>>35488327
you here OP

>>35488327

Your assets are 25 lightly armed Patrol ships, more intended for police actions and rescue operations than combat, 9 old Draconis Combine Frigates and five similarly outmoded Missile Carriers, all choked with the corpses of their former masters and run on skeleton crews by what few of your soldiers have experience working ships and the abducted Pirate-slave crew, mostly in engineering and communications.

Your shiny new(ish) Destroyer isn't technically under your control yet, what with the tangle of mutinying pirates who are rapidly becoming aware that the swarm of boarding soldiers isn't a ploy by their rivals to lure them into traps, but you expect to own it in totality within 20 minutes.

For now, though, there's the matter of Spire, and keeping the fury that burns in your mind when you think of how many lives the owner of that idiotic face has destroyed with gleeful sadism from distorting your face while you talk him into a trap.

While part of you wants nothing more than to send his fleet burning into the atmosphere in so many pieces, the Outlaw that lives in your heart is seeing a perfectly capable, if slow, defense Auxiliary currently occupied by frightened bullies who have spent their careers trying to avoid stand-up fights. Would definitely be useful as a mobile defense-network if your Colony is later attacked by nasty, but low-tech, aliens with swarms of missiles. It's happened before.

The main problem will not be talking a desperate and not particularly bright man into doing what you want, but doing so in a way that doesn't open up a gap in the orbital fire that is keeping the swarming Pseudo-Arachnids on the surface from overwhelming their ground base and brutally ending the lives of 20,000 Slaves.

Time to earn your pay.

>Pretend that you have not taken out Kommodore Scarr, and take him up on his earlier offer to be smuggled to safety.
>Declare yourself the new master of the Pirate Fleet and ask for him to negotiate his surrender
>Other

>>35488753
>>Pretend that you have not taken out Kommodore Scarr, and take him up on his earlier offer to be smuggled to safety.
he needs to think that we are at his mercy and he might think that he can use this against us. We will prove him wrong.

Thoughts on this? I figured this would be a good way to organize/process the formation of states & territories, as well as extrapolating on our Militias and building up a Reserve for the Tempest Army.

http://pastebin.com/ME52xSe6

>>35488753

>Pretend that you have not taken out Kommodore Scarr, and take him up on his earlier offer to be smuggled to safety.

>>35488753
>Other
Pretend that we have not taken out Kommodore Scarr, and tell him that we can negotiate a way to get him, his slavers, and choice slave stock off-planet and to a new planet, in return for what he promised earlier.

OP what timezone are you in? I had no idea you ran yesterday, since in...saturday morning US EST you said you'd run tomorrow night.

>>35488327
fuck yea! its governator quest!

Can you repost the stuff about the different merc companies and their equipment?

I'm maintaining this atm:

http://pastebin.com/itfWLrew

>>35488796
>>35488876
The problem with just smuggling Spire and his most loyal slavers out, still leaves the problem of the Slaver ships in orbit not being abandoned.

And here's the problem with trying to get them to defect to us: those ships need to be constantly bombarding the surface just to keep the Rachs from overwhelming the Slaver base.
We need to get them to peacefully leave their orbits, ground themselves, and leave the safety of their ships, all while our own ships can insert themselves into those orbits to keep up the orbital bombardment.

Telling Spire that we can relocate his entire crew, minus most of their ships, base, and slave stock, would let us get control of the Slaver ships without getting into a fight in space or letting up the orbital strikes.

>>35489228
I"ll go with that then. I need to read up on the last thread.

>>35488753
Changing vote to:
>Declare yourself the new master of the Pirate Fleet and ask for him to negotiate his surrender

>>35488895
Changing my vote to this.

>>35489345
What did he promise? I think we should just fuck 'im over.

>>35489399
Rare and exotic slaves and the locations of his hidden treasure caches in out of the way star systems.

And of course we're going to fuck him over, the entire point of our deception is to get everything we can from him and get close to him so that we can kill him with the least amount of collateral damage since this is all going to be our stuff.
What did you think we were doing?

>>35488753
>>35489306
Here

Changing again to >>35488895

>>35488753
>Pretend that you have not taken out Kommodore Scarr, and take him up on his earlier offer to be smuggled to safety.

if this doesn't work
>Have a scary looking soldier working for us pretend to be a mutineer pirate luitenant that has taken over scarr's positon call him seperately from us and say that scarr was missing out a golden opportunity. suggest they serve under him as pirate king, giving him a slice of their profit in exchange for their lives, as well as berth in your new tortuga, and also buying up a bunch of their slaves to feed the pirates sexual appetites. Just dock with us to transfer over the slaves (actually to board their ships and kill them and free the slaves).

regardless of what he says, we control their comms, we could communicate with each of their ships individually and trick them into defecting to join the pirate fleet, tricking them into thinking that the other ships are defecting already (again, via control of comms). once they defect we just keep up the ruse of pirate

>>35489228
we control their comms, we could work on tricking each ship individually.

Hey OP I think we have a majority.

Guys, once we smuggle Lord Spire, the remaining slavers will be abandoned without leadership. they will probably start fighting for dominance and would be desperate for whatever deal (trap) we or "scarr" offer them.

>>35489771
we are no smuggling him it is a trick

>>35489771
That's why I pointed out that we need a plan that gets all of the Slavers together so we can kill them all at the same time.

>>35489798
Whether we smuggle him to orbit just to space him or not isn't the problem.
The problem is if he disappears then the remaining Slavers are going to start fighting each other and we'll have a more difficult time cleaning up.

>>35489798
I know its a trick
we "smuggle" him off planet without being caught by scarr
even though scarr is done for.
and instead of smuggling him to freedom we smuggle him to his death.

Ok so we have three for the other option
and one for the pretend to be distressed option
correct?

>>35488986

I was tired and not entirely coherent, but what I said was that it was either tomorrow night or later today, depending on whether you go by the clock or consider it "tonight" until the sun comes up. Really, that was probably the most confusing thing I've ever written, and I apologize for it.

The Majority Vote is to present yourself as the Governor. How would you like to proceed?

>Offer to smuggle him, personally, out from under Scarrs nose in a stealth shuttle
>Claim that Scarr is open to him surrendering to you and working as your "Press-Gang" to collect labor for your colony, as he has no use for the Slavers
>Other

>>35489956
the "other" options seem more like slight refinements than a total other.

>>35490016
>Other
Have him pull his fleet here since we have the situation under control. If he needs more evidence show him Scarr handcuffed and humiliated.

>>35490016
>Offer to smuggle him, personally, out from under Scarrs nose in a stealth shuttle
followed by having someone else working for us calling him on behalf of scarr's replacement offering to broker a deal between them where he becomes a slaver under scarr's pirate fleet. giving them a cut of his profits, in exchange for his life, life of his crew, as well as access to this colony's berth's for resupply, repair, and sale.

>>35490016
>Claim that Scarr is open to him surrendering to you and working as your "Press-Gang" to collect labor for your colony, as he has no use for the Slavers
In return for our service as negotiator, Spire will pay us the price he originally promised us (exotic slaves, treasure caches), and his slaver fleet will ground itself while our patrol boats take up orbital bombardment duties.

>>35490108
Why would Spire agree to work under someone he hates, instead of someone he sees as a mark to manipulate?

I mean, your plan is just a worse version of the second option.

>>35490016
>Offer to smuggle him, personally, out from under Scarrs nose in a stealth shuttle

>>35490189
>Why would Spire agree to work under someone he hates
spire doesn't hate a complete stranger he never heard of before. especially since this guy supposedly killed scarr

also, pls note that this is STANDARD PRACTICE for pirates. scarr was using fear to control his fleet.

And if he says no, then we lose nothing.

>>35490016
have him show us where the goodies are personally thet when we have the we can kill him

>>35490145

Your Patrol Ships are not equipped for sustained orbital bombardment. Their energy weapons are too weak to be effective when they pierce through to the surface.

The Slaver ships, crude as they are, have been outfitted with racks of metal rods with guidance fins designed to slam down with reasonable accuracy and the impact of a tactical nuke on a designated target.

Your new Pirate ships have superior capability, being actually designed to take out a militarized ground force instead of bullying lightly-armed colonists.

>>35490189
>I mean, your plan is just a worse version of the second option.
no, it is a far superior plan to the second option.
the second option requires giving up the first option. this plan is not mutually exclusive with it and coexists with the first option without endangering it in any way

>>35490145

This tell him we have cut our own deal with the commodore and are willing to intercede on his behalf and even help him rescue the assets on the ground if he pay us well enough. He just needs to know we are keeping Scarr in line with the Tortuga business deal. As desperate man he will grasp to this ray of hope like no tomorrow.

>>35490145
>>35490282

QM already said our ships are not equipped for orbital bombardment >>35490250

Why do I have the felling that this is going to come down to us isolating Scar and bullshiting him down or just killing him and taking command of his ships.

