>>45684185
>Sigh and carry on

>>45684185
>Blue-on-blue is not cool, but she gets one last chance

>>45684185
>Sigh and carry on

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>Sigh and carry on

You take a deep breath and Ohno instinctively shirks back, expecting the lecture of the century... but you merely sigh in resigned acceptance of your fate. “Carry on, mage,” you gesture.

“Now, now, as Captain, you must be stricter than that or the girls will think they can get away with anything!” someone chastises you.

You look up at the newcomer to the docks, leading a trio of girls behind her like a mother hen. The spotless white lab coat she wears over her uniform can’t fully hide the flattering curves that your eye is automatically drawn to. With black-rimmed eyeglasses that frame her face and vibrant green hair tied back in a bun, she carries herself in a manner that reminds you more of the maternal severity of a teacher than the professional discipline of an officer.

“Christina Claren, ship’s doctor,” she introduces herself. “I specialize in psychiatry, so besides physical health, I’m the go-to for our young charges’ mental well-being. I see you’ve met Ohno already. Oh no it’s Ohno, that’s what her foes say!”

Ohno flips Claren the bird, but the good doctor merely laughs it off.

“Let me introduce you to the rest of the Nimbus’s mage complement. Aerial mage Ophelia Fifteen-Em, but everybody calls her Ophelia, everybody,” Claren emphasizes with a stern look directly in your eyes. Ophelia, an expressionless redhead, by far the tallest of your crew so far, with the figure of a gymnast – all lean muscle and no fat - steps forward and salutes with robotic precision.

“Ground mage Riko Maserati.” Don’t ask, Claren’s look adds silently as Maserati steps forward next, the brown color of the men’s Ground Armaments Service uniform she is wearing standing out in sharp contrast to the navy blues all around.

“And last but not least, Ground mage Rose-Marie Renault.” You blink in slight disbelief at the blonde who looks like she belongs in the center spread of a magazine rather than a warship, with her hair permed in twin-drills, skirt hemline cut high enough to make the book of naval regulations cry, and high fucking heels. But compared to what you’ve seen this morning already, it’s practically par for the course.

So here they are, the “special needs” mages whom you’ll be babysitting until either you or they get transferred off the School Bus. You figure that as their captain, you should say a few words to set the tone of your relationship.

>Write-in

>>45684208
>>45685403
>we didn't court martial
Pathetic, if this is how we act we deserve this shit command.

>>45686395
"Mhm. Yeah. Ok. Whatever."

>>45686395
"I look forward to a normal voyage, where there will be no problems."

>>45686763
>he said, while holding back back tears and trying not to cry

>>45686704
Eh, she stopped the moment we identified ourselves.

>>45686395
"As you were magi. Inspections and speeches in one hour."

Quickly get away and find their personnel files and figure out what their damage is.

>>45686904
Seconding this

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“I look forward to a normal voyage, where there will be no problems.” You give each of your four mages – especially Ohno – a long glare, daring them to prove otherwise. At least they’re smart enough to shut up and listen when the skipper is talking. “Very good. As you were magi. Inspections and speeches in one hour. Doctor Claren, come with me.” You turn around to look back at the Nimbus, dreading what you’ll see – and as expected, there’s a blackened sear on the hull where the pink beam of death missed you and hit the ship. “And Ohno, get this fixed before I come back!” you snap at her, making her jump.

You return to your office with the doctor in tow, managing to hold yourself together until you reach the safety of your desk, whereupon you promptly collapse into your chair and massage your temples. “What the fucking fuck is the fucking problem with that fucking bunch of fucking clowns?” you mutter.

Claren produces a small metal flask from her lab coat first, handing it over to you with a knowing smile. You unscrew the cap and breathe in the welcome scent of alcohol. Not even bothering to pour out a shot, you simply toss back a burning mouthful. Kaiser, that’s some strong stuff. “T-thank you, doctor,” you sputter. “Just what exactly is this?”

“Medicine,” she winks. “The last captain needed the whole flask. So look on the bright side, you’re doing better so far!”

“If this is good, I don’t want to know what bad is like,” you grumble. “Alright, so what can you tell me about these girls’ damage?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s classified.”

>BULLSHIT!
>There’s got to be SOMETHING you can tell me.
>Nevermind then, I’ll figure it out myself.
>Rest of the flask. Now.

