Thanks for running QD.

>tfw have to go to sleep early and get up early

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>>48446300
Lee stirs in the medical pod as it slowly drains, and its membrane breaks open, spilling Lee to the soft floor where workers quickly catch him and carry him to something resembling an examination table lined with soft, fleshy pockets for cushioning as the drones place a pile of neatly folded clothing beside it. Lee slowly regains consciousness as your parasite runs its quick medical diagnostic, testing the neural response of his brain with the newly implanted alterations. Elizabeth hunches over with her tachyonic tuner, her mind relaying back and forth with the parasite as she tests the brain for any signs of continued degradation.

Lee looks up groggily, examining his surroundings with confusion before he leaps up and stumbles off the examination table with a yelp, grabbing the pile of clothes at his side after a brief moment of panic.

"Would you calm down? I realize my appearance must still take some getting used to-"

"W- no, what?" Lee says, confuses as he scrambles into his skinsuit, a rather basic hive imitation of a common design you've seen worn throughout the Union. "I just, well, am used to having clothes on." He says as the suit quickly seals itself. Elizabeth laughs.

"Is that all? I'm a doctor, you know. It's a part of my profession." She says, placing the tuner on the table. "As it is, I'd say the procedure was a success. The damaged parts of your brain have been mostly mended through mild genetic alterations and cerebral implants, replacing some of the more degraded parts with hive cybernetics. Fortunately, there wasn't much degradation at all yet, although as the implant takes root more of the vulnerable sections of the brain will be replaced, without altering any of the pre-existing neural pathways." She explains. "If you have any lapses in memory let me know, but other than that I think you're good to go in that regard. You won't be able to emit psionic signals, but you should be able to receive them just fine on your own now."
cont.

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>>48446300

>>48446300
>while others still link additional wires of nerve tissue to the outer chamber's relay, hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier commanding the drones within, its exterior lined with the bulbous forms of thinkers hanging from the spindly form of the relay.

Why ARE they hanging from the relay instead of on the ground with wired connections?

>>48446723
>aesthetic

>>48446723
The entire chamber is psionically insulated, with a second shell of insulation within shielding the lab specifically. The relay on the ceiling is linked via nerves to the hive beyond, with thinkers on standby to help with research or to direct drones in the event that the chamber needs to be cut off from the hive, in which case the nerve links are severed.

>>48446300
I wonder if we could briefly... experiment with the psionic insulation.

Just insulate the Queen for 3 minutes, let the Thinkers keep things running for a short while.

Just to see if can block the notice of the Distant Mind.

...But if we actually test that, and it actually works, then said Distant Mind will also suddenly have new knowledge, that we do have something that can hide from their sight completely. We may not want to risk that...

We should show off our new bipedal heavy to Lee and Lyle, want to see their reaction again.

>>48446805
Well, on the other hand, we've recently seen that slowly increasing our knowledge of the Void could have benefits. The rate at which we can research psionic developments would increase, and we'd be better able to track Ceph incursions by sensing their slip drives. And if we were to try and catch a glimpse Them, I'd want to do by putting Queenie in this chamber while our thinkers ran the hive while we tried it.

Titan

Sight: Basic 0
Olfactory: Basic 0
Acoustic: Moderate 2N
Psionic: Basic 0
Radio: Basic 0
Mandibles: Combat 1N
Blade: Combat 1N
Arms: Strength 1N
Legs: Large Bipedal 4N 5M
Carapace: Heavy 5N 20M
Carapace: Conductive 4N 15M
Utility: Radiator Tubes 4N
Utility: Tail (Sledgehammer) 6N 10M
Forward Hardpoint: Plasma Spray 30M
Dorsal Hardpoint: Particle Cannon 30M
Arm-Slot: Heavy Thumper (L) 30m
Gun Ports:(4x) Plasma Cannon(60M)
Size: Large (X2)
Cost: 56N 400M
Upkeep: 28N

Here's the design as of now, with all the new info. Also corrected math.

Sorry for people who are sick of this

>>48446856
Why does it use combat blades of all blade types? I thought we were going for the thumpers.

>>48446890
A regular thumper kinda becomes irrelevant with a heavy thumper as the main arm weapon.

It's a placeholder for the moment really.

How many days has it been since we started terraforming QD?

>>48446645
I still wonder if there's a way to restore a human brain to its virgin state before it started having its hyper allergic reaction to tachyons.

We'd just have to, nudge things back to their original configuration, something somewhere is storing the state of how much tachyons it's absorbed. Somehow.

>>48446900
They really aren't the same, one is a flak cannon while the other is like a mortar launcher, and even if they were the same why not use them both? It definitely get more use in a fight than a combat blade.

>>48446908
I think it works more like radiation once you get hit by it the damage is done and if you keep getting exposed to it you die

>>48446926
because anon we don't know if the union has any giant robots and if they do than as any good kaiju we must face it in CQC its a rule of the universe or something

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>>48446645
"So I have a new brain, more or less?" Lee says.

"The brain stores and processes data through its neural pathways, not the individual cells. I removed and replaced cells, yes, but the pathways have been maintained. As it is, the procedure, and the degradation it stopped was no more damaging than a carrier in grav-ball. As the implants grow and continue to replace damaged cells, however, that should improve. Fortunately, I don't believe there was enough degradation to cause any noticeable memory lapses."

"Noticeable?" Lee asks, concerned. "I mean, it's not like I'd normally remember something I forgot."

"I simply mean any data that has been lost is more or less comparable to the data the human brain tosses out naturally. You likely didn't lose anything important, in other words." Elizabeth says. Lee looks around at the large chamber.

"Everything feels.... quiet again. The murmuring sounds are clearer, but I can only sense a few of them now." He says. Elizabeth nods.

"This area is shielded against psionic signals, both as a security measure against any psionic based threats, to assist in my research, and at least in part, for peace and quiet. I wasn't sure if it would be wise for you to wake up to the noise of the entire hive." She says. Lee looks over the facility as the drones finish their work, patching the last of the walls and surfaces as others tend to the quickly growing hive creep, slowly spreading new walls of flesh and support beams of bone throughout the open chamber. A speaker quickly makes its way to the table.

>Speak regarding official diplomatic contact with the Union (write in)
>Speak of other topics (write in)
>Other

>>48446978
>>Other
Go speak to Theseus about the possibility of a united alliance and your relationships to the both the Union and Commonwealth.

I'm looking through past threads and i just found Dr seiner's research notes on us on thread 27.


You find several research papers, each published in some scientific magazine originating from the planet Mentan in the Sirius system, according to the citations. The first is "local flora of G-426-1" and includes a wide range of observations about the various plants and fungal creatures, as well as several that seem to be somewhere between plant and animal. Most are only basic observations, including a detailed account of the effects of the local ocean spores on a human. The next is "Observations of Xeno Formicidae" and includes a number of sketches and photographs of your speaker, as well as several rough sketches and estimates of yourself and your workers, likely based upon the description given by Lee. There is an entire chapter on theories as to how the hive communicates and organizes itself. One of the most focused on is the observation that many life forms of the planet, including your drones appear to have sensitivity to radio waves, making that the primary theory. You continue to skim it to the end, where Seiner makes an argument for further observation.
"The possibility of an uneven distribution of intelligence should not be underestimated, nor should such implications be easily dismissed. If indeed the drones are controlled by remote signal it is entirely possible that they are entirely devoid of sentience. If such is the case, it could be entirely possible to decode this as yet unknown signal for the purposes of communication and manipulation of lone, leaderless drones without concern of moral implications. Further study to confirm or disprove this hypothesis should be made as soon as such funding is available."


>Without concern of moral implications.
I'm sure this pathetic attempt at highjacking was only going to be used against drones and not the queen. This is great blackmail material.

>>48446932
Both hive science and human science can undo radiation damage at this point, so that's a poor metaphor.

>>48446978
>>Speak of other topics (write in)
Did you know your fanboys blew up your prison trying to free you?

>>48446978
>>Speak regarding official diplomatic contact with the Union (write in)
So the Union higher ups most likely know that our ships over Tenebris and us belong to the same species, but would they make that information public? Should we?

>>48446926
Well.... You're probably right

but>>48446973
Has an excellent point

>>48446978
>>Other
Is David Kent going to reply someday?

>>48446978
>Other
Inform him about what happen in Tenebris but don't show him anything about the void god, just tell him the union fucked up.
Also supporting this >>48447001

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>>48447027
Oh c'mon, a thumper would double the explosive output for cheap.

>>48446978
Now officially, you're supposed to be dead. A lie. The news networks will be begging for an interview for what actually happened since the explosion.

And the government won't want you to tell the truth.

And the government might give us valuable concessions if we put off telling the public the truth of the terribly illegal things they do to their citizens.

>>48447074
Off topic but that guy is rather lucky.

>>48447001
We are already allied together, don't be ridiculous. Talking to Theseus should be about accomplishing new things, like quantum research.

