>>5803136

It's been three days since you set out into the vast unknown, in search of your homeworld.
Except for you and SHODAN, the whole crew is in cold sleep right now, to preserve energy and resources.

Almost everything on the ship is turned off right now, except for the warp drive, which is constantly, quietly humming away.

It gives everything a much different feel than usual. Even most of the lights are off, so everything is pretty dimly lit by a few emergency lights.
You feel like this would be one of those times where something would happen, like your wraith in a jar breaking out and causing havoc... but it's just quiet.

That's almost worse, in a way.

Since you've been alone with nothing to do, you've spent most of your time just working out, reading and thinking things over.
The past few years have been a blur of one thing after another. It all went by so fast, you're not even sure how it happened, but according to SHODAN, three years have already passed.

You remember hearing a few times that Cylia or Kyla had a birthday, but you guess it never really registered in your mind.
Have you really been gone that long? It doesn't feel like it, but it also kind of does.

Everyone back home must think you're dead. House probably got transferred over to your sister by now, and Ol' Mutt... well, maybe your sister found him and took him in. You hope.

But your identity back home, your bank account, everything you owned... can't count on it all being there when you get back.
Maybe you put off this trip for a little too long after all. Maybe it would have been easier to just go back after you had to leave Xebric, instead of getting together with Dark Star.

Would much have really changed? Sure, you've got a station of your own now, but it's a piece of shit with no real value besides a breathable atmosphere.
Then there's Thekia, you guess. You spent a while there, dealing with some of the worse aspects of life down in the slums. Cleaned it up a bit, put Clank in charge of things...

You can't honestly say that you own it, but Thekia's not a bad fallback if you needed somewhere to go. You could hide there, if nothing else.

And then there's the Feds. Course, you'd never get along with them no matter what, but if you hadn't gotten in with Dark Star, you'd never be on their shitlist like this either.
Wouldn't have pulled Gron's ass out of the fire during that ambush. Wouldn't have tried to take over Xebric for their sake, which of course meant getting into even deeper shit.

Wouldn't be surprised if you came back to find a few fed ships drifting in orbit around the station, irradiated to hell after getting nuked and having their shields fry them to death.

If you manage to make it back to earth... WHEN you make it back. You could just offload this tech you've got and never go back. Jumpstart a new industrial revolution, maybe take over mars or the moon.
They'd never find you, probably. Earth is so far out, so hidden. You could just slip away.

>>5803137

But you know there's the potential for so much more, if you just stick your neck out there.
And yeah, it might get cut off. But nobody lives forever, right? Except Sanig, maybe. But even he's no spring chicken anymore.

Is it worth it? Is what you've already done, really worth it? What about what you could do? That's a lot of what you've been thinking about lately.

Part of that, you guess, has been to distract you from what you've really been trying to avoid thinking about.
After all, you've just flung yourself into the middle of nowhere. The outer spiral arms are desolate places beyond the outer rim with no stations or "civilized" planets to stop at.

Maybe you could crash land somewhere habitable, even if it's not earth, but that won't do you much good getting back to proper civilization.
Course, habitable doesn't necessarily mean there's advanced life. Could be you're stuck on a primordial mud plain sucking algae from the ocean shore until you die of vitamin deficiency.

Scurvy always was the bane of sailors past. No different for you, you suppose.

...You might be going a little crazy already, without anyone to talk to except SHODAN.
You need something to keep yourself occupied.

>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.
>Work on your psychic powers. With all the peace and quiet in the world, there's nothing to distract you from training, and maybe you could actually get somewhere.
>You need to design a better gun. Something custom and fit for purpose. Taking over Xebric made you realize that the modularity of an AR kind of loses all meaning in front of a nanofab.
>Write-In?

>>5803138
Let's announce our presence from a few light seconds out once we get to earth. No sense getting fried like the griggers that abducted us.

>>5803138
>You need to design a better gun. Something custom and fit for purpose. Taking over Xebric made you realize that the modularity of an AR kind of loses all meaning in front of a nanofab.

>>5803138
>>You need to design a better gun. Something custom and fit for purpose. Taking over Xebric made you realize that the modularity of an AR kind of loses all meaning in front of a nanofab.

>>5803138
>You need to design a better gun. Something custom and fit for purpose. Taking over Xebric made you realize that the modularity of an AR kind of loses all meaning in front of a nanofab.

>>5803138
>>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.

Plenty of guns on Earth to pick up and get ideas from.

>>5803245
>Plenty of guns on Earth to pick up and get ideas from.
But nothing that's been informed by our experiences in the last 3 years fighting out in space.
If we run into some spooky shit on the way to Earth, supernatural or federal, I want to be as ready as we can be.

>>5803138
>You need to design a better gun. Something custom and fit for purpose. Taking over Xebric made you realize that the modularity of an AR kind of loses all meaning in front of a nanofab.
We already kinda know what we're doing when we get to earth.

>>5803245
There are a few concessions you have to make for space guns. Just like there are some things you need to account for if you were making a water gun.

Off the top of my head, cold-welding is a thing that can happen in space if two same-element metals touch each other. Unless I'm misremembering the phenomenon.

>>5803257
Beyond all the unique design considerations for using firearms in a vacuum, there's other things to consider.
For as good as Earth's firearm designs are, they're still bound by the manufacturing processes available.
To that end, we have a fucking nanofab and an AI. We don't really need to stick with any established mechanical designs from Earth anymore. Hell, we might be able to figure out caseless ammunition on the way to Earth itself.

>>5803260
How about some good ol' coil guns? Wouldn't even need propellant, just some capacitor banks that you can run off a portable battery. No action needed either, or at the very least a substantially downsized one as it'd only need to account for the projectile itself. Which could also minimize potential issues with cold welding

I don't remember, how good was ayylmao battery/cap tech in the setting? IIRC it was discussed a bit when we were designing our power armor.

>>5803268
>How about some good ol' coil guns?
Even with the advanced technology at our disposal, I'm not sure they'd be any more effective than our firearms. Definitely not as energy efficient either.

>>5803274
Very true, just spitballing ideas. We're not constrained by conventional modern firearm design which opens up a load of options. Hybrid actions like chem-rails, gyrojets, etc.

>>5803276
Honestly, I think sticking with kinetic actions and reactive chemical propellant cartridges is the best idea right now.
We don't want to go too far into relatively unknown territory lest we start inadvertently sacrificing reliability and ruggedness.

>>5803138
>>Work on your psychic powers. With all the peace and quiet in the world, there's nothing to distract you from training, and maybe you could actually get somewhere.
I want David to be able to use 'em powers without liquifeying their brain every time

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gun thoughts
>a caseless gun
would be good but we lose the advantage of heat dissipation, every case ejected could be a heat sink taking shells out of the action, which would improve cooling significantly. alternatively we could use spacer heat pump magic to route heat to somewhere else, like a part of the magazine or something.
>action
i like the idea of an electrically operated/ignited firearm but this is a no go, we have faced EMP in the past and everything we make MUST be shielded (faraday cage) so we either have to shield it or avoid it for a purely mechanical design. toss up, advantages both ways
>users
is this weapon going to be used purely by humans or does it need to be cross species compatible? I'm leaning towards human only design as it would simplify the design and ergonomics. we could make the grip module interchangable for different anatomies to allow them to use it somewhat but I don't want to compromise caliber selection for interspecies ergonomics.
>manufacturability
I'm torn regarding nanofabs. on one end we want them to be easily manufacturable without eating up fab time, on the other we want to take advantage of the technology. we have. maybe certain parts or modules of the weapon should only be able to be made via nanofab, while others could be more quickly manufactured via more traditional manufacturing practices. I am assuming that nanofabs will be a bottleneck, and this would dodge that somewhat.
>power armor use
is this gun designed to be used with or without power armor? if it's designed to be used with power armor we can shunt certain functions of the gun off to the power armor (targeting, cooling) while making the weapon have a larger caliber or more ammunition. this would come with the downside of being harder to operate across all species unless augmented or wearing power armor.
>grenade launcher
pic related. the main problems with the k11 was that it's heavy, bulky, and doesn't work. we can probably make it work, and we could for sure make it lighter. A grenade launcher inbuilt to the weapon would be very useful as the shells have enough space to contain different payloads. however, a m320 under barrel side loader style might be better, keep it simple stupid, and not everyone needs a grenade launcher.
>ammo selection
what do we want to optimize? do we want the weapon to be armor piercing, do we want it to have a large caliber so we can put payload in the bullet, do we want the weapon to have low recoil and be used by as many ayys as possible? do we want to push it to the limit and make it operable only by humans? do we give a fuck about overpenetration?
>electronics
what kind of electronics do we want to cram into this? some kind of linkage to power armor obviously, as well as sights and thermal/night vision capability. I think a good ground rule for the weapon is that the action should be purely mechanical, unless we decide to focus on EMP shielding, which we should anyways for everything we put on it.

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>>5803315
Hot Shot Las Gun

>>5803328
Oh yeah. I forgot we could also just make illegal lasers and phasers.

>>5803138
>Work on your psychic powers. With all the peace and quiet in the world, there's nothing to distract you from training, and maybe you could actually get somewhere.
A gun will always be just a device for punching holes, whereas psychic abilities is a force-multiplier; it's space magic, and offers utility everywhere.
Psychic abilities also isn't something most would know we have, nor would they ever be able to remove from us even if they asked us nicely.

>>5803315
The fun thing about most small arms is that if you simply upscale them they still work. Up to a point of course. You're not going to have a 120mm cannon using the same action as an automatic rifle. But you can absolutely make a "man operable" automatic small caliber cannon. The main problem with it is that a human being cannot physically use it normally. But with power armor you could totally just make a 20mm M16 or AK. It'll be too heavy and bulky for a person to actually use outside of power armor, but otherwise as long as the math works out for pressure and material stresses, it just works.

Of course, there are simply better designs for that sort of thing than just "Make gun but bigger". Dedicated formats are always going to outperform ad-hoc measures.

>>5803328
Classic. I wonder what flash-vaporized ayyys smell like.

If it is possible to sell to Nasa we could sell a liter of water to them for 9k dollars per liter.

>>5803354

Just remember, from the surface to orbit or from one planet to another requires you to enter supercruise at a minimum, which uses dark matter and energy as fuel.
You have no way of replenishing your dark matter, dark energy or antimatter while you're away from a station.

>>5803315
You already have guns for dedicated use with the power armor, this would be a personal weapon.
As for caliber, you have determined that generally speaking, a .22 is enough to put down most species with ease, and so large calibers are just a waste of space. If 5.56 won't cut it, you need explosives.

As for electronics, David fucking hates any gun or attachment that requires batteries. Even without the threat of wraiths, it still makes them unreliable if not useless. From his own experience.
Likewise, any grenade launcher that isn't either standalone or just an attachment with it's own trigger is worse than useless, it's a hindrance.

Overall, it would be intended for use by humanoids, like those on David's crew.

