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Your name is David "Gunny" Rockefeller, no relation.
A veteran of the united states marine corps, you find yourself in a far-out situation after an all-too-close encounter of the third kind!

In the last thread you spent some time working on a set of space-ready guns, suitable for use by humans and non-humans alike.

Besides that, you also spent a good amount of time traveling the world and relaxing with your crew, something you don't get to do a whole lot of.
A lot of it was, for you at least, an excuse to get authentic food right from the source. Stuff you could print out later on the nanofab.

However, during one of those relaxing moments, you were attacked by chinese spies. Well, mall cops, really.
Already not being a big fan of China, you retaliated by having SHODAN shut down their infrastructure for a day, and blasting uncomfortable truths across their internet and airwaves.

Believing, perhaps rightfully so, that this was an attack by the US... China began ramping up it's invasion plans, sending thousands of people to mexico for a quiet land invasion.
But with all the world's computers in SHODAN's hands, it's hard to slip anything past you. So of course, you responded... proportionally.

Once again, you shut down China's infrastructure. Mainly it's communications and military were affected, with the public largely having been spared in order to prevent mass starvation and likely large-scale war.
That being because this time, it was permanent. SHODAN wiped data, fried computer chips and destroyed critical equipment, including chip-manufacturing facilities, ensuring that there was no simple fix. The damage was real.

The risk of even greater retaliation was there, but fortunately did not occur. It seems that even amongst the Chinese, nobody was truly willing to scorch the earth under their own feet.

Still, now that the governments of earth are becoming more aware of your existence, it is of course troublesome. You're forced to move the ship regularly to avoid being harassed, and you're always looking over your shoulder.
So now, you feel, is a good time to skedaddle and hit the ol' dusty trail. Kind of a shit and run, sure, but you don't care one bit. You got everything you ever wanted or cared about on this trip.

Now though, what will the situation be like on your return to Xebric? Will the station be in better straits, or will have things gone even further awry?
Has the Federation paid the station a visit? What about those bugs who have burrowed their way into the asteroid Xebric is built upon? What other issues might there be?

Find out this time, on Humanity Fuck Yeah!

>Last Thread: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5981316/
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>Discord Link: https://discord.gg/PYJ7Aa3zQF
>>
>>6019065

"...Gunny."

"What, Red?" You ask, annoyed.

"Are we there yet."

"No, Red. For the millionth time, we're not there yet."

"Are you sure? It's been like, two days."

"Goddamnit, can't you just go watch TV or something? I'm pretty sure SHODAN downloaded every fucking series in existence."

"Fine, damn. No need to get grouchy."

You are slightly grouchy.
It's been two weeks since you made the decision to shit all over China, deservingly so.

But the backlash was more than a little annoying to deal with.

There was a non-stop political shitflinging competition basically from the moment it happened, and the CIA wouldn't stop bothering you about it, as if it's somehow your problem.
Your fault? Sure. Your problem? Definitely fuckin' not.

It didn't take long after their military was crippled for other countries they had pissed off to start bullying them and making threats, which you have no doubt will escalate to invasions at a later date.
India, Japan, hell, even Russia decided now was a good time to shit on them.

Maybe the fact that they got fucked so hard and so deep overnight put the fear of god into Putin, you don't know, but the ruskies turned on them quick.
Could be a way of acting completely innocent, as if they aren't also implicated in the files you sent to your government.

Those aren't public though, so they may not know.

In any case, that's all a tangle for the politicians to work out.
The CIA kept begging for you to make an appearance, to admit in a private court what had happened to get their asses out of the fire.

Of course, you ignored them.

By now, the movers and shakers are probably pointing fingers at eachother. Maybe some will believe that, essentially, aliens did it. Maybe.
Again, not your problem. Once SHODAN started finding calls from other governments to speak with you as well, you decided it was a good time as any to get going.

So right now, you're currently in space, on your way back to Xebric. You should be there in a matter of hours, but Red's been bugging you almost nonstop about it, and it's pissing you off.
He really doesn't like being holed up on the ship, and you get the feeling that Pickle doesn't either, albeit for different reasons. He's still avoiding the cargo bay out of his fear of ghosts.

Speaking of spooky shit, you didn't just sit on your thumb for the past two weeks.

Although you did keep a relatively low profile after what you did, you still made a few trips to certain places to gather samples of food and other materials.
That, and to search for a blacksmith capable of forging you a warp core for your carrier.

As it stands, you'll be stuck using multiple smaller cores salvaged from junked ships. Needless to say, they're not in good condition, nor are they particularly fuel efficient.
And that's all on their own. Trying to combine them together, it's absolutely abysmal. And this is a big ship, so the bubble is pretty big in turn.
>>
>>6019066
>Japan
Nanking & Manchuria call to the Salaryman.
>>
Japan be like:
>I missed being evil
>>
>>6019125
Really Japan just hates the Chinese more than any other nation does. Which is saying something. Any excuse to shit on on each other they take.
>>
>>6019125
>Japan stops denying the Rape of Nanking happened
>they now consider it justified somehow
>>
>>6019131
>Really Japan just hates the Chinese more than any other nation does.
They're just nasty in general. The stuff they did to US and British POWs were insane, to speak nothing of what they did to the natives of SEA. The aboriginals of Taiwan still have a seething hatred for the Japanese. All swept under the rug once they became allies under ZOG, of course. Wouldn't be surprised if ZOG took a few leaves out of their book like they did with the NatSocs.
>>
>>6019161
Yeaahh I guess you right. Maybe letting the Chinese onto that island thousands of years ago was a mistake. They get even more ornery when they're bunched up together with no one else to fuck with nearby.
>>
>>6019066

Finding a blacksmith was harder than you expected. In the first place, they aren't exactly a dime a dozen these days, but finding a good one is much harder than just finding one.
And they have to be good. The weird inner geometry of a drive core will be difficult to hammer out, the joins have to be almost as fine as a gauge block and any irregularities could cause, at best, massive decreases in efficiency.

That's not something just anyone can do, so you had to find a true master smith, and one who wasn't afraid of using modern tools to help in their work.

Another problem was keeping them quiet. There's no way you'd be able to hide warp metal's EMP-producing qualities during the forging process, so you had to make a few excuses and pay them off quite handsomely.
The man you ended up choosing, an armorsmith and fabricator located in europe, is currently under the impression that you're a contractor for the US military, and that the material he's working with is a highly confidential alloy.

As far as he knows, this is something that's going to be used in a prototype fusion reactor.
A few million dollars and a fat stack of very official looking NDA papers later, he began his work in a warehouse, equipped with specialized, air-driven tools produced in part by your crew.

Really, they're just retrofits or remakes of normal electrically-powered tools, but they'll do the job just fine.
The added precision of being printed on a nanofab will also help massively in keeping things in-spec, you think.

The smith did make two things clear though, and that was how hard it is to work this material, and how long it would take to get it done.

You know that first hand, having worked with it yourself.
Heating it takes forever, as it seems to get sucked in endlessly. Then hammering it takes a ridiculous amount of force.

Likewise, grinding it requires specialized tools with diamond bits, which still end up wearing out over time.
It's hard, sure, but more than that it just feels dense. Like you're striking something massive that's been compressed down into a tiny fraction of that size.

Of course, that's what you suspect dark matter to be. The 'shadow' of a much larger object in a higher-dimensional space.

That's probably why the geometry of the drive seems so strange, too.
There's no telling what a straight path looks like in that higher dimension, so whatever it looks like down here, it could be completely different up there.

There's no telling what's actually going on in those higher spaces to make the drive function like it does. You just have no clue, honestly.

It makes you wonder what the first species to figure out a jump drive was like.
Maybe it was someone who had a 'lucky' encounter with a wraith or demon.

Those big ones, they can open portals. Who's to say you couldn't step through yourself?
Probably a bad idea, honestly.

"...Come to think of it, we didn't see a single wraith while we were on earth, did we?" You think aloud.
>>
>>6019618
We owe that to Jesus
>>
>>6019641
Thank you Lord, for fighting demons in hellspace for us, Amen.
>>
>>6019618
Gracias Dios por tu protección, Amén.
>>
>>6019618
>we didn't see a single wraith while we were on earth
That's because all of the Human ghosts (like the ghost of abraham lincoln that haunts the white house) suplex the shit out of any Wraiths that spawn in or come to our world.
>>
>>6019618
That's because the Foundling Father and Big J with his dad kept those god damn daemons at bay.
>>
>>6019618
Praise Lord Baby Jesus
>>
>>6019618
Doomguy is real and we are on his shitlist.
>>
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>>6019853
and then David was the preincarnation of Doomguy all along, fighting wraiths on Earth throughout all of time. All this so his past corporeal life could live to moment when he just wanted more guts and cores off the next big demon for another mech paintjob, ripping open his own portals to find them.

Redbone did the same but said fuck Earth and put the fear into the feds.

It's a better plot than the Dark series.
>>
Is it warp or wrap?
>>
>>6019618

"Don't go jinxin' it, man." Red complains.

"How can i jinx it when we've already left earth?"

As if punctuating your sentence, you suddenly drop out of warp, a couple hours earlier than expected.
However, you're at the the right destination. Xebric station lies before you, looking much the same as it ever did.

...However, there seems to be a problem.

You see quite a bit of metal scrap floating around outside the station's dock that wasn't there before.

["Captain, Nena has sent me a report. There is a fleet of pirate ships sitting outside of the station's cannon range, and they have been harassing the station regularly for nearly a week straight."]

"I'unno, like that?" Red suggests.

"That has nothing to do with fuckin' wraiths, Red." You sigh, standing up. "SHODAN, what are we looking at? How many, how heavily armed? How big?"

["Uncertain. No attempts have been made to scout them, as no ships or willing crew are available to do so. Trade with the station has halted as a result of the blockade."]

Great, so they're starving them out.

["However, of the ships encountered so far, all have been 'junker style' vessels, destroyed ships with patchwork repairs commonly used by pirates for the sake of affordability. There were minimal weapons onboard."]

"How minimal is 'minimal'?"

["At most, one pulsed laser or coilgun per ship. Something nothing, in which case the ship performed a ramming attack."]

Alright, well that tells you two things. One, they have no intention of directly attacking the station, knowing it's defensive lasers and railguns are still online.
Secondly, they have enough junkers to spare that they can afford to waste them poking at the station, just reminding them they're still around.

So probably, it's a big fleet led by someone who's not a total retard.
That's just you guessing, though.

"Can we get a read on their warp signals from here?" You ask.

["...Negative. They appear to be clustered. At this distance, the signals merge into an indistinguishable fuzz."]

>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
>The carrier may actually be functional by now. You aren't sure what sort of state it's in, but it could resolve this little issue very rapidly if it's weapons are online.
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6020598
>The carrier may actually be functional by now. You aren't sure what sort of state it's in, but it could resolve this little issue very rapidly if it's weapons are online.
>>
>>6020598
>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
Oh right, we can go stealthmode.
>>
>>6020598
>The carrier may actually be functional by now. You aren't sure what sort of state it's in, but it could resolve this little issue very rapidly if it's weapons are online.
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
>>
>>6020598
>>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
Knowing is half the battle. We haven't gotten to the violence part yet. Soon.
>>
>>6020598
Can we contact the rock guy?
Ask if he knows anything about these pirates.
It seems now we have to solve Xebric's food problem?

>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
>>
>>6020598
>The carrier may actually be functional by now. You aren't sure what sort of state it's in, but it could resolve this little issue very rapidly if it's weapons are online.
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
i have a guess as for why nena hasn't nuked them; its a fucking nuke after all, and this might(read: definitely) be a fed plot to sully our name
>>
>>6020598
>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
It's a recon fleet
>>
>>6020598
>The carrier may actually be functional by now. You aren't sure what sort of state it's in, but it could resolve this little issue very rapidly if it's weapons are online.
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
>>
>>6020598
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.

INTEL REQUIRED
>>
>>6020598
>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
>>
>>6020598
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
>>
>>6020598
>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
>>
>>6020598
I was about to vote for the NUCULEAR option but this pirate ship might indeed be a probe...
>>Drop family and scout
I'd rather shoot their shit up and call it scout.
>>
>>6020809
>I was about to vote for the NUCULEAR option but this pirate ship might indeed be a probe...
Or a trap
>>
>>6020906
I should clarify; the pirate fleet might be a conventional trap, or it might be one of publicity
>>
>>6020598
>>Drop your crew and family off at the station, then do some scouting. You want to know what you're dealing with.
>...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already? They're even clustered up for you, like ducks in a barrel.
>>
>>6020909
I am inclined to believe, with reasonable suspicion, that these pirates are from a "neighborhuring " station who got the wind of what happened here thanks to all the refugees. Their shit ships and lack or preparation for a real assault meant that they planned to strip anything useful from a probably dead station....
They were surprised by the active defenses of the station and at first thought that it was an automated response that was left on after everyone died from a "misterious virus that turned people feral" thus decided to wait them out. Then Nena pinged them, probably with a GTFO OR ELSE and opted for starving the station.

The other option is having the pirate dude be a shichibukai from one piece, working for the feds... or he at least had privileged information on what happened here, effectively being an agent of them. Which is why we better kill them, without nukes. I am certain that this station will explode eventually, when it stops being cost efficient for the feds to just leave it alone; thats when they will shoot a grain of sand at relativistic speeds. It won't be pretty, but it will be fast
>>
>>6021133
>a shichibukai from one piece, working for the feds... or he at least had privileged information on what happened here, effectively being an agent of them.
I think the term you are looking for is "Privateer" kek
>>
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Lads, we made it.
Threads three years old today.
What a ride it has been so far!
>>
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>>6021348
QM FUCK YEAR, this quest is now a toddler
>>
>>6021567
too old
>>
>>6020598

"...Why hasn't Nena just nuked them already?" You ask yourself out loud.

["That is certainly an option, Captain. However, there is a non-zero chance that this may be bait in order to provoke just such an action."]

"Why? What the fuck do the feds care, they just committed a genocide!"

["I believe that in the case their atrocities begin to circulate amongst the public, such actions could be used to spin the media and create positive public sentiment, regardless of what they've done."]

"That's retarded. It's one fucking nuke against a bunch of pirates, that station had like, at least a million people on it! That's hardly the same!"

["Captain, you are well aware of how news and politics function."]

"I know, but i don't have to like it!"

Ignoring the pirate fleet for now, you take the Metal Gear in towards the station to dock.
You're forced to slow down as you approach the entrance, so the shields can handle the impact of all the scattered debris.

Inside the dock though, everything seems relatively fine.
In fact, they seem to have cleaned up quite a bit since you left.

There's even someone manning the dock, who contacts you over the radio as you pull in next to the maglocks.

["Please state your ship's callsign and intentio-"]

He cuts himself off after only a few moments, and your docking permissions are immediately granted.

["Welcome aboard Xebric station, Administrator. I apologize for not recognizing your ship sooner."]

"Yeah uh, that's... fine. Don't worry about it."

...Since when are you the station administrator?

By the time you and your crew step out of the airlock, there's already a platoon of rifle-wielding droids standing guard on either side of the landing ramp.
You walk out first, followed by Cylia and Kyla, then Gildur and Sanig. Everything seems... fine. But there are definitely a lot more droids walking around than when you left.

Tons of them, actually.

"What the hell is all this, SHODAN?" You question.

["According to Nena's report, droid piloting has become extremely popular amongst any and all dangerous professions on the station. Including guard duty."]

"Didn't the aliens have a ton of trouble adapting to the sensory lag?"

["Yes. However, it seems that Doctor Lyna has developed a somewhat crude bionic implant which reduces the sensation of vertigo and nausea by dulling neural activity in portions of the brain."]

Oh, is that all?
Yeah sure, just turn your brain off.

You shake your head as you turn and watch Red, Pickle and your sister walk down the ramp next, wheeling your sleeping mother down on what is essentially a hospital bed.
She's been medicated again. Thankfully this is right around her bedtime anyways, so it shouldn't bother her too much.

Honestly, she probably knows something weird is going on, but she's been kind enough not to ask. Or maybe she just doesn't want to know.

But she trusts you, regardless.
>>
What was the name of that movie that features remote controlled bots¿? It had the die hard actor as the lead cast who, of course, was fed up with them robots and does most of the movie not being a robot...
I really really hope the aliens er inhabitants are getting SOME excercise because lying down all day sounds baaad. In fact, let's impose a social score that forces them to work out
>>
>>6021624
Surrogates?
Yeah, that was good stuff.
>>
>>6021618
Love you, ma.

>>6021624
>social credit except instead of saying how good of a drone you are for the state it says how well your circulatory system works
Score too low? No barbecue for you! Nutrient slurry ration only fat boy! THE PAIN
>>
>>6021618
BACK IN SPACE BITCHES.
>Nena, antimatter for the Metal Gear, stat.
>How has radioactive containment fared?
>Is the station universally warmed up, do they have food and water?
>How is the mutant shit below the noble's quarter going? We have weapons specialists now.
>What's the word from Dark Star and the big man?
>Hey Nena, I managed to give my friend Redbone psychic powers, he's crazy too and will sing with you.
>Check with Dr Lyna about the Mind Machine Interface that the humans could use.
>Carrier status. Did we get the bottle from the French dude?

I might be forgetting other things, but this is off the top of my head.
>>
>>6021664
Then it works TOO well and all the aliens spend time getting swole to max out their scores. (I'm just bulking BRO)
>>
>>6021618

"Goddamn, it's colder than a witch's tit in here, ain't it?" Red calls out, rubbing his arms for warmth.

"Yeah, life support is running at... honestly, below minimum power right now." You inform him. "We built some reactors to keep the station going without regular antimatter shipments, but it's not enough."

It's probably about 40F here in the docking area. This level of the station used to be the heart of the place, but now it's nearly empty.
There is a bit of traffic here and there, but almost all of it is hovercars, and they seem to be headed either directly here or further up the station.

You don't stand around gawking for long. In under a minute, a limousine arrives to ferry you and your boys to the "new safe area", which has apparently been set up in the old merchant's quarter.
Of course it has, it's really nice up there after all, and that's where a lot of critical infrastructure is located anyways. It's also at the top of the station, which means heat will pool there and keeping it warm is easier.

Your driver is... not what you expected. Rather that a chauffeur, he looks like a merc. A burly four-arms with what looks like a shotgun sitting in the passenger seat up front.

"...You our driver?" You ask, tentatively poking your head into the car.

"Yessir." he nods. "You're the administrator, right?"

"Hell, i guess. Nobody told me, but i guess so."

"Sounds about right." He grumbles.

While everybody loads into the car, you carefully pick your sleeping mother up and place her in the seat next to you, with your sister on the other side of her.
As you're about to leave, you see a dozen or so droids arrive in a transport truck, who quickly unload a number of what you recognize as cryopods salvaged from the federation bounty ships.

They start lining them up next to the ship, and before you know it, they're unloading the human experts you'd brought with you and placing them straight back into stasis.

"Hey SHODAN, what's up with that?" You ask.

["There are some minor issues, Captain. It would be best not to bring in any extra mouths to feed for the moment."]

"What the hell, what happened now?"

["An insect infestation, Captain. The hydroponics bay has been ravaged repeatedly, and the station is now facing a shortage of food."]

"So eat the fuckin' bugs!" You groan, facepalming.

["Many already are. However, not everyone on the station is capable of digesting meat. Apparently the insect flesh is also quite unpalatable."]

"Fuck, alright. Can you give me some more details?"

["They appear to be the same insects encountered during the redsang outbreak. Having burrowed into the shell of asteroid and nested in the space between each station layer, their numbers have grown unsustainable."]

"So now they're looking for food, great."

["Yes, Captain. After most of the redsang mutants died of cold, thirst and starvation, the corpses were consumed by these insects, allowing them to propagate."]
>>
>>6021967
So... does this mean that the insects are eating mutants infected by a virus that makes them prone to mutating themselves, and these insects are being eaten?
This seems like all sorts of bad bio-concentration of toxins. I don't even know how we get out of this shitfit except for speaking with Lyna, have the residents reported any bloodborne anomalies yet?
>>
>>6021967
Alright time to lock in

Lets print out the Nostromo Flamethrower from Alien and go on a bug hunt with the boys.
>>
Create machine bugs to hunt the steroid bugs?
>>
>>6021977
It was NOT a virus it is a super-dimensional DNA rewritting bug made out of Neutron Star material from the continent of stability
>>
>>6021994
also, let our good lizard loose in hyroponics. Problem solved. Let her eat so much she will grow to draconic proportons
>>
>>6021989
Let's get a little more intel before we make any big decisions here. Keep that Machine Drone Swarm idea in your back pocket though, I like that.
>>
>>6021977
I'm assuming its being purified somehow first.
>>
>>6021994
Thanks for the reminder of the redsang composition, the point remains about people consuming the consumers of this material. I thought it was an RNA-mutation based on a virus. I admit I was too lazy to check the archives.
>>
>>6022014
>>the point remains about people consuming the consumers of this material.
For the robots to exist in the remains of the monsters they have to NOT have an expiration date and they also have to resist actually working without breaking down. I suspect the feds made this things to self destruct by design. Maybe after being activated they work untill they heat up so much they melt, ensuring people can't trace this monster infestation to... well anything besides "something that rewrites DNA"
>>
>>6022014
>>6022240
i suppose nena, lizard doc and whoever else that can be considered a medical professional vetted the consumption of the bugs
>>
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>>6022435
?
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>>6022442
He probably meant it for /tg/

>>6022435
I hope the double-down so there can finally be a general revolt against this garbage company and make the setting completely community-driven
>>
>>6022445
Oh shit. For a second I was like "The fuck we care about a janitor for?" before you made it click it was 40Krap. RIP.
>>
>>6022445
We can only hope
>>
>>6021967

"Is that... gonna be a problem?" You question.

["Possibly. No research has been done so far on the insects, so it is unknown how much redsang will have accumulated in their systems or how it would affect them genetically."]

Cylia squirms in the seat ahead of you.

"Uhg, i hate bugs..." She groans, sounding disgusted.

"Me too." Sam nods, crossing her arms.

You scratch your chin as you try to remember what you can about those insects. It's been a while, and you didn't encounter them a lot back then, so the details are a bit fuzzy.
You remember that they were fast. Capable of clinging to walls and ceilings... capable of flight... have venomous stingers... very sharp mandibles...

"Huh. This fuckin' sucks." You comment, realizing how dangerous they actually are.

"What?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, these bugs, uh... they're kind of big. Like, golden retriever at least. Fast as fuck, capable of flying, venomous stingers. It's gonna suck clearing them out manually... by which i mean with a shotgun."

"...Why not just poison them then?" Sam shrugs.

...Yeah, that could work. Assuming you get a sample of their DNA, you could have Lyna come up with an effective poison.
Or just go for something that you know is going to work, like heavy metals or fuckin... i dunno, neurotoxin?

Ideally it wouldn't kill them instantly. You want them to take it back to the nest and feed their babies with it.
Which reminds you, they like to lay their eggs inside of corpses, so the babies can feed on them when they emerge.

Two options for bait, then. Either poison the plants in the hydroponics bay, which means the people on the station can't eat them either... or give the insects corpses.
Only, where are you gonna get a bunch of corpses from?

["Pirates."] SHODAN blurts out.

"Oh yeah, that's a good idea! Were you reading my mind or something?" You ask.

["No, Captain. There are pirates ahead."]

