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Beneath Celestial Depths (An Arpeggio of Blue Steel Quest)

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    • [x] Try to leave stealthily. They're not really looking for you, so it stands to reason that you should be able to sneak out without them noticing.
    [x] Wipe all traces of your being here as much as possible.
    [X] None

    There's no need to outright panic. Even if the fools were bearing down your door, you can deal with them professionally. And what you meant by that was sneakily making your getaway. You ran possible outcomes through your system, your eyes glowing crimson as you took down dangerous plans and similarly stupid ones as you considered your options very seriously.

    Nevertheless, you moved all the same as time ticked by. You shook your head and materialized doppelgangers of yourself and they all stared at you in attention. They were similar to subnodes but more emotionless and less comical but bearing your inhuman capabilities all the same. It took a bit of processing power but with Habbakuk's core, it didn't even faze you.

    "Clear the area, wipe all of our traces, make sure that we are not tracked nor that this place has been used recently," you ordered coldly as the Surcoufs stood at attention and nodded, "Bring all of Mary's personal effects in to the hull. Quickly!"

    The Doppelgangers nodded and went to work as you glanced down Mary, "I... Apologize. Moving out so quickly like this must be frustrating."

    Mary simply smiled at you and shook her head, "It's fine."

    "If I haven't been here, they could take you home," you told her as your doppelgangers went to work, "They are your countrymen. You'll be safer with them. Didn't you want to go home?"

    "Are you making me go away?" Mary asked as she blinked her eyes.

    You met her gaze and ruffled her hair, "I was just thinking of the most optimal situation for you. They could very well sink me here."

    You felt a light punch hit your side. But given your nature, you weren't even sure if that punch was light but it looked like it was supposed to hurt. Mary looked cross with you.

    "You are my home," she told you with anger in her tone, "I'm going with you."

    You let out a chuckle of amusement, "I was hoping you'd say that. Let's set sail."

    .....
    ....
    ...

    Having boarded your hull and cleaned up the last few loose ends at the submarine pen, you slowly made your way to the exit of the pen and dove down into the dark depths as far as you could go. You silenced the lively whirr of your engine and dove deep, your eyes fixed upon the monitor of your bridge, making sure the human vessels don't make any sudden moves to your escape.

    Mary was seated on your Captain's chair as you stood by her side. She didn't really have any control over you but whatever input she had would be indeed be useful. She after all held unpolished talent for commanding during your simulations. There were no movements from the unit at the submarine pen so you were mostly in the clear having reached a low enough depth that they shouldn't be able to detect you.

    You didn't relax however...

    "We picked up something," Mary pointed at the screen and you glanced up to see dots come into view. You increased the frequency of your sensors as you ascended to gain a clearer view of the new variables.

    "I'm unable to discern without a live video feed but there numerous number of vessels sailing above us. From where we are, the waters remain untouched however," you replied as you crossed your arms.

    "If the water's untouched and there are many of them, could they be flying?" suggested Mary from your side, "It must be drones. After cheapening the cost for their manufacturing, the Navy has done extensive research to develop advanced Drones en masse to cover large amounts of sea water. Their range extends beyond ten kilometers and are designed to search for signs of anything in the water."

    "Even at our current depth?" you asked her with a raised eyebrow.

    "I'm not sure but time sure has passed and they may have improved in that regard," said Mary with an uncertain tone, "If those things detect us, it'll be bad. It also seems like they're coming from the East of our position."

    "You think a Carrier's lying in wait there?" you inquired once more.

    "Maybe..." murmured Mary.

    "Well, nonetheless this would push us to going by the Hawaiian Islands. Which is pretty much Scarlet Fleet territory. If those people are brave enough to attack a Cruise Ship with American Empire forces, they're not to be trifled with," speaking calmly, you tapped the side of your cheek as you considered the route, "It's dangerous and but with the wall the American Empire has put against us, we'll be pushed over there."

    "Going underneath the drones may be viable but the only thing we're not sure about is the effective range of their Sensor.. My knowledge and books are outdated," the Design Child lamented as she sighed, "Or maybe you can mass hack them?"

