>Last time on Freelance Ghost Quest: You disturbed a zerg hive, got the data you needed and got out of there with the zerg hot on your tail. On your way out you bumped into a terran salvage crew.

You stay silent and quickly dart past them. The barrier exploding will have put them on high alert already, and the air rushing past them holds faint zerg screams. When you get past the marines and SCV’s, you see they’ve got another group of 4 marines behind them. It’s not a large force, they’ll most likely be torn to shreds no matter what they do.

Once you’re clear of the terrans, you progress much faster. You meet a second team heading into a side path though, identical to the first, and close to the exit, another one with the SCV’s carrying lots of most likely valuable things. It seems it a larger scale salvage than you thought. You pass by them without trouble and find yourself at the gap outside.

The main problem is that apparently a dropship docking tube is attached to it. Magnetic clamps hold it in place, and the airlock is ready to accept a salvage crew back into it.

>1. Disable the magnetic clamps. You’ve got enough time before the team you went by gets there.
>2. Enter the dropship with the crew, You’ll check your options then.
>3. Try to go through the airlock now. They should be fairly simple to open. After that you can space yourself from a side or cargo door.
>4. Write in.

>>33336003
>1. Disable the magnetic clamps. You’ve got enough time before the team you went by gets there.
timezoneanon here heading to bed, good luck fellow anons

>>33336092
Ok, Writing.

You quickly get to work on the docking clamps. Using your knife you manage to pop open the cover to the wiring, and you cut the power cable inside. Three clamps later and the tube starts floating away as you squeeze in the gap formed between the hull and its mouth. The cuts can be attributed to the zerg they find there, so you should be in the clear.

You’re surprised by what you see. There’s about fifteen dropships there, with full wraith escort and an actual battlecruiser.They shouldn’t have anything to notice you or your ship though, and you quickly go to where your ship is parked. It’s still there, and you quickly open the hatch and go in. Double checking what you just saw, you find that there are indeed fifteen dropships, twice as many wraiths and a battlecruiser. What you didn’t see though is that they also have a science vessel with them on the other side of the wreck you’re parked on. That’ll make things complicated.

You could risk escaping now. With the science vessel’s line of sight being blocked, they might not detect you if you take off. Even if they do, they’re not expecting you and they won’t react very quickly. You can pre-calculate your jump, and get out of there by the time they even looked in your general direction.

Your other option would be to wait where you are, all systems minimal, until they leave, but you have no idea how long they’ll stay here. It’s less risky, but if they stay long enough your cloak will run out and they’ll find you.

As you contemplate your options you notice an SCV flanked by a few marines repair the clamps on the dropship.

>1. Get out of here now.
>2. Play the waiting game.
>3. Write in.

>>33336515
> Pre-calculate our jump no-matter what we do.
> Hack the local comms/listen to them, see how fucked this looks.
> Estimate our best flight path based on keeping the wreck between us and the active science vessel.

>>33336653
Writing

>>33336653

sounds sensible.

Don't connect to fleet's communication networks, obviously. Passive listening only.

How long do we have left on energy for cloaking?

You set the ship to do all calculations required to make a quick getaway. Using the passive systems you scan for the active science vessel in particular, and make the computer calculate the optimum route to keep the wrecked one in between you at all times. That shouldn’t take too long, but rather not take too many risks.

With those things set, you go checking com frequencies. After a short while you manage to find the one they’re using; the old Alpha squadron one, they didn’t even change the audio encryption yet. Now that’s sloppy.

“Repeat, sergeant, can you confirm an active zerg presence?”

The reply is severely distorted, and gunfire overtakes most of the sergeant’s sentence. “ …ommand! There a*KSSSSHT* a class A, possibly a class … -erg hive, I repeat, possible class B zerg hive!” After that it cuts out, and the operator switches to calling up the other squads and ordering a tactical withdrawal. Outside you see the dropships lining up at the hole in the hull to pick up the teams again.

The operator continues coordinating a bit, but once he falls silent you pick up some chatter between the groups. “Ya reckon they plan on sendin’ in more boys?”

“I doubt it, we’re low on troops as it is, might just blow it all up. That’s why they sent us here when they couldn’t afford to fill up the ranks again after that blow we got on Charr. Low risk space op like this shouldn’t have been a problem.”

>1. Continue listening in.
>2. Get out of there. All the calculations are finished.

>>33336826
At least 8 more hours if you stay passive. about half an hour active.

>>33336997

>Let's get out of there

>>33336997
>>2. Get out of there. All the calculations are finished.

