Infinite Stars Quest 29

>Keep Carly here.

Oh boy what a close call.

...

>Keep Carly here.

It's a very contentious vote for sure.

>We can totally keep an eye over her.

>Next day

Good books.

>>Other - Ask for Carly's opinion.

"No, I want to keep Carly here, where I can keep an eye on her." You shake your head adamantly. "If High Command doesn't like it they can come out here to tell me otherwise."

"I thought you would say that." Frolaytia gives an amused cackle. "In that case, you and your sister will have to perform a... 'joint operation' of sorts. To prove to the Accord that Carly has what it takes to work with us."

"And what exactly would that entail?" You raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Namely, you two will have to perform a major military raid against either the Hegemony or the Confederation."

"What? Now?" You gasp. "We only just got back!"

"It is what it is." Frolaytia shrugs. "I promise you a rest afterwards, but High Command was very insistent about this."

"Of course they were." You roll your eyes.

"Well then, pick your poison." The two flags of the Hegemony and Confederation materialize on either side of Frolaytia, as if to emphasize her words.

On the one hand, the Hegemony large and had very powerful ships, but they were slow unwieldy and often found it tough to respond to sudden attacks. However, if they ever did manage to pin you down in a straight on fight, you'd be at a serious disadvantage.

On the other hand, the Confederates were not nearly as numerous or technologically advanced, but their response times tended to be lightning quick, thanks to the extremely fast and nimble ships they could muster.

>Attack the Hegemony
>Attack the Confederation
>Other

>>Attack the Hegemony
carly even has experience raiding them

>Attack the Hegemony

>Attack the Hegemony

>Attack the Hegemony

>>Attack the Hegemony

>>Attack the Hegemony
Let's see what sort of things we can loot from them.

What the fuck you guys have your own board now

There is like 5 others all over the catalog

>>Attack the Hegemony

Power armor upgrades for Tank?

Go Away~

"We'll hit the Hegemony." You sigh, pointing to the floating flag. "So what kind of targets do we have?"

"Hmmm, quite a few." Frolaytia smiles. "Let me bring up the list."

Frolyatia then taps a key and more data materializes in the air in front of you, listing high priority targets within the Hegemony's frontier space.

FOERON SHIPYARD: Due to the logistical strain of operating a large fleet, the Hegemony found it more economical to build a full scale shipyard to be able to manufacture ships directly in the Frontier. It is of course heavily guarded, but a strike here has the potential to cripple Hegemony operations for years to come.

REMMLAR MANUFACTORY: The planet of Remmlar is home to a major manufacturing facility that produces basic automated worker drones to maintain Hegemony facilities. As luck would have it, a civilian robotics activist group (secretly funded by the Accord) has infiltrated the facility with the intention of "liberating" the drones. They just need some military assistance...

CONVOY RAID: The Hegemony regularly sends out large, heavily escorted convoys of freighters to deliver supplies to outlying colonies as well as carry back raw materials and valuables. A raid against one of these convoys would take resources from Hegemony coffers while at the same time adding to the Accord's.

>SHIPYARD RAID
>MANUFACTORY RAID
>CONVOY RAID
>Other

>MANUFACTORY RAID

CONVOY RAID

>>MANUFACTORY RAID

>>MANUFACTORY RAID

>>MANUFACTORY RAID

>>MANUFACTORY RAID

>>MANUFACTORY RAID

>MANUFACTORY RAID

I wonder what they're making... clone soldiers, perhaps?

>>MANUFACTORY RAID

Maybe we can loot some mech-grade weapons and armor from the factory.

>produces basic automated worker drones to maintain Hegemony facilities

Aside from the Robot Drones which populate essentially every workplace that they own? Maybe a limited production line of military hardware, or maybe a contract from some private organization.

But who do we give mecha-size weapons to? Bolts?

We could also try uploading him into a new body when it's convenient.

If we raided a Confederate Factory, we could've liberated the entire fucking assembly line.

And of course there's gonna be a boss fight against a big robot guard

>If we raided a Confederate Factory, we could've liberated the entire fucking assembly line
Considering we're working with robot activists, who says we can't?

>private organization

That's just asking for conspiracies such as: "Why are the Hegemony producing unmanned drone platforms for the Confederates?"

