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File: Broken Empire 4.jpg (406 KB, 1920x1080)
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”Fine, get the subspacers to tag along, we are leaving the area.” Stating so, you fall fully in your chair. This was a victory, if nothing else, but it does leave a bad taste in your mouth, after all, when you fight, you always bloody the enemy.

You watch as your fleet struggles to maneuverer to a safer area, looking for a gap with little to no asteroids, a perfect terrain for your forces. One thing of note would be the solar flare, you able to witness it in its full glory. It is a beautiful, if deadly, sight.

Finally, you reach a location in which you are not at risk of an asteroid slamming into you and ending your illustrious career before it got to fully bloom.

The two merchant ships stumble and bumble as they follow your fleet. They are now entirely at your mercy, and they know it.

“Comms, contact the merchant captains.” You half-heartedly command.

It does not take long for the two voices to once again be heard.

“Your lordship.” Both the man and woman say at once.

“Now that we are in a safer zone, I have questions. You will answer them truthfully and quickly, am I clear ?”

“Yes, your lordship.” The two respond at the same time.

“First of all, what the hell are you doing here ?” You are quite confused as to why these people are in such a hostile system.

“Plying our trade. With the system so unstable, it has made it extraordinarily easy for us to extract rare ores, and getting common ores is as simply as simply plucking an asteroid, and we already made a profit.” Responds the man.

“How come you had no protection ? These lands are not the safest, especially considering the pirate dominance.”

“Most escort forces have pulled back to guard their own territories. Whatever local mercenary forces that had existed were tiny compared to the pirates, and they have either joined up, been exterminated, or they simply quit these lands.” Says the woman.

“With great risk, comes great reward.” Pipes up the man. “With the pirates rampaging, trade isn’t doing too well, so naturally the prices skyrocket.”

Dying for greed. These people are merchants through and through.

“There was a comm signal in the system that we intercepted. You have any idea where in came from ?”

“No idea, your lordship.” Succinctly responds the man.

You start to think:

>”I have more questions.” (Write in)

>”I have no more questions, let us leave this accursed system.”

>”I have no more questions, we’re to explore further. Find the pirates, find the signal.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5199923
>>”I have no more questions, let us leave this accursed system.”

Just not worth it. We've fucked ourselves up enough on boondoggles this campaign.
>>
Useful links:

Military/Noble rankings https://pastebin.com/gLcTWzXE

Archive Links https://pastebin.com/uWJ38wnz

Timeline of the setting https://pastebin.com/bzhWWDkj

Ships https://pastebin.com/8LxdVHfm

Dramatis Personae https://pastebin.com/epJfFJd7

Completely forgot to post this
>>
>>5199923
>”I have no more questions, we’re to explore further. Find the pirates, find the signal.”
The balls on the ghoul are enough to fill an entire duchy.
>>5199929
Everyone forgets stuff. It's a sad and sometimes funny reality.
>>
>>5199923
>”I have no more questions, we’re to explore further. Find the pirates, find the signal.”
>Send the traders to the water planet, inform them to be on guard for pirates, but they should find a safe passage through there.

If it's not the traders, it is therefore the pirates, somehow surviving in this hellhole of a system. Fighting pirate fleets won't get anything done, we need to find and destroy their bases.
>>
>>5199923
>>”I have more questions.” (Write in)
Do you know any pirate strongholds or known pirate locations?
>>
>>5199923

>”I have more questions.”
As experienced merchants in this region of space you must have information about pirates, such as which routes are the most attacked? Or rumors of systems where pirates are based? In addition to being aware of attacks against other merchants in the area, how many of these fleets are currently operating? And what ship composition are they known for in these raids? Lastly pirates are not known to their cargo ships, they must have some way of reselling their loot on the legal market, do you have any idea who could be trading with them? For example a merchant who became rich overnight after the attacks intensified?
>>
>>5199923
>”I have no more questions, let us leave this accursed system.”
>>
>>5199923
>>5200149
>>5200252
Supporting
>>
>>5200558
And yes it looks like i also support MY OWN question, damn phone for missclick
>>
>>5199923

>”I have no more questions, we’re to explore further. Find the pirates, find the signal.”
It is one of those surveillance ships of the pirates, isnt it?
Also +1 to asking question
>>5200252
Also, they hopefully dont think that we did that shit for free, i want information, money or a big titty alien waifu
>>
“As experienced merchants in this region of space you must have information about pirates, such as which routes are the most attacked? Or rumours of systems where pirates are based? Do you know any pirate strongholds or known pirate locations ? In addition to being aware of attacks against other merchants in the area, how many of these fleets are currently operating? And what ship composition are they known for in these raids? Lastly pirates are not known to their cargo ships, they must have some way of reselling their loot on the legal market, do you have any idea who could be trading with them? For example, a merchant who became rich overnight after the attacks intensified?”

“Well, we’re not in league with the pirates, but I can tell you for certain that some merchant groups are in cahoots. They don’t get attacked, and the pirates never demand tribute from them. I can send over what information we have on them to you. As for their possible bases ? Well, we have no idea, at best I can tell you that most activity shown by the pirates is around galactic East from here. I’d reckon that if they have a base, it is probably there.” Tattles on the man.

“From what we heard and seen, most of the pirates have frigates and a destroyer here and there, but we’ve heard rumours that they probably have something heavier, as what it is ? No idea. And when it comes to numbers, excuse me your lordship, but one group of pirates is hard to distinguish from the other. All I can say is the fact that there are enough of them around to squeeze this sector dry.” Finishes the woman.

That is probably the best you will get out of them.

You also decide that the risk is worth it. You will stay in system and look for the signal. If it is a comm ship, as that is one of your theories, it should be full of data. Data that you can you to track the pirates down.

That still leaves the matter of the two cargo ships. These subspacers answered all your questions honestly, at least as far as you can tell.

>Let them go on their way unmolested.

>There are no free things in this galaxy, demand that they hand over their goods. After all, what is wealth compared to ones life ?

>Direct them to the water world. Hopefully the pirates are already dealt with, for if so, your outpost there could house them, allow them to trade.

>(Write in)
>>
>>5200731
>Direct them to the water world. Hopefully the pirates are already dealt with, for if so, your outpost there could house them, allow them to trade.
Marc had better have dealt with them...
>>
>>5200731
>Direct them to the water world. Hopefully the pirates are already dealt with, for if so, your outpost there could house them, allow them to trade.
>>
>>5200731
>Direct them to the water world. Hopefully the pirates are already dealt with, for if so, your outpost there could house them, allow them to trade.
>>
>>5200731
>>Let them go on their way unmolested.

> we’ve heard rumours that they probably have something heavier, as what it is ? No idea.
This might be a hammer-class ship.
>>
>>5200731
>Direct them to the water world. Hopefully the pirates are already dealt with, for if so, your outpost there could house them, allow them to trade.
>>
>>5200731
>Direct them to the water world. Hopefully the pirates are already dealt with, for if so, your outpost there could house them, allow them to trade.
>>
Alright, directing them wins.

Now 1d100 best of 3 for navigating the system and finding the ship
>>
Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>5202346
>>
Rolled 10 (1d100)

>>5202346
lets find the straw in a pile of needles
>>
Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>5202346
>>
File: 1645235545649.png (313 KB, 674x859)
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my dissapointment is immesureable and my day has become worse
>>
“There’s a waterworld, Ceron I believe, you aware of it ?”

“We are.” Responds the man.

“Head over there, it should be a safe place.”

“Thank, your lordship.” Both say at once.

You then watch as the two ships break away from your position and start the arduous journey towards the system’s star.

You however only look them over for a few moments, the need to prepare your forces for this treacherous space taking forefront of your mind.

Luckily, the journey sees you sail smoothly, if on occasion slowly. You are able to avoid the scorching solar flares and the unrelenting force that is and asteroid smashing apart your ships.

Unfortunately, by the time you reach the coordinates, the trail had long since gone cold. The proceeding hours also reveal no other living things in system.

At the very least, the sliver of silver lining is the fact that none of your ships are impacted. A small blessing, but a blessing nonetheless.

With there being nothing left of interest, and feeling that you had teased lady fortune sufficiently, you get the hell out of dodge.

Arriving in a new system, you are greeted by a fascinating sight of one planet smashing into another, around the inner part of the star system. A quick overlook by your sensors officer informs you that it is possible that a star had flown by, knocking the system out of whack and eventually causing this sight before you.

Besides this eye-drawing celestial phenomenon, there are four gas giants in the star system’s outer edge and two larger than Earth planetoids in the inner system currently being showered by an occasional shower of debris coming from the utter destruction unfolding before your eyes.

Despite what’s happening in the system, most of the space is relatively clear and undisrupted, perfect for your heavier ships.

>”Time for a systematic sweep. We will start from the most outer gas giant and make our way further inwards, covering each world one by one.”

>”Split the force, we need to cover more land and faster.” (How ?)

>”If the sensors picked up nothing here, chances are, there is nothing. Time to leave and move on.”
>>
>>5202551
>”Time for a systematic sweep. We will start from the most outer gas giant and make our way further inwards, covering each world one by one.”
>>
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>>5202551
hey QM, which kind of result is this star collision ending up in? are both planets getting mushed, is one getting blown apart by the other or did the first planet just meld into the other one?

im asking because if we get a synestia like result (both planets vaporizing each other into a nearly cloud like structure) we might get a excellent mining opportunity for some new spacers.

since, it might reveal the sweeet core of the planet(s) full of all the heaviest and rarest resources. this could work even better with the nearby food world.

it even has 4 gas giants, some of the best hydrogen fuel depot's possibly out there.

so thats:
food
energy
minerals
and possibly good colony worlds. which we can...have forgotten to notice, whenever we swing by.

the reason i say this is because you didn't answer my question about how we get the colonization rights. i asked twice and didn't get a answer. just that it required it.
>>
>>5202551
>>”Time for a systematic sweep. We will start from the most outer gas giant and make our way further inwards, covering each world one by one.”
>>
>>5202551
>”Time for a systematic sweep. We will start from the most outer gas giant and make our way further inwards, covering each world one by one.”
>>
>>5202551
>>”Time for a systematic sweep. We will start from the most outer gas giant and make our way further inwards, covering each world one by one.”
>>
>>5202355
>>5202405
>>5202416
Our luck strikes again! Thank God they weren't all crits.

>”Time for a systematic sweep. We will start from the most outer gas giant and make our way further inwards, covering each world one by one.”

>>5202626
Didn't he say we needed approval from the emperor and a lot of resources to even get started?
>>
>>5202626

>hey QM, which kind of result is this star collision ending up in?

The planetoids were of a similar size, they both smashed against each other. One's core is entirely exposed, whilst the other's is also visible.

>the reason i say this is because you didn't answer my question about how we get the colonization rights. i asked twice and didn't get a answer. just that it required it.

I thought I had answered it, but I apologize if I wasn't clear enough.

In order to be allowed to colonize territory outside of the Unbroken Empire you have to:

1. Find a system to settle.

2. You then have to inform the Countess of it and ask for her approval for colonization.

3. Presuming you get her approval, she then needs to inform Duke Roy. Then he needs to look it over and also approve it.

4. If the Duke approved, now it is the Emperor's turn.

5. If you get approval through all of this, you then have 5 years to settle the system and meet a baseline standard set for it by some imperial drone or another. If you cannot achieve the standard, you will be given compensation for the discovery, but the system's rights will return to the Emperor and he will decide what to do with it.

This process can take years, if not decades, but at the end of it, you will legally own whichever system you laid claim to.

As I had mentioned in the last thread at the very end, this is on purpose, the Unbroken Empire is sacrificing its ability to expand in order to ensure stability.
>>
Slow and systematic sweep wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>5203161
>>
Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>5203161
>>
Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>5203161
>>
>>5203166
Nice.
>>
The sweep is slow, methodical, meticulous, and most importantly – boring – as you come to uncover. You had swept through as you had planned, making sure that there would be no surprises waiting for you in the upper atmospheres of the gas giants, and through all of this, you had found nothing. This calm, bar the apocalyptic destruction in the background, comes as a welcome breather for your crew.

“Helmsman, turn us about starboard. Comms, get Lord-Commander Ahsing to veer 12 degrees port.” Whilst you keep an eye on the tactical display, Tetraults voice hands out orders and commands in your stead. The increasing efficiency of her orders makes you suddenly think. Seems like I will have to let Tets go sooner than later. She’s more than experienced enough for an independent command. Getting a new XO will be a pain though.

Despite your musing, you are watching your surroundings like a hawk, currently you are approaching the shattered worlds, the last place untouched by your presence. And for good reason too, the awesome power of the impact had turned the surroundings into a death trap. Island sized chucks of the planets flying around like they were fired from M.A.G. cannons make the approach hazardous.

You are half-mind to forgo the sweep, that is until your comms officer pipes up.

“Captain, detecting an automated S.O.S. signal originating somewhere close by, but I cannot track down its exact location.”

Never a dull day.

>”Prepare the fleet, and put the marines on high alert, we might need them before the day ends yet.”

>”If there somehow was something alive down there, I do not think they would have survived until now. Let sleeping dogs lie, all forces, we are pulling out.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5203254
>”Prepare the fleet, and put the marines on high alert, we might need them before the day ends yet.”
Keking at the thought of seeing an SOS and going "Nah"
>>
>>5203254
>>”Prepare the fleet, and put the marines on high alert, we might need them before the day ends yet.”
>>
>>5203254
>”Prepare the fleet, and put the marines on high alert, we might need them before the day ends yet.”
>>
>>5203254
>>”Prepare the fleet, and put the marines on high alert, we might need them before the day ends yet.”
>>
>>5203254
>”Prepare the fleet, and put the marines on high alert, we might need them before the day ends yet.”
>>
>>5203159
thanks, and sorry if the message came off as harsh, it was just that i remember i asked about the required steps for how that specific process is done, and getting a answer which was in essense "needs approval from the emperor" which, kind of leaves out alot of the process of how the individual person goes out and does it.

and thanks again, for the explanation. it cleared up alot of the confusion i had
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

now, i just have one question: couldn't we basically do the same as the corperations you mentioned? just keep it from being too widely known of our involvement, and tax the system for mining products (heavy metals and energy) and just leave it once the most easy to get resources have been consumed?
>>
>now, i just have one question: couldn't we basically do the same as the corperations you mentioned? just keep it from being too widely known of our involvement, and tax the system for mining products (heavy metals and energy) and just leave it once the most easy to get resources have been consumed?

If you can afford all of the costs, ensure that the colonists are in the clear and won't snitch on you (you'll have to find them first), make sure that the area is protected and that you have ships capable of transporting the materials and that you have a place where you can sell the materials. Yes. Yes you indeed can set it up and use it.
>>
not ignoring the SOS wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5203506
>>
Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>5203506
>>
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>>5203531
Bruh... first time I roll in the thread and I get this? Aight not gonna roll again I guess.
>>
Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>5203506
>>
>>5203534
Sometimes lady luck acts like a bitch anyway, there's nothing we can do.
>>
As naval law demands, so shall you do. Granted, you most of the time never obeyed it, but there are first times for everything.

Moving through the field of debris, you have to bank hard starboard and port on more than one occasion.

With the havoc wrought on your sensors, it has become increasingly difficult to navigate. Just as you are trying to reorientate the ship and the fleet, your attention is quickly caught by the sight of one of your wolf-class, being sent out to scout, being blown clear open.

To add insult to injury, you quickly realize that there is something off about the explosion, and your sensors officer confirms it.

“Captain, detecting an explosion next to the wolf-class before its destruction, space mines possible.”

“Can you detect them ?”

“No, sir. They seem to blend into the surrounding.”

Goddammit. Luckily we had a screen, otherwise even more ships could’ve been lost.

“Captain, the surroundings are clearly dangerous, I suggest we withdraw.” Tetreault voices her opinion.

Looking around the bridge, you notice that the crew seems to be disturbed. Eventually, your sight reaches a person rarely seen on it. Your marine Lieutenant.

“Lieutenant Ahyet, your opinion ?” The man will be the one securing whomever is giving out that signal, it only makes sense for you to ask him.

“We’re prepared to crack some skulls…sir.” The man finally ekes the last bit our only after your XO gives him her trademark death glare.

>”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.”

>”Helmsman, turn us about. The asteroids were more than enough, I am not also risking mines.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5203561
>>”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.”
>>
>>5203561
>”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.”
that fucking 1
>>
>>5203561
>”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.”

>>5203622
Just when we rolled a 90 too.
>>
>>5203561
>>(Write in)
Use missiles as minesweepers, put in straight circular line in at regular intervals, after which blow them and the mines to kingdom come.
>>
>>5203561
>>”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.”
>>
>>5203561
>”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.”
+1: 5203783
>>
>>5203561
>”Helmsman, turn us about. The asteroids were more than enough, I am not also risking mines.”
>>
Going onwards it is

1d100 best of 3

>>5203783 unfortunately, currently you only have 1 missile destroyer. It could cover some distance, but that would leave it without any ammo.
>>
Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>5204584
>>
Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>5204584
I swear to god if it's another one.
>>
Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>5204584
>>
”We’ve already committed. I am not one to pull out midway.” You state as clearly as possible, your crews been with you long enough to know that once you make up your mind, no one’s going to change it.

In order to compensate for your “blindness”, the proceedings are slow and cumbersome. This method, whilst nerve-wracking, results in no casualties. By the time you manage to reach a generalized area of the S.O.S. signal, you’ve blown apart at least a dozen or so mines.

“Are these coordinates correct ?” You ask with a bit of bafflement.

“It…appears so, sir.” With some apprehension responds the sensors officer.

“Comms, send a generalized message telling that we’ve come to the rescue of whomever is in need of help, transmit on all frequencies.” You call out.

“Yes, sir.” With a quick affirm, the man jumps at your orders.

Still, staring at the cracked and broken surface, a literal hellscape straight out of the minds of primitive man if they were asked to describe the apocalypse. You do wonder – Who the hell would build a base here ?

Tense moments later, just after your Timur had to dodge another shotgun like shrapnel explosion of two asteroids smashing against each other, your comms officer turns to you.

“Sir, no response received.”

“Reasons ?”

“Possible interference, it could also be that whatever equipment was down there had been damaged, thus leaving whomever is down there unable to answer back, or.” The man cuts off for a moment. “Whomever set up that signal is long dead.”

So the only way to make sure is to get some boots on the ground.

“Lieutenant Ahyet, you’ve fought on a hellscape, if I recall correctly, your opinion ?”

“The whole world’s shaking, entire continents are drifting off to space, lava flows in oceans. A shithole alright, but if we move hard and fast we should get in and out long before everything goes to an extra layer of hell.” Briskly states the man.

“Sensors, get me a reading on the presumed area, find out how stable it is. Tetreault, how long can we stay here and keep dodging ?”

“A place like this requires full uninterrupted alertness from all of our crews, the longer we stay, the larger the chance of a slip up. 10 minutes would be the safest I could recommend, any longer than that and we are risking something slipping through.” Analyses your XO.

“Sir.” Pipes up the sensors officer. “I am detecting serious seismic activity in the general area. From the looks of things, the entire upper layer is soon to vibrate itself open for numerous volcanic eruptions.”

“Timetable ?”

“An hour, maybe a couple, but once this fires off, there won’t be anything left on the surface.”

>”You heard them Lieutenant, time to haul ass.”

>”This seems like a waste of time. I am not risking more lives on the most narrow of possibilities.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5204691
>”This seems like a waste of time. I am not risking more lives on the most narrow of possibilities.”
>>
>>5204691

>”This seems like a waste of time. I am not risking more lives on the most narrow of possibilities.”

The merchants gave us the names of those involved with the pirates on the black market, instead of taking a chance on a backwater like this, why not ambush these guys? In the best case, we'll earn some money from their cargo, in addition to weakening the "logistics" line of the pirates and with a little luck and a few minutes of torture we can know the meeting points with the pirates, giving the possibility to ambush these bastards . In the worst case scenario we will have to do this more than once until it works, depending on how much material these pirates carry "failing" sometimes isn't that bad.
>>
>>5204691
>(Write in)
Send in dropship near coordinate, have it do sweep of the area and try to make radio contact if something is found send in the marines
>>
>>5204748
+1
>>
>>5204748
Support. 10 minutes should be enough to poke in and out.
>>
>>5204691
>>”You heard them Lieutenant, time to haul ass.”
>>
>>5204748
+1 we aint leaving a sailor to drown, not even in lava
>>
Waste of time 2

>>5204748 Write in 4

Haul ass 1


A quick sweep wins

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>5205518
>>
Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>5205518
>>
Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>5205518
>>
“Lieutenant, get to the hangar, have the pilot make a sweep of the area, if there is something down, go get it. If you find nothing, get back here within 10.”

“Understood, sir.” With a nod, Ahyet departs the room.

With your orders given, the bridge returns to its usual flurry of activity. A few moments later, the blazing exhaust of the dropship’s engines enters yours sight, before just as quickly disappearing.

------------------------------
(POV shift: You are Lieutenant Warwick Ahyet, and you are sent into literal hell.)

The ship rattles as micro asteroids and space dust impacts the hull. You watch as the pilot steers you away from an incoming asteroid, your position locked by your magnatized boots right behind him.

“ETA 1 minute.” Calls out the pilot.

“Lock and load. I want us out of the ship in less than 10 seconds if we find something.” You call out through the comms.

The dropship seamlessly moves down and begins skimming barely atop of the world’s crust, no atmosphere causing turbulence.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

You turn to look at the console before quickly finding yourself upside down as the pilot does a barrel roll, neatly avoiding incoming missile fire. Automated laser turrets begin shooting down incoming fire.

“Lieutenant, I sent out various signals. No response, but the firing of the turrets has allowed me to identify a single large facility.”

Based on what you’re seeing, whomever put them here cheaped out, since they have no tracking functions.

“Is there a safe landing zone nearby ?”

“Yes, sir. There’s a landing pad there.”

“It under covering fire ?”

“Seems so, sir, but these systems appear outdated, passive counter measures are making most of them go haywire before they even get near us.”

>”Get us down there pilot.”

>”Turn us about, screw whomever is down there.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5205655
>”Get us down there pilot.”
they found something and now they gonna take something
>>
>>5205655
>>”Get us down there pilot.”
>>
>>5205655
>>”Get us down there pilot.”
>>
>>5205655
>”Get us down there pilot.”
For the loot! (and intel)
>>
Alright, going down wins

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>5206216
>>
Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>5206216
>>
Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>5206216
>>
”Get us down there pilot.”

“Yes, sir.” Curtly responds the man in the cockpit.

Once more, you are nearly thrown to the side as the pilot banks to the side. Missiles sail pass you harmlessly, though the joyride is starting to make you feel sick in your stomach.

“The defensive systems will keep firing upon me even when I land, it will be a short window, move fast.” You are quickly informed.

You turn around, the magnetized boots forcing you down as you cumbrously make your way down.

“You heard the man, on your feet marines !” You call out.

With a chorus, your men rise and position themselves to run out as quickly as they can, even though they still wobble as they struggle to stand upright. Quickly, the noise of depressurisation fills your ears, red flashing light bite at your eyes. The tell-tale signs of rapid deployment under fire on a world lacking an atmosphere.

Suddenly, you are shaken in place, the lights turn green and a horn is heard as the ramp slams down.

“Go, go, go !” Your bellowing voice commands the marines.

And just like that, in but a few scant seconds you are out of the safety of the metallic hull and on a hellish landscape that will do its damndest to kill you.

“Squad two, knock those turrets down. Squad one, on me ! We’re breaching the doors !” With a few affirmatives, your men begin spreading out.

On the plus side, the facility in front of you is close by to the landing pad, and from you can tell, it appears ramshackle, no fancy mumbo jumbo your LT had to get into last time.

Your heart pounding, you quickly close the distance, waiting for more defensive turrets, defenders, maybe some mines to threaten you. But nothing does. With heightened senses, thanks to the adrenaline rushing in your system, you order a breach. Surprisingly, whilst you expected the doors to be locked, you had not however expected for them to be welded shut.

A quick explosion later, you are in the airlock. This time the door is no longer welded, in fact, it appears wide open. With nothing more than weak red light illuminating the hallway, you slowly proceed to move down it.

You are ready, your finger still off the trigger, thanks to your training, but you are certain you can press down upon it in but a fraction of a second.

Come on you bastards. I’m ready for you. Just pop your head you stinky fucks.

“Contacts !” Calls out one of the marines.

Suddenly, the hallway is filled with rifle fire. The bright flashes nearly blinding in a dark hallway. After about 20 bullet shells from your rifle had hit the floor, silence once again return.

Suddenly, an arm pops out from around the corridor, you are about to shoot once more, but you are stopped by the bizarre sight.

A set of white underwear, tied to a metal stick, is currently being waved with quite the enthusiasm.

“For the love of God could you please stop shooting !” Calls out a tired voice.

“Who the hell are you !” You call back.
>>
>>5206440

“A poor fuck in the need of help, just please !” The voice once more responds. “Please close the airlock, you’re venting atmo, and we don’t have enough suits for everyone.”

Everyone ?

“How many of you are there ?”

“Two dozen, please, we are not armed.”

“What about those turrets ?”

“Those are there to keep us in, alright. We didn’t set-…well, okay, we did set them up, but they are not under our control, most of the facility is not under our control, we had to jury-rig the S.O.S. signal.” With frustration responds the voice.

Turning on your comm, you say so that the man cannot hear you. “Close the door. Everyone, keep an eye out and your rifles raised.” Then, once more switching to your speaker, you call out. “We’re shutting the door, now come out here !”

“Okay, okay, just don’t shoot.”

Finally, slowly, carefully steps out a figure clad in an old bulky space suit, clear patchwork visible on it, this thing had seen non-stop use for years and barely any maintenance. As the person steps closer, you finally get a good look at him.

He appears emaciated, sunken eyes, cracked dried lips, eyebags clearly visible, thin strands of hairs cling to his scalp and his complexion looks sickly.

“Who are you ?”

“Lashawn Urtz.”

“I am not asking for your fucking name. Who. Are. You ?”

“A prisoner, alright, I and the rest of my fellows got trapped here when Tristan, the smug prick, rolled in.”

“Tristan ?”

“Yea, you know, the pirate.”

“Listen, we’ve been living off on algae and our own piss for over a year now, and I don’t think the base can take much more, could we continue this conversation after we get somewhere safe ?” Hope clear in the man’s eyes, he asks.

>”Fine, we’ll prep to extract.”

>”You stay here, until I can contact my superior and you ask you some questions.” (Write in)

>”No.” Shoot him.

>(Write in)
>>
>>5206441
>”Fine, we’ll prep to extract.”

The prisoners will be more willing to talk to us if we pretend to care about them.
>>
>>5206441
>>”Fine, we’ll prep to extract.”
>>
>>5206441
>>”Fine, we’ll prep to extract.”
Ask the prisoner where is nearest computer and download everything, if working.
>>
>>5206441
>”Fine, we’ll prep to extract.”
>>
”Fine, we’ll prep to extract, get your men ready.” Hearing the response, almost skipping in his step, the man runs off.

Switching to comms, you call out those still outside. “Squad two, progress report ?”

“The turrets are down, whomever built these things did a shoddy job.”

“Keep a perimeter, we will be escorting some “guests”, if they try to do anything even remotely suspicious, shoot to kill.”

“Understood, sir.”

Switching comms, you contact the pilot, still circling high above you. “Pilot, contact the captain, we need more ships as we are taking back some prisoners, they number around two dozen.”

“Roger that, transmitting your request now.”

------------------------------
(End of POV shift.)

The man absolutely reeks. Is the first thought to cross your mind. Now out of his spacesuit, the weakened figure is clearly visible. Looking him over, his clothing ill-fits him, visible cheek bones show clear signs of starvation.

He looks uncomfortable shifting in his chair, it being made out of plain metal specifically to be as uncomfortable as possible, with a slight tilt, it forces whomever is sitting on it to readjust their position. The bright lights, the bare walls and a table in between you two is a classic set up for interrogation. The rattling of chains impacting the table finally snaps you to attention, the handcuffs are standard procedure, but you doubt that the man is capable of posing a threat to you, as weakened as he is.

“Lashawn Urtz, correct ?” You ask.

“Correct, sir.” He meekly responds.

“You will answer my questions, and if I am satisfied with your answers, maybe I will give you some food and water, do you understand ?”

“I do, sir.” Nodding he responds.

>Questions. (Write in)

Questions will be answered in an interval of 2 hours. After 6 hours the conversation will conclude. Let me know if you anons like this way of doing things better, since I’ve noticed asking questions part tends to take a while.
>>
>>5207440
Why were you down there in the first place?

Why did the pirates leave you like this?

Did you have prior contacts with the pirates?

Did or do you have an affiliation with someone from the broken Empire?

Who was your supplier?

i cant think of more atm.

idk sometimes qst is just slow, so making a time limited query can be both good and bad depending how many peeps are here at that time
>>
>>5207477

Indeed, in this case I suppose the time of your post will be the time limit start for the first two hours. I am trying to avoid the clutter of me answering each individual question.
>>
>>5207477
+1
>>
>>5207440
Where did this base come from? How was it built, and where did all these weapons come from, especially the minefield? Do you have any memory at all of anything potentially significant the pirates might have said before they left you here?

>>5207477
These too.

>>5207440
This seems fine. There doesn't seem to be too many players, but responses tend to be fairly quick from what I've noticed.
>>
>>5207440
Where are the pirates now? Who leads them, and give me details as to his character and habits? Do you have any strategic or tactical habitats or info into the leader and the pirates, and please give specifics? What are they seeking? How are they supplied? Any weakness you’ve noticed about them, and don’t hold back here? How would you like your coffee?
>>
Let’s start off with easy ones.

“First things first, why were you down here ? Why did the pirates leave you like this ? Where did this base come from? How was it built, and where did all these weapons come from, especially the minefield ?”

“Well, uhhh…we built the base. The minefield and the defensive systems were also set up by us. Ironic, isn’t it ? We put all those weapons there to keep ourselves safe, only for them to have imprisoned us. As to why we are there ? Don’t got much to tell ya, we got kicked down there and left to starve, I suppose it was more fun than simply shooting us.” The man fidgets nervously whilst talking.

You quickly look over your datapad, you were able to extract information from some of the consoles back on the base, what was there was exceptionally sparse, but Iron, after you kicked the data at him, has informed you that he found signs of tampering of the defensive systems, they were isolated from the mainframe, giving credence to the man’s claims.

“Who supplied you these weapons ?”

“Oh, those. Old surplus we bought from the locals, unlike within the Unbroken Empire, it is damn easy to get some guns here on the fringe.” With a wry smile and a small chuckle, the man informs you.

“Speaking of, did or do you have an affiliation with someone from the broken Empire ?”

The man goes silent for a moment, seemingly pondering how he should answer you. After a while, he starts speaking up.

“I suppose I do, though I hadn’t had any contact in years now.”

“Is that so.” Being cagey now, are we. “Did you have prior contacts with the pirates ? By that I mean, before as you said, they left you there to starve to death.”

“Out here you naturally do, but that was before Tristan came in. Before him, the pirates were disunified, paying lip service and some small tributes to Wakil.”

“Wakil ?”

“The previous.” The man pauses. “I, uh, I suppose the previous “pirate king”, would be the most accurate. He had the strongest group, and the contacts needed to sell off hot goods.”

“Since we started down this topic, this Tristan, how does he lead the pirates ? Can give me details as to his character and habits ?”

“He came to power but a few months before we got imprisoned, other than what few rumours I heard, I’ve got nothing really to offer.” You signal him to continue. “Well, from what I heard, he’s a big bastard. More metal than man, and his direct subordinates are just as scary, I dunno, never seen him myself, but based on the descriptions I was given, fuckers probably outfitted with military-grade cybernetics. Another thing I heard, he dealt with Wakil, fast and dirty. Utterly obliterated his forces and made a whole show and dance out of the execution.”

“Do you know where are the pirates are now ? Do you have any strategic or tactical habitats or info into the leader and the pirates ? Please give specifics.”
>>
>>5207566

“Since we’ve been stuck here for so long, well, shit. I could point you to some old outpost, both military and trade. If they are still up and up, I don’t know. As for a psych profiles, I don’t think I’ve got much to offer. Drunkards, rapists, plain ’ol psychos, the truly, errr, “normal ones” unlike the others tend to rise to the top, but if I know anything on how pirates operate, the new leadership probably purged the old. Kept the dumbest as attack dogs and expendable meatshields.”

You nod along as the man talks, and you cannot help but think. Do all subspacers know so much about pirates ? Suspicion rising in your mind, you continue the questioning.

“How are the pirates supplied ?”

“Trade and robbery. If there’s something you can’t make yourself, you steal it, if you can’t steal it, you trade for it. Presuming that the pirates haven’t set up themselves a nice little colony, well, you choke out the traders, and you’ll choke out the pirates, or at the very least force them to leave the area.”

“The pirates seeking anything in particular ?”

“No clue, new leadership, new ideas and all that. Under the last leader, the pirates were, uhh, kinda there ?” He says, almost questioning himself. “They stole, they fought, the fucked. You know, the usual thing that pirates do, living at the moment, not bothering to think even for a second what tomorrow will bring.”

“Do you have any memory at all of anything potentially significant the pirates might have said before they left you here ?”

The man frowns, before with some uncertainty stating. “Big things are in motion, sit here and eat your own shit, whilst we’ll be drinking like kings.”

What great philosophical statement, I am certain Iron and that man would get along swimmingly.

“Any weakness you’ve noticed about them, and don’t hold back here ?”

“Nothing much other than the usual you’d expect. With no strong central strongman close by, they tend to fall into infighting and bickering. Preferring running to fighting if faced with any real resistance.”

As you are about to ask another question, your datapad beeps, indicating that Tetreault wishes to contact you.

“Please excuse me.” You say rising.” Oh, how would you like your coffee ?”

A little taken a back, Lashawn eyes quickly begin to shine at the mention of coffee. “With cream, and a lot of sugar.” He states visibly salivating.
>>
>>5207567

Stepping outside, you call Tetrault up. “I’m listening Tets.”

“Captain, we ran some background checks as you ordered, we had one match in imperial records.” Now that’s surprising. “Second lieutenant Lashawn Urtz of the 314th mechanized regiment of the Unbroken Empire armed forces. Officially stationed in the territory of the Ducal House of Talon. Deserted the service 12 years ago after his regiment was destroyed in a “realistic training exercise” against Ducal House of Scorpio.”

“And the rest ?”

“Not in our database, if we get access to the solarnet, we might be able to dig up more information.”

“Understood, keep digging.”

After saying so, you slowly begin wondering towards the canteen, thinking over the things you had learnt.

>Questions (Write in)
>>
>>5207569
Why did build base down there? What was it build for?

What kind was your contact the Unbroken Empire and who was it and what house?

Are you pirate, soldier or a spy? (DONOT mention that we know he might be deserter it can be just false intel for a spy's undercover if he ask just say about psych profiles gave it away)

Would like to get vengeance on those who imprisoned you and your comrades if so tell us everything you know and maybe you get to put bullet to his head or get to go nice fishing planet if you wish so.
>>
>>5207569
I understand smaller weapons but how did the pirates get so many ships? As far as I know, outdated models usually end up in the hands of border "governments". By the way, where did so many pirates with combat experience come from? As far as I know, noble houses don't usually let that kind of person escape their gaze, or their claws.
>>
>>5207636
+1
>>
Clearing your thoughts, you walk back to the interrogations room, a menial behind you carrying a tray with coffee, some cream and sugar, might as well use your authority.

You watch as your prisoner visibly jumps at the sound of an opening door, it seems that he dosed off during your departure.

Taking your seat, you notice as Lashawn’s eyes follow the tray with greedy eyes.

“Thank you, crewman.” You dismiss the man as you sit down.

With just the two of you left in the room, Lashawn speaks up. “May I ?”

“Of course.” You say whilst grabbing a drink for yourself.

The next couple of minutes are spent in silence, as the man ravenously devours a couple of cups, loaded down with sugar and cream.

“I have been wondering for a while, why build base a down there ? What was it built for ? The base by now has been swallowed by endless eruptions rocking the world.”

“Out here, knowing how to hide is as valuable as having a big gun. Tell me, would anyone in their right mind go deep into the middle of all of that mess ? And even if they do, they’d have a hard time finding the base. That is why we built it there, a “safe” place away from home, a place to hide, to store goods.”

Or a good place to set an ambush.

“I see. Back to the pirates, you said that they get most things via theft or trade, I understand smaller weapons but how did the pirates get so many ships? As far as I know, outdated models usually end up in the hands of border "governments". By the way, where did so many pirates with combat experience come from? Noble houses don't usually let that kind of person escape their gaze, or their claws.”

“Well, you notice how most of them are frigates ? That’s how, frigates are made in their hundreds, if not thousands everyday across the empire. One going missing here, another being labelled as faulty there. A lot of them slip through the cracks, and it’s not like most overseers give a damn about a frigate going missing every couple of years or so, especially if they get some kick-back. Then there are of course the locals, and believe me, they don’t have many scruples to whom they sell, as long as they sell. No pirate worth his salt is gonna attack a system, or a nation that is willing to deal with them with suck “rare” goods.

As for those with more experience. The galaxy is a large place, if a frigate can go missing, what about a man ? A dozen ? A hundred ? If you rule over billions, and you have an army in the millions, would you care if some people go missing ? Especially people that you’d consider expendable. And with the whole, war that isn’t officially a war going on. Lots of formations get devastated, or simply never arrive where they are supposed to. Once guys like those get out, and if they turn to piracy, they tend to share their experience, whipping the locals into shape, if not enforcing discipline.”

“You talk from experience ?”
>>
>>5207824

The man shrugs. “There were a few people like that around. Heard stories, you know ?”

I’m sure you did.

