The displays shift and the now familiar outline of the ring-station appears, “Furthermore, we have managed to secure and partially reactivate the station known as a ‘gate’, with Chief Dai informing me that it will be able to be brought fully online once more within a week if desired. We have also recovered several probes ringing the system and Chief Petty Officer Wright believes he has found a way to help decode the alien script and messages within them. In addition,” you shift the display to a real-time image of the debris field, “I have been making a concerted effort to scan the sphere of scrap for anything useful and come upon a few well-preserved alien corpses of varying types.”

The holofield shifts one last time and you bring up the logs retrieved from the station, your voice turning somber, “Finally, I have retrieved a communications long from the base. As you can see, less than a hundred years after our exodus to the void there was a great deal of conflict. Indeed, some of the numbers here tell a chilling tale of what we may find when we depart. I would have your opinions on all of this.”

Your senior staff spend some time on their consoles looking through the vast array of information you have presented, occasionally shifting or glancing nervously at you or one another. Eventually Ivanova clears her throat, breaking the silence, “Sir, if I may ask, what are our objectives?”

==Map Legend==
Green Dotted Arrow: Previous Jump
Green dot: Current position. (Currently Orrin)
Yellow Square: Your awakening position
Teal dotted zone: Hundred Systems Territory (Hundred World’s Rebellion)

==Command Staff==
Lieutenant Kateryna Ivanova - Executive Officer
>Second Lieutenant Dray Parson - Intelligence Officer (Incapacitated)
Second Lieutenant Robert Tynes - Steward
Chun-Fan Dai - Chief Engineer
Third Lieutenant Mardigan “Guns” Rinn - Weapons Officer
Dr. Christof Burr - Physician

Previous Threads:

1: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15474877/
2: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15527576/
3: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15547424/
4: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15558914/
5: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15581324/

>That feel when you manage to catch VQ as it starts.

>>15603200
>communications long
communications log

Damn it, typos.

I'd imagine our first priority would be to find some way to establish a permanent base that we could ensure continued supplies from. What we have will not last forever and we need to prepare for that.

After that, or possibly during that process, we can begin our search to find out more of what happened during the time we missed, and see if we can contact any remnants of humanity that might be around.

objectives?
1. Determine the state of the human race and human empire.
2. Repair the ship to FULL combat readiness (necessitating a stop at a repair station)
3. ensure the survival of the ship and its functions
4. secure the safety of the crew.

Also, now would be a good time to throw out things you want your staff's opinion on. Topics for the meeting and all.

>>15603271

>ship and crew status are probably about nominal.
>first priority should be setting up a base, imo
>second priority would be to try and re-establish contact

>>15603311

>what do logs recovered from the station tell about the scope of the conflict? how many remaining human worlds by the time it was overrun?

>>15603343
They say the exact same thing as when you recovered them.

>>15603358
i meant in more detail.

>“Sir, if I may ask, what are our objectives?”
"Unless we find that there's something left of our Empire worth dying for, our primary objective must be the preservation of our crew's lives and the repair and replacement of our equipment. Our secondary objective- vitally important, but still secondary- is to discover what if anything remains of our Empire and the details of what has occurred in the long millennia of our sleep. As we gather more information on the current state of affairs, we can add further objectives and re-evaluate our priorities."

We should compare the list of the gate network to our records about various worlds.

We should ask the staff for ideas on Parsons.

We should figure out who else is having problems adapting to the reality of our new situation. "As far as I could tell only Parsons was having any sort of denial, and he hid it very well. You all work much more closely with the enlisted men, you may notice warning signs that I miss. After all, I'm not watching all the time, and I don't watch in the cabins unless there's an emergency."

We should match the alien corpses up with the database and see if there are any new players in the field.

We should ask the staff if they have any ideas for other R&R activities.

>>15603370
Uh, wat? They are already as detailed as realistically feasible to provide.

Unless you are asking me to go back and fish through all that stuff for you rather than you taking the time to read. In which case: Hah hah, no.

>>15603252
>I'd imagine our first priority would be to find some way to establish a permanent base that we could ensure continued supplies from. What we have will not last forever and we need to prepare for that.
We don't have the manpower or expertise to effectively establish a permanent base which could supply our ship. We need high-tech precision-fabricated parts, advanced alloys, a myriad of complex chemicals, and we need them is vast variety. None of those are things that we can establish a base to make- they require a huge industrial population base, not a swarm of drones and a dozen smart and highly educated people who are not specialists in construction.

No, the proper way to go about getting continued supplies is to go from place to place salvaging ancient bits of tech. What survived here is likely to have also survived elsewhere. If we're fortunate, we might even come across industrialized planets who can fabricate items to our specifications. Trying to establish any kind of permanent base ourselves would be a waste of time and assets better spent elsewhere.

>We should ask the staff for ideas on Parsons.

That's a pretty big breach of military protocol IIRC?

>>15603440

We are in the woods here buddy, and our command staff are geniuses with thousands of years of total experience under their belts. Protocol with our staff isn't as important as keeping all our people alive and healthy and mentally stable.

>>15603406
>We should ask the staff if they have any ideas for other R&R activities.
I think the proper way to phrase this is "any ideas for ways to ensure the psychological stability of the crew". R&R is only important in that it provides morale improvement and continued high-level functionality.

>>15603454
And having the chain of command break down less than a month in is so much better an option. If you thought people going off and doing their own shit was bad now...

>>15603466

Yeah that works.

>>15603435

Point taken. It would be nice to have a place to fall back to in case something goes wrong and we need to be grounded for an extended period though.

>>15603471

We need to talk about Parsons. They've got to know that he had a breakdown, that he's delusional, and that he hid the signs of it from us fairly well.

We know that the normal protocol for dealing with Parsons (keeping him in the brig until we could get to a base where he could be given proper care) is not an option now. So far we've got "talk to him while he's on emotion suppressors and try to reason with him," "have a female crew member talk to him when he's more lucid," and our half-baked idea of talking to him through his implant in VR to some end.

We need more options, none of those are very good. Someone here has to know more about how to help someone in deep denial.

>>15603511
Ridiculous. The only trained medical professionals on the ship already know and we've consulted them. You don't go around asking an officer's peers or subordinates about what corrective actions to take for his behavior when he is out of order. This isn't a fucking democracy.

>>15603542

Who did Parsons know and interact with best on the ship? That'll be the person we talk to; we're going to be looking for the best way to personalize the treatment to Parsons and since his family is unavailable a friend is the next best thing.

Talk about opinions on Parson, and, more importantly, what do to prevent the rest of the crew from going psychotic. The one suggestion presented last thread, quite eloquently by Editor, was "allow the crew to speak freely," in a departure from military protocol.

Our mission at this point is to discover what happened to the Empire, and re-establish contact, should that be possible, with it. If impossible, re-establish contact with the rest of Humanity.

More importantly than that, we need to point out that since the state of the Empire is in question, we have no master, and therefore default to "Humanity." Pending contact with humans or Empire, that means our service is to the crew of this vessel.

We need to discuss the officer's opinions about the combat logs. We think it was probably a xeno uprising of some kind, aided by the gates, which transformed into a civil war. Many planets may be glassed.

We need to discuss the possibility that the gates precipitated this conflict, and if it would be wise to re-activate this one.

cont. probably

>>15603542
We're not looking for ideas for how to punish him, we're looking for ideas for how to fix him.

They're all in the same terrible situation, so they have a similar perspective. Some of them are his friends, and colleagues. They may have insight into his character, and how to handle things that we simply don't.

It's worth asking at least.

>>15603569

Check everyone we have on him too, his personnel files, his personal files, his room, his journal, whatever we can. We're not going to get many chances at helping him come to terms with things, so we want to make it good.

>>15603569
Probably the Senior Comms Officer. Parson was still his direct superior though, so obviously the friendship was still bound by rank. He didn't fraternize with the enlisted, Guns treated him as a young man (which he didn't like at all), you already know how he and Ivanova got along, Dai was... well, Dai. Burr and Tynes didn't dislike him but never really were great buddies either.

>>15603606
Should the gates be activated, we will find either Xenos on the other side, or improperly abandoned systems (gates not shut down, likely the site of a combat, and likely to seriously hurt morale). Leaving this gate open will allow others to come here as well.

More, regarding psychological stability. Investigate Parson's room. TELL THE OFFICERS TO SOUND OFF IF THEY, or any subordinates, HAVE ISSUES. We cannot afford to have people go crazy.

That's it, I think.

>>15603674

Stress that there's no shame in getting help, we're in an unprecedented situation and we're all in it together. Even if we find another group of humans, their culture will have shifted. We're shipmates and comrades and we have to watch out for each other even more than we did before the supernova.

>>15603606
>The one suggestion presented last thread, quite eloquently by Editor, was "allow the crew to speak freely," in a departure from military protocol.
I'm not even going to try and pretend, this is an enormous game-changing step and from seeing some of the opinions on it I'm not entirely sure the advocates of it understand what this means in military life.

To be allowed to speak freely is to be allowed to question your superior and the orders he gives.

Now, if that is what you guys want to do then that's fine. Not a problem for me, it's your call. But be aware, it's a major paradigm shift from where you're currently at.

>>15603692
Seconded.

>>15603697

Yeah, no, they're not ready for "speak freely" yet. We need to keep them focused on goals for now, with the #1 goal being to find a planet with humans. If that proves impossible, or we find evidence that humanity has largely been wiped out, then we start looking at shifting from being a military to being civilians with all that implies and entails. Including "speaking freely."

>>15603697
>not entirely sure the advocates of it understand what this means in military life.

That's true. I don't think questioning orders is what we want. We want the crew to be able to voice psychological concerns. I don't have a better way of phrasing it, though.

Maybe some sort of compromise where we lighten up military protocol? Other participants here should sound off on this too.

I remembered one thing: Dai is over 400 years old. Ivanova is over 100. Parson is 37. They are right in calling him a child. What I want to know is if there are other crew members that are similarly young, and may have never learned to deal with loss. (WHAT SICK MAN SEND BABIES TO MAN HARBINGER?)

>>15603674
>>15603606
If the Gates did precipitate the crisis, it won't matter now.
If the Gates did lead to the insurrection, it was because FTL systems were restricted and controlled by humans only. The Gates allowed non-humans to travel FTL, and therefore put together their rebellion.
Currently, other species have FTL drive systems. There is no way that the Gates could be used to recreate the situations of the rebellion, because they're not needed.
And you didn't say what action you wanted taken in regards to the Gate.

I say we turn on the Gate, and look through the Gate Network to see if there's any Gates operational at all. We'll then decide what action to take depending on the results of that.

As for the crew, tell the officers to be on the lookout for emotional problems, and have problem crewmembers report to the Doctor for counseling. It's not much, but its better than nothing.

Also, get the officer's opinions on the translation of the alien languages; whether we should do as Wright suggested and us the comm array to transmit messages in order to get something back. Also, whether we should fake a status update for the probes in order to make their owners think nothing is wrong.

>>15603777
Think about it this way, humanity built the gates as a means of controlling the FTL capabilities of other races.

"You wanna explore the galaxy? Sure, no problem. We've set up these convenient gates for you to use! Just go through the DMV every time you want to use it."

>>15603749
>Maybe some sort of compromise where we lighten up military protocol?
We don't want to lighten up military protocol. At all. Our people are effectively in a new and alien world- military life is one of the last reliable and familiar things remaining to them. Breaking down protocol, structure, and the chain of command in any fashion would begin to remove one of the only things that they have left to hold on to, leaving them even more adrift than they currently are. We don't want to do it.

>Emergency situation.
>Fighting for our lives.
>Could be the last of humanity.
>By default have total executive power because captain.
>Begins seriously suggesting that people should be allowed to do whatever they want instead of following orders.

Oh /tg/.

>We want the crew to be able to voice psychological concerns.
You know every modern armed force has this already right? Without lightening the chain of command or discipline at all? Any soldier can go to the camp psych specialists. I assume we have this common sense policy too since we have the doc. The problem isn't that outlets don't exist, it's that people hate going to the shrink and thinking they are crazy.

>>15603815
Yes, but it doesn't matter anymore.
The local xeno civilizations have developed their own FTL drives.
The Gates are only useful to us because our FTL is damaged and not at 100%.

>>15603440
>>15603454

Don't bring the poor guy up at the staff meeting. We've got bigger fish to fry anyway.

>>15603824
>>15603827
makes sense. I'm not going to push it. just thought it was worth bringing up for discussion (even among participants here, not officers).

