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>>6029381

>2/6
You then decided to enlist the help of your friends and fellow bridge training crew help to solve the mystery. You surreptitiously brought the guys up to speed over breakfast, but couldn’t prevent your impatiently eager Science officer — EoN — from skipping the explanation and running off to study your collected sample. While your Engineering and Tactical officers (FoZ and Coen) treated your revelations with caution, your ever loyal Operations officer (self styled future XO™/adopted kid brother) Kiro decided to tag along as you hurried off to prevent your overzealous Science officer from triggering the ship’s Guardian AI with her investigations. You and your brother arrived at her lab just in time to find the sample being attacked by out of control nanites, but together the three of you managed to save the majority of the mysterious material with surgical precision.

You instructed EoN to continue scanning the sample but to keep the lab and results disconnected from any prying digital eyes. Without your implant active, you were unable to detect if the attack on the undoubtedly secret substance was an automatic response from your ship’s nanites, or if Guard had already traced the meddling back to you and was actively fighting to hinder your progress. Either way you feared that your efforts may not have gone unnoticed, and now you have even more explaining to do…


==================================

Authors Note:
Welcome back to Voidship Bridge Simulator — feat. the other half of the cast this time, I promise. This is thread #3.5 just because I don’t feel like enough plot has progressed for me to call it thread #4 yet. In hindsight, it probably would have been a lot smoother had I taken only a week’s break between threads instead of like two months but family stuff came up and… you know how it goes.

If you’d like to refresh your memory or you’re a newcomer to VBS then I encourage you to read the archives; it’s only three threads long and there's plenty of gifs to keep you occupied if you have the attention span of a zoomer when reading:
Thread #1: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5521410/
Thread #2: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2023/5572653/
Thread #3: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5940353/

Once again, I’ll aim for 3-4 updates a week to give me time to write, make gifs, sleep (maybe) and let (you) people get your votes in without my timezone causing drama. Might speed up or slow down depending on life and/or size of updates - but I’ll let you know of any schedule changes.

>>6029387

>3/6
“Well? I’m waiting?”
Eyes-of-Night, looks at you expectantly over her shoulder as she tries to collect her tools back from your Operations officer, Kiro; a process made somewhat difficult by your excitable little Marrok brother, who is still mid victory dance after your combined defence of your collected sample from the attacking nanites.

“Oh would you hold still, you irascible reptile! That’s not a toy!” She huffs in annoyance.

“Oh, sorry EoN!” The Marrok chirps, ducking his still visored head in apology, finally coming to a standstill. He replaces the laser scalpel he was waving about on the workbench and you quickly follow suit. You clear your throat awkwardly.

“Probably best if we first get this all running exclusively on the local network.” You gesture vaguely around at the lab. “Level five infosec procedures would not be inappropriate.”

“Level five?“ She squints at you sceptically, before her eyes widen as Kiro nods in support.

“Root level network breach procedures, yeah…” He murmurs, suddenly thoughtful.

“Very well.” EoN says, masking her reaction. She turns and quickly struts over to the workstation behind her.

”Watch your fingers, gentleman,” your owl-like Science officer swivels her head around to eye you and your brother through her domed helmet, brief concern passing across her feathery features as she taps at a console on the far wall.

The laboratory hums and Kiro hops back from the workbench with a small yelp, raising his clawed fingers above his head. You take a more sedate step back and watch the scientific equipment descend from overhead to continue scanning the sample of mysterious grey goo you’ve just painstakingly finished stabilising. A containment field consisting of opposing planes of localised gravity springs to life moments later, sealing off the still suspended mass.

==Workspace. Secure.== You shiver slightly as the all too familiar bland voice of the ship’s AI plays over the room’s speakers.

Controller… what’s left if it, anyway. You note to yourself, And if Control has access here, no doubt Guard could just as easily be listening in.

It is now… safe. to remove. your. protective—bzzzt. The faltering voice cuts out completely mid sentence.

“Done and… done.” EoN coos softly in her native Tyllano speech.

Her mild voice takes half a second longer to translate through the device on her collar as it switches from the now disabled room network to another access point further away. Not that you had much trouble understanding her considering the mandatory language classes you went through during your training at the academy. It’s important that the core races comprising the Terran Protectorate Navy be able to understand if not speak each other’s languages should their technology fail, after all.

>>6029388

>4/6
Speaking of which, you reach up and disable the Multi-purpose controller attached to your own collar, glancing meaningfully at the room’s other occupants. Your brother, having been through the drill once already this morning, quickly follows suit, removing the ubiquitous device entirely and placing it on the lab bench.

“Think that’ll keep that AI guy off our backs, Dal?” Kiro’s nasal, boyish voice is no different without his MPC active, despite his reptilian anatomy. The orphaned Marrok had stubbornly learned to pronounce TPN Standard without its assistance from an early age, and insisted on continuing to use his natural voice — however squeaky it would forever be.

“Well, security hasn’t bashed its way through the hatch so that’s a good sign at least. Maybe those nanites attacking the sample was just an automatic defence mechanism.” You reply, hesitantly. “I think we might be in the clear—”

HIISSS…click.

Before you can finish the thought you hear the hatch whoosh open behind you and the lights suddenly go out in the lab. An annoyed squawk from EoN and a garbled cry from Kiro are drowned out by a rolling growl. A chill runs down your spine and sweat instantly breaks out on your forehead, your heart nearly leaps out of your chest as small claws suddenly grip you in the dark… but it’s just your brother clinging on in fright. The feeling is mutual.

“Did you really think you could hide from me?” A deep, guttural voice snarls. “Like I wouldn’t find you out?”

You’re almost too afraid to look, hoping to somehow escape the consequences of your actions for just a second more, but an eternal moment later you dare to jerkily turn.

Silhouetted in the doorway, a hulking figure looms. Measuring over two metres tall to the tips of her ears, the Ulveng’s broad frame blocks almost the entire hatchway. What little light makes it past to illuminate the darkened lab must first filter past her blue-grey fur, outlining the familiar figure in deep purple. The few red standby lights left lit in the lab reflect from the familiar Navigation officer’s pupils and wide toothy grin, painting them blood red. Just like before…

Your mind whirls at the terrible sight, your breath coming in short gasps as you begin to panic. Why can’t you get enough air?! Images from your nightmares begin flashing through your mind. It’s here… Guard is here! But your implant is disabled! How could-

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>>6029391

>5/6
“You? You found them out?” A voice interrupts. “I’m the one with an ear to the ground not you, you overgrown shag pile rug.”

“OOF-” The shadow in the hatchway doubles over as shorter figure elbows her way into the room, flicking the light switch back on.

You breathe a sigh of relief as the light reveals the two remaining members of your bridge training crew, neither possessed by an irate AI come to exact retribution upon you. What a notion… You surreptitiously pinch yourself to ensure that— ouch. Yes. You aren’t dreaming.

Your Communications officer — Isobel Buxton — leans on the hatchframe, arms crossed in mild disapproval and amusement, as she watches your Navigation officer — Cleo von Clifton — curse like a salty shipman clutching bruised ribs. The Ulveng quickly straightens and gives her companion a dirty look.

“Ancestors, Izzy. I was just fooling around, no need for cheap shots!” The wolf-like woman whines, adjusting her translator back to her ‘normal’ settings making her sound like a petulant young girl.

Isobel ignores her comrade’s griping and addresses you. ”FoZ and Coen said you lot were working on something serious enough to ditch a pancake breakfast for so I had to grab the frightening furball here and find out.” The human woman shakes her head, tossing her bushy brown hair and rolling her eyes. “And enough with the kicked puppy act. I’ve seen you take worse hits on the sparring mats without flinching.”

Cleo pauses and then straightens with a predator’s toothy smile. “Haaa…you’re no fun. But you don’t need to sound so sarcastic, I spooked them good this time, huh? Bird-brain, Ell-Cee, Tiny?” She turns, flashing a laconic grin to EoN, you and Kiro respectively.

“Hmph, having fur for brains has clearly addled your memory.” EoN sniffs contemptuously, having barely flinched from her position, “After the fifth time, only Kiro is still surprised by your antics.”

“I-I wasn't scared… I was just making sure Dal, w-wasn’t.” Kiro stammers, peeking out sheepishly from behind you.

Cleo just shakes her head, chuffing in amusement. You wince as your brother releases his death grip but still don’t quite trust yourself to reply as you catch your breath.

“So, a little birdie told me that you three were up to something down here.” Isobel gets right to business, an eager gleam in her eye. “So spill the tea.”

Please assign SYNERGY values to Isobel Buxton and Cleo von Clifton.
Reminder that SYNERGY affects both your social relations with each crew member as well as how effectively they use their skills, abilities and traits to assist you and, to an extent, each other.

Remaining SYNERGY Values:
*Rank A+ (88%),
*Rank B+ (77%)


>Izzy: [Insert your vote Rank here]
>Cleo: [Insert your vote Rank here]

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>>6029394

>6/6
Well, you did want as much help as you could get solving the mysteries surrounding your implant, ship and… whatever Peedee is. Now that the rest of your crew is assembled in one place you might as well make the most of it.You take a deep breath and, ignoring the quizzical looks your newly arrived officers give you, walk determinedly over to lock down access to the lab.

“What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this room.” You then begin slowly, carefully. “Please disable your MPCs, there can be no chance we’re overheard.” You command.

You reach up and unclip your already deactivated device and move to place it next to Kiro’s on the lab bench. The three women glance at each other but quickly follow suit without comment — your tone having switched to one rarely used outside of life-and-death situations. They’re instantly alert and on edge, instincts well honed by training despite only limited practical experience.

You start from the beginning…

==================================

As you recount the strange and twisted details of your dreams to your officers, the second time you’ve attempted to put it all into words today, you feel like the practice is helping your muddled memories to line up a little straighter. Besides your first mate — Kiro — and the ship’s mysterious Avatar — Peedee — the crew member you spent the most time interacting with in the AI’s twisted simulation was actually your Navigation officer — Cleo. The cracks in the personality model used to mimic her are more readily apparent now in hindsight, a fact reflected in the bemused look the towering Ulveng is giving you as you explain her role in your artifically directed dreams.

From her failure to outmanoeuvre a boarding craft to her savage defence against its occupants, then her emotional reaction to the ship burning dead crew for fuel and subsequent mood swing back to ingeniously deceiving the enemy by coasting torpedoes stealthily into detonation range… there were more than a few discrepancies that your mind was being forced to gloss over. You pause in your tale to explain as much to the increasingly perplexed Cleo, and assure her that now that you‘re no longer under the ship’s influence you are able to tell truth from fiction.

Privately you sort it out in your own mind. Her [+Creative] and [+Playful] demeanour is as always front and centre but you also know that she:

>Can be very determined to do things her way, no matter what. Her [~Wilful] nature often leading to aggressive and sometimes [-Violent] outbursts. She’s been reprimanded more than once for brawling as a Cadet. (Skill Acquired: [Adv. CQC Training{B|M)], Bio Unchanged.)

>Struggles when confronted with situations that challenge her provincial upbringing. It’s not uncommon for her to be ruled by her [~Emotional] nature and adherence to traditional Ulveng practices which border on [-Superstitious]. (Skill Acquired: [Huntress(B|S)], Bio updated.)

>>6029394
Izzy: Rank B+
Cleo: Rank A+

Welcome back QM!!!!!!

>>6029397
>>Can be very determined to do things her way, no matter what. Her [~Wilful] nature often leading to aggressive and sometimes [-Violent] outbursts. She’s been reprimanded more than once for brawling as a Cadet. (Skill Acquired: [Adv. CQC Training{B|M)], Bio Unchanged.)

>>6029397
>Struggles when confronted with situations that challenge her provincial upbringing. It’s not uncommon for her to be ruled by her [~Emotional] nature and adherence to traditional Ulveng practices which border on [-Superstitious]. (Skill Acquired: [Huntress(B|S)], Bio updated.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvQHh4gGE20&list=PLlJ_g3PThN5t74bUjbpAd43Y5BHJZJgUm&index=6

>>6029394
>Izzy: A
>Cleo: B
>>6029397
>Can be very determined to do things her way, no matter what. Her [~Wilful] nature often leading to aggressive and sometimes [-Violent] outbursts. She’s been reprimanded more than once for brawling as a Cadet. (Skill Acquired: [Adv. CQC Training{B|M)], Bio Unchanged.)

>>6029582
Any preference for synergy?

>>6030095
I'll back >>6029528

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>>6029528
>>6029529
>>6029582
>>6029616
>>6030101

Looks like Cleo's penchant for solving things with might and menace holds out. And she takes the 88% SYNERGY value with Isobel getting the 77%.

Now that all of our values are locked in I'll need three 1d100 rolls to see how the ladies initially react to our story. With scepticism or support.

You'll need to roll equal or under EoN (88), Cleo (88) and Izzy (77)'s SYNERGY values to succeed.
>Three rolls of 1d100 required.

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>6030868
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKueSycpV2Y&list=PLwNcU6UOEFaxMVCHUYQqWRTXJaBFUs2Qp&index=15

Rolled 50 (1d100)

>>6030868
ROLLING

Rolled 95 (1d100)

>>6030868

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>>6030868
>>6029397
>>6030911
>>6030911
>>6031050
>>6031165

>EoN rolls 51. Excited and intrigued with the insight into the voidship’s inner workings.
>Cleo rolls 50. Fired up to solve a mystery and a little too pleased to be breaking the rules.
>Izzy rolls 95. Sceptical and unsure of your approach to the situation.

“So let me get this straight.” Isobel frowns, after you conclude your tale. “The ship’s AI, the stuttering machine we don’t even trust to operate the doors anymore, has been messing with the minds of our future captains and has led directly to the death of your elder brother.”

You nod solemnly as Kiro makes a soft noise, clinging to your side in sympathy for the brother he never got to know.

“Then the Captain,” your Comms officer continues, “specifically told you that it might do the same to you, disabled your command implant and told you to lie low for a while. Does that about sum it up?” She gives you an incredulous look.

“Ah well,” you clear your throat self-consciously, “yeah, that’s pretty much the long and the short of it.”

“So then what gave you the bright idea to immediately ignore your Father’s commands and start digging into the ship’s secrets. Do you have a death wish?” She looks around the room to your companions. “I can’t be the only one seeing the problem here, right?”

“Hey, we’re being careful!” Kiro pipes up, pointing to the deactivated devices on the lab bench. “Dal made a promise and if we all work together and keep an eye out… we’ll make sure nothing bad happens to him!”

You smile in thanks for the solidarity, attempting to pat your brother’s bumpy head as he fends you off. You glance up at your Navigation officer as she says something in her native Ulveng tongue, not quite making it out.

“This isn’t a dogfight or a battle, Cleo. It's not ‘hesitation’ , it's caution in the face of an unknown but dangerous threat.” Isobel replies, having parsed what was said.

Cleo shrugs, growling softly with a wicked gleam in her eye. A short bark and her knuckles cracking as she makes a huge fist needs no translation. Any threats, AI based or otherwise will have to go through her.

EoN squawks a longer reply from behind you, pointing out that scientific breakthroughs and discoveries like this come once in a lifetime. That waiting might lead to the ship locking down all further sources of inquiry into technology that could improve the entire sector’s way of life.
Some nuance is lost without the translator but you assume she was using her aloof and superior tone, as always, despite her slightly puffed up feathers betraying her genuine excitement.


“Really, EoN? I expected the gung-ho attitude from the furball but not from you.” Izzy sighs, “Dallas even admitted everything he saw was in his head. Why would you believe any of it was real? Why take the risk, when it could mean losing his position or worse, his life?”

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>>6032489

Both your Nav and Sci officers make disgruntled noises at being compared to each other in such a fashion but you interject your own reply before they can start an argument.

“Izzy, I know it's a lot to take on faith, but after I woke I could tell a clear difference between what was fake and what was just a simulation.” You give her the most sincerely determined look you can manage, trying to impress on her that you’re serious. “And while I admit, some of my memories are a little fuzzy, the parts that stand out clear as starshine relate to that separate intelligent entity that drew me into her own domain. Peedee may seem young and inexperienced, but she was more real than anything that malfunctioning ‘Trinity’ AI system could conjure up.”

“And she needs our help, right? The sooner the better?” Kiro asks, helpfully.

“That’s right.” You nod, “ I can’t shake the feeling that her ‘waking up’ is crucial to our ship's survival and mission, that she can replace the functions of the degraded AI at the very least. And I think this ‘Guardian’ is intent on never letting that happen. The longer we wait…” You trail off, shaking your head imploringly.

Isobel still looks unconvinced, but before she can voice her opinion a small ping sounds from the scanning equipment behind you. Eyes-of-Night flaps her arms and coos excitedly.

“The preliminary results are in! Seeing how similar they are, I’ve run a quick comparison of the molecular makeup of our unknown sample with our standard nanites.” She says, probably.

Cleo grunts a query, rolling her eyes.

Your Science officer grudgingly explains that the first test determines the elemental composition by mass of the sample through a process involving light and flame. Your academy’s language courses might have skipped over a fair bit of jargon the Tyllano woman is using to describe the process but you understand the gist of it.

By the looks of the results that EoN is eagerly displaying for you all on a monitor, the primary elements comprising both the sample and the nanites they were recently fighting are Carbon, Silicon, Aluminium, Oxygen, and Hydrogen with a few trace elements.

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>>6032493

“Huh. So they’re both Organo-Metallic based wiggly things!” Kiro squeaks as he peers at the results with interest.

“I suspected as much.” EoN sniffs in reply. “But these results are just the basics. Further analysis will likely reveal they have a similar function too.”

“Ha, even I can tell that just by looking at them.” Cleo snarls. “You got anything more solid for the ******.” She chuffs in amusement, gesturing at your Comms officer, who is looking over with interest despite herself.

