>>3890512

>Check your mail, while you might not have anything new from the family, you still have reports from the section chiefs.

>>3890512
>>Check your mail, while you might not have anything new from the family, you still have reports from the section chiefs.

>>3890512
>>Check your mail, while you might not have anything new from the family, you still have reports from the section chiefs.

With your bed made, and your teeth brushed -dental care is important, even if full dental reconstruction can be provided at most hospitals- in your small bathroom. You took a seat at your desk and booted up your personal terminal. While you could probably handle this at your desk, you decided to get it dealt with before you stepped onto the bridge. All the better to put your attention towards commanding over 500 meters of warship.

Your mail was fairly sparse. At least, once you filter out the digital recitpts, automated mail notifying you of ordinance expenditure and other system-generated mail that you'd eventually have to read through and sign off. You should have received a lot of this a few days ago, but the automated system itself had suffered an unpacking error during a routine update. It had taken around a day for Diana and the IT technicians to back-date the system, and then a couple more days for the various departments to relog and resend the information. You'd already gone through most of it, but there was still logging the MAC rounds fired that you had to go through.

Once that was all sorted out, you had four messages left. Three of them were from department heads. MAC gun control -chief Ambrose's department-, aviation support, and sensor tech. You could probably leave them, the heads would try and contact you later if they thought the issue was worth your immediate intervention. But still, it was bad form to ignore your chiefs when they tried to contact you.

The final message was not something you had expected to arrive so soon. It was a message from your sister, sure you had sent your last message only a few weeks ago, but you hadn't expected a response so soon. Or all the way out here. A quick check, however, netted you a preface from your ship's AI. Apparently, the message had arrived before your ship had jumped to slipspace on your way out here. And the communications interference caused by slipspace entry had corrupted the later parts of the message. Diana had spent the last few weeks trying to sift through the message to reassemble the last parts of the message, but she warned you that her attempted rearrangement may not be as intended, so you ought to take it with a grain of salt.

>Sift through the automated stuff. You have to go through it eventually, so you might as well do it while you're still a bit tired.
>Check on the station chief reports. Most chiefs know not to pass things up the chain unless it's essential, so you had better take a look.
>Read through the personal message. While it may be a bit corrupted, you should still read through it.
>Head to the bridge, you can handle all of this there. And the previous shift still needs to be relieved.
>Other (write-in)

>>3890708
>>Read through the personal message. While it may be a bit corrupted, you should still read through it.

>>3890708
>Read through the personal message. While it may be a bit corrupted, you should still read through it.

>>3890708
>>Read through the personal message. While it may be a bit corrupted, you should still read through it.

You chose the letter from your sister first, family came first after all, and you were a bit concerned that your younger brother had been stupid and had joined the marines. Technically speaking, the marine corps and the army had roughly level combat losses when it came to actively engage the Covenant. But with the marines being more mobile and the army often being assigned to garrison duties, the marines were often intentionally thrown into the meatgrinder, giving them the higher casualty rates overall. A quick skim-read of the message showed that half of it had been received intact, with the remaining half having been reconstructed by your AI. Diana had conveniently added a red line in the message where the intact part ended and the reconstructed part began.

The message started off with your sister congratulating you on your previous kill. She expressed her surprise that your vessel had come into contact with the enemy so quickly. She had expected that you would have been assigned to operations in the inner colonies while you got a hang of your vessel first, mostly on hazardous supply escort missions and other such things. She joked at the flyboy's expense though, apparently one of her friends had dated a pilot in Tribute's local defense force, and apparently he had been... less than satisfactory. Thankfully she hadn't bothered with such things, though you didn't really know if that was due to her waiting for someone special or because she batted for the other team.

Her glee was somewhat stunted in the next part of her message, as she hadn't won the relaid that she hadn't won the raffle for a backstage meeting with her favorite band, though she had managed to get a signed picture of them. You couldn't help but shake your head at this though, most of the time merch that had been signed would have just been signed using a machine in order to pump out signed merch for a higher cost. Though she diverted away from this as she went on to talk about her job search. She had gone for an interview with the AI firm, and apparently, they had been fairly impressed with her qualifications. She was planning to go with them, but apparently, that firm wasn't the only people looking to directly recruit her. The UNSC's AI tech development department had caught wind of her and had sent someone to their flat to talk with her directly, and had caught her just as she had come back from the AI firm. She had asked them to reschedule and they had been more than willing to. When they had the interview -at a local cafe with them paying- they had offered to pay her over two-thousand credits per hour over the firm, along with free accommodation and a great pension. On paper that was great, but on the downside, she would have to relocate to Reach -the closest thing humanity had to fortress world- and with only a few select times a year where she would be able to return home. And your sister was nothing if not a mother's girl.

>CONT

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>>3890935
Your mother was still struggling at work. Her shift was still under-staffed, in spite of upper management putting on a recruitment drive and rearranging the shifts. The local UNSC logistical office had been informed that they would be receiving their ships a bit later than planned due to the staffing issues. But given how the Tribute shipyards were one of the biggest in human space, the disruption would be minimal. What was a bigger concern was their landlord. Apparently, their landlord had been issued an injunction preventing him from raising the rent, with the case having been brought forward by the families that had been affected by his tactic. However now he had moved on to more invasive and legally ambiguous methods. Performing unscheduled inspections on the tenants, nickel-and-diming them for minor breaches of their tenancy agreements. Turning the power and water off at random times multiple times a day for less than a minute. Your family had been one of the families to catch his wrath, and apparently the patience of the other families was wearing thin.

As the topic moved on to the subject of your younger brother the message began to get more and more fragmented. You were able to glean that there had been an argument between him and the rest of the family over him wanting to join the marines. The message itself had been a bit chopped up when it came to the specifics, but from what could be gathered he wasn't content to just sit around and let the covies get away with what they were doing. While not explicitly mentioned, he probably felt a bit jealous about you getting a position where you could actually hurt the Covenant. Apparently, he had missed the fact that frigates were the poor bloody infantry of space combat and instead focussed on the fact that your ship had the power to send many hundreds of the alien bastards to their graves with each hit. The argument had come to a head with him storming out and spending the night at a friend's house. The next day he had acquiesced on joining the marines immediately, apparently, he wanted to talk to you about it, as you were the only person in the military with any actual experience on military service. Actually making that work would be a bit of an issue, but you had a few options on how to handle it. Messaging him via email would probably be the easiest way of talking to him about it, but you could probably get a face to face meeting with him if you tried. It would take some work on figuring out where your shore leave would be, and how you could get him there when your ship made dock.

>You'll meet your brother face-to-face. A chat like this can't be trusted to just an email, it's just too impersonal.
>You'll email him instead. While you would prefer to talk to him face-to-face, this really can't wait.
>Other (write-in)

>>3890939
>>You'll meet your brother face-to-face. A chat like this can't be trusted to just an email, it's just too impersonal.

>>3890939
>>You'll meet your brother face-to-face. A chat like this can't be trusted to just an email, it's just too impersonal.

You decide to write up your reply right now, you may not have a connection to the inter-system communications network, but Diana could send the message off as soon as you got a connection. In the meantime, you could make changes while you waited.

You began the message by apologizing that your response had come so late, by the time your message got sent, she would have been waiting for weeks without a response, apologizing for the radio silence was only polite. You went on to tell her that you would talk to your brother face-to-face. Given the high amount of combat your crew had been facing, you could make an argument for getting some shore leave sooner than planned. You'd make arrangements as soon as you could a confirmation that the leave had been approved, and from there you'd try to pick a world closer to Tribute, or hopefully Tribute herself.

You left the subject of your mother a bit more unmentioned, simply adding your remark that the landlord was a bag of dicks. You couldn't really do much from your position, frontline officers really didn't have much say when it came to local housing matters. Best you could do would maybe be to contact the landlord and tell him to stop, but as he seemed to have a prejudice against refugees you really couldn't do anything. You suggested moving, but you really had no idea what the situation was.

As for your sister, you simply said that the choice of who's job she wanted to take was up to her. You did point out that she would have to fly the nest at some point, and that Reach was a safe bet as far as planets went. Sure, Tribute was a safe planet to live on, the shipyards meant that the UNSC would throw entire fleets into defending it. But there was a great difference between having a guarantee of help and having a fleet and ODP network already there. You didn't like having to talk about a planet's defenses as a plus point for living there, but given the foe humanity was facing, it was something that had to be taken into account.

You rounded off the letter by assuring her that you would stay safe and that you wanted her to stay safe as well. And after one last proof-read you logged the message, marking it to be sent as soon as you were in range of a comms bouey. Leaving you with a handful of actual reports from your section chiefs, and a bunch of automated messages to mark off.

>Sift through the automated stuff. You have to go through it eventually, so you might as well do it while you're still a bit tired.
>Check on the station chief reports. Most chiefs know not to pass things up the chain unless it's essential, so you had better take a look.
>Head to the bridge, you can handle all of this there. And the previous shift still needs to be relieved.
>Other (write-in)

>>3891123
>>Head to the bridge, you can handle all of this there. And the previous shift still needs to be relieved.
Don't keep them waiting

>>3891123
>>Head to the bridge, you can handle all of this there. And the previous shift still needs to be relieved.

>>3891123
>Sift through the automated stuff. You have to go through it eventually, so you might as well do it while you're still a bit tired.

>>3891123
>>Head to the bridge, you can handle all of this there. And the previous shift still needs to be relieved.

File: frigate bridge (3).jpg (417 KB, 1920x1080)

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With that out of the way -unless you decide to add something else to it- you switch off your terminal and head back to the bathroom. You've kept the bridge crew waiting, and the officer on deck isn't going to much like staying awake for longer than scheduled. You've been in that position, and it sucks. Showering is fairly quick and simple, the advent of reliable grav-plating allowing ship crews to shower as if they were planet-side. Changing into your deck clothes was a simple affair, even if the inter-woven shoulder armor always gave you a bit of trouble. You left the pistol belt behind, there wasn't much point carrying your sidearm around on deck when the covenant wasn't around, it just sent all the wrong messages.

Once all dressed and ready, you quickly made your way over to the bridge, with your quarters located so close to it, you didn't have that far to go. As you stepped onto the bridge, the guard at the door snapped to attention. "Commander on deck!"

"As you were." You announced, you knew that a lot of the people manning the various stations would be changing out fairly soon, you didn't need to press them to get up and salute you. You swiftly made your way over to your command seat, where the officer on deck was standing, apparently having just got up. "Morning lieutenant, where's Dyad? Would've figured that she'd be here before me."

"Lieutenant commander Dyad left the bridge five minutes ago to get some coffee from the mess hall. According to her IFF, she is just entering the mess hall now, would you like me to relay an order to get you some coffee?" A computerized voice announced just before the junior officer could reply, as your ship's AI projected herself in the holographic tank on the arm of your seat.

"No thanks, coffee isn't something I'd classify as a morning drink." You shake your head at the hologram before turning to the officer. "Anything to report lieutenant?"

"No sir, the rebel forces have made no attempts to move from their positions around the base." The lieutenant reported, tiredness sitting heavy in his voice as he reported the lack of anything having happened since you left the bridge going on nine hours ago.

"Thank you lieutenant, you're dismissed." You dismissed the officer, releasing him from his commitment here and allowing him to go back to his quarters.

"Aye sir, you have the deck." The lieutenant nodded, giving a final lethargic salute before leaving you alone to tend to the bridge.

>Get a report from the various stations, you might as well see how everyone is holding up.
>Handle your mail from here, you don't have anything else to do. (station reports, automated receipts)
>Wait until Dyad gets back, you can delegate some of the work to her.
>Other (write in)

>>3891391
>Get a report from the various stations, you might as well see how everyone is holding up.

>>3891391
>>Get a report from the various stations, you might as well see how everyone is holding up.

>>3891391
>Get a report from the various stations, you might as well see how everyone is holding up.

>>3891391
>Get a report from the various stations, you might as well see how everyone is holding up.

"Alright, can I get a report from all stations?" You asked aloud, getting the attention of the various deck-hands.

"Propulsion is all green sir, though Ensign Toulali is running late to relieve me." The first, most irritated reply came from right in front of you, the replacement navigation officer. She didn't turn to face you, though from her tone of voice and the fact that she had just outed the ensign's tardiness to you proved that she wasn't in a great mood.

"Weapons are all good sir, though I've got a warning on MAC gun usage. The report is in your inbox." The man sat next to her -your normal weapons officer- was far calmer, but made sure to pass on a reminder about the report awaiting you.

