Quest Deep Periphery Quest (Battletech Sandbox Empire Builder)
- Thread starter LordSunhawk
- Start date
Joyousmadman
Well-known member
[X] Organ Cloning
[X] Try to be sneaky
[X] Try to be sneaky
ShadowArxxy - Canon Omake - A Cat of a Different Coat Part 3
Omake, A Cat of A Different Coat, Part 3
"Her Majesty has 'suggested' that a certain highly trusted infantry unit should be tasked with this operation 'because they'll never see that coming'. In response, Sergeant Ngo has firmly reminded Her Majesty that she is no longer a lieutenant and is not allowed to come up with stupid ideas. That said, we are going to be utilizing 'outside assets' in order to minimize the chance of the target escaping."
Michelle Carter looked positively smug until an even smugger Queen grandly flourished her Official Royal Pen. "Congratulations on your preemptive pardon for piles of burglary, assault, and battery charges, Ms. Carter!"
"With all due respect, Your Highness, preemptive pardons are not a thing, and I'm not sure it sets a good precedent for either of us to take our, ah, cooperation that far."
"That's an excellent point." Janet facepalmed as the pen was grandly flourished again. Her Majesty was entirely too fond of playful theatricality. "I suppose I'll just have to hire you instead. How would Rudyard Kipling put it? Ah yes. 'This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures.'."
". . ."
"Best to just go with the flow." suggested Jane cheerfully. "Or my cousin will try to stiff you on pay rate."
"I AM NOT YOUR COUSIN!"
"Come, fellow Royal Operative -- to the BATMOBILE!"
"MY CAR IS NOT A BATMOBILE, AND YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO BORROW IT!"
"Get with the times, cousin, we're preemptively-pardon-stealing it!"
"ARGH!"
----
The combat hovercraft waiting outside already had the music cued, causing the founding uncriminal employees of the Crown Special Branch to wonder just how much of a complete sneak their new boss was.
"She would have been a spectacular evil overlord." sighed Michelle, wiping an imaginary tear. "Absolutely spectacular."
"Oooooh, she got us laser pistols and sneak suits!"
"See, she even has the sexy minion outfits!"
"Her Majesty has 'suggested' that a certain highly trusted infantry unit should be tasked with this operation 'because they'll never see that coming'. In response, Sergeant Ngo has firmly reminded Her Majesty that she is no longer a lieutenant and is not allowed to come up with stupid ideas. That said, we are going to be utilizing 'outside assets' in order to minimize the chance of the target escaping."
Michelle Carter looked positively smug until an even smugger Queen grandly flourished her Official Royal Pen. "Congratulations on your preemptive pardon for piles of burglary, assault, and battery charges, Ms. Carter!"
"With all due respect, Your Highness, preemptive pardons are not a thing, and I'm not sure it sets a good precedent for either of us to take our, ah, cooperation that far."
"That's an excellent point." Janet facepalmed as the pen was grandly flourished again. Her Majesty was entirely too fond of playful theatricality. "I suppose I'll just have to hire you instead. How would Rudyard Kipling put it? Ah yes. 'This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures.'."
". . ."
"Best to just go with the flow." suggested Jane cheerfully. "Or my cousin will try to stiff you on pay rate."
"I AM NOT YOUR COUSIN!"
"Come, fellow Royal Operative -- to the BATMOBILE!"
"MY CAR IS NOT A BATMOBILE, AND YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO BORROW IT!"
"Get with the times, cousin, we're preemptively-pardon-stealing it!"
"ARGH!"
----
The combat hovercraft waiting outside already had the music cued, causing the founding uncriminal employees of the Crown Special Branch to wonder just how much of a complete sneak their new boss was.
"She would have been a spectacular evil overlord." sighed Michelle, wiping an imaginary tear. "Absolutely spectacular."
"Oooooh, she got us laser pistols and sneak suits!"
"See, she even has the sexy minion outfits!"
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Turn 23 - Sound the Horn Loudly
Turn 23 - Sound the Horn Loudly…
You look over the notes that Jane had left you. Don Stanley’s crew was very small at this point, less than a half-dozen people. One of whom, unfortunately, was a tower controller at the small airport attached to the Palace that Willis had flown out of that fateful morning.
Careful snooping had discovered that whenever one of the Royal aircraft had flown this individual would issue an identically worded flight advisory to a non-existent track, which would be answered by a voice that sounded like Stanley’s. In this specific case, this controller had apparently mistook Sarah for you with her bundled up in her flight gear, and had given a slightly different flight advisory. Which was answered by Stanley.
