>>3348845

>Ask the doctor where the bodies of the deceased are being held. You would like to pay your respects.
>Ask the doctor about the second salvage team. They were very close to a plasma explosion and you are worried about radiation injuries.
>Thank the doctor for his report and return to the bridge. You still have a ship to command.
>Other (write in)

>>3348846
>Thank the doctor for his report and return to the bridge. You still have a ship to command.

>>3348846
>Thank the doctor for his report and return to the bridge. You still have a ship to command.

>>3348846
>>Thank the doctor for his report and return to the bridge. You still have a ship to command.

>>3348846
>>Thank the doctor for his report and return to the bridge. You still have a ship to command.

>>3348846
>>Ask the doctor about the second salvage team. They were very close to a plasma explosion and you are worried about radiation injuries.

>>3348846
>>Thank the doctor for his report and return to the bridge. You still have a ship to command.
Welcome back!

>>3348846
>Ask the doctor about the second salvage team. They were very close to a plasma explosion and you are worried about radiation injuries.

File: repair drone.jpg (22 KB, 620x465)

22 KB JPG

“Thank you doctor, I’m sure that you and your assistants did the best they could for the wounded.” You thanked the doctor as you stood up. “If there is nothing else, I will take my leave back to the bridge.”

Doctor Wespe simply nodded in reply. “Go right ahead sir, I still have some paperwork to fill out.”

With that, you left the good doctor to his duties. Though you couldn’t help but wonder if that paperwork would include the ingestion of alcohol. You knew from a friend’s case study at the academy that medical staff were the most likely members of any UNSC branch to take up alcoholism, but you hoped that your doctor would be one of the outliers.

You returned to the bridge around ten minutes later, walking in to find your XO leaning over the flight control officer’s shoulder as she observed what he was doing. “What’s the current situation?”

“The Concorde Hymn is currently alongside up, assisting in repairs to our manoeuvring systems. They have deployed their repair drones to help move the larger pieces of equipment and replacement armour plating around. The Adelaide has finished examining the dead raiders and has found no survivors. They are moving on to inspect the remains of the corvette as we speak.” Dyad reported as you walked over, a friendly smile on her face.

“How are the repair themselves coming along?” You asked as you planted your ass into the captain’s seat.

“The forward manoeuvring thrusters have been fully repaired, while the starboard braking thrusters are still undergoing repairs.” As if to punctuate the report, a Gyges repair drone floated over the top of your ship, right in front of the bridge. In its mechanical claws it effortlessly moved one of the massive replacement thrusters that were used to help slow down your multi-million-ton warship. “The repairs to the turret rotation system of point defence turret two are continuing, but the damage is worse than we thought, the entire turret is in the process of being dismounted so a replacement rotation system can be installed.”

“What about the breaches to the hanger section? Have they been patched?” You asked, while the hangers contained craft designed to operate in a hard vacuum, the guys doing the maintenance for them were not.

“That is still ongoing. Hanger three on the port side has been fully patched, and pressure testing is underway as we speak. Hanger one is almost fully repaired while work on hanger two is still ongoing. They had to replace a structural element.”

“Sir, we’ve received a message form the Concord Hymn. They are asking if they can recover their repair crews and pull away to assist the Adelaide in search and destroy efforts.” Your communications officer informed you. “They will hand over control of their Gyges repair drones to us on the condition that we return them once the repairs are finished.”

>CONT

>>3349144

>Allow the Concord Hymn to break away. You can handle the repairs from here with the help of their drones.
>Have the Concord Hymn continue to assist you, you want these repairs done quickly.
>Other (write in)

>>3349146
>>Allow the Concord Hymn to break away. You can handle the repairs from here with the help of their drones.

>>3349146
>Allow the Concord Hymn to break away. You can handle the repairs from here with the help of their drones.

>>3349146
>>Allow the Concord Hymn to break away. You can handle the repairs from here with the help of their drones.

>>3349146
>>Allow the Concord Hymn to break away. You can handle the repairs from here with the help of their drones.

File: repair drone (1).jpg (25 KB, 620x465)

25 KB JPG

“Tell the Concord Hymn that they are free to recall their repair crews. We can handle things from here.” You decided, you were sure that the Concord Hymn wouldn’t find anything else out in the blackness of space, other than debris and broken fighters. But if they wanted to waste their own time with a fruitless search, you were more than willing to grant them that.

“That will ramp up the amount of time it will take to effect repairs, are you sure sir?” Your damage control officer asked from his station.

“We shouldn’t be in any danger. We can take as much time as we need.” You pointed out, and the officer simply sighed and went back to his station, informing your crews that their workload was about to double.

