>>17844554
You havent been idle in your wait for new orders. You headed down to the small barracks aboard to visit the Marines after informing the Chief. Once there you manage to convince one of the Marines to give you some basic training. A closed down accessway running along the inner hull doubles as a makeshift firing range, while the corridors around the cargo storage bays are wide enough to allow some running without crashing into crewmen.
Although technically qualified already with basic firearms you consider it something of a fluke that you did so well in the boarding of the luxury liner. After a few hours you're much more familiar with pistol class weapons and the ballistic carbine. The Marines refuse to let you try out some of the captured weapons before they've been checked out by a munitions tech. Risk of sabotage or something.

>You are now certified with most pistol class weapons and some carbines.
>Phase Carbine certification unlocked!

Phase Carbine
An energy weapon similar to the pulse pistol, this energy weapon is used by most factions. It can fire either a beam or pulse, with the pusle setting able to be set for 'stun' or kill. It has a higher rate of fire than the pistol and longer range, while it's ammo capacity is greater than Ballistic weapons. Certain atmospheric conditions can reduce the effective range of phase weapons to being less than that of ballistics. This is usually only of concern at distances greater than 800m.

>>17844591
You check in with the bridge to find some standby crewmen manning the stations while the others rest. No new orders have come through yet.

Going back to your cramped cabin you shower then get to work on filling out a salvage claim form before bed. You want that damn ship!
Since this is your first time filling out one of these you forward the claim form to the Chief to double check it for you, just in case you screwed it up. Making sure to be thorough you send copies to Alex and Mike asking if they want to sign on to it as well. Wait, Alex did most of the work dropping it's shields with his torps... fuck.

>The armory of your ship currently has a single torpedo and a pair of nuclear warheads you had the Marines salvage from the pirate Cruiser.
>Would you like to transfer the Torpedo to Alex's ship?
>Do you wish to keep the nukes for later or trade them in for RP?

>>17844641
Give the Torp to Alex, and how much would RP would we get for the nukes

>>17844641
-Ask Alex if he wants the torpedo, if he does then send it over.

-How much RP would we get for the nukes?

>>17844782
>>17844795
>Ask Alex if he wants the torpedo
"Hell yes! I thought I'd have to put off getting a new ship to requisition some. Thanks!"

>nukes?
They're worth about 10 RP apiece. Not a lot to be honest.

>>17844848
we might as well keep them i guess can our standard corvette use them if not give those to alex too

>>17844848
Let's keep the nukes then. Might be useful at some point.

>Alex now owes us a favour
Bueno.

After setting things in motion you hit the sack. Your sleep is disturbed 5 hours later by a call from the bridge, requesting you report in to the Lieutanant at once. Getting dressed and scrambling for the bridge you make it there in just a few minutes. You sit down at your station annd report in only to be told to wait for a few minutes more.

Eventually Dayton's face pops up on your HUD.
"Sorry for the conference call everyone but this shipyard isnt intended to operate as a forward base and so doesnt have any briefing rooms available. According to damage reports we'll have the entire squadron except for second squad's third ship operational in a few more hours. Pilot Peggy Hodren is still MIA but is presumed dead along with most of her crew. There's nothing we can do about that right now.
While the convoy was passing through deep space our ships detected a subspace jamming field interfering with long range FTL communications. Short range still functions but is limited to less than one lightyear distance in the affected area. Baron Archivald has spoken with the head of our House and they have come to the conclusion this jamming must in preparation for a larger attack on one or more of the systems in our area of influence."
He lets that sink in for a moment. Every person in the squadron had been recruited from worlds within 50 light years of the House capital.

"As we took the least casulties from the escort squadrons yesterday we're being reassigned to deep space recon. All ships will be equipped with a more powerful and accurate sensor package to help us track down the jammers. With the combined readings of several ships taken from multiple locations each we should be able to triangulate their locations."

>>17844924

"The Baron is overseeing deployment of com bouys so we dont lose contact with each other but the new network might not be operational for a day. The transmission bandwidth will be quite low so we have to knock down those jammers to get info flowing again. Without accurate intel most convoys are going to be stalled in port until more escorts can be assigned.

Those ships currently in dock will have the new sensor packages fitted first. You'll be able to aquire some upgrades for your ships with RP before we move out but there arent any new ships available here right now. As my cruiser is going to be out of action for an extended period I've transferred to an attack corvette. I know some of the ships you've been shooting at lately have been painted white so dont get any funny ideas if you see a white corvette."

Your ship recieves a transmission with information about enemy vessels, jamming systems and equipment available through RP.
>Requisition Chart that I keep forgetting to draw up.png

The LT continues. "Additional intel; there may be a Terran Science ship in the area. It's been reported overdue after going in search of some odd subspace anomalies croping up far off the trade lanes. They may have found one of the jammers. If you find them help them if you can, their sensor readings could prove valuable to our new assignment."

"Wont the Terrans send ships of their own to look for it?" Asks Alex.

