Here's some stats for you to chew on:

Things that arent revealed in verbatim has yet to be determined by either a mission or the narrative.
[NCA rules apply]

The next mission will either be a ground mission that answers that narrative or a naval engagement that intercepts the fleet of warships. Either mission will improve your chances for the inevitable planetary defense/ invasion to come.

With that I am going to shut myself in a room to work on comix.

rolled 3, 5 = 8

>Ghoul looks at the battle scarred BiTank he cherished one large hand reaching out to touch the cold metal of its armor. He'd been through many battles with the rugged piece of machinery that needed repairs almost as often as he did. The Russian's voice was warm as he speaks to the machine.

"Don't worry Vera babe, I'll get you an upgrade somehow..."

>A smile crept onto the large man's face before he turned striding toward the nearest Algorhyme, he'd attempt to gather their help in trying to bring the BiTank to life with an AI. Hopefully a female AI that would match his violent tendencies.

>>Did the Irc go tarded for anyone else? Rizon crashing or somewhat?

>>14513630
Yeah, the IRC wasn't working for me for a while. I'm back in now, though.

>>14513630

An eager S- Type shows itself to him, its featureless face made its body language more apparent of its interest. Especially since this one has been reduced to a cripple. Its stumps sheered and replaced with skeletal parts.

rolled 3, 9 = 12

>Attempt to understand the Algorhyme's better and see if they can't help Soap comprehend Psicomm better.

>I'll just, repost this big thing before I start my shenanigans.

A talk.

That's what it was gonna be. That's what it all will be.
The Algorhymes felt like a self named faction of seperatists, probably the first of many they will meet. Titan's indigineous population was either enslaved to the makarians or fed to the xenoforms at this point but it was a hard number to wrap around. Titan used to be one of the deepest lines of defense. Now it will be their first step to taking on the rest of the planets on the system.

And an impossibly big naval showdown faces them. Possibly the first biggest counter attack humanity has ever mounted against their enemy.

This was.

This felt like a crap shoot. A formality. A wave to a good neighbor while your house was collapsing in flames. Paradox command was ambivalent. In the back of her calculations there was the best case scenario, in the back of R00's mind, she only saw those who have shared in her genesis. A spontaneous sentience. A soul in their spark.

Colonel Walker stared at the oversized staircase before him, wondering if this is what a cat or a dog felt while ascending a stair case built for the larger humans. They could probably climb the staircase built for Algorhyme legs if the three of them rode the Gryffin Quadroped Tank, but marching into the compound in a war machine seemed rather counter productive.

Especially when they had Algorhyme barrels trained on them.

>>>

>>14514080

Gnawing on a cigar stub, he motioned the three of them forward, up the stairs. Himself at the center, the maidbot-turned-warbot-turned avatar-to-an-AI R00 at his left, and the giant Russian Lieutenant Ghoul at his right, brought purely for aesthetic purposes. Sergeant Ghost, along with several other members of Bravo, were already on their way back to the O'Reilly on a Pelican to ensure that a paradox wouldn't be created.

A pity, he thought to himself as he climbed the oversized stairs. Ghost's familiarity with machines and Soap's understanding of computers probably would come in handy in communicating with the machine race. So instead, he had to settle with R00, acting as a connection for Paradox Command. It seemed rather fitting that his main ambassadors for this situation would be the ones closest to the machines. Hopefully, their similarities would make the Algorhymes more trusting of the humans.

Hopefully.

" HRRR" groxxed a model T as they passed. It regarded the dressed automaton as a puppet, a slave. Despite her great glowing spark, they had her face emulated through a human clay face and her body covered in human skins. It was poor dressing to put human rags on her proud steel chasis.

Walker paid no heed to the Algorhyme. Most likely an attempt at posturing. The same reason he brought Ghoul with him, really. He truly doubted that they would be intimidated by him, but his presence would likely cause them to drop their guard to some degree.

>>>

>>14514091

On their approach, the narrowing walls came to life as 2 steel rimmed bipeds walked out from their crest pods. Their eyes shaped as symbols against their bare face. To a point they resembled humans - they definitely resembled people. R00's face regarded them with curiousity, most of it coming from Paradox command parsing information clusters on how they were made. There was already a threat file being writ about them. R00 shook the feeling from her mind and nodded towards them. Shiny lengths of metal along their arms glinted as they approached. A warning , perhaps. Their messages were elementary at best, but they had the subtlety of most adults.

Walker resisted the urge to reach for the rifle hanging from his shoulder. It was a show of force, threats, posturing. The standard in diplomatic situations of this kind.

Which meant that they were playing by a set of rules - rules that he would play by - for now, until the time was right.

Walker bowed, making sure to maintain "eye" contact with the two constructs, and motioned his companions to do the same. R00 pulled it off quite well. Lieutenant Ghoul, not so well. Perhaps it simply looked awkward from his perspective, and he briefly wondered if it would look more fitting if the large man had done it using a BiTank.

"Hello, I am Colonel Walker, commanding officer of Galactic Liberation Force Bravo. Will you be the acting representatives of the Algorhymes, or are you going to escort us to them?"

>>>

>>14514098

"Unlike your puppets, our body is our own dominion, even though we are more than capable." quipped one of the S types. It was a feminine voice that easily slipped to masculine baritones.

" To answer your question, " said the other " Our overoice resides within."
Gears clattered as the floors gave away in hexagonal partitions, Walker, R00, and Ghoul adjusted their position and grouped on a single platform while all others moved and shifted disorientingly around them. White streams of ethereal signals waved across sections of the shifting structure. Circuitry glowed like fingerprints and neural patterns, servos and wires moved fluidly like the musculature of sea creatures. And then white panels and protein shields reformed around them. Surrounded in white they were "taken" to a completely sterile room where the S- models had disappeared into a white color and remained to observe proceedings. Walker, Ghoul, and R00 was lit with scanlines to compensate.

On the farside of the room stood a lit panel, a small holographic man in white with a humble beard walked forward ever so slightly, his hands held behind him to keep his balance and posture, despite his ethereal qualities.

" So the dominion of men lived to see another war have they? In all my seasons I would have never thought to see strong youth like you from the outside" The Gardener said. His mouth remained still, he was a ghost of his former self after all.

Walker looked to Ghoul, then to R00, with a frown on his face. "Surely you're talking about Ghoul here, no?" Walker motioned to the massive Russian to his side. "Because R00 is a robot, and I'm not what one would consider 'young' anymore. Unless you're trying to flatter me, in which case calling me a 'strong youth' makes sense."

He folded his arms in contemplation, then raised his hand in relevation.

>>>

>>14514136

"That, or you have existed long enough to make my 47 years look like nothing. Which would be the most logical, as judging by what you said earlier, you were witness to a period where humanity wasn't at war. Which would be during the age of the Landers..."

"Ah, right, I seem to have forgotten something. Must have lost it when we... uhh... came in."

Walker stepped forward, and moved his hand forward to grasp the Gardener's. He paused halfway through, after realizing that the holographic man probably couldn't meet his hand. Still, he moved it forward, to complete the gesture. Hologram or not, it didn't mean he couldn't recieve it.

"I am Colonel William Adams, the Commanding Officer of Executioner Force Bravo, Galactic Liberation Front. The two behind me are my subordinates - on my right is Lieutenant John Pernach, and on my left is R00, who will be acting on behalf of our super-AI that we've currently come to call Paradox Command."

" Galactic Liberation Front " Mused the gardener, " You may refer to me as a simple Gardener, for you see the welfare of my children are up to me like a lone old man such as myself who tends to his fields. My children are my creation, and though I hold no dominion over their will, I am called on as their caretaker, their voice of life until they find no use for me anymore. " With shuffling steps he stops and looks up at the tall commander. " I am to assume that the dominion of Man, as big and great as I assume it is, did not elect you as their representative ? "

" Correct " R00 spoke. Her voice was deep and maternal. "Colonel Adams' authority to speak for the human race is not unilaterally elect. However, for this situation he has been granted emergency powers to act as the GLF's diplomat in a time of great Crisis. One that will affect your very world, your Children "

>>>

>>14514155

" Ohhh , what pray tell is this descending Moon that will land on us ? A swarm of locusts perhaps ? "

Walker stared at the little old man. Descending Moon? A swarm of 'locusts'? He had no idea what they referred to, or what a locust was, but judging by the way he said it, he figured a swarm of them was probably a bad thing.

"Xenoforms? 'The Bugs'? Makarians? Exalted? Do any of those words mean anything to you, Mr. Gardener? In case you haven't noticed, sir, but this planet is a warzone - Hell, your children and my men just fought off a horde of those Xenoforms. As it stands, GLF forces are, at this very moment, fighting against Exalted forces - the very same forces which assaulted this compound earlier. Does this mean anything to you, Gardener?" Walker asked the man in a calm tone ill-fitting the words they were attached to.

The Colonel stared at the strange holographic man, his curiosity over his very existence masked by the visor of his TACIM and the cigar stub gripped between his lips. How old was this man, to have created the Algorhymes? He had assumed they, like the 41st Automated and perhaps R00, were simply AI which were left alone long enough to develop a consciousness. But they were not. No, they were made for an entirely different reason, he figured. But who was the Gardener to have created them?

