>>15071401
Before we head out for Solomon I would like to request the following retcon. There was a lengthy piece of time where the Railgun we recovered at Odessa seemingly remained in the ship's hanger without being looked at despite REPEATED requests to have the Pezun techs look at it. Since we have a long history of grabbing good shit for the R&D Techs, handing over brand new weapons that havent been seen before would be part of our whole Modus operandi.

As the gun was unused for close to a month when there would have been more than adaquate time to duplicate it I request that the Railgun's existance be retconed along the lines of the following pic. That the Railgun was removed from the ship's inventory after initially docking at Pezun for repairs after Odessa and that it was returned to our hanger after Orbital Battle 01. This would make sense as we stopped in Pezun before relocating to Solomon and didnt equipt it until then.

I hate to be bitching about stuff like this but we've seen how effective the railgun can be when used by a sniper that wants to remain hidden. Even if we were to have not recovered the weapon at Odessa there is a good chance someone else on Earth would have before the evacuation of California base. But since we did and it's been more than a month in game ptototypes of these weapons should be available to Zeon forces by now.

>>15071401

You start barking out order to begin making ready to get back into space as soon as the supplies you need are aboard. Strauss meanwhile leaves you to talk with someone over the intercom, most likely checking the local tactical situation to see if he needs to launch immiediately to protect the station.

Whilst you're getting a sitrep from Okawara about how much time he needs Strauss returns to you.

"We've got a problem. Whilst we're able to call back most of our Solomon-bound transports, we weren't able to call back one as it's currently outside of the communications network. To add to your troubles it's also the one with all of your spare ammo for Solomon aboard. Obviously the Solomon forces can't detach themselves to rescue it, so it's down to us."

STRAUSS HAS REJOINED THE TEAM ALONG WITH HIS SECURITY TEAM.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>this raildroaded shit is still going
you disapoint me, /tg/

>>15071530
As one anon reasoned at the end of the last thread it'll be taking the fastest route to get to Solomon. We should chase that sucker down since it is now on the way.
If necessary it can wait outside the combat area and act as an emergency fallback position for damaged suits that get cut off from the Fortress.

>>15071530

Info on what Strauss' team is flying would be nice. Also, do we outrank Strauss now?

Can we expect the transport to have detected the battle at Solomon and either reversed course or gone to a silent run?

Other than those things, all I can think of is...

"Guess we'd better get to Solomon, huh?"

>>15071524
>But since we did and it's been more than a month in game ptototypes of these weapons should be available to Zeon forces by now.

Well, that rather presupposes that the Legitimacy has the resources to retool a factory to mass produce the Rail-Gun at this point, and that the railgun isn't constructed with materials that Zeon has no access too.

That said, given that Zeon is getting pretty quick at prototyping weapons now, and that with heavier use of AB-Chaff in this campaign over the canon a non-beam weapon of decent power would be appealing I'm will to suggest that some form of prototype might be entering limited production by now.

Prep for combat. We're going after that damn transport.

Also, what does Strauss and his team have?

>>15071602
> I'm will to suggest that some form of prototype might be entering limited production by now.

Good enough. Send them the rest of the Railgun Combat data we've collected. I cant think of anything else we need before we move out. It's too bad we didnt get to pickup a postcard or snapshot of us at Texas Colony or Side 6 to give to Calvin. We should write him a letter or something.

>>15071596

Strauss is a captain, you're still a commander, and with Garma down on earth, and you unpopular with Solomons command structure getting any further promotions seems unlikely.

>Can we expect the transport to have detected the battle at Solomon and either reversed course or gone to a silent run?

Not really, it's using a debris field for cover, which extends long enough to take it right to Solomon with a minimal chance of getting spotted. Problem is, Solomon isn't really a safe place to be right now, and that sword cuts both ways in that it's very difficult to get readings outside of the debris zone due to lingering minovsky particles and visual obstructions.

>Info on what Strauss' team is flying would be nice. Also, do we outrank Strauss now?

Strauss has a Galbady Alpha, he also leads a three man team in Act-Zaku's.
Also, in case it wasn't clear, Strausses orders are to retrieve the transport and turn it back to Pezun.

>>15071578
The anon who suggested we follow the shuttle's trajectory from last session.

In addition to finding out what Strauss is equipped with, we should load up the OH with whatever extra ammo and parts we can, and getting that shuttle's flight plan from Shuttle Control.

So I'll ask just this once...

Can we ever expect to get Bernie back as part of the team or will he be making his own path/rotting in a Side 6 prison till the war ends?

