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TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST

"Helm, set course to Agrippa ." your words are crisp. They cut the curtain of silence, and the bridge explodes into a frenzy of activity. There's confusion, of course, Agrippa makes some level of sense, but still, an explanation is due, especially when you reveal that your next target is Callisto. "I want a data analysis on the battle on my desk by 0700", you continue, signaling out your second in command. With her background as an analyst and nothing more to do, you can expect an overly detailed report, full of speculation, but tightly grounded in the fact.

"Sensors, I want to keep that *thing* monitored." Not that its going to go anywhere quickly. Or going to become especially hard to miss. It sit there, seemingly indifferent to the fleet it's swatted out of the sky, methodically tearing at the red planet that had once housed over a hundred million human souls. Still, giving orders feels... like something at least. Your mouth still feels full of ash, but there is motion, and where there is motion there is hope. There's an almost palpable sense of relief at having things to do, things to distract everyone from the looming reality that the entire fleet, along with lovers, friends, rivals and enemies has been wiped from the cosmos. Some of your crew are native martians, their home is gone, along with their families. Earth may be soon to follow.

"Sir, what about contacting high command?" the question, posed by Gregor Ivanovich, communications, breaks that dark line of thought. You just shake your head "Not now. The risk is too high. Our mission too important". There's a rumbling on the bridge as people mull this over. This is *technically* not you mutinously declaring your independence, technically, its certainly unorthodox. The bright side is, if earth is destroyed, there'll be no one to convoke a court of admiralty. Your crew is loyal, your order makes some degree of sense, right now, you offer direction in chaos, and they'll follow that, even if it is, possibly, an act of treason.

As the bridge buzzes with activity, you half tune out, considering the situation. Your ship is crewed by experienced officers, but the majority of the actual crew is as green as they get. Draftees mostly. This is your first real command. No pressure, considering that your ship now comprises the entire home fleet. Given recent events, you suppose that makes you and Admiral now? This almost twists a bitter smile from you. You've had command all of a month. A replacement for the late Captain Peter Ivanovich, who at the ripe age of 65 keeled over of a heart attack. You're still not sure how you feel about your luck, in inheriting this command.

You have a day before you'll reach Agrippa . In that time, people are going to want to know what the plan is, how you're going to do... whatever it is you're going to do. You are also expected to make some kind of rallying speech, address the elephant in the room.

1.) What is your speech about? What is your mission?

A. To defeat the MESSENGERs and take back the system of course. You, and this ship, are all that's left of the fleet, and by god, you're going to kick those bastards back to the hell they came from. You don't know how you're going to do that, but that's the mission. Surely something in the solar system can harm them?

B. Uhhhh. Good question. You don't know! Give a speech about the unbreakable human spirit and how we're all brothers in blood and pain, and how we need to rally in the face of this tragedy. Avoid the question of *what* exactly you're going to do while you try to figure it out yourself.

C. To save humanity. By running far far away from these monsters that are going to destroy earth. You're going to gather resources, and survivors and then pack your things and get out of dodge. Present this with deep regret, you don't want to abandon earth in its time of need, but you don't see another path, humanity must live on.

D. C, except instead of deep regret, do it with burning fury. Not sorrow, wrath. You're furious at the slaughter, and the carnage and the loss of life, you hate this situation, and you hate the MESSENGERS, and one day, after you've saved humanity itself, your great grand-kids will come and retake this system. But that day isn't now.

E. To defend earth. You're going to be the shield that protects earth from the MESSENGERs. You are a state of the art ship, armed with the best drat crew anyone has ever seen, and you're going to put it between the MESSENGER and earth. Skip the part where this is clearly suicide. Talk about how you have faith in your crew, and your ship.

F. God will provide. Obviously. Divine interference will empower you to save everyone and beat back the enemy. Lead the ship in a rousing nondenominational prayer to whatever deity they worship! This has got to work! (This will probably not work). If there is a God, he has so far not shown any sign of meddling directly.

G. You don't have a plan, so talk about how you hate the MESSENGERs. Rouse the people to wrath, ignite their spirit, talk about the EVIL that has come into this system, about the families of the dead, about the horrible destruction of mars. Put it into context, remind them of the fact that their families are likely dead too. You're not sure what you'll accomplish with this, but it'll get them riled up.

H. Wail incoherently into your microphone for 15 minutes. Flail your arms wildly while you do this. Motivate your people through strangeness. Change the pitch of your wailing periodically, while adding nonsense words.

I. Despair. All is lost. Tell your crew in no uncertain terms. Humanity is dead. We're all dead. Everything is done. We're hosed two ways to Tuesday. Suggest people kill themselves to get it over with. You're done. Ramble about how all is lost while weeping. Do this until someone sedates you.

J. I have an awesome speech! Fill in.


2.) What is "the plan" you're telling your people, why are we headed to Agrippa and then Callisto?

A. The secret super weapon of course. There is *totally* a weapon that can kill the aliens in Callisto. Its a... uh... super missile of doom. Its full of... antimatter, and has enough power to pulverize a planet. They were testing it around Callisto for secrecy! You're lying, and your men will be crushed when they find out. Those who believe you anyway, its a bit of a far fetched story, or the signs of someone going mad.

B. A, except you actually believe there's a super weapon at the Callisto research base. You... have no reasonable basis to believe this, but maybe if you believe super hard it will happen? That's not at all how reality works. But what else have you got?

C. You had a dream! Your dream told you to go to Callisto! In it the messengers of the heavens danced and twirled, and you saw the depths of truth! Truth is in Callisto! This will probably be sufficient cause for your officers to demand a psychiatric evaluation! Leading by dreams is not likely to inspire people!

D. You're gathering resources in preparation to head out to Alpha Centauri. You have no plans to grab any civilians, you're going to make *this* ship self sustaining and the people aboard are your first priority. Civilians are not a luxury you can afford. Sucks to be them, but you are confident 200 people is enough to start a new colony.

