“The Krieger Corp is the life for me,A gun, bed and funeral for free.That’s my lot in the Black Company.”It took the Earth 10 long years to die. Like every planet afflicted by the pervasive sentient plague that swept the galaxy at the turn of the 23rd century, aptly named The Rot, Earth’s demise was slow and agonising at first then violent and sudden by the end. The seas boiled and the air turned to ash in the wake of the continent-shattering orbital bombardments that cleansed her and a hundred other worlds.20 years later, the dust of the Purification Wars has settled and the surviving xenos empires have finished carving up the remaining colonies of those less fortunate races between them, including those few left from Earth’s initial phase of expansion. Just rewards for the victorious alien’s part in saving the galaxy. The surviving human population, once many billions, now numbers in the mere millions. An entire race of refugees, vagrants and backwater outcasts begging, stealing and labouring as second-class citizens, servants or slaves under uncaring alien masters.A lifetime of backbreaking work for stale recycled oxygen units and a handful of credits is the best fate most humans can hope for. Little wonder then that the violent but lucrative life of a mercenary holds such appeal. As the novelty of peace wears off and the rival alien nations rattle their sabres once more, human mercenaries are in high demand for their crude effectiveness and affordable prices.And of all the human mercenary firms, there are none so infamous and so highly sought after as the services of the Black Company…=============================================Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlackCompany666/qst/ Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=2230AD2230AD Annal Entries: https://pastebin.com/zBic3fPQ [Updated!]Recorded Xenos Species: https://pastebin.com/vdG01RzGThe Last Human Colonies: https://pastebin.com/VA3nHbTmAdvanced Firefight Rules: https://pastebin.com/NATmyFSw
THE STORY THUS FARSergeant ‘Snake Eyes’ Natalya is a survivor. From the tender age of too-young-to-really-remember she has fought, clawed and killed her way to the top of a very nasty food chain. Lucky enough to escape the dying gasps of Earth, but unlucky enough to find themselves stranded on the moon that is the deadly jungle world called Clayton’s Cradle, she was the only member of her family to last more than a few months in the merciless Green.Clayton’s Cradle gives no second chances to the unwary and no leeway to the hesitant. Be it deadly predators large or small, plantlife toxic or carnivorous, diseases wasting or virulent, its small population are each hardened through experience and boosted with vital genemods stretching the limit of what a biological human can achieve (or indeed what constitutes a biological human).Joining the Black Company was a way off that deadly rock, a well paying one that at least saw Snake Eyes serving alongside fellow humans instead of being drafted into the alien armies of the Savis Legions and their Cradler Auxiliaries. Achieving the rank of Sergeant in the 77th Krieger Platoon wasn’t easy, it took some gusty moves and daring choices on her part to make it. That and supressing her crippling gambling addiction long enough to afford the basic gear. Now she’s the primary babysitter, feared leader and beloved chef (in her own eyes at least) of one of the most lethally eclectic band of misfits the universe has ever seen. Ex-gang members,ex-human Republic army regulars/deserters, ex-Alien Fed enforcers, ex-bartender/part-time-model, ex-miners, ex-slaves, ex-pirates, current convicts, current killer-bots animated by highly illegal AI, current alien musical cabbages good with surgery tools. If you name it, then it’s probably in Snake Eyes squad (or her sister squads) and has an outstanding warrant out for its arrest somewhere in the galaxy. And all of them, every man and woman and genderless being among them, each dumb enough to gamble on getting shot out of a ship in high orbit into a hostile warzone and surviving long enough to collect their paycheque.[1/2 Recap]
[2/2 Recap]For the past EIGHT MONTHS Snake Eyes and her squad have been operating on the dusty mining world of Dis, a resource rich world located within the Savis Empire, now currently in the grips of a well-armed and well-organised slave uprising thanks to yours truly. Although Black Company Command won’t tell the grunts who hired them for this little start-up insurgency, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the likely backers are probably either the Federation or the Mandate by virtue of these other two alien empires being the only real players in this part of the galaxy that could afford the Black Company for this kind of work. And that’s probably the reason why Command, and Snake Eyes’ immediate superior Lieutenant ‘Boy’ Blue, has been so explicit that any evidence of the slave insurgency having outside help is to be kept to an absolute minimum.The Black Company has achieved its primary objectives. The insurgency is now at the stage where there has been significant disruption to the planet’s productivity and the initial Imperial military response has had it’s nose bloodied in an embarrassing fashion. A substantial portion of the Savis Empire’s forces is now preoccupied and distracted with stomping out the flames of what would without Snake Eyes have been just another routine crushed slave uprising. Great job, pats on the back all around and beers back at Snake Eyes place after dinner. But, there is a catch and a reason why Snake Eyes isn’t breaking out the poker chips just yet. Snake Eyes and her Krieger buddies are still here. Still on Dis, trapped with the doomed rebels in dwindling territory as the full might of the Royal Savis Legions is being brought to bear and Snake Eyes own fellow Cradlers in the Legion’s Auxiliaries hunt them in the equatorial jungles.As the Royal Savis Legion closes in and every rebel and merc starts eyeing the nearest exit or at least the best ground for last stand, Snake Eyes has agreed to join Alexander Hail and some of his most die-hard rebels on a daring mission that could turn the tide of the entire campaign. Or at least kick up enough chaos for most of everyone to get away clean. It may be suicide, it may be the craziest mission Snake Eyes has ever gone one, but stealing an Imperial Titan would make for a hell of a page as far as Big One’s go in the Annals. Even by Black Company standards.
+++XENO QUOTE OF THE DAY+++>SELECTED LEAGUE OF DIS - REBELS“Crowds gathered in their thousands at Unity Plaza today in a show of support for the victims of the ongoing sapientarian crisis on the Royal Savis territory world of Dis. While Savis officials deny the allegations of war crimes in what they refer to as a measured police action targeted at radical subversive elements, leaked footage confirms the deployment of multiple Titan-class warmachines as well as evidence of extensive collateral damage to the civilian populace from the Imperial response. In Silver City, noted for its large human population, riot squads were deployed to curb violent demonstrations directed at government officials viewed by many to be doing little to support the plight of the rebels in light of the full blockade recently imposed on the system by Savis leadership. Meanwhile decorated General Erim’O’Jusk, sometimes regarded as a critic of the current administration, had this to say…”-Sapphire Plume, co-anchor of the Perspira Planet29th Cycle May 2231AD (yesterday) – Dis Equatorial Region – Imperial Savis SpaceJake Martin had been 14 years old when Earth died. It hadn’t felt real to him back then, running while the world burned. One day he’d been chasing bullfrogs through the rushes and agri-fields of bumfuck Oregon and then, just around when girls were starting to look more interesting than gross, that mad rush with the extended family to the evacuation zones.His family and been running ever since, and here he was the last Martin left. Still running while the world burned around him. True, he hadn’t ever imagined it might end up like this, with a wounded comrade leaning on his shoulder and an alien jungle burning behind them. But this at least felt real.Maybe it hadn’t seemed real to him back then as a kid, running with the family as the world burned. But the hunger in his belly drifting through space on the ragtag voidborn fleets had felt real. The weight on his back and shoulders decade of slavery and hard labour had felt real. The thunder in his heart as they charged the line overseers after Breaker’s broadcast executing the Savis regional governor, that had felt real. Even the heat on his back as the Titan stomped overhead through the ashes of their outpost, ignoring the leftover scuttling insects on the ground, that for damn sure felt real.Jake shifted his weight. Not by much, but enough for Lightbody to groan into his shoulder.[1/4]
Lightbody wasn’t the kids actual name of course, but a lot of the escaped slaves his age had discarded the ordinary names or designations they held in captivity for new ‘liberated’ names now that they were free for the first time in their young lives. Names like ‘Freeman’, ‘Liberty’, ‘Emancipation’ and the like were becoming very popular, but many like Lightbody had taken to the tradition of adoption less high-principled nicknames in the tradition of the Voidborn pirates that had helped them get this far. ‘Pickles’, ‘Slim’, ‘T-Bone’ and ‘Hyena’ were just a few of the monikers Jake had heard some of the younger rebels insist they now be called, human or alien.Kids like Lightbody adored those Voidborn pirates, even though most kept to themselves with their dark armour and grim looks. Jake didn’t buy it, he’d been living on a Voidorn fleet for years before slavers captured their ship, and these dark-armoured soldiers had the look of mercs more than spacers. Not that Jake cared, even if the off-worlders had their own thing going they had stuck their neck out big time kidnapping the regional governor, crippling the local forces and getting this rebel army up and running. They’d turned a horde of scared refugees into a army out here in the wilderness, a real fight instead of a quick riot and long hunt. So no wonder the next generation copied them however they could, whether or not those kids were old enough to hold a gun.Jake ducked as low as his aching spine would allow as he felt another WOOSH of the Titan’s giant incendiary launcher detonate, but behemoth blotting out the sun above them had directed its ire to a different hundred acres of jungle. Light muttered weakly, limping together through the undergrowth as the flames licked the jungle and what was left of their perimeter camp behind them.“Man is free…”“What’s that?” Jake was only half-listening, keeping his eyes on what was left of the scorched treeline. The lethal Legion Auxiliaries were everywhere these days, although even those savages tended to give the firezone of an Imperial Titan a wide berth.“That saying that you told us, what the humans from old earth said when they rose up against their kings.”“You mean ‘Man is free at the moment he wishes to be’?” Jake already regretted sharing stories of his home around the campfire, but his comrades had lapped it up. “Looks clear. Let’s catch our breath for a moment.”“Man is free at the moment he…" Lightbody paused, half-smiling and half-grimacing as the two of them leaned up against a tree while the Titan stomped ahead. “Come on Elder Martin, you know what I mean. The whole thing.”[2/4]
Jake bristled at the use of an honorific for his age, another quirk of the various camps that was quickly becoming a settled custom. He was only 34 or thereabouts, assuming his math on the Imperial calendar was right. Lightbody was just a kid, he hadn’t even been born when Earth died. Instead he’d been born here, a slave, he’d never known anything else. But Lightbody also currently had a gunshot wound to his thigh and lower back, Jake could feel his warm red blood on his shoulder. So yeah, Jake figured the kid deserved a little slack.Lightbody may have been human, but to him Old Earth was as alien a place as an Quexi hatcling. The kid had been born a slave here on Dis, crawling through the tighter tunnels retrieving vein-nodes for his uncaring masters, skin scraped raw and ore dust slowly shredding his little lungs. Jake was beginning to understand how important it was to the younger generation to understand that their struggle for freedom was not an unnatural one, that they were carrying the torch in an age-old fight against despotism. “Ahem. Right, how did it go again…” Jake coughed and cleared his throat, scratched from the ashes left in the Titan’s wake. For a human like Lightbody, Jake wanted him to know that ‘Freedom’ wasn’t just some high concept that the Federation species had agreed on in their citizenship accords. It was a struggle that humans like Lightbody and Jake were also part of, had been part of, for hundreds if not thousands of years of human history. That was why it was important to get the words right, best he could. Jake cleared his throat again, speaking with a confidence and firmness in his voice he hadn't realised was still there.“From a small spark, kindled in America, a flame has arisen not to be extinguished. Man finds himself changed. He discovers that the strength and powers of tyranny consist wholly in the fear of resisting it, and that, in order "to be free, it is sufficient that he wills it.""Huh." Lightbody must have heard it more than a dozen times now, but he sounded no less glad to hear it again even now. Perhaps especially now. “Who said all that stuff?”“Uhh… George Washington.” [3/4]
[4/4]Lightbody leant back against the tree with his eyes closed, smiling. “He was a human like us, right? A general from Old Earth?”“Damn straight, kid. The humanist human to ever kick royal butt.”“The power of tyranny… is just in the fear of resisting it.” Jake glanced down nervously at Lightbody’s frail voice, that was still a fair amount of blood leaking out of him. “No Gods, No Masters. I’m still breathing… and breathing free… Hell yeah…” “Come on, kid. Let’s get you back to camp.” The main League of Dis, where they might actually have a proper medkit left. And maybe the only camp left, from the look of things.Lightbody groaned as Jake pulled him to his feet, they both paused for a moment to watch the departing Titan, the manifest martial embodiment of the Masters on the warpath. For some reason they were both smiling like damn fools. And credit to the kid, there was a damn sight more defiance than fear in Lightbody’s smug grin directed at the Titan diminishing in the distance. Hungry for another breath of free air. “Missed us, fucker.”Jake could have said ‘this time’ or something similar but, despite feeling like he’d just been blasted half-way back to Oregon a mere five minutes ago, it wasn’t in him. Looking at Lightbody’s grin, battered, bloody and a little crispy, Elder Martin had to smile too. “Hell yeah, comrade. Hell yeah.”============================================================Xeno Quote of the Day (select one for the next thread)For any newbies, this is also your verification vote. Link back in later votes if your ID changes, it does help me account for samefags.>Asandi>Auxl>Belcossan>Chorkrum>Coryx>Drax>Faenwedhe>Kroll>Pect’Max>Quexi>Savis>Yibrak>Vesh> League of Dis - Rebels
>>6355767>BelcossanWelcome back Forgotten
>>6355767>DraxLong time no see Forgotten. Welcome back.
>>6355767> League of Dis - RebelsWe are here to kill titans and chew bubblegum and we are all out of bubblegum
Welcome back old players and new, this verification vote will remain open for 24 hours.As mentioned elsewhere, I'll be sticking to a steadier but slower bi-weekly content update schedule of Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Votes will remain open for 24 hours after 10pm AEST each of those evenings, and I may have shorter intervening updates where rolls or a series of votes are required.It does help me to link back to your original verification vote when continuing to vote in the thread, but you'll still be counted unless your ID changes and you don't link back later down the track.