"They are but they wont be in the area for another two days due to convoy travel."

Windsor from first flight speeks up. "Wait, sir, the Dominion is allowing Terran Alliance warships to just run around in our space as they please?"

>>17844956
Dayton frowns. "For the time being yes. With the piracy issue escalting all Factions have agreed to modify current treaties to allow cross border operations as long as they inform the other first. The More Terran Alliance ships that get blown up protecting our worlds the better. It means we're not wasting so many resources. Remember to check your IFF before shooting or letting your guard down. We'll be moving out in four to six hours, however long it takes to get equipment checks done. Questions?"

Available RP: 2,500

Bonus: (500)
Your Marines recovered data from the Cruiser you boarded. It has not yet been decrypted by intel but when it has been you are likely to revieve 500 RP for your efforts.

Ships
>Ship selections are currently greyed out.

Weapons/Equipment/Upgrades:
Nuclear missile - 10
Torpedo - 50
Point defense turret - 100
Starfighter - N/A (150)
Pulse cannon turret - 200
Shield upgrade - 200
Armor replacement - 150

>>17845039
Do shield upgrades carry over when we upgrade our ship?

>>17845039
You can have mechanics and dockworkers from the shipyard mount up to 4 nuclear missiles on the outer hull of your ship.

>>17845056
Upgrades such as pulse cannon, shields or armor will stay with the current ship and do not transfer. Point defense guns could be removed and transfered to a new ship at a fraction of their total cost.
Marines, starfighters, Missiles and Torps are free to transfer.

>>17845095
>do not transfer
Will they increase the resale price of the ship?

>>17845118
>resale price
You will not recieve any RP back from your house upon 'trading in' the first ship assigned to you from a training squadron. However if you lose another ship later you will likely be able to get that training corvette back for free.

>>17845169
In that case I'd say we should add two PD turrets, if possible. Might help us now and we could reuse them when we upgrade.

rolled 60 = 60

>>17845191
>2x Point defense turret
Anybody against this? Speak now yada yada.

Available RP: 2,300

When your ship puts in to dock to have the sensor package installed you make sure a pair of point defense turrets are added to the list. You've seen these things in action and they seem to mean business against unshielded targets. In the meantime you start to look over the maps of the regions you're expected to scan down.
>Do you with to equip your two nuclear missiles before you head out?

>>17845264
>Anybody against this? Speak now yada yada.

Are 2 turrets enough to be useful?

>>17845277
With 2 turrets, one dorsal one ventral your ship can have 360 degree coverage.
Against starfighters, shuttles or targets that have lost shields they're quite effective. Their high rate of fire makes it easy to pick out where they're firing from which can make you a target if they're firing non stop. Against shields they're less useful but can still cause damage.

>>17845331
Okay, 2 seem to be good then. Any disadvantages for equipping those missiles? If not, let's do it.

You look over the list of locations to be scanned down while you wait. There's some deep space areas in between systems that need to be checked, a nebula that could provide some cover or some red dwarf and red giant star systems. Any of them could be a likely hiding place for the jammers and there will probably be several.
Four and a half hours after the impromptu briefing all of the ships in the squadron are ready. Alex RQ'd another Torp while Mike had some of the armor replaced while his ship was being repaired.
"I think my Corvette predates the Exodus." Mike tells you. "The armor is so old they had to rip out half of it on my ship to replace it for the repairs."
"Mike dont joke around, there's no way your ship could be THAT old. Now get ready we're about to jump out." you tell him.


"Remember, if you encounter the enemy try to call in support if you can." Reminds the LT as the squadron moves out. "If necessary retreat until you contact someone then we can jump back in and kill the jammer. Even if you scare them into running it might help us out as we should be able to triangulate new jamming sites coming online. Good luck everyone."

[ ] Deep space
[ ] Nebula
[ ] Red Star systems

Regardless of choice roll 3d100

rolled 56, 47, 6 = 109

>>17845591
>[x] Nebula

Our ship is small and maneuverable, so any amount of cover might help.

>/tg/ dice
;_;

"Reversion complete. Eight thousand kilometers from projected arrival point." Reports Linda.

"Our FTL coms are down, we must be within the effective range of the jammer."
"Sensors can you pin down the direction of the jammer?" Asks the Chief.
"Not sure yet." Replies the man on sensors, what was his name Arron? You're slowly picking up everyone's name but it's taking a bit. "Beginning active scans, subspace and realspace."

After a few minutes of taking readings he shakes his head. No solid fix but it will help us triangulate once the scans are compiled."


You and Linda jump the ship to the next part of the nebula.
"Reversion complete. Within ten thousand kilometers of projected arrival point."
You make sure not to comment on Linda's jump accuracy.

"FTL coms are still down, we're still within the jamming range."
"Beginning active scans... havent found any close range signs of contact. Same as before."

"Let's keep moving. Maybe we'll have some better luck in the third system?" Kavos suggests.

>>17845834
The next jump your accuracy is way off the mark.

