>Last time on Freelance Ghost Quest: You showed Ed around the ship, found out it has a lot more guns than you though, and Ed asked about love.

“Uh, well. I might have to think a bit more about that.” You take some time to consider. It all went pretty fast then. After a moment, you continue “I told her because she had the capacity to understand. If I hadn't told her, I would have been treating her as unable to handle her own life and what might threaten it. Me meeting her made her encounter it all, and she decided herself that she wanted to know about it.”

After a short pause, you add: “But, yeah, I care about her."

“I see. Interesting.” Ed replies. You check the time, and realise it’s almost time for dinner.

“I better get going now. I’ll see you later Ed.” You head towards the mess, where Lisa is waiting for you.

“Ah, in time for your cooking lessons I see?” She shoots you an amused smirk.

>1. Oh boy, do I have to?
>2. I’ll make you the best dinner ever.
>3. Nah, I’ll just eat the cantina food.
>4. Write in.

>>35367247
>2. I'll makeyou the best dinner ever... I mean, how hard can it be?
And then fail horribly

>>35367412
Writing.

“I’ll make you the best dinner ever... I mean, how hard can it be?” She laughs. Maliciously. Oh boy, this is going to be fun.

Lisa leads you into the kitchen, where she prepared a bunch of stuff. There’s vegetables, potatoes, and meat. “To start with, peel the vegetables.”

Confused, you look at her until she sighs and starts talking again. “Right, I’ll show you, just this once. Pay attention.”

Roll me some d20’s for cooking.

>>35367570
If we roll a 1, do we poison everyone?

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>35367570

>>35367753
>>35367570
Not gonna roll shit else

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>35367753

Oh my, looks like Artemis might be a natural

>>35367753
Artemis the master cook!

>>35367753
>>35367819
Well, one more roll needed.

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>35367895

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>35367895

I'll samefag one then?

>>35367922
>>35367819
>>35367753
There we go, critical success. Master chef artemis is now an unlocked career choice.

You do remarkably well. So well that when she tells you to peel the potatoes next you don’t need her instructions anymore. Then the actual cooking starts, and as per Lisa’s instructions, you boil the potatoes, roast the vegetables and bake the meat.

Time flies by much faster than you’d have thought, and before you know it an hour has passed, and your dinner is served.

“Well, I couldn’t see anything go wrong while you were making it, so lets put it to the test then shall we?” Lisa grins at you. She puts some of the vegetables in her mouth and promptly stops grinning. For a moment you think she might spit it out, but she continues chewing, and after she swallows she says: “Damn Artemis, you really did the flavouring well.”

She tastes the rest of the meal and for every piece of food she puts in her mouth you get another praise. You finally begin eating yourself, and come to the conclusion that it’s the best meal you ever made. Ok wait no, that doesn’t really mean much. You conclude that it’s pretty damn good.

>Topic of conversation? (write in dialogue strongly encouraged)
>1. Food, duh.
>2. Her work.
>3. The joint attack on the zerg.
>4. Write in.

>>35368041
>2
You have been doing good with these people. You should know that I had faith in you but would never have guessed that it would turn out that well.

>>35368041
>>2. Her work.

>>35368041

>Her work

I'm not sure if it's polite to discuss Zerg over dinner.

>>35368097
>>35368115
>>35368210
Writing.

“You have been doing good with these people. You should know that I had faith in you but would never have guessed that it would turn out that well.” You say.

She blushes. “It’s not that special. Someone with more expertise probably could do a lot better.”

“Expertise in repairing the broken minds of an entire crew? I don’t think there’s anyone that has any expertise with that.” You counter.

“I… I guess so. And well, it’s terrible that it happened, but I’ve also learned so much about humankind that I’d never have done so otherwise. I mean, my…” She hesitates. “Talent, is pretty weak, and it’s still a bit weird to use, but I’ve gotten so much more insight in things.”

“Hmm, most of what I learnt is that the human mind isn’t exactly a pretty place.” You grimace. There have been plenty of times where you had to extract information, and the memories that came along with that information showed you just how much of a bastard humans can be.

She’s silent for a moment. You realise you probably shouldn’t have said that on an evening which was shaping up to be a pretty romantic one. “Hey,” she says, “If you ever need anyone to talk to, I’d be happy to hear you out. When you’re ready for it of course.”

You smile at her.

>>35368575

----

The rest of the evening goes well. You chitchat about the psionic side of her work, and for once it’s something you can say about just as much if not more than her. You even manage to crack a few jokes that aren’t tasteless.