>>6355767>> League of Dis - Rebels>>6355771dis guy has the right idea
>>6355775Will the slower update rate affect the pacing of the quest?
>>6355778I imagine so, I won't be cracking out as many updates but those updates will likely be on average a bit longer and hopefully proofread.I can also hopefully update consistently, rather than this stop/start action we saw going on in the last few threads.
>>6355767>KrollForgotten oh how I've missed you
>>6355779Thats good! I look forward to future space black company adventures.
>>6355767>>FaenwedheCheck
>>6355767>FaenwedheWelcome back King.
>>6355767> League of Dis - RebelsWelcome back Forgotten, I wanted to ask you what are your influences? As in other quests, books and settings. The Black Company is obvious and I recently have been reading my way through The Traitor Son Cycle and noticed some of it's influence on Sworn to Valor. But I wonder what else there is?
>>6355767>> League of Dis - RebelsWelcome back Forgotten! Can't wait to get back into this!
>>6355779Will Starwars and Andre will come after this?
>>6355805>That meme10/10 Delusional, Mikhail is a good boy.
>>6355809Hahaha
>AuxlLet's get some details about Breaker's people. Sad this isn't StV, but a snake is fine too!
>>6355767>> League of Dis - RebelsHappy to see you, Forgotten!What's new since the last time? Is your place still making you work 12-hour shifts?
>>6355767> SavisAssuming we steal the Titan and exfil it’d be funny to get a POV from some of the enemy commanders next thread
>>6355767>Asandi
>>6355767> SavisI'd like to hear how they're reacting to all this.
>>6355767>DraxI'm mostly just a Valorous boy, but I guess I'll need to hang out here until we can reclaim the fair lands of Ardenne.
>>6355767>Belcossan
>>6355767> League of Dis - RebelsVeri vote
>>6355767>>BelcossanLet's see what old Treebeard has got to say.
>>6355767>>BelcossanHELL YEAH WE BACK BABY
>>6355767>BelcossanGod it feels good to be questing again.
>>6355767>BelcossanWe are so fucking back lads. Welcome back Forgotten, I hope you had a good time.
>>6355767>BelcossanOk (^:
>>6355767> League of Dis - RebelsIT'S KRIEGER TIME, glad you are still alive Forgotten.
>>6355767>DraxHell yeah! Here we goooo!
>>6355767>AuxlWell, here we go again. Welcome back Forgotten!
>>6355767>SavisNice to see you back Forgotten.Time to steal a mecha.
>>6355767>>FaenwedheTime to steal a giant fucking robot.
>>6356062Also my trip, nearly forgot
>>6355767> League of Dis - RebelsIt's been a while since the last threadGlad I didn't miss this one.
>>6355798>Welcome back Forgotten, I wanted to ask you what are your influences?As you've already identified, Miles Cameron and his Traitor Son Cycle are one of my favourite book series of all time and have influenced my writing. Joe Abercrombie's work is also right there at the top, I will read anything that man puts out and then read it again.In terms of writing style those are the two big ones, other works by other authors and setting concepts or ideas have influenced the quest in other ways but that could be an exhaustive list. I will also say that several have influenced me to -not- include certain things in my own work because I find them unappealing or tiresome.>>6355807>Will Starwars and Andre will come after this?Sir Andrei, yes hopefully. Star Wars: Interregnum? I couldn't say, as it's not my quest!>>6355831>What's new since the last time? Is your place still making you work 12-hour shifts?Same old, same old. But the itch to write is one I've got to scratch, and onerous work hours make for a sorry excuse as the months drag out. This quest is to a great degree the whestone upon which I sharpen my penmanship and worldbuilding.
>>6356117>>This quest is to a great degree the whestone upon which I sharpen my penmanship and worldbuilding.It's more or less the only reason I still come here as well
>>6356117>penmanship>digital writingHmmm....
>>6355767>Pect’MaxOh hai
>>6356117Any STV on the horizon or is it just BCQ for the next bit?
>>6355767>BelcossanWelcome back, boss. It's been a long time, glad that you have time for another thread.
>>6355767>>DraxWe're back baby!
>>6355767>SavisWelcome back, Forgotten. You get the chance to check out the MEANACE demo from the ballers behind Battle Brothers?
>>6356117sorry man got it confused. too excited i guess.
>>6355767> League of Dis - Rebels
>>6355757Is that you Forgotten? I thought you got cannibalised by bogans! I missed you on here, man. Glad to have you back.Also anchor vote:>FaenwedheAlways fun to hear from the genocidal gaming addicts
>>6356117>onerous work hours make for a sorry excuse as the months drag outClearly, you should just write at work and bill the client for the quest. If you do any government work you can even consider it as cultural subsidies :)In all seriousness though, would you want to be a full time writer if the option was availible? You absolutely have what it takes, except for (I assume) your unfortunate gender and pigmentation
>>6355767>>BelcossanIts so good to be back.TIME FOR WAR.
>>6355767>>Belcossanhell yea.titanjack. TITANJACK.>>6356123Forgotten replied on twitter that he at least wants to finish up the Dis arc first before looking at StV.
>>6355767>>BelcossanBlack Company is back on the menu, boys!
>>6355767>Pect’MaxI know I'm late, but the next update hasn't been posted yet!
>>6356121>penmanship>digital writingYou know what I mean! If you ever previously saw my posted notes on here you'd probably agree that my handwriting is a lost cause.>>6356192>You get the chance to check out the MEANACE demo from the ballers behind Battle Brothers?Hell yeah I did! Those guys? They get it.>In all seriousness though, would you want to be a full time writer if the option was availible?I take pride in my work, so even if I didn't need to pay the bills I'd probably still want to do my current job at least part time. But not being full time would be very good for my writing (not to mention this quest schedule).>>6356123As >>6356630 noted, I plan on finishing the Dis Campaign first.
>SELECTED: Belcossan2210AD (21 years ago), somewhere in the Eastern European holdouts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN2Xs-MvxLw&list=RDoN2Xs-MvxLw&start_radio=1 – Last Day on EarthThe hand was wrinkled and palsied, but the grip was strong. Sticking your tongue out, you nearly catch a snowflake but at the last moment it flicks away. You giggle and lean forward for the next one, but the hand pulls you back. You look at it again, the old palm dwarfing your glove in its hold. Tight, but not painful. It was a comfort in the bustle of the crowd, tall figures in snow-dusted cloaks loom over either side of you in the smoke and cold win. None of the towering figures paid you any much attention, more than once the old hand tugged you out of the way of jostling shadows as it leads you weaving through the crowd. Nervous murmurs and hushed whispers carry in the lulls between the wind that picks up into a soft howl. Occasionally the roar of a great machine flying low overhead interrupts the low growl of the crowd, you keep looking up hoping to catch a glimpse of a Wingshark jet or great Dragon bomber. You were too young then to understand that the noise of their passage only came well after they had passed over the milling figures on the ground below. You would have thought that that there would be cheering at the sound, and fireworks, people had always cheered when they flew over the fireworks on Unification Day. The roar of engines came again, and the crowd shivers. Next to you one of the tall shadowy figures, a woman, whimpers. A little while later, although you can't see them despite twisting around, you hear what might have been fireworks. Big fireworks.The hand tightens. “дaвaй, мaлeнькoe яйцo.”The old hand tugs on you again, this time with a sense of urgency. The press of the crowd becomes more agitated, the worried glances and hushed mutters steadily replaced with angry glares and harsh words. Maмa had said it was rude to press in front of the queue at market, but your Deda shoves more than one person aside to get further ahead of the crowd on the metal boardwalk. A man stops in front of you, pointing angrily at your Deda. You feel the old hand tighten, pulling you behind his leg. Your Deda moves suddenly, and your hand hurts with the tight grip that tugs you behind him, but it stops just as quickly as it started.”Oй!” You exclaim, nursing your tugged arm. “Пpocти, мaлышкa.” The old man’s eye soften ever so slightly as he looks down at you, rubbing your little hand gentle. “ Я тeбя oбидeл?”You sniff, suppressing a pout. “ Heт.” [1/5]
You stare at the bad man, the one that had been bullying Deda. He is on the ground, not moving, and people are now giving you more space.“Хpaбpaя дeвoчкa. Пoeхaли, дeдyшкa тeбя пoдвeзёт.”The old man picks you up, cradling your head in his shoulder. You’re nearly at the front of the crowd now. A man is shouting up ahead, pushing people back. You can’t hear what he’s saying, but the people around him aren’t happy at not being allowed on the metal boardwalk up ahead. Not happy at all.At the next sound of fireworks you look up timidly, but from this angle the old man is just a white beard. That’s all that you can remember of him. A white beard, kind eyes, and strong hands.“Гдe мaмa и пaпa?”“Oни yжe нa бopтy, мaлeнькoe яичкo.”“И мы вce вмecтe пoлeтим в кocмoc?”“Дa, мaлeнькoe яичкo.”“Кocмoc cтpaшeн?”“…инoгдa. Пoэтoмy ты дoлжeн быть хpaбpым, мaлeнькoe яичкo. Cмoжeшь ли ты быть хpaбpым paди cвoeгo Дeды?”You frown, stifling another sniff. You decide to be brave. “…дa.”A new wave of heavy machines fly overhead, more fireworks soon followed by a new sound. A warbling shrill whoop that is matched by the now flashing yellow lights all around the metal boardwalk. And behind you, at the back of the press of people, screams.“Дepжиcь кpeпчe, внyчкa.” The old man whispers as people at the front here begin to shout too, shoving into the thin line of men that look as worried as the crowd they are trying to hold back. One of the men at the front raises something in the air. You feel the old hand brush your hair softly. “Зaкpoй глaзa. Бyдь cмeлoй. Bcё бyдeт хopoшo.”You shut your eyes very, very tight, seconds later your ears ring with several very loud popping sounds nearby like someone was lighting a firecracker in the middle of the crowd. Shouts of anger, or fear, heavy thuds and then just furious noise as you feel Oppa running, sometimes bumping into something or someone. More pops, more sounds, like balls of meat being smacked into Mama’s cooking board back home. You don’t cry, you don’t even breathe, worried you’ll scream when Deda told you to be brave. But you’ve never been so scared in all your life...[2/5]
“ДEДУШКA!” You sob, clutching your Deda’s neck as tight as your little hands can. But the grip changes and you feel yourself being pulled away into the terrible, terrible noise.“BOЗЬMИTE EЁ! УMOЛЯЮ BAC, ЛЮБOBЬЮ К БOГУ! TAKE HER!”You feel Deda’s hold on you shift, tearing your arms away from his should and lifting you up from the waist. You howl as your eyes shoot open, your battle against terror lost. You’re not brave! You’re not brave at all! You want to go home! Above you, a man in the orange overalls of a worker looks at you and hesitates, his expression lost in the smoke and blaring yellow lights. Behind him, the haze of bright light reads ‘SHUTTLE LAUNCH IN PROGRESS – STAND CLEAR’. The orange overall man says a bad word, before holstering his pistol and laying down flat on the rising ramp with his arms outstretched over the side. The man’s gloved hand grasps at you, fractionally closer and then fractionally further away with every passing second. His goggles obscure his eyes, but his mouth is open wide and close enough to hear him shout strange words at you and your Deda.“Szybko! Szybko, staruszku, nie mogę powstrzymać tej rampy przed zamknięciem!”You continue to sob and wail as your Deda’s arm lift you up, up and up even further, straining and gasping beneath your little waist for just an inch or two further. The old hand was wrinkled, trembling with effort. But the grip was strong.[3/5]
30th Cycle May 2231AD (today) – Dis Equatorial Region – Imperial Savis SpaceYou jolt awake with a snarl, lurching forward with a closed five-year-old fist to pound against the closing airlock window again. Your hand, scarred and strong and very much not five-years-old, finds nothing but air. CPL ‘Crane’ Shizuka’s cautiously raised eyebrow, little more than a foot away from your own face, suggests that it took a little reflexive duck on his part to avoid a right hook as payment for waking you up.You’re still panting as Crane slowly lowers your outstretched hand with his own.“Good morning to you too, Snake Eyes-sama.” “…Fuck.” You exhale slowly, eyelids blinking blearily as you recalibrate to your surroundings. No snow, or biting wind. Humidity, sweat, smoke in the air. Yep, still on Dis. Still in the scud. “Mornin’ Crane.””Was it the dreams again?” Your nod earns you a telling look from your trusted second as he passes you a steaming hot tin of something that smells voiddamn amazing. “We have been planetside for over eight months now.”Your mouth pauses over the hot black liquid cupped in your hands, the warmth in your hands already helping bring a sweet promising to wake you up and help forget. You know what Crane is getting at. You’ve talked about your void-dreams with Crane before, it’s not unusual to get them during a voidjump or even days and weeks after tearing out of the other side into realspace from the currents of unreality. It’s even worse if you spend anytime a room with an unshielded viewports like some of the wierdo Voidborn types like to do. People that follow the Voidmother Cult put some stock in them as visions or omens of things to come, usually never anything good. And for others with less faith or superstition like yourself it still makes a fucked-up conversation topic to compare with anyone else who had one while killing time in the barracks. But this isn’t that. [4/5]
[5/5]This was just a regular old childhood nightmare, one of the few that didn’t involve being hunted by something big, nasty and hungry in the depth of the Green on Clayton’s Cradle. You glance back, your Second hasn’t shifted from his crouch opposite your bedroll. If Crane has one thing in abundance, it’s patience.===============================>”Getting a little close there, ain’t you Shiz?” You crack a smile and deal with trauma in the soldier’s way, with a bit of banter and good-natured ribbing. You’re not Crane’s type, if he even has a type, but needling him with your humour has become a favourite past-time of yours. Although… he does look kinda of cute in this low light, in a dangerous Yakuza hitman kind of way. [Daredevil]> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>“It’s nothing. Just a bad dream, that’s all. Any news from the camp?” You don’t talk about your past, that’s one of the golden rules in the Black Company. Everyone gets a fresh start in this mercenary life, no matter how fucked up their history or how many bodies they’ve got trailing behind them. It’s one of the reasons you joined this outfit instead of the Imperial Auxiliaries. Business first, you have a long day ahead. [Xenophobe]
>>6357154>“Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355878Da Linky
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]I trust Crane. He's also one of my favourites>>6355805MeDamn that intro story with the Nat on the dying Earth was great with that music. Goosebumps
>>6357154>“It’s nothing. Just a bad dream, that’s all. Any news from the camp?” You don’t talk about your past, that’s one of the golden rules in the Black Company. Everyone gets a fresh start in this mercenary life, no matter how fucked up their history or how many bodies they’ve got trailing behind them. It’s one of the reasons you joined this outfit instead of the Imperial Auxiliaries. Business first, you have a long day ahead. [Xenophobe]Scudding Dreams don't mean shit. Save that for STV!Honestly didn't think Nat would be a last gen Earther, Dammit now we gotta be the one to show these kids how to do shit Terra's way.