>>>

>>14514172

The man stood straight where he was, on Walker's slightest movements, White walls moves as the S's shifted with uncertainty at every sign of aggression, though subliminal. The man opens one eye as another is winked shut from a wrinkle brow.
" You speak of the encroaching monsters of this planet- the bugs who keep coming back even after one of my sons have taken a great many souls to exterminate them only to disappear to their endless numbers. Yes- if you must ask, it does mean something to me. A great number of my children have fought this menace and died, and now I am left with their younger siblings who are now simply counting their days. "

He coughs.
" I have seen many a man come and go through this planet- and believe you me, their story ends the same. The skies will go black and ruin will befall this planets' surface indefinitely. And then whoever is left will be consumed by the bugs, my garden, your men, a planet covered in ruin once more. The best hope I have for my children is to afford them as much time as possible. As much time to enjoy their lives in the spark."

Walker smiled. Good; he, their speaker, had no hope.

>>>

>>14514185

"Sir, did you watch the fight that has just occured outside your walls?"

" I can glean what events occured evidenced by your presence here "

"So does that mean that your Children informed you of the Xenoforms who fought against the other bugs? The ones that came with me?"

" Yes. Have you come to solicit monsters to me ? "

"No, Mr. Gardener. I have come to liberate your children, just as I liberated those monsters."

The S-models make no movement- but Paradox Command's senses are nudged by high amounts of PSI-activity. The noise this caused could even heard by Walker.

Ghoul has no fucking idea.

" I see. " Gardener perks up. " My people can't remark on such a condition- seeing as how you present them with many abysmal guarantees. I would ask you how you propose to defend against the inevitable - and why you see my children with simple bodies as anything more than just numbers for you conquest ? "

Walker tilted his head at the question. His head was pounding; that indescribable sound didn't help. Lander's blood, how could Ghoul stand it?

"Abysmal guarantees, huh? Well, let me ask you this. Did you yourself not say that, if things were to remain as they were, you and your children would inevitably be consumed? Did you not lament the ever-shrinking time left for your children? Do you, as their creator, their genesis, their father, not want to risk everything for their sakes?"

>>>

>>14514213

" The gambit you propose even if it delivers, promises nothing more than a fraction of the time I can promise for my children TODAY. A flower may flourish and cover the fields beyond the hills, but even after the inevitable winter, the sun remains in the sky shining brightly for a 1000, no a MILLION more lifetimes. Before it even thinks to disappear from the inevitable. " The Gardener begins to grow. His stance remains feeble but his light covered the room like a hot oven.

" The world of Men, is far more dangerous than you will ever know, and had I known that they were around I would have made double sure that their ambitions never see my garden."

Walker stood his ground, even as the tiny man began to grow, even as the room was bathed in his burning light. He didn't dare look back to Ghoul, or to R00, although his empathic powers allowed him to feel the growing tension in Ghoul. He removed his hat, then his TACIM, not once looking away or breaking eye contact with the holographic man.

"But is not the flower that blooms in the winter unparalleled to all others? Perhaps it is as you say, that my efforts are doomed to failure, and will guarantee a faster death to your beloved creations. But will you be content with that? Will they be content with that? Simply waiting for the inevitable? Or would they rather resist it, fight it, shining more brilliantly in their fleeting efforts than a thousand suns over a thousand years?"

His emotions were high, and subconsciously, he began to project them in all directions thanks to his empathic abilities. Strong, fierce, and proud was his aura. For here was another who would accept the fate decreed by the Exalted.

>>>

>>14514225

"Many times have I been told that my efforts were doomed. That I would fail. That I should take the safe route, the route that guaranteed a longer life. But what life would that be, if I had done so? What life would I have had, if I had run? I chose - no, I choose to stand against the inevitable, to resist, to fight with all my might so that I may proclaim to the Universe, that we are here, and that we stand!" Walker stared into the eyes of the Gardener now, a fire in his eyes. "Tell me, would you be wiling to deny your children this choice, this right? Will you deny them the seeds of liberty that I offer them?"

Walker had not realized it but he was being held back by S-types the whole time. The pull on his arms were wavering. And when he came to- their immense strength kept him back and restrained. The room was silent. The gardener was stern faced at first. But then R00's head perked up. There was a discord of voices, an outcry, a cheer. There was fear in the system. For once the possibility of salvation had dawned on their expectations. And the tiniest drops of that life burned something mighty and ignited a feeling that was long suppressed.

The Gardener shrank back. The walls to the white room came down. And in the darkness of the factory, many exposed eyes glowed in the shadows, and his Children had gathered. The sun was over their heads and a beam of sun struck down like a pillar on the congregation.

>>>

>>14514240

" My children have spoken. " Said the immaterial projection. " They will stand by no longer ," Refractions of light beaded against his eyes, " and with that, my garden has uprooted itself- and it's Gardener is no longer "

In the distance. A purple light begin to irradiate against the clouds.

" The Event " R00 whispers. Something about the timeline has changed.

It then began to rain.

Walker smiled. A genuine smile, one that he had not made for such a long time. He returned his TACIM and his hat to their rightful place, and turned to face the two S-types that had been restraining him. Reaching out with both hands, he grabbed what he believed was their hands. With each of the robots' hands in his own, he shook them, not knowing if they understood the significance of what he was doing.

"Then on behalf of Humanity and the Galactic Liberation Front, it is my pleasure to welcome the Algorhymes to stand with us."

>YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

>ROBOT BUDDIES, GET!

>I have a week to do my heroic entrance. And yes, I am going to do it, because why the fuck not? I HAVE TIME TRAVELED AND CAME BACK WITH A ROBOT ARMY.

>>Having trouble with irc... please wait while I figure something out....

Blaze walked towards the facility he'd been pointed towards by elements from Charlie, who he'd accompanied on this mission. He really didn't know why he was here. Yeah, he was pretty much the only one who'd been at the AA mission and was now available, but how exactly he'd help in such a mission was beyond him. Maybe they were just impressed at Bravo's performance during that mission and wanted a point of contact.

In any case, he stepped ahead of the rest of the forces here as they stood atop a ridge, watching from a distance. A few soldiers followed at dispersed intervals, combing the area, while most stayed behind and kept overwatch in case of danger.

It was obvious something had gone down here. The sand was blackened in many places, forming scab-like pockmarks across the landscape. Blaze's visor scanned the area as he moved forwards, hexagons flitting across his vision as it tracked possible anomalies.

A crunch was heard underfoot as Blaze stepped onto one of the scorched craters leading up to the facility. He looked down, seeing that the sand had splintered where he brought his foot down, which now rested an inch or two below an imprint of his foot, like he'd stepped in snow which had melted slightly, then frozen over, leaving a thin layer of ice over the soft snow. He knelt down, his helmet snapping open around his head and folding into a storage position around his collar. He chipped off a piece of the rigid layer of sand and inspected it.

Glass.

>>14513831
>>Since I still can't get my irc to connect and have been off and on busy till now, I'll finally reply.

>Peered down at the little shambling S with a perked brow, really wishing he'd grabbed one of the someone or something that could speak to the machines for him as he tries to figure out exactly what the little damaged bot meant.

A day had passed since the meeting with the Gardener.

Walker stood outside, next to an unusually dark sandroach that he came to call “Sunshine.” The sun felt warm on his face, and the cloudless sky promised a good ride.

All around him were the sounds of motion and activity. The members of Bravo were breaking camp and loading into their vehicles. The Xenoforms were busy scurrying about like massive ants, scratching at the dirt in either anticipation or in search of bits of leftover organic matter. The Algorhymes were busy securing everything they could take on their mass exodus from their home.

With the local Xenoform threat eliminated, only a skeleton force of the Algorhymes would remain at the industrial plant. Half would follow Walker to join the GLF, while the other half were preparing for a journey deep underground to some core facility to activate the planet’s ancient defense systems.

Or so R00 would have him believe. When he asked the two S-Types, they told him how they would “depart on a journey to an ancient fortress once inhabited by their elder brothers.” How that translated into an underground defense facility was a mystery to him.

After two hours of chaos, the allied forces were arrayed before him in one massive column. The chitin hides of the Xenoforms a stark contrast to the shining steel bodies of the Algorhymes, the two races were juxtaposed against each other in two ordered lines, with the members of Bravo at the head. The plan was simple – their army would sweep southwest, towards the location of the FEX mission. It would take them two days to make that trip, perhaps an extra if he took into account the time necessary to gather the scattered human forces from the other companies. Once they made it to the FEX mission area, they would link up with Found and the others and continue towards the southern cities, which would take three more days at the very least.

>>>

>>14516592

Intel indicated minimal resistance, at best. Walker hoped against his instincts that Intel wouldn’t drop the ball on this one.

Walker strode towards Sunshine, which had been scratching at the ground. A whistle and a clap, and the dark sandroach knelt, bowing its head to the Colonel. With a little effort, Walker managed to climb atop the sandroach, which immediately stood back up when he found a stable position to stand near the base of the bug’s neck.

He turned around to view the forces arrayed before him. Humans, Xenoforms, Algorhymes, in one massive army. Pride swelled in Walker, and as he raised his hand to signal the group, he could have sworn he felt the emotion echoed in Sunshine.

“All right! Galactic Liberation Front! LET’S MOVE OUT!”

Cheers erupted from the humans. The Algorhymes, a kind of electronic warble. The Xenoforms a loud screech.

Walker smiled at this display of unity. Until he nearly fell from his insectoid steed when Sunshine decided this meant it was time to move forward.

