Toxoglossa 2017/05/15(Mon)17:48 No. 801985 ID: 9a036d
File 149489571778.png - (47.71KB , 600x600 , 3-1.png )

You feel darkness weighing your consciousness down like a blanket of tar. Your body hurts, but it's a long way away and not really important right now. 

Toxoglossa 2017/05/15(Mon)17:48 No. 801986 ID: 9a036d
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What's more concerning is you: both of you. One pair of eyes burning the brilliant rebellious blue of youth; the other ancient, tired and calm, but no less defiant. 

"Hello, Sam" you echo to each other. 

Now neither of us will be virgins!

What's up, doc?

>>801986
Tell Old Sam you've heard some things about her. Things that are bringing your feelings into doubt. Is she not a bad person? Maybe you can negotiate a time share.

So... are you here to do the cryptic elder advice thing, or are you here to do the fight me for control of myself thing?

I really hope it's the advice one, I've got a lot of questions about what's going on here.

Now hug. Purely for reasons of self-acceptance and accepting of the other, not at all for any kind of lascivious reasons. Nope.

Time for hugs!

Pistols at dawn. 20 paces.

>>801986
So...
Apparently I might have jumped a bit to the still-totally reasonable conclusions I had about you.

>>801986
Well, shit.

Might as well try and get some answers out of her, I guess.

>>801986

Fingerguns. "Let's not fuck this up, I've got a date with a bird and her sweet ass."

Then we figure out what kind of twilight-zone shenanigans we just got ourselves into.

Let me guess, you'd have handled that differently?

Toxoglossa 2017/05/16(Tue)18:23 No. 802375 ID: 9a036d
File 149498419456.png - (56.00KB , 600x600 , 3-3.png )

"Why am I here?" two voices ask.


"Because they couldn't know what we had accomplished. They needed a system to keep them satisfied while the others escaped." says Sam.


"Because they wanted to use us, follow us to find the others. They knew we would go looking." says Sam simultaneously.


Your expressions soften; you don't touch, but there is a feeling of a bond.

"Thanks for letting me stay" you say to yourselves.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/16(Tue)18:23 No. 802376 ID: 9a036d
File 149498420282.png - (101.47KB , 600x600 , 3-4.png )

You hear a pair of voices in the darkness.

Both are strangers.

Both are familiar.

Both are loved.

You look at one another, each wanting nothing more than to be with one of those voices. You know the temptation is strong and time is short. You try to think of anything else you want to say to yourselves.

"If you need any help, just ask."
Could you two split and go your seperate ways?

>>802376
>Both are strangers.
>Both are familiar.
>Both are loved.
Responding to lovers past and present, I think. Annie is a stranger to Old Sam but loved by New Sam. Someone else (Sword Dog, I'm guessing) was Old Sam's lover, but still basically a stranger to New Sam, even if she recognized the voice.

>You try to think of anything else you want to say to yourselves.
Can... we not fight? I'd rather work with you.

>>802376
"Above all else, no matter what, we need to love. Spencer, Annie, Bucky, each other - our capacity for love is our greatest strength."

>>802382
It's Dr. Spencer.

>>802394
Oh, her too. And probably Polly three. I'm just guessing it's right after the fight and its people on-site for the vulture fight are trying to wake us up.

We have to take care of our friends. We have to make it out of this together.

>>802376
Let's do this together.

"What's Polly's favorite, chocolate or flowers?"

Toxoglossa 2017/05/18(Thu)17:16 No. 802752 ID: 9a036d
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You feel a twinge in your heart, one of you relents. 
"Tell her I love her" you echo to yourself. 
You both nod. 
"Let me know if you need help...". 
There's a surging feeling beneath you, pulling you out of the darkness.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/18(Thu)17:16 No. 802755 ID: 9a036d
File 149515299955.png - (151.55KB , 519x600 , 3-6.png )

That dull pain that seemed so distant makes itself known. Your every movement feels raw and heavy, as if someone replaced your skeleton with a cast iron replica, still cherry red from the foundry.
"...sure she'd understand. The Sam I knew- hang on, I think she's coming to..." a voice whispers.
 
You open your eyes a sliver and immediately crunch them shut again as bright, sterile light assaults them. You try to sit up, but gentle hands restrain you. 
"Hey, its okay. Don't try to move, you're safe."

What happened, and understand what?

>>802755
"Okay, where am I and what happened?"

Annie and Dr. Spencer.

"How long?"

What's happened? Did we win?

>>802755
"Did you kill and/or capture them? How long was I out? And is it normal to taste the color purple and the number 7 after being electrocuted?"

"Am I in the infirmary? Why am I naked? Who undressed me?"

>>802755
Alright, first off, which Sam is in the driver's seat? Second, tell them you have open communication with the other Sam, if they want to talk. You're not at odds anymore, not really.

>>802795
Since Sam doesn't know about what happened to Bucky, we should ask if he's also ok! Sam is concerned if their plan to shoot the repo guy's ship with the asteroid's rail guns worked or not!

Keep your eyes shut and lay back, but also reach up with each hand to the nearest hand gently holding you down and hold them. Tell 'em that you had a small chat with Old Sam while you were out. Remember your promise each of yourselves made to the other and tell Annie you love her, and... It's Dr. Spencer that was other voice, right? Shame you don't know her first name. Anyway, if it was Dr. Spencer's voice then tell Dr. Spencer that Old Sam said to tell her she loves her. ...Man, this is gonna be all kinds of awkward, isn't it?

Anyway, down to business. Ask how long you were out, how bad you were hurt, and how long 'till your bones stop hurting like the devil's been hammering on each of them. Then ask what happened after you were knocked. Say your last memory before blacking out was Annie berserker charging the Repo Men with a push-gun for what they did to you, (which, by the way, makes your heart twinge in all kinds of ways.) Did any of them survive Annie's wrath? Did any get away? What's the current situation? And what happened with Bucky? Is he okay? Has he called? Did his railgun plan work?

>>802814
Being at odds wasn't the problem. It was that the installment plan sort of merges the psyches gradually. The conversation in stereo was actually concerning, from that perspective.

>>802844
My understanding was that the Old personality completely overwrites the clone's, if the process is done properly. Which it didn't, so there's a fight between the personalities, and in each case the clone's personality won because they have a stronger emotional connection to the world.

"Has anyone heard from the fucktoy? I mean, Bucky?"

>>802870
She'd never call him that.

When you see both of them, to the appropriate person, "Sam Secundus loves you." Then turn, "Sam Primus loves you." Then settle, smiling at both, "It's nice to be cared for by people you love."

Aardvarks and secretary birds both need hugs immediately!

>>802995
Truer words have never been uttered.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/19(Fri)19:00 No. 803056 ID: 9a036d
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You finally manage to focus on the shapes in front of you. You reach your hand towards the shorter of the two. 
"She said...she said to tell you: she still loves you."
Dr. Spencer blanches, recoiling. "Who?"

"Sam..." you feel Annie squeeze your shoulder protectively. With monumental effort you put your hand over hers. 
The doctor staggers, sitting heavily on her step stool. "She's... she's still in there? Dr. Tran?" You nod. 
"Oh my god... Sam..." she reaches underneath her glasses to wipe away tears. 

Toxoglossa 2017/05/19(Fri)19:00 No. 803057 ID: 9a036d
File 149524564441.png - (78.99KB , 494x600 , 3-8.png )

"What happened?"
Dr. Spencer sighs and sits up straight, "I treated you for some minor burns, and you probably experienced some muscular tearing but you should be alright with some rest. If you mean what happened in the battle..." She exchanges a glance with Annie. "I... think it better if the commander briefs you." 

You look for some hope from Annie; she stares at the floor, nervously plucking at a feather. 
"Bucky?"

"No word yet. He damaged their ship, but not enough to kill it. Last I heard, it was moving behind the asteroid, probably looking for him." Her voice is the lead grey of someone expecting to hear the worst; emotions bottled and buried for the coming storm.

>>803057
Well, we need to get eyes on the situation out there. We have shuttles. The repomen won't bother attacking an unarmed shuttle so long as it keeps its distance, because it's not a threat and they have no reason to raise the body count. If they want the shuttle to go away they'll warn the pilot before opening fire.

If we have the repomen shuttle, could we staff it with crewmen wearing their uniforms? Assuming the uniforms weren't damaged too badly in the battle. Having Annie and Sam on board "captured" would help. If we can fool them completely, we could stage a surprise boarding party. I doubt that would work though, they'd ask for a security check, or at least verbal confirmation... do we have any way of copying their voices?

>>803057
Then get the commander in here. We need to know what happened.

Ask if anything is being done to help Bucky? Surely someone went out there to help him after we took care of the other repo guys that came onto the ship! Or someone at least used the Sunfish's weapons to finish off the repo guys' ship by shooting it, right?

>>803057
>"I... think it better if the commander briefs you."
"Then please bring her in here!"

>>803057
You hug that bird.

Get up and find the commander. Show no weakness! Show maybe a little skin. Are you dressed?

>>803057
Hug them both. They really, really need it, look at the poor dears.

Nooo, feather plucking! Hug that biiiiird!

>>803110
But neither of them are deers!

>>803118
Which is why they're poor at it.

Deploy the double friendship hug!

