In that case, I shall flop too. C 
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[LP CYOA] Epic
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
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E seems to be the only reasonable response here. That said I may still flop.
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
Hmm. Now that I've had some sleep and since treave has said that this won't necessarily affect our persona, I wonder if this is less about personality and more about what he thinks he should do about us. Rather like the question Naim asked us before. He may be trying to determine whether or not he can use us (possibly to kill the great idea?) and whether or not he should tell the others. After all...maybe he could become the new great idea, right? Or the question could just be about predicting our behavior in the future... Which choice will we make? :shrug:
C would be a fairly predictable answer - as would B & A...
D would dissolve this reality and expose us to the others. Demonstrating our power? What use is that before a being even the immortals refer to as a god?
F might keep him guessing. Or freak him out. Or make us look like a fool. Still, if it doesn't affect our personality, it may not be all that bad.
I am uncertain what E would do. It IS tempting and root seems to have good instincts on these matters, but the risks are quite high and our chances of succeeding laughable. More likely that this Master would either find us amusing, strand us in the middle of nowhere, or simply kill us - activating our rewind power in this temporary space might be...interesting, so that's not necessarily the worst possibility I guess...maybe... And what if we DO kill him? How do we get back then?
Bros, those are my considerations. Think on them and choose as you will...
C would be a fairly predictable answer - as would B & A...
D would dissolve this reality and expose us to the others. Demonstrating our power? What use is that before a being even the immortals refer to as a god?
F might keep him guessing. Or freak him out. Or make us look like a fool. Still, if it doesn't affect our personality, it may not be all that bad.
I am uncertain what E would do. It IS tempting and root seems to have good instincts on these matters, but the risks are quite high and our chances of succeeding laughable. More likely that this Master would either find us amusing, strand us in the middle of nowhere, or simply kill us - activating our rewind power in this temporary space might be...interesting, so that's not necessarily the worst possibility I guess...maybe... And what if we DO kill him? How do we get back then?
Was that a hint? The 'true' answer is A, the 'right' one is B, and the 'best' one is C? It would seem that all of those answers *do* keep us playing this gentleman's game... Whereas D, E, and F are answers outside of this game of his. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know.
Bros, those are my considerations. Think on them and choose as you will...
- Joined
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One-year anniversary bonus content:
In another time, at another place
The lights in the room flickered. That made me pause for a bit, my fingers hovering over the laptop that I was working on. It could just be an electrical surge of some sort. The transformer supplying power to the laboratory could be acting up. Or I could check the wards on the laptop again just to be absolutely certain it wasn’t a Sign of a Nameless Horror attempting to break through into our reality.
Nope. The wards are intact.
There’s no noxious smell, no gelatinous slime oozing from the crevices of the display, or whispers of madness interweaved with the gentle hum of the hard disk.
Must be an electrical problem of some sort; I should make a note to have it looked at anyway. Electrical glitches at the most inopportune moments could disrupt the grid during crucial experiments, and that would be bad. My seniors still talked about what happened a few years back, when a first-year by the name of Jean had neglected to draw the proper wards and ground his summoning circle. They’d had to vacuum what was left of him from the ceiling.
In any case, I had been thoroughly briefed on the exhaustive safety procedures and numerous backup protocols in case of what the handbook insisted on referring to as a ‘Reality Containment Failure’, and under section 3-2(A) it clearly stated that any student or staff member that neglected to inform Maintenance of any glitches that could lead to such a ‘Failure’ would be wholly responsible for any legal repercussions that ensued. It then proceeded to list the whole range of repercussions in sub-section B.
Honestly, legal repercussions would probably be the least of the offender’s problems if there was an actual breach, but I suppose we weren’t an ISO(9000)-compliant institution for nothing. Good old bureaucracy; it’ll probably march on even when the stars are no longer familiar and gribbly green things are sucking the brains from all our heads.
The door slams open.
“Hoshikawa!”
I cringe at the loud noise and give the intruder an annoyed stare – a lifetime spent in the dark with nothing but the glow of monitors to accompany me has not left me used to social niceties. At any rate, even if I were some smooth-talking bastard, I would find it hard to deal with Kyrie. She’s devastatingly cute, terribly short (though I wouldn’t say that to her face), dangerously sharp, and the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, with an ego the size of… well, I’d have to measure it in terms of astronomical units.
More importantly, her father owns the university.
“Yes, what is it?” I sigh.
“What are you still doing here? Professor Sekh wants the report on the theorem in ten minutes.”
“I already sent you the report, didn’t I? Did you check your mail?” I frown. I’m sure I e-mailed it to her this morning. She was supposed to proof-read it and then forward it to the professor if everything checked out.
“Yes, you did, but – oh –“A look of realization comes across her face and she slaps her forehead. “It’s your first time working with Professor Sekh, isn’t it? She doesn’t deal with written reports. She’s something of a traditionalist… she wants it delivered via an oral presentation.”
“Nobody told me that,” I mutter.
“Well, if you spent less time hiding away in the lab… Anyway, you need to present your section of the report.”
Kyrie moves to grab my hand, but stops short, her eyes drawn to the laptop I had been working on.
“Is this…” Her voice is suddenly hushed, a mixture of awe and fear.
“Yes, I’m debugging the Whateley Logic Engine. I mean, I took an interest in it after we were made to do that assignment on Dunwich in the first month.”
“Awesome,” she whispers. “Did you use the Bast Incantation to ward it?” I nod, and she gives a smirk of delight. “I knew it! This is brilliant work. You’re going to have to tell me all about it. Still, first things first. We’re out of time,” says Kyrie as her fingers close around my wrist. I struggle uncomfortably and ineffectually – she’s always been a physical sort and I’ve never been that – before finally allowing her to lead me out of the lab.
I realize, much later, that I had forgotten to shut down the laptop properly.
***
Professor Sekhenun is reputed to be one of the best minds in applied mathemagic and demonology. That reputation of hers is what attracted many of the brightest young thinkers in the world to study at Miskatonic University, and the few months I have spent here so far have not proven it wrong. I can categorically say that I have not met anyone with more understanding of the occult and the nature of things that lie beyond our observable universe. In fact, her knowledge and understanding can be said to be so… insightful… that there were rumours going around the student body that she wasn’t entirely human.
