We made a hidden compartment in our quarters. Gene-locked so only we can open it.

>>20773984
How about on a thumb drive in an unobtrusive compartment in one of our reserve attack corvettes? If requisition were to offer us an attractive, but expensive, opportunity we would have no choice but to sell it back to house logistics to pay for it...

>>20774020
We should keep a bunch of more-mundane stuff inside it as well, while the SP data is hidden deeper. That way, if anyone does manage to open it, they'll find our stash of alien porn/records of illegal transactions and hopefully stop searching.

>I'll let you guys think about it some more.

The rest of the 2 weeks have been spent training the newest pilots who have joined the wing while letting everyone get some downtime every couple of days. This has been an opportunity for you to catch up on your swordsmanship and wing organization, and for those others interested to spend some time on the rifle range.

Flight leader Siri Thal has distinguised herself as the best candidate to lead your planned fourth squadron. Thal seems to have the best balance of unit command and ship combat skills. The next two in line are Alex who has good command skills and Mike who has better ship to ship skills than Alex but is not quite as good in command.

With the Gungnir transferred to the battlecruiser squadron you've been in search of a new ship. For the better part of the first week Katherine Drake was given the opportunity to test out Captain Sylvan's former ship, the Aries Attack Cruiser Shakara. Uncomfortable with the vessel yourself and wary of taking the Bittenfeld away from Drake you were faced with the prospect of deployment without a ship or depriving first squadron of one.

When an opportuniy came up to acquire a cruiser being used as an experimental engine test bed you jumped at the chance. In a hard fought mock battle you triumphed over the commanding officers from the other two Attack Wings, securing the prize.
Your current ship is now an experimental Kavarian Attack Cruiser modified by DHI to test their anti-proton afterburner systems.

With a new ship and much of the vessels in your salvage reserve finished repairs you decided it would be best to try a larger exercise. A simulated battle against First Wing showed that they were no pushovers just barely besting your unit despite the efforts of your starfighter squadrons nearly being it to a tie.

Drinks for everyone being a priority following the match you set out in search of a reliable source. A smuggler base you helped liberate from the pirates seemed like the best bet for the sort of quantities needed.
For transportation out to the base you decide to bring half of the ships from third Wing. To cut down on complaints from command and the locals you make sure only to deploy with the least glamorous and more worn looking ships. Those that wouldn't look out of place among the mining prospector ships and other transports.

Mike decided not to bring his ship along due to its history with the base. Still, both of the Clarent class ships that had been built here return home which seems to raise the morale of some of the locals. A few minor fights have to be broken up between those few who don't take kindly to your possession of the ships they built.

Before you arrive at the base you learn the results of the competition among the Marines for the jump jet suit. Sergeant Rob Ecord won the competition and is currently having the armor fit.

>>20774149
I'm still sort of astonished that Alex and Mike didn't do better in the free for all. Especially since we basically rigged the contest in their favor.

>>20774217
Mike did the best in the free for all, but it was all small unit stuff. Siri Thal was runner up in that one, but had better command skills for a larger group.
>Especially since we basically rigged the contest in their favor.
How exactly? They all had 1 cruiser and 2 smaller support ships.

Also: Yes you still have a needle starfighter. After it was damaged it was offloaded to the station when you returned to base. This was especially important when in combat against the fleeing pirate refugee fleet as you needed every spot available for more starfighters. With the transfer of your battlecruiser and the subsequent uncertainty of your next ship it continued to remain at base.
It is fully repaired.

>>20774288
We told everyone it was a free for all, with the winner getting command of the 4th. However, we also strongly, but subtly, hinted to our former wingmen that the rankings would play a strong roll in who would lead the 5th and 6th squadrons when they form. So everyone else thought it would be first place or nothing, while they had a strong incentive to place as high as possible, not simply win. This should have led the two of them to try to ensure they got in the top two or three, and the easiest way to assure that would be to plan ahead of time to work together until they were the only two left.
I suppose I should have explained that better in my original idea.

You manage not to make an ass of yourself despite being well and truly loaded at one point. A few hours are spent trading stories with the other newly promoted Knights in the different wings and squadrons.

Something that does catch your eye when you start to regain your balance towards the end is fraternization between pilots in the squadrons. Getting to know your wingmen is one thing, full blown relationships are another. They all seem to be from equal ranks you determine, using your HUD to take some image captures. In many ways that's a good thing, relations between a superior and a junior would be a far more serious problem. Still you have to decide how disciplined the unit will remain.

[ ] Crack down on that shit
[ ] You didn't see anything
[ ] Ask squadron CO's to discourage their pilots in this regard
[ ] Other

>>20774382
[x] Ask squadron CO's to discourage their pilots in this regard

Right now, it's not a problem significant enough for us to bring down the hammer. Let the squadron COs use their own discretion somewhat, since they're closer to the pilots and know more than we do, even with the neat eye-cam pics.

>>20774382
[x] Their superior officer (or us if they are from different squads) should have an off the record chat with them. Tell them that as long as it doesn't interfere with their duties we don't care, but if it does we will have another talk. And if that doesn't work their will be some judicious personnel reassignment.

You decide to talk to their superiors rather than directly stir up trouble. It can wait until you're back at base. It will have to since you dont quite know where everyone is other than that they're in groups.

After twelve hours of partying and drinking you order everyone from your unit to return to the ships. Captain Saputo is still in the middle of a game of high stakes poker in the station smoking lounge. Even with a decontamination airlock that cleans those leaving the room the smell of Cigars still clings heavily to those who went in.

Halfway back to the ships you start wondering how much of the next day you'll need to sleep through to catch up.
"Sir! Sir!" Yells a crewman running towards you from the docks.

Ouch, your head. "Could you not shout? I havent taken anything for my headache yet." you tell the crewman from the Bittenfeld.

"We couldnt reach you by communicator." he tells you.
It seems you must have turned it off earlier.

"All squadrons are bring put on alert with Attack Squadrons ordered to scramble immediately. Command says they need attack ships for an intercept mission and would like a 3 squadron unit to deploy, the launch window for the mission closes thirty minutes from now."

You check your watch which reads April 1. "This better not be some joke." You mutter, turning your communicator back on.

You order everyone to double time it for the ships much to the dismay of everyone in sight.

It will take at least 15 to minutes to return to Forbearance provided everyone makes it out of the bars and back to the ships in a hurry. Getting the rest of the Wing prepped, crews transfered and out of dock will take between ten and twenty minutes.
You could also simply take the ships you have now and try for it with below recommended strength.

Before you can decide a message pops up about another mission which will expire within twelve hours.
The other mission is from the Navigators guild. They need 1 squadron of fast ships and recommend bringing a full compliment of Marines as they're not certain what to expect.
You try to get more information on what kind of mission it is but there isn't any more available. Just that they need ships and provided some jump coordinates.

[ ] Intercept (Try to pickup remaining ships from Forbearance) (Roll 1d10 Lower is better)
[ ] Intercept (Try now with below recommended strength)
[ ] Navigator mission
[ ] Inform command that 3rd Wing is combat ineffective for a few hours while you detox.
[ ] other

rolled 10 = 10

>>20774874
[x] Intercept (Try to pickup remaining ships from Forbearance) (Roll 1d10 Lower is better)

Attempting this mission with weaker ships and boozed-up crew is really inadvisable.

Speaking of, it would be a good idea to leave anyone who cannot currently handle their duties behind on Forbearance. Better to be short-handed, or pull from reserves, than have someone fuck up at the wrong moment and DOOM US ALL.

>>20774949
>10

I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed.

rolled 1 = 1

>>20774874
Weren't the other two wings with us? I recommend we all do the intercept thing then fly off in overwhelming strength.

>>20774973
1st Wing is with you having brought a similar number of ships.
Combined your force would work out to 3 squadrons total.

Which of the following do you wish to do guys?

[ ] Intercept (Try to pickup remaining ships from Forbearance)
[ ] Intercept (Combine forces with 1st Wing)
[ ] Something else

>>20775195
>[ ] Something else
Are there any ships at the mining station we could charter?

If there are any, we could send the additional crews we have with us back to the Forbearance to get their ships, while 1st wing and we already move out.

>>20775195
Intercept, our units are too jumbled for this job. Ask the first squad people to take their forces on ahead to slow who ever we need to intercept down. We'll take their spare pilots to the forbearance so they can back us up, or help out on the interception.

Hmm, out of curiosity could we partner up with the first for the time dependent mission, but pack the crews for at least a squads worth of our ships back at forbearance into a single boat (yeah I have no concept of how much extra space cruisers have) and send them to run the navigators mission? If not how many ships would we need to use as uncomfortably packed shuttles to transfer our displaced crews back to their ships?

>>20775345
Nothing suitable for combat.
> we could send the additional crews we have with us back to the Forbearance to get their ships,
This could also work.

>>20775351
>We'll take their spare pilots to the forbearance so they can back us up, or help out on the interception.
Be aware you might not catch up with them in time if you divert all of your ships back to Forbearance.

>>20775363
>pack the crews for at least a squads worth of our ships back at forbearance into a single boat
This also could work. Its 15 minutes to get there and ships tend to have plenty of extra room aboard.

>>20775456
>Nothing suitable for combat.
I just wanted to use whatever they have to get the crews back to the Forbearance. We should be able to afford it, easily.

>>20775345
>>20775351
>>20775363
Consensus seems to be moving out ASAP while we send spare people back to base in an extra ship.

With your new experimental ship left back at base you are currently without a ride. Will you transfer your flag to the Bittenfeld, one of the Clarent class ships or Daska's Scorpion?
You could also head back to base on the spare ship.

>>20775498
Yeah, seems okay to me.

Bittenfeld, same way as we did last time. They'll keep command of the ship, and we'll lead our forces from one of the secondary bridges.

>>20775527
Works for me.

So are we having the crews sent back to base grab their ships and join us at the intercept point, or are we sending them on the navigators' mission (I favor the latter if that mission is also time dependent. If not, reinforcements could be good)

>>20775763
Bittenfeld and in favor of commanding reinforcements

>>20775763
Intercept. 2nd Wing will deploy to deal with the other one. Cant let you guys get credit for everything in the universe.

You contact Knight Captain Saputo about the alert and offer to transport some of his pilots back. He initially doesnt take the request serious until he does some checking with his own ship. You hear the sound of chairs being knocked over in the background followed by him accepting your offer.
Five minutes later the last of the ships that will be accompanying you disembark and head out of the gravity well. The ship all remaining crew will be using are is just starting to undock by the time you jump.

You start pounding back pills, water and rations as soon as the Wing gets underway. Drake is on the bridge doing much the same as yourself. Trying to get fueled up, sobered up and ready to go before you encounter any enemies.

"I hope this is real or it's the worst April fool's joke ever." She tells you.