>CONVOY, MOTHERFUCKERS.
>Also, NCA's for scouting ahead, or discovering protoprotein wells along our path.
>So according to the timeline I constructed, we should make it to the Delta mission site just as it ends. Or something.

>>14516605

where are we headed?

the resource well or the naval yard?

rolled 7, 5 = 12

Shall I risk it? Should I?

Well, I should, I guess. I mean, I won't be able to get anything if I don't.

And if I roll really bad, then we have our next mission.

>Rolling for liberating the southern cities.

>>14516659

You come in witha well practiced assault- your holdings on the area was not celebrated long however, as the swarms ran you out of town with minimal losses.

> You will need a mission to clear this now.

>>14514027
Waiting was the worse part.
The virtual landscape ebbed and flowed, the constant streams of data continually shifting everything in view. They had only recently become allies with the Algorhymes, but Soap had immediately seen the potential their alliance could offer. Even with his talents, Psicomm was still largely a mystery to him, something he could use expertly but ultimately could not fathom even some of its basic structures. This is where Algorhymes factored in, beings that lived and breathed in Psicomm, where the neon glow of thoughts and data where their reality and the real world was probably considered a figment for them.

Soap was becoming impatient. His last foray into Psicomm had reminded him how inexperienced he was. The brainwashing from the inquisition had been the greatest insult, and reminder of that fact. He could still remember every detail of the process, memories that only enflamed a building rage. He had crossed them once to save a friend and no doubt he would cross them again. This was something he was determined to be ready for. This was also the reason he was here waiting.

The Algorhymes knew this world in ways he could never imagine, ways Soap was intent on discovering. If only he could learn from them, understand how to truly move in this world then he would be ready.

Nike stirred; she had sensed them on the horizon. Soap prepared himself; his only hope to grow in this world lay with Alien intelligence. It was all or nothing.

>>14516707

Fucking damnit.

Well, at least I know that our little ragtag army works well together.

Lack of air support probably meant that we had to bolt or be overrun.

>>14516831
>>14516659
Are we all going to go here or are we going to try another split mission?

silent comic project.

pag1

pag2

more to come. Time to slep

>>14517726

>bump

>>14517735
>>14517709

I like where this is going

>bump

Bumpin' with partial content before passing out.

>Ghoul helped the damaged S type over to his tank, making a 'tada' motion with his hands when they arrive. The large Russian had no clue exactly how to communicate with the Algorhymes but seemed to at least understand the S type's nature. Perhaps it would transfer it's own Ai to the tank so it could be in a fully operational body once more.

Blaze looked on towards the facility from where he stood at the periphery of the glassed sand, holding the shard in his hand. He crushed the glass into powder in his gauntlet, snapping his helmet around his head again and contacting Captain Geist.

"Captain Geist, Blaze here. We've reached the objective. Looks like a battle occurred here a while ago. Evidence of incendiaries. Facility looks abandoned, no activity on scanners. Moving into the facility now. I'll keep you posted."

>bumping with fanart of [F]

3rd page

>Bump for epic shit when I get back to my laptop.

>>14521910

>Insert awe here

>I know that Soap has been busy tracking down Inquistor programs and making friends with the robots. Did he ever recover his memories and do a search on the Penavol system?

>Also, hey all! Hope you had a nice trip through time!

>>14525759

>He's got his memories back. He and Fools got sent back in time so they did an NCA to try and find out how/stop his mind raping. They both botched the danger roll and were probably going to get mind raped a second time. So I unhooked them from Psicomm. Which not only saved them but had the bonus effect of somehow restoring Soap's memories.

>>14525759
> We are just waiting for Soap to get back to the present so he can actually give us the information. Worry not, Lost! We'll get you rescued soon! (Well, OC will probably make us wait until after we deal with the makarian reclamation fleet, but soon after that!)

>>14526363

>I thought we were back to present day...

>Also, you might expect that to be a little harder then you think...

>Well, once we're all on the same page again, I'll post information on the Penavol system, no NCAs needed!

>>14526652
>Oh, that's right. They are at the present day, they just need to all meet back with the O'Reilly and all the others that didn't go back in time.

>>14526652
>Also, you might expect that to be a little harder then you think...

Nonsense. Soap and I will be there, and we will take them apart and then steal all their precious research data on psychics or whatever it is they are doing. And then I will turn them all into frogs.

No bodies. Typical of xenoforms. If they'd overrun... whatever had caused those scorch marks, they would have consumed the biomass of the defenders. To him, it looked like another xenoform victory. Damn.

He sent another message back to Captain Geist.

"No bodies inside. Looks like xenoforms probably overran the facility, sir. Not sure if there's any infrastructure left that we can use. Do you want me to stay here, or return to the O'Reilly, sir?"

>>14526884
"Return to base. No reason to stick around."

>Welp, can't really stick around an rp any tonight, I'm about to head out to work and will be gone until a little after 7 am Central. Later all

>>14526797
Fools is right, and with the cyber mojo Soap might learn from the Algo's, we will be more than ready.

>>14527018

Blaze nodded, as if Geist could see him over communications, and closed the comm link as he stepped out of the facility and motioned for everyone to pack it up. Charlie returned to where ever they'd set up, while Blaze was taken via pelican back to the O'Reilly, a little disappointed in the way things had turned out.

Walker sat on a boulder, watching his sandroach mount idle about. From what he felt from it, it no longer seemed to mind that he would ride it, nor did it seem to mind the lull in activity.

Or the fact that their attempts to capture the southern cities ended in failure.

Granted, it was marginal, with the only casualties being injuries that, thanks to Private Plaxinov, were no longer life threatening. They had pushed in and liberated the city quickly thanks to the combined efforts of Human, Xenoform, and Algorhyme. However, before he had a chance to order the city to be secured, a massive swarm of hostile Xenoforms began to assault their lines. And while his forces included elements from Able and Charlie that had been found trying to make their way back to friendly lines, as well as all the allied forces at the FEX mission, an urban battle with a Xenoform swarm with very little air support promised to be lengthy and messy.

So, like any commander worth his salt, Colonel Walker ordered the allied forces to withdraw.

Granted, he left behind some presents for the swarm in the form of sleeper Xenoform elements under Domino’s direct control. When he had spoken to Domino through Paradox’s secure connection, he told Domino to covertly convert and devour the enemy occupying swarm with the few Xenoforms he had hidden in the city, explaining it as “a game of zombie.”

While he was confident that by putting his task in terms of a game Domino would be able to deliver the southern cities as well as a new Xenoform swarm, Walker was worried that their recent maneuver had left morale low, as well as some tensions between the three groups somewhat high.

Staring at Sunshine as he stomped about on the ground, Walker had a moment of inspiration, and turned to R00, the de facto ambassador for the humans.

“Hey R00, you think the Algorhymes know what music is?”

>TIME FOR AWESOME ENTRANCE, MOTHER FUCKERS!

The battle had ended several hours ago, and the fighters of Bravo and Delta were returning home after mopping up the remaining Makarian opposition who didn’t suddenly disappear with the Air Fortress. Communications Officer Jenkins was busy monitoring the comms channels between the deployed units when the chatter suddenly exploded. Voices overlapped one another with reports of a new group and requests to confirm the sighting, along with chatter from a unit that he couldn’t identify.

“The hell is…? Lain, you gettin’ this?”

“TA network is reporting an unidentified group approaching from the East. It’s weird, one moment there was nothing there, yet suddenly…” TA Monitor Lain trailed off as she began to type furiously at her console, trying to filter through the sudden influx of data.

“Hold on, I’m picking up something… standard handshakes and protocols, it’s… it’s…”

“Who is it, Jenkins?”

The two officers turned to see Lietuenant McMillan standing behind them.

“Well?”

“It’s… I don’t believe it. Lain, anything from the TA network?”

“Mmm... hold on, it’s difficult… it’s… it’s…?”

The Monitor stared in disbelief at her console as well, then began to type in a frenzy.

“Well? What’s the matter with you two? Who is it?”

The two officers of the command crew stared at each other, then turned to McMillan, eyes wide in confusion.

“It’s… it’s Colonel Walker, sir.”

“… You two, come with me. We need to go tell Captain Geist.”

>>>

>>14529933

It had taken him some time, but with four days of marching, it really was the only thing they could do to occupy themselves after leaving the southern cities. And after confirming with Paradox, they had indeed converged with the normal time line. No worries of causing an accidental paradox; thus no need for her to mask their presence in PsiComm.

Walker, standing on Sunshine’s back on a ridge, duster billowing in the wind, inhaled deeply before smiling.

“It’s time to make our entrance! ARE YOU READY?”

The multi-species force behind him roared their answer.

“All right then! LET’S DO THIS!”

Walker slid down the microphone of his TACIM into position, and opened the connection to the pair of Algorhymes carrying massive, improvised stereo systems.

“This one goes out to the boys and girls of Bravo and Delta, as well as a very special lady-friend of mine. Give me a beat, kids!”

At the signal, the entire column began to move forward as one, marching in step.

The Xenoforms began stomping their feet as they stepped, and after every two steps, they would all raise their heads and snap their mandibles together. Moving as one, they made a very distinctive sound:

*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*

>>>

>>14529963

As the Xenoforms crested the ridge, Walker began to sing, his voice amplified by the two Algorhymes.

