You are Elesh Phryx, rogue techpriest and captain of the Sword class frigate 'Sword of the Omnissiah'. Docked with a normally abandoned wayfarer's station above a solitary planetoid orbiting an eerily sad, blue star known only as 'Dove', you survey the damage inflicted upon your motley raiding force. Quein's corvette and your own frigate both proudly bear the scars of your recent battle. The Mechanicus monitor opposite the remaining raiders dominates the station's docking facilities, though hidden beyond the proud ship wait 'Heavenly Forge' and the captured factory ship. For a moment your thoughts turn to 'Beginner's Luck', or what remains of her, scattered across the void in The Corridor. A pitty that a rookie captain had the misfortune of encountering a Firestorm on his first mission. Your robe blows lazily in the stale air of the waystation as you momentarily search for Magos Taylor's ship, before remembering the vivid image of the ship burning in the void. "Praise the Omnissiah for the Magos' survival."

>Meet with a fellow captain or character?
>see to the loot?
>Casualty reports...
>Clear your mind, see to some other task?

We should thank Magos Taylor for his assistance in the raid and offer condolences for his lost ship.

And let's see if we can get a report on just how bad our losses in the boarding action were.

Oh hey, don't usually see this quest on Fridays. Nice.

>see to the loot
What self respecting pirate would pick any other option?

>>19071930
Casualty reports, followed by a message to Grumman that Taylorand Wilson may try to salvage one or more of the enemy ships. It's not tattling on them as such, just warning him that it's possibly gonna happen and he might want to talk to them about it.

>>19072010
running a catch-up shorty tonight due to the loss of several hours due to the auto-banner's shenanigans last night.

>>19071930
Check the casualty reports and see if all our named crew members made it through mostly unharmed.

>>19072022
Most excellent. Emprah be praised, and all that good stuff.

Did OP get banned again?

>>19072013
But anon, all snitches must die. You don't wanna be a snitch, do you?

If Taylor wants to take the risk of flying around in a stolen AdMech ship, that's his business. It would be a serious breach of the Pirate's Code to rat him out to the higher-ups.

>>19072013
Let's NOT give the only official AdMech authority we are on good terms with the little detail that we employed a wanted Heretek in this raid, hmmm?

It takes nearly an hour, but you eventually track down Athe in the station's medicae facility. The Hospitallers honing their skills upon 'Heavenly Forge' have taken over the station's facilities, struggling to care for the thousands of wounded that have managed to survive their wounds for the day-long journey to this haven. Your blood-covered XO sits beside an armsman as he dies, whispering what you believe is a litany of bravery into the dying man's ear as he passes.

"Our armsmen will need a new commander, Captain." Athe carefully places the man's hand onto his chest before covering him with a blood-stained blanket. "Over eighty percent casualties for the new blood. We may be able to muster a full battalion from the survivors, but they gained little experience in that blood-bath. Only five-hundred of our veterans are expected to survive the night."

"And yourself, Athe?" Something about your friend's dark mood concerns you, compelling you to give her a reassuring squeeze with your bionic arm.

"I'm fine, the blood isn't mine, Elesh. Julin is somewhere near the far door, she took a some fragments from a grenade."

>orders?

>>19072232
Yeah, but we're in an agreement with Gruuman and the SoBs about helping them out, aren't we? Just seems like it's be a bad move to say we're going to help them and them just up and ignore their orders on a mission we take from them. I'm not saying we go all "Hey, they're doing bad things punish them!" just, more like, "Hey, they might try to salvage a ship, might wanna help them disfigure it a bit so that the AdMech don't recognize it."

>>19072291
Doesn't GRuuman know Wilson and Taylor? I thought he was the one that got us together with them at the start of the quest?

>>19072322
Let's see how Julin is doing.

>>19072355
Magos BANKS teamed you with Taylor and Wilson.

