Re-entry (mini-fic)

Hey

I really hate to do this yet again, but someone close to me was exposed to COVID-19, meaning I can’t go to work until we’re sure they’re clean. So I’m once again opening $20 full body/flatcolor to make up for missing work. Feel free to look through the Commission tag for recent examples. I need six to make up for today’s lost pay, but I will gladly take as many as I can. I would really appreciate it if you considered one.

Present (mini-fic)

- How much more? - asked military engineer his comrade, continuing to walk upstairs.

- Ten more stories and that’ll be it, - responded the grenadier. - By the way, do you know, what the flak this crystalline shit is? It’s nearly swallowed the city! Good thing we still have this skyscraper far enough from the target to install lased designator on and be sure it wont go down after the strike, bad - our Flygons are no more...

- About those crystals - brainheads said something about psychics, living sigils and such, but the only thing concerning me is how we will deal with this. As if these flakkers rampages weren’t enough... Now we also have to deal with some Johto weirdass crap. Wait, did you hear that?

- “Stop right away!”, in some ghostly voice? I did, - said the grenadier, readying his revolver grenade launcher. - Whatever it is, we still have our mission. Is laser designator ready?

- Ready, ready. I still wonder, how Givi has managed to modify old laser rangefinder into a designator for missiles?

- The same way, as you’ve called them, “brainheads” modified weather rockets into some kind of a ballistic missiles. By the way, WTF is loaded into their warheads?

- Some arcane... nuke... whatever it is, it’s flakkin’ complicated. I do remember they use both nuclear fission and something arcane. Six missiles shall be enough to carry a decent payload.

- Agreed. Did you see that? - whispered soldier, quickly turning and shooting dangerous Pokemon with buckshot charge.

- Flakkin’ illusion, - barked engineer, seeing, how the figure dissipated after being hit. - Let’s hurry up, these crystalline shits are psychic and growing out of control!

- Flak, I’m running low on buckshots, - said grenadier, placing the grenade launcher on his back and taking the SMG into his hands. - And I don’t wanna get ourselves killed with shockwaves or waste corrosive munition on phantoms!

- Do your best, ‘cause these flakkers can actually attack now, - responded engineer, wiping blood from his eybrow. Mere seconds ago, a huge phantom attacked him and nearly slashed his neck open with pseudo-material claw. Thankfully, several bullets or a single buckshot grenade launcher charge were able to make them dissipate, but sheer ease, with which these phantoms were appearing, put survival of two soldiers and mission success under question.

-There we are, - happily said grenadier, reloading his primary weapon. - Zheka - put this flakkin’ designator down and lase the target.

- Here it goes, - whispered engineer, deploying the device and flipping the switch on it. - Givi, Ashot, Alexei - target’s being lased, how’s secondary radio guidance signal?

- Crystal clear! Five more minutes - and it’ll be very hot at the impact point! Evacuate and get ready to watch the fireworks!

- Evacuation impossible, foe possesses psychic abilities, can destroy designator. Requesting permission to hold on and protect designator until missiles fly.

-... Permission granted. Guys, try to make out of it alive.

- We’ll try our best, but no guaranties, except for providing guidance. Foe has some great psychic powers.

- Just how much more of them? - roared the grenadier, firing another HE grenade at the group of phantom Pokemon. - Zheka - hang in there, I’ll try to hold’em in the corridor!

- OK, Sasha! So, flakkers, do you think humans’ll go down easily?! SUCK ON MY HOLLOWPOINT BULLETS!!! - screamed engineer, letting his assault rifle loose on the phantoms. While he succeeded in destroying most of them, one has still managed to get in close and nearly cut him in two. While his attempt has mostly failed, Yevgeniy still got a huge deep slash across his chest, in addition to all of the previous wounds. - Shit...

Engineer, having no more power to stand upright, collapsed, but dragged himself near the laser designator and braced for firing his rifle from this position.

- Sanya, Zheka, here it goes! Get ready to receive the present! - suddenly sounded happy Givi’s voice from the radio.

