Super Robot Wars Anew (Crossover)

Zarori · Oct 13, 2022

The year is Universal Century 0083, roughly four years after the tragedy of Zeon dropping a space colony onto Australia. After a hard-fought war between Earthlings and Spacenoids, Prime Minister Schneizel el Britannia has declared victory for the Earth Federation (and the Holy Empire of Britannia, of course). The combined forces of Earth, lead by the White Base and Amuro Ray struck decisive blows against Zeon, leading to an uneasy peace as all sides spend several years rebuilding. All is not well, however.

The Earth still reels from the meteor impact that destroyed Antarctica and irrevocably changed the world's climate 15 years ago. Demonstrations and terrorist attacks against the Holy Empire of Britannia, the largest nation of the Earth Federation that took advantage of the Second Impact to conquer more territory, happen every day. The space colonies are in an uproar, bickering amongst themselves while dealing with refugees and reparations. All this while the Jupiter Energy Fleet becomes more standoff-ish and the first colony on Mars struggles to find its feet.

This is the world of Super Robot Wars Anew, an alternate take of the usual SRW timelines. You, the players, will take on the role of a single leader in this fucked up crossover world and attempt to survive the bullshit I'm going to throw at you. This actually isn't a lewd game by design, so I don't expect to get that many players . . . which means more control for a smaller group I guess! I'm sure you can guess from the opening blurb, but several series are already confirmed as being in-world to varying degrees. Let me just clear that up for you right away:

Mobile Suit Gundam
Armored Trooper VOTOMS
Macross
Code Geass
Evangelion

Admittedly VOTOMS is more historical, being the basis for modern KMFs and Mobile Suits, but still. This list is not complete, and y'all might never see the complete list depending on how things progress. Jumping directly into things, there are a handful of Leaders you can choose from. While you pick your Leader type, feel free to ask me whatever questions you want about how the quest is going to run.

-------------------------

Some years ago, a massive alien spaceship crashed into the Earth, specifically on Macross Island. This being (technically) Britannian territory, scientists and military swooped in to begin studying the ship. When it became obvious that this would be a long-term project, support staff moved in, followed by businesses and families. In the end a whole city sprang up around the spaceship. Work continued apace, until on the day that the first lift-off tests were to happen, the remnants of the Principality of Zeon struck. While Anavel Gato was busy stealing a prototype mobile suit in Australia, his comrades attacked the island with mobile suits. Civilians were evacuated inside the ship to hide behind it's thick armor and plentiful supplies, only for an error to happen as the ship was powered on to defend itself, leading to the ship and half the island to disappear from existence . . .

Deep in space, the survivors of Macross Island were hastily pulled together under a single leader:

[ ] The Royal

Why wouldn't you be the one to lead these people? You were not only the Lord-Mayor in charge of Macross Island, but a Britannian of royal blood! It only makes sense for the common folk to look towards you for protection. As The Royal, the Earth Federation and Holy Britannian Empire will look on you favorable to start, while the spacenoids will not. You will begin with access to Code Geass technology, and a unique hero unit from the series, in addition to Macross technology.

[ ] The Spacenoid

Who the fuck even fills a giant military asset with *civilians* anyways? Somebody in intel dropped the ball, and it's up to you to pick up the pieces. While you did obliterate the majority of the Feddie forces, you and your men were also responsible for saving the civilians caught up in the Space Fold, so you can see why even though you were the one to attack they'd feel grateful. Also, it turns out these fucking Britannians were treating the civvies like shit, so it was easy enough to fix that! The Spacenoids will look on you favorably to start, while the Earthlings obviously will not. You will begin with access to Zeon technology, and additional Zeon military units.

[ ] The Doctor

You're getting awfully tired of war. Look at those idiots! Feddie and Zeon soldiers getting themselves killed fighting over this damn ship, meanwhile the civilians are left to pick up the pieces. Well, there were enough veterans and rabble-rousers to help take over once the ship ended up in space, and now these pricks have elected you to be the one in charge. Great. Neutral reputation to start with most factions. You will begin with access to Macross technology only, but have no immediate enemies or obligations.

[ ] The Child

The attack on Macross Island was an absolute tragedy. It came swiftly and brutally, and countless people were slaughtered regardless of whether or not they were combatants. When the ship re-appeared in space, it was a ship made up of the old, the infirm, and the children. Someone needed to take control, and in the end it was you and your friends that did it. You'd do your best to save everyone that's left, and learn how to deal with this gigantic spaceship the remnants of Macross Island were now in possession of. Your reputation to start will be *baffling* to everyone, for understandable reasons. Like The Doctor you begin with access to Macross technology. You start with minimal military resources beyond the SDF Macross itself, and are essentially starting from the bottom . . . with an actively good [Mystery Box] for leaning into anime tropes.

Zarori · Oct 13, 2022

Hoshino Ruri

Martial: 8 +1 (Shakedown Cruise)
Diplomacy: 5 +1 (Shakedown Cruise)
Stewardship: 6
Intrigue: 5
Learning: 6 +2 (Data Dump)
Spirit: 10 +1 (Shakedown Cruise)

Traits-
Cyber-Newtype: You're a pseudo-psychic cyborg full of experimental nanomachines! Grants the possibility for unusual options or events, as well as your control over the SDF Macross. Will grant access to Newtype research options if you choose to pursue them.

Perks-
Extradimensional Novice: You're starting to see that the world exists on more than one layer, and with Space Folding you can move between them. Gain +3 on rolls dealing with extradimensional bullshit.

Ace Combat: Your ace pilots are quite skilled, the cream of the crop some would say. With their varying training regimes and strategies, when they get together they can really push the envelope. Gain +3 on rolls dealing with pilot training.

Robotechnology Savant: You have received a data dump from the Macross' ancient supercomputer. Between yourself and Uribatake, you are now the foremost experts on Robotechnology short of the precursor race that created the Macross.

Zor's Gift: The ultimate medical technology belongs to you. Cancer? Please. Broken bones? Pfft. As long as someone isn't outright killed, they'll recover under your care.

Emergency Action: You're making a habit out of pulling a win out of a desperate situation, aren't you? Once per event, gain a bonus to trying to pull a win out of a desperate (See: dramatic) situation. It makes for good ratings!

Drawbacks-
Escaped Experiment: Certain people and clandestine organizations will start automatically hostile to you. Also, certain situations may receive a penalty due to the side effects of the experiments on your body.

Zarori · Oct 13, 2022

Important Crew-
Seiya Uribatake: Your Chief Engineer by default. He might be an ass, but he's surprisingly skilled with just about any tech, and can keep the Macross running.

Sayla Mass: A former crewmate from the legendary White Base, and a young doctor. She's responsible for saving the lives of many before and during the fold incident, and is now the Chief Medical Officer of the Macross.

Claudia Grant: A Lieutenant Commander in the Earth Federation armed forces, and your Executive Officer due to the fact that it's what she was trained for. She knows how to work the support systems of the Macross, and acts as the link between you and the rest of the crew.

Lynn Minmay: A young asian teenager who was separated from her family during the Macross Island Incident, but was saved by Dr. Sayla Mass and Ruri Hoshino. A decent enough cook, a trained waitress, and an amateur singer. More importantly she's been taking care of huge swaths of the youngest children, and is damned good at it.

Finn Schmidt: A former Zeon pilot and spy, who upon seeing how well the SDF-1 Macross was being run, ended up flipping. Clearly he was already having second thoughts after seeing how the One Year War and it's aftermath went.

Kaname Chidori: A blue-haired teenaged girl who is effectively in control of Macross City's Factory. Despite insisting that she never did much with science or engineering, she has an unusual talent for both, along with skill at keeping others in line due to her student council experience. Feels funny to your Cyber-Newtype senses . . .

Skull Squadron-
Roy Fokker: An ace pilot, and your primary Military Advisor. He's a veteran of the One Year War, and leader of Skull Squadron. Currently dating Claudia Grant. Has a strong SPIRIT, and great FOCUS.

Hikaru Ichijyo: A young man who grew up alongside Roy Fokker in the circus! He's an amateur pilot of no little potential, though a bit cocky and rules-allergic. Has a strong SPIRIT, and will PERSIST till the end.

Maximilian Jenius: So you know in SRW games where you gotta do like ten different things to unlock a secret unit? Uh, you did that out of pure luck in the one turn it was capable of happening. Max is the definition of an ace pilot, and is probably one of the best ones out there even without being a Newtype. Fuck. Has a strong SPIRIT, and great INTUITION.

Ben Dixon: A surviving pilot from the Macross Island incident, and subordinate of Roy Fokker's.

Rita Glass: An orphan from the Macross Island incident, who proved to have some talent for piloting despite being as young as Captain Ruri.

Scopedog Squadrons-
Sagara Sousuke: A former child soldier, half-Afghani and half-Japanese. Somehow ended up meeting Chidori, and was on Macross Island during the incident. He is an absurdly talented soldier for his age, and is basically considered the Big Brother of the Scopedog pilots. Notably does *not* have any supernatural weirdness.

Confirmed Assets-
x4 VF-1A Valkyrie: The first workable variable fighter design. Comes with a number of anti-personnel weapons integrated, as well as guided multipurpose missiles. It's primary armament is the 3-Barrel GU-11 55mm Gatling Gunpod, which can be swapped from handheld to integrated mode. Has additional hardpoints for extra weapon modules.

x1 VF-1S Valkyrie: A customized and enhanced variant of the VF-1A piloted by Roy Fokker. It's engines are enhanced, and it has additional integrated anti-aircraft laser cannons in the head compared to the original.

x49 ATM-09STS Scopedog Spacers: Modified Scopedog Armored Troopers capable of operating in space due to cute little jetpacks and stuff. Their only integrated weapons are extending cartridge-enhanced arm punches, though there is a supply of GAT-22 30mm heavy machine guns and SAT-03 60mm solid shooter bazookas. Nobody in their right mind would want to fight a mobile suit with one of these one on one, but fifty on one . . .?

x1 ATM-09STS Scopedog Spacer BLACK RX: Honestly it's just a black-painted Scopedog Spacer used by Sagara Sousuke. He has a habit of repainting it to random camo colors, and using it *real* damn well.

x1 Space Bus: An early Federation space transport capable of reaching space and atmospheric re-entry. It can carry a small amount of cargo and people, or a small task force of Armored Troopers.

SDF-1 Macross: The Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, a first of it's kind space battleship combining alien technology and Earth Federation technology. Fully armored, and armed with a pair of high-speed 178cm electromagnetic rail cannons, as well as many anti-fighter machineguns and brand new missile launchers. Not only is it the only spacecraft in the Earth Sphere capable of Space Folds, it's also the location of the greatest medical technology on Earth, and possibly beyond.

Zarori · Oct 14, 2022

Man, it's nice not having eighty people throwing random votes around.

The Child has won with a whopping couple of votes.

Your name is . . .

[ ] Hoshino Ruri

You are a refugee from the One Year War who unfortunately ended up on a Federation ship, leading to you being brought to Earth. Even more unfortunately, you are one of the first experiments in using technology to artificially force a Newtype awakening. The proper term would be a [Cyber-Newtype]. This grants you obscure abilities like the occasional flash of insight or precognition, at the cost of ongoing medical issues and physical weakness. The real fun though is your ability to directly interface with the SDF Macross' systems. In an absolutely emergency you could pilot the Macross solo, but with a full bridge crew the Macross can go above and beyond. Why were you on Macross Island? The researcher in charge of you wanted to try and stick alien technology in you, thus your interfacing ability.

This is the option to choose for improved rolls involving using the SDF Macross itself (See: Combat), and also a larger chance for Nadesico cameos and options.

[ ] Lee

You are an orphan, one of a small group as a result of early accidents in trying to study the Macross' alien technology leading to disaster. The hastily constructed orphanage did take care of you decently enough, but you spent more time watching the workers and studying the ship than playing around, eventually getting a job as a gopher for the scientists to earn a little extra food money for the orphanage. What they didn't realize is that your brain is practically a sponge, soaking up all their mumbles and notes. While you don't consider yourself anything special in most regards, you are a once in a generation [Genius], granting a bonus research and maybe some unconventional ideas.

This is the option to choose for improved rolls involving science and research (See: Figuring out the Fold system and other robotechnology), as well as some unconventional options.

[ ] Charlotte ni Britannia

Honestly, who lets a royal just walk aroun-oh right, Britannians. Your father was the Lord-Mayor of Macross Island, and just before the attack was called back to the capital to meet with the Emperor. This *technically* makes you the person legally in charge, despite your young age. As a literal [Princess] (albeit a solid dozen places down the line of succession) you've got the training and education necessary to pull everyone together and take care of them, as a royal should!

This is the option to choose for improved rolls involving diplomacy with other factions, talking your way out of fights, and more easily obtaining allies. NOTE: Just because you're a princess, doesn't mean you have to be aligned with Britannia or the Earth Federation at large.

It's taken hours, but finally you've managed to get the panicking people of Macross Island to mostly simmer down. You don't really know exactly what happened, but it seems like some of the scientists and soldiers attempted an emergency flight of the SDF Macross *after* the children had already been evacuated to it, and something went wrong. Everything turned strange colors as you began to see double and triple, before space *snapped* and all of a sudden you were somewhere in deep space.

With everyone panicking (for understandable reasons) you ended up being the one to take charge, gathering the older children and teenagers to take control of the younger ones. Everyone moved to the emergency shelters deep inside the Macross to wait, while you and a few others checked the various important sections of the ship. It was down by the engines that you found the corpses of the scientists and engineers scattered about, and the weird alien technology that was likely responsible for teleporting you damaged. Hours later you found yourself sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge, and using it's console to go through all the damage reports.

Honestly, it was better than you expected. The SDF Macross' condition was at roughly 70% even after the emergency space fold and the Zeon mobile suits shooting the ship up. Life support was green, there were plenty of supplies, and the engines were mostly intact. The biggest non-personnel issues were the damage to the more esoteric alien systems, some armor damage in a few sections, and the fact that Zeon's forces had focused on the ship's weapons. You now had a load of anti-warship and anti-mobile suit missiles with no launchers, for example! The only functional weapons were a pair of 178 CM rail cannons, and a spread of alien laser turrets scattered around the ship's hull that seemed to be more for shooting down missiles and fighters than an actual drag-out fight. You weren't helpless, but you were currently outgunned by a single Salamis-class ship. You'd feel much safer with a few of those fancy mega particle cannons, that's for sure.

When it came to personnel . . . well, that was it's own special kind of disaster. There were roughly a thousand people that made it off Macross Island and into the ship, most of them being children or the infirm. Not counting the elderly and badly injured that had completely filled the ship's infirmary, the only adults of note were as follows.

Seiya Uribatake: A bitchy, foul-mouthed man who seemed to be an engineer of some skill. He was the first one to run to the engines and had managed to ensure they didn't overload, and was currently keeping an eye on things there.

Sayla Mass: A young doctor who was finishing up her training on Macross Island due to the Federation wanting the former crew member of the legendary White Base someplace safe and out of the way. So much for that. She seemed skilled enough though, and probably saved a good chunk of lives getting the infirmary up and running as fast as she did.

Roy Fokker: The only surviving pilot that got pulled along with the space fold. He's currently dealing with a few broken limbs after an emergency crash landing in one of the Macross' open bays, but he's still a war hero and experienced pilot.

Claudia Grant: A Lieutenant Commander in the Earth Federation armed forces, and the highest ranking adult on the ship. If it wasn't for you taking control of everything (and accidently biometrically locking the Macross to your command, whoops) she'd be in charge. Either way, she's a bridge officer and was intended to be in control of coordinating communications for the entire ship, so she's useful for sure.

Four. Four useful adults out of a thousand people. There's a possibility that some of the injured or comatose are useful obviously, but as it is you don't exactly have a lot to work with here. Better than nothing though.

Here's part two of character creation, figuring exactly which child you are. I decided to give a pseudo-Royal option as well, just for fun. Your [Mystery Box] ended up being better than expected, in that the Macross still has it's space fold system, albeit damaged. If you choose to follow that line of research and repair, the Macross will regain it's ability to teleport around. You also gained a whopping four useful adults, one of which is Roy goddamn Fokker himself. (I admit I only added in Claudia Grant because I wanted to let Roy keep his girlfriend, but hey, now you have a decent XO!)

This game will be running in a pseudo-CKII style outside of battle. That means your leader has the usual stats: Diplomacy, Martial, Stewardship, Intrigue, and Learning. There is no Piety skill in this story. Instead, there is a new statistic known as Spirit, which will be used for things like newtype powers, willpower, and super robot bullshit. Probably while JAM Project music is playing in the background.

For your character choices: Ruri is naturally a higher Martial and Spirit character. Lee is a higher Learning and Intrigue character. Charlotte is a higher Diplomacy and Stewardship character. All characters can improve their stats however, and certain traits can modify things depending on what y'all choose to do in-game.

Zarori · Oct 15, 2022

[x] Hoshino Ruri

Martial: 8
Diplomacy: 5
Stewardship: 6
Intrigue: 5
Learning: 6
Spirit: 10

Traits-
Cyber-Newtype: You're a pseudo-psychic cyborg full of experimental nanomachines! Grants the possibility for unusual options or events, as well as your control over the SDF Macross. Will grant access to Newtype research options if you choose to pursue them.

Drawbacks-
Escaped Experiment: Certain people and clandestine organizations will start automatically hostile to you. Also, certain situations may receive a penalty due to the side effects of the experiments on your body.

Your name is Hoshino Ruri, 15 years old, and apparently you're now the Captain of a giant space battleship. And possibly a pirate, depending on how the Earth Federation chooses to spin what happened back on Macross Island. Considering those same people spent millions of dollars doing invasive experiments on yourself and other children, you really wouldn't be surprised. That's something for another day though. Right now, you have exactly 1012 lives to take care of.

In the immediate aftermath of what the systems (and boy are you shocked that the Feddies managed to translate alien writing) assure you is an Emergency Space Fold, at least a thousand people (mostly adults) died of exposure to hard vacuum as half the island was taken into space with the ship. The legendary ace pilot Roy Fokker's variable fighter actually crashed into the ship due to the sudden movement and his systems shorting out from it, but fortunately his skill allowed him to suffer only a few broken bones and no suit punctures. In the ensuing panic you gathered together the oldest of the children to help organize everyone else, and put any injured or sick in the infirmary where a (non-psychopathic) doctor named Sayla Mass met up with you to take care of them. There were a lot of Home Ec students now being taught first aid . . .

After that, you managed to get in contact with a group you'd sent to engineering, where a crotchety adult that had evacuated with his wife and kid managed to get into and ensure the engines weren't going to explode any time soon. In the end, those that could survive would survive, and a pair of students that did sport flying were able to (with the instruction of a painkiller-free Roy Fokker) use a few of those new mechs to fly out and push into the ship the only still-intact shelter that was dragged along. It didn't change that the ship was over 99% full of children, but you'd take what you could get. Who knows? Maybe there were others with a similar maturity level as you!

It was on the bridge that you met Lt. Commander Claudia Grant, the highest ranking Feddie left alive, fruitlessly trying to make use of the ship's communication systems and half in tears. In retrospect she was probably reeling from the likely deaths of most of her co-workers and friends . . . At the time though you weren't particularly feeling charitable. There was yelling, tears, and you'd even undone the medical gown you had been wearing to show her just what horrible shit the Federation does, and in the end you'd sort-of bullied a traumatized woman into effectively ceding control to you. It probably helped that she couldn't actually access the full controls of the ship, whereas your . . . additions enabled you to bypass and then remove the various locks that would've normally required the actual Captain or someone equally high ranked. Huh, you guess you were a pirate . . .

Once everything seemed to have settled down, and there was no imminent threat of explosions, you gathered together those that seemed the most responsible and/or useful. Okay it was just those four adults and a few teenagers on the bridge, watching you as you sat primly in the captain's chair, but still. Taking a moment to clear your throat, you spoke up.

"I have good news and bad news, everybody. The good news is that I have total control of the ship's systems. Also I am renaming it the Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross." Lines of light crept up your skin, cutting off any response as you touched the console in front of you and turned on the viewports. "The bad news is, we are quite literally in the middle of nowhere."

In all directions the functioning cameras showed, was empty space and twinkling stars.

"We could simply fly towards the brightest star, but we have no guarantee it would be our sun. Long-range communication and sensors are out, and the space fold system that brought us here is damaged. A lot of work is necessary if we're going to keep everyone alive, and get to safety before our supplies run out. I would appreciate any ideas you have."

