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File: Ghost Space Ship.jpg (121 KB, 1600x778)
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You are the Owner-Operator of a small salvage fleet, comprising of 140 men across 5 starships (with shuttles and other atmospheric craft beside). You were operating in decivilized space, looking for anything to bite your teeth into, when your fleet’s tanker, the Mammon, inexplicably lost pressure in one of its primary tanks, ultimately resulting in a total loss of one-third of the fuel reserves for your fleet. With the range that can safely be explored by your expedition dramatically reduced, you ultimately decide to begin heading back to port, much to the dismay of the crew. While there is a base pay for crewmen, they are also guaranteed a taste of whatever the fleet can bring back, and many were expecting more than whatever the hell your fleet’s trawler, the Clean Sweep has managed to “net” so far.

To be entirely honest, you were also expecting more from this particular outing. Unable to secure financing for this operation, you used the Clean Sweep as collateral for a loan to cover the costs of outfitting and insuring your fleet, without the knowledge of the other Owners. You had enough talents to cover the loan payments, at least for the immediate future, but you do not have enough to cover the cost of another expedition. Which means that you are probably going to have to use the Clean Sweep, or your fleets freighter, the Karaboudjan as collateral for another loan. Trying and only partially succeeding in forcing down rising dread at the thought of impending insolvency and legal proceedings, you decided to take a meandering and sweeping path back to port, hoping to find something to break even.

What you are looking at right now, however, is well beyond breaking even. This Derelict, as it quietly sits in a geosynchronous orbit above a planet, inside a tightly packed debris field is unlike anything you have ever seen. You hesitate to use the word “alien”, simply because you are not willing to deal with the implications, but it certainly does not look like any ship you have ever seen. The planet that is orbiting appears to be habitable too, and there is a great deal of money in planetary land speculation, but that ship has your undivided attention for now.

First things first, how are you going to deal with this windfall?

>You have taken on enough risk with the loan, no need to pile it on here. You have no idea what we are looking at. The fleet should return to port, and find some specialists, so we do not needlessly risk the lives of our crew, or worse, risk damaging something with resale value.

>While dealing with the main body of the ship might be beyond our capabilities now, there should not be any harm in sifting through the debris field, right? Right? ... Right?

>Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There is no need to be as reckless as we have been being, but there is no need to assume that we are going to ruin the derelict, by doing some harmless pruning.
>>
>>4327821
>>While dealing with the main body of the ship might be beyond our capabilities now, there should not be any harm in sifting through the debris field, right? Right? ... Right?
>>
>>4327821
>While dealing with the main body of the ship might be beyond our capabilities now, there should not be any harm in sifting through the debris field, right? Right? ... Right?

Hey we'll be fine, probably.
>>
>>4327831
>>4327828
Okay, I will leave this open for another 15 minutes, then I will get to writing. Good to have you along!
>>
>>4327821
>>Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There is no need to be as reckless as we have been being, but there is no need to assume that we are going to ruin the derelict, by doing some harmless pruning.
>>
>>4327828
>>4327831
>>4327852
Okay, it has been about 15 minutes, according to the timer on my post, so I will close voting, and start writing for

>>While dealing with the main body of the ship might be beyond our capabilities now, there should not be any harm in sifting through the debris field, right? Right? ... Right?

As a bit of world-building to tide you guys over, here is the fact sheet for our fleets tanker, the Mammon.

The Mammon, Identifier BB-39, Laid Up on the 16th of March 2214, Launched on the 19th of June 2215. Bought by Vulture’s Roost Pickers on the 23rd of May 2324. Licensed and Commissioned as Support Tanker on same day, by same company. At standard gravity, is 200,000 in dead weight tonnage (DWT). Length is 1250ft, Beam is 170ft, Height is 200 ft. It is the largest (and oldest) ship in our fleet, and currently, one of the three primary tanks has inexplicably dumped all of its fuel.
>>
>>4327867

While you are not willing to simply start hacking away at what could very well be an alien craft, without, uh, guidance, you guess, of some manner of specialist, the fact remains is that there is an fairly sizable debris field, just sitting around the ship. This is the job for your fleet’s trawler, the Clean Sweep. Trawlers are the resurrection and implementation of an old, largely hypothetical design of spaceship, called a solar sail ship. At the layman level, the old solar sails worked by using radiation pressure (whatever the hell that is) as a means of propulsion. The newer solar sails use the radiation pressure to move as well, but they are also capable of “netting” particles, predominantly hydrogen and helium in the plasma phase, which can be used to top-off fuel tanks. They could also lower their sails, and send up nets, designed to capture all manner of debris, then draw them into the ship, for sorting, storage and transport. As one might expect, they are also delicate. Unfortunately delicate.

The Clean Sweep breaks formation with the rest of your fleet, and moves into position to make the first pass through the debris field. You and your flag officers are discussing your find, as the Clean Sweep pushes through the field. Most of your collective attention is directed towards the aft, or what you assume to be the aft of the derelict. Upon closer look, it seems the entire ship has an auto-tessellating feature, where it is able to change shape by reorganizing the orientation of modular, geometric miniature bulkheads. The derelict seems to have taken serious damage to the assumed aft and is trying and failing to auto-tessellate the hull back into sealed piece. Tessellating structures and hulls are uncommon, especially at any significant size. Auto-tessellating structures and hulls are just considered impractical at the size of a ship hull, though they are used in top of the line drones.

As the Clean Sweep passes a blown out hangar, four automated drones begin haphazardly accelerating towards the trawler. You do not know if they have suicide protocols to attack unknown vessels, or if they are simply confused, and are trying to reattach the debris in the nets of the trawler back to the derelict. Right now, that is a moot point. Those drones pose a significant risk to the Clean Sweep, and because of the positioning of your ships, you and the rest of the fleet is unable to provide support fire to your featherweight of a trawler. The captain jettisons the nets, pylons and all at the drones, and engages the point defense system, trying to take down these Mad Drones before they crash into the ship.

Clean Sweep rolls 2d6 against Mad Drones (Unarmed). CR of Mad Drones (Unarmed) is 9. Can I get 3 rolls of a d6, please, for the first round?
>>
Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>4327940
>>
>>4327946
I'm sorry, I meant 3 rolls of 2d6. Otherwise, there would be now way you could beat a CR of 9.
>>
Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d6)

>>4327940
>>
Rolled 4, 6 = 10 (2d6)

>>4327940
>>
>>4327948
7 is pretty good; that drone has taken damage and is now crippled. While it is still heading towards the Clean Sweep, it will take an additional turn to reach the ship, and it can no longer maneuver, making it much easier to hit.
>>4327951
10 is great shooting; the vacflak put paid to that one. It is no longer a threat. After action, you will be able to determine what condition it is in.

>There are two Mad Drones (unarmed) at full strength, CR 9 which will impact the Clean Sweep in 2 rounds, causing potentially catastrophic damage. There is another Mad Drone (unarmed) that has been crippled, CR 5 which will impact the Clean Sweep in 3 rounds.

>There is enough time for one more burst in this round. As the Mad Drones are not armed, they can not return fire.
>>
>>4327964
Hm. It has been 15 minutes, if someone wants to roll again, they can, in the interest of moving things forward. In the mean time, here is some facts about the fleets freighter.

The Karaboudjan, Identifier CV-13, Laid Up on the 7th of December 2242, Launched on the 14th of October 2243. Bought by Vultures’ Roost Pickers on the 17th of February 2322. Licensed and Commissioned as a Freighter on same day, by same company. At standard gravity, is 100,000 in deadweight tonnage (DWT), with capacity for 16,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). Length is 1100ft, Beam is 160ft, Height is 200 ft. Approximately 4000 TEU is currently being used to store supplies, and there are another 4000 TEU sitting empty, waiting to be used as storage.
>>
>>4327985
>>4327964
I'm sorry, I was clear. What we are looking for is the third and final roll of 2d6 for this round of "combat" (if you can cal it that. So, 1 roll of 2d6 please.
>>
Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d6)

>>4327988
>>
Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d6)

>>4327985
Im back. Sorry been busy
>>
>>4328007
>>4328022
No problem. So we will take the first of those two rolls. That 6 isn't enough to cripple or slow the last untouched drone. This marks the conclusion of the first round of combat.

Round 2: Clean Sweep vs Mad Drones (unarmed)
At the end of this round, the two undamaged drones will impact the Clean Sweep, potentially causing significant damage. At the end of the next round, the crippled drone will impact the Clean Sweep, potentially causing significant damage. As you have time for three bursts, you can roll up to 3 2d6, to try to beat or get close to the CR of 9.

Additionally, you could use this turn to abandon ship, which would save the lives of the crews, but would doom the ship. At the range you are, and at the speed the drones are moving at, evasive maneuvers are not viable, but in other situations they can be used, so remember that.

Now, three rolls of 2d6 please, and hopefully, lets scuttle these damned drones.
>>
Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d6)

>>4328059
>>
Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d6)

>>4328059
>>
Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)

>>4328059
>>
>>4328067
>>4328080
Good rolls! Give me a minute, and I will write up the story.
>>
Echoing the first salvo, the aft gun was the first to fire again. And, as it was in the first salvo, the aft gun was not able to score a hit. The drones were passing the netting and the pylons that had been ejected by the captain of the Clean Sweep by the time that the gun in the stern was able to open up. However, this burst flew truer, and ripped into the smallest of the four, crippling it. The drone had stopped accelerating, and was now moving in a wide arc, but at the distance it was not going to be enough to clear the Clean Sweep. At this point, there was only one drone that was still flying true. Emphasis on “was”. The vacflack gun in the midships managed to hit something tender, and for all the worlds, it look like the damn drone just shattered.
>>
>>4328119
There are now two Mad Drones remaining. Both require a roll of 5 to kill, as they are already crippled, and are no longer maneuvering.

Please, 3 rolls of 2d6 to beat 5.
>>
Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d6)

>>4328122
>>
Rolled 4, 6 = 10 (2d6)

>>4328122
>>
>>4328128
>>4328133
Ho ho! And that is all she wrote! A pretty good start to the first combat of the quest, isn't it. Give me one minute, and I will write it up.
>>
Rolled 2, 1 = 3 (2d6)

>>4328122
>>
The gunners in the stern struck first this time, and at the range they were at, the lead drone was simply taken to pieces by the burst. The midship gunners followed suit, and they managed to swat the last bastard down. You look on in amazement as the Clean Sweep manages to pull back from the blown out hangar, you had honestly expected to have seen the ship crippled or worse. And you look on in a different flavor of amazement as the aft gun of the Clean Sweep belatedly opens fire, attempt to shoot down the already downed drones.
You gesture over to one of your flag officers and ask him to “see what the hell is going on with that aft gun crew”. The Clean Sweep moves away from the blown-out hangar, leaving behind the netting and pylons, at least for now. The entire fleet is sitting at a relatively safe distance away from that hanger, with the flightlines of the main armaments of the fleet trained on that darkened, partially collapsed bay. The biggest question here, besides the sobriety of that gun crew, is how the drones managed to duck your sensors. There is a lot going on here that you do not readily follow. As you are mulling this over, another flag officer comes up to you, and informs you that the tug shuttle is ready for operation, it just needs a heading.

>Where will you send the tug shuttle?

>Send the tug to retrieve the nets and pylons of the Clean Sweep, as the fleet keeps the flightlines of their main guns on that hangar.

>Send the tub to examine the wrecks of the drones, for salvage, or potentially, recovery.

>Send the tug to inspect the derelict, at least the portions of which that are currently being covered by the flightlines of the heaviest weapons of the fleet.

>Send the tug to the blown out hangar, and discharge a disposable drone in there, to see how the drones managed to hide from the scans, and if there are any more.
>>
>>4328210
>Send the tug to the blown out hangar, and discharge a disposable drone in there, to see how the drones managed to hide from the scans, and if there are any more.
>>
>Send the tub to examine the wrecks of the drones, for salvage, or potentially, recovery. >>4328210
>>
>>4328225
>>4328224
Alright, I will leave this up for about 15 more minutes, or a tie breaker; if there isn't any, then I will flip for it.
>>
>>4328225
+1
>>
>>4328235
>>4328225
>>4328256
Alright then, I will start writing. Can someone please roll 4d20, so I can determine the condition of the Mad Drones (unarmed)?
>>
Rolled 7, 2, 13, 12 = 34 (4d20)

>>4328260
>>
>>4328264
Great, thanks!
>>
>>4328266
No problem.

I must sleep but I love the quest, keep it up.
>>
After a moment of thought you order the shuttle over to the wrecks of the drones. The captain of the tug broadcasts the feed from the external cameras, so your bridge can see.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 1: Gross Condition is 7 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition, 3 out of 20.
The first drone the tug comes across has been blown into several dozen small pieces. Any internal hardware either completely cooked or completely wrecked by the vacflack. But there is a good rule of thumb amongst scavengers like you. If it is big enough that it can be seen with the naked eye, then odds are it is cost effective to scrap.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 2: Gross Condition is 2 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition -2 out of 20.
The last drone that was shot should be around here. Maybe it was the brilliant burst from the midship gunners, or maybe it was the needless follow up from the aft, but either way, you are having a hard time finding this drone, which sort of precludes salvaging it. After a minute or so, you find what appears to be a relatively fresh cloud of micro-debris, and deduce that this was the last drone. After a quick consultation with engineering, you decide to use the magnetic ship to ship coupler to collect as much of the cloud as you possibly can, and when you have collected every thing you can, you will disengage the electromagnet and then simply brush the remains into bins for storage.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 3: Gross condition is 13 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition 9 out of 20. This must have been one of the drones that you managed to cripple then stop, considering that it is still mostly in one piece. Obviously, the internals are fried, but considering that you don’t know who made this thing, or what they made it to do (exactly at least, generally it seems that it is a simply slaved to the Derelict), it is probably for the best. However, as you are close enough to properly examine it, you can see that the drone has a light and a simple 4 axis arm, indicating that this is drone was not exclusively designed for suicide attacks.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 4: Gross condition is 12 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition 8 out of 20. Perhaps this was the other drone that was crippled before it was killed, as this one too is mostly in one piece. Now that you have two drones you notice that much like the ship itself, these drones seem to be built out in a tessellating style, though you do not believe that the drones are auto-tessellating. However, considering their modular nature, if you were to pull enough of these drone in good condition together, you might be able to rebuild them, though you’d need to install your own control package.
>>
>>4328319
What next?
>You have already salvaged one drone; you might as well salvage the others. Have the Karaboudjan eject one or two ECU’s and let us store the rest, before we do anything else.

>You have already secured one drone; you might as well secure the others. Have your flagship, the Aethereal Vulture, open the aft hangar, so you can send the remains of the drones to Engineering for further analysis, before we do anything else.

>You should look to restoring the Clean Sweep to full capabilities, considering you are using it as collateral in a loan. Have the shuttle-tug fetch the nets and pylons that were ejected earlier.

>You should take this lull as an opportunity to examine the Derelict itself. Have the shuttle-tug get up close and personal, so long as it is covered by the flightlines of the main guns from the Aethereal Vulture.

>You should take this lull as an opportunity to investigate why these drones do not ping on your scans. Have the shuttle-tug discharge a disposable drone into the blown-out hangar where the Mad Drones (unarmed) came out of.
>>
>You should take this lull as an opportunity to investigate why these drones do not ping on your scans. Have the shuttle-tug discharge a disposable drone into the blown-out hangar where the Mad Drones (unarmed) came out of

.>>4328334
>>
>>4328338
Considering that it is getting later, I will leave this vote open for another hour. After that, I will write up the post, and leave it over night.
>>
>>4328334
>You should take this lull as an opportunity to investigate why these drones do not ping on your scans. Have the shuttle-tug discharge a disposable drone into the blown-out hangar where the Mad Drones (unarmed) came out of.
>>
>>4328399
>>4328338
Alright, I will start writing.
>>
After quick correspondence with your flag officers, you decide the best course of action going forward is to suss out what triggered the suicide attack from those drones. Presumably, if these drones were slaved to some system or subsystem of the Derelict itself, then there would be communication between the two, which is what the scans should pick up on. Where there was no chatter in this area, it was assumed that there would be no external functionality, and certainly nothing as aggressive as launching what appear to be utility drones in a suicide attack.

There are three possibilities. First, the chatter between the ship and the drones is somehow concealed from your scanners. Second, there is no chatter, because the drones themselves are fully autonomous, which is terrifying, as that means there is no convenient and universal off switch for these bastards. And the third possibility is that some aspect of the relationship between the drones and the ship is not understood correctly. The hope here is that with the discharge of the disposable drone into the blown-out hangar, then you will be able to start to figure out what exactly is going on here. You transmit your orders, and the shuttle-tug gingerly moves into position. On the mark of the shuttle-tug’s commander, the feed in your bridge switches over from the external camera of the tug to the noticeably lower resolution feed from the Huginn Model Disposable Surveillance Drone.

The black spherical drone, trailing the released umbilical cable behind it, almost like a tail, moves into the ruins of the hangar. It is obvious that at some point, the hangar experienced rapid depressurization. There are portions of the tessellating hull that have suffered cosmetic damage all over the place, possibly implying that at least a good portion of this entire hangar was completely reshuffled at some point. Obviously, working on this derelict is going to be hazardous. Imagine if something went wrong, a repair protocol started up while you had teams exploring this Derelict, and the entire thing decided to reshuffle itself and, in the process, crush your men to their deaths, or just dump them into space?
Might be worth picking up a lot of drones on your way back. And a lot of spare men, too.
>>
>>4328515
As the drone heads in deeper, towards the far end of the hangar, you are able to get a better idea of what exactly you are looking at. What you thought were simply some sort of collapsed support running against the walls of the hangar appears to be some manner of elevator, designed to carry craft from storage decks to flight decks. As it goes from the floor to the ceiling, it is implied that there are two storage decks for small craft, one above you, and one below you.

You can clearly see the seam in the floor where the elevator was supposed to move, but the ceiling of the hangar looks different. It looks like the damned thing tessellated over the access to the upper storage deck. You can even see where it looks like the tessellating process ripped the elevator from its supports in the ceiling. Further on, there is a blast door, which unlike the hangar door, shows no signs of depressurization damage, implying that it was completely open when the blow out occurred. If that doesn’t raise red flags, nothing does.

>What are your orders for the drone pilot?

>Continue straight into the body of ship

>Continue down into the (presumed) lower storage deck

>Move up, and attempt to access the (presumed) upper storage deck.

>I sh
>>
>>4328516
Damn timer.
>I should be ready to run starting around 5pm Eastern Standard Time, though I will be in the thread earlier to field any questions. Hope to see you all then.
>>
>>4328516
>Continue straight into the body of ship
So far very interesting quest, it sparks that feeling of adventure and uncertainty.
>>
Hello players! I'm actually ready to run earlier than expected. So I will put this post up, wait for 2 hours, to see if there are any other votes besides >>4328533 and then start the run about an hour or so early.

Also, I realized that I didn't have a name yet for the 5th and final ship of our fleet (ignoring the shuttles and atmospheric craft). Any suggestions for names of the fleets dedicated Salvage Rig?
>>
>>4328516
>Continue straight into the body of ship

>>4329009
Old Ironsides
>>
>>4329009
Scrapper
>>
If the whole point of deploying this surveillance drone is to find where on earth the Mad Drones were coming from (and by extension, how to avoid them), then you would assume that they came from further inside the ship, as the elevators in the hangars seem to be have been rendered non-operational. At the very least, the presumed storage deck above the hangar has been sealed over, at least this portion of ceiling. At this distance, the flood lights of the shuttle-tug have been mostly blocked out by debris, so the Huginn unit engages its lights, but makes no other movement.
As you are just about to call over, the commander of the away team patches the drone operator through to the bridge.

“Got a question boss, and the commander says they should be your call. There are five ways to run this thing, and each has pros and cons.”

“This Huginn here has a decent receiver-transmitter package, and it has the “ping”, the ability to blast out a broad band of frequencies, which will reveal any other receiver-transmitter package in range. The issue with that is that it is subtle as yelling straight into someone’s ear. We will see them, but they will see us, no doubt. We can simply not use the “ping”, and simply have it receive orders and transmit video feed, but doing that means that the ship could find us before we find where they are broadcasting from."

"We can simply fly blind as well, just broadcast out to the Huginn. The drone will receive orders, and film everything it sees, but will not broadcast back, so we will not see any of it, at least until the drone comes back so we can playback the footage. The drone will be hard to find, for both us and the derelict, but if anything happens, we may never see any of the footage."

"There are two more extreme options. The first is to let the drone move completely autonomously, which means that there will be no need to broadcast, making the drone completely undetectable, at least to receiver-transmitter packages. It is easy for that kind of stuff to go wrong, and while flying blind means that you’d have a general idea of where it is, what it is doing, going autonomous means that once it is out of sight, you have no idea where it is, or what is happening to it. Finally, there is the hardline. We can simply keep the damn thing on the cable, which means that there is no transmission, no receiving, which like running autonomous means that it is invisible to the Derelict’ s receiver-transmitter packages. Unlike autonomous modality, we see and know everything the drone does, the moment that it does it. Issue with that is, we got to concern ourselves with the cable. There is only so much of it on the spool; the Huginn is not even all of the way out of the hangar yet, and more than half of the length is gone."
>>
>>4329175
After taking a second to reflect on your choices, you thank him for the information, and ask him to wait one minute to check in with the Quartermaster, to determine how many of these drones you have. The report comes back that you have a total of three Huginn drones, including the one in use right now, and one significantly more expensive Muninn atmosphere drone, which does not come with a cable. One of your flag officers suggests that the range of the drone on the hardline could be extended by grafting all of the cables together, but another points out that if anything happened, then potentially all of the cables could be lost at once. Ultimately, it is your decision.

>Use full functionality of receiver-transmitter package, including the "ping". We see what the drone sees when it sees it, and we will find any of the Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages as soon as they are in range, with the downside of being blatantly obvious.

>Use full functionality of receiver-transmitter package, excluding the "ping". We see what the drone sees when it sees it, and may find the Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages before they find our drone.

>Only use the receiver. We will have to wait for the drone to make its way back to the shuttle for us to see what it sees. Will only have general idea as to where drone is and what is happening to it. May find the Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages before they find our drone, and may find these packages without being detected at all.

>Autonomous modality. We will have to wait for the drone to make its way back to the shuttle for us to see what it sees. Will have no idea as to where drone is and what is happening to it. May find Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages, PROBABLY undetectable to these packages.

>Umbilical Cable. We will directly control the drone from the shuttle, seeing everything that it sees when it sees it. May find Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages, PROBABLY undetectable to these packages. Limited range.