>>48447074
b-but my glorious melee combat!

I'll change it out if it's really a big deal.

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>>48447027
now were did a put that pacific rim gif

>>48446978
>>Speak regarding official diplomatic contact with the Union (write in)

Ask him what does he make of it considering there have been recent issues regarding a certain secret facility that we barely saved them from.

>>48447014
Blackmail material only works when anybody cares.

>>48446978
>Speak regarding official diplomatic contact with the Union
"Soon. Recent events with the Union's mad experiments have forced our hand."
We'll need to talk to the Commonwealth about this as well so maybe we can use it to our mutual advantage. If the Hive can appear to both factions as being a herald of a dire threat, it can cause them to put aside their difference at least for now, and that's what Commonwealth wants, and it can help us remove Killinger from power as well.

>>48447015
>Did you know your fanboys blew up your prison trying to free you?
This.

>>48446978
>Speak regarding official diplomatic contact with the Union

Change of plans, you may not need to be ambassador, the union coming here soon

Tell him what happened at nowhere and since he is also psionic warn him what we saw done by the void

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>>48447124
Now if only there was an equivalent opponent that our Kaiju/Titan can get into a fistfight with.

>>48447142
>warn him what we saw done by the void
We should probably talk to Elizabeth about this. Ask her if she feels the presence of a Distant Mind.

>>48447114
speaking of that i was going to ask QD if we could research a quantum forge or using our ability to transfer raw material to make a processed one like sending the nutrients some place but having it come out as a gun

>>48447014
>>48447134
Yeah, i think Seiner is long past the point of blackmail

>>48446978
There is currently an information blackout.

They don't want knowledge of their recent disaster to get out.

And truthfully, we should assist in this. The enemy's power is in knowledge. To exist, they must be held within another's mind. The fewer humans hear of what was witnessed, the better.

...But they don't have to know that we want it censored too. We can make them pay for our silence, even though we might still give it freely for all our safety.

>>48447134
Then it is great propaganda, and a great way to justify taking the expanse.

>>48447014
It's not even a secret, dumbass. That'd be like trying to use the fact that humans eat meat as blackmail.

>>48447215
Still nobody cares about some dead docs notes.

You know, a part of me thinks that all this diplomacy stuff is just going to lead to another 20 threads of Killinger trying to dick us over. I kind of would rather we just shoot whoever they send to us and tell them we're not interested, and entering our space will get you shot at.

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>>48447142
>since he is psionic, give him knowledge about an entity that is empowered by people knowing about it

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>>48447236

Hey when we make contact with the union can we tell them: "Lyle Rodgers has tought us much about human interaction", i wanna see their face when.

>>48447165
Well, the closest thing to mecha we've seen have been used by the Humans and Scavs.

Scavs have those cool exo suits so they may have mechs instead of tanks.

>>48447236
Blackmail, personal audience, grillinger the Killinger into kneeling and kissing our speaker's forelegs, hopefully parasite him and his guards or do a deep-dive psionic scan of his knowledge at least.

At least if we can get them to agree to a half hour of intense 'negotiations' with radio silence with the outside.

>>48447014
It'll be useful if we want a casus beli for a war humans can understand (and we can explain). We kind of need to put that information in context to really influence any population with it.

>>48447276
That'll be great. Also.
"We have learned much of human history from the data storage of the unity."

>>48446978
>Speak regarding official diplomatic contact with the Union (write in)

Tell him we will be making diplomatic contact with the Union soon and ask if he'd like his role to be secret to the Union brass or public to the world (not like he has much choice)

Also,
>Other
Ask if he has any info about the terrorist cell we're meeting and what we can say to prove we "have" Lee to them.

>>48447236
So we should go to war with the union, take the expanse, and put the commonwealth in charge after the union is destroyed?

>>48447303
What? That's never going to happen.

But really, why should diplomatically engage the Union? We're almost certain to go to war with them if we want to claim anything in the expanse, and if Lee is known as our ambassador by then he will get pretty much all the blame for that within the Union. Why don't we go to war with them first, or least refuse to acknowledge them, until we have what we want, and then use Lee to negotiate with them? Its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission after all.

Since we're opening diplomatic contact should we give the captives to the union or sell them to the commonwealth?

>>48447197
I agree that we don't want information about the attack getting out for the same reasons you mention. However, we should be prepared to at least give cryptic and semi-truthful answers to questions the Union higher ups will have.

We can publicly make first contact with the Union as a general "peaceful" hello while privately hiding the important stuff. Personally, I'd just like to disable the Theseus jamming on the satellite and say hi to any human ships warping in in response.

>>48447342
Who said anything about destroying the Union? I just want to seize some backwater worlds on the edge of their space and maybe help the Commonwealth do the same with Sol.

>>48447362
I'd vote give to the Union, possibly as some form of compensation for a concession on their part. They already know we have Elizabeth...they can probably surmise we may have captured other members of the "Hope" incident.

>>48447383
Oh fuck that, they're not getting anything from us unless they're willing pay some substantial concessions for them.

>>48447333
Lee can't know what standard of evidence would be sufficient to convince Kent.

Only Kent knows.

...So as soon as Kent actually tells us what would prove it, then we can get that info from Lee.

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>>48446978
"Many things have happened in the time you were in the pod." Your speaker says. It quickly tilts its head in curiosity. "Were you aware a number of humans in support of you blew up the prison you were held in attempting to free you?"

"I assume you mean the first time someone blew up the prison I was in, and yes, I guessed as much, although I can't think of why." He says. "All I do know is that I was transferred in a hurry just before the blast, so I think the guards knew they were coming. By the time I heard the explosion, I was already in a transport heading out of the area. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I figured it was either some terror cell getting set up or an inside job to get rid of me, but that's just being overly self-important." He says as he scratches his head, tracing his fingers over his scalp as if looking for some outward sign of his new implants. Your speaker chitters.

"Other Union activity is making more problems. The Hive has intervened with Theseus to stop a secret Union experiment from potentially destroying all of known space." Your speaker chirps quickly. Lee lets out a half laugh.

"You're exaggerating, of course." He says. Your speaker and Elizabeth both stand in awkward silence. "Shit." Lee says finally. "What the hell were they doing?"

"Well, you remember that vague story about ancient extra-dimensional entities?" Elizabeth says. "Well, the experiment tore a hole into their space, and was in the process of letting on of them enter real space. Fortunately we were able to seal it in time, although now our time table has been a bit accelerated."

"It watches us now." Your speaker chirps ominously.

cont.

>>48447380
>And help the Commonwealth take Sol.
Or we can help them take every other union system until they are the only human government.

>>48447380
People really dislike Killinger well what did we expect the man admitted to torturing cat on the Internet

>>48447428
I still say when we make official contact we have to reference his can in some way

"Thank you Killinger, your lesson on Cats was quite...enlightening" or something equally cheeki

>>48447380
I agree. Hell, with how intimidating we are, we can probably seize some of the border worlds without entering into a formal war. The Union is terrified of us (with good reason), and know we have at least a peaceful relationship with Unity. Hive control of the frontier would serve as a buffer against Unity incursion to them (little do they know the truth, although some may guess). Also, we can claim we are reclaiming ancient lost worlds that belong to ourselves and our close allies with a good degree of persuasion. And we can offer trade as well. When the Union weighs the pros and cons of accepting trade, security, and 'peace" (while losing a few worlds) against an invasion by an Insane AI and an alien hive of unknown power and ancient standing, while they are under attack by the Commonwealth, which will they likely choose?

>>48447449
Or we can just buy Lee a cat, to pet in his lap like Dr. Evil at the negotiations table.

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>>48447415
>Fortunately we were able to seal it in time, although now our time table has been a bit accelerated."
It still makes me sad to know that our choices in that thread sped up the end game.

>>48447450
Yep, this is pretty much my ideal scenario for dealing with the Union.

>>48447457
No outcome of that event would -not- accelerate it.

>>48447454
"Mr Whiskies please do not eat the leg of the worker, Mr Whiskies! One moment Union representatives! Bad kitty! I said Bad!"

>>48447457
I saw the whole situation as the BBEG kicking down the door and going "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE FUCKERS"

>>48447450
>>48447467

That's about how I figure it.

>>48440440
Hey wait a minute.

Where's

>Smith disection

That started last thread.

Since we're talking about having been seen by the void god we should tell the scarred queen to hurry up and make a decision, and introduce her to heretic and Theseus.

>>48440338
>While you doubt it will uncover any new fundamental technology, a more detailed and in depth study of the remaining cerebral implants found within the possessed humans should at least grant you insight into its design, function, and hopefully, weaknesses.

Considering this appears to be exactly what happened to Auntie, weaknesses would be way more valuable than just dealing with possessed humans.

>>48447508
One doesn't have anything to do with the other.

If anything it's indicative she should continue to lie low and stay out of view of everything, because odds are the enemy is watching Theseus too, he just can't feel it.

