Author Topic: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread  (Read 13858 times)

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Offline Lorric

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
The Hertak Armageddon raged, the space around it dotted with fire. Anything that dared fly inside the range of its batteries died a quick and fiery death.

The light cruiser Danube was a drifting ball of fire and plasma, its entire crew dead after the Hertak’s lances had speared through shields, armor and bulkheads and found its power plants. Its fighter complement were being swatted out of the sky by the Hertak strikecraft. Three hundred Delest, dead in an instant.

But its charge, the precious, precious Fleet Carrier Ekaterina and the heavy cruisers Luga and Tosna were finally clear of danger and beyond the effective range of the Hertak’s weapons.

Ekaterina’s flight decks were finally cleared of debris and her first Sodesuka CAP blasted off to meet the enemy Drones and Ravagers. Luga angled her armor and turned her drives directly toward the Armageddon, blinding its sensors with the EM wash of her exhaust plumes and raking its forward beam emplacements with ripple fire from her missile emplacements and aft batteries. And Tosna screamed around, in a high-g manoeuver that redlined her artificial gravity generators, and charged the Armageddon head-on, her forward batteries blazing.

It was no suicide charge, although the Hertak commander could be excused for thinking so. The charging cruiser had appeared out of the glare of Luga’s drives, rapidly closing the distance, in a collision course. Alarms blared all across the Hertak ship and it began slowly, ponderously, to swing around, unshadowing its starboard beams.

Anastasia jumped in, less than five hundred metres from its dorsal side, opening up with every energy battery she could bring to bear. She was moving too fast to allow the Hertak to retaliate and did not cause any significant damage as she blasted past the capital ship and, once again, opened the distance. But she did accomplish two things. Firstly – a shot from her Gamma battery gouged a massive scar across the armor of the Hertak ship, exposing the structures and bulkheads underneath. Secondly – she drew the attention of the Hertak helmsman, who reversed his course to avoid what he thought would be another collision.

Unfortunately, that exposed his flank to the Tosna.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Every Yonsakuren responds slightly differently to their battle instincts but all agree that the endorphin rush they get when they expect to join battle is sublime. The men and women of the Fifth and Sixth Marine Companies were no exception.

As the range closed, and battle drew closer and closer, some trembled in their armour. Others cried, silently, joyfully, emotion nearly overwhelming them. Others paired off and recited parts of their marching songs, their heads banging to the rhythm. Others listened to soft music with their comm sets; others pumped heavy metal and shook like wet dogs.

This was not unprofessional. It has been said that you never feel more alive than when death is close; never has that been more true than among the Yonsakuren. In those short moments, they experienced life to the fullest, in what they perceived to be the just reward for their service.

“Five hundred!” came the range count from the ship’s intercom and the Yonsakuren assumed breaching positions in the blink of an eye. Weapons clicked ready; visors came down, breaths slowed.

Time
stood
still.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Tosna rammed the Armageddon perfectly, ripping her own forward plating and part of her decks off, but firmly lodging herself into the gap in her opponent’s armor. The cruiser shook like a living thing as Hertak bulkheads crumpled before her but she kept going, burying herself deeply into the enemy’s underbelly.

Slowly, underscored by the groans of ripping metal, Tosna came to a relative stop.

Breaching charges went off. Atmosphere boiled off into vacuum.

And, with a bloodcurling yowl, like starving wolves, the men and women of Tosna poured out of their ship and into the corridors of the Hertak Armageddon, riding a wave of death. With rifle and pistol and knife, ever driven forward by their leaders, and with shouts of ‘Yu Ki! Yu Ki!’ and ‘Uuni’s hand!’, they pushed; and, to the Hertak’s dawning but short-lived horror, they did not stop.

Why didn't they st-
Are you planning to capture the Armageddon?

EDIT: Quoted for new page.

Loving it. I was really glad that the dice came up for that attack on the Hertak. I wanted the game to give you a reward and now it has. :)

 

Offline Enioch

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
*shrug*

IC, if Kalazonitov had the opportunity to grab a more-or-less functional Armageddon  for the price of a light cruiser, and a crippled heavy cruiser, he'd do it in a heartbeat, if only for the intel and morale value.

OOC, I don't think it matters in any mechanical way, and Spoon would scream if I stole one of his apocalypse machines, so eh.  :p
'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent'  -Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"

So don't take a hammer to your computer. ;-)

 

Offline Spoon

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread


It's not that its impossible though. It's just that Armageddon's are so stupidly huge and filled with so many Hertak that it'd quite a task to capture one. And then you'd need to prevent them from self destructing it. Because Hertak are the type of space nerds that would gleefully get the last laugh and deny the enemy their moment of glory.
Urutorahappī!!