Looking through your orders Intel reports that the last groups of pirate transports are fleeing the relay. They're loaded down with whatever materials and supplies have been stripped from local colonies. With the heavy rear guard action being fought outside the Smugglers Run the Pirates have been able to steal resources resources unopposed. Allied ships are now in a position to intercept some of these vessels, potentially allowing the recapture of materials needed for the survival of local populations and reduce strain on logistics.
The Terrans would take care of this but have proven ill equipped. Most of their ships lack armor suitable to repel SP weapon hits. Some of their Assault Corvette squadrons are now being refit with their own version of the anti-torpedo armor over in the Newport Fleet Yards but that's a five day flight away.

>>20775861
>without a ride. Will you transfer your flag to the Bittenfeld, one of the Clarent class ships or Daska's Scorpion?
>You could also head back to base on the spare ship.

I'm sorry but the two are mutually exclusive unless you want the Bittenfeld to be the ship carrying all of the spare crews back to base.

>>20775931
>The Terrans would take care of this but have proven ill equipped

Ha HA! That's what they get for spending all their money on the Odyssey.

>>20775959
The Bittenfeld goes along with the initial forces, with us in the mini-bridge. We don't need to go back to Forbearance ourselves.

The Knight Captain contacts you as you approach the enemy lines.
"Reynard, I've been looking over the intel data and it looks like we might be arriving to the party a bit late. How much do you know about open ended jumps?"

"Nothing, I'm not a navigator." You tell him, hoping its not a blind jump.
"Its sort of like a blind jump." He starts.

Oh boy here we go.

"Its more or less what the navigators had to do when we were chasing the Wayward treasures. You plot a jump to match speed and course without knowing the end point. Once we get beyond the relay though jumps wont be measured in seconds and miliseconds. We only have so long to catch up with the enemy transports before we're stuck having to follow them all the way to the next relay."

"What if we drop out of FTL?" You ask him.
"If we're too far into deep space we'll start losing calibration on the sensors needed to monitor the size and shape of the drive field. We dont want that to happen."

"Copy that."

You drop out of your most recent jump inside contested territory. Terran and Rovinar ships are assisting several squadrons of House Standard corvettes engaged with an enemy fleet. A group of pirate battleships and battlecruisers hanging back begin to direct fire your way.

[ ] Skirt the engagement to the next jump point (Roll 1d20)
[ ] Fight your way through (Roll 4d20)
[ ] Other

rolled 12 = 12

>>20776227
>[x] Skirt the engagement to the next jump point (Roll 1d20)

We've already got a mission. This is a job for the Battlecruiser Squadron.

>>20776227
While we're here, focus fire on one of the battlecruisers. Do not expend any missiles or torpedoes, just target them with energy weapons and do as much damage as possible in the time we have.

Also, shoot a "Happy hunting" to the friendly forces in the vicinity.

"We should steer clear of that fight if we're going to be on time." You tell your people. "Fire any phase cannon you can land a hit with but hold back on the munitions."

Your counterpart makes a similar order but brings one squadron of his ships slightly closer to the enemy. Before you can ask what he's doing a pair of faster moving battlercruisers break out from behind the enemy formation on an intercept course. They have more powerful engines and less mass than the rest, giving them just enough speed to threaten the unit. A battleship moves up in support firing fusion cannons.

"I thought so. They want to slow us down." States the older Knight. "Reynard take the rest of my unit, my lead squadron will cover you."

As the battlecruisers get within pulse cannon range Saputo's squadron veers off hard, unleashing an alpha strike on one of the battlecruisers.

"What should we do?" Asks Thal.

"You heard him, we stay on course. Lets catch those transports." you order. Katherine increases throttle slightly.

Reaching the far side of the gravity well your two squadrons align and jump.

The next time you revert the squadrons are within range of the local nav station. You can already see freighters and transports jumping to FTL in the distance.

Verilis Rah'ne speaks up. "Looks like we wont be able to catch them. Its a clear flight straight to the next relay from here and that's days away."

[ ] FTL Pursuit: Open ended jump
[ ] Fuck that its too dangerous
[ ] other

>>20776654
>[x] FTL Pursuit: Open ended jump

I trust the dice to keep us from jumping into a star.

File: 1348006809407.gif-(17 KB, 992x694, NAV DRH 1.gif)

damn captcha eatin my pics

>>20776654
>[ ] FTL Pursuit: Open ended jump
What does Kavos think about it?

>>20776709
>What does Kavos think about it?
Kavos sighs. "I think I'm getting too old for this. We'll have to jump after them and play catch up. Most transports can only hold a maximum of J18, while warships can do better. Once we're within range we'll have to either disrupt their drive field by overlapping it with ours or try to match theirs. If we match fields we'll technically be inside the same bubble and we can either fire on them or ram them."

"That sounds dangerous." you point out.
"That's because it is. If we disrupt their field the bubble around both ships will burst dropping us into real space... probably. Doing so will mess with our drive systems and we'll need to degauss the whole thing. Takes thirty minutes to an hour."

You outline the plan to both squadrons. "Everyone chase down a transport you think you can take and if they're still not too far out disable them and tag for recovery."

As both squadrons align to jump you decide what kind of ship to go after.

[ ] Warships
[ ] Transports
[ ] Super freighters

Roll 1d6+18

rolled 5 + 18 = 23

>>20776969
Did they abduct colonists? Then
>[ ] Transports
if not, then go for the
>[ ] Super freighters

>>20777031
I am in agreement. Also, nice roll.

>>20777031
Unknown but its more than likely they've taken some.

>>20777062
Well, this order, then:
[ ] Transports
[ ] Super freighters
[ ] Warships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reBuz97GgBM

As your ships jump after the fleeing starships you head up the the main bridge to keep an eye on things.

"We're up to J23." Reports the ship navigator, a younger looking Kavarian. "I'm reluctant to push the drives farther with the sort of spikes I'm seeing creep in."

"Have you done this sort of thing before?" You ask him.
"FTL maneuvering? Hell no."

Katherine transfers her controls over to navigation. "The ship is yours. You should have everything you need if I'm reading this manual right."

No pressure you consider telling him but you dont know the crewman really. You wish Linda was here.

"Contact ahead. Its an attack Frigate."
"Ignore it." You order, telling them to concentrate on the larger atmospheric capable transports. They should be the most likely ones to have prisoners aboard.

"Changing course... now." The flickering lights visible through the displays shift every so slightly, the drive field changing shape. You can just make out the bright point of light that must be another ship before it moves to the left giving you a clear path. All at once it whips past you as though standing still. It most be moving quite a bit slower.

"That was close. We came within twenty thousand kilometers." reports sensors.

File: 1348010468066.jpg-(38 KB, 1360x550, Time to Jump out.jpg)

>>20777359

Several more points of light go hurtling past as the sensor officer tries to locate a transport. At one point a ship passes you, seeming to be moving jast as fast going forward as the other ships were when being left behind.

"That was an E Type Attack Cruiser, I think from First Squadron. Found a transport. Tarketta tanker."

The navigator types wildly on the control pannel slowing the ship to match speed.

"Thirty thousand km. Twenty. Ten."

>How do you plan to deal with the ship?

[ ] Overload drive bubble (Roll 1d100 Lower is better)
[ ] Match fields, attack ship directly (Roll 1d100 higher is better)
[ ] other? No idea. Someone might come up with a plan that doesnt violate how the drives work.

>>20777527
What will happen if we destroy or disable their drives?

>>20777563
They'll pop back into real space, but you'll have to match fields first to fire on them.

>>20777579
Okay. Any difference between those options other than what rolls are good? I don't have much of a clue how ftl works in this setting.

>>20777527
Is it possible to use nuclear warheads to force a ship out of FTL without having to match fields first?

The only other idea I have would probably require a dedicated weapon or a drive specifically designed to overload the drive bubble of another ship, neither of which we have. Something to keep in mind for R&D maybe.

If the nuke plan won't pan out, I support matching fields. Hopefully we can get the crew to see reason and surrender without us having to risk causing collateral damage.

Incidentally, are any ships designed to be able to eject their reactors or drive core in an emergency? I can't recall if you've answered this before.

[ ] Overload drive bubble (Roll 1d100 Lower is better)
>"If we disrupt their field the bubble around both ships will burst dropping us into real space... probably. Doing so will mess with our drive systems and we'll need to degauss the whole thing. Takes thirty minutes to an hour."

[ ] Match fields, attack ship directly (Roll 1d100 higher is better)
>"If we match fields we'll technically be inside the same bubble and we can either fire on them or ram them."
NOTE: It might be a good idea to extend your drive field around the other ship if you try this. If their drive failed while only part of the ship was inside your field the result would be bad.
(This almost happened to you when the Bittenfeld was rammed by the Wayward Treasures.)

>>20777681
>Warhead
No. An object that leaves your drive field will no longer be in subspace. Nice try though.

>Ejection systems
Only one ship class comes to mind. A pair of super heavy cruisers the Kavarians built could eject their drive core but they were experimental due to the size of the ships. As the core was the size of a battlecruiser this was rather important. Most ships are not built to eject fusion reactors in combat but tend to be designed in such a way that the worst of a reactor explosion is vented outwards into space.

rolled 13 = 13

>>20777855
Match fields.

I figured ships would have something akin to baffles so a reactor losing containment wouldn't automatically destroy the whole thing. What I was looking for was something akin to what you can do in Star Trek: Force an outmatched enemy to eject their warp core so they can't go FTL and escape.

rolled 78 = 78

>>20777855
I'd say we should match fields, if things go wrong there seems a better chance to prevent anything catastrophic by doing the procedure carefully enough.

FTL tech thread
>>>/m/8237654

The Bittenfeld draws closer to the target ship, decelerating to match speed. Too fast and you might collide a bit more forcefully than is healthy, too slow and this will take forever. The navigator hasn't had a chance to even begin matching the frequency when the two bubbles meet causing your ship to bounce off. You and kavos quickly scramble for the jumpseats before anything can send you flying.
"Good old crash padding."

"Take it easy and bring us in slow Kal." Urges Drake.

The next time the impact is much slower and vibrations start to run through the ship from the field contact. Through the displays you can see static discharges arcing between the fields of both ships. A banging sound starts to carry through the hull and you notice most of the bridge crew looking worried.

"Is it supposed to do that?" You ask Kavos. He doesn't respond, starting to look ill.

"Kal?!" Yells Katherine at her navigator, who is running through frequency shifts.
"Almost. Almost got it."
After a particularly bad tremor the navigator yells that he's got it and moves the ship along side the transport.
"Extending drive field to surround the transport. Should be good."
The sturdy looking transport arms weapons attempting to target your drive plates. Not an easy thing to do on a ship which has them armoured over.
Point defense artillery soon disables them and a pair of phase cannon shots hit the much more exposed plates on the transport.

>>20777855
I'm seeing so many options for warp weapons tech I'm about ready to cream my pants XD

>>20777855
>>20778323
How does one match warp fields? bump into them and hope to get the right calculation before the ship is shaken to death?

"They're dropping out." Reports sensors.
The operations chief locks tractor beams to secure the other vessel while the navigator reduces drive power and drops both ships back into real space.