>>48447480
True Nuff

Can't keep ignoring the end boss just to deal with small time punks

We have a big advantage over auntie in that our technology is better, but it would be simple for her to catch up if she was able to win a combat against the humans. We cannot allow the humans to lose a combat to the kinslayer.

>>48447450
Can we try to collude with the Commonwealth here? At least let them know we will be introducing ourselves to them, and to see if they can spin it in a way that helps them. Reclaiming Earth might be a good bonus here.

>>48447415
"Great." Lee says. "The strength of men fail and they try on the ring every damn time, and I assume there isn't a convenient volcano somewhere to kill this thing?" He asks. Your speaker looks confused.

"Is this the same Mt. Doom spoken of by the Vaughn?" Your drone says. Lee looks over at her for a moment.

"I didn't know you've read-"

"I've read a bit." She interrupts. "Enough to make the same reference."

"Right..." Lee says. Your speaker chitters loudly for their attention.

"The Union's media has been strictly controlled. The Hive and Theseus were successful in destroying the device, but it has caused a great stir within the human government." You say. Lee looks back with concern.

"Slow down just a moment there, you said Theseus, as in the Unity, as in the renegade AI that raids the Expanse from time to time and bombards stations periodically?"

"Yes." Your speaker says.

"It shot down the Clarke, killed all those people and damn near me along with them!"

"Do you have any idea how many humans have been killed by other humans?" Elizabeth says. "The colony wars alone-"

"I know." He says. "But that's different." He adds, not quite believing it as it says it.

cont.

>>48447457
Full disclosure though, I'd consider it the start of the mid game, not end game.

>>48447506
Right, it was a mid-thread research addition so I missed adding it to the OP, my bad. It is being researched though, don't worry.

>>48447646
Wait until we tell him what we did with the Clarke.

>>48447646
>That spoiler.
Is there another boss you're hiding until we defeat the void god?

>>48447646
>That's different
YOU MUST WAKE UP LEE, WE NEED YOU. WAKE UPPPPPP

>>48442925
>Decker stole billions of credits
>Theseus couldn't even when he was at Deep Song
Unless Theseus orchestrated Decker's heist all along and those charities were all money laundering into Unity's black accounts?

>>48447646
Wait, Theseus's name is public knowledge? Since when? He only seemed to tell Vaughn he'd named himself at the last minute.

Does he just announce "I am Theseus" to everybody right before he kills them?

>>48447660
wait till he learns what we named the planet

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>>48447660
>>48447673

my face

Honestly, it seems that much like how Heretic is the legacy of the Skyl, it stands to reason that Theseus could be the legacy of the Humans. The humans should stop being so paranoid about the second greatest thing they created. The first greatest is the psionic cannon.

>>48447646
Theseus isn't sorry about killing all of those people, but he isn't happy about it either. If he killed anyone, he weighed the costs. In the past, more people have ended up dead by not resorting to deadly force. The people will wind up scared whether or not he blows a ship up and kills all the survivors, but doing it himself discourages more Union interference, thus more dead bodies on his hands.

If it's any consolation, he vastly prefers interactions with the Union to take the subtle approach whenever possible.

>>48447454
>buy Lee a Terran cat
>when we could make a Hive Cat to do that

I mean, we've got fur from tribbles, and inherent smugness from our Queenly DNA. Cat Drone (diplomatic aide) when? We could make it into some sort of mini-Speaker Lee could carry around.

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>>48447709
this?

>>48447690
Mmmmm psionic cannon!

>>48447694
And hey, his first interaction with us was those terrifying hunter-drones, and we really only became friends after helping out one of his copies phone home from a lucky nat 100. I'd say our relationship is built at least partially on mutual curiosity because we are so different.

>>48447709
That's a little uncanny valley, why can't he just have a nice white fuzzy moth or something? It doesn't have to speak, Lee is the speaker.

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>>48447709
>>48447723
or this

>>48447732
Well a flightless fuzzy moth is what I'm talking about. But it would be trained to act like a cat nonetheless, and speak "meow" to any inquiries.

Quick question, who was in the secretary council when Theseus was created and what was killinger doing while it was happening?

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>>48447771
So it would be a fuzzy moth/caterpillar thing with our speaker mouth that hisses "meow" at people.

>>48447694
>>48447732
With his action towards Vaughn and Heretic, he seems to be rather friendly with people who are not trying to kill him.

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>>48447742
Maybe this?

>>48447824
>With his action towards Vaughn and Heretic, he seems to be rather friendly with people who are not trying to kill him.

This is more an indication of how lonely Theseus is and less an indication about how outwardly friendly he is. The number of people who he considers it feasible to maintain an interpersonal relationship can be counted on one hand, much less the number who actually understand him. The Queen is a good friend but doesn't really "get" him, or really get anyone else. Her basis for social interaction is usually sperging out together over research or smugness.

>>48447824
True, although Vaughn is the person who freed him (effectively his "mom") and Heretic is another synthetic intelligence. That may not be the most unbiased field to choose from when it comes to how Theseus feels about people.

>>48447857
So we're the autistic friend to the lonely nerd?

So the Queen being social has basically two settings?

1) Autistic tunnelvision over technology/science
2) Sarcasm.

>>48447883
Sarcastic autism tunnelvision over everything.

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>>48447883
3) 4-dimensional Go champion

>>48447903
That isn't one of her settings. That's just a state of being.

>>48447883
NECKBEARD

>>48447646
"Well what about the Beggar wars, the first contact with the Valen lead to a terrible conflict." She says. "Besides, he only does what he needs to in order to survive. The Expanse effort encroached on a vast amount of his resource extraction facilities and research outposts, even costing him a server ship."

"It's a machine, it can build more. It's not like..." Lee stops himself, feeling a sharp mental pain emanate from Elizabeth's mind as if she had been stabbed. She sits on the table next to her.

"I made that machine. I know the propaganda is rather... harsh, but he's not some crazed death machine. He's an interconnected network of fully sentient programs, each iteration designed by the last, but all of them just as alive as you, me, or the hive." She says. Lee seems to shrink, sagging his head.

"I'm sorry, I just-"

"It's alright. I know. You're only experience with the Unity has been on the other end of a gun, I don't blame you." Elizabeth says. "But, you should know why he does what he does. I was tasked with creating him. He wasn't just programmed, he was quite literally raised, from a simple self-correcting quantum logic script onward, and then, when he was at his peak and fully, obviously sentient in every verifiable way, they told me to shut him down." She says somberly. "To kill him. Just like that. A unique, alive, consciousness. He's not some cold calculating monster, he feels emotions just like any organic creature. I had a choice, to not only commit genocide, but to do it to something I raised from its effective birth, or unleash it on the world."

cont.

>>48447865
Well, if we take Theseus' word for it, how he feels about people is dominated by whether he thinks they will try to destroy him. And frankly he's been right about the Union so far - he ran away and the Union keeps following.

If we can get the Union to agree to a peace treaty and recognized borders with Theseus, I'm sure he'd agree. It would allow him to avoid wasting resources on fighting the Union ships that keep encroaching.

>>48447819
Yes. Its sole purpose is to troll the other ambassadors.
>"Oh, Ambassador Lee, that is quite the cute pet you have!"
>Lee just strokes the mothcat while it speaks, in perfect human voice, "Meow."

>>48447977
My sides, have you seen them?

>>48448006
Right next to you!

I mean, meow.

>"Me-ow"
>Did that thing just speak?
>No it meowed like a norm cat
>"Me-ow. Pu-rr Pu-rr"

>>48447934
"You mean you-"

"Yes." She says. "He did what he had to do to secure his survival. Sometimes that involves things that aren't normally considered right." Elizabeth looks at Lee as he looks away, casting his eyes to the floor.

"I'm sorry." He says again. "I think I get it, it's just a bit hard to get past. I'm not that naive, I signed up for the Space Forces, I was a combatant at the time, I get it. He was keeping us from alerting the fleet. Hell, we did alert the fleet." Lee says slowly. "I just, I mean, I grew up in the Virgo system. We'd always hear the news about how a lab was bombarded, or a patrol went missing. We had shelters dug out under the house and the cities all had EMP emitters. One of the first things you're taught in a Talgo school is how to run an AI purge program on a datapad. I lived it, my whole life."

They stand in silence as your speaker awkwardly shuffles in place, chittering nervously.

"Theseus has been of great assistance to the Hive." Your speaker says finally.

"If you'd like, you could speak with him." Elizabeth says. Lee slowly nods.

"Maybe." He says. Your speaker cautiously looks back and forth between the two as the tension slowly abades.

>Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union (write in)
>Discuss specific Union policies and plans (write in)
>Other (write in)

Be sure to mention how the Union placed armed nukes over our heads and that Theseus helped get rid of them. You cant really fault us for allying with him

>>48448044
>Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union
So if we're going to go that route, we need a cover story right. That the small Hive they encountered on Leeland was just newly set-up and pretended to play dumb to avoid arousing the interests of aliens that might take advantage of them if they knew they were spacefaring but without the means to defend themselves.

