Warfare between habs was commonplace, and you determine that there was a strong warrior tradition developed and ingrained into their culture during this period. Within five thousand years they had split the atom and unified under the clutchmothers, and within a hundred more had reached the gigantic spacedock orbiting the largest of their gas giants. Then, of course, the gate.

The remaining time seems to be a catalog of warfare with other races, subjugating the races with vastly inferior technological development until they finally ran into those that equaled their own. These other races, also in possession of technology left behind by the Ancient Ones, have been at war with each other and the Essar’Sha for the past two thousand years now... off and on, of course. As best you can tell there are six major powers, all confined to the lone subnet off this primary node, holding between them over 500 inhabited subject or colonial systems and a plethora of other vacant ones. Alliances shift constantly, jockeying for power, but the stalemate continues unbroken since the opposition will shift to deny their own ‘allies’ victory as well as their foes.

As for the Ophidian Empire, there is no mention whatsoever save in the form of the Ancient Ones, also known variously as Precursors, Forerunners, Ancients, Progenitors, and various other titles.

As you finish the review the comm console chirps, a message from the alien homeworld. “The clutchmothers await, coordinates for landing have been given. Transport ships are on standby if required.”

>Wat do? Go down? If so, how? Who do you take with and how are you equipped? What is your demeanor, ect.

==Map Legend==
Green Dotted Arrow: Current Jump
Orange Dotted Arrow: Last Jump
Yellow Dotted Arrow: Last minus 1 Jump
Red Dotted Arrow: Prior jumps.
Green dot: Current position.
Yellow Square: Your awakening position
Teal dotted zone: Hundred Systems Territory (Hundred Worlds 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

==Junior Officers==
Ensign Fie - Communictions Officer
Ensign DuBois - Staff officer
Ensign Tremko - Staff officer
Ensign Rao - Staff officer

==Persons of Note==
Dr. Eliphim Ketro -- Civilian Scientist

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/
6: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15603188/
7: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15626860/
8: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15671288/
9: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15681393/
10: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15702140/
11: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15725852/
12: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15749179/

>>15760411
We send down an automated shuttle with a lone drone.
This will be our only means of communication between them and us. It's far too dangerous to send an actual crewmember down, and our meat-body represents far too great of a technological treasure trove to allow it into the alien's nest.
Besides, sending a mechanical construct shows our disdain for them.

While that's going down, we go through their datanets and find any mention or rumors concerning Forerunner ruins or systems that no one has ever returned from. Look for things that are like the Bermuda Triangle of this subnet of Gates; that should indicate where there are intact Ophidian system defenses and where we might find more information.

>>15760411
Go if we feel it is safe to do so. We could bring a couple of the tanks as an honor guard, and wear powered armor ourselves. Leave the tanks outside for the talky bits. We should be matter of fact with them, we can destroy their military, and cause extensive damage to them if we need to. But we don't really want to. Our ship, since it was made by the precursors is powerful, but a twin supernova damaged it and we would like to use their shipyard for repairs. We expect them to cooperate it this, and if they do and no harm comes to our ship and our people, we will reactivate the gates and leave peacefully. If it is necessary in order to effect repairs to our ship, we will even work to improve their shipyard facilities. Overall we know we have a superior position, but we want to seem magnanimous. Also heavily hint that we could have avoided confrontation if their ships had just refrained from firing on us and allowed us to speak to their leaders. Have Ivanova listen in and offer advice.

This all assumes that we know that the shipyard could be of some use to us.

If they refuse first attempt to make it clear that refusal will cost them, if they insist tell them that that is unfortunate, leave, destroy their remaining combat vessels, then leave the system with its gates deactivated, maybe blow up the shipyard to.

If they agree, be relatively diplomatic and then begin seeing what repairs you can make and what you will need to make them.

Also we should really see about helping parson be less insane.

>>15760568
I'm on board with this.

Demeanor: Firm. We're Imperials, not rampaging maniacs.

>>15760568
As for demeanor: cold, calculating, and utterly alien.
When brought before the cluthmothers, the drone is to float forward, and wait for the leaders to speak. We present our demands as if there is no argument.
We do not threaten, for this is no need. They have seen the power of our weapons first-hand.

Demands:
1. Full and complete access to their entire military datanet.
2. The full cooperation of their entire academic and engineering caste, especially their historians. We want all Ophidian technology sites identified, and their complete star charts.

If at any time they refuse, or get too mouthy, simply turn around and leave, and then we begin blasting civilian cities until they comply.
If our drone can't leave, we just have it float in the audience chamber as sections of their megacity are wiped out by heavy lance strikes.
1 strike an hour, or in whatever length of time that Dai says is safe for the reactor.

>>15760568
>It's far too dangerous to send an actual crewmember down, and our meat-body represents far too great of a technological treasure trove to allow it into the alien's nest.

ah, but you are forgetting that we are also the ship, and any attacks on oour person could easily lead to us blowing the crap out of them. they have been cowed, its unlikely they will try something that stupid.

my vote is for us to go down to the planet, with a guard detail of course, and begin "negotiations".

>>15760648
Well, yeah, the leaders aren't that stupid. But it's still possible for some suicidal fanatic to rush us, strapped with enough explosives to level a small building.

And actually, it was mentioned that losing a meat-body will sometimes drive an EI insane; we avoided that the first time, possibly because we had time to sever the connection between meat-body and ship-EI, but there's no guarantee we'll survive a second death experience intact.

>>15760568
I honestly doubt that they will try anything in the presence of the leadership of their race. Since that is sure to result in a leadership of their race shaped crater.

>>15760597

These are good ideas.

Let's search the databanks and look for a pattern of "pulling victory from the jaws of defeat through treachery during post-fight negotiations." If there's not much of a history of that kind of thing, we'll go ahead and send a couple of officers in power armor down.

If there is a history of them behaving badly during surrender ceremonies, go with >>15760568 's idea about sending just a drone.

Do they even have jumpdrive technology, or are they limited to non-singularity engines?

And what did we blow up on the planet?

>>15760680

>was about to type a counter-point
>>15760698
then this guy showed up

Send a drone capable of communication.
Communicate only through the drone, we should not show them our biological nature.

Get on amiable terms with them.

We ARE the ancients,
We have returned,
WE have found THEM wanting.

But WE will use THEM. We will uplift them to a technological point where they are still a manageable threat to us. Then we conquer, kill maim and burn everyone who will not subject himself to OUR rule.

They will be our workhorse, humanities frontline troops eschewing a new era of dominance, they will fight and die for us - for WE are generous gods.
They will receive control over what WE conquer, they will be the princes of the universe.
THEY will answer to US only, and WE will use that.


Remember: You buy a poor mans everlasting loyalty not by kicking him while he's down!
His life is yours if you provide him with small tokens of wealth - if you give them something to live for, they will be yours.


This should be our goal.


Timeskips of several years even should be considered a...
After 64k years it's not like time is pressing for us, it's not like we are in a hurry.


We are what is left of humanity,
We are the omes guarding ancien technological secrets beyound anything a lesser Xeno could imagine,
We are destined to dominate
We are destined to innovate

We are Ophidias Children,
We are without mother,
We will still prevail, so far removed in time from home.

>>15760716

Humans look like crazy robots in the power-armor you know. I think it'll be fine.

>>15760698
It is still technically possible. And when we're dealing with the possibility of losing one of less than 40 known human bodies, we should be cautious.

>>15760729
We're not planning to stay here. Our destination is Sol.

>>15760716

I like the inscrutable option. Sending a drone misleads them of our nature. When we get all touchy-feely we can reveal our true form or something.

Also, this >>15760597 is best general course of action. We're polite, we listen, we apologize for glassing the fuck out of them and crippling their fleet, this is what we're doing, and if you help us, you just might come out ahead. PS, THOSE THAT CAME BEFORE ARE BACK, fall in line or cease existing. Did we mention we'd note and appreciate your assistance?

>>15760568
>>15760642
>>15760644
>>15760680
>>15760716
>>15760729

Consensus reached

or rather:

WE have reached a decision,
WE will make THEM deal with drones only
WE will use them

>>15760729
>We will uplift them to a technological point where they are still a manageable threat to us.

no, we should not do this, we are gods amongst insects, not gods amongst Demi-gods. they less we give them, the better.

>>15760735
I won't disagree, but I think if we can find evidence in the data we have at our command that they will treat emissaries well, then we might as well send an emissary. If they don't then we should definitely stay the hell away. At least use a holo projector and don't speak through a drone directly.

>>15760597
I don't think we should reveal that our ship is damaged. We should just tell them we need to take a look at their shipyard.

>>15760764

Anything we disseminate can be captured, anything that can be captured can be studied and adapted.

We don't even want a fraction of our own shit coming back at us. I'm fine with playing nice with ants, but you don't give ants tools to genuinely hurt you. The current power ratio of snowball:Hell in our favor works just fine for now.

>>15760756
>>15760752
we could use a drone for the first round of negotiations, then, if we feel like getting some fresh, unrecycled air for ourselves, then we can go down. bam, everyone is happy.

>>15760403
>>15760411

Fuck. That complex we blew up was actually our stuff. Even the hab spire that the xenos are living in now are our stuff. Shit, we really should have gone through our records better, we would have known about that base and maybe could have avoided destroying something valuable.

>>15760823

CONSENSUS AND COMPROMISE.

No, /tg/, you are the internet heretics.

>>15760795
Agreed, only help them technologically if it is needed to make critical repairs to our own systems. We can likely make hull and reactor repairs without giving anything away. And if we are careful shield repairs should be possible, and we might want to demand a set of long range sensors if they even have something like that. But we aren't sticking around here to help some bellicose aliens become cock of the walk in their little stellar backwater. We want to find humans, not play god with lizards.

>>15760828
Well, the destruction of the singularity generator on the planet was an accident. We should be more conscious of the ability of our weapons to cause extreme overkill in the future.

>>15760756

Pretty much this. We are the Ancients. We have returned. We are forgiving, so we will not hold against them their use of our devices or firing upon our ship. Fulfill our needs and we will depart. Attempt to impede us and we'll blow up some more stuff, then ask again.

>>15760779
they are propably guessing this already, i mean, why else would we use the shipyard, shore-leave?

>>15760823
This is a good plan.

>>15760853

Maybe it's our fetish.

Ha ha hey let's imply that. We loooove shipyards.

>>15760853
Because the shipyard is ours? Better that they wonder if our ship is damaged - and think, by extension, that even a damaged Ancient vessel is more than a match for everything in their system - then to be told outright. We don't want to give them any ideas.

>>15760873
they probably wouldn't understand the concept of shore-leave, at least the way we humans think of it.

>>15760823

If they ask why we're using a drone, we can say something like "I AM my ship. I'm fully integrated into its systems."

>>15760909
Why is that?

>>15760873
What, are we going for the 'Veil of Madness' version of Humanity?
We may as well garble all of our audio communications so that it sounds like bits of words and syllables screamed out by tortured prisoners and then stitched together by a homicidal psychopathic AI.

>>15760912
I'd rather just ignore the question.

>>15760937

No we're not going 'Veil of Madness'

We're going "We're the biggest, meanest, most dangerous motherfuckers in the local cluster. Get used to it. If you cross us, we'll fuck you in your ass-equivalent. If you cooperate, we won't ruin your shit."

>>15760597
>>15760568
Sending down a drone seems like a better option than sending any actual personnel down, but make sure to attach it with a holographic projector so that they can actually see what they're dealing with.

Also, it does seem like a much better idea to make them a subjected race than to wipe them out. They obviously seem to have a good sense of warfare, considering the dozen capital ships they had here, and it's likely they would make excellent soldiers for planetary invasion (if it was ever needed).

Something like this, I guess: >>15760729
Somebody actually mentioned it a couple threads ago, I think, and used a humorous commitment based rewards program as an example.
"10 years gets you our PD lasers! 50 years, advanced cybernetics! 100 years, and we'll show you how to build black holes!"

