Remove ads

Petals of Titanium -- My Life as a Mecha Setting Bridge Bunny Quest

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
Broken Base said:
I'd imagine them to be in some way we can really predict though; we can predict that he would just ignore us even though we clearly state the message, something I discussed a bit, we can't predict that half the problem would be our character dropping the ball in communicating. "Discreet" in no way makes that clear.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's not immediately obvious from the wording alone, but if you stop to consider possible downsides it's hardly a reach.
 
[x] Just tell Grayson, although there's probably no way to do this without tipping off the stationers
We just moved to defcon 3, no time for horseshit.
 
[x] Ask Lee to quietly give you a copy as a favour
I am way too late to this party, but Lee wants information about what happened and he almost certainly works on a favour trade basis. I'd suggest this in the context that:

-You cannot tell him anything about the fight and it's of course the crews sworn duty to follow orders. Buuuut he might be interested to know there's civilians onboard your ship, rescued from the engagement. Civilians who probably know details of *something of interest* and who aren't part of the command chain. Some kids even who've probably never heard of information security. They might come stationside, or while resupplying he or some stationers might run into them onboard!

-You heard his long-rang comms talking about something weird. You had a big impact on the previous engagement from decoding an important transmission. You'd like to work on your decoding, and while this isn't related or important it would be useful practice just showing a negative, with nothing of interest except junk.
 
Last edited:
[x] Try to discreetly message Mazlo on the Rose to see if he can intercept it

Late to the party but I'm not gonna assume Mazlo is a complete petty asshole just yet.
 
Remove ads
Update 009: Irregularities
  • Threadmarks
    • Try to discreetly message Mazlo on the Rose to see if he can intercept it
    Number of voters: 36

    Just tell Grayson, although there's probably no way to do this without tipping off the stationers
    Number of voters: 4

    Ask Lee to quietly give you a copy as a favour
    Number of voters: 2

    Write-in: Call Mazlo to ensure that hes paying attention to his comm THEN discretely message him to intercept it
    Number of voters: 2

    Tell Perbeck, although there's probably no way to do this without tipping off the stationers
    Number of voters: 1

    Write in: Approach Perbeck telling her there is an urgent message for her from the Rose. Once you get her somewhat alone inform her of the situation.
    Number of voters: 1

    Quickly, quietly, you back up and away from the ajar door to the comms room. A small, distracted part of you wonders at the strange feeling you're getting simply from seeing a passageway in this state -- every compartment transition on an imperial spaceship or station is an airtight hatch, which is either open or closed. In between would mean that something is broken.

    You quietly slide the bathroom door open again, wincing at the sound the wheels make, and back yourself into the tiny space once more. There is room for exactly one person inside; less than a metre wide, with just enough lengthwise floorspace for the toilet and the tiny sink recessed slightly into the wall. You turn your back to the door in the vague hope that it prevents your voice from carrying, snap your tablet off your belt, and quickly send a message to your direct superior back on the Rose, flagging it as priority one -- something reserved for life threatening emergencies, active combat… and the transmission of codewords such as the ones you've just heard.

    "Ensign, there's a problem?" You have the volume turned down so low that you have to hold the device up to your ear to hear him. He hardly sounds pleased to hear you, but the way you've flagged this message means that he can't precisely be angry, yet.

    "Sir," you say, "I have just overheard a transmission that a salvage team from this station has picked up."

    There's a menacing, pregnant pause, before he says, voice very quiet, "... you're messaging me on a priority channel for that, Ensign North?"

    "Sir," you say again, keeping your voice low and calm. "This message is--"

    "Do you think that because you stumbled onto that enemy transmission before, you can just get more praise for wasting our time?"

    "No, sir! This is actually important, sir!"

    He sighs. "I would certainly hope so, North."

    "Honey, starling, tangle," you say, simply.

    There's a pause, this time of a very different character. "Repeat that, Ensign," Mazlo instructs.

    "Honey, starling, tangle, sir. The salvage team is going to beam a full copy of the message to the station any moment. They don't know what they have."

    "... get back to work, Ensign, I'll take it from here," he says. Sharply, but he seems to be taking the situation seriously. "We can't afford to arouse suspicion with these people."

