Star Army

Star ArmyⓇ is a landmark of forum roleplaying. Opened in 2002, Star Army is like an internet clubhouse for people who love roleplaying, art, and worldbuilding. Anyone 18 or older may join for free. New members are welcome! Use the "Register" button below.

Note: This is a play-by-post RPG site. If you're looking for the tabletop miniatures wargame "5150: Star Army" instead, see Two Hour Wargames.

  • If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 December 2024 is YE 46.9 in the RP.

RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [4th AASP] Recruitment

The display built into the center of the table would continue to display the conversation between Drei and the Yamatians as a floating projection.

To: NSS Asp
From: YSS Eucharis

Please proceed to attached coordinates in the restricted salvage field where you will find our light starbase. We will meet aboard the starbase. The area is secured by my squadron and twenty ships of the Star Army Tenth Fleet.

Please do not deploy any weapons or drones or use any shield systems other than the absolutely necessary. Please do not attempt to retrieve any salvage without our expressed prior consent.

Signed,

Taisa Ketsurui Hanako
Commander, Second Squadron, First Expeditionary Fleet

“Well. Back to the shuttle then,” Wazu said, looking over at Orion as he stood back up from his chair, “I will leave a datapad or something in the shuttle. If you need to leave you can excuse yourself to go and get it. It would also be helpful if you told Orchid a little more about the darkening so she can better understand what we are dealing with. Zoey, it might be best if you stay here. I can not anticipate how you will react over there and I want to give Drei another chance to check you over but you are welcome to come along if you want.”


The NSS Asp and the two drones it had deployed would use their FTL systems to quickly move over to the outer edge of the debris field. The two drones would move ahead of the Asp, using their built in highground systems to knock pieces of material out of the path of the ship as it moved into the field, closing the distance with the second squadron’s starbase. The ship’s shields remained confined to a few hundred meters out from the ship, keeping the interdiction from interfering with the Yamatain’s ships but remaining present enough to provide protection against anything trying to warp directly onto the ship.
 
It took a while for Orion to find the definition of 'gunboat diplomacy' by browsing the Polysentience, as this term was alien to him. "Hmph. Such ignorant and blatant disregard for proper negotiations are to be expected from the Yamatai...

Thank you for your consideration, Heram. I am currently searching for diplomatic courses and seminars over the Polysentience while I browse the ships networks, as so to improve my performance when we're there. I find it disadvantageous for us to head to their ship and negotiate there, but knowing the Yamatai, they aren't going to yield to our preferences..." The hybrot followed after the commander of the 4th AASP team, only turning to Orchid when he was suggested he explain the Darkening.

"The Darkening was a horrid, horrid conflict that ensued when the Yamataian Star Empire noticed the Free State was a primary source for proxy wars against it-- that is, using mercenaries to anonymously attack other nations. About two years ago, Yamatai destroyed several of our homes and factories, particularly our main hub for our Polysentience networks, the Great Lighthouse. They did not hesitate to do so, and they in no moment warned us of the attack. They simply raided our space and were done with it, and left us with a huge gaping hole in our systems, which we have been slowly rebuiling over the course of time.

The Freespacers have since retained a grudge for the Yamatai. Simply choosing to eradicate us for our services, which could potentially be used against them, is an unforgivable, unwarranted selfish act that we will always see as an atrocity.

If our services really were causing them that much trouble, then that would mean that they were doing something wrong in the first place. Not to mention, in the end, proxy wars are lead by someone that is not the 'tool' of the attack. What Yamatai did was akin to 'sundering a cloaked man's sword'. The man may be weaponless now, but he still wishes ill against Yamatai, and once he finds another weapon or another means to attack, he will do so. If Yamatai really wanted to end the attacks, they should not have destroyed us, but our wielder.

The conflicts will continue, whether or not they be direct or indirect. A sword is but a weapon, but a man is a thousand and more..."
 
"The room is intended to host diplomatic services" Zoey says "According to the specs given to me by Master Wazu" she brings up the schematics of what she has so far (Here)

Zoey listened to Wazu's speech with the others, but when he got to the part about the NMX lacking the intelligence to retake she whispered gently to the com system, giving Wazu a little private message. "Master, you may be underestimating the intelligence of the NMX. They are not like the SMX, they have cut away much of their dead weight... Or so my former master used to say. I believe them to be capable of retaking the initiative."
 
“Alright, now I understand where that will go,” Orchid said to Zoey, “But I will need to move a few things around.”

Orchid listened to what Wazu wanted for the ship and got a better idea of what he was asking.

“I think we can come up with something that can efficiently do what you want it to and be visually pleasing,” Orchid replied.

She then patiently listened as Wazu talk about the wars. She was not into war, which was part of the reason why she knew so little about those going on around her. When she had been asked to design a crew module for a space ship, the early mock ups had come out looking like they were meant for a pleasure cruise with a really bad economy class rather than something meant to go into battle. There were revisions and there would be more to come as well. But now she had to focus on the situation at hand.

Orchid headed back to the shuttle with the others and listened to Orion tell her about the darkening and the Yamatai.

“If you don’t mind my asking, what do they look like exactly?” Orchid asked of Orion when he was done, “I have never seen one in person and frankly I’m curious because the way you speak of them conjures images of brute-like fairytale villains.”
 
Wazu would let Orchid and Orion discuss the situation while he typed up a response to Zoey, “What has Grunder told you about the NMX?” He asked, sending the electronic message to her quickly as the group returned to the lift, making their way back to the shuttle attached to the side of the ship. Once again Wazu would be pulling the five point harness over his body, clipping it into place before sending out another message over the ship’s computer network using his datapad.