>>45687575
>BULLSHIT!
>There’s got to be SOMETHING you can tell me.

>>45687575
>>Rest of the flask. Now.

>>45687575
>Rest of the flask. Now.

>There’s got to be SOMETHING you can tell me.

"Seriously, if it's something that might mean blowing up the ship and getting us, and by us i mean me, killed, I NEED to know."

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>Rest of the flask. Now.
>There’s got to be SOMETHING you can tell me.

You uncap the flask once more and go bottoms-up, chugging until the whole bottle is dry.

“Ship’s doctor,” she growl in your best skipper voice.

“Yes, captain?” She adjusts her glasses, the lenses catching and reflecting the light for a moment.

“There’s got to be SOMETHING you can tell me. Seriously, if it's something that might mean blowing up the ship and getting us, and by us i mean me, killed, I NEED to know. Background, previous experience, anything. Hell, their three sizes if everything else is censored.” The alcohol is working, fast.

Claren raises an eyebrow, but finally acquiesces. “I suppose there’re a few things you’re allowed to know at your level...

“Sophia’s worked with the TSAB as a civilian contractor for a few years already, so she has a lot of combat experience against Lost Logia monsters, automatic defense programs, that sort of thing on her homeworld. This will be her first time working in a proper team, though. You’ve probably figured out that she tends to go over the top with the magical girl thing. The Admiralty’s decided that they’d rather point her at their enemies than the other way around.

“Ophelia... she has a traumatic past and that’s all you need to know. Please don’t dig up her own wounds. She's good at fighting and taking orders, and that’s what you want to hear, right?

“Riko has a lot of magical potential – in terms of raw magical energy, she’s got more reserves than any of the others – but she’s still learning how to control it. She’s originally a ground forces recruit, but failed basic training. Luckily the navy snatched her up before some criminal organization did. Try not to go too hard on her, her self-esteem isn’t the best, and her control is unstable when her mental state is unstable.

“Rose-Marie isn’t here entirely willingly, and again please don’t ask why. She’ll follow orders, but her attitude has always been a problem. If you can overlook that, though, she’s competent enough.

“Captain? Are you all right? You’re swaying in your chair...”

Woah, when did Claren get a hot twin sister? That lab coat’s doing her figure no favors, why aren’t you acting like a gentleman and offering to take her coat? Things are getting blurry, so maybe you need a pair of glasses like hers first. Incoming friendly fire damn Ohno oh no it’s actually an incoming table wait what THUMP-

>Time skip
>Flashback

>>45688629
>captain of a ship everyone shits on
>can't even be told about your crew
>"clearance level"
And that's where I would resign.

>>45688704
>Flashback

>>45688704
>>Time skip

>>45688704
>Time skip

>>45688704
>Time skip

>>45688704
>Flashback

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>Time skip

“Where am I?” you groan, sitting up from the cot you found yourself lying on.

“Ship’s infirmary, TSL Nimbus, captain,” Claren’s voice is full of warm amusement. She comes into focus holding some medical scanner over you. “All vitals stable and normal. You were knocked out after accidentally wandering into a live fire combat drill yesterday. Luckily it was just a subdual beam and there was no permanent damage. You definitely weren’t knocked out by imbibing too much alcohol, were you, captain?”

“What do I owe you, woman!?”

“Of course you don’t owe me anything, captain, I’m just fulfilling my duties as ship’s doctor. But being the good captain that you are, maybe you’ll do something later purely out of the goodness of your heart?”

“And of course this is not blackmail.”

“How outrageous! Of course not!”

“Of course not. And where is the Nimbus now?”

“In low orbit above Uninhabited World Number 117-“

“Wait a minute, you’re telling me we’ve already launched?”

“Time and tide wait for no man, as Sophia put it so eloquently! Liera took the conn while you were out. You should do something nice for her too, a reliable XO like her is a rare prize.”

First stop on the TSL Nimbus’s patrol route: Uninhabited World Number 117, poetically and unofficially named Serpent’s Rest. A barren desert rock with frequent sandstorms that discourage inhabitation, it is also home to native Serpents, giant snake-like creatures that discourage commercial mining and exploitation. Apparently they aren’t discouraging enough for smugglers, though, because the occasional cache of mass driver weapons pops up here and there on the planet.

