#supervisor leonide

[moipale]

what leonide says in network effect—"Company units have a reputation for being dangerous" (Network Effect, pg. 221)—is SOOOOOOO fucking interesting because. i think this is like the one detail we get about the Company that murderbot itself doesn't give us

murderbot talks about the Company with internal knowledge—it doesn't mention the Company's reputation. the presaux crew talks about the Company in tandem with the CR; it's all equally horrible to them. so this is the first... not unbiased, but first real outside perspective we get of the Company, that gives us actual context for where murderbot came from

this, coupled with the detail that Three, unlike murderbot, was allowed to communicate w/ other secunits and work together makes me wonder just what is or is not actually typical with secunits. i wonder... was the Company, of all the secunit manufacturers/renters, worse?

"Company units have a reputation for being dangerous." why? do they "malfunction" more? are they taken advantage of by third parties more (combat modules, the ganaka pit hack, etc.)? are they kept alone, obedient, disposable, until they can't endure it? until they go rogue?

i am so curious.

[fascinatedfinch]

Day 5! Leonide

Gaslight gatekeep girlboss! No one does it like her (manipulates her way around the horrors and hierarchies of capitalism hellscape)

[teamage]

I completely forgot to post it here back then, but here's a piece I did for @voidlingremnata as part of 2024 Murderbot Diaries New Year Gift Exchange (very nice! very fun! will take part again hopefully).

She requested Supervisor Leonide interacting with a SecUnit, so here's an awkward reunion between Leonide and Three. I used Voidling's comic Three design (probably the cutest Three design I've seen).

[homosekularnost]

Supervisor Leonide | Barish-Estranza | corporate life (day 5)

[iviarellereads]

System Collapse, Chapter 11

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which family means no one's secrets get revealed.

Murderbot spends the trip recharging a bit. The hopper is faster than the ground vehicle, which is good for travel time but bad for its nerves about human safety. MB hopes B-E don't know about the construction access, and if they do, won't be able to find where the HSUs moved the tunnel vehicle.

Iris grabs a med kit and says MB's leakage is worrying her. MB says it should stop soon, and thinks its power drain is a worse problem. It kind of just wants to watch Sanctuary Moon with Art-drone, only Art-drone is even worse off, so it puts on some World Hoppers instead.

Leonide asks if MB is really a SecUnit. Iris tells her to mind her own business. Leonide calls her oversensitive, goes silent for 5.3 seconds, then bursts out to ask if someone is really watching media right now. Tarik deadpans her about distracting himself while flying, and she says fuck all of them in response.

They arrive at the terraforming end of the tunnel to find an obstruction in the hangar, but it's just the shuttle, with a hat! Ratthi deployed the survival tent to keep the dust out. His voice makes MB's performance spike upward with relief.(1)

Ratthi pushes the button for the tent to pack itself up, and they all load into the shuttle. Leonide boards first, but only to make room for Iris and MB to get Art-drone in safely. MB can feel Art watching in the feed for any funny business or betrayal, but MB thinks she just knows the fastest way to escape is to help.

With Art-drone failing, the pathfinders need a little assistance. MB steps in to do what it can, though they're far from the drones it's used to.

Unfortunately, just as everyone's starting to relax, they pull out of a dust cloud and find an armed B-E shuttle following. Iris offers "to authorize deadly force" which MB doesn't need but appreciates. MB positions the pathfinders so that one takes a blow and explodes into a cloud of sensor-scattering debris, allowing the other to swing around and bop the B-E ship on the nose.(2)

The shuttle fell away, still intact but probably dealing with damage, a disoriented bot pilot, and a terrified human crew. Our shuttle powered upward, back on course and widening the distance between us.

As they come out of the comm blackout zone some time later, they see another ship, but quickly determine it's one of their own, a University ship finally come to help.

They pick up a B-E transmission and, having decoded their encryption in just two days, play back the whole argument about whether to engage. Leonide asks for comms, and when given, stands with her team in telling the others to stand down.

The channel got so quiet, Tarik tapped it to make sure it hadn’t gone dead.

Art-prime takes over the pathfinders, redirecting them now that they're not needed for defence. Art-prime starts integrating Art-drone, and Art-drone asks which ship came to help. Art tells it to guess. Art-drone pessimistically declares it must be Holism. They finish the handoff, and as Art-drone goes dead, Iris makes a sobbing noise that startles MB. In a private connection, she asks if there was time for a full transfer, and MB confirms it. Iris adds that she always gets emotional at the thought of losing any part of her Peri and its experiences.