You think that last word was something in a local dialect. It sounded vaguely insulting. Your Science officer doesn’t react, however, continuing to stare at the results as they roll in. You hope that whatever she might glean from the information is worth the risk you’re taking, that it might lead a step closer to unravelling the mysteries at the heart of your voidship. Any positive results at all would be welcome and you hope they might work wonders in convincing your other crew members to jump onboard with your efforts.

EoN MIND check:
Due to your efforts in retrieving and then defending the sample, you have the following modifiers to EoN’s assessment of the incoming data:
*Base difficulty (Hard): 90 DC.
*MIND+ Bonus: -10 DC.
*Sample Integrity(8): -8 DC.
*[Science] Skill: -10 DC.
*[Esoteric Knowledge] Trait: +1 Roll.
=Difficulty Class 62 (4 rolls).

=0 Successes: No additional information or insight into the sample’s nature is readily apparent.
=1 Success: Basic understanding of the sample’s nature is acquired.
=2 Successes: Basic understanding of the sample’s nature and function is acquired.
=3 Successes: Advanced understanding of the sample’s nature and function is acquired. Bonus to future crew SOUL checks.

>Four rolls of 1d100 are required. Rolls equal/under 62 count as successes.

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>6032502

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>6032502
Enjoy the long weekend?

>>6032502
Sorry my sleep deprived brain messed up the target number at the last minute. For a 62 DC it means we need to roll under 38 with four rolls. Not that it changes the outcome of the two so far.

Two more to go.

>>6032651
I did, spent it with family.

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>6032502

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>6032502
Four.

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>6032502

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>>6032578
>>6032651
>>6032871
>>6033218
>2 Successes.

You'll discover the basics of the sample's nature and function but not quite enough information to immidiately sway your sceptical bridge crew members to bring them on board with your investigations.

Main update will be tomorrow night.

In the meantime, you'll need to decide what your goal will be going forward as your watch begins for the day.
By the Book: TPN Vessels split their crew
into three 8 hour watches (alpha, beta, gamma). Groups of officers serve a four hour stint in a command role (such as bridge duty), 3 hours in a supervisory role (such managing cargo or weapons crews) and have 1 hour of break time. Todays watch will begin with a supervisory assignment with one of your crew.

Through the course of your duties today you will:
>Attempt to reactivate your command implant to make searching for Peedee and interacting with the ship easier. (Path: Deffered, Potential Command Implant & Trait Restored, Possible Consequences.)
>Attempt to work closely with your more hesitant bridge crew to convince them to help. (Path: Coen, FoZ, &/or Izzy, Potential Synergy Changes)
>Work with your cooperative crew to begin investigations into the ship and Peedee immediately. (Path: Kiro, Cleo, &/or EoN, Potential Progress, Potential Consequences.)

>>6034395
>Attempt to work closely with your more hesitant bridge crew to convince them to help. (Path: Coen, FoZ, &/or Izzy, Potential Synergy Changes)

>>6034395
>Work with your cooperative crew to begin investigations into the ship and Peedee immediately

>>6034395
>>Attempt to work closely with your more hesitant bridge crew to convince them to help. (Path: Coen, FoZ, &/or Izzy, Potential Synergy Changes)

>>6034395
>Attempt to work closely with your more hesitant bridge crew to convince them to help. (Path: Coen, FoZ, &/or Izzy, Potential Synergy Changes)

>>6034395
>Attempt to work closely with your more hesitant bridge crew to convince them to help. (Path: Coen, FoZ, &/or Izzy, Potential Synergy Changes)

>>6034395
>>6034500
>>6034562
>>6034908
>>6034998
>>6035140

As you wait for more results to roll in, your Communications officer decides to excuse herself.
“Well it looks like you guys have things covered here. If you find more evidence that Dallas’ dreams have actual substance, let me know. But seeing as everything you’re doing here has to stay radio silent, there’s not much reason for me to stay.” She grins a little sheepishly.

“Really? You’re going to run off with your tail between your legs just because you can’t gossip about this?” Cleo scoffs.

“I just wanted to make sure you all weren't getting into trouble but now that I know you’re on a secret wild wyrm chase… Well, the best kept secrets have the least people sharing them. I should know.” She shrugs dismissively. “Besides, there's a juicy rumour going around that I need to follow up on. Supposedly, that bump we felt earlier was caused by the beta watch navigator in training and it got the rest of the trials cancelled.”

“Don’t remind me…” EoN squawks indignantly, “I’m still upset we’ll miss out on our test today.”

Disappointed as you are that Isobel isn’t taking your situation as seriously as she ought, you’d prefer she not distract your Science officer from her task with talk of tests, or the lack thereof. You hand her back her MPC and escort her to the door before she can needle EoN about her competitive streak.

“I appreciate your discretion, Izzy.” You murmur, unlocking the lab door and checking the corridor is clear. “If you can at least keep the rumour mill focused away from us while we work out what’s going on with…” You glance surreptitiously up at one of the ceiling mounted sensor arrays, and decide not to finish the sentence.

“Mum’s the word.” She smiles wanly, before suddenly flicking you between the eyes. “But maybe consider talking to the counsellor, or at least your Father about fixing that head of yours. Sleep deprivation isn’t a good look on you and it’ll make you see things.” She laughs softly, only half joking. “Don’t let me hear you’ve dug up trouble, yeah? Because I will hear about it.” She gives you a meaningful look and taps her reactivated MPC — the nanites in her uniform’s collar react and squirm to form an earpiece. “Later, Dallas.” She turns and strides away, already speaking animatedly into the device.

“Right. Later.” You reply, still feeling a little conflicted.

You step back into the lab, taking care to seal the hatch behind you again and find EoN and Cleo crowding around a console with Kiro climbing up between them, eager to see.

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>>6035540

“Oh, this is fascinating!” Eyes-of-Night chirps softly as she flicks through the data streaming in from her test equipment. “So similar and yet…”

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense.” You say, trying to peek past Kiro to view the dense results. You aren’t able to make much of them at a glance. “What’s the verdict?”

“It’s quite a lot to take in. I think that resembles a- AWK?!” She squawks in alarm and slaps a wing-hand at the two officers crowding her. “Would you kindly refrain from touching my equipment! Back off, I can barely breathe, let alone think.”

“Yeah Cleo,” Kiro chirps cheekily from his perch on her shoulder. “Stop breaking things.”

“Haa, I’ll break you, you little blue rat!” The Ulveng growls, twisting to try and reach the suddenly evasive lizard clinging to the centre of her back.

You smile slightly at their antics and take their vacated place next to EoN. A magnified view of one of the many squiggling particles making up the sample fills the conole’s screen, details slowly filling in as sections are analysed. The Tyllano woman staring intently at the readout barely notices your presence as she chitters to herself rapidly in her native tongue.

“Base structure, Carbon-Silicon-Aluminium composite… Definitively organo-metallic in origin. Crystalline, with attached organelles. Chemical and piezo-electric based energy storage, typical of the phenotype. Appendages largely Al-Ox based, optimised for manipulation and rafting. Core appears… hmmm natural semiconductor array? That can’t be right, surely? Flagella-type locomotion, appears optimised for fluids. Orifice for excreting… various enzymes?”

If it weren’t for the information compiling and applying itself to different parts of the displayed diagram you doubt you’d be able to translate even half of the technical jargon Eyes-of-Night is chirping out. But for all intents and purposes, the function of the sample seems to be almost identical to the nanites your ship produces from within the enigmatic confines of the void core. Albeit with a lower metal/oid content and no ability for direct control via linked controller. As for its nature…

“My, that’s quite a conclusive list of similarities. Perhaps the proto-form of our nanites.” The Tyllano woman continues to chatter, excited at the discovery despite herself. “All but these externally attached, uh, what are they? High oxygen presence and coiled up almost like… haemoglobin?” She turns to you sharply, eyes wide and feathery plumicorns bristling. “D-Dallas its-” She trails off, not wanting to say the words.

You suddenly feel a presence looming behind you and look up to see the intent gaze of your hulking Navigation officer latched onto the image on screen. The Ulveng works her jaw, revealing rows of sharp carnivorous teeth and finally settles on one of the four different words her people have for what she’s looking at.

“Blood.” She rumbles, “It’s blood.”

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>>6035548

Stunned silence fills the lab with that revelation. Not even your incorrigibly upbeat Ops officer can find anything to say to lighten the tense moment, which is… odd. Glancing back, you figure that his silence might be more due to his snout having been duct taped shut by a certain overzealous wolf for his earlier transgressions. Still, he seems as wide eyed as the rest of your companions so perhaps not.

The monitor chirps and the ship’s time display flashes in the corner of the screen. 2355 hrs
Gamma watch is about to officially begin for the day and you all have places to be.

“This will require further analysis.” Your Science officer coos meekly, the alert having brought her back to her senses, “But that’s the basics.”

You nod slowly, and address your loyal crew with stern sincerity. “The fact that no-one has ever reported this discovery in the history of this ship is telling. I doubt anyone who ever encountered this grey goo- ah, this blood before, analysed it under Level Five Infosec conditions. And I’ve already told you what happened to the last person I know who stumbled upon the ship’s secrets.”

EoN and Cleo bristle at the reminder, one in fear and the other in anger.

“We each have our duties to attend though, so let's keep this to ourselves for now and meet back up to discuss things securely when our watch is over.” You continue, “I’m going to try to convince more of our friends to help figure this all out. Nav, Sci, I know you’re rostered on together today, but-” you turn to your brother, “Ops, can I count on you to attempt the same with your duty partner?”

Kiro nods mutely, his expression determined despite still being unable to tug free the tape.

“I’ll leave the tests running and keep the lab locked tight. No network access.” Eye-of-Night confirms.

“Yeah, don’t worry about us, Ell-cee. We won't be silenced by some bucket of bolts.” Cleo pounds one huge fist into her other palm with a dull thump.

“The point is to be silent Cleo…” You sigh as you pass back her MPC.

>Attempt to work closely with your more hesitant bridge crew to convince them to help.

You help Kiro unwind the bindings from his snout and affix his device to his collar. As EoN ushers you all out of the lab and seals it behind her, you absently ponder how to get through to your duty partner over the next three hours. After saying farewell to your three most trusted officers, you set off at a quick trot so as not to be late for:

>Supervising engineering crews with Finder-of-Zephyrs in [ENGI.A].
>Drilling weapons teams with Coen La’afette in [DEW.D].
>Managing duty assignments with Isobel Buxton in [COMMS.A].

>>6035552
>Managing duty assignments with Isobel Buxton in [COMMS.A].

Getting the designated communicator on our side will help with persuading the others.

>>6035552
>Drilling weapons teams with Coen La’afette in [DEW.D].

>>6035552
>Drilling weapons teams with Coen La’afette in [DEW.D].

>>6035552
>Supervising engineering crews with Finder-of-Zephyrs in [ENGI.A].

File: Sci Lab 0712 to DEW D Route.gif (334 KB, 1542x696)

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>>6035552
>>6035651
>>6035671
>>6035827
>>6036614

>Drilling weapons teams with Coen La’afette in [DEW.D].

Your mind races ahead of your footsteps as you make your way to the elevator and ride it down to the ship’s lower decks.
So there’s something… functionally similar to blood inside the voidcore’s restricted area? And it’s manufactured into the nanites we use throughout the ship?
You’re not sure how it might help your current investigations but perhaps it’s just a piece in a larger puzzle.

The elevator car door opens, spilling you and a few other shipmen into a busy transport hub. With the changing of the watch imminent, the bustle of last minute gamma crew rushing to their stations mingles with the already relieved beta watch to produce quite a crowd. Usually you’re better at timing your arrival to your assigned post, but today has proving quite the exception to the norm.

You push your way through the crowd and arrive at [Directed Energy Weapon Bank D] just in time. Your Tactical officer meets you at the hatch to the Fire Control centre wearing a mildly reproachful look (though that differs very little from the Laedra man’s usual resting face). From the looks of the already studiously working weapon technicians, it appears he’s been here for some time already.

“Lieutenant Commander Annon, I trust you’ve satiated your curiosity and are ready for today’s assignments?” Lieutenant Coen La’afette asks, formal as ever.

“Ah, it was definitely enlightening, yes...” You reply, hesitantly. “Perhaps I could bring you up to speed later?”

“If you’ve found some evidence of your former claims, I would hear them when we are not on duty.” He nods stiffly, hardly thawing from his previous opinion of your story. “For now we have point defence and close quarters DEW drills to supervise and some calibrations to perform. I already have the technicians running preliminary simulations.” He gestures to the techs at the consoles behind him, a mix of races though favouring the Laedra and Tyllano with the minds for the calculations required of the task.

You suppress a sigh, knowing that cracking Coen’s cold facade is a difficult task at the best of times, but resolve to do your best to get through to him. You carefully consider the best course of action and decide to:

>Show him that the skills you learned with Peedee’s help are real by taking control of the weapons yourself. She is real and beating Coen at his own game will prove it. [Tactical] test.
>Attempt to calibrate the DEW banks in a novel way based on what you learned from your dream-like simulation. Show him that sometimes the most optimal dispersal patterns aren’t always the best. [Engineering] test.
>Coach your technicians to outperform Coen’s in the drills. Prove that your mind is still sound, despite the AI’s interference. [Leadership] test.
>Something else? Write in how else you might raise your synergy with Coen through the course of your duties.

>>6038143
>Coach your technicians to outperform Coen’s in the drills. Prove that your mind is still sound, despite the AI’s interference.

>>6038143
>Show him that the skills you learned with Peedee’s help are real by taking control of the weapons yourself. She is real and beating Coen at his own game will prove it.

>>6038143
>Coach your technicians to outperform Coen’s in the drills. Prove that your mind is still sound, despite the AI’s interference. [Leadership] test.

>>6038143
>Coach your technicians to outperform Coen’s in the drills. Prove that your mind is still sound, despite the AI’s interference. [Leadership] test.

>>6038143
>>Coach your technicians to outperform Coen’s in the drills. Prove that your mind is still sound, despite the AI’s interference. [Leadership] test.

Rolled 30 + 34 (1d30 + 34)

>>6038143
>>6038272
>>6038286
>>6038456
>>6038529
>>6038625
>Coach your technicians to outperform Coen’s in the drills. Prove that your mind is still sound, despite the AI’s interference. [Leadership] test.

>Rolling for initial synergy with Beta Watch Crew.

File: Coen Hmmm.gif (49 KB, 800x1055)

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>>6039892

You square your shoulders and stride into the fire control centre looking over the rows of technicians tapping away at their consoles. The twelve crew are already intent on their assigned tasks, and barely look up as you join Coen to observe them.

“I see you’ve got the team hard at work on calibrations already, Lieutenant La’fette.” You project your voice confidently to the room while you address your Tactical officer — reciprocating the formal manner you know he prefers while on duty. “Shall we run the point defence simulation first?”

“That is the plan, Sir.” He replies, nodding. “A standard maximum range torpedo interception scenario. Drilling for speed and accuracy at range.”

Perfect. This is just what you need to demonstrate to your officer that you are still of sound mind and competent leadership. A little demonstration and you’re sure to convince him to help your investigations!

“Why don’t we make that two simulations, Tac?” You suggest innocently. “We’ll drill with half a crew each to simulate casualties in battle? Make a friendly competition of it? Say... your half of the room versus mine?” You grin.

Coen gives you his signature raised eyebrow but accepts your challenge readily enough. He directs his gaze to the right side of the room and quickly begins explaining the new assignment to his team with laser-like focus. You quickly step-to and begin to do the same on the left. You can only hope that your leadership is up to the task of inspiring the shipmen now looking your way.

Leadership(M|S) Check required.
Beta Watch Crew Synergy: Rank C (64%).
*[Mind+] bonus (+10)
*[Leadership] skill bonus (+10)

You have three(3) attempts to roll 87 or under with each success contributing a reroll to your weapons team for the challenge ahead.

>Three rolls of 1d100 required.

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>6039895

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>6039895

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>6039895
Don't try too hard Dallas.

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>6039895

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1.55 MB PNG

>>6039915
>>6039974
>>6040082
>>6039895
Looks like three for three. We've inspired our fireteam with the maximum number of rerolls.

Update will be tomorrow because I may have accidently spent today drawing something for the king tournament... oops.

>>6029387
The Kings tournament brought me here. Going to start reading up on the backlog now!

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>>6039895

As your tactical officer gives his half of the fire team a briefing on the benefits of pinpoint accuracy, you gather in your chosen shipmen for a pep talk of your own. While you readily admit you don’t quite have the raw charisma that your more socially inclined officers (namely Kiro and Isobel) do, you have studied hard to hone your [Leadership] skills and know exactly what to say to inspire your crew. In fact, you’d say that you’re as in sync with the gamma watch crew as anyone not on a first name basis could be expected to be. As a result, your fire team leans in closely as you explain the game plan to them, hanging off every word.

>>6039892
>Beta Watch Crew Synergy set to max starting rank. (64%)

“Alright team, this will be a fairly standard point defence drill.” You wave over the six shipmen, and they scoot along the wide bench seat until they are close enough to hear your conspiratorial stage whisper.

“We’ll be running the scenario as if a cluster of five enemy torpedoes has broken through our interception perimeter and are beginning terminal manoeuvres. Your job will be to shoot down as many as you can with only the point defence weapons mounted in DEW Bank D — hard or soft kills are acceptable.” You glance over your shoulder at Coen’s team, a number of which are giving your huddle the suspicious side-eye. “The twist is, you’ll be competing with the other half of your regular fire team.”

One of the Tyllano in your band of weapon’s technicians — one Tears-at-Prey by the name on his uniform — raises a downy palm.

“Go ahead, Shipman TaP.” You nod.

“Lieutenant Commander, if I may… How do you expect us to bring down a whole clutch of torps with only half a fireteam?” He cocks his large grey head at a steep angle in confusion. “There’s six DEWs able to act as point defence against bogeys that size and only six of us… If we’re all aiming, who will keep the guns calibrated?”

