Vote for our MC’s name and backstory. Writing in a custom name is allowed and encouraged. Mind|Body|Soul are the three character stats this system will use and will tie in with skills/traits.

>>5521410
>Blake, the bastard, a jumped up marine and a choice of last resort (Body+)


Choice nobody wanted go brrrrrrr

>>5521410
>Blake, the bastard, a jumped up marine and a choice of last resort (Body+)

Can't just pass up having the nickname "The Bastard" now can I? (Although should we rename him to Bass/Blast?)

>>5521410
>>Dallas, the second son, trained at our family’s new academy (Mind+)

>>5521410
>Bass, the bastard, a jumped up marine and a choice of last resort (Body+)

>>5521410
>>Dallas, the second son, trained at our family’s new academy (Mind+)
I prefer Blair as the name but with the second backstory.

>>5521410
>>Dallas, the second son, trained at our family’s new academy (Mind+)

>>5521410
>Lachlan, the third son, torn from Mother to pay for the sins of the father (Soul+)
Didn't notice it was a gif at first.

>>5521410
>Dallas, the second son, trained at our family’s new academy (Mind+)
Hollywood tactics, let's go.

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>>5521500
If the updates are slow, know its because I cant help but animate every post...

>>5521516
Based, what software do you use?

>>5521410
>Blair, the second son, trained at our family’s new academy (Mind+)

>>5521556
>>5521512
>>5521500
>>5521484
>>5521462
>>5521440
>>5521437
>>5521434
>>5521415
Looks like we are academy trained.
Dallas seems popular, and a couple of votes for Blake and Blair. Any final votes/changes for name?
>>5521532
Photoshop (using the timeline function), I think I picked the hardest program to animate in outside of Powerpoint.

>>5521516
Based! Your visual style looks very nice. Really excited to see where this quest goes!

File: Scene1 - Cabin and Terminal.webm (1.34 MB, 1280x720)

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>>5521410
[Audio Transcription Cont.]
Father was never the same after we lost Blair. Perhaps that’s why he pushes me so hard.
His firstborn son was raised on these decks - chasing the tails of Marrok engineers through crawlspaces, smuggling rations out from under the quartermaster’s sensitive nose, living and breathing the ancient antech that keeps this old girl’s heart beating. After he was butchered by those wyrm-ridden Rok pirates, I had to step up and leave the academy behind. The Pee-Dee must have a captain of family blood after all - more antech piece of…
<mumbling, unintelligible..
Sure I have all the knowledge, passed down by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers through our new fleet academy but… it’ll never be enough to satisfy Father. Give me one of the new ships-of-the-line, I’d even take a destroyer at this point, just anything with a manual and not two centuries worth jury rigged bypasses and workarounds. At least the family name and our excellent grades were enough to fast track the graduation of my crew and I - misery loves company after all.
<Background chatter.>
My bunkmate and quote unquote “future XO” would like the record to state that I’m miserable enough for all of us and should probably get a headstart on those nightmares.
<A huff, possible amusement?>
Well, that's gratitude for you.

As a graduate of the Annon Fleet Academy you are familiar with numerous standard operating procedures for the Terran Protectorate Navy’s new line of vessels. These are largely based on the design, practices and knowledge of your family’s ship - the Opal class heavy cruiser, TPN Coober Pedy - the only known ‘live’ voidship to make it through the Cataclysm 256 years ago. There are, however, a number of differences between state of the art and ‘antech’ which may leave gaps in your operating knowledge.
>Trait Unlocked: By the Book.


Through your extensive studies you have excelled in not one but three key areas of command. These include leadership and two of your choice:
>Skill Unlocked: Leadership (Mind|Soul)
>Optional Skill: Communications (Mind|Soul)
>Optional Skill: Operations (Mind)
>Optional Skill: Navigation (Mind|Body)
>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)
>Optional Skill: Engineering (Mind)
>Optional Skill: Science (Mind)


Though I never knew my brother well, the thought of never seeing him again does weigh heavily with me. Or at least it makes the implant they prised from his skull and shoved into mine itch like all hell. I guess I’ll always carry a little of him with me.
Anyway, I'll wrap this log up here. The itching is usually followed by the vertigo, claustrophobia and out of body experiences - usually in that order. Best just to take my pills and hit the hay.
<Background chatter.>
Yes, yes… I know that’s what you just said, smartass. Get in your own damn bunk!
LCdr Dallas Annon, signing off.
[End of File]

>>5521799
Vote for which skills you excel at, 2 votes allowed. The webm is important lore wise, if it doesn't work for anyone the transcript is below.

The scene fades in.

Two forms can be seen in the dim light of a cabin, sleeping in a pair of bunks. The terminal beside the bunks displays the following text while a red light blinks occasionally indicating memory access:

>REMOTE SESSION CONNECTING....OK!
>WELCOME USER: SYSROOT01
>ACCESSING 326_016_DA_PERSONAL.log
>FILE SAVED.
>ERROR. D_SPLICER.exe IS NOT AN AUTHORISED-
The previous line is erased, replaced by:
>ROOT OVERRIDE. PROGRAM START.
>WARNING! MEDSCANB01.exe UNEXPECTED VALUE-
The previous line is erased, replaced by:
>WARNING SUPPRESSED. SCANNING....OK!
>SCAN COMPLETE. ONE(1) COMPATIBLE IMPLANT FOUND.
>ERROR. ’COMMIMP03’ REQUIRES ADMIN-
The previous line is erased, replaced by:
>ROOT OVERRIDE. 'COMMIMP03' CONNECTED.
>UPLOADING OMCV_NOWIN.scn......OK!
>DREAM SPLICER STANDBY.
>SEQUENCE START.

The scene fades to black.

>>5521799
Communications (Mind|Soul)
Engineering (Mind)

>>5521799
>Optional Skill: Communications (Mind|Soul)
>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)

The skills of a leader of a single ship.

>>5521799
>Optional Skill: Communications (Mind|Soul)
>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)

>>5521799
>>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)
>>Optional Skill: Engineering (Mind)

>>5521799
>Optional Skill: Navigation (Mind|Body)
>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)

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Looks like Tactical and Communications skills are in the lead for now. I'll leave it a little longer before committing it to our profile.

Picrel is the WIP profile card, I'm also taking suggestions for what Dallas looks like. To keep it on theme, pick a guy from a sci-fi franchise for me to base his appearance off. Or we could just leave him faceless as he has been so far.

>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)
>Optional Skill: Engineering (Mind)
Jury rigged let's go

>>5521799
>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)
>Optional Skill: Engineering (Mind)

>>5521799
>Optional Skill: Tactical (Mind)
>Optional Skill: Engineering (Mind)

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>>5521799
Your study and training at the academy have proven your skill in the command areas of Tactical and Engineering. Your ID has been issued.

Suggestions still open for changes to our mugshot.

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You wake slowly, feeling a dull ache and pressure surrounding you. The claustrophobic sensation is becoming all too familiar of late but doesn’t seem to fade this time.
Red, strobing emergency lights bring some clarity to the situation.
You find yourself strapped to the command seat of the observation bridge, the other stations empty and unpowered. The silhouettes of various crew members drift slowly past the forward view ports of the observation deck, backlit by sparse starlight.
Assessing your situation, you gingerly rub your aching chest and neck and shake your head slightly, trying to clear the fog. You begin to organise your thoughts, attempting to piece together logically the circumstances you find yourself in.

Your helmet has not automatically deployed, but your seat restraints have. G-shock would explain the bruising and whiplash but that would mean inertial damping and grav-plates have failed. Emergency power management seems to have defaulted this area to life-support functions only which could only mean one thing…

Shipwide power failure while under acceleration.

How could this have happened? Why is your memory blank? Last thing you can remember was lying down to sleep last night. Today’s simulation was meant to be important but you were… interrupted? Attacked while leaving the system? Why can’t you just remember?!

Your unlucky crewmates only had repurposed mess hall seats at their stations with nothing like the built in safety restraints of your command station. To your dismay, they've been left to drift in a state of disarray, unconscious and potentially injured.

You centre your thoughts, your mind is your best asset and you will think your way out of this. You’ll start by prioritising:

>Yourself. The first step in any emergency is to remove yourself from danger so you can safely assess the situation and find a solution. [Trait: By the Book - recommended option.]
>Your crew. Their wellbeing is essential to solving this situation and it’s your responsibility to ensure it over all else.
>Your ship. Even if you aren’t the captain (yet), this ship represents life for billions of souls and your duty demands you ensure its survival above everything.
>Write in. Perhaps a combination of the above.

>>5522540
>>Your crew. Their wellbeing is essential to solving this situation and it’s your responsibility to ensure it over all else.

Let's put that leadership stat to work, yeah?

>>5522540
>Yourself. The first step in any emergency is to remove yourself from danger so you can safely assess the situation and find a solution

>>5522540
Well, good thing engineering won out at the end I suppose. Are we still coasting on inertia if the power went out while we were under acceleration? I guess not, since we seem to be still and the bodies outside are just drifting.

>Yourself. The first step in any emergency is to remove yourself from danger so you can safely assess the situation and find a solution. [Trait: By the Book - recommended option.]

We can't help the ship or crew if we die.

Plus, since we have engineering training we actually probably can deal with this situation without our crew if it comes to that.

>>5522540
>Yourself

File: You are here.png (2.66 MB, 2560x1440)

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>>5522662
You take a moment to look past the empty command stations and railing of your raised bridge section to the observation deck below. Where once there were standing security officers and off duty observers there are only floating unconscious bodies. Beyond that, the starfield (or what you can see of it between the ever present holes in space) is static.

[Engineering] You realise the ship must have diverted some emergency power to the manoeuvring jets or 'mavs' to arrest what would have been a violent spin otherwise. This is not an automatic process, the order must have come from CIC or engineering decks.

Inertia is indeed a thing, those bodies are floating inside the observation deck. Sorry if that was unclear, the observation bridge where you and your training crew perform your simulations is located above and behind the main observation deck (the OP image is of you standing down there on the deck looking out the central viewport). Picrel for location and scale of your family's voidship.

>>5522824
Thanks, that does clear things up for me.

>>5522540
>Your ship. Even if you aren’t the captain (yet), this ship represents life for billions of souls and your duty demands you ensure its survival above everything.
>recommended option.
Not fooling me today demons.

>>5523206
You chose the background, one of its perks is the Trait that will give you hints on standard operating procedures. Its a classic case of Knowlege Vs Experience. As always, its left up to the officer's judgement.

