D However if they don't listen then blast their engines and weapons, then let them drift into the fucking atmosphere and incinerate like I'm pretty sure is their orders to do to the civilian craft. I mean we tried this before and it didn't goddamn work and all but 1 of them died, no more civilian deaths should be on our hands when we have the opportunity to prevent it in the first fucking place.
And 6 none of the above for the Tutarin guy, he's an ugly mother fucker and Scarlet probably wouldn't want him in any case, at least sexually.
A and/or D. Hail them, if they do not comply to our demands we shoot them until there's no bit big enough to shoot at.
Hmm, I'd guess a mix between 1&5, but somehow, somewhere in my mind I fail to see it work...Maybe because he has as much tact as a wrecking ball, mix that with being oblivious to wether Scarlett(The CYOA-players) actually have interest or not and a healthy dose of cluelessness make for a disappealing package, for me at the least.
As for character development: Just wait for an opportune moment, going for a chat while there's a shootout five feet in front of us seems awkward as hell.
Just imagine: "Hey Scarlett" *Civvie ship blows up* "Anything on your mind?" *Second ship blows up* "Oh, nothing Yumi, just thinking about all the civvies being spaced in front of us while we sit with a cup of tea, watching galactic news".
A - 2
B -
C -
D - 4(1)
E -
(Get the Imperials to stop and talk)
1 - 2(1)
2 - 1
3 - (2)
4 -
5 - 2(1)
6 - 2
(I'll be blending these all together, seems like proper thing to do.)
The red body of the star sent a glow over everything, the shields barely held out the heat, thermal shielding similar to the mining station kept the ship safe from the elements, but did nothing for incoming lasers or missiles. "This is SIN Scudo to Imperial scout vessel, ceasefire immediately." Scarlet immediately opened a com to the Imperial Vessel. She took a deep breath, and muttered to herself, "We've really gotta stop calling ourselves the navy."
"On who's order?" The stiff, droning voice of an Imperial officer came back.
Scarlet rolled her eyes, and muttered to herself, "Its almost like they've got a training program for sounding like a legion of drones." She drew in a deep breath, and prepared to give a speech in the most commanding tone she could muster, when another voice interrupted her train of thought.
"We represent the People's Hand, identify yourself or be destroyed." Kar'rak snapped at the commander of the ship. "Power down your weapons now."
"Yes, yes of course sir, I apologize!" He said, seeming shocked by the development. "Please transmit your authority codes, we shall cease fire until such time you are able to transmit your codes."
The civilian vessels continuing towards the edge of the gravity well, one of the ships opening a communication link to the Scudo and the Sparrow, "Unknown vessels, we don't know what you did, but the Achilles has ceased fire." The face of a man who looked to be in his mid sixty's appeared, his white hair thinning on top of his head. "These transports hold fifty people a piece. You are saving us." He assured them.
Scarlet laid back in her seat, "Never thought they'd ask us to prove it." She said bemused. She looked over to Kar'rak, "What do we do now?" She asked with a concerned look on her face.
"I suggest we open fire now." Kar'rak narrowed his eyes, "Then pull the useful parts of their ship off like fruit from the vine." He growled.
"Maybe we could just stall until the civilians leave?" Scarlet suggested, "We can scan for other nearby solar level gravity wells.. I mean, depending on how long we take scanning we could find more destinations, considering the limited ability of our sensors at the moment."
"The problem Scarlet, is that we cannot spare every guilty soul. Killing them now will provide peace of mind, security, and allow us to collect the remains of their ship for our own." Kar'rak snapped back at her.
"Kar'rak, we're trying to survive, maybe get back home. If we make a precedent of destroying every Imperial ship we come across, its going to make it hard once we get back to the Inner Sphere. I mean, where do we go if not back home?"
CHOICES
A- Take the Imperials out now, we'll figure out the consequences later.
B- Stall them until the civilians jump away, scan for other nearby stars too.
C- Stall them until we have some other stars to jump to.
D- Change our minds and dust the civvies.
E- Talk about how awkward this was as we jump to one of the other Hell planets.
F- Other.
From bad to worse: Here however we have little choice.
If we destroy the scouting ship we're officially an enemy of the state, but right now we're impersonating officials and whatnot, so our rep with the empire is at an all-time low already. Thus that makes me conclude that our most viable option is to wreck the scouting ship, and give Kar'rak a kick under his butt for trying to get us to shoot anything that moves(If we're going to be an enemy of the state, we'd better be one 100% holy space-pirate).
No colour coating tonight! Sorry! Also, I hope I didn't offend anyone, I've noticed a few less votes than usual! ^_^
Kar’rak didn’t wait for a response, firing his ships engines and pointing his nose towards the questioning vessel. “Lawrence, the Skorm ship has turned hostile, engage them now.” He ordered.
