With a Dominion fleet now in the region Knight Myrish Avun is able to secure a uniform of her own and has informed you she'll be staying aboard the station. The slaves you bought have been revived and moved to the station as well, all of them scheduled to have their slave implants removed over the next few days.
The rescued House Erid nobles were a little incensed at finding themselves aboard a rival House warship when awoken but were quickly calmed down. You've been left with the impression you shouldn't expect any reward for their rescue but it should help relations with their House.

After a few hours of rushed repairs to vital areas and a full system shut down the engineers report that any further work can wait. The crew have been assigned to hotels near the docks and are waiting for word on how long shore leave will be. You wont know that until the locals have looked over the ship.

With three large fleets nearby beginning deployments into the surrounding star systems civilian traffic could be described as chaotic at best. Its more than 24 hours before repair crews from the station can even begin an estimate. Suiting up you join one team to get a first hand look at the hits the Bittenfeld took. Damage to some sections is staggering to say the least. Structural damage is extensive in many areas though a few are untouched. After twelve hours of scans and inspections the station team leader and your Chief Engineer come up with their estimate.

"The structure damage is heavy enough that we'd be further ahead to remove the outer hull and armor entirely. From there we can rip out the guts that have been damaged and cut deep enough to remove the damaged supports. All of that shouldn't take too long, a few days to make sure we found everything. Rebuilding will take longer. All told we're looking at two weeks minimum."

>>19457409
>Wat say?

>>19457409
"I'm surprised we made it out in one piece. She's a good ship. Do tell, would it be possible to install a few upgrades while you're at it?"

>>19457444
"Yeah, I suppose. She's going to be here for a good while anyways. What were you thinking of installing?"

>>19457476
??

"The good news is the Rovinar embassy said they were paying for the repairs." The local tells you.

>>19457444
"Upgrades? I don't see why not. You have until we finish cutting out the bad parts to decide what changes you want made."

>19382653
>Armor mod Rovinar put on our ship
>we want it inbetween all armour section
>should severely diminish enemy torp effectiveness.

You ask about the remaining external armor coating and if the local facilities could produce it.

"We don't have it on hand but it looks easy enough to copy. Adding it to the existing armor layers should be easy work but might add two days. House Posat holds a lot of the territory nearby, they bought it about ten years back at ridiculously low price. They should be able to produce it but you'll have to negotiate with them."

[ ] Talk to Knight Commander Winifred about deal with House Posat
[ ] Talk to House Posat yourself

find the nearest desert planet and land on it

>>19457535
>[X] Talk to Knight Commander Winifred about deal with House Posat

It's politics. Let our superiors deal with the unpleasant stuff.

>>19457535
>>19457566

yes, indeed.

And if possible we should have waited with the anti torp paint coating until we can talk to someone in house only. letting somone else get a sample of it is not smart and squanders house advantages.

It is after all for House and Dominion, and not the other way around.

>>19457605
considering they got repairs, they would have gotten some of it anyway, if informed, but with this blunder of asking for extra of it, they know its something special.

that is in case they did not know in the first place and have not tested the paint.

File: 1339529923435.jpg-(115 KB, 597x400, concrete 1.jpg)

>>19457542
>>19457566
You add them to your list of things to do.

>using our flak cannons once installed to chuck torp warheads at the enemy.- should be somewhat cheaper than using full torps and we can sell the missile body.

This unfortunately would not work with your particular flak cannons for a number of reasons. The man one is Barrel size, the cannons you've bought are too small a caliber to fire an 80-120cm diameter torpedo.

The warhead is by far the most expensive part of the device. Still I suppose some money could be saved by not buying the rest.
Overall it's not a bad idea. Reminds me of the large gun turrets on the Pegasus in BSG. Orbital Defense mass drivers can already be used to fire torpedoes so combing the two ideas into purpose built turrets could work.
>This idea has been forwarded to command. Maybe R&D can do something with it.


>>19457605
>>19457612
Yes the local repair teams would have gotten samples of it eventually. The Rovinar were not especially concerned since it was developed a few centuries ago and they're upgrading their own weapons soon to ignore it.
It's not so much paint as a spray on application of treated metallic fibers. It can be put on similar to how they san spray concrete nowadays.

If you don't want to share this tech with the local House the alternative would be to take your ship back to home territory which is a week away, have your armor stripped and replaced there. This would potentially add 2 more weeks to the time your ship is out of combat.

>>19457748
>If you don't want to share this tech with the local House

If they repair our ship they'll figure it out eventually. If we decide to have our ship fixed here, maybe we should officially share it with them?
Might net our house some influence with them.

>>19457748
Make them rails or gauss and not simple arty canons for flak, ad guidance protocols and fins with a bit of reaction gas, and you got a extra fast, narrow band manoeuvrability one pass torp warhead analogue.

if our house had problems with torps, this method of delivery can better allow for resource management, in not wasting missiles and torps in sniper engagements, and severely reduce interception by pd.


also , do we get something from this?

>>19457867
>retractable fins.

>>19457748
>Yes the local repair teams would have gotten samples of it eventually.

Just contact our commander regarding the repair decision. If they think they can get some advantage from trading it with the local house, then so be it.

>>19457867
It will take R&D awhile to develop something.


As you head back aboard the station and unsuit you try to think of more upgrades you could get. There is still plenty of time come up with something.

You're halfway back to the temporary hotel room when your com goes off.

"Hey its Linda. Our coms officer dissapeared so I've been taking messages the past few hours.
An aid has been trying to reach you. He wants to know when to schedule communication with the Rovinar Ambassador? It's to be held at the local embassy."

"Thanks. Send me the number and I'll let them know." you tell her.

"There are also some gunnery mechanics that want to see you about the job you offered them after they've had their chips removed. Also Flight Leaders Serth and Palaiologos would like to talk to you at some point now that we're back on the grid."

>Ambassador
>Gunner Techs
>Mike & Alex

Who will you be talking to first? None of them seem to be in any hurry.

>>19457961
>Mike & Alex
Let's see what our pals have been up to.

