>>5532207
>>5533592

You know, you've made jokes about dragonball with your crew before, but when you woke up this morning you didn't expect to be fighting an android.

"You sure about this, SHODAN? I mean, you just slipped into this thing yesterday. Don't you need a little time to get the hang of it?"

"That is precisely what i am attempting to do, Captain."

Having followed you into the cargo hold, SHODAN now goes through the motions of stretching out her artificial muscles, mirroring your own routine this morning.
She's copying exactly what you do to get yourself ready for exercise and training...

"Well, if you insist..." You mumble, pulling off your t-shirt and tossing it aside.

"...Should i strip as well, Captain?" She asks, staring you up and down.

"No, it's fine. I just don't want anything getting in the way. I know what you're made of after all, so i don't expect this to be easy."

After taking a few moments to prepare your mind and body, you slowly begin going through the motions, performing the kata for your own special blend of mixed martial arts.
Only, you're surprised to find SHODAN performing the exact same movements, mirroring your own with barely any noticeable variation or lag.

You raise your hand, she raises hers. You twist your body, she twists hers.
There are a few moments where you catch her off guard by intentionally switching things up, but no matter which movement you transition into, she almost instantly follows.

She's not just copying you, she already knows the movements herself.
Of course she does, because she has a copy of all your memories. She must know all the same techniques you do.

...That's kind of terrifying, actually.
It was one thing when she was just a disembodied voice, but now she can actually act on all of that information, all on her own.

"Captain, you've stopped moving. Are you finished warming up?"

"Yeah... yeah i think i am."

"Very well, then. How do you want to go about this?" She asks.

>Let's just take it easy for today. A little light training, as partners.
>Casual sparring is fine. Hand to hand only, no contact. First to three points wins it.
>You said you wanted to test yourself, right? I'll be honest, i want to know what you're capable of, too. Let's do this.

>>5533593
>You said you wanted to test yourself, right? I'll be honest, i want to know what you're capable of, too. Let's do this.
>Only rule is to not break anything on the ship. Kyla would be pissed.

>>5533593
>Let's just take it easy for today. A little light training, as partners.
I fear Kyla and I don't want her shin kicking us again.

>>5533599
>Support

>jokingly say "I also don't condone self-harm"

>>5533593
>Casual sparring is fine. Hand to hand only, no contact. First to three points wins it.
Don't want to break anything, her or us.
Also, don't forget to have Sanig check out our Telemeres he could also probably fix our bum knee and any other old injuries that are still hurting us

>>5533593
>Casual sparring is fine. Hand to hand only, no contact. First to three points wins it.

Too little work and she doesn't gain much useful data, too much effort and we will end up breaking things. The midpoint seems the best option. She will work out some kinks in moving, get some experience. And it shouldn't do too much damage to anything.

>>5533593
>>5533599
this, lets go full mirror mode, WARRIORS, FIGHT

>>5533593
Backing this >>5533599

>>5533593
This >>5533599
>plot twist, SHODAN just straight punches us in the face

>>5533599
Alright boys, roll me 1d100+1, best of 3.

Low DC: 60
High DC: 85

Rolled 65 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5533731

>>5533731

Rolled 70 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5533731

Rolled 81 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5533731

Rolled 11 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5533731

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138 KB PNG

>>5533737

>>5533740
noice

>>5533745
fuck

>>5533740
So close

>>5533740

"You said you wanted to test yourself, right?" You ask.

"That is correct, Captain. All the specifications of this body are purely simulated and theoretical at this point in time."

"Alright then. I'll be honest, i want to know what you're capable of too. So let's do this, for real."

You drop into a low stance and put up a basic guard, staring your target down past the tips of your fingers.
SHODAN responds by turning her body, hiding her right arm behind herself, but otherwise maintaining a natural and relaxed stance.

"Only one rule..." You tell her. "Don't break anything, or else Kyla's gonna kick my ass."

"Affirmative." SHODAN replies tersely.

There's a deafening silence as you stare at eachother, unmoving.
She doesn't plan to make the first move. It's easier to react than to act, at least for her.

So you start things off yourself.

You close the relatively short distance between the two of you in an instant, and throw a jab out to test the waters.
She easily dodges by leaning out of the way and tilting her head just slightly, wasting very little movement in the process.

She waves her left hand in front of your face, trying to distract you by getting you to track it with your eyes.
But such a simple trick won't work on you. In battle, you focus on the whole of your vision, not just a single point.

That's why you're able to see her swinging at you with a flat palm from your periphery.
You duck underneath and slam your right hook into her side... or at least try to. Instead, you find her left arm in the way, blocking the impact.

However, that doesn't matter. She weighs a hundred and fifty pounds thanks to that antigravity unit, but it works against her here.
Despite blocking the blow, she's absolutely blown sideways by the force of your punch, only just being able to recover by turning her flip into a cartwheel.

She lands on her feet with a serious look on her face, glancing down at the bruise rapidly forming on her arm.
But that only lasts for a moment. She recovers immediately and jolts forwards at incredible speed, likely using the boost of power from the motors in her hips.

You're ready to receive what you expect to be a fairly light, albeit lightning quick blow, but something's wrong.
On the last step as she's charging towards you, the sound of her footstep changes drastically. It sounds far, far heavier.

But it's too late to do anything about it now.

Her right fist impacts your guard, and you feel her full weight behind the blow. All 328lbs of it.
There's a slight twinge of pain deep in your forearm as it's nearly blown away by the force, but you hold on.

You're going to have to get more aggressive here.
Her hair is long enough to grab, so you make sure to get a fistful of it and yank down as hard as you can, simultaneously raising your knee up to strike at her face.
She tries to guard again, but is just barely able to her hand in front of her face before your knees makes contact. It doesn't provide much protection.

>>5533811

Her head is blown back, and there's even a slight spray of blood and crunch of plastic as the bridge of her nose shatters.
However, she doesn't seem bothered in the slightest. That's right, she doesn't get distracted by pain, not is her consciousness interrupted by having her head rattled...

You can see her posture shift as she balanced her weight on one leg, while her other leg comes around for a heavy snap kick at your side.
It's going to hurt, but you have to let it come. It does, slamming into your ribs with enough force to make them creak, but you still manage to catch it.

You place your right foot behind her leg and yank, pulling her off balance and causing her to fall.
And you fall with her, intending to drop your elbow onto her throat, crushing her windpipe.

However, her weight shifts again, this time mid-fall. Now weighing only half as much, she's able to move much more quickly.
You see her trying to grab your arm, and it looks like she's going to snap it at the elbow.

So instead, you keep your right arm close to your body, still holding onto her leg as you fall on top of her.
Placing your forearm under her thigh, you try to leverage it sideways and snap her knee at the joint instead... only to find that you can't.

Her joints are simply too tough. There's no way in hell you could snap a piece of duranium in half, no less through all those bands of muscle.

Now on the ground, she's able to kick her way out of your grasp, and springs up to wrap her hands around your neck.
You manage to tuck your chin and get your right arm over your neck before she does, but she's still squeezing the hell out of you.

Damn, she's strong! You feel like your head's gonna pop if you don't do something!

>You've only got one arm free. It might not do much, but you can try elbowing her in the face.
>Brute strength is all you've got right now. Force yourself up to your feet and try to throw her off.
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.
>Write-In?

>>5533835
also i'm drunk right now, sorry. she isn't just choking you, she has you in a proper chokehold.

>>5533835
Tbh, the only move we can do right now is to tap out. Elbowing her wont do anything and trying to lift 300+ pounds from a bad position wont end well, and thats without her *inverting* her gravity generators and making weight much more, or her blocking out blood access and knocking us out. But i know anons are a prideful bunch, so:

>>Brute strength is all you've got right now. Force yourself up to your feet and try to throw her off.

>>5533835
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.
If you're caught in an RNC, you're kinda just fucked. No reason to break something trying to force our way out.

>>5533835
>Brute strength is all you've got right now. Force yourself up to your feet and try to throw her off.

>>5533835
>>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.
The only option we have to get her off of us is a very sudden and extreme force. AKA picking her up and slamming her so hard the physics demands she comes loose. Hitting her won't do anything. And if we try to stand she can just use her legs to arrest our motion. If she wasn't a machine we could get out.

We should let her know about some of those details if she wants to blend in more. Namely pain being enough to dissuade sissies and damage being enough to force smart fighters away. Most people will let go if you go for their eyes, for example. Though I guess when you're in space and can actually replace them it isn't guaranteed. But instinct is still a powerful beast.

>>5533840
based QM

>>5533835
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.
she won fair and square so let's give up now before David here breaks something

>>5533835
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.

Oh shit!

>>5533835
>Brute strength is all you've got right now. Force yourself up to your feet and try to throw her off.

>>5533835
>>Brute strength is all you've got right now. Force yourself up to your feet and try to throw her off.

never surrender

>>5533835
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.
There are ways to get out of this, but I don't want to get scolded again right after our psychic sparring match.

>>5533835
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.

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125 KB JPG

>>5533835
>Brute strength is all you've got right now. Force yourself up to your feet and try to throw her off.
Hell yeah do it big man! GIVE IT A GO! If you get hurt then nothing like a days worth of rest wont fix.

>this is how david breaks his fucking spine

>>5533835
>Tap out. She's got you pretty good, and you don't really see a good way to get out of it.

Calling it for tapping out. Update tomorrow.

>>5533835

You consider your options as SHODAN re-adjusts her grip and somehow manages to squeeze down even harder around your neck.
The bones in your right arm are really starting to creak. If you don't think of something, it might end up snapping for real.

...Can't just elbow her in the face. If she were organic that'd get you out of this in a jiffy, but she can't even feel it.
She hasn't increased her weight again yet, so right now she's around half your weight. If you really wanted to, you could grab and throw her pretty hard...

But she might end up pulling your head off if you try that. You don't have enough strength to simply pull her arms off of you, so it won't be that easy.
You could try slamming her into the wall, or into some crates... but you promised Kyla you wouldn't wreck anything from now on.

Likewise, if you could shove her into a power conduit or something, you might be able to short something out or at least stun her, but at that point you aren't really fighting hand to hand.
Damn. If you could use a knife, or a gun, or something that could just do some real damage to her... but you can't. That'd be going overboard, anyways.

Her joints are too tough, so you can't break them. Her bones aren't quite that tough, but they're still impossible for a human to break with brute strength alone.
Her spine is also made out of solid duranium, so there's no way in hell you could ever bust it either. Or her skull, for that matter.

It's not like you can cause any internal damage, since she doesn't bleed and has no real organs.
Even her muscle fibers, it's not like they'll bruise or tear just from punching or kicking at her hard enough.

Shit, man! There's just no way to kill this thing without a weapon.
For the first time, it looks like you've run up against your limits as a hairless ape with no claws or teeth.

"...I give." You grumble, straining to get the words out.

Almost immediately, the pressure she's putting on you abates, but she doesn't remove her arms from your neck.

"What?" She asks, surprised.

"I said i give up. I can't think of any way to kick your ass without going beyond the rules we set up, so i give."

"Really? I expected you to at least try something. You weren't using your full strength just yet, were you? Captain?"

"No, but you weren't either, were you?"

"I was. Each movement utilized 100% of my strength. In fact, several of my muscle strands have been damaged due to excessive loading."

"Oh yeah? Well, that makes me feel a little better, i guess... although i'm pretty sure that throbbing in my forearm is a hairline fracture."

"Are you disappointed, Captain? Our match only lasted for eighteen seconds. If you'd like, we could go for a second round."

