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Dirt Nap (Coup) all the way. No second preference needed. My unit is ready to go, just need a pilot to drive the taxi to the front door. Looking forward to cutting our teeth. Trust me, we got this. Gridlocked fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 04:16
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Formally casting my vote for: Fish in the hand Is my first choice, I like the idea Crazycryodude had for if we try and pull any regime changes on Ajax, we have Meneaus put some skin in the game with us to pull it off, not only would it give us some actual credibility in making a legitimate alternative to the Achilles League, a bit more cynically it makes Meneaus just as culpable for any gently caress ups that happen so they'll be inclined to help make sure nothing goes pear shaped. Also if they help foot the drat bill that'd be nice, we still got 4 more asteroids to bribe! Failing that Dirt Nap (Retirement Package), ideally I'd vote for do nothing as my second one, but considering some kind of coup is in the cards for a 2nd choice I vote for the option that has less of a chance of metaphorically (or with the guns) literally blowing up in our face. I also think Boomboomf22's recommendation of observers from us and Menelaus is good. I'd go a step further, put out an invite to all players in our segment of L4 to send observers/peacekeepers. I know it'd be risky since Achilles would definitely try and pull some shenanigans, but if we can get a bunch of people from all over L4 to congregate on one spot, then that opens not only a channel of communication to all players we haven't met yet, but also gives us a possible method to get some limited intelligence assets attached to any group that comes. Nothing like soldiers on break with some cheap vat vodka to spill the beans on their local situation. Jimmy4400nav fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 05:12
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Boat Stuck posted:First preference: seconding this
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Jul 13, 2021 07:26
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Boat Stuck posted:First preference: This is me too.
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Jul 13, 2021 07:33
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3 2 Bigger fish to fry and all that. Personally worried that our bribery of Dukil will get our right in time for the election.
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Jul 13, 2021 07:51
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Boat Stuck posted:First preference: Given available options: this. BwenGun fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 08:18
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1) Fish in the Hand 2) Dirt Nap (Retirement Package)
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Jul 13, 2021 08:48
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All I can say is y'all cowards and the assault team will be on strike next Tuesday.
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Jul 13, 2021 09:20
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Gridlocked posted:All I can say is y'all cowards and the assault team will be on strike next Tuesday. How about if we promise to let your boys and girls do a full strike against the inevitable pirate base we next encounter rather than just putting a few railgun rounds through it?
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Jul 13, 2021 09:27
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1) Dirt nap (coup) 2) Dirt nap (retirement)
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Jul 13, 2021 12:13
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While coups are fun, I don't think it much work this soon. Though the thought of having one of our guys heading ajax instead of some fickle tinpot souds good. Our guys would have much more interest in the populations wellbeing anyways. So dirt nap option 2 would be the cleanest way of handling things. We can slowly poison him with our vokda straight from the distillery. If not dirt nap option 1 would do as well
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Jul 13, 2021 14:32
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I guess my priorities would be 3. Fish in the Hand followed by 4. gently caress off and leave if that doesn't win
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Jul 13, 2021 14:42
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In priority: 4. Do nothing and leave (except the free Inspire I guess?) 3. Fish in the hand The colony has a modest military and some TNE deposits that aren't economically crucial right now. The opposition guy wants to work closer out of fear of Achilles, unless they secretly love the guy even if they win they're going to look for their own defense first and when we depose the Achillean league they'll be happy to work with us. Maybe they end up being strongarmed into using their ships against us which would suck but I don't think this colony is a priority despite space democracy being cool. Edit: Another way to maybe sway the election a ways down the road is to manage to embarass Achilles militarily again in a way they can't deny, maybe an incentive to be a bit more overt than we normally would be. Rawkking fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Jul 13, 2021 |
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Jul 13, 2021 16:43
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1) Dirt Nap (Retirement) 2) Dirt Nap (Coup) The play seems pretty straightforward to me. Ajax is hosed, Hektor has the resources to help them. Directly annexing Ajax is a win-win for both sides, as it provides Ajax the resources they need to begin rebuilding their shattered systems and society, while providing Hektor a source of future mineral resources and a larger population. If Dukil is willing to go for it, we can even play it as a mutually agreed-upon joining of powers, with Dukil leaving the administration of Ajax in the hands of a Hektor-approved successor, and then loving off into a magnanimous retirement. Everybody comes out on top.