    "Yes, sir!" you say, clearly, relieved. "Thank you, sir!" The line goes dead, and you carefully snap the tablet back onto your belt, and once again leave the restroom.

    When you arrive back in Birch's office, things have, if anything, deteriorated further.

    "I'm sorry, sir, but we are law abiding citizens -- you can't seriously be suggesting we'd undertake unlicensed repairs, and on a naval ship of the Empire, no less!" Lee is on his feet, leaning against the corner of Birch's desk smiling up at Grayson in a way that looks more like a baring of teeth.

    "I damn well know you couldn't care less about that kind of thing, any other time," Grayson snaps. "You have mechas flying around out there with weapon grade laser cutters!"

    There's a moment of silence, then. Lee keeps his composure, but Birch flinches, and Choi has a moment of slight panic visible in his eyes. "We get many of our machines second hand, with non-standard equipment loadouts and modifications," Choi says, hurriedly, "If you think there's anything amiss with our worker units, we'd be happy to assess them once our licensed repair crew has returned."

    "Of course," Birch says, apologetically, "We'd have to resolve any such matters before they could become available to aid in your repairs…"

    If Grayson hadn't been quite so dark, you're sure he would be turning bright red. "Forget the mechas," he says, clenching a fist and forcing it to stay by his side, as if to restrain himself from slamming it down onto the desk in front of him. Months in zero-g, where such an action can send you floating backwards towards the ceiling, tends to break one of unnecessary displays of harmless aggression."We need that oxygen, and those repairs, as quickly as possible!"

    "It will take three days, at least, before we're entirely ready to transfer oxygen at full capacity," Choi says, with a conciliatory air. "Our oxygen volume is not so great that we can simply refill a large ship from nowhere. Hopefully, our licensed repair crew will also have returned by then."

    "And I suppose there's nothing you can do to speed up the proceedings?" Lady Perbeck's voice is exceptionally annoyed, but it's a cooler emotion than Grayson's borderline anger.

    "No, Commander," Birch says, once again displaying the Saturnian tendency to not realise when an aristocratic title takes precedence. "We are, of course, complying to the full letter of the law."

    Seething slightly, Grayson is about to say something to that, when his tablet begins begins to chime. He pauses, exchanging a look with Perbeck, before answering. "Yes, Captain? We're conducting discussions now, ma'am. Well, yes, they have agreed to-- yes, yes, we can do that. Very well, ma'am." The call ends, with Grayson looking concerned, but still deeply frustrated. "Well," he says, simply, "I regret to inform you that we must cut these proceedings short for the time being. There's urgent business to attend to back on the ship."

    --​

    It becomes even clearer that Mazlo did as you hoped when, upon the ship's inner airlock sliding open, Captain Andre is already waiting there, along with the communications officer himself who, for once, gives you an oddly pleased look as you salute alongside the others. You dismiss your misgivings about the unpleasant feeling the look gives you -- that's simply how his face rests, you reason.

    "I take it something important has come up?" Perbeck asks, grabbing a handrail to pull herself closer to the captain.

    "It has," Andre agrees. "How are things with our resupply, Grayson?" she asks, glancing over to her first officer.

    "They're dragging their feet," Grayson says, grimly, "but not denying us outright."

    Andre snorts, although in a distracted way. She waves a dismissive hand. "Of course not. Law or no law, they are an unarmed station guarded by the mecha equivalent of forklifts with knives taped to them. They're rustics, not idiots."

    "I'm not entirely certain I agree," Grayson rumbles. His grip on his own hand hold is tight enough that you can tell that clearly, he's still far, far from happy.

    "Calm down, Lieutenant," Andre says, frowning at him. "We'll work this out. For right now, we have vital matters to discuss."

    "More vital than our resupply?" Perbeck asks, raising an eyebrow.

    "We'll discuss both," Andre says, impatiently. "Sub Lieutenant Mazlo has managed to discover a message that the stationers were relaying from a remote source -- in my office, if you please?" It's an order for Grayson, and something closer to a request for Perbeck.

    You float stock still as the three officers float away. Mazlo lags behind them for a moment longer. "Is something troubling you, North?" he asks, a strong hint in his voice.

    "... no, sir," you reply.