"What the hell?" You blurt out before you can catch yourself. The nav data reads more than one hundred thousand kilometers off course.
"That shoud NOT have happened!" exclaims Linda. "Everything was right on I swear!"

Arron merely shakes his head and continued his job. "No enemy contacts at short range... not picking up any one strong jamming signal, we may be near the center or a weak point in the jamming."
"Our coms are still blocked."

"I'm glad this doesnt seem to take very long." You say to the Chief. "At this rate we'll be back and getting ready for a strike mission in no time."

"Cant locate any jammers, hell I cant even tell what general directions they might be. This data is going to be a scrub. There's a lot of localised signal reflection. Wait, wait, wait, I am picking up something strange. I think it's a ship. Readings are intermitent, like a ship that's partially losing cloak. Never seen anything like it."

"How big is it?"

"Big, three thousand meter range. It doesnt appear to be moving, but it's hard to say for sure."

"You're sure its not the jammer?"
"Pritty sure, if anything its absorbing the jamming emissions."

[ ] Investigate: This could be worth looking into
[ ] Ignore it: We have a mission to get on with
[ ] Other

>>17845965
>[X]Investigate: This could be worth looking into

Maybe it's that Terran research ship? Their ships are supposed to be highly advanced, right?

You decide to bring the ship in closer so that you can get a visual or other better readings.

"Chief what do you know about that Terran science ship that went missing?"
"Not much. They'll classify just about anything as a research ship if it lets them get past treaty regulations for warships. Gives them a reason to stick untested experimental equipment or weapons on things."

After a few minutes you close in on the location the sensors are feeding you.

"Getting something." says Arron. "Putting it upon the viewer."
A display window showing an enhanced visual pops up on your panoramic monitor. The image zooms in until an oval spheroid object appears. It must be the ship's shield showing up through its cloak, you conclude. You can make out the faint outline of the ship through the shield before it dissapears.
"Its gone again."
"Is its cloak screwing up?"
"Even with this sensor package we shouldn't be picking up much from a cloaked ship, just ghost readings if it was visible. This is weirder. It's like it's fading in and out of subspace without a jumpdrive active."

"What kind of ship is it?" you ask.

"There was only a brief glance but it fit the profile of a Terran Medium cruiser." says Arron.
"I thought so too." agrees the Chief. "Langley class maybe?"

"Are they tough?" you ask.

"They're fairly average for a ship of that size. The only good thing about them is their speed. Rapid reaction ships mostly, though they're used by special warfare units sometimes."

The ship reappears relatively close to you. Without a reference you were coming in a bit quickly.
"Reversing engines." You announce, slowing to a stop a few km away from the larger ship.
"Damn, that thing is a lot bigger than us."

"Getting no answers to communications directed at them. I cant even tell if they're recieving."

You feel out of your element here. "What should we do?"

Kavos shakes his head. "I dont have a clue, but we cant leave it here."

"If its slipping into subspace and back we could try popping its field." Suggests Linda. "Without a drive field it should snap back into reality."

"Do you have any idea how to do that?" Asks Kavos.

"Well we could try shifting phase cannon frequencies back and forth until something connects but it might damage the ship. Or we could try cranking up out drive field and extending it so overlaps theirs, that would do the trick but we wont have FTL for ten to twenty minutes because of feedback. We should pobably ask the Chief Engineer about that one."
"Deffinitely." agrees the Chief frowning heavily.
"Any other ideas?" you ask.

"Turn on the drives and ram it maybe? Not sure how well that would work."
"That's crazy. Pilot please dont do that." Kavos tells you.

[ ] Phase cannon
[ ] Extend drive field
[ ] Ram
[ ] leave and return with support
[ ] other

>>17846378
>[X] Extend drive field

This seems to be the least dangerous choice.

>>17846410
You contact the Chief Engineer about extending the drive field.

"You do know that if it connects its going to feed back into our systems right? I'll have to degauss the core assemblies and that'll take a bit. We'll lose jumpdrive until I finish putting it back together."

"What happens if we try to jump without doing all of that?"
"It'll be a rough ride to put it midly and we might not some out where we planned. but if you're set on this lets just get it over with." The engineer signs off grumbling about trainees wrecking his shit.

Roll 1d20

rolled 7 = 7

>>17846573
>dice

If this one is under 7, I'll stop rolling for the evening.

>>17846600
ಠ_ಠ

You bring the ship alongside the larger cruiser when it remains visible, careful not to get too close. Linda taps away at her keyboard changing drive field size and shape.
"I hope this works." She whispers, activating the drive. A dull thud shakes the ship followed by an increasing amount of vibration. The cruiser flickers in and out like someone switching a light on and off.
"Is it supposed t-" you begin to ask before a sharp *CRAK* throws you back in your seat.

"Drive field down." "Ship is back in realspace." Report Linda and Arron.

"Engineering to bridge, I dont know what do you did up there but we wont have FTL for 26 minutes. We're going to have to pull all the focusing systems and check for damage after that."

