Now, time to move on to another member. Who's out next victim?

Right now you have time to meet with one more committee member before Parliament reconvenes. If you can get enough support you should be able to have this resolved in one session. However, if Clay can Fillbuster the committee all day, parliament will be closed for the solstice, and the Royal Rocket Corps will be disorganized for another turn until they meet again! This is most likely the general's plan to bleed the rocket corps to death.

Who will you meet and how shall you receive them?
>Lady Fletcher, A retired ace barrister and hardcore rhetorician. Very dangerous to debate with, but more likely to be swayed by a sound argument than any party loyalty.

>Lord Black, an old friend of the general's and a good old fashioned war monger. Unlike the general however, he is a man of honor.

>General Dean, The first female general in the Royal Army. You don't know much about her other than that she is a solid bureaucrat who's never seen combat and that some jokingly call her "the future of the army".

>Lord quickly, The General's right hand man. Responsible for keeping everyone else in line. The General may be taking him for granted.


The results of your geostationary satellite will be arriving shortly.
There are 4 more turns till typhoon season.

>Wiki with archives and info: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=WhatGoesUp.SpacePrincessQuest
>Rules: http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=WhatGoesUp.WhatGoesUp

All posts must use the royal we. Any suggestion unfitting a princess will be ignored

I'm partial to meeting either FLetcher or Dean.

Winning Quickly or Black over would be...interesting, to say the least, but too risky.

>>25536898
Fletcher would also be pretty dangerous. We aren't as good at Rhetoric as she is.

>>25536933

So, General Dean, is it? She might be just as dangerous as the rest, and we know almost nothing exploitable of her.

>>25536954

Why did I sage that post?

Anyway, we shall visit General Dean this time.
(Unless I'm outvoted)

>>25536784
Let's talk to Fletcher when we have the data from the Geo-Sync satellite. I get the feeling that results will speak louder than words with her.

>>25537041
>>25536898
I agree that we should meet with Dean for now. I'm inclined to go with the business dress though. She's described as a 'solid bureaucrat' so she might prefer that over a military uniform.

(Sorry, I thought my post went through but it didn't)

You meet with Major General Dean in the library, wearing your best powersuit. She seems a bit surprised to see you dressed so bourgeois, but is nevertheless happy to see you.
She's a tight looking woman in her late 40s who reminds you somewhat of a more militaristic version of Minerva (The professora swore off eating meat and became a strict pacifist after the war ended)

"Good Morning Your highness." The modern major general says as she bows to you, entering the room. "I take it you are eager to get this hearing cleared up quickly and restore your chain of command before the solstice?" Apparently the Admiral has already told her of the situation, you are making progress here.

"Yes, indeed. It seems you are aware of why I am here."
Then explain to her that Colonel Smith is being wrongly accused.

I really don't know what to say to her.

Also, is 'wrongly' a word?

>>25538156
I'm a little stumped too. We really could have done with a bit more research on her...
(Yes, it is, btw.)

At any rate, >>25538156 seems to be the best plan for us to follow for now.

"So you claim the Cheribum isn't over-budget or behind schedule? I supose the biggest problem there is proving that. If you had a working model to show the committee, I'm sure they might reconsider the issue." Dean sits down and begins looking over the files you presented her on the Cheribum's budget, nodding as she does. The Colonel has definitely been doing his homework properly. Everything is filled perfectly.

>>25538427
"Well, we can't exactly carry a 300 foot long rocket into the Parliament building. Perhaps we could invite the committee out to Tannhauser Island to watch the first scheduled Cherubim launch, in a week or so's time?"

((Apologies, God Mother, but I'm not actually sure what Mass 12 equates to in terms of physical length, or exactly how many days we have until our launch - please excuse any inaccuracies))

>>25538427
>>25538639
Also, something that's been bothering us from the start - how on earth can the Cherubim *be* "over-budget"? It doesn't have a specific set budget to go over. We never specified exactly how much money would be required to develop it, and if we *had* been asked to estimate its cost, why wouldn't we have given the figure that would be required to bring it up to the same safety standard as all our other launchers?