I know, I said. And I did know, and now I was having an emotion. Like a big overwhelming emotion. It felt bad but good, a weird combination of happy and sad and relieved, like something had been stuck and it wasn’t stuck anymore. Cathartic, okay. This fits the definition of cathartic. It was like the way I’d felt when I killed the Target who threatened Amena and laughed at me because I was upset when I thought ART was dead. Except without the violence, and that only lasted a minute or so, and this seemed like it would go on a while.(3) Nobody was dead and I hadn’t had a relapse of my stupid memory thing. And if I did have a relapse, at least I knew what it was now. Don’t just sit there, ART said to me and Iris as it brought the shuttle into its docking module. Console each other. I said, You fuck off at the same time as Iris said, Oh, shut it, Peri, and that felt even better.(4)

=====

(1) I just bet! (2) Insert a skeletor NYEHEHEH giggle from me here. Nonfatal, but completely effective. Love to see it. (3) I just need to take a minute to have my own emotion at this. Like, I keep saying on main and anywhere people will listen that engaging with anger will give you a short-term good feeling and a long-term bad habit that becomes more and more deeply patterned on your daily life and harder to break. And, I just love seeing allusions to that in this sort of fiction. Like, it was a necessary violence, and there's no denying that the feeling was justified afterwards. But, violence and anger are not pathways to fulfillment and joy. The more you give in to the rage bait, the more that anger takes over your life and affects everything you do and everyone you interact with. It's important to be aware of those choices. And I love that Murderbot's commitment is to trying to save life, even when it's life that's threatening itself or its humans. It doesn't always work, but it does make it easier to live with yourself. (4) Yep, it's definitely a love language for Art.

[murderbotseptember]

Prompts

(Plain text below the cut)

Plain text

Prompts:

Jollybaby | Preservation station | non-corporate political entities

Tlacey | Graycris | alien remnants

Kaede | Timestream Defenders Orion | augments

Holism | Pansystem University of Mihira and New Tideland | teaching and learning

Supervisor Leonide | Barish-Estranza | corporate life

Don Abene | Sanctuary Moon | repairs

Tapan | RaviHyral | stations and rings

Human one | BreharWallHan | refuge

Tellus | Medcenter Argala | medical treatment

Three | Barish-Estranza explorer ship | governor module

Thiago | DeltFall | planetary surveys

Eletra | Worldhoppers | contract labour

Wilken | HaveRatton Station | weapons

Newest free SecUnit | Adamantine | colonies

Tarik | Valorous Defenders | entertainment feeds

Miki | Milu | [insert here] gone wrong

Rami | Goodnight Lander Independent | bot pilots

Councillor Ephraim | Lineages of the Sun | advertising

Serrat | TranRollinHyfa | communication

Murderbot 2.0 | The Company | AI

Amena | Drama Sun Islands | childhood

Captain Seth | Corporation Rim | buffer phrases

Dr. Volescu | PreservationAux | planets

Balin | Port FreeCommerce | sentience/sapience

Officer Aylen | Palisade | bots

AdaCol2 | Bharadwaj's documentary | Hubsys/Secsys

Tano | Preservation | non-human life forms

Senior Officer Indah | Preservation life-tender | space travel

Tlacey's comfortunit | Ganaka Pit | constructs

Turi | Starchy Foods | sustenance

Alternative prompts:

“There is a lot about what is going on here that I do not understand but I am participating anyway.”

“You are incorrect, iris. I can bomb the colony.”

“I don’t like you.” / “I know.”

“Priority change rejected.”

“I have a court order.”

“I have gotten clients out of situations that were <9% survivable.”

[elexuscal]

ficlet prompt: Trinh POV of like. All Of That

'There's danger out there in the stars,' Granmeme always said. 'Maybe it'll be in five years, maybe fifty, maybe in five hundred, but don't doubt my mark, there's danger out there.'

'Yes Granmeme,' Trihn would always say, and then, 'Can I get you some coffee?'

And it wasn't that Trihn didn't believe the elders, exactly. How could anyone who paid a modicum of attention during history lessons? And even if you hadn't, the Adamantine Logo stared back at them from almost every other surface in the colony. Adamantine, the company that had founded the settlement, the company that had abandoned them, and the company which had, maybe, protected them?

Maybe, maybe not. And maybe the colony's existence was still listed out there, on some sort of spreadsheet 20 systems away. Maybe one day people would come looking for them.

But that was literally such a distant concern. Not when the plumbing on level 4 was still intermittently leaking green sludge, not when there were caterpillars in the bok choy beds, not when the lights in the south wing kept flickering.

No, if danger was going to come form anywhere, it would be in their own backyard, first and foremost.