“Um… we could pair off?” A small dusky scaled Marrok pipes up hesitantly. “If we slaved together pairs and set them to wide beam… maybe we could target multiple torps at once? Or is that a bad idea?” She blinks her large, bright eyes abashedly and looks down.

“No, that’s a good suggestion Ms…” You surreptitiously flick your eyes to the little lizard’s name tag and continue without missing a beat, “Starii. In fact that is probably the most expedient solution when you’re missing members of your crew and the guns are running hot.” You nod encouragingly.

In fact, you can hear your Tactical officer explaining just such a tactic to his team across the room. But you have something better in mind.

“But we’re going to need an edge if we want to win this little competition, and you do want to win, don’t you?” You shield your mouth and continue on in a loud whisper, causing your temporary crew to lean in closer still.

>>6042380

“I know for a fact that this particular simulation will assume your directed energy weapons are fresh and cool, and I’ve loaded in the calibrations that you were working on so diligently before I arrived. I have complete faith in you, my team, that you put your heart and soul into your work, that you give one-hundred-and-ten percent to your duties.” You grin as they all nod approvingly, proud of their own abilities. “So you’ll each be using the preset calibrations and aiming one DEW each! I have every confidence that you’ll destroy every single one of those tangos.”

Your team is practically vibrating in excitement, they rarely get to be so hands-on with the guns and you’ve inspired them.

“Alright, weapon assignments.” You take a step back and put on your practised captain’s voice, looking along your row of weapon techs. “TaP, Sharsii, Mayhew, and Smith. I want you manning the four MASERs — standard calibration preset, call your targets and try not to overlap your shots too much.”
The Tyllano, Marrok and two humans acknowledge and quickly step back to their consoles.

“Shipmen Dupont and Ra’caell” You address the remaining two Laedra. “That leaves you on a LASER apiece. I know they’re a hybrid weapon and the default calibration isn’t the best for point defence, but I'm confident in your ability to work around that and aim to fill any gaps left by the MASERs.”

“Yessir!” The man and woman salute smartly, their green tinged, pointy ears twitching slightly in anticipation.

Satisfied that you’ve given yourself the best shot at impressing your Tac officer and hopefully gaining his confidence, you turn and indicate your readiness. Coen, who appears to have been ready and waiting for you to finish your grand speech, gives you a blank look and merely nods. Not the easiest guy to read, but you’ve had some practice over the years. The fact that he isn’t commenting on your team taking longer to prepare is a good sign at least.

“We are ready to begin at your command, Sir.” He says coolly.

Right, here goes nothing…

The familiar thrill of a battle about to commence fills your body, despite the much lower stakes in this instance than the life or death matter that a real brace of torpedoes homing in on your vopidship would normally represent.

“Simulation, commence on my mark. Three, two…. MARK!”

The screens around the room light up with incoming target alerts. Five, blue TPN standard torpedoes for your team, and five more boxy ones marked in red for your opponents. Weapons techs frantically enter commands into their consoles and call out targets among themselves, trying to get a lock right as the torpedoes turn, trying to angle their bomb pumped GRASER warheads for a shot at your ship.

File: Point Defence Sim Start.png (380 KB, 2160x970)

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>>6042384

[Tactical] One of the most dangerous packages a torpedo targeting a modern voidship may carry is the Thermonuclear Boosted GRASER warhead. Torpedoes of this type are programming to approach their targets at an oblique angle, and upon reaching weapon’s range, quickly turn and detonate their nuclear shaped charges, vaporising the booster material within to produce ultra-high energy, collimated Gamma rays which lance through their target’s unprotected broadsides. The most opportune time for a directed energy point defence weapon to engage such a munition and expect to hit, is right as it turns to fire — where it presents the largest possible target at the closest range.

You will now take on the role of the weapons technicians participating on Dallas’ side of the competition. DEW Bank D has six point defence capable weapons which will each fire once in this simulated scenario.

*The two(2) LASERs can be fired in preset calibrations L1 and/or L2 each with numbered sections 1 through 6.
*The four MASERs can be fired in preset calibrations M1, M2 and/or M3 each with numbered sections 1 through 4.
*There are five target torpedoes numbered B1 through B5.

There are two ways to fire your weapon. AUTO and MANUAL:

*AUTO: Select a target, weapon calibration template, and numbered section.
Then roll a single d4 or d6 for MASER or LASER respectively. The chosen template and section will be centred over the target and the roll determines in which section the shot lands.

*MANUAL: Select a calibration template, then edit the attached image with a transparent selected tool to place your template on a target. Then roll a single d4 or d6 for MASER or LASER respectively. The roll will determine in which section the shot lands.

*In either weapon mode, a template may end up covering more than one target and thus increase the chances of scoring a hit. Any target filling at least a quarter(¼) of a hit section will be destroyed.

>>6039915
>>6039974
>>6040082
*Your SYNERGY with your crew has granted a total of three rerolls which may be used at your discretion. (That's three over the 6 total shots, not three per shot.)

*Format for AUTO shots should look like this: [Target; Template; Section] (Roll d4 or d6)
E.g [B2; M1; 3] (“dice+1d4” in options field.)

*Format for MANUAL shots should look like an image with one template placed over the targets without resizing or flipping anything. Rotation is allowed. Then an appropriate roll.

> Four(4) MASER rolls and two(2) LASER rolls are required in AUTO or MANUAL format.

File: Pewpew.png (511 KB, 2160x970)

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Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>6042389

File: 1719085109945695.png (526 KB, 2160x970)

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Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>6042389

Rolled 3, 4 = 7 (2d4)

>>6042389
B1, M1, 4.

>>6042389
>>6042405
Dupont fires a LASER, hard kill on B4.
>>6042448
TaP zaps off a MASER, fries B3's circuits.
>>6042572
Mayhew and Smith both aim their MASERs at B1, Smith gets the kill.

*B1 and M5 remain.
*3 Rerolls available.
>One LASER (d6) and one MASER (d4) to go.

>>6042389
>>6042405
Dupont fires a LASER, hard kill on B4.
>>6042448
TaP zaps off a MASER, fries B3's circuits.
>>6042572
Mayhew and Smith both aim their MASERs at B1, Smith gets the kill.

*B1 and B5 remain.
*3 Rerolls available.
>One LASER (d6) and one MASER (d4) to go.

>>6042595
You mean B2 and B5, I hope

>>6042937
Yes, somehow I messed that up twice.
B2 AND B5 remain.
Two shots and 3 Rerolls to get them.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>6043452

Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>6043453

>>6043452
>>6043453
>>6043454
Close but two misses.
Not to worry, your leadership bonus just won't be wasted now as you have three rerolls to help guide your weapons tech's shots back on target.

Rolled 3 (1d4)

>>6043452
Reroll.

Rolled 4 (1d4)

Ill take care of the last rerolls then.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>6043791
>>6043452
There we go, and now the LASER.

File: Point Defence Sim Opponent.gif (2.16 MB, 2160x970)

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>>6043792
>>6043791
>>6042572
>>6042448
>>6042405
Alright, that's 5/5 hits. Under your leadership your weapons team has managed to ace the simulation.

Meanwhile your opponents, under Coen's coaching, both calibrate and aim their weapons in slaved pairs instead of individually.

>Can I get two(2) rolls for the MASER paired shots (2d4). AND one(1) roll of a paired LASER shots (2d6).

Also, while we wait for our results, your ever reliable Ops Officer has been hard at work during his duty assignment, trying to sway one of your other officer's to your cause. Kiro was rostered on with:
>Your Engi Officer — FoZ — hoping to gain his insights into the voidcore.
>Your Comms Officer — Isobel — trying to extract her knowledge of the ship's rumour and legends.

Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d4)

>>6043864
>Your Comms Officer — Isobel — trying to extract her knowledge of the ship's rumour and legends

Rolled 1, 2 = 3 (2d4)

>>6043864
>Your Comms Officer — Isobel — trying to extract her knowledge of the ship's rumour and legends.

Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d6)

>>6043864
Your Comms Officer — Isobel — trying to extract her knowledge of the ship's rumour and legends.

>>6043864
>Your Engi Officer — FoZ — hoping to gain his insights into the voidcore.

>>6043864
>>Your Engi Officer — FoZ — hoping to gain his insights into the voidcore.

File: Point Defence Sim Results.gif (3.06 MB, 2160x970)

3.06 MB GIF

>>6042389

The atmosphere in the room is tense as the weapons technicians fight with their controls. A drumbeat of fingertips make last second changes to targeting algorithms and calibration matrix weightings. As the simulated volley of torpedoes make their terminal manoeuvres, shots begin to lance out. The red and green flashes of MASER and LASER fire on screen are quickly washed out by the glare of disintegrating ordnance, as one by one the torpedoes are taken out by point defence fire.

>>6042405
>>6042448
>>6042572
You watch over the shoulders of your team in focussed anticipation, still projecting your confidence in their abilities but ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Dupont and TaP fire first, the Laedra and Tyllano expertly destroying their targets. The two humans next, both washing their MASERs over the same torpedo but between them score a soft kill — Target B1 veers off drunkenly. Not ideal but they got the job done. Sensing a problem with your last two crew you quickly step over to Ra’caell and Starii.

“B2 was mine!” The Marrok hisses in panic, “Oh, fine I’ll readjust to B5.”

“No sorry, you’re right!” The Laedra woman gasps, “Stay on target, I’ll switch back.”

Both of their beams swing through the space between the two targets, tracking neither one in their mutual indecision.

>>6043452
>>6043791
>>6043792
“Starii, adjust elevation plus two degrees! Ra’caell down two!” You bark authoritatively.

The two technicians snap out of it, their training kicking in instantly as you give them clear orders, and walk their fire over the last two targets — The MASER slicing through the nose of B2 and a second glancing hit by the LASER compromises B5’s drive cone. Twin yellow flashes greet you and you sigh in relief as your crew cheers. The humans knock their heads together, hollering as the two Laedra receive a firm handshake and flying tackle-hug from the owl and lizard shipmen respectively.
That’s five for five. Beat that La’fette. You allow yourself a small triumphant grin.

Meanwhile, your counterpart on the other side of the room watches his team impassively as they execute his orders to the letter. Pairs of technicians team up to calibrate their slaved DEW turrets while walking their weapon’s confidence regions over as many incoming torpedoes as possible. You watch as the second simulation plays out and the strategy Coen is employing immediately shows its flaws.

Yes that gif is accurate to your paths and rolls. No don't ask me how much time I wasted making it so...

File: Dallas Synergy 5.gif (4.27 MB, 1920x1060)

4.27 MB GIF

>>6044741
>>6043870
>>6043934
>>6044125
While the DEW bank’s overall field of fire saturates the target area thoroughly, there is no time for the weapons to readjust their aim as the torpedoes are destroyed. Of the six shots fired, a pair of turrets hit the same target twice while one LASER wanders over a torpedo already ignited by another MASER beam. As the explosions clear, a lone boxy bogey remains homing in.

The torpedo finishes its final turn, growing slightly larger as it comes straight for the screen — then a momentary flash, brighter than all the others combined. The warhead detonates, pumping out a shotgun spread of purple GRASER beams, and the simulation terminates.

“Four outta five ain't bad, Guns.” You offer your Tactical officer a conciliatory handshake, which he takes stiffly after a considering pause.
Though you do note privately that his techs achieved the near perfect score without any intervention. He may well have beaten you four-to-three had you not personally led your crew out of their indecisive mixup.

“It was an adequate performance under adverse conditions.” He nods reassuringly to his team to maintain their positive morale despite the loss. Those mandatory leadership courses seem to finally be getting through to him.

How unusually thoughtful. You muse, Perhaps there’s more than an icy heart behind those cold, calculating eyes after all-

“But it would appear that in a fifty percent casualty scenario, your half of the weapons crew would be the desirable survivors.”

Ah, there’s the Lieutenant I know… You sigh in weary amusement.

“No worries, my friend,” You slap him on the shoulder amiably with one hand while waving the other placatingly at the slightly miffed crew behind his back. “A little luck, and a some timely advice is the only thing separating our teams. But you must admit that my decisions in the moment were sound despite...” You tap at the implant in your right temple and give him a knowing look.

“Readily, Sir.” He demures. “And congratulations on your victory. I shall strive to surpass you next time.”

Despite some (mostly) good natured jeering from the victorious half of the crew, the tension in Fire Control Room D gradually defuses. You deliberately decide to mix up everyone's stations and quickly switch to close range ship-to-ship engagement drills to help to focus Coen’s team’s frustrations into their work instead of on their loss. By the time you complete the rest of your three hour duty assignment you feel as if you’ve made progress with both your Tactical officer and the weapons techs.

SYNERGY updated.
=Coen La’afette: +2 [Rank B (75%)]
=Gamma Crew: +1 [Rank C (65%)]

As the time comes for you and Coen to rotate out for a lunch break, you take the opportunity to broach the subject of your simulated nightmares and subsequent sample analysis. (After taking the appropriate precautions of course.)

File: Backdrop.png (106 KB, 2560x1440)

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>>6044751

=================

“So, that’s what we’ve found so far.” You finish hesitantly. “I think I’ve proven I’m both sound of mind and that there’s some substance to the theory that Guard exists and is actively suppressing knowledge of the void core and perhaps more...”

The Laerdra man rubs his green tinged chin, lost in thought. After a minute he finally speaks.
“I accept that you believe you discovered some secrets in that simulation, Dallas.” He says, eyes narrowing. And you can tell he’s serious when he uses your given name.

“But to accept what you say as true.. There must be some evidence of the existence of this ‘Peedee’ character left. A damaged digital entity such as this security AI couldn’t possibly remove it all.”

“Exactly,” You enthuse, “all we need to do is work together and find it!”

“Ah, but what of the cost?” He asks, his eyes already flicking side to side as if
performing invisible calculations. “Do they outweigh the risk to you? To the ship? Our mission?”

“Now you sound like my Father.” You complain, a little petulantly.

“A wise Captain, I accept the compliment.” He nods absently, still deep in thought.

You’re beginning to grasp at straws with this guy but you try one last angle of attack.
“You speak of cost, Coen, but what of sustainability? Despite our best efforts, the Coober Pedy becomes more decrepit and jury-rigged by the month. Where does it end? How many systems will fall when the last live voidship can’t dive deep enough past the wyrm-cursed singularities to reach them anymore? How many billions will die without our aid?”

You gesture to a nearby viewscreen set to mirror the view from the voidship‘s outer hull. Sparse stars shine between gaping holes in reality — mere hundreds visible instead of uncountable millions. The only speck of light in front of those bottomless maws comes from a distant planetoid, Darhain V, receding into the distance as the Pee-Dee continues its journey outsystem towards the dive limit.

“There’s the new fleet…” Your Tac officer hedges, a rare note of uncertainty in his soft voice.

“Oh please,” You scoff, “the TPN isn’t even close to replicating the power of this antique’s artech voidcore and SCRAM drives. Those new battleships will barely make it halfway through our usual route before the subspace dives get too deep for them.

“No!” You chop the air between you, beginning to get worked up. “Our only hope is to revitalise the one ship preventing the cataclysm from finishing its job in this sector. This ship! If there’s even a chance there’s something or someone capable of replacing the Trinity system and unlocking the secrets of the live voidcore, how can we afford the cost to not take it?”

>>6044756

Diplomacy (Soul) Check Required:
*Coen Synergy: Rank B (75%).
*You have no bonuses from your Soul score, skills or traits.
*Coen is sceptical. (-10)
*You have impressed Coen with your Leadership ability. (+5)

You have three(3) attempts to roll 70 or under with the following degrees of success:
=Zero(0) Successes: Coen cannot accept the risks you are suggesting and will not let you continue down your path. (-Consequences.)
=One(1) Success: Coen is unconvinced without further tangible evidence and remains sceptical. (Further maluses to future attempts.)
=Two(2) Success: Coen is open to assisting your future investigations.
=Three(3) Successes: Coen is convinced you’re correct and has some new insight into your investigations.


>Three 1d100 rolls required. (Further convincing write-ins may provide an additional bonus to rolls.)

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>6044757

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>6044757

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>6044757

>>6044757
>>6044792
>>6044992
>>6044999
Three(3) Successes: Coen is convinced you’re correct and has some new insight concerning:

>Your implant, and how you might safely reactivate it.
>The sample, and the implications of its nature.
>The AI, and how it interacts with the weapons systems.

Some good rolls, I'll let you choose your reward, as a treat.

>>6045012
>>The AI, and how it interacts with the weapons systems.

>>6045012
>The AI, and how it interacts with the weapons systems.
Seems up his alley.

>>6045012
>The sample, and the implications of its nature.

>>6045012
>The AI, and how it interacts with the weapons systems.

>>6043870
>>6043934
>>6044125
>>6044757
Due to work related business, proper update will be delayed a little longer. In the meantime, I'll need a few rolls to find out how well Kiro worked on our Comms officer during their watch duties.


Kiro Diplomacy (Soul) Check Required:
*Base Difficulty (Hard-Moderate): 30
*Stats: Soul+ (+10)
*Skill: Empathy (+10)
*Skill: Leadership (+5)
*Isobel Is sceptical (-10)

Kiro has three(3) attempts to roll 45 or under with the following degrees of success:
=Zero(0) Successes: Isobel cannot believe your story is true and is vocal about it. (-Consequences.)
=One(1) Success: Isobel is unconvinced without further tangible evidence and remains sceptical. (Further maluses to future attempts.)
=Two(2) Success: Isobel is open to assisting your future investigations.
=Three(3) Successes: Isobel is intrigued and has some new insight into your investigations.

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>6046890

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>6046890
Go Kiro go

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>6046890
At least we're avoiding -Consequences... Thanks, YJEciTYO

I have a bit of theorycrafting here while we wait. I think the huge diagonal slash marks might be ACTUAL claw-marks, and that they MIGHT even be from Peedee or sormthing like Peedee. Her avatar is very non-specific, but I think she might be some sort of hybrid of the Terran Protectorate races. She resembles an axolotl or frilled lizard at a glance, but we've never seen or had reference to such a race. What we have seen, though, is:
>a small reptilian race
>a race with little plumacorns that flare out in a similar pattern to Peedee's frills/spines, and QM even specifically drew attention to them
>wolf-people with the same style of helmet (as was mentioned more than once as the type of helmet Peedee's avatar has)

My theory: the voidcore may be growing, but there's something else growing in that sealed-off area, too. Something big, with blood (as we detected in our analysis) and claws... And it's probably Peedee's real body.