>>15603827
Our doctor is a Medical Doctor and a pharmacist, not a psychologist or therapist.

>>15603749
Dai is over 500, Guns is over 300, Ivanova is over 150.

So yes, they are right in treating him like a child compared to them... that doesn't mean he had to like it. He is a noble son from one of the great houses. He can literally have people executed on whims back home and order around warships capable of leveling cities in a few seconds. And don't even get me started on the luxury and "glorious legacy" he was brought up in.

>>15603865

Isn't Burr in the "over 300" range too?

And what about us? We'd have to be pretty old to make Captain in a setting where there are senior officers who are in their hundreds.

>>15603865
Vedibere, did our ship library survive, and has it been hooked up to us?
If the library survived, it should have some psychology and psychiatric textbooks that Dr. Burr could read up on.
I know that just textbooks is no substitute for actual training, but in light of the ship's counselor/chaplain not having survived, we need to make do.

>>15603888
This is a good question. How old was our body before the jump, and how old are we as the EI program?

>>15603865
That puts it in perspective. In a way, I'm OK with him being out of the picture.

From his description in thread 1:
>Was able to determine the presence of a three warship ambush at Relias Prime through extreme ECM jamming and distracting waves of kamikaze civilian craft. Also responsible for suggesting a direct jump to Iridus.

Seems like he's competent enough, but maybe his subordinates didn't get enough credit?

Anyone else that young or privileged?

>>15603861

And neither are the rest of us, so our 500-year-old doc will just have to do.

>>15603777

If nothing else, we should ask the crew what they think about the gates, see if they've had any thoughts we haven't.

Also, it seems like what the staff wants at the moment are goals, so let's think some up.

1. Learn the full truth about what happened to the Empire.
2. See if any remnants exist, and if so, contact them.

Our first two objectives there are about hooking back up with whatever's left of our old "home." It's probably futile, but worth a shot.

3. We need to see if humans still live in our galaxy and if so, where and how.
4. We also need to know who runs the galaxy at the moment, if anyone (or anything).

Well, to simplify, our objective at the moment should be to figure out what all happened while we were gone, and to survive until we can do so. Once we have ourselves oriented in the world again, we can make informed decisions about where we go from here.

Also, where's my atmosphere music?

>>15603912

I'm not OK with him being ill. We need everyone, we're short-handed as it is and we're facing a completely novel situation. Plus, political connections or not, he had the skills to get posted to this ship.

>>15603888
Yes, you are in your 200's or 300's.

So then, that it? Going to start writing soon.

>picture of one of your drone bays

>>15603952

If you can squeeze it in, can you address the transplant and cyberware questions that got missed last thread?

>>15603933
As long-term and short-term goals, those four work.
Let's lay them out for the command staff.

Then we can go with the following on how to actually work towards those goals:
1. Turn on the Gate and check the Gate Network for any operational Gates (Get command staff opinion)
2. Use Officer Wright's suggestion with the comm array sending messages, to get enough samples of the xeno's language to get a translation program (Get command staff's opinions).
3. Ask Dr. Burr, or his assistant if he believe her to be better, to act as ship's counselor for the interim. See if textbooks are available in ship library.

>Anyone else that young or privileged?
There's an engineer, but from what you can tell he's been coping remarkably well. Orphan, scholarship to the academy, no apparent family or ties in the past.

>>15603933
>Also, where's my atmosphere music?
Sorry, sorry. Didn't know if anyone was actually using it. Nobody else on board even close to the level of wealth or society that Parson was, either.

Here. Less dark and gloomy since you are in a staff meeting rather than plying the void.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y4SKLSZfXw

>If you can squeeze it in, can you address the transplant and cyberware questions that got missed last thread?
It has been noted and done, that's where some of the parts for possibly putting back together your body are coming from. It's not like the ship carries a full stock of cyberware to be implanted on-mission or anything.

>>15604049
>It has been noted and done, that's where some of the parts for possibly putting back together your body are coming from. It's not like the ship carries a full stock of cyberware to be implanted on-mission or anything.

Then, let's move forward with that as long as everyone is in good health at the moment. The doctor's time is finite. Since there's only so much he can do with Parsons (and thus Parsons is as much up to us as him) he can start work on rebuilding our corpse.

>parsons
no guys, guys listen. It's Parson. There's no s on the end.

>>15604128
Cool story, bro.

>>15604049

Of course, atmosphere music is part of the fun.

>>15603997

We should also consider finding more old Empire bases; assuming we can get to the records before our dear Lt Spook, we might be able to learn more about the Empire's internal view on what happened to it. And once we get that translation program, we could start intercepting alien messages and see what we can piece together.

Both of these would be stealthy options in case we don't feel like letting the galaxy know about us yet.

>>15604168

She didn't delete anything, all she did was open up the database in the most obvious way possible while still adhering to the restrictions her SpookWare implant imposed on her.

She's completely on our side, and she took a risk to help us earlier.

>>15604193

I don't doubt her, I'm just saying that her condition has its particulars. What she deleted (if anything) might not have even been useful.

>>15604271
Why do you think she deleted anything at all? I don't recall having any indication she deleted anything other than her own log entries.

>>15604168
>look for military bases
That reminds me; we need to check through our navigation database and see what planets are now within our range. Preferably one that's noted to have indigenous flora and fauna that's digestible by humans.

As for a permanent base, we might want to consider our current location of Orrin, since the defense platforms are in working order, and the base on the planet is in working order.

The problem is food; we could try importing from another planet and growing it locally..

>>15604282
If we can find some cows, some carrots, and some potatoes, morale will go through the roof.

>>15604282

Base? We're in our base as far as I'm concerned. We don't have enough people to need more than the Harbinger I think.

>>15604280

I just figure that the internal justification was "I'm only going in there to get rid of any sensitive materials before my captain breaks in and finds them, I'm not opening the door for him at all."

I mean, I don't know, maybe not, but it's a possibility.

>>15604289
Agri-worlds.
We need to look for agri-worlds. Farm worlds that produced the food required by the trillions of the Ophidian Empire.
Even if no one remained to take care of them, the fact that they were used as farm worlds would mean that they could support Earth-life, and even if the plants had gone native, they may still be edible by humans.

Your image nods, “Unless we find that there's something left of the Empire worth dying for, our primary objective must be the preservation of our crew's lives and the repair and replacement of our equipment. Our secondary objective - vitally important, but still secondary - is to discover what if anything remains of the Empire and the details of what has occurred in the long millennia of our sleep. As we gather more information on the current state of affairs, we can add further objectives and re-evaluate our priorities.”

You turn to Dr. Burr, “As for sub-objectives, doctor Burr I believe that recent incidents show that a ship counselor is needed. I believe your assistant has training in that area?”

The pudgy man nods, “Yes sir, there is an open door policy already but I think it might be advantageous to require them to come in for evaluation too. Not everyone likes to think of themselves as having a problem, and there are some who view feelings of despair and sadness as something to keep private. Either could lead to another incident if left untreated.”

“Very well, you have my go-ahead on the evaluations.” As you are speaking Tynes leans forward, and you nod for him to proceed.

“Sir, you said an incident? Does that have anything to do with Lieutenant Parson not being here?”

“Yes, it does.” You heave a sigh, and turn your gaze to the entire table once again. “Lieutenant Parson has suffered some severe mental trauma from the situation. Until further notice he is relieved from his position and no duties are assigned to him. I would like someone to fill his position - temporarily - until we can evaluate the situation further. Volunteers?”

“Sir,” Ivanova speaks up, “I have the training required to fulfill the role. I would be able to man both stations if required.”

“Aye, me too sir.” Rinn chimes in, “Already monitor the battle looking for strategies and analyzing the enemy. Wouldn’t be much of a stretch to operate all the sensors I say, an’ already had training for them in the academy.”

Tynes has a suggestion as well, “If I may, sir? It’s possible that one of the ensigns-on-duty could man the station. In theory they would have the training to know how to operate them.”

“I’m against that.” Ivanova counters, “In the middle of a critical battle is not the time to cross our fingers and hope that the training was sufficient and the boy is competent. Even more, he’ll be in a command position and need to give advice.”

“Your opinions are noted, thank you,” you smoothly interrupt, “I will make my decision soon, but before that I would like to hear your stances on reestablishing contact with the Empire.”

“Headin’ straight for Sol would be where I put my money. If there’s anything left to find then it’ll likely be there or on the way considerin’ the pullout.” After making his statement Rinn nods sharply, the matter decided as far as he is concerned.

“I would advise against that, sir.” Ivanova this time. “Whatever happened obviously was a great event that encompassed the galaxy.Were I planning an attack I would strike at the central point first, to both demoralize and disorganize the foe. It only makes sense that whatever it was would occur at Sol too, considering the importance of the system. I would suggest finding other bases with intact records if possible, ideally ones that are important enough to have a complete analysis but far enough out of the way to avoid destruction. Any information we can find could then hold keys to possible Imperial holdouts.”

“You’re shooting for a needle in a haystack like that,” Tynes responds, “If they hit important objectives then they likely hit any base of decent size as well. I would suggest smaller outposts like this one which we can both harvest the resources of freely and potentially glean more information from.”

“Won’t be any worthwhile tech.” Dai grunts, and you see Burr nodding as well.

“I agree with doctor Dai on that much, if we stick to the outposts then advanced facilities available in the home systems won’t even be a possibility.”

“And the gates?” you question.

“Should use them, easier on the reactor.” Dai says.

“Tch. Not so sure about that. Damn alien scum will be on the other end, sure as I’m breathin’ here. We’ll lick ‘em easy even like this if there’s only a few, xenos can’t fight for a damn, but the cowards could swarm us.” As he speaks a tone of disgust colors Rinn’s words, but you look to Ivanova and Tynes.

“Opinions?”

Tynes shifts in his seat and thinks for a moment, “Not sure. Aliens don’t have the technology we do, or at least didn’t, so I think it’s very possible that any world we visit on a gate-line will be inhabited... and with so much time to build up it’s possible we would be walking into the teeth of a galaxy-spanning empire.”

Ivanova’s mouth twists, “I doubt the part about an empire of their own, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the gate worlds are inhabited. From the map you have here, “ she pulls up the gatemap in the system and displays it on the central holo, “it looks like most of them could well be... even if the connections are severed in many places like in this system.”

We also have a very, very large intimidation factor on our side.

If our suspicions are correct, we're the Darth Vader of the galaxy. Most races will think we're the devil off-hand.

That means some of them are going to jump to help us. Rather be with us than against us kind of thing. We could find a race capable of producing Unisteel, and give them the recipe. They give us whatever unisteel we need, and they get to have the recipe for motherfucking unisteel for their own ships. That's kind of a huge deal.

As such, I'd highly recommend we start opening gates.

>>15604574
Voting to have Ivanova handle Sensors until Parson is fit for duty again.

Also, even before we get to thinking about salvaging outposts and bases, we need to secure a source of human-compatible food. We should look for a world that can provide us with flora and fauna that can be eaten by our crew. Military rations won't last forever (except maybe the freeze-dried bean paste), and it would do morale some good if we could get fresh vegetables, and if we're lucky, some meat.

As for using the Gate, I think we should use it if if will lead to a planet we want to check out. The system defenses in Orrin should take care of any xenos that come snooping around. If we really need to escape, our Jump drive will be ready for a Jump, and so we could escape.

>clusterfuck of responses that take into account very little from the past threads
>LOL LETS SET UP A BAES

Yeah, with the machine shop on-board, we're going to set up a base capable of serving our constant needs. PFFFT. This is the Harbinger, not the Kushan Mothership. What the fuck are you going to do, drop off some automated drones and program them to GARDEN on an argi-world, which is somehow miraculously unpopulated? The crew might be hungering for a "larger purpose" but we can pass the buck on that by focusing on our short-term goals: continue repairs to the Harbinger.

This requires a shipyard, or at LEAST heavy-duty manufacturing equipment that can be re-purposed or salvaged. This is a high-reward low-risk endeavor, because a planet still protected by Empire defense systems will be untouched (as was this planet,) and ones that were not would've been looted millennia ago.

That's why the probes were around this system: it had (apparently) functional Old Empire bases, presumably loaded with ANCIENT TECHNOLOGICAL WONDERS, but nobody could approach it lest they be wasted by the ANCIENT AND TERRIBLE GUARDIANS. So they left satellites nearby and just drooled sadly at the thought of finding ancient starships, buried in the sand.