That being said, I'll try not to deliberately lead you astray...no promises.

File: Scene3 - No Signal.gif (3.9 MB, 900x506)

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>>5522824
Knowing that at least some officer downstairs has a handle on things, you consider your own predicament. Your first priority should be to ensure your own safety and autonomy so that you help the rest of your crew and ship in turn.

You begin to tug at your restraints, the smooth yet firm straps mould seamlessly together in an ‘X’ across your chest with a second strap looping snugly around your waist. There is no physical release mechanism, the straps made from the same free flowing nano-materials that make up the ship’s uniforms. A useful technology, which when disconnected from the nanite controller becomes inert - maintaining the form and function it last took - making the entire system extremely power efficient.

What you don’t find quite so useful, as you mash the 5th button on your command seats right armrest to no avail, is that this particular command seat appears to have no backup power to turn off the blasted things.

Your luck continues to prove poor as you try the other buttons, hoping that maybe the inbuilt medscanner has its own separate power source. The lack of results, however, confirms your suspicions that like everything else on this ship, some sort of bypass has been installed around the entire power circuit - safety regulations be damned.

The silence around you is eerie, the ever present hum of the SCRAM drive and gentle vibration of the thrusters conspicuously missing. Floating crewmates twitch unconsciously as they drift, but otherwise seem dead to the world.

“Is anyone else awake?” You croak hoarsely, your voice sounding too loud in your own ears.

There is no reply.

Fighting down rising panic you scrabble at your collar to activate your uniform’s multi-purpose controller, attempting to activate its communicator. In your haste you manage to trigger the MPC’s helmet function instead, your ears popping as the uniform-cum-spacesuit suddenly pressurises. The helmet’s visor lights up with a garbled heads up display, and you hear only your own echoing breath and pounding pulse - you’re hyperventilating.

Just as quickly, you deactivate the claustrophobic suit and take a deep breath, holding it for a count of ten as you’ve been trained to do in such situations. You continue breathing slowly and deeply as your heartbeat slows and pounding in your ears recedes. After a minute, you calmly and deliberately reach for your collar again and activate the communicator.

“Lieutenant Commander Annon to Captain Annon, do you copy?”

Static hisses softly in reply.

“Father, do you copy? Come in!” You try again.
Switching between channels you hear more of the same. Static and silence.

What should you do?
>Apply force to the problem!
>Engineer a solution.
>Try to wake your floating and unconscious bridge officers again. By the Book recommends this option.
>Maybe this implant is good for more than headaches. Thirteenth time’s the charm?
>Something else. Write in.

>>5523378
>Engineer a solution.

This is what our training is for.

>>5523378
>>Engineer a solution.
I'm not sure if we can Tactical a solution so let's get our money's worth of engineering.

>>5523378
>Engineer a solution.

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>>5523378
>>5523390
>>5523403
>>5523431
>Engineer a solution.

With no way to free yourself, assess your wellbeing, or communicate, you decide that a more proactive solution is in order. You wince as you shift your bruised chest against your restraints, freeing up room to dig through a pocket. You never go anywhere without the one piece of antech you can truly call your own, a nano-mat multitool - a graduation gift from Mother.

With a practised twist, the cylindrical tool flows in your hands to form a standard flathead screwdriver. Determined and in spite of the intermittent light, you locate and carefully line up the driver's head with a barely visible crack in the right arm of your seat - levering open the access panel. A nest of brightly coloured wires greets you or at least you assume they’re brightly coloured, the mostly monochrome red lighting making such claims dubious at best. Some wires appear to lead to your command seats controls, some are completely disconnected and others loop back in deeper connecting other various functions.

You pluck the mostly useless MPC from your collar and pause for a moment, sighing. It has a power source if nothing else.

“Well, If you can’t beat em…”

Engineering: Despite your misgivings over jury-rigging important equipment, you are presented with an opportunity to engineer a solution to your problem. You could splice your MPC’s battery into the circuit to restore some functionality. The only question is, which two wires should you connect?

You think you can see which wire connects to which button but after 250 odd years of tinkering you can’t really be sure of anything. Best case, you restore backup power to your command station allowing you to run the medscanner and release your restraints. Worst case… well something could end up fried. Could be you, could be your chair. Neither an ideal prospect.

Needless to say, The Codex Astartes By the Book does not support this course of action. It does, however, suggest that by naval convention the common wire is cyan.
Engineering: Prise open the MPC and connect two wires to the battery terminals. Choose two colours from:
>Cyan
>Red
>Orange
>Yellow
>Green
>Blue
>Pink

Alternatively:
>Abort, find another engineering solution. Suggestion?
>Write in.

>>5523513
>Cyan
>Green

>>5523513
Supporting >>5523762

Though I think both Cyan and Green show up as black in red light, at least according to google.

>>5523513
>cyan
>yellow
I think that loose wire is yellow.

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>>5523833
>>5523882
Here's a close up if it helps. The lighting isn't perfectly red so you can make out some colour.

>>5523378
>What you don’t find quite so useful, as you mash the 5th button on your command seats right armrest
>>5523513
Should we try to connect to the right most wire? Or is it the left?

>>5524017
Whichever is the '5th button'. *looks to QM*

>>5524026
>>5523513

I guess that's part of the challenge. I'll pick the red wire. With the cyan.

>>5524035
Is it? We should know what our character considers the "5th button" that they themselves pressed and that we know in-character is the release button-oh, ima dumb, brainfart moment, you don't mean which wire as in the one closest to the left-most or right-most side of the console. The button we pressed isn't the confusing thing, you just mean which wire that connects to the right-most button which you are assuming is the 5th button. I'm embarrassed.

>>5523513
Supporting >>5524035

Worth a try.

>>5523762
>>5523882
>>5524035
>>5524040
>Cyan and Red it is. Writing.

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>>5523513

You grit your teeth and commit to being part of the problem. With a deft flick of the wrist, your multitool reconfigures itself and you carefully strip what you are assuming are the cyan and red wires. It helps that in the red lighting they appear to be both the blue-est and red-est of the entire tangle.

Next, the MPC comes apart at the seams under your careful ministrations to reveal the small, solid-state power cell inside.

The cell, made with the same materials as voidship’s own power generation system, is usually capable of supplying power to a uniform for up to 24 hours under heavy use - and weeks on end under everyday circumstances.

You reconfigure your multitool into a pair of jumper cables and clip one end of each to the cell, making doubly sure not to bridge the terminals in the process. This sort of work is usually left to trained technicians, but you consider it well within your own expertise (though the nervous jitters aren’t helping).

You steady yourself and attach the common terminal of the power cell to the exposed section of the cyan wire. So far so good.

The second jumper lead trembles slightly in your grip as you lower it towards the red wire. You hold your breath, poised waiting for it to still. After a few moments you decide you’re as ready as you’ll ever be and clamp the jaws of the jumper shut around its prey.

Sparks fly.

>I need 3 people to roll 1d4 to see what breaks. Duplicate results are good because that means less gets fried.

1: Nanite Controller
2: Medscanner
3: Comms
4: Seat Adjustment

Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>5524500
le sigh

lets hope whatever breaks, breaks in a good way.

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>5524500
We can roll the same number 3 times right?

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>>5524500
>>5524508
>>5524568
If I can get one more roll in half an hour I can squeeze out the next update before I have to head to sleep. Feel free to roll again.

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>5524500
Satan guide my dice!

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>>5524500

You jerk back from the sudden flash of light, the crackling hiss of electrical discharge deafens you for a moment but fades to a soft hum just as swiftly as it came. Acrid smoke billows out of the command seat’s access panel, engulfing the observation bridge in the stench of melted plastic and ozone. Coughing, you slap the access panel shut and wave away the black smoke. It slowly begins to dissipate, though the smell lingers on.

>>5524568
>>5524766
>Rolled 4,4: Seat Adjustment
As you catch your breath you realise that you are leaning back slightly.
It seems that your physical attempt to dodge the consequences of your own actions was not entirely voluntary. It turns out your idea to restore backup power to your command station has been at least partially successful. Tapping the controls that adjust your seat’s recline to no avail, you realise that you may have fused the input so badly that it bled through into the power circuit.

>>5524508
>Rolled 1: Nanite Controller
Hesitantly, you tap the restraint release control. You feel a strange wriggling sensation across your chest and lower abdomen as the nano-mats making up your unruly seatbelt shift and vibrate, attempting to reconfigure. A muted crackle and another puff of choking black smoke emanates from the seams around the mostly shut access panel and the sensation ceases.
Looking down you can see the once smooth and seamless safety restraints are now a disorganised mess of swirling and fractal like patterns with many gaps and random extrusions. Despite this, the restraints remain largely intact.
Engineering: The nano-material is stronger than kevlar in this configuration but its structural integrity may be compromised enough that the right leverage or enough raw strength could break it.

You begin to curse your luck but stop mid expletive as you brush the medscanner toggle and a holo-screen suddenly materialises. A soft beep pulses steadily from the command station, keeping time with the vitals displayed and the beat in your chest. Some mild bruising is detected where you expect to find it, along with some superficial burns to your exposed skin. Overall, you seem remarkably unscathed - though the burns are concerning for a different reason. Medscan: Health 3/3

Frowning, you try the backup comms next. You open a shipwide channel and are immediately bombarded with the chaotic sound of panicked voices, unacknowledged damage reports, and multiple overlapping distress calls. Mind whirling, you shut off the comm unit to think. Dread creeps up your spine as a picture begins to come together.

Tactical: The sudden power failure, fried personal comms, damage reports, and what you now realise are slight radiation burns to your exposed skin, all add up to a distressing conclusion - damage from directed energy weapon fire. Your ship has been attacked point blank and with zero warning.

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>>5525078

How could an enemy have gotten so close without detection? This was a primitive system - a simple supply drop and we were somehow ambushed on the way out? Your memory is still foggy, though the medscanner strangely doesn’t show anything wrong.

Your thoughts are interrupted by a cough and a groan from above and behind you. From your slightly reclined position you are able twist your aching neck far enough to just make out a familiar form beginning to stir. To your relief, it's your bunkmate, fellow academy graduate, and overall best buddy. If anyone knows what’s going on, surely it's him.

Select your first bridge officer in training - your Operations officer. The Ops officer has their finger on the pulse, expected to keep the Captain apprised of the situation and help coordinate the other officers. They are also tasked with managing any ongoing away missions, boarding actions, etc. For this reason they are often trusted as the Captain’s executive officer as well.


