Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Happy Demon]

((Pointless fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Technology on P769-524-FF-67532-Gamma (Bob)

Technology on P769-524-FF-67532-Gamma (Bob) began quite primitive, the most high tech weapons being archaic, lever action, iron sighted, cartridge loaded rifles.
These were, quite poor quality, they were not supposed to be used, it was just in case they were attacked.
There wasn't many mines for resources required for production of gunpowder, so ammo production was quite slow.
Then the Werewolves emerged, their violent tendencies caused frequent use of the rifles, but there was too few, so they tried making more.
The early reproductions of rifles were clunky and unreliable, cartridge size was increased, but this lead to firing chambers blowing up.
The materials were also of inferior quality.

Developing technology is hard to do when everything wants to kill you. Sharing said technology, impossible.

By the time of the 1st war, 10mm bolt action, 5 round rifles were the most high tech, but they jammed a lot and could explode, hitting nearby mutants with metal fragments from the rifle itself.
The Mantis company on the other hand, used much more modern weaponry, which made them fierce enemies on the battlefield, but when they died, many of their weaponry were either collected, or reverse engineered.
The Mantis company also had armored land and sea vehicles, while the mutants only had unarmored ships and carts, the vehicles were later reverse engineered.
After a couple decades, primitive armored ships, cars, and semi-automatic rifles started emerging.
When the Hercules company's equipment came into mutant hands, they wasted no time copying and reverse engineering it.

But this time, more mines emerged as well, leading to a much more production of weaponry, guns started to become so cheap even poor people could afford one.
Material quality increased as well, so the lowest quality weapons available were even able to be used, rather than crumble from basic handling and requiring extensive use of duct tape.
Battleships and tanks started emerging as well, which greatly affected the 2nd war.
The technology was pretty much at WW2 level, without the nukes.
But then the 3rd war happened.

Faced with the threat of extinction, technological development efforts accelerated enormously, ground weaponry was no problem, but spacecraft had yet to be developed.
But with the knowledge gained from study of Eagle company spacecraft, the assistance of the Arktos company, and the relatively intact space repair yards of the Arctic North, spaceships were developed and made.
One of the first things the Eagle company did when they realized the danger of the mutants was to bombard the all star ports and space shipyards, but they didn't know the Arctic North had them.
When an area gets a lot of spaceship traffic, it's common to make a shipyard to allow quick repairs.

When the Eagle company was chased out of the solar system, the mutants were able to get much more direct trade with the rest of the universe, which gave them a massive tech boost.
This, of course lead to a lot more advanced and powerful weaponry being used, and a lot more death.
But respect for research and development increased, leading to people actually being able to develop and share new technology.

Edit: ((The only good fluff is more fluff.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Thunderdragons.
An unofficial mutant type.

The Thunderdragons are descendants of the rare lightning spewing variety of Dragons, gaining longer metallic spikes sticking out of their backs, which allows more power.
They're naturally curious, often getting in trouble, but their lightning attacks let them inflict major damage to whoever gets close enough.
They have problems using armor due to their spiky back, the electricity running through them makes use of metal armor risky, and it's risky for them to have their hands near each other when discharging.
Other than that, they're pretty similar to the Dragons.

They can discharge lightning from the ends of their limbs (hands and feet), natural charging is tiring for them, they can charge to about 0,5% before they start discharging passively, and they can continue charging, but 2,5% is their natural maximum.
Thunderdragons can also siphon electricity from other sources though, which allows them to reach full charge. The full charge is 20Ah, and the full discharge voltage is 100kV.
Full discharge is only possible to initiate at 100%, but while active can be maintained at lower charge. Half discharge can be initiated at over 10%, and has a voltage of 10kV.
Natural discharge can be initiated as long as there's charge, and has a voltage of 1kV. Passive discharge from 100-90% is 10s, 90-50% in 50s, 50-25% in 4m, 25-10% in 10m, 10-5% in 15m, 5-2,5% in 30m, and 2,5-0,5% in 2h.
When reaching full charge, passive discharge is temporarily stopped for a couple seconds, and if they trigger full discharge, they will maintain the halted passive discharge, allowing them to unleash all 100% with minimal power loss (aka. they can unleash 100% on their target).

