Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We can get bond-drone psykers
Into that Vast and Unrelenting Darkness (40K Xeno Civilization Quest)
- Thread starter The Bird
- Start date
- Mature Sci-Fi Fantasy
Not particularly heck I'm pretty sure even mr 69 has elements of the hunt to him.
Does not affect my point in the slightest given the other methods likley affect the Chaos Crabs equally and my assertion was of khorne possibly having the highest relative difficulty.
Yes, yes we will learn sorcery, tech sorcery muh ha ha ha😈. But in all honesty we should really get enshrined spirits so as to buff up our immaterial defenses.
We are gonna drive the Tau nuts.
Like on every level we're basically built to annoy them.
We're quick to make everything an exercise in religion and warpy nonsense, but it also works for us, in ways that make it clear we actually know what we're doing (in comparison to most people who aren't awful). We're big on universal education. Have a very communal society that doesn't rely on forcing people into boxes. "Tamed" Orks, or at least Grots, when they couldn't. To add insult upon insult we don't have to hunt down the rare half way rational people to have allies, we can just grab a planet, start making up new friends and make them come alive by bleeding on them.
Like on every level we're basically built to annoy them.
We're quick to make everything an exercise in religion and warpy nonsense, but it also works for us, in ways that make it clear we actually know what we're doing (in comparison to most people who aren't awful). We're big on universal education. Have a very communal society that doesn't rely on forcing people into boxes. "Tamed" Orks, or at least Grots, when they couldn't. To add insult upon insult we don't have to hunt down the rare half way rational people to have allies, we can just grab a planet, start making up new friends and make them come alive by bleeding on them.
KnightofTempest
The Man who would be King
- Location
- Chicago
To be fair, we have no idea when in the timeline we are. All we know is that a Salamanders Battle Barge came out of the Warp to fuck us up. That doesn't even say much, seeing as how time travel is explicitly a thing that happens to ships lost in the Warp sometimes. . .
The Tau might not even be a thing yet, they didn't evolve until M38 IIRC. . .
StarSingerBlue
Zenryoku Zenkai !
- Location
- The City of Lights
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Plan: Dealing With Some Problems
-[X] Explore Galactic East
--[X] TKK Valiant
-[X] Exploring the Expanse:
--[X] TKK Endeavor
-[X] Broken Edge Monitoring:
--[X] TKK Accomplishment
-[X] EXP Projects
--[X] Elemental Spire: (0/25 --> 25/25) upgrade Naklis Heatpump to elementaform the planet, increasing FTH, cost 1 Artefact and Nuclear Material.
--[X] Construct Endeavor Class Ship: (0/20 --> 20/20) cost 1 Nuclear Material, gain an Endeavor equipped with all unlocked Compartments and Ship upgrades as well as a variable amount of Perpetunite Nuclear Weapons depending on the size of your stockpiles.
-[X] CUL Projects
--[X] Elemental Festivals: If the Lunar Spirits got their own festival day, then the Elemental Spirits of Naklis should get their own celebrations where they could be gifted vast offerings. Doing so would strengthen and appease them further, and besides, it provided an excuse for fun. (6/15 --> 15/15) develop Elemental Festival tradition, generating FTH.
--[X] Arbor Totem: (0/15 --> 15/15) Totems upgraded with Lesser Arbor Guardian, increasing CUL and totem effects substantially.
--[X] Dance of the Pyreflies: (0/15 --> 4/15) creates Pyrefly Courts on Teklia, increasing CUL.
-[X] FTH Projects
--[X] The Arcane: The mystic, the occult. Talismans represented a method of control over these strange and enigmatic force and method to defend against them. Should this path remain open, the Tekket will continue to develop more advanced means of utilizing Talismans to perform sorcerous rites and rituals.
--[X] A Harsh Bargain: (0/10 --> 10/10) generates an Artefact, establishes Court of Bargains
--[X] Temple of the Lanternkeeper: (0/10 --> 10/10) establishes Lanternkeeper Temple, a Holy Site that grants your people increased resistance to despair and hopelessness.
