Devastation Comes In Big Packages [Planetary Annihilation/Multicross SI]
I think this bit got garbled?
I wonder if this might backfire in some manner? Because this would've been a huge internal conflict between Jimmy's sense of honor and pragmatism. And from how massive the payment was for only a 'technically' completed objective, it's gonna screw with his sense of proportion on payments and rewards. The stuff he got back then seem like peanuts compared to what he got. And if his will is far more incorruptible, then how about the rest of the crew?
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Mmm, it makes sense in my head. Swann tried to stand up to the Combine, to stand free, and...ah, the issue is the word 'as' should be 'ask'. As in 'ask' Swanna how standing free on Meinhoff went. Edited now.
Silvercrystal
Some form of jewel?
- Location
- The Silver palace of Crystal
From what I remember of the books (which I have buried somewhere) that dealt with Nova and Tosh; most of the spectres were originally ghosts that Tosh captured Doped up on Tarazine, without cutting it with the orange mineral (that one you grab for him in WoL) that kept them from going crazy, brain washed them (not that it was hard to get them to rebel against the assholes in charge of the Dominion Ghost program) and it makes one question who the hell he was really breaking out of prison, as all his "friends" were dead after Nova broke his base. Not that he couldn't make more but...
Personally other then achievement hunting I side with Nova as the Ghosts Snipe is the superior skill.
Edit; Also do you really want you allies sniffing Amon farts? That corruptive shit is dangerous.
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Honestly I like to pretend that Starcraft ended with Brood War. All this stuff about Amon makes me roll my eyes.
RoyalTwinFangs
For The Chancellor!
- Location
- Somwhere not here
Maybe instead of Tosh giving out the missions Yuriko give them instead in the name of MannCo?
96 – Mild Expenditure
96 – Mild Expenditure
She heard Rory Swann coming in two different ways long before he actually got to her. His mind was a fascinating experience to read, and loud as well, for all that such a quality could be associated with psionic sensing. On the other hand, he was an undeniably heavy set man, his weight further increased by his cybernetics. But, despite herself, Yuriko had found that she enjoyed the man's temperament, and his generally genial nature for just about everyone, even if he sometimes tried to hide it under a played up gruff exterior.
"Hey, Spooks," Swann called out, his cyberlimb clicking and snapping as he came. "Got a question for you."
Yuriko paused, having missed the nickname's formation in Swann's mind somehow, and straightened up from her super vulture to look over at him.
"Spooks?" She repeated with a smile.
"You can keep sayin' you ain't a ghost, but you're still pretty spooky," Swann shrugged with a chuckle.
"Fair enough," she nodded, leaning back on the bike as it rested on the ground, its repulsors temporarily offline. "What can I do you for, Swann?"
The Chief Engineer cocked a bemused eyebrow at her.
"What, you can't just read my mind and know?"
Yuriko had to bite down the laugh that wanted to escape, but the smile still made its way onto her lips.
"Sure, but most people don't like it when I emphasize it. But if you insist," she dramatically pointed a finger right between his eyes, drawing the faintest bit of alarm and fear that all terrans possessed about anything psychic. "You…want to discuss using the funds that I gave to Raynor for the Raiders to significantly upgrade the Hyperion and your standing forces, and knowing that I've mentioned Umoja contacts with Dr. Hanson – because of scuttlebutt – and based on my own MannCo technologies, you want me to use my connections to get materials and gear."
Swann blinked at her, shock turning to amusement rather quickly.
"Well…I guess I asked for that, heh," he shook his head, hands on his hips as he smiled. "But uh…yeah. You said you wouldn't give up the gun, or probably the armor, or the vulture, but I'm betting there's still some good stuff you guys might be able to get, eh? Eh?" He added a feigned elbow bump and some waggling eyebrows at the end before straightening. "Sure, it might look a little weird to turn around and use the money you gave us to buy from you, but hell I'm askin' anyway," he shrugged, his mustache twitching.
