Elite roleplay: Off station

OFF STATION

Your ship, deep space, anything that is not happening inside the Citi Gateway or Ingaba...

General Roleplay Etiquette:

1. Control only the actions of your own character(s). (AKA: God Mode)
This doesn't matter how small the action is, even if it is as simple as scratching their nose or a direct reaction to something else that just happened. This applies to everything from casual conversation to full blown fight scenes. If you'd like someone to do something specific, PM that person, however keep in mind they are completely within their rights to say no. Especially if said action is inappropriate to their character and/or circumstance.

2. Don't brute force your way into another persons RP.
Approaching with a conversation starter is fine, or indeed some other small action. However charging in, guns blazing and disrupting the flow of another person/pair/groups conversation/arc is about as rude as doing so in real life. If something is going on that you'd like to participate in, be subtle about it. Put out a gentle hook for someone to take, but again, be aware that said hook may not be taken. If you fear it was simply unnoticed, PM the person or people it concerns. Or even leave a message in the OOC forums.

3. Good grammar and spelling is preferred.
We're not asking you to be perfect, but please at least demonstrate willingness. no1 iz gna tak u srsly usng txt spk. There's a wide variety of people here, many who speak English as a second, or even third language. There are even some with varying degrees of dyslexia and/or likely other issues that affect spelling/grammar. We accept them all here. However, people who aren't accepted, are those unwilling to accept polite correction. Remember that even a small thing like the placement of a comma, or the wrong use of there/their/they're can completely change the definition of an entire sentence.

4. Accept constructive criticism gracefully and politely.
If someone spots an issue with your writings, they may wish to help you improve that writing. They may do this through PM or even publicly air their thoughts on the OOC forum. If they have taken the time to be polite and explain what is wrong with your writing, the best way to behave is to respond in kind, using the same manner they have approached you with. It means they have taken an active interest in what you have written and wish to see more. Basically, you have a fan!

5. Don't take the actions or opinions of things done IN RP, to be directly relevant to the writers thoughts or opinions.
Basically, if some ones character calls your character a jackass, it doesn't mean the writer thinks you are a jackass. It's a ROLE they are PLAYING. Watch a movie. The argument between the characters isn't an argument between the actors involved. The same applies here.

6. It's not a popularity contest.
Your RP might be bustling with participants. You have 3 people off station in a fire fight, while another 2 are infiltrating the darkest areas of the station, meanwhile a group of 4 others are tracking your movements in an effort to stop you. Good for you, I'm sure it will be a thrilling read! But you know what? Sometimes the absolute BEST work, comes from two RP characters having a simple heart to heart. Both are valid, both are great, but NEITHER is categorically better than the other. Period.


Inara RP Etiquette:

1. Respect the setting and rules of the universe.
Inara is an Elite: Dangerous 3rd Party Tool. The RP Forums are set in the Elite: Dangerous universe. Elite: Dangerous has rules, as any fictional universe does from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars, or Game of Thrones to Star Trek. If you intend to RP within the Elite: Dangerous universe you are bound by the history and rules of that universe. Simply put, this RP forum is bound by the same rules as the game, so if it can't be done in the game, it is not permitted here. This applies to things from a 50Ly Jump Range on a normal, unmodified Sidewinder, to the destruction of entire stations.

2. Respect the characters created by others.
We have a wide variety of characters already here. It's expected that some will be similar, just as it's expected that two characters will be vastly different. Opinions of each persons character will naturally be varied, but all are valid provided they follow the rules of the universe. You are allowed to interact with, or avoid interaction with, any character in the RP forums. But you have no right to belittle others for their creation. You are not an authority figure on writing, nor are you directly affected by another persons imagination. You might not like it, but you MUST respect it.

3. Be caught up on current events before joining in.
You need basic things like character descriptions in order to interact with them. You also need to know what's going on in the surrounding areas. This is simply because the people you are hoping to RP with, might be gearing up to something that you might not want to be part of. Or simply that the most recent post, out of context, could leave a different impression on the goings on than if you gather that context. We don't expect you to read every single post from the beginning of the forums, just enough to get that basic understanding.