“I see, since were are on the subject of the Unbroken Empire, what kind was your contact and who was it and what house ?”

“Oh no, you must’ve gotten me wrong. I’m just a poor sod, no noble gives a damn about me. I only know a couple of people there, hardly of any import.”

You lean back in your chair, letting silence hand for a solid minute. Just as the man gets uncomfortable, you drop the biggest statement you can.”

“Are you pirate, soldier or a spy ?”

The man’s eyes narrow, momentary shock taking over.

“I- I don’t know what you mean, sir.”

“Your accent, no matter how you try to hide it, it is far too articulate for someone from the fringes, meaning, you come from the Unbroken Empire. They way you talk as well, “psych profiles”, really ? You think some random person would talk like that ?”

Silence once more hangs in the air.

“You’re gonna shoot me ?”

“Maybe, maybe not, all depends on what you’re about to tell me.”

The man sighs. “Alright, fine. Yea, I’m a fucking pirate, yea, I’m fucking ex-military, happy ?”

“Jumping for joy. Why are you here ?”

“Why else would a man come to this shithole, to disappear. I made some enemies, I made some mistakes, so I thought I’d take my chances here than face poisoning or a firing squad.”

“So you’re still a fighter at least. Would like to get vengeance on those who imprisoned you and your comrades if so tell us everything you know and maybe you get to put bullet to his head or get to go nice fishing planet if you wish so.”

“I ain’t no fisherman. Listen, I hate that fucker Tristan, I hate my former comrades as well. I didn’t want to back the new bossman, so my great friends in their desire to show me some mercy left me to die with my officers instead of putting one through my skull, and I intend to make them pay for such benevolence they showed me.

I may, or may not have some hidden caches, and some loyal men on my side that I could rally up, help you fight. Hell, I won’t even ask for any payment.”

>Questions.

Those asking questions must be more than half for it to continue as: So even if you ask questions, please vote on the options below.

>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”

>”No deal. There’s probably a bounty on your head, you will stay my prisoner for the foreseeable future.”

>”No deal. I am not stupid enough to make a deal with a pirate, nor am I foolish enough to let one live.”
>>
>>5207826
>>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”
>>
>>5207826
>>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”
>>
>>5207826
>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”
>>
>>5207826
>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”
Give those men some nice food and get down with buisness.
we should evaluate if we can develop Urtz into a asset/contact around these parts.
Afterall our main goal isnt exactly to get rid of all pirates but just their ability to efficiently raid/pillage/threaten tradelanes.
>>
>>5207826
So how high were you in pirate hierarchy? You did say you enforced discipline.

And what can you tell about your officers?
>>
>>5207826
>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”
Divide and conquer guys.
Let them be our allies in this conflict for some "amnesty" (Not getting a fucking bullet). Maybe we can work out some kind of deal with some regional autonomy and privateering letters.
>>
>>5207826
>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”

>>5207993
Privateering sounds like a good offer to make him once this is all over and done with.
>>
>>5207826
>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”

eyyy, this way we could maybe even convince some of the pirates to switch over. not having them join our force specifically, but letting urtz have reign over then as a sort of private navy. one which doesn't necessarily owe allegiance to the unbroken empire if it becomes necessary.

(we should most likely try to cripple more ships now instead of outright killing them, could even repair those crippled ships with the parts of ships we've already destroyed by just sending them back towards the graveyards we've already left behind us, or the ones we will create as they follow along)
>>
>>5207826
>”Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.”
>>
“Very well, take a shower, then I want to find those caches.” You state whilst rising. “The guards will uncuff and escort you. Tomorrow, at exactly 800 hours ship time, I want you to present the cache locations and anything else you know to my bridge officers. Am I clear ?”

“Yes, sir. I’d even salute, but you know.” He raises his hands, the handcuff chains jiggling.

Departing, you head over to the bridge, where soon the vast openness of space greets you. You had given order to pull out as soon as the prisoners were extracted, you had more than enough deadly asteroids for years.

“Tetreault, report.” Sitting down into your captain’s chair you order.

“The fleet has been reorganized and is prepared for departure. Data of the current sweep has been compiled. Nothing of interest has come out for our purposes.”

“Good, prepare for departure.”

Then, soon after, the fleet once more swing about the local star and disappears form this reality. Only for about a week later to reappear in the newest system, the last to explore before you rendezvous with Rasia and your ambushing force.

The first thing that surprises you is the darkness, granted, space is always dark, but the star’s illumination is extremely weak, and the reason for it makes itself perfectly clear – a brown dwarf.

A quick scan of the system reveals no large planetoids. A few sparse asteroid rings with some larger bodies within them. A few million years from now, the bodies will undoubtedly clear the rings up, but for they act as excellent hiding spots for anyone wishing to not be found. Presuming there even is someone out here.

>”A concentrated sweep, as usual.”

>”A dispersed sweep. I wish to rally my force as soon as possible.”

>”I doubt that there’s anything of worth here, we’re moving on.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5209414
>>”A concentrated sweep, as usual.”
>>
>>5209414
>”A concentrated sweep, as usual.”
>>
>>5209414
>>”A concentrated sweep, as usual.”
>>
>>5209414
>”A concentrated sweep, as usual.”
>>
>>5209414
>”I doubt that there’s anything of worth here, we’re moving on.”
>>
Concentrated sweep wins

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5210141
>>
Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>5210141
>>
Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>5210141

>>5210151
Nice. inb4 I roll a 1.
>>
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Scan. Move on. Scan. Move on. Scan. Get some target practice in.

Uneventful, is the best way to describe this system. Even pirates do not seem interested in places this remote.

“Captain, the data has been gathered and sorted.” Reports Tetreault.

“Nothing of note, I assume ?” You say lazily.

“No, sir.” She answers, whilst shaking her head.

“Good, I’m growing tired grasping at straws in this forsaken place. Organize the fleet for departure.”

With a quick salute, your XO begins the process of endless minutia.

Soon enough, darkness engulfs you. The Abyssal Tide gently rocking the Timur-class as it travels through the starless sky.

Finally, you arrive back into the system housing the waterworld, this time however, your sensors flare to life.

Hulked vessels, chunks of plates, the occasional still misfiring engines. All of this situated around the lone gas giant. It seems that a bloody fight was had.

Luckily, friendly IFFs fill the system. Your ambushing troops, the merchants you had directed here, Rasia’s forces, and some second-line frigates and transport ships, currently busying themselves establishing an outpost, cannibalizing the destroyed ships in the surroundings.

Noticing your arrival, the left behind ambushing troops instantly start moving and they try to rendezvous with you.

“Captain, Lord-Commander Kenne is requesting a call.” Says your comms officer.

“Put it through.”

Quickly appearing, Giacomo salutes you. “Captain, I am happy to report that we laid a successful ambush, two dozen frigates and two destroyers were destroyed at the cost of two of our frigates.”

“Excellent news, how were you able to do so ?” You say with some curiosity in your voice, the man never struck you as someone imaginative.

“I had a couple of frigates act as bait, luring pirates close to the gas giant, then striking when they least expected it. The luring frigates were lost, but we were able to inflict serious casualties.”

“And of your fellow officers ?”

“Lord-Commander Teigon and Lady-Commander Datz carried out my orders without questions. And speaking off, due to the manoeuvre, Lady-Commander Datz is now with no command.”

“I see. I shall address the matter at a later date. Return to formation.”

Stating so, you cut the connection. “Comms, contact Lady-Captain Alpizar.” You quickly state afterwards.

Moments later, a worse for wear Rasia materializes before you.

“Knight-Captain Proenza.” She greets you.

“Lady-Captain Alpizar. How was your route ?”

“Bad. I’ve lost a raider, four wolves and two defenders. The first few systems were nice and quiet, but at some point, I started running into organized detachments, seemingly laying in wait for me. I was able to bloody them, but they bloodied me in return.”

“Are you in fighting shape ?”
>>
>>5210211

“Now that I am surrounded by friendly faces, yes.” She smiles weakly. “If you’ll excuse me. I have some shut-eye to catch up to.”

“Best of rest Lady-Captain.”

With Rasia gone, your comms officer once more informs you. “Sir, the merchants and the waterworld both wish to contact you.”

“Put them through.”

“Mister officer.” The chirpy voice of Aliosha, the woman from the waterworld, greets you. “I’ve spread rumours as you asked, it was a wee bit difficult, you kinda smashed a hornet’s nest, the pirates are on high alert, so I had to give info about a system further away. Here’s no hoping that they’ll fall for your bait, best of.” Before even finishing her sentence, she cuts out, seemingly unwilling, or simply uninterested, in hearing your reply.

“My lord.” Speaks up the merchant, having quietly waited for his turn. “I would like to once more express my thanks. My wife and I are planning on returning to our home. But we were conversing whilst awaiting you. So, though this may not mean much, we’re going to see if we can’t rally some men back home. A few ships are probably all we can offer, but we’d like to join in your efforts to rid us of this scourge. Just tell us where to meet you.”

“Thank you. I will consider your offer.”

With peace returning to the bridge, you can reorganize your thoughts.

First of all, your movement plan:

>Keep to the original plan.

>”I’d like to change something.” (Write in)

Then the merchants:

>”Any help is appreciated.” (Mark down where they will meet you.)

>”They will probably be more of a liability than any actual help.”

Finally, Datz is without command:

>”And that is fine as is. Let her stew for a while, she shouldn’t have moved without orders, and this would be a perfect punishment for her previous mistake.”

>”Assign her command.” (Of what ?)
>>
>>5210212
movement plan:
>>”I’d like to change something.” (Write in)
wait here with alpizar for reinforcements in the form of new wolf + defender classes. (we get a buying menu for forces) which will arrive after a bit of time. this is also a great way to bunker down and have some quality time with alpi, since both of us won't be going anywhere anytime soon. "i won't endanger the life of my equals just to hurry along a pirate extermination"
the merchants:
>”Any help is appreciated.”
request if anything a small attachment of fighting forces, a nearly bare minimum. instead requesting that it stays a favor. since dead debtors/friends don't help. instead what i might want (people vote-ing can mention if this or the previous combat one) that they help in supplying us and with keeping our bunkered down position. this can both be with stuff like more marines, illegal goods which might give a fighting edge or even just their ships working as a makeshift system station.

Datz is without command:
as i mentioned above, getting reinforcements, which would mostly compromise of light corvettes, would allow datz's hunters pack to reform. maybe even bigger than before if that could work
>>
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bunkering down in this case, would basically mean that we would be taking the hulls of all the dead ships floating around, maybe even going back and towing some of the ships we already destroyed, and creating small walls with them near the planet, such that our larger ships would have most of the space out towards outer space be blocked off, and therefor shielded. this would allow everyone to be more relaxed as teams of the striker classes would take turns acting as outlookers. keeping sensors alive to check if any pirate has entered the system.

while doing that, we might even be able to sell the parts of the ships we've killed, the ones not needed for our own ships which aren't the hull (needed for the small shields) in exchange for food. since those parts aren't exactly easy to get. and therefor sell for a pretty penny to spacers. which works perfectly since this is an agri-world and therefor can supply us with the food we need.
>>
>>5210212
>”I’d like to change something.” (Write in)
reinforce our position and secure our supply line.
>”Any help is appreciated.” (Mark down where they will meet you.)
Ships with crews.
>”Assign her command.” (Of what ?)
What gleet anon said.
>>
>>5210284
Fleet anon*
Because I'm shit at spelling.
>>
>>5210212
>First of all, your movement plan:
how would we go about reinforcments?

>”Any help is appreciated.” (Mark down where they will meet you.)
as it goes two pair of eyes see more than one
they dont need ot be involved with the fighting but if they get some cleanup or screening action they are worth taking along

>Finally, Datz is without command:
desu id rather let her stew while doing some boring ass escort missons.
Her not having a ships most likely will lead to her running sims or such, i dont exactly percieve such as an all this hard punishment for disregarding and ignoring direct orders
yet i also dont know to what ship to asign her

also i just want to point out that Datz so far is proving to be much more of a match than Alpizar, Datz is hotheaded, dives into a magmastream head first and most likely would use er ship in a ramming maneuver, whereas Alpizar would be constantly trying to get us to relieve command to go into a papershoving job for "safety"
2 cents deposited
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>>5210277
+1 Because frankly, having a working base that is friendly to us seems like a good idea to me.
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>>5210484
except we cant "tow" ships so we need to fall back on ordinary floating debris. and i dont think passively waiting for the pirates to challenge us to a head on battle is the move to make right now.

epiphany time, how to freighters work in this setting? are they container haulers or are they massive "empty" space? anyways can we requisition one of the trade ships for the time being and use it as a collector/salvage barge?
we should prioritize functioning weapon systems and see if we can set them up as temporary sentry turrets? we load those jury rigged turrets onto the freighter and if we manage to nail tristan to a all out brawl we let the freighter create a no-fly-zone? how feasable does this sound?
>>
Whatever we do with Datz we should probably assign her a destroyer soon, since it was apparently an insult to downgrade her to a frigate earlier. Losing her ships is punishment enough I feel, assign her to one of the raiders.
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>>5210595
You've read yourself that the pirates are on high alert, continuing now will only end up in very costly battles for us. This break will stress the pirates, and decrease their coordination, remember these guys are criminals not a formal organization.
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>>5210277
+1
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>>5210636
I dont understand your reasoning? Youre saying those pirates who are always living on edge are gonna go nuts because we take a break from hunting them?
>>
I am busy with my studies. I will try to update tomorrow, if I cannot, then I should be able to on Thursday.
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>>5211389
I'm saying that now after multiple attacks against the pirates, they must be organizing under the direction of their new leader. who knows that the only way to stop us would be to ambush as many pirate ships as possible, well that's the point! How long can this leader keep all these little bands under his authority? While we rest and regain our strength, the pirates are divided again because the threat that brought them together, did not appear. Pirates by their nature can't act coordinated for a long time, unlike us.
>>
Current influence: 10

BUY MENU:

FRIGATES:

>A striker-class frigate. (Cost 25 influence)

>A wolf-class frigate. (Cost 20 influence)

>A defender-class frigate. (Cost 15 influence)

DESTROYERS:

>Bullseye-class destroyer. (Cost 90 influence)

>Raider-class destroyer. (Cost 80 influence)

>Guardian-class destroyer. (Cost 70 influence)

LIGHT CRUISERS:

>Hou Yi-class light cruiser (Cost 300 influence) (In dock – 2)

>Timur-class light cruiser (Cost 280 influence) (In dock – 1)

>Rudra-class light cruiser (Cost 260 influence) (In dock – 1)

>Vigilance-class light cruiser (Cost 200 influence) (In dock – 0)

FUEL TANKERS:

>Short range tankers, extends jump range by 1. (Cost 5 influence)

>Medium range tankers, extends jump range by 3. (Cost 13 influence)

>Long range tankers, extends jump range by 6. (Cost 27 influence)

Should've posted this earlier

>>5210277

You could tow everything in system for a makeshift "wall". It will take some time and tie down your forces, but it is technically possible. Eventually the "wall" will naturally disintegrate as it will shift.
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>>5212466
would it then be possible to weld the different ships into a makeshift station? of course not gonna be as good, anywhere near as good as a real station, but in the same way as the pirates, we should be able to weld some things together and make a functioning station-like base which orbits the agriculture world. taking all of the reactors out of the old ships and making a, albiet less strong than a specifically designed starbase reactor, one which can still power the smaller guns which are on the hulls of the destroyed ships?
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>>5212536

You could, yes. The second-line formation is currently cannibalizing nearby ships to set the station up, but they are setting it up around the gas giant. Though they are only really taking the parts that they could use to make a proper temporary station.
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>>5212547
could we then move it in a undershotting slingshot maneuver as to get it around the agriculture spacer world, and then simply create the space station by expanding out the temporary station as to make it a little bit less temporary-y?
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>>5212564

It is possible. Though the locals might not appreciate it. There's a chance that if they have planetary cannons, they could try to shoot the station.

As for making it more permanent, you would need to invest more resources to make a permanent facility. Resources that you have no access to. But basic expansion is indeed possible with just the scrap laying around the system.
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>>5212631
could we then maybe get into discussion with the leader of this agriponics world? id really like to maybe ask for her opinion about it, especially the idea of making it more permanent, which could make the world more attractive for visiting traders and other neutral parties (plus the defensive bonus it could give)

also, when you got the influence buying menu up, have we not earned any new influence through the destruction of these pirate forces? or at least some equal to the amount of ships we've lost?
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>>5212646

>could we then maybe get into discussion with the leader of this agriponics world? id really like to maybe ask for her opinion about it, especially the idea of making it more permanent, which could make the world more attractive for visiting traders and other neutral parties (plus the defensive bonus it could give)

You can always ask, yes.

>also, when you got the influence buying menu up, have we not earned any new influence through the destruction of these pirate forces? or at least some equal to the amount of ships we've lost?

You have not been paid or rewarded for it, no.
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>>5212653
then i definitely request a meeting with the agriponics world, if the other anons here are up for that.
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>>5212869
Sure
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>>5212547
What would Iron with his engineering skill be able to do with the ships being cannibalised? Since we did but that from him. Also, could you add him and his expertise to the character pastebin?
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>>5212983

>What would Iron with his engineering skill be able to do with the ships being cannibalised?

You can ask him, yes.

>Also, could you add him and his expertise to the character pastebin?

I will add him on the morrow, thank you for pointing out that he is missing.
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>>5212986
wait Iron is with us on this campaign? wtf lmao i thought he got some nice lab in orbit or so
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>>5213180

>wait Iron is with us on this campaign? wtf lmao i thought he got some nice lab in orbit or so

Yes he is. His lab is a couple of rooms set up within your flagship.
>>
Whilst dealing with everything related to the reorganizing of your command, one matter kept nagging you. The spacestation. What is currently being set up is temporary, makeshift, made to regulations, sure, but still not meant for longevity. Chances are, once you’ve dealt with the pirates, the station will simply be set up to fall into the gas giant. But wouldn’t that be a waste of resources ? If the station could be set up permanently, it would offer better protection to your men, it would also bring wealth to the locals as a trading station, perhaps it would allow ducal influence to seep into the area as well. Bringing order to these wilds lands is your mandate, no ?

Thinking further, you decide to have a talk with those living on the waterworld. The station would benefit them the most, but there is a chance that they might simply shoot it down. You have no idea how these barbarians think, after all.

“Comms, contact the local representative on the waterworld.”

“Yes, sir.” Sharply responds the officer.

Not long after that, Aliosha’s voice is heard. “Mister officer, how can we be of service ? Wanna buy more fish ?”

“Maybe, but for now, I have a more important matter to discuss.”

“Well, colour me intrigued. What could a valiant and daring officer of the empire want from a poor woman on the fringes like me.” She says, playfulness evident in her voice.

Ignoring her teasing, you continue on with your point. “The spacestation that is currently being built. I’d like to put it above Ceron.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses there, captain. We want nothing to do with a spacestation, much less one built by the imperials. We’d like to not have massive targets on our backs.” Panic now clear in her voice.

“Why ? The station will offer protection, it will bring trade.”

“And it will bring enemies, a lot of enemies. Food is scarce out here and our world produces a lot. One of the reasons no one tries to invade is because we pose no threat to anyone. And if they do try to invade, what are they gonna do ? Dive head first kilometres underwater ? Risk the utter destruction of their vessels for something that we could simply deny them ever getting ? So no, mister officer, I would rather not have the station above our heads. A spacestation is a liability rather than an asset for us.”

Well, that didn’t go as planned.

“We are already building a station in system, won’t that attract flak to you as well ?”

“The pirates built an outpost, but no one thinks that we’re pirates, same with you.”

>Try to convince her otherwise. (How?)

>Let the matter drop, you can’t be bothered dealing with the subspacers anymore.

>They think that they can deny the imperial navy ? We are putting the spacestation above them, whether they like it or not.
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>>5213903
>Try to convince her otherwise.
"even though those very same people which would target you are currently getting demolished by our own fleet? maybe i am just not getting the bigger picture, but if the local area was to be rid of the pirates, would a station not just help facilitate trade with the surrounding systems, the very systems which would otherwise pay so much that they will buy it from pirates? if anything, it might just make that very piracy begin to become obsolete. since it would become easier to get it legitimately and not from raiding parties. and even then, what would you have to loose? you said it yourself, you have kilometers of water between you and anyone trying to invade. if they were to take the station, you would loose nothing other than the station itself, since we are building it for free right now anyway"
and if that doesn't work, then just...i donno, just make that same station but around the gas planet, maybe there could be stuff like starship/dropship non-ftl fuel refining by capturing the gas from the planet, effectively making it work as a interplanetary bus-stop for neutral parties.
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>>5213932
+1
>>
>>5213932
+1 We have a diplomat among us.
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>>5213903
>Let the matter drop, you can’t be bothered dealing with the subspacers anymore.
I want iron to build us a giant cannon that we can hide in the station and hide it in a gas giant or something.
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>>5213932

Decent arguments. 1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>5214567
>>
Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>5214567
>>
Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>5214567
>>
"Even though those very same people which would target you are currently getting demolished by our own fleet ? Maybe I am just not getting the bigger picture, but if the local area was to be rid of the pirates, would a station not just help facilitate trade with the surrounding systems ? The very systems which would otherwise pay so much that they will buy it from pirates ? If anything, it might just make that very piracy become obsolete, since it would become easier to get it legitimately and not from raiding parties. and even then, what would you have to lose ? You said it yourself – you have kilometres of water between you and anyone trying to invade. If they were to take the station, you would lose nothing other than the station itself, since we are building it for free right now anyway."

“And then the station gets blown to hell, since pirates are not the only threat in the area. I’m sure you know, mister officer, that the biggest threat posed to the empire isn’t some pirates, or us. It is you yourself. Same applies here, the pirates will die down, sure. Then what ? Everyone will sit around and share their feelings ? We have few people down here, in order to secure the station after you leave, we’d need crews dedicated to it, that is crew no longer working to maintain our leaky abodes. Not to mention, we don’t have the industry to manufacture vessels or maintain a spacestation, prerequisites for such an undertaking.

I will admit, you make good points, if we were to use the station, I have no doubt that our profits would soar, and as you said, we are more or less untouchable down here, but they don’t have to touch us. Hundreds, thousands of our own up in space make for some damn good negotiations tokens, and I don’t think my people are heartless enough to simply abandon them.”

“So you won’t budge ?”

“Not unless you could solve our manpower and industry issue. But if you somehow do it, well damn, we’d treat you as a holy saint of our people, mister officer.”

“Very well, ponder on it, I am certain you will the benefit soon enough.” You state whilst cutting off the call.

You quickly rise from your seat. They’re far too skittish, but getting reliable allies could be useful. Not like I have a powerful background or friends in high places to carry me further. Maybe Iron has some ideas ?

Arriving at the laboratory you return the salute given to you by the marines guarding the door. Entering it, you once more find the looming “gentle giant”, as he no doubt would describe himself, busying himself with one experiment or another, a bright one at that.

Shielding your eyes, you call out.

“Iron !”

Stopping his work, Iron’s head rises from the table, and then he turns around.

“Ah, captain. What brings you here ?”

“You aware of the happenings on outside of the lab ?”

“Very much so, yes. I take my own security very seriously you see.”
>>
>>5214713

“Good, the station that we are building up, can you do anything with it ?”

“What are my resources ?”

“Whatever is in system.”

“Not much to work with then.” Iron says whilst pondering. “I suppose I could make some basic improvements. Like thicker armour, more weapon platforms.”

“Say.” Gazing upon Iron’s metallic frame you state. “Could you automate the station ?”

“Automation ? I suppose it would be possible. I could make basic V.I. scripts to carry out the various tasks needed. It would not be proper A.I., and you would still require organic oversight and maintenance, but if I fully automate it, I could cut the crew requirement by 90%.

However, I must caution you. It would make the station exceptionally vulnerable to cyberattacks, I would naturally put it failsafes and security measures, but those would be there without further updates and upkeep, not many have my genius when it comes to programming, you see.”

“All I care is whether or not you can do it, oh big headed one.”

“I can, but that would see most of the resources we have here exhausted. The resulting station would be small. Armed and armoured with whatever we could scrounge up.”

“Then what are our options ?”

>”I could up armour the station. It would naturally increase in size, but it could take more punishment before collapsing. I can design it in such a way that there would be bulkheads, numerous failsafes and other measure to increase the stations toughness and its longevity. I do have to point out however, that for its size, it would be subdued in firepower compared to other stations its size.”

>”It is possible for me to make limited V.I. scripts and install dedicated reactors for linked fire of railgun weapons, M.A.G. cannons, and laser turrets. It would require a large crew to maintain the overwhelming firepower that these weapons are capable of dishing out, the station would also be enlarged, but most of the armour would remain relatively thin.”

>”Finally, as mentioned previously, I could strongly automate the station. Further expansion without my direct oversight would be difficult, as the various V.Is would have to be reprogrammed to account for the new differences, but the crew requirement would be negligible. Naturally, compared to the previous two options, it would be both inferior in defence and firepower, as well as size, but it would be within the norm for its class.”

>”Of course, I am listening if you have more ideas.” (Write in)
>>
>>5214716
>”Finally, as mentioned previously, I could strongly automate the station. Further expansion without my direct oversight would be difficult, as the various V.Is would have to be reprogrammed to account for the new differences, but the crew requirement would be negligible. Naturally, compared to the previous two options, it would be both inferior in defence and firepower, as well as size, but it would be within the norm for its class.”
Less maintenance means less losses if the station goes boom.
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>>5214716
>”It is possible for me to make limited V.I. scripts and install dedicated reactors for linked fire of railgun weapons, M.A.G. cannons, and laser turrets. It would require a large crew to maintain the overwhelming firepower that these weapons are capable of dishing out, the station would also be enlarged, but most of the armour would remain relatively thin.”
>”Of course, I am listening if you have more ideas.”
ask if he could allow for a quick retreat system within the star base with any ships we might bring back. the system working by launching the escape pods directly onto the planets towards specific collection areas where any and all manpower from the station would then sink to the bottom to be collected by the nearby underwater cities.

pic related, quick sketch i did
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(small, very rough design idea for the escape pods to be as simple to make as possible)

the pods would essentially just be a few atmospheric tanks, some crates of food and alot of seats for people to sit in until they get picked up by the city dwellers.

the design working by having the crew compartment be protected by a diamond tipped end which will make them more easily pass throgh the water on impact, with the bulkhead flaps working as to lessen speed until near inpact, which will have their supports be blown off strategically so that they break off near the top of the diamon tip.
>>
this doctrine works off of the idea that:
"anything which would be able to come close enough that it could fight back against us, we wouldn't be able to beat"
making it such that if a space battle is going on, and the station has deemed that the enemy can't be beaten, then the entire crew will easily be able to escape down towards safe locations before anyone get's close enough to even try and attempt to shoot down the escape pods.
>>
another thing which i think would make our problem alot simpler, is if we were to take any pirate which we find alive and give them a choice. "work for your freedom or death" aka the more menial tasks of the space station are filled in with the pirates we capture which work for a promised 15 years, which will leave them afterwards with a choice of either staying as a free worker with actual pay or to move on with a crew from any stationed ship requiring manpower.
(we would of course also be taking ships which we defeat back here to be used in expansion of the station)
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>>5214740
>>5214755
>>5214758
>>5214766

>>5214716

"An escape system ? I could design special escape pods meant for orbital reentry. It is not difficult to do so."

>"An advanced escape system would require a small enlargement of the station, but it would ensure that the entirety of the crew could be evacuated if need be. As with the automation option, this will see the least amount of upgrades upon the structure of the station itself."
>>
>>5214787
that will be my vote then, since it directly helps with the problem which the agriponics worlder's have in it. being that they feel their manpower threatened by the station. this way they have nothing to loose if that is the case. while the defenses can just be upgraded later on.
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>>5214787
+1
>>
>>5214716
>>”It is possible for me to make limited V.I. scripts and install dedicated reactors for linked fire of railgun weapons, M.A.G. cannons, and laser turrets. It would require a large crew to maintain the overwhelming firepower that these weapons are capable of dishing out, the station would also be enlarged, but most of the armour would remain relatively thin.”
>>
>>5214787
+1
>>
>>5214716
>”I could up armour the station. It would naturally increase in size, but it could take more punishment before collapsing. I can design it in such a way that there would be bulkheads, numerous failsafes and other measure to increase the stations toughness and its longevity. I do have to point out however, that for its size, it would be subdued in firepower compared to other stations its size.”
>>
Automate 1

Escape pods 3

Weapons 1

Armour 1

Writing.
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>>5210595

>epiphany time, how to freighters work in this setting? are they container haulers or are they massive "empty" space?

Both. The merchants you had rescued have massive empty spaces, as it is easier and more convenient to gather large quantities of ore.

>anyways can we requisition one of the trade ships for the time being and use it as a collector/salvage barge?

You could probably ask for so, yes. They'd do it for free if you are willing to allow them to keep some of the scrap.

>we should prioritize functioning weapon systems and see if we can set them up as temporary sentry turrets? we load those jury rigged turrets onto the freighter and if we manage to nail tristan to a all out brawl we let the freighter create a no-fly-zone? how feasable does this sound?

Presuming you can somehow cram enough ammo onto them, ensure that they are crewed or automated. You could indeed just shotgun a bunch of turrets out of the hull.

Sorry this took a while to answer.
If I do not answer any questions you anons have, just bug me about it again. Chances are I forgot about them, just bring them to my attention and I will try to answer them as soon as possible.
>>
“The escape pods then. An odd choice I must say. Most would take weapons or armour over means of escape. Personally, I had thought that more weapons would have been up your alley.”

“I like to take risks, not to try and kill myself.”

“From your record, the line between the two is thin.”

“Just do your job. How long will it take ?”

“A week or two. The construction crews seem experienced in station construction.”

“Once it is built, could you move it ?”

“With enough brute force, everything can be achieved. Strap some thrusters here and there, and I can indeed move it within system.”

“Good, get to it then.”

Saying so, you turn to leave the room.

Heading back to the bridge, you order your comms officer to contact the merchants.

“My Lord, how may I help you ?”

“You said you would gather those willing to fight to assist me. But I wonder if you could offer anything. Marines, supplies, parts, anything that could give us the edge ?”

“Well, our homeworld is decently industrialized, nowhere near the standard that you are used to I am sure, but I could ask around to see if anyone’s willing to donate.”

“Good, I will be staying here for a while, rally what you can here. One more thing, I will send some data of previous battlefields where we crushed the pirates, gather the hulks here. You can keep a part of the salvage as payment.”

“Very well, my Lord. We shall set out immediately. Some of my people are currently assisting your forces in their construction efforts. Should you have any questions, I shall give my son’s comm frequency, he can answer any questions you have.”

“I expect your swift return.” You say as means of farewell.

Finally, Datz. The last headache for the moment. You don’t have enough influence to get new vessels from the “mainland” for her, but maybe you could cajole the locals to give her command of one of their ships. Still, you are a bit unsure how to treat her.

For the moment, you find yourself with some free time.

May pick more than one. Write-ins encouraged

>Maybe I should try to get down to the waterworld, see how the folk live down there ?

>Perhaps I should converse with someone ? (Iron, Rasia, Tetreault, Datz, Payat, Mikel, Giacomo, Marc, waterworld representative, merchant’s son.)

>I think I shall just rest till life catches up with me. (CANNOT PICK ANYTHING ONCE THIS IS PICKED) (SKIPS TIME TILL EVERYTHING IS PREPARED)

>Maybe something else ? (Write in)
>>
>>5215996
>Contact the rest of the other fleets.

First what is the situation with that noble who was guarding the entrance to this area? Second, how is the situation on the front line with the countess? Is last the general situation in the county? It's been a while since we went out on this expedition a summary of what's happening would be nice.
>>
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>>5215996
>Perhaps I should converse with someone
alpizar, and then Ioanna Datz. first to check on the health of alpi, and then to congratulate ioanna on her exemplary work in the ambush, and to if anything tell her sorry for the downgrade we did eariler from destroyer to frigate only. but also reminding her that disobeying command like she did previously is not something one can just dissapear though other exemplary acts. maybe bringing some high-proof alcohol with as a apology gift and to loosen both up as to be more casual.
>Maybe something else ? (Write in)
rotating the different leadership positions around.

Marc Ahsing keeps the current position as the leader of the emperors dagger, with horus as his main ship.

Giacomo Kenne becomes the leader of the spear of bronze

Payat Teigon becomes the leader of the special mars wrath detachment with personal choice of which destoryer he takes command of.

Ioanna Datz becomes the leader of the silken death light attachment. with the heavy caviat being that when we tell her this at the personal meeting, we say that this is also a test of a sort, to see if she will keep in line from now on. since otherwise we won't trust her in any higher ship size engagements anymore if she does so.
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>>5216035
I'd support this, but I don't think we should give Datz a light cruiser right away. Her insubordination cannot be overlooked, but I suppose we can view losing the rest of her command as punishment enough. Get her back on a destroyer, but not the light cruiser. Hell, maybe put her on the other Mars Wrath destroyer, and have her subordinate to Teigon for the time being, as way of probation.
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>>5216046
okay fair, but then we should still keep the whole thing about using it as a test, since she has now shown herself as being possibly not worth of any higher position with her subordination.

so, teigon would become leader of silken death and datz becomes leader of mars wrath.
>>
oh i should probably also say:
i support >>5216023 as i also wish if we could get some knowledge from the outside

and after the visits to alpizar and datz, i would definitely wanna ask the merchants & merchants son about the possibility of a "salvage fleet" aka, a small group of merchant ships which would follow us around and gather any and all killed/incapacitated ships to tear them apart for use back at the station, or to repair into new small frigates if they were undamaged enough.

& QM, can we possibly in the future have a "surrender, and yet live" option when meeting smaller pirate fleets? that way we could roll to see which ships might defect to our side.
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>>5216091

>& QM, can we possibly in the future have a "surrender, and yet live" option when meeting smaller pirate fleets? that way we could roll to see which ships might defect to our side.

If you are somehow able to convince the pirates, I suppose. Keep in mind, most of them expect to die if captured, regardless of what is offered. As you might expect, pirates are not treated kindly by any authority.
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>>5215996
>>Maybe I should try to get down to the waterworld, see how the folk live down there ?

We shouldn't give Datz a new ship.
>>
>>5216337
as in not on this campaign? cuz datz does get jobs done, we just gotta figure out how we can make her job donning(?) align with orders.
Also keep in mind we put Datz from a destroyer onto a frig, so if you see it in the way she was trying to prove herself as more than a lousy frig captain, albeit backfiring by disobeying orders, she still dished out and was right there in the middle of the heat, commendable if it werent, as said, about the whole order thing.
So i'd recomend reprimanding her in front of the other captains about not following orders, but also highlighting that her leading role has been noticed the ghoul has to rise more ghouls, yes?. Then give her back command of a destroyer, on this campaign or after idc just make it clear to her.
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>>5215993
thanks for answering and ill make sure to ping if you take too long next time 👌
>>5215996
>Perhaps I should converse with someone ? (Iron, Rasia, Tetreault, Datz, Payat, Mikel, Giacomo, Marc, waterworld representative, merchant’s son.)
-tetreault ask her if she already has a lock on a own command? (surprise her that we are in fact able to think of the future + making sure the next up and comming captain (knight?) under the countess isnt at least opposed to us)
-check in on marc hows our second-in-command feeling his classic career kickoff as a pirate hunter? maybe get a few pointers on sword styles?
-idk id like to at least check up on all and do some small talk cant think off anything truly specific for the lot of em.
-on second thought annoy iron with some "the ape is here mr. xenos"
>>
you ok qm?
>>
“Comms, get one of the second-line ships to return back to friendly territory. I want a sit-rep on the happening on the frontier and within the county and the duchy.”

“Right away, sir.” Rapidly setting off to his task, responds the officer.”

“Tetreault, I want Datz to meet me in my quarters, also have the merchant’s son on standby, I will talk to him afterwards.” You state rising from you seat.

“Understood, captain.” Your XO nods.

Datz, oh Datz. Why must you cause me such a headache ? You aren’t particularly certain on how to treat her, even after all this time. For a moment you considered giving her command of one of the Vigilance classes, but her insubordination is a problem. Eventually your mind turned to restoring her destroyer command. If what Teigon said is true, you might’ve inadvertently insulted her by degrading her command. But even on that you are torn, facts are facts, and she disregarded direct orders, giving her higher command, wouldn’t it simply encourage insubordination ? So now you consider not giving her command at all, at the very least for the moment. Decisions, decisions. Sometimes it suck to be the one in charge.

Rubbing your eyes, you grab a bottle of vodka from the fridge and set it down on the table alongside some left over salted fish you had saved specifically for the moment that you planned to crack that bottle open.

Having to await Datz’s arrival, you concentrate on tapping away at your datapad. Organizing a “salvage fleet”, you want to get read from the locals to see if they wouldn’t be willing to go in after you and scoop up everything of value that you would have to unfortunately leave behind.

Eventually, your attention is drawn as the doorbell rings.

“Come in.” You say.

With your permission granted, in steps a woman. “Lady-Commander Ioanna Datz, reporting as ordered, sir.” She says with a proper salute, her posture ramrod straight, a far cry from the relaxed and easy going Datz you encountered in the bar months back.

“At ease Lady-Commander. Sit.” You gesture to the ottoman in front of you.

Taking up your offer, she sits down in front, her back still straight.

“I think you know why I called you here ?” You do the best impression of a teacher about to scold a student possible, after all, you were on the receiving end of it numerous times yourself.

“I do, sir.” She responds nervously.

“And that is ?” Maintaining a cold face, you ask.

“Me disregarding Lord-Commander Teigon’s orders.” She finally admits.