"Launching a distress buoy and calling for the navigators guild to send rescue ships." Reports Drake.

You look over the scans of the transport inspecting the damage. The plates off the starboard side are distroyed or disabled. A team of engineers would have to pull one of the plates off the port side and relocate it to get the ship back into FTL.

"Well that wasnt so bad!" Proclaims the navigator sounding a little shaky.

"We might just have time to reach another ship before we're too far into deep space." Kavos tells you, still not looking well.

[ ] Stay here until rescue ships arrive
[ ] Head after another ship (Roll 1d6+18)
[ ] Leave a shuttle & Marines, head after another ship (Roll 1d6+18)
[ ] other

>>20778432
>[ ] Leave a shuttle & Marines, head after another ship (Roll 1d6+18)

I'm in favor of attempting to reclaim a resource barge now

rolled 4 = 4

>>20778466
dang elusive dice fields

>>20778432
>[ ] Leave a shuttle & Marines, head after another ship

Do some slight damage the drive plates on the other side of the transport as well, to prolong the repair time. Ask if any marines volunteers for the shuttle, if there aren't any, just go after another ship.

>>20778472
I'm okay with his 4.

>>20778430
You gently bump the fields together and maintain contact while the navigator adjusts the field harmonics. When they match they should pass through one another.

Overloading the field involves trying to find the frequency most disruptive and very not gently ramming them together.

>>20778472
>>20778466
I agree but am reluctant to roll due to terrible luck rolling in this quest

rolled 4 = 4

>>20778482
Thank you for the answer, next question! Is there an computer system (non sentient) that could automagically adjust field harmonics? I.E. take the place of a navigator?

>>20778511
well i tried again and I got a 4. Again.

>>20778482
Is a navigator required to adjust the harmonics or can it be done entirely automatically?

This is relevant to my ideas about seeking FTL missiles.

>>20778511
>>20778517

WOOT HIVE MIND!!! :D

I was taking the long way around to the subject though lol

>>20778533
With all the ideas we have, R&D's going to be clogged for decades.

Maybe if the Terrans do find out about our theft of the SP data, schematics for an autonomous FTL interceptor mine would calm them down.

>>20778511
>>20778517
Yes, you could easily program the navigation computer to do this. Most ships just aren't called on to do this often.

Oh bugger, how many shuttles of marines do we have on this ship?

>>20778588
Is an unmanned FTL missile feasible?

>>20778588
This is fantastic news! "rubs hands manically"

>>20778557
Okay here's a quickie for RnD. >Undiscriminating FTL Warhead - Nuclear (no idea on spelling) Warhead missile launched from ship, has mini FTL drive (only good for realitivly close range) that propels it towards enemy ship in warp, when it bumps on the other warp field the nav computer inside matches harmonics and then once inside the field the nuke detonates.

This would be for destruction with no reclamation.

Now, I haven't been here the whole time started playing about 3 threads ago, Would this idea cause awesome damage? or kind of a pipe dream?

Assumptions:
in FTL shields are non functioning
Nuke can cause enough damage in one shot to destroy/damage ship to cause it to drop out of FTL.

thoughts my like minded bros?

>>20778625
2 left
>>20778645
Yes. It is however incredibly expensive.

You order a shuttle launched to keep an eye on the transport and tell them to shoot out some of the connections of the power drive plates just to make sure the ship cant jump and leave them there.

The Bittenfield leaps back into FTL in pursuit of another vessel.

"Maxing out at J-22. Our power systems are not going to handle many more jumps like this."
Warns the navigato who'se name you've learned is Kalui.

"Got one that's close by. An Assault Transport by the look of the drive flare."

Kavos looks over to you nervously. "We dont have much time left. This will be our last intercept by the looks of things and it will be a close one."

Roll 1d100 to match fields.

rolled 4 = 4

>>20778673
Match those fields.

rolled 55 = 55

>>20778673

Rolling.

>>20778673
Roll

>>20778686
i hoping lower is better >.>

rolled 17 = 17

>>20778673
for victory

rolled 1 = 1

more rolling!

>>20778712
...and now without auto corrected shenanigans...?

rolled 49 = 49

>>20778728
Are we are going to warp out in the middle of a sun now?

>>20778671
We'd need something larger than a typical nuclear warhead to guarantee a kill. Since FTL missiles will be expensive as hell anyway, there's no point to giving them anything less than the highest yield possible with the frame and resources available.

We could always use a large cluster of standard warheads, instead of one large warhead.

This would be a specialized weapon used only in certain circumstances.

rolled 72 = 72

>>20778735
capitalization...

rolled 40 = 40

>>20778673
Where's Linda, by the way. Did she miss the party because she isn't part of the military?

>Also, your d100.

File: 1348017029655.png-(31 KB, 665x535, FTL nuke v1.png)

>>20778753
hang on Annon, generating some fantasticly shitty drawn OC.

Here's what I got so far...

>4
>1
Did someone say gently bump at extremely high speed? Because it sounds like someone said that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T91wT4NyVE

"I'm prealigning the drive field frequency to what should be near what they're using. That should save us some time."
"You know what kind of field those ships have? How?" Ask Kat.
"Well my father was a navigator for a transport company that used some of them. It was cheaper fo the smaller stuff because the didn't need as much docking space like the big Y-Types d-shit!"
Apparently he looked away from the console long enough to forget he was the one actively controlling the close rate.
"Decelerating! Dammit, this is why I don't fly like this"

"Kal we're going to hit." Warns Drake.

"No, I think I got it in time."

The next second you're being thrown forward into your restraints. Collision alarms are going off.
"Drive field failure!"
Through the display you can see real space again, along with the rapidly closing hull of the transport.

"Drake, full reverse!" Your order.
The other woman belatedly realizes she has control again, cursing as she throws all engines to full reverse power.
"Shields!"
"We're too close."

The bow slams into the transport's aft hull crushing the armor and part of one sublight drive. The Bittenfeld's damage displays light up showing armour damage to the bow but its fairly tame compared to some of the things you've done to this ship.

>>20778852
I figured we would just upgrade an existing smallish ship (like a yacht or FTL-capable shuttle) with the automatic systems and (if necessary) more powerful engine needed to catch up to and match fields with a ship in flight.

After that, we'd weld on a whole bunch of missile racks. The ship would still be perfectly serviceable as a regular missile boat, but it could also be used as a missile once the crew bailed out.

This might be more expensive (and more wasteful, which means command would make a face at us), than just building an oversized missile.

>>20778956
It should also be able to drop a buoy, so we know where to look for wreckage. If there isn't any, or enough, then we know the missile didn't destroy its target.

>>20778938
How's the transport look and are they still FTP capable?

File: 1348017966007.png-(43 KB, 665x664, FTL nuke v2.png)

>>20778956
Aww I love giant ducktaped missiles.

>>20779041
We still need TSTG's word on which one is most likely to work and least likely to get the poor Knight above us to put her head on her desk and say "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Tractor beams, try to get us free why I use reverse thrust. I dont want to use the phase cannon to cut us free yet."
Says Drake.
After experimenting with reverse thrust and repulsors for a few minutes she gets the Bittenfeld free.

The cranky sarcasting voice of the ship's engineer blasts from the ops officer's headset. "This is engineering, our drives are offline for the next hour or more. Thank you for the warning by the way, two of my technicians are being sent to med bay."

You ask that coms send out a distress signal. The transport might need assistance later.
>>20778938
Until then, Kat locks weapons and orders the ship to stand to and prepare to be boarded. Marines report that the drive system on the transport can be repaired but will need to either be towed back to base or have a team of drive specialists work on it.

Somehow it takes less than an hour to get the Bittenfeld's drives fixed and elements of the other squadrons begin to report in. Most of them were successful in taking down one ship apiece. A few managed to take down a second.

Is there anything you want to investigate before a timeskip of several days?

>>20779144
First, FTL missile designs. Second, see what happens to First Wing on the mission we turned down.

I hope that's what you mean by investigate.

File: 1348019117905.jpg-(64 KB, 358x1282, docu0003.jpg)

>>20779073
The Terrans made a Veckron Torpedo like it once.
pic related. Took me awhile to find it.

You know... there should be an opportunity in the not too distant future to find backers for such a weapons program outside the House. The House would never be able to fund a program like the one you're taking about, that doesn't mean they cant be affiliated with it though.

>>20779203
I meant things locally, like for instance the ships.

>>20779273
Oh! In that case, find out which ships, if any, were carrying civilians. Also, if we can claim any of the resources that the transports or superfreighters were holding.

>>20779273
>backers for such a weapons program outside the House

This reminds me that we need to diversify our interests. We're rich, we have ideas, and we're both crazy and competent enough to pursue them. We've been dealt an awesome hand, what with our wealth, Knighthood, connections, and personal ownership of top secret data on SP torpedoes.

I think we need to prepare for the possibility that we leave the Jerik-Dremine entirely.

>>20779273
personally I'm more interested in either a share in a battlecruiser production facility, as we would have no domestic competitor, or an attack cruiser production line, as our only domestic competitor is an overpriced monopolist.

>Nuke can cause enough damage in one shot to destroy/damage ship to cause it to drop out of FTL.
Actually the EMP is likely to cause more trouble for the field than the explosion. I'm not sure how much I haven't looked at it too closely before.

>We'd need something larger than a typical nuclear warhead to guarantee a kill.
This.
>We could always use a large cluster of standard warheads
Like a planet defense missile.

>Where's Linda, by the way. Did she miss the party because she isn't part of the military?
She was checking out the new experimental ship you just got. It has the most powerful drive systems of any ship she's served on and wanted to know everything possible about it.

>>20778956
>just upgrade an existing smallish ship [...]weld on missile racks
This might be the cheapest method to building one since you captured some. Hell, you could probably do this using your own requisition, though you'd get flak for throwing ships away needlessly.

>>20778852
>>20779041
So yeah, interesting idea over all. Relatively cheap to produce once the R&D is done if you don't count the drive components. Those are the most expensive bits.

>>20779355
I we we leave our house we lose command of the military forces we currently control and our knighthood. Furthermore I'm willing to bet we would lose large portions of our existing wealth. That makes this a rather stupid idea. Also our family and friends would probably get blammed.

>>20779417
>though you'd get flak for throwing ships away needlessly.

This is exactly what I thought, and why such a ship would be used in missile mode only as a last resort. I recommend we start the conversion on a ship we don't particularly need.

If possible, build the missile racks in such a way that a full block of missiles can be loaded at the same time, like cans of soda in one of those plastic connector things.

That way, the ship can be used as a missile bus first, then reloaded before it becomes an actual missile, so it has the maximum number of warheads available without having to sacrifice firepower early in the fight.

>>20779465
I suggested it because there is a very real possibility that the Terrans will eventually discover that our House possesses SP data, and attack with such overwhelming force that we can't fight back. There are other scenarios too, but that's the most likely one.