You decide to see if you can place a call to Mike and Alex.

An automated voice comes on.
"All customers be advised, channel bandwidth restrictions are in effect. Communications may be forced into text only mode with little or no notice. Audio is currently available."

Alex is the first you get hold of.
"Hey you're alive! After more than a week without any word we were getting a little worried. Can you talk about it yet?"

"I dont think I can, I'm going to find out later for sure but I really doubt it. Can you link Mike in so we can turn this into a three way?"
"...wha-"
"Call. Three way call." you correct yourself.

Mike joins the conversation a few seonds later.

"So I may have some rewards coming up. Anything I might be able to grab for you guys equipment wise?" you ask them.

"An Attack Cruiser would be nice." Says Mike.

>>19458094
>"An Attack Cruiser would be nice." Says Mike.

*Sigh*
"How many requisition points do you have saved up, and what is your current ship worth?

>>19458094
"Just ignore him Sonia." Alex tells you. "He doesnt have anywhere near enough RP. I'm almost into that range and we're being told the House cant find anything but spare Light Cruisers in that size range. Even if you come back to the squadron that might put the whole Third Attack Wing at two attack cruiers."

"Yeah, its taking forever to rebuild the Captain's Aries corp ship. Oh, you remember that Attack cruiser we disabled that had all of those missiles?" Mike asks.

"The one trying to steal the sensor array? The one my marines boarded?" you respond, thinking back to the bulker looking ship.

"Yeah. It's being assigned to one of the squadrons in our wing. Third squadron I think. We're both flight leaders in second squadron third wing now."

Alex resumes. "They've had us taking part in exercises the past week. Making sure the new arrivals know the ropes. They all seem well trained."

"The best part is we'll be the agressor units in some of the larger exercises!" You get the feeling Mike is bouncing with excitement. "We'll get to see what the other Houses are made of and live to tell about it."

>>19458184
>Anything else you'd like to talk with them about?

>>19458199
-Did they fly any missions?
-What's the general situation of the fleet?

>We're both flight leaders in second squadron third wing now.
"Congratulations."

>Did they fly any missions?

"There was a mop up action the other day but it wasn't anything serious. We've mostly been deployed on interdiction duties to catch smugglers." Mike tells you.

>What's the general situation of the fleet?
Alex takes over next. "They're getting everything together. Repairs are moving along and enough new squadrons have arrived from all of the Houses that the First Expeditionary should be near 12000 ships now.
There was talk about sacking the Admiral in charge of the fleet but because he pulled off that formation change around that asteroid they're holding off. They're doing a lot of mass formation drills. This week we're going to try to disrupt their formation in the exercises and see if it breaks like it almost did in the battle."

>Post before running out the door
>Get back, find the post failed.

>>19457961
>Our coms officer dissapeared

Huh? What do we know about that guy?

>We're both flight leaders in second squadron third wing now.
"Congratulations." you tell them.

"Thanks!" Both reply.
"You do know you're supposed to be the squadron leader for second squadron right? Between us and Daska we've got three flight leaders and none of us can decide who'se in charge."

"Yeah, Captain Sylvan eventually just drew straws since he's busy with first squadron and looking after the whole wing. Daska's in charge until you get back but really we're almost running this by committee. Hopefully it doesnt piss her off when you take command."


>>19458453
>Huh? What do we know about that guy?
Odds are he's gone off drinking.

Which brings us back to another point. How much shore leave do you want to give the crew now that you know how long repairs will be?

>connection timeout
WTF? anyone else having trouble posting today?

>>19458547
>WTF? anyone else having trouble posting today?

Yep, it takes 2 or 3 attempts per post to get anything through.

>Which brings us back to another point. How much shore leave do you want to give the crew now that you know how long repairs will be?

3 days, then some exercises for 2 or 3 days, then shore leave until they're needed on the ship.

You fill Mike and Alex in on how long you'll be stuck in dry dock. From what they know it looks like the fleet will be deployed out to this region in the next 2-3 weeks but they cant be sure.

After bidding them farewell you realise its rather late.

Who will you be meeting first in the morning?

[ ] Ambassador
[ ] Gunner Techs

>>19458670
>[X] Gunner Techs
Let's talk to those guys first, that way we might get the Ambassador to invite us to lunch if we manage to show up at the right time.

The next morning you make your way to the recovery wing of one of the larger hospitals on the station.
After looking around and asking directions you find the area the recovered slaves are located. The four technicians are in the middle of a card game but put everything away when they see you before standing and saluting. Three of them are human males of various ages and the fourth Dro'all.

"Reserve Specialist Hatford." The oldest introduces himself then the others. "You had a job offer for us sir?"

You drag over a chair and join them, telling them about your plan to mount some flak guns on the Bittenfeld to improve point defense.

"So you want to shoot down down incoming missiles using flak guns?" Hatford asks.

"Yes."

"Cant say it hasn't been tried before but we don't really have much experience with it." He says.

"You're all artillery munition techs though right?" You ask.

The four of them look between each other, a couple of them shrug. "More enthusiasts really." The youngest tells you. "We were drafted in different places and listed that figuring it would land us someplace rearward of the front lines."
"And some place with our feet on the ground." Hatford adds.

File: 1339538085545.jpg-(46 KB, 500x398, LAND_SPH_155mm_Soltam_Rascal_l(...).jpg)

You look at each of them.
"Do you know the stuff or not? I'm offering you positions on a starship with combat pay, all you have to do is fix these guns when we're not getting shot at. For the moment you'd be looking at a two week vacation."

"Thats a lot better pay than we have been getting." The Dro'all member of the group points out.

"Come on Hat." The youngest adds. "We tried sitting on the back bench already, all it did was get us caught by slavers. How long would it have been until we were moved to forward artillery positions?"

>Anything you want to add that might convince the last two?
>Or would you prefer they went back home?

>>19459049
>Anything you want to add that might convince the last two?
"You'd have a chance to pay back those slavers as well. There are also still countless people with those slave implants out there too, you'd have a chance to help them. And military service usually goes hand in hand with social advance."

