Kado 2016/02/28(Sun)21:32 No. 706190 ID: 83bc29
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Back already? You've been gone for less than half an hour but uh, a lot is going on right now.

Lydia and her crew seem to have a lot of enemies. Not long after we were captured a whole bunch of other pirates started chasing the ship. I don't know if its one big group or multiple, but even with the Titania's firepower we had to run.

I got dragged up to the bridge to help with navigation. This ship is a mess of different systems, needing a lot of manual work where other ships would be automated, and it's in my best interest not to die so, got no issue helping out.

I've been working with this guy, a gruff Lahzia called Yotel. Mostly been helping navigate the asteroid field until now.

A speaker on the panel he's working at starts blaring
>"Yotel! Don't jump yet, we need you down in the hangar!"

>"Ahh shit, who's left- new guy! You're a trained pilot right? You can manually plot a jump?"

He pulls me over to his control panel.

"Uh, yep. Er, how accurate is the weight distribution data and stuff?"

>"Every ship's back in the hanger, so it should be near perfect. I'll call this station from the hanger when we're ready, don't jump `till then. Don't get us all killed either!"

He runs to the lift, leaving me alone at the navigation controls.

Looks like the guy was planning on a straightforward jump to a beacon in a neighboring, uninhabited system. That'd buy us a bit of time, but if the pirates are persistent they'll be able to follow us.

The other option is to do an unassisted jump to a slightly further away system, I've spotted one that looks good. It's considered kind of risky, and it's inefficient fuel-wise, but it'd be much harder for other ships to follow. Even if the data I have on the ship is wrong, worst case is we'll end up a bit far out from the star.

Actually, just noticed a third option. It's kind of hard to explain, but you can sort of use something with a lot of mass, in this case a supermassive star, to slingshot a ship during hyperspace and go wayy further out. It is probably a dumb idea, and there's a good chance I'll get to the end of a time consuming calculation only to realize it's not safe enough, but if I really wanted to show off I could try.

>>706190
Do the calculations for the third option. If it doesn't pan out you can just pick option 1 since everything's planned out already.

I wanna show off!

>>706190
Well, time isn't that tight, is it?
Third option then if that fails to pan out, first.

well you can do option 3 as long as it doesn't get the ship shot to hell but if you can't focus on dodging the astroids and enemy ships, it turns out to be to dangerous, or you run out of time before you have to jump go with option 1. I'm sure if they picked an easy jump that could be easily followed they got a reason for it. Like a hide-y hole or something.

Start the slingshot calculations (continue fleeing and dodging and so on, too, obviously) but wait for the call before you commit. "Are we running somewhere specific, or just away?"

Showing off the utmost heights of your skill on your first day is risky, insofar as it represents a threat of competition with more established members of the organization who rely on the same skills. On the other hand, this is a pirate ship, not some corporate hive festering with back-room politics. Criminals have to be at least somewhat meritocratic to survive. Any reasonable opportunity to show off, go for it. Prove your value first, worry about being murdered in your sleep once you've been aboard long enough for a bunk assignment.

Calculate the super path to the majestic jump. You seem bored, worried and not at all flowing, maybe some hard work will kick you to another level.

1/3 Kado 2016/03/18(Fri)01:03 No. 710064 ID: 83bc29
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Okay why not, lets try the third option. I save the progress on the existing plan and start my own.

The calculations take a good chunk of time, but at the end of it all it's... not looking too good.

In warp colliding with physical objects isn't really a thing, but here it looks like the window between an unstable jump and massive heat damage from the star is too small. I might have time to plot a more straightforward unassisted jump?

The panel's speaker crackles to life.

>"New guy, you there? We're ready to jump."

"Uh, yep, just a sec."

Shit, I load up the old plan and get to work finishing it off. I'm quick, but it still takes longer than I'd like.

"Ok, jump's ready!"

A few seconds later the ship hits warpspeed, guess that got relayed to the pilot quick enough.

For such a mess of a ship it's pretty comfortable in warp. Sloppily designed ships, or ones that just aren't designed for comfort tend to give you a constant feeling of acceleration, none of that here.

2/3 Kado 2016/03/18(Fri)01:03 No. 710066 ID: 83bc29
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Shortly after we hit warpspeed Lydia enters the bridge.

>"Great work people! So where are we jumping to?"

She walks up to the station I'm at and checks the monitors.

