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>>21765828
“Bring it up on holo.” you order, feeling a chill run down your back. If it's unidentified, it probably isn't a Melconian, but if it is... Well, you've patched Ouro up as best as you can, but your battleship is in no condition to engage in anything remotely resembling a fair fight. The image that flickers to life on the holo display is relieving- an triangular pyramid. The readings suggest it to be around two-thirds Ouroboro's mass, and place it deep in-system.

“Detecting hyperwave emissions. It has detected us... It does not seem to be reacting.”

“What's it doing?” you ask, feeling your shoulders relaxing.

“Indeterminate. It is in low orbit over Delphi III. I detect spikes in energy emissions from the vessel-"

"Energy weapons, I assume.", you mutter, nodding slowly.

"84.54% probability. Additionally, I have detected some kind of interference when trying to scan the world.” Ouroboros says calmly.

"You said there was no life there, though. What are they shooting at?"

"Unknown, Lieutenant Carter. Standing by."

>>21765828
>>21765839
Fuck yeah, battleship quest! Nice.

>>21765839
Determine our capacity to damage it, compare detected power output with our current capacities. Transmit a multi-medium message (possibly also gravity waves, I dunno) that we come in peace, et cetera, and find a piece of mass to put between us and their vessel in case they don't take well to it. Preferably closer to the planet.

>>21765839
Analyze the ship. Lets try to determine its tech level and threat level to us.

op, have you read Vedibere's VoidQuest? might be pitfalls to avoid that you haven't thought of, or good ideas in there you can steal. I can link you to the archives if you want

>>21765924
>>21765937
these

>>21765943
What were the pitfalls of Void Quest?
Except, you know, batshit crazy followers?

>>21765959
there were times when vedibere could have acted differently in order to move things along

there were also portions of the story that on retrospect might have been handled somewhat better, like certain trade-offs, etc

however it is probably best to let op make his own conclusions

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>>21765943
I have not.

>>21765924
>>21765937

From this distance, little can be determined. The hull of the vessel appears to be composed of an advanced, (if inferior to your own) single-piece armored material, and the energy discharges seem to be vastly inferior to Ouroboros' capabilities. (around a quarter of the discharge of a single 80cm hellbore firing.)

I'll also say since I didn't work it into the OP; you're several jumps away from Van der Laasa, and you left a deliberately primitive relay beacon hanging out very near to that system's star. Naturally, if tampered with, it's rigged to slag itself and fall into the star. It has not observed any activity in the system since you left it.

>>21766109
So, we're broadcasting a message of peace and getting a space rock or comet or moon or something between us and the other ship, assuming that'll shield us from their weapons.

>>21766109

Move closer, I want to know what it's shooting at. Since we're technically more advanced than it, it shouldn't be quick to target us. If it gets fresh, we paint it with the hellbore and see if it backs off. If is doesn't, we'll carve our name into the hull.

Speaking of which, what's the munition situation? We restocked any using the fabricator, or do we need specific materials to make more?

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>>21766146
You're currently a dozen light-seconds out. You can put the planet between you two, if you want. If you're insistent on ablaitive shielding (you do have functional shields,) you could go grab an asteroid from the systems asteroid belt with your tractor beams.

You are broadcasting a message of peace; it doesn't seem to be responding to it, though Ouroboros detects it attempting to scan you.

Did we repair ourself to the best of our abilities before we started exploring?
Because I think that is what should do. Even if it takes half a year

>>21766146
Lets not get to friendly. Our ability to intimidate is far more important at the moment.

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>>21766234
All functional energy weapons had their munitions topped off. Most projectile weapons have little to no ammunition, and though your fabricators can produce most of them, they are produced in pieces. You weren't trained for it, but you can assemble things with Ouroboros' advice and input. (Normally, a team of weapons technicians would be assigned to the task.) You might be a bit leery of amateur assembly of missiles and other assorted explosives, though.

>>21766263
Yes.

>>21766236
Attempt to intercept scan and determine their communications systems and protocols from the signal in question. Should give us some idea of what kind of information to feed them, or how.

Use this to attempt to communicate further.

Get in close enough to understand what it's doing to the planet if possible.

>>21766277
>intimidate

I guess we could target a nearby asteroid and demonstrate our destructive capacities if we wanted to do that.

>>21766336
Man, a ship that bland has no business being named after the most badass castle complex in Russia.

Are they goa'uld

we don't even know what they are shooting at. Lets try to find out that first

>>21766336

I don't like it scanning us. Move into range and paint them with primary targeting systems until they kindly fuck off, by which I mean, stop scanning us. I do agree with >>21766362
on determining the nature of the scan.

Should the need for a warning shot be required, I want to put one as close as we possibly can to their ship. So close they can't mistake that we missed on accident, but rather that we missed on purpose to show them how dead we can make them.

>>21766397
And we're going to do what exactly about it if they can't determine that we're targeting them? Alienate a bunch of people we don't know?

>>21766397
this depends on them being able to tell that we're painting them with our weapons

threat gestures only work if the other side can tell what's going on, and we're far more advanced than they

>>21766397
>>21766418
>>21766429
Can't we just create interference?

>>21766437
should try it

so, see if we can block their signal but get useful data from it, and try a threat gesture but be ready to back down in case they're too primitive to understand

meanwhile we do more of our own scans and recon to figure out what the fuck they're doing.

>>21766519
>>21766437

Actually, hadn't thought of that. We should have some ECM/ECCM we can run up which would probably be a lot quicker to tell them off.

Personally though, unless we've got some real exotic active sensors, anything capable of scanning us with say, Lidar/Radar should be able to tell if we're doing the same. Only way they wouldn't be able to tell if we were aiming at them would be if we were doing it with like cameras or something. Which would be a terrible way to aim in space.

>>21766336
I'd say jam the scan so hard the other guy's teeth rattle, that should do for some non-offensive intimidation.

>>21766639
NO, JAM IT SO HARD HIS ANAL VIRGINITY'S TAKEN

>>21766631
Next-gen sensors may include completely new technologies that take advantage of current advancements in strong nuclear force and microcomputing. There's no way to trace or understand it with older tech that does more than tell the operator that something's happening. That's what a generational advance means.

I'm don't understand why we should interfere? We know nothing about the ship or where its shooting.
It is unlikely we will be able to communicate with them either.

This seems to me knee-jerk reaction.

>>21766707

Well, we want to know what the fuck is up in the galaxy now, so we're scooting in for a closer look. However, we don't like people scanning us, so we want to jam their shit, or otherwise dissuade them from looking at us too closely (On account of the fact that we're a single ship operated by a single man and his damaged AI)

>>21766707
I agree, not our business. Lets fuck shit up when we really need to.

>>21766751
Makes sense about not wanting to be scanned.

I want to know what happened to our merchant marine. I bet there was at least one ship that was told to flee with some colonists and go dark, Safehold style.

>>21766827
There could be some human survivors.
This must be our goal, we must find them.

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>>21766381
>>21766362
“What are their systems like, Ouroboros?” you ask, thinking of how easily and thoroughly he managed to analyze and hijack the beacon in Van der Laasa.

“Shielded. Their computer technology is at the least, on the order of my own.” That's a bit disappointing, but to be expected. The vessel certainly doesn't look that primitive.

“Alright, bring us in closer, and begin painting them. I'd like to see what's going on on the planet, and what they're doing, but most of all, it'd be nice if they'd stop scanning us.”

“Noted. Attempting countermeasures.” You feel the quiet thrum of Ouroboros' drive pick up, and watch as the distance closes. You watch the readout on Ouro's countermeasures on a secondary screen; it's certainly having some effect, though it hasn't stopped the vessel from scanning you.

“Targeting solution ready. Their vertices appear to house emitters of some kind, as well as hyperwave arrays. The one nearest the planet appears to be producing some form of tractor field; they appear to be lifting pieces of the city from the planet.”

“What? Just... buildings? Like, they're harvesting materials?”

“62.70% chance. It is unknown.”

“There's nothing alive down there, though, right?”

