Week 50: An open letter to Oracle Re: Xu

Xu has been kidnapped. The how and why is in the missing de-briefing, but fact remains that he has been taken away from us and is now up for sale at the Seoul Exchange's Black Auction. CEO Lee has directly forbid Oracle doing anything in or to the Exchange as without it our business cannot function as it does now but there is nothing stopping us from liberating him after he has left the exchange if we can find out who paid for him and where he was taken. I fully intend to take whatever steps I can to finding and liberating our teammate and colleague and I would appreciate the help of anyone who wishes to aid in this matter. Working together we can achieve great things and I'm not going to leave a man behind if it's in my power to help.

Hey, you don't even have to ask.

I'm in.

FROM: admin@wasteaway.eb

Ace:

Please describe the nature of this auction. Please describe the forces expected to come up during the rescue. Please tell me more about the individuals holding Xu and Sun Ren.

With partial information, I can only offer one suggestion. My brother and I will help. My mother is in no state to help, and I would feel more comfortable knowing that she is safe inside SWA. However, since my brother and I feel a debt to this man and have a duty to help humans of all kinds, we would both be willing to save him and his replicant, Sun Ren. My mother has no part in this, but since replicants are merely things in the eyes of the law, we could transfer ownership to you, Ace, leaving my mother out of this event.

There is no need for anyone else to die. Humans have shown time and time again that they are incapable of taking care of themselves. We wish to help.

Bell

Bell

I don't have all the information you want just yet, but as soon as I do I'll let you know. In the eyes of the law your actions are hers. If this is your own decision then I accept, just don't either of you do anything rash. We need to plan this carefully.

From: C.Inkwell@Legal-matters.wdn
Subject: Re: An open letter to Oracle Re: Xu

Agent Nizky,

With all due respect to a man of your rank, skill and accomplishments as an undercover operative, your plan is an atrocious idea. Oracle's success as a corporation, business model and infiltration method has always depended on one key element you no longer possess. Surprise. And while not every Corporation who could conceivably win the bidding war over Agent Wei isn't necessarily familiar with our methods, this Ban is. Additionally he has proven himself someone not to be underestimated, utilising little more than theatricality and deception to capture one of Oracle's veteran agents, providing I interpreted the report correctly. More than this, he has shown that he has access to at least one teleportation station and as such we cannot know for certain neither the method of delivery nor end destination for Agent Wei once has been sold.

Further any Corporation able to bid more than Oracle's CEO is willing for Agent Wei will spend far more to protect its investment. An assault against the end destination for Agent Wei will not work, no matter how well planned and prepared we are for it. We, as a taskforce, are a far cry from a U.A.S squad, Malenbrach or Ai-Jinn military division. Again, the winning party will be expecting and prepared for an infiltration, and perhaps not only against us. While it is likely that Ban will use Xu's physical presence as proof of purchase at the auction it is not a guarantee, as there are other means he could use.

For the reasons stated by our CEO, no Oracle agent should be involved in an attempt to subvert the auction and for the same reason that should also extend to the mercenaries formerly under Xu's command. If any company or corporation interferes with the free trade of the exchange then the whole idea collapses. More than Oracle depends on the Seoul Interchange's continued longevity, as I am sure you are well aware. As such the only faction sympathetic to Agent Wei which could act to interfere with the auction freely, with a chance of smuggling equipment into or a person out of the Interchange, would be the Cyberpunks. And the required; restraint, precision, co-ordination and subtlety that such an operation demands isn't exactly their style. As an aside they would also need to publicly claim, and maybe prove, responsibility for the action for free enterprise in the Interchange to survive. Not only would this make the cyberpunks as a group even more of a target, it would also reflect poorly on Agent Wei. Worse case, it could provoke a full investigation of his person and affairs by the UIG while he is detained.

Despite how the above may read, I do wish you success and you all have my sympathy. Retrieving one friend only at the cost of losing another at the hands of a sadist is the stuff of nightmares.

My sincerest condolences,
Agent Cyrus Inkwell.

Theres another consideration we need to make for the sake of Oracle and Xu.

Anyone who succesfully captures an Oracle Agent, particularly one with such a relatively long service history as Xu, are bound to attempt to torture and otherwise extract any information out of them that has previously been offered in the room, not to mention any data on Oracle's defences and personnel.

While I have every confidence that Xu would never willingly divulge such information, under torture noone can guarantee they will not talk. In any case, I would do everything in my power to spare Xu that experience.

Outside of attempting to bid on Xu, and learning the identity of the buyer, we should not undertake any actions within the Interchange itself. Not only would it destroy any credibility Oracle has, it would be a profoundly bad plan.

However, outside of the Interchange, during transit or wherever those who purchase him choose to take him...that's a whole different story.

You make some good points Cyrus. The main flaw in your argument is the assertion that I have a plan. At the moment it is more of a strategy, although nowhere in the strategy do I intend to disrupt the funtioning of the exchange. I will take your points into consideration. Your idea of using cyberpunks is an interesting one that might work well if implemented correctly.

With regards to Ban, I don't think he will mind much what happens to Xu once he has his money. The fact remains that if we succeed perhaps people will think twice about kidnapping our Agents. I'm still open to ideas if anyone else has any suggestions.

FROM: admin@wasteaway.eb
SUBJECT: Re: An open letter to Oracle Re: Xu

I have no interest in involving my mother. She is of delicate health and should not be held responsible for our autonomous reactions. I would wish to be transfered back to her ownership after the results of the event have settled, and continue living in SWA.

We have no interest going in without agent company. My brother and I possess certain skills, but alone we could not mount any form attack for various reasons. What Agent Inkwell says is alarming; I do not believe Oracle has the personal strength to take on any corporate division. They will almost certainly be expecting someone to intercede on such a valuable purchase. For this reason I do not agree with Agent Ji.

