FTL: Limited Information (Federation Victory!)

[callforjudgement]

PvtUrist's aim is surprisingly good, landing every shot. The enemy bounces one laser harmlessly off our shields, and that's the last they'll be able to influence the battle; we take down their weaponry and shields, and the planetary defense system finishes them off.

The planet might have got the kill, but we're much nearer the resulting debris field. We make off with ⛯12.

Even better, the planet we helped decides to help us back. There's a shipyard here, and although they don't have much in the way of components for Federation military ships, they can at least replace some of the more heavily damaged parts of our hull plating.

[callforjudgement]

Jump 20

Evacuator (n)

. A brand of transport ships designed for moving very large numbers of people in emergencies.

There's not much at this beacon but a small planet. It's been evacuated already, but it's on an important route through the sector, so we aren't the only ship passing this way; a transport ship arrives at the same pull, carrying refugees from further away.

Neither of us has anything to offer the other apart from conversation and information about the conditions in the sector, but talking is a good way to pass the time until the next beacon's jumpcycle is about to complete. Apparently, there's not just one war going on, but three. The war between the Federation and Rebels, you know all too well, and it's spilled even into this sector. The invasion of this sector by an unknown race is also all too evident. However, apparently the invaders aren't all on the same side; there are many reported incidents of them attacking each other, and even defending some of the indigenous inhabitants of the area. There's not much you can obviously do with this information right now, but you note down the intelligence just in case it comes in useful later.

[PvtUrist]

Emu War

[callforjudgement]

Jump 21

Xenobiology (n).

The study of alien or previously unrecognised lifeforms.

Many people may see this sector as haunted or cursed, but to scientists, there's surely got to be a logical explanation for anything. We find a mobile laboratory ship here, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the sector.

That sounds like an opportunity to make a trade, and it's a very easy way to make some cash. We've been in a fight with some of these creatures, and swapped stories with many of the inhabitants here; we can pretty easily find things that are of use to them. In particular, some material that's just scrap to us is worth more studied than scrapped, so we have no trouble trading it for some junk metal they own, making a profit of ⛯15.

[Varsoon]

Twist is that PvtUrist is a Lanius with a secondary goal of get ship oxygen to as close to 0 as much as possible throughout the game?

[callforjudgement]

Jump 22

More greed than speed (phrase)

. An insult among pirates aimed at people who don't manage to finish salvaging the wreckage of a fight by the start of the next jumpcycle. Remaining in the area during a beacon pull can be a huge risk to a pirate operation, but leaving scrap behind is also seen as a huge mistake, so pirates have to learn to work quickly when it comes to picking up the pieces of their enemies.

We arrive, and see more alien ships. One of them is currently in fragments, the other is picking them up. Sensible ships know better than to pick fights at the end of jumpcycles, so presumably these ships weren't sensible; you know from experience that the "demons" can be lightning-fast at taking anything that's there for the taking.

[Varsoon]

Broke your bold tags there, callforjudgement.

Fixed — callforjudgement

[Varsoon]

Also, that jump a few back, we got repaired a little!
So we're actually sitting pretty good. Still not super comfortable with it, would love to be topped off, but this is manageable. We could probably scrape through one or two rough fights at this state.

[callforjudgement]

You never do find out how or why the fight started, or even whether our enemy was a scavenger or whether it started the fight itself. Probably they were a scavenger, because they tried to run away, but we'd already disabled their engine controls at that point.

What you do find, though, is the looted debris of the first ship, and the newly-created debris of the second. It has a value of around ⛯20.

[Varsoon]

WE GETTIN RICHIE RICH OVAH HERE

[callforjudgement]

Jump 23

Cornerpost (n)

. The sort of eclectic trading post that tends to crop up in places which are more lightly trafficked, or where the flow of traffic is experiencing a temporary burst. Unlike more established and larger stores, a cornerpost tends to have only a limited selection of items, often priced bizarrely.

Well, we've accomplished what many of the inhabitants here were aiming for: we've reached a Long-Range Beacon. Probably a good thing, too; the Rebels definitely knew we were in this sector, and must have been close to finding us.

This beacon doesn't seem to have had much use until recently, but there are people trying to take advantage of the flow of ships to sell whatever they might have on hand.

