>>3526405
>Get everyone to their stations, you don't want to spend time keying your systems in the middle of a battle.

So...how have you been op.

>Hold off for now. The fleet will be jumpy enough already, and a frigate jumping in with all weapons armed will just make things worse

>>3526411
Well enough I suppose. I have way too many boxes to unpack after the move, but I did promise to come back and continue once the exams were over, so here I am!

>>3526431
Good to know, and glad to have you back. Hopefully you'll be able to get back in to the groove of things.

>>3526405
>>Hold off for now. The fleet will be jumpy enough already, and a frigate jumping in with all weapons armed will just make things worse.

File: Mako Corvette.jpg (397 KB, 1920x1080)

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"Hold off for now, the main capacitor bank for the MAC should already be charged, and it will only take a minute or so to bring the other systems online. We don't want to give them any more reason to be jumpy." You ordered,

Unfortunately, with as many bodies being needed to crew ships on the frontline, there were so few people to take old and tired warships to the breakers. And while many did make the trip successfully, it wasn't unheard of for a frigate to go missing en-route.

"Dropping out of FTL in one minute, sounding the alarm." Toulali announced before a pre-recorded voice came over the ship's PA system and informed the crew of the imminent deceleration. Almost a minute later, Toulali began his ten-second countdown. As soon as he reached zero, you felt the deceleration more than you should have. Your stomach felt like it was doing a backflip in all directions at once, but the feeling passed within a few seconds.

A quick glance behind you showed you that Dyad was turning a slight shade of green. But a small smile and a nod from her told you silently that she felt that she was fine

"Drop the radiation shield, and get me a good picture of the fleet. Sensors, where is the rest of the wolfpack?" You rattled off your orders, getting everyone in motion was one of the best ways to combat post-FTL sickness. And they listened well, as the armored radiation panels over the front of the bridge's main window were down before you had even finished speaking.

"We're still in formation sir, though we have drifted a bit. The Adelaide is ten kilometers to our port, and the Concord Hymn is five kilometers past them. Patrol group theta is one hundred and sixty-three kilometers off our bow, magnifying the view." Lieutenant Helena reported back sharpley as the screen that overlaid the bridge's main window shimmered into life with a brief burst of static. The stars flicked out of view for a second, before shifting back as your view of the small UNSC fleet was improved.

The fleet was in shambles.

The smallest vessel in the fleet -it's surviving corvette- was the most obviously damaged vessel, as a cloud of vented atmosphere surrounded the ship. It lay upside-down on top of the fleet's remaining frigate, which was missing a chunk of its port thruster-bank. The pair of destroyers seemed indifferent to it all, as they sat alongside each other in a pair. But you could see that neither had escaped without some damage.

In the center of it all was the carrier. You pegged its class just a second before the screen identified it. The vessel was an old Athens class carrier, and old was very much the defining term when it came to the Athens class, as they were based off the almost 200-year-old Phoenix-class colony ship. The old CMA vessel had probably been sat in a breakers yard when Harvest got glassed. The ship was holding up well, in spite both it's age and battle damage. You could see evidence of at least three plasma-torpedo hits.

>CONT

>>3526533

>Accelerate towards the fleet and hand off your repair drones, they need the help much more than you do.
>Return the drones to the Concord Hymn, it isn't your choice where they go.
>Stop and continue your own repairs. You need to worry about you and your ship.
>Other (write in)

>>3526535
>Return the drones to the Concord Hymn, it isn't your choice where they go.

Need some more votes

>>3526535
>Return the drones to the Concord Hymn, it isn't your choice where they go.

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

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"Comms, send a message to the Concord Hymn." You called the attention of your comms officer. "Tell them that we are going to hand them their drones back."

"Understood sir, message sent." Your communications officer reported back, sounding just as worse for wear as Dyad. "Standby, the Adelaide is establishing a comms link. Patching them through."

You had to wait for a couple of seconds while the link was established, but following that your orders were brief.

"All vessels, this is Captain Petrovich. Move towards the flotilla and take up defensive positions close to them." The commander of your wolfpack ordered. Unlike your subordinates, the gruff Russian actually sounded as if he was doing better for coming out of an FTL jump. He sounded like he was ready to go. "Once you are in position, bring your weapons suites fully online and link to the carrier's war net. Their onboard AI will handle direction of fire."

You didn't have time to respond in the affirmative as the connection was cut just a second before the leading Halberd class destroyer accelerated from it's slow, post-FTL drift.

"Message back from the Concord Hymn, they are asking for us to jettison the drones here and let them handle pickup while we RV with the patrol group. Damage control, would you kindly get them out?" Your comms officer reported back as you felt the ship begin to move, slowly at first with just the manoeuvring thrusters as the main units fired up from their slumber. A few seconds later, you felt the slight shudder as all of the pods containing your borrowed repair drones were opened, jettisoning the small repair units into the void for pickup.

"Ensign Toulali, take us in close to the frigate and the corvette. They are in need of some firepower." You ordered your navigation officer as he brought the ship's engines to maximum burn. Things on the bridge were relatively silent for most of the trip, with most of the crew staring at the damage inflicted on the UNSC vessels by true covenant weapons.

Seeing the damage through after-action reports, pictures and articles on the net was one thing. Seeing it with your own eyes was entirely another thing.

"Sir, alpha and bravo squadrons are fully fuelled and loaded for anti-fighter patrols. Should I give the order to launch?" Lieutenant Krickstein, your aviation control officer asked as your heavy frigate closed in on the final remaining frigate in the patrol group.

>Deploy your fighters for barrier patrols. You may need all of the anti-fighter protection you can get.
>Arm your fighters for anti-ship attacks. You need as much firepower as possible.
>Withhold your fighters, they can stay in their bays until they are needed.

>>3526990
>Deploy your fighters for barrier patrols. You may need all of the anti-fighter protection you can get.

>>3526990
>>Withhold your fighters, they can stay in their bays until they are needed.

>>3526990
>>Withhold your fighters, they can stay in their bays until they are needed.

>>3526990
>>Withhold your fighters, they can stay in their bays until they are needed.

>>3526990
>Arm your fighters for anti-ship attacks. You need as much firepower as possible
intentionally voting for options which will potentially cause the most damage to us

File: athens class (1).png (908 KB, 1069x576)

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"Keep them on standby for now. We can make a decision on the fly." You decided. Ultimately, the decision would be based more on what the CO of the carrier chooses to do when the covenant arrives. There would be no point sending out your fighters to attack warships if you couldn't get escorts from the carrier, and vise-versa.

"Understood sir, though keep in mind that it will take around five minutes to fully load the fighters for whatever mission you choose. So the sooner you give the order, the better." Lieutenant Krickstein informed you, essentially point out the obvious that it took time to load up the required ordinance. Thankfully the entire system was automated and could be done while each hanger was depressurized, so you didn't have to worry about loading crews getting in the way.

You tensely waited for another few minutes for something, anything, to happen. You were so tightly wound that you had to stop yourself from jumping when the comms crackled into life once again, and you CO spoke.

"All commanding officers, this is captain Petrovich. Standby for briefing." The captain ordered, getting both your attention and the attention of everyone else on the bridge.

"Alright, I've just finished talking to the commanding officer of the Furious. They are not in a good position right now." Petrovich sighed, though you couldn't tell if he was sighing because of how bad the situation was, or if the captain of the carrier had made things wore. "Their slipspace drive coupling took shock damage during the battle and lost power during their jump. Thankfully most of the fleet was following in their wake, allowing them to drop out of slipspace at the same time. However, the damage is severe. They are repairing it as quickly as possible, but the chances of them being done before the enemy finds us is slim to none."

"How much ordinance do they have left?" The commander of the Concord Hymn asked the question you were just thinking of. If there is going to be another fight, you want to know how much they can put out.

"They have expended half of their missile armament, including all of their nuclear warheads. Their MAC gun is fine, but they are in need of more shells, which are being provided by the remaining frigate. Their point-defense grid is compromised, with four turrets down due to an attempted boarding action." The captain listed off the carrier's remaining weapons, you felt a bit shocked at the lack of nukes onboard. Carriers, along with most major warships, carried double the number of nukes that you had. The fact that they had expended all of them really didn't make you feel too confident. "They still have two-thirds of their air wing remaining, but they are only able to get half of it operational due to battle damage."

>"What about the escorts sir? Some of them don't look too hot right now."
>"Any idea what the covenant might send against us?"
>Keep quiet, you don't have any questions to ask.
>Other (write-in)

>>3529117
>"Any idea what the covenant might send against us?"

>>"Any idea what the covenant might send against us?

File: marine.png (815 KB, 885x1785)

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"Any idea what the covenant might send against us?" You asked, hoping to gain a better understanding of what the covenant might throw at you.

"We can probably assume that the fleet previously encountered by the patrol group will pursue. So a cruiser, a destroyer, and one or two frigates can be almost guaranteed. Though what reinforcements they bring in depends on how long it takes for them to muster." The captain explained though he didn't really give you much to work with. "Smaller and faster covenant warships are likely to make an appearance, so expect corvettes and jackal raiders to make an appearance."

"Any idea what classes the cruiser and destroyer belong to?" The captain of the concord Hymn asked.

"The cruiser doesn't match anything in our current records, but it was well armed with a handful of torpedo launchers and an extensive jamming suite. It does possess a glassing beam, though it doesn't appear to be as powerful as on other cruisers. But it's powerful enough to maul frigates, so we still have to worry about it." Captain Petrovich revealed, and while you didn't like that the cruiser could still about vaporize your vessel with its firepower, it didn't seem as powerful as a standard cruiser. So you could at least take comfort in that.

The jamming suite, on the other hand, made you worried.

"The destroyer has been identified as a marauder class light destroyer and seems to hold close proximity to the cruiser in order to protect it from fighters." Petrovich continued on, going over the other two classes you had to deal with.

"And finally there is the pair of frigates. They have been classified as Omen class vessels, and are armed with only a pair of torpedo launchers. They are fast, however, and one of them managed to get close enough to the carrier Furious to launch boarding pods. So don't let them get close." The captain paused, before then adding. "As the covenant attempted to board the Furious, I am ordering all vessels to make preparations to comply with contingency Chesapeake."

"Should we get on with assigning our marines, sir?" You asked the captain, looking over at your personal screen, which was currently showing you a feed of the storage hanger that your captured alien was residing in. A squad of marines stood nearby, but the floating alien paid them no heed.

"That you should. Captain Petrovich, out." The captain ordered, before then cutting the connection.

Contingency Chesapeake was a relatively new contingency plan, tacked on to the cole protocol just last year. It mandated plans on how to best counter boarding actions by covenant forces. It basically just detailed that if there was a known risk of being boarded, then the captain of a ship was to take precautions to counter possible boarding actions.

>CONT

>>3529322

Right now, you had fifty marines divided between five squads. Ten of them were currently watching the alien, so that gave you forty to place around the ship. You could assign one squad to each key section of the ship, ensuring that each section had some guards, but making it take longer for reinforcements to reach any section under attack. You could also concentrate your forces in key areas, but that would leave other sections undefended. Or you could just have your squads begin roaming patrols of the ship, which would leave areas without dedicated defenders but would increase the overall response times of all units.