--[X] Temple of the Dancer: (0/10 --> 10/10) establishes Dancer Temple, a Holy Site that increases CUL.
--[X] Temple of the Roadguide: (0/10 --> 5/10) establishes Roadguide Temple, a Holy Site providing ships with slightly increased resistance against malign influences.
-[X] ACD Projects
--[X] Orkoid Culture: (0/10 --> 10/10) unlocks Orkoid Kultural Studies, providing a slight bonus to diplomacy and tactics with and against Orkoid factions. Requires an Endeavor Class to construct a Xenoobservation Outpost.
--[X] Orkoid Xenobiology (0/15 --> 15/15) unlocks Orkoid Physiology, giving you insight to the greenskin biological makeup. Requires an Endeavor Class to construct a Xenoobservation outpost.
--[X] Next-Gen Armor: (0/10 --> 10/10) costs 1 Living Metal, Ships gain better armor.
--[X] WyldRanger: (0/15 --> 1/15) establishes WyldRangers, an ACD and Biodata generating society.
-[X] Explore Galactic East
--[X] TKK Valiant
-[X] Exploring the Expanse:
--[X] TKK Endeavor
-[X] Broken Edge Monitoring:
--[X] TKK Accomplishment
-[X] EXP Projects
--[X] Elemental Spire: (0/25 --> 25/25) upgrade Naklis Heatpump to elementaform the planet, increasing FTH, cost 1 Artefact and Nuclear Material.
--[X] Construct Endeavor Class Ship: (0/20 --> 20/20) cost 1 Nuclear Material, gain an Endeavor equipped with all unlocked Compartments and Ship upgrades as well as a variable amount of Perpetunite Nuclear Weapons depending on the size of your stockpiles.
-[X] CUL Projects
--[X] Elemental Festivals: If the Lunar Spirits got their own festival day, then the Elemental Spirits of Naklis should get their own celebrations where they could be gifted vast offerings. Doing so would strengthen and appease them further, and besides, it provided an excuse for fun. (6/15 --> 15/15) develop Elemental Festival tradition, generating FTH.
--[X] Arbor Totem: (0/15 --> 15/15) Totems upgraded with Lesser Arbor Guardian, increasing CUL and totem effects substantially.
--[X] Dance of the Pyreflies: (0/15 --> 4/15) creates Pyrefly Courts on Teklia, increasing CUL.
-[X] FTH Projects
--[X] The Arcane: The mystic, the occult. Talismans represented a method of control over these strange and enigmatic force and method to defend against them. Should this path remain open, the Tekket will continue to develop more advanced means of utilizing Talismans to perform sorcerous rites and rituals.
--[X] A Harsh Bargain: (0/10 --> 10/10) generates an Artefact, establishes Court of Bargains
--[X] Temple of the Lanternkeeper: (0/10 --> 10/10) establishes Lanternkeeper Temple, a Holy Site that grants your people increased resistance to despair and hopelessness.
--[X] Temple of the Dancer: (0/10 --> 10/10) establishes Dancer Temple, a Holy Site that increases CUL.
--[X] Temple of the Roadguide: (0/10 --> 5/10) establishes Roadguide Temple, a Holy Site providing ships with slightly increased resistance against malign influences.
-[X] ACD Projects
--[X] Orkoid Culture: (0/10 --> 10/10) unlocks Orkoid Kultural Studies, providing a slight bonus to diplomacy and tactics with and against Orkoid factions. Requires an Endeavor Class to construct a Xenoobservation Outpost.
--[X] Orkoid Xenobiology (0/15 --> 15/15) unlocks Orkoid Physiology, giving you insight to the greenskin biological makeup. Requires an Endeavor Class to construct a Xenoobservation outpost.
--[X] Next-Gen Armor: (0/10 --> 10/10) costs 1 Living Metal, Ships gain better armor.
--[X] WyldRanger: (0/15 --> 1/15) establishes WyldRangers, an ACD and Biodata generating society.
A bit late
Which do people think would be preferable to get done ASAP? What the Zog? or A Discerning Hunger?