Sure, I don't expect it to happen, but I think we need contingencies in place, to save ourselves, our friends, and our family in such an event.

>>20779546
Family all wearing emergency transporter pendants which are keyed to abandoned colony world.

>>20779294
The Tarketta transport ship you disabled was carrying a mix of captives, refugees and pirate supporters.
The Assault transport was mainly carrying vehicles of every shape and size, be they useful on the ground or in space.
>Also, if we can claim any of the resources that the transports or superfreighters were holding.
Apparently two stopped assault transports (one of which the Bittenfeld disabled) were stolen from an Iratar production facility. Between them they have more than 300 IFV's and 60x V-400 Light starfighters. While the Iratar corporation would likely be pissed at you if you kept the starships they wont miss the fighters and armoured vehicles.

>Diversify investments
>battlecruiser production facility, as we would have no domestic competitor,
Actually there is a competitor but they produce so few that they hardly mater. In addition most Battlecruisers built in the Dominion are refit with large external flight pods/nacelles whatever which house additional drive plates to increase their FTL speeds.

>or an attack cruiser production line, as our only domestic competitor is an overpriced monopolist.
You might be able to find a civilian company outside the major producers that would consider producing them. There are also plenty of facilities in the Smugglers Run for producing ships out of scrap.

>>20779579
If transporter pendants existed, they would probably be more expensive than battleships.

Can't go wrong with a standard transporter using a cloaked ship as a destination.

>>20779605
We don't need that many IFVs, but we could certainly claim a few. Take as many starfighters as we can get away with.

As for investments, I'm cool with starting on the smaller scale, with attack cruiser production. It occurs to me that we could use an actual financial advisor for these things, since we're better at blowing things up than making money.

The asteroid bases on the Run seem like a good place to start making/refitting cruisers up to House par.

>>20779605
Look into all three options. In particular, If we can mate a civilian corporation to one of the scrap builders and use their experience to shortcut prototyping we could save both costs and design time.

>>20779660
I like this idea.

For Economies and Spreadsheets: Starship Production Manager

File: 1348021925234.gif-(34 KB, 1275x774, Local producers.gif)

>>20779614
>If transporter pendants existed, they would probably be more expensive than battle groups.
FTFY

The largest civilian ship producer in the Smugglers Run still in operation are those located in this sector here. They are currently building Kilo class Medium cruisers both for your House and the others that took part in liberating the area. They are being payed relatively well for them.
Did you want to see about finding other financial backers within the House about negotiating with them to set up an attack cruiser production line?

While the locals wouldn't get the sort of pay most major corporation shipyards do it would allow them to form a more legitimate business front. Currently they're seen as little more than shady scrap dealers who have a history of selling to pirates.

>>20779715
this. lets legit this shipyard up!

>>20779715
We get profit, the House gets attack cruisers, and the citizens of the Run get the opportunity to move up. It seems like a killer idea to me.

Go for it.

Other company options since I dont like to think I might be railroading you guys too much.

Combined Coalition Drive Yards (CCD)
Is a loose alliance of civilian corporations and ship producers out in the Pandora Cluster who provide ships for the PCCG Fleet. Like most things made and sold out there their ships easily find their way into the hands of mercs and pirates.

They lack much of the legitimacy of the larger megacorps and have no love for the Factions. Still, they may be open to setting up a production line for their ships with enough money thrown in their faces. Their ships are sturdy if bulky and have a tendency towards heavy pulse cannon. They can seem a bit undergunned at long range at times.


Tarketta
While a hard line backer for the Terran Alliance since before its birth they have log sought to diversify. Their attempts to do so with the Jenning apparently backfired as few outside pirate organisations operate them these days.
A message from Siri Thal has recomended them after seeing how easily their Variable Module Conveyor can be refit or redesigned. The "U-Haul" can act as a towship for Y-Type container blocks or be refit into either Escort Carriers or Attack Cruisers.

>>20779865
How could you be railroading when you let us have FTL missiles?

I don't think CCD is a good choice right now. Tarketta, however, makes what is quickly becoming one of my favorite ships. I think investing in Tarketta as well as local production is a good idea. There are many things we could use U-Hauls for, but miniature carriers are near the top right now. Lacking heavier ships, our Wing can rely on swarms of starfighters for much-needed punch.

>>20779865
Pandora cluster seems like a really bad idea, but Tarketta has possibilities... Still, I think I prefer the first option, if only because it will give our house a lot more control over distribution. Especially if we can acquire some republic consultants for advice on the spinal mount weapon for our new design, I wonder where we could find those...

>>20779865
the CCD seem pretty shady, unless we had some kind of enforcing body from our house to keep things on the up and up.

the Tarketta seem to be a safer choice, less prone to "production failures" due to pirates, and the refit capibilities are way more customizable.

I say Tarketta.

Speaking of Carrier and starfighter related vessels!

Your two other Escort Carriers are now operational. They can carry 4 squadrons (48 fighters) each.

With the addition of the light fighters the reserve currently has the following.

26x Z5 Starfighter
60x V-400 Light starfighter

The problem I can see here is a lack of bomber support. A normal Z5 can carry 1 torpedo on its mid line hardpoint and V-400's are so small they cant carry any. Do you want to load the carriers up with only general fighters or keep some in reserve and buy Z5H's for each ship?

SRP=3900 (x3 because of 3 squadrons in the Wing for the moment)

Z5H -200RP


>You could also just keep the two carriers in reserve until you find more fighters.

I think the best option would be to cement a relationship between the civillian producers of the run and Takarta. The locals have a wide variety of attack cruiser designs on file as well as cheep labor costs, while Takarta has the military expertise and R&D department to use the disparate designs and make something nice from them.

>>20779930
Speaking of which, TSTG what is the verdict on the "charging" of FTL devices instead of installing a full FTL drive?

>>20780019
Individually, the Z5H isn't very expensive, but it adds up when you buy them in bulk.

I think we should get 10 of them. 5 for each EC, in addition to a mix of the other types of starfighters. We'll have to be careful how we deploy them until we have an opportunity to get a big batch of bombers.

File: 1348024559161.jpg-(180 KB, 938x960, Looking around corner onl(...).jpg)

>see what happens to 2nd Wing on the mission we turned down.

It seems they successfully made first contact with an alien life form. Details are still sketchy and the Navigators Guild have brought in additional contact personnel. How the aliens communicate isn't known and their physical description is conjecture at the moment.
What you are hearing is that there was an abandoned pirate base grafted onto the side of a giant repulsor based accelerator array the aliens must have built. It seems that it's used to launch ships at high sublight speeds towards systems inside the Nav Hazard zones.

>>20780101
That's neat. Looks like we missed out on a potential bit of prestige here.

>>20780052
> what is the verdict on the "charging" of FTL devices instead of installing a full FTL drive?
Conflicted. You'll need something to emit a field and the ability to shift the frequency of that field once it reaches its target, that means a drive core.
If the objective was just to get a missile going FTL, yes I'd say charging would be an option to create a weak temporary field.

>>20780155
>If the objective was just to get a missile going FTL, yes I'd say charging would be an option to create a weak temporary field.

Does that mean that a missile boat capable of charging missiles could fire on targets from tactical jump range?

>>20780155
Awesome, thanks for clarifying! I'm pretty excited at the thought of interFTL missiles.

>>20780192
See this is why I like you, you think faster than I do. haha

>>20780208
It's great to have people on the same wavelength. I love it when a plan comes together.

Marine Heavy Strike Team acquired!
While you were training the wing's pilots and ship crews your newly promoted Sergeant Major Jing Ki has been hard at work assembling a team of Marines to help in the boarding missions you so often require. This was made easier by the competition to determine the user of the Jump Jet suit.

Some of the heavier armor used by the elite troops on the Wayward Treasures have been taken apart for reverse engineering but the remainder are now repaired and returned to service.
Unlike expensive and rare power armor which must rely on micro fusion reactors these suits have weapon grade power cells built into their frame. These hybrid suits provide superior protection by allowing the wearer to carry heavier denser armor than normal and provide many of the benefits of conventional power armor at reduced price. The downside is that the power cells must be recharged after as little as 25 hours depending on conditions.

-Blast gauntlets? Shock/stun gauntlets?
Using small but powerful built in repulsors, these spiked gauntlets will trigger on contact with an enemy. The kinetic blast they deliver will throw all but the heaviest enemies or objects, damaging anything they cant.
>inb4 people ask for a Gravity Hammer or Gravity Gun.

Shallan Fusion Guns- With your purchase of some of these weapons for your Marines Ki has equipped some of the heavy strike team with them, greatly increasing their short range firepower.
Most Marines who have tested them recommend they only be given to those with experience and a good safety record as they can be hazardous to the user if mishandled.

>>20780192
I just thought of two more applications.

1. Charging inert projectiles - which gives regular mass driver a tremendous range advantage, and makes them more accurate because of reduced flight time.

2. Charging small vessels - which gives carriers the ability to slingshot fighters, making it possible for them to stay even farther out of danger, and opening up new tactical options. This would also allow shuttles to be moved very quickly, which could make boarding operations easier. Besides that, any ship with an intact drive core could propel evac shuttles far outside combat range in an instant.

Imagine if that pilot we lost could have ridden a screaming FTL blast wave to safety.

>>20780192
>>20780200
>>20780208
>>20780234
>Does that mean that a missile boat capable of charging missiles could fire on targets from tactical jump range?
Was waiting for this. I know I'm going to regret saying this but yes. You might want to wait until you have a few billion in cash to throw at the program though.

>I think the best option would be to cement a relationship between the civillian producers of the run and Takarta. The locals have a wide variety of attack cruiser designs on file as well as cheep labor costs, while Takarta has the military expertise and R&D department to use the disparate designs and make something nice from them.

I'll put up a survey for it probably. Its a long term thing and I can just say its what you decided on earlier in the campaign. AKA right now.

>>20780291
I hope you're writing all these ideas down. I don't want to lose our plan to develop the first Artillery Squadron.

>>20780351
That is going to be fantastic, although maybe we should invest in keeping this technology to ourselves, ala terran sp torp manufact style. would really suck void to have to fight against those technologies....hurmmm...Some kind of FTL jamming on our ECM ships?

A ship comprised of primarily FTL engines that can dock at one of our larger carriers, job being generating random bubbles. telemetry data also being passed to fleet so that we would be immune...hurmmmm

>>20780303
>The downside is that the power cells must be recharged after as little as 25 hours depending on conditions.

Can depleted power cells be easily exchanged? If not, that should be a standard feature to increase operation time.

>Blast gauntlets

Could such miniature repulsors be used defensively, either as verniers to aid in dodging, or to redirect projectiles/shrapnel/grenades?

I'm also wondering if the repulsors can be built into grenades, to create concussive blasts that stun or pulverize.

>Fusion Guns

Can they be upsized and mounted on vehicles?

>>20780425
Sounds like an Interdictor from Star Wars. Pulls ships out of FTL and prevents them from jumping.