>>15760912
i think thats a little too revealing of our technological prowess, which might expose (to their thinking at least) a potential weakness.

just mention something along the lines of proving to be trust worthy for face-to face negotiations

>>15760995
WE demanded to see THEIR leaders. Not the other way around, talking about how they need to prove themselves worthy would be astonishingly stupid. They didn't necessarily want this meeting. If they really care about meeting face to face we can oblige them at some other point on a more easily securable ground.

>>15760920
>Strictly matriarchal with a rigid caste system, they are oviparous. Breedable females at the top, followed by the warrior caste of males, then the artisan caste of males, and finally the worker caste of sterile males and sterile females.

this to me suggests very different ideas and values than our own, plus you can't humanize that which is inhuman.

>>15761023

You dolt, the surrender ceremony is very important in all martial backgrounds. If a society has war and hasn't completely destroyed itself, it will have a surrender ceremony where terms are formally laid out and new roles formally set.

We have to do this unless we want to throw their political structure into utter chaos and risk a splinter faction trying something dumb, like a ballistic missile attack against the shipyard. To not acknowledge the existing power structure there is to invite anarchy.

>>15761023
This.

Fuck they've already capitulated and acquiesced to all our demands, I'm not even sure why we wanted to meet their leaders save as a show of dominance. What do we really have to say to them?

>>15761023
worthy of our trust not to attack us at the negotiation table, guess i should've elaborated a bit more. no need for getting "heated" yo.

>>15760975

Indeed. Wouldn't hurt to pay them some minor lip service; "Your courage is admirable, but your strength is lacking, we will honor you as worthy vassals," etc, all while making clear that they're our bitches.

Specific queries as to active "Ancients" defense networks are a good idea, do that.

Demand they explain what secret weapon was aboard the Claw, and make them provide us a medium-sized warship for inspection; it'd be curious to see just how much Ophidian tech they've mastered.

Likewise demand info on the subterranean base we blew. Remind them that military secrets will avail them naught before our power, but co-operation might make us less pissed off.

WE ASKED NICELY, AND THEY ATTACKED US. WHOOPS.

Safest idea: send a drone down, use that as a communication platform.

Also, for Ketro: remove electric lock on his cell, bar the door with something that requires two people to lift (so he is bound by physics instead of programming), and make it impossible for him to view the brig door locks.

>>15761057
Remember that these people developed on an Ophidian world. Their language is based on ours and is close enough that we can understand each other. They are not that alien.

>>15761098

I thought we just had him an empty enlisted man's cabin?

>>15761098

Addendum: if we do go with 'send drone with holograph projector,' then by all means do go with the image of subtly menacing powered armor.

Something that makes clear that we can do 'velvet glove' almost as well as the already-demonstrated 'iron fist.'

>>15761103
their computer language, not actual language. language defines how people think, and people think differently, its the reason why google translator sucks so bad (snickers).

>They are not that alien.
you're humanizing them, stop and think about it.

>>15761122

Either way, I say we treat this guy like...

well, once upon a time there was a MIB cartoon.
There was a very smart rogue agent named Alpha, whom they captured after a long period.
Giving him an LED-display chess game in the hopes of softening his demeanor gave him enough tech to get out of his cell and the MIB facility.

That's what I'm afraid Ketro is capable of.

>>15761122
we do, anon simply forgot is all

>>15761154
One cannot help but compare others to himself. We're the captain of a warship of the Ophidian Empire, with decades of service behind him. We have experience with aliens. They are not (all) so different. Otherwise, the Empire could only have consisted of humans.

>>15761060

This. Listen to this man.

>Ketro
>doors

Get Dai to build a better doorlock.

>>15761217
In the form of a gate.

>>15761217

>old man capable of circumventing any lock
>make a better lock
>don't make it physically impossible for him to open his door alone

>>15761232
Why couldn't he just hack a drone and have said drone move the bar for him?

>>15761232

>don't let his fellow genius and arch-nemesis troll the ever-loving fuck out of him

Psychology, grasshopper. Understanding it is essential for any leader.

>>15761186
>We have experience with aliens.
Yeah, experience with blasting them into space dust.

Standard Imperial procedure regarding alien races was to deconstruct their entire civilization, relocate them, and their culture reworked to service Humanity. And if they resisted, we wiped them out completely.
For most intents and purposes, the Ophidian Empire WAS Humanity-only.

>>15761259
The fact that it was possible to do this for many species speaks to their similarity and ability to be understood by man.

>>15761259
No, it was not. They were only relocated if the Empire decided to strip mine their planet or something.

Almost 2hrs in, no update

I was hoping for an update rich quest like last night :(

>>15761338
he's probably writing right now, you know how vedi is, quality over quantity

>>15761338

He's probably writing right now

>>15761352
I hope this good Anon is right. And seriously, you guys, we shouldn't be fighting over details like surrender ceremonies and things like that. Not to say those ideas don't have merit, just that we should try and work together to come up with the best possible course of action.

>>15761381
Haven't we already done that?

An automated shuttle with a standard floater drone. Sufficient enough for the task, you judge, and far safer than risking yourself and your staff. You find the coordinates displayed -- an enormous palace residing on the half of the planet still with power -- and launch your envoy with accompanying fighter escort. Descent is uneventful, and soon enough you come to an enormous spaceport. Landing is likewise a breeze with standard autopilot guidance codes from the halcyon days of the empire still being transmitted even now, bringing you in.

As soon as you disembark you are met with a party of six-limbed lizard-like aliens. Over seven feet tall, small rear legs and larger middle legs support them and leave two appendages free for six-digit manipulators. The scales of each are patterned, the three largest of them showing brightly colored crests atop their heads while the smallest skitter about subserviently. Those in between have smaller blue crests and dataslates, apparently acting as adjucts for the larger three. Likewise, they are all robed in a sort of loose-fitting one-piece cloth that stretches crossways across their body and also of varying color. The largest wear red, the smaller ones a sort of turquoise, and the smallest servants grey. Upon all of them are embroidered various patches or hang various decorations, likely denotations of some sort you cannot fathom.

Catching sight of your form the three leaders turn to each other and begin a hissing dialouge regarding your form, hushing as you draw close.

“I have come to speak with the clutchmothers.” you state in a staccato metallic version of their language, as best you can approximate at least.

>>15761392

The thing is the denizens of teegee can be quite retarded when it comes to simple concepts like teamwork and compromise.

The largest of the three (bearing a large number of scars crisscrossing its face and body, you note) steps forward and hisses, “We are tasked to lead you before the clutchmothers. It is to follow us and know that the [ritual of the claw] will not be given unless it attempts to strike first. These [undercaste] will perform to your needs.” At that three of the grey clad smaller (barely five feet in size) forms come forward and nervously stand near you, obviously uncertain what to do.

“It comes.” the leader states, turning and departing, and you follow.

You remain silent as you are led through the spaceport, analyzing the structure as you float along. Thousands upon thousands of docking bays for craft of all sizes arranged in a gigantic honeycombed hole in the earth, lifted to launch platforms by servo-arrays and mechanical lifters. Ophidian, without a doubt. Though the trappings throughout the port have changed, you can even see the general architecture common within the empire -- adjusted for regional and planetary tastes of course -- underneath the alien flashing.

Eventually you reach a sort of transport hub, dozens of smaller hovercraft sit awaiting passengers, each manned by a grey-clad lizard. You are ushered to a brightly colored and massive vehicle, and once inside find that there are... no seats. All of the lizards stand as the car lifts, flashing along ancient Ophidian highways. All is silent, the lizard-aliens regarding you with beady black eyes fur the entire journey.

Arrival is swift, and debarking you are met with a truly /enormous/ structure several miles high and many more broad. Once again, Ophidian architecture dominates though this time it is still apparent and far less obscured by alien trappings. At least on the outside. The moment you are led within you are greeted by stone-lined arched halls, soaring upward.

Ushered through the complex maze created and up several elevators, you observe snippets of the alien’s culture by looking into various chambers. A dozen of them openly engaged in a mating orgy in one room, blue-ridged caste copulating with grey-robed underclasses. In another a vicious duel between two of the red-clad lizards is taking place, surrounded by more of their kind. Claws flash out, rending scale and hide alike as the beings thrash about, at times biting or throwing their foe. For sport, ritual, or for life you cannot tell. In yet another you pass a nude high-caste alien with bright yellow ridge slowly being picked apart by a half dozen blue-ridged others. It sits still, shaking in pain yet not righting back, as they consume it alive; ripping free large chunks of flesh and swallowing them.

Finally, one enormously long elevator ride brings you to the clear-paneled summit of the tower. The door slides open and you enter a vast atrium, nearly a quarter mile long, with titanic doors at the far end cracked slightly ajar. You are led across the room and halted before the doors and yet more of the lizards. Here stand a vast array of yellow and blue-flanged aliens, all arrayed in purple robes rather than what you assume to be the standard color for their caste. Seventy-two of them, to be exact.

The scarred leader of your escort turns, “The consort-speakers will now hear your words and convey them to the clutchmothers.” it hisses, and all the eyes of the purple-clad xenos are upon you.

>>15761392
Oh, no, we've gotten them to surrender and have called their leaders to prepare to meet with us. I'm just saying that this quest gets bogged down by bickering between opposing viewpoints.

THIS COUNCIL IS A GROUP OF FUCKING HONKIES SITTING AROUND MAKING CHOICES ABOUT WHAT FUNKY AND WHAT AIN'T.

TODAY HUMANITY, I SAY THAT WE ARE FRESH.

WE GOT THE FUNK.

WE ARE THE FUNK.

THE CLUTCHMOTHERS IS OUT THERE JIVING TO SOME SHIT THINKING THEYS SO TOUGH

FUCK HIS SHIT. THESE ALIENS CAN CHOKE ON HUMANITY'S FAT THROBBER AND I'LL JAM THEM A BASSLINE THEIR ASSES WILL NEVER FORGET. SHIT.

>>15761425

Hope you're not stopped, Vedi. We've already got our message planned. No need for further discussion.

Let's get them to strip all their alien shit off our shipyard so that we can do as much repair work as possible.

Then we strap the shipyard to our hull and take it with us.

Not really, but maybe a smaller version of it, sort of like a Carrier from Homeworld.

>>15761425

Greetings inferior xenos-forms, we are here to accept your formal surrender.

Once thats all over with have them open up ALL of their databanks to us, military and other-wise. We also require unrestricted use of the shipyards. A star chart marked with all sites of fore-runner technology would be appreciated as well.

Yes/no for making them our vassals?

>>15761512

>>15761425
Ah, so they don't trust us to actually speak to the clutchmothers. Well, it doesn't matter too much, as long as our words are conveyed to them. Luckily they can't twist our words because we know their language. How about something like this to start off with:

"Clutchmothers of the Essar’Sha, we have come to begin our dialogue with you. We have laid waste to half of your defensive fleet, killed thousands of your kind. Had your ships not fired upon us, all this could have been avoided. We are the Ancients, the Progenitors, the Gate Builders, and we have returned to lay claim to what was once ours."

>>15761512
This is an interesting idea, but we couldn't attach it to the hull without losing jump capability. We would either have to stuff it into our cargo bays, find some way to tow it, or attach it to one of the alien vessels. Presumably, we could use the shipyard itself to build engines, which we could then attach to it to make it mobile.

I don't think any of these ideas are particularly good, considering our objectives.

>>15761521
I'll repeat:

Get on amiable terms with them.

We ARE the ancients,
We have returned,
WE have found THEM wanting.

But WE will use THEM. We will uplift them to a technological point where they are still a manageable threat to us. Then we conquer, kill maim and burn everyone who will not subject himself to OUR rule.

They will be our workhorse, humanities frontline troops eschewing a new era of dominance, they will fight and die for us - for WE are generous gods.
They will receive control over what WE conquer, they will be the princes of the universe.
THEY will answer to US only, and WE will use that.


