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A confrontation between the forces of House Woldan and the orion mercenaries that are blockading the House Sorzal shipyard is inevitable…
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Shift Time: Sunday, Nov 21, Alpha -1
Audience: KDF and allies
Event Type: Combat RP
Starting Point: Starship bridge
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GM: @gulremal
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Four hours after the raid of the orion mercenary base, the team has regrouped with the Woldan strike force. Quick repairs were done, and everyone is doing the final preparation before the decisive battle. The Team is currently briefed by Lagos, leader of House Woldan.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> …and while Sorzal have sent the courier with command codes for the satellite defense system, it will them 50 hours to reach us. That’s the time we don’t have.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> While our sensor reading of the shipyards are spotty due to mercenary interference, we did detect that the defense system has rebooted at least once. Orions are pushing to brute force it with their cyberwarfare capabilities, and they might finally crack it before the reinforcemens arrive. We have no option but to engage them in force and drive them from the system.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> We are outnumbered more than 2 to 1, but I fought with worse odds. All our ships are in prime condition, and the crews are motivated. Your attack dealt the mercenaries a good blow. With half of their cruisers gone, admiral Nishke will have to commit her two Corsair heavy cruisers to support the front line.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> She will most likely have some frigates or Lethean destroyers to defend her flagship, but that still makes her far more open to strike of opportunity. And with her gone, mercenaries will have no option but to retreat.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Like you said - we’ve fought worse.” He doesn’t look happy about it, though.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “So we gun for the flagship, take her out?”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> Your last strike shows you have the skills to approach the enemy undetected. So while rest of us engages the enemy main force, you will make a flanking move and go for the Repossessor.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> he leans back in his command chair Now, that’s quite a big ship for a single raider squadron to deal with. However, I did get access to 5 modified Hargh’peng torpedoes. If you manage to breach their shields for enough time for even a single of these torpedoes to pass through, the damage to the enemy flagship would be…catastrophic.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “No kiddin’.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> The torpedoes are ready to transfer. They were modified so they can be used with standard torpedo launchers. This does reduce their yield compared to the original design, but at least you won’t need at least a week in the drydock to make necessary modifications.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> So the question is - do you want to do this?
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Sounds like fun to me!”
Egzo@HF_Mudd shrugs. “Don’t see as we got much choice.”
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: Positively philosphical from our pirate ;)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: hehe
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> You do. Both my scout and raptor squadrons have requested the honor, but knowing your skills, I have decided to give you the first pick.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “We got this. Set up the transfer.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> grins Excellent. I’m sending the torpedoes to Hag’lhr. I’ll give you 15 minutes to distribute them and prepare, then we are moving out.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> After this, we shall be under communications silence. I give you full freedom to execute this attack as you see fit.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> Anything you need of me before that?
Egzo@HF_Mudd shakes his head. “Just keep 'em busy while we make the run.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “It’s an honour to be the ones to hit the flagship. We will not fail you.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Lagos> nods solemnly May Kahless watch over you. We are starting our attack in 15 minutes. Lagos out.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Image of Lagos is replaced by a strategic map of the local space, showing Woldan and mercenary forces last known positions, and a 15 minute timer starts counting…
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> From the frying pan into the plasma conduit…
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> You guys are gonna be the end of me chuckles. So what’s the plan? Who gets the big toys?
Egzo@HF_Mudd chuckles also, but there’s little humor in it.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Four ships in our little band, and five torpedoes. One to spare. I’ll hold onto it m’self, unless someone…?”
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: I counted right? Hag’lhr, San’leth, Morakos, and Baras’ ship?
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: I think so!
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> Soooo, any ideas of how to destabilize their shields, aside from the usual brute force.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Hey, if you’ve got something better…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd looks to Aestae’s hologram.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Much as I like shooting, that flagship’s shields might be a little on the tough side for the four of us.”
