You walk out of the ship behind Vasquez. Being an officer doesn’t feel too different so far. The recreations center isn’t far from the docking area, for obvious reasons. You enter the same way you had before, but you take a turn for the officer’s area instead of staying in the main room.

A guard admits you. It looks more of a business place than bar, or at least a much nicer bar. The floors are cleaner and it’s less crowded. A crowd gathers near a row of consoles and view screens at one side of the room. A quick glance confirms your thoughts, recruiting and bids for contracts.

“Job terminals,” Vasquez says, “particularly valuable crew and jobs are over there. Ever need something more than cannon fodder, that’s the place. Anybody can pick up a gun and join a crew, but that doesn’t mean they can operate a warp core. Docs, engineers, navigators, hackers, you name it. If you can afford them, they’ll come. Sit down.” He motions towards an empty table, something unheard of in the common area.

“With the bigger ship, I only need more people. You’re going to need a whole squad. I’d recommend only getting two or three from the recruiting station and making them your ones and twos.” He motions towards the screens, “It’ll cement command and keep the rowdies from questioning you, though you don’t have to. You could always talk people into joining you. Keep a firm hand. I’m not saying be a dick, but if you let them push you around they might challenge you. You’ve seen the challenges.” He pauses for a second, “The command structure is pretty much the same as the ship’s. You’ll have a one, two, three, the list goes on. Whenever someone dies from a challenge or otherwise, the next is just moved up.”

He motions you to stand up and hurries to a gap that’s appeared in the crowd. “The captain will usually shill out enough to cover half the cost or 500 credits, whichever is less.” He slaps you on the shoulder and moves to his own console.

It’s eerily familiar in its layout, a merchant’s price list. There’s different sections for specializations: engineer, medic, combat specialist, hacker, the list goes on. Most got for about 500 credits each, but hackers and the more technical engineering type go for 1000-1500.

>Grab a few from the console (What type? How many?)
>Find some others in the bar, they’re probably as good as any (What type? How many?)
>You don’t have to do this today, leave the bar
>Other?

>>1162139
>>Grab a few from the console (What type? How many?)
We can't poach Adams as our engie?
>Engineer
>Hacker
>Medic
Don't forget to link the thread in the qtg.

>>1162158
Back this.

You look through the options and key in a couple of promising candidates. The hirees you’ve got are an engineer, a medic, and a hacker. The given backgrounds all involve destroyed crews or being left behind.

There’s more, but you’re already on a pretty tight budget. The prices on the potentials are looking like 250 for the medic, 600 for the medic, and 850 for the hacker. That’s a good 1700 in total, more than half your money. An idea pops in your head, Adams would definitely join you. At least you don’t know why he wouldn’t and being an officer would get a request approved.

When you hit the approve button, you’re brought to a contract screen. It’s a confirmation that they’ll be hired and paid more than anything else. If they don’t show, the contract is voided, you get the money back, and they’re put in your custody if found.

>Confirm purchase, recruit more (Now or later? From the bar?)
>Not now
>Other?

>>1162750
Talk with Vasquez, ask him if having a medic in our group is a must have or could we risk it with just the main group medic? Same for Adams.
If we can have an interview with the hacker before buying..

You pull Vasquez over, “Do we need a medic? And can I set up an interview with that hacker?” He gives a quick glance at your screen, “Medics are nice to have. It means the difference between field surgery and relying on first aid. Though if it comes to that, it might just be that you’re a dead man walking.”

He considers for one more second, “Put the hacker on reserved. It’ll pull his file from the system for a few days before it auto-cancels. His location should be on file if want to meet him.” You’ve got one last question, “Can I get Adams on my team?”

“Of course,” he replies, “you’re an officer so the request should go through. Having an engineer will get your stuff fixed and your defenses built.”

>Interview hacker (What you gonna ask?)
>Confirm purchase (Recruit more? Recruiter station or bar?)
>Not now
>Other?

