Seriously y'all, this is an open_sketch/DragonCobolt quest. It's gonna get spicy.
We'll put all the NSFW stuff behind spoilers but like, for real.
Also also: There will be drug use in this quest, it's the space 60s. Many, but not all drugs will be fictional.
Interesting on their response to losing a ship and fellow people. They must have different values and ethics.
[X] I think we should offer them Co-operation. A small number of us living with them, and a small number of them living with us, should allow for them to get adapted to this new reality.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism
-[X] Invoke Interventionism
-[X ] I think we should offer them protection. They're right next to our most trafficked space lane and near two of Star Force's biggest bases. Let them know that anything that wants to hurt them has to get through us, and maybe we can help them avoid this happening again?
-[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
Makes sense that they'd be pants at naval tactics, yeah.
If I were more aggressive I might suggest pointing out that if this was their performance against a rando "young civilization" they might not need to worry too much about how much the Song could threaten us either, but that's kinda way too hostile for this situation. I like this one much better:
[X] I think we should offer them Co-operation. A small number of us living with them, and a small number of them living with us, should allow for them to get adapted to this new reality.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism
-[X] Invoke Interventionism
[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism
-[X] Invoke Interventionism
Collectivism: "They can't stay hidden forever. Better we help them now, then we leave them alone and someone less altruistic finds them."
Interventionism: "By offering a kind hand after winning a battle, they might be more susceptible to us trying to influence their society. For the better, or course."
[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism
-[X] Invoke Interventionism
It's used to repair wear and tear. She'd probably start getting aches in joints and stuff first.
Basically, she's got a power plant in her tummy that converts carbon to electricity using oxygen, and cool little electrically powered nanomachines that turn silica into more sandra when required.
The numbers probably don't line up efficiency wise but uuuuuuuuuh its soft sci fi.
Huh, it sounds like silicon shortage might be a bit like scurvy for regular humans. I wonder if old wounds (the patched 'wear and tear') would reopen.
In my opinion, given her ethics, the character wouldn't want to just leave them alone. (Personally, I think that would be a bad idea, anyway).
Offering them 'protection' might come off as a bad joke. I mean, we won the fight, but they went off half-cocked. If they had time to prepare, their unbelievably advanced tech seems like the kind of thing that could destroy planets. At most, Earth could offer them intel and combat experience, but that's not exactly 'protection'.
The cooperation write-in sounds nice, and it's my definite end goal, but it's too much too fast. They've built their entire society around hiding for millions of years. Let's give them some time to adjust before we try to invite ourselves over.
[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism: We can help each other by sharing our knowledge of recent events and the ancient past
-[X] Invoke Interventionism: We can't let them relapse back into paranoia or, even worse, imperialist conquest
I'm not sure if I'm invoking ethics the right way. Let me know if I should reformat the vote.
[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism
-[X] Invoke Interventionism
I think co-operation might be hard considering we work at different time-scales.
[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism
-[X] Invoke Interventionism
The cooperation write-in sounds nice, and it's my definite end goal, but it's too much too fast. They've built their entire society around hiding for millions of years. Let's give them some time to adjust before we try to invite ourselves over.
I agree with both of these assessments. If they are used to working on longer time scales, literally living at a slower pace, this whole encounter and attempting to integrate humans in their society for this cooperative exchange initiative would be happening way too quickly.
I know I am relying on human psychology when I say this, but making sudden changes to the society that are antithetical to the previous ideology without the time to process the hows and whys are not good for the stability of the society or the mental health of many of its more dogmatic members. Instead, it would likely result in a negative and potentially violent response just like the General that became a burst of elementary particles scattering off into interstellar space in the previous scene. This is boosted since the previous isolationist ideology based around fear for their own survival and they just watched us set of a gamma flare right in front of their front door.
We need to ease them into this, assuming they go along with a more interactive foreign policy at all.
[X] I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore. They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet.
