>>640810
Can you try and reboot comms? Or did they get permanently knocked out?
...Hell, can't you open the door between you and the other room and just shout at them instead? Even if they're in the bed area they should still be able to hear you if you yell loud enough.

Also, let's not go towards the planet. We're too damaged right now to do much of anything - especially if a goddamn thruster was taken out. Can we even escape the atmosphere with only one thruster?

Kado 2015/05/16(Sat)01:24 No. 640833 ID: d65b16
File 143176464411.png - (4.56KB , 500x500 , 2_85.png )

Uhh just to clarify: comms are down completely yeah. They're in an expanded compartment that runs on a slightly different system to the rest of the ship. The hatch to get down is way at the back, away from where I am in the cockpit!

do a few laps to keep the engines warm and to build up shield charge. Really want to make sure our crew are on board before we leave. While you're doing laps put a few more evasive maneuvers into the computer just incase the ship is attacked and again to help build those shields up.

>>640833
Damn.

Well, they're at least together, right? I'm assuming there was nothing on the ship that could have come loose and injured them, so they should be fine. Stay in the cockpit and fly back to the planet you came from. We need to repair.

Also uh, as an aside, since they're spending so much time together now while you do pilot things and since you can't hear anything they're doing you should totally institute some no-boning rules. Just as a general thing.

And maybe pick up some handheld local communicators in case things go south again like this.

>>640810
Away from the planet. I suspect the thing that wiped your shields was some sort of defense mechanism. If your shields come back at all, and nothing shoots at you further, go back and check on your buddies. But do so with your weapon ready.

...is it possible you weren't asleep, but instead had your memories wiped?

Kado 2015/05/20(Wed)02:15 No. 641630 ID: 5d9114
File 143211334467.png - (52.07KB , 500x500 , 2_86.png )

I power up the thrusters, well, one big thruster plus all the smaller ones. Our orbital speed slowly increases, taking our path further and further away from the planet. I also start adding more evasive maneuvers, just simple movement patterns, cycling the ship between them as I go. They wont be all that effective against any decent opponent, but I guess it's better than nothing if I leave the cockpit.

The maneuvers and acceleration do seem to have an effect on our power levels, it looks like it'll only take about 8 minutes now. Could be faster with the second main thruster, but I wont risk it.

>Can we even escape the atmosphere with only one thruster?
I'm preeeetty sure this ship could, it's got those blue stabilization thrusters on the wings which let it... uh... I mean I really haven't wrapped my head around how they work; kind of obscure tech! But they mean it has less problems in atmosphere than most ships.

>...is it possible you weren't asleep, but instead had your memories wiped?
Yeaaahhh this sounds like a good theory. It doesn't feel quite the same as before, but hey both this and that led to me waking up drifting in a damaged ship.

>Also uh, as an aside, since they're spending so much time together now while you do pilot things and since you can't hear anything they're doing you should totally institute some no-boning rules. Just as a general thing.
Ok hey now I mean firstly why would I even care I mean you know they can do what they want they uh... I mean Arlo hasn't even indicated he likes dudes though uh... I guess he hasn't indicated anything as far as that stuff goes...
I'm going to stop thinking about this.

5 minutes pass without incident, but suddenly I notice something. It was only for an instant, but something appeared on radar.

I bring up the logs. It looks like something was detected close to the planet, only for about half a second. All it could tell was that it was a physical object moving at slightly less than the speed of a stable orbit at its altitude. It may have been decelerating, but it's hard to say with so little data.

>>641630
...oh shit. We made the wrong choice. What if you were hit and mindwiped in order to get you out of the way, so they could go after the guy you're here to meet! Hell, if that's the cloaked ship, then that explains its behavior before. They were following you to try to get you to lead them to the other guy.

Go after the blip.

ok if you got mind wiped I'm seriously going to have to suggest searching your ship just to make sure whoever erased your mind still isn't on the damn thing. Last thing we need is to have crazy son of a bitch jump into the cockpit and try to mind fry you again.

>>641632
As big a proponent I was for "getting the hell out of here," that sounds worryingly true...
We shouldn't go after the blip, but we should try and sneak in beneath it. Does radar penetrate the atmosphere from space? If we head in the atmosphere, would anything in orbit be able to detect us?

1/2 Kado 2015/06/23(Tue)04:30 No. 650282 ID: 1ccdfc
File 143505901457.png - (86.17KB , 500x500 , 2_87.png )

I decide it's time to check on Jurek and Arlo. Before I head down I quickly search all the other rooms of the ship. There isn't much in the main hull of the ship: a tiny storage room, bedroom, toilet, airlock. The main corridor ends in an engine access panel. Our stuff in the storage room wasn't tied down, so it's a bit of a mess, but otherwise everything is as we left it.

I open the hatch to the lower compartment. They're both slumped over separate beds. I rush to check on them, almost falling flat on my face as I come down the ladder. They seem fine, just unconscious.

Time to wake them up. I start with Jurek, rocking him by the shoulder.

>"K-kado? ugh." He sits up and looks around. "What happened? Where are we? I don't think I remember."
"I don't either. Last thing I remember we were walking back from that pub in the settlement."
>"Oh yeah! When we got back here you pretty much went straight for the cockpit and fell asleep in the pilot's seat. We stayed up for a bit longer I guess but went to sleep down here."
"And you're just waking up now?"
>"Ye- no. No yeah I think I remember now. I woke up and we'd already taken off, I woke up Arlo and we tried talking to you over the communicator. You don't remember talking to us?"
"Nope."
>"Geez. Well uh, you responded. I don't remember exactly what you said, 'It's fine don't worry' or something like that. But then you, or something else I guess, shut off the communicator and locked the hatch between here and the rest of the ship."
"Shit, sorry. I don't remember doing that either. It was unlocked when I came down here."
>"Yeahh it was pretty freaky. We didn't have much time to work out what was going on though, just a minute or two later something hit the ship. I remember the lights flickered and then..." he shrugs "you're here waking me up."

2/2 Kado 2015/06/23(Tue)04:30 No. 650283 ID: 1ccdfc
File 143505905574.png - (52.43KB , 500x500 , 2_88.png )

I wake Arlo up too. He has the same story as Jurek. I explain to both of them what's happened since I woke up, the state of the ship and the possibility of another ship on the radar.

"So, it might be dangerous but I think we should head down to the planet. I'm worried whoever those blips on the radar are want our guy too."
Jurek nods. Kado, on the other hand, slowly sakes his head.

>"Kado, don't. I mean, maybe. Just... I dunno dude."

He stands up and starts pacing around.

>"Just... I don't know what we're doing here yaknow? I'm not really sure why I'm tagging along in the first place. Had nothing better to do I guess, and I owe you. But now what, we're gonna try landing on a planet that probably has invisible ships on it that'll try to kill us? Right after something has fucked with our heads? I mean damn, don't get me wrong, it sounds exciting and all, but why? This ship is nice but the alliance guy didn't really tell us much about why he needs to talk to this dude so badly. So a scary alien ship knocked him out, what's he gonna be able to say that you or anyone else haven't already said?"

I still haven't told either of them about you guys.

ask him if he remembers that big ass ship that shot you down onto the planet you all met on? when it shot your old ship to hell it did something to you. Tried to ignore it at first and just live with it but when we got back the alliance guy seemed to know about it and apparently the guy we're looking for has the same problem I do. So I'm here because of 1 part fear of being blackmailed, 1 part worried that if figured it out how long until other people start piecing it together and what will they do, and a lot of parts of just trying to figure what the hell did happen to me.

Sorry but I didn't think we'd be flying into something like this otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to come along but if people are going to such lengths just to find this guy I want to know why. Because it might be me they're after next.