Remember: You buy a poor mans everlasting loyalty not by kicking him while he's down!
His life is yours if you provide him with small tokens of wealth - if you give them something to live for, they will be yours.


This should be our goal.


Timeskips of several years even should be considered a...
After 64k years it's not like time is pressing for us, it's not like we are in a hurry.


We are what is left of humanity,
We are the omes guarding ancien technological secrets beyound anything a lesser Xeno could imagine,
We are destined to dominate
We are destined to innovate

We are Ophidias Children,
We are without mother,
We will still prevail, so far removed in time from home.

>>15761547
I again voice my disagreement with this, as it is not in line with our previously-established objectives.

>>15761547
I saw it the first two times, stop repeating it. It's not supported anyway.

>>15761547
LoL Was about to copythat as well

+1 for making themvassals

There were people up above agreeing as well, quite a number actually

But this we had more or less agreed on almost two hours ago already....

>>15761533
I just think that maybe having an escort could be a good idea.

We have our drone force, but what if we meet a situation that requires more staying power, but more finesse than a heavy lance?

I'm all for dedicated a cargo bay or three to holding corvettes.

>>15761521
Once we get what we wanted out of this system, we're just going to move on anyway. We can come back and conquer them "for real" if necessary, but I don't see the point to it now.

>>15761547
Nope.
Still going with the demands outlined in >>15760644
and their cooperation in the operation of the shipyard to effect some maintenance (rather than saying repairs, to imply as far as our knowledge of their language goes, that no one out that except time itself, can damage us).

In return, we don't kill them all.

>>15761573
>>15761559
Simple compromise for you guys: combine both.
Make them vassals, have a time jump of a year or so, have a fleet of jump capable expendeable ships with us to move to Sol more safely.

We write the story, Having them become our servants and still pushing for Sol is NOT exclusive, we can have both and timeskips so that we do not waste copious amounts of time on affairs within that year

Can we agree on that compromise?
Vassal guys & quest for Soltards, can you both live with that?

>>15761581

Well why go through all the trouble of conquering them the first time and then having to do it all over again once we come back?

Also that time inbetween conquerings gives them a chance to maybe analyze our weapons and shields and give them a fighting chance when we come back.

We're already here, might as well get it over with now.

>>15761614
We could, except that Vedibere doesn't want that. he wants to keep this as a mystery sandbox game, not a 4X game like we'd be happy with.

>>15761614
>>15761580
Hivemind delayed?


Also:
WE agree to the proposed compromise / combination

Noone looses, we both get what we want,

What say ye?

Yay or Ney?

>>15761614
I don't agree with this. I'd prefer to go to Sol as soon as possible and come back, if necessary, to conquer and unite as we see fit. We are still loyal to the Empire and to humanity. We need to find them. We can play king once our primary objective has been completed.

No fucking vassals.
I outlined my general position here. We want to use their shipyard and we want assurances that we will be unmolested while doing so.
>>15760568
Demeanor should be firm and matter of fact. We don't want to offend them further but we will get what we want one way or another.

>>15761627
Possible.

Ved, would you be fine with the proposed compromise?

Yay

Important question. Now that we've gotten a good look at the shipyard, is it anything that would be of use to us? Is it too small, is it too cluttered with alien tech, or is there actually a point to demanding access to it?

>>15761626
I just don't think it's worth the time. They are unlikely to come any closer to challenging our power in the next few years, regardless of what we do.

>>15761655

Exactly. We're here for repairs, not vassals, not a fleet of ants, but a patch-up job and pointing in the next direction. We have a whole fucking galaxy to scour. We can play conquistador when we've gotten somewhere.

>>15761641
You are pretty confrontational :(
Why can't you compromise?

I hate the fat neckbeards discussing to no end here :-/

Best keep lurking and only reading the suptg archive, you arguing guys make me sad :'(

Why not simply compromise for the sake of advancing faster and reaching a solution NOW instead of arguing?

>>15761670
We do not have the people to effectively control a vassal state regardless. All we might do is have a single heavily damaged warship and some guys that might help us out if they were not stuck in a TINY galactic backwater. We only have a year's worth of supplies anyway.

>>15761678
because your solution mires us in game years of not doing anything. Maybe instead of going between "reasonable course of action" and "silly exercise that didn't get much support when it was proposed" the solution is not "half reasonable and half silly."

>>15761614

This compromise works with me.

I vote yay.

I've been writing for a while, by the way. Your continued arguing is not exerting any influence on it.

rolled 84 = 84

>>15761670
>>15761670
>>15761670

This. We're here to fix up and roll out.

Demand for unlimited access to shipyards, and give them a list of resources that we'd need to patch up as much as we could fix in a month. Keep one of our heavy mounts aimed at the palace of elders. They'll get the message as the heavy mount tracks its location day after day that we're just not fucking around.

>>15761614


This is not what we're trying to do here. Spending years lurking in some backwater cluster accomplishes what, exactly? We don't have the resources to subjugate an entire system long term, and why would we want to? These xenos aren't worth it, and I doubt they'd be subjugated easily. Hell, we'd probably have to glass them. Not worth it. Just fix up the ship as good as we can and go flying off. we've already mostly neutered their military force. Don't see what point there is in it. Once we finish fixing up the ship, we can head for some other Ophidian base and do whatever.

>>15761706
Personally, I do not care what is decided :)

I only care for reading the writefaggotry, and If I am not mistaken, then the "vassal" option had some people following, the inbetween proposal has quite some guys, so it seems like the logical thing.

Consider: If we just have a small fleet of ablative defenses wich are expendeable: So be it.

Hell, probably:


> uplift them to jump capability
> demand the first 10 capitalships they build as payment
> leave with said remote controlled fleet
> once we jump out of system, have the cluster eater destroy their entire uplifted civ, so that we need not worry about a threatening species :)

>>15761593

I vote for simply getting them to co-operate fully in operating their (now our) shipyard to full effect; and leveraging whatever other facilities they have to manufacture substandard repair parts (MAYBE, might not be feasible.)

Stop, stop, STOP this shit about building supplemental vessels. THEY HAVE NO APPARENT JUMPDRIVE TECH; even a bulk cargo hauler will be of limited value and god-dammit, the Harbinger is worth a THOUSAND warships of their tech level, and was worth TEN-THOUSAND of 'em when we were at 100%.

...And thus, we don't get anything done. Listen guys, let's make this a little easier to define.

1) Do we make them a subjected species? If so, what level of subject do we make them, i.e. are they our knights, our infantry, our serfs, what?

2) What are our other demands, really? We've already gotten their war tech all in one convenient location, access to all their databases, and we've got a drone at the very threshold of their highest authority.

Personally, I'm just going to recommend that we open up the dialogue with them, let them know that we did not come to destroy them, only to make use of what belonged to the Empire. But, make it clear that we can, and already have, cut through them like a sword to silk. See my original opening post, here: >>15761535

>>15761782
I consider this the best way of going inbetween

Won't matter probably, since he's already writing.

Still: Yay for the compromise / this permutation in particular

>VASSAL VASSAL VASSAL

We can "make" them vassals, but that only means "If we ever swing through here again, you will be very nice to us and never even dream of fucking with us."

We don't need to sit here and play SimEmpire.

Hope this isnt too late to put this in here but it's an idea.

As we've discussed many times now the Harbinger is not the Hiigarran mothership. This station however has the potential to be something equivilant to it.

I would like to propose we use the shipyard not just to affect repairs to the worst off areas of the ship but to produce some smaller automated ships that would remain confined to this system.

First among the new ships should be a resource collector vessel to harvest raw materials from the system. The next would be fighter drones, obviously of lower quality than the ones we have aboard given the reduced amount of Empire tech in the station. These new drones would be the disposable defenders we can leave behind in the system should we move on. If we do leave the system and the station I'd reccomend we leave a small contingent of our own better drones to help protect the station.

As we continue to bring in more resources we upgrade the station to be able to produce tech more on par with that used by the Empire. Somewhere between our tech level and the alien's tech would be sufficient to kick some ass.
The idea is to get it to a point of being able to defend itself without our presence here. We could even accomodate Dr Ketro if we were to build a new lab annex onto the station.

This shipyard is our war factory now, I say we exploit it to the max.

>>15761782
>the "vassal" option had some people following, the inbetween proposal has quite some guys, so it seems like the logical thing.

My opponent would like steak for dinner. I'd prefer he eat shit. Therefore, the "logical" compromise is that he eat half a steak smeared in feces.

That's not compromise. And Vedi is already writing, so the argument's philosophical at this point.

>>15761750
Er...ignore my post...

>>15761822
>This shipyard is our war factory now

Has some promise; we can always come back and use this as a node and do production and gathering later. But leave anything automated, and they WILL tinker with it, and/or destroy it out of resentment and become uppity.

When WE reappear, OUR will is asserted. And we can harvest all the resources and create all the drones we'd like during some sort of downtime.

You list your demands: Full access to their military networks, the shipyard, knowledge of all ancient sites, knowledge of what was destroyed on the planet, and following all commands you give in the future. In return you will not destroy them.

Generous, you suppose.

The purple robed Essar’Sha nod and, silently, make their way inside. What follows is an exercise in patience. Nearly three hours pass before they return, arraying themselves in a line once more. A yellow-crested one with far more decorations on his sash-robe than others, steps forward, “The mothers can not agree to revealing all our military forces to any, for any reason. The Sha-Claw can never be unsheathed for a foe.”

He steps back and another, blue-crested this time, comes forward, “The knowledge you seek in other areas will be made open to you. That which was destroyed was the Homeworld’s Tooth and the power source for half of our world. The knowledge of the ancients will be transmitted following [parlay].”

Now a third, gold-crested again, steps forward, “The yards of the Sha will be made open, and [undercaste] provided to you for use.”

Finally, a fourth steps forward, yellow-crested again. “The requests you make of us will be heard by the mothers and acted on in accordance with their decision.”

Now all seventy-two step forward and reach into their robes, each drawing forth an egg the size of a human head. The most-decorated one in the center speaks in his hissing voice, “We offer the lasteggs of our matrons for your consumption in conclusion, and await your decision.”

>wat do?
>yes, it was short but I had to hash some stuff out

>>15761882
Search their civilian database for information on the consumption of the lasteggs.

>>15761882

take those eggs in our drone manipulators and CRUSH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM

DO WE LOOK LIKE BITCHES TO THEM?

TELL THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS THAT WE CAN AND WILL FUCK UP THEIR ENTIRE PLANET IF THEY CONTINUE TO THINK OF US AS BITCHES

OUR DEMANDS WILL BE MET OR THIS PLANET GETS INTRODUCED TO A COUPLE OF SINGULARITY WARHEADS

>>15761882
I think the "wat do" has been discussed at lengths,

It's down to you to decide wether they will be used as vassals, we simply move on or what.

I emplore you to jzst flip a coin if in doubt, the neckbeards won't reach a solution on this.... :(


Also: Once again many thanks for your efforts :) :)

>>15761921
You see that it is a traditional offering at the end of important negotiations with far-ranging implications. You find many instances throughout history of the eggs being consumed and of the offer being refused.

>>15761882
"Your counter-offer has been heard, considered, and rejected.
"You have 3 hours in which to acquiesce completely to all of our terms, without compromise. Fail to do so, and the Harbinger shall begin orbital bombardment."

If they agree, then great. We take their eggs, as their custom, then smash them on the ground in front of them.

If they refuse, we begin firing medium lance strikes at the planet surface, choosing targets at random but avoiding this tower we're in. One lance strike every 2 hours shouldn't put undue strain on the reactor.

>>15761967
What does it usually mean if the eggs are consumed or refused?

I don't think we should use them as vassals. They're simply of no use to us beyond manpower, which we don't really need right now. We've obtained from them a decent outlook on the surrounding systems, subjugated some squatters on Ophidian land, and that's good enough for now.

We have far more important things to do than spend years uplifting some alien race. The galaxy is a massive place, and right now it's far to early in our search to settle down. We've already found Kelso and his crew - they're bound to be more out there that need our help.