Just getting the question out of the way

Then we go get the transport. We need to take this battle one step at a time. Right now, all we need is that ship, so suit up and go get it!

>>15071671
>and with Garma down on earth, and you unpopular with Solomons command structure getting any further promotions seems unlikely.
Bah, we dont need more promotions.

*Clears throat.*

"Commander, a mission critical transport has gone out of contact. My people believe they're headed straight into enemy space without knowing it. You need to intercept that ship before it's destroyed."

>>15071694

--OMAKE--

FROM: LT.RAL
TO: CMDR D. LISTER
SUBJ: DIPLOMATIC REPORT UPDATE.

I got this in my daily intelligence report update, along with some pretty useful data from the computer of the Feds latest Gundam, it's too big to download off the lasercom network, so I'll be hanging onto it until the investigation results are made public, or somebody comes to collect it. It's a message addressed to you from your boy Bernard.

"Dear Commander Lister
I'm sorry I couldn't be able to talk to you in person, I'm sorry I could rejoin with you. Not because I enjoy fighting, but because you are my friends. I can't however. I was able to successfully complete my mission, but escaping proved impossible, so I downloaded what I could from the computer and added it to this message. I then had our contact smuggle it out to Ramba Ral. But he also says there's no chance of smuggling me out, as Libot is on a complete lockdown. After downloading the data I destroyed the prototype so that's one less Gundam to worry about.
The other reason I can't be with you guys, is that I've found something else that I have to do. It's something that only I can do, so I have to do it. It's because of all of you that I am still alive today, and that is why I am ashamed, as I feel I have betrayed you by making this choice, but I know the regret I would feel if I did not do this thing I don't think I could ever live with myself.
I hope one day you will be able to forgive me for my selfishness, but I am afraid for me, the war is over.
And when this war ends I will come back and visit you all,

that's a promise.

Well, I guess that's it. Take care Sir, and by the way, say hi to Zolomon for me.

-MESSAGE ENDS-

BRB Dinner.

>>15071876
That faggot is dead to me.

>>15071876

Did... did Bernie get the girl?

By the gods and Lord Garma's FABULOUS HAIR, we will be seeing Mr. Wiseman after this war.

>>15071876
>Blew up the Gundam

The Feds wont get to use it, and that's a good thing but, at the same time...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

Lets go kill some Feds.

>>15071876
Damnit, he should have spaced the Gundam and put a Zeon transponder beacon on it so it could be recovered later.

>>15071922

Whilst it was surrounded by Side-6 Ships? With radar? In the last place in the earth-sphere where Radar can still be used?

>>15071956
I guess complete lockdown means COMPLETE LOCKDOWN. If there was a way for Bernie to have gotten the thing out, I'm pretty sure he would have found it. It's a bit of a downer, but he's not dead and we don't have to worry about facing down that monster in Fed hands later on. Not a total win, but we still came out ahead over all.

Right. So Strauss is riding in with us, or what? What kind of intel do we have on the situation other than "large fight over here; help needed". It would be nice if we were able to work up a plan beforehand this time.

>>15072068
I think that's all the intel we have, daym shame about the Alex though, sure would have been helpful.
So the plan is to get the last trajectory of the ammo ship and sortie out to hopefully turn them back and maybe nab the ammo we were sending to Solomon.

>>15072164
As well as the ammo, spare parts and supplies that Solomon is going to need to fight off the Federation assault.

>>15071889
Let's go gather skulls to get our mind off things.

>>15072209
Mission first, then skull-taking.
Maybe we can build a throne to put them all, rather than just leaving them laying about for people to trip on.

>>15072242
We can gather MS heads.

Okay, so everyone agree's with attempting to rescue the supply ship before it get's intercepted by the enemy forces.
Since the Journey isn't so long, and also (and more pressingly) they don't have any ships to spare Strausses team will use the Outer Heaven as it's supply point, so you'll have to rotate suits out in order to make space. Luckily not many of your suits need to much repair and ressuply, there were a couple of bottlenecks due to missing replacement parts but those and all of your needed ammo should be loaded up in about 30 minutes. This is enough time for Strauss to prep his team for a long range mission.

Firstly then, how will you be intercepting the Supply Ship? Travelling through the debris field on it's listed route is the best way to ensure you'll encounter it, but slow. Travelling outside of the field and then diving periodically is faster but there's a chance you might miss them.
Overtaking them an waiting is a possibility, but in order to be sure that you HAVE overtaken them you would have to get perilously close to where the Feds are operating and risk alerting them to your presence.
As usual I await you deciding to go with some 4th option that I haven't thought of.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>15072574
Travel outside the field at max speed until about half way then go into it to pick up their trail. That should allow us the time to get closer and still check for them.