>>20780425
It's a lot easier to keep the tech behind SP torps secret than to keep people from finding out how FTL charging works. For one thing, we don't have anywhere near the kind of resources the Terrans and Kavarians do, and for another, FTL charging is much simpler in principle.

>>20780433
>an depleted power cells be easily exchanged?
No, they're hard wired into the suit, but can be charge off just about any power source. 25 hours is a worst case scenario.

>Repulsors for dodging
That would require extensive R&D, though they are used in that manner to assist jump jet armor.
>redirect projectiles/shrapnel/grenades?
An active defense system like this is not new but is complicated and would need a more reliable power source and platform like a suit of Medium power armor.
>Blast grenades
Dammit I forgot about the stun grenades as well!
Roll 1d100 for finding a small arms company that will talk to you.

>Vehicle grade fusion guns
If the Shallans have produced such a weapon they haven't made it available for sale. The short range of them in atmosphere would reduce its effectiveness, especially when tanks and IFV's need to fight at all ranges.

>>20780476
oh man I forgot about those, but building ships on that scale im guessing is completely out of our reach at the moment
>>20780502
Very True...So we should focus on defenses against this new tech before we make the new tech!

rolled 84 = 84

>>20780596
Come on dice, poppa needs a new big boom!

>>20780596
We should look into developing suits with easily-exchangeable power packs. We should also look into repulsor verniers and repulsor defensive systems, but not right this moment, because we've already got our hands full.

Would vehicular fusion guns be of use as a short-range anti-infantry and breaching weapon? If they're just not worth it compared to existing vehicular weapons, we needn't pursue it.

>>20780607
Since drive cores account for so much of the cost of a ship, any interdictor we build in the short term is going to have to be on the small side anyway.

Not only should we think about defenses against our own ideas, we should consider ways to defeat the best and most powerful weapons already available - SP torpedoes and Veckron torpedoes.

>Would vehicular fusion guns be of use as a short-range anti-infantry and breaching weapon? If they're just not worth it compared to existing vehicular weapons, we needn't pursue it.
They could work as such I suppose, but most existing weapons fill this role well enough and are cheaper.

A few days after your mad dash to catch the fleeing ships you have the Wing back in working order. Starfighters have been stocked for your Carriers, your ships are all repaired and you even found a pilot for your upgraded Centurion. Lorraine Day has proven to be a crack shot with the spinal mount plasma cannon. Apparently her nickname "Surgeon" was related more to accuracy than skill with a med pack.

With 3 new reserve pilots made available you now have enough to fully man 4th squadron without having any draw down in the other units.

You have some things to consider.
>Will you assign Siri Thal or Mike Serth to command 4th squadron?
While training with Dowaire and learning about various aspects of the nobility the old tutor mentions something worth paying attention to.
"The Knight Command wants to expand the fleet to rival that of other Houses. You've done many good things to help those goals but what are needed are more Knights. If you help train those you feel show the necessary qualities, if they are everything needed to become a Knight she will not hesitate to show interest in these individuals."

rolled 78 = 78

>>20780738
>Not only should we think about defenses against our own ideas, we should consider ways to defeat the best and most powerful weapons already available - SP torpedoes and Veckron torpedoes.
Problem is I know nothing about those xD any linky to their details?

>...interdictor we build...is going to have to be on the small side...
How small do you think we will be shooting for ship size?

>>20780840
>Will you assign Siri Thal or Mike Serth to command 4th squadron?

While Mike is our buddy we can't be picking favorites, Siri Thal did score highest overall so my vote goes to her.

>>20780840
Assign Siri. She's the best candidate. No favoritism.

And now we'll be looking for Knight candidates as well. Excellent.

Does Mike have a shot at becoming a Knight of our House?

>>20780848
SP torpedoes slip right through shields. Hence the name - Shield Piercing.

Veckron torpedoes are very rare. They are supremely destructive, go through shields, emit radiation that grants the crews of ships that carry them an early death, and create regions of space where FTL travel is very dangerous.

They're primarily a deterrent. No one wants to risk getting into a serious war because of these weapons.

>>20780935
A single Veckron torp is enough to kill a superheavy, possibly multiple superheavies. In this universe, you can consider them the new nuclear option. As far as I understand, there's a sort of Cold War going on because of them.

rolled 92 = 92

>>20780935
>SP torpedoes slip right through shields. Hence the name - Shield Piercing.
>Veckron torpedoes are very rare. They are supremely destructive, go through shields, emit radiation that grants the crews of ships that carry them an early death, and create regions of space where FTL travel is very dangerous.
>They're primarily a deterrent. No one wants to risk getting into a serious war because of these weapons.

So the main thing we need to neutralize is these Veckron missiles. they're weaknesses that we can fathom so far are:
-they emit a radiation signature that should be easily trackable
-the rad contamination is so prolific storing these weapons is either incredibly difficult or they need to be manufactured then used right away
-for some reason tehy are rare, either production process is very secretive or the compnents are very rare
-they damage areas of space to prevent FTL travel, so potenitaly any storage area the veckron torps would be located in could not be reached easily via FTL

did i miss anything?

>>20781108
I think the radiation is only produced when they charge, but there might be traces we could home in on. They damage space when they detonate, not all the time, as far as I know.

If we came up with a way to defeat Veckron torpedoes, the big factions would be falling all over themselves either trying to kill us all or trying to acquire that tech for themselves. It's an absurdly massive advantage, far beyond SP torpedoes, which are rather mundane in comparison.

If TSTG actually lets us develop a defense against these, it's going to be a late-game thing, because of the wide-ranging repercussions.

>Grenades
You get hold of producer affiliated with RDR, one of the larger remaining explosives and ballistic weapons companies. They says the grenades you're looking for aren't too far off from some more rare designs they already have. For a fixed buy in price they'll prototype off a few crates provided a contract is signed that you're not just going to hand the designs over to another producer in the Dominion.

>Does Mike have a shot at becoming a Knight of our House?

If he continues to train more with squadron level tactics, get experience and learn all of the essentials a Knight needs, sure. Hell Daska has been a squadron leader or nearly squadron leader as long as you have and isnt even a Knight yet. She may need more training in some regards than the others.

You send a message to the Knight Commander about investments that could benefit the house regarding attack cruiser production. You get a short reply back that her finance people will talk to your finance people.

Hopefully you'll still have some money when this is all over.

File: 1348031985520.gif-(12 KB, 1187x666, NAV DRH 2.gif)

April 7, 4024
You get word that its time for the bulk of the House forces to move out from the Smugglers Run and rejoin the fleet. The Dominion First and Third Expeditionary fleets along with Terran and Rovinar forces will be jumping enmass to the next Nav Relay. A Dominion middle House has managed to hold on in the region despite constant fighting and will provide a base of operations. The plan is rapidly clear the surrounding territory of pirate forces then resupply from the locals, allowing the fleets to quickly launch a strike into the South Reach Cluster. If all goes well it will only take a week to remove any local infestation.

The Wing is set. Crews ready. Weapons equipped and loaded. Artillery point defense systems have been installed aboard your cruisers, though not on all of the smaller ships. You have Marines with access to good equipment and your four LSTs all have ground vehicles and some boarding options.
Is there anything else you wish to attend to before your forces move out?

>>20781257
Get the grenades.

>>20781397
There's nothing left for us here. If we're leaving any good acquaintances behind, we should fire off a quick goodbye message, but otherwise nothing really comes to mind.

"Ladies and gentlemen, to bigger and brighter things."

rolled 11 = 11

>>20781501
whooo whooooo!

"Well everyone, say goodbye to this little patch of space that we fought for one sector at a time. We're headed off to bigger and brighter things." you tell the others.

"I for one hope to never return to this horrid place." points out Daksa. "But you're right, better things might be ahead."

"Might?" you ask.
"Should then?" She corrects herself.
A few of the veterans from second squadron laugh at this.

Siri Thal still seemed uncomfortable with the new rank and position the last time you saw her but that should wear off. It does nothing to compare to Kavos discomfort. As the XO of the commanding officer of a wing as well as being the senior NCO for the entire group command decided it was past time to promote him. Its a little odd seeing the middle aged Dro'all in the uniform of a navy Lieutenant.

"I am never going to live this down." he mutters.

The House battle group forms up a few light years away from the nav station, a half million km from the Concordance. Ships from the other Houses seem battered and worn in places but they're far more numerous compared to the last time you saw the fleet. This Expeditionary Fleet alone is now well above fourty thousand ships, approaching fifty thousand.

"All ships all Houses, stand by for mass jump. House Lat'tham is going to be glad when we finally show up. Lets not disappoint them. Front ranks you are clear to jump in three, two, one."

The lead ten thousand ships jump as a wave, the lights from their drives engaging sparking like a sea of diamonds.

File: 1348035835815.jpg-(482 KB, 1430x900, Parade bridge.jpg)

Will try to post in the morning. Not sure how much will get done tomorrow as I expect there to be relatives and cake taking up a good deal of time in addition to work.

Here's the link to that article on FTL space time warping theory in case anyone missed it.

http://news.discovery.com/space/warp-drive-possible-nasa-tests-100yss-120917.html

>>20781950
Thanks for another great session. Looking forward to seeing the results of our future R&D and strange, unique ideas.

Gahhh! Forgot it was Tuesday and I've been reading archives of this, privateer quest, and chapter quest while twiddling my thumbs at work.

Reminder: call in sick next Tuesday for the honor of House Jerik-Dremine!

Gently bumping the thread.

>>20781768
> it was past time to promote him
Neat, we should celebrate that somehow. We wouldn't be where we are without him.

>>20780840
>but what are needed are more Knights
While not favouring them over other promising candidates, we should definitely provide any kind of help they might need to achieve knighthood. Or friends are the reason why we're with expeditionary forces, after all.

>>20783194
We are in a feudal society, I'm pretty sure blatant favoritism is more or less expected.

>>20780303
>inb4 people ask for a Gravity Hammer or Gravity Gun.

Can we get a Gravity Hammer?

Also anyone here been playing FTL: Fater Than Light?

>>20784345
No to both questions. Though I've been reading the thread on it.
>Fire in atmo
Wow, its like mobile SS13.

You spend the next few days in flight training in every possible way you can. Fencing with and without power armor, target shooting and learning etiquite. You also talk to some of the others about training they could do to increase their chances of Knighthood.

Kavos is absent through much of the first half of the trip, a junior crewman manning ops when you pass through the bridge. Towards the later half of the flight he turns up again, much of the orange complexion gone from his cheeks.
"How are you doing Chief? I mean Lieutenant." You correct yourself.

"I just took a day off. Its that time of the year for me. Good timing really."

"Oh, right." you reply and go about your business. It seems Kavos is now a she for the next year or so. Despite growing up in the Houses its still a bit jarring, what with you having known Kavos entirely while he was male.

A few days later the fleet drops out at the nav relay and and are immediately challened by the local House.

