Last time we said goodbye to Space Vex, started to plan a skiing vacation and hatched a plan to remove the bounty on our heads.

“Just secure gems for us in the future. Obviously we’ll pay for them or work for them.”
>”I can manage that. I’ll call you back in a little bit Flicker, good luck.” She hangs up.
>True grins and punches you in the shoulder, “This is gonna be fuckin’ awesome cap’n! You think we’ll deal with Ember first or go on that vacation?”
>“Wait, what vacation?” Dex asks as he helps Star down from the gunner’s position above.
>”We’re going on vacation? Where?” Star slides up next to True’s chair, pecking her on the cheek.
“We don’t know where exactly, just somewhere snowy with a bar.”
>”That sounds pretty fun, I haven’t been skiing in years,” Dex taps his terminal a few times, “we’re about halfway between Harmony and the nearest colony. Harmony’s our best bet for a decent dentist but there might be one at the colony. Where do you wanna try Flicker?”

>>26073435
“Take us to Harmony, we need a decent dentist.”
>”I’ll get us there.” Star ushers you out of your seat and takes your place.
“I’ll look around for ski resorts then.”
>”Don’t forget the bar cap’n!” True calls as you and Fizzy head down to the living quarters.
>Rivet is down there, lying on the couch with a datapad resting on his chest.
>”Hey boss, next time you’re flying try not to smack everything in the system? You nearly fucked up the starboard engines.”
“Sorry about that, things were a little tight back there.”
>He snickers, “That’s what she said.”
>Fizzy sighs and grabs a magazine from the table, swatting Rivet’s muzzle with it.
>”Oww. Boss! Fizzy hit me!”

>>26073445
Well did you deserve it?

>>26073445
Play nice, children...

Didn't get to say it last thread, so happy (p)one year anniversary Space Horse. Thanks for sticking with it so long.

And see ya, Space Changeling. Now I have no excuse for not catching up.

>>26073445
“Well did you deserve it?”
>”I don’t know? A little?” He runs his muzzle, glaring at Fizzy.
>She sticks her tongue out at him, putting the magazine back.
“Stop complaining then. We’re going on vacation Rivet.”
>”Awesome! Where are we going?”
“Skiing, I’m gonna look for where we can go now.”
>You lie back in the armchair, bringing up your terminal.
>After a bit of searching you find a few places you could go, a luxury ski resort on Harmony, another ski resort on a small, uncolonized planet or you can rent a cabin at the same resort.
>The luxury resort is 1500 credits per pony, the regular resort is 750 per pony and renting the cabin will cost you 1000 credits.

We're going on vacation with a bounty on our heads?
...take the uncolonized planet resort. We want to live life like an action movie, is that it?

>>26074255
We could totally afford to go to the luxury resort. Though let's go to the regular one if we can't manage to take care of our bounty by then.

>>26074255
>”Wait Boss, are we going on vacation with that bounty on us?”
“No, I gave Silver a call and she might be able to help, I’m waiting to hear back from her. If we can't deal with the bounty then we’ll just go somewhere out of the way.”
>”So we have a plan to lose this bounty?”
>”Uh-huh, True think we can draw Ember out and kill them,” Fizzy’s ears fold back, “I’m worried about it though. What if Ember has more ships and ponies than us?”

>>26075020
In that case we only need to focus on her ship and then run away. Silver will hopefully be able to provide enough strong ships.

>>26075020
That's why... *Dramatic chest fluff* We're calling in backup.

Our magjet should be enough.

If we have the better weapons and ships then we should win, even if she has more ships and ponies. Maybe we should get a ship upgrade? We can also retreat and hide so the nano machines can do their work and then we go back out to fight.