CONCRETE questions for future actions are quite limited: where are we going to go, and what are we going to do?

Should we make a normal jump to a system in the database, or try the gate network? Note that nobody else has been able to use that gate since the Empire locked it down; if other gates were captured intact and still in use, turning on ours might very well alert the Galaxy to our presence...

... but we're in a position of relative strength here, so fuck them.

>>15604662
Look, the base here has functional workshops that are, since they're at a planetary base instead of a warship, are bigger. They can be used to manufacture jury-rigged replacements.
Most importantly, this is a safe fallback position, because the system defense platforms are still working.

>>15604662
>>15604648

Goddamn right. Open the gates, xenos can pic related.

>>15604692
Aren't the guns on the ring still working? Anything without an Ophidian IFF comes through they'll get shot to hell just like the rest of the scrap in this system.

>>15604692

That's what we've been doing the past month isn't it? Making repairs, resupplying, checking out the gate, and so on.

>>15604662

Let's get the gate running and see what's linked up to it. We'll use it if it goes anywhere interesting. If it doesn't, we'll turn it off and go somewhere that will likely have advanced facilities.

I want our big guns back online.

>>15604716
Yes, that's what I said.
>the system defense platforms are still working

I think we should have Ivanova replace Parson for the time being.
Also, I think we should head through the gate, as I think that's our best shot at finding civilization, which will give us some of the answers we need, as well as maybe supplies.

>>15604735
Bluh, sorry. Misread that.

we should scan our records for any worlds connected to the gate system that had a heavy military presence and ship yards.

The military presence mean that its either intact and abandoned (like the current one), intact and occupied (whoo more humans!), or completely destroyed so easily identifieable as such and avoidable.

If its been destroyed we can just jump right back out of there and try somewhere else.
the only problem may be hostile ships around it or worse controling it.
Perhaps coming out of the neareest gate then FTLing there manually would be safer?

Also, could we send drones through the gate to recon planets then return with the info?

>>15604743

I think Rinn's a fine choice. For the most part we won't be in battle.

Activate the gate. See if it goes anywhere fun. FLY THROUGH AND KICK THE ASSES OF ANYTHING THAT TRIES TO STOP US. Find cake making supplies. Bake crew a cake.

Also, my captcha tells me to check
>theWest arrays
So we should also check the western sensor arrays.

>>15604767
We need to consult with Dai on how soon after a Jump we can make another one; usually we would have to wait an hour, but given the shape that the reactor and the Jump drive are in, a day or two might be more prudent for the reactor to stabilize.

>>15604806
well if we gate in, that doesn't use our engines, so we should be able to gate almost immediately... right?

>>15604806
Where do you people get this stuff?

Normal jump downtime was 24 hours. You were here for a week or two before the reactor was truly ready for another one currently.

>>15604719
>Let's get the gate running and see what's linked up to it. We'll use it if it goes anywhere interesting. If it doesn't, we'll turn it off and go somewhere that will likely have advanced facilities.

Agreed for the most part. Would be handy to check at least 1 more out of the way location first before going after somewhere larger.

>>15604783
We're Nautical damnit, that's port.

Vedibere, Captcha says to check the portside sensor arrays.

I'm suggesting the same thing I did in the last thread. See if there's a way to only make the gate turn on for us. Maybe only if we send it the go ahead via-tightbeam, or something like that. Or if nothing else, only turn on for an hour or two each day.

We can hit two birds with one stone, then;

We'll use the gate system to find a shipyard. When we find a shipyard, we might be able to make our reactor tip-top again, at which point we can just jump around wherever the fuck we want. We also have a chance of running into aliens, or people, and we can find out if the gates are full of eldritch abominations or not.

However, I feel that suddenly porting into a system with an ancient and deadly warship isn't the best way to open relations with the galaxy's current residents. If we want to talk to the aliens, I think we should do it via the probes that we captured. You know, give the neighbors a call before we break down their door.

Personally, what I want is to avoid the gates entirely, get ourselves fixed up, then jump around observing things at a distance, but that's just me.

>>15604823
I meant it in the context of an emergency Jump in case we pop out in the middle of a galactic battlefleet, and need to run.
We COULD initiate another Jump an hour after Jumping into a system, but as Dai said, it's not recommended.

>>15604692
>Most importantly, this is a safe fallback position

More to the point, it's the ONLY fallback position we've got, so we'll be utilizing it either way.

We've been presented with a very simple situation - risk versus reward. The outlying bases and outposts are low-risk, but low-reward. The larger bases and military centers are low-risk, but high-reward, in my view - if they were destroyed, they'll likely be abandoned, but if they were not, they'll likely be much like the base we just found; since the only thing preventing them from being looked for 64,000 years would be inaccessibility (through computer passwords and autoguns.) And naturally, heading towards the core is risky as hell.

Gate usage is a similar problem - using the gate will spare our reactor, but will probably drop us into the lap of XEENOOOOOS.

Since any outlying bases are highly unlikely to have any more then what we've found here, besides a little more info, I vote we head towards a larger outlying base - one that was strategically useful for the Empire as an outlying refit and resupply center, but located near subject races that were highly unlikely to be able to whale on it on their own, or just of little value for any invader taking aim at the larger empire. A base subject to an island-hopping strategy, in other words.

And I vote we visit it using the Gates, AFTER we use the engineers probe idea to try and decode local XENOOOO languages. We're going to meet XENOOOS eventually, may as well get it done.

Also we must take into account the likely recipients that the probes were broadcasting towards, and overlay that onto our star-maps to guess at where the local xeno population centers are. This will be very useful in avoiding them.

>>15604870
Screw that, we should go in there LIKE A BOSS.

OUR OPTIONS:

-- HEAD TOWARDS LARGER OUTLYING BASE OR INDUSTRIAL WORLD
-- HEAD TOWARDS SMALL REMOTE OUTPOST

AND

-- MAKE MANUAL JUMP (HARD ON REACTOR, 1 WEEK RECHARGE TIME)

-- USE GATE SYSTEM (HIGH RISK OF XENO CONTACT)

PICK AND DECLARE THINE OPTION

>>15604901
I agree with your analysis that if any military bases survived, they would be intact due to the automated defenses, and that finding one that fits your criteria would be ideal.

However, my concern is the amount of time that it will take to find such a world, that is still intact.
We may have taken on more supplies, but with our entire surviving crew thawed out, I am concerned that we may run into a situation of running out of food.
Currently, we need about a week for the reactor to stabilize after a Jump (unless Dai was able to repair the reactor any further), and I believe we're still limited in the distance we can Jump.

However, I agree with you that we should get a translation program for one of the local xeno languages before we go anywhere.

>>15604905

Well, it's all a matter of how we want to be perceived, I suppose. I'd rather be friendly no matter how tough the ship is.

>>15604901

I like your style.

So concretely, we would need to;

1. Coordinate our maps; cross the gate map with the old maps with the estimated locations of the probe owners.
2. Decipher FUCKING XENOS languages. In this time, we can also get the gate ready.
3. Once all is prepared, gate into a mid-range military installment (preferably with shipyard) that's likely to be abandoned and see what's up.

>>15605023
>I am concerned that we may run into a situation of running out of food.

I think Ved's said that we're good for about a year on current stocks.

>>15605064
>1. Coordinate our maps; cross the gate map with the old maps with the estimated locations of the probe owners.
Yes.
>2. Decipher FUCKING XENOS languages. In this time, we can also get the gate ready.
Yes!
>3. Once all is prepared, gate into a mid-range military installment (preferably with shipyard) that's likely to be abandoned and see what's up.
YE- wait. Still think we should hit up 1 more low end base before we kick it up a notch.

>>15605013
>>15605064
My vote:
-Larger Base
-Use Gate

Additionally:
-Research Xeno languages while gate becomes operational.
-Enforce therapy to avoid further mental degradation [Make the therapist aware she shouldn't push Ivanova too hard.]
-Begin automated collection of useful alien hulks we scanned for further resources.

>>15605083
You're right; I forgot about that from the previous thread.

Can we build probes of our own? If we are worried about aliens being on the other side of the gate we should send a probe through first, report back with basic system scans then decide to go through ourselves or not.

Wait, this isnt 40k...

Since i started DMing but am unable to play its become a sort of drug for me now...

Now, you guys fully understand you're talking multiple gate-jumps to get anywhere significant right?

>>15605115

While I agree a remote outpost is much lower risk, we won't get much out of it. Can't fix our reactor or our rape-beams, and we might not get any more info.

'Sides, we can also
>>15605124
do this.

>>15605203
>Now, you guys fully understand you're talking multiple gate-jumps to get anywhere significant right?

Yes, we were able to infer that through telepathy, pulling the information right from your brain from thousands of miles away.

Actually, no, we didn't have a fucking clue.

>>15605217

And something I just thought of; bigger systems are more likely to still be secure from intrusion. If SHITTY XENOS TECH is going to get in anywhere, it'll be at an outpost.

>>15605203

I don't recall understanding anything of the kind!

That's okay though, just means we'll see more systems along the way.

>>15605203
I just figured we'd be checking for sites of significance within range of this particular gate at first.

>>15605203
Yes, I knew that, when it was explained in the previous thread that each Gate connected to other Gates in a 5,000 LY range.

I was working under the assumption that we could check the Gate Network map, and use it to find intact worlds.

But now that I think about it, since the Ophidian Empire was the only civilization at the time with Jump Drives, they would have shut down the Gates in their military bases and systems, making them inaccessible to the enemy.

Changing my vote to NOT activating the Gate for now, and using our own Jump Drive.

>>15605203
So you're saying the Ophidian empire installed gates in useless locations that weren't anywhere near population centers?

Care to explain that one?

>>15605296
Fuck, even if they weren't initially installed near population centers, they probably would have eventually sprung up anyway. The same reason crossroad towns spring up.

okay, so we still need information. can we get a list of space vabs, ship yards, and heavy industiralized centers that were active or planned out before we got supernova'd.

Once we have some idea of how many ship yards are near us we can start figuring out which ones are worth our time

>>15605296
What?

This system was an outpost near the the frontier of the Empire. With a limit of 5,000LY, it makes sense that it may take a few Gates to get to a larger military base or population center.

>>15605285

I'd be hip with that, assuming it won't take us a million years to get anywhere.

>>15605353
We'd need to stick around for a week after each Jump, to stabilize the reactor.
Unless Dai's been able to repair the Jump Drive a little, our range is about 3-4,000 LY per Jump. Not as good as the Gates, but we can take a direct route.

Also, I'm for turning the Gate on, but only long enough to get a network update on which Gates are operational. Those are the systems we'll need to watch out for.
Once we update the Gate Network Map with operational Gates, we shut this one down again.

>>15605203
Also, one more question.

The gate network is organized as follows:
There are main "Highways" consisting of primary nodes spaced apart at 5000 LY. Primary nodes only connect to other primary nodes and secondary nodes. All the nodes stemming from a primary node that aren't other primary nodes are considered part of that primary node's "node network" since they can only be accessed through the primary node. These extend from Sol To the outer rim of the galaxy. There are connections between the "spokes" on this wheel at places too, but to travel long distances you will need to use these.

Off of each primary node are several secondary nodes. Secondary nodes connect only to other primary nodes and tertiary nodes.

Off each secondary node travel linking networks of tertiary nodes. These connect only to secondary nodes, other tertiary nodes, and terminal nodes.

Terminal nodes only have one connection, to the tertiary node which they are linked to.

If this is confusing, refer to example image. Note: Actual gate network has many, many stars on it.

You have determined the following:
>You are currently at a tertiary node and it will take 3 gatejumps to make it to a primary node.

>There is one large base and two medium bases in this node network. Only the large base would have a capital-class shipyard, and even then not of the size required to berth you.

>To get to other bases you can either go Solward or Spiralward. Both have advantages and disadvantages you can infer.

>You are at a tertiary node presently with 42 connections. 8 other tertiary nodes and 34 terminal nodes. 14 of the terminal node gates are offline, and one of the tertiary node gates is offline. Of the remaining, two of the terminal nodes had probe signals going to them.

>Finally, you are two jumps away from a secondary node. This secondary node is where the largest probe with the two smaller probes that linked to it was transmitting.

>>15605478
So, the question is what is your course of action. now that you know this?

>>15605499
Go Solward.

>>15605478
Oh, and key:
White with blue links: Primary
Red: Secondary
Green: Tertiary
Yellow: Terminal

Also, by "anywhere significant" I meant "significant military bases or shipyards that could repair you, the most advanced warship the Empire ever created."