Within fifteen minutes, the crews from the other ship returned to their pelican dropships and made their way back onto the smaller Charon class warship. However, as the vessel began to pull away your crew continued to operate a trio of large repair drones, each one worth their weight in precious metals. As the time passed, you watched as each one helped in their own ways. One was helping to manipulate a massive thruster block into place, replacing the braking thruster that had been melted away. Another held a large point defence gun turret steady with two of it’s massive arms while the third held it to the outer hulk of your ship. A trio of smaller arms helped your EVA repair crews to pull off the broken rotation mechanism and move a new one into place. The final drone was the most active, as it moved meter-and-a-half thick sheets of titanium A plating into place, moving around the hull of your ship to wherever it was needed the most.

You watched them for almost two hours, but soon the silence was broken as your comms officer piped up again. “Sir! Priority message incoming from the Adelaide, patching it through now.”

“All vessels, listen up!” Captain Petrovich announced over the comms, his voice carrying enough authority that the lack of a picture did not matter. “We have received new orders from NAVCOM, so listen in immediately.”

The screen over the main viewport flashed into life, showing an overlay of a small UNSC fleet, comprised of four corvettes, two frigates, two older model destroyers and a single escort carrier. “This is patrol group theta, they are one of the many units assigned to patrol sectors in which covenant forces are known to operate. And this time they bit off more than they could chew. They encountered a sizable covenant flotilla. This flotilla engaged them, and the covenant vessels inflicted substantial casualties before the UNSC vessels could disengage. They performed a random slipspace jump and are requiring reinforcements in case enemy vessels pursue them.”

>CONT

>>3349398

“As of last report, they lost one corvette, one frigate and one destroyer. All other vessels suffered major damage, with the escort carrier suffering damage to it’s reactor module. This limited them to a single short-range slipspace jump, and had prevented them from performing another one until their damage is repaired.” As the captain spoke, three vessels were struck through with a single black line and greyed out. The other vessels were re-coloured in varying shades of yellow and red to denote the severity of their damage.

There was too much red for your liking.

>Ask about the covenant flotilla they encountered, you don’t want to jump in without some basic info.
>Ask what the plan is, your ship is still hurting from the damage sustained in the last battle, and the Adelaide herself can’t be looking too hot.
>Keep quiet and follow orders, if you have to throw your damaged ship into battle once more then so be it.
>Other (write in)

>>3349406
>Ask about the covenant flotilla they encountered, you don’t want to jump in without some basic info.

>>3349406
>>Ask about the covenant flotilla they encountered, you don’t want to jump in without some basic info.

>>3349406
>>Ask about the covenant flotilla they encountered, you don’t want to jump in without some basic info.

>>3349406
>Ask what the plan is, your ship is still hurting from the damage sustained in the last battle, and the Adelaide herself can’t be looking too hot.

“Do we have any information on the size of the enemy flotilla?” You asked, trying to get a bit more information about what you would likely face.

“Yes, the enemy fleet was comprised of one cruiser, one destroyer, two frigates and two corvettes. Our fleet was able to inflict significant damage on one of the frigates and kill both corvettes, but the superior firepower and shielding of the larger enemy combatants gave them the advantage needed to force the UNSC fleet into retreat.” As the captain spoke, the screen changed to give the profiles of the covenant vessels. The profile showing that while the corvettes had been handily destroyed, the larger escorts were in almost pristine condition, aside from the damaged frigate, which was shaded in a deep orange.

“Do we know if they are being reinforced in turn?” The commander of the Concord Hymn asked as you tried to match the profile of the enemy vessels to what you remembered from your time at the academy.

“We do not know, hence why we are being sent in. We will arrive on scene first, and will then be reinforced by new vessels over time. Granted, we may be engaged by the enemy before additional reinforcements arrive, but that is something we should be prepared to deal with.” Captain Petrovich explained, by the time he had finished you had managed to place the frigates as Omen class vessels, but the destroyer was eluding you as the covenant used basically the same hull for both their light and heavy destroyer classes. And the cruiser was just a blank as you had never seen it before, but given the scope of the war, you didn’t doubt that the covenant might be developing something new or pulling ships from the boneyards and breakers.

Hell, those were both sources of a lot of UNSC ships. Namely almost all of the ships that made up the fleet you were going to assist.

“And if the enemy send in too many ships for us to combat?” You warily asked as you looked back at your personal console, showing you a nice camera feed overlooking the repairs to your hanger, the ugly gash in the hull was still being

The captain was silent for a second, before coldly stating. “We will cross that bridge when we come to it. But I will not throw away this fleet if I can help it.”

