Kaktus 2021/11/05(Fri)09:21 No. 1014276 ID: 681cb5
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With the invention of a new and improved FTL drive new opportunities presented themselves. Now were not only the ways between stars open for you, but the ways between the very galaxies as well! The new drive, though still experimental, started a race for all species to be the first to discover new galaxies, and your species were no different. The Sakkilian with their industrial might were quick to construct a fleet for the sole purpose to explore the closes galaxy, and you were quick to sign up as one of the captains of said fleet when you got the opportunity.

Three massive colony ships where built, designed to land on suitable planets and fold into complete cities for the passengers to inhabit, as well as two dozen explorer ships, capable of housing over 200 passenger while they swam between the new stars on a mission to find new life. The trip to the new galaxy would be a one way trip, taking nearly a hundred years on the outside of the hyperspace bubble it would use to travel, but the 10.000 crewmates that has signed up for the adventure knew this all too well and were eager to explore new frontiers even if it meant to never return to their home again.

Kaktus 2021/11/05(Fri)09:22 No. 1014277 ID: 681cb5
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But as the Colony fleet traveled through Hyperspace with its new experimental FTL drive, something went horribly wrong. As they was nearing their destination the very reality around them started to bend and warp, contorting the very ships they were in as if they were made of soft clay. Alarms blared out as ships was torn asunder and thrown in every direction out from Hyperspace, into destinations unknown.

In the chaos and panic, a brave Captain and a small crew decides the best course of is to board one of the smaller explorer ships and launch themselves out from Hyperspace, opting to take their chances with a destination unknown instead of staying on the now collapsing colony ship. As the ship barreled out the hanger, barely avoiding the debris from the failing ships, the crew opted to engage the cryo sleep procedure to secure themselves and wait for rescue.

Kaktus 2021/11/05(Fri)09:22 No. 1014278 ID: 681cb5
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An unknown time later, you’re woken up from your cryo-sleep by the blaring alarm of the ship, signaling that it’s close to run out of fuel. With no rescue in sight, it comes down to you as Captain to handle the situation and turn things around. You’re currently stuck who know where, in a ship that has the bare minimum modules installed to fly, with a crew of only 5 people and no fuel or possibly food… but you didn’t become a captain to have it easy, did you? It’s time to get to work and save your sorry tails!


Please design a Captain (Main protagonist) and a second of command (Secondary protagonist). Any character not chosen might become one of the 3 redshirts on board as well.
You are a Sakkilian, a lizard person walking on two legs, thus your choices are as followed:

Name
Sex
Scale color (Any color is applicable)
Body Type
Length (general, not exact)

Zoey
Female
Gray
Shortstack



Damien
Male
Beige
Skinny

Captain:
Name - Regina
Sex - Female
Scales - Violet
Body Type - 100% pure MILF

2IC:
Name - Tana
Sex - Futa
Scales - Black
Body type - Built like a tank

What does length define?

Captain:
Vanea
Female
Bi-Color - Blue/White
Lithe

XO:
Saber
Male
Red
Too much Cardio

>>1014278
Captain:
Name: Shara
Sex: Female
Scale color: Pink
Body Type: Heavyset, mostly muscles but also a little chubby (which was caused by sitting in the captain's chair all the time with nothing to do)

Second in command:
Name: Darien
Sex: Male
Scale color: Blue
Body Type: Athletic
Length: 11 inches

>>1014282
>What does length define?
Considering this is a sex quest, it's probably related to penis length.

Capitan: Iris
Female
Violet
Buffed tomboy

Second Comand: Zlatam
Male
Blue
Tall and athletic

+1 for Captain Iris and Second in Command Damien

>>1014278
Captain:
Name: Zento
Sex: Male
Scale color: Black
Body Type: Think the tallest, scariest, most cryptic looking Sakkilian you can imagine. The multiply it by 2 then you have Zento.
Length: 4 inches

Second in command:
Name: Doxy
Sex: Female
Scale color: Dark Blue
Body Type: Extremely fat shortstack

>>1014285
Voting for Shara to be captain.

>>1014310
Voting for Doxy to be second in command.

>>1014310
This

>>1014317
>Shara to be captain
>Doxy to be second in command
This

>>1014310
This but with a ten inches cock.

>>1014310
Yeah a tall male Sakkilian but with a 12 inches cock and a sexy shotstack sounds good.

Zell
Male (an experienced DILF with years of triaining)
Purple

Moon
Female (young but very talented she quickly advance in the ranks due to her intellect)
Pink

Voting for Shara for captain.

>>1014310
>>1014328
Voting for these ones

>>1014328
We need more Lizard DILFS!

>>1014281
Tossing my vote for this one!

>>1014317
This

>>1014278
Axath
Male
Red
Athletic-lean
Average height but really long tail

Tescia
Female
Dark grey
Somewhat muscular
Very tall
no breasts

Supporting Shara for captain and Doxy for second in command.

Kaktus 2021/11/06(Sat)18:15 No. 1014402 ID: 681cb5
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>What does length define?
It was supposed to be body height, but I guess I accidently wrote the wrong word :V


As the coldness of the cryo sleep leaves your limbs, you take a moment to reflect of what happened. You are Captain Zento, of the Sakkilian Colony fleet, and you just woke up after surviving a disastrous hyperspace jump between galaxies. It’s uncertain if commandeering this ship and launching yourself out from hyperspace was the best choice, but at the time it seemed like the only way to survive… which you did. You did manage to rally a small crew on the way at least, but you have no idea how many or who actually made it on the ship before it launched. But going by the blaring alarms you’re not out of the sandpit just yet… *sigh*… you signed up to bang cute alien chicks, not… this…

As you’re exiting your cryo chamber you’re met with a rather small, pink and round woman who practically bounces towards you, obviously delighted to see you.

Captain Zento? Commander Doxy reporting for duty, sir!
Ah, yes, you must be… … …(geez, she’s short…)
Is something wrong?
Commander Doxy you said? You must be highest ranked officer on the ship, barring myself, correct?
You’re right, sir! It’s just the two of us, as well as three Ensigns, sir!
I’d hoped more people would have made it onto the ship before the auto pilot lunched us, but we simply have to do with the five of us.
It’s not looking very good, sir.
Eh, I’ve dealt with worse.
…really, sir?
Honestly, no, but we need to stay positive. Commander, go get the Ensigns ready for duty and gather more information about our current predicament. Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can get the bridge up and running. Meet me there in an hour.
I’ll bounce right to it, Zenny.
What was that?
I’ll bounce right to it, Zenny, sir!

Kaktus 2021/11/06(Sat)18:15 No. 1014403 ID: 681cb5
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Running a quick diagnostic on the ship shows that it’s completely undamaged, that all installed modules are fully functioning and that all life support systems are going at 100%, which is good. You then take a quick look at what is actually available to you at the moment:
The interplanetary propulsion system is fully functional, so you will be able to travel between planets in a star system, at least.
The Hyperspace drive is also operational, but will require at least 10 crew members to safely use, which means you’re stuck in whatever star system you’re currently in for the time being.
You have a universal Fabricator as well, which means you can create pretty much anything as long as you have the material for it.
The Hanger and launch bay are undamaged, which means you can both launch and build new ships if necessary.
The main Laz cannon are online, so you can at least defend yourself in a pinch… huh, why does it say here that they’ve been fired recently? That’s odd…
You have Crew quarters that can comfortably house up to 20 crew members at the moment.
There is also a small hydroponics bay for growing food, which can feed up to 20 crew members if you have at least 2 crew members working in it.
Finally, you have a medical bay with a Cryo / organic growing Vat system installed. Not only will it let you put people on ice if needed, but also regrow any lost limbs as well, either by cloning it (or outright cloning a new body completely) or by putting the crew in it and regrowing it from scratch (or outright grow them a new body). Heck, you’ve heard it’s possible to grow an egg into a full grown person in a day or two with those things.

Then there is the storage unit, which is a depressing sight, as it’s only contain the following:
10 units of food (will last 2 days at most, though you can grow more)
5 units of basic metals (you’ll need a lot more if you want to build anything of notice)
3 units of fuel (will last for 3 days. After that it’s pretty much game over.)

Your attention is drawn away from the computer as Doxy arrives at the bridge.

Commander Doxy, what do you have to report?
All three Ensigns has successfully been defrosted and are ready for duty.
Good. Can you give me any details on them?
Certainly, sir. First off we have Ensign Shara, a rather buff, blue scaled woman who has combat training.
A soldier then? Might be useful.
Then there is Zell, a slightly older, if still fit, purple scaled man who is a former asteroid miner, sir.
He will surely know his way around a lander then…
Lastly there is Regina. She is a middle aged woman of slightly rounder proportions, who has a background as an engineer.
Hmm… it’s an odd crew, but it will do…

I went through the hanger bay and found a few functional ships as well, sir.
HA! Glorious! What do have to work with? Battle cruisers? A few wraiths perhaps? At least an avenger or two?
We got two planetary landers and one light cruiser, sir.
… … …fuck.
Sir?
No, no, I’m just… hoping for better news. The cruiser should be enough to defend us with… and those landers, even if they are designed for mining minerals, might work in a pinch as well.
The cruiser is only outfitted with a small laz cannon sir.
…then I guess we’re completely knackered if we are attacked then. Ugh, at least the cruiser’s improved sensory range might become useful.
The Explorer flag ship main cannons are still functioning, right?
Indeed they are, but we really don’t want to bring our only source of air and food into a fight, do we?

I have also made a quick scan of the surrounding area, sir, if you would take a quick peek?

Kaktus 2021/11/06(Sat)18:15 No. 1014404 ID: 681cb5
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The strategic map is not to scale, sir.
I am fully aware, Doxy.
As you can see, we’re currently located in some unknown star system, orbiting around a large gas giant.
I can’t say I recognize any of the star patterns in the sky around us, so I can only assume we succeeded in getting to the new galaxy, at least.
The system has four planets orbiting it’s green star, as well as a large asteroid belt. We will need to make a more thorough scan if we want to know what each planetoid contain or what dangers they might hide. There might also be few object picked up on the visual scan I haven’t noticed as well.
At what capacity are our scanning bay operating at?
Currently it will take a full day for one crew member to make a proper scan, focusing either on finding minerals and fuel, energy signatures or communication signals. While we can’t hasten the scan by letting more of the crew work on it, we can scan for multiple things at once if we have the manpower to spare.
And can we scan for more crew?
I would suggest scanning of either energy signatures or communications signals for that, sir. Though I highly doubt we’ll find any more Sakkilian just hanging around nearby. There were some odd readings, though, indicating that there is or has been something unnatural in the system… like another ship or station, sir.
I see… speaking of ships, are our ready for action?
They are ready for takeoff at your command, sir. It will take any ship manned by at least one crew one full day to explore any point of interest we send them to, sir.
The planetoid landers are rather fragile, but is a lot better at gathering resources compared to the cruiser… but the cruiser better scanner and combat capabilities makes it a lot more hardy against any dangers they might find out there…
Err, yes…
Let’s review our goals before we start making decisions. Our overarching goal will be to find the rest of the Colony fleet, at least what’s left of it, and aid them in building the colony properly. Our primary goal at the moment is the find more fuel a.s.a.p., as we will not survive for long without it and we only have three days left before we run out. Our secondary goal is to increase our crew to at least 10, or we won’t be able to use the Hyperdrive and leave this star system.
…where do you expect us to find more crew? There aren’t any stations or hangers around were we can just employ more, is there?
I will come up with something, I’m sure. We either need to find some crew out there, Sakkilian or alien, or we simply… I don’t know, make our own somehow?
I’m sure you’ll come up with something, sir. In the meantime, what are our orders, sir? They Ensigns are ready to act.

Alright, no need to panic just yet. Let’s take this step by step. First order of business, find some fuel. You need to figure out where there is possible fuel in this system and send an Ensign there with one of the ships to collect it.

Second step, find some cute aliens and recruit them. That would solve your crew problem, wouldn’t it? Though… maybe there’s a better solution? A simpler one?

Appears we're near a gas giant. Lets roll out to one of the inner planets, get a scan on it and look for chemical components we can use for fuel. As for the crew problem, whether or not we find new species, it can't hurt to get started on making some more Sakkilian stock. A few born-on-boards can be expected... but there shouldn't be any need to pull rank. Discuss the idea with Doxy.

What do you use for fuel? Can you harvest some from this gas giant here? I have to imagine your ships are equipped to get more independent of a supply chain, does the fabricator work as a refinery? Speaking of planets, isn't there some basic information you can gather from what you know now? Habitable zone, likely atmosphere from light reflection, et cetera? Would scanning the gas giant's moons be quick? You could all pile in to do the work on those, since they're so nearby.

well if we're next to a planet I guess have one person scan it since it's right there and have the other 2 work on the hydroponics bay to grow some more food.

>>1014408
I think this is the best course of action for now. We need fuel and food before me get more mouths to feed.

>>1014404
>Second step, find some cute aliens and recruit them. That would solve your crew problem, wouldn’t it? Though… maybe there’s a better solution? A simpler one?
Solution: Recruit non-traditionally-cute aliens, I'm talking barely shares a shingle trait (Both physical and psychological), because they both work the hardest and fu*k like there's no tomorrow.

Get as much fuel from that gas giant, their is fuel in them right? Right.

>>1014405
>it can't hurt to get started on making some more Sakkilian stock. A few born-on-boards can be expected... but there shouldn't be any need to pull rank. Discuss the idea with Doxy.
We probably shouldn't get to making more crew just yet, we only have so much food after all and no place to get more of it.

>>1014404
We should get some fuel first, and maybe the soldier should be assaigned to the hydroponics bay for the time being.

First priority is getting a picture of this system. Dedicate three people to scanning: you want a comprehensive picture.

The remaining 2 operate the hydroponics bay, you want to stockpile some food to free people up later for refueling, mining and whatever you come up with to boost crew size.

Oh and if you can spare someone, check the firing logs and diagnostics on the laz cannon. What was it fired at and when?

>>1014403
>The main Laz cannon are online, so you can at least defend yourself in a pinch…huh, why does it say here that they’ve been fired recently? That’s odd…
So there’s possibly another person on board or the ship has an AI in it. Either way, someone was operating the ship while you and the crew were on ice.

>>1014408
Do this.

Kaktus 2021/11/07(Sun)07:22 No. 1014426 ID: 681cb5
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>What do you use for fuel?
All your ships runs on a synthetically created crystalline substance that does not exist naturally, which powers not only the engine and drivers, but also all other electrical systems on the ship. Thus it’s rather pointless looking for the substance itself, but instead to scan for substances like certain noble gases or radioactive materials used to synthesize the fuel itself.
>Does the fabricator work as a refinery?
The whole point of the Universal Fabricator is that it can create pretty much anything as long as you have the base components for it and the necessary blueprint. So yes, it can synthesize fuel.
>Can you harvest some from this gas giant here?
Chances are very high that the gas giant will indeed have the material needed to make fuel, though you’d be careful, as it’s usually dangerous to harvest it from gas giants like these without the proper tools… tools that you lack.


>Check the firing logs and diagnostics on the laz cannon. What was it fired at and when?
Roughly a week ago our cannons automatically fired at something at these coordinates. Do you know anything about that, Doxy?
Can’t say I do, Zenny… though, there is some kind of anomaly near the position you gave me.
An anomaly?
We’re not sure what it is, but it’s… something? We might want to give it a quick check with one of the smaller ships, captain.
I’ll consider it.
>So there’s possibly another person on board or the ship has an AI in it. Either way, someone was operating the ship while you and the crew were on ice.
Going by the logs then it was the automatic systems that fired the shot. You can only assume that the ship felt threatened by something and opened fired. Sadly, the AI driving the ship isn’t smart enough to talk to, as it’s only designed to keep the ship operational.

>As for the crew problem, whether or not we find new species, it can't hurt to get started on making some more Sakkilian stock. A few born-on-boards can be expected... but there shouldn't be any need to pull rank. Discuss the idea with Doxy.
Huh? You want us to make more crew ourselves?
The Vat system would make it possible in a timely manner, correct?
At the moment, no. If we want to actually get people who can work on the ships we’ll need a few upgrades. I’m checking through the possibilities right now and it seem we can construct them if we are willing to spend 10 basic metals and 5 noble metals.
And then it’s just the question of making eggs.
Eh!? Eggs? I thought you meant we would just donate some blood and clone people… um… but I g-guess we can do it that way as well? It would be slightly more energy efficient, take less time and require less organic material, not to mention we wouldn’t have to deal with several Doxy’s around, right? Though we’d need to synthesize some substances that will make the egg growth outside the vat significantly faster.
Then it’s just a question of getting volunteers.
Heh, heh… um… I’m s-sure you wouldn’t have a hard time to find someone willing to test the system?
I guess not…
>We need fuel and food before me get more mouths to feed.
Fuel is indeed the biggest concern, sir, though filling our food storage wouldn’t be a dumb idea either. Besides, we can’t really get any more mouths to feed until we’ve… err… upgraded the Vat systems, right?
Or find some more crew somewhere else.
Um… sure…
>Solution: Recruit non-traditionally-cute aliens, I'm talking barely shares a shingle trait (Both physical and psychological), because they both work the hardest and fu*k like there's no tomorrow.
Cute is subjective. When you say cute aliens you mean aliens you find attractive and not just aliens that are cute by everyone’s standards. After all, if you didn’t want weird stuff you’d just bang another Sakkilian’s right? Well, not that you mind banging Sakkilian’s, but still…


>Speaking of planets, isn't there some basic information you can gather from what you know now? Habitable zone, likely atmosphere from light reflection, et cetera?
Can you tell me anything about potential dangers on these planets from visuals alone?
Err… don’t land on the star because it’s hot?
…thank you Doxy, that was very helpful. But speaking of sun, the planet closes to it seems a bit too close to comfort. Any ship we send there will probably be in danger from the heat. As for the other planets… none of them seem to be capable of supporting life, at least life as we know it.
Wow, you do seem to know your planets, boss.
>Would scanning the gas giant's moons be quick?
A full scan will take a full day, sir, but both the moons and the gas giant is within range of a single scan.
…remind me, what are the effective range of these scans? I am unfamiliar with this kind of Explorer class ship after all.
The mineral scan will generally only reach any nearby planets, including their moons and other satellites. The energy scan is slightly larger and will cover most of the system. The signal scan on the other hand is huge and will easily not only cover the whole system, but might even catch signals coming from other nearby stars, sir.
I’ll keep that in mind, then. Thank you, Doxy.
>If we're next to a planet I guess have one person scan it since its right there.
Put Ensign Regina on scanning duty then. A mineral scan, if you please.
Got it, boss.
>Have the other 2 work on the hydroponics bay to grow some more food.
Lets have Ensign Shara and Ensign Zell work the farm for now to make sure we are well stocked on food. Those two won’t mind getting their hands dirty.
Right away, sir!
And that’s all, Doxy.
… err… Zento?
Yes?
What are we supposed to do while we wait?
…oh, right, we’re very low on manpower, aren’t we?
>Dedicate three people to scanning: you want a comprehensive picture.
Very well, we’ll help with the scanning as well, to make sure we get the complete picture.
As you wish, big man!

Kaktus 2021/11/07(Sun)07:22 No. 1014427 ID: 681cb5
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A whole day passes…
Your crew consumes 5 unites of food.
Your ship consumes 1 unit of fuel.
Ensign Shara and Ensign Zell works in the hydroponics bay and harvests 20 units of food.
Your food storage is now full.
Ensign Shara and Ensign Zell got into a heated argument and now dislike each other.
Cap. Zento, CDR. Doxy and Ensign Regina do a complete Scan of the surrounding area.

Doxy, report.
Our food storage is currently full, sir, but Ensign Shara and Ensign Zell got in a bit of a tumble will working together.
*sigh* not surprising, considering the stress we’re currently under. I’ll see if I can take the time and deal with it later. And the scans?
All three scans are completed and all three gave us several points of intrest, sir.
Give me the mineral scan first.
We have found three points of interest nearby, boss. Several of the asteroids nearby have a lot of Basic Metals in them. The gas giant contains the gasses needed to make fuel with, but we also detected that the atmosphere of it is extremely harsh and will put anyone who goes into it into danger. Lastly, we have detected Noble Metals on the larger moon of the gas giant.
And the energy scan?
We have detected two strange energy signatures in the system, sir. The first one is orbiting the nearby red planet and is clearly some kind of alien made object, be it a satellite or space ship. The second energy signature is a bit more particular, as there is a very dim, but still noticeable, signature out in the middle of space, not far from an odd beacon I will mention later.
Huh… so we’ve already found sings of alien activities, then? And the last scan?
The signal scan was the most surprising, as we’ve detected not one, not two but three emergency signals nearby. The first is a Sakkilian Storage Module Beacon that is located on a nearby asteroid. These are all installed in storage modules of our ships and will start broadcasting if they are jettisoned for any reason. The second is an odd Beacon floating in space, near those odd energy signatures I mentioned earlier. We’re not sure what it’s about, but it seems to indicate some kind of abandoned alien cache.
Hmm… that does indeed sound a bit odd… and the last signal?
It’s originating from the nearby red planet, broadcasted in some kind of alien language. Our universal translator did manage to translate it and… well, listen…

*Scrch* Emergancy -*scrhc* -shot- *schr* -pirate- *screech- *Food for- *scrh* - few days. *Sch* Requesting- *schry* Help!