"Attention incoming ships, this territory is under the Dominion of the Royal Houses. Hostiles will be fired upon."
Just a normal challenge it seems. The tens of thousands of Dominion IFF's should be a giveaway.

>>20784650
Dont know if I'll be back on later. Have to head out of town as soon as I get back to work to help look after a relative.

bye guys

Regarding the Economic development of our house, we were to enter SP production into export as well as for the expedition fleet and for our house at affordable yet stil profitable for our own selves prices, as well as spearheading kinetic/artillery PD for our house to alleviate PD reactor draw and better protection for our house fleet, considering how we drive them and how few we actually produce or manage to acquire in more traditional ways, save battle salvage.

Do keep in mind that we have hired those arty boys for ourselves personally not reasigned them as orders, so the fine print would be that their work is ours so we technically own the solutions, algorithms, networking, etc for arty PD, and can definitely attest to its functionality. We should slowly start a lobby for it back home, through some financial or military connection (our old trainer?) Once the entire wing has it and starts to shine by increased protection from starfighters, torps and missiles, as well as lower reactor draw, allowing for a little bit more fire-power, engine and shield output, this one should also be a good sale, that will have us doing not hardware but software, and support, gaining us lower constant sunk costs, somewhat greater profits and more flexibility.

>>20785395
The Attack cruiser idea is nice too, as well as the previous idea of building a intermediate power armour for our own troops. The idea was basically a cheap exoskeleton, plug in batteries and kevlar plate inserts over it or something . But if we can have the pirates one, for now it will do. We might consider doing some design modifications for it like a plug in switch battery, and more streamlining to start a production line and have our house troops or at least our own troops be better protected and have more carry capacity than others, besides reactor power armour, and at a very costeffective price. I bet we can make it that the same costs in a this streamlined semi powered/ temporary powered armour would by far accede its worth than regular power armours. Considering that we may be able to produce 100 or 1000 of them at the cost of 1 suit, that being a company or a battalion worth of it, if we go only for the combatants, and stick the staff, and support in vehicles. So not only great for marines but soldiers too.

there was also talk about a spray on armour or a net of pseudo lenses to diffract beam and pulse shots before impacting the armour.... lots of stuff to do before going for SP and Cloak, enough to give us plausible deny-ability to have done it ourselves.

>>20785395
>we were to enter SP production
Which, according to OP, has a realistic chance to take longer than Sonia's life expectancy is. Just saying.

>>20785467
Gah. SP torp spray on armour.

My bad.

>>20785541
The spray on armour is going to be rendered quite a bit less valuable when then new upgraded torpedoes are introduced later this year, so I think we shouldn't focus too much on it. Although it's probably still an okay investment for a few years, at least until all the older torpedoes have been replaced.

The new torps will only give the super big bad guys like Terran and their designer an edge. The countless old sp torps are still on the black markets and the spray on cover still helps with those. I don't think pirates are going to be tossing the new sp at us any time soon.

For the semi-power armor we have found with the 25 hour battery that's hardwired... We could create a portable power generator similar to the one powering the current power armor (so its small enough) and equip troop transports and atmosphere IFV with them so a squad can recharge in the field if combat is prolonged beyond the charge time.

Vekron torps are most likely tstg's "rocks fall, everyone dies" defense for the super nations. Don't need to explain, they're just that far ahead in tech you'll never dream of catching this kind of power. Think of us as an African tribe compared to US and Russia during the cold war...

For investments, if we can't co-op Tarkkan with the group from the Run then I vote to leave Tarkkan out and invest entirely in the asteroid people. With the asteroid people we could also pay them to continue salvaging all the graveyards we found and possibly find our bombers through them.(or any other tech we can jury-rig into our plans). Granted we've left the area now so all of our finds would have to be shipped in bulk.

>>20785395
Reactor draw is only a problem for starship grade weapons not point defense. Unless you're loading on a metric fuck ton of particle beams that is.

>Tons of other stuff.
I had a list of What House R&D was working on along with how much resources they had to spend on stuff. That list is woefully outdated. Will attempt to work that up for next time as I didnt plan to actually need it until much farther on in game.

>>20786691
do you have that survey for the attack cruiser production?

>>20786675
>Tarkkan
What is that? A search on foolz brings up nothing.

>>20787062
see
>>20779865
and
>>20779715

>>20787115
>Tarketta
>Tarkkan
A bit more proofreading would go a long way.

>>20787138
hey, I'm not the anon who posted the original advice, but based on context that's the only possible explanation.

Bumping, just in case.

File: 1348100885365.jpg-(21 KB, 300x200, 22B.jpg)

Cruiser production company survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9ZXLLSB

After reversion the fleet begins check in with the command ships verifying that everyone arrived where intended. It also gives the fleet some of the time needed for the jump drives to cool down and capacitors to recharge.

Two hours later deployment orders are sent down to each House fleet and ships begin to jump back into FTL, moving to secure vital resources or objectives. Without the refuelling stations and other stockpiles House Lat'tham controls the Logistics Corps will be hard pressed to continue the campaign.

Your wing is sent to investigate one of the many outlying sectors with orders to kill or capture any ships or stations not broadcasting a friendly IFF. The locals seem to have fallen back to hard point defenses until the Pirates have passed the sector by. Orbital refuelling stations around gas giants are built less like the utilitarian outposts you've seen elsewhere, and more like battle stations. Planetary defenses around inhabited worlds are also heavy, with defense sat networks that deploy within minutes of your arrival and ground based shields twice the strength of those on Loran II.

Within two days of your arrival in House Lat'tham territory all pirate activity in the region seems to have dried up. According to sensor records the last organized pirate squadrons already skirted their space days before the main fleet's arrival and jumped out towards South Reach. Still, some were left behind and squadrons from a few other Houses did see some combat.

I've been wondering

How do salvage teams work in this setting? (specifically ones NOT at major ship graveyards and other fixed bases available)

Do they just come in on ships and throw engineers at easily repaired hulks/wrecks, then leave behind anything that can't be immediately fixed up or strapped to their ship?

In theory, if we found a ship of the correct size, could we as a wing say outfit a ship to go into graveyards or old battlefields and "collect" a (small/medium) wreck for retrieval to a friendly base?

or does the House only use civilian or dedicated squadrons to do that?

apologies if this has been asked and answered before

File: 1348103092437.jpg-(191 KB, 1280x769, planetfall_by_penuser.jpg)

>btw, it would seem I've been relieved and am now able to continue.

"So what's the plan sir? If we're to keep the pressure on we'll need to jump for the next relay soon." says Daska over the unit channel.
"It doesn't leave much time for getting in some training and R&R either." points out Verilis.

On one hand you just spent a week in FTL providing plenty of free time for most pursuits, on the other you don't want the crews to go stir crazy from being trapped aboard.

"Imagine what ship crews in the old days must have gone through, having to spend months or even years at a time on their starships." you wonder aloud.

You contact the command ship and request orders. After an hour and a half kept waiting you're given jump coordinates to the Yineput system. House Lat'tham has apparently moved their capital here some years ago and when you arrive you can see that a good number of ships from the other fleets are in system as well.

One of the Terran command ships and six super heavy cruisers have taken a holding orbit at the trailing lagrange point behind the system's inner most gas giant. A similar sized Rovinar taskforce has entered orbit at the leading point. Your own house fleet is directed to a point above the plane of the system's asteroid belt.

Yineput III borders on the edges of the belt resulting in its much cratered surface. Planetary shields and mining ships must have made terraforming efforts possible.
Inter-system shuttles and transports fill the space between parking orbits and the capital world.

File: 1348103750044.jpg-(76 KB, 609x479, 609px-AK_R2_salv_corv.jpg)

>>20791352
Actually I'm amazed nobody has asked this question before. Usually a unit of specially outfitted transports carrying smaller sublight support craft will deploy (with escort) out to a recent battle site and SALVAGE EVERYTHING.
The best platform seems to be a heavily modified Y-Type transport with the bottom cut out of its cargo module. These ships will have mobile grappling arms and tons of tractors beams to snag everything in the area, drag it in and haul it back to base.
The smaller sub corvette class ships outfitted with tractor beams and grappling equipment are used to chase down smaller objects not worth relocating the larger ships. Larger cargo tugs like those seen in use with cargo moving in planetary orbits are sometimes brought along to assist because of their higher payload capacity. The downside is that their size means bringing less of them to a salvage party.

Salvage teams normally deploy with a cruiser squadron as escort as they're valuable ships.

Acquire mission, complete mission, aquire delicious salvage. Do we know when we can put together an assualt covertee squadron? I so want to show up the terrans.

>>20791715
That sounds like a possible mission if we'd taken another path.

How might such operations vary in the case of massive graveyards with FBOs, such as the one where we forced the place to surrender?

>>20791715
Welcome back TSTG.

Sounds like something we should invest in Immediately. Maybe instead of developing 4th wing we create a salvage group?

>>20791787
Assault Corvette early prototype should be ready for testing in the next few weeks. Mind you it would take 2 weeks for it to be transported out to where you are currently.

>>20791855
Salvage scan ships would be deployed to designate the best stuff that could be fixed with the least trouble. A special unit might be formed to help tackle a graveyard along with allies. Ships with additional specializations might be employed to scoop smaller debris from regions making them safer to operate in or deploy tractor mines.
The pirates employed small tractor beam emitting platform that would draw in wreckage within a set area making it easier to sort through. This can take months or years and for obvious reasons is only used in long term operations.

File: 1348105746092.jpg-(173 KB, 821x796, House & Dominion-Ballroom.jpg)

>>20791908
Salvage groups are non-combatants and you are a combat unit.

The Knight Commander broadcasts on the House priority channel after she arrives in system with the rest of the fleet.

"This is Winifred to all Knights and high ranking Officers. The Head of House Lat'tham is holding a high society ball for members of the allied expeditionary forces. To those of you who were present at the last ball held by our House on Loran II, this will not the same. Knights and Navy Captains are those expected to attend. Only those holding a high rank will be permitted inside. Choose wisely if you decide to bring a subordinate."

Oh shit, time to throw on the dress uniform!
1)What sort of customization if any did you make to it in the weeks you spent before the fleet launched?
(You currently have a concealed holster for a holdout pistol)

2) Will you be bringing someone along with you besides the other 2 Knights in your unit?

>>20792053
we should bring Mike to show his growing status if he is capable that is.

I say we customize a way of discretely recording conversations of interest.

>>20791606
You might have answered this before, but roughly how powerful is the Dominion in comparison to the the terrans, Rovinar and other major powers?

>>20792053

clearly, we have a second compartment with a tiny data tablet concealed within. On the tablet is a record of all marines, crew and pilots killed under our command. Each entry has a photograph, military rank/info, and a letter to the parents/family of the deceased that strangely was never sent.

And we're totally going to let some Terran officer that will clearly be sent to monitor us get their hands on it by "mistake". They'll then be laughed at by their peers, ensuring our psychological victory.

Everyone hates spooks, right?