You, Captain Ruri-Ruri of the SDF-Cutiepie, start with a whopping 6 Action Points, or AP. The good news is, that you can apply them anywhere. Want to do *all the Martial*, go right ahead. The bad news is that won't be enough for anything, and you never know which options will stick around and which will disappear the next turn. Unless I decide to let you know for some reason. Note: If you lose important NPCs, you may find that you have less AP to make use of. Likewise, certain NPCs can give you bonuses to rolls, or extra AP since many hands make light work. Vote by a named plan:

[ ] Name
-[ ] Blah
-[ ] Blah
etc

Martial-
"Right, I'm Lieutenant Roy Fokker, young lady. While my girl Claudia outranks me, I'm the one with the most experience in direct combat, so I suppose I'll be the one letting you know about our defensive options."

[ ] Patchwork
DC: 50/70/90
We took a lot of damage from those Zekes, and a few people who couldn't be bothered to aim properly. Our anti-capital ship weapons are down to two of the main guns, and we only have some of our anti-fighter weapons intact. A few spots on the ship are looking pretty patchy armor-wise too. I think I can get some of the flight school brats to hop in the few valkyries we have left, and use those big hands and tools to do some quick fixes.
Reward: The SDF Macross will be brought up to a higher level of combat-readiness.

[ ] Fancy Coffins
DC: 40
I actually had another idea. For some reason we have a whole platoon's worth of Armored Troopers. They're barely more useful than coffins under normal circumstances, but with Uribatake's help I think we can overhaul them to work in space. Then instead of four machines working on repairs, we'd have fifty! We'd just need to make sure the pilots are up to snuff.
Reward: Mothballed Armored Troopers will receive and upgrade, with willing pilots.

[ ] Naval Review
DC: ???
Honestly, this ship is just too damn big. We've barely scratched the surface of what's inside it. We should take the time to explore it, and see what else the higher ups might've left lying around. I don't expect to find any alien fighters or anything, but more supplies or ammo would help a lot I bet.
Reward: Stuff and intel!

Diplomacy-
"My name is Claudia Grant, and I'm . . . well, I suppose rank doesn't matter all that much at the moment. There's only a few things I could think of at the moment that we could go over . . ."

[ ] Help, I Need Somebody
DC: 50
We found one shelter full of survivors, but there might be others out there in what's left of the Island. Our long-ranged communications might be down, but there's plenty of short-ranged systems, including those planes. We should see if we can find anyone! If it was you out there, wouldn't you want somebody to come find you?
Reward: If there's any other survivors out there, you'll find them.

[ ] Lost Boys
DC: 40
Honestly, it feels like we're only hours away from a riot. All of these children just lost their parents or siblings, and that's going to set in pretty hard. I . . . I really think we need to find a way to head this off. Maybe make support groups? Anything to help them out before they realize . . .
Reward: Peace of mind? Less Lord of the Flies, that's for sure.

Stewardship-
"I'm Dr. Sayla Mass. I'm going to give it to you straight here, we have a lot of injuries and they're not looking good. Any support you can give me in the infirmary is vital to their survival."

[ ] Code Blue
DC: 60/70/80/90
I'm just one woman, and it's all I've been able to do to keep them stable. I need more hands, more tools, more medicine . . . anything you can do could directly impact how many lives I can save!
Reward: Save as many lives as you can.

[ ] Pantry Panic
DC: 30
Everyone is worried about supplies, and how long we might be out here. To be honest we don't have a firm list of exactly what supplies we do have, and where they are. It'd probably be a good idea to look into our food stores and see if we're going to need to be rationing them any time soon.
Reward: A firm number of how long you can survive independently in space. Additional options.

Learning-
"Yeah uh, I'm Uribatake. Man, can you believe this place? A whole-ass alien battleship, and I'm the chief engineer? Hah! Suck it, Anaheim! Ah, ahem. Yeah I'll take care of the repair work and upkeep, just gonna need some of the brighter kids so I can bring them up to speed and have some back-up."

[ ] What Does This Button Do?
DC: 40
Fokker isn't wrong, we do need to figure out more about this ship. A lot of the terminals and data were damaged in the attack, so we're a bit blind here. If I have the time I can sift through data and poke my nose around, see if I find anything cool.
Reward: Additional information about the Macross.

[ ] What Does THAT Button Do?
DC: ???
OR, I could look into that sweet teleporting technology. Hot damn, just the thought gets me fired up! Imagine if I could get it up and running again, and we could just pew and zow outta nowhere! We'd be home in minutes, or we could go on a real adventure and explore deep space! It's a long-term project, but why delay till tomorrow what you could start today, right?
Reward: Begin researching [Fold Technology]

[ ] Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?!
DC: 20/50/80
OR! You could lemme take a look at those new uh, variable fighters? Yeah, fuck yeah those are so cool! Mass-producible transforming giant robots! And their way more accessible than those Zeon mobile armors I heard about from the war.
Reward: Begin researching [Variable Fighter Technology]

Intrigue-

[ ] Security Sweep
DC: 40
You're pretty curious as to how many actual soldiers survived, among other things. If the kids would be so kind as to sneak around and take a look for any potential infiltrators or spies, that'd be great.
Reward: Snoopin' on possible spies and troublemakers!

[ ] Digital Sweep
DC: 50
All things considered, you could totally see the Federation (or at least the Britannians) sneaking malicious code into the ship's systems. Or at least the add-ons made from Earth technology. Time for some in-depth IT work!
Reward: Deep-dive into the ship's systems to see if anyone was trying to be clever.

Spirit-

[ ] I'm An Adult!
You are a proper lady, and can help out with just about anything!
Reward: Add your SPIRIT to the result of any roll, once per Turn. Choose which option to add it to in a sub-vote.

Zarori · Oct 16, 2022

Plan 'We Don't Want To Die!' wins unanimously. Obviously.
I uh . . . forgot to apply some hidden penalties until after I'd written everything, but considering most of the situations they'd apply to didn't matter, and others would be mitigated by some big successes, I decided to just let Turn 1 be a very kind turn. It is the prologue after all. I likely won't be so nice in the future. Unless it involves ensuring my favorite girls don't die.

Fancy Coffins: DC40 45+8=53
Patchwork: DC50/70/90 58+8+5 Synergy=71
Combination Success

"Ahhh, shit." Roy Fokker let out a sigh of comfort as he limped into a chair on the bridge, drawing a frown from Claudia. Their young Captain was still in the infirmary, personally helping Dr. Mass with caring for the remaining sick and injured.

"You can't possibly be tired. You used a wheelchair to get from the hangar to the bridge! If this is all an act to get me to comfort you . . ."

"No, no, though I wouldn't mind it babe. It actually is pretty tiring dealing with all these kids. Still, I think we've really found some good eggs, and a couple of people to lead them."

Taking another sip he thought back to how things had been going. While the infirmary had been priority number one, adapting those shitty Armored Troopers to space conditions and repairing the ship had been priority too, and took a lot of focus. Uribatake had managed to make those scopedogs space-capable by combining homemade flight packs and vehicle fuel cells with temperature controlled flight suits for the pilots. They couldn't send the newly named ATM-09STS Scopedog Spacers out for prolonged periods of time, but it was enough to cycle people out for constant repair work. Things only got better when his pseudo-little brother Hikaru and an experienced pilot by the name of Maximilian Jenius healed up and were able to assist in the training and repairs.

"We're way ahead of schedule on the repairs. Thanks to Uribatake rushing out those AT modifications, and the girls getting some proper pilots back in working order, we've patched up all the big hull breaches and now we can work on the more important stuff."

Claudia looked pretty impressed at that . . . before she slumped down a bit.

"That's great. I only wish finding other survivors would've gone better. We found another shelter, and an Earth Federation transport, but both suffered big breaches. If we'd been faster or luckier we wouldn't have needed to rely on these children, but now . . ."

Well, Roy wouldn't be able to call himself a man if he didn't act up now. Hobbling on his slowly healing leg he reached out to pull Claudia into a tight hug, stroking the back of her head as she sniffled into the crook of her neck.

"Sometimes we get lucky, like with the doc surviving and all this alien medical stuff. Sometimes we don't. We just gotta pick up the pieces and keep pushing forward. It's like you said earlier, we're the only adults these kids got, so it's up to us to take care of them all."

Roy pulled his girl up into a slow, lingering kiss, before wiping the tears from her eyes. He might have all these kids to protect, but god knew who the most important person for him to protect was.

Results: All Armored Troopers remodeled into space-capable Scopedogs. Think Scopedogs with space-capable jetpacks. All major armor/hull damage of the SDF-Macross has been repaired. Full coverage of anti-fighter guns restored.

Lost Boys: DC40 69+5=74
Success

"Miss Minmay! Miss Minmay!"

The young woman, aspiring singer and actress, turned and showed a big smile to the small children running up to her. It was hard to believe that her home was gone, but after she was pulled out of the medically-induced coma, she found herself de-facto in charge of a large group of children just due to her age. While part of her wanted to just sit and break down over what happened to her home and family, she knew she needed to be strong for the smallest kids. That's why she put on a smile and did what she could to entertain them with songs and games. She'd even taken some of the supplies and cooked some of her Uncle's recipes! Things weren't perfect, but they weren't getting worse.

Results: A major morale crash has been averted. Things should be stable for a while.

Help, I Need Somebody: DC50 11+5=16
Failure

You sent out plenty of calls to try and find any remaining survivors, as well as having the pilots-in-training do fly-bys of debris, but no matter what you do . . . nobody answered.

Results: No additional survivors or supplies were found. You're all alone.

Code Blue: DC60/70/80/90 90+6+10 Spirit=106
CRITICAL SUCCESS

While the idea of having an ace pilot like Roy Fokker does make you feel a bit safer, or a skilled engineer like Uribatake, you have to admit that the most valuable person on the ship right now is Dr. Sayla Mass. She's doing the job of ten doctors, zooming back and forth to take care of any patient that needs her. You're the first to admit that you're not a fan of doctors, but Sayla? She seems like what doctors are really supposed to be.

Of course, that didn't mean it was easy. There were a lot of people injured and sick in a lot of different ways, and a shortage of necessary medicines and training for niche cases. This was the reason why you decided to personally assist Dr. Mass. You knew a fair bit about medicine just from . . . your own circumstances, and you could reference the medical database in the infirmary with just a touch, making you a damn good nurse.

Between the two of you, you managed to not lose a single survivor. Some of the oldest and sickest would never recover full mobility, but they were alive and hopefully continue to remain so. Heck, with the worst cases taken care of you would probably be able to take care of Roy's broken limbs sooner rather than later, meaning your pilot trainer would actually be able to engage in combat should you run into trigger-happy Zeon ships! On top of that you even managed to find a number of skilled individuals to make use of.

The first was a girl a bit older than yourself, one Lynn Minmay. She's proven to be a miracle worker with the youngest children, acting as a surrogate big sister to all of them, and is also one of the few people that knows how to cook more than the basics on the ship.

The second was an older boy named Hikaru Ichijyo, who apparently grew up with Roy. While not an actual soldier she is an amateur pilot from an aerial circus, and took to those variable fighters like a fish to water. You had no idea if he'd be able to handle the stress of combat, but he had the potential for sure.

The last was Maximilian Jenius, a young pilot who served in the end of the OYW and the peacekeeping operations afterwards, with an abnormally solid record. You weren't sure, but he just might be as good of a pilot as Roy, maybe even better. Having two ace pilots was an absolute godsend, and did a lot to make you and the rest of your 'command staff' feel safe.

In the end, an exhausted Dr. Sayla Mass and yourself couldn't help but let out a cheer as over half the injured and sick walked out of the infirmary under their own power, and the rest laid comfortably being taken care of by the Macross' fancy medical equipment. Now if you had another crisis you knew you'd be able to take care of things.

Results: The pending medical crisis has effectively been resolved, removing a hidden malus. Due to exceptional tiers of success, three special NPCs were saved and recruited: Lynn Minmay, Hikaru Ichijyo, and Maximilian Jenius. You and Dr. Sayla Mass now have access to some weird alien medical technology that the Feddies ended up not removing from the ship for study.

Zarori · Oct 17, 2022

You have been floating in space for over a month, far from any Earth or Spacenoid ships, quietly doing repairs and making sure your people have been taken care of. Huh, funny how the more you interact with them the more they do feel like your people. While it's possible you've been spotted and ships have been sent towards you, you have been unable to receive any communications to that effect, and are essentially sitting blind. Now that the defensive repairs to the Macross are complete and you're not in danger of immediately losing a tenth of your population, it's time to gather everyone together and figure out where to go from here.

Martial-
"Man, glad to see the ship is in much better condition now. We shouldn't have to worry about a stray micrometeor or railgun round flying through space hitting a weak point and ruining our day. The doc says I should be good to pilot again soon, so I'm thinking it's time to start training the pilots so we're ready if someone decides to attack us without provocation. Aww, c'mon Claudia, you know what some of the Admirals can be like, let alone the guys in Zeon."

[ ] Naval Review
DC: ???
Honestly, this ship is just too damn big. We've barely scratched the surface of what's inside it. We should take the time to explore it, and see what else the higher ups might've left lying around. I don't expect to find any alien fighters or anything, but more supplies or ammo would help a lot I bet.
Reward: Stuff and intel!

[ ] Lesson 1: The Plane is a Robot
DC: 30
The boys got some use out of the machines in repairing, but that's a whole different animal compared to combat flying. I'd like to take them out for some real training. Gets them used to the transformation system, and it'll knock some of the rust off me.
Reward: Skull Squadron gets some needed training.

[ ] They're Still Fancy Coffins
DC: 40
Okay, no offense to Uribatake, but Armored Troopers are still basically just fancy coffins even with those nice upgrades. If we do get into combat, the kids are gonna wanna sortie in them and protect their friends. I propose we give the best of the best some heavy training so they don't get themselves all killed if that does happen.
Reward: Your mob of Scopedogs get actual training.

Diplomacy-
"I really wish we had found more people . . . but at least that nice girl and the others are taking care of the little ones."

[ ] Houston, We Have So Many Problems
DC: 60/70/80
I'm no mechanic, but I have received some training for emergencies, and we have all the manuals for it . . . I can try and get the long-ranged communications back up and running now that we have more manpower.
Reward: Re-establish communications with the solar system . . . maybe.

[ ] Point and Click
DC: ???
We've been sitting here for a month, but I think it's time we start moving. Nothing will change if we just stay in the same place, right? We should point ourselves towards the nearest star, and hopefully it's Sol.
Reward: ???

[ ] On The Other Hand
DC: ???
It's pretty clear we're going to need the Fold System to get home, so I suppose we could make ourselves useful in the meantime. We could explore the area, maybe see if we can find any useful resources, or even aliens! I mean, the Macross is proof that aliens exist, so we could always get lucky.
Reward: ???

Stewardship-
[ ] Pantry Panic
DC: 30
Everyone is worried about supplies, and how long we might be out here. To be honest we don't have a firm list of exactly what supplies we do have, and where they are. It'd probably be a good idea to look into our food stores and see if we're going to need to be rationing them any time soon.
Reward: A firm number of how long you can survive independently in space. Additional options.

[ ] Zor's Gift
DC: 90
While we were working together Ruri, I noticed that some of the alien machines would respond to you accessing the consoles. I think we should make use of that ability of yours to see if we can figure out how some of these devices work. Who knows? We might find someting that can cure cancer, or make new organs wholesale!
Reward: Fully unlock the Infirmary's alien equipment.

Learning-
"Yeah, okay, I guess it was a little fun working on the Scopedogs but COME ON! Ya gotta let me at some of the cool stuff!"

[ ] What Does This Button Do?
DC: 40
Fokker isn't wrong, we do need to figure out more about this ship. A lot of the terminals and data were damaged in the attack, so we're a bit blind here. If I have the time I can sift through data and poke my nose around, see if I find anything cool.
Reward: Additional information about the Macross.

[ ] What Does THAT Button Do?
DC: ???
OR, I could look into that sweet teleporting technology. Hot damn, just the thought gets me fired up! Imagine if I could get it up and running again, and we could just pew and zow outta nowhere! We'd be home in minutes, or we could go on a real adventure and explore deep space! It's a long-term project, but why delay till tomorrow what you could start today, right?
Reward: Begin researching [Fold Technology]

[ ] Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?!
DC: 20/50/80
OR! You could lemme take a look at those new uh, variable fighters? Yeah, fuck yeah those are so cool! Mass-producible transforming giant robots! And their way more accessible than those Zeon mobile armors I heard about from the war.
Reward: Begin researching [Variable Fighter Technology]

Intrigue-
[ ] Security Sweep
DC: 40
You're pretty curious as to how many actual soldiers survived, among other things. If the kids would be so kind as to sneak around and take a look for any potential infiltrators or spies, that'd be great.
Reward: Snoopin' on possible spies and troublemakers!

[ ] Digital Sweep
DC: 50
All things considered, you could totally see the Federation (or at least the Britannians) sneaking malicious code into the ship's systems. Or at least the add-ons made from Earth technology. Time for some in-depth IT work!
Reward: Deep-dive into the ship's systems to see if anyone was trying to be clever.

Spirit-
[ ] I'm An Adult!
You are a proper lady, and can help out with just about anything!
Reward: Add your SPIRIT to the result of any roll, once per Turn. Choose which option to add it to in a sub-vote.

[ ] Ace Combat
DC: 50/75/100
You know, you always were interested in just what makes an Ace Pilot an Ace. What is the real difference between them and others. Experience? Talent? Potential? You now have three different kinds of pilots to take a look at.
Reward: More information on pilots/???

Zarori · Oct 20, 2022

Naval Review: DC??? 17+8 Martial +5 Extra Manpower = 30
Meh Results

One of the perks of having prioritized medical care, means that when you decided to do an audit on the whole-ass ship and search it for hidden nooks and crannies, you had plenty of manpower to do it. Alas, even with all these people it still took the better part of a month. The kids certainly seemed to enjoy it though! Whole packs of children lead by a teenager or two each treating it like a treasure hunt, searching every inch of the massive ship they could reach. Some of them even found things!

Unsurprisingly, your ship is well-stocked with all manner of ammunition. Railgun rounds, anti-ship missiles (that you still can't make use of), mobile suit ammo . . . You could probably arm the entirety of Zilkhstan for a full season or two. There's the platoon of modified Armored Troopers and single flight's worth of Variable Fighters, obviously, but it turns out there was a Space Bus transport on the ship. Useful if you want to transport small amounts of cargo or a few ATs somewhere. In the end though, other than little bits and bobs, you didn't find much else of value. Well, until you got to the matter of food . . .

Results: No additional mechs found, but you have lots of ammo and a Space Bus transport so you don't have to land or dock the whole Macross to go places. You found something else though . . .

On The Other Hand: DC??? 23+5 Diplomacy -5 Damaged Communications Gear = 23
Failure

"I really do apologize . ." Claudia began, looking despondent as she slumped over her console on the bridge. Her idea to investigate the local area had been sound in theory, but it turns out that the communications gear was tied in more closely with the long-ranged sensors than you thought, so once you started looking around . . . well, power surge was the kindest way to describe what happened.

"It's fine, Claudia." You began, trying to speak soothingly. "It's better that we found out about these issues now than when someone's sending mobile suits after us. Besides, you recommended we take a look at the communications systems earlier, and I was the one that chose to push for exploration. If anything, it should be my fault more than yours for choosing poorly."

"I really don't think so . . . but thanks for trying to cheer me up." Claudia cleared her throat, before standing up taller and putting on a more serious face. "Now, what are we going to do to fix this?"

Results: The exploration is over before it even begins, due to system failures. No lasting additional damage though.

Pantry Panic: DC30 98+6 Stewardship=104
Critical Success

"What am I even looking at?"

You and half of the command staff were in a cavernous chamber of the Macross, staring at massive bulb-like structures filled with greenery. Uribatake's boys had found the sealed chamber and figured there might be something neat inside it, and boy were they correct. The older man flicked through a tablet, going over notes as he began to point to various sections.

"Spinach. Tomatoes. Bananas . . . Tons of vegetables and fruits in their own little alien greenhouses." He let out an exasperated laugh. "The Feddies spent billions trying to do things with alien tech, but apparently one scientist with a fraction of the budget managed to get these systems working with Earth food. Presumably this part of the ship was meant to produce enough food for everyone who'd be on it, and for a long-ass time."

"This is amazing!" Exclaimed Doctor Mass. "I can use some of these systems to synthesize the medicines we're low on. I . . . I think we can even use them to clone livestock. Whoever created this ship wanted it to be entirely self-sufficient."

"Well, maybe. Could just be that with our small amount of people on board the systems have no problem keeping up." Roy offered with a shrug. "Either way, It's a big relief we aren't gonna be worrying about food any time soon. I'll have the boys pass word on to Minmay."

"Fortunately, the systems all but take care of themselves, so we don't need experts to run them. We probably only need one or two people keeping an eye out for problems at any given time. Please find some people responsible enough to keep an eye on things and set up a rotation. Also, Uribatake give the boys that found this place and didn't wreck things while trying to get in a reward. Depending on how long it takes us to get home, I think they probably managed to save all our lives."

