The Ganoltir Project Forum

Tess rolls her eyes are her small jest is met first with scolding, and then with Cass being scolded as well. Those two will never get along, will they? It's like an old married couple. She follows after, staying silent for a bit to avoid further hostility, before Cass eventually mentions the gunnery station.

"Just lead the way," she says to Cass, with a smirk. "I didn't get to use any of my babies so getting to shoot the big guns sounds lovely. It is on the bridge, I assume? Didn't look like any separate place for it that I saw," she continues with a shrug. Let's hope it isn't too difficult to figure out.

"Yeah, the bridge," Cass confirms, leading the way there. "Never sat a gunnery station myself, but I know my way 'round a ship well enough. Fixed a few weapon assemblies, upgraded a few systems. Marko and the others probably know more about what these Idarete tubs have on board. Looked like some sort of flak cannon and typical laser array."

"Yeah we're good to go down here," Martine says over the radio, replying to Hikaru.

"I'll meet you guys on the bridge, to help with the weapons," Pia chimes in.

Cass leads the four of you back downstairs and into the Ops room of the bridge, where you find Creed running through the systems in the cockpit. Examining the workstations, with your new access to the ship's systems, you find that any station can fulfil any role.

The chairs are built to move with the ship to counteract any high G manoeuvres the spike drive's artificial gravity can't compensate for, or for situations when the spike drive isn't engaged such as atmospheric flight. They also have oxygen hook ups to allow prolonged use of Vacc Suits.

Viewing the Furious Midnight's weapon systems you find it is equipped with a Plasma Beam as it's main weapon with a Sand Thrower to provide point defence.

Ship Statblock

[SHOW]

"I thought maybe a navy this small wouldn't be up to spec, but damn, this tub's not bad." Cass sets up one of the stations for Tess, customizing a weapon screen and bringing up a few info panes for her to track. Weapon status, temperature gauges... Main power... what else would she need? Guess we'll find out.

"Okay, so the plasma beam's our main gun here. We'll use that to try and slag the generator, yeah? The sand thrower, that's for shooting down incoming missiles, or close-range combat, like boarding vessels."

"Gotcha, Boss," Tess replies, giving him a teasing salute with two of her fingers. "I see a whole bunch of words and gauges, but is there an aiming module? Where do we turn that on?" Maybe focusing on a target will help with the anxiety, she thinks, as she sits at the chair in front of the module and looks over the different information carefully. If not then I am just gonna be in my room for the first few days.

Cass lets out an anxious laugh, poking through a few menus as he looks for anything useful.

"I guess these?" he says, unsure, as he brings up another two panes on the screen — one being a display of the visual sensors and outward cameras, the other being a targeting package interface. "Anything more and you'll have to ask Martine and the others."

"I can help," Pia says as she arrives on the bridge. She makes her way over to Tess' station and leans over her shoulder resting an arm on the back of her chair. "It's fairly intuitive, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly. I can still remember it and I was in training well over a year ago now," she says examining what Cass has already pulled up on the screen. She proceeds to give you a quick thirty second rundown on the weapons systems showing you the basics of how to aim, target and shoot.

"I'll jump on weapons too so just let me know what you need me to do," she says taking a seat at another one of the stations and starting to configure it.

Cass follows along as Pia explains how to use the weapons systems. Guess it's intuitive. Point and shoot. Like a real gun.

He takes one of the other seats in the CIC, creating a new profile under 'Cass', and assigning it both communications and engineering packages. He pulls up the comms features, quickly familiarizing himself with the Furious Midnight's capabilities. As he works, the fear and worry in his mind retreat to the corners, out-shadowed by instinct and years of military service. "I can try and jam their sensors or comms when we go live," the tech offers over the groupwide channel. "But if we start taking any heat, I'll help get our engines working double-time to get the fuck out of here."

Cass cocks his head over his shoulder, looking at the pop star. If he's out of his element, it certainly doesn't show. Maybe he really is captain potential, he considers.

"Hey uh, Glitter, you wanna count us down?"

Hikaru looks over the array of screens, dials, and consoles in the bridge, trying not to grow overwhelmed. Breathe, Hikaru. Just pretend it's a video game. You watched Benji play Starship Simulator all the time last tour. How different can this be? Just no cheat codes this time.

