The Descent - A White Base-alike Quest
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
The Descent V
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
[X] The crew section of the ships remain intact.
350 km
A shot spalls against your hull, and the entire ship is jerked into a Concordat explosion. Another set of attitudinal thrusters goes offline. The flames leak into the hull, bathing empty hallways with light and fury. Ema frantically wails about losing control of the heading. Dora bellows that the main engines have been hit, damage unsalvageable. You immediately order a purge of the systems. You order again for all crews to brace, as another explosion rocks the ship and slams something against a bulkhead.
Then you notice a door being opened manually.
300 km
"Captain Moran, what are you - " Iris cuts off her own comm line, clutching the hilt of her knife harder. Her breathing in the suit is shockingly level as she flies down the ruined passageways and twisted corridors.
"Last chance, Captain," Idas unnecessarily says, holding onto the other end of the line.
Iris clutched her hands tighter, and pushes herself out of the open airlock. "I know," she radioes. For a moment, she looks around her, long-trained fighter instincts kicking in. The Earth below her, the Concordat missile explosions around her, and the dark AEGEAN cloud above her. Her skin feels the slight pressure of atmosphere and gravity upon her as she raises the hilt of her knife to her mouth. It's hard, struggling against her own traitorous body and the restrictive suit.
"Dee," she struggles out, oblivious to the fact her spacesuit carried her voice to the hilt regardless, "I don't know if you're listening, but pull up! You have to live, Dee!"
Static fills her ears where she thinks silence or a reply should. The encroaching AEGEAN effect seems to draw closer by the second, threatening to engulf the entire ship.
A voice trembles on the other end.
"I-if my actions here will make the Earth understand, then - "
"Then nothing!" Iris angrily shouted. "You don't know if dying here pointlessly will accomplish anything! You don't know, and you can't know if you die here!" Iris screamed.
"Then what?! Shall we privilege our lives over the future?! When has anything short of this accomplished anything?!" Diomedea screams back.
"What future is there without lives?" Iris shouts, turning towards the heavens as her tether bounces her around the ruined hangar. "You privilege nothing but a wish for death by sacrificing yourself! That's selfish, no matter how you cut it!"
"Call me selfish if you want, but I won't be afraid," Diomedea grits.
"You are, Diomedea! You're so terrified of the future you claim to protect you're trying to flee from it even now! If you weren't scared of the future, you'd live in it!"
Silence answers Iris. An interminable silence that only the explosions before the cold inky void answers.
"Captain, we can't hold you out here much longer," Telamon warns. "You stay out here much longer, and we'll all die, so come back!"
Iris breathes in tight one last time. Behind her is the Earth she is falling towards, and in front of her is the cloud that her sister has hidden herself in.
"Live, Dee," she whispers, throwing the hilt into space.
Idas and Telamon pull Peleus back to shore, away from the siren call of space.
A voice echoes from the drifting hilt.
"You were always smarter than you let on, Iri."
75 km
The ship shakes and rattles like a dinghy caught in the fist of a furious god. Heat and cold wash over you in waves as your ship tumbles uncontrollably through the atmosphere. Your remaining engine cooks off in the heat. Sections of your ship peel off and drag out other pieces with them, like a dandelion scattering in the wind. Your hangars completely collapse in on themselves, threatening to take the heat plating with them. Dora calmly reports a bolt has shorn through your research databanks and that the ship integrity is nearly collapsing. You eye your speed - still in the thousands of kilometers per second - as you frantically disable alert after alert and try to purge the exploding systems as you help Ema with the attitude control despite Terezjia reporting that the AEGEAN Effect has completely scrambled all of your sensors -
It comes to you, in a moment of chillingly cold clarity. Your hands come to a stop, and your tense body relaxes. You dismiss the futile alerts.
You weren't a bad captain, you chuckle.
You lean back and close your eyes.
350 km
A shot spalls against your hull, and the entire ship is jerked into a Concordat explosion. Another set of attitudinal thrusters goes offline. The flames leak into the hull, bathing empty hallways with light and fury. Ema frantically wails about losing control of the heading. Dora bellows that the main engines have been hit, damage unsalvageable. You immediately order a purge of the systems. You order again for all crews to brace, as another explosion rocks the ship and slams something against a bulkhead.
Then you notice a door being opened manually.
300 km
"Captain Moran, what are you - " Iris cuts off her own comm line, clutching the hilt of her knife harder. Her breathing in the suit is shockingly level as she flies down the ruined passageways and twisted corridors.
"Last chance, Captain," Idas unnecessarily says, holding onto the other end of the line.