>>15072574
Using the flight plan that the shuttle listed with Shuttle Command before leaving, and the standard speed that it would have been using, calculate where it would be within the debris field at any given time point.
Then calculate an interception flight path brushing outside the debris field.
We'll use our suits to check inside the field, since it should be faster than sending the entire OH.

Option is going to need to pull extra duty in the Recon Gyan.

>>15072651
>Using the flight plan that the shuttle listed with Shuttle Command before leaving, and the standard speed that it would have been using, calculate where it would be within the debris field at any given time point.
Then calculate an interception flight path brushing outside the debris field.

There's a couple of things wrong with this.
Firstly, it's not a shuttle. It's carrying several thousand giant shells for your gatling and spare parts for Solomon. It's a Columbus class freight hauler.
Which brings me onto the second point, those things are exactly nimble, this means that the speed at which it ACTUALLY travels at is going to be dependant on whether or not the debris field has had any significant changes after it was last traversed (for whatever reason) if it HAS that could either extend or shorten the travel time.

This is just one of the many reasons that NORMALLY you don't take this sort of run. But given that Pezun was basically beset by enemies, feds on one side, Loyalist Zeon on the other, finding unobservable routes to send it's supply ships became desirable over routes that don't cause major headaches.

There's nothing stopping you from making a guestimate, but do keep in mind that's all it is.

>>15072742
Understanding that it will only give us an approximation of where to start looking, it's still better than doing it blind.

Option is going to have to be on station for most of the trip, using his Gyan's recon package.

>>15072742
Well we're going to need to make a guestimate either way. do some calculations on where it should be and head for the farthest point it could have made in that time. As we get close to Solomon we'll just have to go into the Debris field either way to make sure we're not spotted.

Okay, looks like we have a plan of action.
Apologised, are you waiting on us for anything?

>>15072857
>>15072795

You make a decent looking estimate of where the supply ship should be based on previous trips. You then increase it by about 25% in case they've made good time. You ask about pushing it up to 50%, but apparantly at that point you'll have arrived at Solomon.

In anycase you tell Option to keep the Recon Package as he'll probably be throwing double duty for this mission. The veteran pilot takes it stoicly.

In anycase, Strauss tells you that he's ready to deploy, and all of the supplies have been loaded aboard.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT FROM PEZUN BEFORE YOU LEAVE?

Is there a Gabaldy or an Act Zaku we could give someone?

>>15073057
No. It's too late to get anything else we'll have to make do or we'll never get there.

>>15073057
Is there anything else we need to pick up?
Oh, drop off one of the beam machineguns we salvaged for reverse-engineering by Pezun. Maybe all of the parts of the Gelgoogs we salvaged from the black ops team?

>>15073097

There MAY be a Galbady knocking about. Since Pezun is a testing battallion they can't really organise all of their prototypes into a reinforcment team and send them to Solomon so they'd probably be happy to do a swapsy.

Possibly an Act Zaku as well. Again, you've got no room to do anything but straight MS swap.

>>15073115

You drop off a Beam MG, the Gelgoog parts look to be more or less the same ones you're using though.

>>15073057

El Muerto Gigante wouldn't happen to be laying around somewhere in Pezun, would it? If it is, can we strap it to some random part of the OH?

On a more serious note, we could always use Nell's bits to make quick scouting dives into the debris, couldn't we? (say a pair at a time?)

Regardless of those answers... FUCK YEAH STRAUSS IS BACK BITCHES

>>15073214
Nell specifically says that she has problems controlling her bits in naturally random areas, like debris fields. She'll probably be sitting this one out.

>>15073297

This.

>>15073214
She keeps saying she's not good at navigating debris with them. The only thing she can 'see' at long range are people.

If w were to pic up a Galbaldi who would really end up piloting it? David, Zol, Jolyne and Elaine already have tricked out suits. I would guess that Option's Gyan had the last powerful acceleration but we've been repairing it with UMP parts. Would Rance really have enough experience to pilot a more powerful MS?

oh shit! Does Pezun have any nav beacons we can fire into the debris field to broadcast "Solomon under attack! Return to Pezun! [date/time]"?

After we get to a certain point we'd just fire those into the debris, hoping that if we've passed the ship they run into the beacons?

>ITT

>>15073341
That's actually good idea. The extra time it takes to get a load of them on board could be cancelled out by being able to just drop them down into the debris field as we pass along it.

Of course, we have to hope that they'll even see the things, considering that radio is still down in the debris field due to Minovsky particles.

