Expedition Dramatis Personae

Sonia Reynard [Human Female] Viscount

Command Crew - Hidden Dagger
Arron Westrate [Human Male] CO
Linda Travers [Human Female] Chief Navigator
Maybourne [Dro'all] Operations

Reynard Personal Guard
Ella Rufaro [Human Female] (Bodyguard & body double)
Valeri Fusaro [Human Male] (Bodyguard)
Dave Kárpáti [Human Male] (Bodyguard)
Emor Kozan [Dro'all] (Bodyguard)

Knight Ilya [Human Male] Senior Knight - Thule's Prism contingent
(4 other Knights from Thule's Prism)
Lt Arif Sayadov [Human Male] -Former Kharbos special forces

Jarato Eldal [Krath infiltrator]
Estavan Risto [Krath infiltrator] (Protectorate) RTS intel

Dr Seays [Rovinar] Krath bio weapon program (Suit)

"Dave" -Light Neeran- Detection & Engineering
"Sam" -Light Neeran- Combat & Detection

Dyson Exploration Sciences Foundation
Jennifer Alam [Human Female] Chief Science officer
Esibe (Akyarres) [Rovinar Male] Assistant
Darweg Attir [Shallan Male] Shallan science institute
Rhistel Taraman [Hune Male] Republic Research oversight committee

Marine Survivors
Sgt Thecla Shelby [Human Female]


The Sphere
Einridi [Neeran] Caretaker, local leader
Tiur [Neeran] Caretaker, interrogator
Svidur [Neeran]

>>2226432
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

>>2226432
For House and Dominion! Fuck snow edition!

>>2226432

For House and Dominion! Fuck the snow miser!

>>2226471
>>2226486
I really wanted to start this at 11AM today.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lftXoJTckr0 [ Dark Knight Rises - On Thin Ice ]

With the weather control system sabotaged you've returned to the ship. Everyone survived and was able to be extracted. The same can't be said for the Empire's local garrison. Several of their shuttles that were in the air at the time or attempted to assist in evacuation efforts were struck down. They may have initially mistaken it for normal lightning rather than the far more destructive bolts common to artifact weapons.
There's no telling how the civilians from the nearby town fared.

"We got in and out without firing a shot. For the most part that is." you explain to Einridi.

The use of your lightning gauntlet should hopefully play up the idea that it was either an accident or the result of the Empire meddling with things they shouldn't be.

"Dangerous, but it seems to have had good effect. We won't know for certain how well it worked for days or weeks but you've carried out the task we've requested of you."
The caretaker sighs.
"Now I suppose you wouldn't mind a reward for your efforts? We don't usually make a habit of handing out artifacts to those helping us out of greed rather than selflessness. However I suspect you might have helped even without an incentive."

[ ] I try to help those in need
[ ] If it helps to win the war
[ ] I might have?
[ ] Reward please?

>>2226516

We do try to help people in need. If helping them helps win the war, all the more better. Of course if they're offering a reward, we wont turn it down. He got us into contact with someone to help return Svidur to us. I think that tops most rewards available.

Speaking of Svidur, I thought the one sage said that Svidur should avoid further mental conflicts? Us going with him to make sure the Neeran aren't close to accessing the main control room via maintainence passages would likely put him into contact with more Neeran and thus let out the soldier that is buried inside his mind?

>>2226516
>We don't usually make a habit of handing out artifacts to those helping us out of greed rather than selflessness
To be fair, even if we weren't interested in any artifacts, Sonia's actions wouldn't have been selfless. Preventing the Neeran from accessing the secrets of the dyson sphere seems like something that well be incredibly helpful for the alliance in the long run. So yeah, selflessness is pretty much out of the window no matter how you turn the situation.

>However I suspect you might have helped even without an incentive.
The knights and the scientists probably would have, thought.

>>2226516
>[ ] If it helps to win the war
"We lose here then my home is next. Profiting from the war is nice but if we lose then my family dies. I will not allow that."

>>2226516
>[x] If it helps to win the war

>>2226516
>I try to help those in dire need
We usually try to help if people are in a really bad spot.

>>2226516
> [ ] I try to help those in need
> [ ] Reward please!

We know who we are. We're greedy but not miserly and while we're willing to help for free we fucking love getting paid. And if we can help someone AND get paid that's like a double win. We'll use this to help our war too which is like a triple win.

>>2226568
Amen brother. Couldn't have said it better myself.

I just wanna say, it's been 3? 4? years and we finally got Svidur back and I can hardly believe it.

>>2226568
So just go with this then?

>>2226640
Sounds about right. Sonia does want to do right for herself. Sonia is also greed incarnate.

"I'm not afraid of helping people out for free, but if I can do that and get paid? Best thing ever. Plus then I can use the money to help other people or the war effort. Wins all around."

"That's certainly a healthier way of looking at the world than some I've seen. Your scientists are examining a few of the artifacts we've brought along. Come, let us talk on the way."

Heading for a nearby lift Einridi continues talking.

"While you were occupied with matters on the surface I was working with Svidur prior to their being placed back in stasis. A Neeran body is not meant to handle such raw power as the Commandos you described did. It can be done for short duration but even then there are consequences. As a result of being exposed to these levels for years our healing artifacts now have a degenerative effect on his physiology. Even were he to use one on another person it would cause him harm."

"Why is that exactly?"

"Different paths can have a tremendous impact on Neeran's physical development. It's a question of body and mind. The Empire's paths focus more on the body while your Light Neeran focus more on improving the mind. Probably why they're killing each other again. Long ago the two sides were not so different but since then they've diverged further and further from each other. Because of this Light Neeran have access to a potential power at least four times greater than those from the Empire."

"You're talking about that biological fusion reactor you guys have right?"

"We refer to as our heart's heart, though I don't know what the others call it these days. The one whose body Svidur now inhabits had this organ removed and placed in a clone. It killed the population of a city ship, including itself, while the original waited in stasis."

>What say?

>>2226775
>It killed the population of a city ship, including itself, while the original waited in stasis.

Uh wat.

>>2226775

I guess then it's to late to get said organ back and have it placed in this body to stabilize it?

Also, this sounds like the Yin-Yang argument somewhat to me. If both were to rejoin I'm sure the Neeran race would become super strong. Stronger than they are currently that is.

>>2226775
Why do the two Neeran sides hate each other so much? Slaughtering everybody on a city ship and then using their organs to kill even more of them goes far beyond what most societies I've seen would consider tolerable unless they are threatened with complete extinction.

>>2226775
Will Svidur be able to survive in his new body or do we need to get him a new one?

>>2226802
This

When do we get our own organ so we to can have awesome Neeran powers?

>Probably why they're killing each other again.
Again? When was the last time?

>>2226775
So how many years does Svidur have left?
It also sounds like they've been at each others throats for millennia and it sounds like exterminating one side wouldn't resolve the problem.

"I'll be honest, some of that went over my head."

Einridi looks at you then glances upwards. Any other alien species would probably have made a joke about you being too short but the Neeran tries their best to break it down for you.

"Your enemy determined how to perform a suicide attack using the neural network of an isolationist city ship to kill its crew. As a telepathic species it functions much like a communications grid would for you but more instantaneous. Svidur mentioned trying to warn you through the network. It seems even then the Commando was having difficulty containing his stolen memories and personality."

"Wait! Are you saying Svidur was already dead by the time I made it aboard?"

"It would seem so. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately depending on your view, those from the ruling caste that now leads the Empire seems to be far too selfish. They have little interest in sacrificing their own lives to ensure victory, only other people's or races.
But entrusting such a dangerous technique to another Neeran would be far to dangerous a prospect. Especially when those in positions of power seem to be in danger of being stepped on by others. Someone else might figure out how to do a better job of it and be promoted instead."

"So they needed a clone." you conclude. "No risking death but keeping anyone else from getting their secret. I thought the Empire didn't use cloning on Neeran for some reason?"

"The Heart's heart of a Neeran clone would only be as strong as a baby. It takes centuries to properly mature. Theirs had to be removed and implanted into the clone to give them the necessary power. Certainly no one else would volunteer. Perhaps they intended to take it back from the dead clone if possible?
In either event they were far too busy and what they took from our kin were far more powerful."

Einridi stops and leans against a wall for support. "My apologies, I thought I was going to be ill. Svidur and I exchanged information only briefly but those deaths are still far too real."

Once the caretaker has recovered you ask the inevitable question.
"Why are they doing this? Why do the two Neeran sides hate each other so much?"

"The isolationists were perfectly willing to remaining in hiding, left alone. The leadership of the Empire, a small number of them to be sure, want power. Some time ago they fell to infighting. Killing each other over disputes, or to determine position. Eventually some victors began to take the Heart's heart of their fallen opponent and it made them more powerful. Almost unquestionably so.
Try to imagine it, having the ability to reach out across a room and snap an enemy's neck with but a thought. Or to make them become confused and lose all sense of reality. And to get it all that would be required is that you kill someone. Perhaps not even someone you know.
Would you do it? And if not can you say that others wouldn't kill for that power?"

>>2226948
"If you discovered another House to be weaker than yours, one with which your relations were already poor, would your leadership prefer to go to war with them, or allow your nobles to continue killing each other?"

>>2226948
Oh... The Neeran Empire is the Dominion except with psyker powers.

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This popped into my head while I was typing this up.

>>2226948

Well shit,is this is why WH40K has daemons that mind raep people who mess around with the warp to much? Aside from its grimderpness.

>>2226954
I would like to think, at the worst or House might do is leave an enemy House to die on a vine with no allies to support them. At our best, look at what we did with house Erid. They were a former enemy to houses Jerik and Dremane, but they cut that shit out for one reason or another. And over the last decade relations stabalized until the civil war. Where they tried to cripple our house through sabotauge and we went to war with them and absorbed their house into ours. I think that would go for a best case scenario.

>>2226954
Conquering the other House would only be a temporary solution. As soon as the war is over, the nobles would start killing each other anew. The flaws that keep tearing the society apart are still there...

>>2226990
Good thing they weren't the only ones to decide that.
And going how they and their counterparts acted, they weren't either

>>2227011
No, that's the fault of the Eldar rapefucking a hole in reality.

>>2227011
Also please report to your nearest Commisar or Imperial Priest for a swift resolution to your doubts.

>>2226948
>Try to imagine it, having the ability to reach out across a room and snap an enemy's neck with but a thought. Or to make them become confused and lose all sense of reality.
I feel like after all Sonia's seen and done, these would be pretty minor. I'd rather have a Super Heavy than super powers.

>>2227158
That's why we made skull-guns.

"It sounds like exterminating one side wouldn't resolve the problem." you note.

