"Do the Ariadnans really expect us to believe they are better than that? Is it really that much of a stretch to collaborate with an alien race when they've already done a fair bit of "collaborating" (*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* knowwhatimean? knowwhatimean?) with those crazy dogs on Dawn? It's a pitiful defense! But all this does is lend more credence to the fact that this supposed 'Combined Army' is just a covert arm of ALEPH *spit*. Clearly, this Ariadnan was there on O-12's behalf watching over an ALEPH operation when this Nomad group unfortunately stumbled upon them and got death for their trouble. I'll pour one out for my Nomad friends when I get back inside." - Hugh Mann Bar Owner, regular hooman, reacting to news of Ariadnan soldiers spotted collaborating with combined army forces
Exactly - it seems that ALEPH is getting sloppy out here on the Human Edge. Sphere Itself has been watching and waiting for Big Mother to slip up like this. Well, regardless of this person's actual national affiliation, it's disturbing that we have multiple accounts of human forces deployed alongside the "Combined Army." Ariadna might be the latest, but ALEPH was the first (not so simple as vaguely green). And with ALEPH it was overt cooperation with Morats. We need to demand answers. ALEPH is clearly up to something in the Gallery Maze, and may have Ariadnan co-conspirators. This makes me think the Haqqislam & Tohaa takeovers of the Xaraks Batteries may have been engineered by ALEPH as a distraction, using compromised assets within Ariadnan command and the "Combined Army" to create a vulnerability. There's really no other explanation of how a military force as mighty as Ariadna could be dealt such embarrassing defeats...
You know, for once in our deployments we try out diplomacy in the stead of our usual hammer strike tactics and then everything goes mental. I doubt there are high level conspirators. We were there when the attacks happened, and all our non aggressive actions were made in defensive reaction. It would not make sense for us Ariadnans, patriotic and traditional as we are, to side to aliens. We had trouble with our fellow countrymen--we still do - and have trouble working together sometimes due to different doctrines and mentality. We were just warming up to offworlders but even then it's on our own terms and under our command. So the idea of working with aliens, especially after the alien attacks on Dawn itself but both kinds, if frankly absurd. Investigate Aleph all you want. But I do not entertain the idea of a single Corp, a SINGLE Corp, causing and working for the enemy. We are few enough as is, and only have one life to give. We only give ours lives to Dawn.