>>20792126
Its difficult to say, but the Dominion should be able to match either the Terrans or Rovinar in a 1 on 1 war. It would be bloody though, with Dominion forces relying heavily upon massed corvette units which could be quickly replaced as they took losses.
Before the Faction Wars the Terran Civil War and the Kavarian war of independence the Dominion was the largest superpower. With the Terrans, Rovinar, Krath and the Kavarian resistance against them it was an even fight.

If the Republic could get its act in gear and end its civil war it would eclipse any 2 other Factions. Speaking of which news reports show that in some places fighting has recently intensified with both sides attempting decapitation strikes to end the war and failing hard.

>>20792107
Mike is understandably nervous about this plan with him still being a Flight leader and everything. Still if you're certain he'll go for it.

>>20792202
Done.

NOTE: To other players returning there will be a cut off point after which retcon of modification to your uniform will no longer be available. I'll be sure to say something.

>>20792271
Holy shit. Does that include us and the Terrans vs them? Even with the Terrans likely shoving delicious tech in our general direction?

>>20792394
We probably shouldn't bring any non-knights. The last thing we need is to cause some incident that results in one of our people having some social black mark that prevents them from being fast-tracked for promotion to knighthood

>>20792443
>implying the Terrans would give you anything but the bare minimum to keep you afloat.

You and the others take shuttles over to the command ship before being picked up by streamlined atmospheric shuttles from the surface. On the flight towards the planet you spot skeletal looking mobile refuelling platforms being moved out towards the parked fleet groups. Its probably easier than reorganizing where each of the fleets are located every few minutes and shuffling them through the few permanent docks in system.

Atmospheric entry goes without incident and soon the shuttle is cruising above the cities and surrounding farmland of Yineput III. The spaceport is packed with shuttles landing from other fleet groups and escort fighters are a common sight. Only a small number of craft look out of place, the most distinctive being a trio of trans orbital gunships with markings of the Ruling House. Most of the escort fighters give them a wide berth.

Ground cars be it wheeled or repulsor based must have been brought in from across the planet to provide transportation to the Estates where the ball will be held. Along the roadways you spot circular bunkers that must house anti-aircraft weapons to help repel invaders. Planetary shield generators are hard to pick out closer to the city with taller buildings nearby but out closer to the destination you spot a few.

>>20792798
Considering the kind of assistance the Americans gave the soviets during WW2? You're darn right I'm implying that.

>>20792827
Dont get me wrong, you would be saying "why cant I hold all of these SP torps?" But they're not about to hand over the keys to how they're built.

>Is Mike with you or not? Kind of need answer here.

>>20792932
Sure, why not.

>>20792932
Nah Mike would be out of place. We don't want to rock the boat too much.

Also uniform modifications, I recall we already had a pocket for a holdout weapon sewn in, at the time we asked about ways of shielding it from scans/detection and were told they were time and cost prohibitive. We've had a lot of time and made a lot of money since then. Hidden pistol?

>>20793192
Oh right, do we wear our sword to events like this or how does that work?

Did we just fancy up the HF blade or do we have a dress sword?

rolled 51 = 51

>>20792932
yep, and he will hopefully act at his station and not above it

>Sword
Yes, though there are weapon check in stations before the inner ballrooms.
>2 yes, 1 no

As you step out of the limo along side the others from your House you're greeted by the sight of spotlight beams filling the sky above. Most of them are focused on a point above the larger buildings of the estate that you assume to be the ballrooms. Others seem to form an arch above the walkways leading in the same direction.

"Blast!" You catch the Knight Commander curse. Looking over you see she's rapidly scrolling through a message on her communicator.
"Something has come up with my ship. Everyone continue without me I shall be back in two to three hours."

You turn to Mike who shrugs before you head towards the main building. Guards are present everywhere. While they're all dressed in finery appropriate for the occasion there's no doubt they'd be able to deal with any potential trouble makers or even hold off an assault long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

"Well here we go, good luck." you whisper to Mike before you try for one of the smaller less grand entrances. With members of the Admiralty along with Lords and generals heading through the main doors even you would stand out.

Music fills the air your group filters through past the first line of guards.
"You there, hold." says one of the soldiers as Mike steps up just behind you. "You'll need a good explanation for coming in here. Cant have every ship jockey in universe present or we'd overflow the premises."

>WHAT SAY?

>>20793290
"Knight Candidate Michael Serth is under my care. If you deny him entry, you do the same to me."

>>20793290
Noble birth, exemplary service, flight leader in elite squadron on the fast track to knighthood, blah blah blah here's ten bucks to look at that shiny thing over there for the next eight seconds.

>>20793330
>>20793342

Indignation is probably preferable to bribery here.

You get the feeling he's considering the trouble of tossing both of your asses back out the door until you get to the money part.
"Tack a zero on that and you've got twenty seconds."
He looks squarely at Mike. "Stay out of trouble. I don't care whose kid you are your ass is grass if you mess with the brass. Got it?"

After you get through you suggest Mike stick close to you or one of the other Knights from your Wing and act like an aid or something if only to downplay suspicion.
"Copy that, got your wing." He whispers.

The outer areas seem mostly set up for people to rest before heading deeper inside towards the inner halls. From inside the marble hallways its impossible to get a sense of scale compared to Lord Harmen's castle. Parts of the building could stretch on forever for all you know, the vaulted outer halls having a slight curve to them prevending people from seeing end points.

"Nice close combat area, snipers dont have any places to make long distance shots." Mike points out.

Before entering the ballrooms you'll have to pass through security checks. You step up to the scanner which pings after detecting your weapons.

"We'll take your weapons here." Says one of the clerks waving you over. "For a small fee we can provide a temporary holosword replacement for appearances." He tells you before lowering his voice. "You can step into one of these booths here to remove your sidearms without the other guests seeing where ya keep em. If its a real issue keepin something on you for defense you can have your weapon rendered unable to fire anything but a single stun shot to keep any trouble."

>Holo sword Y/N ?
>Leave backup pistol or reduce to 1 stun shot?

>>20793507
Yes to sword.
Yes to stun.

Is bribing guards just the norm or what?

>>20793507
Holo sword

Have Mike, acting as our aide/bodyguard have his sidearm reduced to stun.

Act like we aren't packing because we have Mike for that, assuming we managed to Faraday up our gun pocket.

rolled 51 = 51

>>20793559
voting for this

File: 1348117251624.png-(14 KB, 618x693, Interior layout.png)

>>20793556
>Is bribing guards just the norm or what?
No. You were almost in a lot of trouble there.
>>20793223
>>20793637
STOP ROLLING! Are you asking for bad things to happen to you?

>>20793559
>assuming we managed to Faraday up our gun pocket.
The reason the attendant whispered to you was so that everyone else nearby wouldn't know you had a concealed weapon. Doing so would be bad form.

You meet up with Mike and Arthur on the other side who has also taken a holosword. "Where's Verilis?" You ask.

Neither of the men know. She must have gone off to visit the rest area or gone in ahead of you. Looking around the hall you're struck by the differences in layout between this one and what you encountered before. Guards are present on the first level of balconies watching the guests below.

There is a commotion behind you from security and several Knights move to get clear.

"-ou are NOT permitted your weapons inside the hall!" You catch one of the clerks state loudly and clearly. There's a murmur from the crowed as more attention is drawn.

The voice that answers is amplified by helmet speakers. "I am a Captain of the Royal Guard sworn to the service of the Emperor and leader of the Ruling House. House Lat'tham holds this territory at the request of the Ruling House. If the Emperor wished harm to anyone present it would already have befallen them."

Through the doorway marches a figured clad in medium power armor. Arms, shoulders and helmet are plated in gold, the last topped with a red plume. The rest of the armor is a silvered with the seven point Dominion star adorning the center of the chest. He carries no weapons save a halberd, or seems to until you notice strange protrusions on parts of the chest and shoulders.

File: 1348118233218.jpg-(267 KB, 1600x1200, 1330463498488.jpg)

"Appologies for the disturbance Noblemen and Ladies. Please, continue to enjoy your evening." says the Guard Captain addressing the crowd while offering a half bow. He moves off slowly in the direction of the main hall, seeming to be in no hurry and listening in on the occasional conversation.

"Well there's something you dont see every day." Arthur finally says, not taking his eyes off the rather imposing figure.

Mike scans the room and does a double take. "That guy looks familiar."

"What guy?" You ask looking in the direction he's pointing. Nobles and officers mostly, along with the occasional Knight. Wait a second you've seen one of those officers before. The red head in the deep green uniform you met at your last ball.
"God dammit that's Troy Harmen, what's he doing here?"
"Who?" Asks Arthur having apparently never met him. You recall he was one of the few people in the original third attack Squadron who'd been deployed to the front lines before the battle of Loran II.

[ ] Attempt to strike up conversation with Royal Guard Captain (What say?)
[ ] Find out what Try Harmen is doing here
[ ] Look around (Specify)

>Sorry about the absurdly long post time for the last one. Didn't expect to end up here this week.

>>20794080
[X] Find out what Try Harmen is doing here

>>20787138
My bad, posting from an iPad with these new changes to the board really restricts what you can see of your post without wrestling with it for 20minutes.

I vote against trying to get in the guard captains way... He seems likely to just as soon back hand us with that armor instead of converse.

Side note: did we put on our formal dress pimp hat?

>>20794080
>Troy Harmen

Do we have a glove? We need to hold a glove in our hand when we greet him... or we should smile and say something like "Red Dot"

>Side note: did we put on our formal dress pimp hat?
Well with all your medals you're pretty bling right now I'll say that much.


You head over to investigate what the ground pounding officer is doing this far outside House space. At your approach he holds his hands up, half in surrender, half in a protective manner.

"Whatever it was I may or may not have done under the influence of alcohol I certainly dont remember any Knights being involved. Certainly none from our House."

You're not sure weather to smirk or frown at that comment and instead check his rank insignia before speaking up.
"Its been more than four months since we met Captain Harmen. What are you doing so far outside House Space?"

"Oh thank goodness you're not going to slap me." He says breathing a sigh of relief.

"I didnt say that." You tell him, if only to see his reaction. He doesnt seem to notice.

"Wait I remember you, you're the one who borrowed my Uncle's fighter." The other officers all involuntarily back away from you one step.
"Sorry about helping my Uncle track you down, I did owe him though. Still, I suppose I owe you a favor for pulling that last time."
You ask him to start with his deployment orders.
"I'm leading a high speed anti-tank unit. We've been training extensively alongside tanks and ground attack fighters. It's fairly specialized though, and we're waiting for a ground campaign on the right sort of world to really show what we can do."

"High speed? What do you use exactly?" You ask.

"Oh! Sorry, repulsor bikes. They've been customized with a power plant from a starfighter engine so they're more fighter than ground vehicle. We get in close then our gunners hit vehicles with anti-tank guns. It worked will in a few engagements."

Was burning out an hour or two ago, really am now. Going to have to call it here for tonight. We're still barely over 200 posts.

