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The initial attempt to send down the Ambassador did not go well. Mercenaries and extremists working for Marson Edect were able to hijack the communications array and upload false navigation data, sending the shuttle and escort off course. Cut off by jamming once on the ground the shuttle and its crew were captured and the escort fighters shot down. Between the jamming and use of holographic projections neither you or the FPL government could immediately tell what was happening.

Things were on the edge of collapsing into open conflict but cooler heads prevailed and a search for the missing Ambassador began.

Thanks to an implanted transmitter provided to the Ambassador it became possible to track his movements and those of his captors. A dozen troopers from your Heavy Strike Team were allowed to assist groundside teams in the pursuit. Despite the enemy escaping through a tram terminal your people were able to provide information to FPL Major Kadryin that made it possible to determine their destination.

A cargo yard, likely holding the means of escape for the band of mercs, became the focus of the search. Deploying your troops to best cover the yard, you had shuttles block off the tram lines with cargo containers slowing enemy movement. Your troop placement and use of snipers proved to be ideal. Despite using one tram car loaded with explosives as a distraction the Strike Team were able to intercept the hostage takers. The few equipped with Power Cell armor were gunned down by your people, the snipers or the supporting shuttles. The Remainder were knocked unconscious by stun pulse grenades.

Ambassador rescued, talks began in earnest. You're at last contacted more than a day since Chide Dlam'ard first reported that the locals were taking the proposal seriously.

"Captain Reynard we've reached impasse, but one I believe can be easily broken. Many are concerned that we'll simply go back on our word, or use the ceasefire to bring in troop ships. Enough of them are still desperate to prevent a full scale invasion so they're listening. Your handing of the kidnapping and willingness to work with Major Kadryin rather than simply assaulting the area yourself has earned us some respect. I believe I can still sway enough people for the proposal to pass."

"How do you plan to do that?" You ask.

"Given out timetable, the old fashioned way. Bribes. Now members of the government cant simply be seen as taking money to allow such a thing to happen so I've found an alternative route. The military is holding the shuttle I came down on in order to scrub the computers for data it might have picked up on the way in or after they hijacked it using the command codes. I want you to buy it off them."

You frown. "How much can a shuttle like that be worth, even with the decoy system on it?"

The Ambassador waves the question away. "The real price is meaningless since they don't have to disclose how much you payed to get it back. Their government isnt as transparent as I suspected it might be. A quarter million should be enough, I know you have the monetary reserves to handle a hit like that. I'll ask the Commander to reimburse you if possible."

[ ] Agree
[ ] Reluctantly agree
[ ] Ask him to negotiate for a smaller number
[ ] Refuse
[ ] Other

>>23645201
Agree, reluctantly

>>23645201
Question: what would be the economic effect of getting the bribed ones to recommend buying additional ftl ships from our shipyard, since they don't have many of them.

>>23645201
>[x] Reluctantly agree

>>23645201
[X] Agree

We might actually be on our way to making this crazy plan of ours work.

Most people seem to be in favour of the bribe. Should I put up a survey link anyways? Otherwise we're moving forward.

>>23645282
The output of the cruiser grade shipyards are still low and there is no shortage of potential buyers. While you do have money invested in the shipyard you don't really have a say in who they sell to. There would be very little effect on the economy of your House if you did.

>>23645463
>Most people seem to be in favour of the bribe. Should I put up a survey link anyways? Otherwise we're moving forward.

lets just move forward.

>>23645463
Okay then. Might as well go forward.

>>23645463
Forward we go.

>>23645201

[other] Can he find/make evidence of the major opposition leaders being influenced by the Pirate Warlords? We have proof their agents were running around the planet...

"Have you tried pushing the angle that Edect and his band were working for the Warlords to destabilise the region?" You ask.

"Only somewhat. From what I've heard a number of higher ups in their current military used to work with him as mercenaries years ago. Thanks to what you told the Major about your history with him they're inclined to believe he's merely on a vengeance quest and it was just bad timing. They don't doubt he would work for the Warlords if the money was good, but your story was a bit too convincing in that regard. Sorry Captain you couldn't have known."


You agree to send the money. With luck it'll mean getting the shuttle back in one piece but you'll still have to keep it in reserve while the technicians tear it apart looking for sabotage. The phrase 'reimburse you if possible' still sticks in your head. You question whether the Commander would actually pay you back the bribe money or not. Hopefully.

Another twelve hours go by before Dlam'ard contacts you again. "We've reached a tentative agreement but one that should allow things to move forward. If you can contact the Knight Commander and give her the data I'm sending back with the Marines she'll know what to do next."

"Wait, those Marines are there for your protection."

"My work here is largely done, I don't need the protection anymore. You on the other hand might have need of your special forces team wherever you're headed next."

>Assign a detail of regular Marines regardless? Y/N ?

Once the marines are back on board you have coms try and connect with the nearest communications buoys outside of FPL space so you can contact the Commander. Instead you end up with a direct connection to her Command ship. It must be stationed nearby.

>>23645778
Assign a detail of regular Marines.

After what happened last time we can never be too careful.

>>23645778

Ask Major Kadryin to assign a small guard detail? Its likely best to have local forces providing any long-term protection for now.

>>23645883
seconded

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>>23645883
>>23645922
You see about doing both. Kadryin assigns a few people he trusts to assist your Marines in protecting the Ambassador in the future.

"Status report Captain." requests the Commander once you have a secure line of communication.

"Mission was mostly successful sir. I'm sending you information from the Ambassador about the state of talks."

"Mostly? Do explain."

"Marson Edect's people captured our Ambassador and killed half the Marines and two of our starfighters assigned as escort in the process. We worked with the locals to get him back before they could sneak the hostages off world." You tell her.

"Excellent work. The death of your Marines is unfortunate but you've done better than I expected. When leaving FPL space I would like your ships to use the North West corridor. The bulk of our House fleet is waiting there."

"Yes sir. Uh there was also a small matter of a bribe needed to sway the last few members of the FPL government..." You begin.

Winifred rolls her eyes in annoyance.
Roll 1d250 for reimbursement!

Rolled 16

>>23646033
rolling

Rolled 45

>>23646033

Rolled 137

>>23646033
Rolling

Rolled 244

>>23646033

Rolled 177

>>23646033

>>23646114
oh, i rolled so good, but so late

>>23646121
Clearly the dice have a sense of humor.

>>23646033
So, any word from Saputo and Co?

You're informed that she'll look into what can be made available while your ships exit League space. After sending down some more Marines to protect the Ambassador and a spare pilot to bring the shuttle back up, you set out having Mike lead the way.

"So, how do you like commanding a squadron Mike?" You ask your former Wingman.

"Well with a unit this small, even if it is all cruisers, it's just like having an oversized flight. I'm glad I don't have to command a dozen ships, I don't know how well I could look after that many right now."

"You'll get the hang of it." You assure him. "Before long you'll be up to a full size squadron and then maybe a Wing if the House splits off some new units."

"At least give me a few months then for extra training. I know Alex and Daska both went to OCS for their last couple years in school. I nearly got tossed into starfighters."

Passing through the corridor is a little nerve wracking with the number of ships the League has stationed here. A full 25 blocks of their regular ships are backed up by a number of the larger versions including a dozen rigged as light carriers. There have to be enough point defense batteries to blot out the stars if they were to open up.

Jumping through the corridor you see that the other Houses also have an imposing fleet at the ready. Sixty cruisers, twice as many frigates and a few wings of corvettes are present before counting those belonging to your own House. The repaired Command ship is here along with two cruiser squadrons, Carriers, all of the Battlecruisers and both Attack Wings. Apparently The Commander was more than prepared if the mission had failed.

"Captain Reynard please form up with your Wing for the time being." requests a fleet coordinator.

A text message is sent to you regarding reimbursement for the bribe money. 137k is the best you'll be offered it seems.

The fleet posturing continues for a few hours after your arrival and there are signs of communication between the various command ships.

"I sure hope all of that work was not for nothing." Says Kavos.

After another hour your orders are updated. All ships with the exception of the Battlecruisers will return to base. Their heavier guns and starfighters will provide more than enough assistance to the Allied fleets with the Free Planets League tries anything stupid like breaking the blockade before negotiations with the other Houses are over.
You're also informed the the Commander will be busy for the next 48-72 Hours and all communications will go through her staff.

Getting back to base you receive some new information from intel and logistics. As there seems to be some overlap its all been bundled into one report. With the Republic expeditionary fleets now entering the cluster supplies more common to their military are being made available at stations they're expected to be posted at. Looks like the Commander had already been hard at work in that regard while the station was being refit.
Intel meanwhile has been monitoring the black market by way of Tourta and found out that the Warlords have stocked up on some starfighters you haven't encountered before.


New equipment available!

>Republic Tac shields
>monoblade bayonets
>combat drugs
>forearm SMG's (+splinter ammo)

New starfighters available on Tourta!

>Warlord "Flying Wing" attack bomber
>CCD "Burlock" Heavy Fighter
>CCD "Duckbill" AKA "Bill" Light Fighter
>Shallan Shade Heavy Fighter
>Shallan Umbra Starfighter

>>23646744
That's neat. Don't we have full wings anyway?

>>23644751
Ah H&D, excellent. What was the result of the survey regarding our homeworld estate TSTG?

Also, could we have possibly invited the Major to our resort on Tourta when it is finished? He seems like a potential ally in the FPL.

>>23646744
>>Republic Tac shields

>>combat drugs

more info please

>>23646744
Monoblade bayonets? Could we slip them in a dress uniform if we ever need to smuggle them into House Lat'tham 2?

>>23647081
This and we will no doubt want more info on these new starfighters just to know what we will be up against.

>>23646893
Yes your starfighter Wings are full at the moment. 30% of your starfighters have been acquired through purchases from civilian markets or were captured aboard enemy freighters.

>>23646985
>homeworld estate
Majority voted for "Small but sturdy 2-3 story building + shelter. Camouflaged."

>Also, could we have possibly invited the Major to our resort on Tourta when it is finished? He seems like a potential ally in the FPL.
You'll have to ask him after negotiations are over as until then he's one of the higher ranking officers in their captial's PDF.


>Republic Tac shields
Made of light weight but sturdy materials and layered with ablative strips, Republic Tac shields are a common sight among their boarding teams. Many Factions consider the loss of mobility to their troops while carrying shields to be too detrimental to bother with them. In many cases only sustained on concentrated small arms fire can penetrate the shields, making them a target for anti-tank weapons. This is an acceptable trade off by Hune mindset as it expends ammunition that would otherwise harm their tanks.