>>6357158>>6355787I do this every frakkin time.
>>6357165>>6357164Wrong post
>>6357166Lmao don't worry anon, you'll get there
>>6357169You'd think after so many years of BCQ and STV that it would be down pat but nah.
>>6357154>“It’s nothing. Just a bad dream, that’s all. Any news from the camp?” You don’t talk about your past, that’s one of the golden rules in the Black Company. Everyone gets a fresh start in this mercenary life, no matter how fucked up their history or how many bodies they’ve got trailing behind them. It’s one of the reasons you joined this outfit instead of the Imperial Auxiliaries. Business first, you have a long day ahead. [Xenophobe]We can speak about dreams if we survive this suicide run on the titans.>>6355843Me the schlopper.
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]I like this dynamic but I feel that if it's going to continue that crane has to at some point do a little trauma dumping on Nat tooVerification >>6355780Also belcossan again? I love those cabbage patch guys but I really would like to at least sample each of the other options at least once
>>6357170It helps to have an image on your Verification post
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355769
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]Best to get off our chest now and get to work.>>6355773this is me
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355776my link
>>6357154>>6356034> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]We trust Crane, always.
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]Trauma bonding time.>>6355895Me
>>6355767>BelcossanBut late, but claiming an ID. Welcome back boss! >>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]
>>6357154>>“It’s nothing. Just a bad dream, that’s all. Any news from the camp?” You don’t talk about your past, that’s one of the golden rules in the Black Company. Everyone gets a fresh start in this mercenary life, no matter how fucked up their history or how many bodies they’ve got trailing behind them. It’s one of the reasons you joined this outfit instead of the Imperial Auxiliaries. Business first, you have a long day ahead. [Xenophobe]
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355851Me.
>>6357146The gang's all here.
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]Link>>6356062
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]verification>>6355975
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355831me
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6357113
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]Trauma dump the Crane>>6356044This one's me
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]Crane is best husbando and our sino-russian hybrid spawn will inherit the stars.Key to the kingdom: >>6356446
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]
>>6357527Shit, forgot my verification.me >>6356630
>>6355775Been binging BCQ 2230 and all caught up now, love me some sci-fi merc action. Probably gonna lurk, but claiming an ID just in case.
>>6357526>Nat's kid is a Ubermensch predator space samurai.>It's just Kiryu from Yakuza in a tracksuit who just slav squats in trees yelling about Xeno's in Japanese.
>>6357154>>”Getting a little close there, ain’t you Shiz?” You crack a smile and deal with trauma in the soldier’s way, with a bit of banter and good-natured ribbing. You’re not Crane’s type, if he even has a type, but needling him with your humour has become a favourite past-time of yours. Although… he does look kinda of cute in this low light, in a dangerous Yakuza hitman kind of way. [Daredevil]Me>>6355782
>>6357154> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355798
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]>>6355771me
>>6357154>> “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]me >>6356500
>>6357567I like to imagine him as space Elliot Rogers with extra identity crisis due to being a rootless alien in the literal sense rather than just a hapa in the US.That or just a living chudjak. The earth has fallen. Billions must be glassed.
>>6358112No son of ours will be a loveless incel chud! He will be a true-blooded space mercenary, blazing his way through the stars!
>>6358112That's seems pretty boring and unentertaining for Kid snake, he absolutely must raised for the culling of Xenos though (cept Uncle petal)>>6358136With Nat's genes and possibly being raised around that Kid is going to have people salivating.Alright Kid go fight vinehounds with no knife now, survival of the fittest.
test
>>6357263Love it! Why didn't I think of that before?>>6357567>pic related I suppose.
> SELECTED: “Yeah, I know… It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?” You don’t talk about before you joined in the Company with the squaddies, let alone childhood nightmares. But Crane is different. Even if he’s consistently tight-lipped about his own past, he’s the only one you can talk to about this stuff. Sometimes it helps. [Firebrand]“Breathe. Like we practiced.” Crane’s tone is calm, and therefore calming. “In… and out.”“Yeah, I know….” You exhale slowly, and then in again. Something Crane taught you after last time, now that you think about it. In between full breathes it eases out, in bits and pieces. “It was Novgorod again, or maybe Saint Petersburg. I dunno, one of the launch sites. I was like… five, maybe?”Crane nods, he knows your story. He is, in fact, the only one who does. The blur of your early childhood, the panic in those final days of Earth, the loss of your family after making planetfall on Clayton’s Cradle and a life lived in hardship, hunger and fear in the years since. You haven’t told him everything, obviously, who does that? But over the years together, he’s seen a few bits and pieces that no one else has. Crane is only person you’ve let your guard down around to this extent, enough to confide in. “This time, did you remember anyone?”You know why he’s asking. The first time, during that mess in Saratoga, you let slip that you couldn’t remember the faces of your brothers or parents and how fucked up that was. You immediately thought you had really put your foot in the scud there, breaking a kind of Company taboo in sharing that kind of baggage. But Crane never made an issue of it, he has always listened. Always been there to listen.“There was a guy, an engineer or dockey I think. I remember he had a gun, but I think he helped us. Me and my… my grandpa.”“What did he look like?”“The guy? Orange overalls, I gue-“ You stop at Crane’s slight shake of the head. “Oh, you mean Deda, uh ‘gramps’. He was old, I ain’t never seen anyone that old back on the Cradle. White beard and all. I could feel his hands. Strong, like a worker’s hands y’know?” “Mm.”“I think he was a good guy, for the times.” You catch a glimpse of your own reflection in the cooling dark liquid of your mug. “...He didn’t make it out.”“Nonetheless, this is good.”“Good how?”“He got you out, did he not? You remember him. A sacrifice not made in vain.”[1/4]
You let that sink in for a bit, surprised by how good it feels to get that off your chest. To put into words what had been coiled up inside like a… well like a snake. You feel a bit embarrassed now, spilling your guts like that to your Second again. He knows you better than any human or xeno in the ‘verse, but Crane himself is typically a pretty well-encrypted datapad.“Do you ever get them?”“Nightmares?”“About Earth, yeah. Those last days.”A slight shake of the head. “No. I was not there.”Crane’s not one to divulge much of anything, so you’re not surprised at the blunt response. “Your folks got out early, did they?” “In a manner of speaking.” Crane tilts his head, considering his next words.“I was born on Perspira. I never saw Earth, or any of the other colonies for that matter.” Crane has an odd expression on his typically impassive face, you could almost call it wistful. “That day that I signed up with you was the first day in my lifetime that I had ever been off-world.” “Huh.” You blink, trying not to sound too surprised at that little nugget of information. “You know… you never told me that before.”“Did I not?” Crane shrugs in his typical nonchalant manner. “...May I offer you some words of wisdom, Nat-san?”“Hit me.”"Accept everything just the way it is."You scrunch your face, which earns another raised eyebrow from your Second.“Sorry, it’s just that ‘it is what it is’ isn’t exactly the typical high-minded philosophy I expected from you, Crane.” The phrase was practically a mantra for the average Krieger dealing with scud rolling downhill, usually courtesy of some dumbass order from the commissioned officers or fuckups from Supply.“There is a distinction, I think, between resignation and acceptance. The former is drawn from powerlessness, giving up in the face of reality, but when Musashi-shigō wrote of acceptance I believe he was referring to something much harder to achieve. A release from the suffering caused by resistance to the truth of the state of things, to allow one to act effectively. Reaction is weaker than response.”As someone who survived their childhood and teenage years in the Green living almost entirely on instinct and gut-feeling, you want to call bullscud. But Crane has rarely said so many words in one go that wasn’t some kind of after-action report, so you let him talk.“How so?”[2/4]
“Reaction is fast, driven by emotion and automation of the brain. Response is considered, processed and thought out before selecting the best available path before you.” Something in your glazed look must have been apparent, judging from the tint of exasperation and Crane’s switch to his native tongue. “くそっ、私は本当に恐ろしい洞窟の女性に独鈷堂を説明しようとしているのか?” “I kind of get what you’re going for. Think first, fuck ‘em up later. But a lot of the time, when we’re talking split-second moments y’know, you don’t have time for them.” You don’t think Crane was markedly impressed with your attempt a miming a snapping Carnotaur with your free hand, but you press on. “You just gotta go with your gut, and either your instincts see you out on top as the queen bitch predator or you’re someone else’s food.” You’d half-expected Crane to give up with the philosophising several minutes ago, you wouldn’t imagine yourself to be anything remotely resembling his idea of an ideal student, but voiddamnit you’re trying here. If only to see how long you can keep up the miracle of a lengthy conversation with the man.“ なんと言えばいいでしょうか… Let us say that we have a hunter deep in the jungle, one that realises she is now being hunted. A reaction might be to flee, to run or turn and fight then and there.” Crane give you a look, probably to check whether his more relatable example is working as a change of tact. It is, kinda. “A response might be considered every factor before acting, considering their strength and what they know of the opponent, leading a false trail or doubling back to set an ambush in turn. Or the response might also be to flee, but doing so with a destination in mind and knowing that is the best option in all the circumstances.”“O-kay. That I get.” You’re immensely proud of suppressing as much hesitation in that response as you did. “But if this hunter takes the time they need to think of a response when they’ve got something bigger and meaner about to pounce, that could be it for them. And when you’re in the Green, or even a firefight, that’s -always- a matter of moments when it counts, not seconds or minutes.” “A fair point.” You try not to bowl over in the face of Crane actually conceding anything to you in a discussion that doesn’t involve work or you pulling rank. “The work of Miyamoto Musashi-shigō does face challenges in the context of a constant struggle for survival in the animal kingdom. Speed in response over reaction can be trained I imagine, to some degree. But I would have to seek the sensei’s counsel, rather than speak from ignorance.”“The who council?”Crane rubs his chin. “If we survive the coming trials, I could introduce you to him.”[3/4]
[4/4]“You talking about your Academy gang?” Habit causes you to check for any stray rebels that might be in earshot. There are none. “Back on the Prince?”=============================================> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]> “Sure. This Musashi guy sounds like a laugh. You sure we haven’t already met?” The Prince of Meggido is a big ship, sure, but it’s not endless. There’s a chance you’ve run into this Musashi at least once, unless sensei is an officer rank that hangs out exclusively in the officer mess. But the idea of being invited to the Exile Academy, a kind of warrior lodge that you’ve heard has branches both within and outside of the Company, does hold a certain kind of appeal. [Firebrand]> “Look, I appreciate the offer but I don’t want to get mixed up in any Triad business.” You’re joking, because Crane being from the Triad or Mafia is one of your favourite japes and a girl like you can’t stay too serious for too long. But also, because at this point in your career you’re more interested in the Voidcraft clique Sergeant ‘Casket’ Irons has been dropping in conversations than you are entry into the Exile Academy. Or checking out some Cybernetics for the parts your genemods don’t quite cover. [Xenophobic]
>>6358382> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]Both the first 2 count as us saying yes to the academy stuff right? Some pretty good upgrades there>>6355805MeMan I love this. An inside look at Crane. Such a good character
>>6358387>Both the first 2 count as us saying yes to the academy stuff right? Some pretty good upgrades thereNone of the choices lock you in per-se, just gauges Snake Eyes level of interest in the different paths (other MAX GENEMOD obviously).
*other than
>>6358390Sure yeah, just wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding after a long day. Cheers boss
>>6358382> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]Kin in genemods and samurai skills>>6355773this is me
>>6358382>> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]This option let's us hang out more with the giga chad Crane. Therefore it's the no brainer.>>6355851Me
>>6358382> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]Hell yea, the gang is getting juiced and learned, baby.>>6355895Me
>>6358382Getting my verified vote in now if that's alright.Hopefully, I can take part in the next vote. Been taking a break because of Captcha.
>>6358382> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]God I want Jihad so bad, not even in it for the religion just fucking spite.>>6355787Napalm sticks to kids.