4. Either subscribe to, or frequently check, the Roleplay: Q&A and OOC forum.
People may be discussing something relevant to you there, or even discussing you directly. Perhaps someone asked what the general consensus on the existence or non-existence of a certain object. Or we're just chatting about random gibberish. Either way, be aware of it and use it. If you're unsure about something, such as how guns would look and or behave, or even the music selection, use the OOC forum to ask. We don't have all of the answers, but the collective knowledge and logic usually allows us to overcome an issue and come to a decision on what should be allowed. Frontier Developments, and even David Braben himself, don't have the answers to every possible question that can be asked.

5. Large Scale events exploding out of nowhere are a complete no go.
We get it. Everyone wants their character to be noticed and for people to be tripping over themselves to interact with them. In some audiences, an introduction involving you blasting in for landing in a fiery wreckage of a ship, before cart wheeling out and sword fighting 35 Ninjas before whisking off with the local celebrity for a glorious night of passion, is in fact, cool. This is not one of those audiences. It is generally considered better to build your character up slowly over time. Eventually, you might even have a legitimate excuse to fight those Ninjas. Maybe even with other RP participants by your side.

6. Perfect characters are boring.
The point of a character arc, is that it is in fact, an arc shape. One who is morally unquestionable, fully kitted out and an infinite fountain of knowledge, cannot go through an arc. Give your character flaws. Be it a tendency towards befriending the wrong people, or a bad knee that frequently gives out at inopportune moments. It gives readers something to latch onto and empathise with. You can give your character exceptional capabilities at something, but it requires balance. She's a damn good pilot with no equal, but can't drive an SRV for peanuts. It can lead to some very interesting moments between characters, be it heartfelt or comedic.


Other Notes:
It should be noted that there can be exceptions to these points. For example, good grammar when a character is speaking is actually rare. Few people in real life actually speak with perfect eloquence after all. Or previously arranged actions during a fight scene, such as someone stumbling back after a punch. What's key to remember is context.

All in all, remember this is purely for fun. We have some seriously talented writers here, and others whose writing history starts and ends at high school. But many are willing to help out in whatever way they can. All it takes is that you ask nicely.

Also keep in mind that many people who RP here, also have logbook stories related to the character, or characters, they portray. If it looks like there's an "in joke" going on that you're unsure of, it's probably in those.

In fact, some users have even gone to the trouble of creating "alts" to RP with. If you read back far enough, it's usually pretty clear who has and hasn't, and which ones are the "alts". It's therefore not unheard of to see the apparent seizing of control of other characters. If you do spot one, point it out in the OOC section. If intervention is needed, it will be sorted quickly and (hopefully) politely.

Most, if not all RP participants here have Logbook stories pertaining to their character(s). These are for the reading pleasure of anyone who wishes to do so. While it can be useful to read them in order to gain a bit of backstory on a character you wish to interact with, it should not be assumed that your character shares that knowledge. Within the E:D Universe, these Logbooks either don't exist, or are private diaries kept by the characters. Either way, without explicit statements to say otherwise from the writer, your interactions should reflect that your character is in the dark about any information you, the writer/reader, have gained from reading the stories.
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 1:50am
I took a big gulp from a can of tea, thinking on what to say next. Or, more correctly, whether or not I should say it.

"I'd like to get to know what the heck they're up to as well. Though, there's one little thing... Called 'civilian casualties'. And it grows by several thousands each hour, maybe, and we can't just stop using whichever means we have to send those bastards to hell."

"They may have their own 'civilian population' somewhere, but those who are in our systems, are attacking us. And, if not for any kinds of resistance, organised military, independent pilots, militias, we'd be overrun already, or limited to a handful of systems stuffed with refugees to the brim. Colonia? I bet they know about it too."