The Chief is ignoring the conversation entirely, standing up he walks closer to the monitor.
"Tell me that's not what I think it is." he finally asks.

You zoom in on the ship's name, stenciled on the ship's side near the bow. Arron looks back and forth from his instruments and the display.
"Confirmed. That's the TCS Endeavour."

"Not the fucking Ghost ship Endeavour."

"What's going on?" You ask.
The Chief merely hold up his hands and heads back to his seat not saying anything.
"There have been reports of a ghost ship matching the description of the Endeavour popping up ever since the ship vanished inside Dominion space a few hundred years ago. They said it had been operating with special permission from the ruling house but that was never confirmed. Freighters usually spot it, call it in only to have it dissapear before warships arrive."

"Why hasnt anyone done something like we just did before?"

Arron shrugs "No idea, maybe the nebula made it easier to detect? If we werent so far off course I doubt we would have picked it up."

"Are they recieving our hails now?" you ask the coms officer.
"They're recieving but I'm getting no response."

"Accurding to scans there are no lifesigns aboard, barely any power and everything is turned off. Might still have an atmosphere aboard."

Looking around you see some signs of battle damage, but nothing serious. The Chief shows no signs of his nerves getting better.
"I'm not going near that ship."

You dont have many options it seems.

[ ] Order the marines to board the ship
[ ] Board the ship with the Marines
[ ] leave and return with support
[ ] other

>every mission is boarding actions lately.
>Not as planned.kpg

>>17847139
>[X] Board the ship with the Marines

Yes! If everything works out, we'll never need our eyes again.

>I say we take Spock, Dr McCoy and crewman Ricky.

"I'm going aboard." You state matter of factly.
Arron gives you a thumbs up, Linda facepalms and Chief leans forward enough to pull out a small pistol and hand it to you.

"Dont get yourself killed."

You nod and rush to the lockers outside the bridge. Thank goodness, it looks like the armor vac suit has been repaired. Not all of the armored panels are the same colour any more but who cares.
Thorwing it on you make your way down to the small launch bay, half of the Marines already aboard. Noticing you a few of them Grimace at having a rookie coming with them but they dont have much say in the matter. It's not like they could just tie you up and leave you in the shuttle.

Wait they cant do that right?

Putting your helmet on you step through the door leading into the cockpit and take one of the jumpseats. As the Assault Shuttle leaves the bay the copilot turns to you.
"So where do you want us to board? It's a big ship. There's a dedicated landingbay amidships by the look of it, the bridge is near the bow and the endineering section is way at the back. It'll be quite a walk between them all depending on what the corridors are like."

>Where do you wish to go aboard?
[ ] Bow
[ ] Mid ship landing bay
[ ] Aft

>>17847492
>[X] Aft
We need to be sure the thing doesn't start pulling that phase-in/phase-out stunt again while we're still on board.

>BTW, thank you for running this exclusively for me ATM.

>>17847559
All the other players killed themselves it was going so slow?

>>17847720
Perhaps Strike Witches Quest and Metahuman Resistance Quest are keeping all the other regulars busy?

I hope some of the US players will arrive later on.

>>17847776
On second thought, maybe all people who'd usually be interested in this kind of quest are still traumatised by Vedibere's disappearance?

With the shuttle headed for the ship's aft you step back into the troop compartment. Or maybe that would be compartments. The troop compartment is divided down the middle by a bulkhead, with each Marine facing out towards and armored hatch. Faster than using pair of doors on either side of the ship you figure.
The shuttle doesnt make any attempt at docking with one of the hatches, instead it swings into place near one and holds position. You hurridly check your suit seals then try to breathe normally. The doors swing open and twenty troopers in space tight armor push off from the hull of the shuttle, preferring to save their thrusters for an emergency.
"Contact with outer hull." They report before you can push off yourself.
A Cargo loading airlock the team has chosen to enter through is located just in front of the drive plates. Not the greatest place but not the worst.

"We're at the door. Attempting decryption..." Says one of the specialists, holding out a handheld device.
"Huh, that was easy. It accepted one of the older House decrytion subroutines almost straight off, like they wanted us to open it."
The large armored blast doors retract a meter then split apart opening the way for the team. The fully lit airlock interior greets you.

"Team leader to ship, we're proceeding inside."

Determined not to be left behind you hit your micro thrusters sending you barreling through the door and skidding across the deck. Artificial gravity is still active.

>>17847913
Once the outer doors have closed pressure comes back up automatically. The team readies weapons as decontamination and scanner beams swep the airlock. Once they finish their scans the inner doors open with a slight hiss.
"No signs of internal defensive systems. No force fields or sentry guns. Atmosphere is... its set for multi-species standard?" "That's weird. Would have expected them to set it to Terran norm. "

"Lights are on but nobody's home. Boarding team to Chief Kavos everything looks good in here. Should we risk popping the seals on our suits?"