>>15605478
Ah, okay. I thought each Gate had equal priority with any other Gate in range. I didn't know that there was a hierarchy of Gates.

Can we download a map of currently active and operating Gates, or do we have to power on the Orrin Gate so that it can receive updates? This would let us know where to avoid going until we're more powerful, since it would show civilizations that have been able to either crack the access codes on the Gates, or were lucky enough to come to power in systems with operational and non-hostile Ophidian technology.

>>15605478
Okay, that makes things clearer.
I think we should go to the secondary node that the probes came from.

>>15605542
>Can we download a map of currently active and operating Gates, or do we have to power on the Orrin Gate so that it can receive updates?

No way to tell that without physically testing to see which gates can connect where like you just did with this one. "Dial it in and see if it opens." pretty much. It would have been stupidly prohibitive to have millions of gates all spamming FTL comms to all the other millions of gates just for status updates.

>>15605499
The large base can't berth us, so reactor and Jump Drive repairs are probably out. But we might be able to get parts to fix our interstellar sensors.

How far away is it by regular Jump Drive?

Wait wait wait wait

Humanity was stupid enough to make shipyards that don't shift to accommodate any size?

The fuck?

I say we head for either a medium or a large base while skirting the occupied node. See what more we can learn before initiating contact

we should try to reach the nearest 'large' military base. even if its ship yards cannot berth us, we may be able to salvage enough equipment to make some of the repairs ourselves.

It is also the most likely to have a livable eco system near it, have the largest amount of supplies, have the most opperation defenses, and have the greatest chance of having living humans.

Conversely, if whoever owns these probes is monitoring small outposts, they're almost certainly going to be watching large ones.

If we procede with this course of action, we should send drones through first, scan the area then return. If infeasable, we jump through at battle stations, condition one.

>>15605577
I would have thought that there would be something similar to the DNS system we have currently, or maybe something like the Spanning Tree network protocol.

>>15605587
6000 LY. Two jumps if you play it safe. One if you push the ship to the limits.

>>15605478

Jump to the large base. Still-active gate + base with capital-class shipyard == much less likely there was a full withdrawal. There might not be much in the way of salvage, but we'd be more likely to find something much more important: information.

>largest, most sophisticated probe comes from secondary node

Obviously the biggest boys in this local pond, and we'll need to go through their space to reach the Primary. It'd be prudent to sniff around the backwaters a bit longer before bothering them.

>two tertiary nodes with confirmed activity

We should be able to avoid these folks unless we want to.

>>15605478
>>There is one large base and two medium bases in this node network. Only the large base would have a capital-class shipyard, and even then not of the size required to berth you.

1 Vote for going to the large base (or one of the Mediums if it's not available) within this network before we make any attempt to move Solward.

Also suggesting we timeskip until both the gate is ready and the language is translated.

>>15605577
>It would have been stupidly prohibitive to have millions of gates all spamming FTL comms to all the other millions of gates just for status updates.

But I need my galactic twitter feed!

>>15605632
Let's do two Jumps to get to the large base.
Play it safe, don't involve the locals.
Shut down this Gate before we leave.

And we go in at battlestations; it could be that the base survived and that's why the Gate is active, or it could be that it was taken over by the rebels, and that's why it survived.

>>15605478
Is there a layover period at each Gate, as it powers up to transit us to the next one?
Or is it an instantaneous hand-off, and we only show up as a log entry at the Gate stations between our origin and destination?

>>15605771

Well rev up that gate, let's throw some drones through it.

>>15605771
Those probes aren't ours, so we don't know the control mechanisms. We have the far-future equivalent of hardware drivers to use them.
Also, haven't checked if the satellites have FTL comm systems so we can communicate with them after they go through a Gate (unlikely, since they were left here as part of local system defense). And even if we sent it through, how is it going to come back?

You're assuming we have resources that don't exist.

>>15605771
>We're alone in an unknown, most likely hostile galaxy!
>lets play it 1000% safe!

There is no fucking way we can ensure our safety. Either buck the fuck up and deal with it, or go look for a quest where everybody sits around and reads the tales of Captain Extremely Prudent, where he hides his ship in a harbor for the entire war to ensure a fleet-in-being and absolutely nothing fucking happens.

>>15605741
There is a brief layover as you transition, on the order of 3 to 5 minutes as the gate aligns to the new destination.

The more heavily trafficked the system the more gates they had there for exactly this reason. Sol is logged as having over three thousand of them.

>>15605829
Alright. That's a problem. If we go through a xeno-controlled Gate, that gives them enough time to shut down the Gate's connection and strand us in their system.

>>15605829
>Sol is logged as having over three thousand of them.

>>15605771
Also, question.

How are you going to get the probe BACK?

The gates are jumpgates, not portals.

>>15605875

We could use a really long rope.

>>15605875
It only needs to be a basic probe with means to scan then communicate back to us. If we dont like what's on the other side we could abandon it or even self destruct it. That's a lot safer than just jumping on through and risking the ship.

>>15605891
Ha, funny guy.

But seriously, I think we should stick with our Jump Drives for now.

Hey Vedibere, how noticeable is a Jump signature? As in, how easily detected would we be if we Jumped into a system?
Does it require Ophidian Empire military-class sensors to pick up a ship entering a system, or could a civilization with the scanning technology found in the probes we captured detect us?

>>15605942

No no no no NO. Use the gate to get INTO trouble, because we can always use our own jumpdrive to hop OUT.

>>15605962

>>15605921
How is it going to communicate back?
FTL comms requires a lot of power, something on the order of charging up a fission reactor for a week, or a matter-antimatter reactor. And that's assuming that we can get an FTL comms array that we can use.

>>15605962
This. Make sure the jump drive is warmed up before we go in the gate. If things get ugly we can jump out. If we jump in we have to wait too long before we can leave.

>>15605962
That's what I thought at first; but that'll be the first xeno-controlled Gate we go through. With the layover, they'd be able to close the Gate, and then we'd have to use the Jump Drive anyway.

>>15605942
Hey Vedibere, how noticeable is a Jump signature?
Undetectable until the ship actually pops up next to you. Jumpdrive is unique in this way.
Other methods of FTL, such as all alien methods and your own engine-FTL are detectable with interstellar sensors. The only way to detect an incoming Jump is to already be focusing sensors (either local or interstellar) on the ship and watching it power up for the jump. Even then, it can't be stopped, unlike the other FTL methods which can be interdicted.

>As in, how easily detected would we be if we Jumped into a system?
Well, I mean, you're a 2.7 kilometer warship....

>Does it require Ophidian Empire military-class sensors to pick up a ship entering a system, or could a civilization with the scanning technology found in the probes we captured detect us?
Yes, they could once you actually were there. It's not particularly difficult to detect if you are there or not.

>>15605875

Same way we got it there?

Is there some reason the probe can't just rev up the gate and come back through?

>>15606002
Not the other anon but if we went in with our own jump drive we'd have to spend a week to make sure it was ready for a second jump to get back out of the system. We'd be sitting ducks in that time span. More than enough time for someone to figure out what the limitations for our weaponry and defenses were.

>>15605994
>But they're two-way jumpgates, no? Why wouldn't the probe be able to utilize it to return?
Because it's a probe and doesn't have the vast databanks to store the relevant protocols?

I guess you could load your personal Ophidian security codes into the probe and tell it to beam them to the gate and activate it's own protocols if you really wanted.

>>15606059

Could we time it? Send the probe in, wait X amount of time, and then reactivate the gate to let it back through?

>>15606054
But if we use the Gate, and then get locked out along the way, we would need to use our Jump Drive to either get to the next Gate in the path (and hope that the xenos aren't waiting for us), or Jump to the system with the base.
We'd have to assume that any xeno-controlled Gate we pass through WON'T lock us out when we appear and have to wait the 3-4 minutes before we can use the Gate to get to the next Gate in the path.
I don't think that's an assumption we can make.

>>15606145
Facepalm. Seriously?

Okay, there are two ways to activate a gate. One, you beam your authorized commands to it (via use of access codes) and let it do all the calculations and send you on your way.

Two, you have all the programming and protocols needed for the gate calculations on your own vessel and just have it open where you damn well tell it to.

One requires security codes.

The other requires all the data needed for gatejump calcs and the protocols needed to operate the machinery.

JUST JUMP THROUGH THE MOTHERUFCKING GATE

YOU FUCKING PARANOID COCKSUCKERS

YOU'RE THE ASSHOLES WHO TAKE EIGHT HOURS TO GET THROUGH A SINGLE STARCRAFT SINGLE PLAYER MAP BECAUSE YOU CANNOT STAND TO LOSE EVEN ONE MEASLY EFFING MARINE

WELL I WANT TO HAVE SOMETHING INTERESTING TO READ

HAHSDAHRAHRSAHDRHRHAHSDRA

Disposable probe. Problem solved. Can we move on?

>>15606297
We don't have an FTL comms package for it.
Even if we repurpose the captured probe, we'd still need to reverse-engineer the hardware connections, the programming language used to control it, the computer interface, and give it a propulsion system so that it could travel through a Gate.

>>15606356
It's not about processing power; it's about how it's going to communicate with the machinery on the Gate Station, how it's going to respond to the ACK packets, or their equivalent.

Computational power is worthless if the software isn't right.

>>15606257
Second.

>>15606257
I still think we should use our Jump drive instead.

But I agree with you that we should have been able to decide this hours ago.

>>15606257
Thirded.

>thisking 1039

3 rolls of 4d10 please

rolled 10, 5, 4, 3 = 22

>>15606608

rolled 7, 5, 7, 4 = 23

Adventure time!

rolled 9, 6, 3, 3 = 21

>>15606608
Hope this doesn't get us impounded.

>all dice rolls above average

THE DICE GODS FAVOR US THIS DAY

One thing which is a possibility, here, assuming I'm reading into the whole Xenos situation correctly, is that their ships Either don't have independent FTL capacity, or it's significantly worse than ours (us being bleeding-edge at incept not withstanding). Seems likley that they wouldn't have built up their own FTL science- why bother when there's this convenient network of FTL gates already in place from a long-dead (or greatly decreased) empire? that means any world NOT linked into the gate network could turn out to be a safe haven, at least one where no one's shooting at us.

>>15606814
Right, it's a Mass Effect situation.

>>15603188
> Lt Ivanova
+1 internets for Babylon 5

>Atmosphere
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s6zfcmSoNM

“Well then, for now we will begin preparing to jump through the gate to get to Larant. Hopefully the shipyards there will be serviceable. Chief Dai, when I am finished decoding the alien language or code I would like you to attempt making the probe into a disposable one-way transmitter. It still has working FTL comms, so I’d like it to send it through first to scan the system and beam back the results.” you order.

Dr. Dai freezes before turning to look at you, optics clicking. “Captain, this is alien technology that we only first saw two weeks ago. Disassembling it is one thing, converting it is entirely different.”

“I thought it was based on Ophidian technology?”

“Captain, it took months to years to reverse engineer great house spy-sats and drones that we clearly knew all the principles of when I worked in the blackworks. I will try, but I can’t promise you anything.” The man grumbles, and your digital profile nods.

“Thank you Chief. Please have your engineers ensure the gate is ready for transit within a week regardless. Lieutenant Ivanova?”

“Sir.” the woman nods.

“I would like you to take over Parson’s functions on the command deck if you think yourself able.”

“Of course sir.”

“Thank you. Now, for the rest of you. Standard duties to prepare for a jump and leaving a port. Do what you can to bolster morale. All enlisted and junior officers are to undergo mandatory psychotherapy to both help cope with the situation and identify problems before they crop up. To aid with closure there will be a void burial of our deceased crewmen at 24:00 two days hence. Everyone will attend, save Parson. Finally, all personnel are on light duty except for tasks to prepare for the jump. Planetside leave is allowed. We can’t know for sure what we will encounter and I want everyone to have a clear head. Clear?”

A chorus of “Yes, Captain.” and “Yes, sir.” respond and your avatar nods. “Very well then, dismissed.”

###############

The week passes swiftly. Your men’s morale understandably tanks when they find out an officer is in the brig, but your timely orders for counseling combined with the light duty manage to buoy it once more. The funeral ceremony is likewise productive, a solemn affair that you attend in holo-form -- Ivanova of course functioning in your stead for the physical parts -- and your speech about honoring their sacrifices and carrying on the cause they can not being well received. The spectre of being alone in the void still seems to haunt the crew, but at least now the feeling of solidarity you were hoping to foster has taken root.

