratch out. What's the situation.

Alcyone: I don't know, my suspicion is that Bratva knows we know and they are telling every other faction we are preparing for war. I have gotten so many private messages from different factions to that effect
also congrats on surviving, you get to deal with this mess now

MAureen: We're preapring for war?

Alcyone: it could be more tylerb bullshit
we absolutely are not

Thatch: Sounds like we're going to war! /s

Alcyone: think we have to go public soon

Thatch: I'm inclined to disagree. I need to tell you what I saw, and we need to make some plans

Alcyone: ok you do that but do it relatively fast

Thatch: What is the ruuush, i was just in hell for 3 hours Have you replied we are NOT gearing up for war?

Alcyone: I have but I ahven't talked to Obsch yet
I feel like I need to do that at least
everyone has decided I'm a warmonger and nobody believes me, just because I'm maybe friensd with a guy who keeps threatening to assassinate people ok I will give you more time but this needs to be resolved today

Thatch: I think I spoke to Thandekile's daughter.
((OOC: Than's [Sanyang's] player LOL)) This little tyke bit my suit and threw spitballs at me. Didn't call out anything specific but she insinuated she watched her mother die. Was she hiding in here that day..?
We lost one. "Just one of 26 is good, considering," I tell myself, but it doesn't feel like "just one" when you watch it happen.
I met with the people of Doptown. They're down there. Some people we knew, or what's left of them. Ms Calabrese, even some part of Jovanka.
This station may be stable, we may be growing things up here, playing nice. But it's heart is the most rotten cesspool of horror and tragedy the human mind could ever conceive of.
Look at me. My eyes are unclouded now.
I recorded a confession. Got a switch set to my pacemaker and everything. (Morbid, right?) I can give a speech or something, I don't care. I'll atone. But I need time to do this my way. I know how it's going to go down.

Alcyone: Ok, how much time? I can't keep making excuses about how long it's taking me to do the investigation much longer

Thatch: That depends on what you two want to do, overall (Like grand Union goal for the home stretch)

Alcyone: For me I think it is very very important that the truth gets out.
I'm sorry, I think it is the #1 thing I have to do with my presidency. I think a lot of how the teamsters will approach the rest of the game is going to depend a lot on knowing the truth and it has been hidden from them for a very long time.
I was willing to wait until you finished the Choke expedition as a personal favour, I am willing to wait say a few more hours for you to wrap things up, but I feel like I am complicit if I wait any longer.

MAureen: Agreed

Alcyone: Every single decision anyone might make will be affected by this. Things are happening that could continue to have real consequences.
I'm going to start drafting a statement but won't post it yet. You can also make a statement of course.

Thatch: Well shit dude, put me in coach, I can wrap up all this Tylerb anxiety and anything else on your mind. I feel awake for the first time.
IMO, things are different now. I just went to hell, now I'm on borrowed time, and there's so much left to do. Word salad alert... First off, we gotta fix the last life support machine down there. That's easy. If the Union is uneasy right now, I want to set the people's hearts all in one direction. Finish the cycle strong, stronger than ever. I got nothin but this now. Your presidency should reflect the rebirth of the Dream. (IMO.) I'll do my confession. Or we can spin it to get people moving the right way. Again, the only difference between yesterday and today is how the trigger was pulled, it was still in urgency and concern. Not to mention like 12 of these 13 public works are distractions from the fact we've got 3 million people locked in the basement.

Alcyone: I'll make a statement just under my name and you can make a statement as well but I don't like incredibly feel like things were wrapped up

Thatch: Well if you tell our aids and they tell everyone then i wont get to do any of this cool new stuff...
We have new mechanics to work with

Alcyone: I don't know what to tell you
You can't just like murder people

Thatch: Bro War

Alycone: maybe the union will forgive you, we have yet to VONC anyone

Thatch: Im gonna confess bro rememver our long talk

Alcyone: I also feel like I cannot let you solely frame this
there's a reason why I was like I am going to do an independent investigation

Thatch: thats what im saying
offer. i kill myself TONIGHT, after putting in a bunch of orders, and after you've approve my statement. (the one wired to my heart monitor / pacemaker thing.)
and approved those orders too, to clarify.

Thatch: we can fix things. or start the process. we can bring people back, and they're ALL down there, and i told them i or someone like me would come back for them and that better people are in charge now.
the last life support machine, air recycler thing. it's across an empty space, we took out the only (current) threat between us and it and assessed the damage on our way to Doptown to meet someone radioing us (sanyangs daughter)
((game ends in a few days but still)) we can start initiatives and fire people up to bring the parts down, each group made a map
ive got 25 people across other factions waiting for me to start that. or like 4 of them are union but yeah
that will stop them from dying off. the pile of bodies was as tall as a building man
im not stalling. im trying to push as much good as i can before i face the music- which i must face
but no ones gonna do any of this shit if theyre putting my head on a pike (where it belongs)

Alcyone: Ok I'm giving you till say midnight your time to get this sorted out.
that's the absolute latest I'll push it back. Then one way or another the truth is coming out.

Maureen: Agreed.

Thatch: quite the president you are. fine

Maureen: Alright what's happened while I was asleep.
Oh christ. Yeah, we're not doing executions.

Alcyone: I wasn't going to do it

Maureen: Noted.

Maureen: Well, I guess this is it.
Any final comments Thatch.
Before you hand in your badge.

Thatch: Sorry about all that lying and stuff, for what it's worth!

Maureen: It's all good. I hope you can go on to do good things. @Sam Please promote Fedor and demote @Khadijeh Thatch