"What's so special about Remmlar?" You ask, pointing to the highlighted planet on the galactic map.

"That is the source of most of the Hegemony's Frontier industry." Frolaytia smiles sweetly. "In addition to military products like weapons and ammunition, they also produce a great volume of support equipment as well, such as terraforming technology, flux reactors, and drones."

"I thought the Hegemony disliked AI?" You frown.

"Advanced AI." Frolaytia clarifies. "The do use automated labor, but their capabilities are often artificially limited to prevent possible rebellion."

"And so this group here..."

"The Automaton Liberation Front? Just a group of misguided and very easy to manipulate students who believe that ALL robots should be self aware." Frolaytia laughs lightly. "I have to say, their presence has been an incredibly convenient development for us."

"So I assume they have an in." You conclude.

"With some assistance from our friends in Intelligence, the ALF has already infiltrated the manufactory on multiple levels. The only thing stopping them is the Hegemony fleet in orbit that wouldn't hesitate to drop an orbital bombardment to head off an AI uprising."

"It's not an ACTUAL AI uprising, is it?" You ask nervously.

"Oh heavens, no. You think we'd actually make Hegemony drones more dangerous?" Frolaytia bursts out into full laughter here. "No, we've given the ALF a specialized virus to upload into the drones that gives us full command authority over them. We of course didn't tell them that's what the virus actually does."

"Devious." You nod.

"So, the mission is relatively simple. Distract the Hegemony fleet in orbit, then retreat before you get overwhelmed. Simple as that."

"Why do I get the feeling it won't be so simple?" You groan.

"Because you're smart enough to realize it." Frolaytia grins.

>Is just two ships really enough for this?
>I get the feeling Intel is not telling me everything.
>Can I expect any outside help?
>Other

>>Other
You coming?

>>I get the feeling Intel is not telling me everything.

>I get the feeling Intel is not telling me everything.

Let's use the force to get a psychic scry going.

>>I get the feeling Intel is not telling me everything.

>>Is just two ships really enough for this?

Considering that one's an Accord ship, and the other was a testbed that was stolen from them...

>Is just two ships really enough for this?

>>I get the feeling Intel is not telling me everything.

>>I get the feeling Intel is not telling me everything.

"I get the feeling Intel is not telling us everything." You narrow your eyes. "All this work just for a bit of mischief like this?"

"Well, of course, they haven't told ME everything, but it's just something we have to accept." Frolaytia shrugs. "If you really want to know, perhaps you should talk to Miss Parker? She seems to have taken quite a liking to you."

Hm, that was true. Parker always seemed willing to help you out or give out a favor or two.

"Now, I've already transmitted all the available mission data to your ship, so you should be good to go after this." Frolyatia continues. "Now, is there anything else you want to speak about?"

>Tell her about Carly's treasure hunt.
>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.
>There's nothing else to say.
>Other

>Request a full refit for the Long Claw
>Tell her about Carly's treasure hunt.
Why not both?

>>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.

>>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.

So how are we going to do this, anons?

I'm thinking we should pull a Trojan Horse on them by having everyone board the Long Claw, get some Hegemony uniforms (or Merc Uniforms to claim a bounty) and pretend to have caught Captain Carly so we can do a Trojan Horse on them?

>>Tell her about Carly's treasure hunt.
>Why not both?
Cuz that's Carly's treasures hunt, and we don't want others to know?

>>There's nothing else to say.
Carly's secret and Carly's ship, let her be independent with her life

>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.

Would make one hell of a wacky race for the treasure.

>>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.

Reminder Sam is a ninja.

>>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.

And a starship captain and a capable foot soldier and a psychic...

Is there anything I'm missing?

She's a cutie patootie.

"I don't suppose you can shell out for a refit of Carly's ship?" You ask.

"You mean anything beyond the basic repairs?" Frolaytia asks.

"Well, yeah, I was kind hoping we could take the chance to spruce up Carly's ship a bit. You know, bring it closer to Accord standards if she's going to sail for us?"

"Hmmmmm, that's an ambitious proposition..." Frolaytia puts a hand to her chin in thought. "That's something that requires a lot of trust."