>>15761998

The offer is accepted or refused, duh.

>>15761882
Hmm, so they devour the defeated side's eggs...interesting. Anyways, I would like to suggest that we just go along with them not telling us where all of their military forces are; if we press them, it's might not go too well, and we don't really want to cause further destruction just for some info that isn't of urgent importance to us. After all, we did cut down half of their capital ships in this sector and caused a 10,000 mile wide explosion on the surface of their planet in a relatively minute amount of time.

>>15761882
Accept their refusal to disclose all their military, figure out and then do whatever seems culturally acceptable with the egg offering, make repairs as best we can, figure out a promising place to go based on the information we have.

>>15761967
Well they agreed to our demands. We could have the drone 'eat' some of the eggs to appease them (it has storage space, right? We can jettison them later, keep a guard posted in the meantime to make sure they don't hatch or anything). Still, 72 head-sized eggs is a lot of egg.

>>15761882

"I am not your foe. I'm a force of nature. I am not asking that you do these things so that you cease fighting me. What happened in orbit above your homeworld was not a fight. It was a slaughter.

"I am asking you to do these things so that you are not swept away entirely by me, Harbinger. You have real foes who you can actually fight, foes who will capitalize on this disaster you have suffered if you are stupid. Agree to my terms and I will leave you with enough strength to maintain yourselves when I leave.

"What good is a sheathed claw when the body it was attached to is dead?"

>>15761967
"Consume the egg" It's not like their military ships can damage us anyways and we have what we want, worker and repair

>>15761967
By the term 'lasteggs' do you mean that these are the last eggs that these clutchmothers will ever lay?

>>15761967
What happened when they were refused?

we should refuse. If this is some sacred tradition in their culture, denying it shows that we are alien and more importantly that we are now in charge. They're traditions and plans are irrelevent to us, we demand star charts and the repair docks, not a scarifice of eggs.

I questioned simply state that wile it may be their tradition, its not ours and we will no observe it. They have to get used to the idea that we're the ones in charge. In all fields.

>>15761882
>>15761967

Accept. "Eat" the eggs, and be on our way.

>Homeworld's Tooth

Yeah, good thing we nailed that fucker.

>>15762012
>>15762019
>>15762027
>>15762031
I vote "Yes" for this
Accept them keeping secrets, do with the eggs what seems aplropriate

Probably refuse them, that feels generous, not-harming them :)

while conquering these guys as vassals would be nice...

Pretend we're playing the aliens here for a second.

Suddenly the all powerful SINGLE ship wants to make us into minions giving us some tech and let us expand in its wake as it moves through system after system?

Yeah, we're going to back stab the fuck out of that ship eventually.

also, Machiavelli quote time!
"Men should either be treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injures - for heavy ones they cannot."

>>15762019
>>15762027

So we're gonna let some backwater xenos call the shots? Fuck that.

The scales are tipped entirely in our favor, they have no power in this situation whatsoever and they have the audacity to refuse us.

This will not stand.

These aliens have not felt the wrath of righteous humanity for several millenia, but if they continue to refuse us they shall feel our might once more.

They need to realize that we hold the life of their entire civilization in our hand and that we are the masters, that we cannot be bargained with, and that resistance is futile.

I like that. We did not defeat them. Defeat implies victory was possible.

We take what we want.

Vedi is a saint for putting up with you retards, I swear.

>OH NOES WE MUST KNOW EVERY TINY DETAIL OF THEIR LAUGHABLY INFERIOR TECH

>FUCK THEIR TRADITIONAL SURRENDER CEREMONY, LET'S RAPE THEIR MOTHERS AND SHIT DOWN THEIR THROATS BECAUSE WE'RE SO AWESOME, YEAH, TO FOLLOW THEIR XENO TRADITIONS WOULD MAKE US WEAK

>>15762040
>"What good is a sheathed claw when the body it was attached to is dead?"

That's my favorite line right there, even if we accept their counter-offer can we use it anyway please?

>>15761998
You can't seriously expect to dissect seven thousand years of culture in the space of five minutes thumbing through the internet, can you? I mean, really?

A cursory tabulation reveals that:
in 201,874 of cases eating the eggs led to war
in 223,331 of cases refusing the offer led to war
in 9,370,304 cases eating the eggs sealed marriage pacts or bloodline unions
in 7,997,202 cases refusing the offer sealed marriage pacts or bloodline unions
ect. ect.

It seems to be a ritual involving any major decision with extreme or long-term consequences for a bloodline, clutch, or large number of Sha in general. The xenobiologist onboard suggests it's likely context sensitive.

>>15762040

I like this response en toto. We simply desire to no longer harm them as we leave. Do not ask why Harbinger does; Harbinger is the wind that blows.

If they capitulate, eat the egg. If they don't, eat the egg anyways. We can obliterate everything here without excess effort. Sensors and weps solve that problem. Who cares about their military disposition; they have no means of bringing it against us without perishing utterly.

>>15762104
We don't expect to. All we want is enough information to make a somewhat-informed decision, rather than blundering blindly on as if we're not an EI on an Ophidian warship which is connected to the aliens' entire civilian network.

>>15762116

Well, we care, because when we're using the shipyard we might need to have our shields down or otherwise be in a vulnerable position to properly use it.

>>15762104
Look for cases similar to this one. Where they were defeated through overwhelming force.

>>15762116

Or fuck, keep the eggs. You've lost many, and you'll need strong daughters. We will have what we need and go. Expect our return.

>>15762104

What exactly do they mean when they call them "Lasteggs"

>>15762142

A drone screen, an exclusion zone, and hot sensors should handle that. ANY move by ANYTHING is hostile and responded to in force, and we can bloody well shoot our way out of the docks if we have to. EVERY BRIDGE CAN BURN.

Assuming the drone has some sort of onboard laser, let's vaporize the eggs, and let the aliens figure out for themselves whether we "ate" or "refused" them.

>>15762142
Since it's a "drydock" they'd have to shoot their own shipyard before hitting us, I'd be more worried of them trying to invade the ship while we do the repair.

>>15762168

Ahh trolling the xenos.

>>15762104
Thank you, Vedibere. It seems to me that the context here is they are offering these eggs as a symbol of their surrender, their acknowledgement that we could wipe them out as easily as we could crush these eggs. My suggestion for the eggs is: don't crush them. Take the first one in hand, and say this:

"We do not kill the children of the conquered when they cannot fight back. Here is our command on the matter: let them live. They shall grow tall, and strong, and be raised with the knowledge that they were spared by us, when we could have just as easily destroyed you all."

>>15762159

Dude, the're fucking eggs, it doesnt even matter, all you're doing is annoying Vedibere.

>>15762199
I like it, those eggs will be forever marked as those sparred by the predecesers. Maybe we leave instructions that they are to be given special treatment or something, idk.

You ask the aliens what the ritual means.

They reply that these are the most recently laid eggs by the matrons and in this situation represents the future of thee 'Sha. Consuming them will be consuming the future of their race, refusing will be symbolically returning their future to them.

>>15762100
Look, retard, access to their military datanet means we get access to their fleet movements and so know which systems have a heavy infestation by the other regional powers.
Also it means that we can thumb through their military projects to see if any Ophidian wrecks or ruins were found.

We don't give a shit about their technology; we want any shred of info they have on Imperial remnants.

Take their eggs back to the ship and engineer a horrible, horrible plague for them.

Release it on the world as we leave.

Or, you know, we could just confess complete ignorance of their customs, and ask what action we should take to signify our intent to honor our agreement to the letter.

These motherfuckers do build spaceships, I think they can grok that.

>>15762199

I'm okay with this. I'm also okay with them hiding some of their military. We already crushed their best, let them have a fig leaf. We get what we want, we get out, no reason to prolong things or make them nastier.

>>15762233

Then give them back the eggs. We got better shit to timeskip to.

>>15762233
I would say kill half as a show of both strength and restraint, but that marchavelli quote is nagging at me....

Let em live, we allready whipped out a shit load of em, no need to cripple them further. and its better to be loved than feared, which isnt possible here, but its better to be feared than hated

>>15762233

Then by all means, give the eggs back.

I think we can all agree that exterminating them out of hand is pointless.

>>15762233
For the record guys, if you had said "We decide X!" with X being fuck the aliens over or vassalize them or burn them all to the ground or shit in their mouths and laugh or WHAT THE FUCK EVER, I would have done context-appropriate stuff in the next post like asking what the ritual meant blah blah.

That said, I don't mind if you want to explore xenos rituals and such... but searching the alien wiki is probably less effective than simply asking the diplomats in front of you what is up.

Sounds like we should refuse the eggs.

>>15762234

Look, fuckface, we've got a BLEEDING-EDGE TOP-OF-THE-LINE INTRUSION SUITE ON A TECH LEVEL THOUSANDS OF YEARS MORE ADVANCED THEN THEIRS, AND A CREW-QUARTERS FILLED WITH THE MOST INGENIOUS, TALENTED MINDS OUR CIVILIZATION EVER PRODUCED

JUST HACK THEIR FUCKING COMMS AND FIND OUT WHATEVER THE FUCK WE WANT.

It's like Perry sailing into Japan, except now Perry's got a motherfucking nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Get. With. The. Fucking. Program.

>>15762258

I think crushing ANY of the eggs will foster some hate. Just give 'em all back and get on with ship repairs.

I say we take half of the offered eggs.

Once they are taken back to the Harbinger, they can either be used to study the biology of these aliens.

That or supplement the rations.

>>15762269
>probably less effective than simply asking the diplomats in front of you what is up.

THANK YOU.

GODDAMN.

Refuse the eggs. We just need to keep them from going full retard long enough to fix our fucking ship, get their gates back online, and leave.

Can we drop the eggs and wait for the scene where we move on to the dock and a big-ass timeskip?

>>15762273
Alright, then, let's see who's right.

Vedibere, can we hack into their military datanets and get the information we want concerning fleet movements to show where the regional powers are gathered, and if the military is keeping tabs on discovered Ophidian remnants or ruins?

>>15762316

HOLY

FUCKING

SHIT

GIVE THEM BACK THE EGGS, MOVE THE FUCK ON WITH FUCKING SHIP REPAIRS

FUCK

refuse their offer. then offer them parsons.

lulz ensue

>>15762269
My impression was of a clear majority for the "vassal, use them, leave"

With one very loud guy being an ass.

Probably the samefag that went ALLCAPS just mow :-/


If it's majority, then imho you should proceed with
> ask diplomats wat do
> do so
> vassal
> timeskip
> take fleet of escorts, move on to our next roadstop onthe way to earth


I'll reiterate: I don't care what happens, I loveyour writefaggotry, and this is my impression of the most agreed on plan


And again: Thanks for putting up with them(/us) :) :)

Keep going ved, give us a big timeskip, some real stuff to read,

Pretty please? ;) :)

>>15762347
> pretty please?

Pretty pretty please!

Vote no on vassal for obvious reasons. There's no way for us to regularly take tributes, or to enforce our demands. We're a single ship.

Ask them the significance of the eggs and our choices. Choose the non-violent option.

Take all Ophidian technology. Anything we don't need, take it and destroy it later.

Effect repairs as much as possible in shipyard. Then destroy the shipyard. Better to ruin it than let xenos have it.

why all the interest in these backwash alien nobodies? lets get some repairs done, move out, find out wtf happened to our glorious empire and leave fucking alien bitches until after we have learned about what happened in the last sixty four thousands years

>>15762347
>anybody who disagrees with me is samefag

oh lawd

>>15762410
Agreed. No vassals, we need to get repairs and then leave to find out what happened and see if there are any humans left.

>>15762347
First of all, this is a quest, so you can't go "Lol timeskip" and expect everything to go well. Next, put yourselves in the position of the captain here. You have less that 40 people, how do you expect to do anything, anything at all with these aliens without them backstabbing you eventually?