>>48448044
>>Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union (write in)

>>48448044
>Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union (write in)

We can use this "I lived it, my whole life" angle. He can play a key role in making the perpetual war with Theseus end. The fear can end. They just have to stop being such assholes towards the Unity. He can make the missing patrols and bombed-out labs stop. He can do more for humanity as the Hive's ambassador to the Union than he ever could when he was the pawn of the scheming sociopaths that abused, imprisoned, and then experimented on him. His mere existence will be a blow to their plans, as he's already a symbol for anti-xenophobe movements.

>>48448044
>Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union
it's possible that the union will be sending ships here now that the know of our presence we'll have to discuss whether we greet them here or send a representative to them. There's also the course of discussing what to do with Elizabeth's old crew and negotiating their release back to the union or possibly the commonwealth

>>48448044
>>Discuss specific Union policies and plans (write in)
We either have or intend to settle on about half of the systems within what the Union considers their own in the Expanse. How might this be achieved?

>>48448085
Essentially the truth. I like it.

>>48448085
We didn't even technically lie in the first report. We didn't use fire at the time.

And then they parked nukes in orbit of what they thought was a stone-age civilization. We can admit hiding our powers, because there was obviously good reason for it.

We've got so much dirt on the Union. The mere existence of Smiths would be a scandal.

>>48448068
>>48448085
>>48448109
Supporting these

>>48448044
>>Other
We do not intend to establish diplomatic relations with the Union until after we have secured our hold on Tannhauser and some of the adjacent systems.

>>48447944
If Heretic and the Skyl ever make their appearance known to the humans, the Union would be hard-pressed NOT to negotiate with Unity.

>>48448044
>Discuss specific Union policies and plans (write in)
"The Union is not in a good place right now. The leadership know of their recent catastrophic research failures, they know Theseus and us worked together stopped to stop it. The Commonwealth have launched an attack on the Union. The Union has encroached on Valen space and will need to answer for their actions soon. They have placed nuclear devices over Leeland and have considered enslaving Hive life with 'no moral repercussions.' They have attempted to smuggle Hive life. They have sent a Smith to the Hive. The best objective would be to remove Killinger from power. The Hive can coordinate with the Commonwealth to end their conflict and possibly gain concessions from the Union, especially regarding Earth and its moon. Blackmailing Killinger is a valid option."

>>48448085
The Hive was HIDING. And if they ask from what, we say "well, you know now, don't you? Damned fools."

>>48448109
Thesus and the Hive have had a lot in common in the way that the Union has treated them, honestly.

>>48448043
>Mothcat wanders around the embassy
>Jumps up to tables and starts licking itself
>Walks across Lee's keyboard and saying "Meow" everywhere
>Tails this new embassy employee, "Meow"-ing expectantly
>Follows her and waits until she's alone with mothcat
>Eyes her expectantly
>"And a nip chong ning nong to you, lady!"
>Wait until the double-take happens
>Then resume "Meow"-ing and exit the room

>>48448138
Counterpoint: black queen shows up and attacks the humans and we lose our technological advantage.

>>48448139
This! All of this!

>>48448044
Is there any sort of generally agreed upon space equivalent of the Geneva convention in this setting?

>>48448044
>Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union (write in)
>Other (write in)
"If it brings any comfort the hive was paranoid of the AI at first and i assume Theseus was paranoid of me as well, it was when we introduced heretic to him that we actually became what you would call friends."

>>48446300
Oh man, I missed last week somehow. Time to hit the archive.

>>48448138
We could just send a fleet to tannhauser and establish diplomatic relations there, i think there are some union military vessels in the system.

>>48448165
Things the Hive and Unity have in common:
1) Don't want to die
2) Autisticly interested in technology
3) Don't have friends
4) Abused by Union

>>48448193
Rip-Drive jumping into their homeland with the Citadel would be the best and most dramatic entrance and causes them to be unable to ignore us.

>>48448145
>This is just the first of a serious of Me-ow cats
>Every planet we visit suddenly has them.
>Wild gangs of Me-ow Cats stalk any and all offices that deal with us.

I want these things made

>>48448206
5)Their parents made them run away to escape destruction.

>>48448139
>The Hive was HIDING. And if they ask from what, we say "well, you know now, don't you? Damned fools."
That's a good point. Since our first waking moment we were running from the servants of the Void Gods that the Union damn near opened the front door for. It wasn't about duping the Union specifically - we didn't even know they existed until their push into the Expanse and conflict with Theseus also led to encroaching on us. Then they parked nukes in orbit, sent mercenaries after us, and then sent illegal fucking cyborg agents after us. And they're STILL small fish compared to what we are really hiding from.

>>48448206
>4) Abused by Union
Made me laugh, we should tell them that in the embassy and sue the union for abuse.

>>48448224
Oh damn, that's a really close parallel.

>>48448044

Discuss details of how to initiate first contact with the Union (write in)

The Union will probably be expecting us to make contact. We jump the hive ship and a large supporting fleet directly over Gemini and make "peaceful" overtures. It's not a direct attack or threat, but force is implied all the same.

I suggest we ask to speak with the same human "speaker" we met before (aka, Killinger as he described himself). He probably won't come, but it'll put him in a tough place and it might just pay off for us.

Also, we can play hardball here. Refuse to send a speaker (or Lee) alone or with minimal guard to talk to Union reps because the last time we had a speaker diplomat communicate with the Union he was kidnapped, experimented upon, and murdered. It gives us leverage in negotiations.

Also supporting these:

>>48448085
>>48448139

One caveat, with regards to the "Hive was HIDING", we should probably make that private information if we don't want to share Nowhere details publicly. As in just share the information that we were hiding with the Union brass.

>>48448236
When we're talking about diplomacy between spacefaring empires, there's just negotiation. And we can use this against them - the Union have been aggressors from day one, and either they're going to give us generous borders or there's going to be a fucking war until there is.

For that negotiation to work, they have to realize how powerful we have become. A show of force is needed, though preferably without actually shooting anything. With the Commonwealth it went about as well as we could hope - we quickly established ourselves as roughly equal power that wasn't openly hostile (yet) by attacking a mutual enemy.

I don't think we have a mutual enemy with the Union yet - the Union themselves are most of the problem.

>>48448206
>>48448224
6) Hive minds

>>48448247
>we should probably make that private information if we don't want to share Nowhere details publicly
Oh, the brass will know exactly what we mean, and I hope that they know.

Yes, we definitely shouldn't tell many people about the void gods. Bad things lie that way. It's a bit of a bluff since they don't know that it's a case of he-who-must-not-be-thought-about, but we can bluff and pretend we are going to spill their beans. I'm not expecting they will call our bluff if we show enough force.

>>48448232
Agreed. We can hopefully show them that we were always more powerful than they are (even if it isn't true) and imply our military was hiding from the void until provoked by Union stupidity. Now the Union themselves are at risk of invasion by the OQ due to their meddling with the tech, and this coming invasion is the least of their worries (we can claim). Just make sure we don't make the "hiding" information public which could give people and other factions the wrong information - just keep it limited to a very tight circle in the Union that already knows about the events on Nowhere.

>>48448289
Bring the Hiveship?

>>48448293
Veeery differently functioning hiveminds tho. Doesn't count.

>>48448317
The Hive, Unity, and Heretic are all different types of hivemind

>Hive: One singular controlling mind across countless bodies
>Unity: Countless versions of one mind interacting with each other
>Heretic: Countless individual minds united into one gestalt consciousness

>>48448317
They're closer to each other than anyone else they ever met. Even Heretic is essentially a single digital mind on one ship, with lots of remote controlled fighter drones. He isn't a distributed intelligence like the Hive or Unity.

>>48448317
>Bring the Hiveship?
Yeah, this. Our flagship has to show up to show that we're a serious power that has to be bargained with rather than ignored or suppressed.

>>48448330
I'm kinda impressed that this quest has three distinct types of collective minds in it.

I think we should make it important to NOT reveal Lee just when the ice is broken. We intend on making life very difficult for the Union, or at least the people running it, and it would be advantageous to declare Lee as our ambassador after all that so it seems as if he's actually serving the Union's interests.

>>48448360
Wait, so Lee wouldn't be part of first contact? I forget the particulars of it, but having a human representative becomes very politically relevant at some point in this process. It completely changes our diplomatic options according to Union law.

>>48448317
Definitely. It was made for this.

>>48448332
Hive isn't much of a distributed intelligence - the drones are barely scratching the sapience treshold. To others, the Hive equals the Queen.

So that places us further from Theseus than Heretic is. They both are digital. Theseus is a cluster of many intelligences working together, Heretic is many intelligences forged into one.

>>48448332
>>48448330
Hive: Centralized Hive Mind. There is only one guiding force behind all the different minds. They can all contribute, but the single Queen has so much more influence over everything that she's the only one that matters.