>Ask about what other UNSC reinforcements you can get. You don’t know how many assets the UNSC has in dead systems, but it can’t be that much.
>Ask what the plan is, your ship is still hurting from the damage sustained in the last battle, and the Adelaide herself can’t be looking too hot.
>Keep quiet and follow orders, if you have to throw your damaged ship into battle once more then so be it.
>Other (write in)

>>3349962
>>Ask what the plan is, your ship is still hurting from the damage sustained in the last battle, and the Adelaide herself can’t be looking too hot.

>>3349962
>Ask what the plan is, your ship is still hurting from the damage sustained in the last battle, and the Adelaide herself can’t be looking too hot.

>>3349962
>>Ask what the plan is, your ship is still hurting from the damage sustained in the last battle, and the Adelaide herself can’t be looking too hot.

>>3349962
We are going to perform a boom a zoom ambush from some overwatch position, wont we? Its the only way to manage to get a concentrated alpha on one of the leftover hostiles, unless they get major reinforcements.

“What’s the plan sir?” You asked, trying to find out what the immediate plan was.

“Unfortunately, we have to head out immediately. The Adelaide is still in good enough condition to be deployed immediately into combat, and the Concord Hymn is still intact.” The captain explained, conveniently leaving out that your vessel still had a gaping hole in it’s side.

“My ship is still undergoing repairs, would you have us join you?” You asked about what you should do. You didn’t want to go into combat without licking your previous wounds.

“Ideally yes, moving all vessels in at once would allow us to engage anything that we may encounter with maximum firepower. And if we do not encounter anything hostile then you can just send out your damage control teams again.” The captain answered your question, making it clear that he wanted your ship to join them.

“It will still take time to fully repair the ship. The extra time taken to pack away all repair equipment and then unpack it when we arrive on scene in order to resume repairs will just extend the amount of time needed to finish the repairs.” You pointed out, before then adding. “And if we get caught with our pants down repairing battle damage when the covenant arrives then we are very likely to catch a hit before we can get our teams clear.”

“How long will the repairs take?” Captain Petrovich asked, and you turned once again to your damage control officer in order to find out the answer.

“At least an hour for a basic patch job. And double that if we are to return to full combat capability.” The damage control officer announced to all that were listening.

“That is too long. The covenant may very well be en-route to the fleet while we wait here. And I cannot allow either the Adelaide or the Concord Hymn to remain here.” The captain stated flatly, leaving it unstated that he expected you to fall in line and follow him out.

>Insist that you be allowed to remain behind to finish effecting repairs. Even a single hit to your breached sections would cause severe damage.
>Join the rest of the wolfpack in jumping out immediately. You can perform repairs on site.
>Other (write in)

>>3351521
>Join the rest of the wolfpack in jumping out immediately. You can perform repairs on site.

>>3351521
>>Insist that you be allowed to remain behind to finish effecting repairs. Even a single hit to your breached sections would cause severe damage.

>>3351521
>Join the rest of the wolfpack in jumping out immediately. You can perform repairs on site.

>>3351521
>Insist that you be allowed to remain behind to finish effecting repairs. Even a single hit to your breached sections would cause severe damage.

>Join the rest of the wolfpack in jumping out immediately. You can perform repairs on site

>>3351521
>>Join the rest of the wolfpack in jumping out immediately. You can perform repairs on site

>>3351521
>>Join the rest of the wolfpack in jumping out immediately. You can perform repairs on site.

“Understood sir, I’ll order the damage control teams to finish up and stow all equipment pending the jump.” You decided to go along with the plan. Best case scenario, you wouldn’t encounter anything and could continue with repairs. Worst case scenario, your firepower would be a great help.

“Good, we will jump as soon as you are ready. Adelaide out.” The captain concluded the call, and brought it to an end. Leaving you to order your crew around.

“Damage control, order all repair teams to finish what they are doing and return inside the ship pending a full slipspace jump. Stow the repair drones in our empty storage silos.” You ordered your damage control officer, who paused for a second before speaking himself.

“We still have an open breach to one hanger, and another has not been fully assessed for pressurisation. Additionally, the rotation mechanisms for point defence turret two have not been tested. Are you sure?” The officer asked, both of you knew the risks, but you didn’t have time to wait.

“Yes, I am sure lieutenant.” You confirmed your command to him, before giving out rapid-fire orders to prepare the ship for an immediate jump. Within half an hour, your XO reported back to you.

“Nav computer set and the slipspace drive is charged. All repair crews are inside and all stations report back alright. We are ready to jump on your order sir.” Dyad reported as your ship moved closer to the Adelaide and the Concord Hymn, both having grouped close together in anticipation of the upcoming move.