>forearm SMG's (+splinter ammo)
A number of low recoil single handed sub machine guns are often used by troops equipped with tac shields. The most common has a top loading magazine stretching the length of the forearm to the feeding mechanism near the elbow. This allows the weapon to remain compact but still maintains suitable barrel length.
Other versions use magazines that wrap around the arm and carry more ammunition but are harder to reload.

>monoblade bayonnettes
Republic baynettes are designed to fragment inside a target. The resulting cloud of carbon nanotubes released inside the body will cause cell death or other problems, damaging far more than a simple cut would. The legality of these weapons has been called into question with opponents claiming they should be classed as a bioweapon and banned.

>>23646744
I think we could use info on all of those, small description to narrow interests.

>>23647259
forearm SMGs and Tac shields might be worth looking into for our enhanced marines project

>>23647259
>Homeworld estate
Righto. I assume construction has started then; how much will this set us back financially?

>monoblade bayonets
How does our House view the legality of these weapons?

>>23647389
>How does our House view the legality of these weapons?
They don't give a damn atm if it keeps your people alive.

>combat drugs
Starfighter pilots more than anyone need all the reaction speed they can get. The Republic makes a number of drugs available to their pilots before entering combat or when fighting for prolonged periods. Other medicines are used to counteract the effects once the pilots are safely out of combat. Many starfighter pilots will swear off using them for fear of addition which is a real concern.

>Warlord "Flying Wing" attack bomber
A large starfighter with performance closer to a bulkier shuttle, the new Flying Wing is primarily a missile and torpedo platform. Eight heavy hard points can be fitted with torpedoes or missile cells while additional internal magazines provide room for dozens of smaller short ranged munitions.
Despite being overweight and under powered the Flying Wing is still cheap to mass produce thanks to use of older technology and commonly available components.
Intel believes these fighters may perform poorly enough for starships to shoot them down with phase cannons. This does not mean they should be underestimated. Even carrying conventional torpedoes it only take a few of them to threaten a starship.

>CCD "Burlock" Heavy Fighter
A multitude of manufacturers exist within the Pandora cluster producing craft from every corner of the known universe. (Legally or otherwise.) With the PCCG's push to be recognised as one of the main Factions CCD has been tasked with creation of ships and equipment that would help set them apart. The first homegrown starfighter design also capable of operations within atmosphere, the Burlock is equipped with a pair of heavy gatling weapons and internal missile bays.
Weapons are modular, with micro phase cannon and 90mm mass driver versions of the gatlings available. Both guns can be swapped out for torpedo hardpoints giving them anti-ship capability.

>>23647439
>CCD "Duckbill" AKA "Bill" Light Fighter
A competing design with the Burlock, the Duckbill is a light weight starfighter design that due to delays only hit the market this year. It mounts a single gatling weapon (also modular) in addition to four micro phase cannon mounted in the wingtips. The 'Bill has much better performance in atmosphere than its compeitior. Understandably it has less anti-ship options than other fighters.

>Shallan Fighters
Word has come down from the Shallan government that smugglers have been making off with starfighters from their previously secure reserve stockpiles. If at all possible they would like them returned.
>Shade Heavy Fighter
The Shallan's first modern starfighter, it was designed shortly after they acquired Faster Than Light technology. Unwilling to wait for their technology to catch up and allow the miniaturization needed for most Factions fighters, they went ahead and built a large bulkier craft that could fill the gap. While its performance has always been subpar, subsequent upgrades have provided enough power to modify them for use as gunships. Even when fitted with small turrets for protection its size still makes it an easy target for other fighters.

>Umbra Starfighter
The Shallan's current main line starfighter borrows elements from the Terran Arrow series but with a considerable upgrade. Internal missile bays and small caliber mass drivers compliment the wingtip mounted micro phase cannons. An aerodynamic shape ensures good performance in atmosphere while ite engines ensure it rivals top tier starfighters of the other Factions.
Despite primarily being an interceptor spare space between the two large engine banks provides enough room to carry a pair of torpoedoes into combat. Use of torpedoes remains tricky due to the mountimng point requiring the fighter to drop the warheads, pull out of the way and initiate a cold launch.

>I have some old sketches around for a few of the fighters but haven't scanned them.

>>23647722
Interesting. Anyway, lets review our wing and schedule some tests.

>>23647389
>Righto. I assume construction has started then; how much will this set us back financially?
Its small and very cheap. It'll be necessary to remove one of the redwoods choking the area.

I'll be back after dinner.

>>23646744
I think the monoblade bayonets, forearm SMGs and a few tac shields would be worth acquiring for our marines.

As for the starfighters, I'll second Anon in that we should review our current wing before making any purchases here.

>>23648383
I'm personally against buying anything out of our own pocket right now.

>>23648383
Basically sums up how I feel as well.

>>23648507
Oh, I agree with you if this is the case. I was under the impression that this was equipment for the Wing and thus the House would be footing the bill.

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The Wing is largely operational. Alex's ship is still undergoing a refit so he hopped a ride on one of the other Cruisers in his unit. 5th and 6th squadrons do not have any starfighters assigned to them at this time. In 5th Squadron's case there simply isnt much room for any.

Current Starfighter composition.

1st-4th Attack Squadrons
4 squadrons (48 fighters)

60% Interceptors
40% Attack Bombers

Escort Carrier based fighters
16 Squadrons (192 fighters)

50% Interceptors
45% Attack Bombers
5% Other (Ground attack, Light starfighters)


Interceptors: Z5, V-688 Enforcer, TF-83 Arrow, Rovinar star fighter
Attack Bombers: Z5H, Type 4, Modified Arrow
Other: V-600 Marauder (Ground attack), ]Iratar Corp Multi-Role Fighter (Ground attack) , Republic and Kavarian light starfighters, Needle fighter

>>23648507
>I was under the impression that this was equipment for the Wing and thus the House would be footing the bill.
>>23648906
>I was under the impression that this was equipment for the Wing and thus the House would be footing the bill.
^ This.

Do you wish to change the force composition of the Wing in any way? It is possible to swap out some starfighter types for others. You can always get more Z5 Interceptors. Z5H attack bombers are more expensive and Type-4 Attack bombers are in high demand meaning both will put more strain on logistics.

>>23647439
>>23647722

I say we grab a few of each. The pirates are flying these, and if we can get hands-on time with them, we'll know how they fly and how to beat them in dogfights. I'm sure it'd be good info for our fighter pilots.

>>23649046
No need to deploy any to 6th, they would just slow them down. Move the extra frigate to 5th when it is repaired. In the meantime, run a series of drills and make sure everyone has plenty of down time.

>>23649046
I have a question, is our shipyard creating its own design of attack cruiser or is it just planning on making other peoples designs?

>>23649284
Also, is that 25% invested in only the one shipyard or several?

As for the starfighters, grabbing one or two of each to test them out and determine weaknesses sounds like a good plan.

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>>23649284
It's mostly been building existing designs.

The Vengeance type series for instance are essentially open source cruiser designs, its more an issue of finding people familiar with building them. They're also a rather outdated design that hasn't seen any upgrades the way most main line ships in use with the Factions do. The shipyard back in the Run isn't just being slowed down by facilities and ships built from scrap, but the process of trying to replace old an antiquated support systems throughout the ship.
The pirates operating in the area basically did the same thing with the Vengeance C, redesigning the ship to work better with modern systems. Scans of this newer design have been sent back to the Smugglers Run to see if they can borrow anything from it.

With Tarketta seeing what's being done with their old U-Haul design they're planning to develop a newer series that will be more structurally sound for a combat design and have better systems integration.

Only a few of the EX-K design have been built (also out of scrap) as its was just considered a good platform to throw the new engine prototypes onto. They'll still be available for production if requested but the demand for the Vengeance and U-Haul far outweigh it and the Clarent.
The handful of Clarents built are being used in convoy escort and as a fast patrol cutter.

>>23649353
>Also, is that 25% invested in only the one shipyard or several?
Just the one shipyard. Once the details of the Assault Corvette have been ironed out and it reaches true mass production some of the slipways at the yard in the Run will be converted to produce them as well.

>>23649192
>>23649211
>>23649353
You talk to logistics about securing a pair of each starfighter for use in aggressor roles. You people will want to know what they're really capable of if pushed to the limit, nut just rely on simulator data.
Kavos asks what you plan to do with the Shallan fighters once your pilots have finished the evaluation.

>>23649773

They may be worth keeping around for replacement pilots to get experience against, if the Shallan don't make a much better offer.

>>23649773
Put Mike in charge of acquiring feedback and criticism of the various designs we use. Willing to bet that will help their R&D especially if we come up with a few proposals.

Second this, what would the Shallan give us if we 'hypothetically' had some of their lost fighters?

Also, do we have a specific time when the new Assault Corvette will begin mass production?

>if the Shallan don't make a much better offer.
The Shallans have made the statement that they're stolen property and believe that they shouldn't have to pay to get them back. As expected given that there's a war on and equipment is in high demand few have been returned.

>>23650066
>Also, do we have a specific time when the new Assault Corvette will begin mass production?
No but 2nd Wing is supposed to be taking the new prototypes into battle for field testing soon.


You get back into the swing of things, making sure the everyone is fully trained and ready to go for when the big offensive kicks off. Or for when the Commander calls on the Attack Wings for the special assignment. The Rookies seem ready and while they've been training against some of your best pilots you know they could benefit from facing some other enemies. You contact Captain Saputo about doing some combat sims between units and he agrees.

Most of them will be small unit actions, one attack squadron versus another. A large scale full Wing battle will have to wait as for the moment you have a superior number of ships and escort carriers.

Roll 6d20!

Rolled 14, 20, 1, 11, 19, 15 = 80

>>23650215
Rolling thunder

Rolled 5, 18, 8, 17, 4, 10 = 62

>>23650215
Rolling

Rolled 15, 13, 4, 3, 5, 10 = 50

>>23650215

Fly, minions! Show Saputo's Wing their inferiority!

Can we integrate a Forearm SMG into our Recon Armor?

We've come close to running out of weapons/ammo on ground ops before and it'd be a good backup.

You and Saputo watch the squadron engagements from the sidelines. Both sides are good, as to be expected, but a few of your squadrons are better. Or it's just luck, who knows.