>>5803276
Gyrojets aren't a terrible idea if you want more bullet per bullet. They also solve the problem of overpenetration on ships, since they don't get up to speed over short distances.
The old ones were inaccurate and unreliable due to the difficulty of manufacturing them, but you have nanofabs.

>>5803315
-I'm thinking lever or bolt action.
-Not sure but a recoil-mitigating stock could be wholley mechanical.
-We can grab 3d printer and cnc and other manufacturing equipment blueprints. Hard to say what will be out of our reach with all that set up in a complex controlled by AI or even VI.
-I don't think power armor should be considered a neccessity for use, but considering what could happen if the magazine cooks off(even with appropriateshielding) it would be smart.
-What we're missing in my opinion is a tank killer/cyborg killer. I'm thinking a magazine-fed, mini-missile launcher. Small carbor-tipped or otherwise armor-piercing missiles filled with high explosives and EMP-shielded so it just works.

>>5803138
>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.

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>>5803378
Hog's Leg of the Apocalypse?
Boar's Leg?

>>5803138
>Work on your psychic powers. With all the peace and quiet in the world, there's nothing to distract you from training, and maybe you could actually get somewhere.
Mind bullets

>>5803378
>-I'm thinking lever or bolt action.
No

>>5803138
>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.
As much fun as designing a new gun would be, we have more pressing matters, plus we have the same amount of time one the way back to design one.
Hell, we could just hook SHODAN up to the internet for a bit with the intention to download every blueprint, 3D model, chemical compound, manufacturing process, and cooking recipe publicly available, and even those behind walls if we give her enough time.
Another is that we have to find a way to get in touch with our old marine buddies and do the recruitment drives, cause there won't be a swarm of 150 men ready and waiting at our touchdown site.

>>5803463
>and even those behind walls if we give her enough time.
Are you looking down on her?

>>5803371
The underlying bonus of cartridge guns is that if there's a malfunction it's a lot easier to remove the offending cartridge than deal with the whole gun.

Plus chemical propellants may store a lot more energy than a capacitor (apparently). metal chem Cartridges also act as heat sinks. If there's a way to store more energy than an explosive into an electrical propulsion system, may be good in that acceleration is over a longer period of time = less "jerk" with the acceleration + more kinetic energy into projectile at minimal recoil. Would technically result in EXTREMELY consistent recoil of an automatic weapon.

The 40k bolter and the lasgun do make a certain amount of sense for large scale production though. The Lasgun works in that "ammunition" is uniform between weapon systems, bullet drop/innaccuracies are not present vs lasers, recoil is near eliminated, and there isn't extra manufacturing issues related to ammunition.

However, given we're doing nanofab production and ARE NOT producing on empire level scales... chem propelled weapons aren't all that bad. Disposable heatsinks a'la Mass Effect may help with space combat.


Also gyrojets are basically non-explosive bolters. Just add boom if you can, why not?

while I'm spitballing, have "centrifugal" machineguns.

https://youtu.be/-teEbB9vlEU

>>5803465
The time just goes from "a bit" to "a while".

>>5803463
What walls?

Just about any encryption widely in use on earth right now may as well not exist to her.
Quantum fourier transforms are a bitch like that.

>>5803138
>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.

>>5803461
Unless...pump eeet?

We make the mini missiles loads for the KGS-23 shotgun shells. Then again maybe an adhesive+magnetic slug containing a slight time delay thermal lance might also be useful for softening up robotic opponents

>>5803138
>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.

As cool as a new gun or more control over psyker shit sounds we should probably figure out a plan of action on how best to utilize and implement our newfound tech and other bs before we get to Earth, this. is. our. home, not some fucking smooth brained alien frontier bs. We can't fly by the seat of our pants here.

>>5803138
>>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.
We need to reveal to the world the Jewish Menace and their plans to take over the world.
Also Power armor and fusion tech would make it into a fallout like universe so ill support making it availible.

>>5803138
>>Plan what you're going to do when you get back to earth. You have a lot of power here, and you could change the world pretty easily with what you have.
i'll change to this, >>5803463 is right regarding time doing this on the way back. plus we get to nab our stupid alloy tech first

>>5803881
from >>5803252, sorry

We should make the Mauser 960 Assault System but actually wieldable and not fucking 10kg: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Mauser_960_Assault_System

We should also make it under the brand Lock & Gluger just because.

>>5803943
Just design any gun with alien ergonomics in mind and say it's a Kel-Tec. No one would believe them when they say it isn't their piece.

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>>5803138
>Work on your psychic powers. With all the peace and quiet in the world, there's nothing to distract you from training, and maybe you could actually get somewhere.

Unpopular option but also least developed tool in David's arsenal. Maybe see if we can chat with Nena from current location

>>5804174
h*ck maybe we are attuned to earth (because that's our world) and it helps us find its... voice. Ala Gaia from final fantasy. Or from fate... etc...

>>5803138

The time has come to really hash out what you're going to do when you get home.
Of course, you've had plenty of fantasies about dropping asteroids on china, and that's certainly an option, but there are better ways to deal with things.

What you know for sure is that you don't like the power structure on earth. Money rules the world down there, and those in power don't like anyone breaking into the market.
Kings and peasants, masters and slaves. It's the same shit that's been going on since the beginning of time, but you hate it. You're sick of it. That's not the freedom you long for.

'Course, you have more noble goals than just liberating the people.
Getting humans into space, that's a big one.

Right now, humanity is stuck on one planet. Say a rock falls tomorrow, well, everyone dies.
But if you have a self-sufficient space station or a colony on the moon or mars, then humanity lives on.

Even that's not enough, though. Say the sun explodes, or a gamma ray burst washes over the solar system, or a rogue black hole passes through and sends everything flying off into deep space...

Yeah, having a colony off-planet in the same solar system is good. It's better than being stuck on one rock. But you need to spread out to multiple solar systems as well.
Not just in the same neighborhood, but in different sections of the galaxy. Little seeds of humanity with the potential to grow and spread in time, no matter what happens to the others.

By doing that, you're ensuring the survival of your species. Mostly, anyways.

But just surviving isn't enough. What's the point of mere survival if you aren't thriving as well?
Nanofabrication and warp travel has the potential to end resource scarcity. But it's not something you can just reverse engineer on your own.

You have your own theories about warp metal and all this shit, but you don't know. You're not a scientist. You haven't done much real research into it.
If you really want to get down to the nitty gritty of it all, you'll need real researchers. People who do this shit for a living and actually know what they're talking about.

To do that, you'd either have to hand over your tech or set up your own research lab outside of earth.

The easiest place to do that would probably be on Xebric, since it's already built and livable.
The moon or mars are also good options, though. You don't know how long it would take, but you could set something up there.

And besides all that, you of course need to recruit some helping hands to come back to Xebric with you, regardless of anything else.
That's the main reason you're coming back to earth in the first place, after all.

A workforce. Not just soldiers, but engineers, laborers, scientists... people willing to put their asses on the line, give up their comfy lives on earth and fly off into deep fucking space just for the love of the game.
Of course, you know a few guys. One or two, at least... but you'll need to do some recruiting once you get there.

>>5804317

There's a lot to do, but you just need to find your focus. One thing at a time, you'll get it all done eventually.

>Focus on fucking over anyone with more than a few million dollars in their bank account. SHODAN's got this one, you think.
>Focus on acquiring the gene-seed of humanity. Something that will let you propagate your species throughout the galaxy without issue.
>Focus on research. You want to be able to replicate nanofabricators and warp drives ASAP, and you need research teams for that.
>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.
>Write-In?

>>5804319
>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.
>Side task: Set up AI to fuck the global government planners

>>5804319
>Focus on optimizing the human genome and fitting the results in a retroviral package that's mutation-resistant and won't transmit to other species. When you get home, you'll spread that shit however you can. It'll take a while for it to settle, but humanity should be ready for the next step once you're done with Xebric.
This sound plausible enough on our long-ass space voyage, coch?
If not, then just mark me down for
>Focus on research. You want to be able to replicate nanofabricators and warp drives ASAP, and you need research teams for that.
Instead.

>>5804319
>Focus on research. You want to be able to replicate nanofabricators and warp drives ASAP, and you need research teams for that.
Fuck, we should have had the lizard focus on gene reverse engineering us instead of the mutants first. Oh well
Research team as a primary, and then an amount of exmils to pull security. These people are valuable.

>>5804319

>Focus on acquiring the gene-seed of humanity. Something that will let you propagate your species throughout the galaxy without issue.

We can blow up mecca and frame the Israelis later.

>>5804319
>>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.
Baby steps. Earth won't go anywhere. The more time we'll spend there, the bigger chance that something bad will happen to Xebric.

>>5804338
>Focus on acquiring the gene-seed of humanity. Something that will let you propagate your species throughout the galaxy without issue.

We can also try to do that, if we would be on good time.

>>5804319
>>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.

>>5804321
>>5804326
+1

>>5804317
>Say a rock falls tomorrow, well, everyone dies.
>>Rocks fall everyone dies...
>>5804319
>>>Focus on fucking over anyone with more than a few million dollars in their bank account. SHODAN's got this one, you think.
For the lulz, mostly. But also compliance...

>>5804319
>>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.

>>5804319
>>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.

>>5804319
>Focus on research. You want to be able to replicate nanofabricators and warp drives ASAP, and you need research teams for that.

>>5804319
>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.
Everything else takes time and puts our friends at out there at risk. Earth has been fine up til now, it should be fine for a few months/years more. We're not the masters of humanity, and it's dangerous to think along those lines.

However, if you want a libertarian society, the fastest way of accomplishing that is to make the individual capable of being self-sufficient. For a start, the individual must have the means of food production, creating and maintaining shelter, and the ability to protect himself and his property.
The ideal way of achieving that is through a basic form of Warhammer 40k's Standard Template Construct, with the starting "printer" built out of basic and commonplace materials, which can gradually upgrade into more complex "printer/fabricators". The most difficult part would be the blueprint and the software, and that would likely be the primary means for authority figures to clamp down on it's proliferation. This means the blueprint/software should hosted off-planet, somewhere the Terran governments can't touch for the time being; an example of which would be a pirate radio broadcast station on Charon spamming the entire Earth with the blueprint & software 24/7. (To stop it's transmission, they'll either have to jam the whole Earth, or develop the tech to precision-bomb something on Charon).

>>5804510
When the individual is able to satisfy his need for food, shelter, and protection, then he will have little need for the authorities, then the sole reason for the authorities to exist would disappear.
The transition won't be without its problems, as what's being done will be much more than just handing everyone a big fucking gun, but... That's not our responsibility, that responsibility belongs to the individual, it's up to the individual what they'll want to be and what they'll want to do with their freedom.
>tl;dr: Give everyone the ability to build their own STCs capable of solving basic human needs on the individual level, let them decide for themselves what they want to do with that freedom.
If they survive the transition, libertarian values will necessarily have been ingrained, then we can unleash them on the galaxy by giving them space/warp tech (they'll have to figure out how to power them on their own, however. At least for the time being). Perhaps they'll find another way to power them without dark matter/energy or antimatter.