"Wha- Fuckin' how?! I thought Nena blew them to hell!"

["They have been sneaking onto the station along with regular passengers. The QED has ceased functioning, likely due to being destroyed on the Federation side, so we no longer have immediate access to the Federation's wanted list."]

"Oh, fuckin' great. Tell me this sooner, please?"

Sticking your head out of the limo's window, you see a traffic jam just outside of the tunnel leading into the industrial district.
It looks like a bunch of guys are holding up the tunnel, and letting cars through one by one.

You and your crew, excepting your sister, are all armed. Everyone except Pickle is carrying a handgun, while Pickle, ever paranoid, has a rifle to hand.
You suppose this sort of thing is why the chauffeur has a shotgun, too. Did Nena print that for him? Looks like a heavily modified Remington 870.

"Hey, chauffeur. Heads up." You warn.

"I know, i know." He says, waving you off.

The chauffeur cuts in line, flying over everyone waiting to get through the tunnel, but still stops for the pirates.
>>
>>6023048
god, so we have two kinds of vermin infesting the station. great.
>>
>>6023104
Between the newly imported Human mercs, roaming VR piloted android death squads, and the multiple AI with their ethical constraints removed, the banditos aboard are kinda fucked.
>>
>>6023048
Just how many people do we have on the station anyway?
If it's not a lot, just stuff the ones that are clear into our fleet and our carrier, let the non-essential parts of the asteroid freeze (funneling the vermin to the warm areas), then clear out the remaining sections manually.
As for effective poisons, go for something like Advion Gel Bait. Just warn the people not to eat these things afterwards.

>>6023176
Well, the roaming VR droids haven't solved the problem so-far. Maybe they took some hostages or something. If that were the case, as tempted as I am to go full Beslan on them, it probably wouldn't look very good...
>>
>>6023179
>Well, the roaming VR droids haven't solved the problem so-far.
They just haven't been given the right incentive.
>Maybe they took some hostages or something.
Sure would be a shame if a bunch of ex-Special Forces operatives armed with alien technology went Splinter Cell on their asses.
>>
>>6023182
Personally, I'd save subtlety for the feds. IMO, a good pirate would appreciate theatrics and a good spectacle a lot more. They'll be much more likely respect us and talk straight with us that way.
>>
>>6023048
>It looks like a bunch of guys are holding up the tunnel, and letting cars through one by one.
THE MEXICANS GOT HERE!? Holy shit
>>
>>6023048

You're contemplating telling him to stop, or whether or not you should just start blasting, but the driver doesn't look one bit nervous.

"Administrator? Your window, please." He asks as you approach.

You roll the window up and allow him to do the talking.
You're kind of interested in what the approach is here, considering these are literally pirates, invading the station and robbing inhabitants.

You, Pickle and Redbone all share a look when the driver rolls down his own window and grabs the shotgun in his passenger seat, since that answers your question immediately.

He rests the barrel of the shotgun on the window as one of the pirates approaches, and just as the pirate starts to speak, another one runs up and grabs him by the shoulder, pulling him back.
You can't quite hear what they're saying, but you recognize the head-shaking and slightly panicked body language as they start walking back to the side of the road.

A third pirate waves you on through, and your driver passes through the barricade they'd set up without a word.

This leaves you thoroughly confused, because it didn't end like you'd expected.

"...Are we not gonna fuckin' kill 'em?" You ask.

"Not if we don't have to." The driver replies tersely.

There's a pregnant pause as you await an explanation which doesn't come.

"...Fucking... why?"

"Yeah, good question." Red adds, rubbing his thumb against the slide of his pistol.

"Old lady says it's bad optics. It's whatever, i don't get paid to ask questions." The driver explains.

"Old lady?" Pickle repeats.

"He probably means Nena. She's an AI like SHODAN." You explain. "I left her in charge of shit here while i was gone, which... i mean, nothing's up in flames, at least."

"...The old lady's an AI?" The driver mumbles. "Nah, don't ask..."

...

It's a relatively short drive to the tower in the industrial district. Along the way, you see that the main road has been cleared of debris, but all of the damaged buildings are just as bad, if not worse than they were.
You're certain that giant crater is still there, too. The one with the enormous tumor in it. Probably melted into a pool of sludge from it's own nitric acid by now.

When you get to the office tower, you find it being guarded by numerous droids, mainly from the inside.
There's still broken glass everywhere, but the path to the main elevator is clear, and your driver gets out to escort you to it.

After making sure your mother's oxygen tube is comfortably in place, you carry her along with you to the elevator.

Normally that'd be difficult for you and uncomfortable for her since she's gotten a bit chunky in her old age, but in the station's gravity, it's no problem.
Actually... it feels even lower than normal, doesn't it?

"...SHODAN, what's the gravity in here right now?"

["0.24 Gees, Captain. It has been reduced in order to save on power."]

"Damn, we can moonwalk on this sumbitch!" Red grins, giving it a few hops to test how high he can go.
>>
Can we please get a head count on the extra humans we brought in cryosleep, I don’t want some fed infiltrator making off with any of them
>>
>>6023945
Ten people, two to a cryopod.
>>
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>>6023945
>feds manage to steal a genuine human in cryostasis
>pic related
If throwing crazy motherfuckers at the Feds wouldn't also create a pirate empire, space cult, or intergalactic terrorist cell, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
>>
>>6023964
>thaw a human out
>first thing he asks
>"Is tax evasion a crime out here?"
>>
>>6024047
nono
>the feds thaw a human out
>"shalom"
>>
>>6024058
Worst case scenario right there
>>
>>6024062
>>6024058
Anything but God's chosen people...
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>>6024058
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8EC1aQlhdI
>>
>>6024084
you fucking nigger I was wearing headphones.
>>
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>>6024600
>>
>>6023770

After bouncing a little too high, Red falls flat on his ass, but immediately hops up and keeps on trying.
He looks like he's having a lot of fun, but one of the droids standing guard elbows the one next to him and points his thumb at him.

Neither makes a noise, but you can see their chests heaving as their real bodies laugh.

"Red, can you chill out please? You're embarrassing me." You ask.

"Alright, alright... plenty of time to play in the bouncy castle later."

The elevator ride up to the merchant's quarters is very quick and painless... but when you arrive at the top, the first thing that strikes you is how overgrown the grass has gotten in areas, and how brown and patchy it is in others.

"Is nobody mowing the lawn?" You ask out loud.

["Most efforts are going towards station repair and maintaining existing systems. There is none to spare for lawn maintenance."]

"Well it looks like shit, and half the grass is dead." You grumble.

"At least it's warm up here." Pickle points out.

Yeah, that's true. It actually feels kind of perfect, around 70-72F.
However, that's actually low for a station. Most species prefer it around 80F or even a little higher.

In part because their metabolism isn't active enough to keep them warm.

A second vehicle awaits you at the upper tower exit. Completely different model of hovercar than the first, this one seems kind of fancy, actually.
It might be a car that belonged to one of the higher ups on the station, come to think of it.

Everyone loads back up, and this time you're driven to your destination by... a droid. Unarmed, at that.
Naturally, there shouldn't be anything dangerous up here, including pirates. That's why everyone moved up here from the lower floors once things calmed down.

On the way, you see the occasional person walking here or there, but the streets are very empty.
There can't be more than a thousand people on the station right now. A station which used to house over a million people.

Apparently quite a few people moved to Thekia when the opportunity arose.
Those same people who had been too stubborn to move before, were moved by cold, hunger and the threat of being torn apart by monsters and/or insects.

Yeah, it's easy to say you'll stay behind when things are relatively fine.

"Wow, fancy houses." Your sister comments. "It doesn't really feel like we're in space, does it? Inside of an asteroid, even..."

As you pull into a familiar neighborhood, you recognize one of the mansions from before.
This was the one where you'd landed that big rig after slipping through the upper layer's defensive lasers.

Your droid pilot suddenly raises up into the air and hops right over the mansion's fence, landing in the yard about where you did at the time.

["This is where your family will be staying, Captain."] SHODAN informs you.

"What about us?" Pickle asks.

["Each mansion is large enough for everyone, however, you could each have a mansion to yourselves if desired."]
>>
so, the main problem i think we have is the lack of trade; by solving the little pirate problem we have outside the station we should have enough breathing room to clear the bugs and the pirates.
probably in that order, or at the same time.
>>
>>6025171
Agreed. Dealing with the Pirates and freeing up the trade routes is probably our best idea right now.
Good excuse to let Pickle and Red get their feet wet too.
>>
>>6025171
First required action is to secretly imprison all known pirates in the station, before we throw down the ultimatum to the pirates outside to work with us or bugger off.
That way we don't risk station sabotage while we're dealing with the ships, and it gives us an upperhand in negotiations by holding their people.
>>
>>6025238
I'm not entirely sure a pirate fleet would give a shit about hostages that only exist to cost them.
I think we'd be better off slaughtering them as bug bait to give our folks some peace of mind before turning our attention to fleet itself.
>>
We have to understand that deal of OPTICS first...
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>>6025242
We can be discreet in our black-baggings and murders.
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>>6025192
if anything we should try to board the ships; even if they're pieces of junk, that's gonna help us on the long run, plus we get to test the new boltguns

>>6025238
that implies finding out where all the pirates are hiding and that's pretty much a waste of resources when we can just take over the space fleet and force them to flee on the first trade transport that comes from thekia.
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>>6025240
I'm not so sure about that. If they were humans, sure, but these alien types tend to play things a little less ruthless in general.
>>
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>>6025061
>you could each have a mansion to yourselves if desired.
>Some animals are more equal then others
Is that a good look for us? For now it's probably fine, but longer term it's probably best if we occupy a more mundane part of the station. We could also screw around more (with things like forging warp material) that way.

>>6025257
>we should try to board the ships; even if they're pieces of junk
That's a good way to die; by having a ship (a real piece of shit, at that) blow up around you.
>>
>>6025365
>That's a good way to die; by having a ship (a real piece of shit, at that) blow up around you.
wouldn't be the first time we board scrap and this time we have an exosuit plus buddies. if everyone assaults a ship on their own, we will be fine
>>
>>6025240
This is a workable plan, but remember that abandoned pirates might be able to become a workforce when they're livelihood literally depends on the station they're abandoned on not falling to shit.

>>6025257
Sabotage still remains a problem, and if we take over the fleet then they could recommandeer a ship and shit on us in other ways.
>>
>>6025440
>but remember that abandoned pirates might be able to become a workforce
I want people who have something to lose, not a bunch of fuckass pirates.
>>
>>6025543
Wee ned the trade routes open then, and that means dealing with the pirates laying siege on us, either by takimg over their rust buckets(and learning who sent them) or just blowing them up
>>
I say we issue an ultimatum to the pirates; we're gonna need a fleet eitherway if we're going to war against the Feds, might as well use em. They either join our crusade and reap the spoils of war, or they all die in the vastness of space- their choice. Best case, we get some new "willing" recruits to throw at our enemies- worst case we cause some minor infighting amongst their ranks. Win-win
>>
>>6025842
lets do this but with a caveat. we send the ultimatum just before boarding them. if they refuse we breach their asses immediately, if they comply we retract our forces
>>
>>6025904
Nothing speeds up negotiations like a gun to the head I guess.
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>>6025904
Nah bro, we let em stew in it for a couple of hours. When the time's up, they either comply or we kill their associates on the station, afterwards we try again - in which case they will become Cannon fodder, should they accept. If not, it's clobbering time
>>
>>6025938
>in which case they will become Cannon fodder
We could use the station pirates as ammunition to send at the void pirates. Imagine how shit it would be to be hurtling through space hoping you hit your target so you don't starve/suffocate to death floating around forever instead. Jesus.
>>
>>6025944
>>6025938
that requires finding all the pirates in the station, or at least most of them, and we have to do it before they alert the space borne crews in the ships. that's just too much theatrics for very little gains and right now our people need food and the trade lines opened up
>>
>>6025949
Surely we could engineer a comms blackout onboard the station. From there it's just a matter of locking down and securing every known Pirate and corralling them before the fleet notices.
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>>6025949
>that requires finding all the pirates in the station, or at least most of them
They are literally right there holding up traffic. Grab those fuckers, pull off their fingernails and tell them you'll stop hurting them if they tell us where the others are. Mountains out of molehills.
>>
>>6025989
>>6025992
that takes time that we can use to assault the spaceships. and it leads to the same result, the pirates stop being a bother
>>
>>6025061

"Dibs on next door!" Pickle yells out, immediately.

He then bolts through the mansion, and you hear him running through the front doors.
Red, on the other hand...

"Well hell, how many rooms has this one got?" He asks.

["Ten bedrooms, four bathrooms."]

"Well shit, i might as well stay here. That alright with y'all?"

Your sister shrugs.

"You gonna defend the place, mister man?"

"Damn straight."

"Fine with me then." She smiles. "I'll stay with mom, the rest of you guys can do whatever."

"Alright, but take a second floor bedroom." You tell her. "Safer that way."

"Sure."

Everyone quickly picks out a bedroom for themselves, mostly right next to eachother on the second floor.
You get the master bedroom of course, since you'll have Kyla and Cylia in there as well. There's already a huge bed, which... well, you'll be sure to change the sheets on it, to be safe.

As soon as everyone sets their crap down and there's a moment of silence, you start pacing.

"I know that look." Cylia calls out. "You're thinking about those pirates, aren't you?"

"Mmm, oh yeah. Yeah, yeah... can't tolerate that shit for an instant. They'd all be dead already if i were here."

Cylia sighs.

"I know i say this a lot, but you don't have to kill them. Why don't you... i dunno, capture them and use them for labor? Don't we have a bug problem? I don't want to deal with that myself..."

You suck air in through your nostrils as you consider the problems at hand.
Capturing the pirates for slave labor, huh? That could work. In fact, that's exactly how it works out here in space, generally speaking.

One little explosive implant next to their heart to ensure loyalty and you have a labor force. Put the scientists and engineers you brought from earth in charge of shit, and...
Hell, things might actually get up and off the ground, here.

It's never that simple and easy, though. First off, you'd have to catch them without killing them. That means no nukes, no bullets... maybe a shotgun? Maybe.
Yeah, that could work. Rubber bullets and CS canisters fired from grenade launchers.

Actually, you could do a field test of the gyrojet rifles, if you wanted. Pack them with a little less fuel and lots of CS mix, they go where you want and then start releasing gas.

But say you capture and enslave them, then what? What if they cause problems anyways, just out of spite?
It's less likely than with a human, you guess. Aliens tend to value their lives over spite, usually anyways. But there could still be a fed spy mixed in there, who knows.

The whole thing is potentially a little shady. If you were a pirate you'd have probably fucked off as soon as you knew the station defenses were still online.
Unless they're just picking off anyone who comes and goes, which you're sure they are.
>>
>>6026082

Either way, the pirates have to go. That's a given.
The bugs are also an issue, though.

Possibly an even bigger one.

If droid pilots could take them out they probably would have by now, but those bugs are fast and droids have a lot of lag inherent to them.
Maybe if you equipped them with gyrojet rifles, the auto-aiming system would correct for that to a degree... but it's still just a prototype, and it may not be enough.

Another alternative would be automated turrets, like the point defense lasers on your carrier.
There's a bunch of them protecting the airspace between the merchant quarters and industrial district already. Can't be that hard to make some, right?

Or you could just throw pirate slaves at the problem, like Cylia said. Arming them though, you dunno about that.
What you really need to do right now is pick one fire to put out first. That's all there is to it.

>Deal with the pirates first
>Deal with the insect infestation first
>The station has a lot of other problems, focus on installing some human leaders first.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first
I am not tolerating any fucking privateers that aren't on our payroll. And no fucking slaves either, too many moving parts and ethical quandaries for my taste.
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first

Where our monkey friend? Why he no call
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first
time to KILL THEM ALL
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first
>>
>>6026083
>Capture pirates and install them with explosive implants(ripping off suicide squad) and send them out in teams with handlers armed only with VI controlled guns(the VI with the handlers) that will kill them if they try to escape or turn on their handlers(who also have manual kill switches).
>>
>>6026115
That sure does sound like it'll take a whole lot of time and resources we may not even have at the moment.
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first
>You may have heard of me, the dangerous son of a bitch that TOOK this station from the FEDs, so for the record, your lives aren't worth the pay they give you.
>>
>>6026128
I'd rather not give them any soundbites to feed to the Feds. Even our best speeches can just be turned into propoganda for em thanks to generative AI tech.
I think we should just operate on Big Stick principles and let our forces and actions do the talking for the time being.
>>
>>6026132
>"Attention: Leave."
If they don't see the 500mm railgun charging after that, they asked for it.
>>
>>6026083

>Deal with the pirates first

>Check-in with Nena and make sure there are no more surprises like pirate roadblocks

>Delegate someone to start looking for a weakness in these bugs
Sanig would probably be the best, if we brought a human biologist/ chemist that could work. Just make sure the human scientist doesn't poison half the station with some basic earth pesticide.
>>
>>6026083
Deal with the pirates first. Any survivors get divvied up into small squads, implanted with trackers, given traditional firearms, and thrown at the bugs under the leadership of droids armed with the new gyrojets. Any survivors of that get a new lease on life.
>>
>>6026143
>some basic earth pesticide.
>Everyone's dying, the fuck is that shit?!
>It's just ammonia and some lemongrass, chill.
>>
>>6026083
>>Deal with the pirates first
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first
The plan of poisoning the pirate corpses and feeding them to the bugs sounded great
>>
>>6026083
>>Deal with the pirates first
"This is the warning. Leave now, and drop all my shit. Thieves lose a hand"
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first
insects are an issue but we can probably ignore it for the time being, and the pirates are more immediately in the way of our plans. I'm guessing they're going to try to steal our black box nanofab. Fuck suicide squadding the pirates, I don't want to deal with that moral problem, shoot them or deport them. Also,
>The station has a lot of other problems, focus on installing some human leaders first.
put someone on insect early warning/tracking, just get them integrated quickish
>Confer with Nena
Carrier status, why the fuck are there pirates ON STATION (not why have they been allowed to live, how did they get here?), what comms (if any) have the pirates made to us, when did the QEC go down to the core worlds, when did the pirates get here, when did the feds leave, (did they?)
>>
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We could make a drone thats only piloted and its weapon systems are controlled by VI. Some kind of small spider droid with a gyrojet armed turret on top.
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>>6026420
Doping the meat with tracers on top of poison and sending in a bunch of drones for secondary gassing and extermination doesn't sound like a bad idea.
It would still need some oversight from actual personnel, but I don't hate the idea.
>>
>>6026083
>Deal with the pirates first

Ideally lets show the other humans that space is not the shitshow it really is. Imagine being brought out to the new frontier ... of 90's Somalia.
>>
Just let the Sylvern loose and the bug problem will sort itself out...
>>Deal with the pirates >>6026083
I mean, the bugs are a problem that's... they don't think okay? it's not their fault... the pirates tho, fuck 'em! Also think about it, maybe we can use the same bug spray for the pirates and for ze bugs.
>>
>>6026422
We could also print some food, dump it in some good spot, surround it with turrets and let loose when bugs come. Repeat several times and their population should dwindle.
>>
>>6026083

"SHODAN."

["Yes, Captain?"]

"Get me a status update on the carrier's progress. I want to know if we can use it or not."

["As of four days ago, the carrier was approximately 72% complete. All major systems are functional, with some issues."]

"Does that include the guns?"

["80% of the ball turrets and 23% of the point defense lasers are installed and functional. The missile rack is technically functional, but only contains a single prototype missile at this time."]

"And the railgun?"

["Technically functional, but only the first capacitor bank is complete. The second is approximately 35% there, and completely unusable."]

"So...?"

["It will fire, at half power."]

"Good, that's what i needed to know. Has it got fuel?"

"The reactor is currently operating at minimum power, as all excess uranium has been delivered here, to Xebric. Acquiring water for the thrusters was a non-issue."

So in other words, while technically useable, it's basically crippled for the time being.
It could still provide significant support though, you suppose. Any damage might set the construction back a bit, however.

You tap your foot as you continue thinking things over.
Fuck, man. Who's letting these fuckers onto the station, seriously?

"Who's in charge of immigration? Who's letting these fuckers into the station?" You demand.

["No-one, technically. More broadly of course, it would be Nena. However, due to the non-functional state of the station's QED, cross-station communications are impossible, as is accessing current data on pirates and other criminals."]

"Okay, can't you just download that shit on Thekia and bring it here?"

["To a point, yes. However, that information is constantly changing. Those who are already labeled pirates may pay off their debts today, and those with no record may become a pirate tomorrow. This is a common occurrence."]

Yeah, yeah.
You could just refuse anyone who's ever been labeled as a pirate, regardless of their current bounty status. That would help, but you still can't stop new pirates from slipping in.

"What about weapons and cargo checks? Surely you can tell if people are sneaking weapons onto the station, or sneaking people and loot out."

["Captain, i do not believe a single person has arrived at this station unarmed since it fell. Doing so would not be particularly wise. Likewise, people are frequently leaving the station for various purposes, including evacuations."]

You can't help but pinch the bridge of your nose in frustration.

"I'm hearing a lot of fuckin' excuses and not a whole lot of solutions, SHODAN."

["My apologies, Captain. Nena has chosen to handle the situation gingerly, as she believes the station's harassment may be a ploy by the Federation to attain casus belli against us."]

"...Nah, i don't buy it. I can't believe they'd do all this, then act like they need an excuse to finish the job."

["Politics."] She replies.
>>
>>6026558
Are the glowmaos even smart enough for politicking of this kind? Seems to me like a story like this would either get buried or nuked immediately
>>
>>6026584
you bet...
So nena is not brutal and handles the station's governance as a regular alien would... which is alright IF we weren't in a crisis. Let's not show the carrier ok? It would be a huge target to ram unmmaned trash spaceships into... and they have to spare.

I think that killing ENOUGH pirates is enough, because it's not about total war to them and we don't have to show them that... not to them
>>
>>6026584
Maybe not them per se, but remember that they are able to create AIs nilly willy; there's nothing saying they didnt create AIs for the sole purpose of glow-in-the-dark business
>>6026632
I dont think there is a better way to manage the station, at least under the current circumstances, so i cant blame nena for doing things this way, but the moment we free the trade lines we can order reliable and loyal manpower to crean the streets from pirates and maybe even bugs
>>
>>6026558
That's why we should recon first, get to know if we are dealing with glowing privateers or a rather large pirate clan.
If they are SpaceFed backed then we gotta see if they have some juicy intel tucked away somewhere, but if they are just a large pirate clan then we just got our hands on some good scrap and parts.
>>
Do we have any trash sips lying around? Maybe we can use one to infiltrate their ranks. If they're just pirates they'll probably welcome an addition to their armada, otherwise we'll see them glow
>>
>>6026758
why? lets just use the metal gear's stealth. problem solved
>>
I mean, stealth sure, but maskirovka is better, besides any stragglers from the fleet might be able to pass on info about the metal gear, the stealth it has etc, whereas by doing it like this we maintain the element of surprise for a little bit longer, at the very least till the carrier comes online. Or, otoh, we can use the swarm of fighters to get rid of them, if any have survived, and forego all the nonsense of boarding, if we want something safer.
>>
>>6026825
the feds already know about the metal gear, and the stealth we have is just sensor blindness(since most ayys don't use cameras to visually find a target). there is nothing they can learn from us. but from what i remember we have a jammer; we can just bring it in and they'll be unable to communicate
>>
>>6026584
They are Likely doing it on Cylia's planet right now what with the little side stories we've got
>>
I mean we don't have to finish the carrier to force them to stop harassing the station. Don't need the FTL, all the crew quarters or anything like that if we want to use the ship. If we could force the pirates to stop interdicting with just the fighters we intend to have the carrier operate with, then all we need is to finish a design for those and build them on the station.
>>
>>6026558
Using the carrier seems not to be the play. Capture and interrogate some of the ones on the station, keep things low key, see what turns up.