>>650310
This. The others can walk away from this when things get crazy and that is understandable, but you can't without it following you.

You obviously can't just run from these troubles. This is our only chance to find out what's going on and maybe put a stop to it.

>>650310
The ship was invisible, remember? They couldn't have seen it from the surface and I doubt they had sophisticated enough equipment to detect it either.

But there's no way out of explaining to him what's going on, so the least we can do is try to be vague as possible. Or try and write it off as some kind of medical thing, lose him with terminology.

1/2 Kado 2015/07/22(Wed)01:22 No. 657485 ID: 70930c
File 143755335292.png - (72.92KB , 500x500 , 2_89.png )

I sit down.

"Okay, so: when that uh, 'big scary ship' knocked me out it seems like it... changed something about my body. I dunno, it's kind of hard to describe! This guy, Beck, he's got the same thing - or something very similar. Apparently the rest of the alliance don't think much of it, but Keys thinks it's significant."

It isn't the whole truth, but its not a lie.

"Things are starting to look a lot more dangerous than I expected, I don't know as much about what's going on as I'd like. But uh, there's one or more ships with tech I've never seen before that look like they're trying to keep us away from Beck. Yeah that's scary, but it also makes its seem like Beck really is important in all this. Plus, it kind of feels like we'd be abandoning him if we just ran off now."

Arlo frowns.

>"I... Yeah you're right, we probably should try and help the guy. As long as you reckon we can get out if we need to, so we're not flying into a deathtrap."

That's a good point.

"Well, engine's damaged, but this thing should still fly great in atmosphere. Even if we took a direct hit first, once we knew we were getting shot at I think we'd be able to evade anything in the atmosphere. Though I guess I'm assuming they can't just... magically knock us out again?"

>"Yeahhh. That's kind of a big worry!"

"The cockpit can get some rudimentary readings on my vitals, I thiiink I can set up the autopilot to escape the atmosphere and run if the computer thinks I've lost consciousness."

>"Yeah... Yeah check if you can do that. I think that'd give us just enough security."

I head back to the cockpit and confirm that I can actually program in that behavior. We move back towards the planet.

2/2 Kado 2015/07/22(Wed)01:23 No. 657486 ID: 70930c
File 143755340241.png - (101.14KB , 500x500 , 2_90.png )

We're getting close. At this point the shields are back up.

We've been given the tip to search for him at higher elevations in the southern hemisphere. We can do that by flying over high or low.

Flying high makes it easier for us to be picked up on radar. We'd definitely be seen from something in space and, even assuming we were dealing with tech I was familiar with, they'd be able to see us from the ground before we'd see them. We'd pretty much be out of visual range though, and we'll be able to scan a bigger area for signs of life.

Low will make us hard to see from space, and we'd have to be a lot closer to be in radar range for something on the ground. The activity scan will be higher resolution over a smaller area. Usually wouldn't make much of a difference but it might help seeing as we're searching for just one guy?

We'd be able to travel at about the same speed either way, but the lower we are the more time it'd take to escape the atmosphere if we wanted to run.

We're still far enough out to change plans entirely I guess.

>>657486
Fly in low. The way I figure it, if this guy's got some defenses, it'd be better if he could get a visual on your ship once you get within radar range. Then he'd know you're not the enemy.

go low, I mean if the guy is here he's looking over his shoulder so to speak so best not to announce to anyone looking that we're here.

Also we don't know the range of the mind scrambler so just hanging out in the open could just fuck us over since we'd be a giant target up there.

votin for low

>>657486
Go low. We're not too damaged that evasive maneuvers would be difficult to engage, are we?

Kado 2015/07/25(Sat)07:11 No. 657948 ID: 70930c
File 143783347856.png - (276.55KB , 500x500 , 2_91.png )

We enter the atmosphere and get down low. Nothing's spotted us yet, or at least if they have they haven't done anything about it.

>We're not too damaged that evasive maneuvers would be difficult to engage, are we?
We're not too damaged, but a lot of the automatic maneuvers wont really work during atmospheric flight, I have to be the one flying to get away with anything complex.

What native life there is on this planet is mostly underground, so is Beck apparently.

I pick a path over the taller mountain ranges in the southern hemisphere and fly it, running the ship's search for life-signs.

The search uses a whole bunch of different indicators to find life: heat, gasses in the air, electromagnetic waves and other stuff. By default it's great for finding civilization, but since everything's underground and we're just looking for one guy I've bumped up the sensitivity a ton. The thing only gives a rough idea at best, with the sensitivity up a lot of what it's displaying is gonna be just noise.

The sites with a bunch of smaller readings close together could indicate a small collection of machinery, such as a spaceship and some camping equipment. Could also just indicate a big nest of animals, certain kinds of fauna. Who knows.
Larger readings could either indicate some geological phenomenon or a huge creature.

Site #1 is right near a large crater, It's got a bunch of nearby cave entrances which are all pretty big. The site itself is pretty big though, if our guy's there a lot of other stuff is too.
Site #2 has a slightly looser collection of readings than the rest and no immediately obvious cave entrances nearby.
Site #3 has good looking readings, but again no obvious entrances that a ship could easily fit through.
Site #4 is right in the middle of a bunch of larger readings. Hard to say what that means but it's weird! There's at least one large hole in the surface.

We're near #4 at the moment.
We could land and search some of the locations, but who knows how long we'd have to spend spelunking.
We could also hover super low and try and get better readings on the sites. That would still take some time though, and might not even narrow things down.

>>657948
> uses a whole bunch of different indicators...
I don't suppose there's some way you could get the display to differentiate between them? Cause the compiled display may be great for default but right now we're gonna be a lot more interested in the tech indicators than anything else. Heck at this point the life indicators are just red herrings.

>>657948
A camp would probably not have a lot of wildlife near it, because he's been hunting. That eliminates 1.
A camp would also be relatively dense, so that eliminates 2. No cave entrance on top of that.
I feel as though if there was a cave entrance he hid his ship in it would be camouflaged.

Let's check out 3. Hover over it and see if you can get any readings on hidden entrances.

don't trust 4, so head towards the next number on the list, 3.

Let's head to 3.

Kado 2015/08/10(Mon)04:32 No. 661461 ID: 70930c
File 143920637980.png - (97.72KB , 500x500 , 2_92.png )

>Change the sensor to just display mechanical indicators
I dooon't think I can do that. I'll be honest, although I generally pride myself on being someone knows exactly how any given thing in a spaceship works, or at least anything that isn't classified military tech, I've got no clue what's up with life sensors. I think the process is as specific as it can get, and if it isn't I don't know how to improve it.

>I feel as though if there was a cave entrance he hid his ship in it would be camouflaged.
On another planet I'd agree, but the surface of this one is pretty dang barren. He couldn't exactly cover it with foliage, and any high tech solution would've shown up brighter than anything else on the life scan.

We fly over to Site #3 to check it out. After a low flyby we can only spot one cave entrance anywhere near big enough for a small ship to fit through. Not big enough for ours though. I land, partially obscured from the sky, up against a cliff.

I leave the cockpit and head down to the living quarters, asking if the other two want to join. They do.

We rug up and put on our haz masks before we leave. We all have our personal shield units on us, Jurek and Arlo have vibroknives, I've got my energy pistol and a dagger.

We climb up to the airlock and head outside.

We probably didn't really need the masks, but if we're spelunking its better to be safe than sorry I guess. It is a good thing we grabbed these clothes though, it's pretty chilly on the surface and I doubt it gets any better underground.

We explore the cave. We follow one main path that stays pretty wide throughout, there are some other paths off to the side, but they're probably not worth exploring until we find the ship.