"No it certainly will not. The Empire's leadership would have to be removed and their society reinvent itself before the two sides attempt to make peace. It could be forced on them I suppose. Your Alliance is gaining in strength. Of course it wouldn't take much for the various Factions to tear it apart again."

That's the truth. If the Dominion isn't busy fighting itself when this is over the Factions very much could be. You've certainly seen the various sides preparing with that eventuality in mind.

"Wait, you said they're killing each other again. When was the last time?"

"During the schism when they split along their respective ideologies they fought for a very long time. The isolationists lost as a result of being out numbered and eventually fled. The Empire of the time warned them never to return but otherwise were happy enough to let them leave. Magnanimous in their victory, or at least their leadership was in those days."

Moving on you express your concern for Svidur's health.
"Will Svidur be able to survive in his new body or do we need to get him a new one?"

"He has no other choice but to attempt to survive in it. Some of the excess organs can be removed. I'm sure your Alliance will be able to find uses for them. As for longevity only time will tell. He is living quite literally on borrowed time."

That's not ideal but it's the best that can be done you suppose.

Trying not to smirk you manage to ask your next question with a straight face.
"When do I get my own organ so I can have awesome Neeran powers?"
"You do not."
Dammit.

Einridi halts at the door to the briefing room.
"That doesn't mean your distant descendants might not be so blessed. But there are more concerning matters to discuss before we enter."

"Wh- bu- I-" you sputter.

"The other matter Svidur warned of, that there could be a roundabout route into control systems of the sphere may have some truth to it."

"So, the threat is a real one?"

"Potentially. I'm reluctant to share this with too many others as I'm not sure how many of your expedition may be trustworthy."

[ ] vouch for them all
[ ] I don't trust the civilians
[ ] Just the scientists and your close bodyguard
[ ] Let's keep this to ourselves for the moment

>>2227197

[ ] Let's keep this to ourselves for the moment

Let us hear what he has to say about it first. Then decide whether we need to bring other people up to speed. At which point we'll disseminate information as needed.

>>2227197
>[ ] Let's keep this to ourselves for the moment

I mean. We are dealing with psychic fuckery here.

>>2227197
>"When do I get my own organ so I can have awesome Neeran powers?"
>"You do not."
>Dammit.
I know TSTG has said we aint getting power but I am going to keep asking every chance I get until we make it happen.

>[ ] Let's keep this to ourselves for the moment
The less people who know a secret the smaller the chance of it getting out.

>>2227197
>distant descendants
So, Sonia can just freeze herself and loot other humans' super powers in a thousand years? Neat.

"Let's keep this to ourselves for the moment."
"Very well. There are a few places the Empire may have gained access to that could possibly allow them to reach the needed access spaces beneath the surface of the sphere. It's conceivable they could then assemble small repulsor vehicles to follow the sphere's power distribution grid, drawing enough power to remain operational.
Fortunately it wouldn't be terribly fast. Too fast and it might set off defenses intended to protect against breaches of the outer shell. Even with that limit in place they could still reach systems at the poles within a human's lifetime."

"How long will that take?"
"Roughly forty of your years."
"So we have time."

"For now but we don't have any way of confirming their progress. We could certainly get people there first using the sphere's transit system but we fear the empire might detect its activation. That might very well give them clues to find a shorter way in."

That has the potential to become a catch 22.

"Is there another way into the control room or systems?"

"Possibly, but it is hazardous and might cost you your ship. I only know of it because of your questions about an alternate way out of the sphere. There is a gap in the center of either pole's stellar control arrays that might be another gate but they're both sealed and may have been damaged long ago."

Interesting. Probably not the way you want to be leaving the sphere this time.

I forgot to watch the Dakar rally again! This happens every year.
Oh hey they actually have commentators that learned english as a first language for a change.

Entering the briefing room a few of the scientists are still going over compiled data while Rhistel Taraman has a display up showing the lightning storm your team unleashed.

"Was it supposed to be that powerful?" he asks once he notices you and Einridi.
Several others also look up to find out what the answer is.

"It's roughly as powerful as intended. Not necessarily as compact but powerful enough to prevent most unshielded craft from approach."

"What about the civilians?" Rufaro is quick to ask.

"I can only hope the majority had enough time to flee. If not it is regretable, but any weaker a storm and the Empire might have found a way to disarm the system before it reached full power."

Einridi turns back to you. "What artifact -if any- would you prefer in return for the services you've rendered Viscount Reynard?"

>Human scale equipment
Retractable Shield
Immutable Staff (Compatible with most artifacts)
Singing Sword (Compatible with some artifacts)
Gauntlet (Compatible with small number)
Plasma Artifact
Lighting Artifact
e-beam
cooling laser
Convertor
Amplifier
Tissue regeneration

(Rufaro and Valeri will also each get one.)

>>2227574
"What's your favourite, Einni?"

>>2227574

Lighting Artifact
Well we already got one of each, right? So might as well go with getting another lightning artifact, that way we can have unlimited powah!

>>2227449
>It's conceivable they could then assemble small repulsor vehicles to follow the sphere's power distribution grid, drawing enough power to remain operational.

I recognize that plot hook! The Ringworld is Unstable!

>>2227574
>Tissue regeneration

Immortality will be ours!

>>2227574
>[x] Convertor

>>2227574
Do they have a secret hammerspace artifact? Like a little portal hole that things can be stored in. Because every time we go on a mission everyone always wants to bring something different.

>>2228062
"I don't suppose you have a secret hammerspace artifact? Like a little portal hole that things can be stored in?
"Like a pocket universe? I've read of such things. Conceivably the sphere builders may have done work on such technology though it would have been done far from here as it can be rather unstable."

The Rovinar member of the science team laughs and points in Alam's direction.
"That's why the Terrans lost-"
"Esibe! Shut it!" The human woman quickly snaps.

Probably going to survey it seems. First one of the year.

With the artifact choosing (mostly) out of the way people are wondering what your plans are for the rest of the mission. Caretakers will be returning to the surface except for the designated ambassador. You have retired marines and their families to send back to the homeworlds. Svidur probably needs to be taken to a secure Alliance facility and debriefed.

Then there's the issue of the local Neeran commander you need to discuss with Alliance Intel. Gradually weakening their political position is slowly stripping away elements of their fleet rather than allowing them to strike a target all at once. What the Alliance still holds in this galaxy has been hard pressed from what you've read. The last thing they need right now is a Command ship plus escort fleet showing up to a fight.

There are still issues here to look into but the question is becoming can you risk it at the moment?

>What are your plans?
Remain here and continue to investigate? Head back to Alliance Territory? Anything in between?

>>2228290

I feel like we should head back to FA space. Get them up to date on what we have learned and what we have been doing. Then do our best to pull as many strings as we can to ready several raiding fleets. To draw away the Neeran fleet stationed here. So we can have more stealth/ recon teams sent in to explore those maintenance tunnels.

>>2228170
>The Rovinar member of the science team laughs and points in Alam's direction.
>"That's why the Terrans lost-"
>"Esibe! Shut it!" The human woman quickly snaps.

Quoi?

>>2228453
Rovinar committing OPSEC violation.

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SURVEY!

surveymonkey com/r/ RCTDXRX

Link is up on the twitter and wiki front page.

>>2228290
>There are still issues here to look into
Refresh me with this one, because I feel like everything went a lot smoother than expected and we've accomplished all our main objectives.
We haven't even been shot at.

>>2228603

Svidur mentioned that the Neeran Commander here has teams crawling through the maintenance tunnels and are nearing the command center. If we were to go that way it would be a likely one way trip since it would take weeks if not months to check on those leads.

However Einridi says it would take them several years at the rate they are going to reach it. We could use the tram system to get there first, but it would alert all the Neeran here to our intentions.

>>2228635
>Neeran in the guttyworks
I kind of thought Einridi was saying this is a non-issue, I just thought we'd maybe forgotten something.

>>2227574
What happens if we ask Einridi for Weather system blueprints?

>>2227449
>>2228603
>We're not dead!
>I know! Hey, why didn't you shoot at us?!

There's no way to be sure the Empire hasn't found a faster way until its too late. On the other hand taking a shortcut to get there first might alert them to said short cut.

The locals could also use assistance with other acts of resistance. It's hard to do hit and fade when your enemy has space ships and you don't. Though that drastically increases the odds of the enemy figuring out a cloaked ship is present.

>>2228635
>We could use the tram system to get there first, but it would alert all the Neeran here to our intentions.
Darweg Attir isn't even sure what the sphere's transit system uses.
"There are no signs of the infrastructure needed to quickly move people around. And I don't think it's just buried."

Einridi does not provide any helpful details.

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>>2228746

It would be neat if the sphere had teleporters, similar to the teleport tech used in Halo.

>>2228783
Probably something like that wormhole we saw on the city ship when the command capsule escaped.

I'll be running tomorrow until I need to leave for work in the afternoon.
I plan to continue all day monday and tuesday barring unforeseen interruptions.

>>2227574
Just wanted to say that since we already have a working lightning gauntlet I think it would be best to go for the convertor to supplement our armory. Could do some cool things with it when we fully utilize it.

>>2229332
I like tissue regeneration. It's also more practical for saving more people.

>>2228573
Here's what we already have according to the wiki at:
>http://houseanddominion.wikia.com/wiki/Research_%26_Development
Plasma weapon
Cooling laser
Micro E-beam
Man portable PPCDG/ lighting gun
Energy amplifier / Veckron crystal
Energy conversion system
Tissue regeneration

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>>2228290
>Anything in between?
I would suggest the ship leaves to deliver the people we've picked up to the Alliance, while we leave some help for the caretakers behind. Sonia could probably help more if she came back to friendly lines and drummed up some support within the Dominion to strengthen the FA forces still present in the region. I'm not sure if a renewed offensive would do more harm than good, so we should probably speak with the locals about it.

Another thing - would the caretakers be able to assess Sayadov's loyalty accurately? We could give the sword he's after to the caretakers, and once they consider his debt settled, they let him go or we'll pick him up. It would allow us to keep that guy away from Dominion politics while also giving him the chance to pick up some artifacts and gain an honorable reputation that would allow him to start over. Only if he's interested, of course.

We could leave behind:
-Sphere specific equipment
-LST and shuttle
-Ilya and the Knights from the same world wanted an epic quest and we haven't really utilized them so far. Maybe they would be interested in helping the locals? If people from our forces want to stay, allow them to.

Things to ask for:
-Could they get us some blood and DNA samples from the local unaltered Hune population?
-Could they send some of their Human allies to get copies of the logs from the Human fleet that arrived here in the past?
-Would any of the external locations they keep mentioning be worth visiting?
-We should ask if they would be interested in establishing diplomatic relations with the Watchers. Considering how far these guys travel, they could help locate species who need to be relocated to the sphere.
-Can they get us the last coordinates of the city ship the caretakers used to have?
-Can they provide any help for the Kythera contact fleets?
-If they're willing to provide us with the dimensions of their internal pathways, we could have a simple combat vehicle running on a combustion engine developed and bring it next time we come here. The caretakers could provide attachable armor plates made from the same material as their shield armor to make it mostly impervious to damage, even from infantry plasma weapons.