-[X] Invoke Collectivism: We can help each other by sharing our knowledge of recent events and the ancient past
-[X] Invoke Interventionism: We can't let them relapse back into paranoia or, even worse, imperialist conquest
"I think we should offer them friendship. Their leadership seems to know that the gig is up and hiding can't protect them anymore." you said, thinking about the resignation in the voices of the Secretary. "They're going to be part of the galactic community again, so we should roll out the red carpet."
"Couldn't have said it better." Captain Karantirova said, sitting back in her chair. "Alright everyone. Mr. Sythe, I know you aren't one for breaks, so plot us a course back to the beacon relays. Let's leave this light behind us."
---
"Tell me you saw the impact! You had to, you were on the bridge!"
"I saw it!" you insisted, and Lera practically did a little dance on the spot, punching out her hands in celebration.
"Yes! That wasn't just any rocket, that was my rocket!" she declared. "Programmed the entire path!"
"I got kidnapped my space whales." you pointed out, and she nodded as if admitted to it, sitting back down.
"I know medical must have checked you over, but you're okay, right?" she asked, leaning close like she was inspecting your face for signs of damage, your features reflected in the mirror sheen of the flash visor she was, for some inexplicable reason, still wearing. "I've been worried! Not, like, extremely worried, because again, we have medics, and you still seem to be okay, but sometimes people aren't okay when they look-"
"I'm fine, Lera." you said, leaning back. Sighing. "Exhausted. It's been a long thirty-six hours. I feel like I've done a lot more than I have."
"Novel experiences often feel that way." Lera said, "I did maybe an hour of work programming the flashfabber and probe trajectories for the battle, but I feel like I've just run a marathon. We'll get used to it, I imagine."
"I'll get used to being kidnapped by space whales?" you asked, and she laughed.
"Perhaps not that specific, but… you have read just as many mission reports as I have, you know how strange it gets out here! I think what we'll get used to is not getting to get used to things. Does that make sense?" she explained, and after a moment of thought to put it together it sort of did, yeah.
"I mean...the Captain was cool as a cucumber during the entire fight," you said.
"Well, of course she was," Lera said, her voice taking on that authoritative tone she always used when she was lecturing you about anything tactical. "She's used to it!"
"She's used to being used to not being used to things?" you asked, and it was Lera's turn to think about it. You couldn't see behind the mirrored surface, but you knew she was doing the thing, flicking her eyes around the room like she was looking for the answer in random objects around her.
"... Yes! Besides, if she wasn't, do you think she would show her true feelings to a bunch of new cadets, who are fresh, green? Untested?" she nodded.
"...you're...also a new cadet. Fresh." You bump your shoulder against her. "Green. Untested."
Lera's cheeks flushed and she managed to contrive to look haughty and offended, all while still wearing eye-covering flash goggles.
"Not anymore we aren't!"
[End Credits]
---
Alright! That was our first episode and first mechanics test. There are clearly some problems, so we're going to do some revisions and get episode 2 to you ASAP!
You got 3XP through that adventure, and we'll resolve that at the start of the next episode.
- More developed 'entity' rules and game pacing
- Dice system which less favours preferred stats and punishes secondary stats
- Better integration of game pace and character ability.
- Clearer outcomes on rolls.
You duck your head against the pillow and groan happily.
You needed this.
"Oh Ken…" you murmured into the pillow as Kennith Thomassen kissed along your shoulder blades, his hands gliding along your body. Your cheek mashed against the pillow, causing it to slip aside - revealing the glowing red eyes and patchy cheeks of your teddy bear, Bubsy.
"Hello Ken," Bubsy said in his electronic death rattle.
"And that's when he fucking left!" you said, slamming your palms down while Lera, the ungrateful bitch, burst out laughing, almost spraying water out of her nose. Nhi, who's face was beat red, stammered.
"R-Really?"
"His shirt wasn't even on when he stepped out." You sighed, placing your palms against your face, rubbing your fingers against your eyes. "Uuugh. I got kidnapped by space whales, isn't getting laid in the aftermath of horrible space adventures, like, in the handbook?"