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>>21766870
“No. I believe I have identified the interference, as well; it appears to be a variety of Bubonic Rust. Remarkably long-lived, to still be active.” Oh. That's... bad. From what you recall, that was a Melconian planet-killer that blurred the line between 'bioweapon' and 'nannite weapon'. Highly corrosive, airborne, tended to jam an diffuse even hyperwave signals, eat away at protective shielding, and more. It would reproduce, spread itself over a planet, and there weren't really ways to kill it that didn't render the planet uninhabitable either. That was probably why you got no responses from Delphi before the assault on Bahrain- They were trying to call for help, but the Rust was blocking everything. And now those faded amber clouds cover the whole planet...

“They have intensified attempts to scan us. Alert: 97.09% chance of materials harvesting.” You watch as Ouroboros magnifies a small blur on the visual display. As it zooms in and detail resolves, it shows a large mass of misshapen metallic scrap, hovering in a tractor field above the craft, presumably what it has already lifted from the surface.

“Detecting no recognizable lifesigns on board. It is not perssurized, and has not responded.” Ouro informs you, applying his potential targeting resolutions as an overlay to the central display. “Alert: It has raised shields. Its scanning continues.”

>>21766882
Oh, so its automated?

hmm... dunno. Shoot it down?
Try to turn it off by hacking into it? ... can we even do that though?

>>21766925
Maybe Ouro can? Also, I just got here. The shields should go up if they're not already. Do we even have functioning shields?

>>21766925
>>21767011
If we cannot take control of it through information warfare or cyberwarfare, we should raise shields and shoot it before it brings bio/nanotech onboard itself and spreads it to inhabited planets.

Target its weapons if they're the weak spot, otherwise go for wherever we can get in a harsh blow.

>>21767074
wouldn't the nano-weapon be inert by now?

Also, what do we give a fuck if it is spread to some alien world that we know nothing of?

>>21767101
OP indicated that he detected interference from the weapon, and as such we can surmise that the weapon is active. As for your other question, it was effective against our level of tech before and other human survivors wouldn't appreciate it being thrown at them.

However, making a plan with contingencies is our best bet for whatever OP throws at us. As such, can we agree that if the weapon is active and if this craft is salvageable in order for us to affect more repairs for ourselves, we should kick its ass and salvage it without risking getting infected by rust?

>>21767143
>he detected
we detected

>>21767101
I really don't think we want this horrible weapon to continue to spread all over the universe. In case you hadn't noticed we are still alive and do actually need to live in said universe. It's not as if we plan on being hostile to everyone and everything for all time just because we are time apart. So yeah, we give a fuck, we give many fucks.

>>21767074
If we understand correctly the ship will be hoisted by it's own petard soon enough. And since it's unoccupied we don't have to worry about saving the crew. What I want to do is watch it and try to communicate (got to build up enough data for a translator some how).

P.S. if it does try to leave for a different system we blast it.

>>21766882
I'm going to have to agree with putting shields up and taking it down however we can. Preferrably in a way that would cause the least amount of spread of the hull and it's contence, as we don't know how long it's been out here salvaging and as such, don't know what its got on board.

Stay at a distance, we we can't turn it off via hacking, then remove it from existance (blow it up).

So, is this quest like Andromeda, only the ship is male and insane?

When do we get our whacky band of 5, to help us in our crazy adventures?

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>>21766870
>that image
>We meet again, my nemesis.jpg

Frag it before it tries to harvest us.

Re: the nanoweapon, we are not going planetside under any circumstances. Also, i'd bet it has some way to sterilize the stuff its harvesting. If we can detect this stuff, it probably can.

>>21767245
Let's go abduct some aliens for hijinks.(tm)

>>21767206
Salvage will teach us more than communication intercepts and benefit us more than watching someone be hoisted aloft, petard or no petard.

>>21767245
>wacky band of five
No thank you.

>Just noticed the image.

Yeah, break it and harvest the bits.

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>>21766882

If it makes any move remotely resembling targeting us with weapons, or approaching, give them the warning shot as per >>21766397

If they persist, we'll light them up and eat them for scrap. But personally, I don't care if they infect themselves with an ancient weapon. Switch to checks for objects in the rest of the system, see if herr Space Pyramid here has friends. Continue Electronic Countermeasures (ECM).

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>>21767253

Steam says I put 271 hours into SotS. I disbelieve, then remember the 4chan vs Skynet game.

Both of them.

>>21767405
Agreed.

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“Well, I'm not inclined to let it continue. It's pillaging a... Well, I guess it's a Concordiate graveyard, at this point. But more importantly, it's threatening to spread the blood-rust to other worlds or systems. Let's destroy it.”

“Acknowledged. Rules of engagement?” You pause to consider the query; it's a good one. Particularly given how rabidly it's scanning, you don't want to feed it anything it might find interesting if you don't have to.

“Don't use the hellrails. Try and hit its emitters. Let's see what it does.”

“Acknowledged.”

The unleashing of the titanic energies in the hellbores ought to entail a little more fanfare than it really does, but perhaps that's a credit to how well you managed to patch the ship back up. Unlike with the drive, there is no sound as Ouroboros opens up on the automated vessel- the only sign are the internal energy readings, and the display of the alien vessel.

“Their shields are buckling. They are rotating to bring new sections to bare. Shields buckling. They are maintaining rotation...” Ouroboros commentary proceeds as your hellbores hammer the barriers, and you're mildly irritated as he seems to be taking no initiative to counter their maneuvers.

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>>21767656
“Are they coming down?” you ask, watching the displays with not a little alarm. Entering combat with an AI unwilling to pursue it...

“The emitters on each face have been stressed. They are not regenerating. It will run out of faces shortly.” A subsidiary display magnifies the shield readings. Whatever form of combat screens they're using, they do seem to be inferior. “Alert: weapons fire. We are being targeted.... Nothing is getting through.”

“Some kind of arc-weapon.” you conclude from the readouts. “Primitive. A lot more so than their shields.”

“Indeed. They are concluding their revolution... Target shields down.” Ouroboros magnifies the sector, and you're treated to the sight of half a dozen 80 cm hellbore carving through the alloy plating of the vessel. “Generator eliminate. Targeting other facings...” Several precisely targeted hellbore shots rip out, targeting the opposite facings of the vessel through the vessel itself.

“Alert: Vessel is breaking up.” You're about to ask for clarification, Ouro is keeping the display updated. You can see the triangular pyramid fracturing into... Four smaller ones. Modular apparently. “The pieces are scattering- they appear to be fleeing.” Ouroboros reports as one of the four is completely gutted under a concerted hellbore volley. “Some of them have brought shields back online. Pursue and eliminate?”

>>21767666
Eliminate With Prejudice

>>21767656
>>21767666

Well, I really don't think we should have attacked unprovoked like that. It was entirely possible they didn't know about the nanomachinces.

Leave them, and allow them to escape.

>>21767666
Hellrails are weaker than Hellbores, right? Could we conserve 'Bore ammo and pick off the smaller ones with the rails?

>>21767691
Yes. Take out their likely methods of propulsion, or jump cores, don't let them get away with scans of us if possible.

>>21767666
Do not pursue out of the system, eliminate those we can immediately.

>>21767716
These are very likely Von Neumann machines. They're like the borg but less cuddly; if they escape we're only going to get more on our ass after they rebuild.

Didn't we have a combat drone ready? Sic it on some of them, so if they all split he can gun down 1-2 of them.

>>21767691
Why? We're possibly the first human this species has encountered and already we're not giving them a stellar first contact approach. Let's not make more enemies than we have to.

>>21767777
That too, let's see the effectiveness of our drone if it seems at all useful here.

>>21767785
>Humanity
>First Contact
>Anything other than blowing the shit out of it.

>>21767777
Good idea. That is, assuming it's capable of fighting one on its own.

>>21767785
To be fair, we are doing it for their own benifit. It appears they didn't know of the blood rust and we can't just assume they did. It was too risky.

>>21767785
Because we detected no life signs onboard their vessel, because they were hostile and tried to harvest us, because they weren't smart enough to realize they were harvesting bioweaponized nanotech or were otherwise doing it intentionally, and because instead of ceasing operations and asking for surrender they fired back.

These are not a lost opportunity for diplomacy, but rather a diplomatic lost cause.

>>21767796
We fired first, destroying them is only going to make our first impression that much more damaging.

>>21767821
>first impression
This is where your logic breaks down. Their first act when in range was to try to harvest us.