Magos GRUMMAN is the Magos of the Serentus System, and is in cahoots with the SOBs

>>19072355
No, that's Magos Banks, who is even more of a wanted Heretek (not to mention our mentor, which is still more reason to keep their involvement on the hush-hush).

>>19072381
Oh. Well herpa derp me.

>>19072358
Seconding. Julin needs cyborg hugs.

>>19072398
Oh. I got them mixed up, thought they were the same person.

>>19072418
>I have 5 arms and I must hug

>>19072460
Once we're done with all the pirate business here, Elesh should probably try her hands (and tentacles) at grief counseling. Our girls will surely need it.

>>19072479
And to practice making bionics... we bought that precicion machining set for a reason...

The thin sheet that covers your prone Master-at-Arms does little to provide her any modesty as you approach, much to her aggrivation. "Schrapnel in the ass, Captain. I'd appreciate a robe or something, if you could spare one. They had to cut my webbing off to get at the wound."

Despite Julin's clear humiliation at her position, you can not help but grin. "Don't sweat, or the fabric might become transparent, Julin."

"Elesh!" whines Julin, her face turning a deep red. "Will you help me or not, Captain?"

>orders?

>>19072460
Hey, every one of our hugs is like 2.5 normal hugs.

>>19072550
Well, yeah. We could but a box on her derrier to cover the wound.

>>19072552
This requires further study and experimentation.

>>19072550
Oh we might as well have someone bring her something to wear. Trolling an injured officer is poor sportsmanship, after all.

And the loot, what's the state of the loot?

>>19072550
Do we have any spare robes? I thought we only had our one set....
I suppose we 'could lend her our robe... which we still need to merge our robe with that corset robe thing we got from the sisters while we were still in recovery...

>>19072660
Though it might temporarily raise the morale of the crew, I don't think giving away the clothes we're currently wearing would be the best idea...

"I'll find you something, Julin. For now, get some shut eye."
"Thank you, Captain."

With little left to offer the wounded, you take your leave of the medicae. In short order you're located by Captain Quein. "Capt-... Elesh, we've got a rough estimate on the transport's cargo, and that drive you were after is already being loaded onto 'Heavenly Forge' by Advi. If you're ready, Taylor and Wilson seem eager to begin haggling over the distribution of take."

Your former voidmaster hesitates for a moment, gathering his courage to say something, you suppose. "And I happen to have a merchant paying for for transit aboard my ship... she's asked to be present during our acquisition distribution in order to make offers on the spot. It was your gig, so you get the call."

>allow merchant to participate?

>>19072660
I like to think Elesh's smart enough to have bought/acquired a whole wardrobe full of mechanicus robes during her stay with Magos Grumman.

>>19072887
Allow. An extra vendor is always useful.

>>19072887
Let's ask Quein for his opinion about that. But I'd be inclined to agree.

Quein does also need a hug, even more so after the way we derped him off our ship. It's good to see him again.

>>19072887
Well if the merchant was on Quein's ship, she already knows what went down. No harm in letting her make offers on the loot at this point.

Besides, considering that we'll be salvaging and refitting that light cruiser hull in the other system soon, having a little extra money never hurts.

>>19072960
>"Derp him off ship"
>Next time we meet, sudden hugs
>Quein's face when

>>19073013
We're not exactly good at this whole "dealing with fleshbags" thing.

Besides, the man has his own command now. Sure, he might have gotten that eventually if he stayed with us, but he had no way of knowing that. It would have been pretty hard to talk him out of leaving with only the vague promise of future promotion if he stayed.

"I trust that you had her confined to quarters during our actions, Quein. If you feel that her presence won't be a risk to us, she may join."

"Serra is setting her family up with a new home on Serentus V, so she'll keep quiet." As you and Quein go to join the other captains, a runner is sent to fetch the merchant.

The cargo list is woefully lacking diversity, though the quantities involved generally offset this shortcoming.