“So you do know that you did wrong.” Sighing you continue. “Tell me, Datz, why did you disobey his orders ?”
>>
>>5218040

“Sir, it is because he is far too passive of commander, sir. Our orders were to prevent the pirate’s escape. If I had done as Teigon had ordered, we would have maintained a fair distance. In my mind, there is no doubt that the pirates would have disengaged once they would have realized that we were there not to fight, but to delay. Sir.” In a single breath she recites her reasoning. Seems like she practiced her speech beforehand.

Opening the bottle, you pour out a shot for her. “Relax, Datz, take a breath. I don’t want you passing out on me.”

“Thank you, sir.” Taking up your offer, she downs the shot, her expression remaining unchanged despite the burn of the alcohol.

“Let me ask you one question, Datz. Did you think that me assigning you to lead a frigate detachment after you were in command of destroyer was an insult ? A sign that I lack trust in your command ?”

“Permission to speak openly, sir ?” Locking her eyes with yours, she asks.

“Granted.”

“That is the most common practice in this shithole of a navy. Just because you insulted an inbred bastard’s cousin twice removed, whilst still being his brother, you would lose command due to unforeseen incidents and accidents.” With a bitter expression she remarks.

“I see. Well, Datz, as you might be aware, I am not a noble, well I wasn’t until a few months ago. No insult was meant and none should be taken. I am not so petty to as put my best officers in worthless positions wasting away their talent. Am I clear ?”

“Perfectly, sir.”

“Good. I haven’t yet made a decision about your insubordination and future command, but this conversation had cleared up a few doubts of mine. And I also want to congratulate you, from what I heard your contribution for the ambush was decisive.” You pour out another shot. “You may leave.”

Datz downs it in one like before, rises from her seat, salutes, and departs.

Shortly thereafter, the doorbell rings once more.

“Enter.” You say in a tired voice.

Stepping through the doorway is a man in his mid-40s, short cut black hair and an equally black bushy beard. He wears a dirty mechanic’s undersuit, tools weighing him down. The man, despite looking rough and tough and being twice your age, seems extremely nervous in your presence, his eyes darting about your quarters.

“My Lord, this lowly one is Keanan Kolwyck.”

Damn, that’s uncomfortable. I was usually the one forced to grovel in front of nobility.

“Relax, Keanan. Come, si-, erm. Wait a sec.” You rise from your seat and grab a towel, laying it down on top of the ottoman. “Now then, sit.” You say, having secured the cleanliness of your furniture.

Fidgeting, the man sits down. Seeing just how his nerves are strained, you pour him a shot, and one for yourself. Noticing that you are about to drink, he too grabs the glass and pours it down his gullet.
>>
>>5218043

“Now then. I called you here because I have a proposal.” You say handing over the datapad.

Having some intoxicants in his system, the man seems to relax somewhat and starts looking over your proposal.

“This…seems dangerous…but profitable. I am sure that ma’ and pa’ will be willing to tag along.”

“Excellent. Now, come, let’s drink on it.” With a smile you say.

A few drinks and some salted fish after, both of you converse like old friends. Through the conversation, you were able to pick up some details about the man’s homeworld, but interestingly enough, he hadn’t revealed where exactly it is, he still seems to be guarded against you.

Still, you learnt that his homeworld – Voth – is industrialized. Having a predominately carbon dioxide based atmosphere, the planet itself is reminiscent of Mars of old. A red world, rich in iron. It also has massive deposits of copper and even uranium. Their politics seem centred around domed cities ruled by clans. Said clans are divided in duties, but united under a single ruling council. His clan for example, specialized in trade, whilst some neighbouring clan would specialize in agriculture, another in military, etc.

Eventually, the conversation dies down and you let the man go.

After a cold glass of water, gotta stay hydrated after drinking, and a shower, to wash away the smell, you tidy up your quarters. Before hopping in, you had instructed the bridge crew to contact the waterworld and inquire whether or not you could go down to the world’s surface. But before that, you wanted a quick conversation with Tets, a conversation about her future.

“Enter.” You answer as the doorbell yet again rings.

“Captain, you wanted to see me.” Questions Tetreault.

“I did. Come, sit.” Gesturing for her, you too sit down, a couple of coffee cups set on the table, with a lot of sugar and cream next to them.

With her usual sweet tooth, and perfect table manners, she begins to elegantly sip the coffee.

“Tetreault, have you thought about what you will do once you graduate from being my XO ?” You ask smiling.

“I have, sir. Although this may come abruptly, but my parents are in negotiations to secure me a posting in one of the combat fleets, Talon facing. Presuming the talks succeed, I shall be departing your service.”

That came out of nowhere.

“I see. Do you perhaps have in mind someone to take over your position, presuming you will be departing my command ?”

“Unfortunately, no. Being frontier facing, there is a lack of proper XOs to be acquired.”

“You said that you will have command ? Of what class ?”

“I know not. But I presume that I shall be granted frigate command.” That look in her eyes. She knows the mortality rate of frigate crews in a proper, imperial vs. imperial, engagement.

“Have you considered furthering you career under me ?”
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>>5218045

“Perhaps. I had though about it, sir. Having a familiar officer in command would ease my worries, but then I remembered who my superior officer in this situation would be.” A barely distinguishable smirk appears on her face. Is that a joke I just heard ?

Laughing yourself, you simply state. “Think about it, Tets. I’d be shame for me to lose a friendly face.”

“Understood, sir. Now, if I may be excused ?”

“You are.”

Saluting, she departs your quarters.

Suddenly, you comm devices rings.

“Captain, the waterworlders seem willing to let you down. Apparently, Lord-Commander Ahsing had requested the same. It also seems like he had convinced Lord-Commanders Kenne and Leiser to come along with.”

“Understood, prepare a shuttle, I will be there shortly.”

Leaving your quarters, you stop in place in the middle of the corridor, you were heading towards the hangar, but something passed through your mind. I wanna fuck with Iron.

A giddy smile on your face, you head to the lab.

Quickly entering the room, you watch as a piece of the stealth shuttle is currently being affected by a gravitational field, an Iron seems to be tapping away at a datapad, seemingly unaware of your presence. Your feet, as light as feathers, begin to slowly make their ways towards him. Time for a practical joke. Slowly, slowlyy, slowlyyy.

“I can see you; you know.”

Shit !

“How ?” You question.

Iron simply points to the two drones hovering over him, looking at you.

“I suppose I should have known that such a brilliant alien mind of paranoia would detect me.”

“I am not an alien. Just because I am at the perfection of human mind, that does not mean that I am an alien. Only a primitive would consider something he does not understand alien.” There is a hint of annoyance clear in his voice.

“Ah, yes. Thus such a way of speech, far removed from how anyone normal would speak.”

“Did you come here to annoy me, or did you actually have a point.”

“Nah, I came here just to fuck with you.” You answer lazily.

Seemingly not expecting such an answer, Iron turns to you, his work forgotten. “Charming. Truly. I can see how my perfection would attract one’s interest for the purposes of entertainment, but as you may very well be aware. I. Am. Busy.” Threat clearly apparent.

“Then I will leave you to it. To be frank, I had expected much greater from you by this point.” Sighing you depart. You swear you could hear the sound of metal bending and glass shattering as the door closes.

Having finished your harassment campaign, you hop into a prepared shuttle. A detachment of marines awaiting you there.

“Captain. Everyone’s prepared.” Reports Warwick.

“Let’s get going then.”
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>>5218048

You’ve seen water before, but never on this scale. Being in orbit doesn’t really do justice to the sheer amount in front of you. Only now your mind can truly comprehend what is in front of you. Granted, you could’ve gone without the massive shaking of the shuttle, as you entered the atmosphere. Still, the sight of kilometres high waves is worth it.

Eventually, you reach an artificial island, a cube really, upon which a landing pad had been made. Around it, are three more shuttles currently circling, your officers awaiting your arrival no doubt.

The pad, being pretty massive, is able to accommodate all four shuttles.

Stepping out, your officers quickly come over and salute you.

“Captain. Good to see you on our excursion.” And overly excited Marc quickly greets you.

“I was pretty curios myself about these folks.” You say smiling. “Anyways, how do we get down there.”

As if on cue, a part of the pad rises, revealing a massive lift, currently populated by people in bulky spacesuits, though clearly modified to suit the planet rather than open space. There area about three dozen of them, you are unsure how effective of fighters they are, but as you’d expect, the rifle they wield are outdated, perhaps a century old design from what you can tell. Suppose there’s no need for more powerful rifles in a place like this.

Out of the group, one walks forward. “Greetings, mister officer. We’re honoured that you’d take interest in our humble abode.” The familiar voice of Aliosha calls out. Extending her hand she states. “Welcome to Ceron.”

“A pleasure.” You shake her hand. Your gauntlet meeting her own, naturally you took your blade with you. These people had been friendly thus far, but you never know what might happen.

“Now then, please follow me. I assume your fancy uniforms will protect you ?” Looking you up and down she asks.

“It will protect us from pressure, provide us with oxygen, and it will ensure that we remain dry. Do not worry about us.”

“That’s assuring. Wouldn’t want your fleet to start bombing us if you somehow end up swolling seawater.”

Following after her, you step onto the lift. Even with over one hundred people on the lift, in barely feels like the space is occupied.

As the lift accelerates, and the feeling of your gut rising takes over, you find yourself with a few free moments to think:

The fleet needs reorganizing.

>Maybe I should change things about ? (Follow >>5216035 )

>Maybe I should change things about ? (Write in)

>It’s fine as it is.

This damn issue about Datz has been tearing at me for too long.

>Give her command. (Of what ?)

>She will get her command after we return to friendly space.
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>>5217773

Just being lazy, playing a lot of warband and studying. No need to worry anon. Now, if I am gone for 72 hours, then I'd say you anons should start to worry.
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>>5218052

>Maybe I should change things about ? (Follow >>5216035 # )
Fleet-anon is our specialist in fleet organization, after all he created this system.

>Give her command now.
This may be our last chance to more permanently recruit a trusted officer, remembering that by the end of our campaign loyalty is going to be an issue.

By the way QM how is the situation of our favorite chief engineer? Is he trained a replacement or has he appointed a candidate he would recommend putting in his place?
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>>5218090

>By the way QM how is the situation of our favorite chief engineer? Is he trained a replacement or has he appointed a candidate he would recommend putting in his place?

Gavril's doing his thing. Conversation will be had with him next update.
>>
>>5218052
>Maybe I should change things about ? (Follow 5216035 (You) )
i of course choose my own option

>Give her command.
of the mars wrath detachment, with the heavy warning that this is the show of trust we have in her. the last of it to a degree. so if she goes against command, even if she sees something to be dis-advantageous, then she will have her privileges as a ship commander removed for the rest of her stay in our fleet and her files will have these command breaks-of-command be mentioned within her file for future officers to look over when determining her actions.

though, do also mention. that she can always. always mention anything she might think to her higher officers. at least while within our chain of command. and if she is ignored then she can bring the recordings of the naval battle comms chatter to our attention if she deemed her advice could've helped in any fight where it was otherwise denied.
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>>5218055
good thing at least, i was becoming kind of worried, but with how long the post was then i definitely cannot say the breaks you took in between were un-warranted.
keep up the good work&writing. i'll definitely be reading along for a long time to come!
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>>5218052
>It’s fine as it is.
>She will get her command after we return to friendly space.

At the present time we don't have a ship that lacks a commander, do we?
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>>5218052
>Maybe I should change things about ? (Follow >>5216035 )

>Give her command. Put Payat in charge of her, and emphasise the importance of following his orders. Put her on probation essentially.
>>
>>5218052
>Maybe I should change things about ? (Follow >>5216035 # )
>Give her command.
What fleet-ano said
>>
Your stomach drops. I’ll never get used to these damned lifts. You grumble in your mind.

“Now, this is one of our main arteries for surface travel, meant for large scale transportation, as such, that door leads straight into the open ocean. I recommend you tighten those fancy uniforms of yours, since we will be flooding the room soon.”

You, alongside your subordinates, activate the uniform’s protective capabilities. You feel as the suit slightly puffs out, creating a space between your body and the uniform, a means of retaining heat for as long as possible, at the same time, your gloves and shoes are tightened by the uniform, ensuring that there are no gaps. Then, from your collar, rises a thin membrane, encompassing your entire head, before it slightly expands, ridding you of the rather uncomfortable feeling.

Soon thereafter, the locals begin turning valves, allowing water to flood the elevator. With the water level rising steadily, you are quickly engulfed. Luckily, you feel no chill, at least for now. Your uniform is able to sustain your body heat, but the rather chilly water will begin to sap away at your body heat in due time.

With the chamber full of water, the massive door laboriously rises. Before your eyes, is a vast wasteland, as far as the eye can see, which isn’t all that much, seeing just how dark it is down here. Once you turn your head however, you are greeted by the sight of domes, endless labyrinthine networks of corridors. The sight that catches your eyes the most are the vast “farms”. See through domes, nothing more that skeletal structures with small enough gaps to prevent escape in some cases, in others actual glass, are choke full of fish. All of these are provided by vast fields of seaweed and algae, both providing oxygen and food.

You are quickly escorted to a walker, a large machine with twelve legs digging deep into the ground. The thing doesn’t look to be capable of swimming, but you are sure that its capability to carry large quantities of material make the loss of mobility acceptable.

“This is breath taking.” You hear a voice in your ear. It takes you a moment to place it as Leiser’s voice.

“How many people do you think live here ?” Questions Kenne.

“Just this place alone ? I’d say they could house about five thousand. Maybe more if there are other parts that we cannot see.” Responds Marc.

“Why do you think that.” You ask.

“Oh, uh, well, captain. My family used to go on vacation to a nice waterworld as well. A lot more, um, peaceful than this one, they too had underwater cities.” He exclaims.

Damn rich kid. My vacation time was spent in part-time work in a shop.
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>>5219221

Continuing one, you eventually manage to make your way onto the walker. The chamber that you enter into first quickly ejects the water around, allowing fresh air, as fresh as it can be you suppose, to fill your lungs. With watery death no longer an immediate issue, the locals seem more relaxed as they start to meander out of the airlock. (Or would it be a waterlock in this case ?) You quickly enter a large room, clearly meant for the large-scale transportation of goods.

“Well, mister officer, enjoy the ride, it will take about ten or so minutes until we reach the main entrance. Oh, and since I am your guide here, I suppose we should talk face-to-face rather than helmet-to-face.”

At those words, she turns her helmet, pressure hissing as it is released. With the helmet gone, the raven black hair, a rather pale face and blue eyes of a above average looking woman, with clearly no genehancements, is revealed.

“Anyways, we’ll have plenty of time to converse afterwards, I’ll leave you boys alone.” She says with a smile and a wink.

With that, a few subspacers are left in the chamber, most had departed the room, allowing for a private conversation, judging by the distance that they took up away from you. Your men had not been napping, they too spread out in a circle around the four of you, ensuring your safety to the best of their abilities.

Rather than allow an awkward silence to set in, you pipe up. “So, how do you all feel starting off the classic career as a pirate hunter ? A better start than having to fight in a proper engagement ?” You say with a smile.

Small chuckles escape the mouths of everyone present.

“I’d say it is just as exciting as all of our previous battles.” States Kenne.

“At least there’s less ramming this time.” Jokes Leiser.

“Still as dangerous, I’d say. Just in a different way.” Tiredly responds Ahsing

“Oh, how so ?” You question Marc.

“Well, erm…I don’t know. When we were fighting against the Emarians and the Raisatans, at least I knew where they were, you know ? Now, we are chasing someone unconcerned about giving territory, someone willing to skulk about and stab us when we least expect it. It just feels like I have to keep my mind sharp every single waking moment.” Admitting his worries, Marc states.

“I understand how you feel. There’s no need to worry, remember, these pirates are undisciplined, flying ships so far out of date that they should belong in a museum. You’ll do fine, all of you will done fine.” I’ve gotten pretty good at this whole, inspirational leader thing.

Your officers seem a bit calmer now, and it is only now that you realize, all three of the are younger than you. This fact had slipped your mind in the chaos of war, but now, staring at the youthful faces, you cannot blame them for being worried.
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>>5219222

A bit more small talk later, Aliosha comes back and greets you once more. “Well, mister officer we’ve docked. Prep your lungs for some fresh, algae recycled air.” She says with her usual smirk before heading to the airlock, quickly turning the handle, opening the door.

Bright lights greet you, stinging your eyes for a moment. Then you realize just how massive the place his. A garage, judging by the equipment thrown around and two more massive walkers, alongside a dozen other things. Here finally you see some actual subs that you had originally expected to witness.

“Now then, please excuse me for a moment, I’ve got to doll up you see.” With a cheeky grin Aliosha disappears from your sight. With her gone, you do notice that from the three dozen men previously, that number had inflated to around one hundred.

“Lieutenant Ahyet, have the men prepared for a rapid exfil, if need be.” You whisper into your comm, an especially small device in your ear this time.

“Understood, sir.” You watch as the man slightly changes his stance.

The atmosphere visibly grows tense as the wait stretches on, but eventually your guide returns. You finally realized why she was acting so happy-go-lucky, she did it for her side just as much as yours.

“Well then, mister officer. Shall we begin this guided tour ?” The now out of her bulky suit, the rather fit woman asks.

“I am truly looking forward to it.” You return her smile.

The proceeding tour goes as one would expect. The guides you to the best upkept and nicest places in the city. The novelty, after passing your fifth see-through tunnel, quickly wears off. Instead, alongside the journey, you had picked your guide’s brain.

You were able to learn a few things of interest, though nothing of truly great import, Aliosha refusing to tell you anything that could compromise the city with fake platitudes and excuses. Despite all of this, you were able to discover that there are more cities like this on the world, and that they are all united as a single entity under a loose confederacy. Aliosha here being the representative of this little town, elected by the people. You also learnt that Ceron had been settled about one hundred years ago, give and take a few. In the end, despite the original novelty of the world itself, the feeling of a rivet nearly smashing your head, did not help to improve your opinion on the place. Aliosha had apologized profusely for the unfortunate incident, but the fact that such a failure happened in an area she considers “neat and clean” tells you just how much the locals must fight against the crushing depths. Finally, you finished off the journey on the most enjoyable thing – food. Delicious fish, wrapped in seaweed salted and spiced. Eventually, with a full belly, you had set off from the world, thinking that it was a nice place to visit, but hell to live in.
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>>5219224

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You parry the blow and step forward and slash downwards. Finally got you ! You smile. Unfortunately, you quickly find yourself overextended, having put too much strength in the blow, you are carried by momentum, as your foe neatly side steps you. In your final moments see as the swords pommel rams you straight into the face.

CRACK !

“FUCK !” You curse.

“Ahhh, captain, captain ? Are you okay ? I’m so, so sorry.” Marc’s panicked voice is heard.

You’d be fine with him being so apologetic, where it not for the fact that Gavril and Warwick are both laughing their asses off at your suffering.

Why did I think it would’ve been a good idea to get Marc to teach me.

Mentally lambasting yourself, you grab the hand extended to you. Rising to your feet, you quickly get a handkerchief into your bleeding nostril.

“Lieutenant Ahyet, captain’s order, practice melee with Lord-Commander Ahsing.”

The laughter dies in your LT’s mouth. And this is why you don’t laugh at the suffering of your superiors.

Taking a seat, you let the blood flow.

“So, did you find a replacement ?” You ask through your stuffed nose.

“I’m training a couple, yea. Good guys. Hard working and with a heart of adventure, unlike this old bag of bones.” Responds Gavril.

“If you’re a bag of bones, then what am I ? Still rotting flesh ?”

With a laugh, he responds. “Keep living like you do, and you might soon be.”

“Encouraging as always, my old friend.” You respond with sarcasm.

“I’m just messing with ya.” He says in good humour. “But no, in all seriousness. I really hope that these pirates fuck off and die. I really wanna head home now.”

“What did your childhood sweetheart call for you ?”

“Nah, nothing like that. My sister got married, not only that, the already gave birth. Once I get back, I really want to hold my nephew in my arms.” He let’s out a weak chuckle. “Never thought I’d become Uncle Gavril.”

“You’ve seen a picture ?”

“I did, yea. Cute little bugger. Hope I get to him before he grows to adulthood. Damn cowardly bastards, wasting my time.” He grumbles in annoyance.

“Any plans after that ?”

“Yea, use my retirement package to open up a repair shop. Got the skills for it, might as well use them. Make some cash, make a name for myself. Find a wife with a big ass, huge tits, and wide hips !”

You laugh at that statement.

Your laughter is interrupted by another crack. Turning towards the noise, you watch Warwick slamming painfully onto the floor. Luckily, the duelling room aboard your Timur is padded all over. And once more, Marc is extremely apologetic to his beaten opponent, unknowingly rubbing salt into the wound.

“How’re we holding up, lieutenant ?” You ask with a smirk.

“Just fu-“ He holds his tongue. “Just fine, sir.”
>>
>>5219228

“Stay calm, lieutenant. Marc means no insult. Gav.” You turn to the man next to you.

“What ?” A look of clear understanding flashes across his face.

With a wide grin you state. “Warrant officer Radu. In order to ensure your combat effectiveness, I order you to duel with Lord-Commander Ahsing.”

Annoyance clear on his face, Gavril finally rises with a defeated look.

Can’t pass this one up. “Chin up, Gav. You gotta stay fit to find a nice woman for yourself.” You start laughing.

“Not cool man, not cool at all.” Defeated, he says whilst grabbing a practice blade.

“LT, how’s your command looking ?” You ask Warwick, now sitting next to you.

“I and the lads are doing fine. Had to beat down some misbegotten pride that some of the rookies had, but everything’s under control now. Just because they went through some spec ops training, they all thought that they were tough shit. We thought them that they are nothing than a wet fart on the breeze.”

You laugh. “As long as everything is under control. I expect that we will have a lot more boarding actions in the future.”

“How come ?”

“I am thinking of maybe seizing some ships intact.”

“The fuck why ?” He calls out. “Erm, I mean, may I ask why, sir ?”

“I’ve got an idea forming in my head, an idea that will require ships. That is all you need to know for now lieutenant, I might very well change my mind later on. Just wanted to give you a heads up beforehand.”

“Understood, sir. I will make the marines ready, run some drills for boarding actions. If we’re gonna be boarding more in the future, I’d say that you should get some boarding shuttles and torpedoes.”

“Maybe, we’ll have to see once we return to proper civilization.”

Hours later, just as you get out of the shower, your datapad rings.

“Sir ? The messenger ship has returned. I am relaying the date you requested.”

“Thank you, officer, that will be all.” You say cutting the connection.

Four weeks there, and four weeks back. The info I just got is already out of date.

Perusing the gathered information, you learn these things:

The Countess, as was expected, won. The Raisat Star League has been reformed into the Gillon diktat. Apparently, one of the league members had long been in the pocket of the Countess, jumping out in the most opportune moment, easily securing victory and signing a treaty of “friendship and trade” with the Countess and the Duchy as a whole. Another subspacer nation had now fallen under the influence of the ducal house.

Another piece of good news – Commander Pavlovich had reported that there had been no sightings of pirates for a while now. Your presence here seems to have, at least for the moment, brought some reprieve to the territories loyal to the Duchy.
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>>5219229

One more thing of interesting note – Knight-Captain Todoroff is now apparently Baronet-Captain Todoroff. A rapid promotion. Though you suppose that is not surprising, he was the leader of your group after all.

And finally, an unnerving piece catches your eyes. There has been a general escalation in the sheer amount of skirmishing against both House Scorpio and Talon. The situation at the front is precarious.

Chances are, once you are done here, you will be pulled to face against the two hostile duchies. This news makes you recall your quick conversation with Rasia.
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“You know, at this point in my life, the thoughts of my son going to war are the only thing occupying my mind.” Says Alpizar taking a drink of wine.

“I can understand that worry. I remember my father’s expression whenever he learnt that someone, he knew had passed away due to the war.” And that was the truth, your uncle had died, and you vividly remember your fathers stone face when he learnt the news, only later, when he thought that he was alone, did you see him cry by himself. The man had tried to make sure that you’d never see his weak side.

You also take a sip of wine. You have to admit, Alpizar’s quarters are far more intricate when it comes to decorations, you had asked her about it, and apparently it had come furnished like this. Those bastards had cheeped out one me ! You grumble in your mind.

“You holding up well ?”

“Yea, I’m doing fine.” She gives you a smile. “Now that I’ve rested, and had some wine in me, I think that I am doing just fine.”

“Good to hear. I’ll need you at full 100% for the upcoming fight.”

“I won’t disappoint you, Proenza. No matter what, we’ve got to win this.”

“Speaking of winning, you thought about what you will do once you are back home ? Besides loving your child, I mean.”

“Afterwards, huh ?” She begins to ponder. “No, I can’t say I have. As I said, my mind was preoccupied. Now that I think about it, I am really not sure what I will do afterwards.”

“Well, once your kid grows, why not go see the galaxy ? This time as a civilian, without the friendly locals shooting at you.” You say with a smile.

Chuckling she responds. “That’d be a nice change of pace. I do hope that this war comes to an end. Enough lives have been lost as it is.”

“Hopefully not before I make admiral.” You cannot hold back a quip.

“So that you make admiral.” She raises her glass.

“So that you see a peaceful galaxy.” You raise your in turn.
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>>5219232

Returning to present, you wipe away the old data, and look over your fleet organization. You gave Datz her chance, and you hope that she will not fail you. Still, the lack of frigates is becoming a pain. You had hoped that you could draw in some reinforcements at some point, but with the ever-frequent skirmishes at the border, you doubt that the Countess will be willing to detach extra forces. At the end of the day, pirates will never be as threatening as a hostile noble house within the Unbroken Empire.

After dressing up, you return to the bridge.

“Captain, the merchants have returned, with some help this time.” Reports the comms officer. “They are requesting for a conversation.”

“Put them through.”

“My Lord, as promised, we have returned.” Happily, informs you the old man.

“Good to see you alive and well. What have you brought me this time ?”

“We were able to gather some volunteers. About three hundred men fit for combat, though lacking proper power armour, I hope you understand that they are armoured only in protection suits, but they are all willing to put their lives on the line for the chance of taking down the pirates. As well as about five hundred men willing and able to serve as crews.” Says the old woman.

“We’ve also gathered some processed parts, electronics and the like. As well as some engineers with some work suits. We should be able to carry out repairs in the field.” Finishes the old man.

“And the other cargo ships ?” You ask puzzled, there being about 6 more massive trading ships alongside the two original.

“Ah, that one, yes. That one is owned by my uncle, that one by my brother-in-law, that is owned by my niece… they had gathered up the various wrecks you directed us to.”

“Can you do anything with them ?” With some tiredness you ask. You thought that nobles were bad, but you now realized – clans are worse.

“We gather pieces from them and dragged the intact ones here. We could probably repair them, but that would expend some of our resources that we brought along, and we can’t really repair them to the standard that you are accustomed to, your Lordship.” Says the woman.

>Star repairing them, and send them to these coordinated (Where ?)

>Star repairing them, we will wait till they are functional.

>Keep the parts, they may come in use later.

>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?

>(Write in)
>>
>>5219235
QM Could you repost the map of this area to make our decision easier?
>>
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>>5219279

There you are.
>>
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>>5219235

Also forgot this.
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>>5219235
>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?
Re enforce order within the system. Bring stability to these savater worlds
“In our conquest, we will leave then better than when we came” - horus lupercal
>>
>>5219235
>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?

Establishing a stable base in this region will have the effect of stabilizing the systems around us, however after they finish their work they should go to the Jed system until we stabilize the central region.
>>
>>5219235
>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?
Automating it would be useful.
>>
>>5219235
>>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?
>>
>>5219235
>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?

i think the armor would now be a good idea
first, because it will make the agri-worlders feel more secure while inside, letting them feel more comfortable with the new station.

two: because it makes it alot harder to destroy, since as a stationary target, if it's getting attacked, it's much easier to shoot it, than it is for it to shoot the pirates.

and 3:because any pirate which would see a armored station might begin thinking twice. any pirate can think "i might get lucky and kill em in one shot!" to try and aliviate their fears. but no one can that when it takes many more shots while actively taking fire from the station.
>>
>>5219235
>Gather the scrap and direct it towards the space station. Maybe you can expand it further ?
How where the viking raiders defeated? Fortresses.
>>
“Gather what you have and leave it next to the station. Your son had also looked over my proposal, he should direct it to you in a moment. As for us, we are preparing to move, transfer me the comm signals of your volunteer forces.”

“Understood, my Lord.” Both the man and the woman say at once.

Cutting the comm, you turn to your XO. “Tetreault, gather our forces, we’re leaving.”

“Understood, sir.” She responds.

With the reformed fleet, you swing around the system’s star, departing the safe heaven you built in these tumultuous stars.

As usual, six days later, you arrive at another star system. The trinary system where you had previously fought the pirates, and where Datz had ignored her orders and charged onwards.

Speaking of Datz, she is once again in charge of destroyer, but under strict warning that this is her last chance. You had thought of putting Teigon in the same detachment, but an issue of coordination had occurred.

The newest detachment, “Silken Death” would be left without proper leadership. As it currently stands your officers are divided as such:

Lord-Commander Marc Ahsing – In command of “Emperor’s dagger”

Lord-Commander Giacomo Kenne – In command of “Spear of Bronze”

Lord-Commander Mikel Leiser – In command of “Ironclad courage”

Lord-Commander Payat Teigon – In command of striker-class frigate “Javelin”

Lady-Commander Ioanna Datz – In command of “Mars’ Wrath”

Test group 19 is currently under the command of the intelligence officer sent to monitor the performance of the new frigates.

You could of course leave “Silken Death” under the command of a minor officer, maybe something good would come out of it.

>Assign Teigon to command “Silken Death”

>”I have other ideas for reshuffling.”

Whatever the case, you had naturally solved this issue before you departed. And now you have to decide what to do.

>”We already swept this system weeks back, we can move on.”

>”Better safe than sorry. Slowly sweep the system again.”

>”Better safe than sorry. Quickly sweep the system again.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5220810
Didn’t feet anon say teigon Would then lead silken death after other anon pointed out that giving datz a cruiser Would be a bad idea?

>Assign Teigon to command “Silken Death”

>”Better safe than sorry. Slowly sweep the system again.”
>>
>>5220821

I've only seen murmurings about putting Teigon in Mars' wrath alongside Datz to oversee her. Anything other than that left him unmentioned. Though it is possible I missed something.
>>
>>5220831

>>5216052
>>
>>5220810
>>Assign Teigon to command “Silken Death”
I still want him in charge of Datz as supervisor, but I'll be fine with this.
>”We already swept this system weeks back, we can move on.”
Unlikely they'd try doing something here again.
>>
oh, im sorry QM if that wasn't clear, but yeah i meant it as the plan had changed when i agreed to the other anons opinion about datz not being worth of a cruiser yet.
so yeah teigon is meant to be in charge of silken death if we go with my plan's changes, which we did if datz now is in mars wrath.

(also >>5220810 )
>”Better safe than sorry. Slowly sweep the system again.”
>>
>>5220810
>”I have other ideas for reshuffling.”
The commander of Ever Vigilant is to command Silken Death. It only makes sense that the commander of the largest ship in a division commands said division.
>>
>>5220810
>>5221070
>”Better safe than sorry. Quickly sweep the system again.”
>>
Slow sweep 2

Quick sweep 1

Already swept this system 1

Slow sweep wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>5221980
>>
Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>5221980
>>
Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>5221980
>>
You had decided give Teigon command over “Silken Death”. How well he meshes with a light cruiser remains to be seen. Though you suppose, the man will follow orders without question, as you have come to learn.

As for the system sweep. It is a mind-numbing task. You’d think that looking over a system you had once secured would be easy, you’d be mistaken. Weeks have passed since your last visit and things have changed. The stars have rotated, the various asteroids have moved about, some of planetoids seem to have new craters on them.

As such, this new sweep brings dangers a plenty. A detonation signature flares up.

“Sir, reporting. Wolf-class frigate under “Emperor’s dagger” had just detonated. Preliminary reports indicate two nearby asteroids collided and the resulting debris shower caught it unprepared, shredding it.”

Goddammit !

The rest of the sweep goes off without further incidents. Luckily or unluckily, you found no further interlopers in the system.

With annoyance, you depart the system. 6 days later you reach the first system that Rasia had swept through upon her first arrival. A single red dwarf with 3 planets orbiting it. You do also see a friendly space station and some second-line forces, based on the IFF signals.

The forces there report an all clear when you inquire with them.

Moving onwards, another 6 days pass by the time you reach a brand-new system, once yet untouched by either your or Alpizar’s fleets.

The system houses an all-encompassing nebula and dust clouds, a single, dim, barely distinguishable white dwarf burns and struggles against the dust cloud. On the bright side, there appear to not be any large asteroids or planetoids in the system.

Despite the small blessing, the fact remains, the natural phenomena of this system are making your sensors virtually useless. In fact, it is more reliable to simply keep in visual range than rely on sight rather than advanced sensor systems. Probably the reason why the pirates had set up an outpost here.

>Sweep it nice and slow, keeping in visual range.

>Split the force and try to cover as much and as fast as you can.

>Move on from the system.
>>
>Sweep it nice and slow, keeping in visual range.

btw QM, did the agriponics world accept the station around their world? last we spoke to the representative she said no, but then i mentioned the whole escapepod system, and...well she didn't say anything afterwards, which is what has me a little bit confused.
>>
>>5222233
>Sweep it nice and slow, keeping in visual range.
>>
>>5222242

You set it up around the gas giant, it is currently crewed by second-line troops. Since her main concerns are still there. Lack of manpower and lack of industrial capacity to maintain the station. The escape pods do address the issue of blackmail potential invaders would hold over them by keeping the station crew hostage.
>>
>>5222233
>Sweep it nice and slow, keeping in visual range.

To think anons wanted to chase pirates without any reinforcements.
>>
>>5222233
>Sweep it nice and slow, keeping in visual range.
I really don't think it's necessary to sweep systems that we've already checked.
>>
>>5222233
>>Sweep it nice and slow, keeping in visual range.
>>
>>5222286
fair fair, i guess that would indeed be problematic.
i do have some new questions, and sorry if it took so long for me to respond, i went to sleep and had to be done at the metalshop before i could come back home.

first question. since industrial equipment is indeed such a big factor, would it then be possible to get it somewhere? or at least make limited manufacture on-station a possible upgrade which we could suggest to iron with some of the next scrap?

second, would it be possible to donate the ships themselves as high(relative) quality building material for the agri worlders habitats to be made out of? they are pretty solid these ships, especially the armor in comparison to water worlders domes and tubes which they have their living quaters in. and if that was the case would we then be able to oversee the possible expansion of this small outpost on this world becoming the major city in the ocean deep?

third: is there any other close-by systems which are also populated, is this station we currently have set up around the gas giant the only one in the region which isn't strictly imperial? and if it isn't, is this then one of the larger possible safe havens which those escaping the imperial's gaze might run towards as shelter?
>>
>>5222797

>would it then be possible to get it somewhere?

You can always try to set up a trade route. You are aware that the merchants come from an industrialized world, you could also see if you can't get some from the more developed systems under ducal influence.

>or at least make limited manufacture on-station a possible upgrade which we could suggest to iron with some of the next scrap?

You could set up refineries for ores and manufacturing facilities for a limited amount of production. This however, would require expertise on how to do it, and it would increase the needed manpower for the entire process.

>second, would it be possible to donate the ships themselves as high(relative) quality building material for the agri worlders habitats to be made out of?

Yea, they'd gladly take it.

>and if that was the case would we then be able to oversee the possible expansion of this small outpost on this world becoming the major city in the ocean deep?

They'd most likely do their thing, though they might listen to your advice.

>third: is there any other close-by systems which are also populated, is this station we currently have set up around the gas giant the only one in the region which isn't strictly imperial? and if it isn't, is this then one of the larger possible safe havens which those escaping the imperial's gaze might run towards as shelter?

From what you've seen so far, this appears to be the largest station in close jumps. You have no idea if there are any others, and the locals seem unwilling to disclose the locations of their worlds. And whether or not people fleeing the empire would turn to it remains to be seen, since at the end of the day, you, as an imperial officer, are directly responsible for its construction.
>>
Slow sweep wins

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>5222852
>>
Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5222852
-------------------
>>5222850
hmm, then i definitely have some ideas as to what one could do in the future. so i'll keep working on infastructure planning, since this seems like a golden oppotunity to make something which would cement our power, as being more than just imperial in origin. which can help alot if we are on the backburner.
>>
>>5222852
>>
>>5222885
Darn it
>>
>>5222891
>>5222885
Ok i think i Im just going to stop trying
>>
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>>5222869
oh btw Qm, i forgot to mention.
i made a picture of what i thought the agri world would look like together with it's gas giant parent, am i close or?
>>
>>5222885
>>5222891
>>5222892

It is dice+1d100 in the options anon.

>>5222895

It is pretty nice, but the waterworld is independently orbiting the star pretty far away from the gas giant.
>>
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>>5222897
so something more like this?
>>
Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>5222852
>>
>>5222919

Yes.

Also, writing.
>>
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>>5222922
>>
You begin a slow, methodical sweep of the system, as you usually do. It seems like that even for your hot-headed nature, the endless threat of ambush made you more careful.

Your way of search has resulted in great protection of your forces, but as your vessel sails across the nebula, you realize that you will probably never find anything here. Naturally, you first swept the only large point of gravity in the system – the star. Despite the intense scrutiny, you find nothing there. Then, once that is done with, you begin to look over the rest of the system, looking for a needle in a haystack.

“Sir, I am reading a general increase in energy output within the nebula.” Reports your sensors officer.

“An increase ? How severe ?” You question.

“Unknown, but it has not stopped increasing.”

You turn towards the window, where you see that the placid environment around you is becoming ever increasingly violent.