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Jul 13, 2021 18:35
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2, 3
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Jul 13, 2021 19:24
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Acebuckeye13 posted:1) Dirt Nap (Retirement) But then we don't have enough resources left for anyone else. And we get a bad reputation as a wanna-be Team
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Jul 13, 2021 19:52
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Boat Stuck posted:And we get a bad reputation as a wanna-be Team This seems like a nonsensical worry to me. First off, communications are bad enough that everything that happens in this sector of space is filtered through rumors and hearsay, and what little reputation Ajax has is as a pissball that nobody likes or cares about. Second, how is Hector and Ajax coming to a mutual agreement for Ajax to be annexed in any way comparable to "Team America?" Especially in contrast to Achillies and their history of violent conquest.
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Jul 13, 2021 20:18
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Fish in hand gently caress off I'm all for aggressive and cynical moves, but getting into a CIA-style quagmire of our own making doesn't seem like it'll further any of our goals.
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Jul 13, 2021 23:06
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 Alright, Fish in the Hand runs away with it. Dukil gets to marinate for the time being, and instead you've given the Steward assurances of a progressive labor regulation clause in the eventual treaty. The Menelaean government plans to play up the abolitionist aspect when the time comes to announce a referendum, and they'll watch your progress with the other independents for an opportune moment. If you can get one of the bigger players - Teucer or Agamemnon - on board, the Steward will take that as an encouraging sign. You have also arranged to supply materiel, secretly for now, for Menelaus to augment its defensive strength. That development will take some time. Let me know where you want to go next. Resistance Intel The resistance on Makhaon has passed a message to your Menelaean contacts about the League's activities. A source inside that rock's comms laser facility reports that the League has recently transmitted a priority communique to Agamemnon. The source does not know the contents of the message, but their crew has been ordered to await a reply and route it securely to the foreign affairs office if and when one arrives.
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Jul 14, 2021 00:23
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Iiiiiinteresting. Well, Agamemnon has just shot up in priority: 1) We already have tentative plans on how to court them 2) Getting them in the coalition will help with Menelaus without the headache of a coup on Ajax 3) The League being in communication with them makes me worried that they're planning to get them in an alliance to attack us from Spinward, meaning a fight on TWO fronts, which we do not want. Achilles' diplomatic overtures must be met with our own.
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Jul 14, 2021 00:38
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Asterite34 posted:Iiiiiinteresting. Well, Agamemnon has just shot up in priority: I second this. Esp since apparently the 2 problem children aren't considered major enough to sway Menelaus into our sphere.
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Jul 14, 2021 00:54
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Yeah it's definitely time to go to Agamemnon. It would have been nice to get to them earlier but at minimum we can't let the Achilleans have a crack unopposed and can't let them stew any longer.
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Jul 14, 2021 01:06
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Yep, Agamemnon time.
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Jul 14, 2021 01:44
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idhrendur posted:Yep, Agamemnon time. 
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Jul 14, 2021 02:11
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Aye on Agamamm-eoning it on!
