[LP CYOA] Epic

[Azira]

 

[TOME]

Because the fact that he is throwing everything he has at Terra means there's something there he wants, probably an "I win" item. I'm not too keen on letting him have it.
If we hand over the planet to Julia, we won't take the resources back in time to make adequate use of them, hence the "Remove worst traitor from premises!" approach. That , and she'll likely bend knee to Marduk, which is unacceptable.

Is he throwing everything he has at Terra or at Senya/Selkhet? He wanted Selkhet before our mission and now he is suddenly interested in Terra, which also happens to be the place where Selkhet is. I'm willing to bet he has no interest in the planet, other than sentimental. Otherwise why wait so long? Earth haven't been under star league's protection for long.

 

[treave]

There are multiple stories floating around about the Emperor's motive. He states it belongs to him, and he wants it back. Some in the Imperial military believe that he wishes to devour it as he has several planets in the past. The Star League thinks this idea is most plausible. Others say that there is an ancient superweapon hidden on Earth that he wishes to awaken. No one but the Emperor himself knows which of these stories are the truth. The Empire has been launching thousands of ships in an effort to reach the Sol system before this, but they have never over-extended themselves this way, leaving themselves open for the League's counterattack.

As for his abilities, little is known except for the fact that he wields two pieces of Vajra and seems to have the power to literally eat a planet, the mechanics of which are unknown, with the League only finding planetary fragments in the wake of his passing.

As for anime, this is also anime.

I'm not too worried

 

[Azira]

This really is Eans disembodied penis. Ean ate a worldtree. He's returning to finish the job..

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

First off, even if you fail to build a fleet, the black hole generators can be used for something else. They can be easily converted to bombs, for example. Mining the region around Sol with black hole bombs will be deadly since they look just like space debris when inactive, and the Empire hasn't yet caught on to your tricks.

Yes, I thought of that... A bunch of black hole bombs detonating near Earth. What could go wrong?

Yeah, ships sound better. If we win this, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to secede from the League and they won't be able to say shit about it, since they abandoned us and all.

The Empire of Terra may yet be!

I thought of that too... But what if our fleet decides to secede from US? Our allies are people and a beleaguered force usually isn't eager to engage in combat again so soon after an incredibly difficult battle that WE got them in to...

Next, ship design can benefit from much of the same technology put on a frame. Teleportation, pinpoint wormhole defenses, black hole cannons and the like are possible upgrades. However, building and equipping a fleet, and shoving all of your best tech on one prototype are very different things (not that you'll get all of the exotic tech for the mech in one go either). What you will get are possibly a thousand ships that are each capable of trading blows with Imperial flagships and getting the better of the exchange. The odds will still be against you. The rest is down to tactics. If indeed you end up in a firefight with the Empire.

Now, this is not set in stone, I'm giving you guys the best case scenario here in terms of tech.

So, in a fleet battle, it's down to tactics and we failed to eliminate the Empire's best tactician? Comforting. I'm sure our fleet of humble space vets will be able to outwit him. Haha. Not.

Feeling pretty certain that 3B is the way, bros.

 

[Baltika9]

I thought of that too... But what if our fleet decides to secede from US? Our allies are people and a beleaguered force usually isn't eager to engage in combat again so soon after an incredibly difficult battle that WE got them in to...

No, I don't think so. For one all the leadership are ready to support us until the end. Two, we can give a rallying speech to Terrans, like Senya did in the previous chapter (pretty good speeches); I don't think tha5 running away from defending their own planet will be an issue.

Comforting. I'm sure our fleet of humble space vets will be able to outwit him. Haha. Not.

Feeling pretty certain that 3B is the way, bros.

Yes, and going up against him in a single CF isn't going to be much better, trust me. If anything, we can neutralize him the same way we neutralized the spirit (I'm fairly confident it will work the same way) by cutting is strings. Or, better yet, black-hole his ass first. There are ways of dealing with our dear Tactician.
So, yeah, still leaning towards ships. Much more long-term benefit than the CF, too.

 

[treave]

This really is Eans disembodied penis. Ean ate a worldtree. He's returning to finish the job..

Wants to return to Earth, perhaps for sentimental reasons. Seems to be against the Masters, pointing to the Council as servants of a greater power. Desires a Gieloth bride, perhaps the remnant of some long past physical attraction.

