You think about the protection you need. You’re an engineer, you don’t need much. “I’ll need a full body of polymer.” The Sresh looks at you carefully before his face lightens, “Of course, that’ll be 600 credits. I’ll just need to take your measurements. It’ll be delivered to your ship by tomorrow, only the best for my customers.” The next ten minutes or so is nothing but surface scans. Before you leave he hands you a receipt for proof of purchase.

One hundred credits is what you have to your name now. It used to be that you had millions, but now things are different. The ship is fairly quiet right now, even for the crew being absent. You’re leaving tomorrow for who knows how long. And god knows what the crew is going to be hired for next. The wound you had on your leg is almost completely healed. You might as well enjoy the rest of the day by doing something.

>Study on PDA (What Language?)
>Go to bar with Adams
>Rest
>Other?

>>1095389
>>Study on PDA (What Language?)
The most or second most used language in the galaxy.

>>1098225
This

Sarq

You decide to settle down for the rest of the day. Looking through your PDA, you see the merchant was right about the languages part. There’s many in the database, mostly racial languages that pertain to 20-30 systems each. While galactic basic is by far the most common, sarq is fairly prominent in this sector and in your environment. The first thing you notice is that it shares the alphabet with basic. It’s grammar and articles and such are fairly simple if not primitive. What’s not simple your pronunciation, but you work your way through it. By the time you have the alphabet and sounds down, the airlock guard on duty calls you to the airlock for a package. Your armor.

It’s in two separate metal boxes. You open them when you take the back to your quarters. The polymer armor is a set of plastic plates, somewhat flexible. There’s also a small screen in the box that displays where each plate goes. Your space suit fits almost perfectly under it. It’s color is a dark grey. The door opens and Vasquez walks in. “Man, you’re better equipped than half the people here,” he comments, “If you ever wanna join up with the boarding party feel free, there’s always free slots.” He’s really been taking the command position serious lately. No doubt looking for another promotion, you think to yourself.

“You seen Adams?” You ask. Vasquez looks at you half smiling, “He’s been spending too much time at that bar. At least he hasn’t been drinking too much. We need to watch out for him, alright? Make sure nothing happens.” He stands up and walks out. It’s getting late, you need to go to bed. The intercom goes off, it’s the captain. “All crew report to the mess hall.”

>Go to mess hall
>Get some sleep, you’ll need it (those meeting last forever, right?)
>Other?

File: Polymer Armor but imagine(...).png (697 KB, 598x522)

697 KB PNG

Forgot the pic. See file name

>>1100516
>Other?
Tell Adams we;; go on a raid when its low risk high reward.

>>1100835
We'll*
Then go to the mess hall.

Finally a live one.

*IMPORTANT*

I've put together a glossary for those interested. It'll be updated when needed. Basically a bunch of terms that mat or may not stick with people

http://pastebin.com/HchYgd7V

http://pastebin.com/HchYgd7V

>Go to mess hall
Voting again to make sure hillary wins!

>>1100516
>>1101996
Darn voting laws.

Best talk to Adams, make sure stays up to date. It would also be nice to talk to him. The ship is more populated than you’ve ever seen, Sarak must have done some serious recruiting. Engineering is filled to the brim and Yrot is busy briefing them about systems. Adams is at his station looking quite drunk. He doesn’t see you until you say, “Woah Adams, you okay man?”

After a few seconds he starts to sob, “I don’t know. I don’t know anymore! I just wanna go home.” His breath is ragged with emotion, tears are streaking down his cheeks. “It’s been almost two weeks, I’m probably dead back home. You know how long that escape pod would’ve lasted? Not that long. Not like they’d find it anyway.”

>Listen in silence, let him run it out
>Tell him to be strong
>Tell him everything’s gonna be ok
>Leave him
>Other?

>>1103151
Whack him over the head.

"Shut up. You are a top-tier engineer in a place no human besides us has ever been. We are surrounded by technology light-years - literally - ahead of our own. What are we going to do? What humans have ALWAYS done - adapt and overcome. You hear me? We won't just survive, we will tear this universe a new asshole. These Sarqs wanted slaves. They didn't bargain on humanity."

>>1103645
This is rather good but maybe play it a bit more subtle?
Like, sure we've got taken into slavery and the galaxy at large is okay with it but there's nothing saying we can't win our freedom back through hard work or cunning.
We will go back to Sol, and when we do we'll have enough stuff that humanity will only have 3 galactic slaves on its report card in a thousand years.
Hell, maybe they'll name some system/planet/ship in our names.

>>1104697
My post isn't based on logic - it's based on shocking Adams back to reality.

You ain’t having none of this, you think backhand Adams. “Shut up, Adams. You are a top tier engineer in a place no human besides us has ever been. We are surrounded by technology literally light years ahead of our own. What are we going to do? What humans have ALWAYS done? Adapt and overcome. You hear me? We won't just survive, we will tear this universe a new one. These Sarqs wanted slaves, right? Well, they didn't bargain on humanity.” A few more shakes for good measure does it. He’s stopped. “Now, let’s go see what the captain has to say.”

The mess hall is full, packed to the brim today. The Captain is standing on a table, “Our next job is to escort a Sresh explorer. He’s found something, no doubt valuable. It’s hostile, last time he was there it chased him off.”

He pauses.

“There will be two parties in the crew. One will be with the Sresh, one that will remain here. Whoever chooses to be with him will go shortly after we take off. Who will do so?

Vasquez raises his hand and his boarding party follows.