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Jul 14, 2021 04:24
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To go south we'll have to go north, lets be off to Agamemnon
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Jul 14, 2021 04:37
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As with everyone else I vote: Agamemnon. Also, because I had a spare hour or two at work today and inspiration struck: The Florence Dianna Struyp liked to think of herself as one of Hektor’s last proper investigative journalists. Which usually meant poking her nose into places it didn’t belong and pissing people on the Council and higher up in the Guilds off. It often meant working shifts at the docks as well, because big as Hektor was it still didn’t really have enough political conspiracy and corruption to make her sort of raison d’etre entirely profitable. Plus she had punched the editor of the main newsite in the face last Christmas. Either way sometimes part of her job involved responding to messages from people who said they had a story. This time the message had been from an old spacer called Finn Mcilroy, who from what she could tell had arrived on Hektor a year ago on a trader from the belt, and had since kept himself to himself, propping up a bar and not much else. Coincidentally he’d asked to meet her at a bar. When she’d arrived he’d been wearing an old, but clean shipsuit, with a ships patch she didn’t recognise. He looked in his early sixties, with grey hair and eyes that sparkled mischievously when he smiled. When he spoke it was with a very soft accent that, to her born and bred Hektorite ears sounded soft and almost lyrical at times. When she asked he said it was Scottish. After ordering a drink she jumped in and asked, “So you said you had a story for me? Something big?” He chuckled grimly, and she felt a foreboding settle on her chest, “Yes, that would be one way to put it. See when the balloon went up it was fast, one second everything’s fine and normal, ships are taking supplies and colonists out to the ‘roids and moons, infrastructure is getting piled up ready to push out past the Jovians, huge freighters are hauling back minerals to Luna and Earth to build more ships, infrastructure, frickin’ Trans-newtonian microwaves for Christ sake. Some piece of poo poo Earth corpo was actually doing a big marketing campaign for a revolutionary microwave using the new miracle metals. I mean, can you believe it? When you had half the world dying of heatstroke and the other one bad storm warning away from losing everything they owned they’re still trying to sell overpriced, under-engineered crap that’s designed to break within five years,” he sat for a second looking into his glass of Hektorite “rum”, or more accurately beetroot vodka with a dash of sweetener. Before Dianna could prod him along, slightly worried this was just going to be another ten minutes wasted listening to an old timer talk about before the world went to hell, he continued. “Anyway, one second it’s the new normal. People were scared, but excited, there was a feeling that poo poo as things were the world might make it out of the crisis and things might even improve. Then missiles are flying and the orbits of the bigger colonies are lit up with laser fire. “Flew with an EVA specialist who claims to have been working a shift at the big cargo transfer port on Vesta when it went down. Said one minute it was the usual hustle and bustle of freighters loading and unloading, people swearing and joking over the general stevedore’s channel. Next minute a PRC Cruiser that was in for fuel and supplies turns its main laser battery around and puts a couple of giga-joules of light through the port’s control room whilst it’s PDCs and railguns just open up on everything around her. He spent the next two days scavenging O2 canisters from the corpses of former colleagues and broken hulls, before finally the Vestan’s got round to rigging a workable airlock and started SAR for the poor bastards who were in the docks when it went down. “One second, normality. Next…” he clicked his fingers, “End of the world poo poo.” He opened up a small personal tablet, old tech; like most things she reflected, and tapped a couple of times to bring a small holo field that guttered every five seconds like a candle. It showed a three-dimensional image of a ship. A boxlike top with a long sensor spike sticking out of its centre, then a long spine covered in huge quarter-octagonal hull sections before flaring to a series of bulbous fuel tanks and then behind them the huge flared nostrils of its engines. The hologram wasn’t the clearest, but even she couldn’t fail to spot the hole in the ships structure or the darker sections where lasers had punched dents in her hide. “That was the ISS Florence Nightingale. Towards the end, things on earth were bad, great powers were jockeying for position and the little people were getting ground into the dirt. So a bunch of do-gooders, billionaire’s with shreds of consciences, bleeding heart politicians, movie stars, those sorts, they got together and bought a pair of brand new freighters. Outfitted them to carry cargo and passengers in Cryo and gave them enough fuel to make it to Jupiter. The Florence was the first completed and loaded up. See, Earth’s atmosphere was poo poo by that point, hundreds of years of pollution, constant forest fires, and about a half dozen get rich quick schemes to counteract climate change meant that there was no such thing as fresh air anymore. People wore masks, rich people turned their houses into little sealed environments, but for a lot of people the only option was just to breathe it in