Careful with that muscle tearing. Hug the crap out of that bird anyway

Commence hug dual-binary hug mode in 3...2...1

That bird needs some hugging and some love

No shit we are going to go find him or what's left of him.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/22(Mon)17:51 No. 803698 ID: 9a036d
File 149550070522.png - (89.21KB , 424x600 , 3-9.png )

You push yourself up, groaning like old machinery, and flop forward onto your girlfriend's torso. You weakly loop your arms around her and clasp your hands together. You feel a pair of tender hands on your bare back as Annie leans over and cuddles you. 
You whisper into her belly fluff., "Psst. Am I naked?"
You feel her relieved breath in your ear, "Not quite. Dr. Spencer was worried she'd have to defibrillate when we brought you in."
You spend a long moment like this, gathering strength from one another. 

Toxoglossa 2017/05/22(Mon)17:51 No. 803699 ID: 9a036d
File 149550071220.png - (133.18KB , 727x800 , 3-10.png )

You feel a sigh ripple through her, "What do we do now?"
"I want to talk to commander Feist. Am I okay to leave?"
Dr. Spencer nods and together they help you out of bed. "Whatever they used wasn't designed to kill, but you're going to be sore for a while. We... don't have much in the way of painkillers, unfortunately. We have an old neural uplink collar we use sometimes for surgery, but it's no good for long term care."
You stoop down and give the doctor a hug as well, "Thank you."

She seem surprised but hugs you a little uncertainly, "Can you just tell Dr. Tran... I still love her too...?"

Toxoglossa 2017/05/22(Mon)17:51 No. 803700 ID: 9a036d
File 149550071744.png - (115.41KB , 600x584 , 3-11.png )

They lead you out of the room on wobbly legs into a small foyer. The other doctor, Dr. Kent if you remember right, is there discharging a security guard who you last saw with several gaping holes in his chest. 
"Take these iron supplements and I want you on double protein rations for the next couple days. Come back in 6 hours and I'll check your blood pressure again."
Dr. Kent spots you and scoffs.
"Huh…. It really is you. Fucking hell…"
He works his jaw for several seconds: opening and closing it as he tries to speak.
"You know… I had… hundreds of years to plan, to rehearse what I'd say if I saw you again. Now that you're here… was it worth it?"

>>803700
Tell him you don't really know, since you're kindof sharing this body with Dr Tran and don't have access to her memories. He can complain about her to you if he wants. Immortality seems like a good idea though in principle?

Not sure we have time to talk right now, though. Can we get a shuttle out to the asteroid?

>Now that you're here… was it worth it?
Keep it simple, but honest.

"I honestly don't know. I'm a flake. Missing most of Dr. Tran's memories most of the time, sorry."

"Do you think it was?"

That's on your mother, not you. You're just the clone her corporate fanboys built to mind@#$% all her secret potential out of.

But honestly? No, you don't think your mother's motive was a justifiable risk. It just happened to be the one your mother thought was psychologically inclined to happen. And it didn't, so that's that.

Now, civilization hasn't crumbled and syndicates rule the galaxy, so now is a good time to get this ship colonized. Reverse-engineer the pinch-drive tech from whatever technology the bounty hunters had, then find a planet and build a city already.

BTW where are those @#$%s anyhow?

"Couldn't answer that one even if I wanted to. I'm a clone of Doctor Tram without her Memories, personality or skillset." Give him a few seconds to process that.

"What happened to the repomen?"

>>803700

Plain and simple: "It didn't go according to plan. I'm just Sam, not Dr. Tran."

>>803700
>Threesomes at the speed of light all the way here.

"Yes." *wink wink*

>>803700
"Is it ever, doctor?"

"I might be able to pass a message or question or comment to her. You know, when meditating. The memories and personality are technically there... mostly. Just walled off. Anything you want me to tell her when I'm in an appropriately altered state of mind?"

Let me get back to you on that...

"I'm not the original. There are sort of imprints. Not enough to make sense of. You'd have to ask them."

>>803700
Getting out of a clone production lab with two lovers was worth it, even if that WAS technically planned by the bad guys. Hot, polygamous sex is always worth it.

Getting here? Naw. Well, it closes some open chapter's in Old Sam's life and there's potential for a brighter future for all of us, so... maybe? We DO need to get you all to a new home, life on a space station is permanently sustainable.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/23(Tue)19:41 No. 804048 ID: 9a036d
File 149559368107.png - (109.28KB , 600x525 , 3-12.png )

"I wouldn't know, I'm just a clone. She's in here somewhere, but I'm in charge."

He sputters, "Oh? A clone? How convenient! Welcome aboard Dr. 'My invention is too good for this world' by proxy!"

Dr. Spencer steps in front of him and tries to defuse things. "Kent, hold on. This isn't Sam's fault..."

"Sam? Which Sam? Because the Samantha Tran I knew condemned my process, bastardized it, and sold it right back to the investors to 'protect the world' from her invention. This Sam is nothing more than living proof of her spineless hypocrisy!"

Toxoglossa 2017/05/23(Tue)19:41 No. 804049 ID: 9a036d
File 149559368664.png - (122.26KB , 600x541 , 3-13.png )

Pinpricks tickle your arm as Annie flexes her talons. You can hear the venom boiling in her throat as she growls, "Your process?"

Peck his eyes out! They'll grow back, eventually.

>>804049
Try to calm Annie down while telling Dr Kent that he should shut his beak if he doesn't want to spend more time regenerating than the patient he just treated. We'll find out more information from Dr Spencer.

Like how it was "bastardized", and what, exactly the original process did.

>>804049
Let Annie go off on him a little, but reign her in before it gets violent.

>spineless hypocrisy
Quiet, hard.

I don't think she consented to it. To me.

>>804049

Let's deploy some advanced Annie-soothing techniques, and then try to validate Dr. Kent's feelings. He's bitter and hurt and angry, and trying to confront that head-on can only make things worse.

Acknowledge his pain, tell him you can only imagine how he feels, and ask him to explain more. I bet he's not really had anyone to talk to about this before, and it probably eats at him.

Explain that her goal was to muddle the project in corporate backstabbing and gross marketing assumptions. She hoped that the documentation would be edited into a jumbled bureaucratic mess of flat-earth assumptions and farfetched sci-fi goals, so it would never be taken seriously by those who could seize it and would never be used by those who had it.

Obviously, that didn't stop the corporation that made you from succeeding. Then they mass-produced the clones, rewrote their memories over decades, and systematically tortured them into giving up their secrets or working on their projects. What they've done to the Sunfish is a fraction of what they plan to do with all that cloned brainpower and knowledge.

So congratulations. You AND Samantha @#$%ed up, whoop-de-doo. Can we agree that we're treading a fine line between a revolution and total galactic enslavement?

>>804048
Annie, he's just a common scientist. They don't think about long-term or personal consequences ever, just about what they can do with science.

In all fairness, Spencer, we've lived through your process if you're the one that invented the weird fake immortality through cloning and memory injections, and Old Sam was right, it's inhumane. At least from our perspective. It reproduces an old consciousness at the consequence of killing a new one. We're victims of it.

We don't really GIVE a shit if Old Sam's a hypocrite. That fact is irrelevant to us. It's a horrible thing that you invented and we have the right to say that because we would have died had it been completed. What do you have to say your process's victims? Not just the ones in front of you that managed to escape, but to all the ones that are losing themselves right now lightyears away?

Don't give me any horseshit about how we wouldn't be alive without it and the precious time we did have. Frankly, we would rather never had been born, and depending on how souls and consciousnesses actually do come into the world we could have happened onto more fortunate lives, but that's a metaphysical debate, which you probably have no interest in.

Okay why am I the only person here who seems to pay attention to the fact that Sam is super chill and diplomatic?

Like - encouraging violence and accusing people of insane conspiracies seems like the most un-Sam behavior.

And, also - here's a great opportunity for that delicious exposition that we all love so much. I think we should be encouraging it, not shutting it down

>>804049
"Annie, he means the immortality."

While we're not the Sam he's mad at, I feel like some of his indignation is justified. While we don't know the full story of what happened on the ship, he doesn't know what happened on Earth after the ship left, and a clone of Dr. Tran just popped up after several hundred years claiming to have a copy of the mind of the original Dr. Tran in her head. While nobody has the complete picture, this *does not look good*.

We might have to consider the possibility that Old Sam wasn't exactly a good person after all.

Deploy Annie soothing and try to talk it out with Kent. Let him rant if we have to. These people are the only potential allies we have.

Don't be stupid. Don't be hateful. Be the Sam we know you are.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/24(Wed)17:28 No. 804229 ID: 9a036d
File 149567213209.png - (86.36KB , 600x474 , 3-14.png )

"Annie, lets not..." you put yourself between her and the doctor, "look at me, Annie."
Reluctantly she tears her blazing gaze away from Dr. Kent. 

"We never asked to be made, doctor. And from what it sounds like, neither did Dr. Tran. It seems that she was cloned without her permission, and allowed me to escape as an individual."

He huffs, "Hmph, never would have happened if we had just had more time..."

"What's that supposed to mean? You're talking about the installment plans, right? You invented them?"