>She's sticking her neck out for the Accord. It's the least you can do.
>At least put in a couple of systems.
>Other

FFFFFLLLLAAAAAAAA-- *Bang!*

But not as cute as our protagonist in Starship Idols Quest.

>Request a full refit for the Long Claw.

>>At least put in a couple of systems.
A full refit right before a delicate mission might make it a bit weird for her crew to pilot...

>>At least put in a couple of systems.

>psychic
She's certainly doing a lot better than some other psyker races in fiction...

>At least put in a couple of systems.

>>She's sticking her neck out for the Accord. It's the least you can do.

>She's sticking her neck out for the Accord. It's the least you can do.

A guinea pig.

She's not cute.

>At least put in a couple of systems.

I respectfully disagree.

"At least put in a couple of systems." You groan.

"Hm, I suppose I can strongarm the stationmaster into clearing it." Frolaytia nods in agreement. "Anyways, I think that will do for this debriefing. You're free to go."

With that, Frolyatia's holographic ghost winks out, leaving you all alone in the room.

However, you still had a lot of things to do.

>Go review the mission data.
>You should go update Carly on the situation.
>Ask Parker about Intelligence's involvement in your mission.
>Other

>>Ask Parker about Intelligence's involvement in your mission.

>>Go review the mission data.

>Ask Parker about Intelligence's involvement in your mission.

>Ask Parker about Intelligence's involvement in your mission.
then
>You should go update Carly on the situation.

>Ask Parker about Intelligence's involvement in your mission.

>>You should go update Carly on the situation.

>Ask Parker about Intelligence's involvement in your mission.

>Alcoholic
>Frequently swears
>Possibly has PTSD
She's about as cute as Revy, user

What quest? Link?

And Revy isn't cute?

suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=not-Starship Troopers

Fun stuff, German Schteel's running it.

You decide that first you need to go ask Elizabeth if she knew anything about what the hell was going on on Remmlar. You had the feeling that the Accord had bigger plans for the planet that they weren't telling you, or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps your pocket intel officer could give you a bit more insight on that.

You take the long walk back to the docked Gullinbursti and key your comm.

"Elizabeth, please meet me in the briefing room." You instruct.

"Of course, Captain!" Elizabeth says happily.

As expected, Elizabeth is already waiting for you in the briefing room, sitting in one of the many empty seats, with all the self assurance spooks seemed to carry around like a robe.

"I suppose you want to know more about Remmlar?" She asks sweetly.

You know, you're not even surprised she already knows about that.

"And I'm pretty sure you know what I'm going to ask for." You sigh.

"Yes, yes, well, it's not like I can give that sort of information away for FREE." Elizabeth chuckles. "Compartmentalized information, you know!"

>I suppose I shouldn't have bothered.
>...what's it gonna take?
>It's not wise to defy a captain's order...
>Other

>...what's it gonna take?

>>...what's it gonna take?

>...what's it gonna take?
If it's our crewmen in cosplay, I've just learned a handy-dandy trick to help with that.

>>...what's it gonna take?
More magic juice?

Plus, it helps that Carly has a bunch of outfits.

>>...what's it gonna take?

Let's keep a multi-tool on us at all times. Never know when we might need one.

Is getting experimented on standard NJP on board our ship?

It's either that or maid uniforms.

Depends on the experiment on a case by case basis.

We could always go for other outfits like nuns, or cheer leaders.

>...what's it gonna take?

>Bunnysuits are reserved for the Bridge Bunnies

"What's it gonna take?" You groan.

"Well." Elizabeth leans forward with an ambitious smile. "I know that there's some kind of racket between you and your sister. And... well... I want know what it is."

"What makes you say that?" You raise an eyebrow.

"We've had our suspicions." Elizabeth shrugs casually. "We've been keeping tabs on ALL the notable pirates in the area and Carly's were not consistent with the others. She's been delving into places no sane folk would go to, much less pirates. A lot of interesting reasons why a girl like her would journey to the darkest corners of the galaxy."

You narrow your gaze at Elizabeth, who just smiles innocently.

"Besides," she continues with that sweet tone of hers, "if you were really invested it, there's no way you're not going to tell the rest of the crew, so you might as well spill the beans to me first!"

Fucking spooks, you swear.

>You guess there's no harm in telling her.
>You don't want to give out that info just yet.
>Other