and hope. End result was a lot of kids growing up barely able to breath. Asthma and allergies so bad they couldn’t leave isolation pods. “So the do-gooders hit on an idea. Get the kids off of Earth, where they live in sealed units, and out into the new colonies where they can live more freely because everything is climate controlled anyway.” Dianna raised her eyebrow and he laughed and went on, “Yeah, bunch of rich idiots thought frontier colonies would always have clean running environmental systems. But the key word was rich. So they did it. They picked a bunch of photogenic orphans with breathing problems, mostly teens and young adults so they could “contribute” when they got to the colony out in the Jovian system that had decided to take them in. poo poo for all I know they were selling the little shits as indentured servants at the other end. Either way it got a lot of media attention, even had a film crew aboard to document the whole thing.” He drained his glass and gestured to the barman for a refill before carrying on. “So the Florence is en-route when the balloon goes up. Holds packed full of supplies and frozen kids. But when she gets where she’s going something makes her turn right back around. Jupiter is a weird place now, but whatever went down there during the collapse was obviously much worse.” The barman filled his glass and he shrugged, “But the Florence had fuel to spare, and her captain must have hoped they’d get to the asteroid belt and find some measure of calm and safety in the chaos. Poor fucks.” “I was exec on the Unlucky, tramp freighter turned salvage barge, when we found ‘em years later as their momentum slowly carried them close enough to the belt for us to get lucky enough to spot them. Even back then, when pre-war stuff was more common, she was the find of a lifetime for a scrapper crew so we bee-lined straight for her. “Back then things were even more cutthroat, so we went slow as we could. Sneaking up to where she was over the course of a couple of weeks to guarantee nobody would catch us moving and start looking in the general direction we were heading.” He didn’t take another drink, just slowly swished the liquid inside slowly around the glass as he looked into it. “We could tell she’d been hit. Couple of holes in non-vital areas had all the hallmarks of someone saying ‘Do what we loving say or die’. But we didn’t find out why till we managed to rig a portable generator so we could look at the computers. “About halfway from Jupiter to the belt she got intercepted by a pair of Frigates. They didn’t ID themselves, but the sensor logs make it pretty clear they were a pair of NATO boats. Though by that point they might have already been pirates in all but name. They sent a text message to the Florence, ‘Cut your engines, give us your fuel, or die.’ Captain Zhao of the Florence tried to explain that he had a bunch of kids aboard, so one of the frigates fired a pair of railgun rounds through part of the crew compartment. “So the Captain did what he was told. Cut his engines. The Frigates came alongside, rigged lines and drained her dry. All the time the Captain is sending video, voice, text messages to them begging them to leave him just enough to get the kids somewhere safe. They didn’t respond once. Hell for all I know they blocked his coms directly so their crews didn’t know what they were doing. Perhaps they listened to every one of them and seeing their world burn made them not give a poo poo,” he sighed and closed his eyes for a second before speaking, “As they left they fired on the Florence again, only this time it’s with their PDCs, and small lasers. They worked around the Florence and destroyed every single communication device on her hull, down to the radio transmitters by the airlocks for people doing EVA. “So trapped, motionless, between the outermost point of human expansion and the belt. Virtually impossible to see unless someone happened to be right on top of them. The ISS Florence was completely done for. But the Captain and crew, they don’t give up. Their sorium engines were useless, but they had dozens of altitude thrusters; for stationkeeping when they’re not using sorium to give Newton and Einstein headaches. So they got to work, stripped almost every thruster from the hull and jerry rigged them to the rear of the ship. Scrounged up every spare drop of reaction mass they could and within a month they’re moving again. Slowly, so incredibly slowly compared to what they were. But it's movement. And every second of thrust got them closer to the belt, closer to where someone will hear them, see them, help them. “We saw the calculations they made. If everything went well it was going to take them six years to get to the belt. Using a slow steady thrust to build speed and then just coasting the rest of the way. And after the first two years it seemed to be working. Bunch of the crew went into cryo to save resources. But they still managed to run the ship on the few awake. Then their reactor went critical. We never found out why, poor maintenance, shoddy manufacturing on Luna, sheer bad luck. One minute their main reactor is powering everything fine. Next minute they’re on battery power and the core’s about to meltdown and make everything real toasty and glowing. “So they jettison it, literally cut out the hull plates and push the compartment into space over a two day period while it’s pumping out enough radiation to kill anyone who steps into that same compartment in minutes.” As he speaks she can hear the respect, approaching awe in his voice, “The rich fucks who put together the idea may have been arseholes for doing it, but they really picked a top flight