Yeah, it does seem like you guys might be on to something here...

First off, even if you fail to build a fleet, the black hole generators can be used for something else. They can be easily converted to bombs, for example. Mining the region around Sol with black hole bombs will be deadly since they look just like space debris when inactive, and the Empire hasn't yet caught on to your tricks.

Yes, I thought of that... A bunch of black hole bombs detonating near Earth. What could go wrong?

Besides going overboard and imprisoning the solar system in a cage of super-dilated time, where... hm, let me do a write-up.

***

"Damned static!" Fodder thumped the communicator in annoyance. Out here, near the Void, things don't work as they should. An area of space 100,000 astronomical units wide, sealed off by the highest density of black holes anywhere in the known universe - this was the Void, the most dangerous and mysterious region under the League's galactic rule. It was impossible to approach and impossible to escape. I felt uneasy just being on the space fortress Perturabo, a million kilometers away from the event horizon. I was two years into my five year tour of the place, and already I was feeling the strain. Sometimes you see and hear things; a long lost love, a hidden desire. Space whispers to you, and if you know what is best you would do well not to listen.

Grehsen Syndrome, they called it, after the man who slaughtered his comrades and dove into the inky blackness of the Void, seeking to awaken those that slumber within. Not more than one in a million are susceptible to it, and they test each man rigorously nowadays for factors that could contribute to its development, but all that meant was that you had a 95% chance of not developing the disorder within five years. There was a reason they cut down the tour from ten years to five.

"Come on, Fodder. You know how things act up here," I chuckle. "We are near the Void after all. Keep yourself under control. Wouldn't want you taking an axe to us in our sleep now."

"I-is it true?" asked Noob. Fodder turns to him in annoyance - he's been here barely six months and seems to know absolutely nothing about his job. I suppose hiring standards have slipped, but maintaining the ring of space fortresses that surround the Void is still one of the most well-paying stints in the galaxy. "True about what?" snaps Fodder.

"That the Great Old Ones slumber within the Void?" asks Noob nervously, his tall and slim form moving awkwardly.

"That's what the Council tells us. A thousand years ago they defeated the Old Ones and imprisoned them inside the Void. We have been watching them ever since, lest they awaken. But still, their reach extends insidiously into our dreams. That's why Grehsen Syndrome occurs, or so they say." I look at Noob and shrug. "Personally, I think it's because sitting out here staring at an empty space for ten years turns you mad."

"Oh, go on, Cannon, tell him all about the spooky agents of the Great Old Ones that walk amongst us, why don't you?" sneers Fodder sarcastically. "Why, just the other day I heard of a tale involving that old favourite, the Shifter of Ways. Or was it the Devil with a Thousand Faces? I can't remember. He was off spreading madness and death in Khalka, they said. Turns out that it was just that stupid cult, the Order of Pithos, trying some funny ritual."

"They're a banned organization, Fodder. I think that happened for a reason." I say.

"Silly superstition," Fodder snorts. "Ah, wait, the communicator's back on-"

It is an important day for us today. I could understand why Fodder was so impatient to get the communicator up and running - finally, the Council would meet with the gods. The display begins to show the scene near the core of the galaxy, where we had spent thousands of years navigating the deadly maze of neutron stars to reach the Divine Threshold. Today was the day our people would ascend to be with the gods, as has been promised to us.

Then, the communicator fizzles out again.

"Oh, come on!" yells Fodder.

The image on-screen is replaced by a strange, arcane sigil. It is a sword, its guard crested with the wings of a predatory bird. My head hurts just looking at it... it seems to shift and waver every time I try to focus.

"They are ready. It is time." I hear Noob mutter. He turns and begins to walk to the door - no, the airlock. What does he think he's doing? Fodder and I get up from our seats, and at that moment, the lights begin to flicker. Fodder makes a leap for Noob, attempting to tackle him to the ground.

"Grehsen Syndrome!" he screams. "Help me tie him up, Cannon!" Noob makes a graceful twist of his body, moving with unearthly speed. The next thing I know, Fodder is sprawled on the floor, sitting there staring at bloody stumps where his hands used to be. The edges of the stumps were cut cleanly, as if a laser had sliced through them, but the wounds were not cauterized. The blood pouring out of the stumps attests to that. I can do nothing but back away in horror, watching as a black, snake-like appendage slithers back up Noob's hand and into his wrist. His eyes are glowing with a pale blue fire.