Toxoglossa 2017/05/24(Wed)17:29 No. 804230 ID: 9a036d
File 149567214020.png - (102.71KB , 600x600 , 3-15.png )

"Total body replacement therapy."Dr. Kent sighs, "Had we finished, we could have managed to keep the clone templates in suspended animation while they developed. There would have been no need for... recalcitrant bodies." Annie takes a step closer and he rolls his eyes at her. "Don't give me that. I've seen your handiwork, very professional but I'm afraid you couldn't put me down for long."

Annie snarls at him, "You're a monster..."

Kent glares back, "Says the pot to the kettle. Only because she made me one, my dear. Frankly, Dr. Tran's project was insane and dangerous and never would have been allowed under normal circumstances."

Toxoglossa 2017/05/24(Wed)17:29 No. 804231 ID: 9a036d
File 149567214885.png - (72.46KB , 600x467 , 3-16.png )

"But it worked." Dr. Spencer's voice cuts through him, disarming centuries of scarred ego with three words. 

>>804231
Well it's certainly more comprehensive than transplanting your memories into clone bodies, regardless if the clones are given a chance to develop their own identities. Immortality instead of eternal youth and immunity to disease.

I'd like to ask how Dr Tran "bastardized" the body replacement technology, but we really should get going. Gotta check on Bucky.

>I'm afraid you couldn't put me down for long
Launch him from the ship at escape velocity, aimed at the sun.

Even if the treatment keeps him alive in hard vacuum, eventually he gets incinerated.

Wait what do you mean that wasn't a challenge to find a workaround.

>what say
I... think we can agree there are serious problems with both technologies their creators didn't intend?

(Most diplomatic way I can think to put it).

Lets leave it at that, and walk away.

"Regenerate from that, doc."
Posse out.

>>804237
oh shit that'd be a cool line
i don't think we're trying to be antagonistic, though

Okay, I see what's up now. It looks like Old Sam took Dr. Kent's research/pet project and gave it to the Benefactors after the Sunfish left in an incomplete form. We don't know why she did that, but we can't our and Annie's anger at Kent designing the process in the first place/smugness at Spencer cutting him down to let us distract us from the fact that he didn't set it in motion. It was Old Sam.

We need to find out from Kent why she might have done that, and how she could have done so in the first place.

>>804240
* ave it to the Benefactors in an incomplete form after the Sunfish left.

>>804240
It was a stalling tactic so the research here could go on in secret.

>>804231

We mentioned that we need to talk to Feist, so we should probably prioritize that.

Also, bring Dr. Spencer. She can vouch for us in case of any awkwardness and it seems that she knows the Sunfish - and its inhabitants - extremely well.

and oh my god she is just too adorable

Don't let his gruff demeanor throw you; Dr. Kent has a point. You have the right to be pissed at Dr. Tran too, Sam. As noble as it is that she hid the true immortality process from those rich fucks, Old Sam still gave them the process to grow clone bodies, and overwrite their minds with the original. She gave the unscrupulous wealthy the means to stay in power, forever. Every clone who was ever wiped, she gave the Benefactors the power to do it, knowing that they would use that power to kill you, Bucky, Annie, and every other flake who ever lived.

So uh, please don't screw up that badly again. Introducing a corrupt society to murder cloning is not an acceptable solution to anything.

Mention Dr. Tran didn't want it to be perfected. The only thing worse than a tyrant is an immortal one.

>>804337
I think he was referring to the Installment Program with that statement.

>Vat-grown bodies
That doesn't make it any less exploitable. Right now, there are likely dozens of clones of Dr. Kent being re-written, interrogated, and tortured, just because their father invented cloning. That's right, a bunch of insufferable geniuses who fully understand Kent because they ARE Kent are being raped to death and it's his fault. Unless, of course, he could somehow develop a universal sterilizer that would kill every suffering clone in the entire universe of a person who is still alive. Could you, Dr. Kent?

... I thought so.

>>804399

I respect you and your torture fetish (not one to kinkshame), but... is this really the appropriate place?

"This arguing is pointless. Dr Samantha Tram isn't here right now to debate you and I'd like to know what happened after I was knocked out during the fighting."

>>804405
Didja mean to give that, uh, username?

>>804440
?

Toxoglossa 2017/05/26(Fri)19:13 No. 804617 ID: 9a036d
File 149585121045.png - (72.86KB , 600x445 , 3-17.png )

"Look, you have a point: Dr. Tran's actions led to the development of a system where people like Annie and I have to live in fear of being captured and erased. But she isn't here to explain her actions and as much as I'd like to debate ancient history with you, we need to go get caught up on the situation." 
Kent grumbles something about getting back to work and you follow Dr. Spencer into the foyer.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/26(Fri)19:13 No. 804618 ID: 9a036d
File 149585121788.png - (112.01KB , 600x600 , 3-18.png )

Reed is manning the reception desk with a nervous look on his face. Commander Feist sits up as you enter. 

"Oh good, you're awake. Feeling better?"

"Still sore...What happened?" 

She sighs, drumming her fingers on the handle of her sword. "Three of the 'repo-men' managed to escape using the same technology that they used to attack you. One..." you notice her eyes flick sideways at Annie, "was killed in the process. We're keeping the body in cryo while we examine it." 

"And the crew?"

"Nothing that won't heal. Thanks to your help, we were able to keep any vulnerable personnel out of harms way. If we hadn't been alerted to your presence, I fear we would have been taken completely by surprise. We believe The remaining agents are still on the ship and currently working to capture them."

>>804618

We need to make a note to talk to Annie to see if she's okay... killing someone isn't ever easy, and if she's never done it before, then it's probably much much worse.

>>804618
Tell them they need to keep security especially tight around anything that has to do with the immortality research.
Oh hey it's Reed. Hi Reed!

Ask if they have a shuttle they can spare to check on Bucky and his battle with the enemy ship.

Invading a ship like this with only that many forces is practically a suicide mission, especially if they're even slightly aware about the whole regen thing. I wonder what their backup plan is.

Bucky's railgun blast probably disrupted the first backup plan, so they're probably going for the backup backup plan while they maybe wait for backup. The NEXT ship that comes in, we'll probably have to commandeer somehow. We need to prepare more for that event.

And keep a headcount of every person currently awake. They may be able to reverse engineer the regen effect if they manage to kidnap even one of you and scurry off into space without us even knowing. I highly suggest a tracker system of sorts and higher security on cryo.

>>804618

Wondering which of the twins is hiding under the desk with Reed right now...

There's totally a mouse blowing that deer under the counter.

>>804618
Well, that's good, I guess. Wish three hadn't gotten away.

Any news from outside? What the ships are doing?

>>804620
I don't think it's her first kill. It was at least implied we've killed prior teams sent after us.

>>804618
Ask if she knows what happened to Bucky on the asteroid and if the plan to use the asteroid's rail guns succeeded or not.

>There's totally a mouse blowing that deer under the counter.
Huh.
So there is.

Well, it could be worse. Anyway we couldn't stay hidden for long, they won't be able to either.

Ask if they know about if Bucky's okay?

>>804624
>Invading a ship like this with only that many forces is practically a suicide mission, especially if they're even slightly aware about the whole regen thing.
They might not have been expecting the Sunfish to be here at all, or know anything about it. Once they followed the Starlette into the system, if they're pure mercenaries, it's a choice between going after the objective with whatever resources they've already got, and maybe getting paid right away, or running off to fetch reinforcements or more intel and maybe losing the trail.

What sort of external sensors does the Sunfish have? What sort of heavy equipment? If you somehow happened to stumble across two crunched-up modern FTL drives, and wanted to reassemble the scrap into a working one, what tools would you need?

>>804618
>>804867

Well, let's consider:

- They failed to capture Sam or Annie
- Bucky fended off a drone (?) and wrecked their ship
- Holy shit that's a lot of resistance
- Limited use of lethal force

Insofar it seems like they jumped into something WAY gnarlier than they thought it would be and got the hell out after they lost their ship *and* their targets -- and that's provided they weren't just after Sam. They might make another attempt just for revenge, but with everything but the Sunfish out of commission, they're definitely up against really bad odds. While they're technologically superior and seem to have better firepower, they're now 3 guys against a whole ship that they're unfamiliar with.

I think we might be OK for now, but keeping up security and flushing them out should remain a priority.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/29(Mon)18:47 No. 805095 ID: 9a036d
File 149610885322.png - (80.73KB , 421x600 , 3-19.png )

"Any word on Bucky, our pilot?"

Commander Feist closes her eyes and squares her shoulders, "Our latest intel is that two sets of wreckage have been spotted drifting in opposite directions. We've seen no sign of your pilot. I'm sorry..."

Toxoglossa 2017/05/29(Mon)18:47 No. 805096 ID: 9a036d
File 149610885863.png - (157.90KB , 431x600 , 3-20.png )

Your knees go out from under you and Annie catches you under the armpits. 

"Sam! Come on, girl! Don't do this!"

Your head feels numb and full of noise, your heart hurts, "Bucky...?"

Toxoglossa 2017/05/29(Mon)18:47 No. 805097 ID: 9a036d
File 149610887057.png - (120.11KB , 600x459 , 3-21.png )

Annie shakes you a little, dragging you to your feet. "Come back to me, Sam! He's wearing an uplink, remember? He might still be out there!" She's yelling now, filling your vision. "The uplink? He's piloted remotely dozens of times. Its gonna be okay. We will find him."

