>>3585906

>Head out on patrol, there is no need to waste time.
>Read up on the local space, no point casting off without knowing what is nearby.
>Check your mail, maybe the final report has arrived?
>Other (write-in)

>>3585906
>Check your mail, maybe the final report has arrived?

>>3585907
>>Check your mail, maybe the final report has arrived?

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"Thanks Dyad, we'll cast off soon." You thanked your XO, before turning your attention to the newest member of your bridge crew. "Diana, pull up my message inbox."

"Understood sir, on your terminal now." Diana complied, bringing up the login screen for your personal mailbox. Ever since she had arrived, Diana had at least proven herself to be helpful. She had an uncanny ability to pick up on the crew's more personal trends and accommodate for them. And as such, she had been getting a fairly positive response from the crew.

Thankfully, the message had come in just a couple of hours ago, roughly when you had pulled into the dock. The report went over a lot of technical issues, that would probably make a lot more sense to someone who was more computer-minded. Though to accommodate for your perceived lack of knowledge he had given an explanation for each issue, why it was significant, and what the implications were. Sure enough, a period of around a week's worth of data had been deleted. While the data input during the battle of Psi Serpentis had been reassembled in the third person, there were no memories pertaining to the slipspace journey away from the battlefield. The official explanation for the crew of the vessel during the blank period was that the power supply for the AI data matrix had been damaged, and required her to be put to sleep in order to avoid damage from a power lapse. However, that didn't stand up to real scrutiny.

What was odd was how the data had been deleted, and the data from other ships had been crudely pieced together to make a set of false memories in its place. According to the ensign, the parts of Diana's memory that had been removed had been cleanly cut out. Meanwhile, the new memories had been assembled in a roughshod way as if the person or program behind it lacked either the experience or time to make more than a slap-dash job. In addition, there was a few instanced of cross-termination, where data had been deleted in other areas outside of the timeframe of events, but still bore the same signatures as the method used to delete the main bulk of her memories. He described it as being similar to "stray fire in a gunfight, made by the same machine but way off the mark to be whole-ly intentional". Other part s of her programming had also been targeted, mostly the ones relating to her actual cyber-defense and counter-intrusion suite. However, they had been repaired by her SPDR repair programs. Little sub-AI programs intended to repair and AI in the event that it was unable to repair itself, either due to irreparable damage or being taken offline.

>CONT

>>3586354

Apparently, there was only one way this could have happened, if an AI was under attack by another program, and shaved off data to slow down the progress of the intruder while additional firewalls were built up. So there must have been a struggle, one that Diana had lost after a while. However, the program she had lost to had not destroyed her entirely. Only deleting certain memories within a timeframe after crippling her means to fight back. This suggested that the attacker had not been an offensive dispensation virus. But rather it had been a conscious program that had stopped after achieving its goal, either due to a lack of time or due to being ordered to stand down. It had been a surgical attack, though given the crudeness of it you would liken it more to surgery from the age of sail. Crude, unsubtle and done with a hacksaw. Quite befitting of the later hack job to cover it up.

The ensign rounded off his report by stating that he wanted to report the findings to his superiors, a UNSC AI getting so badly mauled was never a good thing. And even more so when there had been a conscious attempt to cover it up.

>Let the ensign take the info to his superiors, someone higher up the chain must know.
>Tell the ensign to keep it to himself, you don't want anyone knowing about this.

>>3586357
>>Let the ensign take the info to his superiors, someone higher up the chain must know.

>>3586357
>Let the ensign take the info to his superiors, someone higher up the chain must know.

>>3586357
>>Let the ensign take the info to his superiors, someone higher up the chain must know.

Taking a couple of minutes to write out a response, you listed all of the actions that you wanted the ensign to take in response to his findings. Even if that essentially boiled down to "take your information to the relevant superiors, and watch your ass". The unspoken worry that the crew might have fallen in with some less-than-legal groups didn't need to be said. And if you were frankly honest, that grouping could very well include ONI. And woe betides any poor fucker to dig up something that they had tried to bury.

"Sir? Tower control is asking us to move off, they have a pair of corvettes coming in for resupply and they need our berth." Your communications officer piped up from his station as you finished your report. You nodded and sent the message on its way as you replied.

"Understood, tell them that we're moving. Ensign Toulali, take us out on low power." You ordered, and within a couple of seconds, you watched as the various docking arms and umbilical tubes detached and retracted. At almost the same time, a set of small puffs from your ship's maneuvering thrusters gently pushed your ship to starboard, moving clear away from the station as a pair of corvettes -a Gladius and a Cutlass- moved in to take your spot.

The Cutlass was a dedicated anti-fighter variant of the Gladius-class corvette. Swapping the full-length MAC gun of its parent for a shorter mark 2532 Lithobolos mass driver, to free up space for a pair of M910 "Rampart" point-defense guns. Making the vessel look comically overburdened with the two massive turrets saddled over the middle of the ship. This turned the vessel into a powerful anti-fighter and anti-gunboat vessel, but at the cost of its anti-ship weapons. The combination of the mass driver, the "Rampart" turrets, and missiles allowed it to engage a huge number of small craft at range, while it's original network of six "Helix" turrets handled anything that got through. With much of the armor stripped off, and their engines uprated they were one of the fastest ships in the fleet to boot.

>CONT

>>3586706
While it was originally marketed to FLEETCOM to handle the hordes of fighters and gunboats deployed by Covenant carriers in protracted fleet battles, the competition from both its parent class and the Stalwart-class light frigate. The UNSC bought the first dozen ships, but their practically non-existent anti-ship capabilities made them practically useless outside of anti-fighter and surface fire-support roles. But it's high parts-commonality with the Gladius class and its high speed made it a very popular choice for planetary defense fleets. Their high speed and superb maneuverability allowed them to quickly respond to pirate threats, while their mixture of a small mass driver and point-defense guns allowed them to destroy a small flotilla of single ships and cripple the FTL-capable motherships. Though their practically non-existent anti-ship armament forced them to be paired with the marginally slower Gladius, just in case they ran into something that could shrug off a mass driver round.

>Head out on patrol, there is no need to waste time.
>Read up on the local space, no point casting off without knowing what is nearby.
>Read up on local forces, if anything you've seen so far is an indication, then the system defense fleet would be a long and fun read.
>Other (write-in)

>>3586709
>>Read up on the local space, no point casting off without knowing what is nearby.

>>3586709
>Read up on the local space, no point casting off without knowing what is nearby.

>>3586709
>>Read up on the local space, no point casting off without knowing what is nearby.

Pulling up your dossier on the system, you began to read through the summaries of each world, including their issues and crimes to watch out for.

The Greydown Moons were a network of four small colonies, established on the four largest moons orbiting the gas giant of Greydown. The system had a population of seven-point-six million people, most of them being on the colony of Reinov but also spread over the other colonies. The system had been defined as a high-level asset, but due to its layout, it lacked the orbital defense platforms of high-priority worlds. As such, a pair of fleets had been assigned to the worlds. The first being the system defense fleet made up of older vessels, and the second being a UNSC fleet made up of mainline warships.

Greydown itself was similar to Jupiter back in the Sol system. Unlike Jupiter however, it possessed an atmosphere rich in hydrogen deuteride, which made it a target for gas mining to supply human vessels. Thousands of small rigs sat in the high atmosphere, dipping long wells down deeper to recover the valuable gas. A fleet of hundreds of drone tankers transported the bounty recovered by the rigs up to orbital stations, which then converted the fuel into a liquid form and loaded it onto tankers bound for refineries in-system. However, it wasn't unheard of for illegal mining groups to set up shop, hoping to make a dime selling unrefined fuel for cheaper. Meanwhile some groups of pirates just didn't bother with the hard work, and instead tried to steal the tankers themselves. As such, there was a sizable contingent of assorted corvettes and frigates around the massive planet.

The largest moon in the system was Reinov, this world had originally been set up as the administrative heart of the system, but as the system became more affluent it had slowly expanded into other fields. Eventually becoming the capital of the small colonies, with all others having some major link to the world. Its atmosphere was unbreathable, and high winds forced the presence of a large fleet of surface-to-orbit transports instead of a space elevator. As such, the world possessed the third-largest network of space-docks in the system to service it. These docks acted as the fitting-out center and final home for the small system defense fleet, which was surprisingly large for a private fleet. And while this defense fleet did afford it a lot of defense against obvious threats, smuggling was still a constant issue.

>CONT

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>>3586847

Laoter was the only one with a weather system calm enough to support mass agriculture, and as such was one of two to have a space elevator. It's roughly sixty-forty split between dry land and ocean allowed it to support a decent mix of farming and fishing. Due to this, it acted as the system's breadbasket. The world had originally been used as a hybrid resort and farming world, though with the loss of so many breadbasket worlds in the outer colonies it had been forced to take over farming entirely. A steady stream of freight containers practically sailed off the elevator, where they were attached a dozen each to a propulsion pod and sent around the orbit of Greydown to transport food to all of the planets and stations with their range. However, the unmanned nature of these pods made them prime targets for theft, and it wasn't that uncommon for a shipment or two to go missing.

Miller was one of the two worlds that lacked a breathable atmosphere, by nature of not being able to support an atmosphere at all. Though the high ore-content of the planet had lead to it being the second highest populated due to the sheer number of people working on the moon and it's orbital facilities. The moon's primary export was Vanadium steel, used to make up the bulk of most UNSC warships. Miller sported the second-largest network of space docks and shipyards, which supplied the UNSC and the defense fleet. In spite of its military importance, the world had only a small number of defensive vessels assigned to it, making it a comparatively easy target to steal from. And in the current age, a warship -no matter how incomplete it was- was worth its weight in platinum on the black market.

The final and smallest colony by far was Iemia, an inhospitable world, it was the second of the four major colonies to lack a breathable atmosphere. The main allure of the world was its tritium oxide oceans, which could be refined to produce tritium. Most of the planet being made up of this ocean aside from a single large continent, which played host to massive refinery complexes, which refined both the tritium oxide recovered from the ocean and the hydrogen deuteride from Greydown. Both of which could be refined into the fuel needed to power all human starships. This alone made the world a valuable resource for humanity and afforded the presence of a decently-sized UNSC fleet. In spite of that, the allure of fully refined fuel was too great. And the smaller tankers carrying fuel to depots around the system were valuable targets indeed.

>CONT

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>>3586853

Of course, however, these were not the only moons of Greydown. Many others were unsettled by humanity but were still visited by mining prospectors hoping to strike it rich on a vein of rare elements to sell to the UNSC at a premium. And the asteroid belts were often rocked by the detonation of mining-grade nuclear devices as people ripped the lumps of rock apart to try and find some value out in the millions of asteroids. However, both of these had risks and crime of their own. While free-mining was something well beneath a vessel of your size to stop, raids on existing mining operations were a whole different ball game. And while the number of corporations allowed to own and operate civilian-grade nuclear devices was small enough to be counted on your hand, the option to steal a ship carrying such devices was even more appealing than a tanker of equal size. And the innies had proven multiple times that they were more than willing to use them. Both against warships during the Calisto incident, and against civilians during the destruction of the Haven Arcology. All vessels carrying such devices were escorted by at least two frigates, but with many of those nukes bound for the asteroid belts where the innies could be hiding in ambush, the threat of a device being stollen hung over the entire operation like the sword of Damocles.

>Head over to a specific area and start your VBSS patrol, you need to get started. (CHOOSE ONE: GREYDOWN, REINOV, LAOTER, MILLER, IEMIA, UNINHABITED PLANETS, ASTEROID BELT)
>Read up on specific world, and how much crime was happening around it. (CHOOSE ONE: GREYDOWN, REINOV, LAOTER, MILLER, IEMIA, UNINHABITED PLANETS, ASTEROID BELT)
>Read up on local forces, if anything you've seen so far is an indication, then the system defense fleet would be a long and fun read.
>Other (write-in)

>>3586855
>>Read up on local forces, if anything you've seen so far is an indication, then the system defense fleet would be a long and fun read.

>>3586855
>>Read up on local forces, if anything you've seen so far is an indication, then the system defense fleet would be a long and fun read.

>>3586855
>Read up on local forces, if anything you've seen so far is an indication, then the system defense fleet would be a long and fun read.

>>3586855
>>Read up on specific world, and how much crime was happening around it.
>ASTEROID BELT

Just to be contrarian. Also I want to blast some claim jumpers.

>>3586855
>>Read up on local forces, if anything you've seen so far is an indication, then the system defense fleet would be a long and fun read.

>>3586855
>Head over to a specific area and start your VBSS patrol, you need to get started. (REINOV)

Made a pastebin with skills we learned so far https://pastebin.com/i1euAF6U

>>3586855
Not sure if I missed it; Is there info on the uninhabited planets?