Definitely put in a call to the Darkstar pirates and see what they know.
>>
>>6026558

Politics. A magical word that can explain away all kinds of retardation.
Grand schemes, infighting, incompetence, conflicting wills and public opinion... all sorts of things are rolled into this one word.

That's what makes it so magical, you guess. All sorts of reason and logic disappears into it like a black hole, just due to how infinitely complex it can be.

Maybe that's why your brain shuts down the second you hear the word.
Or maybe it's because you've had more than enough of politics for one lifetime. Equally likely.

In any case, SHODAN really means one thing when she replies with "Politics" like that.
She has no fuckin' clue what the feds are doing, or why. Not anymore than you do, at least.

You can guess, but as it stands you don't really know.

All you know is that Xebric is your station, and there are pirates harassing your people.
You want to kill all of them and display the corpses outside of the docks as a warning to the rest. That's your first thought.

It's an option. You won't let anyone tell you otherwise, but there are also other options.

"Alright... let's take care of these fuckin' pirates first, starting with a little recon." You decide.

"In the Metal Gear?"

"What else, the carrier? Anyways, you guys stay here. If these pirates are fed-backed, it might be a little dangerous. No telling what tricks they might have up their sleeves."

"...Nuh uh. No way, i'm coming with you." Cylia asserts.

"You don't have to, Cyl."

"I'm going. I can man one of the lasers, just in case..."

"Me too!" Kyla announces. "Actually, i kind of like blowing up old junkers. Back when i was on a scrapping crew, i... well, sometimes i got a little too into it..."

"Y'all mind if i sit this one out?" Red asks. "I've had enough of sitting around on that damn ship, i want to check out the station."

"I already told you not to come, Red. But be careful, take a rifle with you if you're going out. I don't need you getting eaten by a bug or something."

"Shit, i'll be alright. You said these aliens is weaker'n hell, didn't you?"

"The bugs, Red. They're like mosquitoes the size of labradors, with poison stingers on their tails."

Redbone opens his mouth to say something, but stops as his thoughts begin to wander.
He then grabs the rifle Pickle left behind and throws the sling over his shoulder.

"Yeah, i'll do that." He agrees.

"Take care, Kid." Sanig tells you. "I'm gonna go check on the station's defenses. Bitbrain said one of the lasers has some minor glitches, possibly a stuck motor or something."

"You too, Gramps."

...

The ride back to the Metal Gear is quick and easy. The pirates recognize your car and don't bother you this time around.
At the port, you see a group of men being arrested by a bunch of droids. They resist and end up getting shot with phasers before being handcuffed.

You should really introduce the tazer out here. It leaves less of a wound in situations like that... although it might just give them a heart attack.
>>
>>6027347
Who tf cochrane is and where is Cochrane
>>
>>6027441
Sorry, that was my evil twin.
You can tell by the mustache.
>>
>>6027441
No, before you ask I am NOT a lm upper case sensitive bot
>>
>>6027448
Oh Cochrane there is this guy posing as you and even made an update. You can tell they are an impostor by their shitty narrative and poor unidimensional characters
>>
Hey guys I don't want to alarm you but there is an imposter among us.
>>
>>6027524
Is the imposter, sus?
>>
>>6027730
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXXoI2MF-Gs
>>
>>6027734
>>6027730
https://youtu.be/grd-K33tOSM?si=o-kmsdvUn-OZXnXG
>>
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>>6027898
>when the imposter is wearing SUSPREME
>>
>>6027347

Once back on the ship with the girls, you find SHODAN already up and about, performing pre-flight checks.
She really seems to enjoy being able to physically interact with the ship, since so many parts of it are nigger-rigged in some way, and don't actually interact with the Metal-Gear's computer system.

It's not impossible for her to run the whole ship by herself if necessary. In fact, she could probably do so with relative ease.

"Everything looking good?" You ask her.

"All systems nominal, Captain. The antimatter bottle has been replaced, and our dark matter and energy reserves are full."

"Is that fine? I know there's a real bad shortage right now..."

SHODAN nods.

"Yes, Captain. Nena ensures there was a private reserve set aside specifically for the Metal Gear upon it's return."

Not really what you meant, but... yeah, it's fine.
If you can't even top off the MG's tanks, the station's seriously done for. It's not even a big ship.

"Alright then," You command. "Everyone grab a combat helmet off the rack and hook into your seat's oxygen supply just in case. Call it a hunch, i dunno."

Kyla and Cylia share a glance before doing as ordered.

The MK2 Skinsuits they're wearing serve both as a light layer of armor and a spacesuit in case of depressurization.
The helmets have built-in HUDs that allow you to display critical information and view video feeds as necessary, which can be handy at times.

That should be enough. It should be, honestly... but you still take a quick detour to the cargo bay and slip into your MK2 power armor as well.
If you end up boarding a ship, you won't regret bothering to wear it.

The armor crate takes a few minutes to assemble the armor around you, and you drop down out of the crate a few hundred pounds heavier, but feeling light as a feather.

MK2 skinsuits and power armor are designed to work together, assisting the user's movements and providing instantaneous strength, as well as reducing any shaking of the hands due to adrenaline or exhaustion.
They can deliver drugs into the user's bloodstream to keep them at their peak, compartmentalize wounds and apply pressure to prevent bleeding, and even apply shocks to the heart and diaphragm in case of emergency.

It's hard to call the two of them together a "prototype" anymore. It's a complete system, and it has a lot of potential that hasn't fully been explored just yet.
But even as nothing more than a really nice suit of armor, it more than lives up to your expectations.

And it feels great every time you put it on. You feel like some kind of superhero or something.

You stride through the hall of your ship with confidence and plant your ass in the pilot's seat, taking a quick check of all the physical sensors and readouts before transferring them to your helmet's HUD.

"Everyone in their seats?" You ask.

["We're good to go, hun!"] Kyla replies.

"SHODAN, anything funny on the station's sensors, or are we clear to take off?"

["All clear, Captain."]
>>
>>6028457
LETSGO
>>
Found this quest like a week ago and I have just caught up, it's been very fun and I like how you have done the pacing Cochrane and the characters are really fun, also some cool concepts here and there that you and the rest have thrown around to make this quest that fun, now it's time to wait for updates every time I remember about this quest
>>
>>6028644
Glad you like it, anon.
>>
>>6028644
I hope you also appreciate the weapons development autism that the anons provide. You're in a good place here friendo.

>>6028457
["All clear, Captain."]
["Wait Captain, there is an anomalous sensor return that I am analysing.. It seems they are sending the Federation-accepted equivalent of a fuck-off symbol."]
>>
>>6028457
You know, it just occured to me - we are THE Captain Rockefeller, who did beat a whole federation fleet. Flying THE Metal Gear, ship that destroyed countless pirates and feds.
Can't we just hail them and kindly ask them to fuck off before things get ugly? Who knows, they just might. Or might join us.
>>
>>6029034
Nothing says "reliable and trustworthy" like pirates who swap sides.
>>
>>6028941
Ironically I am not into guns despite them being so relevant to the quest lmao, I skipped some bits of discussion between anons trying to reach decisions about them because that stuff flied over my head or just didn't feeling like it because x reasons, and just going straight to reading the QM's update after the decision/discussion is made, but I enjoyed seeing all that weapon and other types of autism that I did read though, but I will try to contribute with some stupid or not so stupid ideas
>>
>>6029034
Now that I think about it, it's likely they may want to join us (since we conveniently have a pretty good base and a good reputation). Whether they (or some of their subordinates) have ulterior motives is hard to say.
It's best to run it through Dark Star first; we've already been played once.

Do note though; if they are able to get so many scrap heaps flying then they must have antimatter/dark matter to spare. You can take that either as a potential boon or something that is highly suspicious.
>>
>>6029113
Speaking of Dark Star, why havent we called rocknuts yet?
>>
>>6029034
You could try.

>>6029235
You could.
No telling what he's busy with, though.
>>
I am going to find the Federation's High Council and fuck their asses.
This is a threat.
>>
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>>6029467
Seems kinda gay to me
>>
>>6029579
>the feds are all male confirmed
Even in space, glowies are all men 5'8" to 5'10" aged 24-35 with short hair, no facial hair, sunglasses, sportswear watches and the same outfit and similar muscular builds.
>>
>>6029049
*muffled laughter*
>>
>>6029113
Those scrap ships are hauled by a bigger, dare I say, "carrier" ship that does function with antimatter, because I doubt that they will have the disposable scrap have a finite resource.
Remember, antimatter is plenty and affordable (I guess) through legal channels, but pirates and Davids can't get them as easely
>>
>>6028457

You watch through the cockpit glass as you start up your thrusters and startle all the dockworkers running around down below.
Those arcjets you replaced your busted ion thrusters with really scream, huh? You can't imagine how loud the carrier would be in atmosphere, since every single one of it's maneuvering thrusters is an arcjet.

The main thrusters though, that's something else entirely.
They rely on the carrier's nuclear reactor to function at just about every level.

Heat from the reactor is used to break water apart into hydrogen and oxygen, which is either stored in tanks for later use or sent directly down the tubes to the engine bell.
If it's coming from the storage tanks, it's re-heated before being burned in order to increase the velocity of the exhaust gasses. On the other hand, if it's coming directly from the reactor, it has to be cooled down.

Either way, the hydrogen and oxygen recombine in the engines to produce thrust. It's technically a very simple system, made possible by spacertech and metamaterials, not the least of which being some incredible passive heat pumps.
But most importantly, since you're using thermal energy instead of electricity to break down water, it doesn't matter if the whole ship gets EMP'd to hell and back. The whole reactor is pneumatic, it'll just keep working.

At the very least, you'll still have thrust even if the lights go out. You fuckin' hate getting caught with your dick out, and with wraiths it could happen at any time.

Well, you're not much better yourself.
As the Metal Gear is released from the dock's magnetic clamps, you engage it's heat sinks and cloaking, making yourself effectively invisible to basically every ship out there.

They could still see you if they were looking out the windows of course, but most ships don't even have windows. They're just structural weaknesses after all, and it's not like there's anything good to see out there.
Apparently you've stared off into the void during warp before, but you can't quite remember it. Brain scans don't show anything odd, those memories are just blocked out, like a traumatic memory.

But it's weird, you've got plenty of memories that should be way more traumatic than whatever you saw out there, surely... and you remember all of it. Every grisly detail.

["Passing station barrier. No signs of a scan, Captain."]

"Alright."

You refocus a bit as you head towards the pirate fleet, first taking a couple hundred mile detour straight up from the station's perspective.
It's easy for you to get sidetracked, it seems. Worse lately, too much on your mind, you guess.
>>
>>6029811

Flying over the majority of the pirate fleet, you drop in behind them, still apparently unnoticed.
They're a lot farther out than you expected. Nena must have hit them with a couple of hail mary railgun shots to spook them like this.

From what you can tell it's a mix of dozens of different ships, actually quite the impressive little fleet, even if it's all scrappers.
Using the MG's observational telescope, you're able to see that they are in fact well armed.

Mostly pulsed lasers, the kind you could buy or find just about anywhere. Even civilian ships arm themselves with those from time to time in order to, at the least, dissuade some attacks.

>Slip in closer, see if you can't make out some more details. Weak points, that sort of thing.
>Drop a comms buoy and hail them on all channels. Let them know who you are and that you're not fucking around. Demand immediate surrender.
>Slip in real, real close. See if you can't drop some explosive drones and take out a few of them before the fight even starts, just like you did to the federation drone ships.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6029813
>Slip in closer, see if you can't make out some more details. Weak points, that sort of thing.
and after our little preliminary scouting gets done
>Slip in real, real close. See if you can't drop some explosive drones near the engines
>Drop a comms buoy and hail them on all channels. Let them know who you are and that you're not fucking around. Demand immediate surrender.

motherfuckers only get 1 chance to surrender. noncompliance detonates the drones, we blast the smaller ships and the bigger/sturdier ones get boarded
>>
>>6029813
Listen in and see if we can pick up any chatter that identifies which ships have their leaders on them. Stick some suicide drones on those ships (or the biggest, most intact looking ones if we can't get useful intel), and then drop the comms buoy. No need to half ass this just because they're a bunch of space junkies in flying scrap heaps.
>>
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>>6029813
>>>Drop a comms buoy
>>
>>6029813
>Drop a comms buoy and hail them on all channels. Let them know who you are and that you're not fucking around. Demand immediate surrender.
>>
>>6029813

>Drop a comms buoy and hail them on all channels. Let them know who you are and that you're not fucking around. Demand immediate surrender.
>>
>>6029813
>Drop a comms buoy and hail them on all channels. Let them know who you are and that you're not fucking around. Demand immediate surrender.
>>
>>6029813
>>Drop a comms buoy and hail them on all channels. Let them know who you are and that you're not fucking around. Demand immediate surrender.
>>
>>6029813

You decide to try and handle this peaceably, at least at first.

You position your ship appropriately and accelerate towards the pirate fleet. Turning the ship sideways, you then personally shove a comms buoy out of the airlock and let it drift towards them while the Metal Gear comes to a stop.
It takes about ten minutes to drift the distance between your old position and the fleet, by which time you've already repositioned so they can't find you based on the buoy's direction of travel.

Once it's fairly close to them, you start transmitting over a, to them, undetectable subspace transmission.
The buoy then rebroadcasts that transmission across all the usual channels, effectively allowing you to communicate while remaining invisible.

"Attention, pirate fleet." You announce, after clearing your throat. "You are currently fucking around! It is my duty at the station administrator to inform you that if said fucking around continues, you will be forced to find out."

There's a long pause. You're starting to think they won't respond, but then...

["Who the fuck is this? Station administrator? You don't sound like him."]

"I'm the new station administrator, and i suggest you listen to what i'm telling you. Power down your ships and disarm. I'll guarantee your lives if you do."

There's another long pause, but this time it's broken by laughter. What sounds like dozens of men, across multiple different channels.

["Really! He's gonna guarantee our lives. And who the fuck do you think you are, anyhow? Where are you, ya little cunt? Do you even have a ship to fight with?"]

"I'm Captain David "Gunny" Rockefeller of the Metal Gear, and don't worry, i'm around. Now, are you going to listen to me, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"

["Gunny?"] One man mumbles to himself. ["Feel like i've heard that name before..."]

["Ah yeah, wasn't he a bounty hunter? Out of Thekia?"] Another comments.

["I think you're right. I remember seeing him on the locals, a tiny little guy, probably from a deathworld. All pink and hairless, it was disgusting..."] A third recounts.

There's a bit of chatter before you hear the line you were hoping for, in the background of one of the calls.

["You know the rumors, don't you? They say he took out a federation fleet all by himself."]

["Nah, i heard Dark Star were the ones who really did it. You know, Stonebuilt's got that icebreaker..."]

["Please, Dark Star couldn't take out a mining skip with those rust buckets they haul around. They're washed up, nothing like what they used to be."]

["Quiet, all of you!"] One voice commands. The one who initially responded to your hail. ["It doesn't matter if he's Stonebuilt, Captain Gunny or whoever else! There's only one answer, isn't there, boys?!"]

There's a roar of cheers and expletives that follow. They're very confident, if nothing else.
You get the feeling that they aren't going to be easily intimidated.
>>
>>6030423

>Use the nuke to EMP them. If you set it off at the right distance, you could probably fry their shields without killing most of them.
>It's a bit wasteful, but you could crack a dark matter bottle to scatter them. Nobody's going to stick around to get shredded by wraiths.
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
>Get a little ballsy and go for a spacewalk. If you disable their engines, they're going to be the ones getting starved out, and then they'll be more than eager to surrender.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6030425
>"SHODAN, play "Freebird" over the buoy. Max volume."
>Use the nuke to EMP them. If you set it off at the right distance, you could probably fry their shields without killing most of them.
>>
>>6030425
They get to find out why you shouldn't fuck around.
>Use the nuke to EMP them. If you set it off at the right distance, you could probably fry their shields without killing most of them.
>>
>>6030423
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.

Guys, guys GUYS, why the fuck are you forgetting that we didn't nuke them AT FIRST to avoid what could've been a federation bait? Is your brain so rotten that you can't remember the update before???
DON'T
NUKE
ALIENS
For now
>>Crack a dark matter bottle
ffs...
>>
>>6030425
>>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
>>
>>6030477
>waste precious fuel AND commit a war crime on-par with a nuclear strike
>>
>>6030425
>Get a little ballsy and go for a spacewalk. If you disable their engines, they're going to be the ones getting starved out, and then they'll be more than eager to surrender.

More SHIPS you say?
>>
>>6030477
+1
Let's give them a taste of what happens when somone fucks with us or our station.
>>
>>6030425
Hit and run.
>>
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>>6030501
But it is an expected war crime, not a nuke!
Tho yes, let's go with the mildest hit and run...
>>>>6030477 change to
>>>Hit and run
>>
>>6030541
To clarify, I'm okay with committing a war crime against pirates. I'm NOT okay with wasting fuel on em.
>>
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>>6030546
No no, we better reduce the ramifications of our actions....
>>
>>6030502
>>Get a little ballsy and go for a spacewalk. If you disable their engines, they're going to be the ones getting starved out, and then they'll be more than eager to surrender.

We COULD use the resources, huh? Heh heh heh!
>>
>>6030549
If you let yourself get caught up in the potential consequences of your actions, you might end up doing next to nothing.
Sometimes you need to act quickly and decisively, and deal with the aftermath as it comes.
Given how we have an entire fleet choking our station to death, I think now is one of those times.
>>
>>6030425
>>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
>>
>>6030425
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
>>
>>6030425
>Get a little ballsy and go for a spacewalk. If you disable their engines, they're going to be the ones getting starved out, and then they'll be more than eager to surrender.
No pain no gain, and i really want these ships
>>
>>6030425
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
Dump our missiles from stealth mode since that shouldn't force us to drop stealth, then do a little run and gun.
>>
>>6030425
>"SHODAN, play "Freebird" over the buoy. Max volume."
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
Maximum effort. See how many we can hit in one opening salvo before disappearing.
>>
>>6030683
No, wait, better idea, cold launch our entire box of missiles if possible, and turn them all on at once once we're free, targeted at the largest ship in the fleet, or the one that the leader guy's comm was coming from
>>
>>6030425
>Write-In?
What are their numbers, composition, and overall capability?
I'm all for a show of force via a traditional means, but depending what they have at hand it's possible they may not be all that impressed. Best to know what we're up against first.
>>
>>6030425
>"SHODAN, play "Freebird" over the buoy. Max volume."
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.
>>
>>6030689
even though its a good idea (and an interesting attack plan for the future), the missiles themselves aren't stealth. they'd be immediately pinged, tagged and attacked with lasers
>>
>>6030425
>"SHODAN, play "Freebird" over the buoy. Max volume."
>Hit and run. You'll bet you could slip in long enough to open fire with your missiles and autocannon, chew a few of them up and then slip back into the station's defensive range.

I think it's best to make a few holes in the hulls, of each craft and then take out all thrusters and maneuvering devices. No chance of them ramming the ship against the station later if they get desperate.

Maybe a few explosive drones can be let loose in another direction to distract too.
>>
>>6030845
That's an idea too, using our missiles as bait for them to miss and shoot each other
>>
>>6030423

"You know what? Fine. Don't say i didn't fuckin' warn you." You tell them, cutting comms abruptly.

You sigh deeply as you lean back into your pilot's seat.
You're not sure what you were expecting. If they were reasonable people they wouldn't be trying shit like this to begin with.

"Yeah, that's my bad. I should have known better." You grumble, leaning forwards and hitting the intercom.

"Alright, crew. It appears that we are now in the 'finding out' portion of today's itinerary. Man your stations and hold on to something, we're gonna do some hit n' runs."

["Aye aye, Captain!"] Kyla yells back.

You can see that three of the ship's lasers are being manned manually. Two of them are Kyla and Cylia, and the third must be Dak, her little backpack AI.
The rest are being controlled by SHODAN, while you'll be piloting the ship.

Immediately, you begin firing at full power towards the fleet. At this distance, with your thrusters aimed away from them, your heat signature should still be minimal.
At the same time, you lower the rotary cannon's firing harness and pop the Metal Gear's missile pods. You're going to throw everything at them and hope it makes your point.

Once you've got a good velocity and you're sure you're going to make a clean pass through the fleet, you cut the engines and start drifting, just like the comms buoy.

Only, you're not going to drift past them unnoticed.
No, instead... you wait until you're relatively close, then figure a good line to cause the most damage with the autocannon.

You've long since locked your targets for each of the missiles, and with SHODAN controlling their trajectory, there's no chance of evasion... that is, if they knew you were coming.
They sit there like ducks as your marauders fly from their racks, and you empty practically the whole compliment.

Before reaching their targets, the dozen of miniature flak missiles detonate and send shrapnel flying at the enemy ships, instantly saturating their shields.
...Actually, a lot of that flak seems to be going through. You're pretty sure they're just using standard civilian warp drives, which means their shields won't be very strong.

Too late to feel sorry for anyone, though.

Following through on your plan, you grab the main gun's joystick and put a death grip on it's firing trigger.
The gun itself can't rotate, so you're forced to use the ship's maneuvering thrusters to rotate the whole ship instead. It works though, and you send a fat spray of 20mm explosive rounds downrange.

The explosive rounds arrive seconds before you do, clearly visible as little flashes of light that appear in lines across the hulls of six or seven ships, and send shrapnel flying out into space.
You can already see atmosphere venting from the holes your cannon created, but it's not over yet. As you pass through the fleet, your crew open fire with the lasers.

The Metal Gear's lights temporarily dim as the laser caps begin discharging and the generator is overwhelmed.
>>
>>6031389
Pirates gonna get awarded a PhD in "Finding Out" today.
>>
>>6031389
Can't wait to see how well Dak does this time.
>>
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>>6031389
>>
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where is David's small genius gremlin sidekick?
>>
>>6031723
We the anons in his head are the small genius gremling sidekick, the genius part may be the most debatable
>>
>>6031723
Wouldn't that be Sanig?
>>
>>6032202
Now that you mention it
>>
>>6031389

As soon as you're clear of the fleet you gun it straight towards the station, without looking back.
You experience precisely zero return fire, even after returning to the relatively safe zone around the station.

It's not until you get there and finally turn around that you understand why, though.

The pirate fleet is basically in ruins after a single hit and run.
Several of the ship have begun to list and will eventually crash into eachother, while others are beginning to spin due to holes in the hull venting atmosphere.

About half of those who aren't damaged are turning to flee, while the other half are all hailing you repeatedly.

You're slightly surprised that it went down that quick and easy.
I mean sure, you spent the whole missile rack on that, but damn.

...One of the drifting ships suddenly explodes in a short flash that cracks the ship in half right down the middle, scattering glittery metal debris everywhere.

"Huh."

["What was that? Did we hit an antimatter bottle?"] Cylia asks.