- Flakkin’ finally! - whispered the bleeding soldier, looking at the window and seeing, how six yellow dots appeared near the horizon and started to speed to the designated point. Mere minute after, these dots revealed themselves to be ballistic missiles, three of which were going to target significantly faster, than the rest. Engineer saw, how these missiles exploded just before phantom Pokemon and crystalline storm would be able to intercept them and released a titanic amount of arcane Dark-type energy, causing phantoms to vanish and crystalline matter to darken and fall into dust.

- Here goes the second wave - cackled the grenadier, watching, how remaining three missiles flew to the lased point and exploded in the storm of atomic fire, hotter than hundreds of Magcargos and brighter than thousands of suns.

- Good thing we have those helmets and goggles. - said Yevgeniy, seeing his comrade ducking alongside him under the window to avoid getting burned by the intense light. - Just how much kaboom they’ve managed to put in them?

- From what it looks like, 50 kilotons or so per missile. By the way, Zhek, what do you think will kill us first - wounds or radiaton sickness?

- Well, judging from how close we were to explosions, how the building has somehow managed to hold solidly and protect us from overpressure wave and how my rad-meter is fried, my bet’s on the radiation sickness. Also, how we didn’t die from so much radiation instanly?

- Who knows. I don’t think we will be able to get to the brainheads in time to ask them, and our radio is fried as well. OK, now the target’s being... - grenadier peered at the window, seeing nothing more than boiling magma-like mass and no traces of crystals, phantoms or any Pokemon for that matter, - completely annihilated and us being in less than two days from death, how about a last game of preferans? I’ve got some cards in my pocket!

- OK, hand’em over! - laughed engineer, taking cards in his hands.

Past of the future, future of the past...

Chapter 8. The sky's not the limit.