Changing tabs on your screen, you brought up a dossier of the assorted warships assigned to protect the assorted colonies. The Greydown system had a surprisingly large number of vessels guarding it. Between the system defense fleet and the UNSC flotilla, there were around a hundred vessels of varying make and model acting in the defense of the system.

The system defense fleet was by far the most varied of the two, and could generally be lumped into two groups. The heavy fleet and the patrol fleet. The patrol fleet was by far the most numerous and varied fleet. It was made up of a mixture of both former civilian, CMA and FLEETCOM vessels. And was compromised of a mixture of dozens of refitted civilian craft, at least three different models of corvettes, and a mixture of old and new frigates. The patrol fleet was intended to act as a combined outer-system patrol and police-replacement fleet, using the faster vessels to hunt down criminals during peacetime and cover the heavy fleet during engagements. The heavy fleet a lot smaller -twelve vessels only-, but was made up of all warships of greater mass than the frigates of the patrol fleet. As such, it was made up of a range of ships from destroyer escorts, all the way up to the flagship of the entire SDF. Said flagship was the Greydown Pride, a refitted Star Charter class colony ship that functioned as a carrier for a variety of older model fighters and spacegoing gunboats. Unlike the others, the heavy fleet tended to spend a lot of time within the gravity well of the gas giant itself. However, they inter-operate with the patrol fleet to get escorts from the frigates and corvettes.

Unlike the SDF, the UNSC flotilla was far more regimented and featured a smaller number of powerful warships. There were no corvettes forming the baseline anti-fighter craft of the fleet, instead, there were a dozen Stalwart-class frigates. A mixture of heavy frigates and destroyers gave it much of it's hitting power, with them usually arranged into three or four ship formations. Finally, the flotilla was led by a single Marathon-class heavy cruiser, the Bushido, the early-flight warship acting as the flagship of the rear-admiral in charge of the flotilla. And right now, you answered to him until your wolfpack arrived to pick you up. All in all; that gave two capital ships, four light cruisers, sixteen destroyers, thirty-four frigates, fifty-four corvettes, and sixty miscellaneous vessels.

>Head over to a specific area and start your VBSS patrol, you need to get started. (CHOOSE ONE: GREYDOWN, REINOV, LAOTER, MILLER, IEMIA, UNINHABITED PLANETS, ASTEROID BELT)
>Read up on specific world, and how much crime was happening around it. (CHOOSE ONE: GREYDOWN, REINOV, LAOTER, MILLER, IEMIA, UNINHABITED PLANETS, ASTEROID BELT)
>Other (write-in)

>>3588346
>Go to Miller

>>3588346
>Head over to a specific area and start your VBSS patrol, you need to get started.
>Asteroid Belt

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>3588346
>Other
>Ask our new AI what lies on the edges of Beta Strent system. Any suspicious signatures or anomalies? Could she link to the dedicated scanning array (there must be one around, right?)? How about areas which are out of the main solar orbital plane?

>>3588346
>>Head over to a specific area and start your VBSS patrol, you need to get started. (CHOOSE ONE: GREYDOWN, REINOV, LAOTER, MILLER, IEMIA, UNINHABITED PLANETS, ASTEROID BELT)
Asteroid belt

>>3588346
>Head over to a specific area and start your VBSS patrol, you need to get started. (REINOV)

"Nav, take us to the asteroid belt. We'll start our search there." You ordered as your vessel moved further away from the military drydock. Soon enough, you felt the telltale shift in your gut as the secondary fusion engines activated in concert with the tertiary pair. It would take around an hour to clear low orbit of Reinov and leave the zone where the use of primary drives was prohibited.

The asteroid belt lay close to the gas giant itself, with the planet of Miller within its orbital zone and Reinov on the outside. The belt was around four-thousand kilometers wide but tightly packed with a wide mixture of asteroids. Said asteroids ranging in size from fifty meters, all the way up to hundreds of kilometers. The belt was a hotspot for both mining and pirate bases, which was understandable given the millions of chunks of rock that made up the damn thing. Still, it was far enough away from Reinov that it took a couple of hours at maximum burn before you even got close, and another hour on top of that before you were in a position to start intercepting vessels for searches.

"Sensors, any idea how many vessels are in our immediate area?" You asked, observing the ring of rock, ice, and dust that sat a few dozen kilometers away. You could understand why pirates and rebels hit within it, the sensors on the SDF patrol ships would have a hard time finding them in it.

The Dawn's Early Light on the other hand had no such issues and had the thrust to catch up to anyone that tried to run.

"Twenty in-system transports, mostly automated tankers. Five FTL-capable combined fuel and supply transports, and one personnel transport taking people from Reinov to Greydown." The reply came back from your sensor officer, before then adding. "We should have a few more ships entering our sector soon, so traffic is flowing."

>Start selecting a ship at random, you'll find something eventually. (roll 1d20)
>Loiter around until something suspicious happens.
>Relocate to another place and search there. (CHOOSE ONE: GREYDOWN, REINOV, LAOTER, MILLER, IEMIA, UNINHABITED PLANETS)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3588757
>>Start selecting a ship at random, you'll find something eventually.

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>3588757
>Start selecting a ship at random, you'll find something eventually. (roll 1d20)

File: leak 2.jpg (1.46 MB, 3840x2160)

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directly from my pc from 343industries

>>3589045
>0 Search results

Hmmmm. Those fingers, that neck. I don't believe it.

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"We'll start stopping ships at random, no point in waiting around." You remarked, before turning to look at the holographic tank next to your seat, where your AI's avatar would be projected. "Diana, select one of the vessels at random for me."

"Understood sir, we'll start off with one of the in-system transports." Diana announced as her avatar appeared before your eyes. The small, foot-tall woman appearing in a flash of colored light.

Stopping a vessel was a common occurrence within UNSC space, though that never meant that people liked it. Most captains were territorial about their vessels and didn't like having to roll out the welcome matt for something that could apparently be done through a computer link. Thankfully, however, the captain of the first freighter was perfectly happy to comply with your orders. The whole thing moved along fairly quickly, you sent out a Pelican dropship, and within a few minutes, it was on the way back. With the marine sergeant onboard confirming that everything was in order. You thanked the captain of the cargo hauler and moved on to your next quandary, an automated cargo tug heading the opposite direction. As it was automated, it lacked a human crew or the ability to take anyone onboard. But that actually made investigating it much easier, as Diana could just access the computer system onboard and run a quick scan for tampering and illegal items. Once again, that went off without a hitch, and soon your found your attention placed upon an FTL-capable transport ship en-route to leave the system. You hailed the ship as your frigate swung around to face it, a Pelican dropship already leaving one of your hangers.

"Freighter zulu-echo-four-one-seven, this is commander Wells of the UNSC Dawn's Early Light." You announced over the link. "Please cut your engines and prepare to be boarded."

"This is captain Marcella of the freighter Everlasting Commerce."A femminine voice identified herself, a noticeable hint of annoyance in her voice. "May I ask the reason for this stop?"

"We're stopping you for a random check of your cargo manifest and a systems compliance check. Just a routine stop and nothing more." You assured the captain, only to get an annoyed huff in response.

"You call this routine? You UNSC goons, always picking on the little folk. Why don't you go home and let the SDF do this in your place?" The captain complained, getting into a huff over what was in all essentiality a routine check.

>CONT

>>3589179

"Ma'am, under the cole protocol I am well within my right to send people over to your vessel to check your navigation database. And under common maritime law, I am authorized to check for contraband. All you're doing right now is talking your way into a fine." You reminded the captain, you weren't really in the mood to argue with a captain over if you could or couldn't board their ship. Under local law they couldn't even jump to slipspace so close to Greydown, even if their computer could handle it. So you sending people aboard wouldn't even hold them up.

You were left waiting for a reply for ten seconds before you tried to speak again, only for the words to die on your tongue as your sensor officer yelled out urgently. "Contact! Contact! Multiple small contacts inbound from the asteroid field! Looks like a mix of fighters and light haulers."

"Captain! The freighter is charging their slipspace drive!" Diana announced, her small avatar shifting uncomfortably in the holographic tank. "I'm also detecting jamming coming from both the freighter and the small vessels."

Well, that escalated quickly.

>Immobalise the freighter! You doubt that the fighters are carrying anything of note.
>Kill the fighters! Any of them could be hauling archer missiles, and you can't take a hit from those.
>Other (write-in)

>>3589183
>Immobalise the freighter! You doubt that the fighters are carrying anything of note.

>>3589183
>>Immobalise the freighter! You doubt that the fighters are carrying anything of note.

Well, here's hoping they're not caring any stolen mining nukes.

>>3589183
>>Immobalise the freighter! You doubt that the fighters are carrying anything of note.

>>3589183
>>Immobalise the freighter! You doubt that the fighters are carrying anything of note.

"Freighter Zulu-echo-four-one-seven! You are in violation of both local and general laws, cease charging your slipspace drive or you will be engaged!" You barked over the radio, only for you to be ignored again as you thought up your options for stopping them.

Firing your MAC gun was probably the most overkill option you could think of. After all, they couldn't charge their drive if that section of the ship had been entirely blown off. The shot deflection wasn't good, but you were higher [i]above[/i] the freighter relative to the asteroid belt, so there was a good chance that your shot would hit an asteroid or sail out of the gravity well rather than unintentionally hitting anything with a person on it. Then again, you were under orders not to fire off your MAC gun unless you got permission from the local UNSC commander. And given the circumstances, you doubted that you could get permission to fire before the freighter jumped out.

An archer missile could also do the trick, they had a great home-on-jam suite that allowed them to directly target the jammer on the ship. And their seeker allowed them to select where to hit for maximum damage. Not to mention that the warhead on an archer could probably do more damage than a MAC-gun round, given how soft the target was. Over-penetration was still an issue in space after all. However, the sheer size of the warhead meant that if you did fire an archer missile, there was a decent chance that you could also set off the reactor. And that would evaporate any chances you had at getting any info about what they were carrying. And the presence of enemy jamming made actually controlling where the missile hit harder.

Alternately, you could scramble your longswords to hit the vessel before it jumped. A couple of the heavy fighters were already fueled and ready to go, and with just cannons and lighter missiles alone they could probably cut the power lines to the drive. Their weapons weren't powerful enough to punch through the reactor casing either, so they could immobilize the enemy ship without risk. But they would be heading out into space occupied with other enemy fighters, and under orders not to engage them. If the enemy diverted their fighters to hit the longswords, then you could very well loose fighters if you failed to cover them.

Of course, having Diana try and hack them was also an option. After all, she was an electronic warfare AI. Her mixture of dedicated systems and insanely fast computing time would make the process quick and clean, while also allowing you access to anything on their computer network. However, the interference of enemy jamming made it more difficult to establish a link. And that was all assuming that they had linked the controls to the slipspace drive to their computers system. Pirates often de-linked their drives from their computers to specifically avoid getting hacked and hemmed in by UNSC hunting groups. You could easily see them doing the same thing.

>CONT

>>3589408

"Freighter Zulu-echo-four-one-seven, cease charging your drive! Final warning!" You barked over the link, only to get dead air once again. You hadn't expected them to turn back now, it was more for the record than anything else.

>Fire the MAC! You can't afford to take half measures here. (roll 1d20+1)
>Launch an Archer! You can live with the risks. (roll 1d20-2)
>Scramble your longswords! You can't damage them too much. (roll 1d20)
>Order Diana to hack them! Time to see if your AI is up to scratch. (roll 1d20-1)
>Use a skill (https://pastebin.com/i1euAF6U)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 3 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3589413
>Fire the MAC! You can't afford to take half measures here. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 1 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3589413
>>Order Diana to hack them! Time to see if your AI is up to scratch. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 8 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3589413
>Order Diana to hack them! Time to see if your AI is up to scratch.

It's what we have her for.

Rolled 2, 17 - 1 = 18 (2d20 - 1)

>>3589413
>>Order Diana to hack them! Time to see if your AI is up to scratch. (roll 1d20-1)
>Scramble your longswords! You can't damage them too much. (roll 1d20)

Rolled 20 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3589413
>>Order Diana to hack them! Time to see if your AI is up to scratch. (roll 1d20-1)

On a side note, I just caught up, and good lord is this thorough. I'm pretty sure a lot of this stuff isn't lore, so it seems like you're making stuff up, and you certainly know what you're talking about.

Perhaps this is an outlet for your major?

>>Order Diana to hack them! Time to see if your AI is up to scratch. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 4, 12 = 16 (2d20)

>>3589448
>>3588814
>>3588913
You guys work for government irl?
>inb4 "it's legal"
>>3589179 no Underworld reputation hit from our antics here?