Something inside you nods distantly. "...find him..." your voice is weak but there's a flame of hope. 

Feist stays at arms length but with a look of respectful patience. "Dachell, our chief engineer is planning an expedition to the asteroid to assess the severed umbilical cable. We'd like to use the opportunity to help you search for him."

>>805097
Yes, please.

>>805097
"I... okay. Thank you."

Across the room: deer boner suddenly killed as collateral damage.

please... do that...
I need time to think... sorry

>>805097
>He's piloted remotely dozens of times.
>the asteroid
"Yes, of course, you're right! Bucky must've known that something might happen to the Starlette, so he was being safe and was remotely piloting the ship from the asteroid! He's there waiting for us to come and get him!"

".....wait, what if he's running out of oxygen? He might be suffocating right now! What if-"
*insert someone giving Sam a "snap out of it" slap/punch to the face here*

There might be an even faster way to get in touch with him, actually: sling a cheap radio repeater out to where it can see the far side of the asteroid. No air in space means signals don't go around corners without help, and some dinky little helmet comm can't push radio waves through a massive stone wall.

It's okay Sam, we can clone more.

>>805097

The asteroid ...! That's where he was going, right? To find us new suits after ours were taken! Maybe he's still in there and they shot up our ship after realizing we weren't on it? He got that warning off somehow, maybe he's hiding inside of it.

Trying not to meta-game here, tempting as it is~

Toxoglossa 2017/05/30(Tue)18:51 No. 805200 ID: 9a036d
File 149619546505.png - (150.33KB , 700x388 , 3-22.png )

You take a few breaths to stabilize yourself and nod. "Okay, we're in."

Feist hesitates, "Are you sure? Do you need more time to recover?"

"No, let's do this. We need to get him before his O2 runs out." 

"Very well. Dachelle was just examining the equipment we salvaged off of the dead scout, she should still be in Cryo." The commander walks over to a larger, sturdier looking door in the foyer and places her palm against a panel. The scanner takes several seconds to verify her ID and the door slides open. 

Inside is a darker, colder chamber, lined with insulated pipes. The far end of the chamber is sealed with a  frost coated bulkhead. A window looks in on a white, sterile exam room in which the chief engineer is busy with a number of devices. A figure lays stretched on a long table, covered by a sheet. You feel the bones in your hand suddenly crunch together as Annie's grip tightens. Outwardly she looks calm, trying to remain the strong one, but you sense a rising panic within. 

No need to watch this. Turn around. Tell Annie thanks for saving you.

Ask Feist if she knew Dr Tran very well.

>>805200
Squeeze back, hard as you can (even though that's less than she can). Wrap your tail around her leg too. Non-verbal reassurance.

>>805200
Well, let's take a look at the dead repo guy's stuff and see if there's anything we can use. Some extra O2 canisters or whatever they are, will be helpful if Bucky is going to be running low on O2 when we go to get him.

>>805218
Or the dead repo guy might have something on him that'll help track the other 3 repo guys that are still hiding somewhere on the Sunfish!

Toxoglossa 2017/05/31(Wed)17:50 No. 805339 ID: 9a036d
File 149627823843.png - (87.19KB , 600x551 , 3-23.png )

You give Annie a squeeze back and the pressure relents.
"Sorry." She dips her head and you feel blood rush back into your fingers. Even without the death grip, you can feel her muscles shrieking like violin strings under tension. It takes a second to dawn on you: she's scared. Scared in a way you've never seen before. Her eye flickers down to look at you for a second before snapping forward to look at the scene again.

Toxoglossa 2017/05/31(Wed)17:50 No. 805340 ID: 9a036d
File 149627824490.png - (132.40KB , 700x500 , 3-24.png )

Feist leans forward and knocks on the glass. Dachelle looks up and acknowledges you, exposing some of the equipment she was looking at. 
A helmet
A coat
Some gloves
A shield pack with two spent charges
A cornergun with several magazines
A grappling gun
An auto-injector that appears to be unlabeled
An object you don't recognize

Choose 2 to ask about

Ask about the unrecognized object and the auto-injector.

Wrap an arm around Annie, she clearly needs the moral support

>>805342
Yeah, those two.

You might be able to figure out the injector if you tapped your inner Sam for help.

>>805340
Ooooh shit I forgot how adorable Dachelle was.
So cute.
Unreconized item and Helmet
Helmet probably does cool shit

Then again dual wield grapples is OP
No ass you can't grab

We need to be careful here, those things might give a nasty electrical shock to anyone that doesn't have a matching fingerprint and/or DNA scan to the repo guy it belonged to! Or worse, it self-destructs in a large blast radius!

>>805340
Helmet and unidentified object.
You guys have dealt with Repo men before, surely you know how to make use of an item that probably has access to comms and other HUD stuff they use.
And learning new things is useful too.

>>805340
auto-injector is probably some combat stim.

Ask about the unknown object and the helmet.

>>805342
I think the idea that Annie is connected to the repomen may have some merit to it.
Is that why shes scared?

>>805374
>yfw Old Annie was a Repoman herself
>yfw this dead one has a bird helmet

Ask about helmet (because it probably has comms and other stuff important enough to be worth space and mass close to the brain), and mystery gizmo (because mystery).

Any chance of swapping out our busted grappler for the one that probably still works? Already know how to use it, might be a lifesaver on the upcoming spacewalk.

Ask about what they expect can be reverse-engineered, what components are required, and how long it will take. They're professionals, you need an army to take them on.

Injector and helmet.

Helmet and mystery object.

>>805339

Medical phobia ...? I cannot recall, was Annie with us when we spoke to the doctor?

Hmmm ... I'm more interested in asking Annie what's wrong right now. I think the other objects can wait a moment longer.

Ask about the helmet and the mistery

>>805462
I'm not entirely sure if I'm right, but I think Anne killed that dude.

>>805538
What, the repoman? Of course she did.

...Annie has killed repomen before, right?

>...Annie has killed repomen before, right?

>>/questarch/766180
>Robin: "Fuckin hell, that was cool! Where do I get one of those?"
>Annie: "Off a dead repo-man."

Doesn't flat out say it, but strongly implied, yeah.

(Although, some or all of her kills might belong to the other Annie).

>>805538
>>805542
>>805546

Hmm, so she's definitely killed people before, and everyone she has spoken to is familiar. And looking back, yeah, no trouble when Dr. Spencer was around.

We gotta ask Annie why she's so rattled right now. Other than our episode a few moments ago, we've never seen her like that before. Scared, sure, but never this shaken.

>>805590
She's probably blaming herself for letting Sam get zapped by that repo guy. And she's probably scared at how close she came to losing Sam.

>>805591
And she's probably upset about Bucky. She's supposed to be the warrior. The protector. On top of any grief or fear or anxiety, she probably blames herself for anything happening to the people she loves.

Plus there's her former self. It may scare or disturb Annie how much she has to rely on her in a real fight, or what she's capable of. And coming from the other direction, she may blame herself for not tapping into that skill set hard enough or soon enough.

An auto-injector that appears to be unlabeled
An object you don't recognize

Ask about the cornergun and the object you don't recognize.

I'd say helmet and unknown object.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/04(Sun)18:08 No. 805917 ID: 9a036d
File 149662492851.png - (88.67KB , 444x600 , 3-25.png )

Dachelle steps out of the examination room and nods to her commander. 

"What do we have, Dachelle?" 

She shrugs, "some of it is pdretty self explanatory, but dhere's a few things I'd like more time with if possible." 

"What's that?" You say, pointing into the room. "I've never seen anything like that..."

"The disk? It appears to be somedthing remotely activated, and it's designed to sit flat on a surface. It doesn't seem to contain any explosives, but I haven't experrimented with it yet: just in case it's a mine or somedthing. All I know for sure is dthat it has a verrry larrge power sourrce for somedthing so small."

"What about the helmet? Can you tell me anything about what you've learned?"

She sucks in her breath and scratches under her chin in the way mechanically inclined people do when trying to simplify something insanely technical. "Thaaat is one compllicated piece of tech. It could take me months to unpack everydthing it has onboarrd, and that's not taking into account security llockouts. It's got an indtegrated neural uplink, but way more advanced than anything I've worked with. DThere's multiple cameras, providing full 360 degree awareness as well as tarrgeting systems and rangefinders. Unfortunately with the damage it's sustained, I wouldn't trrust it in a vacuum, but… it's odtherwise functional." 

She folds her arms, "If you lleave these with me I'll do my best to rrepair and examine them. But if you dthink anydthing might be useful, you should take it with you."

Annie and Sam can both take an item each.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/04(Sun)18:08 No. 805918 ID: 9a036d
File 149662493359.png - (78.31KB , 600x600 , 3-26.png )

You nudge Annie, "You okay? Do we need to talk?"

She ruffles her feathers, "I-… I'm fine. I'm just going to step outside for a bit." She gives your hand another squeeze and exits back into the infirmary.

Dachelle and Commander Feist exchange a look as she leaves. They look a little less tense with Annie gone, but uncomfortable nevertheless.

Grab that cornergun. The grapple is still great and we should take the replacement. The bent-up one can be repaired later, I expect.

>>805918

>Dachelle and Commander Feist exchange a look as she leaves. They look a little less tense with Annie gone, but uncomfortable nevertheless.