>Umbilical Cable x3. Same as above, but with all three cables grafted together. Range is still limited, and risks losing all cables at once if something goes wrong.
>>
>>4329201
A small typographical error in this post, it should be a Munnin atmospheric drone, as opposed to a Munnin atmosphere drone.
>>
>>4329201
>Use full functionality of receiver-transmitter package, excluding the "ping". We see what the drone sees when it sees it, and may find the Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages before they find our drone.
>>
>>4329201
>Use full functionality of receiver-transmitter package, including the "ping". We see what the drone sees when it sees it, and we will find any of the Derelicts receiver-transmitter packages as soon as they are in range, with the downside of being blatantly obvious.
>>
>>4329228
>>4329213
Okay, so I will let this sit for about 15 minutes or so, then if there isn't a tie breaker, I will roll for it.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4329231
Alright, rolling for it.
>>4329213 is 1
>>4329228 is 2
>>
Alright, I have figured out how I want to do this. Can I get 1d6 and 1d20 please?
>>
Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>4329298
>>
>>4329318
Uh oh. That isn't a good start. Don't worry though, a decent roll on the 1d20 should negate the worst of it. It has been long enough, if you want, you can roll again, just to keep things moving along.
>>
Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>4329298
>>
>>4329362
Okay, well, the drone is still in one piece, at least. Writing!
>>
File: Room 2 off of Hangar.jpg (3.09 MB, 4032x3024)
3.09 MB
3.09 MB JPG
After some thought, you decide to use the full extent of the receiver-transmitter package, including the “ping”. Ultimately, finding the mouth and the ears of this Derelict are imperative, so you are going to assume that risk. Or more accurately, you are going to have the drone assume that risk. Having communicated the instructions to the drone pilot, he acknowledges receipt of the instructions, and shifts his line to your bridge to standby, so if something happens, you can coordinate. Returning your attention to the video feed, you can see the camera shake as the umbilical cable is release, and the drone begins to move, unbound. At what you judge to be waist height, the drone maneuvers towards the opened blast door.

The frame of the blast door has additional reinforcement on both sides. The drone operator doesn’t linger around the door or door frame for long, choosing to simply pass through, but the surprising construction does not go unnoticed by your engineering chief, Attenborough. “If both sides of the frame are reinforced like that, then that probably means they were equally worried about explosions on both sides of the door. There may be some manner of fuel plant or fuel pump nearby, so they could get fuel to the crafts quickly.” After a slight hesitation, adds “Or, there could be some manner of ammo dump nearby”. You take a minute to contact the drone pilot and inform him of the potential danger in the area.

His immediate response: “So should I pull back, boss?”. Admittedly, this is not optimal. If you are sending a drone into what could be an ammo dump, then things can go really wrong, really quickly. On the other hand, you have seen no evidence of anything dangerous yet. If you were completely risk adverse, you would not be Owner-Operator of a salvaging fleet. (Or for that matter, take a loan using the Clean Sweep as collateral, without the knowledge or approval of the rest of the owners and shareholders). Still, you can feel the eyes of Engineering Chief Attenborough on the back of you neck as you instruct the drone pilot to continue as planned, until something actually dangerous comes up in the video feed.

The drone pilot, now more cautiously than before, decelerates the drone to a slower speed, and continues into this area, which seems to have two floors. One that the drone is waist height off, and an elevated portion to the right, as the drone sits. The floor the drone is on now is completely clear, as far as it can see, all the way to the next door, on the other side of the area. The second floor most prominent feature is a series of structures. They look like the elevators in the hangar, except these are running horizontally, instead of vertically, all lined up, leading to the door on the far side of the room, on the second level. After moving into the center of the room, the ping has not return anything.
>>
>>4329554
Moving to inspect the horizontal pylon, the pilot maneuvers the drone up to the second level. However, as the drone is floating by the top of the structure, it begins to accelerate towards the nearest frame. There is a significant jolt as the drone makes impact with the corner of the frame, followed then by mild shaking. The drone pilot comes through on the shortwave. "Running diagnostics on the the little bastard right now, boss, but I can tell you that I still have complete control of the damn thing. Whatever went wrong here it wasn't the drone."

But Chief Engineer Attenborough has the answer before the diagnostics are even back. "Magnets, I'll wager. Any takers?" He certainly has the bridges attention, though no one accepts his challenge. "I think that is an over-engineered track for a nograv train. Most simply have the wheels above and below the track, but besides that are built like conventional train tracks, you know, on one plane. But instead of putting four wheels underneath the train-car, the builders here put the four wheels on each of the corners of the train-car instead. And what looked like a support for the mystery frame was actually a magnetic portion of track." Not even a minute later, the drone pilot comes back on line to report that the drone is functionally operation, though it is reading that it is under the effect of a powerful magnet.

Well, thanks to Attenborough, you at least have an idea of what happened to the drone, and what you are looking at in this room (from roll of 11). That doesn't change the fact that your drone is completely stuck. Though at least you can day dream about finding and salvaging a complete train.

>Have someone EVA into the Trainyard (formerly Room 2) and attempt to unfoul the drone from the magnet.
>Send out a second drone into the Trainyard and ignore the first drone for now.
>Send out a second drone into the Hangar and attempt to find another area to explore, preferably one without magnets.
>>
>>4329604
>Have someone EVA into the Trainyard (formerly Room 2) and attempt to unfoul the drone from the magnet.
>>
>>4329604
>Have someone EVA into the Trainyard (formerly Room 2) and attempt to unfoul the drone from the magnet.

We just got these drones let's not lose them!
>>
>>4329664
>>4329666
Alright, I'll start writing.
>>
File: Derelict Map.jpg (435 KB, 3846x1156)
435 KB
435 KB JPG
>>4329697
I'm going to take a quick break for dinner, but for now, I will share the updated map for the ship.
>>
>>4329747
You instruct the shuttle-tug commander to send out someone on an EVA to unfoul the drone. After some delay, you receive confirmation that the crewman has left the shuttle and is on the way. There is another delay, and then you are patched through to the camera on his suit, which if possible is even worse than the camera on the drone. Seriously, what the hell is this resolution? Even so, you can track the crewman’s progress, and it is not more than a minute until he is in the trainyard, positioning himself in front of the drone. It takes you a minute to realize what he is doing, but eventually you realize that he is attaching the umbilical cable again to the Huginn, so the shuttle-tug can pull the damn thing clear. Probably easier and safer than a crowbar, right?

There is a series of clicks, as the cable as reengaged. Once the crewman confirms the connection, the drone pilot begins to reel in the drone.

>Please roll 1d20 to determine the condition of the drone
>>
>>4329864
Not that it is much of an improvement, but I figure that for temporary changes to the map, I could use paint, instead of constantly redrawing the entire thing. Also, numbers that are circled indicate features, and the numbers that are squared indicated room names, based off of deduced function.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4329864
>>
>>4329899
Alright, I'll start writing.
>>
>>4329975
Disposable Huginn (Unarmed) 4: Gross condition is 8 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Disposably Built, Gentle Situation, Human Touch reduce condition by 3 and increase condition by 5 and 1, respectively. Net Condition 11 out of 20. Well, the drone is still in working order at least, but any thing beyond cosmetic damage might destroy the damn thing. Well, anyway…
You have the drone free, floating above the center of the trainyard. The crewman is apparently returning to the ship at an undignified speed, so now you need to decide, where to go with the drone from here exactly? Now that you think about it, there is not anything that is immediately ready to be explored. Where are you going to explore?
>Look at the doors on the other side of the trainyard.
>Look at the hatches on the floor of the hangar.
>Look at the hatches on the ceiling of the hangar.
>Look around the hangar door.

>I am sorry for the delay there, got held up a bit.
>>
>>4330141
>Look around the hangar door.

Let's get an idea of what's on this floor before looking at the hatches on the ceilings and floors
>>
>>4330141
>Look around the hangar door.
>>
>>4330168
>>4330151
Alright, I will start writing.
>>
File: Roller Coaster Wheels.jpg (48 KB, 602x335)
48 KB
48 KB JPG
You give instructions for the drone pilot to examine the remains of the blown-out hangar door, as you are not ready to start cutting through doors or floors (or ceilings) yet. As the drone slowly limps to the hangar, you reflect on the strange condition of the twin blast doors on the far side of the trainyard. As much of a contrast as the intact and closed blast door at the far side of the hangar was to the complete destruction of the hangar door; the contrast was even greater between the destroyed hangar door and the intact and closed doors on the far side of the trainyard.

The way you see it, that means that one of two things. Either the door was closed after depressurization, or perhaps some portion of the ship remain pressurized after the blowout. The first option means that significant systems remained intact after the damage experienced here, also evidenced by the fact that the hull was still attempting to reform what you consider the aft of the vessel. Having to deal with AI-protocols designed to protect and maintain a ship, while you are actively trying to dismantle parts of it, is tedious at best, and lethal at worst. But the second option is not an itinerary for a cakewalk either, Cutting into a pressurized bulkhead is best reserved for those who have death wishes.

Then again, you suppose, just because one of the things is true, does not make the other false. This job is getting harder by the minute. And the Derelict is getting stranger by the minute.

As the drone is still limping towards the hangar door; the commander of the shuttle-tug comes on the shortwave. His engineering officer just finished debriefing the crewman back from the EVA, and he picked up something that he thought you should know.

“I cannot conceive of any reason it would be like this, but I reviewed the feed from Crewman Grassick’s suit, and it checks out. It is completely inverted. It is less of train, and more of an preposterously overengineered conveyor belt.”

“Imagine a conventional train; the rails sit on the ground, and the primary wheels go on top. When you got a lowgrav or nograv train, then they will use extra, secondary and tertiary wheels, on top and on the sides of the track, to prevent it from floating off. The yahoos who built this thing, they didn’t decide on the more expensive and involved option to use four primary wheels in the corners of the train car, instead of two primary wheels under it with the secondary and tertiary wheels, like we thought. No, because that isn’t odd enough. They built their train with no wheels.”

>attached picture is a render of actual roller coaster wheels, which are built like and work on the same principle as the hypothetical lowgrav or nograv train that the engineer is speaking about.
>>
>>4330379
“I’m sorry, I am not following this at all. How can a train–“
“I don’t follow it either boss, but that is what the yahoos did. The tracks are where the wheels should be, and the wheels are where the tracks should be. Imagine that typical, conventional locomotive. Now imagine if the rails were replaced with a series of powered pinon gears, and the wheels were replaced with rack gears, you know, the ones like the worm gear, but with the flat blacks, instead.”

“So, you are saying that instead of having one or two massive engines, there are thousands, possibly tens of thousands of smaller ones throughout this ship instead?” When the exasperated engineer answers in the affirmative, your first thought is all of the money that those miniature engines would represent. Even if the nograv train was in perfect condition, you’d never be able to sell it as is, considering the maintenance that would be involved, unless you found some absolute eccentric. No, you’d have to break the rails, which are not rails but actually frames for pinon gears and presumably drives down into salvage. The amount of money represented there alone may be enough to pay off the loans, and then start saving for a tanker that is not over 100 years old. You are in a state of bliss, but it begins to sour, as wordless worry enters your mind.

Before you can articulate them, however, Attenborough speaks them out loud.

“It is like the builders, these ‘yahoos’, were operating on a completely different set of constraints, efficiencies and even logic, than today’s naval architects. When, exactly, was this built?”

The flag officers around the bridge shift uneasily. Attenborough’s question begs another. Who, exactly, built this? No one seemingly wants to hear it, because if your gut instinct, that this might be a genuine, actually alien, craft is right, then that opens so many God damned issues that-

“Drone is in position, sir.”

>attached picture is a rack and pinon gear, with the pinon being attached to a drive shaft. Similar to what would be used on the nograv tracks
>>
>>4330391
Jesus Christ. How slow is that damned thing now. Continuing to ignore inconvenient questions, you return your attention to the feed. Being winched out of that magnet did not do the drones cameras any favors, but you can still see what the hell is going on. The hangar door is gone, and the floor around it, including the small lip outside of it is warped. At the current angle, you can see actual holes in the floor, into the deck below.

>A hangar door requires serious equipment to open and close. If you can find it, you might be able to find an isolated portion of the system that you could examine at your leisure.

>Well, you found a way into the presumed storage deck underneath the flight deck. If the ships and supplies were properly stored, then it is possible that they are still down there.

>The entire point of this exercise was to find a receiver-transmitter package, despite “pinging” around this deck, you haven’t managed to find one. It is possible that the receiver-transmitter package that was responsible for launching the attack is outside of the hull. Look around the outside of the blown out hangar.

>I will be back tomorrow! See you guys then.
>>
>>4330394
>Well, you found a way into the presumed storage deck underneath the flight deck. If the ships and supplies were properly stored, then it is possible that they are still down there.

I smell loot
>>
>>4330394
>Well, you found a way into the presumed storage deck underneath the flight deck. If the ships and supplies were properly stored, then it is possible that they are still down there.
>>
>>4330394
>The entire point of this exercise was to find a receiver-transmitter package, despite “pinging” around this deck, you haven’t managed to find one. It is possible that the receiver-transmitter package that was responsible for launching the attack is outside of the hull. Look around the outside of the blown out hangar.
>>
>>4330394
>Well, you found a way into the presumed storage deck underneath the flight deck. If the ships and supplies were properly stored, then it is possible that they are still down there.
>>
>>4330413
>>4330415
>>4330416
>>4330497
Alright, can I have 2d20, one to determine what happens to the drone as it move into the new area, and one to determine what happens in the new area?
>>
Rolled 1, 17 = 18 (2d20)

>>4330882
>>
Rolled 13, 8 = 21 (2d20)

>>4330882
>>
Rolled 8, 20 = 28 (2d20)

>>4330882
>>4330886
oh no
>>
>>4330886
>>4330887
>>4330890
Hmm. Well, give me a minute to write this up.
>>
Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>4330895
Dropped the name, also, pay no attention to this roll.
>>
On your command, the drone pilot eases the Huginn through the largest hole in the floor of the flight deck. The fit is tight, tight to the point that the drone is scrapping the sides of the hole as it passes through, shaking the camera. Progress through the floor slows and then eventually stops. Contacting the drone pilot, he explains that the unit has once again gotten itself stuck, though this time he is confident that he can squeeze it free. You instruct him to continue, though to not push it to the point that the drone becomes both immobilized and irretrievable. It is a solid, agonizing ten minutes. At one point, the camera is no longer pointing down, but at the sides of the hole, so there is nothing to see.
But eventually, the pilot comes back on.

“Good news boss. We made it through.” You pick up the shortwave to respond. “Are you sure? It looks like the drone is still stuck in the tunnel on the feed. We can’t see anything here.” The pilot clears his throat, then replies with “Yeah, that is the bad news. Diagnostics indicate that the lights and the video are down. But I have full freedom of movement now, even if the connection is terrible.”

You absently scratch your head as you try to formulate a reply here, as you do not understand how the pilot can sound so pleased with themselves, considering that the drone is effectively irretrievable and unable to send footage anymore. Before you can as for an explanation, however, the pilot provides one.

“However, the receiver-transmitter package still works, and better yet, we are still “pinging”. We got hits; the drone is picking up on about 140 simple receivers, you know, the kind that you’d put on things so you could locate them by ‘pinging’ them.” You were about to congratulate, thank him, but he was still going. “And then there are about 3,150 unknown transmitter-receiver packages, complete packages mind you, capable of transmitting and receiving, the number changes slightly as I move the unit. Some of the hits are pretty far away too, this deck is longer than the hangar and that other room combined, at least. I cannot tell you what the hell is down here, but I can certainly say that there is a lot them. I do not believe any of them are active though, there is absolutely no movement down here. Still as a grave, it is.”

Perhaps sounding a little more emotional than you would have preferred, you thank the pilot, and tell him to await further orders. You are not particularly well versed in history, as most of your knowledge comes from movies, but you recall the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, where the archaeologist, peering through a hole into the undisturbed chamber first caught a glimpse of what he would call ‘wondrous things’. Full function transmitter-receiver packages are not cheap, and even if they were not attached to anything else, which is unlikely, if retrieved would represent a significant windfall.
>>
>>4330952

What now?

>Try to send in a second Huginn drone to see what is going on there.

>Maybe send a crew to try to expand the hole, just a little, so the drone can move safely through.

>Whatever is down there, odds are that the elevators are going to be the only way to retrieve them. Send out drones and get Engineering to determine what would be needed to restore them to working order.
>>
>>4330952
>Maybe send a crew to try to expand the hole, just a little, so the drone can move safely through.

Let's get a better look before we start going down there with engineers
>>
>>4330954
>Whatever is down there, odds are that the elevators are going to be the only way to retrieve them. Send out drones and get Engineering to determine what would be needed to restore them to working order.
if we pull this right then we are rich.
>>
>>4330954
>Maybe send a crew to try to expand the hole, just a little, so the drone can move safely through.

>>4330973
There's plenty here that can make us rich, but we still need to get out in one piece. Remember we only came in here to determine how the mad drones were able to avoid detection. Let's try to avoid getting a thousand mad drones sent at us at once.
>>
>>4330977
Even so, luck favours the bold...... at least i think so.
>>
I'll give it another 20 or so minutes, and then I will call it for trying to expand the hole. It is always great to see discussion.
>>
>>4330954
>Maybe send a crew to try to expand the hole, just a little, so the drone can move safely through.
>>
The first order of business is to get a drone with a camera down into the lower storage deck. After consultation with your flag officers, Attenborough and the other engineers, as well as the commanders of the other vessels, you have three plans to move forward.

Plan 1: Improvised Expansion. Using the equipment on hand, specifically your plasma torches, cut around the hole to expand it further, so a drone may easily pass through to the storage deck below. This work is well beyond the precision of your Salvage Rig, so it will have to be done by human hands.

Plan 2: Boring Option. Hold off on this particular avenue of exploration and buy specialized (and automated or automatable) boring or drilling equipment when you return to port. Specialized equipment like that may be expensive, but if you were willing to buy stolen goods, or have it stolen yourself, then there might be some cost savings right there.

Plan 3: Longboy Protocol. Take one of the three remaining drones, attempt to bypass the intellectual property protection functionality, and if you succeed in hacking it, rebuild the entire thing around the constraints of this hole. Rebuild the drone in this configuration will give the Slapdash Build modifier, which makes the drone significantly more fragile if anything were to happen with it.

>Please pick one of these mutually exclusive choices
>>
>>4331005
Plan 1: Improvised Expansion. Using the equipment on hand, specifically your plasma torches, cut around the hole to expand it further, so a drone may easily pass through to the storage deck below. This work is well beyond the precision of your Salvage Rig, so it will have to be done by human hands.
>>
>>4331005
Plan 1: Improvised Expansion.
What could go wrong.
>>
>>4331005
Plan 1: Improvised Expansion. Using the equipment on hand, specifically your plasma torches, cut around the hole to expand it further, so a drone may easily pass through to the storage deck below. This work is well beyond the precision of your Salvage Rig, so it will have to be done by human hands.
>>
>>4331019
>>4331017
>>4331013
Alright, I will get to writing. Give me 3 rolls of a d20 so I can see how well this goes. As usual, the higher the roll, the better the outcome.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4331023
>>
Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>4331023
>>
>>4331028
>>4331039
lets hope the next one is better.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4331023
>>
>>4331028
>>4331039
>>4331041
>>4331045
Alright, I will start writing.
>>
>>4331058
>Actually, I have somethings around the house that I need to do, before it gets much later. I'll take a break from the quest for two hours, but I should be back, soon after lunch.

Ultimately, you settle on the most straightforward of the plans, to attempt to expand the hole. It will take a minute or two for the crew to get equipped, as nearly everyone is in battle stations after the suicide rush, so you some time to do something else.

>Retrieve the pylons and the netting for the Clean Sweep using the shuttle-tug.

>Use another Huginn drone to investigate more of the hangar area.

>Get some of the debris that the Clean Sweep picked up before it was attacked, and have Attenborough and Engineering run some quick tests on it. You do not have anything approaching a lab though, so do not expect much.
>>
>>4331077

>Retrieve the pylons and the netting for the Clean Sweep using the shuttle-tug.
>>
>>4331077
Oh, and as a completely unrelated vote, we never decided on a name for the dedicated Salvage Rig.

>Old Ironsides
>Scrapper
>Write-in

And as we are restarting the vote here, you can definitely vote for your own suggestion.
>>
>>4331077
>Retrieve the pylons and the netting for the Clean Sweep using the shuttle-tug.

>Old Ironsides
>>
>Retrieve the pylons and the netting for the Clean Sweep using the shuttle-tug.
>Vulture
a name fitting for its role of cannibalizing dead hulks
>>
>>4331082
>Old Ironsides
>Retrieve the pylons and the netting for the Clean Sweep using the shuttle-tug.
>>
>>4331339
>>4331154
>>4331105
Sorry that I was away longer than I expected. I will get the update started right away.

>>4331154
It is a good name, but it is worth noting that our current flagship, a recovered and restored Mine Layer is called the Aethereal Vulture.
>>
You decide that this is the optimum moment to clean up after the Clean Sweep, and order the commander of the shuttle tug to grab the netting and support pylons. I need one roll of 1d2 and one roll of 1d20, please.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>4331369
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4331369
>>
Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4331369
>>
>>4331389
Actually, I was looking for 1d20, though I could use that, if you want...
>>
>>4331395
>>4331387
Alright, I will get to writing.
>>
>>4331405
The commander receives the instructions, and begins the process of wrangling the netting away from the Derelict. About half a minute passes, before you detect erratic movement heading towards you again. Drones again. Whatever is "seeing" you has to be around the outside of the hangar, as opposed to in it.

>Order the commander of the shuttle-tug to dump the pylons and netting, so they can get out of the flightlines of your fleets guns. Shuttle will presumably escape danger, pylons and netting will likely be destroyed, either by drones or by your fire.

>Order the commander of the shuttle-tug to haul the pylons and netting away from the hanger, so they and the pylons and netting can get out of the flightlines of your fleets guns. Shuttle, pylons and nets will probably escape danger.

>Order the commander of the shuttle-tug to jettison the pylons and netting into the hangar, in an attempt to disable or possibly capture some of the drones. Shuttle will probably escape danger, but the pylons and netting will probably be destroyed.
>>
>>4331466
>Order the commander of the shuttle-tug to jettison the pylons and netting into the hangar, in an attempt to disable or possibly capture some of the drones. Shuttle will probably escape danger, but the pylons and netting will probably be destroyed.

Oof more drones
>>
>>4331466
>Order the commander of the shuttle-tug to haul the pylons and netting away from the hanger, so they and the pylons and netting can get out of the flightlines of your fleets guns. Shuttle, pylons and nets will probably escape danger.
>>
>>4331478
>>4331502
Alright, I am going to leave this up for about 15 minutes, if no one else votes, I will roll for it.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4331527
>>4331478 roll of 1
>>4331502 roll of 2
>>
>>4331602
Alright, can I get a roll of 1d20, to determine how quickly the shuttle-tug can move?
>>
Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>4331606
>>
>>4331608
Good roll! That is enough to ensure that the shuttle-tug and the pylons and nets are able to move to safety, all without losing a potential turn. Give me a minute to write it up...
>>
The shuttle-tug is significantly more maneuverable than the Clean Sweep, and she has a significantly more skilled flight crew. On top of that, it seems that the commander of the shuttle-tug didn’t need to be told to continue trying to haul the pylons and netting away, they never stopped attempting to retrieve them. Firing their retrogrades, the ship spins, or more accurately, yaws straight into making solid contact with the first primary pylon and the electromagnet integrated into the reinforced fore of the hull. Without wasting time or momentum, the shuttle-tug moves towards the other primary pylon.

