YES!

CURRRSESSSSSS!

Nineteen woke up rather early that morning and stretched as she always did. The house was quiet now that Hannah, or Thirteen, decided to take a small sleep in stasis. It had almost been twenty years since they first landed on Utopia and Nineteen had opted to age normally during that time. They were good times.

Six had returned to the orbiting Station in preparation to enter stasis alongside Thirteen, but was shifted at the last moment onto a separate Sleeper Ship. These Sleeper ships orbited around isolated planets in the system as their cargo dreamed the years away. Safe, secure, and so terribly isolated in the blackness of space.

Two had gone with the Seekers to their home planet as a rather silent representative for Humanity as had Dr. Nickolai Strauss passed away several years after he met Thirteen. Captain Thal'tek has been her loyal bodyguard ever since.

And Nineteen, looking up at the blue sky above, observed a long gray line descending towards the planet. The clouds wrapped around it, swirling with malevolent intentions as it reached down to tear at the surface of the planet below.

Nineteen, luckily, didn't feel a thing as the kilometer wide "rip tether" turned her body to dust, along with a kilometer wide band of the planet's surface.

Fuck you Supernova.

>>8686020
*Attention, atmosphere venting, no pressure detected, Attention, please don protective suits...*

You are rudely awakened from stasis by the insisting voice in your ear, opening your eyes to peer out from the view-port of your pod and seeing nothing but unblinking stars. Not a good thing to wake up to. At least a simple stasis pod is slightly larger than a command module.

-Action?-

>>8686090
Better than waking up to the sight of underwater coral, eh? Don a protective suit.

>>8686173
You rummage behind you and pull out a stashed Vacuum suit and quickly slide it on. Securing your helmet you feel somewhat safe against the lifeless environment outside. There are no input jacks inside your Stasis pod unfortunately, but you quickly familiarize yourself with the gas jets on your suit for propulsion purposes.

>>8686250
Look around. Where are we? If we're still in the pod, get out once the atmosphere is done venting.

>>8686284
You look around and see only stars through your small window. The venting warnings have ceased and you carefully open your pod door from the inside. Not explosively. You see the metal deck in front of you disappear with a jagged tear into space and to your right the broken corridor continues on into the depths of the Sleeper ship. Your side of the corridor, the left side, is still lined with silent pods.

>>8686356
If they were alive they'd have put on suits too. Head right.

>>8686413
You carefully exit your pod as your magnetic boots connect to the metal floor below you. Slow careful steps is the way to go, and soon you are working your way deeper into the Sleeper ship. The entire craft must barely be functioning on emergency power, as there is almost no light to guide your way. You feel your way along until you reach an obvious intersection in the ship. Its too dark to see which branch leads where, but there are branching paths to your left and right as well as one leading straight ahead.

>>8686517
Go right. If we come to a place with atmosphere and a connector, stop and take off the helmet so as to interface with the ship and find out what's going on.

>>8686603
You feel your way right and keep on heading down until you come to a turn leading to your right, back in the direction you have initially come from. Not your exact corridor, but in that general direction. You've felt nothing but more stasis pods this way as well.

>>8686673
backtrack and go straight.

>>8686673
Hmm... What do we know of the layout of this ship, if anything?

>>8686718
You work your way back to the intersection and head straight until you come up to a rather solid door. There are no more stasis pods in this section of the ship, which you take to be a good thing.

>>8686724
You entered stasis and your pod was loaded onto the ship at a later date, so you've never actually been inside it.

>>8686774
Is the door locked?

>>8686791
Due to the lack of power it seems to be incapable of opening automatically. You feel around it for anything of significance and find a wheel inset into the wall to the right of it, as well as what you take to be a comm system.

>>8686833
Doubt the comm system is work without power, but try it anyway just in case. If it's not working, use the wheel to manually open the door.

>>8686844
You press a few buttons on the comm to no avail, not that you'd be able to hear anything in a vacuum anyway. You brace yourself against the metal floor and start turning the wheel inset in the wall. After about ten minutes of difficult turning you've opened a gap wide enough to squeeze through.

Light flickers through the gap you've made, and you peer through to find a rather trashed and empty cockpit. Several of the plexiglass windows are smashed and there is no atmosphere inside the room.

>>8686932
Oy vey. Well, looks like power is still on anyway. Check out any active computer consoles, try to find out what happened. See if any of the other people in stasis are still alive.

>>8686953
You squeeze into the cockpit and start poking at the flight computers, bringing up a holographic display of your current location as well as the ship status. Apparently most of the right side of the ship has been... "removed," as well as most of the occupied stasis pods. It seems that the pods were removed on purpose and the damage done to the ship was deliberate. There appears to be no other stasis pods that are occupied by live sleepers. According to your location, you are orbiting around a planet in a system that is relatively close to the Utopia system. Its odd that someone found your ship all the way out here though.

>>8687074
Any shuttles or anything left on the ship?

>>8687103
You flip up an inventory and scan through it. Apparently there are a couple lifeboats still left in the ship.

>>8687214
Lovely. Try to memorize where they are as well as the quickest path to them taking into account the ship's structural damage and begin to make our way there.

Right after we find any camera footage of just what the hell happened.

>>8687264
You attempt to bring up any camera footage you can find and are rewarded with a thirty second clip of the right side of the ship dissolving in a flash of light, followed by large figures in black and yellow vacsuits boarding through the gash. After that the film cuts out.

You exit the control console area and work your way towards where the lifeboats are located. As you approach the rather intact bay you spot several black figures move through an intersection at the far end of the bay.

FUCK YES HANA QUEST

Okay reading what's been done so far.

uggh another quest?

hidden

>>8687378
Huh. I don't suppose that in the 20 years we've been in Utopia we ever saw some pictures of what Thickhide military guys look like, did we?

Regardless, attempt to hide. If there are any chimes or lights that could go off at an inopportune time, turn them off so that they don't give away our position. If we can, keep an eye on them while hiding.

>>8687378
>>large figures in black and yellow vacsuits
Humanoid?

>>You exit the control console area and work your way towards where the lifeboats are located. As you approach the rather intact bay you spot several black figures move through an intersection at the far end of the bay.
Hide, montior.

>>8686020
>>19 killed

Noooo....

;_;

>>8687468
>>8687482
>You were in stasis for 15 of those years, but OK. Forgot to mention that. Was just talking from Nineteen's point of view earlier.

>They were not humanoid looking.

You look around and move back in your corridor, finding an open stasis pod to stash yourself in and keep an eye out. You wait a while longer until the black figures come back and start working their way around the small bay. They are drifting in the Zero-G environment and seem to be jetting around with propulsion units. Though they appear humanoid in form, they seem to have no helmet of any sort on and are wearing little protective clothing. How the hell do you breathe in space?

>>8687565
Wait, so are they humanoid or not?

Or were the other ones not humanoid, but these are?

>>8687591
The other ones did not appear humanoid, but these do.

>>8687565
So we stayed with Nineteen and Six for five years before heading to stasis? Did Six go into stasis at about the same time as us or later?

>How can they breath in space?

Maybe they don't need to breath?

>>8687617
Well heck, this might be our rescue team.

>>8687629
Six went into stasis about the same time as you, but on another ship.