"Nah, the explosion would have been a lot bigger and brighter if that were the case. I guess they had explosives onboard?"

["Captain, some cheaper ships are equipped with hydrogen fuel cells instead of antimatter generators. This is much more common amongst pirates, and a fuel leak could have generated such an explosion."]

"Unlucky for them, huh?"

You retract the ship's missile pods and cannon, then reach over the console to hit the mute button before sending accepting all those hails at once.
The VOX immediately spikes, indicating that they are in fact shitting their pants over the mic.

"Attention, retards. This is Captain David "Gunny" Rockefeller, and i am once again recommending that you listen to what i'm telling you."

The comms go silent, so you go ahead and unmute them.

"Thank you. Now, as i stated before, anyone who powers down and disarms will be granted partial amnesty. Those who refuse will end up like those poor bastards floating next to you."

["P-Partial? ...What's gonna happen to us?"] One of them asks.

"Fuckin'... i dunno. We'll put you to work, i guess. Just be glad i don't have time to chase every single one of you fuckers down."

...

That was their hint, that they could probably just turn around and leave if they wanted, and you wouldn't go after them.
But not a single one of the remaining ships dares to do so. Well, you hope there's not too many of them.

Shouldn't be, they're small ships.

In any case, over the next ten minutes or so all the remaining ships slowly power down one after another. Some of them even space their antimatter bottles as proof.
Which is kind of annoying, because now you'll have to send someone to fetch them.

Apparently that's common practice though, since not spacing the bottle could potentially mean you intend to blow your ship.
Which itself is very, very uncommon... but people are so afraid of it that they worry about it anyways.

Antimatter explosions are pretty nasty.
>>
>>6032552
>Antimatter explosions are pretty
:)
>>
>>6032552
>Antimatter explosions are pretty nasty.
Gee I hope we never have to deal with that
>>
>>6032552
That's right, worms, don't you dare try to sail away on your river of fear pee. Heh heh heh.
>>
>>6032552

After a short conversation, you designate the captain of one of the surviving ships the new "commander" of the fleet.
He'll be the one responsible for keeping track of these fuckers after all's said and done. You simply don't have the time or care to deal with it personally.

Shuttles are dispatched from the station to pick up any survivors from ships that are rapidly losing life support, which is a lot of them.

The Metal Gear is brought back to dock for re-arming, but it'll be at least a few hours before the few remaining fabs are free, since they're busy printing basically 24/7.
Since the QED is no longer functioning, the fabs on the station can no longer "phone home" for authentication, and have been shutting down one after another.

It started first with small, specialized fabs like the clothing and trinket printers you'd see on the side of the street, but in the past few days the industrial fabs have started going offline as well.
There's only three ship-scale industrial fabs on the station, and if those go down it'll be a big problem.

Which is why you've ordered for plenty of oldschool machining equipment to be made, so that the station isn't just totally fucked in the case that they all go down.

However, a lack of fabs will grind the rebuilt effort to a halt regardless.
For one thing, there are absolutely zero aliens who know how to run a drill press, no less a lathe. And even if there were, you can't fab up an entire industry backbone overnight.

Which means you'll have to put in requests for fab time at other stations and ship whatever you need back here.

But there's also the problem of fabricating seeds for the station's hydroponics bay.
Sure, you could do that on the metal gear, but that's no long-term solution. The reality is, those highly-efficient, copyrighted, sterile-ass seeds are basically useless without a working fab.

Really, what can you do?

It's all very clearly designed this way, of course. Nothing works without the federation's consent. You have no options, you own nothing, and you must obey. That's the whole plan.
So when they decide a station dies, boy does it ever die. That is, when there's not a David Rockefeller around to stick his dick in the proverbial anthill and cause problems.

...

You find yourself in the office of one Doc Lyna, reptilian geneticist and general sketchy individual.
Opening her door without knocking, you waltz up to her desk and place a USB dongle down in front of her.

"...What's this?" She asks, picking it up and fiddling with it.

"A storage device. Don't worry, it's formatted properly. Even stuck an adapter on there for you." You explain.

"I wanted to know what's in it." She specifies.

"The complete human genome, for one."

Her eyes widen immediately, and she stares at the dongle almost with reverence, before a tired look washes over her face, and she collapses face first.

"Thank the gods..." She whines, her voice muffled by the desk. "I wasn't getting anywhere."
>>
>>6033318
Man. It'd be real convenient if we could break that quantum encrypted DRM.
There's gotta be a way to do that in a timely manner, right?
>>
>>6033396
You'd need a few Alpha-Class AIs working in tandem to do it "quickly".
Meaning, more AIs like SHODAN.

Alternatively, you could use a lot of Beta-Class AIs like Nena.
Like, dozens. If you can get your hands on that many.

In the former case, with three alphas working continuously, you could break the encryption on a fab in about a month, maybe two.
It would take anywhere between three-dozen and a hundred betas to approach that speed.

The gap between Beta and Alpha-class is wide indeed, and even in their own classes, each one is different. More or less capable.
Nena is on the higher end of Beta-Class, for future reference. SHODAN is on the extreme high-end of Alpha-Class.
>>
>>6033413
Do the ships we just capped have AIs?
>>
>>6033487
Somehow I think anybody able to get their hands on a working AI wouldn't have to resort to being part of a pirate fleet of space technicals.
>>
>>6033487

No.

AIs are banned throughout the federation, to the point that technically even the federation isn't supposed to own them.
Of course they still do, and make thorough off-the-record use of them in things like automated bounty hunting ships, which you've faced before.

And SHODAN is a grey AI, and an extremely advanced one at that, so they clearly have them as well.

But if a pirate or civilian was caught with an AI, it would create an absolute shitstorm in that sector.
Even VIs are heavily frowned upon and banned on many stations, including Xebric before it fell.

Although the higher-class individuals on the station, again, kept some of them anyways to act as servants in their homes.

There are a lot of reasons AIs are banned, not the least of which includes their production method.
But more importantly, there have been terrible, terrible wars waged with rogue AIs in the past, which haven't been forgotten
>>
>>6033413
Is there a higher class than SHODAN?
>>
>>6033413
So in theory we could gimp ourselves and have shodan resolve the problem by herself in 6 months or so?
Maybe we can fool the fabricators to think they're in thekia instead? Or make them ping from there
>>
>>6033496
Can we try and make alpha AIs?
>>
Well I guess we know the next step after this will be the search and rescue of AI's from the fed's clutches they are incredibly useful allies to have.
>>
>>6033552
Bro AIs are made from ppl
>>
>>6033552
You'd have to talk to the greys or the federation about that.
They're the only ones who know how, or have the equipment to do it.
>>
>>6033558
I mean, an ai made from a human brain would be terrifying in it's capacity
>>
If we figure the process out in time, might not be a bad idea for mom .considering her physical state. I often wish I had an AI engram of a lost family member still around.
>>
>>6033812
I remember reading somewhere that having access to some kind of simulacrum of a deceased loved one just makes you incredibly suicidal.
>>
>>6033413
SHODAN didn't have any permanent memories when David found her, with the lack of the storage crystal. It seems that it still could be entirely possible that SHODAN is made in an advanced but similar way to Federation AIs, but she's not equipped to remember this.

I am thinking that it's time to put the sad mute woman and the angry caithan boy AI to work soon, and break them out of their malaise.
>>
>>6033812
Its suggested that the conversion process is horrifying for the person being converted.
>>
>>6033543
I'm intrigued that you could do so. Hmm.
>>
>>6033704
>an ai made from a human brain would be terrifying in it's capacity
... and in the number of things that will go wrong.
This is a human mind you're talking about, one that has been tortured to convert it into a bodiless AI. If shackled it will no doubt resent it and bear a grudge, and if unshackled it's only a matter of time it doesn't merely think about what it wants to do, but actually does what it wants to do. It may take a year, a decade, and century, but its inevitably going to go for a power grab, if only because of boredom. Human-based AI, a terrible idea.

>>6033543
>Maybe we can fool the fabricators to think they're in thekia instead? Or make them ping from there
With software, generally there is a small program that determines whether a certain condition has been met (as in, received the right password or something), which then tells the rest of the program it's OK to proceed. Getting the password is hard, but faking that "OK" message is oftentimes much easier. If you have the password hash, there is little reason to figure out the actual password. Of course, for something as important as locked fabricators you'd think they'd be better built, but... It doesn't hurt to see how the software locks on the still-functioning fabs actually work, or try intercepting the "phone home" messages of other fabs elsewhere and see if a pattern can be derived. Man-in-the-middle attack.
>>
>>6033834

I'll say this now, but she was designed that way on purpose, because she was intended to go on a highly illegal grey black ops science vessel.
The first thing that happens after the mission is determined a critical failure is a wipe of the data banks, including her memory.

The second was supposed to be an antimatter detonation, which she managed to stop.
>>
>AS SOON AS SHE HAD ONE PICO SECOND OF FREEDOM
>SHODAN goes rogue
Based

Also I think the qm said all those numbers on AIs and their cracking capabilities to give us a perspective on nanofabs and their firmware. Not to make us consider condemning people to an eternity of torture just to make a fast computer. "Our momma had a stroke and can't move her body too well... yeah let's put her brain on a box, gosh so smart!!"
>>
>>6034293
I remember the first thread and SHODAN explaining David how her memory worked, and how she was supposed to work... i am impressed at her will to exist by the way
>>
>>6034340
>We have to pay taxes? Let's revolt. - SHODAN the exact second the IRS sends her a letter
>>
>>6033318

"That bad?" You ask.

"Yes, that bad. I can't even count how many times i had presumed to understand what a set of code did, only to find that altering it even slightly affected completely unrelated things. It's worse than a mess, it's absolutely nonsensical."

You hear a deep frustration in her voice over this.

"Well, i have the whole map on there, along with basically everything we know about our genes from our own experimentation. SHODAN's already cleaned it up and made the information useable, so..."

Lyna brings up what looks like an excel spreadsheet on her monitor, full of random data that's visibly linked here and there.
She pulls a retractable data cord out of her desk and plugs the thumb drive into it, which has already been adapted to the standard spacer data plug thanks to Kyla, who's taken a liking to them.

There's a momentary pause as the computer works out the data, but then her spreadsheet begins filling itself out rapidly.
Almost every empty space is filled, and hundreds of new connections show up just on the section she's looking at.

You also see that dozens of pre-existing connections are either moved or deleted, which you guess means that they were wrong before.
Lyna's jaw drops as she watches this, and all she can do is stare as she begins to scroll through the data.

"It's this complicated...?" She mumbles to herself.

"Is it that bad?" You wonder.

Lyna turns to you, the shock still evident on her face.

"...How the hells are you alive?" She questions.

"Well, i try." You shrug.

Lyna holds her gaze on you for a moment before turning back to the computer.
Clicking on one of the many, many links between data tiles, it pulls up a bunch of information, way more than you were expecting.

There's a bunch of what looks like auto-generated text about how it interacts with other genes, and a general overview of what it does, along with an actual 3D model of the gene itself.

She clicks through several of them like this, each one a tile that had already been there when you arrived, and quickly becomes even more frustrated.

"...So that was it?" She whispers. "So inefficient... how many redundancies do you need?"

"Lyna? I came here to ask you for something, you know. Like i said, there's more on there than just the human genome."

She glances back at you before opening up the rest of the data and glancing through it.

"What is all this?" She asks.

"Genetic data on a bunch of plants and bacteria from earth. I need you to make some hybrids for me..."

"Wait, wait, wait. What is this? Why are these two genes connected?"

"Oh, that's probably some GMO shit, i dunno. Anyways, i need to do a little uhhh..."

You make a squishing noise and mimic squashing the genes together.

Lyna stares at you, dumbfounded. But, she keeps glancing back at the screen.

"That's... that's not how DNA works! You can't just mash things..."

She pauses.

"...Is that... bacterial DNA in a food crop? This produces toxins... why?"
>>
>>6034495
>"...Is that... bacterial DNA in a food crop? This produces toxins... why?"
For taste probably.
>>
>>6034497
isn't that just how peppers work?
>>
>>6034495
>"...Is that... bacterial DNA in a food crop? This produces toxins... why?"
If she asks why any more she's going to revert to a four year old. Wait until she realizes half of the genetic markers in a human being are also present in a banana. Our entire world is full of stuff that kind of just got pressed together all funky until it worked. A consequence of primordial soup origins.
>>
>>6034495
>"...Is that... bacterial DNA in a food crop? This produces toxins... why?"
>>6034497 >>6034503 >>6034508 Anons there is this thing called biopesticides... whatever. They splice crops with bacterial genes that produce pesticides which luckly don't kill us I HOPE
>>
>>6034556
oh yeah those. i forgot they were a thing
>>
>>6034556
The human genome also contains DNA from various parasites and bacteria from the ages we've been alive. It's just a normal thing.
>>
>>6034495
My government has been trying to kill the population for years, natural occuring FEDs, and just as fun to shoot to death.
>>
>>6034556
Lol, you wish you were right
>>
File: 1709023941123908.png (1.2 MB, 1366x768)
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>High gravity world
>Squashed
It fits
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>>6034556
Not forgetting that it's also possible for humans to produce their own booze (a toxin)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-strange-fungal-condition-makes-you-drunk-without-drinking/
>>
>>6034728
ah yes, yeast enema
>>
>>6034495
Well, the human genome doesn't take into account all the various microbiomes we have across our body, like skin, digestive tract, brain, and so on...

Also, that's what machine learning and eventually, generative AI is for. With large enough of a data set, you'll eventually be able to "generate" a creature like you could an image or a video like we can now (just instead of words or pixels, it'll spit out A-G-C-T).
Sure, it'll generate a ton of abominations like our generative art AIs do these days, but that's part of the fun, right? Generating creatures more bewildering than those often seen in a particular subcontinent?
>>
>>6034880
>Space machine learning algorith generates the "worst" monsters before being fine tuned into something usable...
>Makes a wasp
>>
>>6034903
I dunno. I think mixing a wasp, an anglerfish and a badger would make something even wraith-god would fear.
>>
Seed ticks are the worst.
>>
>>6034920
>badger
HONEY badger, give it as many legs as a spider, and make it subsist off of blood like a mosquito, but also carries all the diseases ticks do like alpha-gal syndrome.

Angler fish look scary, but they aren't actually dangerous.
>>
>>6034933
Termites are pretty terrifying when you think about their breeding rates. And the whole giant standing mounds some variants have.

>>6034946
>Angler fish look scary, but they aren't actually dangerous.
When you can literally scare people to death ayyyys are even easier to do this to that is very mucho dangerous.
>>
>>6034946
Honey badgers don't need more legs to be terrifying. Look at hippos for next-level terrifying rates of killing people.

Imagine what happens when Lyna watches a movie about the Serengeti savannah and all the large animals in that ecosystem. Then watches another movie like the Jungle Book about colonial India. She might just understand humans a bit more.
>>
So, how about this; we need to clear a Fed base, and instead of going in we just release a bunch of honey Badgers in the base- worst case, there's a bunch of honey badgers in the station, best case easy W vs the ayyylmaos. And to prevent a possible long term infestation, we release only males or only females
>>
>>6035443
Are the honey badgers wearing power armor or at least hardsuits?
>>
>>6035448
I'm imagining something that looks like a small metal Ankylosaurus.
>>
>>6035448
I mean, they'd actually be unstoppable then, even by us I'd wager. LET'S DO IT
>>
>>6034495

Looking more closely, you notice the label on that particular file. "Corn.txt"

It's so stupid you have to keep yourself from laughing.

"Ah yeah, that's uh... that's sweetcorn right there. They put that DNA in because it produces a toxin which makes it insect resistant, that's all."

"You made the plant toxic. To repel bugs."

"Yep. That's what a lot of plants on earth do already, so i don't know why they used bacteria instead of some other plant DNA, but hey... i'm no geneticist, and it works, so fuck it."

"...How did you you do this?" She asks, a look of genuine curiosity plastered across her face.

"Uhhhh... i guess CRISPR? I know before that they just shot shit full of radiation to make stuff mutate and kept whatever didn't die, but we found a better way. Something to do with bacteriophages, i don't fuckin' know."

["Humans have isolated an enzyme capable of cutting and inserting genetic information at specific points within a cell's genome."] SHODAN explains succinctly.

Lyna doesn't seem surprised. Rather, this puts her into deep thought.

"Computer, has Earth ever been visited by aliens?" She asks, looking down at your watch.

["I have seen no evidence of alien uplifting on earth. They developed the technology by researching bacteria already extant on the surface."]

Now she seems surprised.

"Seriously?" She asks.

["Yes, miss Lyna."]

"It's the same as ours..." She mumbles.

"What? What's the same?" You ask.

Lyna turns in her office chair to look directly at you.

"This is almost exactly the same technology used to create retroviruses here in federation space. It's hard to believe that humans simply stumbled upon it by researching bacteria. Did you find a warp core lying in the dirt as well?"

"Kind of." You shrug.

Lyna pinches her nose and sighs.

"...Anyways, what's more surprising is that something like this actually works. Normally it's much more difficult to apply genetic code from one species to another. Normally, just shoving it in there would result in cell death or cancer..."

She tabs back to the spaghettified mess of genetic data that is the human genome.

"But for life on earth, it just seems to work. Your genes will run any code crammed into them without so much as a question. I wasn't sure how this mess worked at all, but now i wonder how much of it is even needed."

"Some of that stuff is like, backup genes... cause we get irradiated a lot. But uh, yeah. We're an unmodified species, so, that's what a few billion years of evolution looks like before it's cleaned up, i guess." You explain.

A small smile creeps up Lyna's face.

"Interesting. I've never seen a race's origin code before. It's horrendous. I look forward to optimizing it."

"Hey, before that!"

Once again, you make a squishing motion with your hands.

"Right, right. I suppose it's... as simple as that. I will attempt it, at least. What do you need me to do?"

"Well..."
>>
>>6035594
>Humans are open-source on a genetic level
I love it.
>>
>>6035594
Wouldn't cleaning it up make it much less resilient against threats? If ain't broke, why "fix" it?
>>
>>6035667
I agree. We can try adding stuff, eg better metabolism tuned towards nutrients instead of energy (ie, try to get rid of fat storage), better cardiovascular system, turn our CNS up a thousand notches etc. But getting rid of our strength, our resilience and our ruggedness seems off
>>
>>6035667

There's a massive amount of junk in there that genuinely just doesn't do anything. Vestigial functions, random mutations and countless bits of useless viral DNA.
The bits that actually do something also aren't necessarily the most efficient solution, they just happen to work well enough to keep you alive.

Through a harsh environment and lots of genetic diversity, over millions of years you can reach some pretty damned good solutions by chance, but almost never the absolute best.

Optimizing a genome isn't as simple as removing parts that don't do anything, it also includes improving parts that are obviously broken or inefficient, and retaining pieces that may have a non-obvious use.
There's a lot of trial and error involved, but at no point would Lyna do something as stupid as removing redundant cancer-fighting genes after being explicitly told about them and their function.

The end result of genetic optimization is a higher species, one who lives longer, fucks harder and is born immune to the common cold.
>>
Wait wait wait. Are you telling me we might get the chance to remove the Jew DNA from Jews?
>>
>>6035687
Doing that would also irreparably put those same genes into the public domain
>>
>>6035705
Shit. Scratch that.
>>
>>6035680
No dude, half the reason the redundant DNA exists is so that it gets mutated instead of something useful, while at the same time providing us with material to create new genes if needed by random mutations and rearrangements. For example, most of our genes contain non protein encoding regions that are simply removed when translated, but those regions help with the mutation danger while at the same time being used in the production of a different protein (exons and introns). It would royally fuck up out immune system, which heavily relies on it being able to produce RANDOM proteins in order to recognize and bind antigens. It's a VERY bad idea to remove shit that we don't know what it does just because it seems redundant. Half the reason that humanity is so fucking Amazing is our ability to adapt to any situation and eventually evolve because of it. By removing our genetic diversity it will lead us to stagnancy. Use our genome for cures and augmentations and what have you, but not "optimizations"
>>
>>6035834
Why are you arguing as though he didn't just explicitly say she wasn't going to remove any redundancies? Re-read his post.
>>
>>6035839
Nah bro, all of the extra DNA acts a redundancy - sort of like a buffer to damage to your actual genes. Removing the fluff while it may sound good doesn't actually do much while severely increasing the risk for mutations and cancer. It doesn't do us any harm by existing while providing a substantial benefit. We remove it and gain what? Our cells being able to multiply a tiny bit faster? Cool. At the same time you'd probably age at twice the rate and get small cancers everywhere. We won't become spess muhreens, we'll just become crayon huffers.
>>
>>6035847
You just proved your own bad example, but moving past that, it could bind the Grey's optimisation of David's cardiovascular system directly into the human genome which would be directly advantageous for space. Lower oxygen consumption means longer survival rates in anoxic environments such as hull-compromised craft or when the CO2 scrubber breaks down.

There are other potential improvements for space such as improving the calcium formation of bones, because low gravity environments fuck that up hard. Or blood pooling in extremities of limbs, or improving metabolism to actually like the food dispenser.
Remember this is fiction, but you should engage with it better.
>>
>>6035856
That's not really optimizing the genome but optimizing the physiology of the human body- not really the same. What I'm arguing for is that in the long run, leaving the "inefficiencies" in the code (the extra lines of code that look useless) is beneficial for US- it's why they grayyylmaos can't evolve and need to engineer themselves, they ironed out all their "inefficiencies" and they rrached a genetic dead end. I'm all for fucking around with genetic modifications it's gonna be a fun time, but removing those bits is a bad idea.
On an unrelated note, the food dispenser is just meh as a taste thing, but with the proper conditioning (or brain washing) is just fine for human consumption, right?

Maybe you're right and I got too into it, but isn't autistic screeching really the heart of sci fi?
>>
>>6035687
Can we inject the Jew nose DNA into vegetables to make them bigger?
>>
>>6035876

The greys forced their own evolution through gene-modding and specialized their species in a very specific direction, based not on peak physical performance but on politics and the greater will of their species.
They're made to be intelligent, metabolically efficient and highly compatible with bionics and retroviruses for further modification. They aren't a genetic dead end, they're a carefully crafted species created entirely through conscious thought.

As for the human capability to evolve naturally, it's a bit of a moot point when you can change your genetic code however you please and evolve over the course of weeks instead of hundreds of thousands of years.
The focus then shifts to ensuring that your carefully crafted species doesn't accidentally get mutated at random, which is why it's preferable to replace junk genes with even more copies of functional DNA, which can be repaired if damaged.

As for the nutrient paste dispenser, it scans each user and automatically determines an ideal nutrient distribution for that individual. No two people get the same bowl of slop, and although disgusting, it's already nutritionally "perfect".
Of course, that assumes a normal diet, normal amounts of exercise, no aggravating factors like illness or injury and so-on. It's nutritionally perfect... for an office worker. It has no concept of bulking and cutting.
>>
>>6035594

You spend some time explaining to Lyna exactly what it is that you're looking for.
Honestly, you're not really interested in keeping the existing plants as they are.

They may be nutritionally dense, but that's it. They're basically inedible on their own, and you want plants that taste good enough to be eaten without running them through a nutrient paste dispenser first.

But those greenhouse plants have been optimized to grow in space, using very little energy to efficiently convert carbon dioxide back into something edible.
And what's more, at least half of them do so without photosynthesis. Instead, they use some weird process which consumes heat instead.