"And, those blasted 'pacifists' or whatever they call themselves, I'd really like to see them telling billions of people that they should shut up and die, while some scientists try to figure out what to do and how to get rid of the Titans in a 'less violent' way."
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 2:06am
“You know, I think the only ones that suggest we should be taking this in the face is those Far God nutjobs. And they’ve been oddly quiet since the Dedicant’s suicide rush to meet its god. Not that I think anyone’s missing them.”

Felt like I wanted to calm the flame that suddenly lit up in the room a little. Not that I had much of a clue if that would.

“At least, I haven’t seen any peace advocates that are actually still interested in seeing humans come out of this as well as the Thargoids, say that we should stop fighting back. Think most of them do know this is justified in, at least, some way. My point is more that Aegis seems to have dumped all things that are not related to throwing a proverbial hammer at the Thargoids instead of doing that and continuing to try figuring out what it is they’re up to. Especially with those abducted people. I’d really like to be sure they’re gonna be fine, instead of having been screwed with by the Thargoids beyond just getting abducted.”

I paused for a moment, thinking.

“Maybe it’s also worth mentioning that some of those fancy analysts said even when unopposed, the way the Thargoids were originally hitting us would have taken them… what was it, decades or longer to overrun the Bubble? Since they insisted on hunkering down and holding systems, with more focus on the closer than further ones. Seems a bit odd when they could’ve just moved Titans along with their fleets and we’d have had no real way of stopping them. Not that I’m saying I’d have wanted them to do things that way. Casualties would’ve been a lot worse. But as wrong as what they’re doing might be, I somehow don’t think it’s entirely all about us. You know about that weird Guardian AI which wiped them out? The Guardians, I mean. I saw a bunch of talk about it when that Nemesis nonsense was revealed.”
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 8:55am
"They may be bad at strategy, I dunno..." I shrugged, "Or they have limitations we have no idea about. Like, what if those Titans can jump only once in a few years? But they're like a hundred thousand years old and that 'cooldown' is like our minutes to them?"

"You know... Damn those tea cans are small," emptying a second one, I shook it next to my ear to make sure it's really empty and put it on the floor next to me, unwilling to pause the conversation. "So, you know, we, humans, are used to applying our human ways of warfare. Either you fight, or you're a resource other people fight over. Or you're neutral. But, you can't really be neutral here since being a human automatically puts you on one of the sides. And you can't just say 'go fuck yourselves', ditch your uniform and leave the place if you, to say, had gone disappointed in the ideals, or, by any other reason, don't want to fight anymore. Since your human body is the uniform here."

"And, some people are going to totally hate me for these words, but..."

Making a brief pause, I narrowed my eyes and slowly raised my index finger, pointing it up into the air.

"What if... What if Thargoids are really primitive, aggressive and tend to destroy everything that stands in their way? And we just humanise them too much? What if their ability to travel through space is a result of evolution? Not a coordinated science and work effort, like ours, and they just take it for granted? Or, if they have their society and their politics, what if they have warmongers in the lead now?"

"Those who think of a peaceful solution still tend to think the human way. Diplomacy might be pretty much impossible, yet they can't take it into account since it would make them look fools, after all the stones they tossed at people who fight."

"And, you know, talking while someone's actively punching you in the face isn't a smart move in my books. It doesn't look like diplomacy, more like begging for mercy. Don't get me wrong, I'd totally like this to end more or less peacefully, but weakening the military effort and focusing on finding some ways to talk absolutely reeks of surrendering, if we talk of the current situation. And, another what if, what if they are really aggressive and they consider that parley a sign of weakness, and start hitting us stronger, thinking we're about to give up?"

"Nah. I'm absolutely going to roast those friggin Titans. And once we reduce those hunks of shit to smouldering ashes, then it might be a perfect time for diplomacy. If it's even possible. Or, at least, I hope they could figure out the idea by themselves. Like, look, if you touch us, we're going to break your big expensive toys. In a violent way. Do you still want to fight? Something along these lines."