Well, well, well. No doubt Granmeme was wagging mer finger at them from beyond the Great Event Horizon.

"We're so glad to have found you," Supervisor Leonide said, her voice oozing compassion even through the tinny translation software. "When your cousins at the initial base-camp first told us of a splinter group that had gone to found a secondary colony... And that it had been so long before any contact... Well, we were just so worried that something might have happened to you!"

"Why would you have assumed that?" asked Jerail, who's face remained impressively impassive as ze sipped the rich fresh coffee Barrish-Estranza had brought as a gift.

"Oh of course. You wouldn't know." A shocked and concerned expression. "I understand you left due alien remnant contamination at the initial site?"

"In part," agreed Trihn. That's the simple answer, at least. (She sipped the coffee. It was very good. It came from actual beans, not flavoured powder.)

"Well, you made a good choice! Over the last five years, the contamination became much more severe. Physical deformations, behavioural alterations... It's a terrible situation. That's why we're here, to help before it gets any worse."

It could have been a trick. They wanted it to be a trick. But Barrish-Estranza had pictures, videos. Even their expert didn't think they were faked. And this corporate envoy, they'd brought someone from the original colony to vouch for them. That person could have been an actor, except they spoke with a perfect Spirliet accent, and there was something of the Niziral clan in the bridge of the nose, in the shape of their cheeks.

Their claims were real. Some of them, at least.

Others were likely to come, Leonide said. While reasonable people could tell this planet was a wash, some people weren't reasonable. There were always those willing to take risks as they pushed the envelope of science. One needed to be careful when dealing with such risk-takers, lest you get sliced on the cutting edge.

And sure enough, another group came. From a university, they claimed. A smaller team, only four. This one did not come in two shiny fancy hoppers, loaded down with delicacies for the adults and toys for the kiddies. No, the university envoy saddled up in one of the colony's own pilfered hoppers, worn and wary.

The university envoy said that Barrish-Estranza were dangerous, that they were looking for an indentured work-force, that they would enslave the Adamantine colonists so severely that even their children's grandchildren would still be slaves. The university instead offered the colonists ownership of their own planet and/or safe relocation, free of charge.

Barrish-Estranza said that the university's offer was too good to be true, that they had clashed quite awfully with the other colonists and were looking for revenge, that they were looking for a naive population willing to stay behind as lab rats. Barrish-Estranza instead offered fair, gainful employment.

The only thing either group of strangers agreed upon was this: It wasn't feasible for their colonists to stay where they were.

But Trihn didn't want to leave. Of course she didn't. No, their underground bunker wasn't exactly luxurious. It was all grey steel and concrete, everything cobbled together from extra equipment. Yes, there were caterpillars in some of the hydroponics bays, and yes, some of the lights flickered. But wasn't it theirs? Hadn't they built it up over the past thirty years? Hadn't they carved out this sanctuary among the ice and snow? Didn't they have a sleet-ball court, and music recitals, and movie nights?

Wasn't this their home?

Could they really just be expected to leave it?

Opinions were all over the place, the leadership starting to splinter, just like it must have back at the original colony site. Lucia and his faction liked Barrish-Estranza, or at least liked the lifeline they offered. Zenchal's faction didn't trust any of this, didn't trust it one bit, thought they should shut the hatches and burrow deeper. Magnolio's faction went one step further, arguing that they should be opening up the armoury and preparing for a fight.

And Trihn. Trihn just didn't know.

{What do you think, Addy?} she asked the AI which was the heart and lungs and nervous system of the entire colony. It (she, Trihn liked to think of Addy as a she) had been watching monitoring both groups since their initial arrival, as much as she could.

{Hard to say.} Her servers whined slightly under the effort of generating plain human speech. {But I like the university team better.}

{Why?}

For a few second, the only sound was the hard-drives fans in overdrive. {Their SecUnit is friendly. Or acts that way.}

{What does that mean, 'SecUnit'?}

Addy couldn't define it, not really, though she pointed the SecUnit out from their surveillance footage. The tall, serious one with the splicing. Trihn didn't think they looked particularly friendly, but Addy had a different way of judging such things.

This information probably wouldn't do anything to sway anyone. The others were unlikely to be swayed by Addy's opinion; she was just a computer, after-all. But Trihn was less quick to dismiss her, and regardless... It made no sense to reject the university without even speaking to them. She would have to keep pushing the other leaders for a meeting.

In the next meeting with Leonide, though, she did ask, in as casual a tone as she could muster. "What's a SecUnit?"

"A SecUnit?" Leonide blinked, off guard, a rarity. Then she smiled that brilliant white smile. "Oh, just a type of robot, with a little extra something-something for oomph. They're here to keep us all safe." She gestured to her entourage, the armoured soldiers carrying large guns.