My vote: return the eggs, get ship patched up and move on to look for more remnants of the empire.

In the long term, I say we look up the Inheritors, there's a slight chance they might be called that because they "inherited" the remnants of the empire, thus might even be humans. Or at least know what happened to the humans better than this federation. Being one ship, we want to play it safe and remain a ghost of the past, an urban legend, instead of begin really apparent to the whole federation.

>>15762446

And can we avoid this discussion the next eleventy billion times we bump into xenoforms until we've found SOMETHING human, or the ruined remains of Sol?

>>15762446
Heartily seconding this.

>their thedifin
What about it, Captcha?

>>15762467

But this is fun.

Tour the galaxy! See all the sights it has to offer! Meet new people!

>>15762467
I agree with this. If we need something from the aliens, we come in an take it. But no staying longer than necessary

Even after everything this still sounds the best.
>>15762199

>>15762467
Why discuss it when we have no means of retaining our authority over any vassals while also searching out humanity or knowledge of what happened?

We are just one ship with 40 people. To have just one vassal, we'd have to stay in their system and keep our guns trained on them for as long as we want them to serve us.

>>15762446
Agree with this. I think it would really break character for us to give up on our quest to find out what the hell happened to our race and its empire in order to extort some xenos poorly. We came here for the possibility of OI shipyard facilities, and while we didn't get that we at least have something that might let us make some repairs. So let's do that and go on to figure out if humanity survived our slumber.

To the guy accusing me of @whoever disagrees is a samefag"

I'll reiterate again: I only care for the writefaggotry, not the slecific cpurse of action.


Before, I had the feeling most people wanted to use them, take a small amount of ships blabla


This has changed now, either the composition of participants has changed or minds been swayed.


Consens now appearently is: Get repairs done, be diplomatic, move on.


Ved is probably writing already anyhow :)

>>15762570
Grmlz

iPhone acting up, apologies for wordsalad.


Just to be clear, aim of the compromise was not to stay and build sn empire, but uplift them to jumpability, get a small remote controlled fleet of ablative ships.

This wasn't a dumb idea, because while it wouldn't really improve our offensive capabilities, it would grant expendeable hyperspace capable assets.
These could be used for recon, they could just be transports, ablative armour, missile batteries whatever

Nobody, to my understanding, intended to stay longer than necessary to aquire said fleet and then move on to Sol.
What I suggested was the addendum: When we leave, we also leave the cluster eater.

No need to really uplift this species, just get them to build us a small fleet, then annihilate them.
Don't really care though :)
I'm in for reading nice stories

“I accept the terms and will not consume your eggs.” you say, your metallic voice ringing clearly.

The lead purple-robed one nods, “Very well, the knowledge will be given as agreed. The matrons agree.”

And with that you are finished. You are once more ushered back to the car and the space port, your drone fighters whizzing overhead in an airborne bodyguard until you return to the shuttle and, eventually, dock once more. Shortly after the information is received and you note that it corresponds to your own charts, though there are two systems marked as having (loosely translated) “Precursor Sentinels” in them.

Satisfied, you maneuver to the docking lattice. Glittering serenely in space with thousands of gnat-like ships flitting aobut it, it is ann enormous structure. Separated into a hundred different bays, the largest of which will only accommodate the prow of your ship, you can see work progressing even now amidst the turmoil of reorganization and the thousands of aliens being lined up along the largest berth to likely aid in your repairs. You note with surprise that they wear only rebreathers, their scaled skin apparently immune to the ravages of radiation and depressurization as they stand in enormous lines to either side, hard vacuum plying at their robed bodies.

“Sir, are you sure about this?” Ivanova asks

“What do you mean?”

“Well, are you going to have them work on the ship?” she inquires levelly, and in reply you shake your head.

“Likely not, but I’ll consult with Dai first. Either way, though, we need to get as much done here as we can and that means putting into the bay.”

“Sir.” she responds, and together with the bridge crew calling out distances (not strictly required, you suppose) you gently bump your way into the too-small structure, fitting the tip of your bulk within it. Thankfully only a few dozen aliens are crushed and you assess damage to the structure as being relatively light as you come to rest.

Satisfied, you dip down to engineering. Already Dai is whipping the crew into a frenzy of preparation, so you briefly pause and let him know you wish to speak.

“Need something?” he grunts after finishing the last set of orders

“I want to know what you can do with these facilities.”

He scowls, “Not enough. Automation is too light, xenos use manual labor for too much. Drones will supplement but will slow work. Can fix the breaches like we need, and can already see some FTL comm calibrators. With the parts we’ve collected can probably get those up and functioning, though doubt they will work until we get more reactor power for transmission. Can likely up the capacity of the engines too, but not the efficiency -- tech is too primitive. Same with the sensors, can make some repairs with the parts we’ve salvaged but the calibrations will have to wait.”

“Can you repair the reactor? Weapons?”

“Pfah! They don’t have the tech needed for the reactor calibrations, from the data we got everything they did have went up when the singularity planetside did. Weapons is the same, we can use some of the tools here to bring the last railgun online and maybe a few more of the mediums, but heavies are right out for now.”

“And shields?” you ask, hopeful.

“Eh, iffy.” he grunts, “Might be able to bring the two inner shells online at ten to twenty percent with almost no dissipation. Main shield though? No way.”

Disappointing. “Well, do what you can Chief. Oh, what about the jump drive?”

This time he actually laughs, a gravelly grating sound, “Must be joking.”

Sigh. “Very well, keep me appraised.”

“Sure, one more thing. Use alien workers or not? They’ll need access to the hull, shields will be down while we do external repairs too.”

>Decisions on how long to spend here.
>Each system listed will take one week.
>Hull will take two weeks.
>Pick two actions to do in the interim.
>Pick three crew to talk to in the interim.
>gogogo

For once I'll make a suggestion
> stay and repair as much as possible for however long it takes
> talk to...
>... Ivanova (I like her <3 )
>... The Gateinventor, wether he agrees with Dais assessment
>... Thats it :)

Oh, and the data reveals that yes, the singularity you shot was in fact an ancient Ophidian command station.

forgot:
> then leave, check out "precursor sentinels"

>>15762710
I'd say only repair the Hull and up the core capacity

>>15762710
Use alien workers to perform hull repairs only. Do not allow them near any sensitive systems. Track them at all times. Keep weapons hot even while shields are down, just in case.

Repair all systems. In the interim, I'd suggest we thoroughly analyze all the data that can be acquired here (including that which we hack from the military net). Assuming hacking the net does not count as a second action, infiltrate the shipyard's systems (only electronically, if possible) and rig it to shut down entirely when we leave, in such a manner that it will require our presence to reactivate.

We should talk to Parson (we've been putting that off for too long), Ivanova, and Ketro.

>>15762710
Not sure how long to spend, definitely fix the hull though.

Make Parson less insane. Figure out something useful for Ketro to do and get him started on it, just anything to make him a bit more content with things.

Talk to Ivanova, Rinn, and Ketro.

These lower caste dudes seem pretty goddamn broken down and subservient. I doubt they rarely - if ever - have unique thoughts. They're little more than biological drones, really.

Let them work on the ship.

>>15762760
reading comprehension: No upping core, no tools for that.


Also: Why just the hull?


Nothing that survived 64.000years will be gone in a couple of weeks.
We have time,
We should use it.

Better safe than sorry, because there's no telling of
a) when we find the next shipyard
b) what dangers we run into

I'd say run the whole line of repairs. We certainly need it, and for the time being we're pretty safe. No on the lizards working on the ship. They should not be any part of the actual repairs, but can help with organizing bits and the other trivial things that do not require touching the Harbinger.

One thing to do, search those wikis. Enlist anyone with skills towards the task in on it. Learn all there is to know, as I doubt we will be able to access their stuff once we leave and we're stuck here for a abit anyway. Focus mainly on military tech, and what we can glean of inter system politics.

Another thing to do, get some physical rehabilitation for your meat case, er.. body. If you're good enough try signing up for some laser tag, becuase, really that
s just fucking awesome.

Talk with Dai, mostly on the matter of Ketro, and his thoughts on farther repairs. Ketro himself, on matters Dai brings up, and just generally trying to establish relations with the man, see if he has any reasonable gripes we can tend to for him. Lastly, talk to Parson, see how he's doing.

>>15762825
>Can likely up the capacity of the engines too, but not the efficiency

meaning that we can get more power, and the less time we spend here the better off it will be for the crew morale.

>>15762752
Seconding most of this.

> stay and repair as much as possible for however long it takes
Will heavy drone patrols around the station and an exclusion zone
> talk to...
>1)... Ivanova (I like her <3 )
>2)... Ketro, wether he agrees with Dais assessment
And if he thinks there's anything he could find special uses for aboard the station. His plans for projects that could be of value given our limited resources. Remind him that this ship is Dai's but there could still be plenty of facilities around the Galaxy waiting just for him. Maybe even Sol.

>3rd, PARSON!

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

Talking to people is not an Action. "Fix Parson" for instance would require talking to him as one of your three people.

Actions are more along the lines of Hack Military Datanets or Comb Records for Hydra, Maestro, Dreadnought, and Centauri. (for example)

Your actions might be referenced in the conversations you have.

Alien workers on hull, stay for hull, core, shields, FTL commo, possibly weps if nothing's amiss. Work on Parsons and data sifting. Talk to Ivanova, Ketro, and... is Parsons a required talk if you're trying to work out his psych problems?

Course of action post-repair: investigate Precursor sentinel-flagged systems.

>>15762880

So data sifting and hack milnets as two actions; Parsons, Ketro, and Ivanova (in no particular order).

>>15762913
>1. Map out a route, using Gates mostly, to those sites marked as protected by "Precursor Sentinels". That means intact Ophidian resources, and maybe a databank that contains info on what happened in the Civil War.
This won't take an action, you can just do that when you leave.

>Decisions on how long to spend here.
2 weeks on the hull, 1 week on the sensors, 1 week on the guns, 1 week on the engines, 1 week on the shields. 6 weeks total.

>Pick two actions to do in the interim.
Learn which systems the xenos have explored and found to be filled with ancient weapon platforms that kill their explorers. Learn the capabilities of the xenos' enemies. General intelligence gathering from the xeno network, and requests for specific information from their military network.

Talk to Ketro's team as a group. Get a feel for them, help them integrate with the crew. Encourage them to participate in crew activities like the laser-tag fights. Ask if they want anything from the planet. We want them to feel loyalty to us.

>>15762935

>>15762710
>Pick three crew to talk to in the interim.
Tynes, we haven't talked to him much and he lost the most second to Parsons. We don't want a repeat, so we need to pay attention to him and be sympathetic if he wants to talk about it. Let him bring it up. The main purpose of the conversation will otherwise be to get to know him better.

Ketro. We want to get to know Ketro, and we want to see if he or his team needs any help adjusting. Compliment his work so far, make the little man feel like a peacock instead of an ugly duckling. During the six-week period he'll be in the safe-zone for any post-cryo complications. If we get a good vibe from him during our conversation, I want to honor our implied promise and move him to an officer's suite. If not, I want to present him with a good excuse.

Parson. We have our body back. We'll want to talk to him. We might have been an orphan, but we lost all our friends, our career, our nation too. And while offering false hope is not good, this would be the ideal time to point out that if House Parson was prudent, there's always a chance that we could find a relative of his who survived in cryo, like Ketro's team. Like us. Each step we take in repairing our ship gets us closer to figuring out what happened, and who could be where. It's a long shot, but long odds are better than nothing aren't they?

Putting in for 6 weeks.
Fixing:
1. Comms
2. Sensors
3. Weapons
4. Hull
5. Shields
Use alien workers. Even if they work on it, they can't understand or replicate any of the parts or technology.

Actions:
1. Comb through the xeno datanet for any mention, in myth or legend, concerning the other ships (Hydra, Maestro, Centauri, Dreadnought). Hack the military datanet as part of combing through the Essar'Shar datanet.
2. Address the crew concerning the Civil War. Tell them that the Empire was torn apart, but as the existence of the scientists proves, certain remnants may have survived, and its our duty to find them and lend assistance.