>>20794569
>Sneak attack now that he's not expecting it is still an option.

>>20794660
Drat, I missed most of the quest after the break. Is there any reason why we didn't bring Alex?

>>20794660
I'm absolutely in favour of messing with this guy a bit. He pulled a rather dickish move last time.

>>20794613
>Jet bike A/T unit

Try not to act too impressed, but be impressed.

also bump

>>20795455
Two reasons. Alex is the same rank as Mike and nobody said to.

>>20795894
>messing with this guy
Anything specific?

>>20796547
k

>>20795894
My own woefully inadequate ideas so far involve either faking him out with a slap, actually slapping him, or inviting him to dance and then pulling something.

Okay, back in 8 hours. Would have been nice to have today off but oh well. 1 bump every 2-3 hours should be more than sufficient to keep the thread alive if anyone wants to continue.

Does deleted bump posts still count against autosage? I know saged posts do. Never got a clear answer on that but they probably do.

Bump

smirk and ask for a dance as payment, act like we are going to embarrass him, then show of our amazing skills at ballroom dancing. Don't actually embarrass him but find out a way we can us his unit for future engagements.

>>20796586
Tell him we could have used him earlier, you see we could have used backup against this planetary governor. Lead him to think we are talking about his uncle when we are actually refering to mister nuke a lot. Also keep an eye out for that terran we escorted to the superheavy, or is this a dominion only party?

File: 1348158462583.jpg-(31 KB, 504x378, zeonwappa.jpg)

>>20796547
Personally, I can't help but think he's commanding wappas.
and we should hide that we're impressed behind some sort of "That sounds crazy to me and I rammed Wayward Treasures twice." type comment

>>20795894
>>20796586
>>20796741
possible mess-with him ideas (may not be socially acceptable):
-hold glove in hand entire time we speak with him
-ask if he'd like to dance and if he accepts "you don't need all ten toes tonight, correct?"
-take a moment to focus on his chest where the red dot was last time "is your Uncle here, or do I actually need to get you into cover?"


and I just had a thought... there isn't a chance we could have gotten TWO suits of powered armor by trading that Terran Jump Armor to some noble or R&D, is there? curses for not thinking of this one earlier

>>20797700
I'd rather not use our favour for that. He owes us, let's use it for something that's actually important.

>>20798070
>>20796547
I think we should be slightly impressed by the fact he's basically no armour on his vehicles, but as long as those things don't have vector thrust, it's nothing Sonia hasn't surpassed already. Still, nice to see he actually has a spine in combat.

>possible mess-with him ideas (may not be socially acceptable):
>-hold glove in hand entire time we speak with him
I like this. Eye the glove from time to time, then size him up. Do it often enough to make him notice it, but always return to the conversation like nothing's happened.

>Armour
We could notify R&D about the armour, so they can take a look at it whenever it needs repairs the next time. Better than nothing, I guess.

Btw., is the Terran armour Sonia's property, or the house's?

>>20796586
>Alex
That's unfortunate. I would have preferred bringing both, but does Alex even enjoy this kind of event? I'm sure he would have needed less babysitting than Mike, at least.

>bumps
I think deleted posts don't count towards the limit, but I never read anything definite on this.

there was some comparison of our house with a African nation somewhere in the thread.

I'd say we are more like a former soviet satellite, who built knock-off things minor and perhaps of medium things. nothing major. we are most likely in the really crappy soviet satellite that does barely minor, and perhaps as a larger house doing medium stuff, and then trying their hand at the major ones.

Considering the way the Guard Captain blasted on i think there may be some... african style policies with soviet satellite manufacturing, training and recruiting capabilities

>Second suit of power armor

It'd be nice to have a suit of Medium armor with some kind of active defense system and a fuckoff energy halberd or gravity hammer for when sneaking around and stabbing backs gets boring, but the price for such a luxury is quite high.

>Fucking with him
Holding a glove while talking/dancing and possibly acting like he has a dot on his chest again are good. Slapping his shit and making a scene probably isn't.

>Guard Captain
Attempt to engage in conversation if possible. It is sort of interesting that he's in his armor at a ball after all. Ask him what brings someone of his position out here.

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>>20792271
>Speaking of which news reports show that in some places fighting has recently intensified with both sides attempting decapitation strikes to end the war and failing hard.

So, there's money to be had for Psycho Sonia, right?
One a scale from 1 to Rothschild, how much could we gain from this?
Could the republic ship we stumbled upon help us gain us entry to that market?

File: 1348179487630.jpg-(181 KB, 1251x900, LIL0863146.jpg)

"Using Repulsor jet bikes in combat?" You ask seeming incredulous. "Wow, that sounds crazy, and I routinely ram ships ten times the size of my own. As for how you can repay that favour..."
You ready one of your gloves. While you never wear them they're handy to keep around. As he begins to brace himself you continue talking.
"...I cant think of anything at the moment. Though offering to dance would be a step in the right direction."

He offers his left hand to you and gestures to the dance floor with his right. "My Ladyship, may I have this dance?"

"You don't need all ten toes tonight, correct?" you ask him.

"If I recall you weren't a terrible dancer last time."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4J0MKsG_is

While your ballroom dancing skills may not be amazing they're an order of magnitude better than they were the last time. You're glad Dowaire included it in some of the lessons teaching you to act the part of a Knight.

The dance floor isn't crowded this early but more people arrive by the moment.
"I thought you were still a novice dancer in danger of stamping my toes flat?" Troy asks you after a few minutes. To deflect the question you instead ask if he's taken to wearing fake laser dots on his uniform, while glancing at his chest.
He spins both of you through a turn, quickly looking down.

"Made you look." you tease.

He exhales heavily. "Please don't do that, especially here where there are people from more than one hundred Houses. There are still three others that wouldn't mind seeing either of us dead if it hurt our House."

>>20801304
True enough. (I'm not really sure what to do here. Maybe look for that knight who provided the back door into the forberance? Or the Nobles we rescued from slavery?)

>>20801346
OP is usually still writing when we aren't given a choice what to do.

>>20801304
He wounds us deeply, thinking we'd not protect him if there was a real dot on him.

>>20800803
Actually, I was thinking that if we could get two standard power armors for the single Terran one, we'd be able to put two of our marine leaders into powered armor, not have a second personal suit.

Oh shit. Testing to see if banned.

>>20801518
You're not

>>20801518
not banned

>>20801304
You cut back on the direct jabs, switching to small talk.

"If you're as skilled in battle as you claim I could have certainly used your help dealing with a particular overbearing noble who cant tell his subjects from his enemies."

He gives you a quizzical look as though considering a response. "You lost me. Wait." He frowns. "You're not talking about a certain noble I'm related to are you?"

You smirk. "Of course not Captain, that would be insubordination. I meant the Planetary governor of Kaartinen IV. He tried to nuke parts of his own population centers when they rebelled against him."

"Oh, whew. I was worried I'd end up putting my foot in my mouth over something."

File: 1348181418966.jpg-(62 KB, 635x437, Under the old system I wo(...).jpg)

Sure hope rewording attempts number 2 and 3 didn't kick me.

>>20801620
Interesting. Guess we shouldn't just go up and bother him then.

Should probably check on Mike and see if anyone else we know is here. Can't spend too much time with a ground pounder or other pilots may start to think less of us.

>>20801620
The system seems more lenient these days, you do get at least 3 tries, it seems.

>>20801678
I second the idea to see how Mike is doing, but we could take Harmen along. He seems decent enough, at least when he isn't doing anybody favours.

>Maybe look for that knight who provided the back door into the forberance?
You havent sighted Knight Myrish Avun but there's a good reason for that. House Sulos is one of the Houses that did not support sending the fleets to pursue the pirates back to their home territory.

>or is this a dominion only party?
Members of the Terran and Rovinar navies are present. You dont know all of their uniforms but you think you spotted a Terran High Admiral.

>Jump Jet armor & Suit trade
Yes, you could still trade the jump jet suit for one set of medium armor, and most of the payment on a second. The rest you could pay down with requisition.
>Btw., is the Terran armour Sonia's property, or the house's?
At the moment as you already have a personal suit of power armor the House would be rather annoyed if you kept both for yourself. That said you still have the majority say in where it goes. Best described by the following, Sonia 51% ownership, 3rd Wing 49% ownership.

Your Recon armor is 100% your ownership. Due to the refit done by the Rovinar government and other custom work you payed cash for you technically own 70% of the Bittenfeld.

>>20799682
>Medium armor with active defense system
>but the price for such a luxury is quite high.
You have no idea.

>>20801724
>Knight Myrish Avun
We should definitely keep in touch with her. She seemed to an honest, and rather nice, person. That usually good qualifier for a valuable ally/friend.

>3rd Wing 49% ownership.
How much would it cost to buy them out?

> you technically own 70% of the Bittenfeld
Do they pay us for using our property?

>>20801724
Take it we didn't see either the nobles we rescued from slavery or the terrans that helped us out with the super heavy?

>>20801781
Or the guys who offered us the job with the knights errant?

>>20801766
Why would we want to do that? we already have a suite of armor, and we have plenty of other investment priorities.

>>20801724
>Two suits of medium armor

Yes yes yes. One for us, one for a marine.

>>20801724
Try to avoid going near anyone in a Terran uniform.

>>20801811
Doesn't seem like it's worth it, at least to me. I favour keeping the armour.

>>20801798
If it's cheap enough, why not.

>>20801724
>Due to the refit done by the Rovinar government and other custom work you payed cash for you technically own 70% of the Bittenfeld.

Wait, have our finance people made sure we're insured against the ship's capture/destruction?

>>20801826
We already have a set of light armor. We don't need two sets of light armor, and 'every mission is a sneaking mission' gets old after a while.

>>20801837
We aren't using the second armour, it doesn't really fit our size, if I remember correctly. And having another buddy in fucking great light armour just seems better to me than two standard medium suits.

>>20801781
The nobles would have gone back to the homeworlds.
The Terrans who fought at the battle of Loran II would likely have been transferred to their home fleet.
>>20801792
The Knights Errant are likely helping to deal with internal problems within the Dominion that the Ruling House cant touch. While they might have financial backing and recognition they're technically a neutral party.

>How much would it cost to buy them out?
6-7 million.
You could buy out the rest of the Bittenfeld for that.
>Do they pay us for using our property?
They pay for food, fuel, repairs, crew pay, your salary. If you buy the ship you can take it with you if you ever leave the House or even choose to rotate it off the front lines.
The Knights Errant unit would have payed for the transfer to their forces had you joined them.

Short break to eat then will be back at it, answering some of the stuff that hasn't been addressed yet.

>>20801900
...Then I can't really think of anyone to talk to

>>20801855
Support

On a side note now that Sonia's a wing leader can she recuisition higher end (rare/restricted?) tech like personal cloaks?

>>20801900
>6-7 million.
Well, I guess it's going to stay part house property for a bit longer.

>>20801926
We already have one, how many do we need?