>>29826404
FOR HOUSE AND DOMINION

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When your team's shuttle failed to respond you boarded it to ensure no one could escape from the ship. You found out the hard way that it had been rigged to explode, killing or hurling half of your team into space.Those where were thrown off the ship have been picked up and quarantined in the recon corvette's shuttle bay.

After this you joined the damage control teams who had barricaded themselves inside the remaining engine compartment. Following a quick check of equipment you divided up your team with some of the DC personnel, making sure a few people with guns knew what they were doing.

A DC team had gone missing elsewhere in the ship but you were determined to wait on the defensive until the rescue ships arrived. That is until one of their IFF's approached the compartment you were taking refuge in.
Playing it safe you stunned the returned crewman so a medic could check him. Noise of an approaching object forced you to drag the stunned crewman inside where a bomb strapped to the back of the body exploded.

You and your remaining security personnel are now wounded, the team members untouched by the explosion in other sections of the compartment have now left the ship through a service airlock leaving you behind.

"Maybe your should do yourselves a favour and not try to go EVA yourselves." Says Captain Fer'ial. "I've had one of the sublight drives powered up and primed for use as a self destruct."

Emmett informs you in that the reactors on a ship this old might not be able to survive being held at supercritical for long. The rescue team might not get here in time.

Sam, your increasingly paranoid Hune squad member, stands up and takes a few shaky breaths then checks his gun. "No way I'm getting killed here. We need to get off this ship."
"If we try to get off the ship they'll blow up remotely."
"Then we disable the reactor!"
"Now who sounds like they're on the other side?"
"Shut up. Who can fix it?"
One of the wounded DC guys and Emmett each raise their hand. "We could also just turn it down to a more sustainable level." suggests the wounded human.

Your own wounds are starting to bother you. Really, you need to get this debris out of your chest, but since nothing vital was hit you should be okay for several hours. Still, the moment you hit vacuum it's going to be serious problem.

"Let's gear up." You order. "Everyone keep an eye on... well everyone else if you can. Nobody is to be out of sight of the others. Or else."

For once nobody bothers to ask. "Or else what?"

You are currently armed with a pulse pistol and a phase rifle. Do you want to change your loadout or do anything else before the teams moves? You can take up to 1 of each of the following.

Phase rifle
Ballistic Carbine
Pulse Pistol
Gyrojet pistol
Flashlight laser

Stun pulse grenades
HE/FRAG
HF-Knife

(Sam has your team's only Halfmoon breaching charge hidden in his outer vest.)

>>29827028
Let's take the Pulse pistol and HF-Knife.

The lighter our load the quicker we'll be able to dodge/react. How quickly can Beryl draw and shoot by the way?

>>29827142
>How quickly can Beryl draw and shoot by the way?
Beryl is a good shot with a pistol or rifle, but not up to the standards of House Marines. Draw speed is slow, but is quick enough to take aim if the weapon is already drawn.

>>29827238
Okay, probably a good idea to keep it drawn at all times then.

I hope a few more people show up, I don't want to steer this poor girl to death.

>>29827301
Actually I'd like to add on a phase rifle too.

Checking your pistol and rifle, you make sure to grab a knife from the weapons taken from the dead. You'll keep the rifle slung for now, the pistol might be better in these close quarters.

"Seal your suits up as best you can. Who knows if the compartment might be vented later."
One of the others sprays your suit breaches with some sealant. It might be enough.

Moving down the corridor, backs up against either wall so as to better keep an eye on each other, the team slowly advances.
"This is going to take awhile with everyone shot up."
"We have time. It's not that far."

"Intersection coming up, check your corners." You warn.

Covering each other you both check the side passages, then cover them while waiting for the rest of the team to move. With them past you now take up the rear of the formation.
As your approach the next intersection one of the others speaks up.

"Picking up a sonar contact." report Chir'dan, one of the Dro'all in your team.
"Where?" Asks Sam. "I'm getting nothing."

"I've got it too." Replies one of the DC people. "On our right, that's to port of us about 10-20 meters."

Your own suit HUD is showing nothing.

>Your orders?

>>29827852
Throw stun grenade if we think we can hit anything in that direction, otherwise cover the tunnels and keep moving.

>>29827852
"Nothing here too."

Suspicious. Shoot at it, see if the contact moves.

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>>29827933
>Throw stun grenade if we think we can hit anything in that direction
It's questionable.
The two at the front of the group can't see anything down the next side passage but all it would take is somebody hiding around a corner.

"Nothing here too." you tell the others."Pass up a stun grenade. Try and bounce it off a wall."

Roll 1d20

Rolled 15

>>29828161
>Roll 1d20

Fai... Rolling.

Rolled 5

>>29828161
Betrayals abound.

Rolled 5

>>29828161

One of those at the front throws the stun grenade then ducks back out of the way. You clearly make out the sound of the sphere bouncing off of metal twice before the side passage lights up.

"I'm still getting a contact in roughly the same area. No change."

You're still getting nothing on yours.

[ ] Investigate contact
[ ] Head for engineering, keep that corridor covered
[ ] other

>>29828553
>[X] Head for engineering, keep that corridor covered

And the opposite one too.

>>29828553
>[x] Head for engineering, keep that corridor covered
Do they have sonic emitters that make a contact seem like a person?

>>29828553
>[X] Head for engineering, keep that corridor covered

Also >Sonar contact

And instantly reminded of that one sound from Alien.

As you keep moving both people continue to report a contact at the same location until you're half way to the engine room. Then all of you get a new contact from behind you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZbtAFq7dP8

A musical ringtone from someone's communicator goes off.

"Whose is that?"
No one seems to know.

What must be another communicator goes off, this time a bit closer. It's just a normal alert ringtone this time.

[ ] Must go faster
[ ] Remain calm, continue to advance
[ ] Rear guard starts shooting, cover the others
[ ] Other

>>29828983
>[X] Remain calm, continue to advance

Not remaining calm has usually resulted in unpleasant stuff so far, let's try to stop it.

>>29828983
>[X] Remain calm, continue to advance

>>29828983
[x] Remain calm, continue to advance

"Shut it off. It's either tracking us from the sound or doing it to spook us. Don't let it get to you."

"Keep moving. Don't change what we'v been doing. And if anyone knows how to turn that thing from here off please do so."

Keeping a close watch in front and behind the squad continues to move. More sonar contacts appear but they're all localised. According to the people that can read them at any rate.

"We're here."

It takes a minute to force the door then everyone gets in, sealing it behind you.

"Good job. You guys get to work on that reactor, we'll cover you."

After checking things over Emmett gets everyone's attention. "We can turn down the levels of the reactor or shut it off, that shouldnt be a problem."

"You saw something that is a problem?" you ask.

"Sort of. The remote bypass is still in place that will let the corvette detonate the reactor. It won't let them bring it back up to temperature once we drop it or let them lower it themselves, but they can still blow it up."

"What's the difference between them blowing it up now as opposed to after we scale it back from super crit levels?"

"Right now it could rip the entire ship to shreds. Once we bring it down to nomal levels it'll only be able to destroy this compartment. Do you want us to disable the remote bypass or leave it in place?"

>Your orders?

>>29829418
"Leave it in place. Once we turn the reactor down to sustainable levels, we won't be heading back here. If the corvette detects any tampering from then on, they blow it."

>>29829490
Oh, oops, I wrote this thinking that the corvette would let us bring the levels down. We should probably tell Fer'ial that we're all in the engine room and what we're doing.

>>29829418
Disable it. I can't think of any kind of situation where it could be useful. Our enemy is way better at this than we are, so I doubt we'd be able to get any kind of advantage out of the bypass.

>>29829605
>>29830001

Which will it be guys? Disable it or tell the Captain what you're doing?

>>29830039
Wait until a third player shows up or simply roll a d2?

>>29830198
Yeah, as the 'Don't disable' Anon, I'd be fine with a dice roll.

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Rolled 2

>>29830198
>>29830252
1=leave in place
2=disable

Was hoping for a 3rd vote but here we go.

>>29830707
Butt status: held.

"Disable it. I'll contact the ship once it's down and tell Fer'ial what we're doing."

Once the engineers have taken care of the remote controls they get to work on turning down the reactor levels.

The Captain is not happy with what you've done. "Beryl, we need to be able to remote detonate that reactor. We were... look it's a safety precaution until rescue gets here."

"We're all in the starboard engine compartment." You explain. "Even with the reactors turned down to normal levels it would still kill everyone in here. If things go really wrong we can set the reactor off ourselves. Right?"

Emmett shrugs. "Yeah we could probably set it off."

"Probably or deffinitely?"

"Yes." He replies, then continues working.

"Why do Humans do that? It's not even a translation glitch." Asks Chir'dan.

After a few more minutes they're done.
"Okay reactor down to safe levels once again. Now what?"

"We wait for rescue and keep an eye on the doors and each other."

Before long Sam has located the airlock the DC teams must have used. "It would be nice if we could get the hell off this ship and away from the danger of imminent death. Just saying."

"Yeah, it's too bad our medic is dead or they could have checked us out and cleared us to leave." Points out one of the DC guys.

>It will be a few more hours until the rescue team arrives. Is there anything you wanted Beryl or the rest of the squad to work on while you wait?

>>29831470
>>It will be a few more hours until the rescue team arrives. Is there anything you wanted Beryl or the rest of the squad to work on while you wait?

-Take inventory.
-Try to fashion simple tripwires, to alert us in the unlikely case our enemy makes a mistake.

>>29831470
Can we jack into any of the other ship systems from our location? Monitoring any happenings outside our little room would be prudent.

Assuming we know first aid too, can we attend to our own wounds as best we can?

>>29831470
Perhaps try to repair that fistfull of metal stuck in our chest with something a bit more advanced then something you can spray out of a can?

>>29831570
>-Take inventory.
Most of the gear your team brought with you are weapons and what few tools you had to fix the reactor. A couple power drills and prybars along with datapads to link into the control systems.
>-Try to fashion simple tripwires, to alert us in the unlikely case our enemy makes a mistake.
There should be some cable around but it would be easily spotted. Try to do so anyways?

>>29831598
>Can we jack into any of the other ship systems from our location? Monitoring any happenings outside our little room would be prudent.
One of the others taps into the security system and starts watching pressure variance per section and the few motion trackers. There was a camera mount in this section to keep watch on the reactors but it looks like it was destroyed years ago.

>Assuming we know first aid too, can we attend to our own wounds as best we can?
>>29831699
>Perhaps try to repair that fistfull of metal stuck in our chest with something a bit more advanced then something you can spray out of a can?

It takes some help from one of the others but they manage to yank out the largest pieces of shrapnel imbedded in the front of your armor. It hurts like hell but with them out of the way you're able to crack open your armor and treat the wounds themselves. The holes in your suit can also be patched now.
"Those should hold up quite a bit better." You declare. The wounds themselves still hurt but not as badly. The underlying ribs might need to be checked by a medic or doctor later aboard ship but for the short term you're fine.

You've seen plenty of Hune that are xenophobic or paranoid with all of the Mercenaries that flooded the Nav relays during the Republic Civil war, but none of them so close to freaking out as Sam is. He's going to be running himself ragged at this rate.