I was initially worried about Stizlak dying of old age soon, but apparently that's not a thing for orks, so...
I was initially worried about Stizlak dying of old age soon, but apparently that's not a thing for orks, so...
I'd say What the Zog so that we can up our Mystek game. Just as long as the Old One gets done I'm up for whatever the thread wants.
Hope you get to feeling better Bird
Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Zog and Nature Rites might have synergy if done together.
Turn 19: The Ruinate System and the Battle of Iron Shores System
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
[X] Plan: Spring Cleaning
Endeavor Warp Roll: 1
Rolling Hazard....
Scourer Storm.
Late into the decade, the Endeavor, sent to scout out the Expanse and discover whatever anomaly Fleet Deep Space Observation had discovered, would return, careening out of the warp at the edge of the Directorates home system, shields down, both nacelles broken, and massive amount of damage sustained across the entirety of the ships structure: entire compartments, lost to the void, with the ship later being deemed entirely a write off. The damage was too total, it would be quicker and cheaper just to replace the entire ship.
When rescued, the surviving crew of the vessel accounted what had occurred. At first, it had been a fairly standard tour: the Endeavor would chart out a new warp route, explore where it ended, and attempt to survey the system beyond for any worlds or locations of note. Warp Route AB-1911, as it was termed, had on the other end of it the signs of a massive battle: another ship graveyard, filled with the remnant debris of a dead civilization. On one side, long ships that almost resemble marble coffins in design, etched with lattices of swirling, multigeometrical symbols across their sheer and pale surface, variable in size, the largest half the size of the Endeavor. On the other, the fossilized remains of what appear to be organic creatures, their corpses in variable stages of petrification, the remainder mummified by the absolute cold of space.
All across the system their scanners detected satellites, still transmitting data into the void, carbon dating indicating many centuries of age, many of them violently damaged or even destroyed by, presumably, the same organic creatures.
Past the graveyard, past the handful of gas giants in the system, they found a barely habitable desert planet. Preliminary scans show multiple ruins throughout the planet, most covered by the sand, with minimal signs of existing higher intelligence. Whoever once ruled this planet, this system...they were gone. Wiped out.
In orbit lay what was left of the cause. Another slowly petrifying corpse, this one larger than the rest by far, consisting of a strange, chitin armored behemoth, body covered in strange, tubular growths aimed towards the planet like cannons, its front consisting of a long proboscis like protrusion stretching on for hundreds of feet until it seemed to have snapped off completely.
All in all, a grim picture, but not an especially unusual one.
The problem had come as they had went to leave the system. They had found themselves under attack: ambushing them from the dark of space came a swarm of shadowy creatures. The survivors would all recount the same story: they had been a few hours from making warp jump back home, the Endeavor speeding towards the edge of the system.
Then, from the blackness, the scanners had picked up an anomaly. Space was filled with heat. With radiation. With energy. And yet, the scanners were picking up patches of empty space. Rapidly moving empty space.
They had swarmed the Endeavor, the survivors whispered. Creatures that looked like patches of nothing, empty voids in reality the shape of some forgotten phasmid, each of them the size of shuttles, scurrying all across the ship, even as larger ones, the ship-scale ones that twitching shadows and animate, insectile darkness, kept trying to slam into the Endeavor, spindly legs attempting to rip the ship apart.
It had taken hitting them with the entire complement of Perpetunite warheads to drive them off, the creatures recoiling from the nuclear light of the missiles, allowing the Endeavor to perform evasive manuevers, Captain Gryff calibrating the scanners to track the shadow-scourers as they fled the system.
They would barely survive the warp-jump, the ship still crawling with those creatures...except that as soon as the Endeavor had left the system, the shuttle-bugs would dissolve into nothingness, leaving the survivors of the attack with only the Booug and Mimics to contend with, allowing them to barely limp their way back to the home system.
The Endeavor has been destroyed by an ambush by Phasmid-Scourers.
Discovered Ruinate System.
((((()))))
Valiant Warp Hazard Roll: 15+4
Exploration Roll (D100): 24 - Hostiles Encountered!