Author's warning: a suicide is attempted in this chapter. Proceed at your own risk. If computer systems could've been bored, the avionics of the "Hauler" would've been bored for sure. For more than a day, it was slowly doing small burns here and there, carefully deorbiting after having been unloaded, while also trying to evade space debris. Despite being impacted at several points already, automatics deemed the damage acceptable and went on with soft landing program, instead of simply deorbiting craft in they way it will burn and break apart. Right now, as Rayquaza was no longer of any concern and Minior posed not much more danger than debris - even less so, in fact, as they were actively trying to avoid collisions. Back on Earth, not too far away from Zemlino, recovery forces stood by, waiting for the cargo ship to land, so it can be brought back to Space Center for turnaround procedures, much like rocket stages of the "Water Dragon" would be in mere hours. Heat shield, parachutes, gas bags - all landing systems were still green and data meteorology stations was showing, that everything was within acceptable parameters for the landing and recovery. But right now, the ship still had to orbit Earth two more times… ---- "So… what do you think of it?" asked the captain of the "Red Explorer" everyone else, who was currently present in the mess hall in the centrifuge. "The more I think of it, the more it hits me, just what kind of a thing we've done - we've killed Rayquaza, a being millions of years old, who has controlled the skies for many eons." "And?" asked him the engineer. "Well… I mean, it's been around much longer, than humanity. Our actions has removed it out of play and, if data from ISF 9 and Hoenn locals is to be believed, there are two more players in there - Groudon and Kyogre. And with no Rayquaza to keep them in check…" "We may have to," said the pilot. "I mean, even excluding the retro-missiles, we can use solid-core railgun ammunition for orbital bombardment!" "With crappy precision and power," replied the sensors operator. "Atmosphere won't be gentle to it." "Even so…" muttered the captain, then assumed a bit more relaxed position in the chair. "I hope they'll be able to figure something out, back on Earth…" --- "And here our babies are," muttered technician in the Imperial Gray Sea Starport, seeing recovered stages of the "Water Dragon" being towed towards drydock for repair and later reuse, with a few curious Alolan Flygon in Rainy forms flying/swimming around them, as "buzzers" on the ships were now disabled. "Seems like everything went perfectly." "Indeed," replied the engineer nearby. "Just like the previous time." "Which one of previous times exactly?" asked him technician. "The original delivery of landers, docking block and Power and Propulsion Module to the Space Lab 1 to make it into the ship for the Imperial Moon Mission? The missions to build Space Lab 2?" "All of them, starting with the test flights with recovery system installed." "I guess. Kinda shame, that the early missions for delivering satellite constellations had to be only partially reusable, with only engines saved…" "Agreed. Well, they've almost got the stages there, so, time to get to work!" --- As the morning came to the eastern parts of Soris, the Emperor, still stationed in Zemlino Space Center, prepared for something truly special. Dressed in a strict suit, more fitting for a spokesperson of the space agency, rather than royalty, he, nonetheless, appeared to be concentrated, confident and serious. Right now, he was about to give the most important speech in his life so far. When the time came, he entered the conference room and walked onto the scene, under the gaze of cameras. "My dear sorisians, good morning," started the Emperor, sounding far more serious, than ever before. "I want to tell you something… Back before the Shift, when I was a young boy, one of the court's elite engineers and entertainers has constructed the first ever liquid-fueled rocket, which worked on kerosene and hydrogen peroxide. Even then, rockets have already fascinated me, but solids didn't have quite the same impact as this one did. When I first heard the roar of the turbopump, installed on the test stand, when I saw the assembled rocket blast off… I knew, that nothing would be the same for me from this day hence." "Because of that, when I've become the Emperor, I chose to, instead of trying to conquer the rest of the world, set our sights a bit higher and start conquering skies and, later, space." "And look, where did that get us. Even back then, while the rest of the world had to rely on the Pokemon to attempt to traverse the skies, we did so via comfortable machines, more advanced than anything would be in millennia to come. Even now, our nuclear airships are unmatched." "When the rest of the world had to rely on Castform at most and signs normally for predicting weather, we've had meteorological satellites for that. When bulk lifting was unachievable for them, we've used our helicopters and airships for that. When they've had to risk their men and Pokemon to get high-altitude observations, we've had satellites for that." "A lot of our technological achievements can be traversed back to the space program and the applications program for it. Even the TVs you are watching my speech with have a lot of components, derived from the space program." "For many years, we were exploring space. I remember, how happy I was, when we've managed to put the first satellite into orbit. I remember my ecstasy, when I've managed to quietly replace pilot of the SP-04 "Black Bird" with myself for the first mission and has become the first human in space." "For years and years, we were putting more and more satellites into orbits. We've also put men there - first in small spaceships, then in the Proof-Of-Concept Stations, then in the Space Labs… And when Rayquaza, without any warning, has destroyed our satellites, along with Space Lab 2 and LRV-03 with 12 cosmonauts onboard… We've turned our shock and grief into first resentment, then hatred and then - innovation." "Nowadays, there's a huge nuclear pulse battleship, which, currently, is stationed in orbit of the Moon, serving as a deterrent to any aggressor, who may think of attacking the Empire. In addition to that, as researches in the Space Lab 2 and ISF 5 have shown, some normally-terminal diseases can be treated in the microgravity." "As you've seen, aerospace industry was a great part of why our Empire was so successful. Because of that, I want to announce the Integrated Program Plan - our ticket into future. By the end of this year, we will clean the orbits a bit, partially restore the satellite constellations and, once again, have an operational space station, bigger and more advanced, than Space Lab 2. By the end of the next year, the first dedicated orbital hospital will be opened. By the end of third year, the first industrial-grade orbital factories will go operational. By the end of fourth year, the satellite constellations will be completely restored and we will have the Moonbase. By the end of fifth year, we will perform an expedition to the Red Planet. By the end of sixth year, more orbital factories