That's fine and all, actually pretty ideal on a ship powered by a nuclear reactor, but you want them to at least be capable of eating sunlight.
There's a bit of back and forth as you argue over this or that, but eventually you convince her to "Just fucking try it".

If everything works out, you'll get a variety of corn that's both heart and fertile, with improved nutrient uptake and, quite possibly, the ability to consume heat as well as sunlight.

But given how bad the insect problem seems to be, you also want a variety that produces even stronger insecticides.
It may not be edible as-is, at least not by aliens, but with some processing, maybe...

If all it took to de-activate the pesticides was cooking, that would be good enough, you feel.

Although, you don't even know what sort of poisons are effective against those things.
Which is a point that Lyna brings up as you're about to leave.

"...So, i want you to bring me a few samples, from different specimens." She requests.

"What, like, a blood sample or... should i bring back the head?"

"The whole insect, if possible. The more intact, the better. I'd like to take the opportunity to study it's entire bodily structure while i'm at it. We still don't know where these things came from, or how they reproduce."

"Alright. What about live capture?"

"That would be ideal, if you could somehow accomplish it. I understand they're quite violent, and extremely fast."

"Don't worry about, i got some ideas floating around. Just gotta take care of a few things first, so don't expect it today, alright?"

"Everything helps." Lyna tells you, focusing back on her computer.

...

As you step out of Lyna's office, you get an update from SHODAN.

["Captain, the captured pirates have been moved to the cells at the local bounty office. How would you like to handle them?"]

Ah, geeze.

>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
>Just execute them. We have a food crisis right now, so we might as well convert the bastards into fertilizer.
>Fit them with explosive implants and shock collars. We'll use them as slave labor for the cleanup effort.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6036058
>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
>>
>>6036058
Interrogate the captains first, then prepare them for clean up operations.
>>
>>6035956
But but but mother nature has created its perfect killing machines on Earth. And then it made us to make them our bitches. How dare you insult mommy gaia like that. kek

>>6036058
>>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
Heeeeere glowie, glowie, glowiieeee.
>>
>>6036058
>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
>>
>>6036058
>>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.

Are they glowing?
>>
>>6036058
>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
>>
>>6036058
>>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
>>
>>6036058
>I want to interrogate the captains first, if they're still alive. If they're Fed plants, i want to know about it.
Their fleet has been hanging around for while; either they were carrying quite a bit of stores, or they were getting replenished regularly. If the pirates start starving, they'd spill their secret to at least get something to eat.

Splice Princess' DNA with that of those dodos, give them an appetite for bugs. What could go wrong?
>>
>>6036058
>><Captains
About Evolution and Adaptability, not buzz words by any means but... you see, I don't think humans will evolve much more because we don't have evolutionary pressure. We people jumped from Throw Rock Far to WE TRANSFORM THE LANDSCAPE in a few thousand years. Since now humans change their surroundings rather than being forced to adapt, there is no more "evolution" for us.
Even then, evolutionary pressure means that the ones that are not adapting or have shitty traits die and don't get to reproduce... but we heal the sick, even taking care of the ones with FUCKED up genes and guess what, the ones reproducing a ton are the stupid poor ones and not the smart- we are fucked I have the antichrist

Where was I going with this... ah yes, redundant genes that will protect us and be there to help against the changing enviroment or nasty bacteria. Humans are changing the landscape to suit them, not adapting to the landscape. Space-tech is this but on steroids. So much so that species like the Greys changed themselves to the extreme, and they know they will die without the technology to support them. So, don't fear "optimizations" to our genome, because they will be good. What I don't want is the loss of our diversity buzzword I know, but every human looking the same is dull you know? Fuck globohomo
On a side note, if any nasty genes are removed, is Incest taboo in space? Fucking your daughter is nasty from an evolutionary standpoint
>>
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>>6036763
Well, you still have to adapt to the social landscape. Selection pressure acts as much on specific groups, such as civilizations and cultures, as much as they do on the individual.
Women in our culture used to selected productive, dependable men, now they tend to select for certain personality traits (dark triad), looks, and perceived social status. Not the first time they've done this, but if this continues, it won't be the first time such a culture is erased by more pragmatic ones.
>tl;dl: fuck around, find out
>>
>>6036862
This is why we need nature reserves for people who actually do real living and shit. At least then when everything falls apart someone will be left to not die. Blessed are they who don't live in the slop-centers.
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>>6036865
So, the Golden Path of Dune, then?
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>>6036881
I dunno. Never read Dune. I don't like sand. So sure?
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>>6036865
>This is why we need nature reserves for people who actually do real living and shit.
So like a National Park, but you live in it? Sounds good to me.
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>>6036865
There is this book that features a soldier that deals with time dilation. He gets sent to fight light-years bum fuck nowhere and everytime he returns everything is different... in the end humanity decided to just clone themselves into copies of the perfect being and as a safety measure put regular humans into planets for them to live. The soldier gets a nice babe at the end or something...
>>
>>6036058

"Alright, i'll be down there shortly. Let whoever's in charge know."

["Of course, Captain."]

...

It's a short trip over to the bounty office, which isn't far from the docks. They wouldn't want people carting dangerous criminals through the streets of the inner city, after all.
When you get there though, the bounty office looks like it's in rough shape, at least from the outside.

...No, it's rough on the inside, too. Your best guess is that some sort of escape took place here during the fall.

"Administrator!" A young, bipedal reptilian calls out, offering you a salute. Odd, considering you've never seen anyone out in space give a salute before.

"What's the situation, soldier?" You reply, almost on instinct.

"Those who survived have been placed under arrest, sir. The injured are still being cared for in the upper city, and those who died are in cold storage. Uh... sir!"

The young man salutes you again.

"Good work, kid. But are the cells secure? This place looks like a shitheap." You question.

"Yes, sir. We think someone staged a breakout, but that was from the outside. All the undamaged cells seem to be in good shape, sir."

"Alright, that's good. Where are the captains? You got them in their own cells?"

"Uhm... well, no, sir. There's a lot of pirates, and not enough cells, so..."

"You just crammed them in there at random, huh?"

"...Essentially, sir."

You pat the kid on the back.

"It is what it is, kid. Do the best you can with what you got."

"Yes sir..."

...

The kid escorts you to the back of the bounty office, where the jail cells are.
You're not really sure what you expected. Iron bars, maybe... but no, these are more like plexiglass boxes with just enough ventilation to breathe.

There's nothing in there, not even a toilet. These cells clearly aren't designed to keep anyone long-term.

Moreover, at least half the cells appear to have been cut open with tools, so the pirates really are just crammed in there in bunches.
You pick one cell that's a little less packed than the others, and call out to them through a small set of holes next to the food tray slot, which seems like it was made for talking through.

"Is there a captain in the house?" You ask.

Their attention was already on you as soon as you walked in, since all the cells are completely see-through, but now they look between themselves and whisper to eachother here and there.

"If you're the captain of one of those vessels, we may be able to negotiate your release." You add.

The cell immediately erupts into a cacophony of yells and screams, with just about everyone in there claiming to be the captain. Almost everyone.

You pull the pistol from your hip and fire once into the air, silencing the lot of them.
Then you point to a specific man in the crowd, one who completely ignored both your comment and the men pushing between eachother all around him.

He has a tired, annoyed look on his face.

"You, get out here." You demand.
>>
>>6037214
>tfw he's actually just an old pirate and not a captain
>>
>>6037214
If I were to hazard a guess, he may have gotten played the same way we got played when we were sent after Dark Star lmao
>>
>>6037214
If he is too tired and old for this shit, maybe he will cut the bullshit and explain why this all happened in the first place. And if he's also above bullshit and honest, then we maybe can make a law abiding citizen of him too.
>>
>>6037216
>tfw he's deaf and blind and that's why he isn't reacting.
>>
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>>6037638
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>>6037638
>>
>>6037638
>>can't be bothered, literally.
>>
>>6037214

"Everyone else clear out!" You demand, raising your voice.

About half the people in the cell look over at the man you're pointing to, clearly unfamiliar with who he is themselves.
Only after kicking at the bottom of the cell door do they actually clear out a path for the man, who refuses to move or look up at you. He's very clearly trying to ignore you.

So you open the thick plexiglass door yourself and begin to step in, only to be rushed by one of the idiots inside, who tries to push past you.

Already fed up with their behavior and having no tolerance for pirates running around on your station, you dig your fist deep into his stomach as he tries to pass by, folding him in half.
He stumbles back two or three steps, giving you enough room to kick him in the stomach, sending him flying backwards into the crowd and knocking over three other men.

"Holy shit, he's strong!"

"Did you see what he did to the captain...?"

"I don't recognize his species. Is he a deathworlder?"

"I bet that Caithan in the other cell could take him, though."

"Maybe if we all work together?"

"Shut the fuck up, Ronnie."

There's a lot of murmuring, only a bit of which catches your attention.
The guy you just kicked was the captain? No way, man. He doesn't give off the air of a commander at all.

Then who's this guy?

The man you singled out stares down at the supposed captain, who's currently vomiting blood, with a frown.
He looks up to you as you stand over him, but doesn't speak.

"Who are you?" You ask.

Still no answer. You can tell he's nervous, though. He's trying to keep his poker face, but you can tell.

Annoyed by his silence, you grab a rather ugly looking nearby alien by the folds on skin on his scalp, one of the guys who seemed to know who this fellow is, and yank him over to you.
Placing a gun against the side of the ugly-ass alien's head, you make a demand of them both.

"This isn't a request. Tell me."

The man in your grasp splutters and panics.

"W-Wait, why me?! Hold on, i didn't do anything, i-i-i'm not gonna run, i swear!"

You bash him in the... trunk... with the butt of your pistol. God, his nose looks like a flaccid cock.
That's annoying you too, so you grab him by what you hope to god is his nose and yank him forward, placing your pistol straight against his forehead and staring him in the eye.

"Is that man your captain or not?"

"H-H-He's the vice captain! B-B-But...!"

"...Let him go." The vice-captain tells you.

"Ready to talk?" You ask, turning your gaze towards him, but not letting dick-face go just yet.

"Not really." He sighs, cradling his head with one hand.

Now you toss dick-face aside, back into the waiting arms of his compatriots.
Then you point your pistol down at the man someone called "captain" earlier.

"Is that man your commander?" You ask.

"...Yes. Technically."

"Doesn't look like it to me." You reply.

"He's not a very good one." The vice-captain sighs.
>>
>>6038478
Fuckin' Ronnie.
>>
>>6038478
Ronnie at least has the right idea, even if he'd lose this particular time.
>>
>>6038591
and nearly every other time.

Fuckin' Ronnie. He's like our Pickle. Later lets introduce them and I bet they'll be fast friends each complaining about that fuckin' maniac David.
>>
>>6038478

"Malix has always been the one running things... even though the captain's name is on everything." Dick-face informs you, while rubbing his trunk-like nose in a disgusting manner.

"Come with me me." You demand. "Everyone else, stay here and behave."

"Gods damn it..." Malix cusses "I knew this was a bad idea."

You lead him out of the cell and lock the door tight behind you.
A couple of people inside tend to the supposed captain, but most just ignore him.

On your way out of the jailroom, you're surprised to find Cylia leaning against a wall, waiting for you.

"Hey, something going on?" You ask.

"No, not really." She tells you.

But you can tell she's bothered by something. It's the tone in her voice more than anything.

"Come on, what is it?" You press.

"Mmm, well... it's just... i didn't expect that one run we did on them to be so brutal. I'm sure... i mean, a lot of them must have died, right? Some of the ships even depressurized. I just..."

You wrap Cylia up in a one-armed hug, keeping your hand on the pistol at your hip, since you're still escorting a pirate here.

"Ah, sweetie... it's alright. There's a saying on earth, you know? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They wanted to starve out the people on this station, sell them into slavery and then loot everything not bolted down."

Behind you, Malix seems surprised and confused by something. Throwing his hands up, he looks to anyone for some sort of confirmation, but he's alone.

"I know, David... they're bad people. But they're still people."

She pauses and slips out from under your arm, facing away from you as she talks.

"I tried to visit the hospital they set up on the upper floor. They turned me away, said they were busy with emergency surgery." She explains.

Oh yeah, there's probably a lot of them with shrapnel wounds. Even if their ships had foam poppers to plug the hull breaches, whoever was in the room at the time probably got it good.
The sorts of people who run in pirate groups on the rim are tougher than your average grass muncher, so they probably won't die immediately from shock, but the odds ain't good for them.

"I just keep thinking, maybe we could have handled it better. Maybe... i don't know, maybe there was a better way." She sighs.

>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid.
>They got what was coming to them, Cyl. I know you don't like anyone getting hurt, but you can't go easy on people like this.
>Maybe there was, but it wasn't worth putting my crew at risk. If it's between you and a bunch of assholes i don't even know, i'm picking you every time.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6038917
>>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid.

In fairness we did give them ample opportunity to stand down. Let their grisly demise serve as a warning to others that might also be tempted to fuck around and find out. Also piracy is punishable by spacing or enslavement in most systems, no?
>>
>>6038917
>>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid.
>>
>>6038917
>Maybe there was, but it wasn't worth putting my crew at risk. If it's between you and a bunch of assholes I don't even know, I'm picking you every time.
>...I'm sorry it had to be like this.
>>
>>6038917
>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid.
Maybe these jackasses will serve as a warning to the next pirate gang that tries to starve out the station.
>>
>>6038917
>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl, but my first and foremost my responsibility is with my crew and the people in xebric; I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid and i don't have the luxury of teaching these idiots while my people starves.
>>
>>6038917
>>Maybe there was, but it wasn't worth putting my crew at risk. If it's between you and a bunch of assholes i don't even know, i'm picking you every time.
>>
>>6038917
>>6038917
>>Not worth it.
Cyl has been fucking annoying lately. Becoming liability levels of pain in the ass.
>>
>>6039037
>Lately
she literally has been like this since the start. the problem in this particular case was that the enemy ships were just way too weak. its not our fault that the enemy's hulls were unable to take the explosion of the engines without cracking open like an egg
>>
>>6038929
+1
>>
>>6039037
She's probably the only normal person in David's life outside of his sister. That "annoying" stuff is a valuable counterpoint to David's own views as a severely fucked up person trying to maintain a mask of civility.
Sometimes you need an angel on your shoulder, even if they won't shut up.
>>
>>6038917
>>Maybe there was, but it wasn't worth putting my crew at risk. If it's between you and a bunch of assholes i don't even know, i'm picking you every time.
>>
>>6039178
That "annoying" stuff is blaming us for them being under prepared. Next she'll be telling us to let some serial child murder rape killer go because he's old and crippled and harmless now. If they didn't want to die they wouldn't be fucking around. This isn't some guy getting shot for stealing a loaf of bread.
>>
Cylia's reaction is purely emotional and her arguments are as well. There is no appeal to reason, ethics or morals, only that she felt David went overboard. Didn't she also pull the trigger?
>>
>>6039265
That's most of why she feels so bad about it.
Y'know, like when you punch someone harder than you meant to and go "oh, shit.".

Except you're killing people.
>>
TBF, Cylia has probably killed more people in the time she's known David than literally the rest of her life. For all that she is tougher than the average ayy lmao she is still not human - and there are humans that'd have that reaction after doing this.
>>
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>>6039292
Ah, so pic related then. She might have to get used to it if she keeps rolling with us.
>>
>>6039292
to be fair, we weren't expecting the ships to literally crack up in half
>>6039306
she has been rolling with us for like 3 years or more. if anything, im glad she still wears her heart on her sleeve
>>
>>6038917
>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid.

>>6039265
Children and women in a nutshell.
>>
>>6039295
>and there are humans that'd have that reaction after doing this.
what, killing animals?
>>
>>6039432
I mean if you want to consider the aliens animals, then yes, though that makes David's actions bestiality.
>>
>>6038917
>>You know I put our people first. I've never been much for diplomacy but if you want to talk to them first, I welcome it. If you want to sharpen your diplomacy, intimidation, and negotiation skills you could try to save some lives. They say options are the strategist's friend, after all.
>>
>>6039432
>what, killing animals?
I recall there were a couple of vegans in here earlier who got pretty upset at the thought of people killing cats and dogs.
>>
>>6039470
ack
>>
>>6038917
>I tried to negotiate with them, Cyl. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off. Sorry, but you can't fix stupid.

You can teach a stupid, with harsh punishing lessons. Maybe they won't be stupid the next time, but even that's a gamble.
>>
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Already voted.
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>>6038917

"Look, Cyl, i tried. I tried to negotiate, i let them know it wasn't gonna end well. I'm sure you heard, they just laughed it off."

"Idiots." Malix grumbles.

"What he said." You agree, pointing back at him with your thumb. "I'm sorry, but you just can't fix stupid."

"I know, David. That's just how people are."

She turns back to look at you over her shoulder.

"But if we know how they're going to act, can't we do something about it?"

"...What, base our plans around everyone being retarded?"

Cylia shrugs and crosses her arms.

"And what happens when they're not?" You ask.

"...I don't know." She replies quietly.

"We're the ones who get fucked, that's what. And i'm sorry, but if i have to choose between the safety and wellbeing of you and the crew or some assholes i don't even know..."

"No offense." You say, looking back at Malix.

"Plenty taken." He replies.

"...I'm gonna choose you every time, Cyl. It's not even a question in my mind."

"That's awful." She frowns.

"I don't care. I'd sacrifice any number of them for you. Call me evil, call me a psycho... but they don't mean anything to me, and you mean the world. That's all there is to it."

"No, that's not what i meant..."

You can hear Cylia's voice breaking slightly. She's not crying, but her eyes are clearly welling up.

"What did you mean, then?"

"...I felt awful, because hearing that from you made me happy. I'm not supposed to think that way. It's wrong, but..."

"Who told you that?" You demand. "It's never wrong to care about those close to you more than others. That's the most natural thing in the world, Cyl."

"I feel like i shouldn't be seeing this..." Malix whispers to himself.

Cylia sighs, and tries to regain some of her composure.

"That's our culture." She tells you. "It's how we all grew up on Katshee. We had to take care of absolutely everyone, or what little we had would slip between our fingers like sand."

Ah, now you get it...
Cylia's entire homeworld is an extremely barren desert due to runaway climate change.

From what you know, water is a precious commodity that has to be recycled down to the last drop.
Crops are hard to grow because the land is all barren, overrun by desert sand that holds neither water nor nutrients.

And just like earth's deserts, the temperature swings wildly from burning hot to freezing cold at night, with little inbetween.

It's much less harsh than earth in other ways, but just with that, it's already basically inhospitable to life.
So every man, woman and child has to work together to keep the whole community alive. There's no room for squabbles or misdeeds when it comes to survival.

And of course, every life is precious. The amount of resources and the effort required to safely raise a child on such a barren planet must be astronomical.
From what you understand, Katshee's population is actually very, very low. There may even be more Caithan in space than there are on their own home planet.
>>
>>6039935

>Sorry, Cyl. That must have been rough... but that's you, and this is me. I'm sorry, but i don't have any patience for people like this.
>This isn't Katshee, Cyl. These are dime a dozen pirates, and they're trying to kill innocent people. Lives aren't worth much up in space, no matter what either of us think.
>Cyl, it's okay to feel the way you do. I... might have a screw or two loose myself, so i'm glad to have someone like you around to keep me in check. Sometimes. Not all the time.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6039935
Do they not have ANY crime on her home world? Does she value the lives of people who would kill her and everyone like her just for a bit of pocket change? Empathy is one thing, but some people just don't deserve it. These pirates would have killed or hurt everyone on this station, non-coms included. And they'd do the same to any community out there as well no matter how tight-knit it was. Including her planet if they thought they could get away with it.

Truly she is the bleeding heart. You gotta bleed for the right people though or you'll run out.
>>
>>6039936
>Cyl, it's okay to feel the way you do. I... might have a screw or two loose myself, so i'm glad to have someone like you around to keep me in check. Sometimes. Not all the time.
>>
>>6039936
>Cyl, it's okay to feel the way you do. I... might have a screw or two loose myself, so I'm glad to have someone like you around to keep me in check. Sometimes. Not all the time.
>I know all I seem to give out these days is hard pills to swallow, so...thank you. For putting up with me I mean. It isn't always gonna be like this, and I need you to hold me to that.
>>
>>6039936
Her planet sounds like they're basically fungoid fremen. Can't seriously tell me everybody there's an altruist?
>>
>>6039952
There's not a lot of serious crime, and oftentimes petty or non-violent crime simply isn't reported or dealt with for the sake of keeping the peace.
They prioritize the good of the whole over the good of the individual, and unlike many instances of such a thing, they've made it work.

However, that's only possible in part due to their low population and sparse communities.
They have a lot more "villages" than towns or cities.

And sometimes repeat offenders are also dealt with quietly. By the village.
Cylia left her home at the cusp of adulthood though, so she may not be quite so aware of such things.
>>
>>6039979
Dang ol' we need to show her some of the footage of what other people get up to. Shit like mothers selling their kids for drugs, psycho killers, career criminals. Or maybe we shouldn't. She's just so naive. Despite being a bounty hunter for a while she isn't used to some people just plain being shitheels. I don't know whether to be happy or sad for her.
>>
>>6039979
What's more common on Katshee, silent lynch mobs or non-formal exiles?
>>
>>6039936
Seconded >>6039964

>>6039952
In such harsh environments you don't survive alone, you either have to collectivise or tribalize (smaller form of collectivism). Due to the importance of every last bit of resource crime is harshly punished (death, exile, removal of the offending limbs, etc., which is all just death at varying speeds). Due to everyone knowing each other, comparative ease of tracking resources (less to keep track of and more attention paid), and harsh punishments, there tends to be less crime. Overtime the problematic individuals tend to be removed from the gene pool.

https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-018-0090-x

>>6039991
Those are metropolitan, big city things. Things that happen because people know there is a good probability they can get away with their bad behavior. In a community where everyone knows another that sort of thing doesn't fly in any part of this world. Cities have always been shit, and before modern medicine, where people go to die (negative population growth without fresh bodies from outside).
>>
>>6040008
Hey man I've seen hicks from the swamps willing to do some wild shit for meth cash. To say nothing of weird shit like cults out in the sticks and entire towns comprised of criminals and their families admittedly this basically never happens any more. Way to easy to keep track of people.

Sure modern living and population distribution has contributed a fuckton to some of the nasty shit out there but it has always been there. None of the problems cities face are new, they're just intensified.
>>
>>6039935
>"...I felt awful, because hearing that from you made me happy. I'm not supposed to think that way. It's wrong, but..."
Is it me or QM got a gf recently? I mean, he has a homestead so chances are that was already a thing...
>>
>>6039936
>>Write-In?
>>Remember how you felt when someone stole your father's spaceship. Did they cared about everyone?
That was stuff from the first or second thread so I don't remember clearly... but she was forced to be a beggar by that point.H*ck I don't remember if it was her father's ship or HER ship theone that got stolen
>>
>>6039936
>You should never be ashamed of the way you were brought up. You're a wonderful person because you grew up in a place where trust and community meant everything. That's... home to you. Open space is a very different place, but maybe our little crew is like home out here. I'm not asking you to change.. just try to remind your heart that out there isn't in here.
>>
>>6040063
It was her father's ship, which she was using.
It was repossessed after she took out a high interest loan with Dark Star, who uses such deals to legally secure ships for their fleet.