>Join the Sresh
>Stay on the ship
>Other?

>>1105717
join the sresh

>>1105717
>>Join the Sresh

>>1105717

>Join the Sresh
Suit up.

A few others raise their hands. Your group is 17 in total. “Good, the Fifth will be in charge. We’ll transport you to his ship once we’re in orbit tomorrow morning. Dismissed.”

On the way back to your cabin, you converse with Adams. “You hear that?” His eyes are puffy and there’s still an imprint of your hand on his face, “Huh? Yeah yeah, I got it. Good luck.” The rest of the night is quiet and in the morning your ship docks with the sresh’s. The inside of the ship looks a bit cleaner than yours, newer and brighter too. Everything is slightly too big for you too, it’s especially big for the sarqs.

Vasquez pulls you aside, “Hey listen. They briefed us last night, only the command got this speech. Sarak is expecting 30% casualties, ‘low’ he called them. So be careful, stick by me.” He slaps you on your shoulder pad and hands you a boarding gun.

The jump on the sresh ship is different, less distorting but constant. Your mind feels numb, muddled as you jump and loses its place more often. It's four days of confusion before you arrive at the planet. Down below is damn near a desert, only a few patches of green and blue here or there. The shuttle that takes you down lands on the edge of a pit so deep you can’t see the bottom. Its diameter looks to be a couple hundred meters or so. The sresh, De-Rashek they called him, steps out and reveals stairs cut into the side of the pit.

>Follow him down into the pit
>Stay with the dropship
>Other?

>>1106719
>30% casualties

well I guess we should follow him down into the pit.

formatting got a lot better btw

>>1106719
>Other?
Meet some of the other people on the mission, and pick out the competent or co-operative ones and try to get them to stick with us/5th.

Well form a little team.

>>1106735
thx I really try

I don't think we should enter the pit without asking what it is first. It may be some sort of holy site or something.

You take one good look down into the darkness before asking, “What’s down there?” Rashek looks at you and considers his answer. It’s about half a minute before he answers, “Sarqs don’t ask questions, they do what they’re paid to do. But you’re not sarq. That there is an old mining installation, or so whoever left it behind wants people to think. Didn’t get a good look before the automated defences kicked in, though it’s probably a research or military lab.”

He starts down the stairs. They’re only wide enough for single file, it’ll be a minute before everyone can start down. You turn to Vasquez, “We’ll need to stick together. Who know-” He cuts you off mid sentence, “Yeah, I’ve got us covered. I handpicked this team for this kind of job. They’ll stick together and we’ll make it out.”

The stairs are open, though some are three are staying with the shuttle.

>Stay with shuttle
>Follow Vasquez down the stairs
>Other?

>>1107180
>Other?
Take point, we've got the best armour and defenses.

>>1107305
I mean go in first down the stairs with Vasquez right behind.

>>1107305
Take point, like this guy says. We are no cowards.

You’re the best armed here, you might as well take point. The stairs, while cut into the side of the pit, are more fit for the sresh. Morning light hits far side and leaves you in darkness for most of the journey. The lights on your helmet guide your way down.

At the bottom there’s an accumulation of dead material and sand. Whatever decomposers this planet had left quite a smell behind, like sulfur and rotten eggs. Some of the dirt has been swept away exposing a metal floor with landing marks. Rashek leads you to tunnel about a quarter of the way around the pit. “This is where the defences started. There’s good cover about halfway down, not too far. From there we can take them down.”

He outlines the rest of the hallway, showing turret emplacements and various cover points. You’re the one making the first run.

Roll 1d20-5

Rolled 5 + 5 (1d20 + 5)

>>1108887

Rolled 18 - 5 (1d20 - 5)

>>1108887

Rolled 10 - 5 (1d20 - 5)

>>1108887
jeez >>1109223

>>1109238
18 - 5 = 13

Deep breath, deep breath. Run. Lights flash the air, lasers. “Why did you do this? Why are you here?” The questions flash in your head as flat out sprint to the first cover. You can feel the air heat up around as beams come dangerously close to you. The cover is really more a pile of cave-in rubble, but it doesn’t matter to you as you smash into it. A few lasers pass over or hit the rocks in front of you but almost immediately cease.

“Clear!” You yell into coms. A sarq makes a break for your cover, it seems terribly long before he reaches you. Vasquez left out his name and called him 13 in briefing. He lifts his gun over his head and fires a volley down the hall while another makes the run. That one’s not so lucky. A beam catches him in the chest and he falls.

It’s time to make another run to the next bit of cover. It’s not as big but it’ll work. You make a mad dash down the tunnel and reach the next pile of rubble. One more sprint and you’re at the turrets. Their line of sight isn’t directly below them so you take advantage of that. Prying open one of the panels, you make short work of the cooling system. Thankfully you know how that works.

With the defences down, the rest of the group comes down the tunnel. Rashek pries open a door and reveals an entry chamber. There’s minimal power, nothing more than a few lit screens with a language you can’t read. Three hallways lead out, “I was right, research lab of some sort. Probably a few thousand years old. It’s an old dialect, too different to be entirely useful. Can’t make out much. Let’s split up, one group for each hallway.”

>Go to hallway on left
>Go to hallway on right
>Go straight
>Other?

>>1109577
Suggest that we leave at least one behind to cover the exit if something goes wrong. Then volunteer for point again.

>>1109577
peak into the research room

>>1109577
>Other?
Don't split up. Or no more than 2 groups.

>>1109577
>Go to hallway on left

New Thread: >>1111667