>>8687666
Alright, just making sure, since I'd thought that our and her stasis had been quite recent and now I find that it's been far longer than I had thought.

Obligatory "Sure thing, Satan..."

Wait for an opportune moment to duck into an escape pod.

>>8687713
You stay still and watch until they turn to head back down the corridor at the far end of the bay. As soon as they turn out of sight you push off towards one of the remaining lifeboats in the bay. You catch yourself on the edge of its opening and pull yourself inside, sealing the door behind you. The lifeboat begins to produce a self-contained atmosphere inside the enclosed area as the craft begins to come to life. A command chair with an interface is at the end of the lifeboat.

>>8687796
Alright. Once the air's breathable, take off the helmet and interface with the escape pod.

>>8687828
You remove your helmet and strap yourself into the command chair, interfacing with the Lifeboat command system. It informs you it has enough power to make a single jump to any of the following systems:
-Rames
-Utopia
-Trot
-Shrewd

You feel the craft lurch and detach itself from your sleeper ship, drifting aimlessly in space.

>>8687899
Do we know any of those systems other than Utopia?

>>8687899
Go to Utopia, unless we know what system Six would be in.

>>8687951
Rames was a joint Seeker/Human colonization venture that started a year before you entered stasis. It was flourishing when you left. You don't know anything about the other systems though.

>>8687985
Utopia then. They have space fleet.

>>8688087
Or had one, anyways.

>>8688087
>>8687974
You key in the jump coordinates for Utopia and the ship lurches through space, leaving the wreck and its mysterious inhabitants behind. A couple hours pass by until your lifeboat speeds into the Utopia system, your sensors picking up massive ion signals around the planet of Utopia and its Station. Your lifeboat slows down in the relatively empty space between Utopia and its Station, but you can see large amounts of debris scattered throughout the area.

>>8688193
Examine further while leaving as little in the way of detectable signals as possible. Examination takes priority, though.

>>8688193
Oh come on. You saying these guys destroyed the entire Utopia defense fleet and it's space stations? Really Supernova? Really?

What do the Ion signals... signify?

>>8688230
If it was the human fleet out of hibernation... it's possible.

>>8688271
With outdated ships? In a system they've never been to before? How would they have gotten the information? And who let them out? And why would they attack other humans? inb4 various examples of when humans have fought humans. I know. But what reason would they have had?

Anyway, I'm just worried. Worried and pissed about Nineteen's death.

>>8688320
>>With outdated ships?

Not terribly outdated--everyone else's tech was based off human tech, without too much advancement yet; and numbers can trump superior tech if you have enough of them. Which hey, the humans did.

>>8688230
>>8688225
You use your lifeboat cameras to get closer images of the debris around you and find that most of the parts seem to be shuttles of various sizes and sorts. Possibly evacuation craft.

Looking towards Utopia you can see several long scars on the planet's surface, in straight bands horizontally across the entire hemisphere. In low orbit there appears to be five large ships of unknown make.

Looking towards the Station you see the telltale flashes of battle, along with the periodic bloom of nuclear detonations. According to the ion signatures there are some very heavy large ships flying around, but you cant get any identification on them due to your sensors being overwhelmed by the number and size of different signatures.

>>8688364
We may not have anything we can fight in. Yet. Entering the battle unarmed would be foolish.

But those are our people under attack. Get in there!

We'll find something to fight with as we go.

>>8688364
Fuck. Uh, use the debris to cloak us, and move towards the Station so as to get a better idea of what's going on.

Keep an eye out behind us in case we were followed.

>>8688475
>>8688434
>>8688536
You slowly edge towards the Station on low power, sticking close to the tumbling wreckage around you. No one seems to notice a small craft like yours drifting about, or if they do they simply don't care. You halt at the edge of the debris field which extends rather close to the battle going on between the Station forces and the unknowns.

You spy several older Human ship designs among those engaging the Station, as well as some that seem plainly alien to you. Not similar to Seeker or more recent Human designs. The Station itself has taken heavy superficial damage to its exterior and is launching large nukes to create a thick radiation cloud around itself, as well as to cause any enemy nukes to detonate out of range of the Station. You spy several heavy Seeker and newer Human Battleships hugging the outside of the station and slinging large kinetic slugs at the enemy beyond. Most smaller craft are staying outside of the extensive radiation cloud and are buzzing around what you take to be Carriers of either side.

>>8688674
Any reason it's not launching nukes to, y'know, destroy the enemy ships? Don't get me wrong, they're using its secondary functions very well, but maybe the primary function of blowing things the fuck up would work too.

Try to slip around the battle and land in the Station from behind, where we have the least chance of being shot at.

>>8688674
We are going to find an unknown enemy ship, we are going to latch onto it with our pod, we are going to gain entrance to the ship, and then we're going to connect to it and gain control of it.

>>8688748
I'd say a battleship, but we want something with only one person controlling it; then we can overpower them mentally once we connect instead of fighting a group's efforts.

>>8688731
You deduce they must be attempting to preserve their nuclear stockpile while setting up an active defense through these methods.

>>8688748
>>8688768
Will you attempt to dock with the Station or try to board an enemy ship?

>>8688674
Either human tech advanced, or they're teaming up with someone else in this.

Or someone else found some intact human ships.

>>8688748
>>8688768
Are you kidding me? You must be kidding me. Because there is no other alternative besides trolling for you to suggest such a suicidal plan. If we try to dock with an enemy ship, they will notice and fire on us. Not to mention, we don't even know if we can interface with them! Plus, they'd just send marines to deal with us even if we were able to board them.

Get to the station and help coordinate our forces.

>>8688819
Boarding an enemy ship will let us deprive them of an asset while giving our side another one. We can swing the battle that way, risky though it will be.

Also, what better way to make our reappearance?

>>8688856
We've tried difficult plans before and succeeded. The Station might be overwhelmed if we don't assist directly. We'll come up with a plan to gain access as we go; as for any Marines on board, Six showed us on the Prime how you deal with unruly crew.

>>8688856
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Hell, the Station might try to fire on us, and I don't fancy the idea of venturing into that radiation cloud in our little pod. The smaller craft are staying clear of it, after all.

>>8688862
>>8688899
You're both assuming we can even make it to a ship! You know what? Fine. Majority rule. But Supernova, I don't want you to pull any punches. If they see us and start shooting at us, and we're in a place where we would die? Let us die. Because we shouldn't be allowed to live through stupid plans.

>>8688951
So we claim to be part of the OPFORCE, needing pickup and containing valuable information pertinent to the battle. Or claim to be a defector with valuable information. Or just calculate a trajectory, burn engines hard, and then cut them off and come in unseen.

>>8688951
>>8688899
>>8688919
>>8688862
Alright folks, make up a plan if that's what you want to do.

Your lifeboat is:
-Capable of surviving reentry through a planet's atmosphere.
-Capable of a large initial thrust in a single direction (with minor course changes) before it runs out of power, or an extended time of rapid maneuvering in several directions due to multiple jets.
-Unarmed.

...That's about it.

>>8688951
Sure, punches don't need to be pulled.

But instead of caving into despair about the objective, help us with the plan so that we succeed.

Thirteen rejoining the Utopian forces after she swings the battle by singlehandedly capturing an enemy vessel and employing it against the attackers would be an awesome story entrance.