    "That's what I thought," he says, satisfied, and makes to follow Grayson, while you stare after him, entirely too conscious of the fact that he's apparently taken complete credit for your discovery. The important thing, you know, is that you relayed the information to the captain without the stationers discovering what you were doing. You weren't doing this for personal glory or career advancement. Still, though, it stings not to get so much as basic recognition for your discretion and quick thinking.

    "Ugh," Anja says, beside you. "I don't know how much more of this going rapidly in and out of gravity I can really take." She looks at you then, frowning. "Are you okay, North? You don't get nauseous, I thought."

    You smile, pushing whatever signs of discontent off of your face. "I'm fine," you tell her. "It's nothing to worry about."

    --​

    True to your suspicions, aid does probe to be slow coming. The station is very slowly siphoning oxygen from their reserves into the Rose, continuing to beg a need not to drain their reserves all at once. You stand by on multiple occasions, while your ship's life support technicians bicker with the stations' about arcane points of tank pressure and pipe width. It's not precisely something you can follow, but you get the strong impression that the stationers may be exaggerating the fragility of their system in a way that the naval specialist cannot technically disprove.

    There is increasingly an air not that you are visiting an Imperial station full of loyal citizens, but rather almost as if you've arrived at a port in some recently conquered vassal state. It's a strange feeling -- Saturn was never independant, but, here more than you ever picked up on Titan, there's a pointed implication that not everyone in the Saturn System is particularly pleased to have suddenly become the seat of the Empire in exile. Almost as if they feel themselves being dragged into a war that has little to do with them.

    〈"You know,"〉 you catch Anja saying to Lee, in seom frustration, 〈"Even if you don't like the proper empress, we're a sight better than you'd get from the usurper."〉 It's at the end of an unproductive meeting, with the two of them the last to leave the room. Anja's complexion -- ordinarily a light olive -- has an uncharacteristic palor. It does not look as if she's getting used to the rapid changes in gravity in a hurry. 〈"Haven't you heard what he's doing in Jupiter? They spaced a group of smugglers last year."〉

    Lee jerks his arm out of her grip, and takes a step back. 〈"I'm not sure I like what you're implying, Ensign Li,"〉 he says, crisply. 〈"We're law abiding citizens, for all that I haven't put on a pretty uniform and practised my best Imperial. We're complying with your demands, as per the law. Unless you think there's a particular reason why otherwise unwise haste should be a factor…?"〉

    Anja scowls. 〈"Oh, have it your way,"〉 she says, storming off down the hall toward you.

    You give Lee a cool look, which he returns with one to match. "Let's go, Anja," you say, quietly.

    As the two of you go down the passageway, following after your group, she gives you a weary grin. "Even though I know that you're just using my name because my surname's the same as his," she says, jerking a thumb behind her, to where lee is still standing, arms crossed, "I'll still pretend it's a sign that I'm worming my way into your good graces." You only respond with a small, ambiguous smile.

    Surprisingly, despite her calm, reasonable demeanor throughout, painting a stark contrast to the open annoyance of both Perbeck and Grayson, it's Andre that finally snaps after being appraised of the glacial progress on the third such visit. "Dammit!" she snarls, smashing her fist against a shaft wall. Her strong grip on a handhold with her free hand prevent her from drifting away opposite the blow. "That's it, damn the scheming little bastards. We're going to have to give them enough to satisfy them, at least."

    "Ma'am!" Grayson says, clearly stricken. "That information hasn't been cleared! It's against regulations!"

    At first, you think that Grayson is simply alarmed by the principle of the matter, until you see Andre shake her head, looking grim. "I'm authorising it," she says. "I'll take full responsibility."

    "But… ma'am," Grayson says, eyes wide, "You're not--"

    "Not highborn enough to get off without a court martial, if this goes wrong?" Andre says, suddenly obscurely amused. "I think that's my problem, Lieutenant. And, if we dawdle too much on responding to that blasted transmission Mazlo picked up, I'll quite possibly be facing one of those anyway. Our technicians have done enough to make the hull spaceworthy, even if it's not quite up to spec. To hell with waiting for their 'licensed crew', all we need now is that damn oxygen."