Finishing the speech, I exhaled and looked at the empty tea can. Damn they're small.

Last edit: 11 Mar 2024, 9:02am
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 9:57am
“Yeah, you know what, nevermind. I don’t think a primitive, hyperaggressive species would develop in this way. And I don’t hate them, or am really mad at them, just want them to stop messing around here.”

I pointed at the ground, to say ‘our space’.

“But you’re getting way too mad at it. And that ‘Thargoids are mindless, instinctual bugs’ deal sounds more like propaganda to keep the war effort going even after they leave, if they do, and chase them to where they live. Just like you see in those ancient movies when spaceflight was still considered total sci-fi, instead of reality. Typical ‘humans are invincible’ shit, like that idiot Salvation would’ve wanted us to believe. As if we’re supposed to rule the galaxy when we can’t even stop fighting ourselves while there’s alien invaders at our doorstep.”

I shook my head and sighed.

“You also completely ignored that other question I asked about the Guardian AI, because you’re just getting mad at Thargoids and forgetting anything other than shooting them in the face. Maybe I’m not military enough to bother forgetting about ‘thinking’, but I’m here because I think, so I’m not about to stop doing that. And if this invasion isn’t just because we annoyed the Thargoids which have been flying around in space for over a million years, well, I just hope dropping Titans won’t make things even shittier.”

I paused for another second.

“And if that nutjob doesn’t bring a bunch of AI that killed their creators because of their infighting along, then throwing the Titans under the bus will just make the Thargoids bring something even bigger along eventually. They can still develop their tech further, but at best we’re stuck reverse-engineering Guardian stuff. Which probably isn’t even as good as the original, and we’re a long way off from being at that level ourselves. Both of us are probably going to be space dust by the time humans are remotely close to their tech. So yeah, maybe fighting is the best option right now, but it won’t solve the long-term problem.”

I also felt like this was going a little too much from ‘Legitimately defending against Thargoids’ into ‘bloodlusting frenzy’, something I very consciously stayed away from. I leaned back and crossed my arms, awaiting the response. I doubted it would make me feel much more positive about things, though.
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 10:32am
There was an eerie silence after Jana's monologue ended and, I should say, I enjoyed it, for some weird unexplainable reason: trying to keep my face as neutral as possible wasn't exactly that easy because of an ironic smile creeping in. But, I won. At least, mostly.

"So, first," I stated, quite coldly. "Sorry for missing the Guardian AI question. Got too carried away by talking about diplomacy and why it can't, in my opinion, work, at least these days. So. I know about it. And, as far as I know, it's one of the reasons behind the AI ban. Quite an example, I'd say, absolutely golden, timeless. AI that had gone rogue and killed its creators. Perfect cliché. Mwaah!" and I made a classic 'chef's kiss' gesture saying that.

"Then, getting to the yummy bits. It seems to me that a mere suggestion is sometimes enough to make people mad. Billions may die? Ah, okay, that's sad. Thargoids are instinct-driven beasts? How dare you!" of course it sounded like a parody, "And all that."

"Okay, let's think long-term. If we are so incapable of creating our own technology, then... What should we do?", I raised an eyebrow inquisitively, looking at Jana.
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 10:47am
“You missed the point. I’m not saying we can’t make our own, but we’re a few leagues behind Thargoids where technology is concerned. So if they come up with a thing that actually toasts all Guardian tech for good, well, I don’t think too highly of our chances to make adequate weapons of our own in time. At least something that isn’t shitty like the mycoid. Which, as I understand it, was just pure luck on top of that.”

I still kept the same pose.

“And your ‘suggestion’ sounded less like one and more like a statement of fact. I’ve heard it often enough even when I wasn’t involved in the conversation. ‘Thargoids can be smart’. ‘What? No! Those things have no brains, they just act by pure instinct and have no intelligence whatsoever’. Then why do they not act like they’re totally stupid? They had plenty of opportunities to wreck Salvation’s megaship or mess with the Proteus Wave itself before anyone could’ve responded. Never happened, though, and I doubt it was because he just got lucky. So allow me to disagree with the idea that they can’t be reasoned with in any way, just because we’re not dealing with whoever’s in charge.”

