Voting is 15 minutes
Write-ins are encouraged and will be integrated as smoothly as possible
To speed things along tie-breakers will usually be 1d2, re-votes will be rare
If rolls are needed they will be best of 3d100 with flat, but obscured, DC. Relative difficulty will be given most of the time.

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>>34346985
>Be productive, build weaponry

We won't be able to unwind at home yet, and booze plus anger plus adreneline crash is a bad combo.
Focusing on preceision work will help us unwind, and also get us closer to a new toy.

Just missed the vote.
Dammit.

>>34347236
When your that close, vote anyway. Never know, you might be the tiebreaker.

>>34347305
I just want our man to love the endless void.

Because Space is best waifu.

>>34347429
She'll always be there. She can be a bit cold, but she can take your breath away.

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There were many options but you didn’t think you could just sit still at home. Considering that alcohol would only serve to fuel your current anger, you think it was best if you poured it into something productive. Like that stupid sniper rifle mount. At least the hangars were still open and with your current look it was easy to get some more measuring tools and fabricators working. It was taking a while as you puzzled on whether to remove the original gun pods or not. It’d ruin the whole stealth fighter concept but with the way the JAM acted it didn’t look like stealth wasn’t really important to them. Was it even worth it? As you appeared to silently fume you noticed someone walk up to you.

“Pecker my boy, you look stumped,” Dr. Bouchard greeted.

You only grunted. He looked at the gigantic rifle that lay nearby.

“Ah I see your problem now,” he continued.

That got your attention.

“So you actually have a solution?”

“Boy I make weapons for a living,” he chided, “And you’re really missing the big picture here.”

He pointed to the gun pods in the belly.

“Why are you trying to remove those gun pods? They’re fine where they are. Did you forget that VF-22s are fold capable with the right attachment?” you see where he was going with this, “So instead of trying to mount it up underneath, why didn’t you borrow the fold booster design and stick it up top?”

You brought your palm to your face.

“It’s a shame you didn’t apply to work with us,” the doctor continued, “You would have made a fine engineer with the right guidance.”

[1/2]

>>34347839
“Thanks doctor.”

“Any time my boy,” he smiled, “Feeling better now?”

You nodded.

“Good so I hope this doesn’t ruin your mood,” that was worrying, “I’m going to be having dinner with your father, he told me bring you along. Well you don’t actually have to go if you don’t want to but,”

Knowing your dad, he was a third worried, a third lonely and a third anticipating calling you gay in the middle of a restaurant. Hmmm.

>Sure, let’s go
>Nope, not tonight

>>34347855
>>Sure, let’s go

>>34347855
>>Sure, let’s go
This'll be fun.

>>34347855
>Nope, not tonight

Worry is cancelled out by insults. Lonely is his issue.

>>34347957
I don't think it's an insult.

I think he legitimately wonders if we're gay or not.

Gay jokes don't matter as much when you are drunk.

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You were probably going to regret it but you went with the doctor anyway. It had been a while since you’ve seen Dad and it wasn’t like he was being intentionally malicious about it. Probably, you never knew when it came to your old man. You liked to think he meant well but damn was he embarrassing some times.

Surprisingly he didn’t take you out to a restaurant but actually to Dad’s place. Well it was yours as well but you moved out. It was located on one of the upper decks. To be more precise it was on Deck 3 where the better off inhabitants of Avalon lived. It also had a fabulous view of space and a private space dock with hangar.

Stepping inside you could hear a tune being carried through the halls of the three storied apartment.

http://youtu.be/hs0BxTmQXA0?t=1m38s

That clued you in to the other guest in attendance. True to your expectations, Maliki was being held atop your dad’s shoulders as he ran a lap around the living room. He was attempting to sing and Maliki was more shrieking in fright at his rough housing. As soon as he spotted you the big galoot came to a sudden halt, almost throwing Maliki off if she hadn’t clamped her hands around his face.

“Pecker,” he greeted loudly.

“Dad let Maliki down,” you returned.

“She’s having fun,” he brushed it off as she covered his eyes in an attempt to stay balanced, “I’ve been told that you have picked up exactly 0 women since we last spoke.”