Iris clutched her hands tighter, and pushes herself out of the open airlock. "I know," she radioes. For a moment, she looks around her, long-trained fighter instincts kicking in. The Earth below her, the Concordat missile explosions around her, and the dark AEGEAN cloud above her. Her skin feels the slight pressure of atmosphere and gravity upon her as she raises the hilt of her knife to her mouth. It's hard, struggling against her own traitorous body and the restrictive suit.
"Dee," she struggles out, oblivious to the fact her spacesuit carried her voice to the hilt regardless, "I don't know if you're listening, but pull up! You have to live, Dee!"
Static fills her ears where she thinks silence or a reply should. The encroaching AEGEAN effect seems to draw closer by the second, threatening to engulf the entire ship.
A voice trembles on the other end.
"I-if my actions here will make the Earth understand, then - "
"Then nothing!" Iris angrily shouted. "You don't know if dying here pointlessly will accomplish anything! You don't know, and you can't know if you die here!" Iris screamed.
"Then what?! Shall we privilege our lives over the future?! When has anything short of this accomplished anything?!" Diomedea screams back.
"What future is there without lives?" Iris shouts, turning towards the heavens as her tether bounces her around the ruined hangar. "You privilege nothing but a wish for death by sacrificing yourself! That's selfish, no matter how you cut it!"
"Call me selfish if you want, but I won't be afraid," Diomedea grits.
"You are, Diomedea! You're so terrified of the future you claim to protect you're trying to flee from it even now! If you weren't scared of the future, you'd live in it!"
Silence answers Iris. An interminable silence that only the explosions before the cold inky void answers.
"Captain, we can't hold you out here much longer," Telamon warns. "You stay out here much longer, and we'll all die, so come back!"
Iris breathes in tight one last time. Behind her is the Earth she is falling towards, and in front of her is the cloud that her sister has hidden herself in.
"Live, Dee," she whispers, throwing the hilt into space.
Idas and Telamon pull Peleus back to shore, away from the siren call of space.
A voice echoes from the drifting hilt.
"You were always smarter than you let on, Iri."
75 km
The ship shakes and rattles like a dinghy caught in the fist of a furious god. Heat and cold wash over you in waves as your ship tumbles uncontrollably through the atmosphere. Your remaining engine cooks off in the heat. Sections of your ship peel off and drag out other pieces with them, like a dandelion scattering in the wind. Your hangars completely collapse in on themselves, threatening to take the heat plating with them. Dora calmly reports a bolt has shorn through your research databanks and that the ship integrity is nearly collapsing. You eye your speed - still in the thousands of kilometers per second - as you frantically disable alert after alert and try to purge the exploding systems as you help Ema with the attitude control despite Terezjia reporting that the AEGEAN Effect has completely scrambled all of your sensors -
It comes to you, in a moment of chillingly cold clarity. Your hands come to a stop, and your tense body relaxes. You dismiss the futile alerts.
You weren't a bad captain, you chuckle.
You lean back and close your eyes.
Victory
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
EARTH SPHERE CONCORDAT VICTORY
11/5 Research Tokens
4/4 Basic Research
1/1 Armor Research
3/3 Reactor Research
3/3 Frame Research
Project Jakarta completes with flying colors.
Project Mumbai completes with flying colors.
Project Malacca completes with flying colors.
Towards a Brighter Tomorrow
The One Year War is a vicious and brutal war, shattering the comfortable peace that the Earth Sphere Concordat had maintained throughout the Human Century. Many credit the overwhelming number of Legionnaires with the Concordat's eventual victory, with Centurions leading the charge to break up the Desider's previously unstoppable warmachine. However, Earth and space alike are massively drained by the war, and in the aftermath of the war's end, both felt the need to renegotiate the Concordat which had just so badly fractured. No doubt spurred by internal political pressures on both ends, Earth and Space came together to draft a much more equal agreement, one that would hopefully avert the desperation that drove space to sympathize with the terrible Desider ideology.
There is much work to be done yet, and the endless Human Century is not yet over.
But even if just for a moment, the future looks bright.
11/5 Research Tokens
4/4 Basic Research
1/1 Armor Research
3/3 Reactor Research
3/3 Frame Research
Project Jakarta completes with flying colors.
Project Mumbai completes with flying colors.
Project Malacca completes with flying colors.
Towards a Brighter Tomorrow
The One Year War is a vicious and brutal war, shattering the comfortable peace that the Earth Sphere Concordat had maintained throughout the Human Century. Many credit the overwhelming number of Legionnaires with the Concordat's eventual victory, with Centurions leading the charge to break up the Desider's previously unstoppable warmachine. However, Earth and space alike are massively drained by the war, and in the aftermath of the war's end, both felt the need to renegotiate the Concordat which had just so badly fractured. No doubt spurred by internal political pressures on both ends, Earth and Space came together to draft a much more equal agreement, one that would hopefully avert the desperation that drove space to sympathize with the terrible Desider ideology.