>>25538427
Actually, when does the preliminary data come in from the satellite we launched?

>>25538639
It's cool I fudge numbers all the time, but the Cherubim has already launched. You'll find out the status of the satellite after this meeting but before the hearing, If you are lucky you might even be able to show the committee a grainy black and white photo of the earth from space.

>>25538725
We don't know the status of the satellite, but we *do* know that the launch itself was successful?

>>25538750
Oh yes, the launch was successful. It's just taking time for it to get into geostationary orbit.

>>25538765
Brilliant news. Okay, let's amend the second part of my previous post, >>25538639, to

"Perhaps we could invite the committee out to Tannhauser Island to watch the second scheduled Cherubim launch, and provide them with a report on the first successful Cherubim launch, which our officers at the RRC performed yesterday?"

>>25538827
"You'll have a hard time getting them down there before the solstice your highness." She replies in a voice that sounds somewhere between amused and irritated. "But you say you managed a launch? If you could send me the relevant files, I'm sure I could present this in my statements. It will be hard to prove that a working rocket is a waste of military funds."

>>25538950
Hey, who wants to show the committee a video of the launch? BLOW THEIR FUCKING MINDS!

>>25539019
Lets just give her what she wants.

>>25539043
She'll get want she wants. AND A FUCKING TV!

>And now if everyone in the audience will look under their seats...they'll find A NEW TV!
>A new what? What's a 'teevee'? These things are heavy. What do they even do?

>>25539043
Motion picture footage of each launch is available on black and white film with no sound. A Transcript of the radio chatter is also available for archival purposes.
like I said, Smith has been doing his homework and Dean is impressed.

>>25539210
"Do you believe that this is enough evidence to show that the Cheribum Project is not a waste?
"Colonel Smith was summoned with the assumption that the Cheribum would be of military value. Will its ability to launch geostationary surveillance satellites and begin ferrying orbital station components, once they are ready, be enough to prove its value?"

>>25539591
Leave out the orbital station part - that's way, way off and not of any directly obvious military use. The surveillance satellites and the weather monitoring abilities should be enough to go with for now.

"Oh I think the Admiral and I can make a good case with this. He's been interested in the idea of a weather predicting machine. I always thought it was foolish, but who knows? I'll take these and present them. If you could get updated data to me from when the satellite reaches it's target altitude, That will help as well. Now then, unless you have anything else, I think we are done here your highness?"

>>25539786
"We think that will be all, General Dean. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us."

((So, this is going better than expected... now for the other shoe, I suppose.))

>>25539786
"That shall be all at this time, General. Thank you for finding the time to speak with us."

You are feeling good about yourself as you return to your chambers for the night. With Dean and Abrahamson on your side, you've split the general's vote up some and might be able to prevent the filibuster.

This feeling quickly fades however when a page intercepts you and tells you that you are wanted in the castle's telegraph room.

The Teligraph room has recently been upgraded with a satellite uplink. And you hear Klaus' voice on the other end. He sounds distraught. "Vrau Princess! The geostatonary satellite, something es wrong, th engines aren't firing!"

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4095866/
Boom result on the recircularization burn. It's stuck in a highly eccentric orbit with no power, and the capsule and engines will both have their reliabilities reduced.

>>25540654
Ok, can he tell us how eccentric exactly? Is it in danger of de-orbiting itself? Or is it still a viable mapping satellite, just not a *geostationary* one?

>>25540734
It probably won't fall out of orbit, but it probably also won't be able to stay pointed at the earth. And is definitely not geostationary.

You have broken the record for manmade object farthest way from earth though.

>>25540654
LUCK POINT GO!

>>25540803
Too late.

>>25540803
Can we use a luck point if we're not actually there?

>>25540819
Oh... damn...

Rolled 1, 7 = 8

>>25540819
Not too late. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't let you spend a luck point just because I rolled behind your back.

But you won't get the -2 bonus because the Neva Been Done Befo penalty applies here.

>>25540819
>>25540854
If we can use our luck point, then I don't think it's too late to do so - they only just tried the burn.

>>25540875
Awesome. How many luck points do we have left after that?