As we get deeper I would expect to see signs of the ship moving through a tight space, bumping into stuff, it's thrusters burnings stuff, but I don't see any of that. I mention this to the others.

>"Yeah I'm not seeing any tracks either." Jurek says "I mean, I could just be missing them, but I do see other tracks from small animals and stuff! I think if he is here he at least hasn't gone back outside of foot."

It's not looking great. But just as I'm about to ask if we should turn around and head back, I spot something.

"Hey!" I whisper, "Look, there's an animal over there."

A quadruped of some kind lies on the floor in front of us. Arlo and I hold still, but Jurek creeps closer.

>"Oh! You two don't worry about being quiet, It's dead."

He bends down and gets a closer look at the corpse.

>"Blood's still fresh. Looks like it was done in by two stab wounds, could've been from a spear or something. Rest of it seems intact though! Which is weird, It looks like a herbivore, I doubt it was killed in self defense, but it doesn't look like it was killed for food either."

>"Whoa guys, you hear that?"

Arlo whips around, raising his weapon. I do hear something, a feint stomping.

Jurek puts his ear on the ground.

>"Yeahhh, something big."

The sound is coming from deeper in the cavern, if we don't want to explore any deeper we could just leave and avoid it.

>>661461
Not killed for self defense or food, that leaves a territorial beast or something set to kill anything that moves. Like a trap or a robot. If it was the guy we're looking for, he'd have taken the kill for food, right? Another alternative is something that killed it for practice.

I don't think we should go any further. There's no real indication this is the right spot, and there is indication there is a dangerous *something* in here.

Head right over to #2, since it's right there. Though actually now I'm wondering if the stuff near #1 is other people looking for the guy.

we'll chalk this place up under "we'll look again if we don't find anything". For now head back to your ship and we can move over to site 2 since it's pretty close.

>>661462
>>661465
Seconding this, yeah.
It's super suspicious, but it's too risky to warrant further investigation unless we've exhausted all other leads.

As a bit of far fetched speculation, it could be that it's a form of appeasement to whatever beast is in there by the guy we're hunting down. He has voices in his head like us, so we can't know for certain if he's of sound mind anymore.

Those injuries don't look like they were made by a spear to me. They look like they were made by something with gigantic fangs.

Kado 2015/08/11(Tue)04:49 No. 661683 ID: 70930c
File 143929375250.png - (86.07KB , 500x500 , 2_93.png )

"Hey Jurek, reckon those 'spear wounds' might have actually been caused by big, scary fangs instead?"
>"I'm uh, starting to lean towards that yeah!"
"Yep lets get out of here."

We back out of the cave. Whatever was making the noise doesn't follow us.

We re-enter the ship and fly towards site #2. Still no sign of other ships in the air, but that doesn't necessarily mean nothing's there.

I fly low, again searching for cave entrances. But after snaking about the area for a while we can't spot anything wider than a meter or two.

The longer we stay in the air the more chance we have of being spotted, and the more time we take in general the higher the chance that they find Beck before us, if that is what they're trying to do I guess. So we could hang around and search more thoroughly, the terrain is pretty rough, we could've missed something or there may be an entrance further out. However, maybe it'd better to ditch #2 for now and check out #1 or #4.

nah, you probably get into site 2 from site 1 or 3 or something if these tunnels connect. let's zip down to 1 and we can loop up to 4 if we don't see anything there.

Check out 1 next.

Ugh won't it be annoying if the very last one that we can check turns out to be it?

Site one it is then.

1/2 Kado 2015/08/13(Thu)01:01 No. 661978 ID: 70930c
File 143945287795.png - (57.18KB , 500x500 , 2_94.png )

Yeah #2 probably isn't worth the time right now, we head to #1.

We search the the north-east side of the crater. There are a lot of cave entrances, and a bunch that could potentially fit a ship. Most however seem pretty unlikely, if the ship was small enough to fit I couldn't imagine it getting very far in.

One entrance seems pretty good though, we decide to check it out. The tunnel looks big enough, though our ship can only just get into the entrance.

We disembark and explore. Like the cave at site #3 there are a couple of routes, but only one is wide enough for a ship.

2/2 Kado 2015/08/13(Thu)01:04 No. 661979 ID: 70930c
File 143945308535.png - (55.68KB , 500x500 , 2_95.png )

Suddenly we hear a cry from much deeper in the cave.
>"HEY! SILTH, KARIT, LAHZIA!"

We freeze.

>"YEAH I CAN SEE YOU. NOT ONE MORE STEP OR I'LL BLAST YOU!"

Aha, there it is. A small energy turret is hidden in a nook to our left. It's mostly buried in dirt, but I can spot a cord running from it leading deeper into the cave.

The thing's tiny. It'd be pretty irresponsible but I feel like, with my shield up, I'd be able to just run up to it and kick it over before it could do any real harm.

>"TELL ME WHY YOU'RE HERE WITH WEAPONS, THEN LEAVE!"

Arlo points at the turret
>"You uh, mean through the mic on that thing right?"

...no response.

>"Geez, gonna yell at him Arlo?"

I guess so.

"uh, WE'RE HERE SEARCHING FOR BECK, WE BELIEVE HE IS IN DANGER!"

...

>"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

Oh for fuck's sake. This is probably our guy, but how am I supposed to get face to face with him without freaking him out?

>>661979
Put your weapon down. Try yelling again. If it doesn't work, uhhh... I guess we don't have anything to write with, but... maybe you can play charades? Make a talking motion with your hand, then point at your head?

look at the camera or at least where you think it is and give it your best WTF face. Because really what the fuck. "Don't come closer or I'll shoot and tell me why you're here, what I can't hear you, you're to far away."

(Sigh) Give the gun to Arlo since with him being an ex-pirate I'm sure he has a better idea on how to us your gun compared to Jurek who lived in a border line tribal community for most of his life. Walk towards the camera with your hands in the air and have the other two stay back. If we're lucky we can actually get close enough to talk to the guy. If not we go back to your "run really fast towards the mini turret and kick it over while your shield takes the blows" plan.

>>661981
>>662002
This is the best course of action. Diplomacy, with an out if diplomacy fails.

1/2 Kado 2015/08/14(Fri)02:06 No. 662257 ID: 70930c
File 143954316804.png - (66.98KB , 500x500 , 2_96.png )

I shoot the turret an annoyed look.

"Arlo here, take my gun."
>"Uhhh okay."
"I'm gonna try talking, but you two should stay here"

I kneel down in front of the turret.

"NO GUN" I yell, pointing towards my hands "I WILL GO ALONE TO TALK TO YOU. THEY WILL STAY BACK, UNDERSTAND?"

I talk with my hands a lot, trying to get my point across..

>"YES? BUT WAIT NO GO AWAY!"

I glance behind me, Jurek and Arlo have backed up to outside of the turrets line of sight.

"LOOK, I'M LIKE YOU."

I mime talking with my hand and point at my head. Kinda hope the other two don't pay too much attention to that.

"WE WANT TO HELP, IT LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE OTHERS SEARCHING FOR YOU!"

>"...JUST YOU THEN! DON'T TRY ANYTHING - I'M ARMED!"

I nod at the turret, stand up and slowly start walking out of its sight, deeper into the cave.

"Okay guys see you in a bit I guess. Uh, if something happens you can probably just run past this turret or shoot it by the way. You've got shields."

>"Yeahh it looks kind of pathetic, good luck man." Arlo says

>"Yeah good luck!" adds Jurek.

2/2 Kado 2015/08/14(Fri)02:06 No. 662258 ID: 70930c
File 143954321142.png - (90.29KB , 500x500 , 2_97.png )

I follow the main tunnel. The turret's cord runs the whole way.