Trihn had not thought they were robots. And certainly, the "SecUnit" which Addy had pointed out did not look like a robot.

So that was at least one lie Barrish-Estranza had fed them.

How many more were there?

[blessphemy]

I just read this and it's a stellar outsider perspective of System Collapse as captured through Supervisor Leonide's POV. The prose is elegant and lovely to read. Lenoide's perspectives on SecUnits, rogueness, pseudo-rogueness is something I want to dissect for the next 5 continuous hours. And the last paragraph of chapter 1 left me absolutely vibrating in the subtle little implication it left behind. Agh it's so good!

Compliments to the author.

Edit: oh my god there's a chapter 2 and it hit me like a brick.

[specialagentartemis]

Having listened to the Graphic Audio full-cast audobook for All Systems Red, it was fun but I have some thoughts about the voice acting and direction. So now I’m just daydreaming about “if I had Billionaire Money I would buy the audio rights to TMBD and direct and produce another full cast audio version with voice actors handpicked and paid lavishly by Me.”

The cast being:

All Systems Red:

Murderbot: Kevin R. Free is the voice of Murderbot to a lot of people. I would think very hard about this but it would be a foundational return to form. However I feel like I want to reach out and find a non-binary VA because it's a niche that's been tragically underrepresented in Murderbot VAs. I joked before about Vico Ortiz playing live-action Murderbot but do they want to try their hand at voice acting?

Mensah: Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs. Voices Captain Lovelace on Wolf 359. Has incredible talent and range and does the Intrepid Galactic Explorer so well.

Pin-Lee: Emily Woo Zeller. An audiobook narrator I've consistently liked.

Ratthi: Stephen Dookie. He plays the part of Polites in Epic: The Musical and he's excellent in a very sweet, upbeat, friendly way.

Gurathin: Sungwon "ProZD" Cho. I'm picturing somewhere in the range of his Miles Edgeworth voice for this.

Arada: Michelle "Vixy" Dockrey. She's a singer not a VA but her voice sounds so nice.

Overse: Tanja Milojevic. Her range is incredible.

Bharadwaj: Rukhmani Desai (Captain Tripathi, The Strange Case of Starship Iris. She has that calm, reasonable, rational, desperately kind character voice she plays well in Starship Iris that I think would go well for Bharadwaj)

Volescu: Zach Valenti. The vibes are right.

Additional voices by Tanja Milojevic and Zach Valenti. Yes all of them.

Artificial Condition:

ART: Janelle Monáe and I mean it

Tapan: ItMe of InCo Podcast

The ComfortUnit: also ItMe because an important part of listening to faer acting is realizing in awe how fae voices so many characters at once and make them all sound distinct.

Tlacey: kinda thinking Ariela Rotenberg. she does smugly confidently evil very well. However we cannot discount casting ItMe for this role also

Additional voices by Tanja Milojevic and Zach Valenti.

Rogue Protocol:

Don Abene: Emma Sherr-Ziarko. She also deserves to be an intrepid space leader again.

Miki: ItMe again in InCo Season 2 Updated SAWA mode

Wilken: me. I want a part. I could totally be a badass evil space assassin

Gerth: does Gerth even have any lines.

Additional voices by Tanja Milojevic and Zach Valenti.

Exit Strategy:

Serrat: Zach Libresco. this casting + Janelle Monáe as ART were what drove me to make this post in the first place.

The Combat SecUnit: Ellen McLain in GLaDOS mode. All 2 lines it has.

Network Effect:

Amena: Ishani Kanetkar (The Strange Case of Starship Iris, The Godshead Incidental, excellent VA for a proud and curious but scared young person)

Iris: Jordan Cobb (Janus Descending, Primordial Deep, excellent VA for a gritted-teeth calm scientist in a strange and dangerous place)

Seth: Avery Brooks (I know it is not the 90s anymore. but. Captain Sisko. I can imagine <3 )

Martyn: Alexander Siddig / Siddig El-Fadil (Dr. Bashir). They're TV actors but! I want them as the Ship Captain Husbands

The rest of ART's crew: other podcast VAs I love who I haven't come up with a role for yet. Kristen DiMercurio, Beth Eyre, James Oliva.

Supervisor Leonide: Claudia Christian (Commander Ivanova on Babylon 5 <333 )

Eletra: Michaela Swee who is very busy working at An Actual Hospital but I have a billion dollars in this dream scenario so I can pay her to take a day and record like 4 lines

Ras: Zach Valenti. This is very important.