One of the other members of his crew had been rated as a ‘master gunner’ with the unpowered AA mounts when he was in the service. His appearance matched the ‘skinny black guy with long hair’ description. He was believed to have been the actual shooter. Another was a tall white guy with a shaved bald head, who according to the files evidently specialized in kidnapping and extortion. All of the Asians (most of whom were not ethnic Japanese) had worked in the building in question and had been abducted just before the attack had occurred.
The third was the crew-cut Hispanic, who’d posed as a security guard in the foyer of the building and had given the warning when the police were on their way up, the real security guard was found with his throat slit stuffed in a closet.
There were two others, both of whom had been positively identified. One owned a janitorial supplies company and had used that to access all of the buildings used as platforms for the laser mounts, while the other owned a small one-truck transport firm which had been used to move the equipment about. Both were under surveillance.
Stanley himself had not yet been located, so surveillance was continuing until he was.
You’d already secretly established the Special Branch of the Queen’s Own Regiment, using your own personal funds and setting up a chain of command that went through Sergeant-Major Ngo (despite her objections to the idea). You already had a few people in mind for recruitment now that you had Jane working for you.
You had already set aside two sets of DEST Infiltration Suits produced without any of the chuuni flourishes by your labs for the use of the first two agents, Jane and a putative mafiosi named Michelle Carter, along with a pair of the new laser pistols and, the crowning item in your opinion, a suitably modified Chasseur painted all black with red trim and appropriate theme music cued up on the sound system.
You’d gotten help from Janet in coming up with some of that, while the two of you brainstormed over some truly excellent coffee.
Willis and Sarah were still in comas, no real change there, although the academy labs were working hard on cloning organs and hoped to have that ready in a month or so. They already had tissue samples and had assured you that so far everything in the datacores had validated experimentally.
Jeremy was in his senior year, he’d deliberately not skipped any years of school, unlike yourself. He’d gone in for neurohelmet compatibility testing and had shown a high aptitude. He’d already informed you that he intended to take a gap year and then enroll in the inaugural class of the Aerie when it became a full up university. Alita evidently had the same plan, although in her case she was intending to go into logistics rather than Mechwarrior track.
The proposed rebuild for the Pathfinder, dubbed the Pathfinder Mk 1A, was on your desk. It would replace the frame of the mech with endosteel, the armor with the new ferro-fibrous, remove the medium laser from the center torso along with both small lasers, then place a pair of medium lasers, one in each arm. A recon camera, a pair of remote sensor dispensers, and sufficient jumpjets to jump a full 210 meters complete the upgrade. (QM Note, this will add the Scout quality to the mech, which permits the reroll of 1 failed initiative test per combat turn for any unit on the same side as the unit with Scout).
[] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[] Decline - Look for something else.
[] Soldier on with the current flawed model
Parliament is rather quiet this year, with only routine legislation addressing minor issues that really don’t require much if any attention from the Crown.
You also receive the summaries of a number of internal and external design studies for a new assault tank to anchor the armored forces. Each is a heavily armed and armored design, and many incorporate the new LB-10X autocannon. In fact the only one without that new weapon is one of the two internal proposals, the Smilodon. Although the Smilodon still looks like an utterly fearsome beast indeed.
You look over the notes that Jane had left you. Don Stanley’s crew was very small at this point, less than a half-dozen people. One of whom, unfortunately, was a tower controller at the small airport attached to the Palace that Willis had flown out of that fateful morning.
Careful snooping had discovered that whenever one of the Royal aircraft had flown this individual would issue an identically worded flight advisory to a non-existent track, which would be answered by a voice that sounded like Stanley’s. In this specific case, this controller had apparently mistook Sarah for you with her bundled up in her flight gear, and had given a slightly different flight advisory. Which was answered by Stanley.
One of the other members of his crew had been rated as a ‘master gunner’ with the unpowered AA mounts when he was in the service. His appearance matched the ‘skinny black guy with long hair’ description. He was believed to have been the actual shooter. Another was a tall white guy with a shaved bald head, who according to the files evidently specialized in kidnapping and extortion. All of the Asians (most of whom were not ethnic Japanese) had worked in the building in question and had been abducted just before the attack had occurred.
The third was the crew-cut Hispanic, who’d posed as a security guard in the foyer of the building and had given the warning when the police were on their way up, the real security guard was found with his throat slit stuffed in a closet.