Second squadron continues its long track record of kicking ass and taking names. All four flight leaders prove their worth and keep their Frigate heavy force on the move. Lorraine has been making some modifications to her ship it seems, adding more emergency thrusters to her Jug of ship. It still hasn't fixed the power problem but it keeps the Centurion nimble enough to evade the heaviest return fire.

Alex's fifth Squadron, who you fully expect to be decimated with their higher number of rookies pulls though well above average. You have no idea how they did it either. The two bulkier ships in their unit should have been massacred. Looking at the replays it seems any time Alex faced off against Centurions and and one of the other flight leaders were able to use spinal mount heavy phase cannon to disable the plasma cannon before it could weight in.

Arthur and Third Squadron have the dubious honour of having the worst performance of the Wing. The unit's Bulk cruiser and Norune blockade runner are struck by plasma cannon fire in each battle they lose outright. In the ones where there are no Centurions present they do rater well but not enough to bring their average back up to meet the rest of the Wing's. Two of the Rookies and one of the Mercenary pilots have their Frigates crippled or destroyed in each sim.

With the combat sims done for the day Captain Saputo thanks you for the chance for both units to go up against one another.
"We should try this more often. It helps remind my people that not all of them are the best of the best. I hope it does the same for a few of yours. Oh by the way, we need to talk about that special mission for the Commander later."

>>23650786
Arthur contacts you when it's all over and everyone begins to return to the ships. "Permission to take the squadron out on some excercises tomorrow sir. I'd like to have 6th's squadron jump us while we're performing maneuvers at the edge of the system."


>>23650746
Yes, but you'd need to have it customised both so it could fit and have a silencer that wouldn't get in the way. It would also mean removing the extra armor layer.

>>23650893
Would that be before or after we meet with the commander. If before, say yes.

>>23650893
Sounds like a splendid idea.

>>23650893
>SMG thing

I say go for it, our forearm is less likely to get shot if it can shoot back anyway.

>>23651065
If its just our forearm armor, I agree. If its the entire extra layer of armor, I do not.

>>23651246

We should ensure that the additions we're doing to the armor aren't going to overtax our dampening systems and how the camo will handle them. Before we take it into combat.

>>23651425
Sounds like a good precaution to me. Maybe we should run a sim after we have a chat to the Commander?

>>23650977
You met with the Commander previously where she suggested the torpedo theft mission to coincide with another previously planned upcoming infiltration mission.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/23396978/#p23436905

After leaving a message with Kavos and Mr Nxesi about an upgrade idea for your armour you head off to see Captain Saputo. He's waiting near the station central module and from there leads the way to what you at first believe to be a spare office. A non standard door closes behind you causing the idea to be dismissed.

"This room is shielded against surveillance devices." The older Knight informs you. "Most stations have a few of them. I've talked to the Commander about your last mission for the Rovinar an her plans for the upcoming operation. At the moment only three of us know about this plan. We don't have a lot of time to prepare and finding equipment that could keep our people alive if they're successful is now a priority. I plan to brief my own heavy Marine force at the last possible second."

>Third thought: Prepare like mad for this.
>We know where to get camo, decoy projectors, and other neat stuff that could help. Let's make sure the mission has the best possible chance to succeed.

You mention your own plans to acquire some equipment on Tourta and the merchant who sold you the decoy projector.

"That's all well and good but if we end up having to fire one of those weapons it could kill our marines. What do you know about the TCS Vieona?"

>>23651692
Only the stories.

>>23651692
Terran Alliance Ship in the second faction war. Cloaked, had multiple Vecron launchers. Supposedly able to fire Vecron torps indefinitely without killing crew. It's shipyard was trashed all all R&D was supposedly lost.

>>23651692
>What do you know about the TCS Vieona?
"It's on my "must salvage" list."

>>23651728
>>23651773
"So the highlights in other words."

"Its also on my "must salvage" list." you add.

The Captain laughs at that.
"I don't doubt it. People have been searching for that ship for four hundred years and each one of them has come up empty. My great grandfather like a million or billion others wasted a fortune hunting for it."

"And we're just going to happen along and find it just because we really need it?" You respond.

"No, but it does put a bit more impetus behind it."

You raise your hands to forestall Saputo's next comment. "Don't get me wrong I want to find it but the odds seem stacked against us."

"They are but a theory occurred to me a few months ago. What if people had already found the location of the ship before, they just didn't know it? Or more accurately, couldn't see it?"

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>>23652503
Both.


"A cloaked ship? Wouldn't a cloaking shield burn out or the ship reactors run out of fusion fuel after four centuries?"

"Yes but that isn't the only way to keep a ship hidden. The Vieona had more experimental technology on her than any other. That scientist you met aboard the Endeavour, Anushree Sanjukta, she was dropped off in Republic space in the Faction Wars after the Centri Cluster fell to the Kavarians. You have three guesses to figure out what ship she was transported on."

Saputo pulls out a hard copy map of the northern half of the cluster.
"These are the locations where there are rifts present. Vieona was reportedly out fighting in one of the dwarf galaxies in the region when she disappeared, but because she operated under cloak most of the time and tended to leave few witnesses, figuring out where she was last sighted is difficult. I haven't had enough time off duty to devote to searching before now, maybe you have."

>What say/do?

>>23652205

Cloaked? Locked in some sort of weird... anomaly like the sleepers?

... wait, does he think he knows where it is?

>>23652869

The Terrans were willing to fire upon us over the LTSC Wayward Treasures. How the hell would we not get blown to atoms if we found Vieona?

>>23652869
"Wouldn't the Terrans have considered that while conducting their search efforts?"

>>23652869
tell him he is completely crazy

also we want in

>"Wouldn't the Terrans have considered that while conducting their search efforts?"

"Who's to say they didn't? Their search efforts in the area didn't commence until years after the war. Rifts were already starting to form by then but they weren't as severe out here as around the Smugglers Run. Some have even closed completely thanks to navigation routes being shifted. Think about it. All of those sleeper ships were supposed to come up for air every so many decades or however long to see if their help was needed, but their system screwed up and they stayed under. Their real objective could be to find the Vieona. That or I've been reading too many conspiracy theories over the infonet."

>>23652880
>... wait, does he think he knows where it is?
"It has to be in this cluster somewhere. I haven't had time to really sift through the details. Long range sensor logs from way back then would be a big help and someone to interpret them."

>>23652929
>The Terrans were willing to fire upon us over the LTSC Wayward Treasures. How the hell would we not get blown to atoms if we found Vieona?
"Presuming we even find the thing? We'll work something out with them I'm sure. Or die trying."

You're not amused.

"We find whatever super tech keeps people from dying on that ship, which I hope isn't just cloning, then call in its location to the Terrans. They can strike a deal with us or we escalate things."

>What is your plan of action?

>>23653516
Maybe put out some feelers with our infobroker and other contacts for old sensor logs

If we want a chance to do this without getting caught out before making progress it has to be off the Dominion official records and basically done with our own resources. Might be time to invest in private ships/people, I can think of one person we met who is good at hiding things from Terrans and is out of job, if she is available.

>>23653591
>I can think of one person we met who is good at hiding things from Terrans and is out of job, if she is available.
If you're thinking of Captain Selena Crayton she is two and a half weeks journey away. You have less than a week.

>>23652869
I was thinking cloaked, or hidding in plain sight.

So, he thinks it was this Dwarf galaxy?

What are these rifts again? only thing I am remembering are Veckron subspace rifts, which would sorta make sense so I'll go with that, but
1- I know those things are long lasting, but my memory fails me, would the rifts last this long?
2- Would the dangerous Veckron Rads last that long as well, or is it lessened after so much time?

>auto update
>>23653516
Not Veckron rifts then? I am forgetting something here if it was severe around Smuggler's Run

>>23653516

So are we informing the Commander or giving her a story? We can't exactly vanish on a wild goose chase without someone noticing and asking questions.

>>23653697
Clearly we would be on a "Extended training exercise" in preparation for our mission and of course we would have to make all the preparations before we leave.

>>23653682
We'd also most likely compromise her security by trying to get in contact.

>>23653682
>Less than a week to find holy grail of ghost ships

Oh. Fast and loose it is then.

Need a cover story that let's us go tool around this place with a whole bunch of Dominion ships and personnel, particularly one the Terrans won't find too suspect.

Scouting for a vacation planet for Archduke So-and-so who has very eccentric tastes and far too much power in our backwards-ass feudal society perhaps? The probably think we spent half our time doing stuff like that.

>>23653516
Has he told anyone else about this? And is he just asking us for help.

I know we have Arthur and Mike going out tomorrow,and we might be able to drag them along with us if he is looking for more manpower.

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>>23653693
>So, he thinks it was this Dwarf galaxy?
He thinks its one of several candidates.

>Maybe put out some feelers with our infobroker and other contacts for old sensor logs
You contact one of the info brokers on Tourta. They'll look into it but they prefer handing out information face to face.

>>23653697
>>23653779
You could tell her whats going on, or giver her a story.

>>23653693
Detonation of multiple Veckron torpedoes within a set distance (lets say a lightyear) will result in subspace instability. This can take a long time to form and will worsen if ships pass through the affected space or activate their drives in the same area. If people are idiots and continue to fly their ships through the affected areas a subspace rift will form.

The Smugglers Run is one of the worst affected areas for a number of reasons. Early Veckron weapons were used there in the first Faction War and again on a much larger scale seven years later. They didnt know about this until rifts resulting from the first war started to form as a result of heavy traffic. As the Dominion had been ceded control of the nav relay they initially chose to ignore warnings from the Terrans about the rifts allowing things to get out of hand very quickly. Traffic routes were then altered with the help of the navigators guild which established which areas were considered navigation hazards.
In some areas like in much of the South Reach Cluster the intervention came in time to prevent full blown rifts from forming. According to studies by the guild, the subspace instability will fade over time. The rifts in the smugglers run should dissipate some time in the next millennia provided people stop flying their damn ships near them. The instability in South Reach is slowly normalising and should be clear for traffic within the next century. Emergency flights through the affected regions, while advised against, shouldn't cause excessive damage if kept to a minimum. Don't bring more one or two ships.

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>>23654082
>>Less than a week to find holy grail of ghost ships
No pressure.

>>23654086
>Has he told anyone else about this? And is he just asking us for help.
No and yes. He hasn't even talked to the Commander about the idea given that it could be taken to be a fools errand. He needs all the help he can get but has decided he can't inform anyone else because of the security threat. Given that you're the only other person aware of the upcoming operation to secure the enemy held super weapons you're one of the few with sufficient motivation to see the search succeed.