And then it repeat itself, boss.
Hmm… interesting…
So… what are your orders, sir?
…

The quiet part of space you find yourself in is suddenly very loud, isn’t it?

so how many personal does it take to do an action, like harvest noble gases for fuel or check the alien distress beacon? Also what is the range of the smaller craft as I'm wondering if we'll have to move the main ship closer to these anomalies or if the smaller vessels have enough power of their own to make the trip and come back?

Because honestly I feel we're going to need to gather that fuel ASAP as we are dangerously low. That distress signal also sounds time sensitive... assuming that it isn't and old signal stuck on a loop and everyone is either already dead or has been rescued and just forgot to turn the broadcast off.

also what sort of resources would it take to make the tools needed to safely harvest the fuel? Because I'm thinking send the recommend number of people down to collect fuel, have someone make tools for them to use to collect the fuel safely, and depending on who's left kind of shuffle them around where needed. Would also like to take some time to talk to the two ensigns that got into a fight before that can grow into something nasty but we're so short on resources right now I really don't think we have the time unless gathering fuel is only a 1 or 2 man job as well as only needing 1 person for making tools.

>>1014427
We definitely should make the necessary tools to gather resources and make fuel before doing any expedition. You should talk to Zell and ask him what he needs for that to happened.

"Very Young Orangutans, Could Grow Bananas, Perhaps Rather Well"... Lets see what fuel it will cost to get those noble metals from the larger moon. Then we can see about what it might take to harvest the gas giant, or to get heat shielding on a cruiser if perhaps the closest planet has a bare atmosphere (where we could approach the dark side to avoid the intense heat, but perhaps harvest some good reactives).

closet planet, to the sun, is what i meant to say.

Kaktus 2021/11/07(Sun)09:37 No. 1014433 ID: 681cb5
File 163630662177.png - (94.28KB , 900x550 , 10.png )

>So how many personal does it take to do an action, like harvest noble gases for fuel or check the alien distress beacon?
You need to send at least one ship to gather materials or investigate other oddities, and each ship needs one crew member to operate them. Sending more crew and ships out does increase the amount of minerals and/or the safety of the expedition, though. All actions takes one full day as well.
>Let’s see what fuel it will cost to get those noble metals from the larger moon.
The fuel needed for interplanetary travel inside a system is so low that it can be ignored. You’re currently using up 1 unit of fuel a day keeping all systems online on the flagship, and you will need a lot of fuel later if you want to leave the system with your Hyperspace drive.
>Also what is the range of the smaller craft as I'm wondering if we'll have to move the main ship closer to these anomalies or if the smaller vessels have enough power of their own to make the trip and come back?
All ships can easily travel the width of the system in a day, so they can reach any given point of the system at any time.

>Honestly I feel we're going to need to gather that fuel ASAP as we are dangerously low.
Considering you’re going to run out in two days and die horribly when that happens… yes, yes you need fuel and you need it right freaking now.
>That distress signal also sounds time sensitive... assuming that it isn't and old signal stuck on a loop and everyone is either already dead or has been rescued and just forgot to turn the broadcast off.
Either way, if you’re going to go check on it, you’ll probably need to deal with whatever is orbiting above it first, be it a ship or a satellite or what have you.


>We definitely should make the necessary tools to gather resources and make fuel before doing any expedition. You should talk to Zell and ask him what he needs for that to happened.
Ah’m sorry to say, lad, but there’s nah way in the cold depths of ‘ell that we can outfit the ships with the necessities with ah current ‘anger. And we can’t upgrade ah ‘anger without a lot more material and manpowah we nah ‘ave, boy.
So we can’t make it safe to extract gas from the planet then? Hmm, Ensign Zell, what do you recommend we do?
Find the fuel somewhere else, lad. Might be some ship wreck or cache of goods lying around with the stuff, eh? But if we can’t find it anywhere else, then send me down there in the cruiser and I’ll see what ah can do.
You want to put your life on the line?
Ah want to send that troglodyte Shara down there in a planet lander so ah can laugh as she flies right into a corrosive cloud and melts, capt, that what ah want. But if we ever want to leave this place we need the fuel, and I’m the best yah got when it comes to mining, boy. Ah still say find another way, eh?
What did you and Shara fight about anyway?
She thought ah was working to slow, so she called me a fat slug who deserves to die a virgin and then punched me in the gut, capt.
…and you didn’t do anything to deserve it?
…ah might ‘ave called ‘er a bitch, lad, but that was after the fat slug comment, you ‘ear?
>Or to get heat shielding on a cruiser if perhaps the closest planet to the sun has a bare atmosphere (where we could approach the dark side to avoid the intense heat, but perhaps harvest some good reactives).
We don’t ‘ave the facilities to upgrade the ships, capt… but yah idea about the dark side might actually work. Of course, we ‘ave no idea if there’s even anything down there, so might be prudent to check that first, eh?
>"Very Young Orangutans, Could Grow Bananas, Perhaps Rather Well".
That’s just an old miners tale, Capt. Don’t believe it.

Hell, lets check the storage module. What's the worst that could happen?

>>1014433
Yeah we can check out the dark side first, if we dom't find anything useful then let Zell do his thing.

>>1014433
So we can’t gather fuel from the gas giant because we don’t have the equipment to do so. We can’t make the equipment because we need to upgrade the hanger. And we can’t upgrade the hanger because we don’t have the materials or the manpower to do that.

Looks like the best thing we can do is go check the Sakkilian Storage Module Beacon and hope it has some fuel in it.

>Shara and Zell argument
Let’s go talk with Shara and see what she has to say. We should at least hear her side of the story on why she felt the need to punch Zell.

I’m sure they’ll eventually work things out, but for now, we should make sure they’re assigned to different tasks to prevent further arguments.

A crashed ship should still have fuel. Go blow up the pirate and rescue the survivors, see if their ship can be repaired, if not then we just scavenge what we can and take the fuel and the new crewmembers.

Kaktus 2021/11/07(Sun)17:49 No. 1014469 ID: 681cb5
File 163633614454.png - (93.90KB , 900x550 , 11.png )

>So we can’t gather fuel from the gas giant because we don’t have the equipment to do so. We can’t make the equipment because we need to upgrade the hanger. And we can’t upgrade the hanger because we don’t have the materials or the manpower to do that.
We can’t get fuel safely from the gas giant. If we send someone down there, we should be prepared for either the ship coming back broken beyond repair, the Ensign coming back dead or neither coming back at all. Otherwise, we’re indeed in a bit of a sandpit here, as we need a lot of materials to upgrade our ship if we want to be effective at gathering said materials.


>Yeah we can check out the dark side first…
With all due respect, SIR, ah would prefer if ah knew what was down there before ah threw away mah life trying to land. But if yah insist, then ah will not disobey yah orders, lad.
>Hell, let’s check the storage module. What's the worst that could happen?
Probably nothing worse than what would ‘appen on that flaming death ball of death over by the star, eh? Ah will grab a planet lander and grab those supplies in a jiffy, nah problem.
>Get those noble metals from the larger moon.
Commander Doxy, can you send out Ensign Regina on a planet lander to retrieve the gold located on the larger moon?
Right away, boss!


Ensign Zell is currently retrieving Sakkilian Storage Module from asteroid.
Ensign Regina is currently retrieving Noble Metals from Moon 2.
You still have 3 crew members that are idle…

Kaktus 2021/11/07(Sun)17:49 No. 1014470 ID: 681cb5
File 163633615142.png - (117.70KB , 900x550 , 12.png )

>Let’s go talk with Shara and see what she has to say. We should at least hear her side of the story on why she felt the need to punch Zell.
Why I punched the bastard? Because he’s a weak fuck and called me a bitch, that’s why.
And he called you that because?
Because that stupid sod tried to sleep instead of work and I woke him up.
…by calling him names?
Because he is a fat slug that refuse to work!
*sigh* This is going nowhere…
>I’m sure they’ll eventually work things out, but for now, we should make sure they’re assigned to different tasks to prevent further arguments.
Right, let’s keep those two idiots far away from each other for the time being…

Kaktus 2021/11/07(Sun)17:49 No. 1014471 ID: 681cb5
File 163633615841.png - (141.09KB , 900x550 , 13.png )

>A crashed ship should still have fuel. Go blow up the pirate and rescue the survivors, see if their ship can be repaired, if not then we just scavenge what we can and take the fuel and the new crewmembers.
You will need to deal with that emergency beacon sooner rather than later… and if that is a pirate orbiting the planet, then you really want to make this quick.

Finally, the best part of this job. Ready the Laz cannons, we’re going in. Heh, they will make short work of such a small vessel.
Sir, the Explorer is not built to handle ship to ship combat that close to a planet.
…then warm up the Cruiser and put that soldier in it. We need to bring out the big stick before they call us to beg for mercy.
We’re receiving a transmission right now, sir.
Hmm, too soon for a surrender… bring it on.

Attention unidentified interloper! Have it be known that this is the mighty pirate Captain Ikekeki speaking by the authority of the Kelshin Pirate Lords! These waters belong to the Kelshin and this caged catch is mine to feast upon! Turn around immediately or you will face the wrath of my twin plasma throwers! KEKEKEKEKE!!! Tremble before their terrifying presence and despair, planetlubber, because I will make you walk out the airlock if you come any closer!

Do we have a way to scan their veseal? They might be bluffing. Is it a single ship?

>>1014471
We should be cautious, try to scan his ship. Also is there anyway we can hack onto his ship?

>>1014470
She is not to use physical violence for discipline.
That said, sleeping on the job isn't allowed either.

>>1014471
Twin plasma throwers? What are our chances if that's really what's on their ship?
If we've got a high chance of victory, then engage. If not, can we lure the pirate away from the planet so the Explorer can engage with its cannons?

Keep the pirate busy while you analyze the situation. Like, introduce yourself, ask why they are hanging around this planet when there's a distress signal being broadcast, and what it would take for them to go away peacefully.

>>1014471
Are those bubbles? Does that mean their entire ship is flooded with water so the crew can breathe?

Scan the ship to see what you're up against.

>>1014471
There's no way their ship is filled with water. It would be too heavy to ever reach space. Even if it could reach space, it would have too much mass to be maneuvered. And even if it could be maneuvered, the lack of atmospheric pressure would force all the oxygen out of the water, so the alien would suffocate.

>>1014488
Well yeah but also does it need too lift off from a planet if it was made in space

>>1014488
First one can be worked around by delivering the water to a ship once it's launched. Second problem might not be possible to avoid, maybe water-pirate ships just move slowly. Third problem doesn't sound like a thing. Where would the oxygen go exactly? There's pressure inside the ship anyway, it's not like the water is exposed to vacuum. They can have bubblers or some kind of re-oxygenation system with water flow vents instead of air flow vents.

Kaktus 2021/11/08(Mon)05:40 No. 1014494 ID: 681cb5
File 163637884172.png - (112.91KB , 900x550 , 14.png )

>She is not to use physical violence for discipline.
Fine, fine, I won’t kick his sorry behind again. He isn’t worth it anyway.
>That said, sleeping on the job isn't allowed either.
Damn straight it isn’t!


>Keep the pirate busy while you analyze the situation.
Commander Doxy, open up communications with this Ikekeki. If she… he? If they want to talk then let’s keep them talking.
Aye aye, sir!
Greetings Captain Ikekeki, this is Captain Zento of the… wait, does this ship even have a name?
No sir, not yet.
KEKEKE! Your ship doesn’t even have a name? How pathetic! You will make easy prey!
This is Captain Zento of this Explorer class Flagship, from the Sakkilian colonization initiative.
Sakkilian? That name doesn’t exist on my computers… which mean you must be an exotic species that is worth a lot of credits! Yes, as soon as I’m done dealing with these pathetic planetlubbers I will make sure to capture you in the name of the Kelshin Pirates! In fact, I will…. wait, are you male or female?
…I am a man?
In fact, I will capture you personally, Captain, to keep as my own personal concubine, to show of the might of the Ikekeki the pirate captain!
Uh huh…


>Is it a single ship?
Your sensor only pick up one lonely ship… which is odd, as not even a pirate would be foolhardy enough to travel completely alone out here, surely?
>Twin plasma throwers? What are our chances if that's really what's on their ship?
You have no idea what kind of weapon that even is. You’re dealing with completely alien life forms here, remember?
>Are those bubbles? Does that mean their entire ship is flooded with water so the crew can breathe?
…there seem to be some kind of liquid in there with them, which might be water, correct.
>There's no way their ship is filled with water. It would be too heavy to ever reach space. Even if it could reach space, it would have too much mass to be maneuvered. And even if it could be maneuvered, the lack of atmospheric pressure would force all the oxygen out of the water, so the alien would suffocate.
Yet here we are. Of course, they said the same thing about going faster than light, but you just bent time and space to travel over a million light years in just a few days to get here, remember? Getting some water into a spaceship seems like child play compared to that.


I assume the distress signal coming from the planet is you’re doing?
That is my catch caught in the net, and as soon as their pathetic shield fails them, I will grab the booty that rightfully belongs to me!
Oh, mighty Ikekeki, now you just most honor us with brave tales of how you managed to shot down such a dangerous ship.
KEKEKE! I knew you would start to tremble to my might! Very well, I will tell you of my deeds so keep those eyestalks listening. A group of those weakling Raolme Traders came to this system looking for something, but instead they only found our ambush! Those fools went right for the beacon and my sisters were all over them before they should even get their shields up! KEKEKE! It was like shooting fish on land!
An ambush you say? But where are the rest of your pirate sisters? You’re the only around, aren’t you?
Why, most of them went back to home bay with their booty! The others that stayed behind asked me, the mighty Ikekeki, to deal with this pesky crashed Raolme ship while they set up another ambush for the next fool that comes by. KEKEKE! They will never see it coming!
And how are you going to deal with the crashed ship?
Those weaklings are well known for their defensive capacities, so I will simply wait until they run out of fuel for their shields before I attack! KEKEKE!
I see…


>Do we have a way to scan their vessel?
While you were talking we’ve been able to make a quick scan of the ship and it’s specs. It is a small ship, roughly the size of the cruiser we possess and can only house one crew member. It barely has any armor or shielding but its engine is rather powerful for its size, which means it can outrun everything we can currently field easily. There’s also two rather large energy signature at the front of the ship, which I guess is these “Plasma throwers” they spoke of, which while rather powerful, seem to have abysmal range.
Small, fast, fragile but deadly… made for hit and run tactics then. Fitting for a pirate.
It also have some kind of device that lets it hide the energy it emits, letting it stay hidden from scans and the like.
Which explains why they can ambush people. We need to keep that in mind in the future.
>Also is there any way we can hack onto his ship?
Even if we had the expertise and the facilities for it, this is an completely alien ship. So no, boss, no we cannot.

Can we not do this diplomatically? What do you want to leave peacefully?
Ah, the prey wants to parley? Very well, what kind of booty can you offer me?
Well… um… we have some technological specs we’d be willing to trade?
…I will take one of your crew. That is the bargain!
A crewmember?
One of you exotic… Sakini or what you were called. Yes, that is the booty I desire! In fact, I’m willing to sweeten the deal even! Is there something other I have you desire?
…we are awfully low on fuel…
Then how about, if you give me one of your crewmates as a slave, then I will not only leave peacefully, but I will also give you 30 units of fuel! More than enough to reach the nearby star systems!
Hmm…
…you can’t seriously consider this deal, can you, boss?
If you act now, I’ll even throw in the coordinates of a nearby black market, were you can sell off even more of your crew!


>If we've got a high chance of victory, then engage.
Your lone cruiser is clearly outmatched against their ship if it managed to get close enough, so the only chance you’ll have is if Shara is enough of a crackshot to take them down before they manage to close the distance. So… no, the chance is probably in the pirate favor if you engage right now.
>Can we lure the pirate away from the planet so the Explorer can engage with its cannons?
Now that would be a plan. They won’t have a chance against the Explorer’s main cannons… or in the worst case, they’ll probably run away in fear if we somehow managed to corner them with the ship. But how do you lure them out? They are clearly not the brightest sun around, so it shouldn’t be too hard, would it?

I like the idea of luring them out. They have the advantage of speed and range tho. Look around you, see we we can find some sore to choke point... in Space. Maybe some asteroid field or something. In the meantime keep talking to them, they seem chatty enough, with a massive ego. Exploit that and make everyone to get ready for engagement.

you could say you're going to take them up on their deal and ask them to follow you back to your ship pick which crew member they want, then radio ahead and let them know to arm the big guns and fire away once in effective range. Maybe even see if you can't get that black market info out of them before you make it back to the ship.

Though part of me is kind of hoping we can just use the cruiser you're in now to take out it's engines making it dead in the water... er space, and then take out it's guns from range so we can just syphon the fuel on her ship. But I don't think it's worth the rest when we are within range of some supply caches from the expedition fleet which is bound to have fuel and even if not we can always risk mining the gas giant.

>>1014494
You can pretend you will give a crew member as a slave but the gravity force of the planet is fucking with the ship systems so you have to get away from it so you can do the transaction, then you shot her ship but try to not destroy it, you can take their fuel and maybe recruit her?

>>1014494
Feign interest to distract the bastard.
Say you're willing to trade, but need to get further away from the planet due to ship-to-ship shuttles not being designed for use in orbit of planets.



Meanwhile... a ​big powerful engine is a big obvious target.
Lance the thing with your laser cannon. If disabling the engine doesn't blow the ship up, you can approach safely and take it otherwise intact.

>>1014494
Don't we have another ship?

Right here >>1014471 it shows our ship's status and in the bottom left corner it shows our resource gathering ships are empty. But what's that in the top left corner? Is that another ship we can use or is that just supposed to show what our weapons are?

>>1014498
>maybe recruit her?
This isn't a situation where we can recruit her.

>>1014503
Agreed. Taking out the engines will prevent them from getting close enough to hit us with their weapons, since they have terrible range.

Kaktus 2021/11/08(Mon)12:27 No. 1014507 ID: 681cb5
File 163640324321.png - (100.17KB , 900x550 , 15.png )

>Don't we have another ship? Right here >>1014471 it shows our ship's status and in the bottom left corner it shows our resource gathering ships are empty.
You have 3 smaller ships on total stationed on the flagship. 2 planetary landers, designed to gather resources and are currently out doing so, as well as 1 Sakkilian Cruiser, which is designed to handle more dangerous situation, like combat or hazardous environments. It is currently still in the hanger and ready to launch at your command.

>Keep talking to them, they seem chatty enough, with a massive ego. Exploit that and make everyone to get ready for engagement.
You give Doxy a small hand sign that she should ready the ship for combat.
So why are we so valuable anyway?
Exotic species are worth a whole chest of doubloons ever since the IOD Collective came and took over. Now the space outside their influence is free seas for people like me!
IOD Collective?
You haven’t met those scoundrels yet? Lucky you, because they are some real nasty sharks. Came in and took over most of the systems around here and imposed a bunch of ridiculous laws! It’s no wonder why people become pirates! KEKEKE!
I’ll keep that in mind of I ever run into them.
>Maybe even see if you can't get that black market info out of them.
KEKEKE! I’m not dumb, you scurvy crab! I’m not giving you anything until I got my booty in my ship.
Well, aren’t you a clever girl…
That’s right! I’m the cleverest girl around! KEKE!

>Say you're willing to trade, but need to get further away from the planet due to ship-to-ship shuttles not being designed for use in orbit of planets.
…really?
Yes?
…this sound fishy… what if you attack me with that big ship of yours?
Doesn’t the pirate code say that it’s dishonorable to attack while parleying?
Oh! It does! Very well, I’m heading right over then! Do bring out your most handsome men so I can choose a fitting concubine!
…how did you know about the pirate code?
I didn’t.

>When you shot her ship try to not destroy it, you can take their fuel and maybe recruit her?
Fuel is generally the first thing that explodes when you shot things, but you’ll try and minimize the damage. If anything you might at least get some metal scrap from it. As for recruiting her… well, you guess you can try? If anything she might be a valuable source of information even if you’ll need to keep her prisoner.
>A big powerful engine is a big obvious target. Lance the thing with your laser cannon. If disabling the engine doesn't blow the ship up, you can approach safely and take it otherwise intact.
Ensign Shara, do you think you can take out their engine without destroying them completely?
I’m a better shot with a rifle, chief, but I’ll do my best!
Then engage the enemy as soon as they get into range, ensign.
With pleasure!

Hey, I just noticed that you’re powering up your main guns? Why ar- GAAAH!!!
As the ship is moving in a rather predicable way, it’s easy for Shara to hit the bullseye with the laz cannons. The enemy ships engine explode, stranding them in space and leaving a hefty chunk of the ship for you to salvage. You wonder if the captain survived…
Shara, go retrieve what remains of that ship with Cruiser.
Aye aye, captain!

Kaktus 2021/11/08(Mon)12:27 No. 1014508 ID: 681cb5
File 163640326088.png - (77.77KB , 900x550 , 16.png )

A whole day passes…
Your crew consumes 5 unites of food.
Your ship consumes 1 unit of fuel.
Ensign Zell successfully retrieves a storage unit containing: 5 unit of fuel, 10 units of basic metals and a set of basic hanger equipment.
Ensign Regina successfully mines 10 unites of noble metals.
Cap. Zento, CDR. Doxy and Ensign Shara engage the enemy in glorious combat! The enemy Kelshin Raider was flawlessly defeated!
Ensign Shara successfully salvage 2 units of fuel and 5 units of basic metals from the wrecked ship.
Ensign Shara successfully captures Ikekeki the Kelshin Pirate.


The basic hanger equipment allows you to construct the following on your ship:
Planetary lander using 10 basic metals.
Sakkilian Cruiser using 20 basic metals and 5 noble metals.
In addition, your Sakkilian Cruiser are now outfitted with twin Laz turrets, increasing their combat prowess.