“Oh come off it Susan,” Dr. Bouchard interrupted, “He’s been in a coma for the better part of two weeks, top that off with severely repressed mental trauma and I don’t think he’d be in the mood to sleep around.”

“Hey I have no problems with my son being gay. It’s better than trying to put some incest in our family crest,” he huffed, “And don’t call me Susan, Shorty.”

[1/2]

>>34348583
You looked over to the kitchen. Food was almost done. Quickly you grabbed Maliki off of Dad whilst he had his usual dialogue with Dr. Bouchard. It was funny the first time but now it was a well worn thread.

>Stop them since dinner’s almost ready
>Chat with Maliki until they were done

>>34348614
>>Chat with Maliki until they were done

>>34348583
>Chat with Maliki until they were done

Spend time with our friend

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You were well practiced to tuning out the two of them. Your uncle, Dr. Bouchard, would probably try and argue why you and Maliki make the cutest couple. At which point your dad would interject about how you were gay and if you actually swung that way you already would have tapped that. Instead you caught up with Maliki. You hadn’t seen her in any significant capacity for a while. The both of you didn’t quite sync up in terms of schedules that either one kept.

“So, what band was that?” you asked.

“Oh, that was the Velvet Underground,” she answered happily.

That was where you were going to have to stop her. As much as she was fascinated by pre-Space War I music, you didn’t quite share the same level of enthusiasm. That and your father liked to sing along because it often slow enough for him to. It didn’t make his singing any better mind.

“Don’t you have, I dunno, something more recent?”

“Probably, have you heard of the Red Hot Chili Peppers?” she asked in turn, “They were really good before Space War I hit. My favourite album was released the same year ASS-1 landed.”

“Just put them on or something,” you said, “I’ll get the food.”

“Roger,” she gave a mock salute.

Having long since co-opted the apartment’s sound system, Maliki took a few moments to switch tracks. You grabbed the food.

http://youtu.be/O9TunCtR3dQ

Your respective fathers stopped arguing as soon as the song changed and you ushered them to their seats while the confusion lasted. For grown men with their own sons and daughters they sure acted like children some times. Food was some kind of wheat flour noodle or something. Pasta you think it was called. You never really paid much attention to what you ate in Spacy. It helped make things go down easier.

[1/2]

>>34349708
“So, Dexter here says you’re working on a sniper rifle?” Dad finally spoke in the middle of chewing.

Maliki as well seemed interested, but you didn’t know why.

“Yeah and?”

“Well I was wondering if you might need any help or if this was just a one-time thing,” he asked, “I was thinking of having SMS do some more trial runs but they haven’t had much luck finding test subjects for me.”

“We just want to work more closely with SMS and pilots in general,” Dr. Bouchard added, “It’s much harder for us smaller companies to get anything done without throwing money at them.”

“I could easily do that, you just won’t let me,” Dad complained.

“Well someone has to make sure we’re still in the black,” the doctor shot back.

“You want me to volunteer as a test subject,” you stated.

“Yes,” Dad nodded.

“You have all the credentials too my boy,” the doctor added.

>”Sounds interesting, why not?”
>”Sounds dangerous, I’d rather not”
>Other (write-in)

>>34349898
>”Sounds interesting, why not?”

Oooooh. New toys.

>>34349898
>”Sounds interesting, why not?”
Agree on the condition that they give access to some of the more exotic building materials should they be needed. Making and testing things will only help in the long run.
Space nuke here we come.

>>34349981
I thought the Unwise PC Project was a guided missle that carries guns.

>>34350014
Parallel projects are a thing. Hell the tech progression even is in the same vein.
Make missiles better at payload delivery-> missiles become able to carry more boom-> JAM receive more boom.

>>34350083
So...missles that carry guns that shoot nukes?

>>34350110
Now that would be nice to have, but ultimately too dangerous to keep on the ship.
Better that the gun missile and space nuke projects don't crossover that much.

>>34350194
You are correct. It would end in fatal, radioactive shenanigans.

