>>1048538
>>You'll find that people tend to let things slip around trained Newtypes (interrogation).
We still got enough in the eye hax tank for an attempt to dial in on his tells?

>>1048538
Seduce

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>>1048538
For those of you just joining us, or who've been gone for a while, the relevant archive link is:
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Shadows%20of%20Zeon
The Aphelion arc begins near the bottom of the page, and starts off on /tg/. A pastebin with a few technical notes and character entries can be found here:
>http://pastebin.com/PLtBQjtf
Voting is 3d10 best of three posts against a target DC unless otherwise noted, and the first update generally comes slow to allow people to trickle in but typical voting periods are 15 minutes.

>>1048543
That will require its own roll and may further exhaust Carya, but it could be done that way. Newtypes can generally get a sense for things like that without such extraordinary measures.

>>1048538
>>You'll find that people tend to let things slip around trained Newtypes (interrogation).
>>Zeon trained its officers in interrogation tactics, you'll find I can be very persuasive (lie).

About five more minutes and I'll move us along.

Okay, looks like no more takers. Let's see a 3d10 roll for picking up on subtle body language and mental state. DC 16, Crit 20.

Rolled 7, 10, 3 = 20 (3d10)

>>1048596
Rollin'

Any chance ALICE connected to the ship's logs or database? Or is she gonna sift through that after we make the Captain spill some info?

Speaking of which, we never got said Captain's name yet.

>>1048538
>>You'll find that people tend to let things slip around trained Newtypes (interrogation).

Rolled 2, 10, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>1048596

>>1048599
wew, nice crit.

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>>1048599
“Trust me, we Newtypes can be frighteningly persuasive,” you insist, running your fingers along a console as you walk a slow circle around the Captain. When he sees your finger slide across one specific button he flinches.

“That's the environmental control station,” he tells you in a calm voice that disguises his concern. You know that already... specifically, you could lock down and vent corridors from this station if you wanted to, effectively executing any of his remaining men without firing a shot.

“I know,” you reply with a smile. “Your concerns that I'd simply space your men from here are unfounded, but they do tell me a little more about you. Despite the act you put on you care about them, you know them. You have military training but you don't know how to hold the corridors on a spacecraft, meaning you're former EFF ground. Am I wrong?”

“You're so off-base it's funny,” the Captain lies.

Even Quess sees through it. “You're lying. I can tell that you're lying, so what do you think she can tell from your answer?”

“So you're EFF,” you continue. “Disaffected by the Earth Sphere's fall from grace. It made it easy when you were approached by an outsider who claimed to be just as disaffected. Where was it that this impostor tried to convince you to serve his ends? Did he try and tell you he was EFSF?”

“If anything can be said of Char Aznable it's that he's a talented liar, and he tells a convincing story.”

“I'm not answering any more of your damn questions,” the Captain insists angrily, defensive now that you've managed to wheedle so many details out of him so easily even if they're not terribly important details.

“Where were you recruited?” you demand. The Captain remains silent, though you get the feeling this isn't an important question.

“Where did you save your orders?” you ask. Jackpot, you think to yourself as he feels a moment of panic. So they received orders from an outside organizer and retained them.

>Head to the nearest console and try to have ALICE get into the computer systems.
>Threaten the Captain's crew with the environmental controls again, try and sell it.
>Use your eye to see a possible future where you tortured him for the information.
>Other?

>>1048631
>>Head to the nearest console and try to have ALICE get into the computer systems.

>>1048631
>Head to the nearest console and try to have ALICE get into the computer systems.
Get the navigational routes, stop-overs on docks and ports, cargo manifests, etc. Good chance as any on stumbling on where they're being supplied, which might tie in on where they receive their orders.
>Other?
Search for any mementos that he may have brought from Earth.

>>1048666
This isn't a bad idea either.

>>1048631
>>Head to the nearest console and try to have ALICE get into the computer systems.

Rolled 1, 9, 5, 10 = 25 (4d10)

>rolling for ALICE
>writing

>>1048712
A.I. daughteru did good.

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“Hey ALICE,” you contact the Sericea over your comm link. “Can you get into the computer systems over here and search for any evidence of their orders? Maybe we can trace them back to the origin.”

“I will need you to disable their security and have them start broadcasting a network handshake,” ALICE quickly responds. “Could you give me a better view of the consoles with your helmet camera?”

You oblige your AI companion, aiming the camera in your helmet at each station in turn until she tells you to stop. “That's the right console.”

You can tell by the look on the Captain's face that ALICE's judgment was correct, and you keep your eye and sights on him as you access the controls with your free hand. “Okay, talk me through it.”

