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Captain’s Log – March 9, 2158 - Starbase – Status: Docked
As we used the starmap to set course for home, we immediately noticed that the Utwig and Supox battle fleet have already began moving towards Ur-Quan/Kohr-Ah territory to engage them in battle. Who was that masked man?… and who was that vegetable sidekick with him? After reaching the end of the system and on into HyperSpace, we activated the Quasi Portal Spawner and proceeded back to base.
As soon as we docked with Starport, Hayes was eager to greet us:
Commander Hayes –
“I am at your disposal, Captain.
I know you’re busy, but I’ve got some news.
A race of plant creatures called the Supox have
arrived in your absence, Captain.
They offered use of their ship designs and will
supply you as many starship captains as we require.
I, of course, accepted their offer immediately.
also
A small contingent of Utwig has visited.
After spending a few days setting up our
fabricators to build their Jugger starships…
…and providing us with a few capable commanders,
they departed.
Captain, if you continue to build such strong
alliances…
…we will surely win our battle against the Ur-Quan!”
It does make me wonder though, ‘How did the Supox and Utwig beat us here without the use of QuasiSpace?’ Anyway, then I asked about the bomb, to which Hayes said:
Commander Hayes –
“The analysis reads as follows:
SUBJECT: Utwig Bomb Device.
DATA: Analysis has yielded little information about this
device…
…largely because of our technicians’ unwillingness to
open it, or even remove the bomb from your ship.
That aside, here’s what we know so far:
The device is correctly defined as a Bomb… one of
Enormous destructive potential…
…but it is not of Utwig origin -- nothing about it
relates to the technology we see in the Jugger ship.
We believe it to be of late Precursor origin…
…though it somewhat resembles certain Chenjesu
technology.
Its original function? -- Probably a planeteering tool
for dispersing unwanted moons.
SUMMARY: Unless there is a strong reason to do
otherwise…
…DO NOT ACTIVATE THIS DEVICE! LEAVE IT ALONE!
Any experimentation should be conducted AT LEAST
12 ASTRONOMICAL UNITS from this starbase…
…and preferably a bit further.
That’s the end of our scientists’ report.”
Sure! Now they tell me! After the meeting it came time for crew reassignment, to which I’ve added a Supox, an Utwig and a Druuge to the officers list. Now the only thing left to do is to figure out which one should be assigned to each of the 3 officer openings, which are Chief Botanist, Shield Control Officer and Brig Officer. Maybe I’ll just put their names in a hat and draw for assigned positions.
Seeking advice, I asked Commander Hayes what he’d do if he were in my shoes (since it’s been quite a while since I’d asked him that question) but at first, I got the runaround. He told me to carry over 150 units of fuel, which I don’t totally agree with his logic, considering the presence of our Quasi Portal, but nonetheless, I went ahead and put another tank on and went back and asked again, but since Drydock hadn’t filled up our flagship yet (I could’ve sworn I put in that requisition order!) he repeated himself by saying we needed more fuel.
After making sure we were fueled up, he recommended we needed a bigger crew (over 200) so I removed the useless cargo bay, a dynamo unit and a tracking device (1 of 3) and replaced them with more crew pods (and made sure to fill out the proper recruitment forms) and scheduled another meeting.
He said we needed to return the cargo bay, even though we’ll probably never run out of resource units, so we did, but then for some weird reason he said that although we had a good squadron of ships (probably because we replaced the both the Stinger and Scout, the Yellow Jacket and the Chikuma, and have replaced them with a Supox Blade, the H.M.S. Willow and an Utwig Jugger, the H.M.S. Wallow) but he still insisted that we needed to add another point-defense laser system, so just to make him happy I installed an additional one and presented Hayes the new-and-improved Vindicator:
Commander Hayes –
“Hmm… let’s see…
You have constructed a flagship of unrivaled power.
You have established several successful alliances
with alien races.
You’ve assembled a good-sized fleet of combat ships.
We must find a chink in the Ur-Quan’s armor --
-- a weakness that will allow us to focus our
strength in such a way…
…that we can destroy their entire empire in a single,
bold stroke.”
Then I said, “Hey! Commander! Next time just tell me how you think I should assemble my ship so you can cut to the chase!”
We are preparing to leave Starbase. We will set course for
ooc ooc ooc. Captain out.
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ooc: Any guesses as to where is my next destination?