E. You're garbing as many people and resources as you can cram aboard this ship. Just this ship. You're getting out of the system and setting up a new colony. You're not going to drag any additional ships or anything that might make you a target. People are the priority

F. E, except supplies and resources are the priority.

G. You're garbing every ship and person and resource you can find. See a ship? Grab a ship. See civilians? Grab civilians. Hydroponic supplies? Sure. You know this might make you a target, but you need every edge you can find.

K. As G, but everything including the kitchen sink. You're going to see if you can put thrusters on Agrippa, and strip everything off of Calisto, and every pinnace and mining ship you can find. Heck, maybe grab a few stray asteroids on the way out. This will *highly* limit your speed, and make you a bigger target, but hey, all your resources.

L. I have another plan! Fill in.


3.) During the day heading to Agrippa, what do you do?

A. I sit on the bridge, monitoring everything. I've been up for a long time, I'm exhausted. Pop some amphetamines, stay on the bridge. Don't even shower.

B. I'm going to watch footage of the battle. Over and over. And over. You're going to burn that battle into your retinas.

C. I order RnR for everyone, including myself, bridge will be manned by a skeleton crew, and you'll catch some sleep, shower, and just try to get your thoughts in order.

D. Start a full inventory of everything we have. I do mean everything. I want to know spare parts, and missiles, and everything on and off the manifesto.

E. Meet with my staff, I'll have a staff officer meeting and get their opinions on the situation and our options.

F. E, but each individually.

G. I'm going to meet with the medical officers, and get their opinion on how to handle the... stress this has put on me and the crew.

H. I have another idea, I'm going to... (fill in)


4.) What readiness do you want your crew at?

A. Battlestations, still. Some of your crew have been up for 72+ hours and the sure smell like it. Performance may degrade, but you need them up and ready.

B. Yellow Alert, 8 hour sleep shifts for everyone who isn't a crucial position.

C. Blue Alert. Regular shifts, everyone who's been on shift will take a break. This is the usual ship operating procedure.

D. RnR, skeleton crew for most tasks, more time off for people, less alertness.

E. Cryosleep time! I start putting all non-essential people into cryosleep! This has a 5% mortality rate, and is highly unpleasant, it will highly affect the morale of the crew and reduce your effectiveness.

F. Magenta Alert. That's the reactor breach code. Behave as if the reactor were about to fuse for no good reason.

G. Polygon Alert. That's not even a real thing.

H. Some other state of readiness. Fill in.

TheCog fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Apr 26, 2016

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Mr. Nemo
Feb 4, 2016

I wish I had a sister like my big strong Daddy :(
So, as the last ship of Earth's fleet we decided to...abandon it? Without saying goodbye even. A bit pessimistic, even if it makes sense. Can't say I'm very happy with it.


For now

3. E
4. C


edit: shouldn't vote while tired

Mr. Nemo fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Mar 5, 2016

Not Alex
Oct 9, 2012

Cut loose before the god eaters show up.
The fleet is no more. We can pin our hopes on stumbling across some magical kryptonite/mcguffin or we can fight on our terms. We can try and hurt the bastards.

Backtracking the MESSENGERS; where did they appear to come from and how far away is it?

My plan is to pick up the scientists on Callisto and reforge our ship into laboratory of hate and dark science and fling it at their homeworld, cold sleeping in shifts, and unleash a hundred different types of hell upon their populace.

Note: this plan makes several massive assumptions and requires ludicrous levels of adaptability and perseverance. But vengeance is a very human emotion.

It's possible by the time we get to Callisto that I will have calmed down.

##Vote
1. D
2. L See above
3. E To convince me not to follow through on Plan L.
4. C It's not like we can do anything if we catch the the eye of these faster-than-light, fleet-swatting monstrosities. May as well be well rested.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
##vote
1: D
2: K
3: E
4: B

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



##Vote
1 d
2 k
3 d
4 b


Keep the crew busy, focused, and aware of the mission.

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!



##Vote
1. D, A
2. D, G, A
3. F, C, E
4. C, B, D

turn it up TURN ME ON
Mar 19, 2012

In the Grim Darkness of the Future, there is only war.

...and delicious ice cream.
Man, this is good. I love the writing.

The best answer is to give a rousing speech filled with wrath, but pragmatic. Then take that pragmatism and extend it to the civilians, and Battlestar Galactica it. Everything that can fly, should. Let's get as many of the bright minds away from the upcoming slaughter.

Also, the ship needs to rest and process what happened a little bit. We're going to have our hands full once we get our fleet underway and will want the crew operating at 100% then, not as we slowly move towards Callisto.

##Vote

1. D, C
2. K, G
3. C, D
4. D

Elfface
Nov 14, 2010

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na
IRON JONAH
## Vote
1. J, C
2. K
3. A
4. B


The way we see it, there's only one chance for Earth. These things can travel faster than light, destroy whole planets and out best weapons didn't even get close enough to scratch the paint. If the enemy wants Earth, they're taking it no matter what we do.

So we give them a choice. Go for earth, or go for the fleet we're building. If they follow us, it buys Earth some time. If they don't, we save as many lives as possible.

We tell the crew this. They're military, sometimes we have to give our lives for others. We'll try and lure the MESSENGERS away, and if that fails, we keep what's left of humanity safe.

RandallODim
Dec 30, 2010

Another 1? Aww man...

SquadronROE posted:

Man, this is good. I love the writing.

The best answer is to give a rousing speech filled with wrath, but pragmatic. Then take that pragmatism and extend it to the civilians, and Battlestar Galactica it. Everything that can fly, should. Let's get as many of the bright minds away from the upcoming slaughter.

Also, the ship needs to rest and process what happened a little bit. We're going to have our hands full once we get our fleet underway and will want the crew operating at 100% then, not as we slowly move towards Callisto.