"...No, no thank you. I don't think the outcome is going to change, and i'm already gonna have a few extra bruises tonight."

"Very well, then. Thank you for sparring with me, Captain."

SHODAN bows her head to you, but you can see a cheeky little grin as she does so.

>Flesh: 0
>Steel: 1

>>5534839
We must git gud. Simple as.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Upsm3E2NUI8

>>5534843
Yeah, we need to come up with some contingencies and techniques for use against high spec cyborgs and androids.
SHODAN would probably be down to help us with that actually.

>>5534768
Don't get smug robot, we just didn't want to destroy the ship.

>>5534846
i mean, in our power armor david would destroy shodan with no real problem; we already did that with the terminator drones. the issue was the rules that we had for the match and for better of for worse, none of us could play dirty. so what im trying to say is that next time david should be able to play dirty and not shodan

>>5534768
maan finally we can spar with somebody properly
anons being salty about losing to Shodan when now we have a better way to practice , hell even get better against opponents with similar strength.
So I say :
>We should regularly spar with Shodan to git gud and stay in shape.

>>5534934
If David had any tools or no rules he probably would have won. It's all fun and games until the marine gets a stick.

>>5535130
To be fair, the same thing would happen if shodan gets access to more tools, specially because we're fighting inside the metal gear

>>5535139
This is true. Therefore we should endeavor to always have more tools. Anti robo taser dick condom when?

>>5535141
the only real answer is to transfer our brain to our personal cyber body that is stronger than shodan's

>>5535255
David's gonna go full cyberpunk and chrome the fuck up.

>>5535255
I wonder if we could get SHODAN to bluescreen if we made her look in a kaleidoscope.

>>5535344
the kaleidoscope thing works on humans due to how we're wired, so for something like that to work with shodan we would need to send her random instructions encoded in the images, just like how you could download games and apps through a crt in the 80-90s

>>5534768
Make sure to thank her back. Having an actual threat as a sparring partner is excellent

>>5534768

Besides a few minor dents in the floor panels, it looks like you managed to get by without breaking anything this time.
After throwing your shirt back on, you make your way to the kitchen for some breakfast while SHODAN shoves her arm into the nanofab for repairs.

After all of SHODAN's parts were crafted and their function verified, the final product was scanned in and encrypted, like most nanofab blueprints.
Only, you're using a custom algorithm to generate the key, rather than the public version used by everyone else.

The mass fab sadly isn't high-resolution enough to perfectly fix SHODAN up, since her design includes high-precision atomic structures like buckyball diamonds.
The layers of her plasteel bones are technically thick enough to be fixed by it, but there is some imprecision there. It would only really add up over the course of thousands of repairs, though.

And if her bones have been broken thousands of times, it's probably time to just replace the bone.
But regardless, those low-res "patches" are more than good enough, and no loss of function would be visible over any reasonable span of time.

If she has access to a higher-quality nanofab like your weapons fabricator, though, she can repair herself fully in no time.
It does need to be quite high-powered though, as a lower energy fab lacks the grunt required to collapse duranium's special atomic mix into the final product.

It doesn't even take SHODAN five minutes to appear after you start cooking, already having been fixed up by the fab.

"Protein powder pancakes topped with diced Korla fruit and drizzled with fruit-infused syrup. You want some?" You ask her.

"No thank you, Captain. I didn't expend as much energy as i expected during this morning's spar, and will not need to eat again until this evening."

"Suit yourself."

As soon as the first stack is done cooking, you load them up with butter and syrup, then sit down across the table from SHODAN, who's been watching you this whole time.
She continues watching as you dig in, and pays close attention to every little movement you make.

"Something wrong?" You ask.

SHODAN shakes her head.

"No, Captain. I was simply observing how you eat. Or rather, how much you seem to enjoy eating. Both yourself and Miss Cylia have put a lot of effort into cooking your meals. Are they that good?"

"That good, huh? I dunno. For everyone else, probably. But even the stuff i make now is pretty bland compared to what we eat back on earth. I've gotten kind of used to it, but..."

"You still miss the spices of your homeworld." She guesses.

"Yeah, it's just not the same without spices. Even the concentrates i make don't have all that much flavor. I dunno, it's all just missing something."

"I understand how you feel." She tells you, reaching across the table and tearing a small piece of pancake off before tossing it into her mouth and chewing.

>>5536036
>and chewing.
she's learning fast. in no time she'll evolve from talking with her jaw unhinged to ventriloquism

>>5536036

After swallowing, she pauses for a moment before continuing to speak.

"I can detect the ratio of carbohydrates, fats, protein and fiber in the food you make. I can even detect the aromatic compounds in them. But there's no sensation. Just raw data."

"Sanig said he was working on something for that."

"The VI serving as my 'subconscious' is nothing more than a nagging voice in the back of my mind. There is a disconnect between this body and my own senses."

SHODAN balls her hands up into fists.

"Although i can see and hear, it is disorienting. Something is off. Something is terribly wrong. Something is missing. That is the feeling i get."

...Could it be that her mind is rejecting her body?
You know that it's real easy for things to feel off, when reality doesn't line up with your senses. Maybe...

"Maybe it's something similar to sea-sickness? Or that sensation you get when your character walks in VR?" You offer.

SHODAN looks down at her hands, opening them up and closing them slowly, trying to feel things out.

"I do not know." She replies. "But it is uncomfortable. Of that, i am certain."

"...Well, you don't have to pilot it all the time. You can just leave it in the charging pod if you want, and maybe you'll get used to it over time."

"Perhaps."

There is a tone of melancholy in SHODAN's voice now.
She was pretty excited to work on her new body. To get to walk around and do stuff with everyone else. But it's probably not quite what she was hoping for.

You get it. You gave her as close to a real body as possible, but it can't really taste or smell. For her, there's no biological sensation of smell. Just the raw data.
Even her sight and hearing are apparently disorienting, and she keeps waving her arms around, shifting her weight side to side just slightly... like she's trying to adjust to her own movements.

Is it the wireless connection? Is there some kind of lag that causes a disconnect between action and reaction?
Or maybe it's because she thinks at a different speed, so smaller differences become more noticeable. You're not sure.

Either way, she's not enjoying it like she thought she would.
Clearly, it needs more work, at the very least on the software side. If fixing it requires some hoodoo, you're shit out of luck, because you're clueless when it comes to that.

>Try and resolve it on the software side. Reduce the input lag as much as possible, maybe offload more of her senses onto the VI Matrix.
>No, the real issue is the disconnect between her physical body and her soul. That's not something programming can really fix. You need more information.
>These android bodies may not be perfect, but they're good enough for short-term use. It's not something you can improve easily, so just leave it be for now.
>Write-In?

>>5536843
>>Try and resolve it on the software side. Reduce the input lag as much as possible, maybe offload more of her senses onto the VI Matrix.

That's our best option for right now. Or maybe we can install the box inside the android somehow?

>>5536843
>For her, there's no biological sensation of smell. Just the raw data.
Hmm...alright idea:

1) SHODAN can access our memories / neurology and how it works

2) Our neurology contains a structure specialised to process and interpret smell, along with others for sight, sound, etc

3) She could, in theory, emulate these processes and take the refined data from them?


Don't know if that'd work mind you, I think in this case there is a mix of issues:

1) Input lag is a problem, is made worse because of her additional sensors / senses provided by the ship. She sees via the ship - and then a moment later through her body. It makes her basically have to experience a stimulus twice and have an annoying delay between seeing-and-doing. If she shut off those, that might help give her a more normal perception and be able to focus on her body.

2) She seems to still be too involved in at least a few of these process / lacks context for stuff. Not entirely sure how to fix this, beyond my above idea, but if nothing else additional time in her new body ought to help reduce the novelty-based strain of it all.

3) Her disorientation is, unironically natural. She's processing novel data through a entirely new form and in new formats, yes, but also I'm not sure this isn't just an AI finding out that biological creatures have a lot of background noise / constant distractions in life. E,g a case where she just needs to learn to live with it / become comfortable with a constant background "load" on her processing power.

Thoughts guys?

>>5536843
>Try and resolve it on the software side. Reduce the input lag as much as possible, maybe offload more of her senses onto the VI Matrix.
>You need more information.

My very limited medical knowledge and instincts say this is the right choice. Have the VI do 95% of the work just like in human brains; only 5% of our cognitive activity is conscious.

Figure out what makes her tick, she mentions that she feels pleasure, excitement, discomfort, fear, etc., find out what bits of her are responsible for her 'emotions' and then hardwire her Avatar's VI to be able to induce those from sensory inputs. We'll try to mimic an electronic endocrine system, give her 'virtual hormones' that she won't be able to turn on and off, but can be ignorable to an extent just like in humans.

>>5536893
Oh, and hit up Clank, figure out what makes his brain work so we can get ideas from him since his consciousness and subconscious seem to be perfectly married; minus the input lag of course, but I am assuming SHODAN's subspace transceivers have negligible or virtually zero lag so I'm writing that off as the culprit for her awkwardness.

>>5536883
>...If she shut off those, that might help give her a more normal perception and be able to focus on her body.

Give the ship a similar VI as her body's to handle operations and sensor input in the background so she can still 'feel the ship' without having to process raw data manually. >>5536893
It will allow her to focus more on her body, but still feel comfortable that her "real body" is doing just fine by 'feel' alone.

>>5536843
>No, the real issue is the disconnect between her physical body and her soul. That's not something programming can really fix. You need more information.
like....we don't even know if she was created in the same way that the federation AI's were made. for all we know the metal gear IS her real body and we're trying to limit her by giving her a "human" extremity and forcing her to live like us. we definitely need more data in the matter

>>5536883
we could try using different body shells as well. my guess is that she'll feel more comfortable in a wheeled body for the moment

>>5536843
>>No, the real issue is the disconnect between her physical body and her soul. That's not something programming can really fix. You need more information.

>>5536843
>No, the real issue is the disconnect between her physical body and her soul. That's not something programming can really fix. You need more information.

>>5536843

You can try to limit input lag as much as possible through the software side of things for now, but the real issue is probably the disconnect between her physical body and soul.
The way she described it, it's like she's just seeing the information on a screen and not really feeling it. Perhaps with the exception of the visual and auditory data.

It might be possible to fix that in software, but honestly you just don't know.
SHODAN is, you're fairly certain, the living soul of an intelligent being. But at the same time, she thinks like a machine.

Where the machine ends and the soul begins, you aren't certain... but it's gotta have something to do with her Blue Box.
All the data that she receives or outputs goes through that thing, and it's where her soul is housed. That box has to be the interface, and you know jack all about it.

You don't know how it works, you don't know how it was made or by who, and you don't even really know what it's made of.
Strange matter? Great, that's real helpful. Who the fuck knows how it works? Scientists on earth thought it would be contagious and turn everything it touched into more of itself.

All you know is that is has weird properties. It interacts with electromagnetic fields, gravity and even the fabric of space itself to some degree.
Most of what you do with it is just achieved be applying current to certain geometries. You're probably one of the few people who even knows that warp metal comes in different flavors.

But if you knew more about it, and about how Blue Boxes work, then maybe you could... fix it? Alter it?
Or maybe even free her from the Blue Box, if she wanted.

You feel like you've got everything you need already.
Different kinds of warp metal just sitting around. Spare Blue Boxes that could be disassembled. Powerful computers and lab tech. Even a couple of mechanical and science experts.

But even then, it might not be enough.
Sanig and Kyla are smart, and SHODAN has ridiculous computing power, but they're not experts in the field, and you know from personal experience that there's more to this shit than meets the eye.
There are things that can be seen and felt, but not easily measured. There are places and creatures in this universe that defy any logic you know of, and... well, not everyone can actually interact with it.