>>3589448
support

>>3590038
Yeah, a lot of the information included is non-cannon, but that's not to say that it isn't either grounded in canon or couldn't fit in. Unfortunately, a huge number of human systems are little more than footnotes of when they were attacked and how many people died. So that forces me to expand on them in order to make them fit in. Why do people live in those places, what are their strategic value, how are they defended, etc. For instance, Greydown itself is a pre-existing colony but has basically no information on it aside from a picture showing a gas giant similar to Jupiter and an estimate on how many people died when it got attacked. Given how high the population killed was way too high, I brought that down to a tenth of the listed value and expanded on the things around the gas giant itself.

Meanwhile, the information on ships is a bit more grounded though. A lot of it is either inferred from pre-existing lore or based on non-cannon ships that I believe could fit in. I also make expansions on existing classes to make up for things that I believe are lacking. For example, in the regular lore, the Paris class doesn't carry anti-fighter missiles while the Stalwart class that its design is based off does carry them. I instead added a provision for anti-fighter missiles to all escort ships, as it wouldn't make sense for only one of three very similar frigate classes and not the other two. Meanwhile, the Berlin class frigates don't actually exist in the mainline Halo lore but are well fleshed out and have a niche to occupy. Hell, they could very well be added into the cannon. The fan-made Triton and Nevada class frigates and the Asclepius class cruiser/mobile drydock have all been seen in canon publications, and they have a smaller niche to operate in than the pre-war Berlin. A source that I often use is the Sins Of The Prophets mod, as it includes a good amount of information on warships. The fact that I can also use the models for illustrative purposes is a neat bonus.

It's not really an outlet for the major itself, but an outlet for my creativity. Engineering tends to be a very black-and-white course. You don't have much room to be creative in an industry where you have to be exacting. As such, making things for the quest and connecting small pieces of lore together to form a concrete narrative in order to make things work together is a nice break, as it both allows me to be creative while also building up a habit of taking smaller pieces of information and trying to connect them together when they make sense.

>>3590153
Not necessarily, underworld reputation is more for shady things happening inside the UNSC and FLEETCOM. Like keeping a piece of recovered tech for yourself and gaining a bonus from it, when regulations would have you hand that piece of tech over to someone else for examination and disposal. You are loosing and gaining rep in other areas though. Or at least, you will have the ability to gain rep soon.

>>3591047
>Sins of the Prophets
Good man. I got Rebellion just to play that mod. Has some 10/10 fan designs.
I like how meticulous you are with this quest so far. Your own canon is believable and fits well within the established universe.

File: 6_Echo_2.png (456 KB, 1320x540)

456 KB PNG

"Diana! Can you hack that freighter to take their drive offline?" You asked your AI. Your most immediate options had the risk of destroying the vessel, while your fighters might not be able to reach the freighter before it jumped out. If you could hack them, then you could take them out relatively bloodlessly.

"Yes sir, standby." Diana nodded, before turning to look out of the bridge's viewscreen towards the running freighter.

"Oh my, this is wasteful. They have such a good counter-intrusion system, but they didn;t install it properly." Your AI complained at your quarry's lack of technical skills. "Aside from that, there isn't anything else stopping me from just..."

You could see the freighter with your bare eyes, the bright-blue thrusters pushing the cargo hauler along at a steady rate. Or at least, they were until they abruptly snapped off. Diana's avatar turned to face you, a proud grin on her tiny face. "Vessel immobilized sir! I have a good link to their system to boot, so we have remote control of the ship."

"What the hell did you just do?!" The captain of the freighter announced over the comms link, finally deciding to speak now that you had curtailed their escape.

"Finally found your voice?" You asked sarcastically, you both knew what had just happened, so there was no reason to

"Fucking UNSC dog!" The captain screamed at you, before cutting the link. At the same time, your personal screen flashed into life, showing a camera-feed into the tiny bridge of the freighter. You couldn't help but smile as the captain of the freighter threw her headset onto the deck in frustration, gaining her a concerned look from the rest of her bridge crew.

"Vampire! Vampire! We have a dozen missiles incoming!" Your weapons officer crowed, reminding you that you weren't out of the woods yet.

>Take evasive action! Your ship is built with dodging fire in mind. (roll 1d20)
>Fire up your point-defense guns! This is what they are built for. (roll 1d20+1)
>Jam those missiles! Time to show them what some real electronic warfare looks like. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3591251
>Fire up your point-defense guns! This is what they are built for. (roll 1d20+1)

Diana seems good so far. But her track record for munitions jamming isn't exactly top notch.

Rolled 17 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3591251
>Jam those missiles! Time to show them what some real electronic warfare looks like. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 6 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3591266
Forgot my roll

Rolled 1 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3591251
>Jam those missiles! Time to show them what some real electronic warfare looks like. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3591301
...

>>3591313
"Captain, I've jammed those missiles INTO US!"
"Wait WHAT?!"

Rolled 12, 3 = 15 (2d20)

>>3591251
>Fire up your point-defense guns! This is what they are built for. (roll 1d20+1)
>Jam those missiles! Time to show them what some real electronic warfare looks like. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3591251
>Jam those missiles! Time to show them what some real electronic warfare looks like. (roll 1d20+1)

File: frigate point defence guns.jpg (138 KB, 1920x1080)

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"Bring the turrets up, now!" You barked at your weapons officer, before then ordering. "Get the ventral cameras online."

The camera feed was brought online, shown on the primary display over the main viewport. The feed zoomed in to show you a horde of missiles advancing on your vessel as your M910 "Rampart" turrets were brought to bear. The fighters and modified transports that had launched them turned to dive back into the asteroid field, leaving the missiles to run the gauntlet. Within seconds, ten guns opened up, each one sending out a concentrated stream of fire. You watched as the missiles were subject to a hail of 50mm high explosive rounds, each fused round detonating once they were close to the missile nearest to them. Soon enough, the first missiles began to spin-out and detonate as they took more and more damage.

"The enemy craft are heading deeper into the asteroid field. We have four longswords ready to go, should I launch them to pursue?" Your chief of aviation asked, showing a tracking profile on the main display, showing how the enemy craft were running further away. At the current rate, they would be out of your tracking range in a few short minutes.

>Follow the fighters! They are operating from somewhere.
>Launch your longswords! They can follow the fighters with lower risk.
>Let them go, you can't risk following them into the asteroid field.
>Other (write-in)

>>3591422
>Launch your longswords! They can follow the fighters with lower risk.

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>3591422

>Launch your longswords! They can follow the fighters with lower risk.

>>3591422
>>Launch your longswords! They can follow the fighters with lower risk.

>>3591422
>Launch your longswords! They can follow the fighters with lower risk.

"Launch them, and get all others longswords ready to launch. I want to know where those ships launched from, and how easy it will be to take them down." You ordered. You couldn't let them run, only to come back to terrorize and raid civilians. And if you could get a hold of their mothership, then you might be able to get some useful information.

"Understood sir, longswords alpha one-through-three are ready to go." Your aviation officer reported, a few seconds later, the hanger doors on the port-side of your ship opened, a trio of wedge-shaped fighters sailing out into the void as they pursued the attackers. "Also, we still have one pelican out and ready to board the freighter, should I give them the go-ahead?"

"Diana, can you get the hanger door open for them?" You asked your AI. You guessed that they wouldn't let your marines in, so you needed her to get the door open for them.

"Yes sir, though they are moving to regain control of their systems. If you want me to do anything while I still have access to their systems then tell me. It will take time for them to get their drive back online once they've got me out, so we have a window. But we need to act now." Your AI warned you, you could still send in one squad, but you didn't know what they were going up against. After all, if they were rebels then they would probably be prepared to fight off a boarding action.

>Order the team in, you don't have time to wait.
>Hold the team off, you should leave this to someone else.
>Other (write-in)

>>3591623

>Order the team in, you don't have time to wait.

>>3591623
>>Order the team in, you don't have time to wait.

File: HE_Diplomatic_Ship_004.jpg (37 KB, 482x172)

37 KB JPG

"Diana, get the door. Aviation, send them in." You ordered you didn't have time to wait for another boarding team to get ready. You needed boots on-board and you needed them fast.

The modified Athena class freighter was usually used to shuttle people between systems, acting as a rough cross between the cruise ships and long-haul airliners of pre-FTL humanity. They usually mounted five removable cargo pods under the [i]fusalage[/i] of the transport, though this vessel had removed the aft pair in return for mounting a permanent hanger structure. You watched through the dorsal camera on the pelican as the hanger door lowered, revealing a small and cramped hanger. In spite of this, there was room for at least a handful of improvised defenses, as multiple rebels in EVA suits immediately stood up and began to blindly open fire. They must have been expecting an EVA assault, as the moment the door opened they opened fire with an assortment of rifles, shotguns and even a pair of light machine guns.

The gunner on the pelican obviously wasn't in the mood to let their volley go unanswered. You watched as the 30mm chin-mounted gun opened fire, sending a volley of HE-rounds into the improvised defenses set up by the rebel crew. The EVA suits worn by the defenders might have saved them from low-powered pistol rounds and buckshot, but it did nothing to save them from the heavy weapons fire of the dropship. Bodies exploded in a shower of gore as the round detonated within the bodies of the crew members, leaving them all dead within seconds of the first round being fired. The pelican moved inside and landed as the hanger door shut behind it, the hanger pressurized after a couple of seconds, allowing the ramp to drop and the squad of marines inside to disembark.

"That's it, sir, I'm out of their systems. I managed to set their systems to run a full reboot, so we have time before they can get full control again. I recommend that we use the time wisely." Diana reported as the Marines broke down into two fire-teams and pushed towards the primary exit into the rest of the ship. Before leaving, however, they stopped just long enough for you to give them their orders.

>Take the bridge! If you can take their main computers then you can end the fight far quicker than usual. (roll 1d20-2)
>Take the reactor! If you can guarantee that they can't run then you can take all the time you need. (roll 1d20-2)
>Secure an airlock! If you secure another way in, you can send in reinforcements. (roll 1d20-1)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3591903
>>Take the reactor! If you can guarantee that they can't run then you can take all the time you need. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 6 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3591903
>Take the reactor! If you can guarantee that they can't run then you can take all the time you need. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 13 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3591903
>Take the reactor! If you can guarantee that they can't run then you can take all the time you need. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 12 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3591903
>Take the bridge! If you can take their main computers then you can end the fight far quicker than usual. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 19 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3591903
>>Take the bridge! If you can take their main computers then you can end the fight far quicker than usual. (roll 1d20-2)
Why take the power source when we can just take the ship?

File: Close_Quarters_Combat_Trooper.jpg (781 KB, 1920x2400)

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"Commander, marine squad echo is ready to move through the vessel. Where should we head first?" The leader of the marine squad asked. Seven men were directly behind him, while another two assisted the two pelican pilots in guarding the dropship.

"Solid copy echo, secure the reactor and FTL drive first. We can't let them leave." You ordered the sergeant, the man nodded -an action that you could tell by the view from his camera bobbing up and down- before switching back to his squad-level comms and leading his men deeper into the vessel.

And for the next five minutes, you watched as the team of marines fought their way deeper into the ship. The vessel's larger than average crew had obviously been taken off guard and were not in any way trained to counter a boarding action. More than once, you watched as a man or woman in civilian clothes rounded the corner with a weapon in hand, only to be gunned down by the point man's shotgun. It took five minutes before the squad ran into their first real obstacle, and it was positioned right outside of the reactor room. You watched as the point-man peeked around a corner, only to be blasted by a barrage of automatic fire. The man's heavier armor saved him from much of the fire, but it had been penetrated in multiple places. The soldier behind him quickly yanked the injured man behind the corner, before poking his rifle around the corner and blindly returning fire as the medics got to work.

"Squad echo to [i]Dawn's Early Light[/i], we're close to the reactor, but it's slow going. I've got one man down and two with compromised suits." The marine sergeant reported, yelling just so that he could hear himself talking over the gunfire. Thankfully the connection automatically leveled off his voice to a comfortable level.

"Understood echo, keep pushing forward. We need to-" You began, only to be cut off by another member of your crew.

"Commander, I'm detecting a massive thermal buildup in the vessel's reactor! They are attempting to destroy the ship!" Your sensor officer reported, bringing up a report of the thermal output from the vessel's reactor. And sure enough, it was well past anything that could be considered "safe".

Damn it, now you had a choice to make. You could order the marines to rush the reactor room, from there they could perform an emergency vent of the vessel's fusion system. Essentially venting all of the plasma stored within into the vacuum of space. It would leave the vessel on batteries alone, and effectively dead in space, but it would still be there. However, if entirely relied upon the squad managing to make it into the reactor room in time. And even if they did manage to halt the self-destruct, if they sustained too many casualties then they wouldn't be able to continue taking the vessel.

>CONT

>>3592058

On the other hand, you could just cut your losses and guarantee the escape of at least the marines. You knew for a fact that the pelican crew and the marines guarding it would have a hard time trying to escape the ship, but you were reasonably sure that your men close to the reactor could find an escape pod for those without a vacuum-sealed suit, and then make an exit for themselves to escape the ship. However, if the ship did detonate, and your men were too close, then they could still suffer serious injuries, and maybe even die.