Select your Ops officer from the following:
>Kiro Skyskal
>Mattew Cooper
>Neb von Cliffton
>Coen La’afette
>Finder of Zephyrs

(They will unlock the Operations(M) skill.)

>>5525101
>Finder of Zephyrs

Cool owl XO.

Nice looking quest, Chartman, and an exciting premise. Interested to see where this goes!

>>5525101
>Kiro Skyskal
sksk

>>5525101
>Finder of Zephyrs

Though Matthew Cooper also seems like a good pick.

I'd want someone at least decent at all their typical roles, Matt would be good for away missions and is decent enough to rally the officers and various staff, whereas I feel all the others except Zephyrs are some mixture of too unsociable, too naive, or too inflexible in terms of their bio and stats. Though, being distractible is obviously a pretty big negative on its own, still, I think him or Matt are the best balanced here.

>>5525101
>Kiro Skyskal
Our good stat is mind. We need either someone good in body or soul to balance it out, and I like the gregarious reptile a bit more than the gruff dogman

>>5525101
>Neb von Cliffton
Don't underestimate the number of problems solvable by brute strength and incredible violence.

>>5525101
>overall best buddy
>Kiro Skyskal
That looks like bud material right there.

>>5525101
>Neb von Cliffton

>>5525101
>Kiro Skyskal

>>5525101
>Neb von Cliffton

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>>5525564
>>5525526
>>5525264
>>5525164
>>5525158
>>5525124
>>5525121
>>5525109
>>5525106

>Kiro Skyskal - Your long-time friend and newly appointed Operations officer.
Rolling for damage Kiro received during the G-shock.

Don't worry, you have many more command stations to crew. So you'll be able to vote for your favourites again later.

Writing.

Rolled 3 - 1 (1d3 - 1)

Would help if I actually rolled.

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>>5525581
>Rolled 2 damage!
Kiro Skyeskal, a young, sky blue Marrok and your fellow trainee officer, uncurls from the foetal position as he floats overhead almost lazily. You reach up and tug the tip of his tail before it can drift out of reach, pulling him firmly down beside you. He squeaks indignantly and flails for a moment in the microgravity before steadying himself by clutching the arm of your command seat.

“I’m up! I’m up!” He protests for a moment, before enthusiastically adding, “Operations, reporting for duty, sir!”
A moment later he has his MPC adjusted to provide a slight gravity shear, orienting the deck down for himself. He straightens his spine and attempts to salute but winces halfway through the motion, clutching at his ribs.
“Well, most of me is at least.” He appends, with a sheepish grin. “Did you at least get the name of the moon that hit me?”

As glad as you are to see Kiro conscious and chipper as ever, you can’t help but be taken aback by the state he’s in. A bloodied snout slowly drips blood down his narrow muzzle and his right eye appears blackened, swollen and partially shut. If his shallow breathing is anything to go by, he may even have a few cracked ribs.

Kiro, seeing your concerned expression, rolls his eyes and pipes up, “I’ve had worse!”
His bloodied nose makes his squeaky voice sound even more nasally than usual. You suppress a sardonic smile at the sound, your friend as determined as ever to force his reptilian lips to make Terran Protectorate Standard words. He claims forgoing the MPC's inbuilt translator makes him more approachable and therefore promotable. You aren’t sure ‘adorable’ is what the brass are looking for in their commanding officers but you keep that thought to yourself.

>>5525791
“Do you know what attacked us, Kiro?” you ask while trying to keep the concern out of your voice, “I think the G-shock did something to my head because I can’t seem to remember anything since last night.”

He blinks in surprise. “Attacked? Last thing I remember was the simulation shutting down and the Captain calling for all hands to brace.” He reaches up and rubs his long face gingerly, “Then my face getting a little too intimate with the console. Ha ha. Haaaa…” He chuckles weakly, wheezing slightly at the end.

You nod gravely, replying, “I know the effects of maser flash when I see it.” You rub your cheek, the lingering heat like a light sunburn. “Feel it too,” you add.

You watch as the pint sized reptile’s slit pupil eyes narrow and begin to dart around the observation deck, the proverbial gears whirring as he assesses the scene. The floating crewmembers, your jury rigged MPC, the emergency lighting and depowered consoles, the eerie silence of a ship dead in the water so to speak. The logical pieces all quickly slot into place with the efficiency expected of a trained Ops officer.

“No warning,” he muses, a rare frown crossing his face briefly, “how could we not have seen them coming? Its hours of travel to the nearest rock worth mentioning.” The moment passes and thoughtful expression crosses his face as he looks towards the empty viewport. “More importantly, why aren’t we dead yet?”

You smile grimly and reactivate the backup comm unit in your command seat, the only one on the bridge somewhat shielded from the maser's EMP-like effects. You watch as your friend’s eyes widen at the chaos which erupts from the speakers.
“Well they certainly did their best,” You quip mirthlessly.

Kiro looks hesitantly back and forth between the distressing sound, the viewport and your other floating crewmates. “Surely, the Captain can handle it without us, right? Just long enough for us to make sure everyone is ok?” He asks, hopefully.

You don’t share your officer’s optimistic opinion of the situation but are torn between your duty and your friends.

What will you do?
>Collect more of your fellow crewmates and make sure they aren’t critically injured. If so, will you focus on your fellow simulation trainees or other crew.
>Attempt to make contact with someone in charge through the backup comm unit.
>Use the comm unit to take charge of the chaotic situation below, if the Captain hasn’t done so by now then he may not ever.
>Something else? Write in.

>>5525798
>Use the comm unit to take charge of the chaotic situation below, if the Captain hasn’t done so by now then he may not ever.

>>5525798
>Use the comm unit to take charge of the chaotic situation below, if the Captain hasn’t done so by now then he may not ever.
This is what we trained for

>>5525798
>Use the comm unit to take charge of the chaotic situation below, if the Captain hasn’t done so by now then he may not ever.

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>>5525808
>>5525838
>>5526068
>Take charge

"This is what we trained for, Kiro."
Part of being a leader is making the tough decisions. Hesitation leads only to disaster, and you see your resolve mirrored in your friend as you lock eyes.

"Then lets do this." He replies, placing a small yet firm hand on your shoulder in support.

How do you take command?
>Someone with command access forced the ship to steady itself after we lost power. Surf the comm channels and find them, demanding they relinquish command to you.
>Your command implant can interface with the ship directly, force a connection through to the ships ancient and failing AI and give yourself command of the ship remotely. Warning: Skill check required to avoid mental backlash.
>Impersonate your father, the Captain. Your voices sound similar enough that you could calm the crew and assume command. By the Book: This is technically an act of mutiny.
>Put Kiro on the comm, he may have a better chance of calming the situation.
>Something else? Maybe combine multiple options. Write in.

> I don't have a picture for this so have an old test concept of Kiro in the old uniform design.

>>5526155
>Someone with command access forced the ship to steady itself after we lost power. Surf the comm channels and find them, demanding they relinquish command to you.

>>5526155
>Someone with command access forced the ship to steady itself after we lost power. Surf the comm channels and find them, demanding they relinquish command to you.

>>5526155
>>Your command implant can interface with the ship directly, force a connection through to the ships ancient and failing AI and give yourself command of the ship remotely.
Assume direct control.

Also why not have Kiro go help the other crewmates in the meantime. Or is his emotional support meant to give us a bonus?

>>5526155
>Put Kiro on the comm, he may have a better chance of calming the situation.
>Someone with command access forced the ship to steady itself after we lost power. Surf the comm channels and find them, demanding they relinquish command to you.

>>5526300
>Or is his emotional support meant to give us a bonus?

Kiro has a high Soul stat which would provide him a bonus to diplomacy if he were to speak for you. Though someone trained in the communications skill would likely be even better at this. Giving bonuses to others is more attached to the leadership skill, but Kiro does have two unused skill slots if people want to go down that path.

>>5526389
>>5526300
>>5526176
>>5526161
>Find out who has command and pull rank on them. Maybe Kiro can help smooth things over.

>Writing.

>>5526155
>Put Kiro on the comm, he may have a better chance of calming the situation.

>>5527035
>>5526389
>>5526300
>>5526176
>>5526161
>>5525838
As an aside, would you people prefer if I leave a full day between updates so everyone gets a chance to vote, or are quicker updates better? If it sweetens the deal some, longer between posts means I can work on the visuals more. Let me know what works and what doesn't.

>>5527038
I'd prefer faster updates. There's not that much happening in each update, so with only one per day this quest will be slow as a snail.

>>5527038
pacing & consistent updates > visuals
Always.

>>5527083
>>5527095
Got it. I'll definitely make sure the actual combat parts come out more rapidfire for the pacing. Might try to time that with a weekend. As for consistent updates... with work and sleep two per day's probably the limit.

>>5526155
>Put Kiro on the comm, he may have a better chance of calming the situation

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>>5526155
With your Ops officer by your side for support, you begin to flick through comms channels - heart hardened to the numerous cries of pain, requests for assistance, and directionless chattering. You hear Kiro whimper slightly, though you’re unsure if it's in sympathy or pain - his injuries seem to be greater than he is letting on.
You try all the command channels, searching for any officer of rank greater than your own and working your way down.
No response from the Captain or any of his alpha shift command crew.
Static from their counterparts on beta shift.
What remains of the gamma shift still floats around you unconscious.
The lack of direction and uncharacteristic chaos you witness is quite damning.

“Oh my stars..:” You hear the Marrok beside you whisper, aghast. “Is there no one left in charge down there?”

You find it too difficult to reply, your mouth set in a grim line as you continue to flick through channels, growing angrier with each press of the control.
“This is unacceptable,” you growl, “we’ve been attacked and this is how my crew reacts! We’re better than this.”

Finally a connection gets through to someone in engineering, you pause in surprise as a Tyllano engineer stares back at you blankly. You can see the compartment behind him in disarray, broken pipes and cables leaking fluid and sparking dangerously. The feathered man sighs wearily and begins to speak in the low flute-like manner of his people, his MPC translating it into a rich, baritone.

“Engineering, Ensign Flies-at-Night reporting. I’m sorry, I’m going to have to put you on hold for-”

You slam your fist against the arm of your command seat, your expression baleful enough in the stark red light to give the flustered junior officer pause. Before you can express your displeasure with the state of things, however, Kiro leans past you pointing eagerly.