Three: Jackie Andrews who plays R. J. McCabe on Starship Iris and Elinor Lopez on The Pasithea Powder has the right Vibes For This

Zach Valenti as the Additional Voice of every goon and target who gets the shit scared out of them and/or dies.

Fugitive Telemetry:

Indah: Molly Olguin maybe. she could Be Indah. Absolutely means we need Jackie Hedeman to have a role in FT too.

Tifany: Michelle Agresti (Wolf 359, Arden)

Aylen: Tracey Sayed (also Arden)

Jollybaby, Tellus, Balin: I would open the floor to the delightful Murderbot fandom. Who wants to voice a Preservation bot

Additional voices by--well you know the drill.

[rosewind2007]

System Collapse—SPOILER!!!

Her gaze flicked around, checking for the human supervisor who should be here. I don’t think she thought I was a rogue; if she had, I think she would have called for backup or tried to retreat. Her jaw set in a grim line. “Is this a threat?”

Oh Leonide! Can Leonide and Gurathin get together in a room at some point and just have a bit of a share? Can you imagine it?

Leonide—I said “You’re the SecUnit.” Can you believe it? Then “Is this a threat?”

Gurathin, taking a sip of coffee—Don’t feel bad, I said “It calls itself Murderbot”

Leonide—Holy fuck! You win, what did it do?

Gurathin—I think we have the footage somewhere…

[whirlpoolleaf]

Oh fuck it's Supervisor Leonide! Shit is she going to remember? Yup, she remembered. Shit. This conversation is feeling very tense.

Ohhhhhh it's so sweet that when Murderbot thought it fucked up the conversation with Leonide it immediately reached out to Iris for help!! I love that the first thing she says is "you did not fuck up" 10/10 Iris is fantastic

[ulkaralakbarova]

In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Gareth Jones: James Norton Ada Brooks: Vanessa Kirby Walter Duranty: Peter Sarsgaard George Orwell: Joseph Mawle Lloyd George: Kenneth Cranham Matthew: Celyn Jones Maxim Litvinov: Krzysztof Pieczyński Rhea Clyman: Beata Pozniak Miss Stevenson: Fenella Woolgar Yulia: Michalina Olszańska Bonnie: Patrycja Volny Eugene Lyons: Edward Wolstenholme Leonid: Oleg Drach Sir Ernest Bennet: Martin Bishop Paul Kleb: Marcin Czarnik Major Jones: Julian Lewis Jones William Randolph Hearst: Matthew Marsh J.E. B Seely: John Edmondson Hotel receptionist: Olena Leonenko John Cushny: Barry Mulkerns Petro: Oleksandr Pozharskyi Ralph Barnes: Marcin Latałło Leonard Moore: Jacob Krichefski Katya: Ksenia Matsuk Malcolm Muggeridge: Michael O’Donnell Konstantin Umansky: Wojciech Urbański …: Martin Hugh Henley …: Cara Chase …: Sabrina John …: Piotr Szostak …: Alexander Bozhko …: Oleh Kyryliv …: Roman Skorovskyi …: Serhii Bachyk …: Anton Andriushchenko …: Alexandr Markin …: Marcin Masecki …: Jan Młynarski …: Jerzy Rogiewicz …: Hanna Turnau …: Mikhail Klymchenko …: Richard Elfyn …: Olexa Gorodenko Film Crew: Director: Agnieszka Holland Original Music Composer: Antoni Łazarkiewicz Line Producer: Pam Roberts Production Sound Mixer: Marcin Matlak Casting: Colin Jones Makeup Designer: Janusz Kaleja Set Decoration: Robert Wischhusen-Hayes Costume Design: Halyna Otenko Casting Director: Magdalena Szwarcbart Casting Associate: Toby Spigel Costume Design: Ola Staszko Art Direction: Fiona Gavin Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Filip Krzemień Co-Producer: Angus Lamont Editor: Michał Czarnecki Co-Producer: Yehor Olesov Still Photographer: Robert Pałka Set Decoration: Kinga Babczyńska Production Design: Grzegorz Piątkowski Executive Producer: Jeff Field Producer: Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska Associate Producer: Tomasz Karczewski Associate Producer: Marcin Piasecki Director of Photography: Tomasz Naumiuk Second Unit Director: Olga Chajdas Associate Producer: Jacek Kulczycki Co-Producer: Magdalena Zimecka Producer: Stanislaw Dziedzic Casting Director: Alla Samoilenko Location Manager: Viktor Shevchenko Special Effects Supervisor: Oleksandr Suvorov Assistant Editor: Krzysztof Korybut-Daszkiewicz Musician: Wojciech Kowalewski Production Coordinator: Shona Mackenzie Gaffer: Łukasz Głaszczka Best Boy Grip: Igor Słupecki Key Grip: Sebastian Frac Drone Cinematographer: Filip Jurzyk Producer: Andrea Chalupa Focus Puller: Zbigniew Gustowski Executive Producer: Leah Temerty Lord Associate Producer: Izabela Helbin Associate Producer: Patryk Tomiczek Line Producer: Bogna Szewczyk-Skupień Boom Operator: Rafał Lenart Sound Supervisor: Wojciech Mielimąka Set Decoration: Paulina Korwin-Kochanowska Music Consultant: Paweł Juzwuk Script Supervisor: Karolina Foltyn VFX Supervisor: Michal Konwicki VFX Supervisor: Franciszek Jankowski Special Effects Technician: Roy Murfin Drone Cinematographer: Marcin Kukla Electrician: Mateusz Dybiec Electrician: Maciej Konopczynski Electrician: Michał Marciniak Electrician: Bartlomiej Modrak Electrician: Rafal Seraj Electrician: Mariusz Sojak Electrician: Marcin Szychowski Electrician: Bartosz Szymaniak First Assistant Camera: Maksim Najdienow First Assistant Camera: Pavel Alekseyenko Steadicam Operator: Bogdan Ruslan Techno Crane Operator: January Jarnot Techno Crane Operator: Maciej Jarnot Makeup & Hair: Stanislaw Dolinski Makeup & Hair: Błażej Pintara Construction Foreman: Marcin Nosal Construction Manager: Andrey Gontar Construction Manager: Ryszard Idzik Graphic Designer: Marta Artyfikiewicz Graphic Designer: Dorota Pabel Graphic Designer: Maria Wilk Casting Assistant: Nataliya Gordey Extra...