Plasma artifact, is this even up for debate?

>>2230104
Don't we already have it? Or is the plasma weapon listed on the wiki something different?

>>2230117
I just thought we had the Cooling laser we use for plasma weaponry?

>>2230150
>http://houseanddominion.wikia.com/wiki/Artifacts_from_Svidur
That page lists a plasma weapon. I assumed it's the same.

>>2230117
>>2230150
>>2230155
I suppose you could trade in some of the Neeran scale artifacts you have with you for Human scale ones that could be used in the weapons. Not all of them were brought with you.

Plasma weapon, Cooling laser and Micro E-beam were not brought along.


>>2229981
>Leave behind LST & shuttle
>-Sphere specific equipment
>-Ilya and the Knights

"If you were to leave them behind we could provide Helium 3 for your landing support transport."

"That's the good stuff, where are you getting that?" You ask.

The Caretaker points at the nearest hologram of the sphere's star. "Wind."

>>2229981
>would the caretakers be able to assess Sayadov's loyalty accurately?
"Only if they were to offer."

"There's already a slave chip in my head, what more do you want?"
>What say?

>>2230591
>"There's already a slave chip in my head, what more do you want?"
"Ideally? That chip out of your head, you out of my hair, a valuable and reliable ally for the caretakers, and a realistic chance for you to earn that sword back and survive your sentence if you turn out to actually be a decent person. Maybe even the chance to make a fortune with the things you might earn for your help if you choose to stay."

I'd like to hear other players on this but I have no realistic idea what else to do with this guy. If we know he won't sell out to the empire, this could be a decent chance for him. We'd at least get him away from the dominion for a decent stretch of time.

>>2230626
Going to go with this unless we get any objections soon.

>>2230591
>The Caretaker points at the nearest hologram of the sphere's star. "Wind."
I wonder if the stellar control things are similar to the Kythera reactors.

"Ideally? I'd like that chip out of your head, you out of my hair, a valuable and reliable ally for the caretakers, and a realistic chance for you to earn that sword back and survive your sentence. If you turn out to actually be a decent person. Maybe even the chance to make a fortune with the things you might earn for your help if you choose to stay."

You hold up your gauntlet. "You saw enough in the capital or after to know these aren't just pretty toys."

"Fine. Do it." He tells you and Einridi.

The caretaker places a palm to Sayadov's forehead and closes his eyes in concentration. He looks rather uncomfortable for a few moments then withdraws his hand and steps away.

"That is an insidious device within his head. I would not think it within your character to have such an implant put in someone."

You reply that you didn't come up with the Ruling House's terms of parole following the fighting in the capital. It's still probably better than killing off thousands of personnel and weakening the Dominion further.

Einridi frowns. "I suppose I have not faced such problems. In your position I cant say I would not be forced to enact similar measures to preserve life. To answer your question this man will fulfill their oath to you, no matter how angry he might be over being placed in such a position."

Some good news you guess.

A majority favor returning to Alliance space at this time, if only to drop off people and resupply before returning.

Did you want to leave an LST and volunteers here to help the caretakers?

>>2230820

Yes, leave the LST and volunteers to help with the caretakers.

>>2230820
>Did you want to leave an LST and volunteers here to help the caretakers?
Yes.

>>2230820
>Did you want to leave an LST and volunteers here to help the caretakers?
Yes. Can the LST mount SP torpedoes?

>>2230839
Not the stealth LST's you've brought no.

>>2230849
Oh well, it was worth a try.

>>2230820
>Did you want to leave an LST and volunteers here to help the caretakers?
Yes. We can always get more.

"We'll be leaving one of the LST's, the buggies and one shuttle here to assist with local resistance efforts."
You announce to everyone present. "We'll need volunteers, both for the command crew for the transport and for a possible ground team. I'll try to return as soon as possible with additional forces but there's no way to be sure how long a team could be stuck here."

"As long as we're not going to be stuck here for ten years." Jokes one of your snipers.
This draws a few nervous chuckles from everyone present.

"We will come back for you." you stress. "Just be aware of the risks."

Enough people sign up to skeleton crew the ships plus two squads of your guard. Ilya is considering but is concerned.
"I'm tempted to send our weapons back with you to ensure they're not lost out here. If anything should go wrong you'll be the one paying for my planet's missing artifacts with the deposit you left, not me. I'm reluctant to gamble with your property on the line."

[ ] Let me worry about that
[ ] Maybe you should send some of them back

>>2230919
>[x] Maybe you should send some of them back

>>2230919
[ ] Maybe you should send some of them back

>>2230919
>[ ] Let me worry about that
I don't want to send them out there without their best.

>>2230966
Maybe Einridi will provide them with comparable equipment for the duration of their stay?

>>2230919
Would the caretakers be willing to provide equivalent equipment for our forces' stay?

>>2230970
Not necessarily, they'd have to earn it.

>>2230975
A bit weird but okay.

>>2230919
>let me worry...
They'll need the best equipment we can provide.

"Maybe you should send some of them back."

Ilya and the others decide to send the shield back along with one of their number.

You, Velari and Rufaro each get your reward before the Caretaker departs. Each of your bodyguards decide to take a shield, figuring there's the least that could go wrong there. You on the other hand pick up a "Singing Sword."
It's a bit bigger than your usual choice of melee weapons but you could get used to it.


Did you want to trade any of the following for human scale artifacts that could go with it?
>Convertor
>Amplifier
>Tissue regeneration

>>2231020
>Convertor
>Amplifier
I just want to figure out how we can rig those into a ships shield and lead it to a cannon so we can literally shoot back what ever is thrown at us.

>>2231020
Yeah the tissue regen one.

Is there anything Einridi wants us to bring back? Anything they can't do/make in the sphere?

>>2231053
>Is there anything Einridi wants us to bring back?
"More something I would prefer you not bring back."
"Such as?"
"Two things, antimatter warheads-"
That one's understandable.

"And Veckron weapons. We don't know what effect they would have on the sphere if there were an accident."

They're certainly not making this easy and you can't really promise that. At the end of the day it's the Alliance Admiralty's call.

Einridi wishes you luck then departs aboard the LST.

Arron has been keeping an eye out for ways out of the sphere.

"That lightning storm you cooked up really drew a lot of attention. One of the heavy cruisers have been relocated, probably to get better readings. That gives us a bit of an opening, but there's no way to be sure someone outside wont be keeping and eye on the less guarded doors."

It seems the question is once again to risk taking the less guarded doors and hoping that there is no one on the other side, or follow an enemy ship when it's passing through one of the more heavily trafficked ones.

"We at least know where the command ship should be located. The busiest gates are those closest to it. That's been fairly consistent."

[ ] Stick to the quiet gates
[ ] Follow a ship through a busier one
[ ] Search for alternate ways out

>>2231080

[ ] Stick to the quiet gates

It worked on getting us in, lets see if our luck continues to hold out.

>>2231080
>[ ] Follow a ship through a busier one

>>2231080
Could we get some sensor readings from the locals? If they have external defences, they must have external sensors as well.

>>2231109
Yes, though it could take some time. Probably 2 weeks to securely get the information to you.

>>2231080
>[x] Stick to the quiet gates

>>2231121
We ould use the time to chart the neeran forces in and on the sphere. I'm fine with either choice if people want to leave earlier.

Ran out of time to finish.
I'll post later on tonight when I get back from work.

>>2231210
Good luck!

>>2231210
I hope you'll have a productive day.

Would it be a decent idea for Eldal to stay behind? He mentioned he'd like to avoid his government for a longer period of time, and the sphere seems like a good place to do that.

I can't believe we didn't ask but what if some caretakers were rogue and handing equipment to the Neeran in exchange for not poking around with the DS too much? What if Einridi was just a smokescreen? The whole lightning mission just a sham to justify giving us a shiny bead to get us out of their hair? Am I too paranoid? Why did Svidur's letter mention reaching the control room when he could have just mentioned contacting a caretaker?

"Stick to the quiet gates."

You'll be relying on luck for this one. True you could hang around and wait for the Caretakers to get back to you with data from external sensors but that's time you could be out getting more help.

Keeping engine power low for most of the flight to avoid detection it takes three days to cross the sphere to the gate Arron wants. It gives you time to practice with the new sword.

The Knight returning to Thule's Prism is able to give you a few pointers and act as a sparring partner. Arif Sayadov would have probably been a good alternate choice but he eventually volunteered to remain behind with the LST. By the time the ship approaches the gate you've got the hang of the basics with it.

"It's no master sword but it should provide a few extra tricks."
"Master sword? What's that?" asks Rufaro.
"Never mind. How's the shield?"

Your bodyguard glances down at the folded device strapped to her forearm.
"I haven't gotten the hang of quickly deploying yet like the Knights do."

You've seen the knights quickly deploy their shields with a particular flourish that seems to help whip the plates into position faster.

"They've been practicing with replicas all their lives." you point out.

"And they manage to make it look really cool at the same time!"
"Ella, priorities. Also don't let any of them hear you say that, they'll probably just act smug about it."

Stepping onto the bridge you take one of the jump seats as Arron begins final approach to the gate.
"No enemy traffic within visual range on this side. Coms, trigger the gate."

"I've got a bad feeling about this." mutters the communications officer.

The gate opens automatically and Arron wastes no time getting through it. Sensors immediately detect two enemy ships nearby, but neither of them seem to be in a position to have seen the doors opening.

"It looks like they just flew past a few minutes ago." Arron reports.
"Now the question is, did you want to signal for allied ships to jump into the area to mask our FTL jump?"

[ ] Lowest FTL speed should be enough to mask it
[ ] Signal an intel com relay, ask them to send a ship

See you tomorrow!

>>2232660
>[ ] Lowest FTL speed should be enough to mask it

We're coming back, so it's best to not raise suspicions.

>>2232660
Lowest FTL speed. They might get suspicious at the increased traffic.going on to and from the spherr.

If we pull.it off, they won't even know we were here.

>>2232660

Have our ship go to maximum stealth and slowly do our best to get as far away from the sphere as possible.

Then send a quick, discreet transmission to FA they we have left the sphere and will be returning to FA space shortly. And to prepare any defenses should we have any Empire Neeran following us. Maybe even going so far as to use a method we used earlier during the Dominion Civil War to have it be a delayed message from a single use satellite. To give us some distance from it in case the Neeran intercept or detect the message.

>>2232660
>[ ] Lowest FTL speed should be enough to mask it

"Take us far enough out of the system on sublight that it will be hard to detect our jump. Linda?"