Of, course, I now have to convince our group's other GM to run Macross, just so I can build the Guided Fold Drive Nuclear Rifle Delivery Missle.

>>34350339
Now let's not be too hasty. Nuclear rifles might be useful if the ship ever becomes too far gone, via anarchy or alien sympathizers, to save. Nothing says 'screw your ideals' like a nuclear shot to the face.

>>34350339
Fuck you NORG.

>>34350656
NORG?

No idea who/what that is.

“Well I’m in,” you replied, “Can’t be more dangerous than flying anyway. Besides I was thinking of an auxiliary weapon delivery system, like I dunno, stuff an extra gun in a missile or something.”

“That’s my boy,” your father clapped you hard, “We’ll get you working in a real lab soon enough.”

“Oh please Pecker, be realistic here,” Dr. Bouchard argued, “Why do that when we could just load all your guns on a drone?”

“Then we put that drone on his plane!” your dad exclaimed, “You’re a fucking genius Shorty.”

“That’s not what I had in mind, but thank you Susan.”

You almost felt bad for Maliki to be left out like this if she didn’t look content to just watch the three of you just chatting merrily.

[1/2]

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>>34351021
The following morning, you were back at SMS and you were feeling much better. It still smarted but you didn’t look like you were going to tear someone in half. At least you think so. Of course Sergei was smiling as usual when you reported in.

“Good news,” he said, “And goods news. Which one?”

“Uh,” you didn’t see the difference.

Thankfully Sergei continued regardless,

“We’re cleared to fly, so we can actually go out and look for Cavalier, or what remains of him.”

That was good news you guess.

“The other piece of news I have, well, let’s just say we got a lot of money from a really weird client.”

He handed you a datapad containing the mission parameters.

“We’re being paid by the collective anonymous aboard Avalon to go out and look for that mythical white VF-1?” you asked, “Wouldn’t looking at records make more sense?”

“Whoever said they were smart?” he shrugged, “Look at it this way, it’s basically free money. Didn’t you want to go test that rifle of yours or whatever?”

“Sounds tempting,” you admitted,

>”But I need to look for Cavalier”
>”I’ll go mount my rifle right now”

>>34351057
>”But I need to look for Cavalier”

We bring him home.

>>34351057
Didn't wee see Cavalier get hit by a beam? He's probably space dust by now.

>>34351057
>>”I’ll go mount my rifle right now”
>>34351088
He's dead Jim.

>>34351057
>”But I need to look for Cavalier”
Hopefully the JAM didn't get his body.

>>34351104
Projected path had him running into a beam, but it was just a projection, not actually witnessed.

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“But I need to look for Cavalier,” you finished.

“You know, the shrinks warned me that you might have an unhealthy fixation on your future team mates,” Sergei spoke, “because of what happen and everything.”

You gave him a look.

“Just food for thought,” he said, “Soapbox will be flying your six. See you in a few hours and I hope you’ll be bringing back some good news.”

You just left his office without a word. Of course since the Avalon had already arrived close to the area where the battle was fought yesterday, you didn’t have to transfer over to the Nozaki. This was what the guys in the force called a Dead Drop. Dead, because the Valkyrie only ran the electronics but no engines, and Drop because they are literally dropping you off with a crane boom. Since Soapbox was going with you, one of you had to spend their time suspended upside and strapped to their seat while the artificial gravity was still on. You paused to give Sergei’s words some thought before dismissing it and volunteering anyway. Kid didn’t deserve to be the ‘bottom’ just yet.

Still you had to wonder about your mental state a little as you launched once more in to space.

“Pecker,” Soapbox asked, “You alright?”

“I’m feeling better if that’s what you want to know,” you replied.

“You are pretty scary when you want to be,” he said, “I don’t want to pry too much but you can talk to me about it.”

“So what? You’re a shrink now Soapbox?”

“But don’t they say it’s better to talk about it instead of bottling it up?”

To be fair you hadn’t been forced to go see a therapist yet so you liked to think you were doing alright. Still it didn’t hurt to talk right?