>>5804319
>>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.
Find our old war buddies, find some engineers and physicists.

>>5804319
>>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.

Let's focus on our homecoming. We'll figure the rest out later

>>5804319
>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.

>>5804319
>Focus on your main goal, which is collecting a crack team that can get shit done back on Xebric. You need that station up and running as your base of operations.
>In the meantime get SHODAN to sift through everyones dirty laundry, classified files, skeletons in the closet, dark secrets and the like.

>>5804319

For now, you decide, you're going to focus entirely on your main goal. That being to get a team together who can help you get shit done.
Once you find earth, getting back there won't be a huge problem anymore. You'll be able to deal with all that other shit more easily once the carrier is up and running, anyhow.

Which, the carrier project is on hold so long as you're using the unlocked fab on Xebric. It won't be that way for long, but it's still something to consider.

Anyways, about the crew.
Of course, you know tons of skilled individuals who would be invaluable out in space, but the problem is most of them aren't quite as fucking crazy as you.
They have families to take care of, or otherwise value their lives too much to go blasting off into space and get caught up in a potential nuclear conflict against some literal alien government.

It takes a certain... special sort of individual to drop quite literally everything and go adventuring.
But those people do exist. You know one or two personally, but you know of quite a few more.

Lots of nerdy types. Chemists who work in their garage instead of a lab, and probably have their names on all sorts of watchlists.
Engineers that, honestly speaking, would probably be building death robots for shits and giggles if they had the time and budget for it.

Hell, there's a non-zero chance you could get Adam Savage to come with you, if you could get in contact with him.
That dude could build just about anything by hand. Give him a nanofab interface and who knows what he'd come up with.

And of course, just straight-up nutjobs. You met more than a few while you were deployed. The kinds of retards that defy fate with every breath they continue to draw.
Not that you plan on sending anyone to their deaths, but there's something to be said for a guy who's willing to run dick-first into enemy fire. Put him in a suit of power armor and let him go, right?

Now, nuclear scientists and engineers, that's a more challenging one. Those guys are usually a little more level-headed. More normal.
They'd probably shit their pants if they knew what you were doing on Xebric and your carrier. It'll probably be hard to poach them... or maybe you could get one to join up just to keep you from killing yourselves with radiation.

But before you get any wild, grandiose ideas, you should probably start small.

Last you heard, Rush was serving steaks for Trump in the oval office. He's probably got too much on his plate to come with you, but it would have been nice to have him as a chef.
Redbone is probably still around. You don't quite remember where he was building his cabin, but it can't be that hard to find. Crazy fucker's got nothing to lose anyways, he'd probably come with you.

Pickle Brown is... well, you ain't sure you even want him, but it's an option. Cracked-out motherfucker might be more trouble than he's worth, but he's good at dealing with unsavory types.

>>5804953

Ol' Cooter's nuttier than squirrel shit, but he was good with a rifle and better with a wrench in his hand. Assuming he hasn't gone full schizo, you could probably convince him if the pay's right.
Only problem is, he started long-haul truckin' about a year before you were abducted, and you hadn't heard much from him since. You know he's still around, but you aren't sure where.

Besides them, you're starting to get more into acquaintance territory.

If you need a good pilot, you guess you could try calling up Lizzy's sister, but...
That'd be more than a little awkward, you feel. She never did like you much in the first place. Even less so now.

>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
>Go for public figures first. The sort you know have an interest in going to space anyways, guys like Adam Savage or some fuckin' youtube engineer. It'll be good for PR later on.
>This might be really, really stupid. In fact you know it is, but... you could always draw on the nameless, faceless dregs of the internet. People who really, really got nothing to lose.
>Write-In?

>>5804955
>Go for public figures first. The sort you know have an interest in going to space anyways, guys like Adam Savage or some fuckin' youtube engineer. It'll be good for PR later on.

this will 100% blow on our faces because we're a fucking psycopath, but i really wanna see shenanigans happen

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.

Best to get a solid group around us first that will accept us as being in command. Makes it easier to maintain discipline once we start brnaching out into other groups.

Also like I said before in the last thread, plenty of Navy personnel that are dissatisfied with their jobs.

>>5804955
>>Go for public figures first. The sort you know have an interest in going to space anyways, guys like Adam Savage or some fuckin' youtube engineer. It'll be good for PR later on.

>>5804955
>>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
I agree with >>5804963 , it's best we get a solid nucleus before we go recruiting random celebrities.

And, under no circumstances are we bringing EVE players, they can stay in quarantine on Earth.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.

Probably not this guy though:
>Cracked-out motherfucker might be more trouble than he's worth
We don't want anyone crazier or braver than us in our crew. As the saying goes, "Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself."

As for nuclear scientists or engineers, maybe try to poach one from a submarine? Odds are decent that they'd rather work in a tube with windows. Plus, it'd look good on the resume.

>If you need a good pilot, you guess you could try calling up Lizzy's sister, but...
If she's at all passionate about flying she'll jump at the chance to head out to space and fly a genuine spaceship, whoever the company may be. Just make sure that the door to the cockpit can't be locked.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
People we know first and foremost. Easier to plan around them.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
Get the A-Team back together, and then get them to do some grass-root recruiting.

>>5804963
I second this.
>>5804973
>>Cracked-out motherfucker might be more trouble than he's worth
>We don't want anyone crazier or braver than us in our crew. As the saying goes, "Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself."
Spacer medicine could probably get him clean a lot faster than on earth. See if he's willing to drop the crack before we agree to bring him along.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.

>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
We really need to find people that wont be missed but not crazies or gamers they will be useless these can be political opponents that have a life and know what grass feels like, so scientists and engineers, veterans who are disabled and can be healed that sort of examples not just people from 4chan.
>This might be really, really stupid. In fact you know it is, but... you could always draw on the nameless, faceless dregs of the internet. People who really, really got nothing to lose.

>>5804973
>Seems like a good choice. +1.

I've only ever known one guy who could hold his crack and stay decent.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
not the cracked out one, ehh actually >>5805045 is right let's see if he'll drop the crack
>>5804973
navy nukes are trained to be reactor operators, not design engineers. Better than no one and stellar for ship crews but if we want legit design people I might try to poach some from defense contractors, etc. also with an AI for design the navy nukes are probably fine

>>5804953
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
Find any ex-submariners who know nuculer and know that they won't be getting shore leave to bone ladybois in Thailand. No sir, we have bonafide catgirls who lust

>>5805120
>>5804953
Of course other options like dropping into DARPA or Lockheed-Martin Skunkworks with a working thermoptic camouflage system and saying lads, I got more where that came from.

>>5805156
That is definitely an option, but you'll definitely have people on your ass asking questions in about a millisecond.

>>5804955
>>Go for public figures first. The sort you know have an interest in going to space anyways, guys like Adam Savage or some fuckin' youtube engineer. It'll be good for PR later on.
fuck yea

>>5804955
>Go for public figures first. The sort you know have an interest in going to space anyways, guys like Adam Savage or some fuckin' youtube engineer. It'll be good for PR later on.

>>5804955
>If you hook SHODAN up to the internet, she should be able to scrape the massive amounts of data and crack into private databases to find the ideal candidates for your little project. Reliable, not TOO crazy, effective in their fields, easy enough to recruit, and she'd be able to parse information from other countries a lot easier than you'd be able to. You can focus on getting your old friends together while she does that, since it'll probably take her a day or two to get all the data sorted.

>>5805283
+1 how did I not think of this?

>>5805283
You see, I didn't propose this because it's the "I want it all" vote, something I dislike. SHODAN will certanly tap into the web, but the point here is to choose who to aim for. Which is also why I am voting for public figures, because with her help we will find the ideal candidates, and convince them.

>>5805365
It's the smartest thing to do, though. I trust SHODAN's judgement to scrape the entire world for the best candidates. And there's no reason not to do our thing while she does her thing.
I don't really care about the youtube celebrities though. If SHODAN approves of them, fine, but otherwise I think it's just the most efficient and effective choice to make.
Besides, being focused on the western hemisphere as David is, is a downside. We'd be missing a lot of geniuses that want out of the SHITHOLES.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
This sounds hilarious,
>Drop a line to Adam Savage just because
...actually, wait, scratch Adam, fucker is drinking the holywoke Jew sponsored coolaid at this point, but he may turn around if we can free him...

>>5805283
This too, SHODAN engage

>>5805441
Fuck Savage, he's a total cuck. Jamie Hyneman is where it's at.

>>5805453
It would also be a good idea to get a career machinist and engineer before a prop maker, but that's just me.

>>5805168
Great point.
As a meta-discussion, I think the ideal here is to get people we can delegate jobs to and maybe act as a foil or beacon of sanity against the ideas of Anon. David is still the MC, so the flow of the story would still revolve around his actions, and maybe swap to any other significant characters as plot dictates (such as earlier segues to Sanig and others). So with that in mind, we want someone who can take ideas or actions to the conclusion.

We need staff who can take control of and maintain a drone-swarm when the carrier is realised, or delegate this to the AI brainboxes.
We need technical and imaginative staff who can run the nanofab and work with SHODAN for making quality engineered items. A maritime military engineer would be a good candidate for this.
We need a squad like David who can go toe to toe with cyborg freaks.
We need staff who can manage production of vat-grown meat or livestock like dodos back on Xebric station. I don't know if this is a Nena job.
We need a police force on Xebric also to avoid further firebombings. Military guys are not good police guys, but maybe this is something the locals on station can do poorly.

>>5804955
>>Go for public figures first. The sort you know have an interest in going to space anyways, guys like Adam Savage or some fuckin' youtube engineer. It'll be good for PR later on.
Bro the moment you mentioned adam savage that won me. Maybe we can bring jamie along too. Maybe that Ancient Aliens guy with the bad hair. Bill Nye? Neil Degrasse Tyson? Stephen Hawkins?

>>5804955
>>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
I'd rather original characters than see an attempt at portraying real-world celebs.
As well, just because they're famous doesn't mean you can't find someone just as good that's less well known.

>>5804955
>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you
Please no fucking celebs, only friends or randos profiled by SHODAN.

>>5805593
The celebs thing...I dunno man... it seems a lot of work to "accurately" portray real people. Cool in theory but cringe after a while.

>>5805156
>dropping into DARPA or Lockheed-Martin Skunkworks with a working thermoptic camouflage system
>Giving the people who brought us the likes of Facebook and its ilk active camouflage tech
Shiggy

>>5805719
To be clear, I was thinking it would be a brag to sneak in to one of the most secured locations and lure people to us that wanted to invent and innovate but not to gift it to anyone.
No one needs invisible glowies

>>5804955
>>See about gathering up your old friends first. They're the most batshit crazy, but also the most likely to come with you.
Nice dubs

>>5804955

Yeah, it's probably best to start with your old buddies, for a number of reasons...
E-Celebs come with a lot of baggage, and you're probably not gonna get along with a lot of them in the first place.