"Oh, Mr. Swann, you've convinced me," Yuriko pretended to swoon, drawing another rough laugh from the man. "But sure. I can set that up. I'll need a more concrete list of what you're thinking about, of course."
Hmm. Perhaps that had been a mistake, based on the sheer glee she saw unfolding in Swann's mind. Then she saw the list that appeared as if from nowhere in those thoughts, just before he began to verbalize it.
"Well I gotta tell ya, the fusion core's been a bit wonky what with it being several generations out of date compared to the most modern ones, there are some micro fractures in some of the neosteel cause of sheer age, we ain't got almost none of the same stuff as the Minotaurs and I'd sure like to, and-,"
Yuriko set her data pad to record, and sat back to wait. She knew, inherently in that moment, that she would be there for some time yet.
==============================================
"So…that's MannCo, huh?" Jimmy whistled slightly as he gazed at the small group of battlecruisers which hung in the stars across from the Hyperion and the Agria colonist ships.
"That's a delivery squadron," Yuriko pointed out. "Not all of MannCo."
She was acting all cool and professional now that her employers had shown up, Jimmy noted. Eyes ahead, face blank, hands folded behind her back, military attention in perfect posture.
"Well…yeah," Jimmy rolled his eyes as he tapped out another cigarette and lit it.
When the ships had first shown up, the scanners hadn't quite known what to make of them. It wasn't like they were stealthed or anything, though frankly the idea didn't seem as impossible as it used to be. It was that the Hyperion and the Adjutant simply hadn't been able to easily classify them. There were multiple classes of battlecruisers, and all of them had been logged into the data banks. The Leviathan was outdated, and only used in the grey market for those on the fringe and for cheap. Well, cheap as a battlecruiser could go for. The Hyperion, on the other hand, was the much more common Behemoth-class, even if it was heavily modified and upgraded over the years. More advanced than that was the mainstay of the Dominion, the Minotaur-class, which possessed several upgraded systems that the Behemoth did not. Missile pods, improved energy shields, a defensive matrix, even a powered up Yamato. Gorgons, rare due to the sheer cost, were the most powerful battlecruisers 'ever', if Swann was right about it. Which, considering the man's area of expertise, he most likely was.
The MannCo battlecruisers didn't match any of them.
They had the hammerhead shape, sure, but many of their systems seemed to be missing, somehow bouncing, deflecting, or otherwise preventing the scanners of the Hyperion from actually getting useful information off of them. Going by the front, it was rather obvious that they still retained the Yamato cannon, or at least something similar, but anything more than that was difficult to say. But of course, not that much more was needed, because the most prominent thing about the MannCo battlecruisers was the sheer size. They looked to be half again the size of even the Gorgons, and by visual profile alone they had plenty of laser batteries and missile launchers proportional to the size. Then there was the fact that they'd popped up a single day after Yuriko had passed on Swann's 'wish list' to MannCo. Warp space and warp travel were fast, but that was still fast.
"Jeez, you guys really didn't skimp on your fleet, huh," Swann said from next to him, eyes still wide.
"No, no we did not."
"Don't uh…don't suppose you'd let me take a closer look at those ships, huh?" There was something purposefully wheedling in the engineer's voice, but also a bit of genuine longing that Jimmy was pretty sure he could hear.
Yuriko chuckled before coughing and straightening back to attention.
"Unfortunately no, Mr. Swann. You'll have to be satisfied with looking."
In the distance, the cargo ships in the middle of the MannCo formation began to move, heading their way with a guarding dozen wraiths.
"This better be worth it, Swann," Jimmy said after another puff of his cigarette. "Yuriko gave us quite a lot of money, and you had us turn around and basically give it right back to her."