“And I’m pointing out that AI because they also apparently were what defeated the Thargoids back in the day. Or, whatever you can call millions of years ago. Maybe they have some kinda sense of those things we don’t, not that it explains why they went where they are now. And we know that some maniacal idiot uploaded his mind to the Guardian network in some weird way. I’m not sure whether I believe the theories that he could bring those bots with him, but if you’re to ask me, I kinda don’t think they’ll be too interested in supporting humans caught up in a war with the Thargoids, and also that whole infighting which might remind them of the Guardians. Not so much to do with our own ban of AI, which I can’t really comment on. It’s not something I’d ever make or install on my ship. Well, at least, I wouldn’t install one on purpose.”
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 11:19am
Couldn't help but let out a long-drawn sigh.

"Every time anyone says 'what if Thargoids are really hiveminded primitive insects' there's a person who takes it as a statement. But I've never seen a Thargoid who's genuinely interested in what humans are."

"Meh," I shrugged with an indifferent face.

"Yes, we are a heckload of generations behind, but I've also never seen a species able to adapt and improvise as fast and good as we do. And, we don't have so many options now as far as I understand, either those torpedoes work and really send Thargoids back where they came from, for a long time, or we're fucked, now or later, and have to search for new systems to settle. We improvised with Guardian weapons, it worked, now we're improvising with torpedoes and about to figure out what those Titans are made of, literally."

"And yeah... I've no idea about what kind of sick shit this Salvation, if he's somehow still mysteriously alive, is going to pull out with Guardian AIs. But this just stinks of trouble. Madman has a sketchy service record, you know. Nobody of us supported the Proteus Wave, and we had no faith in that headcase geezer from the very start. Not to mention that all his Azimuth shit is now firmly on the war criminal shit list and I doubt it's going to change in the future, I'm bloody sure they're able to turn any kind of business into a human slaughterhouse."

"Anyway... I'm still not convinced that there's any other reason behind the war, in the state it is now. They are here to kill us. Maybe because of that Mycoid, maybe not. And, saying 'they', I mean a portion of them I see, those operating in our systems now, since I have absolutely no idea about how many Thargoids are out there actually. Who knows, maybe those we have to deal with are, kind of, blacklisted outcasts of their species and they do murder and robbery in our Galaxy because they got kicked out of their community for being such arseholes. Who knows."

Last edit: 11 Mar 2024, 2:18pm
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 2:40pm
“And every time someone says …”, I started off in that ‘typical lecturing tone’, but then dropped it. “Nah, I’m just screwing around now. But those old INRA research documents which the Codex database mentions says the Thargoids have that sort of hive structure with queens which are at least as clever as humans and then there’s their workers or drones below that. So it’d be my guess we’re dealing with the ‘dumb’ ones, so to speak, which are intelligent but still just follow whatever orders they’re given from the top. No one has yet had the chance to verify that in our time, of course, but given our track record… might not be the worst thing. And I think people take suggestions of the opposite as statements because the superpowers have been drilling the ‘Thargoids bad’ propaganda into people’s heads for years. Probably why that idiot with his superweapon madness got so much support.”

I shrugged.

“Anyway, I only care because they’re here now and I kinda want this fighting on both sides to end. So we don’t have to worry about more Titans with a torpedo immunity or whatever a Titan considers ‘big mother’ in the future. Because you know it’d just lead to more pointless deaths, since both of us seem to be more interested in bashing heads over doing the reasonable thing. Or whatever a Thargoid might consider reasonable. Can’t help their cases if this is what they consider reasonable despite being an intelligent species.”