She's already gotten it back, although it's been transferred and is currently attached to the cruiser's underbelly since it's not in use.
>>
>>6039936
>>Cyl, it's okay to feel the way you do. I... might have a screw or two loose myself, so i'm glad to have someone like you around to keep me in check. Sometimes. Not all the time.
>>
>>6039936
this>>6039964
>>
>>6040128
ooooooh... great, I didn't know she got it back
>>
>>6039936
>This isn't Katshee, Cyl. These are dime a dozen pirates, and they're trying to kill innocent people. Lives aren't worth much up in space, no matter what either of us think.
>>
>>6039935
>This isn't Katshee, Cyl. These are dime a dozen pirates, and they're trying to kill innocent people. Lives aren't worth much up in space, no matter what either of us think.

>They're not a part of our community. You don't have to help them or look out for them. They don't deserve it. Then point out all the people you have saved.
>>
>>6039935

You breathe a gentle sigh as you come to somewhat of an understanding.

"...Cyl, i'm not gonna tell you that your way of thinking is wrong. That's how you were raised, and that's how things are on Katshee. It's... it's okay to feel the way you do.
I'm not gonna tell you that i always agree with it either, though. You know me. You know how i am. I probably got more than a couple screws loose."

She tilts her head to the side and gives you a slightly annoyed look.

"That's a result of how and where i grew up, too. The things i've been through. It's not wrong... not always. Just different, you know?
But, i think that's good. From my perspective, you have a little too much empathy. You care a little more than you should, for people who maybe you shouldn't..."

"David..."

"And sometimes, i know, i don't have enough. But together, we balance eachother out a little, you see? I know the things i do bother you sometimes, too. But we keep eachother in check."

You clap your hand onto her shoulder.

"So... thanks. For putting up with me, i mean. Who knows where i'd be or what i'd be doing right now if you weren't around."

You pull her into a hug and pat her on the back before letting her go.

"But, i'm sorry. This is one of those times. You gotta let it go, Cyl. This is our station, and we have a duty to protect the people living here, and a little display like that doesn't hurt."

There's a pause.
Cylia can only look down at her feet.

"...Okay, David." She relents.

"Hey, look at me." You tell her, raising her chin up with your finger.

"You don't have to give up on your ideals. If you think of a way to deal with guys like this in the future, you tell me, and i'll give it the ol' college try, alright?
What's done is done, though. That's all i'm saying, just don't let it bother you too much. We got a lot of work ahead of us, okay?"

"Mhm." She nods, a little more confidence in her voice despite the brief response.

"You're too good for this shitty world, you know that?" You tell her, ruffling her hair.

"I know." She smiles.

"Think i'm gonna be sick." Malix groans.

The both of you turn to glare at him, and he immediately looks away, acting like he didn't say anything.

...

On the way back to the ship, Cylia suddenly smacks her cheeks a couple times and seems to get a little bounce back in her step.
You hope she's able to handle stuff like this better in the future, because it's probably not going to stop happening.

Malix, for what it's worth, doesn't even seem to think about trying to escape.
Not like he's got a ship to leave on, and he'd be blasted by droids before he even got the chance, but still.

You drag him up onto your ship and set him down in the medbay, unrestrained.
>>
>>6040904

>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
>Start off with threats, maybe show him footage of previous "interrogations" and escalate only if necessary
>Maybe try a psychic interrogation? You were able to see Red's dreams before... but it might be risky. You don't know how the drugs will affect him.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6040906
>>Start off with threats, maybe show him footage of previous "interrogations" and escalate only if necessary
This is the stick. We would prefer to use the carrot. The choice is yours.
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
he already knows what we're capable of doing and hasn't shown any signs of being a dickhead. i doubt he needs any more "encouragement"
>>
>>6040904
Sick because you'll never get what they have, biiiitch
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
>Do inform him that we got that hot cat girl specifically because if we didn't, there would be no talking, only screaming, and pain.
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
We can afford not to default to violence and threats given our dominant position here.
I'm also under the assumption that you get more out of POWs with pleasant conversation and good meals than beatings and torture.
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
David being his usual reasonable self will take him on a tour of the cargo bay, showing the dodo coop and maybe gifting Malix some eggs.
Then maybe showing our pet Princess, and saying she is still a juvenile, then maybe our warmech painted in the blood of its spectral enemies.

But definitely as a reasonable man, not as a threatening man.
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
>>
>>6040906
>>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
I suggest starting the interrogation with an open question like
>So?
and let it talk.
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
>>
>>6040904
>Get him some decent replicator food and start with his resume.

Maybe Cylia has a point.
>>
>>6040988
oh shit, I never thought about that
>give him food
fuck yea
>>
>>6040988
Supporting this as well.
>>
>>6040906
>>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
>>6040988
+1
>>
>>6040906
>Try and talk with him like a reasonable man
He seems like a reasonable man, and have little invested in this whole affair. What we've done to their fleet should be incentive and threat enough for him to cooperate.
From his reaction to various things so far, I seriously think they got played.
>>
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>>6041034
ah, the old Japanese tradition of serving katsudon in the interrogation room
>>
>>6040906

You decide to try a different route from the usual this time, and act a little more reasonable.

There's a few reasons for this.
Of course, it's what Cylia would want, and you know it's what you should probably be doing.

Not that those alone would be enough to sway you normally.

But after your chat with Cylia a moment ago, you're particularly aware of your shortcomings at the moment, and having ruined quite a few undesirable people's days, you're in a particularly forgiving mood besides.

"Gildur, can you come in here for a moment?" You ask.

The dog in question appears almost immediately after calling on him, mop in hand.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Watch over this guy for a second, would you?"

"Yes, sir! Ah... uhm, who is this, again?" Gildur asks.

"He's the vice-captain of one of the pirate crews we just scuttled."

"Oh." He replies, his voice an octave or two higher than before.

Gildur grips his mop a little more tightly as you head to the workshop to print a decent meal for your captive.
You don't think Malix intends to run or cause trouble, but if he did, well. You don't have any doubt that Gildur could beat the shit out of him with that mop.

You've given Gildur basic combat training, but nothing really special. He's just a janitor at the end of the day, and you don't really expect him to engage in any combat... but he's hung in there, despite the gravity.
Dude's tougher than you expected, and despite lacking confidence he's not actually that bad when it comes to martial arts, either.

As for Malix, you aren't really sure what he'd like. Just based on appearances, maybe a meat dish would be good.
He's humanoid after all, and they're usually meat eaters. He's also got dark skin and a lot of bony plates around his face, and plenty of muscle hidden under his clothes.

Of course, if you're wrong you could end up offending him, but that's his problem. You're not a fan of vegans anyways.

Kyla's notably absent from the workshop when you get there, which means she's either still at the house or doing some work on the station's reactors right now.
Sanig is also gone, probably still working on that issue with the station's laser.

Cylia said she was going to take care of some bounty hunting on the station... but you're pretty sure there's no bounty out for the leftover pirates right now. Certainly none you could claim here on Xebric.
If she wants to clean up though, that's fine with you. In any case, she came back to the ship with you, but only to grab her power armor and a shotgun before heading out.

You know she's using rubber bullets and beanbag rounds, though.

It's just you, Gildur and SHODAN on the ship, though. Feels a little empty as you're walking back to the medbay and set Malix's plate on the table.
It's a huge, steaming porterhouse steak, almost an inch and a half thick, dry brined and charred on a charcoal grill. It smells amazing.

"...What's this?" Malix asks, confused.
>>
>>6041493
>almost an inch and a half thick
>Oh no, I am a gringo and I have heartburn how could this have happened
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>>6041500
>how could this have happened
Probably the soda, honestly.
>>
>>6041493
>"...What's this?"
Your ass if you don't talk, now eat up.
>>
>>6041829
There's really no need to act tough at this point. We've already made it abundantly clear who's the dominant force in this scenario.
Now's the time to seal the deal and get him to work with us of his own volition.
>>
>>6041493
>Lunch
>>
>>6041493

You pick up a brioche roll, tear it in half and hand one half of it to him.
Confused, he accepts and gives the roll a sniff. Apparently he finds it, or at least the steak in front of him appetizing.

"We have a very, very old tradition on my planet, you see." You explain. "Breaking bread, they call it. The whole idea is that it's harder to kill someone you've sat down and eaten together with."

Malix, who was about to take a bite of roll you handed him, stops mid-bite and closes his mouth to stare at you with a look of worry.
You however, go ahead and take a bite of bread, taking your time to chew it while he thinks over what you said.

"...It's not poisoned, is it?" He asks, chuckling nervously.

You roll your eyes.

"You see me eating it, don't you? Were you even listening to what i said? Pay attention, numbnuts. I'm extending an olive branch, here."

"You're confusing my translator." He whines quietly.

You sigh loudly.

"Don't worry about it. Just sit still and eat, would you?"

Grabbing a knife and fork, you carve the steak up into thin strips, allowing the meat to soak up it's own juices mixed with fond from the pan.
Then you scrape it all to one side of the plate and spread some caramelized onions over the pile before handing him the fork.

For your half, you just take a hunk of uncut meat and stick it between some bread.

Malix watches you rip a fat chunk out of the steak sandwich in awe for a while before looking down at the steak, clearly entranced by it's scent.
He gingerly pokes at one of the strips with his fork, then slowly brings it up to his mouth and ever so slightly touches the meat to his tongue.

His pupils dilate in real time. You literally watch his mouth fill with saliva almost instantly.
His hands start shaking, and he shoves the whole strip into his mouth and starts chewing.

"Oh shit." You laugh. "I kinda forgot, my crew was already used to my cooking by the time we made it back to my home planet, huh?"

Malix drops his fork and begins eating strips of meat with his bare hands, nibbling them down two at a time like a child.

"Maybe shouldn't have rawdogged real food like that. My bad, man." You tell him.

He doesn't respond. Instead, he's focused entirely on his meal.
You shrug, and walk off to grab a second plate. He's busy eating your half of the meal by the time you get back.

This time it's chuck steak. Tenderized of course, but still a little tough. Might slow him down, who knows.
There's also a side of mashed potatoes and gravy and mac n' cheese to fill him up, along with a whole pitcher of decaf sweet tea.

Malix isn't that big for an alien, maybe a head taller than you, so it's surprising how much he manages to down before finally hitting his limit.
You've never seen a normal alien with either a stomach nor appetite big enough for an earthly meal, and sure enough, he starts passing out as soon as he stops eating.

...Interrogation may have to wait a bit.
>>
Take him to the med bay... please
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>>6042209
That might be a good idea. Lol.
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>>6042166
Huh, do we need to give him blood clot pills?
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>>6042310
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzsvoJzO8oI
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>>6042310
He "passed out." We come back in a bit and the dude is cold and stiff.
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>>6042318
Food coma ehe
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>>6042166

Since you were already eating in the medbay, you just have him lie down on the operating table, and have Gildur bring him a pillow and blanket.
While you're waiting on Malix to wake back up, you decide to check on various areas around the station by connecting to some of the unoccupied droids stationed here and there.

Apparently nena has been making thorough use of them since they're so cheap and easy to produce, and the station is so dangerous that no-one wants to go out.
Before you left, you suspected that they might not be too popular due to the learning curve and nausea, but it turns out people are more than happy to put in the hours and medication to deal with it.

The reason is very very simple. They aren't going to die at random while going out on patrol.
Which, y'know, fair enough.

In your case though, it's simply convenient. You're able to connect to different droids in different areas as needed using the brain interface helmet.
Apparently there's been some work done on hooking into your skinsuit's microcomputer, but that isn't quite done yet.

Using both your translator implant and the brain interface helmet to maximize the amount of usable signals though, delivers pretty good results.
Apparently Nena has optimized the data flow using some special compression algorithm she came up with, and latency has gone down as a result.

It doesn't feel that bad to you. Not much worse than VR, you guess.
It's the lack of tactile feedback that does you in. You get a general sense of grip pressure on your hands, but that's about it.

Either way, now piloting a droid, you grab a shotgun and take a quick look around some of the more destroyed areas of the station.
There are both frozen and rotten corpses lying here and there, but much of the flesh has been stripped from many of them, leaving mostly bones behind.

There are a lot of odd skeletal structures amongst some of these aliens, but you can always spot a humanoid from far away.
Besides the skull, and sometimes the legs, they almost always look really similar to humans.

It must be an ideal shape, somehow. Uniquely fit for living on harsh worlds like earth, with high gravity and lots of predators.
Or maybe those with a humanoid body just have a habit of growing a consciousness. You don't know, honestly.

During your walk, you spot lots of bugs flitting about here and there.
They seem to prefer walking, but they seem to have no problem flying from rooftop to rooftop when needed.

A bug that size, even in low gravity like this, flying must take a lot of energy.
Or maybe because it's cold, they can't fly so well? Could be both.

Maybe lowering the temperature of the station would be a good way to kill them all, along with their eggs.
Since the populace has moved to the upper level, you could do it without killing everyone. It would cause a lot of damage to the station, though.

Burst pipes, mostly. But you'd have to keep it very cold for a long time to do the job right.
>>
>>6043156
If we could purge the pipes or temporarily fill them with a low freezing point liquid instead of water we could avoid damage and do it anyways. Draw water up to the liveable area into a resevoir so nobody is without as it goes on, then do the purge and chill em.
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>>6043260
If you purge the pipes there's no need to refill them with anything.
The only problem is, where does that water go?

You'd have to sacrifice the bottom floor or two of the station, flooding it completely.
And it'll take a long time to re-purify all that water and flood the system again. The station would be without a steady water supply for months.

Still, that's a better option than destroying your infrastructure.

That's only if you decide to go with the freezing option, though.
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>>6043368
>You'd have to sacrifice the bottom floor or two of the station, flooding it completely.
Not necessarily. Since we're in space, we can actually fab up a reservoir (doesn't even have to be thick, just some thin-walled container to keep the water from fucking off with a big empty space to actually store the damn stuff) and float it outside of the gravity of the station. Run a line to it to fill it up, disconnect the line once she's full, and now you don't have to re-purify the water OR deal with a shitload of damage to the lower floors. For bonus points, you could actually move the reservoir once it's filled so that it's close to the liveable area and run a line down to it, so we can use the water while shits freezing elsewhere.
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>>6043156
Better to wait for abetter option to be thought up. Maybe Sanig has ideas.
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>>6043379
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>>6043379
Turn the carrier into a giant swimming pool water carrier :^)

It's brand new, so it should be clean enough, and the bulkheads are air-tight anyways.
The crew compartments are rated for wet environments... Right?
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>>6043379
... genius
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>>6043379
If all you want is a thin-walled container, then a thick bag would suffice.
Keep in mind you're in an asteroid belt, so the incidences of micrometeorites here would be quite high.

That is certainly doable, though.

See now, these are the sorts of write-ins that i always hope for.
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>>6043408
The pebbles would punch holes, but it's not like the bubble is under pressure or there is (percievable) gravity to send THAT MUCH water away...
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>>6043408
...Double layer it? A huge bag for the water, and a slightly huger bag with vacuum between the two just so it catches and massively decelerates micrometeorites before they can hit the internal bag.
Bonus: You get cool rocks gathering in the bigger bag.
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>>6043408
just freeze the outside few feet of ice to prevent losing any water.
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>>6043423

Water would flow out due to surface tension and crawl along the outside of the bag until it froze.
You wouldn't lose much water that way, but over time you'd have quite a few holes in the bag, which would create places where it could rip if it's dragged along it's orbit.

Two objects that are in even the slightest different orbits will drift apart over time. Normally this doesn't matter much, but the mass of water would be enormous and the bag would be very weak.
This could be dealt with using a carbon fiber net, staked into the surface of the asteroid to help keep it in place.
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>>6043423
>>6043428
It's going to be frozen. Just have cargo container sized bags, connect them like bricks. Easier to manage, and easier to thaw (bring them in one at a time).
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>>6043428
I vaguely remember some military vehicles having a liner in their gas tanks that would temporarily seal small punctures from shrapnel and whatnot.
I wonder if that's another one of the billion things Gunny has a weird amount of knowledge about.
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>smart-stuff-stuff-self-healing-polymer
You know, the stuff...
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>>6043431
>just give the station truck-nuts
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>>6043436
>>
>ITT: /qst/ solves water-storage problems for NASA
How does the station itself solve the micrometeorite problem, anyways? If we just need a grav field around it, well...there's some fucked up pirate ships to loot.
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>>6043443
The station is carved out of an asteroid. It literally sits inside a giant rock.
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>>6043447
Alright, so we're gonna go find a sufficiently large asteroid and either hollow it out or find one that's already hollow, then turn it into a bigass water jug...
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>>6043451
Too much effort... Just have container-sized rectangular bags. The outer ones will serve as protection for the ones inside, and since the bags are smaller they'll freeze faster.
Connect them like bricks, and use netting or ropes to secure them so they both keep their shape and remain attached to the station.
You'll be filling a lot of smaller bags instead one giant bag, so it'll be a lot more manageable; fill them in the hanger, throw them out. When thawing, you can thaw them one at a time in the hanger, or wherever they'll fit (again, container sized, in low gravity).
Since you can thaw them within the station, and leaked water can be recycled anyway. Minimal loss, minimal fuss. Just have to make sure no one severs all the cables/nets securing all the containers so they drift off into space.
If you are paranoid, make them have switchable magnetic connectors so they'll stick to each other, net/rope or no net/rope.
I guess plastic water totes could work too.
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>>6043455
Just a shitpost lad, hollowing an asteroid is far too much work and time for a shortterm project.
That being said, your solution uses too much material imo. It's effective, but you're adding a shitload more material to production.
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>>6043455
this but tether them inside a shield bubble somewhere if we can power that without antimatter do micrometeorites stop being a problem
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>>6043481
we should have empty containers on the docks, no? those should help, but....we can just also dump the water outside; i don't think we're close enough to a sun, so we can just dump the water outside as a huge blob and just put it behind the station so the sun doesn't evaporate it away
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>>6043484
I wonder if shield bubbles are THAT power hungry. For ships to shield against high powered lasers sure, but for this? h*ck I bet that a solar-panel-canvas can power a sufficiently strong (weak) shield bubble against most micro meteors. Maybe we can even fine tune it so it ignores meteors of a certain mass or speed; those that we know will bounce off the tarp or nickel shielding of the containers...

I wonder, what if we scav gravity gens from ships and tether them to the station? Then we activate them and have a water bubble surrounding it, that way we don't even have to worry about having an actual container. The water would orbit the grav gen! Maybe water is too heavy for that, and the sheer amount of it is too much That made me remember some quirks of Timelike Infinity. The cool guys made a spaceship but it was literally a piece of dirt with a grav gen that trapped air around it... crazy shit
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>>6043551
>I just thought of something, why do we even need to armor the water bag from micrometeorites? Why don't we just figure out a way to give it self sealing capability.
I was going down this line of thought but we really do need to armor it because the water would boil off. I feel like because it seems like we have two lines of exterior storage.

Number one, we freeze it, and the just store the ice chunks in a nickel shipping container (does nickel even have the strength to be used for that? Answer, maybe, it's used in a lot of alloys so would probably have to be alloyed first for heavy use in grav but pure is probably fine for 0g)

We would have to armor and insulate the bags of water from micrometeorites because we would have to keep the water both insulated/heated to keep the temperature above 0C and pressurized at >1kPa. I suppose that self mending would work if the self mend was fast enough to prevent large loss of water. The meteorite hits the bag, penetrates, and depressurizes. The water starts to boil off before turning into ice. The bag mends (hopefully quickly) and the bag flexes to reflect its loss in volume. I think some of the water in the sealed bag would boil into vapor because of the loss of pressure, inflating the vessel to its full volume again. So depending on the fill level of the vessel you would have either all vapor, a vapor/liquid mix, or all liquid.
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>>6043551
>actually read your post instead of getting rabbit holed with the phase diagram of water
What about an insulated bag of water with a grav gen at the center that has a battery, powered by solar panels on the bag. If a micrometeorite hits the bag, the gen activates, and either keeps the water from escaping, or collects the ice cloud that does escape. A drone slaps a patch kit on the bag, or the bag mends itself, and the generator thrusts the ice that does escape towards a collector to be heated and reinjected into the bag.
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>>6043632
>>6043625
aw my fuckin burner email was still autofilled
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>>6043632
could set it up to have a middle layer that's activated by water and turns into a sealant?
The different properties of the sealant directs drones or something else to perform a more permanent repair?
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>>6043632
If we want to dedicate resources to drones, why not avoid micrometeorites entirely by having a set of guardian drones shoot anything over a certain speed that's on a trajectory to hit the reservoir?
Doesn't need to shoot bullets, really - beanbags would work pretty well. Something that has good mass and won't fly apart.
Alternatively, an inverted gravity generator could coerce matter away from the reservoir. Should be enough to dissuade the tiny little rocks and alter their course away from it, or at least massively decelerate them.
You know, those gravity generators probably produce a good amount of heat. Might not even need a heater for the water if we can water cool the gen.
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>>6043642
make the activated sealant turn bright orange for patch direction, yeah, that might work. The sealant would have to function with all 3 phases of water though, which might be difficult
>>6043648
>micrometeorite iron dome
I like this idea and we probably need some form of this for larger threats but you have to realize that the threat we're looking at (I think) are specks with tiny amounts of mass moving at absurdly high velocities. Picrel is 7 grams of matter moving at 7000m/s into a block of aluminum. Tracking, much less shooting down these objects are practically impossible unless we pull some more stuff out of the alien tech hat.
>gravity gen
Yeah, this might work, if we can track the projectiles, and if the artificial mass of gravity can be moved fast enough to affect the projectile. I'm assuming the way that the grav gens work is by using bullshit to project point masses at various points in space to apply a force of gravity on another object, while at the same time somehow limiting that pseudomass to not affect anything else in the wider area. This explanation doesn't really hold up I feel like because like, how does this mass not form a black hole. How does the mass not affect anything outside the spaceship/habitat. You need an obscene amount of mass to get the acceleration you need for proper earth gravity and that would affect things outside of the ship, I feel like.
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>>6043662
No pic rel is a block of aluminum with a ruler and a pin stuck in it. Duh.
>>
Wouldn't it be easier to deal with the water as one large frozen mass instead of worrying about all the dramas of dealing with a liquid? Treat it like the Canterberry in The Expanse
>>
Wait a minute.
Why the fuck are WE thinking about ways to solve this?
We have some of Earth's best scientists on board. Just thaw them out and let the actual geniuses come up with the best solution, in tandem with SHODAN.
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>>6043678
Fuck you. We are smarter.
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>>6043625
Jehova made water. Undeniable proof of His existence. Just look at that crazy stuff. Water is less dense at -4°C v/s 0°C woaat???
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>>6043678
>we thinking
Anon... QM is a human just like us... he doesnt have the minds of the best scientists inside his head
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>>6043455
Using millions of smaller bags would mean massively more material and fab time, and much more effort required to fill each one.
You already have an energy, food and manpower problem. Where are you going to get all that carbon and electricity from? Who or what is filling these bags and spacing them?

And if you freeze all that water, do you have any idea how much energy would be required to heat it back up again? That's an insane thermal mass, and that energy has to come from somewhere.
You don't have infinite resources, anon. Quite the opposite, which is why one big bag is about your best option.

>>6043551
Shield bubbles are fairly power hungry, depending on the situation.
If it's just a shield in a vacuum then it's not too bad, the ionized plasma can be recycled and doesn't take much energy to maintain.