    Grayson deflates, looking crestfallen and displeased. Clearly, the top secret emergency signal is every bit as urgent as might have been guessed. "At least once we're gone from here, the civilians will stop worrying that we've docked at a 'nest of pirates'," he mutters.

    Lady Perbeck, having been drifting away, in the direction of the showers, stops short, turns partially around, and sighs explosively. "I'll do it, then," she says, "if noble rank has something to do with it, and it gets us away from this place all the sooner."

    Andre looks briefly torn between relief, and mild annoyance. "You'll do it with some discretion, I hope, Perbeck," she says, relief winning out. "We don't want them thinking the entire Navy of Correction is about to come down on their heads."

    "I'll be fine, Captain," Perbeck says, waving a hand dismissively.

    "I suppose you'll have to be," Andre concedes.

    --​

    "... excuse me, milady?" Choi asks, staring wide-eyed at the countess. He, at least, after this long, has picked up that addressing her simply as 'commander' has not been endearing them to her. You suspect that the other three Quetzle leaders have similarly realised this, but simply don't care to put it into practise.

    "I said," Perbeck says, crossing her arms a little imperiously, "That you might consider that the longer you keep us here, the more you expose yourselves to certain dangers."

    "... certain dangers?" Birch asks, eyes narrowing.

    "You can use your imaginations, I'm sure," Perbeck says, shifting so as to rest a hand on her hip. It's not precisely on the gun, but the gesture does, unfortunately, draw attention to the sidearm there, and every Saturnian eye in the room seems to have followed it. Sensing the change of atmosphere in the room, the two marines, long since grown bored and disdainful of the proceedings, suddenly snap to quiet alertness. You decide, that should it really come to that, your best bet would be to grab Anja, and drag yourselves both down to the floor, safely out of the way. You're not armed, and you are both far too safely in the "workstation jockey" category to be a lot of immediate use.

    "Are you threatening us, Commander?" Lee asks, in an almost dangerous tone. "I think you'll find that we have been acting entirely to the letter of the law."

    "If not, perhaps, to the spirit. I don't need to threaten you, Mr. Lee. You have nothing on this station that our ship can't deal with, and I think you realise that there are worse things out here than your own military's patrol ships."

    "Do I, now?" Lee snaps, "because I don't recall anyone else showing up here and making veiled threats."

    Perbeck closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose, holding this pose for a few seconds. "The point, Mr. Lee," she says, "is that the sooner we have our oxygen, the sooner we're gone. And then you don't need to worry about us, or anything else that may come after us."

    This, finally, may have hit home. Choi reaches over to tug at Lee's arm, whispering hurriedly in his ear. After shooting the older man a pained look, Lee sighs, and turns back to Lady Perbeck. "It's not precisely good for our stores," he says, "but I'll see what I can do."

    No one resorts to actual violence, but neither Perbeck nor the marines, the personnel present who have more than rudimentary combat training, relax for the entire trip back, and it is with some faint surprise that you hear the ship has been restocked overnight.

    "It's not ideal," Andre mutters, when she's informed on the bridge, "but I'll take it. It's not as though we're ever coming back here again."

    You know that this is almost certainly true -- you have absolutely no reason to ever come back to this particular Shadow Ring station, let along deal with any of these people again. But this whole affair has been messy enough that you're left with a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. Hopefully, a feeling is all that it is.

    --​

    The exact contents of the distress signal -- and the fact that you're tracing a mysterious, top secret distress signal has gotten out to the crew at large -- have not quite gotten out. You, who heard the message, know that the number of people who actually have authorisation to use such codewords are relatively small. And while any idiot comms tech could simply disregard regulation and use those words, the accompanying encryption is highly specialised, and would be much, much harder to fake. From what you know, this would mean a handful of very high ranking intelligence officers, maybe some top admirals, one or two government officials, or a member of the Imperial family on official business.

    With your ship completely re-stocked with air, if not quite adequately repaired to take another hit like the last one in the same place, it's several days hard burn at a different vector than you'd been going before. Navigation is annoyed, you've gathered, but has charted your new course to swing by the source of the distress signal, then continue onward towards Iapetus. A goal that is far out of the way of your original trajectory, but now seems like the most reasonable option. They're tense ones, with the common feeling that anything top secret giving out a high priority distress signal is very bad news indeed.