crew to run their media stunt. “But then they had no power except what was in the batteries. But the batteries are designed to last just long enough to keep everyone alive till someone hears your SOS. Problem is the Florence can’t send an SOS and even if she could who the gently caress would answer out in the middle of the Apocalypse. And they can’t last six years. “So the Captain and his crew turn off everything. If it wasn’t essential it got turned off. They literally went through systems and unscrewed the blinking diodes on control panels. They walked around in EVA suits because they’d turned the heaters down to just above the point that frost from the condensation would start messing with systems. They ran the numbers. “The crew had a choice. They had enough juice in the batteries to keep the crew quarters and the cryo-pods in their medical bay going until they reached the edge of the belt. At which point they’d jury rigged a short range SOS signal by scratch-building a drone that used the few dregs of sorium fuel they had left to move at high speeds in point five and one second dots and dashes. Genuinely ingenious stuff. But they’d have to cut power to the cargo bays, and to the cryo-bays which contained the kids to get them close enough for the thing to work. “Imagine you’re out there, black of space, world ending around you, and your hope of salvation just crumbles to dust in front of you. And the only way to survive is to murder a bunch of kids. How many people you think would make that choice? How many people you think did?” he asked, though she could tell he wasn’t looking for an answer. “The Florence’s crew didn’t. Dunno what they had in their water supply but they voted to try and save the kids and they drew straws. Literal paper loving drinking straws, I saw the video from their mess when they did it. Captain was the unlucky one. “Rest of the crew got into their bunks in the hab section, Captain put on his EVA turned off environmental systems and opened up a canister of nitrogen. Didn’t take much to make the air deadly. Every breath containing more nitrogen and less oxygen until their brains starved. Crew just went to sleep and never woke up. “The Captain turned off everything else, leaving himself barely enough power to survive and to power up the drone when he got close enough. Problem was their maths was off.The shot the frigate had put through the crew quarters had hosed one of the main junctions and left a section intermittently drawing power. Not enough for them to notice when running the numbers at first glance unfortunately, because if they had they would have noticed it and fixed it. Captain tried, to do just that. But he failed. “Worst part was the random nature of the drain, one second it was drawing a few watts, next minute it’s a few hundred, next minute nothing. So the Captain did the only thing he could try, he started cutting things from the power.” “I thought you said they’d already cut everything they could?” she asked with a deep sense of foreboding writhing in the pit of her stomach. “Not everything,” he responded before he finally stopped staring at his drink and down the glass in one smooth motion. “He started with the oldest ones first. Pulling them off the battery power first in one’s and two’s, then a dozen at a time. Desperately checking if the new battery length calculation would stretch to the point it needed to. And every time he thought he’d gotten it, thought the power draw was stable, thought that finally the rest would make it, a few days would pass and the universe would roll a dice and that broken section would decide it needed a few thousand more kilowatts to heat empty rooms or randomly turn on computers.” She crossed herself instinctively as he talked, “Jesus.” “Yeah. Little known fact about the Cryo-tubes back then, if the power goes off when you’re on ice it kills you. Chemicals used to preserve flesh and brain tissue from the cold don’t react well when things warm up so they need to be flushed out as the pod brings up the temp slowly. Few of the early models ran into issues where power to the tube stopped mid-flight and when they finally decanted the poor S.O.B. they were already dead. Which led to some cryo-tube manufacturers offering safety features. One of which was a little battery in each tube’s assembly housing. Just enough juice to revive the person and keep their tube oxygenated and transmitting a signal to the ships computer. Long enough for a crew member to come get them and fix the problem.” “Oh god,” she said raising her hand to her mouth as the writing knot in her stomach clenched in horrific realisation. “First person into the Cryo-bays when we boarded threw up in her EVA suit. Former US Marine who saw some of the nastier poo poo down in Latin America before she got out. She refused to go back in, refused to even say what had her so freaked out. So being the exec I volunteered, show them there was nothing to be scared of, get poo poo moving.” He paused, rolling the empty glass back and forth across the fake wood of the bar. After a second she saw the wetness at the corner of his eyes. “Windows in the tubes were too hard for the fingernails to leave proper marks. But I guess some of them tried so hard the nails broke, and bled, and left dark tracks on the glass.” He didn’t talk again for a few minutes, and she didn’t either. The barman silently filled their glasses and walked away again, but neither touched them. Eventually he rubbed his shipsuit sleeve across his eyes and continued, “The Captain, Zhao, kept trying. Right up until he only had a few hundred left out of the thousands that had started the journey. The computer was telling