Last post for the night, will continue tomorrow

>>1163301
>Interview hacker (What you gonna ask?)
What kind of hacker, and what kind can we find?
Remote one, who work from the safety of the ship? Combat one who can shoot and hack?
Defensive/offensive hack? Does it comes with gears or do we need to pay to outfit it(if we do it''ll be docked of it's pay)? Will it be okay to work with the xenos we have on board?
Regular stuff I guess.

>>1163307
Night, don't forget to relink in qtg before you start, a one hour headstart can sometimes bring players, sometimes.

>>1162980
Unless the medic is a skilled xeno biologists as well, probably works works well for birds...

I say, go local, and recruit from bottom rung, cheaply, so we can get more bodies, then let natural selection and Darwinist forces hone them into more potent individuals. Only the strong shall remain.

Ask Adams if he wants in.

>>1163301
>Interview hacker (What you gonna ask?)

Missing a chance to write a interesting character and world build a bit. Gotta make it interesting.

You set your current list to reserved, you’ve gotta be sure if you’re gonna spend that much money. A copy of their files are sent to your PDA for later use. The hacker needs to be interviewed, he could be anything and you don’t know what the job entails. His file says that he’s been living on station for several weeks now in a temporary room.

It’s about halfway on the other side of the station, you send a message to his room for a meeting outside recreations and decide to wait. A good 30 or 40 minutes later, he appears outside the recreations. You immediately notice that he’s missing a good portion of his visible feathers and his beak is off color, more so than his picture. It’s almost a burnt bluish yellow

“You the hacker?” You ask and he nods in response, “What happened to your feathers and beak?” He doesn’t look self conscious at all when he says, “Lost it in a mission. Missile got a good hit in and the fire got me good. Was fortunate that the vacuum didn’t get me. I’m cleared by medics, it’s only visual.”

One more appraising look affirms what he’s said. There’s no limp or limited movement, though you’re not sure about his flight feathers. “Alright,” you say, “tell me about yourself. What are your skills? Can you hack from a ship or in combat? Do you have your own gear?”

The grizzled sarq starts to answer the questions, “I can hack whatever you want me to. You name it and I’ll get you in, you name it and I’ll try to keep it out. Need a bypass on a system, leave it to me. I’m no stranger to combat. The problem with hacking from a ship is that it’s a hazard to the systems in your ship if it gets countered, best to do it local. I’ll admit that my defenses aren’t the best, but I can cut down a firewall in seconds. My equipment is my own, bought by me and owned by me. I’m strong, you can rely on me to follow you if you’re strong enough to lead.”

“Since you came to talk, I assume you don’t have a problem with different species.” The look on his face is somewhat indifferent, from what you can judge. Though he holds his head at an angle, the way sarqs do when they’re eager or hopeful. The word echoes, do sarqs feel hope? Does it mean anything to them?

Now isn’t the time to consider it, “I’ll have you marked for reserved until the decision is made.” Your hacker removes himself from your sight and presumably heads back to cabin. You decide that now is as good a time as any to send in a transfer request for Adams. When you send the form, you decide to head back into recreations.

>Recruit from the bar (cheaper, lower quality fodder)
>Confirm you recruitment list on the station (Hacker, Engineer, Medic)
>Head back to ship (Do what?)
>Other?

>>1163900
>>1163903
Medics are required to have at least a basic understanding of xenobiology. That natural selection is valid. And are referring to your choice to build a universe or am I missing the chance?

>>1164596
>Recruit from the bar (cheaper, lower quality fodder)
See if there are any "unpolished gems" in the bunch.

I figure you could have us meet and then introduce or describe the guy in a interesting way, like walk in to the bar and then the guy takes initiative and introduces himself to you, and talks about stuff in universe that we don't know and could ask about, or show things interesting about the character, buy us a drink, and act like he knows us and we don't know him, or give the guy character by his appearance with scars or weird clothing etc.

>>1164596
>basic understanding of xenobiology

Not many humans in aliens space, but I guess I won't demand too much in terms of "realism", I was just trying to rationalize a reason to skip or not pick the medic, or put more thought into the others we pick.