[datashade]

Supervisor Leonide gets cosmetic skin treatments to flaunt her power and Murderbot says she's only slightly better looking than it is

OK there's a reason one of the channels in my favourite server is called "The 'Murderbot Is Hot Because It's Funny' Club" 😅 I just think its very very very funny if poor Murderbot is burdened with terrible hotness, so I drew the scene in ASR where it shows up in the crew room without its armour for the first time only with a slightly different reading lmao

[homosekularnost]

supervisor leonide + 600+ stunning instagram bios for woman entrepreneurs

[iviarellereads]

System Collapse, Chapter 9

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which I definitely cannot summarize this in a single paragraph.

They meet in a different room, which doesn't have any cameras, so Murderbot uses its drones to broadcast the meeting, just in case. When it shows Iris, she silently approves. The B-E group arrives second, Leonide with three others: Adelsen, Beatrix, and Huang. After some posturing over the documentary, where Leonide almost seems to be admitting defeat, MB starts to get threat assessment pings.

While Iris and Leonide keep talking, MB narrows the threat to Adelsen, reaching for a weapon. It sends the data to Art, who tells Tarik and Ratthi to get in the shuttle immediately. MB worries about looking like an aggressor to the colonists if it takes a shot at the guy, so it just lunges to grab Iris out of the line of fire. Almost too late, it realizes he's not shooting at Iris, but at Leonide. MB swings its leg into her shoulder to nudge her far enough to the side for it to just clip her.(1)

The humans all look surprised, and all the B-Es have their weapons out, but aren't pointing them at Iris or MB yet. MB knows they have only a few seconds before the humans stop being surprised and start shooting more, but that's when the door it needs as an exit opens, admitting the B-E SecUnit.

Art-drone tells Ratthi to get on the shuttle, and if Tarik has to be stupid, he can at least not run toward the enemy SecUnit. MB shoves Iris at another door, which goes further into the complex but that can't be helped.

Leonide tries to stop the unit, but someone revoked her security codes. MB assumes that means the rest of this task group intends to steal the colonists with or without their permission, and kill all witnesses. Once they're officially indentured, they can't testify against the corp that holds their contracts, and there's no guarantee they can prove they were coerced if evidence is falsified.(2)

The other SecUnit points its arm weapon, likely projectile if it's the same design as Three. MB turns to shoot disabling pulses at the B-E lackeys, and takes the other Unit's shot right through its big projectile weapon.

MB, vowing vengeance, throws itself at the other Unit, fighting in a way the other Unit doesn't expect, because MB had to learn to fight without armour.

ART-drone was (1) yelling at Iris on their private channel; (2) lifting the shuttle off the landing pad with Ratthi in it while Ratthi was yelling at it; (3) guiding Tarik through the installation. Tarik had just run into a confused and understandably upset group of colonists who had been watching the live feed, and he was talking to them via (4) ART-drone’s translation. And (5) ART-drone had managed to pull an unencrypted B-E comm transmission originating from the B-E shuttle and—oh shit they just deployed the second SecUnit.