There were two others, both of whom had been positively identified. One owned a janitorial supplies company and had used that to access all of the buildings used as platforms for the laser mounts, while the other owned a small one-truck transport firm which had been used to move the equipment about. Both were under surveillance.
Stanley himself had not yet been located, so surveillance was continuing until he was.
You’d already secretly established the Special Branch of the Queen’s Own Regiment, using your own personal funds and setting up a chain of command that went through Sergeant-Major Ngo (despite her objections to the idea). You already had a few people in mind for recruitment now that you had Jane working for you.
You had already set aside two sets of DEST Infiltration Suits produced without any of the chuuni flourishes by your labs for the use of the first two agents, Jane and a putative mafiosi named Michelle Carter, along with a pair of the new laser pistols and, the crowning item in your opinion, a suitably modified Chasseur painted all black with red trim and appropriate theme music cued up on the sound system.
You’d gotten help from Janet in coming up with some of that, while the two of you brainstormed over some truly excellent coffee.
Willis and Sarah were still in comas, no real change there, although the academy labs were working hard on cloning organs and hoped to have that ready in a month or so. They already had tissue samples and had assured you that so far everything in the datacores had validated experimentally.
Jeremy was in his senior year, he’d deliberately not skipped any years of school, unlike yourself. He’d gone in for neurohelmet compatibility testing and had shown a high aptitude. He’d already informed you that he intended to take a gap year and then enroll in the inaugural class of the Aerie when it became a full up university. Alita evidently had the same plan, although in her case she was intending to go into logistics rather than Mechwarrior track.
The proposed rebuild for the Pathfinder, dubbed the Pathfinder Mk 1A, was on your desk. It would replace the frame of the mech with endosteel, the armor with the new ferro-fibrous, remove the medium laser from the center torso along with both small lasers, then place a pair of medium lasers, one in each arm. A recon camera, a pair of remote sensor dispensers, and sufficient jumpjets to jump a full 210 meters complete the upgrade. (QM Note, this will add the Scout quality to the mech, which permits the reroll of 1 failed initiative test per combat turn for any unit on the same side as the unit with Scout).
[] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[] Decline - Look for something else.
[] Soldier on with the current flawed model
Parliament is rather quiet this year, with only routine legislation addressing minor issues that really don’t require much if any attention from the Crown.
You also receive the summaries of a number of internal and external design studies for a new assault tank to anchor the armored forces. Each is a heavily armed and armored design, and many incorporate the new LB-10X autocannon. In fact the only one without that new weapon is one of the two internal proposals, the Smilodon. Although the Smilodon still looks like an utterly fearsome beast indeed.
| [] | Name | Cost | HP | Attack | Defense | Special |
| [] | Smilodon | 2193.6 | 108 | 18 | 18 | Tracked Armored |
| [] | Lion | 1803.6 | 104 | 17 | 17 | Tracked Armored |
| [] | I Did It Tank | 2366.8 | 104 | 17 | 17 | Tracked Armored |
| [] | I Did It Fuel Cell Tank | 1924.4 | 104 | 17 | 17 | Tracked Armored |
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[X] Lion
[X] Lion
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[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[X] Lion
Going with the Lion as the Smilodon (by word of QM) is a budget fuel cell demolisher tank armed with dual AC/20's while the Lion has a LB-10x, LRM-10, a MG and 8 Medium Lasers, which will perform far better (and be less likely to die charging the enemy) in the long run.
[X] Lion
Going with the Lion as the Smilodon (by word of QM) is a budget fuel cell demolisher tank armed with dual AC/20's while the Lion has a LB-10x, LRM-10, a MG and 8 Medium Lasers, which will perform far better (and be less likely to die charging the enemy) in the long run.
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Jarow
Well-known member
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
I'll need to make sure to have ferro-fib factory this turn, but otherwise should be fine
[X] Lion
In order to get LB (not 10)-x autocannons, we need a design that uses LB-10x. This gets us this, along with being the cheapest design
I'll need to make sure to have ferro-fib factory this turn, but otherwise should be fine
[X] Lion
In order to get LB (not 10)-x autocannons, we need a design that uses LB-10x. This gets us this, along with being the cheapest design
Decim
Chronic on/off lurker
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[X] Lion
[X] Lion
Tolack
Active member
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
It would be nice if the suggested vehicle builds had a link to their specifications pages, so we could make an informed decision on the vehicle to avoid another Pathfinder issue.