    "That would blow our cover, dear," you told her patiently, "But yes, sneaking beneath them untouched is possible if we would gamble they will not detect us. I'm not exactly stealth capable at the moment."

    But what you weren't sure was if it was indeed the Scarlet Fleet that attacked the Cruise Ship and took out one of the AE's warships. The Thanatonium on the hull of the wrecked Warship was still fresh in your mind so it could only be a Fog ship capable of doing that. It was either the Scarlet Fleet had a working Fog Ship the same as you or a different, neutral Ship had awakened and fought the humans.

    You'll most likely encounter this ship...

    You decided to keep going underneath the radar as you weighed your options.

    You then perked up and bristled as you spoke, "Thanatonium detected."

    "C-C-Corrosive Torpedoes?" squeaked Mary in alarm, "Here? At six hundred feet?!"

    "No... Just the presence of thanatonium. Engines?" you guessed in a low tone.

    "This close to the pen... Do you think the trouble with AE directed them here or something?" asked your little Design Child with genuine fear in her tone.

    You killed your own engines and let yourself float freely without moving forward, keeping the bogey at the very edge of your sensors. If you had it there, then you must be at the edge of its sensors as well. You didn't know what sort of Fog ship it was but you didn't rule out that it could not be a submarine type like you.

    You can turn back... Turn back and brave the Drones but the shallow waters would prevent you from reaching these sorts of depths again, leaving you slightly exposed. But then again, would you continue forward like this with an unknown just beyond.

    It hadn't made any moves....
    Major Action-1​
    [] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
    [] Turn back and go through the drones. Better escape humans and their unmanned vehicles than escaping a rabid Fog vessel out for your core.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Turn back and go through the drones. Better escape humans and their unmanned vehicles than escaping a rabid Fog vessel out for your core.
     
    [x] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
    I don't think we can escape the humans if we go back.
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.

    I'm willing to take this gamble.
     
    Hmmm, take our chances against one fog ship or risk it against several human ships.

    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.

    Maybe it's because of how unfavorably playing it safe in the pen turned out to be... but I say we go for it.
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.

    This might be the lesser of two evils here. Not good but better than the alternative
     
    [x] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
    [x] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.

    The greed seems like it's winning out. But it has some advantages. It might not be part of the Scarlet Fleet, it might not even be related to the attack on the cruise ship! The chances of that seem low though... Whatever, if safty isn't the name of the game, maybe risk-taking is.

    Also, gotta ask, if the authors just pass the story around in a cycle, do they treat it like the telephone game? No notes or nothing, just 'here's everything written so far, what happens next? It's up to you!'

    ...I did that once in a creative writing class. The story came back and the main character had spontaneously changed gender halfway through the story...
     
    Ah the joys of reactionary voting.

    [x] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.


    Fuck it.
     
    Zedman7054 said:
    Also, gotta ask, if the authors just pass the story around in a cycle, do they treat it like the telephone game? No notes or nothing, just 'here's everything written so far, what happens next? It's up to you!'
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Welcome to "whose quest is it anyways?", where the votes are made up and the QMs don't matter!
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.

    Who could hate the lovable French boat.
    She's a niceboat.

    Speaking of nice boats if @TheBleachDoctor was a Fog this is them.
     
    Can I make a write-in vote to just let it pass by while we run quiet?
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
    obssesednuker said:
    Can I make a write-in vote to just let it pass by while we run quiet?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It might work, it's not like we have limited endurance, but we have been turtling and being very skittish so far. It's justified, probably, but being this damaged we almost certainly can't hide forever without a hideout, especially from anybody looking for thanatonium signatures.

    I don't want to play with the humans, because they'll assume the first Fog sensor return (us, probably, if we approach) just knowingly torpedoed a cruise ship, and will (successfully) use us for target practice. The Fog ship isn't reeaally safer, but it might not shoot first, second, third, and consider examining the wreckage later, so...

    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.

    It's a gamble, but we know the humans are hostile, while a Fog ship could be neutral, or even friendly

    Plus there's the risk of detection, which is much too high for my liking
     
    [X] Continue onward and try to signal the unaffiliated Fog Ship. You can only hope they weren't hostile to specifically you.
     
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