>Divide your marines across the ship (4 squads of 10, plus 1 squad defending the captured alien)
>Concentrate your defences on vital systems (options will be presented in next vote)
>Order all squads to begin patrolling the ship, you can't leave them tied down to one area.
>Other (write-in)

>>3529325
>Order all squads to begin patrolling the ship, you can't leave them tied down to one area.

If ftl has taught me anything, it's that shutting blast doors and venting atmosphere goes a long way.

>>3529325
>>Concentrate your defenses on vital systems (options will be presented in next vote)

>>3529325
>Order all squads to begin patrolling the ship, you can't leave them tied down to one area.
>>3529325

>>3529325
>>Order all squads to begin patrolling the ship, you can't leave them tied down to one area.

File: pistol.png (414 KB, 750x850)

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"Dyad, get a message down to security chief Chambers. Advise him that there is a chance that the covenant will attempt a boarding action." You called the attention of your XO as soon as the line was cut. "I want him to assign all marines squad to begin roaming patrols between key areas of the ship."

"Understood sir, I'll send the message to him right away. If I can recommend opening the secondary armories, I can also send a pair of ensigns down to secure some protection for the bridge." Dyad recommended as she began to punch your message into her personal data-pad. You took her advice and brought up the security control screen on your personal terminal, and within a few seconds, you had the

Due to the size of UNSC warships, many vessels featured secondary armories close to key points of the ship. At first, it had started off as small storage rooms far away from the main armory being apropriated by enterprising security chiefs as improvised armories . However, over time that evolved from the paranoia marines had turned into a fleet-wide practice following the start of the insurrection, an armed insurgency in the outer colonies just prior to the start of the human-covenant war. Granted, they were only the size of a small walk-in wardrobe, and they weren't as well stocked as the main armory. But it would suffice for providing some defense against boarding actions.

Or at least, you hoped that it would.

Unfortunately, it was against protocol to stow firearms on the bridge of a warship. Thankfully, however, the Dawn's Early Light had a secondary armory only two-decks below the bridge. So you didn't have to wait too long for a pair of ensigns to return with a pair of duffel bags packed full of firearms and loaded magazines. They moved to either side of the bridge and began handing out weaponry to each of the crewmen. By the time they reached you, the bags were basically empty.

"Sorry 'bout the lack of stock sir." One of the ensigns joked as he reached into his bag, and pulled out a pistol. He flipped the weapon in his hand and offered it to you grip-first.

"That's perfectly fine, I don't expect to use it." You returned as you took the weapon, and then the pair of magazines that followed it.

"I've got a message back from Chambers." Dyad announced to you, holding her data-pad in one hand and shoving a pair of pistol magazines into her pockets with the other. "He's asking for permission to mobilize the squad guarding the alien. He wants to instead leave some armed crewmen with it just in case."

>Leave the alien without marine guards, you can't leave them tied down to it.
>Keep some marines guarding the alien, you don't want to take any chances.
>Other (write-in)

>>3531366
>Keep some marines guarding the alien, you don't want to take any chances.

>>3531366
>Keep some marines guarding the alien, you don't want to take any chances.
>if the covenant find out we have this one, They might try to aim for it.

>>3531366
>>Keep some marines guarding the alien, you don't want to take any chances.

File: it's more armoured than this.png (700 KB, 1000x1236)

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"Order the lieutenant to keep his men guarding the alien. If the covenant finds out we have it onboard, they might try to take it back." You decided, you didn't know the chances that the alien was actively trying to escape, but if it was then at least you'd have some people in place to make it harder.

"Understood sir." Dyad replied she was quiet for a couple of seconds, before then adding. "Got a reply back, he's leaving the squad in place."

You nodded at the news and went back to your waiting. You idly listened in to reports detailing that the remaining corvette had been detached from the frigate that was carrying it, and was now ready for combat. Meanwhile, the Furious gave a fleet-wide notice that it was halfway through repair efforts. However, you kept your attention divided between the feed from the dawn's sensor suite and staring intently out into the void. Hoping in part to spot the telltale flash of a vessel exiting slipspace.

You didn't have to wait long for something to appear. Less than five minutes after receiving the report from the Furious, various alarms began to sound off from the numerous stations across the bridge. You were about to ask for an explanation when you got one.

"Contact! Tally one unidentified vessel and one frigate. Two-hundred and fifty kilometers out, five degrees to port and ten degrees below the bow." Your sensor officer called out from her station. A few seconds later, the screen over the window flashed once again, before showing a zoomed-in picture of the enemy fleet. The lumpy, silver and off-purple hulls of the covenant vessels standing out against the void. The large vessel featured a pair of fin-like protrusions from underneath its bow, something that only cruisers had. Meanwhile, the frigate was smoother and had a cleaner hull compared to the larger vessel.

"Energy spikes from the covie vessels, they're gonna fire!" Lieutenant Helena added as small pin-pricks of light began to form on the enemy vessels.

>Take a shot right now [MAC gun, Shiva Nuke, Missile, etc]
>Wait until you have orders from Captain Petrovich.
>Other (write-in)

>>3531642
>Wait until you have orders from Captain Petrovich.

prep for evasive maneuvers

>>3531642
>>Take a shot right now [MAC gun
Sorry, new to thread making sure I'm not meating, Are we at the point where the UNSC knows that the covenant drop parts of their shield to fire?

>>3531642
>Wait until you have orders from Captain Petrovich.

>>3531700
Yes, but the gap created by firing those weapons tend to be so small that it's almost impossible to get anything through the hole. Meanwhile, they are only open for around one or two seconds. Making them even harder to exploit.

>>3531756
Do we have an AI who can make those calculations?

>>3531774
No, it wasn't installed when you took command.

File: paris MAC.jpg (134 KB, 1916x805)

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"Nav, bring us head-on to the covie vessels. Weapons, remove interlocks on the MAC and key the missile pods. Wait for orders from the Adelaide." You ordered fingers danced over the screens in front of you as the weapons control officer hammered in authorization codes to arm the hundreds of missiles that were packed on your vessel.

A few seconds later, the silence over the comms broke as your orders arrived.

"All vessels, this is Captain Petrovich, link sensors with the Furious, they will provide fire co-ordination." The captain instructed, and you didn't have to wait long for the order to be carried out. The words UPLINK ESTABLISHED flashed in bold on your personal terminal, before the frigate's RCS thrusters began to make the burns necessary to get you on target.

On paper, the odds were in your favour. A carrier, three destroyers, and three frigates was usually enough firepower to take down a small force of covenant vessels. However, that failed to account for just how old half of those warships were. The old Athens class carrier and the pair of Hillsboroughs featured only one MAC gun apiece, and they were first and second generation guns. While incremental modernisation had made them more effective than they ever had been before, they still only just matched the primary MAC gun on the Charon class. Which put both the Adelaide and your ship higher than them on the firepower charts.

So in layman's terms, you had the equivalent of six frigates and one-and-a-half destroyers firing right now. Which certainly made things a lot more even, especially given that you had no idea just what the cruiser was. Hell, the only thing that lead you to even classify it as a cruiser was the pair of prongs under the bow.

As the MAC gun charged, a deep hum began to reverberate through the bridge as the massive coils were flooded with power. And with a crash and a jolt felt around the ship, the coils discharged in order. Each one working to send the 300 ton, pure-tungsten shell to its new home.

>roll 1d20

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>3531833

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>3531833

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>3531833

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The shields of the cruiser shimmered into life at the first hit, glowing a brilliant blue as the first MAC rounds hit them. But as more and more rounds hit them, the shield began to change color, shifting to a deep purple, and then red, and then dissipating entirely as your round hit. However, no follow-up shots came to exploit the opportunity. It would take time for the vessel to recharge and reset its shields, and losing them so soon in a battle was very bad for them. But you could be damn sure that they would do everything they could to get those shields back up. Meanwhile, the frigate continued on with nary a scratch. It had soaked a round from the Concord Hymn, but one round from a frigate counted for diddly against covenant shield tech.

In response, the covenant vessels fired off half of their weapons. The cruiser, although lacking shields, fired off six plasma torpedoes, which were supplemented by another two from the frigate. Putting a total of eight of the deadly weapons in the void, and traveling directly towards the fleet. And even as they accelerated, the enemy vessels charged other launchers in preparation for another volley.

"Incoming torpedoes! Unsure how many are directed at us though!" Your sensors officer crowed. "Eta, one minute!"

>Take evasive maneuvers!
>Use a skill! (You only have "rapid reload" at the moment)
>Other (write-in)

>>3532006
>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3532006
>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3532006
>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3532006
>>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3532006
>>Take evasive maneuvers!

File: Plasma Torpedo.jpg (41 KB, 1024x768)

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"Nav, take evasive maneuvers!" You ordered, giving the ensign free rein to throw the ship around as he saw fit.

He didn't wait for any specifics on what he had to do. And instead fired the bow maneuvering thrusters downwards, forcing the Dawn's Early Light into a dive, relative to your original position. The camera feed on the viewport remained focussed on the enemy warships and the incoming torpedoes.

"All vessels, take evasive actions immediately!" A voice announced, and given the authority that the speaker carried, you assumed that they were the commanding officer of the Furious.

"Multiple slipspace ruptures detected!" Another voice announced over the comms, though you couldn't identify the speaker. "Tally two jackal raiders!"

"Forget about them, concentrate fire on the cruiser!" The captain returned, however by this point you had stopped listening, as a plasma torpedo broke off from the main volley and began chasing you down.

>Roll 1d20-2

Rolled 18 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3532090

Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3532090

Rolled 13 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3532090

>>3532090

You watched as the torpedo advanced on you. The baleful ball of energized plasma was an enigma to UNSC scientists. How the covenant was able to generate such a weapon, but only use such a crude guidance system for it was something that baffled UNSC scientists. Though one thing that was known was just how lethal it was to any UNSC vessel.

In a way, you supposed that they were similar to archer missiles. Slow, and crudely guided in comparison to the more high tech systems on warships. But in spite of that, they could gut a warship if properly placed. However, for all of their power, their guidance was very crude. Similar to the wire-guided anti-tank missiles of the 20th and 21st century. They needed an observer to guide them in, and that observer seemed to be a living being. Or at least you assumed so, if not then the Covenant had some really bad AI.

Ensign Toulali began to put the Dawn's Early Light into a weaving dive, moving gently to port and starboard as he observed the torpedo. And sure enough, the alien guiding the torpedo tracked the weapon left and right to correct against the ensign's movements. Toulali moved the frigate into a wider turn to port for a few seconds as the weapon reached the final stretch. The operator must have started to lead the projectile by a fair point at that stage, and the ensign took full advantage of it by throwing the dawn into a brutal turn to starboard at the last second.

It was a close-cut thing. The torpedo must have missed the ship by only a few meters, as you could see the paint sloughing off the hull from the heat. However, the torpedo was behind you, so hopefully, it was out of mind.