“Buddy you’re a boy make a big noise
Playin’ in the street gonna be a big man some day!
You got mud on ya’ face
You big disgrace
Kickin’ your can all over the puh-lace!”

On cue, all the humans behind him bellowed as one, shouting the chorus to the song.

“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*

>>>

>>14529972

Walker, riding Sunshine at the head of the column, continued to sing, with the humans shouting the chorus, the Xenoforms stomping the beat, and the Algorhymes doing a strange choreographed dance.

“Buddy you’re a young man hard man
Shoutin’ in the street gonna take oooon the world some day!
You got blood on ya’ face
You big disgrace
Wavin’ your banner all over the puh-lace!”

“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*

”Buddy you’re an old man poor man
Pleadin’ with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day
You got mud on ya’ face
Ya’ big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your puh-lace!”

“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
*BOOM* *BOOM* *CLACK*
“WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU!”

“ALRIGHT!” Walker suddenly shouted, pointing to the Algorhymes.

The Algorhymes suddenly began to sing in strange, digitized voices. Crying out a wordless song in notes and sounds no human vocal box could hope to make, several Algorhymes – mainly those who had spent considerable time in the presence of the humans during their week-long trip, began to make motions with their arms mimicking the playing of a guitar. After 30 seconds of their “guitar solo,” the entire force halted and cheered, Human, Xenoform, and Algorhyme voices mixing together in a show of unity.

“HAHAHAHA! I’m back, kids! And I’ve brought some shiny friends with me! AHAHAHAHA!”

>Shenanigans complete. Time lines converged.

>[S]ssssssss

>>14530528

Where's his tent?

>>14529980

Briefly after Walker's display, his com blaring loud enough for all around him to hear.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WALKER? IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN, WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF GUDDAMN INVASION HERE. NOT ONLY IS THERE INTEL THAT THE SINGLE MOST MASSIVE MAKARIAN FLEET EVER SPOTTED IS ON THE WAY, BUT WE'VE GOT REPORTS THAT THE q******ING BLACK FLAG IS HEADING HERE AS WELL.

NOW IF YOU'RE DONE WITH YOU'RE LITTLE CIRCLE-***** DOWN THERE, GET YOUR ASS TO THE BRIDGE FOR DEBRIEFING."

>>14521910
Nice pick can;t wait till you try the spec classes

>>14531791

Walker turned to face the O'Reilly, and, shaking his fist towards it's general direction, yelled his retort, while still connected to the Algorhymes with the stereos.

"SUCK IT KING! IT'S CALLED AN EXERCISE IN INTER-SPECIES ACTIVITIES, DICK-WAD! YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW ABOUT THE MAKS AND THE BLACK FLAG? LANDER'S BLOOD, I FUCKIN' CALLED THE BLACK FLAG, FLY-BOY!"

"LANDER'S BLOOD, IS THAT HOW PEOPLE SEE ME? AS SOME FRIGGIN' MIRACLE WORKER? 'WALKER, THERE'S A HORDE OF XENOFORMS COMING AT US, GET YOUR ASS TO THE BRIDGE TO HELP US! WALKER, THERE'S A GROUP OF PIRATES LOOTING OUR SUPPLY LINES, GET OVER HERE TO FIX THE PROBLEM! WALKER, I'VE GOT A BOO-BOO, WOULD YOU COME OVER HERE TO KISS IT AND MAKE IT ALL BETTER?' LANDER'S FUCKING BLOOD, IT'S ALWAYS LIKE THAT, AIN'T IT?"

"FUCKING HELL, I'VE SPENT THE LAST TWO WEEKS RUNNING AROUND TITAN TRYING TO PREPARE FOR THE MAKARIAN FLEET WITHOUT ACCIDENTALLY CREATING A FUCKIN' TIME PARADOX! AND WHEN I FINALLY MANAGE TO GET BACK TO A POINT IN TIME WHEN I'M SAFE FROM THAT, I COME BACK ONLY TO GET BITCHED AT! NO, 'HOLY SHIT WALKER, YOU'RE ALIVE!' OR 'HEY, IT'S WALKER, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?' OR EVEN 'I'M SENDING A PELICAN TO PICK YOU UP, SINCE IT'S COMPLETELY UNREASONABLE TO EXPECT YOU TO SPROUT WINGS AND FLY TO THE LUCKY O'REILLY ON YOUR OWN'!"

"AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN CURIOUS ABOUT THE FUCKING ROBOTS I'VE BROUGHT BACK! FUCKING HELL, WAR, WAR, WAR, THAT'S ALL ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN THESE DAYS."

Walker sat down on Sunshine, finally disconnecting himself from the Algorhymes, waving the force forward towards the Lucky O'Reilly.

"Bloody hell, cutting me some slack every once in a while would be impossible, friggin'..." he grumbled angrily.

Ender walks up behind the commander a hand on his shoulder.

" You know, that's probably because 80 percent of your men were right here the whole time , and you know - I think my money is on the fact that we probably strode up just as they were getting ready to hold the funeral. Ever had that happen to you ? "
Ender broke into a maniacal grin.

" It's actually really strange "

He starts laughing.

And laughing.

>>14535377

Walker stared at the soldier, then broke out into a smile, then laughter as well.

"Then I guess we're the silver lining for today, eh, Ender? It's like my Pa' used to say: 'better to have a welcome party than a farewell one.'"

He slaps Ender on the back, laughing with him, not knowing the real reason for Ender's laughter.

A short message appeared the the desk of Captain Geist.

--> Captain, I apologize for the informality of this letter but I must attend to other matters presently.Enclosed is the data i was able to extract from the TA net about the specimen you provided me. Also I must warn you that the Inquisition are onto us. You may have noted my behavior was...erratic of late. This was due to brainwashing, the manner of how i discovered this information and broke free from this is better left to the imagination. Before i end this transmission just know i may be unavailable for sometime, i trust you not to question this as i will not question why you abandoned your comrades in the last skirmish.

Also you owe me for this.

Attachement
---> Penavol

>>14535215

"Er, hello Colonel. The admiral didn't catch most of that last bit, we had to restrain and drag him away from the com when he heard you hired the Black Flag. Yeah... he's probably going to want to have words with you. Still, great to have you back, sir."

>>14536550

Beep

Geist pulls out his tablet and scans the message from Soap. He quickly makes a few back up copies and deletes the message. After stowing away some of the copied data, he heads off to the TA banks while everyone is occupied with Walker's reappearance.

>>14537346

>Meanwhile, Walker and King have gotten into an argument over something inconsequential, probably relating to the fact that Walker thinks the Delta battle just ended, when in reality it's been a week since then.

>McMillan is probably off looking for Fierstrom, or doing something that gives him a valid excuse not to be within earshot of Walker.

>Loving bump for something constructive later.

>>14536550
>>14537346

>Attached Document:

Penavol System

With more and more incursions with the Exalted, the story of the Penavol System is becoming a tragically familiar tale. While much of the time the Exalted fights through proxy races, they have also been known to send terrorist attacks deep into human space. While some are committed by their allied forces or even human allies such as the Transhumanists, their most potent has been their psionic engineering. The Hundred K and the Burning Man were both examples of the Exalted setting off latent human psionics in destructive ways. The quarantined Penavol System was just another victim of such attacks.

Pre-Exalted the Penavol System had three planets capable of supporting life, each world holding approximately 500 million lives. The three planets cradled in the “green belt” of the system, the terraformed Merilla and Corest, and the naturally occurring Beln, each support a diverse economy supplemented with mining from the nearby asteroid belt. Founded right after the expansion, the Penavol system was located deep enough into the Empire to be not considered a fringe planet, while also not being close enough to be a core system. Thought to be safe when the Iron Line flared up, this century-old system was a little Terra onto itself, a beautiful balance between low-impact industrialization and a controlled ecosystem.

> >

>Continued from >>14539949

Then the Medusa Flu hit. Looking back psychopathologists still have a hard time tracing down to the Subject Zero, if there even was one. Like with their attacks before and after Penavol, the Exalted were not seen, but their influence felt. The Medusa Flu struck fast and with equally terrifying transmission vectors and symptoms. When the first hundreds started pouring in to various hospitals, complaining about joint pain and high fevers. Doctors were baffled by the lack of pathogens in their bodies, as well the seeming inhumanly rapid growth of bone tissue. The three worlds quickly threw up quarantine flags to the PDF and declared a state of emergency as the first thousands started to die off, their bodies literally crushing themselves as the bones growth displaced organs and flesh.

It was only discovered later, after the ODF outbreak blockade had moved into place and the Inquisitors had severed transcription and public psi-comm to and within the system that the horrifying reality started to surface. The disease wasn’t airborne or person to person: it was psionic. Each human who caught the disease became psionically active is a small and precise way: they could transmit the disease by sight. The Medusa Flu’s vector went through glass and over distances, literally infecting with a glance. While it couldn’t be transmitted through video feeds or other reproductions, another complication was discovered.

> >

>Continued from >>14539958

Because in 100% of reported cases the Medusa Flu was fatal, The ODF/Inquisitor Joint Taskforce had decided to wait it out, especially after learning of the disease’s vector. While no one liked it, the O/IJT was just going to wait for all the carriers to die off, becoming solid bone from the inside out, and then after a cautious amount of time, send in ODF Marines to search for survivors. So when TAs started tracking subjects that must be infected show no signs of the disease for hours, then days, the admins scrambled to find an answer. Using the dying infostructure of the planet, they piece together several of the trails of these seemingly immune carriers. They all had one thing in common: they had all traveled via transcription in-system.