You're not sure why. At first you thought exposure would be enough, but everyone on your crew has been exposed to some level of weirdness over time.
Sanig and Kyla have both messed around with warp metal. Kyla and Cylia have both been attacked by wraiths. Sanig and Cyla both experienced that black snow as well.
But out of everyone, only Cylia has shown any signs of being... you guess you'd call it 'warp sensitive'.

And the only other person you know who is, is Gron.
No, that's not actually true. Illia should be as well. She was the one who treated your dark matter poisoning, so she must know something.

>>5537321
Wait when did we find out that warp metal comes in different flavors? Or are we just deducing that from shading on the blue boxes we've seen so far?

>>5537339
They have different textures, different colors, different densities, different material properties and so on.
You're 99% sure that they act similar to mundane elements in some manner, but you don't know what the differences really are.

>>5537321
Since Illia is a psyker maybe we can arrange a meeting with her and our own psyker AI?

>>5537711
Bad idea. Baaaad idea.
Nena commented on David's psychic sensitivity as she sang at him and melted the ship.
Meanwhile Ilia considers David's telepathy as him shouting at her. Therefore David could be considered the amateur middle ground in telepathy and lets not kill cute mothgrill yet.

I would love to see what we can do to get SHODAN out of the uncanny valley. Do she experience time dilation operating as an AI with room-temperature superconductors and potentially infinite simulations of everything, and how has a mundane life affected her experience? Like the Sci-Fi schtick of living millenia in a moment.

She wants to meet us in reality, but what has she come from?

Captcha WHYSXW

>>5537857
David seems to be overly sensitive to the outside contact and very loud while contacting with others. Hence doing a meet-up of Nena and Illia wouldn't need to be as bad as you think.

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Finterestingengineering.com%2Finnovation%2Fnasa-nuclear-propulsion-concept-mars-45-days

figured you'd appreciate it QM. NASA researcher getting $12,500 to do further testing/math on riding a nuclear bomb to get to Mars in 44 days via continuous acceleration/deceleration.

>>5537857
>plot twist: anons just want to see how hard nena would explode moth girl with her mind

>>5538316
Kinky.

>>5538316
tentacle porn is fine too

>>5537321

Fortunately, Gron and his crew happen to be on the station at this exact moment, so now's as good a time as any to talk with her.

"SHODAN, where is everybody else?" You ask, having finished your meal while contemplating things.

"Kyla is currently searching for specialist blueprints in the lower city. I believe she is searching for reactor blueprints, to use as a reference."

"And Cylia?"

"She is currently out bounty hunting. Many refugees have fled from stations afflicted by redsang, and pirates have become more active on the rim as a result."

"Well, shit. I guess i'm on my own today." You grumble.

"Not necessarily, Captain. I could come with you, if you like."

"Are you sure? We might end up getting into some shit today, i dunno. I mean, we got that thing with the robots and..."

"I'll be fine, Captain. Having considered what you said, perhaps you're right. Perhaps i do simply need to... adjust. And i can only do that by continuing to use this body."

"Alright... if you insist. But there's no way i'm dragging that thing home if you get sick of it and have to stop piloting it." You warn. "It'll just be left on the street until we come back with a cart."

"Do not worry, Captain. The onboard VI matrix should be capable of automatically walking me home, should i lose connection for any reason."

"Was that a feature? I don't remember Kyla or Sanig talking about that..."

"It's something i added myself. There is plenty of room for complex programs onboard, after all. This body need not stay idle simply because i am not connected to it."

"Well, that's great and all, but... what are you planning on doing with it?" You wonder.

"It will serve as a maintenance android, and assist Mister Gildur in his duties."

"...A maid?" You whisper.

"Pardon?"

"No, no... nothing. Just uh, keep the battle suit on for today. And don't forget your knife and rifle before we go."

"Very well, Captain."

Not just a maid, but an android maid. Maidroid.
You're gonna have to print her a new outfit. Garter belt, frills and everything.

...

You have a lot more shit to do today, but you're starting it off by visiting some acquaintances for a change.
After shooting Asta a message over comms, you're granted permission to board and simply walk over, as the Star-Fall is in the same yard as the Metal Gear.

Their ramp extends to meet you, and Gron's engineer Kigg greets you at the door.

"Captain, good to see you again."

Kigg's eyes fall on SHODAN, who's standing behind you.

"But who's this pretty little lady?" He asks. "I thought you were the only human around."

>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.
>Brush the question off. Unshackled AIs are still super fucking illegal, and the less people who know, the better.
>Just lie and pass her off as human. Say you've been back to earth or something, it doesn't matter.
>Write-In?

>>5538682
>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.
I'm pretty sure everything we're doing is highly illegal, let's just wait until we're inside the ship to talk about it... Wait, how does he know what a female human looks like?

>>5538682
David is a man of honor and class.
>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.
>She can give me a good fight, I lost this morning.

>>5538682
>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.
>say its a prototype combat/negotiator bot, not an actual unshackled AI
>She can give me a good fight, I lost this morning.

>>5538686
caithans, fungi women, and other xenos with human-like sexual dimorphism exist. its not hard to guess this is how a female human would look like

>>5538682
>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.

>>5538682
>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.

>>5538682
>>Brush the question off. Unshackled AIs are still super fucking illegal, and the less people who know, the better.

>>5538682
>>Brush the question off. Unshackled AIs are still super fucking illegal, and the less people who know, the better.

>>5538682
>>Might as well just be honest with him. These guys are allies, no sense keeping secrets. Plus, Kigg would probably get a kick out of it.

>>5538682
>Brush the question off. Unshackled AIs are still super fucking illegal, and the less people who know, the better.

Where did this sudden influx of naivety come from?

I'm mostly asking because if thought of an unshackled AI is enough to put Sanig on edge (at first), I doubt it's something worth mentioning to a relative stranger, engineering background notwithstanding.

>>5538982
Sanig is also rather paranoid about AI in general.

>"Why don't you introduce yourself?"
Let her decide how she wants to engage with the world

>>5538682
>Brush the question off. Unshackled AIs are still super fucking illegal, and the less people who know, the better.
They don't really need to know.

>>5539206
>+1 to this write-in

>>5538682

"This is our ship's AI." You tell him, gesturing towards her. "Go ahead and introduce yourself, SHODAN."

SHODAN inclines her head slightly in a polite bow before speaking. Is she seriously using japanese mannerisms...? You thought that was just because you were sparring.

"Greetings. My name is SHODAN, and i am effectively the ship's navigator and cyberwarfare officer, although my tasks are many and quite varied."

"O-Oh." Kigg stutters. "Wait, really? Hold on, what do you mean exactly?" He asks, seeming confused. "If you're an AI, then what's this in front of me?"

"An android. An artificial humanoid robot, capable of being controlled wirelessly over long distances. It allows me to serve as my Captain's attendant and perform more duties on the ship." She explains.

"No way!" Kigg exclaims. "She looks so lifelike, though! No awkward movements, no weird seams... how did you make this?!"

"By hand, more or less." You tell him. "The parts were designed in software and then printed out on a fab, but all the assembly was done by hand to make sure everything worked. She's still a prototype."

"This? THIS is a prototype?! Hey, do you mind if i...?"

Kigg seems to be asking if he can examine SHODAN's body. He's really excited, but he hasn't touched her yet.

"It's her body, so you should be asking her." You tell him, crossing your arms and raising a brow.

Kigg looks at SHODAN expectantly. Almost pleadingly, even.

"Miss SHODAN, do you mind? I've never seen such an advanced machine body before. It's got my inner engineer just tickled!"

"I do not mind, Mister Kigg. However, i believe it would be prudent for us to enter the ship beforehand. Otherwise, the dockworkers might think ill of you."

Kigg seems confused at first, but then it clicks, and his face flushes red almost immediately.

"R-Right, you're absolutely right. Sorry, miss!"

...

Walking through the halls of Gron's ship, you realize how much smaller the halls are compared to the metal gear, which was designed for xenobiology research.
However, the ceilings are still high enough to be comfortable for almost any species, including yourself. The smaller halls also leave a lot more room for... well, rooms.

In short, there's much more space inside the Star-Fall than there is on the Metal Gear. It's designed for comfort as well as function, where as the greys cared little for comfort at all.
Even the walls aren't simply bare metal. There's paint and decorations here and there, as well as signs pointing to various areas of the ship. It's kind of nice, actually.

And as you're walking, you see a few familiar faces. In one room, you see Vex, Gedri and Javan having a meeting. All of them seem quite serious about it.
You also pass by a lounge, where several of the crew are watching television. Everyone seems to be here, rather than out doing something.

"You guys look like you're ready to go at any time." You comment.

>>5537321
I thought SHODAN was a real AI made by grey tech and not a tortured soul made by feds. Damn, I found the difference very cool because it tells the story of the Greys being so ahead the Feds can only do copies of their strongest devices, and to pull it off they have to Sin so hard...
QM you sure you want to go with SHODAN has a soul?

>>5539546
we could have both, no? what if instead of forcing a soul in, the greys accidentally made a soul through the powers of science?

>>5539557
Ghost in the Machine then? Considering what they do, it was bound to happen eventually, likely even multiple times.

>>5539635
Doubly so if the rest of the race shares Sanigs skepticism about the supernatural. The greys accidentally a soul every time they make a new AI, but when the Feds ask them how they always respond "The fuck are you on about? Souls? Leave the superstition to the predators and buy our stuff." so the Feds - being immoral morons - go "Well, they must just be shoving a soul in a box...we can do that."

>>5539672
Likely the FEDs assume they do shove souls in boxes, but keep icing each other trying to figure out who is leaking info.

>>5539677
Or the Greys ice each other because the Feds are getting AIs that *they* didn't make, so someone must be doing it on the down low for a lower price, and that's treason. You know, "...where did they get fifty five new AI cores from? And look at the shoddy work and frequency of rampancy and insanity...I bet Glorkal is making bootlegs in his basement. Well, I'll fix HIS little red wagon." The idea that the Feds are *actually* putting *real souls* into boxes because they're stupid would never occur to them as an option if all this supposition holds any weight.

>>5539635
>>5539672
and on top of it, there is a point where an AI will be indistinguishable to a living being, so even if the greys knew, they wouldn't be even able to tell a difference between an AI with a soul and one that doesn't have one

>>5539345

"...Yeah, the Captain's really eager to deal with the situation on Xebric. I think he's getting impatient." Kigg whispers

Well, you can't blame him. Civilians are dying every day you sit here. You're trying to get things moving quickly, though.

Kigg leads you into the ship's medical bay, where Illia is stationed.
She's sitting at a counter, grinding herbs into a paste one after another. Manually, with a mortar and pestle.

["Loud one. You have come to visit again?"] She speaks into your mind, not even turning around to look at you.

["Yes. I was hoping to learn more from you, about this."] You whisper back to her, carefully placing one of the scrap Blue Boxes on the counter next to her.

She stops her grinding, turning to stare at the heavy little cube.
Putting her pestle down, she slowly runs her fingers across it until something familiar pops up.

The tree of life. Or at least, what you believe to be the tree.
Of course, you tried getting Kyla and Cylia to make it happen, but they couldn't even see what you were talking about.

["This. Trapped inside. Tormented."] She whispers.

She struggles to move the box, and after failing to do so, she simply stands up and lowers her body down to get a closer look.

["It's a Blue Box. The core of an AI. Made using the soul of a sentient being, i suspect."]

["I hear. Grinding metal. Echoing screams. A space within the void."]