"Oh, yeah, you're right, cowboy," Swann rolled his eyes, and turned to him. "Because retrofitting a battlecruiser is so cheap! Not like we're getting a massively upgraded fusion core instead of that pile of duct tape we've got," Swann then held up his organic hand at Jimmy's face, ticking off fingers as he went, "Bleeding edge laser batteries, an Umojan Yamato cannon, a defensive matrix, improved neosteel alloys for additional plating, major energy shielding upgrades compared to the cobbled together excuses that we got-,"
"Hey!" Jimmy stared at the shorter man, bringing Swann to a halt just a he ran out of fingers, "You were proud of those! You said your upgrades to the Hyperion's fusion core was a miracle of engineering!"
Swann scoffed as the MannCo cargo ships got closer, slowing as smaller haulers emerged and began lugging in large crates that would be delivered to the cargo bays along the side of the Hyperion. He waved away Jimmy's words with audible disgust.
"Behemoth-class fusion reactors are leaky piles of garbage compared to the fusion cores that are on the Minotaurs," Swann said with the roll of his eyes and a snap of his cyberlimb in clamp mode. "Yeah, cowboy, I did good," he put his hands on his hips, "I did real good," he pointed a finger at Jimmy's face, "But the fact of the matter is no matter how much I patch it, a fusion reactor in a Behemoth ain't gonna match the fusion cores everyone else is running."
"Swann," Jimmy clapped a hand to his forehead. "How long are all of these refits gonna take? And how is the Hyperion supposed to run when you're replacing her reactor? And how much did all of this cost?!"
"Swann purchased temporary generator loans from MannCo," Yuriko sniffed, "Enough to keep the ship running as per usual while he fully replaces the fusion reactor with the modern fusion core."
Jimmy blinked at her, then back at Swann.
"And how is that supposed to work?"
Swann shrugged.
"Proprietary generators, apparently, she said we can plug 'em in a various points across the ship to take up the strain while we do our work – and no, she ain't telling us how they work," he added with an annoyed look at Yuriko before looking back to Jimmy. "As for how long it's gonna take, are you kidding?" Swann scoffed again and pointed a thumb at the engineering crew behind him, all them waiting by the doors of the armory. "With my guys and some zero-g SCV work, like, pfft, a week."
The first of the haulers breached the energy field of the cargo bay, the odd boxy machine's engines incredibly loud outside of the void of space. As such, Jimmy had to settle for glaring at Swann as the engineer focused upon the enormous metal crate that was gently deposited before the hauler reversed itself out of the bay. Thankfully, his cigarette hadn't been blown out by all of the commotion.
"You just got done telling me how – apparently – bad our tech is, but you can just fix it all up in a week, Swann?"
"Uh…yeah?" Swann squinted at him. "The big bottleneck was money, cowboy. A lot of what's going to happen is straight up replacement, integration, and streamlining. Pop the old outdated hardware out, pop the new updated hardware in, plug in the software, bang," he punctuated his words with a snap of his cyberlimb clamp, "Hyperion gets that much better. Hell, once we're done I bet you we could take on the Emperor's flagship in a slugging match. Plus I got us some souped up tac fighters if it comes to it."
Now that...that was an appealing image. Jimmy let himself luxuriate in the thought of it, of bringing the bastard's own old flagship and putting the boot to his fancy gilded flying fortress. Everyone knew about the Bucephalus; it had occupied the news for a week. It was the most advanced and powerful ship in the Dominion, choke full of the most elite of the elite forces that Mengsk had available. It was such a nice thought that he almost missed Swann finally mentioning the cost of all of the purchased equipment and upgrades from MannCo and their Umojan contacts. Unfortunately for Swann, he didn't.
"That's…," he almost choked on the smoke in his lungs. "Swann! That's damn near everything Yuriko paid us!"
Swann very deliberately wasn't looking into his eyes, instead pretending to focus on the next few heavy crates that the MannCo haulers were bringing it, dropping them off in neat stacks.
"Psh, nah, it's more like…," he trailed off nervously, "What, eighty? Eighty-five percent of it?"
"Eighty-seven," Yuriko spoke up, causing Swann to wince and Jimmy to drop his damn cig in shock.