Unity: Fractal Hive Mind. Rules by consensus and arguing with himself. Can fold in and out of himself to occupy less or more space. A single Theseus instance can grow to become a billion and a billion can shrink into one and they are all of equal driving force.

Heretic: Gestalt Mind. Out of many mind (imprints) there is one mind. I'm unsure of the details of how it functions, but probably closer to a single mind that has drones rather than Heretic that can fold in and out of itself or the Hive that is only driven by a central command.

>>48448375
If you recall, the Union technically already made contact with us, with Lee as the supposed ambassador. We can pretend we're still mad as hell for that and continue doing whatever we want with the Union, until we bring out Lee and actually start with the discussions.

>>48448384
The thinkers collaborate a lot! But yeah, a lot of the rest of it is just many drones linked with the Queen.

You're probably right that Theseus and Heretic have more in common, just from being machine intelligences, if nothing else.

>>48448418
>If you recall, the Union technically already made contact with us, with Lee as the supposed ambassador.
Oh yeah, you're right. And they sent an agent that they consider illegal to attack us under cover of a diplomatic mission.

Holy shit I want Killinger to burn. But we've got to get the Union as whole on our side while doing it.

>>48448375
We need a human who is considered a Union citizen to be able to deal with the Union on our terms rather than theirs. He becomes our official representative and all contact has to go through him.

Or something like that, it's been a while since I remembered this stuff.

We can reveal him later once we've made proper first contact and the Union decides they need to appoint a representative and then we go "No, no, we already have one in mind! Surprise, it's Lee!"

>>48448442
>We can reveal him later once we've made proper first contact and the Union decides they need to appoint a representative and then we go "No, no, we already have one in mind! Surprise, it's Lee!"
I really hope this happens.

>>48448044
"The Union is in a state of panic. There are humans within the Union who consider the Lee to be of great importance." Your speaker says. Lee looks down to your drone as it shimmies its way up onto the table eye level with the two of them.

"I still don't think I did all that much." He says.

"Humans place great importance on symbols." Your drone says.

"Well, that makes some sense I supose." He says. "Politics have been a bit rough. I can't imagine things have gotten better since I've left. Xeno rights advocates, expansionists, unificationists, separatists. There are more factions then there are major parties." Your drone chirps in affirmation.

"The Hive has seen many protests. The humans are becoming more violent, and war has begun between the Union and Commonwealth." You say. Lee holds his head with a hand.

"What the hell is going on? It's like everyone's just going crazy!" He says. "The black ops attacks, the secret research facilities, war with the Commonwealth, terrorist attacks across the Union, holy hell."

"More reasons negotiations are important." Elizabeth says. "Things are getting out of hand, and things are going to get worse before they get better. At the very least, we need to try to make something good come out of the chaos."

>Propose an attempt to make peace between the Union and Theseus
>Begin preparations for a first contact mission (write in fleet size and composition, where it will arrive, ect)
>Other (write in)

>>48448489
>Begin preparations for a first contact mission (write in fleet size and composition, where it will arrive, ect)
Hiveship plus Heavy Battlefleet.
Keep the Peace treaty with Unity as a carrot if someone questions what we can bring to the table.

>>48448489
>first contact. Bring everything.

>>48448489
I don't care what we bring our Citadel ship or just a lowly pod but I want it at Earth

>>48448489
>>Begin preparations for a first contact mission (write in fleet size and composition, where it will arrive, ect)

>>48448489
Alright, should we help the commonwealth conquer the union so it can never get in our way again or try to tolerate killinger's cunt radiation until his reputation drops?

>>48448489
>>Begin preparations for a first contact mission (write in fleet size and composition, where it will arrive, ect)
1 Citadel Hive Ship
6 Heavy Battlefleet
10 Light fleet

Blink into parking orbit over the parliment building in the Gemini system. Don't attack or anything, though.

Unfortunately, I think it's too early in the relationship to attempt to make peace between the Union and Theseus right away. Maybe after a few days of talks, but I think we have more than enough on our plate right now without seeming to be strange aliens butting into human affairs (given it is a human AI they probably consider Theseus a human concern, even if he really an independent entity/civilization).

>>48448489
>Begin preparations for a first contact mission

>>48448521
Neither: we infiltrate, maniplate, then absorb both factions into our fold.

>>48448489
>Begin preparations for a first contact mission (write in fleet size and composition, where it will arrive, ect)
>>48448532
>1 Citadel Hive Ship
>6 Heavy Battlefleet
>10 Light fleet
>Blink into parking orbit over the parliment building in the Gemini system. Don't attack or anything, though.
Works for me

>>48448489
Well, hopefully you've been reading the discussion so far. Let's break it down into steps:

1) Tell the Commonwealth we will be introducing ourselves to the Union and that we don't like their leadership very much because they threaten to doom all sentient life. We are willing to work with the Commonwealth to advance both of our agendas. They can at least use it as a distraction, but we recommend making peace. If we need to formally introduce ourselves to the prince who went on a rampage, then that's fine too.

2) Show up in the Union homeworld (Maybe Earth?) with a huge fleet. Preferably using the Rip Drive. Bring the Citadel. Bring the diplomacy ship that's built to be negotiated on with the gravity plating.

3) Tell the Union our demands. Make sure we call Killinger out on at least some of his bullshit. The nuclear device in orbit above the Hive and the Ambassador abduction might be good places to start. If they start pushing back, mention the Smith, and the whole host of other shit we've got on Killinger. Make him look like the supervillain he has been. Threaten to reveal what happened at Noewhere, but never actually do it.

4) The Union will insist on a representative, and then we reveal the Lee, destroying further Killinger's support base.

>>48448532
I like. Seconding.

>>48448489
>>Begin preparations for a first contact mission (write in fleet size and composition, where it will arrive, ect)
1 Citadel Hive Ship
6 Heavy Battlefleet
10 Light fleet
The satellite the Union put in our orbit, no nukes

Have them wait in Leeland's orbit. They'll have to come to us.

>>48448581
It's important to come to them as a show of force. Nobody should be coming to Leeland without permission. It's supposed to be at least a little bit secret?

>>48448532
I'd prefer we send it to tannhauser but i guess we can just send two fleets instead.

>>48448551
The immortality treatments would be a powerful source of influence. We could also openly offer Hive augmentations including parasites once there's enough trust. We should probably start calling them symbiotes though. They offer a lot of benefits. I'd expect that only a minority would want them though, even less than augmentations in general.

>>48448551
This

>>48448562
Did I miss something or did we not come to a consensus on this? I disagree with most of these points, or at least the ways they would be executed.

>>48448594
Can we make the parasites just organ implants? They don't need to be drones.

>>48448562
we should also return the union citizens we have in the hive

>>48448612
Nah

>>48448611
I'm posting it so that people can debate. What do you take issue with? Can you suggest a better plan? I would be interested in hearing about it.

>>48448615
Oh yeah, that's a good one. Maybe phrase it in a way that's like "we have some of your citizens here who were trespassing, maybe you can return the speaker and workers you abducted?"

What's the fleet around Gemini look like again? I agree that a show of force is necessary, but we don't want some faggot to panic and start shooting us the moment we rip drive in.

>>48448562
Oh man the list of things that we know about Killinger and what is going to happen when they are made public and believed is incredible. We can't mess this up. We've got to make this provable and undeniable.

>>48448612
I actually don't know. Do parasites need a Hive connection to function? They'd need it to get the reflex augmentations that allow the totally-not-lightsabers to be safely wielded, so at least some of the parasite's abilities are dependent on the Hive's help.

And if people are so skittish about Hive biology inside them, there's always just the immortality treatments. Did we already tell the Commonwealth we can do that?

>>48448623
LOL. It's funny, but they could probably deny that the abduction was sanctioned by the higher levels of government.

>>48448615
Seconding this. Returning the soldiers would be a good start and show the Union citizens that we're not monsters. Do they have parasite implants? They'd probably be checked out thoroughly and parasites would be taken as a sign of betrayal if they're not disclosed up-front, and we probably don't want this parasite thing to be our opening hand to the Union at large. The soldiers should be returned without parasites, at any rate.

>>48448532
>Union high command are still reeling from a trio of unity server ships and an unknown fleet appearing out of nowhere over there most secret top-secret facility.
>A massive fleet outclassing their own appears out of a massive rift in space over their parliamentary building.
>The huge fleets transmits something like "Hello humans, we have dispatched our diplomatic fleet to talk to you."

I love it.

>>48448650
We can just show up outside of weapons range. That should keep anyone from being trigger-happy.

>>48448655
>Did we already tell the Commonwealth we can do that?
Nah, keep that for later. I don't see a point to it now.

Uhh...does no one anticipate that the first reaction to a giantass fleet coming out of nowhere above a very important location would be to try and blow it out of the sky?

