>>448448
Taking a shot in the dark, but: Is Mint even an officer?

>>448590
engineering.

>>448448
"Who gave you those orders? Mint? Since you have been caught lying, your testimony is invalid.
At the very least? Last I checked you had an old raytech weapon capable of making these kinds of wounds, and where you were found was consistent with the firing angle on Jones.
Occam's razor; you killing Jones requires far fewer assumptions than a solar creating an energy weapon and killing Jones.

That just leaves the motive, and in this situation there are only two reasons you would kill Jones. Orders, or to protect an Astranian.

For this, your story had a telling hole. You may not have been able to tell us the name of the Solar who was shot, but you would have had to have seen them in order to know they were a Solar. You showed us a picture of who you say shot Jones, but not who HE shot!
I'm betting there was no Solar there, and since Hoft is under far more strain than anybody else Mint had to be the one to give you your orders.

Prince, one of the reasons mental strain is no longer used as a metric is because low mental stress in a high stress situation generally indicates highly undesirable traits. Most commonly the usage of illicit drugs or forbidden acts, but occasionally mental illness. While mental stress used to make a soldier unfit for command, any one of those makes a soldier unfit for duty.
Your own observations will confirm that Mint is an abnormally private person with anti-social behavior patterns.
By your own observations of Mint's stress levels, behavior, and actions, can you tell me with absolute certainty that Mint does not show signs of any of those three?"

Bloody hell Prince! Mint shot me, turned the team against itself by making me out to be looney, and then after we got all that sorted out she went AWOL outside Droegen's base, apparantly killed our only guide here, with you as a witness. And you think we're the ones destroying the team?

I don't even care at this point who killed Mullet Jones. He shouldn't have even walked in the door here. But if you are going to ignore your direct chain of command, threaten us and even deceive, then that puts us all in danger!

Fuze 2012/08/29(Wed)13:51 No. 449264 ID: f72f26
File 134627351624.png - (162.35KB , 912x547 , CQ2page153.png )

Fuze: "Prince, you're driven to keep yourself alive as long as it doesn't endanger Astranian life, correct?"

Prince: " . . . if necessary I will sacrafice myself for the betterment of the Alliance. unnessesary sacrifice is simple a waste of valuable

Astranian resources.""

Fuze: "How do you think individuals of high mental strain such as us would react to your lack of loyalty?

Prince: "It is not wise to assume-"

Fuze: "You've already said we'de kill Mint if we found her, it's not a leap to think we'd destroy a defective robot like you."

Prince: "You would destroy me?"

Fuze: "why not? in my eyes with all these lies and general insubordination justifies your destruction. but that's not all you see theres a third explaniation for the burn marks on Jones' body, a powerful raytech device operating under minimal power, your eye

laser fits the bill prince, especially since you no longer have your battery core!"

Prince: "you are proposing that I killed the Solar Mullet Jones."

Fuze: "Did you?"

Prince: "Lies no longer serve a purpose, I confess to slaying the enemy combatant: Mullet Jones."

Hah! walked right into my trap, it's time to end this facade!

"so mint ordered you to kill him."

"you know prince, leadership positions cause high lvls of mental strain, it's something that happens, every leader eventually gets it, it's from taking their job seriously, a leader that never stresses out about it is someone that doesn't take their position seriously. well i do take my position seriously and i am stressing about it."

You were only disguised as Fuze! Time to reveal yourself as... Mullet Jones himself!

>>449264
"That just leaves two unanswered questions: Why, and who did he shoot?
I have a good idea what the truth is, but I would like to hear it from you."

>>449264
...
Bullshit again.
Where is the other person's body? Did he lug it away? Impossible.
Who put him there to kill Mullet Jones? And what was the purpose? We owed him for saving our lives, and we were evened for saving his, and he's a freelancer, nothing more, but we owe him respect for the things we've done for each other.
Look where his laser should be, see if it's been fired recently. Then ask the commando where she found him. If its consistent, than he may be telling the truth, but I still think bullshit, he's too damn proud about it. Thinking he's taking one for the team.

>>449297
point yes, what happened to the person jones shot.

I also do not think Mint conspired to kill him. He's just a freelancer, hardly anyone of note. And didn't have much negative interaction with Mint. Of course, Mint knocking out Fuze for seemingly no reason was weird as heck, she could have wandered off by herself and did anything she wanted without casting suspicion. Did she need Fuze's body for something, or need to steal something from Fuze? She just plain headed right back and casually denied everything she did that we know she did to Fuze. Like it wasn't even going to be a problem for her.

What in the fuck did she even do? Maybe ask Prince, he should know. It seems wildly irrational on Mint's part and he's probably wise enough and equipped to know that what Fuze really went through.
Ask Prince for a full medical diagnostic on Fuze using his equipment. Then we'll get another from another person. Check for every kind of assault, stun, lethal, sexual, everything from the last few days.

Do you expect us to believe that you somehow got your self over here distracted Jones and gunned him down? Then escaped by yourself?

