Total War: Future Thread II (Turn 18)

[Q'telun]

EZ Aquarii Meeting

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"We may be able to help with the ship repair technology. We acquired it in exchange for services rendered to Ghalamander. If you are willing to help Commonwealth I can give you what they gave us. And as for what I can provide, that is classified between commonwealth and myself."

[ArcaneStomper]

Exploration Updates

To the Knights of Berill

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36 Ophiuchi
The voice is silent for a while and then speaks again, "Service Records corrupted. Next point of service unknown. Request input of next point of service."

To the Commonwealth

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The Wolf, Wolf 359 System
The derelict appears to be an old freighter of some kind. As far as your scientists can tell it is centuries old. The warning appears to be referencing some kind of hostile actions. Your linguists aren't sure if it's referring to pirates, sabotage, raiders, or a full fledged battle. But given it's age it is likely no longer a problem.

The Hawk, Chara System
The approaching ships prove to small frigates that were hidden among the debris, and apparently partially made out of the debris as well. They prove to be no match for superior Commonwealth technology and are easily dispatched. Meanwhile your scientists examining the data log have uncovered more of the captain's log.

''Captain Jeffrey Davenport.

The colony is up and running now. Still small so far. Only enough room for 2,000 colonists. The rest will have to wait in cold sleep until we manage to get more hydroponics pods online. Strengest thing happened the other day. One of the Hybernia's fuel cells was damaged by a meterorite. We thought it was going to have to be abandoned, but then Engineer Richards found some kind of alien battery on the station. Hooked right up and now the Hybernia's got more power than ever. Janine said it was more providence. I don't know. This system gives me the creeps sometimes."

''Captain Jeffrey Davenport.

This is amazing a ship showed up out of the blue the other day. Had a crew of aliens on it. First intelligent life we ever meet and it's happened on my command. The crew couldn't be more excited, and I feel the same way. The Hiki have a bit more cybernetics than I'm entirely comfortable with. But hey they're friendly enough. They use some kind of FTL drive and they've shown us a bit of how it works. Dr. Reeves says that it matches with the artifacts we found in the belt. We've run it through communications array and sent it back to Earth. Should help Dr. Mishkov's team decipher the artifact. Figure out how to make more of the things. Who knews maybe if the Hiki give us a lift we'll beat the message back and show Mishkov ourselves."

Your scientists say that there is more to the data core they haven't decyphered yet, but that they have managed to uncover some scientific data recorded by the Terrans before their unfortuante demise. They had managed to discover things on the station that still hasn't been matched elsewhere. It should give a significant boost to your own labs once you get back.

To the Syambic Alliance

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Chi Draconis is a grey system. Without advanced warp drives you're exploration ships will have to spend ++ econ to jump there.

Neither of the new ships are equipped with FTL communications either.

[Imperial Psycho]

Terran Coalition

GM

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Right, well the Terran Coalition fleet ( That is all remaining Off Mil forces, only Def Mil left in Sol and AC) is going to take a little detour. Jump to Procyon, clear the skies of all enemy forces, and move on. It is then to jump to Tau Ceti via the Commonwealth/EVRAZ, and await the attack orders.

[Murska]

Exploration:

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Wolf

All right. Send security teams with battlesuits to board the ship and check out if there's anything interesting within.

Hawk

Interesting. According to the log timestamps, how long ago was this?

Start using shipboard weapons as well as heavily armed security teams to clear the TF colony ship of Hive Mind drones. Advance slowly and carefully taking as little risks as possible.

Send a broad high-power transmission towards any points in the system that might house survivors or still-active Terran computer systems stating that we're from the Terran Commonwealth, have no ill intentions towards those who do not attack us and so on. Use old contact protocols for the TF fleet to see if we can't connect to any of their still-functioning ships even if there are no people on board.

[Thelonius]

To Terran Coalition Only

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Well, define enemy forces.

[KalShurak]

Proxima Antilae:

King Albert slowly deactivates his anti-psi device.
King Albert II: “Sisshok, my people already believe me dead. You are turning into what you wish to fight and protect your people from. If you follow this path, soon there will be nothing left of the Sumus culture and your kin will turn into mockeries of their once great dream. The people suffered enough, please do not let them experience cruelty from their brethren.”