At first hopes soared that this might in fact be a cure. Perhaps the flux was able to dislodge the psionic interloper during transit, or the transcription process itself had something to do with it. However, as they watched the “cured” hopes fell again. As these men and women met up with the few bands of survivors who had managed to catch on to the vector and barricade themselves, all of those groups who invited in these “clean” people started to get sick and die like the rest, leaving only this carrier. It’s not clear if these “Gorgon” carriers, as they became known, was a deliberate part of this Exalted attack, or a fortunate (for the Exalted) unforeseen consequence of transcription. Regardless, it was because of the Gorgons that the O/IJT decided to initiate S.A.L.T. protocols.

> >

>Continued from >>14539970

The Strategic Annulment of Life and Transports protocols were a declaration of war against every living creature on that planet, as well as all transcription arrays and vehicles capable of leaving the atmosphere. Five Forlorn Hope platoons were put together, each fitted with stealth suits and as much weapons and ammo as they could carry. Their mission was to terminate as many of the Gorgons, arrays, and transports they could before they succumbed themselves. While their cloaking would prevent the Gorgons from seeing them, and therefore infecting them, no techonology was foolproof: fields would be tripped, batteries would die, and generators would crack from falls. Not all of the survivors, Gorgons or otherwise, would accept their death so easily. Many would fight back with weapons pulled from abandoned military depots, or turn into the psionic monster they were feared to be.

All five platoons winked out in the five years of the blockade. As starports and personal aircraft were systematically destroyed, the ODF assets were pulled away, being replaced with a military contractor specializing in quarantined worlds, BlackRock. Setting up on a perimeter planet in the system, Lylla, this PMC started the laborious process of setting up the long-term quarantine, with knowledge that with special qualities of the virus, that might never be lifted. S.A.L.T. protocols completed, the overwatch committee took command from the O/IJT.

> >

>Continued from >>14539980

BlackRock finished seeding the worlds with kill-sats, automated arrays disconnected from any outside net and armed with powerful lasers and a simple command: destroy anything entering or leaving the planet. With a powerful psicomm scanning array on Lylla, as well as the only transcriptor in the system, BlackRock intercepts and turns back all incoming ships and destroy all those who fail to heed. Even their own automated supply freighters undergo close scrutiny before being allowed to land on Lylla. BlackRock itself is mostly technicians, with a small security force augmented by robotic forces.

That was over fifty years ago. Most have forgotten about the Penavol system, those who had called that place home being so few now. Besides an annual committee meeting, the ODF and Inquisition have no more to do with it. BlackRock sits quietly over this system, as they do over so many others. On the worlds themselves natural has flowed her slow but persistent course, as flora reclaims the land. Buildings have started to decay, fields creep from park to lawn to street, and rivers break free of dam and embankment. The signature flowers and trees of these three planets grow across the calcium husks of the fallen, like sun-bleached statues of alabaster.

>Annnd done. I was hoping to make it about the same length as my other planet info sheets, but I guess a whole systems does warrant a little more room.

And this is the place that Geist is going to end up going.

For some reason, I find that to be rather humorous.

>bump for the night

Oh, right.

From my understanding, we have three possible missions to choose from:

Underground Algorhyme mission, referenced here >>14516592
OR
Ground mission to capture a protoprotein well
OR
Mission to capture some naval yards (presumably in space)
OR
The two missions referenced here >>14513234

The last two I have no clue as to what they are.

Pick one, otherwise a lack of input in the thread or to OC when he's available will result in defaulting to the Algorhyme mission to reactivate the planet's defenses.

And with that, I'll see you in the morning.

>All missions are subject to change according to the majority of the player's voices as well as Orbital's whims.

page 4

page 5

>>14541004
Either the underground Algorhyme mission or the first secret mystery mission sound good to me.

Hah IRC finally fixed for me. Also Bump. Oribital if you read this I'd like to continue fleshing out my NCA.

>Von peered at the injured S unit, not able to understand anything it might be saying, but able to understand that it wanted to be useful once more. The large Russian led and partially aided the Algorhyme if it allowed him to, toward his BiTank. Patting the armored frame once more with a smile at the S, which looked awkward with a pair of unlit cigarettes in his mouth.

>>14541004

My vote is for the robot mission because DUAL SHOTGUNS!

Voting for any mission in which I can get some kills on Blaze.

I'm so close to spec I can TASTE IT.

>>14541004
I'll vote for the robot warfare too

>>14541004

I vote robots. Just to spite Blaze and watch you all stumble around learning a new faction.

Okay, I have some plans for things that are not entirely related to what's going on right now:

Since we kind of own the Blacksad system (you know, the one where we shot a hole in the moon), I've been thinking of developing the system. According to initial speculations, it would take several decades to terraform the planet Blacksad into something inhabitable. Considering that's it's been about a decade, I'd expect those efforts to have yielded some results by now. If you would also recall, not only do we have a super laser array thing on the surface of a minerite-rich planet (Blacksad), but we used said laser array to shoot down a Makarian mothership, as well as accidentally shoot a hole in the moon of said planet (Azimuth).

Now, since we already put a hole in the moon, I was thinking of hollowing it out, and building a massive city inside it, and covering the moon is weapons batteries and those laser arrays, as well as filling it with a couple of lakes/seas of molten minerite. Essentially turn it into a massive fortress/naval yard moon where we can transcript naval assets.

I was also thinking of emulating the moon Orbital Command is situated on here, and putting in a giant server for the Algorhymes, who will more or less run the place/act as custodians, alongside human technicians. Give them their own planet per se, along with giving them access to machinery that will allow us to integrate them into naval assets so we can have transforming aerospace fighters with Algorhyme sparks inside them. Help liberate them from the ground as well as propagate them as well, you know?

>>14548285

Now for the planet of Blacksad itself, which should have at least a decade of terraforming efforts on it by now, I was thinking of making use of the large amounts of minerite deposits there to, well, also make it a fortress world. I was also thinking of replicating the laser array on it that we had initially used to shoot down that Makarian mothership and place them along the equator/poles of the planet so we can shoot in all directions.

Now, to populate it, I was thinking of making the place a kind of haven for all the refugees from various warzones - Aggronia, Hearth, whatever. Strip them of their refugee status and make them citizens of our little planet. I was also thinking of sending the Algorhymes and Xenoforms there as well to populate it - create our very first multi-racial planet thing, you know?

Granted, to avoid civil wars, I was thinking of pairing up every human with a specially-bred Xenoform. We know it can be done - Found made the Xenoform armor thing. This time, however, we'll make these ones smaller, more autonomous and a bit more sentient, and have a slower growth rate that's on par with that of a human. And maybe we can try to induce a psionic/telepathic connection between each of these Xenoforms and their assigned human partner. Think the Dragon Riders from the Eragon series, or Panzer Dragoon, or whatever. Point is humans and Xenoforms will live side-by-side. I'm not sure where the Algorhymes would come in in this picture, but they too can be paired/included in this group. I don't want them to become second-class citizens and be treated like droids, but I want to take advantage of the fact that they aren't limited in body, as well as make them integral to our little society thing.

Perhaps to ease tensions we can bio-engineer a new subspecies of Xenoforms that would assist in terraforming efforts. Maybe make a plant-like xenoform that transforms the soil into something more habitable.

>>14548416
>>14548285

So....you want to build me a playground?

>>14548416

In any case, the Xenoforms would assist with the terraforming due to their resilience and their ability to rapidly mutate in a specified direction.

The Algorhymes would also be pulled to help, mainly in organizing whatever machinery we use to terraform. Again, need to be careful of accidentally making them into droids.

Now, granted, we still have a war going on, and the Inquisition/High Galactic isn't probably going to ignore this. Hell, they make accuse me of trying to make my own little kingdom. So, to avoid all that, I was thinking of bringing them into the whole plan from the very start. Invite some Inquisitors or other High Galactic Officials (at Fierstrom's/Evergrad's recommendation) to help oversee the whole project and essentially represent High Galactic in all of this. Maybe elect one of them to be the planetary governor with a council of individuals elected from the planet's populace itself.

Perhaps once this is all done we can use the population as a recruitment place for Bravo. Create a whole new Company integrating Humans, Xenoforms, and Algorhymes. Maybe even instate a mandatory 2 year PDF service period for the population as an alternative to the Warbucks Draft, then have the best of these individuals be candidates to join the ODF/Bravo. Obviously, we would be maintaining a standing army, so these guys might be like Regs+.

And of course, we would still turn the entire planet into a massive fortress. Hence the military service.

>>14548285
>>14548416

I like how you think just because we've been somewhere and "liberated" it, that we have direct control over it.

Like there isn't another governing body. Like we aren't but a tiny little part of a much greater human force. Pull your head out of your self-centered ass and stop playing galactic ruler game and get back to what you are, a small cog leading a small force that goes where you are told.

Not only should you get permission from ODF and the Inquisition before you even thought about this (and if OC has a shred of sense and thought of scale he'll brand you a heretic and flush you out an airlock), but you seem to believe we've got our own fleet who's been mining space gold. The things you want are far beyond the measly KP we've established by many orders of magnitude.