"SWANN!"
Any further chastisement was ruined by the arrival of not another cargo hauler, but instead what looked only sort of like a regular drop ship. Only this one was a bit more…boxy, was the best way Jimmy could describe it.
"Ah, here she is," Yuriko said, striding forward. "These are the temporary generators, Swann."
As if Jimmy wasn't trying to bore a hole through Swann's head with his eyes alone, his Chief Engineer raised his hand in the air and waved towards the entrance to the cargo bay.
"Hey Kachinsky! Get over here! We finally get to put our hands on some MannCo stuff after getting teased by Spooks!" He yelled before settling back down, looking towards the drop ship. "Not that we're gonna get to mess with much, I'll bet."
"Aw, yeah!" The crew cried as they rushed forward.
Only to come to a dead stop as the door of the dropship slammed down, and two…somethings stomped out.
"Woah," Swann said next to him, and despite his rather significant irritation Jimmy agreed.
They looked like mixtures between a regular marine and a marauder, half again as big as a regular marauder but somehow streamlined more like the former. The grenade gauntlets were definitely still present, but there were also what looked like chain guns on their forearms. They had to hunch to get out of the dropship in the first place, considering their sheer bulk and height. They carried the same purple and black colors scheme as the rest of the MannCo ships and vehicles had borne so far. Kachinsky, initially leading the charge, came to a very quick halt as the two glanced around the cargo bay. Only once their initial look was done did they step aside, revealing a much smaller and yet possibly no less dangerous individual. They bore the same kind of skinsuit as Yuriko, armor panels included, but instead of Yuriko's odd looking gun they bore the far more recognizable profile of a C-10 rifle. Unlike Yuriko, they didn't bother wearing a helmet beyond a specialized looking visor, revealing ponytailed blonde hair.
"Operative Thirteen," the new arrival said coolly.
"Operative Terra," Yuriko said back, just as coolly.
The two of them stared at one another in silence, the only noise in the cargo bay the slowly winding down engines of the drop ship, before Operative Terra smiled and tugged her visor up with one hand.
"Hey Yuriko, how have you been?" The newly arrived psychic said with a smile as she stepped forward into a hug, a gesture returned by Yuriko.
"Oh, fine, fine," Yuriko smiled back, tightening her arms a moment before stepping back. "I could ask the same of you. How is everyone?"
The two young women looked each other up and down and babbled as if they were just regular girls, but the effect was sort of ruined by the giants standing behind them.
"Doing well, for the most part. Tosh is still freaking out over his baby, obviously, and Kath is a pretty good mom, but…well, you should probably introduce us?"
Yuriko paused, a hand going to her mouth as she turned around.
"You're right, sorry. Everyone," Yuriko raised her voice and gestured to her companion. "This is Operative Terra, an employee of MannCo Internal Security."
Jimmy scrutinized the woman even more now. The environmental suit was a big enough give away, as were the titles and the gun. She was definitely another psychic, but unlike with Yuriko he had no idea what her psi-rating was. For all that, though, she casually waved at everyone staring at her, still shoulder to shoulder with Yuriko, one arm slung over the other woman's shoulder.
"You can call me Nova, if you like," she said with an almost demure smile. "And unlike Yuriko here, yes, I am a ghost."
"Former ghost," Yuriko corrected, to which Nova shrugged. "In any case," she said to Jimmy, "Nova here came in person to make sure proper delivery of the generators that Swann leased for the interim period."
"Speaking of," Nova extracted herself from Yuriko's continuing one-armed hug and then gestured behind her, clearing her throat before straightening and speaking formally. "Twelve SG1s, ready for installment and leasing, to be returned upon completion of contracted time period."
With her words, large hover dollies slowly evacuated the dropship, each of them carrying strange dull orange cylinders with a single notable port, bundled cord, and plug that corresponded to appropriate docks for a Behemoth-class power conduit.