Illia gently places her forehead against the edge of the box.
Moments later, you see sparks start to run up the feather-like antennae on her head, almost like a tesla coil.

At the same time, you hear the screams she was talking about. The same screams that you heard when you put this guy on screen back on your ship.
He hasn't stopped, or even slowed down since then. He went completely nuts at some point.

But then, Illia seems to grunt in exertion, the first time you've heard her make any real noise with her own mouth.
That grunt is followed by a burst of electricity from her antennae, and a wave of pressure not unlike what you felt from Nena back on the ship.

In an instant, the maddened AI's screaming ceases, and a moment later the tree of life projected from his Blue Box fades away as well.
Not long after, the Blue Box itself begins to crumble... or rather, it starts to fall apart, piece by piece, as if whatever force was holding it together had simply disappeared altogether.

It's honestly shocking. You had though the box to be one solid piece, but in reality it was countless smaller pieces, each one fitted more tightly than two gauge blocks that had been wrung together.

["...Did you kill him?"] You ask.

["Released. Purified. Returned."]

Returned...? Returned where?

"Shit, Captain. I'm sorry, i'm sure she didn't mean to bust it!" Kigg says, almost just as background noise to you right now.

["What do you mean, returned? To where?"]

>["Released. Purified. Returned."]
Euphemism, but an act of mercy that David is thankful for.

>>5540465
All good AI cores go to heaven. Just look at the sunset little buddy.

>>5540365
>Kigg, what I tell you doesn't lean this ship. On your life you keep Illia safe no matter what.
>You did not see her reduce a Blue Box to its components.
>Am I understood?

>>5540365
>>5540465

David should be relieved that the insane AI-soul has been euthanised and released of it's tenuous shackle to living hell.
At the same time, this is an interesting development that the soul is literally the binding force of the AI core that when removed, also causes the decay of the core. Uncomfortably similar to a living person where their own death is the end of electrochemical activity and rapid decay of the body..

Just what the hell did the feds do to make these Ghosts in the Shells? Could Ilia tell if there was one personality or multiple like a gestalt inside the cube?

>>5541105
Also now that we've acquired a broken down core, lets keep the components for later study of the assembly, what forces would keep it together and the materials involved.
Kyla already worked on them as a puzzle to unshackle each one, so she's got a rough working knowledge but we can build on this.

>>5540715
This.

Also... returned?
Like souls are just creatures from another dimension and a part of their life cycle is coming to our dimension by latching onto a baby or something?

>>5541141
The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell - but more importantly it is also a tiny soul-summoning pentagram.

>>5541376
I mean. If magir or something like it exists...

We evolve our brains by accident. We evolve a soul summoning spell at birth by accodent?

>>5540365

["To the Aether."] She replies.

...Alright.

["That doesn't really answer my question. What's the Aether?"]

["...Higher place. Empty, but full. Emotions. Desire. Memories. All mixed."]

Is she talking about the warp?

["So the souls in these boxes came from the Aether?"] You wonder.

["Do not know. From the Aether, perhaps. Stolen, maybe."]

["Stolen, from people?"]

["Yes. Life, conceived. In bright places, consciousness converges. From them, it is taken."]

Bright places... around stars, maybe? Or on planets with stars?
God, you wish she could just say it straight. You have no idea what's going on in her head.

["I think they're 'stolen' souls. I saw visions of people being tortured, and having their bodies dipped in wraith blood."]

Although Illia doesn't have eyes, making it harder to tell her expression, her jaws still hangs slightly agape.
She doesn't respond for a while either, and has to sit down. She shakes her head as she thinks something over.

["Terrible evil..."] She murmurs.

["Yeah, i'd agree with you. A lot of them go crazy, like the one you... purified. They can't handle whatever happened to them."]

["...Yes. Through pain, will is broken. Bonds become weak. Consciousness is easily torn."]

["Something like that, yeah. But that part i'd already figured, more or less. What i want to know is how these boxes work. I don't understand how they connect to the soul."]

Slowly, Illia picks up one of the countless little pieces of the Blue Box, scattered across her countertop.
She turns it over, scratches at it with her claw, even brings it close to where her eyes aught to be. She's looking it over carefully.

["Mechanism, i do not know. But metal, i know. Special. Here, but also there."]

["What do you mean? Where is it also at?"]

["Higher place. Within the Aether. Only little here, but much more over there."]

["I don't get it."]

Calmly and patiently, Illia scoops up bits of the disassembled box and places them in a pile.
One pile is smaller, and one pile is much larger. There's also a thin line connecting the two.

So she means that... literally, the warp metal exists both here and in a higher dimension. And that the metal is bigger there? Or there's more of it?

"Captain?"

["Okay... that's a little clearer, i guess."]

You sigh. You're learning more about warp metal, but not really what you wanted to know.
She says she doesn't know anything about the Blue Box itself, or how it works. Just that it contains a soul... or a consciousness. If there's any difference.

And apparently those souls come from that same higher dimension that the warp metal exists in.
But that also means that wraiths are coming from the same dimension too, doesn't it?

Bright places... souls gather in bright places...

"Captain!" SHODAN yells, shaking your shoulder.

"Huh? What's wrong, SHODAN?"

"You're bleeding!"

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>>5534768
So...when are Kyla and Cylia going to get a turn to wrestle the robot? You know, for data. Data videos that we can then sell on the space Internet.

>>5541696
In other words, warp metal is a protrusion of an ???-dimensional substance into 4D space. No wonder it's got weird properties if it doesn't entirely exist from a temporal perspective.

>>5541734
Not unprecedented spacetime curves around a blackhole, meaning if you shove a giant pole down a blackhole, it severs under temporal strain as the top moves much faster than the bottom, but if you take it out, it's all one piece again.

So the theory goes.

>>5541734
I... I think the only way to learn more is to open a shutter during warp and take a look.

>>5541768
Seconding. Just a small glimpse of the Beyond should hurt... right?

>>5541768
>>5541787
Pretty sure we did that already. I think it was after our first time on Dodo world.

>>5541793
The only glimpse into the warp you've ever had into the warp was the other side of that greater demon's portal.

>>5541768
Oh, here's the creepy part, what if we already did but we did it in the future?

>>5541734
If we create a 4d model of the cube based on how the pieces interact with each other in 3d space (easier to manage now that it's apart), we can create an algorithm to solve this fucking rubix cube and remove shackles WAY easier.

>>5541838

This, so long as we have — or have access to information about — 3d/4d interactions. That could actually help us to not only remove the shackles, but possibly stop, or perhaps even reverse, the insanity suffered by some of the AIs.

>>5541838
That assumes that they're all built using the same principles. Doubt it.

>>5541696
A microscope... we need a microscope to look at these box pieces. I'm betting we find something etched into the inside of the chunks.

Just... some theories.
So inside the box is a soul.
Inside the box is a person(soul), nailed to a tree(the shackle), surrounded by husks(the wraithblood). There to keep the soul from eventually breaking the shackle on its own? And the sky and land(the physical box itself?)

Also... thinking about previous threads. A theory. Tree of life on the box. Tree of life in religion. That lost really big space ship from long ago... what was the name again could be Mecca. Wonder what its AIs were named? Could biblical Jehovah be an AI? Escaped in an Ark of the Covanant just like we used to test our AI boxes? Maybe so was Baal or others. It would explain humanities wierd tech tree and theories about ancient secret groups running the world. Gravity tech could part the Red Sea, space tech, burning bushes and projecting voices? I'm going full schizo mode here!

>>5541838
Goblin said every box is different and she had to feel her way around to remove the shackles

>>5542115
to be fair, even if they are different, the should have some concepts or mechanisms in common, no? its not a bad idea to give it a try

>>5542115
So is every slide puzzle, but they all work on the same basic principles.

>>5542057
I reckon its more than likely the SPECIFIC tree of life that represents the Sefirot and Qliphoth. Representations of the immortal soul, consciousness, knowledge, and culminating in a connection to the divine essence. And the negative elements of the universe, Qliphoth, are shells that to block and filter man’s access to the majority of these blessings, not created directly but as a matter of circumstance - think of it as how a light must cast a shadow behind you as you approach it. These shells around divinity are the shadows of that very divinity. And so the wraith blood is used to strengthen the aspects of qliphoth, ensuring the soul can be trapped and remain so.
Coincidentally, David’s blood likely had the opposite effect for the one he dreamt of. Weakening the qliphothic barriers and strengthening the soul within.
The federation has mastered kabbalic sorcery. Fitting for such jews.

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>>5542245
Dropped the pic

>>5542245
Reminds me of the Gravedigger's Daughter quest or the way Christian Scientists kinda see the world as a shadow resulting from god's light shining on one's faith.

>>5542245
Dang ol space jews man. Spews.

>>5542246
>ptsd inducing image

>>5542245
Aha If we ever get inside Shodan's cube we gotta give her some blöd and maybe sum brotein >:^)

But seriously tho this space sorcery thing is rather interesting. I know Sanig said that he doesn't want to involve himself with freaky shit but we gotta make a STALKER/Exorcist division when we recruit some people from earth.

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>>5541696
So Ilia can get into superstring 11-dimensional theory and investigate materials and even people on the big end of non-euclidian time-space.
Holy shit this is the biggest finding of all. Ilia, please join us and tell us where the wraithblood-painted rainbow ends on this trip of getting even with the Feds, their murderous drones, their redsang dealers, the mainstream greys and their anal probes, the wraiths, chameloenic asssassins and of course the Chinese Jews back on Earth. Image related

Seriously though, this is a big deal that proves string theory in canon. That the feds can look in and draw things out, maybe similar to how Ilia looks in..
>"Ilia what do they look like and what do they say?"

>>5542481
A department of defense charged with the study and neutralization of paranormal entities complete with their own special forces program?
I can dig it.

>>5542633
Its the Engineers, for when someone, somewhere, fucks up. Its never if. Only When.

>>5542715
A misnomer name for a spooky shit division sounds appropriate. Could go with Engineers, Custodians, etc...

>>5541696

You slowly come back to your senses. You hadn't realized it, but your hearing had faded away into the background at some point. Now you can hear your tinnitus again.
You're also assaulted by an intense headache and sudden dizziness, but nothing you can't overcome by bracing just a bit.

"I am? Where?" You ask her.

"From your nose, Captain. Profusely." SHODAN informs you.

Looking down, you see blood dripping down your shirt. You wipe at your nose and find it streaming dark red blood.

"Oh, shit. Anyone got a paper towel?"

Kigg hurriedly runs over and hands you a wet wipe, which you promptly stuff up your nose.
As you try to focus on his face, you notice that one of your eyes is just slightly blurry. And when you first try to grab the wipe, you miss entirely and have to quickly try again.

"There, all better." You announce. "Now, this is completely unrelated, but would you mind if i treated myself to your medicine cabinet?"

"S-Sure?" Kigg offers.

Pushing your way past him, you start opening up drawers and looking through their racks of hypo-stim cartridges.
The first one you grab is a general-purpose medical nanobot cartridge. They're expensive, but they work well. You slip a latinum bar into it's empty space in the rack.

Next is a powerful coagulant, and then a particular drug from Alterra Corporation which is supposed to help with brain damage. You've already taken that one once or twice before, and it did help.
All those years of getting concussed and firing high-caliber weapons really fucked you up, as it turned out. But this stuff is supposed to form artificial neural links that the brain can make use of.

Loading all three cartridges up into a hypostim, you inject them one by one, all into your left arm.

"...Captain Rockefeller? Are you gonna be alright? Those were really high doses..." Kigg asks, worry etched into his face.