"I know, I know, use the lowest FTL settings possible when we jump. I'm going to talk to the engineers about modifying the geometry of our drive field to make it even hard to detect. Think that will be worth some bonus pay?"

"Maybe from House R&D. I'm already paying you a fortune." you remind her.

Two days at sublight give Linda and the engineers time to tinker with the drives. She's picked up a lot of info while off working for the Navigators. Technically nothing she's sharing is too heavily classified but she's seen enough application of these special systems to know what should work better than others.

"So the FTL isn't going to blow up in our face when we turn it on?" you ask.
"No? Do you think I'd be on this ship if I thought that might happen?"

You shrug noncommittally causing Linda to sigh in annoyance.
"Well I wouldn't. The drive should work, I'm just not sure how well it will adjust its detectability."

"If it doesn't?"

"Then it should increase the drive efficiency instead? Look, either way it will operate at a lower output."

Just in case Arron adjusts the course of the ship so that if you are detected it will look like a long range spy probe passing by the system at right angles. When Arron jumps the drive does seem to be emitting a less powerful drive flare. Linda immediately starts clapping.
"Yes! It even worked!"

"Don't sound too surprised." you tell her.

Setting course for the nearest Alliance position it takes a few days to navigate through contested territory and a few dense star clusters. Eventually you arrive in friendly territory. Arron launches a stealth com relay probe to raise Alliance intel without giving away your position in system.

"What are we telling them? That we have a captured enemy commando we've mind hijacked?"

>>2233494
"Tell them we've subdued the Neeran city ship commando and also rescued Svidur."

>>2233494
Ask for a Neeran psychiatrist?

>>2233494

If I'm not to late to suggest something. Have the alliance ready their best Neeran shrinks. And a representative from the Isolationist Neeran present. Also that we have civilians that need safe lodging until we can bring them home to J-D space. Include the we have an ambasador from the sphere's caretakers.

You inform Intel you've subdued a high profile Neeran Commando as well as rescuing Svidur. After this you rattle off a list of personnel you'll require, including an isolationist representative and a Neeran psych.
"We'll also need transport for rescued civilians."

It takes a few minutes for them to get back to you with a secure rendezvous location.

"Viscount, I'm afraid that you'll need to return to a site near the Navigator station. Due to ongoing activity in your area we don't have anything nearby secure enough for what you're asking."

If that's where we have to go then so be it. It'll be another two or three days at high FTL speeds to cross the cluster. Everyone will probably be happy to get off the ship for awhile after that.

"Are we good for fuel?" you ask Arron.

"We'll be fine. Just above our reserve levels by the time we get there."

Once away from the galaxy Linda punches the FTL up to maximum speed. You're a little concerned she's going to keep messing with the drive field geometry while in flight but to your relief she lays off it.

"What? I'm not going to mess with the FTL during a long jump."
"Just- uh, good."
"I had a couple weeks to work on the new calculations while you were running around the surface of the sphere. It's not like I pulled those calculations out of my ass."

Dropping out of FTL a few hundred light years from the gate you make contact with intel again to confirm the coordinates. They confirm the name numbers as before and siin you're making a much shorter jump to what should be the location of an Alliance interrogation facility.

Returning to real space you soon pick up a station with protected ship docks intended for cloaked vessels. A Viscount heavy cruiser is nearby as are a number of Krath and Rovinar ships.

"Guess this place is high security. Every one of those ships has their weapons armed." Arron notices.

"Signal that we're coming in to dock."
"Got it."

One of the bays open and Arron brings the ship around towards it. Before you enter sensors reports ships dropping out of FTL nearby.

"Four Heron class mediums and two Abyssal class grav wells. One of them is powering up their gravity generators."

[ ] I'm sure they have a good reason to be here
[ ] Maybe abort docking a few minutes
[ ] Other

>>2233609

[ ] I'm sure they have a good reason to be here

That is... a lot of extra security...I understand the need to make sure a Neeran Commando doesn't suddenly take over the station, but wow. Only way I could see this becoming even more locked down is a Veckron equipped heavy cruiser pointed this way just in case.

Either way, continue in.

>>2233609
>[ ] I'm sure they have a good reason to be here
Maybe slow down a little bit to see if they're expected by the ships already present. Unless people start shooting immediately, they're probably worried about the super charged commando.

>>2233609
>[x] I'm sure they have a good reason to be here

>>2233609
If the civilians from the research society have some kind of secret handshake we can try to make sure this isn't some kind of trap, I'd love to hear about it right now. Or has anybody listened to space radio to hear if the FA fractured or some other apocalyptic event occurred?

"I'm sure they have a good reason to be here. Arron, slow our approach but don't stop."

"Got it."

Bringing Hidden Dagger in Arron keeps it nice and slow. It doesn't look like any of the other ships present are responding to the new arrival. That's mostly reassuring. Once inside the dock the coms officer signals for the bay doors to be closed. A few seconds later the armored slabs of metal are closed and locked down.

Once the cloak has been deactivated docking arms extend inwards from all sides and crews get to work hooking up power umbilicals and fuel lines.

"This is dock control. Please complete your your engine power down and perform a complete shut down of all main reactors."

"Copy that."

"All personnel aboard be advised your ship is under temporary quarantine."

About what you figured with everything going on.
It takes a few minutes after the reactors are offline before crews actually approach the ship. A heavily armed and armored Alliance boarding team along with a number of Light Neeran personnel approach the starboard docking hatch.

"We're requesting to speak with your Neeran contingent before we can arrange for the prisoner transfer."

You tell Sam and Dave to get down there and let them know about Svidur. hopefully that should clear things up a bit. Their meeting seems to go well enough. Soon the boarding team are able to move the stasis pod Svidur is being held in to a more secure location aboard the station. After that the Alliance insists on performing a complete physical on the entire crew.

>Do you intend to cooperate or protest this treatment?

>>2233777
>>Do you intend to cooperate or protest this treatment?
Could they tell us what they're worried about first?

>>2233777

I am with >>2233780 what are they so worried about? Mind control? From inside a stasis pod? Have them explain it to us so we can inform our crew.

>>2233777
>After that the Alliance insists on performing a complete physical on the entire crew.
I'm not going to complain but what exactly are they looking for here?

>>2233780
"Before we get more holes poked in us by the medics can you tell us what's going on first? What are you worried about?"

"We're concerned that one or any number of your people may have been subverted. The reports on those commandos indicate them to be among the most powerful combatants the enemy can field. Neeran are already capable of being dangerous enough with their little mind games. We're not going to underestimate someone hopped up on dead people's power cells or however that works."

"We've had him in stasis. They were only out for a short time." you explain.

"According to you. We need to verify that and if anyone tries to escape that heavy cruiser has orders to fire on this facility. It wouldn't take much convincing from what I hear. The Light Neeran leader Baldr is supposed to be aboard."

>>2233817

Fine, let them do their physicals, but we better get all our crew members back. Including our civilians. No random disappearances, this place is a high security location, random disappearances should not happen.

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>>2233817
>We need to verify that and if anyone tries to escape that heavy cruiser has orders to fire on this facility.
"What if somebody manages to escape and manages to make it look like somebody is trying to when they're already gone? You'll destroy the facility and nobody will ever find out that somebody actually managed to escape!"

Well, it's not like we have much of a choice, it seems. Maybe spend the time talking to Estavan Risto? I think we've never spoken to our second Krath. And how is the bio armor doing, can they talk to it?

"Fine, do the damn physicals, but I better get all of my crew members back, including the civilians. No random disappearances. I've put up with enough of that in my career already."

"Alright, we'll make sure everyone gets back safe and sound."

Although a low ranking officer the person you talked to is as good as his word. All of you get through your physicals without incident. The children had the usual minor issues but those were taken care of easily enough.

Debriefings take a little longer. Sergeant Shelby spends the better part of two days talking to Alliance and later House J-D personnel. She and the others are due to be shipped out to the nav station and from there will catch a trip back home aboard a ship from your company.
Once communications restrictions are lifted you send a message to Count Jerik requesting Shelby be Knighted and offering to provide land on Rioja.

With all of the survivors getting ten years worth of combat and hazardous duty pay with interest they should be well enough off.

Was there anything else you wanted to do for the Marine survivors?

>>2234044
Give them a way of contacting us? If they want to retire that's fine but if they're interested in pursuing other professions we could try to set them up the best we can.

>>2234044

Offer them positions in one of our various companies? Give them a job offer so they don't get bored, after they have had a long enough period of rest and reintegrating with House J-D.

>>2234044
>Was there anything else you wanted to do for the Marine survivors?
-Get them in touch with whoever kept Linda from wasting all her money on silly stuff.
-Offer to organize and pay for the tutors the children will require.

I can't really think of anything else.

>With all of the survivors getting ten years worth of combat and hazardous duty pay with interest they should be well enough off.
They should have also accumulated almost a year of paid vacation.

>>2234065
>>2234067
Contact information for you and the company, along with possible jobs for them if they want.

>>2234076
>-Get them in touch with whoever kept Linda from wasting all her money on silly stuff.
>-Offer to organize and pay for the tutors the children will require.
Easy enough.

>They should have also accumulated almost a year of paid vacation.
I'm sure they'll be offered a little extra.

>>2234044
Maybe explain the brutal civil war we went through as well, just to prepare them.

>>2234044
>Was there anything else you wanted to do for the Marine survivors?
Ask them what they're worried about before they leave? It's easy to ask while they're still around, maybe we can make things easier for them.

>>2234131
Your people have had time to give them the gist of it while aboard the ship.

>>2234143
>Ask them what they're worried about before they leave?
"That we'll get dragged into the political bullshit and infighting from back home. Or worse, get sent back out here on some wild goose chase now that your mission has been successful.
Then there's the problem of getting our kids acclimatized to an entirely different tech level. We really don't have any shortage of things to worry over."

"Except for money. You'll be well set."

"At least we managed to skip the Dominion's civil war. That sounds like it was a nightmare."

"It really was." you agree.

With the survivors away you spend more time discussing your debriefing with Alliance Intel personnel on the base. Svidur's debriefing is apparently providing plenty of valuable information though it tends to be rather out of date. They're considering potential operations and means to further isolate the Neeran commander who has control of the sphere.

The commander's actual name remains unknown. For the moment they've been given the code name GIRISHA. Intel has been made aware of numerous attacks carried out by Neeran infiltrators working for Girisha that almost seem to be unrelated to the larger war effort.

"They seem to be targeting certain personnel for assassination though we've yet to determine a pattern. In other cases the infiltrators have broken of from these side missions in order to assist local Neeran forces in larger attacks.
We suspect there may be some dissension among their command structure. Not all of these infiltrators may be on board with the orders they're getting."