“There are rumours that I’m not human, Hoshikawa, but I assure you, you don’t need to be so nervous in front of me. I’m not an eater of souls or anything.” My professor, a beautiful Egyptian woman who seems to be barely older than I am, fiddles with the papers on her desk while giving me a dazzling smile.
“R-right,” I laugh nervously. “Honestly, given your Egyptian heritage I would have pegged you for Nyarlathotep rather than a soul eater. Ha ha.” It was an awkward joke, and for an instant I imagine I see a frown on the professor’s exquisite face… a frown formed by the writhing of countless worms under her skin.
Then it is gone.
Kyrie punches me in the shoulder.
“Sorry,” I mumble. The late nights working on the Whateley Logic Engine must be getting to me. The old-timers say that malevolence resides in between the numbers… perhaps I should heed that warning.
“Oh, there’s nothing to be sorry for,” smiles Professor Sekh again. Her teeth seem a little too white. “Now, about that Shrewsbury theorem assignment…”
***
It takes me all of half an hour to haltingly explain what I had derived from the Shrewsbury work. As it turns out, none of it is new to the professor, who nods at each stage of my explanation and jots down something in her notebook. When it is all over, she informs me that I have missed a particularly obscure aspect of Shrewsbury regarding a set of calculations that invoked the Yellow Sign, but all in all my work was sound.
“That was pretty cool,” says Kyrie. “I’ve never seen the professor have so little to nitpick about.”
“What is with the professor? I’m starting to wonder about her age,” I mutter. There’s something wrong about the professor.
“Oh? What’s that… are you interested in the professor? She is a beautiful woman after all,” teases Kyrie. “But it seems that she has a man in her life, so you better give up. He’s apparently some sort of secret agent for the government.”
“Secret agent?” I boggle. This is a new rumour to my ears.
“Yeah. He’s been to the university a couple of times to consult with her, tough-looking dark-haired young guy. You might have seen him around. My dad tells me he’s a ‘troubleshooter’ for the government, but we all know what that means.”
It usually means adventures in inhospitable alien dimensions, negotiating with many-tentacled beings (perhaps violently) and ensuring the survival of the human race in this bleak universe filled with things just waiting to break through dimensions and gobble us all up. The Treaty of Leng had changed things irrevocably, for better or for worse, though most of humanity still laboured in blissful ignorance. Yeah, I know what that means.
“W-well, even if he’s a hunky, dangerous, mysterious stranger, you have your charms too! I mean, you aren’t bad looking, if you’d just get your hair cut, and-“ Kyrie begins talking quickly, apparently mistaking my silence for something else.
“What?” I ask quizzically. That really came out of nowhere. “I was just thinking about what troubleshooters do.”
“Oh, right.” She flushes. “Anyway, now that this is over we better start focusing on what to do for that group assignment the professor gave us. What were our choices, again? This time I’ll make sure Erika actually shows up to do something.”
A; there was that field trip to Innsmouth – the professor wanted some blood samples from the locals. She assured us it would be safe and that the natives wouldn’t be violent unless we transgressed their traditions. Legends about Innsmouth abound, and almost every Miskatonic student would jump at a chance to visit the hamlet.
B; then, there was the choice of working on a Great Summoning Node that would anchor a medium-level Unfathomable Entity to do our bidding. I could probably put the Whateley Logic Engine to good use there; it’d be a good test of the program’s capabilities.
Finally, C; Dr. Shulgi, one of the university’s associates, was looking for volunteers to delve into the minds of some patients over at the Arkham Medical Institute. This is ground-breaking research and could possibly lead to the curing of extra-dimensional possession… definitely worth many credits.
I wonder what I should choose...
***
C has a clear victory. Update will be out by tomorrow.
In another time, at another place
The lights in the room flickered. That made me pause for a bit, my fingers hovering over the laptop that I was working on. It could just be an electrical surge of some sort. The transformer supplying power to the laboratory could be acting up. Or I could check the wards on the laptop again just to be absolutely certain it wasn’t a Sign of a Nameless Horror attempting to break through into our reality.
Nope. The wards are intact.
There’s no noxious smell, no gelatinous slime oozing from the crevices of the display, or whispers of madness interweaved with the gentle hum of the hard disk.
Must be an electrical problem of some sort; I should make a note to have it looked at anyway. Electrical glitches at the most inopportune moments could disrupt the grid during crucial experiments, and that would be bad. My seniors still talked about what happened a few years back, when a first-year by the name of Jean had neglected to draw the proper wards and ground his summoning circle. They’d had to vacuum what was left of him from the ceiling.
In any case, I had been thoroughly briefed on the exhaustive safety procedures and numerous backup protocols in case of what the handbook insisted on referring to as a ‘Reality Containment Failure’, and under section 3-2(A) it clearly stated that any student or staff member that neglected to inform Maintenance of any glitches that could lead to such a ‘Failure’ would be wholly responsible for any legal repercussions that ensued. It then proceeded to list the whole range of repercussions in sub-section B.
Honestly, legal repercussions would probably be the least of the offender’s problems if there was an actual breach, but I suppose we weren’t an ISO(9000)-compliant institution for nothing. Good old bureaucracy; it’ll probably march on even when the stars are no longer familiar and gribbly green things are sucking the brains from all our heads.
The door slams open.
“Hoshikawa!”
I cringe at the loud noise and give the intruder an annoyed stare – a lifetime spent in the dark with nothing but the glow of monitors to accompany me has not left me used to social niceties. At any rate, even if I were some smooth-talking bastard, I would find it hard to deal with Kyrie. She’s devastatingly cute, terribly short (though I wouldn’t say that to her face), dangerously sharp, and the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, with an ego the size of… well, I’d have to measure it in terms of astronomical units.
More importantly, her father owns the university.
“Yes, what is it?” I sigh.
“What are you still doing here? Professor Sekh wants the report on the theorem in ten minutes.”
“I already sent you the report, didn’t I? Did you check your mail?” I frown. I’m sure I e-mailed it to her this morning. She was supposed to proof-read it and then forward it to the professor if everything checked out.