[02:42] <@Axem> spoon somethings wrong
[02:42] <@Axem> critically wrong
[02:42] <@Axem> im happy with these missions now
[02:44] <@Axem> well
[02:44] <@Axem> with 2 of them

 

Offline Enioch

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
See, told you. He's screaming already. Although I'm not sure that's a good scream or a bad scream. :p

Re: Hertak inside the Armageddon. It's a good thing the Delest have two fleet carriers with precision weaponry hovering nearby, after completely crushing the rest of the fleet. And a lot of soldiers with breaching power armor and location transmitters inside the enemy ship who have no problems calling in friendly artillery 'danger close' every time they get bogged down (in fact the bloody Yonsakuren probably get off on it).

'Oh, you want to hold this corridor? OK, give me a second. Anastasia fire control, give me a main battery two-second blast, thirty metres in front of my location. Yeah, I know I might get caught in the blast. Ain't that EXCITING?'

Obviously can't guarantee the Hertak won't blow themselves up, but the plan is to move so fast that they won't have time to set the self destruct before the Yonsakuren secure engineering and bridge.
'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent'  -Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"

So don't take a hammer to your computer. ;-)

 

Offline Enioch

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Added image to first post. Because ran into it and it fits. A lot. Dem eyes.

EDIT: Stupid bbcode tags. No image resizing?
« Last Edit: September 29, 2016, 12:21:04 pm by Enioch »
'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent'  -Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"

So don't take a hammer to your computer. ;-)

 

Offline Lorric

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Added image to first post. Because ran into it and it fits. A lot. Dem eyes.

EDIT: Stupid bbcode tags. No image resizing?
Nice. Would be tricky to shake her hand. The whole heart skipping a beat thing seems a lot more understandable now. :)

How old is the empress though? I wonder if this one is too young?

As for resizing, I don't know how, but I do know Spoon did it in the original forum game with some of his images. You might be able to quote his posts and figure it out.


 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
The admiral swore quietly as he read the message transcript, causing all conversation on the flag bridge to come to an abrupt halt: Ter-Judicator Jason Ralwood never swore unless someone or something had made him very, very angry. Everyone wasn't quite staring at him (his flagship's crew were far too professional to take their eyes off of their displays for no good reason, even if they were currently parked in the Silva system and not expecting combat any time soon), but the attention of everyone present was definitely, at least partially, directed towards the admiral as they wondered exactly what had caused the muttered expletive.

"Lieutenant Kollari," he finally said, his tone unmistakably one of command, even as his eyes never left his dataslate.

His flag lieutenant didn't flinch, however, as she was already standing at attention. "Yes, sir?"

"Inform Captain Asimov that I want us ready to move within the hour, then open a fleet-wide communications channel."

"Understood, Judicator."

Lieutenant Susan Kollari was in motion almost before she finished her acknowledgement, but Judicator Ralwood wasted no time as he put down the dataslate and turned to his staff. "I need an immediate response plan for an incursion by an unknown, presumed-hostile alien race or races from both the Crux and Kardoen systems, with unknown strength and capabilities."

Commodore Golovin gaped at him as though he hoped this was some sort of practical joke. Captain Nakhimov coughed as though to regain some composure and said, "I presume this is not a hypothetical incursion."

"It is not," Judicator Ralwood confirmed. "We have reports of multiple fleets of wildly differing composition arriving in human space from the aforementioned directions."

The admiral handed his dataslate to Commodore Golovin, who gulped and began reading as the remaining color drained from his face. Captain Nakhimov, the only member of the admiral's staff apparently brave enough to speak at the moment, continued doing so. "Do we have details on their combat capabilities?"

"At the moment, we do not. It is unlikely we will until and unless they are successfully engaged in battle. In the meantime, we will make best speed to--"

The admiral was interrupted by his flag lieutenant abruptly clearing her throat behind him. "Sir, the fleet-wide communications channel is ready."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he replied, as he sat down in his chair and pressed the button that began transmitting his voice to every ship in the fleet. "Attention all officers and crew of the 1st Delest Dynasty Border Fleet: humanity is under attack.

"We have confirmed reports of unknown, presumed hostile alien fleets in both the Crux and Kardoen systems. Their numbers, capabilities, motives, and intentions are all unknown; their location means that we must assume the Aldebaran, Algol, Draco, and Hydra systems are all under imminent threat of attack. We will immediately set a course for the Tamy starlance; upon arriving in that system, we will waste no time in heading immediately to the Odin starlance. I intend to provide assistance as quickly as possible to defend against the incursion from Kardoen, but again, keep in mind: their numbers and capabilities are unknown. We must assume we will, in all likelyhood, not survive; our job is to ensure that our deaths are not meaningless."

The rest of the crew on the flag bridge seemed to take a collective nervous gulp at that pronouncement, although the admiral noticed out of the corner of his eye that Commodore Golovin actually seemed to be getting some of the color back in his face as he adjusted to the new reality.