Eventually the path opens up into a cavern.

>"Alright stop! What do you want!?"

And here's Beck, looks just like the picture. He seems to be using this cavern as his campsite. His ship's here, a small one-man thing, with a bunch of cords leading from it to various survival equipment.
He's pointing a gun at me and, much like the turret, it looks pretty pathetic. He must've either been short on cash or on a planet with strict weapons laws when he got this stuff.

"Okay hi, I-"

>"No, wait! F-first you tell me; how did you find me?"

Oh uh, that's kinnnnnd of complicated. I'm not sure exactly what I should tell him.

>>662258
Well, we can tell him that much, can't we?
A cloaked stranger told us in a bar and disappeared. Now ask him why he's here and hiding out, and hiding from who?

>>662258
Tell him that a mutual friend of yours named William Keys told you he knew you were somewhere in this system. So you just got some supplies and checked the best planet to hide on.

Ask him what his voices are like.

>"No, wait! F-first you tell me; how did you find me?"
Scanner. Also a tip from a guy named William Keys, who also seemed to know about your... uh, condition. And that I had it as well.

There's only so many caves on this planet big enough to hide a ship, and which have heat signatures inside. We were pretty much going around checking them all. One of them had some monster.

1/2 Kado 2015/08/16(Sun)01:55 No. 662905 ID: 70930c
File 143971530472.png - (49.49KB , 500x500 , 2_98.png )

"Allright. I was asked by William Keys to find you, you saw the alien ship right? Got voices in your head?"

He nods.

"Me too. Except, no offence, I don't seem to be freaked out by them as much as you do. Keys thinks there's something different in what they did to us, just wants to talk to you and find out what. Not even face to face, we can just do it by video."
>"Hah! Fucking Empire... well I suppose if it's just him..."

He trails off, thinking to himself for a bit.

>"Well, that covers the why, what about the how?"
"Life scan, gave us a pretty good idea of where you are. Oh but the bigger picture yeah: Keys knew you were in this system, or at least had travelled through it. We looked and asked around for a while, eventually got a tip off you were on this planet in a cave and a rough idea of where. Then we saw-"
>"A tip off!? From who?"
"Uh, well if we had any other leads I probably would've dismissed it but, this guy wearing a cloak approached me at a bar and-"
>"What?, shitshitshit. Covering his face? They said... or wait maybe that means it's good..."
"Uh"
>"The voices! You say you say they're different from mine, what do they tell you? When do you get them?"
"Uhh, they kind of just give me advice I guess? Suggest things. They don't seem to know anything more than I do. And they're there like, all the time I think?"
>"And you do what they say?"
"I mean, I guess. We kinda have a back-and-forth goin' on"
>"Yeah but, could you even ignore them if you wanted to?"
"Uh, I don't really-"
>"Because mine, they... they don't come that often but, when they do they just tell me what to do and it's... hard not to do what they say."
"What do they want?"
>"I uh,"

He notices he's still pointing his gun at me and lowers it.

>"Uh sorry. I don't really know what they want, they just tell me really specific things. Buy a ship, get in, fly in this direction. They're trying to lead me somewhere I guess but... so far I've resisted. OH!"
"What?"

He points behind me and to my right.

2/2 Kado 2015/08/16(Sun)01:56 No. 662906 ID: 70930c
File 143971537456.png - (46.63KB , 500x500 , 2_99.png )

There's a monitor on the ground with a blinking light attached. It's showing the feed from the turret.

>"Your friends just ran past! I don't know if the thing hit them but it looked like they were-"

A robot steps into view, gun raised.

>"...running from something."

That... that looks like the robot that attacked me back on Treya.

>"KADO!" I hear Jurek call out, I can start to hear their running footsteps.

"Beck tell me right now, do you have any better weapons? Is there another way out of this cave?"
>"Uh no and... sort of! I mean there's probably heaps of paths but I know of one that leads back to the same entrance but uh, it's a long way and it goes pretty deep and we might get lost and there's monsters and uh, uh."

Okay well he's freaking out now. His energy pistol isn't gonna do much against this robot, and I have doubts about my own too. Jurek and Arlo's vibro-blades could probably mess it up, but that involves getting in melee range of something with a giant cannon on its arm.

There isn't much cover in here, just Beck's ship. There are three exits, the big one Jurek and Arlo are about to come through and two smaller ones. Presumably only. one of the small ones is part of the path Beck mentioned.

>>662906
Does the ship have guns on it? Can you get it up and facing towards one of the exits in preparation to blast the robot?

>>662906
Weapons on the ship? Catch the robot in the engines? Ram the robot with the ship? Set the ship to explode? Should probably avoid explosions in the cave, don't want to cause a cave in. Or fly past it with the ship- oh wait your ship is blocking the main entrance to the cave.

If you can't utilize the ship before the robot gets here you're gonna have to use this ship for cover. It's decent cover, I expect. Or hey, everyone else could keep the robot pinned (if it even bothers to react to incoming fire) while you get the ship going.

I'm thinking this was a set up. You were meant to find this guy, then the robot was supposed to show up and kill both of you at once. Two birds with one stone. At least that implies that the enemy has a reason to conserve the robots and not just throw them at us. Still, we did the right thing. We needed to find this guy regardless. We might have been able to prevent this by shooting down the cloaked ship but I still don't know how legal that would have been.

can't you just hop in the ship and run the fucker over? I mean from what I remember those things are kinda slow and you do have some time to build up to ramming speed to smear that thing across the cave walls, and like you said the cave is just big enough to fit the ship mean the robot shouldn't be able to dodge it.

See if you can hit it's weapon or sensors with the energy turret. Probably won't get a kill, but softening it up gives you more options.

>>662906
My best suggestion is to get all together, cut the robot off by causing a cave in with your guns (they're strong enough for that right?) and then sneak out the back way. This may have issues though, do whatever seems right to you.

... we're going to have to test that whole obedience thing, but later, when it's safe.

If there are any noticeable curves or the like in the passage you could set up a little vibro-blade ambush with the limited sight-lines. Other than that, I dunno how you could beat it, therefor I suggest running if you can't find a good spot for it.

Kado 2015/08/18(Tue)23:19 No. 663822 ID: 70930c
File 143996519665.png - (92.79KB , 500x500 , 2_100.png )

"No guns on your ship?"
>"N-no it-"
"Still good, gimme the keys."
>"Wha- wait a se-"
"Now"

He pats around his pockets for a moment for a moment, then hands me the access card.

>"What are you going to-"
"Just pull the plugs from the ship and get ready to run."

I run over to the ship. Beck follows after a moment. Engines in the wings, door at the back. It's got a tiny back room, and a cockpit you have to lie down in.

I'm unfamiliar with the ship itself, but the controls are pretty standard. I can at least make it go and, importantly, adjust power usage.

Even though the ship is small I don't think I'd be able to fly it at any decent speed through the cave. Plus I'm not sure everyone could even fit in.

Kado and Jurek run into sight. I wave to the side at them, they seem to get my message and move to the side of the entrance, out of the way. Beck, presumably done with the cords, runs in the same direction. I pull the ship up, hovering over the ground.

The robot rounds the corner. I start overloading power to to engines, for a burst of speed when I accelerate. I'm gonna ram it.

I could go early, with less power, and just try to pin it or I could wait till the last moment, try and build up enough speed to properly take it out.

>>663822
Pinning it works fine. Remember, you're going to have to exit the craft afterwards. Ram too hard and you could cause a cavein or damage the ship or yourself. If its cannon arm is pinned then we can vibroblade it down. If not, it will probably react by blowing itself up.

>>663822
Pinning it would be the best option for our own safety, so seconding this.