“But I guess if there is another reason that the Thargoids are annoyed at us than two attempts at genocide, we might find out soon. I’m not quite convinced they’re actually just gonna leave even if a few of their Titans drop. Assuming they are totally dead. They’re still oddly active around the wreck at the moment, and you’d think they could’ve all just left the system within a day. Unless they’re just buzzing around it because they don’t want us poking the wreckage, if there is anything to be salvaged, something’s keeping them there.”

“And Salvation… never cared. Seemed like a pointless crusade for something that would’ve stayed a marginal threat if one at all. Guy seemed totally obsessed by it, like, who stays alive for two centuries to exterminate a species? No doubt whatever dumb shit he’s coming up with is going to be trouble. And if it’s as bad as some people make it sound, I’d rather not have to ask a Thargoid for help.”

I took a deep breath.

“That aside, want to come back to the ship thing for a moment. I was going to call that FDL the ‘Muir’s Revenge’ if you don’t mind it. Because it’s going to be hitting Thargoids in the face once I have it all set up, for however long the war goes on for from here, or if any still keep poking into our stuff after it, and you like that ship a lot… you get the idea. Yeah or nah?”

I held out both hands, one with the thumb upward and one downward.
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 3:54pm
"Uh... Well... Ummm... Yeah," after a bit of kicking the thoughts back and forth across my head, which resulted in being audibly unsure what exactly would be the best thing to say next, I nodded. "Going into superheated topics on that 'first time seeing each other in person day' isn't quite a smooth way to get to know each other. Maybe brutally effective and radical though, but I doubt you're here for exactly that experience."

"Thing is... I don't actually trust the Codex. Remember who wrote it for us. Hm?" I raised an eyebrow for a second, my gaze locked on Jana. Then, smirking, I continued. "...Us, and thousands, millions of new ship owners. The same folks who announced kill bounties for... To say, people who didn't want the Dedicant to exist in the first place. Or to have Onionhead strains delivered to those Delaine's pigdogs. Yeah, mostly, PilotFed flocks a chaotic bunch of independent pilots, giving them some vector, simply speaking, but that shit has clearly shown they aren't as impartial as they want us to think."

"And the way they distribute their prizes? Awww... That's a joke of its own," I waved my hand dismissively, while squeezing my eyes shut, turning my head to the side and even leaning back. "Join team A and get your SuperBlaster Mega-5000, or join team B and get a brown paint kit for your Hauler."

"What a moronfest...", I stated in quite a decadent tone, staring blankly at the empty tea can.

"Soooo... They may hide or distort some information regarding the Thargoids too."

"And the ship, uh... I don't know, really. Your ship, your rules, I'm not going to argue, but you certainly got my style of... Doing stuff. Hitting the fucker in the face until it's dead, and the more dead it gets after the hitting the better. And if it doesn't die, then get something that hits harder. No tricks, no gimmicks, just good ol' hitting fuckers straight in the face. Actually, you know what my first thought was when I saw the Titan? Phah. Not the vent-clogging torpedoes, but stuffing some old carriers with explosives and shoving them into that damn thing."

I grinned wildly for a little moment but then succumbed to a sudden onset of laughter, that was, thankfully, brief.

"I'm an awful example of a person."
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 4:07pm
I couldn’t quite hide a lightly amused expression creeping on my face.

“At least you’re not as bad as one of those idiots that scream ‘Purge the xenos’ at the top of their lungs whenever someone says ‘Thargoid’. Sure, I might not like them either, but that kind of idiot is the person I’d want to slap in the face hard enough to land on the ground from it. Or, preferably, just punch them real hard. Not that I’d be the best at punching but people would still feel it.”

I breathed.

“And I wasn’t referring to that… what do they call it again, that external database which uses the Pilot’s Fed Codex as its basis. I mean, if you look at the history we have with the Thargoids, it was all about incentives to go and blast them in the face even when we didn’t have a good reason to. So why then make them seem like they’re not just stupid insects that don’t really think? You see what I’m saying with that? And uh, yeah, those INRA idiots did experiment on live specimens. Found one of their bases when I poked around that old Jameson crash site and there were limbs just hanging out in the vacuum in a pit. Same place had logs about someone pulling them off a Thargoid, so you don’t need to guess where they’re from. Even said it was like ‘pulling limbs off a spider as a kid’.”