>Order your men to evacuate! You won't let them die for nothing.
>Order the marines onward! It's now or never.

>>3592066
>Order the marines onward! It's now or never.

>>3592066
>>Order the marines onward! It's now or never.

>>3592066
>>Order the marines onward! It's now or never.

File: frags in hand.png (400 KB, 842x669)

400 KB PNG

"Sergent, get into the reactor room now! You don't have time to do this subtly." You ordered the sergeant immediately. even if they did manage to escape, the radiation injuries alone would be close to lethal just from proximity.

"I heard the crewman, sir, standby." The sergeant stated flatly, before switching back to his tactical comms. You watched as two of the marines with damaged armor, the corpsman, and the injured point man moved further away from the corner, while the sergeant and five others moved closer to the corner, the sergeant let his rifle fall on its sling as he pulled a pair of fragmentation grenades. he pressed the arming buttons on both grenades and threw them around the corner. The two frags being joined by a pair of flashbangs thrown by his comrades.

There was a heavy shudder three seconds later, and the six marines raced out of cover, their weapons drawn.

>roll 1d20-2

Rolled 3 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3592183

Rolled 8 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3592183
BIG ROLLS

>>3592186
>>3592188
SHIT ROLLS

Rolled 5 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3592183

>>3592195
Feeling like a newfag but how do you do the negative modifier? I had just assumed it was a - instead of +

Rolled 17 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3592183

>>3592209
a +
then a -
then the number

Rolled 9 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

Test roll.
>>3592215
Thank you.

The sergeant was the first around the corner and made it a couple of meters before an innie peeked around the corner and shot him square in the chest with a sniper rifle. The weapon had never been intended for use in close-quarters, but it still blew the marine onto his back, killing him instantly.

The innie and the others that began to peak around the edges of their improvised defenses didn't have time to celebrate their kill. As the remaining five marines charged them, firing rapid bursts as they moved. The rebels fell, but not before another shot took down another marine. The rushed shotgun blast would have taken off his head if his helmet wasn't there to contain the fragments. You switched to the feed from the helmet of the squad's corporal as the four remaining men stacked up on the door, two on either side.

"Breaching!" The corporal yelled, before opening the door into the cramped reactor room. The heavily tinted glass viewing port cast a lot of light into the room, more evidence that the reactor was being over-charged. The soldiers pushed in, firing wildly at the handful of remaining innies inside. Another marine fell at the same time as the last armed enemy. At the end of it, only a man in an engineer's uniform remained standing behind a control terminal. The three remaining marines closed in on him, weapons raised.

"Back away from the terminal! Back and put your hands up!" The marine warned, only to shoot the engineer when he pressed something on the console. You barely had enough time to realize what he had done before the reactor casing flashed a brilliant white, and the feed from the marine's helmet camera cut out.

The feed cut out in time for you to have a front-row seat as a similar white light exploded from the rear of the vessel, totally engulfing it. After a couple of seconds, the light subsided, leaving nothing behind it. The vessel had been entirely vaporized, leaving nothing but a cloud of ionized gas

"Jesus Christ..." Dyad breathed the only one on deck to actually say anything. The entire bridge crew sat in silent horror, shocked at not only the loss of a dozen of your crewmates but at how willingly your enemy had denied you their ship.

>Recover your longswords and RTB, you don't believe what you've just witnessed.
>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.

>>3592367
>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.

>>3592367
>>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.
We aren't getting nothing for this.

I never found out how many rolls you accept by the way, QM.

>>3592367
>>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying

>>3592367
>>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.

>>3592367
>>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.

>>3592367
>>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.
this sucks man

>>3592367
>Order your longswords to pursue the fighters! If the innies were willing to die to keep whatever was on that ship a secret, then you need to find out what they were carrying.

Rolls in this quest suck arse. Nothing but negative modifiers for tasks we're trained and equipped to handle normally, yet the smallest things keep taking our lunch money and kicking us in the dick.

>>3593880
Seems like you are butthurt over a minor failure. That's good. It means you are involved in the quest.

"Aviation. Is alpha squadron still pursuing the enemy fighters?" You asked your aviation control officer. Sitting around in shock wouldn't bring back the men you just lost, but you could at least make their loss worth something.

"Sir... are you sure we should continue pursuing them?" Your communications officer asked, a mixture of shock and worry in his voice.

"If the innies were willing to blow up their own ship, to deny us from getting whatever was on it, then they must have been carrying something important." Dyad answered for your, your XO's voice was firm but seemed to shake ever so slightly. Still, she sounded as if she was still capable

"Alpha one and two have visual contact, alpha three is close behind them but no longer has visual on the enemy." Your aviation officer explained, his voice cold and hard. "Bravo squadron is scrambling and should be ready to launch within five minutes."

"Should I take the ship after them? I should be able to avoid the larger asteroids, but I'll need Diana's help to avoid the more lethal small pieces." Ensign Toulali, your navigation officer, asked.

>Take the frigate in, you need to be ready to support your longswords.
>Leave it to your longswords, you can't risk damaging your ship.
>Other (write-in)

>>3594791
>>Leave it to your longswords, you can't risk damaging your ship.
so we can have an innie blow us away with a nuke hidden in the asteroids? no thank you

>>3594791
>Leave it to your longswords, you can't risk damaging your ship.

Working my way through this quests archives, and I gotta say, there are few things more frustrating than reading through an old quest. Props, OP, for having been responsive about the dice issue and for your excellent writing. Have you guys actually physically handed the engineer over to ONI yet? Please tell me you haven’t.

>>3594839
Yes, we handed him off at dry dock in the previous thread. I was sad to see him go, i think engies are cool as heck to have around

>>3594791

>Take the frigate in, you need to be ready to support your longswords.

>>3594839
He was shipped off, but I at the time thought it'd make a difference for the war effort.

>>3594867
God dammit, I was hoping to be able to make a last ditch case to keep him. That was one of the best gifts QM could have given us, period, and y’all just gave it up. I can’t believe it.

Ah, well, no use crying over spilt milk.

>>3594791
>Leave it to your longswords, you can't risk damaging your ship.

>>3594950
Well it did give us a "favor" through ONI, and I'm sure if we're smart we could use it

"No, the belt is too dense for us to move through without taking damage. We'll leave this to the longswords." You decided not to risk damaging your ship with such a risky maneuver, before turning your attention to your comms officer. "Call in what just happened, we'll need some assistance from nearby corvettes."

"Got a report in from the leader of alpha squadron sir, should I patch him through?" Your aviation officer piped up, informing you that the pilot was ready to report straight to you. Which could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on the news.

"Do it." You ordered, before waiting for your terminal to flash with confirmation that the link had been established. "Alpha-one, give me some good news pilot."

"We're still pursuing the gunships, though we lost their fighter escort. Not sure where they went." The pilot reported, sounding ever-so on edge about the lack of fighter cover. "We're past the middle of the asteroid field, so we can guess that... oh fuck!"

"Alpha-one! What's happening over there?" You barked at the pilot, unsure about what had caused him to trail off into an expletive.

"We've been bounced by enemy fighters, count four Baselard-class light fighters. Two's been damaged, but is still maneuvering." The pilot reported back, before adding. "We're engaging."

"Can you continue the pursuit of the enemy gunships?" You asked, cutting straight to the point.

"Not with these guys on our ass." The pilot stopped talking as he exerted himself to avoid more enemy fire, you could hear the sounds of multiple missile approach warnings blaring even through the mic within his helmet. "I can leave three to cover two, but that will put two of our birds up against four of theirs. I can guarantee that we'll all survive if we fight them as a group, but we might lose the gunships in the asteroids.

>Cover alpha two! You won't lose more people today, especially to second-rate fighters.
>Press on! You can't lose your only chance to find out what they were hauling.

>>3595073
>Cover alpha two! You won't lose more people today, especially to second-rate fighters.

>>3595073
>>Cover alpha two! You won't lose more people today, especially to second-rate fighters.
We know these people are here now, it gives us the opportunity to look other places

>>3595073
>>Cover alpha two! You won't lose more people today, especially to second-rate fighters.

>>3595086
This. They clearly have more forces in the area, time to bring in reinforcements and begin combing the field.

>>3595073
>Cover alpha two! You won't lose more people today, especially to second-rate fighters.

File: longsword in atmo.png (2.12 MB, 1920x1080)

2.12 MB PNG

"Take down those fighters alpha lead, lives are more important than intel." You ordered the pilot into the attack as Diana pulled up a 3D holographic projection of the dogfight in the place of her avatar. The projection was basic, showing your two fighters marked in green and the four innie fighters marked in red.

The standard Baselard fighter was capable of being optionally manned, allowing it to be controlled from a long distance away. However, these fighters were being manually piloted. You could tell that by the lack of external signal linking them to some other point, and from how purely aggressive they were. Time after time, the small and nimble fighters would turn painfully hard just to get a shot off at the larger longswords. However, the baselards had been replaced for a reason, and soon their turns began to become more sluggish and unrefined. Proof that the men behind the controls were suffering from over-exertion. The longswords -in spite of their size- didn't have that issue. And soon the two longswords were able to fight the more numerous baselards to a standstill.

And then alpha-three arrived in a hail of missiles and cannon-fire. The barrage of missiles slapped one of the baselards away from the tail of the second, damaged longsword. Meanwhile the volley of cannon-rounds proximity detonated around another baselard, not killing it but damaging it enough that it fell to the guns of alpha-one. The third baselard turned hard and burned, you weren't sure if he was trying to run or if he was trying to lure a longsword into the guns of his last remaining wingmate. It didn't matter, as a pair of missiles from alpha-two blew the fighter off-course and into an asteroid. The final fighter didn't try to run. You had hoped that the pilot would break and lead your pilots towards wherever the enemy was operating their craft from, but it didn't come as a surprise given their recent suicidal denial of the transport ship. If you had to guess, you were facing one of the more hardline insurrectionist factions.

"All hostile fighters down. Alpha one and two are damaged, but still combat operational. Should we try and continue pursuing the gunboats?" The flight-leader of alpha squadron asked, sounding out of breath from the overexertion of fighter combat, but flowing with enough adrenaline to keep going regardless.

>Try and find them, you can't lose them now! (roll 1d20-1)
>Return to the ship, you were serious when wanted men over intel.

Rolled 17 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3595298

>Try and find them, you can't lose them now! (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 14 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3595298
>>Try and find them, you can't lose them now! (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 12 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3595298
>>Try and find them, you can't lose them now! (roll 1d20-1)
Steady now

Rolled 9 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3595298
ah, finally caught up and ready to roll.
>Try and find them, you can't lose them now! (roll 1d20-1)

OP, honest question. Why do you run with both dice modifiers and a DC? No offense meant, just seems somewhat redundant. Also, have you considered using d100s instead of d20s?

"Head after them alpha, we can't lose them." You ordered the pilot in, all the reinforcements in the system wouldn't mean shit if the innies just jumped out. If you could find their ship and stop them, then you had the chance to finally extract some answers.

You watched on the display for a couple of minutes as the longswords formed up, all three strike fighters moving at the speed of the slowest second craft. Soon, however, they got a ping of a sensor contact and within a minute of the end of the dogfight, the flight leader piped up again.

"Tally ho! Eyes on the enemy strike force." The pilot crowed the moment he gained visual contact on the enemy formation. The formation itself was made up of a mix of what looked like Bactrian-class tugs, pelicans that had their cargo bays removed, and a couple of other civilian ships that you couldn't identify. The tugs had probably been the fastest vessels in the meager assault formation when they had been carrying their payload of anti-ship missiles. But now that they were free of their payload, the pelicans were taking the lead, with the Bactrians taking up the rear of the formation.

The innie vessels lacked any way to fight back, and occasional shots from the longswords kept them from splitting up. Soon, your formation was herding the enemy craft along. The longswords acting like moa-dogs, forcing the improvised enemy squadron to keep together, and lead them towards their launching point. It took them almost a quarter of an hour before they reached the other side of the asteroid field, but the moment they were in the clear, you had your first glimpse of what the innies had been flying off.

What hung in the void was too ugly to truly describe as a ship. It was obviously developed off the Manchester class of freighters, one of the first lines of civilian vessels to be produced following the development of gravity-generating plating. As such, they were a lot more space-efficient and adaptable than most other classes on the market. But their high production costs forced the vessels to be built much smaller than their bulk-hauler competitors. And the temperamental and maintenance intensive nature of the gravity plating doomed the vessel to a limited production run and a very short in-service life. This vessel was unique however as it was not simply one Manchester-class vessel. Rather, it was a conglomeration of multiple individual pods, attached end-to-end and atop each other. All of it pushed through the void by an improvised cluster of engines on the rear of the ship to provide propulsion. If you had to guess, at least four vessels worth of pods must have been sacrificed to make the abomination sat before your eyes.