>>21767816
asking to surrender, that is.

>>21767812
Even if the nanites WERE "dead", they might reverse-engineer and make more. DO NOT WANT.

>>21767821
>wants to make nice with incommunicative, aggressive, robots that tried to eat us
>cares about diplomatic repercussions

Janitor Wilco! Have you been whiffling cleaning fluids agaon?

>>21767812

So? We've stopped them from harvesting the stuff. No need to hunt them down and inflict further damage. If necessary leave another beacon that warns others of the dangers of the nanoweapons.

>>21767816
>Fire first
>Be surprised that enemy fires back rather than immediately surrenders.

Yeah, let's try that the next time we run into something that shoots at us.

>>21767821
Actually I suppose you have a point. We removed the threat of them taking blood rust back and spreading it around the galaxy. At this point we are just being dicks.

>>21767816
When did they try to harvest us....? They scanned us, thats about it. That seems pretty normal in this sort of environment, especially considering we are an unknown entity.

>>21767861
Agreed, let them go, drop a beacon explaining our actions and the dangers of the nanites. Then go hide.

>>21767861
>Letting them get away
After having scanned us and learned about our superior weapons, shields, and computer arrays? No thanks.

>>21767867
We did not remove the threat; they have hardly left the vicinity and may return.

>when did they try to harvest us?
Here >>21766882
>“They have intensified attempts to scan us. Alert: 97.09% chance of materials harvesting.”

>>21767878
Don't puss out on me now, Jenkins.

>>21767861
It's not that they didn't immediately surrender.

It's that we demonstrated a huge degree of superiority in terms of weapons and defenses and they didn't snap to it and do or say something.

>>21767889
The scan wasn't entirely successful, besides figuring out that our shields are similar and our weapons pack a lot more punch. Besides, if we start shooting every ship that scans us we're going to be making A LOT of enemies. Giving an unidentified ship a scan seems like standard protocol.

>>21767878
By "go hide", you mean "scavenge the shipyard areas for anything usable". Also, if we let them get away, they might have replicas of Concordiate weapons tech and scans to show their lethality. Again, I must stress, DO NOT WANT. Drop an explanatory beacon about the rust, but exterminate them for all of the reasons. Then harvest them!

>>21767878
>>21767867
>>21767861
all letting them go now would do is deprive us of a chance to capture the wreckage and sift through it to determine their nature

it would keep us from finding out who was right in this situation - the players favoring diplomacy, or the ones who feel that this is a mindless bunch of automatons

>>21767929
It also didn't make any response besides raising shields and priming weapons.

>>21767944
>>21767941
Yeah ok, total them. Wipe them out, drop a beacon, sift through wreckage and find the old shipyard. Im convinced.

>>21767901
>Alert: 97.09% chance of materials harvesting

Pretty sure that was in reference to the materials they were harvesting from the planet, not us.

>>21767918
They didn't know anything about our shield capabilities. Frankly, I'd think less of them if they hadn't put up a fight.

>>21767929
Why the fuck do you generalize so much?

This situation included a bunch of hostiles that didn't talk, very likely because they are preprogrammed to be aggressive and harvest everything.

It was a specific context that delineated hostility, you fucking namefag. It was not a general approach to living beings that have persisted in the area, it was an attempt to curb obviously harmful behavior.

Now you want to let them get away before we catch one and figure out their shit, let alone profit from the fight.

Sure is sissy bitch in here.

For all of you worried about "being a dick". Stop. No living creatures. If the owners show, we stopped them from harvesting a dangerous weapon that would have eaten their homeworld. They'll thank us for wrecking their tractor before it drove over their farmhouse, family still inside.

>>21767980
They learned about our capabilities pretty fucking quick, but didn't do anything before it became critical and are doing nothing about it now.

Pretty sure you're wrong to make assumptions without OP deciding it, pretty sure that your assessment is wrong. Get off your horse.

What if they are a machine race, trans-beings or sentient AI? Just because we didn't find anything biological when we scanned them doesn't mean there weren't people there!

>>21768020
Assuming they actually lost anything and didn't transfer out - they are then a pretty fucking stupid and hostile machine race, and deserve to be smacked around until they wise up.

>>21768020
Then we just saved them from killing themselves with nano plague.

>>21767967
>>21767958
>>21767944
>>21767941

Okay, the majority is clearly in favour of blasting them. Don't start whinging when this comes back to bite us in the arse though.

And after everything is done, follow what >>21767967 said and drop a beacon explaining our actions and the dangers of the nanomachines. Even better, suggest that we suspected they were already infected which gives us a better excuse to blow them up than "Oh noes, they scanned us!".

>>21768020
then when they come back, we'll explain our actions. I'm pretty sure a Machine Race will most definitely not want a self-replicating rust plague to infest their home.

>>21768020
Machine race, sentient AI? Welp, they should rationalize the need to stop them, and have data back-ups of any "people" on board if others show.

>>21768043
No, don't explain our actions in the beacon, just say 'WARNING! DANGEROUS SHIT THAT WILL EAT YOU!'

You don't tell the enemy about your decision-making process unless you want it to be compromised. If they come and ask us under better turns, THEN we can talk.

>>21768019
Pretty sure you're making just as much of an assumption by assuming the opposite, dickbag.

We can play at this all day, but my only concern is that we've just obliterated a sentient AI or expensive piece of hardware when it wasn't particularly necessary.

>>21768049
>>21768069
These two fellows are sensible. I agree with them. It's first action was to scan us, then it promptly raised shields. It's hostile, blow it up.

>>21768043
holy fuck, you are terrible at strategy. diplomacy and forthrightness is important buy lying about what we do is good?

>>21768079
The thing is, I make room for the other possibility in long-term planning. Your long-term plan seems to be 'roll over and show them our belly,' and you want to start it earlier rather than later.

>>21768088
Thats a bit silly. We are some random ship no one in living history has ever seen. Seems like the standard protocall would be to scan and then raise shields in case they decide to attack.

>>21768069
Okay, the rest of this can be put down to a hasty decision. THIS is pants-on-head retarded. Sure, let's be that highly advanced spaceship that attacks without any apparent provocation and gives no explanation for its actions.

>>21768129
Well, we already attacked. Might as well go all the way and make sure that no word of our existence gets back to whomever ownes this thing.

>>21768129
You give explanations when asked. Not when someone might gather that it's a good idea to steal dangerous weapons. Have you no conception of how anti-proliferation is done? You put up a warning sign, you don't go into a long-winded rant about 'oh, they were going to get a really bad weapon.'

Certainly it was better than misleading people. But go ahead, try to convince people that playing politics is good when there is no venue to do so and nothing to try it on except machines.

>>21767666

Kill them all, let Space Jesus sort them out.

>>21768122
Yes, but not to potentially harvest us and certainly not to create a communications blackout. When a military force encounters an unknown target, they at least say 'Unknown vessel, stand down and prepare to be boarded.'

>>21768088
Scan =/= attack. Hell, we scanned them and they didn't start trying to blow us up.

>>21768117
Sure, just because I don't advocate blowing up unidentified ships without discrimination means I'm just dying for us to bend over for any and all hostile alien races.

>>21768098
If we're going to blow up their ships and examine them, might as well give a better reason than "Hey, you scanned so we opened fire."

>>21768180
This. Kinda.

>>21768195
i like how you think that there's just one person disagreeing with you and criticizing your ideas

there's no benefit to misleading anyone about anything until we know who we're trying to mislead

leaving a sign that says 'we vivisectioned some people for the greater good' isn't damage control, it's just asinine

>>21768191
It clearly wasn't a military vessle, it was harvesting resources from a planet.

Anyway this is way off topic. Lets just blow them the fuck up, salvage what we can and find a shipyard.

File: 1353984577000.jpg-(545 KB, 1490x1160, 1325465812091.jpg)

imagining replicators from Stargate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGI8oNcYkXg

>>21768191
Even if that unknown target is clearly bigger than them and packing enough firepower to easily blow them out of the water?

>>21768195
>No response aside from raising shields and priming weapons
What part of this do you not understand?

>>21768221
We're also capable of harvesting resources. It had weapons. Do they carry those on mining rigs? I'm not talking about the security guards having tazers here.

