IT LIVES!
=\\//=
[X] Plan Research and Compensation
-[X] Find Personnel Files. Reach out to your pals at Naval Intelligence for the un-redacted personnel files of all major Squadron and Flotilla commanders who will be working under you
-[X] NTV
Defiant (Pennant ATC-03) – Union prototype
=\\//=
After nearly a week of frantic preparations, you find yourself on the boarding gantry connected to your new flagship: the NTV
Defiant.
Not that NTV really feels right, as the
Defiant isn't painted in the sand and crimson of the NTDF, but rather in brilliant while and high visibility green. Combine that with the gaudy Federated Interstellar logos plastered on every facing and it looks like it would be more home on a raceway than in a military shipyard.
It's not all bad though, as the
Defiant's predatory silhouette looms over every other cruiser in the docks. It out masses any of them by half again, and has enough cutting edge weapons systems to take any two in a straight fight. Certainly worth all of the favors you had to call in to get it assigned to you for "Long Duration Operational Evaluation".
That feeling only continues as you make your way through the vacant corridors, easily maneuvering around the skeleton transfer crew towards the CIC. "Whew," you whistle as you step onto the CIC, "Shiny".
The entire chamber looks like something out of a holovid compared to the other ships you've served on: a field of haptics and holographics gleaming over spotless panels and ergonomically optimized seating. No doubt maintained to best market the ship to Union bigwigs. Of course, had the
Defiant actually won the ATC competition you wouldn't have gotten to steal her away.
With a jaunty smile, you settle into the captain's chair. Sure, you'll only get to command the ship directly during this ferry mission, but you're still her first captain. Technically. And that meant you wouldn't miss a second of it. Instead, you savor the energy as a mix of tan uniformed duty officers and FI contractors complete their final systems checks and prep the CIC for departure.
Even then, there is very little for you to be personally involved in besides keying in coordinates and filling out paperwork. The epitome of a milk run. The remaining preparations are finished professionally and quickly enough, and the time to depart soon comes.
You stand from the captain's chair, grinning with barely concealed glee as you gesture towards the empty black. "Helm," you give the order, "cast off all moorings and give me one quarter."
The
Defiant makes good time clearing the station and low orbit, the yellow skies and storms of New Titan vanishing into the glittering star field. Sure, the layers of vector displays and sensor overlays mar the view a bit, but who are you to complain?
"Sir," the helmsman speaks up, "We're clear of the traffic zone and go for full drive power. What's our course?"
"Soon as we're at the jump shelf, execute a best time course to Pandora," you say, smile turning slightly upwards. "Let's see if the girl can set some new records."
What follows is a few more hours watching the stars fall lazily by, before your ship slips silently into the realms of Null Space. Now all that remains is the journey to the Pandora system.
=\\//=
Settling into your quarters for the remainder of the trip, you fill your display with the array of dossiers your friends from Naval Intelligence forwarded you. It only made sense after all; a man who couldn't trust his people wasn't going to go much farther.
That, and you wanted to start getting an idea of who might need to be moved or retrained. No idea how Gorski was running his ship after all.
Still, you couldn't fill the entire trip with personnel dossiers though, so you indulged yourself a bit along the way with some light reading on the nations nearby Pandora.
=\\//=
While in transit, you don't have access to all of your usual intelligence sources, so only 1 Intelligence Point is available this post. All of the below options have a cost of 1 IP, but will unlock additional intelligence options as you go forwards.
[] Overview – Great and Bountiful Empire of Sagittarius
[] Overview – Union of the Southern Cross
[] Overview – Concordance of Torfan
[] Overview – Major Border States
[] Overview – Minor Border States
[] Overview – Planetary States
[] Overview – New Titan Volunteer Defense Forces
=\\//=
In regards to personnel decisions, you have the following options before reaching Pandora. Since each officer will have differing political capital and other costs associated, I'll provide more input on an as-needed basis. These decisions are technically tentative, and you'll be able to implement them more thoroughly once at Pandora.
[] Train (Officer) – Single this officer out for training of some kind. No cost, but will sideline them for some duration, depending on their current rank.
[] Reassign (Officer) – Single out an officer for reassignment to a different unit. Political capital cost will vary depending on rank and cause.
[] Fast Track (Officer) – Single this officer out for potential promotion. Cost will vary based on rank and cause. Officers who have performed well will be much less expensive, for example.
[] Dismiss (Officer) – Single this officer out for potential dismissal. Cost will vary based on rank and cause. Officers who have publicly or grievously failed (with cause) for some reason will be less expensive or free, for example.
=\\//=
Finally, as an experiment from my end (since I haven't done this in a quest yet). I'll ask for a brief manual moratorium on voting for the next 12 hours (from the posting date below), to allow for questions and discussion (and making up for my lack of foresight).