Pin it, then get out on the side without a gun and finish it off with a knife you brought. Just grab one from one of the guys.

1/3 Kado 2015/08/28(Fri)23:49 No. 665515 ID: 70930c
File 144083095981.png - (106.25KB , 500x500 , 2_101.png )

I only let it take a step or two before I hit the power. The ship blasts forward down the tunnel, the robot doesn't have time to react before we collide. It's knocked back and, now partially under the ship, it's pushed along as I fly nose first into the wall.

The collision hurts. I'm strapped in, so I don't get flung into the glass, but I get slammed around a bit.

The robot fires wildly. It looks like its trying to point it at me through the glass, but it's arm is pinned. It can pretty much only hit the ceiling.

2/3 Kado 2015/08/28(Fri)23:50 No. 665516 ID: 70930c
File 144083100941.png - (82.15KB , 500x500 , 2_102.png )

I peel myself away from the cockpit and get out the back. Oww my chest hurts.

The three of them were cautiously approaching the crash, but on seeing me Jurek rushes forward.

>"Kado! You alright?"
"Yep, fine, just bruised. You reckon you can finish the robot off with your knife?"

He moves to look at it.

>"Pfff, easy. Where should I hit it?"
"Oh uh, well the one before seemed to have it's main stuff in the chest, but it had a bomb in there too remember? Just enough to fry the insides though. It probably cant do much without its head so maybe just go for that.

He nods, carefully moves up to it and decapitates it. It stops shooting for a moment and then, well it's kind of hard to work out what it's trying to do, but it seems to be stuck in a repeating series of actions. It's probably trying to stand up, but given it cant really move it's really just wiggling.

"Okay awesome, thanks"
I look over at the other two.
Cmon, lets get moving. Beck, there anything you need from the ship?"

Beck seems to take a few moments to process what I'm asking.

>"Oh, n-no, I've got my bag here. I uh, guess I don't really have any choice about going with you now."
"Oh, well i mean, the ship should still work - but we don't really want to let the robot move. Look, there's who knows how many more robots after you, and there's one or more invisible ships out there. And I mean proper, 'should actually be impossible' cloaking. You're probably safer with us than you would be on your own. Now lets go quick."

I start to move. Arlo and Jurek follow and, after a moments hesitation, Beck too.

>"Oh hey yeah, Kado take this back."
Arlo says, handing me back my pistol
>"I'm not much of a marksman anyway!"

3/3 Kado 2015/08/28(Fri)23:50 No. 665517 ID: 70930c
File 144083104647.png - (80.27KB , 500x500 , 2_103.png )

We arrive back at the cave entrance. The drop pod from the robot landed here. It's blocking the entrance a bit but I should still be able to squeeze past. Other than the pod there's nothing out of place, no sign anyone else is here.

"Alright, all aboard I guess."
>"So," Beck says "where exactly are we going?"
"Well, I haven't really thought that far ahead. For now I just want to get away from this planet, try to make sure we're not being followed. We can call Keys when it's safe and then... I dunno."
>"Okay um, shit. But are you sure you can get away from them? How are we gonna do it if we can't even see them?"

That's a pretty good question. For starters I'm not sure how I wanna get off the planet. If they're right above us already just jetting straight up to orbit would probably be a bad idea. I could try to put some distance between us in the atmosphere first, make things harder for them. But it'd waste time, if they were in orbit already it'd just give them a better chance to prepare and intercept us.

And what if they do chase us, should I shoot at them? Obviously I would if they were shooting at us too, but so far they haven't been outright hostile.
Although I guess they probably are the ones who sent a killer robot after us.

>>665517
Can they detect when something leaves the atmosphere? Like, if we departed on the opposite side of the planet would they know we left?

>>665517
Oh hey I wonder if we can take the robot apart- its limbs at least- and sell the parts to someone or get someone to analyze it to figure out who made it. Well, it's a bit late for that now I suppose, I wouldn't tell you to go walking back to where it is now. Thinking about it a bit, we'd get just as many answers out of dissecting the drop pod.

Well, it found us even though we went low, although that could be because we took so long to find Beck.

...if you analyze the impact of the drop pod can you tell how far up it was dropped from? The crater doesn't look that big this time around, I don't think it was dropped from orbit. Chances are they're still monitoring the area to see if the robot comes back out too, so they're probably not in orbit now. That means you can probably spend some time in atmosphere to lose them.

If they DO wind up following you again, go ahead and shoot. I would suggest doing so mainly to disable their cloaking so you can see what their ship looks like.

Kado 2015/08/29(Sat)00:32 No. 665523 ID: 70930c
File 144083356767.png - (23.60KB , 500x500 , 2_104.png )

>Can they detect when something leaves the atmosphere? Like, if we departed on the opposite side of the planet would they know we left?

Yeah it depends on where they are. If they're also in the atmosphere they shouldn't be able to tell what we're doing if we're far enough away that they wouldn't have line of sight to us. If they're in orbit already though they'll probably be able to see us.

This of course all assumes they don't have crazy advanced radar tech that can ignore all current physical limitations. Not something we can really rely on!

well if they dropped the robot here then they probably have their eye's on this place already unless they dropped a robot off at all the places we checked/were going to check. But I'm sure they have a way of keeping track of the robots and with the crippled one back there I feel that we should just get the hell out of the area. Stay low like you were when we were looking for Beck and then once you feel like you're far enough away fly up into space. this place is in an asteroid field right? I think I recall you saying something about asteroid fields being in this sector. If they're along the way and we can't go invisible then we can at least make it a bitch for them to get line of sight on us. Also planet hop a little. Try to skim near inhabit worlds as whoever this guys are they do seem to be trying to stay away from heavily populated worlds. I mean they sent a robot after you on a planet run by pirates who barely ever leave there space station and a bunch of stranded tribals and they sent another robot after Beck when he was on a uninhabited asteroid. So they at seem to at least be trying to avoid getting noticed... At least without that fuck all huge ship of theirs.

>>665529
That works.

Also while we are here, could we cut the robot's gun arm off to take with us? That seems like something the government types would want to get a look at.

Kado 2015/09/20(Sun)21:55 No. 671228 ID: 9a3ecb
File 144281132465.png - (80.33KB , 500x500 , 2_105.png )

"We'll make a break for the asteroid belt. They might be able to chase us undetected but we've got our best chances of losing them in there. If we manage to see them I'll try and hit them, hopefully slow them down."

Beck doesn't look any less freaked out, but he raises no complaints with this plan.

>Too late to take parts of the robot to study?
Yeah it's probably not worth going back for it now. The alliance has the wreckage of the old one to study anyway.

>If you analyze the impact of the drop pod can you tell how far up it was dropped from?
Yeah, it looks like it hit the ground with significantly less force than the one back on Treya - it's mostly in one piece. So it seems unlikely it was dropped all the way from orbit, though it could always have used something to slow it's descent - we can't get a look at what it had underneath.

We board the ship, Beck in the living quarters with the other two. I start the engines, hover, and start to plan a line out through the crater.

"Alright guys, you all good down there?"
>"Yep!" Jurek says.
"Good, things are probably gonna get rough."

And with that I take off. We clear the crater quickly, and continue to move fast and low over the terrain.

The others can't see anyone tailing us. Not really sure if it'd be easier or harder to see one of the cloaked ships in atmosphere though.

Even in this thing I can't go super fast at low altitudes. It takes three or so hours to get roughly halfway around the planet. I pull up and start ascending to orbit, then out into space.

"Any sign of 'em you guys?" I ask through the intercom.
>"Nothing yet," Arlo replies "but 'yanno, hard to see and everything."