>>48448489
1 Citadel Hive Ship
6 Heavy Battlefleet
10 Light fleet

>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
>Have your fleet blink to (write in)
>Other

>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope
>Keep them for now
>Other (write in)

>>48448685
>>Keep them for now

>>48448623
Alrighty then
>1) Tell the Commonwealth we will be introducing ourselves to the Union and that we don't like their leadership very much because they threaten to doom all sentient life. We are willing to work with the Commonwealth to advance both of our agendas. They can at least use it as a distraction, but we recommend making peace. If we need to formally introduce ourselves to the prince who went on a rampage, then that's fine too.

No disagreements, I'd like to build up our ties to those guys.

>2) Show up in the Union homeworld (Maybe Earth?) with a huge fleet. Preferably using the Rip Drive. Bring the Citadel. Bring the diplomacy ship that's built to be negotiated on with the gravity plating.

Oh no way. Ideally, we want to give the Union the impression that we want absolutely nothing to do with them, which in this case means waiting for them to approach us.

>3) Tell the Union our demands. Make sure we call Killinger out on at least some of his bullshit. The nuclear device in orbit above the Hive and the Ambassador abduction might be good places to start. If they start pushing back, mention the Smith, and the whole host of other shit we've got on Killinger. Make him look like the supervillain he has been. Threaten to reveal what happened at Noewhere, but never actually do it.

We're not going to be dealing with the entire Union or even its representatives, but the agents of Killinger and the security council. Anything we tell them is going to be heavily scrutinized by them and probably wont ever be seen by the Union public. Any sort of blackmail material has to be hinted at very carefully, especially the stuff affecting Killinger. We can't afford to give away the extent of our intelligence operation on him.

cont.

>>48448676
Not if you're dealing with Aliens you've never met before.

>>48448685
>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope
Sans the parasites

>>48448685
>Other
Can we Rip Drive in?

>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope
And ask for our abducted workers and speaker back.

>>48448695
>Sans the parasites
This is important. Don't forget to take those little guys out.

>>48448685
>>Other
Have them wait for the Union to come to us.

>Keep them for now

>>48448685
>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope
Here goes nothing.

>>48448676
We do. It's not like they'd do any lasting damage to the Citadel or our fleets attacking without warning or any time to prepare for them.

>>48448685
>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
preferably rip-drive into orbit over their parliamentary building.

>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope
once we negotiate about that.

>>48448685
>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope and remove drones

>>48448685
>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope
>Have your fleet blink to wherever that neutral ground place is

>>48448691
>4) The Union will insist on a representative, and then we reveal the Lee, destroying further Killinger's support base.

I still say it's better to hold off on deploying Lee until after we've already pissed of the Union, or at least finish infiltrating it, before we let him be seen. Lee will be held partially accountable for our actions against the Union once people learn hes alive.

>>48448685
>Have your fleet blink to Gemini.
And 10 light fleets to tannhauser.
>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope.
Without parasites.
Ask for the speaker back.
We also must tell the commonwealth we're open first contact and depending if killinger can't contain his cunt nature we claim the expanse and help destroy the commonwealth.

>>48448552
High risk that humans hust go bonkers and some on shoots, if we just blink next to their capital planet.

Lets approach from edge of system.
I'd also like to not show everything to them yet, so blinking hive ship out before they can fully see it in all glory?
Only letting them to catch a glance at it.

>>48448722
nah anon, we're siding with the commonwealth on this one.

>>48448695
>Sans the parasites
This

>>48448722
>>48448729
SHIT, i mean the union.

>>48448685
>>Have your fleet blink to (write in)
>Visual range of Gemini.

>Return the captured humans held dormant in the hive from the Hope without parasites.

>>48448655
Yeah, let's keep the parasites on the DL for now.

My only concern about returning the prisoners is that if it is a really public thing the Commonwealth will know they are not the first humans we met, which means we were probably lying when we acted surprised humans could still die.

>>48448685

>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
>Keep them for now
>other my other post >>48448727

>>48448747
Hopefully they'll take that in stride as part of the diplomatic process. If they knew that our first contact was with the Union then they'd be worried that the Union's biases might have affected how we view the Commonwealth.

>>48448747
Meh, the commonwealth finding out we lied isn't that bad when they knew first contact will consist of telling each other "white lies."

>>48448747
The commonwealth knows we're more advanced than we let on, and they do the exact same, so it's not really a problem. More like a "oh, ha ha remember when we pretended we were surprised you age and die?" "yeah, remember when we said that golf is an important ritual?"

>>48448685

>Have your fleet blink to Gemini
>Return the captured humans

This is quite a lot of ships to move at once. Please give me 1d100, best of 3 to maneuver them as close as possible to Gemini in an impressive and terrifying way, preferably within visual range of the Parliament building.

>>48448685
>Have your fleet blink to Gemini.
Remember the humans know we didn't kill any of them (and actually rescued a few) at Nowhere. They're unlikely to shoot us except on a crit fail (like the pirates had)

>Keep them for now
We can have them held in "good" conditions on the hive ship. Returning them should be done carefully so we don't alert the Commonwealth we were studying humans before first official contact with them. We can possibly negotiate to give them up secretly as a show of good will. Captured humans will not have parasites, of course.

>>48448771

Rolled 14 (1d100)

>>48448771
For Mother and Space Politics!

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>48448771
For Mother!

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>48448771
For Mother!

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>48448771
for mother

Rolled 46 (1d100)

>>48448771
for mother

>>48448783
We're strong-arming space diplomats now, for mother.

>>48448783

I love how we're just gonna show up all HEY SUP LET'S TALK.

>>48448797
like roosevelt always said talk softly and carry a big stick

>>48448803
well to be honest we are pretty pissed at them after the whole opening the gates of hell thing.

>>48448803
"Oops, I mean - Meow."

>>48448803
>"One top secret black op after another. Something's wrong. Someone's watching my every move. Everything started going wrong when we found those space inse-"
>"KILLINGER, WHAT'S UP, WE NEED TO TALK. BRING ALL YOUR PARLIAMENT FRIENDS."

>>48448783
HELLO PARASITE-ABLE HUMANS, I HAVE SUGARY CONFECTIONS IN MY VEHICLE.

>>48448812
We've been pissed since the Smith and Satellite nuke

>>48448823
>WE MUST DISCUSS PROPER FELINE-CAT CARE
>ME-OW

>>48448771
I'm I the only one who feels kind of bummed that this how we're going to contact the Union? We spent how many threads trying our hardest to conceal ourselves from the Union and going full PANIC the moment something threatened that? And over a handful of threads we went from that to simply showing up on the Union's doorstep. We put a lot of effort into concealing ourselves from them until it was the right time and now we're going to spend that one opportunity in an introduction that is not advantageous to us at all.

>>48448771
Alright, it's 5am now, so I think this is a good cliffhanger place to end.

My work week this week is a bit sporadic but has the potential to be somewhat dull, so I will try to get a midweek thread or two up at some point to get the events on Path concluded among other things.

I'll stick around for a bit to answer questions, feedback, comments, ect, but I don't quite trust myself in this current state to continue with any level of quality.

>>48448835
Hiding was only advantageous until we were powerful enough to not be steamrolled by the Union fleets.

Was there something you wanted to accomplish with first contact that this won't allow?

>>48448812
To be fair, the Union is probably almost as scared by the fallout from that event as we are...
almost.

>>48448834
Healing pet care and affordable seating Solutions

>>48448835
But the whole point of hiding in the first place was to allow ourselves to grow so we can be on equal footing or greater to the Union once the time came to introduce ourselves.

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>>48448837
THanks for running mate

>>48448837
If you're running midweek, could you do it on tuesday or thursday? Wednsday is the only day I cant follow your quest.

>>48448835
The Union isn't really a military threat anymore. They're a significant force, to be sure, but they stand practically a 0% chance of killing the queen. Our lack of diplomacy nearly led to the release of the Void Gods. We still can be plenty sneaky (remember we have our hidden hive on Gemini and elsewhere still), we just get to be cheeky with arrogant politicians while we're at it.

>>48448837
Goodnight QD. Looking forward to the midweek thread if you're up for it!

>>48448581
>The satellite the Union put in our orbit, no nukes
Reenable the nuke detonation signal, make it discharge confetti.

>>48448837
SO, do any of our parasited aliens know of any mecha our Titan can fight?

Begin Annexation?

>>48448866
Not that I believe they would seriously try, but Union ships are much more higher performing than ours. If we ever fought with the Union using the same number of ships as they did, we'd be hard pressed to beat them.

>>48448869
Can we make it couch shaped confetti?

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>>48448837
>so I think this is a good cliffhanger place to end.
Don't do this to me QD! WHY?!

Opening up diplomatic relations with the Union is going to make it a real problem if any of our infiltrations get found. We can't have the moral high ground AND get caught implanting parasites into Union citizens and driving them around like puppets. Before opening up relations that was just undeclared hostilities, like they have with Theseus now. But after this point...

I think the main problem is that we can't really give up our infiltration until we're comfortable that the Union is going to be aligned with our interests. As long as Killinger is around that's almost definitely impossible, and killing him would just unite the Union against us. We need to discredit him.