In the field of technical matters, the gate is finally brought online and tested a full day before predicted, its bulk swinging to different transmissions with surprising grace and ease. All that is left now is to actually connect to another gate, and your engineers assure you that despite the near-total decommissioning they were able to restore functionality to near-perfect.

The probe has mixed results. The first transmission from the system it was beaming to arrives, but with the excellent results provided by your translation efforts with Officer Wright you are able to identify them, with a great degree of confidence, as simple queries and requests for retransmission.

The retrofitting as a makeshift probe for your own purposes goes much as Dr. Dai predicted, however. While he assures you that given time he will be able to repurpose the device it will take time.

Finally, a week later, the Harbinger moves into position near the Gate itself. The device is aligned and ready, drones recalled and secured, and all that is left is the final checks and any special orders.

>Are you ready?

>>15606881
100% coincidence, I've never even watched the show and from what I read they aren't really the same anyway.

>>15606908
One last thing: is it possible to set the Gate to only accept commands with our security codes?
As in, only we will be able to connect to this Gate; others (xeno-controlled) Gates might see it, but it will reject all attempts to connect to it unless our cypher key is received.

It wasn't made clear if this security measure is in place.

>>15606924
Really?
Interestingly, the Ivanova in Babylon 5 is also a XO, and is hard-nosed officer who doesn't take shit from anyone.
Only difference would be the cyber implants and the stint in Armada Intelligence that ours went through.

>>15606952
Yes, that's what an IFF does. It stands for Identify Friend / Foe.

If you have a working Ophidian IFF, you can go through the gate. Otherwise, it kills you for getting too close.

>>15606908
>Are you ready?

YES GET ON WITH IT

>>15606969
The IFF is for the defense platforms. We didn't get an IFF query from the Gate station when we arrived here.
We're working off of the assumption that the local xenos have cracked the Gate Network and are using it locally.

>>15606968
Perhaps, but this Ivanova is hotter. So there. Nah nah nah.

(Also quite a few personality differences from what I see in the wiki. Besides both being female officers with the same last name I honestly don't see that much resemblance.)

rolled 6, 3, 3, 7 = 19

>>15606908

We're ready.

>>15607010

Yeah they've got different personalities.

>>15606952
Sadly, no. As evidenced by the decommissioning this one went through, it takes the physical presence of workmen to take it off the grid.

>>15606908

RUN OUT THE LONG NINES

CLOSE THE THREE-RING-CIRCUS

SECURE THE BEAR PENS IN THE ZOO

IT'S TIME TO GO SUPERLUMINAL

>>15606845

... and we're the reapers.

>>15607071
Alright. We'll have to trust that the system defense platforms will kill the Hell out of any xeno brave or foolish enough to try to enter this system via the Gate.

>>15607071
Too bad.
We'll just have to trust the system defense platforms to kill the Hell out of any xeno brave or foolish enough to try to enter this system via the Gate.

Let's go, we've got a base to check out and a galaxy to terrorize.

>>15607090
>>15607108
Weird.
I thought my first post failed to go through.

I can only imagine the looks on the xeno faces when they first see us.

This quest has all the capabilities of becoming a huge HFY moment, depending on what happened to the empire and how we respond.

>>15607273
Speaking of trolling the xenos....I'm tempted to play this out like the Veil of Madness HFY stuff, with us playing the part of the Supremacy.
We appear out of nowhere, have nigh-invulnerable defenses, transmit something unintelligible yet threatening, then disappear.

>>15607299

Yeah, it'd be a real HFY moment if we found the last relentlessly-hunted remnants of humanity, and used our power to secure a hopeful future for a brave, honorable, and peaceful (though not fangless) human Republic.

You know, turn our backs on the bloodsoaked atrocities and crimes of the Empire, the Empire that butchered and raped entire worlds - and that's if they weren't glassing them from orbit.

But my prediction is that the majority of this thread will seek to erect the Empire again in all its hideous criminal monsterousness, stroking their e-peens madly as they do so.

>>15607363

No. The old Empire was flawed. They left traitorous xeno species live, instead of glassing them all.

We have learned from that mistake. Glass them all, Pax Humanity.

>>15607363
If we do resurrect the Empire as it was, it'll be because we, as the captain, were a resolute defender of it, and because we grew up in it, viewing it as the rightful culmination of all human history.

when we jump, is it sinlge ship transmission, or could we jump with our combat drones arrayed around us? Cause having a full combat spread would be a huge boost if theres something less than friendly on the other end. If not, how fast can we get our interceptors out?

Either way they should be powered up and as close to combat operable as we can make them. Additionally, all weapons that are operational should be loaded and prepped, including small arms in case we face boarders (is that a possiblity? It seems unlikely but you never know)

>>15607363

at this point we do not know much about the empire and to what degree the threats they were facing posed risks.

Few can argue that exterminatus'ing a daemon or tyranid world is a bad idea, we dont know how close to this threat level the planets WE glassed were, I'd guess it wasn't and we were just lazy and economical so blasting a couple of zeno rocks was cheaper and easier than a full scale invasion, but we dont have all the facts.

>>15607363

>Atmosphere
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sZVZJOfIC8

“Okay everyone, stations. Lieutenant Ivanova, shields up and weapons hot please.”

“Systems online, sir. Ready on your order.”

“Command crew, positions check.”

“Systems, check. Sensors, check.” Your XO responds.

“Comms check.” Ensign Uwal Fie, Senior Comms Officer, replies.

“Weapons check.” from Rinn

“Drones check.” says Tynes

“Reactor check, Engines check.” sounds off Dai via bridge comms, speaking from the engine room.

“EI check.” You say with finality. “All systems ready, standby for transition.”

For the first time in over sixty-four thousand years, the Harbinger assumes battlestations once more. Flickering energy fields crawl along your skin and your multitude of armaments swivel in preparation.

It is time.

Your engines ignite with a silent roar, their superheated propulsion a glowing star within the silent void. Before you the Gate awaits, the inner side of the ring already crackling with blazing red energy, the stars on the other side wavering as if uncertain.

Your speed picks up, and you hurtle onwards. Ten seconds. Five. Three. Two.

“One.” Your second in command intones. “Transition.”

>>15607508
Hell yea, Himitsu no Akuma-chan. Delicious trap is delicious.

Polite sage for offtopic.

A clap of shock, the grip of the tremendous energies generated by the gates singularity clamping down on your ship. The ripping, popping /stretch/ of reality as the universe is rent asunder once more. Around you in the void the stars hang shimmering, as if seen through an otherworldly heat haze only one remains constant, your destination. Raxos.

Over almost before it has begun, the shock comes again. Reality twists, righting itself again as your ship slams into the void once more, trailing delicate gossamer streams of energy.

A greeting of sensor alarms, wailing out their foreboding chorus.

“CONTACT!” yells Ivanova “Multiple vessels! Eighty, no, eight hundred. Small ships. Four stations. Enemy scans.” Even as she calls the items out you see them, feel the probing eyes of the sensors crawling across your unisteel skin.

“Deploying ECM. Status report!”

Rinn glances over to the captain’s chair and, not finding you, frowns before looking back to his projection screen, "Looks like two hab-stations, no threat. Two warstations, likely threat. No warships. Nine hundred civvie craft and counting. Appear aligned for gate transit, blocking path. Station analysis ongoing."

"Sir, incoming transmission.” Ensign Fie “Garbled, matches with language decoded from sat. Syntax unknown. Semantics unknown.”

“Drones ready to deploy as screening force.” Tynes intones.

“Civvie craft blocking transition point, we’d have to run them over. Should be easy, identifying few shielded vessels and none with military-grade.” Rinn notes, not sounding particularly concerned.

“Enemy stations activating hull shields. Advise immediate move to gate transition.” Ivanova calls out.

>WAT DO?

>>15607413
seconded, we're a two mile long death bringer, theres no sense going in shields down trying to appear friendly. We're a goddamn monster from ghost stories (probably) time to start playing the part.

ALL CREWS TO BATTLE STATIONS, STAND BY TO JUMP IN T MINUS THREE MINUTES. SET CONDITION ONE THROUGHOUT THE SHIP, ALL FIGHTERS TO LAUNCH BAYS. ON MY MARK.....

JUMP.

>>15607555
I knew they'd cracked the Gate controls.
Move to transition point.
Get us out of here and on to the next Gate as soon as the Gate is aligned.

I'm tempted to send out a general message: "This is the OIS Harbinger. You are in violation of Imperial space. This violation will be logged. We'll be back."

>>15607555

Keep shields and weapons online, just in case.

After that, line back up to head for the gate. Do the gate calculations ourselves, then just make the gate open to the large base we were headed to. Wait for Civvie craft to get out of our way, then open the gate and continue on our way. We'll cause a huge commotion regardless, but if we don't make any unprovoked offensive action, hopefully neither will they. It'll cause quite a stir regardless.

Also, if we do the gate calculations ourselves, would they know where we went?

keep drones in screening position till we get the gate alligned and back open, do not engage unless fired upon, if we had a sonar system this would be a great time to give them a really strong ping, something to let em know that we see them and we can target them.

Do not attempt to push through the civilians at this time, but begin moving towards the transition point at low speed, flash the high beams if we have an equivilant, make it obvious that we mean to reach the transition point and if they favor their ships they should make a hole.

also get that message decoded, would be nice to know if theyre scarred shitless, threatening us, asking what took us so long, or offering to wash our windows

>>15607605
Oh, and I meant to include:
Move through the mob of civvie ships; don't intentionally ram anyone, but make it obvious that if they don't get out of our way...well, we have military-grade hull shields, and they don't.

Get the hell outta there. No transmissions, just fucking go.

Afterwards, consider making a jump to throw them off our trail.


Alternatively, we could attempt to decipher their language and hail them, but such contact is probably inadvisable.

Whatever we do, do NOT make any hostile motions.

>>15607684
How do you plan to do that, when we don't understand their language?

Prep for combat but do not fire unless fired upon.

If fired upon, ravage the fuck out of them.

How far is our destination? They're blocking the way? If we don't immediately get into a firefight, then start moving to our destination still at full combat preparedness. We've got nothing to fear from these guys, and they have every reason to fear us. See if we can just Gaijin SMASH our way through hostile territory.

let's hear the transmission from the aliens. perhaps they won;t try to stomp us. btw, what's the weapons status?
eitherway, launch fighters, prepare for battle, etc. give an inspiring, brief speech to the crew if the transmission indicates hostility. we will be damned if some xenos scare us!

>>15607605

Agree we should send out a general message, but not with the contents. I suggest:

"This is the OIS harbinger. We mean you no harm, but will retaliate with appropriate force if fired upon. We are going through the gate."

Transmit a set of instructions for interpreting binary digital logic using the prime numbers as a starting point, followed by a communication codec using said logic.

I don't really know what is involved in such a thing, but it's apparently how you initiate conversation with people whom share no common language.

>>15607555

"Should have seen this one coming, time to go."

move to transition point. Do we know where it will jump us to or would we be capable of overriding the system to choose the location?

we wouldn't happen to be able to launch something like signal flares or fire our lesser armaments to try and scatter any civilian type ships that might be in our way, would we?

>>15607712
>>15607715
Guys.
>“Garbled, matches with language decoded from sat. Syntax unknown. Semantics unknown.”
We don't have a FUCKING CLUE WHAT THEY'RE SAYING!

I wanted to send the message out because it makes it obvious to them that we know their transmission protocols. It gives them a sample of our language in case they have any records from the Ophidian Empire to analyze against. And if they successfully decode it, they know to stay the fuck away from us.

>>15607711
This is me.

>>15607693
I'm with this guy. No need to be OPENLY hostile, just pass through.

That said, take no shit.

>>15607660

This. Keep shields lit, and weapons hot, but do not fire till fired upon.

IF they decide to make this situation bad, then We'll show them exactly what it means to tangle with a harbringer-class Assault cruiser.

>>15607734
If we want to get to our destination, we have to use the path that the system gives us.
It's fairly simple to understand that, given the way the system is laid out in >>15605478

>>15607739
>We don't have a FUCKING CLUE WHAT THEY'RE SAYING!
95% chance it's "WTF!? Who are you!?"

>>15607741
It's not a good faith attempt if we know they can't understand us.