>>1164672
>>1164678
I see what you mean. A lot of what I envision in the universe is that we are the aliens here, if that makes sense. Alien cultures act differently in the same situations. But I dunno, it's just an idea that fascinates me so I attempt to explore it. In regards to the medics, you don't have to have him. The roster is still open, he could be dropped any time. My personal excuse is that there's enough variety in the galaxy to give some some kind of idea on what's going on.

>>1164678
Also, there's a discord for this reason. IF you'd like to continue there
https://discord.gg/ZxTf2C3

>>1164596
>Recruit from the bar (cheaper, lower quality fodder)
Half from the bar and half from the ship if possible, Interview whenever possible.

>>1164741
I wanted to have a way to make it easier to decided. I didn't necessarily not want a medic, but I figured if I could reason, then it would be easier to figure out what we wanted.

In recreations, your chat with several people. The first recruit you manage to score after you describe your ship. He couldn’t resist the chance to be part of the crew. From your judgement, he’d be a good soldier. The next few are too shady and you pass them up.

What interests you is a pair of sarq siblings. You’ve never seen two of them admit blood relationship to anyone. Upon inquiring they respond, “We were raised by a sresh after most of his slaves died. After he died, the slaves left.” They don’t say much more than that but it makes you think, how different are they? You put a mental mark down to consider them for soldiers or something else.

A few more are like the first, soldier candidates. The next character of interest you meet was bridge crew before his captain died. He had challenged the usurper and failed, shamed after he was spared. He’s looking for a reckless job to prove himself.

In total, you’ve tallied 8 potentials. Mostly soldiers, but looking good.

>Keep going (4 more positions, anything specific)
>Confirm recruits (Adams, hacker, medic, 8 soldiers)
>Continue tomorrow
>Other?

>>1165411
>>1165411
>Keep going (4 more positions, anything specific)
any non sarq's? getting sick of all this birdshit :D

>>1165411
>>Confirm recruits (Adams, hacker, medic, 8 soldiers)
time to head back home.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

As you look over your list, you realize how many sarqs you have. While your crew might be sarq, your squad doesn’t have to be. You tap into the database to look for anyone who might be another species.

There’s a replacement medic, a sresh whose previous listed occupation was debtor. That’s always interesting, but little else is outlined. You scroll past a listing for a group of three makkl ex-marines, looks like all they want is a bigger cut of the loot. At one point you make a check on kumii, but they appear to be all but hostile to anyone that’s not one of them.

You decide to look more into the sresh and makkl. You can’t find anything else on the sresh except that his name is Ik-Sard. But you find more on the marines. They were dismissed after an incident that involved them killing livestock for sport. But they do carry their own equipment, and they’re well armed.

After looking a bit longer for different races, you can’t find much else without breaking bank. Seems like those are the major races in this sector of the galaxy.

>Accept party with new additions (Adams, hacker, sresh medic, 8 soldiers, 3 makkl marines)
>Accept party as is (Adams, hacker, medic, 8 soldiers)
>Head back to ship, continue tomorrow
>Other?

>>1165590
It kinda gets to the point where you spend a lot of time around one race and that's all you see. Sorry if it gets that way, I'll be working on more races in the future. Also, nice pun

>>1165828
How long are we gonna stay on shore leave? We don't have to fill up our crew in one sitting are we? We could also ride undermanned for a bigger share of the loot, though the risk would be greater than with a full crew.
>We're the son of a merchant after all.

>>1165951
We leave tomorrow evening. And no, we don't fill up the crew

>>1166172
>>Head back to ship, continue tomorrow
Send a message to the hacker and the others.

>>1165828
>Head back to ship, continue tomorrow
So Adam, a medic I suppose, and 7 soldiers, this makes us able to break up into teams of 3 or teams of 4 and one extra to go with whichever is needed. I'll check out discode first?

>>1165828
>>1166877
Actually make it a total of 8 guys, want to make sure there's a satisfying amount for everyone.

Does Adams even want a combat job? He might be comfy in engineering.