>Or would you prefer they went back home?
I'm indifferent. But I guess the anon who suggested it isn't here atm.

>>19458951

well depending on flak coverage and diameter we could try something as the basterd child in between Babylon 5 E-web intercepors byproduct - basicaly instead of shooting high concentration particles pulses at the problem they just emanated the shit contiguously at low level in a general direction to screw up beams- and gundam SEED's anti beam 'depth charges' - which were basically temporary gaseous shield analogues.

of course that depends on what we can get to stuff the shit we will be shooting out of them cannons. something in the vein of the fog machine or rain simulator against the BETAs in those thread this week or last.

"Well... that is true."
Hatford seems to contemplate then looks to the others "The real problem is tricking warhead sensors into thinking they've struck hull. Exploding flak rounds will not be able to do that but solid slugs or tight groups of chaff made up of Tritanium might."

The Dro'all who the others were calling Stan nods in agreement. "It would take multiple hits but with a high enough rate of fire we should land some. It sounds doable."

"Those falloff calculations are going to be a bitch. Might take me a couple of weeks to sort through whatever programming those guns already have."

"We'll do it." Hatford tells you.

>Babylon 5 E-web intercepors
I honestly don't know that much about the tech in B5 even though I've watched a good portion of the series. I think I get your meaning though.

>gundam SEED's anti beam 'depth charges'
So they're basicly giant anti-beam chaff grenades.

After assuring the technicians you'll have the guns moved from the ship's hold to a cargo bay on the station for assembly you leave. It was easier to convince them than you thought it might be.

At 1100 hours you walk into the Rovinar Embassy. One of the aids for the local diplomats leads you into a secure conference room. Its only slightly larger than the Knight Commander's sitting room. The floor is metal but oddly textured, shaped to provide a non slip surface. There are chairs scattered about the room configured for a dozen different species, not all of them humanoid. The center of the room and the back wall are all empty of tables or chairs.

You take a seat and wait for the Ambassador to arrive. After a few seconds the door into the room locks closed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBLOvSb56Vc

The floor and back wall light up with the glow of holographic projectors. The images of the Rovinar Ambassador you met before and Knight Commander Winifred resolve into focus, both seated on their end of the line.

"It's good to see you well Squadron Leader." The Commander tells you. "I'm glad to hear you mission was a success."

The Ambassador offers you a slight bow. "My people are grateful for your assistance. The remains of the ship have been recovered. Even now we are decrypting information from its databanks on where it has been what fleet strength the Pirates have. Your own scans have assisted in that as well."

"It is my hope that we will be able to assist each other in the future." The Ambassador continues. "We now have a better measure of your... style of command? You certainly proved that with your attack on the John Avery. It may not have crippled the ship but it will have a profound effect on the morale of thousands of Pirates that make use of the ship."

The Ambassador looks to the Commander for a second then back to you. "Its most fortunate that you were able to succeed with stopping the ship from escaping. As a ship such as it would have expended its stores of torpedoes eventually the pirates would have needed to find more. We provided you those SP torpedoes to sell as a backup plan in case you failed to capture or destroy the ship. They had tracking devices built into them which could be activated by us if we suspected a cloaked ship to be in the area."

You feel a weight settle in your gut at this revelation.

"Ironically you may have made our job easier. A good number of those torpedoes would have been thrown into open space by the explosions and recovered by crews from other ships. They'll proliferate through the pirate fleets and prevent them from making similar attacks like that on the Command ship at Loran II."

yup.

we it means we will have multiple possible load outs. a beam aim fucker/beam diverter, or anti missile shotgun or railgun solid state PD gun.

Nice assortment of ammo for one extra headache in management and one less on the battlefield.


heck , load up the shotgun variant with some sensor reflective shit that you can track their trajectory and you got something to pinpoint a cloaked ship in case we get one again just monitoring those that continue ot their path and after two or three hits extrapolating the precise vector , by dint of fire volume and rate from the eight guns.


that cam be done via missile too, but both measures are tremendously ineffective compared to the distributed sensor network with fightercraft/shuttlecraft.

"But now the important items are taken care of and it is on to business. Your reward."

The displays change to show mineaturized images of various pieces of equipment, systems, armor even ships. The Ambassador stands and gestures to everything.

"Information is available on anything you might want. In some cases you may be able to aquire several items depending on their value. Remember, this is based on the value my own people place on equipment. Certain things are nor nearly as common in your home range."

>Starships
>Power armor (Heavy, Medium and Light)
>Emergency Teleporters
>Anti-proton 'afterburners'
>Property
>Money
>Other starship upgrades

"Which do you wish to see information on first?"


Commander Winifred speaks up. "As I've aleady given my word Squadron Leader I am sending an instructor to accompany you and teach you what you will need to know to become a Knight. In the coming weeks you will take command of a squadron. Prove to me you can lead larger units."

>Commander Winifred speaks up. "As I've aleady given my word Squadron Leader I am sending an instructor to accompany you and teach you what you will need to know to become a Knight. In the coming weeks you will take command of a squadron. Prove to me you can lead larger units."

subtext translator someone?
Is it basically a "pick the right fucking thing ye moron?"

>>19460004
>Starships
Weeeeeeell, the Bittenfeld is awesome but Alex and Mike might need an upgrade.

We're gonna check out everything anyway, so we might as well start with the first item on the list.

>>19459922
>that cam be done via missile too, but both measures are tremendously ineffective compared to the distributed sensor network with fightercraft/shuttlecraft.

"Oh, if you wanted those starfighters with the sensor packages back don't hesitate to ask. They were just normal high gain senors."

"How did they pick up the cloaked ship then?" You ask.

"We had a quantum communicator on the ship we could still access. We just bypassed control of the com systems and sent out a locator signal the fighters could pick up. Eventually the Pirates would have realized it if we activated it too many times."

>>19460027
When you get your corvette squadron prove that you aren't an incompetent leader? Don't get your squadron killed on a regular basis like your CO Sylvan is renowned for doing?