“Yes, you did, but – oh –“A look of realization comes across her face and she slaps her forehead. “It’s your first time working with Professor Sekh, isn’t it? She doesn’t deal with written reports. She’s something of a traditionalist… she wants it delivered via an oral presentation.”
“Nobody told me that,” I mutter.
“Well, if you spent less time hiding away in the lab… Anyway, you need to present your section of the report.”
Kyrie moves to grab my hand, but stops short, her eyes drawn to the laptop I had been working on.
“Is this…” Her voice is suddenly hushed, a mixture of awe and fear.
“Yes, I’m debugging the Whateley Logic Engine. I mean, I took an interest in it after we were made to do that assignment on Dunwich in the first month.”
“Awesome,” she whispers. “Did you use the Bast Incantation to ward it?” I nod, and she gives a smirk of delight. “I knew it! This is brilliant work. You’re going to have to tell me all about it. Still, first things first. We’re out of time,” says Kyrie as her fingers close around my wrist. I struggle uncomfortably and ineffectually – she’s always been a physical sort and I’ve never been that – before finally allowing her to lead me out of the lab.
I realize, much later, that I had forgotten to shut down the laptop properly.
***
Professor Sekhenun is reputed to be one of the best minds in applied mathemagic and demonology. That reputation of hers is what attracted many of the brightest young thinkers in the world to study at Miskatonic University, and the few months I have spent here so far have not proven it wrong. I can categorically say that I have not met anyone with more understanding of the occult and the nature of things that lie beyond our observable universe. In fact, her knowledge and understanding can be said to be so… insightful… that there were rumours going around the student body that she wasn’t entirely human.
“There are rumours that I’m not human, Hoshikawa, but I assure you, you don’t need to be so nervous in front of me. I’m not an eater of souls or anything.” My professor, a beautiful Egyptian woman who seems to be barely older than I am, fiddles with the papers on her desk while giving me a dazzling smile.
“R-right,” I laugh nervously. “Honestly, given your Egyptian heritage I would have pegged you for Nyarlathotep rather than a soul eater. Ha ha.” It was an awkward joke, and for an instant I imagine I see a frown on the professor’s exquisite face… a frown formed by the writhing of countless worms under her skin.
Then it is gone.
Kyrie punches me in the shoulder.
“Sorry,” I mumble. The late nights working on the Whateley Logic Engine must be getting to me. The old-timers say that malevolence resides in between the numbers… perhaps I should heed that warning.
“Oh, there’s nothing to be sorry for,” smiles Professor Sekh again. Her teeth seem a little too white. “Now, about that Shrewsbury theorem assignment…”
***
It takes me all of half an hour to haltingly explain what I had derived from the Shrewsbury work. As it turns out, none of it is new to the professor, who nods at each stage of my explanation and jots down something in her notebook. When it is all over, she informs me that I have missed a particularly obscure aspect of Shrewsbury regarding a set of calculations that invoked the Yellow Sign, but all in all my work was sound.
“That was pretty cool,” says Kyrie. “I’ve never seen the professor have so little to nitpick about.”
“What is with the professor? I’m starting to wonder about her age,” I mutter. There’s something wrong about the professor.
“Oh? What’s that… are you interested in the professor? She is a beautiful woman after all,” teases Kyrie. “But it seems that she has a man in her life, so you better give up. He’s apparently some sort of secret agent for the government.”
“Secret agent?” I boggle. This is a new rumour to my ears.
“Yeah. He’s been to the university a couple of times to consult with her, tough-looking dark-haired young guy. You might have seen him around. My dad tells me he’s a ‘troubleshooter’ for the government, but we all know what that means.”
It usually means adventures in inhospitable alien dimensions, negotiating with many-tentacled beings (perhaps violently) and ensuring the survival of the human race in this bleak universe filled with things just waiting to break through dimensions and gobble us all up. The Treaty of Leng had changed things irrevocably, for better or for worse, though most of humanity still laboured in blissful ignorance. Yeah, I know what that means.
“W-well, even if he’s a hunky, dangerous, mysterious stranger, you have your charms too! I mean, you aren’t bad looking, if you’d just get your hair cut, and-“ Kyrie begins talking quickly, apparently mistaking my silence for something else.
“What?” I ask quizzically. That really came out of nowhere. “I was just thinking about what troubleshooters do.”
“Oh, right.” She flushes. “Anyway, now that this is over we better start focusing on what to do for that group assignment the professor gave us. What were our choices, again? This time I’ll make sure Erika actually shows up to do something.”
A; there was that field trip to Innsmouth – the professor wanted some blood samples from the locals. She assured us it would be safe and that the natives wouldn’t be violent unless we transgressed their traditions. Legends about Innsmouth abound, and almost every Miskatonic student would jump at a chance to visit the hamlet.
B; then, there was the choice of working on a Great Summoning Node that would anchor a medium-level Unfathomable Entity to do our bidding. I could probably put the Whateley Logic Engine to good use there; it’d be a good test of the program’s capabilities.
Finally, C; Dr. Shulgi, one of the university’s associates, was looking for volunteers to delve into the minds of some patients over at the Arkham Medical Institute. This is ground-breaking research and could possibly lead to the curing of extra-dimensional possession… definitely worth many credits.
I wonder what I should choose...
***
C has a clear victory. Update will be out by tomorrow.
So, is there a combination of choices that would have led to the reality described above? Ean, Sekh and Shulgi all alive? 
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
F is the only right answer, of course. I want to keep him on his toes and leave us wiggle room for Senya's goals and morals.
And to give us a chance at restoring Ean's legacy, for it has so much to offer us.
Say, treave, would fighting the Immortals personally have awakened our dormant voices?
Edit: hah, just noticed the bonus chapter. Awesome work, man, I wonder where you get all these ideas from, but I just hope they don't stop coming. B, obviously, time to put our own research to good use! (maybe even meet up with our old bro)
And to give us a chance at restoring Ean's legacy, for it has so much to offer us.
Say, treave, would fighting the Immortals personally have awakened our dormant voices?
Edit: hah, just noticed the bonus chapter. Awesome work, man, I wonder where you get all these ideas from, but I just hope they don't stop coming. B, obviously, time to put our own research to good use! (maybe even meet up with our old bro)
ScubaV
Prophet
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2011
- Messages
- 1,022
This. Epic + Cthulhu-type mythos = Win. It's just basic math.