Results: Discovered a small city's worth of automated greenhouses, animal cloning, etc. A nameless scientist adapted Zor's supply systems for Earth food and will be forever known as a hero to the crew of the Macross. Not only are there plenty of supplies, but there is a massive surplus of both food and medicine for the foreseeable future.

What Does THAT Button Do? DC:??? 100+6 Learning +5 Cyber Newtype Bonus +5 Uribatake is MOTIVATED -10 What Even Is This? = 106
Nat 100 Critical Success . . . Somehow

The Macross was massive, to say the least. When you made use of your abilities to 'dive' into it's systems, it became an order of magnitude larger and more complex. You could spend literal years exploring the fascinating mash-up of Human and Alien technology, if you weren't already busy herding cats. You swear, if you got one more report escalated to you about one child stealing another's toy . . . In the end, you made time to come down to engineering and work with Uribatake on trying to figure out the ship's Fold System, since it was becoming more and more obvious that making use of it would be the only reliable way you were getting anywhere.

Dr. Mass had taken the time to come down as well, putting all sorts of sensors and monitoring devices on your body, claiming that if you were going to use unknown Newtype abilities to interface with unknown Alien technologies, she was damn well going to try and make sure you didn't give yourself a seizure doing it. Fair enough, even if you were having some unpleasant flashbacks to back when the doctors pretended they weren't simply experimenting on you for their own amusement . . . With your chief engineer and chief medical officer looking on, you reached out to place both hands directly onto part of the Fold Systems and lost yourself in a world of advanced technology.

It's . . . it's honestly incredible. While you'd interfaced with other alien systems already, the Fold System is the most advanced and complex thing you'd touched so far. So many intricate pieces and interlocking systems, all centered around a large crystalline lattice that seemed to interact somehow with a higher dimensional spice. Or lower interdimensional space? You didn't have the words to explain much of what you were learning from this, but as far as you could understand the system was supposed to pump very specific amounts of energy into this array of 'Fold Quartz', which in turn begins the process of swapping real space and this other space. This achieves faster-then-light travel by what is effectively teleportation but is more accurately described as overlapping multiple dimensions in sequence and stepping into the new location in realspace. Maybe. You didn't have the education to truly and fully comprehend and explain all this (though you were taking plenty of notes to send to Uribatake).

What you did have though, was the knowledge of how to fix it! As it turned out, the 'damage' to the system was caused by unlucky missile strikes hitting during the emergency space fold. The crystals needed specific amounts of energy flowing through them in specific ways, so when the explosions caused a small power surge, it damaged several just enough so that the fold still worked . . . just to a random location. Once you arrived the system noted that the current location was different than the original destination and locked everything down. With your administrator access you were able to remove the lock, and with you pointing out where the damaged crystals and replacements were, Uribatake was able to swap out the broken bits.

With a few days very careful work and research, you'd managed to completely repair the Fold System, and Dr. Mass worries about you hurting yourself were completely unfounded. Even without the long-range communication systems being repaired, you could now return home by basically using the record of where you folded from last jump as your new destination, putting you above what's left of Macross Island on Earth. Odd that there are no records of previous space folds in the system's memory, though.

Results: You (somehow) managed to be the luckiest ever, and instead of wasting time getting lost in alien technology, you figured out the damage was just needing to swap in some fresh Fold Quartz (which you had) and removing a safety lock-out. The SDF-1 Macross is now capable of [Space Folding], and both Ruri and Uribatake have begun to learn about the science behind it. This unlocks possible options for teleporting mecha in the future I guess, fuck me right?

Digital Sweep: DC50 31 +5 Intrigue +5 Cyber Newtype +10 Did You See That Crit Synergy Bonus = 51
Bare Success

While you admit that you mainly focused on studying other things this month, your work with the advanced alien technology in the Macross made examining the Federation's add-on systems a snap. While there were in-fact system overrides in place for key Britannian and Federation individuals, your method of control completely bypassed them. Of course, that didn't mean you weren't going to remove them out of spite.

Results: Ship's clean!

Ace Combat: DC50/75/100 99+10
Yet Another Critical Success

Honestly, it doesn't really make sense the more you look at it. You requested to observe your various pilots in their piloting, since you had multiple aces and green pilots to compare now. It somehow ended up with you in the cockpit of one of the Valkyries for 'in-depth' observation. Which involved dog-fighting with training rounds and oh god why were you doing this aaaaaa!

In theory, you should be a fine pilot. You were shoved in mobile suit and plane simulators for years now, and while your abilities were artificial you were in fact a kind of Newtype. In actuality, both of your Aces and pilot Ichijyo flew circles around you. You could get into the zone and start reacting before you were truly in danger, but Roy and Max especially would immediately react to your reaction somehow. One through experience, and the other through sheer talent. If it weren't for the fact that you should be able to sense other Newtypes around you, you'd suspect they were in fact natural Newtypes. It makes their skills all the more impressive knowing that they are accomplishing all these crazy maneuvers unenhanced.

Even more unusual was Hikaru Ichijyo. Of the three he was the least experienced, but every now and then he'd somehow pull unusual bursts of skill and insight out of nowhere that were (again) not related to Newtype abilities. Some might believe that Newtype abilities were proof that Spacenoids were evolving into an advanced form of humanity, but wasn't this proof that Earthlings could do it too, albeit in a different manner?

Despite the splitting headache you had at the end of the training exercises, you had seen enough and decided to plan accordingly. You were going to encourage more exercises like this, and see if you could subtly push your ace pilots into continuing to improve their skills.

Results: Hikaru Ichijyo, Roy Fokker, and Maximilian Jenius are not Newtypes, but they are Badass Normals. In SRW terms they have access to SPIRIT commands in combat, and will use them at their own discretion, to varying degrees. Ruri is now quite capable of piloting a mobile suit, and might actually do it in an emergency situation, if she's not already piloting the Macross for some reason. Gain a small permanent bonus to pilot training rolls.

Things are moving, with or without your influence.

??? rolled a 29

They're just not moving particularly quickly.

Zarori · Oct 20, 2022

It's probably time to start making a decision on which Route you guys are going to go for, early on. If you decide to take the Earth Route, you're probably going to be stuck dealing with the Earth Sphere for a little while. If you take the Unknown Space route you won't be getting to play with Knightmare Frames and Gundams, but who knows what you'll find out in the big black? There's also the choice of sitting there and continuing to prepare, rather than doing anything. But that's even more of a mystery box than Unknown Space. Also I wanna point out you can always ask me questions, and come up with write-in options. You just gotta ask for my approval first. Ruri is capable of coming up with cool ideas I might not have thought about, after all.

It's been two months . . . and it kinda feels like not a lot has happened. You know that's not right, though. You've saved a ton of children's lives from getting blown up by Zeon remnants, or dying alone in space. You've discovered fancy new alien technologies. You've set up a mini-military and sort-of citystate in deep space! Heck, you could call the Macross humanity's smallest self-sufficient colony at this point. Honestly, things are going pretty great at the moment, even if you're still stuck in the middle of nowhere.

You currently have 6 AP, please choose 6 options.

Martial-
[ ] Lesson 1: The Plane is a Robot
DC: 30
The boys got some use out of the machines in repairing, but that's a whole different animal compared to combat flying. I'd like to take them out for some real training. Gets them used to the transformation system, and it'll knock some of the rust off me.
Reward: Skull Squadron gets some needed training.

[ ] They're Still Fancy Coffins
DC: 40
Okay, no offense to Uribatake, but Armored Troopers are still basically just fancy coffins even with those nice upgrades. If we do get into combat, the kids are gonna wanna sortie in them and protect their friends. I propose we give the best of the best some heavy training so they don't get themselves all killed if that does happen.
Reward: Your mob of Scopedogs get actual training.

[ ] Bigger Boom
DC: 60
So I was thinkin', we got all those anti-ship missiles right? And no way to use them? I think we can jury-rig some hand-held launchers to make use of them. I'd rather not need them, but you never know what's going to happen.
Reward: Create ad-hoc anti-ship missile launchers for the Variable Fighters.

Diplomacy-
[ ] Houston, We Have So Many Problems
DC: 60/70/80
I'm no mechanic, but I have received some training for emergencies, and we have all the manuals for it . . . I can try and get the long-ranged communications back up and running now that we have more manpower. (Note: Directly discounted by and synergizes with The Telephone Game.)
Reward: Re-establish communications with the solar system . . . or other things. Maybe.

[ ] Recall
DC: ???
Now that we have the Fold System back online, we can finally return to Earth. It's been long enough that hopefully any Zeon forces have left the area. (Note: This IMMEDIATELY returns to Earth, re-establishing contact with the locals. The good ones, and the bad ones. Removes On The Other Hand as an option.)
Reward: ???

[ ] On The Other Hand
DC: ???
It's pretty clear we're going to need the Fold System to get home, so I suppose we could make ourselves useful in the meantime. We could explore the area, maybe see if we can find any useful resources, or even aliens! I mean, the Macross is proof that aliens exist, so we could always get lucky.
Reward: ???

Stewardship-
[ ] Zor's Gift
DC: 70 (DC Reduced due to earlier alien tech successes)
While we were working together Ruri, I noticed that some of the alien machines would respond to you accessing the consoles. I think we should make use of that ability of yours to see if we can figure out how some of these devices work. Who knows? We might find something that can cure cancer, or make new organs wholesale!
Reward: Fully unlock the Infirmary's alien equipment.

[ ] Diplomas
DC: 40/80
With all these children running around, it's vital that we re-establish a school system to continue their education. They've already missed months of learning, which could have a serious effect on their future. If some of the older teens volunteer to act as tutors and teachers, we can make this happen.
Reward: People get a goddamn education (that will likely be skewed towards cool space stuff)

[ ] It's Just Business
DC: 40/80
Some of the few adults and older teens would like to make use of extra space and the ship's manufacturing systems to . . . well . . have jobs again. Only so many people really want to watch over children and plants 24/7, after all.
Reward: People get a goddamn job (that will likely be skewed towards cool space stuff)

Learning-
[ ] The Telephone Game
DC: 40
Yeah that issue with the sensors and communications systems was pretty worrying, huh? Just say the word and I'll get right on it!
Reward: Long-ranged sensors and communications are restored.

[ ] What Does This Button Do?
DC: 40
Fokker isn't wrong, we do need to figure out more about this ship. A lot of the terminals and data were damaged in the attack, so we're a bit blind here. If I have the time I can sift through data and poke my nose around, see if I find anything cool.
Reward: Additional information about the Macross.

[ ] But What If They Weren't Fancy Coffins?
DC: Variable
I gotta admit, I had some fun playing around with making the new Scopedogs. It's a lot easier than working on full-sized mobile suits, that's for sure. Not as satisfying, but it does scratch a bit of an itch. I wouldn't mind getting to play around with more of those Armored Troopers.
Reward: Begin researching [Armored Trooper Technology]

[ ] Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?!
DC: 20/50/80
OR! You could lemme take a look at those new uh, variable fighters? Yeah, fuck yeah those are so cool! Mass-producible transforming giant robots! And their way more accessible than those Zeon mobile armors I heard about from the war.
Reward: Begin researching [Variable Fighter Technology]

[ ] Jump! Jump!
DC: ???
Man, can you believe it? The ship can just fuck-off to anywhere by teleporting through other dimensions! You gotta give me more time to study this Fold Quartz stuff. Who knows what we could learn from studying this superdimensional space?
Reward: Continue researching [Fold Technology]

Intrigue-
[ ] Security Sweep
DC: 40
You're pretty curious as to how many actual soldiers survived, among other things. If the kids would be so kind as to sneak around and take a look for any potential infiltrators or spies, that'd be great.
Reward: Snoopin' on possible spies and troublemakers!

[ ] Security Sweep: Defense Edition
DC: 50
You now have the ability to return to Earth. Knowing how fucked up people can be though, you should probably make preparations to ensure things don't immediately go sideways. You can set-up emergency defenses, system locks, and so on to prevent any outsiders from easily getting access.
Reward: Tighten up the ship's internal defenses.

Spirit-
[ ] I'm An Adult!
You are a proper lady, and can help out with just about anything!
Reward: Add your SPIRIT to the result of any roll, once per Turn. Choose which option to add it to in a sub-vote.

[ ] Hey, Listen!
Psst? Can you hear me? C'mon, answer me!
Reward: Don't ignore me!

Zarori · Oct 22, 2022

Plan: Phone Home and Valkyries has won . . . and immediately been interrupted by crits.

Lesson 1: The Plane is a Robot
DC30: 56 +8 Martial +3 Ace Combat = 67
Success

At this point, it's pretty obvious that a lot of your hopes for an emergency rest on Skull Squadron's shoulders. As half the ship watches the entire flight of five Valkyries dogfight and smoothly transform into various shapes, the whole group quickly turning into mini-celebrities to the mobs of children on-board. Heck, you even heard a rumor that Pilot Ichijyo was seen having a cozy meal with Miss Minmay in the cockpit of his fighter . . . which you should probably yell at him for later, since food getting in plane controls was likely a bad idea.

Maybe you'd show mercy as long as he kept doing crazy stunt-piloting tricks that let him keep up with Lieutenant Fokker. Hell, the other two pilots (A man named Ben, and a little girl whose name currently escaped you) were quickly learning to keep up as well. They were clearly a tier behind the others, but still at the very least on-par with most Feddie pilots. Hopefully with pilots this good you wouldn't need to strap any children into those moving coffins you called Armored Troopers in an actual combat situation.

Results: All 5 members of Skull Squadron are now completely comfortable with Variable Fighter technology, granting them slightly better combat stats with their Valkyries. Combat scenes with them will probably be super flashy and cool!

Zor's Gift
DC70: 32 +6 Stewardship = 38
Failure

Results: Unfortunately, most resources and attention went to the communications and sensor systems, so no progress was made on investigating the Infirmary's systems.

Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?!
DC20/50/80: 48 +6 Learning = 54
Success

"Alright, what do you have for us?"

Today's meeting was a bit different than normal. Instead of a full meeting of the command staff, it was a meeting primarily for the combat staff. In this case it was yourself, Skull Squadron, Claudia, and Uribatake to go over what he'd managed to pull together from examining the Variable Fighter technology. The older man was practically vibrating in place as he pulled up a wave of technical documents.

"These Variable Fighters are so *cool*! You see, there's always been limitations in our mobile weapons that made things inconvenient in various situations. Knightmare Frames are extremely mobile, but basically stuck to the ground. Mobile Suits, despite being the apparent next step up in tech, are really more of a space-centric thing. That's where they are the most mobile. The less to be said about old planes and Armored Troopers the better. These though?"

He slapped his hand on the table with a gleam in his eyes.

"These are the best! The Variable Fighter might not be as beefy or heavily armored as other types of mobile weapons, but they are absolutely the fastest around. Their ability to transform using this robotechnology-" "What? We're not calling it tha-" "ROBOTECHNOLOGY, gives them unparalleled versatility! Sure they require different skill sets than normal mobile weapons, but that just makes them ACE MATERIAL! Hell, they're capable of independent atmospheric re-entry, and cover the gap between land, air, and space mobile weapons. And best of all, *I* know how to make them!"

The man let out a loud cackle, before you cut him off by throwing a shoe at his face. No mad scientist habits on board your ship, damnit! Raising a finger you pointed at the man, causing him to gulp.

"Stay on target. Explain."

"Err-right. Yeah. Even without the full technical documents from the actual factories, the combination of the repair docs and being able to examine the Valkyries up-close pretty much gave me everything I need. Combined with ready access to the source of Robotechnology, and if we had people ready to do the part manufacturing, my boys could design and assemble new Valkyries for you no problem. We don't have any prototype designs yet obviously, but OH WAIT THATS NOT EVEN THE BEST PART!"

Swapping focus on a dime, he pulled up a view of the SDF-1 on the main screen, before adjusting it to show a wireframe model. With a wide grin on his face he reached down to trace his fingers along the image, pulling it apart . . . no wait, he wasn't pulling it apart. He was shifting parts of-

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Rick exclaimed, while the blonde girl (Rita! That's what her name was!) gaped at the image of the Macross itself transforming.

"That's right, the whole-ass ship can transform into a giant goddamn robot! That's why we call it Robotechnology! I even found a big stonkin' space gun system we should be able to make use of if we got to stop a colony drop or blow away a fleet or something. Isn't that fucking *SWEET*!?"

You could only drop your head into your palms, as Claudia sobbed.

"Oh lord we have an anti-colony death laser."

Results: Great success! Uribatake's understanding of the newly named [Robotechnology] has increased, meaning he can now research and design new Variable Fighters. He also discovered that the Macross is actually a giant goddamn Robot, with an 'anti-colony death laser' for a main weapon. That's functional.

Houston, We Have So Many Problems
DC60/70/80: 70 +5 Diplomacy +5 Synergy = 80
The Telephone Game
DC40: 93 +6 Learning +5 Synergy = 104
Hey, Listen!
DC???: 95 +It doesn't matter you crit.
An obscene series of crits and successes.

"Come in, Earth Federation forces. Can you read me?"

"Earth colonies, Energy Fleet, anyone can you hear us? Please respond."

Uribatake and his boys were on a roll, essentially having nonstop successes. More kids were looking into mechanics and engineering as a career path it seemed, as he restored more and more systems. First the inter-ship signal was strengthened and people were able to watch what media had been brought onto the ship anywhere. Then the medium-range sensors were restored. Then the comms! Finally, the Macross had full long-ranged communications re-established! Now your Bridge Bunnies (You were totally keeping the term) were trying to re-establish contact with any faction of Humanity they could.

You however, were suffering from a rather persistent migraine. Due to your unique physiology you couldn't exactly take handfuls of painkillers under normal circumstances, so you were just dealing with it for the time being. It honestly just felt like something was hammering at your head, and rather incessantly at th-

"Hey, listen!"

Then, with a feeling of something breaking, you fell out of your body and into the stars. Colors swirled, space roiled, and you felt yourself pulled far away from your body.

"Oh! Oh! You listened!"

Was this what people like Amuro and Char experienced? Your mind and soul reaching out across time and space to connect with someone else. As you turned your focus towards the being that contacted you, details became clearer. She was feminine in shape, at least by human standards, with a similarly cute voice. Her entire body was a faint shade of blue, and semi-sheer as she bobbed up and down in this weird pseudo-space. Rather than wearing clothing, part of her body extended out like lace, and then a jellyfish-like bulb rather than a full skirt.

"Hey, you gotta listen to me, alright?"

"Who are you?" No seriously, who the heck was this cute alien slime girl? Unfortunately this breakthrough with your Newtype abilities didn't stop the pain you were in, so you weren't sure how long you could keep contact. After a look from the alien, she seemed to understand and nod sadly.

"I understand, you're not ready yet. Okay, I am Undine!"

And oh god that did not help! That name was packed full of just . . . raw data, in the most painful way. Your brain just sort-of abbreviated it to Undine, but you knew there was more in there to parse.

"I don't know how you ended up in this sector, but you've been a little bit noisy lately, so you're kinda in trouble!"

Oh fuck. The connection was quickly becoming strained and deteriorating, after the initial burst of psychic power made the connection.

"Who is looking for me?!"

"Them! The naughty ones! They've already sent a-"

"Captain! We have a contact, coming directly towards us! It's not a Federation ship or a mobile suit . . . I don't know what it is!"

With a snap you were released back to your mortal shell, the migraine fading away as you shot to your feet to take a closer look at the readouts. There was an unknown energy signature closing in from an extreme distance. Normally you might wait and be conservative, but after that psychic event you weren't inclined to wait around.

"Everyone go to red alert. Have the kids take cover in designated safe zones. I know we haven't had time to practice them, but we have to be prepared for possible hostiles. Get Skull Squadron ready to fly, and have the Armored Troopers loaded up and prepared just in case."

As the sensors pulled in long-ranged telemetry, the entity slowly appeared on-screen, much to the discomfort of everyone on the bridge.

"Oh gross." "Nope, all of my nope." "I want none of that!"

It was a large mix between organic and mechanical, shaped like some kind of nightmare bug. Underneath a metallic carapace hung all sorts of limbs and manipulators, studded with what looked like eldritch weaponry. Instead of a head it had some sort of ringed maw with that unknown energy source glowing within. Claudia suddenly flinched, before looking up from her monitor.

"Ma'am, whatever that is, it's Fold-capable. The reason we didn't detect it until now was that it folded into local space, then started making a beeline for us."

"Shit, does that mean it can follow us?"

"It might be able to? There's no way to know for certain without seeing it happen."

Fuck all kinds of duck.

Due to the wildly successful repair work you were able to detect an unknown (and partially mechanical) lifeform heading towards the SDF-1. A being known as Undine simultaneously reached out to your Newtype abilities and warned you that it was sent by something or someone 'naughty', which you are taking to mean hostile. What do?