You’ve been running around most of the day looking for crew. It’s about time you head back to the ship. As you pass one of the few windows, you take a look at your ship. It’s big, though not as big as cargo ship. Those almost dwarf yours by almost twice the size.

Stopping by the mess, you grab a quick bite. There’s fresh fruit, not something you’ve seen. It’s a big purple fruit, about 6 inches in diameter. The first bite is conflicting, it’s hard and crunchy with a strong sour, tangy flavor that leaves an astringent feeling in your mouth. After a few more bites, the flavor eases and becomes more pleasant.

Adams is laying on his bed when you walk into the cabin. He looks at you before saying, “I saw you requested my transfer.” You hadn’t quite considered it before you say, “Yeah, I can retract it if you want. Sorry if I didn’t ask.”

“No, it’s ok. Now I get to pull YOUR ass out of the fire,” he forces a laugh. You remember how you had carried him onto the escape pod before you had been captured. “Just don’t get killed, don’t get me killed, and we’re fine.”

Sleep feels good, you almost regret when your watch’s alarm goes off. You’ve got until the evening before you undock and leave the station. Your team still needs 15 spaces to be confirmed, who will you recruit?

Races (number available/job specific):
>Sarq
>Sresh (1 medic, 6 available)
>Makkl (3 soldiers available)

Jobs, price to hire:
>Soldier
>Engineer, 250
>Hacker, 850
>Medic, 600

Streamlining this process instead of trying whatever I was trying to do. Also sorry for the late post, I had stuff I needed to do

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>1168306
>Hacker, 850
>Engineer, 250
We payin' for Adams or is is another engie alongside Adams? I wouldn't mind 2 in any case.
Still on the fence for the medic so I'll roll a d2 for it.
1 take, 2 don't
At least 4 to 6 soldier, budget willing. Can take the Malk or Sarqs.

>>1168405
Yes, buying an engineer in addition in addition to Adams would give you two. And the soldiers are very abundant, basically free

>>1168437
Oh well, in that case get the Makkl, they'll serve as shocktroopers or something and about a dozen redshirts

You’ve made your selection. The message is sent, they’ll report to duty shortly near the airlock. The first one arrives in less than an hour with a pack in his arms, it’s the one who used to be bridge crew. “Reporting for duty, Tenth.” He falls back to the airlock and waits there for the others to arrive.

More are arriving, you spot the twins, the makkl, the sresh medice. The former marines have arrived in armor and look quite professional. Everyone that arrives reports to you. Adams even comes out to see who’s there.

When all is said and done, you realize you still need to assign them spots on your team. Who’s going to be your second and third in command? They’ll be the leaders of your team that make things happen, the sergeants that yell at people.

People to assign positions to:
>Makkl marines (3)
>Former bridge crew guy
>Adams
>The twins
>Sresh medic
>Hackerman

Positions (lower numbers are more commanding, they’ll also inherit in that order if you die):
>2
>3
>4
>5

>>1168805
>Makkl marines (3)
3
>Former bridge crew guy
2 Only if he stays behind, if he's gung-ho about being on the front line he answers to the Makkls
>Adams & Sresh medic
4 joint command to make the ship running when out doing raids
>The twins
What's their jobs? Soldier?

>Hackerman
5 just so he can gtfo out of the hotzone if shit happens.
Did we get some of the guys who went on raids with us? I'd place them in joint command position as well 'til we know how those new guys fare.

You forgot to advertise on the qtg?

>>1168805
>Makkl marines (3) and medic form first team, with one of the marines as lead, second team is with us and is made up of bridge crew guy, adams and the twins.

1 of the marine will be our NCO/second in command, who will lead the second team.

so it follows like this:

1 is us.
2 Makkl marine
3 Hackerman
4 Adams
5 Makkl marine
6 medic
7 Makkl marine
8 older twin
9 former bridge guy (who?)
10 younger twin

>>1168888
If or when the teams are broken up, they will typically look like this:

Team A:
Us, Adams, Hacker, and twins.

Team B:
all 3 Makkl marines, medic, and bridge guy.

