You cross your arms, frowning. “Lowe’s only family was in danger. I can’t say I blame him too much.”

Claudia raises an eyebrow. “You always were a sympathetic kind of guy, weren’t you? Make no mistake, Lowe isn’t a good person.” Her eyes narrow as she continues. “At the end of the day, he only cares about his bottom line, same as every other crime boss.”

“So what’s all this about my ‘connection’ with Blackheart?”

Claudia chuckles, a mischievous expression on her face. “Well, it’s not every day that one of the most elusive pirates in history invites someone aboard her ship…” She grins. “Or into her cabin, for that matter. You must’ve done something to catch her attention. Perhaps even more than that, if rumors are to be believed.”

You shake your head. “It’s not like… Wait,” you frown. “How did you know that we’d met in person?”

Claudia’s expression doesn’t change. “A magician who reveals all their secrets isn’t a very good magician.” She turns and begins walking back toward the wardroom. “Anyhow, I’m going to take Sally to the passenger staterooms.” Her expression gets serious. “I’ll keep an eye on her. If something troublesome develops, I’ll let you know.” With that, Claudia exits the room. You hear some talking in the wardroom, then footsteps as both of them head to the passenger rooms.

Leaning against the wall again, you rub your eyes. Things could’ve gone a lot worse today, that’s for sure. Even in FTL, you’ve got a while before you arrive at Ceres to drop off your cargo, then probably another six hours before you’ll be back on Mars.

>Head up to your room to get some rest.
>Visit a crew member. (specify)
>Watch some TV in the wardroom.
>Write-in.

>>1663748
>>Visit a crew member. (specify)
Our first mate, let him know to be ready

>>1663748
>Watch some TV in the wardroom.
Interesting to see if the news mentions anything, local or interstellar. Plus you run into other people there inevitably and have expositional chat!

>>1663748
Oh and great to see ya running, cheered up my day some!

>>1663809
Thanks! Glad to hear it.

>>1663748
>Watch some TV in the wardroom.
Time to chil
Oh and good to see you back

>>1663748
>Head up to your room to get some rest.

We don't sleep enough.

File: Tom 1.jpg (20 KB, 400x300)

20 KB JPG

You decide to head into the wardroom, sitting down and turning the TV on. After scrolling through a few channels of static, you find an Imperial news channel. Though it is all being spoken in the Imperial language, the television translates it to English.

“And apparently there has been an update to the situation developing on Ganymede,” the anchor says grimly. The Imperial Navy’s top counter-terror units have apparently arrived on scene, and it appears that they are searching the waters around the platform for something…” The feed cuts to an aerial shot of the platform, with several VTOL craft buzzing around, shining spotlights into the water.

The camera pans over to show the landing platform, where an Imperial VTOL has landed and soldiers are escorting captured mercenaries toward it. You see a man in an Imperial Navy officer’s uniform look up at the camera, gesturing at it before the feed shifts again to the waters around the facility. You feel dread in the pit of your stomach as several rescue divers rappel from one of the VTOLS into the water, bright orange vests illuminated in the spotlights’ glow.

The feed returns to the newsroom, the anchor looking just as grim as before. “We have just gotten word from our affiliate stations on Titan that the terrorists were part of the group calling themselves Lariat. Those who have been captured are apparently being detained on Ganymede until they can be moved to the capital for trial.” He shuffles a packet on the desk in front of him, clearing his throat. “And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.”

You sigh, turning the TV off and leaning back in the seat. “Dammit.” You frown, crossing your arms.

The sound of a lighter flicking open catches your attention. Looking back, you see that Tom has entered the room. He lights a cigarette casually. “Looks like the news is buzzing after the racket we caused.” He frowns deeply, taking a long drag of the cigarette. “Still no mention of the research they were conducting there.” He shrugs. “I figure they might be covering it up.” He walks over and sits across from you, resting his elbows on the table. “We just entered FTL. Shouldn’t be more than six hours to Ceres, since we’ll have to disengage before we enter the asteroid field.”

>”That gunship we shot down… You said it didn’t deploy countermeasures. You think something was wrong?”
>”Have you gone over any of the files we took from the facility?”
>”Are the crew all okay? Anything I need to know?”
>”I think I’m going to get some shut-eye.” (leave)
>Write-in.

>>1664144
>”That gunship we shot down… You said it didn’t deploy countermeasures. You think something was wrong?”

I'm all about that pain.

Valen Quest is back.