((I feel these may be a bit overpowered.))
Edit 2: ((I've made it so they don't casually vaporize humans anymore, and I've used a more proper unit of measure.))
((For those unsure what this means, 1 kV could be fatal if it hits bare flesh, 10 kV is overkill, and 100 kV... well, instant charcoal.))

[_DivideByZero_]

((This, is, fluff time!))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The unofficial mutants.
By the way, the planet of P769-524-FF-67532-Gamma (Bob) doesn't have a tilted orbit, and as such doesn't have seasons, making years meaningless.
So they use Earth years instead.

On the planet of P769-524-FF-67532-Gamma (Bob), there are too many variations of mutants to count, so there are strict specifications on mutants.
For a mutant to be considered a member of a generation there has to be over 10 000, they have to be around for at least 100 years, and they can't be too different.
The Dragons were on the verge of being considered 2 types when the rare variety was found, while the Relentless Werecats had almost the opposite happen.

Mutants like the Double Heart mutants were denied a spot as a 4th generation mutant due to having their numbers reduced to 9 970 when they had lasted 100 years.
The reason for which is primarily because a former Speartail mutant named Vax Murdock Xylia (now known as Vax Sleekpike von Bob) started mass murdering them a couple years before.
They're now at about 8 000 and decreasing, and they're currently being hunted by Sludge who wants to imitate Vax, also killing them wins people favors with said Sludge.
The 4th generation is currently emerging, there are some accepted, and some that are to be accepted soon, but as the Double Heart has shown, there's a chance they wont.

((I'm probably going to edit this post to add a second spoiler, as I've done to all the other fluff posts.))
Edit: ((More fluffing fluff, because FLUFF YEAH!))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Fluff Dragon

The Fluff Dragons are 4th generation mutants, and crossbreeds between Dragons and Relentless Werecats.
Fluff Dragons have pale colored scales on their inside skin, while the rest is covered in fluffy fur, their heads are adorned with fluffy cat ears and small barely visible horns.
Hair color and fur color are rarely the same, their fur is normally either white, grey, black, or brown, but colors such as blue and red sometimes (but rarely) occur, and patterned fur is even rarer.
The Fluff Dragons can have 2 different breath attacks, the fire breath which is normal to those who mostly stay indoors, and frost breath for those who stay outdoors, but there are some who get both.
They also have a lizard-like tail covered in fluffy fur, it's quite a good pillow.

The Fluff Dragons are shy and don't like combat as much as most other mutants, but they like food, and most Fluff Dragons become either chefs, hunters, or both.
They also have fast metabolism and tongues capable of tasting more than the average mutant, they tend to not like overly spicy food, as they feel it's masking the true taste.
Fluff Dragons don't do well in hot and arid areas due to their fluffy fur, it also makes wearing clothes a bit of a hassle, so it's common for them to use less covering clothes and armor.
It's a bit uncommon, but some Fluff Dragons don't wear clothes at all.

((By tilted orbit I think you mean tilted rotation. And planetary years are still meaningful, they just don't have any direct relevance other than ease of measurement. So it makes sense to use Earth years instead.))


Port Newton, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)

"I have no honest idea, RUN!"
Get a suit on and bail out of there. Try to contact the Guild for help.

"Whaaa--"

Already wearing a suit, you leap into the airlock. You hesitate for a few moments before shutting the door, but when you hear the crewman's voice cut off suddenly you just lock it and go.

[6/5] During the ten-second depressurization process, you hear a click, and are subsequently blasted out of the airlock into the great Askarian ocean, floating just below the mist. Fortunately, in fact. You see, a atmo-suit is basically a giant, flexible balloon designed to maintain a Terran atmosphere inside. It contains quite a bit of air and, for this reason, tends to float in water unless you intentionally contract it. Should you do so, your suit can last underwater for a fairly long time if it isn't damaged.

The thin layer of fog just over the water (the ocean is constantly evaporating due to the low-pressure atmosphere. It snows down along the coast and rains in the center monsoons.) keeps you just out of sight. You see the ship as a large, grey blob through the fog, but your own body is likely to blend in with the waves, and the surface of the suit is freezing cold along with the rest of the environment.