>CONT

>>3595487

Though the thing that worried you the most was the network of missile launchers and CIWS guns bolted across the hull, and the cluster of crudely welded titanium-A battle plates that armored key sections of the vessel. The captain had obviously realized that his investment had been an expensive one and decided to make his vessel harder to damage as a result.

"Enemy vessel spotted! Requesting permission to engage the ship." The lead pilot asked as his formation exited the asteroid field. You watched as the automated gun-mounts on the enemy vessel turned to face the oncoming fighters, and you wondered if they would be enough to stop them.

>Assualt their "carrier" with your longswords! You have to keep them from jumping out. (roll 2d20-2)
>Order your longswords back! You know where they are now, and those guns mean nothing to almost two meters of battle plating.
>Other (write-in)

>>3595490
>>Other (write-in)
Remain at range, use the asteroids for cover if necessary, stay in visual/sensor contact and report on their every movement while we report in our find and move in ourselves to see if we can't intercept.

>>3595495
Supporting

>>3595495
Support

>>3595495
sure

>>3595495

this is the most tactically sound option

"Negative alpha-one. Remain at range, and monitor the enemy vessel. Use the asteroids for cover if necessary, but stay within visual and or sensor contact and report on their every move while we wait for reinforcements or can move in to support you." You ordered the pilot. If needed, you could order them all in for a strike if the enemy stood a chance of jumping out. But until then, you were content to have them not get shot.

"Got a message back from fleet-command sir." Your comms officer spoke up, his voice firmer and more put together. "We're ordered to hold position and await reinforcements before engaging. Nearby SDF assets have been ordered to assist us."

"Those bastards could still jump out while we wait." Dyad hissed, apparently now deciding to let her emotions on the matter come through. "Sir, I think that waiting for reinforcements will make us lose this chance to get them. We ought to head in as soon as possible."

"I disagree." Diana spoke up, the AI's reasoning unencumbered by real emotion. "Charging in right now would just pose a risk to us and could put us in a vulnerable position if we hit an asteroid. Awaiting reinforcements would give us the backup we need to ensure an engagement regardless of if a vessel suffers a navigational error.

>Head in right now! You can't wait around while they get ready to jump (roll 1d20-2)
>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.

>>3595665
>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.
The last thing we need now is a reputation as a loose cannon.

>>3595665
>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.

>>3595665
>>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.

>>3595665
>>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.

>>3595665
>>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.
If push comes to shove, we can have our longswords attempt a disabling strike to at least disrupt or disable them long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

>>3595665
>Hold position! You have your orders, you need to calm down and follow them.
orders are orders

File: Gladius class.png (503 KB, 1850x900)

503 KB PNG

"We'll hold off from attacking." You decided, before then adding. "We'll mirror their moves on the other side of the asteroid belt to them so that we are as close as possible without having to go through the belt. But at this point, there is no reason to rush this."

"And if they try to jump out?" Dyad asked, sounding a bit displeased by your decision.

"We can always order alpha squadron to perform a few attack runs, hopefully, they can cripple the ship before it jumps out and buys us the time we need to get over there." You explained. Your reasoning seemed to be agreeable to your XO, who raised no further complaints. The innie "carrier", if it could even be called that. Quickly embarked it's small craft and lit up its fusion drives. The collection of both civilian and military grade thrusters struggled to accelerate the ship, allowing both you and your longswords to easily keep pace. You followed it on the other side of the asteroid belt, making sure to run your engines as little as possible to make it harder to detect your ship on thermals. Though within a half hour of sending out your report, a new pair of contacts began to approach you.

"Sir, I have a pair of SDF corvettes hailing us. Track two Gladius-class vessels approaching on the port-side, range five hundred kilometers and closing." Your sensor officer crowed just before your terminal crackled into life as the new vessels hailed you.

"UNSC frigate Dawn's Early Light, this is the SDF corvettes, Drummer and Sandman. We have been breifed on the situation and are OPCON to you." The commanding officer of one of the corvettes hailed you, the young man getting straight to the point without needing to be prompted.

"Understood, is the commanding officer of the Sandman listening in?" You asked, trying to cover up your suprise at being placed in comand of vessels other than your own. Then again, it did make sense. Cruisers lead destroyer flotillas, destroyers lead frigate flotillas, so it was only logical that frigactes could lead corvette flotillas.

"We are sir, we were hoping you could give us a rundown on any recent developments." Another person piped up, you guessed that they were the officer in charge of the Sandman.

"Of course. I assume that you already know the basics, routine VBSS stop resulted in a fight, and the innies blew their reactor when we boarded the transport." You abridged what was already included in the report that had been sent out, before continuing on. "During the fight, my vessel was engaged by a group of improvised strike craft hauling archer anti-ship missiles. I ordered a squadron of three longsword fighters to pursue the enemy craft, and follow them to their mothership."

>CONT

>>3595865

"The mothership itself looks to be a number of sections from decommissioned Manchester-class freighters, refitted to function as an improvised carrier. They have a number of point-defense gun turrets, mostly older guns, but I can see at least two rampart turrets on the dorsal spine of the vessel, with that probably mirrored on the ventral side of the ship. My fighters engaged a formation of four baselard light fighters, and they may have more plus the improvised strike craft. So they will probably have the ability to engage us with anti-ship missiles." You briefed the corvette commanders on the enemy mothership as their vessels raced into formation closer to you, Diana sending both of them the data and pictures beamed back to you by your fighters.

"Ah, it's those guys." One of the lieutenant commanders remarked. "Finally, we can get these guys before they run."

>Ask about what the other ships know on the innies your facing.
>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.

>>3595868
>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.

>>3595868
>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.

>>3595868
>>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.
Time to move in before they break out of the belt and manage to jump.

>>3595868
>>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.

>>3595868
>>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.

>>3595868
>>Order your ships in, the less time you waste the better.

>>3595868
>Ask about what the other ships know on the innies your facing.

"Well, it looks like it's your lucky day. Because we've wasted enough time already." You replied with a smile, before turning your attention to your AI. "Diana, do you have a way in for us?"

"I have two options, sir. The first will be a space behind planetoid G-eleven-five-thirteen, there aren't that many asteroids following behind it. It presents the lowest navigational risk but as we would be arriving there before the enemy carrier, we would end up charging them head-on. Which may be an issue if they have a spinally mounted mass driver." Your screen flashed as a map of the local space appeared, showing the location of the planetoid and the region of relatively empty space behind it, before showing the second option. "Alternatively, we could move through an area marked here on the nav chart. If we took this second option we could drop in off to the side of the enemy carrier, putting us in a great position for a MAC shot."

"Alternatively, we could just go in directly behind them. That would give us a great shot on their engines while keeping us clear of any spinally mounted weapons. We could overwhelm them from multiple angles." The commanding officer of the Sandman suggested.

"That would not be safe for the frigate, the density of the asteroid belt-" Diana began, only to be cut off by the commander.

"I'm not saying that you should do it. By all means, sir, take the option that is safest for your ship. But both my vessel and the Drummer are maneuverable enough to stand a reasonable chance of getting through unscathed on their own, and factor in the experiences of the crews, and you can almost guarantee that we can make it." The captain of the Sandman explained further, bringing up the great point about how the smaller and more maneuverable Gladiuses could easily navigate where your much larger vessel could not.

"That would separate us and make it hard to counter a massed missile volley." Dyad poked a hole in the other lieutenant commander's plan. Assuming that the person on the other end of the line was actually a lieutenant commander.

"Assuming that they have the capability to do that." The officer fired back. Personally, you doubted that the innie ship carried enough missiles to crack through even the corvette's AA network. But then again, you also didn't think that they would blow up their own ship.

>Combine your forces and arrive from a single direction... (behind the planetoid, the gap in the field, from behind)
>Let the corvettes split off while you attack from... (behind the planetoid, the gap in the field, from behind)

>>3596050
>>Combine your forces and arrive from a single direction... (behind the planetoid, the gap in the field, from behind)
Behind the planetoid. It'll suck having to risk a mass driver to the face, but it would suck even more getting knocked out of commission by an asteroid before we even arrived.

And we all stick together, their only real bet is that potential mass driver and mass missile volleys, which we can counter by having massed point defense. We may also even be able to utilize our longswords to prioritize any big guns up front and knock them out before they can even fire.

>>3596050
>Combine your forces and arrive from a single direction...
>the gap in the field

>>3596078
agreed. I don't think we run the risk of being overwhelmed but corvettes are good CIWS shields, and they'll be better choices for gutting the ship with their smaller MACs if we want to do another boarding.

>>3596078
Support

>>3596078
Supporting

>>3596078
Supportan

>>3596078
Support

threads ded.

>>3601408
Thunderhead tweeted he wouldn't be posting yesterday or today. Give it another day or two.

"As much as the option to take them from multiple directions at the same time appeals to me, we have no idea what we're facing here. As such, I would rather that we stuck together on this one." You decided, you didn't like the idea of splitting your defensive grid, but you had no idea about what the enemy carrier was hauling other than some improvised fighters.

"That's rather cautious, and it wastes our maneuverability too if we're running escort duty for you." The commander of the Sandman stated flatly, poking a hole in your plan.

"It also allows us to consolidate our point-defense fire, making it deadly for fighters and missiles to get close. Besides, it's not like your escorting a Halcyon. We can move it if we need to." You explained, assuring your new subordinates that you wouldn't be robbing them of all of their prised speed by keeping them close to you. "What small craft are you hauling?"

"We've both got a pelican, plus one squad of maritime police." The captain of the Drummer answered, elevating his ship so that you could easily see the Pelican dropship latched underneath the bottom of the ship on a magnetic latch. "Should be similarly equipped to your marines, just a bit better on ships."

"That's good, we're already down a squad and a pelican, so we'll need your help on boarding the ship." You nodded, smiling ever so slightly at how your marines wouldn't be as under-strength as you had worried. "Now, follow us in."

Planetoid G-11-5-13 was once the second-smallest planet in the Greydowns system until the establishment of the standalone planetoid section got it reassigned. The placement within the asteroid belt left one side of it cratered and battered, while the other was almost intact. In its wake was a significant -hundred kilometer by hundred kilometer- space where almost no asteroids lay, making it an easy place for you to pass through the asteroid field. Your vessel and the escorting corvettes accelerated towards the gap at high-speed, essentially highlighting your position to the improvised innie carrier. Within a few minutes, your formation arrived at the gap. Inverting, the three vessels dived into the gap. You were pressed into your seat by the force, but Dyad beside you remained standing. Within a couple of minutes, the vessel pulled up, taking the group of vessels onto the same level as the enemy carrier.

"Captain, the enemy vessel is deploying strike craft!" Your aviation officer crowed, as the carrier fired its forward-facing engines to slow down, giving it a bit more time to plan it's way out.

"Detecting an energy spike from the carrier, unknown what they're doing." Diana reported just a scant second before your sensor officer could report it.

>CONT

>>3602703

>Engage the fighters! Once they're gone, the carrier has lost it's biggest advantage.
>Engage the carrier! If you can take it down, you can force a surrender.
>Hold off until the innies make their move.
>Other (write-in)
===
>Order the corvettes to advance on the Innie carrier.
>Keep the corvettes close to you.
>Other (write-in)

>>3602706

>Engage the fighters! Once they're gone, the carrier has lost it's biggest advantage.

>>3602706
>Engage the fighters! Once they're gone, the carrier has lost it's biggest advantage.

>Order the corvettes to advance on the Innie carrier.

>>3602706
>>Engage the fighters! Once they're gone, the carrier has lost it's biggest advantage.
>Order the corvettes to advance on the Innie carrier.

"Weapons hit the enemy fighters. Drummer and Sandman, close distance and engage." You ordered, giving the Corvette captains to take their ships right where they were most lethal against an innie ship. Dancing just outside of the range of the enemy's point-defense grid. Meanwhile, you were free to

Along the side of your ship, smaller missile tubes opened to the void, revealing hundreds of small, maneuverable anti-fighter missiles. Granted, they were around the same size as the 20th-to-21st-century standard missiles, as used by the US military. But given that your ship was larger than the biggest warship in the US Navy at the time, you had enough space to carry ludicrous amounts of them.

The enemy [i]attack craft[/i] -if they could even be called that- had been hastily rearmed and scrambled. The improvised wing of craft had been rearmed with a mixture of missiles, mines and what looked like crudely guided rockets. And what was worse, was that they were all flying almost predictable routes, making them so much easier to track.

>Roll 1d20+2

Rolled 11 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3603062

Rolled 5 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3603062

Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3603062

Rolled 11 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3603062
>Meanwhile, you were free to
Free to what?