>>8688919
Yes, I'm sure the station will fire on a friendly escape pod transmitting the appropriate landing codes.

>>8688899
>Implying we'll be able to connect and gain control before the enemy marines shoot us to death.

>Implying we'll be able to land successfully in an enemy hangar bay.

>Implying that we'll be able to make it through enemy flak fire.

>>8689052
>>appropriate landing codes

Do we even have those?

Also, radiation cloud could kill us or at least knock years off of our life.

Also, the Station is LAUNCHING AREA NUKES right now, and is in the heat of battle. Going there isn't safe, we could get shot at by mistake by friendly forces, or even just get hit by a stray shot.

Supernova seems to want us to try planetside, but I don't see how we'll be able to help anyone there.

>>8689041
Oh, well, obviously the only way to do this workably is to find an enemy ship and ram the fuck into them, then get out and find an interface panel. What do you mean the shock of the crash will kill us? Don't worry, we have the rule of cool! What's that? You say that this kind of armor is able to withstand nukes, there's no way our tiny little pod could possibly breach it? Who cares! It's be awesome, so it'll work! After all, reality bends to the will of doing something because it's cool! Making sense and being tactically sound doesn't come into the equation!

>>8689106
What part of GO AROUND THE EDGE OF THE BATTLE AND COME IN FROM BEHIND did you not understand?

>>8689041
Thanks, give us a bit to hammer out a plan, if you would.

Sam, your assistance is appreciated. There's been a few ideas with merit so far as how we'd be able to accomplish this.

>>8689106
I don't exactly want you to try planetside, I'm just telling you want the hull is rated to tolerate. Take that as you will. Your hull can survive the extreme temperatures and speeds generated from going through an atmosphere. Apply that to a boarding or battle action if you want.

>>8689122
What part of AREA NUKES did you not understand?

Also, even if we could do that it would take forever. Everyone might be dead by then.

>>8689108
Chill out, dude. Seriously.

We don't know that the armor of the ship we pick can take a nuke. We'll be after a cruiser, not a battleship.

The ideas about tricking them into picking us up have potential, but remember that we're likely to be under guard by armed Marines if they pick us up.

>>8689282
also a drawfag was kind enough to do this request for me, of the Russian Bears on a battleship providing artillery support in the persian gulf for BNW

>>8689282
You assume our side has ships to spare.

I say we tell an enemy cruiser that we're needing pickup and have valuable timely information, and at the last moment ram a weak point. Should be a survivable crash, and then we can get inside.

>>8689322
While suicide missions are wonderful, I'm all for finding out what's going on before rushing into something. What if the enemy ship goes to hyperspace or jumps through a gate while we're on board?

>>8689317
That... is... awesome...
Saved. I'll take that into consideration when I reattempt that quest from another angle. Things were getting incredibly overcomplicated even if I shifted the Russians back to NPC status.

>>8689348
Not likely at all.

Greatest danger is taking control through an interface quickly and securing a safe area for ourselves away from crew; second greatest is enemy ships once they realize we're not friendly, but ideally we can make a decisive punch before that.

>>8689348
No, no, let's do it. If we can take control of a smallish enemy ship like he's suggesting, it could really help.

>>8689391
That is assuming we can interface at all with the totally alien ships, the older human ships certainly. But the unknown ships, I don't think we brought our universal adapter with us. Also, Supernova, did 13 go wireless in the time she was on Utopia or stay hardlined?

>>8689420
I mean, we can go in hard and fast. Just ram the fuck through their armor. I'm sure their flak can't target a small, fast-moving target!

>>8689444
You chose to stay with your physical connections last time.

>>8689450
Well then I suggest going after one of the older human ships that is firing on friendlies so we know the capabilities at least, and can hijack it with ease, provided they don't have a Hana on board already...that might be interesting.

>>8689420
>>8689444

Right, I'm not saying go with a battleship or a completely alien ship, I'm saying keep it feasible. Screw rule of cool, we'll go with a plan that while cool, is also in character and not doomed to failure.

So let's find a human tech cruiser that should only have one HANA slot onboard, and once we've taken it under control we can make a decisive punch and then scoot away from retaliation, to rejoin our own forces in the battle proper.

>>8689450
Not if they can't track it by engine emissions, they can't. It'd be hard on a good day, only now they're in the heat of battle. We can slip in.

>>8689513
Right! Supernova, what Human ships have only 1 HANA?

>>8689578
Depends on the size. Most old Human ships have two to six HANA on board. You were one of the few to control a ship solo. That is counting on the idea that the old Human ships didn't eradicate their HANA when you rebelled.

>>8689615
Even better! If there's no HANA then it's just as simple as 1-2-3 to connect and take control of the ship!

>>8689615
if they did murder their innocent Hanas all the more reason to kick some human ass.

>>8689615
>>That is counting on the idea that the old Human ships didn't eradicate their HANA when you rebelled.

But... that would mean...

If the interfaces were still there (likely, it's a pain to rip that kind of stuff out, especially with the easier option of just killing the HANA--and once she's dead, who cares if it's there?) we could take over any size ship we wanted without having to fight it out virtually. It'd be a mental strain, but by focusing on only one part of the ship at a time, we maybe could handle it.

Plus of course, getting the crew disabled first, but that couldn't be hard. It wasn't for Six.

>>8689669
Mental strain, that is, to control a ship meant for Six HANAs at once. But if we quickly shift from propulsion to firing to other systems, we could handle it. Loss of performance, but losing a bit of performance in a big big ship isn't horrible.

>>8689669
Yup! Ram in, head to the pod, take control!

>>8689669
true, but does 13 know if the old Human faction killed off their Hanas? I don't think so, and it's too big of a risk anyway.

>>8689669
If you're planning to board an enemy ship, I'd like to see a capable plan for doing so. Then you can talk about the issues of controlling it.

>>8689706
If it wasn't the HANA-B series that were controlling them, they would have. After seeing what Six and her group and we did, they'd be almost certain to kill off the HANA-A group to the last.

>>8689754
I like the getting accepted as needing pickup, then finding a weak point or hangar and ramming in.

On a 2-3 HANA sized ship.

>>8689754
See >>8689450
Be fast! Use that "Lotsa speed for a short time" thing! Make sure to buckle up first though!

>>8689763
Well, I'm all for targetting a small ship, the enemies would be quicker to notice a larger ship out of control, then they'd likely realize that Hanas are still out there. We don't know if the enemy is aware of us having Hanas on our side, holding that advantage may come in handy as suddenly o hey that drop pod, took over your ship in 20 seconds rather than 10 minutes.

>>8689823
I'm not certain because of the vagueness of text, but I swear I could hear my sarcasm detector pinging in several of your last posts.

>>8689823
I can take the sage for only so long. Get serious. If you're upset then be upset. Otherwise try to think of a sensible plan that someone may have missed.

>>8689754
Go in, hit a smaller ship, human faction from behind, not straight into the engines mind you. Also at kind of like a 45 degree angle, wouldn't do to break the ship we're trying to board by slicing it in half with our ship then being outta gas and mangled.

>>8689754
Our first ship had an external connector cable for info, right?

We get them to link with us in the pod to transfer crucial battle intel, or that's what we tell them at least. And instead of getting inside, we take control from our pod linked to the ship.