After a few moments someone must have convinced him to speak up. "I'm against it personally but its your call. We dont have much data on the internal layout of those ships, it's still classified."

The leader of the Marine detachment speaks up. "We havent been aboard one of these ships but it does seem to follow a certain layout pattern. We're close to engineering but with this section of the ship being the most heavily armored we should be able to find one of the backup or even main computer cores."

[ ] Head for Engineering
[ ] Try to find computer core
[ ] Split up
[ ] other

>>17848035
>[X]Head for Engineering

Engineering first, once we've established what kind of malfunction the drives had, we can look for a computer core. If we manage to find one while poking around, I'm not opposed to accessing it.

>>17848035
On your way to engineering you pass banks of capacitors, storage for power cables and spare parts, machinery you cant identify and conduits that must connect the plates to the drive core. You know you're getting close as more of the conduits and cables begin to intersect.

One of the soldiers whistles as the squad enters the central chamber. "Will you look at that."
He says pointing to an elevated platform in the middle of the room

"Spit it out Soldier." Demands the Chief.
"Sorry activating sensor feed."
The image sent back to the ship by the cheap recorders show the FTL core strung up with bulky shock absorbing dampeners. Armatures hold the bundles of fat power cables that would normally be plugged into a spherical device at the center of the room. The core itself though is anything but a normal sphere. It looks like a pair of Diamonds with the pointed ends connected. The whole assembly looks like it can be rotated to point in any direction.

"What. The fuck. Is that?" You ask.
"Experimental core. Must be."

Scatered around the room are racks of focusing systems capped with the usual crystaline tips labled and prepped for rapid insertion. At a quick glance you spot more of the devices than there are spaces on the core.
"Must be spares."

The Chief's voice crackles over the helmet com. "That engineering room is stripped down for sure, but by the look of things I bet a team could get the FTL core operational in 15-20 minutes."

>>17848348
Looking around you get the distinct feeling that something here is wrong, you dont know what though. "Has anyone else got a bad feeling about this?" You ask.

One of the specialists turn to you as if he's about to agree then the Chief speaks up "Yes! IT'S A GHOST SHIP! You're supposed to feel that way. It's your subconcious telling you you're going to die if you stay there."
"Be cool Chief." You reply.

One of the Marines notices something as they check over some storage containers mag-locked to the deck plates. A datapad was fastened to the top of the crate closest to the core.
"Hey I found a cargo manifest. It seems to list pritty much all onbord mechanical parts."
He paused to scroll through the list.
"Holy shit, will you take a look at this? Guys switch to my monitor."
"What is it?" you ask.
"There's enough backup equipment here for two ships, good quality stuff too even by todays standards."

"Sir! I think we found something more important than supplies." Says another of the Marines as he climbs up to one of the upper levels. The rest of you drop what you're doing and head up the stairs towards what seems to be the control room. Inside one of the walls isnt covered in system displays like you expected though.

"Those look like stasis units." You say hopefully not pointing out something too obvious. "My father ships perishable goods in ones just like them."

"The things your father ships, they're expensive?" Askes the Chief.
"Yes, why?"
"Those stasis units are armory grade. They're used either for Torpedos... or for crewmen."

"The fact that we havent seen any bodies would tend to point towards the latter." comments the squad leader. "The outer material is set to opaque to block out any light, it can mess with people in storage otherwise."
Hitting a few buttons the cylindrical outer casings turn transparent.
"They're occupied all right. Humanoids in stasis. Kavarian male... Human male... Dro'all."
"Got a Rovinar over here." says a Marine a few cylinders down the row.

>>17848770
With a few more minutes of searching you and Marines find enough stasis chambers to hold an entire engineering staff. You all meet back up in the engineering control room to compare notes.

"Found a Human Female, looked to be in her forties. Couldnt see any rank insignia."
"Got a few more Kavarians, they all look in rough shape though. Kind of old."

"This is very strange." Comments Kavos, more than a little confused. "Why have a multi-species crew? There are too many complications. There looks to be members of every major faction, even pirates dont operate with such diverse crews."

"Well whoever they are they're all showing signs of age." Says the squad medic. "I dont think we have anyone under 40 standard years by the looks of it."


[ ] Open one
[ ] Leave them alone
[ ] Other

>>17848814
>[X] Other

How's the atmosphere in the engineering section?

>>17848837

"Atmosphere seems okay. Any species from the Factions should be able to breath it without any problems. I cant be sure about hazards like advanced bio weapons though."

Everyone looks at him.
"What? It's a ghost ship, they could all have a zombie virus or something."
"A Zombie virus Rob?" A marine elbows him.
"Shut up, it's not like it didnt cross your mind."

>assume naltuth
I dont know that virus Captcha.

>>17848920
Check the stasis chamber, if it says its cargo is in adequate health then defrost the human.

>>17848940
"Okay... they all seem to be in good health. Any species preference?"

>>17848984
Human female, if she hasn't got any rank insignia she might be a civilian. Should be easier to get information from her.

