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Rules are pic related, more information at
http://padlet.com/BoredofDirector/Macross_2054

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>>35282002
>Check out the independents

Keep an eye on Maliki to see how she's dealing with this.

>>35282002
>Check out the independents

So, do we have a list of things we need to check up on?

I know the Sniper Rifle has had a combat test, but I recall the report on it was a little garbled by booze.
And we toasted the White Valkyrie, should follow up on that.

What else?

>>35282367
Damnit I forgot to update that. My apologies.

>>35282433

Or I could have read that. My bad. I forgot that The Rules has that info and the link has more.

>>35282367
At the moment the only thing on the agenda is 'Muck about with the tech' Not much else to do in a colony ship besides go into space.
Speaking of which we should work on replacing the weak flesh with steel. After all who needs oxygen in space.

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The channel surfing was beginning to get annoying. You only caught a few snippets again before Maliki zapped to the next one. That was why you browsed your mobile instead. Who needed television when you could just browse the net? Sure the screen was smaller but it wasn’t that much different from reading a pocket book. The problem here was that there were so many sources to explore, so many voices to be heard. Picking anything useful out of it all was so hard. At least the conspiracy theorists were entertaining.

A popular theory was that the GAME were some kind of defence mechanism in the area of space that the Avalon was bravely forging in to. It was not them that were attacking us, that is the Avalon fleet, but it was us that were intruding upon their heretofore unexplored quadrant of the Milky Way. Even amongst this were schisms regarding the possibility of peaceful coexistence. There were equal voices against, for and sceptical of such a notion given the limited information on this new alien species. So far it had no human analogue, no counterpart, to even begin on communication.

“So what do you think Pecker?”

Maliki wasn’t reading over your shoulder on account of her height.

“About what?”

“Peaceful coexistence,” she answered.

Though she said that you knew she wasn’t really worried about that. Or that was the impression you were getting from her slight frown.

>Answer the question (write-in)
>Ask Maliki what’s on her mind

>>35282593
>Answer the question (write-in)
Until someone starts talking to someone else...

>__Then__ Ask Maliki what’s on her mind

>>35282593
>Ask Maliki what’s on her mind
Deflecting 101: Answer their questions with your own.
I for one vote mutual annihilation. Start that tech war.

>>35282593
>Answer the question (write-in)
"I don't know, they've shown no interest in pop music so far. I'm not sure our diplomatic protocols are prepared for that scenario."

>>35282593
>Ask Maliki what’s on her mind
Not too keen on co-exsistence but idk if I want to worry her with tales of war just yet.

>>35282751
nice.

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“What’s really bothering you Maliki?” you asked in turn.

“Huh?” she probably didn’t expect it.

It took her a moment.

“Well I guess I’m just worried,” she finally said, “It’s not like how we lost Aunt Dorothy. They’re saying it’s a war out there and I can’t just…”

She didn’t need to finish the sentence. You didn’t give her a chance to. As you hugged her, her unspoken words echoed in your head. Yeah you were going out there to fight, fighting for real, unlike your mother. There was a good chance that anything could happen to you. You were afraid for sure, but what made the feeling worse was that Maliki was afraid for you. She cared. She wasn’t the only one, you were sure, but she cared.

“Don’t worry I’m part of Boomerang Squad.”

That silly realisation of Soapbox didn’t seem so silly now.

“I’ll always come back,” you finished.

You could feel her nod against your chest.

“Un, I know Pecker, I know you will,” she said, “But you didn’t answer my question.”

Oh damn, and here you thought you’d deflected easily enough. Time to think quickly.

“I don't know,” you started to buy more time, “they've shown no interest in pop music so far. I'm not sure our diplomatic protocols are prepared for this scenario.”

She pushed your chest with both hands, a pout forming. Or was it an expression of exasperation?

“Pecker, be serious,” she whined.

You weren’t apologetic about killing that sombre mood with a bit of levity. At least you didn’t look like it.

“I’m just a pilot Maliki.”

“No you’re not, you’re super smart,” she kept objecting, “You made that gun and everything!”

“The one that shoots Rock ‘n Roll?” you smiled.

She still looked unhappy.

[1/2]

>>35283653
“Still haven’t found an excuse to build that yet,” Dr. Bouchard’s voice cut in.

“Dad!”

Maliki was more startled than you were. You could tell since she was practically in your lap at this point. Vaguely, the memory of Dr. Bouchard having the keys to the apartment came back you your mind. You also remembered the last time he was locked out of it and hacked the entire building’s security to get in. It didn’t make him great friends with the landlord.

“Should I come back later?” he asked.

“How long have you been here?”