He glances at his companions, his crew, taking seats across the workstations. He takes a deep breath, nodding to Cass and Pia. "That could be smart. Harder for them to give chase or something without comms." Turning to Pia, he adds, "Not sure how sturdy that generator is, but two blasts on it should put it out of commission, yeah? Or you could just cause some chaos for those suckers on the landing."

The pop star is taken off-guard by Cass's suggestion for him to count them down. "Uh, sure," he says, taking his own seat at an unclaimed station. He looks to Tess and Pia, making sure they're ready and giving them a quick nod. "Ready your weapons. Aim, and fire in 5... 4... 3... 2...1." Fuck, this is kinda cool. Just like the movies. "Fire!" he says, almost with a childlike giddiness in his voice.

Taking in all of the new systems and controls, Tess does her best to focus on the task at hand and put her surroundings out of mind for the moment. Her face grows calmer, more serious, as her work demeanor takes over. A target to eliminate, I got this, she thinks as she uses the console to aim and take the shot.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Firing Plasma Beam: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 18
Hit: Plasma Beam damage: 3d6+1 13, AP 10

The Furious Midnight's plasma beam turns to face the generator and lets loose a bright beam of charged particles. Designed to penetrate military grade armour, the beam tears through the generator which then explodes from the damage sending debris flying across the nearby landing pads.

On the cameras you see everyone outside stop what they're doing at turn to look at the generator and then at the Furious Midnight. A few moments pass before the shriek of an alarm starts up from the inside of the base. The alarm seems to snap those outside out of their shock. The people working on the other ship begin to scramble down from the hull and run for whatever cover they can. The soldiers meanwhile raise their laser rifles and let off a few shots at the Furious Midnight as they too run for cover, however the lasers have little affect on the ship's armour.

"I think they know we're here now," Marko says watching the scene unfold on the screens before him. "That's probably our cue to leave," he adds as one of the hanger doors begins to open revealing several more soldiers who join in in the ineffectual barrage of laser fire.

Creed

[SHOW]

Make a Dex/Pilot check if you want to take off.

Creed watches as the generator explodes and gives out a loud cheer. "Woop Woop! Good shootin', Tess!" He says, almost forgetting that he had to fly them out of here still. This, however, doesn't last long. "Alright, alright baby let's get out of here." He says, attempting to get the ship moving now.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

3d6+2: 8 [3d6=2, 4, 1] https://orokos.com/roll/918988

Cass takes a deep breath as Hikaru counts down, idly flicking through system screens as he waits for something to do. Nothing to do but wait.

"Holy shit," he breathes as the generator explodes, Tess' aim dead-on. "Slagged the fucker. That was a good shot!" He runs a sensor sweep across the landing, finding no evidence the defense battery is online. "Alright, pilote! Ignore their small arms fire," he advises, smiling at the camera feed. "Their laser rifles can't do shit to our hull."

The Midnight's maneuvering thrusters fire, knocking back the closest soldiers with the force of the gusts it creates - the snow swirling about them. They scramble to get up onto their feet and back away from the ship, some of them still firing at the now rising patrol boat as they do.

The ship continues to lift off of the ground and its landing gear begins to retract into the hull. Once you are nearly twenty metres high, Creed pulls back on the controls. You feel yourselves leaning back into your seats as the Midnight begins to angle upwards.

Down on the ground you see the soldiers from inside the space port have begun starting to set up a heavy weapon of some kind - something which would pose more of a threat to the ship than the small arms fire it has experienced so far. However the ship is quickly pointing upwards at a 45 degree angle and Creed throttles up the engines.

The two main engines come to life with a thunderous roar. Their plumes leap from the engine bells scorching the landing pad beneath you and quickly turning the surrounding snow to steam. You are slammed back even further into your seats as the Furious Midnight quickly begins to accelerate upwards. The ship vibrates and bounces around during the burn from the power of the engines and the planet's turbulent atmosphere, but you quickly gain speed and begin to climb leaving Medus Landing behind you. The space port's defense battery remains mercifully quiet.

