Modifications to ze existing squadron are well underway, though ze bots and drones are no more intricate than loading cargo into a hold.

Master Gryphon iz correct, Airlocks can be.....tricky if unfriendly but quite accommodating otherwise.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Thu 07 Oct 2021.

- "While i do not dispute the possibility of such boarding actions, to my knowledge hand cutters are incapable of breaching armor beyond a certain thickness, and time is also an important factor. A tube's laser cutter does not have this limitation and can greatly speed up the process, thus reducing the time the opponent has of setting up traps and defensive positions at the breaching points."

Diana spoke up, turning in Sara's direction.

- "In the event of an allied ship transfer, the idea is to clamp a tube over an existing airlock, and then simply not engage the cutter, instead opening the airlock by regular means. It would be faster, while also providing the crew with a measure of protection against micrometeorites and suit lacerations from space combat debris. Of course, regular ship-to-ship docking is a possibility as well, though i am strictly referring to situations where we cannot afford to spend an hour or two lining up and docking ships to prepare for the transfer."

I believe Master Gryphon was informing us of ze capabilities of ze talon, not arguing against ze use of boarding tubes Commander.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Thu 07 Oct 2021.

“In any case, all ships should have at least one haptic rig for a secondary controller. They are small enough to fit in a standard sized duffel. It would be easy enough to find a spot for them. Like I said before too, by the time boarding actions are ready, since we do not have assault shuttles, most of not all of the void combat should be resolved.”

- "I had interpreted it at using the Talon as a means to assist an allied ship in anti-boarding actions, citing spacewalks to be too uncoordinated and time inefficient to be used in such an emergency situation. It is a last resort and i would see it as such."

Diana then turned to Oscar.

- "That i believe would have us risk falling into the trap of having too many cooks in the kitchen. The Angantyr will house the main controller and the Randver the secondary one, and should that not be enough then it is safe to assume boarding is off the table. Remember, we already have Comm server units on every ship, encrypted suit to suit communication is not a problem."

"I believe Master Gryphon implied ze talon has robotic forces at its disposal, no awkward space walks required, Commander. At worst a controller could hitch a ride on a drone. a clenched jaw as the veteran soldier maintained his patience with the young commanding officer of the squadron.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Thu 07 Oct 2021.

It seems to take an unusually long period of time, and several people looking at her before Sara even realizes they are talking about her, once she does she makes an attempt at clarification.

”I am not aware of any ship named the Talon, nor of its capabilities, if you are considering the capabilities of the Talos you will find that while not intended for anything so complex as a hostile boarding action there are a significant number of space capable units aboard that should be able to manage low risk EVA and investigation of otherwise neutralized ships easily enough.”

- "Nor are we aware of the exact capabilities of the Talos. We cannot properly take its abilities into consideration as long as we lack a list of its components. If you'll pardon my Hegemonic, saying it is capable of something but not specifying how is about as useful as tits on a drumkit."

Oscar gave a snort of laughter and quickly tried to recover by drinking some of his coffee. He gave a quick look around the room before deciding that he didn't trust himself not to giggle and continued to be fascinated with the drink in from of him.

Sara doesn't seem bothered by the humor, or perhaps even to notice it as she replies only to the underlying question.

”The capabilities of the Talos have been explained, if there are any specific features your briefing data did not provide you may request authorization for them from the Captain at your leisure but that information is unlikely to impact the overall effectiveness of the ship.”

Oscar's laughter breaks Zazan's facade and he lets slip a small smirk and a sigh. He gets up to go get a cup of the recaffinated grounds that passes as coffee on this station.

Maybe when he retires he'll start a coffee grow lab of his own.

Diana replied, managing to not sound annoyed out of professionalism.

- "The 'briefing data' introduced it as an experimental prototype Patrol Boat, built for speed, with fuel scoops, a navigational package and a Plasma Beam. What you explained is that the Talos had 'space capable units' aboard that 'should be able to manage low-risk EVA'. You know who else would, by that definition? Every single Void-capable ship in the Hegemony, both military and civilian."

She took a deep breath and folded her hands together, interlocking her fingers, as she leaned forward with her elbows on the desk before her.

- "I am in command of King Squadron. I do not request authorization to hear information i should already have access to in order to improve the overall effectiveness of the Squadron. As said effectiveness is my duty, i will expect this information on my desk within twenty-four hours, or i will be forced to treat the Talos as an unknown when developing strategy. That includes its armor, its speed, hull durability, crew count, a list of fittings and what Phase it is capable of sustaining."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:10, Fri 08 Oct 2021.

Zazan nods and adds "To provide context, have not received a full spec sheet on ze Talos which we were not anticipating.

OOC: A breakdown like what is shown in the ships of the hegemony thread would be helpful for me at least.

Sara continues to provide the same answer, although she goes to some effort to reword it.

”I have made sure the Captain is aware of your request, I have no doubt that the appropriate information will be available to you within your preferred timeline, if you require more clarification on any particular topic be sure to submit those details in the proper forms.”

Chander was used to people being somewhat uncomfortable in his presence. He never felt great about connecting to people with authority... Being heavily indoctrinated to nobility probably didn't help. Listening to or watching Sarah made him keenly aware of how normal he was. He considered her something... painfully unique.

For a few moments you wished that he was the fleet XO so that he would be able to work with just a small team of people keep everything coordinated neatly and save them from what he imagines will be progressing history of inadvertent and sometimes even not understood headbutting as a great many people here seems to have their own thoughts and feelings about how stuff should be done but he having no clue was going to be heavily reliant on the people around him for cues and clues as to how the ship that he was overseeing would need to function.