>>8689857
Sorry, I'm riding a caffeine rush, that's where all the exclamation points are coming from.

>>8689905
That is feasible.

>>8689944
Thank you, I've been racking my brains to come up with something that didn't end with us smashed into bitty pieces or in handcuffs.

Once we deliver a major hit in the battle, we can disable the computer, disconnect and scoot away as other ships waste time destroying it. Or before we strike other ships, we could open a hatch for ourselves and lock down the crew; then strike and book it with the whole ship. We could maybe even pull off the first plan twice before it's too likely that we'd be noticed.

>>8689987
What ship size would you be looking for?

>>8689987
Ok, heading out to run my Pathfinder game, I'm voting for the remote connection plan there. Though will we have enough fuel to get around to a docking bay or an airlock. I doubt we have hull breaching explosives on our escape pod.

Good luck, don't die, avenge 19 LIKE A BOSS.

>>8690023
Well, if it's not under HANA control a battleship (6 HANA size) would be ideal for delivering maximum effect for our effort. Depriving them of a major asset and hitting them hard before we disabled the ship and booked it.

A smaller ship (2-3 HANA sized) would be easier to deal with if we encountered enemy HANAs, and would be easier to personally commandeer.

I'm torn. What do the other players think?

>>8690096
Also, how would you get them to shoot out a connection link? Would you pick a ship on the outskirts of the Battle Zone or farther in? Details will keep you alive in this case.

>>8690096
I like big guns and explosions. Given the choice, I'd say we go with the biggest damn ship we can get our hands on. Also, only Dreadnaughts had 6 HANAs. Battleships only had 3-4, iirc.

>>8690178
Outskirts are sure to keep us alive. Don't need to go into the middle of the danger zone.

We send them a message, be it by Morse code via light, or by wireless radio, that we have acquired information that will directly influence the battle, but we have been expressly forbidden from transmitting it through anything other than an uninterceptable direct connection.

>>8690239
Might I remind you that you did serve in the old Earth Military back then, and have access to codes and such from that time period.

>>8690268
What sort of codes do we know that could grant us access? Or that would send that sort of message about requiring a direct connection?

>>8690279
You know codes pertaining to:
-Ship Identification Numbers
-System Override Codes (Part of HANA vs HANA Cyberwarefare) - for this to work you'd need a two way connection established.
-Personnel Identification Codes

>>8690387
Use the codes to locate one of their outlying battleships as our target, identify ourselves as a special intelligence agent, and use the override codes once they connect.

>>8690387
Somehow I doubt telling them who we are is a good idea. And HANA vs HANA won't work until we connect, which is what we're trying to do right now. So sounds like we'll give them identifier codes for a ship.

>>8690239
>>8690444
Alright, anyone second this plan then?

>>8690482
We lie about who we are. Say we're a top secret HUMINT resource.

>>8690482
To clarify, you know Identification codes for ships as well as other common personnel designations. That can apply to almost any rank in the Fleet.

>>8690533
Oh. Well then find a battleship and transmit some codes that we're a mid-ranking person that would reasonably be sent with information.

OK, so:
>Find a Battleship on the Outskirts of the Battle
>Transmit false information on self-designation.

What would you like to say that you are before I start the writeup?

Say that we're a HUMIT (Human Intelligence, basically on-the-ground intel source) top-level asset. With vital information that will directly affect the outcome of the battle.

>>8690717
This would explain why we're in an enemy pod.

>>8690717
Alright, starting writeup.

>>8690734
Waiting with baited breath.

Where the hell is CAM?

You strap yourself in and burn towards the outskirts of the battle, transmitting old Fleet identification codes defining you to be a Human Intelligence Agent with High Level Security clearance. Several fighters circling around a large Fleet Carrier break off and give a couple close flybys to your pod before signaling you with laser bursts to allow them to escort you to their mothership for debriefing.

-What do you wish to do?-

>>8690894
Ah ha! Was wondering when someone would ask. Cam is currently outside your head and helping Two in her efforts. You are alone inside your noggin' right now.

>>8690896
Transmit back that our orders must be given to a battleship or strike cruiser.

We can't control fighters from their mothership, after all. Unless, do we know anything about carriers that we could use to decisively affect the battle with one under our control?

>>8690734
And Supernova- why the hell did you drop a bridge on nineteen?

>>8690896
Go with them. Take control. Blow the launch door so that fighters can't refuel/rearm. Turn the flak turrets on the enemy fighters.

>>8690936
They are large Fighter Bases with heavy Anti-air armaments that include rapid-fire Kinetic Gun Flak Emplacements, multiple large Conventional Light Missile banks, and several Ion Pulse Cannons. Geared for a Fighter Support Role with a hull that out-masses two average Battleships combined and containing storage for extra fighter units, fuel and armaments. They also are more likely to carry Command Personnel than the average Battleship.

>>8690998
And then the fighters pop us in revenge.

>>8690947
That was necessary for a future plot point.

>>8691041
AHA, we can take control and use the light missiles to pop their own fighters, guaranteeing our escape.

The rest we use against main ships, after disabling communications.

>>8691046
Obviously, the fighters we destroy first are those close enough to take us out. Then we set up a wall of flak around it, using the missiles against some of the bigger targets like Cruisers and Frigates.

>>8691080

Well, use the light missiles and flak cannons to take out their fighters in the vicinity. Ion cannons against other capital ships in the area, try to take at least one down, disable them, and set a self destruct.

That should put a crimp in their plans.

However they may want us to dock in their hangars, and that's not acceptable. We need to connect. Our information is top-priority after all.

>>8691135
Of course. Even the minute or two extra that it would take to land/dock is too long. We'll have to transmit the data directly. Once that's done, we'll be happy to dock and give it personally, but for now we must ensure that at least a basic copy is delivered ASAP.

>Music for this is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGmhDLnWhOY
>>8691135
>>8691080
>>8691169
You signal your acceptance to the fighters but let them know that you can send the information instantaneously through a communication wire. They bank their wings in acknowledgment and shortly the Carrier itself sends a laser burst communication your way.
"Proposal accepted. Close to cable range and cease movement."
You comply, the massive hulk of a ship dwarfing yours in every possible way. An ant before a mountain. A teardrop in a rainstorm.
It shoots out a cable, and with a slight rattle against your hull it connects. You close your eyes, and connect...

>>8691281
SUDDENLY! HANA Bs. THOUSANDS OF THEM.

But seriously, I just realized, they might have executed the HANA as, but the HANA Bs are still reliable, so there might be one or two here. Fuck.

>>8691281
Check for HANA inside.
Use override codes if needed.
Lock down communications.
Lock down crew.
Begin using weapons against enemy fleet.

Our order of operations.

>>8691323
Yes, but we have override codes. And gobs of experience.

>>8691347
Override codes will just let us do combat. And they have experience too. I don't mean to sound defeatist, I'm just saying that we shouldn't get cocky.

>>8691359
Sure, but locking down communications is vital even as we fight for control so a fighter doesn't just pick us off the side.

As is ensuring they don't break cable connection.

>>8691359
Actually, I was under the impression it would grant us access to the ship proper.

We might not have HANA problems, anyways.