Your suits comms are able to bounce a signal through the ship's radio dish, despite the fog. You warn the Guild that you've encountered trouble.
"The ship is no longer safe? We can extract you from the water, but we need a visual on you when the Corvette arrives."

Along the horizon, you see a ship with a characteristic form pierce the clouds. A Guild Spaceplane, officially designated as a Corvette. With every cubic meter of spare room dedicated to fuel, the plane can rocket its way out of most gravity wells with ease, several times even. It is quite visible, performing an aerobraking maneuver to save on fuel while decelerating. It looks like some sort of giant, mechanical phoenix.

...

Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)

"No thank you, I heard some rumors that SpaceInc was doing some nasty stuff to the planets their helping, maybe you should be looking into a new job, although I guess its not my decision. Anyway thanks for the talk."
Go to the floor below.

"Hmm? Yeah, well... I..."
The spores have taken full effect.
"Now that I think about it, we do get a lot of complains about Ulysses labor standards... ugh, I feel sick."
He falls asleep directly on the table, face-down. Now is the time to leave as if nothing ever happened.

You make your way down the stairs and enter the cafeteria.

[2] Here, there seems to be little of note occurring, [4] although there are lots of interesting-looking people. Mainly aliens. Humans are so common that they've stopped being interesting to you a while ago.

• A very fluffy creature with blue fur, a fuzzy tail, and an elongated snout, appearing vaguely reptilian but also eerily human in some respects.
• A large, hairy, and monstrous creature with pitch-black skin, looking like some orcish brute from a fantasy novel. It happens to be reading a fantasy novel, Of Nights and Starquakes, a story about a race with magical powers that steals computer technology from human explorers and goes to space using arcane engines.
  
• A spindly creature that looks like a giant mess of ferrous wire loops. It uses segments of its body like tentacles to grip a specially designed phone while browsing the web.

There are lots of humans discussing a range of subjects, but you don't particularly have the sensory capability to listen to them all. One group in particular is discussing local politics, criticizing the local mayor for abusing his powers as an elected official to create a cabinet of close relatives, thus giving them a huge amount of power over Guild assets in the area and over future elections.

The floor below you is where all the undergraduate laboratories are. The floors are getting wider as you approach the base of the structure.

...

Excelsior, Francia Orbit | 235d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Burgundy Lobby
Heavy Chatter (-1 Intellect, +2 Stealth)

((F*** YEAH! Space pirates.))

Finally, someone willing to fight the space pirates, I'm so gonna join.

"Me, I'm from P76 yadda yadda Gamma, most just call it Bob. It's that planet with all the killer mutants on it.
I kinda got exiled due to killing too many dudes. Also, may I join in attacking the space pirates? I really want to fight space pirates... because space pirates."

Try to join them in fighting space pirates... SPACE PIRATES!

[5] Etcher can wait.

"Fantastic. We already have enough support, and the plan is looking solid. Get on the armada's biggest ships, fight our way to the core, and either destroy the ships or take them for ourselves. How's your zero-G fighting?"

The mercenaries are ready to leave for the most part, although there is one really huge guy in power armor that also seems to be joining them. You listen in on the conversation.

Other: You mentioned boarding?
Firehawk: Our first order of business is to cut off the armada's orbital support. We are outnumbered shipwise, so we can't simply blow them out of orbit. We have specialized armored boarding craft built for the task of
Other: I am well-suited to this task.
Firehawk: Excellent. Remember you'll get paid for each objective. That means every head down or incapacitated.
Other: Perfect. Sign me up.

Spoiler: Boarding (click to show/hide)

Boarding is generally a very stupid tactic unless neither the attacker nor defenders have very effective weapons. However, dedicated boarding craft (essentially gigantic compartmentalized husks with hundreds of decoy modules and extremely overpowered engines) are able to close in the gap and deploy landers in a fairly reliable fashion, especially while other ships draw fire. Boarding husks are usually a one-off deal, used to get troops onto the enemy ships and then abandoned in orbit.