“Hey Fan, It’s me Kiro! Don’t hang up!!”

You glance sidelong at your companion as he hangs from the back of your chair making himself visible to the hapless engineer on the display. He seems remarkably upbeat despite everything but you trust him to take over the conversation for now.

“Kiro? I thought all the senior officers were dead?” The Tyllano blinks slowly, his gaze seeming to look through you into the distance.

“Dead? What do you mean, dead?” Kiro squeaks in reply, his composure and voice cracking despite his best efforts. “The Ell-Cee and I are still up here on the observation bridge with most of the gamma shift command! Though they’re mostly sleeping on the job.”

Fan blinks slowly, seeming to recognise you for the first time.
“Sir!” he barks, snapping a crisp salute.

“Damage report, Ensign. And get the power back on up here, stat!” You command slowly yet firmly.

“Of course sir,” He glances away from the camera for a moment and touches a holo-display, navigating menus, before turning back and saluting again. Lights suddenly blind you as power is restored to the observation deck.

>>5527151
Fortunately, the young engineer had the forethought not to re-engage the grav plates or else it would be raining crew right about now. He begins to recite what you realise must be a well practised speech by now, his translator barely keeping up with the staccato whistles and hoots he produces.

“Directed energy weapon penetration through port amidships, decks eleven through nineteen received the bulk of the damage. Crew quarters in those areas were slagged by the DEWs along with most of beta-shift, who were off duty. CIC was the primary target, it’s gone. Alpha command was on duty…” He pauses there for a moment, eyes solid black eyes unglazing for a brief moment, focusing on you. “I’m sorry, Captain Annon is gone too.”

Your breath hitches momentarily as the news you suspected but were secretly denying finally comes. The Ensign continued his spiel, resigned.
“Secondary hits damaged the mass driver, DEW banks A and B, aft-torpedo magazine and the fusion reactor - causing it to destabilise. Chief Engineer Carlsson was the only alpha-shift officer not in CIC when it was hit, he stabilised our spin and led the senior engineers to get the reactor back under control. The fusion reactor went into meltdown shortly after and the emergency systems vented the core into space. The Chief and his crew have yet to return.” Fan takes a gasping breath, then plunges on. “Excess heat was absorbed by the void core but forced it to invert into a cooling cycle. We have no power generation, and emergency power is at 43 percent…” He looks down at his display briefly, “42 percent, now.”

You stare, speechless, at what you now realise is the highest ranked engineering officer currently conscious aboard the TPN Coober Pedy.

“Wow,” Kiro says gently, snapping you out of your reverie. “That’s… not great. How many people did we… lose?”

“I’m unsure, medical is handling triage and-”

“Enough!” You cut off the clearly shell-shocked engineer. “I need you to do something for me Fan. I need you to transfer the ship’s master controls to the observation bridge. As the current Chief Engineer you can authorise that.”

“The… what?” he whispers. “I’m not… I’m just an Ensign. The Chief will be back any minute now and fix everything.” He begins to sway slightly.

“Fan, listen carefully,” you retort, projecting your best commanding aura, “Chief Carlsson is dead, as is his staff. My engineering officer is still out cold, that makes you Chief Engineer. You need to transfer command of the ship up here to me.

“I… no. That’s not… No!” he squawks, wrapping his arms around himself and sitting down. The Tyllano cannot physically cry but the translator makes it clear the incoherent engineer is in distress.

Kiro reaches down and mutes your end of the comm channel, and turns to speak to you softly.
“Dallas, I don’t think orders and logic are going to work here. We need another way to get through to him, or find another way to transfer control up here.”

>>5527178
Still somewhat shaken by the news of your Father’s death, along with the catastrophic damage your ship has suffered, it takes you a moment to process what your friend has said. Once you’ve caught up however, you reluctantly agree with his assessment of the situation.

What will you do?
>Back to plan B. Desperate times and all that. You will brave the twisted maze that is the ship’s mainframe with your command implant. This will require a skill check to avoid mental backlash.
>With Kiro’s guidance and familiarity with Flies-at-Night, you will try to get through to the distressed Chief Engineer emotionally.
>Attempt to wake your own engineer and send him all the way down to Engineering to take over as Chief. (This will take time and remove him from your crew options.)
>Something else? Write in.

>>5527185
>With Kiro’s guidance and familiarity with Flies-at-Night, you will try to get through to the distressed Chief Engineer emotionally.

>>5527185
>With Kiro’s guidance and familiarity with Flies-at-Night, you will try to get through to the distressed Chief Engineer emotionally.

>>5527185
>With Kiro’s guidance and familiarity with Flies-at-Night, you will try to get through to the distressed Chief Engineer emotionally.

>>5527038
Leaving it for a full 1-day may make sense for critical votes that are close, but otherwise faster updates are fine, as long as you get enough votes.

>>5527471
I think timezones are the real killer here. I generally have an hour to post in my morning before work and then in the evening before I sleep. Most of the votes seem to come in while im working and not sleeping though... I guess I could post from my mobile in my lunch break.

>>5527474
don't kill yourself trying to post faster. 1 update a date is the norm for a reason.

>>5527117
Don't feel pressured to make two posts a day, aim for the amount you know can comfortably produce and announce schedule changes ahead of time. Das all I think.

>>5527485
>>5527651
I was considering that when we have a full cast that players can interact in character freely with the crew between main story posts and I can do quick replies on the go responding. Could be useful for character depth.

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>>5527190
>>5527470
>>5527471

"We need this to work, Kiro. Every minute we're dead in space matters." You glance back at the holo-display, making sure Flies-at-Night was still there. The avian man was indeed still seated, and was now rocking back and forth with a glazed look in his eyes.
Fighting to keep your own emotions in check, you continue, "Will you help me get through to him?"

Your small, blue friend takes a step back with a wince, clutching his ribs once more but smiles regardless.
"Of course, but…" He looks at you knowingly, "let's make sure your head is in the right place first. Practice on me."

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>>5527716

[blue][b]Social Skill Check Tutorial:[/b]
When you interact socially with someone, you can trigger a skill check to inspire an ally or persuade someone reluctant to do as you wish. Each person has a number of nodes corresponding to Mind|Body|Soul values.

To succeed, you must light up more than half the nodes in three rolls - though some are lit up (white) already. Choose, Mind, Body or Soul and roll the corresponding die. Whichever node you roll will light up all the adjacent nodes.

Red nodes represent hostility or resistance to your efforts and don't count towards the node total. Rolling a red node will cause all adjacent nodes to go out.
[/blue]

Using your [Leadership] you will practice inspiring Kiro. Write something nice to say to him and roll one of the following:

>Mind (roll 1d8) - an appeal to reason or logic.
>Body (roll 1d8) - an appeal to the physical or needs.
>Soul (roll 1d12) - an appeal to emotion or the spiritual.

We need three rolls total, it's best to check what the last person rolled and spread out the types to avoid already lit nodes or red nodes.

Rolled 5 (1d8)

>>5527718
"C'mon Dally, I'll get you started."
Kiro clears his throat and attempts to deepen his voice closer to your own register.
>Body
"Kiro, no other Lieutenant has better pronunciation than you, you could convince Fan to help us wid dat alone!"
He smirks as he deliberately butchers the last few words, looking to get a rise out of you.

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>>5527891
"Maybe try to be a little more sincere than that, though." He says.

>Example roll would have only add 1 lit node to your total.

Rolled 1 (1d12)

>>5527718
Soul roll.
The crew knows and respects you, let's get him going.

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>>5528213
>Goal 11/14
Good roll, 4 nodes in one!

Rolled 3 (1d8)

>>5527718
>Mind
You always know the best way to help people, bud.

Rolled 12 (1d12)

>>5528220
>Soul
Imagine the respect you'll obtain if you pull this off

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>>5528243
>>5528270
>>5528213

Three for three with flying colours.
>Writing

Thought I'd spice up the skill checks a little, instead of the old roll against a DC. Let me know if you liked it or not.

>>5528279
>wake up
>see hacknet
Alhamdulillah. Finally, some new fucking system. Looks amazing, but have you tested the difficulty with the red nodes? How did you come up with it?

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>>5528291
Red nodes do make things difficult in my (admittedly small) batch of test rolls. But I deliberately placed them in more out of the way places (representing Kiro's head and rib wounds) so they wouldn't cause as much of an issue if they were rolled. I came up with it when I was planning this quest, after reading so many which were just: Best of X, beat this DC. I wanted my rolls to have physical meaning and I already have a different type again ready for when we get to combat. Its less of a binary hit or miss and more physically a 'you hit where you roll'. Picrel.

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>>5527899
>>5528213
>>5528243
>>5528270
>Rolled Mind 3, Soul 1 & 12. A qualified success.

You take a deep, calming breath and set aside your anxiety and anger at the situation - your little, blue friend’s antics drawing away the pressure despite the time crunch. Composing your thoughts in the manner you trained at the academy, you begin to speak confidently and sincerely - projecting Leadership.

“Thank you, Kiro, I needed that. With you at my side, convincing your friend Fan there to calm down and help save our ship will be a cakewalk. I’ve always been impressed that you go out of your way to make friends with all the crew, that they all know and respect you. They know that they can come to you with anything and you will always come up with the best way to help them. Even now, in these dire circumstances, you see the path so clearly to help those in distress. If you help him now, I’m sure you’ll earn Flies-at-Night’s undying respect.”

You pause for effect and flash a genuine smile. “But you already have mine, bud.”

Leadership Skill-check Successful. As a result Kiro is inspired, granting him a reroll on his next skill-check. Additionally, your success has unlocked one of his skills: Empathy. This gives additional advantages in social interactions.

The Marrok before you is struck momentarily speechless, mirroring your grin in bashful silence.

“What,” you smirk, “too much?”

“You might have hammed it up just a little.” He replies in a small voice, holding an index and thumb claw only millimetres apart for emphasis. “But I think we’re ready to talk to Fan again now.”

He indicates the still muted comm display, the Tyllano Chief Engineer standing once more but still with a thousand lightyear stare.


You gesture for Kiro to rejoin you in view of the holo-display, and he gingerly works his way back over to hang from the back of your command seat - his head hovering over your shoulder. You reach down and toggle the mute function.