The UNSC fleet was in bad shape. One of the Hillsborough destroyers had taken a torpedo head-on, knocking a chunk out of the warship and leaving it venting atmosphere. The last frigate in the patrol group had soaked a pair of torpedoes, but its lack of armor had left it in far worse shape, with one of its engine pods blown clean off and the lower spar of its bow barely hanging onto its hull. Leaving the vessel fighting to re-orient towards the battle. The Adilade had soaked a plasma torpedo as well, but it had hit one of the large armored sections on the upper flank of the vessel. Leaving a large crater, but damaging nothing vital. Likewise, the Furious had also soaked some torpedoes, but as a fleet carrier, it was still in fighting shape.

>Cont

File: jackal raider.png (1.64 MB, 1510x648)

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>>3532241

On the covenant side of things, the raiders were charging the UNSC fleet. Apparently, they were aware that they were domed in a long-range fight and instead decided to try and get as close as possible. The lone Mako class was riding out to intercept them, but the odds were so stacked against it that it might as well function as a speedbump. At best, the Mako would have two naval coilgun batteries and a pair of archer missile pods. Even against a single covenant ship, two missile pods and two point-defense turrets were precious little against a Covenant warship. Now factor in that the Mako was damaged, and that there were two of the little raiders...

Meanwhile, the cruiser sat as far back as possible, charging to fire off more plasma torpedoes. You watched as it loosed another volley, six more torpedoes lanced off the vessel, and streaked towards the UNSC fleet. The frigate sat between it and the raiders, advancing cautiously, but still advancing. Apparently, it's commander was hoping to let the raiders take the attention of the fleet while it got close.

>Target the raiders! You can't let them get in close! (MAC gun, Shiva nuke, Archer missiles)
>Fire on the frigate! It's not getting enough MAC rounds! (MAC gun, Shiva nuke, Archer missiles)
>Hit the cruiser! They sent something at you, time to send something back! (MAC gun, Shiva nuke, Archer missiles)
>Other (write in)

>>3532251
>>Fire on the frigate! It's not getting enough MAC rounds! (MAC gun, Shiva nuke, Archer missiles)
MAC

>>3532251
>Target the raiders! You can't let them get in close! (MAC gun, Archer missiles)

I'd say the crusier, or frigate but we need to wipe out the easier things so that we can fucking crush them with focused fire.

>>3532251
>Hit the cruiser! They sent something at you, time to send something back! (MAC gun, Shiva nuke, Archer missiles)

>>3532251
>>Hit the cruiser! They sent something at you, time to send something back! (MAC gun, Shiva nuke, Archer missiles)
Mac

If we hit it hard enough while shields are down? It dies.

>>3532259
>>3532264
Just an FYI, you have to say what weapon you want to use.

>>3532278
Mac

Can we fire on the raiders with missiles too, or is it one or the other?

>>3532293
Yeah, just keep in mind that you may take on negatives to hit rolls if you fire off all of your weapons.

>>3532278
Mac round then, There shields are still up.

>>3532251
>>Hit the cruiser! They sent something at you, time to send something back! (MAC gun

Can we also fire archer missiles at the raiders, or can we only direct 1 attack?

>>3532337
Yeah, you can direct the missiles as well. I should have specified it better given how many people have asked about it.

I'll include firing missiles at the raiders in the choice as 2 people on the same option have asked for it.

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"Nav, bring us back into the fight. I want our gun on that cruiser ASAP." You ordered, before turning your attention to the weapons officer. "Weapons, I want you to target the raiders with our archer missiles, we need to support our corvette."

"Understood sir, keying archer pods. " The lieutenant at the weapons station replied, before then crowing. “Archer pods hot!”

"We're on target, your shot weapons," Toulali confirmed after a couple of seconds of manoeuvring. The massive spinal coilgun was facing directly towards the cruiser, but in order to line up the killing shot, he had to hand off controls to the weapons officer.

>Roll 2d20. MAC gun will have a -2 debuff and the archer missiles will have a -4 debuff.

Rolled 10, 10 = 20 (2d20)

>>3532358

Rolled 10, 2 = 12 (2d20)

>>3532358

Rolled 16, 6 = 22 (2d20)

>>3532358

Rolled 2, 8 = 10 (2d20)

>>3532358
Check em

>>3532389
Oh no

Rolled 11, 4 = 15 (2d20)

>>3532358

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3532380
Lets see which one gets the 16. (1) for the MAC, (2) for the archers.

"Archers away!" The weapons systems officer called just a second before fire erupted from both sides of the forked bow. The volley of missiles broke up into a pair of distinct swarms as they quickly tracked towards the pair of fast-moving raiders, each missile networking to each other to coordinate their movements, giving room for each missile to conduct some evasive maneuvers if they were shot at.

"MAC almost ready!" The officer continued as the rumbling belowdecks continued to grow. It reached after a head a few seconds later, before suddenly stopping as the coils discharged, firing the ferromagnetic round at the unknown covenant cruiser.

The enemy cruiser took the shot to the port-side of its bulbous midsection and carved a hole straight through the vessel's hull. A charging plasma weapon on that section of the ship detonated, as whatever was containing the plasma broke, unleashing another blast on the side of the vessel. However the round missed any vital systems, and aside from venting some air and losing a torpedo launcher, the vessel suffered no lasting damage.

The raiders, on the other hand, fared far worse. The vessels were concentrating the fire from their pulse lasers on a volley of archer missiles from the lone Mako class corvette and a nearby Hillsborough class destroyer. However, their handful of pulse laser turrets were spread thin having to deal with the combined fire from both warships, allowing your volley of missiles to get closer and closer. One of the raiders opened fire on your volley of missiles, but in the process left a gap open for a few missiles from the destroyer to hammer its shields, weakening them.

By the time they were finished cutting through the volley of missiles directed at them by the two other UNSC warships, they had only scant seconds to wildly fire at your missiles. And while dozens were slashed out of the void, it wasn't enough to save them.

The leading raider tried in vain to dodge the volley of missiles, but it made no difference. Forty missiles slammed into its shields, and then punched through them, leaving the way open for a handful of missiles, which punched into the hull in multiple places. One of the forward prongs was blown clean off, while the vessel's tiny hanger was practically vaporized. The second vessel faired worse than it's leader, with its shields already weakened, it took less for them to be shattered, leaving the raider exposed to a dozen more missiles.

The vessel was practically obliterated by the missiles alone. A breach of its reactor added one more sun to the void for just a second, before leaving nothing but debris and vapor in its wake.

However, the cruiser had taken notice that you had taken a swing at it, and you didn't have to wait too long for it to fire back, sending a pair of plasma torpedoes right at you.

>Take evasive maneuvers!
>Use a skill! (You only have "rapid reload" at the moment)
>Other (write-in)

>>3533638
>>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3533638
>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3533638
>>Take evasive maneuvers!

>>3533638
>Take evasive maneuvers!

File: engines (1).png (153 KB, 329x550)

153 KB PNG

"Ensign, get us away from those torpedoes!" You ordered your navigation officer. He had done well to make sure you survived getting hit once, you just hoped that he could do it again.

"Sir, might I recommend ordering damage control to their stations?" Ensign Toulali suggested as he took control of the helm, the massive thrusters of the Dawn's Early light powering up to maximum.

"They already are, just concentrate on making sure we don't get hit in the first place." You assured the ensign as he began to turn the frigate parallel to the enemy cruiser.

>roll 1d20-2, 2 highest rolls out of 4 count.

Rolled 11 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3533773

Rolled 5 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3533773

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>3533773

Rolled 3 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3533773
+-2 for the mod guys

Rolled 15 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3533773
F

>>3533837
glad as hell we killed that third torp port.

This time, Toulali repeated the manouver he had attempted before, of heading in one direction in a winding course, before then reversing his direction at the last second. It was basically the only manouver that a frigate could use to

However, the gunners on the enemy cruiser had caught on to his ploy. or they were just better than the last alien to take a swing at your ship. You watched as one of the torpedoes began to accelerate further ahead than the other, and tracked you in a similar manner to the first torpedo fired at you. However, the torpedo that lagged behind it remained on an almost straight trajectory, only turning and correcting when Toulali took the frigate on a new course entirely.

"Damn it, brace for impact!" Toulali called from his station as he threw the frigate into one last, desperate turn. You watched a bright flash lance past the bow of the frigate as the first torpedo missed, leaving a trail of plasma in it's wake. But you knew that the second one was right behind it. And it wouldn't miss.

>roll 1d6

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>3533898

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>3533898

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>3533898

>>3533908
>>3533910
>>3533912
huh

File: frigates soaking hits.png (1.28 MB, 800x764)

1.28 MB PNG

You've never been on receiving end of a plasma torpedo hit. Of course, the training academy at Reach had gone to great lengths to show all of its cadets just what would happen when you got hit. But even then, nothing they had shown or put you through compared to the real thing.

The hit was somewhere just a bit forward and to port of the bridge. It can't have been too far away as the force of the hit knocked you back into your seat, and almost sent Dyad flying. Your XO dropped her data-pad, and almost followed it to the floor.

"Impact! Port-side hangers four, five and six have been hit!" Your damage control officer called out. The man reading off the report as it came in. "Point defense turret over hanger four is gone, hanger three is decompressed, and fire reported in the magazine under hanger three and in adjacent areas on decks nine-through-twelve."

"Alpha Squadron is requesting permission to launch sir! That fire might spread to the local magazine." Your aviation control officer also called out, adding another voice to the growing chorus of ensigns yelling reports related to their stations.

"Enemy frigate is closing on us, sir!" Your sensor officer called out, and as if to emphasize her point, the viewing screen over the bridge window flicked to focus on the covenant frigate, the deep-purple vessel moving head-on towards you. In the background, just outside of the window, a large chunk of titanium A battle plating floated past. "They are a hundred kilometers out and closing!"

"All vessels, this is captain Walker of the [i]Furious[/i]." A voice announced over the comms. "Link targeting computers to my ship, if we damage the cruiser enough, they will bug out!"

Yeah, easy for them to say, they didn't have a major covenant warship on their ass.

>Co-ordinate fire on the cruiser, you have to force out back! (roll 1d20-2)
>Fire on the frigate! You need to ward it off! (MAC, shiva nuke, archer missiles)
>Run and try to effect repairs (roll 1d20+4)
>Other (write in)

>>3534121
>Co-ordinate fire on the cruiser, you have to force out back!

>>3534121
>Co-ordinate fire on the cruiser, you have to force out back!

launch fighters

>>3534121
>Co-ordinate fire on the cruiser, you have to force out back! (roll 1d20-2)

>>3534121
>>Co-ordinate fire on the cruiser, you have to force out back! (roll 1d20-2)

>>3534121
>>Co-ordinate fire on the cruiser, you have to force out back! (roll 1d20-2)
>Launch alpha with what it has
>Beta with anti-ship ordinance

>>3534130
>>3534132
>>3534147
>>3534159
>>3534160

Just a quick question, have all of you rolled? Because nothing is showing up for me.

Have you thought about making or joining a discord QM?

Rolled 19 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3534167
Nope, assumed roll would be later.

Rolled 1 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3534167
no vote confirmation?

ok

Rolled 8 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3534167
I forget this quest is weird boss

>>3534171
Oh I thought it wasn't roll with post.

>>3534171
Nah, the way I see it I'm not a large enough QM to warrant a discord. And as far as I know there isn't a well known discord for quests, so that leaves /qst/ as the best choice.