"You... the Shifter of Ways..." I croak.

"That may be one of my names." he grins. It is the grin of the reaper, promising the death of worlds to come. "Oh, by the way, you were right, Cannon. Grehsen Syndrome has nothing to do with us."

Those are the last words I hear from Noob's mouth. Anti-climatic, I know, but then again what is right nowadays?

He exits the control room, heading towards the airlock. I continue staring, unable to tear my eyes away, as he walks out into the vacuum of space, surrounded by a shimmering field of energy. The Shifter of Ways raises his hands as if to conduct a piece of music.

The baton falls.

The Void cracks, lines of burning blue lightning radiating from it as space and time are torn apart at the Devil's command. As the darkness falls away, I see the stars moving into the right alignment, their light no longer twisted by the abyss. For a moment, everything is silent.

Then, new stars begin to appear. Pinpricks of light glimmering in the distance. Ten of them. Then a hundred. A thousand. More. The Great Old Ones have returned. As the sky fills up with those glittering points, I break out into a cold sweat knowing that they are not stars, but ships... millions of them - an armada to reclaim their rightful place in the galaxy. An ethereal song begins playing through the communicator. The ships are broadcasting their battle song. I shudder, realizing that this is what the Old Ones will sing before they destroy us.

Strangely enough, it sounds exactly like "Love and Peace", a popular hit single from the archives dating to about a thousand years back, the last release of the legendary pop idol Qin Kawano before she disappeared.

***

 

[Baltika9]

Oh, and our evil twin will no doubt have interesting ways to deal with psykers. Perhaps we can get Belly-A and him in a mental cage and have his agonizing screams shatter his men's resolve.

Awesome little spinoff. Maybe we should do that.

 

[Storyfag]

Awesome little spinoff. Maybe we should do that.

Sounds like a plan

Also, good to know we've got another thousand years to go. Plenty of time to foil the Council's plans.

 

[Tigranes]

Flop to BABB.

2A is risky but mini-me + quantum computer gives us the oomph to stand a chance against the Emperor on the supermech. If it fucks up, it's better than fucking up because we didn't take enough risks to begin with. I think. Unless we want to go 2B until we subdue the Federation then unlock before the Grand Confrontation with the Emperor?

 

[Baltika9]

But is it such a good idea to pick both the mech and our evil twin? What if Senya loses control while in his Super Mech(always a possibility, keep in mind who we'rr dealing wih here)? That evil wanker doesn't care for planets, Emperors and people. He's much too genocidal for that.

I think it's one or the other: twin+ships, or mech.

 

[Baltika9]

in-battle teleportation, jumping your mech around like a monkey on crack?

Waaaait a second... if we put this teleportation tech on ships, does that mean we can execute teleport-ramming maneuvers?

 

[treave]

That was what I had in mind.

 

[Baltika9]

Why not take this a step further, then, and outfit a couple of power-armoured boarding parties, lead by our superhumans (Senya, Rei, etc...) to add to said potential mega-fleet.
It took Senya, what, a month to create it from scratch? One factory should be able to outfit a force in a month.

We can then use these guys to devastate the Empire's leadership. Ooh, such exciting opportunities, and you guys are insisting on being boring and going for one CF.

 

[treave]

*boards ships all the time*

*enemy lures you in and blows up their own ship while you're on it*

Pretty stupid tactic.

If you want to take out the leadership and know where they are why not stand back from a safe distance and black hole cannon their ship?

 

[Baltika9]

Well, if Marduk and Belly are so keen to blow themselves up, by all means, let them. No one's going to miss that tosser Erec anyway.

 

[treave]

Oh, you wanted to ram the Emperor's flagship.

You're talking about teleporting into the midst of thousands of ships and ramming the largest, sturdiest, most powerful warship there, with a bunch of troops that would barely match a full-fledged immortal with or without powered suits, let alone their leader. I did mention that the Empire has no taboo against demigod breeding, did I not?

Ramming has its uses. Just not when you're outnumbered a hundred to one in terms of ships, ten thousand to one in terms of manpower, and the meagre boarding party would get wiped out by the guards before they even get to the throne room.