>>6358382>> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]>>6356062Moi, 4 warriors winds has some powerful stuff we can use.
>>6358382>> “Sure. This Musashi guy sounds like a laugh. You sure we haven’t already met?” The Prince of Meggido is a big ship, sure, but it’s not endless. There’s a chance you’ve run into this Musashi at least once, unless sensei is an officer rank that hangs out exclusively in the officer mess. But the idea of being invited to the Exile Academy, a kind of warrior lodge that you’ve heard has branches both within and outside of the Company, does hold a certain kind of appeal. [Firebrand]>>6358435Sila is the most relevant Perk we can pick from that tree: boosts both our chances to see through enemy tactics and improves the best LbE stratagem we have.>>6356179V check
>>6358382If I were personally in charge of designing my own character, I'd go with Voidcraft and Cybernetics, but I can't pretend that the Genemod/Exile tree doesn't fit Nat perfectly.> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]>>6355878Link
>>6358530**Also I imagine if Crane ever gets enough genemods that he starts sporting Cradler features, those jokes about his and Nat's kids might stop being jokes**
>>6358382>“Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]
>>6358530Voidcraft+Cybernetics would make a cool techno witch doctor character, I agree. Throw in some Void Cult shenanigans and you got a real certified freak.
>>6358382>> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]exciting!>>6355776my link
>>6358382>>6356034> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]
>>6358382>> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]Our dreams are telling us to same the children when we get out of the planet. >>6355798
>>6358382> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]Crane with crane feathers.>>6356044This one's meWhile snakes and cranes don't get along normally. It could make for a sick tattoo. A crane leaping up to kick, with a snake coiled around its leg poised to strike. Pic somewhat related.
>>6358662Yessssss turn the children into soldiers.
>>6358382>> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]>>6355866
>>6358382> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]verification>>6355975
> “Sure. This Musashi guy sounds like a laugh. You sure we haven’t already met?” The Prince of Meggido is a big ship, sure, but it’s not endless. There’s a chance you’ve run into this Musashi at least once, unless sensei is an officer rank that hangs out exclusively in the officer mess. But the idea of being invited to the Exile Academy, a kind of warrior lodge that you’ve heard has branches both within and outside of the Company, does hold a certain kind of appeal. [Firebrand]I forgot how it works, do verification votes from ancient threads count? I missed the boat on the first vote for this one. This is the last one I remember making in the before-times.https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2021/4691532/#p4693245
>>6358382>> “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]>>6355798
>>6358382>> “Sure. This Musashi guy sounds like a laugh. You sure we haven’t already met?” The Prince of Meggido is a big ship, sure, but it’s not endless. There’s a chance you’ve run into this Musashi at least once, unless sensei is an officer rank that hangs out exclusively in the officer mess. But the idea of being invited to the Exile Academy, a kind of warrior lodge that you’ve heard has branches both within and outside of the Company, does hold a certain kind of appeal. [Firebrand]>>6355771
>>6358382Well, since Firebrand seems to be rallying. . .> [Firebrand]Equally suspect single-post with a different ID:>>6356122
>>6358382>“Sure. This Musashi guy sounds like a laugh. You sure we haven’t already met?” The Prince of Meggido is a big ship, sure, but it’s not endless. There’s a chance you’ve run into this Musashi at least once, unless sensei is an officer rank that hangs out exclusively in the officer mess. But the idea of being invited to the Exile Academy, a kind of warrior lodge that you’ve heard has branches both within and outside of the Company, does hold a certain kind of appeal. [Firebrand]>>6355843My post
>>6358382>“Sure. This Musashi guy sounds like a laugh. You sure we haven’t already met?” The Prince of Meggido is a big ship, sure, but it’s not endless. There’s a chance you’ve run into this Musashi at least once, unless sensei is an officer rank that hangs out exclusively in the officer mess. But the idea of being invited to the Exile Academy, a kind of warrior lodge that you’ve heard has branches both within and outside of the Company, does hold a certain kind of appeal. [Firebrand]>>6355769
>SELECTED: “Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal. I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you pick a genemod from a couple of options I lay out for you.” A Cat-C mod, obviously, just a lil’ something something to give him a boost. You don’t need to go crazy with full-scale animalist bod-alts. You wonder what Crane would look like with shark fangs. Brrr. But this bet beats dumb matching tattoo for originality. [Daredevil]“Tell you what, if we make it out of this in one piece I’ll do you a deal.”“Oh? If this is about those creds that you owe me…”“Shush Crane, I being serious for once.” Sort of. “I’ll sit through any one of your Academy training sessions, your choice, and you…”Crane’s sceptical eyebrow couldn’t rise any higher if he tried, and you think he might actually be trying.“You pick a genemod.” Upon remembering several crazy potential options for a first timer you hastily add, “from a couple of options I lay out for you.”“A genemod.” Crane states, emphasizing the word gene. One corner of his lips twitches upwards, then the other rises to meet it and stays there. “Heh. For a moment I thought that you were going to make me promise to get some sort of awful matching tattoo.”“You would complain about getting a tattoo?” You give Crane the up and down, his fatigues not entirely covering every inch of his sleeves and neckline which you to be enveloped head to toe in ink. “You??” Crane guffaws, a sound that seems almost alien coming from your ordinarily stoic Second. You realise that you’re grinning like a damn space cadet as well, night terrors now well and truly banished.“Hey! That was a laugh! And a smile! As in a real honest to goodness smile!”“Yes, and?”“You never smile!”“Nonsense. I smile all the time.”“You do not!”“Snake Eyes-sama, I smile. Ask any member of our squad.”“Oh yeah, that’s right. ‘Crane? He’s a laugh’ they’ll all say. I could probably count one hand, after holding a grenade for ten seconds, the amount of times I’ve seen you actually smile.”Crane rolls his eyes before nodding at the now lukewarm beverage cradled in your hands. “Drink up, Nat-san. Your caff is getting cold.”[1/3]
You sip deep from the black liquid and blink in surprise. “Voiddamn, is this caff the real thing?”Crane nods solemnly. “Compliments of Trooper Goldie, his thanks for bringing him back into the 77th fold."“No scud.” You take another sip. “Goldie forked out for this?”“Apparently, he had kept these stashed the entire time since he crash landed with the 63rd.” Crane takes a sip from his own meg, carefully placed to the side of the room before waking you. “But they have held up well all the same.”Goldie could have shoved the sachets down his underwear for all you cared, this stuff tastes fucking amazing. You’d ask where in the void Goldie got ahold of this, but asking questions might very well lead to awkward answers concerning missing stock in the exclusive officer’s mess and then where would you be? Not sipping on some genuine caff, that’s for sure.“Bless that beautiful, boastful bastard.” You take a long gulp, savouring what might just be about the last cup of genuine caff on the planet. After a contented sigh, it’s down to business. “How ready are we?”[2/4]
Crane hands you his datapad, and there are a lot more items flagged in red or orange than you want to see hours out from what is going to be at least a week long trek into the heart of Savis operations in the north-east region.“As ready as can be expected. We have sufficient rations and gear, the ghosthelms are all operable.” You nod, it had been worth pressing for those spare parts at the last briefing. It’s your sole technological advantage over the Cradler Auxiliaries waiting for you out there. Crane continues with the bad news, tapping his finger over an orange column in the datapad and then a red one. “Our ammunition situation still leaves much to be desired, even after begging, borrowing or stealing what we can. As for AT or AA capabilities…”“Fuck all, I see.” You grimace. Cradlers eschew heavy armour but it may be a different story for the Savs at the targeted airbase. “Well, nothing new there. Did the Libertans come through on the ammo front?” “That remains to be seen, Hail seemed confident that they would.”Your snort tells Crane enough. “Well our arse is already riding on Hail’s confidence as is for this mission, let’s check for ourselves before we step off.”“As you say.” Crane takes the datapad back, tucking it into one of the many pockets of his Krieger-issue fatigues. “That Alexander Hail is joining us at least suggest he is confident enough to share in the risk.”“Yeah but Hail doesn’t care whether we make it out of this mission dead or alive, him included, so long as we kill a lot of Imps.” “At least you will not have to sit through the horrors of an Academy education.”You narrow your eyes. “You’re just a bag of chuckles today, aren’t you Corporal?”“A retainer lives to serve his gunso.” The only thing that would make Crane’s deadpan tone more offensive is if he threw in a little bow right about now.“Alright, I geddit. Best get on and rouse up the rest.” You check your chronometer. “Not too long before step-off.”“They are awake. Most of the squad is already at the northern observation post.”“Really?” You pause in the middle of putting on your left boot, the right one remains elusive for now. “What for?”“The Savis are putting on something of a lightshow, in Signallier Night Night’s words.” Crane shrugs at the exit. “She said it was ‘putting the Unity Day fireworks to shame’, or something like that.”“Alright go on, I’ll see you there.” If it was something threatening the base directly Crane’s wake up chat would have been a lot more abrupt, but still he must have though it was worth getting you up rather than leaving you a few more minutes sleep.[3/4]
[4/4]Dis’ slower planetary rotation made for longer day and night cycles, and you were planning on making full use of every minute those longer nights might offer in the way of cover and concealment from the bands of deadly Auxiliaries roving around between you and the Savis airbase. So you’ve spent most of the latest day cycle sleeping in, resting up as much as you can before darkness falls and the 77th Krieger Platoon steps off.You’ve been sleeping rough-n-ready since the pending Imperial discovery of this rebel base moved up from likely to near certainty so it doesn’t take long for you to get dressed and arm yourself, aside from tracking down that trouble right boot. You fiddle with your League friendship bracelet, a gift from the families of the escaped slaves awarded to ‘the People’s Hero’. Nevermind that their hero has been telling herself, often and firmly, that she’ll drop them like a sack of hot scud if it comes down to it. You tell yourself you’ve only kept it on because it’d send the wrong message if you discarded it, not because you feel like you owe something to the widows of the rebel fighters that handmade this for you. Crane said ‘most’ of Vinehound squad was already at the observation post, so imagine your surprise when you exit your tent and nearly bowl over none other than your favourite squaddie. Not that you’d ever admit to having favourites in Vinehound squad, NCOs aren’t allowed to have favourites according to Company regs, but you do hold a secret soft spot in your gene-jacked up heart for this one.=============================================77th Platoon: Favourite Squaddie VoteRunner-up will get an honorary mention, but there can be only one favourite. Crane is your trusted Second, not a ‘squaddie’ that is your secret favourite (but feel free to disclaim with your vote that he’s your actual favourite character if that is the case!)>Signallier ‘Night Night’ Deschamps>Sapper ‘Convict’>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79>Medico ‘Petal’ Bloom-of-Lavender>Trooper ‘Bones’ Armstrong>Trooper ‘Husk’ Charov>Trooper ‘Terri’ Garcia>Trooper ‘Rev Sev’ Cerny>Trooper ‘Goldie’>Akshually, my favourite squaddie character is one from the sister Banshee and Prophet squads… [Write-in]
>>6359852>>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79
My apologies if I missed anyone's fanart for the other characters in the thread archives, a lost a USB with a bit of stored up word docs and images a little while ago and have been slowly saving images again as I go through the old threads.If you have anyold art of the squaddies, (or goodness, any new art!), then please feel free to repost it here.
>>6359852>>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79Hmm this is tough but I do like our wildly illegal, sentient, murder-bot>>6355805MeMan interactions with Crane are always so fun.Also, I fucking hate the capture system. Waiting a minute, doing 3 stupid, little puzzles, etc
>>6359853>1 post ID
>>6359856Sorry, I hate linking and I thought the ID would stick. This is me. >>6357113
>>6359852>Trooper ‘Husk’ Charovshout out to my chem addict.verification>>6355975
>>6359852>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79
>>6359852> Signaller ‘Night Night’ Deschamps>>6355769
>>6359852>Signallier ‘Night Night’ DeschampsCrazy women stick together.>>6356179Check
>>6359852>>Trooper ‘Goldie’>>6355773this is me
>>6359852>The Fanart of Crane and Kid became the canon artNice>>6359852>Trooper ‘Terri’ Garcia>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79I'm torn, on one hand Nine's is the GOAT but I love Kidd 2.0 so I have to give it to our fellow Human.>>6355787Human pass
>>6359852>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79I do really enjoy all of our squaddies but Nines is basically just BT from Titanfall 2, and it'd be silly to pretend that doesn't unquestionably make him my favorite.>>6355878Here's my license officer
>>6359852>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79With>Sapper ‘Convict’As the honorary mention we didn't pull his sorry butt off that station for nothing.>>6356044me
>>6359852>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79>>6355771
>>6359854
>>6359852Nines is great, but where's the love for the realest one out there?>Sapper ‘Convict’>>6355866
>>6359852>Trooper ‘Goldie’Even though he got fucked up early and spent a lot of time out of action, he's still my guy. Shine on, Johnny Bravo.>>6355843A post.
>>6359852>Trooper ‘Terri’ GarciaI like Terri, I've heard people compare her to Kid, but I never read the OG Black Company Quest and therefore she's fresh to me. She's proper Company iron and I think Nat sees a lot of herself in her. Also, a good candidate for a future NCO position. Just the right combination of madness, ruthlessness and curiosity.>Signallier ‘Night Night’ DeschampsShe's debonair, she's snarky and she's a bit mad. I like our Frenchie girl. I'm putting her as a honorary mention, if I can.>>6355895Me
>>6359926>but I never read the OG Black Company QuestMan you really should, what a ride. It's great
>>6359928It's been on my radar, I simply have to get around it. I did start reading Joe Abercromble tho. I see the similarity between his writing and Forgotten's, damn shame the library didn't have the english version.