[ ] Leave him alone
[ ] Tell him to chill out
[ ] Sedate him
[ ] Other
[ ]

>>29832098
Do we have a second Hune left he can be buddies with?

>>29832098
[x] Slap him across the face. Tell him to get it together. Is this how a Hune would act? The ones who're meant to be so superior?

>>29832165
Not on this ship.

>>29832286
Do this?

>>29832286
Just make sure to be ready to stun him if he lashes out or anything or trys to mind rape Beryl. What could possibly go wrong in these kinds of situations?

>>29832373
>Do this?
Does anybody left have a clue how to deal with somebody in his situation in Hune society?

>>29832491
Noted.

>>29832592
Not really no.

>>29832706
>Not really no.
Hmmmm.... let's try to have a talk with him first, if it doesn't help, I'm okay with >>29832286.

>>29832805
>let's try to have a talk with him first
If anyone else agrees with this then
>What say?

Otherwise I'm going to go ahead with this>>29832286

>>29832979
>Sam
"Hey Sam, how are you holding up? This situation is quite taxing on all of us but I need you to stay alert and do nothing stupid. I know you can do this, I've read your file, you can deal with the situation. Say, isn't Sam a rather unusal name for a Hune? How did you end up with it?"

>>29833061
I don't mind either option, but this is pretty good for starting off.

You head over to Sam to head off a possible problem before it starts.
"Hey Sam, how are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. I'm good. Ready to kill anything that comes through those doors." His twitchyness says otherwise.
"This situation is quite taxing on all of us but I need you to stay alert and do nothing stupid. I know you can do this, I've read your file, you can deal with the situation."

"This is not like any other situation I've been in. Anything in my file was made up by other people who made assumptions about me."

"Well then... Say, isn't Sam a rather unusal name for a Hune? How did you end up with it?"

He grimaces. "One of the other guys started calling me that. I don't even know why, but others just kept calling me that from then on. My real name is Eleutian."

Good to know.
Next you calmly ask him if it's going to be necessary for you to slap him across the face and tell him to get it together. "Because is that how a Hune would want to be seen? The ones who're meant to be so superior?"

"No. I'll be okay for now. I think. But the sooner we get off this ship the better."

"Good. Let's see if the ship has an update."

You're about to contact the Captain when suddenly the coms are filled with high volume static.

[ ] Flip to another channel / Switch to external coms (Roll 1d10)
[ ] Remove your helmet

Rolled 5

>>29833823
>[X] Flip to another channel / Switch to external coms (Roll 1d10)

Better thank taking the helmet off. Signal everybody to keep their helmets on as well.

Rolled 4

>>29833823
Flip that switch! I fear someone will somehow let out all the air out of the ship should we remove helmets.

Rolled 7

>>29833823
>[x] Flip to another channel / Switch to external coms (Roll 1d10)
Radio-jammer?
That's bad news. Corvette will blast the ship if they think we're all dead.

Rolled 16, 7, 17 = 40

You switch to a couple of other channels and find them jammed as well. With enough of that you flip to external coms only.

"Everybody keep your helmets on." Your order, though you suspect a few of them haven't heard you yet. You however do hear something, the distinctive sound of a body hitting the floor then the tearing of fabric.
Turning towards the reactor you see both Emmett and the other engineer lying facedown, probably dead, with a third standing above them. One of the other security team members, a stocky woman named Phyllis has extended her right arm out several meters to strike one of the others who is still struggling with their helmet.

The sound of tearing fabric happens again as the upper left arm of her suit is cut open from the inside, freeing the remainder of the still armored appendage to extend towards you.

[ ] Dodge (roll 1d20)
[ ] Shoot (roll 1d20)

Rolled 16

>>29834515
>[ ] Shoot (roll 1d20)
>Those rolls

PANIC

Rolled 20

>>29834515
>[X] Dodge (roll 1d20)

I really enjoyed being alive. RIP in peace Beryl, may you be reborn as the space elf you were meant to be.

>>29834515
A fucking extendoarm? Why the hell didn't we think of that when Sonia was getting her cyber arm fitted!

Fuck, that's a great idea.

Anyone else? I'm not going to roll a d2 on this decision.

>>29835065
Dodge first, shoot second.

Injury bad

>>29834515
SHOOT ET!

Bit distracted by this 2300 people battle in EVE

Kinda slow today. Maybe everyone was expecting this to start on tuesday? I'm going to vote dodge just because if that thing touches us we might get infected with whatever it is.

Also have a rifle WIP.

>>29835213
I'm pretty sure an infection won't make you turn into a robomurder machine, but I'll backup this dodge option too.

>>29835213
maybe its because of the sidequest? I don't find it particularly thrilling myself.

Rolled 17

>>29834515

You dive out of the way while shoving Sam, glad that you dont have any more shrapnel in danger of being pushed through your armor by the impact.
"What th-FUCK!" Shouts Sam throwing himself farther out of the way once he realises what's going on.

Chir'dan opens fire, hitting the enemy's mid section with a phase rifle shot and causing it to retract it's left arm, taking cover. You and Sam open up as well, while a DC crewman panics and sprays fire with his carbine, missing everything.
Sam's fire hits the thing's right arm causing it to break off it's attack before it can kill another one of the squad members.

As everyone get's their act together it picks up the pair of bodies on the floor and uses them for cover from weapons fire. You think you hear more tearing, it's hard to tell over the weapons fire, then it begins to return fire with a pusle pistol.

For the moment you have gained the upper hand. The attacker is currently blocking you from accessing the reactor controls.

>Your orders?

>>29835937
do we have a grenade of some sort? arc it behind the foe.

>>29835937
Anything above it we can shoot down with the rifle?

>>29835937
Keep suppressing it with rifle fire, and start lobbing any grenade that's not going to blow up the reactor.

Check if the guys we just used as cover are still alive if we can spare a second or tow.

>>29835937
Jesus christ what is it holy shit.


Maybe see if us and Sam can make it out of the room, then run to the bridge. Because holy fuck, we're the only two that aren't evil at the moment.

>>29835937
Panic. Make use of those grenades and generally just shoot a lot at it, throw a lot at it and yell at alot at it. And should it come to it... Tackle that soab into the reactor!

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>>29835974
You have 1 Frag and Sam has a Halfmoon. Use the Frag?

>>29836000
Mostly structural supports. It would take a couple of minutes to shoot through them. There are some fuel pipes for the reactor off to the sides and power conduits farther back.

>>29836029
>Grenade
counting this as second vote

>Check if the guys we just used as cover are still alive if we can spare a second or tow.
Currently living party members as shown on map. Wounded party member was struck by the enemy but is still alive.

>>29836077
>Maybe see if us and Sam can make it out of the room, then run to the bridge.
Anyone else for this?

>>29836081
>grenades
Grenades confirmed.

>Tackle that soab into the reactor!
The reactor has an armored outer casing just so you're aware, it's not a floating blowing ball or a SS13 singularity.

Roll 1d20 for Frag grenade unless you want to use the halfmoon.

Rolled 18

>>29836325
rolling for Frag

Rolled 19

>>29836325
Ah well, it would have been an epic way to go out. Damn these ships and their safety standards!

Anyways, rolling for grenade luck.

>>29836325
Using a direction explosive like the half moon is a bad idea. It might damage the reactor.

Taking cover behind a low stack of crates you try and put some supressing fire on the creature. It's enough to dive it back a little bit an earns some return fire until the others draw it's attention. Grabbing frag grenade you lob it towards the side of the reactor causing it to bounce off the surved surface and hit the deck plating at it's feet.

The explosion perforates all three suits of armor causing the dead bodies to tumble away slightly and the occupied suit to drop.

"Did we get it?" Asks the DC crewman who is trying to figure out which ammo magazines he hasn't emptied.

A small explosion of red mist and confetti as the creature shreds the remains of it's suit answers that question. You can clearly see blood splattered on the surrounding decking.

>Your orders?

>>29836757
Shoot it until it stops moving. Then shoot it a bit more just to be sure. Then shoot it again.

>>29836757
"Everybody stay EXACTLY still. Anybody moves, even an inch, shoot them."

>>29836757
"Bring it down! Bring it down! BRING IT DOWN!"
Hopefully we wont get our spine broken by flying horses.

>>29836842
Then when out of ammo we switch to useing our guns as clubs

>>29836842
Yeah, shooting it is probably a good idea. Maybe use the half moon.

Also, nanoplague? helmets stay ON.

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I found that trying to work out the exact internals of this thing is going to drive me nuts. So I'm only going to determine the position of the major components and then handwave the rest as SPESS MAGIC.

Major features added:
- Mass driver magazines are reversible and double sided. Powerpacks too once I draw them.
- Retracted the weapon is about 4 feet long, which is just small enough for effective shoulder and hip fire. So roughly the equivalent of an M60 mg. With the barrel extended the shots become much stronger and you sort of have an M2 hmg,
- The bipod is fully adjustable for position and height. It's also sturdy enough to use as a foregrip.
- The front add-on part of the barrel doesn't have rifling, but double the repulsor nodes.

TODO:
- Flash Suppressor/Muzzle Brake
- Bipod
- Scope rails/sights
- Battery pack sockets
- Breech for mass driver slugs
- Splinter shell variants

Anything I'm missing? You said that rifle sized mass drivers use pulse pistol power cells. Do pulse rifles have a bigger power cell we could use here?

>>29837049
This is approaching MechEngineer levels of awesomeness.

Rolled 1, 2, 11 = 14

>>29837049
Looking good. Only glanced at it briefly atm. Will look closer in a bit.

>Rolling for enemy.

"Keep shooting it, just don't get any closer!" You order.

"Bring it down!" Shouts Sam repeatedly as he continues to fire into the fading cloud.
It's then that you see a grey shape, staying low to the deck heading straight for your wounded man.

"It's on the move, let it get him!"

Roll 4d20 for your team.
If you have any additional orders to give please do so. Panic Crewman continues to get a -4 to hit.

Rolled 2, 15, 13, 3 = 33

>>29837212
fuck this is like the thing all over again.

Rolled 8, 13, 3, 6 = 30

>>29837212

Rolled 18, 16, 11, 20 = 65

>>29837212
This is some major fucked up shit.

>>29837212
>"It's on the move, DON'T let it get him!"
Whoops

>>29837322
Oh god, that has to be the worst mistake so far.

All of you open fire, with Sam being the only one to land a solid hit. Whater it's made out of boils away just as easily as normal flesh does from any Faction species. The impact does slow it down enough for you and Chir'dan to land grazing hits. It's not enough to stop it.

The wounded crewman is just waking up from the earlier hit when it sees the creature coming for it. He gets off one pistol shot into it before being tackled.

"Agh my arm! It's-" You cant make out the rest over the sound of his armor being ripped open.

>Your orders?
You've definitely hurt it but it's hard to tell how much.

>>29837738
Halfmoon Halfmoon!

>>29837765
You want to have Sam do a suicide attack on it with the halfmoon?

>>29837738
Can we shoot the fuel lines behind it to spray it with fuel and then make it BURN! Or you know, would that make the ship explode? Alternatively I am all for suicide charging it with the Halfmoon just because. Like rushing up to it and try to slap it onto the beast while it's busy snacking on that dude. But yeah, fuel lines is plan A.