MB notices that Iris is pointing a gun at Adelsen, telling the others to stop their Unit or she'll shoot him. Huang puts down her weapon, and MB makes a mental note: TWO disabling shots per hostile human next time.(3) Art-drone is both proud and disappointed in Iris. She still thanks it.

Leonide, still bleeding, says they've called the other SecUnit they brought. MB tells Iris to tell Adelsen to say a certain code phrase, and Leonide can tell them if he says it wrong. Leonide agrees, on condition they take her with them. Iris agrees grimly, and tells Adelsen to say it. Instead, Adelsen goes on a rant about how Leonide brought this on herself, knowing the penalty for everyone else if they don't get this contract. MB threatens to tear his head off, and Iris tells him again to say it. Finally he does, and MB waits three seconds after the Unit goes limp to be sure it's not faking.

As they leave toward the shuttle, Leonide lifts her weapon, and Iris tells her if she kills them, her invitation is revoked. MB notes it would be a good chance to blame Team Art for the loss of her coworkers, before Leonide makes a face and follows Iris instead.

Iris tells Tarik to warn the colonists about B-E, and not to intervene so they don't get hurt. He says he already did, and they tried a defensive measure in the power supply, but it didn't work. He adds they recognized him from the film. Iris laughs and groans at the same time. MB is glad B-E didn't think of a recruitment video first, because they could've lied about everything and made it more persuasive still.

As they make their way, MB asks AC2 for assistance, and Art-drone notices the transmission attempt when B-E cut Leonide's feed. Iris asks if they cut her comm, and Leonide confirms, saying she was warning her assistant. She says if she could get a message out they could fix this. Art-drone makes a "teamFeed+Leonide" channel, to include her carefully.(4)

Still no answer from AC2, so MB pings again. Iris asks if MB was hit, and MB lies and says no, but Art-drone clarifies: it was, but it has it under control. Tarik asks if they can get the other Unit to shut down, but MB thinks that's unlikely, and Art-drone says it would have to be done in person, which is too risky to try on purpose.

About two and a half minutes out from the shuttle bay, Art-drone and Ratthi tell them they have an incoming shuttle, and they aren't sure if it's Art's or B-E. Art figures it's two-thirds chances of being friendly, but it doesn't think so. They haven't attempted contact, despite being in range.

Iris tells Art-drone to just get the shuttle out, with everything it can tell Art-prime. Art-drone says it can get them out, and when MB presses it, provides eleven plans it has ready for flying out of exactly this set of conditions.(5)

Then, Tarik warns them that B-E are ahead of him and closing in on them, and the side of the hangar explodes, collapsing and partially blocking the way out.

MB stops Iris and Leonide, and can hear the quiet footsteps ahead. To AC2, which still hasn't responded, MB sends a query of assistance, and asks if it's going to let them kill MB's humans, calling it a piece of shit. MB pulls Iris back a little and takes a different turning, with Leonide struggling to keep up.

There's some discussion about Ratthi getting out, but Art-drone runs out of time, and tells him to strap in as it moves to evade the other shuttle's weapons.

ScoutDrone1 goes dark behind them, and MB knows it's out of time. It manages to close a hatch on the second hostile SecUnit, though it has to shoot off three of the Unit's fingers to do it, and it's a pretty flimsy hatch. Art-drone finally answers that they're going to a different hangar, since they can't get out through that one. It tells Tarik to hide and wait for MB, though MB thinks he might be waiting a while, because it's trapped them in this little storage room.

Art-drone and MB share some banter, in which MB is a little bit back to its old tricks, in the +Leonide feed. Leonide tells Iris to have her employees get them out instead of talking too much. Iris tells her to go fuck herself, they're working on it,(6) and suggests to MB that she (Iris) could call B-E to pretend to arrange a surrender. MB thinks it's worth a try, corporates like to gloat.

While MB is taking inventory of all the weapons available (not many), it has a minor crisis over trying not to let itself get stressed and shut down involuntarily again. Then, the lights blink three times, and the air exchange vents burp and make noises, and MB realizes it's a reboot procedure. AC2 must have been disabled somehow, that's why it wasn't helping.

Unfortunately, Art-drone and Ratthi have arrived at the other hangar, and found another B-E shuttle, fully weaponized. Which means more humans and potentially even more SecUnits.

Iris is talking in the corner, grimacing. Leonide looks despairing. After time for the reboot, MB queries AC2 for assistance again, and gets access to every camera system. They exchange about what happened, B-E tried to hack AC2 and it switched processing units and waited to come back until it seemed clear.