[ ] "Launch Skull Squadron and turn us about! We're taking it down before it gets to us." Attack the entity with Skull Squadron, while the SDF-1 (and it's civilians) stay at extreme range.

[ ] "Prepare for an immediate Fold back to Earth." Fuck-off back to Earth. Note: The entity might be able to follow you back to Earth, which could be good or bad.

[ ] "Oh crap it's happening again." The Macross would like to initiate an Emergency Space Fold to an unknown location.

There is no negotiation or peaceful first contact option due to cute slime girl interference. This is a good thing.

Zarori · Oct 22, 2022

Huh, surprise, I have time on Saturday morning somehow. Guess we'll set-up the first combat early after all!

"Captain, the ship is doing the thing again! The Fold System is activating on it's own, just like when we left Macross Island!"

With a quiet curse, you placed your hands on your console and interfaced with the Macross, quickly confirming the report. It seems like the ship's automated systems confirmed the presence of the bug-shaped entity (which it ominously labeled as a 'Pursuer') and immediately went for an emergency space fold. While you didn't like the idea of just fucking off to the middle of nowhere again, it meant the ship was ready to teleport now, while the Pursuer was seemingly out-of-range.

"All hands, prepare for emergency space fold!"

It wasn't even a hard choice. You trusted the ship's safety systems to keep you from folding directly into a star or something, and you really didn't want to risk combat if you didn't have to. This even had the bonus of not possibly leading aliens directly to Earth! As the systems activated, a bubble of superdimensional space surrounded the Macross before whisking it away to somewhere else.

Pursuer rolled: 72

When the Macross transitioned back to realspace, your bunnies immediately went to work gathering new telemetry and dealing with alarms and systems checks. It appeared that you'd landed on the outskirts of a fairly unassuming system. A single yellow star, only a handful of planets, none of them in the right range for human habitation.

"All pilots, stay on alert." You spoke over the comms, before frowning and adding: "In fact, Skull Squadron please launch. There's no telling if that thing will be able to follow us, but if it does then I want you out there and ready to engage."

"Yes ma'am. Skull Squadron, let's roll out."

A chorus of affirmatives sounded as the flight of five variable fighters launched from the Macross, taking up a tight formation as they began to slowly circle the ship. It proved to be a good idea when mere minutes later, the sensors (now actively looking for it) picked up anomalous readings deeper towards the system. A bubble of actinic green superdimensional energy appeared and popped, revealing the Pursuer you had fled from. The machine lit up with that same energy, turning on a dime and again flying straight for you.

"Skull Squadron, you have my permission to engage that thing and shoot it down. There's no earthly reason for it to be following us this much, and while I'd like to just leave, we can't make successive space folds without risking severely damaging the ship. Take it down, Roy."

It is time for the (still actually dangerous) tutorial battle, since you were sadly unable to flee from the appropriately named Pursuer. You don't currently have much information on the enemy, besides that it is bigger and seemingly slower than your valkyries, and almost certainly more heavily armored (and armed if that big hole is something like a mega particle cannon). So let's focus on your forces! You have three combat units right now (not counting the Armored Troopers and Macross).

Unit One: Roy Fokker in his custom Valkyrie.
Unit Two: Max Jenius with Ben as his wingmate, in VF-1As.
Unit Three: Hikaru Ichijyo with Rita as his wingmate, in VF-1As.

While you'll get more options in the future, for now all units are similarly armed with stock missiles and a Gatling Gunpod. Your units are at Long Range, and will need to close in to the enemy to make use of the gunpods, though long range missile bombardment is an option. Regardless, I'm not giving you choices here for the first fight.

[ ] Write-In

You're giving me a brief plan of action, with how to begin engaging the enemy. If you wish to break up the units or re-organize them, you can, but remember that Ben and Rita are explicitly not at the level of the others and won't be pulling any wacky tricks alone. Do remember that you're piloting valkyries, which are a bit more delicate and a lot faster than most types of mecha, so don't pilot them like Super Robots. If you wish to make use of the Macross somehow, or the Armored Troopers, you can but you'll be putting them at risk. It *seems* like the Pursuer's priority is going straight for the Macross, so it's your choice if you want to risk letting it get close.

Zarori · Jul 29, 2024

"Weapons free everybody! Max, Ben, I'll go under and you go over! Hikaru, Rita, hang back and get ready to back us up!"

A chorus of agreements rang out across the comms, as the flight of Valkyries burst into action. Missiles began to fly in a small wave from their few racks, all zooming in towards the giant armored bug which decided to . . . spin? It moved almost lazily as it kept heading towards the Macross unerringly, even as explosions began to pepper it's carapace to surprisingly little effect, much to the crew's surprise. Not to be deterred however, Units One and Two continued with their plans to assault it before it could close onto the ship and the refugees within!

Max and Ben opened fire with their gunpods in a strafing run as they passed over the top of the bug, their bullets again doing minimal damage even after the missile volley, some slugs even bouncing away as the Pursuer turned to keep as much shell as possible between it and the pair. This did allow Lieutenant Fokker to slid underneath the bug however, the experienced pilot smoothly transforming from plane to robot and unloading a full volley of bullets into the thing's underbelly, snapping off little leg-like appendages and actually causing green blood to flow.

"I dunno what those plates are made out of, but it's underbelly is soft enough to-shit!"

Roy's comment was cut off as the relatively slow bug abruptly tripled in speed, *zooming* towards the Macross the Unit Three after being hit. The pair of pilots half-panicked, opening up with their few remaining missiles (to little effect) before being forced to scatter lest the bug smash through them, leading to the bug being chased by all five fighters now that it proved it had equivalent speed to the Valkyries!

"Crap, it was hiding it's speed?!" Hikaru cried it, opening fire towards the back of the bug alongside Rita as they chased after it, only for a *hail* of pin-point laser fire to streak from the Macross and strike the Pursuer to unusual effect. As the plates on the bug began to visible heat up and vibrate from the laser strikes, the bug began to screech over the comms, the Macross' sensors detecting a fold reaction and interference as it's maw began to glow green . . . before a second volley struck it *in* said maw, followed by Max and Roy's Valkyries landing crack shots between their allies into the bug from behind.

The combination of strikes from both ends managed to stop whatever the bug was doing, resulting in a massive sensor-blinding explosion of green energy. Silence rained for the moment at the unexpected blast, before Captain Ruri's voice cut through the quickly restored comms. "That's one kill for me. Someone please paint a bug on the ship, that's how it works right?"

After taking some time to reload and continue patrolling, it became obvious that more bugs were not going to show up immediately, thankfully. With that, a quick after-action meeting was called for the pilots and senior officers, with Roy taking the lead.

"Sorry ma'am, but we made an error. With how big and slow it was initially, we didn't think it was capable of moving fast enough to blow by our defensive lines. I expected it to be more of a lumbering mobile armor type, especially after it shrugged off all our missiles with it's carapace." He began with an apology.

"I don't think any of us expected that, to be honest." Dr. Mass commented with a shiver, before Uribatake spoke up.

"The whole damn alien was fucked up! Mobile armor plating for a shell, the ability to Fold, some weird reaction to being hit by the lasers, screaming over comms, and I'd bet my boots that was a big honkin' space laser it was building up to at the end!"

"At least we know that it's underbelly is weaker, and hitting it in the mouth worked. Explosively." Ruri commented, with a sigh. "If there are much more of these things around though, it could get really dangerous, especially since it could follow us post-Fold . . . I might not be the biggest fan of the Earth Sphere at the moment, but bringing back an army of teleporting space bugs isn't a fate I'd wish on many people."

Half the group shivered at that thought. "So, the real question is . . . what do we do now?"

Battle Result - Victory!

No damage to allied forces, and the enemy was completely destroyed! The Macross has ??? faction's attention.

I forgor post-medical issues, but work is slow today and I remembered I haven't updated in two years whoops. I'll even get actual choices posted during the slow period today, probably! The dice gods were unkind today, with a mere 16 on the opening volley. Roy did great to get the first wound in, but the bug did nearly as great throughout the entire fight, and Hikaru and Rita flubbed their reaction. Then Ruri and the Macross got a lucky shot, while the bug rolled low (finally). If this was not the first encounter, this fight would still be going on with additional subvotes, and that Pursuer would be all up in the Macross's business. By the way, Pursuers are generic units for the faction! Have fun with that knowledge!

Zarori · Jul 29, 2024

You are currently waiting in a small solar system after a tense, but short battle against an unknown alien creature. While there were no casualties or any real damage after the battle, it got close enough to the ship that people are pretty tense, though the braver of the kids freely took their Scopedog Spacers out to collect the surviving debris from the Pursuer . . . without orders or permission. Morons. At the moment though it's all quiet amongst these couple of rocky planets, giving you some time to think and plan.

[Assuming things don't get complicated, your Scopedogs will head out to grab debris or try to rescue downed pilots post-battle. Some situations will necessitate actually spending an AP on recovery due to danger or other complications though.]

Turn 4-

You currently have 6 AP, please choose 6 options.

Martial-
[ ] Lesson 2: The Robot is Also Half a Plane
DC: 45
The pilots have survived their first sortie, but Roy was the only one who managed to smoothly make use of his mech's transformation to good effect. Knowing how to use it is one thing, but knowing *when* to use it is another. Time for a special training menu focusing on those transformations, and improving small-unit tactics.
Reward: More training for Skull Squadron, mostly to bring the weaker members closer to the real Aces levels.

[ ] They're Still Fancy Coffins
DC: 40
Okay, no offense to Uribatake, but Armored Troopers are still basically just fancy coffins even with those nice upgrades. If we do get into combat, the kids are gonna wanna sortie in them and protect their friends. I propose we give the best of the best some heavy training so they don't get themselves all killed if that does happen.
Reward: Your mob of Scopedogs get actual training.

[ ] Bigger Boom
DC: 60
So I was thinkin', we got all those anti-ship missiles right? And no way to use them? I think we can jury-rig some hand-held launchers to make use of them. I'd rather not need them, but you never know what's going to happen.
Reward: Create ad-hoc anti-ship missile launchers for the Variable Fighters.

[ ] Biggest Boom
DC: 75
Alright, it's gonna take some serious work, but with the Spacers helping out I think I might be able to start repairing and replacing our missile emplacements. That bug got way too close for comfort, and that was with a full flight of Valkyries harrying it! Without more combatants, we should probably improve the Macross' offensive options.

Diplomacy-
[ ] Houston, We Have So Many MORE Problems
DC: Variable, but an assured success at minimum
Okay, we got the comms up and running, so whenever you want to phone home we can make it happen. It's just a matter of getting the right frequency.
Reward: Re-establish communications with the solar system. And possibly more.

[ ] Recall
DC: ???
Now that we have the Fold System back online, we can finally return to Earth. It's been long enough that hopefully any Zeon forces have left the area. (Note: This IMMEDIATELY returns to Earth, re-establishing contact with the locals. The good ones, and the bad ones. Removes On The Other Hand as an option.)
Reward: ???

[ ] A New Frontier
DC: ???
Well, we're in a brand new system, and it doesn't look like another one of those uh . . . Pursuers I guess? Doesn't look like another one has found us yet. This is probably a good chance to check out this system, see if there's anything interesting.
Reward: Surveys the local system.

[ ] A Different Frontier
DC: Variable
On the other hand, if one bug found us here, others might follow. It might be a smart idea to initiate a controlled Space Fold again, and aim ourselves somewhere away this system and the last one. I think I can put us somewhere far enough away that we can buy some time if the bugs are still looking for us?
Reward: Find a new system, hopefully far away from the ??? insectoid faction.

Stewardship-
[ ] Zor's Gift
DC: 65 (DC Reduced due to earlier alien tech successes/Previous Attempt)
While we were working together Ruri, I noticed that some of the alien machines would respond to you accessing the consoles. I think we should make use of that ability of yours to see if we can figure out how some of these devices work. Who knows? We might find something that can cure cancer, or make new organs wholesale!
Reward: Fully unlock the Infirmary's alien equipment.

[ ] Diplomas
DC: 40/80
With all these children running around, it's vital that we re-establish a school system to continue their education. They've already missed months of learning, which could have a serious effect on their future. If some of the older teens volunteer to act as tutors and teachers, we can make this happen.
Reward: People get a goddamn education (that will likely be skewed towards cool space stuff)

[ ] It's Just Business
DC: 35/75 (Slight discount due to people wanting something else to get their minds of BUGS)
Some of the few adults and older teens would like to make use of extra space and the ship's manufacturing systems to . . . well . . have jobs again. Only so many people really want to watch over children and plants 24/7, after all.
Reward: People get a goddamn job (that will likely be skewed towards cool space stuff)

[ ] Recruitment Drive: Uribatake
DC: 50/90
Umm, Captain? Why is the Chief Engineer running around trying to find kids that took shop and science classes? His face is scaring the little ones!
Reward: Uribatake cherry picks the brighter kids and the ones good with their hands to try and set up his own construction crew.

Learning-
[ ] What Does This Button Do?
DC: 40
Fokker isn't wrong, we do need to figure out more about this ship. A lot of the terminals and data were damaged in the attack, so we're a bit blind here. If I have the time I can sift through data and poke my nose around, see if I find anything cool.
Reward: Additional information about the Macross.

[ ] But What If They Weren't Fancy Coffins?
DC: Variable
I gotta admit, I had some fun playing around with making the new Scopedogs. It's a lot easier than working on full-sized mobile suits, that's for sure. Not as satisfying, but it does scratch a bit of an itch. I wouldn't mind getting to play around with more of those Armored Troopers.
Reward: Begin researching [Armored Trooper Technology]

[ ] Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?! 2
DC: 80
I'm just scratching the surface of Robotechnology! Let me back in there, and I'm sure I can figure something else out!
Reward: Continue researching [Variable Fighter Technology]

[ ] Jump! Jump!
DC: ???
Man, can you believe it? The ship can just fuck-off to anywhere by teleporting through other dimensions! You gotta give me more time to study this Fold Quartz stuff. Who knows what we could learn from studying this superdimensional space?
Reward: Continue researching [Fold Technology]

[ ] Bug Stuff
DC: 60
Uhh, this ain't really my thing, but I figure between me and Dr. Mass we might be able to figure out some stuff thanks to the bits and pieces the Spacers went out to grab, after the fight. Pretty gross though.
Reward: Investigate the remains of the Pursuer

Intrigue-
[ ] Security Sweep
DC: 40
You're pretty curious as to how many actual soldiers survived, among other things. If the kids would be so kind as to sneak around and take a look for any potential infiltrators or spies, that'd be great.
Reward: Snoopin' on possible spies and troublemakers!

[ ] Security Sweep: Defense Edition
DC: 50
You now have the ability to return to Earth. Knowing how fucked up people can be though, you should probably make preparations to ensure things don't immediately go sideways. You can set-up emergency defenses, system locks, and so on to prevent any outsiders from easily getting access.
Reward: Tighten up the ship's internal defenses.

Spirit-
[ ] I'm An Adult!
You are a proper lady, and can help out with just about anything!
Reward: Add your SPIRIT to the result of any roll, once per Turn. Choose which option to add it to in a sub-vote.

Zarori · Jul 31, 2024

It's Just Business

DC35/70: 100 = NAT 100

Critical Success

As you stood in roughly the middle of the Macross's 'torso' section, you had the distinct feeling that people were fucking with you. How else could a literal *fucking* town have popped up inside your space battleship, let alone one built primarily by *children*?! It didn't feel that long since the survivors of Macross Island had been recovered, and shuffled off into empty storage rooms and halls full of blankets and other supplies to live. Now this wide open area was stuff full of small buildings, complete with a Japanese-style neighborhood shopping center. Miss Minmay was looking rather sheepish as you stared up at her, letting out an awkward laugh.

"Well, you see, it started off with some of the other teenagers just wanting to bring little bits of Earth around to cheer up the smaller children since you were pretty busy with fixing up the ship in general and getting medical running to do it. Then they figured out how to use the excess production from the hot labs to produce wood and stuff, and there were tons of nails and sealant and . . . well, next thing you know we have people trying to compete with each other to make the coolest buildings, and then Arumi and Sasshi just . . . gathered up a whole army and built a copy of the shopping center they used to live in back East."

You let the young woman sweat as you toured the completed area, seeing that rather than a Lord of the Flies situation, everything was sort-of working out like a near utopia. A child of a Britannian nobleman opened up a restaurant with a pair of girls from Area 3 for crying out loud! There was a SEAMSTRESS! And a SPA! Hell, you'd heard earlier that Uribatake had been trying to poach some of the smarter and more dexterous kids for some project, but apparently he'd annoyed them into banding together and building a *fucking factory* on the edge of town! They were already working on using the Macross' technology and their own unusual levels of skill to hand-build missile launchers to start replacing the ones that had been damaged in the Macross Island Incident, after the Pursuer scared everyone by closing in. You were gonna have to keep an eye on the blue-haired girl from Area 11 who had whipped these kids into shape and was running the factory with an iron fist, she was going places.

You did have to bring the hammer down on a kid that decided to make a soapland, not understanding that it was not the proper name for a laundromat, but overall you really couldn't have done better yourself. Besides, with the kids now more self-sufficient that meant you could enjoy Miss Minmay's food more often. The girl was quickly turning into a genius with a wok!

Results: Somehow, someway, the children not only managed to scrape together a better living situation, they straight-up made their own version of canon's original city inside the Macross. It has been named Macross City, obviously. Morale is at maximum, and will be that way for a while, averting any Lord of the Flies situations. Not only that, but a girl named Kaname Chidori poached the best and brightest kids Uribatake was trying to recruit and made a whole-ass factory crew. Uribatake is a little miffed, but the Macross is now capable of making and processing things to a limited extent.

Biggest Boom

DC75: 59 +6 Martial +2 Robotechnology Research + 15 Ruri Help and Macross Knowledge = 82

Success

With the ship weirdly free of distractions and problems for the time being, you had plenty of opportunities to assist with trying to improve the Macross' defensive capabilities. You and Uribatake both agreed that the easiest and fastest way to do so would be to start replacing all those damaged missile and anti-ship missile launchers, to take advantage of pre-existing machinery and your absolute surplus of missiles. It took a bit to decide on viable designs, but eventually you for the first 12-tube missile launcher repaired and running.

Then Macross City happened, and Kaname and her kids showed up with a proper anti-ship missile launcher for your heavy ordinance. So of course Uribatake took it as a challenge, and now repairs were ahead of schedule. By the end of the month, you realized that the SDF-1 Macross was quickly improving to the point that it would've been a serious threat in the One Year War, especially with your unique access to it's systems. Oh wait, you have a giant death laser, it already would've been a major threat if someone had figured out how to use it. There goes your blood pressure again . . .

Results: The Macross now has access to standard and anti-ship missiles in combat. Eventually the ship will actually be completely repaired, even improved, at this rate.

Zor's Gift

DC65: 19 +Why bother with that low a roll?

Failure

Alas, something had to fall through the cracks, and in this case it was the medical technology. The remaining long-haulers were actually quite comfortable, and were prioritizing food over anything else, so Sayla ended up in the greenhouses a lot and roped into helping set up Macross City. Likewise, you were helping out the old mecha otaku too much to really help out in the medbay, and when you were available Dr. Mass wasn't. Oh well, at least nobody is in dire need of medical aid at the moment, and the awake patients were pretty jazzed about seeing everything that was accomplished!

Results: Womp womp

Bug Stuff & A New Frontier

DC60: 49 +6 Learning +5 Fold Science = 60

DC???: 32 +5 Diplomacy +5 Sensors = 42

Bare Success

It was once again time for another meeting of the senior staff, though things were quite different this time around. On some new fancy screens you'd managed to rig up, you had multiple views of the quarantine lab you'd set-up with Uribatake and Dr. Mass's help shortly after the bug attack, inside of which were the Pursuer's remains. Several pieces of carapace with varying levels of damage, a leg that'd be shot off by Lieutenant Fokker, and most concerningly . . . a pile of acid green *Fold Quartz*.

"I wish I could give more information," Dr. Mass began, pointing to the screens. "But to be honest, most of what we've managed to learn are things we already assumed. Heavy armor that doesn't react well with concentrated heat like from the lasers, but is exceptionally resistant to direct impacts. Clearly the alien bug we've designated as a Pursuer evolved to be primarily a spaceborne lifeform, capable of fending off micrometeorite impacts, but not doing well if it goes through the atmosphere of planets at speed, or gets too close to stars. We don't have any idea about what it eats, but . . ."

You nodded at that point. "It might not even need to, considering that it's insides were full of that weird-colored Fold Quartz. From the readings we got earlier, and some testing we did on some of it, the green stuff has funny interactions with . . . well, everything. Pumping energy through it throws off mild radiation, radio waves, light, and more. We also know why it can follow us with a space fold, obviously."