>Talk to Soapbox about your loss
>”I don’t want to talk about it.”
>Write-in

>>34352085
>Talk to Soapbox about your loss

This is what you're in for, kid. Career pilot means a lot of empty coffin funerals

>>34352085
>”I don’t want to talk about it.”
Bottling up is fine when you can let regularly let loose, such as in fire fights.

>>34352085
>I don't want to talk about it.

We're not so weak that we can't handle a little grief on our own.

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“Alright I’ll bite,” you finally said, “What do you know about me Soapbox?”

“Just that you were discharged from Spacy for medical reasons so now you work here,” he answered.

“Well it’s related to that. You remember that memorial service they held recently?” you wait for him to answer, “Almost everyone there were my friends, they were my squad.”

There was short silence.

“This is what you’re in for Soapbox,” you continued, “A career as a combat pilot and a whole lotta empty casket funerals. You’ll have to excuse me if I do my damned best not to see another one.”

“Oh,” was all he said, “I’m sorry Pecker.”

“You were the one who asked,” you reminded him, “Now come on, I know Cavalier was here somewhere.”

You had followed the trail that your computer had predicted. It had intersected with a beam from the battle, as you recall but it was only a projection. Who knew where he ended up? You had to spend most of the time manually flying around and hoping to get a return that wasn’t debris. To be fair there wasn’t that much debris but the Avalon was constantly on the move so if they missed anything it was probably because the salvagers thought it wasn’t worth the effort.

“I got something,” Soapbox suddenly said.

“Same here,” you confirmed.

As you got closer you found half of a VF-171 adrift. The cockpit was still intact but it was frosted over. You hoped there wasn’t a leak, given the weak thermal return inside.

“Shit he’s probably freezing,” you breathed, “Soapbox get on the horn. We need a medevac now.”

He clicked twice as you slowly flew closer, careful not to bump in to anything. You needed to confirm that it was him but for that you’d actually had to do some EVA and open his cockpit. If it turned out to be something else then you could be in for some trouble, not to mention that opening the cockpit could kill him.

[1/2]

Just got here, and caught up. Guys, they don't even use nukes anymore in 2054. That's so New 10s. They're still called "reaction weaponry", but at this point, NUNS is already using particle-antiparticle annihilation warheads.

>>34353268
>Open the cockpit, we need to be sure
>Keep it closed, medevac will sort it out

>>34353286
>Keep it closed medevac will sort it out
Play it safe

>>34353286
>Keep it closed, medevac will sort it out
Shouldn't the ships have some sort of thermal imaging? Use that and check if there's a body sized blob in there.

>>34353440
I assume from
>given the weak thermal return inside
that they do, but the signature isn't distinct as a body sized blob as you put it.

You really wished the thermals were better but you weren’t going to risk opening up the cockpit. If Cavalier was really freezing inside then the sealed cockpit was the only thing keeping him alive. Besides medevac would usually have the tools for the job, so the best you could do was to hope he could hang in there a little longer.

“They’ll be here any moment. I heard the Nozaki’s folding in just for this,” Soapbox reported.

It didn’t even take longer than five minutes before the familiar red stealth carrier defolded and recovery operations were underway. By the time you landed you’d felt a great weight was lifted off your shoulders. It was a sentiment that Huck, Charlie team leader, shared. He promised a drink with you later once Cavalier had recovered. Hell, the rest of the squadron did.

As for Cavalier, well it looked like he was on the borderline when you found him. Normal life support, barring the oxygen supply, only lasted three, maybe four, hours before they gave out. He’d been stuck in his Valkyrie for over twelve hours, trying to keep warm and preserving his strength. It was an amazing feat of endurance, but not without cost. A lot of his limbs had been lost to frostbite. He could get prosthetics, all courtesy of SMS’ insurance policy, but he’d have to spend months in rehab before he could even fly again. Still, Cavalier was alive. That was all you could really ask for in your opinion.

[1/2]

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>>34354299
It was a few days later, and another mountain of paperwork, that Sergei actually had something interesting for you.

“Pecker! Congratulations on your promotion,” he announced.

Then he threw a sheaf of papers in your face.

“You’re now our new God-approved test pilot and head researcher, do us proud.”