It takes a few moments for you to follow her instructions, but ALICE gives you the necessary pointers to figure out how to let her into the ship's systems: as it turns out the best way to do that is through the navigational systems, which have to link with the dockmaster whenever a ship enters port. ALICE explains to you how to disable their security systems before making contact, and just like that she's allowed access to the computer system.

“There,” she muses over the intercom. “Closing hatches and securing bulkheads on all decks, locking access behind administrator privileges. Administrator registry changed, recognizing Captain Carrina Marseille O'Hara, CTF biometrics. Environmental systems under Admin privileges, currently stripping the code for engineering subroutines.”

“The hell is happening to my ship!?” the Captain protests angrily.

“ALICE is a bit more thorough than I am,” you shrug. “Guess my monkeying around with the machinery wasn't up to her standards for sabotage.”

“Nonsense, you did admirably for a physical entity,” ALICE jokes. “All I wished to do was wreak some complimentary havoc with their digital infrastructure. Just to be safe. Now, accessing communications records. This may take some time.”

“My men won't be contained long,” the Captain insists. “Do you really think you have time to decrypt...”

“Found it,” ALICE interrupts. “The message was bounced off a satellite in Republic space, but it originated in Sweetwater Colony... a refugee district.”

“Of course,” Catrina agrees. “Where better to hide an insurgency operation than among refugees who kinda hate everyone?”

>Then we're going to Sweetwater. The locals can handle this.
>We should root out any other conspirators on Luna first. Clean sweep.
>Something's still wrong here. The Lunar military is behaving oddly.
>Other?

>>1048791
>>Something's still wrong here. The Lunar military is behaving oddly.
Yeah, they did react quickly during our MS test flight, but we haven't heard a peep since the kidnapping occurred and this ship's mobile suits were blown up left and right.

>>1048791
>>Something's still wrong here. The Lunar military is behaving oddly.

>>1048791
>Something's still wrong here. The Lunar military is behaving oddly.

>sorry for the delay, was cooking a late dinner
>writing

Also, give me a 3d10 for sensing. DC 16, Crit 19.

Rolled 9, 3, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>1048875

Rolled 3, 8, 10 = 21 (3d10)

>>1048875

>>1048883
Woo.
Where we're going, we don't need eyes to see.

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>>1048883
Okay, I'll go with that.

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>>1048890
“Rossweisse, what are we looking at in terms of Lunar response?”

“They're drawing a perimeter,” she replies, “with a significant standoff distance.”

“It feels like they're also forming up in the concourse near this ship's airlock?” you observe.

After a moment ALICE confirms your suspicions. “They seem to be treating this as a hostage situation on the assumption that the crew are the hostages and our team are the hostage-takers.”

“They should be trying to make contact,” Catrina muses, making a fair point. You're a little surprised nobody has tried to contact you so far, the local police should have had plenty of time while you were interrogating the Captain... who you crack over the head with your pistol for good measure. He slumps to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

“The crew seems to have cut outside communications as a precaution,” ALICE announces. “The connection is interrupted near the airlock.”

“Fine then,” you sigh. “I need to get off this ship somehow. “Kids, follow me and I'll get you off safe. ALICE, keep track of my current location, route us through empty corridors to get to the airlock.”

“Acknowledged. Releasing bridge corridor locks.”

It takes longer than you'd have liked, and in one corridor you have to tell the kids to shut their eyes as they walk past a crewman you shot on your way to the bridge, but eventually you work your way to the airlock and reach out your hand.

“Give me your hand,” you tell Quess. “The soldiers out there seem jumpy, if they see me leading a bunch of kids out of the ship they'll be less likely to shoot me on sight.”

Quess takes your hand, and you order ALICE to unlock the hatch.

“I'm a CTF officer!” you shout out the airlock. “I'm escorting the hostages out, the kidnappers are all locked up inside the ship! For the love of god don't shoot!”

Carefully, and slowly, you ease your way around the corner with Quess' hand in yours and walk down the extendable bridge. The kidnapped kids follow you in tense silence.

“Check your fire!” one of the compliment of police waiting for you in the terminal shouts. “She's got kids with her!”

“Well, yeah,” you reply. “I told you that, remember? Captain O'Hara, Colony Transit Fleet. These kids have been kidnapped from all over Luna by a terror cell, I raided the ship as part of an ongoing investigation.”

“Keep your hands where we can see them! Just send the kids over!”
>1/2

>>1048966
“Lower your weapons first,” you tell them in response. “You're freaking them out. It's totally unnecessary.”

The man glances to his left and right, then motions for his colleagues to comply with your request. Then with a nod, you gesture for the children to move through the firing line and the shooters move to leave them a narrow pathway. Behind them you can see various uniformed men and women who quickly take the kids into protective custody... except for Quess, who remains with you.

“You too, girl,” the lead shooter insists.

Quess shakes her head. “You don't understand what's going on here, officer. I'm going to stay with the Captain here until I'm certain you won't try anything stupid.”