The reports came in one-by-one and generally told you the same thing. Everything was generally fine on-ship, but there were a couple of reported issues. You had kind of expected that, your ship had been holding position near the rebel base in Howler's shadow for a few weeks by now, waiting for the reinforcements for an armed assault on the asteroid bases that made up the rebel presence in the system. Still, the couple of outlying issues hadn't been important enough to wake you up over, so you could push all that to the side.

"Sir, engineering is requesting to speak with you, should I patch them through?" Diana informed you, her small form appearing in the holotank by your hand.

>Talk with engineering, this ought to be important.
>Wait until Dyad gets back, you might as well have her around when you answer the call.
>Other (write in)

>>3891449

>Talk with engineering, this ought to be important.

>>3891449
>>Talk with engineering, this ought to be important.

>>3891449
>Talk with engineering, this ought to be important.

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>>3891449

"Patch them through, no sense in making them wait." You ordered the AI as you made yourself comfortable while changing the padding in the seats was technically against regulation, you were seriously considering replacing it with something that didn't rely on you having to wait for a few minutes for your ass to go to sleep before it got comfortable.

"Hey 'cap. How's the bridge?" The chief engineer asked, starting off the conversation in a casual manner. The man really didn't seem to care about your rank, and you had to admit that you kind of liked it.

"Same old, how's engineering? Something come up?" You asked, cutting to the chase. One of the things that you liked about the veteran engineer was him not beating around the bush, and the fact that he had opened the conversation without a point set a few alarm bells off in your head.

"Nah, we're fine down here, I just called up to talk about that there Covenant AA gun." The chief stated, and you couldn't help but sigh. Ever since you had brought that damn thing on board he had been poking and prodding at it with a wide variety of tools. You had no idea what he wanted, but you'd be willing to lend him an ear.

"What are you thinking chief?" You asked, hoping to get right to the core of his argument.

"I'm thinking that we can rig it up to the ship. Looking at the data I gathered it should be a good fit for the space underneath the engine bay and behind the ventral hanger. There is a blind spot there, and that gun should cover it. I can probably furnish a mount and targeting system for it, and plug it up to the rest of the power grid should it be required. All I'd need is the go-ahead from you and a couple of weeks fitting out time." The cheif of engineering explained, going straight to the point. But at the same time conspicuously ignoring the various regulations that you'd be breaking if you let him do that. Granted, you were probably good enough on ONI's side to get away with it, but you still had a reputation to uphold.

>Let him fit the gun, you need to cover that blind-spot anyways. (-1 ONI reputation, +1 underworld reputation)
>Don't let him fit the gun, that would break more regs that you want to think about.
>Other (write-in)

>>3891525
>>Don't let him fit the gun, that would break more regs that you want to think about.

>>3891525
>>Don't let him fit the gun, that would break more regs that you want to think about.
>neither of us want to be court martialed.

>>3891525
>Fit the gun
Gotta do what ya gotta do to survive.

>>3891525
>Let him fit the gun, you need to cover that blind-spot anyways

"As much as I don't like having a blind spot where we can get shot from, I also dislike the idea of both me and you getting court-marshaled for breaking UNSC regulations on artifact handling." You denied the engineering cheif his playtime with the gun, as much as you were interested in getting the weapon, people who fucked with such wide reaching regs tended to find themselves lucky to be riding a desk for the rest of their careers.

"Figured you'd say as much sir, hance why I hadnt started fabricating." The chief sighed, obviously put out by being denied the oppotunity to work on the alien tech. "That blind spot is still gonna be an issue though, we've got extra armour there to at least give us a chance to keep the enemy off our backs, but that ain't gonna cover the lack of firepower there."

"If I remember correctly there are for-but-not-with mounts back there for Rampart point defence gun turrets, I'll see about aquiring some." You assured the cheif, while the extra armour would keep enemy fire at bay for a bit, your frigate was still nowhere near a bruiser like a Halberd or Halcyon, and concentrated fire would go through that armour fairly quickly. Having some guns there would hopefully ward off any incoming hostiles.

"Appreciate it sir, engineering out." The cheif replied, before cutting the call there. Obvously he wasn't in the best of moods, being denied some real protection for a section of the ship very close to where his men would be working. So you decided to let it slide.

>Handle your mail from here, you don't have anything else to do. (station reports, automated receipts)
>Wait until Dyad gets back, you can delegate some of the work to her.
>Other (write in)

>>3891645
>>Handle your mail from here, you don't have anything else to do. (station reports, automated receipts)
Station reports first, Dyad can handle the automated stuff when she gets back.

>>3891525
>Let him fit the gun, you need to cover that blind-spot anyways

Gonna call tonight's run here guys. Sorry for the long delay between this thread and last thread, I just couldn't get the work-QM'ing balance to work out. I've got some time between jobs right now so we'll run this thread for as long as possible. If you have any questions the feel free to ask them, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

>>3891645
>>Handle your mail from here, you don't have anything else to do. (station reports, automated receipts)

While you could wait until Dyad got back before going through the reports, you couldn't see much of a reason to wait until your XO returned. So instead you booted up your console and navigated over to your mail. You went through it in chronological order,

The first message came from aviation support, the maintainers and repair crews in charge of looking after your embarked fighters and dropships. The specific sender was one of the lead engineers on one of your pelican dropships. Apparently, one of the pelicans had over-stressed its engines while hauling the heavier covenant artifacts that you had lifted from the rebel supply depot. This had resulted in over-stress to the primary structure, and they didn't have the facilities onboard to effect the deep repairs that would be needed in order to remedy the issue. Aside from that they also had to change out the primary thrusters, but that would take only around a day to complete.

The next message was from sensor tech. They had been doing some routine calibration scans to ensure that the sensors were working properly, but they had run into some issues. The tech described it as ghosts, they would get a return on something very far away, but upon scanning that area again, or attempting a more powerful scan of that area, they would find nothing but an empty void. While it wasn't anything to worry about now, they did point out that it might affect long-range targeting for the MAC cannon and archer missiles, as both relied on the primary scanner network to find targets. They were working on a patch right now, but they were having issues replicating the issue in a controlled environment.

The final message was from MAC gun control, and the message was penned by chief Ambrose herself. According to her, the MAC gun's barrel and charging mechanism were undergoing higher stress than expected. Not that it surprised you, you were encountering more combat than other UNSC forces, and you were using your MAC gun far more often than usual. As such, you were rapidly approaching time to replace its barrel and firing mechanism. She reckoned that you still had around a dozen or so shots left before you'd reach an unacceptable amount of degradation. After that, you could still use it for around another dozen or so shots, before you'd suffer a catastrophic failure.

You'd probably be able to perform one or two missions before you reached that point, but it gave you an excuse to put in for shore leave. After all, if the ship was going to be idle for around a week, so why not let the crew go on leave for a bit.

>CONT

>>3892839

You were just about to start penning your replies to the various crewmen when the door into the bridge opened and the guard gave a call of officer on deck. You didn't have to turn around to know who it was though, as her voice carried just a bit. And soon enough, your XO was standing by the side of your chair, tablet in one hand and coffee mug in the other, she beamed down at you with a weary smile. "Hey commander, how's the nap?"

>Write-in

>>3892843
"As well as it can be with our current situation. Your own? " And show her the stuff we got.

>>3892933
Supporting. Hopefully our reinforcements come soon so we can head back for rest and refitting

>>3892933
Support

"As well as it can be with our current situation. Your own?" You replied as you shuffled on your seat, trying to get a bit more comfortable.

Dyad just laughed, before saying. "If I could have a nap then I would. I've got around eight hours left on deck before I can tap out. Anything new?"

"Nothing with the innies. But I've got some reports from aviation, MAC control, and sensors, all have some various problems, but nothing groundbreaking." You filled in your XO, though you doubted that it had really changed since she had left. "Here, give me a hand with the automated receipts."

With that, you send half of the automated messages in your inbox to your XO. Technically speaking it was against regs for her to check it off, but it kept the two of you occupied doing something for a quarter of an hour. Dyad sighed as you dropped the work in her lap, but made no complaints as the two of you worked through it. You were just coming to the end of your final receipt -specifically one for the expenditure of a MAC round- when your comms officer called your attention.

"Commander! We're being hailed by the rebel base, it looks like they're bouncing the message off their remaining armed freighter." The comms officer called out, her report catching you a bit off guard. The rebels hadn't attempted to contact you for the past few weeks, and you had been fine keeping up that status quo. But at the same time, you were a bit interested in hearing what they had to say.

>Answer their call, you might as well see what they want.
>Decline their call, you have no interest in talking with criminals.

Answer their call, you might as well see what they want.

>>3893097
>Answer their call, you might as well see what they want.
do not give them anything besides the option for a complete surrender.

glad to see the quest up again Thunderhead!

>>3893097

>Answer their call, you might as well see what they want.

>>3893097
>>Answer their call, you might as well see what they want.

>>3893097
>>Answer their call, you might as well see what they want.

File: Rebelfist.png (61 KB, 353x454)

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"Patch them through. Might as well give them the option to surrender." You ordered, the possibility of ending the hostilities right there and then was too good to pass up.

"You know, when I got kicked awake a couple of weeks back, and caught word that one frigate had just nuked our depo, took one of our observation posts, and almost wiped out our fleet, I was expecting to face someone who looked like they had actually seen some shit." The voice came on first before the picture, not even static was transmitted along with it. But given the two-way nature of the link, you knew that whoever was on the other end had a good look at you and your deck crew.

"Looks can be deceiving, much like your fleet. Probably looked terrifying to the odd unlucky merchantman, but not to anyone with some actual firepower." You fired back, if this guy wanted to complain about getting his shit pushed it by someone your age, then you would rub it in by complaining about their excuse for a fleet.

"At least I'm getting someone with a mouth this time, usually the most I get out of people like you is a bunch of self-righteous crap." With this, the display over the viewport flashed into life, showing you a grizzled old man with a few too many scars. He wore what looked like a green sweater with a red fist printed over where his heart was. He seemed to look down his nose at you, judging you even as he talked to you.

"Well, you called me for a reason. So what do you want?" You asked, hoping to cut to the crux of the conversation before he got more time to rant.

"What I want is to give you a chance to leave." The rebel officer announced. "More of my people are coming, and you aren't going to want to be around when they get here."

>"Why should I believe you?"
>"What's coming?"
>"I have people of my own coming, really want to compare sizes like this?"
>Other (write in)

>>3893283
>>"Why should I believe you?"

>>3893283
>"Why should I believe you?"

>>3893283
>"Why should I believe you?"

>>3893283
>"Why should I believe you?"

"Why should I believe you?" You asked, trying not to let the disbelief get into your voice. "There isn't an inter-system comms connection in this system, so you can't really call in support."

"That may be true, but people will notice when we don't get back to them." The rebel officer leaned back in his chair, a snazzy looking leather chair -probably an expensive one made of real bovine leather- that looked more at home in some governor's lounge.

"You really think your rebel friends will come and save you? What do you have to offer that they would stick their necks out for?" You asked, no longer bothering to conceal your skepticism. Rebel cells were a lot better known for prioritizing their own interests over saving their fellows. Not that cells working together was unheard of, the rebel involvement at Psi-serpentis couldn't have been one cell working alone after all.

"Wouldn't you like to know." The officer chuckled, before smoothing down his salt-and-pepper colored beard. "It doesn't matter though, they have commitments and investments here that they wouldn't like to give up without a fight."

>"What is there to commit to? All I see are a bunch of rocks and a bitch fleet."
>"You mean the investments in that depot? Because almost all of that has been reduced to free-floating atoms."
>"And what makes you think that FTEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."
>Other (write-in)

>>3893477
>>"And what makes you think that FLEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."

>>3893477
>"You mean the investments in that depot? Because almost all of that has been reduced to free-floating atoms."

>>3893477
>>"You mean the investments in that depot? Because almost all of that has been reduced to free-floating atoms."

>>3893477
>"What is there to commit to? All I see are a bunch of rocks and a bitch fleet."

>>3893477
>>"You mean the investments in that depot? Because almost all of that has been reduced to free-floating atoms."

"You mean the investments in that depot? Because almost all of that has been reduced to free-floating atoms." You say with a smile. While you could say that you had taken some spoils for your trouble, you wanted to see what his response would be.

The rebel officer doesn't seem too worried at this, though his smile seems to droop a bit. "Well that isn't so much my concern now. If anything, you should be the one worrying."

"Why should I care? Your fleet wasn't even worth the MAC rounds I expended killing them, they can't be any different." You scoffed, for all his smugness and bravado, this guy was acting like a child on a playground saying that his big brother would beat up the people bullying him. And while that may be enough to scare some kids, the same tactic doesn't scale up to this level.