Fuze 2012/08/31(Fri)11:49 No. 450071 ID: f72f26
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Oken: "Prince how could you?! Jones was helping us!"

Fuze: "Good question. I really would like to here his explanation for how he moved the other body, but time is short and this game really must end"

Oken: "wha?"

Fuze: "Prince didn't kill jones."

Oken: "but-"

Fuze: "do you really think prince would just give up so easily after circumventing general programming and lying half a dozen times?
think about it:
why would he lie about receiving instruction via radio?
why would he lie about Hoft's reason for dropping him?
and most importantly
why would he confess to a murder he didn't commit knowing it would mean his own destruction!
motive of the lies is the key to the truth"

Oken's response is more of a whisper to herself
Oken: " you don't mean . . . "

Fuze: "now do you see?"

Is Prince still capable of using his laser? If so you should some how incapacitate him. If you don't know how to deactivate his parts, just place him face down so he can move. Tell Prince "I now have conclusive evidence that engineer Mint has been compromised and has in turn reprogrammed you to server her betrayal. We will bring her before the Astranian court to shed light on the situation and determine who is just. I will ask you one last time Prince: In the name of the Astranian Empire, where is the accused traitor Mint?"

If you don't get any cooperation, just deactivate Prince or throw him off a cliff or something.

Then talk to the solar guard and tell him "We have determined with much certainty that our comrade Mint was in some way conspiring in the murder of Mullet Jones. Yet the reason is unknown. Even if we believe she intends to 'remain loyal' to the Astranian empire, which we personally know is doubtful itself, why plot against Jones our mere guide? Was there more importance to Jones than we know?"

"yes, mint killed him and prince is doing everything in his power to throw us off of her."

>>450071
I think Hoft shot Jones and Jones shot Mint. That implies Mint had been chasing Jones down, and Hoft shot Jones to protect Mint.
Mint shooting Jones makes more sense, but Mint couldn't move Hoft and I seriously doubt she would try to save Hoft.

Mmh... ok... so... what?
It's a little bit complicated... I think I got that Jones is dead. And the rest... well...

>>450071
When you reach the conclusion, Fuze, remember to take off your glasses, say something pithy that's related to the situation and put them on again.

Jones was wounded and crawled into the mine, as evidenced by that huge ass trail he dragged, where he found Hoft and Mint. He subsequently pulled a gun on them, a huge gun still in his hand I might add and attempted to shoot Mint. Hoft killed him but not before he got off a shot. I suggest that because Hoft is the only one hot blooded enough to kill so inconveniently, so he couldn't have been the one disabled (or... killed!) by Jones's huge-ass gun. Mint wouldn't have left a body at all.

Whew I thought this was going to be a problem. Droegen will probably thank you for killing that deadbeat! In self defense, no less! It's almost too convenient.

The only question at this point is what was Mint doing in the mine, was Hoft with her or following her, and how can you find them right away because Mint is probably hurt so bad ohnoohnoohno.

It ain't Mint.
I know it ain't Mint.
Mint killing Jones is fucking stupid. Buuuuuut, Hoft gaining enough anger to hunt down Mint and drop Prince where he was dropped might be enough evidence alone that she IS involved somehow, she probably has an ally somewhere on this planet she wants no one seeing. Jones could also be involved with this ally, which is why his death is necessary. The third party could be the individual trying to kill him.
Which might be why she shot Fuze, she needed him either out of the cave or unconscious where they were so she could conduct a meeting with this ally secretly.
I know she isn't working alone. Two people other than Jones were out here, in fact she could actually have been the gunshot victim here.
We don't know enough beyond the fact she's working with SOMEONE, not that she's the murderer. The murderer could be that SOMEONE.

If you want to incapacitate Prince you could probably just tip him over.

the short story is mint is an evil bitch and we need to shoot her.

Fuze 2012/09/01(Sat)19:16 No. 450531 ID: f72f26
File 134655216784.png - (193.37KB , 912x547 , CQ2page155.png )

Oken: "You think Mint did this?!"

Fuze: "It couldn't have been anyone else"

Prince: "on what grounds"

Fuze: "on the grounds THAT YOU TOLD ME PRINCE!"

Prince:"grzzt!"

Fuze: "if you were guilty of this crime you would never confess in the presence of Solars!"

Prince: "error"

Fuze: " UNLESS it was to save an Astranian life! You thought we would kill Mint."

Prince: "error.error"

Fuze: "which makes sense, since you saw Hoft have that reaction when he witnessed Jones' murder."

Prince: "error.error.error."

Fuze: "he then dropped you to chase after Mint, after killing Hoft Mint returned to give you your orders."

Prince: "you story is invalid HOFT IS NOT DEAD."

>>450531
Yeah Fuze I dunno where you even got where you came to that conclusion that he was dead.
Lets just look around. We have to look around the city. Ask the commando for any sightings of Hoft recently.
If he is alive, no doubt he's on Mint's trail pretty good if he was here.