“We have a report from the Space Defense Force on you,” the man replies, squeezing the pistol grip of his rifle nervously. “There was an intercept incident.”

“Where I was wrongly intercepted on a scheduled test flight, you mean?” you shoot back. “Yeah, I remember there was a formal protest lodged over that one. They tried to divert me into an unstable orbit that'd force me to land a bleeding-edge prototype at one of their bases.”

“Yeah, well, they're hopping mad,” the man explains. “There's a warrant out for your capture.”

>That's not happening, so it seems we're at an impasse here.
>I'm working with Artesia Som Deikun, I'm sure she can work out a deal.
>I'll cooperate: you can assign an armed escort until I give you a statement.
>Other?

>>1049009
>I'll cooperate: you can assign an armed escort until I give you a statement.
>"Said statement being that the ESFS is obstructing an investigation into a bunch of nuclear armed ex Earth Sphere terrorists. I will leave the diplomatic reaction to that to your imagination."

>>1049009
>I'll cooperate: you can assign an armed escort until I give you a statement.
>"Said statement being that the ESFS is obstructing an investigation into a bunch of nuclear armed ex Earth Sphere terrorists. I will leave the diplomatic reaction to that to your imagination."

>>1049040
>>1049053
I'm comfortable with this.

>>1049009
>I'll cooperate: you can assign an armed escort until I give you a statement.
>Other?
A phonecall to any Luna lawyers Artesia might know?

And this >>1049040 because there's a minuscule chance this is something to delay us from moving on with taking a look at the Sweetwater colony.

Heck, maybe Ross should go for that lead if we're gonna be tied down for a while here even though splitting the party is very rarely considered.

>3d10, DC 17, Crit 21

Rolled 8, 10, 7 = 25 (3d10)

>>1049099

Rolled 7, 5, 5 = 17 (3d10)

>>1049099

Rolled 7, 8, 5 = 20 (3d10)

>>1049099
These rolls, man. We're doing pretty good.

Rolled 1, 9, 9 = 19 (3d10)

>>1049099

>>1049099
>>1049111
And bam.

>>1049118
Welp, now you probably jinxed it.

Is it a wonder that we get results like these when there were no rolls in the SSQ session?

>writing

>>1049133
Oh no, dear anon, I jinxed this quest a long time ago by rolling a 1 around the naval review and getting us all nuked \o/

>>1049144
Sweetwater Colony confirmed for conversion to a stealth death ray cannon now.

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>>1049179
Woo, darksaber!

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>>1049009
“Look, I'll go with you under armed guard to give a statement if I have to,” you insist loudly. “But that investigation I mentioned concerns the recent nuclear incident on Mars. And I'm not gonna sit around here with my thumbs up my ass while your superiors try and work their heads around the fact that it's your own damn military that's way out of line here!”

There's a moment of stunned silence. “Wait, you're not joking, are you?”

“Of course I'm not joking!” you shout back, just as stunned as they are. “What, you really think that's a joking matter? We think a lot of these terror cells are connected, maybe even in ways they don't realize themselves. We're trying to gather evidence to prove it, figure out what's really going on. That's why we came to Luna, to check the records for ship registries that match up with what we've found.”

“And you just happened to stumble across a child kidnapping ring?” the man shouts back, seemingly skeptical.

“Not just children, Newtype children!” you insist. “It might be connected to the rest of it, or it might not. We just don't know yet because every time we think we're onto something a new problem crops up, or someone else tries to get in our damn way.”

“And what's the damage this time?”

You sigh, trying to decide whether to show more of your hand. But since it means getting out of this situation more easily...

“Someone's posing as Char Aznable,” you explain. “I know he has a history of going after young Newtypes, so I had Quess here agree to help me by being bait. You can ask your colleagues around Von Braun, they're in the loop.”

“Jesus Christ, Char?” the man groans. “Really? Jesus fucking Christ I thought this day couldn't get any worse!”

“Well,” you shrug, “your wife could be leaving you or something...”

“She IS!” he shouts. "She even tried to take the dog... we don't have a dog! It's the guy she cheated on me with that has a dog!"

“Sorry,” you mutter. “That's rough, man, really I feel for you. But you've gotta trust me on this one, this bit of bad news is bad for everyone involved. And it only gets worse for all of you if I have to report to all our superiors that I was held up by this sorta chickenshit.”

“I know, I know...”

“You gotta make a call here,” you insist, throwing up your hands palms to visibly disavow yourself of any further responsibility. “Nuclear security or playing nice with the military dipshits.”
>1/2

>>1049207
After a few moments of consideration, the man you've been talking to renders his verdict: “fuck it!”