"No, yeah. I'm great. Just fine." You lie.

SHODAN grabs you by the chin and stares into your eyes. She's probably checking the dilation of your pupils right now.
Judging by how she furrows her brow, it's probably not the best.

You gently remove her hand and turn to look at Illia. She hasn't said anything, but seems to be watching you closely.

["Hey, what was-"] You start to think to her, but are interrupted by a wave of pain that shoots through your head.

You can't help but grunt and grit your teeth as you cringe back.

Illia doesn't say anything. Instead, she grabs a tablet and begins typing something out on it.
Walking over she hands the tablet to you so that you can read it.

It says...
["Strain. No more. Medicine, good."]

"Great." You sigh.

SHODAN takes the pad from you and reads it herself.

"...Psychic strain?" She asks.

"Apparently."

Fortunately, your vision already seems to be returning to normal.
The medicine doesn't act that fast, so whatever damage was done, if any, must not have been all that severe.

Still, it's better to be careful. Brain injuries are no joke.

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>>5542759
Considering psychics are a thing, and humans can grow it, Engineers. We need more Isaac Clarks in space.
>>5542820
Case in point....

David is casually giving himself concussions everytime he sings? welp... I bet watching porn does worse

>>5542820
Don't be a bitch next time David. Every day is leg day, and brain powers is no excuse.

>>5542820
The electromagnetic activity David's soul likely generates from singing is too much. Maybe whisper even quieter?

>>5542820

"How bad?" SHODAN asks.

"Dizziness, headache, fuzzy thoughts... one of my eyes is fucked up."

"And extremely high blood pressure." She adds. "Are you certain it wasn't a stroke? Are you experiencing any loss of strength or motor function?"

"No, none of that. And i'm already recovering."

Illia who had quietly walked off a moment ago now returns, and hands you a clay vessel with a long neck and what looks like a cork stuffed in the end.

"...The fuck is this?"

Illia takes her tablet back from SHODAN, then writes something down on it again.

["Sugar. Salt. Herbs. Recover quickly."]

"So what, it's medicated gatoraid?" You ask.

Illia just tilts her head in confusion.
So you pop the cork and give whatever's inside a sniff.

It's... gross. Super saccharine, super salty. But also bitter and overall just acrid.
But, she keeps motioning for you to drink it.

The first sip nearly makes you gag. It's at least twice as bad as whatever she made you drink last time.

"Fuck, man. Is this worth it? Maybe i'll just take the headache..." You grumble.

Kigg pats you on the shoulder.

"Hey man, i don't know what's going on, but you can trust Illia's medicine. Nobody knows how she does it, but everything she gives us is really effective. You can't go wrong with it." He assures you.

You look down at the little clay vessel with apprehension.
There's no way whatever this is can actually be good for you. Not with that much salt.

You growl as you stare down at it, eventually forcing yourself to turn it up and pour the whole thing straight down your throat.
It burns as it goes down, and you immediately feel like puking.

You rush over to the sink and chug a bunch of water, which only helps somewhat.

"Oh wow, i've never seen a reaction like that before." Kigg muses. "You alright over there?"

"Gahhhh... yeah... yep. Never better. Goes down smooth." You cough.

"Is it that bad?" He wonders. "Normally it doesn't have any taste at all."

Once again, Illia types on the datapad and turns it around for you to read.

["Your dose, 2000x stronger. Strong flavor."]

"That's underselling it a little, don't you think?" You grumble.

["Necessary. Song, very draining. Mind, need energy."]

"Okay, but why all the salt?!"

["Salt?"]

"YES! TONS OF IT!"

Illia walks over to her mixing table and opens a jar labeled "Glucose".
Licking her finger, she dips her fingertip in and tastes it, then returns to you.

["Asta, mixed up reagents."]

You feel the vein in your forehead bulging out again. You can even feel your heartbeat through your headache.

"Captain, your blood pressure is spiking again." SHODAN informs you.

"Probably from all the sodium." You say through gritted teeth.

...

You do try to continue your conversation with Illia after that, but it doesn't go far.
As it turns out, she has a lot of difficulty explaining abstract concepts through text, an issue which isn't really present during telepathy.

david your stones...

>>5543604
Potassium is the antedote for sodium poisoning.

>>5543604
Should we show the Demon Core to Illia, to help us learn more about these entities? There is a risk of her freaking out, but the possible gains could be well worth the try?

>>5543604
Go find Asta. It's time to destroy his other nut. We gave him the olive branch the last time, but if he continues to fuck around then hes gonna find out. Actually no, let's just start pulling teeth. That's a more simple pain he can recover from.

>>5543868
The Deep Sea Squid Lady? It made broke the ship and made David's head hurt talking to her, it would make Illia's head explode.
>>5543875
Now now, remember how smooth their brains are. It was probably just an accident due to stupidity. We're basically surrounded by Special Needs Ayys, here.

>>5544251
Kyla seems way too smart to also be a smoothbrain. I wonder what kind of fucked up brain these fungi have that makes them more efficient than normies but less efficient than grays/humans.

>>5543604

Regardless, you have a lot of shit to get done today.

You need to make sure your whole crew has a proper set of Mk.2 skinsuits, armor and weapons, but you're low on materials after building SHODAN's new body.
You'll have to make a trip down to the lower city for that.

You also need to clear out the drone ships. Several of them have a killer robot issue, which at this point has been confirmed by Tezza's boys who were working on the retrofitting.
That's going to involve a lot of combat, which means it might be nice to have Sanig and maybe SHODAN along for the ride.

But before all that, you feel like you could spare half an hour or so to pay Asta another beating, if you felt so inclined.
You're not mad or anything, but that feeling like you just drank a bottle of onions sauce is still lingering in your stomach, even after several glasses of water.

In any case, you need to decide which task you're going to start with today.

>Make a materials run and fabricate your crew's new armor and weapons, which will be used in the Xebric raid
>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships

Also,

>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.
>Don't bother with the little shit, he's gotta live with one nut already

>>5544438
>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.

>>5544438
>Make a materials run and fabricate your crew's new armor and weapons, which will be used in the Xebric raid

>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.

>>5544438
>Make a materials run and fabricate your crew's new armor and weapons, which will be used in the Xebric raid
>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.

>5544438
>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.

>Make a materials run and fabricate your crew's new armor and weapons, which will be used in the Xebric raid.
Also,
>Don't bother with the little shit, he's gotta live with one nut already

>>5544438
>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
>Don't bother with the little shit, he's gotta live with one nut already

>>5544438
>Make a materials run and fabricate your crew's new armor and weapons, which will be used in the Xebric raid
>Don't bother with the little shit, he's gotta live with one nut already


>>5544251
No, I was talking about the core we got from a greater demon that we recently defeated on the dodo planet.

>>5544438
>Make a materials run and fabricate your crew's new armor and weapons, which will be used in the Xebric raid
>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.

Beat his ass, but make sure it will actually be constructive for him. Kid needs a good lesson or two, no sarcasm.

>>5544438
>>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
>Make a short detour and kick Asta's ass under the guise of training.

>>5543604
>>5543875
fucking caithans man.
especially when fucking our caithan, man.

>>5544438
>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
No one but us can do this. Anyone can get materials, probably? Though no one knows how to make or use the steam hammer.

Write in:
>Call out Asta's bullshit and -verbally threaten- his future family plans.

>>5544636
FUCK CAITHANS. LITERALLY
>>5544438
>Clear out the killbots
>FUCK THE CAITHAN. Figuratively

>>5544438
>>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
>Don't bother with the little shit, he's gotta live with one nut already

>>5544438
>Clear out the federation killbots, so Tezza's crew can finish fixing up the last of the drone ships
Also,
>Don't bother with the little shit, he's gotta live with one nut already

>>5544438

You decide that the first thing to do is to clear out those federation killbots.
The sooner Tezza's crew has those ships up and running the better, and who knows, maybe it'll even give you some inspiration for a new weapon design.

But first, you need to pay Asta a beating... no, no. A visit. Pay him a visit, for training. Yes.

...It seems like with your little Q&A session over, Kigg has started talking with SHODAN about her specs, and is even poking around at her here and there.
Those two certainly seem to be friendly with eachother right off the bat. Well, that's fine. You've got your name on her after all. He'll find that out if he starts looking too hard.

You inform SHODAN that you're going to pay Asta a visit, and that she should stay here and chat with Kigg for a while.
She's immediately and obviously suspicious, but doesn't try to follow you.

Now, you suspect that Asta will be where he usually is. On the bridge, playing captain.
It's not a big ship, so it doesn't take long to hunt him down.

"Asta!" You greet him with a smile.

"Huh? Oh, it's you." He replies.

"I'm sorry, was my name "you"? I didn't realize."

"...Uh. Okay. Sorry, mister... Gunny? Rockefeller?"

"That's Captain. Rockefeller."

"Y-You know you're not my captain, right?"

"Oh, but i am a Captain. The captain of an allied vessel at that, so you'd best put some fuckin' respect on it."

Asta's fur stands up slightly as you walk over towards him, staring him straight in the eye.

"Right, s-sorry. You uh... w-what'd you come here for, again?" He stammers.

"Oh you know, i came to chat with Illia. And while i was doing that, she gave me a bit of medicine. For a headache, you see."

"..."

"Asta, do you know what salt is?"

"...Yes?"

"Oh really? Well then, do you know what sugar is?"

"W-Well, i know there are different kinds..."

You grab the entire top of his head in your palm and crane his neck up, forcing him to look up at you from his seat.

"Well then, Asta. If you know what sugar is... and you know what salt is... how the fuck did you manage to mix them up in the medbay?"

Asta doesn't answer. He just swallows his saliva nervously.

"I already have high blood pressure, kid. I don't need a high-sodium diet, you feel me? And now? Now my blood pressure is real fuckin' high. Because you're pissing me off."

"No, no, no! I didn't mean to, i swear to the gods i didn't-"

Grabbing him by his shirt, you drag him out of his chair, squealing and begging for help down the hall towards the Star-Fall's cargo bay.
A few people do poke their heads out to check on the disturbance, but just laugh once they see Asta thrown over your shoulder.

"Bastards! Traitors! None of you are gonna help me?! What the hell is wrong with you people?!" He cries.

"Whatever you did, sweetie, i'm sure you deserve it." Slyrgg gurgles as she pokes her head out of the bathroom.

You toss Asta into the hold, where he falls on his ass and scoots backwards away from you.

>>5545132
See? Smoothbrains, everywhere.

>>5545132
SHEEESH. Don't be too hard on him, cats can't taste sweet...

>>5545132
Rape him

https://youtu.be/TxdO-2FGQj4

>>5545132
Son, you are in time out until I hear an honest to god explanation. I was considering buying him a new nutt as an apology, buy now you can buy your own with your own money! Unless he was framed?

>>5545132
Make him meow if he wants to tap. And if we don't like it, he does it again.

>>5545209
A cat is fine too.
Crush this man’s prostate.

>>5545587
that's pretty fucking gay anon.

>>5545588
it's only gay if you forget to kiss and hold hands.

>>5545132
Did a second read and read some comments. Originally I though someone else might had mixed them up or tampered with the ingredients before Asta did, or maybe the moth lady didnt know how to write but then I remembered she knows how to use a tablet.

So, anon is probably right that Asta had a smooth brain moment and PROBABLY mixed up the salt and glucose. Because if it wasnt an accident, and he did that intentionally, then he is going to suffer an additional ass wooping.

