Remove ads

Tacit Ronin vs. The World II: KRAUN Jewels

Reader mode
Fyrstorm said:
And it is also my birthday.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Happy Birthday, Fyrstorm!

Now how the heck do we approach this? Should we go through the rest of the Morse alphabet and try to establish communications like that? Draw huge stick figures in the sand?

It occurs to me this is pretty much a first contact scenario and we lack an universal translator.
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.

Because I can't think of anything else to do here. Stabbing our problems away is way easier than this talking thing. :V
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".

Happy Birthday @Fyrstorm.
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Roll another 1d10+6 please.
 
[X] Well, Waltz knows "A", so let's work through the rest of the alphabet, with as much gesticulating and stick-figure-drawing as it takes to get the point across.
-[X] In the meantime, keep trying to analyze Waltz and whatever signals it is emitting.
[X] Start by repeating Waltz's "A" back to him, leave a brief pause to separate it from the followup point, then send a message of "A" followed by a "B".
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Fortunately, Ashley is still plenty capable of holding herself in check for a while longer, even given how gruelingly slow the plan seems to be. Tacit's headlights flash, stating the same thing.

A

Ten seconds pass, before the next part follows.

A B

Waltz stands there, the only movements the constant dripping of its oily coolant. And then, with nearly twice the speed of before, its body ignites again, pulsing out three letters.

S L F

[---]

(14)

Not discouraged yet, the technicians work harder, attempting to decode the signals. This time, the systems seem more cooperative, confirming their nature-- they're hivemind signals. Localized hivemind signals, flying to and fro between the seijin, the spikes... and four other sources overlapping Waltz, though these ones are barely present in the mixture.

Unfortunately, unless they grab one of the secondary brains or Palisade and somehow link with it-- and then somehow establish a link with Waltz from there-- there's no way to tap into the signals or translate them into anything understandable.

But it seems that the creature's already doing something.

[---]

O T R

The being lifts an arm as it flares up again, pointing one polished talon at Tacit Ronin. As the pilots blink in surprise, the seijin swings its arm to the city, pointing almost accusatorily at Jagdhund.

O T R
H L

With the same startling haste, both arms are flung out to the side, the Seijin hunkering forwards. The six sockets along its spine fire off jets of steam, the four spikes actually in ones launching into the air. As lights turn on on each one, the new signatures swerve up, coming to a rest around Waltz's shoulder level. They spin, turning to face out, into the bay behind it. The first two spikes turn around, zipping back towards the biomechanical being, while the Morse lights shine a fifth time.

O T O T R


As its arms sink back to its side, the seijin rises back up, to a more erect stance. Steam hisses out its neck, the vapour fizzling against the cool, drizzling rain.


N M S


The two spikes have moved 10 units closer to Waltz, and are now 25 from Tacit (Waltz is 5). Four more are in cluster with Waltz himself.
Roll me 1d100.
 
Let's see...

A
SLF
OTR
OTR
HL
OTOTR
NMS

...Nope, I can't figure it out. Maybe it's an anagram?

LostDeviljho said:
Oh Tacit Ronin?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Maybe you're onto something here. Each letter might be the forst letter of a word, so the A might stand for "Attention", and Waltz did point towards Tacit before and after saying OTR.

Either way, I don't like what Waltz just did. Deploying the rest of its Fangs isn't the kind of thing one would do when trying to parlay. It's the kind of thing you do to threaten.

Good thing Tacit is within charging range. And looking at the results our scanners got, it might be a good idea to invest into actually building the Hivemind Jammers soon, just in case more Kaiju or Seijin with Fangs or Funnels show up.
 
Alright, I'm just guessing here, but it looks to me like Waltz respects Tacit and is concerned about Jagdhund, is wondering if Tacit has allied with KRAUN, and is preparing to defend itself if Jagdhund attacks.

A
SLF
OTR
HL
OTOTR
NMS

SLF = *something* Life Force? Seattle *something* Force? Silent? Silph? Slough?
O = Operative? Operational? Organic?
TR = I'm almost certain this is Tacit Ronin, but it might mean something else. If it does...

OTR = Old Type: Ronin? Very unsure. Wait. Old. Old Timer? Old Timers Reunion? OTC is Old Timers Club in traditional morse shortening. Old Time Rig? Might just be Old Timer.

OTOTR = Ought (to be) Old Timer Reunion?

HL = Hellenic League? Isn't KRAUN based out of Europe? Hell? Hull? Maybe implying Jagd is empty of pilots?

NMS = Might be enemies. I'd bet that's what that one is, saying Jagd is Waltz's enemy.
 
Last edited:
Part of me wonders if we need to roll out Walt's artillery shell and see if it can help us here.

Or maybe see if hooking up the shell to one of our Kaiju brains might help?

I suppose if there's one consolation here, it's that Waltz is trying to communicate, even if we have no idea what he's trying to say.
 
Some further thought, rereading the body language has lead me towards this interpretation:

SLF means "Secure Location Found" or "Sentient Life Form." We successfully continued the sequence rather than parroting back what it did, so Waltz may have figured out that we were trying to communicate. Sequence recognition is the first step in breaking a language barrier.

OTR suggests OTC/OOTC, which was code for the collection of people who used old form morse and ham, and the people who used really old form morse and ham. I think Waltz is saying that he recognizes the form of both Tacit and Jagd from his time before Seijin-ization. HL is, I think, Hull, meaning that Jagd is empty. I think really the only thing worse he could have said would've been SK (Silent Key, meaning a dead operator). OTOTR I think means he wishes he didn't have to fight.

NMS I'm almost 100% means Enemies, referring again to KRAUN.

That in mind, I think we need to send back the following:

SNR LO, OP IS TACRON, UR NM? *await response*
*indicate Jagd* SFR YF NONHOS, XPLN PSE *await response*

Translation:
Signal-to-Noise Ratio Low, Operator is TACRON (Tacit Ronin), your name?
So far wife non-hostile, explain please
 
@RagnorakTres I like it, especially if you're actually right about this (which would be phenomenal like you can't believe), I'm down with what you're suggesting except for the part where you mention 'wife'. We may refer to Jagdhund as Tacit's 'Wife' as a joke, but given the circumstances, I think we need to rely less on (inside) jokes and more on far more solid terms that don't require context for understanding.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top