People to talk to:
1. Parson. Talk to him, see if he's able to accept what's happened. Press on that guilt he feels a little. Behavior: Understanding but firm, maintain authority.
2. Rinn. Have him go over what the Essar'Shar know about the other regional powers, make sure there's no unpleasant surprises from the other races in terms of weapons.
3. Dai. We need to make more use of Ketro. As much as he's a snake, he's still a brilliant scientist; what can Dai suggest we do to make use of his skill without giving him too much to fuck us over with.

>>15762880
Repair the Hull, the FTL Comms and see what you can do with the sensors.

Talk to: Parson, Ketro, and the Xenobiologist, whatever his name was.

Actions:

Comb the database for information about for Hydra, Maestro, Dreadnought, and Centauri.
Play laser tag with the crew.

I'd like to change my people to Parsons, Ketro, and [CONSENSUS]. Because there are far too many people for that third slot. We really need a sit-down with EVERYONE at one point or another.

>>15762880
>>15762880
>>15762880
>>15762880

>Actions are more along the lines of Hack Military Datanets or Comb Records for Hydra, Maestro, Dreadnought, and Centauri.

YES, THANK YOU, THIS. DO THESE. Gosh, peoples, forgetting much?

People to talk to:

Parsons: It's about time we voiced our suspicions, and make it clear just how important our crew is to us.

Ivanova: We need to ask her how to be Devious with Ketro.

"Guns:" Let's just shoot the shit. I want to know more about this man.

thirding

find out what parsons is plotting... nudge him if possible

>>15760403
>>15762693
>>15762710

Fix: Hull, Shields, Sensors

Actions:

1) Determine the worlds marked as having "Precursor Sentinels".

2) Attempt to find and access any remaining Ophidian Empire computer systems in the shipyard and the Gates, in order to gain further information.

Conversations:

1) Ivanova: Discuss what to do once we move on from here, what the protocol would be for subjugating a race of this tech level, and why might the Empire have kept our clearance codes in their computers?

2) Parson: See how he's doing, show him how well everything's going, try and determine the cause of his suicidal thoughts and help him past it.

3) Tynes: Ask him how he is, what he thinks of our progress, what we might/will need in terms of supplies in the near future.

>>15762975

Seconding this: put in for 6 weeks, do a full job on all systems.

>we can fix a few medium energy lances

How surprisingly fortunate. That shit is hard, yo.

>>15762838 Here, substituting Dai for Ivanova for reasons of consensus.

Damnit, I just realized that fixing everything we can is actually 7 weeks.
1. Comms
2. Sensors
3. Engines
4. Weapons
5. Shields
6-7. Hull

>>15763032
Just realized, that determining the worlds should be fairly easy for us, not really requiring an action I take it? Confirmation please, Vedibere.

>>15763092
>How surprisingly fortunate. That shit is hard, yo.
More than you know.

The only reason you can is because:

>wait for it

They had just finished installing the only ancient lance they've found on the Obsidian Claw. The data you requested confirms that's what was behind the doors.

>>15763124
Already been confirmed, namefreind.

>>15763122

And that's still a flash in the pan. (And hopefully enough time to schedule a few dozen meetings? Yeah? Maybe? We've got waaay too many talky targets.)

>>15763128
>They had just finished installing the only ancient lance they've found on the Obsidian Claw. The data you requested confirms that's what was behind the doors.

I'm glad I suggested we shoot it first.

>>15763128
>They had just finished installing the only ancient lance they've found on the Obsidian Claw
Well shit.
Does the Essar'Sha military know if any of the other regional powers have recovered Precursor weapons and deployed them?

>>15763128

Hahaha well good thing they didn't get to use it.

>>15763128
>They had just finished installing the only ancient lance they've found on the Obsidian Claw.

HAW! HAW! HAW! That is exactly what I'd been suspecting. The doors were to shield it until that hamster wheel they call a reactor was able to charge the capacitors

Between that and the ground-based weapons, we're quite fortunate we didn't let either of them fire.

>>15763134
Ah, thank you good Anon. Changing my action from "Confirm Precursor Sentinel worlds" to:
"Search for any mention of Precursor ghost stories, Bermuda Triangle like areas, etc., that match up to actual systems/locations."

>>15763128
Could our shields have survived a shot from that thing?

Whatever we repair, do not use alien workers. Can't risk them learning anything, can't risk sabotage. No work, even on the hull.

>>15763226
>Could our shields have survived a shot from that thing?

>1/4 shield layers online
>primary battle defense shield not one of them
>only shield layer at pitiful integrity and dispersion
>yet, only one Heavy Lance with very long time between firings

It... would not have been pleasant, all things considered.

>>15763226
Oh surely, survival wasn't really in question. It was more "how much duct tape will be ripped off our damaged systems when that bolt hits our shields?" than danger persay.

Now the groundside stuff? You're not so sure about that. Some of those had very scary weaponry.

>>15763180

Ayup. It's funny how "blow up everything that looks at us askance" seems to coincide with "correct application of force".

>>15763415

Well humanity's learned its lesson pretty well, against itself and xenos.

Use the alien workers to move shit from the port to the repair site, but not to do any actual work.

Drones do all that.

more input or writing something up?

>>15762693
>Thankfully only a few dozen aliens are crushed

GODDAMMIT, VED, GENTLY, GENTLY!

>Atmosphere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vTvHsHx4TM

Time passes and repairs proceed apace. You’ve had the shipyard evacuated and set up a sphere of drone patrols to ensure nothing comes close while you work, slowing repair but ensuring that no sabotage occurs and no technology passes to the xenos.

Other than that, however, your input to the repairs is rather limited. Frustratingly so, in fact. You simply don’t have the relevant skillsets to operate most of the machinery used here, only able to fabricate the multilayered sheets of aligned unisteel used to replace damaged sections of your hull rather than aid in the more delicate construction phases or repair of advanced systems.

Still, you console yourself with long overdue work, namely searching your databases fro the ships Centauri, Dreadnought, Hydra, and Maestro. Hydra is of course the easiest, and you know much about it already. Ex-fleet flagship. Captain, formerly High Admiral Aurora Shael. Listed as in-between captains on your roster at the time you departed port at Sol. A very powerful ship second only to you and battlestations, the first of the Hydra class of Heavy Cruiser.

Dreadnought is easy as well, a ship that every student in the Academy already knows. Well, not ship exactly. The OIS Dreadnought is the main defensive battlestation over Earth and key to the entire defense network of Sol. Captained by Rear Admiral Serg Iridan Mastok, one of the most highly decorated officers in the Armada, it is an invincible bulwark capable of destroying entire strike forces of normal ships and projecting its personal shield around the entire planet Earth as a defensive measure. You’ve met Admiral Mastok several times, he was good friends with your mentor Admiral Shael, and he seemed to like you well enough. Indeed, you were actually quite surprised that he knew you at all the first time you met as you were a mere Ensign at the time and no-one of note.

Maestro requires a brief search, but you are surprised to find that it’s the Atar-class Fast Command Cruiser Maestro, piloted by none other than Charles Urwright, a close friend of yours from the academy. You still remember the long nights studying and running battle drills with the man on the academy combat sims, competing to be first in class... and then were both assigned to the Hydra afterward. You give a silent mental chuckle... oh my, the two of you got so positively /smashed/ graduation night. You are still amazed to this day the Armada Police didn’t arrest you for shooting empty liquor bottles out disposal ports, attempting to hit the room windows of instructors you didn’t like across the station.

Finally, Centauri. This one takes a very long time to track down, actually. There are several dozen ships with Centauri in the name, after all, and sorting through them gives you very little. Eventually, though, you run across the Majora Centauri, a Keter-class long-range destroyer. It’s actually rather odd... the captain is someone named Olianas Paxil and his designation is dual-commissioned. Very rare, and when you look to see that he was commissioned both as an Armada officer and an Intel operative your metaphorical eyes go wide. Not just rare, but positively unique. You didn’t even know that was possible. As for why he would be waiting for you... you can’t even begin to guess.

The second task you set for yourself is, well, rather more boring. A few drones linking directly into the terminals for docking military warships at this shipyard and you’re into their military data network. It couldn’t even really be called hacking. You skim through the reams of information and store the most vital parts in your databases, ready for retrieval when required.

Now, for a task with a more ‘human’ touch, you suppose.

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

The air outside Parson’s cell is crisp, cold. Sterile and pure, far less than what you are about to do. Parson knows something, you’re sure of that. Pushing so hard for a direct jump? Being assigned to the Harbinger so young? And his house connections. No, there is something dark lurking beneath the surface here, brought to light by his despondency.

Enormous bolts draw back as you unseal the door, a hiss of air escaping. It draws up, the enormous thirty-centimeter thick unisteel bulk sliding into the socket above silently as you step inside.

There, lying on his cot is Parson. Awake, staring at you without response or emotion. A man dead to the world and to himself. The door slides closed and you walk over to the steel seat extending from the wall. Curved, smooth, nothing a prisoner could use to hurt himself... and very uncomfortable. You try to ignore it as you return the man’s gaze.

“Hello, Dray. How are you doing?” your tone is soft.

Parson shrugs. “Fine.”

“Kara has been telling me some disheartening news. Blaming yourself for what happened. Survivors guilt, maybe?”

He doesn’t reply, simply shrugging again. You try a different tact.

“Have you come to terms with our situation? That, while the Empire might be gone, we’re not?”

“Doesn’t matter. We might as well be gone too, for all the good it does.”

“No, Dray. That’s where you’re wrong. We’ve already picked up other survivors, surely Kara has told you. And we have leads, I believe that there might be others still alive. Something to return to.”

He laughs. A sad, sad laugh. “Maybe for you. Not for me. Everything I had is... gone. Dead. And it’s my fault.”

There. You seize on it. “Your fault? Why? We all agreed with you that a jump into the system itself was the best course of action. No interstellar scan to let them know we were coming. Complete annihilation of the rebellion. Just because it was your suggestion doesn’t make you responsible.”

He doesn’t respond and stares at the ceiling. Good. Another push, “Or maybe you feel responsible for another reason. Maybe it wasn’t your idea after all. Maybe you were told to have us jump there blind.”

He flinches then frowns, turning away, “Whatever, it doesn’t matter now. Everything is gone.”

“Oh, but it /does/, Lieutenant.” your voice turns hard, the steel in it matching that in your bones and body. “It matters to /me/ and it most assuredly matters to /you/ now. Like you said, everything is gone. That means that there’s no reason to keep it a secret. I already know you did something, so the best thing for you is to come clean. Or I promise you, as much as I care for this crew and I will not let any sort of rogue element endanger them. I will let nothing stand in the way of that.”

He turns to look at you and you gaze back for a brief moment before finishing, “Nothing.”

You share a long gaze with the man before he exhales, slowly closing his eyes and giving an odd half-smile, “Sure, go ahead. Ask. I don’t care anymore, and it’s not like it will change anything. What do you want to know?”

>???

>>15763949
"First: Who. Who ordered it?
A member from your House?
Second: Why. What did they hope to achieve? Discredit the Armada, weaken its hold on the Senate?
"And finally, what was supposed to happen? Get picked up after a few days adrift, then shuttled to some stronghold system?"

Ask him straight out if he set us up.

>imEngi not
Yes, I think we've established that, captcha.

>>15763972
Seconded.

Who? And maybe even more importantly, why?

1) Who ordered it and 2) Why.

And did you have any say in the matter?

>>15763972
agree, but add "what do you want us to do with you?"

The entire fucking Empire.. and for what?

>>15763958
Why the jump?
How many other were tricked in a similar way for this?
What was the gain?
What was your next move?
Who ordered this?
Why were you compelled to do it?

Is there anything left of this treachery that we can take advantage of now?