“I thought it was a cute moment you were having, didn’t mean to intrude or anything,” he admitted.

“Dad give me your mobile.”

He wanted to protest but Maliki just stamped her foot and held out her hand.

“Why are you logged on to the Avalon marriage registry?” she questioned.

He shrugged innocently.

“So did my dad want something?” you ignored that for a moment.

“Your dad wants to speak to you, remember that Valkyrie we’re working on?”

Oh that. Well you’d to go

>and help design the new VF
>but you have work today

>>35283680
>and help design the new VF

Not much work to do with our plane half gone.

>>35283680
>and help design the new VF
I'm sure the boss man will understand, but call in anyways and ask if there are any important things that need to be done.

>>35283680
>and help design the new VF
And please Dr. , it's too soon to be marrying your daughter off to Pecker. They havent even started dating yet.

>>35283806
And they're cousins.

>>35284271
Maybe he thinks that the whole "half-Zentran" thing has expanded the gene pool enough that inbreeding isn't a problem?

>>35284682
Good point. I withdraw my objection.

>>35284271
Not like that really matters too much. Unless you are marrying your first cousin to your children every generation for 4-5 generations that wouldn't do much.

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Well it was a good thing he interrupted when he did. Whatever he was doing on the Avalon marriage registry Maliki was rapidly undoing. Besides it wasn’t like you could clock in to work at the moment. Your VF-22 was missing a few critical components at the moment, such as working engines and half of its atmospheric flight surfaces. Maybe if you helped your dad out you’ll have a new toy to play with before SMS found you another replacement airframe. It was just as well that you didn’t go to work today. Sergei messaged you as you were halfway to your dad’s office that you were grounded until further notice. They weren’t going to dock your pay for wrecking the Valkyrie but if there were any bonuses to be offered they were going to getting you a new plane instead.

Astronomov Laboratories wasn’t actually run out of an office building. In fact, most of the admin stuff was run by a staff of five dedicated clerks who worked from home. The actual research and building was the private space dock next to Dad’s place. Though from what Dr. Bouchard said, sometimes companies like SMS would give them a temporary area to work in. Automation was a big thing here so it wasn’t a surprise to find your dad already elbow deep in the airframe that used to be a YF-24. A picture on the wall was the proposed design, including a 3D model that rotated about itself as it transformed back and forward between the three standard Variable Fighter modes.

“A Pecker, Shorty, good timing, I need you to help me lift this engine out of here,” your dad’s first words were for help.

Well, it was normal when he was in his “work mode” and you preferred him this way. Dr. Bouchard had already shed his coat and rolled up his sleeves and you followed suit.

[1/2]

>>35284835
I'm just thinking of Iceland, where they're having problems with the gene pool and my general fear of banjo music.

>>35284862

--
As you worked, the three of you talked about the direction in which to take the new VF. Tentatively it was going to be called the YF-26 with no nickname just yet.

“You had some balls trying that stunt,” Dad mentioned, “Though I think you used the strengthened shielding of the BATTROID mode you’d have 99% more Valkyrie left.”

“I needed the speed,” you countered, “It’s not like the Valkyrie was designed to take even a grazing hit from a Macross Class beam cannon in the first place.”

“Well we’re designing a new one,” you dad replied, “We can make it so.”

“Leaving that thought aside for the moment I’m more concerned about your other problem my boy,” Dr. Bouchard chimed in.

“Which one?”

“The one where you ran out of ammunition so early in the engagement,” he elaborated.

“We can do both,” your dad protested.

“Sure, if we were designing a bomber, might as well make this another VB-6 while we’re at it,” the Dr. countered.

“Well we could go with super and fast packs,” you mentioned.

“My boy we are trying to design a Valkyrie that was going to excel at a particular area without the need for said add-ons,” Dr. Bouchard chided.

“In that case let’s go with,

>More weapons
>More survivability

>>35284888
>More weapons

Survivablility seems to be a factor of pilot skill and not waltzing into anti-capital fire. And with the swarm tactics GAME is using, we've already encountered the 'no reloads' issue.

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“More guns,” you simply stated.

Dad’s smile was incandescent.

“I thought so,” Dr. Bouchard was of similar sentiment, “To that end I’m thinking of adding pylon attachments in addition to the internal stores.”

Your VF-22 already had a score of micro-missiles in its internal stores. Adding another crate of them under each wing and main thrusters and that’d be more missiles than you’d know what to do with. Still, you think you’d need it given the unending numbers of GAME you’ve encountered.

“VF-1 style huh?” Dad chimed in, “Gotta respect the classics but that’s basically killing any stealth capability right there.”

“Susan, please, you and I both know that stealth in space is practically impossible.”