Your orders from On High are simple enough – scan the planet for any signs of arms smuggling or other illegal activity. Autonomous drones are already scouring the world in predefined flight paths, leaving little to do mission-wise than to wait for them to complete their circuits and report back in.

“XO.”

“Sir!” Liera Harlaown snaps to attention, making you wish more of your crew shared her professionalism.

“Ohno, Ophelia, Maserati and Reanult are to sortie for combat drill. I want to see how well they perform, and please tell them not to shoot me this time.” A few good-natured snickers on the bridge – word of that friendly fire accident has gotten around.

As Harlaown barks out the necessary command to deploy mages planetside, you figure out how you want to run this.

>Two-vs-two
>Four-vs-Serpent

>>45689729
>>Four-vs-Serpent

>>45689729
>>Two-vs-two

>>45689729
>Two-vs-two

>>45689729
>>Four-vs-Serpent

>>45689729
>Four-vs-Serpent

>>45689729
>Four vs Serpent

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>>45689729
>Four-vs-Serpent

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>>45693159
>>45689784
>>45692336
>>45692751
You know what? Fuck this. If OP isn't back tomorrow I'm stealing this quest, Sankt Kaiser be damned. There's too much opportunity here to just go to waste because Anon flaked.

>>45695230
Please do.

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>>45695230
Find another quest to steal or get ready to be BEFRIENDED

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First part of multi-part update incoming

“Gunnery officer!”

Silence greets your call.

“I said, gunnery officer! Let me guess, we don’t have a gunnery officer on board, because whoever mounted a cannon on this fine rustbucket neglected to put someone on board who can actually operate the thing.”

More silence, but this time accompanied by a few timid nods. You’re becoming a pro at this: you don’t even get angry, merely disappointed like a father with a prodigal son.

“Is anyone present qualified with the Augusto cannon?” you plead.

There’s a pause, and finally your communications officer raises up a meek hand. You turn towards the lad – Alexander Lowran, was it? “Ensign, do you know how to operate the Augusto cannon?”

“Y-yes siiiiir!” His voice cracks from the stress of the moment. Someone giggles, and promptly stops when you and your XO simultaneously fix her with a death glare.

“Congratulations on your promotion to gunnery officer. Now run a subsurface scan for organic material with a magical signature. You’re looking for something around ten meters long. That’s a Serpent.”

As Lowran gets to work, you turn to Harlaown. “Have the mages deployed yet?”

“Aye aye, captain. All four planetside and ready for orders. Bringing them up on the viewscreen now, sir. Mages, report in!”

The main display on the bridge cuts to a video feed of your four mages in full barrier jacket and regalia, breathing masks fixed over their mouths and noses to deal with the oxygen-less but otherwise harmless air of the uninhabited desert world. Uninhabited by people, at any rate: your mages are going to learn about this planet’s native ecology first-hand.

The Aerial Mages Sophia Maria Ohno and Ophelia Don’t-Call-Her-“15M” are hovering in the air. You get a proper look at Ohno’s barrier jacket for the first time with the luxury of not being shot at meanwhile. It’s quite obviously modelled after the Ace of Aces’s own version, a relatively modest jacket and long skirt with the color palette swapped for white with pink trim that matches the color of her own hair, which she even has tied up in twin-tails just like her role model.

“Sophia here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I’m gonna run out of bubblegum soon!” She even blows a bubble, pink of course, to accentuate her point. If only she would copy her heroine’s professionalism as well. Her Intelligent Device is propped casually on her shoulder, resembling one of those forbidden mass driver rifles.

In contrast, Ophelia stands quiet and stoic beside Ohno’s bundle of casual energy. Viewed from a distance her tight-fitting blue-and-black bodysuit of a barrier jacket strikes a sharp contrast with her brilliant red hair falling down to her waist like a royal cape. Something about her outfit puts you off, until something finally clicks in your mind and you see too much resemblance to the cyborg bodysuits worn by the Numbers during the Scaglietti affair to be simple coincidence. Her Intelligent Device, a long red spear, is held in a combat stance.

“Ophelia, Nimbus, status normal, over.”