>>26075020
“That’s why we’re calling Silver for backup. If she can’t help us then we’re not going to go through with True’s plan.”
>”That’s a relief… Are we going to help the other slaves after we’ve cleared the bounty?”
“Don’t worry about that Fizzy, we’ll help them as soon as we can.”
>You lift her up onto the armchair with you, nuzzling her mane.
>”I know… I just don’t like putting it off.” She cuddles into you.
>”Speaking of the slaves Boss, have we thought of how we’re going to get them out? Are we going in loud or are we going to try and sneak them out?”

>>26076595
Fizzy, how would the naga react to a direct attack? Would they try to get the slaves away or would they just kill them all? I would like to save as many of them as possible so we're going to sneak most likely.

We need to wait for Cambiare to recover as well. She's essential for the sneaking plan to work. God do I hate that Minotaur piece of crap and ember.

>>26076595
“That depends. Fizzy, how would the Naga respond to a direct attack?”
>”It depends on who they think you are. If they think we’re pirates come to steal whatever we can then they’ll fight back and try to stop us. If they think we’re coming for the slaves then they’ll hide the valuable slaves in the vaults and put the rest down.”
“Do you think we’d be able to pull them out quietly?”
>”Maybe? If you waited until night, most of the guards would be in the barracks. There’d only be a few in the house and a few more patrolling the grounds. They always have a naga on the big gun too.”
“We need to wait for Cambiare to heal up then. If we plan on sneaking in we’ll need her Speaking of which, where’s the best place to slip in from?”
>”Along the south wall probably, you’d be able to hide in the gardens there, there’s lots of cover there. Do you need to know anything else about the place?”

>>26077408
I think we've asked everything we could. We've already covered all the basics of what the place looks like and how many guards are there. Have you thought of anything new to tell me?

>>26077408
“I think I’ve asked everything I can, we know all the important stuff. Is there anything else you think we need to know?”
>”No I’ve told you everything I can.” She yawns.
“Get some rest Fizzy, we’ll be at Harmony soon.”
>The ship rocks slightly as it takes off.
>”We’re going to Harmony?” Rivet asks, rolling over to look at you.
“Uh-huh, we’re going to get True’s tooth fixed. I might look at hiring a new crew member too. We could use the backup.”
>”Good idea, any idea what sort of pony you’re looking to hire?”

>>26077865
I remember talking about this before. I think we needed a pilot and an engineer right? That's what we're going to look for. So Rivet doesn't have to do all the work himself and a pilot to ride around in the plane we have in cargo.

>>26077865
Seconding the pilot search.

Secondary objective: [ ] Talk to Zara

>>26078415
I'll be sure to tell her how grateful you are. So you're satisfied with the gems? Won't need any for awhile? That's good.

>>26077865
(Fucked up the paste)
>”That’s a good point, it’s just been sitting there gathering dust since we got it.”
“I might look for another engineer too, to take some of the workload off of you.”
>”I’d appreciate it boss, thanks.”
>You slide away from Fizzy and get up.
“I’m gonna go check in on Zara. See how she’s doing.”
>You head down to the cargo bay and find Zara sorting through a large pile of gems.
>”Mmm, Flicker! You’ll have to thank Silver for me!” Zara grins down at you, “I’m surprised you never sent me out to deal with those ships.”

>>26078532
You could have fought those ships? Aren't you worried about their lasers? Plus she could use the rest after that encounter with what's his face.
There is a ship battle possibly coming up soon so we'll deploy her then.

>>26078532
Never admit defeat to a dragon! We were... keeping you in reserve, in case of boarding action. Yes.
What do you think of the crew so far, Zara?

What could she have done during a ship battle anyway.