and hospitals will be brought into operation. By the end of first decade of IPP, the assembly of the space colony in the libration point L5 will begin. By the end of the second decade, the colony will be brought into operation. Of course, there might be slips… but all of it will be achieved." "The Earth is a cradle of mankind… but one cannot eternally stay in the cradle. We should remember, what have we already achieved, and go on towards the future. The achievements of yesterday are commendable, but it's the achievements of today, which are truly impactful. Stay strong, my fellow imperials, and together, we will conquer the space!" ---- William Steelman, the president of Unova, didn't feel well. In fact, the entirety of the last year, especially the months after the so-called "Shift", was a major clusterbomb of problems. Especially when those damn Sorisians launched their damned space warship and demonstrated how they can use it against planetary targets. Especially when they've demonstrated the feasibility of nuclear weapons - something, that he had supported defunding back during the war with Hoenn and Kanto, before his presidency. Especially when he has also supported defunding the space program, considering it a waste of tax money, which could've been spent on more PokeCenters, hospitals, shelters and so on. And now, after this damned speech of this damned Emperor of this damned Soris Empire, he had no idea, what to do. And Sorisians announcing and giving a TV report about recovering all parts of their gigantic "Water Dragon" rocket, including the heavy cargo spacecraft, for a bit of repair and reuse soon after, was making things even worse, given the current-day situation with launch vehicles in Unova. And, what was the truly worst about it all, is that a decent part of the reason for Unova ending up so behind Soris Empire was his own fault. Even when he was defunding UASA and allowed them to lease the Space Shuttles to the rest of the world (mostly Hoenn), he only did it to free up tax money and spend it on social programs, to help everyday Unovans… and then it turned out to be a doom to Unova in the long term, unless some miracle saves them. And even nuclear industry of Unova wasn't in the really good condition, when compared to the Soris Empire… though, at least, he has helped to progress the molten salt reactors, which worked on relatively cheap and abundant thorium… But what's use in all this, if Soris Empire continues the conquest of space and, surely, builds more space battleships and weapon platforms, until they can keep the entire world compliant to their terms, lest the orbital bombardment with nuclear weapons commence?! William opened a drawer of his table. In it, alongside some old-type Pokeballs, which he kept from his League days, original ebonite knobs included, there was a familial heritage - a revolver, made by his gunsmith grandfather, along with a speedloader from the same maker and a small box of ammo. While the firearms were never too widespread in Unova, as Pokemon were almost always just as good and far more versatile, they've still had their niches and customers. Steelman took the revolver in his hands, looked at it, reflecting on the engraved writing and overall beauty of the weapon, then placed it on the table. He grabbed the speedloader and started putting cartridges into it, while thinking of what he has done in his life. After he was done, he used the speedloader to reload the revolver in one swift motion, just like during his time with father on the shooting range. William took the revolver in his hands, opened his mouth and inserted the gun's barrel into it, until it was touching the palate. He cocked the hammer, closed his eyes… and put the gun back on the table. He was the reason Unova was inadequately prepared to deal with the Soris Empire now. "Easy way out" was nothing but a cowardice of the highest level. He will be the one, who atones and fixes those mistakes or, at least, does his best to. As Steelman was unloading the revolver and putting everything back in place, his mind was racing, combing the memory for the project UASA has previously shown to him, what they've promised and how much money will they need to be done. He had work to do. A lot of it. And, maybe - just maybe, - he'll succeed in this endeavour. Even if it will require cooperating with all other member states of the Pokemon Nation. --- Around Zemlino Space Center, as always, there was a lot of work. Just as the recovered "Hauler", moved on the crawler, was rolled into one hangar, from another, a vessel emerged. It was a spaceplane - a sleek, delta-winged one, with boxy engines underneath the fuselage bringing those of "Dreamwing" to mind… and some of them were pretty similar, also being hydrogen-fueled scramjets. Others, however, were not, for they were not scramjets, but nuclear turboramjets. Inside the cockpit, two test pilots were checking everything. As this spaceplane was powered by the nuclear reactor, they've had to be very careful. Even though reactor was built to withstand low supersonic impacts, wrecking such an advanced vessel was… undesirable. "Zemlino, this is Bluebird-1, all systems green, running on batteries. Towing truck at safe distance, requesting permission to start the reactor," said the commander, hovering his hand over one of the covered buttons. "Bluebird-1, this is Zemlino, permission to start the reactor granted. Take off when ready." After receiving those words, commander flicked the cover open and pressed the "START 1" button. Far behind two humans, several control rods were retracted, allowing the chain fission reaction to start and get into high gear soon, heating up the hydrogen coolant, while the turbine pumps were revving up to ensure normal circulation of coolant through the entire system, including the heat exchanger on the outside. As the temperature continued to rise, electric motors inside the turboramjet assembly kicked in, revving up the turbines to get the air going through the heat exchanger and start up the turboramjets proper. "So far, so good," muttered the second pilot, observing the data on the MFD. Right now, the thrust has reached sufficient level to allow pilots to begin taxi to the runway, preparing for the takeoff. As much as they've wanted the Bluebird-1 to go to space today, alas, it was not an option - their test program was limited to some supersonic and hypersonic flight to test the engine assembly, then a bit of maneuvering to test the structure. As the vessel took off from the runway and the landing gear retracted, commander looked to the side and saw a "Whitebird" spaceplane, a recently-built unmanned cousin of the "Dreamwing", getting launched to deploy a satellite of sort and later retrieve it. There were rumors, that this satellite was supposed to house some kind of weaponry… but, most likely, they were just rumors. Author's notes: MFD - Multi-Function Display. BLUEBIRD spaceplane is based on the real M(G)-19 "Gurkolyot". Alolan Flygons are based on that wonderful picture. Hopefully, this chapters will be one of the last, so focused on the worldbuilding. Anyway, by the chapter ten, I will do my best to make story enter the more Pokemon route.