"You are the Fist of Silva," he continued, his voice becoming a barely-suppressed growl."You will not fail in your task. We will make sure the enemy pays heavily for our lives. Ter-Judicator Jason Ralwood, out."

That was not the traditional sign-off for a fleet-wide transmission; however, nobody seemed likely to point this out to their admiral at the moment. Commodore Golovin stepped away from the multifunction table his staff was gathered around to hand his dataslate back.

"You know, of course," Golovin whispered as he leaned over, "that we have received no orders to mobilize."

"Yes," his admiral replied evenly, with the same volume. "It's entirely possible that I will be executed for my presumption, assuming we survive long enough for that to happen."

The commodore nodded and straightened, staring at the main holographic projection of the Silva system that was beginning to be filled in with the fleet's course as each ship's navigator began plotting a least-time course to the Starlance and reporting it to their flagship's CIC to coordinate their movements. He observed the course taking shape for a few moments, then turned back and began speaking at a more normal volume. "We shall commence work on our response plan immediately, Sir."

"Very good, Commodore," the admiral replied, and continued watching.

EDIT: Replaced Jason's rank with the properly DD-ified version.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2016, 04:50:58 am by AdmiralRalwood »
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Lorric

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Oh I hope you're going to tell a full story of your fleet here. I think the 1st DD has perhaps the best storytelling potential out of all of them.

That jumps you to the front of the respawn queue unless someone better placed in the queue puts in some RP between now and then. :)

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Oh I hope you're going to tell a full story of your fleet here.
My goal is, yes, to tell a sequential story of the 1st DD (hence why I started from the beginning rather than with something more recent).

I plan to show up as reinforcements with a vengeance.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Lorric

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Oh I hope you're going to tell a full story of your fleet here.
My goal is, yes, to tell a sequential story of the 1st DD (hence why I started from the beginning rather than with something more recent).

I plan to show up as reinforcements with a vengeance.
You'll need a lot of boosts to have any realistic chance of doing that. Good luck to you.

(Though you might die and with the low RP participation get to come right back in again...)
« Last Edit: September 29, 2016, 08:04:58 pm by Lorric »

 

Offline Enioch

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Nice. Would be tricky to shake her hand. The whole heart skipping a beat thing seems a lot more understandable now. :)

How old is the empress though? I wonder if this one is too young?

In his faction blurbs Spoon stated that Yu Ki is quite young. It's possible that this is too young, but keep in mind that this is what Kalazonitov sees. Given his circumstances, what he sees might not be absolutely accurate. ;)

Oh I hope you're going to tell a full story of your fleet here.
My goal is, yes, to tell a sequential story of the 1st DD (hence why I started from the beginning rather than with something more recent).

I plan to show up as reinforcements with a vengeance.
You'll need a lot of boosts to have any realistic chance of doing that. Good luck to you.

(Though you might die and with the low RP participation get to come right back in again...)

Regarding the respawning mechanic: Can I role play and choose to give my bonus to another fleet?

And how much does a single point of power bonus affect the to-hit chance of a fleet?
« Last Edit: September 30, 2016, 04:02:07 am by Enioch »
'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent'  -Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"

So don't take a hammer to your computer. ;-)

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Nice. Would be tricky to shake her hand. The whole heart skipping a beat thing seems a lot more understandable now. :)

How old is the empress though? I wonder if this one is too young?

In his faction blurbs Spoon stated that Yu Ki is quite young. It's possible that this is too young, but keep in mind that this is what Kalazonitov sees. Given his circumstances, what he sees might not be absolutely accurate. ;)
Not to mention that, well, genetic engineering is involved.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Lorric

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
@ Enioch

I suppose you could choose a faction instead of your own fleet, but if you chose the DD, I'd put it in the 2nd because that's to stop multiple people sinking all the boosts into one fleet. It makes more sense to accumulate boosts on one fleet.

It gives an addition to the chance to hit of about 5.5%. Now that's a bigger deal than it might first appear with the hit chances being quite low in this game to begin with and especially with the harder to hit fleets. For instance if you went from 50% to 55% to hit something, that would be a 10% increase in your chance to hit that particular fleet. But if it was a 10% chance to begin with going to a 15% chance, that would make it 50% more likely to hit than it was before. So the boosts soon add up, especially against the more durable fleets. I hope that all makes sense, I'm sure there's a more precise mathematical term to describe the type of % increase it is.

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
"Twenty minutes to the Tamy starlance, Ter-Judicator."

Jason nodded to his staff's astrogation officer. "Thank you, Commander Okutsu." There was hardly reason for further conversation on the subject; he'd asked to be notified when they got close, and no additional orders would be needed for the transit. Without orders to countermand his earlier instructions, the ships would begin travelling to the Tamy system as soon as possible.

At that moment, a voice whispered in his right ear. "Sir, coded transmission for you."