That would have been good to have before we engaged with the pirate…
The container also ‘ad large cold unit full of food, but it seem to ‘ave failed years ago so there were nothing useful left in it.

Ikekeki the Kelshin Pirate is currently being held prisoner in a makeshift prison in the crew quarters.


The prisoner has been stripped and secured, chief!

Well, things are looking up. You no longer need to panic about the fuel… though you still want to gather some more before leaving the system completely. Of course, you’re not leaving anything until you’ve gotten at least 10 Crew anyway…

But it’s a new day and new possibilities… and you can actually relax for a second now, can’t you?

>>1014508
Try to get in contact with the Alien Emergency Beacon on the planet. Let them know that you've captured the pirate that was orbiting above them.

Can we upgrade our ships so we can safely gather fuel from the gas giant now?

>>1014515
I vote this approach. The sunner we get to gather fuel, the better.

Yeah let's save the aliens now. Also, note to self: those tiny energy readings are pirates. That "odd beacon" is the lure. That would mean our new prisoner was lying about the pirates going home, but not the ambush method? Hmm, maybe it's a separate group of pirates.

Also let's go scan the Anomaly after the rescue mission.

>>1014515
make it so

>>1014515
Forgot to mention that we should talk with Regina, our engineer, when we try to make those upgrades I was talking about. She should have a good idea on if it's possible or not.

>>1014508
Ask our engineer what we'll need in order to safely harvest gas from the gas giant.

I said we avoid the alien beacon. If it's looping, then it's likely been on a long, long time. We should NOT go down there until we know exactly what happened and have appropriate gear to combat it.

>>1014508
>The container also ‘ad large cold unit full of food, but it seem to ‘ave failed years ago so there were nothing useful left in it.
Years ago? So that means that when the fleet started falling apart, random pieces got thrown out of hyperspace at different points in time. That explains why this piece of the Sakkilian fleet is aged years before we arrived here.

Let's try to make contact with the crashed ship to see if we can somehow offer any assistance.

>>1014540
What combat? Ikekeki literally told us that there was a crashed Raolme ship on the planet's surface and she was waiting for them to run out of power for their shields so she could go down and attack them. The ship on the planet is stranded and needs assistance, so let's show them we're friendly and try to help them.

We’ll send someone to investigate the distress signal and have some talk/interrogate our new prisoner.

>>1014515
This, also but first ask the pirates what does she knows about the beacon.

>>1014546
Ah, for some reason I thought the distress beacon was somewhere else. My bad.

Kaktus 2021/11/09(Tue)08:00 No. 1014617 ID: 681cb5
File 163647362250.png - (92.87KB , 900x550 , 17.png )

>Years ago? So that means that when the fleet started falling apart, random pieces got thrown out of hyperspace at different points in time. That explains why this piece of the Sakkilian fleet is aged years before we arrived here.
It’s possible, seeing how the Intergalactic Hyper Drive did mess around with time. There’s also a question just how long you’ve been in Cryo sleep as well… for all you know you might have been drifting out here for years.
>Note to self: those tiny energy readings are pirates. That "odd beacon" is the lure.
That does indeed seem to be the case. Now, do you just ignore it or can you use this information somehow?
>That would mean our new prisoner was lying about the pirates going home, but not the ambush method?
She said most of them headed home, but there were some of them that stayed, including her. You can only assume that this means it will be a rather small pirate force waiting in ambush near that beacon.

>Let's go scan the Anomaly after the rescue mission.
You’re sure you can spare someone to get check on it while you rescue whoever is down on that planet. As long as you specify which crewmember should go and what ship they should use to Doxy, then she’ll do the rest.
>Have some talk/interrogate our new prisoner.
Let them stow for a little bit… you’ll talk to her after the rescue mission.


>Ask our engineer what we'll need in order to safely harvest gas from the gas giant.
Safely? Oh, hun, I’m so sorry, but I don’t think we’ll ever be able to harvest from a place like that safely in our current little tussle.
So… do you have any recommendations?
Fret not, dear, I do have an idea. Though, if you don’t want to take the risk then all I can say that you’ll have to look for fuel elsewhere. That gas giant will be dangerous no matter what we do, hun.
And this idea you mentioned, Ensign Regina?
I can overclock the shields on one of our smaller ships. This would increase the protection of the pilot significantly, allowing them to gather fuel with far less risk. But, this will with 100% damage the ship in question, ensuring that it will be out of commission for several days afterwards as we repair it, dear.
And how quickly can you do that?
Just point me at a ship with the pilot you want to send there and I can get it’s blood pumping in no time. Do make sure you send someone who know what they are doing, hun, because I don’t like the look of that gas giant…
Hmm… I’ll need to consider this for now… thank you, Regina.
Do not mention it, Captain Zento, dear.

Kaktus 2021/11/09(Tue)08:00 No. 1014618 ID: 681cb5
File 163647363129.png - (145.22KB , 900x550 , 18.png )

>Try to get in contact with the Alien Emergency Beacon on the planet. Let them know that you've captured the pirate that was orbiting above them.
Do anyone read me? This is Captain Zento of… … …(right, you still haven’t named the ship).
By the endless dark, someone finally answered our distress call! And a follow Raolme as well! Thank the rivers!
They sound weird, are you sure about this, Tozlan?
Though, my friend, there seems to be some kind of malfunction on our sonar audio. I cannot identify your trade clan markings at all…
They might be pirate in disguise!
Nevertheless, friend, I am Trade Prince Tozlanaskthen tol Tauzaka, Est de tetrasen o Tauz, kez Tezlenaskthen and this is my sister… Tizli.
No! Don’t give them our names and titles, Tozlan! They are pirates!
We’ve already successfully captured the pirate that was orbiting your position, Captain Toz… um…
AGH! That’s just what a pirate would say! Divert all power to the shield! Arm the Sonic Stingers!
Call me Tozlan, Captain.
EVASIVE MANEUVERS!
Please ignore my sister back there, she’s a bit… strung up from being stuck down here for this long.
We’re up to our head in scum down here!
We beg of you, friend, as we’re at the end of the river here. We request immediate assistance! Our ship is badly damaged and is completely out of commission!
And we’re out of food!
We only have a few days of food left and our life support systems will fail any day now!
I’m not eating another IOD rations! They taste like rotten insects!
We need immediate evacuation! Do so and we’ll reward you anyway we can!
You better have a proper restaurant up there!

Well, we are not Raolme, i'm afraid, we are sakilian. We appear to be a new species in this part of the gallaxy.

In any case, we are willing to provide assistance, we have food and are capable of making accommodations for your particular alien needs.

But in exchange, we would ask you to join our crew. We are currently trying to find more of our brethren scatter around this sector. To achieve that we need more man power. I believe we can help each other if we join forces, at least temporarily, and who knows, perhaps we can establish a fruitful alliance between our species in the future.

I'm not sure if we can fix your ship with our current tools. Maybe we can come back later to recuperate it.

might as let them know that you're not the same species as they are but instead are a Sakkilian and you and you're crew where part of a explorer fleet that was struck with some kind of catastrophe failure during travel that tore the fleet apart and forcing you and your crew to brake off and escape on the ship you have here. You were looking for other survivors and supplies and came across their distress beacon. You will gladly give them a ride... as long as you're not fired upon while trying to help, but being stranded in an unknown part of space you do not know what lies beyond this system so they're going to need to give you directions if they want to return home.

Probably should ask how many people we're going to bring aboard. Our food stores are full but I'm not sure how many people we can comfortably house. I doubt they have enough people to overpopulate our ship but still would be nice to know what our maximum capacity is for crew.

>>1014618
Alright let's send the cruiser to scan the Anomaly, one of the landers to rescue the Raolmes, and send our best pilot with the overcharged shields to harvest gases. Better to do that now, while we're occupied and have nothing else to send the second lander out to do.

Name the ship: The Shed Scale.

>>1014618
Well, if they were putting on some kind of act, they certainly wouldn't have the sister deliberately act crazy, so I think we can trust them.
Bring them on board.

"We're not Raolme; we're Sakkalians, new arrivals in this galaxy."

>>1014617
Zell volunteered himself to go down to the gas giant with the cruiser, since he said that he's the best we've got when it comes to mining. And Regina recommended that we send someone that knows what they're doing to the gas giant. So let's listen to what our crew said we should do.

Have Regina overclock the cruiser's shields and send Zell to the gas giant to gather fuel.

>>1014618
>Raolme
Correct them on your species and tell them that you're new to the galaxy.

We should send a friendly face down to get them. Would Doxy be willing to go pick them up? If not, we can send Shara to go get them.

>You better have a proper restaurant up there!
Sorry, you're out of luck on that.

>>1014622
>still would be nice to know what our maximum capacity is for crew.
I think 20 is our maximum.

>>1014626
Do this

>>1014626
> Have Regina overclock the cruiser's shields and send Zell to the gas giant to gather fuel.

Wait wouldn’t we want to send a cargo shuttle or whatever they’re called since those are the ships good at collecting stuff? The cruiser is for fights and scouting.

>>1014669
Wait, you’re right. So why did Zell recommend he should use the cruiser to gather fuel? That doesn’t make sense!

"... Audiographic Etchings? Are you telling me you can see LED-quality screen lights with your ears? Please tell me there are residents in the area who have eyeballs...
This is Escape Pod 01 of the former S.C. Starlight. Our long-range navigation systems are compromised and our main cruiser is a pile of temporally-warped slag. We are currently searching for the nearest friendly orbital station. The good news is, we stocked up on quality supplies, but the only things on the menu are protein shakes and milk. We'll trade you your safety for directions."

Kaktus 2021/11/10(Wed)05:40 No. 1014681 ID: 681cb5
File 163655163642.png - (159.66KB , 900x550 , 19.png )

Let’s get the misunderstanding cleared up first. We are not Raolme and we do not belong to any trade clan. What we are is Sakkilian colonists who arrived in your galaxy rather recently.
What? You’re aliens from another galaxy? Surely, that’s a jest?
Just look at their ship! It’s super weird and briny as the dark… not to mention huge! I’ve never heard anything like it!
While we do have similar face shape, the “markings” on our head are our eyes. Though, speaking of eyes… I have to ask, do actually have eyes hidden somewhere or can you actually somehow hear those screens there behind you?
Um… different colors bounce different amount of our sonar clicks, which means-
You can show off each other’s biology later. We need help right now!
In any case, we are willing to provide assistance. We have food and are capable of making accommodations for your particular alien needs.
Oh, thank the rivers flow! We’re saved!
Though, seeing as we’re currently been stranded in part unknown, you’ll need to give directions if you want to return home.
Just give me a star chart and I’ll lead the way, friend.
Just don’t expect us to give away where our colonies are.

>Probably should ask how many people we're going to bring aboard.
While our Defender class ship usually deploy with a group of 5 crew, there’s only the two of us down here.
We took a direct hit from one of those Kelshin Pirate Pillager class ships and lost the others.
Their harpoon tube penetrated our outer hull and sucked our three other crewmember right out into their own ship, capturing them to sell as slaves later.
Which is horrible as one of them owned me 18 credits.
>I doubt they have enough people to overpopulate our ship but still would be nice to know what our maximum capacity is for crew.
Your current crew quarters can house 20 members, though it is possible to have more people onboard at any given time. Doing so will probably result in a quick and rapid decline in morale, seeing as people won’t have anywhere to sleep and relax.

>But in exchange, we would ask you to join our crew.
You what?
Huh?
We are currently trying to find more of our brethren scatter around this sector. To achieve that we need more man power. I believe we can help each other if we join forces, at least temporarily, and who knows, perhaps we can establish a fruitful alliance between our species in the future.
While we will gladly accept you help, friend, the IOD Collective strongly forbids aiding anyone not a member of their unity.
…we’re not even in IOD space currently, bro.
Our colony fleet was struck with some kind of catastrophe failure during our travel here that tore the fleet apart, so we need all the help we can get.
While we’d love to help but… err… y-you know, maybe it’s for the best if don’t come aboard your ship? How about we just trade… um… this fuel we have for some food and you can just leave us here for now?
What!? Oh no, you don’t!

The sound is cut out as Tizli slithers up to her brother and… um… you hope they are just having an argument...
…that’s a lot of teeth.
…is that her leg or…?

Me and my sister has… come to an agreement that will board your ship… though as guests, and not crewmembers.
Speak for yourself. I’m joining them as soon as they show me one of their restaurants.
Sorry, you’re out of luck on that. We only have protein shakes and similar easy to make food from the tubers we grow. You know, what with us having survived a catastrophe failure and being stranded here, we really don’t have a lot of options for food.
Then build a briny restaurant or something on that huge ship of yours, you scum sucker! I’m not joining anyone until a get a proper meal for once, because I’m sick and tired of these damn IOD regulated rations!
We’ll see if we can do, Tizli. Though, I have to ask, who are the IOD Collective anyway and why are they regulating your food?
They are currently de facto rulers of this sector… or at least, a majority of it. And they don’t take kindly to anyone who doesn’t join them and follow their rules, friend.
And they regulate and outright forbids pretty much everything! Food, music, holovids, games…
Information, education, sex, love, who gets to travel etc.
They don’t sound very pleasant.
No scum! They are the worst!
And the Raolme race on the whole are their Thralls, including our trade clan. We have to follow their rulings, even out here outside their sphere of influence.
It’s not like they are going to find out, you coward.

>I'm not sure if we can fix your ship with our current tools. Maybe we can come back later to recuperate it.
Our hanger would be able to repair it, if we had the right materials, Sir.
Then let us retrieve it from the surface and house it in the hanger for the time being.
Thank you, we very much appreciate your help, friend.
>We should send a friendly face down to get them. Would Doxy be willing to go pick them up?
Um… sure? It seems safe enough?
Tozlan, Tizli? We’re sending someone down to rescue you and retrieve your ship. Please prepare yourself for extraction.
Finally!

Kaktus 2021/11/10(Wed)05:40 No. 1014682 ID: 681cb5
File 163655164766.png - (106.29KB , 900x550 , 20.png )

>Have Regina overclock the cruiser's shields and send Zell to the gas giant to gather fuel.
Ah guess dying down there beats the slow death up ‘ere.
Oh, don’t fret hun, it will be fine after I’ve done my wizardry with your ship.
Ah do ‘ope so, lass, ah do.
>Alright let's send a lander to scan the Anomaly.
Right away, chief! I’m itching to blow something up!
>Wait wouldn’t we want to send a cargo shuttle or whatever they’re called since those are the ships good at collecting stuff? The cruiser is for fights and scouting.
While the Planetary lander can more easily collect and store more resources, the Cruiser has a more advance shield system, making it more durable against the harsh atmosphere of the gas giant.


A whole day passes…
Your crew consumes 7 unites of food.
Your ship consumes 1 unit of fuel.
Ensign Shara successfully scavenge the remains of a unknown ship containing: 2 units of fuel, 20 units of basic metals and 5 unites of noble metals.
Ensign Regina overclocks a Sakkilian Cruiser used by Ensign Zell.
Ensign Zell failed to return from the gas giant. Ensign Zell is MIA! You have lost a Sakkilian Cruiser!
CDR. Doxy Successfully towed a Raolme Defender ship into the hanger.
CDR. Doxy Successfully rescued Ensign Tizli and Lt. Tozlan from a wrecked ship and was rewarded with 15 fuel!
Ensign Tizli and Lt. Tozlan are now guests on the ship.

Warning: You basic metals storage is overfilled. You cannot travel without losing any excess units.

Doxy, report.
Ensign Shara successfully scavenged all useful material from that anomaly we found. It turned out to be the wreckage of what we assume was a pirate ship that had been shot by our automated defenses.
Good… and Ensign Zell?
…still no sign of him, sir. We completely disappeared as soon as he entered the gas clouds of the planet, boss.
…
Some good news though, I managed to successfully tow the Raolme ship to the hanger, and Ensign Regina thinks we can repair it, with an exception for its hyperdrive, with just some metal and corrosive materials.
And the Raolme?
Both Lt. Tozlan and Ensign Tizli has retreated to their new quarters to rest and eat, sir. You can visit them at any time you see fit.
I see…
What are your orders, sir?
… … …as we’re no longer in immediate danger, now that we have enough fuel to last us for some time, I think it would be prudent to slow down a bit. Our next step is to increase our crew so we can finally leave this system, but that is not as urgent as the fuel situation was. We’ll keep orbit around the gas giant for a few days so that our crew can relax for a bit. In the meantime, we should upgrade our ship and extend our fleet. Commander Doxy, see to it that our current materials is put to good use. Maybe mine some of the asteroids if we need more metals.
Right away, boss!

The Captain seems a bit down after we lost contact with Zell, so you better work super hard so that he’ll brighten up a bit! That’s why you’ve made a list of everything you might need on the ship… note that you’ve abridged the material cost as follows: Basic Metal = BM, Noble Metal = NM, Organic Material = OM, Corrosives = C.

Essentials
Vat upgrade: Will let us clone / fast grow eggs into more crew if necessary. Cost: 10 BM, 5 NM.
Security station: Let’s us deploy security to keep the peace. Cost: 15 BM.
Brig: We need somewhere to put prisoners, like that pirate. Cost: 20 BM.
Storage Upgrade: Lets us store more, ‘nuff said. Cost: 25 BM, 25 NM.
Crew Quarters Upgrade: Lets us store more people, ‘nuff said. Cost: 10 BM, 10 NM, 10 OM.
Research Lab: If we want to learn more about this galaxy, we need a dedicated place for research. Cost: 5 NM, 5 OM, 5 C.

Recreational
Mess Hall: Eating proper food will do wonders for morale. It’s also what Tizli asked for if we want her to join the crew. Cost: 10 BM, 5 NM.
Sun deck: Sakkilian loves laying in the sun, would boost morale significantly. Cost: 15 BM, 5 NM.
Swimming hall: While our Sakkilian crew will avoid it, all three of our alien friends seem to love water. Cost: 15 BM, 5 NM.
Garden: Having somewhere to cool down will ensure less fights happens. Cost: 15 OM.

Ships
Planetary Lander: Good for mining, not much else. Cost: 10 BM.
Sakkilian Cruiser: Our basic combat ship. Cost: 20 BM, 5 NM.
Repair the Raolme Defender: They would probably be glad if we fixed their ship. Cost: 20 BM, 5 C.

There might be other modules you want to construct that are not on the list, if you come up with any. Oh, and you have to remember you have both guest and a prisoner that might need attention from either you or the Captain as well.

>Name the ship: The Shed Scale.
That is kind of a fitting name. Unless someone comes up with a better one we might just go with it.

[You can now control both Commander Doxy and Captain Zento]

Buy the Vat Upgrade to replenish crew, then a second Mining Ship to explore.
We're running out of food, ask our guests where the nearest biodiverse planet is so we can unsportingly shoot down some galloping meat.

>>1014681
>Their harpoon tube penetrated our outer hull and sucked our three other crewmember right out into their own ship, capturing them to sell as slaves later.
That’s something important we need to remember! Beware of Kelshin Pirate Pillager class ships, they can steal crew from our ship with their harpoons!

>>1014682
>Ensign Zell failed to return from the gas giant. Ensign Zell is MIA! You have lost a Sakkilian Cruiser!
Oh no! Have someone get on the scanners and start looking for Sakkilian energy signatures or communications signals. Hopefully we’ll be able to find Zell that way.

>upgrades?
Let’s get the Vat upgrade, the Mess Hall, and the Sakkilian Cruiser.

>name?
I like The Shed Scale. That can be our ship’s name.

can we put someone on the ship's scanners to look for our missing crew member?

As for upgrades, vat upgrade, mess hall, and I guess a replacement cruiser for the one we maybe lost.

>>1014682
Shouldn't there be something involving medical facilities on that list of upgrades? Our Vat system is good for treating Sakkilians, but what about any aliens we recruit? Our Vat systems might not be compatible with aliens or the aliens may not like how the Vats work and simply refuse to use them.

We should have an alternative to the Vats, just in case we need it.

Someone should go talk to the Raolme and show them our scans of the current area we're in. They might be able to figure out which way we need to take them so they can get home.

Mess Hall, Vat Upgrade.

>>1014682
Yup, Shed Scale works for me.

Combine sun deck and swimming hall to make beach deck

Build the vat upgrade, mess hall and a replacement cruiser. We'll need the cruiser not just for the firepower but also for if my some miracle Zell is still alive we're gonna need it to attempt to rescue him.

Put Regina on scanning the gas giant for any signs of Zell's cruiser, and Shara on rescanning this star system for energy signatures. This is just in case more ships enter the system or what we presume are pirate ships waiting in ambush start moving to our position.

Commander Doxy should take a bit to look up all the known materials that can be used to make fuel, what kinds of places they are commonly found and how dangerous each is to gather. I want to know for later on options for fuel materials that are less risky than trying to suck them out of a gas giant. And while she's at it, she ought to check if there are any gas harvester plans in the database and, if so, figure out what resources would be needed to make one and how many crew to man it.

Captain Zento should visit the Raolme with a astronomical scan so they can figure out not just where they want to go but to mark out other notable star systems. In particular you want ones with either fuel for sale, preferably not under the IOD Collective's watch, or materials to make fuel, also preferably not under IOD Collective watch.

If possible, every member of the crew under Captain Zento's command ought to submit genetic samples suitable as a cloning source and genetic samples suitable for creating eggs (artificially or naturally) to be stored. Also, if possible, they should also provide neuro scans to be the basis of memory implantation for cloned or rapid aged crew.