System Notability Roll (D10): 8 - Significant!
Meanwhile, the Valiant would have a very different tale...
((((()))))
Captain Svvsko gazed out the viewscreen, currently showing the roiling chaos of the warp-space outside the ship, the multidimensional topography giving the captain a headache as his brain attempted to process it: a futile effort, the captain knew, but one that had become a habit. "Preparing to exit warp in 10..." Came the voice of his chief navigational officer. "9..." Today was a momentus day: they were finally charting a course to the Horizon. Astronomers had been studying the region extensively in preparation: the region had a handful of neutron stars visible from Teklia: it was around one such star they had been noticing a great deal of irregularity. "8..." Otherwise, the region was mostly clusters of unremarkable yellow giants and red dwarfs. "7..."
Said irregularity had consisted of movement. The vast gulf of space and the limitations of the speed of light meant that whatever had occurred in the system had done so centuries ago, more precisely two hundred and fifty seven years ago. "6..."
It was a long shot, but the Fleet was gambling that they might successfully stumble on the correct warp route to reach one of these stars. Time would tell. "5...." Svvsko steepled his paws together, breathing deeply, engaging in an old meditative practice he had learned from the Luna Monks: it helped stifle the growing concern in his gut. "4...."
3...
2...
1...
Much like a submersible rising from the depths, the Valiant resurfaced from the Warp, and Svvsko felt a sigh of relief. Warp jumps were consistently the most dangerous part of this job. Even with the Roadpriests making talismans to their vagabond god to drive off the Anti-Anima, every trip meant a few Booug sneaking aboard and wrecking the ship, a great deal more mimics, and constant nightmares.
Realspace was better, he mused.
On the viewscreen, he saw the system, and to his dismay, it wasn't the anomalous neutron star that he spied upon. No, instead, it seemed to be a yellow giant system, the vast and blazing behemoth a brilliant gold. "Alright, bring us to the closest planet. Let's see what this planet has in store for us." Svvsko proclaimed, leaning forward, bringing his arms to rest on the arms of his seat, tapping each finger of his paws in sequence across the synth-leather.
(((()))))
'Fascinating...' thought Svvsko as he gazed at the readouts, debriefing the away team. Below the ship lie what could only be described as a metal planet: the vast majority of the surface was comprised of what was, by all accounts, raw, unprocessed ore.
"We'll need to get some crust scans, but if this thing is metal all the way down, we might have the second Naklis," The leader of his survey team said, bouncing a piece of unprocessed metal in their hand. Zinc, iron, copper, and a handful of impurities such as limestone, salt, and coal. And yet...
Svvsko scoffed, placing the datapad on the table, amused at the idea: people had been agitating for an additional colony for decades, and it was no closer to being in the cards.
((((()))))
"....That's a pretty big space station," His Navigator said, staring.
"...Does it count if it's built into a cored moon?" Svvysko asked idly as he stared at the behemoth structure, a vast steel-wrought monument, built into the side of what had, at one point, been a very small planetoid, only half of the outer shell remaining, a dusty grey desert enveloping the bare surface.
"I...think so? There's more space station than moon."
"...Are we detecting any lifesigns?"
"...No."
((((((()))))
At last, the Valiant made its way to the last location of notice: they had noticed a vast asteroid belt, a few drifting but entirely intact ships scattered here and there. Long-range scans showed signs of active machinery, and yet there had been no response on comms. Still, Svvsko felt something coil in his gut as the ship approached the belt.
"Status?" He asked his science officer, his fur on the back of his neck standing on end. Something was wrong, he could feel it.
"Nothing on scanners," His science officer confirmed, staring at their screens readout, and for a moment, Svvsko felt his gut uncoil... Only to stiffen when he saw his officers eyes widen in alarm. "Wait, we're seeing movement in the belt - RAISE THE SHIELDS NOW!" She yelled, waving. "WE HAVE HOSTILES INBOUND!"
"CAPTAIN SVVSKO TO ENGINEERING, MAX POWER TO SHIELDS, IMMEDIATELY!" Svvsko ordered over the comms.
