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[LP CYOA] Epic

a cut of domestic sheep prime

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Yeah we're going to start the ramming. :lol: I'll have the update up later.
This is probably the most retarded thing we've ever done, but it's worth it to finally allow our captain Ahab his white whale of ramming.
 

treave

Arcane
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Joined
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Boarding Party

“Is everybody buckled down?” asks the captain cheerfully. There are nervous nods from the crew on the bridge. Even the White Fang seem disquieted by the notion of slamming our spaceship right into theirs. It’s not a tactic that has been employed since the Age of Sail, and with good reason.

“This is stupid,” mutters Erec.

“It is not out of character for him, brother,” says Erika, shaking her head sadly.

I cast them a pained glance. “Please don’t treat me like I’m some sort of reckless lunatic.”

“You are.” replies Erika in her nonchalant, inimical way. I turn my attention back to the viewscreen. In the distance I can see the Imperial shuttle approaching.

“Hoshikawa-“

“Wait for it, captain.” I put a hand on his shoulder to stay his enthusiasm; somehow I had this dire feeling that he was about to call the charge before the conditions had been cleared for it. That would be… unwise.

As the shuttle turns around, placing itself between us and the Belesis, I clap Garland on the shoulder. It’s time to make our move.

The Independent Spirit of Adventure begins to turn in parallel to the shuttle. The Imperials hail us immediately with a strict order.

“What are you doing? Halt your ship or you will be fired upon.”

With a sudden burst of speed, the freighter banks to the left, ducking below the shuttle. To their credit, the shuttle immediately opens fire, though the shells from their cannons do nothing more than chip off the armour disguised as junk. These aren’t the weapons we need to worry about.

“The Belesis’s turrets are turning towards us!” yells Emiri.

“Don’t worry, stay the course.” I take my own seat behind the captain and make sure I’m secured.

“You betcha I’m staying the course!” cackles Garland. The throttle is already at maximum – we are shooting towards the Belesis at full speed.

I begin to concentrate on the enemy vessel. As my mind begins settling into that familiar cold, I feel space as a frozen grid stretched out before me, seeing the shuttle, the Independent Spirit of Adventure, and the Belesis laid out on in a line. Everything is down to my senses now.

“Captain,” I call out. “Five degrees to the right.”

“Got it! You heard him, helmsman! Just follow his orders!” shouts Garland. The freighter swings ever so slightly rightward. At the same time, half a dozen lights twinkle from where the Belesis is currently stationed. A fraction of a second later, beams roar past our ship, missing us by a hair. The shuttle behind us isn’t so lucky – it immediately goes into evasive maneuvers but has its thrusters clipped by one of the beams. The shuttle wobbles, though it manages to stay on our tail.

“Keep the shuttle behind us while we approach,” I order. The helmsman obeys, taking a curving course that would keep us between the shuttle and the Belesis. As expected, the Belesis hesitates on its next shot, realizing that there is no guarantee that they would not destroy their own shuttle. It would be just a moment’s hesitation, but that would help us close the gap even more.

“Hah, they’re just going to let us fly right up to them at this rate,” grins the captain.

“No, I don’t think so. They still aren’t sure if we are trying to escape or attack them. Once they get over their initial surprise, they will try homing missiles. Can the ship outrun or evade them?”

“Sorry, kiddo, the chaff system isn’t working,” says Garland. “But we don’t need to. We just have to purge some of the armour blocks as decoys.”

“Very well. I’ll leave the timing up to you, captain. They should be launching the missiles about… now.”

The ship’s computer begins alerting us to the incoming warheads. Captain Garland immediately takes the lead, directing his crew to prep the necessary sections. As the missiles close in, parts of the freighter detach. The ship takes a winding course through the hail of explosives, with most of the missiles detonating themselves harmlessly against the armour blocks. I grip the chair tightly as the bridge shakes from the close impacts. Thank goodness for seatbelts.

Under Garland’s command, the Independent Spirit of Adventure slips through the missile volley mostly unscathed, with nothing more than a few scratches to its hull.

“Aw yeah!” he yells, pumping his fist in the air.