“Orion,

There has to be a better way of transporting you than messing with these chairs. What do the freespacers use and do you have a preference in system? Some type of specially tailored chair is going to be necessary for the bridge at least.”

Meanwhile, outside of the crew module, the two drones that the ship had deployed continued to float around, knocking bits of what used to be a starship away from the NSS Asp as the ship itself slowed itself to a stop relative to the Yamatai’s star base.
 
When Orion heard the reply, he was somewhat confused. "How... how the Yamatai look?" The answer to that question was so obvious, it was almost daunting that Orchid would be asking that. Nepleslia was part of Yamatai just a handful of decades ago, after all, and Orchid definitely looked old enough to have lived through the division era. "My, Ms. Anson, I'm surprised you don't know! Why, they are not much different than other humanoid creatures such as the Nepleslians or the Freespacers! Well, except for the bio-engineered Nekovalkyrja, which have odd, furred ears instead of the common 'humanoid' ears. The Yamatai are a bio-engineered race, of course, so there are a lot of biological processes that they have in addition of the common Nepleslian --"

Uso said:
"Orion,

There has to be a better way of transporting you than messing with these chairs. What do the freespacers use and do you have a preference in system? Some type of specially tailored chair is going to be necessary for the bridge at least.”

Between finally getting a hang of the systems of the ship, starting to read up on the basics of diplomacy and explaining Ms. Anson how the Yamatai looked like, Orion hadn't payed much attention to the fact that they were already on the shuttle again. "Oh, no, it's fine, Heram. I usually simply stay standing, or sit down on the floor. If your worry is that I may be uncomfortable, worry not. If your worry is that unnecessary damage might be placed onto your furniture, then perhaps it'd be best I stand?

I really have no objections against sitting down on the floor or being strapped to the wall instead of on a chair. Whichever is fine."
 
While still paying attention to Orion, Orchid took a seat on the shuttle and strapped herself in.

“Thank you for telling me, and please do not be so surprised. I have spent the better part of my life in a school surrounded by others of my same race and social class. Our parents sent us there to give us a top notch education and keep us away from the wars. I know that my father was in the military but I couldn’t tell you any more than that. He never said and I knew better than to ask. This trip is my first off my planet and the matters at hand are all quite new to me. Please don’t be angry with me for asking seemingly stupid questions, it is just that I really don’t know these things,” Orchid said with a significant amount of emotion in her voice.

She then turned her head away almost shamefully and said with her volume dropping just a bit, “Even my clients don’t know how little I know about the wars.”
 
Wazu would remain silent for a moment, rapidly pressing various buttons on the datapad in his hands, accessing Drei’s rapid prototyping systems to generate images of a few pieces of equipment to send to Orion. One of which was a five point harness inset into the wall while another was a five point harness inset into the floor which resembled a cargo tie down system rather than a restraint for a person.

“If you really aren’t one for chairs we can integrate the tiedowns into the floor or wall.” Wazu would say without looking up from his datapad. “A standardized large chair design might make sense for some of our larger power armors too. A stool really, the elemental series tend to have large pieces sticking out the back that make a chair with a back unusable.”
 
Wazu would continue to work on his datapad, sliding his fingers across the screen to guide Drei in generating a 3d model of Orion's chair.

"Orchid, could you handle this for me?" He asked.
 
Orchid looked at the message on her datapad from Wazu and said, “Yes”.

Then she worked on writing a response. Unfamiliar with protocol, she mostly mirrored the format used in the original message.

To: YSS Eucharis
From: NSS Asp

Here is the following requested information about our Diplomatic Team:

Our party contains 3 individuals.
There are two Neplesians and one Freespacer.
We require an oxygen rich environment with minimal to no germs, bacteria, or viruses.

Also if it is possible for a particularly strong stool to be substituted for one of the chairs in your negotiation location for use by the Freespacer on our team it would probably make things easier.

We appreciate your consideration in these matters.

Respectfully,
Orchid Anson,
Civilian Designer/ Ad Hoc Negotiator
 
The hybrot waved his hand at Wazu before dropping it down. "Yes, that would be much better." For the first time, Orion seemed distracted. He would follow Heram and Orchid wherever they went, but he otherwise seemed to be completely out of whatever conversations they were having.

"Oh, Heram, inform me when we've finally arrived at the Yamataian vessel. But please, don't make haste unless necessary... I require some time to learn the basics of their language." So now Orion was not only taking a diplomatic sermon through the Polysentience, he was also learning the NSS Asp systems AND learning Yamataian. Even for a Freespacer, doing so many things at once was definitely multi-tasking. Though, Orion wasn't sacrificing efficiency for speed. He could definitely do all those things at once and still learn each individual subject as well as a Nepleslian learning one single subject at a time. But doing a fourth thing, such as listening to conversations outside of the Polysentience, was a task he'd give less importance to at the moment, and would distract him from learning important subjects he would require to know in the near future.

Walking and following people around was mostly taken over by his A.I. companion, so he wasn't even doing that much.
 
Once the airlock doors had been closed up again, the shuttle would detach from its host starship, drifting away for a few moments before firing up its engines to push it towards the ikoi class starbase that was being displayed on the screens along both sides of the interior of the shuttle.

Meanwhile, the shuttle would open a channel to the starbase.
“A shuttle has been dispatched to your starbase, please provide docking instructions”

(OOC: We are temporarily going to be continuing here )
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top