##Vote

1. D, C
2. K, G
3. C, D
4. D


Seeing as my desire to just go gently caress the Messengers up seems unpopular, I support this plan.

##Vote
1. D
2. K
3. D
4. C

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!


Elfface posted:

## Vote
1. J, C
2. K
3. A
4. B


The way we see it, there's only one chance for Earth. These things can travel faster than light, destroy whole planets and out best weapons didn't even get close enough to scratch the paint. If the enemy wants Earth, they're taking it no matter what we do.

So we give them a choice. Go for earth, or go for the fleet we're building. If they follow us, it buys Earth some time. If they don't, we save as many lives as possible.

We tell the crew this. They're military, sometimes we have to give our lives for others. We'll try and lure the MESSENGERS away, and if that fails, we keep what's left of humanity safe.

This is a great plan. I like it.

I ride bikes all day
Sep 10, 2007

I shitposted in the same thread for 2 years and all I got was this red text av. Ask me about my autism!



College Slice

TheCog posted:


I won't get into relativity in this post because its confusing and hard to explain without going into a lot of detail.

The relativity stuff isn't that bad - the short of it is that as you move relative to a source of electromagnetic radiation, the speed of that radiation coming towards you or going away from you stays the same. The way it does this is that the radiation waves shorten (blueshift) or lengthen (redshift). Redshift far enough and you get infrared, microwaves, and radio waves. No big deal, as while they are dangerous to both human and machine, they can be shielded against relatively easily. Blueshift gets you ultraviolet, x-rays, and eventually gamma rays. These far more energetic cosmic rays are both far more deadly and far harder to shield off.

That's my layman understanding, anyways.

Cog, since you're going at least somewhat "hard" scifi, how are these ships dealing with inertia?

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST

Bularin posted:

The relativity stuff isn't that bad - the short of it is that as you move relative to a source of electromagnetic radiation, the speed of that radiation coming towards you or going away from you stays the same. The way it does this is that the radiation waves shorten (blueshift) or lengthen (redshift). Redshift far enough and you get infrared, microwaves, and radio waves. No big deal, as while they are dangerous to both human and machine, they can be shielded against relatively easily. Blueshift gets you ultraviolet, x-rays, and eventually gamma rays. These far more energetic cosmic rays are both far more deadly and far harder to shield off.

That's my layman understanding, anyways.

Cog, since you're going at least somewhat "hard" scifi, how are these ships dealing with inertia?

Full disclosure, this was one of the "insurmountable" problems I faced when I tried to write this setting. One of the concessions we have to make towards sci-fi, is that sometimes its more fantasy than science. I'm not a rocket scientist or a professional in any related field.

Ok, that out of the way, a curious effect was discovered in 2090, when certain meshed high entropy alloys are placed in a lattice and bombarded with gamma radiation, they output a weak gravitational field. This is similar to the photoelectric effect in some ways. It also bears some similarity to how magnetic fields are generated by the movement of electrons. The phenomenon is still ill understood, but the bottom line is, it allows us to generate gravitational fields, with the caveat that it requires large surfaces of high entropy alloys in a mesh and a large output of energy. The Achiles has a single power plant dedicated exclusively to power these, which normally are used to generate the gravity in the ship, and which, during acceleration and deceleration are used to dampen inertia. They're called the inertial dampeners for obvious reasons.

This technology was briefly applied to make gravity lances during the martian war, but their range was extremely limited and extremely power intensive, missiles proved to be much more useful and reliable.

I am aware, that given the rules of physics in the real world, this would probably not work. We're rolling with it, because its the best I could come up with!

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!


I'm gonna start brainstorming how to create a gravitational super weapon to take back the system.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
Dibs on figuring out how to give them a cold. That always works.

Lazaruise
Jan 25, 2009
I remember reading a story back when I was like 11 or 12 and in it they had learne how to create miniature black holes (kinda like how everyone was afraid the LHC would do) and weaponized it. We should do that.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Lazaruise posted:

I remember reading a story back when I was like 11 or 12 and in it they had learne how to create miniature black holes (kinda like how everyone was afraid the LHC would do) and weaponized it. We should do that.

Also, its a pretty epic engine system :D Make a gravity source and fall towards it at the speed of light :v: Have missiles fall towards the blackhole they are generating, which then eats the ship they impact.

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST
I'm gonna try using the votecounter for this vote, then do a manual count to compare.

I intend to update tonight, but I make no promises!

Votecounter tallies
1. D wins.
2. K wins.
3. D wins
4. B wins.

Manual Votecount:
1. D wins. Pretty decisively. We're mad.
2. K wins.
3. Votes were, E, E, E, D, F, C, A, D. E wins. When voting options, please make a voting block and then the explanations separately so the parser can properly process.
4. C, C, B, B, C, D, B, C. C wins.

Please folks, properly format votes going forward, it helps a lot! Thank you!

EDIT: Not gonna finish tonight, see you all tomorrow!

TheCog fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Mar 7, 2016

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST
You take your leave from the bridge. Your staff is good and there is much to prepare. You wait till you're in your quarters before sending out the notice that the alert level is reduced to blue. You're not there to hear it, but you can imagine the collective sigh of relief, tinged with weariness, as posts are exchanged. The bridge will still be on alert but all the key officers will be on break. Except your second in command, Kate Wissledorf, who will keep the bridge manned in your absence. She'll probably use the time to begin working on the combat analysis.