“Comms, contact the Adelaide.” You ordered, and a few seconds later a connection was established.

“Captain, we have all repair crews stowed and ready for immediate slipspace jump.” You reported to the commanding officer of the wolfpack the moment the connection was stable enough to carry your words across.

“Understood. All vessels, link your navigation computers to the Adelaide, we will jump as one.” Captain Petrovich ordered, and you didn’t have to give the order yourself this time, as your navigation officer quickly hit the button to raise the bridge radiation shields. As the massive slab of lead plating moved into place, you could see the trio of UNSC vessels realign to face your new destination.

You couldn’t see anything but could certainly feel the jump. Your stomach did a flip as the ship seemed to groan under the force of being flung to trans-light speed. However, you weren’t immediately obliterated. So that was all you needed to tell you that the ship had entered slip space.

“Confirmed successful slipspace jump sir. We are underway.” Your navigation officer informed you, once again as if to state the obvious. “Estimated time of arrival is five hours.”

>CONT

>>3355098

In the grand scheme of things, five hours wasn’t too long. But it was long enough for you to do a couple of things in the meantime.

>Check up on the alien’s progress. It should be done fixing bravo squadron’s longsword.
>Head down to the mess hall and grab something to eat, you haven’t had anything for a while now.
>Head back to your quarters, you ought to grab some shut-eye before you arrive. (timeskip)
>Other (write in)

>>3355100
>Head down to the mess hall and grab something to eat, you haven’t had anything for a while now.

>>3355100
>Head down to the mess hall and grab something to eat, you haven’t had anything for a while now.

File: UNSC mess hall.png (2.08 MB, 1920x1080)

2.08 MB PNG

You were just about to give out a few more orders, when your stomach decided to let out a loud rumble. One loud enough that your XO had to stifle a chuckle.

“Well, I think that we know what you are going to order next sir. I’ll take the deck while you grab something from the mess hall?” Dyad smiled as she asked her question, and you couldn’t help but feel a small bit of embarrassment for neglecting one of the first lessons you learned on a ship, take a break every so often.

“If you wouldn’t mind, we might as well take the time to cycle people out for a break as well. So call up the next shift to takeover while we are in slipspace.” You ordered as you got out of the commanding officer’s seat. You didn’t have to wait long before Dyad took you place, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable.

“As you order sir, I’ll handle it.” Your Xo replied with a coy smile. You simply sighed and made your way out of the bridge.

“That means you too Dyad.” You clarified over your shoulder, before casually walking out.

The mess hall on a UNSC warship was a mostly automated system. Automatic cooking systems had been around since the end of the twenty first century, and with a direct link to the ship’s logistics systems, meals could be made on the fly by even a cheap “dumb AI” with surprising variety. Unfortunately, military personnel tended to over-estimate how much they could eat, and that lead to waste when they inevitably took too much. And waste on a ship with a limited food supply almost always lead to food supplies being burned through quicker than expected. As such, someone had to be there to serve out the food for those who had eyes bigger than their bellies. Most of the time it was an additional duty given to crew members who had small duties, though it wasn’t unheard of for civilians to take a catering commission aboard a warship.

Hell, your last warship -the corvette UNSC Hoel- had it’s marine complement make up the actual cooking staff. A few of the men in the unit had hailed from the world of Falaknuma, who’s population hailed from the Indian continent of Earth. They had brought their cultural dishes along with them to the ship, and you had sponsored them as much as you could when it came to getting the supplies they needed, and stowing them in places where the automated logistics system wouldn’t flag them for use in other meals.

By the time you arrived, the mess hall itself was almost empty. The covers over the food having been removed so that people could serve themselves rather than need someone to take their order. With many of the crew having already eaten. Around two dozen people sat around the room, mostly in groups no larger than three or four people. Very few people seemed to notice your arrival, and that suited you just fine.

>CONT

>>3355724

You served yourself some food, and began to look for a place to sit when you noticed a few of your chief officers sat around the room. Your security chief sat with a small group of fellow marines, which given the general lack of people in the room made it the largest single gathering in the room. Meanwhile, your chief of engineering seemed to be engrossed in talking with two other engineers, who you could only assume were friends of his. At the opposite end of the spectrum were your quartermaster and chief weaponry officer. The chief quartermaster sat with only one person, and given by the short and clipped Chinese they were speaking in and the datapads they were reading off while they were eating, you didn’t think that they were talking about things that were not work related. Your chief weaponry officer sat alone at one of the few window booths, not like there was much to look at, given the massive lead plate that was currently blocking her from looking outside, and likewise stopping radiation from coming in.