Jason looked up and nodded to his flag lieutenant, accepting the dataslate she held out. The moment he took it, she stepped back and turned back to the holographic display in front of them, making sure she had no potential line of sight to read something she had no clearance to read. Jason smiled at that, then entered in his decryption key and began reading; the words he saw were disheartening, but hardly surprising:

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

<MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, DDFFLTCOM> && <MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, PENAL OFFICE>
to
<1ST DD FFLEET CO>
<CLEARANCE LEVEL: DELEST PROTON>
<MESSAGE BEGINS>
<**CODED TIMESTAMP**>

Judicator Ralwood,

We have received reports of full-scale fleet mobilisation of the 1st DD Frontier Fleet, effective from ca. 2300 hours yesterday.

You have not been issued orders which would justify such a mobilisation and, if said mobilisation was carried out at your orders, that would constitute gross abuse / overstepping of your authority and would be tantamount to mutiny.
 
You are hereby ordered to immediately provide DDFFLT HQ with a detailed log of all 1ST DDFFLT communications within the past 72 hours and stand down your forces. You are not to engage in any outbound Starlance interface from Silva.

Authorised inspectors of the Penal Commisariat have been assigned to the 1ST DDFFLT and will be arriving on board the HIDMS Salaminia shortly, to investigate the situation and the actions of the 1st DDFFLT officers. They are to be provided with any and all information they require to complete their investigation.

Failure to comply will be considered irrefutable evidence of mutiny and will elicit the appropriate disciplinary response.

Isshiki Delest, DDFFLTCOM

<MESSAGE ENDS>
<MESSAGE ID: F17557891>

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Jason nodded, closed the message, put down the dataslate (expiring his decryption key in the process so nobody else could pick it up and start reading classified information), and returned his attention to the icon floating in midair that indicated the Tamy starlance. Lieutenant Kollari was still hovering next to him, worried curiosity plainly evident on her face. "Sir, was that...?"

"No," he said, not taking his eyes off the holographic projection. "Our orders are unchanged; we will make transit through the Tamy starlance as scheduled."
« Last Edit: October 01, 2016, 04:56:41 am by AdmiralRalwood »
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Lorric

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
I wonder if Jason Ralwood has more of a future under the Hierarchy than under his DD masters...

Still though, they must change their minds about carrying out the punishment if he's getting another fleet. Unless you have him lose his life and put a new character in charge of the new 1st DD...

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
I wonder if Jason Ralwood has more of a future under the Hierarchy than under his DD masters...

Still though, they must change their minds about carrying out the punishment if he's getting another fleet. Unless you have him lose his life and put a new character in charge of the new 1st DD...
All I can say is "wait and see"...


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Ter-Judicator Jason Ralwood glanced up from his dataslate to take in the holographic projection of the Tamy system. His fleet was roughly halfway through executing a least-time course between the Silva and Odin starlances, indicated as a blue curve stretching from the pulsing green dot that represented his fleet to the icon representing the Odin starlance. The path they'd travelled from the Silva starlance was itself represented in faded grey, and various points of interest were scattered throughout the plot (but not very many, because CIC knew that their admiral had no reason to need to know the location of every single civilian ship in the system, so the display was mostly empty). Since a single dot wasn't very helpful for knowing the status of the fleet, half of the display was taken up by an expanded representation of the fleet's formation, every ship color-coded according to its status (all green, thankfully) with a small sidebar containing additional details. Jason noticed that the HIDMS Gān Jiàng had suffered a minor mechanical failure in its port-side primary engines, but that the backups were holding and damage control teams were already working on the problem.

The admiral took in all of this information in less than a second and looked back down at his dataslate. He still hadn't received any transmissions from Ihefulian since the coded transmission almost a day ago, and he wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign; if nothing else, he'd expected to receive some sort of message complaining about his leaving the Silva system against the High Executor's orders, but there'd been nothing. Either somebody had introduced some sanity in the decision-making process, or they'd decided not to warn him before whatever they did next.

Commodore Golovin surreptitiously cleared his throat, causing a brief smirk to flicker across Jason's face before he got it under control. "You have a question, Commodore?"

"Well, Sir, I was just wondering..." but Golovin hesitated, unable to actually bring himself voice his concern.

Jason put the dataslate down and turned to his chief of staff. "No, I haven't yet been recalled for court martial followed by execution. Does that answer your question?"

Commander Okutsu didn't quite manage to restrain his gasp before Captain Chén clamped her hand over the astrogation officer's mouth. Captain Nakhimov, in an apparent attempt to distract everyone from the bluntness of her admiral's reply, began speaking. "Sir, we've received unconfirmed reports that the alien forces in Kardoen have split into two separate fleets and made transit through the Draco and Hydra starlances."

Judicator Ralwood nodded to his intelligence officer. "Thank you, Captain Nakhimov. Commander Okutsu, will Captain Mesuji's engine difficulties slow us down any?"