“Tetreault, prepa-“ Suddenly, a flash stings your eyes for a moment.

“Captain ! Detecting power loss, emergency systems online.” Rapidly reports the officer.

“Dammit, comms, send a signal to our forces, they’ll have to assist out of the storm.”

Reacting to your orders, the officer jumps to it, but seconds later, he turns to you. “Captain, I can’t contact any of our ships.”

You once more begin looking through the window, and you are shocked by the sight. You see as the ships of your fleet receive energy overloads, some simply shut down in place, others seem to have their engines go haywire, pushing them away from your sight and further into the storm.

What the hell is going on ? You cannot help but wonder.

Eventually, helplessly, you watch as your fleet as a whole disappears around you, in but a few minutes leaving you all alone. Both you and your bridges officers had tried to get your systems back online, but to no avail. Luckily, the emergency lights are still on, so is your life support.

Hitting your comm, you contact engineering. “Engineering, why aren’t we moving ?”

“Reactors fucked, Fergus.” Gavril’s voice greets you.

“What do you mean it’s fucked ?” Annoyed, you ask.

“Both the neutronium and cold fusion reactors are down. It started with the neutronium reactor, then it spread through there. The emergency fission reactor is still going, but we’re dead in space.”

“Great. Can you get them back up ? Figure out what’s the issue ?”

“The fuels gone.”

“What ?”

“All of the neutronium is gone, it just burnt up, and that caused the cold fusion reactor to shut down due to energy overcharge.”

“Well, see if you can’t do anything.” You cut the comm.

“Captain, your orders ?” Question Tetreault.
>>
>>5222973

>”We sit here and wait.”

>”See if we can’t get the shuttles up, send them around us to figure where we are.” (Can pick with other options, the storm is still raging, potentially dangerous.)

>Maybe I can talk to someone to help me out in this situation ? (who?)

>(Write in)
>>
>>5222974
>Maybe I can talk to someone to help me out in this situation ? (who?)

Iron.
>>
>>5222974
>>Maybe I can talk to someone to help me out in this situation ? (Iron)

I'm fucking done with this ballache of a mission. Fighting for the Republicans would've been over quicker, and been more entertaining than dealing with this clusterfuck of ambushes and logistical issues.
>>
>>5223007
i really enjoy it, but i do feel it dragging out quite a bit, but i feel that is more just about update speed with for the most part only one story update a day. which i don't want to blame our QM for, since there might be many personal reasons, but it definitely has the story begin to feel quite...well it's definitely a detriment.
>>
>>5222973
This can't be just a natural ocurrence can it? It doesn't seem like it from what engineering said. If so, shouldn't we be on the lookout for who was responsible for this along with contacting Iron?

>>5223007
As fleet anon said, It's mostly due to the meta issue of update speed. I doubt that it will feel the same if you read this campaign when it's over.
>>
>>5222974 also:
>>>Maybe I can talk to someone to help me out in this situation ? (Iron)
>>
>>5222974
>>Maybe I can talk to someone to help me out in this situation ? (Iron)
>>
>>5223002
+1
>>
As someone had once said, “Something’s fucky”. And who is best with dealing with fucky things if not a fucky person. You think to yourself in amusement, as means of keeping calm in a rather…unfortunate situation.

You reach the lab, which is still guarded by your marines, the storm had knocked out most large power source objects, luckily you had more than enough batteries to go around that were kept isolated for just these occasions.

“Has he left the lab ?”

“No, sir.” Responds one of the marines.

You simply nod, before stepping through the doorway. Things there look more or less the same, if less flashy. Though whilst you are investigating the room, you notice a distinct lack of Iron’s looming figure hunched over some piece of tech or another. You do however notice his two drones, placidly hovering over one of the workbenches. Seeing as how they are not acting hostile, you approach.

Coming ever closer, in the dim light you notice what appears to be a scrap of metal…a scrap of metal that looks like a foot…a scrap of metal that looks like a leg…a scrap of metal that looks like a person…Iron.

“Based on the footsteps I am hearing, it seems that you have arrived, captain.” Iron’s calm voice calls out. “If you were to be so kind, could you grab a box hidden under the table close to your right.”

You listen, in absolute silence. And then you start laughing.

“I can see how this situation is incredibly amusing, captain, but I would like to remind you that my drones are still functioning and are capable of discharge.” Iron states with undisguised annoyance.

“I would take your threat seriously, were you not sprawled out on the floor like a drunk, oh superior subject of mankind.” Still laughing, you head over where Iron directed you. You had considered leaving him on the floor for a moment, but unfortunately you do need his expertise for the moment.

Eventually you find the box. In there, you find four pairs of rather small tubes.

“A single pair.” Iron’s voice comes from the other end of the room.

Grabbing a couple, you proceeding to lightly throw them into the air and catch them. “What is this anyways ?” You question.

“A miniaturized neutronium reactor. I suggest for you to stop unless you’d like this ship to be split in half.” He responds.

You stop in your tracks. A little thing like this would probably make all of the missiles inside a frigate look like child’s play compared to this little thing detonating. You quickly wonder if you should ask him how the hell, he was able to do that, but you have no doubt that Iron will start sewing the usual crap about “confidentiality”.

“On my back, I have already released the emergency lock, replace the rods.”

You stop in your tracks and stare at him.

Moments pass. Eventually Iron sighs. ”Could you please replace the rods.”
>>
>>5223085

“Of course I can. See ? Manners cost nothing.” Not passing over the opportunity to take in some schadenfreude, you respond.

Eventually, you pull out the old rods and insert the new. The sound of equipment coming online, artificial muscles straining and relaxing, life support system kicking in. Finally, Iron rises from the floor and begins stretching.

“That was exceptionally uncomfortable.”

“I can imagine, alien.”

“Please, I am not the first nor the last one with cybernetics to suffer such unfortunate incidents. I had of course ensured that my armour would be insulated against EMP or any other such attack, but my energy was simply drained.”

“So why are you still standing now ?”

“I do not know. My current working theory after this little experiment is that the neutronium that just disappeared may or may not have been a catalyst for the activation of this storm. Since the critical mass had been reached, whatever neutronium remains seems to be no longer affected.”

“Why ?”

“I do not know, perhaps what we brought here were the few last drops, you could view it as filling a jar and then putting a top on it. You poured what was needed to fill it, and nothing more will fit.”

“Could we use your neutronium to assist our reactor ?”

“Unlikely, the amount is miniscule to begin with, and I built them with the intent that the neutronium inside will never be removed.”

“So, theoretically, if the jar was closed before all the neutronium disappeared from a reactor, there could still be active ships out there ?”

“Theoretically, yes.”

“And the storm itself ?”

“I would have to spend some time to look into it, with a proper facility and functioning equipment, you could most likely, given enough time, figure it out.”

“So, what you’re telling me is, you have no goddamn clue.”

“If you wish to put it so bluntly, yes.” With reluctance, Iron responds. “For now however, with your permission, I could overcharge the comms, if someone there still has functioning receiver system, they could track us down.”

“The same way you did it with the Raisatans ?”

“Yes.”

“So it will fry out system afterwards.” You say in a deadpan voice.

“Most likely.”

>”Fine, do it.”

>”No, I think we should send out our shuttles instead.”

>”No, I think we should just sit tight”

>”Before that, I have some questions.” (Write in)

>(Write in)
>>
>>5223028

>since there might be many personal reasons, but it definitely has

That is definitely an issue I'd like to address. Most weekdays I am either busy pursuing my education, or I have prior commitments. Weekends however, are usually free for me, but there is a general drop off in votes and the time it takes for them to roll in increases. I could try to update more often (possibly every few hours) on the weekends if you anons would be interested in that.

I do have another alternative about the whole one update a day thing. I have another quest prepared and ready to go. The format of that quest would be one for slow methodical decisions. So updating it once a day, when you anons made your decisions, would give you something else to read in the mean time.

So please let me know if any of these work for all of you anons.

If you want to know more about that quest I can answer any questions you have.
>>
>>5223086
>”Fine, do it.”
we can't loose any more ships, each one is important. especially since we are very vulnerable right now.
________________________________________________
>>5223091
i definitely think it could be a good idea to have another quest on the side, but i would also say it would very much depend on what the quests contents/themes are, since there might be alot of the readers which doesn't wanna read the other one out of personal preference. which is why it might be a good idea to make a pitch about about it in a message here.

otherwise, id also recommend saying how many hours it will be before you can answer, and when you've answered your only message for the day, since i've a tendency of reloading the thread every 45 min to check if something new is here, leading to long periods of disappointment instead of being excited for when i do know there might be a possibility.
>>
>>5223086
>”Fine, do it.”
Fuuuck
>>
>>5223086
>”Fine, do it.”
If we succeed in this plan, we will have a good story to tell at the end of it all. If we fail, well... I already had a similar ending in my first starsector campaign.

>>5223091
A small synopsis would be a good start. But I honestly think this Quest has gotten way too methodical, if we can roll for the chance of success on all systems at once, of course going into methodical mode once again, it would go a long way towards reviving the enthusiasm we had before.
>>
>>5223086
cant we try with a comm array from a shuttle first?
how much weaker would a shuttle comm be?

>>5223177
neutron stars are one hell of a happening.

also the methodical approach is straight up the result of us wanting to never split up, we could have gone the many places many eyes approach but decided against cuz the observed behaviour of the pirates to slam down with big numbers on small numbers.

desu, idk its true its kinda slow but also sometimes its slow cuz QM aint here and sometimes its slow cuz no players are here.

Maybe try out announcing when youll continue after stopping for the day, with a rough hour estimation or so.

sweet things become sweeter if you'd sweat before
>>
>>5223086
>”Fine, do it.”
Some of our ships were affected differently, hopefully one still has functioning engines. We are the biggest ship in the fleet after all.

Also, deploy some marines to the outside of the ship, ready to board anyone who might attempt to board us. We probably don't have functioning weapons, so they'll have to do. I don't trust this area of space...
>>
>>5223347

>Also, deploy some marines to the outside of the ship, ready to board anyone who might attempt to board us.

You could do that, but I must caution you that it could be potentially dangerous.

>>5223264

>cuz QM aint here and sometimes its slow cuz no players are here.

Today I will try to post more often, and I will endevour, as mentioned previously, to post a lot more on the weekends.

>>5223156

>good idea to make a pitch about about it in a message here.

It is a late medieval setting, where an empire is on the verge of utter collapse and you, were just crowned emperor and you must bring it back from the brink. This quest is meant to be difficult. Failure should be expected.

It's basically the equivalent of post battle of Manzikert + crisis of the 3rd century combined. The setting theme for the empire is based on byzantium and their aesthetic.

The whole idea was for you to direct the course of the nation, not to get down into minutia of everything. Some anons recommended for me to read Space Monke Quest and I have, and it more or less goes for the style that I would like for the quest. As such, as mentioned previously, decisions matter. Numerous options will be presented before you, and it is up to you to decide which one demands your personal attention. It is possible for issues to more or less solve themselves, but there's also a chance that things wlill simply get worse.

An example I had used previously: An enemy is invading, you want to send your friend to deal with them, since you can trust him, but the intrigues of the court leave you with only 3 options, all whom have their own problems. Eventually, you decided to send someone competent. And he wins, hurray ! The army unfortunately had just hailed him as emperor and now he's coming for your throne.

Because of this, an update a day, or two, seem reasonable, since there will be a need to think carefully what is the best choice at what time.
>>
>>5223264

>cant we try with a comm array from a shuttle first?

>how much weaker would a shuttle comm be?

It would be far too weak for a generalized message that Iron wants to send.

Anyways, allowing Iron to have a crack at it wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>5223546

>>5223091
Eh, I'm fine with anything. The quest is fairly regular as is, more than some I've participated in, it's just not too interesting right now because anons are choosing to be very methodical with each system, scanning each and every one. I actually like the regularity of it at the moment, but I can understand if some don't.
>>
>>5223545
This does sound like a fun and interesting quest though, I'd definitely participate in it.
>>
>>5223086
>”Fine, do it.”
>>
Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>5223546
>>
Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>5223546
>>
File: tucked.gif (1.81 MB, 230x250)
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>>5223648
>>
>>5223648
It did not fry it this time
>>
>>5223648
LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
>>
”Fine, do it.” Deciding to trust in Iron’s abilities, you give him permission.

“Very well, I recommend you return to the bridge. The fact that most power is cut will require me to interact directly with the communications arrays. I shall inform you of my progress.”

“You’re going outside ?” Baffled, you question.

“Yes, what about it ?”

“You’re a metal bucket reaching for height in the middle of a storm.”

“As I had stated previously, my equipment is plenty insulated, do not question my abilities to fight off mere lightning.”

“Fine, fine. Just make sure you’re not fried whilst you are out there.” You say walking off.

------------------------------
(POV shift: You are Iron, and you’re fighting nature’s wrath.)

It is soundless, but your visor is forced to compensate to such an extent that it makes seeing anything difficult, but not impossible. Your large feet impact heavily onto the hull. Sparks flying off as the lightning that struck you dives into the vessel, with most electricity gone however, power switches and resisters should be able to easily fight off this sudden charge.

You raise your head and marvel at the violent beauty in front of you. Whirlpools throwing about space dust and microasteroids, one of whom impacts your chest and simply bounces off.

I shall have to even that out once I return.

The lightning itself, seemingly representing the various gods of lightning and thunder combined of humanity’s past flash without an end in sight. Had you been in atmosphere, the booms of the strikes would long since have deafened your average person.

What stories, what epics, poems and songs would have been written had those great writers of the past had witnessed such a scene ? How would have mankind developed had they witnessed the wroth of the cosmos ? Ah, would you look at me, getting side tracked so soon.

Finishing your ponderous thoughts, you move onto the comms array. A collection of antennae and dishes, all ranging in size from one with the circumference of your head, to some having the size of small cars.

With a practiced notion, one of your fingers opens up, revealing a set of small tools. With a swift motion, you quickly undo one of the panels. This process will take a while, you shall to link up every one of these devices to launch the S.O.S. message. A message hopefully powerful enough to cut through the interference of the ferocious storm all around you.

FLASH

Hold your endless anger Zeus. You think as you are momentarily blinded. Lest you provoke the wrath of those who once worshipped you.

Eventually, all of the systems had all been linked together. Now had come the moment of truth.

The systems here are surprisingly more advanced than I had expected. Perhaps I may be able to save the array after all.
>>
>>5223683

From your wrist, emerges a single point writhing with energy. You insert it and begin feeding an absurd amount of electricity into the system.

------------------------------
(End of POV shift.)

You sit in the darkened bridge. Suddenly, the comms officer’s console lights up.

“Captain, I’m getting power. A transmission is being sent. Simply stating for all forces to rally. Our location is being accurately pinpointed thanks to the transmission.”

“Excellent.” You respond to the officer, then you hit you own comms. “Iron, the things running, how’s the array looking ?”

“Better than expected, your vessel must be of new make. The systems and their protection measures are far more advanced then back in the league. I should be able to save the array, though it will be non-functioning for a while.”

“As long as I will be able to coordinate my forces. Good job, Iron.”

“I am merely ensuring my own safety, captain.”

“Captain. Look over there.” Calls out Tetreault, pointing at the window.

“What is it ?”

You squint your eyes, as far as you can see, there is nothing more than a whirling mass of horribleness there.

“An outline, your normal eyes may not be able to see it.”

“Can you distinguish what it is ?”

“Hardly, it is too far away, but from what I can tell, it seems to be drifting in our general direction. They should go past us.”

>”Then let’s just sit here and wait for it to pass.”

>”Prep the shuttles and the marines, once it gets as close as possible, I want it boarded.” (You can choose to go along.)

>”Prep the shuttles and the marines, we’re going at it from here, I’d rather not have an engagement close by to my disabled ship.” (You can choose to go along.)

>(Write in)
>>
And one more thing, as said previously, the other quest is ready to go, so if you anons want more things to read, I could drop it right now.
>>
>>5223685
>”Prep the shuttles and the marines, once it gets as close as possible, I want it boarded.” (You can choose to go along.)
>>
>>5223687
Sure, prime time for a new quest and i really like your style
Iron is based af
>>
>”Prep the shuttles and the marines, we’re going at it from here, I’d rather not have an engagement close by to my disabled ship.”
>(Write in)
ask iron if he could possibly create a large electric bomb near the possible enemy vessel in case of possible engagement. doing it by throwing a remote activated electro magnet near the incoming vessel which would create a point of high conductivity that all of the ambient power would then use to discharge.
>>
>>5223706

>ask iron if he could possibly create a large electric bomb near the possible enemy vessel in case of possible engagement. doing it by throwing a remote activated electro magnet near the incoming vessel which would create a point of high conductivity that all of the ambient power would then use to discharge.

He probably could, but that would mean that he has to cut out the S.O.S. signal going. He is more or less acting as its power source.
>>
>>5223707
oh, well fair then. even though something like an EMP grenade could've done such a task easily since EMP's also just work by sending out a very strong & very quick electromagnetic field to overwhelm electronics.

could we just throw a remote controlled EMP out as an alternative? (i didn't think about this until now, especially since it's easier)
>>
>>5223709

>could we just throw a remote controlled EMP out as an alternative?

Yes you could. Presuming that there is something to knock out that is not heavily insulated, you would indeed screw with the electronics.
>>
>>5223723 The new quest, for those that are interested.
>>
>>5223685
>”Prep the shuttles and the marines, once it gets as close as possible, I want it boarded.” (You can choose to go along.)
We might as well go, not like we can do much from our disabled ship. And we should be fine engaging it at close distance, our armour is fairly thick after all.
>>
>>5223685
>>”Prep the shuttles and the marines, once it gets as close as possible, I want it boarded.” (You can choose to go along.)

Go along.
>>
Once it gets close 1

Go to it 3

Okay, going to it and also tagging along.

Writing.
>>
You hit your comm. “Lieutenant, prepare your marines and get to the hangar. We’re going to for some boarding action.”

“Understood, sir.” Warwick’s voice quickly responds.

“Tetreault, you’re in command. Keep her steady.”

“I will try, captain.” She responds.

Abandoning the bridge, you head to your private quarters. Once you reach it, you strap into your power armour as fast as you can, your blade is prepared, your pistol at your side, and a rifle in your hands. You feel rather confident armed to the teeth.

Arriving there, you find one shuttle fully loaded and ready to go, whilst other two are on stand-by, ready to send in more squads after you depart if it is needed.

“Captain, we’re fully equipped and ready to go.” Reports Warwick.

“Let’s hope that they’re friendlies, but of they’re not, be prepared.” You say strapping into your seat. Warwick sitting opposite to you.

The ramp closes behind you and the hangar door opens, the engines flare to life, and you feel Gs pressing down on you as you begin to move.

“Hold on tight down there. The storm’s pretty rough and some emergency manoeuvres are gonna be needed.” Calls out the pilot.

And the man had not lied. You are rocked in your seat backwards, forwards, to the sides, you jump and slam back down. Due to the bumpy ride, you can feel bile rising in your stomach, you never passed the pilot testing. Swallowing the spit forming in your mouth, you prepare yourself for the upcoming combat, you hope that it is a friendly ship, but your gut tells you otherwise.

“Captain, ship in visual range, sending over forward camera feed.” Informs you the pilot.

Before your eyes you see a silhouette of a Fenrir-class frigate. You let out a breath that you had been holding unconsciously. Friendlies. However, as you are getting closer and closer, you notice what appear to be shuttles, like cancerous tumours growing out of the vessel itself, half-a-dozen in total.

“Pilot, what are those ?”

“Unknown, sir. They are not transmitting any IFF signals.”

“Can you contact the frigate.”

“Negative, I’ve been trying to reach them, but they seem to be out of power.”

“Captain, me and the men are ready to jump to.” Cuts in Warwick. “Just tell us where to breach.”
>>
>>5223811

>”Go to one of the shuttles, breach into it and see what’s happening.”

>”Breach near the aft, we have to secure the engines and the reactors. Even if they are offline, the emergency fusion reactor is vulnerable.”

>”Breach near the bow, anyone of importance should be there.”

>”Breach through one of the docking ports. No need to cause extra damage.”

>”Pilot, find a spot furthest away from the shuttles, we’re breaching through there.”

>”Try to raise them again. I’d rather not shoot my subordinates due to a misunderstanding.”

>”We hold here and see what happens.”

“Understood, sir. What about others squads on stan-by back at the Timur ?”

>”Let them say there, I’d rather not leave the ship defenceless.”

>”Have a total of half of the marines haul asses here.”

>”Get all of the marines here.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5223812
How many shuttles do Fenrir-class frigates normally have?
>>
>>5223817

Frigates tend not to have any hangars. They do have docking ports on both port and starboard.
>>
>>5223812
>”Breach near the bow, anyone of importance should be there.”
>”Let them say there, I’d rather not leave the ship defenceless.”
>>
>”Breach near the aft, we have to secure the engines and the reactors. Even if they are offline, the emergency fusion reactor is vulnerable.”

if it's an enemy vessel, then being able to control the last bit of air of the enemy might be the best we could possibly do. especially since it's only the imperial ships which have high quality personal suits in case of no atmospheric oxygen.
>>
>>5223812
>”Go to one of the shuttles, breach into it and see what’s happening.”

>”Have a total of half of the marines haul asses here.”
>>
>>5223812
>”Breach near the aft, we have to secure the engines and the reactors. Even if they are offline, the emergency fusion reactor is vulnerable.”


>”Get all of the marines here.”
hit fast, hit hard.
>>
>>5223812
>>”Breach near the aft, we have to secure the engines and the reactors. Even if they are offline, the emergency fusion reactor is vulnerable.”

>”Let them say there, I’d rather not leave the ship defenceless.”
>>
>>5223812
>”Breach near the aft, we have to secure the engines and the reactors. Even if they are offline, the emergency fusion reactor is vulnerable.”
>”Let them say there, I’d rather not leave the ship defenceless.”
>>
Bow 1

Aft 4

Shuttle 1

No reinforcements 3

Half marines 1

All marines 1

Writing.
>>
“We’re breaching near the aft. Hold our forces back at the Timur.”

“Yes, sir.” Responds Warwick.

You watch as the shuttle activates its minor thruster, orienting itself before slowly and carefully attaching to the Fenrir. The landing was silent, as silent as you can get that is, anyone on the other end would have heard something impacting the armour plates, you can only hope that no one is there.

Suddenly, the air around you begins to disappear as the atmosphere is being drained. Moments after the process is completed, the rear ramp opens, exposing you to the furious storm.

“Marines, on your feet.” Calls out Warwick. “Get the torch, we’re cutting through the hull.”

Affirmatives quickly filter through the comm.

Here’s to hoping that the new armour plating of this frigate can still be burnt through.

Standing about, your magnetised boots firmly attached, you watch bolts of lightning with some trepidation, they seem to be getting awfully close.

The torch is going slowly, as a couple marines busy themselves cutting open the hull, however, you quickly notice that no pressure is escaping from the breach, a concerning development.

Eventually, out pops one of the plates, now drifting into space harmlessly, to be consumed by the storm.

“Breach.” Commands your Lieutenant.

Following the orders, marines begin piling through, you would have jumped in first, but Warwick had held you back, allowing you through only after an all clear from the men inside.

Dropping inside, you see that you got into one of the supply rooms, tools floating about, metal crates looking like no more than simple balloons. It is dark, you come to realize,

Your soldiers quickly form up around the door and prepare to breach, you following behind them.

Charges planted, the door is quickly blown through and the marines begin pouring in.

Rifle fire is exchanged in utter silence, as it seems the entirety of this section had its atmosphere vented.

Within the chaos of battle, you clearly see men in power armour, decorated by the ducal lion, in defensive position holding off about three dozen men, a mixture of protection suits and power armour, all looking outdated, ferociously attacking the defenders, and you had just stumbled in the middle of this firefight, receiving fire from both sides.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>5224975
Here's hoping we don't pull a ghoul and get everyone killed.
>>
Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>5224975
to be silent or to be loud
>>
Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>5224975
>>
File: 1572039995736.jpg (44 KB, 407x500)
44 KB
44 KB JPG
nice
>>
“To the side !” You shout as you push one of the marines to the side, saving him from an incoming round. Thinking quickly, you turn on your speakers and blast as loud as you can. “Ducals forces, friendly !” You expose the ducal lion upon your own power armour to the defenders, before diving into cover yourself. Luckily, most of the rounds that had impacted you were absorbed by your armour or the reactive suit underneath, and the defenders were able to quickly realize that reinforcements had arrived, thus not shooting you in the back.

“Warwick, get those bastards off my ship !”

“Aye, aye, captain. You heard him marines ! Grenades out !” Your LT responds to your orders.

And as commanded, grenades start flying, forcing the enemy to pull back and Warwick himself leads the spearhead, the defenders behind you providing covering fire for the assault.

You yourself enter the fray, shouldering your rifle you open fire. The kickback of discharge going into your shoulder.

With a rapid rush you are able to kill seven or so men, before the enemy, in good order, retreats from their now exposed positions, showing a surprising degree of discipline.

It becomes a running battle, you pursuing, suffering a casualty or two, whilst killing a twice the number of your fleeing foes. Eventually however, a short jog of less than a minute sees you secure engineering. You could have pushed further, but the heavy weapon emplacement down a corridor had forced you to halt your pursuit.

With your forces pinned down, and now exchanging sporadic fire with the defenders, you quickly make your way back to engine room, where you locate the local friendlies.

“Marine, report.”

“Sir, we lost energy output when the storm intensified, the engines however had gone haywire firing without control. Eventually they cut out and we found ourselves alone, but not for long, soon we located a wolf-class frigate, without sensors we were unable to realize that it was a pirate destroyer that had lost its energy just like us. They began boarding us. The Intelligence officer commanded us to depressurise the frigate, so as to avoid excessive damage from breaches, and to cut off the emergency fusion reactor, in case of a worst-case scenario.”

“Were you able to get into contact with the rest of the forces ?” You question.

“No, sir. Our comm systems died as soon as the pirates boarded, they seem to have jamming devices present somewhere. We had abandoned sections of the ship entirely for this very scenario, concentrating forces on the most important locations.” Responds the marine.

“Do you know many pirates there are ?”

“Their numbers are unknown, sir, but I say for certain that they out number us. I saw them coming out from one the shuttles, they were transporting over capacity, shoving as many crewmen as they could it seems.”
>>
>>5225096

“Which sections were considered the most important ?”

“Us, the engine room, but thanks to you we already secured it.

The armoury, there we had heavy weapons we were busily transporting as we were boarded, but I am certain plenty of ammo and weapons still remain there.

Then there would be the bridge, the intelligence officer is probably still there alongside the rest of the command staff.

The main crew quarters, non-combatants were primarily rallied there. They do have some proper support, but most of their troops are just crewmen armed with sidearms.”

>”We rally around the bridge, once power is restored it will be the most important location of the ship.

>”The armoury, the last thing I want to see is more heavy weapons in the hands of pirates.”

>”The crew quarters, a ship won’t run if its crew is dead.”
>>
>”The armoury, the last thing I want to see is more heavy weapons in the hands of pirates.”

btw, could we also request 1/3 of the marines back on the timur come over as well? since we now know of a safe location to get in and out of the vessel.
>>
>>5225098
>>”The armoury, the last thing I want to see is more heavy weapons in the hands of pirates.”
>>
>>5225106

>btw, could we also request 1/3 of the marines back on the timur come over as well? since we now know of a safe location to get in and out of the vessel.

You could, yes.
>>
>>5225098
>”The armoury, the last thing I want to see is more heavy weapons in the hands of pirates.”
Armoury then intel officer.
>>
>>5225098
>”The armoury, the last thing I want to see is more heavy weapons in the hands of pirates.”

>>5225106
better to not draw more marines off our ship aslong as we dont truly need them
>>
armoury it is.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 81 (1d100)

>>5225143
>>
Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>5225143
Just catched up, great quest QM! Hope you keep up the good work, this has been really enjoyable, despite our uhhh 'questionable' luck and rolls past the first thread.
>>
Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>5225143
>>
“The armoury it is. I’d rather not one of the pirates get their hands on a rocket launcher and blow a hole through the hull. Can you hold your position without my assistance ?”

“Yes, sir.” The marine responds in affirmative.

“Good.” You quickly hit your comm, for only static to fill your ears.

Dammit. I guess I’ll have to walk back.

A short jog later, the local marines following right behind you, you reach the corridor in which your troops are pinned down.

“Warwick. Prepare the marines, we will be securing the armoury first and foremost.”

“Roger that. Disengage !” He commands your forces.

With a quick switch out, the locals begin tying down piratical forces, leaving you free to pursue your task.

What follows is a brutal rush down another corridor. You’d push, be tied down, throw grenades and covering fire to allow for an assault, breakthrough to only be bogged down once more, and once again the process would repeat itself. Your losses begin to mount, even though the pirates are far less well equipped, they are fighting with desperation on their side.

The shot expends the last round in your magazine. The bullet piercing the skull of the man on the floor in front of you. Luckily you had noticed that he survived the original shot that had wounded him, he was in the process of reaching for his rifle when you finished him off.

“Sir, the scouts report that the local defenders near the armoury appear to be on the verge of collapse.” Reports Warwick.

“A rush ?” You question.

“ ’Fraid so, sir. You better prepare that fanciful sword, since we’ll have to employ some good ‘ol fashioned shock and awe to break the attackers and ensure that the defenders survive.” Warwick states drawing his own dagger, it vibrating at such a degree that it looks almost like a gossamer blade.

You quickly draw your own sword, its super-heated edge glowing brightly in the dark, casting long shadows everywhere it passes.

“This one hadn’t been used yet. I guess we’ll see how good of a craftsmen Iron truly is. Prepare the men.” You command with some glee in your voice, after all, time had come to carry out the fantasy of every boy whom ever held a stick, vaguely shaped like a sword.

With the blade in your right, and your magnum in your left, you give the signal to proceed.

1d100 best of 3
>>
>>5225156

I am glad to hear you like it anon.
>>
Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>5225173
Unto the breach...
>>
Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>5225173
Newcomers luck (or curse) here we come
>>
Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>5225173
>>
In utter quiet, you charge. The pirates notice your approach and begin to open fire, but it is too late, the few rounds that they discharge are not enough to stop the majority of your side from closing distance.

You drive your blade through the frontal chest piece of a pirate in power armour, his suit being decorate by scratches demarking kills, a red skull painted over his helmet, a woman in a lewd position depicted on his arm. These, most certainly against regulations drawings, do not offer any protection as your sword easily slides through. The person begins shaking as your blade’s super-heated edge begins to cook him alive. You grant him a merciful death, raising your pistol, you fire point blank. Viscera and gore staining the walls behind him, as the powerful round of your magnum blows out a massive hole through the head.

The body collapsing, you quickly withdraw your sword, raising your magnum once more, you deliver another killing blow against someone else in power armour currently engaging one of your marines. Again, blood is spilt, but this time, due to the distance, the drops of blood begin floating around you in vacuum.

With a sharp turn, you raise your sword and cleave, there are no fanciful techniques or showdowns of individual honour, you do not have the time, nor the training for that. Your blow severs another pirate, his upper half cleanly cut off, the wound cauterized by your blade, his protection suit had proven to be as nothing more than flimsy paper.

Attacking so ruthlessly and so quickly, you seem to have broken the pirates’ will to fight. Abandoning their comrades, too close to you to be able to disengage, they begin fleeing.

The short engagement had seen you lose three marines, but kill around twenty. The charged had costed you, but you won the engagement.

Then, from the armoury, limp out four men.

“Sir.” The one leading them salutes.

“Report, marine.”

“We’re down half out number, and the rest of us are all injured.”

“Can you hold this location ?”

“We can try, sir.”

“Good enough.”

“What about the weapons inside ?”

“Everything’s secured, sir.”

“We have already secured engineering, what about the bridge and crew quarters ?”

“We are unaware, sir. We’ve been stuck here for a while, but judging from the force hitting us, I’d be surprised if the crew quarters still held.”

>”In that case, we’re moving to secure the bridge.”

>”The quarters then. If what you say is true, they will need all the help they can get.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5225269
>”In that case, we’re moving to secure the bridge.”
Cut the head of the snake
>>
>>5225269
>”In that case, we’re moving to secure the bridge.”
The bridge is just too important, for obvious reasons
>>
>>5225269
>”The quarters then. If what you say is true, they will need all the help they can get.”
>>
>>5225269
>>”In that case, we’re moving to secure the bridge.”
>>
>>5225269
>>”The quarters then. If what you say is true, they will need all the help they can get.”
>>
>>5225269
>”In that case, we’re moving to secure the bridge.”
what a bad time to be a simple crewman
>>
>>5225286
>Cut the head of the snake

This is our ship, retard.
>>
Bridge 4

Quarters 2

Okay. The bridge wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>5225441
>>
Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>5225441
>>
Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>5225441
>>
“The bridge takes priority. Warwick, how’re our men ?”

“We number fifteen now. Five down from what we originally started with, sir.”

“Are you all ready to fight ?!” You shout into the comm.

“Sir, yes, sir !” Quickly responds a chorus.

“Good, we’ve got some people to save. Let’s move !”

After your impromptu inspirational speech, you set out full speed towards the bridge. This time however, you encounter dug in resistance. The pirates had set up crates, some shoddy heavy weapons, and explosives this time.

Shrapnel scars your armour plates, most bouncing off harmlessly, but a few digging deep into it. In response, you fire off a trio of shots. They all miss, but you achieved your objective, forcing the man with the grenade launcher into cover. Warwick, using this opportunity rapidly closes the distance, the confines being too close to properly raise his rifle, he simply shoulder checks the man in a protection suit, driving him deep into the wall. The sheer momentum of the impact crumbling the man’s ribcage. Ignoring the dying man besides him, Warwick raises his rifle and opens fire, taking a few nasty shots in return. Working in tandem with you, he now drawing fire, allows you to rush forward and behind a heavy weapons position, unfortunately, you eat a burst at point blank range, your armour integrity system blaring in protest at the damage. You reach out, grabbing the barrel, the rounds, now having nowhere to go, explode in your hand, but also blowing apart the man in power armour on the other end.

As you look upon your arm, you cannot help but think.

Not a damn scratch. Iron guarantee.

Feeling shortness of breath, you finally regroup with all of your forces.

“The bridge ?” You question.

“Near it, sir.”

“Okay, once more into the breach.” You state.

A few more exchanged rounds and litres of blood spilt later, you finally find yourself in control of the command bridge.

It is a sight of slaughter.

Dead marines lay in their defensive positions, some crewmen are sprawled upon their consoles, their vitae covering the once glowing, but now dead black, screens in crimson red.

The pirates, had also paid a similar price, the corridor leading to the bridge is littered with corpses of both men in power armour and protection suits. Corpses riddled with holes, guts covering the floor, brain matter slowly seeping through cracked visors.

Surprisingly the most, the overwhelming majority of the pirate dead upon the bridge have suffered stabbing and slashing wounds. Limbs cut apart, suits rent and carved open, separated heads simply laying next to their former owners.
>>
>>5225521

And in the middle of this scenery of carnage stands one man. The person’s dark uniform now stained red, the reflective helmet cracked and splintering, a pair of swords, once gleaming metal now looking like the instruments of a butcher. The elegance of the intelligence officer you had met previously is now long gone, but the sheer terror of his existence still remains.

He simply turns to regard you, the common action causing his wounds to once more begin spewing blood.

“Captain, it is good that you arrived when you did. I do not think I would have been able to inflict any more casualties.” The distorted voice calmly, unhurriedly, matter-of-factly states.

“Agent. I had not known about your prowess.” You remark, not hiding your astonishment.

“Few do. That is our job, captain.” He dismissively responds. “Have you secured the rest of the ship.”

“The armoury and the engines are in our hands, and now with this, the bridge.” You respond.

“Excellent, this vessel is state of the art, its components cannot fall into the hands of mere pirates.”

Suddenly, your comm cracks to life, a tired voice is head on the other side.

“Checking, checking. Oi ! Imperial dogs, do you hear me tyrants ? We are in control of your crew quarters, and we have dozens of your precious crewmen hostage. We realize that we may have not come out on the winning end on this one, so let’s cut a deal. You let us go, unmolested, and we don’t shoot the hostages. How does that sound ?”

“Ignore him, captain.” Remarks the officer. “It is possible that they have studied the ship. Those men knew what they signed up for, they shall die in glory and honour.”

Over the comm, you hear Warwick’s disapproving snort. “Throwing away loyal, skilled men like that. That is why everyone hates those creepy bastards.”

As the highest ranking officer, the decision falls to you.

>Accept the offer.

>Deny the offer.

>(Write in)
>>
Okay, this is it for the day. As was asked previously. My schedule means that I can update the thread once a day on weekdays, maybe twice a day. I may, unfortunately, miss a day here and there due to my schedule, but since my weekends tend to be free, hopefully I will be able to do a lot more updates then. I hope you anons are still having fun and I will see you tomorrow.
>>
>>5225524
>Deny the offer.
KILL
EVERY
LAST
ONE
OF
THEM
Like a true Ghoul™
>>
>>5225524
>(Write in)
Demand proof of life.
>>
>>5225524
>>Deny the offer.
>>
>>5225524
>Accept the offer, then organize an rescue operation and ambush when we can reasonably take the crew back with minimal casualties

I ain't giving these pirates the new ship intel, but I'd be damned if I let good loyal men just die on my watch. Can we set up explosives on the pirates shuttles?
>>
>(Write in)
"i have a deal for you. you surrender, and we will let you live within our custody, under the supervision of a previous pirate commander by the name of Lashawn Urtz. your ship will be ours to do as we please, but any and all of your lives will be spared and kept in probably better condition than you normally get out in your own fleets."

basically trying to say to them that if they surrender they won't be killed since the one which will be supervising them was themselves a pirate. which might even lead more credence to us since they might know urtz.
>>
>>5225631
+1
>>
>>5225637
Support. I'm sure privateering is allowed within the Unbroken empire. Add in a little part about how if they dare to breathe a word of this or try to escape we'll kill them anyway.
>>
>>5225637
Hope they know who lashawn is.
+1
>>
>>5225524
how long would it take us to rig some bombs on the shuttles?

