Gnarr...

Okay, principles go first. If they kill us, at least we didn't die as amoral bastards.

Gatac

I kind of like the angle of "hey, we found this thing on our planet and we're trying to figure out what it does and where it goes". Perhaps we can set up a sympathetic comeraderie with the hairy beasts.

Okay, first of all, I think we need to know what Lightning and Thunder are. They're obiously semi-mystical symbolism, but for what? I think Thunder might be the Gate or the ship (depending on the orginal method of arrival for the xenoaliens), but as to what the other isis, I don't know. Might be our trucks, the guns, our suits, anything. Can we ask them to elaborate on that concept? Like maybe pointing them out?

Some translation rolls are better than others, hence the "place make trade" and jumping nights and whatnot.

Let's have a big happy storytime at the campfire tomorrow - after we've gotten some rest, prepared ourselves and talked things over with MN.

Gatac

admiralducksauce wrote:

Some translation rolls are better than others, hence the "place make trade" and jumping nights and whatnot.

Well, that's still better than Die, you monkeys with rifles! or It's a trick, get an axe!

If that happens, Max will be the first to declare:

"If you let me go, you can use the Captain's head for polo practice."

J/K

Do space apes play polo? Can they even ride horses?

Gatac

Well, one reason they use stabbing spears is because their shoulder joints aren't put together like ours. They can't throw worth a shit. However, they could probably roundhouse punch your head off, so there's that to consider.

Anyhoo. MN'll be checking back in about 20 minutes again. If you're loathe to give up stuff you already have, it'd be easy for them to toss some trinkets and whatnot through the gate for you. Any ideas what to use?

I'm assuming one truck for the purposes of gate-charging? Do you want MN to hold off on the hourly checkins while you rest? Perhaps every 3-4 hours, to let people switch shifts and get what rest they can? The big old gateflash'll put a damper on sleeping if it goes off every hour.

I'm not quite sure yet, but I think some basic tools - tough synthetic rope, water transport bags, maybe tents and hunting nets - would be useful for a jungle-dwelling species. Alternatively, how about we order us a stereo and some Earth music, and maybe a guitar or two? They tell us some of their stories, we tell them some of ours.

Gates every four hours sounds good, though we should be sure to reup to the old frequency in the morning when everyone is rested.

Gatac

While it's good for rest, I think we should have a Gate at least every 3 hours, maybe even 2. I'd hate to think these alien bastards are just waiting for nightfall to storm our camp with large numbers.

Perhaps we could have some reinforcements for the night watch?

I think perhaps Riviera/Stanhill/Taylor, then Semo/Mellish/Dietrich, then Greene/Verrill for the morning watch would work OK. That way you've got a PC on every watch.

e of pi wrote:

Okay, first of all, I think we need to know what Lightning and Thunder are. They're obiously semi-mystical symbolism, but for what? I think Thunder might be the Gate or the ship (depending on the orginal method of arrival for the xenoaliens), but as to what the other isis, I don't know. Might be our trucks, the guns, our suits, anything. Can we ask them to elaborate on that concept? Like maybe pointing them out?

My presumption, again stabbing in the dark.

The Great Unknown Ones appear to be an energy based society. The power requirements for the gate, the energy needed to destroy the ship etc. "Lightning"

From what they've seen so far, we're a largely chemical reaction based society. Gunfire, trucks etc. "Thunder"

CrazyIvan wrote:

e of pi wrote:

Okay, first of all, I think we need to know what Lightning and Thunder are. They're obiously semi-mystical symbolism, but for what? I think Thunder might be the Gate or the ship (depending on the orginal method of arrival for the xenoaliens), but as to what the other isis, I don't know. Might be our trucks, the guns, our suits, anything. Can we ask them to elaborate on that concept? Like maybe pointing them out?

My presumption, again stabbing in the dark.

The Great Unknown Ones appear to be an energy based society. The power requirements for the gate, the energy needed to destroy the ship etc. "Lightning"

From what they've seen so far, we're a largely chemical reaction based society. Gunfire, trucks etc. "Thunder"

That makes a good deal of sense. I'll think about that possibility.

Gatac wrote:

I'm not quite sure yet, but I think some basic tools - tough synthetic rope, water transport bags, maybe tents and hunting nets - would be useful for a jungle-dwelling species. Alternatively, how about we order us a stereo and some Earth music, and maybe a guitar or two? They tell us some of their stories, we tell them some of ours.

Gates every four hours sounds good, though we should be sure to reup to the old frequency in the morning when everyone is rested.

Gatac

I'll assume we'll go with Dieter's suggestion of every 3 hours, and all that stuff won't be a problem. Stores are still open Earthside, and most of it's available on base anyhow. Judging from Max's background on the Wiki, he can at least knock out some Elvis. "Entertain" falls under Talk - pretty much anyone but Luis can put forth an effort (with a d4 in Talk, Luis is American Idol audition-for-comedy material).

If all goes to plan, your Gate should have a charge built up right after MN's next check-in, right before you start nightwatch. That'd be... roughly 10:45 mission time, almost 9pm Earth time. Am I correct that you are simply building a charge and keeping it in case of emergency? No need blowing your wad and needing to charge for 3 more hours at night, correct?

I'd say less that we're keeping it for an emergency than that we've contacted intelligent locals and made a (reasonably friendly) First Contact. Hopefully, we can wait and test the Gate from our side in the morning when we'll all be fresher. No need to do it in the middle of the night. It, of course, acts as an emergency redundancy, but it's mainly because I don't feel like doing it in the wee hours of the morning.

Oh, one request which hasn't come up yet, equipment wise.

Can Angel request a decent rainproof camo cloak and appropriate netting for his helmet? As I presume we're going to be sneaking around the jungle and or want a less obvious sentry position sometime in the near future.

I'll add that into the post.

Completely out of character, I would recommend a full compliment of Claymores be at the ready. Not that we're going to need them, but it will be good to have in the event the natives get restless.

Six claymores added to the storyline post.

Is the UAV proper fucked, or can we still do something about getting it back?