Instead of lining up a proper angle for solid contact, the shuttle-tug uses their main arm to grab the other pylon. With both secured, the ship accelerates away, heading towards the storage deck underneath the hangar bay instead of falling back to the rest of the fleet, so clear the flightlines of the fleet’s weapons. This is when you get your first look at this new batch of drones accelerating through the hangar. There are 12 this time, and three of them are noticeably larger than their counterparts. Still, none of them are armed. With the fleet further away then the Clean Sweep was during the first rush, you will have 5 turns before the fastest drones reach your ships.
>>
>>4331714
These are your ships that have combat capability and are or will be in range of the enemy during this engagement.

The trawler, the Clean Sweep has three Vulcan point defense guns, armed with standard vacflack rounds, and is in position for it to fire all three of its guns. Having already been in an engagement, it only has three rounds of ammunition left, for each of these guns (assuming all 3 guns are fired in the round).

The freighter, the Karaboudjan, has two Vulcan point defense guns, also armed with standard vacflack rounds, and is in position for it to fire all two of its guns. As most of the supplies are stored on the freighter, it has ready access to 8 rounds of ammunition left, for each of these guns. With another 8 rounds that can be retrieved in exchange for one round of action.

The tanker, the Mammon, has a total of six Vulcan point defense guns, again, armed with standard vacflack rounds, and is in position to fire two of its guns, though it can reposition itself so that four of its six guns are in position to fire, in exchange for one round of action. With two guns firing it has enough ammunition for six turns, with 4 guns firing it has enough ammunition for 3 turns.

The salvage rig, Old Ironsides, is unarmed, though it can attempt to overclock its integrated plasma torch to zap, burn and slice nearby enemies. Dangerous to attempt, as even if the overclocking goes safely, the momentum of the enemy may be enough for the attacker to reach the rig, and crash into it.

The former minelayer, the Aethereal Vulture has a total of four Vulcan point defense guns, armed with standard vacflack, and three Janus Twinned Autocannons. All weapons are in position to fire. It has access to 4 rounds of vacflack, if all 4 guns are being fired, and 4 rounds of firing all three of the autocannons.
>>
>>4331718
You have several choices to make before you open fire.

At the current distance of the fleet to the drones, the vac-flak will have cooled off, and possibly shattered, rendering it less effective. A Vulcan Gun rolls 2d6, but only when it is in range. At the current distance at the start of combat, the Vulcan Guns will be rolling 2d6-2 instead. Do you want to hold off on shooting the Vulcans until they are at a better range?
>Yes/No

The Janus Twinned Autocannons are in range, however, they aren't accurate against small fast targets, and they might be capable of damaging the Derelict as well. Against the Mad Drones, they roll 2d6-3, and against the Morbidly Obese Drones, they roll 2d6-1. Do you want to save the heavy weapons for another engagement?
>Yes/No

The Mammon has already suffered damage, the Clean Sweep is running low on ammunition, and Old Ironsides does not have any weapons. Do you want any of them to retreat?
>Yes/No

Also, you can pick a ship that you want to roll for. Considering that this is going to be a bit more involved, I will let this sit for about an hour, to make sure that everyone interested can join in.
>>
>>4331738
>Hold off till in range?
Yes

>Save Autocannons?
No, but only have them shoot the big drones

>Retreat ships?
Retreat Ironsides, since it's useless this fight, keep the others so they can contribute. Also, when did the Mammon suffer damage, or is that just the one tank the malfunctioned at the start?

>First Person Ship?
Obviously the flagship: Aethereal Vulture.


On another note, after we wrap up this combat, if we can't find what's sending the drones at us, we need to grab what we can, maybe a few scrap pieces, and GTFO. It seems like these drones are not going to stop coming, and will come in larger numbers, and we do not have a lot of ammunition.
>>
>>4331761
Yes, the primary tank is also the hull itself, so the Mammon has some damage. Nothing significant, but something worth remembering.

Also, the idea was that different players would roll for different ships, so you could roll for the Aethereal Vulture, someone else could roll for the Clean Sweep, etc, but it seems that there isn't anyone else around. I'll take an hour off for dinner, hopefully someone else will show up. If not, then you can roll for all of the fleet, if you want.
>>
>>4331761
+1
I was taking a long nap
>>
>>4331841
Alright, do you have a preference of what ship you would like to roll for? The flagship has already been taken.
>>
>>4331868
I guess the trawler it has a few guns
>>
Ordering your fleet to hold off for now, as to not waste ammunition, you order the gunnery sergeant of the Aethereal Vulture to target the bigger and slightly slower drones with the auto-cannons. As the orders are passed along, you open a frequency to Old Ironsides, and order them to withdraw from combat. The lights in the bridge flicker for a second, as the guns come online and draw power. You order all noncombatants across the entire fleet into shelter, then leave the channel open as you sink down into your chair.

>>4331761
Alright, you can roll 3 2d6-1, one for each of the guns.
>>
Rolled 2, 3, 2 - 1 = 6 (3d6 - 1)

>>4331906
I'm new. Loving the quest so far. if we run out of ammunition, and if we have enough disposable drones a explosives, would we have drones fly into the other drones and kamikaze them?
>>
>>4331906
Actually, if you wanted to, you could roll 6d6, and then I'd calculate the actual rolls from that, if you wanted. I'm beginning to think that my ship combat mechanics need to be streamlined. I'll spend some time later tonight doing a dry run of a better system.

>>4331917
Let's simplify things, could you roll 6d6, with no -1, and I will do the rest?
>>
Rolled 6, 3, 3, 1, 5, 2 = 20 (6d6)

>>4331927
>>
Rolled 2, 5, 2, 3, 4, 4 = 20 (6d6)

>>4331927
>>
>>4331917
We do have some explosives, and we do have two remaining drones yes. The time that it would take is the issue here. I'll try to figure out some way to make that work.

>>4331929
Janus AC 1: (6+3) - 1 = 8
Janus AC 2: (3+1) - 1 = 3
Janus AC 3: (5+2) - 1 = 6

Autocannons are not built for this kind of enemy, but considering they are coming through a choke point, you are able to score at least one decent shot of a Morbidly Obese Drone, enough to cripple it. It is no longer accelerating properly, and will probably not last another hit like that. The other shots either winged or missed. The first of the smaller drones are now leaving the hangar.

These drones are still slightly out of range of the Vulcan cannons, and will operate at 2d6-1 for each of the guns. On the other hand, you have 11 Vulcan point defense guns standing by.

>Hold off on the flack for another turn, or go all in?
>>
>>4331946
Go for it
>>
>>4331946
>Hold off on the flack for another turn
Rotate more guns in their direction, and get out crew to pick designated targets.
>>
>>4331966 roll of 1
>>4331969 roll of 2
Okay, I will let this sit for 10 minutes, and then if there is not a tiebreaker, then I will roll for it.
>>
>>4331969
+1, we don't have a lot of ammo and I think we can handle it
>>
>>4331979
Okay, you will hold until you see the clusters in their forward sensors, so to speak.

If the three of you are ready, you could each roll 2d6-1, one for each one of the Janus ACs.

(I am trying to find a good balance between player participation and streamlined mechanics, please bear with me)
>>
Rolled 6, 6 - 1 = 11 (2d6 - 1)

>>4332000
Last I recall there were 11 incoming drones and 1 damaged ones. Do we have enough salvage at this point to return to a refueling station, get more fuel, ammo, and drones, then come back to this ship?
>>
Rolled 1, 2 + 1 = 4 (2d6 + 1)

>>4332000
>>
>>4332011
As things stand, we can make it back comfortably, but as far as salvage, we have two TEU's of drones, plus whatever the Clean Sweep was able to net before the first drone attack. That isn't enough to break even, not even close. There is also the repairs that need to be considered for the Mammon, and the idea that specialists should be hired, in addition to take on extra crew, supplies and ammunition.

No, Without putting the fleet into a dangerous situation and getting lucky on roles, there isn't enough easily available salvage or saleable goods on the ship to cover the costs of getting the fleet back to the point that it was when it left for this expedition, let alone taking on more equipment, crews and weapons.

As discussed earlier though there is the option of using another ship as collateral for another loan. Or, for that matter, using the same ship as collateral to a different lender, if you wanted to play those kind of games. Or if you really wanted to play games, there is a well established gambling district back at port. Nothing is stopping you from betting the title to the Clean Sweep (already collateral on a loan). But of course, that would be really unethical.
>>
>>4332050
Then what that means is we need to figure out how these drones are getting sent to our ship and stop that BEFORE we do any more treasure hunting, so that we can treasure hunt at our leisure. If we get hit with another wave we might be forced to leave for ammunition reasons.
>>
>>4332050
I think if we use anymore ships for collateral, we won't have any ships left. I guess we're gonna have to knuckle down and pray for the best.

>>4332068
I'm thinking we should invest in laser weapons. Probably only if we break even and then some.
>>
>>4332068
>>4332073
Hmm, good discussion. One of you can roll one more 2d6-1, so we can conclude this round of combat.
>>
Rolled 2, 2 - 1 = 3 (2d6 - 1)

>>4332078
>>
Aethereal Vulture.

Janus AC 1: (6+6) - 1 = 11 is targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 1. Destroyed.
Janus AC 2: (1+2) - 1 = 2 is targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 2. Missed.
Janus AC 3: (2+1) - 1 = 2 is targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 2 Missed.

2 rounds of Janus AC ammo remaining (firing all 3 guns)

The auto-cannons managed to completely destroy one of the larger drones, and managed to completely miss the remaining undamaged large drone. Now, this is where the fun begins. Attenborough comes through on the shortwave, and explains that down in Engineering they are trying to attach some of explosives on hand to the Huginn. If they are lucky, they might be able to make a counter-suicide drone.

>The counter-suicide Huginn will be ready for deployment in 2 turns. It has a 75% chance of hitting and destroying an incoming Mad Drone.

Now, the drones are in range of the flack cannons. 9 or higher destroys the Mad Drone outright, 7 or higher will cripple it, slowing it down and significantly weakening it. 4 or higher will damage it, meaning that if it is hit again it will be enough to destroy it, but it doesn't get slowed down. And anything lower than a 4 is a complete miss. You have a total of 11 Vulcan guns that are in position to fire. And 3 turns to shoot down the remaining drones. Good luck.
>>
The Clean Sweep is up first. I need three rolls of 2d6. Unless specified otherwise, the target will be the "healthiest" and fastest drone. In case of multiple drones at the same level of health and speed, then one will be randomly selected as a target.
>>
Rolled 5, 6 = 11 (2d6)

>>4332127
>>
Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d6)

>>4332127
>>
Rolled 5, 5 = 10 (2d6)

>>4332127
get to making the boon drone. Do they know if it would be at all possible to jurry rig/repair the drones we salvage well enough to repurposed them into suicide drones as well?
>>
>>4332145
Yeah, it should be ready. But there is only going to be one of them, and it can only be used once.

Alright, so now there are 6 guns that are in position between the Karaboudjan and the Mammon, as the Mammon took the time during the drones advance to move into a better position. So that is 4d6 from each of you.
>>
Rolled 3, 2, 4, 1 = 10 (4d6)

>>4332157
But what about reverse engineering the drones we catch?
>>
Rolled 5, 1, 6, 6 = 18 (4d6)

>>4332157
>>
>>4332162
We can certainly try to do that, it is simply a question of if there is enough time to do that during combat, which there isn't. After combat though, then there might be an opportunity.
>>
>>4332166
Sorry, I meant reverse engineer to acquired drones outside of combat.
>>
>>4332170
Yeah, we can definitely try that. Though considering the condition of the drones that we have recovered so far, we haven't gotten anything that we can easily restore to functionality. Though again, we are dealing with a sample size of 4, so there is that to consider.
>>
>>4332184
Even if we only manage to refit 1 drone of every 4 or 10 we salvage, that would be more than enough to soften up a wave of incoming drones, which might save us enough munitions to deal with 3 or 4 more waves.

I also want to figure out from which areas the drones came from.
>>
>>4332184
I'll give it another 10 minutes, then one of you two can make the last 4d6.
>>
Rolled 1, 3, 5, 2 = 11 (4d6)

>>4332206
>>
>>4332206
Having separate rolls for every ship when we have 5 ships and several turns of combat seems pointlessly slow and inefficient, we should really just roll a bunch at once.
>>
Yeah, we should. Lets finish out this round, and then I will take a break to figure out a better way to run the rest of the battle. This is getting kind of ridiculous.

So that is 3 rolls of 2d6-1 and 3 rolls of 2d6, so one of each from you guys.
>>
Rolled 3, 5 - 1 = 7 (2d6 - 1)

>>4332248
>>
Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)

>>4332248
>>
Rolled 5, 1 + 1 = 7 (2d6 + 1)

>>4332248
>>
Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)

>>4332248

meant to do -1 not plus one on the other roll
>>
>>4332270
That's alright. Give it another 10 minutes, then one of you can roll for the third anon.
>>
Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)

>>4332280
>>
Rolled 2, 3 - 1 = 4 (2d6 - 1)

>>4332280
>>
Alright, I'll try to figure out a better system tonight, but before I go, I'll write up the report from this turn.
>>
>>4332329
it doesn't need to be complicated, we could just have one guy roll a die for each gun.
>>
>>4332349
For each type of gun, or each individual gun?
>>
>>4332361
Each individual gun. For example, an anon rolls 10 d6 for 10 guns firing, and you may specify beforehand which dice represent which ship/gun, or not if it doesn't particularly matter.
>>
>>4332369
Alright, we can try that. I'll get the report finished for the last round now.
>>
Janus AC 1: (3+5) - 1 = 7 is targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 2. Hit (1/3).
Janus AC 2: (5+1) - 1 = 5 is targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 2. Hit (2/3).
Janus AC 3: (2+3) - 1 = 4 is targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 2. Miss

Vulcan C 1 (5+6) = 11 is targeting Mad Drone 1. Destroyed
Vulcan C 2 (3+4) = 7 is targeting Mad Drone 2. Crippled, Hit (1/2)
Vulcan C 3 (5+5) = 10 is targeting Mad Drone 3. Destroyed
Vulcan C 4 (3+2) = 5 is targeting Mad Drone 4. Hit (1/2)
Vulcan C 5 (4+1) = 5 is targeting Mad Drone 5. Hit (1/2)
Vulcan C 6 (5+1) = 6 is targeting Mad Drone 6. Hit (1/2)
Vulcan C 7 (6+6) = 12 is targeting Mad Drone 7. Floundered.
Vulcan C 8 (1+3) = 4 is targeting Mad Drone 8. Hit (1/2)
Vulcan C 9 (5+2) = 7 is targeting Mad Drone 9. Crippled, Hit (1/2)
Vulcan C 10 (6+5) =11 is targeting Mad Drone 4. Hit (2/2). Destroyed.
Vulcan C 11 (2+6) = 8 is targeting Mad Drone 5. Hit (2/2) Destroyed.

the Aethereal Vulture has 1 rounds left of Janus Autocannon ammo, and 3 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense Gun ammo
the Clean Sweep has 2 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense Gun ammo
the Karaboudjan has 7 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense Gun ammo, as well as the fleets reserves of this ammo
the Mammon has 2 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense Gun ammo
Old Ironsides and the Shuttle-Tug have successfully withdrawn from combat.

There are two Morbidly Obese Drones remaining, one is crippled with one hit (of three total), and will ram one of our ships in four turns, the other is functional with two hits and will hit in three turns.

There are four remaining Mad Drones in play. Last round, four were destroyed, and one floundered. Of the four remaining, two have been crippled with one hit (of two total) and will impact in three rounds, and two have been hit once (of two total hits) and will impact in two rounds.
>>
>>4332429
I'm sorry, I miscounted. There is a 12th Vulcan Point Defense Canon, which destroyed Mad Drone 6. The correct summary would read instead:

There are three remaining Mad Drones in play. Last round, five were destroyed, and one floundered. Of the three remaining, two have been crippled with one hit (of two total) and will impact in three rounds, and one has been hit once (of two total hits) and will impact in two rounds.
>>
>>4332444
Alright, Vulcans are to cease fire, everything else can keep firing. Karaboudjan is to distribute ammo to the rest of the ships upon end of combat.
>>
>>4332444
Does it get easier to hit them the closer they get?
>>
So I am looking over the monster of the after action report here, and I think I have a way to stream line this. For your rolls, going forward. I will have someone roll for all of the autocannons, 6d6 (and then I would pair them up and subtract one, so long as they were fighting the Morbidly Obese Drones), and then someone could roll 12d6 for half of the Vulcan Point Defense Guns, and someone else could roll the other 12d6. I'd still be able to use the system that I had home-brewed for this quest, but you all would be able to simply make one roll per round instead of several. Sound good?
>>
>>4332455
Meant Janus guns to cease fire, not Vulcans.

>>4332467
sounds good
>>
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>>4332467
lets give it a shot and see where it takes us.
>>
>>4332459
Hmm, they should honestly. Tell you what, at point-blank range, that is 1 round from impact, the Vulcan get +1 to the rolls they take.
>>4332476
alright, if there are no objections to holding off on the Janus Autocannons, then that's good. Give me a quick minute, and I will write up what happen here.
>>
The one thing that you always found unnerving about space combat, and about space salvage in general was just how fragile spaceships actually are. When you think about it for more than a second, it really is unnerving. One little crack, that all it takes, and then its lights out.

What really drives home this discomfort is how much noise this damned ship makes when she is firing. Those auto cannons were foundry-installed, so it isn't like you've just thrown them on improperly. And when the 'cannons and the guns are firing, the ship groans and creaks. Attenborough and the other engineers swear up and down the the recoil and thermal loads are well within the tested parameters of the hull, but it sounds like you are in a can as it is being crushed.

Space is silent. Hah! Anyone says that to your face, you'll sock them in the fucking jaw. While the situation in here is uncomfortable, the situation outside, for the drones at least, seems to be much, much worse. You've managed to swat down all but three of the smaller drones from last time and have already taken down one of the new, bigger drones.

Still, you are acutely aware of your ammunition situation. You are going to have to slow things down, here, otherwise you will run out.

>Do you want to have all 12 Vulcan's engaged for this next round, or do you want to cut some back, to save ammo?
>>
>>4332500
Key 1 turret to each drone within 3 turns of approaching and fire. If any get within 1 turn of hitting our ship, then have two turrets aimed and fired.
>>
>>4332507
+1
>>
>>4332508
>>4332507
Alright. So there is one Morbidly Obese Drone and three Mad Drones that meet those requirements. So could you each roll 4d6 for two Vulcans, please?
>>
>>4332507
+1
>>
Rolled 1, 2, 3, 6 = 12 (4d6)

>>4332511
>>
Rolled 6, 1, 5, 4 = 16 (4d6)

>>4332511
Which ship has the best guns, and are all our best gunners at their battle stations?
>>
>>4332520
At this point, we will say that all of the guns are in the same condition, and the fire crews of the ships as a whole average out. If we wanted to upgrade that stuff, while we were in port, then that is something that we could look at, definitely.
>>
Vulcan C 1 (1+2) = 3 targeting Mad Drone 8 (1/2). Missed
Vulcan C 2 (3+6) = 9 targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 2 (2/3). Destroyed
Vulcan C 3 (6+1) = 7 targeting Mad Drone 2 (Crippled 1/2). Destroyed
Vulcan C 4 (5+4) = 9 targeting Mad Drone 9 (Crippled 1/2). Destroyed

The Karabourdjan has 6 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense ammo.
The Aethereal Vulture has 2 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense ammo.

There is one Morbidly Obese Drones remaining, it is crippled and has one of three hits on it. It will hit one of our ships in three turns. There is one Mad Drone remaining, it is still functional, and has one of two hits on it. It will impact a ship in one round.

Do you want to attempt to suicide that last Mad Drone with the rigged Huginn? 3/4 odds you succeed. You can shoot at it and send the drone out too, if you want to be thorough here. How many Vulcans do you want to use here?
>>
>>4332547
3. 1 on the fat one that's two rounds away, two on the mad one that's 1 turn away.
>>
>>4332555
+1
>>
>>4332555
>>4332556
Sounds good. Two rolls of 2d6+1 and one roll of 2d6, please. Also, the fat one is three turns away, you killed the faster fat one last turn.
>>
Rolled 6, 5 + 1 = 12 (2d6 + 1)

>>4332567
Can any form of wireless hacking be done against the drones?
>>
Rolled 3, 3 = 6 (2d6)

>>4332567
>>
Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d6)

>>4332567
>>
>>4332582
Hypothetically, if you knew how they worked, and had the equipment and a specialist to do it, you could conceivably try some electronic attack on drones.

Vulcan C 1 (6+5) +1 = 12 targeting Mad Drone 8. Floundered.
Vulcan C 2 (3+3) = 6 targeting Morbidly Obese Drone 3 (Crippled 1/3). Hit 2/3.
Vulcan C 3 (2+4) = 6 target Morbidly Obese Drone 3 (Crippled 2/3). Hit 3/3. Destroyed.

The Karabourdjan has 5 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense ammo, with the rest of the fleets reserves on standby.
The Aethereal Vulture has 2 rounds left of Vulcan Point Defense ammo, if only 2/3 guns are used.

All enemies have been destroyed or floundered. Floundered enemy vessels are extremely likely to be in a repairable condition. Congratulations! But it is only going to get more difficult from here. I'm going to get some sleep, and I will run again tomorrow, or rather, later today. See you then.
>>
>>4332605
recover all damaged drones to be salvaged, studied to see if 'we can' commit electronic warfare against them with the little equipment we have,and potentially convergent the few functional enough ones into more kamikaze drones.

Send out a team to continue cutting into that bulkhead for that other drone to look through, and see if we can recover that other drone that got stuck with the broken camera. Or leave it there if it provides the most strategic value for where it is currently lodged.

Good night.
>>
We should look into getting some coil guns or rail guns, a long range, high precision, high damage, and low ammo cost weapon would be really useful, especially if we run into anything meatier than a moderately sized drone. Even if we don’t need it for combat it would make a great hole puncher for depressurizing shit or hitting subsystems on the other side of a ships armor.
>>
>>4332767
Some missiles can come in handy too
>>
>>4332611
>>4332605

No, before we look for goodies, we NEED to find out where these drones are coming from and how to stop them from coming our we will be forced to leave, possibly with damage to our ships.

So recover the drones, then investigate the outside of the hangar with a new drone that isn't stuck.
>>
>>4332920
This too. Perhaps we could leave proximity or trip wire explosives at the entrances of where they come from.

>>4332605
How many explosives do we have and how many can we make our of the drones we find?
>>
Hello guys, I'm back. I'll get writing the narrative of last turn after a quick lunch, but to save time, if anyone is still in the thread, could they please roll 9d20 and 3d22?