"With the weird shape of it's mouth, and that big build-up of energy it did before, I'm thinkin' the Pursuer really does have some kinda biological mega beam cannon!" Uribatake throws in next, a look of excitement on his face as she stands up to gesture wildly at footage of the end of it's attack. "See?! I'm thinking it literally sucks in energy through space folding *backwards* somehow, and then once it's prepared it just goes: FWOOOSH! I don't know if our big gun works like that, but it's worth looking into. Heck, maybe we can make our own Robotechnology mobile armor one day, with a . . . a . . . Super-Dimensional Beam Cannon!"

Claudia stood up at that point, as you calmly threw a clipboard at the older man to shut him up, swapping the screens to the local system.

"Ignoring that horrific nightmare fuel, we've got reports back from the pilots on the state of the system we found ourselves in, which we're currently calling Muspelheim after a vote taken from some of the older kids, for reasons that will become evident shortly."

Adjusting the view on the screen, it zoomed in to focus on the system's star.

"As you can see, the star is the same type as our own, a yellow dwarf. While that could've been something nice for us, unfortunately the planets here ended up being sub-optimal." The screen zoomed out to show two medium-sized planets, and a small planetoid. "As you can see, the first planet M-01 is . . . well, a lava-covered hellscape if you'll forgive my bluntness. Something nudged it out of orbit and it's slowly spiraling in closer to the sun, and at this point it's close enough that nothing could hope to survive. I wouldn't be surprised if the planet completely broke up in the near future with how close it's gotten to the star."

"M-02, while not as bad as M-01, is still too close to the sun and has no atmosphere. It's essentially a big hot rock at this point, probably a bit too dangerous to do anything with. M-03, the small one, is actually *past* the goldilocks zone and also a rocky world missing an atmosphere. The ship's sensors have picked up some signs of basic metals from it, but not much else. If we plan on sticking around for any length of time, it might be worth it to give mining it a shot, but honestly I don't see it being worth the time or effort. If we're not immediately heading back to Earth for fear of leading more bugs there, I'd much rather head out and find a new system to check out. If we could find a habitable planet, I'm sure we could swing things to keep the Federation and Zeon off our backs since we'd be the only way to get there and back and make use of it's resources."

That . . . was actually a pretty interesting idea, and most of the others were thinking about it now. The idea of using an alien battleship as a taxi/ark was pretty amusing actually, and you were sure at the very least some spacenoids would be willing to try and settle a new world away from the Feds. Heck, several of the Areas would give everything they have to get away from them. It was something to think about, even if it did stink of politics in your future.

"Alright. No big news is better than bad news, at least. So far we haven't detected any more bugs folding into the system. I don't think that this necessarily means we're safe though, since if one bug found us from god only knows how far away, others just might as well . . ."

The meeting ended with minor squabbling over what to do next, and how to prepare for another Pursuer showing up.

AN: ??? = 1 . . . Huh. Imagine that. A good 100, and a good 1.

Guess we're going straight to the next turn, without any surprises or extra interludes. *Sadly puts away the space bugs* At least other plots are going interesting.

Zarori · Jul 31, 2024

You currently have 6 AP, please choose 6 options.

Martial-
[ ] Lesson 2: The Robot is Also Half a Plane
DC: 45
The pilots have survived their first sortie, but Roy was the only one who managed to smoothly make use of his mech's transformation to good effect. Knowing how to use it is one thing, but knowing *when* to use it is another. Time for a special training menu focusing on those transformations, and improving small-unit tactics.
Reward: More training for Skull Squadron, mostly to bring the weaker members closer to the real Aces levels.

[ ] They're Still Fancy Coffins v2
DC: 40
Okay, no offense to Uribatake, but Armored Troopers are still basically just fancy coffins even with those nice upgrades. If we do get into combat, the kids are gonna wanna sortie in them and protect their friends. I propose we give the best of the best some heavy training so they don't get themselves all killed if that does happen. We also realized that those bugs were going straight for the Macross, and might be trying to actually get *inside*. The perk of a ship this size means we can have kids trained to use Scopedogs as a fast reaction patrol squad for interior defense for most of the ship. I'd still prefer to have adults doing this, but we just don't have the numbers.
Reward: Your mob of Scopedogs get actual training, now diversified!

[ ] Bigger Boom v2
DC: 50/80
Okay, we got missiles goin' now, but that necessitates the Macross being in range. I still think we can jury-rig some hand-held launchers to make use of them from further afield, though I've got some other thoughts . . .
Reward: Create ad-hoc anti-ship missile launchers for the Variable Fighters. Or something else.

[ ] Lasers Are Pretty Cool
DC: 60
That Pursuer's armor didn't seem so useful against the ship's energy weapons, so why don't we see if we can make a gunpod version of those point defense lasers? Both the factory kid and Uribatake were thinking it might be viable.
Reward: Arm the Valkyries with energy-based gunpods.

Diplomacy-
[ ] Houston, We Have So Many MORE Problems
DC: Variable, but an assured success at minimum
Okay, we got the comms up and running, so whenever you want to phone home we can make it happen. It's just a matter of getting the right frequency.
Reward: Re-establish communications with the solar system. And possibly more.

[ ] Recall
DC: ???
Now that we have the Fold System back online, we can finally return to Earth. It's been long enough that hopefully any Zeon forces have left the area. (Note: This IMMEDIATELY returns to Earth, re-establishing contact with the locals. The good ones, and the bad ones. Removes On The Other Hand as an option.)
Reward: ???

[ ] A Different Frontier
DC: Variable
On the other hand, if one bug found us here, others might follow. It might be a smart idea to initiate a controlled Space Fold again, and aim ourselves somewhere away this system and the last one. I think I can put us somewhere far enough away that we can buy some time if the bugs are still looking for us?
Reward: Find a new system, hopefully far away from the ??? insectoid faction.

Stewardship-
[ ] Zor's Gift
DC: 65 (DC Reduced due to earlier alien tech successes/Previous Attempt)
While we were working together Ruri, I noticed that some of the alien machines would respond to you accessing the consoles. I think we should make use of that ability of yours to see if we can figure out how some of these devices work. Who knows? We might find something that can cure cancer, or make new organs wholesale!
Reward: Fully unlock the Infirmary's alien equipment.

[ ] Diplomas
DC: 30/70 (Discounted due to workplace education?)
With all these children running around, it's vital that we re-establish a school system to continue their education. They've already missed months of learning, which could have a serious effect on their future. If some of the older teens volunteer to act as tutors and teachers, we can make this happen.
Reward: People get a goddamn education (that will likely be skewed towards cool space stuff)

[ ] Mining, In Space!
DC: 30/50/70
If we're going to stick around here, we might as well see if we can get something out of this empty system. M-03 is just sitting there, and Uribatake said it wouldn't take long to rig up some methods to start mining out that planet.
Reward: Resources, primarily minerals. Possible chance of rare earth minerals?

Learning-
[ ] What Does This Button Do?
DC: 40
Fokker isn't wrong, we do need to figure out more about this ship. A lot of the terminals and data were damaged in the attack, so we're a bit blind here. If I have the time I can sift through data and poke my nose around, see if I find anything cool.
Reward: Additional information about the Macross.

[ ] But What If They Weren't Fancy Coffins?
DC: Variable
I gotta admit, I had some fun playing around with making the new Scopedogs. It's a lot easier than working on full-sized mobile suits, that's for sure. Not as satisfying, but it does scratch a bit of an itch. I wouldn't mind getting to play around with more of those Armored Troopers.
Reward: Begin researching [Armored Trooper Technology]

[ ] Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?! 2
DC: 80
I'm just scratching the surface of Robotechnology! Let me back in there, and I'm sure I can figure something else out!
Reward: Continue researching [Variable Fighter Technology]

[ ] Jump! Jump!
DC: ???
Man, can you believe it? The ship can just fuck-off to anywhere by teleporting through other dimensions! You gotta give me more time to study this Fold Quartz stuff. Who knows what we could learn from studying this superdimensional space?
Reward: Continue researching [Fold Technology]

Intrigue-
[ ] Security Sweep
DC: 40
You're pretty curious as to how many actual soldiers survived, among other things. If the kids would be so kind as to sneak around and take a look for any potential infiltrators or spies, that'd be great.
Reward: Snoopin' on possible spies and troublemakers!

[ ] Security Sweep: Defense Edition
DC: 50
You now have the ability to return to Earth. Knowing how fucked up people can be though, you should probably make preparations to ensure things don't immediately go sideways. You can set-up emergency defenses, system locks, and so on to prevent any outsiders from easily getting access.
Reward: Tighten up the ship's internal defenses.

[ ] Plan For The Worst
DC: ??? (Likely Difficult)
You were caught off-guard by that Pursuer last time, but between the repaired sensor suite and samples of the green Fold Quartz, you think you might be able to do something about that. It's time to look into those samples and see if you can tune the SDF-1's sensors to try and essentially predict incoming space folds earlier. You don't think it'd work for general use, but it might be viable for *just* the bug space folding.
Reward: Better warning for incoming bugs, hopefully.

Spirit-
[ ] I'm An Adult!
You are a proper lady, and can help out with just about anything!
Reward: Add your SPIRIT to the result of any roll, once per Turn. Choose which option to add it to in a sub-vote.

Zarori · Aug 3, 2024

Lesson 2: The Robot Is Also Half a Plane

DC45: 67 +8 Martial +5 Ace Combat = 80

Success

"I have some concerns about the risk of someone crashing into the weapons we *just* installed, but I have to admit, you're getting results."

You stood in the bridge alongside a proud-looking Claudia, as you watched Skull Squadron engaging in some extensive training exercises. Since you had decided not to bother trying to mine out the nearby planetoid for resources, it meant keeping everyone close to the Macross, and Lieutenant Fokker was determined to ensure that his people snuck in as much training time as possible. He was leading the whole team through precision flight exercises around the SDF-1, with a twist. Every time they got near a missile launcher or laser turret, they had to transform their Valkyries. It was a pretty straightforward-sounding exercise, until you realized that moving *fast* while turning, while your propulsion was actively shifting around was a lot harder than it looks. Thankfully enough it seemed to be going well despite a near-crash from Ben Dixon early on.

Following from a distance was a squad of Scopedogs, literally rolling along the surface of the Macross like a bunch of chubby skiers and the Olympics as they zigged and zagged around turrets. Claudia laughed as Roy showed off by transforming into the full bidepal mech mode and waved, before switching to the half-plane mode and zooming back down, Max immediately passing him due to the distraction. The important part was Ben and Rita were obviously becoming more comfortable with the unusual capabilities of the Valkyries, and slowly catching up to Hikaru in skill, which should hopefully help if you get attacked again.

Results: Skull Squadron gains some EXP! Ben and Rita start closing the gap.

They're Still Fancy Coffins v2

DC40: 27 +8 Martial +5 Ace Combat = 40

Bare Success

"I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with the Scopedog pilots as well." Claudia comments, as you nod. A group of the teenagers had been helping out with the Scopedog Spacers since the day Uribatake figured out how to make them space-capable, mecha fanboys that they are, so of course they would try and join in on the training. The Armored Troopers zoomed around on their little wheels, doing little aiming exercises with their guns, and rushing around to the various access hatches on the surface of the battleship. Seeing their hard work, you could only say one thing:

"They sucks."

In a moment of perfect timing, one of the Scopedogs skidded out and tried to overcorrect with their little space flight pack, ending up crashing into two others. Claudia winced at that, before holding up her hands placatingly.

"Okay, they're not on the level of trained soldiers, but at least they're trying to protect their new home. I wouldn't send them out to fight more of those giant bugs, but they insisted on doing something. We can spread them throughout the ship and they can help out if there are any breaches or anything, and hopefully not fly off and get themselves killed."

You let out a sigh, before nodding once. Some of them had a bit of talent, and at the very least you could rely on Mr. Schmidt to ride herd on them . . .

Results: The Scopedog pilots lose the malus they had on, well, everything. Internal security measures increased as well! It's almost like you have an actual crew now.

Security Sweep

DC40: 61 +5 Intrigue = 66

Success

"My name is Finn Schmidt, and I am an Ensign for the Republic of Zeon."

The man sits calmly and proudly in front of you, seemingly unworried at the fact that he's locked in a room guarded by a pair of Scopedogs. Overkill? Probably. Still, you're almost surprised that you managed to track down an actual suspicious person, let alone one of the few adults whose lives you and Dr. Mass had managed to survive. He was more than willing to reveal that he was one of the Zeon soldiers that attacked Macross Island, being taken down and crashing his mobile suit. He'd somehow managed to power his way through hiding his wreck of a suit and changing clothes, before crawling to safety. Or in this case, a bunch of patrolling kids who dragged him to medical, likely saving his life.

Since his recovery thanks to the talents of Dr. Mass and the advanced medbay, he had been an exemplary adult, helping out when kids got in over their heads. He also turned out to have a bit of a talent for tailoring, patching up clothes and prettying up things for children. Of course, he had *also* been spying on everything he could and trying to discretely intrude on the Macross' systems, but overall he seemed to be a decent guy. The fact that he noticed your discrete looking around for problematic folk, and voluntarily turned himself in was . . . interesting.

According to him, he was a career soldier, it being the family business like many in Zeon's military. He'd been recruited for the assault on Macross Island as part of a multi-pronged assault on key locations planet-side, in an attempt to reignite hostilities, among other things. After spending multiple months being taken care of by the Macross Island survivors (and taking care of them in turn), he's developed a taste for peace. It probably helps that a bare handful of your crew are actually Federation military though. He trusts *you* weirdly enough, and that you're going to take care of the survivors of Macross Island, as well as the alien battleship. Not gonna lie, you felt pretty smug about your ability to flip a Zeon soldier just by not being a giant asshole. You were still gonna keep an eye on him and track his access to things, but more talent was always good.

Results: After the massive progress on taking care of everyone, the crew's loyalty is basically maxed. There was a single spy left, but he ended up flipping after seeing the Macross run better than any of the Sides. Subvote engaged!

Ensign Finn Schmidt has joined the crew, revealing:

[ ] His Mobile Suit: Finn Schmidt will reveal where he hid his mobile suit, allowing it to be repaired and for him to be fielded as a pilot. Zeon Mobile Suit options for research will become available.

[ ] His Spycraft Skills: Finn Schmidt will happily show you how he infiltrated your systems, among other things. Finn will join as an officer, providing an Intrigue bonus.

[ ] His Results: Finn Schmidt had a lot of time to rummage through the ship unsupervised, and he found some useful things. Gain immediate progress in some fields of research. Finn Schmidt stays as a civilian.

Zarori · Aug 4, 2024

What Does This Button Do? & Zor's Gift

DC40: 54 +6 Learning +5 Macross Systems +2 Robotechnology = 67

DC65: 90 +6 Steward +5 Macross Systems +5 Sayla Mass = 106

Critical Succcess

You have to admit that your favorite thing about the SDF-1 Macross, is not the fact that you basically own the darn thing or are in charge, but it's just the sheer depth of the alien computer systems. The more that the repairs progressed, the more the ship seemed to just open up to you. Some weirdo might make like a weird flower budding reference, but you like to think that you're above that sort of thing. Instead you're wirelessly surfing through an alien cyberscape with your experimental nanomachines!

You've tried multiple ways to investigate and unlock the full capabilities of the ship's medical technology physically, but you've started to think that maybe you were going about it the wrong way. Your Cyber-Newtype body is capable of interfacing with advanced technology at a deeper level, and considering the sheer amount of overhauling it took to get normal human technology to work with the ship, you've begun to suspect that whatever race made the original ship they might have been something like a race of Newtypes. After all, they left the original chair at the command console (probably because it's the comfiest chair you've ever seen) and it was downright eager to synch up with you.

As you let the ebb and flow of the ship's network sweep you deeper and deeper into it's systems, you found yourself before something. It was almost like a beating heart of pure data, flowing in a perfect spiral. You were inside the very core of the ship, something that the Earth Federation couldn't risk modifying or removing without a greater understanding of alien technology. Something they might not have even *found*. From here you could see everything! How every actuator and plate shifts when the battleship transforms, the feel every single weapon emplacement active on the ship, the very thrust of the ship as it flies through space.

With this you found your way to the ship's medical systems, and they found their way to you. While you idly watched Dr. Mass panicking, you happily . . . FINALLY unleashed the full pull of the medical bay. High fidelity scanning systems clicked on, immediately giving a deep diagnosis of the remaining long-haulers and coma victims. It's fabrication and chemistry systems linked up to the biolabs, allowing the production of medicine en masse. The ceiling shifted to allow advanced waldoes to deploy, covered in countless tiny tools for precision surgery. The systems itself scanned not only the bodies of the patients, but yours as well, the ship's computers immediately adapting. The old knee injury Dr. Mass had? Regenerative therapies would fix it. That old Feddie soldier that was in charge of training the new recruits? His coma would be cured with a combination of advanced medicine and fold-based sonic therapy. You would never have to worry about an issue with your nanomachines, as the ship could absolutely repair the tiny nano-foundries in your body if they ever had an issue. Beyond that, the ship could *create* your nanomachines, and probably give them to a normal human in a way lightyears less painfully and lightyears more effectively than yours were done. You didn't know how to feel about that.

Really, compared to that the rest of the information you gained was basically an afterthought. You had in your head the full technical schematics for the SDF-1 Macross, in it's current form. All the little repairs leftover repairs could be found and completed now, like for the literal force field system that the ship apparently had. Hell, if you had unlimited rare earth minerals, time, and an army of engineers you're reasonably sure that you could *build* another Macross as long as it was a perfect copy of this one. It didn't come with an understanding of every technology after all, but this was more than good enough. They found your normally deadpan self sitting with an unusual smile on your face, as you laid comatose on the captain's chair post-dive to sort through the sheer amount of information downloaded into your brain all at once.

Results: The SDF-1 Macross now has the greatest level of medical technology amongst all of Humanity. Aside from minor tweaks, the only remaining major system to be repaired is some kind of full-on force field. Ruri got a data dump, and a nap.

Houston, We Have So Many MORE Problems

DC Variable: 2 +5 Diplomacy +5 Sensors = 12

Automatic Success

"Alright, I think it's finally time we phone home." You spoke up from your chair on the bridge, screens around you alight with the faces of your senior crew (Including Finn), Claudia and a couple of girls sitting at the rest of the bridge chairs.

"We've been gone for a while now, and while I'd like to get some of those new systems I discovered online before returning, at the very least we should probably at least gather some intel on what's going on . . . and warn them about teleporting mobile armor space bugs. If they can track our space folding, there's a small chance they might be able to track where we *came from* in the initial jump. Claudia, please start calling. Everyone . . . probably brace your ears. This is going to be unpleasant."

Uribatake already had on a pair of ear muffs purloined from his family, while those on the bridge braced themselves. The reason why became apparent soon enough, as the comms erupted in static, waves, and all manner of horrible sounds. Aiming the communications array back towards home was the easy part, but cutting through years and years of random signals and astral phenomena took some effort. It did not happen immediately, of course. In fact, it didn't happen that day. It took almost 13 hours (with your technological wizardry as well) to fine-tune the ship's systems to eventually start reaching the Earth sphere, leaving a tired you and Claudia letting out a cheer!

"-he Pacific Fleet has – destroyed by the Angel! Req-"

"-ship sustained heavy damage! We need to retre-"

"-ost atmosphere on the Casatus dome! Where's the Fleet?!-"

"-ot the Moon! The Colony Drop's target is not the Moon! It's the Earth!-"

The cheering ended immediately, as it became evident that all of humanity had descended into chaos. Everyone's faces went pale at the first settlement on dome apparently losing atmosphere, but it was even worse when the two most feared words in human history were uttered: Colony Drop.

"-The Angel is opening fire at Tokyo-3! NERV req-"

"-System II control ship destroyed!-"

"-lease, if anyone's listening! We're losing air, at least let the chil-"

"We, we have to save them! It's like Macross Island all over again! If we Fold now, we can save the Martians right?!" Some of the girls turned to you with wide eyes, half in tears.

"The same thing is happening to Japan! Whatever that Angel is, if it can destroy the entire fleet and then attack Tokyo-3, who knows where it will stop? They already had to deal with war crimes, now this?" Uribatake cut in, hands reaching out to grip the camera and pull it in close.

"You don't understand. Another colony drop? We got out lucky with how much damage was inflicted the first time around, if another one hits the right spot the death toll will be incalculable. We have to use the Macross Cannon!" Dr. Mass cut in, looking nearly as crazed as Uribatake for once.

"Captain, you're the only one who can pilot the ship precisely enough with the Fold System." Claudia began, visibly tamping down on her feels to put on a brave face. "Wherever you choose to send us, we'll do our best to save as many people as we can."

