Outcast Quest [Updated 10/10/18 - Turn 14]

[Siber]

Wherps. I'm not at my best today either. Edited a correction.

[alpha]

[X] Follow the trail.

Backtracking will probably lead us to nowhere. With my luck at RPGs, we'll end up running into a lost hostile Umiak scout that breaches one of the passenger modules.

[X] Mild Rationing with volunteers.

This has the same morale as Mild, and those that are willing can skip a few every now. It's their choice...

[] Look over a list of skilled individuals and recruit them personally.
[X] Ask Vanessa and Richard

Write in:
[X] Look up Vanessa and Richard's files

[Logannion]

[X] Follow the trail.

At least by following the trail, we'd have a concrete estimation of when we'd catch up. Tracing it back is risky to say the least, for all we know it might be a colony ship on a multi-generation voyage.

[X] Mild Rationing with volunteers.

We've got a 60 day estimate before catching up with these aliens. Lets be cautious without killing off our popularity and efficiency.


[X] Ask Vanessa and Richard to talk their people into assisting where you need them.

As far as we know, they aren't as incompetent as in first glance. Also, they definitely have a good-cop bad-cop routine going, though whether Richard realises this or not is unknown.

Oh, and if there is room for write-ins
[X] Look up the files of Richard and Vanessa. It probably won't have anything beyond general information, but its a start.

It kind of puts a thorny issue on whether or not you'd suffer the same modifier when talking to civilians, which could overcomplicate things. Let's just say that I'm playing things by ear for now to see what works and what doesn't, and trying to settle into something that should reward your successes and punish your failures without crippling you or making the quest too easy.

Ok, understood. Just wanted to know exactly where you stood on the matter. Either way, I'm pumped for this quest.

My biggest concern right now is that this portion might be dragging out a bit and potentially boring people. I did promise a CK2 style quest and we've so far been stuck in the adventure component. I could just rush things along but I also want it to organically develop into that portion instead of simply having a hard switch.

I have no problems with it. Besides, this the first of its kind on this board (as far as I know), so its not going to be perfect.

[joestej]

I can see which way the wind is blowing, and I don't have any problems with anyone's logic. Count me in for:

[X] Follow the trail.

[X] Mild Rationing with volunteers.

[X] Ask Vanessa and Richard to talk their people into assisting where you need them.

[dragoongfa]

I think Razor One is broken...

[Razor One]

Apologies this took a few days. My brother landed in hospital. He's fine, thankfully, but the entire situation didn't lend itself to a conducive writing environment.

--

You can't keep the secret of your situation from the colonists. It's not only completely impossible, it's frankly not right, and as good as you are with words, you know for a fact that the colonists aren't going to take this well.

You only wish that you could have foreseen the near riot your announcement caused. Panic, demands, hostility... you remember once having to take a press conference for Admiral Taylor where the press were grilling you about the necessity of her pet project, the Mjolnir Program, being far less grueling than what you'd gone through that day.

You got through it in the end, and though you didn't exactly take a shining to them, Vanessa and Richard proved to be invaluable in calming the colonists down enough to sit down and think about the situation rationally.

You still had to meet with them, both the Hughe's and various other colonists, day in and day out over the course of a month to sort through various messes. Things were going fairly well until Richard opened his mouth without Vanessa there to elbow him into submission.

That little stunt had proven infuriatingly enlightening. Apparently the Hughe's had been appointed as the colonists interim leaders until they could integrate with the colonists at their destination. Their less than democratic appointment from their sponsor had ruffled feathers from the beginning, and now that the situation appeared to be permanent, the colonists began to demand a review of leadership. Richard had gotten arrogant, the colonists got angry, and then things began to spiral from there.

Your quick thinking however put a stop to that. You had to invoke TCA law and declare yourself military governor over the civilian populace at first, which more or less shocked everyone into submission. You then boldly declared that you wouldn't interfere with purely civilian matters, followed by a mandating of free and democratic elections to be held once the situation was stabilised.

The Hughe's hadn't liked it, but grudgingly admitted that without your help there'd have been a riot and with the dissenters were mollified the majority of civilians fell into line. When everything had finally calmed down, you asked Vanessa and Richard to select volunteers to assist with various roles on the ship. They were fairly happy to do so, which was fortunate given how many of them you needed to tend to matters on your ship.

Several engineers found themselves under Chief Volkova's leadership and before long your engines were purring again at maximum thrust, hot on the pursuit of whoever or whatever had left that trail. You also note that your Chief has been having heated arguments with a physicist, Steven Conrad, about the nature of the new universe you've found yourselves in.

Lieutenant Cole had found a number of volunteers to do a full inventory on everything you had, and last you had checked was getting quite friendly with an economist about... 'resource utility benefits' or something like that, you couldn't quite understand the vague and somewhat arcane terms they were shooting back and forth at one another.