him it still wasn’t enough, but just barely, and by that point he thought he had a handle on the random power draws. Or at least he thought he had. By that point he was barely holding together himself, if the few logs he left were anything to go by. So he tried to save the last bit of power he could. He wrote a program to allow the distress drone to be turned on remotely by the computer in one of the airlocks; so the computer could turn it off and then open the airlock to throw it out into space before it started moving about. Then he went to his quarters, turned the life support off, put the computer to sleep until it reached the belt, and blew his brains out.” “Did it work?” she asked, a hint of breathless hope in her voice. He sighed, “No. Batteries ran out at least six months before we found her, not even enough for the computer to boot and kick out the SOS drone.” They were both silent for a while after that, the cold silent horror of the Florence’s fate making any further words seem impossible, until finally, painfully Dianna’s need to know made her ask, “What happened to the ship?” Finn looked at her for a moment, and she saw the void where the spark had been in his pupils. His face seemed hollower now, the wrinkled skin more papery and pale than when the conversation had started. When he spoke it was with a deep tiredness that seemed to drag her down with it, “We took a vote, whole crew of the Unlucky. She was our biggest score yet, big enough to buy some space and safety, even. A few of the crew objected, but the majority voted to send her on her way. Those who loudly objected, well…” he cracked his knuckles suddenly making her jump in her seat and causing a crease of a smile across his face. “We rigged a portable reactor to her manoeuvring thrusters. Topped up their reaction mass and pointed her out-system on a course that wouldn’t come near any ‘roid, moon or well travelled path. Been long enough now that she’s well past Saturn’s orbit.” “But why tell me now?” she asked slowly. “I know people say spacers are as superstitious as sailors. And some of the crew of the Unlucky did say the Florence was cursed. But I don’t think she was. She was there when the world ended, she got caught up in the horror and madness that killed billions. Despite all that she and her crew did their best to save a bunch of kids. They made awful choices, with no good outcomes, they fought, sacrificed, and failed. But they tried. That ship is a tomb, and a testament to how loving awful human beings are, and to how brilliant, stubborn and hopeful we can be. “It’s been long enough now that nobody is going to find and strip her for parts,” as he spoke he tapped at the tablet on the bar a few more times and the hologram disappeared and Dianna felt her own personal computer in her jacket, the one she had set to record the conversation, buzz. “That’s all the data we took from the Florence, logs, closed circuit, as well as some pictures we took and helmet feeds from when we entered her. We even managed to enhance one of the images her hull cams took of the Frigates who killed her. FS Brumaire, and USS Hope. Bastards are probably dead by now, but even if they are I still thought it was time people knew. The Florence and her crew deserve that, at least.” With that he downed his drink again, slid a few drink tokens across the bar and stood up to leave. “Wait,” she said grabbing him by the arm. He smiled, “I aint going too far. Got rooms near the docks and I’m going to go drink myself into a stupor for a week. Write something worth reading about it all, then come by and let me have a look. Or just put it on your feedsite. Either way works for me.” And with that he turned away and walked out of the bar, leaving Dianna feeling like she’d been punched in the chest. She took out her tablet and looked at what he’d sent her. It was a huge folder, with files still downloading. But the top folder was already there. She opened it, the first file was a grainy image of two deadly looking small warships, with a highlighted and zoomed section on each showing the names and hull numbers. The second was a list of names in a spreadsheet. Fifty-seven crew. Six thousand, two hundred, and forty passengers. BwenGun fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Jul 14, 2021 16:34
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Wow! I am very impressed Bwen. Legit that makes me want to go out and make sure any of those 2 ships crews that live pay for their crimes
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Jul 14, 2021 18:55
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BwenGun posted:As with everyone else I vote: Agamemnon.  Well... at least their parents didn't miss them? heh 
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Jul 14, 2021 19:21
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Boomboomf22 posted:Wow! I am very impressed Bwen. Legit that makes me want to go out and make sure any of those 2 ships crews that live pay for their crimes that's a hella tight story, nice work. reminds me of something from michael herr's despatches, about the vietnam war: quote:But he always seemed to be watching for it, I think he slept with his eyes open, and I was afraid of him anyway. All I ever managed was one quick look in, and that was like looking at the floor of an ocean. He wore a gold earring and a headband torn from a piece of camouflage parachute material, and since nobody was about to tell him to get his hair cut it fell below his shoulders, covering a thick purple scar. Even at division he never went anywhere without at least a .45 and a knife, and he thought I was a freak because I wouldn't carry a weapon.