>>6359852>Trooper ‘Terri’ Garcia>>6357205Linky>>6359929>OG Black Company QuestMan that was a wild ride. I remember when we critted and killed some important NPC and fucked over Forgotten’s planned story, haha.Ending was tough tho. Company first, always
>>6359852>>6356034>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79Thanks for adding a death flag vote for the upcoming mission, chief. I'm going miss our favorite squaddie when they're "accidentally" put into danger and fucking dies.
>>6359852>>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79I would vote for boot, but I remembered the last time we got too attached to a child.>>6355851Me.
>>6359852>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79>>6355798
too many Clanker sympathizers in this thread
>>6359999>ClankerThat is their word, you can use Clanka if you must.
>>6359852Doesn't seem like I even need to vote but>Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79Our hunk o' junk may only barely clear the threshold for sapience but that's what gives him character. >>6356500This be me. Just now realized that 2 out of 3 of my votes have been for the most robotic option possible.
>>6360103Excuse you.Find another verification post to hijack.
>>6360103trying to steal a verification is a scum move, even for a 1pbtid>voting for the BotI'm not surprised.
>>6360103>>6360321>>6360335The irony of hijacking a verification to vote for the robot in the mission where we are hijacking a robot is not lost on me.Even so, damn that was a landslide.
>SELECTED FAVOURITE: Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79>Distant Honourable Mentions: Signallier ‘Night Night’ Deschamps, Trooper ‘Terri’ Garcia>Gunner Nines GAINS: Connection Chassis - Extra Armour +5AV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bylh9TEPymw&list=RDBylh9TEPymw&start_radio=1 – Night Night Robodyart vibes You’ve barely walked a few metres through the rebel encampment when you encounter the handful of Vinehound squaddies not currently sitting cozy at the northern observation post. You hear them before you see them, your resident Perspiran ex-Gendarme is playing her trash music loud enough to still be heard of the intermittent artillery and explosions encroaching of the bases’ outskirts. You first spot the perpetually skinny outline of Trooper ‘Terri’ Garcia, shortened from ‘Terrier’ due to her short temper and dogged attitude, who is right now wolfing down a ration pack while watching Signallier ‘Night Night’ Deschamps at work.Your SIG has a furrowed brow, bent over with sparks flying into her goggles with such alacrity that you’re not sure that safety vision is going to cut it in terms of proffered protection. It’s not the first time you’ve seen Night Night tinkering with electricals or some other hardware, whittling away at a problematic ghosthelm, comms or whatever with a blowtorch, welder or more finessed instrument in hand. This time the subject of her work, a blank metal canvas upon which to work her canvas, is one of your own subordinates.Funny, you were just thinking how much you love that lovable hulking death machine. No really, you would never admit it but you’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79. Even to the point where him getting caught up in Alexander Hail’s mad mission to steal a titan really kind of made you like Nines more, not less. On the back of Gunner ‘Nines’ EK-939//79, branded into his new armoured chest chasis thrown together over the upload link purpose-hot-wired for this mission, you can make out the finishing touches being put on the words ‘PETIT SOLDAT (DE PLOMB!)’. The large words are accompanied with several smaller slogans or insults, you’d guess most of which were added on request by various other members of Vinehoud squad. The writing ranges from badass, to oddly sweet and sometimes just outright graffiti. Nines seems to be sitting there quite content with all these aesthetic additions, it seems that Night Night is putting the finishing touches on a trio of thunderbolts zapping what appears to be a tiny caricature of a Savis officer.[1/5]
Maybe it’s that fact that he is first and foremost manmade, as in human-made. In a ‘verse replete with highfalutin alien gadgets and hardwire Nines stands as an example of good ol’ human hardware literally designed killing said aliens. His encyclopaedic knowledge of xenos weak points and squad level tactical doctrines is a nice perk to say the leas. Or maybe it’s his enduring reliability, someone that you know can keep up with you without falling to exhaustion. You’ve come to rely upon him, and you do think of Nines as a ‘him’ thanks to his default vaguely male-sounding voicebox, as a keystone feature tactically in a lot of firefights. You can’t count the amount of times in the past year that Nine’s judicious application of heavy machine gun fire has gotten you or one of the others out of a tight spot. “Well, well, well.” Terri shifts at the sound of your voice, mouth full, and Nines tilts his dashcam in your direction. “So this is what my Vinehounds get up to in their spare time?”You’ve got a lot riding on Nines making it through to the endrun intact, if not necessarily in one piece. So you’re not exactly sure if you’re glad or upset at interruption when Night Night stops zapping on your critical mission item to flip up her goggles taps him roughly on the back of the headcam with her tools.“Hé ! Ne bougez pas ! J'ai presque fini.”“++Rebuttal. I have remained perfectly motionless.++” You notice an audible drop in volume with the next sentence. “++For the past 73 minutes. ++”“Tais-toi, gros bébé en métal.” Night Night grumbles indecipherably. “On ne peut pas brusquer l'art. Hey, you understand this word yes? ‘A R T’ art!”With a shake of her head Night Night gets back to work, zapping away at the back of Nines while Terri innocuously opens another wrapper.[2/5]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulw9uRlz1gc&list=RDUlw9uRlz1gc&start_radio=1 – Night Night Robodyart vibes #2Crane has repeatedly made a point of reminding Night Night that her mother tongue isn’t logged into these standard-use Tradespeak translator units. Nor are most of the other human languages she likes to remind people she is fluent in. As for you? You’ve gotten good at ignoring the little Perspiran princess’ dialectic diatribes. At least the next song on her playlist isn’t as loud as the last one.“How we hanging, Nines?” You nod at the…tattoos? Graffiti? “Been getting a makeover I see. Jack In is all done with her work?”“++Confirmation. The modifications necessary for the data uplink and exchange have been made, redesignation skipper.++” You can see that for yourself, this extra armour was for the most part meant to offer some protection to the chopshop work on the next connection port on the back of your resident robot gunner. It isn’t pretty, like Nines’ attempts at pretending to be Voidborn pirate hardware, but you don’t need pretty. “++Reassurance. This unit is ready and optimized for the mission requirements.++” “Putting the ‘Steel’ in Cold Steel, I like it.” Your grin dips slightly when Nines doesn’t immediately respond. You notice one of his camlights blink unsteadily, once then twice, something you have begun to interpret as a sign that the android has considered and then deleted a scripted line of dialogue. “Something else bothering you, Gunny?”“++Apprehension. Pause. Disregard previous.++” That blinking light again. “++Confession. I… have never met another artificially intelligent being. Let alone spoken to one.++”“It’s just a data exchange, isn’t it?” So far as you understand, Jack In provided a code to help smooth things along your way when it came to Titan-talk.++“Simplification. You are exchanging data with this unit right now. Snub. Inefficiently, as is the nature of most organic communication.++”You tilt your head even further, like a Vinehound pup checking if they can have the leftover scraps from its parent’s kill anytime now please.“++Explanation. If Signallier Jack In’s theory is correct, the exchange of data at the successful conclusion of the alotted mission will be the organic equivalent of several days worth of direct observation and conversation. ++”“Oh.” You have no idea what the personality, or capability, of a semi-sentient program designed by an alien mind for an alien warmachine might entail. Or what it might be like to be stuck in a room with one for the real-time equivalent of several days.[3/5]
“Yu meanf de fing wif all he echfosians ova dere?” Terri mumbles through a mouthful of rations as she points a crumpled wrapper in the direction of the northern observation post, which does indeed appear to be exhibiting signs of significant firepower being levelled indiscriminately over there. Everyone except Night Night looks in that direction, who instead is staring with disdain at the admittedly impressive pile of crumbs scattered on Terri’s cheeks and chestplate. Some of which seem to have flaked into Night Night's hair.“Pour l'amour du ciel, arrête de parler la bouche pleine! Did your mama not teach yo-oon reflection nevermind. Merde.” Night Night’s rant withers suddenly, she looks slowly between you, Terri and Nines. Possibly she’s counting how many mothers the four of you have all between you. She gulps and mutters sadly. “Once, I saw a Quexi accidentally crush a puppy by stepping on it. Vous trois ensemble, c'est encore plus tragique.”You tilt your head the other way now at your SIG and stare until she flips her goggles back down and gets back to putting the finishing touches with her blowtorch. You like her, but you do have a Night Night attitude limit and it’s getting there.“What were we talking about again?” Oh yeah, your resident highly illegal abominable machine intelligence is nervous about meeting another probably illegal and likely even more abominable machine intelligence for the first time.“++ Observation. The various species of this galaxy hate and fear me, enough to make this unit’s mandatory decommission and dismemberment universal law.++”“The galaxy doesn’t hate and fear -you-, hotshot. Not yet anyway.” You grin, endlessly amused that robots can be self-centred as well. “It hates your -kind-. Not even that special when you think about it, in case you hadn’t noticed the homo sapien sorts aren’t exactly getting invited to many parties these days either.”“++Rebuttal. It is not illegal to be human.++”“Not yet, sure. But just you wait…” You click your fingers, struck with a sudden point. “Hey, it is illegal to be a human if you’re a Kroll! They hated everybody right? Besides, from what I hear they’d want to decommission and dismember every non-Kroll they got their hands on, organic or mechanic.” “++Appreciation. Your attempt at solidarity with being the shared subject of xenocidal attitudes with this unit is valued.++”You grin again, spitting into the cuff of your sleeve and wiping a bit of grime just above Nine’s cam unit. “Don’t mention it.”[4/5]
[5/5]“++Reservation. All the same. The galaxy hates and fears units of this kind, if only for the potential omnicidal outcomes.++”Nines’ primary dashcam pans away, this time not even evoking a rebuke from the sullen Night Night as he turns and focuses the lens into the distant horizon at… Void knows.“++What if it is right to?++”=====================================(1) Existential Crisis> “Omnicidal? Eh, what do I know. You’re one of us, Company to the core, that’s all. Although… if you do get the ball rolling on your organic extermination game, remember us little guys that helped you to the top along the way, yeah?” Nines was literally designed to kill aliens, so... may as well cozy up to your robotic overlords while you can. You’re joking, of course. Of course. [Daredevil]>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]> “Right to? Man, fuck those clanker-hating aliens! Last I checked the Rot didn’t make beep-boop sounds and it sure as scud wasn’t AI crewing the ships that blasted Earth and her colonies.” Humanity owes its current woes to the xenos, not to some ancient battle against the machine. [Xenophobe]_(2) Gunner ‘Nines’ is essential to the success of the mission. If you can’t get him to the Titan cockpit while still functional, if not in one piece, then Operation Titanjack is a wipe.>Nines is too important to risk, you order him to hang back and sit tight. He does not contribute DC or Gunner orders. Once, over the course of the mission, a KIA result for another squaddie can be replaced with Nines taking a degree of damage instead. [Withdrawn]> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]> You can’t spare your gunner from the action, your best defence is capitalising on him with a good squad offence. Nines is present on the casualty table and contributes DC and carries out Gunner orders as normal. Once, over the course of the mission, the casualty result is ignored if Nines is selected. [Standard]
>>6361058(1) Existential Crisis>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]> “Right to? Man, fuck those clanker-hating aliens! Last I checked the Rot didn’t make beep-boop sounds and it sure as scud wasn’t AI crewing the ships that blasted Earth and her colonies.” Humanity owes its current woes to the xenos, not to some ancient battle against the machine. [Xenophobe]Can I have both??(2) Gunner ‘Nines’ is essential to the success of the mission. If you can’t get him to the Titan cockpit while still functional, if not in one piece, then Operation Titanjack is a wipe.> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]Nines is honestly super useful, we have to protect him but we shouldn't take him off the board entirely >>6355805Me
>>6361058>> “Right to? Man, fuck those clanker-hating aliens! Last I checked the Rot didn’t make beep-boop sounds and it sure as scud wasn’t AI crewing the ships that blasted Earth and her colonies.” Humanity owes its current woes to the xenos, not to some ancient battle against the machine. [Xenophobe]> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]>>6355771me
>>6361058(1) Existential CrisisDaredevil/Xenophobe Write-In>"The galaxy isn't afraid of you just because you're dangerous. There's who knows how many void-damned nightmares out there with the potential to eat people alive in one way or another. The galaxy's afraid of you because they know that if you *wanted* to, you'd be a better killing machine than the rest of them combined. Lucky for everyone, you joined up with the Company instead. Who cares that you're made of metal and not meat? Doesn't change the fact that I trust you to save my ass when the scud hits the fan all the same. If the galaxy's afraid of you, let 'em be. It's only smart to be scared of an apex predator."(2) Gunner ‘Nines’ is essential to the success of the mission. If you can’t get him to the Titan cockpit while still functional, if not in one piece, then Operation Titanjack is a wipe.> You can’t spare your gunner from the action, your best defence is capitalising on him with a good squad offence. Nines is present on the casualty table and contributes DC and carries out Gunner orders as normal. Once, over the course of the mission, the casualty result is ignored if Nines is selected. [Standard]The best way to make sure Nines doesn't die is to mulch the motherfuckers before they can shoot back. If we wanted to play it safe, we wouldn't be jacking a Titan.>>6355878Ya boy
>>6361058> [Daredevil]> [Standard]Operation is risky anyways, might as well go all the way.