"Not the last time I checked, but the sentiment is understood," Lera said, wiping her hand along her forehead. "Do not fear, my Sandrochka, we're going to be having an easy sweep I believe."
"I should hope so, we're still not quite at unexplored space." Nhi pointed out. "Just… you know. The edge of it."
"Liminal space." you joked.
"Yes, exactly! I don't like we're getting so close to Nairine space, though…" she said nervously. You couldn't blame her - the Protectorate wasn't exactly the kind of people who 'played nice.' From what the refugees said, they could barely stop murdering their own citizens, let alone the citizens of other nations.
"Oh, we aren't that close. A few dozen light years from the NEP's farthest pickets." Lera said. "What we really have to worry about out here are pirates, the Ren'x homeworld is quite close and they give shelter to any sort of cutthroat that enters orbit. Oh, and of course, Aquillian revanchists, there's supposed to be a whole fleet that got lost out here after the war, who knows where they are. And we're not far from the Luxlite Remnant, and their automated battleships can travel many light-years to-"
"Lera, you're spooking her." you pointed out, and she stopped dead.
"Oh." she said stiffly. "But those are just random examples. Likely, we will run into nobody."
"Besides, Star Force has a pretty big base around here. I wouldn't worry about it." you pointed out. "Their newest rockets can punch out here faster than anything and they're loaded for bear!"
"Or, uh, for bird!" Nhi said, her lenses clicking as she sat up a bit. "...like Aquillian...remnants...it's…" She trailed off. "Nevermind."
Lera nodded.
"No, good joke. I liked it."
---
After breakfast, it was once again your shift on bridge sensors, and Nhi at the communication console. Lera was taking her first ever shift at the tactical bench too, and she'd looked so pleased with herself coming through the door. You were used to her by now, but you had to wonder what the captain thought of this diminutive woman wearing uniform trousers under her skirt and carrying all her emergency gear at Alert 4.
"Here." You looked up from your scopes to find that Mr. Sythe was standing above you. After this morning, you found it was even harder than normal to not blush when you saw him. But then the blushing got harder to avoid because you saw he was holding out a small cup at you. With coffee. Your eyes widened and you took it from him. Before you could thank him, he added: "Two spoons of silica, as you like it."
"Wow. Thanks! Yeah!" you said, nodding, then sipped it. "How are you doing today, uh…" You paused. "What's your full first name? I haven't gotten it yet, and it feels weird to just...call you Mr. Sythe all the time. Like you're my teacher."
He made a soft 'hm' noise, then nodded. "Tai'lon," he said. "And I'm doing adequately, considering the circumstances."
You paused. His name was Talon Scythe. Oh my God, did he have any idea how edgy that sounded in English?
… wait, didn't Aquillians pick their own names?
"Well, uh...are the circumstances good?" you asked, trying to cover for the giggles that tried to escape from you.
"No," he said.
"Oh," you said, feeling like a bit of an asshole for being so amused. "What's wrong?"
He looked faintly pained. "I attempt to maintain an open line of communications with all my fellow offic...fellow crewmates on matters pertaining to ship functions, but this is a personal matter and-"
"Oh, no, no, it's okay!" you said, hurriedly. "You don't need to explain, I get it!"
He inclined his head, then turned and stalked off to his console. Oh my God, this was awkward. And...sad. Either Tai'lon was really not clear on how the Patrol operated, or he was having a really hard time adjusting from his life in the...you just realized, you had no idea which Aquillian state he was from. Yeah, most likely, he was from the Free Aquillian People's Republic, one of the larger successor states and the one currently negotiating for UAS membership.
But there was a non-zero chance that he was a refugee from the so called 'Divine Empire'...or, hell, he could be from any of the dozens of free-states, bandit kingdoms, feudal autocracies, free-roaming rocket fleets that had fallen into raiding and salvage rather than surrender. Each of these possibilities left increasingly horrible reasons for why a 'personal matter' could make an already broody (sexy) angsty (hot) space elf even unhappier.