What are your plans? Return to the sphere with a larger force, or try to work on means of sabotaging the enemy commander?

>>2234278
>That we'll get dragged into the political bullshit and infighting from back home.
"You can get dragged into the political bullshit and infighting of the Republic, if you prefer that. I'm sure they'd love to parade around some of the heroes who not only saved their capital but endured behind enemy lines for 10 years."

>What are your plans?
Salvaging the caretakers lost city ship. I'm sure Svidur has a theory where it might have ended up.
That's a good question. What's the overall situation? How long have we been gone?

>>2234278

I'd like to start sabotaging the enemy commander. Weakening their forces present there at the sphere. If intel has any well intel on locations or suggestions we can go off of to start drawing away at their power base so that we can eventually get a FA fleet to come back to the sphere and remove the Neeran commander there.

>>2234296
>What's the overall situation? How long have we been gone?
It is mid 4035. You've been gone maybe 3 months at most. More ships and crews from the Dominion are making their way to the front, but there wont be a big push until early 4036 at best. It looks like people back home are taking the advice of the new Ruling House and working to rebuild infrastructure and industry in preparation for later.

There have been a few short lived conflicts between minor Houses wanting to settle things now that they're no longer within the spheres of influence of destroyed Houses. Damage has been kept to a minimum and they've since resumed reconstruction efforts.

Alex is hard at work on an R&D project in relation to his "shipyards" request.

>>2234330

Can we send Alex a quick message to see if he'd like any assistance with his project? Such as financial aid or specialists? If we can spare specialists from our own projects that is. Though I am fairly certain sending money would be easier for both of us at the moment.

>>2234278
What are the Neeran positions around the sphere like? Was the area of spaced developed by the shallans or was it mostly left unoccupied?

>>2234278
>try to work on means of sabotaging the enemy commander
All signs point to this being the way to go. Einridi, Svidur, and from what we've been told this is the best way to get rid of them, because from the sounds of it the enemy commander is running his own 'Raid the Dyson Sphere' mission.

>>2234330
How is Helios doing with coolbeam research? Do they have Dominion Superplasma yet?

Does Alex want any artifacts to 'enhance' his project?

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>>2234373
Updated map.

There are no habitable systems near the sphere for some distance. At least none that wouldn't require more lengthy terraforming.
The nearby system that you previously fought to defend was successfully evacuated of all civilians. The Neeran did not directly assault it again for some time. Surrounding systems were overrun first and, with its supply lines cut, all remaining Alliance forces were eventually withdrawn.
The Shallans did make sure to leave plenty of booby traps behind in the evacuated cities. Included among them were some fake radiation sources to look like fission bombs were put in place. Or they were supposed to be fake. The Shallan military government hasn't been above using salted nukes in areas where they're planning a retreat.

>>2234439
>There are no habitable systems near the sphere for some distance
That's unfortunate. I had hoped to cause some disruptions to force GIRISHA! to divert his attention.

Is the guy in charge of all forces in this galaxy? The city ship stationed at the sphere was receiving updated weaponry, do we have any idea if they're produced nearby?

>>2234406
>How is Helios doing with coolbeam research? Do they have Dominion Superplasma yet?
They've completed the third iteration of their holographic cooling system which better works with their siege guns.

The Alliance is scheduled to begin conducting tests of Republic heavy plasma cannons with similar Helios upgrades any day now. It's hoped the cooling systems will be finalized and mass production can begin before the end of the year.

Provided the program remains on schedule the Alliance could have the fleet upgraded with better plasma weapons within 3 years.

>Does Alex want any artifacts to 'enhance' his project?
Not at this time.

>>2234347
>Can we send Alex a quick message to see if he'd like any assistance with his project? Such as financial aid or specialists?
He's good. Most of the work is being done in coordination with other Houses. He does promise he'll get RLS a free short run production license when he's done though.

"So what is it?" you demand to know.
"It's a secret. Besides, you're up at the front and I don't know how secure the communications are. Loose lips sink ships."
"Are you really going to make me catch a flight back there to find out?"
"I want it to be a surprise. You'll like it. Even Mike says you'll like it since it was mostly your idea anyway."

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>>2234476
"Now I'm really curious. I'm looking forward to whatever you managed to come up with." I BETTER OWN 1/3RD OF IT WHEN I COME BACK!
*Angry shark noises*

>Cooling system
Has work begun on smaller versions?

>>2234476
>Provided the program remains on schedule the Alliance could have the fleet upgraded with better plasma weapons within 3 years.

Well I guess we have our time window in which to weaken the Neeran presence around the Sphere enough to entice an FA fleet to come deal with the Neeran presence there so we can get back to salvaging the sphere for ourselves.

>"I want it to be a surprise. You'll like it. Even Mike says you'll like it since it was mostly your idea anyway."

A Mega class Salvage ship in the shape of a shark? He shouldn't have. I am of course trying to joke here.

>>2234476
How is the Fast Super now as well?

>>2233609
What is a Viscount heavy cruiser?

>>2234456
>Is the guy in charge of all forces in this galaxy?
Unfortunately no. Two other fleet commanders are currently active though their forces are spread across most of the galaxy. Theoretically Girisha still out ranks both of them and could commandeer their forces. Doing that would probably cause a severe backlash though.

>The city ship stationed at the sphere was receiving updated weaponry, do we have any idea if they're produced nearby?
Command ships are effectively scaled up city ships. They have their own manufacturing capability along with civilian populations. On board manufacturing would require raw materials not present in the Sphere's system. There are probably mining operations in the surrounding systems.

Most of the time their manufacturing seems to be used to construct other bases, shipyards and support facilities. So any combination of bases could be nearby. They've had years to work on them.

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>>2234527
Say, space mines exist in H&D, right? And the sphere doesn't take damage from anything short of v-torps and anti matter. Would a minefield like the one in DS9 make sense to keep the largest ships away from the sphere?

>>2234490
>Cooling system
>Has work begun on smaller versions?
Yes. They're not advancing quite as quickly since the smaller weapons have less trouble and thus there is less immediate demand.

>>2234502
>How is the Fast Super now as well?
It's been 4-5 months since the Dominion agreed to work on the program. It will take time.

>>2234509
>What is a Viscount heavy cruiser?
One of the alternate heavy cruiser ideas proposed for the Surakeh shipyard awhile back. The current version is a Faction built heavy intended primarily for sale to the Light Neeran fleet. At the time it was designed the Isolationists were not fully backing Baldr yet and they were in desperate need of ships.

>>2234551
>Say, space mines exist in H&D, right?
Indeed.avi
House J-D makes use of several class of minelayers. Your fleet used high yield antimatter mines to good effect during the civil war. Destroying much salvage in the process.

>Would a minefield like the one in DS9 make sense to keep the largest ships away from the sphere?
Self replicating mines are rather outside your tech level.

While cloaked mines might work to keep ships away from the sphere it would take time to get enough into the area to threaten multiple Neeran Supers. It's doubtful you could threaten the command ship with them, but it might be possible to force them to keep their shields up, or operate slightly farther away from the sphere itself. Basically it would only be an annoyance, but that in itself could be useful.

>>2234603
>Your fleet used high yield antimatter mines to good effect during the civil war.
We did learn from that mistake. I hope.

>Basically it would only be an annoyance
That would still be great. The more we annoy that commander without providing a target to retaliate against, the more mistake he'll be make. Or at least I hope so.

>>2234297
>I'd like to start sabotaging the enemy commander. Weakening their forces present there at the sphere. If intel has any well intel on locations or suggestions we can go off of to start drawing away at their power base so that we can eventually get a FA fleet to come back to the sphere and remove the Neeran commander there.
They have location data of a number of facilities in nearby systems, but it isn't the most up to date. It should still help.

>>2234622
>The more we annoy that commander without providing a target to retaliate against, the more mistake he'll be make. Or at least I hope so.
Cloaked minelayers are not terribly common and those at the front are presently in use on what are considered higher priority assignments. Your best best would be to contact the House and ask them to send you a few of the newer ships. At the front the Alliance could see about borrowing newer cloaks for them from the Rovinar. That would give you minelaying capacity to spare.
They could also be outfitted to carry additional stealth LST's giving you more vehicles to work for operations inside the sphere.

Final checkup question, everything going well on Rioja?

>>2234819
Terraforming still on schedule. The people working on it are still unhappy with the accelerated schedule as it will mess with the ecosystem, but they're getting it done.

People anticipating you'd be out of contact for a year or more tried starting shit but were quickly shut down by the your people and the increasingly competent Governor's office. Far less incidents of corruption outside of accepted channels have been happening.

The heavy cruiser repair berth for the moon base is fully operational. It's being used to assist with the overhaul of an allied ship that was salvaged but never properly repaired.

The Francis Alfonso has returned to Rioja and started construction of Rioja's new civilian station. There were some delays in the homeworlds that prevented an earlier departure. This has set construction back by more than a month.

>>2234509
Also, wiki updated.

So let's see. There are a number of options open at this point. Some of them can be done together more easily, or perhaps in sequence. What was everyone thinking?

1) Intel route, try to disrupt Girisha's infiltrators
2) Raid outlying Neeran facilities in systems near the sphere
3) Cloaked Minelayer
4) Return to sphere with larger cloaked force

>>2234957

1) Intel route, try to disrupt Girisha's infiltrators
2) Raid outlying Neeran facilities in systems near the sphere

These two seem to work together hand in hand.

>>2226439
What space wizard!? Damnit now i have to read the archives.. Thanks TSTG

>>2234957
Can we throw an asteroid or comet at the command ship? Repay the favour for that one time.

I like this sequence, can't forget to pick up the forces inside the sphere though.

>>2235040
>Can we throw an asteroid or comet at the command ship? Repay the favour for that one time.
You can try, though the sphere's system does not possess a comet belt. You'd have to jump it in from elsewhere.

>>2235061
Could we plate the front of it with stealth coating and fill the back of it with mines? That would be hilarious.

>>2235075
For some reason that sounds prohibitively expensive. But not impossible!
Moving it would still be tricky.

>>2234957
Still open to other ideas to add to this list btw.

>>2234957
> 2) Raid outlying Neeran facilities in systems near the sphere
> 3) Cloaked Minelayer

Can we combine these?

Ideally we seed fake asteroid observation outposts with mines, then have them "leak" signals. So the Neeran go charging in and suffer the mines (or at least the tedious job of clearing them) only to have the first asteroid base be an empty shell with rude comments left all over the place. Then it blows up.

Make like three of those. Just to piss them off.

>>2235169
Yes. Really you could just
>Do all the things!
It'll just take longer to set up.

Resuming tomorrow! Hopefully we can get a plan figured out.

>>2234880
How's the AI contact task force doing?