>>33337125
>>33337240
Writing

>>33336997
>1. Continue listening in.
>3. Prepare to get a minimum safe distance away from the vessel before they destroy it. Minimize system power use. Time an engine burst to coincide with the vessel's destruction.

You’ve seen enough. Let’s get the hell out of there. You disengage from the science vessel, and for the first part you simply let yourself float away from it. In the mean time, you see most of the dropships have picked up their crew. Radio chatter reveals a second team fell prey to the zerg though.

As you activate your engines, you suddenly notice the battlecruiser starts turning. At first you think it’s aiming for you, and you get ready for evasive manoeuvres, but you notice its snout is aiming towards the science vessel. Then it starts glowing, and the other ships retreat. You make sure you stay in the course calculated by your ship, and get as far away from there as possible, and they don’t seem to notice.

Right before you start your jump, you see an orange flash flying from the battlecruiser to the wrecked vessel, and three quarters of the thing simply disintegrates. The rest is torn to pieces, and as you press the button to jump an alarm rings that you’ve been detected. Doesn’t matter anymore. You zoom through hyperspace and a few moments later you end up in empty cold space, a few dozen miles away from the Omega battlecruiser, and you disengage your cloak.

You dock without fanfare, and your two brothers appear as you exit the ship. “Had any luck?” Quartus asks.

You show them the data chip. “This should be it, though I didn’t have the time to check before I ran.”

You head towards the cafetaria, which seems to have become a bit of your meeting place. On the way, you tell them of your run in with the zerg and the terrans. Once there, you plug the chip into a terminal and the three of you check the data. At first it seems like a bunch of rubbish, but after a few standard decryptions it clears up. You’re all quiet now, and study it as much as you can.

“This is huge…” Quartus says after a while. “It’ll probably be best if we just copied it over to the ship’s computer so we can easily get to it. It’ll still take a while to get through the conditioning even with this.”

>It’s roughly 4 pm now

>1. Continue studying the data so you’ll properly be able to work on the conditioning later. this shouldn’t take too much longer and then you can properly work on it.
>2. Ask Quartus something.
>3. Write in.

>>33337593

>[x] continue studying the data

>>33337593
>>1. Continue studying the data so you’ll properly be able to work on the conditioning later. this shouldn’t take too much longer and then you can properly work on it.

>>33337655
>>33337758
Writing

You head to your own cabin and continue studying the data. A lot of it makes sense with what you already know or suspected, but without it you’d have been nowhere. The conditioning is thorough enough. A few hours later and you’re finished. You grab a quick bite and take a shower, and head back to your cabin.

You start meditating. Steering yourself toward what is now the devastated outer shell of the conditioning, or at least that’s the way your mind visualises it, you start working on it, armed with your new knowledge. After a short while, you’re through the outer layer, and you’re faced with a similar fortress, though it’s built up differently.

It doesn’t matter. Knowing how the conditioning was applied, you know its weak spots, and you soon breach it too. You dismantle layer after layer. You’re not sure how long it takes, but after a while you finally get to the core. The last bit of the conditioning tries to put up a fight, but you easily extinguish it.

It’s over. The last hooks the confederacy had in you have been removed. Exhausted, you fall in bed and sleep embraces you immediately.

-“I must say, I didn’t suspect you to manage to break free so quickly.”-

-You’re back in the mental chatroom with the protoss. There’s several others there this time, but they keep their distance. You’re not sure what to think of them, but they seem to be scrutinising you.-

>1. I did my best.
>2. I’ve been wanting to get rid of the damn thing for a long time.
>3. Stay silent
>4. Write in.

>>33338027

>Um... hello?

>>33338175
Writing.

-Looking around at your audience, you say “Um, hello?” It’s not exactly the most eloquent thing you could have said, but it gets the point across.-

“I suppose you wonder about my compatriots.” The protoss says. “I believe it is time for an introduction. I am High Templar Ur’athan, and these are likeminded High templar along with my apprentices. We cannot openly oppose Executor Elthai or other fools like her, but we try to steer them away from their idiocy as much as we can.”

-He pauses, and you’re aware of the protoss communicating, but you cannot hear or understand what they say.-

-“I thought it time to show you to them. Your power grows, but raw power is nothing if it is not properly channeled. In a straight up fight between you and the executor you wouldn’t stand a chance, even though you’re of equal power. I would prefer to avoid a fight, but I’m afraid it’s unavoidable at this point. It is time to train you myself. It’s not ideal, but it might at least make up for the two centuries of training Elthai has on you.”-

-You feel a load of information dumped into your mind. A system, a planet, a location. Coordinates. You’ll easily be able to find where he is now.-

-“Very well, I hope you will be here soon.”-

>1. Let it go, wake up and find out about your new abilities.
>2. “Wait, how long is that going to take?”
>3. “What will the training be exactly?”
>4. Write in.