>>6047590
What about the green people? And wasn't the blood full of weird shit? Like not what you'd get in a normal race's blood?

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Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>6044757

You take a few deep breaths, having said your piece and wait in anticipation as your Tactical officer considers your arguments. Ever pragmatic, the Laedra man could be a staunch supporter if he weighed your ideas favourably or your worst enemy if he were to conclude that you were in the wrong. His eyes flick back and forth a few more times, seeming to tally up everything you’ve explained to him — your simulated nightmares, your Father’s orders, your investigations. Finally he makes the call.

>>6044792
>>6044992
>>6044999
>3 Successes
“You are correct, Sir.” He states matter-of-factly, “The potential merits of your investigations into the ship’s nature outweigh the risks of failure. The Captain’s actions appear to be in error, his judgement clouded by his emotions.”

Yes! You knew you could count on your good friend Coen to see things rationally!

He nods slowly.
“In the event of your death, there is at least one other inheritor of the Annon bloodline to carry on in your place. A small price to pay to potentially save many more lives.”

Ah…yes. The best of friends.

“Well thanks for your concern, Lieutenant.” You deadpan. “I’m glad you agree that anything we can do to free ourselves from the downward spiral has to be worth it. Let’s try to avoid my untimely demise though, hey?”

“Of course, that would not be optimal… I phrased that poorly.” His brows crease in an uncommon display of contriteness. “I merely meant that to imply your sacrifice for the cause would be a… noble… one?” The Tactical officer attempts to say tactfully. At least he’s making an effort.

“Well regardless, I have a promise to keep and I don’t take that lightly when it comes to my friends.” You smile reassuringly, and clasp his shoulder firmly, “I’m grateful to count you among them, Coen.”

The Lieutenant blinks then after a moment breaks contact, snapping a crisp salute in lieu of response.

“Let’s meet up with the others and work out a plan of attack then. I heard our bridge duty has been cancelled so we may have some extra time off after lunch.” You turn to leave the now deserted fire control centre, Coen stopping to copy some files from the targeting computers onto his data pad before catching up to you.

The corridor stretches away from you but curves in such a way that you can’t quite see down the entire length of the deck. Various bulkheads and security hatches are interspersed along the route you take back to the local transport hub, placed in such a way that enemy boarding teams would always find themselves flanked and the defenders protected from the dangers of crossfire.

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>>6048577

You pass by a few vaguely familiar faces, the hallways somewhat busy as the Gamma watch crew rotates to their next duty assignments in staggered waves. You eye your current companion’s collar and note the lights on his MPC remain unlit, a necessary precaution to prevent unwanted eavesdropping. Still though… you wonder if the background chatter was enough to stop other devices listening.

Your Tactical officer swipes a green finger across his datapad, reading rapidly and you take a glance at the screen over his shoulder to note the time — 0305 hrs. You are also surprised to see that he’s not reviewing the results of the weapon’s drills like you’d thought. Instead he seems to be scanning through data logs dating back hundreds of years, DEW and Torpedo bank firing permissions it looks like.

“What’ve you got there?” You ask, curious.

“Hmm… Perhaps, nothing.” The Laedra muses quietly. “Something you mentioned about this ‘Peedee’ entity didn’t sit right with me. A discrepancy.”

“Oh?” You murmur, concerned, “The simulation seemed to be off in places, but my memories when interacting with her were markedly clearer. Did I miss something?”
If anyone would have the general knowledge to pick apart issues with the simulation, it would be Coen.

“You described your… friend… as some sort of digital ghost. One who could be taught by and potentially replace the function of a three-part AI.” He pauses as you approach the more crowded transport hub. Deliberately slowing his purposeful stride to give you more time to converse before joining the milling crowd waiting for elevator cars.
“And she was being taught by the ‘Controller’ how to use our vessel’s weapons remotely, correct?”

“Right, she mentioned Control taught her to use the DEWs and at least how to monitor torpedoes. Taught me, too. If I had access to my implant I could have shown you in the weapons drill to prove it.” You reply softly, “Though she only appeared as a ‘digital ghost’, Peedee definitely had her own environment — ‘box’ as she put it — and very human feeling emotions that I experienced firsthand. Honestly, I still don’t entirely know what she is.”

“That is related to the discrepancy.” Coen continues sedately, “I can track the functions removed from the Controller AI’s portfolio as it deteriorated over the centuries, however no records I have access to indicate it ever had the permission to autonomously control the Coober Pedy’s weapon systems.”

“Always a flesh and blood hand on the trigger, then?”

“It appears so, but these records are incomplete.” He frowns, “Every log dated pre-cataclysm appears to be redacted. I do not have the clearance to access the originals.”

You wince at the R-word and can only hope whatever pattern recognition algorithms Guard employs hasn’t flagged the sort of archive delving that includes [REDACTED] content.

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>>6048590

“If my hypothesis is correct,” Coen’s voice is barely more than a whisper now as you wait in an out-of-the-way corner of the transit hub, “and the ‘Trinity’ system is unable to operate the weapons systems, it would imply that the original builders of this Voidship would never entrust a digital entity with such a capacity.”

“Right,” You nod, thinking back on all the times you saw Peedee mess around with the ship’s weapons in the simulation. “But what if she was an exception?”

“Then it would be contained in those records.” Coen responds slowly, “And if it is not there…”

“Then she-” Your eyes widen, “she isn’t being classified by the system as digital after all…”

“Precisely.” He nods succinctly.

“Damn.” You growl, “We need access to the original records.”

[By the Book]: During the Cataclysm, the loss of the central subspace network hub along with the Protectorate’s capital world — Terra Nova — caused an automatic sector wide information lockdown. All local servers were automatically restricted to highest level clearance to prevent intelligence breaches during a potentially hostile takeover. Even mundane data logs were [REDACTED] and the originals restricted to the upper ranks of the Terran Protectorate’s command structure. As the master server was annihilated by singularities, along with over 75% of the sector, the majority of pre-cataclysm knowledge not committed to hard copy was lost leading to an information dark age. Relics of that era which cannot be replicated are known as ‘artech’ to this day.

Your mind wanders, recalling what you know of the general information blackout that plagues every historian’s nightmares. You stand silently next to your Tactical officer in the crowded elevator as you ride together up to the Recreation deck and soon after you emerge your thoughts are interrupted by familiar voices.

“Hurry up, pipsqueak! Quit dragging your tail.” A girl's voice calls out, underpinned by a gravelly growl.

“Oh let him be, Cleo. You know how he gets with the warmer walkways.” You hear your Comms officer reply, “Anyway, like I was saying… The shock we felt this morning was definitely when the Beta navigator — you know, Lieutenant Commander Sharsii — was doing her trials.

“What Rika? That pretentious, pint-sized brat?” You Nav officer huffs, “Ha! Wait until I rub her pink-scaled snout in it! That’ll teach her to think she’s a better pilot than me!”

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>>6048591

You and Coen stop as the rest of your bridge crew, sans Engineering officer, wander leisurely down the corridor towards you. EoN leads the way with her beak held high as she makes a beeline towards you, a glint in her large round eyes. Close behind are Isobel and Cleo, gossiping loudly about the Beta watch bridge crew’s ill fated trials that seem to have freed up your afternoon duty assignment. Finally, lagging behind is Kiro — indeed dragging his bare feet and tail to absorb the maximum amount of warmth from the hotter deck plates running down the centre of the main thoroughfare.

You smile slightly as the inner [Engineer] in you notes how the quirk of the Opal class cruiser’s design naturally stratifies the non-human traffic it was never meant to account for. Meant for ease of maintenance access, the main electrical and coolant lines are placed under the deck plates of all the voidship's main corridors like arteries. The cooler lines running along the outer edges of the thoroughfare helping to cool the more heavily insulated Ulveng while the warmer return lines in the centre attract the colder blooded Marrok crew. A naturally increasing height gradient from centre to outskirts that incidentally prevents anyone from being stepped on and helps regulate body temperature in an ancient life-support climate designed to suit humans alone.

>>6046890
>>6047271
>>6047282
>>6047287
>2 Successes
You see your Ops officer’s half lidded eyes finally look up and he waves lazily.
“Heyyy, sssup Dal?” He lisps, “I got Izzzzy, to lisssten to usss about you-know-what. And-haaaa” He yawns, and doesn’t seem to care about finishing the sentence.

“Great work, buddy.” You reply, giving your little brother a thumbs up.
Before you can ask him exactly how he managed that feat when you yourself were unsuccessful, your Science officer reaches you and jabs a feather finger into your collar — deactivating your MPC.

“Dallas, we must speak.” Eyes-of-Night squawks softly, the Tyllano woman’s translator already deactivated. “It’s about those medical records you mentioned from your simulation.”
She draws you aside, head swivelling around almost backwards to check noone is listening in.
Cleo and Isobel pull ahead, making a beeline for the officer’s mess and you wave a curious Kiro on as he stops to look at you.

“We’ll catch up.” You reassure him, and the little lizard simply nods and continues his slow, plodding pace down the hall.

You return your attention to the stern gaze of your co-conspirator who has raised a wing-arm to shield your conversation from anyone else passing by. You hope they don’t get the wrong idea.

“What did you find, EoN?” You ask.

>>6048592

“Cleo and I were unfortunately assigned duties together in the medical bay, and I was of course done with my reports before her.” You roll your eyes as she scoffs like you’d suggested she was somehow less efficient than her rival officer
“I used my free time to check the medical records as you mentioned my counterpart in your simulations had — looking for evidence of a certain PD-113 amongst the crew.”

“And?” You ask eagerly, “Did you…”

“No, of course not!” She flaps, affronted, “Evidently in an emergency situation with half the crew dead the simulation had elevated my status to that of a Chief Medical officer which gave me access to the original ship’s records. In reality, anyone with a crew number past 450 is…”

“Let me guess, [REDACTED]?” You sigh.

“Exactly!” She screeches. “Wyrms teeth! I would need elevated command status just to look through the ship’s original crew manifest, let alone determine their status or medical history. Wait, how did you…”

“Coen and I ran into the same problem looking back through the AI’s weapon permissions.” You frustratedly explain your Tac officer’s hypothesis to her and the singularity sized block to your progress.

“Well what are we going to do?” Eon asks moodily, “It’s not as if we can ask a senior officer to give us access without alerting your Father, or worse… the Guardian.” She barely whispers that last word.

Your brow creases as you consider the conundrum. On one hand, any attempt you make to gain access to these restricted records could draw the ire of Guard or your Father down upon you — landing you and/or your crew in the brig at the very least. On the other, here are two potential leads that could give you insight into Peedee’s nature and perhaps how to find her. If you reactivate your command implant you might have a more discrete way to bypass the file security, but that opens up its own dive-route of danger. Hmmm…

How will you confirm your theories?
>Focus on gaining access to the restricted Weapon permission logs. (-Possible Consequences.)
>Focus on gaining access to the restricted Medical data. (-Possible Consequences.)
>Brave the Wyrm’s den. Find a way to access both. (--Possible Consequences.)
>Continue passive investigations that are less likely to draw attention or yield results.
>Write in.. (Your implant? Appeal to Father? Something Else?)

You could also come to your own conclusions like >>6047590 and:
>You don’t need any further confirmation and will proceed based on certain assumptions (Write-in what they might be and continue whether they are right or wrong.)

>>6048594
>Focus on gaining access to the restricted Medical data. (-Possible Consequences.)

>>6048594
>Focus on gaining access to the restricted Medical data. (-Possible Consequences.)
This is the way. But also:
>Note the discrepancy that Coen noted, that non-organic intelligence aren't usually permitted to fire weapons, and link this to the claw-looking marks and the 'blood', and Peedee's physically-chimeric appearance

>>6047645
We don't know that each race was considered equally useful for the project, or that there AREN'T human or liadra aspects to Peedee we just didn't notice. As for being abnormal, there's no way Peedee is a natural organism: she is (if I'm guessing correctly) a hybrid of at least three VERY different species, made huge and powerful, kept in stasis on and off for hundreds of years, and outfitted with a bunch of cybernetics to integrate with the ship as a living operating system.

>>6048594
>>Focus on gaining access to the restricted Medical data. (-Possible Consequences.)

Rolled 6 + 34 (1d30 + 34)

>>6048594
>>6048663
>>6048668
>>6049277

You don’t want to overplay your hand just yet, but you think it might be worth the risk to pursue one of these leads. You weigh up your options, and decide that while finding out if AI have ever been given weapon’s permissions might prove Peedee isn’t wholly digital herself, you would prefer a positive source of information rather than theories implied by a negative. You decide that digging up the original crew’s medical records are your best bet for shedding light on exactly what Peedee is and perhaps how to find and awaken her.

“I think we need to pursue this, EoN.” You nod decisively, and turn to escort her after the rest of your officers towards the mess. “Subtly, of course. Though, it’s not as if the records are sealed for any reason other than precedence.”

“Ha, that’s reason enough around here. I’m barely able to convince the old guard to adopt the latest medical procedures the academy teaches, despite their obviously superior techniques.” EoN whistles an indignant sigh, “This ship has been providing the Protectorate its surplus nanites for centuries now and yet they don’t even use the latest medical firmware. The ones here are more likely to turn your bones to chalk rather than repair them, can you believe?”

It takes you a moment to translate her rapid-fire complaints into standard in your mind, but scowl when you finally catch up.
“Yes I can believe, did you miss the part in my nightmares where WEAVY tried to fix my injuries with them?

“Ah, yes, apologies.” She looks away, wincing slightly. “It’s unfortunate that of all the things to simulate accurately, that wretched AI forced you to experience that in vivid detail. Though it makes sense…”

“What does? WEAVY giving us bad treatment? Where is that bucket of bolts anyway?”

“No- Well yes, that is also a concern, and we may wish to avoid the ship’s drones in case they act as the Guardian’s eyes and ears, though Finder-of-Zephyrs’s little helper does seem like a unique case… I digress-” The owl-like woman flaps an arm dismissively. “It makes sense that with a damaged and deteriorating database, the AI is more likely to prioritise the newest information and fill the older pieces in with blanks.”

“Wait,” You frown, slowing as you approach the Officer’s mess. “Does that mean that even if we do gain access to the old medical data it’s likely to be corrupted?”

“Potentially, yes.” The Tyllano shakes her head, “But even so, I’m sure I can piece together something useful even if there’s holes in the data,” she boasts. “You just focus on getting us access without raising suspicion first, hmm?”

“Sure, I’ll get right on that.” You grimace.

You both take a moment to reactivate your MPCs so as not to arouse suspicion and then enter the mess hall for lunch.

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>>6050540

A chaotic sight greets you as the double hatchway whooshes open, the Officer’s mess being full of activity as both the Gamma and Beta watches occupy the relatively small space for their assigned lunch and dinner hours respectively. You immediately spot your crew occupying the tables nearest the hatch you entered through, Kiro and Isobel chatting amiably while Coen samples some of the freshly baked fish on offer from the galley — a rare delicacy available due to the surplus of fresh produce recently taken aboard.

What catches your eye however, is an animated discussion taking place between your Navigation officer and her counterpart in the Beta watch bridge crew.
>Beta Crew SYNERGY: Rank E- (40%)

“Admit it, shortstack, you bit off more than you could chew, hit an asteroid and fucked up the trials so bad that they cancelled the rest of ‘em.” Cleo taunts, the cheery sing-song voice emanating from her collar at odds with her growling words.

“You’re so full of it, you mangy mutt!” A deeper woman’s voice with a squeaky undertone replies.
The translation somehow actually sounds more incongruous than Cleo’s as it comes from the mouth of a Marrok even smaller than Kiro.
“If you were even half the Navigator you say you are, you'd know that we were flying light seconds away from the nearest obstacle.”
The pink-scaled woman jumps up on the table, kicking plates and cutlery out of the way in her haste to reach the Ulveng’s eye level — leaning out precariously with only her gecko-like toes and tail keeping her from face planting.

“Oh, so nothing hit us then? It was just a mass hallucination?” Cleo snarls, teeth flashing. “C’mon Rika, what’s the excuse? A stealthed rock? Undetectable gravitational anomaly that somehow manifested inside the system’s dive limit? I’m all ears!” She pokes a claw at the irate lizard’s chest and flicks the aforementioned ears provocatively.

Despite the savage look you can tell that your Nav officer is enjoying herself. Getting to one-up the tiny navigator of the more experienced Beta crew was a rare treat for her and she was relishing every moment of it. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on who you asked), the pink Marrok was not without backup of her own. You feel a slight pang of melancholy as you realise that her table is occupied by all the remaining members of your late brother, Blair’s, old bridge crew — the role of commanding officer having been filled by your brother’s old XO and Science officer. Each of the remaining four members has at least three years of naval experience on you, and includes yet another elder brother.

>>6050543

“Sister, you are out of line. That is no way to speak to a superior officer.” A russet furred monolith stands up from the other side of the table, a slight frown of his wolfish features.

“Ha! ‘Superior’, my tail.” Cleo barks a laugh, “Lieutenant Commander Sharsii here was promoted barely two weeks ago, and after today’s fiasco I bet she’ll be busted right back down to Ensign!” She scoffs and deftly fends off the spitting mad lizard.
“Besides, you know all our ranks are inflated here compared to the ‘real’ navy. Can’t serve aboard the PeeDee without being wearing more brass on your shoulders than the academy marching band! It’s tradition. Something you’d know alll about, right Neb?” She finishes by poking out her tongue at her sibling.