“Don’t be too quick to celebrate, captain. They’ll be desperate enough to launch a full salvo soon.”

“Master, the unidentified cannons are activating,” reports Yua.

“Right on schedule. Captain, open fire on them to show that we mean business. Aim your fire at the damaged side.”

Our own beams and missiles streak towards the Belesis. The beams scatter harmlessly as they hit the particle shield, but the missiles manage to hit their mark and detonate. The explosions gouge small holes in the side of the damaged armour plates, though they do not manage to punch through into the ship’s innards.

The Belesis begins to turn and move at an angle to us, attempting to keep its battle-damaged side away from us. Our ship is still faster, but it looks like Commander Dranu has finally realized that this is a serious combat situation and he is not facing a smuggler’s freighter that could be destroyed with a flick of his wrist. “We don’t know what those cannons can do. Take the ship on a low arc. Try to get below the Belesis.” I say. The freighter glides downwards in a graceful curve as I say so. All of the Belesis’s weapons begin locking on to us, our ship’s computer beginning to emit more and more frantic beeps.

“Get ready to forcefully eject all remaining armour blocks on an upward course on my command and perform a steep climb.” I can see a red glow from deep within the cannons, gradually turning paler and brighter. They’re about to fire.

“Now! Climb!”

The cannons spit forth a pressurized torrent of molten metal, a white-hot river of slag that engulfs the armour blocks. They put up no resistance at all, melting under the intense pressure and heat.

“Get hit by one of those and we’re history,” mutters Garland. “But fuck it, we forge forward anyway! What next, Senya?”

“Follow through on the climb. The path of the arc will take us right next to the Belesis.” I settle back in my chair. This is over.

As I had calculated, the trajectory we’d taken would allow us to intersect with the Belesis’s route. In order to avoid our attacks from hitting their weak points. Commander Dranu had been overly cautious, not knowing what other firepower we would bring to bear – to be honest, it would have been rather difficult to defeat them conventionally, given the thick armour and particle shielding protecting the ship.

Thankfully, the Independent Spirit of Adventure was modified to engage in unconventional warfare. As the ship loops back, headed for a collision course with the weak side of the Belesis, it looks every bit a sleek, silver dart flying true to its mark now that the boxy armour blocks around it are gone. The missiles of the Imperial ship miss their mark, too slow to fire at the threat that had come up from below. The CIWS turrets activate, but the piddling shells that they spit out do no damage against our ship’s hull. They could menace a CF, but not a full-fledged warship. It is too late for the Belesis.

“Brace yourself, guys!” shouts Garland, who then proceeds to laugh maniacally as the heavily reinforced nose of the Spirit of Adventure plows into the hull of the Belesis. Emiri shouts my name out loud. There is a horrible, shrieking noise as metal grinds upon metal. Finally, the ship lurches to a stop, stuck to the flank of the larger vessel like a sword sticking out of its side.

I unbuckle myself and get up from the seat, casting a glance at Erec and Erika. His head bows in a grudging nod and goes off to lead the boarding party. Erika just gives me a slight, amused smile, as if I've proven her right about something.

“Captain, have your crew fire the thrusters intermittently as long as we are attached to keep the Belesis off balance,” I say.

“Got it. Happy hunting, Senya!” he grins. I suppose we’re on first name basis now. I return him a casual salute and head off to join the White Fang.

***

All according to plan, the Independent Spirit of Adventure has penetrated the Belesis sufficiently that we can disembark from one of the front airlocks.

“Yua, is the mapping of the ship complete?”

“It is incomplete but sufficient for our use, Master. The brig is located here. If they are holding any prisoners, it will be in this location. The ship’s databank is located on the bridge.” I get the map delivered directly to the White Fang’s positioning systems.

“All right, I’ve received the directions,” Erec says, all business now that they’re on a mission. “Let’s move out.”

The White Fang start to run down the hallways of the ship, Erika sticking close to my side. The alarms are blaring all along the corridors. A few confused crewmen, stumbling towards the site of collision to figure out what had happened, were dispatched quickly enough. Their bright red blood stained the gray metal floor as we left their bodies behind. As we turn a corner, we are met with gun-fire – we hurriedly retreat and take cover. Metal fletchettes embed themselves in the walls, sharp enough to puncture flesh but designed not to ricochet or puncture the ship’s hull.

