Etna watched the space beyond the edge of the upper observatory as, behind her, the floor opened up and extruded the meeting table. It had been a few days since they had needed every specialist on the deck for a mission - but it had also been a few days since that stupid gameshow with that space god, what had his name been…
She shook her head and instead focused on her recorder. "Captain's Log, Date 2169.4.15…the Netwon-2 has found herself in the middle of a delicate balance of terror between two sub-FTL alien races, which have both flung themselves into space without fusion technology or antigravity. Instead of expanding beyond their home system, they have been locked in intractable, continual war for the past two centuries and now, it may be up to us and us alone to see them out of it…"
"Making a log, Captain?"
Etna turned and saw that Sandra was leading the way, followed by Lera, Crystals, Mr. Sythe, Alyia, Nhi and Vai. The collected specialists took their chairs, while Etna hung her logger off her belt and took her favorite chair.
"All right," she said, quietly. "Let's start with the physics." She turned towards Crystal and Sandra. "How much fuel would the Greens need for a more rapid return trajectory?"
Sandra hissed air through her teeth. "Sooooooooooo about that. It's not really a fuel issue. See, uh, firstly, they're using methane remass shunted through nuclear thermal rockets and we're a teakettle. Next, we don't have enough remass - our specific impulse is high enough that we need to carry less remass than they do for far higher delta v. And that's the real other problem: Even if we did manage to bring them the methane in question, their engines' don't put out enough thrust to make the changes at a speed that's really…" She shrugged.
Alyia leaned in. "They're going to be burning for months at a fraction of a G as it is. Not at a G, not at two Gs, no, no a fraction of a G. Because, uh, if they fired at combat maneuvering speed for more than a few minutes, their engine bells would probably crack and…explode."
"Great," Etna said. "Cool."
"These people went to war in these ships, correct?" Mr. Sythe asked.
"That they did," Vai said. "My kind of people. Well, except for basically all the rest of it."
"This is like trying to fight an air war with a steam engine!" Lera exclaimed, slapping her palms on the table.
"They tried that on Mantell IV, actually," Crystals said, her voice a bit soft.
"The steampunk planet?" Sandra asked.
"They, uh, consider that term highly offensive," Crystal whispered to Sandra.
"Oh," Sandra blinked. "Sorry."
"How about putting them in our spacewarp bubble and towing them back in an hour?" Etna asked.
"No, that'll just melt their crews," Sandra said, sounding distracted. "We'll be upshifting all the light from the sun falling on us from the visible spectrum to hard gama."
"And?" Etna asked.
"No defense screens, Captain, re-" Sandra stopped as Etna put her hand over her face, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Right, no screens, I keep forgetting that," she said, shaking her head.
"And no artificial magnetospheres," Mr. Sythe added. "I am wondering about the issue of the kites - which is the real problem. The Green's fleet doesn't matter if the kites are dealt with. Have the kites launched?"
"If they had, this would be a lot easier," Vai said, before nodding to Lera. Lera, who had been practically buzzing through her chair the instant Mr. Sythe had asked his question, sprang to her feet and came to attention.
"I have completed the preliminary examinations of the Purple's expeditionary force!" she said, puffing up her chest. "The war kites in question appear to have minimal crews - by my estimation thirty to forty per rocket. They have four completed, unlaunched, kites and two that could be scrambled with limited functionality. None of them have been launched currently, and as the Purples are aware of our FTL capacity, I doubt that any will be launched unless the Purples see no choice as, even if there were ten times as many of them, we could easily intercept and destroy them…a hundred times, even!"
"Really, Lera?" Sandra asked.
Lera's cheeks heated slightly. "Well, in…hit and run attacks, yes…but as it is, we can destroy the entire war kite fleet if it is in space. The current issue is they are not in space, they are currently attached to the only agricultural stations in the solar system. While it is possible we could disable them without causing damage to the stations…" She clicked her teeth, then sighed. "I must admit, despite the exemplary skill of our crew and the significant technical advantage of our rocket, it is unlikely that we would be able to disable them without damaging the stations, even if just from debris."
Sythe sighed. "And let us not forget that our weapons aren't the only ones on the battlefield. The armament on those ships includes dirty bombs and shotgun kinetics-"
"Technically, those are anti-missile defenses, not weapons," Lera said, edging up on her toes.
"I believe that the population of those stations will be highly interested in the difference as the pellets depressurize their primary habitation decks," Sythe said, his voice drier than vacuum.
Lera coughed. "Yes. Well." She paused. "It had to be said."
Etna frowned. "Okay, that sounds like we've covered physics, if anyone else has anything to add?" She paused, then nodded. "Onto biology." She looked at Nhi and Crystals, who had both been managing the logistic and biological end of this.
"Well, we've looked into their biotech support technologies," Crystals said, rubbing her palm along her bald head. "And they have pushed their protein synthesis and nutrifab techs to be roughly on par with our own. If anything, based off what I've seen, the only thing that they're lacking in is raw resources and have somewhat less effective genetic engineering tech. So, we could provide some genefixing techniques for their agriculture…but…" She shook her head. "They're already pushing everything to the upper limits of their functionality."