Refined Metals: x40
Refined Adamantium: x10
Refined Rare Metals: x20
Sentinel Power Lifters: x5 compliments
Common Foods: x80
Auxiliary Power Generator: x2 [HUGE, Component]
Industrial Starter Kit: x5 [LARGE]
Total Wealth: 80
Servitor bits: x4 cargos (~1,000 servitors per cargo)

"Elesh, Taylor and I believe we should settle the matter of our claims to captured ships before settling loot." offers Captain Wilson.

>orders?

>>19073188
hmmm... we were tasked with the destruction of the ships, but pirates will be pirates... i believe that the ship magos taylor rammed should be his on account of DYNAMIC ENTERY... and cause he no longer has a ship... although it's armour would have been a nice upgrade... we should pass on a ship in exchange for more cargo... delicious, delicous cargo...

>>19073188
Did we not agree to let them claim any captured vessels? The way I see it, Taylor should be given first pick, since his ship was lost in battle.

>>19073188
>claims to captured ships
Let's hear them out. We did promise them dibs when it comes to claiming ships, iirc.

in reguards to the cargo, i propose we take the industrial starter kits and a couple of compliments of sentinal power lifters as primary choices, then as secondary the food and some of the servitor bits if taylor or banks have not laid claim on them at that point...

i make these suggestions based on our previous idea on setting up a hidden base of operations, which we can do in the system asteroid filled system we found which isn't on the local star charts...

>>19073304
Seconding. We should focus our loot-claiming efforts on aquiring the supplies to build a base where we can work to repair that ancient cruiser hull.

>>19073361
indeed. the refined materials would be a short term boost, but by setting up mining and refining facilities, we would have a steady supply of materials which long term is a better plan. after all, eventually we will want to hang up our pirates hat, and having an industrial empire in a hidden section of space would be a rather lucrative retirement plan...

>>19073188
>Total Wealth: 80

Well, if I skimmed over the penultimate thread correctly, we'll get 33% of that.

>>19073397
>eventually we will want to hang up our pirates hat
Madness! Regardless of our career choices in the future, the hat stays!

>>19073417
I dunno how the loot split will go, considering one of the original parties to the contract is now dead.

>>19073435
We had a deal with Magos Banks, who supplied the two rookie raiders. I like to think he's still very much alive.

"As far as we are aware, only Taylor and I have rights to claim ships on this venture. As such, we offer to surrender our first round claims on cargo as a sign of good faith, while we claim both ships equally."

Both Quein and Banks' Rookie shrug, looking to you.

>>19073453
One question:

Do claim rights mean they simply get to choose first and we'll get compensated like Magos Banks did on our first mission, or does that mean they basically get the ships for free?

>>19073482
If I recall, we got them to accept a lower share of the loot in exchange for salvage rights on any ships captured during the mission.

>>19073453

that is true, the rookie was offered cargo, and so was Quien, after all, i doubt that Quien would want the admech after his ass for having one of their ships...
thank them for their sign of good faith and ask Quien and the rookie if that is acceptable with them.

>>19073482
as part of their conditions for joining the raid, they wanted to be able to lay claim to a ship. Since your orders were to destroy the escorts and then the transport (after you took her cargo), you agreed, since you couldn't really keep a Mechanicus ship and still pretend to be legit.

Since they're both known, WANTED pirates... they won't bat eyelashes over such details as the AdMech wanting them even deader

>>19073513
In that case, yeah, let them have the ships. That was the deal when we hired them.

>>19073513
Well, as long as they understand the risk involved in taking these ships, I see no reason to refuse them.

"Very well. On to the picking, then. I believe the Rookie has first choice of ten small cargos, so we'll set that as our standard small claim size. Standard 1 unit applies to LARGE and HUGE cargos, as normal."

>First round of selections...
>Servitor bits divided evenly, as per terms with Taylor
> +2 cargos of Servitor bits!
>Wealth divided!
>+26 wealth!