Do >>15607721

It's the most scientific and rational sounding suggestion to date.

if theyre speaking the same language teh probe was, we translated that didnt we? We should have at least a rough idea of what theyre saying

but i agree, we need to get the hell outta here in any case, make to push the civis aside, DO NOT RAM THEM, aim for the largest gap, and maybe put a bunch of interceptor drones in the gap then have them push otuward to widden it?

Attempt to communicate, but don't fire unless fired upon.
If they shoot first, kill 'em dead.

>>15607761

It's not translated, more like "well we've got some idea of what their headers are supposed to look like" from what I understand.

>>15607757

They may have the capability to translate our language into theirs. It'd be an old, old, language to them, but they may have it on record. It's worth trying.

GUYS GUYS GUYS!

Remember Vedibere said the large base was two gates away. We've gone through one, so we just need to make it clear we aren't going to wreck their shit, but that we definitely could if we wanted to. So if we can get through the second gate to that base without having to shoot anything, all the better. Though, they are probably freaking out.

One more thing, I presume that it's fairly obvious to optical scans that we've been rather badly damaged and then repaired? What sort of visible signs of combat are on the ship? If we look like we've been through hell and came out of it, they'll think twice about whether or not they're better than hell.

>>15607721

This too. I know FTL commo is all tightbeam, but can we just do a all-freqs broadcast of this for the local area?

>>15607721
This.

-Don't intentionally ram anything, if possible.
-Don't shoot first. In fact, if their weapons don't damage us, don't shoot at all. We might be The Best Warship the Galaxy Has Ever Seen Forever, but I'm not sure we can stand a Zerg rush. Besides, they might have bigger stuff further in.
-Pass through, if we can. If we're stuck here, then I guess we're just stuck here.

You know that if you launch drones you'll either have to leave them behind when you jump out or wait to get them back on board right?

Also, waiting for the civvie craft to move will just mean hanging there for however long it takes for them to get out of your huge ship's way. For comparison, we're talking 10 to 100 meter ships compared to your 2.7 kilometers.

Also:
>make to push the civis aside, DO NOT RAM THEM
Now I've lost it.

I know I can lol.

You can't just "gently bump" someone with a ship your size.

Agreeing with trying to communicate and not firing unless fired upon.
With this many civilian ships around this could make or break our first contact. Either way they're not going to forget this moment.

Actually, on second thought, I think it would be fucking hilarious if we just "got in line" to the gate (there's the one we came out of, and the other one going to the "major" station?)

It would be like "hey guys, what's up. Let me get in line. Deal with it."

>>15607827

Point the ship at where we want to go, then proceed in that direction at a minimal speed. Also, what are the advantages and disadvantages of having the gate calculate destination, vs. us doing it ourselves? Would they be able to track where we went if we let the gate do it?

SEND THEM A PICTURE

MAKE IT BE A SMILEY FACE OR SOMETHING

OR HAVE IT BE A PENIS JUST TO FUCK WITH THEM

>>15607827

we should be able to plot a course to the next gate that has the lowest concentration of civilian ships? or just go over/under them in a less-than-optimal path to the next transition?

>>15607827
okay, perhaps i worded that poorly, i was imagining... well when your trying to merge on a freeway, you kinda nudge over, not enough to actually get in the other lane, but enough that combined with your indicators other drivers know you want to get over. theres no actual contact, but you make your intentions clear with your physical presence. It may be trickier with a ship 2.6km long, but they should be freaking out right now reguardless, breaking line and running wouldnt be a bad idea from their view point, especially if we start moving towards them

>>15607849
This is fucking hilarious. Do this, while doing
>>15607721
It should only take as long as it takes for the data to be transmitted back and forth before both sides have a complete lexicon of each other's language.

For obvious reasons, we should transmit a sub-language and not our primary one.

>>15607813

Not gonna lie, all I know about commo is it never works when you need it to.

>>15607879
Did you even take a look at the way that the Gate Network is set up?
There is only 1 path that can be taken to a destination.

>>15607882

If the civvie ships are robot ships, or if the aliens are weirdos, they may not move anyway.

>>15607827
>>15607827

>>15607849
I like it. Walk up, take a number, grab a seat.

Also, guys, I said you were two gatejumps from a secondary node. You could still go there if you want. But the secondary node is not where the large base is.

I never actually said how many gatejumps the large base was, come to think of it. I said it was two direct jumps using your jumpdrive.

>>15607883
send the fuckers something written in crylic or chinese, that way they dont even get our lettering system (presuming we ARE speaking and writting english in the far future and not chinese or russian)

>>15607849

"COME IN COMMAND! THERE IS A HUGE FUCKING SHIP IN OUR SYSTEM! WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT! HELP!"

"What!? Is it attacking!? We'll send help right away!"

"No sir! It's... getting in line for the gate?"

"... Command to Station 503B, heads will roll for this prank of yours."

"NO REALLY! IT IS HUGE AND WAITING IN LINE!"

I think with all the "just make them get outta the way" the atmosphere music should be
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Vhb6nJE4Q
MOVE BITCH
GET OUT THE WAY

Also, I would like to point out that this is where we present ourselves to this race/organization/whatever. If we shoot, that's NOT GOOD, even if they shoot first. If we get shot, and just fucking ignore it, we are boss.

This is the critical point where we are either ancient and wise allies or cruel and ruthless enemies, to be hunted down with everything they have.

>>15607902
How many gate jumps is the large base, then? Could we just jump there from here using our engines if we had to?

>>15607902
That is correct.
You only mentioned how many Jumps it would take using the Jump Drive (2 if we want to be safe, 1 if we red-line the reactor).
You never mentioned how many Gates we'd pass through; just that it would be quite a few.

I have no idea where everyone else is getting this '2 Gates' number.

>>15607919
No, no.
See, if we get shot, we shrug it off our shields.
Then blatantly paint whoever shot at us with every single targeting system we have at full power as we slowly turn so that all weapons are trained on them. Then we let that go on for a full minute, then turn back to the Gate.

>>15607902
fine! goddamn it, were gunna do this the diplomatic way, get in line. jump, wait at the next gate, get in line, jump again, repeate a dozen times until we get there.

And for a thousand years afterwards all citizens of the greater bumfuckistani space empire would remember the harbringer, the black ship that waited patiently while ignoreing every attemp by our brave customs officials to charge their taxes! Through a dozen systems they jumped and at every stop gave blank stairs to the officers. Many still live in dread that the grat black ship will return to once more viciously flaunt our most sacred of tolls!

>>15607902
Oh for fucks sake.

Vedi, I know you like to screw with us for entertainment, but when it comes to quest-critical information, please inform us before we make a decision.

Well, we've made contact then. Do the aforementioned plan with getting coms up, tell them we've got no interest in fighting and are just passing through. Travel through enough gates so that we can make it to the target with just one jump, and then do so. That'll maximize our resources.

>>15607955
>blank stairs

The great handout of these invaluable defensive items made it possible for the local inhabitant to fend off the invasion of power-armored soldiers.

>>15607956
If we Jump, then we have to spend a week wherever we end up as the reactor is stabilized before we can Jump again.

If you have us Jump to our destination, you'll strand us there, in potentially hostile territory, for a week. This was the whole argument against using the Jump Drive to get there, and for using the Gates.

can we do an x-ray type scan on the nearest ship? We should probably check that these ARE zenos and not just humans that dont speak english anymore...

Also I wanna know what they look like!

>>15607990
oh hell yes, but i sugest we do it alucard style. Let them hit us and if it proves to be nothing to dangerous, let em keep hitting us till they overheat their guns, run out of ammo or realise its not doing anything.

then broadcast on all channels and LAUGH!

then kill em all with every weapon at our disposal while laughing

>>15607990
Honestly, I don't think we're in a position to say "we're not going to take your shit." We're badly damaged. They have an unknown amount of backup. This is bumfuckistan, so maybe they have ships that can cream us somewhere further in.

There's a big difference between being treated like benevolent gods or ruthless conquerors. I suppose there's precedent for the latter, though, considering what our mission was.

I guess if we get shot at, we should make their *weapons systems* our targets. Try not to hit anything else but their guns. Is that possible? I don't know. That would be my vote.

I want Rinn to finish his analysis of the weapon stations, and see if they're really that much of a threat to us.
If they're not, we go with the trolling idea of just standing in line and ignoring their hails.

If they are a threat, then we stick with the trolling idea, but if they open fire, then we just move to the transition point regardless of collateral damage and get through the Gate.

>>15608021
If they fire and it's ineffective, I vote to ignore it and proceed through the gate.

>>15608037
>>15608040
If they fire and it's ineffective, I vote to just wait them out until their weapons overheat, and fire a warning shot.

...that destroys an uninhabited moon or something.

>>15608021
I think it far more menacing if we just ignore them, and pass through.
Besides, I don't want to give them an idea of the destructive power of our weapons. I want that to be something that they'll be afraid to see unleashed if our shields are good enough to shrug off their weapons like nothing, and have nightmares about.

>>15608037
if it comes to that, i have only one request. that we have this conversation first

Ivanova: Hostiles are engaging, shields are holding
EI: Very good Lieutenant, they appear to have us boxed in. Make us a hole!

>>15608050
Guy from >>15608037
Like I said, if they're not a threat, and their weapons are ineffective, we just ignore them and stay in line.

I wonder if there's a space equivalent for a car horn, in case the civvies don't move.

>>15608065
We wouldn't even need to make a hole. Their box is made of tissue paper. Just walk right on through their box like it's fucking nothing.

>>15608069
It's called shoving your bridge into their cockpit.

>Let's get in line!

>>15608084
Or we could not be total dicks and just fire a warning shot that will make them shit themselves.

Okay, so it seems that we've moved towards:
1. See if those weapon stations are a threat.
2. Troll them by getting in line.
3. Don't shoot unless fired upon.
4. If enemy fire is ineffective ignore it and troll them.
5. If enemy fire IS a threat, then return fire or just ram through the civvies and go through the gate.

Does that sound about right?

>>15608091
Yup.

>>15607897
dude, thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you. I havent laughed like that in a while. Good job

extra irony, i was the one who suggested the nudging....

Anyway, I think we have the plan down, vedibere, if you would be so kind?

>>15608065
>Make us a hole!

Hail one of those stations. Best way to see if they can speak the language.

Have we made any usable progress in interpreting the probe languages yet? Would it be within our capabilities to send some butchered caveman speak in it yet?

>>15608089
That relies on them having the concept of 'warning shots'.
Something an alien culture may not have.

>>15608091

That sounds fine but we should broadcast who we are, and that we're just going to use the gate.

>>15608091
I'm still voting for the communications idea. The one guy talking about how it'll take us forever is wrong. Once the codecs are transmitted (maybe a few hours) we will have perfect translation, because it will be based off the numbers from the binary transmission. The codecs will automatically translate the languages for us.

Unless Vedi is going to be a massive dick and try to troll us for being funny, I say we get in line as best we can.

If that isn't an option, we cut to the front.

If their weapons don't do anything, just ignore them.

If they do something, ping them or target them really obviously to see if they stop. If they keep at it, well, 'tis better to be loved than feared, but assuredly safer to be feared rather than loved.

>>15608091
Going to have to say yes.

"Play it cool here comes space cops."

okay, guys who are saying to wait in line?

theres 900 ships already IN line. 900.

i dont think we want to wait around for 900 people to go ahead of us. especially if those stations are a threat...

Interesting fluff note, humanity are the only known species that have the concept of cutting in line. Most other species have a concept of queing into lines, but to cheat at something so simple was never divised before the introduction of the human race. needless to say, humanity got a huge boost in those early years by skipping day long waits at the local itnergalactic bank.

>>15608106

Perhaps. But I think all civilians understand the idea of "if something shoots at you, run away from it."

>>15608134
I don't know if it's a good idea to invent fluff for Vedibere's quest.

>>15608146
twas a joke, he's free to ignore it.

>>15608134
Well, they're already moving out of the way.

Guys, seriously, the dude with the penis idea might have some merit.

Can we, as an EI of vast power, whip up some sort of crude video that clearly indicates our ship moving through the portal peacefully?

>>15608134

CUT IN LINE

HUMANITY FUCK YEAH

>>15608152
quick! all hands to photoshop! stand by adobe illustrator! all available units, man java and stand by to code!

Do we really want to leave? I mean, if we stay, we might be able to talk to these people and learn something.

Although I think just punching it out the other gate and leaving them fucking confused is hilarious, so I'm cool with either.

>>15608167
OH GOD PARSONS IS ADDING LENS FLARES

NO PARSONS

WHYYYYYY

>>15608106
>>15608142
Immediately reminded of the 'zone of madness' HFY and the warning shot.
Sage because we're going to be into autosage soon at the rate we're bumping.