>>3603107
Apparently free to fuck up that sentence and not notice until it got pointed out.

On the surface, it should have been a massacre. And while their formation was decimated, it wasn't the decimating blow you had expected. The Streak anti-fighter missile was a weapon designed to kill fast and agile fighters and missile boats. And while they may have struggled against the top-of-the-line Covenant fighters and gunboats, they were extreme overkill for what the innies were sending at you.

Still, you had underestimated the ingenuity of the little rebels.

Around three-dozen missiles were fired, more than enough to kill the handful of assorted strike craft. Pelicans, tugs and even a pair of Baselards flew out of the refitted cargo bays, leaving the refitted cargo bays in a storm of loose tools and unsecured items. The explosive launch of each craft gave them the boost they needed to start evasive maneuvers immediately. The slower and less maneuverable tugs and civilian craft were easy prey in spite of the military-grade countermeasures and supporting jammers. However the baselards and pelicans survived on account of speed and manouverability, the baselards simply throwing extra fuel into their single engine in a crude mimicry of the afterburners on old jet fighters, while the pelicans used their four thruster blocks to execute brutal and graceless evasive action. By the end of the volley, less than a quarter of the enemy strike flotilla had been wiped out.

"Major power surge detected along the spine of the vessel, high probability of-" Diana began to speak, before being cut off by the rushed report from the Commander of the Sandman.

"Mass drivers! Take evasive action!" The commander yelled, before throwing their corvette into a brutal turn as the covers around the hidden guns were jettisoned. Seemingly tacked-on containers broke apart to reveal the 33 meter long weapons in all of their improvised glory. The gunners behind the mass drivers wasted no time, turning their guns to bear towards the rapidly closing corvettes.

However, they rushed their shots, the hull of the carrier was illuminated with tiny pinpricks of light as the asteroid-defense guns charged their coils with as much power as they could muster. However, with so many guns firing, what they lost in accuracy was more than made up for in weight of fire.

>roll 1d20
===
>Order the corvettes back! You have to keep them away from those guns.
>Keep the corvettes close! They won't have to worry about those guns for long.

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>3603170
>>Keep the corvettes close! They won't have to worry about those guns for long.
Longswords, target those hardpoints.

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>3603181
supporting

>>3603234
yikes I'm going to stop rolling now...

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>3603170
>Keep the corvettes close! They won't have to worry about those guns for long.

File: mass driver asteroid.jpg (139 KB, 806x626)

139 KB JPG

"Nav, evasive maneuvers! Aviation, get our longswords out there to kill those damn 'drivers!" You ordered, speaking even as your ship was thrown to the side in a brutal turn, dodging a shot that would have hit your ship head-on. The other round missed you, the gunner having rushed his shot.

Your corvettes, on the other hand, were having a slightly better time. Their close proximity to the enemy vessel made it easier for the enemy gunners to get their shots off, but the fast speed of the corvettes made it much harder for the guns to draw a bead due to the traverse speed of the gun mounts. However, the sheer power behind each shot was more than enough to punch through titanium-A battle plating. Your ship could soak more hits due to the sheer size of your vessel compared to the relatively small size of each projectile. However, the corvettes had to dodge each shot with the same drive you'd expect from someone dodging plasma torpedoes.

Thankfully, the enemy vessel had only six such mass drivers, however half of them were on top of the vessel and half of them were underneath it. As such, one squadron couldn't handle it all on their own. This put you into a precarious position, as the damaged state of some of Alpha's fighters made them far harder to throw into evasive maneuvers, making them easier targets for the enemy's point defense guns and the remaining baselards. You could simply not send them in, instead ordering them to kill remaining baselards and modified pelicans. However, that essentially halved your strike power and doubled the amount of time it would take to kill all of the mass drivers. And given their rate of fire, they could easily inflict a lot of damage to your corvettes with just one shot.

>Send in both squadrons! The quicker they kill those guns the better. (roll 1d20+1)
>Send in only Bravo! They are in far better shape than alpha. (roll 1d20)

Rolled 3 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3603369
>Send in both squadrons! The quicker they kill those guns the better. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 9 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3603369
>Send in both squadrons! The quicker they kill those guns the better. (roll 1d20+1)

I lied I'm rolling again let's hope it wasn't a mistake

>>3603402
truly a shameful display

Rolled 15 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3603369
>Send in both squadrons! The quicker they kill those guns the better. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3603446
I'm >>3595940, btw.

Rolled 3 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3603369
>>Send in both squadrons! The quicker they kill those guns the better. (roll 1d20+1)

File: A Scythe, but in spaaaaaa(...).png (553 KB, 800x1080)

553 KB PNG

The enemy vessel's point-defence grid was made up of a network of M710 "Bulwark" turrets. Essentially a navalised version of the M71 "Scythe" AA gun, the Bulwark served as a light, short-range gun system. Roughly synonymous with the CIWS guns of old, mainly designed to kill missiles and small craft just before they hit the ship. The chemical-only propulsion for the shells, antiquated loading system, and relative short range compared to modern systems saw it saw it outranged by the M870 and the M910 systems, both of which used magnetic coils to provide additional momentum to each round fired. However, the M710's lower footprint and ability to spew out a lot of cheap rounds kept it in service as a last-line of defence. Of the UNSC's various frigate classes, only the Paris lacked a network of guns, and that was more due to the extra M910 turrets that rendered such a system redundant.

It was both a blessing and a curse that the enemy ship had so many guns. A curse as the network of guns allowed them a reliable foil to an Archer missile strike, but a blessing as each gun could only be controlled by a basic automated system or a smart AI.

Bravo flight moved first, launching as one from your starboard hangers. The three fighters formed up, and took wide spacing from one-another. Both to allow each pilot to freely move, and to avoid damage to multiple fighters from a singly burst of proximity-fused rounds. Almost as one, much of the guns on the enemy vessel turned to face the longswords, aware of how deadly a precision strike from the fighter craft could be. With so many of the guns already oriented towards bravo, alpha took the opportunity to dive on the innie carrier from the safety of the asteroid belt. It took the guns precious seconds to reorient towards the "new" threat, allowing the fighters to get off a volley of missiles. The automated system controlling the guns fell for the bait, and went for the usually more lethal missiles. Both the missiles and the CIWS guns had been designed and upgraded to counter one-another, so it took precious time for the guns to destroy each missile. And in that time, the three longswords -two of which were damaged- got into guns range. Six fifty-millimetre guns, spread across three craft, ripped into the dorsal spine of the improvised warship. The anti-asteroid mass drivers were designed with some level or armour, but not enough to stop the mixture of high-explosive and depleted uranium rounds. As alpha squadron dived past the vessel, one of the turrets caught a lucky hit on alpha-two. The most damaged of the three vessels soaked a round clean to the centre of the craft, right where the number-two micro-fusion reactor sat. The round detonated, heavily damaging the reactor and causing it to detonate after a few seconds. Thankfully, the automated system on board the craft detached and ejected the crew cabin, saving your pilots. Though you would have to send someone to recover them later.

>CONT

>>3603631

As the guns underneath the innie vessel tracked to engage alpha as they made good their escape, bravo flight came in at top speed. With only a handful of CIWS turrets actually firing on them, bravo had basically a clear shot at the guns. However, as they got closer more guns turned to engage them. Proximity detonating rounds showered each fighter with shrapnel, punching a hole in one of the glass windows on one of the craft. Thankfully, all flight suits were vacuum sealed just in case, but it was just a testament to how much fire they came under on the last leg of their flight. Unlike the members of alpha flight, bravo waited until the last second before firing their missiles. And broke off almost immediatly after to escape the rapidly increasing volley of projectiles. However, the very late launch gave very little time for the enemy CIWS to shoot down all of the missiles. A trio of angry red flashes across the hull of the enemy ship confirmed the destruction of the last remaining guns. However, bravo flight was too late to stop a round from hitting the Sandman. The small corvette bucked to the side as the round impacted in the aft of the vessel.

"Damn it, reactor's damaged!" The commander of the Sandman grunted. "Engines are offline while we handle the damage."

"Sir, the enemy vessel is accelerating towards the Sandman!" Your navigation officer called out as the massive, lumbering innie vessel turned to face the relatively tiny corvette.

>Stop that ship! Whatever the innie captain is planning, you don't like it.
>Hold fire! You can't risk critically damaging the enemy ship.
>Other (write in)

>>3603634
>Stop that ship! Whatever the innie captain is planning, you don't like it.
Not this time.

>>3603634
>Stop that ship! Whatever the innie captain is planning, you don't like it.

>>3603634
>>Stop that ship! Whatever the innie captain is planning, you don't like it.

>>3603634
>Stop that ship! Whatever the innie captain is planning, you don't like it.
Yeah no.

"Weapons, target the enemy carrier!" You barked, realizing what the enemy crew was planning. With their coilguns and strike craft gone and no way of outrunning your forces, they had decided to try and take one of your ships down with them.

"Any preference on what to use sir?" Your weapons officer asked as your forwards maneuvering thrusters moved to bring the bow of your ship to face the improvised warship.

The MAC would be an easy way to knock the enemy vessel off course. While a heavyweight tungsten round would probably over-penetrate with little effect, a shredder round would probably be able to transfer enough energy into the enemy ship to slap it off its collision course with the "Sandman". However, that assumed that the round immediately shattered on contact and transferred as much energy as possible. If the round over-penetrated then you would have broken standing orders for nothing.

A missile volley would also work. A single archer missile would probably cripple the innie carrier, and the sheer presence of the volley could probably force the enemy vessel to take evasive action. However, there was still the issue of the enemy CIWS grid. The network of guns designed to kill missiles made it impossible for a small number of missiles to hit the innie vessel. A relatively large volley would do the trick, but that ran into the problem of oversaturating the target. You still wanted to capture this vessel with as little damage as possible after all.

Finally, you could boost into point-defense gun range. Even if you only used the turrets on one of your hanger pods, you would still be firing off eight massive guns at the same time. That could certainly create a deadly stream of fire, enough to ruin the day of anything that was caught in it. However, the relatively low amount of energy transferred per-shot meant that the most you could do would be to punch holes and maybe hit valuable internal systems. As much as you hated to admit it, you weren't sure that the enemy crew would mind dying if it guaranteed significant damage -or a kill- on a modern corvette.

>Fire the MAC! If breaking a rule will save a corvette, then so be it. (roll 1d20+2)
>Fire the missiles! You'd like to see them dodge this. (roll 1d20-1)
>Fire the point-defense guns! A barrage of 50mm rounds should do it. (roll 1d20)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 6 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3604929
>Fire the missiles! You'd like to see them dodge this. (roll 1d20-1)

rip corvete

Rolled 10 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3604929
>Fire the missiles! You'd like to see them dodge this. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 18 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3604929
>Fire the missiles! You'd like to see them dodge this. (roll 1d20-1)

Rolled 17 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3604929
>>Fire the missiles! You'd like to see them dodge this. (roll 1d20-1)

>>3604966
Nice

File: Archer missile.png (147 KB, 605x377)

147 KB PNG

"Give them a volley of archers, only one pod though." You ordered. Each archer pod contained twenty-four missiles, which you felt was more than enough to blow through the CIWS system on the enemy warship.

Fire exploded from the port-side of the upper "prong" of your vessel as a single archer missile pod disgorged its contents into the void. The swarm of missiles accelerating to high speeds as their primary engines ignited. It took less than a second for the networked missiles to assemble into a proper formation. The targeting systems onboard each missile networking their sensor input and correlating it to uploaded data from your own ship, and as a single entity, the missiles selected the best course of action to guarantee that at least some missiles hit the target.

The enemy M710s opened fire outside of their effective range, the automated system understanding that dealing with this attack with all the ammo in each gun was a lot more important than having a reserve left for dealing with followup threats. As the volley approached, the leading missile was ripped apart by shrapnel, a fate soon shared by the second and third missiles. Your weapons adapted to the losses and began to erratically maneuver, dodging away from where the enemy guns may be firing, and towards areas that were most likely safe. The constant CIWS fire cut down many of the missiles, but the guns failed to fell all of them, as a pair of Archers punched through the defensive fire and slammed into the vessel. The first missile smacked into the middle of the ship. The anti-ship missile hitting one of the converted "hangers". The blast detonating stored fuel, ammo and explosively decompressing. The force noticeably knocked the vessel and set a fire that lasted for a few seconds as stored fuel and oxidizer burned in the void. The second hit further aft, it must have been going after the reactor. Once again, there was a flash of an explosion, followed by the cloud of venting atmosphere, but there was no telltale flash as the reactor was breached. Instead, the reactor signature rapidly began to decrease as automated systems activated and took it offline.