"Hold on to your butts." Says the medic steps in and starts adjusting controls on one of the chambers.

"You do know what you're doing right?" You ask him.

"Yes! I jus- I just havent done this in awhile." He sounds nervous, you decide not to press the issue.

After a minute the outer casing cracks open before sliding back into a gap in the wall. The inner pod lowers until it is parallel to the floor, to prevent the occupant from simply falling out. After a minute status lights on the side of the pod turn green and the casing opens. The woman appears to be in her early fourties though if she'd had a face lift it could be quite a bit older.

"Breathing is shallow, slowly increasing."

Her eyes flutter open and she coughs, then struggles to get upright.
"Take it easy you've been out for a long time." The Medic advises her.

"How long?" She coughs out. "What year?"

"It's 4023 by the Terran Callender." You tell her.
"What?" She can barely get the word out. "No. Nonono, it was too long. Who are you?"

>>17849246
>What do?

>>17849274
"I'm Sonia Bethany Reynard, pilot of the ship that managed to pull the Endeavour back to real space. And you are?"

"Anushree Sanjukta, Chief Drive Scientist." She pauses to cough. "What do you mean pull it back to realspace? It should have reverted on it's own four hundred years ago. Did the others survive?"
She looks over he shoulder to see the other chambers unopened.
"Where is the Captain? It, I mean HE should have come out of stasis first."
The Medic offers her some water.

"Excuse us for just one moment." Says the Marine squad leader who pulls you aside then motions for you to switch to a private com channel with him and the Chief.

"We should get our priorities straight. This ship sure as hell isnt the science ship we came out here to find. If it's been missing for four hundred years who's going to notice it never came back? I say you take the corvette back to base, bring in a battleship with a real boarding team and we take this ship for ourselves. We can figure out what do do with the crew later."

"We dont know what creepy as shit experiments they had running over there." Points out the Chief. "Their own crew knows more about it than we do and they still managed to fuck it up, what makes you think we'll do any better?"

"The experiment doesnt matter. We remove anything experimental we dont understand and replace it with standard equipment. One month tops our house has a new Medium Cruiser."

>Your orders?

>>17849597
>>Your orders?

I'd really love to bounce ideas off some other players in this situation. Sigh.

>>17849670
Indeed. Last week the thread was kept bumped long enough for players to show up. Mind you they showed up 24 hours later.

>>17849702
Okay, let's try this:

"You see Mrs Sanjukta, you were the first to be defrosted because you looked like a civilian. Somebody who won't give us a lot of trouble in case we stumbled over something we shouldn't have.

And I'll be frank with you, there's a little voice in my ear that tells me I should just throw you in the freezer again and bag my house a nice cruiser. You've been missing for more than 400 years, your ship long since written off as some kind of interstellar Flying Dutchman analogue.

Now, I'd feel like a real heartless bastard doing that. So, here's your chance to convince me there's another sensible outcome to this situation.

You could start by giving me an idea what happened to you."

>>17849850
And if you want to do me a big favour, please be so kind and consider creating a save point before our character says that. In case the other players don't agree with it or being awake for 27 hours is getting to me.

>>17849917
>consider creating a save point before our character says that. In case the other players don't agree with it or being awake for 27 hours is getting to me.

That's... an interesting idea. I suppose it would be equivilant to burning a fate point, you'd take a negative modifier to a couple of rolls after reload.

>>17850041
I guess that would be better than things developing in a way nobody else wants to.

Okay I'm going to archive but try to wait for more players since this could have a serious impact on the character's career.

>>17850542
That's probably for the best. Sorry, but I really
need to get some sleep now It's almost 3:30 am here.

Anyway, thanks for running the quest despite the disappointing participation.

In addition to that, I think it might help if you'd use the same image for every thread, preferably something easily recognised. Perhaps you could even request something for this thread whenever the next drawthread pops up.

>>17844554
Balls man. I like this but I never know when it's going to pop up. I'll just guess tuesdays from now on

>>17852624
I think OP will probably do the same thing as last week and continue it on Wednesday. So if you got any input on the current situation, we'd love to hear it.

>>17849850
I'm liking where this is going. If possible, deactivate the FTL drive so nothing accidental happens while we're on it.

Bump

Bump.
My Wireless just up and died this morning, that should make things more interesting when I get back later.

bump

bump
3-4 more hours

Okay, so we can basically either

>Wake up the crew, return control of the ship to them, render whatever aid we can and let them fly off.
-Pros: We'll gain bonus points with the Terrans? Could result in nicer equipment for our house or some favour for us. The warm feeling of having helped somebody in need.

-Cons: We don't get that cruiser. We might get trouble for letting that cruiser go.

>Call command
-Pros: We don't have to make the decision. We'll be able to continue our mission.

-Cons: Probably less stuff for us.

>Put the girl back in stasis, loot that ship.
-Pros: Nice new ship, command gets to decide what to do with the crew.