>"Aah, we'll need to be ready when we drop in. C'mon guy, aren't you meant to be a good pilot? How did this one take you so long?"

"Well-"

>"-Yeahh, don't actually care! Follow me downstairs, need to have a chat with you and your buddies."

I follow her to the lift.

3/3 Kado 2016/03/18(Fri)01:04 No. 710067 ID: 83bc29
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We ride the lift in silence, exiting on one of the lower decks. The deck seems to be devoted to living quarters, a large lobby area sits around the lift, and corridors with rooms lead off to the sides. It's pretty nice.

Lydia leads me into a wing that's blocked off from the rest. People who I presume to be guards stand at the one working entrance. Arlo, Jurek and Beck are all already waiting in the corridor.

Lydia claps her hands.

>"And that's everyone! I hope you found your first moments on board the Titania exciting and engaging! Now, er, have I been over this? You guys have made me get all my speeches out of order. Anyway, you get to choose to work with us as one of the crew, or stay locked up here a prisoner."

>"Wait, here?" Arlo interjects, "These quarters are pretty nice for prison cells."

>"Yeahhhh well, the whole interior of this deck was kinnd of taken from a luxury transport. Retrofitting the cells to be less pleasant is a lot of effort to go to just for the sake of being kind of mean? It's not like we're planning on treating you badly in the first place."

>"The doors to each room don't even lock from the outside though."

>"They don't lock from the inside either. Look, if you're really a problem we've got cages down in the storage bay, but otherwise you'd be free to wander the corridors of this wing. That being said, you will be suuuper bored and won't get to as nice food as us. So what do you wanna do? What skills can you bring to the table?"

Arlo speaks first.
>"If the guys down in engineering still want me I'm good to work down there!"

>"Nice, what about you two, we didn't get you doing anything during all that excitement did we?"

She points to Beck and Jurek. Beck just looks super uncomfortable, but Jurek speaks up.

>"Uhh well, I mean I'm not sure I can do much useful on a ship, they're kind of new to me... right Kado?"

Wait what, uh, what should I say? Jurek doesn't really have knowledge of most modern tech, but the karit were pretty resourceful with what tech they did have in the desert. He seemed to really know how to handle those hover bikes. He's a great fighter too, at least with melee combat.

And what about me? I'd probably prefer to be doing something on the ship instead of sitting around in a cell, even if it's a very nice cell. I don't know how keen I am to be working with pirates, but we've got a common goal, and they do seem nice I guess? With my skills I'd probably be able to help out in a couple of different places; navigation, engineering, hell even as a footsoldier eeh I'd probably do great as a fighter pilot but that's probably not something they'd trust me with.

>>710067
How about Jurek keeps Beck company for a bit, but you could teach him about ship tech in your time off?

tell her that Jurek is a bit of a jack of all trades, he can get his head around most things but don't expect him to be the best at it. He'd probably make a good assistant to anyone who needs help around the ship or you can just turn him into a guard because the kid is surprisingly good in a hand to hand fight.

Tell her you're good at all those things you just told us and tell her to put you where she thinks needs the most help.

As for Beck... he's a surviver... and judging from all those cameras he set up has at least some technical skills.

1/3 Kado 2016/04/09(Sat)22:41 No. 715383 ID: 83bc29
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"Well... yeah, Jurek's kind of hasn't had modern technology until recently. But that being said, he's picked up on a lot stuff real quick, I'm sure he could learn. Maybe down in engineering with Arlo?"

>"Yeah! That might work."

Lydia nods

"And Beck, what about you? You seemed to be doing pretty well by yourself, sure you've got a lot of skills."

>"I... I'll just stay here please."

Lydia shakes her head.

>"Dang, suit yourself. Little guy, how about we rotate you through a few different things, start in engineering, see what works. And what about you, uhh, Kado? You act like you know what you're doing on the bridge, and apparently you've got a good track record in the empire."

"Yeah, I've been a pilot and done a few other roles on freighters before."

>"Okay well, you can stay on bridge for now. Hey actually, keep on my good side and I might just get you in one of the fighters. We really don't have enough good pilots.

"Works for me."

>"Great! Trust me, this'll look great on your resume. We'll be out of warp soon, we're probably being chased so right now our plan is to re-enter warp quick and avoid combat. Our goal for today is to make it to a handover a few systems away, gonna convert some smuggled goods into good 'ol cash. Once we get away from these guys it should be smooth sailing."