"I can assure you, the people who put that stuff in the depo have far more firepower than either of us and are more than willing to use it." The officer replied, his smile falling a bit more, before reasserting itself. You made a note of that, either he was seeing his tactic fail, or he was remembering something that he didn't like.

"There's not much point in me worrying about a bunch of graverobbers and thieves." You stated rather flatly, you weren't impressed by what he was trying to sell you. If anything the only thing he seemed to be selling you right now was a steaming pile of moa shit.

"A graverobber with a gun and a bunch of friends is still a threat that you don't want to mess around with." The rebel officer cautioned you. "I think that your men would prefer it if you just left, better to die trying to stop the Covenant than dying to us."

>"But what are they actually bringing? Cries of a coming doom mean nothing without a fleet to back it up."
>"What do I gain from leaving? Because either way, my crew will survive."
>"And what makes you think that FTEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."
>Other (write-in)

>>3893569
>>"And what makes you think that FTEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."

>>3893569
>>"And what makes you think that FLEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."

>>3893569
>>"And what makes you think that FTEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."

>>3893569
>>"And what makes you think that FTEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave."

>>3893569

>"But what are they actually bringing? Cries of a coming doom mean nothing without a fleet to back it up."

"And what makes you think that FLEETCOM is just gonna wait? You must have seen our prowler leave." You asked, the prowler's jump to slipspace was fairly obvious to spot by the rebels, so you didn't bother hiding it's presence.

"Yeah, I saw that prowler leave. Makes sense that those bloodsuckers would lead you here, and then leave you to die here." The officer reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal case, from which he pulled a cigarette. "But that's the way of the spook afterall. Watching planets burn and fleets die all from the safty of their stealth ships."

The officer lit up the cigarette with a flick of a zippo lighter, the gold and platinum plated lighter reflecting the rest of the command center around him for the breif second you could see it. "As for your fleet. The UNSC really isn't as responcive as you'd like to believe. And then factor in the transport time out here and you really are looking at a lot of time being wasted."

"Military slipspace drives are a lot faster than civilian ones, my reinforcements will get here much quicker than yours." You pointed out. Granted, the escorting frigates would be faster through slipspace than the heavier destroyer, cruisers and transports, but any support would be helpful.

"True, but that doesn't mean much when they don't have as far to travel. In any case however, it looks like you're out of time." The rebel officer gave a bloodthirsty smile as he spoke. You began to open your mouth to reply, but then the klaxons on the bridge began to blare. Soon reports began to come in from various members of the crew. Sensors, comms, weapons, your AI. All began reporting the exact same thing.

Reinforcements had arrived, and they were definately not yours.

>Continue the conversation! The more time he spends talking with you, the less time he has to co-ordinate with his fleet.
>Kill the comms! You can't waste time chatting while the rebels bring in reinforcements.
>Other (write-in)

>>3893629
>>Kill the comms! You can't waste time chatting while the rebels bring in reinforcements.

>>3893629
>>Kill the comms! You can't waste time chatting while the rebels bring in reinforcements.

>>3893629
>Continue the conversation! The more time he spends talking with you, the less time he has to co-ordinate with his fleet.

>>3893629
>>Kill the comms! You can't waste time chatting while the rebels bring in reinforcements.

"Damn it! Diana, cut comms and find what we're facing. Dyad, bring us to action stations!" You barked your orders, realising just a bit too late that the rebel officer had been trying to keep your attention focussed on him, and not on looking out for any signs of his reinforcements.

"Tally two destinct groups of hostile vessels, both from indipendent approach vectors not synonymous with occupied human systems." Your AI reported as the connection to the rebel officer was cut, the image of the smug bastard being dragged off your screen and being replaced by a tactical display of the different rebels forces.

The rebel asteroid base sat close to the shatered planet's destinctive trail. Your vessel was in a low geo-syncrunous orbit just over the horizon from the rebel base, not close enough that the remaining armed freighter and the defensive infrastructure could get an easy hit on you, but close enough that you could easily interdict any ships that dropped out of slipspace. The two flotillas that had dropped out of slipspace just outside of the gravity well, giving them a high position to attack you from, but also moving them further away from any prospective cover.

The first fleet was the largest, and consisted of three freighters, two old Mako class corvettes, and a damaged Stalwart class light frigate. The frigate was the primary threat, as while the upper prong that usually contained the frigate's MAC gun was gone, you had no idea if it still carried nukes or Archer missiles. The frieghters were less of a threat however, as even if they were armed, their weapons would be of bad quality and jury-rigged in place. In either case however, the fleet didn;t seem that interested in you, as it burned directly towards the station itself.

The second fleet was smaller, but you were a lot more concerned about it. For a starts, it was made up of three warships and a transport. The first vessel was a Hillsborough class destroyer, which was closer in size to a cruiser than an escort ship. While it carried less missiles than a modern destroyer, she still packed a MAC gun on a sturdy frame. Her escorts were made up of a pair of older Berlin class frigate. The Berlins lacked MAC guns, but their combination of speed and armour made them brawlers that you would want to kill as soon as possible. The transport that hung at the back of their formation seemed to lack any offensive arnanet, but you'd be an idiot to condider it as any less of a threat.

So all in all you were facing six confirmed warships, with another four possibly armed transports. Not good odds, but not terrible either if you played your cards right.

"Captain! MAC gun is coming online, Shiva nukes and Archer missiles have been keyed and armed." Your weapons officer crowed as your tired navigation officer was replaced by your normal helmsman.

>CONT

>Target the larger fleet! You can't let them reach the rebel base.
>Target the smaller fleet! They're a bigger threat to you than a bunch of transports.
>Target the rebel base! You can't really fight them, but you can deny them their prize.
>Retreat! Five to one odds at best aren't something you're capable of fighting alone.
>Other (write-in)

>>3893771
>Target the rebel base! You can't really fight them, but you can deny them their prize.

>>3893771
>>Target the rebel base! You can't really fight them, but you can deny them their prize.
>>Retreat! Five to one odds at best aren't something you're capable of fighting alone.
MAC into the base and skedaddle

>>3893771
>>Target the rebel base! You can't really fight them, but you can deny them their prize.
>>Retreat! Five to one odds at best aren't something you're capable of fighting alone.
MAC strike, nukes I don't care just make sure that asshile doesn't live to see the rest of this.

>>3893771
>>3893790
Supporting

Dunno why we didn't MAC the reebl base if we were going to do it now anyway.

>>3893771
>Target the larger fleet! You can't let them reach the rebel base.

There WAS an in-character reason, wasn't there?

>>3893821
>>3893826
Cause we weren't in the first place? The plan was to wait for reinforcements then try to capture it but now we don't have the luxury to do that.

Gonna call tonight's run here guys. As the option for attacking the rebel base has won here, we'll start tomorrow on choosing how you want to hit it. You do have options ranging between simply damaging it to killing everyone onboard, but the details on how you want to handle it will be laid out then. If you have any questions the feel free to ask them, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

>>3893821
>>3893826
Initially you wanted to siege the rebel base in order for the UNSC to take it, as taking it on your own is way outside the capabilities of the small marine compliment you have onboard.

You weren't feeling good about staying for a fight. Even if only one of the rebel vessels carried a MAC gun, you had no idea if they had nuclear-tipped missiles. And even if you weren't actually hit by the missiles, the secondary electromagnetic burst would play merry hell with your systems. You couldn't completely destroy the rebel base in one hit, the fact that it was built into a large asteroid practically assured that nothing short of a concentrated barrage of multiple MAC rounds and a volley of multiple nuclear warheads would crack it open.

You could still cause a lot of damage though. And that would hopefully delay any rebel evacuation long enough for the UNSC fleet to arrive. A MAC round or two would hopefully blow a hole in the side of the base, causing internal damage and venting multiple sections. Not to mention that it would trash whatever was being stored inside that base. That would hopefully force the rebels to prioritize stabilizing the base and performing search and rescue. After all, it was very hard to move cargo in a vacuum suit. Alternatively, a barrage of nuclear missiles, set to detonate at point-blank range would cause a lot of surface damage, but the radiation output from them would cause a world of hurt for the rebels. Any crew would be severely irradiated, and lingering radiation would make it very hard to move equipment around. A combination of the two would hopefully deny the rebels their base.

Alternatively, you could set your sights on the rebel's way out. Their base was a hard target, but the transports were far more vulnerable. A volley of Archer missiles, a couple of nukes, a MAC round, either would be more than enough to destroy the ships and deny the rebels their best way out of the system. The biggest problem with this plan was that it could kick the hornets' nest and get all of the remaining rebel ships to concentrate their fire on you before you had a chance to jump out. Still, it was a lot easier to break a bunch of transports than to crack open an asteroid habitat. The UNSC had learned that lesson the hard way. You could probably fire off a volley of missiles and run, leaving the rest of the targeting to the cumulative targeting power of the volley.

>CONT

>>3894772

Still, there was an itch at the back of your mind to fight. A quick look at the screen gave the rebel forces a decided advantage in numbers of dedicated warships. However, a deeper look showed you that the playing field was a bit closer to being level. For a start, only half of the warships were actually paying any attention to you. They had a destroyer, but it was old and probably lacked many of the modernizations that had been applied to Hillsboroughs that had been reactivated for wartime service. They had a trio of frigates, but they had their own issues. The Stalwart's MAC gun had been blown off by Covenant fire, and probably had a whole host of issues from further enemy fire. The two other frigates were old Berlins, which were far closer in size and firepower to corvettes than a modern frigate. The two remaining ships were Mako corvettes, which were obsolete even before the Covenant burned Harvest. If you played your cards right, you could probably get some good licks on them. But that assumed that the transports were unarmed, that the rebels hadn't modified their ships, and that they didn't have any nuclear missiles of their own. And that was way too many assumptions to work on.

>Hit the base! The more damage you cause to it, the less the rebels can salvage from it. (MAC / Nukes / Both)
>Hit the transports! If you can destroy the rebel's way out, then you can keep them pinned here until your fleet arrives.
>Attack the fleet! You can't just surrender the space to them without a fight, and you think that you can play with these odds.
>Other (write-in)

>>3894775
>>Hit the transports! If you can destroy the rebel's way out, then you can keep them pinned here until your fleet arrives.

>>3894775
>>Hit the base! The more damage you cause to it, the less the rebels can salvage from it. (Both)

>>3894775
>Hit the transports! If you can destroy the rebel's way out, then you can keep them pinned here until your fleet arrives.

Some stuff came up guys, I'll try to get the next post up in an hour.

>>3894775
>Hit the transports! If you can destroy the rebel's way out, then you can keep them pinned here until your fleet arrives
I figure thatd slow them down the most. Cant scuttle and run if you have no transports to escape on.

File: Frigate Archer Pods.jpg (29 KB, 592x333)

29 KB JPG

It took you a few seconds to analyze the situation that you were facing, but when you made your decision, you were confident in your plan of action. "Nav, get us out of the gravity well, we need to jump as soon as possible. Weapons, target the incoming transports. I want an archer volley on the way by the time we jump out."

"Aye sir, archer pods opening, finalizing a targeting solution." Your weapons officer crowed as the Dawn turned itself about, your navigation officer making sure to keep the ship as close to the surface of the planet as possible to get behind the cover of Howler's horizon.

"Hostile destroyer and escorts are accelerating to pursue us, we're being targeted for a missile lock." Diana reported, the AI pulling up a feed from your upper-aft facing camera and zooming in on the three rebel warships.

"Solution acquired! Missiles away." The weapons officer crowed, followed seconds later by the firecracker-like sounds of multiple archer missile pods being volley fired.

>Roll 4d20

Rolled 17, 10, 11, 8 = 46 (4d20)

>>3895006

Rolled 16, 11, 13, 12 = 52 (4d20)

>>3895006

Rolled 4, 5, 12, 2 = 23 (4d20)

>>3895006

Rolled 10, 13, 3, 20 = 46 (4d20)

>>3895006

File: Archer volley (1).jpg (142 KB, 1920x1080)

142 KB JPG

Watching through the aft-facing camera, you watched as hundreds of Archer anti-ship missiles filled the void with exhaust smoke and flames. Even as they cleared the first few kilometers away from your ship, the missiles were already moving off in distinct groups. The larger group -made up of a few hundred missiles- arced towards the larger group of transports, while the smaller group -still made up of just under a hundred missiles- arced towards the lone outlying transport. He hadn't sent anything towards the remaining armed freighter guarding the base, instead deciding that the anti-fighter defenses and missile batteries around the base would take too many missiles to punch through. Obviously, your weapons officer wasn't taking any chances when it came to blowing through the anti-missile screen protecting the ships.