Valiant: 14+8
Rogue Machinery: 12+7
VALIANT WINS
A moment later, the Valiant's shields would find themselves battered by powerful laser-lances as a trio of ships emerged from the asteroid field, each of them large and cylinder shaped with sloping bevelled edges, white body of the structure wrapped around a harsh red blaze in the center of the forward face, three bands of chrome across the structure, gun-holes and turrets covering the majority of the alien crafts surface.
Without missing a beat, Svvsko issued orders. "Evasive manuevers!" He commanded, feeling a lurch as the ship began to move, taking hit after hit from the crafts lasers, just barely managing to avoid a direct hit from a torpedo, the ship shuddering and shaking as the biometal HardBlok armor absorbed the brunt of the energy released by the detonation of the explosive. "Comms-"
"Already on it," His Comms officer said, tapping away, having already anticipated her captains orders. "Hailing them in three...two...one..."
"Unknown fleet, this is Captain Svvsko of the TKK Valiant!" The Captain barked, hoping they responded. "Please cease attacking! If you continue we will be forced to return fire."
For a moment, silence. Then, over comms, a harsh, mechanical screech, and words in an unknown language, harshing and halting and mechanical, a harsh reverb to the words: unfortunately, there wasn't enough data to translate yet, but judging from the tone, it wasn't friendly. "COMMANDER. WE ARE DETECTING NO SIGNS OF ORGANIC LIFE ON ENEMY VESSELS," Came the announcement of the Science-Machina over comms. "WE BELIEVE THAT THE HOSTILE SHIPS ARE PILOTED BY A SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE-"
The ship lurched, and Svvysko nearly found themselves thrown from their chair, the Tekket cursing: a hit, though according to the Captains diagnostic readout it thankfully had only managed to do light damage to the armor.
What Maneuvers does Svvsko order? Select two. Regardless of what is selected, additional combat rolls will be made to determine damage.
[ ] [Torpedo] Target Cylinder Eye: It was big, it was red, it was facing them. The Captain hoped it was a weak spot: they didn't have enough scan data to say for sure.
[ ] [Torpedo] Target Cylinder Center: The Captain had no idea how durable these ships were: he wasn't going to take a gamble. Direct aim at the center of the vessels.
[ ] [Cannon] Scour Turrets: Risky as it would require closing the distance, but if the Turrets were taken out, it would allow a shuttle to board the vessels and (hopefully) allow for their capture whole.
[ ] [Machina] Hack Attack: It was a completely alien operating system in an unknown language, meaning the ships normal E-War systems wouldn't cut it: the technopathic abilities of the Machina would be required to subvert the digital security of the enemy ships.
[ ] [Machina] Decode: There still existed a chance that a peaceful end to this situation could be achieved IF the language used by the Synthetic Intelligences operating the ship were translated. Keep the Machina in contact with the enemy ships, and have them devote additional processing power to deciphering the language.
[ ] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[ ] [Subsystem]
Endeavor Warp Roll: 1
Rolling Hazard....
Scourer Storm.
Late into the decade, the Endeavor, sent to scout out the Expanse and discover whatever anomaly Fleet Deep Space Observation had discovered, would return, careening out of the warp at the edge of the Directorates home system, shields down, both nacelles broken, and massive amount of damage sustained across the entirety of the ships structure: entire compartments, lost to the void, with the ship later being deemed entirely a write off. The damage was too total, it would be quicker and cheaper just to replace the entire ship.
When rescued, the surviving crew of the vessel accounted what had occurred. At first, it had been a fairly standard tour: the Endeavor would chart out a new warp route, explore where it ended, and attempt to survey the system beyond for any worlds or locations of note. Warp Route AB-1911, as it was termed, had on the other end of it the signs of a massive battle: another ship graveyard, filled with the remnant debris of a dead civilization. On one side, long ships that almost resemble marble coffins in design, etched with lattices of swirling, multigeometrical symbols across their sheer and pale surface, variable in size, the largest half the size of the Endeavor. On the other, the fossilized remains of what appear to be organic creatures, their corpses in variable stages of petrification, the remainder mummified by the absolute cold of space.