>>21768243
I'd say that they probably would carry weapons on a mining vessel. Really though, this is all just us speculating and talking bullshit. We know nothing about whats going on here other than a ship scanned us, may have tried to harvest us, we destroyed it because it was taking on dangerous materials. Now lets finish the job and move on.

>>21768226
They didn't know we were more heavily armed until we opened up on them after giving them plenty of time tocommunicate, and they could have opened with the communication in question - which is standard procedure in many cases.

>>21768243
You know how traditional mining requires a pickaxe? This COULD be their space pickaxe that they fired at us. Would explain the inferiority.

Just sayin'.

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>>21768220
>i like how you think that there's just one person disagreeing with you and criticizing your ideas
>>21768043
>Okay, the majority is clearly in favour of blasting them.

Please stop making shit up.

>>21768275
What even are you trying to prove in that post?

>>21768275
then don't start with that shit about 'we an play at this all day'

you're either taking the opportunity to be argumentative and stall progress like a retarded voidquest fan or you're laying out ideas and saying, 'what do we do if this causes an incident later? who has an idea for that?'

i'm pretty tired of questfags can't think ahead or frame their suggestions in a way that gets people somewhere other than into arguments

>>21768299
... that he conceded the majority wanted to blast.

Seriously though 33, calm down bro. It's just a quest thread.

>>21768275
>>21768317
>>21768299
Gentlemen, can we not be civil about this?

>>21768598
>>4chan
>>civil
pick one

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Sorry for the delay.
#####
“Naturally. Don't want to be doing things by halves, here.” you affirm.

“Acknowledged.” It's a quiet affair as Ouroboros pursues the first segment, and hulks it in a single hellbore volley, battlescreens shurgging off its feeble return-fire. The strength of their shields seems to have declined after fracturing, and though you're worried they might split again, eliminating them turns out to be a simple process. Ouro changes targets and begins driving for the second sub-unit, now some distance away.

“Alert: Hyperspace emergence detected.”

“Bring it up.” A model of it appears in the primary display, a long, cylindrical ship having just dropped into the system. Whereas the harvester ship appeared to be at least on the same order as your own vessel, this one does not. You can detect life, but no artificial gravity. A very primitive fusion reactor towards the aft of the vessel, and, as you watch, it begins deploying antennae and receiver dishes horizontally, extending them several meters out from the hull for parallax, you assume.

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>>21768747
“Radar and lidar. They won't know we're here for a few minutes. And given where they dropped out, their drives must be miserable.” you observe. You glance back to the tactical display and notice the vector of one of the fleeing pieces. “Uh... Ouroboros? Am I reading this right?”

“Yes. The drone piece has altered course to intercept. 58.91% chance that they intend a deep scan of the vessel as the flee. Otherwise, give their guessed purpose, they may harvest the interloper to repair themselves. We have a few options.” Ouroboros finishes, overlaying potential courses on the tactical display.

“If we go after that one, this one will escape; if we go after this one, we'll be able to eliminate that one after it passes them... Can't we just send the drone after it?”

“It would intercept them prior to the alien vessel, and would put pressure on them. I am not certain our combat drone is capable of engaging the fleeing unit successfully. If the drone slowed to engage the new vessel, we would overtake it within the order of thirty seconds of that, depending on how much.”

####
>Pursue current fragment; turn to pursue final fragment; final fragment will intercept alien arrival before you get to it.
>Pursue final fragment; eliminate it before it reaches alien arrival; current fragment will probably escape.
>Launch drone to target one or the other, pursue opposite one.
>other

Either way, I'm going to need a roll, and would echo the sentiment for civility.

>>21768747
Send a message stating that the planet was filled with the nano plague, and that the drones were attempting to extract it, so we stopped them.

>>21768747
>Whereas the harvester ship appeared to be at least on the same order as your own vessel, this one does not.

So... is it bigger or smaller?

>>21768775
Send message in addition to 2nd option

Rolled 9

>>21768805
god damnit

>>21768794
Same order technologically. It's much smaller, being roughly twenty meters in diameter and around seventy meters long. It looks extremely cumbersome.

>>21768760
Pursue the fragment that will escape if not pursued.

Meanwhile, send the combat drone to slow other fragment and tell the ship to arm themselves. Also, use information warfare, etc, to interfere with the scanning capacities and other systems of the fragment that may menace the aliens. Blind it, if possible.

Contact the aliens and attempt to establish communication or give them warning.

After the fleeing fragment is destroyed, turn to pursue and eliminate the one menacing the aliens.

Covers all our bases.

Rolled 29

>>21768834
Rolling for my plan here.

Other anons are invited to critique it and reroll.

Rolled 60

>>21768760

Drone the current fragment, come about to the final one. Given these things natures, and possible contamination, I don't want them contacting the new vessel.

Also, lets do our best to be pantswettingly terrifying as we save the new guy's asses. We're going to build a reputation.

Rolled 82

>>21768834
Reposting because I forgot to clear email. Which bit me in the ass.

Addendum - we should prepare an area for rescued crew. Keep some mass on hand in the fabricators ready in order to create breathable atmosphere for them, and scan their vessel to determine what 'breathable' might be.

>>21768884
FFFFFUCK. Disregard the roll in that post please, OP.

>>21768897
i like your plan but maybe you should stay away from tgdice for a while
>>21768852
this is good too

>>21768884

>I forgot to clear email

0/2 buddy. Only you didn't roll 01 this time.

>>21768928
Yes, see >>21768897
That was also me. Between this and deleting a whole thread on the board earlier, I am terrible today. Maybe I should lurk moar before I accidentally the whole board.

>>21769334
The insane arguments, the long wait times...

This is Void Quest.

As for communicating with the new arrival: why are we in such a huge hurry to talk to strangers? We just woke up and already opened fire on something. Once we mop up this automated drone we're trying to kill, we should hang back and let them make the first move. They'll probably be more interested in us than the planet anyway.

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>>21768816
Actually, come to think of it, think much like the picture I posted there.
####

“Stay the course. If worst comes to worst, we'll just hope they can hold out for a moment. Oh... Dispatch a drone to assist them, but try not to risk it. Don't want to mar our aura of superiority.”

“Acknowledged. Drone away.“ Ouroboros responds impassively.
Distant as it is, the alien vessel immediately observes the initial engagements between you and the drone ship. Ouroboros' readings note spikes in their internal comm systems and sensors, as their ship focuses on where you were a few minutes ago, and you detect them slowly swinging their vessel around, attempting to distance themselves further from the fight. Evidently, they are excited by the spectacle, and a bit cautious... Though you do notice they do not return to hyperspace. Only a little later do they witness the breakup, and the machine fragments scatter, one of them in their general direction.

Almost immediately, they begin firing their drives, trying to escape. There is no response when they finally get a view of the machine's current course, or the combat drone you dispatched- Presumably they are already doing what they can to evade.

“Uh, Ouroboros, what can you get on their systems?”

“Primitive. I conjecture these are the creators of the beacon we found in Van der Laasa.”

“So you can interface with their computers at range?”

“Effortlessly.” You smile at that. Technological superiority is a wonderful thing.

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>>21769401
“In that case, why don't you warn them that Delphi III is not to be approached under any circumstances- For their own safety, give them a brief rundown on the rust- And that the vessel approaching them may be infected.”

“I... believe I have sufficient understanding of their language. Doing so.”

“Warn them to arm themselves, if they can. Holding it off would be a good thing.”

“They do not possess weapons, though have some system that could be improvised. Would you like me to do so?”

“Oh.. No, not that. If they want to, they can. Totally hijacking them seems a bit rude, though. Keep them alive, if you can, though.”

“Acknowledged. Coming into engagement range... Engaging.” You watch the display as a volley from the bow 80 cm hellbores shred the machine's shielding, and then three of the 120 cms vaporize its internals. “Powersigns declining. Entity neutralized. Moving to engage secondary target.”

“Uh.. Shouldn't you be accelerating, then, Ouro?” you ask. His course has not changed, continuing on past the gutted drone piece. “Oh. Right.” A secondary display bring up the relative gravity tolerances of your drive- The ring beyond which you enter the lower bands of hyperspace, even in a system. In this case, it allows you to cut a chord across to where the alien vessels will meet. “Heh. See how tight you can bring us in.”

“Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Alert: Engagement.” A somewhat less detailed display shows your drone and the two alien crafts- The harvest module lashes out with some kind of high-powered combat laser. More effective than the lightning thing it was shooting at you; you wonder why it never tried. Much more effective, considering that the screens you're reading on the newcomer are probably for micrometeorite defense, rather than combat- It carves through the shields effortlessly, bisecting the alien craft down the middle. The engines maintain firing for a second, before cutting out, leaving the two halves tumbling past each other at different speeds. You can't help but wince at the sight. A moment later, the display is replaced by a much more detailed and close range reading- Your jump completed, and Ouroboros emerges nearly on top of both vessels. Enough that one of the aliens looking out the window could see Ouroboros. A single concerted hellbore volley disintegrates the machine probe, eliminating that threat for the moment.


#####
Text limit, my eternal foe.

>>21769433

>Text limit, my eternal foe.

Ain't that the truth.

>>21769433
Okay so it's pretty clear now that the harvesters are not good guys in the slightest. After obliterating it our priority should be to secure any survivors of the ship.

>>21769482
If they just cut it in half, there should be plenty of suvivors at least in the short term. I'd say contact these xenos and see what we can learn. If they're decent enough, it shouldn't be too difficult to help patch them up. Also, we ought to get some gratitude for saving them.

>>21769565
Yay! New crew members!

Kidding of course, but we're one guy. How the hell are we going to help them?

>>21769584
>Giant spaceship large enough to eat theirs
>Tractor beams
>Fabricator
>"Welding beams." Yeah. Totally.
>Repair drones.

Huh. Good question. How WILL we help them?

>>21769565
Someone else mentioned this in a previous thread, but regardless of what we do we should make it take every measure necessary to ensure they don't realise we are the only living thing aboard this ship.

>>21769616
So we're going to fabricate them new parts, leaving their ship to idle in space for days at a time.

Then we're going to move the halves of their ship in place with a tractor beam... and float out into open space with a welder to manually weld it back together? I haven't heard any mention of a ship-sized welding beam. Unless you mean using military lasers.

Repair drone could probably help with a hasty patch-work repair though.

>>21769433
Lend aid to the aliens. See if you can salvage their ship, and possibly repair it. Bring them onboard and confine them to quarantine, see if you can create a stable environment and atmosphere.

Use the drones to their full effect.

Do what is possible to keep them from dying, vacuum doesn't kill people all that fast and death by explosive decompression sucking out your eyeballs is a myth.

If their ship is unfixable, ask them for permission before we salvage.

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>>21769616
I'd assume that this ship is very small compared to ours. Surely we could pull of something pic related with the wreckage?

>>21769680
We should do it if it is feasible.

>>21769680
Security is a must. Confine them to a small part of the ship

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“Alright... They're definitely in trouble. Can you grab either half with your tractors? And what's their atmosphere like?”

“Appears to be a Nitrogen-helium mix; 59.84% nitrogen, 16.28% helium, and 9.43% oxygen ; the remainder is composed of trace amounts of hydrogen, and some flourine-based vapor compounds. Significant amounts of silica dust are present.”

“Is that the rust? Are they contaminated?” you ask suddenly acutely worried. Ouroboros does not respond immediately, but you notice one of the smaller hellbores firing on the display, uncomfortably close to the forward half of the alien ship. He seems to digest the sensor readings on the vaporized dust for a few moments, taking uncomfortably long though you presume he's just being thorough.

“No. Simple dust; no biological components.” Ouroboros confirms.

“Oh. Right. Well, see if you can begin mixing up an atmosphere, and retract the blast doors between Main Cargo A and B. Depressurize too, and see if you can load the pieces into there. Uh, gently.” you add, suddenly somewhat worried. The idea of attempting to put another vessel into your cargo hold is a bit difficult, especially two separate sections of it. “Try not to accelerate them any faster than you saw them doing it. Also; neutralize the artificial gravity in the cargo hold. And shift everything we have down there out, let them have it all to themselves.”

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>>21770062
“Acknowledged. Doing so.”

“And you might apologize for the hellbore shot. That probably scared the hell out of them.”

“That will be difficult. Only the aft section has power... Alert: Detecting radio powerup. They seem to have an emergency powersource in the fore section. They are attempting to communicate; shall I put it through?”

“Of course. Can you translate?”

“I believe so; 72.46% certainty. Hope they don't use complex words.” You get the impression that the last part is a joke on Ouro's part, but aren't certain.

“Entity [large black ship] respond. Systems offline; ship damage. Requesting assistance? Standing by. Statement: Do not wish combat involvement. Respond.”

“That... wasn't the most clear thing I've ever read, Ouro.” you say, having finished with the translation. The actual message seemed to be a variety of clicks and rather deep swishing sounds. “Can you get a visual on them?”

>>21770079


“Doing so... Achieved.” The means by which he acquired it is quickly apparent; the survey drone has literally latched on to a porthole on one side of the ship, and its visual transmitter is relaying a view of the interior. What you see isn't at a good angle, but the creatures seem to be betentacled hexpods, looking vaguely like a cross between an octopus and a sea urchin. Without artificial gravity, they don't 'stand', but you'd estimate them to be about a meter tall, and utterly unconcerned with artificial gravity. One in view seems to be operating (at a guess,) a manual generator for their transmitter, and (again, at a guess,) communicating with another- The second one appears to be armed, and is upside down relative to the first.

Quickly, though, they seem to notice your drone pressed against the viewport. The armed one seems to still, and the one working the generator stops abruptly, agitated. (Ouroboros confirms that the transmission stops when it happens. You get the impression of a more agitated conversation, and witness them retreat out of sight.

“Both fragments are aboard. Closing the bay door and pressurizing the interior.”

>>21770079
>>21770082
Send them a message, attempt to convey that we wish them no harm and will do what we can to assist. Let them know they have been brought on board out ship in a secure area for the time being. Also make it clear that we are attempting to translate our two languages to make communication easier but that there may be some mistakes and miscommunications. These mistakes are not intended as disrespect.

>>21770082
I'm assuming they aren't aquatic.

Inform them that you are rendering assistance and that they are safe. Inform them that you have created some atmosphere to replace their loss, and are transmitting chemical data on its makeup. Offer to render assistance; inform them that you'll be aiding them with repair drones, etc, for a while. Within reason, give them what they need. Tell Ouro to keep up the chatter and see if he can learn more of their language, and request whatever they have in the way of a means of making communications easier (pictorial dictionary?)

In the meantime, we need to scan the Von Neumann fragments and possibly harvest them if they're not contaminated. Got to figure that shit out.

>>21770082
What do we have of anti-personnel weaponry? What if they decide to hijack the ship!

>>21770169
Up the artificial gravity and crush them.

>>21770169
If they try any bullshit like that we seal all the bulkheads, remove any atomosphere for them, up the gravity and then eject them. But good question, what DO we have in the way of AP-weapons. Also does the ship itself have lasers etc to defend with inside?

>>21770191
There was a detachment of marines originally, so probably have SOMETHING resembling weapons and armor.

>>21770172
uhm why the fuck didn't they do this in the movies??

>>21770230
It ruins the plot. And because "pew pew" is more entertaining than "smush".

>>21770230
Possibly the artificial gravity has to be the same throughout the whole ship.

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>>21770082
>Drone noses up to window, latches on, camera fixed on everything inside
>peeping-space-tom.jpg
>They notice
>stare at it for a moment, then turn around and walk out of the room.
I love these guys.

>>21770317
hmm maybe but at least they could lock a room and drain the oxygen from it no?

>>21770390
Works in FTL.

>>21770390
Not if they have space suits and cutting gear. Best option is to get turrets.

>>21770426
Scratch that. Manhacks, Wall mounted flamethrowers and floor mounted saws would be cooler.

>>21770426
very true! aah well I tried, thanks

>>21770142
>>21770134

Do this.

>>21770390
>>21770426

These guys just had their ship chopped in half by some aliens that we beat the fucking fuck out of with minimal effort. Then, we took over these tentacle-dudes' computer systems. As for the spacesuits, we don't know how good their recycling units are, or if they're small enough to fit into the suits rather than being shipboard.

I really don't think they're going to pose us much harm.

However, it would not be a bad idea to get some good weapons out of storage.