You had just made a note to find some way to make up for the awkwardness to him in the near future - maybe find out his version of sandy coffee - while taking your first happy sip when Nhi drew your attention.
"Uh, captain, I'm getting a signal, emergency tachyon transmitter." Nhi said, and everyone looked over to where she was adjusting her earpiece, clicking through the buttons on her console. "It is an automated distress signal using UAS protocols, but I'm only getting snippets. Can't really make anything out."
"That's not good. Can we triangulate a location?" Captain Karantirova asked, and Nhi tapped a few more buttons, frowning.
"Close, captain. Three quarters of a light year, the nearest star. Uh… D461541-5, binary system, two rocky bodies, a frozen gas giant, and a lot of asteroids. There's a tiny automated listening satellite, some junk from old prospectors, and not much else."
"And let me guess, we're the nearest rocket?" captain Karanitrova asked, her voice amused. "Well, we're obligated to respond, and I don't think anyone wants to leave a friend in the lurch. Punch our course in, Mr. Sythe, FTL factor 9."
"Yes, Captain," he said, and the nose view of the Newton-2 swung around towards D461541-5.
It is the 22nd century and these are the voyages of the Newton-2.
Her three year mission - to seek out new life, new possibilities and new horizons.
To, forever, push the boundaries of knowledge...
STARRING
Uju White as SANDRA ROBINSON
Lisa J. J. Ezra as OVECHKINA VALERYA VITALIEVNA
Jasmine Nguyễn as PHAM THI NHI
and introducing...
Steven Blair as MR. TAI'LON
"The Siren Star"
With special guest star MICHAEL SPATTS as "Gideon Sythe"
Even at FTL 9,the highest rating Newton-2 could maintain for more than a brief sprint, it took nearly six hours to make the journey. The system under your scopes was just as boring as Nhi had described - a bunch of rocks, boring worlds, and plenty of nothing that couldn't be found in more interesting solar systems.
But you took all those thoughts and you carefully compacted them into a box and shoved that box out of your head - the rule that had been hammered into your head was that there was no such thing as a solar system that was boring until it had been visited and charted...and settled for five centuries. There were countless examples of colonial settlements from older powers being swamped by completely unexpected anomalies, ancient ruins coming to life, being visited by Star Gods, and…
The list went on.
You started to thumb through your scopes - and...there she was. You put the image on your scopes on the main screen while saying: "Found our distress signal, Captain."
Floating before the star, slowly tumbling end over end, was the unmistakable beaked prow and flared wings of an Aquillian rocket. This one was painted a brilliant purple and gold, with only a few patches of hull that glowed a brilliant green - where their utterly fearsome, close ranged plasma projectors were situated. The 'wings' themselves were actually radiators, frilled out in a complex pattern to enhance their radiative abilities and toughen them against any lucky shots. They glowed with a brilliant, crimson light, making it painfully clear just how many gigawatts the mani reactor was still pumping out. At the base of the rocket were another two, smaller radiators, which glowed a duller coal-red, dumping the waste heat for life support.
As it tumbled - slowly enough that any inertial dampener could handle it, but fast enough to make it clear it was not fully intentional - you could see...there was no sign of exterior damage. No glowing impact craters, no flashburns, no glittering constellation of knocked off debris, no blown out weapon ports or slagged thrusters. It was, in a word...pristine.
"You know, I'm still not used to seeing one of those and not expecting shooting." Captain Karantirova said. "Those little birds scared the shit out of us when we first started running into them. Five years, nothing but giant war rockets we could run circles around and little pirate-hunters who couldn't scratch us. Then suddenly they built ships like ours, just faster, better shielded, better armed…"
"It is fortunate the war was decided by logistics, economics, and politics, not technological capability." Mr. Sythe said, his voice utterly neutral. "Still, this is not a rocket of one of our enemies. The hull markings indicate it's a member of the Republic People's Navy. She's the Fraternité."
"Makes sense, they're helping Star Force shore up the border here. Ms. Phạm, hail them if you haven't already." Captain Karantirova said. Then she paused. "Wait, you recognize her?"