Results: You did not return to Earth early enough to avert several major plotlines, but you also didn't *miss* some of them. It took too much time to establish any sort of communication from such a long distance even with the power of the Macross, and precious time ended up being wasted. Likewise, you won't be able to ask for additional information before initiating Space Fold. You can either sortie to Mars, Earth Orbit near the ongoing space battle, or on approach to Area 11. While there is a chance that you could solve one problem and immediately sortie to another one to help out, the odds are pretty slim that you'll be able to stop more than one event unless you're very fast and very lucky. Good luck, choose wisely.

[ ] Operation Stardust: There is a Colony Drop in progress, and clearly, the only ones competent enough to stop it are the crew of the SDF-1 Macross with their untested Macross Cannon.

[ ] Human Instrumentality Project: Something called an Angel has destroyed the entire Pacific Fleet, and is now attacking Area 11. With the entirety of the EFF busy, you are needed to stop this new enemy.

[ ] First Battle For Mars: An unknown enemy has attacked the Casatus Dome on Mars, the largest colony on the still-developing world. Apparently the token forces assigned to Mars are nowhere to be seen, meaning it's up to you to save as many people as possible.

The prologue is over, and I hope you enjoy trading allowing the Earth plots to advance freely in exchange for improving the Macross and your pilots!

Zarori · Aug 13, 2024

"All hands, prepare for a Space Fold to Mars orbit!" You declared firmly as your body lit up with lines of nanomachines accessing the Macross' systems, the bridge bunnies for the most part looking relieved at your choice.

"We all known the sheer amount of space assets the Federation has in Earth orbit, not to mention they're probably hiding a Gundam or two somewhere for this sort of situation to take out an attempted colony drop, so we'll just have to trust them. Likewise, while I feel for the attack on Area . . . on Japan, the whole of humanity is there to back them up, especially if the Federation wants to keep their Sakuradite supplies. On Mars though, there are no reinforcements coming if their defense fleet is occupied or destroyed."

You firmly and carefully explained your choices, watching the expressions of the bridge crew as you went along. Uribatake was a bit displeased, but eventually nods and accepts the decision, at the very least trusting in the Federation (and in particular Britannia's) greed. Dr. Mass of course is borderline heartbroken at the decision not to try and interfere with an attempted colony drop, but she too eventually nods and moves to ensure the medical bay is prepped and ready to go. The pilots have already headed for their Valkyries obviously, and both Claudia and Finn have moved to take their seats and prepare for combat on the bridge. Finn might not have a full combat role yet, but he'll be going over the data you start collecting and assisting Claudia on communications and dealing with any in-ship issues that may arise.

"The mission is as follows: We are Space Folding to Mars, and heading straight for the Casatus Dome. We will engage whatever enemy has attacked them, and save the colony. If we can't save the colony, we'll at least save as many people as we can! Afterwords we will see if we can assist with one of the other crises, if the state of the Macross allows it. Folding beginning in three, two, one . . ."

The view from outside of the ship is truly something special, as energy builds up and cascades around the massive vessel. Everything goes technicolor in a massive sphere around the ship, as it begins to split in afterimages of itself. Fading out of existence, the small bubble of space collapses in on itself and disappears, leaving no sign of the Macross ever having been in that system . . . except for the lingering traces of energy of activated fold quartz used in the teleportation.

For the first time in months, the SDF-1 Macross re-appears in the Sol System, a massive crackle of fold energy heralding it's appearance as it shifts back into being in orbit above Mars. You haven't arrived directly above the colony, but close enough to sortie fairly quickly, and that turns out to be something rather important judging by the massive ship that *is* directly above the colony. It's taller than over three White Bases stacked on top of each other, and as long as two placed end to end. Sure the Macross was bigger, but the enemy ship outmassed even the biggest ships Zeon or the Federation had managed to produce by this time.

The ruins of a pair of Federation ships floated aimlessly in Mars' orbit, alongside shattered mobile suits, but they appeared to have at least put up a good fight. The bulbous green alien ship's entire left side was scarred and pitted, and some enterprising mobile suit pilot had somehow managed to crash a GM into the ship and went to town on it's weapons before it's cockpit was cored. It was damn fine news that the enemy ship didn't have it's full complement of weapons, but it did seem to have plenty of alien mobile suits. A small swarm of them were in the process of taking apart the handful of remaining mobile suits in orbit: A single aging Zaku I that you figured was probably on old Zeon pilot or mechanic's project on the colony, and a pair of worn-out and damaged GMs.

The first of the enemy mobile suits was an odd bidepal mech similar in height to a GM, with two crow legs and an armless pod for a torso studded with energy weapons and autocannons. These seemed to be primary mobile suit type charging and harassing the enemy. The second type of mobile suit seemed more like some kind of drone than anything, looking roughly the size of a car and shaped (annoyingly) like a bug. A number of these were running support for the larger mobile suits, while others were being deployed from a strange black pillar that was deployed on the surface of Mars and giving off strange readings similar to fold energy.

"Designating the enemy ship as Alien Battleship 1, the bipeds as Battlepods, and insectoid ones as Grasshoppers. All units prepare to deploy!"

Crew Morale Check: 84 +5 Diplo +20 Previous Crits and Bonuses for Morale = 109. It was a little tense at first, but the crew trusts their Captain implicitly. TIME TO BE HEROES!
Space Fold Accuracy: 33 +26 Various bonuses = 59. The space fold successfully reaches Mars near orbit, close enough to deploy freely, but not close enough for any particular bonuses or to do a blitzkrieg without giving the enemy time to react.
Federation Defense: 80. Uhh, well, clearly the locals were sent to Mars because they're too good for the corrupt Federation. They put up an incredible defense, fighting off swarms of superior enemies. The enemy battleship is damaged, and they kept the majority of the enemy's assets in space, limiting casualties. Some military assets remain active.

Allied Forces-

SDF-1 Macross
Skull Squadron
Two Squads of Scopedog Spacers
Space Bus transport (Unarmed)
MS-05 Zaku I (Guest)
Two RGM-79 GMs (Guest)

Enemy Forces-
Unknown Enemy Ship "AB1"
Sixteen Enemy "Battlepod"
Thirty Enemy "Grasshopper" and counting
Unknown Enemy Structure

The battle is currently being fought on two fronts, but is essentially a complete victory for the enemy before you arrived. The battleship is currently staying back from the surviving Federation forces, guarded by a force of 10 Battlepods and 10 Grasshoppers. The Remaining 6 Battlepods have surrounded the allied mobile suits, with 5 Grasshoppers supporting. The remaining 15 Grasshoppers are actively harassing the Casatus Dome (seemingly having deployed from the unusual structure slammed into the ground a few miles from the Dome) and are mopping up what little remains of their automated defenses and ground mobile suits.

This is the first time in written history that the Sol System has been invaded by hostile aliens, and how the SDF-1 Macross performs will go down in history. You have a badass capital ship, five talented Valkyrie pilots that *may* be split up if you wish, and two units of five Scopedog Spacers armed with 30mm HMGs and 60mm bazookas, at the moment. As a reminder you also have an unarmed Space Bus transport ship to make use of however you wish. Feel free to focus everything you've got on one of the three fronts, or split up with tricksy plans. Unsurprisingly, you're getting completely mixed advice in terms of tactics from everyone ranging from beelining to the colony, doing a three-pronged attack, or simply trying to unload with everything from the Macross wildly, so it's up to you this time to make a plan of action.

[ ] Write-In

Zarori · Aug 29, 2024

[x] Plan Firefighting
-[x] a Bus-full of Scopedogs should put down near the colony (not taking unnecessary risks of interception etc.) and try to delay the harassers with skirmishing.
-[x] Skull Squadron to catch the battlepods and grasshoppers against the allied mobile suits before they can adjust or be reinforced, then all eight provide space superiority in the capital fight.
-[x] SDF-1 to engage the enemy battleship, remaining Scopedogs to position and fight defensively against their battlepod+grasshopper escort if it closes and gets past the point defenses.

The perks of being a genetically modified super-genius, practically hooked directly into a hyper-advanced space battleship's sensors, is that you got an immediate overview of the Mars battlefront and were able to respond immediately. You promptly pointed the Macross in the direction of the alien battleship (And why did the computer already have a label for it of 'Tou Redir'?), even as you called out over the comms.

"All forces, launch! Skull Squadron back up the Feddies and make sure those alien mobile suits can't attack the Space Bus! Space Bus and Scopedogs, head to Casatus Dome directly. Don't take chances, but see if you can delay those Grasshoppers while the Space Bus makes itself available for rescue operations. I'll make sure that the enemy ship and it's reinforcements won't be a problem."

To their credit your forces, even if the majority of them are children, hop to battle immediately and sortie fast. Normally you wouldn't immediately charge an enemy ship straight-up, but the fact that it was surprisingly heavily damaged and had it's mobile suit compliment scattered gave you the confidence to go for a lightning strike.

Enemy Ship +10: 29 = 39
Battlepod Squad: 37 = 37
Grasshopper Squad -10: 47 = 37

Fortunately, it seemed like the enemy forces were completely unprepared for a someone to space fold into battle and immediately strike. Off-handedly you notice that the enemy ship's sensors don't appear to be functioning completely, which is a lucky break!

Captain Ruri: 64 +8 Martial + 5 Cyber Newtype +5 Systems +15 SDF-1 Full Repair = 101
Alien Captain: 63 -11 Ambushed -15 Damaged = 37

"All hands, stay in safe locations, and prepare for transformation . . ."

"OH HELL THE FUCK YES!" Uribatake's voice echoed over the internal comms, as you sighed.

"Preparing to fire the Macross Cannon."

Klaxons sounded throughout the ship as the repaired SDF-1 easily and smoothly began to shift, internal walls raising and lowering as it's body separated out and spun around, eventually forming a vaguely humanoid shape with the bridge acting as the 'head', and a pair of arms that were really more like weapons platforms and launch catapults pointed out towards the enemy battleship. It's screening forces began to move forward to put themselves in-between the two ships, only for a suddenly explosion to catch everyone off-guard from the rear of the alien vessel, causing it to list rather than properly turnabout. A lucky chance for you, as the majority of the ship's alien systems began to shunt power to it's primary armament.

"Say the thing! You gotta say the thing or it doesn't count!" The deranged engineer practically screened as he clung to his viewing screen, his minions trying to pull him down.

"Idiot." You began with a sigh, before limply raising a hand. "Super-Dimensional Fortress: Macross Cannon, fire."

From the 'shoulders' of the ship, currently aimed directly at the enemy forces, massive amounts of energy gathered between them, sending sensors wild all over the place. The enemy forces began to move, only for the black of space to be replaced with blinding light as a blast comparable only to the Federation's Solar Ray System cut across the void to strike the enemy battleship and it's compliment of mobile suits head on. The Grasshoppers were annihilated instantly, with the Battlepods lasting a bare moment longer before being reduced to space dust. The alien ship might have fared longer if it wasn't for the greatly damaged side of it pointing directly at your ship, meaning that it was almost instantly shattered into two pieces, then ten, and finally a cloud of warped scrap as the Macross Cannon abruptly cut off with a series of new alarms.

"What? Ah shit, I knew we should've tested the systems more. The Macross Cannon is down for now, that blast overloaded a bunch of the Federation-issue power couplings and shit."

[ ] "I'll get up there with the boys and see if we can get it fixed, ASAP!"

[ ] "We'll have to leave it be. I want to keep the boys on standby, just in case we get more vital damage to the ship or mobile suits, or need to help out planetside."

Mars Orbit
The Initiative-
Skull Squadron: 92 +10 Space Planes Go Fast! +5 Aces = 107
Battlepods: 70 -12 Ambush = 58
Grasshoppers: 24 -12 Ambush -10 Drones = 2
Feddie Remnants: 14 -10 Damaged = 4

Critical Chance: Roll a d100, for every 10 an enemy is instantly destroyed, starting with Grashoppers and ending in Battlepods. The roll will gain an extra +10 due to the successful Ambush.
Blitzkrieg Result: 62 +10 = 72. All Grasshoppers destroyed. 2 Battlepods destroyed, leaving four remaining.

Battlepods: 88 -12 Ambush = 76
Roy: 95 +5 Ace +5 VF-1S = 105
Team A: 90 +10 MAXIMILLIAN FUCKING JENIUS +2 Ben +4 VF-1A's = 106
Team B: 36 +2 Training +4 VF-1A's +1d5 (1) Hikaru Potential +2 Rita = 45

"Alright lads and lady, you've got your orders, lets pull these boys out of the fire fast so we can focus on the colony!"

"Right!" "Yes sir!" "You got it!" "Acknowledged!"

With a scream of their engines, the five Valkyries of Skull Squadron zoomed out of the SDF-1 Macross and made a beeline for the mob of alien machines fighting those poor exhausted Feddie pilots. There was something to be said for taking advantage of the element of surprise. The enemies had definitely noticed Skull Squadron by now, but after getting used to fighting the dramatically slower original generation mobile suits, they were woefully unprepared for the sheer speed of the heretofore unseen Valkyries, let alone the fact that they could fire with any kind of accuracy while moving at said high speeds.

Gunpods opened fired while they were still in their approaching V formation, alongside the group of five launching their missiles as well. One of the unlucky battlepods took the bullets head-on and was instantly cored, while the spread damaged several of the Grasshoppers. Another of the Battlepods seemed to outright panic and try to jerk up and out of the way, only to be caught by several missiles as your Valkyries zoomed past, utterly destroying him alongside the remaining Grasshoppers. This left four Battlepods to fight five Valkyries, two GMs, and a single worn-down Zaku. Needless to say, the outcome was decided.

Hikaru and Rita looped around to support the surviving pilots, the two groups laying down a solid array of cover fire to force the surprised Battlepods further out of formation. Ben Dixon, with a hoot and a holler, ended up outright chasing a Battlepod away from fight and peppering it with enough shots to it's thrusters to blow it to pieces. Roy got his own dogfight, the apparent leader of the Battlepods going head to head with him, but failing to anticipate the sudden change from jet mode to guardian mode. Roy's shots left the Battlepod dead (The pilot as well) in the water, and drifting aimlessly. Not one to be one-upped, Maximillian Jenius once again proved that he is the best pilot you have, transforming to robot mode and easily disabling the two remaining battlepods with two short sprays of bullets in a high-speed spin that would've left any other pilot unconscious.

There was silence for a few moments, before a older male voice rang out on the open comms from the Zaku. "What in the ever-loving fuck wa-"

That was when the night of space turned to day, and the alien battleship and reinforcements were obliterated by the Macross Cannon, putting an end to the battle for control of Martian orbit.

Casatus Dome
The Initiative-
Scopedog Squad Alpha: 82 +5 MOTIVATION = 87
Scopedog Squad Beta: 53 +5 MOTIVATION = 58
Space Bus Team: 49 +5 MOTIVATION = 54
Grasshoppers: 60 -10 Drones = 50
???: Nat 100. Seriously.

With the forces in space *thoroughly* distracted, the Space Bus Rescue Assault Force (Name yet to be finalized) was allowed to reach Casatus Dome completely unmolested. What ensued would probably go down in the history books as the most chaotic, bullshit battle in the history of mech combat. Now, one might expect the Space Bus to discretely land, let out all of it's passengers, then make their way inside the damaged dome to help out wherever possible. That is not what happened. What instead happened was the Space Bus made a kamikaze run directly for the unusual black structure that was acting as some kind of space bridge to allow Grasshoppers to continue to deploy and attack the colony.

All of the 15 visible Grasshoppers froze, and immediately changed tactics to head for the Space Bus like bees going for a dumb kid that poked their beehive. Mid-flight, the doors on the Space Bus opened up and the entire compliment of Scopedog Spacers were released. Half of them clung to the sides of the transport or surfed on top of it, opening fire with their GAT-22's and SAT-03's to great effect at the dumb drones. The other half simply jumped out and took pot-shots at different concentrations of drones. While the spacer enhancements were never meant to work fully in-atmosphere, let alone on a dusty world like mars, they worked enough to slow their falls enough to let them land safely and begin zooming around to attack.

It wasn't a perfect battle, by any means. There were multiple moments where the tide would start to shift, such as a Grasshopper grappling onto the back of a Scopedog to lift it up for another to attack it, but overall the children fought with unusual motivation and skill. Clearly they were eager to see this colony not go the way of Macross Island, and they put their full efforts into stopping the enemies. There was one thing however that completely solidified a win for the Macross crew. A single Scopedog with a matte black paintjob stepped up to the edge of the Space Bus's doors as it passed above the alien structure. Carried over it's head were not one, but *two* of the SDF-1's Anti-Ship Missiles. A pair of other scopedogs had their side panels opened and were tweaking with the hardware, before flashing the black Scopedog a pair of thumbs up. The pilot leapt out of the ship at that signal and *threw* the large missiles down at the alien structure before gliding out of the way. The pair of missiles only partially entered the multi-colored event horizon of the structure's opening before striking the edges of it and exploding. The petal-like edges of the opening warped and bend from the explosions, causing the event horizon to distort before collapsing inwards with a weird implosion of fold-like energy, pinching the structure's upper half shut like a crushed can of Pepsi.

The remaining Grasshoppers immediately lost what little unity and accuracy they had, and were quickly able to be mopped up by the Scopedogs. As the black unit landed safely on the surface of Mars, it turned upwards to face the giant flash in orbit, before radio-ing back to the others.

"This is Sergeant Sagara Sousuke, mission complete."

"We don't have actual ranks, dummy!"

". . . Moving on to the Casatus Dome to sweep for survivors and any remaining enemies."

Up in orbit, as the sensors cleared up from the one-two bunch of the Macross Cannon and the destruction of the alien gateway, you could only sit back in your chair and stare blankly at the readouts on-screen as all hands checked in.

"What do you mean we already won?"

The Battle of Casatus Dome has, *somehow*, been completed in record time. This should have been entirely impossible, but it ended up happening anyways, ensuring that once the word spread the SDF-1 crew are going to be famous for entirely different reasons than they already would have been.

Battle Results: Total victory. The Zaku and two GMs have been rescued. The surviving citizens of the Casatus Dome (Again, mostly children and elderly) that evacuated into shelters with their own oxygen supplies have been saved. Samples of multiple forms of enemy technology will be recovered.

This, however, leads to an unprecedented choice: It might not be too late to intervene in one of the other ongoing crises. There may be unforeseen consequences to going straight from one combat zone to another, but if successful even more lives could be saved, and solving *two* major crises would be a massive feather to stick in Ruri's cap once the political things start happening.

[ ] Operation Stardust: The Colony hasn't hit the Earth yet, but there's quite literally no time to spare. It's a coin-flip as to whether or not you can get the Macross Cannon online, but you do have what is known as a 'metric fuck-ton' of missiles to make use of. You'll have to leave behind the majority of the Scopedog Spacers for the time being though to help clean up any remaining resistance and help out the survivors before you can return. (An opportunity to stop a Colony Drop resulting in big reputation gains with most factions, especially the Federation in general and Britannia specifically.)

[ ] Human Instrumentality Project: The Angel has officially made it to land, but now that you're actually this close to Earth, you can directly Space Fold into the area and get involved. Like above, you'll only have the SDF-1 and Skull Squadron (maybe the Feddies you saved) to work with, in addition to whatever forces remain in Area 11. (An opportunity to help save Area 11 from an alien threat resulting in reputation gains from the Japanese people, and NERV. Definitely more research options on paths you don't currently have access to.)

[ ] Martian Saviors: It's sad to say, but you're not willing to put the SDF-1 and your pilots in any additional danger so quickly. Haste does in-fact make waste sometimes. Instead you'll focus on rescuing the survivors of Casatus Dome immediately, and salvaging everything possible from the battle. (There will be *no* additional opportunities for reputation increases with factions. A head-start on Mars-related options, and research from *2* enemy factions, as well as additional salvage and repair. The Colony Drop and Angel Attack will proceed without any further opportunities for you to get yourselves involved.)

Zarori · Aug 30, 2024

0083 - 11 - 13
00 : 24

The entire Earth sphere is engulfed in war. It's a truly chaotic mess of Zeon versus Federation, Chinese versus Britannian, brother versus brother. All the while a massive derelict O'Neill colony slowly falls towards North America, just about every polity too busy fighting each other (and some purposefully delaying matters) to stop the apocalyptic event. When the colony drop completes, a whole swath of North America will be destroyed, ruining miles and miles of crops and cities. Many who aren't killed instantly by the impact will end up starving over the next year, as food is rationed out to placed like Pendragon rather than the smaller settlements. It is this event that will cause Britannian influence to actually *increase* over the Earth sphere, prolonging anti-spacenoid settlements for a long, long time. This too will lead to even more war, more death, more suffering. Those who know are already crying, seeing their death incoming, only to be shocked to see the universe twist in a multi-colored rainbow in front of the colony.