Okutsu blinked, momentarily glared at Captain Chén (who had removed her hand the moment the admiral began addressing him), then smoothed his expression as his professionalism took hold. "No, Ter-Judicator. The Gān Jiàng is having no trouble maintaining speed and her chief engineer expects the problem to be fixed within ten minutes. Assuming no other unexpected equipment failures, or ones insufficient to slow her down enough to fall behind the carriers, we should make transit as scheduled at approximately—" he double-checked his console "—seventeen thirty-eight and twenty-three seconds, shipboard time."

The admiral nodded at that and returned his attention to the dataslate. "Thank you, Commander; carry on, everyone."

Commander Hsieh abruptly stiffened, his hand reaching up to his earpiece. "Sir, priority transmission from the—" the sentence came to an abrupt halt as his jaw dropped.

Judicator Ralwood raised his eyebrow at his communications officer, waiting for him to finish his sentence, but he didn't seem inclined to do so on his own. "What is it Commander?"

"Sir," he said, shakily, "Captain Huáng of the HIDMS Salaminia demands that you bring all ships of the 1st Fleet to rest relative to the system primary, power down all shields and weapons, and prepare to be boarded pending charges of mutiny and treason."

"What!?" blurted Commodore Golovin.

Jason's eyebrows rose momentarily, but his expression otherwise didn't change. "I see; thank you, Commander. Inform Captain Huáng that his request is denied and his insinuations unappreciated."

That time, every eye on the bridge did turn away from their displays to stare at their admiral, however briefly. Commander Hsieh recovered quickly. "Uh, yes Sir."

As the commander began speaking into his microphone, Commodore Golovin pulled Judicator Ralwood aside. "Are you insane?" he whispered. "You can't just ignore 'requests' from the Penal Commisariat. They're liable to—"

Before he could finish, Commander Hsieh interrupted. "Captain Huáng insists that, unless you comply immediately, the Salaminia will open fire on the Aurora."

At that, there was a flash on the main plot to indicate that CIC had identified a new sensor contact: it was tentatively identified as the artillery cruiser HIDMS Salaminia, and somebody behind Jason gasped at how close they'd gotten to an active and aware fleet before being detected.

Jason thought furiously for a few moments. Actually heaving to was unacceptable; any delay meant thousands, if not millions, of dead civilians. On the other hand, the Salaminia could move faster than his fleet, which had to move at the speed of his slowest ships (unless he wanted to split it up piecemeal, which would be as good as begging to be blown out of space when they finally made contact with the enemy), so he couldn't outrun them. If he ordered his own artillery to open fire first, would they obey? If they did, would anyone else in the fleet still be willing to follow him after he obliterated a friendly target?

"Sir!" Commander Hsieh interrupted his thought process, his voice somehow even more urgent than before. "Coded transmission from Ihefulian Prime!"

Ter-Judicator Jason Ralwood (and perhaps this would be the last moment he would actually hold that rank) pulled up his dataslate and entered his decryption key and scanned the text quickly. Commodore Golovin, still standing in front of him and unable to read the words, nonetheless stared at the device and his imagination expected only one thing: For crimes against the Empire, you have been stripped of your rank...

Jason wiped the display and revoked his decryption key again. "Put me on with Captain Huáng."

Commander Hsieh complied, and Jason spoke confidently. "This is Ter-Judicator Jason Ralwood, Commanding Officer of the 1st Delest Dynasty Frontier Fleet. I am operating under direct orders and by the imperial mandate of Her Imperial Delest Majesty, Empress Yu Ki Kohakuren Delest. I highly recommend that you confirm your orders with your superiors; something tells me you haven't checked back in recently. Any further attempts to impede the operations of this fleet will be interpreted as treason against the Empire, and we will blow you out of space. Ter-Judicator Ralwood out."

With that, he hit the button to terminate the transmission just shy of being hard enough to be called punching it. Commodore Golovin was gaping at him. "Sir, are you sure this is the wisest...?"

"Don't worry, Commodore," Jason assured him. "Everything will be fine."

Golovin slowly swallowed, but said nothing. Everyone watched the plot, looking for any sign that the Salaminia was about to open fire. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. Finally, the ship abruptly began accelerating in the opposite direction, heading back to the Silva starlance. Several people loudly released their breaths, but Jason didn't particularly feel like holding that against them.

Golovin frowned. "There's no way they had time to send and receive a message from Ihefulian that quickly."

"Indeed," Jason replied with a nod. "Assuming they received no additional orders spontaneously, they probably decided not to call my bluff."

"You were bluffing!?" Golovin replied, wide-eyed, barely keeping his voice below a shout.

"I didn't say that," Jason said back with a frown. "However, from their perspective and, again, assuming no additional transmissions, they would have no way of confirming what I said in a reasonable timeframe. They must have at least considered the possibility that I was bluffing."

Commodore Golovin's eyes flicked down to Jason's dataslate, which he'd left on the table. "Sir, if you don't mind my asking... what did—?"