Neb von Clifton, Beta watch’s Tactical officer looks rather peeved that his meal has been interrupted by his annoying younger sister but turns to the human behind him instead of rising to the bait.
“Commander, I apologise for Lieutenant Clifton’s behaviour. Please allow me to remand her to her quarters where she may await disciplinary action.” He requests formally, the baritone voice preset he uses matching his natural gravelly tone almost perfectly.

“That won’t be necessary, Neb.” A grinning man replies with a winning smile from his place at the table. “I’m sure the two lovely ladies will find an amicable way to settle their grievances. We all know it wasn’t Rika’s fault, whatever happened was an unforeseeable accident, right Sofia?”
The Beta bridge crew’s Commander — Matthew Cooper — nudges the Laedra woman by his side.

“An accident, or sabotage?” She smirks, “But who can say, really? Only… you said yourself that the logs were corrupted, right Matthew? Sounds like a perfect way to hide one’s tail.” Her eyes flash meaningfully towards Cleo, “Sorry, trail. Slip of the tongue.”

“Forked tongue, I’d wager.” EoN mutters darkly beside you as you note how artfully your Nav officer’s attention is deflected in the devious woman's direction.

“Bite me, Sofia!” Cleo jeers, “You’re just jealous that our bridge crew could tear yours to shreds any day of the cycle! At anything!”

“‘Envious’ is the word you’re looking for, and you’ve got to be joking.” The Laedra woman laughs cuttingly, “I thought you were meant to be smart, for an Ulveng.”

“Now, now. No need for fighting words, we’re all friends here.” Commander Cooper raises his voice over the hubbub. “Why don’t we settle our differences like civilised people, hm? How about it, Dallas?”

Suddenly all eyes are on you and you freeze. You were so caught up in the spectacle that you only belatedly realised that maybe you should have stepped in before things could escalate this far.
“What… did you have in mind?” You ask the other commanding officer warily.

“Well, your crew conveniently has a free duty period coming up and we just finished ours for the day. Why don’t we have our own little trial? A competition to blow off some steam.”

>>6050544

Both Cleo and EoN turn to you with fire in their eyes, one raring for a fight and the other eager to take a test she thought was cancelled. The rest of your officers present are looking on with amusement (or polite disinterest on Coen’s part).

“Sounds like fun, Dal.” Kiro calls out, waving to the other crew.

“Yes, it will be fun to put a certain fat head in its place.” Rika bares her own little fangs in a toothy grin, “But let’s make this interesting! If we win, you have to apologise and admit we’re the better crew!” The Marrok crows triumphantly, issuing her challenge with a pointed finger at the Ulveng still opposing her.

“Ha! You’re on, shrimp!” Cleo laughs, “And if we win you-”

“Cleo!” You interrupt suddenly, a thought suddenly occurring to you.

While you could deescalate the situation with a little diplomacy, you sense an opportunity here. Here is a newly minted Commander, a Science officer like EoN, who you could conceivably convince to do you a favour. If it were just to settle a bet, who would bat an eye at a request for some old medical records for a long dead crew. But then again, it is a little risky and there are a lot of witnesses here.

What will you do?
>Accept the challenge and ask for access to the old medical records for your winnings. (Potential -Consequences, Potential +-SYNERGY with crew)
>Attempt to defuse the situation instead and privately ask Commander Cooper for help with access later. (Diplomacy checks required, Potential -SYNERGY with crew, Potential -Consequences)
>Refuse the challenge and attempt to appease your crew in another way. It’s too risky to involve the Beta crew. (Potential --Synergy with crew.)
>Something else. (Write in.)

>>6050547
>Accept the challenge and ask for access to the old medical records for your winnings
>But just phrase it as "help accessing some corrupted files" while we're in earshot of the AI
Can't turn it down: both our waifus and our little bro want to give it a go.

>>6050547
>Accept the challenge and ask for access to the old medical records for your winnings. (Potential -Consequences, Potential +-SYNERGY with crew)

>>6050547
>Accept the challenge and ask for access to the old medical records for your winnings. (Potential -Consequences, Potential +-SYNERGY with crew)
Phrase it like we're looking for the records of our ancestors, not any strange virtual dragon little girls

>>6050547
>Attempt to defuse the situation instead and privately ask Commander Cooper for help with access later.

>>6050547
>>6050562
>>6050698
>>6050798
>>6051092

“Aww, c’mon Ell-Cee.” Cleo whines. “Lemme pick the prize! I want to put this little punk in her place!”

“No. Cle-” You try.

“If we win maybe I’ll get the life support turned down ten degrees in her cabin for the whole next cycle.” She leers at Rika with a wolfish grin.

An indignant squeak escapes from both Marrok in the room.

“Cleo, how could you even suggest that!” Kiro pipes up, his horrified look morphs gradually into a thousand light year stare. “Ten whole degrees… you might as well space her and get it over with.”

“When I win, I’ll have you pulling double reactor duty. Hope you can stand the heat, you second-rate furbag!” The smaller Nav officer fires back.

You sigh. This has clearly gotten out of hand. You take a step forward and address the Beta watch bridge Commander directly.

“Commander Cooper, if we win this little competition you’re proposing I’d like to ask your help in settling a bet.” You call out, projecting your voice overtop the squabbling pair.

“Oh?” His eyebrows raise, intrigued. “That’s a big IF Mr Annon, but go on… Oh, and Neb? Don’t let Rika hurt herself, please.”

He gestures at red furred Ulveng, still standing-by dutifully, to break up the two troublemakers before they can begin throwing claws and he gently tugs the struggling lizard back by the scruff of her uniform. You give Kiro a nod too and he proceeds to yank on Cleo’s tail, which has a less desirable effect of redirecting and redoubling her ire. The two metre tall wolf whirls with a menacing growl.

“Grrrr, so grilled reptile’s the lunch special is it?! Get back here you sneaky shit!”

You ignore the following mad scramble as the grinning Kiro dives under a table, pursuit hot on his heels. Thinking quickly you spin together a reason for needing a Commander’s access to the old crew medical records.

“Yeah, you see we have a bet going on. I was telling my crew this morning about how the Pee-Dee has been in the Annon family from the first generation.” You stick a thumb over your shoulder at the silently observing EoN and she nods, catching on. “And that it survived the Cataclysm because the first Captain Annon had the lucky ID number 007, but they didn’t believe me.”

You’re lying through your teeth here but it's the best you could come up with at short notice. You don’t want to say anything that might trigger certain keywords for a possibly listening AI. Hopefully the senior officer buys it.

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>>6051580

“It makes a certain sort of sense, I suppose,” Cdr Matthew Cooper chuckles , “Do any records still survive, or is this just an old family folktale?”

Your Science officer backs you up, clacking her beak in faux dismissal.
“Well naturally I indulged Dallas and tried looking through the old medical records, but of course everything from that time period was corrupted and inaccessible.” She huffs. “I told him that unless he produced the originals we’d all have to assume he was full of hot air.”

“Yeah, and I bet them my last bottle of Scotch that I wasn’t making it up. So to settle this I could really use your help, Commander. You have access to the originals as a Science officer right? Think you can help us out, Sir?” You smirk and roll your eyes slightly, feigning only half-hearted interest for anyone caring to observe.

“I’m sure that could be arranged.” The human nods slowly, a slight gleam in his eye. “But you’ll have to beat Beta watch fair and square first. And when you fail to do that, I think I’ll take the first swig of that bottle myself.”
He laughs suddenly and slaps your arm, holding out a hand to shake. You quickly take it and try not to wince as he grips it tight.

“So what’ll it be?” He asks. “We issued the challenge, well one of us did.” He glances over his shoulder at his struggling Nav officer, still cursing and flailing at the towering Ulveng man holding her at arm’s length. “So it’s your preference on the means of battle — a four-on-four sounds fair.”

You nod and quickly come up with some options that would play to the strengths of your available crew. You turn to converse with your them — the chaos having finally been forcefully ended by a longsuffering Isobel who now has Cleo by the ear and Kiro in a headlock — and come to a decision:
>You will compete in a traditional ship-to-ship combat trial. (Bridge Sim.)
>You will settle things face to face in a mock firefight. (Tactical Skirm.)
>Your navigators started this, you’ll make this a matter of piloting skill in the hangar sim pods. (On-rails Dogfight.)
>You had something else in mind. (Write in)

>>6051581
A/N: Looks like Peedee hands drew this update. She's apparently a lot faster at it me.

>>6051581
>Your navigators started this, you’ll make this a matter of piloting skill in the hangar sim pods.

>>6051581
>You will compete in a traditional ship-to-ship combat trial. (Bridge Sim.)

>>6051581
I'm okay with a Bridge Sim too (it IS in the title), but
>Your navigators started this, you’ll make this a matter of piloting skill in the hangar sim pods. (On-rails Dogfight.)
is too cool to pass up.

File: Officer Profiles.gif (7.84 MB, 1730x2000)

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>>6051581
>>6051682
>>6051656
>>6051652

Looks like Gamma and Beta crews will be competing in a less conventional setting — inside the (simulated) cockpit of the ship's manned twin-seater parasite craft.

Since there's only four members of the Beta bridge crew present, it will be a four-on-four competition. Dallas as the commander and Cleo as navigator are required so two more of the Gamma bridge crew will need to be selected.

Choose from:
>Kiro
>Coen
>EoN
>Isobel

You may also optionally apply the Pilot(B) skill to one(1) of the Gamma crew if they have a free skill slot available (including Dallas).
The Beta commander is known to also have this skill.

Choose who will gain the Pilot skill:
>Choose a participating crew member with a free skill slot.
>Decide not to waste a skill slot on this.

>>6052204
>Kiro and Coen
>Give Coen Pilot

>>6052204
>Kiro and Coen
>Coen as Pilot

>>6052204
>Kiro and Coen
>Coen gains Pilot skill

File: Test Flight.gif (1.35 MB, 965x749)

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>>6052219
>>6052268
>>6052498
>>6052204

Coen and Cleo will be our pilots, with Kiro and Dallas riding shotgun respectively.

I'm going to generate some assets and work out how to blatantly rip-off starfox make a unique on-rails space shooter that works for this format... so bear with me.

>>6053366
Aye aye! Bearing with you, Captain Chartman!

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>>6051581
"Our Navigators seem keen to show off their skills so why don't we take this to the flight simulators?" You suggest to the Commander.

"Ha. You're on! Let’s make it two-on-two.” Matthew turns to his crew. “Rika, stop trying to gnaw Neb’s arm off. He’s going to be your co-pilot.”
The tall, Ulveng Tactical officer sets down the comparatively tiny Marrok obediently and gives a solemn nod — immovable even as the annoyed navigator contemptuously kicks at his shins.

“You've flown an AS-24 ‘Foxbat’ before right?” The Commander asks, smirking since he knows the answer already.

"No, not extensively but…Hey, Coen? You’ve competed for high scores with the flight crew in the sims before right?"

“I set the latest record, Sir, yes.” He replies without even looking up from his datapad.
>Coen gains the Pilot(B) Skill.

The smile slips from Cdr Cooper’s face as you give him a smug look of your own. It’s not going to be as easy a win as he imagined.

“Well Cleo?” You call to the riled up wolf, “How about it? You and Coen will fly and-”

"Oooh, oooh! SHOTGUN!" Kiro squeaks, hopping up and down excitedly having finally extricated himself from Isobel’s surprisingly strong headlock.

“-Kiro and I will ride along as co-pilots, then.” You glance at your other two crew members but they seem fine with these arrangements. Or at least not too upset.

“Hmmf. You can go pretend you’re fighter aces, then. Comm me if you decide to actually practice on the bridge, you know… our real duties?” EoN flicks her plumicorns in mild disapproval and strides over to your Comms officer with purpose.
“Let’s be on our way,Isobel. Let these hotheads sort out their issues while we do some legwork.”

“I was actually hoping to chase down some rumours about-” Isobel begins, hopefully.

“No, none of that today Ms Buxton!” The Science officer immediately cuts her off, taking charge. “There’s a certain owl who has yet to show his face at lunch and I might need your unique brand of charm to help bring him to the table…”
EoN gives the other woman a meaningful look, and the savvy Comms officer catches on quick.
They excuse themselves and leave the mess — off to convince Finder-of-Zephyrs to help with the investigations — if you’re reading between the lines correctly.

Without further ado, you finalise the details of your competition with the Beta bridge Commander and shake hands. It’s only a short walk down the recreation deck before you find yourself at the sim-pod compartments. Each team takes a free room each, eager to begin the competition, and quickly strap into the pods.
Each sim-pod supports a number of methods of connecting to the simulation, from the slim data jack used for artech wetware like your command implant, to the more robust if lower tech versions the marines and armour jockeys tend to use. Finally there's a simple headset and haptic stimulator which allows for the unaugmented to have a less realistic but still fairly immersive experience.

>>6054432

“Hey, Dal?” Kiro sildles over to you shyly, tapping at his unlit collar. “Can you-?”

You quickly deactivate your own MPC but still eye the equipment-filled room dubiously. “Sure, what’s up bud?” You whisper, just to be prudent.

“I know you’re thinking that you could reactivate your command implant by using that jack.” Your little brother wheezes softly, trying not to be heard. “It would definitely give us the edge we need to win that information and let you try to connect to your friend digitally, again. But… it's risky.” He looks up at you with wide eyes. “Whatever you decide. Promise me you’ll be safe?”

“Oh, o-of course, pal.” You stammer, a little taken aback but reminded of the danger lurking both within the simulated environment and without. “I promise I’ll be extra careful.”

“Okay great! I’ll see you there!” He punches your arm with a grin, bouncing back to his usual cheerful self. “Last one in is wyrm bait!” He scrambles off to jam his gear as fast as he can.

You shake your head in amusement and ponder your own pod. The reclined and padded chair/bed hybrid awaits and so too do your nightmares…potentially. Will you:
>Don the helmet and haptic stimulation gear. It’s not worth the risk, even if you might lose your lead. (No advantage, command implant remains disabled.)
>Connect the artech jack to your command implant. You’ll need to avoid even whispering about certain things outside of a faraday cage from now on if you’re to keep that promise to Kiro. (Implant enabled and available for use in competition, Potential --Consequences.)

>>6054436
>Connect the artech jack to your command implant. You’ll need to avoid even whispering about certain things outside of a faraday cage from now on if you’re to keep that promise to Kiro.

>>6054436
>Don the helmet and haptic stimulation gear. It’s not worth the risk, even if you might lose your lead. (No advantage, command implant remains disabled.)

>>6054436
>>Connect the artech jack to your command implant. You’ll need to avoid even whispering about certain things outside of a faraday cage from now on if you’re to keep that promise to Kiro. (Implant enabled and available for use in competition, Potential --Consequences.)

>>6054436
>Don the helmet and haptic stimulation gear. It’s not worth the risk, even if you might lose your lead. (No advantage, command implant remains disabled.)

>>6054501
This is me on mobile, btw.

>>6054484
>>6054501
>>6055113
Looks like we're tied up here. I have the flight Sim mechanics pretty much worked out. I'll post tonight when I'm home and hopefully someone will have broken the tie. If not it'll be up to chance.

>>6054436
>Connect the artech jack to your command implant. You’ll need to avoid even whispering about certain things outside of a faraday cage from now on if you’re to keep that promise to Kiro. (Implant enabled and available for use in competition, Potential --Consequences.)

File: Server Spin 3-0-0.gif (6.16 MB, 864x576)

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Rolled 1, 13 = 14 (2d20)

>>6054436
>>6054484
>>6054501
>>6054820
>>6055113
>>6055517

You refuse to be paralysed by indecision; facing your fears you recline in the pod and carefully reach for the slim artech data jack. You carefully prise up the fake flesh at your temple and brace yourself. The jack slides home, shocking your nervous system as connections are reestablished and the implant powers back up.
’COMMIMP-02’ ONLINE.
ENTERING SIMULATION: ‘2v2_legacy_AS-24_bossmod_final2.sim’

You blink and your senses black out for a moment, leaving you feeling adrift as the ship's computer loads the scenario. In that timeless moment the sensations you associated with your ‘implant sickness’ return, almost welcome in their familiarity. You hadn't really noticed their absence but now the claustrophobic feeling of being constricted and bound returns in full force, contrasting incongruously with the agoraphobic sensation of a vast and endless void all around you. Unusually, your left toes are also experiencing a dull throbbing sensation, which is a new one.

Before you can process much more than that, light blooms before your eyes and you find yourself strapped into the cockpit of an AS-24 ‘Foxbat’. The essential indicators and readouts are already lit and a slight vibration rumbles through you — the only g-forces able to make it through the banking fighter’s inertial dampener. As the last of your senses finish attuning to the very immersive simulation, a furred hand enters your field view and adjusts the trim settings alerting you to the presence of the vessel’s other occupant.

“You took your sweet time loading in, Ell-Cee.” A sweet, alto voice comments, backed up by the Ulvengs's deep, predatory growl and toothy grin. “Did you get your headset stuck in the pod door, or something?”

“Or something...” You give her a meaningful look and tap your temple twice.

“Ah, I see.” Your Navigation officer’s wolfish smile fades slightly, but quickly morphs into a determined snarl as she wrenches the fighter’s controls in a new direction.
“Well, you’ve got no excuse to be missing any of your shots then, eh? I fully intend to ice these stuck up Betas, so don’t drag me down!” She growls.

“So we can win the ‘bet’ right?” You ask, careful to avoid specifics.

“Hrr? Ah, yeah. That too I guess.” She huffs a laugh.

You shake your head, and double-check your fighter’s status, rattling off what should really be the pre-flight checklist but certain concessions have to be made for the simulation, you suppose.
“Systems appear green across the board, voidplate micro-coating reports no anomalies. LASER capacitors are charged and holding steady and a full ordnance complement of four variable yield missiles are ready in the racks.” You report professionally.

>>6055875

“So nothing’s busted, shields are up and weapons are locked and loaded?” Cleo sums up, lolling a tongue out teasingly. “Gotta be concise in a real combat scenario, right Dallas?”