>>2235096
>Still open to other ideas to add to this list btw.
Sabotage the main guns on the scorchers that hang around the sphere with a recon team? Land a team on the hull, then plant explosives on the joints that open when the main beam charges up, and set them to detonate once they try to open it. No idea if that's actually feasible but the caretakers seemed especially worried about those ships.

I'd also love to get some input on the whole situation from Svidur and Baldr before we commit to any plans. Maybe their people have some resources available that could help but Sonia doesn't know about?


>>2234439
>The Shallan military government hasn't been above using salted nukes
Would it be possible to use the energy drain tech to makes these areas habitable again once recolonization is on the table?

>>2235437
>How's the AI contact task force doing?
They've pursued the Kythera ship out "south" of the Republic and are approaching the edges of known space. The guild do have a number of minor navigator outposts out that way, they just haven't been accessible to the public.

Versa's little project is being readied for field testing. Of course the people who have told you this don't know what that project is or what it does but that's immaterial. They're hoping it will be ready for larger scale use shortly after the Dominion rejoins the war. Delays are a reality though.

I realised the other day that with Versa's project fleet commanders could basically become EVE Online capsuleers.
The horror.

>I'd also love to get some input on the whole situation from Svidur and Baldr before we commit to any plans. Maybe their people have some resources available that could help but Sonia doesn't know about?

After a few days on the station you start to wonder about Svidur and how he's doing. Other duties keep you busy most of that time and it isn't until close to a week has gone by that you begin to ask questions. It doesn't take long to realise that you're being given the runaround.

[ ] Patience
[ ] Threaten to bust some heads

>>2235674
I never tried EVE aside from attempting their "tutorial" for an hour or so. I assume becoming a capsuleer was shitty?

> It doesn't take long to realise that you're being given the runaround.
>[x] Other
Simply tell them we noticed and we'd really appreciate it if they could tell us why they're avoiding our questions?

>>2235674

>I realised the other day that with Versa's project fleet commanders could basically become EVE Online capsuleers.
Part of me thinks that could be a good thing. Then again, we have almost 15 years of EVE-Online to be a measuring stick of good or bad capsuleers can be.

On the topic of Svidur, have a little patience, but let it be known that you'd like to speak with him again in the near future. And then start to quietly make your own plans to 'accidentally' end up in the same area as him and talk to him if they refuse.

>>2235674
>[ ] Patience

>EVE
Sonia fits the capsuleer mentality perfectly.

>>2235693
To become a capsuleer the character has to have extensive implants located in their spine and neck then kill themselves to wake up in the first clone body. They're homefree from that point.

The game has all kinds of quest lines about it and asking if the players are truly human anymore or just infomorphs in biological bodies.

>>2235693

>I assume becoming a capsuleer was shitty?
They basically allow a pilot to go full Karan S'jet, but you could unplug yourself more easily.

>>2235709
>then kill themselves to wake up in the first clone body.
Technically you don't have to die to become a capsuleer. The current tutorial mission will absolutely kill your original though.

>>2235735
>Technically you don't have to die to become a capsuleer. The current tutorial mission will absolutely kill your original though.
No, the lore necessitates the suicide of your human body. It's due to the brain of the clone bodies being slightly different to avoid a 'brain-lock' scenario as the Jovians called it, where after disconnecting from controlling a ship you become permanently paralysed. Allows more ease in implanting neural boosters too.

Speaking of implants, are there any upgrades for Sonia's eye implants available?

File: Foundation 2.gif (12 KB, 830x262)

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>>2235743
There used to be uncloned capsuleer pilots at the end of the gallente-caldari war. There were ways to reduce the chances of brain-lock to much lower numbers but as you say cloning was far more efficient.
So it's possible to be one without getting killed.

At any rate it's unlikely Versa's system will require specially cloned bodies to function at this time. Though that may make things easier on the fleet commander.

>Speaking of implants, are there any upgrades for Sonia's eye implants available?
There were a few the Foundation was working on before the war and were co-opted by Alliance R&D after it was found out about energy draining systems aboard enemy ships. They should be available now. Their capabilities and encryption are much better, but the options for stylistic changes are far more limited.

>>2235765
You can't keep this up man, you're making me miss my Nyx. I can't stay up till 3am for eve anymore.
When do we get Titan doomsdays on the super heavies? I always thought they were the most fun part of supercap combat, the most visually striking too.

>Eye updates
Neat. Don't want them getting hacked again.

>>2235709
>>2235735
Thanks.

>>2235743
>where after disconnecting from controlling a ship you become permanently paralysed
Can't they just take the chance and commit suicide if the worst case scenario happens?

>>2235863
https://community.eveonline.com/backstory/short-stories/the-jovian-wet-grave/

They're stuck.
I'm hyped for using the Versa system though.

File: 1417558132769.gif (1.29 MB, 500x379)

1.29 MB GIF

>>2235894
>In an age of clones, genetic engineering, brain implants, FTL travel and lots of other fantastic stuff people can for some reason not detect brain activity while the person is conscious and can still process visual and auditory input
Eh, still better than Nu Wars canon.

>>2235960
It's the Caldari. They're probably worried about the cost of doing all that medical care and have spreadsheeted that it's cheaper to just train a new officer.

Deciding to have some patience you hold off threatening anyone but make it known that you would like to speak with Svidur before you deploy again. They can stop having to avoid your questions if they at least acknowledge that much.

It seems to get the message across. In a few more days you're called in to talk to a Krath officer working for Alliance Intel. They're still worried Svidur might not be entirely in control, though none of the Neeran have been able to find anything that would indicate that to be the case. Because of his knowledge and capability Svidur is still being treated as a potential security threat.

"Are you removing some of the spare power organs?"

"Yes. We've completed two surgeries so far removing fourteen of them. That leaves only eight. The medics are planning to stop after removing two more. It's hoped by the Neeran specialists that should stabilize him."

"Well that's good news. What has Baldr said?"

The other officer frowns. "Baldr is not very happy about all of this."

"He wants him released sooner?"

"He considers his mentor and teacher to be long dead and this thing to be an affront to his memory. Apparently they still had some unfinished business when he died and Baldr took that a bit personally. He's refused any contact with Svidur on grounds that he could be a vector for assassination. Because of this he's requested that the Alliance send Svidur to a high security POW facility far from the front lines."

>What say?

>>2235996
"They were dating?"
"That is unfortunate. I'm also surprised their society hasn't come up with ways to deal with this kind of situation. It seems like something that must have happened before."

>>2236097
"It's probably the most unique situation you, or I, will have to deal with in our careers. A murderous commando and an allied commander in the same body just isn't the everyday event, and we have no protocols for handling it."

"I think a POW facility is a little excessive given the circumstances, but I do agree with keeping him far away from danger. At least that's what the oldest Neeran we met recommended."

"I'm happy to mediate between the two if that's needed though."

>>2236097
Have not heard of teleconfrences? If the dude is that worried they dont have to meet in person and can just talk to each other via holograms.

In before Baldr has been replaced by a spy/ has been a spy.

"That's unfortunate. I think a POW facility is a little excessive given the circumstances, but I do agree with keeping him far away from danger. At least that's what the oldest Neeran we met recommended."

"The Alliance intends to do that for the time being. Priorities might change later. Maybe when we start more serious offensives they'll let him out?"

You try and puzzle through the available options.
"This is probably the most unique situation you, or I, will have to deal with in our careers. A murderous commando and an allied commander in the same body just isn't an everyday event, and we have no protocols for handling it.
I'm surprised their society hasn't come up with ways to deal with this kind of situation. It seems like something that must have happened before."

From what the officer has learned about the Isolationists a teacher will usually share some of their memories with others they've taught before going their separate ways. Svidur was a bit more secretive about certain things than most. Combined with being away for long periods of time he didn't really share much with Baldr.

"Baldr is very accomplished among the Isolationists but much of that was done on their own without the help of a regular mentor."

"Have not heard of teleconfrences?"
"They're probably just not the same for those sort of people."

[ ] It's a start, get them talking at least
[ ] Offer to mediate between the two if needed
[ ] Prepare to cause a diplomatic incident
[ ] Other

>>2236246

[ ] It's a start, get them talking at least
[ ] Offer to mediate between the two if needed

>>2236246
>[ ] It's a start, get them talking at least
"Maybe this one time an exceptional situation requires a shockingly mundane solution?"

>>2236246
>[ ] It's a start, get them talking at least
>[ ] Offer to mediate between the two if needed
"Maybe they just need two or three hundred years to cool off?"

Still alive, just getting a bit stuck with this next bit.

"I don't suppose the two of them just need two or three hundred years to cool off?"

The officer shrugs. "If you're fine with waiting that long Viscount."

"Not really. Maybe this one time an exceptional situation requires a shockingly mundane solution? We need to get them talking again at the very least, even if it's just via coms. It would be a starting point at least."

Just in case that proves difficult you offer to mediate between the two of them as a further effort to kick start things. You won't be causing any diplomatic incidents but that doesn't mean you'll sit here and let things idle.

Eventually this succeeds in getting the attention of Baldr and he contacts you over a secure channel. While still far from the hulking brutes that Empire Neeran appear to be, Baldr seems much more physically fit than either Sam or Dave.

You make the usual pleasantries of introduction, mentioning you once fought together in the major shipyard battle that crippled or killed three enemy command ships.
"I know who you are Viscount Reynard. Even then I knew you'd been given Svidur's artifacts instead of me but did not hold it against you. It's only made me work harder. I finally slew an enemy commander and took their staff.
I may not have all the wisdom of my mentor but I'm proving more than capable of leading my people through this war."

"And don't you want to find out what he thinks of your accomplishments?"

"That thing is not Svidur. It killed thousands of my people and can still do so again. As long as it is alive we are all in danger."

"Look, for better or worse, it has all of Svidur's memory and personality. It may have answers to questions you don't even know to ask yet. It's also not going to hurt you to turn on your screen and make a call. What are you going to lose?"

"It's a distraction from my duties, as are you."

"I don't know if you two had a fight or something before you parted company, but regardless of whatever body he's in this is the same old crazy space wizard I ran into in South Reach. You can either accept that or you can not. If you dont take the time to even talk to him remotely you're going to regret it the rest of your life. I understand yours are a bit longer than mine."

[ ] Leave it at that
[ ] Promise to annoy him until he relents
[ ] Other?

>>2236351
I swear I have a reaction image for this.

But yes, spot on.

>>2236503
>that thing killed thousands
"It's hard for me to grasp the full details of this situation with my very limited understanding of Neeran biology and culture but how is this different from any other vessel that can be used for widespread destruction if it falls into the wrong hands?"

>>2236503
"Look, I know it's all different for you guys, but it killed my people and even shot off my arm too, so it's not like I don't have a personal grudge with it."