“Makes me wonder why they don’t call it low-visibility, or observability, instead,” Dad mused.

“Then you’ll be using my gun as a base right?”

“Well if you could finally solve the rapid fire barrel warping issue then we should be yes,” Dr. Bouchard replied, “Otherwise Susan will have to improvise.”

“LSD and crazy feed design, by your powers combined,” Dad started.

You ignored him as Dr. Bouchard moved to physically stop him from spouting further nonsense. While you were discussing you had completed a great amount of work just gutting out the airframe and readying it so that the new components could fit. A look at your mobile, and the clock, confirmed that it was veering towards Avalon’s artificial nightfall. You also noted that you had a message from Sergei to call him later. Seeing as you had some time, and weren’t officially on the clock working for Dad or anything like that, you stepped out to do just that.

[1/2]

>>35286231
“Pecker, nice of you to call,” your CO greeted, “Well this really could wait for tomorrow but it’s nothing too big if we could get it done now.”

“I’m not in trouble am I?” you asked.

“Not really,” Sergei assured, “But the problem is that we can’t have you sitting on your ass while on payroll so we figured we could get you to fly something else until we can get your old Valkyrie repaired. Hell I guess you could switch to a new one altogether so that’s why I asked you to call so I get the paperwork squared away today.”

“I thought you only had VF-171s.”

“Aren’t you technically qualified to fly Queadluun-Rheas?”

You were but that would mean flying Force Recon with Claudia again.

>Stick with the VF-171
>Fly the Queadluun-Rhea

>>35286290
>Fly the Queadluun-Rhea

Who really cares right now. She be crazy but it isn't like we can't just use her as bait fodder.

>>35286290
>Fly the Queadluun-Rhea

Take the rifle out for a spin, that way we can compare notes with Claudia while working from the same operational baseline.

Also, other than missles, are the weapons on a veritech ammo based? If they are, we may want to beef up that store. Missles tend to be dumped en masse at the beginning of fights.

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“You sure you’re just not looking for someone to fly Force Recon?” you asked.

“Of course not Pecker,” you could never really tell if he was lying or not.

“Then I guess I’ll try out the Queadluun-Rhea tomorrow.”

“Great, I’ll put it on the books. Meet me on the Arthur tomorrow at 0900 alright?”

As you hung up, the two older scientists emerged from their lairs.

“So who was that Pecker?” Dad enquired happily, “A certain Galaxy researcher I hope.”

Dr. Bouchard scowled.

“Work ,” you replied.

“Oh that’s boring.”

Dad dismissed the topic and started walking back to the house.

“Care to elaborate?”

Dr. Bouchard’s interest took Dad’s instead.

“Remember how I pretty much wrecked my VF-22?” he nodded, “While they find a replacement I was asked to pick something else to fly in the mean time. I’m going to fly a Queadluun-Rhea for a bit.”

That stopped your dad in his tracks. Dr. Bouchard only hummed in acknowledgement and dropped the topic. Your dad clapped you on your shoulders.

“Attaboy Pecker,” he grinned, “Everyone knows Force Recon has the hottest women. I approve wholeheartedly. In fact, I think I should help you in this.”

You didn’t like the sound of this. Then again, if you did maybe he’d stop trying to push you in to a relationship with a member of the opposite sex, barring Maliki.

“What are you up to this time?” Dr. Bouchard questioned.

“Oh you know nothing too big,” your dad admitted, “It’s nothing I have to pull a few strings for anyway.”

You narrowed your eyes.

“Was thinking more along the lines of custom equipment,” he continued, “Gotta dress to impress. You know what I mean?”

No, actually you didn’t and you,

>weren’t going to stop him
>think this is a bad idea

>>35282566
There's a lot to do on these colony ships. Slice of life stuff.

OP can you show us interior shots of the colony ship/s?

>>35287441
There aren't any sadly but I guess I could appropriate some.

>>35287323
>weren’t going to stop him
Free toys? I'll take free toys.

>>35287323
>think this is a bad idea

Given that dear old dad can't figure out our sexual orientation, I don't trust him to figure out our weapon preferences.

>>35287323
>>think this is a bad idea

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Though you knew that your dad loved you in his own way, a lot of things in life could have been far less embarrassing without his frequent interventions. By the time you had figured out when to accept his help and when not, you had started your post-graduate education. Most of the time, it was better to turn down his help when it didn’t involve technical support or material sciences. Thus you didn’t relent in your objection to his help, not even when he was grovelling over dinner.