Also, very good discussion on what weapons would be good against the drones, but you should remember, that changing the loadout of ships is more involved then replacing a +3 axe with a +4 axe for the parties barbarian or something. In addition to the physical limitations of the ships in the fleet, it will take money, which is tight, and time, which leads into the next question that you should start thinking of.

Should you attempt to legally claim this wreck? As it stands, legally, the ship is considered a wreck, and given its location and condition in decivilized space, all of its cargo and contents is considered "derelict", which means that it is abandoned in some circumstance that makes it "impossible" (in reality, simply impractical) for the original owner of the vessel to recover the cargo or contents. Additionally, as this ship has not been registered with the Port Authority (at least presumably) that means that legally speaking it is not considered a ship, and that the ship itself is considered derelict cargo. What this means you can legally claim everything on this ship.

The issue is if that making a claim is in your best interest. For you to legally claim this derelict, turning it from a derelict to a lagan*, you would need to drop broadcasting buoys around this system, which would announce your claim. The upside is that if it can be proven that anyone attempts to take so much as a rivet off of this ship, you can legally kill them (in decivilized space), and claim their ships, cargo, and surviving crews, or sue them for title to their ships and property (back in the port). The downside is that if someone working outside of the law finds the wreck, then you are effectively on your own to protect it.

Without a buoy, it is unlikely that anyone is going to find the wreck, but if they do, they could claim it out from under you. Something to consider.

>*In our world, lagan actually refers to cargo that has been dumped by a vessel in distress that has been marked with a buoy so the original owners of the cargo can find it again. In the quest, lagan will refer to a legally claimed derelict.
>>
Rolled 15, 1, 1, 7, 2, 5, 12, 14, 9 = 66 (9d20)

>>4333291
We probably shouldn't legally claim it then, keep it hush hush. Who knows how long this has been here? We'll probably be the only ones who find it for a while, so we can pick it clean.
>>
Rolled 2, 15, 12, 11, 2, 9, 7, 12, 1 = 71 (9d20)

>>4333291
>>
Rolled 9, 14, 12 = 35 (3d22)

>>4333291
>>
>>4333291
Well
For one I want our smartest men and women to see if they can continue trying to jurry rig the saveable drones into more kamikaze drones. The fewer of ours we have to use the better. I would also like to consider the use of proximity explosives around the entrances the drones came from, something that I had just asked earlier.

I would also like to ask if engineering can do anything to study the broadcasts from the drones? I want to leave a hidden autonomous drone here that WONT get gimped by the drones here. One that, after dropping the bouys it'll stealthily observe the area and re order any attempts to claim any salvage. I dont know how big the bouys are, but could one be modified to alert us if someone's does come and try to take our stuff, make even get a pic feed of their ship for us?

I would also like to continue exploring the ship.
>>
>>4333291
>Place a buoy after the mad drone problem is fixed
There's always a worry that the buoy might activate more mad drones at the moment. Best sweep the place from hostiles first.
>>
Finally, the last few drones fall to your gunners, and again, the space around the blown out hangar is still, though significantly more littered with debris and micro-debris. Until you figure out what is sending the drones out however, you know that attempting to trawl the area with the Clean Sweep is asking for trouble. Still, you are able to use the battered Huginn drone from the shuttle-tug to get a good look at the latest catch.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 1: Gross Condition is 15 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition 11 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 2: Gross Condition is 1 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition -3 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 3: Gross Condition is 1 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition -3 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 4: Gross Condition is 7 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition 3 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 5: Gross Condition is 2 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition -2 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 6: Gross Condition is 5 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition 1 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 7: Gross Condition is 12 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade, Slapdash Build, Foundered, effect condition by -1,-3,+8 respectively. Net Condition 17 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 8: Gross Condition is 14 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade, Slapdash Build, Foundered, effect condition by -1,-3,+8 respectively. Net Condition 19 out of 20.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 9: Gross Condition is 9 out of 20. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade and Slapdash Build reduce condition by 1 and 3 respectively. Net Condition 5 out of 20.

Morbidly Obese Drone (Unarmed) 1: Gross Condition 9 out of 22. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade, Slapdash Build, Size effect condition by -1, -3, +1 respectively. Net Condition 6 out of 22.

Morbidly Obese Drone (Unarmed) 2: Gross Condition 14 out of 22. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade, Slapdash Build, Size effect condition by -1, -3, +1 respectively. Net Condition is 11 out of 22.

Morbidly Obese Drone (Unarmed) 3: Gross Condition 15 out of 22. Active Modifiers: Civilian Grade, Slapdash Build, Size effect condition by -1,-3, +1 respectively. Net Condition is 12 out of 22.
>>
So anything below 0 is micro-debris, <50% is scrap, 50% or higher is usable as parts or x3 scrap (as below 50%), 85% or higher can be restored with parts of that type, x3 the usable parts (as above 50%), x9 scrap (as below 50%). 100% or above can be restored to functionality without parts, or could be broken down to x9 the usable parts (as above 50%) or x27 scrap (as below 50%).

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 1, with Net Condition 11 out of 20 is either 2 parts for a Mad Drone, or 6 units of scrap.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 4, with Net Condition 4 out of 20 is 2 units of scrap.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 6, with Net Condition 6 1 out of 20 is 2 units of scrap.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 7, with Net Condition 17 out of 20 can be rebuilt with 2 parts for a Mad Drone, or could be broken down into 6 parts for a Mad Drone, or 18 units of scrap.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 8, with Net Condition 19 out of 20 can be rebuilt with 2 parts for a Mad Drone, or could be broken down into 6 parts for a Mad Drone, or 18 units of scrap.

Mad Drone (Unarmed) 9, with Net Condition 5 out of 20 is 2 units of scrap.

Morbidly Obese Drone (Unarmed) 1, with Net Condition 6 out of 22 is 3 units of scrap.

Morbidly Obese Drone (Unarmed) 2, with Net Condition 11 out of 22 is 3 parts for a Morbidly Obese Drone or 9 units of scrap.

Morbidly Obese Drone (Unarmed) 3, with Net Condition 12 out of 22 is 3 parts for a Morbidly Obese Drone, or 9 units of scrap.

You have enough parts of hand to restore one of the two Mad Drones, which leaves you with one other Mad Drone that can be rebuilt later and 11 units of scrap. (The extra three units of scrap are the wrecks in "negative" condition, which provide half value, rounding up)

You have 6 parts for a Morbidly Obese Drone (which you could break down to 18 units of scrap) and 3 units of scrap from the full wreck.
>>
So, do you want to rebuild that captive Mad Drone?

>Yes/No

Also worth noting, that parts don't command the price that salvage does, but unless you have blueprints or successfully reverse engineered an intact (100% or higher) unit, you don't have the ability to make specific parts out of salvage, only salvage of part. So you can't make as much money if you stockpile parts as you could if you stockpile salvage.
>>
>>4333479
>Yes
So long as it doesn't delay / interfere with investigating the outside of the hangar. If it does, then save it for later and just collect everything.
>>
>>4333479
>Yes
>>
>>4333479
>Yes
Also record the design, maybe monetize the design by getting your eggheads to contact interested academic entities with funding. Surely there are space antiquity studies?
>>
>>4333479
Yes
Can we break down the parts of the obese drones to build more mad drone?

>>4333508
This too
>>
>>4333490
>>4333497
>>4333508
>>4333523

You give Attenborough orders to have one of the two foundered Mad Drones brought into the ship, and bring it back online, using available parts from one of the other wrecks. You still aren't comfortable using the Clean Sweep to net all of the scrap in the area, at least until you have a better grasp on the situation here, so you order the launch of the Aethereal Vulture's shuttlecraft. Departing from the port secondary bay at the aft of the ship, the shuttle quickly secures one of the foundered drones, and a donor wreck, to pull the parts necessary to restore it from.

Hopefully, you will have the drone in working order soon enough to use for this expedition. Now you are faced with a decision; do you have the shuttle-tug return to the fleet? Currently, it is simply sitting at a level with the presumed storage deck below the blown out hangar. Moving around that area has set of two suicide rushes, and you don't know if you are up for a third.

>Keep the shuttle-tug there for now, with the netting and pylons secured.
>After redistributing the ammo for the Vulcans, have the shuttle-tug attempt to return with the netting and pylons.
>After redistributing the ammo for the Vulcans, have the shuttle-tug attempt to return without the netting and pylons.
>Moving big vessels through that area has been nothing but trouble. Evacuate all but a skeleton crew, and only approach the area with drones, at least until we discover what is going on here.

>>4333523
>Can we break down the parts of the obese drones to build more mad drone?
Heh heh heh. That reminds me of a "funny" story... Yes, you can use parts from one to the other, but the conversion is 3 to 2, that means that 3 Morbidly Obese Drone Parts is only 2 Mad Drone Parts. Also, it will give the Miss-matched active condition, which means that if the drone is ever destroyed, it will be less likely to be in a recoverable state. Still, for right now, all of that might not be as important.

>Convert no parts over.
>Convert 3 Morbidly Obese Drone parts to 2 Mad Drone Parts
>Convert 6 Morbidly Obese Drone parts to 4 Mad Drone Parts
>>
>>4333540
Oh and then, if 2 parts are converted over...
>Stockpile
>Rebuild the second foundered Mad Drone
>>
>>4333508
>>4333523
Well, you could. Your port of call doesn't have any institutes of higher learning, but you could certainly contact them, if you were willing to make the effort to reach out to them, and were willing to put that kind of attention on yourself and your operation.
>>
>>4333540
>Keep the shuttle-tug there for now, with the netting and pylons secured.
Will this choice net us more salvage?

>>4333559
How many parts do we need to repair a mad drone?
>>
>>4333610
>Will this choice net us more salvage?
Originally, my position was that the nets needed to be on the Clean Sweep to catch any scrap or salvage, but I suppose there could be a random chance that something or other falls into the nets while the shuttle-tug has them, but very little.

As far as more salvage? No. The only way to make any appreciable amount of salvage from trawling requires the nets on the trawler and the trawler moving back and forth through an area with a debris field.

>How many parts do we need to repair a mad drone?
A Mad Drone can take two hits, so it needs two parts to repair. A Morbidly Obese Drone can take three hits, so it takes three parts to repair.
>>
>>4333622
then convert all the obese drones into mad drone parts. If the Clean Sweep hasn't already salvaged all the drones we shot down, then return it's net and have it return to the fleet.
>>
Alright, I'll leave this up for a bit so I can eat dinner, and then I will close the vote, hopefully by 7pm Eastern Standard Time.

>>4333645
Clean Sweep is already with the rest of the fleet. The shuttle-tug with the nets is not.
>>
Well, I was already to close the vote, and then I realized am not sure if anyone has voted yet, as I don't know if >>4333645 is talking about the shuttle-tug or the Clean Sweep, or if the clarification in >>4333678, that the Clean Sweep is with the fleet, and hasn't salvaged a single things since the first attack would change their opinion.

Probably my fault, considering how much information I've dumped on you all. Let me try to streamline things here.

First, the question of to when and how to recall the shuttle-tug from its current position, underneath the the blown out hangar.
>Keep the shuttle-tug there for now, with the netting and pylons secured.
>After redistributing the ammo for the Vulcans, have the shuttle-tug attempt to return with the netting and pylons.
>After redistributing the ammo for the Vulcans, have the shuttle-tug attempt to return without the netting and pylons.
>Moving big vessels through that area has been nothing but trouble. Evacuate all but a skeleton crew, and only approach the area with drones, at least until we discover what is going on here.

The second question: Do you want to rebuild the other foundered drone, even if it means converting over parts at a 3 to 2 ratio?
>Yes
>No
>>
>>4333783
How expensive would the netting in pylons be?
Actually OP, can you give us the 101 for the finances in this quest?
>>
>>4333783
>Moving big vessels through that area has been nothing but trouble. Evacuate all but a skeleton crew, and only approach the area with drones, at least until we discover what is going on here
>yes
>>
>>4333783
>After redistributing the ammo for the Vulcans, have the shuttle-tug attempt to return without the netting and pylons.

>Yes
>>
>>4333792
The pylons are simply metal structures that mate with the hull of the trawler. They are relatively inexpensive. If you had enough scrap and time, you could build replacements. The netting is beyond your capability to make at the moment. All told, the netting is about a square mile of space grade chain mail.

As for the pricing, I am still figuring out how to balance it out. What I can say now, is that you will be able to buy a replacement net when you get back to your port of call, but it will be about as expensive as two Huginn drones. I know that without price tags that doesn't mean much, but bear with me, I'll get working on it right now.
>>
Alright, so I think I figured out the basic mechanic for selling scrap. 1 unit of scrap has a base value of 200 double-talents after taxes, or a base value of 250 double-talents if you are selling to a fence on the black market. Prices fluctuate. When you show up in a port, we will roll 1d2; where a roll of 1 means that prices are above the base line, and a roll of 2 means that prices are below the base line, and then roll a 1d6, to determine the extent of the fluctuation, where a roll of one corresponds to a difference of 10 off of the baseline price.

So, if you wanted to sell scrap at a legal merchant at port, and you rolled a 2 and another 2, then that would mean that the current price for scrap metal would be 270 double-talents for 1 unit. A second freighter would cost 24,000 double-talents; the equivalent to 120 pieces of scrap at the base price. A single Huginn surveillance drone would cost 800 double-talents, 4 units of scrap at the base price. A replacement trawling net would cost 1600 double-talents, 8 units of scrap at the base price.

There is however, a big piece of good news here. In the first post of the quest, where our character, the Owner-Operator said that they didn't have enough double-talents to afford the cost of outfitting the fleet for another expedition, that was simply because the expedition was a series of long sweeps into decivilized space, just looking for things to sink his teeth into. But now that they have a specific heading, they don't need to fully stock the fleet for a long trek. There are enough supplies and fuel (even with a third of the reserves dumped) to make four trips, back and forth to the wreck, without buying anything. If you wanted to squeeze, you could probably get 5 trips, but if you took on new crewmen or bought a new ship between then and now, then the amount of fuel and supplies to make the trip would preclude that fifth trip.

You have 6400 double-talents on hand. I still haven't figured out how I am going to deal with the loan payments I mentioned, but I will figure that out. For now, that is the 101 on the finances >>4333792
>>
>>4333893
I just realized I got my own system wrong. The example I offer should have the current price of scrap metal at 230 double-talents, not 270.

Also, I guess I can call it for restoring the second drone, but I'll leave it for a little bit longer on the final decision for the shuttle-tug.
>>
>>4333783
>After redistributing the ammo for the Vulcans, have the shuttle-tug attempt to return with the netting and pylons.
>>
>>4333893
The only thing I think we have to worry about so far are the drones, and any potential external weaponry we might had missed. The only things we probably need to buy is food & water for the crew, fuel, munitions, a drone or two, and some explosives. Depending on the cost:efficiency ration between turret ammo and explosives, it might be better to convert the drones we destroy into more functional ones, and sell off the parts we can use as excess money to buy more ammo, fuel, drones, etc.. If this become a war of attrition against the ship's drones then I really thing we need to invest in the equipment and few specialists required to counteract the drone's signal so we can continue exploration of the wreck in relative safety.
>>
This is an important enough vote that I will leave it up for just a little bit longer, say until 9:15 pm Eastern Standard Time. I don't want to have to flip for it if I can avoid it.

>>4333901
Considering that our character outfitted the fleet for a two-month long expedition, we have enough food and water, as well as enough fuel for four or five trips back and forth to the derelict, without needing to buy anything else, even with the loss of 1/3 of the fuel reserves. Crew has been paid up front, for the next two months, though at the end of the contract, they are entitled to a bonus, based on the amount of money that was brought in during their contract.

Things like munitions, drones, explosives and specialists are bought and hired separately.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>4333951
Alright, I put this off long enough.
>>4333793 (Hold off) roll of 1
>>4333794 (Return without nets) roll of 2
>>4333898 (Return with nets) roll of 3
>>
>>4333992
Alright, for now, we will leave the nets were they are, and hope the shuttle tug, by itself does not set anything off.
>>
I need to stop using the timer.

Can someone roll a 1d20, to see how well all of this goes?
>>
Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>4333994
Nat1
>>
>>4334001
Well, I'll have to remember that trick. Writing!
>>
Eventually, you make the call to leave the pylons and the netting behind for now. While the shuttle-tug spent the better part of two hours floating around that area, you still aren't entirely sure what will set off the drones. The ammunition for the Vulcan cannons had been redistributed across the fleet, but if the next wave was larger than the first, then you will probably run dry. Some serious consideration will need to be given to upgrading and adding combat capabilities to the fleet, if you are going to keep operating around this area.

The Aethereal Vulture has 3 rounds for all of its 3 Vulcan cannons, and 1 round for all of its 3 Janus Twinned Autocannons
The Clean Sweep has 2 rounds for all of its 3 Vulcan cannons.
The Karaboudjan has 3 rounds for all of its 2 Vulcan cannons, with 2 rounds left in storage.
The Mammon has 2 rounds in the 4 position, and 4 rounds in the 2 position for its Vulcan Cannons.

Thankfully enough, the whole transit goes smoothly, and the shuttle tug returns to your fleet. As the commander of the shuttle is asking if he should return to the Karaboudjan, he is interrupted by a report from the drone pilot. It seems that in all of the chaos, that battered Huginn surveillance drone, idling around the shuttle as they waited out the battle seems to have accidentally found something. As the fighting heated up, to avoid the risk of friendly fire, the shuttle-tug and the drone with it moved slightly further away. During this movement, the drone temporarily managed to "ping" an external receiver-transmitter package, which might have been attached to whatever is responsible for sending the drones at us. The package is near on the left side of the hangar door frame, but because the drone was moving when it briefly found it, the exact location isn't known.

>Hopefully, lightning will strike twice. Attempt to find the external receiver-transmitter package by sending the drone back to where it was, and have the pilot retrace his path with the "ping" function.
>We have a heading, and evidence that we can "ping" packages without launching attacks. Attempt to find the external receiver-transmitter package by sending the drone to the left side of the hangar door frame and looking for the package, using the "ping" function.
>While we may have a heading, we don't know for sure that we can "ping" packages without launching attacks. Attempt to find the external receiver-transmitter package by sending the drone to the left side of the hangar door frame and looking for the package, without using the "ping" function.
>>
>>4334183
>>We have a heading, and evidence that we can "ping" packages without launching attacks. Attempt to find the external receiver-transmitter package by sending the drone to the left side of the hangar door frame and looking for the package, using the "ping" function.
>>
>>4334183
>While we may have a heading, we don't know for sure that we can "ping" packages without launching attacks. Attempt to find the external receiver-transmitter package by sending the drone to the left side of the hangar door frame and looking for the package, without using the "ping" function.
>>
>>4334197
>>4334204
I always feel bad when I wind up flipping for a vote, it feels like I am taking away player choice. So I guess I will ask you two, or anyone else still here; would you rather wait for a third vote, even if that means there wouldn't be another post tonight, or would you like me to flip for it, and get at least another post or two in before bedtime?
>>
>>4334183
>We have a heading, and evidence that we can "ping" packages without launching attacks. Attempt to find the external receiver-transmitter package by sending the drone to the left side of the hangar door frame and looking for the package, using the "ping" function.
>>
>>4334301
Alright, that resolved itself. I'll get to writing.
>>
You instruct the drone pilot to resume the search for the external receiver-transmitter package, using the “ping” function. With any luck, that package will be attached to some manner of sensor, or something, whatever the ship is “seeing” with. If you can disable it, or at the very least, find its line of sight, then you may be able to operate safely in this area. Still, that package is not jumping out, visually or … sensually? You do not think that is proper usage, but you do not think sensorially* is a word either.

As you are watching the feed, Attenborough, from engineering opens a private line, and asks for you to discretely come down to the starboard secondary bay. As your engineering chief wouldn’t call you away from the bridge without good reason, much less ask you to sneak off it in the middle of your command, you announce that you are going to take lunch in your quarters, and ask one of the flag officers to take command. There are some surprised and confused looks, but you ignore them. However, before you reach the door, the new acting commander asks if you want to begin recovery of the remaining drones, using the shuttlecraft from the Aethereal Vulture and the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan.

>Hold off on recovery until you find the receiver-transmitter package.

>Hold off on recovery until you return to the bridge.

>Maintain high-alert, and proceed with recovery operations.

>*while sensorally is not a word, it turns out that sensorially actually is.
>>
>>4334343
Whoops, forgot one choice.
>Tell him that until you return, his decisions stand.
>>
>>4334343
>Maintain high-alert, and proceed with recovery operations.
>>
>>4334343

>Maintain high-alert, and proceed with recovery operations.

Also, while I was gone, we decided for literally no reason to leave our pylons and nets behind that we highrolled to get out?? What the fuck???

Fire whoever made that decision and get them back to the fleet as soon as we disable the transmitter thing that's sending waves at us.
>>
>>4334343
>Maintain high-alert, and proceed with recovery operations.
>>
>>4334347
>>4334356
>>4334364
Alright, writing.
>>4334356
While that high roll would have ensured that they were recovered successfully, that was after the three way tie was resolved with a roll, that selected returning without the nets. The roll of the 19 therefore was for the safe return of the shuttle without the nets. That said, if I somehow missed a vote somewhere, please let me know. As that would be my mistake, I'd be willing to fudge the nets and pylons back with the fleet, if it was the case that I missed something.
>>
>>4334372
You didn't miss anything, I'm just wondering why the hell that option existed in the first place when the shuttle wasn't in any danger, and also why someone voted for it.
>>
Give him the go ahead to recover everything he can with the two shuttles. As you leave the bridge, and begin walking to the aft of the ship, where the secondary bays are located (and conveniently enough for your alibi, your quarters), you use your personal shortwave to instruct lunch to be sent to your room, as you pass hallway that will take you to where the officers quarters are.

Beginning the final stretch towards the starboard secondary bay, you can feel the shuttle taking off, all the way over in the port secondary bay. As you approach you see an odd sight; it seems that one Attenborough's men is standing guard in front of the door. Honestly, at this point, you are beginning to seriously worry. The engineer waves you through, you enter the bay, and seeing Attenborough and a group of his engineers, along with some crewmen, you head on over to the group.

Attenborough starts talking before you can even begin to phrase a question. "Things have gotten more complicated." He hands you a small shard; it is still cold to the touch from the vacuum, but not enough to be anything worse than uncomfortable. "This came over from the Clean Sweep, before we got our hands on this drone. It wasn't what I called you about, but it is related. That, in your hands, is from the hull of the derelict. From what I can gather from ranged spectroscopy testing, with very few exceptions, most of that ship is made from that ceramic." Ceramic? Your immediate reaction is frustration; Ceramic is obviously not metal, and can't be scrapped. However, it only takes a few seconds for the significance of this to hit you. This is an unknown Ceramic, that is somehow capable of acting as vacuum grade structural material, and generally acts like metal, bending and warping instead of shattering and breaking, meaning that it doesn't have the biggest single issue that nearly every type of ceramic has. And this unknown, super performance Ceramic, which you now control the entire supply off...