File: covie cruiser (2).jpg (114 KB, 800x600)

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"Weapons, bring us about to face the cruiser, we need to hit it!" You began barking out orders in rapid succession. "Sensors, data-link with the Furious. We need that shot to count. Aviation, get alpha squadron out with whatever they have, I want bravo to load up with anti-ship ordinance and follow them out. Damage control, assign damage control teams to combat fires and contain the damage."

"Should I order them to let the magazine in hanger three to burn?" The ensign asked as the doors to the remaining hangers on the port of the ship opened, and a trio of wedge-shaped fighters rocketed out.

"If they can, but containing the spread of the fires is their primary concern." You clarified as the vessel lined up on the covenant cruiser. The massive warship hung in space like a jewel, a cracked jewel, courtesy of your grazing shot.

Your frigate began to shake once again as the MAC gun coils charged, each one building up a terrific amount of power as it prepared to send a 3rd, and hopefully final shot into the enemy capitol ship. The weapon discharged, and the muzzle flash was twinned with another, smaller explosion as the magazine in hanger three detonated, blowing the floor out from under the hanger.

This time, however, the cruiser was weak. Apparently, its shields hadn't fully recharged from getting depleted earlier. As the first shot to hit it made its shields flash a violent violet. Your shot once again shattered the shield, and the vessel was knocked clean back as a pair of rounds punched into its hull. You didn't know who hit it, but the combined shots punched two clean holes in the vessel, and sent in careening for a couple of seconds, with a massive cloud of atmosphere following in its wake.

You would have cheered, but the frigate was too close for comfort. And to make matters worse, you could see the glowing marks of charged plasma torpedo launchers on the perimeter of the hull. You watched, powerless, as the vessel fired a full fusillade of torpedoes.

And it took you a second to realize that the torpedoes weren't actually heading towards your ship. The torpedoes instead arced around the covenant vessel, flying up and towards the remaining UNSC warships. You had a second to feel relieved, before then realizing what the enemy ship was trying to do.

They were getting close to try and board your ship. And as if to emphasize the point, the ship began to fire on you with its plasma cannons.

>Run! There is no point in throwing yourself into a CQC fight with a better armed and protected ship. (roll 1d20-2)
>Get in close! If you stay close enough then you might get some protection against return fire from the cruiser. (roll 1d20-6)
>Other (write in)

>>3534259
>>Get in close! If you stay close enough then you might get some protection against return fire from the cruiser. (roll 1d20-6)
We have a disadvantage, but if we run away they're just gonna nail us in the ass. We have to fight, even if we're going down with them

>>3534259
>Get in close! If you stay close enough then you might get some protection against return fire from the cruiser. (roll 1d20-6)

Do we have any shivers left Thunder?

Rolled 13 - 6 (1d20 - 6)

>>3534259
>>Get in close! If you stay close enough then you might get some protection against return fire from the cruiser. (roll 1d20-6)

Rolled 2 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3534259
>>Get in close! If you stay close enough then you might get some protection against return fire from the cruiser. (roll 1d20-6)

Rolled 9 - 6 (1d20 - 6)

>>3534275

>>3534275
This is your first major engagement, so you haven't used any. You have 3 of them, loaded and ready to fire.

>>3534286
Could we get one fired into the hull of the enemy cruiser and survive with us being this close? IF we don't die of course.

>>3534294
Well the cruiser is a long distance away, so you would be out of the blast radius. But the issue is that you would have to fly the missile past the frigate, it's pulse laser, and into the cruiser's pulse laser network. Both of which are designed to kill missiles. You could give it "cover" of a sorts by firing some archer missiles to soak up pulse laser fire, but even then, the cruiser is already under the guns of the other UNSC vessels. So you would be firing at a ship that's already having a bad time.

The frigate on the other hand is much closer, and you'd have to do some work to make sure that you don't get caught in the blast radius (if someone writes in an idea, and it's workable, then you'll learn it as a skill and get a bonus). But doing so would strip the shields off the frigate and leave it vulnerable to your archer missiles and longswords.

>>3534325
Do we have any small aircraft that can avoid pulse laser?

>>3534340
Perhaps a kamikazi and busting the shields at the same time and boosting with emergency thrusters?

>>3534340
No, covenant pulse lasers are effective against most small and fast moving targets. They are relatively weak, so longsword fighters can soak a hit or two, but will die to sustained fire without proper fire support. But avoiding pulse laser fire is only something that you can do with either advanced tech or plot armour. And you have neither.

>>3534354
Would it be possible to crash into the frigate, slow down on it's shield by friction and shoot it point blank with MAC?

"Nav. Get us closer to that frigate!" You ordered, and Toulali complied almost immediately. You didn't know whether to chalk that up to him trusting you, or him not thinking too hard about his orders.

"But sir! Aren't they trying to board us? Isn't that the worst thing we could do right now?" Dyad protested from just behind you, apparently not seeing your reasoning.

"If we run, they'll just hit us with plasma torpedoes and we'll be open to fire from the cruiser. If we're close then they won't be able to press that advantage!" You explained your reasoning, giving your XO some pause.

Dyad was silent for a couple of seconds, before then sighing and picking up her data-pad. "I'll tell lieutenant chambers to expect guests."

"Better make that a ship-wide notice." You drily recommended as your ship closed on the Covenant warship. You could start to make out the details of the hull, though a lot of that just boiled down to seeing the glowing lights of charged and ready weapons batteries.

>Be aggressive! Just because you are wounded doesn't mean you'll be easy. (roll 1d20-2)
>Stay defensive! You aren't looking to get your ship gutted. (roll 1d20+2)
>Run right past him! You are having second thoughts. (roll 1d20)
>Other (write in)

Rolled 2 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3534381
>>Be aggressive! Just because you are wounded doesn't mean you'll be easy. (roll 1d20-2)

>>3534381
>>Be aggressive! Just because you are wounded doesn't mean you'll be easy. (roll 1d20-2)

>>3534389

>>3534394
how do you get the negative roll?

>>3534380
Well you could try that, but the amount of time between hitting the sheilds and hitting the hull would be measured in meters. And at your current closing speed, that would translate into a time frame of less than a second to fire the gun. And even then, you would end up ramming the enemy warship, damaging your own ship and taking your MAC offline until you get it repaired.

And even after all of that, it's no guarantee that you would be able to kill the enemy vessel outright.

>>3534398
The anon here has it >>3533804

>>3534389

Rolled 12 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3534419

Rolled 5 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3534381
>Be aggressive! Just because you are wounded doesn't mean you'll be easy. (roll 1d20-2)

File: 1549824137246.gif (875 KB, 250x231)

875 KB GIF

Rolled 2 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>these rolls
>can't vote defensive either
>>3534381
>Be aggressive! Just because you are wounded doesn't mean you'll be easy.

Rolled 8 - 5 (1d20 - 5)

What trash dice tonight.

File: Itano Circus.jpg (121 KB, 1920x1080)

121 KB JPG

Rolled 3 (1d20)

Why do you guys care about that cov cruiser? It's already a goner.

>>3534381
>Other
>Swarm the frigate with missiles launched concurrently with one nuke

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>3535164
Supporting

File: paris in CQC.jpg (138 KB, 1920x1080)

138 KB JPG

"Nav, present the starboard side of the ship to the enemy. Weapons, bring all of our ordinance to bear. We want to strip their shields as quickly as possible." You ordered as your second longsword squadron launched from their hangers, the craft peeled away as your ship dived into what could be charitably defined as knife fighting distance.

"Activating shutters over starboard archer pods and de-keying them. We won't be able to use them, but they won't be able to set them off in their pods." Your weapons controller notified you as to his precautions. And while you were sure that the blowout systems built into each launcher would prevent much damage in the event of a pod being detonated, you were happy that he wasn't taking any chances.

You watched as the smooth, luminous vessel began to slide closer to your ship, blue glowing specks of light along the hull from the vessel's close-range plasma cannons told you that they were ready for a fight.

As you closed, the four point-defence gun turrets on the starboard side of your ship roared into life. Each one was fitted with a pair of 50mm coilguns, and disgorged rounds at a massive rate. However, even with a veritable avalanche of rounds hitting the enemy shields, they were no worse for wear. Your ship, on the other hand, was not doing as well. You were taking multiple from the enemy's plasma cannons, each one shaking the ship as the starboard side of your hull was cratered with multiple impacts from the enemy's guns.

Still, your navigation officer kept your vessel close to them. Barely a kilometre away from the enemy vessel at most. You remained close enough to the enemy vessel to make a torpedo attack almost impossible, even if it left your vessel almost entirely within the range of the enemy's guns.

"Boarding craft! They're trying to board us!" Your aviation control officer called as half a dozen small, vaguely bug-like vessels detached from the hull of the enemy warship and rocketed towards your vessel.

>Re-target with you point defence guns, it's what they are made for! (roll 1d20-2)
>Volley fire some anti-fighter missiles at them, you need the point defence guns elsewhere! (roll 1d20-4)
>Other (write in)

Rolled 20 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3536208

>Re-target with you point defence guns, it's what they are made for! (roll 1d20-2)

>>3536208
>>Re-target with you point defence guns, it's what they are made for! (roll 1d20-2)

>>3536208
>Re-target with you point defence guns, it's what they are made for! (roll 1d20-2)

File: covie frigate.png (152 KB, 869x366)

152 KB PNG

"Weapons, take down those boarding craft!" You ordered your weapons control officer, who was already taking the frigate's guns away from the enemy frigate and directing them towards the small vessels. The enemy boarding craft had barely crossed halfway towards your vessel when they were cut down. The tight formation being easy prey to the concentrated fire from the four anti-fighter weapons.

"How long are we going to keep this up, sir?" Your communications officer asked, his normal bravado gone from his voice.

"As long as it takes for the rest of the fleet to pull their heads out of their asses and help us." You answered as the ship was rocked by a particularly violent hit. You guessed that a section must have been explosively decompressed just a couple of seconds before the damage control screen confirmed it, highlighting a section of deck 15 in blue, where the lower fork of the bow met the rest of the hull.

Not good, that meant that they were already through the main armor layer. And while you were reluctant to show the port-side of your hull, you doubted that you would have much of a choice if your ship kept taking this much damage.

"Dawn's Early Light, this is Captain Petrovich." Your comms crackled into life. "Both my vessel and the rest of the fleet are ready to engage the enemy frigate, however, we need you to gain separation from it so that we have a clear shot."

"Understood sir, we're moving." You assured the captain, before cutting the link and addressing your navigation officer. "Nav, get us out of here! Sensors, give me the picture from the aft cameras as we leave."

Both stations snapped to their orders without delay. You felt the acceleration push you back into your seat as Ensign Toulali pushed the frigate's thrusters to their maximum. And a couple of seconds after, the screen over the bridge panel flashed into life, showing you the purple warship that had been beating the hell out of your ship for the past few minutes.

The view aft also gave you a great look as the enemy vessel was speared from above by a pair of MAC rounds. The twinned shots caused its shields, before shattering entirely. However, the vessel was still intact and firing at you.

>Finish the frigate! You might as well get some payback! (roll dice+1d20-4)
>Get out of there! You can leave the kill to someone else.
>Other (write-in)

>>3536361
>Get out of there! You can leave the kill to someone else.