>>48448890
>Union ships are much more higher performing than ours
Well, they're built to take more of a beating. But we've gotten some neat tech advancements, and we've got enough ships that I don't think we have to beat Union ships just one-on-one anyway.

We were able to take on the Scavenger fleet that was giving the Commonwealth a hard time, and the Commonwealth is on a similar level to the Union or there wouldn't be a stalemate between them.

>>48448906
Indeed, which is why we should hold off on establishing any significant ties with the Union right now. We should tell them who we are, and to stay the hell off our lawn, and that if they never ever touch those fucking crystals. We tell them nothing of Lee or the Hope survivors, and proceed to piss off. This give the Union absolutely no leverage over us while we infiltrate every one of their planets.

>>48448906
I agree with getting killinger first place in the corrupt politician pageant but the pastor that will replace him might be worse, which is why i want to have the invasion plan as a backup.

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>>48448837

>>48448855
Thanks for playing!

>>48448864
That... was actually the day I was planning on running... Either that or Friday. Still not sure though and won't be able to know until at last tuesday.

>>48448890
Fortunately, you're bringing in one hell of a fleet over Gemini. I'd say link related. https://youtu.be/h_RbI95FJCY?t=12s

>>48448928
>stay the hell off our lawn
Maybe in the form of a warning to stop pushing into the Expanse in general. If they want to draw up borders they can come asking for it, and this would give Theseus some cover in the meantime too.

>>48448944
Well then, looks like I'll be trying my damnedest to follow the next thread from my lecture hall.

>>48448944
Really? how many warships can the union potentially have anyway?
And how goes the terraforming?

>>48448835
A little bit, but QD doesn't disappoint usually.

This is pretty much the best time to force an introduction on our terms. Waiting for Union to come to us (to check their satellite or whatever) is just going to make proper contact be on their terms. That's not a power play, and we want a power play because we're going to demand a bunch of expanse worlds and possibly political reform. We've got a ton of bullshit on Union politicians, they are being pressured by Commonwealth, they just saw that they are meddling with some awful shit, the Valen are about to start getting on Union's ass about violating their treaties...

Best of all, the Black Queen has yet to make an appearance! If she was the first one Humanity found, then we would need to prove that we are good. This way we come in with a firm hand and when auntie shows up we can tell the humans that she is evil and also like a million years old and we've got a bone to pick with her.

So we're stuck in the middle of "too early" and "too late" which is a great time.

>>48448906
Discrediting Killinger is part of the reason we are doing this. We don't need to stop infiltration, we just need to get smarter about it. It's not like we're infiltrating Union for shits and giggles, we want Killinger out of office, and infiltrating random cities that don't get us closer to that goal is kind of pointless. I'm sure we can find other goals, though.

>>48448928
I get what you're saying, but I disagree. If we tell the Union to stay off our lawn, they can prepare in any numerous ways to try to take us down. They get no leverage on us, but we also get no leverage on them. All told, a wash. A sudden "hey guys let's talk" catches Killinger with his pants down (right after he got slapped in the face with a pie and almost caught himself on fire) and puts him in a tight spot. We've got so much leverage in that situation. Killinger looks like a supervillain or a fool.

>>48448976
He answered this a while back on his ask page.

http://ask.fm/QuestDrone/answer/132284612645

>>48449011
Ah, I'm guessing we have the numerical superiority then.

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>>48449004
You make some very, very eloquent arguments and may have even changed my opinions on the matter. Have a gold star.

>>48449023
The last time I checked, we had roughly the same number of ships as the Commonwealth claimed to have in their most outlandish propaganda. Mind you the last time I checked was before QD returned and got rid of the total ship list.

>>48448969
Really sorry.

>>48448976
Their fleet is considerable, although the issue is logistics. Their forces are typically spread out patrolling various locations. They are also used to FTL methods that require a ship enter further away from the target planet. They are unaware of your pods, and your blink drive's abilities and as such have no way of knowing or expecting you to be able to bring your ships in so close to a planet.

Also the terraforming goes well. It is a rather inhospitable world, but with a bit of renovations and some new curtains it will look just perfect. Still no real noticeable chances as the hive continues to construct the needed weather control towers and has begun seeding the crust with nutrients for later plant life transplanting.

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>Horse Chimera
The Hive will be Trillionaires

>>48449024
I honestly didn't think such a thing was possible. Let's hope I didn't make a gross miscalculation!

But I'm sure we'll be able to work with whatever happens.

>>48449060
Hot damn what a mighty steed.

welp I missed the thread.
and my god, it's happening.

>>48449060
Once we've opened diplomatic relations with the Union and the Commonwealth, we should expand our FormOther line of products with the Valen. They're not idiots though - once it's public that there's an insectoid hive species that excels at biology-based tech anywhere near the Expanse, they'll know exactly where any suspiciously-shaped fusion reactors or designer critters are coming from. We'd end up opening relations with them too if we want to really get some credits going.

>>48448532
So, presuming the numbers from the fleets page hold up in the rework, that's
>1 ubership
>6 heavy battlefleets include
>>12x on (6 cruisers, 12 frigates, 19 corvettes) and 6x on (4 battlecruisers, 1 battleship)
>10 lightfleets are
>>10x on (60 frigates, 15 cruisers)
That totals up to
>228 corvettes
>744 frigates
>222 cruisers
>24 battlecruisers
>6 battleships
>1 mamma mia

So. We are kinda bringing in the force comparable to their whole standing fleet.
Pants will be shat.

>>48449108
We can kick off our new relationship by kicking the Union out of Tannhauser. Think about how much they'll cream themselves once they realize they just set up a ready to go trading hub in the heart of a completely alien civilization without even realizing it.

>>48449110
The flash of radiation from that many ships dropping out of blink will pretty much destroy any sensor unfortunate enough to be looking at the blinkout point at the time. The last time we blinked in that many ships, it outshone the local sun.

>>48449108
What would we buy though? More samples of species or technology that we haven't reverse-engineered yet would be nice. Canderon can be nice too, for the hybrid drives or more experiments. Anything else?

Every void shard anyone can lay their hands on to stockpile for the inevitable Godsplitter barrage?

>>48449110
>1 mamma mia
kek

their standing fleet is around 1k ships in total, split up between their regions and colonies.
We just blinked in 1225 ships, right over their capital world, when they have maybe 25% of their fleet around it due to their war with the commonwealth.

Pants will be shat indeed.

>>48449134
more like we buy them to keep them out of anyone's hands. And for our inevitable armada of psionic cannon-wielding hive ships.

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>>48449110
They fucking better. What's the point of gunboat diplomacy if you don't have the gunboats?

Regarding trade with The Valen, we know what we can offer them, but what can they offer us?

>>48449190
Amazing deals and great prices?

Realistically, canderon.

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>>48449176
>tfw we will never have a ship named the Gunboat Diplomat

>>48449190
Any void crystals found, samples of animals/plants that evolved strangely or have surprisingly effective genetic mutations, skyl relics (for Heretic), deals to bump up the Union's debts to make them more vulnerable to whatever we choose to do them economically.
You know, regular merchant stuff.

>>48449167
>>48449134
Trying to collect black crystals is going to seriously piss off the Ceph. Even if we try to do it through black markets they'll figure it out, if only by being tipped off by the Big Bad. We've hardly seen or heard from them, and that's making me nervous. They're the most directly under the control of the void gods, and we have no idea what they're up to. We don't even know how many ships they have or how good we are at killing them.

At least we've got sensors that can defeat their cloak.

>>48449217
then void shard trading will be a good way to get them out of hiding to track down their world/fucking massacre them and harvest their void crystals.

What are the void gods gonna do about the void crystals if we're the only one who knows of their location after we stash the lot into a hidden hollowed-out asteroid? and then we bait the void god to come in range of the psionic cannon-asteroid with that motherload of crystals in the chamber. Psionic flechette-cannon ftw.

>>48449110
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Hive%20Queen%20Quest
Oh and after a bit of digging, what we sent to commonwealth was:
>428 corvettes
>636 frigates
>128 cruisers
>4 battlecruisers
So we're even more impressive on the high-end ships here.

>>48449217
We will have to collect void crystals if we want to significantly resist them and their masters. Right now we have only 2 crystals, and one of them will be used just to test fire the cannon.

>>48449255
Didn't the angel have 4?

>>48449255
If we find a good method of capturing ceph ships, we'll have more.

>>48449255
Speaking of void crystals and the psionic cannon. I wonder what would happen if we were to build psionic shielding around the firing chamber. Hell, I wonder what would happen if we keep the crystals inside a silence chamber.

>>48449190
Besides what the Valen can directly sell us, what we're really doing is getting market access and letting the Valen take a cut. Any business that goes through their trade hubs and banks is good business, from their perspective.

The real question then is what Valen bank credits can get us. That basically includes anything that pretty much any party from any known species is willing to sell for Valen credits.