"Take a minute to empathise with the situation. Svidur, or his memories, or personality, or soul, or whatever you want to call it, kept that commando in that cave for nearly ten years by himself. I know this isn't an ideal situation but I wasn't going to let him die alone on the sphere."

[x] Leave it at that

>>2236503
Also
>tfw Svidur forgot how to write and accidentally put 'Sonia' instead of 'Baldr' in his will

>>2236588
He was probably predicting that his fellow neeran would spend a few years sitting on the artifacts, doing nothing. While they still did that with their fleets, Sonia got that research started a few years earlier.

>>2236628
Oh, for sure. I like to think Svidur realised how intense the fighting would be far earlier than anyone else and how much of a leg up the FA would need.

Completely unrelated to the current situation: did our house manage to find any of the mia teleporter capsules? Or is that a separate bonus quest line for Sonia?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWh9l8RSkPk [ ODST - Deference for Darkness ]

"I know it's all different for you guys, but it killed my people and even shot off my arm too." you say, lifting your artificial limb for emphasis.
"So it's not like I don't have a personal grudge with it. At the same time, with my very limited understanding of Neeran biology and culture, how is this different from any other vessel or weapon that can be used for widespread destruction if it falls into the wrong hands?"

"The Alliance doesn't generally deploy captured enemy ships that we've only had a week to look over."
Baldr retorts.

"I'll give you that one, but take a minute to empathise with the situation. Svidur, or his memories, or personality, or soul, or whatever you want to call it, kept that commando in that cave for nearly ten years by himself. I know this isn't an ideal situation but I wasn't going to let him die alone on the sphere."

Thanking him for his time you move to end the call.

"Wait."

"Yes?"

"You're not... entirely wrong."

You wait for more but that seems to be about it. Both of you hang up shortly after. Progress you guess. You'll just have to leave it at that.

>>2236659
No sign of them.

File: Spoiler Image (86 KB, 1184x564)

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Completely unrelated, I like rockets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-zmptK7PDE

Jesus Christ that fireball at engine start is more than a little concerning.

>>2236771
Have you ever made your own rockets?

>>2236785
I built small model rockets when I was younger. I think only 2 actually flew. One of them blew apart when the charge to deploy the parachute didnt work properly. The other was damaged beyond repair on the ground by the problem child of my school year.
I stopped when it became impossible to acquire engines in my area for several years. My remaining 5 engines were all duds.

>>2236817
I used to do the same with the model rockets, they were a lot of fun.

I had a similar problem with paying way too much for the motors so I began making my own. A lot of the fun now is optimising the mixtures and nozzle shape for best thrust. I built a ball mall for mixing the powders.

You can start with sugar and potassium nitrate as a basic fuel, dissolve them both in water in a 40/60 mixture then boil over low heat until you get a thick mixture. Shape into any kind of motor and you're good to go.

You eventually get a chance to talk to Svidur after he's recovered from what should be the last round of surgery.

"I'll need to begin training soon. Determine the limits of this new body. I don't expect people around here will be particularly thrilled with that plan."

You don't think so either. For now though he's a good resource for bouncing a couple of your plans off of for ensuring the sphere is protected.

"I want to sabotage the Scorchers that are capable of threatening the sphere."

"Foolhardy. You would have better luck attacking it with shield piercing torpedoes in great numbers."

You reply that you're trying to develop plans that are not reliant upon the Alliance fleets liberating the surrounding territory. True, if you destroy the ships around the sphere more may be sent, but one thing at a time.

"Yes, its possible but I wouldn't recommend it. Their weapon operates in a number of different modes. In regular operation it's more than powerful enough to render a planet uninhabitable, you know this. One of them makes use of a micro wormhole connection to another location to produce a more powerful planet killing beam. This is what they use to actually destroy worlds they want to mine or turn into shipyards."

"What about the antimatter beam one of the caretakers mentioned?"
"There are antimatter generators aboard, but they're all too aware of the threat your Veckron weapons pose. They're only activated when necessary and are used like a normal beam weapon, firing from inside the heart of the ship. It wouldn't need the plasma arrays they normally use.
Not as powerful a weapon true, but again it's only for special circumstances."

"There must be a weakness. We could plant explosives in the joints of the folding sections."

"They've thought of that. Aside from getting a ship inside the hull to attack it from the interior its only true weakness is the wormhole generator. It's largely unchanged from the command capsule escape system aboard city ships. If you could sabotage it that has the potential to destroy the ship. But there is a catch."

"There always is." you accept.

"Sabotaging it is quite hard enough. The problem is that you'll need to get them to activate it, and they don't need to use the wormhole generator to make use of the antimatter weapons. So that is a little harder."

"Can't we just blow up the antimatter generators?"

Svidur shakes his head. "It wouldn't do enough damage and there are backup systems. You'd never get enough of them. I've already told the Alliance how to perform the sabotage necessary, just ask them."

>Anything else you wanted to ask?

>>2236907
Hijacking the wormhole destination?

Also, operating a command ship and scorcher has to use a lot of fuel. What if we were to starve them of fuel? Or maybe even sabotage the fuel supplies by doping them with something like Boron? What about sneaking sabotaged parts aboard?

>>2236907

What are his plans, if any, if the FA let him out under surveillance? With his rather compromised situation I don't think he'll be of use in any wartime capacity except maybe as an advisor.

Also if the FA doesn't want to use him as an advisor. Maybe we could use him as an advisor. I'm sure he has plenty of advice we could use. Even if we would have to deal with an FA watcher or what have you to make sure he doesn't suddenly turn.

>>2236907
Does he know anything about the lost caretaker ship? Or any of the secondary sites the sphere builders had set up elsewhere? How weird is ending up in a new body? Asking just in case our memories should end up elsewhere at some point.

>>2236907
>I'll need to begin training soon. Determine the limits of this new body.
Friendly duel?

>>2236988
We can put him up against our krath. "I can crush all your organs with but a single thought!" "Eh, we don't need them anyway"

>>2236907
Does he have any idea how to mask our presence from neeran forces without dragging sam or dave around to shield us?

>>2236923
>Hijacking the wormhole destination?
That might be possible, but you still need to convince them to turn it on.

>What if we were to starve them of fuel?
That would take some time. The ship ships in orbit are not using any fuel at the moment. Even the heavy cruisers are largely operating on repulsors.

>Or maybe even sabotage the fuel supplies by doping them with something like Boron? What about sneaking sabotaged parts aboard?
You'd need to infiltrate fuel or manufacturing platforms they've set up in neighbouring systems. That might sabotage production of parts for new vehicles and equipment but its unlikely key systems aboard the big ships would be affected.

>>2236927
>What are his plans, if any, if the FA let him out under surveillance?
"I'll assist any way that I can. I'm most worried about preventing the Empire's other commando leaders from siezing control of the sphere though. That could be difficult judging by the restrictions they'll want to place on me."

>Also if the FA doesn't want to use him as an advisor. Maybe we could use him as an advisor. I'm sure he has plenty of advice we could use. Even if we would have to deal with an FA watcher or what have you to make sure he doesn't suddenly turn.
"I thank you for the offer, but I suspect in the long run my people will need all the help they can get. If this war doesn't last forever there will be changes felt by those from both sides of this conflict."

>>2236930
>Does he know anything about the lost caretaker ship?
"I have some ideas but I'm reluctant to get anyone's hopes up. Promise you wont get too excited about salvage? I know you were always one for finding new baubles."

You're not promising anything.

"There were supposed to be wormhole generators in the north and south poles that could allow larger ships in and out of the sphere. I suspect these are what the sphere builders used to travel elsewhere and collect species. They and the associated entrances were damaged long ago. I suspect there was a very good reason for that. For one it kept our city ships outside the sphere. That's all I know."

>Or any of the secondary sites the sphere builders had set up elsewhere?
"I was actually busy searching for signs of them when the issues with the pirate warlords began to flare up. I can't say I made much progress because of it."

>How weird is ending up in a new body? Asking just in case our memories should end up elsewhere at some point.
"Extremely."

>>2237037
>Does he have any idea how to mask our presence from neeran forces without dragging sam or dave around to shield us?
"That convertor artifact will probably help. You'll need more training with it but it's useless against conventional sensors and scanning techniques. Oh my word."

"What is it?"

"I've just found a distant memory. The Empire conduct hunts at times for sport, using special tracking devices on individuals, or was it escaped prisoners? He didn't know, it wasn't important to him. A hunt scanner would be able to find almost anyone, anywhere. Fortunately they're quite rare. This commander, Girisha, has access to them."

"So... we stay off the command ship?"

"I would suggest so."

>>2237064
Is there some kind of main archive in the sphere? They have to keep records somewhere, if there have been multiple species who acted as caretakers I'd be shocked if there wasn't some place where they kept their logs.

>>2237064
>>2237067
This sounds like a really bad situation. We can't realistically touch the Scorcher or Command ship so I guess we're going to have to push the allied lines forward to drive them out.

Unless we get some kind of superweapon that blows up any ship it's pointed at.

>>2237067
>artifact
Speaking of artifacts, does Svidur want any back? I'm not opposed to it after they've been studied to completion. Baldr also sounded a little upset he gave them to us. Was there any other motive to that, beyond keep it out of enemy hands?

>>2237114
>Speaking of artifacts, does Svidur want any back?
Svidur laughs at this then declines.
"None of the ones I left to you, but I wouldn't mind the staff back eventually."

>Baldr also sounded a little upset he gave them to us.
"Was there any other motive to that, beyond keep it out of enemy hands?"
"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me what it is?"

This has him laughing again, eventually telling you. "No."

>>2237064
Did he ever find out who built the sphere? The current owners don't seem to care much about finding out.

>>2237123
That's the wizard I remember.
It's good to have him back, even if the circumstances aren't perfect.

>>2237157
>Did he ever find out who built the sphere?
"No. Though I believe there may be some trace of them. I have a theory that the builders or the ones that passed our people the task of looking after the sphere no longer existed entirely in our dimension or reality.
I hit on the idea after discussing the possibility of the search for life inside subspace with a number of scientists long ago. A few of the Caretakers were not so appreciative of my poking around looking for evidence of this."

>>2237203
Maybe we could find something useful in the logs for the wormhole gates in the sphere? We'll have to get them to find the caretaker ship, they'll probably contain the locations of some of the secondary sites and might even provide clues on where the builders went or where they came from.

>>2237203
>life inside subspace
I SURE HOPE THE TERRANS DON'T BLOW UP SUBSPACE AGAIN. That would be terrible.

Okay, will probably be resuming Friday though I'll continue to answer questions over the next couple days.

We should ask if he has any idea about the other artifacts the knights had.

>>2237123
>wouldn't mind the staff back eventually.
Good walking stick?