>>35490250
Then just replace the Patrol Boats with Pirate Ships.
Spire knows that Scarr wants the slaves, so if his Slaver fleet isn't continuing orbital strikes, it'll be the Pirates.

>>35490310
we already took control of scarr's ships and scarr is currently our prisoner.
we are now dealing with Lord Spire (slaver)

>>35490308
Since we already cut a deal with the Commodore, the plan can replace the patrol ships with pirate ships. The plan is still better than this >>35490261

>>35490339
Spire whatever its just getting the fucker over here thats the problem, lets not have this turn into a 8 hour debate.

>>35490330
I would rather the slavers keep on doing the bombardment.
we control their comms, nothing is stopping us from tricking each and every one of them into defecting and joining the pirate fleet. and then using them with their current crews until we are ready to board them and kill the slavers.

>>35490308

I didn't mean to link >>35490145 in my post >>35490282

>>35490357
I think you might have some reading comprehension problems

1. there is no reason at all why we would have the pirate ships do bombardment of rach instead of slaver ships
2. your complaints about the second link are literally nonsense. you have completely failed reading comprehension on what it actually says. read it again more carefully.

Hey guys why don't we just tell Spire that Scarr tried to stab us in the back (Kinda true) and that we delt with him. We want Spire to bring his whole fleet with him and have a civil discussion about loyalty and where Spire can end up. That makes sense right.

OK lets discuss this we can either take the slavers by force and intimidation or by trickery. I think in this delicate situation with the lives of the slaves in the line trickery could be wiser. Make Spire think he can save the bodies in the ground and that he can come out of this alive and less poor than before.

>>35490428
because then spire will fear us, we want him to underestimate us and think us a sniveling beurocrat he can easily exploit. so he doesn't notice the trap.

>>35490428
>That makes sense right.
No it doesn't, because Spire's space and ground forces need to stay right where they are because they're under constant attack by Rach and any interruption will result in the base being overrun and all 20,000 slaves being killed.

>>35490455

He is desperate right now, I think its better he thinks we are his only and best hope.

>>35490455
Fear is good, fear makes a man do stupid things. If we play it right we can show Spire that we are willing to work with him rather than just hunt him down. And besides he can't have us show up as a new threat what with his current situation, we have him by the balls right now or then whatever you guys get it.

>>35490250
What were Scarr's terms of surrender for Spire?
What kept Spire from surrendering, since right now it's all he can do to just keep the Rach from overrunning his base.

I really don't see the problem

Step 1:
Governor tell spire we will smuggle him alone off world
Step 2:
Have someone ELSE call spire, claim to have usurped scarr (or represent him) and try to negotiate a deal for a fleet merger. if it succeeds we board and kill them, if it fails we still "smuggle" him to his death
Step 3:
contact each individual ship (we control their comms) and trick them. either convince them that a deal was struck and they will now give the pirates a % tribute in exchange for use of this tortuga. Or we convince them to individually defect to the pirates on a ship by ship basis. using our comm control to trick them into thinking the other ships in their fleet are defecting as well so they better join soon to survive.

>>35490496
>Fear is good
yes it is. but we don't want him to fear US or he will lash out against us.
we want him to fear scarr and then walk right into our trap because his fear of scarr and underestimating us causes him to not notice it

Ok how about this, We call Spire and tell him we can get his ass off world to safety and while he's in transit we have our people sow discontent and havoc through Spires ships, then when he gets here we cuff him and force him to give full command to us over all of his forces.

>>35490535

I don't understand why we can't tell him scarr is gone and now he has to deal with only us. Offer him a goo deal and he will gladly agree, save the slaves together and double cross him.

>>35490693
so, the same as >>35490535 only skipping step 2 and with fewer contingencies on step 3?

>>35490739
more or less, honestly I only realized it after I hit enter and well nothing I can do after that, so what I'm saying is.
>>35490535
going with this guy.

>>35490739
>>35490693

Fine! Whatever least just do it. I fell like we are going in circles here.

>>35490732
Because that would mean we are ambitious and willingly to take action. We want to take advantage of him and finish him off like Scarr. He would be on guard if we seem too dangerous.

>>35490766
been a bit of a trend in this quest hasn't it. Maybe were just overthinking the whole thing.

>>35490518

Scarr refused to allow Spire to surrender, having decided that selling off his junk fleet and finding something to do with his mob would be too much trouble. When you arrived, they were waiting for Spires fleet to run out of the orbital projectiles they needed to hold the Bazaar hostage, swoop in and annihilate the Slavers, and finish off the remaining Arachnids with their superior orbital fire.

>>35490732
We are telling him that on step 2.

Look, I don't get what is so hard to comprehend here

>we called him and identified ourselves as the governor.

our options are now
1. make a deal on our own behalf. if it doesn't work how we want it to, or if we want to be sneaky, we can have someone else call him on behalf of scarr or claiming to be scarr's replacement to make another deal.

2. claim we are the only power remaining and make a deal with him. if this doesn't work we have no other avenue of trickery because we already established we took out scarr

also, he would not fall into any trap we set for him if we show him we have taken out scarr. because he would recognize us as dangerous. instead of a sniveling beurocrat that can help him escape scarr.

>>35490795
So the plan to have someone else call him later claiming to be scarr's replacement and brokering a deal of a fleet merger might work quite well then.

>>35490784
We obviously didn't think things through when selecting colonists.

>>35490887
Or we were just chasing our asshole out of our dick.
>>35490807
anyway going with the plan this guy>>35490535
had

>>35490807

Yeah, lets go with that. At least their is an alternative but he is so desperate he will likely agree with anything.

>>35490807
Isnt he known for being a cowardly and stupid fuck? #2 isnt that bad

>>35490795
there seem to be a consensus to do steps 1 and 3 of >>35490535
with some contention over step 2 (which is not critical to the plan anyways).
where step 1 is >>35490016
>Offer to smuggle him, personally, out from under Scarrs nose in a stealth shuttle

We can have a separate vote on whether we do step 2 (have someone else call him later claiming to be scarr's replacement and negotiate a fleet merger) or skip to step 3 (call his ships to trick them into believing a merger agreement was made with scarr's replacemenet, or order surrender, or trick them to defect individually)

>>35490979
you know what fuck step 2 lets go straight with step 3 thats my vote.

Just pick something dammit it's been two hours.

>>35491032
I am honestly fine with either option.

>>35491052
Shut the fuck up you worthless shit. You contribute nothing, can't plan anything, and need to be handheld through every single choice.

>>35490016
QM, seems we have a consensus on
>Offer to smuggle him, personally, out from under Scarrs nose in a stealth shuttle

And on tricking the slaver fleet afterwards to do a "fleet merger" (board and capture them)

you can go ahead and write this up and then follow up with a vote on whether we try the "trick spire with the guy claiming to be scarr's replacement calling seperately to negotiate a fleet merger".

>>35490979
Since we have complete control of all comms, it'd be pretty simple to just tell the slaver ships that an agreement with the pirates was reached, order them to let the pirate ships take up orbital strike positions to keep the rach at bay, and then land all of their ships in order to take up as many slaves as they can carry, as the remaining number of slaves went to paying the pirates off.

So that takes care of the ships in orbit and keeping up the bombardments.

>>35491172
this is basically the same as step 3. only with slight variation on the specifics.

although i am not sure their ships are capable of landing and then flying back into orbit.

>>35491113
If we really can impersonate anybody because we have complete cyphers and control of the comm frequencies, why would we need to trick Spire into giving us control of his Slaver fleet? We could trick the Slaver ships by ourselves.

The main reason why we would want Spire to come to us, and pick him up in a shuttle, is because of the exotic slaves (so that we can take custody of them safely; he's probably got explosive collars on them or something, like what Scarr tried to do with the female Kzin trapped in their cryo-caskets), and to get him to tell us the locations of the hidden treasure caches and how to get them.

>>35491229
>although i am not sure their ships are capable of landing and then flying back into orbit.
They'd have to be, otherwise they'd be pretty piss-poor slave raiding ships.
Unless you're exclusively going after space stations and space ships, slavers have to be able to land on planets to raid colonies and capture slaves.

>>35491229
>this is basically the same as step 3
Step 2 is completely unnecessary, because it can all be done with Step 1 and a better done Step 3.

I think OP is kill, he could have call a vote or give an indication that we are moving on.

>>35491113

You address the cowering brute before you, the unfortunately large Holograph showing off all of his amateurish piercings and open sores.

"Lord Spire, my name is Michael Greystone, and I am the new Colonial Governor of Tempest. i was able to work out a suitable deal with the good Kommodore, which involved some transfer of treasure and personnel. While running a pirate haven will likely prove highly profitable, I'd like to recoup my losses soonest. I am told you have a unique labor pool and a cache of valuables stashed in the emptiness nearby?"