>>23654191
I am for telling our CO what's going on, and asking for advice on what to do concerning the Terrans.

Alright, I'd say going for the biggest/smallest rifts to look first would be best, Being what it is the Vieona likely had Advanced Veckron weapons designed to either reduce subspace interference (likely), or increase it (let's-make-sure-they-die crazy likely)

Looking into some of its missions for an MO, and into the average rift size for the time might be a good place to start, assuming

- It's even here, in this galaxy
- Not all / Even one of these rifts were initially caused by the Advanced Veckron Weaponry
- We have the ability to tell the size of a rift on one of our ships.

It's a big jump, but it's something to consider.

>>23654515
Sounds like a decent starting point to me.

>>23654515
Sounds like a plan, but I am still weary of telling the Commander.

>>23654713

I agree, unfortunately. Perhaps we could ask permission to search the areas for salvage or just plain recon? Ships that haven't been seen by the enemy may be valuable for the infiltration...

>>23654799
Maybe Captain Saputo can help us with the cover story? We can at least ask him if he has any good ideas.

>>23654799
The commander knows that we've done 'unofficial' things before, so we'll need a much better excuse than either of those if we want to throw her off our trail.

>>23654713
regretted saying it, still hadn't sunk in exactly how much of a fools errand Saputo thought it was.

Now I'm leaning towards 'hint that we may or may not find something somehow while [cover story]

>>23654914
Tell her we are looking into more diamond mining prospects like the one we found in the Smuggler's Run and she should take the hint.

>>23654944
Haha, very smart; I support this suggestion.

>>23654944
That is actually quite good and I would get behind that.

>>23654889
>>23654914

If she really presses us on the story, we could just ask her to allow us a secret of our own. We've enough damned secrets shared with her that perhaps this one is just better for her not to worry over.

We'll take Drake along, if she really wants a full report later.

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>>23654515
>Being what it is the Vieona likely had Advanced Veckron weapons designed to either reduce subspace interference (likely), or increase it (let's-make-sure-they-die crazy likely)
While the Terrans didnt realise it was a long term side effect of the weapons at first, amusingly enough the Mk.3 Veckron Torpedo intentionally caused short lived rifts. It directly tore holes into subspace which the remains of the enemy ship would fall into trapping them in a layer of subspace. In one incident the Terra Nova was accidentally dragged into one of these rifts but survived long enough to escape. If only I had seen Event Horizon, it could have been the perfect horror setup.

>Looking into some of its missions for an MO, and into the average rift size for the time might be a good place to start, assuming
>- It's even here, in this galaxy
>- Not all / Even one of these rifts were initially caused by the Advanced Veckron Weaponry
>- We have the ability to tell the size of a rift on one of our ships.

You're thankful that most of the data on navigation hazards are made publicly available by the Guild in the hopes of keeping people out of them. Determining exactly when they were formed is much more difficult as there was a flurry of activity through the cluster in a short period of time. There are some records in the historical database on which were formed as a result of larger fleet engagements but most of Vieona's deployments were classified. Kavarian records show a clearer record of when they lost contact with various ships but even those are fragmented because of jamming used by both sides and the destruction of communications relays.
Its clear you're going to need help sorting through all this sensor data and you haven't even picked up the old logs from the information broker yet.

[ ] Ask Linda
[ ] Ask Nabow Hafnar
[ ] Hire on a civilian at Tourta
[ ] Other

>>23655454
I should note that the Vieona used Mk4 and Mk5 V-Torps and Mk41 SP torps.

>>23655454
[x] Ask Linda

Linda is trustworthy but we should still be vague about why and clear on the importance of secrecy.

>>23655454
>[X] Linda

>>23655454
>[ ] Ask Linda
Just be sure to give her a crash course in security protocal before actually telling her anything.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJQD888

Just wanted to be sure nobody else had any better ideas before putting the survey link up. I don't seem to recall how long I'm working tomorrow so assume I may not be back until 6pm board time. I'll try to post briefly in the morning.

>>23655454
[X] Linda all the way

>>23655532
Had me worried for a second there, would have asked if it looked like a MK3 rift at each location

still may, since
>- Not all / Even one of these rifts were initially caused by the Advanced Veckron Weaponry
and
>It directly tore holes into subspace which the remains of the enemy ship would fall into trapping them in a layer of subspace
would said remains be crushed, or salvageable?
Just for future reference, might be useful to know how the Terra Nova escaped.

While we're waiting for survey results, any specific requests for wiki updates / page additions from anyone?

I've currently been focused on reading the archives to update House J&D's page and Sonia's holdings.

>>23656103
I've been making slight corrections to a few of the articles, but otherwise they're looking good. I've got a whole history of the Dominion document I've been working on but haven't quite finished.

>>23655925
Mk.3's were only used in the first Faction War. The subspace tears they created only lasted for seconds. The long term damage to the area however is little different from those caused by other models.

>would said remains be crushed, or salvageable?
Not unless you could find a way to access the layer of subspace they're trapped in. If you could though they might be salvageable.
>Just for future reference, might be useful to know how the Terra Nova escaped.
Terra Nova was outfitted with inter dimensional tunnelling systems based off the the emergency teleporter. It used them (semi-successfully) on a number of occasions but the system was unreliable and dangerous, nearly destroying the ship in a few instances. In that particular incident 100m of the outer hull and superstructure was stripped off. Most of the crew survived in the more heavily shielded interior sections and she was in refit for the rest of the year.

>>23656103
>While we're waiting for survey results, any specific requests for wiki updates / page additions from anyone?

You might want to expand/create pages on Mike, Alex, Kavos and Linda. They're the characters we've kept around the longest. All of them showed up in thread one or two.

>>23656267
Yeah, I've seen the corrections you've made. Obviously feel free to edit any of my stuff. I'm simply adding a bit of fluff to what is posted in the threads.

A problem that I've come up against however is that when I think about adding some character pages, such one for Lt Commander Wei Féng from the raid on the Terran super-heavy; I'm not sure if it's worth it because he might never come up again.

Bump.

>>23655925
>would said remains be crushed, or salvageable?
Saputo: Terrible atrocious Veckron weaponry tore the holes in the realty itself and trapped whole ship with their doomed crews in a hellish dimension of torment for all eternity
Sonia: Did they drop any good loot?

>>23656103
I would like to see descriptions of various factions. Did i understand correctly that Terrans are Chinese IN SPACE, for example?

>>23658773
>id i understand correctly that Terrans are Chinese IN SPACE, for example?
No. A few characters I intentionally gave Chinese or Asian names but the rest came about via random name generator.
The Captain of the TCS Trident was not for instance.

See you guys in 8 hours.

>>23658773
I don't know enough about each of the factions to make an interesting page for each of them, sorry mate.

Still think we should tell the Commander. Even if she thinks its a fools errand, there is a slight chance we might dig up something, and our wing needs training time anyways. After all, a third of our pilots are new.

Also, the League and the Pirates are both unlikely to make a move in the next week, so our wing won't be needed here.

Not telling the commander will only lead to her suspecting betrayal or foul play from us. She is a noble of the Dominion, after all.

>>23660865
Yeah we should tell her.
Besides we have a knack of finding extremely rare shit

>>23661351
>>23660865
I disagree personally.

Bump

You call Linda to your office and asks if she has some time spare.
"Sure. With all of our down time I've finished the system reports on our drive systems with the engineers. I even had time to work up an up to date chart of the smuggler route into FPL space with a few of the other ships navigators."

You tell her you need help cataloging the man made navigation hazards in this cluster. Breaking it down into approximate the same age groups and proximity to each other.

"The ones in the closest proximity will be overlapping. They'll have some of the worst damage." Your navigator tells you before looking over at the data you have. "The guild normally doesnt care precisely when they were created just in monitoring the rate at which space is returning to normal. And tracking the movement of ships through the affected regions."

"Does the guild have sensor records from the Faction Wars?" You ask her.

"No. Each Faction deployed their own long range sensor and communications arrays at each nav relay. They were too worried data through civilian channels could be sabotaged or retransmitted to their enemes. Construction of the modern stations began decades after the wars. It wasn't until the coup attempt a few months ago that people have started to realise again that the system is vulnerable."

You think for a minute. "I'm trying to get long range sensor logs from back then. If I can find them could you figure out which areas of space were damaged by the smallest number of ships?"

"Sorry Sonia, I won't know until I've had a chance to look them over."

Roll 1d20 for Linda's data management.

Rolled 13

>>23666685
Rolling Thunder
And welcome back TSTG

Rolled 10

>>23666685

Linda has got this.

Rolled 14

>>23666685
they teach Microsoft Access in space navigating school right?

You send a short message to Saputo that you'll be talking to the Commander about leave time. It takes a few hours to get a response, she must be busy with politicking and making sure the House fleet can defend the current holdings when the offensive is resumed. She's too busy to see you in person so you just have a secure call put through when available.

As expected she is concerned about having two of her top ranked Knights away from their units in the leadup to a large scale operation. Telling her you have a possible lead on an abandoned mining operation doesnt seem to help until you mention there might be hidden diamonds. You have experience keeping certain operations out of sight.

She nods. "Keep me apprised if you can. I want you back before the mission with time to spare." Before you can end the call she stops you. "One more thing Captain. You have a favour with the Rovinar, I do hope you'll consider asking for a Battlecruiser grade cloaking shield. Being able to cloak one of the captured fast battleships once they're repaired could be extremely useful."

You tell her you'll think about it.

>Any thing also you want to ask her?

>>23667169
nope

>>23667169

wait, she wants a cloak for a second fast battleship?

>>23667169
Is she giving us a hint for our side mission here, or is she making a more general statement that BC-grade cloaking fields are good?

>>23667547
I think it might be a little bit of both

>>23667624
Hm, she could be. But seeing as the captured BC's are still being repaired and we only have a week to do this, it's not really an option.

I guess we have nothing more to say to her.

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>Anything ELSE you want to ask her?
Have to remember spell check does not correct for grammar.

>>23667437
>wait, she wants a cloak for a second fast battleship?
Possibly.

>>23667547
>Is she giving us a hint for our side mission here,
No.
>or is she making a more general statement that BC-grade cloaking fields are good?
Not any more than others.

Hint: How many people know about the cloak you already have?