The next morning, at the appointed time you met up with Sergei at the Arthur’s airlock at SMS’ private dock. While you were aware there were micronisation-macronisation chambers nearby, it seemed that the Arthur had its own facilities aboard in the carrier wing. Given that you weren’t really familiar with the layout, Sergei had the forethought to provide himself as a guide.

“It’s pretty big,” you admitted.

It was almost 500 metres long, smaller than the Uraga class you normally flew out of, but it was capable of transforming. Compared to a Valkyrie, or hell, a VB-6, the Macross Quarter class was definitely big.

“There’s some time before your patrol,” Sergei said, “Want to take a tour?”

It sounded tempting and it wasn’t like the Arthur was launching just yet. You still had an hour or two to enjoy the freedom of a two metre tall human aboard the Arthur as opposed to being stuck in a room as a nine metre tall giant. Admittedly, you may be on the short side when it came to your height after macronisation. Again, it was probably a quirk of your genetics.

>Take a tour of the Arthur
>Time to get huge

>>35288365
>>Take a tour of the Arthur

>>35288365
>Take a tour of the Arthur

This could be important later

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Best to take advantage of the freedom while it lasted, you thought. Besides it could probably save your life to know the layout of the ship you were serving aboard better. Thus you accepted the offer from Sergei. A question did come to you however.

“So why is it called the Arthur again?”

“You never really looked too closely at Spacy’s TOE?” Sergei raised an eyebrow.

“Was still on my first tour when,” you paused and Sergei nodded, “Well you know. So I was attached to the Avalon herself. As long as their call sign was Gunsight-something, I didn’t really care from what ship it was coming from.”

“That makes sense,” Sergei agreed, “As for the Arthur, I guess whoever commissioned the ship thought they were being clever.”

You didn’t really see it.

“Well let’s see, aside from the CVS-606, all the other Uraga class ships are named after Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legend,” he explained, “Actually, the CVS-607 is the Merlin but he’s still related to the Arthur in a way.”

You just shrugged. As you told him, you didn’t really care as long as the ship in question had the call sign of Gunsight, which was akin to a designation of command. It was a legacy, or tradition from the Space War I days.

“And in going with the theme, the Guantanamo classes are named after fairies and fairytales,” Sergei added.

He dropped the subject shortly at your silence on the matter. The two of you stalked the halls, checking out the most important parts of the Arthur that you had never been to before. These included sickbay, the mess, the brig and lifeboats. You had moved up the decks before finally reaching the top, which contained the bridge.

“And that’s the bridge,” Sergei said, “I’m not going in there unless specifically invited but if you want to check it out go ahead. You remember how to get back down?”

You nodded.

“Good, well the tour’s over.”

Then he wandered off.

[1/2]

>>35289470
Whether you were welcome or not, taking a peek wouldn’t hurt surely. The door slid open near silently. There was only one person inside and she slumped over one of the consoles. The gleaming white uniform of the UN Spacy was unmistakable. It was Irina, Spacy’s liaison to SMS. From the looks of it she just fell asleep in the middle of whatever it was that she was doing. You noticed that she had bags under her eyes despite the makeup.

>Best to let sleeping dogs lie
>Part with your jacket
>Wake her up

>>35289505
>>Best to let sleeping dogs lie

>>35289505
>Part with your jacket
Control consoles are cold.

>>35289505
>Part with your jacket

Let her know we got her back. Hopefully, when time comes, she'll have ours.

>>35289505
>Part with your jacket

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There wasn’t much of a view up here, consider the Arthur was still docked to the Avalon. A quick check of your mobile and you did notice that the tour had taken the better part of the hour. You also noticed that it was significantly chillier up in the bridge for some reason. It was as if someone forgot to turn on the climate control on this part of the ship. Then again, most of the bridge was dark. You weren’t going to be here long but it looked like Irina had. It was why you parted with your jacket. She was going to be in charge of the battle space when you got out there in an hour or two and you wouldn’t want her at anything but her best.

On your way down, you passed a quartet of officers, one female. You supposed they were the bridge crew, and the captain. With the grey great coats they had on, you weren’t able to tell their rank insignia but it was enough to know that they were SMS. They glanced briefly at you before ascending. Your white shirt had an SMS logo about it somewhere so they didn’t pay much attention either.

Macronisation had required you to strip. It was a small mercy then that Claudia had gone ahead. However, you being late meant she was slightly miffed that you were holding her up. Being nine metres tall took some getting used to. Another thing you haven’t gotten too used to is the fact that Claudia was now taller than you by a clear metre.

“Took you long enough,” she started.

“Takes some getting used to,” you made your excuses.

She rolled her eyes.

“Whatever, we needed to launch five minutes ago, tell you at least remember how to pilot a Queadluun.”

You nodded.