"Activating offensive jammer suite, let's see them try and stop this." Diana stated with confidence, the AI obviously feeling confident with her native skill set.

The larger volley was engaged first by the anti-fighter missile batteries mounted on the defending Strident and Mako corvettes. The volley of interceptors cut dozens of your missiles out of the void, but even now the combination of the lethal gestalt-targeting capabilities of the Archer missiles and the jamming provided by your AI worked together to prevent the rebels from downing too many missiles. Over two-thirds of the volley was still moving when they entered the AA screen of the escorting ships. The Strident was a very good anti-fighter frigate, and even in rebel service it's AA screening capabilities were still superb. And backed up by the two Makos, they were able to reap a great score on the missiles. Still, enough missiles punched clean through the AA screen and slammed into the unarmed transports, blowing holes in them, damaging one and blowing the other two clean apart.

However, the greater AA protection of the destroyer and the paired frigates serving alongside it reaped a heavier toll of missiles sent at their transport. The first volley of Streak missiles cut down just under half of the missiles. The actual fire from the vessel's anti-missile guns was much thinner, but there were fewer missiles for them to contend with in the first place. They cut down dozens of missiles, but in spite of that, a couple of missiles managed to get through. These remaining missiles slammed clean into the side of the transport, snapping the vessel in half and blowing the aft section into shrapnel.

"Confirmed kills on three of the four transports. All hostile warships are turning to engage us." Your AI confirmed, before instantly alerting you to the enemy's return volley. "Hostile destroyer has fully charged it's MAC gun, helm should take evasive action."

>Roll 1d20-2

Rolled 20 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3895147

Rolled 8 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3895147

Rolled 2 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3895147

>>3895152
2EZ

It didn't take the helmsman more than a second to start firing the Dawn's port and starboard maneuvering thrusters in an attempt to slalom the ship from side to side, randomly firing the secondary thrusters while keeping the main thrusters on maximum burn. But even then, the most he could do was keep the ship moving inside a five-kilometer wide corridor. The majority of the work saving your hides would rest with your AI, and a lot of her options simply wouldn't work at this range. If they could track you on optical cameras, then there was nothing she could really do to jam them.

"Enemy MAC gun is firing!" Your weapons officer crowed, not even bothering to tell everyone to brace. A MAC round hit at this speed over a lifeless planet would not be something your ship -or anyone onboard-would survive.

Thankfully, it was not your time to go. Either the rebels had rushed the shot, or their gunner was a complete novice. Either way, the shot had been lead way too much, as the round slammed into the surface in front of the Dawn. The plume of ash and powdered rock shot up in your path, scoring the paint off the underside of the hull as you passed over the horizon. You caught a final glimpse of the enemy warships still burning after you as they disappeared below the horizon, the rebels apparently not wanting to waste their missiles on you in spite of the great rear-aspect shot they had on you.

"Ok, we're out of line-of-sight of the rebel reinforcements. But we'd be stupid to think that they won't come looking for us." Dyad announced after taking a few seconds to catch her breath.

"ETA fifteen minutes until we're out of the gravity well and green for FTL sir." Ensign Toulali announced, the navigation officer already taking the Dawn away from the surface of the broken planet.

>Hold position on the other side of the planet, if the rebels want a fight, you're gonna give them one.
>Prepare for a slipspace jump, you can't stay in the fighting range of the rebel fleet.
>Other (write-in)

>>3895254
>>Prepare for a slipspace jump, you can't stay in the fighting range of the rebel fleet.

>>3895254
>>Prepare for a slipspace jump, you can't stay in the fighting range of the rebel fleet.
>Any way we can rig up decoy to sucker them in to where we are not?

>>3895254
>Hold position on the other side of the planet, if the rebels want a fight, you're gonna give them one.

>>3895254
>>Prepare for a slipspace jump, you can't stay in the fighting range of the rebel fleet.

>>3895254

>Hold position on the other side of the planet, if the rebels want a fight, you're gonna give them one.

"Prepare to jump to slipspace. Staying here will get us killed." You ordered. The longer you stayed here, the more chances the rebels would have to find you and kill you. Or worse, board your ship and capture it for their own ends. All things considered, you'd prefer to die without the humiliation that your last command fell into the hands of a bunch of jumped-up innies.

"Understood sir, charging slipspace drive. Weapons, can I get power from the MAC gun capacitors?" The ensign asked his colleague next to him as the radiation paneling over the bridge dropped into place, completely obscuring your view of the stars.

"Commander?" The germaphobic weapons officer asked as he turned to face you, passing the decision on to you.

"Do it, we need to be out of here before they get a solution on us." You ordered. You needed to leave as soon as possible, and fighting really didn't factor into that. So keeping the ship's primary gun charged and ready wasn't essential.

"Any destination in particular sir?" The ensign asked. Blind jumps never really went well, so having a destination to punch into the navigation computer was always something that was needed when entering slipspace.

>Jump just outside the system, and then jump back in near to a different planet. At the very least you can watch what the rebels are doing.
>Jump back to a friendly UNSC controlled system, you've done as much as you can here.
>Other (write-in)

>>3895381
>>Jump back to a friendly UNSC controlled system, you've done as much as you can here.

>>3895381
>Jump just outside the system, and then jump back in near to a different planet. At the very least you can watch what the rebels are doing.

>>3895381
>>Jump just outside the system, and then jump back in near to a different planet. At the very least you can watch what the rebels are doing.

>>3895381
>>Jump just outside the system, and then jump back in near to a different planet. At the very least you can watch what the rebels are doing.

>>3895381
>>Jump just outside the system, and then jump back in near to a different planet. At the very least you can watch what the rebels are doing.

"Take us just outside the system, and jump us back in at another planet. We need to be there to observe any rebel actions that might endanger the fleet." You decided, while you could simply return home, the incoming UNSC fleet was expecting you, and they wouldn't take kindly if you just upped and left.

"Understood sir, slipspace drive is almost charged." The ensign reported, though by the growing itch at the back of your teeth, you could already tell that the drive was charged and raring to go.

"Enemy destroyer group sighted, they have their MAC gun charged. They're locking us!" Your weapons officer reported, only to get a dry chuckle from your navigator.

"Too late though." Toulali stated as the ship rumbled, the engines giving one final roar before the stomach-churning effects of slipspace transition made you glad that you hadn't already eaten. A couple of seconds after, the ensign turned to face you. "We're in slip sir, should be around thirty minutes before we drop out in interstellar space. Add on another half hour to recharge the drive we'll be on the return journey."

"Very good ensign." Dyad answered before you could even open your mouth, a hard edge in her voice telling you that she was not best pleased at the turn of events. "How the hell did they get those damn ships?"

>"They're grave robbers Dyad, and there are a whole lot of dead ships lying around these days."
>"It isn't that hard to pull a ship out of a boneyard, especially if you have a little help."
>"I'm sure ONI will be happy to ask them that question once we lay them on their asses."
>Other (write-in)

>>3895493
>>"I'm sure ONI will be happy to ask them that question once we lay them on their asses."
But yeah probably some corruption involved given that guy's spiel about his friends and investments

>>3895493
>>"I'm sure ONI will be happy to ask them that question once we lay them on their asses."

>>3895493
>>"I'm sure ONI will be happy to ask them that question once we lay them on their asses."

>>3895493
>"I'm sure ONI will be happy to ask them that question once we lay them on their asses."

"I'm sure ONI will be happy to ask them that question once we lay them on their asses." You assured your XO, and this time, you hoped to yourself that ONI brought out their toys to get the questions they wanted. Sure, technology had massively progressed since the twenty-first century, when the use of state-sanctioned torture had been at it's highest point. But the methods of getting information the harmful way hadn't needed to change since then. Though you were sure that ONI had been more than willing to try more innovative solutions.

"Assuming that there are any left. Then again, it's not like that's stopped ONI in the past." Dyad replied a small smile on her face at the assurance that the rebels wouldn't get away unpunished. "I can hold the bridge, in case you want to grab something to eat."

"Sounds good, I'll be back soon." You took up your XO's offer, both so that you could stretch your legs and so that she could rest hers. You'd have to put in for a seat for her during your next drydocking, but that would be an easy fix. You had more than enough time to think about it and many other things as you made your way to and from the mess hall. A journey that was made a bit longer by the need to stop twice to catch your footing during the transition back into realspace, and the transition back into slipspace half an hour later on your return trip.

You really didn't like the recent turn of events. You had the insurrectionist base dead to rights, and they pulled not one but two fleets out of thin air. You were lucky that their Strident lacked its MAC gun, it had the speed and firepower necessary to prevent your escape, and you thanked whatever power that had made the rebels fuck up their only MAC cannon shot at you that the rebels sucked as much at logistics as they did at gun laying. Still, you couldn't shake the idea that there might be a mole somewhere in FLEETCOM's local hierarchy. Granted, there was just as much chance that the rebels had seen the loss of two freighters over Greydowns and assumed that the UNSC was going to hit them here. But even then, it wouldn't be the first time that the innies had support from someone on the inside. And hell, in the years during the war, while they might not have made front-page news, the insurrection was still going strong. A couple of planets had even declared their "independence" from the UEG, and had refused to help humanity in their fight against the Covenant. No effort had been expended to bring those worlds back into the fold, and they had made no overt attempts to try and drag any more human worlds into their little hissy-fit. But just because you couldn't see the conflict between them and the UNSC, didn't mean that there wasn't one. And you'd be willing to bet some money that whoever was financing these cells had a connection to one of those worlds.

>CONT

>>3895608

You thought about just where this unexpectedly powerful support could have come from as you ate, and as you went back to the bridge and waited for the Dawn's Early Light to return back to the rebel-controlled system.

"Commander, we're about to drop out of slipspace in orbit of Hoover." Dyad informed you over an hour after your first departure from the system. You simply nodded in reply, you didn't need to say anything. Dyad had already brought the ship up to standby conditions. So if you happened to drop out of slipspace on top of a rebel warship, or an errant asteroid, then your crew was already prepared for any sudden maneuvering or action.

A sudden shifting in your guts and the feeling of reality re-asserting itself confirmed that you had just transitioned back into realspace just a second before your navigation officer called it out. "Transition successful, we are currently holding in orbit over the gas giant Hoover."

"Status report, what is the rebel fleet doing?" You asked as the radiation shielding over the viewport was lowered, giving you a good look at the gas giant that you were now taking shelter in the shadow of.

"Standby, I'm attempting to observe the rebel fleet with our sensor suite. One moment please." Diana answered she remained silent for the next five minutes, before telling you her findings. "It would appear as if the rebel fleet is holding position close to the primary asteroid habitat, while salvage tugs recover the remains of the destroyed freighters. I cannot identify the position of the Mako class corvettes or the Berlin class frigate, though I assume that they are currently either in the outlying drydocks or are performing scouting missions to see where we went."

While you were more than content to leave the rebels be until you had backup, your main reason for being here was to observe what the rebels were doing, and long-range cameras could only do so much. If you wanted more intel, you'd actually have to send something over there if you wanted to get an idea of what the rebels were saying to each other.

>Send out the subprowler! It's the only stealthy scouting asset you have.
>Send out a longsword! If the innies try and start a fight with it then your longsword will end it.
>Hang back for now, you don't want to provoke them.
>Other (write-in)

>>3895612
>>Send out the subprowler! It's the only stealthy scouting asset you have.

>>3895612
>Send out a longsword! If the innies try and start a fight with it then your longsword will end it.

>>3895612
>>Send out the subprowler! It's the only stealthy scouting asset you have.

>>3895612
>>Send out the subprowler! It's the only stealthy scouting asset you have.

>>3895612
>>Send out the subprowler! It's the only stealthy scouting asset you have.

"Send out the subprowler, this is their job." You decided, the spooks had been doing precious little for the past few weeks other than acting as a scout relay. But now they finally had the chance to do their job.

"Understood, they are already configured for ELINT, so we don't have to change anything there. Stand by." Your inteligence officer announced, the young lieutenant acting as the intermediary between your ship and the ONI crew of the prowler. You had acted as that link during the first stages of your deployment here, but you didn't know enough of the mission-oriented lingo that the spooks used. So you passed that job off to the most capable member of your crew. "Alright, the prowler's crew has embarked and they are decompressing the hanger new to head off to Howler. Do you want them to get close to the rebel fleet for a better chance of successfully entering the their comms network, or do you want them to hang back and keep as hidden as possible?"

>Get in close! You need as good of a connection as possible.
>Hang back! You can't put such a valuable asset at risk.
>Other (write in)

>>3896425
>>Get in close! You need as good of a connection as possible.