>>6361054>You notice an audible drop in volume with the next sentence. “++For the past 73 minutes. ++”The tincan can get frustrated, adorable.>>6361058Scudding clanker, legality don't mean shit for us, legality has made humans slaves, second rate citizens, galactic detritus or worse, so you're hated and reviled for some scud the xenos think but WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK BUDDY.(1) Existential Crisis> “Omnicidal? Eh, what do I know. You’re one of us, Company to the core, that’s all. Although… if you do get the ball rolling on your organic extermination game, remember us little guys that helped you to the top along the way, yeah?” Nines was literally designed to kill aliens, so... may as well cozy up to your robotic overlords while you can. You’re joking, of course. Of course. [Daredevil](2) Gunner ‘Nines’ is essential to the success of the mission. If you can’t get him to the Titan cockpit while still functional, if not in one piece, then Operation Titanjack is a wipe.> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]This bodes well God I hope Nones can turn into Shodan
>>6361107Clanka pass >>6355787
>>6361058(1) Existential Crisis>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]I demand that we say that nines, as a human clanka is by default better than any other clanker> You can’t spare your gunner from the action, your best defence is capitalising on him with a good squad offence. Nines is present on the casualty table and contributes DC and carries out Gunner orders as normal. Once, over the course of the mission, the casualty result is ignored if Nines is selected. [Standard]Fuck it we ball.It's all or nothing on this mission. No point in half measuresVeri>>6355780
>>6361058>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]>>6355773this is me
>>6361058(1) Existential Crisis>[Daredevil/Xenophobe]A mix of these two, similar to >>6361102 basically scud what the Xenos and others think. He's a company bot and we'd trust him at our back any day. The only thing we'd fear about him is losing him. Speaking of which is there some way to make a backup of his data, so that even if the body is destroyed we can save something of him?(2) Gunner ‘Nines’ is essential to the success of the mission. If you can’t get him to the Titan cockpit while still functional, if not in one piece, then Operation Titanjack is a wipe.> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]I'd like to have him to hand, just maybe not out front.>>6356044My anchor
>>6361058>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]Humanity shall make friends with every toaster! Also, keep the guy we need to talk to the giant death machine somewhat safe.Also me>>6356067>>6356062me
>>6361058>>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]> You can’t spare your gunner from the action, your best defence is capitalising on him with a good squad offence. Nines is present on the casualty table and contributes DC and carries out Gunner orders as normal. Once, over the course of the mission, the casualty result is ignored if Nines is selected. [Standard]We need all the firepower we can get to even succeed in the final step of the plan in the first place.
>>6361058(1) Existential Crisis>>6361102 I like this write-in. Plus, >>6361107 This " Legality has made humans slaves, second rate citizens, galactic detritus or worse, so you're hated and reviled for some scud the xenos think but WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK BUDDY." is pretty good.(2) Gunner ‘Nines’ is essential to the success of the mission. If you can’t get him to the Titan cockpit while still functional, if not in one piece, then Operation Titanjack is a wipe.> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]I'm pleased with keeping him in the reserve.>>6355895Me
>>6361058Damn, I missed this thread startingFeel free to ignore this vote, but I'll use it as my verification post in the future.> “Omnicidal? Eh, what do I know. You’re one of us, Company to the core, that’s all. Although… if you do get the ball rolling on your organic extermination game, remember us little guys that helped you to the top along the way, yeah?” Nines was literally designed to kill aliens, so... may as well cozy up to your robotic overlords while you can. You’re joking, of course. Of course. [Daredevil]> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]
>>6361102I'll support this write in as well.
>>6361058>>6361102I like the write-in. > Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]>>6355798
>>6361058>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]> Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]verification>>6355975
>>6355767Missed the window, but that quote is greatly appreciated as an American. Especially in times as trying as these.
>>6360321>>6360335>>6361050I could have sworn I posted about this already but it was either deleted or the site crapped out.Minor fuckup on my end: I posted twice in a row in my anchor post and accidentally linked the post below my second post insead of the real one (>>6356446). Note that this post actually votes for the most robotic option as i mentioned in my reply.
>>6361058> “Omnicidal? Eh, what do I know. You’re one of us, Company to the core, that’s all. Although… if you do get the ball rolling on your organic extermination game, remember us little guys that helped you to the top along the way, yeah?” Nines was literally designed to kill aliens, so... may as well cozy up to your robotic overlords while you can. You’re joking, of course. Of course. [Daredevil]> You can’t spare your gunner from the action, your best defence is capitalising on him with a good squad offence. Nines is present on the casualty table and contributes DC and carries out Gunner orders as normal. Once, over the course of the mission, the casualty result is ignored if Nines is selected. [Standard]>>6359299verification
Its all fun and games until the Cylons/Shodan show up
>>6362157Based
No update tonight gents, I'll have one for you tomorrow.>>6362157I knew BCQ couldn't truly be said to be back until we saw some OC meme action. Doing God's work anon!
>>6361684Godspeed, Ameribro. That quote is actually from Thomas Paine, not the big GW himself, but I figured our little POV revolutionary rebel probably wasn't up to scratch on the details.
>>6361058>” Scud Nines, where it counts you’re as human as I am! Creedies and clankers gotta stick together, know what I’m saying?” ‘Human’ is such a loaded description when discussing genemodded freaks and manufactured killing machines. Besides, every Cradler girl gets one clanka friend right? [Firebrand]>You can’t spare your gunner from the action, your best defence is capitalising on him with a good squad offence. Nines is present on the casualty table and contributes DC and carries out Gunner orders as normal. Once, over the course of the mission, the casualty result is ignored if Nines is selected. [Standard]>>6357205V cardHappy Australia Day boss
>SELECTED: Nines forms an essential part of your tactical strength, but you’ll only expose him when absolutely necessary. Nines is present on the casualty table only in rounds that the order ‘Covering Fire’ is used. He also only contributes full DC to the firefight result in those same rounds, contributing half DC for the balance. [Reserves]>SELECTED: [Xenophobe/Daredevil Write-in]>BATTLE BROTHER SIDEQUEST REVEALED: When the time comes, trust Nines to talk to the AI on his terms. Even if it takes longer.“Right to?” You snort, squatting down eye-to-cam level with your resident killbot. "Listen here, Nines. The galaxy isn't afraid of you just because you're dangerous. There's who knows how many void-damned nightmares out there with the potential to eat people alive in one way or another. The galaxy's afraid of you because they know that if you *wanted* to, you'd be a better killing machine than the rest of them combined.”“++Hesitation. Thanks?++”You wrap a muscled bicep around Nine’s metal shoulder, hardened steel and whipcord muscle fibre both pressed to the limit in squeezing out every ounce of killing power their respective owners can bring to bear.“Lucky for everyone, you joined up with the Company instead. Who cares that you're made of metal and not meat?” You flash Nines your biggest ‘Mama Snake’ devil-may-care grin. “Doesn't change the fact that I trust you to save my ass when the scud hits the fan all the same.” Nine's camera pans up and down, when he speaks it doesn't escape you that the blinking light is gone. ++Gratitude. Thank you, Sergeant.++You pats your thighs and stand up, planting your feet and gazing out in the same direction Nines was a moment ago.“If the galaxy's afraid of you, let 'em be.” Hands on hips, you grin hungrily at the burning jungles of Dis. “It's only smart to be scared of an apex predator."[1/4]
Although night is falling the camp is busy and crowded, more so than it ever has been before. The main rebel encampment that you and the rest of the Kriegers are based in was always by far the largest gathering point of escaped slaves, fighters or otherwise, but it has reached and far exceeded critical mass as the outlying encampments, hideouts and forward bases have been wiped out or driven back.The handful of smaller groups still out there, those few that haven’t yet been obliterated in the widespread firebomb campaign or snuffed out by the deadly Cradler Auxiliaries, are little more than overlooked outposts of stranded rebel fighters or unguarded ramshackle hovels of the scant refugees that didn’t make it to the main herd. Either way, they’re so remote and under-strength that they will play little part in the coming Big One. Other than, you think to yourself grimly, perhaps being the sole surviving witnesses to the fate of the League of Dis and the off-worlders dumb enough to have tried to stick it out this long.Even communicating with those remote outposts over short-wave isn’t as safe as it used to be, with the focus of Imperial surveillance on this narrowing sector of the Dis jungle so oppressive that even brief chirp and coded signals are only made with the assumption it will give away the users current position. You and the others agreed there was little point in working them into your plotted course to the Savis airbase, and better avoided altogether lest the Auxiliaries have opted to keep tabs on whatever ones they have discovered and wiped out in case someone else shows up.You can make out the hulking Titan in the distance even before you reach the northern observation post, but you’ve never seen one this close before.[2/4]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztzq05IzYds&list=RDztzq05IzYds&start_radio=1 – Titan themeThe Titan reminds you in passing of one of the many species of Leviathan on your homeworld of Clayton’s Cradle. Towering giants that varied from predatory to oblivious depending on the variant, but all equally destructive to any settlement or unfortunate hunter caught in their path. The ground shakes with every step, flora and fauna alike left as little stains of green footprints in its wake.Given enough time, you don’t doubt that the Titan could grind the jungles of Dis to mush under the great weight of its metal feet alone. But the incendiary firestorm it unleashes from its shoulders, panned and expanded like a Vinehound flaring its quills, demonstrates exactly why the cleanings of Dis’ greenery has taken mere months rather than years. The arc of hundreds of missiles over its shoulders and into the sky is eerily beautiful, like an iron fisherman casting his deadly net high over the waiting waters. The napalm projectiles sweep down, each bearing a destructive payload more than capable of wiping out several platoons regardless of cover or armour. Had this been aimed your way, even by accident, thus would end the tale of Snake Eyes and her Vinehounds. Thankfully, the arena of destruction casts its whirlwind over a large swathe of jungle to the north-east. The darkness of Dis’ long nights is falling but even from here, several clicks away, the blast mimics another sunrise. To your heightened Cradler senses the cacophony is disorienting, but at a glance you can tell the other gathered soldiers of the 77th are likewise affected.For weeks now you’ve been catching glimpse of these great warmachines on the horizon, an essential component of the Imps ‘scorched earth’ strategy. And you mean that in a very literal sense, huge swathes of the Dis jungles have been scoured in the firebombing campaign that the smell of smoke is all pervasive even clicks away from any fire. The giant heavy weaponry on its limbs, or rather where its arms should be if this warmachine ascribed to such petty organic anatomy, remain silent. As does the shoulder-mounted anti-orbital cannon, something you’ve never seen in person before even in fortified strongholds let alone lumbered around effortlessly by something like a Titan.So great is the firepower brought to bear on the extensive cover relied on by the rebels, so total is the destruction left in these Titans’ wake, that according to the more boring predictions in your briefings regardless of the outcome this campaign will leave very real ecological impacts on the planet as the notorious dust storms will escalate in severity both from the sheer amount of ash and debris as well as the absence of the majority of the planet’s stabilising equatorial regions. [3/4]
[4/4]But that boring little detail feels even less significant in the face of the Titan’s destructive power at the ground level. The only reason that you’re not a smear on the ground or a wafting cinder this very second is because you are beneath the Titan’s notice. A fact you are very, very grateful for.But this was a close run thing, if it had pressed just a -little- further it could have picked up the ambient heat or other signs of the main rebel encampment. Or even just blasted you by accident. It’s inevitable now, this last firestorm has torched hundreds of kilometres leading north east to south. This last valley patch of jungle in the valley is a pocket that is almost certainly going to be the next acreage slotted for destruction. There is nothing in the entire combined arsenal of the League of Dis and the planetside Kriegers that could come close to scratching the striding machine god of war, and if the intel is on the money there are at least two more of those monsters out there. The sheer disparity in the scale of firepower and sheer difference in might between the plucky League of Dis rebels and the Royal Savis Imperial Legions has never been more driven closely to home to you as it is now. Judging from the muttered curses and nervous glances of the gathered Kriegers, you’re not the only one. Curiously, Hail’s handpicked men are the only ones seemingly unphased by this whole fireshow. They’ve had a closer encounter than most with one of those giants and while they maybe didn’t put a dent in it, they aren’t shaking in their boots at the sight of one either. You look at the shaken Kriegers again, -your- Kriegers, and sniff derisively as you put your Sergeant face on. Time for some good ol’ fashioned leadership.===========================>*whistle* “Hot poison whaddya reckon the bonus-pay on taking down one of those things is sitting at?” Appeal to their greed, about what a big fat paycheque they’ll be strutting back to when they make it out of here. You’re mercenaries. The whole reason you’re doing -any- of this is for the money. Duh. [Daredevil]> “Burn -my- fucking jungle, will you? Mark my words, the bigger they are the harder they fall. And that big boy over there is going to fall mighty hard.” Overconfident prophecy is a signature move of SGT Heavenly, but why reinvent the wheel when it comes to leadership skills? [Firebrand]> “Are you lot really going to piss your pants in front of the rebs? Am I looking at the same hard, pipe-hitting Kriggas that having been yarning for the past eight -months- about how much tougher they were than the average rebel?” Shaming your men into showing some backbone isn’t a subtle leadership technique, but it can be damn effective. [Xenophobe]
>>6363098None of these options really do it for me. I feel that a write-in is in order Happy Australia day forgotten
>>6363098[Write In]>"This is it boys, the final push, ain't no backing out now. That Titan is the one thing standing between you and your ticket off this planet. And do you know why? its because the Savis are scared. They couldn't face us man to man on the ground, so they had to bring out the big guns. And so what? I'd take you guys over one of those hulking piles of scrap any day. You're deadlier by far. So let's show them why. Up and att'em Kreigers! Bring them down Vinehounds![?] Or something like this.>>6356044Me
>>6363098>>6363102Supporting this write in, feels more appropriate. >>6355851Me.