Battle of Procyon [ESP 14] (TC, Commonwealth, Sigmas)

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Tightbeam to Commonwealth forces:
“We honestly have no idea what to think about these Solaris forces but we do not have the power to fight them. If we were to do this, we would be wiped out.
As for the events in Proxima Antilae, from what I can tell this really is the King.”

Procyon Ground [GM]

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Speak Softly retrieves Prince Regent Simon and then moves towards ‘Reason for Diplomacy’.

To Reki’che conglomerate: We wish to fill a complaint. Obviously the intelligence AI we purchased from you did not perform as advised and may even have contributed to the current situation. Further the shipyard allowed itself to be boarded and subsequently attacked the forces send to regain control. In addition, we were never informed that the ‘yard even has self defence capabilities.

Samuel I removes the anti psionic device.

What the hell? OK, will the Kingdom turn into an NPC from now on?

The ‘Speak Softly’ transmits a message showing the griefly wounded Prince Regent Simon as he addresses the people:
“The news of my death are slightly exaggerated. I was wounded when Sigma traitors boarded my ship.
Right now I welcome Duke Weiss and am willing to cooperate with him in restoring order. Nevertheless I expect that he will soon provide prove for his claims. Otherwise the vicious cycle of mistrust and violence can not be broken.”

[Murska]

Battle for Procyon

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"There is nothing this Weiss can say that will make me believe the ships shooting at us a moment ago, and especially the ships that annihilated the tiny Ascension Coalition force protecting transports sent to help the civilians groundside, are nothing but traitors. If you allow yourselves to be boarded or cease the fighting, we will retreat to our own space - we are gravely needed.

Personally, I suggest that both your Dreadnoughts follow me. The Shipyards in Commonwealth space are of human make, currently undamaged and ready to assist with your repairs. Sabotage and betrayal is rife within this system, and ships like yours will be needed in the coming conflict with the K'Krex."

[ArcaneStomper]

Reki'Che Conglomerate to the GKoP

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We have no record of any purchases of AIs by the human faction known as the Glorious Kingdom of Procyon. As such we cannot file your complaint.

All purchases above +++++ sold to inhabitants of regions which have frequent local wars are automatically set to produce their own defenses out of local materials. To disable this setting a user with Adminstrator Alpha clearence must order the station AI to set setting value 15 to true.

To the Shadow Supremacy

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For that price both Jelthes and the Reki'Che are offering more or less the same kind of ship. It is capable of harvesting an entire planet and processing the material. Depending on the type of planet it could produce between +++ to +++++ +++ worth of raw materials per turn. A single planet would take between 1-3 turns to process. The ship also comes equipped with ++ p. econ which by default it uses to produce cargo containers, although other blueprints can be entered. This particular ship has been custom fitted with enough additional armor and weapons to be worth +++++ + mil. The addition of your exploration ship has bought you custom fitted gravitational sling drives which allow to navigate freely at FTL speeds. (It does not use the warp and can reach any system on the map, even those marked with grey or orange.)

The K'Krex have nothing that fits your specifications. They have plenty of warships capable of destroying planets, but nothing for mining.

[razovor]

Shadow Supremacy

To Arcanestomper

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Those specifications are very satisfactory. I'll take it. The question then is which of the two to buy it from. I can empower the Reki'Che, who are already a significant economic and cultural threat to the sector. Or I can grant Jelthes more control over my assets

I'll go with Jelthes. As leaders go he's very reasonable, the Shadow Supremacy is his, but thus far he's given me the freedom to expand it's holdings however I deem necessary. For now I can't see any reason I would want to rebel against him.

Does he have any orders for me, by the way?

[KalShurak]

Battle of Procyon [ESP 14]

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Tightbeam to Commonwealth forces:
“General Saul here. I agree with you. Before Duke Weiss can prove that he is who and what he claims to be, we will not allow ourself to be boarded.”