-Cons: The ship might be trouble later on if the Terrans find out. We'd be a dick.

>any other ideas?

One last bump before heading to bed.

Okay, back in action with a new router. (Which also hates me.) Old one thought it was too gay in here or something.

>>17852624
>Balls man. I like this but I never know when it's going to pop up. I'll just guess tuesdays from now on
Always tuesday. That Saturday one was a fluke.

>Call command
>-Pros: We don't have to make the decision. We'll be able to continue our mission.
>-Cons: Probably less stuff for us.

Be aware that You're still inside jamming range atm. You'll need to send/take your own ship back to base just like if you were going to bring back more Marines.

>>17852775
>If possible, deactivate the FTL drive so nothing accidental happens while we're on it.
None of the cables that would normally be plugged into the core are connected. However, it looks like they could be plugged in remotely by computer controlled connector arms.

>>17852775
>>17849850
Currently it looks like we'll end up going with this. Going to wait a little while, and see if there are any other suggestions.

I've just come to the realisation that the Langley class as I'd designed it has more than a passing similarity to the AMT Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser.
Mind you the Langley/Endeavour is a hell of a lot bigger.

>>17862258
I'm not entirely happy with the stuff I've written yesterday night, but since nobody else seems to be around I guess we'll have to go with it.

You pause to think a moment before steping away towards the tech specialist.
"Those arms to connect the Drive core to the rest of the system, I want you to disable or hack them so that only we control them."
"Will do. Might take me awhile." He sets to work on the engineering controls.

The scientist seems to have recovered from her previous coughing fit. You set your helmet back to external coms.
"Mrs Sanjukta, we dont know why your Captain hasnt woken up yet. You were the first to be defrosted by us because you looked like a civilian. Somebody who wouldnt give us a lot of trouble in case we stumbled upon something we shouldn't have. Say something a bit more classified than your average cloaking system.

And I'll be frank with you, there's a little voice in my ear that tells me I should just throw you in the freezer again and bag my house a nice cruiser. You've been missing for more than 400 years, your ship long since written off as some kind of interstellar Flying Dutchman analogue."
The other woman's eyes go wide as you say this.

"Now, I'd feel like a real heartless bastard doing that. So, here's your chance to convince me there's another sensible outcome to this situation. You could start by giving me an idea what happened to you."

The woman is on the verge of panic now.
"I... w-we, t-the treaty! We are protected. We were told there would be no risk from any of the Houses, the Ruling House forbade it. The Factions Alliance wanted ships with crews from every group scattered so they couldnt all be found. We were supposed to be pushed into subspace and wait there until needed. We were the watch ship for this region, we were to return at regular intervals and call the others back early if necessary. But it only lasts for so long! Most of the other ships would have returned by now on their own! Please, you're not from a Renegade House are you?"

You try to get your head around what all the scientist is babbling about.

[ ] There are other ships?
[ ] what the hell is the factions alliance?
[ ] Demand command codes for the ship
[ ] Offer Assistance
[ ] Other

>>17863498
>[X] Other
>Stop! WTF time
"Lady, you are 400 years overdue. Let us sit down and talk about this in a calm manner. I'll try my best to answer your questions but I have no clue what most of the stuff you are talking about is."

We should also inform her that we're currently in a semi war zone and it would really help if she could help us get her ship to the nearest starbase.

>If our character know about the stuff the woman is talking about, disregard my post.

You dont have a clue WTF is going on and try to resist the urge to facepalm.
>>17863987
>"Lady, you are 400 years overdue. Let us sit down and talk about this in a calm manner. I'll try my best to answer your questions but I have no clue what most of the stuff you are talking about is."

"Are you saying no one remembers why we were sent? We were given a mission, a very important mission. I was barely told anything but they needed my research to hide the fleet. The old expeditionary fleets were disbanded after the Faction Wars, but we needed a force that would be ready protect the Factions against the Neeran if they ever returned. I assumed they crewed the ships with retired veterans that couldnt adjust to peace time."

>we're currently in a semi war zone and it would really help if she could help us get her ship to the nearest starbase.
"A warzone? Are the factions fighting each other again?"
You inform her that no, it's 'only' a bunch of pirates plaguing most of known space.

You try to get back to the point of getting the ship put of here.
"I cant bring the conventional FTL systems online by myself." She informs you. "You'd need the Chief Engineer and the navigator minimum, but I can get the submersion system disengaged. We wont wont fall back into subspace. Computer-"
Before she can finish the Marine Sergent quick draws his pistol, aimed at the womans head.

"Choose your next words with exceptional care."

>>17864317
Anushree swallows before continuing.
"Computer, disengage... subspace submersion system." She says slowly, making sure the Marine doesnt think she's about to say 'disengage safeties on sentry guns' or something else like that.

"Authorization Sanjukta, Doctor, CDS, 43712 Alpha."

A perviously blank section of wall lights up with a holographic interface showing a field bubble around the ship and devices scattered through interior lit up in red.