“Just focus on doing your job, Clifton, and let me do mine.” You sneer in mock contempt.

She snorts. “Your EoN impression needs work, boss. Gotta lift your beak in the air and look down on me like the primitive savage I am.”

“Well direct your savage gaze forwards, then. We’re coming up on the designated combat area and we want to spot our opponents before they spot us.”

The starscape shifts outside your Foxbat’s sloping viewport as Cleo swings in close to an asteroid, hugging its curve expertly as she navigates around it. You marvel at the unmatched clarity of the view afforded to you by your direct connection to the simulation — obviously based on an older scenario if the lack of singularities filling the void is anything to go by. Commander Cooper must have modified an old file to include the upgraded Foxbat specs and reused it for this two-vs-two competition.

“I’m warming up the sensors and comms suites, Cleo, but keep your eyes peeled for an ambush before the scanner comes online.” You warn your pilot as you deftly flick through various wavelengths and channels on the panel in front of you.

“Roger that, Ell-Cee.” Cleo nods, rolling the fighter to follow the rocky contours flashing by.

Just as she begins to level off and the rest of the battlefield creeps into view over the asteroid’s horizon, your scanner and comms board lights up.

“Finally! What took you so long to get your transponder online, Dal?” Kiro’s high, nasally voice crackles over the cockpit’s speakers as a small window opens up to show his blue-scaled face. He looks a little harried, hands flailing about off-screen accompanied by frantic tapping sounds.
“I’m reading you guys as… ‘CD-01’, wow. How original, bro. I guess if we’re being boring I’ll set our transponder to ‘CK-02’.” He gripes, rolling his eyes. “We’re coming in hot, forming on your right wing.”

“Roger that, ‘CK-02’. You sure that’s what you want to go with? There’s still time to make it ‘Blue Thunder’ or ‘Rok Slayer’, I know you’ve been workshopping it.” You grin as the lizard’s cheeks colour a darker blue in embarrassment.

“Hey, that was private. I wouldn’t actually- uh. The thing is…” He splutters. “You know what?!! Maybe I will, you good-for-nothing piece of—” The petite reptile’s brief tirade halts abruptly as his wide eyes narrow in concern.
“Hold on, Dal check your scanner! I’ve got two mines registering on the scope — sector L, you’re closing fast.”

Distracted by your banter, you failed to notice two small red dots creeping ever closer as Cleo brought your fighter around the asteroid. You reach for the weapon controls but are too late.

File: Flight Sim Begin.webm (3.77 MB, 1016x1016)

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>>6055876

“Coen, hold us steady. I’ve got them!” Kiro’s comms portrait calls out over his shoulder.

A twin flash of actinic green light preempts a searing glow as two mines detonate before they can bring their bomb-pumped XASER warheads to bear.
>Coen uses BASIC action: [AUTOPILOT]
>Kiro uses BASIC action: [LASER: AUTO]

Having cleared the way ahead, your wingmate swoops in performing an expert evasive dive to join you in formation. Together you are ready to face whatever the Beta bridge crew can bring to bear.
>Coen uses ADV. action: [EVADE]

“Alright, let’s see what’s out there!” Your Ops officer chirps excitedly, having already forgotten his earlier indignation.
>Kiro uses ADV. action: [SCAN]

Your fighter’s HUD pulses as it receives the results of your wingmate’s scan and your scope rapidly fills with red markers. It looks like this simulation will be pulling no punches.

“Lieutenant Commander Annon,” The comms panel switches to show Coen’s stern, green-tinged features, “Minefields are detected in sectors C, T and B — all size five — and enemy fighter craft are detected flanking from sector L. What are your orders, Sir?”

Flight Sim Mechanics:
You control two AS-24 ‘Foxbat’ Aerospace fighters, one piloted by Ceo and Dallas (CD-01), the other by Coen and Kiro (CK-02).
Each fighter has four(4) expendable Ordnance(O), twin LASER cannons, four(4) Hull(H) points, and four(4) directional Shields(S) — two(2) Left and two(2) Right — which regenerate one(1) per side at the beginning of each round.

The simulation is ‘on rails’ and split into five(5) sectors a fighter can occupy as shown by your SCANNER. These sectors are designated Centre (C), Top (T), Bottom (B), Left (L) and Right (R).
You will encounter stationary mines and enemy fighters which will also occupy certain sectors each round.
Each enemy or mine not destroyed by the end of the round will attack the nearest fighter to its sector.
Damage is taken on the closest Shield(S) to the attack direction then on the Hull(H). Underlying systems may be critically damaged and impair function when taking Hull(H) damage.

Each character can take two(2) total actions per round: one(1) BASIC action and one(1) ADV. action.
Every character has access to the BASIC actions but only some ADV. actions are available to certain characters based on their skills.
Actions requiring rolls will be affected by a character’s stats. (E.g MIND+ or BODY+ boosting shooting/evasion, SOUL+ boosting assist actions.)

File: Flight Sim Command Input 1.png (1.08 MB, 2500x1018)

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>>6055878

BASIC Actions:
[AUTOPILOT] - Character flies their fighter to an adjacent sector to the one they occupy.
[LASER: AUTO] - Character fires their fighter’s LASERs at every target in the occupied sector. (Damage: 1, Base Accuracy: 80/50% for stationary/moving Targets.)
[ORD: EMP] - Character expends one of their fighter’s Ordnance(O) to destroy all mines (guaranteed) and deal four(4) damage to enemy Shields(S) in the occupied sector (80% base chance).

ADVANCED Actions:
[STRAFE] - Character flies their fighter to an adjacent sector and performs the [LASER: Auto] action there. (Cleo/Coen)
[EVADE] - Character flies evasively, lowering enemy accuracy against them, removing the directional component of Shield(S), and becoming harder to scan for that round. (Cleo/Coen)
[SCAN] - Character operates the scanner, detecting the size of incoming minefields and potentially updating enemy positions for all fighters. (Base chance 70%). (Cleo/Kiro)
[LOCK] - Character operates the scanner, locking a detected target for detailed analysis and weapon guidance for all fighters. (Cleo/Kiro)
[LASER: MAN] - Character fires their fighter’s LASERs at a specific target in the occupied sector. (Two attacks, Damage: 2, d20 net is used.) (Coen/Dallas)
[ORD: SEEK] - Character expends one of their fighter’s Ordnance(O) to attack a locked target in any sector. (Base Accuracy: 70%, Damage: 4, Requires and expends lock.) (Coen/Dallas)
[BYPASS] Character repairs one(1) of their fighter’s Hull(H) damage and associated critical system damage. (Dallas)
[BOOST] Character adds one(1) point to a specific Shield(S) direction for their fighter. Points above two(2) are lost at the start of the next round. (Kiro/Dallas)
[ORDER] Character spends their BASIC and ADV. actions to grant one(1) other character an additional ADV. or BASIC action with a bonus. (Kiro/Dallas)

A full example of the commands being given to the four Gamma crew, reference image and a copy of these mechanics can be found in the google doc below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zVW857rek_4pB2D9yXAjNma6Pr706wV6u1g5QFs_PEs/edit?usp=sharing

You will need to vote on how you should issue each crew member their commands — each requiring a BASIC and ADVANCED action. If an action requires you to specify a sector you will also need to include that. (E.g [STRAFE] needs a target sector to move to and shoot in.) Feel free to discuss and come to a consensus instead of voting if that’s easier.


>Cleo BASIC: [WRITE-IN]
>Cleo ADV: [WRITE-IN]

>Dallas BASIC: [WRITE-IN]
>Dallas ADV: [WRITE-IN]

>Coen BASIC: [WRITE-IN]
>Coen ADV: [WRITE-IN]

>Kiro BASIC: [WRITE-IN]
>Kiro ADV: [WRITE-IN]

>>6055883


Feel free to ask any questions you have if anything seems confusing or needs clarification. There’s a lot of freedom here and that can be daunting but I hope you like my attempt at a /qst/ based starfox style action sequence.

>>6055883
>Cleo: Strafe L
>Dallas: Laser Man
>Coen: Autopilot R
>Kiro: Scan

>>6055891
Don't forget they get one of each kind of action each anon.

>>6055895
Damn, right.

>Cleo: Laser Auto, Evade
>Dallas: Autopilot L, Laser Man
>Coen: Autopilot R, Evade
>Kiro: Laser Auto, Lock

>>6055901
I'll support, may need to read the rules again.

>>6055901
>>6055974
So to be clear, this would have both your fighters raise their evasion, shoot the centre minefield, then split right and left and fire at those sectors with one of the enemy fighter's locked for extra accuracy. This would leave the top and bottom minefields to detonate and hopefully hit the enemy fighters more than you since you're evading. Does that sound right?

>>6056100
I can back that. Tactics like this aren't my strong suit, but it sounds sound enough.

>>6056100
Wait, Lock works in the same turn? My intention was to get a lock for the next turn to launch a missile

>>6056100
Also I assumed laser shooting can only be done in the current sector, unless it's Strafe

>>6056100
>Coen: Autopilot B, Evade
>Kiro: Laser Auto, Lock
Let me redo the orders:
>Cleo: Laser Auto, Evade
>Dallas: Autopilot B, Ord Seek
The intention is to shoot the mines in C and B, move to B to leave the mines in T to target the enemy, and launch a seeking missile at the enemy

>>6056245
>>6056250
Yeah, as long as they're on your scanner you can lock them. It's SCAN that provides info for the next turn. So your new commands will work as you've said. Just next round you'll be flying blind so to speak, but hopefully with a damaged enemy.

Also, for transparency sake, the enemy attack patterns will use the same commands available to you (limited by their skills) and I've already locked in what they'll do this round. Assume they have you scanned coming in.

>>6056250

Alright if that's what we're going with then can I get some rolls.
>5d100 for Kiro firing at the mines in C. No bonus, so looking for 80 or under.
>5d100 for Cleo firing at the mines in B.
No bonus again so under 80 as well.
>1d100 for Dallas firing off a seeker at Kiro's Lock. MIND+ bonus gives +10 to hit , enemy may evade to lower hit chances. We'll find out.

Rolled 14, 29, 22, 73, 98 = 236 (5d100)

>>6056404

Rolled 85, 39, 29, 6, 2 = 161 (5d100)

>>6056404

Rolled 80 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6056404

Rolled 46, 9 = 55 (2d100)

Enemy Rolls. First laser, second missile.

Rolled 29, 96, 80, 12, 49, 96 = 362 (6d100)

>>6056851
Mine rolls. First 5: Top. Sixth: Bottom.

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>>6055883

Assessing the rapidly approaching danger of the minefields and flanking opponents, you quickly come up with a plan.
>>6056250
“Alright people, listen up!” You bark over the comms, “We’re going to clear out the Centre and Bottom sectors of mines and leave the Top ones alone. Kiro, you lock up the lead enemy fighter and I’ll punch their ticket with a seeker after those mines soften them up. Coen and Cleo, get us down to Sector B and stay frosty. We might not get all the mines down there.”

“Yepyep! Wilco, Dal!”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Ha, I could dodge mines with my eyes closed!”

The chorus of responses fills you with confidence and you leave the plan in your crew’s capable hands while you focus on your own duties. You arm the missile in ordnance rack #1, configuring its variable yield warhead to produce a blast instead of an electromagnetic pulse — you’re counting on those mines dealing with the enemy's shields for you. As your fire control board indicates the master arm is active, you wait with hands hovering over the targeting computer anticipating the lock. The scanner indicates your foes creeping further out to your flank, no doubt setting up a strafing run to coincide with you entering the minefields.

“C’mon Kiro, where's my tone?” You comm.

“Almost got a fix, bro. Cool your thrusters… annnnddd… Got it! Solid lock, it's Matt and Sophia so I’m designating the target ‘MS-03’, which will make the other ‘RN-04’.” Kiro crows excitedly, his earlier protests over your straightforward naming conventions forgotten in the moment.
“Uh, looks like they have the same idea guys! They’re spiking you! Blast those mines, Cleo, and then go evasive, I’ll clear you some space down below.”

“Guess it's time for some fancy flying after all.” Cleo hums contentedly, “You know how to work the autopilot, right?”

>>6056522
>>6056563
>Kiro uses [LOCK] and locks target designated ‘MS-03’ (orange chevron).
>Coen uses [EVADE] and [AUTOPILOT] moving to sector B.
>Cleo uses {EVADE] and [LASER: AUTO] and destroys 4 out of 5 mines in sector C.
>Foe ‘NB-04’ uses [LOCK] and targets your fighter, ‘CD-01’.
>Dallas uses [AUTOPILOT] moving to sector B.
>Kiro uses {LASER: AUTO] and destroys 4 out of 5 mines in sector B.

Your targeting computer buzzes as your missile accepts the locked target and you watch through the viewport as your wingmate peels off — Coen executing a precise evasive roll and dive. Cleo jukes and jinks your own fighter as she walks the automatic LASER fire over the minefield, nailing most of them. Unfortunately, you’ve been left as the prime target for the enemy and the telltale wail of a sensor lock makes you break out into a cold sweat despite this being only a simulation.
You quickly direct your fighter to follow Coen’s dive, glad that the autopilot could handle the smooth descent even as the viewport darkens to prevent the blinding flashes of Kiro’s LASER fire from blinding you.

>>6057024

“I got all but one!” The Marrok reports cheerfully, “I’m a pretty good shot, huh?”

You roll your eyes, your little brother was never very good at taking these simulations seriously.

“Eye’s up, boys.” Cleo cuts off any reply you might have made, “They’re coming in hot!”

>Foes MS-03 and RN-03 use [AUTOPILOT] moving from sector L to C.
>Foe MS-03 uses [LASER: AUTO] with a +10 bonus from MIND+ (Sofia) destroying the last mine in sector C.
>Foe MS-03 expends ordnance (3/4 ORD remaining) and sensor lock to use [ORD: SEEK] on CD-01.
>Dallas expends ordnance (3/4 ORD remaining) and sensor lock to use [ORD: SEEK] on MS-03.

The two enemy Foxbats dive from above, levelling off just in time to nail the final mine in sector C. Your console screams at you as your sensors detect an incoming missile locked onto your fighter’s signature.

“Birds in the air! Shake that lock Cleo!” You cry out frantically, desperately trying to maintain your own firing solution. “Do a barrel-”

“Shut the fuck up, Dallas, and let me concentrate!” Your pilot snarls savagely, twisting the yoke so violently that you can feel the lurch even through the fighter’s inertial dampeners.

The viewport blurs as you spin sickeningly and then automatically darkens. The heavens brighten with the light of a thousand stars as the remaining mines trigger all at once, targeting their fusion bomb-pumped XASERs at the nearest vessels.
>>6056853
>Five(5) mines in sector T target MS-03. (50% base chance to hit.) Three(3) hits (29, 12, 49). Left shields down. One(1) Hull point lost. Critical damage to left wing. [EVADE] action disabled.
>One(1) mine in sector B targets CK-02. (50% base chance - 10 (Evasion)). Misses (96).

Your target lock, still being relayed to you from Kiro, reports that the first part of your plan has succeeded — your target is hurt, its shield momentarily depleted on one side. Cleo rolls your fighter evasively and as the belly of your Foxbat faces the craft flashing by above you, you recognise your best shot. You loose the missile from its internal weapons rack.

“Eagle-three. Bird away!”

“No, nooo… Wyrm shit! BRACE!” Cleo replies, her translator barely audible above her roar.

>>6056851
>MS-03 targets CD-01 with [ORD: SEEK]. (Base chance 70% - 20 (BODY+ Evasion)). Hits (9).

Suddenly your world shakes and goes dark, the enemy’s ordnance too well placed to evade detonates beside your craft, attempting to tear through the meagre protection of your micro-voidplated hull. It's testament to your Navigation officer’s skill that she is able to rotate the damage across every surface of your fighter as the fireball engulfs it, consuming your shields to the last but leaving you more-or-less unscathed.
Evasion removes shield direction, distributing four(4) damage across the Left and Right shields. Shields down.

File: Flight Sim Command Input 2.png (1.1 MB, 2500x1018)

1.1 MB PNG

>>6057068
You sigh in relief and wince as Cleo pounds your shoulder reassuringly.
“Ha, what did I tell you? I could do this blindfolded!” She laughs harshly.

“You sure you don't need to change pants?” You shoot back. “You looked about ready to-”

“Shut it! I did my job, let's see you do yours!” She barks back.

You look back to your own missile just as it finishes its terminal run. The lock remains solid and you know that you had released it and just the right angle to give it the best possible chance at…
>>6056570
>CD-01 targets MS-03 with [ORD: SEEK]. (Base chance 70% +10 (MIND+). Rolled 80.

The missile hits—
>Matthew Cooper trait activates: Survivor. (First instance of lethal damage received is negated.)
—the side of an asteroid as the two enemy Foxbats swing out of view behind it.

“ANCESTORS DAMN IT, DALLAS. YOU HAD ONE JOB!” Cleo shouts, teeth bared.

“I- I had them dead to rights, even with your own terrible evasion job!” You retort pushing her menacing snout out of your face. “Commander fuckin’ Cooper has wyrm’s luck, I swear. Ever since he escaped the ambush that killed my brother and got promoted he just can’t fucking lose!” You grumble uncharitably.

“Ugh,” Cleo slumps in her chair and levels out the fighter, forming up alongside Coen and Kiro, “those mines did more damage to them than we did. At least they took some structural damage, they should be easier targets next time assuming you don’t fuck it up again!”

You grit your teeth in annoyance but hold your tongue. In the end it’s thanks to your Nav officer that you came off better in this exchange and you’re determined to make the next one count. The only issue is… you don’t know where the enemy is.

“That was sooo close, Dal! You’ll get ‘em next time for sure!” Your Ops officer squeaks over the comm, “We lost our lock in the radiation wash of that missile though, and we didn’t have time to scan the next sectors properly..”