Only when we're nearing the edge of the planet's sphere of influence does the radar pick something up. Two moving objects show up, close to the planet's atmosphere, before disappearing again. Just like the one I saw before we landed. I reckon it could be them. It'd make sense if their cloaks couldn't mask rapidly entering or exiting the atmosphere.

It's not really anything to go on though, so I keep on course. But eventually Arlo shouts over the intercom:

>Kado! We think we can see them behind us!"
"Are they directly behind us?"
>"Uhh, wait they're getting closer I think."
>"Yeah," Jurek adds "they've moved closer and um, are almost right behind now."
"Just tell me when."

A few moments pass.

>"Now!"

Without changing our velocity I spin the ship around, firing wildly backwards. A few shots seem to land. I don't really get much time to look though because I keep spinning, now firing the engines. This modifies our trajectory enough to, for a very short time, lose them.

The ship radar is now picking up a multitude of small, unidentified objects, moving together in two distinct groups.

Some time passes. They still haven't fired at us, and they still look like they're following us, but at a much greater distance.

It'll be a while before we reach the asteroid belt. At this point I can still divert our course and get to SR092341-2, the independent settlement, much faster. Or we could just engage. Even with these shitty weapons, sustained fire should be able to do something more than surface damage.

>>671228
>The ship radar is now picking up a multitude of small, unidentified objects, moving together in two distinct groups.

Think those small things could be more of those killer robot things? if so bring them to the planet could just wipe it of the map completely and if we fight all it would take is one of those things to get on board and it wouldn't even need to fire it's gun, the cold vacuum of space would do all the work for it.

I say run for the belt and only engage if they get close again.

How tightly coordinated are the groups? Is it possible radar is picking up pockmarks you put in the stealth layer with that shooting?

>>671280
Yes, keep an eye on how tight the groups are clustered.

Should tell us if we damaged some sort of surface coating, the potential size of what ships we hit, and also if the blips are actually missiles.

1/2 Kado 2015/10/16(Fri)04:07 No. 676779 ID: b3c18a
File 144499367322.png - (127.19KB , 500x500 , 2_106.png )

The groups of objects are pretty tight together, and, within the two groups, their relative position to each other never changes. Seems like some of the damage we've done has punched holes in their cloak.

Based on how far apart the objects get, I'd say the ships would have to be at least as big as ours. Hard to put an upper limit on how big they could be, but given the little we could see with the naked eye and how close the two are flying to each other, I doubt it could be much larger than twice our size.

"Guys, I can sort of see the enemy on radar now. Looks like there's two of them. Gonna try to get to the asteroid belt and lose them there."

I keep and eye on the radar as we fly. Every now and then they start to pull closer to us, before they get too close for comfort I change course slightly. It seems like they're a bit more sluggish than us, losing quite a bit of ground on us as they readjust.

Things continue this way for a long time, until we approach the asteroid belt. As I start to slow to a safer speed the two ships alter course and pick up speed.

They seem to be moving away from us, passing over the belt and away from the sun.

Regardless, I pick my way through the belt and halt when I've found a spot where we're fully surrounded by asteroids.

"Well um, it looks like they've given up on us."
>"What, why?" Kado asks
"No idea."
>"We should," Jurek says "Wait for a while before we move out, we're sort of safe here right? See if they're just coming back with reinforcements or something. Uh, maybe?"
"Yeah no I agree. We'll wait it out."

2/2 Kado 2015/10/16(Fri)04:08 No. 676780 ID: b3c18a
File 144499371149.png - (94.82KB , 500x500 , 2_107.png )

And so we wait. About half an hour passes with no sign of the enemy.

"Beck, do you wanna come up here and try calling Keys?"
>"Uh, what, now? Won't that give away our location?"
"Not really, unless they control the relay. Although hey, unknown alien tech and all that."
>"...yeah okay."

He climbs up out of the living quarters and makes his way up to cockpit, standing behind me. I start setting up the call to Keys.

"Oh yeah so, I didn't really mention it before but I haven't exactly... specifically told the other two about the voices."
>"Oh, uh, yeah that makes sense. Oh! I haven't told them if that's what you're worried about"
"Good. I mean, It's not a big deal I guess but..."
>"Yeah, I mean some people... they- oh!"

Before he can finish the call connects and the video feed pops up. It looks like Keys has answered from home. He stares blankly at the camera.

"Ah, William, It's Kado. We've found Beck and he-"

As the transmission delay catches up realization dawns on his face.

>"Kado? Are you still piloting my vessel?"

He turns and starts to mess with something slightly off-screen.

"Um, yeah. Look, we've been chased by-"
>"In that case I must order you to jump to the nearest Empire system immediately. When you arrive contact local law enforcement and-"

The call suddenly cuts out. I share a glance with Beck, and open the intercom.

>"Uh guys, Keys was acting kinda weird-"

Suddenly the call flickers back to life, showing us a worried William Keys.

>"Okay good we should be secure for a little bit now. Where are you calling from?"
"Uh, the asteroid belt in SR092341, what's goi-"
>"That might buy you some time. You need to get out of that system this instant, they'll have your position down. And yes you're about to ask who. Us, The Empire. Nobody will tell me a thing but some higher up has issued an urgent order for your arrest or elimination. So unless you've done something heinous since we last spoke..."
"Oh... damn, wow. Okay."
>"Yep. Something rotten's happening here and I'm trying to work it out. I'd say go deeper into independent space. The warrant is top secret; you should be safe even from allied governments, though the closer you are to Empire surveillance... I'm sorry, I feel somewhat responsible for landing you all in this position. It is good that you found Beck, even though I don't have time to chat with him, I believe they were after him as well. And now I've really got to go. Good luck.

He ends the call before I have a chance to respond.

>"Oh no. No no no. What are we going to do?"

Beck is starting to hyperventilate.

>"Yeah uh, that's a good question Kado." Arlo adds over the intercom.

Shit, yeah okay let's work something out. Looking at the radar I can see a fleet of ships approaching the belt. If not for the warning I wouldn't think much of them, they're all pretty far away. Looking at the history, they were traveling in a different direction when they entered radar range, but at some point all altered their course to head towards us. Aaand yep, it's when I made the call to Keys.

To jump out of the system we need to get much further away from the system's star. They might know where we are now, but staying in the asteroid belt should keep us hard to spot as we move. Though we wont be able to move very fast. Hell, even in clear space we're not gonna be able to outrun Empire fighters given our engine damage.

I am... really not that sure what we can do to get away.

stick to the asteroids, as at least that will by you time, get to the point within the asteroids that get's you the furthest away from the systems star. Have anyone with engineering skills look at the damn engine while you do this. The moment you see a opportunity to get the hell out of here do so.

So what do you know about non-Empire space and how far away are your from it not counting this system?

If they are all on one side of the belt you can fly outside of the belt on the opposite side so that the belt is between them and you but you are able to go along the outside of the belt faster than you would be able to inside it. Then go along the length of the belt in the direction it is thicker.

>>676793
Yes. We need to try to evade their radar while moving away from them, and blocking it by the asteroid belt one way or another is our best bet.

If we can get out of radar range entirely we can just make a beeline for the edge of the system and jump out.

Kado 2015/10/31(Sat)00:33 No. 680309 ID: de5ef9
File 144627682778.png - (94.31KB , 500x500 , 2_108.png )

This system's non-empire, but its pretty close to empire space. I've never really done much other than pass through non-empire systems before now though.

I head back out to the inner edge of the belt, they're coming from the outer side so this should keep us of their radar. I move as fast as I can, circling around the belt. It seems to be working, they're still heading towards my old location. But soon they get close enough to the asteroid belt that we can't see them either.