Too many bodies behind you for anyone out of california to stomach, for one thing.

You plant your face on the table with a sigh and rub your eyes with one hand. The cool surface of the table feels nice on your cheek.
All of this is going to be so much of a pain in the dick, you don't even want to think about it.

You yawn. You've been sitting here, thinking about this stuff for a while, and now you're tired.
Or maybe it's just because you're bored, and it's nice and cold and dark in here. Either way, you close your eyes for a while, and take a nap right there at the table...

Only to be awoken not long after by the ship shaking.

Jumping up, you run to the cockpit and hop into the pilot's seat.

"SHODAN, what's going on?!"

["We appear to have been interdicted, Captain."]

"What the fuck, out here? That's impossible, there's nobody and nothing for hundreds of light years! Were we followed?!"

["Unlikely, Captain."]

Shit, this is bad. The crew's in cryosleep, you didn't expect anything like this to happen out here.

"Can we shake it off? Where are they coming from?"

["Negative. This interdiction is extremely unusual, both in it's strength and signature. It also appears to be coming from in front of us."]

"In front? What does that mean?!"

["We are being pulled in by something that sensed us before we arrived."]

Oh, that's fucking great, yeah.
You're currently at warp. Meaning you're traveling faster than light through a higher dimension.

If someone saw you coming, it's because they're a goddamned precog. The information wouldn't have had time to reach them yet.
So either this was a trap set up beforehand, which is basically impossible, or... demons, maybe? Fuck, you don't know.

"What can we do here? How long until we're pulled out of warp?"

["Less than thirty seconds, Captain. I would not recommend attempting to escape by force, the pull is quite strong and would likely result in immediate implosion."]

Thirty seconds? No time to do anything. Fuck.

>Whatever's got their grips on you, it's got you good. Maybe you're better off getting ready for combat than looking for a way to escape.
>You can't shake it off, but maybe you can buy some time by turning the ship around and burning directly away from the pull.
>Try shutting down the warp core. If you can drop out of warp, maybe you can drop into supercruise and slip away.
>Write-In?

>>5806206
>Whatever's got their grips on you, it's got you good. Maybe you're better off getting ready for combat than looking for a way to escape.

ITS THE AMERICAN SPACE FORCE. THEY ARE AFTER US.

>>5806220
+1

>>5806206
>Whatever's got their grips on you, it's got you good. Maybe you're better off getting ready for combat than looking for a way to escape.
>begin defrostring the crew

>>5806206
>Try shutting down the warp core. If you can drop out of warp, maybe you can drop into supercruise and slip away.

>>5806206
>Try shutting down the warp core. If you can drop out of warp, maybe you can drop into supercruise and slip away.

>>5806206
>Whatever's got their grips on you, it's got you good. Maybe you're better off getting ready for combat than looking for a way to escape.

>>5806206
>Try shutting down the warp core. If you can drop out of warp, maybe you can drop into supercruise and slip away?
>we're being hyperdicted
Thargoids? In MY space quest?

>>5806206
IT'S THE AYYS WE ARE BEING ABDUCTED!!! QM is not giving in easily
>>Defrost the crew

>>5806206
>Whatever's got their grips on you, it's got you good. Maybe you're better off getting ready for combat than looking for a way to escape.

>>5806206
>>Defrost the crew.

Sheeeit

>>5806206
>Defrost the crew
>Whatever's got their grips on you, it's got you good. Maybe you're better off getting ready for combat than looking for a way to escape.

Meanwhile precog:
"I knew you'd try to escape! Harharhar."

File: Screenshot from 2023-10-2(...).png (1007 KB, 1439x774)

1007 KB PNG

>>5806206
Inb4 it's mankind's collective yearning to meet interesting and stimulating people of an alien culture and fuck them.

>>5806206

"Defrost the crew!" You yell, pulling the main cannon's firing harness down over you.

Missiles armed, capacitor banks charged, main gun ready to fire.
Whatever's got it's claws in you, the second you drop out of warp you're gonna light their asses up.

Seconds pass, and the ship's shaking and shuddering grows more and more intense until you're forcibly pulled out of warp.

You don't have to scan around for the enemy, not even for a second. You can see it out the window, right in front of you.
In fact, it's almost all you can see, despite the distance between you two.

"Oh..."

You whisper, as an unfathomably gigantic maw opens wide and swallows your ship whole.
Everything goes dark. Both inside the ship, and outside as well.

You can't see the light of the stars anymore, so you must be inside of... whatever it is.

"SHODAN? Are you there?" You call out.

No response.
Power's out, and she can't do anything without it.

...Shit, the crew.

You had told SHODAN to defrost them, expecting combat. But less than thirty seconds passed before the power cut.
They would have been halfway through the fluid cycle when that happened.

You grab the flashlight off your belt, but it barely wants to turn on. It's like something's sucked all the electricity out of the ship, and everything inside.

It doesn't matter, as long as you can see just a little. Rushing over to the medbay, you see your crew still in cryosleep. The needles are in them, but it looks like they didn't finish defrosting.
You hope they're alright. You don't know what happens in a scenario like this. If they had been in the middle of being frozen, though... it probably would have killed them.

Fuckin' space monster. You should have expected it, of course.
There's been such a lack of space monsters that you let your guard down. You're going soft.

Now, the question is what to do next.

You've been eaten. Nothing you could have done about that, this thing is fucking huge, and you basically dropped out right in front of it's mouth.
Obviously you need to get out, now. But the ship's kaput, not even the emergency lights are coming on. You don't have any hypergolic engines or anything of the sort, either. It's all fuckin' electric.

The only saving grace here is that it doesn't appear to be chewing you up, otherwise you'd already be dead.

>Fuck it, time for a space walk. You have an entire crate full of explosives with this thing's name on it.
>Something's draining all the ship's power. Massive leap here, but maybe it's the space monster. And maybe if you shut down the reactor, it'll spit you out.
>Here's an idea. The space monster may be big, but is it immune to psychic attacks? Maybe it really is a precog, in which case it should hear you nice and clear.
>Write-In?

>>5807219
>Fuck it, time for a space walk. You have an entire crate full of explosives with this thing's name on it.
>And bring Princess with you. If this motherfucker is at all wraith-adjacent, you're going to want her to find the big-ass core it probably has. Besides, she can watch your back out there.

>>5807219
>Here's an idea. The space monster may be big, but is it immune to psychic attacks? Maybe it really is a precog, in which case it should hear you nice and clear.
If this thing is intelligent, it'd be a wonderful friend to have in our back pocket, or even just watching over Earth to make sure no one else ever finds out where it is...

>>5807219
>Here's an idea. The space monster may be big, but is it immune to psychic attacks? Maybe it really is a precog, in which case it should hear you nice and clear.

>Here's an idea. The space monster may be big, but is it immune to psychic attacks? Maybe it really is a precog, in which case it should hear you nice and clear.

>>5807219
>Fuck it, time for a space walk. You have an entire crate full of explosives with this thing's name on it.
>And bring Princess with you. If this motherfucker is at all wraith-adjacent, you're going to want her to find the big-ass core it probably has. Besides, she can watch your back out there.

lets leave the psychic rage as a back up plan. the last thing we want is the crew to get a psychic headache

>>5807219
>>Fuck it, time for a space walk. You have an entire crate full of explosives with this thing's name on it.
>>And bring Princess with you. If this motherfucker is at all wraith-adjacent, you're going to want her to find the big-ass core it probably has. Besides, she can watch your back out there.

>>5807219
>>Fuck it, time for a space walk. You have an entire crate full of explosives with this thing's name on it.
>>And bring Princess with you. If this motherfucker is at all wraith-adjacent, you're going to want her to find the big-ass core it probably has. Besides, she can watch your back out there.

>>5807219
You might be a space monster but let's see how you handle a shaped charge the size of A.... how much do we have¿? Gotta be like a large suitcase....

>>5807481
>boom
also good question >>5807375
where is princess... that dragon is so damn fat

>>5807219
>>5807375
>>5807481
this, our baby is getting the C4 runners workout.

>>5807219
>>5807340
I also support bringing our support animal.

I can't wait to let her loose in a deserted area and make a new urban legend, you betcha we're bringing her for walkies.

>>5807375
+1

>>5807219
>>Fuck it, time for a space walk. You have an entire crate full of explosives with this thing's name on it
>And bring Princess with you. If this motherfucker is at all wraith-adjacent, you're going to want her to find the big-ass core it probably has. Besides, she can watch your back out there
Kaboom
Going for 4 old friends and an acquaintance. Not bad for start.

>>5807219

Alright, alright. Nothing to worry about here, the situation is less than under control but not unrecoverable.

What do we know?
Big fuckin' space monster. Probably not organic, specially considering you're currently nowhere near a star.

Nanomachines? Unlikely, otherwise you'd have been grey goo'd by now... unless it's draining your power first, maybe to get rid of the antimatter.

Shit, didn't think of that.

But still, probably not. Probably. I mean, what are the chances? Out here, middle of nowhere?
If there was a stray lump of grey goo floating around closer to the core you'd understand, but not out here.

So probably, this thing's a wraith.
You say "probably" because honestly, you can't tell.

It doesn't feel like a wraith. They have this nasty aura about them that just feels wrong and generally makes you want to piss yourself.
This thing does sort of have a feeling to it, you guess. Maybe not enough to say it for sure, but it just feels old. Old and heavy, like a fuckin' mountain range.

You consider trying to attack it psychically for a moment, but for one thing you've never taught yourself how to really do that, and for another you don't feel like banging your head against a rock.
Sad to say, but if this thing is psychic it's probably better at it than you.

No, there's only one way to do this.

Moving to the cargo bay, you find the dodos sleeping peacefully in their cage, uncaring of the rumbling and shaking the ship was just going through.
Princess' roly poly ass is also passed out next to them, probably more in a food coma from the last egg she ate.

...She might actually end up coming in handy, if this thing really is a wraith, or just wraith-adjacent.

Either way, what you really need is here in cargo, under a pile of boxes.
After a few minutes of unstacking you dig out a crate full of high explosives, packed in little wax paper packages and stored away for just such an occasion.

Well, in reality you had intended it for any potential operations on earth, but hell... once you get back home you can make whatever you want, really.

You're about to open up the crate containing your power armor when the ship is rocked, and suddenly you fly off the ground and smack your head into the wall.
Well, there goes the gravity generator. Fuck, another huge mess to clean up when it comes back on. Kind of surprising it lasted this long...

Ah, the laser capacitors. Probably drained dry, and now there's not enough voltage feeding back through the system to keep the generator running.

That might be a problem. Not so much for the ship, not in the immediate, but...