>>3536361
>>Get out of there! You can leave the kill to someone else.

>>3536361
>>Get out of there! You can leave the kill to someone else.
How Ever let's do some harassment and fire a salvo of archer pods.

Rolled 13 - 4 (1d20 - 4)

Why did you guys vote to approach the frigate in the first place? And now again, you wanna run away just as their shields are down? We run away -> they chase us -> they are moving target -> harder for our pack to hit them

>>3536361
>Finish the frigate! You might as well get some payback! (roll dice+1d20-4)
Fire point defense and missiles into them as we are turning so our bow faces the frigate, reducing the surface area we present them and bringing our MAC on them. Point defense followed by missiles followed by a point blank MAC shot should finish the job.

Rolled 18 - 4 (1d20 - 4)

>>3537071
supporting

>>3537071
We got close to them because they were closing in on us, and if we left they would have just taken pot shots until we were down. Now we're being ordered backwards or we might take friendly fire from our own fleet.

Rolled 6 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3536361
>Finish the frigate! You might as well get some payback! (roll dice+1d20-4)

>>3536361
>>Get out of there! You can leave the kill to someone else.

>>3536361
>Get out of there! You can leave the kill to someone else.

>>3537071
Support.

>>3536361
>>Finish the frigate! You might as well get some payback! (roll dice+1d20-4)

Get our fighters on it!

>>3536361
>>Finish the frigate! You might as well get some payback! (roll dice+1d20-4)

File: covie frig.png (247 KB, 848x416)

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"Keep going nav. Get us out of here." You pushed the man at the helm to move faster as the ship was rocked by another hit, this time to the rear. Thankfully, the armor to the rear of your ship was just as thick as anywhere else. However, you didn't want to risk the enemy hitting your reactor and engines. Getting immobilized within weapons range of an enemy ship was a death sentence for any ship, that was true for any ship throughout history.

"I'm going as fast sir, we're almost out of effective cannon range." The ensign assured you, as you watched over his shoulder at the readings on his screen. And sure enough, the engines were being pushed to their maximum.

You watched the frigate dived underneath the view of the camera, the parting volley of plasma cannon shots having been rushed, as they all missed. The view switched to track the vessel as it accelerated, leaving you to run. However, it was not leaving without getting a lethal swipe at you. You looked on in worry as a trio of points on the vessel glowed with growing heat. And given the range, you could only assume that they were charging their plasma torpedo launchers.

They never got the chance to fire.

You watched as another MAC round speared through the top of the enemy warship, punching right through its bow. And with no shields in its way, the round punched clean through the entire hull. The vessel toppled end-over-end, twice, before being slammed by another round. The second round punched through its midsection as the vessel tried to right itself.

By the time the third round slammed into it, you could see the light emanating out of the hole left by the second shot. The reactor finally detonated, blowing the enemy vessel into hunks of debris and superheated shrapnel.

>Check on the rest of the fleet, how are they holding up?
>Get a damage report, how many times have you been holed?
>Sweep for remaining hostiles, you need to see if there is anything that has been missed. (roll 1d20)
>Other (write-in)

>>3540465
>Get a damage report, how many times have you been holed?

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>3540465
>Sweep for remaining hostiles, you need to see if there is anything that has been missed. (roll 1d20)

>>3540465
>>Get a damage report, how many times have you been holed?

>>3540465
>>Get a damage report, how many times have you been holed?

"Damage report. How are we doing?" You asked as you settled back into your seat. At least now, you could take stock of what was happening on your ship without having to worry about getting shot even more.

"Port-side hangers four, five and six are completely destroyed. All items within both hangers are gone. Given that, we can assume that two of our pelican dropships, the spare longsword, and all assorted supplies have been lost." Your aviation control officer reported, filling out his end of the report. "Additionally, the bulkhead between hanger three and four has melted, and hanger three's ordinance magazine has detonated. So we won't be able to land a longsword in there."

The damage control officer took over the report. "Damage control teams have contained the fire, and are working to seal and repressurize areas around those hangers in order to facilitate travel. Additionally, we have been holed eleven times on nine decks on the starboard side of the ship, and have lost two of the point defense guns on that side of the ship. Efforts to control damage are being hampered by decompressed sections of the ship."

"Casualties?" You asked, while the damage to the ship was severe, it could be repaired. The loss of crew members, on the other hand, was far worse.

"We're still waiting on a casualty report, but given the number of sections holed, I'd be willing to put the number at around the thirty mark." The lieutenant gave a rough estimate. "All injured are being triaged, with the most severe cases being sent to the medical deck."

There was a pause for a couple of seconds before the lieutenant spoke again "Sir, the damage control chief is asking if he should focus on making the ship safe for slipspace travel, or repressurizing decks?"

This was a significant decision. If you restored pressurization to some decks, it would make movement around the ship much easier. And that included the movement of casualties. The longer wounded were left without treatment, the worse their condition could get. And for people with severe injuries, the only result from a worsening condition would be death. If you could patch up damaged sections of the ship, and get people moving, you could reduce the chances of more people dying.

However, restoring the radiation shielding would hopefully prevent the ship from sustaining more damage from radiation during your next slipspace jump. Sure, many of the major bulkheads were designed to block out this radiation. But even then, if you jumped into slipspace without restoring the radiation paneling, you would be condemning whole sections of the ship to get bathed in radiation, along with anyone within them. And those sections of the ship would have to be completely gutted and replaced during repairs.

>CONT

>>3540574

You sighed to yourself. Unfortunately, you just didn't have the manpower to get both done at once. And that was before you factored in stuff like secondary fires, flooding from water pipes, and other things. You had to choose one or the other.

>Repressurise whatever sections you can, you can always evacuate sections before a jump. (reduction in total casualties [+1 underworld affiliation])
>Restore the radiation shielding, you don't want to jump to FTL with an open hole in your side. (reduction to damage sustained during next FTL jump [+1 FLEETCOM affiliation])

>>3540577
>Restore the radiation shielding, you don't want to jump to FTL with an open hole in your side. (reduction to damage sustained during next FTL jump [+1 FLEETCOM affiliation])

Humans aren't the things in short supply, Its the fucking ships.

>>3540577
>>Restore the radiation shielding, you don't want to jump to FTL with an open hole in your side. (reduction to damage sustained during next FTL jump [+1 FLEETCOM affiliation])

>>3540577
>>Repressurise whatever sections you can, you can always evacuate sections before a jump. (reduction in total casualties [+1 underworld affiliation])
Conserve the crew.
We can dump the full repairs on the yards at home.

>>3540577
>>Repressurise whatever sections you can, you can always evacuate sections before a jump. (reduction in total casualties [+1 underworld affiliation])

"Order the chief to ensure all sections are properly shielded. We need to be ready to jump out as soon as possible." You ordered. While you didn't like the idea of making it harder for people to move the injured to get the help they needed, the fact remained that a lot more people would be injured if you left entire sections open during a slipspace jump. Cherenkov radiation had a tendency to stick to things other than starship hulls.

Not to mention that you would have to wait for people to evacuate those sections, which would take time. And if the Covenant jumped in a massive fleet, staying around for even a few seconds longer than necessary could spell disaster.

"Adelaide to all vessels." The comms crackled into life, letting you hear the voice of your commanding officer once again. "What are your conditions? We are condition yellow right now, flight pod is gone, but nothing else."

Thankfully, the UNSC damage condition rating was a simple, color-based system. Green meaning that you were fine, yellow meaning that you had sustained some damage, orange meaning that you had sustained a moderate amount of damage, and red meaning that you had been severely mauled.

"Concord Hymn, condition orange. The ventral bay is gone, MAC capacitors are damaged and we're holed on multiple decks." The captain of the only other combat-capable frigate answered before you.

"Dawn's Early Light, condition yellow." You answered, before reading out an itemized list of your damage. And while it seemed bad, none of your key systems were gone. "Half of our port flight pod is gone, most armor sections on our port are compromised, around a quarter of our point defense guns are down, and we're also holed on multiple decks."

"Understood. All enemy vessels are destroyed, form up with the rest of the fleet and handle the situation as you see fit. Be advised, however, we are not sure if the covenant is done sending ships in. There is still a destroyer unaccounted for, and we don't know how many more ships they want to throw at us." Captain Petrovich ordered, before cutting the comms channel at his end.

>Handle your air-wings situation. You need to ensure provisions for them.
>Begin SAR work. You can't just leave people floating when you may have to run.
>Survey the wreaks. You might as well see what you can recover.
>Other (write in)

>>3540672
>Begin SAR work. You can't just leave people floating when you may have to run.

>>3540672
>>Begin SAR work. You can't just leave people floating when you may have to run.

>>3540672
>>Begin SAR work. You can't just leave people floating when you may have to run.

>>3540672
>Begin SAR work. You can't just leave people floating when you may have to run.

Can we... Use the uh, Ayy lamo to help us on repairs yet or no? I can't rememeber

File: bumblebee pod.jpg (71 KB, 800x600)

71 KB JPG

"Helm, take us back to the fleet. Aviation, launch pelicans to assist in search and rescue." You gave your orders. While you knew that licking your wounds was important, you didn't like the idea of leaving people behind if you could help it. And if the covenant brought in another fleet of the same size as the one you had just faced, then you would have to run.

As you returned to the fleet, you saw that your attempt to save the lone Mako class corvette had been in vain. The small vessel had been almost vaporised by fire from a plasma torpedo, which had hit the port side of its boxy hull. It joined the patrol fleet's last frigate as a dead hulk of metal, giving off a large radiation signature, and playing hell with your sensors.

However, in amongst the debris, you could see signs of activity. Bumblebee escape pods that had lain dormant to avoid detection and fire were starting their engines and running for the nearest ships to offload their survivors.

Unfortunately, many UNSC ships used smaller, 3-man pods. Which were far more common on smaller escorts, and usually unpowered. Due to that, they had to be rescued by a small ship. And even worse, their transponders were under powered compared to the ones in the larger bumblebees. Which made actually finding them much harder. Especially when you had to factor in things like debris, radiation leaks, clouds of vented atmosphere, and other things.

Theoretically, you could have your longswords assist your remaining pelicans. While they weren't really that suited for the job, each longsword possessed a high-strength cable that was usually used on EVA by crewmen. Thruster wash would be an issue, and the time taken to hook up each pod for towing, but it would overall reduce the amount of time needed to recover all of the pods. Then again. If, or rather when, the covenant returned they would be sitting ducks. Best case scenario would be that each ship would have to abandon the pods they were towing in order to enter combat. Worst case scenario would be that they were destroyed by covenant fighters before they managed to detach from the pods.

Alternately, you could just have your longswords search for the escape pods, and just mark them for recovery by other pelicans. While the Adelaide had lost its craft, and the Concord Hymn had probably lost half of their craft, there was probably still a sizeable number of pelicans in the fleet. And if they could be lead to each pod, it would save time without tying your fighters down.

>Have the longswords assist in recovering the pods.
>Have the longswords search for escape pods, but not recover them.
>Keep the longswords close. You want them ready to respond to any incoming threats.
>Other (write-in)

>>3540789
>Have the longswords search for escape pods, but not recover them.

>>3540789
>Have the longswords search for escape pods, but not recover them.