Jason's frown became a scowl. "Commodore Golovin, as we have known each other for quite some time, I'm certain I must have misheard what I thought was a request to view a classified document for which you are not authorized."

"Yes, Sir," Golovin said with a gulp, his eyes snapping away from the dataslate. "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding."

Jason nodded and returned to his chair, but Commodore Golovin couldn't help but wonder if the Salaminia was just the beginning.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2016, 06:28:23 am by AdmiralRalwood »
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.

 

Offline Enioch

  • 210
  • Alternative History Word Writer
Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
OOC: Well, that's my cue, I think

This takes place between the two preceding AdmRal RP posts. The 3rd DD has not left Ihefulian yet.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Kalazonitov was known among his closest friends and his subordinates for his even temper. But there were signs – signs that those who really knew him couldn’t miss. There were very few known triggers – and, given the old Praetor’s temperament, they mostly had to do with people abusing their authority.

Tanya Skivlana delivered the missive; Kalazonitov looked up from his meeting with the current Archangel executives; smiled; excused himself and read through the report.

Tanya was, in truth, expecting it but she was still surprised at how the old man’s body froze. The executives missed it, and continued their discussion on how to deal with the increased drydock activities; Kalazonitov paid them no heed. His eyes were glued to the datapad, his body a block of ice.

Then his eyebrow twitched. His right hand shook, infinitesimally.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said, his voice trembling. “You will please excuse me. I have just received some very bad news and I need to bring this discussion to a close immediately.”

The conversation stopped, abruptly. The executives exchanged worried glances. Some of them made to protest – it wasn’t easy to schedule these appointments, they were busy men etc.- but others, more experienced and savvy ones, rose, bowed, excused themselves and nearly dragged their fellows away. The doors closed. There was silence.

“Tanya,” Kalazonitov muttered, his hands now truly shaking. “Please present my excuses to these fine Ladies and Gentlemen at the earliest convenience.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Also, stand back a little, if you please.”

Tanya stepped back, into the shadow of the doorframe and assumed her best parade rest and thousand-yard stare. While they both knew what was going to happen, it was an unspoken agreement that she would try to maintain a level of professionalism for the both of them in such situations.

There were a few seconds of tense silence.

And then the dataslate flew across the meeting room in a blur, its screen smashing into crystal shards against the opposite wall.

Kalazonitov bellowed in wordless rage and rose, a nearly comical stick-figure unfolding from his armchair. His hands hooked under the table and heaved – and all two-hundred pounds of steel and glass flipped over like a pancake. He reached behind him, grabbed his chair and swung it overhead, smashing it into the remains of the table again and again and again and again, until he was holding nothing but a mass of bent metal and tatters of cloth.

“RAAAakisamanokozyolmudakgrrrraaaaaaak.

His bellows eventually resolved into garbled curses, as his thrashing slowed – and slowed – and then there was heavy breathing and his legs gave out and he collapsed onto the floor, his hands still thumping on the remains of his chair. Tanya immediately was beside him, raising him into a sitting position while he gulped for big gasps of air.

“It’s over, it’s over,” he mumbled, leaning on her for support. “Thank you Tanya.”

“Of course, sir,” she answered, helping him to one of the few chairs that had survived his outburst. “That was a bad one, wasn’t it?”

“Oh yes,” Kalazonitov agreed with a crooked smile. “Quite a bad one. Not been so angry in a while.”

He exhaled again, and again and breathed in. The trembling receded; he managed to sit up without too much help.

“We need to move fast, if we are to salvage this situation,” he said. “Tanya, I need an Imperial audience. Now. I…I need to explain, to make Her see. If I can explain…This is madness. We should be praising him, not accusing him of mutiny.”

“Yes, sir,” Tanya agreed, her tone neutral. “I shall do my best. But I cannot guar-”

The door opened with no warning, a serious breach of discipline Both heads snapped up, to glare at the unfortunate communications officer who had just walked in.

“Get out,” Tanya snapped, her voice as cold as ice. Her hand reached to her belt for her service pistol.

The boy – he couldn’t be older than thirty blanched and stumbled, as if he’d walked into a wall (vat grown, that one, for sure) – but then his mouth narrowed into a determined line, he frowned and pushed forward.

No, ma’am,” he said, his voice granite. “I have orders. Praetor, sir, this has just arrived.”

He stepped closer, navigating the fragments of the table and knelt

Knelt?

in front of Kalazonitov.

“Lieutenant, I have no idea what you think you’re doing, but this had better be…” Kalazonitov started, but his words trailed off as the boy presented a dataslate to him, holding it high, as if it were a holy relic.

“Sir. This has just arrived,” he repeated. “From the Palace.”

Kalazonitov stared; then, with short, jerky movements he thumbed the identification sensor at the side. And fell back as if under a physical blow when the VOICE started speaking.