>Elesh's cargo selection (may choose 10 small cargos, 1 compliment of Power Lifters, 1 LARGE cargo, or 1 HUGE cargo)
>Remaining cargos
Refined Metals: x40
Refined Adamantium: x10
Refined Rare Metals: x10
Sentinel Power Lifters: x5 compliments
Common Foods: x80
Auxiliary Power Generator: x2 [HUGE, Component]
Industrial Starter Kit: x4 [LARGE]

>>19073612
Whatever else we choose, I'd like an Industrial Starter Kit for use in that asteroid-rich uncharted system.

>>19073612
actually, if you guys could agree on a rough priority list, this will go faster.

>>19073612
Industrial Starter Kit

>>19073612
Would the sentinels be of any use to us?

Otherwise, I'd go with the industrial starter kit, and either the adamantium or the rare metals.

Which of the resources would be the most valuable when it comes to repairing that light cruiser?

>>19073652
Industrial Starter Kit
Sentinal Power Lifter
Industrial Starter Kit
Sentinal Power Lifter
Food to end

>>19073612
Industrial starter kit for first priority.

Food for second priority (so we can leave a crew behind working on whatever base we build).

Whatever else my fellow anons suggest.

>>19073667
Power Lifters would increase your Factory Ship's mining by about 25%, cutting down a "full of refined metals" run from a month to three weeks.

They can also be used to increase the production of just about any facility that requires heavy lifting.

and each Industrial Starter Kit allows you to start a single factory or production facility of basic level. (such as a refinery, factory, etc. More complex systems may require 2 or more ISKs!)

oh, and as for resources...

each ISK requires 5 cargos of refined metals or Adamantium to construct (Adamantium provides a small bonus)

Also, you'll need to power factories somehow... (there are several methods)

>>19073612
>Auxiliary Power Generator: x2 [HUGE, Component]
One of these might be useful if we're going to be getting a space station up and running. Food for thought.

>>19073734
Okay, thanks.

In that case I'd choose:

Refined Adamantium: x10
Industrial Starter Kit
Sentinel Power Lifters
ISK and SPL until none are left
Auxiliary Power Generator
Refined Rare Metals
Refined Metals
Common Foods

>>19073752
Speaking of those generators, aren't we the only one with a fully functional ship capable of hauling Huge cargoes right now?

>>19073734
Oh, well in that case grabbing the adamantium as top priority seems like a good idea. And other metals as well, for that matter, since 1 selection of metals gets 2 selections of ISKs.

>>19073781
Wilson and Taylor have claim to the captured Factory ship, which carries those cargos at the moment...

>>19073766
we don't need the refined materials though... we have a mining ship for that....though a generator would be helpful... we could always trade some of the wealth for the parts...

>>19073817
I'd guess adamantium is rare as fuck.

>>19073836
supprisingly not. it's hard to process and use properly, but it is harder and more resistant than other metals...

looks like we can have 6 things. if machinespirit is generous, we can get what we want. if not then lots of barganing, begging and compromise..

You quickly decide to pounce upon the resources to begin setting up a base within the... unnamed system... immediately. Your planned acquisitions are frustrated by the other captains at times, though in the end you manage enough to fill your factory ship quite well.

Elesh's Haul:
Refined Adamantium: x10
Industrial Starter Kit: x2
Sentinel Power Lifters: x1
Aux Power Generator: x1 [HUGE, Component]
Common Foods: x10 [LARGE]

"Now that such matters are settled, there is further business." chimes Magos Taylor. An ornately robed figure enters the small planning chamber, several mechadendrites following the form closely. "I introduce Artisan Keppert. She is an old ally, and just happened to be the XO of the captured Lathe-class. Heidi was in charge of a certain group of techpriests..."

>stay a while and listen?
>tend to the loot!
>other?

>>19074030
>stay and listen
The second in command of the captured ship is a friend of Taylor? Fuck yes.

Intrigues are awesome.

>>19074030
>>stay a while and listen?
Yay, story time... I mean, more knowledge is always good.

>>19074030
Stay and listen.