Tightbeam between ‘Reason for Diplomacy’ and ‘Speak Softly’:
General Saul:
“Prince Regent, before Duke Weiss can provide proof that he is who and what he claims, I can not allow my ship to be boarded with clean concinious.”
Prince Regent Simon:
“I agree. I will be operated soon. I hereby give you command over both dreadnoughts until then.”

Tightbeam from ‘Speak Softly’ to Solaris:
Prince Regent Simon:
“Duke Weiss, we require prove for your claims and stated intention before we can allow your forces onboard our vessels.”

Both dreadnoughts and the Commonwealth forces are falling back towards the Gate to Luyiten 726-8

To Reki’Che Conglomerate

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According to our records, you sold two AIs to the Procyon dutchy of Solaris. They in turn acted as our spokesperson for this deal.

We were unable to find mentioning of this setting and procedure in the manuals you delivered with the the shipyard. (You did not mention thatr the ‘yard was doing this.)

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Shadow Supremacy

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No he doesn't.

Reki'Che Conglomerate

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Our records indicate that your own assets were not involved in any way in the purchase of these AIs. As such you are listed as a third party in these deals, and we cannot reveal any details of the contract in question to you. Including who may or may not have purchased them.

The appropriate reference is in Volume 2096, Chapter 284, Section 1045, Subsection 93-A. (And yes you would have had to actually say that you were reading the whole manual to know this. Doing so would have taken a team of engineers several years to go through the whole thing. The defenses not being mentioned was not an oversight. The yard did not tell you that it was producing its own defenses. And you didn't have close enough oversight to actually know what it’s doing. As an automated yard it had very little supervision. You fed in resources and it produced the ships you asked for. Whether or not all the resources you gave it were actually going to those ships is something your engineers only assumed was the case.

As we have told several people over the last few turns the alien traders offer goods that give a 2-1 return on investment. Did you really believe that the extra return had no downsides? In fact this wouldn't even be a downside if you hadn't already lost control of the shipyard through other means.)

[Copper8642]

Knights of Berill

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The captain of the boarding party relayed the machine's question back to Dol Carra.

"It's asking us for a destination, sir."

"This ship's condition may be somehow related to the dead ship around Ophiuchi A. Stay aboard that ship, and tell the machine to take you to the dead vessel near Ophiuchi A. We will follow from the Argent Quest."

[distant quasar]

Ez Aquarii Meeting

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"As for the technologies we have, there is quite an extensive list. However, I believe you will find these the most helpful to make use of:

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Planetary Shield, Plasma Cannons, Superior Shields, GRESEY weapon (gamma ray laser, for capital ships), QRHPPS (powerful EMP; can be paired with GRESEY, which allows you to turn around +++ temp econ into Mil for a battle, and drains Morale of opponents for same battle depending on extent of damage; it serves as a powerful fluff weapon as well), and Quantum Encryption

If Iter would be willing to continue their psionic aid of our research, we would be most grateful.
I enjoy the idea of such a system of psi-emittors, but for the present I fear its construction would be cost-prohibitive. Unless, that is, someone else has an idea on how to cut down the costs? ((I believe they are 7t econ each, if we have access to all the required markets, which I think we do. However doesn't the Commonwealth have 6 systems? Although correct me if I'm wrong, but 3.5p econ would cover construction in all six systems?))

Also, if all present are willing, we would be in favor of research cooperation among our nations. We currently have a powerful weapon, known as the GRESEY, which we seek to upgrade for use in the coming war(s). Of course, it would be of great use to all present. If this interests any of you, we encourage you to work with us on this.

Murska, KalShurak, Thelonius (PM)

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The Matrioshka brain can be finished with 6 more research and 5p econ. However, I'm not sure how much you want to finish this, given the current situation. If we both use our von Neumann machines for econ generation, that ought to provide 4p econ though, and if someone can step up with the additional +? (I'll have a - to spare this turn for burning, so really only another - is needed)

Also, I'm assuming that would work, Thel? If the von Neumanns salvaged that place Mursa mentioned (Lalande something?), and got to work on contruction, all that would be needed is the research and another + econ?

[ArcaneStomper]

To the Knights of Berill

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"This vessel has sustained irreparable damage, movement no longer possible. I require transportation to my next point of service."