Erec gives his men a silent gesture. He draws his sword and they do the same. The sharp, polished steel gleams brightly in the harsh artificial lighting. It looks like they’re about to attempt a charge. I grab his shoulder, pulling him back. Not because of any concern for their survival – some of them can probably deflect the fletchettes – but because there is an easier way to go about it.

As he gives me a murderous look, I signal at him to wait. After five seconds, the Belesis shakes and rotates, the Independent Spirit of Adventure following my instructions to keep it off balance.

“Now!” I whisper, but Erec needs no encouragement. They swarm out from behind the corner while the enemy soldiers are caught off guard by the shifting of the floor under their feet. The superhumans have no problem adapting to the changing environment. There are screams, and then there is silence. The smell of blood fills the air – Imperials bleed the same fluids as any human. There is something to be said for the homogeneity of ‘humanity’ scattered throughout the stars… it is not coincidence that there are no truly alien races out there. I resolve to find out more about this when I have a chance.

We soon reach the brig with no meaningful opposition in our way. After checking the entrance for booby traps, one of the White Fang kicks the door open and rushes in. He immediately sinks to his knees. The ones closest to the door begin to falter, and I feel a presence in my mind simultaneously attempting to scramble and control it.

Same old tricks again. Don’t they have anything new? If it isn’t tossing fireballs, it’s this.

I dispel the mental assault almost subconsciously, with a practiced turn of my mind, before walking into the chamber.

The bearded man inside looks at me with big, bulging eyes. He is on his hands and knees – apparently whatever I did brought about some sort of feedback that is causing him pain.

“W-what did you do to… are you one of the Star League’s immortals – no, they’re saying that you aren’t… what are you? You couldn’t be one of our kind, could you?”

“No,” I say, though my eyes are turned towards Mere, who is shackled to a table and staring at me as if she’s just seen a ghost, and Twintails, who appears to be standing by her unfettered. “I’m not a dog.”

He growls. “I am a Spirit of the Empire. Call me a dog again and you’ll regret it.”

I bestow upon him a mocking smile. The Spirit – sixty six of them, I believe? – snarls and comes after me, faster than any human can possibly follow. I see no need to move, however. Erika intercepts him, her sword coming down in a deadly arc. It bites through his outstretched arms, cutting them clean off at the elbows. As the Spirit screams in agony and staggers backwards, he spits at us.

“You would never have gotten me if I were not distracted!”

“Excuses, excuses,” I sigh. The White Fang pile upon him immediately and wrestle him to the floor. Erec sticks a sword through his chest, pinning him there. The Spirit continues to scream curses as he struggles futilely.

I turn my attention towards Mere and Twintails. The latter looks up at me blankly. I free Mere first, my finger tracing the weak links in the shackles that kept her bound.

“Hoshikawa,” she says happily. “The last person I’d have expected to see here.”

“You lost to that?” I ask, casting a glance at the babbling Spirit. She shakes her head, then looks at me quizzically. “He is a very strong psionic, and he was not alone. How did you fend off his attack?”

“This is not the time for questions, Colonel,” I reply wryly. “Shall we retreat from here?”

“Senya.” Twintails speaks up, calling me by my name. I glance at her, seeing her smile uncharacteristically softly at me. “What is it?”

“The databank has something important.”

“Databank? You mean, on the bridge?”

“What about the databank?” Mere asks. I turn back to her, gesturing at Twintails. “Your assistant, she says it has something important. Is it to do with your mission?”

“What assistant?” A frown creases her beautiful face, as if she doesn’t understand what I’m saying.

“Twintails. There-“ I check myself and look at Twintails again. She winks at me mischievously. “They left her and the other members of my team on a planet as a bait for any rescuers,” says Mere, looking at me concernedly. “What are you seeing?”

“I… don’t know.” When my eyes shift to Mere and back again, Twintails is gone. Vanished into thin air.

“Do you have a fever?” asks Erika, who puts her cool hand on my forehead.