Also, I want to know what the line of thought was to send Zell down to gather material for fuel when even after the shield overclocking there was still a risk of him or the ship being lost when we had 8 days of fuel to work with. There really wasn't a urgent need there.

>>1014697
I think this sums up all we need to do.

>>1014697
>Why send Zell for fuel?
I think the idea was to build up enough fuel so that we wouldn't need to worry about it for a while.

>>1014697
Do this. It's better than anything I can think of.

>>1014724
Okay, personally I would have suggested holding off 'till we found out if we'd get fuel from the Raolme before risking a crew member, especially since we need at least ten crew to do a hyperspace jump out of this system. Every crew member lost runs the risk of not being able find or grow enough to get ten before our fuel reserves dip below what's needed to jump out of this system, and then we'll have to risk scooping fuel materials from the gas giant again. Lose that bet and we may lose the crew member and cost us time we don't have to make another, or lose the cruiser and then may not be able to get the materials to build another. The risk just didn't make sense.

But this line of thought brought a few questions to mind that we ought to get answers to in order to make educated choices on what to do:

First, how much fuel it takes to perform a hyperspace jump? Is it a fixed amount to jump, variable based on distance to the destination star system or something else?

Second, what materials does the cloning system need to make a clone and how long does it take?

Third, what materials does the rapid aging method of creating crew need and how long does it take?

And relatedly to the third question: An egg takes several months to gestate before it's laid, right? So will pregnant crew members have to be put in the rapid aging pod to speed that up or is there another way to accelerate gestation that doesn't end up shaving months off the crew member's life?

Kaktus 2021/11/11(Thu)15:33 No. 1014834 ID: 681cb5
File 163667362473.png - (123.80KB , 1125x550 , 21.png )

>I like The Shed Scale. That can be our ship’s name.
Then The Shed Scale it is. You’ll notify the captain and we’ll properly christen it when things calm down a bit.
>That’s something important we need to remember! Beware of Kelshin Pirate Pillager class ships, they can steal crew from our ship with their harpoons!
We should be careful about all those pirate ships, really. Though, it seems so far all those Kelshin ships prefers getting in close and personal really quickly… while our upgraded Cruisers Laz weaponry are designed to take out hard to hit ships from a really long range. As long as we see them coming we shouldn’t have a problem, should we?
>I want to know what the line of thought was to send Zell down to gather material for fuel when there was still a risk of him or the ship being lost when we had 8 days of fuel to work with.
What with everything going super swell otherwise, you can only guess that the Captain felt sure that nothing would happen. Zell’s disappearance did clearly shake him a bit, as he was brought back to reality. Hmm… you really should do something to brighten his day, because having a gloomy Captain just won’t do, no sir!


>Shouldn't there be something involving medical facilities on that list of upgrades?
There is already a small Med-bay operational on the ship, but upgrading it as we gain more crew might be a super duper idea, so that we can take care of more people and faster. The only problem is that we will need an actual doctor to man it… but if we get our Vat systems running we can always just grow a doctor, can’t we? Upgrading the Medical Bay will cost 5 OM and 5 C.
>Our Vat system is good for treating Sakkilians, but what about any aliens we recruit?
Both the medical applications and the… reproductive ones should work for them? But it might be a super good idea to build a research lab and take a closer look at them just in case… so we know how they tick, you know?


>Can we put someone on the ship's scanners to look for our missing crew member?
I’ll see to that personally, Doxy. It’s my duty as Captain to ensure we do everything we can to find him again.
>Put someone on rescanning this star system for energy signatures. This is just in case more ships enter the system or what we presume are pirate ships waiting in ambush start moving to our position.
Sir, I’ve detected something on the energy scan. The pirates are on the move. I don’t think they know we’re here, but they are moving towards the blue planet in the system.
…
Are you listening sir?
Yes, but something more important just came up. A very weak signal just pierced through the stratosphere of the gas giant. Send someone immediately with a ship to check on it!
I’m on it!

Kaktus 2021/11/11(Thu)15:33 No. 1014835 ID: 681cb5
File 163667363638.png - (164.80KB , 1125x550 , 22.png )

Ensign Shara manages to tow the heavily damaged Cruiser back to the ship.

*Cough* Ensign Zell reporting for duty, lad…
Geez, you’re in a bad shape... what the fuck happened?
Ah got greedy *Cough* went to deep… then the left engine exploded on me, lass…
Try not to talk too much, Zell, save your energy. Ensign Shara, escort him to the medical bay immediately.
Got it, chief.
*Cough*Cough* May ah request a day or two off, sir?
Granted, Ensign. Now get some rest.

Zell have successfully been saved but will need a few days in the med-bay to recuperate. The cruiser he used has been badly damaged and will also need a few days with the Hangers automatic repair system. The good news is that he came back with his tank full of Noble Gases, which enable you to synthesize 30 units of fuel.

-----------------------------------------------------

>Buy the Vat Upgrade to replenish crew.
You ask Regina to upgrades the Vats, costing you 10BM and 5NM.
We’ll be baking buns in the oven in no time, hun, don’t you fret about it.
>The Mess Hall.
Tizli the Raolme volunteer to construct the Mess Hall herself, costing you 10Bm and 5NM.
So I just follow these instructions? By the eternal dark, this ship is effective at making these neat new modules. Before the river calms, we’ll be baking buns in these ovens, you’ll see! …wait, why are you smiling like that?
>I guess a replacement cruiser for the one we might have lost.
…seeing that the only one that’s not busy elsewhere, you guess Shara will make a new Cruiser? But you’re sure she’ll be fine. It’s super easy, after all. Either way, it costs you 20BM and 5NM
Um… most of this shit is automatic, right? Because I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.
>Combine sun deck and swimming hall to make beach deck.
While that might please both parts, you sadly do not have the resources (or manpower, currently) to build either of those. But you’ll keep it in mind.

>If possible, every member of the crew under Captain Zento's command ought to submit genetic samples suitable as a cloning source and genetic samples suitable for creating eggs (artificially or naturally) to be stored.
While you wouldn’t mind “helping” either the Captain or Zell with leaving some genetic samples, it might a bit more difficult with us ladies. Though, this is probably more the Captain’s job… and he’ll need to decide how he’ll pass out this information, because you have no idea how you tell people that you might start cloning them or need them to start “getting it on”. Hmm… do you do it personally one-on-one or with ship wide announcement?
>Also, if possible, they should also provide neuro scans to be the basis of memory implantation for cloned or rapid aged crew.
The Vat upgrade we’re currently building will let us implant pre-made memories into the new crew, but sadly we can’t do any kind of neuro scan to base it of someone here.
>What materials does the cloning system need to make a clone and how long does it take?
Making a clone from scratch require a DNA sample from one or more people and takes 5 days. It will consume 1 unit of food under each of these days as well. It’s also rather power consuming, so baking several people at once will start consuming fuel.
>what materials does the rapid aging method of creating crew need and how long does it take?
It require 1 egg, 1 unit of food and takes only one day… not counting the gestate period of the egg, of course. While it is faster than cloning, we still need people to… get it on, so to speak.
>An egg takes several months to gestate before it's laid, right? So will pregnant crew members have to be put in the rapid aging pod to speed that up or is there another way to accelerate gestation that doesn't end up shaving months off the crew member's life?
We can synthesis some substances that will enable super growth of eggs still in the belly, so they’ll be laid after just a single day! So, to be clear… Day 1: Have fun -> Day 2: Big belly -> Day 3: Egg gets laid and put in the Vat -> Day 4: New recruit, ready for action. In the end, it’s 2 days faster than cloning them from scratch.

>Commander Doxy should take a bit to look up all the known materials that can be used to make fuel, what kinds of places they are commonly found and how dangerous each is to gather. I want to know for later on options for fuel materials that are less risky than trying to suck them out of a gas giant.
Fuel that we can harvest ourselves will be found either on Gas Giants or planets very close to a star, not counting wrecked ships and the like. While the planets will always be dangerous thanks to them being super hot, the danger of the gas giant will vary wildly. Of course, seeing as there’s aliens around, any gas giant that’s easy to harvest has probably already been claimed by someone else.
>While she's at it, she ought to check if there are any gas harvester plans in the database.
There are upgrades to the planetary landers to protect against most dangers that we might face on a planet, but we sadly do not have the facilities to upgrade them. We either need to research a way to build these upgrades on the ship or find another facilities to use.
>How much fuel it takes to perform a hyperspace jump? Is it a fixed amount to jump, variable based on distance to the destination star system or something else?
It’s depends on the distance, but a minimum of 5 is to be expected. Of course, if you want to be on the super safe side, you should have about 15 fuel before you start traveling somewhere.

Kaktus 2021/11/11(Thu)15:34 No. 1014836 ID: 681cb5
File 163667364921.png - (171.61KB , 1125x550 , 23.png )

>The Captain should go talk to the Raolme and show them our scans of the current area we're in. They might be able to figure out which way we need to take them so they can get home.
Bleh, do even need to return home? Can we go somewhere cool instead, brother?
Yes, yes we do. Don’t worry, friend, I’ll mark the location of the rendezvous point we had with the trade fleet… which… we were supposed to be at over a week ago.
Heh, guess we’re completely scummed, eh?
I better mark the next point I knew the trade fleet will be at… even if it’s some time before they get there.
>Also mark out other notable star systems. In particular you want ones with either fuel for sale, preferably not under the IOD Collective's watch, or materials to make fuel, also preferably not under IOD Collective watch.
Obviously, you’ll want to visit our clans nearby trade post. You won’t find brinier deals anywhere!
I’m sure they’ll find better deals in the Kelshin Freeport sphere.
The only things they’ll find there is pirates!
But it sounds so… romantic. The freedom, the exotic clubs, the briny food… ah… I’ve always wanted to visit.
Then next time get kidnapped by those scumsucking pirates, Tizli, and they’ll sell you right there in one of their black markets.
You’re such a bore, Tozlan.
And somewhere we can harvest our own fuel?
I don’t know about that, friend. I’m a trader, not a miner.
>We're running out of food, ask our guests where the nearest biodiverse planet is so we can unsportingly shoot down some galloping meat.
While we don’t need to hunt for food seeing as we can grow our own, capturing some cattle like animals and putting them in a pen would ensure that we have more varied food on the ship.
Well, I think there is a rather biodiverse planet just one system over, but it’s rather dangerous.
Isn’t that the one with man eating plants?
Really? That does sound rather bad.
Otherwise… I’m pretty sure we detected some fungal life on that blue planet nearby, if you’re desperate for Organic Materials.
I’ll keep that in mind.
Hey, friend, you wouldn’t mind me keeping this star chart for a while? You can’t enter Hyperspace yet anyway, right? I might want to add a few more details later.
As long as I get it before we jump, then go ahead.

Now, Captain, my friend, may I ask you a favor?
Yes?
Can you please, for the eternal dark sake, convince my sister to not stay here? She refuses to listen to reason!
Hey! I already said that I’m joining the crew for a while if I get some decent pearls on my plate.
You’re swimming right at the end of the river, sis!
Don’t worry, brother. It’s not like I’m stuck for life! I’m just going to enjoy life for a bit, cruise through the star and leave when I’ve collected enough pay to… wait, I’m getting paid, right?
What if the IOD Collective finds out?
Try and live a little and stop worrying about them.
Well, I for one will refuse to join, no matter what kinds of pearls or brine they might offer me!
Then go home and be boring, while I have some fun.
Captain, please! You can’t let her join your crew!
Psst, I’m getting paid, right?

>>1014835
Noble Gasses are actually useless as fuel because they don't chemically react with anything. They're actually used to flush out gasses that would react when welding.

Standard rocket fuel is liquid hydrogen.

>>1014836
>Psst, I’m getting paid, right?
We don't know what passes for credits in this system. Do we have some system for paying our crew normally? Wait, can we even access the ship's funds?
I guess once we do some trading we can arrange for a crew stipend.

Tell the brother you will fully inform his sister of your situation, but after that it's her choice, and he should respect it.

>blue planet has unknown signal
Hmm, can we get two cruisers out and operational in time to intercept the pirates?
Interrogate the prisoner, find out if that unknown signal is the pirates' home base. Also, find out how big their fleet is. If we can raid a pirate hive, we can get some good loot I bet, and our weapons seem to be a good match for theirs, but if they have enough of a numbers advantage we'd better avoid them.

>>1014834
>Pirates moving towards blue planet
>>1014836
>blue planet nearby has Organic Materials
Shit. We need those to fix the Raolme ship and for some of the upgrades.

Since a few of our ships are out of commission, we'd better avoid the pirates. We'll also need more crew members before we engage in combat. We got lucky that we only ran into a single pirate by herself.

>Stop my sister from joining your crew!
"She's a grown adult and is capable of making her own decisions. If she wants to join, then I won't stop her."

Ask the brother why he's so desperate to meet up with the trade fleet?

>>1014846
>Shit. We need those to fix the Raolme ship and for some of the upgrades.
Their ship requires corrosives, not organic compounds, to repair. Corrosives are also needed for the research lab and for the med-bay upgrade, so we best be looking for them 'cause we won't be able to come up with new ship and module plans on our own 'till we got a research lab.

Best look up the common places corrosive materials are located naturally so we get some idea how likely they're in this system. If it's a low or less chance then we'll probably either have to hyperspace jump out to find them, or beat up the pirates in the hope they've got some.

We have no idea what you use for money. Presumably something that can't be fabricated easily?

By the way pardon me captain but I just heard that Doxy said she would be fine making some eggs with you or Zell. Just so you know. If I were you I'd make a broad announcement that people can start making more crewmembers at their own discretion for now, and we'll worry about more detailed genetic planning once we have a few extra hands to start with.

>>1014835
>Zell was rescued!
Yay! He’s back!

>he brought fuel
Ok, with how much we have, we don’t need to gather anymore for a while.

>Shara helping Zell
It’s good to see that despite their argument they can still get along.

>need people to start “getting it on”
Doxy, isn’t it tradition for the Captain and Second in Command to be the first to “get it on”? You should probably go make this suggestion to the Captain and let him know that you’re ready to get started.

>out of materials
We’d better assign someone to go mine some Basic Metals.

>>1014836
>Captain, please! You can’t let her join your crew!
“Just to be sure, both of you are considered to be adults of your species, correct? Because if she’s an adult, then I believe that means that she’s old enough to make her own decisions. Also, she hasn’t officially joined yet, so I have no authority to order her to not join my crew.”

“If you’re so worried about her getting into trouble, then you should stay here with her, so that you can get her out of trouble.”

speaking of money, do we have anything worth money, and what is the common accepted currency right now. It might be nice if we could trade down the line instead of having to scavenge for everything.

Oh, would now be a good time to talk to our prisoner?

As for the request about the siblings... Well truth be told we are kind of desperate for crew at the moment but I'm not sure we have anything to pay you with at the moment seeing how we are survivors desperately looking for any trace of our fleet and other survivors. Regardless though until we reconnect with your home fleet you're both welcome to stay aboard and we'd greatly appreciate it if you could help out on the ship as we're stuck in system until we have at least 10 crew to help operate the ship.

>because you have no idea how you tell people that you might start cloning them or need them to start “getting it on”. Hmm… do you do it personally one-on-one or with ship wide announcement?
probably best 1 on 1 and see which each crew member prefers. I mean you only have 3 ensigns to ask as I doubt it would be a good idea to ask the aliens we just rescued if they are up for sex. Might send the wrong first impression.

Best put somebody on energy scans every day to keep a eye on where the pirates are; Doxy will handle that for today. Also send out a lander to scoop up those basic metals, with a cruiser escort, just to dissuade any lone pirates that may head their way, that we don't spot on scanners, from pouncing on the lander. But if we see any pirate ships heading that way on scanners, warn our ships ahead of time, (on tight directional comms to prevent being picked up on scanners) so they can flee and take a circuitous and evasive path back to the main ship to try and keep our position hidden for now. Rather not let the pirates know we're here 'till we're prepared to face 'em. And hopefully we get enough basic metals to build a brig 'cause we're probably gonna bag more prisoners if we take those pirates down.

>>1014838
Heh, maybe them being called "noble gasses" could be put down to a typo and Sakkilians actually call them "ignoble gasses," so named for being as, or often way more, reactive as the noble gasses are unreactive.

>you wouldn’t mind “helping” either the Captain or Zell with leaving some genetic samples
That's quite the "mom energy" you're putting out there. How healthy, or plenty, do you think your first clutch would be? Lucky enough to roll a good doctor?

Actually if Zell impressed Shara with his stucnt, he might be a tougher catch now. Some might be uncomfortable with having more than one "donor", or sharing their "donor" with other people. While flexibility is important in unfortunate times and circumstances, there might be something resilient in deeper bonds. You could do well to leave them alone, unless they still hate each other's guts...

>ship wide announcement?
"(ascending PTA ring) Attention: All current crewmembers are to provide biological samples to the cloning chambers. If you wish to only be cloned, in the event of death or otherwise, only blood will be necessary. If wish to donate fertilized eggs with a partner, your genetic contribution will be much more appreciated. If you have questions, or can be of assistance, please see your Commander or Captain when we are available. (decending PTA ring)"

>The Vat upgrade we’re currently building will let us implant pre-made memories into the new crew, but sadly we can’t do any kind of neuro scan to base it of someone here.
- Loss of skill/expertise on death, still need to train recruits
+ Less existential crisis (can be treated as different person). Still recommend to mutate scale color on clone, should original remain on board.

>leave when I’ve collected enough pay to… wait, I’m getting paid, right?
Unless your currency is also standardized around the least efficient material we can fit into our fabricators (that's what I remember about Star Control 2), we're going to need a rain check on your salary. That's why we need to stop at a trade depot.

Wait, "pay to"? Who do you owe, and what are they packing?

Kaktus 2021/11/12(Fri)17:55 No. 1014949 ID: 681cb5
File 163676855853.png - (168.46KB , 1125x550 , 24.png )

>Noble Gasses are actually useless as fuel because they don't chemically react with anything. They're actually used to flush out gasses that would react when welding. Standard rocket fuel is liquid hydrogen.
Liquid hydrogen would work wonders if the ship used some kind combustion engine, but it doesn’t. Instead, the hyperdrive bend reality itself into a goddessdamned pretzel making the distance from point A to point B significantly shorter. As for the Noble gasses, it’s used somewhere in the process of synthetically creating the crystalline substance Elerium that power the ship, though you’re not exactly sure where or how.
>Best look up the common places corrosive materials are located naturally so we get some idea how likely they're in this system.
If you remember correctly, the easy to harvest corrosive materials is usually found on planets with a lot of volcanic activities… or just planets close to the sun. Which is to say, hot planets.


>Just to be sure, both of you are considered to be adults of your species, correct?
Of course I’m an adult, friend, but her…?
I’m a year older than you, scumsucker.
Yet you don’t act like it, you briny tart!
Because I can’t act older than a grumpy old man, can I?
>Tell the brother you will fully inform his sister of your situation, but after that it's her choice, and he should respect it. She's a grown adult and is capable of making her own decisions.
Hear that, Tozlan? I can do whatever I want.
Ugh, don’t let her flow down river, Captain!
Besides, I’m not staying forever, am I?
You’ll be free to leave any time you want.
And this work will probably not be any more dangerous that guarding the caravans.
Still, it’s… but… ugh!
>If you’re so worried about her getting into trouble, then you should stay here with her, so that you can get her out of trouble.
I’d rather keep her out of the eternal dark in the first place, friend.
Hehe, like you’ve ever been able to keep me out of the scum.

>Do we have some system for paying our crew normally? Wait, can we even access the ship's funds?
…any kind of payment would have been controlled by the main Colony ships and their leadership, so you have no funds at all currently. Not that they would be worth anything in this galaxy anyway.
>We have no idea what you use for money. Presumably something that can't be fabricated easily?
See, they can’t even pay you!
They said they were new here, I’m sure they can pay me somehow.
Most of the galaxy are using credits, friend, which is recorded on certified cred-sticks. They are distributed and controlled by several of the more influential species around here and have some tight security to make it hard to counterfeit them.
Trust me, tall boy, don’t try and fiddle with them. I speak from experience.
>I guess once we do some trading we can arrange for a crew stipend.
See, I’m still going to get paid.
If they manage to get some money, yes.
You will be paid for each day of work, do not worry. I’ll make sure everyone is compensated properly.
I hope so.
You better pay her, friend… or I will be very cross.
>Do we have anything worth money? It might be nice if we could trade down the line instead of having to scavenge for everything.
…I’m not sure. Most people won’t buy base materials in the small quantities you seem to carry… and I’m not sure you have anything else to trade?
I was talking to that rad purple gal, Regina I think her name was, and she said some interesting things about your “Cruiser” ships. I’m sure our clan will be willing to pay handsomely for a few of those ships.
For Cruisers? Really?
The what now?
Their specs seems almost tailor made to deal with those pesky pirates, and you know how much trouble we’ve had with those scumsuckers recently.
I’ll keep that in mind.
>Wait, "pay to"? Who do you owe, and what are they packing?
Huh? Nobody? I just want enough cash to have some pearls and brine, tall boy.

