"Still the wrong question, though you came close that time," said Orange, smiling like a cat. "What is not valuable at this point is [i]independence[/i]. I believe -" she brought up a glyph on her computer, "- that Slam! *Click* is looking for a meeting. The State is looking to reassert hegemony, they'll take your calls. There are other gangs and syndicates sniffing around. Lhotse has for a long time stood alone, but that's because it has not needed to [i]do [/i]anything other than grow stronger. Now it does. It's time for the hermit kingdom to wake up and, in the immortal words of Princess Celestia, [i]make some friends[/i]."

"But that's just my, like, opinion, man," she said, folding back into her humble, attentive position. "Not sure why you're asking me. As we have both reiterated numerous times, we put you in charge because we believe you can handle it. The direct investment is here if you think it's the best option. We believe that it'd be a mistake, but we also have a lot of other things on our mind, so we cannot afford to think about it as deeply as you!"