>>19460056
>Starships

"The Bittenfeld is a good ship but I wouldn't mind a pair of attack cruisers for my wingmen."
Knight Commander Winifred spits out some of her drink.

Ships

Gamma
"We have contacts in the Terran Alliance that could secure a pair of Gamma class assault corvettes."
Armed with a pair of heavy pulse cannon and a torpedo launcher most doubted how effective the ship would be with what are essentially spinal mount weapons. Their powerful engines and maneuvering thrusters proved them wrong. These now make up the mainstay of the Terran Fleet.

Silent hunter (Minus cloak)
Falling into the attack frigate category these ships are the most numerous in the Rovinar fleet.
Armed with 6 wingtip mounted E-beams these weapons have the punch and rate of fire of light pulse cannons but with range nearly matching phase cannon. The ships torpedo launcher is capable of launching almost any series torpedo ever produced.

Attack Cruisers
"Aries built attack cruisers just simply arent available, but the Kavarians are looking for any legitimate reason to increase their shipyard production. Your financial rewards alone wouldn't be enough to secure such ships." The Ambassador turns to the Commander who downs the rest of her glass.

>>19460230
"Very well Squadron Leader, Requisition cost is usually an indicator of just how much we have to spend on vehicles and equipment. Most ships you can requisition are built by our own shipyards. Most, not all. Torpedo and missile requisition are kept artificially inflated so that rookies dont rapidly expend all of our munitions reserves. It's necessary to teach fire discipline and its proven to be the best method.
These cruisers are vessels we'll need to expend resources on so if we do this it's wiping the accumulated RP not just from you but your wingmen as well."

>>19460230
>>19460255

"Don't worry about it. Somebody simply asked me for a cruiser and I promised I'd see what I could do.

Please, could we move on to the power armour?"

File: 1339546175810.jpg-(188 KB, 897x1000, Knight Armor.jpg)

Three classes of Power Armor available to Humans.

Heavy
Developed from modified power loaders and other construction vehicles, Heavy power armor is known for its tough construction and slow movement.
Best used for carrying heavy support or anti tank weapons. Their tough armor can make them difficult for basic infantry to kill but are vulnerable to anti-tank teams.
Most often seen used by mercenaries.

Medium
Considered by some to be the classic form of power armor, medium offers mobility equivalent to the wearer with greatly enhanced strength and armor.
Often used by the most highly skilled soldiers or other high value officers. Armor of this type is seen in use among the various Houses of the Dominion and rarely by Terran special forces. Pirates and Mercenaries have been known to get hold of armor such as this on occasion.
Note: Much of this armor is custom built to the body size and shape of each user. Those of similar size can make use of others armor but is not recommended.
Pic related.

>>19460446
Light
The most mobile form of power armor Light falls into two sub categories, Recon and Jump Jet (sometimes called assault.) The Armor material is tough and resilient but still light weight.
*Recon is built to operate quietly and is often equipped by their users with holographic camouflage. With proper training they can be kept in the field for weeks at a time. For obvious reasons special forces teams have been known to use them.
*Jump Jet versions are anything but quiet. The on board micro fusion reactors are used to heat and expel air from its four exhaust jets, two on the back and one on each leg. Combined with repulsors these suits are capable of very long jumps or even sustained flight for seconds at a time. They have a short operational range but their reactors can be easily refueled from local sources, even drawing hydrogen out of the air if necessary. These are almost exclusively used by the Terran Alliance but suits have been known to go missing on occasion.

>>19460056
>>19460294
are you two fucking idiots?

that is like wasting our money and gain for charity. big time.

please reconsider it , since what we would be buying is most likely far more better than the bittenfeld and we would be giving them away.

idjits.


I would have gone for upgrades or properties. something that would either get us some more standing with somone, since it could be used by our house or some additional constant revenue stream to allow us to get the noble rank as it is supposed to be worn

>>19460581


it seems we are browsing and simply using dumb excuses to do it.

lets see misc. upgrades and properties.

>>19460615
also, after this is done, we should see about forwarding the readings we got on the cloaked corvette to our Knight Commander , or even additionally someone else of similar rank and position (perhaps the baron?) in case we fear for infiltrator impostors.

and of course speculate the most likely reward.

I suppose we could anonymously sell them, but i doubt they are worth much if done in a bidding, and we dont have the backing to enter in such type of a deal.

>>19460651
"I think we should hand it over in person. I'd monitor Sonia's communications, if I were the ambassador and who knows if they didn't plant one or two bugs on our ship."

testing connection. my isp is being a bitch.

>>19460842
Posting on 4chan is problematic for me as well at the moment.
So it might not be your ISP.

>Upgrades

High quality shields- The best to be found short of experimental models, these shields have triple redundancy, though it may take longer for them to come back online. The generators for these are larger and reduce spare cargo space.

Fusion Drives- High end models from several manufacturers are available.
*Royal Armories: Rarely found outside of the elite units of the ruling House. Powerful and thankfully reliable, they lack parts commonality with most other manufacturers.
*Aries: High output but poor efficiency. Not as tough as some. Some parts commonality.
*GE: The most powerful engines built by GE with a pricetag to match. Still maintains compatibility with other series.

Sensors- High output sensor packages similar to what Alex has on his corvette. Increased FTL sensor range and local resolution.

FTL- The Drives are the heart of any starship and those on the Bittenfeld are quite old. They could be upgraded to a maximum of J-25 with modification to the superstructure.

Other- There's always something I haven't thought of. Make a suggestion, I'll tell you if its feasible.

>Property
Like most Houses Jerik-Dremine keeps land set aside on many worlds that can be gifted or sold to Knights and high ranking officers. While there are none with mansions laying about, construction is far cheaper than acquiring land on a habitable world.

>>19460883
Neat. Would the upgrades by actually ours, or would they become house property?

Moving on.
"Emergency Teleporters. Several could be installed aboard your ship. Say, one on the bridge, one near engineering and some at secondary locations? I doubt your ship could be rebuilt to handle more than that. Better that some of the crew escape than none."

You realize you never looked into the system and have no idea what it looks like.