>Sit with your chief of security, you want to get to know him better.
>Sit with your chief of engineering, you want to know how the ship is doing.
>Sit with your chief quartermaster, you want to see how he’s handling the cruise thus-far.
>Sit with the chief weaponry officer, she seems lonely.
>Sit on your own, you don’t want to impose on anyone.
>Other (write in)

>>3355730
>Sit with the chief weaponry officer, she seems lonely.

>>3355730
>Sit with your chief of engineering, you want to know how the ship is doing

>>3355730
>Sit with your chief of engineering, you want to know how the ship is doing.

>>3355730
>Sit with your chief of engineering, you want to know how the ship is doing.

>>3355730
>>Sit with your chief of engineering, you want to know how the ship is doing.

>>3355730
>Sit on your own, you don’t want to impose on anyone.

>>3348845
>hull tank five plasma canisters
>only 4 dead
May as well rename this to Pilot Quest 2525. I encourage everyone to vote for the most reckless options from now on cause clearly we do have plot armor.
trying to goad QM into overreacting and killing off most of our crew

>>3355730
>Sit on your own, you don’t want to impose on anyone.

Your mind made up, you made your way over to the lone brunette. She sat alone with a datapad in one hand and a fork in the other, which she used to pick at her food while she read off the tablet.

“Sitting next to the window seat eh chief Ambrose?” You asked as you reached the table and sat down. The weapons systems officer greeted you with a tired, but still friendly smile. Apparently not expecting the company, but not unwelcoming of the sudden presence of someone to talk to. “Bold move, these shutters have a tendency to fail.”

“By that logic, you and the rest of the bridge crew are chugging down a lot more rads than me. So I guess I won’t have to wait long for that promotion.” The Austrian cheerfully replied, brushing off your warning. “Then again, you couldn’t pay me enough to sit in that death trap of a bridge.”

“Ah, not a fan of the exposed bridgehouse?” You asked, you had encountered a good few people who didn’t like the UNSC’s pennant for the more traditional style of bridge, which allowed those inside to actually look out of the ship without needing a camera.

“Never have been, never will be. One good shot from even a pulse laser and that’s it.” The Austrian grimaced ever so slightly, before the smile returned. “Bury me under meters thick battle armour any day of the week and I’ll be fine.”

“Still doing work though, even when you are on break.” You gestured to her datapad with your fork, she blinked for a second, before sighing.

“Unfortunately we don’t all get a personal gopher to handle our work for us.” She gave a light jab at the perk of your position. “Besides, my crew could use the rest. I have a feeling that we will be needed fairly soon regardless of what we find at the other end of this jump.”

>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?
>Ask Ambrose about her station, what’s it like being in charge of a gun that throws slugs the size of cars?
>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons afterall.
>Let her lead the conversation.
>Other (write in)

>>3360747
>>Let her lead the conversation.

>>3360747
>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?

>>3360747
>Let her lead the conversation
>while you serve yourself a bottle of wine
4 people died today as a direct result of our decisions. One way or another, we need to unwind.

>>3360747
>>Let her lead the conversation.

>>3360747
>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?

You nodded at the chief weapons officer’s point. Both in understanding of her point of view, and why she had it.

“Still, at least we’re on a paris class and not some other frigate. She’s not the thickest tub in the fleet, but at least we have more protection than the other suckers assigned to frigates.” She said thankfully, apparently thanking her lucky stars that she had been placed on your ship. “And the cycling system for the MAC. I’ve gotta say, whoever planned that out gets some high praise from me.”

“What’s so special about it? Nothing special was mentioned to me about it.” You asked, a bit perplexed by what was so interesting about your ship’s main gun. Sure, it could send something that weighed more than most shuttle craft up to such speeds that it could punch through solid steel. But there was nothing that said that there was anything special about it.

“It’s basically the same gun as used on the Charon class, but it comes with an extra coil. So it’s simple, easy to maintain and can scale it’s output as needed. All while still packing a punch.” The Austrian woman smiled as she fell into her grove, that being talking about massive guns and their capabilities. “And with the new automated loading system, we can have a shot in the chamber well before the capacitors have recharged. I’ve been thinking about how we can make use of…”

Amborse trailed off as the noise from the other end of the mess hall began to increase. Both of you took a second to look over at the source of the commotion. Nothing interesting had happened though, it was just a squad of marines being loud and complaining about how they had to babysit the grey. You took this chance to look around the room, making sure that all of your bridge crew were down and resting. Sure enough, they all were sat down and eating. The only one still standing was your XO herself, who was looking for somewhere to sit.