>>19074030
a named character!? this is either a new friend, or a potential SECRET BASE COMMANDER!!!
or a replacement for advi who could be the base commander...
either way, this is interesting... it's not like we can set us shop in the new system when our factory ship is crewed by the SoB...

"In the interest of not wasting my time with this inefficient language, I shall skip to the cut." The synthetic voice's ire at spoken language entertains your flesh brain to no end, though your cogitators quickly crush any chance of your facial features betraying such thoughts. "'Mellivora Capensis' was in possession of four thousand techpriests accused of tech heresy and sentenced to be converted to servitors. With rank, I was able to protect the innocent among them by seeking information with application of torture. The heretics were weeded as thresh."

Quein coughs at the long silence following the Artisan's words. "So, are you offering them as goods?"

"Loyal servants of the Omnissiah are not goods to be bartered, fleshbag. I seek to find use for their skills."

"I lack proper techpriests upon my ship, and would be glad to take any that are willing." offers Quein.

>orders?

>>19074245
!!! WE HAVE OUR SECRET BASE STAFF!!!!!
herateks could do all sorts of fun stuff to our equipment.... this seems like a very attractive offer. before any aquisition of them, we should ask what she wants in return. i doubt that we are just getting free staff...

>>19074245
As much as I hate to undermine Quein, I think we can offer a better opportunity for these tech priest, as regards the restoration of that ancient light-cruiser hull we discovered and the industrial development of a new system.

Though we should be careful how much we reveal in these open negotiations. Taylor and Wilson may be friends, but they're still pirates and I'd rather not reveal any more about our discovery than necessary at this point.

>>19074316
well, we just took enough equipment to make a small facility with the loot, just say we will need them as staff... anyway, we could share them with the others... Quein will only need a few of them to work his ship...same goes for taylor, wilson and the rookie... they get a handful apiece for their ships, we aim to aquire the majority for our little 'refinary' project...

>>19074316
I'd say it depends on how many tech priests there are.
We might be able to spare a small complement for Quein's ship.

So, wait, are we just ignoring the "NO SURVIVORS!" rule then?

>>19074440
Meh. We never told Magos Grumman about the system we discovered, so as long as we only employ these survivors in that system, what he doesn't know won't hurt him.

"I have need of any with industrial skill. 'Heavenly Forge' will soon need a more skilled crew to operate her."

"There is one who will fit your needs perfectly, Magos...?"
"Phryx. Captain Phryx."
"Very well, Captain. I believe there are enough with the skills you require."

>+1,000 industrial-skilled techpriests!

The remaining techpriests are soon offered to those that would benefit most from their skills.

Quein and a woman his age linger to converse as the captains disperse back to their respective ships. As you turn to leave, a small child with a large belt stands in your way. "Yoooooou want to buy my Starter Kit!" sings the adorable child. "Thirty wealth, ho!"

>>19074440
technically, you're fairly sure that Magos Grumman meant no -loyalist- survivors.

Who will miss a few condemned tech heretics?

>>19074506
>a small child
>mon visage quand

>>19074524
Works for me!

>>19074506
>As you turn to leave, a small child with a large belt stands in your way. "Yoooooou want to buy my Starter Kit!" sings the adorable child. "Thirty wealth, ho!"
HNNNG.

>>19074554
We totally have sugar products in our vehicle, right?

>>19074595

yes, i believe that in the 10 cargos of food we aquired, there is, in fact, sugar products...
we should enquire more into this small child, such as the puropse of the large belt, what kind of starter kit and if they will take 5...

... we're gonna start off next thread with sugar products.

>thats it for tonight, folks!
>Privateer Quest will return on TUESDAY, MAY 15th @ 8:00 PM EST
>usual ~20 min Q&A

>>19074684

question i've been meaning to ask for some time now...
why do we even HAVE a MIU? usually only the titan commanders, or high level explorator magos' have them. they are not really standard upgrades... they are more expensive than mechandrites... just curious