>>3540789
>>Have the longswords search for escape pods, but not recover them.

>>3540789
>>Have the longswords search for escape pods, but not recover them.

"Aviation." You called the attention of the lieutenant. "Order both of our longsword squadrons to search through the debris fields for small escape pods and call them in to recovery pelicans."

"Should I take us closer to the damaged vessels sir? It would accelerate the recovery process if we are near to the vessels." Ensign Toulali pointed out the obvious, but you still had to think on this question, as both getting closer and staying away had their points.

If you got closer, then recovering the escape pods would be much easier, as the pods would have a shorter distance to travel, and with your seven remaining hanger bays, it would be very easy. And the sooner everyone was recovered, the sooner you could get out of here.

However, the further away you were, the easier it would be to respond to any incoming attack. Plus you had your own wounded to look after, bringing on escape pods would indefinitely mean bringing on more wounded. And while there would probably not be any critically wounded people, you didn't want to put your medical staff under more strain.

>Take the vessel closer, you need to recover people as quickly as possible.
>Stay away from the debris fields, you can't take anyone else onboard.
>Other (write-in)

>>3540897
>Take the vessel closer, you need to recover people as quickly as possible.

>>3540897
>Take the vessel closer, you need to recover people as quickly as possible.

>>3540897
>>Take the vessel closer, you need to recover people as quickly as possible.

>>3540897
>>Take the vessel closer, you need to recover people as quickly as possible.

File: slipspace jump.jpg (60 KB, 1280x720)

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"Take us closer, we need to make sure that everyone is on board as soon as possible." You ordered, ultimately, the covenant was going to send another fleet in. And the sooner you left the sooner you would be out of the enemy's gunsights.

It took your ship five minutes to arrive between the wreaks of the frigate and the corvette to begin recovering the escape pods. And ten minutes later, the comms crackled into life with a message from the carrier you had been sent to defend. "This is the carrier Furious, our slipspace drive is repaired and we will depart the area soon."

"Ensign Toulali? Is our drive charged and ready to join them?" You asked as you watched another hanger open to allow two dozen empty escape pods to float out, and a waiting trio of Pelican dropships to start the process of landing more survivors.

"It is sir, we are ready to move on your mark." The ensign answered, and you nodded at the news. At least the option to leave was available. Granted, it would still take a bit of time for the remaining escape pods to be recovered. But with the aid of some dropships from the carrier herself, you were confident that it would be finished quickly.

Or at least, that's what you had hoped for.

"Slipspace rupture detected! Slipspace rupture detected!" An automated voice crowed twice from the ship's speakers.

Your head snapped to the window in time to see the blue halo of a slipspace portal collapse in on itself off in the far distance. The display over the window snapped into life and zoomed in on the new arrivals. Showing you a neatly scaled up picture of two covenant warships. One destroyer, and one corvette. You were about to order your navigator around to face the enemy when another bright, blue light appeared much closer to your ship, your heart stopped in worry that an enemy ship was about to appear right in your midst.

Your heart sank when you looked over, but not because the covenant was jumping in. The Furious and one of her escorts were jumping out.

"Furious, what are you doing!" Captain Petrovich yelled over the open frequency. However, there was no response from the ship in the seconds before it and it's escorting destroyer both jumped out. Leaving behind their escorts, and a handful of pelican dropships that had been helping out with the rescue effort.

This... had turned into a difficult situation. If both the carrier and the destroyer had stayed, then dealing with the destroyer and corvette would have been much easier. But with two guns gone, the chances of severely damaging the enemy ships before they got their torpedoes off basically evaporated. And none of the ships left were in any shape for a stand-up fight. The other destroyer and the Adilade were the only ones that had any real capability to shrug off a plasma torpedo. And they were both damaged. You had only shrugged off your hit due to dumb luck. And that was before you accounted for the failings of the enemy gunners.

>CONT

>>3541050
>Turn and run! None of the ships here are in any shape to fight.
>Stand and fight! You can't leave people behind, even if it puts you in danger.

>>3541053
how many are still out?

>>3541053

So wait WHO is currently left here in this battle space, I seem to be having a tism.

>>3541058
>>3541061
Only the Adilade and her destroyer, along with some stray Pelicans, it seems. If nobody has any objections,
>>3541053
>Stand and fight! You can't leave people behind, even if it puts you in danger.
Long enough for the Pelicans to return and for the others to jump out. If worse comes to worst, there are always the wipes.

>>3541053
>>Stand and fight! You can't leave people behind, even if it puts you in danger.

>>3541137
Correction, I got the order wrong, the wipes are first.

>>3541053
>Turn and run! None of the ships here are in any shape to fight.

>>3541137
Ya nah, We right fucked if we stay lad

>>3541193
Yeah, your right. We should still enact the Protocol and be the last to leave, though.

>>3541053
>Turn and run! None of the ships here are in any shape to fight.

>>3541053
>>Turn and run! None of the ships here are in any shape to fight.

>>3541053
>Other
>Wait for the orders of your commanding officer

>>3541053
>>Turn and run! None of the ships here are in any shape to fight.

File: heavy destroyer.jpg (410 KB, 1180x620)

410 KB JPG

You couldn't stay. Even if all of the warships in the area were in peak condition, the odds of taking on a destroyer and a corvette were already slim. With the carrier and a destroyer doing a runner, the chances were so low that you couldn't afford to risk it. Running was the safest option for you and the crew and you ship.

"All vessels, this is captain Petrovich." The comms crackled into life, as the highest ranking officer in the area gave his orders. "Evacuate the area with a random FTL jump, before rendezvousing at point echo-five."

"But sir, we can't embark all of the craft before we jump. We'll be leaving people behind!" The commander of the Concord Hymn protested, in spite of the damage to his ship he still wanted to fight.

"At this point, we can't risk losing more ships and more crews over a handful of dropships." The captain gave a defeated sigh, he hated the choice just as much as the commander, but he had no choice but to order a retreat.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person who had to make a choice to leave people to die. As the ship with the most available hangers, you had to make the choice about which of the remaining small ships you could embark. You had enough time to clear the remaining hangers by explosively decompressing them, and then land some craft before you had to worry about enemy fire. On paper, two pelicans and one longsword both had the same number of crew overall, so if you packed all available hangers with craft, you would still save another 28 people.

However, the choice wasn't that clear cut. The Pelicans could carry small escape pods, so that could allow you to recover a few more people. However, it would take more time for the lumbering dropships to land, leaving you vulnerable to enemy fire. Landing your longswords would be quicker, but your chances of saving more than the base number of crew would go out of the window. Of course, leaving without letting anyone else land would guarantee that you wouldn't be vulnerable to enemy fire. But that would doom any chances of saving anyone else.

Then again, standing and fighting was still on the table. You still had your three nukes to back up your MAC, and half of your missile battery remaining. If you could convince captain Petrovich and the commander of the other destroyer to stay, then you might have a chance. It would be risky, and you could guarantee that at least one more ship would be lost. And if the battle went badly then anyone on those ships would be doomed to be left behind when they might have survived. But as long as that ship survived long enough to fire off it's MAC, then it's loss might not be in vain.

>Embark as many pelicans as possible, you have to save as many people as possible.
>Land your longswords, you can't lose your crew.
>Jump out immediately, you can't risk everyone onboard over a handful of craft.
>Try and convince captain Petrovich to stay and fight, you can't just leave people to die. (roll 1d20-5)
>Other (write-in)

>>3542312
>>Land your longswords, you can't lose your crew.
It's not happening, we're not fighting off these Covenant ships with the few we have in the state they're in.

>>3542312
>Land your longswords, you can't lose your crew.
>If a Pelican can make it, They are free to land as well

>>3542312
>Embark as many pelicans as possible, you have to save as many people as possible.
>Land your longswords, you can't lose your crew.

If there's no room then jettison whatever we have to in order to make room.

>>3542312
>Embark as many pelicans as possible, you have to save as many people as possible.

"Nav, get us moving. Plot a random slipspace jump and get the ship ready to jump on my mark." You instructed, before turning your attention to your aviation controller. "Open all hangers, and if possible jettison as much cargo as possible from hangers five and six on the starboard side. I want as much room open as possible for craft to land."

"We're leaving sir?" Dyad asked, sounding confused at your choice as the ship rumbled with the force of multiple explosive decompressions.

"Comms, get a message out to all small craft in the area. We're leaving and have limited space. If they want to live, then they need to land as fast as possible." You ordered your communications officer as the ship began to move, before answering your Xo's question. "There is no winning here. If the Furious and her escort was still here then we might have had a chance, but with them gone and the Adelaide already making to run there is nothing left for us to do."

Your XO was silent at that, but your weapons systems officer spoke up instead. "Sir, I must protest. We still have our nuclear armament, and-"

"And that means nothing if we get cut to ribbons by plasma torpedoes." You interrupted the man as the closest pelican dropships entered your now vacant hangers. Three of them hauled escape pods while the fourth had raced over, having just left your ship less than a few minutes ago after dropping off a pod.

"They might have something worse than that chief. I'm getting a massive energy spoke from the destroyer!" Your sensor officer called out his warning as a pair of longswords darted into the two remaining hanger bays on the port side of the ship, the doors closing after them.

>Take evasive action! You don't know what they are doing, but it can't be good. (roll dice+1d20-4)
>Keep moving straight! You have to give time for ships to enter your remaining hangers.
>Other (write-in)

>>3542530
>Keep moving straight! You have to give time for ships to enter your remaining hangers.

OH GOD, OH FUCK. we said we were gonna save them as many as possible. By fucking god we will!

>>3542530
>Take evasive action! You don't know what they are doing, but it can't be good. (roll dice+1d20-4)

>>3542530
>>Take evasive action! You don't know what they are doing, but it can't be good. (roll dice+1d20-4)

>>3542563
>>3542588
You both need to roll 1d20-4

Rolled 13 - 4 (1d20 - 4)

>>3542599

Rolled 12 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3542599

Rolled 15 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3542599

"Nav, take evasive maneuvers!" You ordered you didn't like the idea of a covenant ship charging its weapons on the best of days. And if it was drawing more power than a standard plasma torpedo, then things were certainly bad.

Your ship dived and turned towards the rest of the UNSC vessels, a small flotilla of ships following in your wake. You weren't the only ship taking on abandoned pelicans. The Concord Hymn had opened up the hangers on its remaining flight pod and had even opened the doors to its ventral vehicle bay, using that as an improvised hanger for as many dropships as possible. Meanwhile, the remaining Hillsborough class destroyer was also taking on pelicans.

Ensign Toulali took the ship lower "down" relative to its original position just in time as the enemy ship fired. The most warning you got was a sensor warning calling out a massive radiation event before a searing electric-blue light slashed forwards from the covenant warship. And you watched in horror as the weapon cut into the last Hillsborough class destroyer, striking the vessel amidships. Within seconds the beam punched through the other side of the vessel. And passing right through the space just above the bridge, the beam practically vaporizing your long-range MASER dish.

Still, your eyes remained on the UNSC warship as it's reactor, brimming with energy in preparation for the imminent slipspace jump, was ruptured. massive gouts of flame burst from under sections of armour as the vessel detonated from within. The blast and the debris produced destroyed many of the nearby pelicans, too many of them had been too close to the destroyer, hoping to catch a ride to safety.