Aestae Vali@crystyll: shrugs, “Wish I had the answers boss, but ain’t like these are my old crew or anything so I’ve got no inside track”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “No science magic? Bah.”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :“Might be that something presents on sensors we can manipulate when we see them for that, but no telling until we get active scans at the time”
Egzo@HF_Mudd rubs his chin. “A massive tachyon burst or somethin’ could do it. But it’d have to be, well, massive.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> Marauder battleships are solid vessels, I’m not aware of any real exploit that would give us great advantage. Older models had weakness in the ventral shields, but that glaring deficiency was fixed a long time ago
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Could we all pull off a tachyon burst at once? Don’t know if that’d be enough though. I’m no science magician.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Could make up for the lack of a big ship like the Thana to give off a massive burst, though.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods to Bara. “I remember.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Yeah, I wish we had her along for this one. But we don’t, so…”
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: Coming up dry on ideas here. :(
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: Closest we’ve got is B’atar and the coordinated burst.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> How much time would we need to pull such blast off since we decloak?
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: gimme some tech rolls
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 96 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Woah
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: I never roll this good on tech
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: hehe
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :rolls 46 (1-100)
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 50 (1-100)
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: One very good roll and two perfectly average ones :)
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: okies, I gave b’atar the idea, your rolls will be used as a bonus when the time come
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “My engineer says if we use our shield emitters, we can boost the deflector to fire a burst strong enough to disrupt the shields with just one ship. But that means losing shields at close range to the Repossesor.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd hrmms. “That’s … not good, but we might be able to cover whoever does it.”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :“So who gets the short straw?”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “We’re not gonna be stickin’ around once we decloak, anyway. Probably get just one shot.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “San’leth’s fast and maneuverable. We got the best chance of surviving without shields. Plus, my engineer came up with the idea.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Fair enough, and we’re burnin’ time fast.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Everybody got their eggs loaded?”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Aye, San’leth’s ready to go. We’ll fire a torpedo if we got the chance, too.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> Torp is a go and we are ready.
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :“With our stronger shield emitters, we can follow you in and extend around you once yours are down”
Egzo@HF_Mudd is engaged in a quiet conference with his bridge officers, but speaks up when Aestae does: “Sounds good.”
[Tell] To Sadia@gulremal: Telling Shlaak and my engineer, Norvan, to stand by with the same burst, if we do end up needing another shot. may be the last thing we do, but if it comes to that…
[Tell] To Sadia@gulremal: Best to prepare ahead of time.
B’Atar@anncarise nods, “Let’s go, then.”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> 15 ish minutes later…the Woldan strike force has moved in, and orion mercenaries have responded in kind. As predicted, the two Corsairs that were flanking the mercenary flagship have repositioned themselves as the two spearheads of the mercenary frontline formation. Four orion frigates have replaced them and are guarding the flagship in the diamond formation doing randomized sensor sweeps. Flagship is constantly launching and docking the fightercraft, and is coordinating all the comm traffic on the merc side.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Passive scans show no obvious weaknesses. Repossessor is armed with an array of disruptor beam banks and PD defense turrets, and most likely has at least one squadron on standby if more defenses are required.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> The Team moves under the cloak to flank the enemy flagship. The chaos of frontline battle has allowed them to evade early detection, but will their luck hold?
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: stealth rolls plox
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :rolls 89 (1-100)
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 60 (1-100)
[Emotes] Sadia@gulremal: rolls 49 (1-100)
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 63 (1-100)
[Tell]Sadia@gulremal: I got your last tell, it’s fine
[Tell]ToSadia@gulremal: k
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> The luck holds, as they approach within the weapons range…San’leth’s engineers report that the tachyon burst is ready.
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: we will go with turn order to follow the battle plan
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Sounds good!
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: == SURPRISE ROUND ==
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: – B’Atar’s action –
B’Atar@anncarise | San’leth decloaks and fires the pulse once they’re in range, before immediately going evasive and backing off towards the Morakos.