And it would mean seeing Ean again.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Having Ean, Sekh etc up and about = not impossible.
Having actual Lovecraft references = possible as long as no one keeps on messing up how history is supposed to go. Gieloth and the like are pretty heavily Mythos-inspired, obviously.
Spin-off... hm.
As for the dormant voices, they are just a tiny part that Shulgi gave to keep you healthy so that you don't die and fuck things up. But it's a limited form of regeneration. Decapitation and the like will still kill you. Nanotech research will allow you to unlock their potential, but we skipped that.
Then again I think for Senya, going up against the makers of the nanomachines using those very same nanomachines as the foundation of your powers is a pretty silly thing to do.
Having actual Lovecraft references = possible as long as no one keeps on messing up how history is supposed to go. Gieloth and the like are pretty heavily Mythos-inspired, obviously.
Spin-off... hm.
As for the dormant voices, they are just a tiny part that Shulgi gave to keep you healthy so that you don't die and fuck things up. But it's a limited form of regeneration. Decapitation and the like will still kill you. Nanotech research will allow you to unlock their potential, but we skipped that.
Then again I think for Senya, going up against the makers of the nanomachines using those very same nanomachines as the foundation of your powers is a pretty silly thing to do.
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Rendezvous Point
The gentleman stares at me in disbelief, surprised at the carefree, mocking manner with which I answered the question. I shrug my shoulders in a mild, that’s-how-it-goes manner.
“What? Wouldn’t you want both? I don’t see why I can’t have both.”
“You are not taking this question very seriously, are you?”
“Should I be?”
“It is a question that delves into your heart’s utmost desire. To choose one at the expense of another is-“
“It’s a stupid question.” I interject.
The garden begins to darken. I can hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance as the wind begins to tousle my hair.
“I see,” says the gentleman, who seems to have regained his composure. That slight smile is back under his moustache. The state of the garden, however, tells me that he is no longer in a very peaceable mood. A dark shadow looms from him; a menacing presence larger than his physical form – my flippant answer to his serious question seems to have been somewhat insulting. “Why?”
“Well, you see… treating power or knowledge as some overriding ethos that I have to subscribe to is frankly – how shall I put it – lame.”
“Lame?”
“Don’t you think so? They’re just tools. A means to an end. Right now I need both of them to achieve my goals, and I’m not lying about that. There is no need to choose between power or knowledge.”
There is a slight pause as he stares at me. A slight chuckle escapes his lips; the look in his eyes tells me he had not expected this answer.”You are greedy and ambitious,” he says. “That will be your downfall.”
“An interesting warning. Can you see the future, then, to be so confident of my fall?”
“We control the future. Bear that in mind when you hatch your plots.”
“Well, that statement, and the ‘calculator’ you mentioned, explains a lot. Thank you for the exposition.” I conclude with a satisfied sigh, folding my hands. The gentleman blinks slowly. He seems to have realized that he had spoken a lot more than he should. With a heavy sigh, he gets up from his chair.
“Very well then.” He grimaces, lines deepening in his face as he casts a glance at the sky. “The dimension is just about to fall apart, we cannot linger here for long. Heed my words, young Hoshikawa.”
I do nothing but smile at him.
Now I know the face of the enemy.
***
“The Independent Spirit of Adventure has successfully exited the wormhole, Master. Master?” reports Yua. The transition is seamless – one moment I’m in the garden, next thing I know I’m back in real space.
“Yeah, I’m here, Yua. Did you notice anything strange when we passed through the wormhole?”
“There are no oddities within my memory. Is there something wrong?”
“No, nothing. Alright, give me a sitrep. Patch it through to the Spirit of Adventure too.” I put the encounter out of my mind. I'll get to them... in time. For now, I have a mission to complete, which will advance my own goals and put me that much closer to what I want.
“We’ve exited the wormhole at the desired location. The jump was a success.”
“Do we have any signs of Abernathy’s whereabouts?” I ask.
“The rendezvous point is littered with wreckage. It looks like there was a battle here, perhaps a week ago. I can make out two Federation cruisers and one Imperial vessel in the debris – all of them are no longer functional.”
“Are there any survivors?”
“It is hard to say, the Anhur or the Independent Spirit of Adventure do not have the necessary sensors to verify the situation.”
I could do it myself; closing my eyes to concentrate, I let my mind reach out towards the debris field left behind by the battle. I find no living souls there, but that does not mean there is nothing to salvage.
“Master, I’m detecting a faint trail of an Imperial vessel leaving the area, heading back towards the Empire. Judging from its trajectory, we might be able to catch up to it before it reaches the nearest jump point. Besides that, there is a distress signal coming from a nearby planet. It's about three days' travel from here.”
“What are the contents of the signal?”
“It’s hard to tell. The code indicate that it’s Star League, but we do not have the necessary security clearance to decrypt the signal. All I can tell is that it is a request for help.”
"Well, we've heard what the situation is, guys." I say, opening the comm lines to all of the crew. "What do you think we should do?"
"Do as you wish, Hoshikawa," sneers Erec. "I am only along for the ride."
"I think we should check out the distress signal, Senya." says Emiri. "It's clearly from our friends."
"I agree with the little girl." says Erika, earning a yowl of displeasure from Emiri which she ignores. "Distress calls should be our priority."
"Hm, I'm thinking checking out what's left in the battlefield could earn us some good salvage, plus let us know what we could be facing. If we're lucky there'll be good loot. Distress signal could be a trap." comments Captain Garland.
"What about you, Yua?" I ask.
"I have no opinion on the right course of action to take at this moment, Master, but I'll just point out that if we don't go after the Imperial vessel now, we probably won't be able to catch it before it jumps."
***
A. Investigate the wreckage of the battle for more clues before deciding what to do next. Besides finding out more about our enemies and what happened here, there might also be equipment to be salvaged.
B. Go after the Imperial vessel that has departed the area - it could be a scout or a survivor of the battle. There is a chance they're ferrying either prisoners or information back to the Empire... it would be prudent to intercept and capture them at this point.
C. Head towards the distress call. Sure, it could be a trap; that's what I would do if I were an Imperial tactician, but I cannot ignore the chances of it being genuine. Any delays could be fatal to the distressed.