>Wave Dyad over, you might as well get to know her better.
>Ask Ambrose more about her MAC gun theory.
>Other (write in)

>>3363978
>>Ask Ambrose more about her MAC gun theory.

>>3363978
>>Wave Dyad over, you might as well get to know her better.
May as well have Dyad weigh in on the gun.

>>3364022
Supporting

>>3363988
Experimental Main Gun Applications Ahoy!

>>3363978
>Ask Ambrose more about her MAC gun theory.

>>3363978


>>3364022
Supporting, I don't see why not. We could continue the conversation with her present.

Waving dyad over, you explained what you were planning to the Austrian opposite to you. “I’m interested in your idea, though I think my XO should also here to listen as well.”

Ambrose nodded in acceptance as Dyad made her way over, the short walk taking a bit under a minute due to the length of the mess hall itself. “Nice to see that you are getting to know the crew a bit more sir.”

“Thanks, though this is a bit more than just getting to know my crew.” You nodded to Ambrose as your XO sat down next to you. “Chief Ambrose has an idea on how to improve the MAC gun and I want you here to hear it.”

“Sounds good, take it away chief Amborse.” Dyad said as she got comfortable in her seat, a welcoming smile on her face.

“Well the idea itself is fairly simple. Usually there are a series of physical inhibitors that regulate the flow of power from the reactor to the MAC gun capacitors. Usually they are to prevent random output fluctuations from the engines being used from causing damage to the system. But in the process, they cap off the rate at which we can recharge the MAC.” Ambrose explained the basics, you already knew about the basics behind MAC gun installation on a warship, but you didn’t know if Dyad did. “After doing some investigation, I found out that with a little modification the inhibitors can be toggled on and off via a computer command. This opens the option to divert power from the engines to recharge the gun fairly quickly, and thus get a quick follow up shot at the expense of engine power.”

“That might damage the entire power grid. The inhibitors are there for reasons other than power regulation and we all know why.” Dyad pointed out, gesturing with her fork at the same time. “You might very well damage the capacitors used to power the gun itself.”

“And taking power away from our manoeuvring systems would make it very hard to evade incoming fire. And that will not be good if the enemy starts firing at us.” You added another issue. Plasma torpedoes were hard enough to dodge due to their guidance, and if you were fired at by one while your engines were at less than their best than it would be almost guaranteed that you would take a hit. And that would definitely result in yard time.

“I know, and my team will be keeping a good eye on the condition of all the MAC gun’s systems following such a firing. However, the modification process itself is simple and once completed the option to rapidly recharge the gun can be performed from the bridge. If the captain wants to, I can have my team make the necessary changes before we drop out of slipspace.”

>CONT

>>3366537

NEW SKILL LEARNED: RAPID RELOAD
Allows you to rapidly recharge the MAC gun’s capacitors. Gaining an extra shot at the cost of a significant manoeuvring debuff. Possibility to damage the recharge system for the MAC gun in the process.
NOTE: A new skill can be learned either by talking to crew chiefs, doing investigations of UNSC or ONI files, or by simply writing in a new manoeuvre that is workable. Skills related to shooting at the enemy can be used in you are shooting at the enemy while skills related to dodging enemy fire can be used when evading enemy fire.

>Continue talking with Ambrose, you want to know a bit more about her.
>Talk with Dyad, you don’t want her to feel left out of the conversation.
>Let the women talk while you eat your food. (timeskip)
>Other (write in)

>>3366540
>>Continue talking with Ambrose, you want to know a bit more about her.
If Dyad wants to talk, she can chime in while we learn more about Ambrose

>>3366540
>Continue talking with Ambrose

>>3366540
>>Continue talking with Ambrose, you want to know a bit more about her.

>>3366540
>Continue talking with Ambrose, you want to know a bit more about her.

>>3366540
>Talk with Dyad, you don’t want her to feel left out of the conversation.

>>3366540
>>Continue talking with Ambrose, you want to know a bit more about her.

“Do it. Worst case scenario, we don’t actually use it.” You ordered the chief weapons officer, causing her to smile as her work was not just recognised, but accepted.

“Just be careful, the last thing we need is someone getting themselves killed over this.” Dyad cautioned, earning her a reassuring smile from the Austrian weapons officer.

“I wouldn’t have suggested this if I did not believe that my team was capable of doing the required work. We’ll get it done, don’t worry.” Ambrose tried to sooth your XO’s fears, but the lack of a response from the raven-haired woman proved just how doubtful she was.

“I am sure that your team is more than capable of performing the modifications needed. But still, these are power systems designed to many terawatts of power in an instant. So be careful.” You backed up your XO’s opinion, if only to show that you too were worried.