Five hours after setting Linda on the task of sorting through the data available you're contacted by the information brokers on Tourta. The data you requested is ready for pickup. Saputo has informed you that he's set aside funds for the side mission.
You also have House funding available for equipment that you believe will be useful on the infiltration mission. If you go beyond 1 million you'll have to convince logistics or intel to part with more.

Who will accompany you to Tourta? Captain Saputo will be taking his command ship and an Escort Carrier there to look for equipment for his marines and starfighters for his wing.

>>23667881
Is that cloak rigged to a ship?

What is the fastest it could be done?

Bring the EX-K and half of Mike's squadron

>>23667961
>Is that cloak rigged to a ship?
Yes. One of the fast battleships that are still stuck in dock under repair. Engineering teams are still working on the cloak and seeing if they can reverse engineer it without having to scrap the thing.

Started tying then realised a problem.

>Bring the EX-K and half of Mike's squadron
Mike's unit is out doing exercises against 3rd squadron. Do you want to pull them away from the training? If so who will you assign to replace them?

>>23668343
Bring Drake's flight, minus the merc, with us [swap her merc for another flight's non-merc].

Mike needs to get used to his unit so we can start adding to it without overwhelming.

>>23668519
I support this action

Jumping out to Tourta takes little time at all. The fastest routes have been saved to the databases of all House ships to reduce response times.

Arriving in orbit without having to worry about every local on the planet running for their transports remains handy. A number of light transports still give you a wide berth, concerned you might change your mind and still take their cargo.

"Any reports on sales of slaves? Because I can't be the only person in the House to want that shit cracked down on."

Kavos does some digging on the news feeds while you move the ship into position above one of the larger cities and have the shuttle prepared.

"Apparently there have been crackdowns on a number of slave running rings. It only started recently after a few of the better hidden ones were removed, now the less organised ones are being targeted by planetary security. Apparently the trade minister is believed to have planned the operations."

"Nice. I'm going down to the surface." You tell the others. "Prepare to receive a tight beam transmission from the shuttle later. Linda I want you to get to work on the data once you get it."

The flight to the surface is smooth. The other shuttle with the decoy projectors has supposedly cleared the first round of checks but you'll wait until they're finished.

>>23668881
Thirded.

Stopping for dinner it turns out.

What kind of equipment would you like to get for your infiltration team while you're here? Remember you have a rather large budget with which to get things, it will more be a question of availability. The easier it is to get the less expensive it will be for the most part. Things like SP Torps will still cost an arm and a leg though.

>>23669178
Question TSTG, has the equipment that became available at the start of the thread which we then purchased been delivered to our Wing/Marine contingent yet?

Aside from that, I think we need to decide on the exact force that we are bringing along on this mission first before we start buying additional equipment. Or is Drake’s flight (minus merc) plus the EX-K it?

>>23669379
>Question TSTG, has the equipment that became available at the start of the thread which we then purchased been delivered to our Wing/Marine contingent yet?
Yes. Enough to outfit some but not all of the Marines on your LST.

>
Aside from that, I think we need to decide on the exact force that we are bringing along on this mission first before we start buying additional equipment. Or is Drake’s flight (minus merc) plus the EX-K it?

You're here to pick up equipment not just for your current sidequest.
>Find the Vieona
But also for the upcoming boarding and infiltration mission.

At the moment its just your four ships and Captain Saputo's two on the sidequest, but you can add more if necessary. Even send some back to base if you feel they're not needed.

Almost back.

>>23669645
Question, are we bringing the blackbird? If not, bring it.

>>23670111
Done.

Deciding that for the moment you have enough equipment with the Republic gear you requisitioned you head for the information broker. Saputo meets you there since this concerns both of you and he'll be making the payments. He's wearing vaguely military cut civilian clothes.
Heading into an office indicated by a secretary you see listen to what the particular agent has for you.

"The sensor records we found are... incomplete, with gaps in the coverage." She activates a projector with a map of the area. Areas with no data are lit up in red.

"These are all that remains of the old Kavarian Union archives. They had the most dense sensor coverage of the cluster at the time. All of what can be found is there. But, for a small extra fee I can provide you with the last known locations of automated sensor stations used to-"

"We'll take them provided the stellar drift calculations are included." Says the older Knight, getting ready to pay. "Then lets get moving."

Returning to your shuttle you send the data up to the ship so that Linda can take a look at it. In the time you've been on the ground she's finished her initial analysis and found more than a dozen candidate sites.

Saputo meanwhile does a quick look through the locations of automated sites. "Oof. There are fifty of the damned things just for monitoring inbound and outbound traffic from the cluster."

"Linda, see if you can narrow down which stations we'll have to check for additional records if any."

Roll 1d100

Rolled 39

>>23670443

Rolled 57

>>23670443
rolling

Rolled 74

>>23670443
rollin

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"Most of the gaps in the recordings are in this area. Its still going to take me some time to compare the data I already have with the navigation records to determine which are the newest. Without the missing data though there's a chance we'll be looking in the wrong place."

You and the Captain check the updated map.

"Dammit Linda." You mutter. "Linda there are three dwarf galaxies and the largest spiral in the cluster within that range."

"Sorry, but some of those have the coverage needed to fill in the gaps." Linda responds. You get the impression that she's shrugging.

"It means we dont need to check the ones at the edges of the cluster." Concedes Saputo. "Even the farthest of these are within a few hours travel once we're beyond the rim of this galaxy. Still, searching more than a dozen centuries abandoned stations for their data could be dangerous and time consuming."

[ ] Scour the station sites for data
[ ] Try to find records from other sources
[ ] other

Rolled 4

Rolling

>>23671080
Well, it's good I missed that the, ha.

>[X] Try to find records from other sources.

It's worth a shot at least.

>>23671077
[x] Other sources

You ask the older knight who else might have records you could check.
He sits and thinks.
"Well the Kavarians had the most complete records because they were camped out here for months establishing bases before trying to move on the Republic. The Terrans we cant ask obviously. The Rovinar and Krath may have had some, and the few Houses that went mercenary working for the Kavarians almost certainly had sensors scattered through the region. Its too bad most of them were crushed in the fighting at the end of the war or by Houses taking advantage of their losses in the years after."

"What about the Republic?" you wonder.

"No, their long range sensor capability was always shit, just like their FTL until the other Factions ran into them. It took them forever to modernise their ELINT capability. The wars were long over by then."

[ ] Rovinar
[ ] Krath
[ ] Houses
[ ] Other

>>23671406
[x] Rovinar

We get along pretty well with them and they owe us a bigger favor than this, just gotta be careful how we ask to make sure they don't get too suspicious.

>>23671472

that begs the question of exactly where these dwarf galaxies are. If they're near our current position, we could ask for the sensor data as a sort of "could you throw this in" thing, saying we just want more information on the local area, as we'll be holding territory here.

>>23671472
I'll second this, as long as we make it clear that asking them this is not our 'big favor'.

If the Rovinar are not too keen on the idea, I think that the Krath should be our second port of call.

>just gotta be careful how we ask to make sure they don't get too suspicious.
How would you like this request worded?

>>23671594
>. If they're near our current position, we could ask for the sensor data as a sort of "could you throw this in" thing, saying we just want more information on the local area, as we'll be holding territory here.

One of them is the dwarf galaxy you are currently located in.
Remember you would be requesting sensor data from +400 years ago.

2 for Rovinar atm. Should I put up a survey link? Screw it, posting one. I'm going to step out for a little bit.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N37B79Z

>>23671819

The bro knight from the house of assholes, and the captain of the terran sleeper ship we rescued might be other chances to discretely acquire some sensor data.

>>23671819
Ask for a Battlecruiser grade cloaking device and then as an afterthought if they have any sensor data for the relevant areas/timeframes, along with a few other bogus areas/timeframes.

>>23672012
Ah no, let's not do this. Those two requests arn't related at all; and I think we should save the favor for something we desperately need, not just waste it on a whim.

>Ask for info from a bit before the Vieona went missing to a bit after, they should still have some that ol sensor data, if they are as meticulous as I suspect.
>Krath are a fallback, depending on how many anons might agree with that.
So 6 votes for Rovinar.

>(we got a date from our friend on the ghostship, right?)
You havent had contact with the crew of the the Endeavour since you left the homeworlds. None of the crew of the Cascading Fury have really mentioned the Vieona.
>(should be fairly common knowledge, right?)
They know well enough to narrow it down to inside a month. They weren't operating in this area in the war.

>>23671919
>The bro knight from the house of assholes
Knight Myrish Avun of House Sulos? Or the clone from House Lat'tham? Other than those two none spring immediately to mind.

>>23672012
> along with a few other bogus areas/timeframes.
Would you want them restricted to the same war at the very least? 1 person against that particular wording, or the request for the Cloak at least.

>>23672592

I can see why the Commander would want us to get a cloak for one of the fast battleships. By obtaining one openly from the Rovinar, they're not going to shit their pants when the one we already have cloaks or decloaks. The two ships would likely be made to look identical, and never operate together. Hides the numbers.

That said... it -is- worth asking about.

I know that this isn't related to our current situation, but could we get a progress update on all current House R&D projects sometime TSTG?

Aside from the assault corvette one, as I believe you've already said that the 2nd wing is going to combat test some prototypes soon.

>>23672843
>Knight Myrish Avun of House Sulos?
That one, the clone is still MIA, if I remember correctly.

>>23672948
I agree that it would be something useful to have and I further agree that there is no harm in asking them. If they want to give us for free or whatever, awesome.

I'm just against using our favor for this when we don't have an immediate need for a cloaked BC.

>>23673068
The Rovinar are highly unlikely to give us a battlecruiser grade cloaking device without eating up our favor.

In then end, the Commander has effectively just asked us to get something for the House's benefit. Do we burn our favor on something the House wants, or burn it on ourself? I wonder how the Commander would take us ignoring her 'suggestion'.

>>23673213
Could we get cloaking for our new Great Houses ship? Because that would be awesome.

>>23673068
Our personal battle cruiser is going to be done in a few months.

Having our own personal cloaked battle cruiser would basically be the best thing ever.

>>23672970
It would certainly be one House worth investigating. Kaz tells you over the com that Sulos was one of the Houses to survive the war despite losses.

Heading back into the markets you grab a few pieces of equipment with the credit from the House then head back to the ship. The Rovinar lack an embassy on any of the worlds nearby and the closest thing is the nav station. After returning to the EX-K you set course for the station. Captain Saputo escorts his Carrier back to base after picking up some more starfighters, promising to meet you at the nav station within the next hour or two.