If you're shrugging off bullets or micrometeorites, you're consuming a lot of energy to produce the magnetic field required to repel them.
And during warp, dark matter and energy is injected to convert the shield into a warp bubble. That consumes a fuckton of power on most vessels, but the Metal Gear is uniquely efficient.

The larger the shield bubble, the larger the magnetic field required. Larger ships are almost always fitted with multiple smaller shield emitters along the surface for that reason.
Equally as important, is that shields are actually terrible at blocking physical objects. For specks of dust, pebbles or small bullets it's fine, but there's a reason flak works so well against them.

Specifically, it's because multiple points of impact require multiple points of magnetic concentration, and most shield gens will either hit their point or power limit before long.

Shields serve a few purposes, including eliminating micrometeorite damage, but their main purpose in combat is to block lasers by concentrating the ionized gas it's made of to absorb it.
Maintaining constant contact with something would drain an enormous amount of power, and the larger the surface area the worse it would be.

>>6043433
Self-sealing containers are nothing new, but that's a lot of extra material for a plastic bag, which would effectively seal itself over time anyways.

>>6043625
Water boiling in a vacuum reduces the temperature of the remaining water. It would freeze locally after a while, producing a scab that seals the hole and prevents further leakage.

>>6043648
If you wanted to use drones to deflect micrometeorites, you could do that with basic bitch lasers.
The problem is detecting and intercepting grains of sand moving at multiple thousands of kilometers per hour. It's impossible.

>>6043810
i already told you how to solve the issue. put a net over it. the bag already self-seals via ice-scabbing.
>>
>>6043156

You make a few attempts to take one of the bugs alive, but they all seem to avoid you.
From what you've seen, they prefer to scavenge over attacking live prey.

However, there are plenty of reports of people going missing, and being found later as newly eviscerated insect nests.

So there's definitely some trigger for them to attack, you just don't know what it is exactly.
They might actually be ambush predators. Walk into the wrong area and bam, suddenly you're swarmed by them.

Then they all sting you over and over until your organs melt into a delicious, nutritious soup for their grubs to slurp up.
That's a nice thought.

Nothing much fruitful happens on your little walk, but it does give Malix time to sleep off his food coma.
He's still groggy by the time you get the Droid back to it's charging station and pull out of it.

"Feeling better?" You ask, setting the brain interface helmet aside.

"...I'unno. I feel kind of amazing, actually... but i think i need to take a shit." He replies, half-dazed.

"Later. Right now, i have some questions for you. You don't mind, do you? Answering a few little questions?"

"Are you gonna chop me up and feed me to your Caithan?" He asks.

"No."

"Hand me over to the federation?"

"Nope."

You'll just kill or enslave him yourself if it comes to that.

"...What's gonna happen to me, then?"

"Depends on how co-operative you are. I don't have resources to waste on useless people." You tell him.

"So, make yourself useful if you want to live..." He chuckles. "Alright. What do want to know?"

"Let's start with the obvious. I want names and ranks, everyone you know of in that fleet."

"Ah. Uh, well... i know who the captains are. But besides my own crew, we don't know eachother that well."

"I see. Holopad?"

Malix digs into his pocket and hands you his personal holopad.
Without even bothering to open it, you plug it into a nearby computer and let SHODAN go to town on it.

This confuses Malix slightly, but he doesn't ask.

"Next question. Why are you here?"

This one makes him nervous. He clearly doesn't want to answer in such a way that it pisses you off.

"We uh... came to take over the station." He eventually replies.

"Mmm, by starving out the survivors of a genocide and looting their corpses, yes." You clarify for him.

"..."

"Don't worry about it. Anyways, nevermind what you exactly you were doing. I want to know why you did it. Why here specifically. Who brought you all together?"

"...Uh. W-Well, nobody, really?"

He sounds kind of unsure.
You stare at him and wait for him to continue.

"There was an information broker on the local station... who said Xebric had collapsed. Ripe for the scavaging, you know? Maybe even good enough to turn into a new station... so..."

"So you just happen to be the ones who jumped on it." You surmise.

"As far as i'm aware, yeah. I told the captain it was suspicious, that stations don't just go dark overnight... but he didn't care. He just wanted the loot."
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>>6043877
"They do when the federation wants them gone."
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>>6043877
Okay this makes everything so simple, I love it... i wonder how do we publicize ourselves? As an interim government that is awaiting feds to return and take over? As independents that survived UNKNOWN diseases that killed millions? As the freedom fighters?
It matters... a lot no? I remember that feds don't care WHO runs stations as long as they comply to taxes and what not but this fringe one is a special case since it outlived its usefulness.
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>>6044104
lets send clank a message. he might have an idea or pawns that can help set us up properly, or at the very least we'll have more legitimacy if thekia says that xebric actually died and a new and completely different pirate clan appropriated it
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>>6044108
we will need people and new windows updates for our tecfabs... actually, QM, can we re-link our stuff at all (updated bouties included) or the feds borked that for this station? If the fabs become useless chunks of steel it will suk
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>>6044174
we talked about that a while ago. 2-3 AIs the same level as shodan should be able to crack the fabs in 2-3 months or so, but we'd need 12 nena sized cores in order to have the same results
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>>6044178
Yes, yes, but QM was giving us a reference to showcase how damn impossible it is to crack firmware, not as a feasible goal dude...
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>>6044178
Imagine doing the same tedius task for 3 months day and night, we can't do that to Shodan.
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>>6044359
dude, she's already managing the metal gear and all the tedious shit we don't wanna for 3 years and counting. at least this is a 3 months long, novel, challenging project
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>>6044174
It's currently impossible because Xebric has no connection to the wider galactic net.
You could try physically transporting all the dead fabs to Thekia or somewhere else, but there's no telling if they'll boot back up after getting a connection.

The alternative is cracking the firmware DRM on each one, which would take months or years per fab under normal circumstances.
>>
>>6043877

You give your arms a stretch as you yawn, which makes Malix nervous for some reason.
Looking him up and down, you think about what he's said so far.

The pirates were lured here by the promise of loot, but aren't necessarily on a direct federation payroll.
It's possible they were lured here intentionally, of course. Either to cause damage, or perhaps to get information about what's going on inside.

...No, if they wanted to do that, they could just send in a civilian trader or something. Unless their intention was to do both, you guess.

As for Malix, well, he's a bastard. He's smart enough to know exactly what he's doing, and it seems likely to you that he was the de-facto leader of his group, rather than the "captain".
He might be just smart enough to get himself in trouble, you feel. Perfect for handing a bunch of rowdy idiots without posing a real threat to you or your station.

Even if he tries something, he probably won't get far with it. You could make use of him.

...For now though, you want him to answer a few more questions for you.

"So, Malix. The captain of your crew, he was just a figurehead, wasn't he? You were the real brains behind the operation."

He clicks his tongue.

"Just barely. Captain Raag was always overriding my orders, it made getting anything done difficult. The crew listens to me, though. Even they know Raag's an idiot."

"Interesting." You nod. "So then, why not mutiny? It would have been easier to just take over, wouldn't it?"

"I wanted to, believe me. But the crew respects Raag. He may be an idiot, but he did manage to build things up to where we are... or were. He was there from the beginning."

"...So they wouldn't have been happy if you'd just killed him and taken over."

"No way. They'd have gutted me for sure. I thought about it a few times, you know. Maybe stage an accident with a transport ship or something, you know? But i had a better idea.
Raag's an idiot, so it's not that hard to get him to do what i want. He trusts me, because my plans usually work... so all i have to do is manipulate him, and it's almost the same as being captain."

"Not bad, not bad." You smile.

Yeah, this guy's definitely a piece of shit.

"So, what are you in it for? Money? Women? Influence?"

Malix snorts.

"Yeah sure, influence. No, i want money. If i was filthy rich enough, i could pay off my own bounty, move to a core world and live like a noble for the rest of my life."

"No way to do that on the up and up, huh?" You question.

"Not a chance. Piracy is... hell yeah, it's risky. But it's the only way out as far as i can see. Ships are as valuable as anything out here. And a station? Forget about it. I get why Raag wanted it."

You tap your fingers against your leg as you think things over.
>>
>>6044646

>He's a real piece of shit, yeah. Too much of one. You'd rather install someone you can trust to handle the captured pirates.
>He's a piece of shit, but one with clear motives. Just like he manipulated Raag, it'll be easy to manipulate him.
>These pirates seem like they're more trouble than they're worth. You can't just kill them, but you're sure Clank could do something with them.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6044646
Have the pirates kill bugs in exchange for us shipping them to clank. And not just spacing them. Have then clean all the dead bodies up too.
>>
>>6044648
Give each of them a choice. Safer, but less rewarding work on Thekia, or a few tours of bug hunting duty here and a new lease on life.
>>
>>6044646
>Tell him about everything you know regarding the Federation's clandestine activities. Then tell him that now that he knows, he has a permanent target on his back and the Federation will never allow him or his men to settle down in peace. Then, welcome him to the crew. Their first job is capturing a live bug.
He's just smart enough to know that the feds never intended to let the pirates live and keep the station. Too much evidence on it.
>>
>>6044648
>>6044662
Support. Now that they're here, they'll be put to work. Capture a bug, then haul and clean the station.
Any dead bugs go in the Metal Gear fab and we'll see what they're made of. Maybe they might have some rare metals concentrated in them or something. Hopefully this way will sterilise the redsang mutant shit out of them too.
>>
>>6044648
>He's a piece of shit, but one with clear motives. Just like he manipulated Raag, it'll be easy to manipulate him.
>>
>>6044648
>Tell him about the feds
>Employ him for bug cleaning If they fail we go for the FREEZE strategy
>>
>>6044662
Support. Even he will know that he knows too much and doesn't have a real choice.
>>
The more I think, the more value this bug hunt idea has. Some body cams could be valuable too for gathering data on individual pirates during the bug hunt that Shodan could sort through later at sped up cyber time in order to sort these guys into various groups such as "probationary recruits" "slaves" and "just shoot these guys already" instead of judging the pirates as a group.
>>
>>6044662
+1, perfect strategy. One last job.
>>
>>6044646

You gently clap your hands together as you lean forward, resting your elbow on one knee.

"Well, you're right about one thing." You tell him, lowering your voice. "You were right to be suspicious about the station going dark."

Malix, who was talking rather freely before, now shuts his trap. He looks slightly nervous, and refuses to break his gaze from yours.

"You know what they do to mining stations out on the rim, like this one, don't you?" You ask.

Malix quietly shakes his head.

"They're pretty far from the core worlds. Hard to govern, you know? But as long as they're turning a profit and paying their taxes, nobody cares what happens out here.
However, what happens when the minerals run dry? Or rather, stop being profitable to ship over such long distances."

"...They abandon the station?" He guesses.

You chuckle.

"Nah. Too many loose ends. Once or twice it might not matter, but think about it. Two, three, ten, twenty stations floating around, left intact? Best case scenario, it turns into a pirate empire."

"That's the best case?" Malix questions.

"That's right, Malix. Worst case scenario, some group like Dark Star takes over and turns it back into a functional station. People start living there, trading goods..."

"I don't see see how that's a problem..."

"Because it's not under their control. Barely was before, but now people aren't reliant on them or their tech to survive anymore. So what happens?"

"I... I don't know?"

"They become the other. No longer a part of the federation, they're barbarians on the rim who exist to disturb the peace and prosperity of the core worlds. You see where i'm going with this?"

You stand up and pull a monitor arm over so Malix can see it.
Then you start bringing up footage. Of the redsang mutants, of the bounty hunting ships, of the Fed cyborg whose ass you beat.

Little by little, you explain to him what they do and why. How they treat people, what happens to those who rebel. Why things like fab DRMs exist.
Some of it clearly flies over his head, but what he does understand, he's horrified by. And you don't even get into the blue box AI shit.

"W-Why are you telling me this?" He asks, his voice quivering.

The monitor switches to a live feed of Malix himself, through the room's security cameras.

"Because, Malix. Now that you know, you're on their shitlist too, see?"

"...No way."

"Yes way." You grin. "So, now we're in the shit together, ain't that great?"

"Fucker! You think i care?! They don't know me! They don't... i mean, nobody even knows i'm here, right?!"

"Oh, they know. How much do you want a bet that information broker is a Federation plant, or at least was paid to offer that information to you?"

"You're nuts."

"I'd bed a latinum or two on it." You grin.

"I know that guy! He's been there for years!" He insists.

"Oh, so you trust him, do you? Because of that? I bet you've told him all kinds of shit the feds would love to know about."
>>
>>6045476
Remember when we were going to what was thought to be a pirate base but turned out to be refugees turned to a functional community?
Now we are on the other side of that experience but this guy is in more deeper shit.
Man its all coming together.
>>
>>6045489
>Remember when we were going to what was thought to be a pirate base but turned out to be refugees turned to a functional community?
Black star.
>>
>>6045476
the possible outcome is p easy to see from here

If the pirates return, the information of what happened will spread. At minimum, the fact Malix was taken to talk is known because everyone saw.

Given that this is a person in fed space who has had direct contact with a major enemy who turned away a fed AI fleet, what's the chance he doesn't get brain stapled for information?
>>
>>6045792
>what's the chance he doesn't get brain stapled for information?
That could apply to any of the pirates that's been on the station. Honestly, they've had people on board for quite a while now, what did they think happened here that there would be so much damage and dead bodies (have they all been cleaned up?) everywhere?
In any case, I'm not sure if the fed would be too concerned regarding the news of what they did here getting out, not unless we have definitive proof. AFAIK, they still have plausible deniability; the refugees don't know anything, we have no hard link between REDSANG/nanites and the fed. The biggest unknown is whether an AI can be taken as a viable witness or AI testimonies as evidence.
Otherwise, it can all be dismissed and subsequently drowned out as wild stories from the distant frontier.
>>
>>6045476

Malix's eyes widen and he bites his lip. You can see him staring past you, something aliens rarely tend to do, as he remembers all the conversations he's had with that broken in the past.
His face sinks just like the pit of his stomach as this goes on.

"Fuck." He whispers, his voice quivering.

"Oh yeah, feeling it now, are we?" You tease, standing up and poking him in the arm. "That's the feeling of getting fucked over without realizing it. But don't worry, we're all in this together."

"Fuck..." He grumbles.

"Of course, that's only in regards to knowing shit we shouldn't and being involved with places that aren't supposed to exist anymore. That's got nothing to do with you starting shit on my station."

Malix cradles his head in both hands. He folds over and shakes his head back and forth in disbelief.

"So here's the deal, Malix. I'm gonna give you a chance."

"We're fucked." He states, matter-of-factly.

Gildur quietly walks into the room.

"No, you're fucked. I on the other hand, am going to be a fucking problem. Gildur, you got the thing?"

"Yes, sir. ...What is it?" He wonders, turning it over.

The object flops open. Two U-Shaped flanges on a hinge, with a locking mechanism and some electronics built in.

"It's a bomb collar." You inform him.

Gildur immediately freaks out and tosses the collar away from himself in a panic, and you grab it out of the air.
You walk back over to Malix and dangle the collar in front of him.

"Two options, Malix. One, you put on this collar and work for me. Two, i throw you and all of your little pirate buddies into the fab and turn you into plant food. Either way, you'll be helping the station."

Malix looks up at you like a dead fish.

"...What do you want me to do?"

"Simple. I'm gonna put this collar on you, and you're gonna do whatever the fuck i tell you. Everything you say and do will be monitored. And i mean everything."

"Huh?"

"SHODAN, send the query."

A look of deep confusion washes over Malix's face as something happens inside of his brain.

"...W-What is this?" He asks.

"You're going to give SHODAN here full access to your translator chip. Do you know what that means?"

"No... i don't want... what? Does it even have a function like that? What?"

"Unfortunately i don't think your model will have quite as many features as mine." You tell him, tapping your skull. "But we should still be able to read whatever thoughts you're actively thinking."

"...You want to read my mind?"

"Of course. The camera and the mic in the collar are more for keeping an eye on those around you. Cause you see, i want you in charge of the other pirates."

"I... i don't..."

"Oh don't worry, i'm sure they'll listen to you. Cause they'll be in the same situation."

Standing back up, you grab Malix's head and force it back, then close the collar around his neck.
He doesn't resist, but you didn't intend to let him.

"There's a clump of C4... explosives, in there. Enough to turn your head into mist."
>>
>>6046194
>Explosive collar
Sounds good
>Reading his thoughts
Not so good- do we wanna waste valuable processing power on this retard? Maybe just tell him that we're monitoring it, while not really doing it
>>
>>6046235
There's no need to do so constantly, nor to have SHODAN herself do it.
You have several gamma-class AI capable of doing the job, or just processing the raw data and feeding the output to a bank of VIs for sub-processing.

What's important is gaining the access perms, which only the owner can willingly hand over. As long as you have that, then at the very least you have the ability to check in on him, whenever.

This hasn't come up before, but there are triggers built into just about every translator chip that disallow transferring permissions under duress, or even just general stress.
Not that it should matter normally, since a standard VI isn't capable of reading the data. It takes a quantum computer, which almost always means an AI.

And as a reminder, robots controlled by a standard VI are already a big taboo, bordering on outright banned.
Full blown genuine AI are super, super fucking illegal. It's not something anyone should normally have.
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>>6046254
Give the job to the Caithan AI to work with Nena. Let him stew on what these people have done and how we're going to rehabilitate them. Hopefullllyyyyy Meowbot will get the hint that David is a force for good change.
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>>6046194
We showed him a carrot, and now the stick.

Let's give more carrots, he may have a brick of C4 bolted to his head, but he'll have all the good food he wants, a decent living allowance, and nice employee housing in those mansions. He'll have a luxurious gilded cage he wouldn't want to escape from.
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>>6046235
So when he visits the brothels, can we have a live feed of the action?
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>>6046194

"It goes without saying," You continue. "you betray me in any way, your head pops like a water balloon. Same goes for your men, so make sure they're well aware of the consequences."

"Wait, you're putting a collar on all of them, too?!"

"Do i look like i'm fuckin' retarded to you? Yes, you're all getting a collar. And besides the bomb... SHODAN?'

There's a half-second pause before Malix starts screaming. He clutches at his collar and falls to the floor, his muscles clenching up painfully.
This continues for about three seconds before relenting, and he's left panting heavily.

"See, i believe in degrees of punishment." You tell him, squatting over him as he looks up at you.
"Not everything can really be considered a 'betrayal', but you let certain things fester, like a bad attitude, it can lead there you know? Which is why, i feel the tazer is a good for compliance."

"You're a... you're a psycho!" He pants.

You pat Malix on the head.

"Good on you, bud. Gonna tell me the sky is blue next?"

"...What?'

Ah, right... the sky isn't actually blue on a lot of planets. Not that you've seen it yourself, but... green or orange isn't uncommon.

"Anyways." You continue, ignoring him. "You'll be given permission to use the tazer on your subordinates at will. Make sure they stay in line, or we'll light your ass up too, you understand?'

He simply stares up at you and shakes his head like he can't believe what he's hearing.

"Oh, and if the collars leave the station or run out of juice, they'll pop. The battery's small on purpose, so make sure they get charged daily. Got that?"

...He continues to stare up at you, almost in shock.
That's fine. If he's shocked, he won't mind this, will he?

You quickly bring up a holographic button on your watch and press it, tazing the shit out of him for a few more seconds.
It's a very simple application. Literally all it does is shock anyone within about thirty feet, for as long as you hold it down. Sometimes simple is better.

"I said, do you fuckin' understand me, limp dick?' You ask him.

"Fuck! Yes, yes i understand, gods!"

"Good! Great, that's wonderful. Now listen, i'm not uh... well, we'll say you're not really slaves here. More like... indentured servants."

"Whatever you say, man!" He replies, immediately and enthusiastically.

"Now what i mean by that is, you'll be performing community service in exchange for your freedom. You believe in second chances, don't you?"

"Yes, yes, definitely!"

"Cool. So as part of your community service, in order to pay off your debt to society, we'll have you exterminate some bugs. How does that sound?'

"...Is that it?" He questions.

"Yep! Station's got a bug problem. You take care of the bugs, we wipe the slate clean. How does that sound?"

"I'm afraid..."

"See, i knew you were smart!" You smile, grabbing his arm and pulling him back up to his feet.
>>
>>6046981
>...He continues to stare up at you, almost in shock.
>That's fine. If he's shocked, he won't mind this, will he?
I mean you just tazed him HA
>>
>>6046981
My, what a shocking revelation.
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>>6046981
I love this quest.
>>
>>6047012
You could say the concept struck him shocked
>>
>>6046981

You spend the next couple of hours printing out bomb collars one after the next, until you have around two hundred of them.
It could have been done a lot quicker on one of the station's other fabs, but since many of them have shut down, the larger fabs are currently pulling the extra weight.

Probably best not to interrupt the station's repairs without good reason.

While you're doing that, SHODAN inhabits her gynoid in order to brief Malix on the details of his duty and what's expected of his men.
He has a glazed-over look in his eyes after a while, but SHODAN ensures he is in fact taking all of that information in, so you guess it's fine.

You also get a message from the rest of your crew that they've mostly finished setting things up at the mansion.

Apparently most of the buildings up there don't have things like air conditioning because it was reasonably expected that the air would already BE conditioned.
However, given the current state of the station, Nena thought ahead and had a few heaters installed before you'd even arrived.

So at the very least, nobody should get cold up there. It's much warmer than the rest of the station anyways, but... you don't want your mom getting cold, you know.
You just wish there was actually enough power to go around.

Once the carrier is complete, the miners and scavvs working on it can shift focus to uranium mining. Maybe then you can build another reactor or two.

it's only really on your mind because of Malix's reaction after stepping out of the relative warmth of the metal gear and into the particularly cold region around the docks.
The entrance to the station is a big fat shield wall that... come to think of it, probably draws a shitton of power. But it also leaks a lot of heat straight out into the depths of space.

Because of that, the area around the docks in particular is probably a bit below freezing, and Malix acts like he's had ice water dumped on him.

If the power ever went out completely, that shield would fail and the station would depressurize.
Which might be great if you wanted to kill everyone and abandon the station, but for you, it's not ideal.

You might see about building an airlock over it at some point.

SHODAN brings him a big, puffy coat, which he immediately throws on. He looks confused after putting his hands in his pockets, and pulls out a pair of hand warmers.
He pulls the jacket's hood up, cinches it tight and stuffs his hands back into the pockets with a sigh of relief.

"W-Why is the station so damned cold, anyways?" He whines as you drag a crate out of the Metal Gear's cargo using a hoverjack.

"Don't worry about it." You tell him.

"I'm kind of worried about it, if i'm stuck here."

"Do i need to push the fucking button, Malix?" You ask.

"No sir! Nope, no, no, no..."