>>21770458
Im referring to all threats, not just these little shits.

>>21770446
>ITT: Battleship Quest, where fatguy D&D players turn a spaceship into a Gygaxian dungeon from Oerth.

>>21770468
We have shields, which means we have force-field control. We could just crush things between force-fields inside the ship.

Don't be a pleb, do it the Culture way.

>>21770469
Guess i should just call myself Gary Gygax from now on

>>21770488
Undead Gary Gygax, obviously.

>>21770479
I still say manhacks would be cooler.

>>21770505
Start posting pictures of future-tech drones, then. Try to imagine something better than a robot using blades borrowed from half-life, though.

>>21770524
Fine, how about spacesuit and flesh eating nanites? Not self replicating though, too dangerous. I think in the last thread where we discussed manhacks somebody suggested we get a killswitch in case the AI goes off the deep end.

>>21770572
The last thread was full of fuck.

Eyebot-sized drones should be fine. If we get flesh-eating nanites we're no better than the fucks that made the Rust.

We're going to be a space superhero. Saving folks from asshole von neumann space bugs. All we ned now is a badass 80's cartoon themesong.

>Constant ewmadd
Yes, capcha. yes we are. 4chan is powered by the perpetual rustling of jimmies.

>>21770638
Who says we have to be? I say we mind our own business and blow away anyone who doesnt do the same. Bonus points for eerie ghost ship legends popping up.

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>>21770651

File: 1353996116566.jpg-(352 KB, 1280x688, 1284343066627.jpg)

“Ouro, did you get anything from that?”

“Not very much intelligible. I believe that the armed individual was the chief military officer aboard the vessel, the other was a scientist or researcher, possibly of higher rank. I believe they were arguing.”

“About?”

“Us, I presume. I do not believe the officer was amused by our surveillance.”

“Ah. Fair enough, I suppose. How about the weapons? What do you think those were?”

“Primitive projectile or energy weapon. Possibly both. I suspect at least part of its functionality is exclusively against soft targets.”

“Right, so as not to puncture their own ship. Hmm. Suggests that they expect some kind of boarding or mutiny, though. Odd.”

“Indeed.”

“Alright, keep them talking, see what you can get, attempt to learn more and preemptively apologize for poor translation. And... pretend to be a person. Don't need to know how under-manned we are.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Right. I'll be taking a walk down to marine country, want to arm myself if I can.”

It's a long walk, seeing as marine quarters are nearly the opposite end of the ship, but it's almost longer to find weaponry; The muscleheads weren't too big on keeping records, and its not like an astrogator got to visit their section very often.

>>21770673
Nope.jpg

If a genuine need arises, which it absolutely has not, we can make them when the time comes.

Now stop pushing for shit that'll delay progress and start another dumb argument, as I've given you the concession of my future cooperation if we somehow need to create flesh-eating robots.

>>21770693
Despite that, you manage to find and armored spacesuit in your size, and a flechette pistol. You don't want to go blowing holes in your ship either, espeically after damn near putting him back together. Besides, it should be plenty for anything they have. The armor is more worrisome to you- it isn't boarding armor, and you wouldn't consider it much against anything more than a rogue micrometeorite. On the other hand, these aliens are low enough tech-wise that it might just make you invulnerable.

“What have you got?”

“A better grasp of their language. The individuals I identified are the commanders of the ship. I believe the civilian officer is in charge, though the military officer is not acting very subordinate. It may be attempting to assert control over their crew.”

“I see... I guess it's plausible. Military personnel take control in emergency situations. Concordiate used to do it too.”

“Indeed. A few have emerged into the cargo hold, mostly to examine the vessel, or the cargo hold walls. A few have taken the opportunity to perform maintenance on the exterior of their vessel. I believe I have offered to render assistance, and they now have one of their engineers examining the break. One of them is interested in knowing how much we know about Delphi III, and why it should be quarantined- I am led to believe it doesn't trust me.”

“How rude. Know anything about their species or origin?”

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>>21770702


“Yes. I believe they are relatively new to spaceflight. They are a surveyor vessel, charting into the 'wastelands' or waste-worlds-”

“Concordiate space...”

“Indeed. They seem to think our existence is a sign that these worlds will come to an end, or that there exists something on the other side. Also, I believe they have conjectured that whatever power we represent made these worlds this way. Their current popular theory is that 'we like our privacy', which seems to be sowing an undercurrent of terror among them.”

“They're worried we're going to kill them?”

“Apparently.”

“That's stupid. All we'd have had to do was leave them.”

“Possibly. Continuing; They appear to be from a low-gravity world, and an amphibious race. I believe they are fond of shallows and water, but they can survive for long periods without immersion. They probably sacrifice water for space travel.”

“Makes sense.”

“I have avoided sharing anything so far, but they are curious. What should I tell them, Lieutenant Carter?” Ouroboros responds abruptly. “They have many questions about you, the Concordiate and myself, though they do not yet know enough to phrase them properly.”

>>21770701
Thats all i needed to hear honeybuns.

>>21770707
Tell them that while it is true that the entities that have sovereignty over the area (which would be the Concordiate and the enemy we fought, presumably, but they don't need to know that), and that we do like our privacy, the area is accurately represented as a wasteland because there were weapons deployed here that are still active, and that if they desperately want to witness such a thing we suggest they send a spaceprobe into certain coordinates on the surface and witness the destruction caused.

Tell them that nations that have attempted to gain such technology in the past have generally had it backfire before being able to weaponize it, and that multiple worlds and systems in the wastelands have had such things occur.

Consider telling them that the people who deployed such weapons would be more than willing to use them on trespassers (since it was the Concordiate's enemy, we may well be accurate there - especially in reference to a time of war), and that as such we're trying to do them a favor by not involving them with such groups or such dangerous materials.

Inform them that we are willing to broker a treaty with their people.

>>21770707

Hmmm. Play in to their intitial biases. Spin them a yarn about the centuries-old war, but in a way that makes our position neutral and distant; Tell them that these worlds are inimical to all life; make us seem like a warning system.

>>21770707
Tell them that these worlds were once inhabited by many people, full of life, full of hope. Tell them that one day war came the erased all that existed here in these systems. Tell them it was a war on a scale never before seen, weapons capable of wiping out entire planets were used and one by one each solar system fell until nothing was felt. The two forces wiped each other out, leaving many planets barren and some dangerously so. Some of these planets, such as Delphi III, were attacked with weapons so horrible that danger on them still exists today. The danger on Delphi III is that of advanced micro-machines capable of self-replication that eat through all metals (Do they eat flesh?). Due to this danger, it is recommended that they avoid the planet and exercise extreme caution around other seemling barron wasteland planets.

>>21770805
>felt
>s
>left*

>>21770805
While very poetic and Roddenberryesque, here in the real world such news would only motivate recovery teams to go learn things about the weapons used, etc. Let's consider giving them a reason to not come back.

>>21770777
>>21770785
>>21770805

>warning-from-the-grave-mind

>>21770829
You fail to provide an example. Do you have one?

>>21770777
This was oddly phrased. I'll try again.

Tell them that while it is true that the entities that have sovereignty over the waste worlds (which would be the Concordiate and the enemy we fought, presumably, but they don't need to know the details) like their privacy, they're not averse to diplomatic arrangements provided they're approached correctly. Tell them that much of the area is accurately represented as a wasteland because there were weapons deployed here that are still active, and that if they desperately want to see proof of these weapons, we suggest they send a spaceprobe into certain coordinates on the surface and witness the destruction caused by the Rust.

Tell them that nations that have attempted to use or gain from such technology in the past have generally had it backfire (it's true - the Concordiate and its enemy destroyed each other), and that multiple worlds and systems in the wastelands have had such damage and weapon use occur.

Consider telling them that the people who deployed such weapons would be more than willing to use them on trespassers (since it was the Concordiate's enemy that deployed the Rust, we may well be accurate there - especially in reference to a time of war), and that as such we're trying to do them a favor by not involving them with such groups or such dangerous territory.

Finally, tell them that we are empowered to speak for the entities governing the Wastelands. Inform them that we are willing to broker a treaty with their people.

>>21770845
Nuclear proliferation is a good example.