Nhi nodded, solemnly, her eyes clicking. "I've worked out some basic maths on the logistics. We…could do it, but the main issue is the, uh, ramp up. We'll need time to set up the routes, to build the autoships, to begin transporting the food - and in that time, the Greens would survive, but not before they have to make fairly horrific…triage." She frowned.
"In other words, mass murder," Etna siad.
"Yes," Nhi said, sighing. "Yes, that's what I was trying to be delicate about. And the Purples?" She shook her head. "They'd be fine." she held up her hands. "If both sides shared their supplies freely between one another, a single logistic ship! Just one! Just one of our ships!" She held up her finger for emphasis. "Could save everyone. Not comfortably, but everyone would have enough, long enough for the outside support to come in." She smiled. "It could even be us - we could push a barge around inside of our spacewarp bubble with the right shielding, and save everyone until the Rescue showed up."
"We just need to get them to agree," Sandra said, quietly.
"Or we take it," Vai said, frowning.
Everyone looked at him.
Vai shrugged. "They have interorbit transport tugs with food. We can just snatch as many as we need and redistribute. They literally could not stop us."
"Not exactly respecting their sovereignty," Mr. Sythe said.
"Their sovereignty?" Vai snapped. "The ones that will talk to us dropped an orbital colony on the fucking Purple's secondary homeworld, while these ones using suicide tactics and are gleefully going to watch their enemies starve - to be entire frank, fuck the both of them!"
Mr. Sythe inclined his head, slightly. "I admit, I find it very hard to argue against you, emotional outburst notwithstanding."
"Hey, thanks!" Vai said, genuinely.
"Alternative!" Sandra said, holding up her finger. "Can't we just, uh, help the Greens build a food…factory…" She paused. "Farm! That was it, farm. I knew that word." Growing up on a small space station has some effects.
"Ehhh…" Aliya said, waggling a dark skinned hand from side to side. "Ehhhh? So, uh, from what I can tell based on my observations, the Greens have a feast and famine industrial ecology. Their moons are all light elements - silicates, rubble, gravel…bullshit nonsense if you want to try and build self sustaining orbital civilization here. Which, I mean, I can get why they're a bit salty about being exiled out there." She shook her head. "So, they'd send out asteroid tugs to grab heavy metal rocks and drag them out of the belt at huge expense, away from any danger of easy raiding, and then smelt them back home. Then they'd run out of materials and have to go and run out again."
She sighed. "If we brought them a few asteroids, they could definitely use it to make a, uh…" She lifted her hand, then twitched her fingers. "... 'food factory', but…well, knowing these people, nukes and spaceships and laser guns would be a higher priority." She smiled while Sandra glared daggers at her.
Mr. Sythe frowned. "I have a question: Can we call for a Star Force gunship to force a cease fire? That would make the food relocation better."
"We don't have gunships, Mr. Sythe," Etna said. "Force doesn't occupy space, they are rapid response forces that are designed to get in, get out, and be refitted, their rockets burn hot and heavy." She frowned.
"The downsides of not having an imperial occupation," Mr. Sythe said, raising his eyebrows.
"On the subject of maintaining a healthy degree of imperialism," Vai said, with sarcasm capable of ablating armour, leaning in. "Can't we just move them somewhere? There are plenty of garden worlds out there."
"Statistically-" Mr. Sythe started.
"Taking into account the whole galaxy, yes, there are plenty! One percent is plenty!" Vai said.
"And this is a ship with berths for thirty-six people, Mrs. Asau."
"Fuck," Vai grumbled.
"I wouldn't mind the close quarters…" Lera murmured.
Sandra snorted. "Hows the seduction going, Lera?"
"She is sadly a bit genocidal," Lera said, putting her hands on her chin. "Tall, though…"
"Ahh…" Sandra frowned.
"I think I can bring her around, though! She called me an angel!"
"Aww!" Sandra brightened.
"Why?" Mr. Sythe asked.
"Well, I mean, Lera is a cutie according to string of-" Sandra started, but Etna held up her hand as Lera spluttered.
"They, she, that is, said, there…we…look like their kind of…mythology! Mythology, we have a…similarity to their mythology," she said, nodding furiously, while Vai's brows furrowed and Aliya leaned in a bit.
"How the fuck did we manage that?" she asked.
"Likely a byproduct of intervention from earlier humanoids," Vai said, nodding. "Maybe even the primordial humanoids."
"It wouldn't have been that long ago," Nhi said. "Likely a few thousand years, maybe even less."
Etna nodded. "All right…before we make any decisions, Nhi, can we hack into their general broadcast, bypass their governments for direct communication?" Nhi shook her head, grimly.
"Censored at every step, mostly wired, total lockdown. We could ring a station like a bell with a tractor beam, but that'd probably just crumple most of them like a tin can." She made a face. "Even if it works, I doubt they'd be very convinced."
Etna nodded. "All right, we're the negotiators. We've trained for this. Even if the people who we need to help today are not exactly winning the Sentients of the Year Award, we will do our jobs." She looked around the table. "Give me some game plans."
---
Questions answered! You have gained the following ship resources! Some questions that were fairly similar to one another have been combined into one point, so don't worry if the math doesn't make sense. It makes sense to ME. Your GOD in this pathetic dimension. Buahahah!
Strategic: 4
Science: 2
Sociology: 2
(Note: This question system is really fun! It's great to do TNG meetings.)
So… what's the plan?
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