From a gameplay perspective you're asking us to turn what is a battlefield combat game into Civ 5. Not only adding ridiculous amount of silly with your peace and love melding humans and xenos, but foggy up an already needlessly complicated storyline. It's action like this that make this game more and more daunting to newcomers, and bring this game closer and closer to being crushed under its own weight.

Walker, go play some Minecraft and leave it alone

>>14548615

huh? the way I understood it, things would just be fluffed that way and would not have any gameplay/ruleset impact (except probably some additional units/upgrade options in the future?)

will have to agree on your take the whole co-existence stuff.

the utility of asking algo and xeno assistance for manufacturing and terraforming etc. makes sense but the integration with human population thing is kinda too uh. . . utopian? idealistic?

>>14548615

It was an idea, buddy, no more than that. It was one that would ultimately serve to improve the quality of military recruits to Bravo as well as create a new production facility for military assets so we had something to fall back on when we eventually come up against something that kicks our ass when we first encounter it. It would be a place where we would hold all the cards.

And from the image that Orbital has painted of the Zerospace universe, the overall governing body of humanity, High Galactic, is highly disconnected from the human held worlds due to time and distance between them. IIRC, their domain is mostly inter-planetary trade, the space between planet, and military efforts to fight off the Exalted. For the most part, they seem to leave the exact dealings of individual planets to the locals. The few thousand Inquisitors in existence are a rarity that serve to enforce High Galactic's will, however they don't seem to be involved with local politics.

And presumably this plan would make use of the natural resources left on Blacksad (which had no effective government) to mostly fund it, as well as the cooperation of the Inquisition (who seem to be able to take what they want). After all, creating a fortress world populated by the endless waves of resource-devouring refugees that, in time, would produce a new fighting force that combines the strengths of the Humans, Xenoforms, and Algorhymes that would be mostly self-sustaining sounds like something that they would like.

And the fact that I'm proposing it to them through Fierstrom and letting them have control seems to only sweeten the deal, as we wouldn't be handling it directly (we really don't have any business overseeing it in the first place, really).

>>14548827

So perhaps it was a bit self-centered of me to come up with this grand scheme whose inception had it's origins long ago, back when we first fought on Blacksad. But can you really blame me? I mean, I somehow managed to earn the ire of High Galactic, who seemed to view me as a plausible threat to their power. What I'm doing here is giving them more power - or presenting a plan to give them that. I'm still playing my role as a little cog in the machine.

And while >>14548775 points out that the whole integration of species is a bit idealistic, the whole plan assumes that there will be enough time for this initial drastic setup to kind of smooth over any animosity felt by the different groups towards each other (at least the humans towards the xenoforms) by essentially forcing them to pair up. If you want to get rid of racism, you start with the kids, not the adults. And it's not all "peace and love" - I'm just planning for the inevitable future involving Domino when he eventually matures, as well as setting the stage for Knights riding Sandroaches.

And besides, if OC really doesn't like it, he can just say no.

It's all a part of a long-term plan, which we may see results due to relativity issues from space travel.

>>14548908

Yes, I can blame you.

>>14549183

Well okay then.

We done here, or do we need to have another bout before we're thoroughly satisfied?

>Admittedly, it is the weakest part of the argument.

>>14539990

Geist read through the document, then goes through it a second and third time.

Kill sats preventing others from going to or from planets, guarded transcriptor, and some group of high profile mercs. And, a psionic plague that was always fatal.

Still, they were an execution force of the HLF. With that, they had many resources to work with.

"This is do-able."

>>14541004

voting for the first secret mystery mission as well

>>14542993
>>14543700
>>14544377
>>14547325
>>14548269
>>14550961

Four votes for the robot mission (which believe it or not, should actually help us repel the Makarians), two votes for "the first mystery mission" (I'll count yours Foolscap, and Grey, you forgot your name), and one mission for "something where Bravo ground forces are deployed."

So from the looks of it, we want to do robots.

>It will be mandatory for you all to play electronic/Tron OST/8-bit music for the duration of the game.

>bump

>bump

>>>Incoming message

"Greetings, Colonel Walker. I am Ezerakaria Cahn, captain of the Black Flag ship Despoiler.

I am contacting you to inform you that, in accordance with the contract, a fleet of our ships are preparing for transcription to Titan to fight the Makarians and assist with the invasion. Attached to this message is a listing of your offer, and our asking price for our, ahem 'services' to finalize the contract."

>>Your offer:
>between 50-75, maybe even 100 points
>salvage rights

>>Ours:
>85 points
>Salvage rights - First pick of 40% of destroyed forces in addition to any and all craft disabled by our EMP bombs or ion weaponry.

>>14556523
I doubt Ghoul would be able to get ahold of this transmission but his reply would basically much the same as my pic.

>>14556996
Whoops forgot trip.

>>14556523

"Ezerakaria Cahn, your terms sound reasonable, and I accept them. Just when you show up, I expect you to work with us, not against us."

"Doesn't mean you can't call stupid when you see it."

>Terms accepted

>>14558275

Addendum: Allied ships do not count towards salvage rights.

>bump

Well since we have Black Flag I say we go fro broke and launch a run on the Makarians primary time drive. With any luck we can take them all out in one hit Death Star style.

>zzz

>>14558308

Second addendum (in case it wasn't very clear the first time around): Allied craft disabled by EMP/Ion weaponry are not considered salvage.

Something implicit made explicit: backstabbing, traitorous actions, or other actions that would break any implicit understanding between the two of us (like firing on us when there's only one Mak ship left) is going to void this contract, as well as mark the Black Flag and all associated ships as KOS by Federation Forces.

>I shouldn't even have to handle this shit, I'm a motherfucking ground pounder, since when was this shit my business?

>>14562343
Sure Walker take all their fun away.

>>14558308
>>14562343

The bridge viewscreen flicks on, displaying an older man with tan, weathered skin and graying hair and beard. He appears to be rather agitated.

"Adding terms after finalizing the contract? And going so far as to accuse of us planning on turning on you?

We do try to limit friendly fire, but you insult us Walker. I do not know where you learned to negotiate, but you are fortunate that I have been designated to deal with you and not one of the more 'aggressive' or impatient captains.

The original finalized contract has already been relayed to my superiors, there will be no alterations or addendum."

He glances to the side, before returning his eyes to the screen, "Several of our fleets have already mobilized. To turn back now would pose an not insignificant amount of losses. Needless to say, there will be no turning back. We will arrive at Titan shortly.

Cahn out."

>>14562615

Eh, whatever. Guess realizing something 4 minutes after the fact doesn't count.

>Hey, if I add addendums, then they're free to do so, I guess. Or something. I don't think I'd mind, and it would make for better negotiations, and whatnot. Still, I guess they know not to pull the "whoops friendly fire" BS now.

>>14556523
Pirate Captain
Ezekaria .... File name mismatch.

Ezekaria not registered as a pirate of the BlackFlag as of 0249.

BlackFlag data faces possible compromise;
Identify yourself.

> sup Eze, wanna contact me on aim: at
Yandomviolence ? P.S. SHOW THYSELF VILLAIN

>>14563809

>Bump, for this mystery must be solved!

>bump

>>14563809
"Blast it you computer woman! It's EZERAKARIA. Not Ezekaria. No wonder you can't find it. Seriously, is this the thing watching over ODF forces?"

>>14567445

"Eh, for all the things Orbital is known for, proper spelling and grammar is not one of them."

"Hope we didn't get off on the wrong foot, but it's difficult to judge a man as trustworthy if you've yet to meet face-to-face, something that I'd like remedied."

>I thought you were another player acting on behalf of Monday, but apparently not. Oh well, welcome to the club.

>>14568075
Should we ask R00 to put out the good silverware? It's been forever since we have entertained guests.

>>14569428

What are you talking about, we're always entertaining people.

>>14570839
True Warsaw but it usually against their will.

>>14562343
>It's your business since YOU are the one that hired them.

rolled 2, 10 = 12

>Man you guys can't even go a week without me

"I wanted to defect because I was going to be put on ice and now I'm going to be some pirates property?

well, you know me, if there's insanity I gotta out do it.

Fuck phase 2 and 3. It's drastic measures time. No supplies, or anything. just a bomb free body and a giant ass war machine.

You have a problem with it you can try to stop me, if you think it's a good idea you can join me.

All I know is things seem more and more out of my hands, and I can't stand that, not one bit.

There's a big ass flock of birds ready to turn this rock into glass and I ain't sitting around to see it happen, hell this whole "attack" has been nothung but us walking around a desert getting into random fights that solve *explative*.

The entire human race is riding on this but we still have no real base and they still have three or some shit.

I made myself a free man without anyone knowing and god damn it I ain't going to go down as one of the poor fools with the thumb up his ass when the bombs started to fall.

I got a war to win, i got history to make and I'll *explative* do it myself if i have to.

Most Importantly, Imma do it because it's my choice. The free man that went to war

Remember that"

>NCA to bust out in a warmachine and then start stomping towards the nearest Opposed stronghold

>>14573390
"Sir, one of the escape pods on the port side just ejected! Scans show a single occupant, psicomm shows is as PFC Dragon."

"I see. Where did the pod land?"

"It never got planet-side, sir. It's been intercepted by the Black Flag ship that arrived in system recently..."

Blaze tore out of his clothes as he ran into the armory, nearly tripping over his shorts as he pulled them down and tossed them to the side.

"Dammit Dragon, you selfish fucking IDIOT!"