You then send out a notification to all your officers. Meeting at 1900, in six hours, that gives them time to rack out. Then, you sit at your computer. You have a speech to write. Out of courtesy to your officers, you're going to wait till the meeting is over, so they know what's coming, but your plan is clear. Plan Second Home Fleet. It's a simple, rudimentary plan, but its the best you've got in a rather dire situation. In a gambit that most poker players would blanch at, you're going to gather every ship, person and munition between the asteroid belt and the kupier belt, and begin to flee, if you escape unopposed, then you've saved a small poerion of the human race, hopefully enough to begin anew, and to plot your retribution for the destruction of earth. If you are chased by the MESSENGERS, then you've bought earth valuable time, at the mere cost of all your lives. No one said it was an easy decision, but you're confident its your only option.



You glance from face to face as you prepare your words. They arrived one by one, and sat in a respectful, worried, quiet, the small talk and joking that usually accompanied the wait for the final few people conspicuously absent. Before you spoke, you could see the coiled tension, the fear, the grief, the utter emotional exhaustion. These were the faces of people who'd witnessed the utter ruination of everything they had held dear. People who had just been dealt a major blow, and who knew, even if they wouldn't acknowledge it yet, that a greater one would arrive. You've known these men and women for a little under a month for the most part. Before you shared a cordial, professional relationship, now a different bond binds you to them.

You speak. For a moment, you are not in this room. You feel yourself outside your own mind, watching from above as a stranger speaks. A cold, rational logic guiding you. Pulling and tugging at emotional bonds, as you carefully lay out your haphazard plan, explain the idea, the hope. You tap into that vein of despair, and channel it into their rage, add a pinch of hope, a possibility of survival, and a clear objective. The impassive observer in you noticing how they go from despair, to an almost eager, greedy focus. Its true, your remember from a half forgotten book, man wants nothing more than a hope to cling to, however feeble.

In an instant, the moment is gone, you are you again. You lean back from the forward, eager crouch, and let your staff speak, you've planted the hope, now they water it. The discussion is long, and the opinions sharp. At the end of it, however, you have officers with a will to fight again, rather then ashen specters possessed by despair.


Kate Wissledorf, Head Analyst and Second in Command - The one person on this ship you'd met before, Kate Wissledorf was a year below you at the academy, and you...

1.)
A. Got along fabulously! You were part of a tight knit group of friends, and that never really faded. There are many memories of parties, and intense study sessions, and the adventures that only young people in a highly regimented enviorment can get up to. You get along professionally, but very well.
B. You did more than just "get along", you were on and off lovers. This was illicit of course, no fraternizing in the ranks, but your romance was intense and passionate, that has been replaced with a warm friendship, now that it could wind up with you facing a court of admiralty.
C. B, but it did not end cordially. Not one bit. It was a bitter, heartbreaking resolution, and the coldness that fills the air is testament to that.
D. You were rivals of course. You competed for the few spots as a star-ship captain, and you beat her out in the final tests. That rivalry still smolders, and you're half convinced that she's gunning for your job. You're not so sure she wants it anymore given the current climate.
E. You knew each other. Casually. That's it really. You recognized the name, maybe shared a class, but nothing beyond that. Your relationship is strictly professional.
F. You hated each other. This wasn't a mere rivalry. She tried to get you expelled, and you've never forgiven her for it. The history of animosity is deep and bitter, and there is no forgiveness there. The *only* reason you tolerated her presence on your ship was her skill as an Analyst and your relatively junior status in the fleet

.
She is very skilled at setting her emotions aside. She thinks deeply upon your plan, barely speaking for the majority of the meeting, but she has some clear reservations. She believes that grabbing every ship you encounter is non-feasible, mining ships, pinnaces and transports are sluggish, and can't match the speed of your ship, they probably can't even manage a speed the tenth of the speed of light, this is going to make fleeing to alpha centauri near impossible. If you want the messengers to react, she believes, you need to have a credible chance of making it away. This means taking only fast ships.

Gregor Ivanovich, Chief communications officer: The son of the late Peter Ivanovich, Gregor must have graduated the academy a few years after you. You'd have to check his personnel file to be sure. From the NUSSR, you know his family has proudly served in the military for going on six generations now. Their reputation says they're true Russians. Cold, rugged, tough people. Gregor doesn't look the role, he's pale, lanky, and his uniform sleeves always seem a size too small. The man has an easy smile, but seems reserved. He speaks... twelve? languages, something like that. He declined offers from three different corporations who wanted him to join their communications system teams, in favor of joining the NUSSR army. You're pretty sure his Academy requirements were waived, as the man has the equivalent of a PhD in information systems and communication algorithms.

When he first joined the meeting, he was as pale as a ghost, but your plan seems to have put color in him, he's sternly, but enthusiastically discussing morale handling with Adia and Dr Himura. He's fully on board with the plan, with no reservations. It seems hope comes easy to him. You guess that after losing your father, losing the world is just the next logical step in the progression of poo poo hitting the fan.

Adia Kipruto, Chief science officer - Adia is tall, extremely tall for a woman. Technically she's Dr Kipruto, but she has always insisted that in private everyone call her Adia. The woman is the spirit of warmth personified. More than one tense situation has been diffused by her bubbly personality, and her records show nothing but glowing reviews. She's a specialist in physics, with a concentration in astrophysics, and space dynamics. She was actually a researcher on Keranos, until the draft started up, where she promptly enlisted. There are some nasty rumors about her family being deeply involved with government corruption in Kenya.

From the begining of the meeting her usually cheerfulness has been dimmed. Muted. Even now, you can feel an undercurrent of unease. Her passion seems forced. There's a very real possibility she's given up on some level, although she's trooping though. You make a note to refer her to psychological evaluation. You suspect Dr Himura and his people are going to be busy on that front. A problem for another moment.

Haru Himura, Chief medical officer. - The oldest officer here by far, he's sixty, and was, at one time, one of the most respected neuro-surgeons in the world. That ended when he was accidentally exposed to a mildly neurotoxic gas spill. His hands were too shaky to continue practicing. There's a five year gap in his life there, and the next thing in his records is that he enlisted, as a raw recruit. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but his fine motor control is fairly limited, especially in his right hand. Dr Himura hasn't let this taint his... peculiar personality. He's practically neurotic about some things, notably beng properly addressed, but the rest of the time he has a wry, dark humor, and a quick intuition.