    "I have something on long-range scans, ma'am," you announce, eventually. Stress or no, the familiar rhythms of work have at least resumed. "Multiple hot objects, moving perpendicular to us. They're ship-sized, at least."

    Andre looks up, suddenly more alert. "Right," she mutters. By all the charts you have, this area should be completely in the middle of nowhere. "North, get me more on that. For now, I want us to change course to match velocity and relative vector. Grayson, bring us to level two battlestations. We're not exactly ready for a fight, but we can't roll over and die if this goes as poorly as it might." The captain, in that moment, looks very much like someone obeying orders she would really rather not.

    "Yes, ma'am," you reply, in chorus with the helmsman, and Grayson. You concentrate on your workstation, even as the amber warning lights went up on the bridge, and additional crew drifted in through the hatch to take their places, and you all wait expectantly to close the distance and speed between yourselves and the strange objects.

    Hours pass. Space is mostly empty on your scans, aside from the objects in question, their signature reading strong and stronger the more data you recieve. You frown at the readouts as you get closer. They're radiating, certainly, but brighter than they should be. And their course is erratic… "the readout is a little strange, Captain," you say, frowning.

    "Velocity matched, ma'am," the helmsman says, before anyone can acknowledge this observation. You're still a good distance out, but they're not actively getting any farther away from you now.

    "Good," Andre says. "Start bringing us in closer, if you please."

    "They're burning hotter than is safe," you note, frowning at your readout.

    "That could be an artifact from their thrusters going full burn all at once," Mazlo suggested.

    "No," Andre murmurs, "We'd never have matched velocity so quickly if they were going flat out."

    As you get closer, you begin to see that what at first looked like a group of several ships moving together is more than that -- the discrete objects are moving at slightly different vectors, and as scan quality improves and you close on whatever it is, something clicks in your head. "... Captain, it a fresh debris field!" Sure enough, you near the shiplike objects, you can already see that some of them are actually made up of smaller, tightly packed ones. As smaller and smaller objects appear on scans, almost unintuitively, the field seems to get larger and larger.

    "Receiving an automated transmission, Emergency Public Information Channel." Mazlo reports. "It's a little garbled."

    "Put it on," Andre says, grimly.

    "ATTENTION ...PERIAL NAVAL VESSEL, YOU... ENTERED RES...TED SPACE WITHOUT CL... PLEASE CUT... ENGINES AND WEAPONS SYSTEMS ...ARE TO BE BOARDED FOR INSP... BY ORDER... IMPERIAL THRONE."

    The message began to loop, getting no clearer with each subsequent recitation.

    "Identifying wreckage from Unregistered Imperial Station, multiple friendly vessels, unidentified machines," you report, soberly.

    "The message is coming from what's left of the station," Mazlo confirms.

    "Ma'am, Lady Perbeck requesting permission to perform a long distance sweep of the debris field, ahead of the ship."

    "Fine. Make damn sure she's careful about it," Andre mutters. "We've already lost one noblewoman on this voyage."

    "Permission granted, ma'am," you can faintly hear Anja say into her headset. "The Captain hopes you'll stay safe," she adds, in what can only be described as a creative departure from the captain's exact wording.

    As the scans clarify further, the shape of a standard Naval station draws into shape. Much like the last one you saw at Phoebe, it's been smashed, the spindle bent out of shape, the habitation ring ruptured and falling apart, its contents flying out to tumble through space forever. "The ships are Metallic Class frigates," you report. "The HIMS Bismuth, the HIMS Iron, and the HIMS Tin."

    "Three full frigates?" Andre asks, plainly surprised. And the Iron's here?" Andre says, surprised and dismayed. "I know her captain. Any signs of life, North? Or evidence of the ships that did this?"

    "Let me patch in the feed from Lady Perbeck, ma'am," you offer. "There's--" you stop short, starting in surprise. "One of them's trying to hail us!"

    "Mazlo?"