>>15763958
Did the people who ordered it have anything to do with what eventually turned into the Imperial faction? Did they forment the rebellion in the first place? Was the Empire's dissolution caused by a factional plan gone wrong? (If so, kick him in the balls, please.)

>>15763958
>>15763972
>>15764002
>>15764008
>>15764070
I agree with these Anons.

Who told you to have us jump? Why?
Are you still loyal to humanity? To this ship? To her crew?
Do you want to come back on duty? Do you feel you're ready for such a thing?

>>15764214

I don't think we should put him back on duty. Like, ever.

>>15764221
we need an intelligence officer. he feels guilty about the whole thing, and was suicidal for abit. watch his ass but if he wants to go back to duty let him.

captcha says perrormsg: cielarm ok there;s an error with the cielarm. we should have dai check that out.

>>15764221
My first instinct is to agree with you.
But, we're shorthanded, and otherwise he's just taking up space and supplies.
I'm going to have to agree with >>15764273

If somehow we can convince him that there is yet still hope and get him to be considered trustworthy again he will work all the harder for that hope.

Having said that, I dont see that being a possibility, and recomend Spacing the asshole.

>>15762693
>gently bump
Fuck me I lold heartily.

Get the shields back up first off, we don't want to have to repair everything we've done all over again. Afterward get the hull repaired. Then we look into getting a cargohold transformed into a drone/fighter workshop such that we can replenish losses if we need to. Unless that's already a built in thing in our hanger bays.

>>15764300

“I want to know who. Who was involved in this? Why did you do it? Were you forced?”

He glances over, frowning, “Forced? Why would you think that? I did it because it was the smart thing to do. This one ship could wipe out our entire house’s main battle fleet, Hexpax forbid the Empire make more of them. At the expense of the Houses, no less. I like my inheritance, thanks, and sitting by and watching my house’s power marginalized wasn’t on my top ten list of favorite things.”

He rolls his shoulders, sitting up and propping his back against the wall, “And as for who all was involved, lots of people. My house had six councilors but we could hardly do something like this alone. The Armada made a lot of people worried pushing this project as hard as it did.”

You clench your teeth, throttling back your rage before continuing, “And you were a major player?”

“Not major enough, I guess. Dad said we should let some patsy be the one to do it and coming myself was stupid. He was right.”

“Why? What could you hope to gain? What was your next move?”

He snorts, looking at you with scorn, “What are you, daft? What do you think? Get rid of this damn project, increase our house’s power by playing the protection card in the Council. If an alien rebellion could damage the Harbinger class’s namesake then we could claim defense against outside threats when we increased our fleet. ‘The Armada can’t protect our worlds, after all.’ Plus this project would have funding cut no matter how much clout the Armada threw around, and the more it struggled the more power would slip away from it.”

“You did this for your House’s power? Your future power? And political games? That’s it?”

“Of course I did.” He looks you over, lip curling in a sneer, “Please. You can’t be that naive and still have made captain of this thing. You know exactly what the council is like. ‘Nothing will stand in my way, nothing.’ Remember?”

Try to win him over with hope or Space his ass?

>>15764351
At this point, let's go all disappointed father on him.

"I know what the council is like. I thought YOU were BETTER than that though. I thought you were good enough to rise above it.
It's not too late to prove me wrong."

>>15764351
Kill him.

>>15764351

So he's miserable, bitter, and lonely. Is he still suicidal? Can he do his duty?

>>15764351
I am now very tempted to just space his ass as a traitor to the Empire, and to Humanity itself.
He wants to die so much, we can oblige him.

On the other hand, we could keep him alive, force him to continue living, and being able to do nothing, as punishment.

>>15764351
KILL HIM!!!! GORE HIM, RIP HIM TO SHREDS!!!!!!!!! TEAR HIS BONES FROM HIS HIDE!!!!!!!!!! LET IT BE KNOWN THAT TRAITORS TO THE EMPIRE SHALL ALL MEET THIS PUNISHMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>>15764351

Cuff this bitch for speaking to us in that manner, then tell him that his house is probably dead and gone and that us and everyone on this ship is his family now.

Now leave him to turn that over in his stupid fucking head and go flirt up Ivanova.

>>15764351

...

We can change the atmosphere in Parson's cell, can't we?

Time to step out and remove that precious oxygen from Parson's traitorous lungs.

Unless we can hang him... does Armada code have anything preventing us from hanging this fucker?

Offer him to the clutch mothers, bound naked and gagged, with a rod up his ass.

We should at least offer him a chance to redeem himself before execution. That way he can still be potentially usefull instead of dead.

Guys, he's maximum on-ice until we find more humans, cryofrozen until we know we don't need his genetic material.

>>15764351

"On one hand, you had the balls to do this job yourself."

"On the other hand, you helped engender the fall of the Empire and killed half my crew."

Tempted to beat him to death. Here. Now.

>>15764351

Damn.
And here, I thought he was just crazy.

On one hand, spacing him as a traitor to the old Empire is going to be mighty popular now that he's revealed his motives.
On the other hand, leaving him here to rot in the brig appeals to my sense of irony and the masterminding bastard in me.
Either way, now he fucked up.

>>15764351

"I take it that whatever rescue you had arranged for yourself wasn't able to find us.

"You know the penalty for treason, but you also know we're in a situation where I can't afford to just discard anyone.

"You get to wallow in self-pity in here for awhile longer. We may need spare parts for someone."

>Jump to the center of the system!
Advice Harbinger
>DAM IT PARSONS!

We shouldn't be so rash.
We should extract every person that he knows was involved in the conspiracy before spacing him.
We need to have every House, major and minor, every Council member and titan of business who was involved, for completeness sake.
Once we have that, then we can formally court martial him, strip him of rank, order his execution, and have him face the gauntlet.

>>15764446
>>15764441
>>15764436
>Implying that doing anything besides spacing him will only allow his rot to further spread.
>Implying he does NOT deserve to die for his crimes.

niggayoujustwentfullretard.jpeg

>>15764480

I didn't say anything about not deserving to die for his crimes. I said we need the stuff he's made out of. Flash-frozen in a cryopod is unable to spread, and fired out of an airlock is an option the moment we happen across ANY remaining human stock. Think of it as death row / insurance policy.

>>15764480
he DOES deserve to die, be we NEED the manpower.

If he chooses redemption, I say we put him back to work with a harsh watch. If he refuses Space his ass.

>>15764478

We can have Kateryna interrogate him, that's her specialty.

We shouldn't space him. Even dead he has value as am organ donor.

hey guys, i got a compromise solution:

he stays in the cell, but we make him work. give him intel and acess to the data from the xenos. if he so much as sneezes in a funny way we put him on trial for treason and kill him... however painfully we desire.

So let me get this straight.

Parsons really WAS plotting!

>>15764516
Yes, I was assuming that Ivanova would be the one to carry out the interrogation.
She only has 2 requirements:
1. get the info we want
2. don't kill him

She can would, maim, and disfigure as much as she wants, though it would be preferred if she doesn't do permanent damage to organs.

>>15764530

>>15764530
From the very start, no less.

>>15764530
Yes and now hes plotting his escape, as he said it doesnt matter anymore. Given time to live he will link up with that new doctor guy and tell the bastard all of our secret allowing him to escape and kill us at the same time. KILL HIM!!!!

I vote for stranding him on some barely hospitable world.

>>15764426
This

>>15764547

Three requirements. I was serious about the organ donation. We don't have the facilities to clone spare parts. She can't do permanent damage to him.

I, for one, vote for executing him too.

1st reason, too much of a threat combined with our new arrival master genius.


2. Traitors of empire should not live, no matter how much time has passed, it will give an example to rest of our crew, civilians nevertheless. You serve the Ophidian Empire or you die.

3. We just cannot let him rot in our sell forever

4. He is gone morally, no matter what we say, what we try to ingrain into his brain, he will always remember what got him in this situation. Greed for power and putting his house interest in front of Empire

Hereby, I vote for public execution, with all reasons stated. We must show that no matter how much time has passed, the ideals of the Empire still stand

While we are angry at him we may need all the help we can get in the future. tell him that the empire is dead because of his actions and let that sink it. maybe ending with we are all that is left if you wish for redemption you must earn it.

this reminds me of space station 13. parson is traitor.

Meh, whatever. He actions in the past don't matter as he's well noticed, events happened without Harbinger because of his dumb ass. Close the door, tell him if he wants to participate in investigating his fuck up we'll consider it.

Otherwise go about our business as usual. S'not like he has many people to conspire with aside from the Oldenator.

launch Parsons out a missile tube and then gently bump him.

with our heaviest weapons batteries.

"I should kill you a trillion times over for contributing to the fall of the Empire. But I won't because we are the galaxy's best hope for its restoration. And we need all the manpower we can get. Now are you going to continue to sulk here in your cell, or are you going man up and do your fucking job? Think carefully."

As the very first person to call Parson a traitor and suggest killing him way back when, I say stay our hand.
Hear me out, his life is forfeit for his crimes, no one doubts that. However, in service perhaps he can redeem his self, not to the Empire, no for he has forever turned his back on it, not to this ship, as he has done damage that we will never be able to replace, but to us, who against all odds will carve out the Empire's legacy from the cold void itself. Our capacity to gain tools, much less expendable ones is rather small. There may come a time when his death can be of greater use to us, and for now he is without teeth making him no real threat. Yet, most importantly of all, he may have information we can use. Have Ivanova interrogate him, but lets' keep making visits ourselves, let's establish a report with him, as the disappointed father that we are. One day we may regret casting aside this tool carelessly, let's keep that in mind.

And finally, the Empire still has hold outs, who's to say his house doesn't too? Having him alive and "well" could be a very valuable bargaining chip should we find earth in less than friendly hands. (or where ever the Parsons held sway)

>>15764645

please, let us at least have the sense to NOT return a saboteur and traitor to active duty aboard our ship.

unless we plan on wrapping this quest up tonight when he finishes his mission.

>>15764645
Let me say this right now. We are never, EVER letting him get anywhere NEAR our systems ever again. He is a proven traitor and saboteur and will probably try to kill us at first chance. I say kill him and put his corpse back into cryo for future processing AT THE MOST GENEROUS!!!

GODDAM JUST CRYFREEZE HIM; THERE PROBLEM SOLVED.

Sparre parts/dna for whoever wants it and no threat at all.

Remember, parson is young. Very young and no real use at all. Our other crew is specialists or have many decades of experience.

>>15764426
Theres always this.

>>15764711
>>15764724

Hive, fucking mind. Thank you kind anon.

>>15764685
He was a traitor for his own gains, not for that of another cause.

Right now he stands to gain from standing with us. At least we know where his loyalties really lie. With himself, and his family. His family is gone, that leaves himself.

We can become his new family.

We can give him the opportunity to earn our trust.

>>15764426
Terrible idea. Even the least human is above a xenos.

They'd probably keep him alive and learn all sorts of things we don't want them knowing.

>>15764742
Except he's proven himself untrustworthy. And unstable.

There is no good in keeping him. Execute the traitor.

>>15764742
FUCK NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST FUCKING NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is a vile traitor, scum of the highest level of magnitude and is not WORTH the time, food, effort or emotions that would be put into such a useless endeavor.

Enough, I'm already writing.

His allegiances are gone, but the problem is that he's a rogue element. On one hand, it wouldn't be much inconvenience to keep him confined forever in a pod, on the other...

We represent the Ophidian Empire. This man is a traitor to the Empire, whose actions led to the death of his crewmates, not to mention contributed to the social upheaval that cost uncounted lives. It'd be up to Vedibere as to what the proper ophidian protocols are, but i'd go for executing him. Properly done it reafirms our position as captain and master, sets an example for the crew, and helps them focus by outright pointing out a target for pent up frustration - provides some finality to having lost everything and not being able to do anything about it.

But more importantly, no matter the circumstances, WE are the Ophidian Empire, and we will uphold its values.

>>15764742

Really? Really? And what makes you think he won´t betray us once again should oppartunity present itself?