Something lights up on the tablet she's been carrying around.

>"Aand we're nearly out of warp. Now, you're probably wondering about what my plan is with the alien ships right?"

"Yeah I've been wondering about that."

>"Well, you can keep wondering for a bit! We'll talk about it tomorrow, for now you three need to get to your positions. Arlo is it? Now, this is totally a show of trust and not just me being lazy, you and the little guy can head down to engineering on your own. I'm sure you remember the way. Kado, follow me to the bridge. Other guy, uh, pick a room and make yourself comfortable I guess? Okay, let's get moving.

2/3 Kado 2016/04/09(Sat)22:42 No. 715384 ID: 83bc29
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The next few hours are oddly nostalgic for me. We make our way through a few systems, running from the ships on our tail and trying to avoid attracting new ones. They follow us for a few warps, but never quite manage to engage in combat, and eventually give up the chase.

I help out on the bridge, rotating around a few of the stations. Pretty much everyone up here occasionally wants a second pair of hands, Though I spend most of my time at navigation and comms, looking out for signs of other pirates trying to intercept us.

It's been a while since I've had to learn how a big ship like this all works, most of the freighters I've worked on are pretty much the same.

We eventually hit orbit around the meet-up planet. I don't get to see much of the exchange, Lydia and the other party exchange brief audio messages, the she leaves the bridge to go deal with the shuttles.

During the downtime the pilot, a Yarkeh, decides shows me how the ship controls all work, telling me that "anyone on the bridge should at least know the basics, just in case." Honestly I could probably have worked out everything he told me on my own, but the guy seems to enjoy explaining it, and we end up having a good chat about flying.

3/3 Kado 2016/04/09(Sat)22:42 No. 715385 ID: 83bc29
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Everything goes well I suppose, Lydia returns, looking pretty pleased with herself. We head to a ringed gas giant in the same system, hiding in the ring to rest for the night.

>"And that's a wrap for today! Go grab some food, I know I'm starving."

As everyone else starts to wander out Lydia approaches me.

>"But as for you... eeh actually nevermind, it can still wait for tomorrow. The mess halls are down in the living quarters, pick whichever one you want to eat at. Or hell, grab your food and just head to your room if you want. That's what I'm doing, but I get it delivered to me because I'm the boss."

"I don't actually have a room yet do I?"

>"Oh yeah just pick one I guess. Just ask someone who works on the floor and see what's free."

"Sure. You know, I'm kind of surprised you don't run this ship 24/7, looks like you've got enough people to."

>"Yeah well, we can but it spreads us a bit thin. Anyway, save your questions for tomorrow, I wasn't joking about being hungry."

With that she leaves, she doesn't head to the same lift as me, presumably her room is somewhere higher up than the living quarters.

I head downstairs, and end up bumping into Jurek just after I get out of the lift.

>"Ah Kado!"

"Hey, how was engineering?"

>"Confusing! But good I think? Hah, I dunno, I'm pretty tired! I'm just going to join Arlo and the others in hall 3 if you wanna come."

I was actually planning on eating with the others on the bridge, who seem to be heading in a different direction to Jurek, but maybe I want to change my plans.

And hell, I know I've been awake for too long but I don't really feel tired. I could probably do more before heading to bed, but what? I was originally thinking of seeing if anyone from the bridge wanted to show me around a bit more of the ship. There's probably other entertainment stuff around here too.

Well yeah, Arlo Jurek and Beck are extremely awesome. Go eat with them, then go hang out on the bridge to catch up with the people you didn't eat with.

You know, it's just occurring that this is actually a really good situation for you specifically. You're ULTRA wanted now, but these guys are probably only MOSTLY wanted, and they've been doing the hide and seek game way longer than you have. Even if you don't end up staying on with them, this would be a great time to make some friends and try and pick up some hiding-from-the-feds tricks.

hang with friends and see what they've learned today. We can talk with the bridge guys tomorrow since we're going to be working with them all day unless something happens.

Also get some sleep once you're done eating. While yes you could do more stuff seeing how many things are chasing us now I'm not to sure how many peaceful brakes we're going to get from now on so I'd rather you waste a chance to see how to find the ship's bathrooms then to risk missing a chance to get some proper shut eye and then being tired as hell while in a dog fight with an enemy fighter for whatever reason. I'm exaggerating of course but you get my point.

>>715385
Maybe you can spend some time with Jurek 1 on 1?