>>15608134
>waaah waiting in line sucks
the image we're projecting while doing so is that we're not hostile and willing to respect their rules.

I mean we could just chat with them while we wait. We're not really in a hurry. If they try to shoot at us and can indeed deal damage, we're not going to last long anyway. Running away will only delay the inevitable.

“Keep on sensors. Ivanova, scan and analyze some of the craft and tell me what’s inside them. We don’t want to hit humans. I’m moving us forward slowly. Fie, begin the spooling up of the gate for the next jump.”

You thrum your engines briefly and inch forward, dozens of vessels already breaking ranks and screaming planetside or, in some cases, out into the solar system. In the mass panic you see dozens of collisions around the tightly packed gates, mostly smaller craft darting about. Still, some of the larger, more ponderous ships you reason to be bulk freighters are taking a great deal of time to alter course.

“Sir, another transmission!” Ensign Fie calls, “Same as before.”

“Sensor analysis indicates quadrupeds, methane atmosphere. No human lifesigns detected.” Ivanova begins, “Gate online in thirty seconds, not in position ye--”

“Weapons fire!” Rinn calls, sounding positively gleeflul.

“Impact on shields, Lasers, all identified batteries on the stations.” Ivanova tolls out, “No loss of integrity, energy dispersal handling it.”

“Could be warning shots.” Rinn calls, “Point defense lasers, perhaps. Some species are known for using light weapons fire as such. Agree with immediate withdrawal. Railguns identified as charging and what might be interceptor or missile tubes opening.”

Pondering the options, you quickly switch to the core. “Chief Dai! Reactor outlook?”

“Holding steady. Jump possible, will take under five to charge.”

You return focus to the bridge, “Options?”

“Advise /immediate/ action, sir. Fighting withdrawal.” says Riggs.

“Agreed. I’m... getting something...” says Ivanova, still focused on sensor readings.

“What?”

“Can’t tell yet sir, energy flux.”

“Keep on it, Tynes your position?”

“I would make directly for the gate at maximum thrust, sir. No need or time to fight, gate is hot and over half of impediments cleared.”

cutting in line, the key to the empires dominance in the milky way!

zeno 1: Sir our conquest of this pitiful human colony is complete!
zeno 2: excelent! Take the prisoners to holding, there's a long line at the next two nearest gates, it will take the humans fleet months to get through!
zeno 3: Sir! incoming ships! Its the human fleet!
zeno 2: FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

(and yes i know the gates didnt exist back then)

>>15608172
Ok Mr. idiot, here's a quick education.

Let's take a prime number, a number divisible only by itself and 1. This way there's no confusion about the identity of the number due to differing systems.

So, for the number 1, we'll attach a meaning to it in binary. That is, the number 1 will stand for a certain computer command. The number 3 will stand for another, and so on. In this way, we can detail a set of logic based on numbers and commands.

Binary is a universal language. Any system that uses it can understand it. It is also the core language of machines. All programming "codes" are really just translations of binary.

So, by sending this information, we create a system by which our computers will decompile and send a message in binary, which their computers will pick up and compile into a meaningful phrase in their language.

It's like magic, except it's fucking not.

>>15608200

Make for the gate, hopefully we won't clip anyone on the way out but if we have to I'd rather take a freighter to nose than a missile.

>>15608200
Well I guess my communication idea is moot at this point.

Full burn to the gate. The bastards shot at us. Fuck em. Anyone caught in our way can burn up on the shields.

Just punch it. If they complain later, we tell them they shouldn't have started charging weapons.

>>15608167
>>15608152

Ved, I think what we'd like to do is send this image to everything in the system.

>>15608200

That's it, then. Book it for the gate before they do whatever it is they're charging to do.

the alternative is to torch the two stations, charge the jumpdrive, and bugger off when it charges, but that seems silly when the gate's right there.

>>15608217
You, sir, are forgetting how ridiculously long it takes to communicate anything in binary. Not only that, but you are assuming all /kinds/ of things. Even on top of that, let's say that your idea works 100%... do you really think you're going to hash out a common language from nothing in less than ten minutes?

Yes, binary is a universal language. But don't be silly, it's not magic.

>>15608238

>>15608200

ENGINES SCREAMING, FULL SPEED AHEAD!

SHOOT ANYTHING THAT EVEN LOOKS AT US FUNNY

ALSO I TOLD YOU GUYS JUST WARPING IN WAS A BAD IDEA.

>>15608200
it seems to me it's time to drop the hammer and dispense some indescriminate justice. and by "indiscriminate justice" i mean kill everything in the system, glass the planet, and generally destroy everything.

barring that shut down their gate after we're done with it.

>>15608269
How was this a bad idea? Nothing bad has happened yet.

punch it to the gate.

If they start doing damage, shoot at them.

Looks like the "get in line" idea fell through. I am sad.

>>15608200
Well that could have gone better. Wonder how many casulties were caused just by their own cluttered emergency traffic control systems?

We'll have to work on our translation systems. Maybe find a way to tell them that if they dont bother us we wont bother them?

>>15608279

If they hadn't shot we could have kept waiting our turn. Oh well.

>>15608288
or we can kill everything that isn;t human. like we should. because they;re xenos.

>>15608200
Make best speed to the transition point, and to hell with the collateral damage.

They walk on four legs and breath ass gas. I say torch 'em. Eh, maybe we should hold off a bit though, they DID fire on us however.

Also, do a scan for FTL capable crafts. I have the feeling if we needed to, we could start cracking these gates and leave the xenos fucked.

>>15608292
I'm thinking on the off-chance that there are hundreds of systems full of these guys. We're not in a shape to take them all on.

>>15608312

Yeah, for now, easy does it.

Compare these xenos to the bodies we've recovered. If there's a match compare the ships we see to those we retrieved the bodies from.

You know what guys? This is almost EXACTLY the situation from the Veil of Madness.

Except we're the Harbinger, not the Supremacy.

And there's no empire to return to...

okay, the best response is to just book it for the gate, but theyve hit us. to just leave looks like cowardace.

These, stations, could we concievably destroy them in say a single shot? Cause if we shot one round and blow the offending station to dust then leave. well that sends a message. Fuck with us and die instantly. Obviously the effect is much less if it takes more than one shot, and at that point its giving them an idea of how powerful we actually are.

If we cant one shot the station that shot us run. If we can, waste the fuckers.

>>15608340
Well then good thing we've already handled it differently.

>>15608334
Holy fuck!
This! Do this! A hundred times this!

Give the civilian craft a bit more time, and the instant they're clear, punch it out of the system.

Punch it to he next gate then. I still say we send them a picture with our ship moving to the gate with a line pointing to just the gate.

If they pose any risk of actually breaking our shields, dodge and counter attack.

If we can somehow take down their shields and weapons without actually harming them, that would be ideal.

>>15608359
>If they pose any risk of actually breaking our shields, dodge and counter attack.
Dodge. In a 2.7 km spaceship.

>If we can somehow take down their shields and weapons without actually harming them, that would be ideal.
....

Sometimes I just... I don't even. You are a warship mounted with guns designed to fuck shit up, not TAZERS.

>>15608277

EXCEPT THAT NOW WE HAVE ALMOST NO CHANCE OF BEING FRIENDS WITH THESE DUDES OR GETTING ANY INFO FROM THEM

I MEAN SURE WE'RE STILL ALIVE, BUT FUCK MAN

What they consider numbers may not be identifiable as anything to us. Who says they even use binary?

>>15608377
Fine, kill the whole fucking station if they actually pose a threat. Apparently there's no such thing as middle ground.

The civilian craft ran out of time the moment someone fired a warning shot at us. We're leaving and there's nothing that is going to stop up.

>>15608385
I'm pretty sure if they reacted this badly from just our presence, there was never much of a chance of that anyway.

uh quick thought, we could fire a torpedo backwards as we pass through the gate, such that after we're through it explodes and damages the gate. These guys seem to be accustemed to the gate system so probably dont have a lot of regular ftl. If we damage the gate behind us it will greatly cut down their ability to give chase.

albeit that only have stations and civilians at the moment, but that wont stay that way forever. Disabling the gate after us could buy us a lot of time. possibly.

What do the rest of you think?

>>15608312
why not? they;re aliens, and they dare to fire on us. we should absolutely destroy their shit. we can probably take a few on and do perfectly fine. hell, we subjugated a hundred worlds of the bastards. we can handle one measly system, even with the current damage.

besides, these guys are probably one of many, probably with enemies. we just made friends if we blow them to dust.

Take out one of the craft that fired on us, and continue to the next gate.

>>15608377
Hey, if that's the greenlight to engage I'm all for it.

Kill those assbreathers. Every last one of them. Take out these stations, and then start targeting the ships starting with the largest or most well armed.

>>15608405
Too dangerous if we're still in-between Gates when the torpedo goes off.
Also, we're talking about an Imperial structure; I doubt a single torpedo would be enough.

>>15608407

We did that when we had all our guns and shields. Right now we've got the point defenses and the one shield layer and the railguns, and the drones and missiles, and that's it. We don't have our heaviest weapons.

>>15608377
Vedibere, ignoring the obviously stupid and/or impractical suggestions, do you have enough votes one way or another to start writing?

>>15608417
I'm against the idea of starting a war we might not be able to finish. Don't shoot anything, just get us the hell out of here.

>>15608405
>give chase
>buy us time

They're not going to chase the giant monstrosity, and we don't need to buy time from them.

They are ants. We are humans with very large boots with lead weights in them.

okay, we dont need a full scale fight, at most knock out the station that shot us, if we kill everything they'll throw everything they have after us, and if we're hoping to repair somewhere it'd be better if we weren't fighting off an alien battle group at the same time.

Do only what is necessary to reach the gate in the shortest time possible. Including damaging the gate after we jump, that was a good idea

Take out those stations! Kill anything that that isn't fleeing, destroy all gates in system save for the one we use, find out if there is a way to destroy that one after we use it.

I was afraid we'd be white knighted out of this. We're a warship, let's war!

>>15608449
we're a warship who has recieved a warning shot, we're not at war. and warships like us dont start wars
they finish them.

run for the gate, the civilians have had their chance. try to minimize casualites, but go full burn for the gate

>>15608417
>Hey, if that's the greenlight to engage I'm all for it.
Opinion seems more to be burn hard for the gate.

>>15608438
Yeah.

>>15608428
Technically you have a few operational energy cannons, but only a tiny, tiny fraction.

>>15608449
Correction: We are a warship with less than 1% of our total firepower actually working. I suggest ignoring them and punching it for the gate, and repeating this for however many gates we go through.

If these aliens, or any for that matter, are going to ever talk with us they need to know we have teeth and would likely overlook something like this anyhow.

Take out those stations and anything else with weapons. Seconding the idea to take out all the gates we can in this system.

>It is also the core language of machines. All programming "codes" are really just translations of binary.
Binary is not some kind of universal machine language, it's just an abstraction used so that humans can more easily design manipulations of the various voltage levels that actually exist within a computer. It's far from impossible to design a computer which works on a non-binary logic, we just generally don't because it's harder and less efficient in most systems and applications. There are several non-binary abstractions of computer systems which are in use for specialized applications, however, and as technology grows in variety it is likely that we will see more.

Further, saying "send a message in binary" is not as meaningful as you make it seem. Ultimately what a message has to be sent in is some kind of physical signal, and declaring your messaging protocol to be a binary one (that is, one with only two states) only means that once they use the appropriate hardware to receive the signal it will be there to decode. There's no guarantee that they'll have the necessary hardware tuned to receive it, or that it will be able to read the appropriate frequencies.

Now, if they really based all their tech on reverse-engineering ours most of this isn't a concern, but your plan is still full of unfounded assumptions.

>>15608417
>Methane-breathing aliens
>assbreathers

>>15608470
we should atleast shoot at them while we burn, if only to prevent their causing any damage.

Watching this turn into alien friendships: the reckoning, would sicken me.
I hope the people saying to flee are just doing so becuase we don't have all our guns right now.

Question, if the next couple systems are inhabited by the same aliens do you just keep on blasting through?

>>15608521
Blasting our guns or our engines?

>>15608514
and that these are not real targets, a ship of our power and majesty would not belittle itself by wasting ammo on a bunch of puny civilians. we hunt larger prey, battle groups, cruisers, planets.

These pittful 'ass breathers' are nothing but a waste of our time. mr sulu, full speed for the gate!