What do you say/do:
>Have Kiro do the bulk of the talking, yourself posing as the silent figure of authority. (QM will roll for Kiro’s skill check as optimally as possible so it’s less drawn out this time.)
>Tag team the conversation with Kiro, bouncing off each other’s points. (Another social skill check will occur with all Kiro’s skill and stat advantages available. The players (You), will contribute the rolls and dialogue as before.)
>You’re on a roll and will do all the talking yourself. Kiro will act as a reassuring friendly face. (This social mechanic needs work, give us back the quick and dirty roll against DC please.)
>Something else. Feel free to mix and match the above. Write in.

>>5528331
>Tag team the conversation with Kiro, bouncing off each other’s points. (Another social skill check will occur with all Kiro’s skill and stat advantages available. The players (You), will contribute the rolls and dialogue as before.)

>>5528331
I gotta catch some shuteye, so I'll wait for a larger consensus on how we want these skill checks to go. I'll tally up the votes and update first thing in the morning.

>>5528331
>Have Kiro do the bulk of the talking, yourself posing as the silent figure of authority. (QM will roll for Kiro’s skill check as optimally as possible so it’s less drawn out this time.)

>>5528331
>Tag team the conversation with Kiro, bouncing off each other’s points. (Another social skill check will occur with all Kiro’s skill and stat advantages available. The players (You), will contribute the rolls and dialogue as before.)
I'm not completely sold on this mechanic, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

>>5528331
>Tag team the conversation with Kiro, bouncing off each other’s points.

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>>5528335
>>5528597
>>5528805
>>5528835

“Hey Fan, its Lieutenant Commander Annon again.” You begin, keeping your voice slow and even. “Are you still with us?”

He raises his owl-like visage to meet your eyes for a second, seeming to briefly acknowledge you before glancing away again. You can hear the insistent beeping up waiting calls and reports queuing up on his console but he pays them no mind, arms slack at his side.

“It’s going to be okay, Fan, you’ll see.” Pipes up Kiro from his perch over your shoulder. He waves free arm to catch the engineer’s attention. “The Ell-Cee and I are here now, and together we’re going to put everything back together, we just need you to listen. Can you do that for me, my friend?”

>Tag team the conversation with Kiro, bouncing off each other’s points.

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>>5529018

Kiro whispers quickly in your ear, “Remember Dallas, he’s in a great deal of mental pain. It might be best to stick to a physical or emotional course.”

With Kiro’s guidance, you begin to navigate the fragile mental state of the acting Chief Engineer. His heightened Soul stat grants you four total rolls instead of three and his Empathy has increased node crosslinking to make what you say more effective (for better or worse).

Social skill check rules are otherwise the same as in:
>>5527718

Kiro will work with you, using his relationship with the engineer to make things more personal. What will you say to bring Fan out of his funk, and get you in control of your ship?
>Mind (roll 1d8) - an appeal to reason or logic.
>Body (roll 1d8) - an appeal to the physical or needs.
>Soul (roll 1d12) - an appeal to emotion or the spiritual.

Rolled 11 (1d12)

>>5529027
>Soul
"Listen Fan, you've trained for this. If you're on this ship, you're one of the best. The real hard, steely-eyed rocket people. You get shit done."

>>5529027
Wait, he has 12 Mind and 8 Soul.

Rolled 7 (1d8)

>>5529033
Rerolling because wrong die

>>5529027
>>5529035

Sorry, my B, you are correct. Copied Kiro's one.
And that goal is meant to be 7/15 instead since this is a harder skill check. But with all of Kiro's buffs plus his inspiration re-roll it should be doable. Ill fix it up and repost.

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>>5529027
>>5529038
>>5529033
Fixed up the dice types and goal total.

Roll 1/4. One Re-roll available.
Continue.
>Mind (roll 1d12) - an appeal to reason or logic.
>Body (roll 1d8) - an appeal to the physical or needs.
>Soul (roll 1d8) - an appeal to emotion or the spiritual.

Rolled 5 (1d8)

>>5529048
>Body

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>>5529101
Did you have anything specific you wanted to say in your an appeal to the physical or needs?
Excellent roll btw.

Roll 2/4. One Re-roll available.
Continue.
>Mind (roll 1d12) - an appeal to reason or logic.
>Body (roll 1d8) - an appeal to the physical or needs.
>Soul (roll 1d8) - an appeal to emotion or the spiritual.

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>>5529109
>Bodied that body roll
How about we tell him he's strong?

>>5529150
That'll work. A Tyllano's base stats are actually Mind: d12|Body: d4|Soul: d8 so he actually is quite strong for his kind.

We wont even need that fourth roll at this rate, unless someone manages to roll a duplicate number.

Rolled 4 (1d12)

>>5529109
>Mind

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>>5529280
Bold, risky even, but it payed off.
What did you say that so nimbly avoided setting off the twitchy engineer?

>Goal Reached. In three rolls no less.

Will update when I finish work for the day.

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>>5529280
>>5529150
>>5529101
>>5529027
>Rolled Mind 4, Body 5, Soul 7. A rousing success.

Flies-at-Night hesitates a moment, then nods slightly, seemingly unable to speak. You take this as a positive sign and begin softly.

“Listen, Fan, I’m going to level with you. You’re here on this ship, that means you’re one of the best. No question, you were born for this - not just anyone can be an engineer on a voidship.”

“Especially not on the Pee-Dee,” Kiro adds, encouragingly.

“You’re out here with us, saving hudreds of worlds,” You continue, your voice gradually increasing in volume and pace. “You make sure that every time we dive deep into subspace, scraping out hull plates against event horizon after event horizon, not a single nut or bolt comes loose! We fly on your wings, Fan!”

The Tyllano blinks his dark, round eyes a few times and meets your steady gaze.

“You’re a spaceman, an officer no less! You have steel in your eyes and stardust in your blood. You get shit done!” You exclaim, pounding the arm of your command seat. Fan’s eyes widen in response to your vulgarity but it seems to have gotten through to him.

“Do you remember when we first met, Fan?” Kiro takes over. “You were still a midshipman on a damage control team then but we both were off duty in the gym during beta-shift. You saved my life.”

You glance in slight alarm at your bunkmate as he earnestly hovers over your left shoulder.

“I was an Ensign fresh from the academy, looking to prove myself.” Kiro chuckles slightly,
“I had to rack more weight than all the other Marrok on the ship, to prove I could pull my weight. I didn’t need a spotter, eighty kilos was nothing, I thought.” He trails off, looking down.

“I almost choked to death, that bar on my neck, but then you came.” He snaps his head back up staring intently at the holo-display, smiling brightly. “You threw that weight off me like it was nothing.”

“I’d almost forgotten.” Fan all but whispers, only the translator at his neck making his voice audible.

“We’ve been gym buddies ever since!” The little lizard finishes, giving a big thumbs-up.

Time for the final blow, you muse. Despite Kiro’s earlier warning to avoid certain topics, you decide to strike while the iron is hot.

>>5529784

“You’re stronger than you know, Acting Chief Engineer.” The owl-like being jerks as if struck but stands strong.
“Now, are you ready to assume your duties, transfer command to the observation bridge and save this ship?” You point at him authoritatively.

Flies-at-Night shakes himself slightly, seemingly pulling himself together, and salutes you sharply.
“Yes Sir, I am!”
He touches a few buttons, and the previously dark consoles begin to light up around the bridge - no longer mere simulations.
“The ship is yours, Sir!”

You allow yourself a small, genuine smile as Kiro cheers loudly in your ear.
“Then as my first order as Acting Captain, you will find and assemble the damage control crew for priority assignment. I’ll be in touch.” With a final nod, you shut down the comm unit and, as an afterthought, restore power slowly to the observation deck’s grav plates. Your floating companions drift gently down to rest.

Social Skill-check Successful. Flies-at-Night will now work more efficiently with the damage control teams (Repair Efficiency). You now also have acting command of the TPN Coober Pedy and the ship’s controls have been transferred from the ruined CIC to the Observation Bridge.

“We did it, Cap!” Kiro exclaims excitedly, and hops down off your seat. His elation is marred slightly by a squeal of pain as the resumed gravity causes him to jostle his damaged ribs. He grits his teeth in a grimacing attempt at a smile though, and slowly limps over to take his seat at the Ops console.

“I’m only acting ‘Cap’ for now.” you reply gravely. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me! Worry about the ship, we were attacked, remember!”

“Well if you’re sure then. Priorities, I suppose.” you accede.

What are your priorities?
>Situation report. What attacked us? Are we in imminent danger? (QM let us shoot stuff already.)
>Ship and crew. We need to save lives and repair damage before anything else. (More ship related shenanigans.)
>Command. We need more than a skeleton crew running the show. Time to wake up the lazybones now lounging on deck around you. (Choose more bridge crew.)
>Write in a suggestion.

>>5529794
>Situation report. What attacked us? Are we in imminent danger? (QM let us shoot stuff already.)

>>5529794
>Situation report. What attacked us? Are we in imminent danger?

>>5529794
>Situation report. What attacked us? Are we in imminent danger? (QM let us shoot stuff already.)

>>5529806
>>5529818
>>5529822
>Looks like its time for action. Though I'll need time to cook up that situation report.

In the meantime, what did you think of the social skill check mechanic now that we've been through two of them? Too much? Too easy? I tried to work what everyone said into the resulting conversation, but it ended up a little longer than anticipated.

>>5529829
>Too much? Too easy?
I think we'll need more dice rolls and a failure to determine that.
>but it ended up a little longer than anticipated
Maybe just a little tiny bit too long, but I don't think it's a problem.

>>5529834
I concur

>>5529834
>>5529836
Well I'll leave it as is for now. I've not done much writing for anyone but myself before so I tend to start trying to inject lore into sentences where they could be more succinct. Maybe it would be better to lore dump separately but that ruins the intrigue I figured.

>>5529841
Now that you say it, the lore might've been too random in the gym example and felt like something too insignificant to get a reaction we god and correspond to the very good body roll. But that's a nitpick of mine.
Do keep in mind that my mind has 2 nodes and both are currently red cause it's morning + I has headache.

>>5529849
Ha. Fair enough. I was trying to work in the "Strong body" from >>5529150 . Proabbly should have called it the ship's gym or something. Every large warship has places like that for the crew to keep fit.

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>>5529794
>>5529806
>>5529818
>>5529822
>Situation report.

“Alright Ops,” you say in a clipped professional manner, putting on your metaphorical Captain’s hat, “We need to know who and how they hit us, and if they’ll be coming around to finish us off any time soon.”


“On it, Sir.” Kiro replies, with a small determined smile. “Accessing sensor logs prior to shipwide power failure.”