The gentleman stares at me in disbelief, surprised at the carefree, mocking manner with which I answered the question. I shrug my shoulders in a mild, that’s-how-it-goes manner.
“What? Wouldn’t you want both? I don’t see why I can’t have both.”
“You are not taking this question very seriously, are you?”
“Should I be?”
“It is a question that delves into your heart’s utmost desire. To choose one at the expense of another is-“
“It’s a stupid question.” I interject.
The garden begins to darken. I can hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance as the wind begins to tousle my hair.
“I see,” says the gentleman, who seems to have regained his composure. That slight smile is back under his moustache. The state of the garden, however, tells me that he is no longer in a very peaceable mood. A dark shadow looms from him; a menacing presence larger than his physical form – my flippant answer to his serious question seems to have been somewhat insulting. “Why?”
“Well, you see… treating power or knowledge as some overriding ethos that I have to subscribe to is frankly – how shall I put it – lame.”
“Lame?”
“Don’t you think so? They’re just tools. A means to an end. Right now I need both of them to achieve my goals, and I’m not lying about that. There is no need to choose between power or knowledge.”
There is a slight pause as he stares at me. A slight chuckle escapes his lips; the look in his eyes tells me he had not expected this answer.”You are greedy and ambitious,” he says. “That will be your downfall.”
“An interesting warning. Can you see the future, then, to be so confident of my fall?”
“We control the future. Bear that in mind when you hatch your plots.”
“Well, that statement, and the ‘calculator’ you mentioned, explains a lot. Thank you for the exposition.” I conclude with a satisfied sigh, folding my hands. The gentleman blinks slowly. He seems to have realized that he had spoken a lot more than he should. With a heavy sigh, he gets up from his chair.
“Very well then.” He grimaces, lines deepening in his face as he casts a glance at the sky. “The dimension is just about to fall apart, we cannot linger here for long. Heed my words, young Hoshikawa.”
I do nothing but smile at him.
Now I know the face of the enemy.
***
“The Independent Spirit of Adventure has successfully exited the wormhole, Master. Master?” reports Yua. The transition is seamless – one moment I’m in the garden, next thing I know I’m back in real space.
“Yeah, I’m here, Yua. Did you notice anything strange when we passed through the wormhole?”
“There are no oddities within my memory. Is there something wrong?”
“No, nothing. Alright, give me a sitrep. Patch it through to the Spirit of Adventure too.” I put the encounter out of my mind. I'll get to them... in time. For now, I have a mission to complete, which will advance my own goals and put me that much closer to what I want.
“We’ve exited the wormhole at the desired location. The jump was a success.”
“Do we have any signs of Abernathy’s whereabouts?” I ask.
“The rendezvous point is littered with wreckage. It looks like there was a battle here, perhaps a week ago. I can make out two Federation cruisers and one Imperial vessel in the debris – all of them are no longer functional.”
“Are there any survivors?”
“It is hard to say, the Anhur or the Independent Spirit of Adventure do not have the necessary sensors to verify the situation.”
I could do it myself; closing my eyes to concentrate, I let my mind reach out towards the debris field left behind by the battle. I find no living souls there, but that does not mean there is nothing to salvage.
“Master, I’m detecting a faint trail of an Imperial vessel leaving the area, heading back towards the Empire. Judging from its trajectory, we might be able to catch up to it before it reaches the nearest jump point. Besides that, there is a distress signal coming from a nearby planet. It's about three days' travel from here.”
“What are the contents of the signal?”
“It’s hard to tell. The code indicate that it’s Star League, but we do not have the necessary security clearance to decrypt the signal. All I can tell is that it is a request for help.”
"Well, we've heard what the situation is, guys." I say, opening the comm lines to all of the crew. "What do you think we should do?"
"Do as you wish, Hoshikawa," sneers Erec. "I am only along for the ride."
"I think we should check out the distress signal, Senya." says Emiri. "It's clearly from our friends."
"I agree with the little girl." says Erika, earning a yowl of displeasure from Emiri which she ignores. "Distress calls should be our priority."
"Hm, I'm thinking checking out what's left in the battlefield could earn us some good salvage, plus let us know what we could be facing. If we're lucky there'll be good loot. Distress signal could be a trap." comments Captain Garland.
"What about you, Yua?" I ask.
"I have no opinion on the right course of action to take at this moment, Master, but I'll just point out that if we don't go after the Imperial vessel now, we probably won't be able to catch it before it jumps."
***
A. Investigate the wreckage of the battle for more clues before deciding what to do next. Besides finding out more about our enemies and what happened here, there might also be equipment to be salvaged.
B. Go after the Imperial vessel that has departed the area - it could be a scout or a survivor of the battle. There is a chance they're ferrying either prisoners or information back to the Empire... it would be prudent to intercept and capture them at this point.
C. Head towards the distress call. Sure, it could be a trap; that's what I would do if I were an Imperial tactician, but I cannot ignore the chances of it being genuine. Any delays could be fatal to the distressed.
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
B - That enemy ship is our best and only lead on the location of Tarliss and Twintails. Heck, they might even be on the ship itself as prisoners.
The signal is a trap. Why would a secret agent put out such an obvious a distress call in enemy territory right after a battle? You'd think they would be using a frequency known only to the upper eschelons of their military that wouldn't be intercepted by a random group of brats there to rescue them...
Also, We're dealing with an immortal and a cyborg clone. Tough as nails doesn't begin to describe them. I think they can wait a little while on the off chance it's them.
edit: So the Master intends to use our answer to predict our actions in the future, eh? Interesting... When the time comes, we might ought to deviate from their expectations a bit...
The signal is a trap. Why would a secret agent put out such an obvious a distress call in enemy territory right after a battle? You'd think they would be using a frequency known only to the upper eschelons of their military that wouldn't be intercepted by a random group of brats there to rescue them...
Also, We're dealing with an immortal and a cyborg clone. Tough as nails doesn't begin to describe them. I think they can wait a little while on the off chance it's them.
edit: So the Master intends to use our answer to predict our actions in the future, eh? Interesting... When the time comes, we might ought to deviate from their expectations a bit...