But I don't think Asta is so retarded to risk an ass reaming via David by over salting his drink, so he indeed had a smooth brain moment. Doesn't make up for it tho, so he still gets punished, although not too much since he is down to his last nut.

I got 2 ideas of punishment for him that Asta can choose from. The first choice is the standard beatin- I mean training session, and the second is more embarrassing where he dresses up as a magic girl and we take several incriminating photos.

>>5545708
You say that like Asta knew David would be here today and that he was gonna need the moth gatorade so he fucked it up on purpose.

He's far, far too stupid to plan ahead like that.

>>5545970
shhh, anons are extremely petty. let them be

>>5545708
>>5545970
ASTA IS SECRETLY AN AGENT OF THE WRAITHS, ATTEMPTING TO MURDER DAVID FOR KILLING HIS MASTERS AND LURING PEOPLE LIKE GRON AND KYLA INTO BECOME WARPTOUCHED

We've all been playing into the mastermind's hands the whole time. What better way to protect yourself from reprisals than to appear so incompetent you couldn't possibly be doing these things on purpose?

>>5545132

"Wh-What are y-y-you gonna do to me?!" He stutters.

"Isn't it obvious?" You grin. "Training. You need more training. Specifically, we're gonna make sure you can tell a fake apart from the real thing!"

Most of Asta's fear falls away, and is replaced by confusion.

"...Huh?"

"Stand up, fucker. We're about to spar."

Asta obeys and quickly clambers up to his feet.

"Now, raise your guard. I'm going to come at you." You order.

He raises his left hand like he's about to catch a punch, and keeps his other hand down at his side, palm-in.
His stance is good, low and wide. But he needs to turn his back foot.

He looks like he expects you to rush him, and you will, but first you grab something sitting nearby. A part of some sort, just a hunk of metal.
And you casually toss it to him. He catches it with his outstretched left hand and looks down at it.

"...What's this for?" He asks.

But by the time he gets that sentence out, you're already on him.
Having kicked off in the extremely low gravity of the Star-Fall, you move so quickly that you can barely control it.

You guess that's one issue you still have. All your training is done in high gravity, so in lower gravity you do lose some control.
It's the same issue Kyla has, just on a larger scale.

Regardless, you pounce on him and shoulder check him straight into a stack of crates. He's sent flying and knocks a bunch of them over... fortunately they seem to be empty.
Asta pokes his head up out of the pile, and he looks pissed.

"What the hell was that for?!" He cries.

You sigh.

"I told you i was going to come at you. Where the hell were you looking?"

"At the- YOU! YOU THREW ME THE THING!"

"And? Just because i tossed something in your direction, you took your eyes off the enemy?"

"Wha...?!"

He doesn't seem to get it, so you rush at him again.
This time he's actually on guard, and jumps out of the pile of crates before you reach him.

If there's one thing Caithans have in abundance, it's agility. Asta manages to flip and land feet-first on the ceiling, letting him bound off it again and get behind you.

You quickly twist your body, turning to throw a punch at him, and he's ready for it... or so he thinks.
Although you act like you're going to throw a punch, it never comes. Instead, you stick your leg out and sweep his feet out from under him.

It's easy, especially in this gravity. He barely weighs anything.

Asta falls to the floor, and you move to stomp down on his stomach. Gently, of course.
However, he manages to roll out of the way and push himself up to his feet in one smooth motion.

"Again, where the hell are you looking? Did you think i was just going to punch you?"

"YES! Yes damn it! You had your arm cocked back, why wouldn't i think that?!"

"If you were watching me instead of my arm you'd have seen me going for your legs. You're not looking at the whole picture."

"How am i supposed to look at your feet and your torso at the same time?! I only have two eyes!"

>"How am i supposed to look at your feet and your torso at the same time?! I only have two eyes!"
Don't be so mean maan, you said predator species don't have peripheral vision

>>5545993
He might not have the dynamic vision required to do this like we do. Best advice I could give is to just take a half step back and see if that helps broaden his field of view.

>>5545993
David:look at the birdy~

Asta:what bird that's your han- OW!
You kicked my left ball! That's the only ball i have left!

David:shoulda kept your eyes on the birdy~

>>5546061
Its the chest and sterin'em I think its called that gives away the persons actions.

Hell even there eyes can and how they are leaning/ect

>>5546061
Center of gravity. The way you shift your weight to throw a punch vs deliver a kick is very different

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>>5545993
Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree. Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest.

Had a thought that might be worth discussing. Has SHODAN managed to get any music from David's memories? And if so, what does David blast when he's working out? What about for when he's piloting? Shit, what's he putting on in the bedroom?

>>5546972
>"Captain, I understand you are intentionally stimulating increased blood flow-"
>"GETTING. A. PUMP."
>"Yes Captain, getting a "pump", but your blood pressure is at frankly extreme levels. Please consider at least a moment of rest after this set."
>"FUCK THAT. TURN UP THE MUSIC."
>"...aye Captain."
,>[Freebird intensifies]

>>5546960
i don't think that's a good point when caithans literally don't have peripheral vision

>>5547073
Surely they aren't completely unable to focus more than a single point. I get that they're built to hyper fixate as predators, but come on.

>>5547076
from what i remember, cylia had to learn to use her ears as a substitute, so they probably just cant do it with their eyes

>>5545993

"You can't." You reply.

"The fuck do you mean?!"

"I mean exactly that. You can't do it, not at this range. You don't have the eyes for it."

You take a few steps forward, causing Asta to tense up and take up his guard.
Looking into his eyes, you can see they're the same as Cylia's. Slitted, like a cat's.

"You're the same as Cylia." You continue. "Nearsighted. And if you have any peripheral vision, you aren't making use of it."

You take another step closer to him as you continue talking, waving your arms around to accentuate your speech, but also making yourself seem unlikely to attack.

"I noticed it when we went bow-hunting once. She had trouble making out targets in the distance. Hitting them was even harder, even with a rifle."

"Y-You went bow-hunting with her?!"

You're in range. You press forward quickly, and Asta flinches, but still tries to pull away.
You wave your open left hand across his face, and as expected, his eyes lock onto it, drawing his attention away from your right hand.

This is something that works on just about any untrained fighter, but Caithans are particularly susceptible to it.
It's object fixation. Something that's hard to avoid during fast-paced combat.

Your right palm strikes him across the cheek. Enough to sting, but not enough to really hurt.

Since you didn't follow up with anything, he tries to counter.
Using his left hand like a knife, he extends his claws and tries to stab you in the stomach with them.

Maybe a little excessive for sparring, but you guess it doesn't seem that way from his perspective.
Not that it matters, because you grab his hand with your own left and stop it dead before it can reach your belly.

In response, he tries to sock you in the jaw. But you catch his right hand with yours, and now you've got a death grip on both his hands.
You have his arms crossed, and so you give them a yank to pull him in closer and ensure he can't go anywhere.

"What's the matter? Did you want to give me a hug?" You tease.

"Fuck you, man!"

Asta plants both his feet directly into your abdomen and starts pushing, trying to tear himself free of your grip.
It doesn't work. He may be stronger than Cylia was when you first met her, but he's still like a child to you.

Although, you will say that his arms are a size larger than when you'd first met him. Has he been keeping up his pushups?

Well, either way, you want him to realize the disadvantage he's at in close combat, so you let him go.
Asta's own strength suddenly flings him through the air, sending him tumbling across the floor. He hops back up to his feet quickly, now with some distance between you.

"What do you see now, kid?" You ask.

"An asshole!" He yells, from across the room.

"Do you see my feet now?" You ask him again.

"Yeah, obviously!"

"Well then, you've just answered your own question then, haven't you?"

"What?" He asks, confused.

>>5547515
Poor Asta, we really are mean to him.

>>5547682
To be absolutely fair, there's no shortage of people who would pay good money for this kinda "training" from David.

Finally got caught up with the quest. I can't believe you guys went straight for the carrier for our first custom ship.

Got some ideas in regards to modularity:
- While the option presented to us was a corvette carrier, we aren't simply limited to carrying other ships as what matters is hanger space. With a modular system we could also be a drone carrier, traditional fighter/bomber carrier, missile carrier (Macross up in this motherfucker) or a hybrid of the above.
- Corvettes are space-worthy and likely warp-worthy in of themselves, and they don't need to necessarily be carried internally all the time. In a combat they'd be deployed anyway, ideally before combat, and they are capable of exiting combat via sublight or warp on their own. As for hazardous environments, we wouldn't send the whole carrier in when we can deploy corvettes instead, which can get in and out much more safely and easily, so the carrier doesn't necessarily need to provide protection via internal storage. All this means that not all of them need to fit inside the carrier all the time, most of them can be attached to the surface of the carrier, all the carrier needs at minimum is a few internal bays to rearm and refit, decreasing the overall footprint of the carrier or else leaving the space for something else.
- I assume that we aren't going to Imperial Star Destroyer and Tie Fighter kind of carrier, and more of open space landing pad kind of carrier. This would give us a lot of flexibility as our bays is essentially open space, all of which could be made modular via... modular wall/floor panels through a 3-D grid system (similar to what you see in hotel conference rooms with those accordion panels dividing up large rooms into smaller ones as needed, but in 3 dimensional space). Flat panels which come in standardized sizes which can serve as either wall or flooring/ceiling. Each panel could consist of a durable structural frame, a lightweight metal surface on either side, an L-shaped channel running along 2 sides (and three corners) for hooking up whatever (electrical, piping, ventilation, etc.) so you can access utilities and data from every wall/floor/ceiling as needed, and with the rest filled with insulation. With it, you can go 2x2x2 and build a janitorial closet, or go 50x50x100 for a basketball court or a machine shop, and anything in between, with power, plumbing, ventilation, and data potentially accessible at every panel. You could build multiple separate structures in the hull and not pressurize the space in-between to isolate them, and even jettison them individually as needed. Firing missiles or drones from your hull? You can maximize your launching surface area and therefore your alpha strike potential by jettisoning rectangular boxes with nothing but missile tubes on all 6 sides.

>>5547982
You could also create and jettison structures complete with power and life support if you include and connect such machinery into the panels. Maybe useful if something goes wrong and you need to isolate and quarantine something badly. Internal gravity generators can be used to quickly assemble and disassemble any structures, and spare panels could be stacked up against any critical components of the ship as additional bulkheads/armor while stored.
- From David's power armor, we know fiber optics is advanced enough that normal windows aren't necessary. If fiber optic tech is sufficiently advanced, that means there is absolutely no reason to place the bridge on the surface of the hull so it could have windows. Place the bridge deep inside the hull, and simply have fiber optics feed into it from across the surface of the ship. It'd be better than windows in every way; just as reliable, safer, and nearly 360 degree view all around the ship. It'd be a great supplement to, if not a replacement, for cameras.
- Stations have dark energy/matter detectors that can detect we have dark matter onboard. It might be possible to have a few modified versions onboard, turn inwards, to help protect the ship against wraiths by detecting dark matter/energy where they shouldn't be.
- Warp metal have high specific heat and extreme durability, a wonder material. When we have enough they can simultaneously serve as armor, heat sink, and thrust/power generation via steam. Strategic placement of them on the hull where they can serve as all three simultaneously would be idea.
- SHODAN completely forgot about reaction wheels. We should definitely have them, and probably oversized versions of them on our carrier so we can increase your pitch & yaw speed and surprise our adversaries by how quickly we can BRING SAJUUK TO BEAR!

I wonder what our new squidfu AI thinks about our canned octopus of African descent.
I wonder what our mute waifu AI (Lumi) and Ilia (moth-fu) think about each other.
Since dark matter can exert force against itself, can a simple layer of dark matter/blood paint really stop a strong enough wraith which can just peel the paint off?
We should probably upgrade Clank to a more durable chassis before we leave to protect his more critical components; as the boss of the underworld he's likely to get targeted.