"The Hyperion won't be in condition to get into a big fight, or even a little one unless absolutely necessary," Yuriko added on as the hover dollies placed the cylinders into the cargo bay next to one another, "But it can still use its engines as per usual."
Jimmy frowned at them. They were smooth and featureless, save for the one port, with no visible sign of how they were powered at all. Or even fueled. Or fixed, if they got damaged.
"I really wish you'd talked to me about this before getting them Swann," he grunted.
"You would'na let me get it all if I did that," Swann said, apparently now completely unrepentant now that it was all here.
"Installment is easy," Nova said, her voice cheery as if she was a simple saleswoman, "Just place and plug. Also, pursuant to the contract that you signed, Mr. Swann, any damages or attempts to take apart, thoroughly scan, or otherwise interfere with the functioning of the SG1s is punishable by fine."
"Hey lady, I grew up on a Combine world," Swann sniffed, "I know how this sort of thing works," he lifted his chin at her before his eyes widened at something out of the corner of them, causing the man to whirl about at a speed that impressed Jimmy. "Kachinsky! Don't mess with 'em!"
The man in question jumped as if shocked, arms over his head to declare his innocence.
"I didn't do nothing!"
"Oh sure, and that ain't a handheld scanner in your pocket, you're just real excited to see me."
Nova looked over at Yuriko with a raised eyebrow.
"They seem fun."
"They can be," Yuriko chuckled. "Anyway, thanks for coming," she said while shaking hands with her fellow Operative.
"Of course," Nova smiled brightly before looking back at Jimmy. "Of course, Mr. Raynor, we will be returning in a week to reclaim our generators. Please do not attempt to sell them or anything like that."
It was like looking a wolf in the eye.
"He wouldn't do that," Yuriko rolled her eyes. "And I'd stop any of the crew if they tried. Now get on out of here, I'm sure you have better things to do than watch over deliveries."
Nova rolled her eyes.
"That's all I do, actually, and you know that. But you are right, there are other deliveries to make. Be well, Yuriko," she patted the woman on her shoulder.
"You too, Nova."
And just like that, they were gone, Nova Terra and her two hulking guards fitting back into the drop ship as the crew began wheeling the generators to previously decided conduit points on the ship. Yuriko waved at the drop ship as it left, leaving Jimmy once more with the opportunity to scrutinize Swann. Who, at the moment, was rubbing his hand and clamp together greedily as one of the cargo crates was opened to reveal a whole mess of smaller and more delicate electronics in special padding.
"So, eighty-seven percent of the payday, huh?"
Swann winced again, and raised a finger while opening his mouth.
"Actually," Yuriko announced as she reviewed the data pad. "Eighty-eight, sorry, I was off in my calculations a bit."
Swann's shoulders slumped.
"You're killing me Spooks!"
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- Location
- Pale Blue Dot
More than a few, when you're talking "should be able to knock out the enemy flagship". Besides, how much glee do you think Matt is basking in right now?
I think he's taking a really good look at the strategic situation, considering possible plans and how to use theese capabilities before the Confederacy finds out about it and manage to set up proper defenses against it in the most important locations. Because that will take time, and in the meantime? Opportunity.
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The important thing to remember is that the universe is not constrained/benefitting with an exact 1:1 ratio of RTS mechanics. Having read a few Starcraft books, such as Liberty's Crusade, plus watching any number of the SCII cutscenes can really put that into perspective. Like, Behemoth-class battlecruisers can carry 6000-8000 people. And you can take a look at the opening cinematic from Heart of the Swarm to see just how big a battlecruiser really can be. So, like, when you run the Hyperion through that one mission in the asteroid fields against Mira's forces, it's pure game mechanics that hoovering up a bunch of mineral clusters for money magically upgrade the ship instantly, instead of, like, having to purchase materials, make use of dock time, etc. At the same time, I fully acknowledge that with enough resources Swann would no doubt be able to pull off that kind of thing, given his abilities explicitly made clear in both game and story and wiki. So I wiggled it a bit, acknowledging the sheer speed and durability of good old terran engineering with SCVs and all that, plus the genius of Swann and his crew, but I also couldn't just make it absolutely instant.