    "Patching them in, ma'am," Mazlo promises. "It's the Iron. Just give me... I need to boost this…"

    The video feed that comes onto the main screen is oddly dim and flickering. The room it reveals is a wider, more standard version of the same bridge layout that the Rose uses, but it's lit only by dim, blueish emergency lighting. You can tell that the emergency hatch seals have been engaged -- it's entirely possible that the bridge, nestled deep within the hull, is the only part of the frigate to have survived, with only the bridge crew remaining out of the whole ship. The dark-faced, haggard looking man staring back at them has lost his hat, but looks at you all with a mixture of hope and panic.

    "Lucas?" Andre asks, relief warring with horror on her own face. "What the hell happened to you?"

    "Imperial Sun, Andre, is that you? No, no time. You ha--" the feed cuts out, and Mazlo scrambles to get it back up again.

    "Lady Perbeck is reporting movement in the area!" Anja calls, just as the feed flicks back to life on the main screen.

    "--ind her, Lilian! Before they do! We're not important They're still in the area!"

    You look at the scan data given to you by Perbeck, and only have time to be faintly surprised by the marked improvement in fidelity to what you're used to from her Huntress, before you see that Anja's right. "Multiple mecha, ma'am!" You cry. "They were hiding in the wreckage!" You're not quite in the wreckage yet, but you're close enough to be within striking range.

    "All hands, this is First Officer Grayson. Please proceed to level one battlestations. I repeat: all hands to level one battlestations" Grayson's voice says, broadcasting over the general comm. The amber lights turn red. "Windsor, I want point defences hot now -- main guns can wait. Li, clear Ito to launch."

    "What are you talking about, Lucas?" Andre demanded. "We're under attack! All the other ships are dead in space! Find who?"

    "Not all," Captain Lucas says. "There's-- he stops, eyes staring at something on another screen. "They've locked onto our signal! Andre, you-- you actually see the projectile-induced rend tear into the reinforced, sealed walls of the bridge, the sucking void of space stealing away the surviving crew's oxygen before anyone has so much of a chance to scream. Then, mercifully, the feed goes dead.

    "North, I need to know what we're dealing with and where the ship those things came on is!" Captain Andre snaps, cold fury clear in her voice.

    "Yes, ma'am!" You confirm. You essentially have two tasks before you -- improving the battlemap in the debris field, and developing one of the space beyond it. You can do both, but you'll have to decide what to prioritise.

    [ ] Prioritise the debris, where you know there's an active threat, letting the wider area scan come in more slowly

    [ ] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha

    [ ] Try to do both at once
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Jrin said:
    What an ass, we should never help Mazlo again, he really piss me off.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Well, we need to keep doing our duty by him, but serving him up wins to take all the credit for doesn't help us at all. If we can put him at risk of embarrassment or injury without unbearable risk to the ship and its occupants it would probably be worth the risk.
     
    [X] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha

    We've got at least some imaging of the debris field (if not as good as we'd like), but hardly any of beyond it. And the potential for enemy reinforcements getting the drop on us seems like something we should try to head off first.
     
    Great, Mazlo's a gloryhound.

    I mean, we did our job and that's what matters but I do agree with our MC that not being mentioned stings a bit.

    [X] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha

    We keep on getting ambushed, so let's get a better view of the battlefield.
     
    So, there's a VIP of some sort on the only other ship that's moving, but we haven't seen where it is, yet. Maybe it's hiding in the debris field. Also: "From what you know, this would mean a handful of very high ranking intelligence officers, maybe some top admirals, one or two government officials, or a member of the Imperial family on official business." With that, I'm betting the VIP is either an intelligence officer or a member of the Imperial family. We should probably locate this person and provide support. Which of these options does that?
     
    [X] Prioritise the debris, where you know there's an active threat, letting the wider area scan come in more slowly

    It's Perbeck on her own in that debris field, against multiple enemy mecha. Our mecha force is already under strength, losing another member of it, its commander no less, would be pretty bad. Plus, that Huntress of her's packs a real punch, and as we saw in the first battle can make a significant difference in ship battles as well. Makes sense to be worried about ships that we haven't spotter yet, but if we prioritize finding them and lose Perbeck, we'll be much less equipped to deal with them.
     
    "What are you talking about, Lucas?" Andre demanded. "We're under attack! All the other ships are dead in space! Find who?"