>>29837738
"Shoot! He's dead either way!"

>>29837861
>suicide attack
Not so much just yet in that case.

Can we >>29837879?

>>29837879
>Can we shoot the fuel lines behind it to spray it with fuel and then make it BURN!
Possibly. They're liquid fuel so you'd get more freezing than burning. At least right away.

>Or you know, would that make the ship explode?
No, it wouldn't.
>Damn these ships and their safety standards!

>>29837889
>Shoot!

[ ] Fuel line
[ ] Suicide attack
[ ] Keep shooting it, he's dead either way!

Roll 3d20
>Panic (from here on known as Pan or Panning) is out of ammo.

Rolled 18, 5, 8 = 31

>>29838109
fuel I think.

Rolled 12, 4, 12 = 28

>>29838109
>[X] Suicide attack

Rolled 7, 1, 13 = 21

>>29838109
[x] Fuel Line

Freezing is good to I suppose but fire is always more effective, even if used against fire!

>>29838109
>freezing than burning
just as good, lets do that

Rolled 18, 9, 5 = 32

>>29838109
>[x] Fuel line
Freeze it, just like in Alien.

Reluctant to move in closer just yet, or to order Sam on a suicide run you look around for anything you can use. There. The liquid fuel pipes leading to the reactor.

"The pipes! Shoot the pipes!" You tell the others, shofting your fire aft.
While Sam fires a few shots in that direction he's too intent on watching the creature to really line up accurate fire. You and Chir'dan manage to hit the pipes several times causing it to rupture. Liquid hydrogen splaches over consoles, equipment and anything else near the reactor, including your now hopefully dead man and the monster.

The ambient temperature in the section drops down to level similar to what they were when your teams first opened this section to begin repairs. It won't last for long you know. The flow of fuel soon cuts off thanks to safety systems detecting the leak.

Moving in carefully, the three of you take up positions where you have a line of fire on the still twitching body. Now that you can see it, the right arm has been cut open near the armpit. It would have been easy for someone to later cover up the damage. There is clump of frozen material on the deck outside the suit, though you suspect enough of the creature is inside the suit that it would have been protected at least partially.

[ ] "Burn." (Shoot it.)
[ ] Stick Halfmoon on it
[ ] Other

>>29838659
>[x] "Burn." (Shoot it.)
"It's a trick. Don't touch it."

IT'S ALWAYS A TRICK.

>>29838659
[x] "Burn"
BURN MOFO! Then stomp on the remains once the fire dies down.

>>29838659
Burn.

>>29838659
"Chir'dan, get some of that cable, rig it to those power conduits. I want you to run as much power as you can through it when we start shooting, okay?"

burn/electrocution combo.

>>29838659
>[x] Stick Halfmoon on it

>>29838761
I thought this at first, see, but the problem with that is that we have to get close to the body. Which means placing the Halfmoon on it would disturb it, and let IT know 'hey, fresh warm meat nearby', AND gathered on the fact TSTG said Beryl's a decent shot and MISSED a majority of her shots with the pulse pistol, one could conclude it moves QUITE FAST.

How fast is this burn going to be? If it's too slow it would just thaw it out again.

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>>29838808
"Are you guys clear of the spill?"

"It's starting to evaporate, so yes."

"Shoot it!"
You check the rifle then fire. "Burn."

A phased energy discharge has more than enough power to set off the liquid hydrogen, and while there isnt a huge amount of oxygen in the compartment, it's enough. Fire soon engulfs the entire area. Off to the side Pan runs towards the controls for the reactor fuel supply.

"Let me know if you want more fuel. I know what press."

"We'll just shoot it if it isn't enough."

"Movement." Warns Chir'dan.
The still twitching body shoots upright, engulfed in flames. All of you focus fire on it's midsection.
"Fucking die already." Says Sam, sounding more aggravated than worried.
You hear that same tearing noise and it's arm shoots out, grabbing the front of Sam's equipment vest and ripping it off.
"It's got the halfmoon!"

Bolting, it rushes for the airlock despite the flames still eating away at any section of the armor your rifles blast away. It doesn't quite make it.
Something in the midsection gives away and crumbles causing the monster to drop to the deck two thirds of the way to the hatch, the halfmoon still clasped in it's outstretched arm.

"Pan. Get more fuel." You order.
The DC crew member runs and grabs an emergency transfer hose from a storage bin and hooks it up to a connection port from the same side the damaged pipe is on. Spooling out the hose he extends it most of the way to the body, avoiding the worst of the burned up area.
"I should be able to hit it from here."
Sam runs over and hits the fuel pump switch.

[ ] Freeze remains for rescue team to analyse
[ ] Find an oxygen tank to continue burn

>>29839529
>[x] Freeze remains for rescue team to analyse

Whilst Sam and DC man keep it on ice, we should find the O2 tank, so that if it so much as even twitches, then we burn it.

>>29839529
>[x] Freeze remains for rescue team to analyse

>>29839529
>[X] Freeze remains for rescue team to analyse

>>29839653
>>29839674
>>29839743
You've activated his trap card!

The delicious candy was just a ruse!

>>29838703
>IT'S ALWAYS A TRICK.
>>29839783
>You've activated his trap card!


"Hose it down and keep watch. I'm going to find an oxygen tank in case we need to set anything else on fire in here."

"I figure it will take the air scrubbers a couple of days at best before anyone can take their helmet off in here sir." Says Pan.
"Maybe we should just vent the atmosphere?"

"Let our backup worry about that."

Returning a moment later with mostly empty oxygen tank you set it nearby, but out of direct reach of the target. Each of you takes turns shooting the body on occasion but make sure you still have plenty of spare ammo. Everyone stays well clear of the frozen pile of material.

Chir'dan locates the source of the jamming, Phyllis' communicator and one of the other's helmet coms had been rigged together with other pieces of equipment taken from non essential terminals nearby. With the jammer disabled you're at last able to contact the ship and tell them what happened.

"Uploading mission recordings."

A voice you're not familiar with breaks in on the channel. "A rescue team has been deployed to your position. You'll be debriefed once you're taken off the ship. You are not to talk to anyone about this incident do you understand?"

>What say?

>>29840183
"Yup. Uh, under which authority are you classifying this?"

>>29840183
>>29840280
Sounds good to me.

>>29840183

"Unknown transmitter you will Identify or your transmissions will be ignored, do you understand?"

>>29840183
"Please identify. Will assume hostile intent, bordering on piracy act if unspecified transmission remains active and unauthorised."

>>29840183
"Understood. May I know who exactly am I speaking to?

>>29840319
>>29840365
That's just rude.
>>29840280
sounds better

>>29840406

It is rude of an unknown transmitter to not identify themselves according to protocol.

And also protocol to tell them to get off what I assume is a company/operation frequency/encoding, if they aren't supposed to be on there.

plus, fuck them. We're a Kavarian.

So, who's bioweapon do you think we just slagged?

>>29840183
House Jerik-Dremine has unlocked: Nano-plague for research.

>>29840183
"Does that include filing a compensation request, mental trauma form H-10, non-standard danger AF-119 form, and regulatory faction safety standard complaint with my employers?"

Beryl, master of paperwork and forms.

>>29840183
Uh, I just had a thought.

This isn't one of those 'rescue' teams that shoots any witnesses is it?

>>29841142
This only just occurred to you now?

>>29840280
>"Yup. Uh, under which authority are you classifying this?"
"I'm Knight Commander Tanril of House Helios. I'm the attaché to the Ruling House's local Faction affairs office. You may have access to information an/or evidence that could be damaging to the relations of multiple Factions, or to civilian morale in wartime. You will stand down and surrender to the recovery teams. My teams are authorised to respond to any resistance with lethal force."

You mutter to the others about this shit bordering on piracy but soon switch back to open coms.

"Does that include filing a compensation request, mental trauma form H-10, non-standard danger AF-119 form, and regulatory faction safety standard complaint with my employers?"

There's a pause before the Commander responds. "Uh, perhaps."

"Because we'd like your people to work on filling out the H-10's for us while we're in the debriefing."

"I'll have my people see what they can do." You seem to have taken the wind out of the Knights sails somewhat. "Teams are coming aboard now."

Troops in power cell armor come aboard via the closest airlock and cordon off the body while a handful of them move to escort the four of you off the ship.
"We're going to need an industrial sized stasis unit just to be sure. Copy that." You overhear one of them say over their coms.

You're lead into an LST where you're forced to pass through several stages of scanning and decontamination before being loaded aboard a shuttle and flown to another ship. None of you are happy about the jumpsuits you're given to wear which are not too far away from being prisoner outfits. It seems like the entire crew of the corvette have been taken aboard as well. Its too bad the transport sections of most shuttles don't have windows, you don't even know what kind of ship you're aboard.

You do know that within a few hours it's jumped out of the system the transport was located in.

>>29841236

>House Helios
>power cell armor

Hmm... I meta-wonder if Helios and A-something house got over their differences or Helios is running their own power cell armor line...

>>29841236
>House Helios
Ah, everything should be fine. Helios always liked to play it straight, so my worries have dissipated.

>>29840473
>plus, fuck them. We're a Kavarian.
And people wonder why Kavarian population growth is so slow.

>>29835152
>2300 people battle in EVE
Let me guess, there's +50 Titans present? If their rate of multiplication back when I played was any indication.


A Rovinar and a Hune sit in on all of your debriefings which are carried out by a Dro'll Knight, none of whom give their names. Each asks questions about the mission, the order of events, your actions and those of everyone around you. Then they ask about certain things slightly differently to see if or how your story changes. The usual stuff.

The final questions are:
"Did you ever consider destroying the ship to prevent the escape of the creature?"

Lastly they ask if you have any questions of your own?

>What say?

>>29841236
>This only just occurred to you now?
Eh, we can probably just point out that threatening us with lengthy jail times is easier and less likely to blow up in their face then disappearing us and maybe having Sonya start poking around out of curiosity. Lord only knows what she'd do.

>>29841236
Somehow I get the feeling despite this word is going to reach Sonia's ears about contact with House Helios.

>>29841406
>"Did you ever consider destroying the ship to prevent the escape of the creature?"
"Yup. Of course, we're salvage crew, not military. We've got a different mindset on the whole sacrificing our lives bit than you guys do."

"Will you actually be answering any of our questions? Also, is my company getting compensation? I'd kinda like to keep my job, the excellent mental health benefits recently got a whole lot more important."

>>29841406
Nearly 700 dreads are dead, apparently. Around 60 titans last I checked

>"Did you ever consider destroying the ship to prevent the escape of the creature?"

"When 'it' started tearing through armoured vac-suits, extending peoples arms over distances, and shrugging off pulse rounds, I contemplated many, many things."


Can we bullshit them with more paperwork?
"Have you heard of Lawful Morality Form DDG-67? An interesting piece of faction legalese, especially Statute 26-A. I'm obligated to know what exactly occurred if I felt my life was in danger from military or possible military assailants. I won't press the matter any further, but..."

And here I was, thinking it was just some elaborate VR sim! Did Emmett survive by the way or was he 100% dead?

>>29841406

>Destroying the ship
"That would have been up to the Captain. We were going to kill it or die trying."

>any questions of our own
"So, you nice folks going to kill us now or can I take a hot shower first?"

