The Best Revenge, Part 43

Previously, on MinerBumping... An anonymous stranger tipped off aiva naali, who was amazed to find a long-running MinerBumping series about himself. Yet aiva was unsure of what to do with this new information.

Thus far, aiva seemed willing to return to the activities in which he found the most satisfaction. Agent Aiko Danuja, too, was eager to get things back to business as usual.

Before long, aiva started acting like his old self. Underneath the surface, however, he was plagued by doubts about scams and MinerBumping posts. One way or another, aiva wanted the whole mess to be resolved.

Luckily, aiva's council included high-ranking members of the Imperium who had contacts within the Imperium's Corps Diplomatique. It turned out that they were the ones behind the MinerBumping fiasco.

It occurred to aiva that not too long ago, he had accidentally leaked information about his superweapons in a public channel. To deal with the problem, aiva turned things to his advantage by using his "leaks" as an elaborate smokescreen to deceive Pandemic Horde. And that's exactly what was going on with the MinerBumping posts.

The Corps Diplomatique worked hand-in-hand with the Imperium's propaganda department. aiva was interested in a more flattering portrayal of himself on MinerBumping, but writers are not easily moved.

The Imperium's propaganda machine worked hard to present aiva as a fool who knew nothing about EVE game mechanics. But this was an illusion designed to put the Imperium's enemies at ease--much the same way The Mittani had been portrayed as a decadent emperor during the Casino War.

Initially, aiva claimed that he'd stumbled upon the MinerBumping series by randomly googling for the name of his previously biomassed character...

...But he soon admitted that he'd been tipped off by an informant who had sold him the info.

Nevertheless, aiva was cagey with the details. It was clear that he did not yet fully trust his colleagues.

Over time, aiva came around to the idea of being presented to the world as a hopeless dupe. No one would suspect what he was really like.

With his confidence in his council restored, aiva got ready to take things to the next level. He had a plan that was so ambitious that it could only be authorized by the leader of the Imperium himself.

Said plan, of course, would rely heavily on aiva's unique abilities as the puppeteering mastermind of EVE.

aiva's colleagues felt he was almost ready for a private meeting with The Mittani. But first, aiva needed to demonstrate that he had faith in them.

Full faith.

To be continued...