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
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On the other hand jumping in for a rescue/investigation without being equipped to receive Star League emergency transmissions (decryption codes notwithstanding, those are classified) would bring our protagonist to a ridiculously whole new level of unpreparedness.
The protocol of the distress signal appears to be legit. But that doesn't stop it from possibly being a trap. Obviously.
The protocol of the distress signal appears to be legit. But that doesn't stop it from possibly being a trap. Obviously.
Doing the distress call would earn us Erika points though. I want that unlock, to better understand what's going on with Senya.
C
Also, care-bear points might be important when it comes down to fighting/resisting the "other". The confrontation with Senya's alter-ego will come I'm sure.
C
Also, care-bear points might be important when it comes down to fighting/resisting the "other". The confrontation with Senya's alter-ego will come I'm sure.
B - time to finally meet the Empire.
Jester
Arbiter
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- Mar 24, 2013
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B its odd that they didn't catch beacon signal it may be coded still they should know that someone is there and if they know why leave? Either because they got something very important, they got severe beating or planet is in their control. Could be that they try to get reinforcement.
ScubaV
Prophet
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2011
- Messages
- 1,022
Jester's confusing grammar aside, he makes some good points. As much as we might need Erika points, that Empire ship could be the only potential information link between the secret op and the rest of the Empire. Catching them now could save us a lot more time and headache later.
B
B
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
B- I'm in agreement with the rest.
I really don't like where Senya's morality is heading. So much for being Ean's successor, eh? Let's make the best of this, just because he's a greedy, ambitious and morally unrestrained, doesn't mean he can't work for the betterment of Terra and it's inhabitants; it just won't be as, well, inspiring and awe-inducungas Ean's goodness was. Although the bit about having Ean and Sek alive not being impossible gives me hope. We have our prototype suit with us, right? If yes, then we should be able to make a boarding of the ship and take some valuable PoWs ourselves.
I really don't like where Senya's morality is heading. So much for being Ean's successor, eh? Let's make the best of this, just because he's a greedy, ambitious and morally unrestrained, doesn't mean he can't work for the betterment of Terra and it's inhabitants; it just won't be as, well, inspiring and awe-inducungas Ean's goodness was. Although the bit about having Ean and Sek alive not being impossible gives me hope. We have our prototype suit with us, right? If yes, then we should be able to make a boarding of the ship and take some valuable PoWs ourselves.
I think that the spin-off meant that them surviving would have been possible if we hadn't jumped into the rift for the sake of lulz, rather than them possibly living now. I'll go ahead and vote C in case B blows up in our faces.
So if Senya gets fed up with the current state of things, he twiddles a bit with the wormhole machine and then exits in a parallel universe? 
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The Belesis
“How are we doing, Captain?” I approach Garland on the bridge, where the viewscreens are displaying the route we are taking through space; right on the trail of the Imperial vessel, as I had ordered.
“Everything is going smoothly. We should catch up to them soon. Still, are you sure about this? I don’t think we’re equipped for a fight against an Imperial warship,” says Garland. We have been on the trail of the Imperial vessel for the past three days – in two more days we will have caught up to them, close to the jump point they plan to use to get back to the heart of the Empire. The black hole generator will require four more days to be at sufficient power in order to charge up a wormhole; right now it can't even muster up enough energy to move Anhur.
“That’s fine.” I say. “Your freighter can move faster than almost any other warship the League or Empire has. Besides, those bulky armour blocks disguised as the ship’s outline tell me that it’s far more durable than it seems.”
Captain Garland’s eyes give me a shrewd glance as he grins. “There’s no hiding anything from you, it seems. Good guess.”
“Well, we’ll be needing those armour blocks soon enough.”
“Expecting trouble?”
“Of course. In fact, trouble’s due at almost any time now. Better strap yourself in, Captain," I say, patting his shoulder.
“What do you-“
“An Imperial ship’s approaching us from the front,” reports Emiri. “It designates itself as the Belesis. Their captain is hailing us.”
“Better answer that call, Captain. This is the ship we’ve been following.”
“How did you know this was going to happen?” asks Garland as he gets ready to patch the Belesis on screen.
“Later, Captain. For now, do what you do best.”
“Fine, Hoshikawa,” he sighs, “but you owe me an explanation later.”
A bear of a man with a great big bushy beard and shiny chevrons adorning an ornate military coat appears on the screen. He seems all business, his face a mask of stone.
“This is Commander Dranu of the Belesis. Unidentified freighter, state your business here in Imperial space.”
“Commander, what a pleasure to see a reliable face out here!” grins Garland as if he just met an old friend. “My name is Garland, a humble trader on my way to Oannu. We got lost on a slipspace jump… something went wrong and dumped us all the way out here. Our navigator pointed out the nearest jump point and I decided we had to floor it there before we ran out of fuel. Could you help us?”
“Your vessel does not look like it belongs to an Imperial world,” says Dranu menacingly. “Are you from the Star League?
“Ah… that,” Garland falters for a while before gamely continuing. "Our ship is-"
"Enough. Your ship is now under custody of the Empire. You will follow the Belesis to the jump point, where we will escort you to Khalka. Stand by and prepare for boarding. An Imperial officer with a contingent of fully armed guards will monitor your crew during the journey. Make any attempts to escape and we will destroy you. Stray more than 10 clicks towards the Belesis and we will destroy you. Do anything foolish and we will destroy you. "
It looks like the good commander is suspicious of us. I give Garland a surreptitious nod, asking him to follow Dranu's orders.
"Very well, commander," nods Garland nervously. "I will do as you say."
The moment the Belesis breaks contact, he wheels his chair around to face me.
"I know what you're doing here," says the captain happily. "This is going to end with guns a-blazing, isn't it? Perhaps a bit of that ol' ramming action?"
"Maybe," I give him a non-committal answer. "It depends on what we opt to do next." I look to the side, where Erec is striding furiously towards me, Erika following closely behind him.
"What is the meaning of this, Hoshikawa? Is leading us into an ambush your idea of a competent strategy?" he says coldly.
"Master, the analysis of the enemy warship is complete. The Belesis has sixteen top-facing missile silos, eight particle beam turrets, twenty CIWS emplacements and five cannons of indeterminate type packed onto a cruiser-sized hull that can shrug aside salvos from any Federation battleship." recites Yua. "There appears to be battle damage on the right side of the starship where the armour plates have buckled in from impact, but it is not critical."