“I understand sir. I’ll make sure to pass on the orders to the rest of my staff.” Ambrose nodded, bowing to the orders of the two superior officers.

>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?
>Ask Ambrose about her station, what’s it like being in charge of a gun that throws slugs the size of cars?
>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons afterall.
>Other (write in)

>>3368726
>Ask Ambrose why she joined the UNSC.

>>3368726
>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?
Current events.

>>3368726
>>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?

>>3368726
>>Ask Ambrose about her work, how did she find the last couple of engagements?

>>3368726
>Ask Ambrose about her station, what’s it like being in charge of a gun that throws slugs the size of cars?

>>3369214
“So, how did you find the last engagements? I know that killing off raiders isn’t exactly the best use of a MAC, but I’m sure you appreciate getting the chance to kill some smallfry before we actually face something that is a challenge.” You asked, hoping to get an insight into how the woman in charge of your MAC gun found the latest engagements.

“It went well enough sir. Most of the people under my command are either on their first cruise or have been reassigned from smaller ships. I’m one of the few that has even been on a warship prior to this assignment. Though in spite of that, everyone worked well together.” Ambrose explained, giving you a good enough assessment of how her crew had handled the recent combat.

“Is there anybody that you are worried about?” Dyad asked, instead more interested in the people under Ambrose’s command rather than her.

“Not right now, it’s too early in the cruise to know who won’t cut it.” The Austrian woman shook her head at the lack of an answer.

“I wasn’t asking about how your team handled the combat, I’m asking about how you think you handled it.” You clarified your earlier question. “I think I’m right in guessing that this is your first assignment to a command position, am I right?”

The station chief seemed taken off guard by your drive at how she had handled things, but she recovered well enough. “I think I did well sir. But it isn’t for me to grade my own work. Mama always told me that you should never ask someone to grade their own work, because they will always see their work as being better than it actually is.”

>Ask Ambrose about her station, what’s it like being in charge of a gun that throws slugs the size of cars?
>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons afterall.
>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)
>Other (write in)

>>3371122
>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons afterall.

>>3371122
>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)

>>3371122
>>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons afterall.

>>3371122
>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)

>>3371122
>>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons afterall.

>>3371122
>>Ask Ambrose about why she joined the UNSC, everyone has their reasons after all.

>>3371122
>>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)

“So, what lead you to join the UNSC in the first place?” You asked, taking the direct approach to getting to know the Austrian woman.

“I suppose the same thing as anyone really sir. A realisation that if we don’t give everything to fight this war then we’re as good as dead anyways.” Ambrose shrugged at the apparent obviousness of her answer.

“Is this your first posting to a ship?” You leant back as you asked, trying to curtail the pointed-ness of the question with a more casual posture.

“Not by a longshot sir. I was originally posted on the cruiser Art Of War before it was retired due to hull fatigue. An honest shame, but better for it to go out with it’s crew dying with it. From there I bounced around a few escort ships before ending up here.” Ambrose shook her head but smiled none-the-less as she recalled the memories of the first ship she served on. Obviously, they were good ones.

“I’m gonna guess that your parents were happy that you were given such a good assignment right out of the naval college. Usually most people have to serve for a cruise or two on a corvette before they graduate to a larger ship.” Dyad asked, and you nodded to yourself as she made her point. You knew for a fact that the Hoel swapped out half of its enlisted crew on a per-cruise basis, with only a few experienced members of the crew staying on to teach the new arrivals.

Your chief weapons officer gave a tired sigh, before answering. “They make every effort to try and catch me on shore leave to try and persuade me to either come home or to take a posting at the Berlin ODP. So take that as you will.”

“How the dell do they know where you take shore leave? Even the ships taking leave don’t know where they are going until they actually receive their orders. And with the sheer amount of time taken in slipspace, most ships are back on patrol before most families can get to them to meet their loved ones.” Dyad asked, sounding both confused and worried. Even now there were people who wanted to do harm to UNSC sailors on shore leave, and if they knew where a ship was going ahead of time then the chances of men and women dying when they thought they were safe would skyrocket.

“I’d be lying if I said I knew.” Ambrose shrugged, seemingly just as confused as your XO. “They are rich as hell, so that could be a factor in it. But looking back on it there were a few guys in suits that came around fairly often, so there might be something else to it.”

Perhaps realising the turn the conversation had taken, Ambrose turned and smiled at you as she moved the conversation on. “What about you sir? Where are you from?”