>>29841406
>prevent the escape of the creature?

Is that what we're calling it now?

A 'creature'?

>>29841536
>"Will you actually be answering any of our questions?
"Some of them." Replies the Knight
"We have now answered one of them for you." Adds the Rovinar.

>Also, is my company getting compensation? I'd kinda like to keep my job, the excellent mental health benefits recently got a whole lot more important."
"That remains to be seen. For most species there are methods of erasing short term memory. This would make compensation easier, not just because we could potentially trick you out of it, but so that you would have a bit less mental anguish to worry about. All of your crew would have to agree to it though."

>>29841645
>Can we bullshit them with more paperwork?
>"Have you heard of Lawful Morality Form DDG-67? An interesting piece of faction legalese, especially Statute 26-A. I'm obligated to know what exactly occurred if I felt my life was in danger from military or possible military assailants. I won't press the matter any further, but..."
"I'm sorry but no such form exists. Not within the Dominion at any rate. For the purposes of this incident you're being treated as though it took place within Dominion territory."

>Did Emmett survive by the way or was he 100% dead?
"His upper vertebrae were sh-"
"He's dead." Confirms the Knight, interrupting the Rovinar.

>>29841674
"So, you nice folks going to kill us now or can I take a hot shower first?"
The three look between each other. "We're hoping that won't be necessary."

"I think a shower is plenty necessary after all those decon scans I was put though." you point out.

"No, we meant killing your crew."
"We're projecting a manpower shortage in a few years if the war drags on. If we were to start causing whole crews to disappear when it wasn't necessary that would not help our outlook much."

>>29842298
Awfully considerate of them to not kill us.

So, let's ask straight up.

"What was it?"

>>29841766
"Is that what we're calling it now? A 'creature'?"

The others are hesitant to answer this time, eventually looking to the Hune present who responds at length.

"They are similar to Krath, in body but not in mind. Our people... the Krath, call them Malfeasance. They were cast out after nearly causing the downfall of the Krath as a Faction. They sided with a Kavarian Warlord claiming to work for the Union but that had gone rogue. In doing so they helped in the short lived occupation of the Republic, destroying 70% of their exploratory fleets. Since then we have hunted them.
The Dominion was the first Faction to aid Republic explorer ships against this threat, and so they maintain a special taskforce with our assistance."

The Knight steps in.
"If knowledge of this threat were allowed to spread people would panic. They would demand heightened security measures, which the Malfeasance would then know about and quickly learn to counter. We would then be left with few ways of effectively detecting them. They've already defeated the easier detection methods, like blood samples, by storing quantities taken from their latest victims.
There may only be a dozen of them left in known space. We can't let billions of civilians be influenced by the actions of a dozen radicals."

>What say?

>>29842749
"That is understandable. I get what you're saying here, don't talk about it it. One question if I may, though. Why did it look mechanical?"

>>29842298

"Nice to see the Dominion suddenly seeing some level of value in a few dozen lives, I guess."

"So who built the bio weapon that just tore through my team with guerilla tactics and vertebrae shattering love taps, or do we have new neighbors?"

...

"And which of you is going to offer us a damned drink?"

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17 KB JPG

>>29842885
see >>29842749

"And which of you is going to offer us a damned drink?"
The Knight looks to the two others present and sighs when the Rovinar claims to lack suitable beverages for Kavarians aboard. Stepping out for a few minutes he returns with a bottle of the good stuff.
"Don't drink it all, there are other Kavarians among the crew of your ship and that's my only bottle."

>>29842835
It looked mechanical?

Look at the time. I'll resume in the morning. Post any questions you have and we'll see what happens to the team. Later on we'll get back to Sonia.

>>29843067
>Mechanica
That's more likely me being a stupid fucking retard because when I read "armored appendage" in the first arm extension scene my mind thought 'metal'.

>>29842749
>>What say?
"So, are they an entirely different species, or just some kind of terrorist organization? Could we have reasoned with that thing... person... whatever?"

>>29843067
>Post any questions you have and we'll see what happens to the team.
-Did any of the other crew members that were attacked by the Malfeasance survive?

-Sonia's pretty high up in the Factions Alliance military hierarchy, if I remember correctly, and a smart Kavarian like Beryl probably did some research on the company before signing the contract. So, wouldn't Sonia find out about this eventually? Her clearance is most likely high enough to read the files about the enemy we just fought. Considering the rather large retirement package and impressive health benefits, Beryl should be able to deduce her boss's boss would be rather displeased if survivors of one of her crews were to disappear because of something like this. We might want to point this out to our host.

-Why would they even think killing us might be necessary? We'd have no proof if they simply detonated the ship, and most people would probably assume an inexperienced new salvage company made a mistake while trying to get the ship working again.

-The families of the people who died during this mission will get a nice handout of government money for one made-up reason or another, right?

-What took them so long?

-Was freezing that thing a good idea, or should we just have burned it some more?

>Our people... the Krath
"You actually exist? Wow, I read something about you guys but I thought it was made it. You... you don't really lay your eggs in people's brains, right?"

>>29843067
"The one we found, what was it? With us the whole time, hiding in a crew member? Or in some sort of hibernation onboard the ship?"

"What are you going to do with it now anyway?"

>>29843150
That's perfectly understandable.

>>29845490
"So, are they an entirely different species, or just some kind of terrorist organization? Could we have reasoned with that thing... person... whatever?"

"They've put themselves through various physiological changes which make them different from other Krath. We would call them a sub species. Once you and your Captain declared quarantine measures there was no way to negotiate."

>>29847166
>-Did any of the other crew members that were attacked by the Malfeasance survive?
"Of those still on the ship, only your team of four."

>-Sonia[...] would be rather displeased if survivors of one of her crews were to disappear because of something like this. We might want to point this out to our host.
>wouldn't Sonia find out about this eventually?
They have a cover story if it's necessary. And no Sonia would not be told, she already has too much information about the Krath and is considered a wild card as a result.

>-Why would they even think killing us might be necessary? We'd have no proof if they simply detonated the ship, and most people would probably assume an inexperienced new salvage company made a mistake while trying to get the ship working again.
If enough people talk others beyond conspiracy theorists might listen. Or worse Sonia might listen. It's not an ideal method of prevention, but is an option.

>-The families of the people who died during this mission will get a nice handout of government money for one made-up reason or another, right?
Yes. It would be routed through RSS's insurance company.

>-What took them so long?
It took time to assemble a team and appropriate ships. Flight through a dwarf galaxy still requires ships to avoid flying into stars, gravity wells and other obstacles. This wasn't helped by being so far away.

>-Was freezing that thing a good idea
Yes.
>or should we just have burned it some more?
That also could have worked.

>>29848418
They have the backing of almost every known government, shapeshifting agents who can monitor our actions at virtually all time. I don't see much of a reason for them to kill us unless we state we'd rather be dead than keeping quiet. Or are insane enough to try starting a mass panic.

>>29848418
>"You actually exist? Wow, I read something about you guys but I thought it was made [up.] You... you don't really lay your eggs in people's brains, right?"
"No that would be... inaccurate."

"The one we found, what was it? With us the whole time, hiding in a crew member? Or in some sort of hibernation onboard the ship?"

"It would have been aboard the ship. From your reports the previous crew likely sabotaged the ship to prevent it from escaping and flooded the engine compartment with liquid deuterium to freeze it. When your damage control teams warmed up the ship or moved the bodies it was able to wake up."

"What are you going to do with it now anyway?"
"We need to find out what tricks they've learned. Any new means of escaping detection that we can counter."
"Well just don't screw it up and let it loose again, that's all I'm asking." You state.

After a few minutes of gathering notes they look back to you.
"If you have no further questions we have an important one of our own to ask." Begins the Knight.
"We have access to doctors that can remove your memory of the events that took place. Only a handful of your people would need to have this done.
There are non disclosure contracts that you could sign instead, though we would need some form of collateral in case you broke the contract without our permission."
"There is also the option we would like to avoid." Says the Rovinar.

"We're not counting that one. Lastly is the option of a different form of contract. You would work for us. We could fake your death or concoct a likely cover story."

>What say?

>>29848648
"When you say work for you, what would that entail?"

>>29848648
I would prefer signing the NDA if at least one of the others also goes for this option. It was probably the most terrible experience in Beryl's life, but at least there will be somebody to reminiscence about it.

>Lastly is the option of a different form of contract. You would work for us.
Well, I think we should at least hear their offer.

>"We have access to doctors that can remove your memory of the events that took place. Only a handful of your people would need to have this done.
>"There is also the option we would like to avoid."

I would like to avoid these options, too.

>>29848648
"I'd like to avoid any mind tampering, thank you. If this ever happens again I'd like to be entirely aware of what to do."

>>29848648
"Well I don't really trust you guys with poking around in my brain without frying it and I do have a plant back home that will need water in say... a couple of months. So where is the paper and when can I read it?"

We should consider squirelling something of this away, once we got wind of memory whipes. a piece of paper we can shove up our ass or something like that that we can write with a fingertip or something similar that could go past inspection if we feel we are getting a memory wipe.

We know our employer is a pretty crazy killy Knight, of a probably very rival house so we should report this only to her and preferably in person, an by 'accident' meeting.

>>29848816
Just to stick it to them pirates.
We really, really hate pirates.

>>29848648


So NDA, and then mention it to Sonia.

>>29848701
>"When you say work for you, what would that entail?"
>Well, I think we should at least hear their offer.
"You would be employed as part of this organisation to help us hunt down any of the remaining Malfeasance that are still alive. You would receive training and the best equipment we have that we know is effective. It could entail periods in stasis, possibly years, while we wait to locate the next target."

>>29848782
>"I'd like to avoid any mind tampering
>>29848793
>Well I don't really trust you guys with poking around in my brain without frying it
>>29848848
>So NDA, and then mention it to Sonia.

"The collateral we spoke of for the NDA is a monitoring chip."

>>29848941
lets just go with the mind wipe.

>>29848941
Can we squirrel something away like Schlock?

>>29848941
"So...my options are mind wipe, mind spy implant, or frozen for a couple of years."

>>29848941
What's Sam doing?

>>29848941
"You'd think you guys have a thing for poking around peoples brains. Is this even legal? Gah, fine fry my brain then. But if ya'll mess this up I'll haunt you lot in your sleep"

>>29849139
>Can we squirrel something away like Schlock?
Like what? You have your clothing and not much else.
You could ask to talk to the others before making your decision.

>>29849167
>"So...my options are mind wipe, mind spy implant, or frozen for a couple of years."
"The implant would only monitor information about the subject in question. And you wouldn't be put into stasis for some time if choosing to work for us. If you prefer, it may not even be necessary."

>>29849177
Sam refuses to get the mind wipe as it would erase his only real moment of manning the fuck up.

>>29849206

"Is this even legal?"
"Only in four Factions, but we're hoping to have a charter drawn up for a special branch of the Factions Alliance which would fill the same role for the others. After they went rogue we could technically class them as being outside the Factions and thus an external threat."

You guys want me to put a survey up?

>>29849399
If we can get Sam to sign on with us, I'm game for the contract option to be honest. It'd be like brothers enlisting in the army.

Plus, we are a Kavarian, so we're always in pursuit of greater adventure and fortune.