I think that this spherical section may be backup reactor room or something like this.

I want to know what all the underground sections are.

He hovers to move around the ground, and hovering uses less energy than flying. 

But don’t you fly to move around…?

Do you remember Dex entry on Arceus? The “It is described in mythology as the Pokémon that shaped the universe with its 1,000 arms.” one? I think, that what we get under the name “Arceus” in games is really just one of these “arms”, which he sorta “donates” to player.

catching legendary Pokémon has always made me a bit uncomfortable like? tapu koko is in my pc box rn. who’s protecting the island. Arceus is pretty much god and probably has better things to do than follow the commands of a 12 year old but ok

Demiurg-scientist dies, problem of the “time’s cancer” is solved by travelling through multi-dimensional time.

Spoil the ending of your favorite book without context

Keep an eye out for this very specific but very vague landscape and say hi to the alien who may or may not be there

Mostly because of the lack of gravity, which opens a tons of a new possibilities.

Why Sequencing DNA in Space is a Big Deal

… And How You Can Talk to the Scientists Who Made It Happen

Less than one month ago, DNA had never been sequenced in space. As of today, more than one billion base pairs of DNA have been sequenced aboard the International Space Station, Earth’s only orbiting laboratory. The ability to sequence the DNA of living organisms in space opens a whole new world of scientific and medical possibilities. Scientists consider it a game changer. 

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who has a background in genomics, conducted the sequencing on the space station as part of the Biomolecule Sequencer investigation. A small, commercial, off-the-shelf device called MinION (min-EYE-ON), manufactured by Oxford Nanopore Technologies in the UK, was used to sequence the DNA of bacteria, a virus and rodents. Human DNA was not sequenced, and there are no immediate plans to sequence human DNA in space. 

(Image Credit: Oxford Nanopore Technologies)

The MinION is about the size of a candy bar, and plugs into a laptop or tablet via USB connection, which also provides power to the device. The tiny, plug and play sequencer is diminutive compared to the large microwave-sized sequencers used on Earth, and uses much less power. Unlike other terrestrial instruments whose sequencing run times can take days, this device’s data is available in near real time; analysis can begin within 10-15 minutes from the application of the sample.

Having real-time analysis capabilities aboard the space station could allow crews to identify microbes, diagnose infectious disease and collect genomic and genetic data concerning crew health, without having to wait long periods of time to return samples to Earth and await ground-based analysis.

The first DNA sequencing was conducted on Aug. 26, and on Sept. 14, Rubins and the team of scientists back at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston hit the one-billionth-base-pairs-of-DNA-sequenced mark.

Have more questions about how the Biomolecule Sequencer works, or how it could benefit Earth or further space exploration? Ask the team of scientists behind the investigation, who will be  available for questions during a Reddit Ask Me Anything on /r/science on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. EDT. 