>>15608521
We aren't going to blast through in the first place. The guy saying that is an idiot.

>>15608533
Engines.

Actually, let's get another vote (one per person, honor system... don't make me use IRC for voting) with your choice.

The three options are:
Make for the gate.
Make for the gate and shoot a couple shots at the warstations.
Stay put and blast shit with what weapons you have.

>>15608521
Yes. Just busting through their lines like the Juggernaut.
No time to fire our weapons; besides, I want to conserve the ammo for better targets than some xeno-TSA equivalent.

>>15608550
2nd option

>>15608550
Make for the Gate.

>>15608550

Make for the gate. (Taco Bell option)

Make for gate, see how we fair on the stations (or just one if we don't utterly annihilate them) we need to know how effective our weapons are.

>>15608521
presuming that each station posses similar armermants. If we jump in and theres a shitload of battleships, we may need to change tactics, but if its just more glorified check points then yes, punch through each one following the same procedure

appear
give civilians a minute or two to flee while the gate spins up again,
burn for the gate

>>15608550
First option

Also voting number 2

I vote for going straight through the gate.

Punch it for the gate. No shots.

first option.

if we're not staying for the fight, dont let em see what our weapons can do.

Take out those stations while moving towards the gate

>>15608550
Make for the gate, no shots. We have little interest in the stuff here.

>>15608550
option 2 sounds good

>>15608521

Let's burn that bridge when we get to it.

>>15608550

Voting for booking it for the gate and shooting whatever the fuck that thing Ivanova saw charging up was.

option 1

Go for the gate

Agree with
>>15608567
>If we jump in and theres a shitload of battleships, we may need to change tactics

>>15608550
Book it for the gate.

Take out them stations while moving at them gates.

Shoot dem stations, we ain't no pussies.

heads up, we're in autosage

At a guess, I'd say /tg/ is without honor.

>>15608633
and thats the cue for end of voting, think its about time to wrap up this little shindig ved!

>>15608650
or theres really 20 people in this thread...

yeah, gunna go with the former too.

I count 13 for option 1?

1. Their guns are pitiful to us. We don't need to waste any of them, and not doing so will help any future diplomatic events.

Autosage and I just joined the thread too =/

Ah well. I'm voting for just heading through the gate. In our condition we're hardly ready for a fight, and if we attack the stations, and these guys have more then one planet we may run into actual warships.

>>15608691
Emoticons automatically make your input worthless.

>>15608702
>:|
I like my emoticons, and I'll use them as I please.

>>15608729
And thus 4chan will rightly conclude you are an idiot.

>>15608729
And thus, the base of the problem.

>>15608740

Y'know who else uses emoticons?

That's right.

Hitler.

>>15608752

At least he isn't Irish. That'd just be pitiful.

Vedibere, get a drawfag to drawfag up a picture of the Harbinger.

>>15608769
Vedibere already drew a pic for us, we're a black octahedron with one end stretched out.

>>15608769

It's just two smooth pyramids that are butt-to-butt. Not much to draw.

BLOW SHIT UP
I mean, we just wanted to wait in line
fucking filthy xenos, won't even let us play by their rules
Seriously though, I saw we vaporize a station or something on the way out, just to put the fear of god into them.

Wanted to see us shoot something.
Probably won't get to.
Desperately waiting for next update anyway, so that I can go to bed.

>>15608812
We can shoot some stuff when we're in a dead end of the gates and they keep shooting at us.

>>15608785

I'm sure there are more details than that. Supposedly we're covered in guns, even if most of them are non-functional. There is surely still superficial damage visible, too.

>Atmosphere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB8b68Z7Hvk

“I’m getting us out of here, now isn’t the right time for dealing with an unknown number of xenos with unknown tech levels. If they’ve been salvaging our tech for the past sixty thousand years then it could turn ugly.”

You blast your engines to full and plow forward, scores of ships crumpling under your prow and yet more igniting and exploding in your drive wake. But you don’t care, you are a warship of the Empire and your first duty is to humanity.

Still, perhaps a bit of communication is not out of the question, after all, they do deserve a response after their oh-so-polite gestures. “Ensign, I have a message for you to send immediately on all frequencies.”

The man looks at it and grins, “Yes, sir. A few seconds later the rest of your bridge crew is smiling as well, having picked up the transmission on their sensor logs.

The liquid-space distortion in the red ring of the gate blossoms in front of you as you rush to meet it, and a scant second before you enter you hear two exclamations at the same time from Ivanova and Rinn:

“Signal identified! Another gate charging to receive!”
“Enemy weapons firing, rail projectiles and missiles.”

But it is of no concern. Space warps, snaps, and swirls around you before slamming into focus once more. Ahead of you is a scene you could have almost sworn you just left, save for there only being one station, the planet being a burnished bronze rather than fluorescent green, and the lesser number of ships. Still, you see the shields charging on the station and don’t hesitate, barreling through the freighters and transport craft to your next destination, the ring charging quickly... already aligned to where you desire to go. Again the message is sent, and in the system afterward as well, though there are no stations above that world and rather more ships.

Finally, on your fourth jump you arrive. The world of Larant, main Imperial outpost in this gate tree.

The sight is a shock even to you, a sinking feeling lodging in the pit of the stomach you no longer have. For a long moment you cannot even speak.

The light of the system’s binary stars glitters off of the dead, fused obsidian and glass planetoid, all that remains of an Imperial world which your databases say holds over 3 billion humans. In orbit is a disassembled mess, the grand capital-class shipyards that once stood as proclamations of rule, of the Empire’s power now float in enormous pieces around the planet. And worse. Across these ancient drydocks swarm hundreds... no, thousands of small craft, like maggots swarming the corpse of a noble fallen warrior. On occasion they dart back, often hauling glittering prizes of salvage to the hundreds of bulk haulers floating listlessly. Fat leeches engorged on the lifeblood of their betters.

“Fie, transmit message again with one alteration. The last part. Present tense.”

“Sir.” and a split second later the message is sent, prompting the ships to lift in a great exodus from their moors. Flies from the bones of those long dead.

"This is the OIS Harbinger. You are in violation of Imperial space. This violation will be logged. We have returned."

>>15608958
So we're don for tongiht?

great job vedibere, its good to have some combat at last! even if its led us to nothing but scrap. Oh well, next games hunting of the scrap takers should prove interesting!

>>15608958
> We have returned

Unacceptable. Purge the xenos.

Huh. Well, this is awkward.

I have about three or four more hours in me but I'm not sure if that would be worth another thread. (lol slow posts, ect.)

Guess I'll see what you guys want to do. Monday to pick up here?

OPEN FUCKING FIRE

>>15608997
oh shit, we'll im down for more if you are. we're at the limit is all, and there was a sense of finality to it so i assumed we were done. but if you're good to continue, your crew will serve!

>>15608958
Goddamn. I was afraid of this. We need to find another intact base so we can effect more repairs. Maybe we'll have better luck with a smaller base.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

>>15608997
This is important. Were there other gates we could have passed through, but did not.

What I'm saying is "how many systems do these assbreathers inhabit"

>>15608997
Let's keep going.

can we capture the scavengers? Most good salvage must have been taken already, but who knows they may have some stuff we can use.

although we should probably be concerend that a major imperial world got glassed, implying heavy weapons and combat, both of which are new to us, if not unexpected

>>15608997
Well, if you're up for it, I'd love to get some more VoidQuest in.
And now, I think launching all drone fighters is appropriate.

>>15608997

What? No! Keep going!

>>15609026
At the least, we should be able to get some unisteel.
But I think actual components and parts is out of the question.

>>15609014
Number of gates doesn't really matter except to denote traffic. That said, the more gates there are the more shit it generally links to. All gates in a particular system can link to any other gates that system is linked to, if you see what I'm saying.

So, in a long roundabout way of answering... yes, in the systems you passed through there were more gates. That said, the designs you saw (briefly) enroute did not all look exactly the same. It's possible you just strolled through two or three different "kingdoms" or whatever.

>>15608958

destroy all unknown ships.

Then we should probably turn what remains of the system's proud orbital stations into space dust, unless we think we can salvage anything for our own uses.

If we're going to use the Gates, we're going to have to backtrack, which means flying right into the middle of those defense installations, and probably incoming battle groups.
If we had a list of planets in which the Gates were shut down, I think we'd have better success with them.

Actually, my stomach just informed me I haven't eaten in fourteen hours.

I'll pick up here Monday at 18:00.

Will still answer questions, just might have a slight time delay.

Also, post what actions you want done. So far it's looking like the Xenos are going to be fighting an Ophidian warship in the near future. Is this correct, Y/N?

>>15609096
>So far it's looking like the Xenos are going to be fighting an Ophidian warship in the near future.

Judging by past actions on this board, I'd say that depends on how sexy they are.

>>15609096
>Stop right there, xeno scum!
Yes, I believe the general sentiment is that the xenos are going to be in for a world of hurt.

But I am concerned about the Gates entering this system; is there a way for us to tell the Gate stations to shut down? I don't want anyone entering or leaving this system until after we're through with all of the salvagers.

>>15609160
Nevermind, I found where you said that it requires physically shutting it down to take it off the network.

>>15609096

Only until they understand that

"OUR HEART IS A BLACK HOLE THAT CREATES ENOUGH ENERGY TO POWER THE MOST POWERFUL WARSHIP THE GALAXY HAS EVER SEEN FOREVER

AND IT HOLDS NOTHING BUT SORROW"

Lock down the gate, if possible. Shoot anything that comes through.

From our gate maps, can we get a count of how many different gates are on this branch? What I mean is, we can sit here and just blast anything that comes through, but we want to know how many systems' worth of stuff we'll have to plow through.

I want Rinn to analyze the sensor logs from when the stations opened fire, and see if their railguns and missiles would have done anything to our shields.
I want to know if we're going to have to skulk around until we fix our shields, or if we can act like the Juggernaut.

>>15609096

I"d rather we just leave for another gate. We can keep riding gates until we get close to a system that doesn't have a gate online but which does have something interesting.

Then we jump into that system.

>>15609221
That makes a lot of sense. Orbiting a glassed Imperial world isn't going to be good for morale, and we'll probably not find much salvage here (Vedibere tell me if I'm mistaken).

Yeah, camping the gate and shooting stuff that comes through isn't that great of an idea either, I'll retract it.

>>15609221
The problem with that is there are a fuckton of gates, and without an idea of where to go, we might need to go through a thousand gates, and backtracking through half of them once we hit a terminal node.
I think we should take a look at the map again, and look for military outposts and bases that might have been skipped over or where the military would have pulled out of.

>>15609096
Is there a shipyard in our data banks that doesn't have a gate at its location? Or some kind of high security deep-space facility that could be of use to us=

>>15609296
good point, we were a top secret lack ops project right? the kind you need to build somewhere dark and quiet? The kind that requires a large space dock and assembly area? the kind that doesn't show up on anyone elses maps?

Thats where we should be going if possible. if not, getting to the central highway and see whats there. It would be advisable to only use the gates for now for two reasons. 1, using the ftl is risky and time consuming, and 2. they don't necessarily know we have it. With all these gates, ftl is probably uncomon to unseen. lets keep that our little secret

>>15609356
>we were a black ops project
No we weren't. Where are you getting that from?

>>15609375
well we were a terror weapon, we whipped out hundreds of worlds by ourselves. we caused a race to supernova itself for a chance at hurting us.

I assumed that the government wasnt going around bragging about us, at least while we were in development, maybe Ved could clarify?

>>15609210
A bunch.

>>15609356
Where /do/ you people get these crazy ideas. No, the Harbinger wasn't a black ops project. You were the test case for the effectiveness of warships crammed slap full of the best of the best of the best of what Humanity had to offer.

Well done gents, everyone rest well.

>>15609387
Check the first and second sessions.
We weren't a terror weapon so much as the best ship ever produced by the Empire up to that point. We were sent in to crush the 100 Worlds Alliance as a shakedown cruise and to prove the futility of rising up against Humanity.

>>15609387
A terror weapon is hardly effective if nobody knows about it. Also, you were featured prominently in lots of propaganda as the epitome of Humanity's power. There were entire propaganda campaigns centered around how you were tearing shit up out in the Hundred Worlds territory.

>>15609411
ah thanks for clarifying, my bad, guess i miss remembered.

Although the questions remains, do we know where the harbinger was built? thats the place most likely to be able to repair us I'd expect. I'd also expect it to be near Sol, for all the good that does us