You turn your attention over to the Ground Mages, Riko Maserati and Rose-Marie Renault. Ground Mages can’t sustain flight the way Aerial Mages can, so you’re curious how they get around the issue of mobility. In Maserati’s case, by riding one mean-looking giant lizard. You can barely recognize Maserati herself: the girl is covered by so much plate armor like something out of a medieval fairytale that you wouldn’t have guessed it was her if you didn’t already know.

“Riko Maserati here, s-status normal too.” For a full-plated knight riding a wingless dragon, her voice is surprisingly nervous. You don’t spot anything that’s obviously an Intelligent Device, but then again she probably doesn’t need one.

And then there’s Renault, who’s wearing a teeny yellow bikini as though this were a trip to the beach instead of a military excursion. Her barrier jacket, if her outfit could even be called that, does practically nothing to hide a body that makes boys drool and girls jealous, if Lowran’s and Harlaown’s expressions are anything to go by. At least there’s a business end below the elbow and the knee: her forearms are covered by oversized gauntlets that wouldn’t look out of place on a giant robot’s arms and her calves are enveloped in mechanical metallic legs with caterpillar tracks for feet.

“This is Rose-Marie Renault, does this outfit make my butt look fat?” You are of the private, unspoken opinion that her ample and barely-covered rear needs no help in that department.

Posting continues. Don't worry, there'll be a choice at the end of all this.

Lowran calls out. “Sir, I’ve got a fix on a possible underground contact – it’s huge and it’s bearing straight for the girls!”

You clap him on the shoulder to offer some reassurance. “That’s our Serpent. He’s just curious now, and he won’t surface unless he’s pissed off. So drop the Augusto right on his a- right on his head, round shot, one-eighth power.” A mass weapon, accelerated by the planet’s gravity well, would cause cataclysmic damage on a potentially global scale. The massless energy shot from the Augusto, however, would strike the surface with as much – or in this case, as little – impact as it would have in space.

The Nimbus’s cannon hums as it charges up power. Lights flicker on the bridge for a moment as it discharges the shot. “Round one away! Impact in ten seconds,” Lowran calls out, tracking the course of the projectile. “Five seconds. Three, two, one, impact. Miss, miss! We’ll need another shot, sir.” The viewscreen switches to the site of the impact, a cloud of sand and dust thrown up in the middle of a barren desert.

“It’s all right, son. We’re only trying to get his attention – and up he rises now!”

The Serpent erupts from the ground a mile away from the cannon shot’s point of impact. Long as a whale and thick as an old-growth forest tree’s trunk, its rocky hide glitters with embedded minerals in the sun. The video feed pans over and zooms in on the Serpent, giving everyone a close-up view of its eyeless head ending in a lamprey-like round maw filled with row upon row of terrible teeth, open wide enough to swallow a full-grown man whole, now loosing an otherworldly scream in truly pissed-off rage.

“Mages, you have your target. Your objective is to drive him back underground. Engage at will.”

A chorus of affirmatives echoes in return as the girls kick off towards their target. Three of the girls, at any rate. Ophelia outspeeds the other two in the air by a wide margin, while surprisingly Maserati proves the faster of the Ground Mages, her wingless dragon keeping slightly ahead of Renault’s caterpillar tracks. Each one of them advances at their own speed, with no regard for teamwork. The bridge’s display goes into split-screen mode, allowing you to keep track of all four mages plus the Serpent at the same time.

Ohno hasn’t moved forward at all. Instead she sights down her rifle-shaped Device and starts accumulating energy in the shape of a pink sphere steadily growing larger and larger. If she is truly intending to take the long-distance shot that the magic circle at her feet suggests she’s prepping, it’d be a feat beyond the capability of most mages.

“Extended Range Particle Projectile Cannon, firing!” Ohno cries out and opens the first spell of the encounter. The pink sphere elongates into a familiar-looking beam that lances out across the desert air.

Something’s wrong, and you realize why, hopefully just in time and not too late. “Ophelia!” you scream into the mic, “break hard to port, now now now!”

To her credit, Ophelia doesn’t challenge you and immediately takes a sharp turn to her left. Ohno’s pink beam of doom whizzes by her a moment later, through the space she had been occupying a second ago. The beam continues forward until it finally comes to a stop in the side of the Serpent. Its natural barrier absorbs the brunt of the spell, flaring up in a sand-brown field of energy as it depletes.