Your scanner lights up with a hazard warning, indicating that the left sector is too close to a shifting asteroid and should be steered well clear of for now. Meanwhile, a preliminary scan has popped up of the other sectors ahead.

“I’m sending you all I can get.” Kiro continues helpfully, “Three minefields of unknown size in sectors T, C and R. Anywhere from two to ten mines each. I’m not sure where those bogeys have gotten to, did you see which way they went on the scanner before we lost contact?”

You try to recall while he continues.

“On the plus side, I dint detect a ssscanner pulse from ‘em either so we’re both flying blind. I expect they’ll be cautiouss, ‘sspecially with tha’ wing damage. Maybe they’ll focus on clearin’ mines with their LASERss or… EMPsss?” Kiro begins to lisp as he concentrates on his running analysis.

You tune out his speculation and consider the obstacles ahead. It’s not much to go on but you decide to issue commands anyway:
>Issue commands. (Remember each person gets one BASIC and one ADV. action and that order matters.)

>>6057094
Your shields regenerated one(1) point on each side for the new round. You assume the same has occurred for your opponents.

>>6057094
Damn you Cooper!

>Cleo: Autopilot B, Evade
>Dallas: Laser auto, Boost L
>Coen: Autopilot B, Evade
>Kiro: Laser auto, Scan
I'm nanking on the opponents not being crazy enough to not clear the mines for us, expecially with one of them not being able to Evade

>>6057137
Support! This seems to make a lot of sense.

>>6057137
Btw you stay in the sector you were in last round without having to fly there. So you don't technically need to use autopilot B if you wanted to free up extra basic actions.

>>6057137
+1

>>6057094

>>6057289
But you put our marks in C on the big radar
Then switch both autopilots to auto lasers

>>6057425
Ah, my bad. I guess I didnt update that part ofg the big radar. The little one in the left image was correct.

>>6057321
>>6057216
>>6057137
4 Auto lasers it is looking for volume of fire over accuracy it seems.
As it happens the enemy are coming to you.
I'm gonna need some rolls:
>2d100 for Cleo
>2d100 for Dallas (+10 MIND+ bonus)
>2d100 for Coen (+10 MIND+ bonus + Deadeye Trait Rerolls)
>2d100 for Kiro

Rolled 20, 46 = 66 (2d100)

>>6057491

Rolled 6, 27 = 33 (2d100)

>>6057491

>>6057495
>>6057552
Yikes.

>>6057554
Low is good. This is a roll under system remember.

Rolled 6, 94 = 100 (2d100)

>>6057491

>>6057555
Oh right! I'm newer to this quest and admittedly glossed over the rules. Righteous!

Rolled 64, 72 = 136 (2d100)

>>6057491
I too get confused by the roll under.

Rolled 2, 6, 9 + 1 = 18 (3d9 + 1)

Minefield size check T/C/R.

Enemy Actions:
*MS-03 and RN-04 enter (T)op.
*Neb- EMP T
*Rika - Evade
*Rika - Strafe C
*Matt - Move C
*Matt - Strafe B
*Sofia - Coordinate (Rika +Adv@+5)
*Rika - Strafe B (+5)
*Neb - LASER: MANUAL B (Trait: Rote Learning Negates MIND-)

Rolled 80, 44, 82, 5, 21, 100, 81, 9 = 422 (8d100)

>>6058037
Rolling Enemy fire:
*First six: Rika Vs Mines
*Second two: Matt Vs CD-01

File: Neb laserman 1.png (102 KB, 403x657)

102 KB PNG

Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d20)

>>6058055
Rolling Neb's LASER Manual. (No bonus, but no penalty due to trait.)

Rolled 29, 67, 72, 63, 8, 28, 91, 18, 87, 6, 89, 91 = 649 (12d100)

>>6058055
*Correction Laser:AUTO first one shot each at CD-01 and CK-02 not two at CD-01.

>>6058057
Rollan mines. (First three from C target RN-04, second nine from R target MS-03, CD-01 and CK-02 three each)

>>6058037
Also just realised I had Rika take 3 Adv. Actions instead of 2 so Ill give her Evade+5 and Move B instead of Strafe B.

Rolled 44 (1d100)

>>6057674
Deadeye reroll.

>>6057094
>>6057137

“We don’t have much to go on, but we know there aren’t going to be mines in our sector.” You think out loud, “So, if they’re going to circle back around for an attack run, let's not give them any help.”

“You just want us to sit here, boss?” Cleo asks, ears drooping at the thought of inaction.

“You said it yourself, Cleo” Kiro chimes in over the open comm channel, understanding your plan immediately, “The mines are doing more damage than we are.”

“Yes, it is more efficient to focus on evasion whilst waiting in ambush to fire.” You hear Coen faintly over your brother’s shoulder.

“Well I don’t like it.” Cleo huffs, hunching her broad shoulders and grinding her teeth noisily.

“Come on, you don’t need an excuse to show off your fancy flying, do you? Just think about how much fun rubbing it in Rika’s face will be.” You cajole her. “I’ll boost our shields while we wait so you just focus on wiggling those wings, eh?”

“Fine.” She sighs. “But I get the kill credit when they go down.”
>Cleo uses [EVADE] with Body+ (+20 evasion)
>Dallas uses [BOOST] (Left shield fully recharged.)

“Hey! Get in line furbag!” Kiro calls. “Our lasers are hardly set to stun over here!”

“They’d better not be…” You grumble, recalling the last time Kiro was your co-pilot. “Just because they’re the default setting in your historical dramas doesn’t mean you needed to invent one for our fighters! Why don’t you spend your time setting up another scan? We should be ready to follow up our ambush.”

“Pshaw… that was one time.” He laughs sheepishly, “But yeah, scanners are warming up for another pulse.”

As you finish passing by the bulk of the asteroid obstructing sector L, your scope lights up and you realise there's no time left for further planning.

“Enemy signatures showing on passive scanner, beginning evasive manoeuvres, Sir.”
>Coen uses [EVADE] (+10 Evasion)

Before you can acknowledge Coen’s report your comm emits a burst of static and your instruments fuzz. A bright blue flash explodes far overhead and you recognise the effects of an EMP. Your scanner clears and the marker indicating the unquantified minefield in sector T is nowhere to be seen. Two enemy chevrons dive rapidly through the cleared space, strafing the mines in sector C to clear the way for a shot at you.

>>6058055
>Neb expends RN-04’s ordnance to use [ORD: EMP] on sector T.
>Rika [STRAFE]s sector C in RN-04, destroying 3/6 mines.
>Matt flies MS-03 to sector C on [AUTOPILOT]
>Sofia [ORDER]s Rika to perform another ADV. Action with +5 bonus.
>Rika uses [EVADE] raising RN-04s evasion by +15.

Rolled 32, 2, 37 = 71 (3d100)

>>6058444
As the two Foxbats enter your sector, both Cleo and Coen align their evading fighters to fire upon the enemies before they have a chance to shoot back.
>>6057495
>Cleo fires CD-01’s [LASER: AUTO] at MS-03 and the evading RN-04 (50/35 chance) with no bonus. Hit’s MS-03, depleting its left shield.
>>6057674
>>6058283
>Coen fires CK-02’s [LASER: AUTO] at MS-03 and the evading RN-04 (60/45 chance) with his MIND+ bonus. Hits MS-03 damaging its cockpit (-1 HP, [STRAFE] disabled.). His deadeye reroll succeeds and he hits RN-04’s left shield.

Laser fire flashes back and forth between your ships as Cdr Cooper strafes your position even as his own defenceless fighter is torn to shreds. He’s backed up by his wingmate, who has taken the time to unleash a more pinpoint barrage against your own shields.
>>6058055
>Matt [STRAFE]s MS-03 to sector B, missing the evading CD-01 but striking the not quite evasive enough CK-02 on its shields.
>Rika flies RN-04 to sector B on [AUTOPILOT].
>>6058057
>Neb uses RN-04’s [LASER: MAN] to target CD-01 manually. Hitting once for 2 damage to its shields.

You’re about to unleash your Foxbat’s automatic firing sequence once more when suddenly the remaining minefields' primitive decision making matrices decide it’s time to detonate. Your viewport darkens to prevent you from being blinded and your instruments wail alarms at you — your shields taking a final hit and failing at last. But it looks like no one got away unscathed as the untouched minefield in sector R explodes with catastrophic (size 9) violence.
>>6058062
>Sector C minefield (size 3) targets the evading RN-04. 1/3 hits its shields.
>Sector R minefield (size 9) targets MS-03, the evading CD-01 and CK-02. 2/3 hits deplete MS-03’s right shields. 1/3 hits depletes CD-01’s shields. 1/3 hits strike CK-02’s shields.

You punch your fire controls, blind — relying on the fighter’s sensors to keep your aim true — and are rewarded with two hit confirmations lighting up your panel. Kiro also belatedly triggers his fighter’s weapons in the aftermath, but as the viewport clears you watch in dismay as the twin beams miss their targets.
>>6057552
>Dallas fires CD-01’s [LASER: AUTO] at MS-03 and RN-04 (60/45 chance) with his MIND+ bonus. Hits MS-03 damaging its missile racks (-1HP, [ORD:SEEK] disabled.). Hits the evading RN-04 on its shield.
>>6057879
Kiro fires CK-02’s [LASER: AUTO] at MS-03 and RN-04 (50/35 chance) with no bonus. Both miss.

“Nooo, so close! SO CLOSE!” An indignant squeak over the comm unit conveys your Ops officer’s disappointment as the sparking and smoking MS-03 slips away with its wingmate having lost all its shields and taking heavy damage.
A ‘Survivor’ indeed, that lucky son-of-a-wyrm.

File: Flight Sim 3.webm (3.88 MB, 1080x1080)

3.88 MB WEBM

>>6058462

You aren’t convinced that Cdr Cooper didn’t rig the scenario in his favour, considering just how many close calls he’s escaped already. You really shouldn’t have let him punch in the program in hindsight. Still, you have an ace up your sleeve if you really need to level the playing field.
Option Unlocked- Trait: Part of the Ship, Part of the Crew (2)
Allows you to remotely modify the simulation’s parameters by passing a skill check.

“Ghhhrrr, he gets away again! And that slippery, pink-scaled rat still hasn’t even chipped her paintjob!” The Ulveng beside you rages.

“Easy, Cleo, easy.” You hold out a placating arm to ward off her wrath. “They’re hurting, and we haven’t taken more than shield damage. “We’ll keep up the pressure… Kiro how’s that scan coming along? We don’t want to lose them!
>>6058462
>Kiro uses [SCAN] to gather information for the next round. (Base 70. -15 against evading RN-04.) 3? Successes?

“I’ve got ‘em, Dal. Scanner ping has them flying out past sector L.” Kiro reports excitedly, “Minefield report is coming back too and it's a doozy! We’ve got a size three(3) in sector T, size seven(7) in C, size three(3) in B, and size eight(8) in L… Oh wait, size seven(7)? No, eight(8) again? Wha-?”

“That last one’s not a mine, pipsqueak.” Cleo squints at the relayed data, “Probably just an echo off that hollow lookin’ asteroid. Either way it's bad news if we don’t deal with it.”

“Bad news for them too with their shields in that state.” You grin.

File: Flight Sim Command Input 3.png (905 KB, 2500x1018)

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>>6058498
“Nice trick, Dallas.” Your comm squeals and the screen flickers to reveal a face that’s familiar just not supposed to have access to this channel.

“Cooper. I see your copilot is just as good at cracking comms channels as she is at spreading rumours.” You scowl.

“Well, since you’re already playing dirty…” The Human man grimaces as a sparking panel lights up his face in stark relief. “I’ll admit that your ambush was a smart move, if cowardly.”

“WHO’RE YOU CALLIN’ A COWARD!” Cleo barges over to stare daggers through the screen, “You’re the one running with your tail between his legs, little Human!”
“I figured we’d just pay back the favour in kind.” The commander smirks, shrugging. “You left us a scanner full of minefields, so it's only fair that you deal with the next ones while we give our friends in engineering a quick call. We’ll patch this old fox up, and be right back to kicking your tail in no time, don’t you worry.”

“What! But that’s cheating! No outside help!” Kiro finally manages to wrangle his way back into the (apparently poorly) encrypted channel. “And you have to come fight us. You can’t just leave the competition boundaries to repair!”

“Sounds like someone didn’t read the fineprint” Another chirping voice retorts and a female Marrok pops up on the screen. “This is a modified scenario, built on one of the ancient simulations that survived in the ship’s databases. We were just playing along, but there’s no mission boundaries like modern flight sims.” She cackles a squeaky laugh at Kiro’s put out expression.

“It is important to read the regulations carefully, small one.” You hear Neb’s sombre baritone in the background and can almost imagine him nodding sagely in wisdom.

“Oh, eat a whole bag of dicks, brother.” Your Nav officer bristles. “Your love of rules doesn’t make up for the rocks you have instead of brains. No wonder Father sent me to the academy after you. You’ll never succeed him as chief! “
The cutting words leave an awkward silence in their wake that not even the hot-tempered Rika dares to break.

You, meanwhile, grit your teeth in frustration at the whole situation. You knew that bastard of a commander was up to something, but there’s no telling what else he put in this simulation. You’re going to have to take matters into your own hands. You’re coming up fast on the next sector and have to make a snap decision.

>>6058523
Your shields recover one(1) per side. As do your opponents'.

>You will continue on ahead, clearing the minefields until your path brings you back across your opponents. (Enemy gets 1 round to repair and recharge but so do you.) Input commands as normal.
>You will pursue your foe into the unknown, braving whatever they may have in store.You will not give them a reprieve. (Pursue your foes past the L sector. (Consequences unknown, no time for repairs.)
>You will attempt to modify the mission parameters with your command implant (and trait), forcing your opponents back on track. (Hard Skill check required, Potential -Consequences, no time for repairs, enemy forced to fly in upcoming sectors.)
>Use your command implant to modify the rules in another way. (How?)
>Something else? (Write-in.)

>>6058528
Damn you Cooper!
>You will pursue your foe into the unknown, braving whatever they may have in store.You will not give them a reprieve. (Pursue your foes past the L sector. (Consequences unknown, no time for repairs.)
They gain more from repairs than us. Cooper's craft is barely holding together.

File: Not Peedee.png (159 KB, 323x289)

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>>6058528
>You will pursue your foe into the unknown, braving whatever they may have in store.You will not give them a reprieve.
Would like to modify the sim to fuck them over but don't trust this thing.

>>6058593
Is this... A wyrm??

>>6058528
>You will pursue your foe into the unknown, braving whatever they may have in store.You will not give them a reprieve. (Pursue your foes past the L sector. (Consequences unknown, no time for repairs.)

File: Flight Sim 4.webm (3.93 MB, 1076x1076)

3.93 MB WEBM

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6058564
>>6058593
>>6058678
>>6058528

The comm silence is unnerving and even Cleo shifts uncomfortably next to you. She might have gone a little far with that last jab.

“I’m sure your brother does his best, Cleo.” Kiro finally says in a small voice.

“Yeah, well… I- uh…” The Ulveng flicks an annoyed ear in a rare moment of flustered speechlessness. “Are we chasing these cheaters or what, Dallas?” She changes the subject.

As much as you’d prefer to meddle with the simulation’s parameters with your command implant, you’re worried what else might be lurking in the ancient files that Commander Cooper has gotten his hands on. No, you’ll just have to follow your foes off the rails so to speak and try not to give them breathing room as they attempt to turn the competition back to their favour.

“Yes, I think we’ll just have to beat them at their own game!” You announce decisively. “Clifton, La’afette, re-centre your nav software on those fleeing Foxbats and get us within weapon’s range. Skyeskal, keep the scanner active so we don’t lose our fix on them. Keep your eyes peeled for any other hazards too.” You issue your orders, formally.

“On it, boss! Banking now.”
“Affirmative Lieutenant Commander Annon. On your wing, Lieutenant Clifton.”
“Yessir, Ell-Cee!”

Your crew’s quick acknowledgments sound over the comm and your view of the upcoming minefields shift as your Foxbat banks and turns. You watch your scanner as the coloured chevrons representing your targets slew around and slowly move towards the centre sector. You can make the distant trails of the enemy fighter’s ion engines growing larger as you begin to gain on them — a feat only possible due to them sticking to tight formation despite one vessel’s damaged engines. You note that Matthew and Sofia’s Foxbat has stopped sparking and leaking smoke, so it seems that fire won’t finish the job you started — a pity.

The two distant fighters appear to be approaching a large hollow asteroid, perhaps hoping to break line of sight to effect repairs. Your eye catches some slight movement at the edge of the oncoming asteroid but when you look back, there’s nothing there.

“Scanner signal is holding steady, Dal!” Kiro comms, “We’ve cleared the last of the minefields and are in pursuit… Uh, but at this range we aren’t as likely to hit them. We should be able to get a lock if you think it's worth expending some ordnance, though.”

“I agree with this assessment.” Coen adds quietly, “I estimate a reduction in weapon accuracy of twenty percent.”

“Ah, the bastards are splitting up!” Cleo snarls beside you, “Ha, like that will save them!”

You watch as the pink and orange hud icons begin to diverge left and right. No doubt hoping to make targeting even more difficult for you.

“The enemy can only use ordnance to fire backwards if they keep fleeing, Sir.” Coen comments. “How shall we engage?”

File: Flight Sim Orders 4.png (1024 KB, 2500x1018)

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>>6059952

Your fighters’ shields have fully recharged. Your enemies may be assumed to have also recharged their shields. Your scan persists on the enemy, allowing locks this round.

Your attacks next round will be at -20% accuracy until you have closed distance on your opponents. They will not suffer such a penalty but cannot use their LASERs to fire.

They will also likely move sectors to remain evasive. You will need to fire any sector dependent weapons (LASERs, EMP) at the one they end their round in to have a chance of hitting.

>Input commands in the order you wish them to be executed.