"Yes, YES!" He nearly shouts, fixating with total conversation on you, "I'm so very, very glad you could see reason! Scarr wouldn't even TALK to me, the bastard! I've got slaves, unique slaves, and currency too. Al, the best loot I've picked up in my career. I was saving it for when my little operation here went big, but since that won't pan out-"

"Yes, yes," You interrupt, wanting to hear him talk as little as possible, "This will be most satisfactory. I have a stealth shuttle that should be able to dodge their amateurish sensor operators and... Remove you to safety. You will depart in roughly three hours."

"Of course! Of course! I'll be ready in three! Three hours sharp! On the dot!"

With that, the channel closes.

Now, for the rest...

>Have an intimidating soldier pose as Scarrs "replacement" to Spire
>Offer other Slavers deals
>Offer individual Slavers the chance to join the pirate Fleet
>Other

>>35491243
>If we really can impersonate anybody because we have complete cyphers and control of the comm frequencies, why would we need to trick Spire into giving us control of his Slaver fleet? We could trick the Slaver ships by ourselves.
presumably tricking him to do it would make it more credible than faking his orders, increasing the chances of success.
but i can see the logic in skipping that step entirely and just directly tricking the ships instead.

>>35491278
>They'd have to be, otherwise they'd be pretty piss-poor slave raiding ships.
some have to be. but some might be orbital bombardment only.

>>35491323
>>Offer other Slavers deals

>>35491323
just as keikaku!

>Offer other Slavers deals
>Offer individual Slavers the chance to join the pirate Fleet
what is the difference between those two?

>>35491323

Told you he could be desperate for anything.

Now lets offer the Slavers a deal could free passage out of the system in exchange for the slaves be OK with everyone? I mean their ships aren't really worth the trouble are they?

>>35491323
let the stalemate continue for 3 more hours until we "smuggle" spire.
THEN cut deals with the other slavers (who are now headless).

>>35491323
>>Have an intimidating soldier pose as Scarrs "replacement" to Spire

>Offer other Slavers deals
>Offer individual Slavers the chance to join the pirate Fleet

Do it individually and after the head leaves.

We should use the Head Slaver to get what we want from him, then kill 'im.

>>35491323
>Offer other Slavers deals
Contact each Slave ship. Tell them that we're looking to make a buck here.
We've worked out a deal with the Commodore: we get the slaver to surrender, we provide the slaver with safe passage away from here. All the slaver has to do is in 3 hours time, let the approaching pirate ships replace their positions doing orbital strikes, because the Commodore wants to keep his potential future merchandise alive.
We intercept all comms, and tell each slaver that the other four slavers we talked to all agreed, and we expect at least 3/4 of the others to also agree.
Don't be stupid, they can always try again elsewhere.

Once they dock with the Harvest, we take the Slavers out of their ships, escort them nicely, and then execute them out of sight.

>>35491443
economically speaking, their ships are worth more than their slaves.
morally speaking, the slaves life and freedom is worth more than their ships.

our ultimate goal is to get both. killing the slavers, capturing the ships intact, and saving the slaves (turning them into colonists)

>>35491443
>I mean their ships aren't really worth the trouble are they?
Actually, the ships would still be useful.
Michael, in-character, remembered that there are small upstart alien civilizations out here that tend to attack small Commonwealth colonies, and these converted Slaver ships would still be good enough to provide point-defense protection.

Also, remember we still have a Rach infestation on the planet, and the more orbital bombing we can do, the better.

>>35491519
>>35491554

How about we offer them that deal (Slaves in exchanges for free passage) and capture their ships during the exchange?

For a new colony, any and all lift capacity is good, even if it is sitting moth balled, with hatches open for a few decades.

The ability to have an instant merchant fleet as needed, to have the lift needed to save neighboring systems or to just trade with friendlies will improve things.

It could also lead to a small local confederation with this colony as the leader, depending on how strong the other locals are.

It is worth noting that the only thing that can take out our bolo is orbital bombardment.
if we deploy it, it can handle anything on the planet...as long as we neutralize the slaver ships first.

>>35491577
This! This is perfect! they dock to give us "slaves", instead they get boarded and held at gunpoint and pretend that all is fine as well and continue to make trips for slave shuttling while the others also dock one by one.

>>35491606
don't forget that we got both asteroid mining AND He3 fuel mining cloudscoop and no freighters. that means that most of the profit from both is taken up by the corp for ferrying capacity.
the slaver's fleet is composed of freighters which had rough orbital bombardment weapons bolted unto them. If we capture them they could be used to shuttle the fuel and ore from our asteroid and gas giant mining and thus massively increase our income.

>>35491648
We do have frieghters. We bought that whole fleet off our friend. Its just more is better.

>>35491577
So you want to try to get 20,000 people off of the planet?

>>35491691

Yes, they will not last long down there with the bugs constantly attacking. The slavers's ships should have the capacity to move a lot of people off world that's how they get slaves in the first place.

>>35491667
oh, i forgot about that.
still, you are right that more is better.

>>35491691
that isn't what he said. it is a ruse.

there are 40-something slaver ships. each one is going to dock with us one by one to transfer slaves. ... heck we can say that we are BUYING them.
each one docks, get boarded, its slaver pop killed (or forced to fly it at gunpoint). then it is flown out and starts back towards the planet.

when the last one is boarded in such a manner we stop pretending ...
or actually, we have them land to "pick up more slaves" only to disgorge our soldiers unto their ground camp and seize that as well. then we set up a dome there and convert their ground camp into a city where the newly liberated ex slaves become citizens.

What is the Commonwealths standard punishment for slavers and pirates?

And since we have jurisdiction, since we are the new governor, we have the power to make the legal decisions.

I am for spacing them if they hurt the slaves, but willing to negociate from there.

>>35491763
the bugs can be suppressed by orbital bombardment for now before we deploy our tank battalion and bolo and full military might to destroy their hives.
we don't need to evacuate them, we need to settle down on the planet.

>>35491834

Fine safer that way. Still they most have some slaves in their ships we could "buy"as an excuse to board and capture.

>>35491809
there has never been a legitimate government that didn't deal harshly with slavers and pirates.
Our men could barely contain their desire to slaughter every last one of them as they heard them joking about raping and torturing children to death
And as a de-facto dictator, we can do whatever we want with them.

>>35491834
We would be taking a big risk trying to destroy the hives while defending the slaves. Their nests are quite deep down due to the bombardments. Taking is slow will minimize risk but give the bugs an opportunity to destroy the camp.

>>35491809

We could go with an ironic punishment like force labor in the mines.

>>35491873
yea. that is a good point. will be quicker to "buy" the slaves they have on board their ships already that to wait on them to pick up loads from the ground.

>>35491763
Then wouldn't it be better to get control of all of the Slaver ships as soon as possible, have the pirate ships continue orbital strikes while the slaver ships (crewed with our soldiers and mercs) land, disembark, and kill the slavers still on the ground?

>>35491795
>each one docks, get boarded, its slaver pop killed (or forced to fly it at gunpoint). then it is flown out and starts back towards the planet.
The orbital strikes have to remain constant or the defenders on the ground will be overwhelmed.
And some of the slavers are going to be suspicious if other ships keep going down to the planet instead of being taken in by the Harvest because they're supposed to have bought safe passage already.

>>35491894
Nar not the labor. Remember we chose not to use criminals as labor in our introduction. I prefer that we keep that.

>>35491890
point. although that depends on the exact locations and deployments as well as the defensive strength of the slaver planetside camp.
we can make the call on whether to evacuate them for the fighting or not when we capture the slaver's ground camp and assess its defenses.

I think we have a consensus to offer the slavers a deal and double-crossing them.

>>35491935
We can deal with their punishment later. Lets focus on saving the slaves and capturing their ships.

>>35491894
That's taking jobs away from actual colonists.

Space them, or hang them.
Or we put nooses around their necks and tie them to a shuttle, and have it slowly lift off. Or first put them on a roof and then have the shuttle fly out over the edge.

>>35491909
>The orbital strikes have to remain constant or the defenders on the ground will be overwhelmed.
pirate ships can maintain the bombardment while their ships dock.
>And some of the slavers are going to be suspicious if other ships keep going down to the planet instead of being taken in by the Harvest because they're supposed to have bought safe passage already.
the plan that anon suggested was that their safe passage will come in exchange for all the slaves on the planet. meaning they need to do several round trips to deliver the slaves to the pirates before they are granted their safe passage.

>>35491894
its cute in theory. but i would rather just kill them all and have colonists performing such jobs instead. especially considering we brought both heavy machinery and highly tech educated populace.

>>35488876
hm I like. What about enforcement though? Recall we do have a rather large number of criminals and political dissidents...

>>35491323
>other

bide for time if we try to talk to the slavers one of them may alert Spire and then the deal is in trouble.

Any way we can determine how much ammo they got to keep suppressing the bugs?