>>25540875
woo! Luck is with us.

>>25540875
"...Wait! Vrau Palas says the engines are workink! Horrah! We vill be gettink the images soon!"

>>25540969

Goodness Klaus, you had me worried there. Its a good thing I happen to have such wonderful engineers.

>>25540969
Very good. Klaus, send our congratulations to the launch team. Hopefully We should be returning to the island shortly with Colonel Smith, and with some good champagne.

>>25541020
>>25541023
You can almost see the boy blushing through the radio. "I'm sorry Vrau Princess, I call to tell you the burn vas about to happen, and got nervous." Suddenly you hear him cut off, and a different voice comes on the air. "Don't let my student bother you Lydia." Minerva says. "Everything is going just fine."

>>25541120

"Its Fine Professora, he was just doing what he thought was right. How are things on the island in preparation for the storm season?"

>>25541120
"He is not a bother, Professora. We require the satellite images as soon as they are ready to help defend Colonel Smith."

>>25541120
Do we have time for another meeting, or straight to the committee?

The satellite settles into it's new orbit without any problems and begins to transmit images back to earth. Unfortunately, Castle Gates does not have the equipment to receive wireless videography (MultiVAC terminal required)
The Image will be printed onto photographic slides and delivered by Sir Harker. You hope it will arrive in time.

>>25541234
"We've been doing all we can to get this launch off before the solstice. There hasn't been much time to prepare for the storms."

>>25541975
The Committee is tomorrow and there is no more time to meet with anybody.

>>25542088
We've got the giant telescope nearby, can't that receive wireless videography? Or is it not ready yet?

Also, how many luck points do we have left?

>>25542148
One luck point remains. The Teliscope is not ready yet, it's reliability is still 1/5.

>>25542179
How many RP's do we have left for the turn?
Otherwise, I think we're done here.

>>25542241
I think we spent them all on the satellite.

Onto the committee I guess.

Rolled 5, 9 = 14

Although you are of royal Blood, you may not speak in parliament unless specifically called to. Both nobles and commoners alike must sit quietly in the benches as parliament deliberates.

The hearing starts with an introduction to the royal rocket corps and the cherubim rocket. This goes on for a very long time and is almost infuriatingly pedantic. Clay must have written this himself to stall for time. Eventually however one of Bartly's friends raises an objection. Which is sustained. He then asks to skip the introduction (all present have a hardcopy they can read if they want the definition of the term "rocket"). This is also sustained, and the introduction is cut off a quarter of the way in.

Clay dosn't seem too disappointed at this however, he's plan is probably more complicated than just "spend the entire day reading from a script."

By the way. What are you wearing? Although you don't have the floor, you are a visible feature in the room, and can make a difference with how you are presenting yourself.

>>25542617
Frilly Dress.
There's too many variables, too many parties, that we can't afford to alienate any of them. The Frilly Dress is neutral enough that while we won't gain any advantage, we won't suffer any disadvantage either.

>>25542744
Acceptable. Agreed.

>>25542617
Are we rolling for Sir Harker's arrival?

Rolled 3, 3 = 6

Eventually the colonel is called forward, and General Clay begins to question him. This whole afair is very professional with both men maintaining a consistent tone through the whole affair. Smith is wearing his best uniform, and is standing perfectly at attention, if he wasn't speaking he'd look like a statue.

Clay manages to drag this out much longer than the introduction. And you start to get worried, However eventually you hear a noise in the back of the room. Somebody just opened and closed the heavy doors. This went unnoticed by either clay or smith, but you notice Dean turn around to see who has just arrived...

It's Harker, and he's carrying a satchel of some kind.

>>25543234
Awesome. Just in Time.

File: 1371709026292.gif-(1.08 MB, 297x168, 1302983707432.gif)

1.08 MB GIF

>>25543234
>It's Harker, and he's carrying a satchel of some kind.
We must maintain our composure.
Subtly look at Lord Quickly, Lord Black, and Lady Fletcher. See if they've reacted.

Rolled 7, 10 = 17

>>25543161
Yes.

>>25543297
Black and Fletcher haven't seemed to notice the newcomer. But eventually MajGen Dean requests, and is granted, the floor.