>>6059959
Is it me, or is that wyrm preparing to fire?
>Cleo: autopilot L, evade
>Dallas: EMP L
>Kiro: EMP T, Lock RN-04
>Coen: EMP C, Seeker RN-04
>Dallas: Seeker RN-04
Double launch at Rika, leave Cooper to the wyrm

>>6060015
I'll support.
Looks like they flew into where the Wyrm was hiding, maybe? Maybe Cooper has his own Peedee?

>>6060015
Supporting.

>>6059959

>>6060015
Bear in mind that EMPs are dumb fire and only affect the sector a fighter is in when they're fired.

>>6060441
Guh
Then change to
>Cleo: autopilot L, evade
>Dallas: EMP L
>Kiro: Scan, Lock RN-04
>Coen: EMP C, Seeker RN-04
>Dallas: Seeker RN-04

>>6060478
Alright, that'll work.
I'll need some rolls:
>2d100 for Dallas (+10 bonus for MIND+)
>2d100 for Coen (+10 bonus for MIND+, Deadeye Trait reroll active.)

(EMPs hitting will also depend on where enemies end their turn but roll anyway. A missed EMP due to no target does not trigger Coen's Deadeye trait.))

Rolled 24, 30 = 54 (2d100)

>>6060507

Rolled 43, 25 = 68 (2d100)

>>6060507

Rolled 29, 88 = 117 (2d100)

Enemy Actions:
MS-03:
Matt: Locks CD-01, Autopilot R
Sofia: Comms for assistance, ORD: EMP R
RN-04:
Rika: Evades, Autopilot L
Neb: EMP L, ORD: SEEK CD-01
Rolling for weapons on target, no bonus.

>>6060478
>>6059959

“Don't bother trying to line up a shot with the LASERs. Go to ordnance only.” You command.
“Kiro, focus on keeping them on our scope and lock up the undamaged fighter. We’ll soften them up with EMPs then both hit ‘em with seekers.”

“On it, big bro!” You hear claws clicking furiously over the comm.

“Focussing fire to maximise our damage while they retreat? A sound strategy.” Coen comments, already queuing up his missiles to fire in sequence.

“Exactly.” You nod, doing the same.

“I'll keep on that scaled shrimp’s tail, then.” Cleo adds brightly, “As if I'd let my prey escape alive.”
She jerks the flight controls left, a vicious smile on display, and your craft follows the fleeing Foxbat.

>Kiro [SCAN]s the void and [LOCK]s RN-04.
>Rika [EVADE]s and veers into sector L on [AUTOPILOT].
>Cleo does the same with +10% BODY+ bonus to evasion.
>Matt {LOCK]s CD-01.

“I’ve got a lock!” Kiro calls out nervously, as the data feeds into your targeting display. “But the scanner is reading a huge energy spike coming from that hollow asteroid up ahead! I-is it… glowing?”
“Stay on target! If this is some trick, we’ll make sure they don’t survive long enough to see it through.” You reply reassuringly. “Begin attack sequence!”

You release fire control to the fighter’s computer and hear a dull thunk as the missile racks cycle up an EMP warhead. A blue streak tears out from beneath your craft and your scope lights up with warnings.

“Missile launch! Sensor lock!” Cleo reacts to the slightly different sounding alarms instinctively.

Another two streaks of blue fill your viewport, one leaving your wingmate and the other growing rapidly, launched back at you from the Foxbat you are pursuing. You grip your seat’s restraints in anticipation as first one flash blooms to your right then an enormous one darkens your viewport and fuzzes over all your systems.

>>6060521
>>6061077
>Neb expends an ordnance, firing an [ORD: EMP] at sector L. (Base chance 80% - 20% from enemy evasion.) Hits. CD-01 shields down.
>Dallas expends an ordnance, firing an [ORD: EMP] at sector L with a +10 bonus from MIND+. {Base chance 80% - 20% range penalty - 10% enemy evading + 10% MIND+) Hits. RN-04 shields down.
>Matt veers into sector R on [AUTOPILOT].
>Coen expends an ordnance, firing an [ORD: EMP] at sector C. No target.

“That scaly bitch had the same idea! I’ll try to dodge. Fu-”

More insistent wailing from your instruments drowns out Cleo’s foul mouthed cursing. It seems all the barrel rolling in the world doesn’t allow her to mitigate the full brunt of two EMP warheads detonating as they collide between your fighter and the target. Your shields absorb the energy pulse but both you and your foe are left defenceless in the wake of the dual EMP.

File: Flight Sim 5.webm (3.64 MB, 1080x1080)

3.64 MB WEBM

>>6061910
>>6061910

Another thunk, another missile streaks out closely followed by its counterpart from your wingman — conventional warheads seeking their locked target for the killing blow. Belatedly you see your opponent try to do the same, but it seems like Neb had not pre-programmed both of his missiles in succession because that second’s delay costs him.

>>6060521
>>6060569
>Both Coen and Dallas expend an ordnance, firing am [ORD: SEEK] at RH-04 with a +10 bonus from MIND+. (Base chance 70% - 20% range penalty - 10% enemy evading + 10% MIND+) Both hit.
>Neb expends an ordnance, firing—
>RN-04 destroyed.

A pair of miniature suns brighten the void for a few moments and then fade. Nothing is left of RN-04 but an almost invisible cloud of expanding atoms.

“HA! WE GOTTEM!” Cleo howls.

“Nuh uh!” Kiro replies over the comm sticking out a forked tongue belligerently. “You just softened them up, we got the kill!”

“Now listen here you little-”

“Children, behave.” You roll your eyes at the playful bickering, “We’ve still got one more fly to swat before we’re done here so stay sharp!”

Matthew and Sofia’s Foxbat desperately launches its own EMP missiles to ward off pursuit but seems to be losing power. That or they’re hesitating after having noticed the now visibly pulsating light growing ever brighter from the asteroid they’re about to pass.

>Sophia expends an ordnance, firing an [ORD: EMP] at sector R. No target.
>Sophia attempts to Comm an outside source.

The ominous glow suddenly goes dark for a second and you almost catch up to your last opponent when suddenly your entire viewport is filled with a stream of light. You’re almost blinded despite the viewport’s automatic tinting instantly switching to its darkest setting. Every instrument on your panel goes crazy as harsh static plays over the cockpit’s speakers.
When it finally clears you blink away the afterimages, faithfully imposed on you by the immersive simulation, and find no trace of your last opponent.

“Wh-what was that?” Cleo whines softly.

“Enemy is no longer on our scanner.” Kiro reports, the comm still a little crackly. “I-I think we won?”

You confirm it for yourself with your own instruments, noting that your shields have already begun to regenerate — not that they would have helped. If you’d been just a little closer to MS-03, you would have shared their fate.
CD-01 shields regenerate one(1) per side.

Before you can celebrate, the scanner registers a new contact but it must still be on the fritz because the size rating almost fills the small graphic display.

“Unknown contact, dead ahead!” Coen reports. The rare note of alarm in his voice makes you snap your head up just in time to see a huge shape go blurring past — seemingly launched from the asteroid’s interior. It’s gone before you can get a good look at it but the oversized chevron on your scope indicates that it's circling around above you.

>>6061916
Haha, get rekt!

File: Flight Sim Boss Begin.webm (2.37 MB, 1018x1018)

2.37 MB WEBM

>>6061916

“Did you see that?” Kiro exclaims in nervous wonder. “That looked nothing like any voidcraft I’ve ever seen!”

“Hmm yes, but it launched from that asteroid faster than even a modern mass manipulation drive should be able to safely accelerate.” Coen adds slowly.

“Whatever it is, it’s coming down to meet us.” Cleo replies with alarm. “Holy Ancestors, it’s—”

Gliding down from above, its barely moving wings aglow, is a creature out of myth. Long and sinuous, with six limbs and black, scaly hide is well… a dragon. Well, not exactly like those you’ve seen in some of the old Earth stories left in historical archives, but fairly close. The creature's scales are perfectly hexagonal and its eyes seem to glow from within along with its translucent grey wings and frills bracketing its elongated head. Not to mention it appears to be perfectly at home in the vacuum of space.
Two large arms end in massive hands which could easily reach out and pluck one of your Foxbats from the void and crush it in a single fist. It holds its two stockier legs close to its long, thick tail which drifts behind it lazily — completely at odds with the direction it seems to be flying. Was this what was responsible for vaporising Commander Cooper’s fighter? That was no mere fire.

Your fighter wing holds its course steady, too shocked to make any changes to the flight path, and yet the beast drifts almost effortlessly backwards whilst maintaining distance. It shifts its pose slightly and a complex pattern of light ripples through its membranes, colouring them orange.

“Cleo, please tell me you’re seeing what I’m seeing.” You almost whisper.

“If this is some sort of prank, it's in very poor taste.” She growls.

“Dal, why is there some sort of dragon thing out there? Is this part of the competition?” Kiro squeaks, stunned. “It kind looks like a—”

“Like a wyrm-damned… well, Void Wyrm.” Cleo spits out. “Though it doesn’t match any depiction I’ve ever seen.”

“No true depictions survived long after the Cataclysm.” Coen muses, “The subspace network collapse and ensuing data encryption destroyed all records and the Cult of Lost Star’s hunters purged what was left in their religious zeal. Only stories remain, and superstitions make even those taboo.”

“Of course it’s taboo, there’s like a ninety-nine percent chance that the Void Wyrms were collectively responsible for wiping out most of the known galaxy!” Cleo barks angrily.

“Perhaps, to the uninformed.” Coen remarks idly, “It's closer to seventy-thirty according to more reputable sources.”

“Still… we know they were big, reptilian and survive and travel through the void. If it looks like a fuckin’ space dragon then its clearly meant to be a Void Wyrm.” Cleo continues her tirade. “Oh, I'm gonna wring that scrawny commander’s neck when I get a hold of him. How dare they!”

>>6062030

Before you can add your own thoughts on the matter, the comm is commandeered away from showing Kiro and Coen. At first you think it’s Sofia, come to reveal her crew’s prank despite their loss but instead a familiar halting, static filled voice is heard.

COMMIMP-03 DETECTED AS— MEMBER OF. THE BLOOD. AUTHORISATION OF CLASSIFIED. CONTENT— GRANTED. ACCESS ADDITIONAL… TRAINING SCENARIO?

Two prompts appear in your HUD:
-YES
-NO

You attempt to select one but they morph before your eyes, not allowing you to decline.

“Uh, Dal. I think the ship’s AI might be talking to you.” Kiro appears on the screen looking worried. “That’s not ideal, right?”

“No. Especially since I can’t just take off a simulation headset like you guys if it decides to keep us here…” You reply, icy dread beginning to creep up your spine.

“Well,look on the brightside.” Your Nav officer looks over to you darkly. “If it’s old classified files, untouched until the meddling Beta crew unearthed it… Maybe this is what a Void Wyrm is really like... Let’s kick its ass.” She says maliciously, with a full toothed grimace.

“Be that as it may.” Your Tactical officer interjects. “I am certain that whatever this training scenario was originally designed for, it was not a post-Cataclysm Foxbat. It was said of the reclusive species, that they rarely engaged in combat but when provoked a Void Wyrm could destroy even a live voidship.”

“Really? That thing could defeat even the Coober Pedy?” Your Ops officer gulps, wide eyes staring.

“Pshh, maybe the ones rumoured to be the size of corvettes. This guy could fit in our hangar bay.”
Cleo jerks a thumb at the viewport where the wyrm in question continues to pace you, alternating between glowing orange and white. You assume its programming is looping while you stall without choosing either of the YES prompts.

What will you do?
>YES (You aren’t afraid of the big, bad Wyrm.)
>YES (You might as well get this over with, succeed or fail you already won your competition.)
>Attempt to use your Command Implant to forcefully terminate the simulation. (Potential -Consequences.)
>Stall for time, surely it won’t keep you stuck in the simulation forever. Your friends can go get help.
>Try something else? How sophisticated is this programming? (Write-in)

>>6062034
>YES (You might as well get this over with, succeed or fail you already won your competition.)
>Try something else? (Try to hail the Wyrm)
Holt shit you guys, Peedee is a baby Void Wyrm. The Wyrms annihilated human civilization either as an accidental consequence of using their young to power/control void ships, or as retaliation for this atrocity.

>>6062034
>YES (You aren’t afraid of the big, bad Wyrm.)

>>6062096
>>Try something else? (Try to hail the Wyrm)
Might be tricky without your Comms officer but i'll allow it if people vote for it.
Though that's a very controversial theory you have there. If it were true I wonder what it might have to say to you. Or anyone else listening in...
>>6055875

>>6062034
>>YES (You aren’t afraid of the big, bad Wyrm.)

>>6062341
Hmm, good point in the spoiler.

>Stall for time, surely it won’t keep you stuck in the simulation forever. Your friends can go get help.
Even so, to study it a little. I was >>6062096 on mobile, and I'll change to that.

>>6062034
>>6062162
>>6062383
>>6062390

“Well, it looks like I’m stuck in here until this ‘training scenario’ is through with me.” You muse. “If you guys want to go ahead and leave, that’s fine. We’ve won our competition”
You signal both Foxbats to come to a relative stop and sure enough the Wyrm floating ahead of you slows with you. It still seems to be performing some sort of idle animation while blinking orange.

“Hah, not on your life, Ell-Cee.” Cleo scoffs.

“Yeah, we’re not afraid of the big bad Wyrm!” Kiro chirps, “ But uh… it doesn’t look like it's attacking us just yet. Maybe we could figure out how to talk to it? Flash some lights of our own?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure we have time to find our resident Comms specialist.” You frown at the still open dialogue box in front of you. “This thing is getting insistent.”

Sure enough the cursor hovering over the two YES prompts begins to flash insistently and before you know it the prompt locks in the leftmost one and closes.

”TRAINING SCENARIO… BEGIN. VOID— W-WYRM. ENCOUNTER.” The voice of Control sounds out monotonously.

“‘Encounter’ does seem to imply there is more than one way to complete the training besides battle.” Coen remarks. “Though firing the first shot is always preferable.”

But unfortunately you have little chance to pursue a diplomatic path as an unwelcome presence presses down on your mind like a smothering blanket. The consequences of your earlier decision to connect your command implant have finally caught up with you.
>>6055875
>Rolled 13. Red, Unlit. Chance of future consequences increase 5%.
>Rolled 1. Lit. Guard alerted to activity, Four(4) red lights dim.

A terribly familiar voice rings out over your comm system and inside your head creating an awful echo. Guard has found you.

COMMIMP-03 DETECTED ACCESSING MATERIAL FLAGGED AS PROTECTORATE RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROPRIETARY ADJACENT.
USER BIOMETRICS NOT FOUND.
SCANNING USER.
DO NOT DISCONNECT.

“Shit!” You curse, “Just my luck that this old code Cooper dug up is being monitored. I don’t want to find out what happens when Guard works out that I’ve switched implants…”

“C-can’t we just unplug you from your pod?” Your brother squeaks nervously.

“You’d just as likely leave his mind scrambled or worse.” Cleo vetoes that suggestion immediately.

“Oh… Matrix rules.” Kiro nods somberly.

“What?” You shake away the confusion, “Nevermind, we don’t have much time. We need to finish whatever this Void Wyrm encounter is to the computer’s satisfaction or it's not going to let me disconnect.”

“I imagine failure or self-destruction would cause a restart?” Coen comments grimly.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t risk the easy way out.” Cleo eyes you sidelong. “Think you can sweet talk a Wyrm?”

File: Flight Sim Boss 1.webm (2.42 MB, 1020x1020)

2.42 MB WEBM

>>6063331

>>6062096
You look at the colossal creature posing in the harsh vacuum of the void and can’t help but notice the uncanny similarities to another strange entity you’ve met. The general shape of the head could conceivably fit in an Ulveng style visor, you suppose, and those frills and strange hands… Could it be?

Before you can finish the thought however, something dark and sinuous ripples out of the space between the stars. Long segmented tendrils twine their way down towards the Void Wyrm which ceases its flashing and posing to watch them approach warily. Just as it begins to drift away cautiously, the tendrils strike! Each of the appendages lashes out aiming for the creature's neck and limbs and they quickly dig in. The Void Wyrm struggles, flaring angry red patterns through its translucent membranes, trying to break free but just as quickly goes limp, dark.

You watch in stunned dismay as the metal tentacles tighten, drawing taut the poor Wyrms upper limbs which straighten in sickening similarity to a marionette. Its lower half slackens, legs and tail floating around languorously as if an afterthought. The draconic puppet’s ‘strings’ pull it higher before seeming to enliven the figure, a crimson glow flickering into existence. The long neck is pulled upright and the wyrm’s eyes open, a baleful red that is all too familiar.

It looks like you'll have to do this the hard way.

Before the battle begins in earnest you have time to issue one order. Hopefully your team is on the ball and will react just as quickly. You call on:
>Your Ops officer to deep scan the target for clues and potential weak points. [Synergy roll with Kiro, free [LOCK] and enemy stat analysis.]
>Your Nav officer to plot an optimal course of attack. [Synergy roll with Cleo, free [EVADE] for both fighters and allows you to choose their starting sectors next turn.]
>Your Tactical officer to fire the first shot! [Synergy roll with Coen, free [STRAFE] and [ORD: EMP] next turn.

Also, three 1d100 rolls are required to withstand the mental pressure Guard is putting on you through your command implant. Moderate Difficulty (Base chance 40) with bonus from MIND+ (+10) and Trait Part of the Crew, Part of the Ship(2) (+20). Each succes will delay GUARD’s attempt to ID your biometrics another round.
>Three 1d100 required, looking to roll under 70.

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>6063338
Damn, we didn't even get any use of our connected implant
>Your Ops officer to deep scan the target for clues and potential weak points. [Synergy roll with Kiro, free [LOCK] and enemy stat analysis.]
Stat analysis is the most important

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>6063338
>Your Nav officer to plot an optimal course of attack. [Synergy roll with Cleo, free [EVADE] for both fighters and allows you to choose their starting sectors next turn.]