The turbulence begins to lessen as the thick atmosphere of Idarete begins to thin. You break through the thick layer of clouds and the exterior cameras are forced to quickly change their settings as you are bathed in the light from XK 539's accretion disk, most of which never makes it to the surface of the planet. You soon feel the ship begin to level out as you begin to change from gaining altitude to gaining horizontal speed to achieve an orbit. Eventually, a couple of minutes after taking off, the main engines cut out, leaving you in a stable orbit high over Idarete and far enough out of its gravity well to be able to use your spike drive for intrasystem travel.

You have a moment to catch your breathe, however it doesn't last long as the ship's LADAR picks up a small fighter sized contact heading towards you. A moment later your comms pick up a tight beam message from the craft.

"Stolen vessel, this is Falcon 2-1. Power down your reactor immediately and prepare to be boarded. You will be fired upon if you do not comply immediately," the pilot's voice crackles over the radio. The craft appears to be heading in your direction from the Idarete Platform and you are both already well within weapons range of each other.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Creed: Roll Initiative (1d8+ either Dex or Int modifier)

Hikaru: Decide which order the departments will act

Cass barely has a moment to enjoy the success of their ship heist when the fighter's message comes across their tight-beam channel.

Fuck. From one crisis to the next one, he considers.

"Right. So the way I see it, we have three choices. Run, shoot, or we can let them board us and ambush them. I don't know about you, but I've already gotten shot one too many times, so fuck that."

Hikaru lets out a sigh of annoyance as the enemy pilot gives them an ultimatum. Guess I should've known it wouldn't be that easy. Fuck.

He leans his head back in the chair, head against its back as he grips the chair's arms. He looks towards the ceiling, listening to Cass list their potential options. "Fuck allowing him to board us. That'll just mean more time for others to catch up." He crosses his arms, considering their course of action. "How fast can we get out of here? Can't wait around for too long or he'll probably bring friends."

"Looks like a fighter-class," Cass answers, reading through whatever the sensors can tell him about Falcon 2-1.

"I think they can keep our pace, but they're just one pilot. Falcon here won't have an engineer keeping the engines burning hot. If I go below I might be able to work some magic."

Yes! Tess thinks, though she keeps her excitement at her shot to herself. Wow, that was a lucky one. First time using a ship's guns and I get a solid hit! Here's hoping my skills in person continue to translate to using the gunnery system. She gives a smile as the others cheer her success, and leans back in her seat and closes her eyes, taking a moment for herself as they ascend into the atmosphere. Just stay calm, it will be over soon.

Tess reopens her eyes and the reality of the situation fully comes back to her as the communication from the fighter ship comes over their comms system. Of course they'd scramble the fighters. We should have shot those too. If only we had more time.

Listening in as the others discuss what to do, she shrugs and says, "I could just shoot the fighter too. If he's going to fire on us no matter what, then at least that way we'd have a chance of avoiding any damage to the ship or injuries. Unless you want to let him board and then take him as a hostage."

Cass is able to quickly run a basic scan on the approaching fighter which reveals some more information on the craft. Notably that it is armed with a multifocal laser. While scanning however, the ship picks up another identical fighter not far behind the other, with the designation Falcon 2-2.

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: Not rolled
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

EDN Falcon 2-2
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: Not rolled
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: Not rolled
HP: 25/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Eridas curses under his breath as he considers his options, with dozens and dozens of possible scenarios playing out in his head. "What are we going to do here, friends?" He asks, his eyes darting around as he almost begins to panic. "We don't have long to decide, I imagine."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Initiative: 1d8(1)+1= 2 https://orokos.com/roll/919695#

The first fighter seems to get fed up of your lack of response and fires a warning shot a couple of kilometres across your bow. A minute or so later the second fighter lines up for an attack run appearing to be attempting to target your engines. Creed manages to react quickly though, firing the Furious Midnight's thrusters. The ship rolls causing the fighter to miss its intended target, however the laser still strikes the Midnight disabling the sandthrower.

Hikaru: Choose Department Order

Current Command Points: 0

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Initiative Rolled

EDN Falcon 2-1: Fires a shot across the bow.

EDN Falcon 2-2: Targets Engines, 18 vs AC = hit for 1 damage, AP negates Armour, Engines/Spike Drive disabled.

Crisis: System Damage - Sandthrower Disabled.