... wait, did she go berserk while we were out?

>>805922
I think it's obvious she did. I mean, if someone you care about was hurt in front of you, wouldn't you also go berserk? I know I would!

Sam: Some combat gloves. Robust.
Annie: Several magazines. ...And the gun, I guess.

Do you still have the welding tape, or are the patches on Annie's bum all you have left?

A cornergun would be useful for now, I think Bucky has the otherone and I don't know about our current weapons, only tools. I don't know if we can take everything or only two, it's vague.

Let Dachelle play with the dangerous unknown stuff. This isn't Diablo with scrolls of identification and we can always come back later when she figures it out.

Grappling hook because it would obviously be useful out in microgravity, and coat as an extra layer of armor over a suit.

Que the flashback!
What... happened?

Maybe she's worried about Old Annie taking over. Maybe she let her out a little during the fight...

>>805918

Yikes. She doesn't look or sound fine. I think we should go and talk to her - successfully finding Bucky is going to require that we're all totally focused, and if there's something eating at her, we need to talk about it now, instead of out there where it could be catastrophic.


(Also, from an admittedly metagamey standpoint, Toxo has shown that he likes having things we've forgotten about come back to bite us, and this seems like the exact sort of thing that could do that.)

I think it's very likely that when Annie saw us hurt, she went ballistic and attacked. The repoman who zapped us probably got curbstomped to death by secretarybird stompy powers.

The crew of the Sunfish is effectively immortal, and they can shrug off even very serious injuries, like being shot multiple times in the torso at close range. Death is effectively unknown here, and watching Annie end the repoman's life probably really affected them, hence the unease.

I don't think it's just having to kill to protect her loved ones that has Annie on edge, though. She's afraid to confront her past, which seems like it could involve the repomen. Perhaps she used to be one of them.

What's most important is that Annie knows we love -her-, and who she used to be doesn't matter to us. Rather than pry, we should let her talk when she's ready, but she needs to know that we're there for her.

Helmet and grappling gun.

Also, take the grappler and the helmet.

Uh, with this mood I'm not really in a good headspace for inventory management. Can we maybe get a rain check or something?

Toxoglossa 2017/06/06(Tue)17:55 No. 806425 ID: 9a036d
File 149679693934.png - (85.16KB , 466x600 , 3-27.png )

"Okay, what happened while I was out? Everyone is acting weird..." you demand.


Dachelle shifts uncomfortably and Feist clears her throat. "...after you went down..."

Toxoglossa 2017/06/06(Tue)17:55 No. 806427 ID: 9a036d
File 149679694783.png - (56.12KB , 387x600 , 3-29.png )

"...she fought like someone possessed. No regard for her own safety, only a single minded bloodlust. The others... disappeared after they learned one of their own had been killed." Feist glares at the shrouded figure.


It sounds like Annie woke up her old self, something you've only personally seen twice. Each time, she needed some space while she dealt with the aftermath mentally. The process clearly unsettles her but still: you've never quite seen her like this.


"What about our stuff?"


Dachelle shrugs, "Yourr grappling gun and pushgun werre damaged, I've got someone worrking on rrepairing dthem. As much as I'd llove to have yourr tapegun you may have it back if you wish. It's been a llong time since we've had access to nanoweave mesh. "

Toxoglossa 2017/06/06(Tue)17:55 No. 806428 ID: 9a036d
File 149679695426.png - (96.34KB , 600x624 , 3-30.png )

The commander leads you into the makeshift morgue. The room is cold, bright and smells of leaking meat. You try to stand with your back to the shrouded body but keep peeking at it over your shoulder.


"We should take what we need before heading out." Feist examines the equipment with a calculating eye.


You pick up the grappling gun, perfect for a space rescue. You also reach over and pick up the corner gun; it's heavier than it looks, even with the polycarbonate frame.


The commander cocks an eyebrow, "You sure that's a good idea?"


"It's for Annie, she knows how to shoot better than me."


"You trust her, then..."


You nod, "You don't know her like I do. "

Toxoglossa 2017/06/06(Tue)17:55 No. 806429 ID: 9a036d
File 149679695962.png - (85.61KB , 459x600 , 3-31.png )

Her hand falls to the handle of her sword and she paces around, stopping behind the corpse. "Do you know why I carry a weapon?"

When you don't answer she continues, "It's to remind myself every day of my duty to protect this ship, and of the sacrifices we've made to keep ourselves and our secret safe. It is a burden I've carried for centuries; you have no idea how heavy it has been."


You follow her gaze down to the head, its features obscured by clean white fabric. "If you trust Annie with that burden, I want you to ask yourself: how well do you know her?"

>>805375
D: D: D:

>>806429

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK UNDER THAT SHEET

>>806429
>I want you to ask yourself: how well do you know her?
"You've seen her at her worst. I've seen her at her best.

"I know her and Bucky better than I know anyone, and I trust them both with my life.

"...of course the burden of being flakes is none of us know ourselves as well as we wish."

>>806429
What would she suggest then? Simply hope we don't encounter the repomen again? Would she think it better if Annie killed another one while unarmed, instead of with a gun? If Annie had a gun during that fight I doubt the other repomen would still be alive, and we wouldn't need the gun now. Their shield charges are useful against single projectiles, not so much against a hail of bullets.

But I mean, if she'd prefer one of the Sunfish security officers to have the gun while guarding us, by all means take it. That'd be about as good.

Also what the fuck else are we going to take? Almost nothing else is known to be useful aside from the helmet, which might have some security program in it meant to harm unauthorized users. It also makes whoever's wearing it look like a repoman, which could incite friendly fire.

The shield pack feels like a waste since it has only one charge left.
We don't know what the suit or gloves do. We don't know what the injector or unknown item does.
I guess we could take the injector and hope that it's some kind of painkiller or coagulant, that kind of emergency medical thing? I guess if it was a combat stim they would've used it already, and if it were a sedative they would've used it on Sam.

I guess instead of the gun we could take the injector, since it's likely going to be useful if Bucky is hurt (and he kindof is).

I believe that Feist is trying to say that if we know Annie as well as we think we do, then the last thing we'd do is put the burden of carrying a firearm on her.

She's saying that it's a terrible thing to do to someone.

I have my suspicions, given the shape of the helmet, what we know of Annie, and knowing that the Repo men has access to cloning and mind imprinting tech.

I'm not sure if I want to know for certain, but regardless I trust Annie. The Annie I know at least. Given that we're flakes there's a side I don't know as well.

Mentally prepare yourself, then have a look under the sheet.

>>806433
You should just come out and say it:
Annie's a repoman soldier clone. Obviously. It was obvious the instant we saw the group of repomen, since they're all birds, and of course a group capable of cloning people would weaponize that technology. The only odd part is that they were different heights. Maaaybe they were genetically tweaked so as to have different capabilities? Or just given different nutrition.


There is one valid worry though. Does Annie find it harder each time to put the soldier back in the box? In that case we'd want to keep her out of combat, despite her being good at it.

>>806429
"If you're going to dramatically pull back that sheet and reveal that Repo guy looks like Annie, then don't bother. I already know that Annie is a clone of one of those guys."

She's from Repo stock.
That doesn't make her Repo.
She's Annie. Period.
Everything else is just noise and smoke.

What if the Repomen are a clone army?

Oof, that thought's not going away now. Look under the sheet, to reassure yourself it's not true. That can't be another Annie under there.

Besides, Feist, I'm a scientist. That means I solve problems. Not problems like "What is duty," because that would fall within the conundrums of your philosophy. I solve practical problems. For instance, how am I gonna keep some mean mother hubbard from tearing me a structurally superfluous new behind?
The answer, is a gun.

>>806445

How would Sam know this?

Like - we know. But assuming Sam knows is metagaming.

>>806449
I mean, Sam and Bucky and Annie did break out of a cloning facility before.

And it's been strongly implied they killed other repo men who came after them.

Plus, you know, Annie has had some contact with her Old's memories, and not every fictional character suffers from can't-talk-about-your-problems-with-your-loved-ones-itis.

It's not implausible Sam might already know.

>>806449
well, to be perfectly accurate, Sam very well MIGHT know this, and we DON'T. Sam has years of history with Annie, and all we have is a set of observations that fit a theory.

>>806449
Could be changed from "I already know" to just suspecting it.

What good could possibly come from seeing the love of your life dead in front of you!?

To see their face, cold and lifeless, reduced to just an imitation of the person you know. Everything looking wrong and horrible and... and... yeah.

Every time Sam would look at Annie after, she wouldn't be able to help but see her dead.

That's the kind of shit that gives you PTSD and ruins relationships.

>>806429
I've been with that Annie almost her entire life. The only person besides Bucky who could know her better is herself.

I know little to none about Old Annie, and I'm still discovering shit about Old Sam, so I don't hold that against her nor does it make me lose trust in her. Possibly losing ourselves to our Old Incarnations is something we realize everyday, but I will always trust that Annie with my life, as long as she doesn't betray it. Nothing in her past life, or even in the past of her current life will make me lose that, because none of it affected the me today.

Perhaps I shouldn't trust Old Annie. Because I don't know her. But until the day she actually takes over, she's still my Annie.