“What are these?” you asked.

“Those are your waiver forms, so anything you do while testing is totally not our fault.”

“Stop smiling while you say that,” you returned, “Why are you even smiling anyway?”

“Because Pecker is a funny name,” his grin widened.

He pulled out another set of papers.

“What have you got for me now?”

“Oh this? This is just a demonstration that you will be doing for Spacy and some private interests in a few days time,” he unfolded it, “I’m surprised that more than a few people were interested in your new rifle design. If it works out you’ll be rich, and SMS will be rich, but mostly just you. No pressure or anything.”

“I haven’t tested the damn thing yet,” you groaned.

“Then you better start now huh? I’ll lend you Soapbox and our old training area if you need it. Hell this thing’s even got me curious.”

Funnily enough, the list of interested parties didn’t include Astronomov Laboratories. Maybe you could get Dad to help, turn the whole thing in to a professional endeavour. You also ran the risk being called gay in public but that surely didn't outweigh the advantages.

>Keep it all in-house
>Run to Dad for help

>>34354362
>Keep it all in-house
Consult with the relevant people, snipers and other such shooters, and build the thing.
Also being called gay in front of potential investors would torpedo our position.

>>34354362
>>Keep it all in-house

>>34354454
>snipers and other such shooters
Nononononono
Nononononono
Nothing ever good happens to snipers. Ever. The sniper always gets the short end of the stick.
>>34354362
But...it's on our best interests to
>Keep it all in-house

>>34354579
That's why you consult with them and make sure to add whatever they suggest. Be it a shotgun attachment or a bayonet.
Those dudes know what kind of things kill shooters, so they must know how to counteract them.

>>34354777
Not really what is was getting at. The sniper/scout character always gets killed, or is never heard from again, in a story. Macross Frontier, Full Metal Panic, Starship Troopers Invasion, Star Wars Republic Commando, Halo: Reach

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>>34354922
The equivalent melee weapon is a lance, so of course.

>>34355020
>>34354922
Being Lancer is suffering.

>>34354922
Ah yes, I memorable Year of the Dead Snipers.

>>34355020
What a wonderful idea. What if we make the rifle double as a lance in close quarters?

>>34355020
See: Busou Renkin

MC is a Lancer-type.

>>34355092
As much as I like bayonets, I doubt the furniture on these weapons is durable enough.

You don't go swinging around your lifeline.

>>34355168
There are Valkyrie-portable combat knives, though. They're energized/powered, too.

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Well you were going to keep it all in house. The fact that Astronomov Laboratories wasn’t an interested party was just too suspicious for your own liking. You could always ask Dr. Bouchard later about it but right now you had other things to worry about. Like having to prepare a presentation on a prototype rifle that could eventually affect Spacy. The current VF-171 didn’t offer a long range sniper pod, let alone the older Variable Fighters. So in a sense, this has never been done before. There was definitely no pressure here.

“Sergei you know anyone good with at long range shooting?” you asked.

“Well I hate to break it to you, but the only one who’s had any kind of experience like that is Claudia,” Sergei replied.

“Right, I’ll need to talk to her,” you dismissed it for now, “next is getting a stress test in, which we can do as soon as I mount that gun to my Valkyrie. What are we going to test it on, a VF-171? What about the targeting computer?”

“Oh Jive, the Bravo team leader, can probably handle the computer, he’s had experience as a artillery officer aboard a VB-6,” he answered.

“And we can probably adapt the RVF-171 radome mount so it’ll be usable on -171s,” you interrupted, “Finally we actually have to plan the presentation but that’s always not that important.”

“Seems like you have things in order,” Sergei remarked, “What are you going to do first?”

>Consult Claudia on long range shooting IN SPACE
>Talk to Jive about Fire Control System integration
>Fabricate the a usable mount for the rifle pod
>Live fire testing

>>34355242
Those are knives.

What I'm concerned about his how resilient the mounting to our rifle (and the rifle itself) would be in melee.

>>34355256
>>Consult Claudia on long range shooting IN SPACE

>>34355256
>Talk to Jive about Fire Control System integration
You need to be able to aim the thing before dealing with anything else.