    "Not all," Captain Lucas says. "There's-- he stops, eyes staring at something on another screen. "They've locked onto our signal! Andre, you-- you actually see the projectile-induced rend tear into the reinforced, sealed walls of the bridge, the sucking void of space stealing away the surviving crew's oxygen before anyone has so much of a chance to scream. Then, mercifully, the feed goes dead.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    There is probably a shuttle with stealth tech features somewhere in the region, but I'm uncertain if it is in the debris field, or elsewhere.

    Well if it is a royal shuttle the debris field remaining in the debris field might be a detriment as it gives them a region to look, but on the other hand I might be overestimating the technology.

    [x] Prioritise the debris, where you know there's an active threat, letting the wider area scan come in more slowly
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Gives combat data to the good Countess sooner, and keeps that ship alive. Also if whomever the late Captain wanted Andre to find is within the debris field this locates them faster.

    [x] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Locates the enemy mothership, and gives the Captain more time to plan out the exact angle to turbo boost out of the battlefield once we're done here. Also will locate the VIP if he/she is outside the battlefield.
    Hannz said:
    Great, Mazlo's a gloryhound.

    I mean, we did our job and that's what matters but I do agree with our MC that not being mentioned stings a bit.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    More like avoiding a black mark on his record via claiming credit for locating the signal.
     
    [x] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha.

    Well Mazlo was willing to act on our information at least, so I'm willing to grant that Mazlo isn't an incompetent, just a dick. We have the satisfaction of knowing we did the right thing at least.
     
    Last edited:
    Yun said:
    More like avoiding a black mark on his record via claiming credit for locating the signal.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    This is a much nicer spin on his behavior than I think he has earned. He already has the blackmark on his record for his utter failure at the beginning, now he is trying to steal all credit for successes to try to recover. Just because this is an understandable decision on his part doesn't mean it is one we should be helpful in feeding into.
     
    [X] Prioritise the debris, where you know there's an active threat, letting the wider area scan come in more slowly
     
    [X] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha

    We just got a note about how much better Perbeck's own scan data is because we fixed her mech. Let her carry the weight there with her super mecha sensors and we'll get everything else.
     
    Fuck Mazlo
    Mazlo lags behind them for a moment longer. "Is something troubling you, North?"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I know he will get a black mark for his earlier failure, I'm willing to give him the credits as an apology so that we can recover our proper works relationship. I can accept the fact that he is stealing protag's credit but he pissed me off when he rubs it on her face. This just proves his dick moves, I want a chance to fuck his life...

    [X] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha

    I believe Perbeck's Mech can do a great job
     
    Last edited:
    [x] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha.

    I can almost garauntee that those mecha aren't here on their own, they've got support here in the form of naval vessels and we need to find them now. More than that, we need to grab the source of that distress signal -Lilian apparently- and get her the hell out of here.

    Whatever group did this is still here, remember that, and they had the firepower to completely trash a station and three frigates. We don't have a hope in hell of winning any sort of straight up fight here. Best we could do is use the debris field to introduce an element of maneuver warfare to the battle but short of god himself giving us a couple miracles it won't be enough.

    In short, we need to grab the VIP and gtfo. We still have a load of civilians on board too after all.
     
    mc2rpg said:
    This is a much nicer spin on his behavior than I think he has earned. He already has the blackmark on his record for his utter failure at the beginning, now he is trying to steal all credit for successes to try to recover. Just because this is an understandable decision on his part doesn't mean it is one we should be helpful in feeding into.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    More like his poor performance placed him in a situation where the Captain has verbally warned him that if he doesn't shape up by the end of the patrol he'll be getting a black mark on his record, and I was simply explaining why he might do so not aiming to put a positive spin on his actions.

    Although to be perfectly I'm hoping whomever sent the signal is generous in rewards that Mazlo will receive a nice promotion to a more cushy ship where his below average to average performance will be the problem of someone else. Bonus points if his new boss is the Perbeck of comm officers.
     
    [X] Prioritise broadening the ship's observable area to locate the enemy's ship and additional threats, relying in part on Perbeck's scan data for improving the imaging of the debris and the enemy mecha
     
    [x] Prioritise the debris, where you know there's an active threat, letting the wider area scan come in more slowly
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top