You need an actual reason to execute a boarding maneuver, something you believe can't be done without personally going onboard their ship, something that will ensure your victory and is worth the extreme risk you are taking. Only when there's a goal can you have a plan, and without a plan (lulzrammingalldaylong is not a plan) you have no chance of pulling it off.

 

[Baltika9]

Oh, you wanted to ram the Emperor's flagship.

You're talking about teleporting into the midst of thousands of ships and ramming the largest, sturdiest, most powerful warship there, with a bunch of troops that would barely match a full-fledged immortal with or without powered suits, let alone their leader. I did mention that the Empire has no taboo against demigod breeding, did I not?

Ramming has its uses. Just not when you're outnumbered a hundred to one in terms of ships, ten thousand to one in terms of manpower, and the meagre boarding party would get wiped out by the guards before they even get to the throne room.

You need an actual reason to execute a boarding maneuver, something you believe can't be done without personally going onboard their ship, something that will ensure your victory and is worth the extreme risk you are taking. Only when there's a goal can you have a plan, and without a plan (lulzrammingalldaylong is not a plan) you have no chance of pulling it off.

Close, but not quite. Said boarding party should consist if our best and brightest (Rei, Senya, best of the Dunamis, plus some cannon fodder) decked out in full power armor (which you yourself said is made to battle superhumans). Get close to Marduk and erase him from reality with our powers->GTFO.

As for reasons, here they are: I want some tet-a-tete time with Marduk at the climax of the fight, because we are owed answers.

And I want Vajra. Sinking it into a black hole is rather counter-productive for that.

 

[treave]

The power suits help, but just because you can keep up with a 500 year old immortal doesn't mean you can beat, say, a Shulgi-class.

As for talking to the Emperor and getting Vajra, why not just arrange for a meeting on neutral ground? Pretend you are going to surrender, as the representative of Earth. Why would you have to go to all the trouble of engaging in a firefight and sacrificing your fleet for a really poor and risky opportunity in comparison?

 

[Baltika9]

Because I'm not a hundred percent certain he'll make it there in one piece through our black hole guns.

That, and defeating him in such a bombastic fashion will hopefully make his fleet decide that "we don't want to mess with these psychopaths! Abort mission!"

Whereas cowardly killing him at a parley will probably make them fight to avange their liege's dishonorable death.

 

[treave]

Wait what? You're going to fire on a delegation that you invited for a diplomatic surrender with black holes before he arrives when your whole purpose of inviting him was so you could talk to him and steal his shiny stick?

Let's just say that if we hit one of two scenarios ramming and
boarding is an acceptable tactic: rescuing a hostage, or planning a daring abduction/assassination/whatever in the middle of slipspace, while the fleet is still traveling here.

 

[Smashing Axe]

Voting now,

B - I want to take Julia out once and for all, she was a mistake we should have corrected long ago. We should declare a war of assassins.
A - We're aware of our other self's techniques and his beliefs. We can crush him and expunge him from our minds. He's taught us our lesson, we can be merciless now.
B - Our edge has always been related to personal power, we shouldn't give it up, especially when our political power is almost non-existent. Design a mech with Rei, with destruction and creation in each hand we should be capable of much.
B - I don't want to give up the quantum computer. Too many useful applications related to our true AI.

 

[Baltika9]

I meant shit could happen: clipped by a particularly skilled gunner, pulls the Olympus Switcharoo and gets ignominiously shot down (wouldn't that be a bitch?); this is war, after all.

or planning a daring abduction/assassination/whatever in the middle of slipspace, while the fleet is still traveling here.

Sadly, that is now irrelevant. No one wants to exploit our tactical genius. So many interesting things we can do with the fleet and yet you guys insist on the boring option. I hope the evil twat won't take over and kill the planet.

I guess the upside is that if we decimate the whole crusade personally, Senya will unavoidably get a personality cult.

 

[treave]

Nothing is stopping you from warping your mech in slipspace and clinging on like a limpet. If anything, it'd be more stealthy. Sneak onboard, assassinate the Emperor, take his mask, drop out of slipspace, 'persuade' Adrahasis, become the new Emperor, gleefully accept Julia's surrender.

Just ramming a ship for boarding action is boring.

 

[Baltika9]

...go on.