"Teleporters can be made into most shapes but it is essential that it forms a Faraday cage surrounding the occupant."

A smaller image showing the layout of your bridge pops up on the display. A red line traces along the floor of the aft wall and up to the back of the command chair. Blinking red jumpseats descend from the ceiling inside the area outlined.
"A larger one such as this would be able to accommodate your bridge crew but would require you to leave the helm to take one of the jumpseats."
In the next animation crewman markers take the seats. Metal walls descend enclosing the crew before the entire section vanishes.

"This can result in a delay in abandoning ship, sometimes a fatal one. An alternate is smaller and would surround just the helm or command chair. It can be activated almost immediately."

A circular red outline appears around the helm this time, the upper part of a sphere descends and the station disappears.

"Why don't starfighters carry these?" You ask before you remember the costs associated.

"Its been attempted. Starfighters lack the power reserves necessary. You should know that you would be required to attend a short training course to familiarize yourself with jump shock."

>>19460883
>Other
AI was wrongbad in this setting, right?

>>19461033
Well they're part of the ship so... actually you could make a claim for partial ownership of the ship itself once you become a Knight.

>>19461154
They're frowned upon but I suppose.

How much of our favour would upgraded shields and light power armour cost?
And would that armour be useful during boarding actions when combined with the camo?

To be honest, I'd prefer if we made the decision what to take next week. That way we have time to think about the pros and cons of every choice.
But that's just my opinion.

>>19461298
Yes you could get both.


That only leaves the Anti-proton afterburners.

Antimatter is still not considered a viable fuel source on its own either for power generation or propulsion. Interestingly enough the Kavarians are the closest things to pioneers when it comes to long term storage of Antimatter and that has rarely gone well.
A solution for use in propulsion is to put Antimatter generation aboard ships themselves. The antimater is expelled via the fusion drives greatly increasing thrust but leading to overheating and damage after extended use. This equipment draws enough power that ships often cant fire weapons when it is active.

>>19461298
>And would that armour be useful during boarding actions when combined with the camo?
Recon armor with camo could be very effective in a boarding action. You might want to switch to a silenced Carbine so that your shots don't give you away.

>>19461593
Could you give us a rough estimate how much RP the upgrades we can get through that system would cost?

>>19461744

What you can get through your good will with the Ambassador.

Ships
Corvette x2 without cutting into your 4 mil cash reserve
Frigate x2 using up your cash reserve
Attack Cruiser x2 using up all RP and cash reserve

Or 3 Equipment items without cutting into cash reserves
>Power armor
>Emergency Teleporters (Bridge counts at 1 equipment, additional ones can be bought via equipment, cash or RP)
>Anti-proton 'afterburners'
>Shields
>Fusion Drives
>Sensors
>FTL

(RP cost if you were to buy this stuff at home: Power armor 9k RP, 1st emergency teleporter 10k RP, Additional Emrg Teleporter 5k RP, Afterburner 1800 RP, Fusion Drives 4k RP, Sensors 900 RP, FTL 1800 RP)

>>19461869
>Ships
Not really worth it in my opinion, because upgraded ships will most likely also mean harder missions and more attention from our enemies.

>Power armor
Seems very useful as we seem to end up in infantry/ground combat rather often.

>Teleporters
Meh. Undecided.

>Afterburners
If we buy those, we should rather do it with RP

>Shields
As we can't get those in our regular armoury, we might want to consider these.
Investing in better shields has been very good so far.

>Drivers
Meh. Undecided.

>Sensors
Too cheap. Should be bought with RP.

>FTL
Undecided. Rather cheap.

Sorry for not choosing anything, but the other 2 regulars didn't show up today and I'd like to keep them involved.

My current preferences, however, would be:
-Armour, light
-Shields

So, anyone feel free to make you votes either this week or next week, preferably referencing this post here.
>>19461869

It will be retconned appropriately.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Says the Ambassador who still hasn't give his name. "You and the Commander are free to make use of the conference room communication system to discuss any other pressing concerns."

The Rovinar's image fades out.

"I assure you we will talk in person once the First fleet arrives." Says Winifred. "There may be things that must wait until then. Is there anything you believe you can safely discuss now?"

You bring up the armor layer material Rovinar Intel applied to your ship and its ability to prematurely detonate torpedoes. The local dock workers are bound to be aware of it by now but House Posat are the only ones with the equipment to produce it locally.

"Interesting. Our fleet needs every advantage Squadron Leader. We do not have the manpower and production capacity to pump out large numbers of ships like other Houses, we need to keep what we have alive at any cost. It will be two to three weeks until we arrive there, that should be enough time to produce armor for some of our fleet if House Posat can be convinced."

Winifred pauses deep in thought. "They'll agree, I'm certain of it. Especially if we sign a contract that we wont give this information to any other Houses. They're in a difficult position as well, perhaps worse than ours."

You make a mental note to wait until you meet in person to tell the Commander about either the scan data on the Rovinar cloaking shield or the effects of human adrenal hormone on Krath physiology.

It appears you have some time to kill. There's always more training to be done, equipment to learn about, enemy ships to threat assess.

Your crew is scheduled for 3 days of leave, take the same amount of time off before resuming work?

It should also be noted that you are in a foreign port far from home. Though the station is administered and operated by another House and the Navigators Guild it is still not your House. Are there any safety precautions you want the crew to take?

There's going to be some time skips this week and at the beginning of next week until the ship is fixed and the squadron has arrived.

>>19462515
> take the same amount of time
2 days off for us. The captain should lead by example.

>Are there any safety precautions you want the crew to take
-The crew has to report in every 18 hours on the ship.
-Keep some of the marines on duty during the general shore leave. Those who volunteer get an additional day off.

>It appears you have some time to kill.
Play around with the camo.

Say, if we would be willing to pay a bonus to our crew from the credits we have left from the torpedo deal - how much would be appropriate?
Would something like that be acceptable?

>>19462664
I'd agree with a bonus for the marines that helped with the mission

>>19462664
>Crew Bonus
I'm sure they would all appreciate it but the Bittenfeld is not a small ship. It's crew started at the 80 from your corvette, added another 250 at the home base. Another 50 were added just before the battle of Gesaur, then there's your Marines.