"Damn it." You cuss, finding your suit unwilling to power on or open up despite having it's antimatter bottle plugged in.

Sighing out in exasperation, you float through the cargo bay whose boxes are thankfully mostly tied down, and grab Princess by the tail on your way out.
You're gonna need an actual space suit for this one, you think.

Could this be the biggest, meanest Slyvern there is?

>>5808313
I wouldn't say it's mean. Poetically just bored and hungry after floating out here all these eons.
Do basic spacesuits not need electricity to function? I'd imagine the life support and the EVA pack would need it. Also, any remote detonator would need it too, if the beastie doesn't just snatch the wireless signal.
We really should price it psychically. If it has any capacity to communicate it's probably starved for it. If not, it'd probably just be confused and roar.
The thing is just wild life, there is no reason to treat it as an enemy that needs to be destroyed yet.

>>5808330
Believe it or not, you have procedures and fallbacks for a lack of power after encountering wraiths several times.
Including but not limited to a functional (albeit feature-limited) space suit and analog timed detonators.

>>5808341
>analog timed detonators.
In space no one can hear you tick

>>5808376
Captain Hook begs to differ, not that we met him yet.

>>5808461
Note to self, make a warp metal hook-hand and a parrot shaped drone.

>>5808461
>Captain Hook begs to differ, not that we met him yet.
I think we lost our chance with Cylia

>>5808634
Worth it, Cat Girl is girl worth showing off to the family.

>>5808256

Stripping down to your skinsuit, you slowly manage to get your backup spacesuit on.
It's chunky, it's clunky, it's uncomfortable and difficult to move in... but it will supply you with oxygen even without power.

There's no CO2 scrubber, no radio, no HUD, no AC and it still kinda stinks like sweat from the last time you tried it on.
It sucks. It's terrible. And you're glad you have it.

Before putting your helmet on, you wake the still half-sleeping Princess who's floating around the room by scratching her belly.
She's pretty big at this point, about as big as you are. You're starting to get worried that she won't fit on the ship if she gets too big.

Not that she won't fit through the doors and halls, she would. This ship was designed for abducting all sorts of alien specimens after all.
But you don't really have a place for her to sleep, besides your bed or on the floor.

Problem is, her scales are really hard and kind of sharp in places, which ends up tearing holes in your sheets AND scratching up the floor, which leaves metal burrs behind. Not good for bare feet.

She'll have her own little sleeping spot in your cabin on the carrier, though.
Assuming you live long enough to see it completed.

"Princess, wake up. Hey, sleepyhead."

Princess trills lazily at you, opening one eye halfway due to your flashlight shining in her face.

"You've been wanting to get out of the ship for a while now, right? Well, some shit's going down and i need your help."

Princess yawns and stretches out her limbs. After a few moments she shakes off her sleepiness and opens her eyes more intently.

"Listen, i think we got eaten by a wraith. Or something similar to one. I need you to go outside with me and sniff out this thing's core. I mean, it'll be in vacuum, but you know what i'm saying. Can you do that?"

Princess cocks her head at you inquisitively, but then starts to look around, as if she's looking for something.
A few moments later, her gaze locks towards a particular spot, and she yips at you.

Shit, did she find it already? That easy?

"Good girl. Wait in the airlock for me, alright?" You tell her, giving her some rough pats on the head.

You listen to her trill lightly before blowing a little jet of flame from her mouth, pushing herself gently towards the ground until she's able to grab onto the metal tile floor with her claws.
She then waddles over to the airlock while you lock your helmet into place, then head back to get the explosives.

Dragging the crate through the air with you, you notice Princess waiting by the airlock rather than inside of it.
Ah shit, that's right. No power, no automatic cycle.

It takes a few minutes for you to crank all the appropriate locks and valves, but eventually you manage to manually cycle the airlock and the outer door opens into... a pitch black void.

Shiiiiit... I am not so scared of blowing up whatever we have to blow up, but of managing to get back to the ship... or... managing to get out of wherever we are

>>5809234
To get around in space, bring a fire extinguisher. They probably won't explode when you try to use them.

>>5809240
Are we in fucking SS13!? No we aren't

>>5809266
Are you sure? CENTCOM was still being annoying as fuck and ruining all the fun on the station. And they spawned the blob just because they wanted to. Fuckin' pricks.

>>5809269
>Everything will be alright once we get back to cc
MY ASS

>>5809266
>>5809269
Watch there be a clown somewhere

>>5809298
honk

>>5809266
Your average leaf muncher alien is far too docile to be an SS13 character, even if they do have about the right amount of grey matter because of those smooth brains.

>>5809387
>Your average leaf muncher alien is far too docile to be an SS13 character
You say that, but I've seen plenty of herbivores who shit themselves at the first sign of conflict go on to be the ones piping tritium canisters into the station's air distribution loop.

>>5809390
>not freon
>not flash freezing the whole station
>not adding n2o for extra laughs

File: 1535315032010.gif (1.99 MB, 448x252)

1.99 MB GIF

>>5809409
>meanwhile, a tider trying to hellburn

>>5809413
I played a round hours ago as warden... pop was around 20-25 people maybe less and I was alone, there were no command, no one to assume capitanship and six antags. I decided to hole up at the brig and build turrets... frustrating.

>>5809098

You look between Princess, who's currently clinging to the crate of explosives and the exit, and shrug.

You don't know if this thing is just black on the inside, or if your piece of shit LED lamp just isn't working properly.
Fortunately, this suit comes equipped with an honest to god incandescent lamp powered by a single-use alkaline battery.

No electronics, no sensitive voltage requirements, barely even a wire to drain power from. Shit's soldered straight to the fucking terminals.
It's not super bright, but it's bright enough to assume that you can't really see the edges of this thing's stomach.

You check the strap of your KS-23 before floating out of the airlock and gently turning around using your suit's thrusters.
The Metal Gear lights up just fine, and you can see that the hull is undamaged. Looking down at the pressure gauges on your suit, both the O2 and gas propellant are holding steady.

No leaks, that's good. Because you don't have an alarm to warn you if there are any.

You give Princess a few pats, and gesture in the direction she pointed before.
She looks that way and nods her head, so you hold tightly onto the crate of explosives and gently thrust in that direction, being mindful of your collective center of mass.

There's no thrust balancing on this suit at all, it's all just in the backpack. If you don't position yourself properly, you'll start spinning instead of moving forwards.
But it's fine. You've got more than a little zero-g experience now, and you were always pretty coordinated to begin with. Never one to get carsick.

It takes a while before you get anywhere. This crate and princess are both heavy, so you're moving slowly to conserve gas and allow yourself to change direction quickly, but it still takes a while.
Eventually though, you come up to a wall. A black, glistening wall, with a sheen on it like used motor oil.

You stop yourself from gliding into it by raising your KS-23 and using the barrel to touch the wall.

Inspecting the tip, you find that it is in fact coated in a black, oily substance. Almost looks like wet paint or something.
But now you have a problem. Princess still wants to continue forwards, but you don't see a way past here.

>Spend a little gas and start scanning over the surface. If this is a stomach, maybe there's... an exit.
>You have a couple hundred pounds of high explosives. What are they for if not when something's in your way?
>Write-In?

>>5809489
>>Spend a little gas and start scanning over the surface. If this is a stomach, maybe there's... an exit.
I don't want to start cutting lest we damage our knife or this Space Whale starts to thrash around.
Let's just pretend this is a Nautiloid and head for the nearest sphincter.

>>5809489
>Spend a little gas and start scanning over the surface. If this is a stomach, maybe there's... an exit.

>>5809489
>Be patient and watch Princess.

>>5809489
>>5809514
Support, no exit hole will lead us where we need to reach to kill this thing

Let our little byakhee play the stomach parasite if she wants, this thing is so big it just might not even have pain receptors on it's stomach or if it does they'll take ages to reach it's brain.

Just be ready to overcome the body's defenses

>Spend a little gas and start scanning over the surface. If this is a stomach, maybe there's... an exit.

>>5809489
>Be patient and watch Princess.
Let her cook, maybe she has a trick up her sleeve. If not, we try our own way.

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>>5809489
>You have a couple hundred pounds of high explosives. What are they for if not when something's in your way?

lets give this space slug some heartburn, shall we?

>>5809489
>>You have a couple hundred pounds of high explosives. What are they for if not when something's in your way?
we can start small

>>5809489
>>Spend a little gas and start scanning over the surface. If this is a stomach, maybe there's... an exit.

>>5809489
>You have a couple hundred pounds of high explosives. What are they for if not when something's in your way?

Princess knows something.

>>5809489
>>Spend a little gas and start scanning over the surface. If this is a stomach, maybe there's... an exit.

>>5809489

Cracking a glowstick, you shake it a few times to get it going before tying it off to the crate and letting it go.
You'll save a lot more fuel if you're only carrying Princess and yourself while you look around for some sort of sphincter.

After ensuring that the crate won't simply fade out of view after a few feet, you burn a little gas to start moving along the wall.
All your little incandescent lamp reveals is more and more oily goo, with the occasional large lump here and there.

Princess seems almost transfixed. No matter how you turn or move, she's always staring at a point beyond this wall.
Whatever it is she's feeling, you don't. This thing is weird, sure, but it just doesn't feel like a wraith.

You wish you could ask what she's thinking, but... slyverns don't talk, man.

You manage to go some distance before finally hitting another wall. This... it's not teeth or anything else you know of, but it does look like the inside of a jaw.
More like a weird, bumpy gumline than anything. Searching around a bit farther, you find the corner of what seems to be the mouth, and higher up is a crevice.

That crevice, you assume, must be where the lips meet.

You're not in the stomach quite yet, you think. Assuming it has one.
But if it does have a stomach, that also means you could be swallowed at any moment. Or maybe it'll suck on you for a little while before then.

Perhaps the worst case scenario is that it drains your ship until the antimatter is depleted, then spits you out.
Then you and your crew get to freeze and die in the dark space between stars where nobody will ever find you.

You'll put a bullet in your brain before that happens, though.
Happy thoughts, David. Happy thoughts.

Princess is still pointing her head towards somewhere deeper inside this thing, but here you have a different option.
Could be that if you plant the explosives along the lips or maybe even it's gumline, it'll spit you out.

Nothing likes getting stung by it's food, after all.

Alternatively, it could do nothing and then you'd be stuck without any explosives.
...Well, not without any, you suppose. You do have a couple of spare antimatter bottles for the extended trip, but you also kind of need that power... for the trip.

Maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world, but you might end up having to kill the dodos and put yourself in cryo as well, to shut down the ship's life support entirely.
Then you'd be relying on dumb luck and SHODAN's good graces to get you back to earth in one piece.

>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.
>Plant the explosives along the mouth. You're pretty sure it'll open wide whether it wants to or not.
>A little test wouldn't hurt. You've got plenty of detonators, and one less brick won't make a difference.
>Write-In?