"Space fold . . . successful!" One of the bunnies on board the SDF-1 Macross calls out, as the massive giant robot appears in near-Earth orbit ahead of the colony. "We're right on target!"

"Uribatake, I need the Macross Cannon! We're not too late!" You call out, the chief engineer letting out a yelp as sparks blast him away from a conduit.

"Shit! We're trying, but the space fold didn't help! We've got power surges everywhere! I don't know if I can get it back online in anything less than 10 minutes!" He yelled out, accepting a tool from an assistant before diving back into a mess of wires and pipes.

"This is SDF-1 Macross, we are in position to open fire on the falling colony. Calling out to all forces, every bit of firepower helps!" Claudia and most of the other girls are calling over every communications band they can, trying to get people to just stop fighting and help the fuck out!

Your name is Hoshino Ruri. You are a 12 year old girl who spent the majority of her life growing up in Federation laboratories being experimented on. Your skin is pale, your growth is stunted, your body is swimming in experimental nanomachines, and honestly if it wasn't for the ship's alien medical technology you'd probably be dead in a decade or two. You're a card-carrying genius, probably one of the most experienced minds among humanity when it comes to alien technology, and to say that you dislike the Federation is an understatement. Them, and Britannia in particular, are all a bunch of idiots who could probably use a cataclysmic event to shake things up.

Sometimes though, you feel like you're an idiot too.

"Gunnery, open fire with everything we have. I want the anti-ship missiles hitting here, here, here, and here. The lasers can fire at-will, even if they won't do much at this point." You began, lines of light crawling along your exposed skin as you interfaced directly with the Macross's systems. "All hands, brace for impact!"

Nearly every person watching the colony drop was stunned to see the battleship-turned-robot suddenly fly directly at the falling colony. The SDF-1 was the biggest ship currently in existence for Humanity, but even it was dwarfed by the colony. Still, it moved forward to 'catch' the colony in front with a massive crash and screech of metal, alien engines working overtime as the Macross began to push.

"Everybody, keeping firing weapons even if they overheat! Every meter we can blast off of it improves how long we can keep it airborne! If we can delay it till Lake Winnipeg or even further north, we can buy time for evacuations and stop it from obliterating the larger cities and farmlands!"

Alarms were *screaming* all across the ship as the SDF-1 Macross was pushed beyond it's limits, all manner of errors and damage reports popping up one after another. Even Kaname Chidori's mechanics in training were running around to squeak out a tiny bit more power from the ship's systems, or keep different things holding together. Everyone was united in purpose to try and just slow down the colony, only for a clear message to cut through the reports and alarms.

"This is Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One! In the name of the Holy Empire of Britannia, and his Majesty Charles vi Britannia, we will prevail!"

From the direction of Pendragon and several military bases came a small army of trucks, planes, and space-capable transports. They were covered in Knightmare Frames, GMs, GM Cannons, and Zaku II's that began to open fire on the far end of the colony with every weapon they had that was capable of reaching that far.

"This is Captain Michel of the Birmingham-class ship, Lady Celeste!" A new voice called out, as a heavily damaged Federation ship charged into the combat zone as fast as it could manage. "I've only got two twin mega particle cannons left, but I'll put them to good work, orders be damned!"

A damaged Musai-class ship came in as well, practically limping along, but it too lended it's firepower to stopping the colony drop despite being an 'enemy' to the Federation. Sometimes, all it takes is just a little bit of a delay to change the course of history, and the near-suicidal charge of the SDF-1 did just that. Not only did it inspire people to change their plans, it allowed them opportunities and excuses to try and help stop the drop. After all, a single ship couldn't do much, but if *that* monstrously large ship could make a difference then at that point even a single extra mobile suit could possibly help. From the west came a group of test-type GMs of various designs and load-outs, lead by a special Powered GM whose mere presence filled you with a strange sense of determination.

"This is Lieutenant Commander Amuro Ray, with the Federation 3rd Test Unit. We won't let this happen!"

More damaged ships and mechs continued to approach, every single one slowing down the colony drop by a mile here, and a mile there. The land-bound Knightmare Frames and vehicles gathered to focus their shorter-range weapons on the smaller pieces of debris that fell from the colony, helping to minimize the destruction from any collateral damage. As units from various polities worked together, and Newtypes began to synergize with each other, more and more of the colony began to be whittled away as the minutes slowly ticked by until . . .

"Ruri, it's ready! I bought you one shot, but you gotta use it now before this bitch shakes apart!"

With a slam of your hand you dragged the Macross away from the colony, while Claudia screamed into the open comms for everyone to get away from the colony. With a massive crash that blasted waves to all the nearby communities, the SDF-1 landed in Lake Winnipeg, bending forward to directly point it's shoulders towards the oncoming colony as energy began to gather.

"Macross Cannon, fire!"

0083 - 11 - 13
00 : 34

Thanks to the efforts of everyone, the colony drop was in-fact delayed, staying airborne just a few minutes longer than it normally would have. 34 minutes after midnight it would've impacted the northern Midwest, slaughtering countless civilians and destroying miles and miles of water and farmland from the forests, farms, and lakes. Instead, 34 minutes after midnight a giant lance of energy shot up from the Earth into space, catching the damaged colony in it's wake. The combination of numerous anti-ship missiles, mega beam cannons, and all manner of smaller weapons alongside the SDF-1's superweapon was just enough to destroy the falling colony, causing people worldwide to let out a cheer at what would go down in history as the November Miracle, images of the SDF-1 surrounded by mist from the superheated waters of Lake Winnipeg becoming possibly the most iconic image of the era. The allied forces moved to take out the small chunks of debris that remained, but the Macross' role in this was finished.

Space Fold: DC30 70 +10 Spirit +5 Cyber-Newtype +5 Systems +5 Sensors = 95 Successful arrival!
Uribatake Repair Work: DC70 47 +8 Learning +7 Uribatake +5 Systems = 67 Uh-oh, the gun isn't ready.
Do something stupid? 70, Yeah we Baka.
Do something stupid: DC??? 57 +10 Spirit +15 SDF-1 Full Repair +10 Big Itano Circus = 92 Command grab the space station
GONDOR CALLS FOR AID! DC??? 86 +5 Diplo +5 Cyber-Newtype +5 Sensors +2 Claudia = 103 Uh, wait a min-
Britannia: DC40/70/100 92 +10 Proximity = 102, "WE HEAR YOUR CALL! FOR BRITANNIA!"
NERV US: DC80 6, too busy panicking
Feddies: DC50 54 +5 Proximity = 59, "Not again!"
Zeon: DC60 54 +5 Proximity +5 Pride/Feddies Mobilizing = 64, "Fuck it, we all know this isn't right!"
Does 'He' hear? DCCritfishing 78 +20 Newtype + 5 Mobile Suit Access = 103, "I'm coming!"
Does 'He 2' hear? DCCritfishing 90 +20 Newtype +10 'He' heard = 120, "Lalah . . ."

More than enough reinforcements to get the job done.

Due to a *large* number of previous chosen actions, speedrunning, and some real lucky rolls the SDF-1 has managed to arrive just in time and in position to do some inspiring shit and Char's Counterattack this colony. Literally only due to the presence of all those anti-ship missiles, a crit on trying to get people to help, and crits *from* help were you able to buy enough time to delay for the Macross Cannon to be usable before impact after failing the repair roll.

??? Is super pleased with you! You're so heroic!
Due to Federation forces being out of position, Anavel Gato has successfully fled the battle in orbit . . .
Amuro Ray and his small cadre of test pilots and students have revealed themselves.
Amuro Ray and a man named Quattro Bajeena have met . . .
Due to the massively public nature of this event, a lot of people will *not* be getting court martialed, and several groups of Zeon fighters will be given leniency.
??? Is real upset that she slept through everything, cuz she totally could've helped.
NERV US gets the hairy eyeball for not assisting.
Unsurprisingly, other than yourself, the Knights of the Round are given top billing, along with the crew of the Lady Celeste.
Various other groups that might have helped are based out of Japan so . . .

I need to gather up rewards, bonuses, etc. Probably will be tweaking the system and stats . . . I'm considering things.

Zarori · Sep 1, 2024

Shakedown Cruise Prologue results-
The Child origin: +10 Fame "Why is a literal child commanding an advanced alien battleship?!"
Ruri Hoshino: +10 Fame "What do you mean she's part of a Britannian black project about newtypes?!"
Scopedog Spacers: +5 Fame for inventing a new type of primitive AT
Code Blue: +5 Fame for somehow saving the lives of hundreds of civilians during the escape from Macross Island.
Pantry Panic: Alien greenhouses discovered and utilized. After further investigation, the nameless scientist was discovered to be one Edmund Wright, commoner from Pendragon who somehow worked his way up and into the Macross project. He will be remembered.
What Does THAT Button Do?: +50 Fame LITERAL TELEPORTATION TECHNOLOGY. UNDERSTANDABLE SPACE FOLDING!
Ace Combat: Hikaru, Roy, and Max are Badass Normals. They got that SRW skill. Ruri got protagonist piloting skills, if she needs them.
Wait, Are Those New Mobile Suits?!: Robotechnology has been studied!
Houston, We Have So Many Problems: Ruri has reached past a block in her Cyber-Newtype abilities, and made contact with a benevolent alien. This is important. The SDF-1 also encountered a Pursuer. This is bad.
Pursuit: +10 Fame. Defeated an unknown spaceship-sized alien! An alien faction is aware of the SDF-1 now. This is also bad. Discovered a new (basically empty) solar system though!
It's Just Business: +5 Fame. "So you're tellin' me a buncha kids just up and made their own city? And it works?" Kaname Chidori discovered, and running a factory in the SDF-1
Security Sweep: +0 Fame. Finn Schmidt recovered, and flipped.
What Does This Button Do/Zor's Gift: +10 Fame, The SDF-1 is now in a better condition than it was before it left (well, before you hugged a colony), with full armor, a full array of guns and missiles, and the greatest medical suite ever. Ruri got a data dump on the SDF-1.
Battle for Casatus Dome: +50 Fame. The SDF-1 somehow managed to completely, and without losses, destroy the alien attackers on Mars saving numerous lives. A couple of mobile suits and pilots joined, and some alien salvage!
Operation Stardust: +200 Fame. In full view of the entire Earth sphere, as well as fleets and armies from multiple polities, the SDF-1 teleported to Earth in the shape of a giant robot and *tackled a colony drop*. The inspiring act convinced others to abandon their orders and assist, and delayed it enough to allow the repaired Macross Cannon to be used to finish the job. Everyone knows what that ship and crew are capable of, and people are already rushing to be the first to make movies and documentaries about it.

Total Fame: 345 You aren't just known, you're famous. Whether or not that remains fame or becomes infamy will be seen in the future, but stopping a colony drop is a damn good start!

Thanks to your ship's advanced sensors and communications gear, as long as you're in the solar system you can keep in contact with essentially everyone now. As such, you can essentially operate out of anywhere you want for the time being while making repairs to the SDF-1 after tackling a colony. Where will you choose to base yourselves out of in the short term?

[ ] Lake Winnipeg: The large lake you landed in during the colony drop. The towns on the edges aren't doing as great as one would hope, but considering they all would've been completely wiped off the map without your efforts, cooler heads are prevailing. You're in Britannian territory, so after this event they're probably obligated to at least look like they're protecting you, but you're also surrounded by their factspheres and agents. Face to face diplomacy with Britannia is possible, and therefor at a bonus. Spacenoids, specifically Zeon, won't be particularly happy about this.

[ ] Side 3: The Republic of Zeon has extended an invitation to move the SDF-1 to their space, as thanks for stopping the 'traitors' who would do such a 'horrible' thing like dropping a colony on Britannia. They're offering additional supplies and assistance with any repairs. Allows face to face diplomacy with the spacenoids at a bonus, but obviously, the Federation (specifically Britannia) will be miffed at this choice.

[ ] Tokyo-3: During this entire mess, Area 11 was attacked by an alien leading to massive amounts of damage, putting the seat of Federation control over the country in a poor state. This is an opportunity for a mission of mercy, what with the vast amount of food you have, advanced medical technology, and the scopedogs to help with clearing rubble and reconstruction. This is a politically neutral option, with the obvious downsides of tying up your resources for a while, as well as being somewhere aliens find interesting enough to specifically attack.

[ ] Mars: Finish the job. The people of the Casatus Dome need help too, and Area 11 has a whole Federation to help them out, theoretically. You can return to Mars to help repair the Dome and protect it should the aliens return, or outright take all of the Martians on-board to join Macross City. Both the Federation and Zeon will be unhappy that you're popping out of immediate reach, and there's a chance of damaging the Macross more after so many jumps and cannon shots. On the other hand, it's explicitly the right thing to do after getting involved. Also some of your kids and your Space Bus are there, so without heading there it'll take some time to be reunited.

In the immediate aftermath of the colony drop, while everyone is celebrating and having a blast, you are inundated with communications requests. Some are open, some are rather sneaky. Likewise there's an obnoxious amount of talent around you, and it'd be ever so sad if someone were to try and poach them~ Be aware, failed rolls will almost certainly be noticed, and annoy certain people and groups. You may choose to try and poach as many as you like, as well as choose to *NOT* try to recruit anyone, which is equally valid.

[ ] Sir Milton Barrows, Knight of Britannia, is in awe of your heroic deeds! While not a Knight of the Round himself, he does has a solid reputation as a loyal and honorable soldier. A mere DC30 Diplomacy check will recruit him and his two aides, and their Knightmare Frames. Obtain Three pilots, one skilled, with a Gloucester and two Sutherlands. Advances research on Knightmare Frame-based technology. There is a real chance of these men reporting back to Britannia regularly.

[ ] Amuro Ray, Flight Instructor and Ace Pilot appeared to help save the day with his cadets! The infamous White Devil of the One Year War has apparently been shoved into a rear lines position this whole time, but your acts inspired him to rebel a little and try to stop the colony drop with his cadets. A DC80 Diplomacy check could pull him and his cadets on side, difficult due to the knowledge that the Federation will be absolutely seething if they lose a grip on Amuro Ray. Obtain Amuro Ray, four cadets, and their group of GMs with test-type loadouts. Advances Mobile Suit-based technology, and likely will give more Newtype options in the future. *Lots* of high-ranking folks will be upset.

[ ] ??? A mysterious pilot who showed up in a RGC-83 GM Cannon II is willing to join up, as long as things are kept a little quiet about his transfer. He's absolutely an ace pilot though, and a GM Cannon II ain't nothing to scoff at. DC60 Intrigue check to recruit for a mysterious ace pilot and his GM Cannon II. Advances Mobile Suit-based technology, with unknown other benefits and consequences for obvious reasons.

[ ] Olivia Vector, Zeon pilot, has seen the error of her ways! She didn't appear to know about the plans to drop a colony on the planet, and was impressed by your jumping in to help, and *especially* the fact that you helped Mars first. A DC40 Diplomacy check will recruit her and her wingmen. Obtain Olivia Vector, her two wingmen, and a trio of MS-09R-2 Rick Dom II's. Advances Mobile Suit technology (in the Zeon direction more than anything), with another obvious chance of being spied on, this time for Zeon.

[ ] No thank you! Adding random pilots you hardly know isn't the best idea at this time.

As a consequence of the various actions undertaken, the crew of the SDF-1 Macross gains a number of bonuses and improvements.

Hoshino Ruri gains a flat +1 bonus to Martial, Diplomacy, and Spirit from the Shakedown Cruise.
Macross City's morale remains at unrealistically high levels.
Hoshino Ruri gains the perk [Emergency Action] granting a bonus to suitably dramatic emergency situations once per event.
Uribatake's skills have improved under harsh working conditions.
Temporarily the SDF-1 Macross will have extremely good PR after fighting off an alien invasion on Mars, and stopping a colony drop. This good PR will be considered *negative* PR for certain factions and individuals for obvious reasons.
An adorable blue alien things you're super swell!

Figuring out what the Macross can/will do in the future will be coming up after the decision of where to bunker down and repair. If you choose not to return to Mars your Space Bus and Scopedogs will get back to you . . . eventually. Have fun deciding whether or not to risk trying to poach Amuro!

Zarori · Sep 8, 2024

In the immediate aftermath of the Colony Drop, life became very very complicated for a large number of people, though oddly enough it also became oddly peaceful. At least for a little bit.

Delaz Fleet Attack: 71
Federation Fleet Defense: 41

The attack by the Delaz Fleet against the strained Federation forces went far better than anyone could have ever predicted. Multiple space-based Federation sites were heavily damaged, and in a stunning turn of events, the Solar System II superweapon that was the Federation's supposed answer to things like colony drops and enemy fleets was effectively destroyed. Anavel Gato and his accompanying forces not only destroyed the command and control ship, but managed to deal extreme damage to a large number of the mirrors, albeit at the cost of a chunk of the Delaz Fleet. While the GP03 Dendrobium and Gato's Neue Ziel did clash, it ended up in a draw with both mobile armors damaged and forced to retreat once the SDF-1 Macross suddenly appeared in front of the falling colony.

In the end the colony was destroyed due to the assistance of 'renegade' units from both sides of the conflict, though the Holy Empire of Britannia was quick to spin publicity in their favor as the largest polity of the Earth Federation. King Charles vi Britannia gave a rousing and impassioned speech about the bravery and honor of those that abandoned the battle in space to help stop the colony drop.

Chuck is a Scary Politician: 106

He even went so far as to offer titles of nobility to Zeon soldiers that had betrayed their orders and helped stop the colony drop, leading to an iconic moment on camera where he personally pinned medals to the uniforms of these mobile suit pilots and the captain of the Musai-class ship, accepting them as Honorary Britannians in good standing. Captain Michel of the Lady Celeste received high honors as well, enjoying instant celebrity status as she got to rub elbows with the Knights of the Round and the nobles of Britannia. Despite the technical victory for the remnants of the Delaz Fleet in space, the actual aftermath was closer to a draw as all sides retreated to lick their wounds.

THE ROCK: 19 [AT Field Active]
Britannian Forces: NAT 100 [Cannot Penetrate AT Field]
Shinji: 83 [Sure as fuck CAN penetrate AT Field]
Rei: 10

In the time that the SDF-1 had been outside of the solar system, a new threat had reached the Earth. Named Angels by the international organization known as NERV, massive aliens had begun to attack Area 11. It was during the first attack that the Britannian's revealed a secret project fielding a land-based Super Robot known as an Evangelion, successfully destroying the alien (albeit with considerable collateral damage as it exploded). A second was destroyed as well, but the situation changed with the so-called Fifth Angel (where were the first two?) Ramiel. It appeared in the Pacific Ocean during the battle between the Delaz Fleet and Federation, and immediately destroyed the entire Pacific Fleet with energy blasts that outclassed battleships in penetrative power which would lead to massive scars across the bottom of the ocean and a few stray shots carving out grooves in islands before losing cohesion.

Upon reaching the shores of Area 11, it faced every Knightmare Frame, spare Mobile Suit, and soldier that Viceroy Cornelia li Britannia could muster in order to try and fight it off. The sheer array of military might and piloting skill actually did manage to give the Angel pause somehow, the shifting crystalline entity almost seeming confused as it turned this way and that, as if it was unable to decide on what it wanted to destroy first. Scientists would debate for some time as to whether this particular angel was truly sentient or more like an artificial intelligence, due to this.

NERV was able to deploy two Evangelions with the time bought by Britannian forces. Unit-01 made use of a massive prototype beam rifle to pierce the Angel's powerful AT Field, while Unit-00 deployed with heavy starship-grade shields to cover it's partner. While the Angel did manage to get off a shot at the Evangelions, Unit-00 sacrificed itself to block it while Unit-01 pulled off a miracle shot to destroy the Angel's core. The remains of the Angel were immediately quarantined by Britannian forces.

King takes Pawn: 85
NERV Awareness?: 32

The critically damaged Evangelion was recovered as well, along with the ruined and melted wreck of it's entry plug. It's a genuine shame that the pilot was slain by the extreme temperatures of the Ramiel's energy attack, but word is that a back-up pilot will be ready to make use of Unit-00 once it's been repaired to continue to fight against those dastardly aliens! While there were sightings of the rebel forces like the Black Knights in the area during the attack, Cornelia li Britannia gave a grudging thank you to them for not interfering in the defense of Area 11. Of course, immediately afterwords hostilities started up again in their usual guerilla fashion, but you can't win them all right?

Results-
Federation vs Delaz Fleet ends in a Forced Draw due to interference.
Solar System II has been mission killed, and will need serious resources to repair.
Fedeartion's Space Forces are Moderately Damaged.
Delaz Fleet is Moderately Damaged.
Anavel Gato and the Neue Ziel have survived.
Kou Uraki's GP03 is Damaged, but survived.
A number of Zeon-aligned units have switched sides to the Federation.
Tensions are *even worse* than before.