The image of a Neeran in an oversized hospital bed with Sonia sat next to them constantly asking questions whilst they try to sleep is an inherently funny image.

>>2237314
Is there anywhere in the area around the Sphere that could use a little Reynard specialty? The smell of salvage and harassment of Neeran forces in the area is very tempting.

Since we dont exactly have any forces besides our battleship at the moment. Can we requisition/ request a small mobile fleet/ squadron to commence raiding of Neeran emplacements in the area to divert military assets away from the sphere? Or failing that, are there any on going stealth ops going on in the region that we can assist in that would go towards reducing the military presence around the sphere?

>>2237314
Had Svidur heard of the Kythera before?

Sonia should send a letter to her family so they know she's okay.

Could we get two or three more Neeran who specialise in obfuscation? It would allow us to operate more groups independently.

Have there been any breakthroughs with the krath bio armour?

Which is the best species for head pats, in svidur's opinion?

What faction has the best memes?

Any reason why we shouldn't use the regeneration artifact on Kavos?

>>2240614
Maybe he wants to die of old age and just get it over. Dudes life has been one war to another. Maybe he doesn't want to worry about being Neeran food or a nanite pain engine

>>2240614
Pretty sure the Regen artifact is for injuries and the like, not age.

Even after all the artifact hunting the MK1 Plasma Pistol is still my absolute favorite thing in Sonia's arsenal.

>>2237872
>We should ask if he has any idea about the other artifacts the knights had.
They don't immediately sound familiar but he promises to get back to you if anything springs to mind.

>>2239247
>Good walking stick?
"Yes actually. I grew up aboard city ships so I'm rather fond of lower gravity world and vessels. I can see why so many of your historical figures would have use of a staff to lean on."

>>2240116
>Had Svidur heard of the Kythera before?
"I had not, but this one certainly had. They fought the Kythera many times when they were younger, but were ignorant to much of the wider conflict with them."

>>2239432
>Is there anywhere in the area around the Sphere that could use a little Reynard specialty? The smell of salvage and harassment of Neeran forces in the area is very tempting.
There are facilities in the surrounding systems. In addition there are believed to be small prospecting and mining fleets that are remaining fairly mobile.
The previous 2 cloaked ships to visit the sphere were asked to conduct a more thorough survey after completing their primary missions. Unfortunately both were discovered for one reason or another and forced to flee.
Someone failed to pass along a similar request for your expedition to attempt to do so if there was time. Possibly because it wasn't certain how long your team would be on site.

>Since we dont exactly have any forces besides our
>Nocturn Advanced Stealth Attack Cruiser
>at the moment. Can we requisition/ request a small mobile fleet/ squadron to commence raiding of Neeran emplacements in the area to divert military assets away from the sphere? Or failing that, are there any on going stealth ops going on in the region that we can assist in that would go towards reducing the military presence around the sphere?
As previously stated your best bet would be to request Cloaked Battleships from your own House which would arrive in a month or two. These would give you much more flexibility in terms of their deployment window.

Small numbers of Rovinar warships can be made available for strike missions, though you would have a limited window in which they would be able to operate before being recalled. 12 weeks at a time maximum.

Available
2x Rovinar Battleships
and
12x silent hunters /or/ 8x Cruisers

As usual you can load up as many SP Torpedoes as your ships can carry, you just need to give back what's left after mission completion.

Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>2240391
>Sonia should send a letter to her family so they know she's okay.
Sent! Rather limited in scope so as not to compromise Opsec.

>Could we get two or three more Neeran who specialise in obfuscation? It would allow us to operate more groups independently.
An attempt will be made to recruit more. Sam and Dave believe they should be able to call in at least one other.

>Have there been any breakthroughs with the krath bio armour?
Nothing tremendously helpful. They haven't really had enough time.

>Which is the best species for head pats, in svidur's opinion?
"I was going to say only the ones with hair, but then Rovinar have hair and I wouldn't recommend it with them."

>>2240416
>What faction has the best memes?
Darmok and Jalad

>>2240614
>Any reason why we shouldn't use the regeneration artifact on Kavos?
It is not intended to repair the effects of old age.

In theory it could potentially do so as I was semi-serious about the stargate sarcophagus thing last thread. The effects would probably be temporary.

>>2241371
>As previously stated your best bet would be to request Cloaked Battleships from your own House which would arrive in a month or two.
How much would a tech level 4 battleship yard and the cloaking device production facility necessary to supply it cost?

Having larger quantities of them available for the 4036 offensive seems like something that would make a decent investment.

>>2241506
>The effects would probably be temporary.
Unless the device turns people immortal with one use, the effects are temporary by definition :^)

As it will take time to get minelayers here you start looking for other items and equipment that could be acquired on a shorter timescale. Tossing an asteroid covered in mines at the enemy fleet is still an option you'd really like to try and make work.
By asking around you eventually get in contact with the Shallan home fleet. Some of their larger bases make use of asteroid missiles to ram larger enemy ships that threaten them. It seems they've also experimented with attempts to hide them from casual observation. Minimalist stealth coatings built out of crushed asteroids with abnormally high carbon content make them slightly harder to detect. The only problem is that they tend to be restricted in use to the systems where they're needed.

That doesn't mean they can't be moved. The more common types can be relocated using a pair of Shallan Battlecruisers to jump them to other systems. That would provide the sort of mobility you're looking for. You could probably arrange to buy one and temporarily deploy the ships as part of a special operations requisition.

Did you want to see about getting a shallan asteroid missile?

>>2242287
>Did you want to see about getting a shallan asteroid missile?
How effective are they?

>>2242287
[x] Yes

>>2242292
>How effective are they?
If there's only 1 of them it probably wouldn't breach the shields of a super but could cause quite a bit of damage to a heavy if struck.
Upgrading it with a better quality stealth coating would give it more time.

Odds are it would be spotted and cut to pieces before it could hit a command ship. They're too well guarded. It could act as a distraction so as to deploy mines though.

>>2241371
>As previously stated your best bet would be to request Cloaked Battleships from your own House which would arrive in a month or two

Put in a request for some of the cloaked BS's so we can start harassing the neeran.

>>2242287

>Did you want to see about getting a shallan asteroid missile?

Pass

Kim will have the ships and a high speed transport carrying alternate weapon loadouts ready in a couple of weeks. Due to a number of anticipated delays they should arrive 6-8 weeks from now. The Alliance has begun a requisition request for better quality cloaks to equip your ships once they arrive.

Acquire asteroid missile: Could we get a tie breaker please?

[1] yes
[1] no
[1] maybe

>>2242368
>[1] yes
I'm sure we'll find a way to use it.

Asteroid requisitioned. The ships moving it are scheduled to arrive at the same time as the cloaked battleships.


Select 1 to focus on at this time

A) Timeskip until arrival of minelayers
B) Raid outlying Neeran facilities in systems near the sphere
C) Sabotage manufacturing at outlying Neeran facilities
D) Return to Sphere with Rovinar ships & more ground forces
E) Intel operation: sowing seeds of dissent
F) Infiltrate and sabotage Scorcher WH generator

>>2242368
[1] yes
Sure, we've had worse ideas.

>>2242399
E) Intel operation: sowing seeds of dissent

>>2242399
>B) Raid outlying Neeran facilities in systems near the sphere

>>2242399
>D) Return to Sphere with Rovinar ships & more ground forces
We left people behind and the sooner we get them additional support the better. If the dyson sphere research guys want to station a small permanent team on the sphere, now's probably the right time to do that too.

>>2242368
Is there any way to make it look like some of the mines have some kind of Veckron weaponry onboard? Obviously not actually have them present, but creating a level of doubt in the Neeran forces.

>>2242399
E) Intel operation: sowing seeds of dissent

this sounds like some good times and with what we will be doing in the near future, will likely help

>>2242409
>Is there any way to make it look like some of the mines have some kind of Veckron weaponry onboard?
Not cheaply or easily. Really it would just make the stealthed mines easier to target, though it might convince them to put a lot more effort into clearing mines quickly.

Rather than wait around for the ships to show up you've decided to start undermining the authority of the Neeran fleet commander Girisha. Intel has been speaking with the new ambassador that came with you from the Caretakers. With the added information they've provided intel now knows the names of several Generals and Admirals whose loyalty are questionable.

"You're to help get Krath infiltrators into place who will help ensure these lesser commanders break away from Girisha. If possible they'll try to actively turn these people against them, though that may be pushing it.
We also have false orders that need to be transmitted from inside enemy territory. Orders that will send ships into traps the fleet has waiting. With luck it will look like the other two fleet commanders are trying to get their rivals assets killed."

Two Neeran Shuttles and four Krath agents have been assigned to your ship. Once they're deployed your orders are to observe the results but otherwise not to interfere. The agents are to find their own way out if possible, you are not to conduct recovery if there is any chance of discovery.

"A number of potential target sites have been uploaded to your ship. How you get them there is up to you, though the shuttles should help as they have the most up to date security keys."

Any questions?

>>2242508
May we get a map and target info, so we know which locations to target first for maximum effect?

Also, if these agents are successful, are there plans to extract them?

If by some fluke they are discovered or their mission back fires are we allowed stay on station to help recover them?

Is there anything we can do to help ensure that these operatives are able to complete their missions with minimal or reduced chances of being found out?

>>2242508
>Any questions?
How long can they survive in disguise?
Can they survive atmospheric entry without equipment if the target is a planetary installation? If the target is a ship, do we have to get them on the ship or is it enough to get them on the hull? Is there a stealthy way to find them if they have to evacuate a ship by spacing themselves?

>>2242508
Can we have any Krath for our side project inside the sphere? Can never hurt to have more of them. Especially if we are making this operation more long term.

>>2242508
Sounds like a plan.

>>2242529
>May we get a map and target info, so we know which locations to target first for maximum effect?
Yes. I'm working on that.

>Also, if these agents are successful, are there plans to extract them?
>are we allowed stay on station to help recover them?
See:
>your orders are to observe the results but otherwise not to interfere. The agents are to find their own way out if possible, you are not to conduct recovery if there is any chance of discovery.

>Is there anything we can do to help ensure that these operatives are able to complete their missions with minimal or reduced chances of being found out?
By not screwing it up for them.

>>2242534
>How long can they survive in disguise?
Classified, but you can ask Eldal when they're not around.
>Can they survive atmospheric entry without equipment if the target is a planetary installation?
Most of the targets should be mobile assets. The shuttles you have been provided with are capable of atmospheric entry.

>If the target is a ship, do we have to get them on the ship or is it enough to get them on the hull?
Ship, hull or docked station should be sufficient.
>Is there a stealthy way to find them if they have to evacuate a ship by spacing themselves?
No. Any sort of locator beacon could give away their identity.

>>2242542
>Can we have any Krath for our side project inside the sphere?
Not at this time.