“No, I’m okay, I think.” I mutter.

“Can we get out of here now?” Erec speaks up impatiently. “Leave the comedy show for later, will you?”

“Right. Now…” I begin to think. “Master, I think you should be aware of this,” says Yua. “Imperial protocol states that if the crew are unable to take a vessel back, it is to be destroyed via self-destruct. I believe if we continue to linger here, the commander of the ship will initiate this protocol. It cannot be overridden once started.”

Well, shit.

***

A. Time to retreat. I already have what I came here for – Mere Tarliss. This can be considered a success by any means. Of course, I’ll pretend to hang around and retreat only when the self-destruct protocol has been confirmed. No point leaving them with a working ship.

B. I need to go to the bridge. The databank could contain something crucial, and I cannot pass up the chance to investigate this. My instinct tells me that this is important. Though Erec will likely want to retreat with the White Fang, Erika will accompany me for this.

***

A. The Spirit is too dangerous to be left alive – if I am not there, few other people have defenses against his psionic abilities. I kill the immortal for good – it would be good to know that I actually can.

B. I have the White Fang behead the Spirit and knock the head unconscious – slamming it hard against the walls should do the trick. We’ll just drop it in a freezer until we get back to our ship. It’s easier to interrogate a head, and easier to get rid of it too. I can always space it when it is of no more use.
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
It's good to be back! I had some questions but I need to reread the updates first. As for this choice, BB.
 

Kayerts

Arcane
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
883
BA. Could be persuaded to flop to BB, but I suspect that'll backfire. The head is the dangerous part of a psionic, bros.
 

Azira

Arcane
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Codex 2012
BA. Could be persuaded to flop to BB, but I suspect that'll backfire. The head is the dangerous part of a psionic, bros.
Yeah, if it were only Senya on the Spirit, we could keep it. As it is, we'd probably be better off killing the psionic and trying to catch the captain instead.

BA
 

Kayerts

Arcane
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
883
Yeah. There might be consequences to revealing our ability to kill immortals to Mere, but I'll take that risk over the risk of the Spirit seizing control of the White Fangs.
 

Storyfag

Perfidious Pole
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Stealth Orbital Nuke Control Centre
Suspected Gieloth said:
“W-what did you do to… are you one of the Star League’s immortals – no, they’re saying that you aren’t… what are you? You couldn’t be one of our kind, could you?”

Also, how come the League and the Empire aren't full of heroes (in the Greek demigod sense) running around? Aren't their Immortals (assuming the supernaturals of the Empire are Immortals at all!) breeding with normal humans?
 

Azira

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Codex 2012
They probably want to limit power, to reduce the risk of dissention and rebellion, and quite possibly only a select few actually know that nanotech is what's driving them..
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
BA. Could be persuaded to flop to BB, but I suspect that'll backfire. The head is the dangerous part of a psionic, bros.
My reasoning exactly, the Spirit is too dangerous to be left alive on the ship. Now, if we had some means of limitng his psionic powers, say a mind-cage, that would be an entirely different story.

BA.
And you said that ramming the ship wouldn't turn out well. :smug:
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
What? So you are all for a head in a jar now that it's a man? This place really is full of fags... Seriously, he just took out our whole team. Had we not been there, Eric and the others would have had their minds taken over or simply been killed. So, basically, voting BB would be the absolute stupidest thing possible.

He's too dangerous to let live, he probably won't tell us a damn thing even IF we manage to get him on board and out of here safely, and darn it, I want to kill an immortal!

BA. Could be persuaded to flop to BB, but I suspect that'll backfire. The head is the dangerous part of a psionic, bros.
My reasoning exactly, the Spirit is too dangerous to be left alive on the ship. Now, if we had some means of limitng his psionic powers, say a mind-cage, that would be an entirely different story.

BA.
And you said that ramming the ship wouldn't turn out well. :smug:
Yep. It was a good suggestion. I hereby reinstate your bro status (which you lost after voting to trust Naim/Theseus). You are a Bro of the Realms. Do not abuse your power.

AA - I think that this Twintails is actually our Master friend. He's trying to tempt our greedy side. I mean, what the fuck kind of hint is "it has something important" anyway?