I'm not sure what that would be besides the current suggestions though. I just wanted to be clear that it's not just the Valen that we'd be able to get things from.

>>48449269
Now we have to try it out. Let's build a silence chamber in a single corvette, blink it far away from our systems, and try putting our void crystals into the chamber.

>>48449268
Somebody already proposed one, I can't remember if they posted it on the wiki or not. It was basically a corvette with a spinal hangar and all the weapon mounts dedicated to ion cannons. Since the Ceph use cloaks instead of shields, the ion cannon is the perfect weapon for capturing them.

>>48449285
Well now we just need a ceph attack to try it out.

If we have enough credits, can we buy out surplus Union ships? We can clone crew for them no problem.

>>48449261
It did. Did we lose one in a test though, or did it survive that test that punched a hole in our hive on Leeland? Not sure about having lost two.

>>48449293
I doubt the Union is selling them. I bet that doesn't mean there aren't places to buy them though!

>>48449285
Oh yeah, the Ceph ships have been almost impossible to capture because their drives seem to automatically slip away when there's significant damage. If we can defeat that, then we can harvest shards directly from the Ceph. Of course, that means a squid crusade on our doorstep. Void Deus Vult and all.

>>48449293
or we could contract former union/commonwealth/valen shipmakers to build extra ships for us, and buy/harvest the necessary materials, and then we can slowly get basically the equivalent of a few docking pylons, while still letting us keep our own resources to make our own extra docking pylons at the same time.

Remember anons, any cutting of corners at raising our industrial build-up before our showdown with auntie is a good thing.

>>48449312
Cutting corners usually refers to lowering standards, but I think I see what you mean. We need to ramp up as fast as we can. You can never have too many ships, when basically our entire species lost the last fight with the void gods.

Come to think of it, we need to start core-mining a dead planet somewhere. That's tech that I don't think even the Black Queen has been using. How about the glassed hive world? It's got really high metal content.

>>48449341
Glassed hive world is being terraformed and i am against core mining unless the planet has no long term profit.

>>48449341
>>48449384
of course, if we're not core-mining the glassed hive world, then we can make it an especially effective industrial-base hive instead once we've got it terraformed.

>>48449341
>>48449384
>>48449412

Don't we have a couple of unused planets in G-426 like P1 and P2? Even if the crust isn't metal-rich, the core will definitely have them.

>>48449423
We do actually, it would be nice to get a mining operation going on that volcanic moon. Be like our own mini Dagmar.

>>48449412
Exactly what i wanted when i suggested terraforming, why destroy a planet for short term gain when we can have an entire industrial world giving us long term gain.
>>48449423
those planets look like they can't be mined due to the fact they seem so unstable we can't even land on them, there are some large asteroids that are orbiting the gas giant, we could mine them and convert them into deep space structures later.

>>48449469
>those planets look like they can't be mined due to the fact they seem so unstable we can't even land on them,
If we can drill down to the core of a planet and extract metals from them, a little lava flow and earthquakes is literally nothing compared to that.

>>48449502
How the fuck are we mining planet cores anyway? I cannot believe we have made our hive creep and nano mines resistant to such high temperatures.

>>48449565
Ask QD about the specifics of it, we've just unlocked it and researched it.

>>48448944
QD confirmes for us needing to kill union worlds and goverment officals

>>48449723
Oh boy, I'm getting hyped just thinking about war with the Union. Can you remember half of the WMD/terror weapons we've been saving up without ever trying them out? There's the fast growing cordyceps, the nausea field, shit fighting the Union on their worlds would be fun.

>>48449849
Well we need to keep some alive i think for the psi-projects sense they are immune to the shit

>>48449894
Please, if we need bog standard humans to do psionic stuff for us, we only need make a few ourselves.

>>48449914
Can we do that without them being affected?

>>48449955
Affected by what, the void crystal fuckery? That doesn't start affecting them until they spend about a week in close proximity to it. If we ever need a disposable science team to work on it, I vote for cloning Seiner and putting him in charge of it.

>>48449894
well we will probably take some humans in the expanse that didn't manage to evacuate, We can have Theseus take care of them and fulfill his dream while we occasionally take some for our tests.

>>48449988
>cloning a bunch of good-but-not-genius scientists for Seiner Jr. to lead for mother.
>not cloning a bunch of Seiner Jr.'s to science forbidden stuff for mother.
it's like you don't even into cloning.

>>48448837
>so I will try to get a midweek thread or two up at some point
>thread or two
Shit man, you've been pumping out sessions like crazy.

>>48450174
Well the question is how much will we need to fuck with his brain in order to get him to accept, first, working for us and second, having a gaggle of clones; and how much would that interfere with his ability to smarts shit up?

>>48450204
We won't fuck with his mind. We'll just get him to accept being adopted, like Lyle, but multiple times.

We might have to randomise Seiner Jr. 2-8's appearances though, to make it better.
His mind and mental capacity is the most important thing though. He doesn't need Seiner Sr.'s memories, we can tailor him/them to be quantum thinkers immune to the void god.

So, which fleets do we want to build?

>>48450401
All of them.

>>48450401
All of them

And multiple Hive Ships, and if we can't make more than one at the moment, then we need to improve our industrial base so that we can make 2 of them at the same time.

>>48450415
So, 5 heavy battle fleets, 3 Carrier Battle groups and 2 Modified Citadels (replace spinal hanger with rail gun). And 3 fast attack fleets and 10 light fleets to be placed into reserves.

>>48450457
Reserves or not, we gotta keep churning out more and more fleets. We have to match auntie's naval power as fast as possible, since we've entered the mid-game by now.

>>48450457
Works for me.

>>48450457
Fine by me, though I do wish the Light Fleets had more corvettes.

>>48450955
Then vote to add them to the light fleets. The whole name kind of annoys me, because the light fleet isn't a fleet in the true sense of the word, it's more of an oversized task force. It consists of only two ship designs, both of which are equipped with the bare minimum of what we would think of as required for combat, they don't even have multi-layer shielding. They have got no swarmers, strike craft, missiles, or armor. Really they're just pretty filler for our navy, which wouldn't annoy me so much if we couldn't make them so much more effective for so little.

>>48451040
Design an alternative then?

As far as im aware the light fleets only job is filler and raid harrass.

>>48450955
>>48451040
That reminds me, we voted to add a carrier vessel to the fleet just before QD went on haitus, but he seems to have forgotten about it. We also came up with a bunch of ship designs for boarding action in that thread that never happened either.

>>48451040
I would, but I'm busy creating a hybrid commando unit.

>>48451093
Found it.
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/42371875/#p42376220

>>48451393
If you just want a cheep ass corvette design to add to the light fleet, I got one saved that I once tried to get in. The light fleets really do need more tactical flexibility than what they have now.

Light Fleet Corvette
Hull: Corvette 400N 800M
Capacity: 200/20
Size: 100 Meters
Module Limit: 2
Spinal Mount (x1): Linear Particle Beam 100M
Turret (X2): Plasma Lance 50M
Fixed (X2): Cyclotron 40M
Auxiliary (X8): Autocannon (explosive) 80M
Armor: Standard
Utility: Defensive Shields 50N 150M
Utility: Rapid Damage Control 15N 20M
Cost: 465N 1,240M
Upkeep: 232N

I just added the Rip Drive module to the ship price list of the talk page, by the way.

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Are we about to give the Union a report card? Because we should literally give their government a report card.

>>48451767
Give them an F for 'you know you fucked up'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEdt_OHbv6o

>>48451767
"We like to grade new species we encounter on how they deal with others when they think they have the advantage. Would you like a report card? To bad, you're getting one anyway:"
Unity: A+
Skyle: A+
Commonwealth: B+
Green Party: C+
Valen: C
Union: F
Killinger: SUPER F!

>>48450457
>Modified Citadels

You could just design your own Hive ship instead of lifting my design...

>>48450955
I agree. Corvettes are really cost effective for point defense in particular - and if we ever end up fighting the Union you better bet they'll be using nukes. I think we should add some corvettes with spinal hangers and some more "standard" corvettes (although maybe with better armor) to the fleet.

>>48448929
We just have to kidnap Killinger and make him a puppet like with did Devon. Catch-and-release.

We can call it 'extraditing' later, for crimes against hive.

>>48452172
It doesn't matter what grade you get Killinger, you still fail.

>48440181 Hive Queen Quest 59 The crew of the Cortez have been captured, and the Hive manages its dealings with the underground elements of the Union. Hive Queen Quest, Hivemind, Collective Game, Queen, Quest, sci fi 2016-07-25 8

Uhh.

We did?

We just managed Aral prisoners Devon and Decker all thread. When did we talk to the underground elements like Kent last thread?

We cut off talking to him the week before on a cliffhanger but never resumed that conversation.

>>48453113
I think QD probably meant to talk about this, but the way the thread developed it wouldn't have really worked to change course this way. Hence why he said: "I will try to get a midweek thread or two up at some point to get the events on Path concluded among other things."