>>34355280
They're already using energy weapons as of 2040. That shit can still get misaligned and broken easily, I'd wager, even if it's 2054.

>>34355256
>Talk to Jive about Fire Control System integration

>>34355337
So no bayonet.

>>34355256
>>Talk to Jive about Fire Control System integration
We should get everything else out of the way before we even think about testing it.

>>34355256
>Consult Claudia
Gotta talk to mai waifu

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“I’m going to go talk to Jive first, you coming?” you got up.

“Well no actually, I have another patrol with Force Recon so you’re on your own,” he apologised, “Jive’s probably at the water cooler, trying to convert it in to a mini bar.”

With that, the two of you parted. True to his words, Jive was at the water cooler. He wasn’t presently attempting to convert it in to a mini bar just yet. Currently he was staring at it with a hammer in hand. A few casks lay along the wall.

“Jive?”

“Oh Pecker,” he turned swiftly, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Sergei told me you had experience with artillery, you think you could help me cobble together a fire control system for a sniper rifle pod?”

He dropped his hammer casually, moving to invade your personal space.

“I say,” he remarked, “That sounds remarkably interesting. Redesigning the optical lenses and repackaging the sensors in to the head of a Valkyie sounds like a great challenge.”

“It’s nothing that drastic, I just need you to reprogram the computer,” you clarified.

“Why must you do the bare minimum?” he complained, “Do it right or not at all I say.”

You think he’s being overly dramatic.

“If I had the time maybe.”

“Oh, you should have said so from the start,” and like that he flipped his switch, “Tell you what, build me this bar and I shall fashion the greatest fire control system you’ve ever seen.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Here are the scripts I run on my personal machine to fix some of the targeting issues in contemporary hardware,” he held out a data stick, “you should be able to figure it out from there.”

>Challenge accepted
>Take the data stick

>>34356214
>>Challenge accepted
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS OVER-ENGINEERING

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>>34356214

Pic Related

>>34356214
>Challenge accepted
Build a counter and a sink. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

I see, then roll 1d100. You're a mechanic, not a carpenter.

Rolled 100 (1d100)

>>34356557
As a mechanic who was made to work in a wood shop for several months, I am insulted.

Well that's that then.

>>34356633
Well, then.

Maybe the dice are sympathetic for once.

>>34356633
Whelp.

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Hah, if that’s all he wanted then you could easily do that. If you could build a sniper rifle, you could build a bar, easy.

“You might want to get started now Jive,” you picked up the hammer, “by the time I’m done you’ll be too drunk to code anything.”

First things first, that water cooler had to go. So did the walls, no one was using the room behind it anyway.

“That’s actually my office,” Jive said.

“Then rejoice, your office is now a bar,” you declared.

His desk was a nice base for the bar counter. You had to strip out most of his electronics though. The casks wouldn’t fit underneath it otherwise. Next you needed a glass rack, a sink and more chairs. Those were easily acquired by calling up some mechanics to check the storage. It only took an hour to fashion shelves out of parts of the walls that were no longer needed. Another hour was taken up finding the appropriate glasses, the one after that was repairing a mini fridge. Rerouting the plumbing was a bit trickier but nothing a little ingenious pipe work couldn’t fix. It wasn’t the soft wooden and warm brown colours of an old fashion bar, but you liked to think going for the sleek metallic design was better in this case. You worked in the SMS logo where you could to break up the monotonous grey with gold and black.

It was as you finished installing a tap, you finally noticed the small crowd that had gathered as you worked. They weren’t sitting at the counter yet, seeing as you were still working. Turning to them, you took out a glass and served yourself a beer. Then you turned to address them with foam still on your lips,

“Ladies and gentleman, Jive’s Office is now open.”

There was cheering from the mechanics whilst the pilots started laughing.

Episode 5 End.
https://twitter.com/BoredofDirector
Next Episode: Creative Accounting

Sleepy QM is sleepy. Good night.

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>>34346985

Hey macross quest - I made you a .gif yesterday but the thread was close to death.

Sorry its a little small, but I hope you enjoy.