>>1664144
>>”That gunship we shot down… You said it didn’t deploy countermeasures. You think something was wrong?”
>”Are the crew all okay? Anything I need to know?”

>>1664144
>”Have you gone over any of the files we took from the facility?”
I feel like there was a story about that gunship, especially as you were ecstatic when we shot it down (the unpleasant implications kind), but Tom probably feels the same, and its done, unless new information emerges bringing it up is wringing our hands and lowering crew moral.
>”Are the crew all okay? Anything I need to know?”

You grimace, thinking back to the news footage. “That gunship we shot down…” Tom glances at you as you speak, taking a quick puff of his cigarette. “It didn’t deploy countermeasures… What do you think was up with that?”

He shakes his head, raising his eyebrows. “Honestly? I don’t know what to make of it. Obviously the news has been quiet about it, they probably don’t even know. But it could really be anything.” He pauses to take another drag, sighing. “The news seems to think those mercs were some half-wit extremists, so it’s possible they froze up when we got the drop on them… Or it’s possible that they didn’t even realize we’d fired a missile until it was too late. And then there’s the possibility we made a huge mistake…” He rubs his chin thoughtfully. “At this point though, I don’t think it’s worth talking about.”

“And what if it turns out we did make a huge mistake?” You raise an eyebrow.

Tom’s expression doesn’t change as he quickly replies. “Simple. We lie to them.” He grumbles, pointing toward the bridge with his cigarette. “Corrigan pulled the trigger on that missile. If it turned out she shot down innocents, it’d destroy her. So if it turns out that we had a serious error in judgment… I recommend we tell a pleasant lie.”

“Tom…” You frown at your first mate, who merely shrugs.

“Your call, sir. I just hope it never comes to that.” He crosses his arms.

“So anyway…” you grumble. “How’s the crew doing? Everything alright?”

He nods. “Other than Samantha staying locked in her room for the entire day, which is reasonable after what she learned about her family, the rest of the crew is fine.” There is a bit of silence before Tom speaks up again. “Oh, I think I remember Solfrid wanting to talk to you about something. I think it was involving that weird laser gun you found.”

“Duly noted,” you nod. “Anything else that needs my attention?”

“No sir,” he replies. “Anyway, I’m gonna head to my room for a little while. See you later.” He gets up from the table, yawning and walking toward the doorway.

>Head up to your room. You’re dead tired after today.
>Visit a crew member. (specify)
>Call someone on your communicator. (specify)
>Write-in.

>>1664346
>Visit a crew member. (specify)

Get Solfrid to meet us in our room. To discuss our gun.

>>1664346
>>Visit a crew member. (specify)
solfrid

>>1664346
>>Visit a crew member. (specify)
>Get Solfrid to meet us in our room. To discuss our gun
the love gun

>>1664346
>>Visit a crew member. (specify)
solfrid

>>1664346
>Get Solfrid to meet us in our room. To polish our gun.
I want to level up our space magic.

>>1664441
Also, good suggestion Tom.

File: Solfrid1.jpg (27 KB, 225x350)

27 KB JPG

You decide to get Solfrid and see what exactly she wants. Walking over to her stateroom, you knock on the door a couple times before she answers. As the door opens, you see her wearing headphones.

She quickly removes them, and you hear music blaring loudly from the small speakers. “Captain,” she greets you. “What’s up?”

“Tom mentioned you wanted to see me?” You cross your arms. The music coming from the headphones is familiar, but you can’t place the song or artist. Definitely punk, probably from the 20th Century.

“Right,” she nods. “So I was in contact with my mom, and we got to talking about seeker crystals,” she begins. “And I think I may have found someone who can help us figure out the mystery pistol you discovered.”

She motions for you to enter the stateroom, and you do. She sits on her bed and you sit in the desk chair opposite the bed, waiting for her to speak.

She pulls out a piece of paper, looking at it briefly. “My mom said that the Psirinean Armed Forces used to experiment with seeker crystals as power sources for weapons.” She frowns. “I wasn’t able to follow that line of conversation very closely. Most of that stuff is beyond me. She did tell me that we might be able to meet with someone who could tell us more.”

“And who exactly is this someone?” You frown, fighting off a yawn.

“A reactor technician by the name of Mireon.” She points to the paper. “I wrote down as much information about him as my mom could tell me.” She crosses her arms. “The biggest issue we might have is that he’s aboard Storm-Born.”

You frown. “That’s the worldship you’re from, right?”

“Exactly,” she nods. “It’s pretty far from the Solar System, and you might have a hard time getting aboard even if we got there...”