Also, yeah, Tosh and Toom are together, what with the latter not being dead.
Also, yeah, Tosh and Toom are together, what with the latter not being dead.
'Plug and play' she says. I can imagine there's a weird-looking trident/fork logo on the end of the gigantic rectangular plug, and they have to rotate the damn thing around multiple times before you can actually fit it in the socket
"Nah Swann, if I was killing you you'd be all over the cargo bay by now. I'm just making sure you know what you bought with the money you paid."
Between StarGate and StarWars tech they must have some bots that are indistinguishable from humans.
That would certainly do it. At most you would need is one, right?
Zero Point Module
A Zero Point Module, often abbreviated ZPM, is a power source, created by the Ancients, capable of supplying tremendous amounts of energy. It is one of the most formidable power sources known to exist, having been developed by the Ancients several million years ago during their original...
stargate.fandom.com
Okay... the temporary generators could peel the crust off off Korhal.
A ZPM can power energy shields enough to hold back 400m of ocean from a city for three thousand years or to AOE EMP spaceships from the sky over half a planet for ten thousand years. It can also output that power in 8 hours, when, say, eight capital ships blanket the city with plasma fire and a nuke is detonated point blank. Or, you know, you need to redirect a solar flare that is an AU long.
A ZPM can power energy shields enough to hold back 400m of ocean from a city for three thousand years or to AOE EMP spaceships from the sky over half a planet for ten thousand years. It can also output that power in 8 hours, when, say, eight capital ships blanket the city with plasma fire and a nuke is detonated point blank. Or, you know, you need to redirect a solar flare that is an AU long.
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Hmmm, StarGate has some hammerhead ship designs...
Bilskirnir-class ship
The Bilskirnir-class, also known as an Asgard mothership, was a series of spaceships used by the Asgard at the height of their power. Bilskirnir-class motherships were the primary type of ship used by the Asgard. As with all Asgard warships, the Bilskinir class had a distinctive hammer shape...
stargate.fandom.com
O'Neill-class ship
The O'Neill-class ship was the most advanced warship in the Asgard fleet, and the first series of Asgard ships designed solely to fight the Replicators. Named in honor of Jack O'Neill of the Tau'ri, O'Neill-class ships dwarfed both the Prometheus, 304s and Ha'tak class vessels in both size and...
stargate.fandom.com
Not as fast as StarGate space travel I bet.
Asgard hyperdrive
Asgard hyperdrives have routinely proven capable of crossing intergalactic distances in a matter of days, even hours, and are a necessity for the Tau'ri to continue their intergalactic endeavors. The precise speed of a vessel equipped with an Asgard hyperdrive appears to be directly...
stargate.fandom.com
- Location
- Isekai'd to this shitty world we're live in
Probably Bilskirnir. O'Neill looks far too advanced for SC human tech.
Considering all the help Mann gave the Asgard while in StarGate? I'd be surprised if he doesn't have all the top tier tech.
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Glad to see that Swann is happy, I wonder if Yuriko has been spoiling Egon just as much with material he can test.
Still hope they have a good reason to bust open New Folsom Prison since as Matt said its holding a lot of Mengsk's enemies: politicians that were against him, free-thinkers, scientists, etc.
Awwww, so happy for them!
Still hope they have a good reason to bust open New Folsom Prison since as Matt said its holding a lot of Mengsk's enemies: politicians that were against him, free-thinkers, scientists, etc.
- Location
- Pennsylvania
Yea. While an orange cylinder sounds like a ZPM, I would have describeit it as a bunch of crystals gluwed together in a vaugly cylindrical shape.
That and the sheer volitility, although given That super-rifle Yuriko has, they may have an emergency teleport or timestop addon.