>>3896425
>Hang back! You can't put such a valuable asset at risk.

>>3896425
>>Hang back! You can't put such a valuable asset at risk.

>>3896425
>Hang back! You can't put such a valuable asset at risk.

>>3896425
>>Hang back! You can't put such a valuable asset at risk.

"Tell them to hang back, they can't be too close when our fleet shows up." You decided. While the liklihood of the prowler getting caught in the crossfire of an engagement was minimal, the sheer amount of RADAR and other sensor emissions would eventually find them, and if that happened while everyone else was tied up then there would be no saving them.

"Understood sir. Orders relayed and subprowler is away, ETA two hours." Your domestic spook confirmed your orders and relayed them to the ONI spy craft. This was the last you heard from the ship for a while, as you simply couldn't contact them without risking the rebels picking up on your transmission. You had to play this one passivley, and by the end of the second hour, you were almost ready to pull your hair out.

"It's been over two hours, why haven't they reported back?" You asked your inteligence officer, while you were worried that something else had gone wrong, you had to do as much as possible to give the impression that you wern't worrying.

"Speak of the devil sir, I'm getting a message from them on a one way link. They have entered the gravity well of Howler and are currently holding position in preperation of attempting to access the rebel comms network." The inteligence officer answered with a smile, part of you wondered if she was just holding the news for when you asked her about it.

"Any idea if they can be detected if they mess this up?" You asked, right now there was precious little you could do if they did were found, but you hoped that the subprowler's ECM suite would be more than enough to protect it from any retribution long enough for you to get into effective MAC cannon range.

"It would take a monumentally bad fuckup, but they aren't in the business of getting caught." Your domestic spook anserwed.

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>3896572

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>3896572

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>3896572

"They're in, standby for analysis. Who wants the report?" The inteligence officer asked, allowing the presentation to be taken by someone else.

"I'll take it." Dyad volunteered, a few seconds later she began to read it aloud. "Well, aside from the jokes at our expense, it looks like we hampered them a lot more than expected. They wanted to grab what they could and jump out of the system ASAP, but without the transports they don't have a way out of the system. It looks like they're trying to salvage what they can from the damaged transports in order to try and improvise a new ship. Until then, they're packing up as much as they can on the Berlins and the Strident."

"Do they even have the facilities to do that? Reassembling a ship out of salvaged parts seems like an intensive job." You asked, your major hadn't included much included much on civilian ship manufacturing, but even then you assumed that such a job would need a properly made shipyard.

"Not really, some transport ships are built to have interchangable under modern ISOs. If they have a working habitation module, a working propulsion module, and a few storage modules then they should be able to get moving." Dyad assured you, before adding. "It woun't be pretty mind you, but things like that rarely are."

"Any idea what yard those cargo haulers might have come out of? It sounds like a complex job to make plug-and-play modules for something basic as a cargo ship." You wondered, at the very least it could give you a few routs for ONI to persue in trying to seek out any remaining rebels.

"Most ships built like that are usually produced by a number of smaller yards working together. You get it on less developed worlds where they can't get enough of a market for full-on ships, but still have a market for automated slipspace tugs. Usually you have a group of multiple smaller manufacturers teaming up to offer a combination that can be used as a starter ship for smaller cargo companies. It only costs a small amount more than a standard propulsion pod and however many cargo pods the buyer wants with it." Dyad explained, before then adding. "Then again, they could have just stollen the habitation module off another ship and grafted it onto a propulsion module. Stealing them isn't that hard and the work could be done out in the void without a dedicated drydock."

>"How long would that take?"
>"If we were able to recover the parts, could we identify which yard the constituent parts came from?"
>"What about their warships? How much cargo can they haul?"
>Other (write in)

>>3896828
>>"How long would that take?"

>>3896828
>>"If we were able to recover the parts, could we identify which yard the constituent parts came from?"

>>3896828
>>"How long would that take?"

>>3896828
>>"How long would that take?"
Also would be nice if our reinforcements could show up soon

>>3896828
>"If we were able to recover the parts, could we identify which yard the constituent parts came from?"

"How long would it take for them to get a working freighter put together?" You asked your XO, she was a lot more knowledgeable on this subject, so you would be relying on her.

"It's really hard to say, the entire nature of that kind of ship is that they are very easy to reconfigure. It really depends on how many cargo modules they want to mount to a single propulsion module and how much they want to salvage. In order to ensure that the ship survives slipspace transition then they're gonna have to add structural reinforcement to make up for any damage to the electromagnets that are usually used to hold it together in order to free up power for their drive." Dyad began to read further through the report as she mused, your XO trying to form a concrete idea on how long it would take the rebels to produce a new ship. "According to this report they've got two intact propulsion modules, and if they want to use multiple propulsion modules on the same vessel then they will have to improvise a way to mount them together and make sure that the drives function properly together."

"If they have two propulsion units then wouldn't it be more efficient for them to try and assemble two separate transports?" You asked, while it didn't really make sense for the rebels to divide their time between two projects, if they had the option for it then it would make sense for them to take it.

"Technically yes, but if they load them up with too many cargo modules then they would put more strain on their drives and massively increase their chances of suffering a slipspace transition failure. If they mount them together then they can share the load between the two drives, thus allowing them to move more mass overall." Dyad explained the rebel's reasoning.

"Getting the two drives to work together would require the vessel to make use of an AI unit to ensure the drives work together in harmony." Diana pointed out, the AI having a keen understanding of just how many calculations it took to keep a single drive functioning.

"Either way, the actual power output of their drives doesn't matter, as once they're in slipspace, they can make use of the slipspace wakes of the larger destroyer and frigate in order to travel at the same velocity as them. So as long as they don't pile on enough weight to prevent them from actually entering slipspace, they can travel with the rest of their fleet." Dyad continued, brushing off the AI's input.

"That was a very long-winded way to tell me that you didn't have an idea on how long it would take for them to actually finish one of those ships." You stated flatly, while you appreciated your XO's input on the matter, you really needed reliable information right now, not conjecture.

>CONT

>>3896981

"Sorry sir, but without any information on how the rebels are going to use what they have, it's going to be very hard to get a concrete estimate." Dyad apologized, and it looked like you'd need to get more intel before you could actually plan anything out.

>Ask your information officer if the prowler can try and hack the rebel's systems.
>Ask Dyad what she thinks the rebels will do, and how long it will take them to flee the system.
>Ask Diana how much longer it will take for your reinforcements to arrive.
>Other (write in)

>>3896982
>>Ask Diana how much longer it will take for your reinforcements to arrive.

>>3896982
>>Ask Diana how much longer it will take for your reinforcements to arrive.

>>3896982
>>Ask Diana how much longer it will take for your reinforcements to arrive.

"Diana, any idea how much longer we have to wait until our reinforcements get here?" You asked your AI, you had ordered her to keep a running countdown on how long she estimated it would take for reinforcements to arrive.

"I don't know. It's been over two weeks, so we can be guaranteed that the prowler has already made it back. Though we have no idea how much time it would take for them to muster any local forces to come to our aid." Diana's little avatar in the holotank shook it's head as she gave her report. "Theoretically we could get support from any pre-mustered response force in a couple of the local systems in order to provide an active defense against any Covenant intrusion. But if ONI wanted to capture the station then they would probably send off for specialists, and they would take time to arrive."

"Great, so they could pop out of slipspace any moment now, and they would have no idea where the hell we went and why there is an innie fleet defending the base." You complained, finally giving a voice to the displeasure that you had felt at being forced to retreat from a bunch of jumped up pirates. This isn't what you had joined up to do.

>Ask your information officer if the prowler can try and hack the rebel's systems.
>Ask Dyad what she thinks the rebels will do, and how long it will take them to flee the system.
>Talk with your people, there has to be something you can do.
>Just sit tight and watch, right now there isn't much more you can do.
>Other (write in)

>>3897116
>Ask Dyad what she thinks the rebels will do, and how long it will take them to flee the system.

>>3897116
>Ask Dyad what she thinks the rebels will do, and how long it will take them to flee the system.

>>3897116
>>Ask Dyad what she thinks the rebels will do, and how long it will take them to flee the system.
>>Talk with your people, there has to be something you can do.

>>3897116
>>Ask Dyad what she thinks the rebels will do, and how long it will take them to flee the system.
>>Talk with your people, there has to be something you can do.

"Dyad, given what the rebels have been able to salvage, and what facilities we reckon they have, how long do you think it will take them to get another transport or two up and running?" You asked your XO, if anyone in the room could give you an insight into what the rebels might do, it was her.

"Are you fine with assumptions sir? Because that's all I think I will be able to give." Dyad asked with a flat tone. Neither of you liked to base your ideas on assumptions, but you had little choice.

"Assumptions are fine, we don't have much to go on right now anyways." You replied, giving your XO free reign to talk at length on the subject at hand.

And with that, your XO practically jumped to life. "Alright, so they recovered two propulsion modules, around twenty-four undamaged standard size cargo modules and one undamaged command module. Add onto that another twelve damaged standard cargo modules and three damaged extra-large cargo modules. They have four improvised drydocks converted from hollowed-out asteroids, but they would likely be using as many of them as possible to load cargo onto their frigates. Theif they build one ship then they can transport out the most cargo overall, so let's assume that they take that option. Ideally, they would perform the rough assembly of the primary cargo section outside of the drydock using tugs and guys in EVA suits, while using any repair facilities in the drydock to repair any damaged modules and to mate the two propulsion units together to form a single block. Once all repairs are done, they would move everything out into space and attach it to the then-completed cargo module, before taking the entire thing back into drydock for structural reinforcement and cargo loading."

"The biggest decision they have to make will be if they are going to make use of the damaged cargo modules or not, and if so then how far are they going to go to repair them. Let's be charitable and say that they do and they manage to repair half of the damaged containers, they're still going to have to sacrifice one in order to mount both engines together so that slightly lowers how much they can haul while increasing their building time. But that time gets reduced if they have full repair and refit capabilities in their dockyards and make use of them." Dyad began to stab at her tablet, you guessed that she was tallying up her reckoning of how long it would take and how many supplies it would be able to carry by volume. "And now we assume that they're using standard propulsion modules, along with TR steel beams mounted on the outside of the hull for ease of construction. And we come to this."


>CONT

>>3897262

"The resulting vessel would be around two-hundred and fifty meters long, made up of thirty standard size cargo modules and one-and-a-half extra-large modules. It would be able to haul fifteen and twenty thousand standard ISO containers, enough to supply a small city." Dyad explained as she presented her tablet to you, showing what she roughly expected the ship to look like. And in this case, it didn't look that different to a standard container transport at a first glance. The majority of the standard containers were stacked in blocks of seven, with the completed extra-large cargo module near the front and the damage module -now refitted into little more than a mount for the two propulsion modules- at the very end. Beams of TR steel connected the corners of the extra-large modules together and then branched out to attach themselves to the spider-web of beams that surrounded the standard size modules.

All in all, it was an ugly ship, but given its job looks really weren't the primary concern with it.

"How long will it take them to construct it?" You asked flatly, a pretty simulacrum of the ship was all well and good, but you still didn't know how long it would take the rebels to make it.

"At least a day to construct it. Though give or take another day if they decide to wait until the thing is built before they start packing the modules." Dyad stated with confidence, you couldn't help but smile a bit at that. If she hadn't joined the military then she probably would have been a perfect hire for any shipping company down on their luck.

>"They don't have three days Dyad, what's the quickest design they can make?"
>"How can we stop it? Or at the very least make them take longer."
>Ask your information officer if the prowler can try and hack the rebel's systems.
>Talk with your people, there has to be something you can do.
>Just sit tight and watch, right now there isn't much more you can do.
>Other (write in)

>>3897263
>"How can we stop it? Or at the very least make them take longer."

>>3897263
>"How can we stop it? Or at the very least make them take longer."

>>3897263
>>"How can we stop it? Or at the very least make them take longer."

Gonna call tonight's run here guys. I won't be able to run for a long time tomorrow, I have an interview for a job and I need to prepare for it. I'm not too keen on the job itself, but money is money. I'll try to get a few posts up tomorrow, but don't expect a long run. If you have any questions the feel free to ask them, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

just read through the archive, very cool qst.
the dice seems to be a bit cursed though, so ill keep lurking

"How can we stop it? Or at the very least make them take longer to finish that ship." You asked your XO.

"If they assemble part of the ship in space, then it will be vulnerable to fire. Damaging or destroying the exposed cargo modules will set them back by a number of hours, maybe even a day or so. We could either saturate it with Archer missiles or send out our longswords to bomb it, both have the issue of being easy prey for enemy missile defenses and fighters." Dyad suggested, your XO deducing how best to hamper the rebels if they followed the plan suggested by her.