Tapping nimbly at his console, your Operations officer begins to review the events preceding the chaos you awoke to find yourself in what seems like hours ago. In reality, barely ten minutes have passed since you found yourself strapped to your command seat, chest and neck aching and memory full of holes.
You tug at the warped safety restraints futilely, but find yourself still as stuck as ever. No matter. Your place is here, in command of your voidship.

You can’t help but fidget impatiently as you wait for the report, feeling tempted to just bring up the data yourself - no matter how little sense it might make to someone without the specialised training of an Operations or Science officer. You still can’t quite fathom how an armed and evidently hostile vessel managed to close distance without being detected. Did they coast in on a ballistic course alone? Did they have some sort of stealth system? Why didn’t they attack us with torpedoes like a normal pirate?

By the Book: Distance and timescales are always much greater in space combat. Despite the advent of torch and SCRAM drives, it can still take hours, or in some instances days, for opposing warships to close to directed energy weapon engagement range. Torpedos are a much faster and longer ranged alternative, and are more commonly used than DEWs.

To distract yourself, you take a moment to collect your multi-purpose controller and multi-tool and stow each back in its rightful place. With main power restored to your command seat, the MPC will be more useful powering your uniform than as a backup power supply. Despite its antenna being fried its other functions will still keep you alive in the event of a hull breach.

“Talk to me, Ops.” you say, finally giving in, “Do we at least know what they look like?”

“Hmm? It’s strange,” the Marrok replies with a distracted air, turning slightly to speak. “We have zero sensor data besides optical, and that was only from the brief instant when they lit us up. I’ll put it up on the main screen. No hull matches so far, but our records are pretty spotty. Seems to be some sort of corvette.” His tail begins to twitch agitatedly.

The main viewport darkens and displays a prism like vessel with detached floating arms circling a central body. You don’t recognise the design, even with your academy training, perhaps it's a new design from a local system? That might explain some of the discrepancies. It has few distinguishing features but you have to assume it's comparable to a modern warship.

>>5530080
Your console pings with an audio only message. Your Acting Chief Engineer has reported that the crew has calmed somewhat now that the word has spread that you’ve taken command.

He has a damage report ready for you, and his crew is standing by to begin work.
You pay attention to the most pertinent piece of the report: power. Flies-at-Night had not exaggerated in his earlier verbal assessment of the ship’s situation. The void-core was stone cold, secondary fusion reactor damaged beyond immediate repair and emergency power capacitors at only 41% power.

While the remaining power could keep the lights on and air circulating for a few days, any usage of the ships other systems would rapidly deplete this life-sustaining resource. A dead ship was a dead crew. Even firing up the Pee-Dee’s active sensor array would take a not insignificant chunk out of what remains.

As you wait for Kiro to piece together the situation or for the ship’s passive sensors to pick up your adversaries what will you do?
>Review the Acting Chief’s damage report in full and begin assigning repair priorities. (No Cost)
>Fire up the ship’s active sensors and see what’s out there. (5% power cost.) By the Book notes that this will not go unnoticed by anyone watching with even passive sensors nearby.
>The ship’s propulsion systems seem untouched, have the ship begin preemptive evasive manoeuvres. (1% power cost, ongoing.)
>Stare out the viewport and await your Ops report before making further decisions. (No Cost.)
>Something else. Write in.

>>5530096
Two more options I forgot should probably be there. Combining actions is fine as well.
>Try to raise someone on the ship's long range comms.
>Try to rouse some more crew to help lighten the load. (Or at least give medical a heads up we have wounded up here.)

>>5530096
>Try to rouse some more crew to help lighten the load. (Or at least give medical a heads up we have wounded up here.)
If we give any sign we're alive, they're going to finish us off. So no active scans, no maneuvering, no comms until we're completely ready.

>>5530096
>Review the Acting Chief’s damage report in full and begin assigning repair priorities. (No Cost)

Let's figure out what we have and what we can get.

>>5530096
>Review the Acting Chief’s damage report in full and begin assigning repair priorities. (No Cost)
duh

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Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>5530152
>>5530248
>>5530512
>Damage report
>Maybe crew wakes up: rolling d20
How's the picture in picture stuff working out for you guys? The main screen and our command seat holo-display. Are they visible enough or should I just have dedicated images for when you look at screens?

>>5530694
>How's the picture in picture stuff working out for you guys?
It looks cool but i think you should post an additional picture, especially if you're gonna make a 2nd post anyway. Mostly for convenience, and it'll give us a closer view at whatever we're looking at too

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>>5530821
>>5530096
That's a good idea.
Here's a better look at the silhouette you got from Kiro's digging.
I usually plan a post, then do the gif, then write. In that order. So When the post overflows into two, I haven't been prepping an additional picture. Reusing the picture-in-picture is definitely a great and quick option.

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>>5530694
>Rolled 11 Nav
Making these damage and situation reports is taking longer than expected so in the meantime you can take your pick from the expanded crew roster. (Minus Kiro of course).

As you begin to flick through the damage report, unseen down on the observation deck your Navigation officer stirs from g-shock induced unconsciousness.

Choose your Nav officer from the following:
>Matthew Cooper
>Neb von Clifton
>Coen La'afette
>Finder-of-Zephyrs
>Rika Sharsi
>Isobel Buxton
>Cleo von Clifton
>Sofia Odette
>Eyes-of-Night

>>5530896
>Cleo von Clifton
Kiro has a lot of soul, we have a lot of mind, so naturally we need a big playful dog girl to balance us out!

>>5530896
>>Sofia Odette
Cute. And devious could be a plus when navigating.

>>5530896
>Eyes of night.

>>5530896
>Cleo von Clifton

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>>5530925
>>5531055
>>5531122
>>5531192
Looks like Cleo is our Nav officer. That's 2/6 of our bridge crew selected now. She gets the Navigation(M|B) skill, which fits her stats quite nicely.
Navigation Officers are charged with charting courses, planning and executing subspace dives as well as performing combat manoeuvres. They also keep an eye on the ship's immediate surroundings.
>Writing

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Potential face? Need a name besides Anon?

>>5527151
>>5529018
>>5529784
>>5530080

Guys, look at the second window from left. Something's approaching us and I doubt it's friendly. We need to start manoeuvres.

>>5531280
It's probably the aggressor, and they probably thing we're dead and are trying to board us. If so, our best bet would be ambushing the boarding party, and not maneuvering. Otherwise they'll just shoot us again.

>>5531280
>>5531301
Oh, you guys finally noticed. That does change this next update somewhat...

>>5531272
We do have a name, Dallas Annon. It's Scottish I swear. And we do need a face, if only for our stat card. Still, if anyone else has suggestions or likes this one I'll make it so.

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>>5531227
>>5531192
>>5531122
>>5531055
>>5530925
>>5531272
>>5531280
>>5531301

A graphic of the ship’s damaged systems rotates on the command seat’s holo-display. At a glance you can see major damage has knocked out half your weapons, a quarter of your defence, and a third of your crew - with minor damage to your sensors and a few other redundant systems. Not to mention you’re on backup power only.

"I got 'em! I got 'em!" You're interrupted from reading the full report by your Ops officer - his words slurring slightly with his excitement.
Kiro quickly adjusts the main display to show the prow of the enemy vessel identified by the salvaged CIC data. Detached pylons spin rapidly around the prism-like central body eclipsing a slight thruster glow.
"I traced their attack trajectory but couldn’t pick up anything of the passive sensors.” He continues, a little slower. “But then I thought about how they hit us out of nowhere and figured they must have some sort of stealth tech. I looked for shadows with the optical scanner and… BOOM! There they were!”

“Well done, Kiro.” You reply with a grave nod. “Does it look like they’re coming back around for an attack?”

“I can’t get an accurate distance on them since we’re down to one optical scanner,” He looks back at you apologetically, “But we do have a good idea based on their known size and the sensor magnification.”
He taps at his console for a moment and begins to mutter to himself in his squeaky, nasally way. “They’re slightly smaller than us, maybe a Light Cruiser, and if I carry the two…”
He looks back up eagerly, “Looks like they’ll still be burning retrograde for another hour before they come to a stop relative to us about a six light minutes away. Then it’ll take them at least that long to get into weapons range.” He pauses, looking concerned for a moment. “Though if they have torpedoes…”

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>>5531865

The Marrok is cut off by the frantic sound of claws scrabbling on metal accompanied by a deep growl. Your Ulveng Navigation Officer, Cleo von Clifton, comes tearing up the stairs from the observation deck to your raised bridge section. She pauses at the edge of the command area, panting, and with wild eyes. “Lieutenant Clifton reporting for… haaa… duty, Sir.” her translator produces an incongruous young female voice for the guttural growls and yips the hulking canine actually speaks in. “I don’t know why I just woke up on the deck in front of the viewport but nevermind that…”
She races to her command station in a blur, slamming into the too-small seat next to Kiro.
“Hey squirt,” she greets the speechless Ops officer. “I think we have company!” She points emphatically at the forward viewport, where a bright, twinkling star appears to be growing larger by the second.

You squint at the pulsing yellow light, quickly turning to compare it to the sensor feed currently displayed on the main screen. Same pulse frequency and wavelength, you realise, sweat beading on your brow.
“Seems like there’s more of them.” You say to no one in particular.

“I don’t know who they are, Ell-Cee, but they sure as hell ain't catching a von Clifton unprepared!” Cleo grins toothily back at you. “Now let's see who's come to play!” Her snarling voice is translated in an almost sing-song manner which causes an involuntary shiver to race up your spine.

“What’s wrong with the dorsal optics? Nevermind, I’m borrowing ventral, Ops.” Without waiting for a reply the Nav officer wrests the optical feed from her fellow officer’s control and focuses them forward. An image resolves on the main screen showing not one, but five separate small vessels burning retrograde in close formation to intercept you. They bear a shape reminiscent of the cruiser which attacked you, each an identical black, featureless, prism.

“Boarding craft.” Kiro gasps, wide eyed. “The enemy vessel must have dropped them before they coasted past us and attacked.”
Turning to his console again, he starts to read the new data coming in from the sensor suite. “ETA is five minutes, Cap!” he squeaks.

“They’re just about to hit the point where we won't be able to outmanoeuvre them, Sir.” Cleo adds, “Are we in a position to handle this? Or will we be repelling boarders?” She bares her teeth in a feral grin and brandishes her claws with a dramatic flourish.