Hmm… until we reconnect with your home fleet you're both welcome to stay aboard. Though we'd greatly appreciate it if you could help out on the ship as we're stuck in system until we have at least 10 crew to help operate the Hyperdrive.
You don’t have enough crew to even leave the system?
They did say they were in a bit of scum, didn’t they?
And as I said before, I will not stop Tizli from making her own decisions concerning her joining us or not.
Ugh… fine…
Heh, I knew you were rad, tall boy!
Tizlli unfurls herself from her coils, her limbs bending in all the wrong directions as she turn herself from a snake pile into a quadruped, before she slides over to you and rub her head against your… you’re going to say waist, even if it dangerous close to something else.
Um… is this… normal?
It just means we’re friends now.
She’s just marking you with her scent so she’ll know when you’re coming.
Shush, don’t ruin my plan!
Okay… that’s fine, I guess? But it’s been nice talking with you two.
Don’t be stranger, Zento.
We’ll talk again later, I’m sure, my friend.

Kaktus 2021/11/12(Fri)17:56 No. 1014950 ID: 681cb5
File 163676856971.png - (193.70KB , 1125x550 , 25.png )

>Doxy said she would be fine making some eggs with you or Zell.
As the Captain, you should let the lower ranks approach you concerning that matter, as not to accidently pull rank on them and force them into an awkward situation. Even then… maybe you should visit her later this evening for a private debriefing.
>Doxy, isn’t it tradition for the Captain and Second in Command to be the first to “get it on”? You should probably go make this suggestion to the Captain and let him know that you’re ready to get started.
(You’ve never heard of a tradition like that… but you really should see if the Captain is willing to help you “get it on”. Though, how do you approach him? Do you just ask? Or use innuendo? Maybe wait in his quarters? Hmm… regrettably, you don’t have any sexy lingerie or anything…)
>That's quite the "mom energy" you're putting out there. How healthy, or plenty, do you think your first clutch would be?
(Sadly, your clutch will probably just be one egg… but you’re sure it will be super-duper healthy! This body was made to be a mom!)
>Lucky enough to roll a good doctor?
(Now that’s up to the Vats to decide what training the eggs gets… but you’re sure you can change some variables here or there, hihi…)
>Actually if Zell impressed Shara with his stunt, he might be a tougher catch now. Some might be uncomfortable with having more than one "donor", or sharing their "donor" with other people.
(The important part is that they keep “donating”, though it’s a super bummer if Zell decides to just focus Shara, because you wouldn’t mind calling him daddy, no sir!)

>If I were you I'd make a broad announcement that people can start making more crewmembers at their own discretion for now, and we'll worry about more detailed genetic planning once we have a few extra hands to start with.
It’s better to just get this over with, true. The sooner we get more crew, the better.
>I doubt it would be a good idea to ask the aliens we just rescued if they are up for sex. Might send the wrong first impression.
Hmm… then let’s not broadcast the announcement in their quarters then… actually, seeing as you only really have four people that need to hear this, you’ll just broadcast it directly to their radios.

Attention: All current crewmembers are implored to provide biological samples to the Vat chamber. If you wish to only be cloned, in the event of death or otherwise, only blood will be necessary. If wish to donate fertilized eggs with a partner, your genetic contribution will be much more appreciated. If you have questions, or if we can be of assistance, please see your Commander or Captain when we are available. End of message.



>We’d better assign someone to go mine some Basic Metals. With a cruiser escort, just to dissuade any lone pirates that may head their way.
You’ll try and remember that until tomorrow, as currently we have neither a cruiser nor manpower to do so.
>Hmm, can we get two cruisers out and operational in time to intercept the pirates?
One Cruiser is so badly damaged that it will take a few days before it’s operational, so no, we probably won’t.
>Since a few of our ships are out of commission, we'd better avoid the pirates. We'll also need more crew members before we engage in combat.
It might be for the best to simply ignore them. While they might have a lot of booty over there, unless we can come up with a really good plan it’s probably not worth the risk.
>Our weapons seem to be a good match for theirs.
As Tizli said, “their specs seems almost tailor made to deal with those pesky pirates”. As long as they don’t ambush you, you’ll be able to blast most of them out of the sky before they get into range with their own weapons… err… blast them out of space, you mean.

>Interrogate the prisoner!
You enter the crew quarters that has hastily been converted into a brig to find the Kelshin Pirate Ikekeki in some rather ill-fitting clothes.
Finally someone comes by that I can complain to! I’m dry as a beached whegatron here! Don’t you have someplace water filled to keep me? …or at least a pool?
There’s a shower in the room over there, if that’s enough.
A what now?
It’s… a rain making machine.
Eh… it will have to do, but I’d much prefer a proper bath… so what do you want, you scurvy crab? Here to gloat before you make me walk the plank?
I’m here for information. I’m sure your pirate code says something about sharing information?
The same pirate code you broke when you attacked me in the middle of parley?
Yes, that one. My apologies for breaking it.
Hey, don’t be! Making others follow it before breaking it yourself when it suits you is what a real badass pirate would do, KEKEKE! Besides, the code is clear, we free Kelshin are to follow the strongest, as seeing how your badass ship completely keelhauled my ship…
…so you’ll follow us?
What? No, of course not. I meant I’m willing to parley. Properly this time. Though I’m putting down my claw right now when it comes to selling out my sisters or working against them, otherwise… I’ll talk. I like talking.
I’ve noticed…
>find out if that unknown signal is the pirates' home base.
Oh that? Why, you should really go check on it, it’s not dangerous! KEKEKE!
So it’s defended then.
What? But I didn’t say anything about the booty being defended!
Booty?
Nnnnooo? It’s nothing. Nope. I don’t see why you’re asking me about it anyway.
Because your pirate “sisters” are heading over there right now.
WHAT!? Those backstabbing shrimps, why I ought… gah! That’s my booty!
Okay, what exactly is it. If you tell us what it is I might be able to help you get the booty back.
…fine, I’ll talk, I’ll talk. We hid our treasure there, so it shouldn’t slow us down while we were still in the system.
Your other friends didn’t take all the booty with them when they left?
No way anyone would trust their booty with someone else! They’ll just plunder it! Just like those scurvy crabs are about to do to my booty! We better go stop them!
We?
Err… you better go stop them? Because… I’ll share the booty? Well, their part of the booty, not mine.
Uh huh…
>Also, find out how big their fleet is.
…I guess they’ve already backstabbed me so… we were 8 in total.
8 ships? Really?
No, 8 Kelshin. It was me and another in these small one crew Raiders, as well as six in one of the bigger Pillager ships.
So there’s two ships out there, one small Raider and one Pillager class.
Oh, and there’s two anti-spacecraft auto cannons on the surface of the planet, but they’ll probably be uninstalling them if they are about to leave. They’ll fire on anything unless you broadcast the right code sequence to them.
Auto cannons, you say? Those to sound bothersome…

So… um… what now?
What do you mean, what now?
What are you going to do with me? You’re not letting me go, right?
No, we’re not.
So… you’re going to cast me out the airlock? Sell me like booty? Maroon me on a planet with a bottle of Bashk? Or are you going to turn me into your personal slave like I tried with you?
…

>So… you’re going to cast me out the airlock? Sell me like booty? Maroon me on a planet with a bottle of Bashk? Or are you going to turn me into your personal slave like I tried with you?

Join the crew? I mean don't pirates sometimes recruit some of the members by forced conscription? Good way to fill out a lacking crew with some more bodies... kind of like how our crew is right now. Plus she said she'll follow us... for now anyways. Still though probably best to pair her with someone just so they can watch her. Probably Shara when she's free since she has shown she isn't afraid to get into a tumble if needed.

Also might as well ask what her kinds eat just to make sure the mess hall will be able to feed her... and also what treasure she and her sisters have stashed away. If it's good enough we might actually consider trying to go after it before they run off with it. (really I'm hoping they'll have money to make dealing with other aliens easier should we decide to hire more crew or to possibly purchase goods and materials if needed)

>>1014950
Personal slave sounds pretty good actually. Have her working as a farmer or cook or whatever. So long as you don't have any poison lying around there isn't anything she can sabotage that way without also getting herself killed.

>>1014950
"Well, seeing as how you'd probably be a danger anywhere else, you're part of the crew now. I don't trust you much so I'm not going to give you free roam of the ship just yet.

We plan to install a beach deck somewhere down the line, so you'll eventually have a proper place to relax."

Are you capable of working a hydroponics bay?"

>>1014956
I'm fairly sure she means sex slave.

>>1014950
Did you hear that announcement, Doxy? Now’s your chance! Go find the Captain and, if he’s not busy, tell him that you’re reporting for fertilization duty!

>You’ll try and remember that until tomorrow, as currently we have neither a cruiser nor manpower to do so.
Since we can’t gather resources for now, let’s assign people to work the Farm and assign someone to the new Mess Hall.

>I’m dry as a beached whegatron here! Don’t you have someplace water filled to keep me? …or at least a pool?
Let’s make it a priority to get that Swimming hall once we’re able to get the resources for it. Uh, we’re not doing it for Ikekeki, we’re doing it for our Raolme friends.

>Yes, that one. My apologies for breaking it.
Technically, you didn’t break anything, since the code only applies to pirates and you’re not a pirate. So you didn’t need to apologize for that.

>>1014950
... You could always get yourself a piece of that pirate booty (not talking about space junk), though slavery doesn't seem to be your shtick, and neither do you seem the sort to pressure a lady on that. She's cute in her own way, but no doubt treacherous. Be careful.

>I’m dry as a beached whegatron here!
Ah, so she wants you to make her wet then. More seriously, with just under half the occupants of your ship being fairly amphibious, water and water based activities have shifted up the priority list a fair bit.
Figure out what she can do. You need to know what worth she has regardless, but if she's useful and helpful, that would be great. She'll have to be on a tight leash, but you need all the help you can get.

And Doxy? If you're interested in eggs with the Cap in the short term (or just being first), you may want to act quick. Zell is out of commission for a little bit, so the others have limited options if there interest is eggs.

>Their specs seems almost tailor made to deal with those pesky pirates, and you know how much trouble we’ve had with those scumsuckers recently.
You might want to keep your tech advantage close to the chest, for now. You don't know how the balance of power will fall if you don't; you're entering Prime Directive territory here.

>Sell me like booty?
Is that what pirates call being turned to the proper authorities? Kind of sad if true, even if a bounty's involved. Domination fetish aside, where's the respect for the dignity of sapient life around here?

Perhaps you should turn her in. OTOH, you've already broken one IOD law...

>your personal slave
When she awkwardly misinterprets your offer (to help the crew, pray to whatever gods you still believe in that no one else walks in on you as you deny that/her. Especially if they're following the order you just gave out.

>>1014950
>You’ve never heard of a tradition like that…
It's a new one that you can start right now since the rest of the fleet isn't here to tell you that isn't a real tradition.

Kaktus 2021/11/14(Sun)11:02 No. 1015137 ID: 681cb5
File 163691657911.png - (156.09KB , 1125x550 , 26.png )

>...You could always get yourself a piece of that pirate booty (not talking about space junk), though slavery doesn't seem to be your shtick, and neither do you seem the sort to pressure a lady on that.
While you wouldn’t mind plunder her booty and leave a little a treasure in that cute tummy of hers (if that even is how their species work), you really don’t want to force yourself onto someone like that. If you want to sample the Kelshin with Ikekeki, you’ll need to make sure she’s fully onboard with it and not just because she’s your prisoner. It’s a tricky situation.
>She's cute in her own way, but no doubt treacherous. Be careful.
No matter how cute and silly she might seem, she is still a pirate. Let’s not forget that.

>Sell me like booty? Is that what pirates call being turned to the proper authorities? Kind of sad if true, even if a bounty's involved.
What? No, why would it mean that? It means that you sell like the other booty you might have. Crew is just as valuable as doubloons, planetlubber.
So slavery?
It’s only slavery if the people that buys them force them to work instead of paying them a fair salary. We just make sure that the employers can find new workers quickly… for a fee…
Against said workers will?
Pff, details.
And in the details is where the dune devils hides… or in this case, slavery.
>Where's the respect for the dignity of sapient life around here?
Hey, you can’t reconquer your home systems by showing your enemies some dignity, can you? Especially if they are scurvy crabs that doesn’t deserve it!
Oh? You’ve lost your home world?
Huh? You seriously don’t know about the Grand Alliance of the United Stars and the great galaxy war?
We’re new to the galaxy, so no, we haven’t heard about it. Can you enlighten me?
Huff… well, I’m not good with the details but… when that horrid IOD Collective started their invasion in earnest, most of the known species joined forces to repel them. At least, those that hadn’t already been conquered and turned into battle thralls. We Kelshin fought valiantly, losing billions of our people to try and keep them at bay, but it was for naught. In the end, they attacked our home world and boiled the very seas on it, forcing most of us to flee and rebuild elsewhere as the Kelshin Freeports, or else be turned into their slaves.
And the Raolme you’re attacking fits into this how? Did they join the IOD Collective side or…?
No, they did something far worse! Those cowards just stayed away from the conflict, only slithering in when it was over and used their poisonous words to make a deal with the IOD’s. They watched as my home world boiled and billions of my people died, AND DID NOTHING!
I can understand where your hatred for both them and the IOD is coming from.
I just see it like Karma to grab those Roalme, because it’s what they deserve. Besides, we’re not he only scurvy crabs who pillage crew from people, they do too. Sure, they call them contract workers, but they are just as entrapped as those we take. And the less I say about the IOD the better.

>Perhaps you should turn her in.
Pff, to where. The is uncontrolled space, there’s no authority here, you planetlubber.
Hmm… maybe I can give you over to the Raolme, seeing how you were attacking them…
They would keelhaul me before making me walk to plank out the airlock. I don’t think you’re the kind of guy, captain, to let something like that happen to a cutie like me.
Maybe not… but maybe I’ll take you to the IOD’s then?
What? No! They’d make me into a drone without question! Throw me out the airlock instead, because I rather die a pirate’s death in space than become one of their drones!
Drones, huh?
I said they were even worse when it comes to slaves! Trust me, they are!
>Figure out what she can do. You need to know what worth she has regardless, but if she's useful and helpful, that would be great.
I’m a pirate! I can fly my ship, plunder some booty and sail back to the home bay to party the pants of all you planetlubbers!
…
I know my way around a ship and how to maintain it. Otherwise I’m mostly good at destroying stuff and scavenging… I’m a pirate, okay? That’s what I do!
Uh huh… I’m sure we can find some work for you somewhere around here.
>Personal slave sounds pretty good actually. Have her working as a farmer or cook or whatever. Plus she said she'll follow us... for now anyways.
Oh! I wouldn’t mind being the personal slave of someone so muscular… and long… heh…
Are you capable of working a hydroponics bay?
I… um… what? You want me to dig up tubers?
We are rather desperate for crew at the moment, so you’ll need to pull your weight like all the others. Though, you do seem rather disappointed… what exactly where you expecting?
Aren’t personal slaves supposed to… you know, lie on pillows next to your throne looking sexy when you taunt your prey over the transmitter? Maybe fan you a bit with a big leaf? Get your drinks and a little massage? You know… like a concubine?
You do know that a concubine mostly just have sex, right?
…wait, they do?
Yes.
…no wonder the others giggled when I mentioned wanting to have one. Huh… but if we’re going to be completely honest here, I’d rather suck your cock then work in the hydroponics bay right now.
While tempting, we currently are in a dire need of food, so if you want to eat a proper meal, one that wasn’t sucked out of me, then you better go pick a few tubers tomorrow.
Then keelhaul me sideways… fine, I’ll pick those pesky tubers.
>We plan to install a beach deck somewhere down the line, so you'll eventually have a proper place to relax.
Good, because being this dry is driving me mad!
Test out that shower I told you about, I’m sure you’ll feel better if you do.
I will, as soon as you leave, Captain.
>Might as well ask what her kinds eat just to make sure the mess hall will be able to feed her...
Eh? Oh, we mostly eat fish and crustaceans… oh, and some really tasty algae and plankton soups never misses the mark.
I’ll see if I can get the food synther in the Mess Hall to work with those recipes.
>Ask what treasure she and her sisters have stashed away.
Oh, it’s what we managed to plunder from those Raolme cowards. Mostly their wrecked ships that we were going to salvage, but they also had a bunch of copper, gold and silver with them. Oh! And credits! A lot of credits! Those greedy scoundrels always have a bunch of cred sticks with them!
So Noble metals and Credits, as well as some ship salvage. Not a bad haul.
It’s was real booty! Both treasure and doubloons that we were going to share equally and bring home. But those scurvy crabs are trying to steal my share of the treasure! You can’t let them do that, captain! I’ll owe you big time if you grab my booty and bring the treasure to me!
Hmm… I’ll see what I can do. Thank you for your time… Ike? Keke?
Call me Eki… and… um… you know where to find me? What with me being a prisoner and all…
>Probably best to pair her with someone just so they can watch her. Probably Shara when she's free since she has shown she isn't afraid to get into a tumble if needed.
You really don’t gain anything if you need to have someone follow her around all the time… hmm, but if you constructed a security station, Shara would be able to keep a close watch on most of the ship, including Eki. That might be something to consider.


As you leave the makeshift prison you run into Commander Doxy, who’s even more excited than usual.
Captain! I’m glad I found you before the other ladies!
Hmm? Oh, greeting Commander. What are you referring too? Do the Ensigns what something with me?
Your announcement, boss, remember? I’m sure they would be super excited to ask for your assistance to… make more crew, sir!
Hmm… yes, I’d see why they would require some aid in the matter.
That’s why I needed to find you as soon as possible, sir! I’m reporting in for fertilization duty, sir!
That’s good, Command, but I’d advise you to go easy on poor Zell. He’s still wounded, after all.
Huh? What? No, that’s not-
But I do actually need to see you in my quarters, privately, for a moment, Doxy.
Ah? Oh! Of course! For a private “debriefing”~
So that we can plan for what we’ll do tomorrow concerning those pirates.
What.
Of course, first I’m going to plow you so fucking hard that you’re going to turn into a blissful wreck before pumping a pair of triplets into that cute belly of yours.
Wai-

Kaktus 2021/11/14(Sun)11:03 No. 1015138 ID: 681cb5
File 163691658986.png - (173.21KB , 1125x550 , 27.png )

Captain Zento massive flagship successfully plunges deep into the hanger-bay of Commander Doxy, releasing his fleet of smaller ships in an attempt to impregnate her last defenses around her core.

The mission was a complete success.

Kaktus 2021/11/14(Sun)11:03 No. 1015139 ID: 681cb5
File 163691659934.png - (160.91KB , 1125x550 , 28.png )

You wake up with the beautiful Doxy in your arms, enjoying the afterglow of your little tryst in the starlight. As the new “morning” dawns, you simply lie there and enjoy her sleeping presence in silence...

Ngg…?
Good morning.
It’s morning already? *Huff* It feels like I ran a marathon yesterday…
Heh… we did go a bit wild, Doxy. Though, honestly… I think the best part is just lying here cuddling like this… I wish we could do this all day…
I don’t, because I’m super hungry… ugh, that fast gestate formula didn’t mention how hungry it would make you.
Well, you are eating for two now, aren’t you?
I’m eating for 6 months of egg growth in one day… Pink Commander need food badly.
Hehe…

Kaktus 2021/11/14(Sun)11:03 No. 1015140 ID: 681cb5
File 163691660830.png - (116.45KB , 1125x550 , 29.png )

A whole day passes…
Your crew consumes 8 unites of food.
Your ship consumes 1 unit of fuel.
Ensign Regina upgraded The Vat system, enabling new crew creation.
Guest Tizli constructed a Mess Hall, increasing morale and decreasing chances of food poisoning.
Ensign Shara constructed a Sakkilian Cruiser.
Ensign Zell was rescued and is currently resting in the med-bay.
Cap. Zento and CDR. Doxy do an Energy and Signal Scan of the surrounding area.

Ensign Shara and Ensign Zell have buried the hatched and are now indifferent towards each other.
Guest Tizli and Ensign Regina bond over pie recipes in the Mess Hall and are now friends.
Guest Tizli hasjoinedthe crew as Ensign Tizli.
Prisoner Ikekeki has been made into a ”personal slave”.
CDR. Doxy is pregnant.
Ensign Shara is pregnant.



>Let’s make it a priority to get that Swimming hall once we’re able to get the resources for it. With just under half the occupants of your ship being fairly amphibious, water and water based activities have shifted up the priority list a fair bit.
It would probably help our alien friends greatly to integrate into the crew if we did, sir. Though, while many of these asteroids will probably contain basic metals, we still need more noble ones if we’re to construct a proper and secure swimming hall.
If we’re lucky, one of the remaining planets might contain some… or one of the asteroids we haven’t yet scanned.
>You might want to keep your tech advantage close to the chest, for now. You don't know how the balance of power will fall if you don't; you're entering Prime Directive territory here.
Prime Directive? Sir, this isn’t an episode of Sun Trek. We here to build colonies and make allies, not just stand by and observe instead of intervening.
Still, might be prudent to not sell it off to cheaply. Or to the wrong people.
If you’re afraid that they’ll reverse engineer it, then it’s just a question of time before they discover a wrecked cruiser somewhere and use that instead. Going by that storage pod we found, we’ve been leaving parts of our colony fleet all over the sector.
>Since we can’t gather resources for now, let’s assign people to work the Farm and assign someone to the new Mess Hall.
Don’t worry, sir, I’ll make sure to assign anyone without duties at the end of the day to those kind of jobs. Though, seeing as we’re about to run out of food, maybe make sure there at least one person that can farm today, okay boss?
>We’d better assign someone to go mine some Basic Metals. With a cruiser escort, just to dissuade any lone pirates that may head their way.
We are in dire need of resources, yes… and those pirates might be planning something dastardly.
I’m pretty sure they don’t even know we are here… or that we captured Ikekeki.
Either way, we better be careful. Oh, and I might advise that we scan more of the system for minerals, because both the yellow planet and blue planet are unscanned, as well as most of the asteroids.
Hmm… before we send anyone off to mine anything, we should really decide what we are to do with them… the pirates, I mean.
They are currently in orbit around the blue planet, sir, but we have no idea how long they will stay that way. They might be leaving the system as soon as tomorrow, so if we want to act, we need to do so now. As we only have one operational Cruiser and two landers at our disposal, a direct confrontation near the planet is very much ill-advised. If we’re plunder their booty, we’ll need to be more creative.
Or we can always ignore them…
Or that, yes.