There is much work to be done yet, and the endless Human Century is not yet over.
But even if just for a moment, the future looks bright.
Last edited:
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
... Huh!
So, the tech team and the genius daughter both brought a bonus token to the table, huh? Which made up our deficit and then got us the last token.
Good job guys! We got a perfect win on Incredible Difficulty!
Shame that it looks like you're not going to be running a sequel though.
So, the tech team and the genius daughter both brought a bonus token to the table, huh? Which made up our deficit and then got us the last token.
Good job guys! We got a perfect win on Incredible Difficulty!
Shame that it looks like you're not going to be running a sequel though.
Something something the power of friendship and anime.
That was satisfying, our trust in our crew and allies paid off and we got the best overall result we possibly could. RIP everyone we lost along the way, especially all those pilots that flew off into the jaws of death knowing they were never coming back. I regret coming in more than halfway through, but it was still fun.
That was satisfying, our trust in our crew and allies paid off and we got the best overall result we possibly could. RIP everyone we lost along the way, especially all those pilots that flew off into the jaws of death knowing they were never coming back. I regret coming in more than halfway through, but it was still fun.
Epilogue
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
A/N: I'm calling it here. I like to think I'm fairly aware of my limits now, and keeping the quest this short and sharp means I can say I ended this quest at least on a high note. I'm not ruling out the possibility of writing more things in the sandbox here, but I'd probably want to approach it with significantly more planning than, like, the fifteen index cards and the map I drew. I'm also probably not going to re-run this game either - it's both not really going to be any easier to do any better the next go-round, and it'd either be an exercise in padding out wordcount or intentionally seeing what happens if you make heartless decisions, monsters 
Ironically enough, there weren't any rolls or random chance in this quest - some of the decisions, especially in the Descent, weren't super planned ahead of time, but I did know the broad strokes of most of the decisions.
Ultimately, it all comes down to trust, doesn't it?
Ironically enough, there weren't any rolls or random chance in this quest - some of the decisions, especially in the Descent, weren't super planned ahead of time, but I did know the broad strokes of most of the decisions.
Ultimately, it all comes down to trust, doesn't it?
Liliya
The legendary ARGO's descent overshadowed another messenger from Helios, one Ensign Liliya. Her data provided valuable corroboration of the basic research that the ARGO provided, along with a basic primer on the reactor theory that the Concordat would have lacked otherwise. She would go on to serve a short term of service in the OYW before returning home to reconcile with and mourn for her mother. After the war, her records speak of her heading towards the Asteroid Belt - though some have reason to doubt this characterization, especially since that would have placed her well out of the Luna Sphere during the Janus Incident.
Bengal Technological
If there was any "winner" of the One Year War, it would undoubtedly be Bengal Technological. The producers and technological lead developers of the Centurion and Legionnaires would inevitably be lionized as great heroes of the Earth Sphere, not to mention the sheer size of the contracts they were handed over the course of the OYW. Their ties to the Mycenaean branch which had developed the ACHAEANs was obligingly swept under the rug as part of this lionization, of course.
And yet, there are a certain number of high-ranking executives and shockingly influential retirees who share the understanding borne of a voyage aboard a comet roaming the Luna System. This unofficial clique would prove to be crucial in the resolution of the Janus Incident.
Annise Citra
Her work in the ARGO led her to become one of the Earth Sphere's most famous celebrity scientist-engineers, and while she never formally joined Bengal Technological, it is an undisputed fact that the two were very closely tied together. Despite many claiming that her best and greatest work was on the Centurion's final theory, it is also an undisputed fact that her career afterwards was long and productive - disruption from the Janus incident and her grandfather's funeral quite aside.
Cahay Imran
An imam of otherwise little note, he would continue preaching with his small congregation during the OYW and for a brief period afterwards, until he eventually died from the stresses of gravity and old age. His funeral was small and privately attended, albeit with some of the most famous names in the Earth Sphere. Ironically, his name was very nearly forgotten to history, despite his outsize influence on the legendary voyage of the Argo.
Annise knows that he would be unspeakably proud of her if he could see her, and she claims that is enough.
The Crew of the Argo
The crew of the Argo themselves rapidly found themselves field promoted to what High Command judged their true capabilities to be worth, after a brief awards ceremony that nevertheless saw many stagger under the weight of Earth's gravity and the medals granted to them. Despite surviving the journey of the Argo, many did not survive the OYW - but those that did rapidly found themselves commanding a place in unofficial military history. Although they would be eclipsed by their more famous counterparts, these Argonauts would still go on to be famous in their own rights.