You laugh at her joke. You look her in the face. You both know you’re both trying to delay her departure. Finally, much later than she’s been on the ship before, she says: “I guess I should be going now.”

“Yeah.” You don’t move. She doesn’t either. You sit there in silence for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other’s company. Finally, she rises, and you follow suit. You move through the corridors, and halfway to the hangar, you realise you’re holding hands, your fingers entwined.

The flight back to Lahan II is silent as well. She leans into you a lot. When you finally land, she beckons you to come out of the wraith for a moment.

You jump down next to Lisa and turn to face her. Suddenly you feel something being pressed against your mouth. You almost recoil in surprise, but you feel the by now familiar weight of Lisa leaning into you.

>1. Kiss her back.
>2. Kiss her back.
>3. Kiss her back.
>4. Write in.

>>35368599
First
>1
Then
>2
Finally:
>3

>>35368599
>1. Kiss her back.

>>35368649
>>35368655
Writing.

>>35368599

>All of the above

You kiss her back. you wrap your arms around her, and you feel her arms going around your head. It feels perfect.

When you let go, it seems like you stood there for centuries, but it still felt too short. A mischievous smile plays around her mouth. “Well, we’ll have to continue that next time.”

At that, she turns around and heads towards Frontier. In a daze, you fly back to the Omega and head to your cabin. On the way you come across Quartus but you barely notice him. Luckily for him, you also don’t notice him snickering once he sees the look on your face.

-

You wake up from some very pleasant dreams the next morning. Your clock is blaring out a lot of noise before you manage to hit the button to turn it off. Grumpily you get up, trying to remember what you were dreaming about, though all things considered it’s probably not too hard to guess.

>You’re expected at the rendez-vous point in 2 hours at the latest.
>1. Go already, there’s nothing more you can do now.
>2. Do something else first (specify).

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>>35368962

Contemplate the beauty of the untamed world below and the more or less peaceful existence its settlers manage to eke out of it.
Imagine how it would feel to set up a diner and every night leave a bowl of milk outside for a stray xel'naga guardian cat.
Revel in this idyllic fantasy for a moment, and then get real again.

>Warp out. We've some pests to dispose of!

>>35369120
Indeed, the dream of our nuclear ghost family shall never die!

>>35368962
>1
Time to go...

>>35369120
>>35369203
>>35369218
Writing.

You head to the bridge, deep in thought. You had really hoped that you’d have been rid of the marks of your past now. It seems that wanting to live a regular life was too much to ask. Truth be told, you don’t exactly have the skills to do so, but perhaps you might be able to, once this whole thing is over.

At the bridge, you can’t help but bring up an image of Lahan II. It looks idyllic from up here. It might be a tough life there, but they managed to make a more or less peaceful living. Maybe one day you will too?
For a moment, you daydream of opening a diner, Lisa by your side, and setting out milk for the Stalkers that pass by.

You shake your head for a moment and clear your mind. You look around and find the crew member that seems to be in charge, or at least sitting in the position overlooking the rest, and order her to jump to the coordinates you provide her.

Moments later, the warp jump warning sounds through the ship. You guess that Quartus and Sextus will probably get to the bridge soon after the jump. You buckle up. Warp jumps in smaller ships are less violent and faster to prepare, but then again, they don’t drag around several thousands of tons of steel.

>>35369519

The ship jumps, and you feel the pressure on you rise, and after less than a second, abate again. The view outside surprises you.

You don’t see anything. Not a single protoss ship in sight. There’s a few planetoids orbiting a small blue sun in the distance, but the spot where you’re supposed to be gathering is empty.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” You ask the crew. “There’s supposed to be ships here. Can you detect anything?”

In response to your question, you notice one of the crew members glance over at you and pressing a few buttons. Suddenly the console in front of you lights up, and you see a preliminary scan report. It is indeed empty, except for a single ship. It’s not much bigger than a protoss shuttle, maybe twice as large.

In the corner of your eye, you see Quartus and Sextus arrive on the bridge.

>Course of action?
>1. Try and contact the lone ship.
>2. Discuss your course of action with Quartus and Sextus.
>3. Write in.

>>35369527
>Write in
Prep the ship for jumping and hide behind a moon for something.

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>>35369519
>Forgot to add in the image.

>>35369527
>Discuss your course of action with Quartus and Sextus.

>>35369527

Use psionics to scan the area for cloaked protoss.

Also warm up the drives for emergency jump should something unwelcome make an appearance.