Fortunately, it also provides MB the network address that initiated the hack, the first B-E shuttle. MB asks AC2 to give it a minute, and it starts counting down. With this, MB can access the systems for that shuttle, but it's gonna take a bit. After being confused by what seems like an augmented human serving as a HubSystem, MB asks Art-drone to distract the B-Es, which finally gives it access. It sends a stand down command to the 2nd hostile Unit, and Iris and Leonide both stare at each other when the pounding on the hatch stops. MB also tells the first Unit to render medical assistance to the wounded employees, then shut down again, since it rebooted and went into standby.

For two seconds, it thinks about offering to hack their governor modules. They might not be aware of what happened, or able to hide it. They might be recaptured, memory wiped, and tortured, or harvested for parts. They might even go stereotypical-rogue. But, MB can't leave them helpless. So it sends them the same bundle 2.0 sent Three, and the code to hack their modules themselves, if they choose it.(7)

Finally, MB wipes the comm and feed, forces the bot pilot into a diagnostic that will take an hour or so. Just in time, because AC2's minute counter goes off.

In the storage room, Iris looks hopeful, as Art-drone is likely telling her what happened privately, though Leonide is still confused. MB notes Tarik still braced in his cubby, then explores AC2's cameras and maps. Five armed B-E soldiers are stalking them, but AC2 has started sealing doors and sending them the wrong way. Nine had come in on the shuttle, though no more SecUnits. The colonists are mostly locked down safely.

MB slips past Unit 2, hoping it doesn't find the files, choose to hack itself, and go rogue. MB helps Iris and Leonide out, and asks AC2 if it will allow MB to bridge into the second shuttle. AC2 refuses, because of the risk of another breach, which MB could argue with, but won't.

As it mourns the lost ScoutDrone1, leaving it with just four drones and half of those back on Art-prime, Ratthi asks where MB wants to be picked up. It thinks about the unused hangar, and the terraforming access they came in through, which B-E don't seem to know exists, and replies it has a place in mind.(8)

=====

(1) I love its commitment to not allowing death to fall on any human it can save, even if it thinks they kinda deserve it. (2) I just gotta give a slow, appreciative clap for how many little ways Wells throws "hey, this whole capitalism thing is fucked and even if we're not as bad as the story YET it doesn't take a very long look around to see how terms of service and employment are already heading this way" into these books. How many people now have social media restriction clauses in their employment contract conditions? How often does whistleblower protection legislation actually hold up to the new and insidious ways employers find to punish it? (3) I wonder if this'll come back later this book, or if it's a deep-future setup. (4) And we know this goes extremely well. (5) It was still a fair question, and 11 feels like far fewer than usual. (6) Literally, this is how they think best. (7) It can't force it, and it can't reason with them if they don't want to be reasoned with. At a certain point, it has to trust that they're capable of making their own decisions, just like humans. (8) Let's wrap this baby up--what do you mean there are still three chapters left?!

[shattered-pieces]

Former prison official who tortured and killed Russian prisoners killed in Ukraine

Killed* was the ex-chief of the torture facility IK-6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia in the Bryansk Region, Lieutenant Colonel of the Internal Service Alexey Levin, who was involved in the brutal reception and murder of prisoner Roman Sarychev on December 08, 2019, as well as in numerous other cases of torture and murder of prisoners. Then we promised Roma’s family to do EVERYTHING possible to ensure that his killers received the punishment they deserved. Our team exposed the sadist and corrupt official, we released 3 documentary films exposing Levin and his accomplices, helped Roman’s family pay for the work of experienced lawyers, collected and published important evidence of torture, sent more than 10 complaints and statements, and jointly achieved the conviction of Lieutenant Colonel Levin, first on Part 3 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code, and 2 years later - under Part 5 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code to 9 years in prison. Happy memory to torture victim Roman Sarychev🕊 Read more about this case in the documentary film by Vladimir Osechkin “The Torture Conveyor and Unsolved Murders in IK-6” from the series “Chronicles of the Gulag of the 21st Century” https://youtu.be/0hDWMndOgiw The sadist Leonid Sagalakov, Levin's immediate supervisor, who was involved in the torture conveyors in the EPKT IK-33 and IK-35 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Khakassia, IK-6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Bryansk Region, SIZO-1,6 IK-6,15 of the GUFSIN of the Irkutsk Region, remains at large. 🪃But the boomerang is already on its way to Sagalakov (everything will be within the law). *Levin from the colony went to war in Ukraine, where he was liquidated by the forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

https://t.me/NetGulagu/7935?single