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Jul 14, 2021 23:50
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Wow that is.. Amazing writing.
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Jul 15, 2021 03:43
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 22 March 2153 Great way to make a first impression, Captain Snark wryly thought as his drunk, bruised sailors were dragged back to the docking tube by Agamemnese constables. Not even twenty-four hours in port, and some of his crew had already snuck off to create a headache for him. Snark’s counterpart on the LNS Delphi would surely be lodging a complaint at that very moment to blame the brawl entirely on the wayward Hektorites. That could be the truth for all Snark knew, but the counter-accusations would have to fly regardless. Agamemnon’s council had not seen fit to warn Snark or the diplomats that Achilleans would be infesting the dockyards, so those scarlet uniforms had been a shock upon going ashore. Delphi’s docking tube, mercifully at the opposite end of the yard, was unmistakable for the Russian marine armor of its sentries. Snark admitted to himself that those sleek, deadly artifacts, with faceplates painted to resemble corinthian helms, made him shudder. It was a visage that had brought death to worlds and might do so again. He was relieved that the duty of diplomatic courtesies to the League ambassador would fall on the diplomatic team. Snark would happily limit his own relationship with the Achilleans to imagining ways to kill them. --- After three months of yard time, you have finished converting the Diluvian colony ship into a respectable freighter. quote:Apostate class Freighter 7,479 tons 36 Crew 155 BP TCS 150 TH 50 EM 0 In addition, the former League Navy ship Miltiades is recommissioned as the Paralos and enters the Hektorite fleet. quote:Paralos class Sloop 2,644 tons 79 Crew 251.1 BP TCS 53 TH 53 EM 0 To recap, you have two uses remaining of your Bribe fund. You can also grant medical aid to two colonies, and establish trade with two colonies. --- Situation Report - Agamemnon 22 March, 2154 After a period of investigation and acclimation, I have completed my assessment of local conditions on the colony of Agamemnon. Please see the enclosed report of my key findings. General Population Agamemnon is a larger colony with over two million inhabitants. Standard of living is close to par with Hektor. Much of the population immigrated during the Silence as other, less capable colonies in the neighborhood failed or were forced to consolidate for protection. The anti-spinward region has faced periodic raids from pirates or slavers operating out of the belt, leaving Agamemnon as the sole survivor. The population has forged a bond through these trials and is determined to maintain the defense of their home. Politics and Government Much like Hektor, Agamemnon is governed by a council of leaders meeting in private to direct the business of the colony. Some members of the body appear to hold greater sway than others, so much of our time has been dedicated to singling out the more authoritative individuals for persuasion. Governance is chiefly focused on maintaining an industrial basis for the colony defenses, and remaining ever on guard for intruders. Economic Capacities As the sole surviving colony of the anti-spinward end of the cluster, Agamemnon has benefited from salvaging their former neighbors. This, combined with ongoing TNE mining on Agamemnon itself, has produced one of the more significant industrial capacities in the cluster. The colony was originally intended to be a local hub, and so possesses adequate shipping and production facilities. Increased trade would allow a beneficial integration of our and Agamemnon’s resource bases. Military Capacities The Agamemnese fleet is much more substantial than those of our two previous hosts. The flotilla includes two frigates of comparable size to our own Paralos, one of which was captured a decade ago from raiders. Other combatants include armed merchants used for trade runs and a corvette-class ship. A small squadron of Su-108 fighters was abandoned here by the Russian Navy during the war, but have fallen into disrepair. Thanks to our own experience operating the Su-108, we could perhaps provide technical assistance to bring the Agamemnese squadron back into service (Bribe). Attitude Towards Achillean League As we distressingly learned upon arrival, the Agamemnese council has received a visit by a League ambassador. We are not privy to the specific aims of the League’s mission here, but we fear that the council views them as a positive force in the cluster. In talks with our team, more than one councillor expressed approval for the League Navy’s abilities in combating piracy. It is imperative that Hektor provide a compelling alternative solution for Agamemnon’s security interests. Attitude Towards Alliance with Hektor The council was eager to discuss collective defense