Dr Himura looked no more disturbed than usual at the begining of the meeting, other than a difficult to notice twitch at the edge of his mouth. His only comment on the plan was a simple "Well, no one will be able to say that this tour of duty was boring", accompanied with a little smile. There were only a couple of polite nods before the conversation turned pragmatic.

Abel Borug ,Chief navigator - Abel is nothing if not loud, he's short and stocky but his presence never goes unnoticed. His voice is deep and booming, and he does not apparently possess an inside voice. Abel has no family, but he makes up for it by making friends with everyone he encounters. For all his bluster, the man is an incredibly competent navigator, and could probably plot the course of the ship with nothing but pen and paper. He doesn't talk about his past, and his files start with him joining the french foreign legion at the ripe age of 23, nothing before that.

In this meeting he is no quieter than usual, but he has sporadic moments of silence, and a grim grimace where usually there would be smiles. He frowns when you propose the plan, and begins to scribble notes furiously. Its math, that much you can tell, but other than that its beyond you. When you dismiss the meeting he wanders off, mumbling to himself, drawing diagrams on his pad.

Andy Peregrino, Chief engineer - Andy is in fact his real, legal name, apparently a compromise between his parents, who couldn't decide what name to go with. Andy had seven other siblings in home fleet. Had. On most days, Andy is the image of a respectful organized officer, and he takes meticulous detailed notes, with an impeccable handwriting. Its also quite well known that on shore leave he's yet to lose a drinking game. Andy holds four separate patents, he's explained one of them to you before, and your only conclusion was a deep gratitude that you're not an engineer or involved in the manufacturing of rapid assembly buildings.

Andy came to the meeting with his face steeled into a stony mask. Clean shaven, freshly showered, you really doubted he'd gotten a wink of sleep. No one had the heart to give their condolences on his loss, and risk breaking the facade. Of the adherents to your plan, Andy is by far the most passionate, although he's very controlled about it, its clear something inside him is on a slow burn.

Petra Conaway, Chief tactical officer - A native martian, she has a single, long scar that runs from the top of her eyebrow down, over her neck and into her uniform. Whenever anyone asks how she got it, she claims she got it fighting a space bear while farming turnips on mars. Mars doesn't... didn't have a real agricultural industry, and there are no space bears. As far as you can ascertain she got it during an action described in her files as The Plot of the 21st. While its not clear how she got it, during the operation her entire team died. As the sole survivor she was put on indefinite medical leave pending "reevaluation". With the arrival of the MESSENGERs, she was returned to active duty. If you had contact with earth and free time, you could request the full file, but alas, not is not the time. Petra has a love of tall tales, and to hear her talk you'd think that space was full of pirates until she came along and took care of them single-handedly. That said, when action is called for, she is dour, curt and humorless. Delivering information and advice in tightly controlled bursts. She has an incredible mind for figuring short term payoffs against longer term gains, and she's apparently quite a poker player.

During this meeting, she had her action face on, curt, rapid responses, evaluating things coldly and in terms of percentages. She seems to think that a.) The harbingers coming after the convoy is a low odds scenario in the best case, and that b.) adding slower, unmaneuverable ships reduces our odds of survival by an order of magnitude.

Ralth Pendercost, Chief of security. - Ralth is a marine, through and through and that much is immediately obvious upon seeing him. He carries himself with the weight of someone who's used to being called into action at an instants notice. His personality is amicable but he makes it very clear that he's not interested in making friends. This is in part due to the regulations regarding the detachment of marines on the ship. They are an anti-mutiny measure, and via both formal regulations and informal ship-board culture, they're kept isolated from the rest of the crew. While Andrew is technically subordinate to you, he also has access to a series of protocols that allow him to shut you down if you somehow turned mutinous.

Andrew took your plan in stride, its clear he's distressed with all that's going on, and doesn't have much to add to a plan that's well outside his specialization. He's just happy to have marching orders.

Jack White, Intelligence Officer: The one person who's personnel file is surprisingly devoid of anything interesting at all. The man is young, and has a completely spotless record. Joined the US army at 18, went to officers school, got assigned to a project called Nemesis, had a couple tours as security in embassies, the was assigned to an information warfare project called Golden Orange, which, as far as you can tell, has something to do with the decoy missiles this ship is equipped with. When the MESSENGERs showed up, was assigned to this vessel. The man knows his way around information systems, and seems generally competent. He has an easy manner in conversation, but seems to blend into the background when he's not talking. He's not a big talker, unless you get him in one of his talkative moods.

He arrived at the meeting looking utterly ruffled, a little probing showed that instead of racking out, he'd been watching the simulation of the battle, over and over, for something like six hours. The man hadn't even showered. The whole meeting his mind seemed to be on other things, although the plan did spark something in him, as he regained a bit of his focus. He obviously needs to sleep for 16 hours.

That over with, you go, and carefully prepare. You shave, put on your dress uniform, and then sit at your computer. Your message interrupts everything going on in the ship, with the announcement, "a message from your captain, please tune in to 7". You're sure that everyone is listening, be it on the screens in the cafeteria, or on their personal coms. You can feel the tension in the ship rippling through you, you're nervous, but you can't let that show, your crew is more nervous. You can almost feel everyone holding their breath in anticipation. You begin.

"Men and women of the Achilles. We stand today on the edge of despair. We have stood on the precipice, and seen the terrible fall before us. Today, we witnessed the destruction of the majority of Home Fleet, the destruction of mars and the slaughter of millions, including children, civilians, and family members. We saw our friends and comrades die, a horrible death, flailing impotently against a doom beyond them. Home fleet died willingly, gallantly, in the force of an oncoming storm they could not stop. They deserved better. The citizens of mars died, to a man, screaming, not knowing the doom that had beset them. They deserved better. Soon, the citizens of earth will meet an equally cruel fate. They'll be destroyed, powerless to stop an apocalypse we did not ask for, did not earn. They too, deserve better. "

You pause for breath, your hands are trembling with suppressed rage, but you barely notice. You have other things to focus on.