Initiative Order
9 EDN Falcon 2-1
3 EDN Falcon 2-2
2 IDS Furious Midnight

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 9
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 3
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 25/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: Sandthrower Disabled

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

"Fuck, there goes the flak cannon," Cass grumbles, standing up from his chair at the comms desk and making a beeline toward the access panels that feed into their guns. And here I thought I could do my job sitting for once.

As he assesses the situation, he considers their quandary. "If there's two of these Diktat chucklefucks, they'll probably be able to bring us down before we make enough distance to escape. I'm thinking we should get our gun repaired so Tess and Pia can slag 'em."

OOC

[SHOW]

My vote for the order is:

Bridge (Do Your Duty or Above and Beyond)
Captain (Support Department: Engineering)
Comms (Do Your Duty)
Engineering (Emergency Repairs)
Gunnery (Nothing, or Fire One Weapon if Creed's AaB was successful)

Fuck, Hikaru thinks as the second ship is picked up on the scanner. He grimaces as his console indicates the sandthrower took damage. He grips onto his seat, mind racing as to how they might get through this. "Creed, keep doing what you're doing. Cass, can you get that back online? Guess we've got no choice but to fight."

He stands from his seat, turning towards Cass. "Let me know what I can do to help you out."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Department order: Comms > Captain > Engineering > Bridge > Gunnery

When it's my turn, Support Department on Engineering

"Yeah, on it," Cass confirms over comms. "Just watch my screens for me, will you? The comms panels. Just — don't touch anything. Anything turns red, let me know."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Comms Department

Do Your Duty (by delegating it to Glitter)

"Yeah, yeah, I can do that. Easy." Hikaru says, nodding at Cass's request. He glances over the panel, keeping an eye on it in case anything goes awry.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Support Department - Engineering

With the comms duties off his mind for a few moments, Cass taps through an analysis of the gun status. Connection from the reactor to the flak cannon's down. Looks like a power issue, not a tech issue. Switching on his multi-tool, he pries open the access panel to reveal the thick bundle of wiring that disappears behind the bulkhead.

Here we go, he thinks, spotting a sparking wire, its protective sheath split open. Impact from that fighter's shot must have pressed this bundle against its holding. That'd explain the tension split. Should be a simple fix. Cutting power to the access point, Cass yanks the now-dead wire free from the tight bundle and clips around the destroyed bit. Soldering the two fresh ends together, he tests the voltage potential between them, finding a healthy connection.

"Alright," he says over comms as he restores power to this bulkhead and sees the red lights turn green. "The sandthrower should be back online. Pia, confirm?" He closes the access panel, bolting it back in place.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Engineering Dept

Emergency Repairs (3-2=1 CP)
Targeting Sandthrower. 14 beats 8 DC, so it is repaired.
Fix / Int: 3d6k2+2 14

"That did it," Pia says excitedly over the radio in reply to Cass as the sandthrower comes back to iife.

Go: Bridge, then Gunnery

Current Command Points: 0

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Comms: Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Captain: Support Engineering

Engineering: Emergency Repairs (-1 CP), Sandthrower no longer disabled.

Initiative Order
9 EDN Falcon 2-1
3 EDN Falcon 2-2
2 IDS Furious Midnight

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 9
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 3
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 25/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: None

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

Creed grits his teeth, adjusting his stance and attempting to move the ship into a better position for Tess to be able to rain hell on the fighters chasing them.
"G-give 'em h-hell, Tess! Junk that one that shot us and make sure that other one knows to take their warning and shove it! After t-that, we're o-out of here!"

Mechanics

[SHOW]

3d6+2 / 5+5+2= 12 | https://orokos.com/roll/919774

"Great work, Cass," Tess says over their comms, before cycling through her control panel - as Pia showed her only moments before. She pulls up the firing array for the sandthrower and takes a deep breath. "Targeting fighter 2," she says, more to herself than anyone else, as she aims for the ship that shot them.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Firing Sandthrower at 2nd fighter: Sandthrower attack: 2d20k1+4 17
Hit: Sandthrower damage: 2#2d4+1 7 5

Tess fire the Sandthrower, perfectly spraying the particulate into the path of Falcon 2-2. Unable to react quick enough the fighter is struck by a large amount of the attack. It's armour manages to absorb most of the damage, however you can see some lasting damage was dealt.