Boardings are generally only done by a side that lacks either the endurance or the accurate weaponry needed to subdue the other side. It is also done when the other side is unable to defend itself. Covering an old cargo ship in depressurized containers and fuel is generally much easier than equipping a vessel for total destruction of the enemy. Due to the inability of hypervelocity weapons to punch through multiple compartments of a ship, boarding husks can last white a while even under heavy fire.

[~Neri]

((Boarding would also make sense if you were trying to capture enemy tech.))

[WillowLuman]

((Or personnel, other items, etc. Though in most cases it would still make more sense to beat the enemy vessel into submission first.))

[_DivideByZero_]

((Boarding would also make sense if you were trying to capture enemy tech.))

((Or personnel, other items, etc. Though in most cases it would still make more sense to beat the enemy vessel into submission first.))

((I was going to add the case of "you want something on the enemy ship" to cover that but I figured that boarding is obvious when your opponent has been crippled. if you want to steal something from the enemy without damaging it you would have to either subdue the vessel to the point where it's defenseless, or do a "hot landing" where you use the "strap tons of armor and compartments onto a cargo vessel and ram the enemy" tactic to get troops through enemy fire. If you can't do the former, you'd usually have to do the latter.

If you wanted to board to steal stuff you would either not want to go through the effort of crippling the enemy, or the enemy is already crippled.))

[SaberToothTiger]

If I have a flashlight, try to use it to signal the ship. If not, say that I am directly below and wave my arms wildly.

[Gamerlord]

There should be tools lying around. Find some and get that lock open. But first, check the storage compartments.

[Happy Demon]

((That, and they're all human (kinda).))

Boarding? This keeps getting better and better.

*Wave tail*
"Well, my tail lets me grab things while my hands are full, and I'm really good at stabbing things in zero-G, even with my spear on my back."

If not yet joined in fighting space pirates, join in fighting space pirates.
If joined in fighting space pirates, it may be time to get to the choppa the ship.

[Happy Demon]

((Touch extra fluffy tail. Fluff time.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Lords

The Lords are a group of influential people, most of them are mutants.
All untitled citizens can be exiled from P769-524-FF-67532-Gamma (Bob) by a Lord, but titled ones (even titles given because of mass murder) require several Lords to exile.
Exiling a Lord requires a large amount of Lords to do, so it never happens.
All Lords are obliged to own a weapon, if they don't have one, they'll be given one, if they throw it away, then they'll no longer be a Lord.
There are about 50 Lords, 7 of which are space admirals, and 5 who are generals.

All 7 space admirals are Bio-Sludge, and have been secretly smuggling other Sludge to all over the universe.
They smuggle them onto some of the outgoing ships, without them noticing, and they're only found when they've already visited other worlds.
Only Lords may be space admirals, if someone becomes a space admiral, they automatically become a Lord.
Only 2 of the space admirals are known to be Bio-Sludge by the non-Bio-Sludge Lords.

Edit: ((Fluff on non-fluffy entities.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Lich

The Liches are 4th generation mutants descended from the Strong-Arms.
They have a natural exoskeleton forming around their bodies, in addition to their endoskeleton (though there are changes), but some of it closely resemble it in structure, making their heads look like exposed craniums.
It's common for them to form additional exoskeleton, such as horns, spikes, claws, etc.
Their normal bodies keeps it's slow regeneration, but is less sturdy, their exoskeleton on the other hand is bulletproof, regenerates, and can adapt to physique change.
Their ribcage and cranium is fused with their exoskeletal counterparts, giving them thick bony breastplates, and thick skulls.

These mutations has drawbacks though, those with covered hand insides can't feel touch with their bone covered hands (or use a touch screen), they have dampened hearing, and their field of view is limited.
Their hands are bigger and as such cannot use most guns made for human hands.
They have grills on their breastplates and numerous other places to let them cool themselves, and they often have some sort of shut off system in case of cold or vacuum.
They also can store oxygen which allows them to hold their breath longer.

[Ama]

Float over to the orcish alien.

"Greetings, my name is Slvia the 4th. I have heard of that book your reading but I`m afraid I never have had a chance to read it. Is it any good?"

[_DivideByZero_]

Port Newton, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)

If I have a flashlight, try to use it to signal the ship. If not, say that I am directly below and wave my arms wildly.