The last point of contention was the cut to rations. The military officers took to it well but your civilian populace required a bit of convincing. In the end you managed to convince the sceptics and even snagged a few volunteers to go on even more severe rationing to help stretch your supplies. A few people grumbled but otherwise accepted the situation for what it was.

The only other oddity in your time chasing down the unknown was a note stuck to your quarters door with the lifelike depiction of a blue rose and nothing else. No words, no writing. You're not sure what to make of it and you have no idea who put it there.

--

You'd have thought everyone would be used to the boredom and tedium of long distance maneuver by now, but the situation at hand puts everyone on edge. The one second light cone makes things difficult. You can barely see past your nose and that makes everyone nervous. At least back home you could gaze far off into the distance and ensure that you weren't going to slam into a planet, or see your quarry long before it could ever threaten you. Here? You just have to hope and pray.

Chief Volkova uses the downtime between repairs and arguments with Professor Conrad to do some further investigation. Using one of your shuttles, she confirms the one second light cone isn't a result of damaged sensors. The shuttle disappears when it passes 300,000 kilometers and reappears when it comes back into your detection envelope. Crucially, linking your sensors extended your range, allowing you to see further than you otherwise would. Your shuttles are not designed to do forward reconnaissance and you are loathe to use them in that role in case you need them for anything else, but it is useful information. Several of the civilian engineers suggested using a drone network, but you had to veto the idea since you can't produce such things with your on-board facilities. You did greenlight the design work to begin though as a way of not completely crushing their hopes and dreams.

It's halfway through your second month here that your quarry finally appears on your scopes.

"Silhouette is definitely alien," says O'Malley, "It matches no known silhouette in our database."

You nod, trying your damnedest to contain your excitement and your trepidation. First contact. All you had to do to achieve it was cross universes.

"Begin transmission of the prime number sequences," you order.

"Aye Captain," says Ensign Izumi, working her console obediently.

"Do you think it'll work Captain?" asks O'Malley, "I mean, prime numbers?"

"If it doesn't then we'll have to think of something," you say as your XO looks worriedly at the sensors, "Maybe Pi?"

"Registering change of course from unknown," says O'Malley, her voice chillingly professional.

"Any response to our transmission?" you ask, sitting straighter.

Something is wrong. You can feel it.

"None, we... unknown is now on an intercept course. Estimated time to intercept, one hour. Registering the launch of several projectiles and detecting a rise in hull temperature. They're firing on us captain!"

"Can we evade enemy fire?" you ask.

"Easily enough," says your XO, ordering a slight course adjustment to take you out of the path of enemy fire.

"Your opinion, Commander?"

"Projectile weapons appear to be at least two generations behind ours. Surmise chemically propelled projectiles. Hull temperature rise is consistent with laser systems of similar technological development," she says rapidly, "Unless they get to point blank range or they've got a lot of friends, they're not a threat to us Captain, and even then it'd take them time to plink through our hull."

You ponder the situation and come to a decision:

[] Blast them!
They're clearly hostile. Hit them with your weapons at full power and show them the might of the TCA.

[] Swat them!
Hostile or misguided, you're not sure. Attempt to disable them with your weapons and force them into a more reasonable mindset.

[] Evade them!
They're so nonthreatening as to be underwhelming. Avoid their weapons fire and keep trying to hail them. Maybe they'll understand that you can dance around them like nothing and try harsh language instead of sticks.

[] Run away!
You don't have time to deal with this. Let them eat your dust and set off... someplace else.

--

Colonist Reaction: 12, they react poorly to the situation
Attempt to calm the situation: 42 + 14 = 56
Richard and Vanessa Assist: 49 + (5 + 5) - 3 = 56
Vanessa Intrigue vs. Colonist Revolt: 7 + 17 - 3 = 21
Your Diplomacy vs. Colonist Revolt: 42 + 14 = 56
Colonist Reaction Rationing: 45 + 14 = 59

Damn man, those rolls. Your colonists are a hell of a handful, but you managed to talk the situation down. Just. Still, at least your month and a half wasn't boring!

You rolled a four on the random encounter table (1d6), which should prove interesting.

[dragoongfa]

Hmmm...

[X] Evade them.

Our strongest asset is diplomacy which is then followed by our XO's martial, also our weapons are two PD lasers, not a very potent weapon on its own.

Knowing more about the situation is vital and the aliens may know something valuable.

Evading them for a couple of days should be easy enough considering the engine disparity, how long until they are bored and actually try to communicate?

EDIT: Also thinking about it, if the aliens fired from around the 300K distance after our transmission reached them then that means that they cannot detect us at that range. With this in mind they fired blind and turned to the direction that the transmission came from.

[Razor One]

Evading them for a couple of days should be easy enough considering the engine disparity, how long until they are bored and actually try to communicate?