All across the system their scanners detected satellites, still transmitting data into the void, carbon dating indicating many centuries of age, many of them violently damaged or even destroyed by, presumably, the same organic creatures.
Past the graveyard, past the handful of gas giants in the system, they found a barely habitable desert planet. Preliminary scans show multiple ruins throughout the planet, most covered by the sand, with minimal signs of existing higher intelligence. Whoever once ruled this planet, this system...they were gone. Wiped out.
In orbit lay what was left of the cause. Another slowly petrifying corpse, this one larger than the rest by far, consisting of a strange, chitin armored behemoth, body covered in strange, tubular growths aimed towards the planet like cannons, its front consisting of a long proboscis like protrusion stretching on for hundreds of feet until it seemed to have snapped off completely.
All in all, a grim picture, but not an especially unusual one.
The problem had come as they had went to leave the system. They had found themselves under attack: ambushing them from the dark of space came a swarm of shadowy creatures. The survivors would all recount the same story: they had been a few hours from making warp jump back home, the Endeavor speeding towards the edge of the system.
Then, from the blackness, the scanners had picked up an anomaly. Space was filled with heat. With radiation. With energy. And yet, the scanners were picking up patches of empty space. Rapidly moving empty space.
They had swarmed the Endeavor, the survivors whispered. Creatures that looked like patches of nothing, empty voids in reality the shape of some forgotten phasmid, each of them the size of shuttles, scurrying all across the ship, even as larger ones, the ship-scale ones that twitching shadows and animate, insectile darkness, kept trying to slam into the Endeavor, spindly legs attempting to rip the ship apart.
It had taken hitting them with the entire complement of Perpetunite warheads to drive them off, the creatures recoiling from the nuclear light of the missiles, allowing the Endeavor to perform evasive manuevers, Captain Gryff calibrating the scanners to track the shadow-scourers as they fled the system.
They would barely survive the warp-jump, the ship still crawling with those creatures...except that as soon as the Endeavor had left the system, the shuttle-bugs would dissolve into nothingness, leaving the survivors of the attack with only the Booug and Mimics to contend with, allowing them to barely limp their way back to the home system.
The Endeavor has been destroyed by an ambush by Phasmid-Scourers.
Discovered Ruinate System.
((((()))))
Valiant Warp Hazard Roll: 15+4
Exploration Roll (D100): 24 - Hostiles Encountered!
System Notability Roll (D10): 8 - Significant!
Meanwhile, the Valiant would have a very different tale...
((((()))))
Captain Svvsko gazed out the viewscreen, currently showing the roiling chaos of the warp-space outside the ship, the multidimensional topography giving the captain a headache as his brain attempted to process it: a futile effort, the captain knew, but one that had become a habit. "Preparing to exit warp in 10..." Came the voice of his chief navigational officer. "9..." Today was a momentus day: they were finally charting a course to the Horizon. Astronomers had been studying the region extensively in preparation: the region had a handful of neutron stars visible from Teklia: it was around one such star they had been noticing a great deal of irregularity. "8..." Otherwise, the region was mostly clusters of unremarkable yellow giants and red dwarfs. "7..."
Said irregularity had consisted of movement. The vast gulf of space and the limitations of the speed of light meant that whatever had occurred in the system had done so centuries ago, more precisely two hundred and fifty seven years ago. "6..."
It was a long shot, but the Fleet was gambling that they might successfully stumble on the correct warp route to reach one of these stars. Time would tell. "5...." Svvsko steepled his paws together, breathing deeply, engaging in an old meditative practice he had learned from the Luna Monks: it helped stifle the growing concern in his gut. "4...."
3...
2...
1...
Much like a submersible rising from the depths, the Valiant resurfaced from the Warp, and Svvsko felt a sigh of relief. Warp jumps were consistently the most dangerous part of this job. Even with the Roadpriests making talismans to their vagabond god to drive off the Anti-Anima, every trip meant a few Booug sneaking aboard and wrecking the ship, a great deal more mimics, and constant nightmares.