The two fighters now form up preparing for another attack run. This time cboth clearly coming in for a real attack not a warning shot. They open fire with their lasers and while Creed does his best to avoid them they manage to score a couple of hits on the Furious Midnight.

Hikaru: Choose Department Order

Current Command Points: 0

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Bridge: Above and Beyond (+2 CP)

Gunnery: Fire Sandthrower (-2 CP) at EDN Falcon 2-2, hits for 7 damage, reduced by armour to 2.

EDN Falcon 2-1: Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 17 vs AC hits for 2 damage, AP negates Armour. Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 11 vs AC misses.

EDN Falcon 2-2: Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 11 vs AC misses. Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 18 vs AC hits for 2 damage.

Initiative Order
9 EDN Falcon 2-1
3 EDN Falcon 2-2
2 IDS Furious Midnight

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 9
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: 5
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

EDN Falcon 2-2
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 3
HP: -2/??
AC: ?
Armour: 5
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 21/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: None.

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

Hikaru begins to feel at ease again as Cass's voice echoes through the radio, confirming the sandthrower has been repaired. A relieved smile even passes his lips with Tess landing a successful shot on the fighter. "Hell yeah, nice job, both of you!"

His smile quickly fades as his console lights up, indicating the hull took some damage. Fuck... "Might wanna get back to the bridge," the pop star radios to Cass. "We're past warning shots now."

He lets out a sigh and turns towards Pia and Tess. "Keep that up, yeah? A few more good shots and they're dust."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Department Order:
Captain > Engineering > Gunnery > Bridge > Comms

Captain Actions:
Support Department - Gunnery

"Our hull's taking this beating like a fucking champion," Cass says, amazed. Guess Idarete really does know how to make a tub right. He makes his way up toward the CIC once more, taking a seat at his previously-prepared comms desk. "Thanks for watching my screens, Glitter. I got it from here."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Engineering Department

Passively doing Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

"Seems like taking a beating gracefully is something Idarete has learned to excel at," Tess responds, smirking towards the ex-navy that has joined them. "Let's show the Diktat they can fight back too," she continues, nodding to Pia as she pulls the Plasma Beam back up onto her screen.

"Ready?" she asks to her fellow gunner, and once she confirms she continues with "fire!" and the two unleash a joint attack - Tess firing at the ship that had issued the warning, and Pia once more targeting the second ship with their flak cannons.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Gunnery Station - Fire All Weapons!

Tess
Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 1: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 12
Hit: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 12, AP 10

Pia
Firing Sandthrower at Fighter 2: Sandthrower attack: 1d20+1 12
Hit: Sandthrower damage: 2#2d4+1 5 4

Both of the Furious Midnight's guns open up on the fighters but with both targeting different ships, the two fighters are able to the easily avoid the weapons fire.

Go: Bridge, then Comms

Current Command Points: 0

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Captain: Support Gunnery
Captain: Support Engineering

Engineering: Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Gunnery: Fire all weapons, 2x miss.

Initiative Order
9 EDN Falcon 2-1
3 EDN Falcon 2-2
2 IDS Furious Midnight

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 9
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 3
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: ?
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 25/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: None

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

Creed did a silly little cheer to himself as he heard the others congratulating each other over the comms but quickly went back to working on keeping the ship steady for future attempts at taking out the ships, ready to react if they tried to shoot them again.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Above and beyond (Dex+Pilot): (3d6k2+2) 14 (Link: https://orokos.com/roll/919878)

Despite the deft maneuvering from their pilot, Cass feels no shift in his balance. "Nice flying, Creed. I'm throwing out a tracking jammer," he explains, tapping at his screen to send out a distracting amount of fabricated sensor data. "They'll have to aim manually after this."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Comms Department
Sensor Ghost (2 CP)

Program / Int: 3d6k2+2 12

We gain a +1 AC Bonus until the next turn.

While the Midnight's attacks fail to hit their targets, so do those of the two fighters, who struggle to get a bead on the ship thanks to Cass's electronic warfare.

Hikaru: Choose Department Order

Current Command Points: 0

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Bridge: Above and Beyond (+2 CP)

Comms: Sensor Ghost (-2 CP), +1 to AC.