What will you do?
>It’s too late and we mustn't show our hand. Use this time to prepare the ship for boarding action.
>Start the ship spinning, make it hard for them to board while we work out a solution.
>There’s too many craft for our injured crew to handle, we need to shoot them down.
>Maybe this is all a big misunderstanding, open communications and try to talk it out.
>Perhaps a combination or something else entirely. Write in.

>>5531867
Aha, so those fuckers are out of weapon range.
>There’s too many craft for our injured crew to handle, we need to shoot them down.
>Also fire up the comms and alert whoever we can about the hostiles.

>There’s too many craft for our injured crew to handle, we need to shoot them down.
Shoot'em

>>5531867

While we do have 4 DEW banks still operational, what's the power cost of shooting them down?

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>>5531917
Tactical: The Opal Class Heavy Cruiser, comes equipped with six Directed Energy Weapon banks - each consisting of one GRASER (Strength 4), two LASERs (Str 2) and four MASERs (Str 1). Each weapon has a different dispersion characteristic (d4, d6, d8, etc.), with MASERs being quick and precise enough to double as point defence weapons despite their lower strength. You estimate any weapon hit to destroy the small boarding craft

Engineering: You estimate the power draw for firing a single weapon of each type to be:
GRASER (16%)
LASER (9%)
MASER (5%)
You have 41% remaining power.

>>5531883
>>Also fire up the comms and alert whoever we can about the hostiles.
Engineering: A long range Comms message would cost 3% of your remaining power. Though punching a message past all these black holes back to the TPN is a long shot, and an even longer one that they'd have any ship big enough to respond. You could warn the primitives in system, however.

>>5532287
Belay the comms then.
Fire mazers until all boarding craft is destroyed. Let them close to the guaranteed hit distance first.

>>5532278
Use the MASERs, we can't spare the energy in case the main ship attacks again

The amount of work it must take to plan these systems out and put together new gifs for every update is fucking horrifying.

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>>5531890
>>5531917
>>5532318
>>5532320
>Fire MASERs

"We may only get one volley before they scatter, Lieutenant Commander. I know at least I'd never fly so predictably if I knew I could be zapped at any moment."

>How many MASERs will you fire, and will you chance them breaking their tight formation?

Also, will you calibrate them manually or let the gunnery crews handle targeting.
>Let the crew handle targeting. (QM will line up the shots, (You) will roll to fire.)
>I'll handle this personally. ((You) can work the transparent selection in paint and line up the shot yourself and roll.)


>>5532321
The trick is reusing the exact same set over and over and again with all the possible characters that could be voted in pre-drawn and animated. Proper prior planning an shid.

>>5532382
>spoiler
Figured as much, but it's still hell. I'm skipping combat votes cause I have no idea how combat works, lole.

>>5532390
[Spoiler]No-one knows anon, not even me. This is the first time combat of the quest. Feel free to help roll when the time comes though.[/spoiler]

>>5532382
I have no idea what I'm doing
>Fire 5 masers
>Let the crew handle targeting.

>>5532382
This update made me realize something, but i don't want to say it

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>>5531308
>>5531272
I took the liberty of drawing a potential face for our captain, it was too late when I realized the artstyle was completely different lol.

>>5532382
Either they're certain that our entire crew is dead, or the whatever is inside those pods are so expendable it doesn't matter to them.
Wait until they're in firing range and fire all masers, prioritize the outside pods, maybe the explosion will hurl debris at the ones behind them.

>>5532412
>All MASERs
We technically have 16 available to fire. (4 per operational DEW bank) we have energy to fire 10 at most.
Love the portrait btw. A lot neater than my own style. If you have a face reference I could try translate it across but I'm happy with this if everyone else is.

>>5532437
Oh that's a good point. Then let's
>Fire 5 masers, one shot for each pod
>Let the crew handle targeting.
This still leaves us with 5 maser shots for later

>>5532411
That you're a furry?

>>5532454
Thankfully no, HOWEVER

If you compare sizes on mspaint, Cleo's bazongas are actually bigger than the size of a head

>>5532451
>>5532403
>A five MASER volley, aye Sir.
I'll update with firing solutions in an hour when I'm actually at my PC.

>>5532481
She's a big lady, anon. Tbh the scale may be a bit off between portraits. The OP image is probably a bit better of a reference.

>>5532513
Is that her in the OP? She looks shorter.

>>5532538
A little bit me being bad at forced perspective but yeah that's her. She's 208cm to Dallas' 182cm, so not quite a head taller.

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>>5532382
>>5532451
>>5532403
>>5532390
>>5531890
>>5531917

“We need to destroy those boarding pods before they realise we still have fight in us and scatter.” You announce your decision. “Ops, Nav, don’t touch anything that will alert them.”


“Aye, Sir.” Come the officers’ replies, one with complete trust, the other with a hint of schadenfreude. They take their hands off their consoles and watch the main screen, awaiting the fireworks.

You reach for the comm unit controls and open a channel to your gunnery crews. “Guns, this is Acting Captain Dallas Annon. I need the MASERs warmed up and firing solutions yesterday, people! Target coordinates are coming through now.” You direct the ventral optical feed to the still functioning DEW banks’ gunnery crews.

Using your tactical command knowledge you are able to filter the incoming firing solutions down to four of the most optimal, manually tweaking their power output slightly to suit the softer targets. You lock in a volley of five (5) MASER shots to cover as many of the targets as possible - each costing 4% of your remaining power.

>Select a firing solution (a, b, c or d) and roll 1d4. If a target covers more than a third of the triangle rolled it is destroyed.
>I need five (5) total rolls.
Feel free to roll again if more than an hour? passes with no rolling.

Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>5532801
>[C]

Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>5532801
D

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>5532858

C

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>>5532813
>>5532858
>>5532884
Three for three, keep it up gunners!

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>5532899
D

Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>5532801
B

>>5532940
>>5532925
>>5532884
>4/5 ain't bad.
>Updating

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>>5532940
>>5532925
>>5532884
>>5532801
>4/5 boarding craft hit and destroyed.

“Targets locked, firing.” You tap a control and the forward viewport darkens slightly as five red MASER beams lance out to intercept the approaching vessels.

Four quick flashes and it’s over, they had no time to react. A single, small drive plume is left where five once burned before. It quickly peels off from its intercept course, weaving erratically as if expecting follow-up shots.

“You got ‘em, Cap!” Kiro cheers, jumping up onto his seat and pumping his fists in the air as debris slowly clears from the main screen’s feed.

“Well, most of them.” Cleo snarls agreeably, “But it looks like he left some leftovers for me! You shouldn’t have, Cap… wait? Captain?” The Navigation officer flicks an ear, eyes widening in confusion. “What did I miss?”

“Acting Captain…,” you shake your head somberly, “we’ll bring you up to speed when we can.” You send the damage report over to her console, “Start with that. We’re pretty much dead in the water until…”

“Uh, Sir?” Your Ops officer interrupts. “That last boarding craft has stopped decelerating.” He focussed the ventral optics on the lone craft, which appears to be finishing a manoeuver - its bow now pointed squarely at your ship. “Scratch that!” Kiro squeals, “It’s coming right for us at full burn!”


What will you do? You have 21% energy remaining.
>Nav, get us moving, now! (A small manoeuvre costs 5% energy, a large one 15%.)
>Gunnery crew, I need more firing solutions, stat! (Same energy costs as before but the target is now actively evading.)
>Ops, do we have any ships ready in the Hangar? (Open the pod bay doors, 0 cost. Maybe useful?)
>Open a comms channel? Maybe, you can reason with them? (0 Cost)
>Something else. Suggestions welcome. Write in.

>>5533011
>Gunnery crew, I need more firing solutions, stat!
We can still fire the maser 5 more times before we run out of power

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>>5533025
So, this right?

>>5533011
>Ops, do we have any ships ready in the Hangar?

>>5533032
Precisely. Also what is the rate our power is recovering, or are we just running off batteries?

>>5533061
We're on batteries until we can get the voidcore online again. We were just about to assign damage control to the task before we were interrupted. >>5531865

>>5533087
Hm. Then we could only safely fire 4 times

>>5533011

>Nav, get us moving, now! (A small manoeuvre costs 5% energy, a large one 15%.)

Small manoeuvre to get us drifting away from the enemy cruiser for a bit more time. Spending 15% to dodge a single pod is too prohibitive. Raise the alarm and let's let Cleo have her fight.

Rolled 1 - 1 (1d3 - 1)

>>5533103
>>5533047
>>5533025
We're going to need a tiebreaker.
Meanwhile, I forgot to roll initial G-shoock damage for Cleo.

>>5533120
>Ops, do we have any ships ready in the Hangar? (Open the pod bay doors, 0 cost. Maybe useful?)
here

>>5533011
>Nav, get us moving, now!
Rotate the shit so the boarding craft hits something that's already destroyed and preferably radioactive.

>>5533120
Cleo is a hardy lady

>>5533025
>>5533047
>>5533103
>>5533199
>>5533200
I was about to say we broke the tie but now... Shall we settle for both, move as a precaution but see if we can't launch some sort of interception?
>Cleo is a hardy lady
Seems so, she already has the extra health from Body+ but now she gets to keep it too.

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>>5533200
>>5533199
>>5533103
>>5533047
>>5533025
>Move and Hangar option.

“Direct intercept course, Ops?” You ask, dispensing with pleasantries in your haste.

“No, Sir.” The Marrok replies watching his console’s readouts, whilst snapping glances at the main viewscreen showing the remaining boarding craft quickly closing. “A spiralling course, with velocity changes at random intervals.” Frustrated, he makes an almost comically disgruntled noise. “Too close and too fast for the MASERs to accurately track. If I had time to find a pattern…”

“Time’s the one thing we don’t have, little man.” Cleo mutters consolingly as she continues furiously tapping at her navigation controls.

“I could try deflecting the bastard, Sir. Might be able to bounce him off some undamaged void plate, kinetic absorption on those is top notch when they aren’t full of holes.”

Quickly assessing your options, you decide that preserving what little reserve power your ship still possesses is paramount to the crew’s survival. Firing more MASERs in the off chance you’ll hit the evading craft might well leave your crew with no life support, gasping for air. Your navigation officer’s suggestion does have merit, though you’d like to have another card up your sleeve if possible.

“What do we have ready in the hangar?” You ask Kiro, “Anything survive the G-shock?”