The participants are:

Dr. Aaron Burton, NASA Johnson Space Center, Planetary Scientist and Principal Investigator

Dr. Sarah Castro-Wallace, NASA Johnson Space Center, Microbiologist and Project Manager

Dr. David J. Smith, NASA Ames Research Center, Microbiologist

Dr. Mark Lupisella, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Systems Engineer

Dr. Jason P. Dworkin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Astrobiologist

Dr. Christopher E. Mason, Weill Cornell Medicine Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics, Associate Professor

Okay then... how about we look at the lesser-known USA-first achievements, then?

First superheavy launch vehicle that worked and didn't blow up (Saturn V). 

First reusable piloted spacecraft and the first spaceplane (X-15).

First pilot-controlled space flight (Freedom 7)

First orbital human space mission that landed with pilot still in spacecraft and thus the first complete human spaceflight by FAI definitions (Friendship 7)

First rendezvous and docking in orbit (Gemini 8 - Agena Target Vehicle)

First successful orbit of different planets (Pioneer 10 mission).

First solar orbit (Pioneer 5).

First and second and third interstellar craft (Voyager 1, Voyager 2, New Horizons).

First manned maneuvering unit (Gemini 4)

First multi person multi spacecraft mission in space (Gemini 6).

First orbital vector adjustment to pinpoint precision (Gemini 6)   

First spy satellite (Corona KH-1)

First successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite (KH-1 film return bucket)

First aerial recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit (KH-1 film return bucket)

First pinpoint landing on the Moon (Surveyor 1).

First manned orbit of the Moon (Apollo 8).

First human-crewed spaceflight to, and orbit of, another celestial object: the Moon (Apollo 11)

First rover on Mars (Sojourner)

First spacecraft to orbit Mars (Mariner 9).

First reusable orbital-class spaceplane (Space Shuttle).

First solar powered satellite (Vanguard-1)

First communications satellite (Echo 1, Telstar)

First weather satellite (TIROS)

First satellite in a polar orbit (Discoverer 1)

First geosynchronous satellite (Syncom 2)

First satellite navigation system (Transit)

First Mars flyby (Mariner 4)

First human spaceflight that escaped Earth's influence (Apollo 8)

First X-ray orbital observatory (the Einstein Observatory)

First Jupiter flyby (Pioneer 10)

First Mercury Flyby (Mariner 10)

the space race may be the funniest point in history period and i'll stand by that. the US is like "yes whoever gets into space first will prove once and for all that our economic model is superior and that we are, in general, the superior country of superior and smarter people." then the soviets just went and did it and the US freaked out and needed to cover their ass so were like "WE MEAN THE MOON, WE MEAN THE FIRST TO LAND ON THE MOON."

Sorry about the weapons section, I’ve just went heavily into the world-building.

TungusTech is named for the place, in which theirs headquarters and the first factory resides. They’re located not very far from the Silph Co.’s Tiksi branch and they work together with them, providing Silphs with computer components and such. However, TungusTech’s series of kinetic strike satellite weapon platforms are named “Project Tunguska” for the famous explosion, which’ve happened in this ‘verse (Rayquaza isn’t omnipresent, you know).

Yes, I’ve based Pokemon SWAT team on this we’ve seen in the Generations.

You’ve got this kinda backwards. Corporates (GI and TungusTech) don’t kill those whom they can’t trust, they don’t trust those they can’t kill and who can kill them. To put this into perspective, if some more-or-less-immortal Legendary with enough power to destroy a city tries to propose something to them, corps will analyze every word, seek for the second, third and fourth meanings, secretly target the meeting area with WMDs, rig the corporate negotiator with a lot of a gear which monitors his/her condition non-stop (in the case of a mind-control or something like this) and only then begin negotiations. If everything goes good for them - great, they’ll lower the defence condition slightly and may even throw a party, not counting that they’ll start to trust this Legendary somewhat more, if it does not break it’s vows. If it goes really bad and greatly endangers humanity (like the, theoretically, Arceus going ballistic and starting throwing city-annihilating Judgements left and right, with no one to reason it back into sanity) - “We’ve got nothing to lose!” and a massive WMDs (mostly fusion charges) strike, which’ll end in the desert made of boiling green glass and a really long winter with a decent chance of killing the “unkillable” (overpressure, temperature and ultra-bright light, created by the thermonuclear fusion explosives, are wonderful things). Thankfully, so far, these were only a simulations of the highest-grade doomsday events and no WMDs were used by the corps (let’s not forget about the ancient Kalos WMD - the AZ’s Ultimate Weapon, which was put to use 3000 years ago and which Lysandre plans to activate and fire once more).