So, what are your orders for today, sir? We have 6 crewmembers to deploy as you please… 7 if you manage to convince Tozlan to do something.
…well, first off we’re going to need to get out of this bed, clean up and get dressed...
I mean after that, sir.

>>1015140
>shara is pregnant
Guess they buried something else, as well.

>pirate solution
Hmm, how about we ambush THEM? Put the damaged cruiser in orbit around the gas giant, and have it send out a distress signal loud enough that the pirates can hear it. Lurk behind one of the moons or something and then once the pirates come over to try to pick up a new slave we can blow them out of the sky.

>food issues
I thought we put the prisoner to work on that? Maybe she didn't have time to do much since the day was almost over? Anyway, put two people on that. Send someone to mine minerals from that asteroid with a lander while we set up the ambush.

Also ask our Raolme guests for their side of the story. Did they really avoid the conflict then sell themselves to the IOD? Who are the IOD anyway, why are they so powerful?
I hope there's a resistance force we can join...

>>1015140
Shara and Ikekeki on farming, and I'm too tired to remember who anyone else is 😎

>the Grand Alliance of the United Stars and the great galaxy war
Condolences to her homeworld, but remember your main mission is to recover what's left of your old colony ship. Reuniting the Alliance is a noble goal, but there's not much you can do for now.

>I said they were even worse when it comes to slaves! Trust me, they are!
You can certainly imagine it. Of course the Collective would have methods to suppress feelings and individuality. Their society couldn't maintain their abstinence, and micro-manage their population, otherwise. But if they wanted to just drone everyone, they wouldn't be open to negotiations in the first place.

Of course, this might be because they know how play the long game on assimilation. You should see what Prince Tozlan what he thinks of them, and what a "contract" involves. If you need to throw him off, imply that you're interested in one.
Also let him know that's he and his people is always welcome on ship (in case his employer starts to "alter deals".)

If you think you'd come off too suspicious, send Doxy instead. If she's like you, she'd love the excuse. Advise her to pay close attention to him and note to how he acts.

>I think the best part is just lying here cuddling like this… I wish we could do this all day…
Good on you for not making that an order. Request that you spend every night with her anyway, if only for the duration of her first pregnancy. Blame the nesting instincts.
(Just look away when she lays.)

Defiantly going to want to put two people on the farm to grow some food but other then that... how long until our first cruiser is up and running again? If we're going after the pirates to get the treasure... and maybe more crew depending on how it turns out, I'd like a bit more fire power on our side. Granted we could just fly our main ship over their since it seems to have more than enough fire power but if the ground to orbital canons are still up that might not be the case, best ask for that code sequence if we do go over that way.

>>1015140
>Doxy is pregnant
So did you give her triplets like you said you would?

>assignments
We’d better assign someone to the scanners, so we can continue scanning for the pirates. That way we can know their location and keep an eye out for any other pirates that might show up.

We know what to expect from one of the ships, since we scanned Ikekeki‘s Raider class ship and learned its specs. But we don’t know what the Pillager class ship is capable of doing and that’s what worries me.

Either way, Tizli said our Cruisers were almost tailor made to deal with the pirate ships, so we’d need at least one of them to deal with the pirates.

>>1015146
>ambush pirates
That could work.

We’d need our main ship to hide behind the gas giant because of its size, but our working Cruiser can definitely hide behind one of the moons for an ambush.

Once the Cruiser begins the attack, our main ship will have to come out from behind the gas giant to offer support. Especially if we manage to lure in both the pirate ships instead of just one of them.

>>1015140
Wait who impregnated Shara?
>Pirates
Now that Shara is pregnant we should ask if she can help with the pirates.

>>1015154
Actually, you should make her breakfast first, or share rations at least. After a fun night like that, it's the nice thing to do. Growth may kick in after nourishment, but that couldn't be a bad thing, right?

How would pregnancy affect a crewmember anyway? Hunger cravings could be an concern, but could their hormones enhance their performance to compensate?

>>1015237
>Wait who impregnated Shara?
Pretty sure it was Zell.

>>1015146
>Ambush
Shouldn't we wait until Shara lays her egg? She's our fighter, so we'll need her to be ready to fight and not have a sudden urge to lay her egg distract her in the middle of the fight.

Kaktus 2021/11/15(Mon)17:51 No. 1015275 ID: 681cb5
File 163702749660.png - (124.63KB , 1125x550 , 30.png )

>So did you give her triplets like you said you would?
While you tried your best, you’re not some genetically enhanced super breeder so there’s probably only one of your eggs in there.
>Request that you spend every night with her anyway, if only for the duration of her first pregnancy. Blame the nesting instincts.
Nesting instincts, eh? Are you sure this isn’t just an excuse to cuddle my big tummy tonight?
Heh, you got me there, Doxy.
As if I would keep the father of my first child away from rubbing my tummy, though you do know I’ll probably be laying this thing tomorrow, right?
Just the more reason why I need to cuddle you even more tonight~
*giggle* I guess so, Zento…
>Actually, you should make her breakfast first, or share rations at least. After a fun night like that, it's the nice thing to do.
You can synth something up in the Mess Hall for me and I’d be super grateful, boss.
Eating a proper meal for once would do us all some good.
>Growth may kick in after nourishment, but that couldn't be a bad thing, right?
It’s already kicking off at it is! Look, I’m already getting a bit round! By lunchtime, I’m going to have a huge belly.
Heh… well, I for one think a big belly suits you just fine.
Big belly or not, I’m starving. Can we go already?

The two of you share a rather simple breakfast of toast and cereal… which considering you’ve been living off tasteless rations and bitter tubers for the last few days is a goddessend.

>How would pregnancy affect a crewmember anyway? Hunger cravings could be a concern, but could their hormones enhance their performance to compensate?
Yeah, I’m definitely eating for two here, so you can expect food consumption to go up a bit.
And work? Do you want a day off?
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind a day off tomorrow when I’m due, sir… but today? Nah, I’m fit to fight and super eager to do my part! If anything, I’m more excited to get things done than usual! Maybe we can even bust a few extra skulls around here!?
*sigh* You ladies always were stubborn and hotheaded even at the best of times… but of course you’ll get a day off if possible.
We’re fighters and you know it! Having an egg in me won’t stop that!
Still, we might be prudent to not send one of you out in a ship if you’re sporting a belly like that, just to keep the both of you safe.
I guess…
>Wait who impregnated Shara?
…boss, there’s only one other man on board of the ship… and last we saw, she was carrying him to the med-bay personally.
True… though there’s also Tozlan.
I mean… it’s possible? Very improbable, but not impossible? Wait, can we even get interspecies eggs? Hmm… this might need to be researched…
I guess they buried something else than just the hatched, eh? *Eyebrow wiggle*
Ugh…

>I thought we put the prisoner to work on the food? Maybe she didn't have time to do much since the day was almost over?
You recruited her rather late yesterday… and you rather not have a prisoner out and about while everyone else is sleeping.
>Shara and Ikekeki on farming.
I’ll make sure Shara keeps an eye on Eki, just in case she get any ideas, sir.
>Send someone to mine minerals from that asteroid with a lander.
I’ll put Regina on the task, boss.
>We’d better assign someone to the scanners, so we can continue scanning for the pirates. That way we can know their location and keep an eye out for any other pirates that might show up.
I’ll personally see to it, sir, don’t you worry.
So… who’s left?
Um… just you, sir. Zell is still in the med-bay, Tizli volunteered to work in the Mess Hall and Tozlan is… well, he’s not part of the crew, sir.

>How long until our first cruiser is up and running again? If we're going after the pirates to get the treasure... I'd like a bit more fire power on our side and maybe more crew.
It will still take a few days, sir, so you shouldn’t count on having it ready before they move.
>Granted we could just fly our main ship over there since it seems to have more than enough fire power but if the ground to orbital canons are still up that might not be the case.
We really shouldn’t put our ship anywhere near those orbital cannons. While I can’t say how powerful they might be, suffering any damage to The Shed Scale would be a catastrophe!
>Best ask for that code sequence if we do go over that way.
Huh? You want the codes?
It would be helpful, Eki, so yes, I want them.
Well, if it helps getting my booty back… the code is “Yarr harr we pirates be free!” and you need to broadcast it on frequence 240.34.
…is that really it? (You really can’t tell if she’s pulling your tail or not).
That’s right! And if you send “Enough Pillage” they’ll go completely offline, while sending “Protect the booty!” will rearm them.
Right.

>We know what to expect from one of the ships, since we scanned Ikekeki‘s Raider class ship and learned its specs. But we don’t know what the Pillager class ship is capable of doing and that’s what worries me.
We know it can house up to 6 crew members… and that it has some kind of “torpedo” that can suck people out of ships directly to capture them, but other than that, it’s a mystery... either way, it sounds like they need to get close to be effective, at least?
>Hmm, how about we ambush THEM? Put the damaged cruiser in orbit around the gas giant, and have it send out a distress signal loud enough that the pirates can hear it. Lurk behind one of the moons or something and then once the pirates come over to try to pick up a new slave we can blow them out of the sky.
Hey, that’s a great idea captain! I’ll make sure the damaged cruiser is in position and ready for the ambush. Maybe just not today, though, seeing as we’ve sent out everyone else to do other work.
>We’d need our main ship to hide behind the gas giant because of its size, but our working Cruiser can definitely hide behind one of the moons for an ambush.
While your ship is rather large, it’s not the size of a freaking moon. Besides, you generally detect people by their energy signatures being caught on sensors and not with visuals. We’re in space; after all, the sheer distance of our effective combat range boggles the mind.
>Shouldn't we wait until Shara lays her egg? She's our fighter, so we'll need her to be ready to fight and not have a sudden urge to lay her egg distract her in the middle of the fight.
Hmm… it might be prudent, boss, though we don’t know much longer the pirates will stay in the system. It’s up to you if you’re willing to risk the wait or not.

>Also ask our Raolme guests for their side of the story. Did they really avoid the conflict then sell themselves to the IOD? Who are the IOD anyway, why are they so powerful?
We do need more information, so taking some time and talking with our friends is a super idea, boss.
>You should see what Prince Tozlan what he thinks of the IOD. If You think you'd come off too suspicious, send Doxy instead. If she's like you, she'd love the excuse.
I’ll go chat with Tozlan after I’ve scanned the system, sir.
And I’ll go have a conversation with Tizli after I complete my daily duties…

Kaktus 2021/11/15(Mon)17:51 No. 1015276 ID: 681cb5
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You find Tizli behind the counter of the Mess Hall, preparing what you can only assume will be dinner. She gives you a wave with her… um… hand? Or is that her hind leg? Okay, you have no idea how her limbs work because she clearly have too many of them right now.

Ensign Tizli.
Captain Zento! Hiya!
Not going to synthesize a finished meal for tonight, I see?
Everything taste way better if you make it with your own four claws, Captain.
I have to agree with that.
So, what can I help you with? Or are you just here to find out what’s for dinner?
I actually wanted to ask you about the IOD and the Grand Alliance of the United Stars.
Eh? Oh, that… it’s boring stuff, but sure, I can talk and make some brine at the same time. So, what about it? The war, I mean?
For starters, who are the IOD anyway? Why are they so powerful?
She makes a weird gesture with her arms but you have no idea what it means.
No idea. I don’t think our Clan knows. In fact, I don’t think anyone knows. They just kind of appeared out of the eternal dark one day and started wreaking havoc.
Is it true that you stayed out of the conflict?
Hey, we’re traders, you scumsucker. I’m not proud about it, but we’re not fighters.
So you stayed out of it?
Yeah, yeah, that’s what we did… not that it mattered, as they just came after us afterwards anyway.
Hmm… and this “drone” thing they do?
Oh, yeah, that… they put a bunch of cybernetics in criminals, mostly pirates and other sludge dwellers. It makes them… “compliant”… or, you know, brain dead zombies that can’t really do anything but the most basic tasks.
Hmm… and they haven’t made everyone into drones yet because…?
Because they need people to actually work? And, you know, they probably don’t want to actually kill us all, just… you know, rule over us?
…if they are as bad as you make them sound, then surely there’s some resistance out there?
Probably. They are rather brutal with snuffing out those kinds of groups though. Otherwise I would join them myself because the IOD can lick my scum.
Oh? Anything in particular you dislike about them?
Other than they subjugating and repressing us? I guess the thing that really made me go over the edge was when they added a bunch of new rules last year. The food got a lot worse, I can’t listen to the music I like and they even forbade sexual intercourse! Who are they to say if I’m allowed to get a big cock in my bum or not!
I see…
That’s part of the reason why I convinced my brother to take this job, to travel out here to find some alien artifacts or something, just so we could get away from it all… though you saw how that ended.

Another thing… what is this about contracts?
Huh? Contracts? Have you been talking with Tozlan about that?
I’ve heard that you Raolme had them? Care to enlighten me?
It’s just a fancy worth of debt. You get into debt, you sign a contract and then you work it off. Of course, if you’re unlucky you might just get deeper in debt, have to sign a worse contract and get worse work and suddenly you find yourself at the end of the river.
And how do these contracts work?
You sell them to the highest bidder, and then the one who signed the contract have to work with them until they’ve paid off their dues.
And you’re under a contract?
We were, until we were shot down. Now we’re just… “freelancers”, which is even worse in some ways.
Just so you know, you and your people will always be welcome on this ships, no matter what.
… … …thanks Captain. I’ll remember that.

>Remember your main mission is to recover what's left of your old colony ship.
While your current main objective is to find the colony ships, true, you still have to consider what happens afterwards. If these IOD’s are as aggressive and harsh as people make them out to be, then you’re going to need to deal with them sooner or later. Your newly made colony will be a prime target for them, after all.
>Reuniting the Alliance is a noble goal, but there's not much you can do for now.
…you can contact the other species of the galaxy and maybe collect some kindling for the coming revolution. It’s clear that the IOD’s iron fist is clamping slightly too hard at the moment, and it’s just a question of time before things start getting unstable around here.

Kaktus 2021/11/15(Mon)17:52 No. 1015277 ID: 681cb5
File 163702752226.png - (178.21KB , 1125x550 , 32.png )

Meanwhile, in the bridge…

Tozlan! Just who I wanted to see!
Err… yes? You asked me to come here… Doxy?
Yes, because I have some question for you.
Then ask away, friend.
I wanted to know about the IOD and the Grand Alliance of the United Stars. Do you know anything about the subject?
… … …I guess I can explain a few things about it, if you don’t mind a bit of a history lesson?
Not at all. The more information, the better.
The IOD first appeared about 70 years ago, in the center of the sector. They kept to themselves for the most part, though sometime before the war they started conquering nearby systems. It wasn’t until they laid waste to one of the Flaûgnir war fleets that people started noticing something was very off. Around 40 years ago most of the remaining species formed an alliance, the Grand Alliance of the United Stars, but after 20 long years of war the IOD broke them and became the main force of the sector. Since then we’ve all been… well, sucking their scum, if you know what I mean.
…and what part did the Raolme play in the war?
As we’re not fighters we instead focused our attention on what we know best, trading. We supplied the alliance with most of the materials they needed for their fleets, for a fair price, of course.
…you sold them the things they needed to protect you with!?
You must understand, friend, that it’s a very scummy thing to give away something free in our culture. Getting something for no brine or pearls means that they think you’re a real sludge dweller who can’t give anything in return. As I said, we’re traders and even as the eternal dark comes, we will trade.
Surely, there must still be a resistance against-
Don’t mention any resistances, please. I don’t want my sisters to get any more ideas.

Then let me ask something else. What is this about contracts?
Contracts? You mean our work certificates? It just shows who you works for, that’s all.
And people can force you to work?
If you’re in debt, yeah. They can sell your contract to someone else, so you’ll have to work there instead. But only until your debt is paid. It’s not that bad, really.
And if you can’t pay?
Then you continue to work?
Hmm… either way, contract or not, just remember that you and your people are always welcome here on our ship.
Thanks, friend. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to reward your hospitality with pearls if we can.
… … …Tozlan, are you alright? You seem a bit… nervous?
Eh? Oh, it’s… it’s nothing really. It’s just… you’ve grown since yesterday?
Yes?
Is… that normal for your species?
Well, you see, when a man loves a-
I meant the speed. Do you always grow this fast?
Ah, no, of course not silly. It’s growing at super speed because we need some new crew immediately.
Ah… I… I see… so you… oh… so… um… that’s yours and…?
The Captains.
Of course… of course… it’s… it’s a nice belly?
Thanks?
No, wait, I didn’t… err… that’s not… um… I’m paddling right into the dark, aren’t I?
…
…*cough*

>Remember your main mission is to recover what's left of your old colony ship.
Your main mission is to turn this galaxy into the best freaking galaxy it can be! Which just includes making a few colonies on the way.
>Reuniting the Alliance is a noble goal, but there's not much you can do for now.
Of course there is! You can lead the charge and gather all the heroes of old before taking the fight to those evil IOD’s! Just like in the movies! …of course, the Captain will probably say no…

[Note: Both Captain Zento and Commanders Doxy conversations are happening at the same time, so you can suggest for both of them if you wish.]

how many people can we put on a cruiser again? Because I'm wondering if cruiser follow the "more people you assign to them the more effective they'll be" rule. Because I'm somewhat tempted to put Eki in the crew. She did say her only real skills are in combat but I'd only even consider it if we could have at least one other person in the ship with her to make sure she doesn't just take off with it.

Also Doxy, ask if Tozlan wants to touch your belly. He seems curious, but is probably worried that it might be rude so is trying to hold himself back.

I suspect that your quick-grow technology might be completely new to this sector. Maybe it's the one tech that could turn the tide against the IOD? They just forbade reproduction, so let's do the opposite. Increase birth rates so high the resistance becomes an overwhelming swarm. Just gotta get enough of a food supply to compensate. Speaking of which even with the farms and mess hall fully staffed we're running out of food. I guess making new crew puts a large strain on our stocks. We're going to have to upgrade our food storage, and if possible put in another farm... wait how is it going down so fast? If both pregnant crew members are eating for five then we effectively have 16 crew's worth of food consumption. Max crew is 20, why isn't the ship's food production enough? Is it taking time to ramp up or something? Also I am *extremely* concerned about the food storage cap. If we're using this much every day then a full 25 units of food is barely enough for one day's worth of food at max crew size. Shouldn't we be able to store at least a couple weeks' worth of dry rations?

Ask what the IOD's species looks like. I suspect they are robots. Or... plants.

If detecting ships in space has to do with energy signatures more than visual range then... we'd want to run the main ship on low power mode to disguise the ambush. Though I wonder what the pirates' scanning range is. Lower than ours, most likely.

>>1015275
>Codes for the orbital cannons
You know, if we manage to only lure one of the pirate ships over here to our ambush and the other one is still near the planet, we could use the orbital cannons against them, since they won’t expect us to know the codes. We’ll ambush one ship, approach the planet, broadcast the codes while the pirate ship is between us and the planet, and the cannons will attack the pirates, since they’d be closer to the planet.

But it all depends on if we only lure in one of the pirate ships to our ambush.

>>1015279
>Also Doxy, ask if Tozlan wants to touch your belly. He seems curious, but is probably worried that it might be rude so is trying to hold himself back.
Do this.

>>1015282
>wait how is it going down so fast?
It’s not going down really fast. The farms are currently being worked on right now and the food doesn’t get collected and counted until the end of the day. We’re currently still in the middle of the day, so nothing has been collected and counted yet.

For example: Regina is out mining an asteroid for Basic Metals, but the number hasn’t gone up yet because she’s not done working yet.

You’ve gotta wait until the end of the day before the numbers will go up.

>They just kind of appeared out of the eternal dark one day and started wreaking havoc.
Could it be...
>>1014617
>the Intergalactic Hyper Drive did mess around with time.
>for all you know you might have been drifting out here for years.
How smart was your old ship's AI? Ship AI's take over when crew is incapacitated, right? If the situation back at the colony ship back was that dire, if they weren't as lucky as your crew, resources would have been scarce enough to demand excessive rationing... which over time, be entrenched in their culture... enforced onto subject cultures...
This couldn't be your doing, could it?

>…you can contact the other species of the galaxy and maybe collect some kindling for the coming revolution. It’s clear that the IOD’s iron fist is clamping slightly too hard at the moment, and it’s just a question of time before things start getting unstable around here.
You still need a cover story, or thing will be stomped out too early. Your life goal is to have a girl from every race, is it not?

It'll be fine if you prioritize compatibility over power/money. You don't want to be a king; for one, inheritance is a total pain in the ass to manage.

>Don’t mention any resistances, please. I don’t want my sisters to get any more ideas.
That was too quick. He knows something. Distract him with the preg to find out what.

If you want to, a good trade for the info would be to give him a chance to father your next egg...

>>1015292
>We’ll ambush one ship, approach the planet, broadcast the codes while the pirate ship is between us and the planet, and the cannons will attack the pirates, since they’d be closer to the planet.
Wait, do we know if the cannons will auto-fire at any ship that comes into range or if they have some kinda IFF system to ID the pirate ships and avoid firing on them? Zento better ask Ikekeki about that. However, when we make our plans we best keep in mind we can't 100% trust what she says.