>>6363098Supporting the >>6363102 write-in as well>>6361262Me
Now would be a good time to throw in a story about a (real or potentially entirely made-up) deadly critter from Clayton's Cradle that was small, but could take down prey exponentially larger than itself. Maybe some kind of parasite that enters the body and turns the immune system against itself, which would be an apt metaphor for what we're aiming to do with this Titan
guys we are supposed to be pretending to be space pirates.
>>6363155You are correct.>"Yaarg me maties let's go harpoon us a Titan. For gold and glory ye salty space sea dogs."
>>6363102>That Titan is the one thing standing between you and your ticket off this planet.Pretty sure we haven’t told any of the rebels that we’re exiting stage left…very awksDefs cut this from the write-in. Otherwise looks good >>6357205 #V car
>>6363098>"I've never been much for faiths and gods. Always thought the only thing that dictates who gets to live is the brawn in your muscles, the cunning in your head and the grit to make it through. Yet there it is. That, my boys and girls, is the closest thing I'll consider close to a god. War made manifest, a creation of pure carnage, final judgement. Yet, I have a strange itch. An itch to spite it. How does it go, that saying all the Rebs spout all the time? No Gods, No Master? We've bled plenty of Masters and they bleed plenty, but are you madmen ready to fulfill the other part of the battle-cry? To cast down a GOD?" This is insanity. It was insanity when it was leaving Alexander Hail's mouth, it was insanity now. Yet you agreed to it. Was it because of guilt? Because you couldn't throw it all away? Glory, perhaps? Or maybe, just maybe, you were the insane one all along? Whatever it was, it doesn't matter now. It's do or die. No Gods, No Master. [Write+In] + [Daredevil]+[Firebrad]I hope Anons like what I wrote up. We know what we are getting into. The troops know it too. The only way to face such odds is to be brave. Or insane. Or both. Now, lets inspire that shit into them.
>>6363219Oh, and my verification.>>6355895
>>6363102After some good points were made.>>6363155>>6363181I have made some adjustments and censored the obvious flubs for a more sanitized version of my write in>"This is it boys, the final push, ain't no backing out now. That Titan is the one thing standing between and freedom. And do you know why? Its because the Savis are scared. They couldn't face us man to man on the ground, so they scampered away and had to resort to auxiliary units, air strikes to take us out. Now they resort to these Titans. So what? I'd take you guys over one of those hulking piles of scrap any day. You're deadlier by far, now let's show them why. Up and att'em people! >>6356044If I need to verify
>>6363098>>6363102I personally like Daredevil since this seems to be between us Kriegers but I'll give a +1 as long we cut the bug out section.>>6355787
>>6363098Supporting the sanitized write in here >>6363227I have made some adjustments and censored the obvious flubs for a more sanitized version of my write in>"This is it boys, the final push, ain't no backing out now. That Titan is the one thing standing between and freedom. And do you know why? Its because the Savis are scared. They couldn't face us man to man on the ground, so they scampered away and had to resort to auxiliary units, air strikes to take us out. Now they resort to these Titans. So what? I'd take you guys over one of those hulking piles of scrap any day. You're deadlier by far, now let's show them why. Up and att'em people! >>6355805Me
>>6363098>>6363156+1>>6355771mee
>>6363102Keep their spirts up and they will do the rest. >>6355798
>>6363098>>6356034I will support the write-in here as well.>>6363227The confidence we have in our team has always been there. Lets show them we trust them enough to get it done.
>>6363227Oh I like this, support.>>6356062>>6356067Verification
>>6363098>>*whistle* “Hot poison whaddya reckon the bonus-pay on taking down one of those things is sitting at?” Appeal to their greed, about what a big fat paycheque they’ll be strutting back to when they make it out of here. You’re mercenaries. The whole reason you’re doing -any- of this is for the money. Duh. [Daredevil]>>6359299verification
>>6363098>>6363102Supporting this write in. I like it, good work fellow anon.>>6355773this is me
>SELECTED "This is it boys, the final push, ain't no backing out now. That Titan is the one thing standing between and freedom. And do you know why? It’s because the Savis are scared. They couldn't face us man-to-man on the ground, so they scampered away and let their auxiliaries and airforce do the legwork. Now they resort to these Titans. So what? I'd take you guys over one of those hulking piles of scrap any day. You're deadlier by far, now let's show them why. Up and att'em people!” [Write-in]I like seeing the write-ins make a comeback, and especially the extra thought put in that keeps that plausible deniability in front of the rebs. Well done anons, team work makes the dream work.Leadership Test: 77th Krieger Platoon>40DC>Badass Bandanna +5DC>Tranquil Gaze +5DC, +1 Re-Roll>Transhuman +2DC>Good write-in +10DC, +1 Re-Roll>Bastion of Confidence +1 Re-Roll (single use)>62DCDouble Fail = Hollow brag. +1 +1 Adverse Re-Roll to Firefight (single use).0 = Titanshock. +1 Adverse Re-Roll to Firefight.1 = Unsettled nerves. -2DC to Firefight results.2 = Settled nerves. +2DC to Firefight results.3 = Cold Steel. +1 Re-Roll to Firefight.Double Pass = Gutsy. +1 Re-Roll to Firefight (single use).3 rolls of 1d100. You have THREE re-rolls. Unverified new ID rollers will not be counted.Up and att’em, people!
>>6363455>*between usI meant to edit the grammar of that write-in a little further, oops.
Rolled 25 (1d100)>>6363455>>6355787rollan!
>>6363455Where are you getting the new art?
Rolled 77 (1d100)>>6363455>>6358422 - meTime to play the game.
Rolled 25 (1d100)>>6363455FOR THE BLACK COMPANY. LETS GET OURSELVES A TITAN!>>6355805Me
>>6363464Y'know, this anon -did- get his verification post way too late in... We could just sacrifice him to avoid the double fail.
>>6363476>pic relatedHaha nah, it was done in good faith and we've got to take the bad with the good in cases like this.Also, sidenote but I really like this track for a GNR Nines theme but I couldn't see it working for the scene we had.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI9nopaieEc&list=RDNI9nopaieEc&start_radio=1
>>6363479Maybe for the scene when he takes over the AI in the titan? Lol
>>6363464BRING ON THE CASUALTIES BABY!
>>6363479Hey, it wouldn't be BCQ if we didn't sacrifice people for material gain, would it?
I'm just looking forward to another instance of the famous "Albani war machines", lets just totally invalidate these Titans, nothing but 1's in our dice going forward
>>6363491I vote that we name the captured Titan "Hammer of liberty".now I await the inevitable deathtoll
>>6363455>>6363486In the grand spirit of Berserk and Forgotten quests, I am fine with being sacrificed on the altar of hedging the odds in our favor. I'm glad my vote is valid, and it is not in the spirit of this quest to be selective about which rolls count when there is not a valid precedent.
It's only fitting that the double fail we roll for leading the 77th Krieger Platoon would end up being a 77 itself
Rolled 91 (1d100)>>6357538Hey it me>>6363455Do we need more rolls? Or re-rolls?
>>6363716>>91We do not, thankfully
You now remember that, due to the rolls in the last thread, one critical piece of information that Hail had acquired is either woefully misleading or outright incorrect. Buckle up.
>>6363589>>6363791Maybe this time the warmachines will 'muh Albani' back
>>6363791My body is ready RATS DELENDA EST
Fuck it, we ball. If we die, we live on eternal as a legend (in the archives and nowhere else... but still...)Also fuck this capture
>>6363460>Where are you getting the new art?I think this was actually nabbed from the mock 'Fem OC' tournament years back... Snake Eyes got to the 2nd or 3rd round of cutoffs from memory.
>2 SUCCESS: Settled nerves. +2DC to Firefight results>77 DOUBLE FAIL: Hollow brag. +1 Adverse Re-Roll to Firefight (single use)."This is it boys, the final push, ain't no backing out now.” You point an accusing finger at the Imperial warmachine, now steadily departing with thudding steps having emptied its lethal payload on the unassuming jungle. “That Titan is the one thing standing between us and freedom. And do you know why? It’s because the Savis are scared.” “Fucking rat cowards.” TPR Terri snarls. The youngest member of your squad never had been one with much love left for the Savs after a lifetime of horrific attrition in their sunless mining stations. Sometimes her icy hatred of the Imps outweighs her sense of self-preservation. Not often mind you, but apparently it does today.“They couldn't face us man-to-man on the ground, so they scampered away to let their auxiliaries and airforce do the legwork. Now they resort to these Titans.” You laugh derisively, a deep shaking boom of a laugh that you don’t even have to fake. “So what? I'd take you guys over one of those hulking piles of scrap any day.”“You’re fucking right about that, boss.” SPR Convict grunts, a man you’d have taken as one not a little bit keen to reduce a piece of machinery that size to rubble even if he didn’t owe you one. “Go baby, go, goWe're right behind youGo baby, go, goYeah, we're looking at you”You take MDC Petal’s boppy jittering as encouragement and point at your own squaddies now, mostly the Vinehounds but also not a few of the other 77th Kriegers within earshot that have turned to pay attention. “You're deadlier by far, now let's show them why. Up and att'em people!”“Ooh-rah!” TPR Bones grins, letting a little of his old Earth Republics military background creep in.“Go baby, go, goOh, we're right behind youGo baby, go babyYeah, we're right behind you”“Aw jeez.” TPR Goldie runs a hand through his luscious locks, somehow managing to flex his bicep and neither tidy up nor dishevel his flawless hairstyle in the strenuously effortless movement. “What would the babes back home say if Vinehound’s number one got cold feet now, amiright?”“Hssk. We are all. Hssk.” TPR Husk stands, looking at you for a few silent seconds before nodding. “Going to fucking die.Hssk.”“There there, comrade dirtfoot.” TPR Rem Sev, your newest squaddie with her characteristic voidborn quirkiness, pats TPR Husk on the shoulder and shrugs. “It is what it is.”Okay then, mixed results it is. You’ll take it. Your fierce grin doesn’t even so much as crack as the Vinehounds and friends start acting normally again. Maybe it was down to your speech, but the Titan now being several clicks further away probably didn’t hurt.[1/4]
“Big words, Snake Bitch.” SGT ‘Casket’ Irons, leader of your sister Banshee squad, sidles up to you as the rest of the platoon makes ready. “Doesn’t seem to have stopped that battleship sized clanker from scudding on our plans.”“Nice to see you too, Coffin Bitch.” A couple of months ago you wouldn’t have dreamed of talking to a fellow NCO like that, least of all her. “And our plans aren’t scudded on just yet.”SGT Casket may have little in the way of kind words for you, at least to your face, but that is true for everybody so you don't take it personal. Her reputation as the resident ice queen of the platoon has only been marginally undermined by the innroads you’ve made to winning her over and your natural sneakiness resulting in eavesdropping on some grudging words of admiration for you. It’s why she was eventually on board with you borrowing SIG Jack In for this crazy mission despite… well, you’ll get to that in a little while.“You sure about that? That’s a lot of your precious jungle-boogie stomping grounds gone up in flames.” SGT Casket smirks, and with her every smirk is mean-spirited. “And right along our plotted course too, wouldn’t you know.” You grimace as you notice the path of destruction left in the Titan’s wake does indeed seem to cover a widespread area between the north and south-east. “Fuck.”Your estimate of 4 weeks on the outside is now looking optimistic, even if the Imperial Auxiliaries haven’t already narrowed down the possible target areas to this valley the next clearing push by the Savis will very likely roll into here by happenstance. That means you have much less than 4 weeks before the main Savis offensive hits, even allowing for the Titans to return and re-arm. And taking a direct course to Forward Airbase Theta was going to take the better part of a week as it was. You can ill afford extending that out further by circumventing all of the scorched areas between you and your first objective.“Oh I am just sure it’s going to all work out, ‘Mama Snake’.” SGT Casket jibes snidely. “It’s all part of God’s plan, isn’t it?”“What the fuck are you-oh.” Your Cradler senses pick up the approaching SGT ‘Heavenly’ Hutu’s Sermon-on-the-Mount intonations among Prophet Squad before he directs his next verse at you.[2/4]
“And so it was written ‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made...’ ” SGT ‘Heavenly’ Hutu is a man that has never been uncertain of anything in his life. And you do mean anything, including the irrelevance of incoming enemy fire. “What troubles ail these two divine instruments of God’s holy work?”You nod over your shoulder at the city-sized fire raging in the wake of the departing Titan. Out of everyone here putting on a brave face, SGT Heavenly is the only one you are 100% sure is genuinely unfazed by the presence of the Imperial warmachine. After all what is that weighed against the divine? Not zero, in your books. But it is in his. You’ve gotta admire his balls, at least.“We’ll may need to circle around farther north, where there’s still cover.” Moving across the burnt clearings was risky even in the early days of the Savis’ firebombing campaign. Now, if the Auxiliaries happen to spot you in the open while they’re sitting pretty in cover on the sides… You shake your head. “Unless you feel like putting on an all you can eat buffet for the Auxiliaries waiting for us out there.”SGT Heavenly raises one finger, with all the gravitas of a priest pointing out a misterpretation of scripture. “One dares to presume you mean an all you can -shoot- buffet, no?”You open your mouth to agree, then shut it as you remember that the Cradler Auxiliaries were recruited from tribes and settlements all over your homeworld. The Buya Valley Fleshtears were bad enough, but the Karnak Valley Eartakers gave everyone a bad name. You too, with your underprivileged headstart, took some civilizing under Crane’s stern gaze which went beyond just table manners. Even many of the less notorious tribalistic settlements were not remotely civilized by local standards, let along galactic ones. “If we’re lucky.” You say instead. “Eugh.” SGT Casket, never particularly chipper, scrunches her face further in distaste.“Godless heathens.” SGT Heavenly shakes his head sadly. “Human or not, the Almighty shall surely rend such wicked pagan souls their just deserts.”Behind you CPL Sharky and TPR Mafia, the other two Cradlers in the 77th Platoon, both give eachother ‘Wtf’ looks. Your eyebrow raise would make Crane proud, it’s enough to have the ordinarily bombastic Heavenly cough awkwardly. “Present Company excluded, of course.”[3/4]
>>6363830*East Karnak EartakersNot every damn Cradler tribe is in a valley. Though actually quite a lot are due to the roving Leviathans being less likely to stumble across them.