You see, old wisdom tells that "Once a traitor, always a traitor" We can NEVER trust him. It might seem like in this situation our best is also HIS best but it this function will cange, trust me. What then? For people who think only of personal gain/power/whatever it is only matter of time when they see more profitable option rather serving us.

Freeze him, kill him, whatever. But Parson is and always will be security risk. (also with no argueable unique skills whatsoever) Just extract his geneseed before doing anything.. executing.

>ordsers singlular. Yes captcha, The High Seers are indeed Singular.

>>15764550

I KNEW IT

A heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A traitor can never be forgiven. A traitor will never find peace in this world of the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a traitor.

"I'm going to put Parsons back on the bridge, Merlin!"
"YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT!?"

>>15764829
>>15764829

Parson wants to die and deserves to die, but I don't want to give him what he wants.

>>15764865

Hello sir, good evening isn't it? Oh and by the way, FUCK YOU:

>>15764879
What the hell is wrong with you?

rolled 16 = 16

Guize, what if Parson knows we have him on lockdown so he can't kill himself, so he's just taunting us into killing him? Seriously, we need to think before we kill one of the last of our kind, even if he says he caused the death of the Empire. He wanted power for himself, and sought that power by having the ship he was on JUMP INTO TWO STARS GOING NOVA?

>>15764933

"I crippled the Harbringer while on board, convincing the captain to jump it into a system without scanning to reveal the twin novas that were arranged to be there. I'll take that captain's position on the new flag ship, thanks."?

>>15764933

He sought power for his HOUSE and HIMSELF, Now, get this, You can CLONE PEOPLE in this setting, now hear me out, you listening? WHAT IF HE GAVE UP ONE BODY FOR GLORY FOR HIS HOUSEHOLD, WHILE HIS HOUSEHOLD FUCKING CLONES HIM. SOUND LIKE A FUCKING THOUGHT?

rolled 5 = 5

>>15764952
>I crippled the Harbringer while on board, convincing the captain to jump it into a system without scanning to reveal the twin novas that were arranged to be there.
>I crippled the Harbringer while on board
>while on board
>convincing the captain to jump it into a system without scanning to reveal the twin novas
>twin novas
>while on board

>>15764971

his uniform had room for two "i survived a star going nova" medals

>>15764920

I'm sorry. I am passively aggresively drunk and I have hated Parson since videbere mentioned for the first time that somethng was not right with our traitor. My every fibre, cell and soul was screaming even then. *you can't trust him no matter what*

As for my uncontrollable outburst, I'm just tired watching these overly emphatic whiteknights to try to reason their way into Star Trek-like over compassionate solution for misguided personnel. It just doesn't work that way.

Sure it is human to seek personal gain, and you should recognize it when it manifests itself so brightly that it practically screms "Kill me for greater good"

If we are going to kill Parson, we should bring this matter up to the rest of the crew first. See how the rest of the command staff reacts in the event that killing him might go poorly. Minus the other likely traitor at least.

rolled 11 = 11

>>15764957
Chill out, it's just something the think about before we go all BURN THE HERETIC, although I think Vedibere is already writing.

I'm assuming it's recognized that cloning wouldn't transfer your consciousness, and it would just be a copy, not you. And he's religious:
>>15764351
>Hexpax forbid
Who knows what that implies.
Vedibere does.
Vedibere tells.

He should rot in a cell for all eternity, and in this setting an eternity can be a very very long time. Or maybe we can strap him to the cluster eater when we finally decide to use it.

>>15765001
A sort of complex ancestor worship was the prevalent "religion" in the Empire. They don't 'worship' them so much as revere figures of legendary achievements and aspire to match said heroes. There's an entire official pantheon sanctioned by the Council, in fact. Hexpax Parson is the patron of House Parson and its founder, the great general who defeated Rotiphem El and completed the Ophidian Unification.

>>15765104

I am speecless.

rolled 16 = 16

>>15765104
That does kind of knock my theory, it's possible that he would be willing to sacrifice himself to go down as a hero for his house, but in my opinion he seems too self-centered to do something like that. Also he was starting a family, I just don't see someone pulling a suicide run under those circumstances.

>>15765128
This is a fair point: did he personally lead the harbinger towards that quite lethal ambush due to incompetence, or is he not telling us the (whole) truth?

>>15765128
What makes you think he knew it was going to be double-novas instead of just an ambush?

rolled 17 = 17

Keeping Parson around wouldn't really be a problem, we have rations to hold for a little less than a year, as well as at least one world that is confirmed to have human edible native species, so keeping him fed isn't a problem. And if we keep him locked up and doing psych sessions, he's not harming the crew. I think we should just wait on this until we get more info, which it looks like we might considering we found two more guarded bases. Maybe we should think about checking out the Parson house's system(s) at some point, see if we could get some info. A human life isn't something to take lightly in this situation.

>>15765193
As I said, incompetence.

Either way, I stand by my earlier post on execution as upholding the honor and values of the Ophidian Empire. Because no matter the circumstances, if we lose that, then the Empire will be truly dead.

rolled 1 = 1

>>15765193
Nothing in particular, but how could he think anything the rebels had could have taken out the Harbinger? Even in an ambush, the Harbinger just throws up shields and goes "lolnope, hope you liek lazers." And even if he somehow thought they could take us, he very well could have been killed in the combat. It just doesn't add up to me, maybe I'm just crazy. Like Parson.

rolled 17 = 17

>>15765218
>Lets execute one of the last remaining human beings in the universe, who is obviously mentally distraught and possibly a bit insane as well as showing suicidal tendencies (in his belief that there's nothing left to live for that he has stated to our face multiple times) because he says something to us that would prove him guilty of treason and thus get him killed. Sounds good to me.

Can we just wait? Let's find something more conclusive, hell, let's get Parson to say something that would prove his guilt, like something only the conspirator would know. If we can find out that he actually did it, I'm all for spacing the fucker.

>>15765218
He clearly wants to die, and might be very well goading us into killing him by feeding us false truths.

I say get everything out of him, then cross-check with information we have on our databases and from Ketro's team's accounts for any inconsistencies. Then we can reach a decision.

“Very practical.” you say coldly, standing. “I’m sure you won’t mind telling me the rest of your conspirators then?”

He shrugs, “Sure, whatever. Not like it matters anymore.”

“Good.” You take three quick strides forward, Parson looking up just in time for you to grab his throat and lift, slamming him against the bulkhead wall with your left hand as your right arcs across. Microfibrial muscle strings laced through your body flexing, you feel his nose snap as your fist connects. Ah, that felt good. In fact, it felt so good you do it twice more, the third blow connecting with his teeth and knocking one sailing free even as it opens a long gash along your knuckles.

Enough. You release the man and take a step back, breathing deeply and flexing your hand. Regaining your composure. Parson lies on his cot, unconscious and bleeding from the broken nose. You summon Dr. Burr as you leave, it wouldn’t do for him to be too damaged for cryo.

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

The door to the debris-filled cargo bay swishes open and in you step. A clear area in front of it greets you, and your eyes fall on the various officers arrayed within it. All of them save Dr. Burr and Chief Dai.

“Captain on deck!” Rinn announces, jumping up from where he was sitting on a block of warped unisteel. The others follow suit, all snapping to attention at the sight of you. They’re all arrayed in light clothing, T-shirts and less, a couple of the junior officers shirtless. On the ground around them are the modified weapons used in their games of laser warfare, painful on contact but hardly dangerous.

“At ease.” you say, nodding. “Interesting. About to start a game?”

“Close, sir.” Ivanova replies, “Waiting for the last two juniors to finish.” Your XO is dressed in a black tank top over Armada-issue combat cargo pants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. As you watch she and the other senior staff go about checking their weapons, ensuring that they are harmless and working correctly. You flit about the optical sensors across the vast space and find the last two juniors, engaged in a fierce firefight that is soon to be over one way or another and consider.

Hmmm.

“You seem to be short a man.” You observe to your command staff.

Tynes nods, “Yeah, but we’ll make do.”

“It would be easier if you had a fourth. And if it’s senior officers against junior, well, I believe I count toward the senior.”

The eyes of those present snap over to you, Rinn raising an eyebrow, “It would hardly be fair, sir. You know where everyone is.”

You give a shrug and small smile, “I can do something about that. No cameras, no sensors. Other than my body here, of course.”

“Well then that would hardly be fair the other way, sir. You wouldn’t be able to keep up.” As she speaks Ivanova cracks a smile, your other senior staff chuckling at the comment as the juniors sit silent, eyes wide.

“That sounds like a challenge.” you state flatly, and your XO nods slightly. “Well, I suppose I have no choice but to accept and show you all how it’s done.”

Smiles all around and the junior officers finally joining in with whoops and exhortations. From the “You show ‘er sir!”’s and such they are rather eager to see your second-in-command be “shown” how to do anything, even if it means their own loss.

You just hope you didn’t bite off more than you can handle.

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

The game is simple. Last team with a surviving member wins. Both teams start at opposite corners of the pile and have to find each other and eliminate them. Simple. Easy. Right?

Not so much.

You’re paired with Ivanova, both Tynes and Rinn wishing you luck and a slightly disheartening, “Hope you can keep up with her, we sure as hell can’t.” Wonderful.

The two of you wait in a crouch, watching the timer tick down to zero and the game to begin, slowly, slowly... now. You both spring up and begin rapidly jogging inward. “What’s the plan? I assume the others have favored tactics?”

Your second nods, “They can’t generally match us on skill so they tend to spread out individually and make use of their comms to set up ambushes. When they spot us they converge and attack.”

“And you move around in a group?”

She shakes her head, “Tynes and Rinn pair up, safer that way.”

“And you?”

She glances over, smiling, “Never have had need to do so, Kapitan.” Suddenly she skids to a stop and hold sup her hand, eyes closed. You both drop into a crouch as she opens them, bringing a finger to her lips. You nod, and she motions for you to go right as she skulks off to the left. She’s barely gone ten feet before you lose track of her, expert movements carrying her behind debris with fluid precision.

You dip into the debris and stealthily make your own way around, soon coming up on a large unsteady mound. You silently shimmy upward, eventually laying flat on top of a precariously balanced railgun hulk. Below you have a broad view of the area... and two figures. Ivanova is silently creeping up behind Ensign Rao, who is squatting in a sniper’s position looking away from you both. In her hand is the taser used as a substitute for combat knives, more for prestige and bragging rights than any actual advantage over simply shooting them.

But all is not well. While you see the ambush being set up down the way by one of the others, Ensign Rao likely providing sniper support, what you didn’t count on was Ensign Tremko being in the area as well. He is slowly walking toward his compatriot on the other side of a large pile of debris, gun at the read... within seconds he will round the corner and see Ivanova preparing to strike.

>Shoot
>Warn
>Other?

>>15765316

Grab a shotgun or its lazer equivalent and show these worms the meaning of fear.

Shoot!

>>15765344
Throw something or bang on something in your general area, time for a distraction.

Relocate and attempt to provide the Lt with covering fire.

>>15765344

How close is ivanova to Rao? If we pop Tremko as he rounds the corner will ivanova have enough time to tase him?

If so do what I just said.

>EX-TREEM LAZER TAG
>Ivanova using taser as combat knife

grinning like a motherfucker right now

>>15765344
Shoot, Ivanova can take care of herself.

>>15765344
>other

Cheat like there's no tomorrow and use the cameras.

Set ourselves up in a nice position to cover Ivanova (as though she needs it).

Alternatively, stick our hat or something up so that it hangs slightly out from a corner, and hide away from it an watch the angle it gets shot at. Then hose the area.

>>15765504
Hell naw, if we do that they won't let us play anymore.

>>15765504
We'd lose any chance of ever saving face around Ivanova.

We're well into autosage and I've got another three hours in me, so I'm going to start up another thread.

Cont here:
>>15765549

>>15765504

No cheating! We're gonna win or lose fair and square.