"Jesus christ! That was a damn energy projector!" Your weapons officer cursed, putting words to the shock that everyone was feeling.

"Aviation, how many hangers are empty?" You asked the man in charge of all small craft within your area. If the covenant were able to kill a ship with better armor than your ship in one hit, then you didn't want to stay around for even a minute longer.

"Three hangers left!" He called as another longsword landed. The friendly fighter only just avoiding a sudden death from high-speed impact with a sudden burn of its thrusters.

>Hold on for just a bit longer! It should only take a few more seconds for the longswords to land.
>Jump out now! You don't know how long that thing will take to recharge, and you don't want to find out!
>Other (write in)

>>3542705
>>Hold on for just a bit longer! It should only take a few more seconds for the longswords to land.

>>3542705
>Hold on for just a bit longer! It should only take a few more seconds for the longswords to land.

>>3542705
>Hold on for just a bit longer! It should only take a few more seconds for the longswords to land.

>>3542705
>Hold on for just a bit longer! It should only take a few more seconds for the longswords to land.

"Nav, how long until we're ready to jump?" You asked as you watched the remains of the destroyer break apart. Many sections of its hull armor still glowing white hot from the heat of the directed energy weapon.

"Ready to jump now sir! Waiting on your call!" Ensign Toulali replied as the armored covers over the bridge began to close, leaving you to rely on the pictures of camera systems in order to see the space around you.

"Torpedoes! Enemy warships have launched torpedoes." Your sensor officer called out as the Adilade jumped out. The bright blue halo of a slipspace portal hung in the void for just long enough for the destroyer to slip out.

"Hanger four closed! Bravo two is on final approach to hanger three!" Lieutenant Krickstein called out as the telltale black, wedge-shaped profile of a longsword fighter darted into one of your hangers. Leaving just one remaining to be filled.

"Torpedoes halfway to us! Count six weapons with more charging." Your sensor officer alerted you as the screen over the bridge shifted to show a tactical readout of the area around you. Three of the deadly little weapons had broken off to chase the Concorde Hymn, while the other three were racing towards you.

"Dawn's Early Light, this is the Concorde Hymn." Your comms crackled into life. "We're punching out. We'll see you on the other side!"

And with that, the Concorde Hymn dropped off the tactical readout, the screen shifted to a camera's view outside the ship just in time to see a slipspace portal collapse in on itself, the only other frigate in the area leaving you behind.

"Longsword in! Bravo two has landed, slamming the doors!" Your aviation control officer called out as the torpedoes bound for the Concorde Hymn reached where the other frigate had been, and promptly turned to track after you.

"Punch it, ensign!" You ordered as the door to the hanger shut. You watched through the camera feed as a trio of angry red balls of energy raced towards you. You watched and waited, powerless to do anything as you watched the torpedoes race closer and closer. You braced yourself for the shock and the shudder of an impact, one that would damn you and your crew to certain death.

And it didn't come. With a flash of blue light, the camera showed nothing outside aside from the blackness of FTL space. Where not even light could reach you. You slumped back into your chair and let out a breath that you had been holding. Finally, you were safe.

>Take stock of your situation. How many people have you got out?
>Get a full report from all stations. You need to know how everyone is holding up.
>Take a break from the bridge, you need to rest after all this stress. (TIMESKIP)
>Other (write-in)

>>3542816
>Get a full report from all stations. You need to know how everyone is holding up.

>>3542816
>Get a full report from all stations. You need to know how everyone is holding up.

>>3542816
>Get a full report from all stations. You need to know how everyone is holding up.

"Get me a situation report from all station chiefs on the ship. I need to know how we're holding up." You ordered, hoping to get at least some understanding of how bad of a shape your ship was in.

Out of all the stations on the ship, security was the only section of the ship that wasn't having to deal with losses. The fact that all of the security teams had been roaming around the ship meant that they were able to avoid being pinned down in places that were likely to be holed. The teams were currently assisting in moving injured people to the medical deck, but their job was basically done. Engineering was also doing fairly well, though the chief was keen to inform you that the strain on the engines had caused some damage to the thrust control couplings, it was easily repaired but would require the engines to be powered down.

Not that it mattered, the ship would probably be spending some time in drydock to repair the damage sustained. Whether or not you'd still be in command when the ship returned to service was still to be seen.

Damage control was doing as much as they could, but due to being in slipspace there wasn't much they could do aside from going around and repairing things that had been knocked loose, and shoring up radiation shielding in areas that were hotter than the rest of the ship. A number of them had been wounded fighting fires and in sudden decompression events, and had been sent to medical. Weaponry had also suffered casualties during your close encounter with the covenant frigate. They were currently going over the ship's weapons systems, making sure that the power couplings between the MAC gun and it's capacitor banks were in working order, and preparing your limited remaining stock of spare archer missiles to

The medical wing was in by far the worst condition. All of the wounded from other sections, those who had been close to your hangers that had soaked a plasma torpedo, those who had been in area holed by plasma cannon rounds, and the wounded that had been picked up from escape pods were all being sent to the medical deck. And while they had done as much as they could to triage the most severe cases, they were inundated with patients needing urgent medical care.

The fact that your report had been given by one of the lower-ranking members of the medical staff rather than Doctor Wespe himself was evidence enough that they were under a lot of strain.

>Find out how many people managed to escape with.
>Take a break from the bridge, you need to rest after all this stress. (TIMESKIP)
>Other (write-in)

>>3542978
>Find out how many people managed to escape with.
Fuck, man...

>>3542978
>>Find out how many people managed to escape with.

>>3542978
>Find out how many people managed to escape with.
>Find out if there is some way to help out the medical staff currently.

Ah fuck if we need to give up the ship. I'm 90% sure our engie is gonna be fucking taken. Damn it now would be the time to fucking use him!

>>3542978
>Find out how many people managed to escape with.

Following that whole catastrophy, you had to find out just how many people you had picked up. Loosing at least two corvettes, two frigates and two destroyers was never a good day for humanity. But the fact that you hadn't been able to stay around to pick everyone up made the losses sting even worse.

Unfortunately, you couldn't get a concrete estimate. At standard, a Mako class corvette had a crew of forty, and a frigate had a crew of between two-hundred and fifty and three-hundred. But the number of escape pods floating around made getting a concrete estimate even harder than usual. It could be likely that they recovered crew from some of the ships lost during their first engagement, but even then you were doubtful.

Instead, you had to go by the number of escape pods you had recovered. Overall, you had recovered five bumblebee class escape pods, each of which could carry eight people and a pilot. Then you had also recovered around seventy of the unpowered three-man pods on their own, along with three pelicans that had been towing pods when they had landed on your ship.

With a bit of math, that put the number of recovered sailors at around the two-hundred and fifty mark. However, that assumed that all pods had been full of crew. Ultimately, you wouldn't know until a full tally of the people on board had been taken. And that would take a while.

>Talk with your XO about how things went. You can't shake the feeling that you didn't do as well as you could have.
>Take a break from the bridge, you need to rest after all this stress. (TIMESKIP)
>Other (write-in)

>>3543119

>Talk with your XO about how things went. You can't shake the feeling that you didn't do as well as you could have.

>>3543119
>Take a break from the bridge, you need to rest after all this stress.

>>3543119
>Talk with your XO about how things went. You can't shake the feeling that you didn't do as well as you could have.
Any room for improvements?

>>3543119
>Talk with your XO about how things went. You can't shake the feeling that you didn't do as well as you could have.

>>3543119
>>Talk with your XO about how things went. You can't shake the feeling that you didn't do as well as you could have.

"Dyad, a word if you mind?" You asked as you stood up from your chair. Your XO looked up at you from her data pad and nodded before following you out. She followed you out of the bridge, both of you only stopping to hand over your weaponry and ammunition to the ensign who had recovered the weaponry from the sub-armory nearby. You lead her away from the bridge, down a maintenance ladder and through a couple of doorways.

"Is something the matter sir?" Dyad asked when you arrived at the maintenance room a deck below the bridge. The electric hum of power flowing through multiple computer banks and the tingle of static in the air telling you of the sheer processing power of the room.

"No, nothing's wrong." You assured her as you came to a stop, you turned to your XO as you leaned against one of the banisters of the catwalk over the multi-deck room. "I just wanted to see if you had any feedback on how I handled things."

"I..." Dyad began, only to pause as she thought more on the question. "You're looking to see if I blame you for leaving those people behind. Aren't you?"

You chuckeled dryly at her answer, before sighing as your XO gave you a worried look. "Am I really that transparent?"

"Sort of. It's the same question that officers ask once they've made a call like that. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and I don't blame you." Dyad shrugged with her response as she leaned against the same banister as you.

>"But you seem like you've already assigned the blame to someone."
>"I know Dyad, I was more looking for a more tactical review.
>"You sound like you've seen this before. Have you?"
>Other (write in)

>>3543193
>"I know Dyad, I was more looking for a more tactical review. "

I mean the covenant are at fault for all this, Not us or the UNSC.

>>3543193
>"You sound like you've seen this before. Have you?"
Welp, that went as ok as I expected

>>3543193
>"I know Dyad, I was more looking for a more tactical review. "

>>3543193
>"I know Dyad, I was more looking for a more tactical review.
>"You sound like you've seen this before. Have you?"

>>3543193
>>"You sound like you've seen this before. Have you?"

>>3543193
>I know Dyad, I was more looking for a more tactical review.
Like when I ordered our vessel to hulltank enemy frigate at melee range for no good reason whatsoever

>>3543553
Isn't tanking their smaller plasma cannons better than catching multiple plasma torpedoes up the ass and losing our engines?

>>3543831
Or worse yet, that energy projector we dodged after it.

>>3543553
No good reason? I just fucking being unable to be hit by torps is dumb, and we should've accepted those

>>3543553
lol, literally everyone who flies away from the covenant in the books gets their shit kicked in. The covenant operate better than our own ships at close range, but the covenant are faaaaaaaar superior than our ships at long range.

"Thanks for the concern Dyad, it means a lot. But was more looking for a more tactical review." You corrected her. At this time, soul searching would mean nothing compared to learning an actual lesson from the losses.

"I think that taking us away from the bulk of the fleet was a bad move. It opened us up to getting pushed by that frigate. However, it saved us from at least one torpedo, so I can understand the reasoning at the time. We got lucky that we only soaked one torpedo, and that it hit an area far away from our primary weapons and propulsion systems. If anything, I would recommend that we promote the ensign to lieutenant over his performance." Dyad began her review. "All-together I think that we were too reliant on our MAC gun. It's powerful, sure, but ignoring our other weapons systems limited our offensive options. We only fired off one volley of archers, and those were against the smallest warships in the fight."

"And taking us close to that frigate? It punched through our armour in numerous places and took out a couple of point defense turrets." You asked about your other controversial move. Like it or not it had gotten people killed, but your biggest concern was if you had made the right call to take a small guaranteed loss in the place of a probable killing blow.

"It was a risky move, though I can see your reasoning behind it. If we had run, we would have left ourselves open to a torpedo volley from the frigate and the cruiser. I think that the threat from the cruiser could be discounted as it would have prioritized the rest of the fleet. However, a volley from the frigate at that range wouldn't have missed." Dyad agreed with your choices, apparently having seen the issues that had prompted you into the move.