EDN Falcon 2-1: Targets Engine, Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 14 vs AC misses.

EDN Falcon 2-2: Targets Plasma Beam, Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 11 vs AC misses.

Initiative Order
9 EDN Falcon 2-1
3 EDN Falcon 2-2
2 IDS Furious Midnight

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 9
HP: ??/??
AC: ?
Armour: 5
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

EDN Falcon 2-2
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 3
HP: -2/??
AC: ?
Armour: 5
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 21/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: None.

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

Hikaru begins to feel more at ease as the others fall into a seemingly familiar rhythm, despite being out of his comfort zone himself. We're.... we're actually doing this. "Fuck, we might just make it out of this if everyone keeps this up. Just gotta, you know, hit them before they hit us."

He grips onto his seat, palms somewhat sweaty with the situation. "You've got this, Tess and Pia. Just a few more shots."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Department Order
Captain> Comms > Engineering > Bridge > Gunnery

Captain Actions
Support Department - Gunnery

"Engines are stable and our sensors are active," Cass adds. "Keep throwing everything we've got at them."

"Let me see if I can find us a better firing solution." He mirrors Tess' weapons portfolio onto his screen, watching the enemies' movements.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Comms Department

Do Your Duty

Engineering Department

Do Your Duty

+2 CP gained total

I can make the shot with the sandthrower for Pia as Cass has a better attack bonus.

Creed focuses more intently on his duties, trying not to do anything fancy. He tries not to let himself be distracted, his rather well-hidden bravado taking over almost like what happened in the hovercar a few days prior.
"Dancing around to keep them in range!" He says over the comms suddenly, moving the ship around to give them (hopefully) a better shot.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Above and Beyond +2 CP // Dex|Pilot - 3d6k2+2 = 14 (https://orokos.com/roll/919883)

Tess sighs as both shots miss their marks, but smiles when the enemy ships have the same luck. Maybe this is hard for everyone. Or maybe we just got some bad pilots.

As the others all focus their efforts on supporting the aiming and firing, Tess once more focuses her sights on the first ship to have contacted them. Alright, here goes, she thinks, before firing a shot. It goes wide, and she lines up another shortly after. This time, she thinks, as she fires the weapon and it causes the fighter to explode. "Yes!"

Switching targets to the other, slightly damaged, fighter, she aims once more. However, this time the pilot is able to dodge her shot. That's alright, we got one at least. "One down, one to go. Maybe they will realize they're outgunned and fly home," she says, thrilled to have evened the playing field.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Gunnery Station - Fire One Weapon

Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 1: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 8
Hit: lolno

Gunnery Station - Fire One Weapon

Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 1: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 24
Hit: Plasma Beam damage: 3d6+1 9, AP 10

Gunnery Station - Fire One Weapon

Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 2: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 13
Hit: lolno

The fighters dodge the Midnight's attacks for the next few minutes until the first Fighter gets caught in the plasma beam. The weapon, designed to pierce the thick hulls of Frigates and Cruisers tears through the lightly armoured Fighter. Being little more than a seat and weapons strapped to a spike drive, the craft explodes as the beam tears through the spike drive, turning the starship into a cloud of high speed debris.

The remaining Fighter appears to be undeterred, returning with its own volleys of laser fire, some of which manage to strike the hull of the Furious Midnight.

Hikaru: Choose Department Order

Current Command Points: 0

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Captain: Support Gunnery.

Comms: Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Engineering: Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Bridge: Above and Beyond (+2 CP)

Gunnery: Miss, Hits, Destroys, Misses.

EDN Falcon 2-2: Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 17 vs AC hits for 4 damage. Fires multifocal laser at IDS Furious Midnight, 6 vs AC misses.

Initiative Order
9 EDN Falcon 2-1
3 EDN Falcon 2-2
2 IDS Furious Midnight

Enemy Ships

[SHOW]

EDN Falcon 2-1
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 9
HP: -9/??
AC: ?
Armour: 5
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

EDN Falcon 2-2
Banshee Class Fighter
Initiative: 3
HP: -2/??
AC: ?
Armour: 5
Speed: ?
Weapons:
Multifocal Laser, 1d4, AP 20

Ongoing Crisis: None

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 17/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: None.