"But, such is the cruel dagger of destiny, we cannot save the dead. We can only avenge them. I will not mince words, for you have seen what I have seen, and simple platitudes will not shield you from the truth. There is no weapon we possess that can even hurt the MESSENGERs, there is no clever strategy, hidden weapon or last minute savior waiting. Earth is dead. It falls to us then, to carry the flame of humanity. It falls to us, to find every single survivor we can, and to carry them to safety, to build a new humanity, far from here, away from the MESSENGERS, to raise a new generation. It falls to us, to sow the seeds of our revenge, so that our grandchildren, or our grandchildren's grandchildren, to return to this system, bearing new weapons and technologies, to destroy the MESSENGERS, to find their home-worlds and their purpose, and to set them to the flame. We must live. We must save that spark of humanity, so that it may become a burning pyre in which our enemies will roast.

We will run now. Not because we want to. Not out of fear, or a misplaced desire to live at all costs. No, we will flee, because we have a duty, a duty to the dead of Home Fleet, to the angry waiting spirits of the dead at mars, to the soon to be dead citizens of earth, a duty to live. A duty to return, bringing ruin and vengeance. We too, deserve better than this"

Your voice has risen, and you realize you're yelling into the microphone, your even tone long gone. You are full of fury and brimstone, you would mourn, but that would do no good.

"This will be a day remembered in infamy, for we must abandon everything we promised to protect. But I vow this; We will return. We will reclaim the Earth, and we will bring with us all the fires of hell."

You stop, cut the transmission. That was enough. Your breath is ragged, your throat is sore, a fire you hadn't felt burns inside you, and, you're sure, inside your crew too. You have a purpose. You will fulfill it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't have time to write the Agrippa stuff, but also didn't want to leave you guys hanging.

We'll update tomorrow, vote on the Kate option.

Please format votes properly

Also feel free to post questions for your staff. There's enough time between the meeting and arriving at Agrippa that you can get them individually

TheCog fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Apr 26, 2016

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
##vote

1. Tsundere; A; E; B; D
(You grew up together and were the best of friends until something happened in 11th grade summer break. She became cold, distant, sometimes even hostile to others. You're able to work with her professionally, you still hold her in high esteem, and you had secretly hoped to win her over again before this Messenger business happened)

Questions: Can we split up the fleet in two? Fast ships going one way, slow ships going another. Or both going to the same destination but the slow ships being loaded to the gills with crap and put on an autopilot.

Can we give our officers an instruction like this, only worded better? "One of the defining traits of humanity is having emotions. We'll all run into a situation where the gravity of this situation, the pains from our losses, when all of this becomes too much to bear. When that happens I'm ordering you ahead of time to take a breather. Talk to me, talk to medical, listen to music, grab a snack, take a nap or a shower."

Can we start thinking of our immediate subordinates et. al., as our de facto family now?

Elfface
Nov 14, 2010

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na
IRON JONAH
##VOTE

1. D


I like the idea of us having a rival... Naturally this will cause us problems later, but fun and interesting problems.

Lazaruise
Jan 25, 2009
##vote

1. B; A; E; D

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!



##Vote
1. D; A


The illicit lovers thing has been played out. I'd much rather have a capable rival to help hone our decisions and challenge us when we may be making a bad one. If others disagree, then close friends works, too.

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!


Oh, and I'm loving the story so far! Can't wait to see where it goes from here!

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
##Vote

1)A

Just started reading, this is awesome.

Not really interested in reading drama when there's logistics and space explosions to worry about.

Pretty sure grabbing supplies, as many people as we can carry and as many ships as can keep up and cyro sleeping to the nearest potential world is the best bet.

If we've got a long term fuel source and hydroponics we should be more or less self sufficient.,

Outrail fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Mar 9, 2016

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



##Vote
1 C; D; F


Shh, you. Emotional drama is at its best during space explosions.

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST


Agrippa. An improvised base designed as a logistics clearing house. It began as two cargo haulers bolted to an asteroid, and over the last year has grown to accommodate over 2000 people. Its where missiles are stored, as well as food, medical supplies, and anything a fleet stationed in the asteroid belt indefinitely might need. In it are a mix of contractors and civilians on the logistics side, staff dedicated to maintaining order and staff from ships that was waiting for shipment back home or being treated for some degree of injury.

You know the commander of the station, of course, Hakim Kaleel, a master of logistics. The popular story is that he took the job on Agrippa to get away from his four wives. Further, that his incredible talent for logistics comes from having to manage four wives and twenty plus children. You don't know if its true, but the man has a reputation for being incredibly soft-hearted.

Its been a stressful 24 hours, you slept, some, but the images of the previous day haunted you. That morning, you reviewed the combat analysis. Estimated ranges, a gamma band of weird radiation that can't be explained, the force-field, all shrouded in concise speculation. The beams looked like some form of highly advanced gravitic lance, and the suspicion is that the wall that stopped the majority of the missiles was some variation of that kind of technology. Its not something we even speculated was possible. There's no definite way to investigate if the beams have a travel time, some speculation on possibly using the dampeners as deflectors, with a footnote that its not really a feesable solution at this time. The summary is concise, there's no way, given our current level of technology that we could defeat even one of the MESSENGERs.