"oh, then i guess she just lost him"

Fuze? No. No Fuze. No. Just, no. You've got an obvious firefight, and an obvious fighter, that fighter being Hoft. Firstly someone was wounded here. Mint isn't going to escape a vengeful Hoft with a Solar slug through her gut, and why would Jones shoot Hoft?

There's no reason Mint would have killed Jones at all. The obvious answer is that Hoft killed him when he fired upon Mint. The less obvious answer is that there is a third party that he fired on, leaving Hoft free to chase after Mint in a completely conicidental encounter. But that Mint just shot him without some sort of explanation leaving him and Prince behind for Solars to subsequently assume her guilt? If she did it, it wouldn't be nearly this sloppy.

Anyway he has multiple burns from energy weapons. Whatever killed him was chasing him for a while along with access to this unknown non-Raytech beam weapon. Jones had a lot of enemies here who would do that, but Mint wasn't one of them.

Mint is clearly an innocent and beautiful kitty.

>>450537
i think you missed the part where mint is NUTS.

>>450538

OH YEAH WELL YOUR FACE IS NUTS.

Anyway can we stop playing detective here and go find Hoft and Mint? Jones isn't getting any deader.

>>450531
"Prove it; take us to him."

Fuze 2012/09/02(Sun)10:05 No. 450726 ID: f72f26
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Fuze: "Of course! she still has my stun pistol. Mint needs us alive for some reason, that's why she didn't kill me when she had the chance."

Prince: "YOUR STORY IS INVALID."

Fuze: "You've lost prince! give up the act."

Prince: "THERE IS NO SURRENDER"

Fuze: *sigh* "ponder this Prince, either you're so incompotent you've been outsmarted by Astranians delusional from strain, or you've been lying to the proper chain of command which I believe is treachery, what say you robot?"

Prince:" error . . . ERROR"

*POW!*

Fuze 2012/09/02(Sun)10:06 No. 450728 ID: f72f26
File 134660557902.png - (73.27KB , 912x547 , CQ2page157.png )

*clunk*
. . . *sizzle*

Oken: "What happened?!"

Fuze: "don't worry he'll be fine, Prince just blew a motivator chip. . . probably to stop us from getting any further information."

Oken: " . . . can we go find Mint and Hoft now?"

>>450728
Fuze: "I think we better. One of them is seriously injured, and we need Mint to fix Prince.
Wait, no. Oken, this is moving from my specialty to yours. It's your command."

Oken: "The Lieutenant would know more about finding murderers here. Lets meet up with her and tell her what we've found."

Yes go find Mint and Hoft. Ask the guard for some help/information.

Fuze 2012/09/02(Sun)21:31 No. 451029 ID: f72f26
File 134664671252.png - (164.86KB , 912x547 , CQ2page158.png )

Fuze: "excellent idea, judging from the area the space port is most likely location they'll be"

Kashton: "to bad you won't live to see it."

Fuze: !!

FUZE DUCK AND LEG SWEEP OR RUN UNDER HIS LEGS OR TACKLE HIS KNEE OR SOMETHING YOU SHORT BASTARD

>>451029

DUCK!

spin right and back as hard as you can, you want to get inside of his circle

OH MY GOD YOUR SHOELACE IS UNTIED

commando lady get your commando on!

Oken act fast and either push the gun away from your friends head or punch/kick Kashton in the dick while screaming bloody murder.

Fuze 2012/09/03(Mon)18:48 No. 451483 ID: f72f26
File 134672333702.png - (206.67KB , 912x547 , CQ2page159.png )

Fuze ducks

Okens leaps into action

>>451483
KILL HIM!

He has half a torso missing, I think this guy is done for.
Just get his gun away so he isn't an immediate danger to anyone and ask him who ordered him to kill you guys. It's not Drogen, we just proved him innocent.
Where in the hell was the commando in all of this. She seemed pretty chill. If she's going to kill us, we'd already be dead.

>>451485
the dude's... front, was just annihilated.

>>451487
the commando would be behind prince and is equipped with a melee weapon. if she is reacting she is off screen.

OK WAIT

Wait.

He has a beam weapon!

I thought only RayTech had those?

NO PRINCE WHY DID WE EVER DOUBT YOU

We never doubted that humans had beam weapons.

Fuze 2012/09/04(Tue)18:55 No. 451764 ID: f72f26
File 134681013697.png - (176.56KB , 912x547 , CQ2page160.png )

>Where in the hell was the commando

I believe she left to find out if any of her soldiers had been injured.

I get up and dust myself off.
I Look to the Solar, with my keen medical knowledge I can safely say he is quite dead.

Oken: "Fuze are you alright?"

do NOT touch his gun, get some forceps or something to carry it. or wait until the commando comes back. and calmly explain it was this dude or an associate that did it, if she would try his gun she will see it is an energy weapon, he became hostile when we figured it out.

Fuze 2012/09/08(Sat)21:32 No. 452864 ID: f72f26
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Oken: "so . . ."

Fuze: " the investigation has taken an unexpected turn of events, we should wait for Lieutenant Ceckail to compare notes."


CHAPTER 5: END