Ramiel vs Pacific Fleet ends in a perfect win for the Angel.
Ramiel vs Area 11 ends in a victory for Area 11.
Ramiel has been cored, and it's remains have been recovered by Britannia/NERV.
Cornelia li Britannia's forces gain a morale bonus for a flawless fight limiting collateral damage.
Unit-00 has been Heavily Damaged, and the pilot has definately been killed. Trust me.
Shinji Ikari is real sad, and is gonna be awfully confused when a new Rei shows up.
Zero continues to win behind the scenes.

Sir Milton Barrows & Spies DC30 Diplo: 74 +6 Diplo +3 Fame +2 Claudia = 85
Amuro Ray DC80 Diplo: 89 +6 Diplo +3 Fame +2 Claudia = 100 Crit
Char DC60 Intrigue: 84 +5 Intrigue +5 Sayla = 94
Olivia Vector & Spies DC40 Diplo: 87 +6 Diplo +3 Fame +2 Finn +2 Claudia = 100 Crit

For Captain Ruri Hoshino however, the immediate aftermath is extremely busy. You've immediately tasked your Valkyries to fly around the area and see how badly damaged the surrounding towns are after the double whammy of having a giant battleship land in Lake Winnipeg and then fire off it's big gun. Your remaining Scopedogs are distributing supplies as fast as you can produce them, and you've taken on a whole slew of survivors in need of medical care or a new home. While there are some hard feelings here and there, most people understand that without your intervention they'd all be dead anyways. Probably helps that the literal city of children in your ship's belly have been going on and on about you being a literal saint, as well as what happened to Mars.

In a surprise twist, not only did an attachment of Knights offer to join up with your forces due to your 'honorable deeds', a trio of Rick Dom II pilots offered to join as well rather than tag along with the others who went with the Knights of the Round back to Pendragon. According to Olivia Vector, the leader of the trio, they were caught in a kind-of rough place. None of them wanted to be associated with the Delaz Fleet, but sticking with the seemingly stagnating Zeon that just went along with things didn't strike them as good either. Regardless, they seemed fairly honest in wanting to join up as opposed to the very Britannian soldiers from the other group. Those you might have to keep an eye on in the future.

The meeting that you were really looking forward to however was the one with the cadets from the Aberdeen Training Base. When you first entered the Macross you didn't really have anything other than casual clothes to wear, and that continued since you weren't technically a true military, but in the end the leaders of your little town (primarily the girls) all banded together to fix that and give you a more professional look for just this sort of situation. It was pretty different compared to the Federation and Zeon uniforms, and you weren't really sure about the skirt and hose at your age, but the upper half was actually kinda cool . . . you liked how it draped and swished when you spun around. Not that you'd do that in public, that'd just be childish.

Kaname Chidori invented future Ruri's outfit early. Cuz reasons.

Taking a breath to study yourself as you felt a faint, but somewhat comfortable press against your mind, you stepped through an open door into a lounge where the group of pilots were waiting. Four of them were all teenagers a couple years older than yourself, apparently the cream of the crop from that base's training program, but your attention was completely stolen by the young man leading them. Standing around 5 and a half feet tall, with honestly pretty average features, was one of the legendary ace pilots of the One Year War: Amuro Ray. Stepping up to him, you reached out for a handshake rather than any saluting, something he smoothly responded to.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Amuro Ray, of the Federation's 3rd Test Unit. It's a pleasure to meet you Captain . . .?"

"Hoshino Ruri, of the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross." You managed to say the whole name with a straight face, even as you could feel the man's faint amusement from noticing your buried embarrassment. Damn kids outvoting you on the name!

"Captain Hoshino then. We all wanted to thank you for going out of your way to come back to Earth and stop the colony drop. I know it wasn't your first choice from what we overheard, but saving the Mars colony was something I probably would've chosen too in the situation, especially knowing that the fleets were still near the colony."

You nodded to the young man, seeing that despite everything, his cadets seemed to agree. "I'm just glad we were able to do both. It helped that the Federation soldiers and Martians were able to damage the enemy enough for us to arrive and sweep them up."

Reaching out to the ship's systems, something that Amuro was clearly able to detect and seemed to find interesting, you made note of the last of the pilots to come on-board heading your way. "Looks like we have one more guest coming, but before that I wanted to offer you and your men a place on-board our ship, either in an official combat role or just as refugees."

The cadets looked outright stunned at that, but Amuro managed to keep both his face and his emotions pretty firmly locked down.

"I understand that things haven't exactly been great for you in particular in the aftermath of the One Year War, and likewise the Britannians haven't been treating your cadets as kindly as they should. I outright heard some of them calling you all some unkind names, despite you heading out to save Britannian soil from the colony. If they can't appreciate you, well, we can."

"Not that I don't understand why you're offering this," Amuro begins, "But do you really understand what you're trying to do here? You've bought yourself a lot of goodwill with the Federation, let alone Britannia, but I'm infamous for a reason. Nobody on any side is going to appreciate me being pulled away from where they can keep an eye on me."

"Well, they're all idiots." You helpfully pointed out, drawing a snort from one of the cadets. "If they wanted to keep you guys around they should've treated you better, and I'm living proof that even without your involvement they're gonna keep experimenting on people to make more of you."

That drew a wince from the man, as understanding began to dawn on the faces of the cadets. You were about to speak up and drive the point home, before a knocking sound came from the doorway.

"Why don't you just accept her offer, Amuro? Surely you aren't satisfied with being a dog of the Federation, stuck living on Earth instead of being free in space? Even Sayla is here from what I can tell."

His words came along with a *big* presence mentally, like a mountain suddenly appeared to your newtype senses. That aura resonated with Amuro's, his tight control of his own emotions bubbling over as he took a step forward with his jaw clenched.

". . . Char!"

The tall blonde man adjusted the sunglasses he wore, before smirking.

"Quattro Bajeena, at your service. I understand if you'll want to reshuffle the ranks a bit though, young lady. I explicitly appreciate you reaching out to support Mars, and would like to offer my services as long as you continue to do so. I would appreciate it if you could tell me about these new foes that seek to destroy Spacenoids?"

----------

Sir Milton Barrows and two lesser KMF pilots join the party! Suspicious though.
One Gloucester and two Sutherlands obtained.
Olivia Vector and her two wingmates join the party! Not very suspicious!
Three Rick Dom II's obtained.
After additional bullying, Amuro Ray, his four cadets, and the mysterious not-war criminal Quattro Bajeena have joined with a variety of GMs.
This *will* get out, and the Federation and Zeon both will be extremely upset at the highest levels.

-----------

Making up some excuses, and taking advantage of your goodwill, in less than a day you had the SDF-1 begin to lift off from the surface of the planet. You didn't really want to risk trying to transform the ship in atmosphere so you had everyone hold onto what they could and simple pushed the ship still in robot-form up just high enough so that you wouldn't scoop up the lake when you engaged in a space fold. People from the various towns, along with the military forces, watched in awe as space twisted and bent around your battleship before with a pop and implosion you faded out of reality . . .

Damaged Space Fold: 85
Even with penalties nothing exciting happens

. . . and reappeared safely in Mars orbit. Honestly it was a big relief that even with the damage sustained, you managed to make it to Mars without issue. Likewise, you managed to successfully transform the SDF-1 back into it's battleship mode with only minimal issues. It was going to take some time to get everything repaired again, but considering you managed to stop a whole-ass colony from impacting a planet and reaped massive personnel and mech gains out of it, you were gonna say this was absolutely worth it in all ways.

As you descended to the surface of Mars to land the ship near the Casatus Dome, the comms lit up with greetings and cheering voices, welcoming back the 'Heroes of Mars'. It wasn't all good news that you received, but in the end you decided to look on the positive side, considering that if you hadn't arrived here there wouldn't be any survivors at all. Pilot Sagara reported that of the nearly six-thousand people between the small defensive fleet, travelers, and citizens of the Casatus Dome, only 1,236 people managed to survive assuming no other survivors are found. Once again, like with the Macross Island incident, these numbers were heavily skewed towards the young and very old, though nowhere near as badly as your crew.

Casatus Dome Condition: 29

The dome itself was actually much worse off than you'd noticed at the time. Large cracks abound on the actual dome itself, but in two places at the base of the dome there were actual holes blasted open in it, exposing the city's insides. If you had arrived even minutes later, the city would've likely been completely destroyed, as if filling the dome itself with dust and carbon dioxide wasn't bad enough. The civilians that survived had been ones inside buildings that were already rated to survive a dome breach like hospitals and labs, or had been close enough to evacuate underground immediately. Some wonderful person had thought ahead to have the schools for Martian children not only be rated for a dome breach, but be entryways into underground shelters, which is what saved so many kids lives.

Unfortunately, the nominal leadership of the city as well as the ranking members of the military were all lost in the attack from either being caught outside of safety, being on-board the Federation ship, or being in the small Federation base that had been slammed at the start of the battle. Without any leadership, the majority of the people looked to their saviors for direction. Specifically, you. It was kind-of weird how so many adults kept asking someone your age to boss them around, but at this pint they were probably just scared of making things worse somehow. Or scared of your big honkin' space gun, either or.

-------

The Casatus Dome is Heavily Damaged, both the dome itself, the base of the dome, and the building infrastructure inside. It will take a considerably amount of resources and time to repair, but it is absolutely doable. On the other hand, you've already created a small town inside your super cool space battleship. You've got plenty of room to grow and expand before you get anywhere near the maximum occupancy. What will you do with the Martian survivors?

[ ] Rebuild the Dome: Will begin the Guardian of Mars Arc, requiring long-term investment and care.

[ ] Accept the Survivors Onboard: Will begin the Mercenary Arc. You'll have more freedom to act and maneuver.

Zarori · Friday at 4:38 AM

[x] Accept the Survivors Onboard
Martian Morale: 73

In the lead-up to Christmas, still celebrated system-wide by many cultures, the crew of the SDF-1 got to work engaging in what was effectively a large-scale humanitarian mission to help the survivors of Mars. While you wouldn't say that anybody is happy or anything after the sheer scale of death the survivors experienced, your kids and the Martians have found common ground in being survivors of horrible tragic attacks. There was a considerable amount of discuss about how to proceed from here, but in the end the survivors chose to accept the offer of moving to the SDF-1 Macross after being shown just how advanced the little town inside has become. Sure there were concerns about living inside a battleship, but there were not only many bad memories of living in a slowly shattering dome, but the remaining older folks were smart enough to realize just how expensive and slow rebuilding would be. Nobody really wanted to be so deeply in debt to the Federation *or* colonies in order to rebuild a destroyed dome.

As everyone got to work in repairing the key systems of the SDF-1, the injured were cycled through Zor's healing systems to ensure they were in tip-top health at least, while those with free hands but not the right expertise for repairs either worked to build temporary housing for the refugees or strip the colony bare. Those Scopedogs have honestly been paying dividends ever since Uribatake gave them a nice overhaul to work in vacuum. Who knew primitive armored troopers that were abandoned by mobile suit and knightmare frame research would be so handy?

Salvage Roll: 59 +5 Scopedogs = 64

Of all the things you didn't expect to be bringing onto the SDF-1, farm animals were probably the top of the list. The original colonists (once the actual settling had begun that is) included a number of scientists with a more wildlife bend, hoping to see if they could raise livestock on Mars to be a bit more self-sufficient. With a lot of work they did manage to raise a small amount of pigs, chickens, and even cows! This was in a secondary small facility that had fortunately only received minor damage due to the focus on the main dome. It took some *effort* but you managed to find some room for the animals in the massive greenhouse section of the ship, and Zor's tech helped bump up the frail animals health enough that you could have a little ranch on board. Mr. Bajeena thought it was a shake that there weren't any horses, but beggars can't be choosers.

Likewise, your people grabbed all the construction supplies, metals, and more from the colony. Some of the people were even pleased that their vehicles and homes were being integrated into the SDF-1 somehow, like taking a little piece of their old home to their new home. It managed to help speed up your mini housing crisis being resolved at the very least.

Results-
The survivors are surviving best they can, given the situation.
Livestock of all things have been transferred to the Macross, making a ranch.
You had real milk for the first time in months, and it was pretty great!
Basic raw materials were salvaged from the ship, helping speed up making housing for the survivors in Macross City.
Additional basic materials obtained that don't really need to be tracked precisely.

The real question now however, was just what you were going to do. People from all polities were throwing communications requests at you day at night, half of them being big thank yous, the other half being screeching about your 'stolen battleship' or Amuro's defection. You weren't looking forward to people finding out that you had the legendary Red Comet as well . . . You also had some information that people would probably very much want to know, and deciding if and how to disseminate it was also of high priority. As you sat down with your senior crew to discuss these matters (and re-organizing your flight personnel now that you've more than doubled your number of pilots and mobile suits), you carefully weighed over the choices.

There's no way that the Pursuer bug was the only one of it's kind, so knowledge of an alien race of mobile armor-tier creatures that can space fold was pretty big. On top of that, you had the aliens and drones that attacked Mars. Imagine your surprise when you checked one of the mechs that your pilots shot down, only to find the corpse of a giant humanoid alien inside! The SDF-1's systems marked them as Zentraedi, which at least gave you a proper name to work with. They also had some kind of long range transportation technology in those black structures some of the eggheads were calling Chulips for some reason, in addition to more traditional spaceships like the one you destroyed.

[ ] Full Disclosure: Let everyone know about the incoming alien threats. There might be panic, but it's better for everyone to be prepared now that the fleets were damaged and the Solar System was fucked up.
[ ] Private Disclosure: You have the necessary frequencies, so you'll directly contact only the important militaries and politician. They'll know better how to manage possible panic over more alien threats.
[ ] No Disclosure: Meh. Fuck em. They'll figure it out on their own.
[ ] Write-in Disclosure?

Beyond all that, you had your usual work on-board the ship to take care of, managing all these idiots and keeping them from doing stupid things. The job of being Captain never ended.

You currently have 6 AP, please choose 6 options.

Martial-
[ ] Interdepartmental Training
DC: 60
You have suddenly gained a bunch of Feddie and Zeon pilots, in addition to Skull Squadron and the Scopedogs. There's almost certainly going to be friction and chain of command issues, so you'd need to sort this all out ASAP.
Reward: Fix issues before they get too bad between your pilots, and organize your sudden windfall of mobile suits.

[ ] Bigger Boom v2
DC: 50/80
Okay, we got missiles goin' now, but that necessitates the Macross being in range. I still think we can jury-rig some hand-held launchers to make use of them from further afield, though I've got some other thoughts . . .
Reward: Create ad-hoc anti-ship missile launchers for the mechs. Or something else.

[ ] Lasers Are Pretty Cool
DC: 60
That Pursuer's armor didn't seem so useful against the ship's energy weapons, so why don't we see if we can make a gunpod version of those point defense lasers? Both the factory kid and Uribatake were thinking it might be viable.
Reward: Arm the Valkyries with energy-based gunpods.

[ ] Accelerate Repairs
DC: 50
Your ship has begun repairs on the important things, but there's a lot of stuff left to do. Damaged point-defense weapons, damaged armor, one entire section of the ship is *reeking* of fish . . . This will eventually be repaired on it's own without using an action. Eventually. How sure are you that you won't get into a fight soon?
Reward: Return the SDF-1 to 100% repaired status, giving you peace of mind and less spots to Golden BB.

Diplomacy-
[ ] Space, the Final Frontier
DC: Variable, unknown thresholds
You returned to the Earth sphere, only to find that it's just as much of a shithole as it was when you left it, if not worse. A lot of people on board are sick of humans killing humans, and you have the ability to just . . . leave. So why don't you? You can leave and literally make your own civilization in another system, you just need to find the right kinds of planets and stars!
Reward: ???, Not having to deal with these assholes.

[ ] Manswell Expedition 2.0
DC: Variable, unknown threshold
There was once a man named Victor Mansweel a billionaire that was fed up with the condition of Humanity. He proposed that a number of volunteers from various fields on Earth would create a grand arc ship, cryogenically freeze themselves, and head into deep space looking for a new world to colonize. He sadly was killed along with a number of his supporters during the One Year War, but a lot of people continue to petition the governments to continue his dream. You can just straight-up do that, and in a fraction of the time.
Reward: Like above, but grab colonists from the solar system and explicitly set out to make a new colony! Will start a major arc that leads away from Human-controlled space, but will take some time to get off the ground.

[ ] Tokyo Time
DC: 30
The one event you weren't able to intervene in was the Angel attack on Area 11. While the Britannian forces were able to defeat the Angel with the help of their Evangelions, there are a few places that have been fucked up due to high energy beams and collateral damage. Time to drum up some more goodwill!
Reward: Go do some humanitarian aid in Japan! Absolutely end up exposed to Code Geass/Evangelion/etc shenanigans.

[ ] Plan Celestial Being
DC: 40/80
Well that sure didn't take long. Looks like some infighting has already started back up again! Surviving elements of the Delaz and Federation fleets have already began to bicker over in Luna orbit. A third force might just be enough to scare them off of fighting . . . assuming you don't side with one of them and defeat the other.
Reward: An opportunity to stop armed conflicts and do diplomacy, will have a sub-vote depending on the results of the roll.

[ ] Where's the Energy Fleet?
DC: 10
You know, it occurs to you that if these aliens made it all the way to Mars . . . why couldn't they have done the same to the Jupiter Energy Fleet? Sure they're not exactly in alignment at the moment, but it's a valid concern. You're the only people that can investigate this in a timely manner.
Reward: Establish contact with Jupiter.

Stewardship-
[ ] Sim City
DC: 50
Sure, your new citizens have places to live, but they're not exactly comfortable. They're basically living in the mediocre conditions that your original batch of kids were living in before Macross City was built. Lets get these people up to code!
Reward: The Martians living situation is upgraded to be in line with the Macross Island survivors. Just a nice thing to do.

[ ] Diplomas
DC: 30/60 (Further discounted due to actual smart people)
With all these children running around, it's vital that we re-establish a school system to continue their education. They've already missed months of learning, which could have a serious effect on their future. There's enough old people to start doing large classes to help out your kids, thanks to the small group of people that joined from Earth, and the Martians.
Reward: People get a goddamn education (That will still be skewed towards cool space stuff)

[ ] So Many Org Charts
DC: Variable, guaranteed success
You now have access to more skilled labor than before, enough that letting so many people run around willy nilly is probably a bad idea. It's time to actually do a full census, organize everyone, and nudge people so that they're in places where they can actually do some good work.
Reward: Complete reorganization of personnel, for the better.

[ ] Rapid Expansion
DC: 50/75/100
Right now your ship's production capabilities are rather lopsided. You have whatever side project Uribatake works on, and the small factory setup that Chidori is currently overseeing. With all these threats you're running into on top of Humanity's usual nonsense, it's about time you improve your ability to produce solutions to problems that aren't food and medicine.

Intrigue-
[ ] Zero Intrigue
DC: 20
A man calling himself Zero has contacted you on behalf of an Area 11 rebel organization called the Black Knights.
Reward: Contact the Black Knights.

[ ] Axis of Evil?
DC: 20
A woman calling herself Haman Karn has contacted you on behalf of the Axis Zeon, a splinter group to the various other Zeon-esque factions.
Reward: Contact Axis Zeon.

[ ] I'm Going to Disneyland!
DC: 40
A representative of Anaheim Electronics has attempted to discretely contact you in order to discuss business.
Reward: Contact Anaheim Electronics

[ ] Steal a Kiss
DC: 70
The inactive Chulip remains on the surface of Mars . . . and it really doesn't have to. Your new eggheads are quite interested in dragging that big ol' damaged thing into one of the larger emptier sections of the ship, and start investigating it.
Reward: Stuff part of the ship with a stolen, damaged Chulip. Grants new research options.

[ ] Plan For The Worst
DC: ??? (Likely Difficult)
You were caught off-guard by that Pursuer last time, but between the repaired sensor suite and samples of the green Fold Quartz, you think you might be able to do something about that. It's time to look into those samples and see if you can tune the SDF-1's sensors to try and essentially predict incoming space folds earlier. You don't think it'd work for general use, but it might be viable for *just* the bug space folding.
Reward: Better warning for incoming bugs, hopefully.

Spirit-
[ ] I'm An Adult!
You are a proper lady, and can help out with just about anything!
Reward: Add your SPIRIT to the result of any roll, once per Turn. Choose which option to add it to in a sub-vote.

[ ] Hey Listen, Again!
DC: ???
Reward: Hiiii~

Bad news, there are no Research options. Good news, there will be Research options later. We got system updates incoming, alongside all your new pilots and mobile suits, so you can use all 6 AP here. Have fun!

Super Robot Wars Anew (Crossover)

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author

The Untrustworthy Author