The Cowardly Private followed immediately, “Y-yes’ir.” He said, having spoken for the first time since they left the last planet. He slipped into ergonomic seat, pulling the visor down over his eyes, wrapping his hands around the controls. “Launching drone one now.” He said, the drone bay lighting up as the single drone rocketed out of its hangar towards the enemy ship.
Scarlet opened her mouth to reply, but the Sparrow had already engaged its engines and was moving towards the Skorm Imperial Navy vessel. Scarlet’s hand was forced. She pushed the Scudo into combat. “All hands, prepare for combat. Target the Imperial Scout.” She ordered through the coms.
Jeana Davis was already at her station, “Weapon charging, five clicks to fire.”
“Hardened shields holding through atmospheric conditions,” Yumi added, monitoring her console, the unique shields of the Scudo still intact.
‘I’m givin’ ‘er all she’s got Cap’m!” Mark shouted into the com, poorly imitating a Scottish accent.
The massive ball of burning gas provided an intimidating backdrop for the conflict. The Scout seemed ready for the conflict though, its weapon already charged. It fired its laser, striking the combat drone hard, but not stopping it.
Lawrence shrieked, “Gah! No! This poor thing is barely holding together!” He complained, “W-wait, what’s that?” From the staticy monitor of the drone, Private Uyard saw a tube emerging opposite of the laser’s position on the
Scout’s hull. “It’s got a missile launcher!” He shouted frantically. The drone was charged, as was the Scudo’s weaponry. They fired in tandem, hammering against the Scout’s shields, and the second slamming into the shields of the vessel.
The sensors on the Scudo showed the shield systems of the enemy were damaged, but there was no doubt they were being repaired. “The heat shields on the enemy are holding.” Kar’rak reported, noticing the ship didn’t disintegrate in the Star’s heat.
“You’re shitting me!?” Lawrence barked back, his brow angry as his drone limped around the scout like an injured fly.
Scarlet knew that missile launcher was charging, she had to get between the Sparrow, but the Tutarin wasn’t slowing down. “Mark, I need more power!”
“I’ll do what I can Cap’m, but if we blow up its on you!” Mark continued with his accent, but suddenly there was a burst of speed.
Scarlet felt the vibration in her controls increase as she brought the ship in close, slipping past the Sparrow just as the enemy fired. Both its missile exploded across the hardened shields, but rocked the shield frigate. “Kar’rak, get the Sparrow out of here! We can’t dodge if we’re puppy guarding you!” Scarlet snapped, the fire of the red sun shining bright in her eyes.
“Keep the enemy engaged Human.” The Tutarin Hunter commanded, pulling the Sparrow aside and moving away from the battle, its drone still engaged. Almost immediately the enemy’s laser fired, sending a ripple over the Scudo’s shields.
“We’ve got them now.” Scarlet grinned; the Scudo and Sparrow coordinated their attacks, slamming two lasers into the unprotected shield room of the enemy scout. “Their shields are down, go for the weapons!” Scarlet shouted.
Her crew didn’t need to be told twice, but the scout wasn’t giving up.
Again the Scout was able to fire two shots, each slamming against the Scudo’s shields. “Hardened Shields down Captain, those missiles are gonna go right through our shields.” Yumi warned, the Scudo rocking in its serpentine flight path.
With the ability to fire next, the two ships focused their fire, and hit the scout twice, hitting the weapons system, shutting them down. “The Scout is starting to charge the FTL, its trying to escape!” Scarlet shouted, noting the ship’s engines began to illuminate.
“Take it out!” Kar’rak growled, the Sparrow orbiting around the edge of the gravity well as the Scout began to head towards it.
The Scudo tried to get in its way, but as it moved its weapons retracted back to the hull, and the engines burst with power. “We’ve got a fix on their engines, but they’re charging fast.” Scarlet warned, keeping the Scudo on a direct path to follow it. The Sparrow did its best to move into the path of the Scout but it was too fast.
“Fire!” Jeana shouted, the Sparrow’s drone and the Scudo slammed into the Scout’s engines. It faltered, but didn’t stop moving! It was about to jump.
Kar’rak narrowed his eyes, twisting the Sparrow through space. Again the Tutarin pointed his nose to the Scout closing in fast. Suddenly the edge of the drone bay raked across the body of the scout ripping open along the edge of the ship.
The running lights of the scout dimmed and blinked out. Its engines faded to nothing.
“Private Lawrence, rip their ship to pieces, I want to pick the bodies from the hull of their ship.” Kar’rak ordered. Lawrence paused; a view of the derelict ship coming through the drone’s feed.
“Kar’rak, there’s no reason to go further, let them get to their escape pods.” Scarlet shouted, glaring at the alien through the communication link.
“I refuse to see us labeled as traitors, if we kill them now, we won’t have to worry about our reputation preceding us.”
CHOICES
A- Kill the Imperials now and strip their ship.
B- Spare their lives and strip their ship.
C- Attack the civilian vessels now and collect some more supplies.
D- Fly away and pretend this never happened.
E- Other.