1. Each time Old-Sam/Old-Annie is called upon, it gets harder to come back.

2. Annie seems more profoundly affected by calling on Old Annie than Sam is calling on Old Sam.

3. We just learned that Annie had to call on Old Annie to kill the Repoman.

Sam loves Annie, and we shouldn't treat her like a weapon. Planning to continue to do this to Annie is the wrong choice. Take the grapple thing and the helmet for their utility (especially to save Bucky), and lay low in a fight. We have practical immortals on our side if things get dicey again.

>>806520

Yeah. That's the problem with /quest/ sometimes. The pathological aversion to taking any sort of risk extends to a desire to view loved ones as disposable shields.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/07(Wed)18:36 No. 806715 ID: 9a036d
File 149688581998.png - (111.71KB , 600x502 , 3-32.png )

"Whatever you think you know, we can handle it, commander." You brace yourself for the worst and pull the sheet aside. 

You stare at the thing on the table for a long time trying to comprehend it. You know what you're seeing; every tragically familiar detail etching itself into your mind but something fundamental has gone wrong. You feel as though inside you is a broken light switch, and you keep flipping it and flipping it in frustration but nothing happens and nothing keeps happening and you don't understand. 

Toxoglossa 2017/06/07(Wed)18:37 No. 806717 ID: 9a036d
File 149688582778.png - (62.01KB , 600x443 , 3-33.png )

After a while you feel the sheet being pulled out of your grip and Feist covers up the thing on the table. She says she's sorry and she tells you another thing and you nod. 

Toxoglossa 2017/06/07(Wed)18:37 No. 806718 ID: 9a036d
File 149688583267.png - (86.68KB , 600x530 , 3-34.png )

You leave the white room, clutching the heavy weapon to your chest and walk back into the waiting room. Your girlfriend stands up and asks if you're alright. You say yes and you try to mean it so it comes out kind of loud and squeaky. You look up at her worried expression and she hugs you again. You concentrate on feeling the breath in her chest, hanging on to this moment.
Feist's words echo in your mind, "I hope you never have to see her like this…"

I hope all of you motherfuckers are happy.

You broke Sam. Thanks a lot.

Cry. Scream. Wail and weep.
Get it out.
Talk to your lover.
Tell her your thoughts and emotions.
Let her help you.

>>806721
I... I don't think it's quite that easy.

That's a thousand-yard stare. Sam's gonna have PTSD.

>>806719
Quite, thank you.

Find out when the expedition's departing and find someplace to rest until then. With a view of space, preferably.

Whelp, congratulations, you gave Sam PTSD. This is going to be a long-term problem, and we can't fix it right now. Best we can do is mitigate the effect it'll have on the present circumstances.

If we're going to insist on keeping the corner gun, we should give it to Annie. There's no way Sam is going to be able to be effective in combat now, and there's especially no way she's going to be able to shoot a repoman if they all look exactly like her girlfriend.

Make sure to tell Annie we love her before we move on.

I think the cornergun is still an enormously terrible idea. It's going to increase the chances of our Annie looking like... yeah.

Are we even okay enough to do this? Is seeing one enough to trigger us now?

Gah. Anyway, I second telling Annie we love her.

>>806719
>>806723
>>806732
I dunno if you noticed, but most people suggest once, maybe twice. You're averaging 3 suggestions per update, that's not good. Most of them don't even suggest an action or bring new information to the table.

>>806718
So would you freak out like that if you saw a heavily modified wax mannequin that looked like her? Cmon, your brain is able to separate things that look similar. That wasn't Annie on the table.

I'm sorry, Sam. I failed to consider the emotional aspect when suggesting to look under the sheet.

>>806735
While we don't know what Sam saw, I'm assuming it was something that was unequivocally dead and that looked exactly like Annie, a wax replica is different because it's wax and not a corpse.

Can't we ask them to call it off if they're clones too? There'll enough money to go around, no sense in fighting our way into a deeper hole instead.

"...I'm so sorry you had to do that for me."

Wait so what exactly did we see? Cause if it turns out Annie and the Repos are connected the we kind of already guessed that so that can't be the source of this trauma so I'm thinking either Annie did a fucking number on the fucker and we got to see the result.
OR
The Repomen are clones that came out wrong or where "modified".
If its the former then Annie may be ashamed that she let herself go and if the latter then that was probably what awaits her if she ever got captured.

Sam: Concentrate. She is not Annie, because Annie is alive and hugging you right now. She is just another brain-pulped clone, and now she's dead.

There is a very high probability that each repo-man is a heavily brainwashed clone. Most likely, they indoctrinated a set of clones from birth to be the perfect repo-men, pulped their brains, and used their memories in the actual repo-men to be scary-effective and unquestioningly loyal to the corporation, while the newest clones were forced to lose their identities to these brain-dead obedient servants.

They are people but they WILL be recreated. Wipe them out.

You're gonna have to set up some sort of countermeasure to "no, they're the evil clone shoot them" shenanigans. You and your boy can probably tell who's your girlfriend but everyone else helping you out might need something.

I wonder if the ol' one piece "tie a bit of cloth around the arm but psyche that's not it it's a mark underneath the cloth" bit would be enough.

>>806715
😢😢
y do all the cute girls keep getting ptsd??? wtf

>>806770
>Feist's words echo in your mind, "I hope you never have to see her like this…"

Based on this line, which itself is ambiguous, and the use of "thing," I suspect that this is a derivative of Annie. Not *quite* Annie, but damned near enough that Sam's reaction would be gut-level as described.

There's also a more perverse chance that what we're seeing behind beakyhelmet face there (keep in mind that the shape would be suitable for an exo-suit mask which must accommodate ears and a muzzle with respirator and comm inputs!) could actually be Sam. Because nothing would be as fucking terrifying as seeing yourself, which could put a different spin on Feist's words inasmuch that "see her like this" is reflective and Feist means "after seeing yourself."

Regardless of which, both explain Annie's discomfort.

I do not recall if it was ever established who or what Annie was supposed to be, but what better source of elite fighters than taking one of the best and cloning and dubbing them over and over? I also do not recall if anyone *but* Annie is confirmed to have killed a repo-guy before.

>>806718
I know you saw something spooky and everything is intense right now, but you already knew, didn't you?

And of course you trust her, more than you trust yourself.
That was the trick, wasn't it: you, Annie and Bucky, all harbouring ghosts and terrified of losing yourselves to them, so you put yourselves in the hands of your companions, so that they could hold tight when your own grip loosened.

I spent waaay to long trying to put this idea into words, but the quest is making me feel feelings dammit

Toxoglossa 2017/06/08(Thu)15:59 No. 806896 ID: 9a036d
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You bury your face into Annie's shoulder and mumble something. 

"Sorry, what?"

You come up for breath and reiterate, "Sorry you had to do that for me..."

She sighs and lays her head on your shoulder, "I would do anything for you."

"No!" She leans back, shocked. "Fuck that!  I don't want that! I don't want you to d-" you stop: for a second you're back in the white room and your blood runs cold. 

"...I don't want to lose you...If you want to do something for me, stay safe." You press the weapon into her hands and give her a quick kiss on the beak. "Lets go find our boy."

Toxoglossa 2017/06/08(Thu)15:59 No. 806897 ID: 9a036d
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Dachelle, having watched this exchange politely nods and motions for you to follow. "The shudttle should be dready soon."

Instead of leading you into the lower decks, the tiny engineer sets a brisk, business-like march through the center of the ship. The corridors here are wider and cleaner. You see a few unfamiliar faces and draw curious stares as you pass. 

You follow Dachelle through a large set of ornate glass doors and immediately feel a wave of humidity envelop you. You suck in the heavy air and try to process the immense amount of green around you. Having grown up in space, your only firsthand experience with plant life has been heavily manicured public parks. You're aware that most colonies have massive biofarms to maintain their atmospheres, but those are heavily restricted to public access and mostly full of algae. The cacophony of foliage around you represents centuries of growth, and you can't help but stare in amazement. You've seen photos of jungles on Earth but it never occurred to you that plants could do something like this.

No time to stop and smell the flowers. keep on going.

>>806897
Wow. I guess the first thing to do is ask how they did this. Where'd all the extra carbon come from? Were the trees already accounted for in their supplies when they left Earth? How do they prevent erosion by tracking dirt into other areas of the ship? How complete is the biosphere in here?

Man, having tree growth must really help with their self-sufficiency issues. They can grow wood to make tools, and use plant fiber to make replacement clothing.

Oh, yeah! Don't forget about the spacesuits you and Annie were wearing when you first got here! And all the stuff you left in the neutral zone of the ship for Polly watch over it for you!

Unless someone is bringing it up to the airlock where it'll be waiting for you.

>>806896

Anytime you start to feel overwhelmed and start seeing what you saw in that room, close your eyes and take deep, slowing breaths. Count backwards from 10 to 1, and ground yourself.

>>806920
Good idea. I only recommend not closing her eyes if she happens to be in the middle of a fight or something that requires keeping her eyes open.

>>806897

Nature's whack, yo.

Ask how they managed to grow a space jungle in here?

Welcome to the jungle, no time for fun and games

Toxoglossa 2017/06/12(Mon)18:00 No. 807546 ID: 9a036d
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Dachelle barely breaks stride, "Prretty neat, yeah? You should see the roodts. The plumbing's a nightmarre though."

"How'd you grow all this?" You race to catch up with her businesslike pace. 