“Get out of here, before I change my mind!” he insists loudly, and one of his fellow officers tries to voice his opposition only to be met with furious shouting. “What, you wanna keep playing this bullshit jurisdictional game for the rest of your career?”

Glancing nervously you edge towards the firing line, and the shooters part for you and Quess after briefly hesitating. Then you're off, heading towards the next open landing bay.

“Catrina, get back aboard the Sericea. Rosse, bring her into the berth I'm indicating,” you order. “I'm just about ready to get the hell out of here.”

>We'll land back at Anaheim Electronics, continue our investigation there.
>We'll put in at Anaheim but head for the nearest SDF base ourselves, demand some answers.
>Let's cut our losses time-wise and head for Sweetwater.
>Other?

>>1049315
>>We'll land back at Anaheim Electronics, continue our investigation there.

>>1049315
>>Let's cut our losses time-wise and head for Sweetwater.
I know it's a lot to ask considering what we owe Artesia by this point, but would she be fine with running damage control on Luna while Sweetwater is being looked over?

I mean, it seems to me that the immediate threat to Von Braun city based on the local intel gathered (smuggled MS) has been dealt with now, along with the kidnapping group. And at this point I wouldn't put it past the SDF base to try to impound the Sericea if we go within their vicinity.

>>1049382
I'm on board with this anon

>>1049315
>>Let's cut our losses time-wise and head for Sweetwater.

>writing

>>1049382
To be fair, my write in last update was originally supposed to be used to threaten the SDF to back off by pointing out that they looked like collaborators to an attempt to use A WMD on a city. She can always use that to make them back off.

>>1049454
Yeah, I understand that option is pretty valid too. It'd be nice for moving about again once we're in the clear since there'd be no worries over that "warrant" hanging over our heads afterwards.

>>1049432
“Let's cut our losses here and investigate Sweetwater Colony,” you suggest. “It feels like we've outstayed our welcome here.”

“Docking aboard the Sericea,” your sister reports tersely. “I'm gonna return pretty quick... getting kinda tired.”

“Understood,” you tell her. “Looking forward to it, actually. I think we could both use a rest.”

“So... am I supposed to stay here?” Quess asks nervously, still following along.

“For now, I guess you can come along,” you sigh as Catrina returns to you, and a wave of exhaustion washes over you. “Probably safer aboard our ship than staying here to be honest.”

“Are you okay? You look unsteady.”

“We'll be fine,” you insist sternly, making sure to straighten up. “We're going to need to rest for a while, but we'll be good as new soon enough.”

Once aboard the Sericea you see Artesia off with a warm embrace, and head to your quarters to sleep. It seems like minutes before you're awoken by an alarm... not a clock but the Sericea's collision alarms.

You run to the bridge, still feeling tired from your exertion some time before, and jump over the seat back to take your station.

“How long were we out?”

“Fourteen hours,” Rossweisse informs you. “Quess only just fell asleep three hours ago. You okay?”

“We're fine,” you insist. “Recovered, it just wasn't... you know. Restful. What are we dealing with?”

“We're getting a signal from Sweetwater telling us to divert,” Rossweisse tells you. “Seems they don't want visitors.”

Outside the viewport you see the colony in question, the unholy union of an old closed-type colony with an open type. Cobbled together out of need rather than intent, and operated on a shoestring budget you'd be willing to bet. Probably one step above life on Axis if that, at least before the incident.

“They're scrambling a response force,” Rosse reports. “ALICE, what do you see?”

“Drive signatures recognized,” the AI responds. “Probably old Zaku-III models, heavily armed.”

“How many?” you ask. “We're having trouble resolving the signatures on our screen, they're too close.”

“Best guess... fifteen, give or take a few.”

>>1049562
And that's it for now. Apologies for the short-ish run, but this next stage really deserves to be its own thread anyway and now that I'm actually back on a normal schedule we should be able to get some momentum going.

Thanks for turning out, for being patient with my bullshit, and hope you enjoyed!

>>1049601
Well done, King!

I had a question I wanted to ask. Have you ever given any thought to running on anonkun?

>>1049562
>fifteen, give or take a few
Looks like they really don't want anyone snooping around if the scale of the response required this many mobile suits. And I'm not even sure that's an accurate number.

On one hand, it could end up almost being double with some smart use of formations and maybe some smart paint application too. Or, if they're really that tight on the budget, it won't be surprising if most of them end up being dummies anyway.

In any case, thanks for running!

And since Quess seems to be under our proverbial wing now, are you maybe considering getting Hathaway to take up the "Char" wingman spot?

>>1049629
Hell fucking maybe
I really haven't given it much thought. But moving to /qst/ was a stupid enough thing that I fared well enough, I'd prefer not to roll the dice again switching to a new site altogether unless I could be convinced some or most of my old guard would come with me.

>>1049674
As the song goes, all will be revealed.