She takes the film real and has a Bailiff bring in a projector. "I would like to bring before the committee for consideration, this short motion picture regarding the operational history of the rocket in question."

Clay understandingly objects, but he is denied by none other than Fletcher, who seems interested in hearing the entirety of Dean's argument. This objection is sustained by the Admiral who is supporting Dean, and Lord Black who follows the Admiral. Quickly just shrugs and abstains, not wanting to cast a meaningless vote. This makes Clay visibly upset, but he doesn't say anything and the video rolls..

Rolled 9, 4 = 13

>>25543493
The video starts with archival footage of an archangel launching. A voiceover starts. "Satellites will form the backbone of our great nation's strategic infrastructure. Any commander knows, uninterrupted communications are vital to success."
An animated illustration shows a diagram of satellites orbiting the earth.
"To get constant coverage of a specific point on the globe, a special orbit is required."
The diagram shows a rocket launching into a very high orbit.
"At an altitude of more than 357 hundred kilometers a satellite orbiting the equator will be traveling at the same speed earth rotates."
The diagram shows the rocket flying around the earth just as fast as it spins.
"Unfortunately the Rocket Corps' Archangel rocket just can't go far enough."
The diagram shows a rocket going up to the right altitude, but then falling back down to earth and crashing.
"The new Cheribum rocket is twice as powerful and designed to take a larger payload into geostationary orbit and beyond."
Archival footage is shown of people working in the workshops, and of the Cheribum's in place test fire.
"Look at it go! And now it's ready for it's maiden voyage!"
The video shows the rocket launching for real this time. This is the first time you have seen it yourself, sadly it's not that different from the archangel on film. You imagine it must have looked much better in person.

The film ends and the credits tell you it was produced by the royal army information corps with footage from the royal rocket corps. Then the film is removed, from the projector, and replaced with a slide. The slide is a picture of earth, taken from Geostationary orbit. It's not much, just a grainy black and white photograph. But the people in this room are among the first in human history to see the entire earth in a single picture.

>>25543818
These high rolls are not engendering confidence.

Rolled 4, 8 = 12

Clay looks pretty angry about this video and is trying really hard to suppress this anger. It's not working very well.

Lord Black has one question. "Is this video accurate?" To which Smith answers "Yes it is."
Clay then starts arguing with Fletcher, you can't quite understand all the legal jargon they exchange, but it sounds like she's winning. It sounds like he's lost any chance of Dictating the direction of the hearing. Smith will have a chance to defend his project properly now.


Parliament breaks for tea, and you get a chance to talk to somebody before it reconvenes. Who do you talk to?

>Smith
>Harker
>Clay
>Somebody else

>>25543818
Hopefully that impressed them...

Maybe if we made the presentation a PowerPoint they would have loved it.

>>25544327
Talk to Smith, ask him what his plan is and if we can help. DO NOT TALK TO CLAY!

>>25544327
I kinda want to talk to Clay, make peace with him but at this point somebody is going to get in trouble for wasting parliaments time. We should congratulate Harker in private or away from parliament. We should definitely go talk to colonel Smith and ask what he plans to provide next.

>>25544418
We already know what Smith's plan is, it's the same as our plan: "Look, here is the Cherubim, it works fine, what the heck are you talking about?"

>>25544388
>>25544418
>>25544438
Consensus is required. There is only time to talk to one person.

>>25544388
>>25544438
No, nothing good can come from this. Ever. Maybe afterwards we should talk to him, but not now. It will just piss him off further.

>>25544327
>Lord Quickly
Was originally for talking with Clay, but reconsidered. Quickly is the one that actually makes Clay a threat, and he should be able to see that this fight is too narrow to chance fighting and losing. He should be able to call off the others.

>>25544327
God Mother, we do have one minor question... how is the Cherubim supposedly over budget when it didn't have a pre-allocated budget in the first place?

>>25544500
It's politics I don't gotta explain shit.

>>25544438
Changing to this
>>25544498

>>25544498
This is a good point, actually. Plus I get the feeling we'll be seeing him again, and we should get the measure of him.