>>15073339
I think that Rance can handle the Galbaldi; his piloting capability seems up to the task, and he can get used to in on our trip to Solomon.

>>15073416
>>15073341

Those beacons would be the same morse code lights you used at Texas colony. Keep in mind those aren't perfect for debris field, but hey, you seed enough of them, one of them is bound to get through right?
It's a big long debris field though. So, you'll have to play smart with your deployment.

Luckily Pezun just replensihed your supply of those beacons after you used all of yours up in Texas Colony, so you can get started on that right away.

>>15073575
>>15073588

Seconding getting Rance an upgrade to the Gelbaldi, prepping those beacons, and launching to actually get something done this thread!

>>15073575
That would be like putting Ramirez in an Efreet. Wait we actually did that.
A Zaku Kai is still plenty powerful for someone of his experience. If he'd been with us another 2-3 weeks and had been given a chance to test out one of the Gelgoogs I'd be more comfortable with the idea.

If everybody is really determined to get a Galbaldi Elaine or maybe Option would be the ones to give it to.

Grand. Now we don't have the Alex. So if we don't have those /parts/, the luna titanium, the beam proof armor, what the fuck can we do with the data and schematics? How could we get the parts?

Arty, this is mainly at you.

>>15073644

oh... right... Ramirez...

>>15073633 here,

Removing 2nd for upgrading Rance to Gelbaldi in favor of seconding Arty's choice for any suit upgrades.

still want to launch and get something done, though

>>15073720
>>15073720

>what the fuck can Ramba Ral do with the data and schematics?

fixed

>>15073644
>Option in Galbaldy
Okay, that's acceptable.
Since the Galbaldy shares designs with the Gyan, can the Recon Gyan's recon package be fitted to the Galbaldi?

>>15073802

You wont know until you get it, given that it's Pezun who knows what sort of modifications have been done to it.

>>15073720
This late in the war? Not a whole lot. If Bernie was smart (and we've seen every indication he is) he made off with a piece of the anti-beam armor and will get it physically shipped out once the lockdown is over.

The data he sent will go a long way though. That suit was crazy advanced, and powerful enough that it would have held its own in the Zeta Gundam Era even without the new armor. I'm curious as to the extent of data that was stored on the Gundam's computers. If there was info on the new armor in there somewhere it might be possible to jury rig a down and dirty version of it within a couple of weeks though it wouldnt be as effective.

With enough time and Zeon's own beam coating research combined with it the post war implications are pritty serious. In the end I expect with this kind of tech things will swing back to how quickly Zeon can replicate Luna Titanium and if they could do it cheaply enough to mass produce.

On second thought, let's think about new suits after we take care of the transport. We have our plan, we just need to pick our loadouts and move out.

Bernie just set us up with the info to have an Act Alex Gun-Zaku in the eventual sequel quest.

>>15073887
>In the end I expect with this kind of tech things will swing back to how quickly Zeon can replicate Luna Titanium and if they could do it cheaply enough to mass produce.

Considering almost every Neo Zeon MS use some kind of Luna Titanium that is pretty cheap I'd say that is a "yeah" (Gundarium Gamma and alloys). Well, if you can stick it on the Gaza series I'd rate it as cheap enough...

Not that it does one much good when everyone is packing beam guns, anti-beam coating might be decent against beam scatter and maybe weak funnels, but not the bigger stuff or enough of it.

Okay, how many for putting Option in the Galbaldi?

1 vote for yes, here.

>>15074009
Might as well, we can always slap the recon system on someone elses suit if necessary I guess. We wont make it to the Battle of Solomon in this thread now so lets go ahead and waste the time.
+1 vote

>>15073975
Why didnt the Titans make more of their suits out of Gundarium? Like for instance the Hizack or the Gundam Mk 2?

>>15074106

I think the Mk2 was. But honestly, probably expense of manufacture, Axis was all the way out near Jupiter and it's untapped resources, plus it was a controlled closed circuit economy. The Titans probably didn't think the expense of armouring a Hi-Zack with Gundamnium wasn't worth it compared to the estimated survival rate.
The lowest bidder get's the contract again.

>>15074178
So uh is it going to be much longer for a story post?

We seem to have reached an impasse.

One thing I think we have concensus is that Option should swap unit out with a Galbady. It transpires to be some kind of refitted version classed as the "B" type, which is apparently some kind of next generation transition. Performancewise it seems pretty impressive stats but it trades armour for agility, a standard move in this current Beam Rifle age of warfare. Ookawara say's that he's going to get to work on enabling the EWAC Pack to fit to it, he seems confidant. After all if he can refit a pack that was designed for a Dom to work on a Gyan, he can certainly do this.