Question: How many soldiers are still alive on that ship? Is it a handful, dozens, hundreds? Seeing as we're manning two ships with nearly nothing at all, we could just order them to be prisoners for interrogation, then eventually drop them off at an appropriate location, maybe even get some explanations as to what manure-storm we've got ourselves into.
Endvote: E: if their crew consists only of a handful of(At the least approachable) people, so that we can get some answers, else we end it here and now with A.
No colour again, I wrote this in class... I hope its not effecting anyone too badly. =(
Scarlet didn’t respond. She looked blankly out her cockpit’s transparent shield. The scout was broken and leaking atmosphere. It’s momentum carried it away from the star, but it was quickly slowing. The Sparrow was in fine shape, though damaged. It circled in front of the ship.
Kar’rak looked fiercely out his cockpit’s transparent shield. The red pirate hologram beside him watched him curiously. “I don’t suppose you’re planning on making the other side match, I don’t exactly have many other places to go and I’d appreciate if you didn’t use me like a can opener. He said, waving his arms lazily, his hands gesturing in dramatic fashion. “You sir have no respect.”
As the ship slowed to a stop and began to drift away, towards the mass of the star. Kar’rak smiled, “Private Lawrence, please destroy the offending vessel.” He said in a cold, steely tone.
Lawrence whimpered to himself, his knuckles tight around the controls. His surgically precise hands trembled as he pushed the drone forwards. “F-firing.” He whispered. The drone rocketed towards the ship, its laser steadily pulsed, hammering at the shredded hull of the scout. It began to come apart. Slowly at first, but soon the plates of the hull split open, the bodies within incinerated within the hull of the ship. The metal was instantly sterilized of all life within the heat of the star.
“Move in and collect what supplies we can from the enemy vessels.” Kar’rak ordered, moving the Sparrow in close to the wreck. The heavily damaged drone was instrumental in pushing the scrap into the drone bay for safe keeping until they got away from the high heat location of the star.
Collected:
Kar’rak nodded to himself, “What a wonderful collection of supplies.” He said, the sensors indicating the increase of supplies.
“I don’t mean to be a bother… Again.” Jack said, rolling his eyes, “but despite the fact that we’re not in a wooden ship, we should avoid prancing about in this particular area of a star’s atmosphere.”
“For an image based off that of a pirate, you seem petulant.” Kar’rak said, growling at the hologram.
“For a man sitting in a cockpit you sure are trained well.” Jack responded instantly, folding his arms. His body swayed, a smugly satisfied grin on his face as he swayed confidently on his display platform.
Kar’rak sneered, pulling the nose of his vessel quickly about, facing away from the star. “Scarlet, we are moving on.”
“Kar’rak, before we go, you should take a look at your ship’s fuel reserve. It only utilizes one unit of fuel to go from planet to planet, but every parsec you travel in Hyperspace utilizes another unit.”
“Hyperspace?” The Tutarin barked back, “I was under the impression the ships traveled through subspace.”
Jack raised his hand, “Well actually friend, you’a mates back in the Tutarin sphere use Subspace for all travel, but us lowly humans haven’t mastered slipping subspace for long range travel.” He paused, taking a deep breath, looking up to see Kar’rak raising an eyebrow, “But that’s just because your friends back home have been trying to kill us for so long, y’know… Hard to trade… Sciencey stuff.”
The door slid open to the cockpit, Private Lawrence walked in slowly, looking at the ground. He glanced up at the Tutarin in the cockpit and then at the red glowing AI before looking at the ground again. With a huff he sat in the copilot seat, his ears drooped and shoulder’s sagged. He looked at his knees, his feet dangling off the edge of the chair. “So where are we going next?” He asked, barely a whisper as he began to kick his feet idly.
On the Scudo, a much different atmosphere prevailed. Mark had dusted his hands, finishing his work on the engines as the battle ended. “Whooh! Yeah!” I pumped his fist in the air, taking his leave from the engine room, walking up towards the shielding room. He stretched his shoulders, rolling his neck, the thick engineering suit he wore made audible, leathery groans as he did. He waved the door open, Yumi on the other end turned, waving at him.
“Good to see you Engineer.” Yumi said, a coy smile on her face as she swayed back and forth, "You shouldn't spend too much time out here, not until after we jump at least." She said with a nod and a soft smile.
CHOICES
A- Remain in the Hell System, see if we can collect some supplies to be better off in the long run.
B- Travel to the Montrey System (Minor Colonization, similar to Hell)
C- Travel to the Fortuna System (Minor Colonization, similar to Hell)
D- Travel to the Unknown System (Not recorded on Star Maps)
E- Travel to the Rao System. (Home system of the Asura. [Private Lawrence])
F- Attempt to travel Directly to the Core Worlds. (Destination)
Hand-drawn Map of the galactic area. Each point is a star system. Please consider the point labeled Ellitan, Terminos. I repeat: Ellitan = Terminos.
