User Guide

look fer the girl. Don’t waste a whole fleet, send one o' them stealth ships, an’
sneak in an’ sneak out. Without the girl Laddry ain’t got nuthin’, an’ Bailey
should throw some cash yer way fer yer trouble.
Speaking of SIN, yer aware that
Laddry an’ some other Syndicate hotshots regu-
lar take sneak shots at Harmony, ain’t ya? Something like once every couple
months yer gonna get some sort of underhanded problem, if yer ain’t careful.
Now, 01’ Skave knows about security - spent the best years o’ life sneakin’
around it. What ya gotta do is throw them all the money ya can, an’ keep the
heck outta their way. And don’t worry about what yer penny pinchers tell ya, ya
can’t waste money in security.
Now, while yer diggin’ oversized gopher holes all over the face of yer nation, ya
might try pokin’ yer nose around the base
o’ the mountains. Skave knows a lot
‘bout geology, an’ it’s better than twelve ta seven that if ya take a chunk outta a
base of the mountains, yer’ll find a nifty little mineral called catzite. When ya
dig it up, yer’ll get a call from a chump named Larcher, head
o’ DICE Indus-
tries.
He’s lookin’ ta buy the stuff, ta make super-lasers. If ya sell the stuff,
yer’ll get a good price, but the Syndicate’11 have the same access ta the weapon
that yer do. On the other hand, if ya keep the stuff ta yerself yer Research
folks’11 probably whip up the laser themselves, an’ then it’ll be just yer toy. This
one’s yer call, kid, but Skave says there’s nothing like lots
o’ ready cash ta keep
a battle moving.
Hey, Skave’s got another handy tip fer ya. During battle, ya might want ta focus
all yer ships on just one of the other guy’s, ta make sure ya kill it. Then move on
ta the next ship until the whole fleet’s gone. Skave’s won a canoeful of fights
that way. It’s a great twist from the old style.
Just when ya thought it was safe ta let yer government out ta play, Skave’s got a
feelin’
that the background music’s in minor keys. Skave knows the way Jerov
Laddry thinks, an’ I feel pretty certain that sooner or later he’s gonna make a
grab at one
o’ the heads of yer departments on Harmony. No creativity fer this
guy, though, he’s gonna play hide the head in one of those orbiting satellite
thingies. Ya gotta find them before this all goes down, but Skave knows the
magic word. Send out recons ta Ceddran, Tarso, an’ Pihzda, though if yer al-
ready found the one at Pihzda from the earlier grab, no need ta find it again.
The other two are somewhat more than a little obscured, ya may have ta look
more than once ta find them. Anyway, once Jerov pulls the old snatcheroo, send
out three agents ta yer three spots, an’ Skave’s yer uncle. Don’t worry about a
fight, Laddry’s a lover, not a fighter.
Crystal ball’s getting a bit fuzzy, but Skave’s got a few more
gems ta impart ta
ya afore we all move along. Here’s a nifty nugget Skave
shoulda shot ta ya ear-
lier, but better late than dead. If ya send a fleet out ta the Soraya Nebula, there’s
a prize inside. Any good smuggler knows the legend of the Lost Ship of the Bat-
56
tle of Soraya, all ya gotta do is send any old
fleet out there, an' ya got an extra
ship fer yer fleet. Better than being hit with a frozen frog, Skave always says.
How’re we doin’ here? Still with Skavc? Okay. about two or three years after ya
start playin’ this gig, the lovely Lady Sybarritc should not ice that someone's
messin’ with yer Fitz prices. It don’t take a Tarsonian feeper ta smell fungus
growin’. Laddry’s in cahoots with a joe from Thyzahn. name o' Sib'broue.
Y a
gotta admire Laddry, he’s more or less untouchable. But Sib'broue got his we ak
points, they all do. Before this goes down, ya gotta run a background chck c k on
Remy Sib’broue, an’ give yerself lots o’ time ‘cause ya may hafta try a ( couple
o’ times. They make good security on Thyzahn. When yer Fitz stock goes
funny, throw some heat on Sib’broue by havin’ yer SIN send him a little extor-
tion note. He’ll back down ‘cause he’s a jelly fish, an’ no harm done. Watch out
fer Laddry, though, he’ll try an’ get his licks in even if ya stop his pattncr.
Ya been rememberin’ ta check the Syndicate’s progress on other planets, on top
o’ everythin’ else? Don’t feel shy about warmin’ ‘em up with a little social call
every so often, Skave knows that might makes right with these boys. Ya might
also send a couple snoop missions over ta the Syndicate sectors, just ta check
out yer competition. Play the shadows though, ‘cause the Syndicate leaves the
big guns circlin’ their home turf. If ya put the pieces together right, ya might no-
tice that what Doc Annuber’s been puttin’ together is a new weapon fer the bad
boys. He’s makin’armed an’ dangerous killer vegetables. Tough ta stop an’ they
breed like bunnies. The last couple planets the Syndicate takes over’11 use these
babies. If ya can find the planet where they breed the
green ghastlies, hittin’ it
hard will buy ya some extra time.
Couple years ago Skave had ta kick the butt of a guy named Zoran, nuttier than
a fruitcake with wings. Showed up on Rimble claimin’ ownership o’ the place,
right
o’ blood or some such nonsense. Skave showed him blood, lemme tell ya!
Anyway, Skave’s got it on good authority this jimbrone’s gonna show up at yer
place at some point. Don’t talk, don’t argue, as soon as he gets there take every
last rock ya got an’ throw it as hard an’ fast as ya can. Get yer first shot off fast.
It’ll confuse him an’ ya can aim yer second careful-like. Skave says Zoran’s
bad, an’ kickin’ the tar outta him’s good.
Alright,
an’ now we come ta the grand finale. The fat lady’s gonna sing, an’ no
cracks about Skave’s mother. If yer been
playin’ yer cards right, at this point ya
should have amassed a sizeable fortune with such stuff as insurgence, extortion
an’ sellin’ weapons fer fun an’ profit. I especially emphasize the sellin’ of yer
technology, always big money in that.
With all this moolah ya got, yer should have bought some fancy military planet
hoppers, loaded up with all the extras in case o’ trouble. Yer Military should
have seasoned veterans, an’ all yer ships should be in good repair. Finally, yer
should have taken Skave’s advice an’ sent some SIN agents ta recon an’ find out
~
57