(Only a limited selection of items is available here, but I'll post prices in your PTs in case anyone wants to buy anything.)

[Varsoon]

Oh wow they're selling a VERY cheap generator upgrade.
I bought it all on my own.
Our engines should now be fully charged.

[PvtUrist]

Nothing special on the weapons side

Not do top us of, lest waste is made of free repairs.

[callforjudgement]

Once any shopping's been done, we're going to have to jump out of here.

Assuming the map in #195 is still accurate, there are only two routes which take us closer to the Federation High Command; and fortunately, the next sector on each of them is reachable from the beacon. One of them seems peaceful enough, but is already fairly heavily populated; that's where all the refugees

want

to go, but there's a lot of trouble with immigration, especially when there's an almost uninhabited sector just next door. It seems that the area is sparsely populated for a reason, though: it doesn't have much in the way of useful raw materials or anywhere that could serve as a hub for an advanced civilization, so it's basically just a backwater.

Here's a repeat of the map with our position updated, showing just the routes we can use. We haven't heard an update from a Federation sensor station in a while, so maybe the situation has changed since, but it's better to have something to go on than nothing.

Code: Select all

    ?   ?-?-F
   / \ / \ / \
  X   ?   ?-?-C
   \ / \ / / /
    F   H-F-?

X = we are here
C = Federation High Command
F = area is under the control of the Federation or its allies
H = area is not under Federation control
? = area is uninhabited, or no information available

[PvtUrist]

VOTE: food sector

[Varsoon]

Bring us to the sector with the fighting, please.

[Varsoon]

We also are getting a liiiittle lower on fuel. We could maybe sustain if we pillage a good deal through this sector, but if we're unlucky on that front, we can not finish both this sector and the next without having to buy some fuel.

[Enter]

Neither one will have a lot of fighting, right/

[Enter]

One doesn't have people in it the other is owned by allies

[callforjudgement]

the worst, do you have opinions about where to go next?

[the worst]

I'd prefer to go to the Federation/ally controlled sector at the moment.
(Sorry, work's been busy)

[callforjudgement]

Jump 24

Border (n)

. The space separating an area under the control of one major power, from space under the control of another. Borders are designed so that they cannot be crossed using a single jump, so in theory, a region of space can be protected from outside invaders simply by keeping a strong force at the border. Of course, that doesn't help against attacks from inside, and borders often seem to leak somehow, but they still serve as a valuable first line of defence.

The best route has surely got to be going through a Federation-controlled area, so that's where our ship ends up. There's a heavy police presence at the border, but they're not willing to stop a Federation military ship; we're the sort of people who are

supposed

to have access into a place like this. They warn us that they're a bit overstretched dealing with all the refugees trying to enter, and that lawlessness is on the rise through the sector as a result, but think that we should be able to handle it (and hint that it might be helpful if we go and take out some outlaws for them). So at least the authorities aren't going to try to stop us making our way through here.

[callforjudgement]

Jump 25

Quarantine (v, n).

A cordon established to prevent the spread of disease. With millions of inhabited planets spread around the galaxy, there are billions of possible diseases, and allowing them all to spread would likely be non-survivable. Instead, diseases for which no treatment is readily available are confined to the planet on which they originate, until a cure can be found, via preventing travel.

This beacon is normally quite busy, but right now it's only used by people passing through; there's a travel ban on the nearby planet, in order to help confine the spread of a recently discovered disease. We don't want to break quarantine and risk infection, so we can't do much here.

[callforjudgement]

Jump 26

Pulltrapping (v).

Moving a beacon (while leaving it within its normal range) so that arriving ships end up somewhere unexpected, allowing for surprise atttacks. Beacons normally broadcast the fact that they've been tampered with, but sometimes this broadcast can be disabled as well, potentially placing arriving ships in a lot of danger.

This beacon isn't where it's meant to be; instead, it's dangerously close to a red giant. It looks like some pirates are trying to profit off anyone who happens to come past, as they have a powerful ship of their own stationed here, although we didn't see the ship immediately; it seemed to be hidden in a cloaking field. It's a pretty dangerous opponent, bristling with weapons, and with a secondary shield generator of its own.

[PvtUrist]

This bad we retreat