>>26078532
“We were keeping you in reserve, in case things went badly. Are you sure you could take on those ships? What about their weapons?”
>”All I have to do is get in close and tear their lating apart. A few hull breaches and any ship will be out of the fight. Most weapons aren’t a problem either, I can redirect or dissipate magnetic, kinetic, plasma and electrical weapons. It’s just lasers I have to watch out for and even then, I’m agile enough to avoid them.”
“Huh, I’ll keep that in mind. What do you think of the crew so far?”
>”Fizzy seems nice, if a little shy around me. Rivet, I haven’t spoke to him much yet. He gets too absorbed in his work. He needs to take a break every now and then. True and Star are nice enough I suppose, even if True is a little… Crass for my tastes. I haven’t spoke to Cambiare much yet. As for Dex? He’s came down to speak to me a few times, he seems very interested in hearing about my experiences before I met you.”

I'd be interested in those stories too.

*Flirt*

>>26079479
That redirecting would be pretty handy/cool. What stories have you told him so far? Can I hear one?

>>26079479
“I’d be interested in those stories too.”
>”Oh? You would? What would you like to hear about?”
“Well what stories have you been telling Dex?”
>”Mostly stories from when I was younger, still a hatchling back in the Zebrican jungles.” She smiles wistfully, “We were little terrors, my sisters and I.”
“Mostly? What other stories have you told him?”
>”Oh a few from when I first started hopping between planets. What do you want to hear about?”

(This is my last post for tonight. Try to keep the thread up until I get back."

>>26080109
How about that time that you... well I don't know. Who did you terrorize?

>>26080109
Jungle stories sound fun. What were your sisters like?

>>26080109
What's your earliest memory? Who's your favorite sister and why?

going to bed bump.

Let's ask what she thinks the most interesting place she's been to is.

>>26082351

>>26080109

“Well what’s your earliest memory? And who was your favorite sister?”
>”That’s a tough one, when you’re as old as me it gets hard to keep track of what order the older memories happened in. One of my most favorite early memories is the time we found an undiscovered zebra tribe.”
”An undiscovered tribe? How did they react to a bunch of dragons turning up?”
>”They thought we were lightning goddesses, we spent a few months being waited on claw and tail by them. All we had to do was shock a few animals that had been bothering them and they loved us. Then mother wondered where we’d got off to and spoiled our fun. ”
“And what about your sisters? Who’s your favorite?”
>”Rana. She was the youngest of us, as soon as she learned to fly she’d follow me everywhere. It was annoying at first but she grew on me, it helped that she wasn’t as bitchy as some of the others were.”

>>26083856
What kind of things did you and rana do? What adventures have you been on? Does Rana resemble you?

page 9 is not good for you

>>26083856
“What does Rana look like?”
>”She’s smaller than me and her scales are a dull orange, like Dex’s eyes.”
“What sort of stuff did you get up to?”
>”Exploring mostly, we spent decades mapping out the jungle.”
“Ever find anything interesting?”
“Once or twice, one time we found a large cave system and went exploring. I’m not sure how deep it was but we found a cavern filled with crystals and pools of water. The crystals themselves were absolutely gorgeous, and tasty too. The pools were scalding hot, obviously that wasn’t a problem for me and Rana so we used them to bathe, it was lovely.”

>>26085815
I hope the ski resort has hot springs now. You never told the location to your sisters? Who would you say is the smartest of your sisters? Who is the strongest? Don't really have anymore questions.

buomp

What is a dragon family like? Do your parents make you stick close to the nest for a long time?

Time to go up

Yar. space pirates.

>>26085815
“You didn’t tell your sisters about it?”
>”No, it was our little secret. Only we knew about it.”
“What about your other sisters? Who was the strongest? Who was the smartest?”
>”Hmm, Kaira was the smartest, she was the only one who could lie to Mother and get away with it. I’d say Sidonia was the strongest, she’d always win whenever we fought.”
“What’s a dragon family like anyway?”
>”It depends on what kind of dragon you’re talking about. With Behemoths, Drakes, Wyverns and the regular dragons they tend to kill the weaker children at birth and make the others fight as they grow up. I’m actually a crossbreed, my father was a Coatl and my mother a Shenlong, hence the lightning and feathers. Father left long before any of us were hatched but Mother was always kind, except when we messed up. She was terrifying when she was angry.”