Twenty four hours after the destruction of home fleet, you finally spot Agrippa. Its immediately obvious something is wrong. The tight-beam tower, designed for communicating with earth is in pieces, a quick scan shows a breach. A faint murmur travels the bridge. "Comms, try to raise the station on local frequencies" you order. "Wisseldorf, Peregrino, analysis on what we're seeing please". They quickly converse. "The breach on the comms tower looks to have been produced internally, given the blowout" Kate rapidly points out. That's... disturbing news to say the least. "Captain," Gregor interrupts "We've raised someone on local radio frequencies. Audio only. ". Makes sense, radio is the universal backup and the channel reserved for emergency transmissions. Not quite as fast as tight beam, but not as fragile. "Put them on" you order.

You take a breath "This is Captain Hang Feng of the Achilles. To whom am I speaking?"

There's a ragged breath from the other side. "The Achilles?" a pause "Thank loving god. You don't know what a clusterfuck this has become Captain". There's another pause. "I'm... acting commander Jacob Smith, I was the uh communications officer" he continues. Your staff is already on it, his record shows up on your screen, junior staff, according to this he's seventh in command.

"Acting commander?" you ask "What happened to commander Kaleel?". A pause, it lasts a few seconds "He hung himself." a few more seconds "Right before everything went to poo poo." You take an instant to process this, this is... a blow. You feel it right in your gut.

"What happened?"

"Well, we all saw what happened at mars, didn't we?" starts Jacob "The commander said he was going to his room to prepare a speech, and when someone checked on him two hours later, he'd hung himself." he pauses for a few second, you assume he's composing himself.

"Well, then his second in command, Makuma took charge. Things quickly went to poo poo. A group of civilians and contractors, they wanted off the station. They were gonna take the freight haulers, and the pinnace and try to make it to earth. Fat load of good that would do them, they'd be hosed, but that's what they wanted. Makuma said no. She shut down all access to the vessels remotely. She said we all either died together or lived together. That was a mistake. They got organized, and an hour later tried to seize the ships. They succeeded, but with the remote shutdown there was nothing they could do. They then seized the comms tower. Makuma sent in marines. It was a trap. A bloodbath, they'd rigged explosives all along the main hallway. They killed or trapped two thirds of the marines. Makuma got mad. Ordered the bridge to be locked down. The mutineers tried to take it. Someone set off an asteroid mining charge in the bridge. They... well, that's when I was suddenly in charge. I closed down the secondary command center. Changed the ship codes and destroyed the computers, and then moved here, to the radio station, waiting for help to arrive. I've been trying to keep things together, but... I'm not trained for this captain. Everyone is looking to me. I can't do this. I have marines holding the armory, and one of the supply bays, because we could fortify those, but that's it, the mutineers control all the docking bays, and the majority of the base. The hallways are a deathtrap. Order has completely collapsed, a number of people not with the mutineers have given up, they've raided the medical supplies and are doing who knows what. I have some video footage from before the security hub went down, its... Captain, I'm terrified out of my mind, what do we do?"

You pause for a second. "Mr Smith, we are plotting our next course of action. Please hold." you signal to comms to cut the transmission. Your staff quickly present you with a number of options.
2.)
A. gently caress this. We're out. Its a tragedy, but you don't have the resources to deal with this. Pendercost and Wissledorf are both big proponents of this plan. One because it's logical, the other because it doesn't put his people at risk.

B. A, but we're not just leaving. We're putting them out of their misery. Fire a single missile into the station. It barely has any point defense, and its designed for asteroids, not missiles. One missile will be enough to break up the station. It'll leave you with 47 missiles available. No one has suggested this, but you could do it.

C. We're taking back the station. One room at the time if necessary. Get the marines, put them in the pinnaces, dock, and take the station. Pendercost argues this is going to cost the life of many of your marines, a probably difficult to replace resource. Its the "default" response to this type of situation.

D. Jack White suggests sending a pinnace in, and creating a series of breeches to dump all the oxygen in the base into space. Its doable. It would take a few hours, but the base is basically defenseless. A couple marines in eva suits with the proper tools will get it done. It'll kill everyone on board, but you'll get access to the supplies.

E. Conaway's suggestion. Issue an ultimatum, If the mutineers do not comply with in the hour, you're going to destroy Agrippa. Have the acting commander deliver this message via the station broadcast system. To show cooperation they'll assemble in the three docking bays. Then get them aboard the freighters, and pinnaces and figure it out from there.

F. E, but I also announce that anyone cooperating will not be charged with any crimes they've committed over the last day.

G. E, but then I have the docking bays opened to space, killing everyone. Its cold-hearted, but the supplies are what I'm after.

H. Tell the base commander to rally his men and get to one of the freighters. If he makes it, have him rendezvous with you. If this fails, we'll vote about what to do next.

I. I have some other brilliant idea. Write in. TheCog will tell me how likely it is to work.

J. I'm sending in the marines to rescue the acting commander and as many loyalists as he can get. Depending on numbers they'll either take a freighter or just ride back on the pinnaces.

K. I want to talk to the mutineers before deciding anything.


Some useful and important facts.

Pinnaces are small ships not designed for inter-system transit, rather they're designed to travel between ships and bases and ferry people and supplies. The Achilles actually has two inside its interior docking bay, each can carry up to 12 people or a few tons of supplies. Their speed is usually measured in km, not in fractions of the speed of light. They're your main marine delivery system. While ones on the base are likely lighter civilian versions, yours come equipped with a single point defense cluster. They rely on being charged by a home-ship as they don't have their own power plants.

You have 24 marines, the detachment on Agrippa was likely around 50.

The Freighters described here are just very large pinnaces, designed for carrying cargo as opposed to people. They are slow and clunky
.
The Agrippa had around 2000 people on board. There's no way for you to carry them all aboard the Achilles. The Achilles, can, if you really push things, accommodate maybe another 100 people. 200 if you're willing to get rid of most of the EW equipment. There are only 300 cryo-berths on board. The cryo-berths are inbuilt into the sleeping quarters, so you can't just put 300 people in cryo and have another 300 crewing the ship, as they occupy the same space as the living quarters.
You could, probably, between pinnaces, and freighters fit 1200 people. Maybe more. This is assuming the three freighters work, and you can pressurize their usually depressurize holds. This is without accounting for food.