"We needed time to find out what we were dealing with," I reply. "The Independent Spirit of Adventure does not have the ability to scan an enemy warship from a hundred million kilometres away, and I knew the Imperial vessel would detect us first, especially since we were heading towards them at intercept speed. I mean, it's not like this is some sort of super stealth freighter."
"Why were you so sure they would detect us? They could be more concerned with heading home instead of scanning for people following them." asks Erec.
"I'll admit that I couldn't be sure. Still, if they were already on a lookout for pursuers in the first place, it wouldn’t be hard to pick up a freighter trailing your warship, especially if it’s going at a speed fast enough to catch up with you. Of course, this tells us that they are concerned about being pursued. It means they are carrying something important onboard. Furthermore, by my estimation they should have detected us by yesterday at the latest; that it took them till today to confront us likely means that they were checking to see if there were any other vessels besides ours. Once they confirmed that this freighter was alone, they decided to take the little risk of turning back to ensure any loose ends were wrapped up. If we had been onboard a Federation cruiser, I expect the Belesis would have mined the space around the jump point to greet our rather more threatening arrival. Frankly, I'm thankful that they didn't immediately blow us away the moment they turned back.” I answer.
"What's stopping them from doing this to us, then?" Emiri asks, her curiosity piqued.
I turn to her and raise a finger. "Firstly, the freighter is seemingly fragile. Our friend Commander Dranu appears to be a shrewd operator - he suspects that we are not what we seem. Blowing us up too hastily might destroy anything onboard that the Empire could be interested in." I raise another finger. "Secondly, he is not entirely sure of his suspicion. We could be humble traders after all; thankfully Captain Garland's acting is good enough to put some uncertainty into his heart. Or whatever passes for it. Better to allow the Empire's internal security services to sort us out." The third finger goes up. "Finally, this Star League operation was compromised. Things went wrong, and we ended up with two cruisers destroyed, one cruiser missing, and the infiltration team's whereabouts unknown. If we had time to investigate the wreckage of the battle we could have obtained more clues as to what exactly transpired, but as it is, the Empire is definitely on alert now. They will not give up any chance to capture and ruthlessly interrogate League spies in order to gain an advantage. Guess what we are suspected to be?"
"That doesn't sound very comforting," replies Emiri with a nervous look on her face. "If they think we're spies, why don't they just drag us over to their ship instead?"
"Risk of sabotage." says Erika. "That would be quite stupid."
"That's right," I say. "We could get free and do quite a lot of damage to their ship... even take it over. It's much safer to have us guarded by their soldiers on our own ship, which they can blow up if we start to get ideas."
"After all this, you haven't given us a plan of how to get out of this hole, Hoshikawa," says Erec almost impatiently. "Do I have to take charge of this operation to save us from your bumbling?"
"Well..." I begin...
***
A. The Independent Spirit of Adventure cannot outgun the Belesis, but all reports indicate that the Empire relies on fighters in battle - a vessel like the Belesis could conceivably carry up to a dozen of those. We have three Onuris-B frames onboard - upgraded versions to bring the Onuris more in-line with current CF technology. In a straight-up battle we have some chance of victory - we will begin the attack when the shuttle carrying the Imperial officer is halfway to us. The aim is to smash the bridge and force a surrender.
B. We will take the Belesis by surprise and charge right for its weakened side. The Independent Spirit of Adventure will ram into the Belesis so that the White Fang and I can storm the ship in boarding action. The armour blocks should provide us enough cover from the enemy's firepower to close the distance safely. The White Fang are mildly superhuman, and likely outclass any Imperial soldier - once we get on board, with my support it should be a relatively simple matter to take over the Belesis.
C. We wait for the Imperial officer to board us and go along with the Belesis for a while. I am sure I will be able to manufacture a reason to have that shuttle return to the Belesis during our journey - when that happens, I will be stowed away on board. Once I reach the Belesis I can investigate independently and do whatever I need to in order to turn things to my advantage.
D. We go along with the Belesis until we reach the Imperial capital world of Khalka. If my guess is correct, Tarliss's mission involved the capital - it is no coincidence that the designated rendezvous area is near one of the jump points that leads towards the Empire's homeworld. With luck I could even end this millenia-long war all by myself, should I find myself in the right position. Besides, it's time to see how the other half of the galaxy lives.
“How are we doing, Captain?” I approach Garland on the bridge, where the viewscreens are displaying the route we are taking through space; right on the trail of the Imperial vessel, as I had ordered.
“Everything is going smoothly. We should catch up to them soon. Still, are you sure about this? I don’t think we’re equipped for a fight against an Imperial warship,” says Garland. We have been on the trail of the Imperial vessel for the past three days – in two more days we will have caught up to them, close to the jump point they plan to use to get back to the heart of the Empire. The black hole generator will require four more days to be at sufficient power in order to charge up a wormhole; right now it can't even muster up enough energy to move Anhur.
“That’s fine.” I say. “Your freighter can move faster than almost any other warship the League or Empire has. Besides, those bulky armour blocks disguised as the ship’s outline tell me that it’s far more durable than it seems.”
Captain Garland’s eyes give me a shrewd glance as he grins. “There’s no hiding anything from you, it seems. Good guess.”
“Well, we’ll be needing those armour blocks soon enough.”
“Expecting trouble?”
“Of course. In fact, trouble’s due at almost any time now. Better strap yourself in, Captain," I say, patting his shoulder.
“What do you-“
“An Imperial ship’s approaching us from the front,” reports Emiri. “It designates itself as the Belesis. Their captain is hailing us.”
“Better answer that call, Captain. This is the ship we’ve been following.”
“How did you know this was going to happen?” asks Garland as he gets ready to patch the Belesis on screen.
“Later, Captain. For now, do what you do best.”
“Fine, Hoshikawa,” he sighs, “but you owe me an explanation later.”
A bear of a man with a great big bushy beard and shiny chevrons adorning an ornate military coat appears on the screen. He seems all business, his face a mask of stone.
“This is Commander Dranu of the Belesis. Unidentified freighter, state your business here in Imperial space.”