1/2 Kado 2016/05/01(Sun)00:49 No. 720232 ID: 1defcd
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"Yeah sure, lead the way."

We head down one of the corridors, arriving at a large room. It was probably originally some kind of function room, but long portable tables and benches are set up to make it a dining hall.

Arlo, already seated, sees us walk in and waves, pointing to a table pressed up against the far wall of the room. Trays of food are set up along it. People seem to just be taking what they want, so Jurek and I do the same and sit down near Arlo.

The food's pretty good. It's something along the lines of a curry with rice, but I can't place the meat, sauce or rice-like stuff. Not too surprising out here, there are a whooole lot of edible plants and animals in the galaxy after all.

The table's alive with conversation, and every seems nice but, I dunno. Everyone's pretty wrapped up with people they already know, I don't really join in. Even Jurek's occupied talking to another karit.

>"A desert planet?"

>"Yeah, I grew up there. We only escaped with Kado, geez like a month or less ago?"

Jurek motions towards me saying this. The other karit, who hadn't paid attention to me until now, nods a greeting.

>"Kado? I'm Porle-sat, call me Pol. Ay wait," He turns back to Jurek "so you're tellin' me yer never seen a movie?"

>"Well! I did see some when I was a kid, don't really remember much, but I did see some newer ones on Belonia though."

>"New releases ay? Oof I'm jealous, it takes a real age before we get 'em out here."

They continue talking about movies for a while. Jurek saw the latest 'Gladiatortron' movie, some action franchise. Turns out Porle-sat (odd name for a karit) is a huge fan. Though it seems like he's a huge fan of a lot of things; bit movie obsessed.

2/2 Kado 2016/05/01(Sun)00:50 No. 720234 ID: 1defcd
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Eventually everyone's finished their meals, and slowly starting to leave. Jurek ends up breaking into a yawn mid-sentence.

>"Hah, I really am tired! We should probably think about somewhere to sleep I guess."
>"I can help yer with that, empty room near mine, think it's got two beds."

He walks us down to the other end of the deck, still chatting away with Jurek, eventually showing us to a room.

>"Now there ought to be plenty more if you wander but er, yep, I only know about this room here myself. Catch yer tomorrow."

He wanders off. The room is nice enough, though a bit cramped with two beds. Jurek immediately moves to sit down on one of them.

>"Aahh. Oh yeah uh, sorry, you looked kind of bored at dinner."

"Oh, nah it's fine. Never did get the details on what you did today though."

>"Well, did what I was told mostly! Even Arlo seemed to have a hard time working out the engine room on this ship, but I think I picked up on some stuff! Everyone I talked to was really friendly, not really what I imagined pirates to be like! What about you?"

"Yeahh much the same really, helped out with stuff on the bridge, figured out how everything works."

>"Mmm."

The room drops into an awkward silence for a bit.

>"Ah, sorry! Hah, zoned out for a bit. I wasn't joking about being tired! I really should get some sleep I guess."

He absent-mindedly starts to take his shirt off.

Uh, I should probably go to bed too. I guess.

>>720234
Aw I guess that didn't turn out to be much of a date. Maybe you should at least get things out in the open now that you're in private. Ask him if he likes dudes.

"Something on your mind?"

so uh, might be a bit out of no where here but think we should make sure Beck isn't setting a mine field or something in his "cell"? I'm not to worried really but seeing as his head voices made him run to the ass end of the galaxy and his paranoia made him buy a gun and a crap ton of security cameras I'm for whatever reason worried that his voices will make him do something stupid or that he'll booby trap the hell out of that hallway and since he's kinda with us we'll get blamed for it.

Other then that I guess pass out and get ready for another day tomorrow because I have a feeling that we're not going to get to many more peaceful days before someone who's looking for you decides to show up. And since Both you and Beck both have head voices and you're both together you two do make a very juicy target.

AAAHHHH YYEEEEESSSSSSS!!! here we go, no better way to unwind after a long hard day of becoming pirates like some nice supple young boy sexings.

but seriously he looks like he has something troubling him, inquire.

Place your hand on his shoulder, poor guy looks a little troubled/stressed, just let him know you're there for him, whatever might be on his mind.

Also rub his shoulders a bit of course, nothing de-stressing like a little shoulder rub, huh.

>>720324
>young boy
I don't think Jurek is that young. I mean he left home to go on a space adventure. His parents wouldn't let him do that if he wasn't an adult.