Idas and Telamon
The two fighter crews of the Idas and Telamon themselves were legendary for their running battle in the Earth re-entry, and were very rapidly brought to the front of the line for receiving Legionnaires and possibly Centurions. Despite high hopes, however, Idas team was ultimately found to be little better than the average soldier in the Legionnaires, and so regretfully was pushed to the back of the queue for Centurion upgrades. Telamon team, however, was rapidly found to be one of the Earth Sphere's top aces, and was rapidly handed Centurions to wreak more havoc. Telamon team of course, never let Idas team hear the end of it - until the Janus Incident upended that relationship.
Dora
Injured by the crashlanding of the Argo, Warrant Officer Dora found herself unable to apply her engineering skills for several months of the OYW. In the meanwhile, she threw herself into refining the maintenance manuals of the new Legionnaires and Centurions. While few outside the field know of her contributions during this period, her work on refining the maintenance made her into a minor saint among the Earth Sphere repair crews. After the war, she would retire from the military so she could pursue the field with the majority of her time, and her work has remained beloved by engineers all throughout the Solar System.
Timothea and Terezjia
The two were an inseperable unit, they insisted, and the pair would become a fixture of one of the more famous successors to the Argo. Terezjia in particular became of some renown from partially cracking the AEGEAN Effect, hastening the end of the OYW by a matter of months, some claim. After the war, they would quietly retire, and in a reversion from their wartime roles, Timothea found herself busy with work and the accumulated small-time fame while Terezjia did her best to support the good doctor. It was a quiet retirement, and frankly they preferred it this way.
Ema Sharma
Ema Sharma would go on to be one of Captain Leona Meyer's most trusted subordinates, serving as her right-hand woman through the remainder of the OYW and the Janus Incident. After her injuries suffered during the Janus Incident, however, she was forced into an early retirement. She spent the remainder of her career gently teaching new pilots before running her serious students through the wringer. Some say that no one has ever managed to pass her hardest training course, based on her experiences in the Argo's descent to Earth - but she knows that isn't true, since she's been quietly keeping track of everyone who has.
Iris Moran
Due to crippling injuries suffered during the Argo's descent, Iris Moran was forced into an immediate retirement from her career as a fighter pilot. She immediately would go on to a school for cooking, before doggedly climbing back into space at the conclusion of the OYW to establish a restaurant in the Mycenae colony. It was never very profitable, and frequently struggled to stay open despite the frequent patronage of the former Argonauts - no doubt because she had a bad habit of nearly reflexively adopting any stray child that came to her doorstep. The food itself was merely passable, reviewers commented, and you could find better food pretty much anywhere else in the colonies.
To a certain white-haired woman, however, it was the best restaurant in the solar system.
Diomedea Moran
Throughout the OYW, Diomedea's unit would become feared as one of the few units that could stand toe-to-toe with the Concordat's Centurions. However, she was unable to shake internal suspicions about her true loyalties, especially in the wake of the failed attempt to interdict the Argo, and was stripped of her rank and temporarily detained. Despite this, however, she became one of the leaders of the Mycenaean opposition, and when they attempted to mobilize everyone in a last ditch defense of Mycenae, she turned on the Desiders and forced them to surrender.
In the wake of the OYW, she became one of Mycenae's key leaders in navigating the post-OYW disarmament process, and eventually became one of the most famous figures advocating for more spaceside independence. This made her into one of the spacesider's most famous politicians. Her political activism eventually drove her to be right at the center of the Janus Incident - but that is a story for another time.
Leona Meyer
After her tenure in the Argo, Captain Leona Meyer would go on to captain several more ships. As the captain of the Argo and then Aeneid in turn, she became one of the OYW's most famous captains. Her actions throughout the November Uprising would cement her as one of the most important ship captains of the Human Century - a position she immediately leveraged to go into politics, advocating for more spaceside independence and Earth Sphere codependence. While this too put her position at extreme jeopardy, she unflinchingly advocated her stance long and hard, swaying many both among Earth's population and among Earth's leadership, which similarly put her at the crosshairs of the Janus Incident.
The Human Sphere Federation
In the wake of the Concordat's disastrous collapse, the new founders of a unified government agreed that not only would space have to have political representation, the two sides would have to bind each other even tighter into such a strong economic and political union that the mere thought of war would have to be unthinkable. It could not be enforced by the power of law but rather by the power of mutual interest. The government took many years to form, and the Janus Incident very nearly threatened to derail the entire project - but in the end, the Human Sphere Federation was successfully formed, and became the standard-bearer of the Human Century into humanity's second century throughout the solar system.