Attenborough snorts. "I knew that would please you. Unfortunately..." He trails off, looking down at the piece of metal that everyone is standing around. Again, you are getting worried here. Just as you are on the verge of shaking the man, he begins to explain.

"While the ship is seemly entirely made of that unknown Ceramic, the drones that we have dealt with, as well as most of the material that the debris cloud is made of is more conventional metals. Those aren't pieces of the derelict, they are pieces of other ships.
And the drones are made of salvage that the derelict has plucked out of this debris cloud." You look at him intently. "That is an awfully specific conclus-"
>>
>>4334481
Attenborough cuts you off by using his foot to flip over the piece of the drone that you are standing around. The paint has faded, but you can clearly see part of a manned small craft registry serial on the piece of metal, that became the hull of one of the drones. He adds; "We aren't the only scavengers that have been here, or tried their luck on this thing, nor are we the only ones here now. That ship will eat our fleet as readily as we will eat it." In a reflexive gesture, you take off your hat. One of his men adds "We've tried to look up that serial, but that data is considered privileged. We will have to bribe someone in the Port Authority when we are back at the Roost."

The engineer continues, "it would be a fair assumption that this ship doesn't leave survivors, otherwise word would have gotten out about it." Attenborough interjects "Perhaps there were survivors, or crews that made several expeditions to the derelict without incident. They kept it a secret, thinking to themselves that they had the find of their lives. That they had outsmarted this hulk. And then..." He takes a deep breath, and then looks at you. "During the limited time that the Clean Sweep had before the first attack, it took in more than a few shards of the unknown Ceramic and pieces of metal. Considering all of the activity going on, no one bothered to check the stores, the "dustbin" of the Clean Sweep, until I asked them to check. They found these shards, a fair bit of scrap metal ... and human remains."

The other engineers and crewmen take their hats off of their heads, but yours is still in your hands. Trying and failing to not fidget, you ask the obvious question. "How many?"
>>
>>4334489
"Three hundred and counting".
>>
>>4334492
I will continue tomorrow, which is actually already today!

>>4334383
The option existed because you didn't know for sure if the shuttle was in danger on not.
>>
Considering this new information, we should use a drone ship and shoot at the derelict a bit with it while the rest of our fleet waits on the other side of the planet’s orbit. It would be best to see what it does and where it’s weapons are before we poke it more than we already have. For all we know this could be some sort of super high tech government AI warship
>>
>>4334726
First we should make a trip to port and resupply before shaking the wasp nest.
>>
>>4334492
>and counting
So, what, is the ceramic killing people? Or are we finding human remains among the scrap we're taking in?
>>
>>4334830
>So, what, is the ceramic killing people? Or are we finding human remains among the scrap we're taking in?
You are finding a lot of human remains, among the relatively little bit of the debris field that the Clean Sweep was able to take in before the first attack. The implication is that there are a lot more bodies in the debris field, and that the debris field is remains of larger salvage or recovery operation that was completely destroyed by the ship, not from the derelict itself as originally assumed, as the primary component of the field is metal debris, not the unknown Ceramic that the derelict is made out of.

The unknown Ceramic is not spontaneously killing any of your people, besides, you have 140 men to the fleet.

I hope this clears it up, for you, and everyone else. I'll be ready to run in three hours from when this post goes up.
>>
Thoroughly disturbed, the crewmen and engineers begin moving the remains of the drone that once was remains of a small, manned craft to Engineering. Attenborough and one of his leading engineers walk with you, heading to your quarters, so you all can continue to talk, in a more comfortable setting.

The lunch you have ordered has been left by the door, in a covered tray. You must have just missed your concierge, as steam is still floating up from the vents in the plastic lid. You take out your two keys, and put them in the lock. Supposedly, it shouldn't matter which one, the top or the bottom lock, you open first, but you find that the door sticks worse if you open the top first. You always meant to get that fixed, it is just that there has never been a good time.

Opening both of the locks, starting at the bottom, you only need to force the door a little for it to open. Attenborough's direct report, who according to his tag is named Sunsbuck, grabs the tray, and the three of you enter your quarters. You point Sunsbuck to the table that you take your meals at, and you dig around in your desk for another fork or two, intending on sharing the meal with the two them. Takes a minute, but you manage to find some utensils. You place your lucky hat on the crown of the wooden hat rack you mounted on top of your desk, and turn to the two of them.

"Sit, and eat." Despite still being visibly shaken, Attenborough sits down and accepts the fork and knife you offer him. Sunsbuck, on the other had, does not immediately go to grab the fork and spoon that you have for him. "We are all relying on our engineers to take care of us, and themselves. Eat." Sunsbuck gets flustered, and quickly accepts the utensils. You open up the tray.

"Spaghetti is a pretty heavy lunch, isn't it?" Attenborough remarks. Portioning out the meal is difficult, considering that there is only one dinner plate, along with other smaller pieces of porcelain. You have to serve Sunsbuck his lunch on what was the butter dish, but you manage to make it work. Attenborough speaks up first.
>>
>>4335116
"I don't think we should be here, boss."

You swallow, and try to formulate a response. To be honest, you don't think you should be here either, with the fleet and equipment you have right now at least. Still, Attenborough seems really shaken. You are beginning to think that he means that you should leave the wreck behind and never look back. Unfortunately, considering the loans that you are carrying, you really don't have the luxury of turning your back on a prize like this, simply because it may be dangerous. Ultimately, you decide to ignore that statement for now, and you turn to Sunsbuck.

"Sunsbuck, were you the one who attempted to find that serial?" He looks a little surprised that you are directly asking him a question, but he manages to reply almost evenly that he was. "You said that the Rutter returned that reports on that serial were 'privileged', correct?" After an affirmative nod, you continue. "But there was only part of the serial on that piece. Did you find the rest of the serial on another drone?"

Sunsbuck is beginning to look really nervous now. "No, we don't have that entire serial. The portion that was had was in the old format for small craft; XX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. Port of call, followed by the fleet, followed by the ship it launches out of, followed by small craft itself. The portion we have is the Port of call, and the fleet. I was going to write a script, to submit the port and fleet serial, followed by random numbers, in hopes of stumbling across the fleet that the ship belonged to. You know, brute force the problem. But it didn't work. Any thing you enter with that fleet serial comes back privileged information; you can even enter in non-numerical inputs, things that are obviously not going to be serials of a ship, and it will still say it is privileged information. The system is deliberately trying to conceal information about this fleet, and is going to extraordinary lengths to do so."

"Well, what about the Port of Call? They can't very well conceal or disappear an entire station, port or colony can they?" The minute the words are out of your mouth, you find yourself questioning them. The Port Authority would, could and presumably has done things like that. But, if they were going to hide something, like a secret expedition, then they wouldn't send it out with a fucking serial, right?

Sunsbuck interrupts your thoughts. "No, the port is not considered privileged information. It is in the old format, so..." He trails off, and then there is an audible gulp before he continues. "It was from our port, sir. Old Scrimshander."
>>
>>4335166
You finish your mouthful of spaghetti, and respond:

>"Information about the failed expedition may help save us from the same fate. When we get back to port, we should ask around about this fleet. Being careful about who we ask, of course."

>"Someone in the Port Authority is going to great lengths to conceal the existence and fate of this fleet. We will need to be careful, even if that means not trying to find any information about this fleet from anyone, at least at this point in time."

>"The fact that the doomed expedition left from our Port of Call, paired with the fact that there seems to be a cover up by the Port Authority indicates that there may be some level of observation present in Old Scrimshander for people asking about this particular fleet. We should resupply at Cyclone's Sty instead; even though prices are higher there, there are fewer supplies, and it will preclude a fifth round trip from the derelict and back with our current fuel reserves, not to mention the fact there they may be less clues there as well, all in the hope that there is not as much (or any) attention, or rather, surveillance for parties asking about this doomed expedition."

>(Please note; none of the choices mean that you are leaving now, they are simply to decide your heading and conduct when you do ultimately decide to head out)
>>
>>4335192
I worded that last choice pretty poorly. What I was trying to get at is that Cyclone's Sty is a real backwater port, there is less for sale, and it costs more. It is also far enough away that if we went there, we would have to refuel after the fourth round trip from the derelict and back, instead of the fifth. The advantage of going there is the chance that being a rougher port, and one not connected to the doomed expedition, it may be safer to ask questions there instead.
>>
>>4335192
>"Someone in the Port Authority is going to great lengths to conceal the existence and fate of this fleet. We will need to be careful, even if that means not trying to find any information about this fleet from anyone, at least at this point in time."

Could we send a tight beam to any contacts in another port and ask them what thy can find?
>>
>>4335192
>"Someone in the Port Authority is going to great lengths to conceal the existence and fate of this fleet. We will need to be careful, even if that means not trying to find any information about this fleet from anyone, at least at this point in time."
We'll leave once we collect all the drone scraps and collect the netting. We'll leave the bouys out, and presumably if any pirates come then theres a high chance they wont make off with anything substantial, or they'll become scrap.

Can wireless drones be armed with guns instead of explosives to counteract the drones? Do we know how this the drone casings are? We could get gun drones in space to shoot out the mads, and if the obese are too tough then we'll use regular turrets and kamikazes. We also need additional monitor drones to figure out where all the drones are coming from, because people are incompetent.
>>
>>4335209
Tight beam? You mean launch a solid steel beam at someone's ship?
>>
>>4335192
>"Someone in the Port Authority is going to great lengths to conceal the existence and fate of this fleet. We will need to be careful, even if that means not trying to find any information about this fleet from anyone, at least at this point in time."
>>
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>>4335209
>>4335239
We are dealing with "hyperspace" at the ranges involved in this quest. Light based communications are adequate for things like ship to ship transmissions and buoys, but communication between ships and ports and planets in different systems requires a hyperspace comm relay. They are extremely expensive; and while it will be possible to build one, it would only be able to communicate with another relay, which would be under the control of the Port Authority, so you'd need to figure out some cypher, as encrypted messages are not allowed.

Attached is an explanation of how the jump mechanics work in this quest; I completely ripped it off from a Webcomic called Outsider, a 20+ year long journey in a man building "context" for his fetish of a society of blue elves with a 1 to 8 ratio of males to females.
>>
>>4335209
>>4335217
>>4335281
And we have enough votes here to close for keeping our mouths closed when it we do make it back to Old Scrimshander.

The next prompt:
>Bring up concerns about ship being alien to Sunsbuck and Attenborough
>Bring up concerns about ship being some manner of rouge military experiment to Sunsbuck and Attenborough
>Don't bring up any concerns yet, just get back on the bridge as soon as possible.
>>
>>4335334
>Bring up concerns about ship being some manner of rouge military experiment to Sunsbuck and Attenborough
>>
>>4335347
I'm going to let this one sit for a bit, while I go make myself dinner. When I get back, I will close it, (roll for it, if need be) and start writing.
>>
>>4335334
>Bring up concerns about ship being some manner of rouge military experiment to Sunsbuck and Attenborough
>>
Alright, closing for briefly discussing the possibility of the derelict being some manner of military experiment. Writing!
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As you finish the last few mouthfuls of you meal, you lean back and look at the two engineers.

"Have you ever seen a tessellating hull, you know, able to shuffle and recover from damage like this? I don't mean a tessellated, modular hull, I mean one that can move, like this bastard." Sunsbuck's only response is to shake his head, while the ranking Attenborough muses that he hadn't even heard of a tessellating hull on any manned craft larger than than bleeding edge shuttles used in the Core. You suppose you really couldn't hope for a better segue, so you ask the question; "who do you think built this ship?" When neither of the men answer immediately, you rephrase the question; "the Port Authority seems to have gone to exceptional lengths to obscure information about expeditions that have encountered this wreck. Is it possible, that this is their ship?"

Sunsbuck is actually the one to speak first, though it is a question; "when you say 'theirs', do you mean they built it, or they have claimed it, because there is a big distinction between the two. The issue with the Port Authority having been the ones to lay up this ship is the Unknown Ceramic. If they had that kind of technology, there would be evidence of it back in civilized space. You'd see it turn up on the black market. You'd hear rumors about new model high performance hulls. The lower echelons of the Port Authority are really susceptible to bribery.

Sunsbuck continues; "But they could have found the ship, and claimed it "off the books" by not claiming it at all, and simply hiding all traces of its existence. If that is the case, then odds are they are waiting until they can pull together an expedition that they feel can take and break this wreck. It is possible that the remains here belong to a Port Authority expedition, or it is possible that it was an independent expedition who stumbled upon it, much like we did, only to meet their doom. Either way, things happen. Expeditions get lost, they turn pirate, whatever. De-civilized space takes as much as it gives, if not more. Losses like that can be forgotten or overlooked easily. I mean, who would want to waste their time on studying all of the failed expeditions from all of the Border Ports?"
>>
>>4335629
Attenborough finally interjects; "Unless someone had reason to believe that the expedition was on to something big. It ultimately doesn't matter if the doomed expedition belonged to the Port Authority or it was independent; the fact is that the Port Authority knows about it, as evidenced by them messing with the Rutter like they did. We can't simply ask around blindly about the doomed fleet. And as for who made it, ultimately, that doesn't change much, does it? It is either some classified Pre-Drought design, a Post-Drought design from the Milky Way that made an intergalactic jump, attempting to reconnect to us that failed miserably, or it is alien."

The way he just throws those three possibilities for the provenance of the vessel out there, with no concern for the potentially galaxy-changing implications that each may have is truly, deeply concerning. Attenborough has been shaken to his core, and you are beginning to wonder if he should be temporarily relieved of command. You finish eating, thank the men for their time, and head to the bridge, to resume command, as the two of them head back to engineering. As you are about to turn down a hallway you catch sight of Attenborough and Sunsbuck making their way back as well. Attenborough, a normally chipper and bright man is walking with a noticeable slump, while Sunsbuck is walking with perfect posture. You aren't certain, but you think that Sunsbuck was part of a dozen ex-military men that you hired on a year or two ago. He seems to be taking the whole 'three hundred and counting' much better than Attenborough is, who like you is and always has been a civilian. Do you want to take the fairly drastic step of removing Attenborough from command, and replacing him with Sunsbuck?

>Yes, Attenborough is taking this hard. He isn't being punished, he isn't being demoted, he just needs time to process this, and he isn't in the state to see it himself. When he is on the other side of this, you are sure he will thank you. Probably.

>No, Attenborough being a bit moody isn't enough for you to deprive yourself and your fleet of an excellent engineer, in the middle of a dangerous expedition. He will pull out of it on his own. Probably.
>>
>>4335631
>I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm right now, losing power is a real possibility for me. Just wanted to let you all know, in case something happens and I stop posting.
>>
>>4335631
>No, Attenborough being a bit moody isn't enough for you to deprive yourself and your fleet of an excellent engineer, in the middle of a dangerous expedition. He will pull out of it on his own. Probably.

We're going to need his expertise.
>>
>>4335631
>Yes, Attenborough is taking this hard. He isn't being punished, he isn't being demoted, he just needs time to process this, and he isn't in the state to see it himself. When he is on the other side of this, you are sure he will thank you. Probably.
>>
>>4335647
>>4335644
I'll let this sit for another 30 minutes, as I don't want to roll for this if I can avoid it. Thunderstorm has stopped, so no worries about me stopping posting prematurely.
>>
>>4335631
>>No, Attenborough being a bit moody isn't enough for you to deprive yourself and your fleet of an excellent engineer, in the middle of a dangerous expedition. He will pull out of it on his own. Probably.
>>
>>4335748
>>4335647
>>4335644
Alright, we have a majority for letting him remain in his post for now. The next scene should be up shortly.
>>
You certainly have misgivings, but Attenborough being a bit moody isn't reason enough for you to deprive yourself and your fleet of your head of Engineering. If you get a minute, you might say something to Sunsbuck, or another one of his direct reports, but you feel that he is going to be able to remain professional and on top of it. Besides, sometime in back in port ... You don't actually stop in your tracks as the thought comes to you, but you noticeably slow your gait. How in space are you going to stop the crews you have from talking when you get back to port. They will all want to get out, and spend their wages, but if one of them talks, then you all may be as good as dead. Several options come to you as you approach the bridge, and you feel that it would be best to implement it as soon as possible, rather than spring it on the men later.

This is probably going to be a hard sell, and no matter what you do, morale will probably drop, unless you completely abandon the idea of trying to keep this a secret...
>>
>>4335815
>There are currently three types of men aboard your ship; crew, engineers and officers. Each of them operate in their own little cliques, and at any given time, will have different opinions of you, referred to as morale. If their morale drops, then rolls that involved them will become hampered. For example, shuttle commanders will not operate as well, engineers will not build or recover as well, crew will not fight or be as good at delivering meals, that type of thing. If the morale of any group falls low enough (- - - - -), then they are at risk of mutiny. How much risk are you willing to take from the outside? How much from your own crew? How much would dealing with that risk be worth to you, Captain?

How much should you tell the men about the danger that they may be in from the Port Authority.
>Explain what you know, indicate that they may be in mortal danger.
>Vaguely indicate that there might be an issue, advise them to not trust anything or anyone in Old Scrimshander.
>Ignore any discussion of the Port Authority, nor provide any specific information about what can be expected from the derelict.

What exactly are you going to offer them to keep quiet? (Mitigates negative impact on morale)
>Nothing
>5 double-talents up front for each man, regardless of rank. (all +)
>10 double-talents up front for each man, regardless of rank. (all ++)
>Indefinitely raise the "taste" for the crew from 5% of all net profit to 10% of all net profit (all ++++)

Who is going to get shore leave (denial of shore leave has negative impact on morale)
>Allow everyone shore leave (all +++)
>Only allow skilled crewmen and officers shore leave (crew - - -, engineers and officers +++)
>Allow only the officers shore leave (crew and engineers - - -, officers +++)
>No one, including yourself gets shore leave. (all - - - )

Who is going to be allowed to leave on official business for the fleet?
>Allow the crew to load and haul supplies and munitions, the engineers to buy and install weapons, upgrades and conduct repairs, the officers are to conduct official business. (all +)
>The engineers are allowed to buy and install weapons and conduct repairs, officers are to conduct official business. Hire teamsters and porters at a cost of 50 double-talents to keep the crew on board. (crew -, engineers and officers +)
>Officers are allowed to conduct official business. Teamsters and porters are hired to keep the crew on board, at a cost of 50 double-talents, and freelance engineers will do work increasing costs of repair, weapons purchase and installation, as well as upgrades. (crew and engineers -, officers +)
>No one is let off the ship at all. Teamsters and porters are hired at a cost of 50 double-talents, freelance engineers will do work increasing costs of repair, weapons purchase and installation, as well as upgrades, and licensed and bonded couriers are hired at a cost of 150 double-talents to run messages and conduct business on your behalf. (all - )
>>
>>4335818
Whoops, forgot to mention in all of that what the classes of crew are currently at.
Crewmen are at (+)
Engineers are at (+)
Officers are at (++)
>>
>>4335818
>5 double-talents up front for each man, regardless of rank. (all +)
>Allow everyone shore leave (all +++)
>Allow the crew to load and haul supplies and munitions, the engineers to buy and install weapons, upgrades and conduct repairs, the officers are to conduct official business. (all +)
>>
>>4335888
>Explain what you know, indicate that they may be in mortal danger.
>10 double-talents up front for each man, regardless of rank. (all ++)
>No one, including yourself gets shore leave. (all - - - )
>Allow the crew to load and haul supplies and munitions, the engineers to buy and install weapons, upgrades and conduct repairs, the officers are to conduct official business. (all +)
>>
>>4335844
>Explain what you know, indicate that they may be in mortal danger.
Forgot to add this

>>4335893
If we warn them and pay them, and keep their morals super high, they probably might like us enough to not talk about what we saw?
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>>4335896
I think no matter how much we pay them someone will probably let something slip if we let them out. All it takes is one drunk crewman or a talkative engineer.
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>>4335888
Oh, you forgot to chose how you want to approach it with the men.

How much should you tell the men about the danger that they may be in from the Port Authority.
>Explain what you know, indicate that they may be in mortal danger.
>Vaguely indicate that there might be an issue, advise them to not trust anything or anyone in Old Scrimshander.
>Ignore any discussion of the Port Authority, nor provide any specific information about what can be expected from the derelict.
>>
>>4335902
Scratch that, I didn't refresh.
>>
>>4335899
So long as we get our supplies before anyone can tap their trap we'll be fine enough to leave.

>>4335903
Can we get combat drones with guns powerful enough to take on other drones?
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>>4335918
Getting combat drones from a manufacturer would be expensive. Modifying captive mad drones would be cheaper, but they would be really fragile.
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>>4335923
Would they be able to move and shoot?
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>>4335926
Yes.
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>>4335239
A tight beam in the context of space communications is a communications laser that you use to transmit to another target at the speed of light. It is very secure because anyone intercepting it would need to position their ship’s receiver exactly inside the laser beam to pick up the transmission. You would only be able to use one or intercept one if you knew the exact position of another ship ahead of time, like you would with other ships in your fleet, other ships you know the computerized flight plan of, or a station on a normal orbital path.

>>4335324
Oh ok didn’t know if we were dealing with FTL or not

>>4335902
>>4335815
In general I would assume it is a bad idea for them to blab considering if they do they might lose their haul and thus their commission. To reinforce that, let’s increase commission for this wreck only to 10% and remind them that the size, value, nature, and and location of the wreckage is to remain strictly confidential.
>>
Bunch of good discussion ITT. I'll let this sit overnight, in the hopes that it comes to an organic consensus of a majority. That being said, if it doesn't I will roll for it, so we can continue to move along.
>>
The ship is in geosynchronous orbit, so we can assume it still has or at least had some sort of maneuvering capability to get it there. Is it’s current orbit stable or slightly eccentric? We could try to figure out how long ago the port authority ship was destroyed by radar scanning for debris in erratic orbits and backtracing their orbital paths. If there is no debris in erratic orbit we can conclude that either it was old enough to de orbit and burn up, was ejected from orbit, or that the drones originally on the derelict had enough range to collect it all around the derelict.
We should also check the point on the ground it is geosynchronous with.
>>
>>4335818
>Explain what you know, indicate that they may be in mortal danger.
>10 double-talents up front for each man, regardless of rank. (all ++)
>Allow everyone shore leave (all +++)
>Allow the crew to load and haul supplies and munitions, the engineers to buy and install weapons, upgrades and conduct repairs, the officers are to conduct official business. (all +)

How many crew members do we have total?
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>>4336144
100 or 140. That's about 1000 or 1400 double-talents we need to shill. That might be way too much.
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>>4336194
Worth it if they keep their mouth shut
either this or they will find someone that will pay them more to spill the beans.
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>>4336274
Or we could just not let them out and avoid chancing it all together
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>>4336278
And then suffer a mutiny in the middle of decivilized space.

why not have a few officers tasked to keep watch of the places where the crew can talk and slip the info?
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>>4336299
I don't think there would be a mutiny since the crew all at +1 to start (officers at +2) and by offering 10 double talents and allowing crew to load and haul supplies etc... they would still be kept inside and not have any morale loss. They would in fact still all have at least +1 morale.
>>
>>4336306
well, yes but we will need the extra morale so it doesn't plummet when our luck runs out and one of the mad drones crashes in one the ships decimating the crew.

and besides the crew works better the more morale they have
>>
I am not quite ready to run again, so I wont close the vote yet, but I thought I'd provide some information to help direct the discussion.