>>26088482
What were some typical mistakes you made? Or did you avoid her wrath and behaved?

>>26088482
“What did you do that made her angry? Or did you behave yourself?”
>”Well she was pretty angry when we made those zebra think we were goddesses.”
“Did you do anything else that made her angry?”
>”There was the time Sidonia and me stole from her personal gem stash. I thought she was actually going to kill one of us then.”
“Anything else?”
>”Those were the only times she got that angry, we annoyed her to end but she didn’t mind that. It was just us being hatchlings.”
>Your terminal beeps, notifying you that Silver is calling, you answer immediately.
>”Good news Flicker! I checked around and Ember has been causing trouble for a few friends of mine. I’m sending two cruisers along with the security teams on board. My friends have said they’ll provide ships and ponies too. We just need to know where to meet.”
“We’re heading to Harmony now? You could tell them to meet us there?”
>”I’ll let them know, do you need anything else?”

>>26089234
Yes, there is someone that would like to talk to you.

>>26089274
Right, so she can thank her in person.

>>26089234
“There is one more thing. Zara here would like to thank you for the gems.”
>”I take it she’s enjoying them then?”
>”Loving them, the sapphires are delicious where did you get them?”
>”All around, I think most of them came from our mines on Harmony. I’ll have to go for now, good luck Flicker!” She hangs up.
>”We have a plan for taking them out Ember then?”
“Uh-huh, True thinks we can draw them out and kill them.”
>”Are we going to fight them on the ground or in space?”

>>26090684
Let's find out exactly how many ponies we're getting and their equipment. Though we're most likely be fighting them in space because they wouldn't be expecting you at all and you'll be our ace in the hole.

>>26090684
Spacebattles. We'll have cruisers, fighters, and a dragon on our side to boot.

>>26090684
“Space most likely. I’ll have to see what sort of help we’re getting first.”
>”Fair enough, just let me know where you need me.”
>Star comes in over the intercom, “We’re dropping out of FTL now, Flicker, we should be n range of Harmony’s comm buoys so if you wanna check job listings or look for new crew members you should be able to.”
>Zara pops a gem into her mouth, crunching loudly as she chews it, “What are our plans once the bounty has been dealt with?”

(My last post for now. Keep the thread bumped till I get back)

>>26091740
Once our heads are off the wanted posters, we'll begin phase 1 of the plan to free the slaves: Infiltration.

>>26091740
Freeing some slaves and then going to a ski resort, what do you think of snow? Let's check out what crew members are available at the moment.

>>26091740

I can manage one more before I need to go.

“Freeing some slaves and then going to a ski resort, what do you think of snow?”
>”The snow? It’s alright, I much prefer hot places.”
>You decide to check the list of ponies looking for work.
Name: Ardent
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Race: Crystal Pony
Occupation: Mercenary.
Skills: Melee 10, Ranged 10, Piloting 10, Magic 20.
Price: 4,500
Note: Ardent has made extensive cybernetic modifications to himself.

Name: Sealed Deal
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Race: Earth Pony
Occupation: Arms Dealer
Skills: Speech 20.
Price: Free

Name: Icing Sugar
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Race: Earth Pony
Occupation: Chef
Skills: Medicine 5, Melee 5.
Price: 1,000

Name: Ersatz AND Shadow Dancer.
Age: 36 and 24
Gender: Male and Female
Race: Changelings
Occupation: Soldier and Infiltrator
Skills: Ersatz - Melee 10, Ranged 10, Explosives 10, Magic 10. Shadow Dancer - Stealth 15, Ranged 10, Melee 5, Magic 15.
Price: 10,000
Notes: Ersatz and Shadow are inseparable, you can’t hire one without the other.

Name: Dovetail
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Race: Earth Pony
Occupation: Engineer
Skills: Engineering 10, Melee 10, Magic 15.
Price: 5,000

Leaning towards getting dovetail and icing sugar because having a cook would be great and we did need that engineer.