"I recognize the markings," Sythe said. "RPN Fraternité. One of my relations was stationed on it, last I communicated with him."
"Why is an Aquillian ship named in French?" Lera asked, and Jools laughed.
"The Free Republic was largely inspired by your Earther democracies and decolonial movements of the 20th century," Mr. Sythe said. "A great many have a… particular fascination with the French Revolution, though I expect they will begin to take names from other revolutionary states as they run out. I am not looking forward to seeing the first Enterprise…"
"Why, afraid it'll be tempting fate?" Jools asked - for reasons that mystified you.
"If not Enterprise, why not Pham Ngu Lao?" Nhi suggested, then looked around the room at the blank faces. "It was… uh, the Socialist Republic's first large ship… I got to tour it when I visited…"
"I'll bring it up next time I speak to the Naval Board." Mr. Sythe said, in a way that made it sound like he might, indeed, do that sometimes.
"Have we gotten anything from the Fraternité?" Captain Karantirova asked Nhi.
"I've been hailing them since we dropped out, captain, no response on any frequency. Nothing. Just the distress signal, and it's not any clearer now that we're up close."
"All right, spooky. I don't want to bring us closer if there's something lurking, so everyone on scanners. If anyone has any bright ideas, I'm all ears." Karantirova asked.
---
How do you want to approach this problem? We're going to be running a new version of the rules for this one: you can find it here. Onward Draft 9/2/21
The Mystery of the Fraternité is an Entity - meaning that it is both a danger and a problem to solve. All entities have a Target, representing how difficult they are to resolve, but you don't know what that value is! Whenever a roll is failed, the Entity develops - not only does it get worse, it causes events to happen in the fiction you must respond to. Entities also have a Danger Clock that ticks down towards the worst possible outcome.
Characters can interact with Entities by either Researching, Responding or Reacting. Researching provides information and resources but cannot change the world. Responding causes something to change about the world. Reacting prevents something negative from happening.
[ ] Start a deeper scan of the Fraternité for signs of life or unusual readings (Research: Insight)
[ ] Scan the system for any dangers or lurking threats (Research: Advantage)
[ ] Help Nhi examine the distress signal from the Fraternité to see if you can work out details from that. (Research: Trust)
[ ] Search the computer-tapes for the Fraternité's technical specifications for future comparison (Research: Technology)
[ ] Write In
Is the right align on the second half intentional? It looks like it held over from the title scrawl. (Please never stop doing those, they are adorable.)
ha ha what right alignment? I don't see any right aligment, it'd sure be silly if I posted the entire story after checking it several times with THAT mistake, ha *sweats nervously*
FTL factor 9? Is it possible to have a chart of these factors and their speeds?
Does Star Patrol have an Enterprise? If not, who and what does she look like?
I am thinking something is wrong with the crew on that ship.
[x] Start a deeper scan of the Fraternité for signs of life or unusual readings (Research: Insight)
We are literally using the TOS warp factor scale! The Newton can pull nine and a half, or about 860 times the speed of light, for short periods. It cruises at FTL 8 normally. These ships are all about as fast as most conventional civilizations can manage speedwise: Star Patrol has some experimental rockets that can do 11+, but they're rare and specialized.
You may have noticed them going faster in an earlier update. That's because of the beacon network we keep mentioning: a common tech in this universe are big interstellar stations which create 'highways' of distorted space between them, effectively adding their own factor to that of any ship traveling through them. This clever device is used to solve the longstanding issue in Trek where the ship's rated speed is simply not fast enough for a given vessel to see all the cool stuff bordering the Federation, like it doesn't make sense for the Enterprise to be at deep space one episode and at the Romulan Neutral Zone the next with the travel times mentioned. Well, the beacon network basically speeds redeployment within a given political body, to make that easier to handwave!
(It also allows civilian ships without giving every two-bit merchant a bunch of antimatter. You can have fusion-powered ships puttering at FTL 3-4 still be practical by having them ride the beacons.)