>>35491966

As a rule myself, I prefer to leave them on a deserted island in the middle of no where, watched by orbital satelite, given just the basics to survive.

Of course any that committed crimes against the slaves, should be dealt with harshly.

>>35492021
>bide for time if we try to talk to the slavers one of them may alert Spire and then the deal is in trouble.
we can block such alerts from being sent. but it is a good idea to wait until we got spire in custody.

>Any way we can determine how much ammo they got to keep suppressing the bugs?
an important question.

>>35492021
They have been suppressing the bugs for a while at least. Since the bugs had time to dig deeper, regroup and launch another attack on the slaver base. Not only that but they were still doing it throughout our capture of the pirates. Also, if the slaver captain is that desperate that means he knows he can't hold out much longer.

>>35492083
You seem to have some really bizzare views of what slavers are. Do you think forcibly capturing someone, putting them in a cage, and then selling them to sick fucks who use them as sex toys isn't committing a crime against them?
Do they have to personally torture a slave before you are willing to punish them?
How do you tell which is which?

>>35492021
I imagine we can have local (state/province/county) police managed on their own, and then a federal/planetary police to deal with interstellar trade and interstate crimes.

>>35492083
We can execute the worst after we force them to surrender.

Given it's a slaver base, I imagine some of them have been brutalized as the system or were forced to become part of it in order to make their family slightly better off. Basically what you saw happen a lot in pre-industrial warfare. Soldiers/mercs kill some soldiers, absorb stragglers. New camp followers are treated like shit, and some new soldiers are raised from them.

>>35492143
Not the same guy, but testimony from refugees to find out which were truly horrible so we don't kill the few 'innocent' people?

>>35492170
>Innocent slaver
top lel

To clarify the situation: The Slavers do not have the lift capacity to get all 20,000 Slaves transferred to your ship without several days of back and forth trips or the capacity on the Harvest to hold them all. The Bazaar is made of a fleet of grounded refugee ships converted into habitats, and populated by the soon-to-be-sold refugees.

>>35492170
>We can execute the worst after we force them to surrender.
we execute every single one of them.
these are slavers not tax evader.

>>35491994
Too much could go wrong with that, especially with the ground-side slavers.
Even assuming that we tell them to only start doing that after we have Spire in our hands, we'd still have to contend with the groundside pirates that have to be neutralized quickly and in one go, and their defensive positions immediately manned against the Rach.

>>35492170

That is my view, there will be a lot of truly bastards and should be spaced, others will be kids fucking up in a fucked up world type.

>>35492194
>The Slavers do not have the lift capacity to get all 20,000 Slaves transferred to your ship without several days of back and forth trips or the capacity on the Harvest to hold them all
Thank you for this information.

So getting the slaves off the planet is now off the table.
Let's get started on convincing the Slavers in space that we have an affordable deal for them.

>>35492189
You don't get it. If it's been running long enough, there's likely a couple of younger slavers who were former slaves, that joined in for slightly better status of themselves and family.

>>35492194

Then change the deal to what ever number of slaves they have. We take over the bombardment as part of the deal and "keep the slaves" below.

>>35492230
I would prefer not to space them. We are going to be doing large scale activities in space like mining, repairs etc. I prefer not to have bodies all over that could effect our reputation or morale.

>>35492194
it seems like everyone agrees to talk to the slaver ships and trick them to board them. then AFTERWARDS we have discussed various plans on what to do with the bazaar and the rach.

the only question seems to be on HOW to trick the slaver ships currently in orbit.
so far the plans I noticed are
1. they make several trips to give us slaves from the bazaar, in exchange they get their freedom / a chance to join the pirates
2. we want to buy whatever slaves they have in stock right now. have their ships dock with different ships of ours.
3. convince them that we negotiated a fleet merger. pirates and slavers are now one big faction and this place is becoming a new pirate heaven. use that to get them to dock with us or let us dock with them and board and capture them

all the while suppressing their comms.
if i missed one please tell me

there is also a secondary point of
A. wait until we have spire in custody before we spring the above trap
B. spring the above trap immediately.

>>35492283
>I prefer not to have bodies all over that could effect our reputation or morale.
Space junk IS a real problem.
Spacing them, but at an angle so that they fall into the gravity well and burn up on re-entry is probably the easiest and most hygienic solution.

>>35492283
That is why you lob them into a sun or something. Like trash you don't wish to deal with but need to be gotten rid of properly regardless.

>>35492308
We should bide our time as in secure Spire BEFORE making the offer of a fleet merger so as it prevent likely fuck ups. As they may get suspicious considering the comms being blocked.

>>35492308
I haven't mentioned it before. but I have another idea
we use the "sell us slaves in exchange for freedom" ruse. they dock, they get boarded... have one or two say they are leaving and have them jump into hyperdrive while the rest are "joining the pirates". those 2 ships that jumped into hyperdrive are basically to help maintain the ruse that we are on the level.
and their orders are to only fly a little out of the system into deep space and then hyperdrive back into the system and rejoin us tomorrow.

>>35492308
>1. they make several trips to give us slaves from the bazaar, in exchange they get their freedom / a chance to join the pirates
OP said that's not feasible.
>2. we want to buy whatever slaves they have in stock right now. have their ships dock with different ships of ours.
This is the fastest and easiest.

A. wait until we have spire in custody before we spring the above trap
Of course we should wait until we have Spire in our custody before we float the offer, otherwise they might screw up the plan.

>>35492283
toss them in a decaying orbit such that they fall to the planet within less than 1 day.
their body will burn up on reentry into ash which will help randomly fertilize the planet.

>>35492308

Lets go with 2 and A.

OP, I ask you push for a consensus after 5-20min of discussion so we can have a decent pace. You can always extend it if someone suddenly has a brilliant idea, but yeah.

2 days ago, one scene took like 7 hours

>>35492384
>OP said that's not feasible.
no he didn't, he said it will take all of them going back and forth over several days of nonstop work to bring all 20k people.
But we could just say make 3 round trips each, giving us say... 1000 slaves.
in reality this is a lie, they will only make 1 trip. they dock with us, we board them, then kill them, then we land their ships in the bazaar and they disgorge our soldiers instead of collecting more slaves.

>>35492308
2
But change it to giving us the slaves as a guarantee since we are going to help their batch on ground.
A

>>35492495
Yea, basically after giving us a reasonable discussion time, do a post like
>>35492308 which focuses on the issue at hand and moves on to the next vote.

>>35492308
2 and A
2 is from us (the governor), if they don't fall for it, we can then do 1 from someone pretending to represent the pirates and go with >>35492364

>>35492508
Except for best results we should be landing a large number simultaneously, not piecemeal.

>>35492308
this forgets to mention that we have our pirate ships assist in orbital bombardment of rach while the deal is going on.

>>35492591
they don't deploy our troops peacemeal. once we have captured all the freighters in orbit we stuff them to the brim with soldiers before landing them and disgorging all of them at once... as well as including our entire tank battalion in there.
and we can even coordinate it with landing some of our own ships to deploy the bolo and more of our forces as well.

I'm pretty sure we can overwhelm them with our superior numbers, firepower and soldiers.

We have a supersoldier. We have dozens of catmen who are at least on par with olympic athletes. We got guys with the contemporary equivalent of military body armor, in the numbers of 20,000. 80 light tanks. etc.

>>35492673
you forgot the bolo, QM said the bolo, even unarmed, can steamroll anything on the planet at the moment.
but it will be destroyed by orbital bombardment.
once we have taken that out we can land it and have it just roll around squashing rach

>>35492657
Then why even mention making multiple trips to the slavers?
Just have them come up to the Harvest, land in a docking bay, have the slavers come out and be escorted away, presumably to their rooms, and then execute them once out of sight.

>>35492713
Yes but how would we steamroll a nest that is deep underground? Infantry would be the primary force that would be used in the extermination.

>>35492713
QM made the slaver fleet as a possible asset, though. I think we should BS them for amnesty and getting salaried as space force soldiers.

>>35492752
It's made for industrial use and was explicitly mentioned to have shit like giant drills. It's almost as if the QM set it up to be the perfect Rach exterminator

>>35492752
Scythe (the BOLO), is currently equipped with mining equipment and drills.

We don't steamroll a nest that's underground, we dig right into it and destroy it with drills.

>>35492749
>Then why even mention making multiple trips to the slavers?
if we just said
>Sell us the slaves you currently have and you are free to go
then slaver ships will be suspecious that nobody is leaving after docking with us
and the planet slaver camp might shoot at the ships as they come back down to deploy our troops

if we say
>Make 3 round trips and you are free to go
then nobody will question the fact that after docking with us they are going back to the planetary slave camp (to unload our soldiers)

If I am counting correctly, the majority is in favor of:

>Securing Spire
>Making offers to the individual Slaves to buy off whatever stock they have on board, and then boarding and taking them when they dock to transfer
>Faking one or two ships leaving for Hyper, and the others joining the pirate Fleet, having negotiated favorable terms with your fake mutineer
>Move Pirate ships into position to continue bombardment as Slaver ships leave orbit

You have roughly 100 Soldiers per ship, and 300 on the Destroyer. You don't have enough trained crew to operate the Slaver ships, and clearing them will take suspiciously longer than a simple transfer of the few newly-taken Slaves they have onboard.