Doxy, while we are talking about bebes and such, why don't you ask him how do they work in that regard? It'll be fun, i think he is very shy about the subject.

Kaktus 2021/11/16(Tue)16:14 No. 1015372 ID: 681cb5
File 163710806937.png - (146.42KB , 1125x550 , 33.png )

>How many people can we put on a cruiser again? Because I'm wondering if cruiser follow the "more people you assign to them the more effective they'll be" rule.
Currently they can only use one pilot effectively, but you know for a fact that they are supposed to have a crew of 5. The main problem is that the blueprints you have access to were designed for exploration and not combat, meaning that you’ll probably need to research a cruiser to if you want to get access to the combat variant.
>Because I'm somewhat tempted to put Eki in the crew. She did say her only real skills are in combat but I'd only even consider it if we could have at least one other person in the ship with her to make sure she doesn't just take off with it.
While the captain seems to trust her somewhat, you’re still super skeptical about her. Honestly, you rather have her stay away from any ships as long as she’s not a proper crew member. Though, even if she took a ship, she can’t really go anywhere? None of your current ships have a Hyperspace drive after all, with the exception of The Shed Scale.
>If detecting ships in space has to do with energy signatures more than visual range then... we'd want to run the main ship on low power mode to disguise the ambush. Though I wonder what the pirates' scanning range is. Lower than ours, most likely.
Considering that they haven’t detected us yet, it’s definitely worse than our own. Heck, with their small ships, their scanner range can’t be really that big. Proper scanning equipment takes up super much space, after all.


>Ask if Tozlan wants to touch your belly. He seems curious, but is probably worried that it might be rude so is trying to hold himself back.
Eh!? Y-you want me to w-what?
I’m not asking you to, but if you want to rub it a bit, then it’s fine.
Oh… err… I… um…
Hesitantly, he reaches out with both of his front claws and starts to carefully rub your stomach.
It feels nice, doesn’t it?
It feels lovely, friend…
As he manage to find his courage, he even leans his head against it, as if he’s listening to it… then suddenly, his “ears” shots up in surprise.
Oh! I think… I t-think I heard something move in there!
*Giggle* They don’t start to move until after they’ve been laid, silly.
Oh…

>I suspect that your quick-grow technology might be completely new to this sector.
Y-yeah, I’ve never listened to something like this… or heard about anything even close to this kind of… it’s a miracle, really! I never thought I’d… not now… no…
*Giggle* It’s a little miracle alright.
It’s… really the brine in the morning breeze…
You know… maybe it's the one tech that could turn the tide against the IOD?
Huh? Making babies is going to beat the IOD?
They just forbade reproduction, so let's do the opposite! Increase birth rates so high the resistance becomes an overwhelming swarm!
They just illegalized sexual intercourse, we can still reproduce artificially… um… which is heavily regulated by them… so only the scumsuckers that float in the same river as the IOD’s gets to do it… and even then it’s just to keep our numbers stable... err, maybe you have a pearl there but… isn’t that going to be our kids you send out to fight?
Everyone is someone’s kid, no?
I mean… yes… but… err… that’s not… I mean it’s true?

>Doxy, while we are talking about bebes and such, why don't you ask him how do they work in that regard? It'll be fun, i think he is very shy about the subject.
Huh!? I mean… err… eternal dark, you can’t just…
Why not? I can tell you how the captain gave me this belly yesterday, if you want to.
I… I rather not hear that but… I think we’re similar? I mean, as species? We… um… a man put their thing in a woman and… they get a big belly and lay an egg?
Oh? No details?
If you want details go ask my sister or something! Her mind is already stuck in the sludge as it is.
>That was too quick. He knows something about the resistance. Distract him with the preg to find out what.
So… anyway… about that resistance you mentioned?
…what?
No more belly rubs unless you tell me about them.
I d-don’t know anything about those scumsuckers!?
>If you want to, a good trade for the info would be to give him a chance to father your next egg...
Y-y-you what!?
You heard me, cutie. If you… actually, if you join our crew, I’ll let you be the daddy of my next child~
Err… is t-this normal for your kind!?
No really… but you’re kind of cute when you’re blushing…
W-we can’t even- We’re different species!?
I’m willing to still try… if you are as well.
This isn’t… um… that’s… I… I… I need… time to think?
Take your time Tozlan. I’m not going anywhere.
R-right… um… b-by the eternal dark, I… I’ll… I need to go? I’ll get back to you?
I’ll be waiting.

And he scurries off with his tail wagging like crazy… heh…

Kaktus 2021/11/16(Tue)16:14 No. 1015373 ID: 681cb5
File 163710809098.png - (157.27KB , 1125x550 , 34.png )

Meanwhile, in another time and place with the Captain…

>You still need a cover story, or thing will be stomped out too early. Your life goal is to have a girl from every race, is it not?
Maybe not your life goal, but having the pleasure of spending a nice evening with as many different species as possible is indeed something that you strive for. Though, something tells you that telling these IOD’s that you’re going around to everyone because you’re horny won’t really work.
>It'll be fine if you prioritize compatibility over power/money. You don't want to be a king; for one, inheritance is a total pain in the ass to manage.
Especially considering that you’re going to probably have a dozen or more kids by the end of this… wait, why are we talking about kings and money all the sudden? You’re here to build a colony for the sake of the Sakkilian people, not become some kind of ruler or millionaire. Though, if you’re going to be a bit selfish, you’d prefer if you ended the journey with enough cash to settle down somewhere sunny with a few charming alien ladies.

>You know, if we manage to only lure one of the pirate ships over here to our ambush and the other one is still near the planet, we could use the orbital cannons against them, since they won’t expect us to know the codes.
Using their own weapons against them would be a glorious maneuver, though as much as you want to show off you’d like to keep The Shed Scale out of any firefight if possible.
>Wait, do we know if the cannons will auto-fire at any ship that comes into range or if they have some kinda IFF system to ID the pirate ships and avoid firing on them?
The ID was the code Eki gave you, so they’ll probably not fire on any pirate that’s already there… unless the auto-cannons removes the stack of ID’d ships when they shut down and start with an empty one… hmmm….
>Keep in mind we can't 100% trust what Eki says.
It’s impossible to tell if she’s just making shit up or if she’s just that silly normally… it’s infuriating!

>Even with the farms and mess hall fully staffed we're running out of food. I guess making new crew puts a large strain on our stocks.
Shara and Eki has already collected enough food to feed everyone onboard for a day and they are far from done, so no, it isn’t putting that much of a strain on your food consumption. Remember, resources are only counted at the start of a new day.
>We're going to have to upgrade our food storage, and if possible put in another farm...
Our farm can easily sustain up to 20 crewmembers, so no need to worry. Though, it would be good to capture some wild animals and build a Pen for them, so that you’ll have access to some actual meat proteins to synth food with. As for storage, more storage is always good to have.
>Shouldn't we be able to store at least a couple weeks' worth of dry rations?
We currently have no way to make rations that will last for a while. We either need to find some upgrades to our Mess Hall, or have research look into how to add some new programming to the Food Synth there.


>Ask what the IOD's species looks like. I suspect they are robots. Or... plants.
I’ve never heard them myself but… I think they are like machines or something?
So robots?
No one has made an AI even close to being that intelligent, so it’s probably just some really briny power armor and the real scumsuckers are hiding in it.
Hmm… really?

>How smart was your old ship's AI? Ship AI's take over when crew is incapacitated, right?
The AI in all the smaller ships is rather simple in complexity, but the ones installed in the main Colony ships were rather advance. They should be smart enough to be able to build the colony and run most things in it without intervention.
>If the situation back at the colony ship was that dire, if they weren't as lucky as your crew, resources would have been scarce enough to demand excessive rationing... which over time, be entrenched in their culture... enforced onto subject cultures...
Oh no…
>This couldn't be your doing, could it?
It… it can’t be… right?

A pearl for your thoughts, Captain?
Hmm?
You seemed to be lost in the stream there, tall boy. What’s swimming?
Oh, I was considering some new information. Say, have you ever seen one of IOD’s ships?
I’ve never heard them with my own ears, no, but I’ve been told that they look rather wicked if effective. No pearls and brine, just pure function.
And colors? What colors do they have?
Grey? I think? And some blues like… cyan? Their symbol is grey and blue, so…
And their symbol?
It’s like… a circle with a dot in it?
Hmm… and they are machines? How do they look like? Do they look anything like say… us Sakkilian or you Raolme?
Um… I heard they that they don’t look like any species we’ve ever heard of before?
Hmm…

It doesn’t sound like anything that would emerge from the colony ship… but you can’t discard the theory just yet, can you?

So what are you cooking for tonight anyway, Tizli?
I’m doing some algae covered seaweed pie!
Pie? Really?
I was talking to Regina yesterday and we shared some pie recipes… so I thought I’d show her one of my favorites.
It sounds… um… delicious?
It’s the briniest pie you’ll ever eat, trust me!
I’ll take your word for it.
And, Captain, if you can assign Regina to the Mess Hall sometime soon, we’ll both be very grateful. She promised me that she would make some rhubarb pie if you did.
I’ll see what I can do, Tizli.
And maybe get some meat on the ship, so we can make a proper insect pie.
Catching a few animals and building a pen is on the to do list.
She lifts up the wooden spoon she was using in her cooking and gives it a really long lick, before looking up with a sheepish smile at you.
Oh! I forgot to ask… do you want to lick the spoon and get a taste?

>>1015373
Taste preferences between species can differ. You should probably taste it, yeah, but warn her you don't know if Sakkilian diets compare well to Raolme ones.

We are talking about the spoon, right? Sure, give it a good, long lick.

Oh, and if you are feeling daering, clean her snout too.

>>1015372
>research
>research
>research
That’s been coming up so often, I’m starting to think that Kaktus is telling us that we should get the Research upgrade next!

>Oh! I think…I t-think I heard something move in there!
It’s entirely possible what he heard was the sound of the egg growing. Not entirely sure about that.

>And he scurries off with his tail wagging like crazy…heh…
Looks like we’ve discovered something Tozlan is interested in. He might be willing to join the crew if it means he gets to see big bellies more often! Just don’t force it on him or you’ll scare him away from wanting to join.

>>1015373
>It doesn’t sound like anything that would emerge from the colony ship…but you can’t discard the theory just yet, can you?
No, you can’t. Also you probably shouldn’t mention it to anyone yet. At least, not until we discover more evidence to either prove or disprove that theory.

>assign Regina to the Mess Hall for some rhubarb pie
Definitely should do this later.

>Oh! I forgot to ask…do you want to lick the spoon and get a taste?
If she gets a different spoon, then yes, you’ll give it a taste. Gotta keep an open mind and be willing to taste different alien cuisines.

>>1015373
Sure give the sppon andlong seductive lick (if we are lucky she won't stop licking the spoon too) also try to hide the big fucking erection you are having right now,

>And he scurries off with his tail wagging like crazy… heh…
Aw... he's a sweetheart... and clearly a virgin. Be gentle with him. Be good to him.

So was that following through on orders, or are you plotting your own little harem? You may not be as much a "lady killer" as the captain, but you certainly got a knack for bringing the dad out of people.

>It doesn’t sound like anything that would emerge from the colony ship… but you can’t discard the theory just yet, can you?
Then keep an eye out for any war veterans. If they keep hybridizing themselves from assimilation, most younglings wouldn't know what they used to look like.

Or you could test your ship command codes against an IOD vessel. It'd be an old code, but if it checks out... You'd know what happened to the ship.

>do you want to lick the spoon and get a taste?
Go ahead, but brace yourself should her saliva be a minor aphrodisiac, sedative, or psychedelic.

>The ID was the code Eki gave you, so they’ll probably not fire on any pirate that’s already there… unless the auto-cannons removes the stack of ID’d ships when they shut down and start with an empty one… hmmm….
Well, if that's the case, the pirates would start radioing the shutdown code the second the cannons start firing on them, which would negate that plan... However, if right after we send the command codes we start blasting a garbage signal out on 240.34 at max power to jam it, the pirates wouldn't get a chance to. The downside is blasting out on the radio like that would make us easily show up on sensors, probably even enough we'd show on the low end ones in the little ships. It'd make targeting whichever ship is jamming way easier. Probably we'd only want to do it long enough to find out if the cannons would target the pirate ships.

>>1015434
Actually, we ought to run any plan, like this one, that involves risking killing Ikekeki's pirate "sisters" by her before enacting them, just to check if she's on board with going that far. Don't want to find out after the fact that she'll be furious or some such if that happens.

>>1015401
>That’s been coming up so often, I’m starting to think that Kaktus is telling us that we should get the Research upgrade next!
It seems that way, doesn't it?

>>1015435
Honestly, she seemed to be furious at the fact the other pirates are stealing her booty. So I think that as long as we don't accidentally destroy her booty, she won't care if the other pirates get killed or not.

Kaktus 2021/11/17(Wed)15:43 No. 1015451 ID: 681cb5
File 163719258750.png - (141.54KB , 1125x550 , 35.png )

>You probably shouldn’t mention that theory about the colony and IOD to anyone yet. At least, not until we discover more evidence to either prove or disprove it.
Indeed, let’s not start unnecessary speculations until after we’re sure that they are connected.
>Keep an eye out for any war veterans. If they keep hybridizing themselves from assimilation, most younglings wouldn't know what they used to look like.
While trying to find people that served in the war would be a great source of information, you’re not sure if these IOD’s have been changing forms or even assimilated people in that manner.
>Or you could test your ship command codes against an IOD vessel. It'd be an old code, but if it checks out... You'd know what happened to the ship.
If you ever get close enough to try, maybe…
>That’s been coming up so often, I’m starting to think that Kaktus is telling us that we should get the Research upgrade next!
You have no idea why some cacti would be telling you anything, but you should definitely get a Research lab if you want to start understanding all these new aliens and their tech… not to mention reinventing the wheel a bit when it comes to your own tech as well.

>Try to hide the big fucking erection you are having right now.
…you’re a captain; it’s your duty to control your emotions in dire situations like this. Not getting a boner while talking to a pretty gal is child’s play, no matter how attractive that tongue is.


>Definitely should assign Regina to the Mess Hall later.
We both would very much appreciate it, Captain. And I’m sure both of our pies are going to be the pearls of the day, eh?
I’m sure they will be… though, she’ll probably not have the time to make pie while we’re still dealing with these pirates.
Hey, no need to rush. All pie taste better the longer you wait for it, be it a seaweed, insect, cream, brine or whatever this rhubarb is.
That is true.
>Taste preferences between species can differ. You should probably taste it, yeah, but warn her you don't know if Sakkilian diets compare well to Raolme ones.
Oh, right! You’ve never had our cuisine, so you don’t know if it’s the brine or the scum. Just a fair warning, most of our food is usually rather… salty… and sour at times.
Sour? Really? A bit odd of a taste for a proper dinner. We Sakkilian usually prefer sweet foods.
Sweet? Like candy sweet?
I would say the same about your sour food.
I mean… I guess there’s sour candy as well, huh…

>We are talking about the spoon, right? Sure, give it a good, long lick.
You give the spoon a long lick, from base to top, trying your best to make it as sensual as possible while looking dreamingly into her eyes. It… doesn’t work to well, as she not only lack eyes to look dreamingly into, but the sour taste of the pie crust makes you wrinkle your snout slightly.
No good, tall boy?
It’s just… surprisingly sour, that’s all.
I hope it isn’t completely in the sludge.
No, it’s good, it’s just been a while since I ate something so sour.
That’s good to hear.
>Brace yourself should her saliva be a minor aphrodisiac, sedative, or psychedelic.
Heh, no need to worry, Captain, while my teeth has a rather potent paralyzing venom in them, I don’t bite. Unless you want me to, that is~
Heh, is that a promise?
Maybe?
>Oh, and if you are feeling daring, clean her snout too.
You slowly lean in towards her, giving her ample of time to interject before you give her a quick lick on the top of her snout, removing the food that was stuck there.
C-Captain!?
Just helping you to clean up a bit, Tizli. Can’t let you have food stuck on your cute little snout, can we?
Pff, do you usually clean of your crew with your tongue?
Only those that are especially beau-
You’re cut off midsentence as one of the oven alarms goes off.
AH! Sorry Captain, but I really need to swim over and deal with this. We’ll need to continue this another time.
Very well, I’ll leave you to your duties, Tizli.
Don’t be stranger, Zento.
I won’t, trust me.

Kaktus 2021/11/17(Wed)15:43 No. 1015452 ID: 681cb5
File 163719259753.png - (168.25KB , 1125x550 , 36.png )

After a long day of work you find yourself back where you began, in your bedroom with the lovely Doxy, though this time her belly is a lot rounder… and yours is filled with sour tasting pie.

>Aw... he's a sweetheart... and clearly a virgin.
Hey, how do you know he’s a virgin, hmm?
Because they outlawed sex?
Only a year ago… but yeah, Tozlan is super obviously a virgin… and a dork… as well as a sweetheart~
>Be gentle with him. Be good to him.
Pff, I’ll try to be nice… *giggle*
>It’s entirely possible what he heard was the sound of the egg growing. Not entirely sure about that.
(With the quick growth… who knows? He seemed to hear something, at least…)

>So was that following through on orders, or are you plotting your own little harem?
You’re not the only who have big dreams, boss.
Heh, I can’t blame you…
You’re not mad that I’m having more partners, are you?
Of course not. I’m a bit jealous that I’m not going to get make another kid with you for a while, but other than that... no, it’s fine. Besides, I’m not going to stop with just you either, you know.
…by the goddess, we’re a weird couple, aren’t we?
Weird times makes weird people and all that, Doxy.
>You may not be as much a "lady killer" as the captain, but you certainly got a knack for bringing the dad out of people.
(Seeing a large belly like this does that to most boys, you know…)

>Looks like we’ve discovered something Tozlan is interested in. He might be willing to join the crew if it means he gets to see big bellies more often!
*giggle* I’m pretty sure he’s more interested in making the bellies than just seeing them, sir.
Well, who wouldn’t be? It’s one of the best parts, after all.
Only most? Which part is the best?
To rub the belly, of course.
Typical…
>Just don’t force it on him or you’ll scare him away from wanting to join.
I’ll try and be gentle… but no promises. Now, can you stop admiring my tummy and join me in bed? I’m tired and want a good night sleep, alright?
Just want to enjoy the view as long as I can, Doxy…
…you know that I’m probably going to lay it tomorrow, right?
Which means I need to seize the opportunity now and enjoy it, no?
*giggle* Join me in bed already, you dork.

Kaktus 2021/11/17(Wed)15:43 No. 1015453 ID: 681cb5
File 163719260721.png - (128.28KB , 1125x550 , 37.png )

A whole day passes…
Your crew consumes 10 unites of food.
Your ship consumes 1 unit of fuel.
Ensign Shara and ”personal slave” Ikekeki works in the hydroponics bay and harvests 20 units of food.
Ensign Regina successfully mines 10 unites of Basic Metals.
Ensign Tizli cooked up a meal in the Mess Hall, giving the crew a large morale boost.
Ensign Zell is currently resting in the med-bay.
CDR. Doxy did an Energy Scan of the surrounding area.

Guest Tozlan and ”personal slave” Ikekeki got into a brutal fight and are now Hated Enemies.
Ensign Tizli and ”personal slave” Ikekeki got into a brutal fight and are now Hated Enemies.
Ensign Shara got slightly wounded from breaking up said fight.
CDR. Doxy has taken the day off to lay her egg.
Ensign Shara has taken the day off to lay her egg.

After a long time of eating rations and bitter tasting tubers, having a proper meal has made your whole crew excited to work harder. All tasks this day will have higher chance of success and lower chance of massive failure!

Commander Doxy, report.
Ensign Shara and Prisoner Ikekeki worked well together yesterday, though Eki left a message for you afterwards.
Oh? What is it?
“If I have to work another day digging up tubers I’m going to riot!”
I see… and the others? Anything out of the ordinary?
Ensign Regina found 10 units of Basic Metals, Ensign Zell is still healing and Ensign Tizli made those delicious pies, sir.
Those pies where a goddessend, I have to agree.
Oh, and our guest Tozlan has asked if there’s anything he can do, because he’s getting a bit bored hanging around the crew quarters all day.
Hmm… I’ll see what I can come up with.
And then there was a bit of a… ah… fight, sir. Our prisoner and Raolme friends ran into each other and… considering they tried to kill each other last time they met, well… we’re just lucky Shara was there to break it up, even if she got a few bruises.
I see…
Finally, the pirates are moving, sir. It’s clear that they are about to leave the system, so if you want to do anything with them, then you need to do it today. They’ve also uninstalled those auto-cannons we were worried about earlier, so that’s one less thing we need to keep in mind.
Hmm…

>Actually, we ought to run any plan, like this one, that involves risking killing Ikekeki's pirate "sisters" by her before enacting them, just to check if she's on board with going that far. Don't want to find out after the fact that she'll be furious or some such if that happens.
She seemed to be furious at the fact the other pirates are stealing her booty, so as long as you don’t destroy it, she probably won’t care. No honor among pirates and all that, apparently. Still, can’t hurt to ask… 

>>1015453
Week ask her before executing the plan.

well, we’ve definitely got to move Ikekeki to another position. Her stress regarding the botany work she doesn’t like may not have caused the tension with our slippery friends (considering their history) but it definitely exacerbated it. I’m thinking something like an off-the-record secretary for the CIC in order to take care of some of the more minor and prosaic tasks that used to split CDR. Doxy’s attention. Eki seems to like the Captain and he’ll want to treat his dear Doxy to something nice, though we’ll have to see what Doxy herself thinks of the idea.