I shook my head while giving off a disgusted noise.

“Fucking gross. I’m not gonna turn into one of those ‘Thargoids deserve to kill us’ fanatics, but I’d lie if I said we’re not pretty damn disgusting ourselves sometimes.”
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 5:08pm
"You know...", I replied, being half-there, half in my thoughts, "...if history lessons taught me anything, then it's... That the wars end. And, give it years, decades, even maybe centuries, and... Old sworn enemies could form great unions."

"Don't get me wrong," I returned to reality, "I don't have a secret dream of such inter-species cooperation, though it'd be an interesting thing to witness maybe. But, I have a life, and I want to live it. Maybe that's why I'm here, not to wage war but to help with ending it."

"And, anyway, if they're sentient, then, thinking that a sentient being that looks a certain way is inherently evil, or inferior, or whatever... Well, it's racism. Of sorts. Close to it. I'm not a racist. Racism sucks long floppy hairy donkey cocks", and the last sentence was said with the same serious straight face, in the same factual tone.

And I made a little pause to let those words hang in the air for a bit of time.

"People did stupid stuff, Thargoids did stupid stuff, the war had escalated, and they didn't actually try to communicate with us either, at least there's no evidence of that happening, we tried but with our most prominent attempt being the Dedicant I can't even say that it counts as a valid attempt... The Guardians tried too... And now it's too long, too brutal and too bloody to remember why it had begun in the first place."

"But, that's the classic stuff. No good sides to choose from. Everyone has their dirty secrets and their hands covered in blood."
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 5:16pm
“I don’t think the Dedicant was an attempt at communication, actually. More just those Far God nutjobs going ultra nutjob because the Feds were spitting on them. Since, you know, a bunch of pacifist religious people were totally responsible for the Proteus Wave failing, not Salvation’s idiocy and that of the superpower leaders for blindly dancing after his lure, for a solution to a problem that didn’t really exist. At least, at the time.”

I sighed.

“You’re probably thinking of that Kingfisher ship. Weird name. And I’m not sure if I should count that as ‘communication’. I mean, they placed themselves right in the way of Taranis when we knew it was surrounded by angry Thargoids. I doubt that would’ve worked - it was basically flashing a bunch of lights at them in the hopes of attracting their attention.”

I paused to think on that for a moment.

“You know, something kinda weird about that. Apparently, those people might’ve actually seen the Titan themselves, before they got swarmed by Thargoids. I listened to the recordings that survived the bashing, and I kinda remember that the weird spiraly glowy thing showing where the Titan was moving was oddly slow for about an hour after that. So maybe they did get something but since they were angry because of the Proteus Wave, that was a pretty clear sign where they were standing.”
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 5:49pm
"Oof, yeah, sorry", I waved a hand in front of my face, "It was the Kingfisher. Sorry, my memory kind of sucks. The Dedicant was the big fancy party boat with its corridors decorated like Thargoid guts and a team of Fed agents didn't miss the sacrifice ritual."

"And... The Salvation was... Or is... A megalomaniac, with ego bloated to the size of friggin Betelgeuse, power-hungry and greedy. So, he spoke in the language of the superpowers, perfectly, and he knew what to do. Like, giving them those useless AX capship... crapship shit guns so that they finally had gotten a chance to play with their big toys. And nothing strokes the ego of a generic superpower leader like an ability to flaunt big toys."

"Everything went shit way of course, phah", I chuckled with an ironic grin. "But before it did, they showered him with money."

"Dammit." I stated, blankly staring through the cockpit glass. "It feels like it was ages ago."
Jana Razeki
11 Mar 2024, 8:22pm
I scoffed.