When Drake asks what the mission plan is you tell her you're just running an errand, an important one but still just an errand. Taking a shuttle over to the station you make sure you're armed and can pull out your backup pistol properly from the new armored jumpsuit. You still haven't ordered a new one capable of keeping you alive through vacuum exposure. It's still on your list.

The station is still more than a little rough around the edges inside. A check of the crime rates show that they're still a bit high, but the central core and most of the station arms leading to the outer ring have been cleared of gangs. Residential areas are still proving troublesome enough that a half million civilians have been relocated to nearby colony worlds.

You have your escort wait outside the Rovinar embassy. Security is reluctant to let you inside while armed with a pistol that could punch through light tank armour but eventually let you through.

"Captain, congratulations on your promotion." greets the aid assigned to see you once you're seated. He(?) has a slightly odd accent that you cant trace.
"Our government is most grateful for your previous assistance. The Terrans also informed us you were responsible for recovering one of our battlecruisers they recently returned. How might our government assist you at this time?"

>What say?

>>23673685

Well, first things are first. We need to ask how the Rovinar that escaped the Lat'tham Ball with us are, and that a message of good health and fortune be passed along to them. A shame we forgot their names in the confusion of it all.

On to business, we're interested in speaking about a favor owed, as time was very short for detailed negotiations. We're also interested in procuring some old sensor readings, if they're available. With our new holdings in the region, historical information may be of use to us.

Nobody really wants the cloak at this time, just the sensor data.

Choose your words carefully for they could result in your doom getting the data without any problems?

>>23674082
>samefag addition:

Ask about the ship we returned in the smuggler's run. Was it returned to service or perhaps turned into a memorial of some sort?

>>23674089
Is there some way we could use Linda for this? Does she, perhaps, have to write some kind of entrance research paper to be accepted into the navigators' guild after her contract with the military is over? Or maybe increase her prestige within the guild before she starts working for them?

If so, we could tell the Rovinar she's going to write a paper on the nature of subspace rifts, and how they change over the centuries. We need some sensor data of the initial rifts for that, if possible.

>>23674082
The aid promises to pass along the message. Most of the officers are fighting on the front lines.

>We're also interested in procuring some old sensor readings, if they're available. With our new holdings in the region, historical information may be of use to us.
"Fascinating. Understand we may have to scrub some of our own ship movements from the scans for security. How far back did you wish?"

>>23674168
>Does she, perhaps, have to write some kind of entrance research paper to be accepted into the navigators' guild after her contract with the military is over?
Not really no.
>Or maybe increase her prestige within the guild before she starts working for them?
That and could help with a higher pay grade.
>If so, we could tell the Rovinar she's going to write a paper on the nature of subspace rifts
She could make requests through official channels but it could take months or years. I suppose its feasible for you to be doing her a favour but could attract attention.

>>23674332
>scrub Rovinar ship movements
That is perfectly understandable.

If possible, some pre-faction war data would be helpful. We can get a picture of the space before the rifts and all.
A few dates of interesting events during the faction wars, maybe? [would this cover what we're looking for?]
Some post-war sensor data could probably wait until a later time until delivery, as we'd want to work on the early stuff first. [say 200 years ago, if stuff we want is actually 400 years ago?]

That should give us a nice set of data to learn about how the Faction wars changed this area, and give Linda data to play with if she wants. Who knows, perhaps we'll notice a planet or pre V-torp battle site that we can investigate, too.

>>23674332
In that case, I'd suggest she should make an official enquiry as well, to make things look less suspicious.

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>>23674619
>[would this cover what we're looking for?]
Yes technically.

>>23674625
I agree with this. We need this request to be as low-profile as possible to avoid any suspicion. The cover story of helping Linda out with an academic paper on space abnormalities while going through official channels to obtain the data works perfectly in this regard.

If I remember correctly, they weren't even offering a Battleship the first time around, let alone a Rovinar Cloak.

Curious, CO.

File: 1363239844537.gif-(7 KB, 1147x418, Timeline scan dataB.gif)

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Given the turnout I figure I'd better toss another survey up before bed. Did up a bit of a timeline too.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FWDT39X

>>23675500
Your current favour is worth a lot more as they were pulling you from an active battle zone to be sent on a hella dangerous mission.

>>23675931
A lot more than a free battleship with state-of-the-art cloaking tech...wow.

>>23675931
Hmm, if Linda is writing an academic paper, it makes sense for her to want as much data as possible to help form solid conclusions. Furthermore, such a request should look less suspicious as we're not focusing on any one specific period.

>>23675987
What? No no no, you could probably get a battleship without a cloak with what you have now. A Battleship/Battlecruiser grade Cloak would cost you half and perhaps leave you with enough left over for an attack cruiser.

>>23676049
>and perhaps leave you with enough left over for an attack cruiser.
If my calculations are correct, that is enough for those extra-tough Rovinar shields, yes?

I don''t believe I saw a size restriction, and that would certainly be a nice starting upgrade (if it would be an upgrade) for our new errant ship.

>>23673484
That is actually a good question.

We could of course tell the Rovinar that we intend to go treasure hunting in the Subspace Rift area. There should be a lot of wrecks from the faction wars still around... After all, we are on leave from a war zone, and nobles are supposed to have strange hobbies, aren't they?

>>23675931
>http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FWDT39X
For a reason,

How about we and Linda are conducting a study in space rifts and proper navigation between them to facilitate the good development and security of our holdings in the Smugglers run, and this area is somewhat/very relevant to their formation, and continued existence.

Plus its not a lie if we actually go on with it...

>>23678247
Sounds good.

>>23678247
This sounds pretty good.

Also bump.

>>23678247
Indeed. Having said data used in some public way plus the thing we have thus far acquired should make a excellent cover story, and even account for the secrecy.

Having our house military get better jump performance around rifts in order to better hold our new house assets is a good enough reason to be secretive about it, and its something that can be used as a good first 'secret' cover to what we are actually doing.


Perhaps if we worded it some way so we dont say this outright, but have this be the thing that pops up if someone tries to make inquiries or investigation in our interest.

>>23674151
Both sort of. Its being refurbished with plans for it to join the Rovinar Home Fleets. Some of the old equipment and pieces from the bridge will be used in a memorial.

>>23673484
>Could we get cloaking for our new Great Houses ship?
Yes. Be advised, you used House resources to chase down and scan those ships to earn the favour. If you use the whole thing on yourself expect some of your superiors to be mildly annoyed, though they would certainly understand it.

>>23676435
Your custom built battlecruiser is already being outfitted with some of the toughest shields available.

>>23680043
Then lets not do that.

>a study in space rifts and proper navigation between them to facilitate the good development and security of our holdings in the Smugglers run, and this area is somewhat/very relevant to their formation, and continued existence.

"Wouldn't the Guild be the best place to look for such information?" the aid asks.

"Not everything is publicly available and it could take a very long time to get data from them. Besides it could help my House in the long run."

The aid stands and retrieves a data pad. "And from what time periods would you like sensor data?"

"Multiple points before, during and after Faction Wars, then 200 years ago, and finally today. Or maybe the past couple years." You correct yourself.

Finishing punching in the request you're informed that the sensor logs should be ready in a day or so. "There may be some missing information through the Wars. The Kavarians diverted efforts to destroy our hidden sensor stations. Many did survive though."

Roll 1d100

Rolled 94

>>23680314
For once, I'm actually around while stuff happens.

>>23680329
>Rolled 94
Yay, I guess?

Rolled 79

>>23680314

I wonder if there are station grade cloaking devices lost out there...

>>23680329
Nice roll. When you get the sensor data Linda informs you that it fills in the missing gaps and then some. She'll just need a bit more time to go through it all.

Roll 1d20

>>23680349
There are ones big enough for some stations, but hiding the largest stations would be difficult.

And I am off to work once again.

Rolled 14

>>23680426
Awesome. Here's the d20.

Rolled 4

>>23680426

Rolled 2

>>23680426
rolling

Rolled 20

>>23680426
Rolling

>>23680493
>>23680514

The dice are hating on us.

two hour bump

Page 8 bump this time, /tg/'s moving fast.

I'm also going to bed, so somebody else will have to take over if OP needs more time to get back.

Well, since we're waiting I've been thinking about what might happen if we actually find our ghost ship. The Terrans seem eager to shoot anyone who manages to salvage their stuff. How are we going to recover this thing discretely?

Assuming it's been abandoned and adrift all this time, I really doubt we'll find it in a usable condition. Which means it'll need a shipyard for a refit, and then anyone looking would be able to see it. Once word gets out, the Terrans know we've got a legendary ship of theirs, and will certainly react.

I guess my bottom line question is: Do we have any ship in the fleet big enough to recover this vessel without it being seen by anyone without security clearance? We're doing the equivalent of the CIA attempting to recover the K-129, only in this case the Russians would be willing to start a shooting war over it if they found out.

I say that if we're actually able to find and recover this thing, we should tow it to a safe, remote, and secure location while keeping the crew from what's actually going on. No EVAs, no cameras or viewports outside, etc. That way, the only people who should know that we've recovered the Vieona are the bridge staffs of the ships taking part. That's already too many people, but at least they're all officers and have some form of security clearance.

Once recovered, if we've got a ship large enough to recover we call that in. As for what to tell the Commander, I'd be afraid of giving specific details over any sort of channel, unless we know we've got a foolproof way of informing her on our find without it being monitored. Otherwise, we should specify the security level needed at whatever station we're bringing the Vieona.

>>23686432
>Security level
Security level: Maximum

We'd have to call in every ally and every favor our House has, while also using every single ship at the House's disposal. We'd have to turn a single system into a fortress that'd put the Cadian system to shame.

>>23686432

Quite simply, we likely -can not- keep the ship, even if we do find it. We're hoping to learn the secret behind it's unique ability to avoid killing it's crew when using V-torps. If we find some SP torps or equipment we can steal, even better.

Finding the ship will basically mean cashing it in to the Terrans for the benefit of our House and those involved in this.

>>23686432
The Vieona is way too hot for us or even our House to handle. We want to get the info we need from it and then sell the vessel as is to the Terrans, preferably through a third party like the Rovinar.

Unless of course the ship is fully operational, in which case we take it for ourselves and head to the opposite end of the known universe to become a pirate queen.