>>4336118
>radar scanning for debris in erratic orbits and backtracing their orbital paths.
>We should also check the point on the ground it is geosynchronous with.

Definitely two very good ideas, both of which you are capable of doing with the equipment you have on hand. You do have scanning capabilities and you have a Munnin atmospheric drone (though it does not have the power required to leave orbit once it arrives, so you'd have to send a manned atmospheric shuttle down to retrieve it, or alternatively just leave it)

>>4336194
>>4336144
The entire compliment of the fleet is 140 men; with the breakdown being about 90 crewmen, 25 engineers and 25 officers. Nearly all of the engineers are on the Aethereal Vulture, while the crewmen and officers are spread out evenly throughout all of the ships (and the shuttle-tug) of the fleet. So the payout would be 700 or 1400 double-talents, of the 6400 talents that we have on hand.

>>4336319
Is correct in his assumption that the destruction of a ship would have an across the board negative effect on morale (all -), but it would become even more serious if you decide to stick around the wreck and risk more ships and more lives (all - -).

And while I hadn't originally set it up that way, he is right that if you are able to raise morale to a high enough point, there should be some benefit for all members of that class. Once you get any one of the groups morale to (+ + +) you will receive +1 to rolls for their actions; (except combat, considering that those rolls are more the guns then the men. Instead, you will receive a small chance for the guns to take a free shot (no ammo burned) during that round of combat. The higher the morale of the crew, the greater the chance that you get the free shot; (+ + + +) will provide better odds of getting a free shot off then (+ + +); and this chance for a free shot is calculated for every gun fired that round. To get modifiers on weapons rolls, upgrades, exotic ammo and training will need to be used.
>>
>>4336544
And if you are able to get the morale to (+ + + +), then you will receive +2 to rolls for their actions, and so on.
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>>4336274
Boy in the long run. We need the money to be able to afford that sweet sweet ammo, not to mention that if they purposefully spilled the beans then they'll be fired super hard.

>they will find someone that will pay them more to spill the beans.
Unlikely. There would have to be someone out there saying "hey tell us if you've seen this crazy ass space ship and will pay you to snitch on your captain!" which is pretty unlikely considering how secretive this is supposedly supposed to be.

>>4336549
Oh sweet. If we do just this >>4335888 then we should be getting +2's on our rolls. The morale will be high and we'll be paying them just enough.
>>
So, lets see...

We have a consensus on
>Explain what you know, indicate that they may be in mortal danger.
>Allow the crew to load and haul supplies and munitions, the engineers to buy and install weapons, upgrades and conduct repairs, the officers to conduct official business (all +)
We have two votes for
And we have two out of three votes for
>Allow everyone shore leave (all + + +)
>10 double-talents up front for each man, regardless of rank (all + +)

I just realized, that explaining what you know to the crew, that they may be in mortal danger, while would encourage their silence, logically, it should have also negatively effected their morale. That said, I'm not going to mess with this, just letting you know that telling the men everything you know in the future may have some consequences for their morale, like it should have here. I'm going to make myself lunch, and then I will start writing for the fleet broadcast.

But before I forget, could I get five rolls of 1d20, to see how well things have been going in your absence? Because we haven't announced the extra bonus yet, there isn't a bonus? If there isn't anyone else in the thread, feel free to roll again, as needed.
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I'm done with lunch, and ready to run again. Could I get 5 1d20's, to see how everything has gone in your absence? (As these are all before the announcement of bonuses, they won't get the modifiers. Any rolls after will though...)
>>
Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>4336671
>>
Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>4336651
>>4336671
Beep boop son, beep boop.
>>
You return to the bridge and relieve the flag officer of command. You indicate that before the report on the recovery, you would like to make a broadcast, for everyone to hear. Communications opens up the line, announces a full stop of non-essential work for an fleetwide address, and as you resume your seat on the command chair as you start speaking into the shortwave.

“Gentlemen, I thought now would be a good time to take a minute to congratulate ourselves on our incredible, lucky find here. Certainly, I never thought I’d ever be so glad to have a breakdown in decivilized space.” Considering that you can not see any reactions beyond those of the flag officers and few crewmen in the bridge with you right now, you don’t know how well your jokes are landing across the rest of the fleet, though there are some smiles and chuckles here and there. If they are genuine, or simply for your benefit, you cannot tell. The whole thing is awkward, but you do your best to ignore it.

“It seems that this wreck is not without some danger though. Before the Clean Sweep was interrupted by the first attack, it recovered a bit more than scrap metal. There were some bodies recovered as well. We are still sifting through the hold of the Clean Sweep, but it seems that most of this debris is not from the wreck, but rather another expedition, registered under the Port Authority. Without going into specifics, the Rutter has been compromised, presumably by the Port Authority to conceal information about this…previous…expedition.”

“We have found the wreck of a generation here, but our hold on it is tenuous at best. Considering the situation here out in decivilized space, I still have not decided on formally claiming the wreck or not, considering the attention that it could bring down on us. But regardless of if we claim it or not, how much money we all make is dependent on how well we can keep our mouths shut. Without the proper equipment, it does not look like we are going to be making that much this time at port, but to tide you over, and yes, to keep you mugs silent, everyone is getting a special bonus; 10 double-talents.”

You are fairly certain that the reaction of the crewmen and officers on the bridge to the announcement of the bonus is probably not just for your benefit; they are no doubt imagining what they can do with that money and shore leave. You wait for a moment or two, then to drive the point of the broadcast home, you elect on playing out all of your cards. “We have reason to believe that this ship is built of some unknown high performance ceramic, and while we can’t scrap ceramic like metal, it just so happens that as this ship is built modular enough that if we could figure out how to safely and economically dismantle this ship, we could sell the plating and fixtures. So long as we stay quiet about this until we are ready to start selling, by the time we are done here, this bitch of a wreck will put out like a drunk whore.”
>>
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>>4336709
Upon the conclusion of the announcement, there is cheering and huzzahing in the bridge, and judging by the faint noises echoing around the ship, you have put your men in as good of a mood as you possibly could have. Now, to see how things went in your absence.

>Still waiting on 3 of the 1d20's. If you have already rolled and are still in the thread, please feel free to roll again.

>>4336695
Yeah, I don't know what the hell happened with those posts. The first one actually disappeared after I refreshed the page too, which is new. As poorly written and formatted as it is, I at least hope they are understandable. If anyone has any issues understanding what the hell I am saying or doing, please feel free to ask.
>>
Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>4336671
>>
Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>4336711
>>
>>4336711
Are these random event rolls, or can our posative morale boost affect them?
>>
>>4336724
Well, they aren't random.

1. Drone searching for the Receiver-Transmitter package in the left side of the hangar door frame.
2. Engineering attempting to rebuild the two drones.
3. Crew contribution to recovering scrap.
4. Engineers contribution to recovering scrap.
5. Officers contribution to recovering scrap.

Also, all of these events happened before the announcement, so they aren't effected by the bonuses. Don't worry, there will certainly be a lot more coming, now that the mechanic is established.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>4336711
rolling for last dice
>>
Alright, I will get to writing. Don't worry about the bad rolls for contribution to the scrap recovery, it just means that the amount that could be recovered was "overestimated" (mechanically, one less piece of scrap was recovered than estimated. 1-5 is bad, 6-14 is neutral, and 16-20 is good (one more piece of scrap recovered) for these types of roles).
>>
>>4336738
The most important roll, looking for the receiver-transmitter went nearly perfectly, which means that things can move forward again. If that one had been a bad roll, there might have been more drones in your immediate future.
>>
>>4336744
At the very least we get a +2 roll modifier across the board.
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>>4336744
For when we get back to port I'd like to ask:
>how much to top off fuel reserves
>how does gun drone against drone combat work
>how much per ammo for the turrets
>how much for drones
>how much for drone parts
>how much to sell drone parts
>how much for guns large enough to damage drones
>how much for explosives
>how much to modify a battering ram plate onto a drone, either with plan armor ram plates, or the reactive explosive plates on tanks for extra damage (the closest to cqc in space I can think of)
>how much compared to an unmodified drone to a modified combat drone
>how much for a drone control kit
>how much to hire a electronic warfare combat suite
>hoe much to hire people smart enough to use it
>do we have any people in our fleet smart enough to use it
>wireless cameras to put at every open exterior entrance we can find
>potential use of said explosives near drone dispenser areas
>purchasing EMP weapons
>apply signal jammers against opposing drone forces.
If we're gonna salvage this thing, we're gonna do it smartly.
>>
just read the quest so far, great stuff QM
>>
>Drone searching for the Receiver-Transmitter package in the left side of the hangar door frame. (18 out of 20)

Well, things went much, much better than expected. You found the "eye" in the area Partially obscured in the twisted and warped frame of the door is the receiver-transmitter package for a sensor cluster. There does not seem to be any logical reason for the cluster to have been built inside the frame of the door like it is, indicating that it was moved to that location either by the seemingly random shuffling of the auto-tessellating hull, or moved into position deliberately by a utility drone. At the angle that the sensor cluster is "looking", it seems that it was "seeing" the large profile of the nets and pylons of the Clean Sweep. The engineers believe that they can modify the damaged Huginn into a blinder, rendering the cluster "blind". The complication here is that once modified, the drone will need to be retrieved and modified back to return to duty, and the process of removing it will definitely trigger the cluster, presumably launching an attack.

>Modify the deployed Huginn to blind the Hangar Bay Sensor Cluster? Yes/No

>Engineering attempting to rebuild the two drones (9 out of 20)
Engineering is able to rebuild the two drones, using the amounts of parts that they had originally predicted. They didn't find any other serials, partial or complete, but they will continue to look on every piece of salvage that comes their way. They believe that they can fit a maximum of 4 components, with additional reinforcement possibly 5. When the fleet is out of danger, they will explain more about your options, for outfitting them.

They have figured out how the things work, and unfortunately for you, it appears fairly foolproof. The drones have no receiver-transmitter packages, in fact, once they are released, these drones are effectively blind to the outside world. The navigation package of these drones is built around magnets mounted on a gyroscope. How it works, or how it can be disrupted is unclear. At the very least, capturing drones relatively intact will provide a supply of magnets, probably the same type that are used in the nograv train that we encountered earlier.
>>
>And the scrapping efforts (3/4/8 out of 20, or -2)

Well, at the very least, you have to take the good with the bad right? The actual haul from the last battle was less than you expected, but you are still sitting fairly pretty, all things considered.

>2 Lucid Drones and 2 parts for Lucid/Mad Drones (4 converted over from the 6 Morbidly Obese Drone parts, then two were used for rebuilding).

>12 pieces of scrap (Baseline of 14, with 11 from Mad Drones and 3 from Morbidly Obese Drones, subtracting 2 from poor rolls for crew and engineer contribution to recovery)

>You will only get the magnets if you chose to part out or scrap a foundered drone.
>>
>>4336870
In case it wasn't clear, Lucid Drones are rebuilt and slaved Mad Drones.
>>
Well, now that you are back, and the derelict is silent again, you still have a lot of options as to what to do next.

>A change of pace is in order here. Deploy the Muninn atmospheric drone (can't make escape velocity on its own, must be recovered with atmospheric shuttle or abandoned) to examine the spot that the derelict is in geosynchronous orbit over.

>Have the currently deployed (and damaged) Huginn drone rebuilt and deployed as a blinder on the "eye" of the hangar bay.

>Resume your attempts to widen the hole into the bottom storage deck, so you can access it with another drone, without sacrificing the camera and lights.

>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.

>Now that you know where the "eye" of the hangar bay is, you know where it is and where it is not safe to move around. It is time to retrieve the netting. Send out the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan, and carefully bring those nets back.

>With the ammunition as low as it is, we can't risk another attack. Begin moving toward a safe jump point. (This decision will prompt you with another to claim the wreck with buoys or not.)

>>4336754
Don't worry, I should be able to provide answers for all of those.
>>
>>4336853
>Modify: yes

>>4336892
>Have the currently deployed (and damaged) Huginn drone rebuilt and deployed as a blinder on the "eye" of the hangar bay.

What's the purpose of leaving the netting out?
>>
>>4336892
Oh, I almost forgot, as per >>4336118

>Attempt to calculate how long ago the doomed expedition was from by scanning for debris in erratic orbits and backtracing their orbital paths. If you find some debris from the expedition in an erratic orbit, then considering the current orbit and their current velocity, you should be able to determine how long ago the ship that the debris is from broke. If none is found, than that means the expedition is old enough to fall out of orbit into the planet and burn up, was somehow ejected from orbit, either into the planet or into deep space, or that drones from the derelict have enough range to collect all around the derelict.
>>
>>4336907
>What's the purpose of leaving the netting out?
Caution.
>>
This is a fairly important vote, so I am going to leave it up while I go get some dinner, but if by the time I am back, there is only one vote, then I will run with it.
>>
>>4336907
+1
>>
>>4336892
>>Have the currently deployed (and damaged) Huginn drone rebuilt and deployed as a blinder on the "eye" of the hangar bay.
Good Quest qm
>>
>>4336892
Can we make a beting pool over the Origin of the Ship?
Somthing to raise morale and maybe get some monies
>>
>>4337127
That is actually a pretty good idea, we can broach that idea on the way back to the men; also good to have you along, anon.

>>Have the currently deployed (and damaged) Huginn drone rebuilt and deployed as a blinder on the "eye" of the hangar bay.

Alright that settles it. I will start writing.
>>
>>4337140
I'd like to throw in another potential moral idea along with anon: a small bonus of 10 double talents to which ever gunner can shoot down the most drones when all is said and done, or if we ever get around utilizing combat drones, then which ever drone pilot can disable the most drones. It'll be two separate completions between gunners and drone pilots.
>>
>>4337140
You recall that poor drone to Engineering in the Aethereal Vulture; as it is already damaged, it is the obvious choice to build into the blind. Because the ship itself is not metal, you can not weld nor hold the blind in position with an electromagnet, so you will have drone manually put in place, then engage its microthrusters to simply press the blind over the hole that the "eye" looks out on. Engineering will expand the tank, and replace the thrusters with low-burning aftermarket spares, so that the drone can keep the blind firmly pressed up against the hull of the ship, for two weeks without topping off the tanks.

>For your reference, you are three days out from your port of call Old Scrimshander.

As you are sitting on the command chair, you realize that one of the flag officers is looking at you. Not trying to sound confrontational, you ask him how he can watch his diagnostic panel and you at the same time. Flustered, he explains that he is simply surprised that you aren't wearing your hat. Startled, you realize that you have left your lucky hat on your desk's 'integrated' hat rack back in your quarters.

>Personally retrieve the lucky hat.
>Send your concierge to your room to retrieve lucky hat.
>Inform flag officer that there are more important things than your ~~lucky~~ favorite hat.

>Also, I need two rolls for the drone deployment. One will be for the engineers to build the engineer. One will be for the crewmen to deploy the blind.
>>
>>4337181
That is another good idea; that announcement can go out right now. It might be a good way to plot-hook the development of a dedicated gunnery officer.
>>
>>4337201
Damn it, that was supposed to be strikethrough. I guess that isn't supported on /qst/.
>>
>>4337201
>Send your concierge to your room to retrieve lucky hat.

What roll do you need?
>>
>>4337220
Whoops, 2 1d20's.
>>
Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>4337229
>>
Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>4337229
>>
>>4337235
>>4337230
Alright, writing.
>>
You call up your concierge to go get your lucky hat, and you take this opportunity to broadcast out another idea that has come to you, the gunnery competition. Communications again opens up the line, announces another full stop of non-essential work, and you start a quick address.

"Gentlemen, today we have faced down two separate drone attacks, and used more munitions in 3 hours than we have in the past 3 years, excluding training, of course. By trade, we are scavengers, not predators. We might not be use to fighting for our 'food', but that doesn't mean we can't. Woe to the fool, be they man or drone or this whore of a wreck, who thinks that Vultures don't have beaks and talons, that they can not slash and tear, that they can not kill."

"After it is all said and done, there will be a bonus to the crewman with the most drone kills. Another 10 double-talents. Happy hunting!"

A few of the flag officers seem to think the idea will improve morale among the crewmen, though many don't offer any opinion on the matter. One actually seems kind of miffed that as an officer, he isn't going to be able to get that bonus; still you are certain that this has gone over well. Your concierge returns with you hat, just as you get a call from Engineering. You deliberately put your lucky hat on your head before you accept the call on the shortwave.

>Don't worry, I didn't forget the morale bonus, 12+1 is 13, still neutral and 1+1 is 2, still bad. What makes the positive morale bonus so powerful is that getting a 1, a critical failure, is now impossible; and in this case, critical failure on the placement would mean a third drone attack.
>>
>>4337325
>Actually, I was wrong, bonuses start a morale of positive 3, not at positive 4.

Morale:
Crewmen + + + +
Engineers + + +
Officers + + + +

>So that actually means 12+2 is 14, still neutral and 1+2 is 3, still bad.
>>
The engineers manage to complete the refitting of the drone in what must be record time, and you are sure that with the promise of a bonus in front of their noses, they are going to be more likely to be alert, or at the very least near the damn Vulcans on a hope of bagging a drone. As the engineers hand off the drone to the crewmen to install it over the "eye" of the hangar, the mental image of a non-combat crewman kicking out a gunner crewman of a cannon during combat so they can attempt to bag a drone or two in order to get the bonus flashes across your brain. There is a few seconds of genuine worry, but ultimately you start chuckling. It is a funny image to imagine, but ultimately you are confident that none of your crewmen would be such unmitigated fucking boors.

However, the deployment of the blind does shake your confidence in them, just a little bit. They didn't manage to destroy the blind or trigger anything (at least trigger anything that we can see), but they did manage to do everything else wrong. The blind is not sitting as designed, fuel was lost and an EVA suit was nearly completely ruined when one of the crewmen was holding on to and manipulating the blind into position by the microthruster (which he had been instructed not to) when the blind was activated prematurely by another. Engineering was not happy seeing their work butchered like that, and when you thank them for your work, pointing out that it was sound enough to withstand a little human error, one of the engineers corrected you. "Crewman error." They very tersely explain that with the poor placement, the blind may fail at any point, and attempting to reseat it into a better position, or even conducting repairs on it in position will trigger the "eye", presumably launching an attack. When you ask for any other suggestions, the one who joked about "crewman error" (assuming it was a joke), makes another, and suggests sending a crewman out there with two glue sticks, one to adhere themselves over the eye, and the other to eat.

That joke goes over very well in Engineering, and they are all laughing. You on the other hand, are not.

>Let the lack of discipline slide, just this once. Those idiots on the EVA jepordized the safety of the entire fleet with that shoddy job, this funny engineer is just letting off some steam. (Chance to improve engineer morale, other events)

>While it may be understandable, the lack of discipline demonstrated by the funny engineer is not acceptable. He should be confined to quarters. On half-rations. Or something serious. (Chance to decrease engineer morale, smaller chance to increase crewman morale, other events)
>>
>>4337384
>Let the lack of discipline slide, just this once. Those idiots on the EVA jepordized the safety of the entire fleet with that shoddy job, this funny engineer is just letting off some steam. (Chance to improve engineer morale, other events)
Just keep at it until they get it right. I guess we're buying a new suit then.
For the combat drones, will they be able to evade the other drones while shooting, or can they only move or shoot? If it's the latter then why not put a swivel mount in the turret of the drone in addition to another camera?
>>
>>4337393
Don't worry about smaller stuff like suits, we have spares for stuff like that and a lot of basic things on hand. We were originally planning on a two month expedition.
>>
>>4337384

>Let the lack of discipline slide, just this once. Those idiots on the EVA jepordized the safety of the entire fleet with that shoddy job, this funny engineer is just letting off some steam. (Chance to improve engineer morale, other events)
>>
>>4337414
>>4337393
Alright, can someone roll a 1d3. If it lands on 3, then the engineers get a boost to their morale.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>4337431
>>
>>4337434
Don't worry, there will be other options other times.

Deciding to let this particular outburst slide for now, you cut the shortwave and then realize that everyone on the bridge has been quietly watching waiting for orders. The outburst of the engineers, and your lack of a response to it has been seen, and may have overarching consequences. But then again, what the hell doesn't have overarching consequences. Ignoring the awkward tension in the room, you give your next order.

>A change of pace is in order here. Deploy the Muninn atmospheric drone (can't make escape velocity on its own, must be recovered with atmospheric shuttle or abandoned) to examine the spot that the derelict is in geosynchronous orbit over.

>Resume your attempts to widen the hole into the bottom storage deck, so you can access it with another drone, without sacrificing the camera and lights.

>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.

>Now that the "eye" of the hangar bay is covered up for now, it is time to retrieve the netting. Send out the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan, and carefully bring those nets back.

>Now that the "eye" of the hangar bay is covered up for now, it is time to resume trawling. Send out the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan, carefully bring the nets back, and then get back to work. Have the fleet shadow the Clean Sweep as it does its work.

>With the ammunition as low as it is, we can't risk another attack. Begin moving toward a safe jump point. (This decision will prompt you with another to claim the wreck with buoys or not, and some others as well)
>>
>>4337443
Can the the Muninn atmospheric drone be modified to have thrust so it can maneuver on it's own?

We've never left the ship to dock and resupply, is that correct?

>Now that the "eye" of the hangar bay is covered up for now, it is time to resume trawling. Send out the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan, carefully bring the nets back, and then get back to work. Have the fleet shadow the Clean Sweep as it does its work.
>>
>>4337447
No, all of the events so far have all occurred over the course of about 4 hours now. Our port of call, Old Scrimshander is 3 days away. We have not left the wreck yet.

The Muninn atmospheric drone is capable of operating at much longer ranges than the Huginn, and can maneuver on its own, at these long ranges. It can not operate in a vacuum, but it can be deployed from the vacuum of space to a planet. It is not capable to reaching escape velocity, so you'd have to retrieve it with an atmospheric shuttle; we have two capable of doing the job.
>>
>>4337457
A clarification; we have two shuttles capable of atmospheric exploration, entry and exit. They could be used instead of the drone. We have only one Muninn drone, the Huginn model can't work in atmospheric conditions.
>>
>>4337443

>Now that the "eye" of the hangar bay is covered up for now, it is time to resume trawling. Send out the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan, carefully bring the nets back, and then get back to work. Have the fleet shadow the Clean Sweep as it does its work.
>>
>>4337443
>Now that the "eye" of the hangar bay is covered up for now, it is time to resume trawling. Send out the shuttle-tug from the Karaboudjan, carefully bring the nets back, and then get back to work. Have the fleet shadow the Clean Sweep as it does its work.
>>
>>4337443
I'm with these anons:
>>4337634
>>4337637

>>4337461
Call up the engineering leads and tell them to try all vacuum-capable adhesives or sealants on the recovered ceramic (it's ceramic, it's probably porous) to identify one that's well-suited for fixing the sensor blocker drone in place if necessary, and be prepared to issue it to an EVA team.