“Serpent’s barrier down to sixty percent!” Lowran reports in awe, but you aren’t paying much attention to him at the moment.

“Ohno, what the f- fig are you doing? You almost hit Ophelia!” you demand.

“Hey, I’m shooting in straight lines here! Not my fault if they don’t know how to get out da way!” The talented but arrogant mage prepares another long-range bombardment even as she speaks.

You’ll need to have a long talk with Ohno later about her proclivity for friendly fire, but you’re unlikely to change her behaviour right now. “All units, stay out of Ohno’s lines of fire,” you warn the others. You turn your attention towards the Ground Mages, hoping that they’re putting up a better show – although you really should know better than to hope for the impossible by now.

Maserati has stopped her giant lizard and Renault has overtaken her. “What is she doing?” you point to her image on the screen, but the shrugs and confused looks you get show that the rest of the bridge crew are as clueless as you are.

“Manifesting, ” someone says, and all heads turn towards the ship’s doctor who has arrived on the bridge. “Captain, permission to observe?” Claren asks.

“Permission granted,” you grunt and turn back towards the viewscreen.

It’s not just Maserati and her dragon mount now, but a whole bunch of rockets, like they’re standing in a cornfield except that each plant is a rocket holding explody pain instead of sweet golden goodness. The rockets ignite in staggered salvoes and trace out a family of parabolic arcs as the curve upwards and then descend...

...in what must be a five-mile spread around the Serpent. The desert is covered with a sea of impressive-looking explosions, but their actual effect upon the foe is rather lacklustre with most of the energy wasted upon empty sands. Not to mention if any of the other mages had been engaging the Serpent at close quarters...

“Those weren’t rockets with real mass, were they?” you have to ask – you need to know whether Maserati just used a salvo of highly illegal weaponry or highly convincing lookalikes.

>I-I-i'm still here guys!
>>45698552
>one hour passes with no indication of anything.

Anyone have a good reason for me to not take over? I can work with what Anonymous has, but someone has to run this shit and actually BE HERE to run it.

>>45699159
Anon please.
It's not even his 5th quest yet and he's still learning.
Dunt cut the bud early, dude

>>45699245
I admit I'd be learning a bit as well. My concern is that if the QM is going to only post during really awkward hours and/or just drop for an hour with no heads-up or anything, questing probably isn't a good idea for him.

I honestly think this quest can be great - the setting's all there, the set up is all there, it just needs execution. And randomly bailing mid-update doesn't bode well.

>>45699291
We can talk it out with the QM when he appeared and discuss this problem.
Other than that, dont be That Guy and steal someone's quest unless it's dead for 1,5 day min

>>45699330
Cool, a number I can work with. I hadn't known how long was acceptable to wait before jumping in but having a number makes it easier to figure out.

In fact, out of due deference I'll give him double that time, so 3 days to pop up and discuss something

>>45699358
Nice I like that double deadline.
You're a cool dude, bruh

Putting up the last part of the update soon. But let's talk.

>>45699730
Yep.
We need to discuss yer timing QM and explanation of this weird updates.

This Anon has the collected opinion of how the quest is seen now
>>45699291

>>45699775
Thanks for the feedback!

Time zones are a bitch but I'm trying to find a time that works for most people.

And I need to announce when I'm leaving the thread. I guess it could be interpreted as bailing, so sorry about that and I'll try to communicate better so you know when I'm off to RL/bed/whatever.

Recent story-mode updates is to try to introduce the characters through show-not-tell, and we'll be back to making choices soon.

I probably write on the slow side, hopefully I'll speed up as I get more practice, but let's be honest it'll be a gradual process not overnight.

>>45699891
Nevermind what i just said.
As long as you know the source of the problem and tried to fix them, then it will be fine

“All energy releases were magical, sir,” Lowran reports to your relief. “Serpent barrier at fifty-nine percent.” You sigh and facepalm. “Forty-two percent!” That starts to sound promising- “that was a glancing hit from Ohno.” Back to facepalming it is.

“Maserati, be advised that you’re engaging a single target with friendlies nearby. Recommend you cease wide-area bombardment and switch to single-fire,” you finally tell her.