>>5811193
>>A little test wouldn't hurt. You've got plenty of detonators, and one less brick won't make a difference.

>>5811193
>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.
>Try to get Princess to carve you a path towards whatever the fuck she's sensing. That saliva and those claws of hers have to be good for something, right?

>>5811193
this
>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.
>Try to get Princess to carve you a path towards whatever the fuck she's sensing. That saliva and those claws of hers have to be good for something, right?

>>5811193
>use princess to get a feel for the shortest route then blow a small hole with a single brick so you can go and kill this thing.


I don't want this thing living long enough to come back again later.

>>5811193
>but... slyverns don't talk, man.
there's an idea. maybe we can install a universal translator on princess; at the very least it should let us get a glimpse of what she's thinking of

>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.
>Try to get Princess to carve you a path towards whatever the fuck she's sensing. That saliva and those claws of hers have to be good for something, right?

>>5811193
>>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.

>>5811193

>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.

>>5811384
>Implying Slyverns will let you operate on them
>Implying Slyverns can even be anaesthetised
Good idea though and seems like Princess might be the one tamed one in the universe that can give informed consent.

>>5811193
>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.
>Try to get Princess to carve you a path towards whatever the fuck she's sensing. That saliva and those claws of hers have to be good for something, right?
Princess continues to be best girl

>>5811193
>>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.

FUCK IT, WE GO IN DEEB
DEEEBER AND DEEBER

>>5811193
>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.
Can't we just give the thing a little psychic nudge? If it's not a wraith (and even if it is, like our little squid), it may not necessarily be hostile to us.

>>5811193
>Just give the thing a little psychic nudge? If it's not a wraith (and even if it is, like our little squid), it may not necessarily be hostile to us.

You know what, its worth a shot, right? Maybe its protecting this area from people travelling by hyper drive and doesn't realize we aren't so bad.

>Better to use the explosives where you know they'll count. Keep looking for a way deeper inside.

>>5811743
>Excuse me you swallowed me whole
>Oh sorry my bad
I dunno

>>5811193

No, you don't want to risk it.
No telling how this thing'll react once you poke it, so wherever you set the shit off better matter.

And to that end, you float your way back over to the crate.

Now that you have a better mental map of your current location... well, you assume you do anyways.
You're just going to hope that this thing's biology at least somewhat resembles other living creatures. Anyways...

Now that you've got an idea of how things should be laid out, you can do a better job of searching for this thing's throat.

Princess continues to cling tightly to your back and shoulders, and you can feel her tail wrapped around your legs.
It would probably be pretty uncomfortable if you weren't floating around.

As you search, you realize that the large lumps you're seeing are spaced at regular intervals along the walls of the mouth.
Whatever they are, they aren't random and might actually be a proper part of the creature's anatomy.

Besides that though, you spend half an hour floating around staring at the wall before you finally catch something.

A fold. A crevice. Something like that. Thin and shallow at one end, but deeper and thicker as you start to follow it.
At some point you see another nearby, and then another. They all converge towards a point.

There it is, you're pretty sure. It looks like a gigantic asshole, but it definitely seems like it would open up for you... somehow.

While you're considering planting some explosives on it, Princess breaks her gaze from what you presume to be the core for the first time.
To your surprise, she stops clinging to you and instead uses you as a platform to jump from, pushing you back as she propels herself towards the sphincter.

You watch as she skillfully maneuvers in the vacuum, twisting her fat ass around and flailing her tail to re-orient herself mid-flight, landing feet first against the wall.
Her claws immediately dig in, and she stops without any issue despite the slick surface.

Waddling over towards the center of the sphincter, she then lets go of the wall and floats just slightly away from it, five or six feet.

You wonder what she's doing as you propel yourself over to her, but then her stomach starts to swell up even more than usual.
A lump fills her throat, which expands like a singing frog as fuming acid fills the sac there... and then she spits.

Or rather, it's more like she sprays it gently, covering as much area as possible.
The fuming acid burns straight through the oily layer wherever it hits, and begins eating into the flesh below in just a few seconds.

The flesh, which seems to be an ashy grey color, almost immediately turns white and scrunches up as it's eaten away.

That's slyvern venom, alright. Venomous AND acidic, it melts their prey's organs into a drinkable slurry, almost like a spider... if it was the size of a man.
You thought she was too young to produce it, but you guess she's starting to grow up already.

And it's really doing some work.

>>5812485
Fuck YEAH. Luckly we are in a vacuum or close to one because that must STANK

How unusual this thread did not update to spooky season.

>>5813349
They only change themes when someone posts in them. If they haven't had a new post since the seasonal overlay they won't have the effects.

>>5812485

Princess watches intently as her venom does it's work. The flesh fries as if it were hit with a blowtorch, but it's not enough.
The sphincter still refuses to open up, so Princess tucks her head between her legs and uses a little puff of flame to fly forwards.

Digging her claws back into the wall, she begins ripping and tearing into the venom-scorched surface, tearing away at the almost jellified flesh and tossing it away as it's cut from the surface.

This is... super gross, actually.
The way it looks and acts as she tears into it, almost reminds you of a floater.

Or one that's been stuck in the mud for a week or two, and putrefied.
You close your eyes and try not to remember the stench as Princess backs off and spits another coating of venom into the hole she's dug.

It takes her a while, but she honestly seems to be enjoying herself, like a dog digging a hole. A really nasty, disgusting hole.

After about ten minutes of digging, there's a reaction. The wall of flesh begins to quiver, and then starts to open up.
Princess blows a much larger jet of flame from her mouth, and makes a quick escape from the hole as it starts to open up, then slams down again.

It's... quivering. Pulsating.
Almost like the space monster is trying to clear it's throat. All this might be little more than a slight irritation to it.

It's little coughing fit lasts for a few minutes, and then Princess is right back at it.
This goes on for a while more, until eventually you stop seeing meat chunks fly out of the hole.

You carefully float over to investigate, not wanting to get any leftover venom on your suit.
This spacesuit isn't terribly heavily armored, and you aren't really sure what it's made of, but it's probably not rated for superacids.

Shining your flashlight inside the hole, you see Princess floating around on the other side, licking her claws clean. She's totally coated in blood, gore and her own venom.

The hole is... big enough for you to pass through, for sure. It's not perfectly round or even, and there are chunks and strands of flesh sticking out...
But you think you could drag the explosives through here if you dug your heels in a little.

The leftover venom is still dangerous, but it shouldn't eat through your suit anymore. It's acidity is mostly spent at this point.

You crack another glowstick and toss it towards the wall, allowing it to stick to an area still coated in that oily residue.
Then you go back to the crate, following the faint light of the glowstick stuck to it, and drag it back over.

When you get back, you see Princess has done a half-assed job of cleaning herself, and is now just waiting on you.
Sighing out, you grab one of the crate's handles and get a bit of a 'running start' with your EVA pack, tucking up to fit inside the hole as you wedge yourself and the crate in there.

The crate makes it about halfway inside before one of the corners gets stuck on a hunk of meat, and you start trying to yank it through.

>>5813438

Unfortunately, this also seems to irritate the space monster quite significantly. Even more than Princess' venom, somehow.
It starts having another coughing fit, by which you mean the sphincter through which you're currently passing begins to squeeze inwards.

The crate is jammed. Like, really jammed in there. In fact, you can see the corners getting crushed a little bit.

That's a problem for a couple of reasons.
One, you kind of need those explosives. Two, you can't really get out now, either.

You have... oh, probably about five more hours of oxygen left before you really need to be getting back to your ship.
Any longer than that and you're gonna be in big trouble.

>You could try irritating the sphincter a little more, and maybe it'll let go. If the KS-23 doesn't work, maybe Princess' flames will.
>Leave Princess here to dig the hole out some more, while you go on ahead. Hopefully she'll have it clear by the time you find the core.
>Just leave the crate there for now. By the time you come back, either the sphincter will have relaxed and you'll get it loose, or you'll just have to detonate the explosives inside the hole.
>Write-In?

>>5813442
>Leave Princess here to dig the hole out some more, while you go on ahead. Hopefully she'll have it clear by the time you find the core.
Thank you Princess

>Leave Princess here to dig the hole out some more, while you go on ahead. Hopefully she'll have it clear by the time you find the core.

>>5813442
fuck it! the other options are backtracking and we don't have time for that

>>5813442
>Leave Princess here to dig the hole out some more, while you go on ahead. Hopefully she'll have it clear by the time you find the core.

>>5813442
>Leave Princess here to dig the hole out some more, while you go on ahead. Hopefully she'll have it clear by the time you find the core.
Hope for the best, even if this is David's first time being wholly swallowed by an alien - but not true for partially.

>>5813589
>>5813442
Ah, my vote is
>Irritate the sphincter

>>5813442
>Just leave the crate there for now. By the time you come back, either the sphincter will have relaxed and you'll get it loose, or you'll just have to detonate the explosives inside the hole.

Heh. We're just good at some things.

>>5813442
>>Leave Princess here to dig the hole out some more, while you go on ahead. Hopefully she'll have it clear by the time you find the core.

>>5813442

Squeezing your way out of the hole, you tap on Princess' shoulders to get her attention, then point her towards the stuck crate.
She just tilts her head at you in confusion, until you make clawing motions to indicate what you want her to do.

At that, she goes back into the hole herself, only to pop her head out a moment later, with an irritated look on her face.
You've never seen a lizard look irritated before, but she's pulling it off quite well.

Nevertheless, she dives back in and you quickly see more meat chunks start flying.

You don't have time to waste, so you leave her to that while you move on ahead to look for the core.
The area you're in now, probably the throat, is much smaller than the mouth. Maybe two hundred feet across? You can just about see your light reflecting off the black goo coating the walls.

Odd thing is, after a couple hundred feet you start to see holes in the walls. Not just one or two, but dozens. And they're pretty big, looks like.
They could be tunnels, but you don't know what they're for or where they lead. All you know is that you haven't reached the end of the esophagus, which seems to keep going on down forever.

There are also more of those lumps in the walls here. More and more of them as you get deeper.

All of it though, is coated in that oily shit.
It's all over princess, and some of it is on your suit, too. Shit spreads like ink, you just hope it's not toxic.

As you're floating down this gigantic creature's throat, it's all quiet. You haven't spotted much worth looking at, which just puts you on edge.
Maybe you're just jumpy, but you fuckin' swear you just saw something move in the darkness. A shadowy figure or somethin'.

Can't be Princess, she's busy. But it was about that size, you think. Dunno, hard to tell.

You'd say you were just seeing shit from being in here too long, but you know better. Your gut knows better.

>Stop and look around. Whatever it is, you want it dead before you even think about moving forwards.
>Keep moving. Whatever it is, if it's hostile it'll come for you on it's own, no need to go looking for it.
>Stop and try to sense it out. Maybe it's a wraith, maybe not. Won't know until you try.
>Write-In?