>>5225524
>>5225637
+1

>>5225525
slow and steady wins the race, or in this case makes the quest go round
>>
No deal 2

Proof of life (write in) 1

Accept and try to ambush 2

>>5225637 (write in) 4


>>5226264

>how long would it take us to rig some bombs on the shuttles?

With the armoury secured and comms once more online, probably 10-15 minutes to rig all of them.

Anywho, the write in wins, and that will require a roll, as such:

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>5226398
>>
File: EKkIxJ1WkAUsmXn.jpg (56 KB, 750x879)
56 KB
56 KB JPG
Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5226398
----------------
>>5226408
you've gotta be fucking kidding me...are we gonna be going with the alternate rules for this crit fail?
>>
Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>5226398
DICE GO
>>
“How about I make you an offer ?” You say into the comm.

“Whom am I talking to ?” Answers the voice.

“Knight-Captain Fergus Proenza, of the Imperial Navy under ducal house of Roy.”

“Well, well, sir noble, are you going to show everyone your fine upbringing an exchange yourself for the prisoners ?”

“No, what I am offering is a compromise. A pirate, just like yourself, had recently come in my service. Fight under him, on the same terms that I had offered him.”

Silence follows, as the man considers your offer.

“Who’s the man ?”

“Perhaps someone you know – Lashawn Urtz.”

“Lashawn ?” He begins to laugh. “That fucking bastard still lives, does he ?”

He geos silent again. “This is my answer.” Suddenly, screams of pain fill your comms. “Do you think I’m stupid ?! I left him to die on a shithole rock ! So if you are offering me a choice between a quick death right here, right now or a slow painful death as that sick bastard tortures me like the fucked-up cunt that he is, I’d rather die with a gun in my hands !”

Shit ! Looks like Lashawn isn’t as clean as I thought.

“I ask again, sir.” He purposely slurs the last word. “You either take my deal, or I start killing, but this time, I am taking some of the prisoners with me, just in case you have another brilliant business idea. But do not worry, we will eject them once we are sure we’re safe.”

>Accept the offer.

>Deny the offer.

>(Write in)
>>
>>5226457
>Accept the offer, then organize an rescue operation and ambush when we can reasonably take the crew back with minimal casualties

Should've started with the rescue plan.
>>
>>5226457
>We're going to accept the deal, but we're going to disable as many escape pods as we can and we're going to plant explosives on any leftovers. for example if there are eight of them we will deactivate six and plant explosives in the other two.
>>
>>5226457
>>Deny the offer.
>>
>>5226457
>>5226461
Supporting
>>
>>5226408
Ah, our luck was getting a little too good, nice to know we're still rolling as normal.

>>5226461
Support.
>>
i want us now to go and...question, our good mr lashawn about his past.

he can't say no. we don't accept apologies when some of the crew who died did so because of his name.
>>
>>5226845
>I left him to die on a shithole rock

I think it was pretty clear from the get-go that putting these pirates under a former comrade who they left to starve to death on a exploding rock was a pretty poor idea, to say the least.
>>
>>5226845
Privateers are privateers, they're only better than pirates because they working for you instead of themselves.
>>
>>5226845
Fleet-ano, are you really suprised that man who was left to die a slow dead is not well-liked
>>
Accept, rescue and ambush 3

Accept and explosives 1

Deny 1

Alright, trying to pull a sneaky on them wins

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>5227423
Will we be cursed or victorious? Regardless of the outcome, the Ghoul shall continue
>>
Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>5227423
>>
Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>5227423
>>
>>5227437
>>5227440
>>5227445
i just feel like we havent found out how exactly the dice want our character to roll, maybe the ghoul has to become a lich or we're just too up there and should just be like a zombie.
>>
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>>5227462
The dice wants the most amount of dead people possible. I'm honestly not that bothered, imagine being a enemy fleet commander and finding out you're against a guy who's fucking nicknamed as the ghoul due to the amount of dead bodies he leaves behind.
>>
“Lieutenant.” You coldly call out.

“Sir ?”

“Prepare the marines. Killing grounds, ambush points. The moment you think you can save the most people, do it.”

Shifting his rifle, Warwick responds. “Understood.” And then he rushes out of the bridge.

“You are taking unnecessary risks, captain. The pirates at the moment are gathered in one major location, they can be boxed in and slaughtered to the last. Your decision will allow them to once more disperse, thus risking possible escape.” The intelligence officer harshly criticizes you.

“These men are under my command. I might have the reputation of being a ghoul, but I will not simply throw away the lives of my soldiers without a damn good reason.” You retort.

“Very well, captain. You have command authority in this occasion. But do note, everything has been observed.” Ominously, the person backs down.

“Then keep watching.” You state before yourself departing.

Hitting the comm you once more talk to the pirate. “Fine, I accept your offer.”

“Well, well. Looks like a blue-blood has some mercy after all.” Mockingly responds the man.

“Cut the crap and start moving.” You respond.

“Fine, sir knight. We’re moving already.” With that, the pirate cuts the comms.

“Warwick, you in position ?”

“Yes, sir, we’re beginning t̸͕͉̖̘̥̹͎̱̓̿̉̃̎͜o̶̰̼̩̥̳̳͚̎̏̈́̊̕ ̵̧̂͒̚m̶̻̜̣̘̼̣̈̋̾̔͝͝ͅo̶̻̞̹͉͂͂̈́̊v̵̨̡͔̙̰̩̳̺̖̿͂͋͌̎̋̒̕ë̴ ̴̜̦͎̺̫͙̺͊̆̉͜͝ā̶͔͖͉͑̍̈͊́͗͊́̏b̴̛̻́͑̄̒͌̆̈́̐̈o̶̰̞̣͆͊̾̂̑̑̄ḕ̴̡̦͉̫̯̣̞̗͑̓̋̀ã̸̡̧̢̘͔̜̰̓̓̋̎f̸̻̈́̋͐̾̐́̌̆̌͜b̴̡̢̝͚̳̩͚̺̀͐̇̽̎͜ę̵̗̗̐̆̀͊͑a̶̡̛̩̳̝̦̘͛̑b̷͇͚͔͍̰̽̎̓́͜f̴͚̈́̀̊́ȍ̶̹̤̯͈̖̞̫̻̩ͅĩ̴͙͇͕͕͇̺̌̈́̇ǹ̴̯̜̗̦̟̫̹̠͓̍̀̕ͅg̷̨̼͉̳̼̰̈́͗̓̃͑̋̿̽͆ẽ̸̫̆̋̋̾r̸̨̗̳̱̳̤̗̣͈̍͛͊͊̄͊̽̚͝p̷̨̧̣͓͙̙̳͒̊̈́͌̚i̸̪̖̠̙̼̥͕̋̀͐̈́̊̂͋̕å̴͕̘̇̉d̴͇̩̩͍̃f̸͕̀.” Warwick cuts outs in a sea of static.

The pirates must have reactivated their jammers.

You jump to full sprint at that notion. With your comms cut, coordination will become difficult, exceptionally so, it is likely that the pirates will be just as blind as you, but in the, this does work in their favour.

Feeling like a prehistoric hunter, you begin stalking a grouping of pirates using the prisoners as makeshift shields, dragging them along to one of the shuttles.

Suddenly, you are startled by movement next to you. The intelligence officer, still covered in blood, crouches besides you.

“I thought you’d just watch.” Luckily your short comms still work.

“Personal opinions and disagreements do not matter. My mission remains the same, to gather data of the new frigates, and assist you for the duration of my assignment.” The calm voice remarks.

“Do you see an opportunity ?”
>>
>>5227528

“No. They appear skilled in situations like these. Casualties will be unavoidable. Your desire to limit casualties will only be achievable if we close into melee combat and distract most of the pirates.”

“Drawing fire ?”

“Correct. Risk your life for the crew. Unless you have changed your mind ?”

“Nope.” You casually remark, drawing your blade.

“Very well. I am skilled in close quarters combat, please follow my lead. I do not guarantee your survival.”

“My survival was not guaranteed the moment I joined the navy.” You remark with a smirk.

“Your psychological profile indicates as such.” The officer dryly remarks.

You two shadow the pirates, whom nervously keep looking around their surroundings, as they move towards one of the shuttles. Eventually, as they turn a corner, their formation breaks.

“Now !” With the speed of a leopard, the officer charges, his two crimson blades turning into a blur.

You are not far behind him, opening fire upon the pirates in more exposed positions. Entire limbs fly off as your magnum impacts those in protection suits, blood now floating freely in the corridor.

Your visor cracks, as a round glances off a round, in response, you cleave. Cutting from shoulder to stomach, guts spill out.

A sharp suddenly spreads from your back, your internal organs vibrate and you cough up blood. Suddenly, the pain cuts out, regaining your balancing you realize that your attacker had been beheaded by the intelligence officer. To return the favour, you raise your magnum and fire off two shots, killing two attackers about to hit them from the sides.

You duck, as a knife strikes where your head had once been. Turning on your foot, you slash, your blade biting deep into power armour, sanguine leaking out from the crack formed in the armour.

Looking around, you realize, the fight is over. About two dozen pirates lay dead, and about half of the crewmen, fifteen in total, also lay dead. They had jumped onto the pirates, holding them down and allowing you to carry out your slaughter.

Quickly noticing a large blocky object on the back of one of the corpses, you pierce it. The static preventing comm communication cutting off.

“Warwick. Report.”

“Sir. We struck the pirates, a grouping managed to get away, about half the crew are dead or permanently out of action.”

“I had warned about this possibility, captain.” Interjects the officer.

“Not now !” You snap at them. “Warwick, have you secured the pirate shuttles ?”

“Affirmative, sir.”

“Can you locate their destroyer ?”
>>
>>5227529

“The flight path should still be there.”

“If you are considering a covert strike upon the enemy, I suggest for you to move now with what forces you have. Delaying any longer will decrease our chances of infiltration.”

>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”

>”I won’t risk anymore deaths. Let them run.”

>”We wait for reinforcements. I don’t care about being covert, we will take them loud and clear.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5227531

>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”
We'll take these break-ins to hell with our bare hands, and all the rest of the functional arsenal.
>>
>>5227531
>>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”
>>
>>5227531
>>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”
>>
>>5227531
>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”

Like I said, I'll be damned if they get the information on this new ship.
>>
Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>5227531
>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”

Rolling for our success.
>>
>>5227531
>”Gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates.”

>>5227767
the dice are torn but we arent
>>
The Ghoul marches

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>5228633
>>
Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>5228633
Oh boy I can't wait for another failure/crit fail
>>
Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>5228633
>>
>>5228641
It was almost
>>
>>5228651
It's still a failure. I tell you, the dice want bodies.
>>
“Warwick, gather all who can fight. We are taking this to the pirates. Get into the armoury, take whatever you can carry.”

“Understood, captain.” He responds before cutting off.

“You coming along ?” You ask, turning towards the intelligence officer.

“My orders are clear; any possible information leaks must be stopped.” The officer calmly responds.

“Alright, lets refill our supplies.” You say with some fatigue.

Soon enough, you find yourself stuck within a rather bare pirate shuttle. As it stands, you have thirteen marines, including Warwick, the intelligence officer, you yourself of course, and six more marines from the frigate’s crew still fit for combat. You had gathered all of your forces into a single shuttle, simply because you do not have the necessary manpower needed to make multiple inserts viable.

Suddenly, the shuttle tilts heavily to the side.

“Please excuse me, their thrusters seem to be misaligned when it comes to their output.” Informs you the intelligence officer, taking up the pilot’s position for this outing.

Eventually, after you get thrown around for a couple of times, since the pirates seemed to have skimmed on harness maintenance, you finally get a visual on the pirate destroyer. You were wondering where so many shuttles had come from, but now your question was answered. The destroyer had been modified to be able to carry more shuttles attached to its outer hull. Most likely for boarding operations like the one they just carried out.

You approach in utter silence, no comm pings or requests for identity confirmation or even a password. You do notice some people on the ship’s outside, seemingly unbothered by the raging storm around them as they are carrying out repairs on the vessel. Well, that it is until a lightning bolt strikes one of them, after that had happened, everyone, in seemingly choreographed unison, jumps and rushes towards hatches leading deeper into the ship.

The shuttle turns and orients you towards one of the extended docking ports, now you notice why the pirates were willing to risk being fried by lightning. Their thrusters appear to have been blown apart. Most likely, they had not had as many fail safes against electric surges as your ships, that or they simply didn’t bother with maintenance for something they might have considered superfluous.

You sway on your feet, as the docking procedure initiates.

“Everyone ready ?” You ask, preparing your rifle.

A quick chorus of affirmatives answers your question.

You await, atmosphere filling the shuttle, artificial gravity kicking in, eventually a green light flashes, indicating that you can enter the vessel.

The door swings open, and you are shocked, the sight that greets you is that of an antitank gun pointing at you, on its end are equally as shocked pirates, realizing a beat later, you are not their allies.
>>
>>5228741

What follows is a mad scramble as you dash towards the gun, and the pirates quickly begin opening fire whilst the gun’s crew struggles to load a round.

“ROY !” You shout out through your speakers.

“ROY !” Loudly respond your men.

Rounds are exchanged, the hasty shots primarily flying over you, but the same can be said about your own attack. Unfortunately, a few rounds do impact. Shouts of pain quickly start intermixing with the sounds of rage for fallen comrades.

The round is chambered, you come to quickly realize, looking around, you are the only one who reached the gun in time. Warwick and the marines providing covering fire, the intelligence officer pinning down the pirate melee attackers. And the pirates are about to fire off the AT round, you have but a few seconds to react.

An uncomfortable choice now stands before you.

>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.

>Hope that your aim is true, and that the trigger will not be pulled before you put them down.

>Try to redirect the gun, sure, it will punch a hole in the hull and cause casualties, but it should hopefully hurt the pirates more than you.

>It’s not time to play hero, simply secure the area around you, as any other choice will most likely result in you receiving an injury if not worse.

>(Write in)
>>
>>5228745
>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.
NOTHING COULD GO WRONG
>>
>>5228745
>>Hope that your aim is true, and that the trigger will not be pulled before you put them down.
>>
>>5228745
>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.
>>
>>5228745
>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.

Technically we have blade training.
>>
>>5228745
>>5228751
i concur with this anon, simply nothing could go wrong
>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.
>>
>>5228745
>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.
>>
>>5228745
>>Draw your blade and cut the barrel as the round is discharged.
>>
Top kek anons. Cutting the barrel wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5229637
you grow with your challenges
>>
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Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>5229637
RULES OF NATURE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3472Q6kvg0
We deserve a crit success come on dice gods.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>5229637
>>
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>>5229661
AHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
RIP our dude
>>
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>>5229651
>>5229655
>>5229661

Well then...writing.
>>
>>5229669
I'm not saying you have to coddle us, but I've seen QMs use a system where they'd instead offer to store critfails to use for their twisted purposes later on to force a failure on what would be normally rolled on.
These dice have been exceptionally cursed however, what the fuck did anons do to warrant 2 crit fails and 2 normal failures back to back.
>>
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>>5229661
>>5229669
>>
>>5229661
well, this was unexpectedly expected
looks like a new arm is whats gonna grow resulting from this challenge, kek.
>>
>>5229661
Rip bozo.
>>
The fraction of a second you spend trying to figure out what to do leads you to only one conclusion – cut the barrel.

You drop your rifle and quickly draw your blade, the superheated edge igniting.

With all of the might you can muster you deliver an overhead slash. Your muscles, both natural and artificial, strain under the stress you exert upon them.

The gun, just as you strike, kicks back, showcasing the fact, that the gun has discharged. Just as your blade bites deep, the sound of metal parting metal deafening, you also manage to impact right as the round is ignited.

Your already compromised visor and front chest plating buckles as the explosion blooms. Shards from the visor blinding you, digging into your eyes. You can feel air leaving your lungs as the broken plates dig into your stomach, the sheer force bending the armour inwards.

Suddenly, you feel vertigo, you feel yourself in the air, you magnetized boots seemingly having lost their power.

Then, pain, as the last thing you hear is yourself heavily impacting a wall, headfirst. Your father’s voice for some reason echoing in your mind. “Remember, always wear your helmet !”

------------------------------
(POV shift: You are [REDACTED], an intelligence officer with the rank of [REDACTED], in service of the Empire, or more specifically, House Roy.)

You deflect the blow coming from your left, jumping to the side, then quickly interposing your blade and halting the pirate’s advance, your other blade, held in your right, masterfully disarms another attacker, unfortunately, you are outnumbered, so you cannot risk going for the kill, at least not in your injured state.

Suddenly however, an explosion rocks the corridor, quickly turning towards it, you see your temporary superior sailing through the air, moments later, with a heavy crunch, he impacts head first. Blood flows from his chest and helmet.

Luckily, he had disabled the AT gun, without killing everyone involved, bar himself, though are still unsure about that. His personality report had mentioned his tenacity, and capability to survive heavy damage.

The lull in the combat however, allows you to seize initiative. Warwick, the far too outspoken marine, begins assisting you in your own engagement. [blue]At least he has some tactical sense.[/blue]

With assistance provided, your blades sing. Blood and gore quickly covering them once again. It seems that you have secured the initial beachhead, but you had suffered casualties.

Out of thirteen captain’s marines, eleven remain, your own marines stand three strong, and naturally the captain is also a casualty.

“He’s breathing, but his internals got rocked, his eyes also appear to be damaged.” Reports Warwick. “Now, I th-“

“You shall think nothing lieutenant. I officially take overall commanding authority for the remainder of this mission.” You simply state.

“Now listen here, you little - !”
>>
>>5229740

His voice disappears as your blade, ever so slightly, pierces his visor. “I know that your captain had a tendency for, “leniency”, but you will find my command to be more traditional. I shall brook no insubordination from my inferiors. The only reason why this blade is yet to pierce your skull is because you are needed for the upcoming engagement. If I find you a liability, I shall end you. Am I clear ?”

A beat or two passes, before Warwick, with clear anger in his voice, responds. “Crystal, sir.”

“Excellent.” You say withdrawing the blade “Ensure the captain’s survival. Our priority is still the retrieval of any and all possible information that the pirates may have extracted. Everything else is secondary.”

“And how are we to go about it, [i]sir[/i] ?” Warwick ask, not bothering to hide is contempt. [blue]For a person like this to be made lieutenant. Our standards are slipping.[/blue]

>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”

>”There are no innocents aboard, we shall set charges in all critical locations around the vessel. Everyone shall die a fiery death, ensuring the successful completion of our mission.

>”Very simply, lieutenant, we shall kill everyone on sight. There will be no negotiations.”

>(Write in) (Has to be inline for this character)
>>
>>5229741
>>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
>>
>>5229741
>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
>>
>>5229741
>”There are no innocents aboard, we shall set charges in all critical locations around the vessel. Everyone shall die a fiery death, ensuring the successful completion of our mission.

big boom for a big leak

the captcha tells me it DAWNS huh
>>
>>5229741
>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”

>”There are no innocents aboard, we shall set charges in all critical locations around the vessel. Everyone shall die a fiery death, ensuring the successful completion of our mission.
>>
>>5229741
>>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
>>”There are no innocents aboard, we shall set charges in all critical locations around the vessel. Everyone shall die a fiery death, ensuring the successful completion of our mission.
>>
>>5229797
>>5229822

The choices are mutually exclusive.

Taking leadership hostage means that you rush B, so to say, lugging along explosives needed to blow a part a ship will slow you down, and you must seek out the locations needed to cause integral collapse. So it is either or.
>>
>>5229741
Those pirates are going to have a bad day.
>>
>>5229741
>>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>5229661
jesus christ in almighty heaven

well this is a great oppotunity to begin looking like a skull, camera's instead of eyes so that we have empty sockets.
>>
>>5229828
Then just
>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
Intel on the pirates would be insanely useful right now.

What is our eye color btw?

>>5229860
I'd rather we just get better, genetically enhanced eyes, and accentuate the inherent color in them. Unless they're brown, in which case I'd support albino eyes.
>>
>>5229860
Also, I don't want to look like a ghoul, so no skull shit. At best I'd settle for a defined jawline.
>>
>>5229741
>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
>>
>>5229860
I will draw a line looking like handsome officer with mask
>>
>>5229972
No mask, just something in our eyes that draws attention. Maybe pure crimson irises when our blood starts pumping? It's something to think about, certainly.
>>
albino eyes? it could definitely seem fitting to have the eyes of a corpse/blind person

imma switch the no eyes to that then.
>>
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I vote for glowing green mechanical eyes. I want this to be what we look like by the end of this thread.
>>
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>>5229661
>Have an extremely risky move
>Roll a 91
>Then roll a 1
Jesus Christ our luck is horrific.

>>5229741
>>5229741
>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”

>>5229860
I swear we'll be looking like Darth Vader by the end of this quest.
>>
May I compromise and suggest a reconstructed face that is unable to smile or form expressions other than a grimace, ala Eisenhorn?
>>
>>5230199
No. I imagine our madlad to be grinning while stupidly risking his life in personal engagements.
>>
>>5229741
>>”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has.”
>>
Leadership 7

Boom 1

pretty decisive.

1d100 best of 3

>>5229928

>What is our eye color btw?

Hazel.
>>
Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>5230894
>>
Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>5230894
>Inb4 another crit fail
By allah my witness
Bless our rolls from now onwards.
>>
Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>5230894
1
>>
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>>5230930
>>5230943
>>
>>5230906
>>5230930
>>5230943

Inshallah anon. Writing.
>>
”Destroyers tend to house pirate leadership. We shall find their leader, and torture him for any information he has. We shall also gain access to any and all information they had previously secured.”

[blue]Luckily, the ship appears to have not been overly modified when it comes to its internals.[/blue] You think as a projection appears within your damaged helm, showcasing the blueprints for the Raider-class.

“Follow me, surprise and speed shall be our only weapons when it comes to this objective, we cannot survive a protracted engagement. The AT gun’s explosion should have already alerted the pirates that something is amiss. If you cannot keep up, you shall be abandoned.” You state something most would consider cruel, but you say the simple truth.

With your blades by your side, you begin rapidly moving down the corridor. As you had expected, going through the door, you see a grouping of men in protection suits rushing towards your position. Unsurprisingly, with your speed and rapid movement, you close the short distance, your blades beginning to vibrate before they are swung. Screams and blood quickly fill the corridor, shortly thereafter followed by rifle fire. You duck under a lucky shot, aimed for your head, your superhuman reflexes giving you the edge required for such a feat. Unfortunately, in order to evade a killing blow, you had to take one to your chest. Your hardened ribcage finally cracks under the kinetic force, but it does not break. It slows you, but not enough to stop you. As the bullet bounces out of your chest, you quickly deliver and upwards slash, dismembering the man’s right hand, forcing him to drop his rifle. Lacking genehancements like you, normal people will simply die of shock from such and injury, as such, you deliver your next attack, your other blade going straight through the throat of the man next to your previous quarry. Returning to a lowered stance, you simple continue to move forward, as marines behind you quickly clean up the shell-shocked opponents.

Continuing your assault, your rapid stride sees you arriving rapidly to another door, swinging the door open, you hurl yourself to the side, as a heavy machine gun catches one of your marines, reducing him to a mimicry of man, filled with holes.

“Shit ! What now, [i]officer ?[/i] Irritably snaps Warwick.

[blue]With the visor cracked, it would take a mere strike to end his incessant insubordination.[/blue]

Ignoring him, you look towards a vent above you. Raising your blades, you quickly cut through grate and with inhuman flexibility begin moving through. You are also certain that you just heard someone cursing you for being a literal snake.

Sneaking through, you quickly find yourself in the other room. With lightning speed, you cut right through and emerge in the room, right behind the gunner.
>>
>>5231000

A quick motion later, both of your blades are imbedded in the back of the power armoured man. Your super human strength allows you to raise him, as the blade continues to dig deeply and cause viscera to quickly taint your uniform further.

You had done so on purpose, for weaklings like these, fear is worth more than a magazine full of bullets. Your assumption proves correct. With your foes terrified of your presence, they lose their focus that had been once directed towards your allies. A rapid charge later, the formation is quickly overwhelmed.

This time, blessedly, Warwick remains silent. [blue]Good, a peasant finally learnt his place.[/blue]

“According to the da-“ You say taking a step, but are suddenly assault with pain. Looking downwards, you see blood flowing out of your gut. It seems that during the intensity of combat you were injured. Stemming the blood flow, you realize that you must end this quickly, slowly, but surely, your body is failing, you are in desperate need of medical attention.

“We should be near the bridge. Due to my injuries, I cannot lead the charge this time, lieutenant Warwick, breach the door.” You command.

With nothing more than a grunt, the marines quickly form up around the door, breaching charges set.

You yourself, are taking a knee, prepared to bolt the moment you find the opportunity to do so.

Three…two…one…

A loud boom, momentarily deafens you. A ringing in your ears a moment after finally disappears as your body reacts to external stimulus.

Rounds are exchanged, the bridge crew seemingly ready for you. [blue]Pitiable, but expected.[/blue]

Shouts, curses, and screams echo. A body of one of the captain’s marines falls out of the doorway, a hole clear in his helmet, it had pierced directly through his visor. Either a lucky, or a skilled opponent. Either or, it does not matter to you, they shall die this day.

Feeling that the time is right. Your tensed body releases, you are nothing more than a blur as you enter the room.

With motion behind you, you smash straight into one power armoured man, your blades sinking through their helmet. The attack being so sudden and vicious, the pirate had no time to even utter a cry of pain.

With the body falling down, you atop of it, you taking the room, your mind processing information, whilst adrenaline running through your body slowing everything around you.

There, you spot it. A newer model looking power armour, extensively decorated with markings of kills and trophies. A large axe is hefted by the man. Not a high-frequency one, but the edge looks sharp enough, is seems that the blunt force from the strike alone is enough to kill.

You rise to your full height, one of your blades raised and pointed towards the man, and just as you expect, the mad bull charges at you in reaction to the challenge.
>>
>>5231003

An epic confrontation to be remembered by all who saw it is about to commence no doubt. [blue]That is probably what everyone is thinking.[/blue] You muse as there is a lull in fighting.

Unfortunately for everyone here, you do not intend to fight fair. As the man of a bull closes distance, you move. With full force, you kick the corpse under you. Not expecting this to happen, the pirate leader is knocked off balance, his heavy body smashing painfully onto the floor.

He is fast, but you are faster. With a duo of slashes, you rapidly cut off the man’s hands. Them turning into nothing but stumps, sees him fall again to the floor, his shouts of pain occupying the chamber. You punish him, for his loud voice, by also lopping off his feet. In response, the man screams louder, so you grab his axe and smash his helmet in. Dazed, but alive, the man finally goes quiet.

The sight of their leader humiliated finally breaks the morale of the bridge crew. And they begin to surrender.

Just as you are about to begin your interrogation, a groan of pain is heard in the now silenced room.

The captain’s awake.

------------------------------
(End of POV shift.)

It fucking hurts. It is hard to breathe, and I can’t see shit.

And similar thoughts go through your mind

Opening your eyes, you realize that you cannot see through one, and the other stings, providing you clear enough vision, but a clearly damaged one.

All around you are dead bodies. The intelligence officer, looking like a devil from hell stands above the biggest power armour suit you’ve ever seen.

“Captain, you’re awake.” With surprising excitement, Warwick calls out.

“Wha, what happened.” You question in daze.

“You successfully disabled the AT gun, whilst disabling yourself.” Summarizes the intelligence officer. “We have secured the bridge of the pirate ship. I have no doubts that the remainder of their crew is converging upon our position. I was about to interrogate him, but seeing as how you have regained your consciousness, my temporary authority has come to a close.” He finishes his rapid response.

You rise to your feet, with the assistance of your men. The area around seems to be damned bloodied.

“He alive ?” You ask pointing to the pirate leader.

“For now.” The officer states. “Oh, yes, adrenaline capsule.” He orders one of your marines.

Taking it, he proceeds to simply slam it into the pirate leader, who once again beings to scream.

Said screaming is stopped as his wrecked helmet is kicked out and a blade is placed in his mouth.

“Scream again, and you shall lose it.”

“Enough. I want him capable of speech and not a nervous wreck.” You command.
>>
>>5231007

“Very well, captain.” Withdrawing his sword, the officer steps aside. “He is yours to do what you will, but I must remind you that our objective is the potentially compromised data.”

“Yea, yea. We will secure it, calm yourself.”

For some reason your marines all stare at you, looks of admiration clear on their faces.

[blue]What the hell happened whilst I was out ?[/blue]

>Questions for the pirate leader. (Write in)

>(Write in)
>>
I may have gotten a little bit carried away with the combat descriptions.
>>
>>5231010

>Questions for the pirate leader.

How did you know where we were?
How many men do you have left?
How did you get this armor? (I want this armor for myself).
>>
>>5231010
>>Questions for the pirate leader. (Write in)
Give us your ships codes (After that start wenting the ship)

And where are you stations, all of them

And since your pirate, where is your stash
>>
>>5231010
>Questions for the pirate leader. (Write in)
"Who are you?"
"How does one navigate this area of Space?"
"How many other of your ships are here?
>>
>>5231030
you want a handless armor for us? im thinking more along the lines of keeping it for maybe warwick or a potential bargain chip in securing a new commanding officer for the marines, idk warwick does get shit done but I also feel like hes not exactly the best marine commander we could have.
>>
>>5231010
>Questions for the pirate leader. (Write in)

why were you here, intercepting us in this system?

who sent you? and where are they?

give us all of the coordinates on all of the possible cache's in the uncharted/non imperial systems. bases, planets, anything that is of *any* value.

tell us where your fleets are.

who is lashawn urtz?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>5231034
i think we shouldnt be giving such armor's to warrick or for our normal marines, i think the normal people and nobles back in imperial territory might not think well of it either.

instead, why don't we take and give it to lashawn depending on what he tells us about himself/what new information we might get out of them. since we might now have a reason to either keep or kill him, with the whole "shooting crew to not be anywhere near him" thing.
>>
>>5231014
No you didn't, it was fucking awesome.

>>5231097
This. I quite like giving the armour to Lashawn idea.
>>
also, i've been hammering out a little bit of a plan, right, i've been thinking over how one might begin making this whole thing with the spaceport work, and i think i might've come to an idea that everyone here can discuss if im retarded or not.

so, the idea is to create kind of our own little..."vassaldom" which, as proenza mentioned before, can be claimed to have been a previously lost, faithful unbroken empire world(s)

essentially, my idea is as follows.

take the rest of the ships that we find for a while. im thinking this here destroyer and possibly the next few ships, we will give to the traders, with a deal afterwards being that, 1/3 of all tariffs on the space station around the water world will be the traders to keep, but, they are then also to trade any and all industrial equipment that the station might need, at whatever undercut is necessary to keep the station both profitable for the spacers which visit it, and the water worlders.

after that, we would then use the next 10 frigates that we find, and convert them into a miners guild which will begin eating at the asteroids and rare resources within the close by system where we found the original traders, and the one system next to it which we found Lashawn in. with a offshoot for gas collection which will siphon the close by brown giant for all the necessary gasses used in industrial and agricultural processes. this way we don't begin taking away from the gas giant currently protecting the water world.


after this, we will basically just request that they follow our orders(the water worlders) and if they do so, they can continue to benefit from basically an influx of quality ore, rare materials, trade, and a small military presence keeping them safe, if we are to refurbish some of the other ships we find afterwards to create a garrison.


with all of this, we can actually begin claiming rulership of an actual land area. with the status that comes from it. (think of how proud our dad will be)
pic related, the area which we would then stake ownership of, or at least be effectively using.
>>
oh also QM, can we get a description of the star systems which miss datz went through? we only as readers got to hear of our own travels through the systems, at least in description of said systems.
>>
>>5231097
+1
>>
>>5231030
Armor is in pieces and most like likely is worst than our own
>>
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336 KB PNG
>>5231176

I assume you mean Alpizar.

The first one she went through you also went through, where the outpost had been built.

The second system, had a red dwarf and no surrounding celestial objects.

The third system, was situated around a blue giants, it had six worlds of around earth size all of whom were incredibly volcanically active.

The fourth system had a neutron star. Obviously, nothing was around it other than itself.

The fifth system had red giant, a couple of gas giants in its outer edges and a decent number of asteroids. No proper planetoids are in the system, most likely swallowed by the red giant.

Alpizar suffered her ambush around the blue giant.

(Map from last thread, courtesy of fleet-anon)
>>
You look over the man laying on the floor. He is clad in S&R-PW-MK5. The standard issue for house Roy, the power armour you had also worn before getting an upgrade. In perhaps a year or two, MK5 will be considered entirely outdated. Though you notice differences made to it. It is large, very large, meant to house someone of rather tall height. Scrutinizing the man’s face, you see warts, misshapen nose, slightly not symmetrical face. He is clearly not genehanced, meaning he grew to this size normally. Of course, it is possible that he only received very specific genehancements, but as far as you can tell, it just appears to be a simple man.

His watery and glazed over eyes finally concentrate upon you as you approach. Slow in your step, since your gut still hurts to hell and back, and you have difficulty breathing.

Reaching him, you ask the first question you’d ask anyone you met for the first time. “Who are you ?”

“Your fairy godmother.” He spits out, in a rough, deep voice.

“Intelligence officer, how much more of him you can cut off without him dying ?”

“As long as I do not hit one of the main arteries or vital organs, nigh on indefinitely.” The officer responds.

“So godmother, you’re going to talk ?” You ask turning back to the man.

The man’s gaze now falls onto the blades, still unsheathed and dripping with blood.

“Desmond Kapper, that’s my name.” He finally responds.

“See, that wasn’t too hard, now was it. Now that were talking like adults. How did you know where we were ?”

“Stumbled across you. Like I assume you had. Our engines were busted to hell and we are out of fuel. So, we naturally took the only action we could in this situation.”

“How many men do you have left ?”

“Dunno.”

You glare at him.

“Really, I don’t, never kept track of it, left it to the quartermaster. Add to that the fact that everyone’s gone in this fucking storm, and my men being slaughtered in their boarding attempt and now your assault. Got no clue.”

“So where’s your quartermaster.” You ask

The man simply turns towards a power armoured figure, two clean holes are visible in the person’s helmet, made clearly by swords, through which blood flows.

“That ‘im.” He remarks.

“The armour, how’d you get it ?”

“I bought it.”

“Who from ?”

“I bought. Not like its too hard to get your hands on a suit if you have the cash for it.”

“From whom ?”

“You think you’ll be able to find the person who sold it to me ? That’s not how the market works, I’ve no idea who sold it to me, and the seller has no idea to whom he sold it to.”

"How does one navigate this area of Space ?"

“By flying. How else ?”

“I mean this system.”

“This is the first time something like this happened. Got no advice for ya on that matter.”

"How many other of your ships are here?

“My destroyer, and six frigates. No idea what happened to ‘em.”
>>
>>5231704

“Why were you here, intercepting us in this system ?”

“Wasn’t planning to. I ain’t suicidal. But we’re stuck here and we have to find a way out.”

“Who sent you ? And where are they ?”

“Who sent me, huh ? I suppose Tristan, he runs the show here. As for where he is, well, I’m not important enough to know. Galactic east cluster. The place is full of pulsars, neutron stars and hidden black holes. The entire place is a graveyard. If you find one of Tristan’s trusted contacts, he could probably guide you to his hideout proper.”

“Tell me where your fleets are.”

The man stares at you. “This ain’t no proper fleet, noble. Everyone more or less does what they want, unless Tristan says otherwise. And even then, we do not follow him cause of “chain of command” we follow him cause the bastard’s scary.”

“You have a stash ?”

“Nope. Like most I spent my cash on whores and booze, some drugs too. It takes certain, uh, “discipline”, to set some aside, especially to make your men to set some aside. We live for the day and die on the ‘morrow.” He chuckles.

“Give me all of the coordinates on all of the bases, planets, anything that is of any value.”

“Sure, if the bases are still there, you can have it. Presuming you can get the system up and running again.”

“Your ship code ?”

“You mean the command code ?”

“Yes.”

“5781269478325694817458945635894621585939” In a tired voice, he man recites the code.

Turning towards Warwick, you ask. “You got it recorded ?”

“Yes, sir.” He quickly responds.

You watch as the intelligence officer swiftly goes over to one of the consoles, before running a scan. “The internal communications network does not posses any date on the Fenrir-class. For safety’s sake, I still recommended the purging of the crew.”

You nod at the man, before returning your attention to the pirate. “Right, I have one last question.” You state. “Who is Lashawn Urtz ?”

“Lashawn ? Ah, yea. The bastard did mention that Lashawn is still kicking. In with the impies. I liked the guy. Always seemed like he had a plan and a fallback no matter what happened. Shame he got too big for his breeches, tried to resist Tristan and got his shit kicked in. He still bearing a grudge on us for leaving him ?”

“Very much so.” You answer.

“So, blue-blood, now what ?”

>”Now ? I’m venting the ship, the rest of you men will soon meet you in hell.”

>”You seem like a reasonable sort. Work under me, and live still.”

>”I’m done with you. That’s all. You live or die on your own. Men ! We’re leaving the ship.”

