Beneath Celestial Depths (An Arpeggio of Blue Steel Quest)

[X] Bind yourself to Blue Steel, Mary needs people to talk to not just you. She can have friends here and you would have a secure homebase among the Blue Steel members.
[X] Wave Force Armor Repair...

y'know what? Our pride is important and all, but with this sorry state we're in, having a guaranteed safe harbor to run to isn't nothing

[X] Strike a Deal and remain Professional. You're not cutting ties with Blue Steel all so easily but you're not letting them keep you at the same time. You'll keep them at arm's length so you're free to do business with them as you pleased.
[X] Weapon Suite Repair (Photon Cannon, CIWS, and missile Replenish)

[X] Bind yourself to Blue Steel, Mary needs people to talk to not just you. She can have friends here and you would have a secure homebase among the Blue Steel members.

Raise the small child right damnit!

[X] (Write-in) If I'm joining you, then can I get a full repair of my Weapons and Armour Systems? I'm the only Mental Model currently active, and if I have to protect you guys, then I need to be at my best.

Reasonable...

[X] Bind yourself to Blue Steel, Mary needs people to talk to not just you. She can have friends here and you would have a secure homebase among the Blue Steel members.

In Supreme Commander you can't do anything without factories and mass deposits, in StarCraft you cant do anything without barracks and minerals. Infrastructure is important, we can't do much in the long run without support and we have made enemies with an empire spanning half the planet. Joining does nothing to our ability to ultimately cut and run if need be, and sets us up for this frankly excellent write-in:

[X] (Write-in) If I'm joining you, then can I get a full repair of my Weapons and Armour Systems? I'm the only Mental Model currently active, and if I have to protect you guys, then I need to be at my best.

Shouldn't there be another middle ground? Blue steel are the only remotely sane group we're aware of, so unlike pre-Habbawhatever there isn't a big reason to play off multiple sides. But officially signing up is, well, signing up.

I'd prefer something closer to accepting a letter of marque, if we could get that. Make it sound like we'd take the offer if it wasn't against our nature, make it seem like we can probably be brought around fully in time, and make an offer to sign on in all but name.

Kaizuki said:

Shouldn't there be another middle ground? Blue steel are the only remotely sane group we're aware of, so unlike pre-Habbawhatever there isn't a big reason to play off multiple sides. But officially signing up is, well, signing up.

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Yeah, I would also prefer "Officially Allied" too...

"You are bunch of naive idealists, well, jaded naive idealists now... and I don't do such idealism. That said situation changed from mix of obsolete and asshole to just plain assholes everywhere so you kinda only sane choice as much as it pains me to say it."

[x] Strike a Deal and remain Professional. You're not cutting ties with Blue Steel all so easily but you're not letting them keep you at the same time. You'll keep them at arm's length so you're free to do business with them as you pleased.
[x] Wave Force Armor Repair...

We do not have all the information we need to make an informed decision.

Blue steel seems on the up an up, but being paranoid would be prudent.

Don't burn any bridges but remain an independent actor.

[X] Strike a Deal and remain Professional. You're not cutting ties with Blue Steel all so easily but you're not letting them keep you at the same time. You'll keep them at arm's length so you're free to do business with them as you pleased.
[X] Wave Force Armor Repair...

[X] Bind yourself to Blue Steel, Mary needs people to talk to not just you. She can have friends here and you would have a secure homebase among the Blue Steel members.

[X] (Write-in) If I'm joining you, then can I get a full repair of my Weapons and Armour Systems? I'm the only Mental Model currently active, and if I have to protect you guys, then I need to be at my best.

It does bear pointing out that the only faction we don't have solid intel on is the Scarlet Fleet. We know about the American Empire, whose stance on our kind could be summed up as "War of Genocide", and once the Fleet of Fog awakens, they're probably going to be following their old directives (which can probably be accurately summed up as "War of Genocide" against humanity and Design Children once they find out how advanced they've become, and we have little Mary to think of). Lesse...Australia's almost definitely rewritten a Union Core based on what we've heard and we have no reason to assume they wouldn't do the same to us just because we're awake. Asia and Europe are admittedly areas we lack information on, but the fact tbat Blue Steel didn't seek refuge with them implies they aren't going to hold Fog Ships in high regard. Ultimately, three of those five-FoF, UAE, Australia-we don't want to help beat back the others, and we can make an educated guess on the other two. The remaining forces whose goals are possibly compatible with our own are Blue Steel and the Scarlet Fleet......who we A:burned bridges with before all this, and B:are most probably going to return to being tyrants once they're back to full power. Self-Interest alone should decide that we'll most likely be helping Blue Steel return to power more than anyone else, even IF they've changed in the interim period. They're still the ones whose interests align best with ours.
That said...pledging ourselves to Blue Steel doesn't mean we can't still "help" everyone else. Y'know. Helpfully tell the Scarlet Fleet that the UAE's base at so and so is unguarded, then let the FoF know the Scarlet Fleet is moving out. They don't need to know our true alleigences...and if we make any dealings with them, best we do so fully armed and repaired.

al103 said:

Yeah, I would also prefer "Officially Allied" too...

"You are bunch of naive idealists, well, jaded naive idealists now... and I don't do such idealism. That said situation changed from mix of obsolete and asshole to just plain assholes everywhere so you kinda only sane choice as much as it pains me to say it."

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That be Accept But Tsundere About It!

veekie said:

That be Accept But Tsundere About It!

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To be honest, I'm all in favor of "Accept, But Be Tsundere About It!"

"Welcome aboard!" exclaims Gunzou, giving the most genuine smile you've seen on him since coming here.

"I'm not saying yes because I like your cause or anything. I just want Mary to have more people to talk to," you say with a baleful look and your nose in the air. His chuckles in response make you think he's not taking you at your word.

"You are a tawdry bunch of naive idealists. Well, jaded idealists now... and I don't do such idealism. That said, the situation changed from a mix of obsolete and asshole to just plain assholes everywhere, so you're likely the only sane choice as much as it pains me to say it." His pained expression brings you enough joy that you have trouble keeping your own disaffected and haughty. Hmph. Serves him right.

You know, something like that, followed by Gunzou saying she can just call herself a privateer they commissioned if it makes her feel better. (line stolen blatantly and paraphrased with joy from al103)

Another thing going for staying with Blue Steel is any crewmembers who we join with aren't going to treat us as just a tool. Also, a faction that's *not* going to try to kill everyone just seems like a good idea to me. We took out the nuke to prevent damaging our reputation with Blue Steel, and if we go our separate way, I think we're going to be throwing it away.

Row row row your boat gently down the stream.

Conning, scamming, and backstabbing, a Surcouf life's Baguettes.