"That assumes that the rebels concentrate all of their equipment in one ship. They may attempt to split their remaining cargo pods between the two propulsion modules and assemble them as normal, which would be faster and easier than making a single custom vessel." Your AI pointed out, reminding you that everything you had just been told was little more than conjecture.

"At the very least we have something to look for. If the rebels are attempting to build a single hull then we can spot the signs and take any appropriate action. Hopefully, the prowler can tell us what the rebels are doing." Dyad acquiesced, unable to give much of an answer to that.

>Roll 1d20

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>3898134

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>3898134

I guess we have perfect Intel... why do I get the feeling the dice gods are going to fuck us if we try combat?

Rolled 7 (1d20)

>>3898134

>>3898160
Because the dice gods always fuck us in this quest

>>3898321
Agreed. Things have been going our way too much recently, I am pretty sure they are trying to lull us into a false sense of security, only for high charity's fleet to drop right on top of our asses

File: rebel base.jpg (121 KB, 1280x1024)

121 KB JPG

"Standby, I'm getting another report in from the prowler. Something's up, they weren't meant to send us another report for another half an hour." Your intelligence officer reported, her voice tainted with a mix of confusion and concern.

"Send it to me." Dyad ordered, sounding a lot more enthusiastic about getting a report so soon than your local spook. She took a quick read through it, before sarcastically asking. "Well, well, well. Guess who guessed correctly?"

"Do I have to gratify that with an answer?" Your AI answered your XO's question with a question of her own, earning herself a chuckle from the XO.

"No, but you're going to want to listen either way." Dyad happily answered, before giving an abridged version of the report. "According to the report, the innie forces are amassing a large number of container modules together close to the primary habitat, probably so that they can assemble them into a single unit. They also seem to be dismounting some of the point defense guns off the nearby asteroid habitats and are moving them over, probably to mount them to the final assembly."

"They've taken their remaining armed transport into drydock, probably to disarm it to haul freight. The two Mako corvettes have also returned and are holding position near to the cargo modules, probably to defend against any missile attacks against the cargo modules. They've also launched all of their fighters and missile boats to supplement their defenses, though with the majority of their fleet in dock they are certainly not ready for an attack." Dyad continued as your AI began to give a rough illustration of what the rebel base was starting to look like. The majority of the rebel fleet -three frigates and the lone armed freighter- was docked in the four supporting drydock asteroids. The lone Hillsborough class destroyer sat close to the primary habitat, with swarms of fighters and missile boats darting around it. On the opposite side sat the improvised working area, where the rebels had amassed their cargo modules and whatever point defense guns they could spare. A pair of Mako corvettes sat in the void nearby, their limited missile batteries and CIWS guns providing cover in case you decided to attack.

So all in all, the rebels had three warships and a host of improvised attack craft on defense, plus whatever missile batteries the rebels had to go with it. They could put up a mean anti-fighter and anti-missile defense, but you still had some options.

>Can you take them? With half of their fleet in dock, your chances are much better than before.
>What other options do you have? You ran from that fleet for a reason, you don't want to take your chances.
>Other (write-in)

>>3901007

>Can you take them? With half of their fleet in dock, your chances are much better than before.

>>3901007
>Can you take them? With half of their fleet in dock, your chances are much better than before.
What's our ammo supply like now? Don't want to run out of missiles before our reinforcements arrive.

>>3901007
>>Can you take them? With half of their fleet in dock, your chances are much better than before.
Hit and run tactics would be good here. Get in close once they amass enough supplies around the working area, then lob a MAC round at it and a few missiles and jump back out.

File: paris profile.jpg (127 KB, 1920x1080)

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"Can we take them?" You asked your advising AI and XO. While you wanted to take the opportunity, you couldn't just make the decision on your own.

"On paper, it's fairly even. The Hillsborough is the biggest issue, they have a working MAC cannon and can engage us at least as well as we can engage them. They don't have similar missile capabilities to us, what with being stuck with the Ares missile suite. Their sensor suite is going to be worse than ours, but it's good enough for gunlaying. The Makos will be annoying but one or two missiles or a single MAC round will kill them. If we can get the jump on them then we can probably come out on top." Dyad explained, your XO apparently ranking your chances quite highly.

"That assumes that the rebels don't spot us coming. Drive emissions are easy to spot when there is nothing else in the system. Getting close will be an issue as if they detect us too far out they will launch the rest of their fleet." Diana pointed out, the AI taking a far more realistic approach to the situation. But you could see her logic, if you were spotted too soon then your advantage would disappear in a flash.

"Any idea how we can get as close as possible without being detected?" You asked

"I'll have to run some simulations based on what we already know, but we may be able to slingshot around Hoover in order to get on course with the minimal chance of getting detected. From there we would have to try and get into Howler's debris trail and use that to mask our approach." Diana suggested, your AI obviously preferring to take a far more cautious approach. Her plan being to go in slowly and trying to maximize your chances of getting close.

"Alternatively, it would take them a while to recover their repair crews, decompress their docks, and launch the rest of their fleet. If we go in fast, hit them hard and jump out when things get too hot, then we can cause a lot of damage before things get too hot." Dyad suggested the complete opposite with a bloodthirsty smile. Your XO wanting nothing more than to hit the rebels as hard as possible.

"Lieutenant commander, the most logical course of action-" Diana began, only to be interupted.

"Shut up and listen for a few seconds." Dyad snapped. "Our biggest advantages are our speed and firepower, if we go slow, we become an easy kill. It's not logical, but it's what we do best."

"Rushing in guns blazing is a great way to get us killed." Diana calmly replied, the AI showing a complete lack of emotion in stark contrast to your XO. "While we may have closer to equal odds, we cannot risk ourselves by being aggressive."

>Go slow and steady! Diana is right, playing aggressive is only going to get you killed.
>Hit them hard and fast! Dyad is right, you ship is built for hit-and-run attacks. You'd be stupid not to make use of that.
>Ask about your weapons load, how much ordinance do you have left?
>Other (write-in)

>>3901090
>>Ask about your weapons load, how much ordinance do you have left?

>>3901090
>>Ask about your weapons load, how much ordinance do you have left?
I"m thinking fast and hard. We can force a kill by lining up with the work area and another ship, and using our MAC, then jump out. Assuming, that is, we have the munitions for it.

>>3901090
>Ask about your weapons load, how much ordinance do you have left?

"Weapons, what's our weapons load looking like?" You asked while you could make a choice right now, you'd prefer to know what your options were right now.

"We have twenty-one standard MAC rounds and six lightweight shredder rounds. We still have our three nukes, nothing expended there. We've expended ten Archer missile pods, but we have another forty remaining for a total of nine hundred and sixty missiles remaining. We've fired off five pods of Streak anti-fighter missiles, but we have fifty-five pods remaining. So we have no issues there either." Your weapons officer briefed you while sending you a copy of your weapons manifest.

>Go slow and steady! Diana is right, playing aggressive is only going to get you killed.
>Hit them hard and fast! Dyad is right, you ship is built for hit-and-run attacks. You'd be stupid not to make use of that.
>Other (write-in)

>>3901175
>Hit them hard and fast! Dyad is right, you ship is built for hit-and-run attacks. You'd be stupid not to make use of that.

>>3901175
>>Hit them hard and fast! Dyad is right, you ship is built for hit-and-run attacks. You'd be stupid not to make use of that.

>>3901175
>>Hit them hard and fast! Dyad is right, you ship is built for hit-and-run attacks. You'd be stupid not to make use of that.

"Alright, we'll hit them hard and fast." You decided, before giving specific orders to each of your subordinates. "Nav, plot us a high-energy approach to the rebel base while still having enough power left over to use the MAC gun and keep the slipspace drive charged. Weapons, get the MAC gun charged and bring all of our weapons online. Dyad, bring us up to general quarters."

"Commander I must protest. This course of action needlessly puts the vessel, it's crew and the subprowler at risk." Diana protested, the AI obviously not liking the idea of throwing your vessel at the rebels and hoping that you would be able to beat them.

"The subprowler will be fine, the crew is trained on how to look after their vessel and safely await pickup. If anyone is most likely to survive this going badly, it's going to be them." Your intelligence officer stated, assuaging the AI's worries about them dying.

"The point still stands, putting the vessel at risk for little reason is not worth it." Your AI continued to insist.

>"We have to do something Diana, we can't let this cell escape."
>"Do you think that our fleet will arrive in time to stop them? Because that's the only other option."
>Other (write-in)

>>3901258
>>"Do you think that our fleet will arrive in time to stop them? Because that's the only other option."

>>3901258
>"Do you think that our fleet will arrive in time to stop them? Because that's the only other option."

>>3901258
>>"Do you think that our fleet will arrive in time to stop them? Because that's the only other option."

File: frigate, sweet home.png (1.46 MB, 1920x1080)

1.46 MB PNG

"Do you think that our fleet will arrive in time to stop them? Because that's the only other option." You asked the AI. If the fleet didn't get here in time then you'd be the only one able to stop the rebels from fleeing. And with you having no idea when the rebels would leave, this was probably one of your only chances to stop the rebels before they could leave.

"Hiding out and gathering intelligence is far better than wasting the lives of the crew on a glory run." The AI didn't answer your question, instead arguing that you didn't have to fight the rebels now.

"Except that we're not here to gather intel. We're here to destroy them before they can evacuate and go to ground." You pointed out as the ship began to turn towards the gas giant of Hoover, your navigation officer obviously planning to perform a slingshot around the planet in order to get a lot of speed with the minimal amount of power expended. You reinterating to the AI that the moment the rebels were gone, they would likely be gone for good.

"Commander, I need you to approve arming the Shiva nukes." Your weapons officer interupted the argument between you and the computer program.

"Alright, approving." You confirmed to the weapons officer, placing your hand on the touch-screen tablet attached to your seat. A few seconds later and your hand-print approved the arming of the nuclear weapons.

"This is still a bad idea sir." Diana stated, the AI accepting that there wasn't much she could do to ward you off this course of action.

"It's the only option we have. We're not a prowler, so we can't sneak up on them." You pointed out. You didn't like the idea that you had to do this, but the more time you wasted, the more time they had to get the rest of their fleet out to face you.

Things progressed rapidly from there. The slingshot manouver took only around an hour, the engines rumbling all the while as the Dawn built up enough speed to effectivly coast towards the insurectionist base. Thus allowing enough power to keep the slipspace drive and MAC gun charged.

"How should we approach this sir? They might not have detected us yet due to the electromagnetic interference caused by Howler's trail. We can choose to run silent until they detect us, or we can start getting a targeting solution on one of their ships. Alternatively, Diana can start jamming them in order to reduce the effectiveness of their targeting systems." Dyad asked, your XO giving you the options you had avalible.

>Run silent! The closer you can get before being detected, the better.
>Get a targeting solution! With MAC guns, the first kill always goes to the first one to shoot.
>Jam their sensors! They can't shoot you of fire missiles if you jam their sensors.
>Other (write-in)

>>3901390
>>Get a targeting solution! With MAC guns, the first kill always goes to the first one to shoot.
All we gotta do is whittle them down one by one. Shoot and scoot.

>>3901390
>>Jam their sensors! They can't shoot you or fire missiles if you jam their sensors.

>>3901390
>Get a targeting solution! With MAC guns, the first kill always goes to the first one to shoot.

>>3901390
>Get a targeting solution! With MAC guns, the first kill always goes to the first one to shoot.

>>3901390
>>Jam their sensors! They can't shoot you of fire missiles if you jam their sensors.
We have an electronic warfare ai for a reason.

"Weapons, get us prepped for a firing solution." You ordered your weapons officer, directing your orders right to him rather than going through your XO.

"What do you want me to target?" Your weapons officer asked.

Expending a MAC round on the containers was such a bad idea that you didn't even consider it. At best you'd damage maybe one or two of the containers, and then have to wait while your gun cycled. It would take way too long, and you'd just be wasting rounds. Limiting yourself from that, you had a choice between the rebel destroyer itself, one of the drydock asteroids, and one of the two corvettes.

>Hit the destroyer! Once it's down things get a lot easier.
>Hit a drydock! If you can blow the atmosphere out of one of them, you'll kill a bunch of the innie bastards.
>Hit one of the Makos! Even a single hit will tear them apart.
>Other (write-in)

>>3901495

>Hit the destroyer! Once it's down things get a lot easier.

>>3901495
>>Hit the destroyer! Once it's down things get a lot easier.