For a second, you worried that your volley hadn't done anything to stop the enemy ship. You glanced over at your screen and brought up the trajectory of the enemy warship. You breathed a sigh of relief as you looked at the trajectory of the enemy ship. Assuming that they didn't have any chemical thrusters, they would miss the corvette by around three or four kilometers. In space-warfare terms, it was still a near miss, but it was still a lot better than actually getting hit.

You smiled as the large, improvised carrier lay before you, helpless and almost undefended. They had given you a bit of trouble, but they had failed to either escape or to inflict any meaningful damage. All that remained now, was to finish the fight.

>CONT

>>3605137

>Offer terms of surrender! You don't think they have a fight left in them.
>Launch your boarding teams! There's no point in giving an offer that they won't take.
>Other (write-in)

>>3605140
>Launch your boarding teams! There's no point in giving an offer that they won't take.
No chances.

>>3605137
>Launch your boarding teams! There's no point in giving an offer that they won't take.

>>3605140
>>Launch your boarding teams! There's no point in giving an offer that they won't take.
Everyone commence boarding, all three ships.

>>3605140
>Launch your boarding teams! There's no point in giving an offer that they won't take.

>>3605140
>>Launch your boarding teams! There's no point in giving an offer that they won't take.

"Great work weapons." You congratulated the man at the station before opening up a link to the crippled corvette. "Sandman, how's the damage?"

"We're gonna need a tow out of here Dawn, but we're otherwise fine. We can run on batteries for now." The commander of the smaller ship responded, sounding quite a bit relieved as the almost powerless enemy ship passed in front of his bridge.

"Can you get your VBSS team moving?" You asked the commander. His ship might have been put out of the fight, but his men were what you needed right now.

"Yeah, that's the easiest thing we can do right now." The commander confirmed. Granted, they could have manually detached the pelican even without any power, but you were more worried that the force of the mass driver round could have damaged the mount to prevent the manual system from operating.

"Good. Drummer and Sandman, launch your pelicans, we're boarding that ship." You ordered, deciding that the time was right to send in the marines. With the enemy ship's reactor offline, their best means to destroy the ship was basically gone. And that left them very open to being boarded.

"Their CIWS guns are still up, our birds won't be able to get close." Your aviation control officer pointed out, before giving permission for all three of your dropships to depart. You could order them in however you liked, but keeping them on the ship would make it harder for them to reinforce the teams already onboard.

>Close in and shoot them! Your guns might over penetrate and vent sections of the ship, but it's the most precise means you have to destroy those guns. (roll 1d20+1)
>Send in the longswords! They have to run a gauntlet, but they won't cause as much hull damage. (roll 1d20)
>Wait for the guns to run out of power! It gives the innies time to set up defenses, but it keeps the ship intact.
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 1 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3605406
>>Close in and shoot them! Your guns might over penetrate and vent sections of the ship, but it's the most precise means you have to destroy those guns.

Rolled 12 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3605406
>Close in and shoot them! Your guns might over penetrate and vent sections of the ship, but it's the most precise means you have to destroy those guns. (roll 1d20+1)

>>3605428
Holy shit.

>>3605441
I have never rolled well when a QM uses d20s.

Rolled 4 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3605406
>>Close in and shoot them! Your guns might over penetrate and vent sections of the ship, but it's the most precise means you have to destroy those guns. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 11 - 1 (1d20 - 1)

>>3605406
>Close in and shoot them! Your guns might over penetrate and vent sections of the ship, but it's the most precise means you have to destroy those guns. (roll 1d20+1)
I'm just going to assume QM only takes three rolls since he never clarified but I'm rolling anyways.

Rolled 18 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3605406

>Close in and shoot them! Your guns might over penetrate and vent sections of the ship, but it's the most precise means you have to destroy those guns. (roll 1d20+1)

"Weapons, think you can take out the point defense guns on the enemy ship with our coilguns?" You questioned the man in charge of all of your weapons. You knew from your stint in the same position that it meant he had an operational understanding of every weapon on your ship. So if anyone could give you an answer it would be him.

"If Diana helps then sure, though don't be surprised if they over-penetrate." The weapons officer answered, nodding to the miniature holotank that housed the avatar of your ship's new AI. Diana silently nodded, confirming her ability to help.

"Thats fine, just as long as the guns are down." You confirmed your order as your three pelicans loaded with marines left their hangers and advanced towards the innie carrier. With all of the enemy fighters and singe craft either destroyed or having run far away, the dropships were able to assemble alongside their SDF counterparts.

"How do you want to play it chief?" The commander of the Drummer asked as your ship angled over to give your point defense guns a great shot on the enemy vessel's CIWS turrets. The guns began to fire with pinpoint accuracy, destroying each CIWS gun with one or two well-placed shots as the SDF officer continued. "Our boys can match your teams, but we'll defer to your command."

>All in! If you can't take the ship with quality, you'll take it with quantity. (all pelicans in)
>Keep some reserves! If too many chefs spoil the soup, then too many marines will ruin the op. (three pelicans in, two in reserve)
>Send in only a small number of troops! You don't want to risk too many people being onboard if the innies decide to blow up the ship. (two pelicans in, three in reserve)

>>3605623
>>Keep some reserves! If too many chefs spoil the soup, then too many marines will ruin the op. (three pelicans in, two in reserve)
Two to deploy where needed, or to be kept out in case they happen to have a nuke on board or something.

>>3605623
>Keep some reserves! If too many chefs spoil the soup, then too many marines will ruin the op. (three pelicans in, two in reserve)

>>3605623
>>Keep some reserves! If too many chefs spoil the soup, then too many marines will ruin the op. (three pelicans in, two in reserve)

>>3605623
>Keep some reserves! If too many chefs spoil the soup, then too many marines will ruin the op. (three pelicans in, two in reserve)

"I want two of my teams to go in with one of the SDF teams, they will board the ship and attempt to take it over. If they need reinforcements, then the remaining pair of teams can be moved in on a short notice." You decided to take a middle ground choice. You'd need multiple teams in order to take the ship, but at the same time, you didn't want to throw all of your men into a single assault.

"Understood, which SDF team do you want?" The commander of the Drummer asked.

"I'll take the one from the Sandman, give'em a chance to get some payback." You chose the men from the Sandman, mostly because you guessed that your marines would be out for blood as well. And it would be very hard for the SDF team to accuse your teams of anything if they were doing it as well.

Still, you actually had to decide where each team was going to go and what their objective would be. Taking the bridge had obvious implications and obvious risks. It was where the enemy captain would be holding up unless the ship had a CIC or panic room, but at the same time, it would also be where a lot of the ship's internal defenses would be situated. Taking the comms cluster would allow you to get a direct link between your ship and the enemy computer network, allowing Diana to easily access the enemy's electronic systems to assist in taking the ship. The upper hanger was the only hanger on the "clear" side of the ship that was still operational, and that made it the only place where you could safely land pelicans for extraction. However, if the previous transport was anything to go on, then they would have that area covered. The lower hanger clusters hadn't been used to launch craft during the battle, so you had to assume that they were where much of the vessel's cargo was stored. If you could secure that deck, you might be able to prevent them from destroying any valuable cargo. If you wanted to be more draconian, taking life support would allow you to invert the air recycling system on the ship to dump unfiltered carbon dioxide and other unbreathable gas into occupied areas of the ship. Essentially allowing you to kill entire sections of the ship without exposing your men to enemy fire, assuming that you were morally bankrupt enough to do it. Finally, taking the reactor room would allow you to definitely curtail any attempts to either detonate the reactor or activate the slipspace drive. It would take an entire squad of men out of the battle, but if the innies tried to destroy the ship through either of those means, then you would have men in place to stop them.

PICK ONE OPTION PER ASSAULT TEAM TO A MAXIMUM OF THREE CHOICES, IF YOU PICK LESS THAN THREE OPTIONS THEN PLEASE SAY WHICH OPTION YOU WOULD LIKE TO DEPLOY MULTIPLE TEAMS TO.

>Bridge.
>Comms cluster.
>Upper hanger.
>Cargo bay.
>Life support.
>Reactor room.

>>3605886

>Bridge.
>Life support.
>Reactor room.

1 each

>>3605886
>Bridge.
>Reactor room.
>Cargo bay.

>>3605886
>Bridge
>Comms cluster
>Life Support

"Aviation, I want you to send one of our teams to the bridge, one to the life support, and the SDF team to the reactor."

All teams reported in, with the SDF teams taking on operating named based off the UNSC phonetic alphabet. The SDF team from the Sandman taking the name of your lost echo team while the team from the Drummer took up the name of foxtrot. Your teams -alpha and bravo- and the SDF team that took up the name of Delta team all moved towards the enemy ship as one. The SDF team was the first to disembark, with the Greydown natives moving quickly to enter the reactor room through the hole blasted by your archer missile. Bravo team was the next team in, their pelican docking to a maintenance collar on the underside of the ship. You watched through the helmet camera of one of your marines as the hatch into the enemy ship was popped, revealing a pitch-black access tunnel and no threats.

Alpha team, on the other hand, had a much harder entrance. The team had to enter in via an airlock leading into an access corridor. The moment the first men pushed out of the airlock, they were immediately under fire from a small patrol of armed enemy crewmen. The rushed shots from the innie sailors completely missed, allowing your men to take them out with ease. However, the gunfire attracted more attention from the ship's crew. And it wasn't long before the first men through were holding off another wave of defenders. By the time the rest of the squad filtered in, around a dozen innies had died. The squad advanced towards the bridge but were soon stopped at a barricade.

"Dawn, this is alpha-lead. We're not making progress here, requesting reinforcements so that we can push up to the bridge." The sergeant in charge of alpha squad requested as he looked around the side of a bulkhead and fired a couple of rounds towards the improvised barricade. The rounds punching clean through an overturned filing cabinet and dropping an innie that tried to stand up to shoot at your men.

>Order the team forwards! They can't afford to get bogged down. (roll 1d20-1)
>Have the team wait! They need backup before they push for the bridge. (roll 1d20+1)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 10 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606219
>Have the team wait! They need backup before they push for the bridge.

Rolled 16 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606219
>Have the team wait! They need backup before they push for the bridge. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 2 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606219
>Have the team wait! They need backup before they push for the bridge. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 9 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606219
>Have the team wait! They need backup before they push for the bridge. (roll 1d20+1)

"Solid copy alpha, charley team is en-route. Hold position until they arrive." You ordered, before turning to your aviation control officer. "Send in charley team to reinforce alpha."

All in all, it took around three minutes for charley team's pelican to move from it's holding position to where alpha team's pelican had deployed them. Then around seven minutes for them all to cycle through the airlock, and around another minute for them to reach their beleaguered shipmates. In that time, alpha squadron had held its ground, but at the cost of one marine heavily injured and another with a round to the right arm. Taking three people out of the fight as the team's medic struggled to save the heavily injured man. Though given the large amount of resistance they were facing, it was a rather good showing that they hadn't fallen back any further.

"I like what you've done with the place." The sergeant of charley team joked as he slid into cover next to his counterpart in alpha squadron. You looked through the sergeant's helmet camera as the leader of alpha squad turned to face the new arrival, and you could honestly say that you've never seen such disappointment come from an opaque visor.

"Nice for you to join us. Would 'ya kindly cut the sass and fall in line, we've got a bridge to take." The sergeant of alpha squadron greeted his fellow sergeant, before addressing his men. "Alright, ladies frag out. Let's show charley how it's done."

>roll 1d20+1

Rolled 3 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606300
EZ

Rolled 7 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606300

Rolled 5 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606300

>>3606304
>4
Watch this 1

Rolled 11 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606300

Rolled 13 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3606300
>you could honestly say that you've never seen such disappointment come from an opaque visor.
Amazing.

With a series of bangs, a trio of thrown frag grenades went off. Breaking the innie defensive line enough for charley squad to charge out of their defenses. The emplaced rebels lasted for less than ten seconds as they were overrun by the well-armed marines, the entire force being wiped out as they tried to recover from the volley of grenades. Soon, the mass of marines formed up and moved off. Charley squad taking point while alpha squad covered the rear with their wounded.

However, as the point man reached the door into the bridge, he was blown off his feet by a point-blank blast by a shotgun. The man's vital signs flatlining before his body hit the deck. Your two squads dug in, getting ready to assault the bridge. However, they soon began to take fire from behind them, as innie reinforcements moved up to try and reinforce their beleaguered command center.

"Dawn, we're outside the bridge, but we're getting pushed from deeper in the ship." The sergeant of alpha squad informed you. "We need reinforcements if we are to breach the bridge."

"We can hold them, you get your boys in." The sergeant of charley squad pointed out to his more senior sergeant, only to receive a swift condemnation.

"Bollocks, you have too many wounded to hold a perimeter." The sergeant of alpha squad shot down the idea, pointing out how two members of charley squad had already flatlined, while another two were injured.