>>1015453
We should probably put a bit more priority on taking those pirates.
Didn't our Ralome guests say the rest of their crew was taken captive? Ikekeki may simply consider them part of the booty.

>Guest Tozlan and ”personal slave” Ikekeki got into a brutal fight and are now Hated Enemies.
>Ensign Tizli and ”personal slave” Ikekeki got into a brutal fight and are now Hated Enemies.
General morale may be high, but don't think the Salome siblings wouldn't question your leadership for having the pirate who raided them among your crew. You should set aside some time to mediate the situation. Even if relations are only one step improved, it lessens the chance of any plans against the pirates from going belly up.

>She seemed to be furious at the fact the other pirates are stealing her booty, so as long as you don’t destroy it, she probably won’t care. No honor among pirates and all that, apparently. Still, can’t hurt to ask…
Be careful to not show all your cards yet. If she plans to betray you, I'd bet she'd try to commandeer a high-tech ship that's worth more than some stash of booty.

Maybe you can lean into that: Put Ikekeki on scanner duty, but bug her station to catch any secret messages. Also might be worthwhile to send Tezli and Regina off to get enough resources to build a Security station, to make any pirate boarding crew be in for an nasty surprise.

>lay her egg
So do we name them now, or when they walk off the vats?

>>1015453
With Zell still in the med-bay and Doxy and Shara taking time off to lay their eggs, we might not be able to pull off the ambush on the pirates with almost half the crew unable to do anything today.

Maybe we should let them leave?

If the pirates are leaving orbit, then we can engage them with our big ship, and we have one functional smaller ship. Let's go get em.

>eki is complaining about farming
Tell her a slave has no choice in the matter. If she won't work then perhaps she'd prefer to rot in her room until we find someone to sell her to.

>>1015519
That depends on how long it will take them to get over here. If it takes them a whole day to reach us, then that would give Shara and Doxy enough time to lay their eggs today and get ready to fight tomorrow.

I think we should do it. Send out the distress signal from our damaged cruiser and lure the pirates over here. We'll have someone in the other cruiser attack one of the pirate ships while we use the Shed Scale to attack the other ship.

If we can catch both ships off guard and disable one or both of them, that'll make things easier.

>>1015525
Don't forget to have someone on the scanners so we can know if the pirates are coming over here or not.

We should get ready. Have our ambush set up so we can take out those pirates!

It should be time to ensure we get that pirate cache. In case there's things that could be vital to helping us in the future.

Now I know something easy Tozlan can do today: take over for his sister at Mess Hall; Regina can take over tomorrow. He has to be at least as good a cook as his sister, shouldn't he?

I thought we were already sending out the distress signal, and they didn't take the bait?

Kaktus 2021/11/19(Fri)16:02 No. 1015569 ID: 681cb5
File 163736654306.png - (171.80KB , 1125x550 , 38.png )

First thing first, you make sure to walk with Doxy over to the Med-bay, where she’ll be spending most of her day thanks to your… gift to her.

You didn’t need to come with me, you know.
But I wanted to come, Doxy. I need to make sure our little miracle is both healthy and growing like it should.
No need to worry, sir, I’ve been keeping an eye on him. Though, I’m super grateful that you did come… oh, and it’s a boy, Zento…
A little boy, huh? Oh, and I see Ensign Shara is already here. At ease, Ensigns.
Captain.
Good to see yah, lad. Ah’m just taking a quick break from bed rest to make sure our coming child is doing fine.
I’m happy to report that mine and Zell attempt to increase the crew is going well, even though I’m going to have to take the day off, chief.
…Ah’ll be fit for duty tomorrow, boy, still need to let mah eye ‘eal fully.
No need to rush, Zell. I rather have you in proper condition than a day early.
And I see that Doxy here reported to you for fertilization duty as well, Captain.
It’s everyone’s duty to keep our crew levels stable. So, I gather that the two of you have made up and become friends?
Made up? Sure… but friends? Eh… I wouldn’t go that far…
We just worked out our differences in a rather physical way, lad.
I apologize for what I said and for hitting him, he apologized for what he said, I suggested that I would help him get into better shape by training together. So we wrestled for a bit, he pinned me down, put me in a mating press and pounded this gal into my tummy.
…you got pinned by a wounded man half your size who’s out of shape?
Maybe?~

>So do we name them now, or when they walk off the vats?
If you want to give him a name than we need to do it before he’s finished cooking in the vat. Otherwise the vat will give him a name on its own.
Well, fuck, then we need to come up with a name too. A strong name, fitting a warrior! Something like…
Tescia. I always wanted a Tescia…
…Tescia? I like it… yeah, there’s a little Tescia in there… that seems right…
Well, Captain, got any suggestion for our little guy?
…heh, how about Zento junior?
…I’m not laying a junior as my first egg. *giggle* We can do better than that, Zento… though no need to rush… we’ll have until tonight, after all.
I’m sure we’ll come up with something great, Doxy.

>We’ve definitely got to move Ikekeki to another position. Her stress regarding the botany work she doesn’t like may not have caused the tension with our slippery friends (considering their history) but it definitely exacerbated it.
I’m sure they would come to blows no matter what we did, sir.
That shrimp girl did really loathe picking tubers with me, though… not to mention I’m pretty sure she lost more and more of her color as the day went on. Is she feeling well?
Hmm… maybe we should keep her from the farm for now, boss.
>I’m thinking something like an off-the-record secretary for the CIC in order to take care of some of the more minor and prosaic tasks that used to split CDR. Doxy’s attention. Eki seems to like the Captain and he’ll want to treat his dear Doxy to something nice, though we’ll have to see what Doxy herself thinks of the idea.
Well… maybe tomorrow… I’m a bit busy today, after all. So I’ll get back to you with that idea?

I’ll need to get going, I got duties that are calling for me. Good luck with today, you two.
You know where to find me, sir.
Yeah, we’re going to be fucking stuck here for a while…
… … …Ah’m going for a nap before things really get going…

Kaktus 2021/11/19(Fri)16:02 No. 1015570 ID: 681cb5
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>General morale may be high, but don't think the Raolme siblings wouldn't question your leadership for having the pirate who raided them among your crew. You should set aside some time to mediate the situation. Even if relations are only one step improved, it lessens the chance of any plans against the pirates from going belly up.
Eh? They came out of nowhere and did a broadside on my face, what else is there to talk about?
I rather not have people on my ship fight, so if you should at least be cordial and tolerate their presence it would be a start.
You need to talk to them about that. They are the one that started it.
You did shoot them down, didn’t you?
That wasn’t personal. They were cowardly Raolme and I was a brave Kelshin Pirate. It’s what we do. And while they are still cowardly Raolme that deserve a good keelhaul, I’m just a Kelshin prisoner now, so no need to fight anymore, is there?
Hmm… are you feeling well, by the way?
Huh? Oh, the wound? It’s just a shell wound, it will heal…
You look a bit ill, though…
I’m just drying up. The shower thingy didn’t really help… but I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.
>Didn't our Ralome guests say the rest of their crew was taken captive? Ikekeki may simply consider them part of the booty.
They would have been my booty if you didn’t turn me into booty instead, KEKEKE.

>Tell her a slave has no choice in the matter. If she won't work then perhaps she'd prefer to rot in her room until we find someone to sell her to.
Hey, you can at least work with me here!
You do realize being a slave means being forced to do something against your will, correct?
Yeah, but… a proper and honorable Captain, like yourself, is supposed to keep the slaves happy so they don’t revolt! That’s what the pirate code says!
Or I can simply hire a few taskmasters with guns that forces you to be “happy” or get shot.
But… b-but that’s not what proper captains are supposed to do…
Most people that buy slaves aren’t proper captains, Eki.
… … … oh…

>Ask Eki before executing the plan. Be careful to not show all your cards yet. If she plans to betray you, I'd bet she'd try to commandeer a high-tech ship that's worth more than some stash of booty.
Wait, you’re not going to tell me the plan?
Just in case, no. I’m just asking to see what you think of us attacking them.
…just… don’t kill them? Maybe just rough them up a bit and let them flee? …or grab them like booty, like you did me! Oh! And don’t forget my booty either!
I’ll make sure to keep all that in mind, Eki.
>Maybe you can lean into that: Put Ikekeki on scanner duty, but bug her station to catch any secret messages.
You want me to scan?
We’re dangerously low on crew at the moment. I need you to do your part and keep an eye on the other pirates, just in case. I’ll show you how you can call me directly so you can report anything abnormal.
I’ll do my best! Trust me!
(Or not.)

Kaktus 2021/11/19(Fri)16:02 No. 1015571 ID: 681cb5
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>We should probably put a bit more priority on taking those pirates.
You gather the little crew that you have available right now in the hanger, to see what needs to be done with this pirate menace.

Ready for action, Captain.
I’m willing to help dealing with these pirates, friend.
Yeah! Let’s kick their tails! I’m ready to blast those scumsuckers into pieces!
…sis, you can’t even drive any of theirs ships, seeing as they are designed for people with eyes.
I can aid with those big damn briny cannons The Shed Scale has. Those pearls will do some real damage, and seeing as I’ve personally heard how these pirates fly, I’m clearly the best one to shot them down!
I see that the two of you have some emotional stake in the coming battle. I have to ask you to keep yourself composed if you want to play a part of it.
I’ll try my best, friend, but you know full well what they did to us.
I’m not promising anything, because I’m going full scream on those sludge dwellers!
Hmm… and I heard that there was an accident with our prisoner as well yesterday?
Please excuse Tizli here for acting so rashly.
She deserved a claw to the face!
While we’ve calmed down a bit when we were told she was your prisoner, I would suggest that you throw her out the airlock as soon as possible, friend.
Or shot a sonic blast right into that ugly head of hers.
I have yet decided what will be done to her, but until then I need to be sure the two of you won’t do anything stupid.
…I can respect that, Captain. I’ll keep my distance.
Yeah, yeah, I won’t try and kill her again…

>If the pirates are leaving orbit, then we can engage them with our big ship, and we have one functional smaller ship. Let's go get em.
Hmm… while you’ve already prepared an ambush, just flying over there and blasting them right before they jump is another option, sure…
>Also might be worthwhile to send Tezli and Regina off to get enough resources to build a Security station, to make any pirate boarding crew be in for an nasty surprise.
There is no way you’ll have enough time to gather any materials before they leave, let alone build a security station. So no, that won’t work.
>That depends on how long it will take them to get over here. If it takes them a whole day to reach us, then that would give Shara and Doxy enough time to lay their eggs today and get ready to fight tomorrow.
It will take them an hour or two, tops. Traveling inside a system between planets is fast, so you can’t count on it giving you enough time for anything important.
>I thought we were already sending out the distress signal, and they didn't take the bait?
We’ve yet to send the distress signal. So far we’ve only prepared the Cruiser as bait, nothing more.
>It should be time to ensure we get that pirate cache. In case there's things that could be vital to helping us in the future.
The pirate cache is no doubt filled with vital material that we need, but it is a risk engaging them in the first place. High risk, high rewards… if we succeed.

So what are your orders, hun?
Hmm…

>With Zell still in the med-bay and Doxy and Shara taking time off to lay their eggs, we might not be able to pull off the ambush on the pirates with almost half the crew unable to do anything today. Maybe we should let them leave?
Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, sir.
What? No! You can’t just let those scumsuckers get away.
…I have to agree with Regina. If you don’t think we can take them, that is…
>I think we should do it. Send out the distress signal from our damaged cruiser and lure the pirates over here.
Yeah! That’s it! I’m all for blasting those crabs! I’ll handle the main cannons, no problem!
I’m ready to pilot the cruiser if needed, hun.
I… um… not sure what I can do, really.
>Now I know something easy Tozlan can do today: take over for his sister at Mess Hall; Regina can take over tomorrow. He has to be at least as good a cook as his sister, shouldn't he?
Food, you say? I mean… I guess I can cook some lunch and dinner, friend, but… don’t expect it to be as good as Tizli’s stuff.

You communicator buzzes to life, as the bug you placed on Eki is picking up something.
Come in, Crab Queen, do you read me?
What? Ikekeki? You’re still alive?
I’ve been captured and-
KEKEKE! Then we don’t need to worry about you asking for your booty back!
Hey! That’s my-
It’s our booty now!
Y-you’re not going to save me!?
And let all these doubloons and treasure go unclaimed! KEKEKE! Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to pillage your home den as well!
Dibs on her Holo-player!
… … …
So have fun being slave, you scurvy crab.
I can disable their weaponry and shields!
Pssh, of course you can.
All you need to is-
I know you’re lying. Unless you disable all their power and we see an emergency signal, we’re leaving.
Just give me a few minutes.
You better hurry, because we’ve already started preparing to jump.
Your communicator grew silent once again… though not for very long.
Captain! Do you hear me!
Loud and clear, Eki.
I… uh… the pirates are preparing to jump and… I kind of contacted them?
…and?
I told they I could sabotage the ship… to try and get them to lower their guard and come over. Though they won’t sail over here unless they see an emergency beacon from you planetlubbers.
I see… can you still contact them?
…yes? Is there anything you want me to tell them? Err… s-sorry for contacting them behind your back…
…I’ll get back to you about that. Keep an eye on them, Eki.
Yes, Captain.

So… what are your orders, sir?
Are we attacking those scumsuckers?
Or are we sitting this one out? I mean, I’m making some soup tonight either way so…

It’s time to make a proper decision. If you want to deal with the pirates you need to do it now, even if it means doing it without most of your crew and only one cruiser.

You have already prepared an ambush with the broken cruiser, which only needs an emergency signal as bait. Of course, you can also fly over and start blasting them right as they are about to jump, to try and catch them while they are vulnerable. There’s also the fact that Eki can talk to them directly, which might be useful, either to increase the chances of another plan or to fuel a new one. Of course, you can always just let them leave… it’s the safe option, though you won’t get any of their loot for it.

Right… time to make a decision.

It's starting to sound like Ikekeki joined the pirates without actually knowing what pirating detailed or the issues of what they actually do.. Kind of like how Tizli is wanting to jump into the unknown with her adventures without thinking first of the things that could come about from it.

I say we go for it. They already blew Ikekeki off so we could use that as a distraction while ambushing them.

>>1015571
There's no way that was an earnest attempt at deceiving them from Ikekeki. She clearly just tried to betray us - but it doesn't matter. We can still use the situation to our advantage... and deal with Ikekeki later.

Let them come. Make the ship appear weak. Lure them in.

>>1015575
I agree, we will deal with Her later, we might actually make her turn to our side, after a stern talking to. Let's proceed with the ambush.

>>1015569
>name for baby boy?
How about Vex?

>>1015570
>drying out
Seems like we should prioritize making that Swimming Hall so that she doesn’t end up getting sick from being too dry.

I’m not sure if the Raolme will also dry out, but the Swimming Hall will help prevent that from happening to them too.

>>1015571
If Tizli believes she can shoot the pirates, then let her handle the Shed Scale’s cannons.

Regina can handle the cruiser like she said she could.

>Ikekeki attempts to betray us
>she’s rejected by the other pirates
Now that the other pirates have revealed that they don’t actually care about her, she might be willing to help us take them out.

Let’s send out that distress signal from the wrecked cruiser and prepare to ambush the pirates!

Make sure you warn everyone in the med-bay that we’re going into combat!

>>1015575
>There's no way that was an earnest attempt at deceiving them from Ikekeki. She clearly just tried to betray us
Duh. It’s pretty obvious that’s what happened. But she immediately confessed that she got into contact with them after they mocked her and said they weren’t going to help her, so I don’t think she’s going to be willing to help them anymore.

Still shouldn’t tell her our plan, just in case.

>>1015580
>Seems like we should prioritize making that Swimming Hall so that she doesn’t end up getting sick from being too dry.
Might not get the materials in time for that, or we'll have more pressing needs to use the materials for. In that case, a make-do measure would be just a tub large enough for her to lay fully in, then continually filled with water with the overflow into the drains; A section of hydroponics basin might work, if it's wide enough. If she needs the water aerated (like a aquarium) run a air hose from the life support lines down into it and clip it to the tub edge to keep in place.

Definitely set the ambush. Ikeki's attempted betrayal has sweetened the bait.

I get the feeling she's very young, and new to the pirate profession. Once we deal with her former crewmates, she'll probably be decently loyal... but there's still a significant risk to keeping her around.
Absolutely do not let her anywhere near stations where she could actually disable our weapons and shields.

>Is there anything you want me to tell them?
That she just took the captain hostage, and already hijacked their only cruiser. Then, there will be a "struggle" and "explosion". After that, emergency signal.

Also, do remind her to take her job as scanner seriously. You don't want to lose crew to pirate trickery. In fact: if everyone makes it to day's end because of her, you'd be happy enough to drop this "personal slave" nonsense and treat her like a proper captain for once.

>I’m sure we’ll come up with something great, Doxy.
Something with an A, maybe: Aelto? Aleto? Aleph?

One more thing to consider: Can you trigger the broken cruiser to detonate when they get close? You'd lose the cruiser, but the point of an ambush is to weaken them before they mount a counterattack. It depends on what you'd consider an acceptable loss: tech, or crew.

Kaktus 2021/11/20(Sat)12:14 No. 1015644 ID: 681cb5
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>Something with an A, maybe: Aelto? Aleto? Aleph?
…Aetius? Albus? Agrippa? …Augustus? Arthur? Hmm…
>How about Vex?
Vex… Vex does sound nice… maybe he’s a Vex? You’ll need to consider this more later.

>There's no way that was an earnest attempt at deceiving them from Ikekeki. She clearly just tried to betray us - but it doesn't matter. We can still use the situation to our advantage... and deal with Ikekeki later.
She tried to get her pirate sisters to rescue her, but when they refused… well, let just say you should hear her soul being crushed there for a moment.
>But she immediately confessed that she got into contact with them after they mocked her and said they weren’t going to help her, so I don’t think she’s going to be willing to help them anymore.
It seems like little Ikekeki finally learned what being a pirate actually means… and she’s not happy about it.
>It's starting to sound like Ikekeki joined the pirates without actually knowing what pirating detailed or the issues of what they actually do... Kind of like how Tizli is wanting to jump into the unknown with her adventures without thinking first of the things that could come about from it.
Hmm… while you can only speculate, it’s probable that these Kelshin aren’t living the best life right now, having to abandon their home worlds and all. Becoming a pirate might be one of the few ways to escape that life.
>I get the feeling she's very young, and new to the pirate profession. Once we deal with her former crewmates, she'll probably be decently loyal... but there's still a significant risk to keeping her around.
What other options to you really have? Kick her out the airlock? There aren’t anyone else out there that wants her… unless you sell her as a slave?
>We might actually make her turn to our side, after a stern talking to.
You definitely need to talk to her after all this, no doubt about that. Let just hope she behaves while we fight her former crewmembers.
>Absolutely do not let her anywhere near stations where she could actually disable our weapons and shields. And you still shouldn’t tell her our plan, just in case.
She’s locked inside the scanner room right now, so she’s not disabling anything… and you’ve made sure not to mention the cruiser or the ambush to her.
>One more thing to consider: Can you trigger the broken cruiser to detonate when they get close?
…we needed to rig up any explosives before we sent it out if we wanted to do that… though, seeing that you currently don’t have any explosives…


>If Tizli believes she can shoot the pirates, then let her handle the Shed Scale’s cannons.
I’ll send them right into the eternal dark, captain!
>Regina can handle the cruiser like she said she could.
I’ll be ready to deploy in a minute or two, sir!
And Tozlan…
…I’ll start making some soup, I guess? Geez, it sounds rather anticlimactic…
>Make sure you warn everyone in the med-bay that we’re going into combat!
Very well, lad, Ah’ll tell the other’s. Though, things are ‘eating up ‘ere as well, so… don’t get ‘it?
>Do remind Eki to take her job as scanner seriously. You don't want to lose crew to pirate trickery.
…yes, captain. I’ll keep both of my eyes on them…
>In fact: if everyone makes it to day's end because of her, you'd be happy enough to drop this "personal slave" nonsense and treat her like a proper captain for once.
Yes, sir! I’ll do my best!

>Tell Eki to send a message to the pirates, that she just took the captain hostage, and already hijacked their only cruiser. Then, there will be a "struggle" and "explosion". After that, emergency signal.
Crab Queen! I’ve disabled their shields and weapon systems, as well as taken their captain hostage!
Now you’re clearly making things up.
They are completely defenseless, you need to pillage them before they call for help!
Are yo- Wait, an emergency signal just came on and large one at that! She’s telling the truth! KEKEKE! They will be easy prey! Let us pillage and take all of them as slaves! …yes, that includes Ikekeki… what do you mean I didn’t press the button properly? Oh, yo- *Kzh*
>Let’s send out that distress signal from the wrecked cruiser and prepare to ambush the pirates!
They’ve swallowed the bait and are sailing right towards that signal you put out, Captain.

It’s go time. Everyone, report in.
I’m nearing maximum effective range, hun.
Main cannons online and heated up!
I have them on visuals. One Pillager Class and One Raider Class. Both ships approaching fast.
I’ve finally gotten the food synth to boil water, captain.
Tozlan, I meant everyone that participating in the battle.
Sorry, friend.
They have arrived at the signal and are slowing down… um… one of your cruisers are there?
That’s our cue!