Eventually we hit the point where the asteroid belt starts to widen considerably. Occasionally the radar picks up signs of other ships from within this part of the belt. It'd make sense if this area was a popular spot for people wanting to, well, do exactly the same thing we want; avoid the authorities.

Unfortunately I have to slow down, the wider area makes it a bit harder to plot a safe course while staying close enough to the denser part of the belt.

We're almost at the very widest point of the belt before I see any sign of the fleet again. They emerge out the inner side of the belt. Shit, they're way closer than I would've expected. There's only a handful of smaller ships, possibly a scouting party.

I veer into the field. They've probably already spotted us, but might not have enough info to tell us apart from anyone else in the belt. Speaking of which, I'm starting to see bigger clusters of activity within the belt. It might make us harder to detect if we try to blend in with the others here, though the fact that they're here means they're probably up to no good. At best, smugglers, but a lot of them are probably pirates.

Lead the fleet into the pirates. Then you'll have an opening to gate out.

move along the edge of the pirate cluster, close enough so the felt could easily mistake you as on of the pirates but far enough away that the pirates shouldn't be able to easily spot you. If we're lucky the fleet will miss you completely but if they do head your way the pirates or most likely going to scatter if they can or fight if they can't run, This would also work greatly for us as we could easily escape in the confusion. Really the only real risk is the pirates since if they decide to push us out of the cluster not only would that draw the fleet's attention but it would also slow us down. Still I feel it's worth the risk.

1/2 Kado 2015/11/09(Mon)00:04 No. 682673 ID: de5ef9
File 144705624959.png - (170.29KB , 500x500 , 2_109.png )

I head towards the cluster of what I'm assuming are pirates. I intend to get close enough to confuse the empire ships, but avoid crossing paths with any pirates. I'm making a lot of guesses based on changes in velocity here, but it looks like the scouts are moving to follow us.

Deeper in the belt, I start to see signs of a large group of various ships, all flying in different directions. Hopefully I'll be able to get lost amongst all their signals and head off in a different direction.

Soon I'm close enough to get proper radar readings on some of the ships and goddamnit they're alliance ships. Not all of them, just some. It looks like they're fighting with whoever was here first. Pirates or whatever. I guess some of the fleet must've sped around the belt like I did, but on the other side. As far as I can it's mostly scout ships again, none of the heavyweights.

Okay well shit it's time to move. I think they spotted us, one tries to break away in our direction, but is caught up in the fight again. I head down, away from both the fight and the scouts tailing us.

2/2 Kado 2015/11/09(Mon)00:04 No. 682674 ID: de5ef9
File 144705628271.png - (251.15KB , 500x500 , 2_110.png )

We're able to gain some ground, but a few ships are able to break away from the fight and chase. We can outmaneuver them, but even if we were undamaged these scout ships would be faster than us.

As they get close enough to attack I start to dodge and weave around the asteroids. Maneuvering eats up all my attention, I don't know how long I keep it up for, and don't pay any attention to what the others are saying over the intercom.

Eventually we're hit, I lose control and we're hit even more. It looks like we're gonna have to make a stand and fight.

Then one of the ships explodes, so uh, maybe not.

>"They're being shot out of nowhere!" Jurek exclaims over the intercom.

He's right. The other ships are doing a better job at not exploding with one hit, but they're being assaulted from... at least three different invisible ships I think?

This is... good I think? What the heck is going on.

>>682674
I don't understand what's happening. The invisible ships following you are... friendly!? Then who keeps sending assassin robots? Are they launched from out of system or warped in or something ridiculous like that? Or do they have to kill you with the robot for a specific reason?

Well, shoot back at anyone that's still shooting at you, then make your way out of the asteroids. It sucks that our ship took damage but at least we got confirmation that the cloaked ships aren't trying to directly kill us.

Since the scouts will be dead we'll have a head start on trying to get away. Maybe we can just make a break for it now? The cloaked ships may be able to keep you safe again. I doubt they'll be quite as effective now since the Imperials are alerted to their presence, but still.

>>682674
...I have no fucking idea what to think right now. Maybe they want you alive because of reasons? Hell there's a lot we don't know right now but right now we need to get out of here before our ship craps out or the invisible ships turn on us. Could just as easily be that the invisible ships are trying to capture you as it is that they're saving you ass.

At least three invisible ships, possibly conflicting factions AMONG invisible ships, possibly some who want to help you, possibly some who want to kill you but only in ways that would allow them to rip some info out of your brain afterward.

Figure it out later. For now, shoot back at whoever's shooting you, then resume fleeing.

1/3 Kado 2015/11/15(Sun)01:24 No. 684087 ID: b03d92
File 144757947019.png - (93.14KB , 500x500 , 2_111.png )

Well whatever is going on it is time to get out of here. I retreat, away from both this fight and the bigger fight with the pirates.

The alliance ships are too busy to chase us. They're fighting a losing battle with the invisible ships. They attempt to retreat, in the opposite direction to us, but I can see them get taken out one by one, until eventually we're too far away to observe.

"You guys alright down there?"
>"Yep, think we got out of that okay." Arlo responds. "Like, the ladder fell off of one of the beds and hit me, but that's the worst of it."

Soon the belt starts to thin out again. At least from our from our point of view, there don't seem to be any ships in our way.

But, suddenly, the ship receives a local call. It's a video call, but only the audio seems to be getting through:

>"M8260, as I am sure you're aware; you are crippled and weakened. Entirely unfit for combat I'm sure."

Shit. A ship emerges from behind a nearby asteroid. A large cruiser. It's a mess of custom parts and scrapwork. Extra compartments, a small fighter bay, huge secondary engines. I can't even recognize the base model.

>"And now you may also be aware that a very large and interesting collection of weapon systems have targeted you, hopefully clearing up any doubts you had about that last part. Unless I suppose your sensors are too, in which case - just take our word for it."

2/3 Kado 2015/11/15(Sun)01:25 No. 684088 ID: b03d92
File 144757950850.png - (81.44KB , 500x500 , 2_112.png )

The video starts to work. The captain of the cruiser is a... familiar looking nebol.

>"I am Lydia Gold, known to some as the Pirate Queen." She chuckles, "A flattering, if completely misleading, title. As long as you follow my instructions your safety is guaranteed! Slow your ship and cut power to engines. Your vessel is now in our possession, and you..."

3/3 Kado 2015/11/15(Sun)01:26 No. 684089 ID: b03d92
File 144757957418.png - (74.68KB , 500x500 , 2_113.png )

She turns to face the camera, her expression changes.

>"...aaaaarree that guy who did the delivery for us! Hahaa wowwwwww okayyyyy, oops. This is uh, kind of embarrassing! The dramatic vibe's totally gone now. I'm not just being racist right, you are uh... what was the name, Kado?"

Yeeep she's the person we delivered that weird box to a while back.

"Uh, well-"

>"Yeah no you're totally the same guy, I'm sure now. Haha oh man, that would've been really embarrassing! But umm yeah, even though we just paid you for work, making it kinda weird, still gonna rob you. Annd take you prisoner. Not for long though! It's uh, not that bad. I promise? Sooo yeah, surrender please! I would feel like a huge dick if I had to blow you up, It'd be bad for everyone."

Surrendering miiight be our only option.

She does seem to be misjudging just how much maneuverability our ship still has, buuut she sure wasn't lying about their firepower. And who knows what kind of stuff they've got hiding in that fighter bay.

I might be able to evade but... in our state even a disabling shot would cause a lot of damage. And probably injury. Or uh, worse. I'm not sure I'd want to gamble on the invisible ships helping us out again.

>>684089
There's a second benefit to surrendering. Her ship is much more able to defend itself from the alliance, and I'm guessing she has a way to escape altogether.