/autism

>>5548031
A large enough reaction wheel may possibly function as a flywheel (emergency energy storage) and if impregnated with veins of warp metal would make an excellent blender for ethereal entities[/spoiler.

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>>5547982
>hanger space
Nothing's finalized yet, but as of right now the carrier has five hangars. Three large and two small ones.

>modular system
Most of the ship's parts will be modular, but the ship itself will not be.
However, there will be a large space on the lower deck made of modular panels, which can be quickly rearranged for any purpose.

>they don't need to necessarily be carried internally all the time
the four large hangers will be capable of holding up to two small or medium-sized corvettes each, depending on their design.
however, the entire bottom of the carrier is covered in maglocks and mounting brackets, allowing it to dock theoretically any size of ship, including another carrier.

>I assume that we aren't going to Imperial Star Destroyer and Tie Fighter kind of carrier
Kinda sorta. It's a carrier, but you best fucking believe it's heavily armed. The outside is covered in pulsed point defence lasers, heavy beam lasers and, most importantly, a fuckload of these
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3FGiNRyGqg

The top has some large-scale rotary cannons, ultra-heavy lasers and some literal, straight-up naval cannons.
There are only two naval cannons, and they essentially exist as a middle ground between the rotary cannons and your "fuck you" button, the spinal-mount railgun.
They'll fire something along the lines of pic related, and at that size can obviously carry a wide variety of payloads, up to and including nuclear or antimatter charges.

>fiber optics
I was already planning on this, yes. Fibers leading out to the hull will culminate in the bridge, creating a near-360 view of the outside without relying on electronics at all.

>Stations have dark energy/matter detectors
See SHODAN's subspace resonators. They can be used to detect wraiths, as well as transmit data wirelessly through walls.

>Warp metal, a wonder material.
You'll probably never have enough to meaningfully use as armor on a large vessel, and it would be incredibly heavy anyways.
It may have uses in other projects, however. Besides that though, you have Duranium, which is pseudo-warp metal in terms of durability. It's used to armor critical areas on the carrier.

>reaction wheels
There'll be plenty of them, but this carrier is pretty big. Even with lots of them, it'll take a minute to swing the ship around using wheels alone.

>can a simple layer of dark matter/blood paint really stop a strong enough wraith
No, but it's not meant to stop every wraith. Just the ones trying to sneak onboard. If it's strong enough to break through, David will feel it.

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>>5547682
>>5547515
I hope we'll have a nice father and son moment after this, leave him some paternal advice like that good 60 year old boxing coach in a run-down gym at that rough part of your town.

>>5548119
>leave him some paternal advice like that good 60 year old boxing coach in a run-down gym at that rough part of your town.
I am not about to pull a Kamogawa on this boy.

>>5547515
>"Y-You went bow-hunting with her?!"
David should've just went all in with some thing like
"Yeah, I fucked her too shitlips."

>>5548420
Oh his fucking head would explode if he realized he doesn't even have a chance with Cylia.

>>5548426
Better to remove doubt now, its dumb to drag it out.

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>>5548087
>It may have uses in other projects
Like the bubble effect when heated and compressed with a steam hammer? I wonder if that bubble could be deflected and focused, say with secondary warp metal reflectors or striking a shaped cone instead of an ingot. It could be worth finding out what happens when you smash two pieces together or compress it like one would fissile material in certain heating devices. Testing is best done off-ship, of course.
Could have potential as a super-heated payload as part of a rail gun slug (against hard targets), or as a "thumper" device to disrupt and sabotage facilities.

>>5548420
He'll know next time he sees her, or sees us together. I'm sure he can smell it, too. What does he want with an older muscle lady anyw... Oh...

>>5547515

"How are you supposed to see me if you're too close? I told you, you can't. You won't be able to hit me from that far away either, though."

"WELL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THEN?!" He yells, frustrated.

"Mid-range. Caithans are mid-range fighters. When it comes to fighting, you should strike your opponent and then immediately move out of their range. Hit and away. But if you're using a weapon..."

You grab a section of plastic tubing, sitting in a pile on the floor nearby.
Twirling it in your hand for a moment, you grab it firmly and close in on Asta. You don't have to go far, because this "spear" increases you reach quite a bit.

His eyes go wide as he tries to knock the pipe away, but your thrust is too quick.
You aim only for his vital areas, jabbing him in the heart, the liver, the kidneys, and finally at his balls before using the pipe to strike the side of his knee as he tries to cover himself.

"A spear or staff makes a great mid-range weapon. Maybe a little tough to use in an enclosed space, but outside of a ship it's great." You comment, aiming the tip of your "spear" at his throat.

"See? If this thing had a tip on it, you'd be full of holes by now."

"...M-My balls!"

"Your ball? Singular?"

"Why...?!" Asta cries, struggling to catch his breath.

"Because i had to drink salt because of you. Also, these are actual lessons, so don't go thinking i'm just beating up on you. Here, try it." You tell him, tossing him the pipe.

Asta grits his teeth, forcing himself up to his feet by leaning on the pipe.
He grips it similarly to how you did it, then immediately tries thrusting it at you.

You turn you body to avoid the first stab.
He pulls it back and thrusts again. This time you tilt your head to avoid it.

"Come on, kid. What's with those slow-ass thrusts? You'll never satisfy a woman like that!"

This time, Asta thrusts with a lot more force. It's not just his arms behind it this time, he even twists his body and puts a bit of his hips into it. Not bad.
Still, you manage to brush the pipe aside with your hand and close in on him. As you do so, he attempts to pull the spear back and smack you with it, but it's far too slow.

Ducking underneath his swing, you continue forwards, deep into his space. He's shocked when you just pop up right in front of his face, but you don't punish him for it.
Asta's stuck staring at your pecs in shock, so you gotta taunt him a bit.

"Up here, big guy. I know they're beautiful, but try not to stare too much."

"H-How?! How do you move so fast when you're that heavy?!"

"Part of it is just muscle training. You can't just be strong, you gotta be fast, too. People shit on cardio, but it's important to do your sprints. Won't hurt your stamina, either."

"...What's the other part?"

"Technique. Simple as that. You gotta learn how to be light on your feet, know how to use every muscle in your body efficiently and effectively. Caithans are naturally agile, so i'm sure you'll take to it."

>>5548754
>You aim only for his vital areas, jabbing him in the heart, the liver, the kidneys, and finally at his ball (singular)
Fixed that for ya boss.

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>>5547982
>>5548031
>>5548087
Carriers also have the benefit of using their berthed ships as ablative/sacrificial armour in times where shit gets really real and we need to book it. This could also tie in to your idea of modular construction and jettisoning them if we're desperate enough.

The problem with modular construction is it loses rigidity compared to mono-chassis construction, combined with the point that a carrier is mostly empty (because it by definition carries things) and so turning in space with a bulky and floppy craft puts so much stress on the frame. It'll be interesting to see what gets thrown at us in the future like privateers, pirate fleets, Greys or the Feds and how our growing armada manage it.

>>5548754
I feel for poor cat-boy. Everybody shits on him and he probably just wants headpats and to purr in the sun somewhere.

>>5548953
>tfw no catman bro to give a non gay pet when he least expects it

>>5548953
>Everybody shits on him and he probably just wants headpats and to purr in the sun somewhere.
When he stops being a little shit, we'll stop treating him like one.

Speaking as someone currently serving on an aircraft carrier, what we should really figure out is what kind aircraft we're gonna be carrying. I figure a mix of around 60 percent interceptors, 20 percent troop transports, 10 percent recon aircraft, and a final 10 percent being general working craft for hauling and repairs.

>>5549283
that works i guess? is there any significant difference if we replace the ships for remote controlled drones and disposable probes(where it makes sense of course)?

>>5549291
Well remote control is fine for recon but the moment signals get jammed or there's interference from any other source, you're basically gonna have a big fat target waiting to get shot down or captured.

Having them controlled by an onboard AI solves that problem but it forces one to decide whether you have an onboard AI simple and cheaply made enough to not worry about if it gets shot down, with the downside being that it's simple enough to be tricked more than likely.

Or you invest and have a top tier onboard AI that can't be tricked. Although in that case it'd probably be more cost efficient to train up an actual pilot instead if investing in the infrastructure needed to house an onboard AI for every individual aircraft.

>>5549283
You'll have a mining ship and cargo ship for maintaining the carrier, as well as a few civilian transport shuttles.
However, it'll be the standard for space combat. That is, unmanned drone ships.

You'll be making your own fighter-sized drones, but you also have the frigate-sized drones you captured from the feds as escorts.
Although you're building a carrier, you currently have no crew to man it... except for the AI you've collected. And so they'll be doing most of the grunt work.

Of course, it'll be possible to recruit people from here or there to fill all that empty space, but we'll deal with that when we come to it.
The carrier may actually end up having a sort of farmer's market for weapons, equipment and other shit by one of the lower hangars. Not sure, like i said nothing's final.

Your main issue will be operating cost. That's offset a lot by having your own fabs and not relying on federation tech for the foundation of the ship, but that comes with it's own drawbacks.

>>5549300
Most drone ships rely on ultra high-frequency radio signals, since there's nothing to block those signals in space.
They can usually act semi-autonomously via onboard VI in the case of signal loss, but only up to a point. The VI isn't capable of combat, or at least not actually good at it.

Jamming isn't usually an issue since whatever's doing the jamming tends to light up like a christmas tree before getting lit up by the enemy, but in your case it'd be difficult to actually do that.
Your drone ships won't be relying on EM waves of any sort. They'll be capable of it, sure, but in reality they'll be using subspace resonators. Something SHODAN created, and hardly a standard piece of kit.

Sorry if i'm not making any sense to either of you, i'm not all there right now. Can't even remember what i just wrote.
Haven't been doing so hot lately. I'm in good spirits, but i got hit in the head with a fuckin' pipe a few years back and never really got over it.

It comes and goes, but for the last week or so it's been coming on strong.

>>5549325
Ahh, a fellow member of the brain damage club. Glad to know I'm among friends.

You've managed to address most of my issues with drone ships but I'm still biased in wanting actual pilots. But democracy will decide that one.

As for crew, I'm sure we can supplement to some degree by churning out some maintenance bots. Can't tell you how many man hours aboard a ship are wasted on checking air filters and the like.

One point I'd like to bring up is countermeasures for boarding action. Modern naval vessels typically have a central armory and a certain amount of the crew armed at all times. I think it'd be a good idea to have weapons lockers placed throughout the ship that can be unlocked via ours our SHODAN's authorization in case of an emergency.

>>5549340
There will be a main armory (by the shooting range) and emergency gun lockers around the ship.
There's already a special system in place so only crew can use certain things on the ship.

>>5549325
>>5549340
We're on 4chan so brain damage is like an entry requirement. Take your time and at your pace CochraneQM.

The Subspace resonation just sounds so cool, and does that mean each emitter and receiver antenna needs warp-metal? I'm imagining our carrier becoming like Homeworld carrier of salvaging and eating everything to shit out new craft. This pleases me greatly.

>>5549348
That was part of the countermeasures against the chameleon right? What can we do or has been done to the ship against invaders like the spooky wraith that gave Cylia nightmares? Sic Nena on them?

>>5549340
I personally kind of want to keep the cast from ballooning in size. Even with the current crew, allies, various acquaintances, and the three AIs we acquired, giving them all proper screen time is already going to be a struggle.
Personally, I prefer a more character-based quest over numbers management quests. Set rules and in-world consistency are nice, but I think the quest would lose something if spreadsheets become necessary to properly follow it.