>(Write in)
>>
>>5231705
>”Now ? I’m venting the ship, the rest of you men will soon meet you in hell.”
>>
>>5231705
>>(Write in)
Ask if there any prisoners on ship or anyone else we find useful. Take him prisoner for further local intel. Start venting the ship after hearing possible person of intress
>>
>>5231705
>>”You seem like a reasonable sort. Work under me, and live still.”

can use the ships for the stations, as well as the crews.

they might not have the biggest brains, but this insn't brainiac work we would put them to.

might finally be the first hard but honest work they've done in a while.
>>
>>5231745
+1 And a rare opportunity to increase our strength. Especially since he is used to obeying those who cause the most fear, I don't think he can betray us.
>>
>>5231705
>>”Now ? I’m venting the ship, the rest of you men will soon meet you in hell.”
>>
>>5231705
>>”You seem like a reasonable sort. Work under me, and live still.”
>>
>>5231705
>>”You seem like a reasonable sort. Work under me, and live still.”
A bit of proper military discipline would do this one a world of good.
>>
>>5231705
>”You seem like a reasonable sort. Work under me, and live still.”
>>
”You seem like a reasonable sort. Work under me, and live still.” You say.

The entire room goes still at your statement. You are certain that the intelligence officer is glaring at you underneath their reflective helm. The pirates seem confused, whilst your marines are indifferent, they seem used to this by now.

Desmond, laying on the floor begins to laugh loudly and uncontrollably. “Join under imps ? Never thought that would happen. Since refusal will result in my immediate death from sword stabbing, I ACCEPT !” He shouts.

“Good, bring your men under, I do not want to see any more pointless fighting.”

“I’d get right on it, but I can’t really walk, nor can I shake your hand on the agreement.”

“Warwick, we have any emergency cybernetics aboard ?”

“Last I heard we had some medical issue ones.”

“That’ll do for now.”

“What shall you do now, captain ?” An edge of threat is clear in the intelligence officer’s voice.

“Right now, I am going to sit down, take some painkillers, and wait till we secure the destroyer and it gets near the Timur. Then, we’re gonna get some cables, and attach this thing to the Timur. Afterwards ? We’ll see once we get there. Maybe I’ll have Iron also overcharge the comms here and get my new recruits rallied.”

“As you order, captain.”

The proceeding few hours see Desmond scream into his comm device, the pirates throwing down their arms and surrendering to your command. You also proceed to give Tets one fuck of a fright when pirates spill from the destroyer with cables in hand. Luckily, no weapons fire was exchanged.

The same was done with the Fenrir-class previously, you had now established an interesting web of cables, connecting multiple vessels as one.

You lay in the medbay, conscious, unfortunately so, you stare at your datapad through one eye, and even that is failing, the shards had wrecked your left eye, and your right had also been damaged, the attention given to it saved it, but your eyesight will be impaired until you can get it fixed, either by growing new eyes, both normal or genehanced, or simply opt for some cybernetics.

“I hope you have some good news.” You say answering your comm that had just went off.

“I do, a receiving ping just went through the system, indicating a friendly ship with functioning comms array, a fully powered one at that.” Responds Iron.

“Can you figure out who ?”

“No, but they are friendly.”

“Then that’s good enough.”

“It will be minutes, perhaps an hour until it reaches us, I suggest you prepare, captain.” After saying so, Iron cuts the comm.
>>
>>5232186

Well, you do have some free time on your hands, you could always:

>Converse with someone ? (Whom? About what?)

Afterwards, you’ve gotta figure out what you will you do with your newest recruits.

>Put them under Lashawn. With them under him, he could head to his cache without your escort.

>Let Desmond keep his command under their little grouping as rather eager, if a bit unreliable auxiliaries.

>They are recruits of the imperial armed forces now, and they will damn well act like it. You will integrate their force under your command proper, through discipline and hard work, you’ll make civilized men out of these subspacers yet.
>>
>>5232188

>They are recruits of the imperial armed forces now, and they will damn well act like it. You will integrate their force under your command proper, through discipline and hard work, you’ll make civilized men out of these subspacers yet.
>>
>>5232188
>Put them under Lashawn. With them under him, he could head to his cache without your escort.
>>
>>5231635
yes, i did acidentally switch the names around, thank you. also thanks for the system data, it got be more of an idea for the borders of this small area.


>>5232188
>Converse with someone ? (Whom? About what?)
tetraut, specifically with the fact that after this deployment, we could very well get her a much. MUCH better position than as a frigate captain, and that waiting here just a little bit more would be a lot better for her health and name in the long run.

>Put them under Lashawn. With them under him, he could head to his cache without your escort.

lashawn WILL still be questioned beforehand through.
>>
>>5232217
>lashawn WILL still be questioned beforehand through.
What for?
>>
>>5232188
>Converse with someone ? (Whom? About what?)
The Intelligence officer about his combat skill, advice for us and the viability of creating a client state in this area.
>Put them under Lashawn. With them under him, he could head to his cache without your escort.
Pirate civil war hooo.
>>
>>5232256
since there definitely were things he hadnt told us, so i wanna be sure that
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
oh and, i've also been reworking what i said at >>5231173 as to make it a bit more concrete. together with the terms of the possible contract we would give the traders.

the agreement would basically be, that the merchants that we have following us currently, and any which would willingly choose to come along of their contacts, would together create a small(at this time) mining guild, which will at the start have been provided with at least a small contingent of escort ships and some cargo ships, at least 10 pirate frigates worth. this group of individuals in this small fleet will together make up a part of the vassaldom which, we will claim as said in 5193040 in thread 3 to have been a previously lost colony, or potentially ask as a request to keep by the countess. anyone working within this mining guild will be able to have 1/6 of the materials which they mine/produce be their personal payment, with the rest either going towards a smaller merchant's guild, which will oversee trade over the cheron orbital station, as to try and keep the prices acceptable and low enough that it is economically sound for other worlds around to trade with cheron, or to the water world as building material as to expand their as of currently resource starved cities, the merchant guild keeping check & track of the material goods being moved around as to have documentation of it all.

it would also be the job of this merchants guild, to keep the pay of the station's workers, and to keep track of, and sell goods needed as to pay the original traders homeworld for the industrial equipment needed to keep the station up and running.
i wanna make sure to say though, i know this is very much still in the future, and i know i might just have an idea which alot of anons don't agree with in doing this, which is why i am mentioning it, so i might hear what others think, and if i should just shelve this whole "swooping in and conquering the aztecs" kind of thing.

(image, the new borders which would then be under us if that was the case)
>>
>>5232273
"so i wanna be sure that we know everything that might become a problem later on."
sorry, i forgot to finish my sentence.
>>
>>5232273
>since there definitely were things he hadnt told us, so i wanna be sure that
If it about his loyalty, i think its better that pirates that i wanted to vent. After all we did save his live not ones but twice, first getting him of hell planet and then not excuting him.

On the side note >>5232188
What did happen to others that we saved for hell planet
>>
>>5232188
>They are recruits of the imperial armed forces now, and they will damn well act like it. You will integrate their force under your command proper, through discipline and hard work, you’ll make civilized men out of these subspacers yet.
>>
>>5232188
>>They are recruits of the imperial armed forces now, and they will damn well act like it. You will integrate their force under your command proper, through discipline and hard work, you’ll make civilized men out of these subspacers yet.
>>
>>5232188
>Put them under Lashawn. With them under him, he could head to his cache without your escort.
>>
>>5232188
>They are recruits of the imperial armed forces now, and they will damn well act like it. You will integrate their force under your command proper, through discipline and hard work, you’ll make civilized men out of these subspacers yet.
>>
Recruits of the Empire 4

Under Lashawn 4

Need a tie breaker.
----
Talk with tets and Lashawn
The Intelligence officer

>>5232297

>What did happen to others that we saved for hell planet

They are aboard the Timur, under house arrest alongside Lashawn.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>5233502
1 is recruits.
2 is Lashawn.
The dice will decide.
>>
You hit your comm. “Tetreault, come to the sick bay, if you could.”

“Right away, captain.” She quickly responds.

You lay on the bed, pain continuously assaulting you, it is a low pain, nothing to truly knock you out, but it is permanent and biting. In a situation like this unfortunately, you cannot afford to be under painkillers, they would slow your judgement and make you listless.

“Hey, Desmond.” You call to the only other person in the room.

“Yea, boss ?” He asks in his still rough voice.

“Not boss, captain.” You snap.

“Uh, oh, sorry capn’ ” he says.

[blue]Close enough.[/blue]

“Your men, you ruled through fear ?”

“I mean, yea. When it comes to pirates you can rule through fear, connections or popularity. Though it’d say that I ruled through strength, rather than fear. Me and the lads got along swimmingly, since they knew that if we don’t, I’ll bash their heads in.”

[blue]So what’s the difference then ?[/blue]

“Right, well. You are now officially conscripted to imperial service. No more bashing heads in, got it ?”

“But what if they don’t listen to me ?”

“They will, and if they don’t, you throw them into the brig, and if they don’t improve even after that…fine, fuck it, you can bash their heads in, IF they were originally pirates. Go it ?”

“Got it, boss.” He seriously nods.

[blue]Oh, for the love of.[/blue]

“Once we get you outfitted with some cybernetics, you will be an officer under me, so I wanna know your style.”

“Now we’re talking.” He says with glee. “My men called me “the bull” !” He exclaims with quite some pride in his voice. “I would roll through all of my foes, as you may have seen, I’m quite fond of boarding actions, though that means that I have to get nice and close in order to do so.”

“And what if you fail ?”

“I RUN !” He says whilst laughing his ass off.

[blue]Another lunatic, I am like a magnet for these people. Though I suppose I am one myself.[/blue]

Commander Desmond Kapper (Aggressive, cheerful, blunt) (Former pirate)
Skills:
Pirate – This person is skilled in hit and run attacks, but is unused to commanding larger ships. ([green]Frigates and destroyers move faster and ignore most terrain penalties.[/green] [red]Light cruisers and up suffer rate of fire and speed penalties.[/red])
Boarder – Skilled and used to commanding boarding actions, the person’s entire crew can be used in assaults and they are used to heavy losses associated with such actions. ([green]Ignore crit fails on boarding actions (will be treated as regular failure) and a permanent +10 for the action.[/green] [red]Will try to board enemy ships even without command if sensing an opportunity.[/red])
>>
>>5233726

(Skills are acquired if certain actions are carried out by certain captains enough times. They can also be entirely negative, or positive, though most have an upside and a downside. Freshly recruited officers start with no traits, like all of the officers you have, it takes a long time for a skill to form. Gotta catch ‘em all, anons.)

Just as your conversation with Desmond comes to a close, Tetrault thankfully comes in, preventing the man from starting to boast about his “mighty conquests”.

“Tetreault, good. I wished to converse with you.”

“What is it captain ?” She asks, whilst throwing a disdaining look at Desmond, whom simply responds with a cheeky grin.

“About your future appointment to frigate command that you mentioned me.”

“What about it, sir ?”

“What if I offer you a better posting ?” You say with a smile.

“What do you mean, sir ?”

“I’d rather have a friendly face under my command, as I mentioned previously. And to be honest.” You say with a lowered voice, now yourself eyeing Desmond. “You’re probably the best adjusted person in my officer core.”

“I wouldn’t say that is the most enticing reason I’ve ever heard to go under someone.” She sighs whilst shaking her head.

“But it is one you know is true, and come on, haven’t you found some comradery amongst your fellow officers ?” You ask smiling.

“Very well, captain. I can only say that it will depend on my family. If you can offer a more enticing offer to them than what they have already planned.”

“I am sure I will Tetreault, I am sure I will.”

“If there is nothing else, captain, may I have leave ?”

“You may, oh, and drag Lashawn here. I want to talk to him.”

“As you command.” She salutes and departs your room.

“She single ?” Desmond pipes up once your XO departs.

“You want to be castrated ?” You throw out.

“Point taken.” Deflating, he responds.

You lay in silence, resting your mind for things to come, the things you’ll do once you get out of this hellhole of a system. Your rest however, is quickly interrupted.

“You called for me ?” Lashawn asks.

“I did. I-“ you are about to speak, but Desmond’s powerful voice cuts you off.

“Lashy, good to see you buddy, no hard feeling about the whole, leaving you to die thing ?”

“Desmond, you large cunt, I see someone finally put you down in your place, you large pile of crap.”

The ox-sized man simply laughs. “Ya can’t kill me, since we now have the same boss, and he is oh so fond of discipline like you !” He continues to roar.

“Enough ! The both of you !” You put an end to their verbal duel. “Lashawn. When I mentioned your name, a person chose potential death over a good life, simply because I suggested for him to serve under you.”

“So ?”

“So, why ? What have you done to make someone have a reaction like that ?”
>>
>>5233728

“I enforced discipline. The men are cruel and rowdy, the only way to make them calm down is to be crueller.”

“I’d say. Being flayed alive as punishment is the least of the things he’d do to you if you fuck him over.” For once, Desmond says in all seriousness.

“If you fear betrayal, I can assure you, captain. I am loyal, I hate Tristan more than anything, and until we deal with him, you can look at me as your greatest follower.”

“We’ll see, once we get out of here, how well you keep to your word. You’re free to go.” You remark, ending the conversation.

With the man gone. You slowly rise from the bed, and with unsteady steps you begin walking towards one of the bridge officer rooms, currently occupied by the intelligence officer. Once there, you hit the bell. A moment after, faster than you had expected, the door is opened. The reflective helm greeting you once more, the uniform looks immaculate, a far cry from what it was previously. His two blades are in scabbards by his side.

“Captain. How may I help you ?” The distorted voice asks.

“Still in full uniform ? Never taking a rest are we ?” You ask as an ice breaker.

“No.” They simply respond, awkwardly ending your attempt at a jest.

“Well, uh, may I come inside ? Still a bit difficult for me to walk.” You ask.

“As you wish, captain.” They say stepping aside.

Without further ado, you walk in and plop down.

“Your combat skills, they are quite impressive.”

“Thank you, captain.” Sitting opposite to you, the person responds, their back straight, his hands never leaving the handles of his blades.

“How did you achieve such proficiency ?”

“Training and genehancements.”

“Want to talk in detail about it ?”

“No.” Once again, they shut down the conversation.

[blue]Why does it feel like I am talking with Payat ?[/blue]

“Riiight. Then, you have any wisdom you’re willing to share, advice ?”

“You should have killed the pirates. And you should cease your association with subspacers. The time and resources invested here are better spend elsewhere than the backwater of a backwater, of a backwater.”

“You do not believe in these people ?”

“People ?” They snort. “They are subspacers, not people. They should be exterminated so as to ensure that we, the civilized people, shall no longer be predated by these savages.”

“So I assume you don’t give a damn about my efforts help the people here ? Extend ducal influence ?”
>>
>>5233730

“I have no advice, and I have nothing to offer about so, no, other than, do not waste imperial resources. The outpost that you converted was ducal property, and it has been witness by me. Remember captain, these lands offer nothing for us. The only reason why we tolerate those on your border, is to act as shields from predations of pirates and other degenerate “nations” that would attack us.” You can hear an edge of danger creeping in the person’s voice, a voice of zealot, you come to realize, but of no god.

“If that’s what you say. Thank you for your time, officer.” You rise from your seat.

“Keep this in mind, captain. These are not the lands of civilization; our objective is all that matters.”

The door closes behind you. And as you hobble down the hallway, your comm rings.

“Captain, we’ve finally identified the ship. It’s Lord-Commander Marc Ahsing.” Informs you Tetreault. “Their engines appear to be fully functioning.”

[blue]Oh, thank fuck.[/blue] You cannot help but swear in your mind at the good news.

“Get him here and get our reactors running, I want to actually see where the hell I’m going again.”
.
.
.
The primary lights begin to flicker and start glowing brightly once again. Your fridge also kicks in, no more lukewarm drinks for you.

Marc had not suffered as much as you had, no encounters from wandering pirates for him. He just simply had to fly about confused when half of his fuel just up and disappeared.

Still, though your ship is working at full power. The storm rages. Finding the rest of your fleet will take time, and it will be potentially dangerous. It might also be wiser to leave and return with ships specifically for rescue operations for these sorts of situations.

>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.

>Pull out and get some professionals on this

>Just keep adrift, observing the storm, maybe you’ll figure out something ?

>(Write in)
>>
I apologize that it took so long, I was busy this weekend due to Easter, speaking of which.

Happy Easter, anons.
>>
>>5233732
>>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.
>>
>>5233732
>>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.
>>
>>5233736
Happy Easter to you, QM
>>
>>5233732
>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.
We need to regroup fucking fast.
>>
>>5233732
>>>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.

currently the other parts of our fleet are easy prey, we can't let them be found without a fight at least.
>>
>>5233732
>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.
>>
>>5233732
>Try to search for your men whilst the storm is going.

>>5233736
Happy Easter Newb!
>>
hey btw QM, you mentioned that there was generally also alot of molten worlds around where we've traveled through as of yet. is there any use to them other than the obvious small mining world operations? since one of the first things i thought about was stuff like collecting easier molten metals like lead or bismuth via siphoning it directly from the lakes of the stuff one would find on their surfaces(this exists on venus as well, for example)
>>
okay, pretty one sided.

1d100 best of 3

>>5234586

molten world like those tend to be absurdly rich in common ores and rare ores, the initial set ups for their extraction are very expensive to set up and maintain, but given enough scale, one world fully utilized could produce entire fleets. Granted, the infrastructure for that would be ruinously expensive to set up.
>>
Rolled 80 (1d100)

>>5234724
>>
Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>5234724
another 1
>>
Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>5234724
>>
You’ve never shyed away from danger, especially one that would result in your men being left behind.

Hobbling back onto the bridge, a happenstance with frightening frequency, now that you think about it, you sit down upon your captain’s chair. Gazing through the window, you watch the endless storm fling lighting all around you, the Fenrir-class frigate, “Horus”, and the pirate, now ex-pirate, Raider-class, unsurprisingly named “Ox”, have all assembled in a formation around your Timur.

“Helmsman, time to brace the tumultuous sea. Find our men.” You command.

The thrusters come to life, with ship’s reactors once more going, propel you onwards and extreme speed. Suddenly, you watch as your comm officer nearly throws his headset to the floor.

[blue]Oh right, Iron. Well, I’m sure he’s fine, the smug prick.[/blue]

“Is the signal that Iron was transmitting still going ?” You calmly question the comms officer, doing your best not to crack a smile.

“Ye-yes, sir. He also would like to inform you that the next time the ship moves, he should be given warning.” Wincing, the man replies.

“I’ll make sure to keep that in mind next time.” You half-heartedly respond.
.
.
.
You spend days scouring the system. Thanks to Iron’s efforts, and the fact that you have full power, has allowed you to rally most of your fleet. Two strikers were never found, the patrol boats of the merchants had also gone missing, two out of the six pirate frigates, now your new recruits, had also gone missing.

“So they blew up ?” You ask, concerning your strikers.

“It is the most likely possibility. With surges of electricity and after a complete loss of power, may have friend the resistors of the small frigates. The fact that they house numerous explosive devices, as many as can be shoved into it, it should not be surprising that they possibly went off.” Responds Iron. Busy trying to get rid of a dent in his chestplate.

“The pirates probably blew up, because they are pirates, but what about the patrol boats ?”

“Small, with overlarged engines to allow for dimensional shifting. Catastrophic failure should have been not only expected, but presumed inevitable.”

“You made any progress on figuring out why the hell did the storm picked up ?”

“I was able to gleam some limited insight, yes. Gravitic waves, so to say. You are aware on how magnetic fields are formed around planets ?”

“I received rudimentary education.” You say flatly

“Ah, I did not want to be presumptuous and assume that you passed elementary grade.’

“Next time, we’ll go at full throttle from the start.”

Iron merely looks at you, not taking your threat seriously at all. “As I was saying. You can think of the magnetic field module, and look upon it the same here, just replace it with gravity. Almost like a pulsar star.”

“And I assume that the start did not show such signatures when we entered ?”
>>
>>5234815

“Correct. My current hypothesis is – The start here, somehow, absorbed our neutronium in order to kick start its own process of becoming a neutron star. The raging storm around us is the consequence of this “evolution”. It is a phenomenon not previously observed, so I do not know the validity of my claims, but if what I claim is true, we may be able to find out more about the workings on of our surroundings, and the deeper universe itself.”

Sensing that Iron is about to go off on one of his endless rants again, you simply depart the room, and decide to leave the man to himself, his speech not ending even as the door closes. You have more mundane matter currently pressing you down.

Should you go forward ? Or should you go back ? The final system on your pre-planned route is all that awaits. The ambush location, if it is still worthwhile to investigate, is nearby, so is the cache that Lashwan talked about. You could move onto either from your current location.

>Go back to civilized space.

>Move onto the last system of the planned route.

>Jump towards the cache.

>Jump towards the ambush point.

>(Write in)
>>
>>5234816
>Move onto the last system of the planned route.

Sunking fallacy, we've come to do a job and we're going to keep it to the end.
>>
>>5234816
>Move onto the last system of the planned route.
>>
>Jump towards the cache.
i want to possibly intercept our allied ships if they did survive, even if iron thinks they likely exploded, following the already planned out route is probably likely to encounter other ships which thought the same.


also QM, can we get a overview of our fleet now then?
>>
>>5234816
>>Move onto the last system of the planned route.
>>
>>5234816
>>Move onto the last system of the planned route.
>>
>>5234816
>Jump towards the cache.
Shouldn't pass up the opportunity to get more goodies.
>>
On one note QM, Would we be able to ask iron if he can re-create the event with the cloud lightning? Like a minefield bomb or smth
>>
>>5235461
>iron, my nigga, can you make me neutron star bomb, for a homie, dont mind the possibility to nuke a advanced system with it
+1
>>
>>5235461
Dude. Iron is a genius, but he's not magic.
>>
>>5235461
neutron launchers from stellaris?

though i do think it could be an effective mine if anything as you said, a gas canister getting an electric currently put through it and then exposed to the neutronium, should be relatively easy to make

so +1
>>
>>5235602
What do you mean you can't make wmd out of thin air (its cool idea though)
>>
>>5234816
>Jump towards the ambush point.
>>
File: Updated fleet.png (368 KB, 5586x1770)
368 KB
368 KB PNG
Planned route 4

Cache 2

Ambush point 1

>>5234834

>also QM, can we get a overview of our fleet now then?

Pic related
>>
You’ve had enough improv to last you for a long time. This time, you’ rather just finish the last leg of the journey.

“Tetreault, get the fleet together. Helmsman, get us around the star, I’m sick of this storm.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” Quickly responds the Helmsman, Tetrault already releasing a barrage of commands of her own, with extra added forces, ill-disciplined forces at that, her work load ha increased disproportionately. You’ll have to get Desmond out of the medbay as soon as you can, he knows how to keep his men in line, and he appears to be utterly terrified of the intelligence officer, so it should be easy and safe to command his forces.

With your fleet finally shifting out of system, for once in your life, you are not disturbed by the utter unnatural darkness on the other side of the window, in fact, you welcome it, so as long as you don’t have to see anymore lightning. With six days to go, you head off to your quarters for some well-deserved rest, and maybe some cool drink.
.
.
.
They ache. You are roused from your rest, a few hours after you went to bed. Your eyes sting, the annoying pangs of pain preventing any proper rest you could have.

With insomnia preventing any rest, you rise from your bed. The lack of sleep allowed you to think, if nothing else. With the disappearance of all of your neutronium, you were left as nothing more than a bunch of metal sailing through the skies. Perhaps, just perhaps, it could be weaponized ?

Opening door, you head towards the one place and the one person you can think of that would be able to achieve what you are thinking about.

“Iron, got a question for you.” You say, having made your way back down to the labs.

“Back so early, captain ?” Amused, he states.

“Could you weaponize what happened back there ?” You get straight to the point, the sting irritating you and preventing any flowery words from manifesting.

“Ah, the as of yet unexplained phenomena. Theoretically, if I am given sufficient resources and time. Yes. But that is not something we have. The happenstance is, how shall I put it, still unknown. Why now ? Why around this system ? We would require to solve this massive issue before we could truly weaponize what we witnessed.”

“Too many variables, then.” You say grunting. “It be a pretty devastating weapon, you make a few mines and burn down entire enemy fleets.”

“The fallout of the storm is still yet unknown, whilst I am fascinated by it, I must advise caution. For all we know, this storm could make the system’s start go supernova, and that would result in, unfortunate, circumstances if you mined the systems nearby. Not to mention a few glaring issues. The fact that it would require immense amounts of neutronium, and the fact that there are no means to distinguish friend from foe with such a weapon.”

“So it’s simply not worth it ?”
>>
>>5235915

“As it stands now, yes. Until we can master the starts themselves, such a weapon would far too unpredictable. Of course, if you are willing to allocate the resources needed, I would be more than happy to study the storm.”

You are certain that the man is smilling.

“Per chance, you have any good painkillers that don’t make you sluggish ? My eyes hurt like hell.”

Iron simply stares at you. “Get some replacements, you come off as a peasant more often than not, but yes, I do have some painkillers.”

You only grunt in annoyance, unwilling to rise to the bait.

And a few moments after, you down a couple of pills. “Right, I’m off to bed to see if I can get some shuteye.”

With that final statement, you wonder off back to your quarters.
.
.
.
Days after, you finally reach your destination.

A single red dwarf orbited by a rocky world about half-size of Earth, with three ice planets, the first is barely a third of Earth, the following one is nearly three times the size of Earth and the final one over four times the size, to top it all off, there is a Neptunian like planet with over thirty-four celestial objects around it, a literal swarm of moons. No large asteroid fields, no clouds of dusts and no enveloping nebula. Overall, the system appears to be quite lovely, if hostile to life.

>Slowly sweep the system, giving special attention to the terrestrial worlds, as all of them have atmospheric traces.

>Split your force and rapidly investigate your surroundings.

>Your scans come out empty, maybe it is best to simply move on ?
>>
>>5235917
>>Slowly sweep the system, giving special attention to the terrestrial worlds, as all of them have atmospheric traces.
>>
>>5235917
>>>Slowly sweep the system, giving special attention to the terrestrial worlds, as all of them have atmospheric traces.
>>
>>5235917
>Slowly sweep the system, giving special attention to the terrestrial worlds, as all of them have atmospheric traces.
>>
>>5235917
>Slowly sweep the system, giving special attention to the terrestrial worlds, as all of them have atmospheric traces.
>>
>>5235917
>>Slowly sweep the system, giving special attention to the terrestrial worlds, as all of them have atmospheric traces.
>>
>>5235917
>Your scans come out empty, maybe it is best to simply move on ?
>>
Alright, a slow sweep wins.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>5236956
>>
Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>5236956
1
>>
Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>5236956
please don't crit fail for the love of allah
>>
>>5236993

Inshallah

>>5236990

It is not good to tempt fate anon.
>>
Another methodical sweep, with hopefully less unexplainable phenomena.

Based on the reports of the previous officers who tried to deal with the pirates, this system housed one of their outposts. One most likely directed towards the Emarians.

And you can see why, the ice worlds provide plenty of drinkable water, at the sheer number of moons allows for a nice place in which you could squirrel away a base. So you find it quickly, and old facility, nothing more than just a collection of craters and a few sturdy buildings still standing. An orbital barrage annihilated what was once a rather extensive facility. It seems that whichever officer had gotten here before you got rid of their frustrations through sheer destructive power.

Another note of interest, all of the ice worlds have small outposts upon them, mining facilities long frozen into nothing more than solid block of ice.

“Empty ?” You question the sensors officer.

“It appears so, sir.” The man responds.

“So, another dud. I’m growing tired of this backwater.” You sigh.

“Captain, please excuse me. We may have some excitement yet.” You turn back to the man. “I am detecting forces entering the system, from two separate edges.”

“IFFs ?” You question.

“Towards galactic west, no signals.”

“Pirates, then.” You are already used to it at this point. At this point and time, not having an IFF on is the same as simply stating who you are.

“The other ?”

“Galactic North-East. Signals identify Emarians”

“Well then, things might get interesting.” You say with a smirk. Your single eye staring out of the window, excitement for the upcoming battle already boiling your blood.

>Head towards the pirates. Time to teach them a lesson about austerity.

>The Emarians, they should not be here, but you are certain that you can simply smash them apart if you find them disagreeable.

>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.
>>
>>5237111
>>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.
VERY suspicious, I wouldn't be shocked if the Emarians were backing these pirates in some way
>>
>>5237111
>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.

And then after we attack the Emarians with no IFF, and stage it like the pirates betrayed them.
>>
>>5237111
>>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.
>>
>>5237111
>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.

lets hope we got our sneak game up to date
>>
>>5237111
>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.
Get Iron to hack their comms. This should be juicy.
>>
>>5237111
>>Head towards the pirates. Time to teach them a lesson about austerity.
>>
>>5237111
>Sit still and wait. Both sides arriving at the same time could just be a coincidence, or this could be a part of a greater conspiracy.
>>
Alrighty then.

1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>5238161
>>
Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>5238161
>>
Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>5238161
>>
>>5238172
sneak game so good we gonna be right on top of em listening in with a cord lmao
>>
>>5238172
FINALLY!
>>
“Comms, cut our IFFs. Engineering, we’re going silent. Tetreault, get the rest of the fleet to do the same.” Thinking rapidly, you command. As your force is currently located around the swarm of moons, as you were conducting your last sweep, it allows you to entirely disappear before either side notices you.

Hitting your own comm, you call up Iron. “I want you on the bridge. See if you cannot interfere with comm chatter.”

“May I ask why ?”

“It is not involving you in combat, think of it a sociological research project.” You say whilst smirking.

“Very well, I shall be there in two minutes and thirty-nine seconds.” He responds and cuts the comm.

[blue]Of course he’d get it down to the second.[/blue]

“Sensors, contingent sizes ?”

“Power output from the presumed pirates indicate two dozen frigate signatures. The Emarians seem to possess a light cruiser, four destroyers and half a dozen frigates.” The man quickly reports.

“A sizeable force. Really sizeable.” You say whilst pondering. You had, alongside other brave men and women, crushed the primary Emarian fleet. For a contingent of such size to arrive is quite surprising.

Your thoughts are quickly interrupted by the sound of a door opening, quickly followed by heavy metal footsteps.

“As you ordered, so have I arrived.” With flourish, Iron says.

“Enough with the theatrics. Two fleets are closing in on each other, and I want to know what they are saying.”

“As you wish, captain.” Marching towards the comm station and scaring away the offer sitting there, Iron says without any more flair.

You watch as he quickly works his magic and interacts with the console. Smashing against the keyboard, using some strange devices, nad humming himself some song, no doubt an ancient one at that.

“Aaaaaand, done.” You can hear smugness in his voice. That of an artist proud of his work.

“…where are the rest of your forces ?” An annoyed voice of a woman is heard.

“Miss, your checks are yet to clear, us being here is already Tristan showing his goodwill and the desire to cooperate.” Responds a rather calming, soothing voice of a man.

“This was not part of our agreement.” The female voice snaps.

“Agreements change. So far, we have nothing but your guarantee, and even that is shaky. I heard that you recently lost your homeworld. That must sting.” The man’s voice, once soothing is now full of malice. You can already imagine the sadistic smile on the other end.

“Watch your tongue, cur. Lest I order my men to turn you into nothing more than mere atoms.”

“My lady. You should know, violence is not the answer. After all, you tried to be violent against the empire, how did that work out ? Now, now, no need to growl at me, we are all civilized people here, no matter what the tyrants would proclaim.”

“Get to the point !” Finally, unable to bare it anymore, the woman shouts.
>>
>>5238225

“Our boss has finished his project. Presuming the payment goes through, a force capable of crowning you queen shall be at your disposal. We are here as his vanguards, to show that he maintains his interest in that battleship hull of yours.”

“And you are nothing more than thieves ready to snatch it away should I fail. Do not think you can fool me, those frigates of yours are loaded with cyber junkies. If I see any of your ships approach boarding distance, I will blow you apart.”

“You know, I could play a tric here.” Interjects Iron. “It would not be difficult to fabricate a message.”

Surprised, you cannot help but question. “Why are you so willing ? This involves something out of your package.”

“Oh indeed, but it would be quite amusing, wouldn’t you agree ? Of course, if you wish for honourable battle, I shall not keep it from you, as it currently stands, you should be able to quite easily sneak up on the both of them, thanks to the excellent work of your crews.”

The force facing you is quite large, and even with Iron’s deceit, should you attack it is only a matter of time until your foes discover the trickery, still, you could also simply attack, as is your style.

Iron’s suggestion:

>Let him have his fun.

>You will not debase yourself with such trickery.

As for the enemy, whom seem to be in firing range of each other:

>Sneak up and strike from one side. (Which ?)

>Boldly proclaim who you are and hurl yourself into danger.

>There’s no need for pointless bloodshed, disengage and leave the system. (To where ?)
>>
>>5238226

>Let him have his fun.

>Sneak up and strike from one side. It's time to finish our work of exterminating the pirates.
>>
>>5238226
>>You will not debase yourself with such trickery.
>Boldly proclaim who you are and hurl yourself into danger.
>>
>>5238226
>Let him have his fun.
no way am i gonna stand denying iron some self initiative after messing with him so much. what a foolish and but expected end it would be for this quest to end cuz we teased Iron one to many times.

>Sneak up and strike from one side. (Which ?)
Pirate side, also we need soem pirates alive so we can finall get some clue to tristans wherabouts.
>>
>>5238226
>Let him have his fun.

>Sneak up and strike from one side. (Emarian)

Nip the problem in the bud, and the Countess will reward us handsomely. Plus, if we get that Battleship hull proper, it’s ours by right of conquest.
>>
>>5238233
>>5238249
Can we stop focusing on the pirates for the minute? The Battleship hull and the Emarian proto-Queen is a more pressing problem that will net us greater rewards if dealt with properly.
>>
>>5238226
>Let him have his fun.
have him make it seem as if they are calling us into the fight, with the ox's freebooters leading, like they are pirate allies coming in with the cavalry

>Sneak up and strike from one side against the emarians, with..."accidental friendly fire" whenever possible

and then begin slaughtering them as soom as the emarians are dead.
>>
>>5238226
>>Let him have his fun.

>Sneak up and strike from one side (Emarian)
Keep our IFFs offline when hitting them, this make them think that pirates have betrayed them. Mayde Emarian even make our job easier by killing pirates in confusion
>>
>>5238260
The pirates will escape.
>>
>>5238280
If they think they can win or to loot emarian. They may believe that they were used as bait.
>>
>>5238282
And? They'll escape and we'll have to hunt these guys down again for a long time.
>>
>>5238280
The pirates are a secondary priority. A fully functional battleship and a unified enemy kingdom is clearly the bigger threat here no matter how you cut it.

>>5238305
Irrelevant. Emarian Unification is a bigger threat.
>>
>>5238320
If we survive.
>>
>>5238305
They will fight if they think they can win and if think they were the bait, they will most likely stay and fight for the spoils. As pirates would not attack if they dont think they win and we would "pirates" too and emarians will start firing at pirates too as they dont trust them.

After this we could turning against our "pirate brothers". Two birds one stone.

Also that battleship would nice addition to our fleet. Kill the pirates doesnt have same prize and we would most likely have to fight the pirates first then emarians or worse case at same time.

Final note emarians fleet is more dangerous than pirate fleet, if we can turn them against each other better target for our fleet and other enemy fleet would be emarians fleet.
>>
>>5238322
Our survival odds improve if we can prevent the introduction of a battleship among a fleet a light cruisers and escorts.
>>
>>5238330
>>5238348
I just hope that when the fight starts, we don't start with a roll one.
>>
>>5238279
+1
>>
>>5238226
>Let him have his fun.
>Sneak up and strike from one side. (Emarian)
>>
>>5238226
>Let him have his fun.

>Sneak up and strike from one side. (Pirates)
If none get back to Tristan he'll think the Emarians betrayed him, thus preventing any further risk of cooperation between them.
>>
Iron:

Fun 9

No fun 1

Ambush:

Pirates 3

Emarians 5

Leroy Jenkins ! 1

Alright. 1d100 best of 3
>>
Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>5239373
It's time to commit space jihad, COME ON.
>>
Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>5239373
>>
Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>5239373
>>
>>5239380
>>5239390
>>5239395
Bad but tolerable rolls, maybe Iron fucking around can substitute our shitty luck
>>
File: Pirate hunt11.png (604 KB, 5175x3662)
604 KB
604 KB PNG
You give Iron a smirk. “Sure, have your fun.”

Then, you entirely unsurprised about what happens next. Iron begins to do musical exercises, but instead of his voice going higher, it begins to change, until finally, the same frustrated feminine voice now comes from his throat.

“Enough !” Iron says in the woman’s voice. “You will carry out your end of the deal, or we will have no deal at all ! You bunch of trickery curs !” His body is swaying side to side, his arms are being swung around with great flair. He looks like an overexaggerated and overeager actor, putting too much in each action.

“Calling us curs now ?” You watch as Iron quickly switches something on the console. “My lady, you would be a fool to continue on this course.” With an edge of a threat, the man says.

“You dare, pirate scum.” The woman’s voice responds, not Iron’s imitation.

“Ah, how a few words can change the hearts of men.” Muses Iron, once more his voice returning to that same annoying sound of metal grinding metal.

[blue]Wait, his annoying voice is done on purpose ?[/blue]

“I suggest you begin to move, captain. I shall continue my “conversation”. No doubt both sides will be too concentrated on one another to notice your approach.” Iron quickly remarks.

“Helmsman, full burn. Tetreault, prepare a battleline.”

Your fleet peels off from the numerous moons around you, the IFF transponders still off, you quickly find what Iron to be true, as your sensors officer turns to you.

“Sir, weapon discharge detected.”

“How far off are we helmsman ?” You question the man.

“Nearly there, captain. M.A.G. range in five.”

You await in trepidation, but surprisingly, you are unnoticed, that is until you are entirely upon your enemy. M.A.G. cannons fire, tearing apart the two Guardians bringing up the rear of the Emarians.

You watch as they are thrown in confusion by your actions. The Vigilance-class beginning to turn to face your ambushing force.