He shoved his arms and legs into the open back of his power armor, pressing his digits into the insulating body glove and clenching his fists. The suit closed around him, his helmet coming up around his head and clamping shut. He turned to leave, making his way towards the escape pods. It was blatantly obvious that he wasn't thinking any of this through.

>>14573456
>>14573390

As Dragon climbs out of the pod into the hangar, he is surrounded by soldiers, all keeping rifles leveled at him.

After he is 'helped' out of his armor and relieved of his weapons, he is cuffed and held there at gun point until the Captain arrives.

Ezarakia looks him over before motioning for a someone to take the armor away. "We'll find some use for your equipment, don't you worry. Now, what to do with you?"

>>14573650
As Blaze runs toward the pods, the toes on his left foot detonate, causing him to trip.

Through his com, Blaze can hear, "Take another step toward those escape pods and I'll det the rest of you, soldier. I've already had to send the Black Flag a message telling them Dragon is a deserter and he was not carrying out orders. He's on is own now."

Blaze grunted as he felt his toes pop in his boot. No one could keep their balance quite as well without toes as with them, and Blaze fell to the floor. He was too angry to feel it very much, but it was still going to impede him. He didn't reply to Captain Geist's message, simply kneeling there, his forearms propping him up, his fists clenched.

"Dammit Dragon... dammit, you stupid sack of shit!"

>>14573708
Dragon doesn't feel all that threatened by the men with guns. The massive Hydra mech probably helping to boost his confidance

"I just got my freedom and I aim to get down to that planet. I aim to turn as many of those *explative* down there into ash as i can. I want to liberate the planet like we were suposed to be doing. You got my pod and I'll ask you to let it go. Doesn't much matter to me if I die there, here or anywhere else."

Dragon laughs, the pa system adding a distortion to the hint of sadness

"I ain't going to be *explative* nothing. All i got is a lot of luck and a great knack for killing things. When life gives you lemon's you make lemonade. I'll fight my way into history. Maybe for my death or maybe for a victory, but it will happen....I suppose someone like you could use a guy like me. A man with a nice suit and the training to use it well. A man who wants to fight.

So what'll it be. No matter what I'll be fighting free, so I'll be happy with whatever choice you make"

(wrong trip this entire time! HOW SILLY OF ME)

>>14573708

"Captain Ezerakaria? I apologize for any damage that rogue escape pod may have caused. From my understanding, there was a man and some high level equipment stowed away in that pod."

"Tell you what; you take the man, and I'll throw in everything else in that pod. He was a good soldier; effective on the field, follows orders, and has just the right amount of initiative to make him every commander's ideal soldier. So if I were you, I'd think twice about shooting him, or wasting his talents doing something menial like being used as target practice."

"And before you ask, I'm simply respecting the wishes of one of my best men. After all that he's been through, I think it's high time that he be allowed to make decisions for himself, wouldn't you agree?"

>"Umm, sir, are you-"

"Yes McMillan, I am letting one of my best soldiers live his life because I believe he deserves it."

>"But that's not-"

"Go grab Geist and tell him to unthaw the other one."

>"..."

"That's an order, Lieutenant."

>"... Yes sir."

>bump

>>14574071
Ezerakaria chuckles, "So you want be a member of the crew, eh? Well then welcome aboard! Gustav, get the the welcome grog!"

One of the men walks off, coming back several minutes later with a bottle. A couple of cups are poured and one given to the captain, the other to Dragon.

"To our new Hydra!" He raises the mug into the air to toast, waiting for Dragon to do the same before he drinks.

>bump

>>14578909
>> [welp, gotta do what the danger roll says.]

"Orbital." The adjutant calls out from her office. The war effort maybe dragging, this was expected. And now desertions are happening and not one superior officer is taking any action. Bravo with its short - yet exceptional- record of service is not going to tarnish its name any longer. " She spun around to no one in particular.

" Orbital it would seem that Walker has failed to observe proper disciplinary action, and now we have men jumping ship with the pirates. I need not rationalize to you what our job here is, even in the face of these /uninvited/ guests. "

Orbital's attention was engaged.

" Detonate all neural casings for Subject: Dragon - Termination code; 30948- Ar23F ."

" Executed " confirmed Orbital's monotone voice.

A bright flash enveloped the crowd as the first taste of honeyed mead reached Dragon's parched lips. A medicaid of fringe world persuasion could be seen in the background hurrying to the scene witnessing exactly what she didn't want to see.

>> Dragon's terminated from ODF roster.

" You're getting soft, Walker... " Fierstrom remarked from the rear of the office.

" What was that, ma'am ? " Adoria asked.
" It's nothing, Adoria, as you were. " Fierstrom sat back.
" Yes, High Inquisitor. "

>>14581842

ouch

>>14581842

>Actually, I thought that with his danger roll, he'd smear himself against the hull of the Black Flag ship.

"Huh. Well, it looks like I don't have to fill out the paperwork for making him a legitimate now..."

"I have to apologize once again, Captain Ezerakaria. Looks like my bosses don't like it when I make decisions before filling out the proper papers. I suppose you can keep the Hydra armor for all this trouble."

"McMillan, tell Geist to kick Dragon in the head when you crack him from his tube."

Walker tapped the touch screen of the console built into the arm of the command screen.

"Attention all Bravo members; this is Colonel Walker speaking. I do not believe I have to remind you, but any and all attempts at desertion or 'going rogue' is an offense punishable by death. Furthermore, do not expect a merciful execution by remote detonation. That is all."

>>14583652
"You don't need to get McMillan to tell me things, Walker. I've been standing right here in the command room. For the past week. While you were off hiding in caves or whatever.

And there won't be a 'when you crack him from his tube'. He's been terminated from ODF rosters, and that does mean /terminated/ in every sense of the word."

>>14584296

>Well excuse me for thinking you were off where the escape pods were talking to Blaze, or something.

"Really? A pity, then. We already bought his clone awhile back. I don't suppose they recycle those things, do they?"

Walker taps his chin thoughtfully.

"Didn't I tell you that it was your job to watch Dragon? And for your information, we only camped out in a cave for one day. Which you would have known, if you hadn't used my gun to blow your brains out on that Air Fortress. Speaking of which, how did that feel, anyway?"

>Yes, giving Geist a hard time for this is *probably* not necessary.

>>14584595
Geist stares out at Titan. Without turning, he responds, "It felt like the necessary thing to do so that Bravo was not left without a CO had you all not been as fortunate and had been sent back even longer than a few weeks, or to a different planet. Your stubborn refusal to give yourself a back-up meant that /you/ wouldn't have been able to do so, which only left me.

And yes, you did tell me it was my job to watch Dragon. Just as it is my job to keep an eye on all our soldiers. Something that a respectable CO would not shove off onto someone else so that they could avoid responsibility for their subordinate's actions."

> If that's how you want to play it!

>>14584595
He watched me blow up

ANYWAY

NEW CHARACTER TIME

Choices:
Another A in order to get last A spec
An eccentric F
Sam sam the shooting man from the algorythm mission

>>14581842
>>14581842

Dragon took a big sip from the cup and suddenly he felt cold.

There was no more TA in his head and a signal that would have been the end for the PFC was received.

No bombs went off in the PFC's body, for there were no bombs to set off.

Still dragon was as good as dead. A brush with the ODF would make him a target, a mercinary group with a Hydra was too high profile, and blackflag worked far to often for him to evade them for long.

Dragon turned down the captain's offer again. "Yeah, I did want a job but...I don't think it would work out. I'd be more of a bother then I'm worth here." Dragon did leave the captain with something though

Cash

"I was a bit of a gambler, and like I said luck was on my side.....I'd like any supplies you can live without and a shuttle. Then I'm going to have to leave before the ODF tears this place up looking for me"

He decided then and there. One course of action, the one and only ending available to him

Death. Death in the form of a one man crusade.

He left that ship, headed towards Exalted space. No human would ever see him alive again, but the Exalted and their allies...they'd learn to fear him before they could kill him.

>DRAGON END

>>14585401

Confirmed.

THe pirates of Black Flag played a part in the coverup- going so far as to supply a body. It was not until the War on Titan did tall-tales about Dragon circulated outside of Pirating circles due to reports of a humanoid monster singlehandedly rescuing merchant fleets, fringe colonies, and harvest planets of Makarian menaces.
In the event that the enemy would resort to culling all humans in their attempt to discourage this warrior, the Dragon's terror potential multiplied infinitely, creating a truly unstoppable monster whose destructive potential no longer needed to be restrained.

The fear effect inherent in Hydra Masters was then on forever immortalized by a tempo-omniscient enemy who spread word of such a malevolent terror before it even existed.

Coincidentally when vermillion-class ODF files containing Dragon's conception was cross-sectioned with paradox command it was then discovered that an experiment to create a heedless human terror, driven by human compassion with a mind and body for man's war-like tendencies was inspired by the mad babblings of terror stricken Makarians held in the 9 Hels system. Who retreated as far to the past as possible to escape ever meeting such a force again.

Project Dragon was a valuable but small boon to humanity- for as soon as the idea and imagination of the mythical beast crossed a daemosurgeons' mind, his mission to create a self-sustaining time-loop operative was successful before it had even begun.

The future of said operative faded into the dark, its stories sung like a bogeyman's poem. His imagined lifetime inspiring those who never met him, his story sought after by warrior and scholar alike in the ashen footprints he's left behind in humanity's burning warpath.