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 36 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Hmm…
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: It’s not bad enough to be worth a reroll but it’s not great…
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: I’d say to stay with it, you do have some tech skills, plus Egzo and Aestae gave you a bonus
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: I’ll stick with it then! Not worth risking a lower roll
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Got over a 1 in 3 chance of doing worse after all.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> The tachyon burst took a bit more time to charge than expected, so San’leth didn’t get much time to back off. The burst did the job tho, and ventral shields are down - at least for a short while.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: – Aestae’s action –
Aestae Vali@crystyll: | Morakos appears behind San’leth, unloading it’s magic torpedo along with everything else it can while extending shields around them.
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :rolls 4 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Okay /that’s/ worth a reroll
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: generally, you succeed, but no bonuses to other folks rolls etc
[Team] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :at least that has much better odds of improving
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Yeah!
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: *the last comment was to B’atar
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: :rolls 41 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Yay!
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Morakos’ torpedo passes through the hole in the shields and hits the thick armor plating. The eruption of Harh’peng radiation burns through the armor straight to the hull. The effect is definitely stronger than a high yield photon or quantum torpedo, but it seems that the modification of the original design took a lot from it’s original destructive power indeed.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Morakos does manage to extend shields over San’leth, fraction of second before the radiation burst of the detonation. Morakos’ shield drop TO 80%.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: – Egzo’s action –
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: | <FX> Hag’lhr ripples into visibility and takes his shot, also engaging the signature Nausicaan energy siphon for what good it might do to further weaken the battleship’s shields.
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 3 (1-100)
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: yyyyeahno
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: I’m so glad I allowed everyone a reroll
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: ayup. not doing well on these first rolls here.
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 66 (1-100)
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: executing :D
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Hag’lhr’s shot follows the Morakos’ and rips right inside the hull. The radiation starts chewing the insides and power of the mighty flagship starts to fluctuate…
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> Target that explosion and fire!
[Emotes] Sadia@gulremal: rolls 48 (1-100)
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Barut decloaks and fires another Hargh’peng torpedo…due to all the radiation leaking, the torpedo actually detonates at the entrance of the hole, rather than going all the way in.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> But it makes little difference at this point, as this explosion just expands the hole and spreads radiation around…
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Battleship lurches as its power fluctuates even more wildly. Multiple explosions can be traced along the main hull as multiple power distribution nodes overload.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Out of all defenses, only couple of beams and turrets closest to the interloper fire wildly and inaccurately. One of returning fighter squadrons decides to engage, but expanding Hargh’peng radiation literally melts them on approach.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Four frigates defending the battleship are in disarray - two fire at the attackers, reducing Morakos’ shields down to 50%, but remaining two use their tractor beams it attempts to stabilize the battleship and disperse the radiation, without much effect.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: Shlaak: I’m detecting masssive energy ssspike in the enemy flagssship!
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> Did we go overboard?
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “No such thing. Get clear!”
[Team] Sadia@gulremal: piloting rolls plox
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 19 (1-100)
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 100 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Oh keelah
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: rolls 63 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Wow 100
[Emotes] Sadia@gulremal: rolls 84 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Gonna risk a reroll…
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: (I’m gonna regret this aren’t I…)
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 58 (1-100)
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: Okay good.
[Team] B’Atar@anncarise: hehe
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> San’leth, Morakos and Barut speed up away from the dying Repossessor.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Hag’lhr lingers to ace the last torpedo down the hole in the battleship and THEN turns around and zooms past the rest of the squad.
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> Whatever chain reaction all the hargh’peng radiation was building up inside the ship goes full Chernobyl, and entire battleship, four frigates and all surrounding fightercraft vanish in a blinding flash of ridiculous amounts of unleashed RAW UNLIMITED POWERRRR
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <FX> For almost ten seconds, everyone screens are pure white, and no it’s not a malfunction. When the energy burn is finally done, there’s nothing in the space where Repossessor and his defences once stood. It takes less than a minute for mercenary formation to start breaking down, and they beat a hasty retreat…
[Team] Egzo@HF_Mudd: as E.E. “Doc” Smith would say, ‘starkly unimaginable’ XD
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Now /that/ was some explosion!”
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: <Bara> There goes the neighbourhood…
[Local] Sadia@gulremal: – SCENE END –