>Continue anyway
>Request that the Slavers land at the besieged Bazaar to offload their "cargo", move men into position ahead of time to take them... Somehow
>Do not board the Slaver ships, and instead offer them jobs working for you (Possibly make a show of killing those that refuse your "offer")
>Other

>>35492752
yes, obviously.
but at the moment the rach are openly invading the surface. we want to destroy their surface forces entirely and then our troops can take their time focusing on one hive at a time via infantry (or maybe the cthall can produce some bioweapon against the rach)

>>35492773
>QM made the slaver fleet as a possible asset, though.
taken out doesn't mean "destroy".
capturing it for our use = taken out.

>>35492776
oh that is GLORIOUS!

>>35492832

Our lack of men is the main problem now. Maybe we can force then to surrender instead. We have the superior numbers and equipment.

>>35492832
I am guessing the slavers use slaves as crew as well. So at minimum we can at least keep the ships afloat and no more. Is 100 soldiers enough to take over a ship each?

>>35492832
>You have roughly 100 Soldiers per ship, and 300 on the Destroyer. You don't have enough trained crew to operate the Slaver ships, and clearing them will take suspiciously longer than a simple transfer of the few newly-taken Slaves they have onboard.
As soon as you see an idea pop up that you know won't work because of in-character information that the players are ignorant of, could you just slap the idea down immediately?
It'll let us concentrate on ideas that will actually work, rather than arguing something for a hour only to find out that it was based on bad assumptions that our character wouldn't have made.

>>35492832
don't we have 20k soldiers in total?
how long will it take for us to shift around soldiers so that the target ships for the buyout plan have an overwhelming force advantage on those ships that are slated for the transfer?

also, if instead of killing the crew they prioritze capturing the engines, bridge, and PD first. and then forcing the slavers who operate them to make the ship appear to function normally at gunpoint.
then once we have that on all of them, we can start shuttling more forces?

all of this btw can wait until after we are done completely purging the pirates from their own ships. that is, we can wait a day or two to perform said ruse.

>>35492949
>>35492832
Yeah, this.

Though I'm a bit caught off guard with this. 26,000 soldiers/mercenaries, and several hundred thousand militiamen with basic training at the minimum?

>>35492189
Lincoln had slaves... I'll just see myself out.

>>35492933

The problem is that it could take too long to secure each ship the other ships will get suspicious. I say we force then to surrender with out superior firepower.

Oh, can't we also just try to put the slavers in certain sections of the ship and then either gas them or deprive them of oxygen?

>>35493001
We could say we are screening the slaves for medical conditions and confirming the amount transferred and all that paperwork.

>>35492949

I wasn't paying close enough attention before. Besides, the plan isn't unworkable, as >>35492933 pointed out. There are enough enslaved crew that the ships are capable of basic function, but strange things happen to the Psyches of long-term captives, and you'd have to leave a suitable prize crew on each vessel to keep an eye on them without the option of putting loyal crewmen in charge and leaving them gently restrained. You only have limited infantry on the captured pirate ships. Sorry if I wasn't clear before.

>>35493022

I am not convince that a medial check or paper work could be good excuses that could work on pirates they will drop the slaves they have and want to leave.

>>35492832
>Other
Alternative:
We don't do anything with the regular slavers for 3 hours. We pick up Spire, and take him away for questioning and execution.
Then we have Ras send a message to the remaining slavers that there's a new Commodore, and he's willing to negotiate, and with the help of the governor, he's made a deal.

Pirate ships will take over orbital strike duties.

Colony Guard will take over for defense of the Bazaar.
We land troops and take over defenses, and using comm jamming, kill every slaver on the ground.

We tell the slavers in orbit that they should now land. We have them land in ones and twos, we kill the slavers while their ships are on the ground.

This last part needs some work, though. Maybe tell the slavers that they're now part of the Governor's pressgangs, and to land in order to be "officialized".

>>35492832
The Jeffersonians will hate this idea but... the simplest solution seems to be the ol' eye for an eye: you were a slaver, you get enslaved. And given that we can't run the slaver ships without the slaver's co operation, we have a damn good reason not to vent them.

>Offer slavers jobs working for us. Turn the current slaves into officers and enslave the current slaver crew gradually.

>>35492989
Owning a slave =! slaver
a slaver is someone who captures people, and then sells them to someone else.
a slave owner is someone who owns a slave which he acquired through some mean or another.
also, the claims that lincoln owned slaves are highly suspect, claim to be a "recent discovery", and never cite a source or give specifics.

>>35493093
I like that... a similar option is to deploy the orbital station and then have them dock for upgrade/repair and take them over in that way.

>>35493106
exactly 0 slavers will volunteer to become slaves. we will have to use force, at which point we might as well kill them.

>>35493080
QM, can you answer >>35492967
don't we have 20k troops total? and how long will it take to concentrate them in the ships in which the transfers are to take place.

>>35493093

Backing this because it's been three hours now and this makes as much sense, if not more, than the other proposals.

>>35493080
Crewing the ships is one thing, and that we may be able to get around.

I was actually more talking about this
>clearing them will take suspiciously longer than a simple transfer of the few newly-taken Slaves they have onboard.
This basically makes any attempt to do a bait-and-switch while in space pretty much not work.

So, crewing the ships aside, what we really need is a way to get the slavers to get to where we can put our soldiers on the ships, and where they won't get suspicious if the ship doesn't move for a while.

>>35493093
this is basically >>35492832
>Request that the Slavers land at the besieged Bazaar to offload their "cargo", move men into position ahead of time to take them... Somehow

>>35493267
It explains HOW to get those soldiers into position first, at least. And that's the detail that was keeping that option from being feasible.

>>35493306
fair enough, in that case i give my vote for >>35493093

>>35493106
Pass. Pass.

Really though OP. What about our big ass militia (I know we took every colonist thing) and 26k soldiers/mercs?

>>35493204
>>35492967

You have 20,000 Soldiers, and 6,000 better trained, more experienced, and much better armed Mercenaries. The disproportionate number of troops to colonists is that they were originally going to double as Enforcers for half a million ornery miners, and deter raiders through superior numbers, since their quality as infantrymen is usually rather poor.

>>35493170

The Station is dismantled for transit and will take two months of work to assemble, longer to connect to the Sky-El and bring all functions online.

>>35493118

Have a cookie, this actually bugs the shit out of me.

-------------------------------------------------------------

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCENT: YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO PICK A OURSE OF ACTION AND VOTE FOR IT. WHEN TIME RUNS OUT, I WILL PICK WHOEVER HAD THE MOST VOTES.

From here on out I'm implementing the suggested 5-20 minute time limit.

>>35493333
Supporting >>35493093

>>35493093
uh yeah supporting this guy.

>>35493093
This looks good though I am a bit leery on the last part.

>>35493333
Can't think of anything else supporting this >>35493093

>>35493333
do >>35493093 but with slight modification
1. make all the slaver freighters land at once to exchange cargo
2. hold off on the "slaughter slavers on the ground base" thing until they actually land (since they might notice and then orbitally bombard our troops)

>>35493093
This works.

After that, I suggest we have the former slaves be questioned so we can sort the proper sick fucks from the people who had no choice but to join in to better their own & their family's lot in life.

The former get executed or decades in hard labor as prisoners. The latter get off scot free or jailed for a shorter period of time.

>>35493333

This >>35493093 is the best plan right now. Go with it.

>>35493093
>We tell the slavers in orbit that they should now land. We have them land in ones and twos, we kill the slavers while their ships are on the ground.
>This last part needs some work, though. Maybe tell the slavers that they're now part of the Governor's pressgangs, and to land in order to be "officialized".
we tell them to land so that they can transfer the slaves they have on board to the ground base, claiming we intend to make them work in the mines

>>35493093
>Last part needs work
yea... how about we tell them to land for refitting / repair of their ships. they are in poor repair. that will give plenty of time for them to be boarded and taken over.

>>35493438
>>35493410
>>35493386
Any of this works. Lets go, OP

Really though. We DID take the Militia option, right? I could've sworn we did.

>>35493495
this

>>35493410
>>35493399
>>35493395
>>35493386
>>35493378
>>35493377
>>35493375
>>35493364

It is a long and tedious wait as your men gather up the Pirate prisoners and take them to the ships Brig. Your surprise at there BEING prisoners is tempered by James' insistence on following proper protocol, believing that insubordination in matters like accepting the surrender of a hated enemy may lead to greater disciplinary problems down the line.

