Petals of Titanium -- My Life as a Mecha Setting Bridge Bunny Quest

[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth

I'll pick the option that can potentially give the civilians, shady shit or not, a leg up on survival any day. Potentially risky, yes. But I've got a "small time smugglers." vibe from these guys.

The only risk is potentially undermining our superior, which is negligible considering we're speaking in a different language and giving veiled hints at the truth.

Even if they start treating the situation differently it will likely be stuff that can be attributed from us limping in badly damaged and invoking rules that imply we just got back from a fight. So they know we just got our asses handed to us by someone. They don't know who, or what.

Their paranoia could make this difficult if they don't trust us, and letting slip some information that's pretty self evident won't likely hurt us, and might save a couple lives.

[X] Write-in
-[X] Play along with the flirting, imply that since we'll be here for at least a few days we might see our way towards giving him some info if he gives us some in return. Use that to buy enough time to ask the Captain whether she wants us to quietly leak anything via this backchannel. If she does, exchange information. If she doesn't, make it clear next time we see him that we were spotted chatting and our superiors read us the riot act about infosec. If he just wants to keep it casual, though, we'd still enjoy some company while in port.

Honestly here, the proposed write-in is the best option we have here, as I feel like it does not have as many disadvantages as the other options.

Spicy Serious said:

They don't know who, or what.

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There are few possible enemies for any colony aligned with the Imperial in Exile:
- Celestial Zealots/Holy Empire
- Pirates
- Aliens

I'm pretty sure pirate raids in this universe doesn't involve destroying a military outpost or habitat. With those refugees on the ship, I think they can draw their own conclusion.

First time posting in this quest but I feel I should say something, your ship has heavy ordnance battle damage, you're carrying refugees, invoked wartime legislation, and standing in front of a commanding officer. Beyond pointing out the aforementioned points and perhaps quirking her eyebrow sardonicly enough to get the "are you stupid?" across, she really shouldn't say a thing.

Icecoldfunk said:

First time posting in this quest but I feel I should say something, your ship has heavy ordnance battle damage, you're carrying refugees, invoked wartime legislation, and standing in front of a commanding officer. Beyond pointing out the aforementioned points and perhaps quirking her eyebrow sardonicly enough to get the "are you stupid?" across, she really shouldn't say a thing.

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[] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

Gazetteer said:

[] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

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I'd vote for this not going to lie. Dude is scummy as hell, he could using a good dunking.

[X] Clam up, follow Grayson's lead even if the Saturnians don't like it

Eh. I'm not super enthused with becoming a loose cannon who defies orders.

Gazetteer said:

[] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

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If that's essentially the level of information we'd be giving with veiled hints, then I don't mind leading him on. Changing vote


[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth

[x] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[x] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

forgive me, i have no willpower at all

[X] Clam up, follow Grayson's lead even if the Saturnians don't like it


The captain told not to play so fast and loose with orders, and op-sec should be taken really seriously.

EDIT: Nuclear makes a good point.

[X] Clam up, follow Grayson's lead even if the Saturnians don't like it

SoaringHawk218 said:

The captain told not to play so fast and loose with orders, and op-sec should be taken really seriously.

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I can understand your reasoning, but why is it necessary to say that we're on Grayson's shit list? That's something that should stay between us, or at least between shipmates. Not to mention that the wording is a bit off. Saying we can't go against Grayson "right now" implies there will be a time when we can, which is not something we should inform these guys.

SoaringHawk218 said:

[X] Clam up, follow Grayson's lead even if the Saturnians don't like it
-[X] Explain we're already on Grayson's s#!t list, and that we can't go against him right now.

The captain told not to play so fast and loose with orders, and op-sec should be taken really seriously.

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As I've explained this before, we're on Mazlo's shit list. But Grayson actually thinks well of us right now.

Stormwhite said:

Eh. I'm not super enthused with becoming a loose cannon who defies orders.