“Commander, what a pleasure to see a reliable face out here!” grins Garland as if he just met an old friend. “My name is Garland, a humble trader on my way to Oannu. We got lost on a slipspace jump… something went wrong and dumped us all the way out here. Our navigator pointed out the nearest jump point and I decided we had to floor it there before we ran out of fuel. Could you help us?”
“Your vessel does not look like it belongs to an Imperial world,” says Dranu menacingly. “Are you from the Star League?
“Ah… that,” Garland falters for a while before gamely continuing. "Our ship is-"
"Enough. Your ship is now under custody of the Empire. You will follow the Belesis to the jump point, where we will escort you to Khalka. Stand by and prepare for boarding. An Imperial officer with a contingent of fully armed guards will monitor your crew during the journey. Make any attempts to escape and we will destroy you. Stray more than 10 clicks towards the Belesis and we will destroy you. Do anything foolish and we will destroy you. "
It looks like the good commander is suspicious of us. I give Garland a surreptitious nod, asking him to follow Dranu's orders.
"Very well, commander," nods Garland nervously. "I will do as you say."
The moment the Belesis breaks contact, he wheels his chair around to face me.
"I know what you're doing here," says the captain happily. "This is going to end with guns a-blazing, isn't it? Perhaps a bit of that ol' ramming action?"
"Maybe," I give him a non-committal answer. "It depends on what we opt to do next." I look to the side, where Erec is striding furiously towards me, Erika following closely behind him.
"What is the meaning of this, Hoshikawa? Is leading us into an ambush your idea of a competent strategy?" he says coldly.
"Master, the analysis of the enemy warship is complete. The Belesis has sixteen top-facing missile silos, eight particle beam turrets, twenty CIWS emplacements and five cannons of indeterminate type packed onto a cruiser-sized hull that can shrug aside salvos from any Federation battleship." recites Yua. "There appears to be battle damage on the right side of the starship where the armour plates have buckled in from impact, but it is not critical."
"We needed time to find out what we were dealing with," I reply. "The Independent Spirit of Adventure does not have the ability to scan an enemy warship from a hundred million kilometres away, and I knew the Imperial vessel would detect us first, especially since we were heading towards them at intercept speed. I mean, it's not like this is some sort of super stealth freighter."
"Why were you so sure they would detect us? They could be more concerned with heading home instead of scanning for people following them." asks Erec.
"I'll admit that I couldn't be sure. Still, if they were already on a lookout for pursuers in the first place, it wouldn’t be hard to pick up a freighter trailing your warship, especially if it’s going at a speed fast enough to catch up with you. Of course, this tells us that they are concerned about being pursued. It means they are carrying something important onboard. Furthermore, by my estimation they should have detected us by yesterday at the latest; that it took them till today to confront us likely means that they were checking to see if there were any other vessels besides ours. Once they confirmed that this freighter was alone, they decided to take the little risk of turning back to ensure any loose ends were wrapped up. If we had been onboard a Federation cruiser, I expect the Belesis would have mined the space around the jump point to greet our rather more threatening arrival. Frankly, I'm thankful that they didn't immediately blow us away the moment they turned back.” I answer.
"What's stopping them from doing this to us, then?" Emiri asks, her curiosity piqued.
I turn to her and raise a finger. "Firstly, the freighter is seemingly fragile. Our friend Commander Dranu appears to be a shrewd operator - he suspects that we are not what we seem. Blowing us up too hastily might destroy anything onboard that the Empire could be interested in." I raise another finger. "Secondly, he is not entirely sure of his suspicion. We could be humble traders after all; thankfully Captain Garland's acting is good enough to put some uncertainty into his heart. Or whatever passes for it. Better to allow the Empire's internal security services to sort us out." The third finger goes up. "Finally, this Star League operation was compromised. Things went wrong, and we ended up with two cruisers destroyed, one cruiser missing, and the infiltration team's whereabouts unknown. If we had time to investigate the wreckage of the battle we could have obtained more clues as to what exactly transpired, but as it is, the Empire is definitely on alert now. They will not give up any chance to capture and ruthlessly interrogate League spies in order to gain an advantage. Guess what we are suspected to be?"
"That doesn't sound very comforting," replies Emiri with a nervous look on her face. "If they think we're spies, why don't they just drag us over to their ship instead?"
"Risk of sabotage." says Erika. "That would be quite stupid."
"That's right," I say. "We could get free and do quite a lot of damage to their ship... even take it over. It's much safer to have us guarded by their soldiers on our own ship, which they can blow up if we start to get ideas."
"After all this, you haven't given us a plan of how to get out of this hole, Hoshikawa," says Erec almost impatiently. "Do I have to take charge of this operation to save us from your bumbling?"
"Well..." I begin...
***
A. The Independent Spirit of Adventure cannot outgun the Belesis, but all reports indicate that the Empire relies on fighters in battle - a vessel like the Belesis could conceivably carry up to a dozen of those. We have three Onuris-B frames onboard - upgraded versions to bring the Onuris more in-line with current CF technology. In a straight-up battle we have some chance of victory - we will begin the attack when the shuttle carrying the Imperial officer is halfway to us. The aim is to smash the bridge and force a surrender.
B. We will take the Belesis by surprise and charge right for its weakened side. The Independent Spirit of Adventure will ram into the Belesis so that the White Fang and I can storm the ship in boarding action. The armour blocks should provide us enough cover from the enemy's firepower to close the distance safely. The White Fang are mildly superhuman, and likely outclass any Imperial soldier - once we get on board, with my support it should be a relatively simple matter to take over the Belesis.
C. We wait for the Imperial officer to board us and go along with the Belesis for a while. I am sure I will be able to manufacture a reason to have that shuttle return to the Belesis during our journey - when that happens, I will be stowed away on board. Once I reach the Belesis I can investigate independently and do whatever I need to in order to turn things to my advantage.
D. We go along with the Belesis until we reach the Imperial capital world of Khalka. If my guess is correct, Tarliss's mission involved the capital - it is no coincidence that the designated rendezvous area is near one of the jump points that leads towards the Empire's homeworld. With luck I could even end this millenia-long war all by myself, should I find myself in the right position. Besides, it's time to see how the other half of the galaxy lives.
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