Get a report from the crew team that was managing the EVA. Was the crewman hurt?

Also, QM, can we get a broad estimate of the total cost of the loan we owe on the Clean Sweep? Are we talking four figures? Five? Helps us to know how much we need to scrape together to make a reasonable payment.
>>
>>4337461
Caught up. Cool quest, QM, getting some starsector vibes.

Priorities as I see them in no order
-How much is survey data worth? We should probably send the atmos probe down and send a shuttle team to retrieve the probe, if the data is worth anything, though it would be hard to sell.
-exploring the hangar of many receivers might be left until we can gather specialists. Kicking a hornets nest comes to mind
-We should perform space trawling until we at least break even, just to turn a profit from this. The other anons were right in wanting to keep this under wraps, we should try to explore this on our own without the port authority people.
>>
>>4337634
>>4337637
>>4337698
>>4337805
Sorry for just disappearing last night guys, I wound up just falling asleep waiting for the votes to come in. With 3 votes, we will resume trawling operations immediately.

>>4337805
I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the Star Sector vibes; it is one of the two big inspirations for the Quest. You are certainly correct, survey data for a habitable planet can be sold; however, doing so would eventually lead to others going to the planet; frontiersmen, prospectors, xenobotantists and xenobiologists. If you were to sell it on the open market, the Port Authority might hear about it eventually. If you were to sell it privately and directly to a extraction company or a developer, they might keep it quiet from the rest of the galaxy, but only if they thought it was in their interest to do so. And if you were to sell on the black market, you'd get rougher equivalents of frontiersmen, prospectors, xenobotantists and xenobiologists, and possibly the beginnings of a pirate station go up. Obviously, unless you are willing to legally claim the wreck, and are prepared to fight for it, selling the data is not something that should be considered at this particular time. It should also be noted that you can legally claim the planet, much in the same way that you can claim the ship, though for the claim to carry water, you need to maintain a certain permanent presence on the planet, there needs to be some level of development or commercial enterprise (they won't let you claim a planet and then just sit on it, they want it working) and their are property taxes to consider. These would be paid to the Polity, the government of the remnants in this galaxy.

Going back to the Star Sector vibes, the history of the quest is nearly a complete ape of the history of the game. In Star Sector, for those who haven't played, the game takes place 206 years after an unknown catastrophic event renders the gates that humanity has used to expand out into other galaxies inoperable, completely and so far, permanently isolating the pockets of humanity from one another. In this quest, the discovery of jump capabilities and of rare Particle are discovered in 2033; with jump capabilities, commonly occurring elements can be refined (in a relatively easy manner) into fuel that can be used to jump from star to star, and with the Particle (whose proper name has been lost to obscurity) the same fuel could be used to jump from galaxy to galaxy. This lead to a burst of exploration and colonization, with ships that except for the drive are barely beyond the capabilities of today's spaceships. Then, in 2261, the entire supply of unrefined Particles, which had inexplicably only been found in our solar system, and no where else, unexpectedly ran dry. This relatively brief era is called the Drought.
>>
>>4337981
During the Drought, in the Milky Way, governments (plural, as unification of Earth was never achieved) ordered powerful companies and interests to hand over their stockpiles, which went about as well as you would expect. Wars were fought over the remaining supplies of the Particles. In the Galactic Frontier, including the galaxy that the Quest is taking place in now, the wars over the meager emergency supplies of the Particles that these budding colonies had on hand were smaller in scale, but inversely were much more brutal and violent. The Drought Wars in this galaxy were fairly typical in the ultimate body count when compared to the tolls of Drought Wars that were fought in other galaxies; about a third of the human population of the galaxy was killed, and the extent of civilization in the galaxy dramatically contracted (hence the concept of decivilized space that we are operating in right now). If there are any remaining Particles in this galaxy, they are being held so close to the chest that no one else knows of their existence. It is generally accepted that the Post-Drought is a dark age.

One of the reasons why our character, the Owner-Operator, was so concerned about Attenborough's state during lunch, is that he just threw out the idea that the ship might be Pre-Drought, or a Post-Drought attempt at reconnecting this galaxy to whatever is left of humanity. The implication is that there might be a supply of Particles on board that ship, if either of these were the case, which means that if we could retrieve them, then this small salvage company would become the single most important entity in the galaxy. The fact that he was just so nonplussed by the idea is what alarmed our character.

I'm glad that I was able to provide some backstory for the Quest. I'll take some time to get ready, and then I will be able to run. Probably in two hours. See you all then.
>>
>>4337698
Let's see. The Clean Sweep is the cheapest jump-capable hull in the fleet (jump capability and not size is what distinguishes ships from shuttles); a replacement would cost 16,000 double-talents. The title to the ship was used as collateral for a medium term loan of 12,000 double-talents, with a 5% payment every month for 3 years, starting when the fleet returns to Old Scrimshander. (Remember that it takes 3 days to get to the wreck from Old Scrimshander, and vice-versa, which while uncommonly long is still possible to do as a direct jump). The base value of scrap is 200 double-talents, which means that you would need just three units of scrap to cover the cost of a payment, but still, money is tight, and you never know what is going to happen.

The idea isn't that the loan payments are going to, or should, ruin you, it is just supposed to be another expense that is going to need to be balanced with all of the others.
>>
Oh, for the run, I will need 3 rolls of 1d20.

The first will be for the officers commanding the shuttle-tug to retrieve the netting, the second for the crewman operating the shuttle-tug as it retrieves the netting, and the third for engineers mating the pylons of the netting to the Clean Sweep in an EVA.
>>
Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>4338062
>>
>>4338068
>>4338062
That is the second time I have forgotten to put down the positive modifiers, so that roll is 18+2 = 20. For the remaining 2 rolls, whoever does them, we will need 1d20+1 for the engineers and 1d20+2 for the crewmen, considering the bonuses that they are getting for morale.
>>
Rolled 5 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4338071
>>
>(18+2) out of 20 and (5+1) out of 20
Again, the shuttle-tug launches from the Karaboudjan to recover the pylons and trawling nets. In the microgravity environment of high orbit above this planet, they have not significantly moved from where they were left, “below” the hangar, on level with the storage deck that you managed to squeeze a drone down into. Moving smooth as silk, the shuttle carefully decelerates and pivots towards the equipment. To your surprise, the commander is able to get both of the pylons in one trip, only using the arms of shuttle-tug, grabbing one with the primary arm, and pinning the other net and pylon between two of the secondary arms of the shuttle and the shuttle-to-ship connector. Using the electromagnet integrated into the hull of the shuttle means bumping into the netting to make contact and haul it, which carries with it the risk for damaging it. Presumably, an engineer advised him against using the integrated magnet, which would presumably mean more than one trip would be taken, as there was only one primary arm large enough to hold the pylons, but the commander of the shuttle managed to figure out a workaround to get it all done in one trip.

That commander really knows what he is doing; this is the second time in a brief period that he has demonstrated his capability and his initiative. When you are away from this wreck, you might make a point of seeking him out to commend him.

>Still need 1d20+2 for the engineers reinstalling the trawling nets back on to the Clean Sweep.

>>4337698
>I didn't overlook the suggestion about the adhesive, they will start working on that soon. Still, they are concerned that messing with the blind will set the sensor cluster off.
>>
Rolled 1 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4338130
>>
Rolled 12 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4338130
Take my roll not the faggot same roller
>>
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>>4338136
Hello pain. It's nice to meet you.
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>>4338138
>>4338136
>>4338142
Only because they already rolled, and the post had been up for less then 10 minutes, I will accept the second roll, this time. Otherwise, it would have been the first. I'll get to writing.
>>
>>4338071
So we need a morale score of 4 or 5 for a +2 roll mod?

>>4338145
Thank god. Is the rest of the morale bonus applies when we go on shore leave?
>>
>>4338150
Yes to both, shore leave will confer the rest, and the positive morale of 4 confers a +2. I'm thinking of "nerfing" the intended progression, so that it is +3 at positive morale of 6 instead of 5.
>>
>Engineer Action (From roll of 12+1 out of 20, as there was more confusion on who has what bonuses. I think I am going to need to figure out a better system, or at least a way that I can consistently keep track of my current system).

It is a fairly involved process for the four engineers aboard the Clean Sweep to get ready for the EVA. To attach the trawling nets back onto the hull, they will need to coordinate with the shuttle-tug, and the crew aboard the trawler, to ensure that the pylons mate properly with the hull. Apparently, they couldn't find the suits that they were supposed to have on hand, and had to request spares from the Karaboudjan. It takes some time, but eventually your freighter has one TEU punted over towards the Clean Sweep, where the shuttle-tug retrieves it, and passes it along to the waiting ship.

Several minutes later, the engineers finally emerge from the trawler, and begin the process of reattaching the netting. It takes another twenty minutes to reattach the two pylons, then run diagnostics, to ensure that the net can extend and retract, that it can shift what it has in its nets to the hold in the trawler, and that there is no significant damage to the nets themselves. When the most involved routine, reef the netting and deploying the solar sails, comes off without a hitch, you and the engineers are confident that the Clean Sweep is ready and able to operate.

>The Clean Sweep should focus on completely clearing around the hangar area. There is new debris there, and we know that it is safe.

>The Clean Sweep should resume the broad path from fore to aft of the ship that it was on originally, before it was interrupted by the first batch of drones.

>The Clean Sweep should make more runs in the area that it has already been through, from the fore of the ship all the way to the hangar area, but no further.

Whatever is decided on, the operation of the trawler is going to involve three roles. For the Officers, we need 1d20+2. For the Engineers, we need 1d20+1. For the Crewmen, we need 1d20+2. So the first three votes can roll as well. I'm going to take a break for lunch, and maybe spend sometime trying to simplify the morale system, so I am not constantly tripping over it.
>>
Rolled 19 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4338230
Officers
>>
>>4338230
>The Clean Sweep should resume the broad path from fore to aft of the ship that it was on originally, before it was interrupted by the first batch of drones.
>>
>>4338230
My vote is for this so we can undertake operations near the hangar with greater safety:

>The Clean Sweep should focus on completely clearing around the hangar area. There is new debris there, and we know that it is safe.

If we do a good enough job clearing the debris, I hope to convince QM that we should be able to get a situational bonus for further work there, because our plan was gud.

What do the other anons think of this?
>>
Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>4338230
Rollan for engineers. Would it be useful for me to roll for crew as well to move things along or does someone wanna roll for that?
>>
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>>4338267
>>
>>4338267
welp
>>
>>4338284
>>4338295
I'm not ready to start writing yet, but yes, either of you, or anyone else in the thread can roll for the Crewmen. 1d20+2
>>
Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4338314
>>
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>>4338319
>>
>>4338319
oh good, I'm not alone in epic fail this turn
well, hopefully the officers can keep the crew and engies from coming to blows or fucking everything up or generally having a coordination failure
>>
Rolled 6, 15, 19, 6, 20, 5, 4, 19, 20, 11 = 125 (10d20)

>>4338314
>>4338319
Rollin out these rolls
>>
>>4338408
God dammit I've cursed us all
>>
Hey guys, I'm still here. I need to go do something really quick, but I will be back soon. Sorry for the interruption.
>>
>Alright, sorry for that. I got two hours, and then I'll need to take another break for to make dinner.

>>4338264 (Hangar area clear) is roll of 1
>>4338238 (retracing steps) is roll of 2
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>4338599
and I forgot the damn dice. I am all over the place today, sorry anons.
>>
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>(Net rolls of 21, 2, 5)

Considering that seemingly everything that could have gone wrong with the trawling operation and in a span of a few minutes, you assume the only reason the Clean Sweep didn't founder right here in front of your eyes was the intervention of God. Or your officers.

Everything started really quite well. After the Clean Sweep's engineers ended the EVA and returned to the ship, they conducted a second set of diagnostics; which also came up clean. The shuttle-tug rejoined the Karaboudjan, and the Clean Sweep moved into position to resume trawling operations. It was at this point that things began to go wrong. Less than a minute into the resumption of the trawling operations, it became clear that the second set of diagnostics has not actually ended yet, and running the diagnostics, where the system controlling the nets and the pylons went through the full range of motion, and with debris in the nets, it was at risk of flinging the debris at the fleet, the derelict, or into the void, as well as doing damage to the trawler or its nets themselves. When it began to throw debris around, a junior engineer attempted to abort the diagnostic run by terminating the program.

In any other situation, this would have been the right call, however, the junior engineer did not know that the software for the pylon controls on the Clean Sweep was pirated, and while it had been almost completely cracked and rebuilt, one of issues was that there were a limited number of commands that the program would still prompt you for a password to execute, a password that didn't exist, as the program had been pirated. Unfortunately, the "end diagnostic" command was one of them. Faced with an impossible prompt, the junior engineer then did what they should have done in the first place, and tried to power down the system. However, as a security precaution, the hardware that ran the pylons did not allow itself to be shut down when a password prompt was active. Nor did it allow you to leave the password prompt.

Panicking now, the junior engineer cut power to the hardware, hoping to force an end to the execution of the diagnostic run, only remembering afterwards, that there were backup hardware clusters, with an independent power supply on the pylons themselves, that ran the same program in tandem with the primary hardware package on the ship. Cut off from the primary package, now the two hardware clusters were continuing to run the diagnostic program, and as they were integrated into the pylons, they would need to be physically cut out while the pylons are running the diagnostics. To put it otherwise, imagine trying to lance a boil on each arm of an unrestrained epileptic while they are having a fit, and you have a fairly decent idea of what needed to be done here.

>pic related
>>
>>4338664
When other engineers took command of this situation, they attempted to reboot the primary hardware, in the hopes that any commands from the primary would override whatever the backup clusters on the arms were doing. Unfortunately, this was not the case; as in the same vein of other security features, the password prompts were being mirrored on the backup clusters, and they were ignoring all inputs from the primary, including new commands. The commander of the Clean Sweep had the presence of mind to reverse the ships course, which caused some of the debris in the nets to float out, meaning that the risk of projectile scrap was reduced. As it was unclear of where there were sensor clusters on the derelict that could launch attack, moving away to a safe distance was not possible, and as the ship still posed a projectile risk, moving towards other ships for assistance would be untenable.

The Clean Sweep attempted to simply wait out the programming, but ran into one final issue, a genuine bug in the programing. It seems that if the clusters and the primary hardware are out of sync, and the clusters are prompting for a password and running a diagnostic, then the clusters will simply run the diagnostic program on a loop. And waiting for the power to run out was not an acceptable option either, as the independent power supply in the arms was enough to run the clusters for at least 2 days before they ran out and shut down.

The decision was made to send out crewmen to physically remove the backup hardware on the pylons, while they were going through the dangerous and sporadic motions of the netting. The officers of the Clean Sweep were ultimately able to successfully orchestrate and lead an emergency operation to shut down the rouge nets; though it was not without cost. Of the seven crewmen and the junior engineer (who actually volunteered to go out to fix his own mistake) who went on an incredibly dangerous EVA, two crewmen and the engineer were injured by being hit, by debris, the net, the pylon or a combination of all three. Another crewman had is left arm crushed, a complete loss, when a portion of the pylon folded over on itself crushing the arm as if it was in a vice. Finally, one crewman was hit by a pylon in the face, with enough force to knock him out and compromise his helmet. By the time he was recovered by the away team, he had died. (crew -)

There was damage done to the netting as well. While both packages were running the diagnostic programing, they were coordinating, so that their movements were not going to hit one another. But when the port backup cluster was removed from power, the starboard backup cluster had no way of knowing this, so for a good ten minutes, you could only watch as the netting tore into itself. In the end, about 25% of the net had been torn and rent away. (Reduced yields from trawling to 75% of baseline).
>>
>>4338750
I still dont understand the purpose and use of the netting.
Ok so who the fuck was responsible for this mess? I mean the instillation of the program and pirating?
>>
>>4338750
As an added insult, by the time that everything was done, there was nothing left in the nets.

Still, they were able to keep the rest of the fleet from harm, and the leadership of the officers was able to mitigate as much of the damage as could have been, under these insane circumstances. The injured men were being triaged and stabilized in the medical bay of the Clean Sweep, once they have been seen, those needing additional assistance will be sent to the full infirmary on the Aethereal Vulture.

As for the Clean Sweep itself, it can be run without the backups, and in its current state. You could call on Engineering to rebuild what you can of the nets, or for that matter, you could have them look over the Clean Sweep and have them fix the backups and reinstall them. (Operating the netting without the backups active increases "bad" outcome from crew, engineer and officer rolls for the Clean Sweep from 5 to 6. As stated previously, the net in the current condition will catch 75% of what it would in normal condition).

>Resume trawling operations as is, without repairs to the net and without reprogramming and reinstalling the pylon hardware.

>Have the pylon hardware reprogrammed and reinstalled (Clean Sweep will be unavailable, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)

>Have the engineers attempt to repair the net as best as they are able (Clean Sweep will be unavailable, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)

>Have the engineers attempt to repair the net and reprogram and reinstall the hardware (Clean Sweep will be unavailable for some time, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)
>>
>>4338788
>Have the engineers attempt to repair the net and reprogram and reinstall the hardware (Clean Sweep will be unavailable for some time, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)
>>
>>4338788
>Have the engineers attempt to repair the net and reprogram and reinstall the hardware (Clean Sweep will be unavailable for some time, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)
I want a diagnostics of all our systems, engines, turrets, and drones when we get back after everyone is done with shore leave. Work place acidents are a big no no.

In fact, we should have a fleet wide "___ Days since last work place accident" thing. The dead guy will have his body preserved and shipped ti his family, all injured will have payed leave until they recover.
>>
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>>4338787
Attached to this post is a real world example (or a photo render of a real world example) of a net being used to capture derelict satellites. The idea of the trawler Clean Sweep is to take a square mile worth of chain-link and pass it through debris fields, so that it can collect all of the goodies inside of it, instead of having to send out drones or crewmen on an EVA to collect the stuff. It is quicker, cheaper, and even with the spectacular failure here, much safer as well.

As for who is responsible for the pirated copy; our character instructed the head engineer of the trawler to get a program for the nets as cheaply as possible, and didn't ask anymore questions or put any other constraints on him other than cost. Ultimately, the Owner-Operator signed off on the expenditure, which could be viewed as it being his responsibility, but he and apparently some of the engineers on the ship didn't even know it was pirated.
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>>4338811
fucks sake. so it's partially ours and the head engineers fault. yeah how much to work out all the kinks or get a non-pirated version? How many double talents is it gonna cost to fix this?
>>
>Have the engineers attempt to repair the net and reprogram and reinstall the hardware (Clean Sweep will be unavailable for some time, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)

>>4338814
The most cost-effective solution is to take it slow and ensure operating procedure like finishing diagnostics before engagement are part of fleet doctrine until we can find a better fix.
>>
With three votes for side lining further trawling operations until the Clean Sweep is in the best possible condition, we are going to need 2 1d20+1 for the engineering operations.

Here are some other choices:

>A change of pace is in order here. Deploy the Muninn atmospheric drone (can't make escape velocity on its own, must be recovered with atmospheric shuttle or abandoned) to examine the spot that the derelict is in geosynchronous orbit over.

>Resume your attempts to widen the hole into the bottom storage deck, so you can access it with another drone, without sacrificing the camera and lights.

>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.

>It might be a good idea to get a full view of the derelict, using another Huginn drone to look the hull over.

>Deploy the buoys necessary to formally claim the derelict as your own. You can defend it with lethal force in decivilized space, and "defend" is broad enough to include preemptive attacks, though they are considered unethical, unsporting and asinine. Back in decivilized space, you can bring suit against claim jumpers, and claim everything that they used to violate your property with; typically they will settle out of court. There is a chance that outlaws and rouges will follow the buoys to the ship, but there isn't that much activity around here. Odds that someone else is at the ship or has been at the ship when you return to it after heading to port goes from 1 out of 100 (unclaimed, with no buoys) to 1 out of 50 (claimed, with buoys).

>With the issues that we have been having, and the supplies of ammo that we have dwindling, it is time to leave. (Move to safe jump point, and depart the system)

>Don't forget the two engineering rolls of 1d20+1.
>>
Rolled 2 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4339063
>>
Rolled 17 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4338788
>Have the engineers attempt to repair the net and reprogram and reinstall the hardware (Clean Sweep will be unavailable for some time, you will be prompted with other things to do with other ships)
>>
>>4339095
>>4339121
You two can vote from the new choices available in >>4339063
>>
>>4339134
>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.
>>
Boy, the rolls on this quest are total shit. I fucking hate 4chans roller.
>>
>>4339063
>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.
welp, time for the crew to gain their bonus.
>>
>>4339063
>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.
>>
>With 4 votes for a manned expedition, you are going to send in a manned expedition
>With the engineers net roll of 3, serious complications have hit their attempts to reprogram the pylon control and pylon emergency control packages.
>With the engineers net roll of 18, the engineers have had more successful than expected time in rebuilding the nets.

I will start writing, but how do you want to equip this manned expedition.

Changes to Party Composition of 8 Crewmen:
>Send in an officer with the crewmen. As demonstrated with the Clean Sweep, having an officer around can save you from a worse fate if the officers roll well when the crewmen roll poorly. They can also provide additional options.
>Send in an engineer with the crewmen. While they have been having issues lately, having a technical mind on hand can provide options that are otherwise unavailable.
>Send in both an engineer and an officer with the crewmen. While you will have the most options available, you also have a larger pool of dice, making it easier for things to go wrong.

Drone Support
>Send the party in with a Huginn drone, so they have some options with exploring. This will slightly increase the odds that they are detected by the ship.

Barge Support
>Send the party in with a barge loaded with tools and instrumentation; this will provide some additional options, but will increase the odds that they are detected by the ship.
>Send the party in with a barge loaded with weapons and explosives; this will provide some additional options, and some combat capability, but will increase the odds that they are detected by the ship. The ship may have ways of detecting and dealing with explosions; use discretion.
>Send the party in with a barge loaded with a mix of weapons and explosives; this will provide a mix of additional options, and some combat capability, but will increase the odds that they are detected by the ship. The ship may have ways of detecting and dealing with explosions; use discretion.

Combat Support:
>There is one armed shuttle in service with your fleet; a former mid-weight, mid-range fighter that you found several years ago. The power plant for the fighter was completely destroyed, as well as the main thruster. The power plant that you swapped in to the craft was not strong enough to power a main thruster comparable to the one that was lost, so you had it rebuilt without it, using the space where the thruster was as room for additional capacitors and a secondary fuel tank. Without the main thruster, the craft relies on its original directional thrusters to move, and is much too slow to operate as in its original role as a fighter. However, for potentially hostile exploration, it is useful as a mobile weapons platform; and the original beam weapon has been retooled for close range combat. Two crewmen to fly, and it carries two more armed crewmen on its wings. Unfortunately, the armed shuttle is large and disruptive enough that it can not hide from the ship.
>>
>>4339341
>Send in both an engineer and an officer with the crewmen.