>>29849399
Clothing from the battle? Can go th the bath, rip some inner lining or padding or whatever and write on it, with either shit or blood - something that stains.

> Rgue muta Karth
> Int helios karth took prize ship
> All members MW / dead / taken/ monitor chipped

we stick that in the boot or in the ass, or whatever orifice we have they wont search and int wont be destroyed (Doubt it would fit in the nose, and might malfunction immediately after the mind wipe)

>>29849547
I will stand behind this aswell, seems resonable enough and who knows? Perhaps Sonia will meet them some day when one of these abominations trys to assassinate the Earl or the Emperor or something like it.

Back, sorry had to deal with the people regarding the water leak/flood this month.

>>29849562
>Clothing from the battle?
No the jumpsuits that look too much like prisoner outfits for your liking.

>>29849547
>>29849604
You ask to talk to the others to see what they're planning to do.

Pan is unsurprisingly going to take the memory wipe.
Chir'dan is planning to take the NDA and a chip figuring he can at least keep an eye out for any of those things in the future.

You ask Sam about signing on with these guys.
"I don't know, I've nearly had my fill of badassery for one lifetime."

"You know they wiped out most of the Republic Exploratory fleets back in the Faction Wars right?" You tell him.

The Hune considers this. "On one hand, that just makes them even scarier, on the other I'm a little pissed off about that and want them to die. Especially if they're the same ones and they've been alive all these years."

>Anything you want to add?

>>29850066
"C'mon man, let's do it. It's unlikely we'll see another one of those things again, but think of the adventure! The excitement!"

"That's probably my Kavarian blood talking, there."

>>29850066
lets just take the mindwipe.

Uhh, wasn't this character mentioned as looking forward to making enough money to retire somewhere comfortable?

Why would we suddenly decide we want to hunt abominations? It isn't like this damned thing killed anyone we had even a faint fondness of.

Chir'dan has the right of it, NDA and keep an eye out for these fucking things.

... and we could probably get the chip removed and vanish at some point during the Neeran war. These guys seem to expect it to be a clusterfuck...

>>29850205
Most Kavarians seek fame, fortune, and adventure, if I remember correctly.

>>29850205
I'm down with the chip or mindwipe.

>>29850228
Some seek adventure, most look to make their fortune so that they can retire and pay for a contract to have a few kids. Some older Kavarians like those security officers who hijacked a battlecruiser will have a late life crisis and go on an adventure.

>>29850386

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGWLS1dmrhU
A people of hijackers, bandits and hooligans toting nagants...

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https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NVYCHML
Survey for Beryl

>We now return to your usual Tuesday venue.
For House and Dominion: Neeran War

You are Sonia Reynard, Attack Wing Leader and Knight of the House of Jerik-Dremine! After several months on leave you returned to duty and began preparing the 3rd and newly formed 5th Attack Wings for deployment to the Shallan front. The Neeran Invasion fleets are slowly but steadily advancing despite the Factions constantly rotating in fresh fleets of their own.

Victories remain as costly as ever and those won with Veckron weapons have long term implications. The demand for evacuation ships continues to climb as Shallans try to flee the front lines for fear of orbital bombardment should planetary governments not surrender. Because of this real evacuation efforts have not even begun in areas that will suffer subspace disruption within less than a generation.

The Factions Alliance have placed observers aboard some of the ships that will me taking part in operations with them. This was just to apply to the former pirates but after protests has been extended to all Factions much to everyone's annoyance.
Still, you did have the choice of which Faction the observer could be from and so you picked a Rovinar. The observer's name is Sayerna, and she is impressed with your Battlecruiser The Great Devourer when she comes aboard.
"The craftsmanship of this vessel is beyond what my people are accustomed to seeing among the other Factions."

>What say?

>>29850980
Proprietary design of yours truly, and I suspect obsessive compulsive slave drivers as construction overseers.

or

Of course it is! It's a Snark! Er, Shark!

>>29850980
"Why thank you, it's actully fresh from the production line. It has not even seen combat yet which we most cerntainly must change. And this time I'll try avoid getting it blown up. Would you kindly explain to me just what you will be doing on my ship?"

>>29850980
"I'm honoured to hear such a compliment. The Royal House didn't seem to spare any expense on it after they rewarded me for my heroism at /that/ Lat'tham ball."

"Now, do you mind if I ask what sections you will wish to observe during your stay? I will have security provide clearance, and suitable living accommodation. Any preferences?"

>>29851052
Better make that
Of course it is! It's a Snark-Shark! Most vicious predators of all!

>>29851052
>>29851112
We are not flying the devourer.

that means no sarcasm sharks.

>>29850980
I have a tank in my quarters filled with as many species of shark as there are in the galaxy.

Obviously, don't say this

"The only downside is scarcity of components for the main plasma cannon. It's a Republic weapon, and you know how they are."

>>29850980

"I'm certain that someone in one of the Major Houses regretted giving me a blank check after I asked for the plasma cannon."

Let's have a chat to familiarize ourselves with our new observer, her service record and knowledge base, and maybe bring up a few of the Faction Alliance's more hot/touchy subjects?

It would be interesting if we got an observer that was more radical than ruler-edged.

"Why thank you, I'm honoured to hear such a compliment. It's actully fresh from the production line. It has not even seen combat yet which we most cerntainly must change. And unlike my last command ship I'll try to avoid getting it blown up."
"Has that happned to you often?" The Rovinar asks.
"One crippled, one destroyed. I'm not happy with the turnover rate. I'm hoping it will be easier with this one. The Royal Houses didn't seem to spare any expense on it after they rewarded me for my heroism at /that/ Lat'tham ball. The only downside is scarcity of components for the main plasma cannon. It's a Republic weapon and you know how they are."

"Yes. I believe they only licenced their plasma cannons for use aboard the Federation's Super Heavy cruisers because of our assistance in their disposable Veckron launcher program."

"I'm certain that someone in one of the Major Houses regretted giving me a blank check after I asked for that cannon. Now, do you mind if I ask what sections you will wish to observe during your stay and would you kindly explain to me just what you will be doing on my ship?"

"I would be observing the progress of battles the ship takes part in. I could be stationed on the bridge or in a sensor monitoring room. I'll collect data on types of ships engaged, damage done to them and claimed salvage hauls. At the moment monitoring salvage of Faction starships is considered a priority to prevent acts of piracy."

"I will have security provide clearance, and suitable living accommodation. Any preferences?" you ask.

"A private room, regardless of how small would be preferrable provided there are a wide range of environmental settings."
It should be possible to find something with the still reduced crew and officer compliment. Some House mechanics and damage control personnel have been assigned for the training scenarios so far and will be coming aboard permanantly just before launch.

>Let's have a chat to familiarize ourselves with our new observer, her service record and knowledge base,

At her initial statements about your Battlecruiser you suspected her to have been a yard worker but it turns out watching the shipyards back home was just a minor hobby. She is trained with communications, translation along with sensor operation. If need be she knows the basics of ECM system operation but would not be the best choice to look after them.
So far she's served on Rovinar Fleet Tender and Convoy Escorts as part of their governments escort company. She spent the better part of 4 years on trade lanes within Dominion space.

She has only just recently joined the Factions Alliance and has not been deployed to the front before. The basic briefing package on the Neeran plus their more recent fleet movements are the extent of her knowledge on the enemy.

>and maybe bring up a few of the Faction Alliance's more hot/touchy subjects?
Which ones did you have in mind?

>>29852205
>watching the shipyards back home was just a minor hobby.
"What's your opinion of Anrchorage Class Mobile Shipyards?"

Of course, this is just an out of the blue question. We certainly aren't hiding one.

>>29852205
>basic briefing package
Yeah, that isn't going to do... I assume she has security clearance to be shown most of what we've collected during combat ops vs Neeran?

She'll also be training in small arms and perhaps some more anti-neeran specialist weapons? If we get boarded somehow, it could very well save her life.

>hot/touchy subjects
Off the top of my head...
Planet-killers, Vektron weapon use, Warlord forces, idea of attempting negotiations

I'm sure there are more.

>>29852205
Does she know about the Dyson Sphere?

"What's your opinion of Anrchorage Class Mobile Shipyards?" you ask out of the blue.

"I think Exodus uses those don't they? They're brought in for all of the big construction projects to build stations. They're all very old now. I remember reading an old article about Exodus working on a replacement class but that was dated just before the Warlords began their raids."

>I assume she has security clearance to be shown most of what we've collected during combat ops vs Neeran?
Most of it yes.

>She'll also be training in small arms and perhaps some more anti-neeran specialist weapons? If we get boarded somehow, it could very well save her life.
You bring this up.
"You really think we could be boarded? Yes, I'll have to take part in some of your drills, absolutely."

>Planet-killers, Vektron weapon use, Warlord forces, idea of attempting negotiations
"I do wish we could open negotiations with them and find a way to stop this war. Is it true they're just trying to kill the other Neeran, the isolationists?"
As near as you can determine that's the case. You're reluctant to tell her about the extent of things aboard the captured Super Heavy.
"The Neeran stepping up their attacks to complete destruction of biospheres is not something we should let them escape with, even if it were the difference between a treaty to end the war. But that's just my opinion.
As for the use of Veckron Weaponry we've used them as a deterrent ever since we learned what damage they did to subspace. Before that our people were as reckless with their use as the Terrans were."

"Why did your people co-develop the disposable launchers then?"

"I don't know. Insurance perhaps?"

Next it's the Warlords. She seems more hesitant to discuss them. Convoys were always among the first things attacked in the raids when the Warlords swept through a region.
"If they continue to honor their agreement I have nothing to say about them." She at last replies.

>>29852588
Not really.

>>29853051
Sounds like we understand each other. Mention that as the observer assigned to the us she'll be expected to assist us in dealing with any issues that come up between our subordinates and their observers. Hopefully we'll have nothing more than a clash of personalities issues that can be solved with counseling, although its always possible we may need to move an observer or two around if the animosity gets too bad. Then once she's familierized herself with everything we'll have a task group wide briefing, where hopefully we'll get our assignment options.

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>>29850980
>How will the chip work exactly? Does it mean if Beryl gets stranded somewhere all he/she has to do is to think or talk about psycho krath? Could be useful for someone in the salvaging business.
I hadn't considered that particular use. And now I'm remembering that set of Oglaf strips where Ivan was kidnapped.
Let's just say that Beryl is told not to talk about the incident with anyone and that they'll find out eventually if he does.

NDA & Chip are currently wining the vote. I should probably post the link in the wiki page.
Also apparently surveymonkey default is now set to email me anytime someone votes. Hilarious.


>>29853324
>Mention that as the observer assigned to the us she'll be expected to assist us in dealing with any issues that come up between our subordinates and their observers. Hopefully we'll have nothing more than a clash of personalities issues that can be solved with counseling, although its always possible we may need to move an observer or two around if the animosity gets too bad. Then once she's familierized herself with everything we'll have a task group wide briefing, where hopefully we'll get our assignment options.

Is everyone okay with this? Also you won't get your assignments until you reach the jump off point in the Pandora cluster.

>>29851129
>We are not flying the devourer.

Now, this has come up already a couple times so i do want to be sure before you head out. Do you guys want to use the Devourer as your Command ship? If not what ship did you want to use as it?