Realspace was better, he mused.
On the viewscreen, he saw the system, and to his dismay, it wasn't the anomalous neutron star that he spied upon. No, instead, it seemed to be a yellow giant system, the vast and blazing behemoth a brilliant gold. "Alright, bring us to the closest planet. Let's see what this planet has in store for us." Svvsko proclaimed, leaning forward, bringing his arms to rest on the arms of his seat, tapping each finger of his paws in sequence across the synth-leather.
(((()))))
'Fascinating...' thought Svvsko as he gazed at the readouts, debriefing the away team. Below the ship lie what could only be described as a metal planet: the vast majority of the surface was comprised of what was, by all accounts, raw, unprocessed ore.
"We'll need to get some crust scans, but if this thing is metal all the way down, we might have the second Naklis," The leader of his survey team said, bouncing a piece of unprocessed metal in their hand. Zinc, iron, copper, and a handful of impurities such as limestone, salt, and coal. And yet...
Svvsko scoffed, placing the datapad on the table, amused at the idea: people had been agitating for an additional colony for decades, and it was no closer to being in the cards.
((((()))))
"....That's a pretty big space station," His Navigator said, staring.
"...Does it count if it's built into a cored moon?" Svvysko asked idly as he stared at the behemoth structure, a vast steel-wrought monument, built into the side of what had, at one point, been a very small planetoid, only half of the outer shell remaining, a dusty grey desert enveloping the bare surface.
"I...think so? There's more space station than moon."
"...Are we detecting any lifesigns?"
"...No."
((((((()))))
At last, the Valiant made its way to the last location of notice: they had noticed a vast asteroid belt, a few drifting but entirely intact ships scattered here and there. Long-range scans showed signs of active machinery, and yet there had been no response on comms. Still, Svvsko felt something coil in his gut as the ship approached the belt.
"Status?" He asked his science officer, his fur on the back of his neck standing on end. Something was wrong, he could feel it.
"Nothing on scanners," His science officer confirmed, staring at their screens readout, and for a moment, Svvsko felt his gut uncoil... Only to stiffen when he saw his officers eyes widen in alarm. "Wait, we're seeing movement in the belt - RAISE THE SHIELDS NOW!" She yelled, waving. "WE HAVE HOSTILES INBOUND!"
"CAPTAIN SVVSKO TO ENGINEERING, MAX POWER TO SHIELDS, IMMEDIATELY!" Svvsko ordered over the comms.
Valiant: 14+8
Rogue Machinery: 12+7
VALIANT WINS
A moment later, the Valiant's shields would find themselves battered by powerful laser-lances as a trio of ships emerged from the asteroid field, each of them large and cylinder shaped with sloping bevelled edges, white body of the structure wrapped around a harsh red blaze in the center of the forward face, three bands of chrome across the structure, gun-holes and turrets covering the majority of the alien crafts surface.
Without missing a beat, Svvsko issued orders. "Evasive manuevers!" He commanded, feeling a lurch as the ship began to move, taking hit after hit from the crafts lasers, just barely managing to avoid a direct hit from a torpedo, the ship shuddering and shaking as the biometal HardBlok armor absorbed the brunt of the energy released by the detonation of the explosive. "Comms-"
"Already on it," His Comms officer said, tapping away, having already anticipated her captains orders. "Hailing them in three...two...one..."
"Unknown fleet, this is Captain Svvsko of the TKK Valiant!" The Captain barked, hoping they responded. "Please cease attacking! If you continue we will be forced to return fire."
For a moment, silence. Then, over comms, a harsh, mechanical screech, and words in an unknown language, harshing and halting and mechanical, a harsh reverb to the words: unfortunately, there wasn't enough data to translate yet, but judging from the tone, it wasn't friendly. "COMMANDER. WE ARE DETECTING NO SIGNS OF ORGANIC LIFE ON ENEMY VESSELS," Came the announcement of the Science-Machina over comms. "WE BELIEVE THAT THE HOSTILE SHIPS ARE PILOTED BY A SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE-"
The ship lurched, and Svvysko nearly found themselves thrown from their chair, the Tekket cursing: a hit, though according to the Captains diagnostic readout it thankfully had only managed to do light damage to the armor.