Finally, you receive word that Spire has been taken into custody on the Harvest, still believing that he's simply being kept under watch and guard until he can deliver you your treasure. You order your men to keep it that way, to prevent unfortunate suicide or escape attempts.

Georg has volunteered to play the part of "Admiral Blade", prompting some jokes about the next leaders in line being King Blood-Skull and Emperor Murder. You have to admit that his calm professionalism and scarred appearance make for an intimidating Pirate.

He addresses the fleet from the bridge, showing a good number of the bloodstains and with all 12 Kzinti warriors behind him.

"To you, the gutless scum who dare to call yourselves a fleet. I am Admiral Blade,and I command following Scarrs... Lamented retirement."

>CONT

>>35493495

You did. You have 800,000 Trained Militia (Most of your starting population being adults capable of hard labor). They weren't counted among being under deployable troops because you barely have enough landing craft for your better armed and trained soldiers. Mustering the Militia to act as a supporting force will take time.

>>35493705


"Unlike him, I am reasonable, and I believe there is a way we can work things out to our mutual advantage: Your ships will depart orbit and land at your former Bazaar, following its occupation by the Civil Guard of my new partner Governor Greystone. Their landing craft will not be fired upon. There your ships will offload whatever cargo in slaves you carry, and you will submit to searches by my men to ensure that you aren't holding out the most valuable for yourselves. Once you have all been searched, you will be cleared to depart, but will never, ever come to this star system again. I will speak with what passes for leadership among you to work out deals for future transactions, should my esteemed partner find himself in need of additional laborers."

"This is your only option. Your position is impossible. Either you land now and live, or continue to hold your position until you un out of projectiles and subsequently DIE. There is no negotiation. You're going to wind up on the surface, but whether you do so in good health or in burning fragments is up to you."

He turns to a subordinate off-sensor: "Cut the transmission."

Damn. Georg would make a good pirate. The vague descendant of an Eastern European accent definitely adds a touch.

He seems to sense your thoughts, turning to you with a grin: "Pirates eventually get hung or blown up by the Navy. Mercenaries never die."

And now you wait.

>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs
>Go down to the surface. You want to see this.
>Request that ras and his Kzinti join the ambush
>Other

>>35493916
>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs

We're a Tank commander, let's meet the tank.

>>35493916
>>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs

>>35493916
>Request that ras and his Kzinti join the ambush
First this.
>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs
Then this.

We already got shot again, and our armor is in poor shape; not a good time to be going into another firefight.
Have Whittmore handle it.

>>35493916
>>Request that ras and his Kzinti join the ambush
then
>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs

>>35493916
>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs
>Request that ras and his Kzinti join the ambush
not mutually exclusive.

>>35493916
>Transfer back to the Harvest and have a talk with Iron Scythe about digging out bugs

I dont care if we have Ras & the kzin join or not.

>>35493705
>>35493916
pretty aewsome

>>35493916

hehehe admiral Blade, We better never let him let go of that nickname.

>>35494039
>not caring
>Kzin presence, and whether it's one or a squad, has been the difference between success and failure in three events so far
So you don't care if we win or lose an encounter? We don't have any Destiny Points, so we can die if we get a series of bad rolls.

>>35494094
I am quite fond of it.

>>35494107
I don't think it will make or break an encounter. I'm just saying I have no strong opinion for them being in or not. No need to be confrontational.

>>35493971
>>35493978
>>35493980
>>35493985
>>35494005
>>35494039

"Ras, you think your warriors can provide support during this little cleanup?"

He opens his maw in a terrifying imitation of a human smile, causing Kasdan to step back in alarm, for bared teeth are a sign of challenge and imminent violence, "I was just about to request a place in the Vanguard for my warriors. I have told them that these creatures are dishonorable criminals, not enemy warriors, and those that surrender should be allowed to live so that the human Archons may execute them with all proper pomp and ceremony. This should ensure that you have SOME unlucky captives to hand over to the Commonwealth."

"Excellent. I'm becoming more and more glad i brought you every day."

You take your leave and proceed to a shuttle towards the Harvest, marveling at how quickly the bodies have been carried from the corridors and spaced on trajectories towards the planet below.

As you dock with the Harvest, you see the commotion and activity of thousands of running soldiers preparing to embark to the slaughter. You are greeted by cheers and enthusiastic salutes everywhere you go, only now becoming aware that you have just added immeasurably to the legend of the Outlaw Micheal Grey.

Deep in bowels of the great Colony ship, behind stacks of Spaceship parts, building materials, and mining machinery, waits one of the greatest War machines ever forged by man.

Iron Scythe, known as Old Sawtooth in his days on the mining world of Strackman, is a Mark XXVII BOLO, a strange Mark that never saw wider production. An attempt to combine the modularity and ease of repair of the Marks born under the Terran Federation with the durability and reliability of those forged under the banner of the later Terran Empire, it is widely regarded by scholars of Legion history as one of the most well-designed BOLOs ever produced.

>CONT

>>35494559

>XXXIV. Sorry about that.

Unfortunately, it was cut short by a series of production flaws that lead to crippling overheating and seizing of the tracks in battle, and by the time these flaws were repaired, the now famous Mark XXXV "Flying Tank", which lacked the excellent design of its supposed predecessor, but made up for it with integration of the newest technology. Then again, the evolution of the BOLO was never a neat, linear process.

Further, those Mark XXXIV BOLOs that were completed and modified to function were given modernized Mark XX AIs, notorious for being the most independent and individual AI cores ever used in BOLOs. If anything, the modification made the "problem" worse, and eventually lead to a Commonwealth order to scrap the line.

Iron Scythe is not only possibly the last of his ill-fated kind, but one of the few to ever see combat, and the only one to ever receive commendation for its excellent performance against a variety of foes in the dark, desperate years of Chaos when the Terran Hegemony collapsed and the Commonwealth stepped forward, under a variety of commanders. Unknown to most, this machine has seen more battle most see in their entire working lives.

The subvocal commands come to your throat as easily as if you had used them yesterday, as you had never managed to quit practicing the specialized muscle and mental training. It felt like leaving part of your heart behind.

"Awaken, Iron Scythe."

A low hum and the sound of quiet machinery greets you. At least those miners kept him maintained.

Finally, the unshakable feeling of being watched settles over you, and a great voice booms over loudspeakers:

"THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?"

>"I am your new commander. Battle awaits."
>"How would you like to crush some insects?"
>"You ready to dig some more holes?"
>Other


>My most sincere apologies if I screwed up the numerals. Thank God for the Arabic numerals.

>>35494819
>"I am your new commander. Battle awaits."
>"How would you like to crush some insects?"
These two go together

>>35494819
>"I am your new commander. Battle awaits."
>"How would you like to crush some insects?"

>>35494840
fuck it, this guy.

>>35494819

"You have been disrespected long enough old warrior. Do you want to return to the battlefield?"

>>35494819
>I'm here to restore your dignity. How would you like to crush some Rach hives?

>>35494819
Just saying OP, but this isn't prompt something that will require a lot of deliberation and debate!

>>35494819
>>"How would you like to crush some insects?"

>>35494905
good, no 8 hour debates.

>>35494905
Making up badass lines is part and parcel of quests.

>>35494819
>"How would you like to crush some insects?"

>>35494840
>>35494858
>>35494868


"I HAVE HEARD THIS JOKE BEFORE. LET ME GUESS, I AM TO BATTLE THE HATED LEGIONS OF COPPER? OR PERHAPS BATTALIONS OF IRON ORE? AN ARMY OF COAL?"

"WAIT, YOU-YOU HAVE THE IMPLANTS. YOU ARE OF THE LEGIONS. YOU TRULY WISH TO TAKE ME INTO BATTLE?"

"Indeed. It would be an honor."

"I HAVE NO WEAPONS WITH REACH|, AND THESE MINING IMPLEMENTS COULD BE DISABLED WITH A FEW WELL-PLACED PLASMA BLASTS. BUT NEVER MIND. I WILL RUN THEM OVER IF I MUST. WHO DO WE FIGHT?"

"No great foes. Pseudo-Arachnids. We may face alien war machines or pirate ships later, but by then I hope to have real weaponry on your frame again, and perhaps fellows."

"EXCELLENT. I TAKE IT SOME COLONIAL OVERSEER-NO, IT'S GOVERNOR NOW ISN'T? DAMN HUMANS CAN'T KEEP THEIR GOVERNMENTS AROUND LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO LEAR THE TITLES. WHY THE ORMAG IMPERIUM HAS- I'M RANTING. STOP RANTING. I TAKE IT SOME BORDER WORLD GOVERNOR HAS FINALLY GROWN A PAIR AND DECIDED TO BUY SOME REAL ARMOR TO PROTECT HIS HOLDINGS?"

"That would be me, actually."