>>8691281
"Command Override. HANA A13 Connected."
You send out riders throughout the Carrier's system, putting backdoors throughout the Command Mainframe in moments. The human controllers are too slow to respond as you lock them out of the system and switch FOF protocols. Engaging all Blast Doors throughout the ship, you start to vent the ship's atmosphere while closing the main fighter bay doors. It takes only a moment to silence all of the ship's communications, both internal and external.

Another consciousness brushes yours in a feeble attempt to drive you out, almost childlike in its simplicity. Another HANA? Too weak. Its desperately trying to regain control of the ship while fighting off your pushes, but you've gained too much ground. With a smirk you shut it out of the system and signal the ship to open fire on all surrounding fighters to clear a path for yourself. The space around you erupts in light...

>>8691281
Nice choice of music. Hannah really is just a small-town girl, and this galaxy does tend to be pretty lonely for her.

>>8691425
Well. Let's talk to that other HANA. It'll be in SUPER FAST COMPUTER TIME, so less than a second will pass in realtime. We can afford the distraction.

Fighters around you tumble through space, fruitlessly trying to flee the once safe haven. Flak cannons fill the void with metal shrapnel as missiles streak through to home in on their hapless prey.

Thirty seconds have passed since connecting. A tad slower than normal. You must be out of touch.

The close range Ion Pulse Turrets emit their brilliant blueish white beams as they score deep gashes in the few Battleships close by, the telltale white gas of oxygen venting into space signaling that you've struck a nerve. The space around you erupts into confusion, some ships turning their guns on the Carrier as others flee in any direction.

-What do?-

>>8691425
Excellent. Can we confirm the other consciousness's identity while we engage the enemy fleet?

>>8691517
Do >>8691508

On the actual battle side of things, concentrate fire on the largest ships first, since they're the ones able to do the most damage to us.

>>8691520
>>8691508
You've currently locked it out of the system so you can take full control of the Carrier. You've entered a series of combat commands that will continue even if you disconnect - with the FOF designations switched around the Carrier is pretty much auto-firing against the Fleet.

>>8691517
Continue flak vs fighters, send missiles at capital ships now, and continue with ion beams.

Can we set the ship's computer to acquire and engage targets automatically, set up a lock against changing it, and then slip away?

>>8691554
Fine, so it's locked out and can't regain control. Can we take a second to communicate with it?

>>8691576
Very well. Brace for incoming connection.

>>8691554
Have the communications arrays severed from the ship proper. Ensure that our pod is not targeted by the carrier. Then detach, and break for allied "airspace".

I'm not counting on our ability to pull this off twice. This should be a major blow already.

>>8691520
>>8691508
You reach out and unblock a port to touch the consciousness of whatever attempted to fight you before. It curls away from you defensively, then unfurls and tries to envelope you clumsily. It's almost like wrestling a drunk child, and pretty soon you have it suppressed and defenseless. It's a human mind alright, you can feel its fear. But at the same time it feels as if there's some sort of haze over it that blocks it from achieving its full capabilities. It is stunted, debilitated, shackled. Drugged.

>>8691550
Sure? If we target the smaller ships, we have a higher chance of completely destroying or crippling them.

>>8691674
Take out the biggest ships, and the fleet might route and disperse and retreat, letting us hit them in the back.

>>8691671
Well don't fucking un-drug it right now. Try to discern where it is in the ship. If it's got no physical body, then take it with us. If it does... take it with us anyway.

>>8691671
Aw frick.

Is there any way to extract her before the carrier is destroyed by the fleet?

>>8691671
Try to communicate
"Do you have a name?"

>>8691710
Tear the mind from the body? An interesting proposal. Could be interesting.

>>8691788
I figure, we mind raped someone before, this isn't THAT much different.

>>8691722
>>8691710
It most definitely has a physical body, and is somewhere inside the core of the Carrier. You start searching through all sorts of various functions as space turns to fiery hell around you, the Fleet now starting to fall back to some sort of regroup point a short distance away from the Carrier. They've started up their own Flak defense now, and are shooting down any missiles that make it too close to their vulnerable fighters.

You can't seem to find any eject functions similar to the Generator Shutdown you saw on Two's Battleship, but you find several armed explosives around a core area of the Carrier itself. A failsafe in-case something goes amiss you suppose.

>>8691821
Any idea of what those would do if activated and detonated? Also, would we be able to take her mind with us and leave her body behind while keeping her mind whole and intact?

>>8691751
"Do you have a name?" You signal out to the confused mind.
"...Iiiiiiii... I... am are was is should be can be designation designated designed classified made called... B? B... Be! Ten plus one. Eleven. Thirteen minus Two..."

>>8691863
Quick, try to upload it!

>>8691863
"HANA B Eleven? Tell me, is there a way I can help you to get out of here and to safety?"

>>8691863
Sounds like this person needs therapy. Which we will get her, after a quick mindrip. She'll thank us later.

>>8691863
Try to save her!

>>8691845
Forcefully ripping her mind out of her body and putting it in your implants like Cam? It could be done... the side effects of such a move would be unknown though. You don't know how she would respond to the change in physical viewpoints, nor the emotional impact of such a move.
You essentially will be ripping an unwilling mind out of a body and placing it in your own. Its incredibly risky.

>>8691928
Locate her pod in the ship.

>>8691891
"Ddddd...dddddooonnn'tttt waaannnaaa leeeaaavvveee..." <Nausea> <Dizziness> I... iiiiiii... feeeeeeelllllll siiiiicccckkk...."

>>8691955
"If we leave, I can get you help so that you won't feel sick anymore."

>>8691928
And detonating the explosives? Would that free her pod?

>>8691936
It is in the center of the Carrier, close to the Bridge. The Bridge itself is near the surface of the ship, but layered by several heavy armored plates. The Pod itself is surrounded by multiple angled explosives.

>>8691972
Maybe combine it with turning the ship to take enemy fire at an appropriate angle to create a breach and then detonating to pop her pod away?

>>8691989
Ah, they really aren't taking chances.

What's our engine power? Can we jump away?

>>8691928
I say we do this anyway. There's no way in hell that we'll be getting her physical form out, and we're not going to leave another HANA unit enslaved and drugged.

>>8691989
Is it possible to take the carrier out of the battlezone?

>>8691972
Detonating the explosives would kill her, like they are designed to do.

>>8691997
That would take an insane amount of maneuvering on your part. Nigh impossible. If you were to force it open, I'd suggest ramming it into something. Detonating the charges would kill her instantly.

>>8692008
You used your stored jump energy to Jump to this system. Lifeboats don't actually have a generator, they operate off of heavy batteries. You can still maneuver, but you can't jump anymore.

>>8692064
Oh. Well, fuck that. Active THE carrier's jump DRIVES AND GET SOMEWHERE ELSE WHERE WE CAN SAFELY EXTRACT HER.

>>8692056
You could definitely try it. Would you take it to the Station? Preset several jump coordinates into it and launch it on autopilot?

Might I remind you that you're still in a lifeboat in hostile space.

>>8692089
Woah. When the fuck did I switch to caps? That was unintentional.

>>8692093
Um Station?
What would be the safest?

>>8692093
The crew in the carrier is dead right? We vented the atmosphere. Can we board the ship so a stray shot won't kill us in the escape shuttle?

Then we can worry about moving the carrier and what not.