It would be nice if the suggested vehicle builds had a link to their specifications pages, so we could make an informed decision on the vehicle to avoid another Pathfinder issue.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[X] Lion
[X] Lion
Pseudo Write-In / Planning
This whole sordid business needs to be made public as soon as the traitors are safely in custody, both on principle and to stem this justified but ugly tide of public outrage before it leads to regrettable acts.
The black ops unit will be posthumously exonerated and honored for their service. The unit as a whole will be retroactively granted the equivalent of a Presidential Unit Citation for uncovering the Gem Conspiracy, as well as pardoned for the prison break on the grounds that they should never rightfully have been imprisoned in the first place. With the exception of the commanding officer who led the conspiracy, individual members of the unit will receive all commendations which are deemed appropriate by a promotion board looking at their case retroactively and *only* being briefed on that part of it.
However, they will *not* be pardoned for the actual treason they subsequently committed, and they will *absolutely* be executed for it. Even from a coldly pragmatic point of view, attempted regicide is an unforgivable offense for reasons other than, "The victim has the power to make it so." A degree of mercy is appropriate, but that would be commuting execution to life imprisonment for those who were only *indirectly* involved, and to allow those executed to die as soldiers with their earned honors rather than being legally unpersoned. As weird as it feels to decorate *and then execute* them, I think this is a suitable way to emphasize justice and fairness in the situation. It's a nasty situation, all in all.
Edit: This does not apply to Don Stanley, who will be subjected to full-fledged damnatio memorae. "This traitor has no name. This traitor has no record. This traitor has no place."
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kashim3
Texan, Mandalorian, Alabamian.
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[X] Lion
[X] Lion
Ridli Scott
Well-known member
[X] Accept - production and conversion of Pathfinders to 1A variants will be on hold until a Ferro-Fibrous factory is up and running. The initial conversion of the current lance will be free of charge and all future production will be of the new model. Stats will generally be the same, but cost will go up to 1422.8 per lance.
[X] Smilodon
[X] Smilodon
Turn 23 - Call the Hounds
Turn 23 - Call the Hounds
You sign off on the Pathfinder modification, even though it will require a Ferrofibrous factory to be built before it will be usable. You also sign off on the Lion as the new assault tank. The mass of lasers and the new LB-10X really sold you on the design.
You spend a few hours reading over old reports. You knew your father had been… weak. But you’d never realized just how easily manipulated he’d been. You guess you’d always had a bit of an idealized view of him since, well, he was your dad, and he’d always been there for his family. But he had been a terrible king.
For example, Leah Goodwin. All you had known about her was her reputation and her nickname, and even the brief interview with her hadn’t really registered all that much considering your state of mind at the time. According to the actual records? For all of her reputation as being a brutal killer who delighted in cruelty, she’d actually only ever killed one person, who’d been later identified as a shooter for the Gem conspiracy. Her entire reputation had been built up out of whole cloth by the media outlets owned by the conspiracy, and your father had done absolutely nothing to let the truth of the matter come out.
Mack Hogan? He never should have been allowed in the same room with you, let alone be considered for an advisor slot. He’d taken care of ‘problems’ for your father so your father never had to even know they existed. His reputation for being a murderous bastard was well and truly earned, and he’d been cashiered by your grandfather for premeditated murder before your father, under the advice of his ‘good friend’ Bradford Santos, had pardoned him and reinstated him.
And then there was Don Stanley. You’d considered him at the time, but you had served under General Wolf and personally trusted him. Few people had been so cruelly used and discarded by your father as he had been, and if the damn man had only come to you after the Gem Conspiracy had been crushed you’d have moved heaven and earth to make sure he was taken care of because of the gross injustices he’d suffered at the hands of your father. But no, instead he chose this.
You gritted your teeth. It stuck in your craw sideways, but while you hated him for what he’d done to your family, you couldn’t completely blame him for how much he hated your family. But he’d ultimately made his own choice, and his squad had made theirs as well.
You had them all under distant surveillance, but hadn’t made any moves on them at all. Jane and Michelle were leading the operation under your authority as direct agents of the crown. You still found it amusing how easy it was to bait Janet with the cousin line, but also how young both women were. Michelle may have been a hardened mob boss, but she was still in her 20s and had a lot to learn about real sneakiness, and Jane was hilariously easy to predict once you realized that she was still technically a teenager regardless of how capable she was.