Atm you have a crew of 380 + 40 Marines. If you give them too much of a bonus you'll very rapidly bankrupt yourself.

>>19462766
Ouch, I didn't think there'd be so many. Maybe some kind of financial aid for the families of the marines and crewmen who died?
Perhaps a scholarship, or something like that?

>>19462664
>>Are there any safety precautions you want the crew to take
Have some of our engineers keep an eye on the repair crews. They get the same deal as the marines.

>>19462821
Certainly doable. And a small bonus to the crew wouldn't put a gigantic dent in your wallet.

>Then everyone else votes to spend cash on ships or equipment.

You have a bit under 4 million (which you may still need depending on how the vote goes) but a 500 bonus to everyone would only cost 210k total.

>tithing .660
Shut up captcha

>>19462909
I agree with 500 bonus for everyone, we should also send ten or twenty thousand back home if possible along with a "hi mom and dad I can't send you souvenir right now but here's a gift from my last loot."

>>19462909
I'd be okay with the 500 bonus, as long as such a rather low bonus isn't seen as insulting by our crew.

Btw. what do 4 million future monies actually buy?

If we were to invest some of our cash in house Posat armour producers, just before they unveil their new coating... would we get problems with the some sort of regulation agency?

>>19462976
You could buy a brand new top of the line Attack Corvette straight out of the shipyard for 3.5 mil.

>invest in house Posat armour producers
No, though if you pulled you investment just before the new SP Torp programing came out you might get in trouble for insider trading.
House Posat is out on the fringe and are in a poor state financially. They've lost a lot holding their territory in this area from the Pirate raids that come through every 4 years. This is their third. Any economist would tell you not to invest with them because they're near collapse.
On the other hand, if they survive you could stand to double your money.

>>19463160
In that case, we should probably hold off our investment until we know more about Posat's situation.

>>19463160
What happens to a house that files for bankruptcy?

>>19463215
Depends. Some Houses are disbanded entirely, absorbed by larger ones and new Houses created to take their place. Other times they'll sell off territory to wealthier Houses, which is how House Posat took control of this region believing they could make a better go of it.
Analysts believed activity by the Pirate warlords would be unsustainable by now. Instead the raids have only grown more intense.

safety precautions implemented

Day 3 into repairs. The Bittenfeld looks like a skeleton being picked over. The armor has been left on for the better off sections of the ship. Most of the sublight drives have been pulled. Parts of dock section walls have been extended so that equipment pulled off the ship can be stored there until needed. Others are being dissasembled and shipped into the station interior.
It looks more like a post accident reconstruction by a transportation safety board than a starship.

Day 5 into the repair schedule. Crew are still allowed into the central sections of the ship, though main engineering has been decompressed. On the bright side its giving everyone time to finish cleaning up the corridors that had been shot to hell.

Day 6. Jing Ki and some of the Marines are interested in running a Marathon and wonder if you want to join them. The normal one would be to run to the opposite side of the station. A couple of the more hardcore ones are suggesting an ultra marathon running the circumference of the station, 125km. How that would work you have NO idea.

>>19463277
So, if our house handles this situation properly, it might end up with a tidy profit and an option to take over posat's territories in this region...

>>19463311
>Marathon
Why not. Sounds like fun.

>>19463311
125km marathon
Go for it

You meet up with some of the Marines in the launch bay which is connected to the station vehicle loading dock. Everyone is wearing their armor minus the helmets with as little equipment as possible.

"Up for joining us sir?" Asks Ki.
"Sure why not?" you respond.

"This isnt going to be a hike around a prison complex or a few klicks through a cruise ship. We're talking fourty kilometers. I know you've been keeping in shape but thats still a long way."

You spot two others that are carrying a bit more equipment on them.
"What are they doing?" You ask.

"Ultra marathon." he tells you.

"Well I'm up for that." but your Sergeant is already shaking is head.

"With all due respect sir I'm not sure you'd make the fourty. Lets just start there."
You head out with the larger group, determined to find the other two and catch a turbolift if you make it through the 40.

Roll for leg cramp. 1d20

rolled 13 = 13

Come on

rolled 19 = 19

>>19463532
time to drop in the firs 40 kilometer

>>19463646
>>19463651
/tg/ dice only working when there is no stake

>>19461869
Voting for Light Recon Power Armor, Bridge crew teleporter, and the shield upgrade.

>>19463899
Though on the other hand the medium armor with a kickass energy sword would be almost too cool.

Either one is fine I guess.

The run starts out steady and stay that way. The others stay in formation to help cut down on the number of people wondering what the hell is going on. Every so often they'll change up, with a new soldier taking the lead.

The marathon takes you out of the docking ring and into one of the spars that connect to the station's central island. You're glad for the weeks you've been spending running laps in different parts of the ship but even that wasnt enough. A human body was only designed to do so much and a few hours in you're beginning to feel it.

Ki hands you a mini hypo.
"Here, we've got months or even years of training, you've only got weeks behind you. Not normally enough for this sort of thing. This should help with the lactic acid build up."

After taking the hypo you keep going. Time crawls by as you pass through sections of the station. Past parks and other open air gardens, through residential housing. As you get closer to the core you think you pass the lower level embassies. You're stopped once by security who give you directions for a route that takes the squad through less important areas.

Out into the opposite arm of the station its more of the same, though time time you're running into more humans from some Terran starships docked nearby.

You reach the sections to the opposite side of the docking ring near the twelve hour mark completely exhausted. The leg you wounded back on Gesaur is getting twitchy.
More than double this distance is starting to sound like a bad idea now.

rolled 19 = 19

Ask seargent whatour twitchy leg wound means

>>19463989
If possible let's ask someone if someone would be willing to come with us to see how far we can go in the 85 remaining kilometers I guess even if we don't do all of it nobody's going to make a joke out of us.

"You've probably just strained it. Count yourself lucky and take it easy tomorrow. If it keeps bothering you see one of the medics."