To the Commonwealth

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The Wolf: Wolf 359
Your teams don't have any trouble getting on board the derelict. Mostly because you aren't the first ones to board it. They find evidence of breaches where something bored through the hull. From the markings it was probably some kind of boarding pods.

Once on board they find a lot of wreckage. Obviously the crew put up a heavy fight before they died. You find numerous corpses. Most of them are Kian Rou, but your team does find a few unknown aliens. It appears that the Kian Rou were the crew as most of their corpses are in lightly armored ship suits or even emergency gear. The aliens on the other hand are all wearing battlesuits.

The Hawk: Chara System
Your scientists date it as three or four centuries ago, shortly before the discovery of the warp drive and humanities expansion out of the solar system.

Your teams quickly clear the drones out of the old ships. The lieutenant who commanded the boarding party says that he thinks there were less of them than when he was being attacked, but your sensors didn't record anything leaving the ships.

Your transmission returns a ping from Chara 1. There is something Terran there, but the signal is weak.

To the Syambic Alliance

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The Capitalist: Gliese 440
"The warp drive will be disabled! The warp drive will not explode. We will discuss over dinner. Come." The marines looking fully prepared to disable the warp drive the old fashioned way with their rifles if you don't let the engineers do their job.

[Murska]

Exploration:

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The Wolf

Interesting. Search for a data core so that we may find out what happened. Of course keep eyes open for anything else interesting, like technology or cargo.

The Hawk

All right, stay on your guard on the sleeper ships, there may still be hiding drones around.

Not that we'll leave anyone on the sleeper ships, as we move to Chara 1. Strange. I don't have the history of the Hive Mind here with me, but to my understanding these drones can't be Hive Mind unless they can timetravel. According to the data logs, some sort of a warp-travelling alien group arrived and presumably their cybernetics infected the colonists.

I wonder if everyone in the sleeper pods is a drone. If we can't check that out from the outside, we'll probably have to open one pod at a time with marines at the ready and blast anything that attacks us.

[Copper8642]

Knights of Berill

To Arcanestomper:

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"Well then... new plan. Examine that ship closer, try and see if it's something we technologically understand well enough to repair, and then see if we have the supplies on board to do so. If not, try and get the machines to come aboard our ship, and we bring them to that other wreck. Warn us before you bring them aboard, we'll be ready in case this is a dangerous ploy.

To Commonwealth:

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The admirals of the Knights fighting in Commonwealth space bring up a matter with their superiors:

"An unconfirmed source has reported that something is amiss in our home system, and we have not received word from Wolf in a long time. If something could be done to investigate, it would do much to put us and our soldiers at ease."

[Murska]

Commonwealth to Knights of Berill:

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We've been somewhat worried ourselves. We have a fleet that needs to pass through your system, but our communications have gone unanswered.

If you join that fleet with all of your warp-capable military, we should probably just move through in mass with your ships at the front - they won't fire at their own, I assume, even if there's some communications failure.

[Copper8642]

Knights of Berill

To Commonwealth:

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The head admiral speaks:
Just to be clear, the forces directly at my disposal are the forces here with you. These are the forces I will be drawing away to investigate my home.

[Murska]

Commonwealth to Knights of Berill:

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I know. We're leaving ourselves open to the Tian, and I wish we didn't have to, but the K'Krex are a much bigger problem. If the Tian are dumb enough to attack, then we'll just have to deal with that as it comes. We're at a knife's edge here, to be honest, and we can't afford any mistakes.

We've got +++- warp-capable forces holding at EZ Aquarii. If you would join your ships to them, we can make the jump at any time you wish. We should probably start by sending an unarmed contact vessel of Berillian origin to ask them directly of the situation of course, but if it doesn't return we'll jump in weapons hot and in a formation aimed to disrupt any warp cordon in place. We can't afford to lose ships to an ambush.

[Copper8642]

Knights of Berill

To Commonwealth:

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If that is your plan, then we will go ahead with it. As soon as my forces gather at EZ Aquarii, then we should start the trip back to Wolf.