The little reptile consults his holo-screen, replying promptly “Nothing we’d want to risk a pilot’s life in. Everything got shaken up pretty badly down there. The Flight Chief has grounded everything for maintenance. Although…” He taps his long chin a few times, thinking. “We could remotely pilot a decoy drone, but they’re only good for basic manoeuvres and making a lot of noise.”

“Noise might be just what we need,” you muse.
A plan begins to coalesce in your mind, but you notice one glaring issue with it.

“Lieutenant Clifton, I don’t suppose your abilities to wield ungainly voidships like racing yachts extends to precision drone piloting?” You ask the canine woman with grim formality.

“I’m probably the person on the ship to give it a try.” She replies affirmatively, to your surprise. “But if I’m doing that, who's going to make sure this guy bounces, instead of sticks? You need someone at the helm with the reflexes to angle the Pee-Dee just right as they come in.”

“But without a threat of some kind distracting them,” your Ops officer joins in, picking up on the idea, “what’s to stop them changing course last second and smashing into something less absorbent… Like us!” he exclaims, gesturing at the unarmored viewport of the observation deck before you.

>>5533272

“We’re out of time.” You eye the rapidly approaching boarding craft, and make a decision.
“Launch the decoy, Ops. Nav, prepare to roll the ship and take a hit.”

You reach for your comm unit control opening a channel to all decks. “All hands, prepare for impact in..” You look to your Ops officer and find he’s already holding up two stubby claws, “two minutes. I repeat, brace for impact in two minutes.” You close the channel.
You hope such a precaution won’t prove necessary but, without main power, the ship cannot compensate with its inertia dampers should the runaway boarding craft strike true.

To prevent this, you will need to execute the steps perfectly. With Cleo occupied with angling the ship (1 power cost), that leaves the decoy drone in need of a pilot.

Do you:
>Pilot the drone yourself from your command console. (Without the Navigation skill you have only a small bonus from your Mind+ stat.)
>Have Kiro remotely pilot the drone. (No bonuses but still has his inspiration re-roll available.)
>Have one of the drones' normal pilots take over control from the flight deck, despite this mission being outside the usual parameters. (No bonus, but a chance to unlock an ace pilot.)
>Something else. Write in.

>>5533274
>Have Kiro remotely pilot the drone. (No bonuses but still has his inspiration re-roll available.)

>>5533274
>Have Kiro remotely pilot the drone. (No bonuses but still has his inspiration re-roll available.)
Re-rolling is always more valuable, eh

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I'm gonna sleep on this one anons. I'll leave you with another option for our face. Based on Matthew Flinders as suggested here >>5531272. We don't really need one but its fun to mess around with.

On another note, how do you guys find my writing. I had hoped with this quest to capture character with the back and forth banter of our chosen crew. Do updates with a lot of talking (like the previous one) flow alright though?

>>5533288
I like the banter so far

>>5533274
>Have one of the drones' normal pilots take over control from the flight deck, despite this mission being outside the usual parameters. (No bonus, but a chance to unlock an ace pilot.)
We could really use an ace pilot here, if we're lucky.

>>5533288
I like the banter, but we still have few characters around. I'm also a bit salty that you closed the voting for the nav officer before I had a chance to vote, but I don't dislike Cleo.

>>5533323

>I'm also a bit salty that you closed the voting for the nav officer before I had a chance to vote, but I don't dislike Cleo.

Apologies anon, we'll be getting to another character vote as soon as this event resolves. Would it help if I posted to Twitter or something when major updates drop? I hear all the cool QMs do that...

>>5533274

>Have one of the drones' normal pilots take over control from the flight deck, despite this mission being outside the usual parameters. (No bonus, but a chance to unlock an ace pilot.)

[s]I'm pretty happy with the writing so far, need to see more banter to draw a proper verdict.[/s]

>>5533274
>Have Kiro remotely pilot the drone. (No bonuses but still has his inspiration re-roll available.)

>>5533274
>Have Kiro remotely pilot the drone.

>>5533392
It wouldn't change anything, I just can't be here 24/7.

>>5533643
This is exactly how those cumguzzling motherfuckers in dragonborn paladin quest won the vote to fuck the giant insect...

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>>5533598
>>5533580
>>5533415
>>5533323
>>5533284
>>5533282
>Have Kiro remotely pilot the drone.

"Kiro," You catch your OPs officer's attention, "you will be controlling the decoy drone. I trust you."

You project your confidence in your chosen crew, locking eyes with your long-time friend.

"You do?" Kiro hesitates for a moment before looking away and beginning to fidget with nervous agitation. "Well, if you're sure."
He turns back to his station and begins the launch drone sequence. Communicating quietly with personnel in the Hangar bay.

"I'm ready too, Sir." Cleo adds, focusing on the incoming boarding craft and constantly updating her navigation instructions.

You relax as best you can in your command seat, still bound by the malfunctioning restraints and shoulder the age-old burden of the Captain: trusting your crew to do their jobs.

----------------------------------------------------------
How do you want this roll to work?
>Keep using the more novel rolling mechanics.
>Use something more basic with less player agency.
>Roll for us and cut out the middleman entirely.

I didn't get to ask after our last combat roll, but what do you guys think of the concept? Do you want more choice, less?

>>5533723
>Keep using the more novel rolling mechanics.
I liked the combat, even if I didn't get to participate. I think you should stop asking about it all the time and just keep using the mechanics that you like.

>>5533723
>Keep using the more novel rolling mechanics.
I think it's good

>>5533723
>Keep using the more novel rolling mechanics.
I like how they feel more real and defined rather than a DC roll

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>>5533725
>>5533729
>>5533730
>Keep using the more novel rolling mechanics.

OK, if people don't mind it being potentially unbalanced I'll come up with a flight mechanics one too. I will say this for DC rolls, they're much easier for unambiguously setting the difficulty level. May take a little while (a few hours?) for me to design and playtest this.

>>5533725
>I think you should stop asking about it all the time and just keep using the mechanics that you like.
I like coming up with them, I just have no idea if they'll work.

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>>5533723

Kiro stares in unblinking concentration at his holo-display, you imagine there’d be nervous sweat beading on his scaled forehead if his kind were capable of such. The main display mirrors the feed from his decoy drone, as it slides silently past the still opening hangar bay doors.

“Nice and easy, there Ops. You’ve got this.” You encourage softly.

The drone suddenly leaps ahead, its powerful ion engine lighting up the viewport bright blue as it streaks past.

Kiro yelps, unused to such twitchy controls, and reigns in the sprinting decoy, pointing it more or less at the nearing boarding craft. He lowers the engine’s burn rate to a slow and sustainable acceleration and breathes a heavy if high pitched sigh.

“Ready… I think.” He says to the Nav officer by his side, “Do I wait for your signal or…?”

“If you’re gonna blind him, then just do it, shortstuff.” Came Cleo’s reply, slightly distracted as she concentrates on minute adjustments to the voidship’s bearing.

“Alright then, here goes nothing.” The Marrok fires up the powerful, broad spectrum emitters in the decoy drone’s nose, projecting a concentrated field of sensory noise through the vacuum of space. Designed to jam the sensors of enemy torpedoes and warships alike, the decoy’s area of effect is actually quite narrow at the point blank range of its current use.

Kiro focuses on directing the blinding cone of radiation towards the weaving and dodging target as it makes its final approach to your ship.

--------------------------------------------------------

You have three rolls to intercept the boarding craft before it passes the drone and impacts the ship. Each successful blinding of the vessel’s sensors will aid in Cleo’s attempt to catch it at the right angle with your defences.

Kiro has assessed the boarding craft’s evasion pattern and determined that it normally follows the path marked in red. His jamming beam can cover at most a fifth of that area - as marked in blue. He notes that the boarding craft lingers at the edge of the pattern, and if caught there will count as two successes - though this will be a harder shot. Due to your leadership, Kiro has one (1) re-roll available, which you may use as a fourth attempt at your discretion. Make no mistake, this won't be easy and you’ve asked a lot of the little guy.

>Place the central location of the drone’s jamming beam by selecting a number from one to twenty (1 - 20). Then roll 1d20 to determine where the boarding craft dodges. Critical success if your beam hits it at the edges of its evasion pattern (1, 5, 13,15 or 19).

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>5534009
For example, aiming the beam centre at 12.

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>>5534012
Would yield an unsuccessful attempt. Though I chanced a crit by including the 15 in there.

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>5534009
Three.

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>>5534097
A swing and a miss, 2 or 3 more rolls to go.
If its taking more than an hour between rolls free to roll again guys.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>5534126
8

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>>5534133
>Good hit. 1 or 2 rolls left.

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>5534143
2

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>5534207
Gah, rerolling!

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>>5534209
>>5534207
>>5534133
>>5534097
>One (1) Success. Kiro's re-roll used.

"I hit it!" Kiro exclaims, excitedly. "All you now, Cleo!"

"Looks like the bogey has stopped weaving so erratically," she growls in reply, "Hold on to your hats!"

You reach for the all hands comm control as the icy thrill of adrenaline courses through your system. "Stand-by for impact, all-crew I say again, brace for impact."

You feel the ship lurch beneath you, the manoeuvring jets firing hard to swing the ship onto an optimal heading.
>Stand-by to roll for Cleo.
One success will lower the variation in the boarding craft's evasion patterns, and Cleo has a +2 bonus when navigating from her skill and natural reflexes (body+).

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>>5534218
>One (1) power used to manoeuvre, 20% remaining.

Your navifgation officer attempts to angle the ship so that the boarding craft is deflected along your undamaged starboard flank. If performed precisely, the void plating can mitigate almost all of the kinetic energy, converting it to heat.
The craft's evasive pattern has slowed due to Kiro's actions as indicated in red, with it still lingering at the extremities (double success as before).

Cleo's navigation skill allows her an easier time adjusting your voidship's heading than Kiro had piloting the drone - indicated in purple. Her enchanced reflexes (body+) afford her three attempts to correct the ships heading despite the time crunch.

Number of successes will determine damage to the ship and state of the boarding craft.

>Place the central location of the drone’s jamming beam by selecting a number from one to sixteen (1 - 16). Then roll 1d16 to determine where the boarding craft dodges. Critical success if your beam hits it at the edges of its evasion pattern (5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13).

Rolled 5 (1d16)

>>5534241
1

>>5534241
>>5534243

>An ammendment, since i foolishly copy pasted. the roll line.
You'll need to specify two numbers to place in the central diamond as the reticule can twist. the roll the d16.