“Y-yes sir!” She squeaks, and this time you watch the so-called manifesting process. A magic circle appears on the ground, then a portal opens and a rocket rises out of it. One single rocket, this time. It ignites, makes a lone and pathetic flight, and finally comes to a halt... lithobraking at least a mile away from the Serpent. What did you expect, though? You didn’t tell her to switch to something more precise.

As for Ophelia and Renault, they’re obviously planning to take the Serpent on at close quarters. Their bravery is to be recommended, if nothing else. The Serpent turns its attention to them. Though eyeless and blind like most beasts of the underground, it is certainly not unaware. Its maw yawns open and from the darkness a continuous golden ray spits out.

The beautiful and deadly beam scythes through the air in search of Ophelia, but fails to find its mark once, then twice. She rolls from side to side, staying just ahead of the golden light, ever closing in on the Serpent, refusing to let it drive her back.

The Serpent turns its ray towards Renault next, as she rolls on towards the beast’s towering mass kicking up a dustcloud in the wake of her treaded tracks racing along the sandy dunes, a stripperific tank-girl on legs. She calls forth a magical shield and keeps it between herself and the incoming beam, tracking and matching its movement to make sure it hits her shield and not her exposed skin at all times. Energy deflects off her protection spell harmlessly until it moves on to another target.

Maserati is next on the Serpent’s hit list, its head up a few degrees causing its golden ray to skitter across the sands, kicking up clouds of dust and vaporized rock in its wake. She freezes in panic and curls up as the beam approaches and washes over her and her mount. You didn’t see her even put up a shield, so she’s probably relying soley on her barrier jacket’s barrier – and the Serpent is keeping the beam focused on her to wear her barrier down, until the inevitable.

The other mages are too far away to help: Ohno is a speck in the sky, and Ophelia and Renault are pressing their charge home. The Serpent’s ray is boiling away at Maserati’s form for too long, too long. High in orbit above the planet, there is nothing you can do but grit your teeth and clench your teeth. Ohno shoots a third beam of her own, a near miss that fails to relieve the pressure on Maserati, and then finally, finally, Ophelia dives upon the Serpent with her red spear and slams home just below its many-toothed beam-spraying maw.

The sheer physical force of the collision knocks the Serpent a few degrees to the side, enough to bring the golden ray off Maserati’s unmoving form. Her wingless dragon has disappeared, perhaps vaporized, but the girl herself has made it, at least. “Vitals still strong! Her barrier’s at twenty percent!” Lowran announces, and the bridge breaks out into relieved cheers and clapping. Maserati’s plate armor styled barrier jacket has proven ridiculously strong, to survive this sort of onslaught.

Ophelia darts down the Serpent’s length, her Device striking again and again at its rocky hide, seeking out a weak spot. Renault joins in, the fingers of her oversized gauntlets spinning until she is wielding a pair of drills, which she then presses right up against the beast as though she is intent on drilling a four-lane tunnel straight through its body, yelling incomprehensibly at the top of her lungs all the while.

“Serpent’s barrier down to eleven perciiiiint!“ Lowran’s voice cracks again in excitement. “Seven! Four! It’s disengaging – retreating back underground!”

Finally had enough, the Serpent dives back into the hole it came out of, seeking the safety of the underground. You’ve seen enough of the mages’ performance for now, too. “Mages, disengage. Maserati, you there?”

“Y-yes sir,” her voice is ragged, but there.

“Good job everyone. Return to the ship for debriefing-“

“Sir! You’ll want to see this!” Harlaown interrupts you.

If your XO is interrupting you, it’s certainly important. “What is it?”

“We’ve just lost contact with drone 27. Here’s the last feed from it.” She puts it up on the viewscreen: the point of view from the drone’s camera as it crests a dune and a camp of prefabricated buildings comes into view. There’s a freighter ship landed nearby, and arranged around the camp is a ring of missile launchers, one of which lets fly a missile that speeds at alarming speed towards the drone, which grows larger as it closes in until there’s nothing but static.

“Call HQ and let them know. How far away?” you ask.

“Fifteen minutes out for a coordinated strike. Ten for the Aerial Mages alone.” Space and time are interchangeable; a distance is just a convoluted way of saying how long it takes to get there.

“Harlaown, vector the girls in on the drone’s last location. Worst case, we’ll pull them out before they make contact. I need more to work with here. Give me something, anything.”