Everyone makes their way to one of the larger lifts and climbs aboard. In a few minutes you're back at the Bittenfeld's ship lane. Thank goodness for inertial compensators on turbolifts.


I'll check the thread in the morning it see if there's been any other votes.

>>19464077
>Didnt refresh and missed this. Doh!

Oh well. With the leg injury from 2 weeks previous I really didn't expect you to roll high enough to finish the 40.

>>19464184
Dohoho, tg dice is a bitch isn't it?
But I'm fine with stopping at 40

we could invest some in the house Posat Armour coating venture.

considering we are letting them get a sample we already should be able to negotiate a silent partnership in it - well if we held out a bit. and then only going for 2 mills or so, since it would boost production and its something that we will get pay on a procentual level from the pay of outfitting the fleet and if we insist on a exclusive with the locals, have a 20 or 10% of the only armour coating producer in house posat, which will net us revenue whenever they produce and sell it.


even if the investition goes sour we can still collect on the percentile payment the fleet is due to house posat.

Still waiting for more votes on your stuff.

Got 1 here
>>19462256

>>19463160

Its not really insider trading, technically.
Its just capitalizing on what we know, and since we are not a corporate concern its not our problem, especially since the inside information came about in a covert op, that by definition never fucking happened. so there can be no insider trading if there was not information.

also, as for the option, i say shields and power armour too. we get something that does not affect our financial and RP situation, and neither our overall performance (shields wont slow the ship down) while at the same time getting something good out of it.

and with out money on the SP torps, we can get some investments like the house posat deal. and with a good contract and liquidation clauses we could collect our money back at almost no loss, except time invested in the buisness not earning interest- should house Posat fall. Something that we can prevent if we are succesfull with the campaign against the pirates.

also as anon mentioned we could invest only 2 mills or something like that , do leave something like 50 or 40% of our reserve in a active account or something.

>>19466947
I'd like to vote for three things

Light Armor: Recon variant.
High Quality Shields
Property. A nice mountain area sounds nice to me (think North Carolina mountains. Lots of trees, cool in the summer). We're going to need to have property eventually, might as well get it now since we've got the opportunity.

>>19466947
If we go with the high quality shields, would it be possible to give our current upgraded shields to Alex or Mike and outfit the one's ship with an upgraded shield as well?

>>19466947
Preference to Medium Armor since DICE
Best shields we can get
other than that I don't have any preference.

>>19468317
The dice for combat have been relatively alright. It's the dice for STEALTH that scares me, and that's why I said I wanted Recon.

so , shields and power armour.

>>19468317
>Preference to Medium Armor since DICE
I think it won't make a difference. A low roll while wearing medium armor means they manage to pierce our armour, a low roll in light armour means we didn't manage to avoid the shot.

We'll get a slightly different post describing what happened, but the result will probably be the same result.

the recon seems nice, but we do have a cameo cloak, and using the recon somehow with that would make fore a awesome combo. - it wont have the same endurance, but considering our type of engagements, we dont tend to be your average kind of spec ops that foster rebelions and stay away from supply lines for weeks or months at a time.

So i say we go for recon, and have the cameo cloak or preferably a second cameo cloak if we can get one surreptitiously without anyone knowing for the armour. a second one would be better so that we can have ourselves or someone else do sneaky stuff even if we cant be there, and wont fit in our armour.


also the asault plus cloak should let us do some impressive stunts with sneaking about and then ust opening up from nowhere and jetting about. - we will need a lot of practice in fine motor control to be able to use it in closed rooms and ship hallways, most likely as a fast dogdge and sprint or perhaps bullrush instead of mostly jumping (since there is no place to jump in a ship) but we should manage it.

<ping>

also the left out from the acquisitions should it be money or property, in case it is something left.

I'd say money since its more liquid-able, and we could get better property through it, unless property by award is something that can only be gotten through said award, and not money.
but dunno, since the pseudo noble feudal elements make it kind of hard...

>>19467749
>If we go with the high quality shields, would it be possible to give our current upgraded shields to Alex or Mike and outfit the one's ship with an upgraded shield as well?
Sorry but no. They have corvettes and the shields on your ship are built for cruisers.

>>19470735
>also the left out from the acquisitions should it be money or property, in case it is something left.

Yes I realized after I left for work that I'd left money and Property off the list in
>>19461869
They would count towards the equipment list.

>unless property by award is something that can only be gotten through said award, and not money.
but dunno, since the pseudo noble feudal elements make it kind of hard...
With enough money you can buy anything. Land, a (minor) title, you name it.
But, Houses will keep property set aside to be awarded to their Knights and Nobility if something they've done warrants it. That land is not for sale.

<br>

Majority votes seem to be in favor of:
1) Shields
2) Power Armor (with most leaning towards light/recon)
3) Property

On a seperate issue I'm seeing a few in favor of investing half of the cash in House Posat armor production.

Are there any overwhelming objections?

>>19473156
This was me btw.

>>19473156
armour coating. and as a exclusive deal within the dominion, except for our house if we can do that, at least for the start.

considering that we provided the product sample we could/should get a better investment with them than only our money would suggest- far better, since we provided the startup.

The money is perhaps a good way to show some seriousness about , not just free loading and once we get the title command some respectability on it.

it should be something of the most lowest entry cost arms buisness and with decent profits, that will allow us to amass some important revenue and then invest in higher cost options.

p-p-ping

>>19473156
Our choices seem reasonable, but I think we should get something useful for Alex and Mike.

Spending all the favour on stuff for Sonia doesn't really fit the "One for all, all for one." thing I imagined they had going on.

Would it possible to lease the ships and pay them off gradually or just send them back once our own house can offer to upgrade our companions' ships itself?

>>19479575
ahmm...
we cant really afford this right now, and please remember that we bought them off for the bittenfeld with the appropriate amount of RP.

considering that we could not buy a cruiser and two frigathes would have depleted all our RP and cash reserves, and on top of that seeing as how they are still using their corvettes and most likely saving up for a cruiser, buying them frigates is kind of pointless.