“Praetor Kalazonitov, recent developments have made it clear to Us that a stricter oversight of Our Officer Corps is necessary if the Dynasty is to emerge victorious from this conflict.

“You are hereby awarded a Class 2 Mandate, and are established as Our plenipotentiary representative and assessor for Our officer corps.

“You have five days from reception of this message to excise those whom you deem to be the most corrupt, incompetent or downright mutinous of Our fleet personnel.

“You answer to no-one except Us for the duration of this Mandate. Your authority is only second to Ours and Class 1 Mandate holders.

“You have Our full trust in this matter. Our thoughts are with you.”



There was silence, except for the faint rustling of the uniform of the shivering Lieutenant. There were things that vat-grown people of his rank were barely able to withstand and Her voice – even a recording of it - was certainly one of them.

Dismissed,” Kalazonitov croaked. And the Lieutenant got up, saluted like an automaton and left.

She knew already,” Kalazonitov mused, once the door had closed. “I will never doubt again.”

“Sir?” Tanya’s voice was strained. “This is not a purge. You can’t – not it five days!”

“No, not in that short a time,” Kalazonitov agreed. “But the High Executor doesn’t hold a Mandate – just his rank. She doesn’t want me to purge the entire corps. That’d be disastrous, in the middle of a war. She wants to send a message.”

He staggered to his feet, reaching for his cane. Tanya obliged him.

“On the one hand – a Frontier Fleet Ter-Judicator, mobilizing his fleet against the enemy, but without orders to that effect. On the other hand, a Delest High Judicator of the Home Fleets, accusing him of mutiny. And She gives a purge order. To me.

“Make this known to the Commisariat and have them stand by to assist us. Get Vladimir Ilievich himself, if you have to. Also - get me a direct secure line to the Yonsakuren HQ. I want us to move within the next two hours and I need to discuss this with them.”

He smiled – and there were a lot of teeth.

“Mark my words, Tanya. I will never doubt Her again.
'Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent'  -Salvor Hardin, "Foundation"

So don't take a hammer to your computer. ;-)

 

Offline Lorric

  • 212
Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
So I guess we'll be seeing that High Adjudicator of the Home Fleets and what happens when they meet Kalazonitov... I'm looking forward to it. If what happened to that table, and especially that smile is anything to go by, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes... :)
« Last Edit: October 01, 2016, 08:01:34 am by Lorric »

 

Offline AdmiralRalwood

  • 211
  • The Cthulhu programmer himself!
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Re: Role Play To Save Humanity Thread
Ter-Judicator Jason Ralwood strode calmly down the corridor towards his personal quarters; any further excitement today was unlikely, and he wanted to make sure he was well-rested before the fleet arrived in the Odin system. The Yonsakuren marine acting as his bodyguard trailed a respectful distance behind him (but still plenty close enough to intervene if someone should take them by surprise, even here in the heart of the flagship). Another standing guard outside his quarters saluted the both of them as they approached, and his personal bodyguard made a quick sweep of the room before joining her counterpart, standing at attention on the opposite side of the door. Jason nodded to them both, then entered his quarters and sat behind his desk, pulling his dataslate back out to review the message he'd received at the critical moment.

Before he could start, however, there came a chime from his desk. "Yes?"

"Sir," came the voice of Colonel Alekseyevna through the intercom, giving Jason a brief moment to wonder why she hadn't simply opened the door and talked to him in person... until she continued speaking and answered the question. "Commodore Golovin is here to see you."

"Thank you, Anastasia; send him in."

Golovin stepped warily through the door and stood awkwardly in front of the desk. "Judicator, I know we've known each other for quite some time, but your actions lately have got me... worried."

"I see," Jason said, with a nod. "That's certainly understandable, and I do appreciate our friendship, so let me ask you a question: do you disagree with my actions?"

The commodore opened his mouth, hesitated, thought for a few more moments, then said, "No, I cannot in good conscience say that I disagree with your actions thus far."

It was, perhaps, fortunate that Judicator Ralwood's self-control was great enough to avoid raising his eyebrows at that, as the commodore might have taken that the wrong way. "Very well, then. Since I feel like you've been honest with me, let me return the favour and assure you: I spoke only the truth in my transmission to Captain Huáng."

Golovin's eyes widened at that. "Truly?"

Jason picked up his dataslate and continued, "Let me remind you that it would be most improper for me to show a classified document to an unauthorized individual. However, there is something I can show you, that I hope will put your mind at ease..."

With that, he tapped momentarily at his dataslate and handed it over. Commodore Golovin accepted it carefully, looked down... and almost dropped it in shock. "I... I never thought I'd actually see a Class 2 Imperial Mandate," he said in hushed tones, his eyes full of wonder, and he stared at it for several seconds before handing it back. "Thank you, my friend."

Jason smiled at him as he accepted the dataslate. "Good night, Yevgeni."