“Multiple signatures!” Lowran announces. “Heat signatures – freighter’s spooling up her engines for emergency takeoff. Probably thirty minutes before they get airborne, fifteen, if they skip the checklists. Radar, too, they’ve lit up their air defense network, figure they know we know they’re here. ”

“Arms smugglers,” you conclude, and from the looks of the rest of the bridge crew, they concur too. Judging from their hardware, it’s probably a major organized crime venture, and not some little league handgun smuggler. They play for keeps - there’s a cemetery on Midchilda where the bones of those who fall in the line of duty are put to rest. It’s very large, too large.

You don’t know what else they have besides their air defense network, but the camp isn’t going anywhere. The freighter, on the other hand, you need to intercept right now, especially if it’s stashed full of illegal cargo and potential evidence.

“Helm, can we intercept the freighter in orbit?” you ask the helmsman on duty.

“Tricky, sir,” is the reply you get. “Yeah, we can intercept, but the delta-v...”

“How bad?”

“240 meters per second.”

“Kaiser.” The odds of an engine-disabling shot with the Augusto at that velocity differential is next to nothing. “We’ll save this for Plan B, then. Doctor, are the mages rated for high-altitude or orbital combat?”

Claren shakes her head no and crosses her arms over her lab coat. “Only Ophelia, but as you’ve seen, she’s not exactly a shooter. She’ll need to catch up with the freighter, and a head start of 240 delta-v is nothing to sneeze at, even for her.”

“I’ll take whatever we’ve got. Orbital intercept aside, that leaves sending the girls blind into the viper’s nest to disable the freighter before it gets airborne.” As captain, the hard decisions fall to you.

The more mages you send at the camp, the better their odds of survival and success. Of course, you have to take special account for Maserati who only has twenty percent of her barrier jacket’s strength left, and whose showing against the Serpent was less than stellar.

If the freighter manages to take off, you have a slim second chance at orbital intercept. It becomes a better chance if you recall Ophelia to the Nimbus to help the orbital intercept, but that would mean not being able to send her against the camp in the first place.

There’s also the question of how you’ll approach the camp. Mass driver weapons do terrible things to unprotected human bodies like mages whose barrier jackets have been shot up. The smugglers might – probably will – turn the guns, grenades, and other goodies they’ve been smuggling against your mages in a pinch. Not to mention the air defense network in place. Speed and stealth are good if you decide to hit-and-run to knock the freighter out of commission, while firepower and staying power would be pretty important to take the camp and hold it.

Multiple decision time!

Overall tactics
>Attack the camp and arrest all the smugglers
>Hit and run to disable the freighter and get out, wait for reinforcements before mopping up the camp
>Leave the camp alone, safe but cowardly

Ohno
>Attack the camp
>>Fly
>>Stay grounded
>Return to ship

Ophelia
>Attack the camp
>>Fly
>>Stay grounded
> Return to ship (prepare for orbital intercept)

Maserati
>Attack the camp
>>Standard target priority
>>Prioritize the air defense network
>Return to ship

Renault
>Attack the camp
>>Standard target priority
>>Prioritize the air defense network
>Return to ship

>Write-in’s also allowed to further elaborate or come up with entirely different tactics

And that's all for tonight, folks!

Have fun discussing strategy / starting waifu wars / shadowrunning / whatever you do. Try not to get any of the girls killed on their first real mission.

Next thread should be up in a few days. I need moar prep.
Q: How much prep does questing need?
A: Always more than you expect!

And I should get a twitter to announce new threads. Soon, hopefully before the next thread.

Also, if somebody knows how to archive, I'll be grateful!

>>45700787
That's a pretty good run bruh.
Make sure to prepare and tell players if yer goin fer hours.

>>45699159
If you really want to do one, you could just start your own quest without hijacking this one.

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>>45701405
The only reason I was going to hijack this quest is because we had every reason to believe OP had abandoned it. If he's going to stock around, I don't need to steal his shit.
Still thinking of possibly a concurrent timeline thing, where it's less "you and your band of fuckups try not to die a lot" and more "you're not a complete fuckup and you have competent people, meaning you get put in charge of much bigger issues and try not to die a lot." And based on the naru-quests going on, there seems to be enough people to support both.

I'll work over today and tomorrow, probably post on tuesday or something.