What we could do is offer them a in at the armour coating investment, should they want to, as junior partners. - i would think that both Mike and Alex have or at least know of ways to get money to start a investment. - its a risky one, and we should tell them so- without mentioning specifics over the intercom- so as not to make house Posat facilities a priority target, but its a good solid for them and a way for them to also benefit beyond just RP, and it would allow us a increase in

>>19479690
or we could get some promotional armour coating for them too, similar to ours, even if they dont get in on the investment scheme, enough barrels to get two or three layers. - for a corvettes it should not be as much as ours, and if we go with the investment we could get some free sampling on our ship and theirs, as a field testing.

cpr.

Egad, this thread is still here?

Day 7: Primary support frames for the main hull have been rebuilt and engineers are preparing to reattach the missing wing tomorrow. Everything still looks skeletal.

Late in the day you're contacted by the Knight Commander on an audio only channel.

"Squadron Leader Reynard I am certain you will be overjoyed to learn that we have reached an agreement with House Posat. Production has already begun on a modified armor layer material with the same properties as what was used on your ship. Upon the arrival of the First Expeditionary Fleet in the area our attack squadrons will begin immediate upgrades. This may take a few days to fully implement so your squadron will not likely be operating at full capacity on some of your deployments."

"It sounds like it will be worth it sir." you tell her.

"Indeed. Materials to armor your ship should arrive in time to complete repairs. I must say that your decision to invest in the armor production is a risky move. Still it did assist in negotiations and assuaged any concerns that this was an attempt by us to exhaust their production capacity. For the moment our two Houses will be the only ones able to purchase the armor.
This will not last long but we can make sure that any other Houses will be paying more."

Day 8. The wing that sheared off in combat is being reattached. Structural supports connecting all four wings to the main hull are being strengthened by modifying the shape slightly. It should help with the emergency thrusters which were causing more strain on the super structure than the engineers realised.

In early morning station time a team arrives with several crates, each large enough to stuff a person into, and delivers them to the armory. Within the hour an officer and a technician from your House arrive and ask to see you.

The older of the two is a Dro'all starting to look frail with age wearing the uniform of a navy lieutenant. He greets you as you approach.
"I am special attache Jensi Dowaire, you are Sonia Reynard correct?"

"Yes sir."
"It is my duty to instruct potential Knights in etiquette and to suggest avenues in training they may not otherwise consider. Many consider etiquette training to be incessantly boring but it will be necessary at formal functions with the nobility.
We'll also begin training in the art of weilding a sword. As we're dangerously close to the front lines I would suggest skipping the flashier showmanship elements and concentrate on skills useful for boarding actions. You may choose to ignore my advice but do not take it lightly. When your training is completed I will be the one calling you sir."

Dowaire is seen to his quarters by a pair of crewmen that are off duty.

The other person to come aboard is a man by the name of Levi Nxesi who will be in charge of maintaining your power armor.

>Your ship armory now has a weapons maintinence technician!

This specialist will help the Marines repair damaged weapons and armor between missions. Most importantly Mr.Nxesi is fully trained in the operation of power armor and can repair most damage using the equipment brought aboard.

You can choose to store your power armor in your quarters close to the bridge or in the armory. Regardless it should be brought to the armory for repairs after each deployment.

Much of the day is spent getting your Recon Armor fitted.
"This is a noninvasive neural interface." Nxesi tells you holding up a pad the size of your hand. "It goes on the back of your head at the top of the spine here."
He demonstrates holding a hand to the back of his head.
"Some people prefer to shave that part of the head and neck so that it fits better but it shouldn't make any difference. It will take some getting used to but once you're experienced enough you can start turning up the reaction speed of the armor. Dont worry, it cant be set high enough to break any limbs."

Day 12: Repairs progressing. Weapons are being put back into position and the power systems are almost done. Emergency thrusters are almost done.
Crew are taking another day of leave. It might be the last one as sections of the ship are being closed up quickly now and work is underway on the reopened areas. Some of the first batch of armor has arrived.

Training has been increasing in intensity both with the Marines, ship simulations and Jensi Dowaire. You've picked up a routine of running from the ship to the nearest set of parks and back again. Nxesi cautions you against taking your new armor out with you on a run as it might cause an incident with station security. So far you havent attempted it.

You're jogging through a section of the park when you hear another runner approaching from behind.

Roll 1d20

rolled 4 = 4

>>19484272

rolled 9 = 9

>>19484283
Yeah, just my luck.

Moving aside to give the person room to pass you're surprise when a hand slaps down on your shoulder. As you start to turn a knife stabs you in the lower back. You've never been stabbed before, barely ever cut yourself before. Its different from the burning heat of energy weapons or impact of bullets striking your armor. More like sharp bits of freshly broken ice.

Stride broken you go down hard, eyes closed, breath rushing out of you. Your right arms breaks the worst of the fall. Your left hand goes for your backup pistol and you pull the trigger as soon as its free, firing wildly. A scream of pain fills the air and you feel like following suit.
Rolling onto your side you see the other person fall while holding their kneecap.You shoot them again for good measure.
Dropping your gun you pull out your com and contact the ship, getting out the words "send medics" before everythings spins and fades out.

Day 14:
"And she's awake. How are you doing?" Asks Linda as you crack one eye open.
White. Everything is while or that awful blue green colour that always looks like it was last painted 30 years before you were born.

>How you doin?

>>19484670
"Mildy displeased."

>>19484797
"I'm sure you'll get over it then. We've been taking turns keeping an eye on you, the other senior staff I mean.
The guy who stabbed you was a suspected smuggler. I guess he had family trading stuff aboard the John Avery when we blew up the cargo bays. His ship docked this week. Security thinks he was camped out watching who came off the ship and when for a few days."

Linda stands and gets a bag with clothing in it. You're wearing one of those stupid hospital gowns.

"Instructor Dowaire said you should wear that armored jumpsuit they included with your pirate outfit. It should help protect against knife attacks and small arms. Also, one of the doctors wants to know where you got that custom tatoo drawn up?"

>>19485031
I'm going to call it here until next Tuesday.