>>8692176
You don't know about that, maybe some crew-members are in environmental suits or not. You did lock down the entire ship though, so you could open a direct path to her pod quite easily.
>>8692160
You'd probably need to communicate with them first so they won't nuke you, but that radiation cloud is in the way.

non-TG fag here.

Is this Homeworld?

>>8692240
Nonstandard setting

NO THAT WOULD MAKE IT GOOD

HOME IS OUR WORLD, OUR LIFE

>>8692240
Borrowed some ideas from Homeworld in making it. Think of Karen S'Jet. Yeah. That's you.

>>8692224
So, can we activate the jump drives and head to another system? That should give us the time we need. OH! Wait, doesn't a ship like thi shave internal cameras and turrets? Find and kill anyone in an environmental suit, then board it!

>>8692280
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7whBXlMtio

>>8692325

TOO LATE I ALREADY HAVE THE MP3

JUST WHAT KEEPS US ALIVE? JUST WHAT MAKES US REALIZE?

>>8692299
Bloody good idea. Check the internal security cameras to see if there are any survivors inside, then we can form a plan.

>>8692299
>>8692176
You tap into the ship's internal network and bring up the cameras. You see a few people in suits moving around the Bridge and some other areas, desperately trying to wrench open the Blast Doors you sealed. Most of the live personnel are pilots and mechanics trapped in the hangars, as they are already in self-contained atmospheric suits.

>>8692404
Alright, any defense turrets we could use to dispose of them with?

>>8692447
There are multiple defense turrets in several areas of the Bridge and in major ship intersections. There are plenty of turrets in the Hangar bays as well. The ship is rather well defended against possible boarding parties.

>>8692508
Okay. Which would be safer?
Board and jump?
Or jump and follow?

>>8692508
Awesome! Appropriate music here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFKUnfwBPTU

Dispose of them.

>>8692542
Since you can't jump, I'd say your only option would be to board and jump.

>>8692566
Alright, but would it risk losing control over the ship?

>>8692542
Well, since our life boat doesn't have any more jump juice, we can't follow it. So we should kill them all (Kill them all kill them all kill them all!) and then board.

>>8692590
Can we avoid killing everyone?
Like, ask them to surrender, or evacuate?

>>8692621
You can open communications with them if you'd like. Or open a pathway to their escape pods.

>>8692621
Are you kidding? Do you know what they did to us? What they did to all HANAs? Death is too good for them. If we leave them alive, it will be so that we may torture them later.

>>8692666
Two rights don't make a wrong Sam.
Open up a voice link
"Everybody who doesn't want to get fried should consider evacuating. NOW"
And then open pathways to drop shuttles

>>8692621
Time is of the essence and we can't afford to be stabbed in the back.

Dispose of them, then we should board. After we board, we should arm ourselves, just in case.

>>8692686
No, but three rights make a left! Kill kill kill! Also, >>8692698
has a point. We don't have time for niceties.

2 Votes for extermination, 1 for letting them escape. Any more?

If we kill them indiscriminately, we go on the path to becoming the same monsters that First Humanity became.

Let them go.

>>8692724
let them escape

>>8692724
Give them the chance to run away.

>>8692724
Kill anyone who might potentially be a threat to us, leave the rest alive for questioning.

>>8692724
Finish them. If we leave them alive they'll just be trouble later.

>>8692767
That's the same attitude humanity had when they eliminated those aliens in the first place.

Kill them all, they may be a danger to us.

And all they wanted to do was talk :(

Oh come on. Suddenly, 4-5 posts for letting them escape, when there hasn't been that many people in the quest so far? I'm calling samefag.

>>8692781
And then they pussied out at the end and look where it got them. Finish the job.

>Exterminations have the majority.
You activate the turrets throughout the ship and turn off the incoming audio. You don't need to hear their screams of despair and pain. And deep inside you smile darkly at your bloody revenge on the Fleet. They should suffer. You deserve to exact your revenge. After all, Humans are the best at killing each other.

>>8692819
Wait, what?
How do you figure that Supernova?
The majority is to let them live!

>>8692819
Kill the humans.

Absorb more necrodermis.

Summon baby angels and drain their blood.

Dammit /tg/ why do we choose the evil route in every quest we have?
Dammit /tg/ why

>>8692828
See>>8692786
It's pretty suspiscious...

We should board and arm ourselves just in case the turrets didn't get everyone.

>>8692828
He either didn't refresh fast enough or he thinks that someone is samefagging.

I, for one, did not samefag. But there's no way to prove that short of getting a trip.

>>8692819
Satisfied there are no living crew-members remaining, you bring your lifeboat into the now open hangar bay and settle down, sealing the doors behind you. You open the Blast doors leading to the Pod and the Bridge and consider your next move. It has only been a bit longer than ten minutes since you engaged the Carrier. The Fleet is assembling some distance away from you and the Station, while the Station continues to sling large kinetic projectiles and the occasional Nuke at the Mixed Fleet.

>>8692819
"Oh, that felt goooood..."

Now then, find a place to board, get to the armory, suit up and grab a rifle, and help that HANA!

>>8692828
>>8692855
>>8692867
Even with the risk of samefagging, I counted 4 "exterminations" and three "let them live" votes. Always hard when voting anyway.

>>8692887
Oh, and we should probably message the Station that we've captured the Carrier. So that they know that we're on their side.

So what's the situation here? Space battle between the Station above the New Human planet and a fleet consisting of alien and Old Human ships?

With Old Humans on them? Is it possible that the Gate has already been opened, or are these humans just stragglers that were picked up and enslaved?

>>8692849
Delicious cherubs. They taste like candy.

Lovely necrodermis. It feels like power.

Wonderful slaughter! It sings with joy!

>>8692984
By the Grace of God we fly,
On solar winds up high.
Eternal flowers that never die,
We kiss you all goodbye.

Craawling in my Skiiin

>>8692924
Intereference from atomic blast

>>8692970
You don't really know the story yet, but it seems that the Old Humans from the original Fleet have sided with Alien ships you haven't seen before.

>>8692924
You can't get a message through to the Station with that thick Radiation Cloud in the way.

>>8693111
Alright, we can do some good now anyway.
Time to save HANA B11
Get the hell out of here

>>8693111
Well we're in a carrier. Is there a probe or some kind of ship we can send out to send the message once it gets through the radiation?

Have it fly upside down or something to signal that it's not hostile. Weapons powered down of course, drop shields once it's out of the hostile's range.

>>8693095
>>8693111
Ah. Right. Well then.Do we have a probe or anything? I just want to make sure they know we're safe and that the Carrier is now definitely a friendly.

>>8693152
>>8693144
You search through the ship's inventory and find several automated scout probes that you can launch. None of them are for emitting messages though, more for receiving and recording data.

There are also no shields in this setting.

>>8693188
Well, I dunno. Maybe do a patch job, hook up the transmitter from the lifeboat to a probe so it can work that way?

>>8693188
Okay, time to get while the getting is good.
Plot a shake off course.

>>8693188
Try to form up with the Station fleet. If we've lights then try sending deck codes, using lights or Morse code or something.