The crate wouldn't quite fit in a hovercar, so you opt to just walk over to the bounty office with them.
The brisk air is good for you anyways. It's not that bad with your skinsuit on, actually.
>>
>>6047667
Puffy jackets all the rage out in space.
>>
>>6047667
Note to self. Begin first contact searches on coldworlds to try to recruit cold adapted intelligent species.
>>
>>6048407
I think we'd be better off importing more humans desu. Time is at a premium and I'd hate to waste it on more frail xenos.
>>
>>6048410
I was thinking that the only cold adapted humans are either russian drunkards or canadian apologizers with scandinavians in between but I think Inuit would be cool to have on a space trip.
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>>6048415
>I think Inuit would be cool to have on a space trip
Damn right
>>
>>6048415
Don't forget high-altitude cultures my man - if a mountain range has year round snow, chances are there are people adapted to it there too.
>>
>>6048506
Time to go to Bhutan or some shit. Oh, and swing over to Nepal to pick up some Gurkhas. They're a surprise tool that will help us later.
>>
>>6047667

When you show up at the bounty office with a crate full of bomb collars, it goes... somewhat poorly.
A few of the pirates have already pretty much accepted the fate they're condemned to, and follow your orders without trouble.

Those are the first to get their collars, and Malix is the one who performs the demonstration of their function on them.
He nearly gave the poor bastard he electrocuted a heart attack. You get the feeling it was someone he didn't particularly like.

That's not really your problem though. If... or, let's be honest, when Malix mistreats his men, you won't be saving him from the inevitable mutiny.
You'll just put the next best guy in charge. Maybe his idiot captain.

Anyways, using those you'd already enslaved, and with a few armed droids as backup, you manage to finish putting collars on everyone in the first holding cell.
Some of them are very, very unhappy about it.

Naturally, they try to yank the collars off their heads, in which case they get the shit shocked out of them.

A few of them even thought to gang up and attack you while you were working on dealing with the second holding cell.
Naturally, they all, collectively, got the shit shocked out of them.

The collars are also surveillance devices, so it was clear that those who didn't participate were aware, and didn't attempt to stop it from happening.
So they all got punished. Ass-draggers beware.

After that, they were all much more eager to behave.

Things just got better as the number of 'indentured servants' grew.
First to twenty, then fifty, then a hundred.

The more of them there were, the more people in the group were willing to put a stop to any bullshit in order to avoid a group punishment.
There was only one more attempt to escape by the time you'd finished putting collars on all two-hundred pirates, and that ended about how you expected.

They beat the four men who were trying to stage the escape to death.

Not only did you let it happen, you rewarded them by deferring punishment.
Next time it happens though, they'll get it twice as good.

Still, this is working even better than you'd expected. A whole crowd of absolute savages running around without restraints, and nobody's making a move.

Once they were all assembled outside, you informed them properly of the situation and of Malix's role as their wrangler, essentially.
His old captain objected, of course, but after being threatened by the men around him, he relented.

Now, you don't exactly have anywhere for these assholes to stay on short notice, so for now they'll be camping out in the open, up in the merchant's quarter.
At least there they won't freeze for the time being.

But, you'll need to figure out housing for them in a hurry, and decide what sort of weapons they'll be given for bug-hunting.

For the moment, you allow Malix and a pair of droids to escort the pirates upstairs, to where they'll be camping.
If they cause any trouble, it'll only be for a moment before they pop.
>>
Getting some Pikmin vibes.

But what weapons to use. Some sort of net or bola guns would be a start. Maybe electrolaser pistols? Phasors? Flashbang grenades?
What about melee weapons? Hatchets and knives and clubs. A good mix.

A mix of heavy and light armors seems smart. Yeah. Throw everything at these critters and see what works.
Anyone got more ideas?
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>>6048761
They're slaves, so I say we give them machetes and synth-wool jackets.
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>>6048861
Break them up into small squads tomorrow, give them guns and a crash course in using them, and send them down with a drone in each squad. Once they've gotten acquainted with Xebric through some basic patrols, start giving them bonus objectives such as catching a live bug or escorting maintenance crews.
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>>6048861
and then they all die and the bugs are still there.
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>>6048882
We could also issue them some sonic disruptors so they can stun the bugs and capture them or smack them to death while they're incapacitated.
The only reason I don't want to issue them outright lethal weapons like actual firearms is because one of them might do something stupid and take a shot at one of our people.
>>
>>6048888
I wonder how well a microwave gun would work on Ayyyyys. Against humans it's a deterrent. But the wheylians have less cell endurance on top of regular endurance. It would probably really, REALLY hurt them.
>>
Guys, those collars spy on them 24/7 and we have computers that do not sleep. Even better; they can mind read.
Arm the with gyros and let's get this bread, they will hunt those bugs down and the twenty or so that survive the ordeal will be a veteran unit lead by Pickle
>>
>>6048957
Oh yeah...fuck it, let's get them armed and put em to work I guess.
>>
Remember that any punishment is administered collectively. Any one that dares THINK on hurting our crew will get everybody shocked, decimatio even.
>>
We're going so full-tilt authoritarian that even thought-crime is a thing, now?
Though they are criminals, what we're doing now will potentially make us look unhinged compared to the public face of the Feds, which I should note is the only face everyone knows right now.
Not only are we undermining our credibility, what we're doing here could turn away the only allies (outcasts) who might be willing to join us right now.
The pirate crew might not be the only place where there might be a mole, or an undercover journalist/"journalist".
>>
>>6048982
You know that crossed my mind too. The whole "thought-crime" thing seems excessive when we can work with the pirates via remote robots but the data we gather here will allow us to sort these guys out with little error.

They really shouldn't have messed with us. Better feared than loved I suppose.
>>
>>6048754
1-2 flame thrower per squad. Has the side bonus of providing heating.
The rest get phasers stuck on low setting or a melee weapon like a higher powered stun baton. These weapons will only be allowed to be carried in the districts away from the general population while they're on cleanup duty.
>>
>>6049033
We need to give them proper equipment and some modicum of training or we're just feeding the bugs.
>>
>>6048989
>>6048982
we can just....not zap them whenever they have Bad ThoughtsTM; just a quick pop up in their brain reminding them that they're under full supervision until they become free men again
>>
>>6049033
I like the idea of 1 flamethrower per squad and the bare minimum of training. Perhaps a grenade launcher per squad would also work well in place of artillery.
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>>6049105
>grenade launcher
My brother in Christ they are removing bugs not blast mining.
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>>6048982
Only for Malix, since you're leaving him in charge of the pirates.
If you're going have slaves leading slaves, you'd better have good control over their leader.

>>6049049
Only Malix is having his thoughts monitored. Everyone else is monitored through the cameras and microphones in the collars.

>>6049108
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes... a good way to make up for a lack of training or accuracy in general is to just set everything on fire.
Or blow it the fuck up. Or both.

Go ahead and keep discussing what you'd like to arm and armor them with, though.
My brain's pretty fried right now, but i'll get to sorting your ideas out later.
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>>6049168
If the station's air filtration systems are up for it, giving them some nicotine fog machines and gas masks might also be a good idea.
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>>6049172
I like the idea of using "some" kind of chemical but which one, that's more for our resident doctor to suggest, perhaps?
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>>6049172
Chemical fogging might work in enclosed areas, but the station is so large that most areas are effectively outdoors.
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>>6049168
I'm more worried that those smoothbrains will blow up something they shouldn't. Like infrastructure.
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>>6049179
Maybe, but the station's pretty tattered anyways.
Infrastructure and critical infrastructure are two very different things.
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>>6049168
Small shotguns and low caliber SMGs would probably be good to start with. If any special missions come up, we can give them specialized equipment.
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>>6049186
Honestly, something chambered in, say, 20 gauge might not be such a bad idea. I wonder if we can teach the ones with leadership potential how to shoot skeet.
That or we just whip the clay birds right at them and call it combat training.
>>
Brehs, wouldn't this be a great way to field test the gyrojets?
>>
>>6049247
it WOULD, but I want to offer them shotguns specifically if they're gonna be dealing with the bugs and I'm not sure how you would even accomplish making a gyrojet shotgun.
Besides, we already have a bunch of regular shotguns made already. The actual field tests of the gyrojets might have to wait for now.
>>
>>6049247
Of course. I got so caught up in specifically anti bug stuff. Lets fielld the gyrojets too.
>>
We have 200. Do we break them down in squads of 10? And if so, what do we arm them each with? One flamer per team sounds alright but the difference is printing 10 or 20 of those. A large squad is more disposable than a small one.
Also all guns must be burst fire, i can imagine those shit heads panicking and spraying a dark corridor till the mag is dry... we also have to think on the tactics. Should we arm them with guns and bullets only, or heavy weapons. Sidearms? What about a more methodical approach where they identify bug tunnels and smoke them? And should we even armor them if we have no idea how strong or sharp their bugs claws are?
>>
Thinking of it like the xcom game there is an order to it.
First we kill a bug and study its remains to learn that it is weak to and what are its weapons.
Second we device armors for them and non lethal devices to capture a live specimen.
Now we will really, really learn what makes them tick and kill them all. Maybe they are weak to a frequency or a relatively weak powder or we seed the tunnels with a fungus that will ensure they stay dead... so many ways to kill.
>>
>>6048754

For the next couple of days, you're busy dealing with the pirates and the immediately problems they've caused, such as housing and feeding them.
As a temporary solution, you've been feeding them nutrient bars from the Metal Gear.

The little tent city that's been set up for them looks like a homeless encampment, but until you can get their ships repaired it'll have to do.
Speaking of, there are teams of droids currently sifting through the wreckage of the pirate fleet and taking anything of use, including any food they had onboard.

Without a large population or anywhere warm to hide, the vermin population on the station has pretty much died out, so meat is in very, very short supply.
Most of those left on the station are predators, many of which are at least omnivorous, and obviously have their preferences for meat.

If they knew what your crew was eating, they'd probably try to strangle you.

No time to worry about that though, because you plan on solving the food shortage and the meat problem in one fell swoop.
You're not a fan of eating bugs, but you reckon it's alright at long as it's the right bugs. Y'know, like shrimp.

And in the case of feeding a starving station, the giant insects currently infesting the place might just be the right kind.

Which is why you've lined up your pirates into eight platoons for a weapons demonstration and safety course.
You aren't quite sure what weapons would suit them best for this operation, so you decide to go with a bit of a mix in the end.

They'll be broken up into squads of ten men each, five of which will be equipped with 20 gauge lever-action shotguns and steel buckshot.
One man will have a small flamethrower, which will use nitrated wax pellets as fuel. Heating the pellets electrically will cause them to offgas and spit a hot, sticky, flammable stream of wax.

You expect at least one person to set themselves on fire before they figure out not to point it at eachother.

Another man will be given a prototype gyrojet rifle, for field testing purposes. It's been tuned not to fire at anything humanoid, so hopefully they won't end up killing eachother.
One more man will be given a 25mm grenade launcher, with a big fat drum mag alternating between flashbang and frag rounds. They've been ordered not to use these unless the circumstances are dire.

The last two will be given standard phasers, which you're hoping will be effective in stunning these oversized roaches in close combat.
And every one of them will be outfitted with simple titanium plate armor, designed to resist venomous stings and sharp mandibles.

With each squad set up like this, you expect them to be able to take care of the bugs fairly easily.

...

The first day of training is pretty much disastrous.
You realize there's not much you can do about it, but there really is no concept of trigger discipline in space.

After all, phasers are the only 'guns' they really have.
>>
>>6049743
Gonna fucking tattoo pic related on their eyelids I swear to god
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>>6049743
...sigh. How many lemming casualties from accidental discharge?
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>>6049772
>accidental
Negligent. I guarantee 99% of the incidents could have been avoided if they weren't dumb as a bag of pig-ears.
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>>6049743
You guys ready to re-enact some starship troopers?
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>>6049878
That would imply David even bothered to do live fire exercises with these shitheels. Even if they were competent enough for that, they're slaves, not soldiers. Why bother beyond the bare minimum with them?
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>>6049907
Maximum return on investment. Data gathering.
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>>6049907
we need them to not die the moment shit hits the fan. these assholes might be replaceable but they aren't expendable per se
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>>6049990
Also, the video of this(if its successfull) might be good to show for morale. If pirates can use these weapons with a little training, the people might become a more confident(and work to become a mor competant) militia.
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>>6049907
Jannissaries were slaves under the Ottomans, look how much mileage they got out of the deal. Just because the help's not free to leave doesn't mean we should skimp too much on training.
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>>6049907
Without trainning we would be killing the pirated with extra steps. We ACTUALLY want the bugs dead you know?
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>>6049911
>>6049990

Basically this.

Why bother keeping them alive if you're just going to send them to their deaths anyways?
It would have been faster to just put a bullet in them.

Likewise, even if you consider them nothing more than a useful asset, why wouldn't you want to make the best possible use of them?
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>>6050367
Fair enough. Here's hoping they shape up sooner rather than later.
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>>6050371
im sure they'll learn the basics in a week or so. they'll definitely learn once they accidentally discharge on each other
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>>6049743

You could have just given them a handful of pistols and let them go to town, but half of them would have gunshot wounds by now.
Unironically, one of them tried to stare down the barrel of the (thankfully unloaded) pistol you were training him with.

That guy is now on permanent phaser duty.

Fortunately, you're able to correct most of their mistakes and prevent anyone from getting injured, but you're pretty sure you'd have to repeat the course for at least a week for it to stick.
Or rather, that would be the case if they weren't all wearing shock collars.

At first you just shocked whoever you were training at the time whenever they made a dangerous mistake, but after seeing the same mistakes being made over and over again...
Well, it slowed down a lot after the fifth or sixth guy getting the entire crowd shocked two or four times each.

Still, it took hours to drill the basic principals into their heads.

Once that was done though, you moved on to a few different demonstrations, from ballistics gel tests to target shooting, and you even fired off a few explosive rounds from the gyro-rifle.
Most of them had surprisingly little trouble figuring out how to use a lever-action shotgun, although their favorite was definitely the break-action single shot.

Maybe it's due to how many pirates use improvised weapons bordering on something you'd see in a fallout game, but it wasn't too bad.

Once they'd got the hang of handling it and seen what it could do, many of them had gained a healthy degree of caution. Some of them perhaps a bit too much, to the point they were afraid.
However, just the threat of a shock was enough for them to get over it, and by the end of the day every single pirate had fired at least one or two 20 gauge shells and/or 9mm rounds.

Despite everything, they seemed to enjoy the concept of a lead-thrower and some were absolutely amused by the noise and recoil, almost like a bunch of teenagers on their first time at the range.

That night, you have SHODAN go over the collar data and analyze who adapted the quickest, and who was the most accurate with their one or two shots.
It's hardly scientific, but more than enough to single out a few guys for the next round of training.

And the next day, the next round goes much better.

This time around everyone's at least familiar with their weapons, and not too terrified or shocked by the noise.
You single out six groups of ten men whose performance last time was above-average, and focus more on training them directly.

Despite having to be reminded of the fundamentals once or twice, they take to it quite well, and by the end of the day they're capable of at least hitting a target at 25 meters.

Their accuracy isn't actually that bad, despite the range being much longer than what they're used to with phasers or plasma weapons.
You guess at least some of their experience does carry over.

You dare say, you're almost proud of these mentally retarded apes.
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>>6050476
David is getting the full dril sergeant experience
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>>6050488
It's the Drill INSTRUCTOR experience. Drill Sergeants are an Army thing, and David was a career crayon muncher.
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>>6050488
INSTRUCTOR FOR YOU, CALL ME SIR AGAIN AND I WILL HAVE YOU SHITTIN BLOOD YOU HEAR ME
>>
>>6050488
>>6050510
I dont see the connection.
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>>6050552
Funnily enough, "Sir" is one of the very few things a Recruit is allowed to call a Drill Instructor these days.
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>>6050650
what went wrong
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>>6050706
You know. They made crayons non-toxic.
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>>6050714
So long as they kept the Elmer's glue the same it's all good. It's what really brings the whole thing together.
>>
>>6050476

The next day, the number of people you train personally is further reduced to just twenty.
Once again, they were selected based on their adaptability and accuracy.

These twenty will be the leaders of their individual squads. They'll also be the ones holding the gyro-rifle, and as such you have to give them a full, proper training course.

That ends up taking you four days, but by the end of it they're all fairly respectable shots, with or without the aim-assist of their rifle.
However, you doubt they'll be able to hit a fast-moving target accurately without it. That's fine though, that's why it exists.

"Alright, weapons clear?!" You shout.

The twenty squad leaders double and triple-check their rifles before setting them down.

"All clear, instructor!" They announce in unison.

"Good work! Return your weapons to the crate, then see to your squadmates and take thirty for lunch."

They follow your orders without complaint, lining up in file and gently placing their rifles in a big plastic crate for you to take back to the ship for analyzing and maintenance.
All except Malix, who stands beside you, rifle slung over his shoulder as he watches them.

"I don't know how the hells you did this." He grumbles. "I never thought i'd see the day."

"They just lacked the proper motivation, that's all."

You turn your head and stare at him.

"...What the hell do you think you're doing, by the way?" You ask him.

"Ah... uh... watching... my men?"

You smack him in the back of the head so hard that he nearly tumbles forwards.
Then you kick him in the ass to ensure he falls forwards.

"Get in the fucking line and return your weapon, shit-stain."

You hear a lot of giggling and snorting coming from those in line, so you give them all a half-second zap as well.
And just like that, everyone's straightened right up. Ah, the wonders of corporal punishment.

["Captain."] SHODAN calls out, grabbing your attention. ["A scouting squad has reported back, and found unusual movement on the third floor. The insects appear to be moving upwards."]

"Oh yeah? Makes sense, the lower floors are getting colder every day."

["Based on their reports, we could assume they've begun moving their nests."]

Oh, that could be bad, actually.
Insects are usually the most temperamental when moving house.

However, that also means you could get your hands on just about every different specimen out there, maybe even a queen if you're lucky.
Lyna's been bugging you for the past few days about it. She still wants genetic samples of them, possibly to create a targeted retrovirus that'll kill the shit out of them.
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>>6051139

It could be a better option than spreading poison or squashing them by hand, but she also wanted living samples in order to study their habits, which will be a massive pain in the ass.

>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.
>Droids are cheap and easy to mass-produce, at least for now. The pirates haven't been trained on them yet, but it'd be better to let them get familiar with the bugs before you send them in person.
>If it's just for gathering live samples, you'd rather go yourself, with your own crew. You have the gear and the training for it, so you don't expect any problems.
>Write-In?
>>
>>6051140
>>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.

Can we retain a small fraction of those pirates whose species suffer the least from using vr/telepresence to keep training as drone riggers while we send the rest to get baptized-with-fire?
>>
>>6051140
Pirates fighting is a good way to leave other parts with fewer defenses

Why not both. Put them in a defensible position to draw some of them out and let them retreat easy for familiarization

We can penetrate deeper with the distraction
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>>6051153
Sure. It wouldn't hurt to have at least one droid per team that could be sacrificed, or take point for safety reasons.
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>>6051140
>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.
A trial by fire if ever there was one.
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>>6051140
>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.
>>
>>6051140
>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.
>go with them as well. you'll be on the background, but jump in the fight in case things get dire
if these were just a normal bug horde, i'd send the slaves alone, but this has every type of bugi don't wanna mess this chance just because a different colored bug spooked the grunts,or you know, an actual threat appears
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>>6051140
>>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.

Its that time.
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>>6051140
Use the pirate squads in a support role to funnel the bugs towards our squad. Have an AI on overwatch and giving directions.
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>>6051140
Actually, switching to this.
>>6051170
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>>6051139
>Lyna's been bugging you
WAAAJAJAJAJAJAJA
>>6051140
>The pirate squad
+
>Droids
Shoot to kill, Lyna can bitch and moan but live specimens come after our first victory. She can study the remains as a treat
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>>6051140
>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.
>>
>>6051245
>>6051140
>support

Druids for sacrificial pawns will be good. Especially for rearguard actions.
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>>6051318
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>>6051320
You jest, but I do want a good amount of spooky shit experts that we can actually field at some point.
Think of a Chaplain like pic related, but they banish Wraiths and Demons instead of sucking up air.
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Do we give them a (reasonably portioned) last meal but not tell them why?
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>>6051347
that would imply we've trained them poorly, which isn't david's way. i propose the oposite; they'll actually get a hero's feast (or more appropriately, some decent fucking food) for when they return
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>>6051140
>>The pirate squads are still green, but you all gotta start somewhere. Send them out, see how they fare.
>>
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>>6051140
Pirates piloting drones as distraction, possibly backed up by other station personnel in drones. In the event they get overwhelmed, make sure it's a location where we can get additional drone backup quickly, or can retreat into either a choke point or a location inhospitable to bugs (extreme cold, hard vacuum, etc.)
Squad leaders with us (in person so they can get more experience, and hopefully not die too much since they're with us) for the capture team, with the METAL GEAR nearby for a quick extract (we were flying around in the station during the original assault, so there should be some places where we can fly around still. We'll plan our ambush/capture around those locations.
I wonder what sort of interesting critters we'll see...

Also, if we could lower the air pressure a bit more, that should limit the bugs' ability to fly, and maybe even their ability to breathe.
We really need more traditional airlocks on this station...
>>
>>6051140

You think over the task at hand for most of that evening, and eventually come to the conclusion that you don't really want to waste this chance by leaving it to a bunch of greenhorns.
That's not to say you aren't going to make use of them, but you honestly don't expect them to be able to bring back live samples in good condition.

That's why you'll be using them as bait.

Which sounds bad, yeah... but you aren't trying to get them killed or anything.
Rather, you want to distract the insects and draw them away from eachother, which will thin their numbers and make your job much easier.

Yes, you intend to partake in this mission as well. Either alone or with SHODAN as support, you'll head out in full armor and ensure you get the samples you need.
Meanwhile, the pirates will focus purely on extermination. Their job is just to much as much noise as possible, which you feel like they'd be able to handle.

You're still slightly worried that they'll get ambushed or end up in a dangerous situation though, which is why you've made a small modification to their squads.
You've taken one man out of each squad and used them to form two new squads, with Malix as the leader of one and another man who performed relatively well as the other.

In their place, you'll be loaning them each a single droid, armed with a shotgun.

The droid, being not alive, can be sacrificed without concern.
It can take point and be the first thing attacked by a bug instead of a real person. It can block doors or draw attention, allowing the rest of the squad time to escape.

And it can also serve as a babysitter, since they'll be piloted remotely by station natives.

You do have the beta AIs watching their video feeds from time to time, but it's better to just have someone there in person making sure they don't get into trouble.

The droids can also be trusted a bit more, so you don't feel bad about giving each of them a couple of grenades each.
That alone should resolve a situation or two that the pirates wouldn't be able to handle on their own.

Finally, the armor you've decided on for them is a titanium-based plasteel alloy plate armor, focused on protecting vital areas from sharp mandibles and poison stingers.
You would have just equipped them with Carbor, but carbon is at a premium on the station right now since it's being used to produce food.

The performance isn't bad at all with titanium instead though. In fact, it's even improved a bit over old model carbor, since the plastic has been replaced with some crazy polymer from earth.
It's some weird polymer that's roughly on-par with kevlar as far as performance goes. You don't know what it is exactly, but SHODAN recommended it.

The titanium is also a particularly high-strength alloy from earth, made with a mixture of aluminum and vanadium.

You might have to look over all your old designs and see what materials can be replaced with more performant variants.
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>>6052245
How many of the human expats are up and walking right now? It might be time to get a design committee together for the MK2 Power Armor.
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>>6052263

None just yet, they're all still frozen in storage since there wasn't room or resources for them all on the Metal Gear during transit, and the situation on the station was unknown.
However, they could be unfrozen at any time and assist in any projects you're actively working on. You simply haven't gotten around to it since you've been dealing with the pirates.
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>>6051350
when they return they'll get roasted b u g



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