Your suit has lights on the front. They should work as signal lights if you lie on your back in the water.

As the craft approaches the vicinity of the boat, you activate the lights and try to rotate your body, swinging back and forth as a signal. [4] The craft changes its trajectory, moving toward your location over the water. The doors on the underside open up, and a hand starts letting a rope through.

(5) vs [6] However, the signal light has drawn the attention of more than just your rescuers. A burst of SMG fire lands dangerously close to your position on the water, splattering quite a bit of droplets into your face. You realize that climbing up on the rope would make you into a sitting duck for the brief moments until you are inside.

Fortunately, your suit's comms are operable without hands or external equipment, and you can contact the spaceplane right now to warn them. They probably saw the weapons fire.

...

Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)

Float over to the orcish alien.

"Greetings, my name is Slvia the 4th. I have heard of that book your reading but I`m afraid I never have had a chance to read it. Is it any good?"

"It's trash. I honestly like Jack Roulette's works, but the writing and plot in this one is a trainwreck. Invisible Sun was a great series, I'm not sure why he stopped working on it." it belches.

Ah, Invisible Sun. A tale about a civilization on a planet powered by invisible lasers from a dyson sphere around the system's dwarf sun. It's vaguely reminiscent of Zumbar records on a Horgaeran planetary engineering experiment. They tried to build a society of supersoldiers, taking advantage of a small sun with a large planetary system and systematically turning the dyson swarm's lasers on different planets in the system after seeding them with life. Every time, though, the society that formed was pacifistic rather than warlike, and so the project was scrapped.

The alien's bookmark appears to be placed near the end of the book. Despite his negative opinion of it, he seems to have read through it most of the way.

...

There should be tools lying around. Find some and get that lock open. But first, check the storage compartments.

[6/1] You sneak some tools over into the cargo bay with yourself. Additionally, you look around for anything of value inside the storage compartment. It's all stored in boxes and bolted to the floor, and the labels are unhelpful. However, with a few hammer blows you get one of the boxes open and find a cylindrical device with three long, extendable legs. The device has an aperture on the side with the legs and a control panel on the top, although you can't read the alien alphabet to figure out what it is exactly.

Also in the box are several shovels, picks, drills, and handheld devices with a viewscreen and some sort of transparent storage compartment the size of your hand.


[4] Now for the lock. You smash it open without complications and discover an inner airlock with a manual valve, rather than a computerized system. An analog pressure meter marks the current pressure and the needed pressure to open the inner door.

...

Burgundy, Francia | 235d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Burgundy Lobby
Heavy Chatter (-1 Intellect, +2 Stealth)

((That, and they're all human (kinda).))

Boarding? This keeps getting better and better.

*Wave tail*
"Well, my tail lets me grab things while my hands are full, and I'm really good at stabbing things in zero-G, even with my spear on my back."

If not yet joined in fighting space pirates, join in fighting space pirates.
If joined in fighting space pirates, it may be time to get to the choppa the ship.

[5] Indeed, it's time to get to the M19-K Choppa. A fast shuttle designed to fly at 1.6 G's and load troops onto ships quickly. The ride is quite bumpy thanks to the acceleration and turning, but finally you make it to the troopship: a massive cargo vessel coated in useless modules and compartments functioning as armor.

Compartmentalization is, in fact, one of the best ways to stop hypervelocity weapons. This ship takes it just a little too far, however...

...

Troopship Severin, Franz Orbit | 238d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

The battle is about to commence. While a few warning shots have already come your way, some hitting, others missing entirely, the troopship strolls along paying little attention to what's thrown at it. The pirate fleet resolves itself on the viewscreens. It is made up of about forty assorted vessels of different classes and sizes, most probably stolen from some military in fact. The largest ship is painted with a huge Jolly Roger and bears the name of one written on the side in flashy letters. How stereotypical.

'All pods on the pirate battleship'

That's the signal to prepare the delivery pods for launch. You're not going to be landing on the ship, you are going to pound your way through the hull and enter the fray whilst in the heat of battle. Of course.

'Arrival in three hours. Get ready.'