Things weren't perfect. The settlements in the Asteroid Belt frequently complained about the lack of representation and relatively heavy restrictions, while portions of Earth remained deeply aggrieved by the scars of the OYW as the colonies still had elements pointing to the Janus incident as proof the Earth could never be trusted.
Despite that, however...the future is looking bright, you think.
You don't have any regrets about this chapter of your life.
Had to tease us with the Noodle Janus Incident. But yeah, that was a nice little epilogue.
Achievement Guides
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
As requested, the list of achievements and how to unlock them:
The General - Start the game on Easy.
The Commander - Start the game on Normal.
The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway - Start the game on Hard.
Their Finest Hour - Start the game on Incredible.
The Future Is Boring - Go to Luna
Whose Great Walls... - Return to Ilium
Over the Moon - Go to the Port of Hope
To Hell's Heart - Survive going to Mycenae
Highway to Hell - Go to Heimdall
The Border of Life and Death - Reach the High Atmosphere
End of an Odyssey - Survive the Descent
Came As Fast As I Could - Depart for Earth by Zone 2
Early Bird - Depart for Earth by Zone 4
Voyager Lite - Visit all Zones
Cold as Space - Refuse a request
Sympathetic: Accept a request
Hearts of Iron: Reject all requests
Bleeding Heart - Accept all requests
Tyrant - Hit the Discontent Limit
If It'll Move... - Clear the Jakarta Project requirements
Fully Armed and Operational - Complete the Malacca Project
Class Warrior - Accept either civilian request in Luna, but not the other.
Shuttle Service - Accept both civilian requests in Luna.
Solar Eclipse - Don't leave Helios before turn 3
The Weight of Gravity - Lock up the Spacer pilots.
The Hope of Space - Stand firm by the Spacers.
Achilles In His Chariot - Crush the Ilium Discontent with military force.
Priam In His Tent - Agree to Ilium's terms.
Trojan Horse - Infiltrate Mycenae with Bengal Technological assistance.
Who's In Deep Now? - Use military force to crush Mycenae Dissent
The Charge of the Light Brigade - Use military force to crush Heimdall Dissent
Ships Passing In the Night - Exfiltrate from Heimdall without blowing cover.
The Stage of Apocalypse - Either Desiders Galileo Project successfully completes.
The Herald of the Apocalypse - Successfully derail both of the Desiders Galileo Project.
Towards a Brighter Tomorrow - Achieve a perfect clear.
The General - Start the game on Easy.
The Commander - Start the game on Normal.
The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway - Start the game on Hard.
Their Finest Hour - Start the game on Incredible.
The Future Is Boring - Go to Luna
Whose Great Walls... - Return to Ilium
Over the Moon - Go to the Port of Hope
To Hell's Heart - Survive going to Mycenae
Highway to Hell - Go to Heimdall
The Border of Life and Death - Reach the High Atmosphere
End of an Odyssey - Survive the Descent
Came As Fast As I Could - Depart for Earth by Zone 2
Early Bird - Depart for Earth by Zone 4
Voyager Lite - Visit all Zones
Cold as Space - Refuse a request
Sympathetic: Accept a request
Hearts of Iron: Reject all requests
Bleeding Heart - Accept all requests
Tyrant - Hit the Discontent Limit
If It'll Move... - Clear the Jakarta Project requirements
Fully Armed and Operational - Complete the Malacca Project
Class Warrior - Accept either civilian request in Luna, but not the other.
Shuttle Service - Accept both civilian requests in Luna.
Solar Eclipse - Don't leave Helios before turn 3
The Weight of Gravity - Lock up the Spacer pilots.
The Hope of Space - Stand firm by the Spacers.
Achilles In His Chariot - Crush the Ilium Discontent with military force.
Priam In His Tent - Agree to Ilium's terms.
Trojan Horse - Infiltrate Mycenae with Bengal Technological assistance.
Who's In Deep Now? - Use military force to crush Mycenae Dissent
The Charge of the Light Brigade - Use military force to crush Heimdall Dissent
Ships Passing In the Night - Exfiltrate from Heimdall without blowing cover.
The Stage of Apocalypse - Either Desiders Galileo Project successfully completes.
The Herald of the Apocalypse - Successfully derail both of the Desiders Galileo Project.
Towards a Brighter Tomorrow - Achieve a perfect clear.
Chloe Sullivan
Subdefective
- Location
- 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale CA
Pretty sure that's reference to the Gryps incident. Aka Zeta Gundam.