>>23686691
>>23686848
While it may not be realistic to keep the Vieona, we will need to at least secure her. What's the general plan for once that happens? I think she should be towed back to a port as secretly and securely as possible so it can be under maximum guard. This type of situation is one where our House formally informs the Terran government on her recovery, and makes an offer to return her. We'll need to keep the Vieona safe until that happens, because once that offer is made someone's going to find out. I feel it's possible someone will want to steal it after the galaxy learns where it is. There's also the possibility some other House may not want to see the Vieona returned to Terran hands.

>>23687041
No, tell the ruling house we found something "interesting" and they take it and help us become a medium house.

>>23687041

Bringing that ship into one of our House's docks is going to end up getting our House either screwed by the Terrans because we have to appease the Ruling House and Major Houses, or angering the Ruling House and Major Houses because we immediately gave it up to the Terrans.

>>23687335

The Terrans and Rovinar have the ability to maintain a monopoly on SP torp production by force. They won't allow Vieona to fall into Dominion hands for good, and I doubt the Ruling House will leave witnesses. We're a knight from a House the Dominion wouldn't bat an eyelash at losing. We're expendable for such a secret.

bu-bump

Six hours after getting the data from the Rovinar Linda finishes her analysis, finding some likely candidate locations.

Due mainly to the 1 day timeskip waiting on the Rovinar to scrub their data, running around or waiting for other things a total of 42 hours has elapsed on mission since you and Saputo first talked. You currently have 90 hours remaining. More than enough time you figure.

You, Linda and the Captain wait in your office until the older Knight can make sure its clear of listening devices.
"I haven't detected any. Which means they either aren't here or are too good to be detected."

"Why not both? Have a listening device in another room nearby." Suggests Linda. "What?" She says in response to your stares.

"It would take too long to turn the room into a Faraday cage and install dampeners, just tell us what you found." Saputo insists.

Linda calls up the completed charts and maps for all of you to see.
"Well I've stitched the data together and found a few points of interest. It turns out that these were sites of major fleet battles here, here and here. These other three I was looking at don't have any records of fleet movements but that's not the unusual part."
She brings up her map showing subspace readings.
"The amount of overlap necessary for this level of subspace instability means that there must have been more than ten torpedoes detonated within a small area."

"So is this what we're looking for?" You ask.

Saputo nods. "There were few ships with launchers available when the Republic counter attack reached this region. For that many torpedoes to have been fired would require a fleet of hundreds or possibly thousand of ships to have been present. It would have shown up in the public records unless its what we're after. Do you know which was the most recent?"

>>23687041
If the thing has been sitting somewhere for however many years, the last thing we want to do to keep it safe is move it. Keep it right where it is where no one has been able to find it until we figure out where it will end up.

>>23688694
if she does go there.

"I think its the smallest one here." She points to one of the other dwarf galaxies. "The Rovinar sensor records don't quite match up with the strength of the disturbance in the area. They only showed seven detonations but the instability is strong enough to be equivalent to ten or twelve."

"Any chance modern sensor scans of the area have detected ships there?" Asks the other Captain.

"Nothing at the moment." Linda replies. "But there's something you should know. It still isn't really safe to travel to that area. In another fifty years it might be safe to send an expedition out there."

You sigh. "Linda assume we don't have fifty years. What then?"

"You could send one ship. As long as the drives were running at low power we should be safe." She bites her lip. "I think."

"Then we've only got once chance at it." Concludes Saputo. "We have to make it count. When either of us encountered ghost ships before it was just a matter of extending our drive field to overlap theirs and disrupt their field. Somehow I doubt this will be quite as simple."

"And if the ship you're looking for isn't visible because of fading in and out like the others you'll be searching blindly." Adds Linda trying to be helpful.

>What say?

>>23689179
I think the ship for the job is our blackbird, since it has the best sensors. That said, suppose we find the ship. Then what?

>>23689228
Get the info we need, something to serve as proof that we found it, and sell the location to the Terrans with the Rovinar arbitrating.

>>23689228
Depends on its state.

If somehow it's nothing but low-worth scrap, scan for life signs, If some how it's in perfect shape, simply unable to exit because has engines with settings 1-5 missing, "Hello, we've got the gentle bump to get you out of here, care for a tow?" or something.

so let's go find out.

>>23689228
>That said, suppose we find the ship. Then what?
That is entirely up to you guys.

Survey link for what people think should be brought along (if anything.)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5Y8N89D

>so let's go find out.
Is there anything or anyone you want to take with you?

>>23689610
The strike team, Kavos, Linda, our personal arms and armor, and spare shuttles if there is room.

I assume we can't bring an LST on the Blackbird.

>>23689730
>I assume we can't bring an LST on the Blackbird.
It would be a tight fit and would severely affect its maneuverability in combat. Other than that it could potentially bring an LST along.

>Assuming Blackbird has the best sensors and rugged drive systems. If not, I'd vote EX-K
It does have the best sensors of the listed ships.

>>23689774
In the event of combat our plan would be MAX JAMMING and RUN THE FUCK AWAY, so we may as well bring one for the boarding utility.

If it comes down to it we can always jettison it and requisition another one.

Blackbird is small, other than confirming whether or not the Veiona is there and being nonthreatening it seems to be a less than stellar choice.

I assume the EX-K and Saputo Custom still have upgraded sensor packages while offering the advantage of size,space,and power aswell as sublight speed and small craft numbers.

>>23689934

That is actually a very good point. It would be nice to pull some loot from whatever may be in that navigation hazard.

I believe the EX-K has the most cargo space, due to size and the spartan nature of the royal guard cruisers?

>1 from Blackbird to EX-K [sorry!]

>>23689934
>>23689983
None of the ships have excessive amounts of room for spare shuttles. They do have advanced sensor upgrades but the Blackbird remains far and away the most powerful in that regard.
The EX-K has a tiny bit more cargo space.

1 anon has suggested that the Blackbird (or another ship) wait outside the hazard area unless or until needed.

>Could we Tow the Vieona? It's not that big, Right?
>Length: 2700m
Its a bit big. The Blackbird could not tow it but either of the other two might almost stand a chance.

Blackbird is still winning.

>>23690145
I really don't want to try to tow it.

I say we take the blackbird and have the other two ships on standby for when we find it.

>>23690145

First and foremost recon.
If its been there for so long its not suddenly going to dissapear if we find it.

However, if we don't find it at all due to insufficient sensors, we'll have nothing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NxrQipUkwg

Returning to base you have non essential personnel taken off the Blackbird to make room for your heavy strike team. The interior space of the ship is quite small and most of it is filled with machinery and power systems. You have your gear brought over and stowed in one of the rooms being used by some of the Heavy Strike Team.

"Cramped little ship." Comments Ecord.
"Its still bigger than the LST." You remind him.
"Only on the outside sir." responds the Sergeant Major before heading off to look after the Marines.

Arriving on the bridge and taking one of the jumpseats you see that Captain Saputo is already strapped in.
"You're not piloting your own ship sir?" You ask.

"I have one of my other lower ranked Knights taking care of it. He'll wait outside the range of the instability. A good pilot and can be trusted but less in the way of command material. If we find that ship I hope to be among the first to lay eyes on it."

Undocking from the station at Surakeh, your ships head out beyond the rim of the galaxy, then set up for a longer high speed run to the target location. Two hours later the ship reduces speed, the Blackbird dropping down to the minimum possible for the drives. You can tell Linda is on the verge of freaking out.

"Dropping back to real space in five." Announces the Blackbird's navigator.

There's a slight bump as the ship drops out and a few extra beeps from the navigators console.

"Termination shock registered at more than twenty times normal output."
Linda unbuckles herself and takes a look.
"It's not enough to cause a rift but we don't want too many ships out here. I think we just added a year to how long it will take this area to stabilize."

Hafnar and his crew begin a series of scans of the region. Initial sweeps pick up micro debris scattered in an elliptical orbit around a brown dwarf star.
"Possibly the remains of a super heavy or two. It will take us a few hours to get closer at sublight and find out. Not seeing any large remains."

The next phase of scans while moving in system are intended to penetrate deeper into subspace. It's similar to modified subspace communications, a powerful active scan that would make it easier to detect ships moving at low FTL speeds that are otherwise hard to "see."

Roll 1d100

Rolled 100

>>23691152

Superheavies, huh? A good sign.

>>23691184
Holy mother of... Ok then?

>>23691184
That is some sensor package.

Hope we see something we can do something about.

>>23691184
Welp, we found it.

>>23691235
Okay, we NEED to get another Blackbird now. We can't afford not to have a backup.

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"I'm detecting a... I don't know what it is."

Half the people on the bridge are out of their jumpseats and looking over the shoulder of the sensors officer in seconds.

"Where?!" seems to be the question everyone can agree on.

"It's at the edges of the max orbit of the debris. Trying to narrow it down."

"I'm moving the ship in closer." Reports Hafnar, increasing engine power.

"The signal is indistinct, like its not even there."

"Cloaked?" Asks Saputo.

"No." The officer shakes her head. "If it was cloaked in realspace there wouldn't be any subspace reading at all. It's like, I don't know how to describe it, like maybe subspace is stretched in that area? You could fly through it at FTL I don't doubt it. Its not quite in the same layer of subspace our jump drives access but there's enough bleed over for us to pick it up."

"Only barely though." Adds Hafnar. "I boosted power to sensors beyond their recommended limits."

The officer agrees. "They're going to burn out if we keep them at this level much longer but I've triangulated the position now."

It takes more than an hour to approach the marked location. Linda helps monitor the field output as the ship's navigator extends the drive field in an attempt to pop the ship back into real space.

After a few minutes of this Linda walks over to you and the Captain. "Its not working." she whispers. "Our drives cant access the region of subspace they're burred in. They're just not designed for this."

>What do?

>>23691594
What do you recommend if our drives don't work? Then we need to take the captain aside for a serious talk about how to deal with this thing.

>>23691594

Is it just the drives on this ship, or would all drives have the problem?

Our ship weapons can't pop the bubble, can they?

>>23691684
So we can't get them out, but would it somehow be possible to enter the layer of subspace they are on?

>>23691775

extending on that thought...

if we could find a wreck with larger, fairly intact drives, could those drives work?

>>23691775
>Is it just the drives on this ship, or would all drives have the problem?
All normal drives would have the same problem.

>Our ship weapons can't pop the bubble, can they?
Nope.

>>23691791
>but would it somehow be possible to enter the layer of subspace they are on?
Yes, but you would need a system similar to or if not identical to the one the ship is using.
I gave you a hint about this earlier.