"And that would have immobilized us, or worse." You added with a nod, a plasma torpedo to any part of the ship is bad, but a hit so close to the engines and the reactor was basically a death sentence.

"Yeah, taking us close was a well-meaning idea but it could have been avoided with proper detection and use of our other weapons systems." Dyad summarised her point of view in a single, concise sentence.

>"How would you have handled it Dyad?"
>"Do you think we could have handled the enemy reinforcements?"
>"You sound like you've seen this before. Have you?"
>Thank your XO for her point of view and return to the bridge.
>Other (write-in)

>>3544710
>Thank your XO for her point of view and return to the bridge.
> put that engineer to work, We got shit to fix, and he was literally born for it.

>>3544710
>"Do you think we could have handled the enemy reinforcements?"

>>3544710
>"Dyad, how come I'm the captain of this ship and you the second in command and not the other way around?"

>>3544748
>>3544755
Because the UNSC bases it's ranking structure off NATO rank structure. In both a lieutenant commander is an O-3 officer while a commander is an O-4 officer.

>>3544710
>Thank your XO for her point of view and return to the bridge.

>>3544782
I meant it more like us being impressed by Dyad's insight. Basically what she said right now makes us look like amateurs so the question is why is she only second in command and not a higher rank? Potential character background plot hook I guess also could be interesting Loyalty mission down the line

"Dyad, how come I'm the captain of this ship and you the second in command and not the other way around?" You asked your XO as you lent more onto the railing once again.

This time, it was Dyad's turn to laugh. "Because I have the charisma of a brick."

You chuckled along with her, though you made a mental note about her response. The two of you laughed for a bit longer, before stopping. "Anyway, want to head back to the bridge?"

"Yeah, we've left it long enough." She agreed, before stopping to speak again. "And boss?"

"Yeah?" You answered, giving her liberty to continue with her question.

"If you ever need to talk, just ask. The last thing anyone here needs is a captain that can't take a load off." Dyad offered, you nodded in thanks, but you couldn't let the opportunity for a joke slip by.

"Looking for another excuse to go into a dark room with me Dyad? I'm sure there are some regs against that." You smiled as you spoke, letting her figure out the joke for herself.

Your XO just laughed as she walked back to the service ladder, before saying over her shoulder. "I think a couple of the girls might not like the competition!"

You simply smiled and followed her back to the bridge, the pair of you arriving back within a few minutes of when you first left. Hell, your seat was still warm. The room was alive with the sounds of people talking, both with the people next to them and on the other ends of the ship.

>Take an inspection of the ship, you need to see the damage for yourself.
>Write up your after-action report. You ought to get it done now.
>Take a break from the bridge, you need to rest after all this stress. (TIMESKIP)
>Other (write-in)

>>3544996
>Take an inspection of the ship, you need to see the damage for yourself.

>>3544996
>>Take an inspection of the ship, you need to see the damage for yourself.

>>3544996
>Write up your after-action report. You ought to get it done now.

Can't wait till we get an a.i. I to do these for us

>>3544996
>Take an inspection of the ship, you need to see the damage for yourself.

"Dyad, you have the deck. I'm going to take a look at the damage. we sustained." You announced as you got up, only a few seconds after sitting down.

"Do you need someone to go with you, sir?" Dyad asked, looking up from her datapad.

"No, thanks." You replied as you left. You were just walking around the ship, not taking a walk on an innie-friendly planet. You would be fine.

It didn't take long to find some of the internal damage. Within a quarter of an hour, you were standing outside one of the areas of the ship that had been holed by enemy fire. The door in had been sealed shut. Not by conscious choice, but by being dented inwards by a large explosion on the other side. Still, a number of metal plates had been welded onto and around the door, backed up by radiation shielding plates. Not the heavy kind that was used to block out the radiation from slipspace travel, but just that little bit extra to catch anything that might seep through from a shoddy job.

"Pretty bad, isn't it?" A voice asked from behind you. You turned around and found the bulky form of your chief engineer walking over. The man carried a cup of coffee in one hand and had his other holding onto his belt near to his pistol holster. Apparently, he hadn't returned it yet.

"You should see it from outside. It's not pretty." You remarked as the burly man walked up next to you.

"Still, the young lass did well." He patted one of the metal beams that made up the bulkhead wall. "Then again, she's a Paris class. Being stronger than she has any right to is well within her right."

>"What happened to the other Paris class ship you've served on?"
>"How's engineering holding up? The people I mean, not the systems."
>"Have you met any of the people we've rescued yet?"
>Other (write-in)

>>3545130
>How's engineering holding up? The people I mean, not the systems."

>>3545130
>"How's engineering holding up? The people I mean, not the systems."

>>3545130
>>"How's engineering holding up? The people I mean, not the systems."

"How's engineering holding up?" You asked, gaining you a confused look from the chief. "The people I mean, not the systems."

"Ah, that makes sense." The man nodded, before taking a long sip of his coffee. "Most of them are tired as shit, so we've canceled all non-critical repairs and cycled the worst guys to rest. They should be ready to go once we drop out of FTL."

"Casualties?" You asked you had been planning on getting to it in a more roundabout fashion. But the chief had seen his fair share of battles, there was no reason to beat around the bush.

"At least two dead to explosive decompression, a dozen more with varying wounds. All together nothing outside of the norm for a frigate, but still more than I would have liked." The grizzled engineer stated flatly, like a weather reported giving the rain forecast for the next couple of days. His report was concise and entirely without care.

"And yet, you did better than most departments of the ship." You reminded the man. Aviation had definitely lost people in the three hangers destroyed by that damn torpedo and may have lost one or two pelican crews. And medical were working their asses off trying to treat all of the wounded.

"Better is always subjective. Engineers aren't good when they're almost on their ass from fatigue." The chief reminded you. "Granted they are new, so they haven't adapted to subsist off coffee and suffering."

>"You know, I think we have something that might be able to help your boys out."
>"What happened to the other Paris class ship you've served on?"
>"Have you met any of the people we've rescued yet?"
>Other (write-in)

>>3545264
>>"You know, I think we have something that might be able to help your boys out."
BRING FORTH THE ALIEN

>>3545264
>"You know, I think we have something that might be able to help your boys out."

>>3545264
>>"You know, I think we have something that might be able to help your boys out."

You guys sure about this? It may bring some unwanted changes to the hull.

>>3545264
>"You know, I think we have something that might be able to help your boys out."

>>3545314
So far whatever changes it seems to make turns into an improvement.

"You know chief, I think we have something that might be able to help your boys out." You offered the engineer. He didn't say anything, but it was obvious from his expression that he was intrigued.

With a reasonable assurance that he was interested, you lead the man off towards the storage room that had been appropriated as the temporary storage area for the alien. In foresight of the requirements of the battle, you had ordered Dyad to move the alien to one of the tertiary storage rooms nestled deep within the core of the ship, placing the alien under as much armour and cover as possible. Just like before, a pair of marines guarded the door in full combat armour and armed with shotguns. The men stopped both you and the chief long enough to check your identification, before opening the door for you.

"What in the name of fuck?" The chief asked as he beheld the elephant in the room. Or rather, the floating alien in the room. The alien was floating atop what looked like a pile of various computer bits, a hydrogen fuel cell, and other assorted bits. It had all been connected in a mess of wires, there was probably some kind of order to it all, but only an order obvious to its alien mind.

"Uh, sir?" One of the marines, a corporal by the rank insignia spray painted on his chest approached you as the chief engineer took a few tentative steps towards the alien.

"At ease corporal. I'm merely showing the chief our guest." You held up our hands to calm the

"Of course sir, just be aware that I'm under orders not to let the alien leave this room." The

"It'd be a lot cooler if you did." The head of engineering remarked as he inspected the mound of parts and bits. "This thing has a solid grasp on multiple engineering disciplines, we could definitely put it to work on the engines."

"But sir, I'm under strict orders to ensure that this alien stays here and does not interact with any major parts of this ship!" The marine protested, sticking to his orders.

>"That's fine corporal, I was just showing the chief the alien, not planning on moving it."
>"We aren't in a position to leave it here. We have to put it to work as soon as possible."
>Other (write in)

>>3545419
>"We aren't in a position to leave it here. We have to put it to work as soon as possible. Go with it and stuff, my name on the order."

Oh ya, We handed it off too ONI didn't we?

>>3545419
>>"We aren't in a position to leave it here. We have to put it to work as soon as possible. Go with it and stuff, my name on the order."
It's alright Marine if anything happens it'll be my problem not yours.

>>3545419
>>"We aren't in a position to leave it here. We have to put it to work as soon as possible."
Should anything go wrong, it's on us. I don't anticipate anything going wrong, however.

"We aren't in a position to leave it here. We have to put it to work as soon as possible." You ordered the bewildered marine, who looked from you and back to the alien. "Just go with it, and put my name on the order."

"You're absolutely sure sir?" The marine asked, still very hesitant about what he should do. You had to guess that he was still new to how the military functioned.

"Just escort it marine, the chief will handle the rest." You assured the marine, you added a winning smile to further try and calm the marine into doing as he was told.

It took a couple of seconds, but eventually, the marine relented and "Pack it up guys, we're moving the stinker."

"Cheers boss, this'll make things much easier for my boys." The chief engineer thanked you as he lead the alien and it's escorting squad out of the room and towards the engineering sections of the ship. You watched them leave and spent a few seconds pondering where next to go.

It took you a minute to decide where to head next, and around ten minutes to get there. The corridor you arrived in was empty, but still in a disheveled state. Panneling had been knocked off the walls, a light fixture further down had been blown out, and a few wires hung loosely from the ceiling. However, from there you had access to a window. A window overlooking where the last three hangers on the port-side of the ship had once been.

Unfortunately, due to being in slipspace travel you couldn't actually see outside. So instead, you were watching a screen. Said screen instead showed a computer-generated picture of the outer hull, and all of the battle damage to go along with it. The blast marks from the plasma torpedo were still ragged, from where the device had both melted and bent meters of battle armour like modeling clay.

"We lost Checkman and his copilot in the blast." A voice announced from behind you. You turned to find Lieutenant Perkins, the pelican pilot who had flown you onto the ship walking over. His face was neutral, matching his tone. "And Lario was too far out to make it before we jumped."

"This day extracts a heavy toll." You commented as the pilot walked closer and stood next to you, the pair of you staring at the computer screen.

"Who did it?" The man asked after a minute, his voice flat.

"Come again, pilot?" You asked, a bit surprised at the sudden question.

"Who ordered the retreat?" He clarified as he turned to face you, his emotions hidden under an expert's poker face. "Who caused us to loose so many people?"

>Write-in

>>3545577
Upfront and honest; the Furious and her remaining escort got spooked and bugged out as soon as the Covenant response fleet arrived. With them abandoning their post, we didn't have the numbers or firepower to stay and fight.

>>3545596
+1

>>3545577
backing this >>3545596

>>3545596
+1. Staying longer would mean possibly all of us wouldn't have made it.

>>3545577
>>3545596
This, we'd have just died if we stayed, but we ordered us to stay as long as we could to save as many as we could.