The Soviets deployed spies who essentially stole the Atomic Bomb, knowing it was dangerous. Then they embroiled us in a cold war. Then, other countries got it. The only result was that now a bunch of fucking insane people have gone and gotten their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

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>>21770865
Maybe the treaty idea isn't so hot. If they make a treaty with us then they will think they have free reign to explore unhindered and will probably run afoul of some other remnant. We should probably figure out a diplomatic way to tell them they ought to fuck off and never come back.

>>21770829
>>21770829
>here in the real world

Roddenberry/Bradbury/Asimovian philosophy have just as valid a place in gameplay, bro. It's not the real world here. It's a collaborative game...on the internets

>>21770921
The treaty can primarily be 'don't violate our territory and we won't kill the rest of you, this is your only warning.'

>>21770925
I find that assuming your favorite writer's logic applies in someone else's game usually leads to tears.

Assuming the gameworld works as much like the real world as possible until proven otherwise often yields more fun and more things going your way.

>>21770931
I don't think such obvious and undeeded threats are really the best way forward here.

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>>21770967
Years of /b/ and 40k and the real world has taught me otherwise.

>>21770940

And that's great for you. Now, I'm not saying that I agree 100% with talking their ears off, or brokering treaties, or in making us a custodian of deathworlds, but shooting down people's ideas because they stem from a particular source isn't helpful. That's why I wanted you to provide an alternative. If you don't, then we'll proceed with the virtual consensus we seem to have above.

You guys realize they probably aren't allowed to sign a treaty on behalf of their entire race, right? They might give us directions to somewhere that can, but after our demonstration... Nah, they probably won't.

>>21770990
I'll direct you to this post, which I thought had a better idea than mine >>21770865

My idea was about as farfetched as yours initially, just in the opposite direction. I think the one I linked has the middle way.

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>>21771001
Agreed, plus we cant sign one on our races behalf. If we survived its highly likely that other ships in the same situation exist as well.

>>21770978
>>21770967
>>21770931
While the primary tenets of the treaty can relate to keeping them out of dangerous territory, we can also throw in some advancements in terms of technology for them. Nothing huge,just a step forward in civilian fields that'll blow their minds but not let them have much of a leg up on us.

There's a long way between primitive and modern, and we see them as primitive. No harm in giving a caveman a slightly sharper rock.

>>21771001
We won't know that until we ask.

>>21771029
We can make a personal one, honestly. We can be seen, together with Ouro, as a military asset. And our nation is now just us for all we know.

>>21771029
It's also likely that we'd have received their signal by now.

>>21771059
They could be damaged, still dormant or have been active for longer and have given up trying to contact anyone

>>21771077
Sure, but that doesn't suggest that we'd be doing something wrong by telling people to stay out of dangerous space and making personal treaties.

>>21771103
I'm just saying it wouldn't be doing much good either.

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>Even when I want to write a short update, it bloats into something huge.
#####
“Tell them roughly the truth. This was once a civilization, the Concordiate, a government of forty thousand worlds, moons, asteroid colonies, and space habitats. Wars came and went, but eventually one came to stay, and for... What was it, a thousand years? They fought an increasingly desperate war against an increasingly desperate foe. They're correct in calling this region a wasteland, but it wasn't always so... Now, though...” You pause, suddenly feeling depressed. It's practically a eulogy for the Concordiate here, and as much as you don't want to, it's basically final acceptance that the Concordiate, in any shape or form that it was to begin with, is gone.

“Now, for probably as far as their drive could take them, there are nothing but dead worlds. Maybe the odd planet or moon similar to their own homeworld survived, but probably not. Both sides had the technology to colonize those, and that made them targets. The war stretched on and escalated, weapons that should not have been used were...” You pause for a moment, lost in thought. The Bubonic Rust, various forms of grey goo, bioweapons, massed fusion-weapon strikes, kinetic sniping, the occassional AM-bomb, or when all else failed, deploying ground units to render enemy colonies uninhabitable. You took part in that, too, and would have right down to the end of it, at Bahrain. In hindsight, it seems almost crazy.

“There is nothing left. Only graveyards of billions. The third planet here, they knew it as Delphi III. Advise them not to visit it- It still hosts a centuries-old nanoweapon. This entire sector exists as a graveyard and testament to monumentally bad ideas.”

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>>21771263
“Translating.” Ouroboros says quietly, perhaps similarly moved by your own words. Well, probably not, you assume, but you feel a bit drained. You return to the bridge, and Ouroboros brings up the view of the surveyor drone that was left in the cargo bay. It appears to have been converted into an impromptu vidscreen, and and you watch the reaction to your little speech. They seem to be somewhat agitated by it; Their tentacles rustle, and strangely wide central eyes blink rapidly. Here and there, beaks click or snap within a ring of what you assume to be feeder-appendages. One of them seems to speak up, and its words draw the attention of the others.

“Did you take part in this war?” The others seem to have gotten very still, and some seem to be moving back towards their craft.

“What the hell. Tell them yes. We can be considered a political or military representative of this sector, too, for that matter.” The 'political' part is a real stretch, but the 'military' part isn't.

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If anything, they seem to freeze further when Ouroboros transmits that. Ouroboros provides translation of the ensuing conversation, which seems to get quite excited. The two main contributors seem to be the military and scientific chiefs of the vessel.
“They are military unit.[hostile]. You are no longer command.[contempt]”

“Non-hostile. Peaceful discourse. No pretext.”

“We are boarded.” You're amused to note the brief pause; it seems like that word was well-translated, and the technicalities are of momentary issue. “...taken prisoner. Captive.”

“[emphatic]Alive. No right. Entity is both peaceable and [savior?].”

“[final]Taking command.” The others seem to have very slowly backed away by this point, leaving the two officers to their argument, which seems to have come to a conclusion. The one identified as a military officer has produced its sidearm, as well as a thin string-shaped object held between two of it's other pseudopods. You notice Ouroboros' annotations have identified it as a probable razorwire or garrote of some kind.

The civilian leader seems to back down, making a gesture oddly like wringing hands with two of its tentacles and backing very slowly away. “Will report.[threat]”

“Do.” There is a brief pause as the civilian backs away, presumably far enough that it thinks it's out of the field of view, but not actually enough to do that. It seems to satisfy, and the military commander turns back to address the camera, and through it, you. “Commencing repairs. Will proceed. Allow departure when done[interrogative]?”

>>21771275
Can we trace them back to whatever system they came from if/when they leave? If so, probably fine to allow them to leave. They cause problems later, we can just scare them into submission by pointing out that we know where they come from.

>>21771275
We will not prevent you from leaving. As we have said previously, we will aid you in any way we can that is reasonable. We do not intend to harm you or your people but we WILL defend ourselves, bringing the full power of our arsenal against you should you take a hostile stance toward us. We can be peaceful, and we would like peace amongst our peoples, please do not attempt to violate this peacful gusture.

Also this >>21771321 Track them if we can, maybe have our repair drone help out in fixing their ship and implant something to track them with whilst its doing so?

Rolled 5, 6 = 11

>>21771321
This.

As well as

Ask them about their culture in general. How did they discover their tech? Have they encountered other living sentient species?

Offer to help with repairs to get a better understanding of their mannerisms and tech. While helping plant a homing beacon that only our sensors can pick up

>>21771364
Agreed, ask them questions. Oh, also do a deep and thourough scan of their ship if that hasn't been done yet.

>>21771275
That seems a bit ugly. If their military officer (Or commissar? Can't tell.) proves to be excessively rude, we should rape their computer for coordinates and then drop them off in their home system, as a demonstration of quite how bad an idea offending us should be.

Also, I know it's horribly dangerous and unnecessarily risky, but I'm inclined to suit up and go visit these guys. First intelligent life we've seen in three and a half centuries that wasn't in a mirror; besides, maybe we can get some buddies/allies/friends.

>>21771385
Considering how much of a dick the military guy is being I don't think we should get that close. Could get very bad for us. They are scared of us and don't know what we are capable of. Don't want to risk them trying to kidnap a crewmemeber in order to have "the rest of our crew" bow to their damands.

>>21771275
Allow them, but inform that initiating hostile conduct would be unwise.

Ask them if they know what the other hostile in this sector was. (Or just get it from their databanks.)