If we do not mount an attack as soon as possible, Xu may already be tortured. More importantly, we will be against the whole of not just one corporation, but every other corporation who wishes to get their hands on him. Agent Inkwell's comments have a bounty of evidence on the WDN, and I fear for Xu's life.

However, you are experienced field agents. This is not something I have had much experience with, and my brother has never attempted a mission such as this, and I understand you have better professional understanding.

I know you might just dismiss me on this because I only met Wei once, but I agree with Inkwell that this is a terrible idea. If Oracle agents are discovered to have stolen something that was sold at the Interchange, it would ruin the whole corporation's reputation and we could fall out of the UIG's good graces with all the danger that implies. Consider all the effort this Ban put into capturing Wei - if you get him back, Ban will surely come after him even more aggressively, and I don't know how you intend to keep him safe when he can't stay in the relative protection of Oracle for obvious reasons.

Despite having only known him very briefly, I was saddened to learn that we had lost a colleague - and to you all, a friend - but if you try to recapture him you'll be putting him at possibly greater risk at best, and risking great danger for the whole corporation at worst. I understand your concerns, but this time I'm afraid you have to step back and accept what's now past.

While I am willing to throw in any of my assets to assist with attempting to buy Xu back, if we can, I agree with Inkwell and Shinobu that any attempt to interfer with the process could be diasterous for Oracle as a whole, including Xu, and would advise against attempting it. I would not expect such a mission to go ahead should I be captured, and I don't think, as callous as that sounds, we should attempt one in this situation.

Additionally, the WF and Ai Jinn are now at war. This may complicate matters.

In the cold light of day, and with much consideration and deliberation, it seems that a rushed plan to rescue Xu is not a good idea. Doing so is incredibly risky and could damage Oracle as a whole. As much as I want to storm the gates and bring him back, the fact remains that we then can't do anything with him, and we shouldn't do anything that destabilises things. That being said I do not think we should not try to get Xu back, just not so close to the interchange, and not so soon.
There is also the other fact that he has an 8 million credit bounty on his head and people don't earn bounties like that without good reason.

With apologies to Han and Bell there will be no snatch and grab from in or around the interchange. I am still going to attend the Auction and attempt to buy Xu, but I will not be part of a mission to liberate him this week. I suggest we do what Oracle is best at: we find out who buys him and we infiltrate them. Even if we do not get Xu back we can make whoever buys Xu regret their decision.

FROM: admin@wasteaway.eb
SUBJECT: Re: An open letter to Oracle Re: Xu

My brother and I are unable to go by ourselves. We cannot without you.

If we do not go an get him now, he is lost. I do not see how getting Xu out of this situation could in any way be detrimental to him. To tell yourselves that is a delusion. To not get him now is almost certainly condemning him to death. Revenge is a human emotion I do not understand and brings me no comfort. Losing a being I have called 'friend' brings me no comfort.

All you human agents have done things that angered corporations. If I understand Oracle's nature correctly, it is why you are there. It is why my mother is here, why my godmother was here. Using a previous injustice against another corporation to think poorly of Xu, to allay your self-doubts, to give yourself a moral reason not to pursue a man you considered friend... It is another form of delusion. It is a human weakness used to justify not to following a moral necessity. To put corporate interests over the life of your friend is to find corporations more important than people. To not to try to save Xu is to let a man die without raising a finger in his defense. You must know this, Ace. You must know it and you must be prepared to live with it.

From: C.Inkwell@Legal-matter.wdn
SUBJECT: Re: Re: An open letter to Oracle Re: Xu

To Bell

Hello. I am afraid I am not familiar with yourself or your family, even those who had worked at Oracle and as such I'm not the best suited to respond. There is only one part of your statement with which I can find fault, one point that I do not agree with even, but I still feel I should address it. While the concerns we have expressed regarding the consequences of rescuing Xu have primarily centered on Oracle's continued existence, that is not the outcome of rescuing Agent Wei. More an immediate ramification masking the more wide scale consequence.

As the last bastion of free trade in this world of Corporate enterprise the Seoul Interchange exists in a delicate balance. The UIG expanded significant effort in order to make it possible and it only continues so long as no Corporation nor person interferes. As soon as one entity does, they all will. This would result in the collapse of the Interchange and with it the Corporations would gain complete control over the distribution of goods and services. Not to be melodramatic but the only alternative would be dedicating your life to the UIG or the Order of the True Faith with all that that entails. I suppose what we must ask ourselves is whether we are willing to condemn one man for the continuation of an ideal, possibly an outmoded concept, which already hangs by a knife thread. Ask ourselves if we are utiltitarians.

My sympathies,

Cyrus

I can't save Xu alone, and I don't want to leave him in the hands of anyone who would wish to buy him.

I understand why we cannot interfere in the auction itself, or the business of the Interchange. But will someone please explain to me how any group would have a leg to stand on regarding us liberating Xu AFTER the sale. He's not depersonalised, he's committed no crime (that has been officially recognized by the UIG without the appropriate sentence already having been carried out) and he's an Agent of Oracle. We are merely rescuing an illegally detained and unlawfully sold member of our organization, surely?

Would someone please explain how he can be treated like this and yet everyone treats it like some kind of iron clad case?

FROM: admin@wasteaway.eb
SUBJECT: Re: An open letter to Oracle Re: Xu

Agent Inkwell,

If the very principles that make Oracle possible are so fragile as to be shattered by saving the life of one man, the future of free enterprise has more issues than the life of one man. More importantly, you are willing to sacrifice him to continue living a life of luxury and theft.

You are putting corporations above people. I do not know you, Agent Inkwell, but I have heard many agents deplore how expendable they were and how little the corporations cared for their lives. I had thought Oracle was different. It is not.