>Order a squad into the bridge! It should only take one squad to capture the bridge, you can have the other squad cover them. (roll 1d20-1)
>Order both squads into the bridge! Once they have it taken they only have to defend on one front. (roll 1d20+1)
>Bring in your last reserves! Once you take the bridge, you can leave only a small force to hold it while the rest move through the ship. (roll 1d20)
>Move reinforcements from elsewhere on the ship! If you can open up another front, you can keep enemy reinforcements from the bridge. (Life Support, Reactor Room)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 16 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3608037
>>Order both squads into the bridge! Once they have it taken they only have to defend on one front.

>>3608037
Is there anything the troops can do from Life Support to help?

Rolled 14 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3608077
Support

Rolled 1 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3608037
>Order both squads into the bridge! Once they have it taken they only have to defend on one front. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 634297 + 700000 (1d1000000 + 700000)

>>3608037
>>Move reinforcements from elsewhere on the ship! If you can open up another front, you can keep enemy reinforcements from the bridge. (Life Support, Reactor Room)
Moving "Dust 614 folk" to the Reactor Room.

"Negative alpha-lead, we cannot get reinforcements to you at this point. You'll have to work with charley team to take the bridge." You denied the man his reinforcements. If the innies had already started to box them in, then they probably would have already stationed troops to guard the airlock. You'd just be sending men into a meat grinder.

"Damn it, it was worth a shot." The sergeant sighed, before looking over to his younger peer. "How many flashes does your team have?"

The sergeant of charley squad looked off into the middle-distance for a second as he used his neural implant to check his squad's total equipment, before replying to the question. "Around a dozen, what about you?"

"Six. Have your guys to get the flashbangs out, I've got an idea." The older man instructed, before ordering his men to do the same.

After a couple minutes of preparation, and arguing back-and-forth between the two NCOs, the plan to assault the bridge began with six flashbang grenades being thrown down either end of the hall. A trio of grenades landing just inside the bridge, while the other three landed at the feet of the innies trying to pen your troops in. Almost immediately, your marines jumped into action. The four men at the front, armed with shotguns taken from their wounded comrades, burst into the bridge with guns blazing. The combination of the uncharacteristic ferocity of the attack, coupled with the flashbangs having softened them up, put the enemy bridge crew and their guards on the wrong footing. A couple of people who hadn't suffered too much from the effects of the disorienting grenades attempted to fight back but only succeeded in killing one marine and injuring another before they were killed in turn as more marines pushed in.

Meanwhile, the troops outside continued to throw flash and frag grenades at the rebels trying to pen your men in. The constant barrage of grenades burned through the combined reserves of both teams, but kept the rebels from firing on the fleeing marines just long enough for them to drag the dead and the wounded into the safety of the bridge. With two button presses, the blast door into the bridge was sealed, locking the bridge off from the rebels outside.

"Dawn, the bridge is secure but we don't have a way out." The sergeant informed you, looking around the room at his injured men. All in all, around a third of the UNSC marines that had boarded the ship were either dead or wounded, all of their suits having been breached. "And if I had to guess, we have a few minutes before they get through that door."

"Understood alpha-lead. Is there anything you can do from there?" You asked, hoping that there was some way for your men to avoid the fate that had befell the previous defenders of the bridge.

>CONT

>>3608407

"Yeah, give me a bit." The sergeant confirmed, before walking over to one of the touch-screen terminals. "From the looks of it, this terminal gives us full control over the ship's systems. Door control, security cameras, communications and all else."

"We might not need that though." The younger sergeant pointed out, you switched over to his helmet camera in time to see him looming over an old and wounded man. "Looks like we found the captain of this tub."

>Open a direct computer link! Once you have access to their computers, you'll have more options on how to deal with the situation.
>Try and convince the captain to order a surrender. (roll 1d20-2)
>Oter (write-in)

>>3608412
>Open a direct computer link! Once you have access to their computers, you'll have more options on how to deal with the situation.

>>3608412
>Open a direct computer link! Once you have access to their computers, you'll have more options on how to deal with the situation

>>3608412
>Open a direct computer link! Once you have access to their computers, you'll have more options on how to deal with the situation.

>>3608412
>>Open a direct computer link! Once you have access to their computers, you'll have more options on how to deal with the situation.
Here comes Diana.

>>3608412
>Open a direct computer link! Once you have access to their computers, you'll have more options on how to deal with the situation.

"Open a communications link to the ship. I want us to have access to their systems." You ordered, deciding to spend a bit of time getting to know just what your men were facing, and just how you could help them. After a couple of seconds of the marine pressing through options on the terminal, a small notification popped up on your terminal.

"Thank your sergent, I have access to the vessel's computer systems." Diana notified you, the small red avatar smiling up at you.

"Can you provide help to the marines?" You asked, hoping to get to the point sooner rather than later.

"Yes sir, we have numerous options on how to assist the marines. I can aid the marines by locking down the door controls across the vessel, making it harder for the enemy to move reinforcements. I can also use the onboard camera system to provide intelligence info on what the marines will encounter in a given section of the ship. Alternatively, you could vent the air within the vessel. While a number of enemy troops are wearing pressure suits and respirator packs, I estimate that such an action would eliminate over fifty percent of the enemy crew." Diana explained, the AI bringing up a 3D model of the vessel on the holotank in front of you to illustrate her options.

"Including noncombatants." Dyad pointed out the lack of mercy that venting the atmosphere on the ship had, before turning to face you. "Sir, I recommend that we don't vent the ship."

"I would rather that you do sir, it would take out a hefty chunk of the enemy's combatants." The sergeant piped up, taking a more hardline stance on the issue as it was his men that would be getting shot at. "I highly doubt that both my squad and charley squad have the capability to both hold the bridge and take the entire ship, you'll have to get one of the other teams to do the heavy lifting."

>Lock down sections and move slowly, you'll have bravo squad and the SDF soldiers do the heavy lifting.
>Vent the atmosphere, you won't risk the lives of your troops over a couple of disarmed rebels.
>Other (write-in)

>>3608662
>>Other (write-in)
Is there anything else? Are there any automated turrets onboard?

>>3608662
>Other (write-in)
Fire point defense guns into the ship to put holes in and around the hallway leading to the bridge.

>>3608683
But then they can't get out. All their suits are breached.

>>3608662
>>Lock down sections and move slowly, you'll have bravo squad and the SDF soldiers do the heavy lifting.

>>3608664
It's a civilian vessel so probably not.

>>3608697
We'll rescue them with fresh pressed hot suits from the laundry!

don't they have self sealing foam and stuff?

>>3608662
>Vent the atmosphere, you won't risk the lives of your troops over a couple of disarmed rebels.

>>3608662
>Vent the atmosphere, you won't risk the lives of your troops over a couple of disarmed rebels.

I don't see why some of the write ins couldn't be added to this

>>3608703
It's also a hodgepodge of multiple vessels all niggerrigged together covered in gun mounts.

>>3608712
Vent the atmo in the area only around the bridge?

>>3608662
>>3608712
>>3608735
Vent the atmosphere in the hallway leading to the bridge, then when the only innies left are the ones in suits, open the blast doors on the far end of the hallway to violently re-pressurize the room, THEN open the blastdoors to the bridge to allow our marines to gun them down while they're disoriented.

>>3608749
Lets ask Diana and the marines if they are cool with this idea first.

>>3608779
Well, yeah, obviously we'd want them to stack up first. Just waiting for QM to acknowledge some of these or put them in the next post as options or something.

>>3608749
I mean no reason to not vent all the atmo on the entire ship you're thinking to small

>>3608784
I want prisoners for information. Can't have prisoners if everyone is dead.

>>3608749
Supporting
Venting the whole ship is pretty drastic. And remember a good way to fuel an insurrection is by having no mercy and giving them a reason to fight to the death.

>>3608793
Can't have prisoners without prison guards.

>>3608812
I was hoping we could extract the captain of the ship with our marines, call in for significantly more troops from the nearby garrison to takeover while we guard the ship while they approach.

Ok, as there's been a fair amount of discussion, am I correct in assuming that you want to vent the corridor outside the bridge to kill all of the innies without pressure suits, and then violently re-pressurise the section in order to allow the marines to kill the survivors in pressure suits? Do you want to use a similar method on the rest of the ship, or use a different method?

>>3608868
naw, lets just stick to people attacking the bridge or now.

>>3608868
That's what I personally want to do to clear the way for our marines to evac. Feel like it would be a better idea to get out with the innie captain alive and bring in a few ships that are specialized for boarding and capturing to get the rest. It'd be a waste to just kill everyone on board and lose any and all intel we could potentially get from their operations and any other innie ships operating in the area.

>>3608868
Supporting venting just that corridor to relieve pressure on the marines

"I don't suppose there are any sentry guns? They're beating on the door." The sergent sarcastically asked over the link.

"Unfortunately not, or at least, none that are connected to the computer system." Diana replied, apparently not registering the sarcasm in his voice. Though you were sure that was due to hr paying more attention to some other task.

"Diana, how many innies are in the section leading up to the bridge. And how many have vacuum suits and resperators?" You asked a very pointed question. While you wouldn't condemn all of the vessel's crew to death, you had to ensure the survival of your marines, by any means necessary.

"There are a total of thirty-four rebels in the section, six are wearing respirators and UNSC standard sealed BDUs." Your AI reported, before then reading through the lines and pre-empting your XO's question. "All of them are armed and present a clear threat to the marines."

"Allright, lock down that coridoor and vent the atmosphere." You ordered, feeling a bit uneasy as you consigned eighteen people to a painful death. "Once a minute and a half has passed, open the doors to uninhabited sections nearby to rapidly repressurize the space. Sergent, once the section is repressurized, you are to push out and eliminate the remaining innies."

"Understood sir, depressurizing." Diana complied with your order. The smart AI being able to circumvent the three laws of robotics due to carrying out an order on your behalf. Legally speaking, she was essentially immune to any legal repercussions from what happened next.

You watched through your personal terminal as the innies in the long corridor outside of the bridge reacted to the sudden lack of any atmosphere. The smart innies, who knew what was happening, either shot themselves or intentionally breathed out. Holding your breath in a depressurization event was a guaranteed way to rupture your lungs and create air bubbles in your blood, killing you in a very painful manner. Breathing out wouldn't save them, but instead, it brought about unconciousness quickly and painlessly. It could even have saved them if they were repressurized within a minute and a half, and received medical attention. But either way it would take them out of the fight, and that is what you really needed.

>CONT

>>3609145
Those that tried to hold their breath began to cough up blood as their lungs ruptured and the air within was violently sucked out, each one falling to the deck with a look of terror and absolute pain on their faces. Within fifteen seconds, everyone without a pressure suit was unconscious. After ninety seconds, the only people left alive were those clad in pressure suits. The instant the two-minute timer ran out, all of the doors along the corridor that lead to dead-end or sealed off rooms opened. Doors leading to personal quarters, supply rooms, server rooms or stairwells opened, allowing a sudden inrush of air. The remaining innies were knocked around by the sudden inrush of air, which blew around limp limbs and loose items on the ground. As they tried to stay upright though, the door to the bridge opened, revealing a literal firing squad of marines. The rebels barely had time to see their executioners before being cut down by a hail of gunfire. The vacuum suits they wore were intended to protect the wearer from space, not from concentrated rifle and shotgun fire.

"All clear, though I doubt that's the last we'll see of these bastards." The senior sergeant reported, before looking down at one of the suffocated insurrectionists. The blued skin and bulged, ruptured eyes being telltale signs of death by depressurization. If the pool of blood, vomit and other fluids around the man weren't obvious enough signs. "One fuck of a way to go though."

Behind you, you could hear the sound of your XO walking away. You said nothing to stop her.

>Continue slowly through the rest of the ship! You have to clear it out before you can get the wounded out.
>Vent the rest of the ship! You don't have to fight if there is nobody left to fight back.
>Evacuate the ship! Without a reactor and access to their systems, the innies are sitting ducks.
>Other (write-in)

>>3609149
>Vent the rest of the ship! You don't have to fight if there is nobody left to fight back.

Avoid unnecessary casualties we can attempt to capture those that are in the Vacuum suits

>>3609149
>Evacuate the ship! Without a reactor and access to their systems, the innies are sitting ducks.
Is this the option that takes the Captain along with them?

>>3609185
Yeah, along with any surviving members of the bridge crew. Though given the wounds many of them sustained, and how long it takes to extract, the total number of extra bridge crew will probably drop. the marine medics will prioritise keeping badly wounded marines alive over badly wounded innies.

>>3609149
>Evacuate the ship! Without a reactor and access to their systems, the innies are sitting ducks.

>>3609149
>>Evacuate the ship! Without a reactor and access to their systems, the innies are sitting ducks.

>>3609149
>Evacuate the ship! Without a reactor and access to their systems, the innies are sitting ducks.