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Apologies, but I want to jump on this, and expand on why going for the archetype you've described is a truly bad idea.

Being a loose cannon who defies orders has immense consequences. Militaries universally emphasize the ability of soldiers being able to follow orders during training for the very good reason that if soldiers can't follow orders then officers can't trust their men, leading to a breakdown in the chain of command. We're occupating a position of respect in his eyes right now because we're the ones who let him sound the alarm, which is good because he'll be able to trust our judgement when push comes to shove in a combat situation and every decision he has to make will be critical. We could get away with defying Mazlo's orders because we had it on good authority that something weird was up and investigating didn't potentially threaten our mission, something that doesn't apply here. This is especially important as we're going to be the ones relaying information to him and the captain, and if they cannot trust us then will be serious problems down the line.

This applies to situation where our language skills are relevant as well. If Grayson finds out we've been violating OPSEC then he's going to be completely justified in refusing to let us have critical information because we've clearly proven that we cannot be trusted with it, which will be a shame considering the versatility of our language skills. But it isn't his fault that things got to this point, but ours. As it will be clearly our unreliability that has led command to conclude they cannot trust us.

[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[X] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

It's not my preferred option, realistically, since giving up anything compromising opsec is just dumb.

But it doesn't look like it's gonna win, and I want to vote to dunk on him.

Anime_Fan35 said:

Why are we on Mazlo's Shitlist?

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He isn't very happy about us making him look bad in front of Grayson.

Still in fairness, it's entirely possible that "shitlist" is a gross exaggeration. He probably doesn't like us but that doesn't necessarily compromise his ability to work with us.

[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[X] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

[X] Clam up, follow Grayson's lead even if the Saturnians don't like it

[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth

Lets not be the most boring bridge bunny.

[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth
-[X] Write-in: Also dunk on him a little bit though

Okay, first, I forgot I haven't voted.

[X] Offer veiled hints without openly admitting the truth

Two, let's all agree to get an eye on Faiza, she ooze's main character.

Grayson is generally pretty affable - remember how in Update 002, he's fine with teasing Anja, a subordinate, as well as her giving him some lip back in return (which didn't amuse Perbeck, because of course it didn't) - but it was also mentioned that this is his first posting, so the XO of our ship is probably not yet accustomed to crap hitting the proverbial fan yet. May contribute to his stress. Also...

Gazetteer said:

"I know, I gave him permission," she says. "I don't recognise this interface -- what exactly are you doing?" She's not reprimanding you, and seems to be making an effort to sound merely curious, but her eyes are narrowed with a sort of possessive intensity that reminds you very pointedly of just whose prize mecha it is you're modifying the internal settings of.

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Perbeck is like one half of a secret couple in a yuri manga when some other character obliviously gets a little bit too flirty with the girl she's secretly going out with. Except, you know, the other half in this case being a mecha. We all have preferences.

Kei said:

Perbeck is like one half of a secret couple in a yuri manga when some other character obliviously gets a little bit too flirty with the girl she's secretly going out with. Except, you know, the other half in this case being a mecha. We all have preferences.

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She is a mech-jock. Possessiveness of her mech is standard issue.

[X] Clam up, follow Grayson's lead even if the Saturnians don't like it


If he can't figure out what is going on on his own, then he doesn't deserve to know. Also, he comes across as more than a little sleezy, the last kind of person you want to get involved with, if he is somehow offended by our keeping quiet and does something, then it just proves that giving him any information is a terrible idea.

I would like to note, that Anja isn't against the idea of telling him military secrets just because he is vaguely sympathetic and familiar to her, considering her own admittance of having a taste for bad boys in her boyfriend this does not bode well in my mind. I'm sure she is a loyal crew member, but if she has such a leaning towards criminal elements, we should probably keep an eye on her and open for her. Her backstory quite possibly has some sort of criminal involvement, being a good friend and trying to keep her away is just what a friend does.