"Good night, Jason." And with that, and an academy-perfect salute, Commodore Golovin left.

There was a long-standing belief—mostly spread unintentionally by the ignorant, but sometimes maliciously—that natural-borns did not have the same genetically-engineered loyalty as vat-borns. In some sense, it could even be considered true: Jason Ralwood did not have the same level of reverence for his Empress that, say, Premier Kalazonitov did. That did not mean, however, that he didn't have doubts of his own about moving without orders, or that it hadn't taken every ounce of his self-control not to obey High Executor Isshiki Delest's orders to stand down. Only the knowledge that his actions were necessary and the fact that, while the High Executor may carry the name "Delest" he was not the Empress, had been enough to stop him from turning his ships around then and there...

...and equally, that same self-control was the only thing that had stopped him from breaking into reverential tears when he'd received this message less than thirty minutes prior:

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

<DELEST THRONE> && <MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, DDFFLTCOM> && <MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, PENAL OFFICE>
to
<1ST DD FFLEET CO>
<CLEARANCE LEVEL: DELEST PROTON><OVERRIDE PROTOCOL: GOLD ALPHA>
<MESSAGE BEGINS>
<**CODED TIMESTAMP**>

Judicator Ralwood,

You and your officers are to disregard message F17557891, sent at <**CODED TIMESTAMP**> and belay all orders included therein, following High Executor Isshiki Delest’s arrest on charges of corruption, embezzlement, gross incompetence and anti-natural-born prejudice. All charges of mutiny against the CO, officers and crew of the 1st DDFFLT have been voided by imperial edict.

Your new orders are, effective retroactively from <**CODED TIMESTAMP**>, listed in order of priority:

1.   To prepare your fleet to the best of your ability and that of your officers and crew for combat.

2.   To employ all means necessary so as to hinder, engage, destroy and in all other ways stop the advance of the (as of yet unidentified) enemy fleets intruding upon Terran space.

3.   To prevent enemy fleets from occupying DELEST and ALLIANCE systems and inflicting casualties upon DELEST and ALLIANCE civilians.

4.   To liaise and collaborate with CRF, SF, UGC, LSF and CSF forces as instructed by the ALLIANCE COMMAND during the execution of your duties.

5.   To preserve the lives of the personnel under your command and the integrity of your fleet in anticipation of a counterattack against the enemy forces.

Be advised that the 3rd DDFFLT is currently mobilising and will be on-station to reinforce by <**CODED TIMESTAMP**>. Logistics fleets have already been dispatched, to cover your ammunition and other supply needs.

Personal missive from DELEST THRONE follows:
<GOLD ALPHA DECODE>

OUR congratulations and gratitude for your actions.

You are hereby awarded a CLASS 2 IMPERIAL MANDATE to execute OUR will. You are now plenipotentiary and speak with OUR authority within the limits set by the above orders. You answer to nobody but US until said MANDATE is revoked.

OUR thoughts are with you.

YKKD

</DECODE>

Please accept my personal congratulations and my best wishes for your success.

Ivan D. Kalazonitov, DDFFLTCOM (Acting)

<MESSAGE ENDS>
<MESSAGE ID: T2568891>

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

"Thank you, Bright Lady," the admiral whispered prayerfully into the night, before he set the dataslate down and tried to get some sleep.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Codethulhu GitHub wgah'nagl fhtagn.

schrödinbug (noun) - a bug that manifests itself in running software after a programmer notices that the code should never have worked in the first place.

When you gaze long into BMPMAN, BMPMAN also gazes into you.

"I am one of the best FREDders on Earth" -General Battuta

<Aesaar> literary criticism is vladimir putin

<MageKing17> "There's probably a reason the code is the way it is" is a very dangerous line of thought. :P
<MageKing17> Because the "reason" often turns out to be "nobody noticed it was wrong".
(the very next day)
<MageKing17> this ****ing code did it to me again
<MageKing17> "That doesn't really make sense to me, but I'll assume it was being done for a reason."
<MageKing17> **** ME
<MageKing17> THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE STUPID
<MageKing17> ESPECIALLY ME

<MageKing17> God damn, I do not understand how this is breaking.
<MageKing17> Everything points to "this should work fine", and yet it's clearly not working.
<MjnMixael> 2 hours later... "God damn, how did this ever work at all?!"
(...)
<MageKing17> so
<MageKing17> more than two hours
<MageKing17> but once again we have reached the inevitable conclusion
<MageKing17> How did this code ever work in the first place!?

<@The_E> Welcome to OpenGL, where standards compliance is optional, and error reporting inconsistent

<MageKing17> It was all working perfectly until I actually tried it on an actual mission.

<IronWorks> I am useful for FSO stuff again. This is a red-letter day!
* z64555 erases "Thursday" and rewrites it in red ink

<MageKing17> TIL the entire homing code is held up by shoestrings and duct tape, basically.