Also, cross-reference this race with any in our databanks so we have an idea of what they are, and where they come from.

>>21771385
Also this. And by rape he means 'surprise butt shex'. He means hacking.

>>21771404
Ensure that we are prepared for a surprise assault. Also warn them that if they try anything to harm the "envoy", well..heh.. proper precautions will ensure that they don't have the opportunity to harm anything ever again.

What the fuck, guys.

We've just saved them from oblivion and given them the skinny on the area and now their military fuckstick is getting ready to rumble and undo the effects of our intervention...why aren't we taking his gun and talking to the civilian?

He's potentially making a threat gesture against us here, and probably means to come back and get weapons. Meanwhile, we could deal with the civilians.

You know what we could use at a time like this?

Killswarm drones. Lots of them. Like I suggested in the last thread. Cause we're one person, against a massive fucking crew that is armed. Granted they can't breath our atmosphere, but if they're versed in boarding tactics...

And yes. Do we have any form of Hyperwave or ansible? We should construct something to give them to communicate with us over long distances. Blackbox the fuck out of it, make it clear that we don't want to fuck with their technological evolution. We're willing to trade it eventually, but not yet. So if they crack it open, they'll only break it.

>>21771377
also this.

Look. Tell the guy that we'll assist in repairs, let the guys leave, but take a black-boxed communications hyperwave module with them so we can continue a dialogue.

>>21771409
>>21771364
>>21771377
>>21771446

Their military leader does not seem like he would be amenable to any of these.

We should inform him that if he does not stand down we will be forced to disarm him and seek that he turns command back over to the civilians lest we assess him as a hostile presence.

>>21771446
I'm all for just warping to their home system to 'deliver' them to the proper authorities, along with a secondary warning not to poke around in this sector without being too careful.

Emphasize that. I think "Be super-supremely careful" would be more effective than "Stay the fuck out." Empahisze that they might wipe out their species on accident if they accidentally contracted one of the plagues out here.

Also, if we head to their home, we'll probably find more reasonable people to deal with.

>>21771472
Sounds like a plan.

And if he disagrees. Inform him that we could easily vaporize him. We just want to make contact, and we're offering a gateway to more advanced tech, and better, start charts for the region.

>>>>21771485
Or be blown up by the full force of their military

>>21771485
Getting them to tell us where home is, let alone showing up there uninvited after digging it out of their computer system without them knowing it, would scare the fuck out of their government.

The latter is usually a pretext for a declaration of war.

>>21771507
>>21771501
The guy we curbstomped curbstomped these guys. I'll grant that this isn't a warship of theirs, but I doubt a warship of theirs would be in any way a challenge.

>>21771498
Yes to everything but the star charts of the region, though we can tell them of a quick way to get through it or what we know of that's around it.

Everything else is Concordiate/wasteland space and they need to stay the fuck out or they might die, from defending forces or the environment.

>>21771517
It's not that a warship will or won't be a challenge, it is that the best possible outcome of contact with them is new friends or allies and as such giving them a pretext for war and reason to think they should be at war would be bad.

Traditionally, showing up at someone's doorstep, let alone in their core territory, with a fuckhuge gunship is seen as both.

>>21771485
or set off their entire defense net and get pasted by endless numbers of nukes.

>>21771517
You are thinking small scale, though. Yes we can demolish a few enemy ships, maybe even at once but why wouldn't they have whole armadas protecting their planets?

Also >>21771537

>>21771517
also. I'm betting they have ICBMs on their home planet. Or the equivalent. You want to risk that shit? Direct nuclear strike to the hull would kill us with the shockwave that'd be transmitted through our hull and atmosphere alone.

>>21771550
This is an exploration ship slightly in advance of the space shuttle program. Is 21st century earth having an armada anywhere in the foreseeable future?

>>21771538
>>21771537
>>21771521
>>21771517
>>21771507
>>21771501
>>21771485
It does sound like we want to end up on friendly terms, albeit ones wherein they see us as not a group to trifle with.

I would suggest that we disarm their military guy with internal systems or fabricate drones to do so (he's utilizing weapons onboard our ship, this violates safety), tell him that we want to discuss matters with their civilians, tell them that they will be let go and we will lend them assistance in making repairs if it is desired, and ask them whatever.

The treaty of getting out of Concordiate space in exchange for delicious tech will also allow at least some of them to come home and be rewarded.

>>21771556
Shields. I'm betting we could take on any armada these guys could put together. It's not even like we have to drop in by their planet. We could show up at the edge of their system and let 'em go.

>>21771275

Prime directive, motherfuckers. We don't give two shits about the inner workings of primitive cultures. Let them know that we will not interfere in their workings aboard their ship, but they are not to jeopardize us by their behavior. This is their only warning; there will be no other.

>>21771590
The prime directive is stupid and of no use to us. Aside from being stupid, it was contrived for a nation of explorers. We currently lack the nation.

>>21771588
Don't focus on the military threat, focus on the goal. How do you want them to treat us in future? What outcome are you seeking here?

>>21771583
Hey now. Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Giving tech away to alien scum probably isn't the greatest idea.

>>21771590
see
>>21767191

>>21771602
This would be pretty primitive tech by comparison. If you're using your hands to eat and I teach you the miracle of wooden spoons, you are unlikely to turn that around into something that will destroy me.

>>21771602
he means giving them something incrementally better than what they have, but little beyond a single incremental advance

nothing huge, but something they could bring home and get promoted for

>>21771583
NOT A GOOD IDEA. NOPE NOPE NOPITY NOPED NOPE NO WAY NO HOW!

Do I even have to tell you why?

Seriously.

>Captcha
>sanitary silence

>>21771600
>Prime directive is stupid
So is picking sides in the microcosmic politics amongst the crew of a primitive space ship. We don't know how they're hardwired. Stop trying to judge them by your own squishy 21st century, first-world worldview.

>What outcome
That they fix their ship, not shoot holes in us, and GTFO. Preferentially with the understanding that if they try looting these planets, they will get themselves killed. This requires that they view us as neutral; not all up the backside of one party in a struggle for power. Jackass.

Okay.

1) We want to be friendly, this much is clear
2) We have no nation to make a treaty with. So that's out. Sorry guys, if any humans are out there, we got no clue.
3) Can we ask them if they've ever encountered anything like us, and give them a very generalized picture profile of our species. Like Leonard DaVinchi's human sketch, but without the extra limbs.

>>21771637
Yes, tell us why.

>>21771648
We would gain more than we lose by picking a side at some point. I'd rather start now and not later.

However, since you want to be all alone and play by yourself in the wide-open galaxy of barren wasteland, you go ahead and vote for that every time.

>>21771652
They may have communications systems that allow them to reach an official.

Barring that, they may at least take the proposed treaty home with an FTL communications blackbox.

>>21771652
Hey, how about we creep them out a little? Let's ask them to explain the dynamics at play between the civvie and the militant? Ask them why they think it is advisable to bear weapons in an environment they do not have control or understanding over? Ask the tough questions. be the Larry King of space.

>>21771655
It could cause a total economic and technological boom in their home planet/s that they aren't prepared for. We could be the cause of civil wars or even worse. Not a good thing if we are looking out for theses cool Octo dudes.

Just think about the consequences on Earth if we were handed advanced energy tech .

>>21771703
>Hey, how about we creep them out a little? Let's ask them to explain the dynamics at play between the civvie and the militant? Ask them why they think it is advisable to bear weapons in an environment they do not have control or understanding over? Ask the tough questions. be the Larry King of space.
YES! THIS!

>>21771711
That's why I say a BLACKBOXED hyperwave device that will break down if they try to crack it open to study it, and is proofed against scanning.

>>21771676
>equating making friends with intervening in another species' politics
>'MUURICA, FUCK YEARR!

Yeah, no. This never works. Like, EVER.

>>21771648
>fix their ship
oh, you think they brought enough shit to weld it back together? they were about to die, and now this military yahoo wants to shut the whole thing down because he figured out we were soldiers and exploited a loophole in his orders
>not shoot holes in us
yeah, because our vessel is made of wet cardboard. do you even reading comprehension? they have no weapons for penetrating their own hull, let alone ours
>GTFO
we found our first living sapients, and you want them to leave. others may not agree.

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>>21771714
>>21771703

Gentlemen