You can avoid them more or less indefinitely. At least until your fuel runs out in any case, which won't be anytime soon.

As to how long... spoilers. Can't say, sorry.

[joestej]

Damn, we're in a heavy transport with just two little PD lasers, and we can STILL fly/shoot rings around them? These morons must be pretty new to the whole 'space combat' thing...

Still, wasting them gets us nothing but some molten salvage (if we're lucky). We're going to need that ship as intact as possible if we want this 2 month trip to be of any use.

Some questions before I vote:

• In the spirit of what you asked earlier, how much fuel do we stand to loose if we evade for a while? How much fuel do we have left, total?
• Do we have any boarding shuttles (or craft that could be converted into boarding shuttles)? Disabling them won't do much good if we can't secure their ship somehow afterward.
• Based on their known capabilities vs ours, can we get an estimate on their chances of slipping in a lucky shot? I'd rather not lose anything important because some tentacled weirdo managed a lucky roll while we were dancing around.

I'm leaning toward evasion if it's not too expensive or risky. If it is, I say disable them and see where to go from there.

[Suederwind]

[X] Swat them!
Hostile or misguided, you're not sure. Attempt to disable them with your weapons and force them into a more reasonable mindset.

-> Lets play it save here. We can evade them, yes, but who know how long? They might get a lucky shot and we are on a transport, not a proper warship and there are civilians on board. There might as well be more than one ship, if we are unlucky. So lets disable at least their weapons and try to communicate again. They can't outrun us, so we have a lot of time and those PD lasers should do the trick.

[Razor One]

In the spirit of what you asked earlier, how much fuel do we stand to loose if we evade for a while? How much fuel do we have left, total?

You've got about three months supply of fuel, enough to get you from your original point of origin to your destination prior to your jump mishap.

Fuel usage gets rather complicated though when it comes to maintaining distance or evading enemy fire. You're not the most maneuverable ship, so you're going to want to keep a bit of distance if you do.

It'll cost you about as much as killing your speed and reversing your direction would, followed by whatever fuel you'd need to keep your distance. Not a lot, overall, but I surmise that you've at least used up 1/3rd of what you'd started with. Assuming you have about 60% of your fuel remaining, and doing some rough guesswork, evading will cost you 4% or so of your remaining fuel. Still leaves you plenty to work with. If you do run low, finding a comet and processing it is a possibility, but you've had nothing but clear space so far.

Do we have any boarding shuttles (or craft that could be converted into boarding shuttles)? Disabling them won't do much good if we can't secure their ship somehow afterward.

The marines have one, and your shuttles can serve if you really need them to, but their weapons are going to be a lot more of a threat to them than your ship, especially while on approach.

Based on their known capabilities vs ours, can we get an estimate on their chances of slipping in a lucky shot? I'd rather not lose anything important because some tentacled weirdo managed a lucky roll while we were dancing around

At the current distances, their chance of landing a shot is minimal at best. Kinetic weapons are easily evaded at these ranges, so it's a bit weird that they're firing. They have a laser plinking away at you right now, but it's so primitive that instead of vaporising your hull as intended it's simply raising the temperature slightly.

If they had a few hundred of these ships you'd be in trouble though. Massed and coordinated fire is harder to avoid even at longer ranges unless you're running away, and the concentrated laser fire would eventually cook your vessel. Even then, simply running away would be enough.

There is an obvious tech level difference here which gives you a significant advantage.

[joestej]

Okay, thanks Razor! That makes things simple.

[X] Evade them.

We aren't at any real risk yet, and while the fuel loss won't be fun it also won't be crippling. I'd rather cover all our bases by making damn sure they know we weren't interested in fighting than make things hard later if this was somehow just a misunderstanding.

Besides, I can't think of a better way to show off how superior our tech is than by letting them shoot at us for twenty minutes or so and have it do them absolutely no good. This way they know they're beaten and we don't have to risk damaging their wonderfully lootable ship.

[Suederwind]

Assuming you have about 60% of your fuel remaining, and doing some rough guesswork, evading will cost you 4% or so of your remaining fuel. Still leaves you plenty to work with. If you do run low, finding a comet and processing it is a possibility, but you've had nothing but clear space so far.

Thats a lot of fuel we are vasting here and we have found no way of getting more. I suggest that we should not take that risk and simply try to disable them. It will be much saver and we won't lose so much fuel. Diplomacy can still ease that out, if they are willing to.

[alpha]

[X] Cut the transmission, THEN evade

Write in:

If they continue firing somewhat accurately, fire a warning shot (with a laser) back. If they persist, then shoot to disable.

Hopefully, they'll be friendly. If not, that's what a warning shot is for.

[Logannion]

[X] Cut the transmission, THEN evade

Write in:

If they continue firing somewhat accurately, fire a warning shot (with a laser) back. If they persist, then shoot to disable.