Neleon in 2nd squadron has been using your EX-K in the exercises so far.

>>29853731
I want to use the Devourer as the command ship.

>>29853731
>Do you guys want to use the Devourer as your Command ship?
Yes. I remember it being mentioned that TGD had a pretty cool holographic interface for the bridge crew, so using that in a sort of RTS overview fashion could be an interesting take on things.

>>29853731
>Command ship
Devourer, with 1 of our other battlecruisers held in reserve so we'll always have a battlecruiser ready to act as our command ship

>>29853806
why pull a battlecruiser off the line?

>>29853847
so that we don't suddenly find ourselves without any battlecruisers because we got all 3 crippled

>>29853972
Yeah, but we deprive ourselves of wingmen and reduce the power of our force. Its not like we hold attack cruisers in reserve.

>>29854068
I'd rather to always be able to field at least 1 battlecruiser than risk having all 3 crippled and then scrambling to figure out what ship we'll pilot during the weeks of repairs they'll likely need for plasma cannon damage.

It would also let us rotate battlecruisers like we'll probably have to do with squadrons/wings as damage racks up in battle

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>>29853972
I suspected this was the case.

In any event you've gone through plenty of training with your people to know that anything they might have gotten rusty on is back up to acceptable levels. The areas each section was weak in have been the focus of more intensive training. Some of the newer pilots have found better methods of dealing with sleep deprivation compared to what they'd previous tried. For some it's sleep headsets, for others it's different stims to keep them awake longer. Fighting for several days straight with only an hour or two between each battle might be hard on the crews now but will come in handy later.
A few pilots who didn't make it through are rotated out and a few days later the reserve units are put through a similar round of extended training. Some of those that make it are transfered to the combat Wings to fill the gaps.

Alex squadrons are improving at anti-boarding tactics and the others are making similar improvements in the areas they were weak in.

When May 16th rolls around the Wing is as ready as it's going to be. Now to just kill time through the flight without losing that edge.

>What will you be doing to pass the time while in flight to the front?

>>29854640
Paperwork.

Reviewing Stock options.

Checking up on account balance and the status of RSS.

And ballet (w/ armour on.)

>>29854640
Oh yeah, we should work on our dueling, too. Getting creamed at quickdraw won't happen again, so working on pistol draw and aim speed should be a good idea.

Acrobatics was a pretty popular option when we had free time like this as well.

Hang out with our navigator, we haven't heard from her in a while. We did give her a rather large bonus for her nav work right? Also, read family mail, what was their response to us salvaging everything?

>>29855328
Social options are also a good idea.

We should probably ask our bodyguard how her time with her family went.

>>29854640
Training, training, training. Our marksman skill still is not the best it could be and there is always room for improvement for our hand to hand skill. Send mail home telling the family we are deploying again and will be gone for a while fighting the good fight.I suppose we ought to get up to speed with Linda, Kavos, our bodyguard and our dopplegänger amongst others people. See how their state of mind is and how they are doing.

>>29855002
Oh yeah, I forgot about that entirely.

Oh boy the paperwork, how you wish that could be avoided. When Kavos arrived you figured that would cut the work in half, but no. Thankfully there are plenty of staff officers available for someone in your position. You still have to set aside room for just the organisation necessary once the Wing in the field.

Your financial advisors are suggesting you invest some of your personal funds (still over 30 million) in other companies, especially stable ones that would early a steady income. You have several million invested in stocks which earn you money. After the Smugglers Run shipyard and the House Posat armor company are included you own 19.6 million in businesses or shares outside of RSS.
Besides your salvage company most of your income is from the Knights Errant unit for the armor you're selling them. If you were to lose their business you'd be left with an annual income of 2,035,000 S per year outside of RSS.
While your salvage company is rich by any measure of the word your advisors would like you to have alternate sources of income in place should anything go catastrophically worng.

>Checking up on account balance and the status of RSS.
You have +30 million still. RSS is hemorrhaging funds in the repair work for the Anchorage class. I'll get back to you with how much at a later time.

>And ballet (w/ armour on.)
Roll 1d20 for damaged walls

Rolled 18

>>29855948
At the very lest we arent dancing with out HF blade out! Right?

>>29855358
Another social idea: Send a few messages to Versa. How is she? How did her repairs go? When and where is she being deployed? Also, did she work out any effective tactics against the planet scourers?

Rolled 6

>>29855948
We've got to be able to hold onto the ceiling with just our toes.

>>29855948
put 25 million of that in stocks.

>>29856065
I'd rather about 15 million, in a number of various weapon design companies.

Rolled 17

>>29855948
3rd roll

The Ballet you were getting not quite so terrible with outside your armor. In your armor, you're not much better, but you are more dangerous. There are a half dozen new indents in the training area when you're done. The seventh is more of a scuff mark, you're not counting it.

>Oh yeah, we should work on our dueling, too. Getting creamed at quickdraw won't happen again, so working on pistol draw and aim speed should be a good idea.
The first thing you'll need for quickdraw is a holster. Your plasma pistol is too heavy to be of any use in this role, and if you were to use it in a duel there would be questions about your sportsmanship. A normal pulse pistol or even your holdout would work better for that.
1

>Acrobatics was a pretty popular option when we had free time like this as well.
There are a few sections in engineering that have support braces that could work for this. It's also an opportunity to practice sneaking past crewmen while in camo without being detected.
2

>Training, training, training. Our marksman skill still is not the best it could be and there is always room for improvement for our hand to hand skill.
Two more rolls for Marksmanship and hand to hand without your armor.
roll 4d20

>>29855328
>Hang out with our navigator, we haven't heard from her in a while. We did give her a rather large bonus for her nav work right?
Yes. Linda enjoyed her time off and avoided talking to her parents other than letting them know she was still alive. She also met up with some friends from school and took a trip over to Loran II for a week.
Like most of the crews she took part in the boarding drill that copied the Lat'tham Coup attempt.
"I could have shot you for that!" she exclaims. "The Bridge crews of ships the boarders didnt make it onto had to take a modified test as a what if, for if they had reached the bridge!"
She starts pummeling your shoulder with balled up fists.
"Hey! Ow cut it out!"
"Tell me you're not going to do that again."

>What say?

Rolled 8, 20, 12, 14 = 54

>>29856695
"I wall not make promises on this subject when I can easily use the possibility to freak you out."

>>29856695
"I'll keep doing it so long as I believe it will help keep you all alive."

>let her keep hitting us a bit

"Is someone recording this for future court martial?"

Rolled 9, 11, 15, 17 = 52

>>29856695
"See! It was a good test! Look how seriously you've taken it!"

"I'll uh, let you know in future, though. Just don't spread it around, alright?"

Rolled 5, 12, 15, 18 = 50

>>29856695

>>29856837
no.
>>29856695
tease her by asking when she's going to tell her parents that her navigator skills found the most famous lost ship in history, and made her a multi millionaire.

>>29857482
I like it!

"See! It was a good test! Look how seriously you've taken it!"
"What." She stops and stares at you.

"I will not make promises on this subject when I can easily use the possibility to freak you out."
She resumes hitting you, looking angrier than before but still not hitting much harder. She needs to work out a bit, or learn how to throw a punch. Then again if you did your arm would be much worse off right now.

"Is someone recording this for future court martial?" you say after a few more seconds of this.
"Okay stop."

Linda backs away breathing hard.

"I'll keep doing the training exercises so long as I believe it will help keep you all alive. I'll uh, let you know in future, though. Just don't spread it around, alright?"

She throws up her arms. "Fine! I'm getting a drink." Then heads off towards one of the officer's lounges.

"Wait, what about the current jump?" you shout after her.
"I'm not on duty for another ten hours!"

>Also, read family mail, what was their response to us salvaging everything?
Your parents both hope you're really not making it up to impress them. Your Father is concerned that the newfound wealth could make the rest of the family a kidnapping target.
"I don't want to ask your mother to move because of our firends in the building and she needs all the help she can get with the baby. Putting security on the building might only serve to draw more attention."

>We should probably ask our bodyguard how her time with her family went.
"It went good. I went out with a few of the teams and collected rock samples some days. I used to hate it but after being deployed for more than a year I was starting to miss it. Have you been practicing your hand to hand? You're getting a bit better at this."

You remind her about not having the chance to spar against her for some time due to your arm. You did resume practicing, just not against her.

>Send mail home telling the family we are deploying again and will be gone for a while fighting the good fight.
Your sisters grades are slowly improving by the way and she's started into a growth spurt. Not that she'd really stopped growing but the difference in height is becoming more pronounced now.

>I suppose we ought to get up to speed with Linda, Kavos, our bodyguard and our dopplegänger amongst others people. See how their state of mind is and how they are doing.
Kavos is happy to be back at it, though he was glad for the break.

Valeri Fusaro caught a flight to South Reach early, took part in some of the exercises while still taking down time and is now on regular duty. He's a little jelous of your two men at arms with the power armor but he's more than fine with a suit of power cell armor, going toe to toe with either of the other two. He's helping to train them in the heavy weapons they didnt initially have access to.

Rufaro you already talked to.

Ecord is back, though he looks a bit unwell, similar to Captain Saputo when youi saw him at the briefing. If anything Ecord looks like he's aged a couple of years.

>>29857482
>tease her by asking when she's going to tell her parents that her navigator skills found the most famous lost ship in history, and made her a multi millionaire.
You do this a few days later in the flight after your arm is better and she's had some time calm down.
"No, I'm not telling them yet. Wait... I didn't really check. How much money did you give me for sorting that nav data?"

>>29858164
I'm thinking... 3, 3.5 Mill?

>>29858247
Sounds fine to me.

Considering we made nearly half a billion, it's not that much.

>>29858311
She probably gets another ~2 million for the Heavy Carrier once we take that in.
>>29858311
That was just selling to the house.

>>29858247
Sounds good to me and I agree with >>29858360 for when/if we get that Heavy Carrier and sell it off we could send her a little bonus.

"A little over three million."

She stares at you, mouth open in disbelief for a few seconds until she asks. "Can you pass me that drink?"
You're about to do so when it occurs to you; "You're just going to spit it out aren't you?"
"Maybe."
You push the drink farther away.

"Three million."
"More than three million. I figured you'd need some spending money and there's also a bit to keep you above 3 million after you get hit for taxes."

"I-I'm sorry I hit you the other day."
"No you're not."
"Not really no." She admits. "Thank you."

"Hey, you did the work of finding those ships."

"Yeah. Wow. Do you think there would be more out there?"

"I know there's more out there." You tell her. "If you ever want to do more consulting work for RSS just talk to this guy." You give her one of Mr London's cards.
She sits there saying wow to herself for awhile longer, staring at nothing in particular.

>>29859015
And that is how we planted the seed of Linda joining the great RSS.

>>29859015

Put on sarcastic motherly voice.

"Now don't go spending it all in one place, missy. Or go and let some boy use you as a sugar momma. And don't start thinking you're some hot-shot who I can't bend over my knee and put right back in her place with a wooden spoon! Why in my day we had to walk FIFTEEN MILES in a blizzard, up hill, both ways! Just to make a credit, you know! You whippersnappers and your 'combat pay!' In my day we shot plasma at each other and walked off the burns because we weren't little pansies!"