Anyway, I'm going to call it a close today and restart it next week, hopefully I'll be a little bit more on the ball. Certainly by next week I should be getting more used to these working hours.
Next week we'll pick this up where we left off and we'll get right into it as quickly as possible.

END OF PART A

>>15074497

Jesus fucking Christ, we didnt even get out to the freighter. I figured even worst case scenario we'd atleast manage to do that.

--OMAKE--

The writing was small, so much so that the initial photographing missed it. It was only when the time came to scan the room, and all of the myriad scribblings, pictures, and sentence fragments upon the walls and ceiling that it became apparent.

The words read: "Someone lives and someone dies"

On of the techs noticed it and drew his companions attention to show him as well.
"That's pretty much basic knowledge isn't it? Do we really need to keep this?"

His companion was getting a little tired of his constant questions, it had been kind of cool to begin with by discussing these things like some kind of intellectual. To make the pretense that they were more than just basic lab flunkies who had wasted a hideously expensive medical training to swab toilets and clean up after kids with psychic autism. Now though it was just beginning to irritate.

"No. Look. You aren't viewing it from the perspective of a postcognitive. Basically, what she's saying is, everytime she changes one thing, another thing happens. That butterfly in Massachusetts that flaps it's wings and causes a storm in kyushuu? What happens if you found that butterfly and stopped it's wings from flapping? Does it stop the storm, or do you get it somewhere else?"

The two of them stared at the message again.

"So wait, for every person who should have died who lives, somebody else dies? Isn't that Sophies choice?"

The tech vaguely remembered a psyhcological profiling scenario by that name, although the specifics danced outside of his memory.

"Well, we probably answered the question as to why she switched to active combat duty. The more data we fed her, the more times a day she basically had to kill random people."

"...what make you think this just applies to her?" his companion asked. It was the first intelligent question he'd asked all night.

END.

>>15074497
What the Hell? That's it?
I know that getting consensus is hard on us, but your response times are just as long even after we've got a modicum of agreement.

>>15074497
>We seem to have reached an impasse
What impasse?
With the consensus on having Option switch out his Gyan for the Galbaldy, we don't have any other items of contention.

We go to where we estimate the freighter to be, dropping beacons into the debris field along the way. There wasn't any contention about that.

So, unless you're referring to our desire to get to that freighter conflicting with your desire to end this now, there is no impasse.

>>15074624

Eh to be honest, I knew it was going to be hard to basically get back from work marking test papers and then pretty much straight into doing Zeonquest. On the one hand moving this to a weekend then has it looming over that evening as well, so it cuts into my free days, but on the other hand I can't help but wonder if trying to do it on a day when I also have a full day of work isn't just beyond me.

I think I'll try it again next week, as the work is going to end earlier on Fridays from next week onwards and hopefully I wont also be on high-strength painkillers due to a headache and various muscle cramps.

But honestly, today, I just couldn't concentrate at all.

>>15074719
>But honestly, today, I just couldn't concentrate at all.
If that's the case, just say so. Don't try to make it appear as if there is disagreement within the players when there isn't any. It makes it hard for us to figure out what's going on.

>>15074739

Yeah, looking back I was probably waiting for a third person to support the motion that was never going to come, as a result I just ended up dithering.

So, now that this week's Zeonquest is over

where are the other two of these?

So with Bernie telling us he's out of the fight, are we getting a new squadmate?

>>15075620
No. It just means Option and Rance wont be returned to other units.

So, to summarize for next week:
1. Option is to get some flight-time in the Galbaldy to get used to it before we arrive at Solomon.
2. Ookawara is going to work on modifying the Gyran Recon module to fit into the Galbaldy.
3. We calculate the freighter's path that it's going to take using its logged flight plan and knowing its average cruising speed.
4. We drop message beacons periodically into the debris field telling the freighter it needs to turn back because Solomon is a hot combat zone; try to contact the Outer Heaven if they can get clear of the debris field to give us the Gatling ammo they have.
5. Have MS patrols dip into the debris field as we go, to do a quick look around for the freighter, before come back to the OH and moving on to the next nav point in our search.

I really hope that Apologized isn't going to take an easy-modo railroad route out of this. The Zabi's are still mass murderers, Zeon Zum Deikun's theories have led to pointless bloodshed, and no pushing it all off on Gihren can make up for what they've actually done.

I'll be very mad if you deus-ex a pro-zeon ending that isn't reconcilable with the Delaz conflict, and Zeta Gundam.