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>>35369565

Hah. I should have guessed. We're probably lucky for not having warped into some carrier.

>>35369527
>3. Prepare a micro-jump to the edge of the system, to be engaged at a moment's notice.
>1. Try to contact the lone-ship.

>>35369542
>>35369578
>>35369582
>>35369667
Write in.

>>35369751
...I meant "writing".

“Prepare an emergency jump to the edge of the system. There’s something wrong here. All men on battle stations.”

The crew complies with your orders, and you turn to Quartus and Sextus. “What do you think of this? The only thing here is this little ship.” You gesture to the console screen.”

“Well, it smells of a trap, but why would that High Templar betray you after he’s trained you for a month? If he wanted to nab you, that was the best time.” Quartus tells you.

Sextus tilts his head to the side slightly and moves over to the console. He gestures you to follow. Once both you and Quartus are looking at the screen, he points to the ship, then to his eyes and then waves his hand backwards.

“What, you mean… You’ve seen it before?” You deduce. Sextus nods.

“Greetings, Artemis.” You suddenly hear the psychic voice of Ur’athan in your head. “Glad you are here. I invite you to the flagship of this expedition, the Aramanthis.”

>1. That tiny ship is all I can see. I doubt that’s your flagship.
>2. A single little ship is an expedition?
>3. Write in.

>>35369899
>3 While I trust that your wisdom has given you a reason to use a midget vessel like this... I am still in doubt regarding your mental state.

>>35369899

>Hello, Templar
>Um... isn't that ship a bit short for a flagship?

>>35369899
>1. That tiny ship is all I can see. I doubt that’s your flagship.

>>35370033
>>35370037
>>35370122
Writing.

“Hello Templar.” You respond. “Isn’t that ship a bit short for a flagship? I mean, while I trust that your wisdom has given you a reason to use a tiny vessel like this, I doubt it’s enough for any kind of invasion.”

In answer, you get the psychic equivalent of a laughter. Suddenly, hundreds of ships appear on the main screen, including four gigantic protoss ships about the same size as the Omega. Most other ships are about twice the size of a wraith, the Scout fighters you presume, and there’s also a lot of shuttles. floating around.

“Holy shit.” you hear Quartus swear next to you. Sextus hardly reacts.

“I apologise. We had to actively scan your ship before we could add it to the Arbiter’s cloaking matrix. Your ship is now invisible as well. So yes, that tiny vessel is very good for an invasion, though it is not the flagship. The carrier closest to you is the flagship. If you approach us with a smaller vessel, we will tow you aboard to where you need to be.”

“That little… Well, protoss never cease to surprise me.” You respond.

>1. Head to the flagship on your own in the wraith.
>2. Head to the flagship with Quartus and Sextus is the shuttle.
>3. Write in.

>>35370310

Cruiser should be fine enough in hands of the crew. Let's visit the templar in the three of us.

>>35370310
>Head to the flagship with Quartus and Sextus is the shuttle.

>>35370310
>2. Head to the flagship with Quartus and Sextus is the shuttle.

>>35370347
>>35370428
>>35370483
Writing.

You take Quartus and Sextus along and head to the hangar where you board the shuttle. Quartus keeps blabbering about how the hell it’s possible for a single tiny ship like that to provide enough power to cloak a big ship like a carrier, let alone an entire fleet. You stay quiet. You’ve seen protoss technology at work. You bet the ship is filled to the brim with crystals of some kind.

When you exit the Omega, the other ships are back to being invisible, but after a few seconds, your ship’s computer can register them too. Looks like every individual ship needs to be added into their system. You fly over to the closest carrier, and once you get close enough, you’re caught in a tractor beam of some kind. It’s pretty weak, and you could probably break free without too much effort, but you let yourself be guided.

You land inside an open dome, on a platform meant for protoss shuttles, you gather from the size of it. Once landed, the dome above you closes, and your ship detects an atmosphere being formed around it. Once it’s safe, you exit the shuttle, and find a group of eight zealots awaiting you.

“Hello again Artemis.” Siladus greets you. “I’m here to escort you to the bridge.” He politely nods to Quartus and Sextus, but it doesn’t seem like he included them into the conversation.

“Good to see you too.” You smile and approach him. The zealots form an honour guard around you as you follow Siladus.

>>35370929

It takes a few minutes to reach the bridge of the ship. Inside, you find it packed with protoss, many of them wearing the same kind of clothing as Ur’athan, denoting them to be fully trained High Templars themselves. Ur’athan is standing in the middle, hovering behind a table with a projection of a planet’s surface above it.