And she was extremely capable. She’d pointed out that any electronics records that could be relevant to the team may well have hidden tripwires to warn them if they were accessed. So instead of accessing the live data on the servers, the team had taken the backups, cloned them, then ran them on completely isolated systems. And indeed a number of tripwires had fired, but were unable to actually do anything useful without any network connections. There had also been worms intended to destroy the data, or alter it, and observing them in action allowed your information security people to work out countermeasures to disable them without harming good data.
One of your teams had finally spotted Stanley.
You could probably sweep up all of the agents and contacts that you know about right now, but it might be more useful long-term to wait and observe to see if he contacts anybody else. You think you know about his entire network, but you aren’t 100% certain
[] Strike now, cut off the head of the snake along with all known associates and the body will die
[] Wait and observe. If you cut off a Hydra’s head, two more replace it.
You sign off on the Pathfinder modification, even though it will require a Ferrofibrous factory to be built before it will be usable. You also sign off on the Lion as the new assault tank. The mass of lasers and the new LB-10X really sold you on the design.
You spend a few hours reading over old reports. You knew your father had been… weak. But you’d never realized just how easily manipulated he’d been. You guess you’d always had a bit of an idealized view of him since, well, he was your dad, and he’d always been there for his family. But he had been a terrible king.
For example, Leah Goodwin. All you had known about her was her reputation and her nickname, and even the brief interview with her hadn’t really registered all that much considering your state of mind at the time. According to the actual records? For all of her reputation as being a brutal killer who delighted in cruelty, she’d actually only ever killed one person, who’d been later identified as a shooter for the Gem conspiracy. Her entire reputation had been built up out of whole cloth by the media outlets owned by the conspiracy, and your father had done absolutely nothing to let the truth of the matter come out.
Mack Hogan? He never should have been allowed in the same room with you, let alone be considered for an advisor slot. He’d taken care of ‘problems’ for your father so your father never had to even know they existed. His reputation for being a murderous bastard was well and truly earned, and he’d been cashiered by your grandfather for premeditated murder before your father, under the advice of his ‘good friend’ Bradford Santos, had pardoned him and reinstated him.
And then there was Don Stanley. You’d considered him at the time, but you had served under General Wolf and personally trusted him. Few people had been so cruelly used and discarded by your father as he had been, and if the damn man had only come to you after the Gem Conspiracy had been crushed you’d have moved heaven and earth to make sure he was taken care of because of the gross injustices he’d suffered at the hands of your father. But no, instead he chose this.
You gritted your teeth. It stuck in your craw sideways, but while you hated him for what he’d done to your family, you couldn’t completely blame him for how much he hated your family. But he’d ultimately made his own choice, and his squad had made theirs as well.
You had them all under distant surveillance, but hadn’t made any moves on them at all. Jane and Michelle were leading the operation under your authority as direct agents of the crown. You still found it amusing how easy it was to bait Janet with the cousin line, but also how young both women were. Michelle may have been a hardened mob boss, but she was still in her 20s and had a lot to learn about real sneakiness, and Jane was hilariously easy to predict once you realized that she was still technically a teenager regardless of how capable she was.
And she was extremely capable. She’d pointed out that any electronics records that could be relevant to the team may well have hidden tripwires to warn them if they were accessed. So instead of accessing the live data on the servers, the team had taken the backups, cloned them, then ran them on completely isolated systems. And indeed a number of tripwires had fired, but were unable to actually do anything useful without any network connections. There had also been worms intended to destroy the data, or alter it, and observing them in action allowed your information security people to work out countermeasures to disable them without harming good data.
One of your teams had finally spotted Stanley.
You could probably sweep up all of the agents and contacts that you know about right now, but it might be more useful long-term to wait and observe to see if he contacts anybody else. You think you know about his entire network, but you aren’t 100% certain
[] Strike now, cut off the head of the snake along with all known associates and the body will die
[] Wait and observe. If you cut off a Hydra’s head, two more replace it.
Thors_Alumni
Well-known member
[X] Strike now, cut off the head of the snake along with all known associates and the body will die
And we definitely need to fix that. We *need* a competent and trustworthy black ops commander -- not so much right now, but once we capture a jumpship, we're going to need operatives going offsystem.
Unless he was already executed as part of the Gem Conspiracy, he needs to be dealt with as well.
All in all, it's a terrible, tragic waste.
Michelle is honestly less "hardened mob boss" and more "well-connected mob heiress".
----
[X] Strike now, cut off the head of the snake along with all known associates and the body will die
All of our evidence suggests this is a small-scale conspiracy built around Stanley's former black ops unit, as opposed to something along the lines of a Second Gem Conspiracy.