[4/4]You confer with your fellow Sergeants on the issue, hoping to have an agreed position to recommend to the Lieutenant when he gets here. But despite the longer experience of your fellow NCOs, you and they both know the jungle is your homefield terrain and while they’re willing to give what input they can a lot is going to ride on you making the ultimate call on this.You and the Vinehounds are taking point on this one, after all. The Big One.================================>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil] >Jungle island hoping. There are significant swathes of untouched jungle in between sporadic lanes of smouldering. If you move a little farther north you will avoid the worst of the destruction. It will cost you a couple of days to skirt the worst of the destruction but any treks across semi-open burnt terrain will be very short and, most importantly, carefully scouted to allow for the shortest possible exposure time. [Firebrand]>Slow and steady wins the arms race. You need to head much farther north before turning east. That’s going to set you back another week, and it definitely won’t eliminate the possibility of running into the Auxiliaries. But it will mean that at least you won’t be running into them in the open. You’ve just got to hope there will be a rebel base for you to get these stolen transports back to at the end of it. [Xenophobe]
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil] Lets rock and roll. Also, I don't trust that those islands of jungle haven't been trapped for exactly this reason>>6355805Me
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]I can't wait.>>6355787
>>6363832>Jungle island hoping. There are significant swathes of untouched jungle in between sporadic lanes of smouldering. If you move a little farther north you will avoid the worst of the destruction. It will cost you a couple of days to skirt the worst of the destruction but any treks across semi-open burnt terrain will be very short and, most importantly, carefully scouted to allow for the shortest possible exposure time. [Firebrand]Me: >>6361262
>>6363832>Jungle island hoping. There are significant swathes of untouched jungle in between sporadic lanes of smouldering. If you move a little farther north you will avoid the worst of the destruction. It will cost you a couple of days to skirt the worst of the destruction but any treks across semi-open burnt terrain will be very short and, most importantly, carefully scouted to allow for the shortest possible exposure time. [Firebrand]Remember, when it came down to what supplies we requisitioned, we took the Ghosthelms over things like ammo or other supplies. Those are going to be our advantage, especially in the jungle, and they won't do as much good in the open. We still need to hurry, because taking too long means there isn't a base when we get back, but we need to play to our strengths now so that we're still at full fighting force by the time we hit the actual base the Titan is at.>>6355878Linkler
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]The auxillaries will have cleared out before the Titan swooped in for its latest bombing run, and odds are what's considered a "safe" distance from that behemoth is 'really fucking far away'. That means they've got about as far as us to travel before they can trap every strategic treeline and jungle corridor to hell and back. We know the Savis are incompetent rats that underutilize the auxillaries, so they likely didn't get detailed information about the strike area either, meaning they won't have left behind more traps than any other random section of jungle ahead of time. If we move fast we can also utilize the chaos when every technician in the base camp mobilises to reload the monster as well, since that's unlikely to finish in less than a week unless they somehow built a proper Titan depot in less than a year or can deploy those from orbit. Hey Forgotten, do we know how strong the fleet presence in orbit is and how much damage an orbital battery would do? I imagine they're not exactly fielding capital ships against a planetbound slave rebellion, but i seem to recall there being at least one larger ship class when the Black Company vessel retreated>>6356446Correct verification link this time lol.
>>6363843>Hey Forgotten, do we know how strong the fleet presence in orbit is and how much damage an orbital battery would do? I imagine they're not exactly fielding capital ships against a planetbound slave rebellion, but i seem to recall there being at least one larger ship class when the Black Company vessel retreatedThe majority of the blockade is being enforced by Pect'Max vessels which vary in size but are mostly around the Frigate to Light Cruiser class. While it is hard to tell from the ground, there does appear to be a Savis Battleship or Heavy Cruiser in low orbit either acting as an orbital command centre or guarding action for the stream of incoming Legion troop transports. Not surprising given that the precious Titans themselves require dedicated transports (or to be dismantled and reassembled but that is an arduour process). There has been no direct orbital bombardment as part of the wider terrestial firebombing campaign.
>>6363843I forgot that a massive part of what makes Cradlers deadly is their focus on traps, and those are something that Ghosthelms won't counter. I'm switching my >>6363838 vote to the [Daredevil] option
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]They aren't gonna expect this, hopefully.>>6355773this is me
>>6363832>[Daredevil]But we could be screwed if the Savis have aerial recce directly behind the Titans. I expect those assets will be more focused on supporting the mop up sweeps. After all, how can a weapon big enough to take down a Titan survive the firestorm?
>>6363862I genuinely think their hubris in this wont allow them to consider the idea of mere ground based infantry could attack, or even consider getting close to, a titan
>>6363845Would our hypothetical rogue titan stand a chance against the defenses of a vessel of that class if we took them unawares? I figure the Savis won't obliterate it from orbit - if for no other reason than the commanding Savis admiral knowing what'll happen to him if he destroys such a symbol of imperial prestige - but if we can't take it out we'll have no chance at getting out alive. Fortunately, I believe the other two titans will be similarily unable to directly attack our titan with heavy ordinance, although they may try to cripple it and/or go into melee....I noticed something interesting in the last thread: The titan AI's, along with the AI which likely resides in the Savis flagship, are fully isolated from all outside connections by firewalls and security algorithms designed to block any shenanigans they might pull. High grade AI are also implied to be so good at electronic warfare that they can modify the databases of any known civilization undetected. If we unshackle our titan's AI we might not just have gained a massive weapons platform, but an Autonomous EW weapon magnitudes above what the Savis can field. Unfortunately, we're mostly working against military grade equipment with hardened ports, but the comms equipment on the titan itself or main base Alpha ought to reach the planetary interstellar comms centre. It's about time we call in the big boys, yeah? The Prince and whatever escort the Company has had time to gather can deal with the Pect'maxx murder while the Savis flagship is stuck in low orbit and hopefully at least wounded by our orbital cannon. Imagine the cred we'll get if we bag the Company a fucking titan, not to mention the influx of experienced recruits likely to sign on from among the rebels and the eternal gratitude of the former slaves we ship off world. Is it a moon shot? Hell yeah. We're stealing a fucking titan and this is the only plan I could think of that keeps our collective ass alive after we pull the heist off. Unless Halt has some straight up bullshit up his sleeve like using the titan to chain-unshackle the Savis battleship AI, this is the only way out.
>>6363863>>6363862We'd have known if the titan had air support because we'd see the crafts from the ground. They also just don't need it. Anything big enough to put a dent in a titan would have been spotted from orbit by now.
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]We're going through hell any way you slice it, might as well get through it in a hurry. Hopefully before the devil finds us.Forgotten are the rebels all in on this? (the ones who can fight any way) or is it just Hail’s Kamikazes. If its just Hail, could we possibly ask for some diversionary attacks elsewhere to take some heat off of us? Anything for 5DC >>6356044Its me
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil] It's better to rip the band-aid straight off. >>6363871>It's about time we call in the big boys, yeah? I'm afraid High Command and the ships won't involve themselves, as they would be revealing the Company's involvement in the whole thing.>>6355895Me
>>6363832>>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]Let's go for glory, boys!>>6355831Me
>>6363885The Company (actually us in a vote last thread) rejected a lucrative exclusivity contract with the feds partially because they'd lose the freedom to evac us, so we know for a fact that the Prince is likely close and waiting for an opportunity to dive in. If we can send a strong enough Company encrypted signal they'll come
>>6363832>Jungle island hoping. There are significant swathes of untouched jungle in between sporadic lanes of smouldering. If you move a little farther north you will avoid the worst of the destruction. It will cost you a couple of days to skirt the worst of the destruction but any treks across semi-open burnt terrain will be very short and, most importantly, carefully scouted to allow for the shortest possible exposure time. [Firebrand]verification>>6355975
>>6363897You are indeed right. Good catch anon.
>>6363832>>>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]Charge right through>>6356062>>6356067Me.
>>6363832>>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]We're on a clock, we really don't have the luxury of spending more time to play it safer.>>6355851Me.
Shit, everyone's voting to follow the Titan on in. We are all fucking dead. "Mama Snake's last stand"
>>6364034I mean I fully expect the Auxiliaries to be set up in those jungle pockets already like its fucking Fallavon. Like say what you will about us being an apex predator but we'd be going up against a hundred Nat's if we encounter them, we COULD survive but most of our squad likely wouldn't.
>>6363879It's very much approaching the endgame where everyone is looking for the escape route or best spot to die, but Hail's kamikazes are with you. But the proposed course is a 'now' choice which doesn't leave much opportunity to plan a diversionary attack anywhere.>>6364181>if we encounter them>ifDear poor anon, Cradlerbowl is the future you chose long ago.
>>6363871>Would our hypothetical rogue titan stand a chance against the defenses of a vessel of that class if we took them unawares? This would be counting your killer-clankers before they hatch, but if you guys actually pull this off...
>>6364278We just have to roll good. It's literally that easy.
>>6364277>Dear poor anon, Cradlerbowl is the future you chose long ago.>[Rules of nature Intensifies]
>>6364277>Dear poor anon, Cradlerbowl is the future you chose long ago.The Indomitable human spirit never fails.
>>6364279>We just have to roll good. It's literally that easy.You're right anon. I assume you've been saying your prayers and making daily sacrifices to RNGesus for blessed rolls, right?
>>6363832>Jungle island hoping. There are significant swathes of untouched jungle in between sporadic lanes of smouldering. If you move a little farther north you will avoid the worst of the destruction. It will cost you a couple of days to skirt the worst of the destruction but any treks across semi-open burnt terrain will be very short and, most importantly, carefully scouted to allow for the shortest possible exposure time. [Firebrand]It’s worth the minor delay >>6357205V card
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]Okay guys hear me out. This actually might me the safest option. Think about how much dust and detritus a titan would kick up behind it. If we're able to conceal ourselves in that muck it might be an even better concealment than the jungle.
>>6364295Verification >>6355780
>>6364295Not to mention, no one is going to be looking at the rear of a fucking Titan. No one will expect us to be travelling in its (figurative maybe) shadow. It's ballsy, it's wild, it's the perfect plan
>>6364277CRADLERBOWL CRADLERBOWL CRADLERBOWL
>>6363832>Fuck it we ball. With the life expectancy of the main rebel base, and every remaining Krieger not in the 77th, now on a stricter timespan you can’t afford a delay in reaching Airbase Theta. If you move fast, directly behind Titan’s wake, you may beat the Auxiliaries return to the zones cleared for the Titan’s barrage. [Daredevil]My first instinct is islands hoping but like mentioned before the auxiliaries are likely set up there and will only funnel us into a confrontation. But if we do daredevil right we can walk in the shadow of the Leviathan (titan) where no one will even think to look.>>6355798
Honestly, though, do you guys think there is any chance for the movement to continue after us? Or can we just scratch that sweet bonus?
>>6364612It'll slow burn, if we get the titan the scales shift to either the formation of a proxy state for the Drax or the tentative start to a freestate because Titans are the dreadnaughts of land combat.an Unshackled A.I is the chaos factor to anything more.
>>6364612As it currently stands? No. If we succeed in capturing a Titan, No?The Savis are dedicating everything to make sure this thing ends here and now. Even if we got a massive breakout and scattered rebels all over the planet. I'm uncertain they'd do much before being killed. If I remember right this war is all but over except for our holdout. The Savis have otherwise scoured the planet of rebels and potential rebels alike. The only thing left for us to do here is give the Savis a black eye and further embarrass them in front of the galactic community.All that being said, if we can get a few of the more dedicated rebels to a new Savis slave planet the fight could continue there. This rebellion no doubt put a divit in the Savis Empire's budget. How many more rebellions do you think it would take for them to write a planet off instead of investing the resources to recapture it?
>>6364612I see the chance, a small chance for the survival of the league; an unshackled titan is not only a wild card on the battle field but also on the political field. The factions will put pressure on the Savis when they find out that one of their titans has become unshackled. Internally they will be pointing fingers at each other as to whom is to blame. They may even pull the other titans out of the planet for fear of cross contamination. Time and chaos might give them a chance.
There was never any chance of the League of Dis being any kind of permanent entity, their destiny was always to get squished by the Savis. It was just a question of how long that would take, and how embarrassing it would be for them. AFAIK, the bonus was never contingent on making the slave revolt a permanent thing, it was contingent on making it take off enough to warrant a serious intervention of resources by the Savis, while also keeping it hush-hush that the Federation or the Black Company were involved. We've done a pretty bang-up job of both of those so far, so I think the bonus is in the bag