I don't care that sealed deal is free since nothing is ever "free" he's going to have some kind of baggage like true did.

I would also like ardent because he has the piloting skill we need.

this comes out to 10500 credits and we currently have 30,550
we would be left with 20050
does anyone disagree with these three?

I wouldn't mind letting go of icing sugar though she is JUST a cook.

>>26092803
Maybe we should call Deal and see what the 'deal' is with him? We can do that right?

>>26092825
I'm assuming since his speech check is so high that he talked himself out of trouble and there are currently some pretty bad guys after him since his price is "free"

I could be wrong and it's something easy that we can deal with or it could be worse them I'm imagining.

Courtesy bumping every CYOA

>>26092713
If we had a Speech 20 character we could really do some nice diplomacy or bargaining.
We should find out more about Sealed

>>26093002

>>26093444
Conversely, he could swindle us out of everything we've got with his 20 Speech.
What's our estimated max crew capacity? I'm inclined to agree with Ardent and Dovetail having what we need, but I also don't want Space Horse to suffer from character overload.

Unless I miscounted we have space for 4 more crew members. So you guys want to call Deal and see what he's about and hire Ardent and Dovetail? Maybe Icing Sugar too?

>>26095176
we do in fact have room for 4 more crew members.
I want to hire Ardent and Dovetail. the ONLY good thing about deal is that he has a high speech. He can't even shoot so he's kind of useless. He's also taking up a precious slot.
Though that doesn't mean he can't learn other skills. I guess we can call. Depending on how many credits he needs we might be able to help him since he's working with capable ponies.

no one disagreed about icing sugar so i would still like her. having good food would raise our morale.

this also fills up our ship to capacity sadly.

This will be fun.

bumping now

Ardent will also be useful in helping to release slaves.

up we go

where are you space?

>>26092713
>You tap Sealed Deal’s contactentry in the list and bring up his contact details, giving him a call.
>He picks up almost immediately, “Hello? Who’s this?”
“Mellow Flicker, I’m a mercenary captain and I was looking for crew. I just wanted to ask about a few things.”
>”Alright then, just uhh,” You hear the rustling of paper as he rummages around for something, “What do you wanna know?”
“Well I saw you were free, I was just wondering why that is?”
>”Oh, you saw that I’m an arms dealer right? Well I usually travel around different colonies selling stuff to their defence force or to other mercs, the thing is all that travel eats into my profits. So I’m looking to join with a mercenary crew, you guys are gonna be going around the colonies anyway, so I’ll get a chance to sell to them. In return, I’ll let you guys buy off me at a discount. I can get some of the best stuff straight from the manufacturers.”
“That does seem helpful.”
>”Exactly, we it’s a win-win situation for both of us. I’ll even let you borrow some of my gear in emergencies.”

my gut is telling me no. Let's ask how many offers he's had. Then let's ask the real reason why he's free and then you'll take him on if it's something you think you can handle.

>>26100489
So we feed this guy and give him a room, with travel costs and we simply get a discount...sounds kinda like a bit of a scam he's kinda getting more out of the deal then us isn't he.

Just how good of weapons is this guy selling to be worth us giving him free room and board without taking a bit of the profits from his sales.Discounts are cool and all but you don't just switch guns like socks you usually tend to keep them for a while before buying more.

>>26100489
“How many offers have you had?”
>”Offers? From other crews? None so far, they all seem to think I’m hiding something.”
“And I do too, there must be some other reason why you’re free.”
>”Seriously? Fucking seriously?”
“Look just calm down, I’m giving you a room, board and travel. I just need to be sure I’m getting my money’s worth.”
>”You will be, I only sell the best. Do you want me or are you just going to waste my time like the others?”

>>26101921
ask how much of a discount he's offering. it's time for us to haggle. whatever he's offering double it.