arrangements. While they do not appear hostile towards the League, they do see value in a new bloc for the sake of establishing a stable balance of power in the cluster. We were questioned as to whether the new alliance would be willing to seek détente with the League, so that all parties can focus their efforts on regional security (Inspire?). A group of councilors have approached us separately with news that the colony is currently debating a demand for tribute from a belt-based pirate group, the Red Hands. At present, the council leans towards the view that it is easiest to pay off this group until they have spun away. Privately, these councillors suggested a joint strike into the near belt to locate and destroy the Red Hands base, and implied this would be a powerful demonstration of Hektor’s eagerness to protect the cluster (MAJOR Inspire?). Proactively eliminating the threat would grant Agamemnese forces latitude to leave home when called upon by the alliance. ---- A diplomatic presence has been established to facilitate continued communications, and I await further assignment. Jeffrey “Boomboom” Boomhauer Lead Diplomat, Plenipotentiary, Chargé d'affaires, and Representative on Mission Fray fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Jul 18, 2021 |
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Jul 15, 2021 04:37
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If they want us to take out this pirate base, they need to have skin in the game as well. I vote to Bribe and MAJOR Inspire, to get those Su-108 fighters up and running and we do a joint strike against the Red Hand base.
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Jul 15, 2021 05:15
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I'd love to get those fighters up and running myself, but we're starting to run low on funds and we have enough to go on here to not need to commit that kind of funding. I'm voting that we set up trade since there seems to be no drawback to it, and naturally we're going pirate hunting. We've got the ships, let's put them to proper work. Might write up something for that brawl that won't be as good as the previous writing entry, but would still be A Thing.
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Jul 15, 2021 05:38
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I’m in favor of establishing trade and the joint strike operation. We’re interested in a long term relationship with agamemnon and we’ll show them how much weight we have to throw around in the interests of maintaining good relations with our allies. If we pick up any sort of salvage or loot from the red hands I’m okay with it going to rebuilding their su108 squadrons for further goodwill.
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Jul 15, 2021 05:44
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Trade and Major Inspire/Joint Strike We can save the Su-108 Bribe for later, e.g. to convince Agamemnon to join us in a confrontation against the League. Alternatively, can we convince Agamemnon to sell us the Su-108s? They have no use for them as-is. Maybe if we collectively win against the pirates, Hektor can take less pirate salvage in exchange for the broken fighters?
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Jul 15, 2021 05:52
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Boat Stuck posted:Trade and Major Inspire/Joint Strike Oooh, I like this.
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Jul 15, 2021 05:58
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In favor of Trade and Joint Strike Also so long as we can get them on our side would agree with saving the 'bribe'. Though admittedly having a head start on the upgraded military of an ally is going to be very nice mind. Particularly more fighters. But that also lets us save it for later and so long as we can get folks on our side and within reason go back later on to things if we need to it's good. Also if we do go pirate hunting what should we send? Is the militades 'watered down' enough that it wouldn't be recognizable to the Akileans or not? And would we want to keep Ashes close ot home and send Alexi, or the other way around? Feel like it's best to keep at least one capital ship at Hektor in general. Edit: Agree with Boat Stuck
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Jul 15, 2021 06:01
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Boat Stuck posted:Trade and Major Inspire/Joint Strike this is a reasonably compelling option
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Jul 15, 2021 06:11
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Presuming we go this route, this leaves us with two bribe options, two medic, and one trade. THis leaves us wiht the 'we hate one another' worlds and Teucer left methinks. (As far as our initial approach goes, other worlds may also get followups)
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Jul 15, 2021 06:18
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