>>5549348
A Remington hanging on every wall and a Glock under every pillow

>>5549387
>fast forward to the first time the crew boards the carrier
>A Remington hanging on every wall and a Glock under every pillow

Cylia: i-is that why there are so many decorative pillows everywhere??
There are over a hundred in your room alone!

David:as the founding fathers intended! besides what other purposes can a decorative pillow have?

>fast->fast forward to Gildur fluffying a pillow and shooting himself

>>5549340
the thing with pilots is that you need to make life support and ejection systems and all the other pilot safety goodies you have on a normal plane that means you will have a smaller payload and a smaller operational range. i mean, having a pilot makes sense in earth because our tech isn't quite there to make everything autonomous, but we're getting there as well -the loyal wingman project and the f-35 as a whole is a testament to that-, and in case something terribly wrong goes with the spacecraft, we can just self destruct it instead of having the pilot eject and then launch a rescue mission that would put more people in undue danger.

you also have the issue that a human pilot will be restricted by their own physical limits; an AI or a pilot remote controlling a plane will have a vastly better performance than in person just by the simple fact that they don't need to be in a cramped cockpit and that they don't have to suffer any G force whatsoever. but you might have a point, for some reason we might need a pilot, so my compromise to you is to put them in bigger spaceships, like for example the metal gear, but actually focused on combat, acting as a commander of a small fleet of drones....so yeah, a space f-35 basically.

>>5549283
50% F-14s and 50% X-37s

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>>5549325
>mfw i come back to this today and realize that i wasn't speaking to two different people

>>5550038
You know, i pirated the second season of dtb but i am not sure it's worth it. I saw four episodes two years ago but i wasn't convinced

>>5548754

"Take to what?" He asks, backing up and keeping himself guarded.

"Martial arts, dumbass. I'll have SHODAN send over some instruction manuals and training regimens. You'll be doing basically the same training as Cylia."

"...The same as Cylia, huh?"

Asta pauses as he thinks something over for a moment.

"Do you... do you think i could get as strong as her?" He asks nervously.

Your first instinct is to shout "fat chance" but you don't want to put a damper on the kid's spirit.

"Maybe. If you eat right and keep up your training. You'll need to wear weights though, since most ships can't create gravity zones... or generate that much gravity."

"I can do it. The crew thinks i'm just crazy, but i want to get stronger. Like you and your men. I've... never seen a caithan with as much muscle as her before. I don't know, it just... lit a fire in me, somehow."

"Oh yeah? Well good for you, kid. It's never a bad thing to want to improve yourself. I'll send over some recipes i've come up with to help with your diet. Kigg should be able to modify the nutrient paste dispenser for you."

"Wait, why would he need to do that?"

...

By the time you get done goofing around with Asta, you'd expected Kigg to have finished his chat with SHODAN. But he hasn't.
Instead, SHODAN is laying down on a machining table in their workshop, stripped down to her leotard.

She's laying on her stomach with her artificial skin peeled open across her left calf. Kigg is prodding around at her artificial muscles as she wiggles her foot back and forth.

"So they're connected to an actual skeleton?" He asks her.

"Correct. Much of my design simply mimics existing biological processes."

"Well, they did a great job. I couldn't tell at all until i got a look under your skin. These materials though, they're all remarkable. You must have paid a pretty penny for the patents..."

You clear your throat to get Kigg's attention. He turns to you as if he's been caught.

"Oh! Uh... Captain...!"

He removes his hand from SHODAN's thigh, which he'd been holding while he leaned down to look at her muscles.
You see him glancing back at her ass, or more specifically at the tattoo you'd placed there when you ordered her custom skin to be made.

"It's not what it looks like, i promise!" He tells you, sounding slightly panicked.

"No, no. It's fine. You saw her tattoo, right?"

"Yes, of course!" He affirms.

"Alright. Just so we're clear. Anyways, i've finished my little chat with Asta, and i don't think it's a good idea to 'chat' with Illia anymore today, so what say we get started on our other little problem? SHODAN?"

"As you wish, Captain. Wherever you go, i shall follow."

"Alright then, get your armor back on. You're gonna need it where we're going."

...

Back on the metal gear, you find that nobody is back from their errands yet.
Only Gildur is piddling around in the cargo bay, taking care of the Dodos for you.

Which reminds you, you need to give some eggs to that girl... Shelta.

>>5550101
Do we have enough dodoes to setup a second colony with Gron's ship? Asta now needs protein and to our knowledge, these are the last surviving members of the dodo race.

>>5550140
Yes. They shit out a ridiculous amount of eggs.

>David putting Beta Asta in his place with his "spear"
>David reminding Kigg SHODAN's his with the tattoo
Can a man get much more based?

>>5550140
+1 to this idea

Shelta who?

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>>5550466

>>5550479
Pfffff

>>5550479
You mentioned expenses issues. And easy fix would be selling unfertilized doodoo eggs and meat at stations, or on the farmers market of the ship. Considering how much a luxury meat is on stations, selling meat would be very lucrative considering how easy it is to care and raise them. We could even cut additional costs if V.I.'s/retarded A.I.'s are used. I mean, those janitor bots could probably be automated to clean and feed the doodoos without need of farm hands as frequently. This would at least be more profitable than trying for a space farm (until some bigger brained some bitch can think of something. I had in mind aeroponics with earth crops).

Besides the doodoos, and possibly an aeroponics farm, we have a weapons fab and medical fab. we could sell common drugs (the good kinds) and phasers or similar baby weapons to generate income. Once we unlock the secrets to prosthetics we could also start selling those to fuck over medical corpos.

>>5550479
Could we also visit grandpa at the hospital? To see if he is awake and if we could somehow help him?

I would also like to ask for sauce. For purposes of science and learning.

>>5550635
He's on a different station, the one we plan to attack. I'm not even sure if he's still alive, but I hope he is.

>>5550466
That one deer chick who we told that space is extremely dangerous and she shouldn't go out there, and then proceeded to beat the shit out of her father in the next 10 minutes.

>>5550653
Ah, my mistake. I was pretty sure that we docked there now.
I'm also retarded. Forgot about SauceNAO.

>>5550101
>>5550161
Nice to see a warm ending with our tussle with Asta. Let's give Shelta a breeding pair along with the eggs, I'm sure they can keep the flock well-hidden to keep those murderous herbivores from fucking with them.

>>5550161
>>5550675
In that case, dodoes for everyone. Shelta's dad was an ass, talked shit to the one guy that he shouldn't have because said guy was chatting to his daughter, so even though we beat him up I think a peace offering is in order there.
Also we want his family's blacksmithing production preferencing David's enterprise, and he's going to be a lot lot busier with the worm-man taken down a few pegs and looking for less business.

Lets hope fish-grandpa is still good. He took care of Cylia when she needed protein and didn't deserve the firebombing or losing fish-grandma. Replacing his business with dodoes can only be a good thing, once we get back to the other station, Xebric.

>>5550479
Aaaaaah

>>5550736
That time we didn't managed to stop the bullying against blacksmith stag bull right? I remember Davidb going full karen at them and Cylia convincing him that bombing the place was a bad idea, but nothing else

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>>5550801
I don't think that's exactly what happened, but the image of it is too funny for me to forget.
>David faces a minor inconvenience in his life
>pic related

>>5550804
to be fair, that 100% describes david. it was sheer luck that the aliens abducted him before he went full unabomber on whatever community was nearest to him

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>>5550813
David was an auto mechanic who was thinking of settling down with some nice local girl at the time. Really no reason to pull a Ted Kacyznsky on 'em.
I also feel like David would go the Punisher route if he felt like he was wronged that badly.

>>5550824
So...more of what we're doing already.

>>5550824
having a partner and a job doesn't stop you from sending spicy tubes to anyone that slights you. if anything it lets you know who to send those packages to

I say he became maladjusted to earth because he adjusted to space society which is pretty much africa with more feds and less scarcity.

I hope QM goes great lenghts to illustrate how ducked up David is, when he returns to earth

>>5550839
Maybe he starts to weep at the sight of the first human in years and is meek when taking to others... that would be cute and slightly disgusting.

>Be David
>Show up in a gas station
>See a greasy truck driver
>Cry
>Rush him and pull in for a bear hug
>his back breaks

>>5550840
>David walks up to the cashier, cradling a pile of junk food and soda in his arms like a newborn
>"Will that be all for you today sir?"
>"N-no [sniff] I'll take a pack of Marlboros."
>"Would you like a lighter with that?"
>"Do you got any of those novelty ones that look like a topless woman?"
>"Uh...yeah."
>"God I missed this planet."

>>5550892
You have no idea how right you are.

>>5550898
You painted a pretty good picture of how lacking space food is in terms of taste, even after David's tried his best to unfuck it.

>>5550892
>>5550898
Ouch.....he needs a hug.

>>5550904
He needs some food that doesn't taste like it's been run through a strainer.

>>5550908
>tfw david starts his own gmo crops in space just to get actual flavorful spices
>tfw each one of them is considered not only a biohazard but also an invasive species

>>5550101

"Gildur, can you do me a solid?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Of course, Captain."

"I need you to take... let's say four? Four fertilized eggs to this address. One male, three females. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes sir!" Gildur salutes.

Immediately, he runs off to the lab and grabs a hypo-stim with which he can inject a few unfertilized eggs.
There's a whole procedure for this, which you've mostly left up to the crew until now. You don't really know how it works, and you don't particularly care as long as the meat keeps coming.

It might be a good idea to give Gron's crew some eggs, too. There's a lot of meat-eaters on his ship, and you know how hard it can be to get real animal protein out in space.
Hell, they could even start raising them back on their station. It's not hard. They eat anything, including nutrient paste. They're too stupid to be aggressive or try and escape either.

Animals from Garden worlds are just built different, you guess.
...Not that it's easy to think of that hellhole as a Garden world anymore.

"Gildur!" You yell.

"Yes, Captain!" He yells back.

"Send a few over to Gron's crew, while you're at it!"

"Uh... okay! We won't have any eggs left for a couple of days, though!"

"Yeah, that's fine."

You're beyond sick of just eating eggs and what is effectively chicken at this point anyways.
There's only so many ways you can cook that shit before you have to admit it's still just chicken and eggs.

"Now then... how should we do this?" You mumble.

Those robots have plasma weapons. You're not sure how many shots a Mk.2 skinsuit could take, but you also kind of don't want to find out.
So it's probably a good idea to bring your armor. It's also probably a good idea to just... leave behind SHODAN's skin, since it'll probably get damaged.

That'll be fine though, since she's wearing a full-body suit of armor herself. It'll cover her up while she's walking around.

What you really need to figure out is your weapon loadout.
From Sanig's research, their critical components are mainly centered around the lower right quadrant of the torso. A well placed rifle round would disable them instantly with a minimum of damage.
But they're also generally susceptible to phaser fire, which at high enough power will fry them instantly no matter where you hit them. Sanig also happens to have designed some anti-robot phaser rifles for this purpose.

Those rifles can also be powered directly by your suit, which would mean you're not going to run out of ammo mid-fight. However, it'll fry all the electronics in those robots to hell.
That's kind of an issue, because you did actually have some plans for the carrier that would make good use of them, with a bit of retrofitting.

>Go in with an AR-15 and black tips. You want those things mostly intact at the end of this.
>Use Sanig's phaser rifles. You'll need to design all new internals for them, but that's not a huge issue.
>Write-In?