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

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"Target the destroyer, this will be a cake walk once it's down." You ordered, the only thing in the rebel fleet that could match you at range was that destroyer, and if you managed to hit it first before it could hit you, then the rebel fleet would be far easier to kill.

"Understood, MAC gun charging." Your weapons officer stated as you began to feel that electric itch in the back of your teeth. And you weren't the only person to notice it either, as alarms began to sound across the bridge.

"Warning, enemy sensor systems have detected us. Hostile destroyer is attempting to take cover behind one of the asteroids." Diana reported, the AI being able to provide infomation far faster than your mortal crewmen.

"Not fast enough though, MAC firing!" Your weapons officer called out as he hit the button to fire the massive coilgun.

>Roll 1d20+1

Rolled 1 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3901565
pew pew

Rolled 9 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3901565
>a 1 right off the bat
Hoo boy...

Rolled 7 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3901565
uh-oh

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3901565

The high-pitched buzzing sound of the MAC gun's coils all charching in sucsession reached a new high as the weapons officer fired the weapon, before all shutting off one-after the other in under a second as it accelerated the MAC round to a deadly velocity. However just as the gun fired, the rebel destroyer fired it's emergency boosters, the set of practically explosive manouvering thrusters kicked the vessel dosens of meters to port just in time to evade the MAC round. The sudden evasion gave your weapons ovvicer no time to re-lay the gun, and put the enemy destroyer right behind the asteroid it was intending to use as cover.

"Damn it! Enemy vessel is still up!" Your weapons officer called out as another crater was added to Howler, though given it's current state, you didn't think it would make much difference.

However in that short amount of time, the rebels fired their return volley. Dyad called out the launches as they happened. "Vampire, vampire! Multiple missile launches detected, tally twenty Ares missiles and twenty Archer missiles incoming!"

>Take evasive action! (roll 1d20)
>Fire again! You can defeat those missiles fairly easily. (Shiva nukes and Archer missiles only)

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>3901639
>Take evasive action! (roll 1d20)

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3901639
>Take evasive action! (roll 1d20)

Why do the dice hate us so?

Rolled 10 (1d20)

>>3901639
Don't worry everyone, I got this

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>3901639
>Fire again! You can defeat those missiles fairly easily. (Shiva nukes and Archer missiles only)

Gonna call tonight's run here guys. Sorry for the short notice but some stuff has come up. If you have any questions the feel free to ask them, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

>>3901707
No worries, thanks for tonight's run Thunderhead. Any way we can improve our rolls more predominately? Combat is really kicking us in the teeth.

>>3901715
Ship upgrades and skill abilities (which I need to figure out how to properly integrate) will be your best bet. A lot of upgrades for combating conventional weapons (missiles, fighters, etc) are going to be easy to get, but are only really effective against rebel ships and covenant fighters. Though you can get more experimental upgrades by gaining reputation with factions in the UNSC. As you're already in pretty deep with ONI, they may be your best bet, if you can stomach working with them. Skill abilities are going to be effective all around, but I need to figure out a way to properly integrate them. I remember that an anon created a pastebin with the skills you currently know in them, but I'll have to make a new one and better phrase the skills and add keywords to them in order to make them easier to understand.

>>3901807
I actually kinda like working with ONI gives us more chances to fight the rebels which we actually stand a chance against unlike the covenant

File: Paris class.jpg (52 KB, 900x675)

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From the moment the countermeasures were deployed, you knew that this attack would be far harder to deal with than you had hoped. When you had first faced rebel forces in the system, defeating their Ares missiles had been fairly easy after firing off your countermeasures. However, none of the missiles were seduced by your countermeasures this time. So they had obviously refitted the guidance suite from the Archer missile onto their Ares missiles, along with the hive-mind system that was used by swarms of Archer missiles. This was a major issue, as it meant that only heavy jamming and destroying individual missiles would work.

Your weapons officer wasted no time in firing off a volley of Streak interceptor missiles, but once again the lethal intelligence of the grouped missiles. The volley of missiles broke apart and began to snake and slalom to make themselves much harder to hit. The normally unmanouverable Ares missiles made up for their lack of agility by dumping countermeasures and penetration aids. Each Ares dropping four submunitions that produced the same signal as the original missile, it was a smart modification, and you'd have to look into making a similar system for your own use if you managed to survive this.

The first volley of Streak missiles were suitably flummoxed by this, with dozens of the lighter interceptors going after one of the decoys rather than the rebel missile that deployed it. Your next volley of interceptors accounted for this by updating their targeting information, categorizing the decoys for what they were. But instead the rebel volley simply cut their engines and let the decoys fly out in front of them to catch the interceptors before they hit the actual missiles, this took out some of the Streaks and forces others off course, but enough managed to get through that the rebel missiles suffered catastrophic losses. Three-quarters of the missiles were destroyed, but you were still looking down the barrel of getting hit ten missiles, more than enough to get past your guns and cripple your ship, if not destroy it.

If you didn't do something drastic, you'd be on the receiving end of those missiles. And your ship wasn't built to take that kind of punishment.

>Use skill [EXPLOSIVE SIDESTEP] (roll 1d20 to evade, but risk killing crew members)
>Trust your point-defenses! You have enough guns to take out those missiles. (roll 1d20-3)

Rolled 19 - 3 (1d20 - 3)

>>3902669

>>3902669
>Trust your point-defenses! You have enough guns to take out those missiles. (roll 1d20-3)

>>3902669

>>3902669
>>Trust your point-defenses! You have enough guns to take out those missiles. (roll 1d20-3)

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Rolled 3 - 3 (1d20 - 3)

>>3902669
>Trust your point-defenses! You have enough guns to take out those missiles. (roll 1d20-3)
Also here's a reminder for people on how to do negative mods.

>>3902853
That's what I get for being nice.

Rolled 14 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3902669
>Trust your point-defenses! You have enough guns to take out those missiles. (roll 1d20-3)

>>3902853
Honestly with some of the rolls we don't even need negative modifiers

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Sorry for the lack of updates guys, my internet got cut off over a missed bill and I had to argue with my provider until they got their asses together.

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

If you had blinked, you would have missed what happened next, as the rebel barrage was finally wiped out in just a few seconds.

First, the bow of the Dawn dropped away from the rebel attack, giving all of your dorsal point defense guns a good shot at the incoming missiles. The 50mm magnetically-accelerated autocannons were already spun up and firing before the missiles entered their effective range, this opening spray of fire had not been done to get more lead towards the missiles, far from it. It had served to trick the targeting systems of the incoming missiles into grouping up, attempting to dodge where they thought the guns would be firing.

However the four turrets had been firing to pen the missiles in, and when they were suitably penned in, the turrets concentrated their fire on the incoming missiles. Seven missiles -three Ares missiles and a four Archer missiles- were destroyed in the barrage. However three of them escaped, and although their group processing had been massively curtailed by the loss of so many units in rapid succession, they were still deadly little shits, and two of them sacrificed themselves to guarantee as great of an impact chance to the last remaining missile.

The final missile was only a few hundred meters when it took a 50mm round. The fused round didn't even have time to arm itself, instead just punching straight through the missile and shattering it into thousands of fragments. To a civilian ship that still would have been an issue, given the sheer speed of the debris, but with over a meter and a half of metal separating the internals of your ship from the void, you had nothing to worry about.

"All vampires destroyed, commander we are clear to continue." Your weapons officer called out, a tone of relief in his voice that you were sure that all of the bridge crew shared. Hell, you certainly shared it.


>Wait for that destroyer to pop out! It's the biggest threat out there. (Gain bonus to-hit chance on the rebel destroyer)
>Keep moving forward! You can't wait for that destroyer to poke it's head out.
>Fire off your Archers! If the rebels want to play the missile hurling game then so be it.
>Other (write-in)

>>3906177
>>Fire off your Archers! If the rebels want to play the missile hurling game then so be it.

>>3906177
>>Fire off your Archers! If the rebels want to play the missile hurling game then so be it.
No worries. ISPs are awful.

>>3906177
>>Fire off your Archers! If the rebels want to play the missile hurling game then so be it.

>>3906177
>Wait for that destroyer to pop out! It's the biggest threat out there. (Gain bonus to-hit chance on the rebel destroyer)

>>3906177
>>Fire off your Archers! If the rebels want to play the missile hurling game then so be it.

"Weapons, what targets do we have for our archers?" You asked, if the rebels wanted to fire missiles at you then fine, you could give far more than they could.

"We're fairly limited sir, the Mako corvettes and the rebel cargo units are going to be the easiest targets to hit. Though the Makos are holding position close to the cargo containers, and both are covered by point defense guns and missiles. It's gonna be hard to get missiles through unless we fire a large volley. The Hillsborough is also an option but we don't have a line of sight, so we can't pre-designate a target." Your weapons officer explained your options. While the cargo containers were the biggest threat, you had to clear out some of the defenses around them before they were easier to kill. Of course, the best way to do that would be to kill the Mako corvettes, they had been built to intercept missiles after all, and it was about the only role they excelled at aside from being somewhat easy to acquire pirate ships. The Hillsborough was a far more deadly threat than them, however, and the sooner it -and it's MAC gun- was taken out of the fight, the better.

"What about the support asteroids? Can we bombard them?" Dyad asked, you XO focussing her attention on the rest of the rebel fleet in hiding.

"Sure, but it's a wasteful enough tactic that I didn't bother bringing it up." The weapons officer explained, his tone telling you how little he thought of that idea.

"Diana, think you can assist with counter electronic warfare?" You asked, while electronic warfare was your AI's specialty, there was a massive difference between jamming the sensors on a ship, and helping dozens of individual missiles fly in the face of multiple independent jamming sources.

"Of course, but I can only provide support to one volley at a time." Your AI assured you, a calmness in her voice telling you how sure she felt in her abilities.

>Target the cargo containers! That will hamstring the rebel retreat far more than the loss of a few ships. (roll 1d20-2)
>Target the Mako corvettes! If you can thin out the defenses around the containers, you can leave hitting them up to your longswords. (roll 1d20-2)
>Target the destroyer! Once that thing is down the rest of the battle will be a cakewalk. (roll 1d20-2)
>Fire at everything! The more damage you can inflict the better! (roll 3d20-4)
>Other (write-in)

Rolled 8, 17, 9 - 4 = 30 (3d20 - 4)

>>3906285
>>Fire at everything! The more damage you can inflict the better! (roll 3d20-4)

>>3906285
>>Target the Mako corvettes! If you can thin out the defenses around the containers, you can leave hitting them up to your longswords. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 13 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3906285
>>Target the Mako corvettes! If you can thin out the defenses around the containers, you can leave hitting them up to your longswords. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 20 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3906285
>Target the Mako corvettes! If you can thin out the defenses around the containers, you can leave hitting them up to your longswords. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 19 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3906285
>>Target the Mako corvettes! If you can thin out the defenses around the containers, you can leave hitting them up to your longswords. (roll 1d20-2)

Rolled 11 - 2 (1d20 - 2)

>>3906285

>Target the cargo containers! That will hamstring the rebel retreat far more than the loss of a few ships. (roll 1d20-2)

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"Weapons, target the enemy corvettes, we need to blow a hole open to hit those containers." You ordered. Your only reason for attacking the rebel base had been to hamstring their escape, and the more containers you could destroy the less they would be able to escape with. However, the only way for you to easily destroy them would be if you took out the vessels defending it. And the crux of that defense was the Mako corvettes.

"Understood, firing archer pods." Your weapons officer announced, before firing off a volley of around a hundred and twenty missiles. Five pods worth of Archers. You might have objected to expending three-times the number of missiles the rebels had fired at you, but given the defenses the rebels had you didn't care.

What happened next was almost the same as your response to the rebel missile attack. A volley of Streak interceptor missiles was fired by the rebel support asteroids, the corvettes themselves, and even a few loose missiles that you were unsure if they came from their destroyer or some of their converted gunboats. Either way, the volley was not enough to account for all of the missiles you fired, and when the two hordes of missiles connected, the results were less than impressive. You didn't know if the failure could be credited to your AI's interference or the coldly calculated intelligence of so many missiles acting in unison. Either way, you only lost a third of your missiles, with a number more only suffering damage that didn't impair their ability to fly towards a target. Your missiles lacked penetration aids but instead made their own by forcing the damaged missiles to the front of the formation to soak up any more defensive fire. And soak it up they did, as more volleys of interceptor missiles mostly destroyed the already damaged missiles. By the time the enemy switched to their point defense guns, only around forty-percent of your missiles had been destroyed, with another twenty-percent damaged. When the volley got closer to the asteroids, however, your fortunes began to change, as while the rebels either lacked or were not willing to part with a large number of Streak missiles, they had more than enough ammo for their point-defense guns and had no qualms about firing off large numbers of decoys. Soon you were losing missiles by the second, but they had built up too much speed to be wiped out. Still, almost all of your remaining missiles had been destroyed, but in spite of it all, just over a dozen missiles found their mark.