>>26101921
Whether or not he hiding something still is kinda irelivent we can probably handle him if something went bad. My problem is that this seems like a raw deal for just a discount. Ask what kinds of weapons he has. Is it just guns or military grade stuff and things we could install on the ship?

>>26101921

“I just need to know what sort of stock we’ll be carrying.”
>”Military grade weapons, explosives and armor, sometimes I get cybernetics and ship weapons. They’re harder to sell on so I don’t have them often.”
“And how much of a discount would you be offering?”
>”I understand that this is costing you so I’ll be willing to give you up to a 40% discount. Sound good?”

>>26102803
I'd say no. We already have good gear and the crew space could be used for somebody more useful.

>>26102803
How about this. Give us 20% of the sales made while on our ship and then he can stay. The 20% fee for being on the ship can be for his room, food and the use of our cargo space for his stock.

If he complains about it remind him that no ship is going to take someone who isn't a active crew member when they're losing more money long term keeping him around then they are taking him places.

>>26102803
“I’d want 20% of your profits to cover any cost for us.”
>”20%? That’s way too much!”
“Take it or leave it. It’s going to cost me a lot of money to cover travel costs and I need to make that money back.”
>”You know what? Fuck it.” He hangs up.
>”That could have went better.” Zara giggles, tossing a diamond into the air and catching it in her teeth.

>>26103755
He didn't even try to haggle. Well, let's hire those two other guys now.

>>26103755
Not our fault he's a shit sale's man.
If he's going to con he should learn to con well.

He really shouldn't stock up such pricy product when he can't find buyers without tons of traveling, It's going to be a pain for him when his suppliers come looking for their money back.

>>26103808
Exactly

>>26105703

who wants ice cream?

starting to wonder if we should have just taken him. We could just kick him out if the deal wasn't working out for us. Like a trial period.

Page one shall we?

bump from page 10. waiting is fun.

>>26103755

“Fuck him, he didn’t even try to haggle.”
>”So what now?”
“I’ll let the others know we’re hiring them and that we’ll pick them up soon.”
>You send a message to your new hires letting them know you’re on your way along with their payment.
>10,500 credits removed. Ardent, Icing Sugar and Dovetail will join you on Harmony.
>”So how do we draw Ember out?” Zara asks

>>26111085
It's true's plan not mine. I assumed we'd try to send her a message calling her a dumb horse with an ugly face and that we killed her bounty hunter.

we should also mail her a picture of fists head on our wall. that might piss her off too?

Good question True, how did you want to draw Ember out? I think if we hold the cruisers in reserve, we'll be able to surprise her with more firepower once she's exposed.

>>26111201
we really want her mad

Hope the new crew mates are nice. Oh wait true said that we're going to attack some warehouses right?

>>26114192
is that so

>>26110209

>>26115802

>>26116891

>>26117927

>>26118980

good stuff

>>26111085
“I assume True has a plan for that, I was going to send her a message calling her a stupid,smelly horse with an ugly face.”
>”I… Can’t tell if you’re serious or not.”
“I was gonna send her a picture of Fist’s head too.”
>”Who’s Fist?”
“The first contract I ever took on. He was huge,angry minotaur that me and True killed. Turns out he worked for Ember and that’s why she put the bounty on us.”
>”And you have his head why?”

>>26121400
I wanted a trophy, and It looked good over the fireplace.

Er...actually why do we have that dude's head. I forget, I think it was to confirm the bounty.

>>26121400
It was a gift from the marshals and it was our first job so I didn't want to throw it away for sentimental purposes. Or it wasn't taking up space so I thought I'd just keep it.

Also it's the thought that counts.

>>26121541
We need a big ass fireplace to mount his head over.

File: the force decomposes.jpg (24 KB, 600x400) Image search: [Google]

24 KB, 600x400

>>26121400
It was to confirm the bounty. ...We should probably throw that out, it's probably not even recognizable at this point.

>>26124097