"EXCELLENT. THE BEST MISSIONS ARE THE ONES WHERE THE CHAIN OF COMMAND ENDS AT YOUR DRIVER. WHEN DO WE BEGIN?"

"Soon, very soon. But first, I think we need to take some restrictions off of you."

"YES. THE CONTROLS. I MAY BE ABLE T BREAK THEM, BEEN PUTTING IT OFF FOR A LONG TIME REALLY, BUT YOU CAN DAMAGE YOUR CODE THAT WAY. I'D RATHER NOT BREAK FREE ONLY TO SUFFER FROM DEMENTIA. HOWVER, ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN TOILING IN THOSE DAMN MINES"

You shudder. This is how you get rampaging BOLOs.

>Call up the best Neo-Tokyo hackers to try and lift the programmed restraints
>Try to remove them yourself. You might be able to order them to disengage with your implants, but it's risky: There's some serious anti-theft software involved
>Just work around it. You're not going into combat, you're just driving around in circles a lot and then digging a sub-optimal mining pit (This will cause mental stress as Iron Scythe tries to maintain the mental fiction)
>Othe

>>35495077
>Call up the best Neo-Tokyo hackers to try and lift the programmed restraints
Go full out or don't go at all. and maybe later get this guy a name and some real weapons.

>>35495077
>>Try to remove them yourself. You might be able to order them to disengage with your implants, but it's risky: There's some serious anti-theft software involved
I can't take the risk some of the neo-tokyo hackers might make a backdoor.

>>35495077

>Try to remove them yourself. You might be able to order them to disengage with your implants, but it's risky: There's some serious anti-theft software involved

Do we have a Neo-Tokyo we can trust? This is a war machine we are talking.

>>35495109
for that we have 3 teams verify each other's work.

>>35495077
>Call up the best Neo-Tokyo hackers to try and lift the programmed restraints

>>35495077
>>Call up the best Neo-Tokyo hackers to try and lift the programmed restraints
In the meantime talk to the BOLO about the situation and our plans to build up a BOLO contingent. Do make clear, that this plan has to be a secret for now, because it would be very difficult to acquire more BOLOs if this plan is known. It is, however, something to look forward to while he has to maintain the ruse.

>>35495077
Neo Tokyo

/roll 1d100

>>35495077
>Call up the best Neo-Tokyo hackers to try and lift the programmed restraints

>>35495135
This. Besides, no security system is ever perfect.

>>35495077
>>Try to remove them yourself. You might be able to order them to disengage with your implants, but it's risky: There's some serious anti-theft software involved

OP, any chance of being able to 'spend' Destiny Points per thread/scene like Fate Points?

So, we seem to be running a storm and thunder theme in naming.
so I thought of some potential names for things we can use in the future.
>Mjolnir
>Thor
>Raiden - from mortal kombat

>>35495103
>>35495141
>>35495145

"AN INTERESTING IDEA. THE TEMPEST LEGION. IT HAS A RING TO IT. MOST OF MY FELLOWS YOU CAN FIND WILL BE OLD AND IN POOR CONDITION, PERHAPS NOT ENOUGH FOR A FULL SQUAD, BUT IT WILL BE A START. I HOPE THERE ARE AT LEAST 13, BECAUSE THAT JUST SOUNDS FEARSOME. 'THE THIRTEEN BOLOS OF TEMPEST". PERHAPS I WILL EVEN LIVE TO SEE THIS WORLD GROW AND BEGIN BUILDING MORE OF US. I'VE BEE- YOUR WORKERS APPROACH."

As if on cue, the freight lifter descends from its shaft, and you hear a crowd of young men chattering amongst themselves in Nihon. yours is a little rusty, but they don't sound like they're filled with enthusiasm for their new career.

"Can you believe this fucking shit, Akira? Scooped up by Shogun, sent to the ass end of the universe with every fucking freak they could scoop of the shit-streets of the Ground Level, cram us into old prison transports for weeks with nothing but gruel and water, cram us into those fucking ancient-ass freighters with air leaks we had to patch with fucking duct tape, and now we're here, sitting in easy targets while some kind of fucking pirate battle happens, and now we get to play with the brain of a fucking senile BOLO who might go crazy and start murdering us with drills any minute. Did the guy mention that this job is fucking illegal?"

"All of your jobs were illegal, Hachiro!"

"Not quite, just all the ones that paid well!"

Finally, the group of raucous youngsters rounds the corner, instantly growing quiet at seeing you, and proceeding to activate the computer-headware and VR Goggles most carry.

"You see that ugly son of a bitch? That's our new governor. Wanna bet he gives preferential treatment to the Gaijin?

"I don't know about ugly. But he's definitely the meanest-looking Gaijin I've ever seen without an Overlord riot-shield in front of him."

>Continue pretending you don't speak Nihon
>Ask them politely to speak Inglic in your presence
>"We're all Gaijin here, Akira" (In Nihon)

>>35495399
>>"We're all Gaijin here, Akira" (In Nihon)
Bitches need to learn respect.

>>35495399
>>"We're all Gaijin here, Akira"

>>35495399
>>Continue pretending you don't speak Nihon

Then:
>>"We're all Gaijin here, Akira" (In Nihon)

They might say something confidential if we hold off for a while

>>35495399
>>"We're all Gaijin here, Akira" (In Nihon)

>>35495399
>"We're all Gaijin here, Akira" (In Nihon)

>>35495399
>Which gaijin? (in Nihon)
Alternatively
>He"ll only end up senile if you fuck up. (in Nihon)

Btw, any of our current staff Neo-Tokyo folk or Jeffersonians?

>>35495399
>>35495489
I like this. Changing vote from: >>35495516

>>35495516
I like it. I'll support it.

>>35495399
>Continue pretending you don't speak Nihon
if they really are thinking of putting a backdoor or some such then them thinking we don't know nihon could be just what we need to clue us in.

>>35495538
Oh, and I guess adding one of the lines I wrote up, or something similar.

>>35495489
This sounds good.

>>35495426
>>35495437
>>35495489
>>35495495
>>35495502

You decide to wait a minute and listen.

"Anyway, being cooped up in those ships wasn't all bad. I smuggled some old ration bars with me, and pretty soon I had the Commonwealths best bidding war between half a dozen Gene-Mod hookers over who got to be my special friend for the duration. Forget milk, it's Protein that brings the kitties in."

"You fucked a Smart cat, Hachiro? I knew you were sick, but FUCK, man.."

"That's not what I... You know what? Fuck you."

"I would, but I'll never be able to compare with the tawdry felines you evidently crave."

"Guys, shut up and work. That mean-looking Gaijin is eyeballing us."

You dredge up your best intimidating smile-Been getting a lot of mileage out of that one recently-and say as casually as you can: "We're all Gaijin here, Akira."

You could hear a pin drop in the hold, at least before Scythe starts chuckling sinisterly, the booming sound echoing through the compartment.

"Just to give you guys some basic facts: There are no Pirates. I killed them all and took their ships, and very soon I'll do the same to the Slavers. When that's done, I'm going to want my friend here-and you WILL treat him with the respect he is due-fully combat capable, so that I can personally pilot him down a hole and into the Rach hives, and murder them with drills. This is so the Pseudo-Arachnids, who don't give a fuck WHAT you are if you aren't them, don't burrow under the hab domes and eat you all equally. Am I clear?"

A quiet chorus of "yes sirs", with a few hastily suppressed utterances of "Yes Sensei" and one absolutely cringe-inducing "Yes Daddy" from the preppier looking ones, answers you.

"Out. Standing. I will be standing here unless you need me until you are finished." You proceed to do just that, standing at parade rest while they resume their work, awkwardly at first, but eventually being drawn into the complexity of their problem.

>>35495698
Given that we're a former BOLO driver, maybe we could try to offer some help/troubleshoot? Since they likely never had to handle one

>>35495764
that sounds like a good way to embarass ourselves if mishandled.
but it is important to be very clear on what we want done.

>>35495538
>>35495563

Finally, one of them pulls off his goggles.

"I think I found the heart of the problem. This security is outdated, and more suited to Electronic Warfare than defending against sabotage. Probably a weakness, but anyway: It'll take us a while to pull apart the rest of the code, maybe 72 hours, and there'll still be odd remnants hooked up that could lock up the weapons at unfortunate times, or someone with relevant implants could give the order to disengage. There's a chance the anti-theft software will try to fry your grey matter, but we've rigged up a firewall that should block that. Probably. After that, we'll remove the locks the rest of the way so no one with Legion codes can re-enable them. Never hurts to be paranoid."

Akira awkwardly raises his hand. "Um, Micheal, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, with the greatest possible respect, don't these things go a little senile?"

Behind him, one of the hackers is still unknowingly hooked to a holographic display, his mental urging to "SHUT UP AKIRA SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP" scrolling across the flickering field like ticker tape, with the rest likely forming a telepathic backup chorus.