>Our force is massively overwhelming. Smash them. Leave nothing but dust.

>Send boarders. You’d rather those ships be captured, their crews taken hostage.

>Open fire, but ensure that the ships are as intact as possible. It may increase danger you face, but it is still safer than boarding actions.
>>
Only whilst making this map, did I truly realized just how many ships you anons have.
>>
>>5239489
>>Our force is massively overwhelming. Smash them. Leave nothing but dust.
>>
>>5239489
>Send boarders. You’d rather those ships be captured, their crews taken hostage.
We still have the overwhelming advantage, let's use it.
>>
>>5239489
>Send boarders. You’d rather those ships be captured, their crews taken hostage.
We did get a new "specialist" just for the job
>>
>>5239489
>Send boarders. You’d rather those ships be captured, their crews taken hostage.
We pirating boys!
>>
>>5239489
>Send boarders. You’d rather those ships be captured, their crews taken hostage.
>>
>>5239489
>The left and right wing will burn hard to flank the pirate force
>The centre will move into the centre of the Emarian formation, demanding a surrender or their complete destruction.
>>
>>5239489
>Send boarders. You’d rather those ships be captured, their crews taken hostage.
>Fire can be more liberal with the pirates, just have Desmond tell them to surrender or die.
>>
Fleet smash 1

Boarders 4

>>5239693 1

>>5239794 1

Alright, so you will attempt to do some pirating lads.

1d100 best of 3

also, I am finally back to my PC, which means, formatting is back.
>>
Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>5240269
>>
Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>5240269
Let's fucking go
>>
Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>5240269
>>
You turn to the comms officer. “Tell commander Desmond that he’s to start boarding actions against the Emarian forces, the rest of the fleet is to attempt the same.”

“Yes, sir.” Replying quickly, the man rushes off to carry out your given task.

The battle itself is nothing compared to the fights you’ve had, its one-sided sweep. Realizing the size of your force, the light cruiser tries to break off, but Desmond and his men intercept it a being the boarding process whilst the rest of the fleet advances onwards.

And you watch as the overwhelming pirate numbers utterly roll over the Emarians, it seems that the ships that the kingdom is fielding is of a lower quality. Most likely mothballed ships pulled out of warehouses, and most likely the crews are nothing more than conscripts judging by how quickly the destroyers are overwhelmed and annihilated by the pirates.

Speaking of, the pirates, not knowing who you are, but either presuming a friendly, or trusting in their ability to disengage, the rush onwards, losing but few frigates and leaving the Emarians panicked. Now it remains to be seen what the pirates will do, but with your entire force here, you doubt that they will think of you as pirates.

------------------------------
(POV shift: You are Pietro Earing, a man under the command of “Ox” Desmond.)

The shuttle rattles. There’s one hell of a fight going on out there, biggest you’ve ever seen, that’s for sure.

The hastily scribbled golden lion, or well, that is what it is supposed to be, drips onto your helmet. It’s a shame to see the red ox painted over, but you’ve seen that scary fucking guy with the reflective helm, and all of their guys were in power armour, better than the protection suit that you have, that’s for damn sure. So, teaming up with the tyrants, erm, you suppose ya can’t really call ‘em that now that you’re technically one of them, was not that bad of an idea. At least ya didn’t die.

Though, you might. You heard that the new big boss, erm, captain. Cut through the barrel of an AT gun as it was firing. The crazy bastard, suppose that’s why everyone’s calling him a ghoul or some such.

I just hope he don’t drag me to hell. The Ox was batshit enough, and now he’s being ridden by a ghoul. Me and me shitty luck.

Suddenly, the transport is thrown about, you begin to swing and rotate.

Jesus Christ all mighty, I will never get used to this part. Please don’t let ‘em shoot us down. I’ll cut off me drinking, I promise. I know I promised this about a dozen times already, but please forgive me ! You think as your lunch begins to rise from the pit of your stomach.

Suddenly, you jump upwards and then slam down again. The tell tale sign of docking. The men around you are just as wheezy as you, ‘cept those in power armour, the best amongst you always got to get their hands on them.
>>
>>5240447

The ramp smashed downwards, a signal for you to rise from your seat and to begin dragging the breaching equipment. A fancy way of saying, an industrial-grade torch, whose safety parameters were bypassed and it is likely to explode in your hands, which is why they are making you do it.

But it is something you’ve done plenty of times, and you hope that you will do it again, unlike Hamim, the poor sod didn’t die instantly when the thing exploded, ya couldn’t hear ‘im scream, but the wriggling, that’s what disturbed you.

The blinding light of the torch signals that your work’s about to begin, time to see what these Emarians are made off.

Now, where did ya shuttle manage to dock itself to ?

>The aft, where them engines are.

>Breach near the bow, usually reserved for the most experienced, but ya somehow landed there.

>The docking port. All you can hope is that they, unlike you, don’t put AT guns, just in case. Damn good it did ya when the crazy captain came.

>Just in the middle of the hull, nothing special, but then again, your grouping isn’t anything special.

>(Write in ?)

And whilst Pietro is dealing with the boarding, what will his captain do ?

>Continue the attack onwards. Obliterate the pirates.

>The pirates are still unsure, hopefully. Close the distance and begin boarding actions.

>Shoot to disable, rather than to destroy.

>(Write in ?)
>>
Alright anons. I have an idea. Every time I see that the update that I write can fit into one, maybe two posts, I feel like I could write more, but a decision needs to be made and I'm the sorta person that doesn't lie purely empty writing. So as to make each update longer, and so as to progress things further along at a faster pace, I propose to use the system that I found from this anon >>5238075

Doing it like this would allow for beefier updates, but it means that it wouldn't allow for as much precise decision control.

For example, this battle, once you chose boarding actions, that is what would be attempted throughout. This little side ch thing, it would also be done automatically, based on how good the rolls were.

So I'd like your opinion about this matter and if you anons would prefer this method to the one currently used.
>>
>>5240448
>Breach near the bow, usually reserved for the most experienced, but ya somehow landed there.

>The pirates are still unsure, hopefully. Close the distance and begin boarding actions.
>Shoot to disable, rather than to destroy.

The Ghoul riding the Ox, eh? A match made in hell.
>>
>>5240457
I mean, we could try it out, experiment a little. I think we should reserve the right to go back to the original formula if it doesn’t pan out, and knowing our crit range, it was already a wild ride to begin with.
>>
>>5240448
>Shoot to disable, rather than to destroy.
>Breach near the bow, usually reserved for the most experienced, but ya somehow landed there.
>>
>>5240448
>Breach near the bow, usually reserved for the most experienced, but ya somehow landed there.

>Shoot to disable, rather than to destroy.
>>
>>5240448
>The aft, where them engines are.
>Shoot to disable, rather than to destroy.
>>
>>5240448
>The docking port. All you can hope is that they, unlike you, don’t put AT guns, just in case. Damn good it did ya when the crazy captain came.

>Continue the attack onwards. Obliterate the pirates.
>>
>>5240457
>>5240463
This
>>
>>5240448
>The docking port. All you can hope is that they, unlike you, don’t put AT guns, just in case. Damn good it did ya when the crazy captain came.

>The pirates are still unsure, hopefully. Close the distance and begin boarding actions.

btw, with the other ships in the traders mini fleet being gone now, do we still have the trader brothers with us in the two bigger ships or are they gone?
>>
>>5240448
>Just in the middle of the hull, nothing special, but then again, your grouping isn’t anything special.
>Continue the attack onwards. Obliterate the pirates.
>>
>>5240448
>The aft, where them engines are.

>Continue the attack onwards. Obliterate the pirates.
>>
Okay, to finish off the engagement, I will use the system as mentioned previously.

Let's see how it goes. 1d100, 3 times.

>>5240656

>btw, with the other ships in the traders mini fleet being gone now, do we still have the trader brothers with us in the two bigger ships or are they gone?

They are following you on jump back. For their own safety so as to not bring down your fighting ability by having to protect them.
>>
Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>5241257
Oh boy
>>
Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5241257
>>
Rolled 77 (1d100)

>>5241257
It's time to commit jihad
>>
With a hole now cut through, you jump backwards.

Shite ! Fuckers we expecting us.

Luckily, your industrial-grade torch absorbed most shots, though now it’s completely fucked.

“Go, go move your asses. Get through the breach before I shoot you myself !” Screams Sedgely. A prick in power armour, with a lot of guys dead from the whole storm bullshit, the rat managed to get himself a “promotion”. And he still acts like one, standing back and allowing others to bleed. “Pietro, drop that hunk of metal and get going !”

I’d but around through ya. You prick. If you only weren’t wearing that power armour.

“Aye, aye, sir.” You spit out, the other men around you grumbling as well.

Affixing your bayonet, you begin screaming a battlecry, heard by none but you. Your fellows charging alongside you. Half a dozen of you are cut down in seconds. A rifle goes straight through left leg.

“AHHH, FUCK ! MY LEG !” You shout out in pain, dropping to the floor. At least it was not a high calibre round, otherwise there would be no gunshot wound for you to hold on to. In exchange for the searing hot pain, you smash onto the floor, most other rounds flying above you thanks to it.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck ! Move, come on, move. Oh God, I should have exercised more. Various thoughts run through your mind as you drag your hobbled body to behind an outcrop, getting some cover.

“Shit, I don’t want to die. Oh God. Why the fuck are we the ones breaching the bow ?!” You cannot help but lament. The bodyguards of the ship’s captain are all here. We’re not equipped to fight them.

Grabbing your rifle closer to your chest, you begin to peer over and look upon the defenders. Every single one of the bastards in power armour, with mighty scary looking rifles and LMGs spraying down the hallway.

Although the battle is silent, because your breach vented the atmo, the artificial gravity is still going. Because of that, it saves you having to listen to the screams and cries of your fellows as they roll on the ground, bleeding out, the lucky ones having died instantly.

“Where the fuck is that rat ?” You cannot help but curse.

And then you watch as a bundle of grenades if thrown inside, you recognize it. A special handmade flash grenade, so bright, so loud, so frequent that automatic darkening and deafening renders the victim just as blind and deaf if they had no protection.

“That motherfucker !“

FLASH

The world turns dark around you, your suit automatically turning down your perception.

And when your sight finally returns to you. You spot a few more corpses on the floor from your side. Mainly men in PW, men the rat sent out to die after you were thrown away, but hey, they have secured the breach. And that will be the only thing that matter.

“You still alive Pietro ? Colour me surprised.” The bastard says with a laugh. “Pop some meds, we’re going for the bridge.”
>>
>>5241437

Grunting, you activate emergency injection vial of your armour. The protection suit automatically stemming your bleeding and covering the wound, preventing its exposure to the void.

Suddenly, your heartbeat picks up, the pain you were feeling become dulled. You feel energetic, really energetic. You no longer have any difficulty getting to your feet. This particular concoction is damn great, shame about the headache you’ll be feeling tomorrow, but at least you will be alive to feel it.

-
(End of POV shift.)

The pirates are still confused about what just happened. The allies that they were negotiating with turned upon them in mere moments, then out nowhere, a massive fleet appeared right in front of them.

“Have the fleet advance, once we enter railgun range, open fire to cripple. If they grow wise to what we’re doing, obliterate them.”

“Yes, sir.” Quickly responds Tetrault as she begins to relay your orders.

Closing the distance as quickly as you can, you watch as “Commander” Desmond begins his boarding procedures, the ox of man must be damned annoyed. You had outfitted him with basic cybernetics for his missing feet and hands. But they are not military grade. If he starts swinging those around on a battlefield, it is quite likely that it will fail and then he’ll have to worry about far more than some missing appendages. As you think about it, your leg begins to ache. An annoying ache, even though the doctors assured you that the nerves regrew together perfectly.

I hope my eyes won’t star aching. This profession had already proven itself to be just as dangerous as dad feared being an infantryman would be. You cannot help but think and chuckle to yourself.

Unfortunately, the pirates seem unusually cool-headed. Realizing that you are heading towards them, they start attempting to disengage from your forces. At the moment, only your destroyers and frigates managed to reach railgun range in which planned shots could be attempted with any modicum of success.

The new class frigates begin to pounce upon the retreating pirates, having made the best speed they’re the only force capable of actually keeping up. Following them are your own frigates, and after that, your destroyers.

Retreating in good order, the pirate frigate railguns begin pelting your advanced frigates, bending and tearing their armour plates due to the sheer amount of flak, a Fenrir is beaten bloody so much, that its engines begin to fail and it dies losing all of its energy.

Still, a few frigates got damaged enough for them to begin falling out of formation, an opportunity that your frigates bounce on. As befitting of their names, they hunt like wolves a weakened elk, they jump upon the pirate frigates further crippling them, and with your raiders entering the fray, their forward-facing railguns begin to rip apart frigate after frigate, that you cannot guarantee the capture of.
>>
>>5241438

The Timur and Vigilances that follow, deliver their own volleys of M.A.G. cannon fire. Though inaccurate against such small and nimble targets, a few are still caught by them.

By the end of the engagement, one Fenrir is gone, alongside two wolves from Alpizar, and one of the merchant volunteers. In exchange however, 4 wolf-classes lay crippled, with an additional 6 destroyed, as well as 2 more defenders of the pirates. Overall, a successful engagement, now come the headache of trying to secure the disabled frigates.

-
(POV shift: You are Pietro Earing, a man under the command of “Ox” Desmond.)

Do these bastards never run out of ammo ? You think whilst returning fire.

Thanks to some reinforcements, you’ve been able to more or less bludgeon through the corridors leading towards the bridge, the fighting had been heavy. The royal guard, or at least you think they are royal guard, judging by how much ornamentation is on their suits. Maybe you’ll be able to drag one out later on ? Finally get a suit for yourself. Wouldn’t that be grand ?

The sound of a whizzing bullet sounds next to your ears, now having made deeper in the ship, noise had returned, for good or for ill. Tage, a poor fella that joined up with you for the first time on your outing, has his head turned into a watermelon as it is pierced, and unfortunately for you, you’re right next to the said overripe watermelon.

Blood covers your helmet and covers your visor, you naturally, as any man would, hit the deck. Your hands are shaking, you wipe away the blood obscuring your vision. Your head feels light, the blood loss must be getting to you now, despite the narcotics. You look upon your rifle, the bayonet you had originally mounted on it is back on your person, the scope had been shattered after a nasty smash you received from a particularly gutsy, and stupid, Emarian that charged your lines. But that is not the issue right now, the problem is that a bunch of gore had just gotten inside your rifle chamber. Removing the magazine, you begin to try and clear up your rifle. You’d rather not your weapon blow up whilst in your hands.

The sound of impact sends shivers down your spine. They know where you are hiding, you can already imagine popping out your head and getting a bullet in it for your effort.

“Fucking vanguard duties. Why the hell am I always the one to draw the short straw.”

Wait a second. The firing stopped.

You stop tending to your gun, and concentrate on your hearing.

What’s that noise ?

The sound of metal rapidly impacting metal leaves you with once conclusion.

The lunatics are charging !
>>
>>5241439

You try to get to your feet, but it’s too late. A sudden pain goes through your side. You can feel all of ribs on your left breaking from the impact. Flying through the air, you realize who smashed into you. A power armoured suit, with a crown carved into its helmet, a flowing great cloak strapped to the shoulders. Fucking nobles.

The impact hurts, your ears ring. Opening your eyes, you see that pandemonium has taken hold. Your fellows in protection suits trying to stay clear, only to be smashed down, and in return, your own guys in PW deliver killing blows on distracted Emarians. Through a delirious gaze, you also spot something rare, one of the guys, his name fails you for the moment, jumps on the back of one of the men in PW whilst they are distracted, driving their combat knife straight through the visor. The man cannot bask in his glory for too long, as the person with the flowing cloak grabs him off the back of their now dead companion, and swings them through the air. The poor sod lands next to you, his back cracked from the impact that left a dent in the hull.

Shit. The person has spotted that you’re still alive. Come on, come on. Stand, fucking stand.

You begin screaming, forcing your body upwards, only for your rifle to be cut in twain. Then, a crushing pain as a power armoured fist clenches around your throat.

You begin kicking and punching, gasping for air, tears and mucus stars to flow down your face.

I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.. The same thought over and over again repeating in your mind.

Whilst swinging your arms around, you catch on something. Your knife !

With a quick thrust, you pierce the visor. A womanly scream greets you for your efforts, and the noblewoman stumbles backwards. Your stab was not lethal, but it has blinded her.

Suddenly, the sound similar to a gong is heard, as that rat Sedgely, wielding his oversized pipe, that he calls “the greatbone”, brings the bitch down.

“Well, well. Never thought you had it in ya. Shame, really.” He says watching you.

Shame, what does he mean shame ? You wonder, before you look down.

The woman’s sword. Deeply imbedded in your gut. You cough, blood filling the inside of your helm, before falling to the floor, your back impacting the wall. You start trying to breathe, but its becoming difficult.

“On the bright side Pietro. Thanks to you we got her alive. Take pride in that, and my future career.” He says with a laugh.

“Ba-bastard, rat.” You mutter the best you can.

“You seem delirious. Let me help you.” The cold edge on the mans voice responds. You watch as he pulls out his pistol and points it towards you. “Ya know, Ox liked ya, but I don’t. Never saw why he’d appreciate a greedy pipsqueak like you.”

The last thing you hear is the pistol’s hammer falling down, and one final gunshot.
>>
>>5241440

-
(End of POV shift.)

“The ship’s secured, boss !” Desmond merrily proclaims.

“Commander Desmond, you shall refer to Captain Proenza as such.” Tets angered voice cuts his celebration short.

“Oh, right. Uhhh, sorry.” He quickly perks up after the chastisement. “One of my lieutenants managed to capture the would be queen-bitch alive ! I bet she’ll be worth her weight in ransom !” He begins laughing. You turn an uneasy gaze towards an ever increasingly angered Tetrault.

“That’s good news, commander. Have her transferred to my vessel. And make sure that the cruiser is secured, top to bottom.”

“Aye, aye, bo- captain !” He quickly corrects himself, before cutting off.

“What of the crippled frigates sir ?” Asks your XO.

>Have Warwick and my marines lead the charge.

>Let local officers deal with it, I want the frigates secured, even if I will have to give them proper compensation later on.

>A combined force, both of my marines and others.

>(Write in)

Can be picked alongside other choices.
>Maybe they will listen to reason like Desmond had ? Though the longer I spend talking, the longer they will have time to set up.

“Understood, sir. And of the self-proclaimed Emarian queen ?”

>I have some question for her. (write in)

>Let the intelligence officer squeeze everything of worth out of her. Even if she breaks.

>(Write in)
>>
File: Updated fleet post battle.png (361 KB, 5586x1770)
361 KB
361 KB PNG
As promised, much bigger update, had a bit of a writer's block, sorry it took a while.

So waht do you think anons, do you prefer this version to other ? Or do you want a bit more to see if you like this ?

Image of your current force.
>>
>>5241444
Honestly I liked this style more than the old one.
>>
>>5241442
>Have Warwick and my marines lead the charge.
>Let the intelligence officer squeeze everything of worth out of her. Even if she breaks.
>>
>>5241442
>A combined force, both of my marines and others.
>Let the intelligence officer squeeze everything of worth out of her. Even if she breaks.
>>
>>5241442
>Have Warwick and my marines lead the charge.

>>(Write in)
"i want to meet this emarian queen. see what she is made of"

political hostages usually aren't useful either if they are broken beyond what they originally were.
>>
>>5241442
>Have Warwick and my marines lead the charge.
>Maybe they will listen to reason like Desmond had ? Though the longer I spend talking, the longer they will have time to set up.
Surrender, and you’ll live. Hell, you may even be promoted for it.

>I have some question for her. (So, the eyes huh? Seems we got a lot in common. You want to talk to a fellow noble, or you want to do this the hard way?)
I honestly just want to take in her measure.
>>
>>5241442
>>Have Warwick and my marines lead the charge.

>I have some question for her. (write in)

Who are you and why are you here?

How do you know Tristan and what do you know of him?

What is your agreement with him?

Where is that battleship hull?

What else can you tell?

And should there be any push-back from our would be "queen" remind her that there is intelligence officer more that willing to talk to her in our stead and he is not as nice as we are.
>>
>>5241444
Pietro didnt deserved so cruel fate, but i like it otherwise
>>
>>5241442
>Have Warwick and my marines lead the charge.

>>5241577
Supporting these questions. We should have the intel officer in the room with us for extra intimidation factor too.
>>
Your marines 5

Voice message 1

Combined force 1

Let int officer 2

Questions 4

For the boarding action.

1d100, 3 times.

Also, if we are using this system, I need to revise skilled and the MC trait.

thinking of making it a 3d100 best of 3 for the sequence of events. What do you anons think ? Otherwise, I will probably just make those skills confer a flat +5 to everything and a +10 to everything.
>>
Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>5242858
>>
>>5242858
>thinking of making it a 3d100 best of 3 for the sequence of events.
This sounds good
>>
Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5242858
Come on give us some lucky numbers
>>
Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>5242858
>>
>>5242858
Frankly the dice are gonna make this an even wilder ride than usual if we’re using 3d100 to determine events rather than the usual Bo3.
>>
>>5242900
im also wondering just how high we needed to roll for that dude to survive

well volatile rolls about to get extra spicey
>>
“Let Warwick stretch his legs, have those frigates secured. And as for the so-called “queen” ? I will meet her and see what she is made of, but have the intelligence officer present.” You state your orders before marching off of the bridge. Your eye continues to ache.
.
.
.
A beaten and bruised woman sits before you. Her azure blue eyes glaring at everything in front of her. You heard that her visor got cracked, just like yours, but here eyes are still there, damned genehancements. Wavy platinum blonde hair reaches her shoulders, her face, a fair complexion once but now it is marred by bruises, scars, and droplets of blood. Her overall build appears to be quite athletic, her height reaching roughly to your own, if not slightly taller. As it currently stands, strong handcuffs are employed to keep her locked down on her seat and prevent any ease of movement.

The room you are in is the same as the one in which you interrogated Lashawn. The only difference now, is the man standing in the corner. The intelligence officer, their reflexive helm repaired, no longer showcasing even a single scratch, the uniform is meticulously cleaned and groomed, looking parade ready as you can get. They are standing ramrod straight, hands behind their back, the twin blades at their belt. Even you are starting to feel a little creeped out as you have not seen even a single muscle twitch, hell, you can barely tell that they are breathing.


“Well then, my lady. You look dishevelled.” You say with a smirk. In response, she spits in your face.

The good eye as well. You feel anger rising from the bottom of your gut.

Wiping away the spit, you reopen your eye, only to find the intelligence officer extending you a handkerchief. Taking it, you clean your face as the person returns to their stone like position.

“Now.” You say in the harshest tone you can. “I will give you a choice. We can either converse here like nobles, or I can leave you to this here fine man. An intelligence officer of our great empire. And believe me, I am far gentler than him. You will either tell me what I want, or I will have him extract everything, from you. Either way, I will get what I want. One way allows you to keep yourself whole, the other, well. You might, survive. But I doubt that there would be anything left of you then.”

You are now reminded of that Emarian noblewoman back when you and general Honma stormed that bunker complex. Seems being feisty comes naturally to Emarians.

The woman does not respond to your words, simply glaring at you, but you do notice that she now begins to cast glances towards the statue like man in the room.

“How about we start with some introductions ? I am Knight-Captain Fergus Proenza of the Unbroken Empire’s Imperial navy. And whom may you be, my lady ?” Trying your sweetest voice, you say.
>>
>>5243000

“I am Queen Katrya Emari of the Emarian Kingdom.” After moments of silence, she finally decides to give you a response.

“Well then, Kat, you don’t mind me calling you that, do you ?” She begins to open her mouth in response, but you cut her off before she can express her protest. “Since we are sharing things. I am here to hunt down and kill filthy pirates that damage the local surrounding and plague innocent civilians.” You feel like you are back in elementary school. “Why are you here ?”

She once again goes silent, at least she’s not spitting at you again.

As the quiet continues on, you start to speak again. “Tell me, officer. What way would you recommend to extract information from an unwilling prisoner ?”

“If they are genehanced with advanced regeneration. A preferred method is to put needles under their nails, and then slowly bring them up until you finally rip of the nail itself. Afterwards, induce the body’s regenerative ability to quickly regrow the nails, then repeat the process.” The person states with clear disinterest, like he is talking about the weather.

You watch as the woman, grows slightly paler at that conversation. Seems like her royal highness, like most high nobles, are unused to “dirty” mean that sometimes have to be employed.

“What were we talking about ? Ah, yes. Why. Are. You. Here ? Bringing your voice down, you almost growl your question.

“I had hired the pirates as mercenaries, as means of securing my throne against those traitorous elements whom would deny my ascension to my rightful throne.” She says with ever growing fervour. “And I had come here to rally with them.”

“And how did you come to know the pirates ? Especially their leader, Tristan. What do you know of him.”

“Little. I’ve never met the man, I’ve only ever negotiated with intermediaries, usually their runner ships carrying messages back and forth. When it comes down to it, I know just as much as you do, looking at your task.”

“And what of your agreement with him ? The battleship hull ?”

“How do you know about that ?!” She seems genially shocked.

“I have my ways.” You say with a mysterious smile. Is this how Iron feels all the time ? Not bad.

She huffs. “It’s over Emaria, if you can break the back of the treacherous royal guard, feel free to take it. That worthless hull had been the obsession of my father, a worthless flight of fancy. The armouring is the only thing of value.”

-
(POV shift: You are Lieutenant Warwick Ahyet, and yet again, you are sent unto the breach.)
>>
>>5243004

The average frigate should house around twenty marines, by imperial doctrine, around 20% of the crew that is, but when it comes to pirates, a lot of their crew are active fighters, which is why you took along ALL of your marines for this task. You will have to pop frigate after frigate in short time, otherwise, the bastards will entrench themselves to such a point that you won’t be able to dislodge them.

Which is why you’re going in the fast way. High-yield breaching charges, nothing more than a mininuke that fits in the palm of your hands. Presuming the interior hadn’t been changed around much, you will simultaneously breach the bridge, the engines, and the armoury.

“Countdown.” You announce over the comm. “Prepare to breach in five.” You say, hiding behind a slope in the armour. “Four.” The explosive is gonna be a nasty one. “Three.” But it’s the only way to do it in the timeframe given. “Two.” It’s gonna be one hell of a ride. “One.”

Silent explosions rock the frigate. Whomever is inside would be rattled to hell and back, giving you plenty of time to secure the breaches.

“Secure the ship !” You command, and as one, the around sixty men under your command move out. You’ll have to ask the captain to get more marines later on.
.
.
.
You drive your bayonet into the last of the defenders. The high-frequency knife stabs right into the chest of the man in a protection suit. Blood squirts, further staining your pot market armour. This is the third frigate you’ve taken. Each and every breach causing enough shock and awe to more or less break the backs of the defenders when they meet your charge. Surprisingly, you’ve lost only four men. And the only times that happened was because the defenders had slapped together as many explosives as they could for makeshift traps and explosives.

Another reason why it was relatively easy sailing, was the fact that you’ve yet to encounter a single man in power armour. Instead, the crew, every last one of the bastards, had a protection suit and a rifle. Hell, even the cook shot at you in one of the ships. Who the hell still wears their chef’s hat in battle anyways ?

Thankfully, because you get to pick and choose when and how to breach, your supplies are always topped off, but fatigue can be felt by your men, they had slaughtered hundreds this day, even though the defenders were easy to overwhelm, a loss of attention can still result in a wound or worse yet, death. And that’s another thing that struck you as odd. Most of the time, pirates are more than willing to surrender if they are offered a way out, but not these bastards. They kept charging, and charging. No matter how much you repelled them.

At least it made clearing the ship faster. You try to look for some silver lining.

“Right, last breach of today men. We do this, we get some medals, then we hit the sack after a shower and some chow !” You try your best to raise the morale.
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>>5243005

Once again, a miniature Sun forms as the charge goes off. Even without your command, your men leap to. They seem eager to just have this done with. And to be frank, so are you.

Hoping inside, your mag boots slamming onto the floor, you look upwards and begin to secure the bridge. As usual, it is abandoned. You move onwards to the only door in the chamber.

“Prepare to breach.” You command, one of you marines move on to plant the charges, and then a burrowing rounds punches through the door and into the man’s chest and finally through it, flying off into space.

Shit ! “They have advanced sensor sweeps. Move ! Do not stay in one place !” You command, grabbing the charge yourself and hurling through the football sized hole in the door. Detonating the charge. If they are using infrared, that should hopefully make it a lot more annoying to locate you.

You charge through the door, alongside other marines. Only for three more of them to be ripped apart by heavy machine gun fire. You yourself had hit a piece of cover. Your comm is screaming without stop, utter chaos has gripped your men. Casualty reports, contacts, requests for reinforcements. It seems your attack as a whole is going rather poorly.

Gazing over, do you finally realize why. Cybermen. People whom had almost entirely forsaken their humanity. Their entire bodies covered in decimetres of armour. Their arms replaced with heavy weaponry that they wield like you would a sidearm, their heads, nothing more than sneering skulls made of metal, stuffed full with advanced sensors, comms, jammers, everything you need to be a massive headache on the battlefield. Luckily, there are only two of them, but those two had just butchered about three times their number, and based on the reports, there are others.

You hurl an EMP grenade at them, the only real choice you have, it exposes your position, but hopefully, they did not have enough space for insulation, and regardless, that should draw their attention to you, letting your men to close the distance, and hopefully put a round from their brains floating in jars.

The two men notice you, one with an AT cannon for an arm, turns to you, the cannon raised fires. And suddenly, your outstretched arm is gone.

You cannot help but scream out in pain as you fall to the floor. Luckily, you didn’t die from the shock, that would have been rather embarrassing for someone like you.

FUCK ! IT HURTS ! Gritting your teeth, you raise, holding your rifle with one hand, and you begin spraying fire. Your shouting merging with the would be booms, were there not a massive hole in the hull.
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>>5243008

-
(End of POV shift.)

The woman had not provided anything else, maintaining her silence, maybe you could ask more questions of her ? Of course, throwing her to the intelligence officer might be the valid choice, or maybe simply put her out of her misery Or-

Your comm rings, you hit it by instinct, and your expressions freezes. “Captain, Lieutenant Warwick reports casualties as high as 40% in the attempt to breach the last frigate. He requests permission to retreat and advises to open fire upon the frigate.”

What should you do with Warwick ?

>Allow him to retreat and follow his advice.

>Pull back, but do not destroy the vessel.

>The man was given a mission, if Baron were here, he’d do it no matter the cost.

>(Write in)

As for the queen, what other questions do you have for her ?

>Questions (Write in)

And if you have none, or if she already said everything you want to hear, what is to be done with her ?

>Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it.

>Leave her to rot in the brig, maybe you’ll ransom here, maybe you’ll do something else.

>Let her go. She is beaten, but hopefully she will continue to destabilize the Emarian Kingdom.

>Just put a round through her head.
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>>5243010
>Pull back, but do not destroy the vessel.
Try to contact the ship, generally pirates tend to put their survival above all else.

>Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it.
If it's functional at the end, send it as a gift to central command.
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>>5243010
>Allow him to retreat and follow his advice.
____________________________________

>Let her go. She is beaten, but hopefully she will continue to destabilize the Emarian Kingdom.

give her like, three frigates and send her off, she will now become another contender within the outer edges of known space, but the best way to make a apex predator in an area starve is to give it competition. she might be able to cause some havok, the pirates now being wary of her, causing her to now have to steal of the pirates own resources to gain a foundation of her own.

also, we could have iron put spying equipment in their ships, specifically stuff showing us their sensor data, travel locations and audio logs so that we can get any and all information out of her travels possible. and make her vulerable to an attack from us if we were to once again think she might be becoming too much of a force within the outer rim of civilization.
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>>5243010
>Allow him to retreat and follow his advice.
>Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it.
>>
>>5243010
>Pull back, ask Iron if he has a solution. If not, give them a chance to surrender and nova them to death.

>Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it, but keep her relatively intact until further notice.

She may be useful as a ransom and to destabilize the Emarian Kingdom further.
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>>5243010
>>Allow him to retreat and follow his advice.

>Questions (Write in)
Coffee or tea or hot chocolate? (Give her what she wants)

You said something about traitorous royal guard, why are they dening your ascension to your rightful throne?

Who are the traitors backing?

How much backing do you have?

Now Katrya, what are you willing to do get your rightful throne back? Anything?

Even to be become vassal of Unbroken empire and House Roy?

>Leave her to rot in the brig, maybe you’ll ransom here, maybe you’ll do something else.

Depending on the answers, let her have better that standard cell. After we should reward good behavior
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>>5243083
>She may be useful as a ransom and to destabilize the Emarian Kingdom further.
Not if she broken husk.
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>>5243104
1+
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>>5243112
Hence why I put ‘intact‘ as a qualifier. I trust the intelligence officer to be precise and effective.
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>>5243133
i fear it will be either or
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>>5243139
I just want a little flexibility here, not an immediate payout one way or the other.
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>>5243104
Support.
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>>5243010
>Allow him to retreat and follow his advice.
Seems like we have to set an example.
>Questions (Write in)
Coffee or tea or hot chocolate? (Give her what she wants)

You said something about traitorous royal guard, why are they dening your ascension to your rightful throne?

Who are the traitors backing?

How much backing do you have?

Now Katrya, what are you willing to do get your rightful throne back? Anything?

Even to be become vassal of Unbroken empire and House Roy?
>Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it, but keep her relatively intact until further notice.
>>
Pull back, but do not destroy the vessel 1

Pull back, consult with Iron 1

Retreat and follow his advice 6

Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it 2

Let the intelligence officer have a crack at it with restrictions 2

Let her go 1

Leave her to rot 3

Questions 4 >>5243104 >>5243741

Alright. You will ask her some questions, then throw her into the brig and decide her fate on a later date. As for Warwick, you will allow him to retreat and then turn the last wolf-class into slag.
>>
“Understood, tell him to do as he will, we’re following his advice.” You respond, maintaining eye contact with Katrya.

“Big trouble, knight-captain ?” She says with a smirk.

“Oh no, nothing more than a minor inconvenience. To be solved in but mere moments. Now then, where were we ?” You steer conversation back to the interrogation. “Oh, and before we continue on. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate ?” With a genial smile you say, delivering your sure-fire diplomatic manoeuvre.

The woman raises one of her eyebrows at that statement. You’ve come to find, that such a simple question tends to throw off so many of those in power.

“Wouldn’t be easier to simply shoot me rather than try to poison me ?” She finally spits out.

You cannot help but laugh at her statement, paranoia seems to run deep in her. “No. This no hidden plot to see you throw your stomach up. It’s a simple question, we’ve conversed for a while, and to be frank, my throat feels parched.”

“Water, then.” She finally says.

“Water it is.” You say before hitting the comm and ordering a glass of water for her and a cup of coffee for yourself.

“Now then. While we wait for our drinks, how about we keep this conversation alive ? You said something about traitorous royal guard, why are they denying your ascension to your rightful throne ? Whom are they backing ?”

“It’s because my younger brother was staying back at the capital at the time of the war. The weasel had positioned himself as the head of logistics department, he then no doubt bribed the guards ! The filthy coward that he is, he even somehow managed to convince other minor nobles to support him !” You see gnashing her teeth at the mentions of her younger brother. “Once I get my hands on him, I shall personally strangle him !”

She seems like a hot-headed warrior obsessed about nothing more than her next target. Her brother however, he seems smart, and patient. I know not whom should hold onto the throne, but I for certain can say not him. Your mind begins to race with the information given.

At this point, your thoughts are interrupted by the opening of the door, a menial carrying a tray walks in and places down what you requested.

“Thank you, crewman.” You nod towards the man as he quickly departs the room.

The woman takes the glass of water, and with surprising grace begins to slowly, and prettily sip upon it. Guess etiquette lessons don’t go away that easily. You shudder at that thought, remembering Tetreault’s harsh lessons.

Taking a gulp of coffee yourself, you start to talk again. “With such a brother like that, no doubt you have plenty of backing to throw him off the throne ?”

“Naturally, those who know to whom they owe their all support me and my efforts as the true heir of house Emari.”

“And those who don’t ?”
>>
>>5244100

“A bunch of traitors. Other nobles supporting my kinsmen, rabble rousers trying to overthrow their betters, and of course other opportunists.” She says with disdain. So she’s just another minor warlord.

“Now Katrya, what are you willing to do get your rightful throne back? Anything?” You ask, a plan formulating in your mind.

“And what, like some other cowards I am supposed to be a loyal hound, jumping at your every command, relying upon a foreign power to be kept on my throne ? So that my own people would view me as a traitor ? So that they would hang me the moment your empire losses interest in my land and people ? You tyrants always tell sweet lies, and then disappear when your promises are called upon.”

“So you’d rather die ?”

“I was prepared to die the moment I left my kingdom.”

“Then I think we are done here, for now. You will be sent to the brig. If you change your mind, I am all ears.”

You rise before gesturing for the intelligence officer to follow you out of the room.

Hitting your comm, you ask a question that’s been on your mind for the past few moments. “Tetreault, how’s Warwick ?”

-
(POV shift: You are Lieutenant Warwick Ahyet, and yet again, you are sent unto the breach.)

The one with the heavy machine gun turns towards you, and begin to start spraying fire without stop. You jump behind cover, blood spilling from your now gone arm.

The EMP grenade finally impacts the floor and goes off. The shock spreads out. The two men stand for a moment, the shock affecting their systems, but they quickly bounce back. The few moments your managed to buy allows you to comm up the Timur-class.

“Timur, this is Warwick. Requesting permission to retreat ! I recommend slagging this thing as I’ve lost nearly half of my men.”

Even without permission, you begin to pull back. “Retreat ! Get the hell out of here ! I will be taking responsibility for this !” I’m not letting my men die pointlessly !