>>5814383
>Keep moving. Whatever it is, if it's hostile it'll come for you on it's own, no need to go looking for it.

>>5814383

Oh shit, maybe more space dragons in the space leviathan?
We've been getting more and more nudged towards the psychic options recently so fuck it, I say we try to sense the little fucker out, and if it's another space dragon I vote we try to domesticate it as well - princess needs a playmate

>>5814523
Space psychics? Soul powers? Higher dimensional demons? Man fuck all that just add more explosive filler. Just create a bomb spicy enough to break space-time.

>>5814383
>Keep moving. Whatever it is, if it's hostile it'll come for you on it's own, no need to go looking for it.

>Keep moving. Whatever it is, if it's hostile it'll come for you on it's own, no need to go looking for it.

>>5814523
We might have found mama-slyvern and her litter of pups kept inside.
>>5814383
>Stop and try to sense it out. Maybe it's a wraith, maybe not. Won't know until you try.
Maybe we'll also crit-roll success and sense the core too.

>>5814383
>>Brace yourself against illusions and be on gaurd against them as you move forward.

Bet its little wraiths trying their illusions out.

>>5814383
>>Keep moving. Whatever it is, if it's hostile it'll come for you on it's own, no need to go looking for it.

>>5814383
>Stop and try to sense it out. Maybe it's a wraith, maybe not. Won't know until you try.
Mynocks? Anyways, let's do a psychic ping.

>>5814383

You decide to ignore it and keep moving. Whatever it is, if it want a piece of you it's welcome to try.
If not, then you're happy to leave well enough alone. You have enough shit to do without picking needless fights.

As you travel farther and farther down the esophagus, you notice some of the holes in the walls are full of a clear fluid.
Not just a little bit either, but huge bubbles of the stuff, each one large enough to fill a swimming pool. They're just sitting at the surface of the holes.

It starts to make a little more sense when you exit into a larger space some time later.

Again, this area is too large to see the far end, but it's not empty like the mouth was.
There are huge, thick strands of flesh extending from here to there, crisscrossing what you assume to be the stomach like strands of spiderweb.

And there are tons of those huge bubbles of fluid suspended in the space, held in place only by the surface tension connecting them to those strands.

That same surface tension is also somewhat dangerous for you. Nevermind what that fluid actually is, if you end up accidentally falling into one of those bubbles it might be hard to get out.
You don't know if the fluid will mess up your spacesuit either. It could be corrosive, just like Princess' venom.

In fact... you're pretty sure it is, at least a little.

Drawing nearer to one of the bubbles, you shine your light inside and see what exactly this space monster is digesting.
There are bits of metal and rock floating around in there, covered in little bubbles that indicate some kind of chemical reaction.

But it's not particularly vigorous. They aren't sizzling or anything, so this acid, if that's what it is, might actually be pretty weak.

So it's a rock eater, but it's also sucking down your electricity like no tomorrow.
You bet it would be right at home in that nebula where you and Gron got ambushed. Although, it might not enjoy the heat and radiation. Who knows.

Slowly, you weave your way through the strands of flesh and keep far away from the balls of digestive fluid.
The strands are thinner but more spread apart towards the front, but as you go deeper they become both thicker and denser.

Eventually, they become more like a tightly-woven web than individual strands, and you find yourself holding onto them as you push past.

And then... nothing. The strands eventually turn into a solid wall of flesh, and no further progress can be made. This is the back wall of the stomach.
Well, shit. The first sphincter was already a pain in the ass to find, but with all these strands in the way it's basically impossible to see where the next one would be... if it even exists.

Or so you thought. A little higher up on the back wall, you notice some man-sized holes here and there, each one slowly undulating.
Maybe the mineral-rich fluids eventually make their way back here, then get sucked in through these holes.

>>5815696

>Check the holes out, see if you can crawl your way down one without getting stuck.
>Just keep looking for a sphincter. You're gonna hope this thing has a complete digestive tract.
>Head back and grab Princess. She's probably done digging by now, and maybe she can sniff out where you need to go.
>Write-In?

>>5815698
>Head back and grab Princess. She's probably done digging by now, and maybe she can sniff out where you need to go.

While it has a curious biology i would rest easier knowing how to kill this thing and finding it's ass doesn't sound like the right way.

>>5815698
>Head back and grab Princess. She's probably done digging by now, and maybe she can sniff out where you need to go.

Let's avoid splitting too far up.

>Head back and grab Princess. She's probably done digging by now, and maybe she can sniff out where you need to go.

>>5815698
>Head back and grab Princess. She's probably done digging by now, and maybe she can sniff out where you need to go.

>>5815696

Not wanting to end up nutty putty-ing yourself where nobody will find you, you decide to make your way back to the sphincter and look for Princess.

It takes a while to weave your way through the fleshy strands, past the digestive fluids and up through the esophagus again, but when you finally make it back, Princess isn't there.
The hole has been dug out to twice it's original size at least, and the crate of explosives has already been dragged through. You find it floating nearby.

You wave your little incandescent light around to look for her, but don't see anything.
And then something crashes into you and latches onto your back. You panic for a moment, until you see Princess' tail whipping around beside you.

Damn. You know it's dark and you're in a vacuum, but she's pretty good at sneaking around.
Well, you guess this might actually be her kind of environment. You don't actually know where slyverns come from, now that you think about it.

Princess climbs around until she's able to see your face, then gives your helmet a big lick before letting go.

Only then do you realize she has a big cut down her side.
Something managed to dig into her hard scales deep enough to draw blood in a couple places, but she doesn't seem too hurt by it.

That's probably why she's acting so excited to see you, though.

And a moment later, you see whatever it was that attacked her, because she leads you straight over to it.
A big, dark green mass, twice the size of a man. Looks like a cross between a gigantic sperm cell and a squid of some sort, complete with beak and flagella.

This thing... is probably what you saw earlier, if you had to guess.

And Princess appears to have ripped it right the fuck apart. It's in two pieces, which are just barely connected by a flap of skin on the outside.
The innards have been ripped out and it's body filled with venom, and... oh, man. Apparently it had tentacles at one point, but they've been chewed off and are nowhere to be seen.

It's whole exterior is also just absolutely shredded from her claws, not from any particular attack, just from where she was latched onto it.

>>5816617

Well, there's that, you guess.
You don't know if it's a parasite or part of the space monster's body, but if there's one there's probably a hundred.

...Actually, come to think of it, this thing basically ignored you and made a beeline for Princess, who was busy digging into the monster's flesh.
Could be an immune response. A big, squid-shaped white blood cell of sorts.

Might be best to get a move on.

You direct Princess to grab onto the crate, and start pulling it along towards the stomach.
As you pass down the esophagus again, you see no less than three more of those squid things rushing up past you.

You hold your shotgun tight just in case, but they ignore you and instead seem to be making their way to the site of the wound.

>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?
>Ignore them. If they don't pay you any mind it just makes your job easier. Find the core, blow it the fuck up and kill this thing, then escape.
>Write-In?

>>5816618
>>Ignore them. If they don't pay you any mind it just makes your job easier. Find the core, blow it the fuck up and kill this thing, then escape.
man on a mission

>>5816618
>Ignore them. If they don't pay you any mind it just makes your job easier. Find the core, blow it the fuck up and kill this thing, then escape.

>>5816618
>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

>>5816618
>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

Information on the enemy should only last a few minutes.

>>5816618
>96
>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

>>5816618
>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

>>5816618
>>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

>>5816618
>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

I don't trust these octopi bastards, looking like the sentinels in matrix
Wouldn't want to breach the ship or start dismantling it, nor repair the sphincter so we don't have a way out

>>5816618
>Do a little observation. Clearly they're dangerous, but they also don't seem to be focused on you. So what are they doing, exactly?

>>5817050
>I don't trust these octopi bastards, looking like the sentinels in matrix
If these things are the space whale's immune system, there will be very little we can do to guard against them. Just one was enough to touch Princess where no other creature was able before, and should they be white-blood cell equivalents we can expect more of them the bigger of a ruckus we make. The ship is down, the power armor is down; all we have is Princess, our shotgun, and a pallet of explosives.
Or, we could use our psychic power to see if we can communicate with the thing before we're forced to do something drastic.

>>5816618

As two more squid-things fly their way past, your curiosity gets the better of you.
They're clearly dangerous. One of them was able to put a mark on Princess, who is covered in what might as well be dragon scales.

But they're ignoring you completely, and rushing off in that direction like they've got somewhere to be.
At the very least, you want to know what exactly they're doing before you head on to your target.

You slow to a stop and gesture for Princess to wait there while you head back to take a look.
She doesn't like that at all, and seems quite antsy as you're leaving.

You'll try to make it quick.

A minute later you're back at the sphincter, and what you see is interesting.
For one, two of the squids are cutting the ripped-apart body of their fellow apart, after which they take the two halves back towards the stomach.

Another squid seems to be gathering up all the little shredded chunks of meat that Princess pulled out, and is swallowing them.
That doesn't seem to be a terribly good idea though, because they're coated in slyvern venom, and after a while you can see that squid starting to twitch and act erratically.

But the majority of the ones who've gathered are all around the sphincter. One seems to be keeping guard, though it doesn't react to your light at all, and the others are... repairing it? Applying first aid, maybe?

You aren't really sure. They're spitting out the same oily black material that was on the walls of the mouth, and applying it to the wound, smearing it around with their two long tentacles.
Great, you've already got a bunch of that shit on you thanks to Princess, but now you'll be coated in it if you've gotta pass through that hole again.

Whatever. It looks like they're just cleaning up the mess you made. As long as the hole isn't closed up by the time you get back, you could give less of a shit.

So, you make your way back to Princess and the crate.
But when you get there a minute or so later, there's a bit of an issue.

One of the squids seems to have collided with the crate in your absence. The crate is fine, but Princess and the squid are now squaring off in front of eachother.
The squid's tentacles are twitching almost like a cat's tail, and it seems to be focused entirely on her now. Princess, meanwhile, looks exceptionally pissed just at the squid's presence.

They could start fighting at any moment.

>Let Princess take care of it. She needs to work off some of that fat anyways, and you'll help her out if it goes south.
>You brought the KS-23 for a reason, time to use it. Fuck these things, fuck this space monster.
>See if you can... defuse this situation. Maybe just grab the crate and slowly back away.
>Write-In?

>>5817343
>See if you can... defuse this situation. Maybe just grab the crate and slowly back away.

Space squid confirmed to be Dog to our Princess Dragon cat.

>>5817343
>You brought the KS-23 for a reason, time to use it. Fuck these things, fuck this space monster.
If princess hates them, I hate them.
Also unlikely to draw attention because no atmosphere to transfer sound!

>>5817343
>>See if you can... defuse this situation. Maybe just grab the crate and slowly back away.

>>5817343
>>See if you can... defuse this situation. Maybe just grab the crate and slowly back away.

We don't have time for this, but we'll have to make it up to her later.