You don't know how viable putting thrusters on Agrippa would actually be. Not very probably.

You could possibly detach the ships that form the shell of Agrippa, but you're not sure how feasible that is or how much of a time commitment.

Voting on option 1 remains open!

TheCog fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Apr 26, 2016

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST

RandomPauI posted:

Can we split up the fleet in two? Fast ships going one way, slow ships going another. Or both going to the same destination but the slow ships being loaded to the gills with crap and put on an autopilot.
Yes. We will cover this when the time to actually figure out logistics comes up.

quote:

Can we give our officers an instruction like this, only worded better? "One of the defining traits of humanity is having emotions. We'll all run into a situation where the gravity of this situation, the pains from our losses, when all of this becomes too much to bear. When that happens I'm ordering you ahead of time to take a breather. Talk to me, talk to medical, listen to music, grab a snack, take a nap or a shower."

This can certainly be an addon after we're done with the Agrippa situation

quote:

Can we start thinking of our immediate subordinates et. al., as our de facto family now?
This will depend on what actions the thread decides to take.

Outrail
Jan 4, 2009

www.sapphicrobotica.com
:roboluv: :love: :roboluv:
##vote

1)D


Sorry guys, bleeding hearts kill bodies and we need to live.

Pick up the acting commander and remaining loyalists.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
How long can the station survive without resupply?

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST

Outrail posted:

Pick up the acting commander and remaining loyalists.

This now J.


RandomPauI posted:

How long can the station survive without resupply?

While you're not sure on the specifics, but the station was designed to help keep a fleet of 40+ ships supplied. Probably on the order of years, assuming no major mechanical failure they can't address, or unpredictable crisis.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
Okay, first thought. The implied fact that a cryo station can only hold one person and it doubles as our sleeping birth. The fact that it's one or the other and that we're full up with 300 people means that we aren't hot bunking it. if we hotbunk it we can devote 1/2 to 2/3rds of our general crew quarters to cryo. So that's an additional 150 to 200 people we can take with us while still using roughly the same available space.

People will have to be really selective about what personal belongings they want to keep and what'll have to be tossed, but we have digital cameras. The stuff they have to leave behind can be photographed as a small memento.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
Second thought. Lets assume that the moment that's done Earth only has a few hours left before the messengers teleport out and consume Earth.

How long will it take for Mars to be consumed at present rate?

How long would it take for the freighters et. al. to move to Earth?

---

Third thought. These are civilians, they are at least marginally familiar with voting.

What if we gave them the info and gave them the chance to choose what they'd prefer?

TheCog
Jul 30, 2012

I AM ZEPA AND I CLAIM THESE LANDS BY RIGHT OF CONQUEST

RandomPauI posted:

Second thought. Lets assume that the moment that's done Earth only has a few hours left before the messengers teleport out and consume Earth.

How long will it take for Mars to be consumed at present rate?

How long would it take for the freighters et. al. to move to Earth?

---

Third thought. These are civilians, they are at least marginally familiar with voting.

What if we gave them the info and gave them the chance to choose what they'd prefer?
When the process started 24ish hours ago, it was very fast. Estimates said it'd be done by now. Its not, about a third of mars is left. Another day if this pace is sustained, but it could slow. Or speed up.

Freighters and pinnaces would take about 30 days to make it to earth. Their "sustainable" speed is 300 km per second. They can, in theory, be ran at about one tenth the speed of light (a 30000 kms), but this requires modifying them significantly for that kind of travel, including putting the occupants in cryosleep, as inertial dampeners are power hungry, and it becomes impossible to both accelerate to those speeds and maintain the dampeners. By default, pinnaces are not equipped with cryo-pods (although the ones on your ship have a single cryo-berth for really bad injuries sustained during away missions)

The last option is certainly possible.

TheCog fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Apr 26, 2016

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
Fourth thought. Since this is a resupply depot and a repair depot they would have the means to theoretically outfit the freighters to go light speed, albiet days to weeks to months behind us. So some people could go with us and some people could do the upgrades until the freighters can follow us, right?

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



Eyes on the prize: Sustainable population to keep the species going. Ideally, we need as many people as we can stuff aboard the ship.

How many people are the commander and company? Will that max us out, or do we have room for rebels?

If we don't have room, space the rebels and get the supplies. Save missiles if possible.

If we do have room ... ask to speak to the leader of the rebels. Tell them we have a ship and we're open to taking on passengers.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
Alternative plan in case there are more people than there is room. This is a supply depot filled with skilled professionals who have the means to at least theoretically rig the freighters to run at sub-light speeds. The people left behind could follow us, carrying people, supplies, etc.

Edit: Question, could we safely transmit the info to earth using the asteroid belt once we leave?

RandomPauI fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Mar 10, 2016

Day Man
Jul 30, 2007

Champion of the Sun!

Master of karate and friendship...
for everyone!



##Vote
2. J


We don't want to add members of the crew that have proven themselves to be mutinous. For the sake of the dead marines, we need to attempt to save the commander and remaining crew.

Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



##Vote
2 J


I think the thread consensus is definitely rescue the loyalists. My preference would be to get as many of the others as possible, but its a waste if they just blow up our ship. So, Ill add on that we should Talk to the rebels with an option of spacing them if we feel like it.

RandomPauI
Nov 24, 2006


Grimey Drawer
##vote
1. K


Talk to the rebels first.

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Loel
Jun 4, 2012

"For the Emperor."

There was a terrible noise.
There was a terrible silence.



RandomPauI posted:

##vote
1. K


Talk to the rebels first.

Good call. Our point of contact could be lying.

  • Locked thread