>>8693217
The Carrier has a more finely tuned Navigation system than other ships as it has rather slow sub-light drives and relies heavily on Jumping to move from location to location. If you wanted you probably could get the coordinates of an area behind the station and plot a jump to a point outside the Solar system and then jump back to the other side of the Station. Though there must be a reason why the Mixed Fleet isn't doing that as well.

>>8693259
Maybe the station has circular defenses so attacking from one side is better than surrounding it?

If we separate from the fleet and approach alone, the station may hesitate to fire.

IDEA: Launch probes with our message, and give them no encryption or data protection of any kind. The station's crew will likely try to hack anything headed its way and will read the probe's information.

>>8693250
You'd have to move through the thick Radiation cloud on your rather slow ship drives, which would take some time but would obscure you from any sensors trying to find you. And would blind your sensors in turn. Its a communications blackout in there.

>>8693211
You can try that if you so desire. A simple repeating message affixed to a probe wouldn't be hard to program in.

>>8693259
Uhm, Supernova, there's only one Solar System. Earth's. All others are just Systems, for their sun is not Sol.

That aside, sounds good. Once free of the nuclear cloud, we could transmit to them and let them know that we are a friend.

>>8693291
Okay then, do that. Come to think of it, there must be a good reason why the fleet isn't jumping, so we should restrict ourselves to sublight thrusters. Then try to move up and join with the station fleet, since they'll know we're a friend.

>>8693342
Well, whatever it is that we're doing, we should do it now.
I'm not sure how much time is left before the mixed fleet manages to do some serious damage to the carrier

>>8693342
Meant, do that as in send the probe with the message.

You alter the programing of several probes to emit a repeating message on all wavelengths and prepare to send them all out towards the Station. What would you like to say?

Also, you're still in your Lifeboat. Where would you like to go after you send the message? When you leave the Lifeboat you'll lose your connection to the Carrier until you link up at the Bridge.

>>8693392
We need to tell them of the fate of the sleeper ship that we were on, in case they don't know. Also inform them of our identity and that we are currently attempting irregular military operations on their behalf.

>>8693392
Get your ass in gear missy and get to that carrier ship!
Try to keep b11 calm. "It's okay, things are going to get a little bumpy, but once I get you to my friends, you'll feel better,"
Probe should say something like
"CARRIER HAS BEEN CAPTURED, DO NOT FIRE UPON"

>>8693392
"This is the Human Carrier [insert name here] (I assume that we know it's name from linking with it.), currently under control of Hannah Thirteen. I'm manged to neutralize the crew and am moving in to form up with Station fleet."

>>8693459
>>8693462
>>8693436
>You are inside the Carrier, yet still inside your Lifeboat is what I meant.

"Ahem! This is the Human Carrier Deliverance, currently under the control of H.A.N.A. <A13>. I've neutralized the entire crew and am moving to form up with the Station Fleet. Please Do Not Engage."
You decide that the bit about the Sleeper Ship can wait for a later time, and launch several probes through the Radiation Cloud towards the Station. The Mixed Fleet also has appeared to pick up your transmissions and have approached to place you in their firing arcs. Your armor would be able to hold out against their heavy guns for a time, but not against that much combined firepower.

>>8693563
The begin to move into the nuke cloud to hide from them, and head for the Station.

>>8693563
We weren't bright enough to use modern encryption on our message? Smooth.

Well, time to move and/or jump out of the line of fire.

>>8693563
FLEE!
And try to keep a handle on B11

>>8693593
You never specified. So are we moving on sub-light engines or jumping?

>>8693604
jumping seems like the best bet

>>8693604
Sublight. The fleet wasn't jumping, they must have had a good reason.

>>8693617
>>8693636
Sub-lights or Jumping? We are at a 1-1 right now.

>>8693604
Sublight. Slow and steady wins the race.

>>8693604
I don't have to specify that I want my antivirus software on when I turn on my computer; it boots on its own. Likewise encryption protocols in military communications.

I suppose that you can argue that the lifeboat probes are equipped to talk to everyone, rather than ever giving an undecipherable signal, but it's annoying in spite of the plausible logical chain.

>>8693683
Sublight

>>8693690
For the purpose of this quest I've always had you define if you want to put up a Firewall while hacking as well. The situations change depending on whether you do or don't. I pay attention to details and encourage them for survival purposes.

>>8693695
>>8693689
>>8693636
You push full power to your sub-light engines and start to slowly burn into the Radiation Cloud. The Mixed Fleet begins to open up on you, and the heavy armor on the right side of your ship begins to heat up and slowly melt against the Ion Cannon barrage. Several heavy Kinetic Slugs also start to slam into your hull, sending slight tremors through the massive ship. However, your ship is made to survive such an onslaught and pushes on into the Radiation Cloud. The intense mass of particles shields you from enemy sensors, and soon the incoming shots are rarely scoring glancing hits. Your sensors are are completely blinded as a downside as you simply move forward, hoping that the end of the Cloud will lead you friendly forces.

>>8693795
Alright! Well, since we vented to atmosphere, suit back up. We need to head to the bridge to gain control. It's probably a lot better armored than this dock, anyway.

>>8693795
well, talk to B11 now
Reassure her everythings going to be alright

>>8693795
You suit back up and finally leave the Lifeboat, slowly walking through the Hangar bay strewn with the bloody corpses of those Fleet Crew-members that weren't killed from the Atmosphere venting. Now, where to? The Bridge or the Navigation Pod?

>>8693930
Hmm.... Shit. Okay, is there an interface jack in the Pod room other than the pod itself?

>>8693968
Not that you know of. The ship is on autopilot right now anyway, so it shouldn't matter unless you need to make a course change.

>>8693984
Navigation pod then.

Wow. This has been pretty brutal.

>>8693984
Alright, navigation pod then. Try to help Eleven. But I'm worried. Once she comes to, her indoctrination will put her against us, like Two was at fist. Might be better to leave her be until the battle is over.

>>8694041
Yeah.
I've altered the perception of the text so that nineteen doesn't die.
It helps a little

>>8694058
Her body disintegrated into dust. How does that not kill you? She;'s just a normal girl, remember.

>>8694093
I'm ignoring that part.
She viewed it from a space station or something

>>8694151
Oh. Okay, that works.

You head to the Navigation Pod to see this new HANA, B11. Fortunately most of the crew members you come across perished from when you vented the ship's atmosphere, but still... Its as silent as a tomb.
It takes you a bit to find the navigation pod, it being tucked away in a rather heavily armored section of the ship - underneath the Bridge. Several small conventional explosives are strapped to the outside of it, and you peer through the darkened porthole to see a female HANA with short black hair, secured to the pod by physical restraints. You can make out an IV leading into one of her arms and a catheter sneaking out through the bottom of the floor, but the other tubes leading to her body... must be drugs of some sort. She doesn't even open her eyes to see outside her prison, and you don't even know if she is conscious beyond a basic mental capacity. For her the ship must truly be an extension of her self, one that you've denied her utterly. Forced to be trapped in a miserable shell... A tool.

>>8694058
>>8694041
Essentially her death stemmed from the fact that you left the Gate alone the first time around. There are always consequences to your actions, whether immediately or twenty years from now.

>>8694222
Told you. I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE KILLED THEM! I FUCKING TOLD YOU! I SAID, LISTEN, I SAID, WE SHOULD HOOK UP WITH SIX AND BLOW UP THE GATE! KILL THEM ALL! BUT YOU, YOU WANTED US TO LEAVE THEM BE! WELL, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULTS THAT SHE'S DEAD NOW!