"There. We dont have to worry about that problem any more. The device cant be turned on again without the Captain or two ranking officers."

Your next conversation is a call back to the ship.
"Chief, what do you know about the Neeran?" you ask.
"Not much. Xenophobic suposedly. I think they fought in the Faction Wars. Hang on I'm looking through our database."

"Now what?" Anushree asks, waiting to see if you'll wake the others.

"One moment please." you tell her.

"Please just wake up the crew." she asks the other marines as you turn away and listen to what the Chief has to say.

"Most of the info on the Neeran is classified looks like. There's record of them taking part in the second faction war and then there was at least one follow up war against them. The shit, everybody was against them, every Faction. Hell even the Kavarians took part in the wars against them and they were under their current fleet size restrictions by then. "

"So, we beat them up?" You ask.
"No. Neeran space is listed as being within the Republic but the last war against them was beyond Shallan space. Contact just stopped, no ceasefire, nothing. Right after the wars ended the expeditionary fleets were disbanded but there's gaps in the records. A lot of ships from the wars that should have been scrapped never reached the breakers. Those could be the ships shes talking about."

"How does this help me Chief?"
"There's something weird going on here. We need those people alive whatever we do."

>>17864441
>Damn you CAPTCHA!
"Thank you doctor. I'm sorry we're hesitant and overly cautious, but this is a rather strange situation."

>Could we tow the ship alongside ours to safety?

>>17864737
"This is pointless!" Exclaims the Marine sergant.
"You want to interrogate them, fine, we can still take the ship and do that! We saw some Dro'all, wake them up. They know what it's all about serving both House and Dominion. They dont join us we stuff them back in storage and somebody above us deals with it. I have waited my whole career for an opportunity like this and I'm wont stnad for some recruit screwing it over. I want this fucking ship!"

The head of your Marine detachment is on the verge of losing it. The others are uncertain and could go either way.

[ ] "Agreed" Take the ship
[ ] "Stand Down" Revive the crew
[ ] Other

>>17864947
The vessel outmasses your ship by close to 30x. Your corvette does not have powerful enough engines or tractor beam to accelerate it to jump.

>>17864983
>[X] Other
"Sergeant, this whole situation is way beyond any of us. Recruit or veteran. Unless you've got a top secret rating beyond all of ours, I think we need to be really careful here.

Therefore, I propose this:
We'll revive the bare-bones crew that can run this ship and get it back to our base of operations. If what the doctor has told us is true, and I believe it is, some of the higher-ups simply have to know. As Mrs Sanjukta has said, all factions were involved in this. The ship will probably disappear while in transit and that's it. We get a medal for finding it and the whole situation will end as a footnote and nobody is ever going to mention it again.

The reason why I'm not in favour of reviving the hole crew, Sergeant, Doctor, is that I don I don't want everybody who was on my ship this day to slip and break their neck while stepping out of the shower. If this has been secret for more than 400 years, I doubt the few lives on my ship would be a high price to pay to keep it that way.

To make it short, we get our recognition for finding the Endeavour, keep our lives and the whole project can continue. Or be put under review. Or whatever they want to do about it.

Would this be acceptable for the two of you?"

>>17865332
>
>The reason why I'm not in favour of reviving the hole crew,[...]

So they don't fly off and report us to whoever is their superior. Forgot to mention that. Sorry.

>>17865332
>>17865425
Your reasoning seemed pritty good. Writing.

>Roll to see if your agruement convinces the Marine!
>Rolled 1 =1 Trolololo

"I for one find it perfectly acceptable." Says a voice you dont recognise.

You and all but two of the Marines instantly draw your weapons and have them aimed at the new voice. Steping out from an access corridor is the thinnest most emaciated looking Dro'all you've ever seen. The uniform with rolled up sleeves seems to hang off him. Something else about him seems wrong, the skintone being a darker shade of yellow than it should be but no hint of orange.

The Doctor puts a hand over her mouth for a moment before getting out the word; "Captain?"

"Welcome aboard strangers. I'm Captain Ohema Udashi, I trust your team did not have a difficult time getting aboard? Calm yourself Doctor, they're not with a Renegade House, their decrypt codes would have been, shall we say, altered if they were."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Asks one of the specialists.

"Nothing that's terribly important right now my good man."

Ignoring the firearms pointed at him the old man walks over to the primary engineering console.

"My access codes will work from anywhere in this ship... but only if I'm alive obviously."

A scanner beam sweeps the area next to the console. "Now you want as few crew as possible up and about. I would suggest my Chief Engineer, the good Doctor as she's already here, two maintinence technicians, a helmsman and our chief navigator. That's seven of us to twenty one of you. Exactly three to one odds in the event we should try something shall we say 'drastic.' Is that acceptable?"

And I'm totally distracted by Meta Quest right now, among other things.

I'll finish this off hopefully at the start of the next thread on Tuesday.

>>17866155
Okay, see you by then. Thanks for doing this thread mostly for me.