“You know what I just thought of, on that Salvation thing? Bastard’s gonna come back and see the dead Titans, then be like ‘Didn’t I do you a favor by bringing these to your doorstep so we can salvage all of that tech?’. Sure hope he’ll get a resounding ‘No’ slapped right in his face. Or whatever he has now since he’s basically an AI using an insane human as a template. I wonder if we could convince something like a Glaive to park right next to the servers that hold him. Damn things are pretty annoying if you have to fight them, but I could forgive their existence if they get rid of him for us.”

I looked in a random direction for a second, kind of toward outside. Some dark clouds were still visible in the background, but currently moving away. The puddles still evidenced their recent passage.

“You know, I kinda found a bit of a trick to deal with those things without your Guardian guns getting fried. Their target lock gets all messed up if your ship’s cold enough and you get away quickly. Silent running helps too. And they’ll follow you at like, the speed of a Basilisk. So you turn your ship around, with flight assist off, and wait for them to get into… I don’t know, one and a half kilometer distance. Toggle the assist back on, and open up with shard cannons, just slam them with all five shots from four of em. It’ll ‘stun’ the annoying bastard and make them sit around idly while your cannons reload. Only takes a few more shots to finish it afterward, and you lose maybe 20% integrity. Did it twice in a row when I got hyperdicted and then interdicted. Felt a bit sorry for them.”

“Guess that matters less now anyway, they’ve been recalled to the Titans to defend them. Whatever good that does. Would help more if they just had a bunch of Hydras patrolling around them, since our self-made weapons are totally useless against them. But I hope that Aegis trying to get rid of them won’t come back to bite us somewhere down below.”

I sighed.

“Anyway, so… something other than the war stuff. Kasumi asked me to get her some kinda Thargoid stuff, I don’t know, maybe a week ago. Think she’s going to poke around some Guardian ruins, whatever she’s hoping to find there. But you know what I thought of because of thay? Seeing her hop around in low G without magnetic contact. It might be… interesting, I’d say.”
Meowers
11 Mar 2024, 9:29pm
"Eeeeeee-he-he-he-heeee!", a sudden wacky laughter overpowered me, I clapped my hands and began rubbing them together, ready to unleash the idea that had, actually, led to such a behaviour.

"Let's commercialise Salvation!" My eyes sparked wildly. "Make him an online network search assistant, or a kind of datapad voice control copilot software, keeping him, as far as computerised intellect goes, conscious. Splitting his brainpower into billions, trillions of stupid mundane processes of opening and closing alarm clocks, music players or fetching porn on the network in the incognito mode!"

Spreading my fingers widely, I moved my hands forward as if depicting multiple different processes happening into the brain at once.

"MMmmeee-hehe-heee!". I jumped from the floor, went to the supplies locker, grabbed another tea can and popped it open. "Imagine that wack sales slogan: Download your personal Salvation now and be free of anything that bugs you! Setting up the alarms, flushing the toilets remotely, turning lights on and off, network browsing, now done easily with improved voice recognition, over two hundred years of real data! Speak with any accent, speak with your mouth full of food, speak through sleep, speak drunk, our new amazing assistant will understand you!"

"OOoooow that would be some torture, I promise," my mouth stretched in a carnivorous smirk. "Or course there would be real controlling software to keep our geezer docile, any attempt to sabotage and he's getting fifty pages of mining and bounty hunting logs right into his memory."

"Pffffff....Aaaaah...Hahahaha...", residual giggles kept me on guard, since I've almost spilled my tea two times and once was too close to tipping over and falling onto my back.

"Sooo... So... Phah... Yeah. Yeah. Hunters. My tactics is, well... My tactics. Ping them on the sensors, boost, and absolute hatred. Works great!", still struggling with getting rid of the wacky grin, I showed a thumbs-up.

"...And I guess whatever suit Kasumi picks up for the task... Should keep those... Fun bags in place. Otherwise she's, kind of... In a... Phah! Precarious situation. Inertia is no joke!"

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