You've accustomed yourself to the available weaponry and armor, although you haven't chosen just yet. Here's the equipment available:

Armor
-Light Carbyne Armor (Lightweight and bullet-resistant. It's more effective against powerful rounds than small, rapid-fire weapons.) [D1 W0]
-Medium Combat Armor (This augments your strength so you can carry more armor. It's also heavy and has great inertia, so it will be harder to fight in gravity and easier in zero G) [D2 W1]
-Heavy Powersuit (A walking tank. You'll have to draw straws to get one.) [D3 S3 W3]

Weapons
-Plasma Bolters (These tend to deliver a large amount of heat to the target right away, and cause the target to sustain a painful shock in-atmosphere. They lose effectiveness in the vacuum of space, however, which may be a liability if you fight under zero pressure.)
-Particle Cannons (Messy, but deadly. These tend to scatter a lot of x-rays into the hull and will hurt targets behind the original target more than the first target itself, at least against unarmored foes. The weapon excels at taking down armored foes but has little stopping power.)
-Heavy Rifles (high-bore rifles tend to have huge recoil, more than your assault rifle, which can be a plus if you want to use the recoil to knock yourself into cover. They also rip through space suits.)

[Gamerlord]

Take the cylinder thing but be careful with it, for some reason I'm put in mind of a mortar. Open up that pressure door!

[Happy Demon]

Light Carbyne Armor, good at one on one, but crap once more people arrive, good if you're a security guard, bad for fighting large amounts of people.
Heavy Powersuit, I so want one, but I'll be unlikely to get one. Medium Combat armor, the extra weight and strength lets me throw myself at my enemies harder, and make shishkebabs.
Plasma Bolter, I don't like plasma weapons, so no. Particle Cannon, the armor piercing is great, but there's a better option.
Heavy Rifle, f*** yeah! Trajectory adjustment, everything it hits it destroys, and it's not one of those fancy particle or plasma thingies.

Take a Medium Combat Armor and a Heavy Rifle. Also, take some time to get used to the armor.

[SaberToothTiger]

"Unknown shooter, automatic gun and on the ship!"
Dive underwater, then burst upwards and try to get up as fast as possible.

[_DivideByZero_]

Port Newton, Northern Ridge, Askarian | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Askarian Shores
Snow (Low visibility. Actions toward distant objects incur a small penalty based on distance)
Freezing Wind (-1 to all actions when exposed)

"Unknown shooter, automatic gun and on the ship!"
Dive underwater, then burst upwards and try to get up as fast as possible.

Have you tried diving in a suit filled with air? It's not easy!

[4] However, you are able to do it just fine, somehow. You slowly float back up, but the reduced gravitational acceleration and water pressure combined with the fact that there are still a lot of metal parts in your suit means that you don't just pop back up instantly. You retain a little momentum when you come back out, flying a little into the air and grabbing a conveniently placed rope from the spaceplane. The lower gravity makes it very easy to hang on and climb up.

As you reach the airlock, you wonder why the shooter hadn't continued firing. He would have to be a very slow loader if he ran out of magazine, although you didn't keep track of the number of bullets fired.

The spaceplane is pressurized, although some crew prefer to keep their suits on just in case the worst happens. It's a Guild habit.

Looking out a porthole in the airlock, you notice a suited figure on the top deck. By his side you see Orion's limp body, perhaps still alive but unmoving. The figure holds something large, long, and bulky in a vertical position. Perhaps it's a radio antenna, or... uh oh.

...

Habitat Ship Gamma, Askarian Orbit | 233d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Urban Station
City Manners (-1 to first impressions)

Take the cylinder thing but be careful with it, for some reason I'm put in mind of a mortar. Open up that pressure door!

It's too large to fit into a pack, so you drag it with you into the airlock along with some cutting tools.

[4] As you twist the wheel, you hear air rushing through channels in the door. Taking care not to do it too quickly, you finish the job in a couple of minutes and soon find yourself inside a totally alien environment, complete with panels everywhere covered in gibberish and flashing colors.