By the way, it does not mean that they are as gentle as the governmental Interpol, when it comes to dealing with humans - they will try diplomacy first, but if it fails and there is no time or place for half-measures, they’ll apply force without any apologies or sorrow. If they want to recruit someone into theirs ranks, they’ll try to get him/her with the description of how working for them is better than working for the current employer, they may help them to get to the safe new workplace (like if the new employee comes from some criminal Team, which is in no way happy about losing their’s members), but, if there is no other options, they’ll use blackmail, threats or plain kidnap to get whom they need. If they are to eliminate someone, they’ll use lethal force without additional doubts. “Assassinate a man and get somebody killed” indeed.

Lawrence III never knew about the corporate “If we can’t kill it - don’t trust it” politic, neither did protagonist, although he starts to suspect it. Yes, both of them were (and are, in the case of protagonist) huge targets, but so far, Lawrence III is too valuable to lose (after all, it was real Jiri, who’ve invented the AI, gravity control systems and the source of nearly limitless energy, while the protagonist’ve created the EOS, which made fully automatic light military vehicles (and some non-military units) possible (EOS units are not self-aware, but they can think abstractly to a some degree and adapt to the new environmental conditions almost instantly) and is currently working on some pretty important projects, including highly advanced teleportation system, which works on completely different principles than the conventional one and can teleport anything, if it fits in the teleportation area).

The corps don’t like Team Rocket and are in almost Cold War condition with them, because one of theirs militarised branches was planning to sneakily attack “Skimitar” and bring it down, but, unfortunately for it, TungusTech corporate army command found out it first and authorised “Skimitar” to perform a pre-emptive strike, as a sort of a “We know what you know about us”.

Except for this type of events (when Teams start to actively endanger corps or humanity in general), they do not really care about criminals, because, as they say, “It’s the problem of the government forces, and we do not feel like doing their’s duties for them for free!”, although GI and TungusTech host several PMCs, which can be (and are being) hired to fight criminals. So far, they mostly serve in the most unstable regions, and there were only four full-scale PMC strike operations, three of which took place in the Southern Unova. However, corps have zero tolerance for criminal activity in the corporate territory (corporate enclaves and some  cities, which, while still considered national-ruled, are really in the possession of the one of the corporations or theirs transcorporate branches) and will quickly eliminate any criminals.

Corps mostly don’t care about the Team Plasma, but the secret part of theirs transcorporate scientific branch, Biolabs R&D, got interested after researching the data about the Genesect Project (which was gathered by the Corporate Army Espionage Service) and scientists in it are currently trying to convince theirs bosses to implant several agents in this Team, because this project is just too interesting and promising. Considering what information it may grant (revival, cybernetic implants, new type of a directed-energy weapon and such), they’ve already succeeded in this - they just don’t know about it yet.

Biolabs R&D is also responsible for the start of the Cipher’s Shadow Pokemon project, because the data about the proto-Shadow-ifiying process was given to the Team by the disguised corporate agents. Biolabs first acquired this data from the Gardevoir, which’ve willingly stripped herself out of any emotions and such and’ve basically turned into the first Shadow Pokemon, which Cipher, if they knew about her, would’ve called XD-000.

@mgrgfan let’s talk ships. So, we both seem to be in agreement that the Hikoukyuu is for the most part fully automated. Though how it would land…you do propose an interesting idea, but that would suggest either that all landing pads are specifically built for that one ship or that there are other nearly identical ship out there.