>ramble on in old lady voice

>>29859360
...no

>>29859360
I would rather not.

>>29859360
It hurts to read.

June 1, 4025
1100 hours

The fleet arrives at it's assigned rally point ten million kilometers way from a large modular station the Alliance has set up. Several other fleets are ahead of you, evenly spaced out in their approach pattern so that there's time for the earlier fleets to arrive, refuel then depart before the next approaches.
Transports dock on the other side of the station to unload supplies and depart on fixed exit vectors. System patrol craft and light attack ships conduct scans of each vessel long before they get within effective weapons range of the station. Sure you could hit it from here, but not hard enough or quickly enough to do any real damage. A pair of medium cruiser sized torpedo defense platforms are parked on either side of the station and a dozen battlecruiser grade gun platforms look to provide the long range firepower.

"That's a real waste of firepower they could have up at the front." Says new 3rd squadron CO Kemp Turner.

"It's all mobile enough to be repositioned later." Says Saputo over the fleet com. "And we're a week's flight from the front if that Neeran Super Heavy taught us anything. Just one long jump if they're willing to risk the unmonitored space off the main corridors."

Several hours later the Attack Wings and their escort carriers dock and begin taking on fuel and supplies. The Marines and some of the crews are on alert thanks to the special training scenario. Likely a good thing, maybe they'll notice things about the station setup that could be of use to the House later.
A timer pops up with estimated time to complete resupply and you're soon contacted by an Alliance Briefing officer requesting permission to come aboard.

>Cont.

A Hune that looks like he's seen the wrong end of a Neeran plasma weapon is sent over with a briefcase that folds open into a holographic projector with biometric scanner. You place your hand on the scanner indicated and identify yourself then wait.

"Id confirmed as Knight Captain Reynard, Dominion, House Jerik-Dremine. Alliance rank Commander." Reads the officer. "Welcome back Commander."

"Thank you."

"We currently have openings for essentially every type of mission a strike unit could take on and a few they should not. Autonomous strike units are needed to find and disrupt enemy supply lines for their main fleets. Even if you can't destroy them, finding them and bringing back a larger force to hit them with shortly after would be of help.
We also need skirmishers and units to act as support for larger groups. Skirmishers take part in the larger battles, finding and punching through weakpoints in the enemy fleet and generally making a mess of things. They're essential for system wide battles, especially when the Neeran are preparing to bring in Scorchers to threaten a populated world.

Our bigger Heavy and super heavy cruisers work in formations, as do Republic Centurions. They cant break off to deal with attack corvette units at a moments notice that might otherwise flank them. The support or escort units we assign there are often in the thick of it, but have the benefit of being within weapons range of our super capitals. They can request fire be put down in certain areas to aid them. They also have Heavy Carriers for expedient field repairs.

Lastly we have planetary evacuation and assault duties. Lately it's just the former. The Factions have stopped deploying ground troops anywhere they can't resonably expect to protect with Veckron weaponry or overwhelming fleet support in orbit. You get in, find civilian transports and escort them out of a system. Neeran have begun targeting evacuation ships to drive them back towards the planets they launch from."

>>29860299
Supply line disruption I think Reynard is an expert in raiding operations.

>>29860299
Skirmish sounds like our sort of area.

Speaking of the scorchers, have they devised any counter to them other than shooting them a lot.

>>29860299
Don't know about you guys but disrupting supply lines sounds like just the job for us. Get in, do damage, get out. Where as in larger battles we risk what happend last time we went up against a Neeran capital ship. And escorts are just so meh. I mean we are suppose to do the ambushing and not the other way around. Not to mention the possible missed out loot.

So supply line disruption would be my first pick, we are made for that.

>>29860299

>Raid supply lines
I'm worried about doing this, as any ships that are crippled likely can't be recovered by friendly forces. Even worse, we'll likely lose crews that are forced to use emergency teleporters.

>Skirmishers
probably not good recovery outlooks for crippled ships, but better for recovering crews that use emergency teleporters

>Formation support
Heavy combat, likely better chances for recovery of ships and crews...

>Evac Escort
Probably low recovery chances for ships/crews, but lighter combat...


I have to say Skirmisher missions are likely the best bet. Our work with breaking up and reforming in mixed groups will likely help here just like it did in the Lat'tham coup.

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>>29837049
Still plugging away at this. Made a few changes and a few improvements. Also I still have that question about the power packs from last post.

For ammo capacity I'm putting in slots for 4 small slug mags on the sides and the top rack has space for 2 large slug mags. This would give the gun a loaded capacity of 1600 small rounds and 300 large. I'm not entirely sure about this though, some other points/issues:

- The magazines are rather heavy, even though they are thin and compact, it's still basically a solid bar of metal almost two feet long. With Power/Powercell armour this is probably less of a big deal.
- Each paired magazine rack has an adaptor built into the gun that transfers slugs from one mag to another. This allows the gun to draw slugs evenly from both magazines and avoid unbalancing the gun.
- The top magazine rack is actually big enough to fit two small magazines in place of one larger one. So you could actually fit 8 small magazines at once. At 300rpm that means you could hold down the trigger for 10 minutes if cooling and power were not an issue.

I also added the barrel extension on the end. When not in use it splits vertically and sleeves over the front of the barrel. It's worth noting that the suppressor only works when the barrel is extended, so if you fire a splinter shell without it the muzzle flash will be huge and loud.

>>29860707
I just thought I'd say this is brilliant and I'm saving every iteration of these images.

"You said there were a few missions strike units should not be sent on?" You ask.

"Yes. Infiltration drops mostly, we need fast ships to reach worlds and launch insertion vehicles then get out before they're killed.
Though long range recon deep behind enemy lines is also needed. The Alliance wants to find where the main enemy fleets are basing out of once they arrive in the cluster. We think they must have established a Nav station out there by now to help guide in reinforcements. If one does exist we need to find it so it can be captured or destroyed."

"Why not use cloaked ships?

"We are, but we need ones with the range and speed to out run the enemy both as sublight and FTL should they be discovered. Most cloaked ships lack the drives necessary. Excalibur class ships can mount a cloak but are not especially stealthy. Their drive emissions are easily recognisable."

>Speaking of the scorchers, have they devised any counter to them other than shooting them a lot.
Right forgot about the thing with Versa. It should be possible (in theory) for a Kavarian siege formation or a scaled up Helios Siege cannon to disrupt the weapon as it's firing or just before. It's unknown what damage this would do to the ship itself. A sufficiently large formation of Republic ships firing their spinal mount guns at once could do the same thing.

House Helios is working on R&D for a weapon with a diameter 3x larger than their current ships has but they lack a means of deploying one so large. Even a Heavy Cruiser wouldn't be able to mount it.
That pic I posted of the colony laser is becoming prophetic.

>>29860707
Man you're putting a lot of work into this. Cool barrel extension. More in next post.

>>29860707
The extended barrel on the end? That's going to cause accuracy problems. With no rifling in it, the bullets won't be spinning fast enough to compensate for the sudden jump in velocity in that last stretch of the barrel.

I'd recommend moving the extended barrel section with the heavy repulsors into an internal position, and simply extending the barrel with rifling.

>>29860903
Did we ever ask/send Versa the plausibility of using a ship as a Repulsor/EMP/EM field bomb to overwhelm the Neeran ship's ability to contain the plasma bottle?

>>29861064
I think it was said they're hardened against EMP, and any weapons fire shot at it usually just adds to the plasma power.

Did they get anywhere with the 'chuck energy absorbing things into the plasma' idea by the way? Maybe chuck sand into it.

>>29861137
Sand can be a ridiculously damaging weapon in space combat. Revert out long, slip into relativistic bombardment mode, throw out a few sand canisters and hope like hell there isn't any inhabited planet nearby.

>>29861137

my hope was that we could use a ship set up with repulsors and/or a polarized field to out-push the containment field (or part of it, or just plain disrupt it) enough that we'd throw enough plasma into the ship's projectors to cripple the weapon's ability to function (and maybe some shield generators)

>>29861285
I think that was the idea with the massive Heavy Cruiser corvette launcher repulsor cannon. That idea get anywhere in the end, TSTG?

>>29861064
You'd need a light cruiser at the smallest, and it would need to be packed full of equipment. The thing would cost as much as one of your squadrons (if you'd actually paid for construction of them). Then you need to get it to the target in one piece. It could potentially disrupt it for a bit. No way of knowing how much damage it would do at this time.

>>29861137
>>29861231
>Maybe chuck sand into it.
Good chance of being repelled by the navigational deflectors if it's from far enough out. Still, you could try marketing that idea to the repulsor mass driver weapon companies.

>>29860903
The Warlords are looking at it.

>>29860930
Interesting. Even if it's not touching the sides in the extended section?
As for the smaller rounds they're not even touching the sides so it will be less of an issue for them.

>>29860707
>power packs
If they're getting in the way in the stock area just move them so they're below the barrel sort of like the grip on a shotgun, only in this case they're power packs you can pop out. There's a few phase rifles designs that have them located there. Actually a lot of them do now that I think about it.

>slots for 4 small slug mags on the sides and the top rack has space for 2 large slug mags
Are spare magazines just being carried on the sides or are they loading from both the sides and the top? Because wouldn't it be much easier to just load mags with either size round into the top since they're repulsor driven anyways?

>the top rack has space for 2 large slug mags
>Each paired magazine rack has an adaptor built into the gun that transfers slugs from one mag to another. This allows the gun to draw slugs evenly from both magazines and avoid unbalancing the gun.
This is to avoid reloading?
>fit 8 small magazines at once. At 300rpm [...] could hold down trigger for 10 minutes if cooling and power were not an issue.
Provided that none of those magazines jammed where they connect?
It's great work but I think you're avoiding the KISS rule.

>>29861891
>Interesting. Even if it's not touching the sides in the extended section?
Yeah.
With bullets, you ideally want a smooth, uninterrupted period of flight after the initial force push.

Check out pic related. It's a rough equation used for ideal bullet twist speed, where:
C = 150 (use 180 for muzzle velocities higher than 2,800 f/s)
D = bullet's diameter in inches
L = bullet's length in inches
SG = bullet's specific gravity (10.9 for lead-core bullets, which cancels out the second half of the equation)

A sudden jump in velocity from a large bank of accelerators with nothing to stabilise the flight path or add the extra spin to keep it on target is a bad idea, basically.

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>>29862214
Aaand I forgot pic related.

>>29861891
*principle not rule.
If I'm coming off as overly critical that's not my intention.

>>29862214
>>29862249
Well the extension section can still be used as the flash suppressor and for added acceleration of the smaller rounds.

>>29860299
>>29860903
Votes so far. I'll be putting up a survey shortly.

[2] Raid enemy logistics
[2] Skirmishers
[ ] Formation support
[ ] Evac & Assault Escort
[ ] Infiltration drops (This would only require a couple of ships.)
[ ] Deep Recon (This would only require a couple of ships.)

>>29861891
>Good chance of being repelled by the navigational deflectors if it's from far enough out. Still, you could try marketing that idea to the repulsor mass driver weapon companies.
When I was talking about relativistic bombardment I meant you jump in far out, ramp up to a signifigant faction of C. One there you shoot the sand canisters out in front of you with orders to detonate and spread the sand once they are closer to the target. Make sure you aim right, because if you aren't careful you'll hit a planet and sterilize a continent. Or two.