>>23691989
Like a cloaking device for a battlecruiser sized vessel?

>>23691989

so we need our Friendly neighborhood Hune sleepers...

>>23691989

wait... is the ship in the same subspace deal that Emergency teleporters use?

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>>23692024
>Like a cloaking device for a battlecruiser sized vessel?
MFW

>>23692035
>so we need our Friendly neighborhood Hune sleepers...

Captain Saputo sighs. "I was afraid of this."

"Wait, you knew?" you ask, surprise evident.

"I suspected. Calling in that kind of assistance would almost certainly blow our cover so I hoped it wouldn't be necessary. We need to get our hands on a Factions Alliance sleeper ship, or the system they used."

>What say?


>>23692163
No, that's the Terra Nova. The word subspace is kind of a catch-all term.

>>23692344
Tell the Captain that we know a guy who has a Factions Alliance sleeper ship, but getting him/it here would probably take too long.

We've got a bunch of sensor logs for a long time frame for this area though, and we already found one ghost ship here. Let's see if we can scare up another.

>>23692344

... "Is it even safe to bring a medium cruiser into this area?"

>>23692344
>What say?

Well, that kinda sucks. Should we try to contact the crews of one of the sleeper ships we found, or should we just look for a new sleeper ship?

>>23692344
>auto update
>"They are but a theory occurred to me a few months ago. What if people had already found the location of the ship before, they just didn't know it? Or more accurately, couldn't see it?"
>"...Think about it. All of those sleeper ships were supposed to come up for air every so many decades or however long to see if their help was needed, but their system screwed up and they stayed under. Their real objective could be to find the Vieona. That or I've been reading too many conspiracy theories over the infonet."

I was not surprised

The tech advantage this -could- give the Terrans is big

>Should we try to contact the crews of one of the sleeper ships we found,
Cascading Fury has actually been waiting in reserve the past few weeks helping to protect the nav station. It's departure would be noticed. A cover story would buy a little time.

>>23692428
>... "Is it even safe to bring a medium cruiser into this area?"
You ask Linda this.
"Honestly, its not great but it shouldn't be too much worse than bringing in a smaller ship. If their control systems are of better quality than ours it might be possible to minimize their impact."


>>23692422
>and we already found one ghost ship here. Let's see if we can scare up another.
>>23692440
>or should we just look for a new sleeper ship?
If only you guys hadn't passed up all those opportunities for recon missions, you could have found a few more!
You ask the Captain if he knows of any others.

"Well there's the Cruiser my Wing found back in the Smugglers Run but there was immediately a debate about the ship formerly belonging to a now minor House that wanted it back. It was terrible. It should be possible to look up ones that have been found by other Houses locally over the Command network back at base."

You're not sure about that so you turn to Linda. "Is there any chance you could use the Rovinar sensor records to locate Ghost ships that haven't been recovered yet?"

She shrugs. "I don't know, I was mostly just looking for navigation hazards before. It might be possible."

[ ] Contact Cascading Fury
[ ] "Borrow" a ship from another House
[ ] Let Linda take a look at the sensor records
[ ] Other

>>23692737
>[ ] Let Linda take a look at the sensor records

>>23692737
[X] Let Linda take a look at the sensor records

>>23692737

Can Linda work on them here? If so, we may as well take a look for any ships that could be salvaged when we're forced to bring in a sleeper cruiser.

>>23692837
Hmm, investigating the various debris in the system might be a good idea while Linda's working.

>>23692771
>>23692792
>>23692837
>Can Linda work on them here? If so, we may as well take a look for any ships that could be salvaged when we're forced to bring in a sleeper cruiser.
>>23692853
>Hmm, investigating the various debris in the system might be a good idea while Linda's working.

Roll 2d100

Rolled 52

>>23692895
First die.

Rolled 79

>>23692911
And the second one.

Rolled 93, 31 = 124

>>23692895

Another tech-use roll?

>inb4 sleeper ship right here

Rolled 53, 90 = 143

>>23692895
Rollin

Rolled 63, 78 = 141

>>23692932
>>23692943
Well....this will be interesting

>>23692982

sadly, the 93 is not quite up to par with my earlier roll :(

Either we've found some serious salvage or some sleeper ships!

>>23692982
Yay for Linda, and Salvage Sonia!

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"Hafnar, take a look around at sublight for anything salvageable while we're here. Linda, take a minute to sort through your data, see if you can find a Sleeper ship that hasnt been recovered yet."

While everyone gets to work you head on back to see what the Marines are up to and let them know there's been a delay. You do a few laps of the ship for excercise then throw on your armor and do a few more before practising some melee routines. You're called to the bridge a few hours later.

"Found a ship sir." Reports the former starfighter pilot. While looking at the wrap around monitor isn't easy from outside the pilot's seat, if you stand right next to the Chief Ops station you can see it. A Kavarian K-Type Attack Cruiser. It looks largely intact until you see it's belly. A line of four deep craters cuts into the more vital areas including the drive core and main bridge.

"Caught an entire Mk 41 volley I'd say. That's the only thing short of V-Torps that could penetrate Kavarian anti-torpedo armor like that back then. Secondary bridge and superstructure are intact, it's in good shape really. Our engineers could use our spare drive core components to rig a replacement."

The navigator is a bit leery about having more ships using FTL in the area.

[ ] Rig a drive core
[ ] Send it out system on sublight with a House beacon
[ ] Both
[ ] Other

>>23693510
How long would it take to reach a zone it can safely use its drive again in via sublight?

Rolled 2, 2 = 4

>>23693616
5 years. Not that long really.


You hear from Linda while discussion between the engineers begin about what equipment will need to be brought out of storage to quickly repair the derelict ship.

"What have you found?" You ask after stepping into the Captain's office which she's borrowing.

"Well, the Houses with worlds in the area are clearing away ghost ships awfully fast now that they know what to do with them. I did find one that should be a safe bet as long as we get there soon. At the rate sectors are being scoured by different houses and the Allied Factions it might be discovered in five more days."

You check your chronometer and see that 77 hours remain before you have to be back at base. Time is being eaten away.

"I think we can make it in under five days." you decide.

>>23693793
>5 years. Not that long really.
Well, that's an awfully long time, however, if we send the ship on a route out of this sector without a beacon; would we be able to salvage it privately in 5 years?

We could split the profits between everybody who's with us on this mission, instead of handing the cruiser over to the house.

>>23693793

Let's tag it with a beacon, slow boat it, and calculate where it should be at a safe intercept point. Don't replace FTL systems. If we bring a sleeper in, we may be able to run back to it and snag it for towing anyway.

And lets find that sleeper.

You and the Captain try to plan ahead for finding a sleeper ship before someone can awaken them. You sure hope this works out. There won't be much time to go steal ships from another party if this fails.

From your previous experiences and notes taken by other boarding parties, there always seems to be 1 person on board who wakes up the moment a team enters. Possibly to check for false alarms or to asses a potential threat.

How do you plan to deal with the crew of the ship? Posting survey link for the night soon.

[ ] Diplomacy
[ ] Stun them
[ ] Shoot to kill
[ ] Other

(Looking for other options to throw on the survey before I fall asleep at the desk.)

>>23694256
>[ ] Other
Just a suggestion, and not something I'd recommend but it would be an additional choice:
Try to enter the ship without setting off the alarm.

>There won't be much time to go steal ships from another party if this fails.
What if we contact Cascading Fury, and ask them to wait for us at a location close enough to where we need them without giving them too much of a clue why we require their aid? If our efforts fail, they're already nearby and we save some precious time, if we don't need them we'd only have to apologise/repay them for their wasted time.

>>23694380
>Try to enter the ship without setting off the alarm.
Obviously that would be ideal but also slow the boarding action.

>Cascading Fury
>ask them to wait for us at a location close enough to where we need them
Sure, if other people are okay with it.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KLB6Q7J

>>23694256
[x] Pirates have V-Torps, we need your ship's drive as part of our plan to recover them. [If anyone that will remain silent]
[x] Pray for Rovinar or Dominion
[x] Oh god please don't be Terran sleeper


On another thought... Endeavor's Captain wasn't a Krath, was he? We never did look into that 'metabolism' thing...

While I hate the idea of missing out on an epic ship to salvage, we do know where it is now... time is on our side, even if we can't get it now.

I do wonder how we'd discover the secret of the ship and apply it to our needs within a week, though, even if we hadn't needed a sleeper ship.

Bumpin

You have the engineers set the cruiser to fly out of the system on sublight engines. You cant decide whether to come back in a few years to take the ship for yourself or claim it for the House. Compromising, the engineers set the beacon to respond to being pinged on a House frequency or on a select band only the few of you aboard know.

Departing from the area, Hafnar keeps the drives running below minimum reccomended power levels. Once clear Captain Saputo contacts his ship and gives them the coordinates that both of you will be searching. The main galaxy in this part of the cluster draws closer over the course of an hour and a half at max jump speed for the ship. Both your ships angle for a gap in one of the spiral arms closer to the galactic core. Six hours of searching later you're starting to wish you'd brought more ships.

"Found it." Reports the Captain's Guard Cruiser. "It's cruiser sized, deffinitely not a medium."

By the time you arrive the other ship is just extending its drive field to pop the ghost ship back into real space. Scans show that its Dominion Light Cruiser but with Terran markings. Probably built at one of the shipyards the Terrans stole over the years.

"If we're tying to avoid setting off an alarm we'll have to cut through the hull at one of its weaker points." Saputo indicates the doors to the shuttle bay, wall of the torpedo tubes and the parade bridge on the bow.

>Do you join the boarding action? Y/N ?

>>23699484
We have stealth armor. So yes.

>>23699684
Sounds good. +1

You get suited up an head to the launch bay. You have no idea how but Saputo has made it there ahead of you, already wearing his own set of power armor.

"I'll hang back with a team and let you do some sneaking around. Odds are any internal sensors would detect my suit long before we could reach an important section."

Where will your team be entering the ship?
Your bodyguard has camo but lacks the sound dampening systems of your suit.


http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VLVY5KP

>Sorry things moved slower than usual this week. This will probably be the last post until next tuesday.

>>23699953
>>Sorry things moved slower than usual this week. This will probably be the last post until next tuesday.

You've delivered an incerdibly entertaining quest almost every week for more than a year. There's nothing to apologise for if a thread is a bit slower than usual.

As usual, thanks for the thread TSTG.

>>23699953
Thanks for running!