“Good so you’re not totally hopeless, right now Sergei told me one of us gets the gun and the other gets the command, which do you want?”

[1/2]

>>35290384
>Take command
>Take the gun

>>35290384
>Take command

Let her build up familiarity with the gun, so we can converse with her later and sober about it later.

>>35290405
>Take command

>>35290405
>Take the gun

She's more experienced with this stuff.

>>35290405
>>Take command

>>35290384
>take command
>make jokes about "taking charge" while she "handles your cannon"
we must continue the trend!

>>35291063
Do not annoy the woman who with the sniper rifle before a mission with her!

Afterwards is fine, as we can get her drunk and she will forget.

>>35291103
we have a long, hard, proud tradition of making sexual innuendos about our cannon! WE CANNOT PASS THIS OPPORTUNITY UP.

>>35291173
AFTER, After the mission, when she's put the gun down.

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On one hand, she was the Force Recon expert. On the other, if the way she was eying your rifle was any indication, you swore she was growing attached to the thing. You remembered your first and only patrol with her. She wasn’t an example of restraint and even you couldn’t rein her in. It was certain that Sergei knew that, that was why he had told her to offer you a choice. You, being the responsible, and short, half-Zentraedi, that you were, decided to take command.

“Sounds like a fair trade to me,” you said, ““in exchange for letting you handle my cannon I get to take charge.”

Claudia looked at you slightly confused.

“Take the gun,” you tried simpler language.

Claudia’s face lit up excitedly. She was like Dad in that respect. Maybe it was a Zentraedi thing. You ruminate on the thought as you suited up and launched. The two of you were forging a path ahead of where the Arthur had defolded and dropped you off once again. Spacy had upped their recon work, always having a pair of scouts ahead of the Avalon proper. The GAME had scared the populous up something fierce. In response, the Avalon Council had asked Spacy to take the necessary measures. SMS was still considered the experts on the matter given that they used to be solely responsible for pathfinding. It was why you were patrolling the majority of the time, six hours worth of it excluding preparation and travel time.

As usual, there had been nothing to be expected, save the GAME. Even if they did show up Spacy was more readily on hand to assist. The intended path of Avalon was going to come close to an isolated star system with a gas giant. It was close enough that diverting resources to exploiting the system was feasible. It was also why it included in today’s patrol route.

[1/2]

>>35291421
While you wished there was nothing that would show up so you could just wrap up the boring patrol, you just had to come across something. You were approaching the gas giant from its star. It was as you were moving towards the dark side did you spot a satellite. It wasn’t a strange or extraordinary stellar body. Gas giants tended to capture them like a kid collected illegally downloaded Fire Bomber remixes. This one was different though. It had what looked like a naturally formed cave or hollow of some sort. Your sensors were picking up trace amounts of what was found in star ship emissions.

>Flag it and move on
>Stop to explore

>>35291436
>Stop to explore

and call it in.

>>35291455
this

>>35291421
>Stop to explore
>make jokes about probing the dark cave with Claudia.

There is always the options to blow it up. I'm sure we can call in some heavy weapons.

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Signalling for Claudia to hold, you called in your discovery. They had told you to proceed with caution until the Arthur showed up in about half an hour. With protocol sufficiently satisfied, you moved in to the cave with Claudia. It was a wide entrance, big enough to fit a freighter and then some. As you moved in further, lighting became an issue and contact with the outside became more difficult. The interior started to smooth out until finally you made out the tell tale glint of metal and glass. It seemed you had stumbled upon a hidden base of some sort. Not only that but it was in use, given the machinery and equipment that was fuelled and functional despite not being powered at the moment. You spotted a Destroid Work in the back of the cave and massive cargo containers lining the walls. You even found an airlock of sorts. Sadly it was too small for you currently.

Just as you flitted about taking in the surroundings, the lights suddenly came on, momentarily blinding you. Claudia who was watching the entrance and your back rifle raised communicated to you over the sound of classical music,

“That wasn’t me!”

http://youtu.be/gPybrOxRoT4?t=2m43s

Episode 10 End. We shall reconvene next week.
https://twitter.com/BoredofDirector
Next Episode: Improvisation
I’ll be around to answer some questions while I prepare breakfast.

>>35291976
Fun times, boss.

What's for breakfast?

>>35291976
Has tech advanced enough that nano-machines are thing? Because those could be damn useful for making a metal that could take higher temperatures.

>>35291976
Pecker gets to... test fire his... cannon when?

>>35292087
Noodles
>>35292199
As far as I'm aware, nanomachines are not a thing in Macross. I suspect this is because they have trust issues with AI.
>>35292207
You'll have to be more specific.

>>35292288
g'night boss.