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

"Yeah, no. Not with how cocky these Diktat asshats are. Plus they'd probably kill their family or something if they let us go." Fucking authoritarian savages. Who the fuck do they think they are?

"Keep it up and let's end this," Hikaru says, gritting his teeth in annoyance as the pest of a fighter still seems intent on killing them.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Captain > Comms > Engineering > Bridge > Gunnery

Captain Action
Support Department - Gunnery

"Gotta side with Glitter on this one... these Diktat jarheads are too rigid to talk down. Besides, I've had enough people try and shoot or stab me this week. This guy wants to fuck around with a tub this big, he knows he's already dead."

Cass stays at his seat, keeping watch for any of their systems to fail and being surprised when they don't.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Comms Department

Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Engineering Department

Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

"Great shot!"He said, pumping his fists in the air for a moment before quickly reminding himself he had a job to do, bringing the Furious Midnight around for another shot at the remaining fighter. "Let's do this and get out of here!"

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Above and Beyond (+2 CP) = 3d6k2+2= 10 (https://orokos.com/roll/920014)

Tess lines up another shot, and like the last time the first goes wide. However, her follow-up shot hits the second fighter, the small vessel exploding on impact like the first one. "Fuck yeah!" she shouts, standing from her seat in excitement. "Creed, get us out of here," she says, as it becomes clear that they are finally safe - for now.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Gunnery Station - Fire One Weapon

Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 2: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 10
Hit: nope

Gunnery Station - Fire One Weapon

Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 2: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 21
Hit: Plasma Beam damage: 3d6+1 13, presumably destroying the ship

Gunnery Station - Fire One Weapon (if above is not a kill)

Firing Plasma Beam at Fighter 2: Plasma Beam attack: 1d20+4 8
Hit: hahahahahahaha ._.

The last fighter is eviscerated by the Midnight's plasma beam like the craft before it. The engagement lasted nearly an hour and while still in orbit of Idarete, you are now much further into deep space.

Creed engages the spike drive and the ship begins to leave its orbit and make for the outer solar system.

"What's the plan now?" Marko asks. "The way I see it there's a couple of options for our destination, we could -" the Idaretian begins, however he is cut off by the sounding of another alarm.

The comms panel lights up, warning that the ship is being actively scanned. Checking the panel you see a heavy frigate, the EDN Ascalon, has slipped its moorings on the Idarete Platform and is burning towards the location of your battle with the Escrosian Fighters. It was likely rushed into action in an attempt to support the fighters, however with with the fighters destroyed and your location lost, it is using its active scanners to search the area and attempting to get a detection lock on the Furious Mignight to continue the hunt.

Cass

[SHOW]

If you wish to try to avoid the detection lock, you can make an opposed Prog/Int check (with +2 for being a frigate) against the EDN Ascalon.

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Captain: Support Gunnery.

Comms: Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Engineering: Do Your Duty (+1 CP)

Bridge: Above and Beyond (+2 CP)

Gunnery: Miss, Hits, Destroys.

IDS Furious Midnight

[SHOW]

IDS Furious Midnight
Javelin Class Patrol Boat
Initiative: 2
HP: 17/25
AC: 14
Armour: 5
Speed: 4
Weapons:
Plasma Beam, 3d6, AP 10
Sand Thrower, 2d4, Flak

Ongoing Crisis: None.

Departments
Bridge - Eridas Creed
Captain - Hikaru Tsukiakari
Comms - Cass Bevideia
Engineering - Cass Bevideia
Gunnery - Tess Cernei

"Well, there's no time to celebrate. EDN — that designation means another Diktat tub," Cass explains warily. "Heavy frigate. They're looking for us."

He rapidly churns through several processes on his comms overlay, doing his best to block the heavy frigate's scans. "Going to try something first. If I fail, Creed, let's burn like hell out of here. As long as we're outside weapons range, we should be able to keep distance."

Mechanics

[SHOW]

Prog/Int+2: Program / Int: 3d6k2+4 8

Would like to use Expert reroll if this fails.

Cass is able to quickly work his magic, blocking and obfuscating the heavy frigate's scans so that the Furious Midnight should just appear as a slightly warmer region of space. The heavy frigate's sensors soon move on from you, continuing to search the area while you burn away from Idarete.