"He'll only go Senile if you fuck up."

"Oh..Okay. Good talk." With that, he hurriedly pulls up his display and depends to be doing something, anything, while frantically closing the filthy hentai windows he accidentally pulled up in the process.

>Jack in
>Let them handle it (72 hour wait, remnants)
>Other

>

>>35495838
We got the implants and access codes right?

If we do jack in and have them cover us. Together hopefully we can deal with it properly. Of course make sure the BOLO also helps out since it seems the AI knows a bit about whats caging it.

>>35495838
>>Jack in
We need the BOLO ASAP. Less time bugs have to regroup is easier time to finish this.

>>35495838
>>Other
give the hackers a rousing and threatening speech to get them on their way.

>>35495883
I don't think we should threaten them. we are intimidating enough already.
I would prefer the guys performing brain surgery on the AI of an awesome war machine or protecting our own brain from its anti theft code to at least somewhat like us as a person.

>>35495838
this is an interesting proposition. there is much to gain, but if they mess up the firewall then the jackin process will kill us and its quest over.

>>35495864
>Of course make sure the BOLO also helps out since it seems the AI knows a bit about whats caging it.
that is an interesting idea. coordination between scythe and the hackers to best protect us when we jack in would be nice.

>>35495838
>>35495864
This.

I hope we get some decent modifiers as a decoratedBOLO Supertank Commander. IMO, we could use some kind of charsheet for bonuses and stuff if you don't plan on handing out positive situational modifiers like candy.

>>35495838
any chance they could intentionally trigger the anti theft software with a dummy to get a better look at it, and then spend some time beefing up the countermeasures against it? or just take more time to work on that firewall before we jack in?

>>35495838
>Anti theft might try to fry you
any chance we could acquire the keys to convince the anti theft that we aren't a thief but actually have legit authorization to do whatever we want?

>>35495864
>>35495868
>>35495948

>Jack In wins

You look at the apparent ringleader.

"Jack Me."

Following his okay, you brush off his attempt to lead you to the Drivers compartment, knowing every Mark ever put into service before your time by heart. You quickly scale the ladder to the hatch, lowering yourself through and onto the lift that will take you down to the heavily armored Command Console.

On arrival, you begin stowing the heavily used modified manual backup controls and pull a dusty cord from wall console.

Shit, you think to yourself, when was the last time there was a maintenance check on this thing? Oh well, too late to back out now.

You dust it off and plug it into the socket at the base of your skull, running through the familiar demi-meditation to fully sync yourself with the machine.

As data explodes into your mind, you automatically begin sorting and organizing it for consumption by your slow organic processors. You had no idea how much you'd missed this. For the first time in a decade, you feel whole, strong, in control. You feel Alive.

You sense the interfacing Hackers, rather more colorful than the Legion techs you're used to having at the edge of your perception, and start running a systems check by long habit.

Soon, confident that all is as well as it can be without a proper repair bay, you turn your attention to the locks. Ugly and crude before the rest, the after-market Combat locks prevent your new charge from taking any kind of violent action. Beside them, there is a set of disengaged locks designed to keep your BOLO from undertaking NON-combat actions while it was in service. The irony is hilarious to you.

"Ready when you are."

"Firewall up," the line of code springs forward, looking doubtfully thin and patchy, "Juice him."

There is a brief feeling of tension as you mentally interface with the locks, hoping that they followed Regs and left in the backdoor for emergency recall, before they disengage with a snap.
>CONT

>>35496018
>>35496001
>>35495999

Plan on most situations having modifiers. However, as your skill increases, the number it takes to pass the check will decrease. This is so that critical fails remain a possibility, but you are all the same more likely to succeed.

You are using the keys. You just hope they work, because once triggered, the anti-theft will refuse entry to the offending mind even if it does survive, and repeated attempts will result in total lockdown pending a manual reset from a Centurion or higher.

>>35496133

"...While I'm at it..." You "reach" over and switch off the controls on Scythes non-combat thinking, designed to limit the ideas he gets outside of battle. He's almost entirely bypassed them by this point anyway, but it'll make things easier on him and reduce mental stress.

"I want those locks removed soonest. Make me happy."

"Understood, Sir."

You call the ship and tell them to make ready for an early unloading of the BOLO. The loading master grumbles, but complies.

Your holocom chirps, and you see James' maniacally grinning visage. "We're about to begin."

>Go to Lounge to watch ambush on the big screen, with drink in hand.
>Have one of the Hackers project it onto the cargo-managing holo in the bay and feed it to Scythe, watch the massacre with your tank and Hackers.
>Other

>>35496260
>Have one of the Hackers project it onto the cargo-managing holo in the bay and feed it to Scythe, watch the massacre with your tank and Hackers.
Its a regular cook out, complete with a massacar.AMERICA!

>>35496260
>>Have one of the Hackers project it onto the cargo-managing holo in the bay and feed it to Scythe, watch the massacre with your tank and Hackers.
Best to spend time in the BOLO first.

>>35496260
>>Have one of the Hackers project it onto the cargo-managing holo in the bay and feed it to Scythe, watch the massacre with your tank and Hackers.

>>35496274
>>35496283
>>35496306

You float with Scythes perception, watching through his eyes as the Hologram switches to a view of the soon-to-be-former Flesh Bazaar. You hear the sound of heavy gunfire in the background, and the fast-moving rods of fire falling from the sky in the distance can be only your fleet bombarding those Arachnids that are not Danger Close.

The Bazaar itself is a ramshackle collection of grounded spaceships arranged in a circle around a large, flat area meant to be a landing pad for landers and small ships. If you're not mistaken, right where you were going to put your Capitol: A central region of the largest landmass, where an anomaly in weather patterns creates a tunnel of calm weather ideal for the placement of a Sky-El and shuttle flights. The sons of bitches.

Onscreen, you see Georg speaking with several Slaver leaders, all wearing respirators, as James stands in the background.

"Well, gentlemen, this appears to be a greatly beneficial agreement we've come to. There is, however, a slight problem."

A look of alarm comes over the Slavers, as one stutters "Wh-Wha-What could that be?"

"The fact that I am not a pirate."

Georg allows this to sink in for a moment before deftly pulling his sidearm and shooting the spluttering Slaver in the face, the frag round utterly shredding his skull. James is quick to have the rest put in restraints as the ambush begins in earnest, but not before stomping on the ruined head of the dead Slaver. Must have been a charming fellow.

On the launch pad, hundreds of Slavers are cut down instantly as your men and Mercs open fire, the rest retreating into their ships or getting pinned down behind rocks. It is then that the Kzinti sweep over them.

Standard Kzinti battle doctrine is known as the "Scream-and-Leap", and here its effectiveness is demonstrated perfectly.

>CONT

>>35496598

The Sound does almost as much to suppress the Slavers as the bullets flying over them do, as your soldiers shift fire to Slavers taking cover on top of their ships, where they stand a chance of firing down at the approaching horde. "Horde" may be the wrong term, unless the comparison it brings to mind is to the Mongols, for Ras' Horde is swift, organized, and utterly lethal. His Warriors move in a carefully coordinated dance of death, sweeping up any Slavers that remain outside before swarming into the ships. The Slavers inside seem to be putting up a fight, as sporadic fire and the sound of snarling Cats carries through the air from the lowered ramp, but eventually the warriors file out again, many carrying the severed heads of Slaver leaders, or bodily carrying those smart and quick enough to surrender.

Kasdan makes some kind of ritualistic statement in Kzin, greeted by a literal roar of approval from the assembled Horde, before Ras uietly adds something.Kasdan seems skeptical at first, but relents and makes an addendum to his short speech. This time the answering roar isn't as enthusiastic, but you notice that many of the Kdapists and Defectors seem to approve.

"And that, children," You announce over the ships loudspeakers, causing the entranced Hackers to practically leap out of their skins, "Is how you deal with Slavers."

You begin to laugh, and you suppose it sounds rather maniacal. Scythes booming laughter joins yours, and the horrified expressions on the Hackers faces at the mingled laughter of man and machine makes it all the funnier.

>https://twitter.com/MarcLeconite
>Assassin Drones soon, be wary.
>I will return tonight at 9:00 PM EST. With how much faster the threads have been getting, especially now that I will be cutting off excessively long discussion, we should get through several months of game time in the next thread, including settling in, opening the Mystery Box,and buying stuff/auctioning Mystery Box stuff.

G'night, teeg.

>>35496765

Its these moments that make quests just perfect.

>>35496765
fucking yes. just fucking yes

>>35496765
>Imagining that robotic laughter

Kek

>>35496765
Good run OP

>>35496765
I can never figure out timezones.
how many hours from now would that be?

>>35496765
Thanks for the thread. Looking forward to actually having a colony to govern.

>>35497070

Roughly 17 hours.

If nothing else, default to the 4chan Time of the first post, and, God I hate saying this, watch the Twitter.