>”Would there be any way to contact this technician without visiting Storm-Born?”
>”What exactly would I have to do to get aboard?”
>How far away are we talking? I know your people are isolationist.”
>”Thanks for the information.” (ends conversation)
>Write-in.

>>1664512
>”Would there be any way to contact this technician without visiting Storm-Born?”
>How far away are we talking? I know your people are isolationist.”

>>1664512
>>”Would there be any way to contact this technician without visiting Storm-Born?”
>How far away are we talking? I know your people are isolationist.”

>>1664512
>>”Would there be any way to contact this technician without visiting Storm-Born?”

>>1664512
>How far away are we talking? I know your people are isolationist.”

Might be good to have a reason to get out of dodge for a bit after we were so . . . . Almost high profile.

I'm gonna call it here for tonight. We'll have a short session tomorrow afternoon, and maybe another on Monday.

>>1664647
thanks

>>1664647
Night! Thanks for running.

>>1664512
>"If you are feeling homesick, Solfrid, you can just say so. ;)
>”Would there be any way to contact this technician without visiting Storm-Born?”
>”What exactly would I have to do to get aboard?”
Seems like a long way to go just for some trivia. And if visitors are rare and this tech is military it may be a bad idea to visit anyway.

You frown. “How far away are we talking? I understand your people are isolationist.”

Solfrid nods. “Storm-Born orbits the planet Lairen, in the Vismus System.” She crosses her arms. “If I had to guess, it’d be about two weeks’ FTL travel from here.”

You frown. “Right. That is pretty far… Would there be any way to contact this technician without going to Storm-Born?”

She shakes her head. “Unfortunately, most people aboard Storm-Born don’t have any means to directly communicate with the outside world. It’s not that they can’t, mind you, just that most psirineans don’t have much desire to look beyond their home.”

“That’s a bit odd,” you reply. “I’d figure just about any interstellar civilization would have a desire to explore.”

Solfrid grimaces. “The last time we went out of our way to discover new parts of the cosmos, we were nearly exterminated.” She shrugs. “That was over ten thousand years ago though. Sometimes old habits just die hard.”

“Right,” you reply.

Solfrid puts her headphones back on. “Anyway, I just wanted to mention that in case you felt like following up on the origins of that gun. I won’t waste any more of your time.”

“Fair enough,” you nod. “See you later.” You get up and leave the stateroom, finally yawning once you close the door. Apparently the lack of sleep is catching up with you. Without much else to do, you decide to head upstairs and get some shut-eye before arriving at Ceres.

You lay down in your bunk with a sigh. Tripe snores on the couch, keeping you awake for a few more minutes than you’d like. Eventually though, you close your eyes and drift off to sleep.

----

“LT,” the marine adjusts his helmet as enemy fire whizzes around your position. The illuminator flare casts a ghostly glow over the firebase. “Looks like the Imps got through the wire. Naval Infantry and Assault teams by the looks of it.” You silently wonder why he’s briefing you. Shouldn’t this be Castro’s problem? “The Major’s ordered us to find every pilot and get them to fallback position Echo.”

“Right,” you nod, understanding. “Lead the way.”

The two of you begin maneuvering through the maze of trenches leading to the fallback point. The explosions and gunfire just over the top are loud enough to drive anyone mad. As the two of you round a corner, an Imperial soldier jumps down into the trench. The man raises his shotgun at you, yelling something in his native language.

The Marine, however, has it covered. He quickly fires two rounds into the enemy soldier’s chest. The man crumples to the ground, choking a bit before his eyes glaze over. The Marine looks over at you. “We need to move, Lieutenant. This whole section is caving.”

>”Right. Lead the way.”
>”I need a weapon.”
>”Are you guys gonna be able to push these Imps back?”
>Write-in.

Well, seeing as it's been almost an hour, I doubt I'll be posting any more tonight. The voting prompt is obviously still open, but the session is basically over. Next thread will probably be next Monday.

>>1678360
>”Right. Lead the way.”
Our flying machine is our weapon.
I don't know if this is an early enough flashback to show optimism.

>>1678589
That's like a week away! Well, longer to look forward to it I guess.

>>1678360
>”Right. Lead the way.”

>>1678360
>>>”Right. Lead the way.”
>>”I need a weapon.”

>>1678360
>”I need a weapon.”

Grab the shotguns. Shotguns are AWESOME in Trench wars. They're called "Trench Sweepers" for a reason.