>>5817343
>>You brought the KS-23 for a reason, time to use it. Fuck these things, fuck this space monster.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A3V6XslZZwU just saying

>Let Princess take care of it. She needs to work off some of that fat anyways, and you'll help her out if it goes south.

The immune system is going to treat David as an enemy so ;lets not trigger the immune system.

>>5817343
>See if you can... defuse this situation. Maybe just grab the crate and slowly back away.
we don't need to start a fight with this thing's immune system

>>5817343
>See if you can... defuse this situation. Maybe just grab the crate and slowly back away.
Psychic ping? Even if we're successful at whatever it is we're planning to do, we'll have to go this way again. It's worth a try, given that we know the way (back) ahead won't be easy, especially now that Princess has caught their attention.

>>5817343

Alright, no big deal. Caught a little attention by chance, that's all.

Slowly, you float over to Princess and the crate, and wrap your arm around her to keep her from moving.
Then slowly, ever so slowly and gently, you start backing away. Just the slightest little tippy taps on the EVA pack's joystick.

Fortunately, Princess seems to get the gist of what you're trying to do and stops being aggressive. Instead, she lays flat on the crate and tries to shrink down as much as possible.

The squid-thing, however, doesn't seem to care. It's behavior is unchanged.
It sends it's tentacles out like feelers, and they twitch wildly in random directions every so often.

It's definitely looking for you. No reaction to the light though, so you guess it's blind.

Everything seems to be going fine as you slowly back away from it, until one of those tentacles draws a little too close for comfort.
When it's this close, you can see they have scaly protrusions on their surface, similar to a shark's tooth. You can't tell how hard or soft they are, but they don't look like any fun.

You're watching it carefully, and then one of those errant twitches causes the tentacle to just ever so slightly brush up against you, barely enough to even feel it.

An instant later, you see a dozen extra feet of tentacle shoot out from the squid-thing's body. It travels down the line like a whip, and you try to avoid it with a big jet of gas from your pack.
But between your own weight, Princess and especially the crate, you can't move out of the way quickly enough.

You avoid a direct blow from the whip-like tentacle, but it still manages to slap you in the leg, really hard.
It stings like a motherfucker, and you really hope your suit didn't just get cut open.

More importantly though, the squid-thing is now violently attacking the space you had just been occupying.
It swings it's tentacles like whips at the empty space, unaware that you've already moved away. When it finds nothing, it starts frantically searching the area around it, using it's tentacles as feelers.

You use a little more gas to get moving, and quickly leave it's range.

A while later you slow it down and try to get a good look at your leg.
it's hard to tell if the suit is damaged or not. There's oily shit all over you right now... but you feel fine. No ears popping, no hissing noise, no dizziness. Yet, anyways.

There might be some scuffs on the fabric? Hard to say.
Unfortunately this is one of the few things duct tape can't immediately fix. If you could slap it on the inside then sure, but just wrapping the outside won't help.

Whatever, the suit'll hold. It'll hold because it has to.

Now on your way back down to the stomach at decent pace, you pass by three more squid-things, who also seem to be in quite a hurry.
Backup for the one that found something, maybe. The one Princess killed before also ended up getting backup after a while, but it's faster this time.

How many of them are there in here?

>>5819052
>How many of them are there in here?
shiiiit....

>>5819052
we need to fucking hurry and blow this joint

HURRY!!!

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5.33 MB GIF

>>5819391

>>5819393
COME ON!

>>5819052

A quick look at the walls as you're flying down the esophagus may give you the answer to that question.
You notice that several of the fleshy lumps you'd noticed before have seemingly burst open from the inside, revealing an empty pocket where something should have been.

Doesn't take a genius to figure out what those hundreds of lumps probably contain. Best to get a move on, for real.

...

Once back in the stomach, you carefully guide Princess and the crate some distance into the maze of fleshy strands before stopping.

Your visor is starting to fog up. You're sweating now, between the pain in your leg and the general anxiety regarding your situation.
Well, you're about to stir up the fuckin' nest, too. It's all got your adrenaline flowing just a bit.

Whatever, don't think about it. Just do it.

You nudge Princess, and gesture for her to look around.
She stands up atop the crate and turns around, looking here or there before finally locking on to something.

Only problem is, it's towards the back of the stomach, where the fleshy strands eventually turn into a solid wall. Not what you were hoping for.

Still, not like you have much choice.
You pull the crate along slowly, making minor adjustments to preserve your dwindling propellant supplies and using the direction of Princess' head to point you in the right direction.

She seems to be aiming you straight towards the middle of the stomach.

You follow her direction until you reach the point where you can no longer simply float inbetween the strands, and at that point Princess dismounts and starts climbing through on her own.
You meanwhile, still have to drag the crate through everything. The strands catch on it and create friction like a bunch of rubber bands, making it difficult to progress.

Eventually, you make it to the point where you can no longer reasonably pull the crate through.
Well, you could, but you wouldn't be able to open the damned thing once you shoved it in there. Not much point bringing it farther.

But, not far past that point is the solid wall at the back of the stomach, which Princess continues on towards.

You follow her through, and find that she comes to a stop at a suspiciously open area within the messy web of fleshy strands, almost like a small open room.

"What the hell is this?" You mutter, looking around with your light. Nothing much to see though, just more meat.

You're looking around for something, anything really, when you notice that Princess has started digging again, all on her own.
Well, shit. You hope those squids can't make it back this far, otherwise you're fucked.

...Hey, wait a minute. There's something there, just underneath a thin layer of flesh.

Princess didn't have to dig deep. She holds a flap of meat in her jaws and yanks on it, pulling it back and tearing it away from what lies underneath.
For all the world, what looks like a gigantic translucent pearl, swirling with a mixture of dark matter and energy somewhere deep inside.

>>5820784
LETS TAKE IT WITH US!!!

>>5820789
Let's blow it the fuck up.

>>5820784
BLOW IT UP! BLOW IT UP!

>>5820784
>swirling with a mixture of dark matter and energy
>energy

If that's where our ship's antimatter power is going i don't like calculating the projected blast radius, it's making me reconsider just putting a hole in this thing's smile and go our merry way.
On the other hand we could see how princess reacts to it naturally and possibly prepare some bricks of boom to use as grenades against the horde that will come running.

>>5820902
Now that I think about it, what if this thing has more than one core?
A body this big…

>>5820958
It may not be a wraith, but it may eat wraiths. This could be the equivalent of gall stones in certain birds, you know? This is just a thing that helps it eat stuff that isn't physical, like pure energy sources.

Or it is a wraith, who knows.

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>>5820967
>>5820958
>>5820902
As far as we know, it eats energy. Dark energy or otherwise.

>>5820784

After cutting the flap of flesh free, she tosses it aside and immediately begins attempting to gnaw on the pearl.
However, she can barely get her mouth on the damned thing, and even when she does, it doesn't seem like her teeth can find any purchase.

That doesn't mean the space monster doesn't feel it, however.

A few moments after Princess begins her fruitless gnawing, everything seems to come to life, starting with the pearl. A white flash of light shines out of it, nearly blinding you for an moment.
The strands of muscle around you begin to tighten like giant muscle fibers, knocking you around here and there as an ungodly noise erupts from all around you.

Yeah, a noise. In the vacuum of space.

It sounds for all the world like a whale song, so deep and rumbling that it feels like your bones are going to shake apart.
You can't breathe. Your vision becomes blurry, and you can barely move.

It's painful, yes, but more than that it just feels odd. Your whole body is being vibrated from the inside out.

You can vaguely see a Princess-shaped blob in front of you. She's flailing around in either pain or panic, hard to say, but you're sure she feels it too.
And then, the pearl lodged in the wall slams into you. Not the other way around, no... the monster is moving, and you're getting pressed by the acceleration.

Shit, you hope the ship's alright.

You barely have a moment to think about it before the acceleration reverses, and you're thrown from the back wall into the fleshy strands on the other side again.
It's thrashing. The fucking thing is thrashing around with you inside of it.

Good, that means the pearl really is important.
Not so good is that you feel like your brains are getting scrambled.

The vibrations aren't stopping. They get higher or lower, more or less intense, but it's not stopping.

>You need to end this now, before you start spitting out chunks of your own grey matter. Pull Princess out of the way and fire on that fucking pearl with your shotgun.
>Something that size, the KS-23 might not be enough. An armload of explosives will definitely do the job, though. You just need to escape before it goes off.
>Mistakes may have been made. Try and make contact with the beast through telepathy, maybe it'll let you go if you promise not to kill it.
>Write-In?

>>5822038
>Something that size, the KS-23 might not be enough. An armload of explosives will definitely do the job, though. You just need to escape before it goes off.

>>5822038

>Mistakes may have been made. Try and make contact with the beast through telepathy, maybe it'll let you go if you promise not to kill it.

Think spicy thoughts. Like ghost pepper spicy.

>>5822038
Something that size, the KS-23 might not be enough. An armload of explosives will definitely do the job, though. You just need to escape before it goes off

>Mistakes may have been made. Try and make contact with the beast through telepathy, maybe it'll let you go if you promise not to kill it.

>>5822333
Negotiate give high demands then negotiate demands for what we really want.

>>5822038
>Try to stick our explosives to the pearls and run to the ship.
I'm not sure if contacting something that is obviously in pain is a good idea. Same with shooting the damn thing without knowing if that would make it explode.

>>5822038
>Mistakes may have been made. Try and make contact with the beast through telepathy, maybe it'll let you go if you promise not to kill it.
NOW we got leverage. Let's give it a shot.
If we still can't negotiate, THEN we'll slap the spicy play-doh on his ball.

>>5822427
I don't know about you but I think it'd be way more effective negotiation if we at least rig the core up to blow and THEN do any kind of psychic shenanigans.
Although personally, I'd rather just blow this fuckin monster to hell.

>>5822038
>You need to end this now, before you start spitting out chunks of your own grey matter. Pull Princess out of the way and fire on that fucking pearl with your shotgun.

THE FASTEST OPTION FIRE AT IT AAA FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE THE SLUGSalso don't aim at it perpendicular...

>>5822038
>>Something that size, the KS-23 might not be enough. An armload of explosives will definitely do the job, though. You just need to escape before it goes off.

>>5822038
>>Something that size, the KS-23 might not be enough. An armload of explosives will definitely do the job, though. You just need to escape before it goes off.

>>5822038
>Mistakes may have been made. Try and make contact with the beast through telepathy, maybe it'll let you go if you promise not to kill it.
Even if it's just a dumb animal, we can just blast it at full volume and see if that forces it to spit the ship out.

>>5822038
>Mistakes may have been made. Try and make contact with the beast through telepathy, maybe it'll let you go if you promise not to kill it.
Is this some sort of anti-wraith, then? Or perhaps wraiths are a poor imitation, while this is the genuine, natural article.

Roll me 1d100, best of 3.

Low DC: 50
High DC: 75

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>5823498