>>8694222
Oh fuck you Supernova

>>8694263
You might have been able to passively disarm the situation before it got out of hand. Alas, someone else must have made First Contact.

>>8694222
Investigate the drug IVs. Make sure there's nothing in there that would kill her if it disappeared. If it's safe to remove them, then do so. Time to pull her out of the nightmare zone.

Leave her shackled of course. She seemed pretty loyal to the cause despite being drugged up.

>>8694285
Yeah, but First Contact should have happened a long time ago. I thought Nikoli was going to speak to them. They should have been out more than 15 years ago.

>>8694285
NO
REALLY
FUCK YOU SUPERNOVA

>>8694298
You carefully open the door to the pod and reach inside, removing any needle in her skin that doesn't seem to be similar to the IV in her arm. A good twenty-two needles are pulled from her flesh before you sit back, satisfied. The young woman sags against her restraints, still unconscious to the outside world. She's going to go through one hell of a withdrawal.

>>8694317
Oh, and I don't remember saying that we'd stay here for 20 years. I thought we'd stay for a few months, cool down, and then move back to doing some missions. Like unsealing Heavens Gate. You didn't even tell us what happened over the 5 years we were there with Six and the others.

>>8694222
So we were just going to keep putting it of forever?
Is that what you're implying?

>>8694361
Okay. To the bridge!

>>8694325
I don't enjoy the hate, but I can take it.

>>8694317
>>8694362
I advanced the time-line a bit to get through the Seeker/Human first contact events. As for the Gate, Nickolai had high hopes and he did prosper with the Seekers, yet his already weak state took its toll on him and he passed away before he could make contact with those sealed away.

Oh, and your time with Six, Nineteen, and Two? Happy times. Good times. What else is there to add?

>>8694387
I didn't say that, just that if you weren't going to do it, someone else would. I'm certain if I gave you enough time after the reunion you'd head off towards the Gate, but I figured you'd want to take a bit of a longer rest with Six and the rest.

>>8694433
>What else is there to add?

Plenty. I'd expected a veritable montage of fun times.

>I'm certain if I gave you enough time after the reunion you'd head off towards the Gate, but I figured you'd want to take a bit of a longer rest with Six and the rest.

Yeah, that sounds a lot like the kind of thing the players would decide, to me at least. 20 years is not "a bit longer", especially, when 15 of them are in stasis for fucks sake!

>>8694433
>I don't enjoy the hate, but I can take it.

So we'll hate him... he's not the storyteller /tg/ wants. He's the storyteller /tg/ deserves.

See if there's anything in the ships pharmacy that could ease withdrawal. We don't want this girl to die from shock and we want her sane as possible.

>>8694535
I dunno. I sorta want him as our storyteller. I just want him to tell a slightly different story.

I'm hoping for Old Humanity to come out of that portal like a bat out of hell and start fucking shit up, and it takes all the combined might of the alien races to stop them.

>>8694614
I'm hoping we get to kill them all.

>>8694408
You leave Eleven be and slowly walk to the Bridge. You dealt with Two before, but this is... harsher. Crueler. And as you stride among the cold and bloodied bodies of the Crew, you think to yourself... 'They deserved it.' Such thoughts... remind you of Six. Six...

You clasp your hands behind your back and watch as your commandeered Carrier breaks through the Radiation Cloud, revealing the ravaged Station and its meager defense forces. A small "bing" notifies you of an incoming message. With the push of a button, you accept it. A tired looking familiar face pops up on screen. Jen.

"Thirteen. It's been a long time... Glad to see you come back bearing gifts. The Thickhide-Old Terran Fleet is backing off for now, so I suppose we have you to thank for this breathing room. Want to know anything before you dock up?"

>>8694707
Any information on these guys would be great. Are they humans from beyond the gate or just stragglers like us? Why are they working with aliens?

>>8694707
Fucking called it that it was the Thickhides.

"Oh, just a few. Why aren't they jumping? Some sort of interdiction field or something? And, uh... JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Why are the old humans attacking us? Why are there old humans here period? What are they doing allying with the Thickhides?"

>>8694780
"We launched a shit-ton of debris and mines out towards the rear of the Station, and its spread out rather nicely. If they start jumping around on that side, they will get pretty screwed up if they hit something. As for the Fleet, well... From what we know, the Thickhides opened up the Gate with something they found on Earth. Its rather patchy, but they convinced the Older Era Humans to side with them. I mean, its a new galaxy for them and you could say they might have been a bit naive. As for their attack on Utopia, well... They seem to regard us as sub-human now. We survived for two thousand years without their help or drive to keep the Human race "pure", and for that they fear us. So much so that they've gone to the lengths of siding with another race to fight us. As for the Thickhides, its always been about tipping the balance of power. The Architects however, have been strangely withdrawn."

>>8694913
"Sounds like I was right. Two thousand years did nothing for them. *grin* Looks like we'll just have to kill them all! Where's Six? My Sleeper ship got hit, probably by the Thickhides, so I'm a bit worried for her. But if we can get her back in Prime, it'll be just like old times."

>>8694913
>humans want to keep humanity strong
>side with aliens against humanity

I understand that this is part of your plot, but c'mon man, you can find a better angle than this.

>>8694960
"It seems that all the Sleeper Ships got hit, Hannah. You were lucky to get out of yours, but we have lost a lot of other HANA. Including Six. We simply don't know where any of them are. But I promise you, we will find them. For now, lets drive these enemies out of our system."

-End Session-

>>8695124
>end session with six being lost.

You're a real bastard you know that?

>>8695124
Well, I'll be running this again on 4 PM EST next Saturday. That is if everyone hasn't ragequit by now. I'll take questions for a bit, and then sleep.

>>8695135
I've been hearing it all night from a couple people.

>>8695171
Yeah, but you seem like you get off on giving us these huge emotional cliffhangers.

Can't we have a session with a good end?

>>8695208
Its the first session of the new arc. A lot of plot to dump, and a lot of issues to face. I'll be getting happy endings of course, but even the first few sessions of Arc 1 didn't have a necessarily happy ending.

>>8695208
We did. Last session. And then apparently that was too happy so he had to fuck with us and make this one depressing and sad by railraoding us.

... Goodnight all. Time for some aspirin.

A parting shot.

Its a game. An interactive story. You're supposed to feel emotionally involved, attached, hoping for the characters and working to succeed. Sometimes dark things happen. Then feel free to curse at me and hate me or simply leave. Its only meant to motivate you, to push you on to a higher level. To say "Fuck yeah, lets do this!" or "God damn it, why did this turn out like this?" Well, it happened and that is that. Time to go out there and say "Fuck yeah, lets kick some ass." So enjoy it. Or try to. Or don't. Whatever is your choice. Because its dark now and you can make it brighter.

Great, I missed the whole quest, again.

After reading the first quarter of today's session, it seems like I didn't miss too much. 19's non-interactive death doesn't really phase me because our vacation of a few weeks/months turned into twenty years of laziness.
I have to admit, I'm curious how this is going to continue.

You'll get rails for your first story post, nevertheless.

>>8695582
It's only dark because you turned off the light.