>>14585896


HEHEHEHEHEH

>>14585896
well he did pay for it
I'll let you two sort it out, either way at the end of the day dragon's gone

>>14585939

And Walker rid himself of a soldier who he was sure was going to get himself and those around him eventually killed.

Although the plan had been to play nice with the pirates and let them have a Hydra operator. Who in a few months would probably drive one or two insane. Or dead. Then I'd (presumably) be on better terms with them. And we'd still have the other Dragon clone to kick around a bit.

>>14585896
>>14585862

And these can easily work together. Orbital's endstory has room for Dragon living it up with the pirates for some time. But anyway...

>>14584854
"I meant the dying part, Geist, not how you felt as you ran back to the O'Reilly via bullet to the brain. And putting you in charge of Dragon was meant to break you into your new role as Captain, and to make you realize that certain mentalities can pose a significant liability to the outcome of any mission, as well as ensure that I don't have to micro-manage all of Bravo."

"And giving myself a backup feels too much like playing God. The temptation at immortality is too great, and the prospect of having a 'backup' runs counter to my own personal beliefs. I will not flee from death, nor will I cheat him with such a cheap trick. When I face him, I do it knowing that should I fail to keep him at bay, that I will die, completely and utterly, with no chance to return. I put my very existence on the line, Geist, like many great men long dead before you and I existed."

Walker returns his gaze to the large monitor in the command room.

"And neither do I wish to live forever," he mutters to himself.

>>14586425

>bump with something useful.

"Oh, right, Captain. Instead of standing behind me and taking up space, I want you and a team to return planet-side to the base we set up. See if you can't do something with that ICBM we found when we landed, or set up some kind weapon system that can fire into low orbit. Talk to Charlie Force if necessary."

Walker tapped his console several times, opening several connections.

"Lieutenant Ghoul, go round up as the most competent technicians you can, as well as the chief of engineering. I want you to work with the Algorhymes to try to modify our ships with Algorhyme technology, or maybe modify an Interceptor so an Algorhyme can pilot it. We are going to need all the help we can get in the upcoming battle, and enabling our new allies would go a long way."

"Warrant Officer Found, I want you to gather up our space-borne Xenoforms. Call the Leviathan if possible. Work with the Admirals to create a kind of early-detection and interception system using our Xenoforms. I want them on an offensive-defense."

"Sergeant Wolf, round up the men who aren't going planet-side. Start drilling them in space walks, CQC, and boarding actions. I'm granting you clearance to use the simulators."

"Admiral Weird, I know I shouldn't have to say this, but please work with Captain Ezerakaria when he gets here. Don't treat him like an outside, but as a CO of another force."

"Langley, get your crew ready for combat. Work with Weird and King. Don't mind the help I've hired."

"Hartford, please locate Private Blaze for me. It looks like a punishment is in order, and I would like to administer it personally."

Morning bumb

>>14586425
>>14589258
"Yes, of course."

He finally turns to face Walker, "The bullet passed right through the brain. It was painless, I was climbing out of the clone tank before I had fully registered that I had pulled the trigger. You do not flee from death, or cheat it. Even with cloning to live another hundred years, or a thousand, it's not about living forever. No one does. It's about duty to those we fight for. Even if I as a person never signed up for this, and I only exist because clones of my original were made, I know the threat the Exalted pose. Even though I never had a choice of whether or not to fight, I will keep fighting until the Exalted are defeated or they release me from service, which I will then find some other way to contribute to the war. All until no one will have to be created for the sole purpose of war again.

I will not let myself die so that I can take the cowardly way out. If that means I must die a hundred, or a thousand times, then so be it."

Geist then turns and walks out.

rolled 1, 8 = 9

Psicomm and the TA network was abuzz with activity, something must have happened.
Grey suppresses his curiosity and simply blocks the chatter out , focusing all his attention on the stream of gravity and temporal data on his TA display.
He's going to need it to be extra quiet for this one. . .

>NCA
>TA ANALYZE a certain heavily defended part of Titan space for conditions that will make it the most likely exit point of the Makarian fleet

>>14594568

sorry misspelled my trip

>>14589258

Blaze exited his armor, stepping out and gathering his clothes up, leaving a small bloody footprint with every left step. Well, a bloody footprint without any toes. He wasn't actually bleeding anymore, and the blood he now left on the floor was what had pooled into his boot while he'd been wearing it. His fast acting platelets had already stopped the bleeding, and aside from a slight limp he didn't much act like someone who'd just had all the toes on his left foot blown off.

"Could've just told me to stop... ass..."

He put all of his clothes except for his left sock and shoe on. He wasn't worried about the pain it might cause to wear them; he just didn't want to get blood in his shoe. He left the armory and started making his way towards medical like this, several of the crew looking at him oddly while he walked, his eyes down turned. They acted like they never saw a guy walk with a crippling injury before.

Alright KIDS it's discussion time.
A mission will happen tonight.

You have two choices.

We go the slow route and Do a robot mission to bolster planet side defenses and naval batteries on titan and her 12 moons.

Or.

We cash in on all the naval acquisitions and mercenary and attempt a pre-emptive hit and run on the 700 point fleet. This will allow you to take a crack at this fleet before they reach Titan's system.

Both have no risks if you lose. Asides the obvious pointloss.
Both contribute to the final battle in different ways.
One of them has a chance at ending this in a route.

Discuss.

>>14596449
I'm voting for the space mission.

No more fucking around we end this in the BLACK.

Ground games are making us too comfortable.

>>14596449

voting for the naval harass
not really up to learning a new ruleset at the moment

It's time end this, big naval battle is go!

>>14596484
>>14596535
>>14596556
>>14596557

The mob has spoken, boss.

Or at least a portion of it.

>Me? I'm a no-vote.

building map.

Naval. If my vote matters anymore.

The game will begin soon, all who wish to participate should sign up in the thread now!

Let's torch some chicken's flyboy.

I can hardly wait.

>>14597684
Let's do this.

Cruiser here.

*static* ready roll *static*

[Naval CO[M] Rear Admiral King

[C1]Manila

[P1]Sinless
[P2] Gust
[P]Ahab

Welcome Manila! Are you new here?

posting for those who wish to join

I'm still here, Despoiler standing by.

MercenaryScouts have reported back with enemy force data. A vanguard fleet has been sent ahead to set up a teleportation vector.

stopping this vector from forming could disrupt warp traffic.

furthermore, ambush points can be setup outside the grid or on a different map altogether.

Adjusted

[Naval CO[M] Rear Admiral King

[C1]Manila

[P1]Sinless
[P2] Gust
[P3]Ahab

[I1] Dhomochevsky
[I2]Johannes

Black Flag
[C2] Captain Ezerakia

>please note I'm changing vehicles

"I would just like to remind you all of the Makarian's apparent fondness for creating closed spaces. I would suggest trying to constrict the Makarian's ability to move freely due to their large numbers, as well as engaging at a distance."

"Deploying nukes at critical moments will likely mean the difference between victory and defeat."

"Good luck out there, pilots, and Godspeed. I expect all of you to make ace when you get back."

>That's five confirmed kills, at the very least, I think. Applies mainly to the fighters, I suppose.

[Naval CO[M] Rear Admiral King

[C1]Manila

[P1]Sinless
[P2] Gust
[P3]Ahab

[I1] Dhomochevsky

[O1]Johannes

Black Flag
[C2] Captain Ezerakia

Ship roster due to change pending release of Battleship stats

Still accepting more people, where are you all?

Updated with the battleship.

On top of its insane firepower; it has the ability to act as a launching point for entering combatants, it also utilizes the first anti material cannon capable of enacting blanket ruination.

Battleships must Never be destroyed.

I'm here.

[Naval CO[M] Rear Admiral King

[C1]Manila

[P1]Sinless
[P2] Gust
[P3]Ahab

[I1] Dhomochevsky

[O1]Johannes

Black Flag
[C2] Captain Ezerakia
[B0] Commander God
[Ia]-[Ic] AceTheFirst

Garukan Advance forces.
[C3] LangLee
[C4] *
[C5] *
Ship roster due to change pending release of Battleship stats

[Naval CO[M] Rear Admiral King

[B1]Manila
[B2] Perry

[P1]Sinless
[P2]Ahab

[I1] Dhomochevsky

[O1]Johannes

Black Flag
[C2] Captain Ezerakia
[B0] Commander God
[Ia]-[Ic] AceTheFirst

Garukan Advance forces.
[C3] LangLee
[C4] *
[C5] *

>>14598040
Nowhere, because no one fucking cares

Ordering fighter mooks for each fighter, 12 points total

Neither maks nor bugs nor robots nor fucking dinosaur mercenaries will stay this courier from the swift delivery of thermonuclear justice.

[Naval CO[M] Rear Admiral King

[B1]Manila
[B2] Perry

[P1]Sinless
[P2]Ahab

[I1] Dhomochevsky

[O1]Johannes
[O2] Postman

Black Flag
[C2] Captain Ezerakia
[B0] Commander God
[Ia]-[Ic] AceTheFirst

Garukan Advance forces.
[C3] LangLee
[C4] *
[C5] *

Updated, make that 15 points total for fighter mooks

Mission starting.

Positioning ships.

Go

>>14599022

>bump so we don't need to keep making new gen threads.

>bump to see if we can't keep this thread going for another week