What Maneuvers does Svvsko order? Select two. Regardless of what is selected, additional combat rolls will be made to determine damage.
[ ] [Torpedo] Target Cylinder Eye: It was big, it was red, it was facing them. The Captain hoped it was a weak spot: they didn't have enough scan data to say for sure.
[ ] [Torpedo] Target Cylinder Center: The Captain had no idea how durable these ships were: he wasn't going to take a gamble. Direct aim at the center of the vessels.
[ ] [Cannon] Scour Turrets: Risky as it would require closing the distance, but if the Turrets were taken out, it would allow a shuttle to board the vessels and (hopefully) allow for their capture whole.
[ ] [Machina] Hack Attack: It was a completely alien operating system in an unknown language, meaning the ships normal E-War systems wouldn't cut it: the technopathic abilities of the Machina would be required to subvert the digital security of the enemy ships.
[ ] [Machina] Decode: There still existed a chance that a peaceful end to this situation could be achieved IF the language used by the Synthetic Intelligences operating the ship were translated. Keep the Machina in contact with the enemy ships, and have them devote additional processing power to deciphering the language.
[ ] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[ ] [Subsystem]
- Location
- Canada
Ah...Umbra and...i hope to all our gods we did not find Men of Iron...welp time for our first true battle.
- Location
- barking
kill whatever these things are with fire
I mean it worked with the orks
- Location
- England
I have great news! If these were three DAoT/MoI ships, the Valiant would already be space dust, so they're not!
- Location
- Canada
Fair point...so just angry AI...that's less bad but still not good, i'm thinking we put our shrines on Shields and take out their turrets
- Location
- USA
[X] [Machina] Decode: There still existed a chance that a peaceful end to this situation could be achieved IF the language used by the Synthetic Intelligences operating the ship were translated. Keep the Machina in contact with the enemy ships, and have them devote additional processing power to deciphering the language.
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Subsystem] Science
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Subsystem] Science
- Location
- Canada
[X] [Cannon] Scour Turrets: Risky as it would require closing the distance, but if the Turrets were taken out, it would allow a shuttle to board the vessels and (hopefully) allow for their capture whole.
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Shields]
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Shields]
dgr11897
FBI surveillance Tank
- Location
- Behind you
[X] [Machina] Decode: There still existed a chance that a peaceful end to this situation could be achieved IF the language used by the Synthetic Intelligences operating the ship were translated. Keep the Machina in contact with the enemy ships, and have them devote additional processing power to deciphering the language.
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Subsystem] Science
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Subsystem] Science
Cue the Indiana Jones music.
[X] [Machina] Decode: There still existed a chance that a peaceful end to this situation could be achieved IF the language used by the Synthetic Intelligences operating the ship were translated. Keep the Machina in contact with the enemy ships, and have them devote additional processing power to deciphering the language.
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Subsystem] Science
[X] [Machina] Decode: There still existed a chance that a peaceful end to this situation could be achieved IF the language used by the Synthetic Intelligences operating the ship were translated. Keep the Machina in contact with the enemy ships, and have them devote additional processing power to deciphering the language.
[X] [Shrine] Concentrated Offerings: The Shrine-Keepers were on standby: at a moments notice, they would perform a targeted, heavy offering at one of the ship Sub-Shrines, providing the Voidborne Parliment additional vigor in the hopes it might change the tide of battle. Select one subsystem: Weapons, Shields, Engines, Communications, Science.
-[X] [Subsystem] Science
- Location
- Dragyxx
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Not very confident about trying to communicate. These are probably rogue AIs driven mad by scrapcode, rather than anything it would be possible to talk to.
Also ouch about losing the Endeavor, though the fact that there were survivors gives hope that we at least got a few Hobbgrots back.
Also ouch about losing the Endeavor, though the fact that there were survivors gives hope that we at least got a few Hobbgrots back.