“Ah, you are here, good. Everyone, this is who I have been talking about, Artemis the Ghost. I believe he is the key to our salvation.”

You’re oddly aware of everyone staring at you, and many psionic whispers seem to go back and forth. You can’t intercept them, but you notice they’re there nonetheless.

>!. Erm, hi?
>2. Thank you High Templar, it is an honour.
>3. I think you’re being a bit dramatic here. I’m no key to anything.
>4. Write in.

>>35370949
>4 No pressure, right?

>>35370949

>Erm. Hello.
>It's an honour to meet so many Templars (I gather we realize they are kind of a big deal for the Protoss)
>Aren't you being a bit too dramatic there?

>>35370949
>Erm, hi?

>>35371008
>>35371049
>>35371081
Writing. This is gonna be my last one for today.

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>>35371231

Cheers for the thread OP. Enjoying it very much, as usual.

The key to their salvation? Heh, no pressure, right?

“So, erm. Hi. It’s an honour to meet so many High Templars. I think you might have been a bit too dramatic there though.”

Ur’athan smiles. “I believe not. We’ve tried killing these cerebrates before, but we have failed so far. You might be the only weapon we have against them.”

“But it’s not even sure if I can actually kill them permanently, right?” You ask.

“I have faith in you and your abilities.” Ur’athan turns to your companions. “Welcome, Quartus of Omega, Sextus of Omega. I have propositioned some of your tactics to this war council, and we have made some adjustments you will like, I believe.”

He makes a gesture above the hologram and it changes. It now shows a top-down view of a planet’s surface, with many key points highlighted with red dots in a vague circle. One purple dot at the center of the others sticks out. “This is where the cerebrate has entrenched itself. The red dots signify the primary hive clusters, while the purple one is the cerebrate itself. Our scouting has revealed that it is located inside a cave, so when the strike team moves in, we will be unable to provide air cover. Thankfully, we think the cave is too small to fit another hive cluster, but there will still be many defences.”

“The current plan,” he continues, “Is the following. We enter high orbit directly above the target with our four Carriers and half of our Scout fighters. This will attract their main aerial defence force, while the Omega and all our other ships use the cover of the Arbiter to land here.“ He points to a point a small bit next to one of the hive clusters, which starts glowing white. “The terrain there is the most advantageous for a land approach, so we first assault the hive cluster with covering fire of the Omega and the Scout escort. This will draw their ground forces there, so once the hive is down, we retreat to the hills where we landed. By then our probes will have warped in a defensive line of photon cannons and shield batteries.”

Ur’athan pauses for a moment, then looks back to you. “At that point, we all hold out for as long as possible. The moment we attack the hive cluster, the strike team will move for the Cerebrate. First and foremost, Artemis will be the payload of the strike team. He has to reach the beast alive at all cost. Siladus, my personal bodyguard, will lead the team, alongside High Templar Varas, who volunteered for this.” He nods to one of the younger High Templars in the room, who makes a light bow towards you. “Sextus of Omega has volunteered as well, and they all will be accompanied by a Reaver, four Dragoons and my entire honour guard, along with several other Zealot volunteers. Artemis’ other companion, Quartus, has agreed to lend the ground forces his sniping skills in their defence.”

“Any questions?” The question is asked in general, but he specifically looks at you. “Or does anyone have any suggestions?”

>1. Nope, everything seems fine.
>2. Ask a question (specify).
>3. Make a suggestion (specify).
>4. Write in.

>And that's it folks. Thanks for sticking around, I'll see you next Tuesday for the beginning of the end.

>>35371762
Thanks OP
I still have a question about the position of that Templar that we're trying to save. The one that was hunting us?

Anything else looks fine by me

>>35371824
She's a lot further away, and that's where the main body of zerg forces is located, laying siege on her base. This here is purely the cerebrate's defences, there are many more hives on the planet by now.

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>>35371762

>Sounds good.
>How do you suppose the Zerg will react to having their cerebrate excised? Will they drop whatever they are doing to avenge it? Will they run wild? I guess it's too much to ask for them to just drop dead...
>I wonder if we shouldn't ask the protoss to lend an officer that would help command the Omega itself, I'm not sure how autonomous the crew will be in a bona fide fighting situation...

...

>Let's fight the best we can so that we don't die.

>>35371762
>3. Explain Omega's firepower, it's AA taking system, and lack of a Yomato cannon.