“Lieutenant Warwick, the captain had granted you your request. You are to retreat immediately as we will start to open fire.”

“Understood, we’re getting the hell out !” You respond as quickly as you can.

Rounds once more begin to rip, catching a few more men as you dive out of the breach.

Behind you, the frigate is ripped apart by railgun volleys as round after round of fire from a light cruiser impacts the small frigate. Turning it into slag behind you, just as you wished.

I’m going to need a new arm after this. You grumble. Not the first time you’ve lost your arm in battle, but damn does it never get any easier.

-
(End of POV shift.)

“You’re certain about it ?” You ask.
>>
>>5244101

“Pretty damn. Though the armouring and the systems appear to be of inferior quality, those cybernetics were most definitely of house Roy, seen guys like those before, whilst we would go behind lines, or deal with some internal issues, those metal tincans would be the hammer hurled at the toughest defensive positions.” Responds Warwick, laying the same hospital bed you had a few days ago.

“Any idea how they could know about it ?”

“A few, could be that they somehow got blueprints, but I doubt that, those things are always kept close to the heart of the ducal family. Maybe they got themselves a rogue cyberneticist, who knows how to make and put the damn thing together.”

“Well, we found a total of six of them. And on only one ship so far, so hopefully the pirates are running low on crazy cybers like those.”

“A word of advice captain. Men like those were always the best fighters, the best killers, they can’t infiltrate worth a shit, nor really investigate anything, but on a straight up fight ? Even people like us would have to pay a heavy price. If at all possible, I’d recommend nuking them from orbit.”

“Get some rest, lieutenant. We still have a mission to complete.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” Wearily Warwick responds.

You walk out of the infirmary; it’s been about five hours since Warwick’s merry adventure. And you are now down to 34 marines out of a maximum of a hundred.

The would-be Emarian queen is currently confined to the brig, you’ve decided not to place her in particularly nice room, but the holding cell is not all that bad, considering what you could’ve done to her. The three relatively intact wolf-class frigates have been outfitted with beacons, to indicate to the merchants following you to take these vessels intact. A spit and some polish will them back in order in no time.

And of course, there’s the greatest prize, the Vigilance-class light cruiser. Technically speaking, Desmond is the one who seized it and holds all rights to it, but of course, he is your subordinate, and you doubt that he’d know anything on how to operate it. Regardless of your choice, the ship will have to be escorted to friendly lines, as you lack the crew needed to keep the ship combat effective.

>Let Desmond keep his trophy. He did well enough to deserve it.

>Promise just compensation (2/3 original price) for it. You think he’d appreciate spending cash for whores and drinks.

>Just seize it. He’s a commoner, an ex-pirate to boot, whilst you are a noble, no matter how low-ranked.

And once the final conundrum is solved, you are left with a few options now that you’ve reach the end destination of your planned patrol.

>Plan your route.
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>>5244103

Fuck ! I keep forgetting the images.
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>>5244118

>Promise just compensation (2/3 original price) for it. You think he’d appreciate spending cash for whores and drinks.

Give it to Datz and he needs to learn how to operate one before we should give him one. that pirate perks debuff looks nasty.
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>>5244103
>Promise just compensation (2/3 original price) for it. You think he’d appreciate spending cash for whores and drinks.
Payment for services
>>5244135
This guys rout.
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>>5244103
>Promise just compensation (2/3 original price) for it. You think he’d appreciate spending cash for whores and drinks.

give the ship to tetraut, since as we said, we promised a much more respectable, and higher survival chance position than frigate captain. since datz has already been given TWO destroyers and are still on "parole" for her previous rulebreak.

>Plan your route.
im planning this route since then we get through several different unoccupied systems, and still come back to imperial space to check on the situation on the outside. if people would rather want roks as the end location for this course that is totally acceptable as well, just say so if you +1 this message.
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>>5244103
>>Just seize it. He’s a commoner, an ex-pirate to boot, whilst you are a noble, no matter how low-ranked.

Go to the cache location.
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>>5244103
i change my route to this >>5244241

>>5244241
i think rok would be better
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>>5244103

I was waiting for this +1:
>>5244241
>>
>>5244241
Supportan
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>>5244241
+1
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>>5244241
Methinks that Tristan is somewhere in the South-East, but supporting giving the ship to Tetrault.
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No update today. IRL is getting in the way, should be able to sit down write out an update tomorrow around 3 PM (UTC +2).

Before that, using the new 3 rolls system, do you anons want it for the entire route and the things that happen (Important decisions will still be put up for voting) or would you rather rolls for each system individually as before ? (I will be assuming moving in force and a slow sweep, as that was the one always voted on.)
>>
i think all of them if it's a medium to great rolls with exceptional rolls being for whatever system you think that would be in, and a terrible roll would be in whatever system you think would be best in as well. just not right behind the endpoint such that we can at least roll to get one last peice of luck or "fuckfuckfuck" right before getting back into imperial controlled space.
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>>5245644
I prefer the original rolling system.
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>>5245644
If it's something that's not likely to have too much happening the original rolling system would probably be best, but for stuff like combat and intense decision making the new system seems like it'd work.
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>>5245644
honestly i dont know how i feel about having a large chunk of story progress with just 3 rolls.
It feels really wonky because we went from 3 best of threes to just 3 rolls for a the same span.

yet i also dont actually mind cuz more story faster is a +1. so i guess new roll system gets a pass from me.

also maybe (as an afterthought) if we ever get into a truly big space battle or such allow us to roll for single decisions again and not just the whole encounter or large swats of it
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>>5245644
I like success, and this wild ride will only reinforce the Ghoul narrative with even more wacky, insane, and high casualty events. All of our friends and associates will be crippled or dead before we eventually bite the bullet to some nobody pirates in some far flung sector after either saving House Roy or participating in its demise.

So essentially what I predicted would happen in a dozen or so threads, but now accelerated by a factor of 3.
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Rolled 34, 72, 75, 68, 33, 52, 93, 67, 39 = 533 (9d100)

Rolling 9 d100 for luck
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Alright >>5244241this plan wins. Desmond will get just recompense.

Rolls will be made per system basis.

The 3 rolls seem to work fine, so I am implementing the idea I had here >>5242858 3d100 best of 3. So the old best of 3 is maintained and I can progress events faster.

And since it might take while to write out >>5246758 I updated the other quest if you want something else to read while you wait anons.

Writing.
>>
You click away at your datapad, the new plan already drawn up. You’ve spent long enough out here amongst the friendly and the “friendly” locals. You yearn for some civilization, with the Countess and your peers back you also wish to find out how they are faring, but most of all. Those reports of increased skirmishes along the border. It could be nothing, or it could be a prelude for an all-out war. Either case, it will not be pleasant and your presence might be needed for more important things rather than playing whack-a-mole with some pirates.

As for the Vigilance-class captured by Desmond. You officially seized control of it, promising the man just compensation for the blood shed by his men, a grand total of 133 Influence.. Desmond’s face was, amused ? You think. At least he had a small smirk when you informed him of the decision, and he did not go against you. Even though technically he had the right to.

With your fleet prepared and reorganized once more. You commence the shift upon your new route. You also invite Lashawn to your quarters, for a conversation about this cache of his.

He sips on his coffee, the usual fair you find providing to all of your conversation partners.

“How well is it guarded ?” You question.

“I’ve had it hidden under sheets of ice on an ice world. The world has naturally formed caves, massive things, some chambers can fit a destroyer in them. So, the guards there are few. If they are even still there that is.”

“You don’t trust them ?”

“When you’re a pirate, trust and comradery is hard to build. Though I did pick out those that I found most agreed with me. That’s as best as you can go really.”

“You sure they haven’t stolen the ships then ? That our journey here would be pointless ?”

“Unless they get an A.I. or a really skilled hacker, I doubt those dipshits could put two and two together to get the ships going without authentication that only I have. So they would have to sit on the ice whether they like it or not.”

“And if they jus start shouting for help through their comms ?”

“Oh, that is very simple, knight-captain. There’s no way to leak information through comms, if there are no comms.” He says with a smirk.

Also leaves no way to call for help if things go wrong.

“A truly brilliant idea.” You say with as much sarcasm as you can muster. Something you were able to train to quite a honed edge ever since Iron came aboard. “I do truly wonder how piracy can even exist, even more so organized piracy, if all of you ready to betray each other at the drop of a hat.”

“Circumstance and self-interest are strange bed fellows, but they go together damn well when it comes to unifying those who’d kill one another if given opportunity to kill someone weaker and richer.”

“Your philosophical musing would be most appreciated in the places of high learning within the empire. Before you’re executed for sedition, of course.”
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>>5246869

“Believe me, I have no desire to return to the empire, or bring its attention upon me. Even more so to be lectured at by some hundreds year old geezer with nothing better to do than ramble on.”

“Back to the point. This system, anything else special about it ? Anomalies ? Other defences or local inhabitants ?”

“Nah, nothing of the sort. Other than the ice world there’s nothing really there other than a few barren rocks. An unassuming system with nothing of worth investigating for.”

“And how are we supposed to get those ships out of the ice ?”

“Simple, we blow open a hole when we power them up. They are deep enough for scans not to pick up when they are not powered. It might take a moment for the ships to warm up, but presuming the people I left there are still there, I will be able to start moving in a few hours.”

“And the force you had hidden there ?”

“Four Wolf-classes, two Defenders, and one Striker. Wasn’t able to hide anything larger. And before you ask, the force I had hidden there was a sizeable chunk of the men I lead. In case you are disappointed by the forces I am bringing on board, but out here, even that is dangerous enough.”

“And once you get all of it up and running ?”

“You let me go and I start looking for my former “comrades”. Some I think I’ll be able to convince, others I will deal with. You let me go at it long enough, and I will find exactly where Tristan’s squirreled away.”

“We’ll see once we get there. For now, rest, gather your subordinates and prepare. We’ll be there in less than a week.” You finish the conversation.

“Aye, aye, captain.” Lashawn responds rising from his seat.
.
.
.
Six days later, as Urtz said, you arrive in an unassuming system, had he not been guiding you, you wouldn’t had spotted the tiny satellite he had set up around one of the barren worlds at the extreme edge of the system.

“So what’s in it ?”

“Data readings for ship passings and the like. I will automatically register ship arrival and departure signatures, so if there’s someone hiding in system, we’ll be able to find out fast. Just let me have access to the comms console and I’ll get the readings.”

You nod at him and gesture for the comms officer to rise from his position, which he does as commanded.

Naturally, you had asked Iron to monitor all comms and sensors, just in case, as you arrived in system.

Moments later, a response comes from the satellite. You, hovering over Lashwan’s shoulder, see a simple datalog, a manifest indicating detections of neutronium reactors going off.

“An equal number.” You say.

“Meaning no one’s in system.” Urtz finishes your thought.

“Helmsman, bring us to the ice world.” You order, before stepping away from your would-be ally and hit the comm out of earshot. “Iron, detect anything ?”

“No, captain. No hidden files, viruses or signals.”
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>>5246871

“Understood, keep monitoring.” You say before cutting off.

Moving onwards to the ice world, you follow Lashawn’s instructions to find a specific hole leading downwards on the world’s surface. Again, the only way you would have found this would have been through sheer dumb luck.

“Well, captain. Mind following me down there ? With your guards of course, a show of force might be needed to remind my men who’s in charge.”

Well, you do have a tendency to go down to the jaws of death if you have the chance. Despite dodging an infantry posting.

Warwick’s probably fuming in the infirmary right about now.

“I’ll get my men, if they are turncoats, then I will at least get some ships.” You say before walking off to get your power armour.
.
.
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The world has an atmosphere, a surprisingly thick one at that, if the shaking is anything to go by. Your shuttle screams as it is engulfed by flames. Your marines have their rifles readied and Warwick sits by your side, his followers are on a secondary shuttle still in orbit, under the watchful eyes of your remaining marines, to be brought down after you make sure that everything is green to go.

Eventually, the shaking becomes less and less, until it finally becomes a smooth ride.

“Is there a landing pad nearby ?” You question.

“No, we’ll have to dive into the cave itself. Anything metal atop would stand out too much.”

“You got AA in those tunnels ?”

“Shitton, yea.”

“And how do we make sure that we’re not shot at ?”

“They shouldn’t fire at us if we send the signal, just have the pilot flash the lights at the frequency I say.”

This better be worth it. You think in annoyance.

Tense moments pass as you watch the output from the shuttles scanners, the fact that there are six AA turrets currently pointing at you makes you ever so slightly nervous, but the amount of flashes Urtz is currently telling your pilot seems to ensure that you’re not shot.

Finally, around one hundred or so metres of travel downwards later, you find an actual landing pad, a small town, housing hundreds of men, had been set up in the area. Frigates, as Lashawn described, stand looming over the settlement, their metal hulls frozen over, icicles the size of cars hanging from them.

Hitting ground, the ramp falls, allowing the cool air to fill the shuttle. You watch as Urtz shudders, his all environment clothing providing protection from the extreme temperature, but nowhere near enough what a power armoured suit is capable of giving.

“Fuck. I forgot how goddamned cold it is down here.” He says through clacking teeth leaving the shuttle.

You yourself and your marines walk behind him.

A large number of men, wearing protection suits, outdated rifles in their hands approach your group. And one of their number calls out.

“Boss ! Good to see ya.”

“Elmir ! How are you doing ?”

“Just fine, just fine. Who are those guys ?”
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>>5246874

“Our new allies.” He says with a smile. “They’ll aid us dealing with Tristan.

“Tristan ? Whose that ?” The man asks.

“New boss, he killed Wakil and took over.”

“And the rest of us ?”

“Most dead, but enough are alive for revenge.” Lashawn says.

“I don’t know boss, going against the grain, and with what ?” The man looks you over. “House Roy ? We making deal with tyrants, the men ain’t gonna like it.”

Urtza approaches him with a smile on his face. “Elmir, Elmir. When was I wrong ? We take out Tristan, we don’t fuck with the Unbroken Empire like he had, and we get to leave free as we always wanted.” Talking he approaches the man.

“But still, I don’t think this is fine, we should just get the engines going and leave the sector.”

Urtz turn to you with a smile, then back at the man called Elmir. He looks downwards and sighs.

Before diving onto the man, knife in his hand, knife that he had taken off of Elmir. Driving it into the person’s throat.

He gasps in surprise and shock, clear panic written on his face. He grabs onto Lashawn, and says something in a voice you cannot hear. Urtz simply pull the knife out, allowing blood to flow free and staining his chest. Moments later, Elmire drops dead onto the floor.

“Anyone else has questions about my leadership ?!” He asks men around him.

Muffled cries of “No, boss.”, shakes of the head, and fearful body language tells you all you need to know that the man had cowed the pirates.

“Good.” He turns towards you and approaches. “Now, captain. The decision is yours, and I naturally owe you one, but I’d like to take my men and be allowed to act on my own. As I said, I’ll deal with whomever I can deal, and sway whomever I can sway. Just tell me when and where, I will have a force ready to assist you. Of course, if you want for me to stick along like Desmond, that’s acceptable too, but I think I can be more useful if I am given autonomy.”

>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”

>”You and your men are officially drafted. Welcome home, soldier.”

>”No, a ruthless monster like you will forever be a threat.” (Attack him)

>(Write in)
>>
And as to avoid waiting for the other time, once you anons make your decision.

Please give me 3d100 best of 3 for the following sweep of the system you are moving onto. (Presuming slow and methodical unless stated otherwise.)
>>
Rolled 69, 75, 60 = 204 (3d100)

>>5246876
>>”You and your men are officially drafted. Welcome home, soldier.”
>>
>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”
> and as incentive to not stab me in the fucking back and flee I should be able to slip you some ships every now and then for juicy bits of intelligence….or netronium parts or rare materials. Missiles, ships, guns, info, armor, may even be able to scrounge you up an Exo(whatever the fuck that animal boarding ai thing was in thread 1) after all I don’t care if theirs a pirate king in these backwaters, as long as they don’t go after me, my boss or our interests.

Also
>ask iron if he can make a droid brain and AI for a Exo Suit (I forget what the thing we captured in thread 1 was called but it ripped through a light cruiser so…..)
>>
Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>
>>5246897
Can we petition QM to switch to a roll under system?
>>
Rolled 79, 29, 40 = 148 (3d100)

>>5246879
>>
>>5246876
>>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”
>>
Rolled 97, 94, 19 = 210 (3d100)

>>5246876
>>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”
>>
>>5246897
Since I didn’t roll 3d100 I think it should be stricken from the record
>>
File: download.jpg (68 KB, 600x879)
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68 KB JPG
>>5246942
>>
Rolled 54, 19, 1 = 74 (3d100)

>>5246879
>>
>>5246990
Thank god, we already had 3
>>
Rolled 96, 80, 54 = 230 (3d100)

>>5246876
>”You and your men are officially drafted. Welcome home, soldier.”
>>
>>5246992
Indeed thank god
>>
>>5246876
>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”
>>
>>5246876
>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”

banking on the fact this dude isnt supported by some org capable of smuggling out prototype tech n shit from the unbroken empire and thirsting for the blood of the dude we want dead
+ the enemy of my enemy... no need to drive this dude in a corner before we absolutly have to
>>
>>5246876
>”Fine. Just be prepared to meet me when I call for you.”

>>5247099
Anon, WE'RE going to be the one smuggling fancy tech and weapons to this guy, once we're done with Tristan that is.
>>
Draft 2

Let him do his thing 6

>>5246882
>>5246903
>>5246938

These rolls. for a total of 97 94 60 (pretty fucking good)

Writing.
>>
“Then you shall have it. Remember, you now, though unofficially, serve the imperial navy. If I get word that you continue to harass imperial shipping, or the shipping of its allies, the fleet you were riding along with for so long will come after you, not only that, it will be even bigger, greater, deadlier. However, know this, those that serve the empire are rewarded. I hope my intentions come across ?”

“They do, captain. As I said, I can guarantee that Tristan will be dead long before we ever become foes, as long as I am in command, the pirates of this sector will never bother the Unbroken Empire.” Lashawn responds.

“The end of my current planned patrol will see us return to friendly territory, be prepared to meet me there once you secured everything you think you can.” Saying so you turn around, your back to the far crueller man than you had expected and his pirates, marching towards the shuttle. The marines around you had long since fanned out, and now they are beginning to tighten the formation ensuring your safety as you depart.

As the shuttle ramp rises you watch as the pirates had begun to scramble, the frigates slowly starting up their reactors begin to slowly shake, the massive icicles falling and breaking apart on the ground. It seems that the ships were ready to go the moment they were unlocked. The last sight that you witness is that of Urtz shouting out orders, his now bloodstained clothing visibly illuminated by the artificial lights. The ramp shuts closed. Leaving only the lighting provided by the vessel, finding your seat, you begin to wonder how much you can trust the man’s words, and if he won’t be another great devil unleashed upon mankind, but as long as he keeps to his agreement, it is unlikely that you will ever hear of him. Intelligence never really gave a damn about subspacers slaughtering each other, as long as it never threatens the empire’s interests.
.
.
.
Those fingers creep you out. Each and every single one had more or less opened up to five different ones, for a total of twenty-five. Every single one moves entirely independently from another. A single tube-like object of exposed wiring and chips are constantly moved about and worked on. It reaches the length of perhaps twenty or so, perhaps a little more, centimetres, with a diameter of ten centimetres. It is odd to think that such a small thing could become one of the deadliest, if not the deadliest pieces of equipment upon land, so terrifying that even battleship captains will try their damndest to keep away if one approaches. An A.I. core.

“It’s that simple ?” You finally ask.

“For most ? No, it could be considered exceptionally difficult, but I had worked on exo-suits before, and their A.I. programming is pretty standard and easy to do compared to Alpha cores. Even I must admit that I will need to work for a long time to create one of those.” Responds Iron, whom you’d bugged about making you one.
>>
>>5248068

“There’s a difference ?” You question, you were never particularly into techno mumbo-jumbo.

“Massive. Alpha cores are the most advanced, so advanced in fact that sometimes it is hard to distinguish them from actual humans in how they react to outside stimulus.”

“So they’re people ?”

“A philosophical question. At the end of the day, we humans are biological computers, as some would claim. A.I.s however, lack imagination, they lack creativity. Oh, they can modify, they can make and improve upon. But they are incapable of creation. True creation. The reactions done by an Alpha core are simple mimicry, something made to put our minds at ease. At the end of the day, an Alpha core’s personality can be changed whenever wanted, it has strict guidelines that enforce its thinking and decisions. The same applies to other cores, if to a lesser extent.”

“I don’t know, that does sound like some people I had met.” You say with a smirk, popping some nuts you brought along with you.

“Ah yes, some can be quite zealous in their tasks. Now, for the cores, an Alpha could be used to run an entire world, it would require insane amount of material and energy to set up the infrastructure to allow it to do so, but it is possible. Though more often than not, you will find such cores on important fortifications, space stations, bunker lines. Then there are Beta, Gamma, Delta and finally Epsilon. Each and every simpler and less capable than the last. The one employed in exo-suits are of the Epsilon type, occasionally, for larger suits, Delta cores are employed.

Epsilon type is closer to intellect to that of an animal, one of the reasons why they are usually designed to act like them. It is also the type I am making right now.”

“Sound like a lot of investment for something as dumb as an animal. Especially for something so feared.”

“Occasionally, it can be an issue, but it usually suffices. An animal, unlike a V.I. can still adapt to its surroundings. It attacks via instinct superimposed on a library of military knowledge. It is its ability to adapt that makes its so dangerous. Drop one behind enemy lines and watch as entire armoured columns will be annihilated. And then, just like an ant, it will begin to dig tunnels underground and disappear, further harassing enemy formations before retreating to friendly lines.” Iron finishes his long-winded explanation.

“You sound more excited about it than me, and I asked you to make the damned thing. What, did your wrinkled headedness have a part in creation of A.I.s as well ?” You ask whilst laughing.

“Yes.” Bluntly he responds.

You nearly choke. That was what ? Nearly six hundred years ago ?

“Can i-“

“No.” He cuts you off.

Grumbling, you look at him, before sighing. “So, will it work ?”
>>
>>5248069

“Once you acquire the necessary materials to insulate the A.I., yes. I cannot help you with that, as for the exo-suit ? That will be even more expensive to acquire. Exceptionally rare as well. You cannot expect for such materials to just drop in your lap, investment and-“

You suddenly receive Tetrault’s report on the system scan of the newest one you reached. The place was quite disappointing upon first glance, which is why you came to bother Iron. Nothing more than a red dwarf and a single barren world tidally locked close to the star. Other than some loose comets here and there, the system has absolutely nothing of interest, and nowhere for anyone to hide.

Iron goes silent as the biggest shit eating grin appears on your face imaginable as you listen to your XOs report.

“Hey, Iron. You believe in providence ?”

“I cannot say that I am religious, no.”

“Well, neither am I, but I think I might go visit a church or something.” You say transferring files.

A moment of silence later, Iron speaks up. “It seems that the ancient goddess Fortuna is alive and well. A deposit of rare ores, just enough for an exo-suit.”

“I suppose the dice fall in my favour once in a while, could you make it ?”

“I would require proper facilities to do so. Mid-core regions at the very least. Coreworlds preferably.”

“What if we return to Talax ?”

“I could start the process. Provided enough funding I could rig something up, something enough to process the material needed. It wouldn’t be the best job possible, but if you want an exo-suit right now, you could acquire it.”

“We’ll see when we get there.”
.
.
.
The third system of your planned route nets you something interesting. Situated around a main sequence yellow star, it a myriad of worlds, nothing of particular import, just some barren rocks and a couple of gas giants, but upon one of the worlds you find something interesting. A dead colony. Once of numerous attempts to establish themselves without outside support that had failed. A quick once over, a scan, and a rapid deployment of your marines nets you some information.

The colony was attempted to be set up close to a century ago upon the mercury sized world. Whilst its surface is deadly, the cave systems under the surface are exceptionally fitting locations for the purpose of terraformation. In fact, fungus, genetically engineered plants, hardy animals specially adapted to it makes the world seem like a verdant paradise, the glowing sunflowers, some had a sense of humour it seems, provide illumination in the tunnels. Advanced technology and expensive machinery were employed to achieve this. As for the colony itself ? Well, based on the records, the colonists were never able to enjoy the fruits of their labour.
>>
>>5248072

Their spaceships were obliterated by one subspacer faction or another, stranding the people. And that fancy equipment came at a cost, the cost being less supplies packed away for the initial stages of colonization. It is ironic, the colonists starved to death, those that were lucky, whilst others ran out of breathable air, and the lands around them now have plenty of both.

The equipment itself still appears to be fine, all things considered. Some basic maintenance and a few updates upon the outdated pieces of equipment should bring the terraforming gear back up to snuff. There will be a pretty penny to be made for expensive gear like this. So, you cannot help but smile like a fat cat that just got a can of tuna.
.
.
.
The fourth system you move upon does not greet you with plenty like the last two. This time, your scanners pick something up.

“Captain, detecting a frigate grade power signature on the outer edges of the system and another single one close to the system’s star.” Informs you the sensors officer.

“Comms, any signals, IFFs ?”

“Negative, sir.” Responds the comms officer. “Sir, incoming request from Commander Desmond.”

“Put it through.”

“Boss, bad news.” Ox says. You are certain that by now Tetrault had decided to have the man assassinated. “Those are runner frigs. There must be a sizeable force nearby if they are stationed like this.”

“Captain, the frigate nearby the star is picking up in power.” Interjects the sensors officer.

“Desmond, what would you do if your “runner frig” informed you of an enemy ?”

“Depends on what they say. Based on how fast they scrambled, I doubt they were able to pick up the entire fleet, most like got your cruisers as they have the biggest signatures, but that’s about it.”

“Would you jump to ?”

“Maybe, depends on whom I’m with and if I think I have a chance, if not, I am scrambling.”

>Sit here and wait, lay an ambush of your own. Hoping that the pirates had not noticed your full force.

>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.

Can be picked alongside other decisions

>Send ships to deal with the frigate on system’s edge. The only ones who are even remotely capable of doing so would be your new generation frigates. And even then, it is not guaranteed.

>(Write in)
>>
>>5248073
>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.
Don't split up when facing unknown forces.
>>
>>5248073
>Sit here and wait, lay an ambush of your own. Hoping that the pirates had not noticed your full force.
>Send ships to deal with the frigate on system’s edge. The only ones who are even remotely capable of doing so would be your new generation frigates. And even then, it is not guaranteed.
>>
>>5248073
>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.
>>
>>5248073
>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.
>>
>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.
>send the terraforming equipment and ore back to the station above the water world and remember to send a letter to your countess for a plan to set up an proper Exo suit production facility in her domain if she helps with funding and we get a discount
>>
>>5248145
I mean she did say she wanted more production and to turn her domain into a proper sector. Having a proper Exo suit production facility I imagine would not only be great for her fleet but for gaining favor with other counts and higher ups. I’d say we should ask for either a discount or a cut of the profit for providing the initial resources and finding the dude who can make it happen
>>
>>5248145
Also really want to stop the bleeding from our fucking marine corps, Jesus Christ we chew these guys up, and maybe if we gift one or 2 to that general he can shoot our way a actual marine trained force that replenishes itself for multiple ships instead of us wasting spec ops forces on boarding ops
>>
>>5248073
>>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.

>>Send ships to deal with the frigate on system’s edge. The only ones who are even remotely capable of doing so would be your new generation frigates. And even then, it is not guaranteed.

Release the hounds and forward the fleet.
>>
>>5248073
>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.
>>
>>5248073
first of all dam nice beefy posting NewbQM!

>Sit here and wait, lay an ambush of your own. Hoping that the pirates had not noticed your full force.
+
>Send ships to deal with the frigate on system’s edge. The only ones who are even remotely capable of doing so would be your new generation frigates. And even then, it is not guaranteed.


also QM would it be possible to compute the destination of a grav-wave jump if youd see the ship jump? something akin to drawing a imaginery line and checking which stars lay closest to that line? or can ships change course significantly while in ftl?
>>
>>5248073
>Scramble, maybe you can keep an eye on the frigate as it leads you to your prey.

>Send ships to deal with the frigate on system’s edge. The only ones who are even remotely capable of doing so would be your new generation frigates. And even then, it is not guaranteed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

and yeah, as >>5248145 said, though i definitely by this point want a proper declaration of "yeah ok we are under u now" sooner rather than later, since with all of the things we potentially are giving them, our position in actually improving both their life quality and general stability are massive. could even have a propaganda campaign for the population of the world if the higher ups of each settlement disagree, the propaganda being about how they, in their greediness are unwilling to accept a simple sovereignty declaration is in fact KEEPING our helping hand from making their as of currently otherwise hard lives easier, and less taxing on their bodies. with shows of us bringing high quality metals from fleet hulls and asteroids which could make their shitty slavtech level domes not need constant repair. and the possible industrial boom they could have would propel many of them into industrial magnate status.
>>
oh also another question QM, what specifically are those "rare resources" which an exo needs? and are they also able to be used in other things than just exo's?

ps. this was just a thought right, but could we follow the trail of information as to where the previous exo that we found ended up? that it might have gone missing in action or been damaged such that we can try to retrieve it again without needing to necessarily buy it back?
>>
Follow 5

Wait + send frigates 2

Scramble + send frigates 2

>>5248561

>also QM would it be possible to compute the destination of a grav-wave jump if youd see the ship jump? something akin to drawing a imaginery line and checking which stars lay closest to that line? or can ships change course significantly while in ftl?

Since you more or less "ride the waves" it means that you can very easily follow any ship that leaves and you saw which way they were going, unless of course they decide to shift in the middle of their travel back to realspace. If someone's confident enough about their supplies and willing to waste a shitton of time, they could potentially get away from you. Any ships that run away have a time advantage, meaning you might only detect signatures of a shift, and not the ship itself. They could also try to hide in the system, leaving false signatures.

>>5249029

Rare ores are more or less a catch all term for materials that are exceptionally tough yet extremely light, with amazing insulating qualities whilst others are incredibly conductive.

These materials are a bitch to process and are exceptionally difficult to turn into proper alloy mixtures and are very difficult to shape.

As for what else are they used ? A.I. infrastructure being the primary "civilian" use for it. Usually these materials are employed for exo-suits, power armours, tanks, aircrafts, cybernetics parts, etc.

Though due to the exceptional effort required to make these materials into something useful, they tend to only be employed on exo-suits and battleship hulls (Word of advice, DO NOT fight a coreworlds made battleship unless you have your own. Ships with such hulls are rare and exceptionally deadly.)

The most notable exception for this general rule of thumb would be His Imperial Majesty's 9th dragoon regiment "The Damned Ninth". Their IFVs and APCs alongside their power armour are made entirely of those materials. The 5,000 strong regiment also stands as the emperor's royal guard. (Another word of advise, DO NOT try to board or storm any positions held by these motherfuckers. They will not break, no matter what you throw at them. Their numbers include both cyber upped and genehanced soldiers.)

Fucking went on a rant there, my apologies. (Was about to write out the entire history of the regiment as well)

You are going after the pirate runner ship.

3d100 best of 3. For the upcoming pursuit and the potential battle.
>>
>>5249251
>>
Rolled 14, 45, 1 = 60 (3d100)

>>5249251
>>
Rolled 41, 63, 71 = 175 (3d100)

>>5249251
>>
Rolled 55, 17, 76 = 148 (3d100)

>>5249251
nice background drop

>>5249029
also fleet-dude i apreciate your enthusiasm about wanting a world for our own, but we already got the story set up for us batteling other houses which would make much more juice AND desirable world than whatever these subspacers can offer.
However i do concede we should build up trust so we have some friendlies out here.
All about that sweet efffort put in and profits getting out of it. [spoilers] no i do not think these out of border colonies will offer anything worthwhile for us as a military oriented guy either in short term or long term, but having a friendly food colony to offer favorable deals might give us some good boy points with our godde... countess[/spoiler]
>>
Rolls are 55 63 1

Writing.
>>
>>5249264
well, that went well
>>
“Then what if the runner ship brings the enemy to you ?” You ask Desmond.

“Eh ? Well, no one’s been insane enough to do that yet.”

You cannot help but pull a predatory grin.

“I guess you will find out today, from the perspective of the attacker. Helmsman, follow that runner ship. Tetrault, I want the fleet prepared for battle.”

Having given out your orders, you sit back on your captain’s chair and watch as the fleet begins to scramble and move at full burn.

Swinging around the star, the shudder of the shift greets you before the disturbing darkness fills the window.

And now, you wait. Wait for the upcoming battle, for blood to be shed and for lives to be lost. The most worrisome and annoying part of any and all battles, having to sit on your ass and bide your time before it actually begins.
.
.
.
Six days later, you cannot help but curse as a plain system stands before you. The runner frigate luckily is still within sensors range. The terrified frigate busily runs as fast as its thrusters can take it, swinging about and disappearing before you.

“Sir. The enemy frigate had jumped towards the star system that was marked as the one where the ocean worlders had spread rumours you had commanded them to.” Reports Tetreault.

“Understood, we’re moving after it regardless.” You state as not long after, you once more shift.
.
.
.
Arriving at another system, you are immediately greeted by inaccurate fire of M.A.G. cannons from wolf-class frigates. A pitiful gathering of only a quartet, busy covering their retreating ally. Realizing the sheer scale of your force, the very same frigates begin to turn tail and run.

“Sensors, system readings ?” You ask

“Not detecting any other power signatures in system sir.”

“The system itself ?”

“Initial readings display small planetoids and large asteroid fields.”

“Helmsman, we’re to pursue. Tetreault, have Commander Desmond and our frigate elements act as vanguards.”

“Understood, sir.” Your XO respnds.

With full burn in order. The occasional shots from railguns of the frigates greet you, your own frigates beginning to break away from the main force, especially the new-gen ones. Still, they do not recklessly break off, maintaining a large distance, but close enough for you to render support if need be.

“Sir, enemy frigates cutting through an asteroid field in order to reach for the star system.” Informs you the sensors officer.

“Have the formation tighten, I want overlapping fields of fire. Stay vigilant for ambushes, have the frigates close distance with us whilst keeping the fleeing pirates in sight.” A flurry of commands later, your fleet begins to carry out your command. Your natural skill and experience has given you a good idea on how the pirates like to operate.
>>
>>5249290
well, i think if anything that, while yes there is alot of potential to gain good worlds out there, having a world which has no political ties to any previous faction makes it very ideal, since if we give it improvements and throw our warspoils towards that systems improvement instead of a world which was previously owned by any of the other houses or spacer nations, we will likely get possible rebellion's on our hands.

and while yeah, we are likely to also accept other planets under our rulership, being able to have a certain system which we can be mostly sure about being politically tied to us, and only us as a figurehead is a very positive thing which i think might otherwise be overlooked. as a capital which might as well accept any other household with open arms is a political liability we will have hard times/problems with if that comes to be.
>>
>>5249444

With your preparations set you bite the bullet. Closing in on the asteroid, you do not have to enter it to know that something’s wrong as a M.A.G. round cleanly rips apart one of Desmond’s frigates, then another, and another.

The pirates had turned the asteroids into defensive installations. The fleeing wolf-classes turn about and are soon joined by two more destroyers and a couple of dozen of frigates.

“Sir, familiar signatures detected. Some of those frigates appear to be from our previous engagement.”

Damn ! The bastards had set up an ambush of their own. I should have come here sooner !

“Evasive actions, heavier ships forward, I those M.A.G. cannons are not of a high calibre. Sensors, how many asteroids are armed ?”

“Currently detecting four, sir.”

>Hurl yourself at them, they will break before you.

>Keep your distance and begin to exchange barrages, hopefully the rocks will break before your metal does.

>Thanks to your tight formation, you can quickly wheel it about without exposing yourself to a counter charge, unless the pirates are willing to take serious casualties.

>(Write in)

(Sorry, no map this time, busy and tired. Will make it for next update.)
>>
>>5249446
>Thanks to your tight formation, you can quickly wheel it about without exposing yourself to a counter charge, unless the pirates are willing to take serious casualties.
>>
>>5249446

>Thanks to your tight formation, you can quickly wheel it about without exposing yourself to a counter charge, unless the pirates are willing to take serious casualties.

also, sorry about acidentally posting in between your posts, i didn't refresh the thread before posting.
>>
>>5249446
>>Keep your distance and begin to exchange barrages, hopefully the rocks will break before your metal does.

The Timur's armour is the thickest in its weight class, it can tank the hits in this situation.
>>
>>5249251
>They will not break, no matter what you throw at them.
Oh won't they? WARWICK!

>>5249446
>Thanks to your tight formation, you can quickly wheel it about without exposing yourself to a counter charge, unless the pirates are willing to take serious casualties.
>>
>>5249446
>>Thanks to your tight formation, you can quickly wheel it about without exposing yourself to a counter charge, unless the pirates are willing to take serious casualties.
>>
Wait damn I thought that the nat 1 was a good thing?
Is this a roll under?
>>
>>5249844
nah, 95 and above is critical success, 5 and below is critical failure. we just got the worst possible result out of a hundred.
>>
>>5250340
It'd be interesting to tally up our crit successes and losses. Have we even gotten a 100 yet? Maybe on that exosuit we recovered from one of our first battles.
>>
>>5249446
>Thanks to your tight formation, you can quickly wheel it about without exposing yourself to a counter charge, unless the pirates are willing to take serious casualties.
aww nothing beats the sight of a ghoul lunging at its prey in the morning

>>5249445
my biggest hangup with a out of border world right now is simply that noone in the empire will give a fuck about unregulated warfare if it comes to a subspacer planet, eg we piss off someone high enough up the chain and they just go like "drop a planetbuster".
And we'd be the only ones to care about that as basically noone in the unbroken will even consider to care about some beyond the borders planet.
>>
>>5250953

New thread.



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