Let's hope this helps.

Nothing that makes them more detectable, this is just for a look-see.

Maaaaybe the armed shuttle standing by outside the hangar in case of a drone attack, assuming its weapons can damage drones.
>>
>>4339341
>Send in both an engineer and an officer with the crewmen. While you will have the most options available, you also have a larger pool of dice, making it easier for things to go wrong.

>Send the party in with a barge loaded with tools and instrumentation; this will provide some additional options, but will increase the odds that they are detected by the ship.
>>
>>4339341
>Send in both an engineer and an officer
>Send the party in with a Huginn drone
>>
>>4339361
>>4339360
>>4339353
Alright, so there is agreement on sending in an additional engineer and officer, bringing the total party size to 10.

>>4339353
You can do that, just remember, the armed shuttle is relatively slow, even slower than full sized ships, if something happens, at it was outside of the hangar, it probably will not be able to get into range to attack or escape, unless the expedition is around the hangar door. The weapons are capable of destroying the materials that the drones are made out of, so yes, it can damage both types of enemies that you have encountered so far.

>>4339353 One tentative vote for the attack shuttle stationed at the hangar door.
>>4339360 One vote for a barge with tools and instruments that may provide additional options.
>>4339361 One vote for giving the party one of the Huginn drones.

I'd like to point out that none of these three votes are exclusive with one another, you could do all three if you liked. I'll let this sit a bit, and see if there is some consensus that emerges, otherwise I'll roll for it, so I can get a few more posts in before I go to bed.
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>>4339389
All three is good, if we're doing the attack shuttle may as well do the tool barge since it's not like we're gonna get any more conspicuous
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>>4339389
I'm against sending them in for anything more than light scouting at first. Nix the shuttle. Not down with all the other gear until we get a report of what they see.

Prep it outside the hangar if you want, anons. Just don't send it inside yet.
>>
>>4339398
I don't understand why we'd throw caution to the wind. We've not even buried the dead guy, morale doesn't need destabilizing with more lives being thrown away. There's twice as many corpses in what we've found so far as living people in our fleet.
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>>4339413
It is ultimately just an option. And when you are out of danger here, you will get prompts on how to deal with the remains of the crewman, and the corpses in the hold of the Clean Sweep.
>>
>>4339421
I'm down for just about anything if someone thinks they have a better idea.
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>>4339413
alright I guess, changing vote from >>4339398 to >>4339353
>>
>>4339425
>>4339428

My suggestion is to set up the gear (barge, shuttle, drone) in the safe zone outside the hangar for quick access, but start with the manned party only for minimal detection risk at first, then have them report back and decide from there.

That way, if we find out we need to be extremely stealthy to take apart another sensor that sends out hostile drones we can do so with minimal risk to our personnel.

We can't do that after we're detected.
>>
Alright, I'll close it for sending in the barge with tools, the Huginn drone with the attack shuttle on standby, and with the officer and engineer added to the party.

I'll start writing, but before I do, quick question on preference; would you prefer a point of view shift to the officer leading the expedition, or would you simply like to roll for the expedition and receive reports from them?
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>>4339435
Whoops, just missed this >>4339431 post. If there is general agreement with this plan, I'll write that up.
>>
>>4339431
This works, all the gear would be nice to have on standby as long as it doesn't add any more risk.
>>4339435
POV shift would be interesting, but do whatever man
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>>4339431
>>4339446
Sounds fine with me
Someone send plastic flowers and a get well card to the injured folks
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>>4339435
No opinion on POV shifts. Write whatever's easiest to write.
>>
>>4339435
I would like to see a Pov shift. It will slow down on getting the expedition done with just some rolls. Do what you like
>>
If we hit it big in the expedition what do you guys want to do? I kind of want to get a nice new ship and find a planet that habitable and either settle it ourselves or sell off the info. I like the idea of being some kind of frontier spaceman, exploring shit.
>>
>>4339466
Pay off the loan.

Get combat capable craft and a well-trained crew/officer corps. This includes logistics capacities, meaning we gotta be able to travel and shoot and whatever else a decent amount before we head back home.

Settle the planet here if possible to create a useful base, though that may require a significant amount of fleet expansion and resource acquisition.

Possibly integrate high tech gear into our own ships from this vessel.

Definitely sell the research materials here to a tech firm in exchange for a percentage of the future proceeds or a large sum up front depending on how soon they feel they can develop it.
>>
Your name is Justinian Hexdricks, and you are a junior officer in the Starving Vulture scavenger fleet, a small outfit of 5 ships with several shuttles and atmospheric craft besides, and 139 men. Part of your latest command is to ensure that those numbers do not fall any lower. The recent death of a crewman during the attempt to restore control over the Clean Sweep has not seriously dampened the mood of fleet yet, and maybe it never would.

Accidents like that aren't uncommon in decivilized space, where you have to rely on, and ultimately save your self. In the end, his death was, or at least, could be viewed as, a sacrifice to help protect the rest of the fleet. That said, there was a less saccharine reason why his death, and the injury and maiming of the other crewmen did not hit as hard. The rest of the fleet, from the lowest indentured crewman, all the way up to the Owner-Operator were all enthralled by the thought of securing a massive payout from the wreck. How many lives would it take to break that spell? You hoped to never know, and now it seems that with your current dispatch, you are now in a position where if you fail, you may just find out how much blood it will take to blot away the greed.

That was a good line, if you get a minute, you'll write it down for later. You were one of the few university-educated individuals on the fleet, and while you made a point of keeping your interest closely guarded, as not to seem weak or effeminate, to the other officers, or worse, the crewmen, you had always enjoyed writing prose and dramas in your free time. In fact, one of the reasons, (as silly as it may sound) that you had signed up with the Starving Vultures is that the Owner-Operator is fairly articulate. If you had to work, and only scavenger fleets were hiring out of Old Scrimshander, then you'd pick one commanded by someone who speaks in more than curses and grunts, which was apparently how most scavenger fleet commanders spoke.

Still, there was a crudeness to him, though it was more endearing than anything else. During the broadcast about the fleet wide bonus, a mental image of the Owner-Operator, a man not 5 years your elder, next to you in your Free Form Prose class in University, reciting "this bitch of a ship will put out like a drunk whore" to your uptight professor struck you as so funny that you had to excuse yourself to the water closet to conceal your giggling. Er, chuckling. Well, at the least, manly giggling.
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>>4339549
Before your dispatch, you were present for an update on Engineerings efforts to restore the Clean Sweep back to full functionality. While they were making excellent progress on rebuilding the trawling nets, they were having much more difficulty with the software and hardware. Some corners were cut, and it seems that improperly cracked pirated software was used in the hardware, and it was proving more difficult than expected to deal with. While work on the Clean Sweep will continue, you will be leading a manned expedition into the blown out Hangar, in hopes that you can see things that the original drone may have missed.

The idea is to have the attack shuttle with the two literal and physical wingmen, along with the supply barge and a fresh drone all parked outside of the hangar door. That way, you can quickly access the supplies, but will not need to worry about causing more of a disturbance than expected. It is been several months, nearly a year now that you think about it, since you have been on an EVA. Still you realize that the success of this entire long term operation may hinge on your ability to ensure that the first real manned exploration of the ship goes successfully. Eventually, everything is accounted for on the barge, the 8 crewmen and spare engineer are ready to go, and the attack shuttle with the two pilots and the two unfortunates is already "in vac", as they say. As you and your men leave the Aethereal Vulture, the fleet is ...

>Is in a rough defensive formation around the hangar, and continuing other operations (will prompt a vote for the operations to run, along with the rolls for them)
>Is in a defensive line, where the the crews of all of the ships are on combat standby while you are operating in the hull.
>Is in a defensive pocket, where the most combat capable ships are closer to the hangar and are on combat standby, while the rest of the fleet continues operations at a safer distance (will prompt a vote for the operations to run, along with the rolls for them)
>Is in a defensive pocket, where the most combat capable ships are closer to the hangar, and the rest of the fleet is at a safer distance, but all ships are on combat standby while you are operating in the hull.
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>>4339571
>>Is in a defensive pocket, where the most combat capable ships are closer to the hangar and are on combat standby, while the rest of the fleet continues operations at a safer distance (will prompt a vote for the operations to run, along with the rolls for them)
>>
>>4339571
>Is in a rough defensive formation around the hangar, and continuing other operations (will prompt a vote for the operations to run, along with the rolls for them)
>>
>>4339585
Remember we have damaged ships and ships with zero combat potential in the fleet that we pulled back last time.

If we set off another drone sweep, having our ships arranged such that those craft are out of the firing line gives us an advantage we cannot afford to pass up, especially with our dwindling ammo stockpile.
>>
>>4339571
>Is in a rough defensive formation around the hangar, and continuing other operations (will prompt a vote for the operations to run, along with the rolls for them)
>>
Alright, I am ready to run again.

>>4339623
>>4339590
>>4339585
>>4339580
Alright, with 3 votes for the rough defensive position, where all ships are roughly equidistant to the hangar, and the fleet is conducting other operations.

>A change of pace is in order here. Deploy the Muninn atmospheric drone (can't make escape velocity on its own, must be recovered with atmospheric shuttle or abandoned) to examine the spot that the derelict is in geosynchronous orbit over.

>Resume your attempts to widen the hole into the bottom storage deck, so you can access it with another drone, without sacrificing the camera and lights.

>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.

>It might be a good idea to get a full view of the derelict, using another Huginn drone to look the hull over.

>Deploy the buoys necessary to formally claim the wreck, but do not activate them yet.

>Deploy the buoys necessary to formally claim the wreck, and activate them.
>>
>>4340445
Come on man, we already voted to do this:
>The Hangar and the Trainyard seem safe enough at least; perhaps men will see things that the drone did not. Send in manned crews, simply to look around, and see if anything was missed.
>>
>>4340445
Whoops, that isn't particularly well formatted. I'm still waking up here. Let me try again.

With the away team operating in the hull of the derelict, the rest of the fleet is also working. They have ...

>Decided that a change of pace is in order here, and are going to deploy the Muninn drone to the spot that the ship is in geosynchronous orbit over.

>Prepared a second away team to operate in the hull of the derelict, that will attempt to widen the hole is , so that you may send a drone down.

>Decided that that it would be a good time to get a better picture of the entire ship, and dispatched the last Huginn drone to take a look.

>Decided to deploy the buoys necessary to formally claim the wreck, but do not activate them yet.

>Decided to deploy the buoys necessary to formally claim the wreck, and activate them.
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>>4340450
Yeah, that was my mistake. Were still doing it, the away team is moving towards the hangar as we speak. I just accidentally left that one in there. This is for another choice, in addition to that one.
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>>4340455
>Decided that that it would be a good time to get a better picture of the entire ship, and dispatched the last Huginn drone to take a look.
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>>4340455
>>4340465

Deploying buoys would draw attention to us and I'm not ready to commit to that before we do more exploration in system and more investigation on the wreck.

Probing the rest of the ship sounds like a great way to put our team at risk.

Let's task them with using their sensors to approximate the flight paths of prior debris to determine how long ago previous expeditions came here as discussed up-thread. That'll give us info on the partial fleet ID we found on those drone hulls.
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>>4340477
At the very least we can deploy the bouys when we leave, but before we do that I think we should also explore the planet. Due to its proximity to the ship, in addition to the mysteries behind it, there might be something planet side worth looking into. It also might be worth. Claiming the planet as well while we're at it.
>>
Alright, I will leave this up for another 30 minutes or so, so people can come back into the thread, and I have time to each lunch and strap down my bed. If there is no majority, I will roll.

>>4340465 is roll of 1
>>4340477 is roll of 2
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>>4340542
Okay, so now there are three votes for three separate (and exclusive) actions. So by the time that I am back, if there still isn't a majority, I will roll for it.

>>4340540 is roll of 3
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>>4340540
I have no problem deploying buoys before we leave if we don't find a reason not to. It makes sense.

I just ask that we do it after learning what we can, and one of the safest steps is calculating when prior attempts were made at salvage.

If this thing is a hot zone and it happened, that changes things. If the last attempt was fifty years ago or something, that's different.

That's why I want to start with the debris trajectories first. And then we can move onto more active monitoring of the ship like it says here >>4340465

Especially if our away team doesn't find anything dangerous, useful or accessible.
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>>4340554
I support your vote. Maybe while we're at it we can figure out how old were the human remains were in the drones.
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>>4340585
That's a good question for our medical team, actually. Hopefully we can ask them.

Incidentally, we can probably institute an officer pay bonus for outstanding performance since they were grumbling about not getting a shot at the crew bonuses. Same with engineers.
>>
Okay, that settles for attempt to age the wreck by looking for debris in erratic orbits. Can I get rolls for the crewmen operating the scanners, looking for the debris (1d20+2) and the engineers advising them (1d20+1).

As for looking at the remains, and attempting to date them, that is certainly something that you can do eventually, it just so happens that all of the medical staff are in the Infirmary, treating the casualties from the Clean Sweep trawling incident. They will be available, eventually.
>>
>>4340612
Before we roll, lets to a diagnostics check on all our equipment.
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>>4340612
come on nat 1
>>
Rolled 6 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4340804
Okay, I guess dice+1d20+2 can not be in the name field
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>>4340731
Having a diagnostic test run would be a separate engineering roll. The "bad" roll, of 1-5 would simply mean delays, nothing as extreme as a failure in action like the Clean Sweep's pylon controls.
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>>4340832
>>4340731
If you (or someone else) still want to do that, feel free to roll two engineering tests 1d20+1.

Keep in mind, diagnostics aren't perfect. They wont necessarily catch everything.
>>
Rolled 9 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4340838
diagnostics
>>
Rolled 1 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4340838
>>
>>4340863
Okay, so we still need one other 1d20+1 for the engineers advising the crewmen running the equipment. I'll take quick break for dinner, and then I will get to writing.
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>>4340867
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>>4340867
In be4 the derelic is pinging us
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>>4340884
In b4 the derelict is salvaging us.

don't worry things are going to be moving that fast. What is going to happen right away is that we are going to have a scanner repair build for the Aethereal Vulture.

I'm just going to through some dinner together, and then I will have the post up soon.
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>>4340904
>Justinian Hexdricks x Owner-Operator when
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>>4340908
gonna call the horny police on you anon
>>
>>4340916
I hunger for hyper homo erotic fuckery
no can stop me
you cannot contain the G A Y
>>
the rolls in this quest are uniquely awful
>>
>>4340904
Wait a minute! I've gotten all turned around here. We are currently with with Hexdricks and the away team, which means that we will only hear about the misadventures of the Engineers second hand. The rolls still stand, but I shouldn't break perspective, otherwise it will cheapen the whole point of the perspective shift in the first place.

So, what we need now is the rolls for the away team entering the hangar, with the supplies, drone and attack shuttle on standby, right outside the hangar door. Can I please get:

Crewmen 1d20+2
Engineers 1d20+1
Officers 1d20+2

to see how things go for them?
>>
Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4340927
crewmen
>>
Rolled 20 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4340927
engineers
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>>4340927
If theres a beach on the planet, would it be possibly to allow shore leave on there for a fat fucking N U T T morale boost? Provided the atmosphere, flora, fauna, sand, planet's crust, waters, temperatures are safe and habitable?
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>>4340946
So long as the beach was safe and secure, yes, you could have shore leave on the planet, instead of in Old Scrimshander, three whole days of jump away.

Safe and Secure is a significant caveat
>>
>>4340972
If the planet is sufficiently save, having Shore leave planet side could provide an even greater bonus to morale all across the board, in addition to being relatively cheaper. Beach BBQ's, fun in the sun, swimming (life guard armed with assault cannon and flying gun drone in case of aggressive aquatic wildlife), and still being relatively close to our salvage fleet.
>>
Well, we still need the roll for the officers. 1d20+2
>>
Rolled 7 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4341052
>>
To your shame, you had only just entered the hangar when everything manages to go sideways. With the eyes of the away team, both the men in the hull and on the crew and compliment of the attack shuttle scanning for anything that was missed with the pass through with the first Huginn drone, none of you manage to notice that crewman who was responsible for stopping the barge used the retrograde thrusters of the barge to stop the craft. This was perfectly acceptable, so long as after the barge was stopped, the dampeners were engaged, to prevent the barge from moving again. However, the crewman had not engaged the dampeners, as such, the barge was floating free.

It was the men on the attack shuttles wings that noticed the now free-range barge was heading towards the left side of the door, around the area where the blind, the former Huginn drone had been installed. The men on the wings dismounted, as their suits were faster than the shuttle, and bolted after the barge to stop if from disrupting the sensitive area around the blind. As the two men approached the barge, they realized that they did not have the key to operate the vehicle. Thankfully, these crewmen communicated this to the engineer on the away team, who with the rest of the forward group (where you, Hexdricks, were leading from) was rushing towards the runaway barge. The engineer was familiar enough with the barge to know how to hotwire it, and was able to instruct the wingmen on how to regain control of the barge, before it managed to impact the hull near the blind, which considering the tenuous hold that the blind has on the ship, may be enough to knock if away from the sensor cluster.

In the end, the wingmen were able to stop the barge from impacting the hull. But that does not mean that things are touch and go on the away team still. Between the poor seat of the blind and the proximity of the away team and the barge, not to mention the sensor profile of the barge, it is entirely possible that you may be picked up by the sensor cluster anyway. You quickly order everyone out of the area, and as you are return everyone to the staging area outside of the hangar, it occurs to you that you should make some sort of official report to the flagship. You attempt to hail it, but the second that you open the channel you are almost deafened by some ungodly sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0). It seems that the engineers are attempting to use the communications array as a boost to the sensor package on the Aethereal Vulture; they must be looking for something at quite some distance. In fact, now that you look, you can see that the communications tower, sitting right behind the bridge, is at full extension, and seems to be glowing red (from botched scan attempt).
>>
>>4341138

Not certain of what to make of that, but certain that you should report the stumble here, you patch over to the Karaboudjan instead, and inform that ship's commander as to what happened with the barge, and ask what is going on with the Aethereal Vultures communication. He acknowledges receipt of the report, and informs you that they are apparently using the long range communication tower as an impromptu booster for the scanner, so they can search for any debris in erratic orbits. It is the hope of the bridge that by finding debris in such an erratic orbit, they can use this to calculate how long ago the doomed expedition met its fate. He says that the bridge can still be reached by shortwave; and you thank him and switch over. You are able to get the comms station, and repeat your report to the crewman on the line. He asks you to wait a minute, and gets the Owner-Operator on the line.

After repeating the report a third time, you ask him for his orders. After a moment of dead vac on the comms, he asks if you have anything more substantial than a gut feeling that it was possible for the derelict to see you through the blind. When you reply that you don't, there is another moment of silence, and then he speaks:

"Hexdricks, the only one of us who knows what the ship knows is the ship itself. We are never going to be certain that anything out here in decivilized space is going to be safe, and if we did, then none of us, myself included would be paid as well as we are. I'm not out in the vac, in a pair of longerjohns, sticking my head into the proverbial lions mouth. You are. If you feel that the threat here is credible enough that the away team should pull back, then that is your call. I made it your call, and I'm not going to make it for you. When you make your decision, pass it along to comms, then just act on it, alright? Now I got to see what the engineers have gotten themselves up to now.

>Away team is recalled to the Aethereal Vulture (ends perspective change).
>Away team continues on into the hull of the Derelict, with the support waiting outside.
>Away team continues on into the hull of the Derelict, with the support tagging along.
>>
>>4341186
>Away team continues on into the hull of the Derelict, with the support waiting outside.
Can we examine the blinds to make sure it worked? What if we put additional stuff over it in case it can see through the glue?
>>
>>4341198
Well, that is the thing. We don't know if the sensors saw us, or if the sensors attempted or succeeded in communicating with the rest of the ship, and there is nothing physically there to prove this one way or another. When we get back to port, we could get a machine shop to make a better blind for us, one that may detect when the sensor package attempts to send out a signal, but that would be kind of expensive. Also, that is beyond our capabilities to build in decivilized space.
>>
>>4341212
>>4341186

I will let this vote sit a little longer, like maybe another 30 minutes or so, then I will close it.
>>
>>4341198
+1
>>
>>4341340
>>4341198
Alright, closed for that. The away team will move further into the hangar, and attempt to investigate the area.

Can I get the three roles please?
Crewmen 1d20+2
Engineers 1d20+1
Officers 1d20+2
>>
Rolled 5 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4341356
crew lads
>>
Rolled 14 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>4341356
>>
>>4341358
>>4341357
One of the two of you can roll for the officers, so I can get to writing sooner, if you like.
>>
Rolled 9 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>4341375
engie
>>
You take several deep breaths, or at least as deep as the spacesuit will comfortably allow. You decide to continue into the hull of the derelict. To conserve resources, you instruct your men to only use the boosters and thrusters on their suits in case of emergency, or where the environment completely precludes simply walking. The men in the away follow suit, and the ten of you head into the hangar, hopefully for a longer and more fruitful time than last. While it may take longer on foot, considering the constraints of the fuel situation on the suits (and the fact that the extra fuel has all been left on the barge, back outside the hangar) you are confident that you have made the correct decision here. Though, as you reflect, slowly picking your way across the seriously damaged part of the hangar near the door, this is certainly the more exhausting decision. Finally, the floor begins to flatten out, and the small clouds of Ceramic micro-shards that are everywhere, though thickest around the floor clear up a bit.

You call a quick halt, and quickly take stock of the surroundings. There is an alcove of sorts, formed by the remains of the hangar door frame, and across from that, there is the remains of one of the four elevators in the hangar. The drone spent only a minute or so looking at the supports, and next to no time examining the remains of the door. What exactly do you do?

>Examine the remains of the hangar door frame (and door)

>Examine the remains of the elevator

>Head further in, towards the door to the Trainyard.
>>
Whoops, that is a really lousy edit. This should be a bit better.
>>
>>4341424
>Head further in, towards the door to the Trainyard.
>>
Alright, when I am ready, I will start with that. We are almost at 500 replies, and now that we are on the third page, I'm noticing that the responses are slowing down noticeably, so I'm going to archive this thread, and start a new one when I am ready..
>>
>>4342187
pls link new thread on this thread
>>
>>4342521
When it goes up, I will.
>>
Alright, I have everything ready. I was hoping to be able to run tonight, but I need to get to bed soon for work tomorrow, so I don't see any sense in posting a thread and then abandoning it for about 12 hours. I should have the new thread up for tomorrow, around 6pm eastern standard time.
>>
Archive is up at http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/4327821/

I know I said 6pm Eastern Standard Time, but I'm free now, and for that matter, I am already tired, so I don't think putting it off is going to work well for us. I'll make the thread, and link it momentarily.
>>
>>4344395
>>4344422
'Alright boys, here we go...



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