This was going to be an interesting campaign under the fourth definition of interesting.

In the lull in the conversation Zazan is struck with a realization."Oscar! How did you let us neglect to put you in for a commendation?!

Turning to the new captains of the squadron, Zazan elaborates, "Ze man you see before you, Captain Hargrave, engaged one-on-one with an unknown, powerful, hostile enemy robot, was wounded heavily for his efforts and nigh hours later disarmed an active timed nuclear bomb saving ze lives of many in ze squadron, myself included, and was so humble, we neglected to recognize his efforts! We gave ze Valdar ze meritorious unit award for staging a rescue operation but for ze man who chose to lay his life on ze line for just as many sailors there was nary a pip.

We have failed you Oscar, and that cannot stand."

Zazan begins taping away on his tablet and immediately transfers 25k to Hargrave's account while writing a communique to Hegemony command.

Oscar put his hand up but was too late to stall Zazan. He grimaced as the tale of his part in the mission was recounted and he looked at the new faces that had not been a part of the action. "Thank you, but it is not needed, Captain Mysh. I have received recognition enough. There was a private award ceremony..." he said, trailing off and looking into his cup, the mirth from before gone. "Volsung quietly put my name in for the Medal of Courage before he relinquished command."

Zazan had stopped typing when Hargrave began to speak and at the mention of the former commanding officer of King Squadron, he deflated a bit visibly, but he was still very happy to hear that his comrade's efforts were well rewarded.

"We won't lose you to ze dreaded PR circuit will we? Your talents would be lost on Indari soccialites and nobles, not to mention how taxing all ze lavish parties, fine dining and comfortable accommodations could be. No best you stay here with us with cozy accommodations and the cheapest triple-recaffed coffee money can buy! Zazan says sarcastically.

Knowing Chander's connections, exaggerates his sarcasm to clearly indicate his comments on the nobles are simpy harmless jests. But he does regard the enigmatic man to see what his reaction is.

Chander smiled, "If you weren't awarded something for all that it would be wrong.   I'm glad to hear you were recognized. On a proper circuit I'm sure you'd get some real coffee. I loved the aroma but couldn't stand the flavor myself. Only at graduation did I have a chance myself.

Is there a hard plan to how we proceed from Ultima or are we just going to explore outward and hope we don't encounter more than we can handle?" the most enigmatic thing about Chander was how... Normal he was. He had bled and held people broken and dead in mineshafts and ball rooms. It left him a little more connected to the "working man" that was well represented here.

Diana gave Sara a simple nod in reply, before turning to the others again, catching the outburst by Zazan.

- "Yes, i read about it when i was going through the command logs while trying to get better acquainted with the tasks i would need to handle as Squadron Commander. Talked with Oscar about it in the Officer's Lounge before you arrived actually. I figured Volsung wanted to lead it, so i kept quiet about it, and it did in fact slip my mind to actually let you know about it as well: I thought you knew already?"

She then turned to Chander.

- "Personally? I wouldn't know. I told the other Captains earlier that i considered it even odds for us to return to Ultima Black. Our opponents are likely to send a bigger fleet presence next time since the Cruiser and escorts were taken out, and the Hegemony will want to establish a bigger fleet presence capable of countering that to hold the system. We may just as well be sent out on another border patrol mission to a different system, orders haven't come in yet."

Chander nodded sagely. It was a good skill to have, if you were saying something you wanted respected- across the gamut of human experience to- not wanting to look a fool in face of things one didn't know about. "Being the case ma'am, all else being in order... I'll follow up on my request for training tools and technical equipment, though I must admit I'd rather learn about technologies from some of this room's assemblage than the manuals for maintenance and hard trial and error."

Zazan sees a small ping on the HUD in his eye and opens the message including the information on the Talos.

He says under his breath, "Classified, classified, classified, sure sure. Oh, but ze speed iz peculiar.

Turning to the assembled crew of officers, "It iz quite curious, ze Talos, for being a reconnaissance frigate does not travel with speed. It raises many questions.

Despite having gone silent while the conversation turned to other topics not specific to her Sara clearly kept her attention at least partially on the exchanges, as she is easily able to step back in when it becomes relevant to do so.

”I believe you are misreading the combat maneuvering speed as the travel speed, I can assure you that the Talos is capable of the travel speed required for the reconnaissance role in advance of the arrival of the main force.  During that time gap that travel speed can also be used in system to avoid any close contact”

Diana heard her own device, though in her case she had set the sound to a bird chirping. They were rare enough that it wouldn't escape her notice, more so she felt than an electronic beep or ping would have given she was essentially void-raised. She looked over the info.

- "It is a tactical consideration. Myself, i would rather we arrive as one to give potential hostile forces as little time as possible to react to our presence -- impending or otherwise -- as well as provide cover and support in situations where the Talos cannot use its Spike drive to its advantage. I feel sending it ahead for jump recon would rely too much on assumptions, especially since its speed makes it wholly unsuited for putting distance between it and that which it cannot outfight. And with no means to send a message to the rest of the Squadron that would still be in transit for half a day, we might well see the Talos disabled and boarded by the time the other ships arrive, and all that classified tech in enemy hands."

She looked up from her PDA.

- "I must echo my Squadron XO's sentiments, for a reconnaissance vessel it is slower even than the new Rospolis, and that was set up as a slugger."

Zazan pauses for a moment, "Perhaps King Squadron has been assigned to ze Talos, and not ze other way round.

A reconnoiter of Rudragni would be a logical next step for high command and King Squadron does have first hand experience."