>>33338512
>3. “What will the training be exactly?”

>>33338512
>2. “Wait, how long is that going to take?”
>3. “What will the training be exactly?”
"Just so I can prepare myself after all, I like all my limbs."

>>33338512

>"I will come."

>>33338535
>>33338546
>>33338672
Writing

>>33338512
Make sure before we go that the Omega is moved, we don't want the Confederation tracing our Hyperspace Jump (if it's possible) and finding the Battlecruiser here.
>2. “Wait, how long is that going to take?”
>3. “What will the training be exactly?”
>4. "Just because there's conflict doesn't mean the resolution needs to be in the death of either of us."

-“Wait, what exactly is the training going to be? And how long is that going to take?”-

-“That mostly depends on you. I will discipline your mind, and you will work on your concentration mostly. I believe your mind wandering is one thing you must be trained. She will not expect it from you, and it can be a powerful weapon. It may take several…” -

-He turns to one of his protoss partners, and after some conversation he continues. “Several standard weeks, possibly a standard month or two.”

-You nod. The dream fades.-

You wake up after a good night’s sleep. You don’t feel different. You’d have thought something would have been off from what you usually feel, but it’s all just the same. After some breakfast you head to the training rooms to find Quartus and Sextus already there, working on their psionics. You follow suit.

>You now have Psi rating 7!
>You have a maximum of 7 psi points.
>You have unlocked Psi Shriek.
>Psi shriek costs 2 psi points and stuns all creatures within 30 metre radius. The closer they are to you, the more powerful the effect. You may use another 2 psi points to exclude up to three people from its effects. They will experience discomfort but not the actual attack.

You unleash your new powers, and suddenly you find Quartus and Sextus falling to the floor holding their head in their hands. It takes a few moments for them to recover.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect that. I guess it’s something new.” You pull Sextus back up and head over to Quartus, repeating the gesture.

“It’s ok. Accidents happen.” Quartus replies as you pull him up.

>It’s 8am.
>1.Contact Lisa to see if you can pick her up for the day.
>2. Keep training your new psionics. Might help to be able to selectively exclude people from it during combat.
>3. Inform Quartus of High Templar Ur’athan and his training.
>4. Write in.

>>33338876
There's no risk of them tracing your jump, they were only aware of you for a single second.

>>33338989
>Apologize again
>>2. Keep training your new psionics. Might help to be able to selectively exclude people from it during combat.

>>33338989
>3. Inform Quartus of High Templar Ur’athan and his training.
then
>1.Contact Lisa to see if you can pick her up for the day.
finally
>2. Keep training your new psionics. Might help to be able to selectively exclude people from it during combat.
while we wait for Lisa's day to finish (she has a job and responsibilities).

>>33339029
>>33339049
Writing

>>33338989

>Tell Quartus about our business with Protoss
>Contact Lisa to see if you can pick her up
and...

We need to do something about Weisdammer.

I'm in favour on letting him go after convincing him that we could both benefit from an amicable relationship. He should be smart enough to realize he's being given a chance to survive.

>>33339236
He cannot be convinced, Anon. He's a rich CEO who takes what he wants, smuggles serious amounts of weapons, and doesn't afraid of anything.

>>33339236
Did you not read what OP said when we entered his brain, what we need to do with him is dump him out an airlock

>>33339322

Then he should recognize benefits of surviving and having an acquaintance with a battlecruiser, especially after he learned that taking it on his own will not be easy or cheap.

>>33339409

That's not what OP said at all and only a sociopath would interpret it that way.

I for one vote against roleplaying a person that murders in cold blood anyone who as much as considers holding a grudge against him.

“I think it’s time I told you guys about this protoss that contacted me.” You fill them in about what the High templar told you about the executor, and the training he offered to you.

“Of course. Just as we get rid of a nightmare another one has to pop up.” Quartus has a bit of a defeated look in his eyes. “An executor. Great. As if Primus wasn’t enough, we’re getting a centuries old psionic master after us.”

“Well, technically only me. You guys are free to go, if you don’t want to be involved.”

For a second, you can see Quartus considering it, but Sextus walks up to you and puts his hand on your shoulder. Quartus sighs. “He’s right. You’re one of us, we can’t just abandon you. You know what, we’ll stick around, help you where we can. I think the cloak ship is probably better to use than your wraith to go to that planet he told you about, so I guess I could communicate with the Doctor to work on the crew while you’re away.”

Sextus calmly nods. “Thanks guys. I appreciate it.” You say.

After that, you head over to a terminal and contact Lisa.