We'll just have to endure this. It's better than getting caught by the Alliance, and after you're free again you can go back to doing jobs or investigating the weirdness surrounding the voices and stuff. Err... I'm assuming you have enough money to get a ship again so that you can work?

Wait, I have a better idea. Why not tell her you are protected by a fleet of invisible ships, and if she opens fire on you, she will likely be destroyed? I mean, she saw that fighting back there, right? She can see you're no longer being chased, at least. Make a deal. She gets you out of the system, and you'll pay her back. Like, say, everything you can spare except the ship. Or, if she can exchange your ship for a ship of lesser value that you can still fit everyone in, she can profit that way too.

How about instead of surrendering, we sign on with your pirate fleet? As you already noticed, I've got a pretty nice ship to bring to the party, and intel on some other ones with stealth tech that looks like it ought to be thermodynamically impossible.

Also, recent communications from my previous employer have left me doubting whether there's anyone left out there who my crew and I could be safely ransomed back to, so if that's your plan, we'd be between a rock and a hard place, forced to either run until we can escape the system or fight back until you kill us. Down that road, nobody wins.

Ask why she's after you and what she meant that you wouldn't be a prisoner for long. I mean that could mean she's just going to hand you off to the guys we just ran away from, the invisible people, or is planning to simple shoot us after grabbing our ship. Could also be that they're going to use us as a hostage to escapee the two people chasing us and then plans to let you go but don't say that part less you give her ideas.

Fuck prisoners we're joining up, free protection and we can bring them in on the conspiracy.

So uh, not sure if this is relevant, but she just introduced herself as the pirate queen. I'm pretty sure if you guys escape she's gonna lose a HELL of a lot of face with whatever organization's here, so it's possible that she doesn't really want to screw you over she just wants to keep her reputation?

You could say you'll surrender peacefully, but maybe ask her to go easy on the robbing, if the government is after you this stuff may literally be all you have. ...maybe put in juuuust a little guilt for the fact that she'd be literally taking back the money she paid to you, you haven't even used any yet.

1/2 Kado 2015/11/19(Thu)04:31 No. 684838 ID: 83bc29
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"Not blowing us up is a good start, but say I wanna do something captured. What if I was to work for you instead? I'm a good pilot, a really good pilot. Anyone else wouldn't still be flying after what we've been through. Some repairs, some less than legal mods and my skills would make this ship a real powerhouse."

>"Hah! Well I mean yeah of course your ship is good, why do you think I'm trying to steal it from you? Though you're not wrong, you showed some skill back before.
She chuckles
>"Buuut I'm not sure why you think you're in a position to bargain. Like c'mon, I'm offering you a great deal here! On top of it being the only option that won't probably get you killed."

"Well, I'm not really sure you've given us enough credit here, and I'm not really sure your deal is all that great. Who do you work for? You say we wont be prisoners for long but-

>"-Ohhhh my god I'm not going to kill you or anything calm down, I- UGH. Once again you're ruining a dramatic speech, but I guess I can explain how stuff works now. If you're on my ship you're either doing work, and eating nice food, or in a cell, and eating crap food. There is a third, hidden role where you're in my bed buuut,"
She sighs.
>"See this is where I was gonna peer over all of you in person and then go 'nahhhh'. It would've made you feel insecure, it would've been funny, I would've enjoyed myself. But now you've gone and ruined it. Anyway, we'll let you keep all your stuff and credits, unless you're like super-rich, and just take the ship. We don't work for anyone, but we always need more people to help out and keep this old thing running. If you do good work you'll be free to go if you choose next time we're at a peaceful settlement. If you choose to stay a prisoner we miiight keep you around for a bit longer, buuut who has time to be vindictive nowadays?"

I don't get the impression she's lying, but given who she is she's probably not a bad actor.

"Okay. Well you act like you've been tailing us for a while, so you saw the scuffle we got into with those alliance ships right?"

>"It's why we're having this lovely chat right now."

"Good, well then you probably noticed our invisible friends."

She smirks, incredulous.

>"Yeahh them. Aaand by 'friends' you mean?"

"Well you know, allies? You fire on us, you're gonna get a lot worse in return."

>"Pfff, I mean hey nice try, good thinking on your feet, but that fight there was just a coincidence."

"You think? We've been travelling with them for a while now."

>"Pah, well lets see. Where were you... about five hours ago?

Err I've kind of lost track time with everything that's been going on, I check the ship's logs.

"Uh, should've just left SR092341-1 around then."

This catches her by surprise.

>"Huh, okay then. Verrry interesting. Okay, well first up; don't say the whole freakin' code of a planet out loud. C'mon, learn the local names of things if you're gonna talk about them."

"What is it's local name?"

>"I don't know! I don't give a rat's ass about some uninhabited rock. See? You could've just made something up and sounded cool, missed opportunity! But anyway, secondly; I don't believe you. Not entirely at least, but now I think I've got something to be even more interesting to offer you... Why do you think I was in this belt to spot you in the first place?"

"Well, it seems to be a pretty popular hideout for pirates."

>"True, true, but not why I was here. I was here for research. Learning what I could about a certain set of tiny, barely observable disturbances and signals. Tracking something so very difficult to observe."

2/2 Kado 2015/11/19(Thu)04:32 No. 684839 ID: 83bc29
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>"I was here, because someday soon I'm gonna take out one of those 'allied ships' of yours."

"Really."

>"Yes, really. Well, ideally I'm gonna capture one. You're connected to those guys, but they're not actually your friends, and you've got no way of tracking them. Right?"

Based on her expression I've just given something away in mine.

>"Yeep. Whaddaya say you come here and join in on the fun? Your crew will all decide individually of course, but I think you've got something pretty good to bring to the table. We are gonna have to leave here without your ship either way though, you're too damaged to follow us at a decent pace. It'll be well hidden and stuff, one in a million chance the alliance will actually find it."

That actually sounds fairly similar to what we were suggesting, but don't point that out since it seems to matter to her that the deal be her idea and not yours. Accept.

ah fuck it go with it. Just find somewhere on your body to hide a weapon that won't be easily found in a pat down or at least won't be seen by a casual glance. Just because we're agreeing doesn't mean she isn't lying... Buuuuut she is right that we're not really in a position to bargain.

>>684839
This is a good deal, but why is she leaving the ship behind now? I thought she wanted to steal it?

It also explains why the pirates were so cagey when you were at the station. The invisible ships followed you there, and they noticed, and wanted to capture one.

>>684917
Apparently, because it's too busted up to follow at her kustom ship's speed and doesn't fit in its fighter bay.

Thread 2 - End Kado 2015/11/20(Fri)00:44 No. 684982 ID: 83bc29
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"Wait, you're here to steal our ship but you're not even gonna take it with you?"

>"Well, obviously we'll come back for it. Just need to wait until this system has cooled off."

"...Think I'll be taking you up on your offer then."

>"Good!"

"I really should tell my crew what's going on though."

>"Heh, go ahead. We'll be docking shortly."

I mute the call and unmute the ship intercom.

"Sooo, you guys heard any of that?"

>"Yeah we could hear the whole thing." Arlo responds, "They don't seem too bad!"

"What about the other two, what do you think?"

Jurek speaks first

>"Uh, yeah? I guess so!"

>"Yeah we... don't really have a choice I guess."

Beck doesn't seem so keen,

The ship shudders as the larger ship clamps on to ours. I unmute the call.

>"Aannd now we're docked!"

The bridge around her erupts in a flurry of activity.

>"Kado, others; welcome onboard the Titania."

>>684982
Adventuuuuuure!

We should probably stick close to Arlo since he probably knows how these guys work what with him being an ex pirate and all.