If AA doesn't have the votes, I'll go AB>BA.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
9,611
AA - I think that this Twintails is actually our Master friend. He's trying to tempt our greedy side. I mean, what the fuck kind of hint is "it has something important" anyway?
I doubt it. And if it is true, then the good chap is definitely tempting something other than Senya's "greed," which brings up a whole new problem we'll have to deal with: a british sodomist spiking our tea with date-rape drugs. :lol:
Edit: and we don't have the tentacles to deal with that right now.
 

treave

Arcane
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Joined
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Suspected Gieloth said:
“W-what did you do to… are you one of the Star League’s immortals – no, they’re saying that you aren’t… what are you? You couldn’t be one of our kind, could you?”

Also, how come the League and the Empire aren't full of heroes (in the Greek demigod sense) running around? Aren't their Immortals (assuming the supernaturals of the Empire are Immortals at all!) breeding with normal humans?

Once the leaders of the League figured out how things work, they put a ban on immortal procreation whether amongst themselves or mortals, for the same reasons Azira mentioned. The Empire has no such taboo.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Some things you bros might want to keep in mind:
He is a very strong psionic, and he was not alone.
Also, how come the League and the Empire aren't full of heroes (in the Greek demigod sense) running around? Aren't their Immortals (assuming the supernaturals of the Empire are Immortals at all!) breeding with normal humans?
Once the leaders of the League figured out how things work, they put a ban on immortal procreation whether amongst themselves or mortals, for the same reasons Azira mentioned. The Empire has no such taboo.
Their are more badass dudes with superpowers in the Empire than in the League, bros. We don't know what we'll be walking into on that bridge.

And again, why would we want this "something important" anyway? There is absolutely ZERO motivation to trust this illusion or to want to risk our lives for this something anyway. Even if it's not a Master, it could be an unseen enemy on this ship. These guys were able to overpower an immortal, we shouldn't take them lightly.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
Something important= databanks, at the least. That is enough for me to want to send Senya in there. Moreover, what if this illusion is right and there is something important enough to capture (more experimental tech, only from the Empire this time. The idea of jooing all the major factions of their tech for the gloy of Terra appeals to me) for Senya to risk it. Besides, we handled this guy easily enough by ourselves and we apparently have some kind of countermeasure against psychics (I wonder if we're a blank like Ean was?)
I dispel the mental assault almost subconsciously, with a practiced turn of my mind, before walking into the chamber.

The bearded man inside looks at me with big, bulging eyes. He is on his hands and knees – apparently whatever I did brought about some sort of feedback that is causing him pain.
I'm pretty sure this will give us a good edge aginst any other "heroes" that we'll come across.
On the other hand, said illusion may be a trick of the Spirit, he is a powerful psionic after all and is just trying a more subtle tactic this time around.

And my collar-grabbing and bitch-slapping quotas are nowhere near satisified. If things go my way, we'll be cranking the "MAXIMUM FUUU-" dial up to eleven soon.

...we need Brosquilax. :(
 

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
Worshipped as a god by his people, the Emperor is served by a pantheon of eight lesser Deities and sixty-six minor Spirits.

Considering the relative rarity of immortals (compared to the size of the Empire), I somehow doubt that more than one Spirit or higher level immortal was committed to this one ship. The others that Mere is referring to are probably one of: regular humans, immortals less powerful than a Spirit, or ones defeated in the battle. She may play games with us, but I doubt she would withhold the fact that more may be on this ship right now. Not with her own existence at risk.

I think the biggest issue with 1B is getting past the remaining crew, obtaining the data, and escaping before self-destruct. I feel pretty confident in that. This Spirit, however, is a very dangerous wildcard, especially considering his psionics that only we seem to be able to counter. Let the databanks be our info and not get too greedy.

Where is Esquilax anyway?
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,518
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Now now, why not assume that Senya uses his "spirit sight" ability before venturing further. It'd be useful knowledge for him to see if Immortals look different to his second sight, compared to normals. It'd at least let him estimate the opposition before delving deeper (higher) into the ship.
 

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