“Hey Artemis, I was just about to call you. I don’t have too much work to do today, so if you could pick me up in say… An hour?”

“I think you’re getting better…” She gives you a puzzled look. You continue talking. “I was about to ask you about coming here to work on the crew.” She lets out a small laugh.

“Well, I’ll be off now, I do still have to finish up here and gather some stuff. I don’t think the guards will mind if you park next to the gate for a while, rumour has spread that you did something to get the battlecruiser away. You might want to wear something other than that creepy black suit though.”

>>33339482
I dont know about you but if i knew someone is going to try to kill me and my family i would happily throw them out an air lock

With that, she cuts off the line, and you continue training for a bit longer before taking a quick shower, changing and heading over to pick her up.

True to her word, the guards let you park right next to the gate, and a few minutes later, Lisa comes along and you’re off again. She’s not wearing her doctor’s coat this time, but a nice blue blouse, and she’s carrying a big bag, probably for her tools.

It’s tight in the cockpit, but you manage. You still have to talk to murphy or the crew to add the extra seat instead of the storage compartment.

>1. Tell her about the protoss.
>2. Tell her about the conditioning.
>3. Stay silent.
>4. Write in.

>>33339547
>>1. Tell her about the protoss.

>>33339547

>Tell her about the protoss
might as well. She'll be in charge of the crew while we're gone after all.

>>33339535

Just because he is going to hold a grudge doesn't mean that he's going to murder us, especially if he suspects there's more to be gained by not trying. And even if he does try, he's not going to succeed.

And no, I wouldn't kill someone for something he might potentially attempt in the future.

>>33339601
>>33339616
Writing, it'll be the last post of the day.

>>33339727

Cheers for the thread, OP

>>33339547
>1. Tell her about the protoss.
>2. Mention the conditioning briefly.
>4. Apologize for having to leave so soon after just finishing all of this.

>>33339690
>He is one to hold a grudge. But he does it with clean efficiency. Harming innocents is generally bad practice and he’ll only resort to it if the profit is large enough. He might not strike out at random targets, but you’re convinced that if you let him go, he’ll try to take you down somehow.
He is going to try and we know it, its not the case of if he will or not, it is when he will

>>33339763

Are you aware that "take you down" does not necessarily need to mean "kill you"?

You are reading too much into it. It's a mobster that is mad that he lost, and the judgement is entirely made on basis of his emotions and ideas at the time of his defeat. Future hasn't been decided yet.

He can be dealt with if he gets out of line.

On the way back, you inform Lisa of your encounters with High Templar Ur’athan, his warning, and his offer. For a moment, she sits in stunned silence.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” She asks. You stay quiet for a moment. “It’s… They can glass worlds. And they’re coming for you?”

She goes silent again. It’s a lot to take in. After a while, she continues. “Can’t you just run?”

“I don’t think it would matter much. She’ll be able to find me, even out here in the void of space. I have to get to her first, though I’m not sure killing her would solve anything. It’ll just end with more angry protoss chasing me.”

You can feel her eyes burning into the back of your head. Softly, she aks: “Can I help?”

>1. You’re already helping now. You’re doing a lot for the crew.
>2. Not really no.
>3. Actually, yeah… (specify what)
>4. Write in.

>>33339894

>1. You're already helping now. You're doing a lot for the crew.

>>33339894
>And with that I'll be off. I'll archive real quick. Thanks for sticking around, even if it wasn't that many of you.
>Not sure when next thread is going to be. Somewhere next week, maybe monday. I'll keep you informed through twitter.

>>33339894
>4. You’re already helping now. You’re doing a lot for the crew. I'll make sure you have access to a communicator and so do I, so we can at least talk while I'm away.

>>33339953

Maybe the Protoss buddy can teach us his dreamwalking trick, that might be more convenient.

>>33339931
Cheers for thread OP

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>>33339931

Goodnight OP, cheers for the quest!

>>33339869
>It's a mobster that is mad that he lost
Mobster can do fucked up shit to people and it said "He is one to hold a grudge" means any moment he can fuck us over he is going to do it and that means we will probably already be in shit when he does. We wont need to deal with worrying about him as well

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>>33340079

That is a possibility and a minor risk that is not outweighed by necessity for cold-blooded murder. Civilized people don't punish other people for crimes they haven't committed yet, that is just plain wrong. If you insist on taking the route of psychopath against how the character was acting so far, that is your choice. I'd like to think we're better than that and that.

>>33340466
He makes his own law. It's a question of weither we keep him imprisoned forever or just kill him. Letting him go after the cover-story we tossed out wont work.

Not saying I want to kill him here, just saying we have to weigh things.