(spacecore here, did I miss it? i am in italy to launch a transatlantic drone)

>>25543818

"Now, the pictures you have seen a few months back were of better quality. However, this was sent to us from the satellite, rather than retrieved from the satellite -- we truly have an unblinking eye in the sky. Is that not a more powerful force multiplier than any amount of fire we might rain from the heavens? Surely the military will appreciate having a vantage point that cannot readily be shut down. And imagine the other uses. Scientists can study weather patterns to improve prediction. You already have seen that we can send radio dispatches to ships at sea with little support infrastructure. A year ago we would have asked what use is a newborn baby. Today we ask, what do you think of our first steps?"

>>25544498
I can get behind this. Find out what angle quickly wants.

>>25544569
Who are you talking to?

File: 1371713023929.jpg-(32 KB, 600x450, YouMightVeryWellThinkThat.jpg)

32 KB JPG

Lord quickly is a tall man with a narrow face. He's older than Clay, but for some reason seems to be fine with his position below him.

He is very polite greeting you. "Good afternoon your highness. How are you enjoying the hearing?"

>>25544601

(That was me being slow. Sorry)

>>25544640
"We are finding the hearing interesting. We were wondering what other questions the Committee may have regarding Cheribum, now that it has been demonstrated to be working and has completed its maiden flight."

>>25544640
"I am finding more agreeable after Sir Harker arrived with evidence that Colonel Smith has been telling the truth. How are you doing today kind sir?'

>>25544640
(( .... We're going up against Francis Urquhart in a political arena? We are so very, very dead.))

>>25544654
No problem here just wondering who you were addressing with the whole prerecorded presentation.

>>25544665
"You might imagine they'll start asking why the Cherubim wasn't completed sooner, or for less money, But at this point I can't say what the committee will do next at all your highness." He says this in a very deadpan manner and you aren't sure exactly if he means he doesn't know or does know and won't tell you.

>>25544753

"If they do not realize that real life doesn't look like pulp novels, they'll end up looking like they belong in a pulp novel themselves."

>>25544753
> you aren't sure exactly if he means he doesn't know or does know and won't tell you.
Oh, we're pretty sure.

"We might perhaps suspect that General Clay has lost this battle. That perhaps he might want to retreat with his dignity intact. But of course, not being an official part of this committee hearing, we couldn't possibly comment on such things."

>>25544753
If the committee were to ask either of those. Questions the answer would be working prototypes and our meticulous safety regime involving anything we launch. After all we don't want to embarrass Midland by providing faulty rockets.

>>25544753
"Really, Lord Quickly. We were hoping that this affair could be neatly taken care of; after all, wasting time is of no use to anyone, though if Parliament wished to know about a military project's progress, we would be happy to oblige."

Subtly indicate that we're offering him and his faction a way to get out of this with his dignity intact.
It's up to Quickly to convince Clay to back down.

>>25544857

That's a point. The only major explosion we had was on our very first rocket.

The SSC are ahead because having more money thy can take more riskss.

(We aren't a druggy, nor are we a plucky reporter with daddy issues, we think we are safe)

>>25544899
(We're probably safe from literal death, particularly with FU's respect for the monarchy, but remember what happened to a king who tried to oppose him politically. And we're only a princess. We need to step very, very carefully here. No bluster - this is much like the logical sparring we were worried about with General Fletcher, only with more deadpan sarcasm.)

"Well then your highness, You shan't have any problem" Quickly tips his hat to you and the bell rings for parliament to return to the chambers.

I probably can't get away with FU's 4th wall breaking here.

>>25544685
>>25544980
((Something else has just occurred to me. "Glamis, Cawdor, and King hereafter". In a setting with an active, powerful monarch and royal family, Urquhart's Macbeth complex might be a lot more literal...))

And now it's late. I thought I could get this scene finished today. But I started late and didn't post as fast as I should.

No game tomorrow. And I'm not sure about Saturday, But I should be able to resume my normal schedule on Tuesday. See you next week!

>>25545134
You might very well think that, I couldn't possibly comment.

>>25545165
>>25545165

Thank you!