>>29862361
I know the factions would frown upon it, but this situation would be perfect for antimatter torpedoes.

Heavily armored torps that can breach the repulsor layer of the scorchers, punch into the heart of the plasma, and then blast it into oblivion.

Given how few of the Scorches there are, most wings would probably only need to carry three or four of them to minimise risk.

>>29862214
I actually read that article, lots of firearm terms like length of pull I had to research while I was working on it. The reason I put the stronger repulsors at the front is that if I put them at the back and you use them to boost a splinter shell. You kind of waste the power you get from the conventional propellant. What I could do is just put the rifling back on the extended section. The twist rate of the rifling is going to increase towards the end of the barrel, so the rifling in the extension is going to twist even faster to account for the speed boost.

With the mass driver slugs all of the spin comes from the repulsors and they float in the middle of the barrel, so the rifling doesn't apply to them. The repulsors can apply different amounts of spin depending on how fast you fire them.

>>29861891
Well the original intention was to have slugs feed in from all 3 sides. But you're right in that I could simplify the system quite a bit. Got a question in that regard though, the 399 round magazine I designed looks pretty good for a standard design. At about 2 feet long it would sit nicely on top of an assault rifle or carbine sized mass driver.

But what about the heavy slugs and the splinter shells? Do heavier infantry mass drivers exist? And do the splinter shells match up with the other caseless rounds used in existing 20mm rifles? If not then these would be proprietary designs and I wouldn't need to worry as much about standardization.

In particular these splinter shells put all of the propellant at the back instead of in a jacket around the shell. Normally the jacket is preferable because it greatly reduces the length the cartridge but it requires a more complicated firing chamber. That's great for a rifle or SMG, but the length isn't as much of an issue in a heavy weapon like this and having a barrel that thick would add a lot of weight.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BVW6BLB

Starships are equipped with repulsor systems specifically designed to deflect incoming objects at long range. Anything they cant they'll just move out of the way generally. The bigger the ship the longer the range on these systems. The Kavarians once trusted these deflectors enough that the amount of kinetic damage shields could shrug off was relatively low compared to EM radiation or other energy weapons.
Then the Terran started (not quite) wrecking their shit with mass drivers and magnetic accelerators.
This is not entirely accurate but close enough.
After awhile everyone started to develop better kinetic shielding to the point where people largely stopped using kinetic weapons on starships.

The canisters would need to stealthed to avoid detection far enough out that someone doesn't jump a smaller ship in front of it. You'd still have to worry about some of the payload being deflected because you'd only need to shift it's course a small amount unless it's really close.

>>29863537
Fuck, I voted to let Daska do her own thing when I meant to write in the 'Other' box

"Defer the decision for now - we'll deploy her alongside us in our first few engagements. If she's capable enough in a real combat scenario then she's free to take her wing where she wishes."

>>29863537
Yeah, deploying relativistic canisters would be a special operation. But if you do pull it off its gods own shotgun, capable of wiping out an entire fleet in an instant.

>>29862756
>this situation would be perfect for antimatter torpedoes.

Ghost posted a few threads ago.
>>29558181,3
I forget the precise term but antimatter containment requires actively shifting magnetic fields. (Or at least a paper I read at one point said as much.) The way my brain chose to remember that as is basically you're playing hot potato using containment fields and the anti-particles.

If a ship is using magnetic containment you can add or subtract antimatter from the fuel stores for use in the engines. (Or weapons.)
When using stasis field based weapon fuel cells you can empty it easily but it is considerably harder to fill back up. You don't want to be doing this aboard a starship with a starship grade weapon. Refuelling stations are built to take care of this more safely. Until recently stasis fields and their power requirements were also quite bulky making deployment of them in weapons difficult.

Before and during the Faction Wars antimatter containment was done with magnetic containment. Precisely how subspace bleeding interacted with antimatter containment is classified but it did ultimately cause it to fail in a spectacular fashion. It could be with the fields or the antimatter itself.

While not a true law or treaty most of the Factions agreed unofficially to suspend antimatter weapon development after the wars. Officially most people elected not to carry any such weapons aboard ship for fear the Terrans could cause all their enemies to self destruct. This has hindered technological development in the area. Even among the Terrans, though in their case it was because of lacking resources due to post-war recovery efforts.

The stigma associated with AM weapons & Tech since then has become a deep rooted one. New stasis field tech may make AM weapons viable again but if a field fails it could destroy the ship rather than simply damage it. Stasis fields are also not that tough against external damage atm which will need to be improved.

>>29863684
Oh, that's a shame.

A truly desperate factions alliance would be a thing to behold.

>>29863077
>But what about the heavy slugs and the splinter shells? Do heavier infantry mass drivers exist?
Not really. 20mm sniper rifles are among the largest caliber ballistic rifles that are commonly fielded. There are larger grenade launchers but nothing that would have a huge amount of recoil. Anything that might me bigger would be custom made for people with power armor.

The Mass driver rifles used by the pirates were developed to be used by their power cell troops against Faction Infantry. They didn't develop any larger repulsor weapons to be man portable. Vehicle fielded yes, but by troops no.

>And do the splinter shells match up with the other caseless rounds used in existing 20mm rifles? If not then these would be proprietary designs and I wouldn't need to worry as much about standardization.
Honestly as of the start of this quest I didn't even bother to specify how the ballistic carbines and assault rifles worked, cased or caseless because I had no idea what would even be most practical. Especially if troops are transitioning between vacuum and pressurised environments, temperature variations and everything that could screw with propellant.
The size of the projectiles was largely fixed but not much else. I did decide that if they were to be cased they would not be any kind of necked down cartridge since more powerful propellants would be available and would allow more rounds per magazine.

>>29863720
Antimatter development is sure to be resumed but it's going to take awhile.

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>>29864141
>Antimatter development is sure to be resumed but it's going to take awhile.

Investment checklist:
-Armament companies
-R&D Corporations
-Stasis field manufacturers
-Holo/VR training simulators

Just curious, and I'm assuming we're smart enough to realise this war might kickstart more antimatter production, but what's the common method for production?

I've had this image floating on my HDD for a while. It's basically just an automated satellite that sits in high orbit of a star and fires off a particle collider.

>>29864331
Platforms with accelerators rigged to large solar collector arrays for science experiments and commercial production. It's was also the most common though not the only method used by militaries back in the Faction Wars.

I'm kind of making an assumption that they would have found a more compact method for generation of antimatter for use in the afterburners, although it eats through power reserves.

>1 week ago
>CERN has announced that it has successfully made measurements of antihydrogen — entire atoms of antimatter — outside the magnetic trap they were created in. The team managed this by projecting the antiatoms into a beam aimed directly at a spectroscopic detector. The atoms were produced by combining positrons and antiprotons produced in the Antiproton Decelerator. Just as hydrogen is the simplest atom, composed of one proton and one electron, antihydrogen is made up of one positron and one antiproton.

I'm sure they'll find a way to do that in a smaller space eventually. The LHC's ring is what, a little over 8km in diameter?

>>29864331
>I've had this image floating on my HDD for a while. It's basically just an automated satellite that sits in high orbit of a star and fires off a particle collider.
What's that from? Reverse image search is less than cooperative.

I'll see you guys tomorrow. Will post in the morning, then I'll resume after 4pm EST

>>29865192
>The LHC's ring is what, a little over 8km in diameter?
Yeah, something crazymad like that.

The only thing to bear in mind with anti-matter production through a particle accelerator is that it will always have a maximum yield of 50% due to (the name of something I forgot here, to do with particle interaction). Then again, like you said, it's the future, I'm sure they can figure something out.

>What's that from?
Eh, I have no clue at all, to be honest. I must have seen it on a backwater forum probably six, maybe seven years ago. It's made the transition from about three computers over numerous backups because I thought it'd be useful one day, and now, here it is.

bump

Checking wing composition, you have quite a few ships with large missile launch capability which is essentially reduced to role of flashbang launchers.

Two ideas:
1)Embrace the flashbang. Modify your nukes for maximal sensor/communication disruption, even at the cost of decreased lethality.

2)Improve lethality. Casaba-Howitzer is (relatively) simple and can concentrate up to 85% of nuke's output into plasma jet, turning it into one-shot fusion cannon.

It can also be tuned into cone which should be effective against enemy fighters.

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>>29864141
>The size of the projectiles was largely fixed but not much else. I did decide that if they were to be cased they would not be any kind of necked down cartridge since more powerful propellants would be available and would allow more rounds per magazine.
Hmm, okay. If you take the same size bullet, and then encase it in a square block like a G11 round. That would reduce the size of the overall round to about half. Factor in futuretech propellant and we can cut that down to a third, that sounds about right. Cased rounds probably exist in lower-tech areas, but since we are a soldier all the gear we use is milspec.

Okay so our heavy mass driver rounds going to be a new calibre, so I don't have to worry about standard magazine sizes. Our 20mm splinter shells are also specifically designed for this weapon. Regular 20mm caseless rounds are much shorter and use a jacket instead of putting all the propellant at the base.

Last update for tonight, no major changes yet. But I do have some ideas in the works. I also added an M60 and M2 for size comparison.

bump

>>29869395
When I read proposal to upgrade Smuggler Frigate into attack cruiser by attaching two attack corvettes, my reaction was 'Oh, hell, no, you wouldn't catch me dead in this deathtrap', same as the rest of you.

But, looking back at it, isn't is exactly same type of upgrade as Vengeance to Vengeance-B is?

So, obviously it can be done; The question is how much structural reinforcement you need to add to handle extra mass. At the least, it deserves feasibility study.

Isn't Mike specialize in both engineering and material science? Ask him (via Versa) to check it.

Apparently they're fixing the water damage today so no idea when I'll get power back. Hopefully later today. Just as well since I'll be at work.

See you.

pg9 bumpo

>>29853731
>Let's just say that Beryl is told not to talk about the incident with anyone and that they'll find out eventually if he does.
>he

Awww, I had hoped you would keep us guessing.

>He's a little jelous of your two men at arms with the power armor but he's more than fine with a suit of power cell armor,

Would heavy power armour work for his job? How much would it cost?

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>>29878110
>Awww, I had hoped you would keep us guessing.
Dammit, I had wanted to do the whole 'V' from Order of the stick gag.

>>29878110
>Would heavy power armour work for his job?
For guarding you? Not very well unless it was aboard a Neeran ship, and then you'd be invisible most of the time while his suit would be too big to make effective use of the camo system.

They're normally converted Power loaders. A true suit of combat grade heavy power armor would be similar to one of Shirow Masamune's Landmates.
The Terrans and Republic have supposedly experimented with them but they're far too expensive to produce. The advent of man portable plasma weapons for anti-tank use essentially killed any remaining support for the program.
>How much would it cost?
An abnormally large suit of custom power armor and the equipment to maintain it might cost ten million.

>>29880311
yeah, no.

>>29880311
>power armour

Oh, okay. It would probably be best to simply ask him what would work best and what he'd want.

>The advent of man portable plasma weapons for anti-tank use essentially killed any remaining support for the program.

Can we buy the prototypes for cheap?