Hopefully, they'll be friendly. If not, that's what a warning shot is for.

Going with alpha on this one.

[joestej]

[X] Cut the transmission, THEN evade

Write in:

If they continue firing somewhat accurately, fire a warning shot (with a laser) back. If they persist, then shoot to disable.

Hopefully, they'll be friendly. If not, that's what a warning shot is for.

Out of curiosity, why cut the transmission? It's not hurting anything and they obviously know where we are now. Continuing to broadcast would indicate that we still want to talk. Turning off the transmission would suggest to them that we are no longer interested in a peaceful solution.

I'm leery about the idea of using a warning shot, simply because they likely don't have much in the way of armor. Right now there's no harm, no foul. If we hit them and over-penetrate (as is likely considering how weak their armor is) someone on their ship will probably die, and diplomacy suddenly becomes a lot harder.

Besides, why give away the range and power of our guns until we're ready to use them in earnest?

[Suederwind]

Two questions for our GM:
Are we talking about Lasers working like in real life or working like in a sci-fi show? They wouldn't be able to see a RL laser beam, unless its using visible light and its passing through a medium like gas or so, if I remember correctly, so it would be useless for warning shots.
And second: Can we adjust the power of those pd lasers? If yes, we can switch them to a less powerfull setting and minimise the potential damage.
Besides, they already have hit us with their laser...

[Razor One]

I'm going to opt for Real Life physics here, so lasers are invisible. They'd be able to tell you were aiming roughly in their direction if they had good enough optics and would read the power/thermal spike, but them not blowing up would either be registered as a warning shot or your aim simply being terrible.

I'm justifying the lasers in Naam being visible as a result of either being Plasma Focii in action or the Proplyd lighting up due to action.

You can indeed regulate how much power your lasers fire off, though there is a minimum and maximum to this. This is primarily the difference between Blast Them and Swat Them. Blast them has you hitting them at max power, Swat them has you hitting them with a lower setting.

[Nugget]

[X] Evade them

What joestej and dragoongfa said.

[Razor One]

Your memory of command training for first contact scenario's comes back to you in a flood. Them opening fire on you gave you every right to defend yourself to the utmost under TCA law, but you're smart enough to read between the lines. You knew that if you were back home and you opened fire without exploring every chance at a peaceful contact you'd be hung out to dry.

Over the last month and a half you've had to contend with the fact that you may never go home again. It'd be easy to begin acting as though that were true, as though you could do whatever you wanted, and so long as the marines backed you, that you could get away with anything.

But that's not the way forward. You have to have standards, and one of those is attempting all measures at peaceful contact before firing.

"Bring us around," you order, "maintain a distance of 250,000 kilometers and continue evasive manuevers. Ensign Izumi, cease transmission until we've established a holding pattern."

O'Malley picks up on your reasoning instantly.

"You think they're using our transmission as a targeting guide?" she asks.

"Just because they're backwards doesn't mean they're stupid," you reason, "If they're going to insist on shooting I'd rather not present an easy target until we're in a better position to evade. If they're not using it for targeting, we lose nothing, if they do, we gain an advantage."

The minutes tick by as you change course. Their laser fire never lets up during your maneuvers, and the kinetic cannon fire continues without any significant deviation in accuracy. Even on your closest approach to the alien vessel their shots are easily evaded before you begin to widen the distance again and settle into a holding pattern.

"Registering a rise in the temperature of the hostile vessel," reports O'Malley, "It seems that they can't shed heat very quickly. If their vessel is anything like ours, it should be rendered inoperable from the heat within the hour."

You nod and turn to Ensign Izumi. She doesn't even need to hear the order, she immediately begins transmitting prime number sequences, followed by pi and several other transcendental numbers.

The only reply they seem to give is continued weapons fire.

"Is there any pattern to their weapons fire?" you ask.

"No, it looks like they're firing as rapidly as they can," replies O'Malley.

"Opinions?" you ask.

"If they were interested in talking to us they'd have done so by now," said O'Malley.

"Miss Izumi?" you ask.

"Well, um," she fidgets a bit before finding her words, "they haven't directed any transmissions our way and I'm positive that they can recieve us. I even made sure to transmit across all frequencies and varied our output so we wouldn't be deafening them."

"How do you know they can receive us?" asks O'Malley.

"There's a radio array on their upper hull," explains the Ensign, "They're definitely capable of communication. It just looks like they don't want to talk, or that they just want us to be gone."

Your officers look to you.

[] Swat Them!
Hostile or misguided, you're not sure. Attempt to disable them with your weapons and force them into a more reasonable mindset.

[] Maintain holding pattern.
You can evade them forever, but they can't keep up that rate of fire for long. See what happens when they can't fire anymore.

[] Run away!
Let them eat your dust and set off... someplace else.