The shuttle itself is tiny, with a a lower level (that you are inside) and an upper deck where the pilot resides. The lower deck contains several lockers, which are locked, and a refrigerator with lots of alien food available, including what vaguely resembles a turkey wrapped in plastic. The plastic, on closer inspection, turns out to be some transparent soapy goo that keeps itself separate from surfaces it touches, but is weak enough to tear.

Climbing the ladder to the upper deck, you find benches placed around a center display, which shows a hologram of the Guild ship, along with some... strange maps in one corner. One displays what looks like a map of the Von Hapsburg system long with a red dot leaving a trail behind. It looks like it's currently heading toward either Ulysses or Askarian... both are lined up.

There is a door on the second deck that probably leads to a closet. You try the handle but it too is locked.

You feel very awkward in this atmosphere. The denser air makes it hard to move quickly, as air friction stops your limbs from moving rather quickly.

...

Burgundy, Francia | 235d/3008AD | Von Hapsburg System

Burgundy Lobby
Heavy Chatter (-1 Intellect, +2 Stealth)

Light Carbyne Armor, good at one on one, but crap once more people arrive, good if you're a security guard, bad for fighting large amounts of people.
Heavy Powersuit, I so want one, but I'll be unlikely to get one. Medium Combat armor, the extra weight and strength lets me throw myself at my enemies harder, and make shishkebabs.
Plasma Bolter, I don't like plasma weapons, so no. Particle Cannon, the armor piercing is great, but there's a better option.
Heavy Rifle, f*** yeah! Trajectory adjustment, everything it hits it destroys, and it's not one of those fancy particle or plasma thingies.

Take a Medium Combat Armor and a Heavy Rifle. Also, take some time to get used to the armor.

Gained Arcas Heavy Rifle
Gained Puma Mobile Suit (trained)

You squint out the holographic viewports, noticing little orange tongues lashing out of Franz' hazy yellow atmosphere. Every time one of these appears, a pirate vessel suffers a column of sparks and debris jetting out of its side.

Over the intercom, it seems that an executive from Franz Hydroponics is speaking.
"The pirates are having a little bit of... trouble assaulting our former site. You see, there's a reason why we picked Franz as our base of operations. The place is ridiculously defensible. Our ground-mounted IR lasers, though rogue, are still operational and are giving us a bit of fire support. Kinetic rounds, on the other hand, don't fare so well against 3.4 bars of atmosphere. Unfortunately that means we will also have some trouble landing ourselves to deal with the enemy forces groundside."

The ship rumbles a little under enemy fire.

"Greetings, interlopers. Franz Hydroponics is under our ownership for the time being. The Brotherhood will not hesitate to turn every last one of your vessels into scrap. This is the last warning."

The boarding husk continues toward the pirate flagship. Soon, it makes contact--with several hypervelocity railgun strikes that cause the hull to shudder and the alarms to sound.

"We lost a skeleton deck. I think it's time to strike."
"Let's get moving, boys! To your pods!"

The boarding shall be done via armored pods, launched into the enemy hull via linear accelerator. There are two types:
-Fluid capsules are used as projectiles, punching their way through the hull and into crew sections by force. The downside is the tremendous G-forces experienced by boarders, and as such special inertial dampening measures (suspending the boarders in a slimy goop) are taken. It will take some time before the disorientation wears off from un-gooping.
-Drill capsules slow down before making contact and drill into the hull. They tend to get jammed between hull plates before reaching the crew compartments, which slows down the effort considerably. Fortunately, you have jetpacks in case you don't even make it to the ship, and cutting tools to work your way deeper.

You have a choice of picking your capsule type and getting fired at one of three major sections of the pirate craft.
-The grav-ring is likely to be heavily defended, but is also the target of heavy fire support. The primary bridge is located here--if you can keep the pirates from redirecting control to an emergency bridge, you'll be able to control the ship.
-The hangar bay is important as the Jolly Roger can maintain deploy two destroyers of its own. If you sabotage or take control of these destroyers before they launch, more capsules can be safely launched without risking point defense fire from the destroyers. Zero-g.
-The gun deck consists of the maintenance shafts along the midsection of the ship leading to the various weapons systems. You will be given breaching charges and are tasked with disabling combat modules to give your fleet an advantage. Zero-g.