"You woulld do bedtter asking doctorr Carrey, he's our hordiculdturist." 

The quick march through the undergrowth takes you past a flurry of scenes: workers tending to wrist thick vines from precarious scaffolding, stacked buckets of harvested crops, sprinklers venting a fine mist over tiered planters. 

Through a gap in the foliage you glimpse a small village crafted from sheets of metal, canvas and carved wood suspended in midair. You're momentarily startled as a person steps off of a bridge into an 80 foot drop, only to float safely to the ground. You've seen low grav architecture before, but never in such a dense forest. It has the look of a lost elven city, multi-tiered and ornately crafted. 
Small worried-looking groups cluster in front of various doors, each filled with animated discussion. 
Dachelle waves her hand in its direction, "one-eighth gravidty, makes it easier to do maindenance since some of our crrops need to be pollenated by hand. We can move the whole thing in a day." 

Toxoglossa 2017/06/12(Mon)18:01 No. 807548 ID: 9a036d
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You wish you could linger, but eventually reach the opposite wall. Dachelle runs her boots through some kind of rotating buffer and exits the grove. Almost immediately beyond is a gateway to the Gaps. She leads you out onto a welded bridge and you feel your muscles straining, the breakneck hike finally taking its toll. 

Dachelle finally stops. "Arre you allright? We can take a momendt."

>>807548

Apply comfort hugs with Annie. Need to replenish.

Speaking of breakneck, try out the lowgrav architecture yourself and jump off the bridge. You have a grappling gun, it'll be easy to get back up.

>>807556
Uh, I don't think the 1/8th gravity is still in effect, since we left the jungle.

>>807548
You could pretend to be a dainty, helpless maiden and lean against Annie. No chance of a piggyback ride or bride-carry, right? I doubt Annie's quite that strong or you're that light. You could use the grapple to get ahead and take a breather? Or take a breather then catch up with the grapple.

>>807546
Keep an eye out for Wookies.

>>807548
lament a lack of grapple gun to make this trip fast and fun

Toxoglossa 2017/06/14(Wed)16:19 No. 807922 ID: a6af03
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You lean on Annie for a minute while you catch your breath and field complaints from your muscles. 

Concerned, Dachelle cocks her head, "Arre you surre you wandt to do an EVA like dthis?"

You nod, "Yeah, just give me a minute..."

You've been through the Gaps a few times before but never from thus vantage point. Only from here do you really get a sense of how much is missing. You also notice for the first time that the area missing is roughly spherical.

>>807922
>roughly spherical

I have ... many questions.

>>807922
Just casually ask if they've been experimenting with teleportation.

>>807922
>You also notice for the first time that the area missing is roughly spherical.
"This room has a weird shape to it. Did something used to be here?"

Ask about this place.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/17(Sat)14:38 No. 808622 ID: a6af03
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"Dachelle... what is this place? I've heard it called 'the Gaps', but it looks like one big gap... did something happen?"


She stares out into the gulf with a haunted expression, "Therre was... an accident. A firre. We salvaged whadt we could and scrrapped the resdt."


Something doesn't quite jive, and you exchange a glance with Annie. She speaks up cautiously, "What causes a fire this big in space?"


"An accident!" She fires back. "You two have no idea-!" Dachelle clicks her tongue in irritation, "We don't have time forr dthis, arre you ready or nodt?"

>>808622
I bet someone got tired of being immortal and tried to burn themselves to ashes so they could finally die. Maybe even succeeded, then the fire got out of control afterwards.

Tell her you're sorry. A fire this big, someone must have gotten hurt, at least.

More likely they tried killing something with fire. Watched Alien on re-run too many times.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dig on old wounds. There's just so many mysteries.

Yes, we're ready.

Apologize and say you're good to go, if you are that is.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/19(Mon)17:34 No. 809190 ID: a6af03
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"Yeah, sorry. You must have lost people." 

She nods curtly, "frriends, engineerrs, a lodt of good people. It was a verry dark time." Dachelle sighs, "Enough hisdtory, come on, we go save yourr boyfrriend." 

She sets off again, but at a gentler pace. Before long you find yourself in a familiar docking bay. The massive, laser wielding engineer from earlier is there, busying himself with the multi armed craft suspended from the gantry. 
Dachelle hails him and he waves in acknowledgment. She turns back to you, "Cain will be taking us overr in the Rremorra. Norrmally we use a shudttle but it uses the umbilical to crross overr, which has been damaged." 

Toxoglossa 2017/06/19(Mon)17:34 No. 809191 ID: a6af03
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Your space suits have been laid out on the console. Dachelle opens a foot locker and begins pulling out a space suit if her own. "Cain and I need to examine the severred umbilical, you two hunt forr yourr crrewmadte. There is no powerr, so searrching the indterior may be difficult. 

>>809191
Give Dachelle a thank-you hug, then ask if Cain can accompany us inside or if he has to stay outside

>>809191
Tell her you can probably just contact Bucky via your PDA once you get closer to the asteroid.

Give Dachelle's tail a thank-you hug, then suit up.

dontlookatherhelmet don't look at annie's helmet ah dammit you looked

>>809191
I know these guys are supposed to be helping, but remember, even though you guys helped fight off the Repo guys, you still invaded their home first. So double check your gear for any signs of tampering. For the sake of protecting their home from outsiders, Commander Feist might've ordered for your stuff to be tampered with or someone else did some tampering on their own.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/20(Tue)20:23 No. 809432 ID: a6af03
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 "Thanks for bringing us. Once we get closer, we'll hopefully be able to contact Bucky." You absentmindedly reach out and pat her on the tail. 

Dachelle looks at your hand blankly and holds something up for you: a rolled up lump of stretchy tube sock. "Actually would you mind? Its a pain in dthe ass to rreach somedtimes." You slip it over her tail and unroll it, compressing all of that luxurious floof into something that might actually fit into a space suit. "Thanks, idt gedts so uncomforrdtable when idt is jusdt stuffed in dthere." 

You and Annie suit up, checking your suits as you go. You don't see any obvious damage and your seals all hold once pressurized. Your O2 mix even looks like its been topped off. 

"Thankfully ourr fill valves arre compatible width yours, even after all dthis time. Standardization is a wonderrful dthing, don't you think?"

Toxoglossa 2017/06/20(Tue)20:24 No. 809433 ID: a6af03
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You strap your grappling gun and tape dispenser to your sides and walk down the catwalk to the Remora. Cain silently nods at your approach and twists the hose he was tending. It disconnects with as hiss and a small amount of vapor escapes. 

There's a crackle in your helmet as Dachelle synches comms with you. "Our thrruster fuel supply is verry limidted, so ledts be quick aboudt this." 

>>809432
stand back when you take that off

>>809433
Understood. Hmm, I wonder if we can get a spare oxygen tank to hook up to Bucky when we find him?

>>809435
That's a good idea. He's been out there for so long, he's gotta be running low on oxygen by now!

We might also need a medkit, in case he's hurt.

We'll perform a quick burn for the first leg of the trip and then maintain momentum using pelvic thrusting.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/22(Thu)18:18 No. 809811 ID: a6af03
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You ask Cain about where to find some auxiliary O2 mix for Bucky. He leads you into the Remora and opens up a compartment containing a rack of tanks and emergency hoses. Dachelle joins you inside and you hear a decompression warning sound. 
"Arre we rready?" 

The four of you buckle in and the ship seals itself. Another warning barks out and shortly after, a deep vibration rumbles through the ship as the air is pumped out surrounding it. The hull creaks and grumbles like an old man as the pressure changes, but as far as you can tell, the two engineers look unfazed. 

Toxoglossa 2017/06/22(Thu)18:18 No. 809812 ID: a6af03
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Dachelle, watching the barometer flips a few switches and you feel the engines rumble. "Good enough, we wondt do a full decomprress since werre in a hurrry. Might be a bidt bumpy." The massive bay doors unlock with a muted thunk and begin to retract. The last wisps of oxygen in the hangar are pulled out, tugging the Remora in its moorings and dragging bits of dust and clutter into space. You feel the grav plating turn off and Cain gooses the ship forward. As he clears the hangar doors he gives a wide berth to the Repo-man shuttle and plots a course towards the drifting asteroid.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/22(Thu)18:18 No. 809813 ID: a6af03
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The nose of the Remora swings up and the aftermath of the battle swings into view. The scarred surface of the Asteroid seethes with lasermarks, some of the iron still cooling down from the attack. The severed umbilical drifts through the void, trailing ragged, scorched ends. Off in the distance you see a new pair of constellations spinning further away: one black, the other pink. You realize that… there goes the only place you and your partners have ever really called "home"… under all the strain your heart has taken today you feel it twist a little more as the Starlette sails away on its final journey.

"Oh, Bucky… please be safe…."

>>809813
Now that's a hot potato!

Ask if the Sunfish has any fuel to chase down those two wrecks. They both have pinch drives, so if you can salvage them to make a fully working one even for a small ship like one of the shuttles, you can warp off for supplies or outright buy a big pinch drive to retrofit the Sunfish with.

One is only disabled, and the other's not dead yet. If you can, strongly consider salvaging the Starlette to maintain an advantage against the frigate, which you should finish off before it can call for help. Another railgun shot ought to do it (aimed at something IMPORTANT this time).