We can mix and match depending on what the situation dictates, but basically 1 assault team, and one support team.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>1168888
nice quads

It’s a tough decision before you come to what you think is the best thing. “Attention!” You call and they stiffen before you. “Before we begin, we’ll be assigning positions.” Moving among them, you name their rank and positions. One of the Makkls will be Two. The former bridge crewman is Three now, the sresh medic is Four, and your hacker is Five. Adams you assign to Six, the twins to Seven and Eight. That leaves the rest to be 9 through 15.

You’re command structure is ready and you’re considering giving a speech. Sarak would probably give one, probably about being strong and his authority. It seems that sarqs favor that kind of bravado.

>Give speech (Strong points to make?)
>Start moving them out, onto the ship
>Other?

Handy Dandy Space Guide has been updated. It now list the current chain of command. The species list will be coming shortly. http://pastebin.com/edit/HchYgd7V

>>1169336
>>Start moving them out, onto the ship
Jeez, dozed off on my chair there.

You march them onto the ship, assigning them quarters not too far from your own. After they’re settled in, you make your way back to your own cabin. Vasquez is there,.Check you messages,” he says.

There’s as message from the Captain, a 10 day jump is scheduled this evening. That’s a luxury. When you weren’t an officer, you never got much of a warning before a jump. You set aside your PDA. Since you’re not in engineering anymore, there’s not much you have to during a jump.

You do remember Vasquez offering you training, though you could always just try it yourself. Or you could keep going through the files, lord knows how many there are. That’d take up your time and you might learn something. An idea pops in your head that makes you laugh, you could always work in the mess.

>Train with Vasquez
>Train yourself
>Go through the files (For what?)
>Work in mess
>Get to know someone (Who?)
>Other?

>>1170425
>>Train with Vasquez

>>1170425
>>Train with Vasquez
>Get to know someone (Who?)
#2 and #3
If we can get our redshirts some training so they know at least not to die too fast. Maybe even have one stuck on field medic duty/support

“You offered training not so long ago, are you still willing to do it?” You ask Vasquez. “Of course, but don’t expect it to be easy. Meet me in the cargo bay tomorrow, take whoever you want.” That means everyone, if you know him and you do know him. The jump warning blares soon after and you reflexively brace while space distorts.

The next morning, you gather your squad for training in the cargo bay. It’s chilly, you can see your breath. Heating must not cover the cargo bay too well. Vasquez starts by exercising you harshly. You never knew there were so many ways to do a pushup. After what he called “warm ups,” he starts drilling you on squad tactics.

In the evening, you’re very sore. You’ve got some free time and you don’t know anything about your second and third in command. The makkl opens up somewhat easily, talking about his past. They used to call him “Handy” because he’d always end up breaking whatever he tried to repair. His lucky break was when one of his cousins got an officer’s commission and assigned him to a combat post. A lot of his team was considered too rowdy for anything major and did stupid things to alleviate boredom. That’s the first time you heard of an alien speak of boredom. After he ended up being dismissed for the livestock incident, he joined several crews before yours.

The sarq who used to work on the bridge is hard to crack. Whenever you bring up his past he becomes quiet, almost disturbed. From what you already know and gather from him, you guess that his shame is very important to him. His old crew called him “Garrote,” or the that’s the rough translation, after he was defeated to mock him. He’s drifted from crew to crew for the last five or so years looking for someway to redeem himself. Much of his work he describes as useful to the crew but useless to himself.

Vasquez’s drills fill your week and a half, leaving little spare time. You’re given a break on the ninth day when the Captain calls a briefing.

>Go to briefing
>Keep training, Vasquez will fill you in
>Other?

>>1170754
>>Go to briefing

>>1170754
I want to keep training, but we are a Officer, and it may look bad, or insult the captain in a culture we barely understand.

Will have a new thread up tomorrow

>>1171320
Is that a yes or a no to go to the briefing?

>>1170754
>Go to briefing

>>1171350
Yeah, just realized it was kind ubiquitous, and technically not a proper vote.

New thread
>>1174633