>Answer with your birthplace. You are from a colony that doesn’t exist anymore.
>Answer with your current home. You are from the colony of Tribute.
>Avoid the question and pass it on to Dyad. You don't want to talk about it.
>Other (write in)

>>3377458
>>Answer with your birthplace. You are from a colony that doesn’t exist anymore.

>>3377458

>Answer with your birthright. You are from a colony that doesn’t exist anymore.

>>3377458
>Answer with your birthplace. You are from a colony that doesn’t exist anymore.
Tell them we're from Arcadia. Maybe we met Captain Cutter, or we're otherwise inspired by his efforts in the final evacuations there with little more than a refitted colony ship. (I've always had a soft spot for Halo Wars)

>>3377658
We're from Jericho VII anon.

>>3377458
>>Answer with your birthplace. You are from a colony that doesn’t exist anymore.

“I’m from Jericho seven.” You stated flatly, without either a smile or a hint of joy.

“But Jericho seven doesn’t…” Ambrose began, before finally realising what she was saying. And who she was saying it to. “O-oh! I’m sorry sir! I didn’t mean to-“

“No need to apologise, it’s old news.” You interrupted the chief officer before she made a larger scene. A couple of people on nearby tables were looking over to see just what had caused the chief officer to apologise just as she had.

“I… I hate to sound rude sir. But what was it like?” Ambrose asked, her voice low and sombre, but still with that hint of curiosity that had pushed her to ask. No matter how morbid the subject.

“Chief…” Dyad warned, her voice ice cold as she warned the Austrian woman not to push on the touchy subject.

You blinked at the sudden question, before giving your response. You had trouble telling a psychiatrist about what had happened during the evacuation. Fat chance you were going to tell just anyone. “You don’t want to know chief, and we’ll leave it at that.”

Ambrose seemed to be relieved at your response, asking people about trauma was bad enough. But to feel as if you had forced them into remembering something personally traumatic was even worse.

>Ask Dyad about where she came from. You already know the answer, but Ambrose doesn’t.
>Change the subject and ask Ambrose about her station, what’s it like being in charge of a gun that throws slugs the size of cars?
>Change the subject to something else (write in)
>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)
>Other (write in)

>>3377745
>>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)

>>3377745
>>Ask Dyad about where she came from. You already know the answer, but Ambrose doesn’t.

>>3377745
>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)

>>3377745
>>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)

>>3377745
>>Let the two women talk while you eat your food (timeskip)
way to kill the mood

You let Dyad take the lead with the conversation after that, though it didn’t take long for the conversation to die out. The overly-pushy question having managed to kill the mood better than a MAC shell of the type fired from the gun that Ambrose administered.

You finished your food quickly enough, though you had accidentally let it get a bit too cold for your likings. Still, the food was god enough and was tasty.

Ambrose was the first to finish, and not for want of trying. Almost the moment the conversation died, the Austrian woman had began to rapidly eat her food. You paid it no mind, she probably felt very awkward after digging too deep on such a personal topic. You were just a bit over halfway through your meal when Ambrose finished. Within a minute of that, she gave a hasty excuse and left.

With the chief weaponry officer gone, Dyad calmly moved and took up residence on the opposite side of the table to you. You exchanged a bit of smalltalk, but nothing more than a few sentences before you went back to your food. You finished your meal before your XO and left, giving her a short reminder to be back on the bridge before the ship dropped out of slipspace. And with that, you left to return to the bridge. You were halfway through your walk back to the bridge when you realised that you were taking a long and winding route back.

You simply shrugged your shoulders and continued. You needed the time to get yourself together anyways.

===================================

And that’s it for this thread! Sorry for this thread being slower and having less posts overall, but uni exams are getting closer and closer and I need to spend more time revising. I’ll probably not run for the next week, with a thin-run like this thread the week after. But no promises, I’ll keep you updated on twitter as things happen.

If you have any questions, then feel free to ask. I’m open to answer any questions before the thread falls off the board.

>>3382684
Thanks for the run boss, was fun.

>>3382684
Just don’t disappear off the face of the earth like a lot other great QM’s
Loving your stuffso far

>>3382684
Looking forward to the next run chief!

Last post lol

HAH Got'em

>>3382684
All caught up.
Are we allowed to carry personal sidearms and can we choose what we carry?

>>3388239
Who knows?

>>3388239
We’re in the military AND the captain of a space vessel. We can walk around in full armor and combat gear if we fucking want. A sidearm would not be out of the ordinary at all, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire bridge crew, engineering, and weapons crew ALL carried sidearms when on duty. Or even the entire crew. The covenant are known to sometimes board enemy vessels and space assets, it’s not unreasonable to expect the crew to at least carry sidearms.

>>3388293
The complete package.