>>809813
Our priority should be rescuing Bucky first, before we do any kind of salvaging. So, while Dachelle and Cain are busy examining the umbilical, Sam and Annie should head inside to look for Bucky.

Although, we should ask if the enemy ship is actually disabled. It'll really suck if they can still shoot us and we can't fire back at them! Let's suggest approaching the asteroid so that it's between us and the enemy ship, just to be safe.

>>809814
A ship as old as the Sunfish will probably just end up tearing itself apart if they tried installing a pinch drive and using it!

>>809821
Can't use the railguns. The Sunfish provided power to the asteroid and now that the umbilical has been severed, there's no power for the asteroid. No power, means no railguns. And I doubt Dachelle and Cain can fix the umbilical in a few minutes, so it might actually be a few days before anything in the asteroid can be used again.

>>809837
>ship as old as the sunfish, etc
Ships made at around the same time the sunfish was made were retrofitted with pinch drives just fine. It's not like the ship's overall structure is compromised from floating around in space for this long.

>>809837
>Our priority should be rescuing Bucky first, before we do any kind of salvaging.
Quite. And besides, Sam and Annie would need the Sunfish's engineers' tools and help to salvage the wrecks anyway.

Both Sam and Annie should get a O2 canister each, as well as a universal connector hose, so that if by bad luck they get separated and one finds Bucky it won't be the one without the O2 canister. ...Or it'll be possible to split up to search for Bucky, but that feels like it'd be rather unwise.

Ask if there's possibly enough thruster propellant for them to do a loop around the asteroid once after they drop you off to check if Bucky is on the surface.

Check with Dachelle if it's possible to separate out just the electrical circuits that power the airlocks, doors and maybe the lighting on the asteroid and run 'em off a power cell? Or is there any kind of no-power emergency manual release or charge port for each airlock or door? 'Cause if Bucky is in the mine, and we can't get in there 'cause all the entrances are stuck closed then...

Have you tried using your datapad to remote into the Starlette? Even if the poor ship looks wrecked, her comms gear may still be working and running on backup power. Through that you might be able to pull down the control, sensor and camera logs from right before the impact. Use them to figure out where Bucky was from where his control collar transmitted from. ...Or if he was remote controlling the ship at all.

>>809841
And do we have the ship designers, shipwrights, shipyard and resources needed to do a drive refit on the Sunfish? No, we don't, so it's moot.

>>809843
We have a bunch of scientists and engineers onboard with several lifetimes' worth of experience jury-rigging. Don't count it out yet, an injection of fresh material may be just what this ship needs to see the stars.

>>809813
Fire a shot toward the pink constellation in the distance to kill Bucky. Better that he dies quickly than suffers to death from suffocation.

Let's check the asteroid, we know Bucky can remotely pilot the ship, but the frigate was attacking the asteroid. So most likely Bucky was doing something there that made the asteroid appear to be a threat, besides he was supposed to be searching for a space suit there.

In addition, if Bucky was going to dogfight with the frigate, then it'd make more sense to remotely pilot it from within the asteroid. That way he'd be better protected because of all the rock in the way and if the ship got destroyed he wouldn't be killed.

>>809875
He was firing the railguns on the asteroid at the Repo guys' ship. It was part of the plan that Sam, Annie, Bucky, and Commander Feist all agreed would be a good idea.

Toxoglossa 2017/06/23(Fri)19:58 No. 809965 ID: a6af03
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You pull out your datapad and try contacting the Starlette. Its patchy, but you receive an automated distress signal from the cockpit. You ping the system and get it to send you the data on its last recorded trajectory. 

You watch as the route plots out a series of evasive maneuvers, ending in a tight loop, weapons fire and a collision. More importantly the navigation system reports that it was remotely accessed. You breathe an exhausted sigh of relief. 
"Remote access, he's alive."
Annie reaches out and gives your shoulder a shake and a squeeze. 

Dachelle speaks from the front, "Good, ledts keep him thadt way. We'll swing close to dthe surface so you can disembarrk, then gedt to worrk repairring the conduit."

Toxoglossa 2017/06/23(Fri)19:58 No. 809966 ID: a6af03
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You recheck the data from the Starlette, "Would it be possible to rendezvous with our ship?"

The two of them turn back to look at you, "Why?"

"We might be able to salvage our pinch drive. If we do, we could move the Sunfish."

"How much does it weigh?"
You shrug, most of drive section is made up of the thrusters, the pinch drive itself is actually disquietingly small. Still, judging by the way the Starlette handled, it seemed to have a rather significant amount of mass. "Its housed in the tail spike, which looks like it might be undamaged." 

Dachelle fiddles with the nav computer, "We'rre already shedding speed to reach the asdterroid. We would have to execudte a burrn to get indto a higherr orrbit and then..."
Her companion twirls his finger in a circle. 
"Yes, we'd come in at an oblique angle. We'd have to do one, maybe two full orrbidts to make it back to the Sunfish. Could take thrree- maybe six hourrs on top of the worrk we have to do alrready. With five people we would be pushing ourr CO2 scrubbers prretty hard. I don't know how safe I feel aboudt that."

With the umbilical fixed, could you drop us off to lighten the load on the scrubbers? This opportunity doesn't warp in out of the blue every day.

Well, on top of the pinch drive, the Starlette may have some scrubbers we can salvage. Are there any scrubbers on the asteroid? We can pick them up along with Bucky if so, to make the salvage operation safe. There's also a bunch of other stuff we can get from the Starlette. Oh, just be careful about the trajectory of the repoman ship. Make sure it won't cause problems for us during the planned flight path, and see if you can predict if the wreckage will endanger the Sunfish while we're looking at the data.

Can you tell the Starlette to turn off its distress signal? That could cause problems for us. I wish we could do the same to the repoman ship, but I expect it's out of the question to try to get to it as well as the Starlette.

If we don't do it now, won't it be far enough and unreachable?
If it means waiting for someone else to find us or having the repomen's backup arrive, isn't that a much more significant risk?

Also, one or two of us could try going to sleep to preserve our CO2 scrubbers.

Well without it we'll be stuck here.

>>809997
Oof, try not to remind them - they've been dealing with it for 600 years.

Well, even if we get the pinch drive, wouldn't that make it hard to bring the asteroid with us if we use it?

Besides, I don't like the idea of putting more work on top of what they were already going to do.

Hey, here's an idea: Bucky is our tech guy, right? When we find him, he can help speed up whatever Dachelle and Cain are doing! And, it'll be even faster if Sam and Annie help, too! All 5 of us working on this should hopefully speed it up and we won't be out here longer!

It's going to suck for Bucky to have to endure fighting the Repo guy's ship, waiting for rescue, and helping Dachelle and Cain, all without getting any kind of rest, but he'll definitely deserve some kind of rest by the time we all get back to the Sunfish!

>>809972
It can wait. It's in orbit too.
We probably have a few weekS at the very least.

What about the drive from the slaver ship?

>>809966
It;s not accelerating, so it;s not going anywhere. Get the conduit fixed, find Bucky, then gas up and go salvage the Starlette.

Would we be able to stop and get it sometime later?

Set up a script in the Starlette's computer to notify you if Bucky reconnects, and tell him what you've been up to.

Retrieving something indeterminately massive, from a wreck, while life support and remass budgets are both tight, is a bad plan. That pinch drive isn't going anywhere in a hurry. Resist the urge toward mission creep. Let the locals fix the tether, you concentrate on finding Bucky. Once all that's settled, plan on hacking the repo men's shuttle for a pinch drive retrieval trip.

>>810190
This.

>>810190
You're right about the mission creep. Besides, if we want to have a chance at both successfully recovering the pinch drive and rigging it to ship not designed for such a drive, we'll need Old Bucky's expertise working on this. That means Bucky comes first.

Also, the salvage of the pinch drive will need to recover more than just the drive itself. It'll take salvaging the drive control and navigation systems, and the software to run them, as well.

...But there's also another potential risk I just thought of. Sam, ask Dachelle how many working airlocks and other external accesses are there on the Sunfish. It's possible that the Repo Men on board will attempt to get to their shuttle in order to get to the wreck of their frigate if the frigate has some means to communicate out of this system. A FTL radio or a pinch drive message drone or some such. They might even find a seal-able compartment just inside the hull and cut their way out. But whatever the way, if they go for their shuttle it's likely bad news. We may want to radio this in to the commander to guard that shuttle, if the frigate possibly has such communication means.

>>810204
Actually, since we don't want them to try and sneak away, we can just tell the commander that they're free to take apart the Repo guys' shuttle! I'm sure they could find a use for something that's basically a bunch of spare parts for anything that's falling apart on the Sunfish!

>>810214
I'd think we would want to keep the shuttle intact as it'd be the best option to potentially rig the Starlette's pinch drive to, if it's not feasible to rig to the Sunfish herself.

>>810176
This. I worry this might be our only crack at it.

>>809966

Leave the drive for now. We can salvage it OR the repocraft later once we've got this thing prepped for it.

Avoid mission creep. A safe guess is that your ship is still in planetary orbit after impact, and even if it's degrading, it'll take time before it falls down to earth, or finally drifts free. Orbital mechanics are predictable. There should be time to schedule a proper salvage run later.

For now, lives first. Log the trajectory we we can plan on getting to it later.