"Nicely done," Marko says as it becomes apparent you have avoided detection. "As I was going to say, I think there's a couple of options for where we head now," he says, walking over to the table in the Ops room and bringing up a holographic map of the XK-539 system.

"We could leave the system but we don't have a ton of supplies. In system our best options would either be Asteria Station or Prancaris-1. I've been to both briefly on my old ship," he says, manipulating the display to show you the two stations in the context of the system. "Asteria Station has always been the source of most of the piracy in the system so it could be a good place to hide out for a while. Prancaris-1 is a gas mining station, I heard the workers took it over after the Diktat showed up, which is probably better for us than if it was still in Idaretian - or now Escrosian - hands," he says, surmising what he knows about the two stations.

0202- XK 539

[SHOW]

Idarete
Atmosphere - Inert
Temperature - Frozen
Orbital Period - 0.74 Years
Day Length - N/a
Atm. Pressure - 2.71 atm
Surface Gravity - 0.75 g
Biosphere - No native biosphere
Population - 14.6 million
Tech Level - TL4
Description - A large trade hub due to its position in the center of the cluster. It's a cold and dark world tidally locked to the black hole it orbits. The main population centre, Idarete city, is built underground around geothermal vents which provide heat and power. A space elevator provides easy access to a space station, the Idarete Platform, which serves as the main trade hub. It has a large criminal underworld, which has recently been clashing with the Escrios Diktat who have installed their own provisional government after landing troops on the planet.

Idarete Platform - The major space port at the top of the mandate space elevator on Idarete.

Cyidia - The sole uninhabited moon of Idarete. It is suspected to be a dwarf planet captured from the Verilia Belt due to its highly elliptical orbit.

The Verilia Belt
A large asteroid belt home to many small mining operations. For decades it has provided a haven for smugglers and pirates seeking to hide from the Idaretian and now Escrosian Navy.

Asteria Station
Gravity - 0.31 g
Population - 8,102
Tech Level - TL4
Description - The largest station in the Verilia belt built into a large asteroid which has been spun up to provide artificial gravity. It is owned and operated by the Asteria Corporation who conduct mining operations on the lithium and tungsten rich asteroids in the belt. Due to its location it is a common port of call for the pirates and smugglers that call the Verilia belt home and the corporation exerts little control in the station's day to day.

Nadkien
Atmosphere - None
Temperature - Frozen
Orbital Period - 6.21 Years
Day Length - 4.86 Years
Atm. Pressure - 0 atm
Surface Gravity - 0.61 g
Biosphere - No native biosphere
Population - None
Description - The second planet orbiting XK-539. Much like the slightly larger Idarete, it is a frozen wastland, however it has no atmosphere and is geologically inactive making it even more uninhabitable.

Senryn - The largest of the two rather unremarkable moons of Nadkien.

Anaryn - The smaller of the two moons of Nadkien.

Prancaris
Orbital Period - 18.6 Years
Day Length - 21.2 Days
Description - Prancaris is a large Hydrogen-Helium gas giant which sits on the edge of the XK-539 system. It is a grey-purple colour with large storms dominating much of its upper atmosphere. It has a ring system as well as over thirty small moons and four larger moons.

Prancaris-1 Gas Mining Station
Gravity - 0.35 g
Population - 1,265
Tech Level - TL4
Description - Prancaris-1 is a gas mining station in orbit above Prancaris. It consists of a large spinning habitation ring and a central 0-g column where the docks and the gas mining operations are located. It is a common stop for vessels looking to refuel before making a drill out of the system. The station was operated by an Idarete based company, however since the Diktat's take over, a union of the station's workers has assumed full control and ownership of the station.

Tasheria - The largest moon of Prancaris. It has previously been home to mining operations but is currently abandonned.

Caelius - Caelius' geological composition does not match the rest of the system's. It is a suspected rogue planet that was captured by the gravity of Prancaris and XK-539. A small complex of Mandate ruins where discovered on the moon 15 years ago however they have since been picked clean by scavangers.

Uranlus - The third largest moon of Prancaris.

Remitas - The fourth largest moon of Prancaris.