>CONT

>>3906433

The first corvette to be destroyed had held its position, the vessel sat nose-on to the incoming missiles, it's flank-mounted guns firing forwards. The first missile to hit had probably lost its warhead, instead dedicating itself to smashing off a gun turret with kinetic force alone. The missile blew off the port-side breakwater PDC, this loss of firepower opened the door the next trio of missiles, which wasted no time in exploiting the chance and killing the enemy corvette, blowing a series of massive holes in its bow, mid-section and finally the engine room. The vessel was torn apart from the force of the hit, through another pair of missiles hitting it didn't help it stay together.

The captain of the other corvette had been smarter and tried to run for safety behind the primary asteroid habitat, turning his aft towards the incoming missiles and attempting to run. His lack of bravery earned his ship a pair of missiles straight to the engines, the force of the impact blew the ship's broadside to face the rest of the remaining Archers, which had not been programmed with mercy. Four missiles blew his ship apart and sent the reactor -which had already been spooled up to burn the engines at maximum output- critical, turning whatever remained into little more than a fireworks show.

Of course, you didn't have much time to pay attention to the missiles as they made their final run on the rebel corvettes, as your attention was called by your AI. "Captain, I am detecting a large power surge from behind one of the rebel support asteroids, the enemy destroyer is charging it's MAC gun to fire!"

>Line up a shot, you want to hit that destroyer the moment it pops out! (roll 1d20)
>Take evasive action! You can't play moa with MAC guns for christ's sake. (roll 1d20+1)
>Other (write in)

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>3906435
>>Line up a shot, you want to hit that destroyer the moment it pops out! (roll 1d20)
Make my day.

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>3906435

>Line up a shot, you want to hit that destroyer the moment it pops out! (roll 1d20)

yeet

Rolled 14 + 1 (1d20 + 1)

>>3906435
>Take evasive action! You can't play moa with MAC guns for christ's sake. (roll 1d20+1)

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>3906435
>Line up a shot, you want to hit that destroyer the moment it pops out! (roll 1d20)

>>3906435
>Line up a shot, you want to hit that destroyer the moment it pops out! (roll 1d20)

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"Weapons, line up a shot of our own, I want that bastard sent to hell the moment he pops out." You ordered. You couldn't risk letting the rebel destroyer get a free shot on you, and having time to retreat back into cover before you could hit it. Unlike the Covenant, you didn't have self-guiding munitions that had the power to burn straight through that asteroid and hit the destroyer on the other side without badly irradiating the nearby space.

"Understood sir, charging the gun." Your weapons officer confirmed his order, before asking your AI for help. "Diana, can I get targeting data bassed off those energy readings?"

"Of course. Commander, might I recommend ordering the crew to brace for impact?" Diana replied to the lieutenant's question, before giving her recommendation to you. You didn't have time to respond before the collision alert alarms came on. You looked to your right in time to see your XO sliding her tablet into the pouch on the back of her service belt before taking a solid hold on the nearby safety rails.

With a colossal crash, your MAC gun fired, seemingly at nothing, but your weapons officer had played his cards correctly. The insurrectionist heavyweight had barely shown it's extreme flank when your gun fired. And in the few seconds, it took for the rebel ship to pop out for a shot, your round screamed straight towards it, a calculated shot that would hit dead-center of the vessel.

However, in the time it took for your round to travel the distance between your ship and the rebel destroyer, the rebel destroyer fired its MAC gun. Perhaps the rebels noticed your sudden energy buildup and correctly guessed that it was you getting ready to shoot them right back. Perhaps they didn't know and were instead going to shoot anyways. It didn't matter, all that mattered was that you had only seconds to acknowledge that they had fired at you and that your engines simply didn't have the thrust to get you out of this one.

>Use skill [EXPLOSIVE SIDESTEP] (roll 1d20 to evade, but risk killing crew members)
>Close your eyes, you don't want to see this one connect. (roll 1d7)

>>3906491
>>Use skill [EXPLOSIVE SIDESTEP] (roll 1d20 to evade, but risk killing crew members)

>>3906491
>Use skill [EXPLOSIVE SIDESTEP] (roll 1d20 to evade, but risk killing crew members)

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3906491
>Use skill [EXPLOSIVE SIDESTEP] (roll 1d20 to evade, but risk killing crew members)

DEAD EITHER WAY, SO FUCKING KILL THE LESS AMOUNT OF LADS.

>>3906500
OH GOD I KILLED EVERYBODY.

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>3906491
>Use skill [EXPLOSIVE SIDESTEP] (roll 1d20 to evade, but risk killing crew members)
>>3906502
AAAAHHHHHHH

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>3906494
>>3906500
>>3906512
give me a 20 to cancel these rolls

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to all the recklessfags

>>3906519
>Playing it safe
Big rolls big... death tolls? This quest has a history of almost fucking us over at every turn anyways, might as well take as much with us as we can.

>>3906525
Not the quests fault people keep rolling 1 lmao

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>nat fucking 1
>2
>11, which is invalidated by the 1

And with THAT I'm gonna call it for tonight's run. Sorry for the late start and lack of runs, my ISP cut off my internet over not getting a bill, and I had to wait until today to get to the bank to get proof that I had in fact paid them. So fuck those guys. If you have any questions the feel free to ask them, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

>>3906541
>If you have any questions the feel free to ask them, and I'll see you all tomorrow.
How fucked are we? And also, if we get shit stomped will you continue with a new character or call it quits?

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>>3906546
>How fucked are we?
As a rule getting hit ANYWHERE with a MAC round is going to put you in drydock, maybe even force you into a new ship altogether. Though WHERE you get hit has a major impact on how bad it is. Take a round to the ventral hanger and your basically fine on behalf of the dice gods saving you. Take a round to the bridge (yes, thats an option) and it's an insta kill.
>And also, if we get shit stomped will you continue with a new character or call it quits?
We'll continue with a new series/season. Same name and idea, but a different character. Though I'll probably run another quest in between just so that I don't get burned out running the same quest.

>>3906574
>Take a round to the bridge (yes, thats an option) and it's an insta kill.
Well let's hope that's not the case. I"m rather fond of our bridge crew.
>Though I'll probably run another quest in between
Let's hope it's not the case but cool either way. Anything in particular?

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>>3906585
>Anything in particular?
Either a restart of Where Wolves Fear To Tread (Wolfenstien-style WW2) or Pilot Quest. Both are old quests of mine that I made when I was fairly new, I made a few major mistakes with them that you can only really fix with a restart. Though given the fact that I'm going to be back in work fairly soon questing is going to be a hard thing to keep doing.

>>3906599
Can't say I've read them but I understand the need for a restart.
>questing is going to be a hard thing to keep doing.
Just don't force yourself into it. Found out the hard way that's a surefire way to kill any fun in QMing. Anyways, thanks for tonight's run Thunderhead.

>>3906599
>old quests of mine that I made when I was fairly new, I made a few major mistakes with them
Could you elaborate on this? I was in Pilot Quest and haven't noticed much difference from this one. That is, both quests are well-done and fun.

You don't have time to speak the order to fire the emergency boosters. However, in situations like this, you had an alternative method to get orders straight to your AI. The neural implant -a standard piece of kit on all UNSC and FLEETCOM servicemen- embedded in the base of your skull screamed your intent to Diana, the ship's AI could read into your implant and pick up on surface-level thoughts. You knew that she picked up on it as there was an unfamiliar presence in the back of your skull, the telltale sign that something was accessing your implant.

But the order was given too late. It takes around a second or two for the chemicals to mix and combust, and the incoming MAC round will have punched through you by then. You realized this with surprising calmness, a clarity given by powerlessness at the current situation.

You close your eyes...

>roll 1d7

Rolled 2 (1d7)

>>3907123

Rolled 7 (1d7)

>>3907123

>>3907141
K guys don't roll

Need 1 more roll

Rolled 6 (1d7)

>>3907123
Oh shit

>>3907181
Did I do good?

>>3907185
Good job, buddy. You didn't get a 1.

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Sorry for not updating sooner, someone decided to do some shooting nearby and my dog freaked out. It's fairly hard to type when a scared dog is crawling over you and your laptop.

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

You've never been shot at by a MAC gun before. There wasn't much training dedicated to it. Sure, there were a lot of simulations where your "ship" was hit by everything from fighter grade fuel-rod cannons all the way up to energy projectors. But there was nothing aside from a few lessons spaced out over multiple different courses. And generally, it all boiled down to "cry for help and patch up as many holes as possible" and little more. The war with the Covenant ensured that all of the training was focussed on that, and as such, learning about how to react when hit by conventional weapons. The impact slammed you in your seat, you were only saved from being knocked onto the deck by your safety harness. Most of the other bridge crews were saved the same way, but your XO was one of the few who lost her footing and was sent to the floor, hitting her head on the way down. You could hear a colossal crash from far below you, followed by a series of additional thuds as the explosive boosters fired off. There was a muted screech for a seconds before nothing else. Well, noting aside from the pained groans from the injured members of the bridge crew.

"Damage report! Get me a damn damage report!" You yelled as you hit your harness release, getting out of your seat in order to check on your injured XO. Dyad was sprawled on the deck but was making some attempt to get up, you positioned her to rest against one of the banisters while you checked her out.

"We've got damage across multiple sections of the ship! The MAC round entered at deck nineteen and ripped the lower decks off the ventral prong. We've suffered damage to some of our MAC gun capacitors, but we can still fire. Spalling damages has punctured as far up as deck seventeen in some sections, and we have structural tears in multiple areas. Those areas are being shut off. Spalling damage has damaged the secondary venting systems for the reactor core. We've lost the entire ventral hanger, it got shorn clean off. We've lost our secondary heat radiators and a bunch of Streak launchers along with it. Hull integrity in the lower hull is massively down, and we've got superstructure damage. No idea on casualties, but it's going to be severe" Your damage control officer called out the damage readout that his station was being fed by sensors all across the ship. As you were told this, you checked your XO's responses, looking for the signs of a severe concussion or any brain damage. Thankfully, her responses were fine, but she had taken a fairly bad knock. Your biggest concern was the gash on her head, just above her left eye which was bleeding fairly severely.

>CONT

>>3907453

"Can we fight?" You asked as you opened one of the small first aid containers built into the side of your seat, retrieving some bandages to cover the gash on Dyad's head.

"We can fight, though we're going to have to limit the reactor and thruster output to fifty-percent nominal and seventy-percent emergency burn. Obviously, that will have an impact on MAC gun charging." The damage control officer informed you as you began to wrap up your XO's wound. Further back in the room, you could hear the pained moaning of one of the marine guards who had taken a far worse tumble.

>Get back to your post! You're still in a battle here.
>Tend to your XO! You can't just leave her without care.
>Other (write-in)

>>3907457
>>Get back to your post! You're still in a battle here.
>Someone get Dyad some medical care.

>>3907457
>>Get back to your post! You're still in a battle here.
>Someone get Dyad some medical care.

>>3907457
>Get back to your post! You're still in a battle here
>Someone get Dyad some medical care.
Bad but way better than expected.

>>3907457
>Get back to your post! You're still in a battle here.
>Someone get Dyad some medical care.

>>3907457
>>>Get back to your post! You're still in a battle here.
>>Someone get Dyad some medical care.

"Alright, clear the bridge of all wounded, and I need someone to move Dyad with them." You called out your order, making sure to elevate your voice just a bit so that people could hear you over the various stations communicating with the other sections of the ship.

"I'sss aw'right sir. Im fine." Dyad tried yo protest as she attempted to get up, only for you to force her back down.

"No, you need proper medical attention before you're good to go back to work. Just rest for now, I can handle it from here" You assured your XO, you waited by her side for one of the lower-rating deckhands to help her up and away. Probably to take her over to a nearby triage location.

You sat back into your seat, taking a second to inspect the safety harness that had saved you from a mild concussion or worse. It seemed fine, but once this was all over you'd have someone give it an inspection just to make sure. Assuming of course that you managed to get out of this.

>Check up on the rest of the ship, casualty reports should be coming in by now.
>Check the rebel destroyer! How badly did you hit them?
>Prep for an immediate slipspace jump, you can't fight in this state.
>Other (write-in)

>>3907526
>>Check the rebel destroyer! How badly did you hit them?